Pages from kid’s books

Reading out loud is one of the best ways to get in speaking practice. Whether you’re working on diction, expression, breath work, or something else, grabbing some reading material makes practice a lot easier than taxing your brain trying to come up with original content.   Just about anything can be fodder for your speaking…

Tangent killer

Tangents are changeable creatures.  They’re fun in casual conversation, leading us down rabbit holes of conversation.  Eventually someone asks “how did we get on this topic?”  Laughter ensues. In professional settings, they are deadly.  When there is a point and a purpose to a conversation, telling people that you are about to go on a…

Dipping your toes

There are two ways of dealing with a fear: either by plunging in whole-body or dipping in your toes and gradually getting in deeper. One way isn’t better than the other, and neither method is going to apply to one person all of the time. That being said, I find that when it comes to…

The Joy of Euphemisms

Layered meaning makes conversation so much more interesting.  While plain-speak is generally the best way to conduct most business – after all, one’s goal should never be to stymie your clients or colleagues – there are opportunities where you can have some fun in a conversation and imply the Things that Cannot Be Said Aloud.  Euphemisms and…

Fear-based communication

How many messages do you encounter in a day?  Discounting the ones that come from your own head (and lord knows those can be interesting), how many bits of info do you process on a daily, hourly, or even minute-by-minute basis? Let’s dig a little deeper: how often do you consider the tone of those…