9th August, 2010 - Posted by janebeard - 3 Comments
I just saw a video, part of the Washington Post’s good “On Leadership” series, featuring author Pamela Myer. Myer wrote the book, Lie Spotting. I bet it’s a good book, because her talking points are clear, memorable and useful. I even bet she’s smart and a confident authentic speaker – just not in this » Read More
20th July, 2010 - Posted by janebeard - No Comments
Business people – especially the ones in marketing and HR – looooove the word leverage. Their talks are full of how we’ll leverage assets, leverage people, leverage ideas, even how they’ll leverage the competition. Some of these speakers love the word leverage so much that, when I ask them what word they would use instead, if » Read More
26th June, 2010 - Posted by janebeard - No Comments
We usually work with senior executives who present in pretty high stakes situations. These folks tend to come with a lot of experience as speakers…and a lot of personal “rules” about how they want to perform. But we also like to help speakers in the community. That’s how we came to work with a group of » Read More
7th June, 2010 - Posted by janebeard - No Comments
This weekend, I got a dose of my own medicine, when I spoke to an audience at the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology. The topic was, “Using Intention to Transform Your Audience,” and it was a blast. These folks know that science is proving, over and over, that focused intention has an impact on the » Read More
22nd May, 2010 - Posted by janebeard - No Comments
One of the interesting things about humans is that we’re wired is that our brains crave novelty. In fact, psychological anthropologists think it’s left over from our days as hunter-gatherers. It’s why some of us (ahem) have 10 pairs of black shoes in the closet but remain in the hunt for another pair. Searching for the » Read More
8th April, 2010 - Posted by janebeard - No Comments
It’s true that the most powerful moments in your presentation are the first moments, and the closing moments. The way you start the message, and the way you bring it home, are hugely important. But there’s another powerful moment that most speakers discount, and that comes when you STOP talking. It’s the moment when your » Read More
30th March, 2010 - Posted by janebeard - 2 Comments
Storytelling has been the most powerful engine for idea dissemination throughout human history. It has served to explain the world, from the sublime to the mundane. Everything from, ”Is there a god?” to “why you should defer gratification and save for the future” has been explicated through story, and in a gazillion ways. We are » Read More
26th March, 2010 - Posted by janebeard - No Comments
“I have about 20 slides to share with you today.” You could almost hear the groans in the room. We were at the meeting to watch a client we’d coached – NOT this speaker, we hasten to add – when this speaker stood to present. Now, you’ve heard similar openings before. So you know what that » Read More
22nd March, 2010 - Posted by InVisibleLight, Inc. - 2 Comments
People spend way too much meeting time in looking back instead of forward. When we could be looking at what could and should and must happen next, our time gets wasted with reports on what’s already happened. We don’t have time for that anymore. If we ever did! If you have past performance data to share, send » Read More
16th March, 2010 - Posted by janebeard - 1 Comment
Ever wondered why you hate being in the audience for so many of the presentations you hear? It’s not because you’re bored. It’s because of something else entirely. More specifically, we know you get bored. But you don’t get bored because those speakers are boring. You get bored because those speakers are paying attention to the wrong » Read More
