Winter Voice Care
Regularly use your voice at work? If your voice tires frequently, or you’re experiencing seasonal laryngitis, here are some tips on keeping your voice in tip-top shape:
Make Memories by Using Stories
Last week I attended the Women’s Business Conference held by the National Association of Women Business Owners. There is tremendous sponsorship by very large corporations for this conference, and the speakers they sponsored were visionary leaders and “doers” at the highest levels. At this stage in my career, I respect better-than-average business leaders, yet I’m not readily impressed with the better-than-average business leader. What impresses me are the remarkable leaders, the highly intentional visionaries, the humble and resolute leaders. I was delighted to meet and listen to several such leaders. While I heard plenty of facts and figures, statistics and lessons, I would have to consult my notes for all of those interesting and important details.
You know what I’ve retained in my brain that I will use over and over again? Their stories! I learned about resilience and strength from
Steps to Giving a Winning Speech
Giving a great speech is never easy, but often quite fun. Speaking can be a frightening thing for most people, and once you learn how to channel that anxiety, the world can open up for you. Whether you’re giving a short speech during a monthly meeting, training routine information, or giving a presentation that promotes you or your business, what you say and how you say it can help you get noticed and be influential. Here are five tips that will make a big difference in your presentation style.
Nixing Public Speaking Nerves
“I can hear my heart pounding in my ears, my mouth feels like it could dispense cotton balls at any moment, my hands get cold and clammy, and I’m dead certain everybody within ten feet can hear my knees knocking together.”
What Does Your Voice Say About You?
Creaky Voice What’s that creaking sound? Oh, it’s your voice! You probably haven’t even noticed you are speaking that way because everyone around you is speaking like that, too. “Vocal fry,” as medical professionals call it, is becoming a growing phenomenon in the United States, especially among young women. It is characterized as, “irregular vibrations in the vocal cords”. Many experts believe that vocal fry began in pop culture and thus has become a “cool” trend in speaking styles. However “trendy” vocal fry might make you sound, it has been proven to leave nothing but negative effects.
A recent study conducted by Duke University researchers and published in the journal of PLoS ONE found that not only can vocal fry cause damage to your vocal cords but it is actually perceived as less professional, and can affect the likelihood of an employer’s decision to […]
Toasts To Remember
Wedding season is upon us. The summer air is perfect for weddings and that means toasts to the happy couple! Are you a best man, maid of honor, or a parent that raised the bride or groom? Then get ready to brush up on your public speaking skills because you will be writing your toast before you know it! Speaking in front of a whole banquet hall full of people may seem overwhelming, but a few helpful tips might go a long way:
- Start with a story – something you remember and would be fun for all guests to hear.
- Keep the story short – no more than 1 minute (about 225 words)
- Try humor if you are funny. If you’re not, don’t try to be (it usually doesn’t work well). If you do use humor, keep it clean!
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Power Pose
Body language affects how others see us, and it may also affect how we see ourselves. Social psyhcologist Amy Cuddy shows how “power pose” — standing in a posture of confidence for 2 minutes — can raise testosterone levels (your hormone that generates confidence), and lower cortisol levels (your stress hormone), and positively impact our performance and success.
The 7 Elements of Quality Content
When it comes to presentations, content is king. If you don’t have meaningful, interesting content, you might as well shut off your PowerPoint and read directly from historiography textbook. When developing and creating your content, there are 7 key features should guide your language and information.
Voice Conservation – Fighting the Winter Chill
Coughing from a cold can be very harmful to the voice. A "silent cough" technique can be easily taught to prevent the trauma from coughing.
Memorable or Forgettable: Which will you be?
What We Forget: Personal names, business names, job titles, job 
descriptions
What We Remember: Pain! Vivid images of pain! Feelings of discomfort!
So if you want your self-introduction to be memorable to get a qualified lead, you need to show people in 60 seconds or less what sort of pain your typical clients experience and how your business offerings ease that pain.
Give people names, titles, markets and job descriptions and they’ll forget you. But paint a picture of how you alleviate your clients discomfort and they’ll remember you!