The Trouble with Keynotes In the early days of On Point, I was invited to give the keynote address that kicked off a 3-day entrepreneurship event. I had a month to prepare and was given a time limit of 30-45 minutes. I may have mentioned in previous posts that I have four children… who are oftentimes my best (and worst) critics when I’m rehearsing a talk. I don’t exactly have large blocks of time to rehearse a 45-minute talk three times in one day. And I know you don’t either. Keynotes and TED talks are unique. Often, slides are frowned…

There’s a reason the On Point logo is an equilateral triangle. It’s because a triangle is the best “visual aid” when it comes to teaching and learning message mastery. One of the slides in my workshop presentations looks like this. The Rhetorical Triangle sets the stage for every messaging project: This 3-part blog post series digs into the “Speaker-Audience-Message” of the above triangle. Each component must be thoughtfully considered before message mastery is possible. In today’s post, we begin with “S for Speaker.” 1) Who Should The Speaker Be? Sometimes a team needs to choose who will pitch, present, instruct,…

Like it? Share it. Help people leave better voicemails. Then, start receiving better voicemails. Last week, my colleague Sam said, “By the way, you leave the best voicemails. You should teach people how to do that better.” Here goes. Voicemail is branding – personal branding. When you call to leave a voicemail, you’re either maximizing or squandering that branding opportunity. Voicemail: To Leave, or Not to Leave?   Why I Chose to Leave Sam a Voicemail In unique circumstances, voicemail makes sense. I’d traded e-mails with Sam on something time sensitive. He was helping me network…

Since developing the Story Log tool, feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Clients and workshop attendees have shared consistently how much they value this simple tool. But what is it? How was it created? Well of course, there’s a short story behind that… Harry Potter … and The Story Log? My daughter attends a school where the leadership program is modeled after the Harry Potter system of “houses” (e.g. Gryffindor). Like student council, only way more fun. Each house tries to acquire the most points to win the big end of year prize. In junior high, they learn the ropes of…

As a public speaking coach, sometimes I get to see my clients in action, but not often. They’re in various cities pitching investors. Or competing at city- or state-wide Challenge Weekends. Giving keynotes or sales presentations. Occasionally I get to see a recording, and at the very least, I hear their feedback. But today was rare. Today I was in the audience, and wow, did Sarah shine. She had a true “Mastery Moment.” After presenting, she definitely left the building with “that feeling” – the feeling I want everyone to have from the stage – that “I nailed it!” feeling.…