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 […]
I was about to jump… but the 50-foot drop to the rocks below caused me to pause. “Just step out to the edge and jump away from the edge.” My zip-line guide made it sound so simple. I’d just seen 6 others do it and walk away without a scratch, but now it was my […]
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 […]
“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 […]
I’m sure you’ve heard the advice from others to grab your audiences’ attention from the very start of your presentation. Then, hang on to it throughout your presentation. That sounds great! The tough part is answering the question… “Now, how do I do that exactly?” Don’t use a joke! I’m sure at some point you’ve […]
I’ve always loved the wisdom found in a short statement. In keynote speaker terms, we call these “sticky statements.” If you’re speaking to an audience and you make a statement that causes everyone to write it down, you just gave them a sticky statement. As we’ve brought the first quarter of 2018 to a close […]
He paused for a moment and then answered my question. “I want to learn how to be more influential today.” I was in Seoul, Korea for a week of leadership communication training. I had asked all four of the leaders what they wanted to discuss during our time together. This leader’s request was not so […]
I was asked to coach the CFO for a company in downtown Houston. I asked her more about why we were meeting. She said, “I told them (her audience) they complain too much and they should like this new HR plan. Later my boss (CEO) said I came across harsh and abrasive.” Wow… you think so? As […]
My wife and I were both excited to attend the leadership conference! The lineup of speakers included one of my favorites and one of my wife’s favorites. I was amped to hear from Craig Groeschel on topics like leading change and building systems. My wife was most excited about Lysa Terkeurst and her talk on […]
I knew it wasn’t going to be your normal conference kickoff keynote when I entered the ballroom and found a bongo at every audience seat. I was in the audience that day with about 400 other attendees. We couldn’t help but pick up the bongo, inspect it and experiment with tapping on it. Then one […]
