After the conference one of your friends poses the question, “Which keynote speaker did you like the best?” As soon as one person answers everyone else immediately jumps in and says, “YES! Me too! She was so good. Why do you suppose we all loved her so much more than the others?” I can tell […]
“So how was the new restaurant you tried?” As soon as I ask you the question you immediately begin to access the memory of the experience. For some reason, before you recall anything from the experience you feel agitated and disturbed. Then one side of your mouth tightens while one eye brow is lifted with […]
Imagine each of these… you’re covered in mud and rolled in feathers, a baseball balanced on top of an upside down cup, you’re watching a dog swim from a goggle-wearing, breath-holding position under the water. All of these things took a split second for you to imagine. You’re good at this! Of course you’re good […]
A couple weeks ago I wrote about the difference between a coach and a critic. A question came up about “What are the traits of a great coach?” I spent a few weeks pondering this question and reflecting on my own career over the past 25 years. I’ve found there are 5 key characteristics that […]
I was on a video chat with Paul Slattery, iSpeak Certified Master Instructor based in Dublin, Ireland, and he told me about the sparkler and the comet. He said, “Russ, did you use any sparklers when you celebrated American Independence Day on the 4th of July?” With my two kids at college-age now, the answer […]
My student entered the workshop and told me he’d taken courses like this in the past. I asked him what he learned in the other class. “Well, I learned I need to stop fidgeting with my hands so much and stop saying filler words.” He waited for my response. “Okay. What did the coach say […]
“Well, uhh… that’s all I got folks. Thanks for coming… Oh WAIT! … Any questions? No? Okay then yeah, that’s all I got.” That’s word for word how he ended his presentation. While we’re probably all guilty of this at one time in our career, that doesn’t sound good. How do I know? Because I […]
Ever wonder what your audience thinks of you? Have you tried your best to read their body language and facial expressions? What do they really think of you? Do they see you as an expert? Do they know you’re not? Can they see you’re nervous? The questions they ask might be your best clue. Here’s […]
