Speechworks

To be an effective speaker, you first have to be a good listener. 👂

It's a cardinal rule. 🔑

Without listening, you may get lucky with a Hail Mary 🏈 , but...

It's much more likely that you'll miss the mark ❌ and leave your audience with unanswered questions. 😕

So, while preparing for your next presentation or discussion, take the time to listen and consider the listeners' goals and challenges -- 💡
...and THEN frame your approach to address your objective from your listeners' perspective.

🌟 In homage to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice 31 years last weekend, I wanted to share a quote from this wise and effective communicator:

"I'm a very strong believer in listening and learning from others."

- Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Feedback lessons from a design consultant -- and evidently a "back pocket trick" in the industry to:

✅ Help orient each party to consider the perspective of the other; and
✅ Guide a constructive discussion to shine light on the INTENDED message (without the distraction of reactive defensiveness).

I like... 👍
I wish...🌟
I wonder... 🤔

💥💥 This is NOT the misguided approach💥💥

Having a "go-to" approach to for delivering a message is 🔑 to helping you articulate your ideas - and intent - clearly.

Enjoy! (7 min listen)

A Clear and Transformative Tool To Give Feedback with Jenn Maer "When you leap to the negative it doesn't help anybody."

Ever felt like your passion gets lost in the formality of a business presentation?

We get it. We've all received the memo that to be taken seriously in business, we should be a more serious, muted version of ourselves.

But, we disagree.

When we cloak our personalities with "serious" (AKA - "boring") -- we mask the wonderful qualities that SHOW that we care... and that we are invested...in the conversation and outcome....

If we fail to convey to our listeners that we care and that we are invested -- how can we expect our audience to buy in?

Here's the secret: Bring the intensity of a heart-to-heart chat to your next pitch or talk.

Imagine you're at dinner with your closest friend, chatting fervently about something you love.

That's the vibe we're after!

So, how do you bridge the gap between friend-mode and business-mode?

It's all about 1️⃣ eye contact 👀 and 2️⃣ making the decision 🤔 to bring great energy!

👀 Eye contact is your lifeline to the audience. That's where connection sparks. 💥 Without it, your message falls flat. 💤

🏺 Then, amp up your facial expressions, gestures, and voice. 😁 🙌 🎶

By cranking up the energy, you're not faking it.... You're reclaiming your authentic self! 🎭

We call it the "authenticity paradox."

By temporarily ramping up your energy, you tap into the genuine intensity you bring to personal conversations.

It's not about being someone else. It's about magnifying the best parts of you. So, next time you step into that conference room, dare to bring more of your real personality — more of YOU — to the conversation.

It's the key 🔑 to unlocking your true, electrifying self. ⚡

To drive the change needed to turn Barnes & Nobels, Inc. around, 🚜
Daniel Roth leaned into the mindset of reviving the personal customer-focused
experience that keeps book store lovers coming back....in other words

👉 ... an audience-focused approach.

"Book stores are inherently nice places..and lots and lots of people like being in good book stores. The independent book store has that nailed [....] and the only problem with Barnes & Nobles was that it lost sight of that and tried to become a retailer... and that's sort of antithetical to good book selling. Good book stores are different, they have personalities. They reflect the communities in which they sit."
- Daniel Roth, CEO Barnes & Nobel, Inc.

By allowing his teams to curate stores by considering the actual customers and communities of each store independently, B&N has successfully righted the ship. 📈 👏

Audience-focused messaging is effective. 🔑

Here's an interesting interview where Daniel Roth discusses exactly how he did it.

Enjoy! 😁

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