The Ideal Communicator

Sorry for dropping off the face of the earth for the last 2 months. Life has taken some twists and turns…both my life, and the brand new life of my newly-arrived ‘bundle of joy.’ My first son was born in early December, and what a trip it’s been! It’s amazing how such a little person can create  such upheaval (in a good way, of course) inso many people’s lives – mainly me and my husband, but I’ll throw the grandparents in there for good measure.

While my little one may be mentioned in certain blog posts, this will remain a blog about presentation, public speaking and communications skills. I am often left wondering how best to get a point across with a 7-week old, and I can certainly say that he’s helping me sharpen my communication skills…as long as you disregard the high-pitched (and possibly annoying) baby talk that I sometimes have to resort to. 

Much as I am a very proud and happy parent, this is about the extent of the “announcement” that I’m making about my boy. I have opted not to post photos — neither here, on Facebook, or on my newsletter. Perhaps that’ll change sometime in the future, but for now, my boy is under wraps and being enjoyed by our close friends and family.  This actually prompted one of my colleagues to question if my boy was healthy and if all was fine, since in this world of hyper-sharing, he wondered why I didn’t share the announcement in my newsletter.  Is it just me that isn’t 100% comfortable showing the extended world what my boy looks like? p.s. Yes, he’s healthy, he’s beautiful, and all is fine.

It’s not that I don’t want to share my happiness — or my photos — with my blog readers, my newsletter subscribers and my Facebook friends (both the real friends and the “where do I know this person from again”? friends).  As you can see, I *am* sharing it – just without the photos.  It just begs the question — where do we draw the line on sharing the deepest parts our private lives?  Where is the point at which we decide NOT to share? Am I making too much of these privacy issues — and being too paranoid —  by not posting  his photo?

In the meantime, as he sleeps next to me right now in his fluffy blanket, I’m happy to have him all to myself.

My colleague Jane Atkinson, speaker coach and President of Speaker Launcher, recently launched a Best Speaker Video contest on her blog. For many speakers, a speaker video is the #1 form of marketing – if done right. So Jane, along with a panel of judges, looked at several submissions, and then came up with a winner, and 5 runners-up – and gave a brief explanation of why they came in at the top.

I was so impressed with these contestants, and wanted to share their videos with you. Some are very professionally done, with lots of bells and whistles – and some are no more complex than pressing “record” on a videocamera. But each speaker and video has its own unique style which makes it stand out.

These videos will give you an example of not just what works, but what works really well.  Read the rest of this entry »

Well here’s a speaker you just want to sit down and have a drink with! Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the best-selling book and recent movie Eat, Pray, Love, shares her thoughts on creativity and the notion of “creative genius” in this 19-minute speech at TED - and in the process, shows her audience how very funny, thoughtful and well-spoken a writer – and a speaker – she is.

Elizabeth excels in many ways in this talk. And there are some small things that she might have ‘tweaked’ to make it even more powerful.

 
STRENGTHS IN DELIVERY:
 
1.  She’s funny – and here’s why:  There were a few instances of great use of language to get a point across. At around 1:45, she laments how some people ask her if she thinks that she’ll “die on a scrapheap of dreams with my mouth filled with the bitter ash of failure” because she’ll never be able to follow up the success of her best-selling book. This comment is quite lengthy, and she almost gets out of breath as she says it. This makes it go from a ‘witty remark’ to just a little outrageous, thereby pushing the audience from a potential chuckle to an outright laugh. Well done.  If you can get your audience to laugh in the first 2 minutes, there’s a much better chance of having them sit up and listen to you for the rest of your speech. (I’d also like to give credit to her vivid metaphor of  “It’s like asking someone to swallow the sun.” That’s a great visual!)

2. “Messy” – but enthusiastic and authentic. Like Jamie Oliver in last month’s blog post, Elizabeth can be considered a “messy” speaker…but in a good way. Read the rest of this entry »

I was compelled to re-post this video, originally featured on the Huffington Post website. It features Councilman Phil Davison of Minerva, Ohio, making a fiery speech at the Stark County Republican Party’s executive committee meeting to select a nominee to run for Stark County treasurer.

You can’t deny that this man has passion.  But what’s behind this passion? Is it sincere?  Or is it simply a “I’ve got to shake up my listeners at all costs!” type of presentation? Notice how he tries to walk away from the podium, only to go back 3 seconds later to look at his notes; how he puts up a random number of fingers to signify the 13 years of experience he has. At around 1:20, he angrily states, “I will not apologize for my tone of voice tonight,” but never quite explains why he seems so angry, or why he continues to yell at his audience. If you’re going to go for the the “I’m mad, and I’m just not going to take it anymore!” tactic, at least make it clear why. He seems to get so caught up in the emotions of his speech that it even becomes too difficult to remember a 7-word quote from Albert Einstein.

There’s more… but once you watch the video, it’ll be fairly clear to you exactly how he might have been a lot more effective by trying to be a lot less impassioned.  

Davison did not get the nomination.

This video also appeared in Stark County Political Report, Martin Olson’s blog about Stark County Ohio