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 [...]
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 [...]
Category: Tips from Celebrities "A smile will gain you ten more years of life." Those are the words from a fortune cookie one of our coaches received after eating at her favorite Chinese restaurant. We can’t speak to whether a smile will help you live longer. But we certainly do believe that a smile [...]
Category: Content If you want to make sure that your message gets through to an audience, consider taking a lesson from the great marketers. They settle on a catchphrase and repeat it over and over, hoping to penetrate the public’s mind. Many great speakers do the same thing. One of the great recent advertising [...]
By Joey Asher Category: Content, Practice In the late 1800s, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto observed that 20 percent of the peapods in his garden yielded 80 percent of the peas. He also noted that 80 percent of the land in Italy was owned by 20 percent of the population. So was born the “Pareto Principle,” [...]
By Joey Asher Category: Content, Practice There’s an interesting book out called “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking.” In the book, author Susan Cain explains how today’s world overvalues extroverts and undervalues introverts. And certainly extroverts get lots of credit for being natural speakers. But in my experience, introverts [...]
By Joey Asher Category: Tips from Celebrities "Hair is the first thing. And teeth is the second. Hair and teeth. A man got those two things, he's got it all." Those are the words of the Godfather of Soul, the recently departed James Brown. And while he probably wasn’t talking about public speaking, to our mind [...]
By Joey Asher Category: Networking, Body Energy, Voice Energy I was at a seated holiday dinner party this week and decided to play one of my favorite games. It's called, "How long can I get my dinner partner to talk by asking one question?" I think I set a personal record. I asked one question. [...]
By Joey Asher Category: Tips from Celebrities With the holiday networking season upon us, I'm reminded of a lesson I learned from Jimmy Carter on how to connect with people. As a cub reporter 26 years ago at The Times in Gainesville, Ga., I had the opportunity to interview Carter. He had been out of the [...]
By Joey Asher Category: Content As we embrace the spirit of Thanksgiving, let’s take a moment, on behalf of listeners everywhere, to give thanks to great presenters. Thank for you for taking a position rather than simply presenting both sides of the issue and making me decide. As a listener, I like to be led. I [...]
