Several years ago, I helped judge a college speech contest. The reason I remember that event specifically is because of a memorable student I met there named Rodrigo, from Brazil. After doing well in the contest, Rodrigo approached me to ask for help with his speaking. “I already have done a lot of public speaking…
As I wrote in an earlier post, research has shed light on how people (including your audiences) form those all-important first impressions. The two questions they are looking to answer, in this order, are “Can I trust this person?” and “Can I respect this person?” In this post, I focus on the first question. By…
All too often, when I experience someone’s presentation – especially a technical one – I see that the presenter and the audience simply are not connecting. There can be any number of reasons for a failure to connect, but most of the time it boils down to this: the presenter has disregarded his or her…
Why seek to improve the way we write and speak? One reason that is often cited is to make a good first impression. But what does that mean, exactly? What are first impressions based on? It turns out, we have a research-based answer to that question. Harvard social psychologist Amy Cuddy, in her book, Presence, says…