What About Variety?
What About Variety? For your weekly dose of clear English coaching, we have a weekly speech tip video below. What about variety? We all crave variety: different places, different things,different people. This is especially true in a presentation where the audience may take any excuse to tune out. By giving the audience vocal variety, you give […]
Dear Friend Letter from a Grieving Person
Dear Friend Letter from a Grieving Person I found it. I got it on May 23rd, the last and fourth night of my four week grief support group. It’s a letter given to the 10 of us for sending to friends. Why would grieving people need to send a letter to friends? A letter to educate friends (and family!) about […]
The Danger of Becoming Overly Enthusiastic
The Danger of Becoming Overly Enthusiastic For your weekly dose of clear English coaching, we have a weekly speech tip video below. Let’s turn our attention now to the danger of becoming overly enthusiastic and perhaps intimidating or irritating an audience. 1. If you notice your voice elevating almost to the point of shouting, bring […]
How to Communicate With a Grieving Person
How to Communicate With a Grieving Person Life is a series of births and deaths. From death to rebirth and renewal – sometimes in unexpected ways. A couple of years ago, I read a great article on how to talk to a grieving person. Most powerful and memorable for me was the advice to use […]
Believe In What You Are Selling! Elevate Your Emotions
For your weekly dose of clear English speech coaching, we have a weekly speech tip video below. For your weekly dose of clear, successful communication, let me paraphrase Michael Klepper. There are speeches where you are selling. You’re selling a concept. You’re selling your organization’s capabilities. You’re selling a product. You’re selling a service. Most importantly, you’re selling […]
American Accent Training: What does it take to make a habit?
How do you form a habit? Neuroscientists tell us it takes doing a new pattern a thousand times before we make a neural trace in our brains. Neuroscientists tell us it takes 70 days of practice every day to change a habit. They say it takes 10,000 times of practice before a pattern is a habit. The […]
Tips for Your Presentation and Enthusiasm
For your weekly dose of clear English speech, we have a weekly speech tip video below. Let’s turn now to tips for your presentations and enthusiasm. According to Michael Klepper, most presentations suffer from a lack of enthusiasm. 1. Start with this viewpoint from Kevin Daley. The five watchwords for presentations are: credibility, commitment, integrity, enthusiasm, knowledge. Can […]
English Pronunciation: How to Overcome Your Speech Mispronunciations in Daily Life and Presentations
Let’s talk about a clever strategy to overcome your speech mispronunciations in daily life and presentations to give you the strength of confidence. The biggest key to people understanding your words is the accuracy of your pronunciation, and the sounds being loud enough for them to hear. We’ve all been there: you are confident your speech is […]
ESL Speakers: You Probably Speak Too Fast!
For your weekly dose of clear English communication coaching, we have a weekly speech tip video above. AND hear this: 1. “My own observation is that most presenters overaccelerate their rate of delivery, making it difficult for audiences to stay in step.” Michael Klepper 2. “One way to curb overacceleration is to make certain you […]
How to Figure Out What An Intelligibility Score Really Means
When native U.S. English speakers talk just above a whisper, they measure about 50% intelligibility. What does this mean to you? A score around 50 percent for an international person means that listeners have to strain to understand them. It is about the same as listeners trying to get information from a native speaker talking a […]