Tag Archives: hands
Speakipedia Podcast # 16:
Speakipedia Podcast # 11:
Will Bowen
Transcription Dave Bricker (00:06) Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speakipedia Media, brought to you by Speakipedia .com. I’m your host, Dave Bricker, bringing you straight talk and smart strategies from visionary … More ☛
Speakipedia Podcast #10:
Johann Callaghan
Dave Bricker (00:01) Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speakipedia Media brought to you by speakipedia .com. I’m your host, Dave Bricker, bringing you straight talk and smart strategies from visionary … More ☛
Speakipedia Podcast # 9:
David H. Lawrence the XVII
Transcript Dave Bricker (00:01) Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speakypedia Media brought to you by Speakypedia .com. I’m your host, Dave Bricker, bringing you straight talk and smart strategies from … More ☛
Nonfiction Writing and the One-sided Sales Conversation
Business, technology, and how-to books can be viewed as one-sided sales conversations. Though the author may hope to sell products or services, what’s usually being sold directly to the reader is an idea—a strategy or philosophy that can be used … More ☛
Rethinking Book Cover Design
Book cover design tells the story of the story. It must convey the spirit and intentions of the author authentically, and it also has a few practical chores to perform. If a book cover design is to accomplish these things … More ☛
Writing Ergonomics: Avoiding Injury at Your Desk
This article explores ergonomic solutions to writers’ repetitive stress problems. As static as it may seem, writing is a physically demanding endeavor. I’ve spent decades sitting in a chair staring at a screen, tapping on a keyboard. During that time, … More ☛
Book Cover Design: Judging a Book by its Cover – Part 2
Part 1 of Book Cover Design: Judging a Book by its Cover critiqued “professional” covers taken from Amazon’s Editor’s choice list. Read that article first as it provides background for this one. The article looked at design elements that worked … More ☛
Book Cover Typefaces and Cover Design Horror Stories
I recently responded to a question in a writers’ forum from an author who was in the process of designing a cover for her novel set in a swamp in New Orleans. “I chose a ‘swampy’ font that hangs down … More ☛
Straight Talk About Book Reviews
Book reviews are critically important. Have you ever read a book hoping it would get better, only to find that it never did? And how do you tell if an independently published book is any good? So many are poorly … More ☛
Book Design Basics Part 3: Running The Numbers
Part 3 of Book Design Basics explores better ways to present numbers on your pages. Numbers (called figures) look simple at first glance, but they present interesting typesetting challenges. Many digital typefaces offer several number styles but few designers know … More ☛
Runny Noses, Sunspots and Thesis Writing
Thesis writing is one of the purest forms of self-publishing. In my work as a professor, I regularly encountered students who got “stuck” while writing their thesis papers. A good framework for developing, presenting and supporting a well-developed thesis reveals … More ☛
Stop Picking on POD
A great technology is getting a bad rap for the wrong reasons. Print On Demand (POD) technology is often mislabeled “Publish On Demand,” which consequently associates it with the Vanity Publishing world; a realm inhabited by a few reputable operators and a large number of scammers waiting to prey on naive writers. While it’s true most Vanity Publishers do rely on POD technology, the majority of reputable self-publishers and many small traditional publishers do, too. POD is entirely disconnected from matters related to whether you own your own ISBN numbers, share rights and royalties with a third party, own your cover artwork or choose one distribution chain over another. It’s just a digital book-manufacturing technology. After all the business arrangements are decided on, a file is sent to a POD printer and books are then manufactured to order in quantities as small as a single book. POD is just a printing technology—and it’s a great one.
More ☛Synecdoche
Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa. It is often used for poetic effect to give a more profound, concise, or expansive quality to ordinary speech or writing. … More ☛
Speakipedia Podcast #8: Maureen Mahoney
Transcript Dave Bricker (00:05) Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speakipedia Media brought to you by Speakipedia .com. I’m your host, Dave Bricker, bringing you straight talk and smart strategies from … More ☛
Speakipedia Podcast #7:
Kelly Swanson
Transcript Dave Bricker (00:07) Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speakipedia Media brought to you by speakipedia .com. I’m your host, Dave Bricker, bringing you straight talk and smart strategies from visionary … More ☛
Speakipedia Podcast #6
Fabio Marques
Dave Bricker (00:02) This is Speakipedia Media brought to you by speakipedia.com. Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? I’m your host, Dave Bricker, bringing you straight talk and smart strategies from visionary … More ☛
Take the CUSS Out of Customer Service!
