What Does it Mean to be Enthusiastic When Public Speaking? Enthusiasm demonstrates your passion and excitement for the content that you’re presenting. Enthusiasm shows that you believe in your content. You have conviction in what you are saying. Enthusiastic and passionate presenters are more impactful and more persuasive. But there’s a challenge: genuine enthusiasm is … Read more
Presenting with Confidence: What is the Spotlight Effect? I want you to imagine you’re about to give a presentation and you can’t stop thinking about your bad haircut. Everybody in the audience notices your bad haircut. Your boss is sitting there. He or she is probably saying to themselves, “That is a really terrible haircut. … Read more
Elizabeth Holmes was charged in 2018 with an “elaborate, years-long fraud” by the SEC. At its peak, her company Theranos (founded in 2003) was valued at $9 billion. Holmes was recognized as a genius innovator, the female Steve Jobs, an example for young women everywhere. She was celebrated by Forbes magazine as the youngest self-made … Read more
I’ve written before about the power of agreement as a tool of persuasion. Most people expect their “opposite” to disagree and fight them. So when you agree with someone, even if just on the surface, you immediately interrupt that predictable pattern. You get their attention, and you start validating their ego. With the egotistical issues … Read more
In his classic book Influence, Robert Cialdini describes the power of consistency in affecting human behavior: Just after placing a bet, [people] are much more confident of their horse’s chances of winning than they are immediately before laying down that bet. Of course, nothing about the horse’s chances actually shifts; it’s the same horse, on the same … Read more
I’ve been stood up. I’m sitting in a coffee shop as I write this. I was supposed to meet someone to discuss business, but the person never showed, despite confirming the time and location with me just yesterday. I texted and emailed them. No response. Seriously guys, communicate! If you have to cancel a meeting … Read more
Do other people find you boring? Boredom comes from weak energy, mumbling words, and a general lack of social presence. Where does this boring thing come from? Why might you be boring? There are basically two main reasons. First, you are literally bored by the topic. The world is a mirror. It reflects back to you … Read more
Perfect Speaking Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up To Be One of the hallmarks of inauthentic communication is perfectionism. Perfectionism leads to overly complicated and mechanical communication techniques. These techniques feel inauthentic and fake, damaging trust and turning audiences off. It could be a trite sales line that we’ve heard a million time before. It could … Read more
The Mere Exposure Effect is a pattern in human psychology where people develop preferences for things simply because they have been exposed over and over. Familiarity breeds preference. This is related to our tribal nature. Trust, familiarity, rapport, authority–these are all tied together. The more you are exposed to something or someone, the more comfortable you become with … Read more