If you pay closer attention, you’ll find insight and inspiration everywhere you go. As a blogger, I’m always on the look-out for interesting people and ideas. Sometimes my topics come to me simply by driving to a friend’s house for dinner (read my last week’s blog), or while networking with cool people (read my blog on Scope [read more]
When I speak to groups of job seekers, I often remind them that the interview actually starts way before the scheduled time. If you are driving to a location for the interview, your interview starts the moment you get in the car and begin driving. If you are interviewing via telephone, the interview starts a few [read more]
Save BIG on Black Friday. Then do it again online on Cyber Monday. Once again, it’s that crazy time of year when consumers get sucked into buying things that they don’t need (but think they do), and then rationalizing the purchases as great money saving opportunities. The advertising and promotion is heavy this year and [read more]
I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling a little on edge about this presidential election. In my body, I sense physical symptoms of anxiety arising from uncertainty and fear of the future. For weeks now, I’ve been glued to the news, live streaming TV interviews, reading newspaper articles, even listening to audio books on biographies of the [read more]
I was thinking about what costume I would wear for this year’s Halloween holiday when a clever idea came to me. Scope Creep – you know that really terrifying boogie monster that wreaks havoc on so many teams and organizations in Corporate America and around the world? It’s the little monster that lies dormant in our [read more]
I’m a stickler for having a “speaker intro” as part of your professional tool kit. This tool is not just reserved for celebrities or professional speakers who get paid for speeches. It is an essential marketing tool for professionals who give presentations as part of their job….whether for internal meetings, organizational events, industry conferences, community [read more]
INTERRUPTING: Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Is it a communication misdemeanor, or a clever strategy to dominate the conversation? Does it foster productive conversations, or does it lead to arguments, distrust, and disrespect? We’ve certainly seen a lot of interrupting lately in the Presidential debate series. The Vice Presidential debate held on October 4th was also [read more]
People often ask me if it’s possible to over-prepare for a speech or presentation. They worry that they’ll come off canned, too scripted, too stiff, or that they might lose some of their spontaneous charisma. How do I answer their concerns? I tell them that preparation is essential to any successful presentation, especially if it’s [read more]
With current workplace trends in casual dress and working remotely, it’s sometimes difficult to pull yourself together in a more professional way. For example, right now, I’m wearing summer shorts, a Stanford University tank top, I’m barefoot, my hair is a mess, and I’m wearing absolutely no makeup. I feel great, and I’m being productive in my [read more]
It was a close one. I almost tripped and fell into a presentation pitfall. I knew about this pitfall, having written about it in a blog article in 2011. Yet I walked blindly toward it. What was I thinking? Here’s the back story: I was preparing materials for an upcoming half-day workshop on advanced networking skills for [read more]