Everyone thinks they know what good customer service is. We’ve all had bad customer service—a waiter who won’t bring the check or an Internet company that can’t keep a four-hour appointment window. But good customer service means more than … More ☛
Speakipedia Podcast #5:
Neal Petersen
Transcript Dave Bricker (00:06) This is Speakipedia Media brought to you by Speakipedia .com. Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? I’m your host, Dave Bricker, bringing you straight talk and smart strategies from visionary … More ☛
Speakipedia Podcast # 4:
Rosemary Ravinal
Transcript Dave Bricker (00:07) Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speakipedia Media brought to you by Speakipedia .com. I’m your MC, Dave Bricker, bringing you straight talk and smart strategies from … More ☛
Speakipedia Podcast #3:
Scott Lesnick
Transcript Dave Bricker (00:06) Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speakipedia Media brought to you by Speakipedia .com. I’m your emcee Dave Bricker, bringing you straight talk and smart strategies from … More ☛
Speakipedia Podcast #2:
Kay Allison
Transcript Dave Bricker (00:07) Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speakipedia Media brought to you by Speakipedia.com. I’m your emcee Dave Bricker bringing you straight talk and smart strategies from visionary … More ☛
Speakipedia Podcast #1:
Bruce Turkel
Transcript Dave Bricker (00:06) Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speakipedia Media brought to you by speakipedia .com. I’m your MC Dave Bricker bringing you straight talk and smart strategies … More ☛
Public Speaking Dynamics: Speak With Your Face
Speaking involves so much more than your voice. Hand gestures, body language, stage positioning, and facial expressions all play an important role in making a speech engaging. Let’s talk about that last one. Here’s an example. “My sister called … More ☛
Every Sailor Runs Aground Sooner or Later
Every sailor runs aground sooner or later! How do you know if a speaker really brings the experience they claim to? I was sailing along through clear turquoise water over a pure white sand bottom. A jagged line of … More ☛
Famous Speeches: Patrick Henry “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death”
(366 words) Patrick Henry gave his famous speech to the Second Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775, at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, which convinced the convention to muster troops for the Revolutionary War. According to Edmund Randolph, the … More ☛
Famous Speeches: John F. Kennedy “Inaugural Address”
(378 words) In his 1961 inaugural address, John F. Kennedy challenged America to join him in the struggle for freedom during the Cold War. Nearly a million people braved freezing temperatures to see the new President. The issues of the … More ☛
Who’s Your Meeting Monitor?
What is a meeting monitor? One of my colleagues and I jokingly refer to that role as “the meeting monster.” When presenting virtually, the speaker all too often ends up arriving early, welcoming guests into the session, explaining the guidelines … More ☛
Famous Speeches: Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address”
Abraham Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg address has been recorded by numerous orators over the years, including Orson Welles, but few of these works suggest that the speakers did anything more than read with conviction. How do you reconstruct a speech that … More ☛
Speaking Vocabulary
Words and Terms related to speaking and speechwriting: Adynaton [ad-uh-NAY-ton]: A form of hyperbole in which the exaggeration is so extreme as to be impossible “You will sooner find a donkey flying than see me agree to that deal.” Allegory … More ☛
What Should I Do with My Hands When I Speak?
