I’ve had the opportunity to speak on several recent occasions about the power of our words and how we can make a better audience connection. Recent research emphasizes that how we communicate—our choice of words, tone, rate of speech, and nonverbal cues—profoundly affects our ability to build trust and connect with others. Most of us […]
How Speakers can Connect with their Audience
5 Ways Pauses in Speech Create Impactful Presentations
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”, […]
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 to Influence Emotions In Our Audience
As speakers, we need to be intentional about how we use our emotions for influence. I am often asked by clients how they can be more influential with the emotions of their audiences. Some have an ask for their senior leadership, others want their audience to accept a change within their organizational processes or procedures, […]
3 Factors to Gain Credibility with your Audience
Recently I worked with a client who posed an interesting question: “What could she do in to gain credibility with her audience?” Speaker credibility has its roots in Aristotle’s teachings over 2,000 years ago as he wrote about a speaker’s character, otherwise known as ethos. According to Aristotle, a speaker’s character was just as important as […]
Be Concise with your Message or Pay the Price
Lately, I have been asked by many of my coaching clients if there is a way to make their messages more concise. In this day and age of virtual presentations, short attention spans, and distractions, getting your point across in as few words as possible and still making an impact is an art. And it’s […]