Nick Morgan's Blog, page 53

The Seven Daily Habits of a Successful Speaker

It’s almost fall, and fall is a great time to learn something new, or change up your routine, or establish a new (good) habit.  So here’s a bit of pre-fall inspiration. Indeed, a wise relative of mine once told me that success in life was largely a matter of habits.  When I asked him what […]

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The Online Double Standard

In our real, physical lives, we accept that people close to us change their minds and suffer bad moods—but in the virtual world, we’re much less likely to accept this kind of natural inconsistency. We hold others to rigid standards of behavior and are much less forgiving. In virtual space, this double standard is particularly […]

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When Are the Right Times for Silence in Public Speaking?

We are drowning in a tsunami of online communications.  From Twitter to Facebook to Instagram to LinkedIn, and a host of other channels, all of us seem to be communicating with each other all the time.  So much so that none of us has time to keep up with it all.  Now, whenever we see […]

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Human Empathy and the Virtual World, Part Two

This is the second of two articles adapted from my new book, Can You Hear Me?, due out from Harvard in October.   In my last post, I argued that we humans are social beings. We don’t do well when deprived of our fellow humans in the virtual world. The technology deprives us of something surprisingly […]

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Human Empathy and the Virtual World, Part One

I’ve been posting recently about the perils of our life today, living as we do half-face-to-face, half virtually, adapting the posts from my new book, Can You Hear Me?.  Perhaps, though, you’re not convinced.  You’re thinking to yourself, “Sure, virtual communication is sometimes a pain in the *ss, like when a call keeps dropping or […]

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9 Ways to Interact with an Audience

I often get asked, as a proponent of audience interaction in speeches, how to do exactly that in ways that are more interesting than simply asking for a hand raise.  I’ve posted on the subject before but was inspired by watching a recent speech (that was not very audience interactive) to think of nine more […]

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Why Executives Need to Become Intentional Communicators

For executives with a public-facing role, the game has changed.  You can’t rely on common sense or instinct or winging it today as you once might have done.  With mobile phones and YouTube everywhere, you have to assume that your life as a leader is entirely transparent.  Leaders who rely on ad-libbing and improvisation risk […]

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The Difficulty with Online Beginnings

This post is adapted from my forthcoming book, Can You Hear Me?, to be published by Harvard in October. Recently, I was introduced to a potential business connection by a mutual friend, and we decided to connect on Skype for an initial chat. I had entered the information incorrectly into my calendar, so it was […]

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What It Takes to Be Successful as a Professional Speaker

I am often asked by clients and prospective clients about what it takes to succeed in the ever-more-competitive world of professional speaking.  My short answer is always that, even more than talent, what you need to succeed is the ability to work harder than your competition.  Those who show toughness and hang in there, I’ve […]

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The Presentation Guild, the Salary Survey, and the State of the Presentation Biz

I joined the Presentation Guild just over a year ago, shortly after it began, because I wholeheartedly support its aims:  to further the professional development of the people who work in the world of presentations.  I did a blog post on the Guild at the time, outlining its basic goals.  Recently, I had a chance […]

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