I can has poker face?

Funny StuffLeave a comment

Control over your facial expressiveness is a boon.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the ability to let your face show people what you want when you want is worth many, many hours of embarrassing practice in front of your bathroom mirror. The importance of this skill is demonstrated beautifully by Denver…

Channeling Tom Cruise

Funny StuffLeave a comment

Today’s dose of Friday Fun comes courtesy of Miles Fisher and his promo for Superhero Movie. I use emulation activities with my clients as a way of recognizing other people’s signature speaking quirks and then using that knowledge to recognize and develop their own signature style.  A big part of these exercises involve figuring out the emotional…

Charisma matters

Business behaviourLeave a comment

I’ve spent most of the past week flat on my back fighting a vicious sinus infection.  Unable to string together a single coherent sentence in written or spoken word, I settled for laying on the couch watching lousy television and feeling sorry for myself. Much of that layabout time was spent watching old episodes of the…

Smile, damn you, smile!

PerformanceLeave a comment

I have and will always maintain that a weapon every speaker should carry around in their arsenal is the ability to fire up a genuine beaming smile on demand. Actually, scratch that statement.  Everyone, speaker or no, should learn how to smile on cue.  And by smile, I mean the sort of eye-crinkling, cheek raising…

The air of professionalism

Business behaviourLeave a comment

The definition of ‘professionalism’ is as varied as the contents of people’s bagged lunches. What we consider professional will vary greatly depending on our personality, experiences, education, and frame of mind at any given moment. Some days I see ‘being professional’ as being capable of effortlessly moving from one group of colleagues to another while…

Style matters

StyleLeave a comment

In public speaking – and in everything else in life – it is impossible to please everyone. To think that in order to be an excellent speaker you must receive universal adulation is an exercise in frustration. Different speaker quirks will enchant some audience members while repelling others. There is nothing wrong with this; it…