Utilizing pauses in speech can create a deeper connection with your audience. At a recent speaking event, I was conversing with an audience member before I took the stage, and the concept of “ma” came up. What is “ma”? No, it’s not another word for your mom. It’s a Japanese concept that translates to “pause”, […]
audience engagement
How Vulnerability Can Make You a Better Speaker
Transform into a more compelling, relatable speaker by being vulnerable. I recently worked with a client on crafting a presentation for her organization’s internal conference. She had a compelling story she wanted to share, yet wondered how much detail she should share. The question that arose was how vulnerable is too vulnerable? When does sharing […]
5 Tips to Make Your Presentation Memorable
When you make your presentation memorable you keep your audience engaged. In a recent conversation with a meeting planner, she asked me about the ‘take-home’ message in my presentation. What will the audience remember when they leave my session? Quickly, I rattled off the phrase: ‘consciously connecting through communication’. I like alliteration, so I intentionally […]
3 Ways the ‘Less is More’ Approach Works in Presentations
Like some of my clients, I can get lost in how much content I need to provide. Then I remember the ‘less is more’ approach. Although my first impulse in developing content for a presentation is to share as much as possible about a particular topic, it is not the best route for an engaging […]
3 Ways to Speak with Power
When you speak with power, you engage your audience while elevating your confidence. Over the past several months, I have worked with several clients who were looking to speak with more confidence. Jonah Berger’s most recent book, Magic Words: What to Say to Get Your Way, calls this ‘speaking with power’. Our use of language […]
3 Ways Your Numerical Communication Can Be More Memorable
Knowing the basic principles of numerical communication can help us become more effective and persuasive communicators. A couple of months ago, I read “Making Numbers Count” by Chip Heath and Karla Starr who observed that we could lose our audience “when we don’t translate numbers into an instinctive human experience.” These translation techniques serve as […]