Contact Speechworks: 404.266.0888|1117 Perimeter Center West, Suite W307 Atlanta, GA 30338 [New Address as of 10/30!]
TwitterGoogle+FacebookYoutubeLinkedin

What Do I Do with My Hands?

By Joey Asher Category: Body Energy One of the most common questions I get is:  “What do I do with my hands?” To which I say: “Forget about your hands. If you’re engaging your audience with a strong message and energy, no one will notice your gestures.” I understand why people are worried about [...]

Instead of Trying to be Funny, Try to Keep it Light

By Joey Asher Category: Content “Can you teach me how to be funny?” That’s a question I get a lot. And the answer is “No”. But I can teach you to keep it light. And for most business settings, that’s better than being funny. Being Funny is Hard in A Business Setting In a workshop [...]

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 [...]

Can You “Answer that Question” in One Sentence?

By Joey Asher Category: Q&A On the classic game show “Name that Tune”, contestants would compete to name a popular song in as few a notes a possible.  We’d like to see a business world version of that game called “Answer that Question.” In this game, contestants must answer the question in as few sentences [...]

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, [...]

How Does the 80-20 Rule Apply to Presentations?

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,” [...]

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

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 [...]

Public Speaking Advice from James Brown

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 [...]

Load More Posts