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Emotion guides the audience from where they are to where you want them to go.  If you try to start with inspiration but haven’t earned their trust or curiosity, it won’t land. If you push too hard too early, they shut down.

I’ve had the privilege of helping a lot of people, especially mid-career professionals, rediscover something they didn’t even realize they’d misplaced: Their voice.

Do you get blank stares after you’ve tried to explain something? Here are three ways to stop using unclear communication.

Interested in learning more about speechwriting and public speaking courses? Find my courses here .    As a #TEDx curator and #speakercoach I get asked this a lot. A LOT. How do I give a #TEDxTalk? And how do I get selected? As our event’s YouTube and TED.com views catapulted to over 20 million views (with an average of 8 speakers a year and a total of 70 speakers), we began asking precisely that. What would you tell someone interested in giving a TEDx Talk? Well, this is the

Interested in learning more about speechwriting and public speaking courses? Find my courses here .    Coming up with an idea is easy. Coming up with the idea is impossible. So, how do you come up with an idea that will captivate an audience and move them toward something? I find that there are generally three approaches to generating ideas: the hunter, the gatherer, and the explorer. First, the hunter is out searching for something. They have something very specific in mind

Interested in learning more about speechwriting and public speaking courses? Find my courses here .    Storytelling genres are, most generally, the shape or form the story takes. Different genres allow you to accomplish different things. This brings me to a central principle of communication: if you don't know where you want to go, you will never get there. First, know where you want to go. Genre will be how you get there. Second, what is your relationship to your audience?

Interested in learning more about speechwriting and public speaking courses? Find my courses here .    This may seem like an odd topic. After all, you can’t control what your audience will feel at the end of your talk. And, of course, you are right. Communication doesn’t guarantee successful outcomes. It increases the probability that people might hear what you have to say. The only way to increase the probability is to be deliberate about your choices. I've talked about the

Interested in learning more about speechwriting and public speaking courses? Find my courses here .    What are storytelling genres? Storytelling genres are, most generally, the shape or form the story takes. Each genre emphasizes some things over others. For example, some genres emphasize the present, while others emphasize our optimism/pessimism about the future. So, a genre is only useful when you know what you hope to accomplish (reflection, action, or awareness). Genres