What do you do to feel comfortable before a big talk? In August I had my largest audience ever: 1,800 at the Convocation for the College of Arts and Sciences at my alma mater, Miami University. While I feel at home on campus, I did the things I coach my speakers to do to feel […]
Big talk coming up? Try these tips to get comfortable. Read More »
It’s been about 9 years since we opened up Articulation. Which means hundreds if not a thousand talks we’ve watched, coached, edited, coached again, reviewed, shared and more. It also means that it’s time for a little fun. As many know, we call out behaviors, never names. And our campaign that we are launching today
Welcome To: Talk Like Someone’s Listening Read More »
As the co-host and lead curator for TEDxColumbus, I’m supposed to act as an information waitress. I help select and then introduce the talks to people who are hungry for their curiosity to be fed. My job is to present the ideas (as authored by our speakers) without judgment so the audience can come to their
I just finished a six week assignment with a major health corporation in town, helping them to cascade their 10 year vision into a repeatable resonant story for their 16,000 associates to understand. The experience was a familiar one — take two years worth of strategic planning work and find a way to get it
Last week we re-launched our Influential Storytelling class. Like all good motors, it needed a tune up, and just in time too. These 15 participants came together from 7 different organizations to get down to the business of “story.” One of the attendees in his evaluation said: “It is rare that one experiences something
Our Influential Storytelling Class Read More »
My favorite quote from the TED Conference this year was from the (now former) head of DARPA, the defense agency that plans our strategic responses on surprise attacks, Regina Dugan. She said: “If you want to learn to fly, you have to FLY.” It seemed so simple. But for an agency that fails all the time in its
On the TEDxColumbus stage over the last three years, we’ve had a variety of performance artists: musicians, poets and such. This post is not about them. It is about those individuals who have a medium other than their own voice, movement or acting to express their artistry (design, painting). I turned to wikipedia for a
Speaking when your medium isn’t language. Read More »
From fairy tales to extreme makeovers, who doesn’t love a good before-and-after story? HGTV has built an empire around ’em (with good reason) and TLC offers a veritable pantheon of makeover shows about babies, weddings and beauty. So Ruth and I thought it would be fun and, more importantly, helpful and enlightening, to feature a before-and-after story of
A presentation transformation: part 1 Read More »
In today’s New York Times, an illuminating story about multi-tasking adorned the front page. It’s disintegrating our ability to focus, the research argues (I would personally agree!). And indeed, checking email, texting, facebooking, skyping, webinaring- whatever the task- must all be but aside for the careful work that is presentation preparation. I recently queried a PR
announcing
the motivated speaker
six principles to unlock your communication potential
In this book you will discover the six essential threshold concepts needed to give talks like the best TED speakers and Fortune 500 leaders.
The book will deliver May 2025.
Stay tuned for the launch!
