Speaking Tips

 

Whale Tales

We often remind our friends that their pets don’t speak English. Yes, everything communicates, but each group of plants and animals have specific alphabets. Recently, teams from the Cetacean Translation Initiative found that the expressivity of sperm whales is much larger than previously thought.Whales are...

Rope Wit

We are amalgams of our experiences and education. The challenge is to assemble a version of ourselves that sustains us and satisfies our need for purpose. One thing is certain; how you communicate is critical.Will Rogers grew up when Oklahoma was called Indian Territory. A...

This is your life

From 1952-1961, Ralph Edwards hosted a hit TV show, This is Your Life. He surprised guests and took them through a retrospective of their lives. The show was broadcast with a studio audience and featured colleagues, friends, and family. The series began with the story...

Get Chunky

Researchers say that audiences can retain three to four pieces of information at a time. But what if we’re pitching a product, service, or program containing disparate and complex elements? We must get chunky. Chunking compresses large amounts of data into manageable bits that can be...

Show me the Money

In a Greek myth, Ariadne falls in love with Theseus. Off to fight the Minotaur, Ariadne hands him a ball of yarn. When Theseus slays the Minotaur, the thread he strung along the labyrinth leads him out to freedom. How many times have you heard...

Scribbling

Hernan Diaz won a Pulitzer Prize for his novel Trust. On CBS Sunday morning, he displayed his working notebooks bursting with words. He said “There is something about the murmur of the pen on the paper. There is nothing like it for me.” We know many...

Sizzling Bacon

Francis Bacon was a philosopher, statesman and scientist. He laid the foundation for the Age of Enlightenment, an intellectual movement in Europe from 1685 - 1815 that emphasized reason and individualism over tradition and religion. Bacon also formulated the Scientific Method, observing facts to study...

Wild Women

During Women’s History Month we featured Caitlin Clark, Taylor Swift, and Cole Brauer, all outstanding young women. But 84-year-old Margaret Atwood has a lifetime of accomplishments, including two Booker prizes, as well as the National Book Critics and PEN Lifetime Achievement awards. She even invented...

Cole Power

During March, Women’s History Month there are standouts, including 29-year-old sailor Cole Brauer. She recently became the first American woman to race solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world. Brauer finished second in a field of male sailors. (Only half who started the race finished...

Swifties

Prior to Super Tuesday, Taylor Swift sent a message to her 282 million followers. Swift didn’t advocate for either U.S. political party, but she encouraged her Swifties to vote. It was a risky move in this divisive climate. Yet, how inspiring for a young person...