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Want to Start Your Speech Off Right? Here are a Few Traps to Avoid

By Joey Asher Category: Content, Nerves You’re standing in front 250 people at major industry conference. Your heart is pounding. Your palms are sweating. You’re about to deliver a presentation that you hope will boost your image in the minds of your colleagues and business partners. Your first words are critical. They can put [...]

The Communication Skills Workout: 10 Weeks to a New You!

By Joey Asher Category: Other I’m fascinated by those workouts that you see advertised on TV or the Internet.  I recently came across the “Caveman Workout” where you run through the woods in bare feet and eat raw meat. Then, there’s that kickboxing workout called Tae Bo. And I actually borrowed the P90X CDs from [...]

It Takes Personal Courage to Give A Great Speech

By Joey Asher Category: Nerves I had an English professor in college who said, “If you write a really great story, you’re screwed.” He meant that the best storytellers have the courage to open up their personal lives and tell the truth about themselves, even if the truth is embarrassing. Similarly, if you want to [...]

The Most Beautiful Words in Any Presentation are “For Example”

By Joey Asher Category: Content One way to determine whether you’re a good speaker is to see how many times you use the words “For example” in your presentations. If you use those words a lot, then chances are that you’re telling lots of stories when you speak. And if you’re telling lots of stories, [...]

The Speech is Dead. Long Live the Interactive Presentation

By Joey Asher Category: Content, Other My rabbi gave a nice sermon recently. As I listened, I couldn’t help thinking about how strange it is these days to hear an actual speech. It seems out of place -- in a world of text messages, cat videos on YouTube, and iPhone-addled attention spans -- to hear [...]

Public Speaking 3.0. Connecting with Audiences in the Internet-Era

By Joey Asher Category: Networking The last 50 years in public speaking have been the JFK/Ronald Reagan era. The next 50 will be the YouTube/Talk Radio /iPhone era. Indeed, to be a great speaker today, you must learn to connect with listeners who have been conditioned by the modern media. Ancient Greeks to YouTube The [...]

What to Do About Smartphones During a Presentation

By Joey Asher Category: Other “When I’m leading a meeting, I find that people spend a lot of time typing emails. What is your strategy for dealing with the iPhone problem?” “When I’m leading a conference call, I know that there are people listening in who aren’t paying attention. They’re surfing the internet, writing memos, [...]

Keys to Listening

By Joey Asher Category: Other Yogi Berra said, “You can see a lot by just looking.” Similarly, you can hear a lot by just listening. If there is one skill that will make you better at almost everything, it’s listening. Want to build a better relationship with a client or colleague? Listen. Want to be [...]

The Power of Speaking without Notes

By Joey Asher Category: Practice Former UN Ambassador and Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young once told me a story about how he learned the importance of speaking without notes. As a minister in his early 20s, he always preached from a prepared text.  But as he was getting ready to preach to a church in Beachton [...]

Lessons in Persuasion from a Fishing Guide

By Joey Asher Category: Content, Practice I drove to the Great Smokey Mountains near Townsend, TN recently to fly fish for trout. And I caught more than my fair share – 14 gorgeous rainbows. But who’s counting? Spending time with my guide -- a terrific, pony-tailed fisherman and author named Ian Rutter, of R&R Fly [...]

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