The 3-minute storytelling lesson you won’t forget
I was working recently with a team of executives on storytelling and delivery, and in one of the exercises I pressed them to present their pitches faster and in a more compressed style. The world is...
View ArticleThe incredible story of the world’s oldest living pianist
I’ve blogged once before about Alice Herz-Sommer, the oldest pianist in the world. What makes her extraordinary is not her age and ability, though they are remarkable. It’s not even the fact that...
View ArticleThe FacebookIs10 Movie and Your Audience
I’m pleased to welcome Public Words writer Sarah Morgan as a guest blogger for this posting. How many Facebook movies have you watched this week? They’re probably all over your news feed–the...
View ArticleThe World’s Second Most Famous Brain and What It Teaches Public Speakers
In 1953, an epileptic had brain surgery to try to relieve the seizures he was experiencing that were making his life a nightmare. A neurosurgeon, William Beecher Scoville, removed a piece of Henry...
View ArticleFive Tips For Public Speaking Success
I’ve seen a lot of speeches recently, coached and written a good number more for clients, and given a few of my own. Here’s my latest list of good speaking habits, dos and don’ts, and lessons from the...
View ArticleSeven Ways to Enchant an Audience
How can you go beyond the usual efforts to create a successful presentation – and enchant the audience? What are the secrets to creating magic with a speech? Here are seven ways to take your speech...
View ArticleWhy I love James Bond
I love Bond movies. I love their existential over-the-top silliness. I love that the UK is still the center of the universe in Bond movies. I love that one person can still save the world in them. I...
View ArticleSpeakers Alert: Here’s One More Reason to Exercise
Speakers need to understand how the brain works because, well, because they’re always talking to brains in the audiences they encounter. At least, that’s the hope. Some recent studies shed light on an...
View ArticleSpeakers: Your Vowels Matter!
I’ll be giving away some speechwriting secrets today. In particular, how to create a mood with your words. It’s not just about meaning. Or even body language. A team of psychologists and...
View ArticleRookie Storytelling Mistakes
I blog often – and the world is in enthusiastic agreement – about the need to tell stories to get attention and be remembered. And I often talk about the five fundamental stories: the Quest that...
View ArticleThe Five Basic Secrets of Great Speechwriting
This is my most popular blog post ever. I’m trying to grab a little vacation this week, so enjoy, and forgive the summer re-run. David McCloud, the Chief of Staff of the Governor of Virginia, taught...
View ArticleIt’s the Little Stressors That Will Kill You
Recently I was busy in an airplane-hangar-sized room helping a couple of speakers get ready to speak to an audience of 10,000 people. That’s a daunting challenge for anyone, but the difference between...
View ArticleWhen You Have to Deliver the Bad News….
Speakers sometimes have to deliver bad news. It’s not a pleasant prospect for most of us; we prefer to keep our audiences happy so that they will love us. After all, risking dignity and exposure to...
View ArticleThe Toughest Speaking Gig of All
I usually write about the challenges of professional and executive speaking, but there’s one speaking gig that presents difficulties even most pros don’t have to face: preaching. Preachers face the...
View ArticleThe Difference Between Liberal and Conservative Audiences
Most countries have a political spectrum that divides along conservative v liberal lines. In the US, it’s the Republicans v the Democrats; in the UK, it’s the Tories v the Laborites; in Game of...
View ArticleThe Greatest American Speech Ever?
Speeches, like flowers, are a moment’s monument. They exist most powerfully for a specific audience, a specific speaker, and a specific message. Attempts to make them have a wider impact usually fail....
View ArticleOn Being Brief
Attention spans are shrinking. ADD and ADHD is on the rise – they say. People are overloaded with information. Keynote speeches are getting shorter – TED-talk formats are becoming increasingly common....
View ArticleWhat John Lewis Can Teach Speakers About Storytelling and Emotion
Speakers often struggle with how to get the emotion they know they need to move audiences into a speech. Perhaps they’re not comfortable with emotion in the first place, or they don’t see the...
View ArticleWhat Will Corporate Storytelling Look Like in 2015?
I’m not going to make communications predictions this year, because my crystal ball is cloudy, and 2015 in any case so far seems like more of the same as last year. But thanks to a collision of two...
View ArticleHow to Give an Impromptu Speech
A client and friend asked me the other day about impromptu speeches. His question, basically, was, to give consistently good impromptu speeches, do you memorize something (or a few pieces of something)...
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