Archives of Speaking

So you are working from home?  Doing some meetings by video conference?  Take some lessons from media training to make your “appearance” on your computer camera a little more professional. Don’t backlight yourself.  Turn off lamps behind you. If you are lucky enough to have a window in your office, face it. Don’t hostage-video yourself.  […]

At first, Anne and I were stumped. And that doesn’t happen often. While addressing a group of communications experts and executive directors of non-profit organizations at ComNet18 in San Francisco recently, the timely question was raised: how does the divisive tone and negative energy found in so many media interviews now affect a group’s ability […]

Good presentations don’t just appear out of thin air. They are scripted, choreographed and practiced. Last week I saw a great presentation at the ComNet in California. The team at Adamec communications and FrameWorks reminded me again what makes some talks an absolute pleasure to watch. Here are some things I noticed in their presentation: It was well rehearsed.  […]

There’s a new list on the block.  Sourcelist.org was just launched to be an easy-to-search database for women who work in tech policy.  Sourcelist grew out of a twitter query a few years ago from Susan Hennessey, who started keeping a list for people who asked her.  Now the list lives under a Brookings banner […]

We celebrated 15 years of 15 Minutes this month with friends and clients.

In his first televised interview for his book A Higher Loyalty – Truth, Lies and Leadership, former FBI Director James Comey used strong, proven methods on how to own your message — ones that any public speaker could mimic. In Comey’s prime-time interview with George Stephanopoulos on April 15, Comey called President Donald Trump a “person […]

Whether you knew it had an actual name, you’ve definitely heard someone use vocal fry — and they likely didn’t know that when they were using it, it has some advantages.

A famous author came to Washington, D.C., told some stories, made some jokes and left us wanting to buy her book.