My dear friend and early morning work-out partner hopped into my car with her speaking notes at 5:30am this morning. She had a presentation later that day and asked if I would provide feedback. As she read through her notes, I was listening for any obvious areas of improvement. She was well prepared and had…
Think of the last time you hopped into your car and headed out to a familiar destination. Possibly it was the store, work, school, a friend’s place or a favorite restaurant. You may have begun driving, lost yourself in thought or got wrapped up in your favorite 90’s rap lyrics (I don’t blame you). You arrived…
We may no longer be in the middle of online learning but plenty of opportunities still exist for Zoom class. Here are three tips to quickly prepare… college students, I’m looking at you! 🙂 Do you log on at the very last minute to decrease the chance of awkward greetings on Zoom? Do you dread…
While the fear of public speaking a real thing- letting that fear prevent our growth and success can’t happen. Learn about the first step in combating the fear of public speaking.
Too often I hear from clients who agreed to something they really did not want to. They end up regretful and in hindsight reflect, “I should have said no.” Yet, when I ask them why they agreed or simply said “yes” they replied, “I just felt guilty.” or “I did not know how to say…
A guiding principle of effective communication is to be other-centered. While this may make sense to us intellectually, what does this REALLY mean? Whether your ‘audience’ is one person or hundreds of people, look to identify what their common views, experiences and/or language is before you craft your message. When you interact in a…
How you begin your presentation tells your audience whether or not they should listen to you. They make this decision in a matter of seconds. It does not matter if it includes a slide deck, impromptu report of your team’s progress or a formal presentation. You, as the speaker, have a responsibility to engage your…
Research has brought our attention to the confidence gap that exists between men and women. It is the idea that men tend to feel more confident than women, in all stages of life. (1) The problem is that our true feelings and attitudes leak out of us, thus unintentionally showing others how we really feel.…
I was inspired to investigate this question after reading “The Confidence Code” by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman. What I was most curious about is how this may affect women negatively if proven true. Luckily, the opportunity to investigate this question was afforded me by way of a faculty research community at the college I have…
A client recently asked me to help her run through some interview strategies as she was preparing for a career shift. We discussed both her goals and concerns for this interview. We walked through common questions that she figured would be asked of her and then we carefully crafted her responses and rehearsed them. After a while…