Your Virtual Presentation—It’s Not A Lullaby

Listen to the audio version of this post here.   You see a lot these days about “Zoom fatigue.” Staring at that screen all day, meeting after meeting. It wears us out. I wrote about the reasons our eyes glaze over in those sessions, back when virtual meetings still felt a little bit fresh and…

Going To Work Where?

Listen to the audio version of this post here.   With all the talk about opening up again, there are still a lot of questions about where and how we’ll be doing our work. There does seem to be agreement on one thing: work is not going to look the way it did before COVID-19.…

It’s Not Optional

Listen to the audio version of this post here.   “I’m not versed in public speaking.” We’ve seen this a lot lately. Somebody says something somewhere. Somebody else is offended. Controversy ensues. Exhibit A: Louis Vuitton’s Artistic Director for Menswear. No, I’m not a fashionista either – I couldn’t tell you much about Louis Vuitton…

Don’t Go Down In A Hail Of Bullets

PowerPoint has been around for more than 30 years now. For much of that time, expert speakers have been encouraging us to use it more creatively and effectively than the engineers who designed it to show information to each other. Include more images, they tell us. And fewer words. Ditch distracting special effects. And for…

When Audience Participation Goes Sideways …

You’ve probably run into one of those people who treats audience participation as a chance to hold forth. They present a challenge for a speaker, don’t they? This question arrived in my in-box from an HR expert: “During my presentation, I paused to ask questions and opinions. I like getting some conversation going instead of…