Today’s dose of silly provides both hilarity and a lesson. The hilarity occurs within the first 1:30 of the video, a double dose of writhing embarassment at Romney’s awkwardness and a laugh-out-loud moment at the newscaster’s reaction. This is followed up by a good commentary about keeping true to your style and personality when speaking…
In order to make up for neglecting to post a ridiculous video for you last Friday (the new parent broken sleep exhaustion is catching up with me), I present you three very silly clips: #1: Stating things simply is often the best way to present our message. It doesn’t get much simpler than this: [youtube…
Old Spice: the bodywash that makes my husband stink like a dog in a swamp but that has one of the best advertising departments ever. Here’s one of their latest interactive internet ads. I’m not even going to try to cleverly tie this to a communication quip. All I can say is that it made me…
Voice quality is a very, very important thing. A beautifully timbered voice can make the foolish sound clever. A juvenile, chirpy tone can make the experienced professional seem like an vacuous twit. And a well-placed voice over can turn a touching scene into this: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfAww-6X2Ig&w=420&h=315] This is an old video, but I laugh myself…
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…
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…
This week’s dose of Friday fun is brought to you by Rick Mercer. His rants are works of genius! Consider this a lesson from Rick in both presentation and modern communication. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiHLN6l3Ld0&w=560&h=315]
An “older” video (in internet terms, anyway), but a fun one. Keep an eye out for this girl on future motivational speaker circuits! [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR3rK0kZFkg&w=420&h=315]
I have a soft spot in my hearts for sports people. It’s their inherently competitive, focused nature; it makes them delightfully sincere and transparent when they are stuck at a podium having to speak to an audience. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBIboDFR1bU&w=420&h=315]
Most of my work involving rate of speech is teaching my clients how to slow down and vary their pace. Unless, of course, you’re this guy: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeK5ZjtpO-M&w=420&h=315] His diction and clarity is impeccable! This is motor mouth mastery, I tell you. And I still miss his 1980’s Micro Machines commercials.
