Finding Peace

Let’s face it. We are all drowning in responsibilities that pull and stretch us way too many directions. And it seems they come on the eve of an important presentation scheduled for the following day. Admit it. It’s happened to you. You get lost in a world of constant noise and distraction that inevitably blinds us from a critical work project—that darn presentation, public speaking engagement, a one-on-on gathering with a stakeholder, or that ever important meeting with a superior.

We Need An Escape

What’s my escape? A run, a swim or a bike ride. I’m currently training for an IRONMAN event scheduled for April. It’s a grueling 140.6 mile course that starts with a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike race, then straight to a 26.2 mile marathon. It’s considered the most physically challenging one-day endurance test in the sporting world. But as difficult as the training is for this event, I have learned some incredible lessons about mental hurdles.

1 % Better

We all need our time to ponder, reflect, meditate and rehearse in our in our minds just how “good” we can be tomorrow—1% Better! The mind is a powerful thing and imagining ourselves performing at the top of our game is a critical element to improving our skills. As I travel the world consulting companies everywhere, my “break-away”, my “peace”, my “escape” from the busyness of life is my training. Whether I’m swimming, biking or running, my mind is rehearsing countless responsibilities with visions of what I can do better, even if it’s just 1%.

Think It & Do It

One of the teaching elements of Spoken Word Communication is to meditate or imagine yourself being a more powerful communicator. Think it and you will do it! I like to call it my, ‘moments of inspiration’. And I have felt it and lived it from running the streets of Rome, on a cruise ship in seas and oceans everywhere, biking through Europe, or running the streets of dozens of cities throughout the world. The technique is simple—rehearse it in your mind during your, “escape”, and you will “live” it later.

Find your escape, and you’ll come to learn the power of pondering and meditation. A visionary mind takes people to the next level in their communication skills. And we—Spoken Word Communication—will teach you how to do it.

The post Triathlon Training: More Than Just Exercise first appeared on Spoken Word Communications.

We don’t want forgettable. We want memorable.

So, how do we achieve this? The ‘fix’ is not as complicated as one might think, because part of the battle has already been achieved. At the conference I referred to, the words spoken weren’t so bad. In fact, they were actually pretty good. “This has the power to change a person’s life!”, said one presenter. “We live in an age of incredible changes! Now is the time to Act!”, said another. Great words—but terrible delivery.

There is a drastic shift that we need to make in the way we prepare a speech, a PowerPoint, a motivating message to our team, to a small group, or to a cast of hundreds or thousands. We spend endless hours trying to come up with the perfect words but spend comparatively little time on executing a powerful delivery.

Words are only as powerful as the vocals and visuals that back them up. When I hear, “This has the power to change a person’s life!”, I want to feel it! I want to know the presenter believes his message! I want it to burn within me and know that it’s true! When a speaker is passionate about their message, wow! You can see it in their facial expressions, in their gestures and in their very presence. They are engaged—which programs the audience to be engaged. This is the only way a person will act upon words that they hear. Words without feeling are like being completely stoic in a deeply emotional setting. It just doesn’t work.

It’s time to align our Verbal, Visual & Vocal!

At SpokenWord Communications, we help your words matter. We take you through training that will change the way you think about presenting a message. It will give you the skills to become a compelling presenter not only verbally, but visually and vocally.  We can do this one-on-one, or in small groups, to bring your presentation to life!  We help you to discover the power of speaking with punctuation!

We want your next message to resonate with the audience. We want it to be memorable! Let us work with you—because that’s what we do. And we do it better than anyone else.

The post Not Another Forgettable Conference! first appeared on Spoken Word Communications.

All we have to do is watch the evening news to see how unexpected events suddenly explode into a public relations nightmare. We live in a world of an instant news cycle, which makes our immediate reaction and comments to any crisis so incredibly critical. Having a plan in place to deal with it is no longer discretionary—it’s essential.

So, perhaps you’re asking, what do I do about it?

Questions concerning crisis management are all the same: How do we react? What do we say? What should we NOT say? Who do we put in front of the media frenzy? And, how do we train and prepare for the inevitable?

Crisis Management is what we at Spoken Word do best.

We will put you and your executives through several challenging on-camera sessions. These are tough. They need to be. You may feel as though you have failed, but by the end of the day you’ll be amazed at the skills you’ve developed. You will be much more confident in your ability to handle the media and the public in whatever crisis occurs.

This training is especially important for mid- to upper-level executives.

It’s critical, because in the end, the public wants to see and hear from a person in charge. They want to know where the buck stops. It will be up to you to deliver the empathy, commitment and openness to calm their minds and reassure them that you have this crisis under control. We’ll teach you the skills on how to control an interview and maintain that proper narrative.

And if it’s been awhile since you have been through Crisis Training, it would be good to go through it again.

In my career as a journalist I have interviewed thousands of people and 95% of the time I was in control. For the remaining 5%, I would walk away from the interview and say to myself, “Wow, that person has been trained.” Bottom line is Crisis Management Training works.  Make it work for you for 2024!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and May the Peace of the Season be with you and your family throughout the New Year!

Spoken Word Communications can help you prepare for the unexpected.
Contact Dave.

Dave@spokenwordgroup.com

The post It’s not a matter of if, but when. first appeared on Spoken Word Communications.