Haters. They come in all shapes and sizes, with vocabularies that range from the grunting of cave-dwellers to the bombastic spewing of wanna-be intelligentsia. No matter what form they take, dealing with them can be frustrating and demoralizing. And no matter what you do, what you create, or where you work, they are…
When was the last time you received a hand-written thank you card? When was the last time you sent one? While there are some people who still send these out, they’re few and far between. And their rarity makes getting one every better. Birthday cards come and go, Christmas cards are still hugely popular, but…
I love rhetoric. I love political speeches. This means that election seasons are heaps of fun for me. I stayed up way too late on July 27 to create a new pop-up rhetoric video for you. This one pulls various rhetorical and oratorical devices, strategies, figures, and techniques from Joe Biden’s speech at the July 27…
There it is, glowering at you from your desktop. If a slip of paper could sneer, this one would be sneering. If a web form could roll its eyes, this one would be rolling. Yes, you’ve received nasty feedback. One ugly, trivial snipe among the pile of other people’s helpful or complimentary comments. But that…
The secret isn’t innate confidence. It isn’t a good slide deck, either. It’s not positive, pre-show affirmations. It’s not killer quotes, “life changing” stories, or hilarious content. It definitely isn’t picturing your audience in their underwear.* The above all play a part in great presentations (with the exception of the underwear visualization), but they…
I may love writing, but doing podcasts is a hell of a lot of fun! As I’m off visiting family this week, I’m casting my content line back a couple of months and bringing you a podcast interview I did with the amazing Alison Donaghey from Natural Born Speakers. We chatted about pretty much everything related…
Who doesn’t love a good infographic? Alas, my knowledge of illustration software is nil. Happily, Lydia Bailey from Masterprogramsguide.com reached out to me with this fantastic infographic, which I am now sharing with you as today’s guest blog post! Author Bio : – Ms. Lydia Bailey has come up with this infographic. She is a…
I’m coming to the #elbowgate party a bit late. All the same, it’s too glittery a rhetoric issue for me to ignore. If you haven’t heard of Elbowgate, here is a brief summary: While votes were being gathered in the Canadian House of Commons on a contentious bill, a brouhaha was created when Prime Minister…
If you are trying to get yourself out there and get noticed, you need to give people something to see. It doesn’t matter if the thing you craft is code, art, words, or something else. People need to see what you are doing if they are going to respond. This is especially true if…
The word charismatic gets thrown about quite a bit. I’ve heard people call someone “charismatic” when I would have labelled that same individual “bombastic a**hole.” I’ve also encountered people I would label as highly charismatic that others describe as inaccessible or aloof. The last year has been an interesting study in political charisma, with Justin…
