I’m at the Tano Bistro restaurant, just outside of Cincinnati, having dinner with my client and 10 of his top employees. I was the featured speaker at this high-tech firm’s second-half kickoff meeting. We are all enjoying ourselves. The company is ahead of its sales projections, headed towards another record year. Our waitress asks us…
On Sunday, 29-year old Hideki Matsuyama made history by being the first Japanese man to win The Masters golf tournament – one of the four most prestigious events in professional golf. I’m a casual golf fan. Beyond the usual suspects, Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, and Tiger, I had never heard of him. However, he did…
Have you ever turned yourself down before asking for something that you really wanted? For example, you tapped-out before asking for a job, promotion, raise, or a date? In other words, you said “no” before they said “no.” You took yourself out of the game. In the words of the Hall of Fame speaker, Patricia Fripp,”The…
What if I told you that you could predict the future? Would you believe me? I’ll prove it to you. On New Year’s Eve, what are some behaviors you expect to witness? Fireworks Countdown Alcohol People Singing Badly What about the 4th of July? (Or your country’s birthday, if you are reading this outside of…
“You are no good as a speaker! All you do is talk about yourself! You’re not that interesting! The National Speakers Association (NSA) is the Chinese food of education – it fills you up for a while and leaves you hungry! And CareerTrack (a training company) is worse than NSA – they sell Happy Sheets!…
Recenlty, I was interviewed by Ajay Mathur, host of the “Being Yourself” podcast. He asked me about some of the techniques we use to help people present with more impact and influence. Here are the topics we covered: 01:24 Why the first one minute is vital. Don’t waste it! 03:55 Sharing his ‘why’ and how once…
Over the past fifteen years, I’ve coached thousands of executives, leaders and corporate employees on how to make their business presentations memorable. Over the years, I’ve regularly run across the same presentation mistakes. Are you making these mistakes in your business presentations? Presenting abstract ideas without specific examples. Think of an abstraction as hiding the…
On Saturday, August 20, 2016, my coaching client, Darren Tay, won the Toastmasters International World Championship of Public Speaking. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE. For the unfamiliar, it is a yearlong contest with over 30,000 contestants. Darren was the last one standing. Think of it as “America’s Got Talent” for public speaking. Not bad. In…
Early in my career I worked for a major computer company. Before we were unleashed on the world, we had to go through the typical technical and sales presentation training. Regardless, if you were prepared or not, you had to give your presentation to the instructor and your peers at the end of your training.…
Journalist, writer and political commentator, Walter Lippmann, said, “When everyone thinks the same, nobody is thinking.” I have coached literally thousands of executives, leaders, mangers, entrepreneurs, sales people and Toastmasters on breathing life into their business presentations. I can break down the content of their presentations into two categories: Conformity Contrarian What is a…