Obviously, spinning words together (in writing or out loud) takes time, but effective communication takes more time than the time it takes to craft words. Sometimes, the best communication time involves no words.
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Communication and kids: When is it worth all the effort?
Effective communication can take a lot of time!
Preparing a speech takes much more time than most people realize. Research. Organization. Interviews. Writing. Rewriting. Rehearsal. More rehearsal. Checking venue. Checking tech equipment. Getting decent graphics. Slideware. Travel. And on and on and on. Some experts say you need to devote an hour for every minute you will speak. Even when you’re speaking about a familiar topic, one you’ve spoken on dozens of times before, it takes more prep time than the average person realizes.
It’s like a child, in a way. When my first came along, people told us that a baby would take a lot more time than you realized. Smugly, we thought we were prepared. We were wrong. Life completely changed. Continue reading
Take the time to make your speech good
This seems like a no-brainer, but experience says it’s a common problem: people constantly give speeches without enough preparation.
It’s important to be clear that we’re not talking about memorizing the speech. We are talking about getting familiar with it, comfortable with it, even cozy with it. It’s a simple truth: that takes time.
Not just time spent with the outline, either. It requires what I call “soak time.” Continue reading
Want to be more confident? Arrive early!
We live in a busy society. No news there. People cut things too close all the time. But if you want to be more confident as a speaker, this is one of the simplest, easiest things you can do: arrive early. This is almost completely within your control. Continue reading
I’m juggling, not procrastinating
There hasn’t been much activity here the last week or so. In fact, none that you could see. What’s frustrating is that I have four other posts almost ready to go, but I haven’t had time to finish them.
I don’t even have time to develop this thought very far right now, but a) I wanted to share the above graphic with you, which I think is hilarious, and b) I wanted to comment that most people in current society who describe themselves as procrastinators are wrong. They are simply jugglers who are juggling past their skill level. That’s me. As soon as I can either master throwing one more object into the mix, or can put one down, or I drop one and it breaks, I’ll pick this one up again. Soon.