What should I do with my hands when I speak? The first way to answer this is to consider what you shouldn’t do with your hands. Sometimes nervous energy “bleeds” into our hands and we don’t even know it. We … More ☛
Speaking Tip: Don’t Leave the Stage Until the Clapping Stops
Don’t Leave the Stage Until the Clapping Stops. I’ve done it. Most experienced professionals have done it. (sounds of applause) Thanks but I don’t need all that attention. I just gave my talk. That’s what I do. Really … you’re … More ☛
News Flash! Virtual Backgrounds Don’t Work
Virtual backgrounds for on-screen meetings are very popular. Why not hide that messy bedroom and look like you’re in a conference room, sitting under the aurora borealis, or sunning yourself on a beach in Tahiti? Here are a few reasons: … More ☛
What to Do with Your Hands When You Speak
What should we do with our hands when we speak? If you’re one of those people who talk with your hands, just be yourself. Some speakers like to bring their hands to rest in a position of offering, with palms … More ☛
Speechwriting: Anaphora
Anaphora is the repetition of a phrase to drive home the impact of a speech. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. used anaphora to great effect in several parts of his famous “I have a dream” speech. Here are a few … More ☛
Engage and Educate with Interactivity
Over the years I’ve spent speaking, I’ve developed special ways to explain a variety of concepts. I’ve written books, created beautiful slides, and shared a number of workshops. But as clearly as I’ve mapped out my messages, I’ve discovered only … More ☛
Hiding Behind the Microphone (Beware the Mic Drop)
I watched a wedding guest who’d been asked to deliver a toast. As he spoke, the microphone drifted slowly down toward his stomach. If you’re uncomfortable speaking, and especially if amplifying your voice also amplifies your nerves, watch out for … More ☛
What is “Dynamic Speaking?”
We often hear about “dynamic speaking,” but what does that mean? The dictionary defines “dynamics” as “the forces or properties which stimulate growth, development, or change within a system or process.” Essentially, “dynamics” means “change,” and if you want your … More ☛
Real Estate and Storytelling
Maria, a realtor attended one of my storytelling workshops at the suggestion of a mutual friend. “What does storytelling have to do with real estate?” she asked before the session started. Tell me about a property you’re excited about,” I … More ☛
You Can Keep Your Business Cards
I was talking with a friend at a business networking event when a man came plowing through the crowd doling out business cards as if he were handing out candy on Halloween. After the most cursory of introductions, he put … More ☛
Confirmation Bias: Storytelling at Your front Door
We give more weight to evidence that supports what we like—a phenomenon called, “confirmation bias.” Belief is often based as much on what we want to be true as on what we determine to be true through direct observation. Data, … More ☛
Storytelling and Your Mission Statement
Anyone who questions the relationship between business and storytelling need look no farther than the humble corporate mission statement. The goal of this article is to teach the value of storytelling so you can develop engaging mission statements that … More ☛
The Virtuoso, the Teacher, & the Centipede
One Sunday morning not long after I had been introduced to sailing, I was enjoying a cup of coffee in the cockpit of my friend Strider’s boat. The sounds of rustling canvas alerted me to watch a bronzed man on … More ☛
Be an Effective Storyteller. Try Story Listening
Storytelling is a powerful tool, but no one ever talks about story listening. Have you ever been with a friend, family member, client, or colleague and assumed they were thinking and feeling something completely different from what they actually were? … More ☛
Stuck in the Wrong Story? Need a Bigger Bucket?
Getting stuck in the wrong story can feel productive, but it traps us in conflict and prevents us from reaching our meaningful goals. I was sitting in the cockpit of my sailboat one evening when I spied a small … More ☛
Problem-Solving & Storytelling: Understand Their Story
Use storytelling for problem-solving. Think about the various stories involved in a conflict and plot a course for resolution. Seen through the StorySailing™ spyglass, a story is analogous to the voyage of a sailboat across the rocky, stormy seas of … More ☛
Public Speaking Tip: Speechcrafting Goes Beyond Speechwriting
Speechcrafting is a special discipline of which speechwriting is but a single element. The effective speechcrafting professional understands the art of narrative and also the power of stagecraft—timing, pauses, dynamics, gestures. Eloquent words delivered by a lackluster presenter will miss … More ☛
Public Speaking Tip: Use Your Full Speaking Range
Speaking range is as important to a presentation as musical range is to performance. Actors refer to the combination of body and voice as an “instrument.” A piano has an eight-octave range of pitch, and the piano was originally named … More ☛