Tim Urban knows that procrastination doesn’t make sense, but like many of us he’s never been able to shake his habit of waiting until the last minute to get things done. This year he stole the show at the TED mainstage event in Vancouver and delivered a...
1 Trick to Finish Your Next Talk in Style. You finish your talk and the presenter takes back the microphone. “Any questions for the speaker?” Awkward silence . . . “Anyone at all? Oh, you, sir, with your hand raised,” the host says with a...
The Secret to Avoid Going Blank in Your Next Presentation. Standing in front of an audience with no memory of what you’re supposed to say is anxiety-inducing for even seasoned pros. The way to avoid this is to use a memory-recollection technique called the...
“Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency of human contact.” — Robert McKee Many of us will have been to a comedy club and laughed hysterically at the comedian, but struggle to...
This post is not quite in line with me giving tips on public speaking from comedians and my own experiments. It’s one where I would love yours in telling people about public speaking tips from comedians! The first edition of Do You Talk Funny came out last...
(Originally Published in Inc) Former biologist Tim Lee takes the stage at TEDx for the second time this year. Lee’s medium of choice: the all too often mind-numbingly boring PowerPoint presentation, but when he unleashes his deck, it’s anything but. Within...
As business, entertainment, and comedy become ever more intertwined, savvy startups, leading ad agencies, and Fortune 500 firms alike are turning to humor as the ultimate tool for being memorable amidst the ringtones and vibrations of modern life. It appears top...
(Originally Published in Inc) For most business speakers the necessary stage time, structure, and conscious editing in order to make maximum impact just aren’t there–most people don’t have to speak often enough to get it. Conversely, the speakers who...
Dr. Nick Morgan is one of America’s top communication theorists and coaches. The following is a Q and A I had the pleasure of conducting with him last week, that was subsequently published in Forbes. Nick Morgan: I ran across David Nihill the other day when he...
The experiment: Give a mediocre speaker seven weeks of standup comedy experience. Could he give a genuinely funny business talk as a result? Here’s what happened
