On August 9, 1940, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, published a memorandum titled “Brevity.” In this one-page document, he urged all officials to write shorter reports. This memorandum has never aged. What exactly did Churchill include in this document? Here is Churchill’s memorandum “Brevity”: —— …
What is anadiplosis? It is a rhetorical device that is all about beginning a sentence or line with the last word of the preceding sentence or line. I will give you an example: “The market was filled with uncertainty. Uncertainty created hesitation. Hesitation led to missed opportunities. Opportunities, when seized, …
What happened to the words YES, NO, I DON’T KNOW – that they are becoming less and less common in discussions of all kinds? How not to communicate? I must admit, this has gone too far. Every radio interview I’ve listened to recently sounds something like this: Question: Do you …
I get this question in every other training session I conduct. But before I give you my answer, I have a question for you. Which option would you choose in response to the question: How many slides should a good presentation have?A. Fewer than 5B. Between 5 and 15C. No …
When I think about passion in the world of presentations, the words of Carmine Gallo (author of several great books on communication, including Talk Like TED) come to mind: “Passion is everything. You cannot inspire others unless you are inspired yourself.” This is the essence of passion. Passion is the …
I’ve spoken many times at various events, training sessions, and conferences about the importance of pauses in presentations. Yet, I still feel that for most speakers, silence is seen as the enemy. They think every second must be filled with some kind of sound—this is why, in so many presentations, …
It is rare for a book release to become an event in itself. But that is precisely the case with this book. Say It Well: Find Your Voice, Speak Your Mind, Inspire Any Audience by Terry Szuplat is the first book in 20 years written by a former White House …
Were the greatest masters of communication born with talent, or did they develop their skills? The secret to communication mastery – new insights after a stay in the USA. I just returned from a two-week stay in New York, where I conducted a series of workshops for NBCUniversal, one of …
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication – Leonardo da Vinci is said to have once stated or written. Although there is no evidence that he actually expressed this thought, the wisdom it contains is worthy of the Renaissance master himself. Steve Jobs referred to this idea when designing his products and …
To many communication experts I have the opportunity to speak with, I ask the same question: which speech do you think is better: Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech or Steve Jobs’ speech at Stanford University? Some lean towards King, others towards Jobs. There’s no definitive answer to …
