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Archive for the 'Pop Culture' Category

Add Alltop.com to Your Speaker’s Toolbox

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 [...]


If I Were Clint Eastwood’s Speech Coach…

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 [...]


Beefeaters: The Olympians of Public Speaking

One of the great by-products of the Olympics is learning  about the history and culture of the host country. This year’s Olympic games in London, England are no exception. While learning about the United Kingdom was mandatory in my high school history classes (given the early ties between England and U.S.), we spent most of [...]


Wednesday for Women: Public Speaking Lessons from Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep just won an Oscar for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in the movie The Iron Lady, and in my view she deserves an equally prestigious award for her introduction of Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Women in the World Summit 2012 at Lincoln Center in New York City.
I’m a big fan of Meryl [...]


Steve Jobs (1955-2011): It’s Time to Pay Tribute to a Great Visionary

Along with the rest of the world, I am mourning the loss of Steve Jobs today. This morning at breakfast I was thinking about the services that will be held to honor his life and wondered who would be giving the eulogy. Imagine being selected to give the eulogy at the funeral services of someone [...]


San Francisco’s Bay to Breakers Offers Valuable Public Speaking Lessons

Yesterday was the centennial running of the Bay to Breakers foot race. For those of you who have never heard of it, allow me to paint the picture: Over fifty thousand people, a majority of which were dressed in outrageous costumes, took to the streets of San Francisco and marched from the San Francisco Bay [...]


Steven Tyler’s Rooster Feathers are a High Performance Prop

In entertainment, performance, and even public speaking, props play an important role when creating an image or making a key point. Whether your prop is something you hold or something you wear, your audience will connect it to your message, thus making your points more memorable.
For example, I know a professional speaker whose signature prop [...]


Rebecca Black: Public Speaking & Life Lessons from a 13-Year-Old Pop Sensation

Have you heard of Rebecca Black yet? If not, you probably will soon. She is a thirteen-year-old girl whose parents hired Ark Music Factory to produce a music video for her. If you haven’t seen it, here it is. But I warn you…while Rebecca is a sweet young teenager who may indeed be the next [...]


The Best “San Francisco” Speakers at SXSW

Tomorrow begins the twenty-fifth annual South by Southwest (SXSW) interactive media, film and music conference. Nearly 12,000 registrants will invade Austin, TX from March 11th -20th for an all-out entertainment extravaganza. Amidst the product launches, movie premiers, and concerts will be hundreds of experts featured on panels such as “Speaking to Geeks,” “The State of [...]


Lady Gaga Gave Us a Valentine’s Day Gift at the Grammy’s

I admit that I had never seen Lady Gaga speak until last night when I tuned in to 60 Minutes. And I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. She impressed me with her authenticity, her passion, and her outrageous, relentless confidence. While she admits to feeling insecure at times, it is hard to see [...]


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