Archive for the 'Current Affairs' Category

I was an elementary student at Calvert School in Washington DC in 1963. Our school was connected to St. Matthews Cathedral, a prominent Catholic Church in the city noted for the fact it held the Catholic Funeral Mass for John F. Kennedy after he was killed. If you go to St. Matthew’s today you will [...]

Public speaking is an important success trait for anyone, including the person filling the Pontiff seat. After all, when you’re charged with leading 1.18 billion people around the world, you must be able to communicate effectively to keep the flock aligned. How will the new Pope fare?
According to some in the media, newly elected Pope [...]

Whether you’re looking for an intriguing story, an interesting example, or a new data point to build out the content of your presentation, Alltop.com is an excellent resource to use and one I recommend to my clients. Rather than a search engine, Alltop is a content aggregator. That means they collect the headlines of the [...]

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of working with Carolyne Stayton, the Executive Director of Transition US. Transition US is a resource and catalyst for building resilient communities across the United States that are able to withstand severe energy, climate, or economic shocks while creating a better quality of life in the process. [...]

If you want to see a good example of partnership, collaboration, and sharing the stage, then take notice of the current interactions between President Barack Obama and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Even though these two men are political opponents and have had their differences in the past, they are clearly demonstrating that they are [...]

It has been an oratorical feast at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte this week. Any aspiring or seasoned public speaker has a ringside seat to observe some of the best main stage political speakers in the world.
As a speech coach, it has been delightful to witness such passionate oratory delivered via powerful performance techniques [...]

What fun to watch the speeches last night at the opening of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte NC. I was delighted to see such passionate oratory delivered via powerful technique and heartfelt storytelling. The “story” has always been a strategic ally of political speech-making, and last night gave us many good examples of how [...]

If you’re looking for an example of someone who knows how to create a fire in the belly of an audience, look no further than President Obama’s speech last Friday in Urbandale, Iowa. There, Obama launched The Road to Charlotte Tour with a rousing rebuttal to the GOP convention platform last week.

There are numerous best [...]

Along with many people, I’m still scratching my head about Clint Eastwood’s speech at the Republican National Convention last night. I can only think that this is another example of what can happen when good intentions go awry.
From my understanding, Clint’s appearance was unplanned, and within a few sentences into his speech, I could sense [...]

Recently, President Obama admitted that his job as President is about more than just getting the policy right. As he put it, “The nature of this office is also to tell a story to the American people that gives them a sense of unity and purpose and optimism, especially during tough times.”
Well said, Mr. President! [...]