Posts Tagged ‘public speaking’

Happy New Year! Saw a marvelous movie over the holidays and highly recommend it.  ”The King’s Speech” tells the real life story of Britain’s King George VI and his struggles to overcome his inability to speak without stammering. The acting is wonderful and it hit home for me because of the relationship between the King and his speech coach.

For most people public speaking is a challenge and the obstacles often seem insurmountable.  And the work gets very close to the bone for those who decide they want to improve. To coach someone in that situation is an honor and a big responsibility.  It requires building trust and creating a safe place for people to move outside their comfort zone. And it requires imagination and a bit of courage to find just the right strategy that will work with each specific individual.  It also helps if you can have a little fun along the way.

The King’s speech coach did all of these things brilliantly and in the end the audience appreciates what the King did to find his voice become the leader he was destined to be. It was also great to see the transformation of a human being meeting a most difficult and very public personal challenge.

See it…you’ll be inspired on many levels!  And if you are struggling with your speaking skills, take a page from the King and get a coach who can help you!

At the suggestion of my best friend, Carol, we watched a wonderful documentary this weekend called “Paper Clips.” We got it through Netflix. It’s the story of how a history project on the Holocaust transformed a rural Tennessee middle school and its surrounding community.  The students and teachers at Whitwell Middle School remind us of what can happen when hate speech is tolerated and how evil spreads when times are challenging and we demonize people because they look different, have different religious beliefs, or come from other cultural traditions.  The closer we get to the fall elections it appears that hate speech rules. I suggest we take a breath, remember we have much more in common than our differences, and look behind the curtains to see OZ-like people who are fanning the flames of division and funding the sources of hate speech. And if you’re looking for something uplifting to watch try “Paper Clips!”

There’s a new article featuring eight tips for crafting your elevator speech. It’s based on an interview I did with Alan Hughes of Black Enterprise Magazine.  Alan did a great job of capturing the foundational tips for standing out and building your business networks.  Click here for the article

Also coming soon is the second edition of my book. It has a new chapter on the elevator speech and personal branding and some new tips in the media section on new web and social media.

It’s already available as an e-book on my site. We’ll have the actual books available by the end of July.

“Your little book was a big hit in my course” says Kathy Berggren, who teaches communications at Cornell University. Using my framework for getting to the “meat of the matter” Kathy’s students were able to experiment with creating effective statements about themselves which they can use in a variety of ways including looking for  work.  They also suggested that I include more details about using the elevator speech for personal branding, job searching, and career transitions.  Great feedback and I am working on the second edition of the book right now and was planning a chapter on how to craft an elevator speech for job hunting!  Thanks to Kathy and her students!  And they will continue to use my little book at Cornell University! Yowser! That’s way cool!