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Browse published articles attributed to Terry Gault, with full-archive search.
What does it mean to connect? In computer terms, a “connection” occurs when we are joined with others through a communication link. To connect with your customers and colleagues is to join with them in a shared experience. It involves sharing ideas and information by coming ...
Why do you make presentations? Is it your idea? An assignment? A necessity? Part of your job? Of course there must be a reason for each presentation: to sell...to educate...to motivate. But to what kind of audience? To your boss? To an audience of a thousand people? Or maybe to one very ...
"Everything in life cannot be grasped by the logic-centered left brain." D.T.Suzuki Sometimes you need more than your own dynamic self to get your message across. Just standing there and talking is not very creative and not much of a strategy. You might be a great speaker or think you’re ...
Dialogue: Its Component Parts The first step in dialogue is balancing Advocacy and Inquiry. Instead of making statements about what we believe, begin asking questions about what others believe. This is in accord with a principle articulated by Saint Francis and popularized by Stephen ...
We’ve all heard that less is more, but not when applied to the frenetic, fact-filled culture of today. Today we are constantly bombarded with information, junk, information, junk information. There’s little "free space" left – with advertising embedded on the shopping cart, ...
Imagine a classroom, then imagine thirty children sitting still and quiet. Imagine these children imagining loving kindness on the playground. The peaceful ring of a Tibetan singing bowl – no shouting, no laughing, no airbo e paper objects. In a New York Times article by Patricia Leigh ...
Tremendous subtlety of meaning is conveyed by voice. Not just nuance and emotional context, but basic meaning of words varies according to vocal inflection.nnThe words you choose to speak serve as platforms from which your tone of voice creates meaning. Tone of voice creates meaning. Think of how tone of voice can change the meaning of a sentence:nn“You are going to do this for me.”nnThis sentence can be phrased to be:nnAn angry demand:nn You are going to do this
"Dishonesty is sanitized in a world of spin." The title of this Leonard Pitts’ column, written for the Miami-Herald in 2007, tells us what we probably already know: that what we see (and what we hear) in today’s world is not necessarily what we get. Because on the other side of ...
Feedback is the primary tool we use to help bring more awareness to our dialogue. As far back as Norbert Wiener’s pioneering work on computation systems in the 1950’s, feedback was a critical topic. It was defined as the ability of a machine to use the results of its own performance ...
The Power of the Present and Practice in Baseball and Presentation I recently came across an op-ed article in the New York Times by David Brooks that struck me as significant for the art of presenting. In his piece, Brooks examines “The Mental ABC’s of Pitching” by the ...
Tremendous subtlety of meaning is conveyed by voice. Not just nuance and emotional context, but basic meaning of words varies according to vocal inflection. The words you choose to speak serve as platforms from which your tone of voice creates meaning. Tone of voice creates meaning. Think of ...
Have you ever noticed that the the most charismatic people all share something in common? If you think of the most likable person in your group of friends, or the most charismatic politician you can think of, or your most memorable teacher, odds are that the thing they have in common: the ...
When an eager young person, perhaps a recent college graduate, applies for a job, will they mention their MySpace page? Or their Facebook entry? Probably not, but those sites can be checked, regardless of whether or not they’ve added them to their resume, application or(for some reason) ...
One client approached during a workshop and asked me, “Terry, you are telling me to demonstrate more power and authority with greater volume AND you are telling me to be authentic. That feels like a contradiction to me. Can you help me with that?”Having heard variations of this ...
While fear pervades many aspects of business, presentations consistently drive it to exquisitely high levels. We use the term "presentation" to include any important one-on-one meeting, small group discussions around a table, or speaking before an audience of thousands. nnWe are talking about a particular kind of fear. Some fear helps motivate you to divert time from the pounding surf of your daily schedule and prepare for your presentation. There comes a point for most of us
Who doesn’t love a story?! Whether it’s ours or theirs, fiction or non-fiction? Who doesn’t want to be drawn in and captivated? From the days of humans exchanging tales around a flickering cave fire to watching today’s widescree TV, storytelling as a way of embellishing ...
n the beginning...it all seems like chaos. Your thoughts, your mind, what you want to get across, what you want to tell your audience. To create an effective presentation, you must create order out of this chaos. The ancient Babylonians portrayed chaos as the dragon-like Tamat, the Chaos ...
"Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn’t the work he is supposed to be doing at the moment." Robert Benchley Procrastination. We are all guilty of that particular vice. Don’t do it. Take the first step in preparing your presentation. Force yourself onto the chair and get ...
We present to shift the audience's perspective. We want to sell...we want to educate...we want to motivate. None of this can happen until you awaken your audience and get their attention. How to awaken your audience: • Surprise them. • Attention is captured by the ...
How customers view you or your products is garnered by a framework of assumptions, stories and images in their minds. If you really want to influence someone, your first task is to understand how they think. An individual’s perspective on the world can be identified and ...
The first step in receiving another’s message is your presence, both mentally and in your actions. Presence influences as well as words. Intense relaxed attention focused on another literally pulls them to a higher level of participation. Practice clearing your mind to:nn- Develop a ...
What are the benefits of influence?nn- Increase your ability to shape someone’s behavior when you do not have direct control of them.nn- Gather better data while building ongoing relationships in sales, consulting, and in any businessnnenvironment.nn- Motivate others when involved in ...
Interactive communication or dialogue refers to interacting in ways that build shared meaning, rather than colliding in ways that foster disagreement, frustration and confusion. Dialogue is a subtle process that may be difficult to understand, and even more difficult to actually ...
In the event of a crisis or a disaster, and if you happen to be the manager of a company facing that crisis or disaster, it’s best to be mentally prepared. Crises can happen any time. Just like they can in our personal lives. And like our own individual preparedness for disaster, a good ...
Little says more about you to those with whom you interact with than how you answer their questions. Some people show annoyance when a question derails their monologue. Their body language reflects the thought, “why is this person interrupting?” A question indicates interest in ...
Naming your fearful thoughts In many primitive societies, there is a naming myth. It revolves around the belief that if you call a demon by its name, it can no longer hurt you. Perhaps this is a metaphor for the power of language, or just a useful problem solving technique. One way of getting ...
AWAKEN YOUR AUDIENCEnnWe present to shift the audience’s perspective. We want to sell…we want to educate...we want to motivate. nnNone of this can happen until you awaken your audience and get their attention.nnHow to awaken your audience:nn• Surprise them. nn• Attention is captured by the unusual. nn• Do Something Different!nnWhen the audience knows what you are about to say, or how you are about to say it, they’re ahead of you. Gradually