The new book by Chris Anderson, TED: Guide to Public Speaking (Houghton Mifflin, 2016), rocketed to the #3 position in its debut week on the Wall Street Journal best-selling hardcover business list, published on May 21-22 (p. C14). We rely on the New York Times business best-seller list as our primary source for selecting books… Read More Anderson’s TED Book Has Strong Debut
I look forward to some future month at the First Friday Book Synopsis in Dallas for a presentation on a new best-seller, Talk Like TED: The Nine Public Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2014), written by Carmine Gallo. The book debuted this week at #6 on The Wall Street Journal… Read More Be Like TED – The New Carmine Gallo Best-Seller for the FFBS
I was reading this article, Is a Science Ph.D. a Waste of Time?: Don’t feel too sorry for graduate students. It’s worth it, by Daniel Lametti, and this grabbed my attention: Even the Economist, despite its disdain for “pointless” Ph.D.s, likes to hire scientists. As the ad for their science-writing internship reads, “Our aim is… Read More Expertise + Soft Skills (especially Communication Skills) = Path to Success
There are some great messages – delivered, unfortunately, to the wrong audiences. Be sure to connect to your audience; this audience, the audience in front of your eyeballs. In one of the great pieces of advice from a rhetorical theorist (he used a much more academic term), a speaker should always be very intentional about… Read More Your Communication Tip of the Day – Be Sure to “Read the Room”
“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” Winston Churchill “You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: victory.” Winston Churchill “And that’s the way it is.” Walter Cronkite —————- Many famous people are buried beneath Westminster Abbey. But, at Westminster Abbey, there is one plaque, prominenty on… Read More From Winston Churchill and Walter Cronkite – Your Communication Tips of the Day
I’ve never watched Breaking Bad. Barely heard of it (though, I have heard the lead actor interviewed twice in recent days). But here is an article about how it nearly did not ever get off the ground, by the creator, Vince Gilligan: I Almost Broke Bad: The creator of the award-winning Breaking Bad explains how his show… Read More Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking Bad, with the Presentation Tutorial of the Day
(First, a confession. I’m not much of a fan of Powerpoint. I seldom use it (actually, I prefer Keynote), and when I do, it is mostly images, and mostly to introduce my speech/presentation. So, take this as criticism from one who is not a fan). Here is the deal. You should speak to your audience. … Read More Never Speak with your Back to the Audience – One of Three Use-of-Powerpoint Suggestions
I am a big fan of Farhad Manjoo. He is the Slate.com technology writer, and he has a great gift for writing about technology in language that Luddites like me can understand. But this time, he left out some really important material… His most recent offering is a short video. Where he misses me is… Read More Get Better At Public Speaking — Farhad Manjoo Helps A Little, But Nowhere Near Enough
We’ve all sat through boring and ultimately time-wasting presentations. So, when we hear a good presentation, it feels like manna from heaven. I’ve written about speaking and presentation skills frequently on this blog. (My most viewed post was: 2 Ways To Guarantee a Failed Presentation). Recently, I found a great – I mean really, really… Read More Present Like Steve Jobs – Insight from Carmine Gallo (with video)
To deliver a good, effective presentation, you have to have something to say, and then you have to say it very well. (Read my post 2 Ways to Guarantee a Failed Presentation). So, let’s assume that you have something worthwhile to say. You have prepared well, you are confident that this presentation will be worthwhile… Read More The “advance decision making” approach to speaking
First Friday Book Synopsis 