When you speak, you certainly talk about a topic, but you mainly communicate who you are. That’s much of the power of public speaking. You communicate a lot of “who you are” through your actions.
Two incidents within the last week exemplify this. (more…)
What does it mean to say you’re close to someone? (more…)
Is there such a thing as telephone reluctance? I can tell you that when I was in the newspaper business, I would get in the car and drive across town to talk with someone face-to-face rather than take care of it in a five-minute telephone call. I communicate well in writing, and I communicate well face-to-face. The telephone (and its analogs like audio-only Skype calls) are my least favorite communication method. (more…)
If you have studied communication much at all, I’ll bet you’ve been exposed to a common set of figures: only 7 percent of the meaning that comes from an interaction comes from the words exchanged. 38 percent comes from the voice, and 55 percent from the body language. You should have a source for information like that, of course, and there has always been a good one: Dr. Albert Mehrabian.
I even cited those figures in a textbook I co-authored, since the figures appeared in the textbook I used as a student way back when Aristotle was in knee pants. They’re great figures that help speakers make a point about delivery.
Except they’re wrong.