Are you a woman in leadership or aspiring to leadership? Communication is a cornerstone in your journey up the corporate ladder. Marie Dzanis, CEO at Northern Trust Global Investments & EVP, has exceptional insight into the bar women in leadership need to reach in terms of their communication, presence, and interpersonal skills. In this interview,…
I know you’ve done it. I certainly have – we all have. Talking smack to ourselves, hoping to try to bully ourselves in to more productivity, better performance, higher achievement. In the words of my interview guest, “How’s that working for you?” Today we’re wading into the murky waters of self-talk, and how we can…
In this episode of Communication Q&A, I have a question about a really common speech habit, coming our way from Melissa, who writes “Hi Lauren – I saw your video on vocal fry and it made me think of a problem I’ve been having. A colleague has told me that I often use “upspeak” and…
Ah, vocal fry – that little edge to a voice that gets people (almost always women) accused of sounding like Kim Kardashian or whoever the vapid-starlet-du-jour may be. But what *is* it, precisely? Is it actually a problem, or is it just another way of policing someone’s (again, usually a woman’s) voice? This communication Q&A…
Do you find yourself getting slammed with jittery nervousness right before you get up to give a talk? Many people get a rush of public speaking jitters when they get up in front of their audience, even if they don’t feel nervous when preparing the presentation. And while that nervousness might go away a minute…
Have you ever felt that your voice was blocked, that you wanted to say something but couldn’t get the words out? In today’s talk shop interview, join me and professional soprano and voice coach Rush Dorsett as we look into how your voice works, what can cause you to hold back, and how to overcome…
Networking event, business mixer, after party…whatever you want to call it, these kinds of small-talk heavy events can be the bane of many people’s existence. That goes double if you are on the introverted side. We need to make conversation at these events, but how do you even start a conversation at a business networking event? Some…
So you made a mistake during your presentation. Even if the rest of the presentation goes great, it’s the mistakes that get burned into our brain. Yes, everyone makes mistakes, but how to you get over a mistake when the memory of it makes you want to hide with shame? It’s important to figure this…
It’s a presenter’s nightmare: some jerk in the audience decides to give you a hard time, asking impossible questions, challenging everything you say, making snarky comments, and trying to make you look like an idiot. Congratulations – you’ve got a heckler. Hecklers can really throw you off your game, and it happened to Laura who…
You’re about to give a talk. You’ve practiced, you think you’re ready, but then…your heart starts to pound, your mouth gets dry and your hands get sweaty, your brain goes blank, and you feel like throwing up. What’s going on? Welcome to the wonderful world of speaker’s anxiety manifested in the famous “Flight or Fight”…
