Nick Morgan's Blog, page 47

What Can a Symphony Orchestra Conductor Teach Us About Public Speaking?

Having just moved to a new town, I suddenly appreciate anew Einstein’s most brilliant thinking.  It wasn’t the General Theory of Relativity.  Rather, it was his habit (at least, so the story goes) of owning identical black suits so that he didn’t have to spend any time thinking about the mundane chore of deciding what […]

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Why Is Most Public Speaking So Awful?

A few years back on this blog I asked myself the question, why is so much public speaking – especially in the business world – so awful?  And I went on to ask, how can we raise the bar, which is set distressingly low?  I no longer agree with my reasoning back then, and so […]

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When Body Language Is, and Isn’t, Effective

The most important thing to understand about body language is that we humans don’t care about it.  Now, of course, that’s phrased to surprise you — what, a blogger on body language says we don’t care about it?  What gives? We don’t care about body language per se.  What we care about is the intent […]

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How to Make Virtual Meetings Dull – and In-Person Ones Too

This is my week for guest posts.  Andrea Driessen is the author of a new book, The Non-Obvious Guide to Event Planning, and like me a fan of making meetings better.  Andrea’s site is nomoreboringmeetings.com, and that’s the place to go to get her help finding speakers and planning non-boring meetings. Recently, we engaged in […]

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How to Create a Great Panel Discussion

I hardly ever bring in a guest poster, but in this case, it’s the return of an old friend.  I did a post in February on having more than one person on stage at a time – such as a panel – and Maryfran Johnson commented and mentioned a piece she had done.  One thing […]

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Acting and Neuroscience

I’ve been thinking about acting and speaking this week, and so naturally a study talking about the neuroscience of acting caught my eye.  What happens when an actor gets into a role?  It turns out that she suppresses activity in the pre-frontal cortex, a part of the brain associated with self-awareness, amongst other things.  So […]

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What Actors and Cabaret Singers Can Teach Public Speakers

What is the difference between what actors do and what speakers do?  I talked about this question last fall in a post that, summarizing, noted the following differences: Actors generally speak someone else’s lines; speakers generally speak their own. Actors generally observe “The Fourth Wall”; speakers don’t. Acting is reacting; speaking is a conversation.   And similarities:  […]

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Can you see me? Can you hear me? Book marketing in the age of YouTube

There are a million books, roughly speaking, published in North America every year.  Many more worldwide.  When an author launches a book into the world, she should be asking herself the question, “How can I get some attention for my book?”  Because, unless you’re Stephen King or J. K. Rowling, attention has to be divided […]

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Hostile Audiences

I’ve occasionally posted on the curiously angry state of the current world – the Eeyore Zeitgeist we live in now.  If the stock market goes up, we talk about its inevitable coming collapse.  If the stock market goes down, we talk about the betrayal of capitalism and Armageddon.  Of course, I don’t mean to suggest […]

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Talking to Teens and Other Challenges

According to some new research, our sensitivity to negative expressions and threats varies with age.  We’re most sensitive as teens, perhaps not surprisingly, and we grow less sensitive as we age.  So if you’re going to scowl, make your scary face at Grandpa, not your teenage cousin.  Adolescents are quick to spot the slightest signs […]

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