Client LoginThose educated in statistics are familiar with the law of large numbers: the larger the sample size (or the greater the number of trials run), the closer the sample’s mean gets to that of the overall population. In brain science there’s a completely unrelated law of large numbers, and it’s this: the larger the number, […]
“How did he come up with that?” The Key to Creativity
Recently I was building a sales pitch for a corporate client where one of the important concepts was “Visibility is critical to your business.” The team brainstormed a bit on how to convince audiences of this idea through a powerful illustration. It was fun, and we came up with various possible analogies involving magnifying glasses or foggy days […]
Killing Three Birds With One Stone
In our workshop, we teach that if you understand and align with how the human brain processes information, you can vastly improve the effectiveness of your communications and the engagement of your audience. Typically when I teach this, I offer 3 different ways to build audience engagement. But I read something recently that beautifully pulled together […]
This Week in Insights: Week of September 7
ON THE COMMUNICATION SKILLS BLOG: Eli Murphy deconstructs Nilofer Merchant’s TED Talk, “Got a Meeting? Take a Walk,” and talks about the power of a problem-based opening statement. FROM OUR TWITTER AND LINKEDIN FEEDS What’s one simple technique to make your talks better? The Epiphora. The mysterious origins of punctuation. 13 stats that should terrify […]
This Week in Insights: Week of August 17
ON THE COMMUNICATION SKILLS BLOG: Tim Pollard shares how to slim down your presentation…and still have all the detail you could ever need. FROM OUR TWITTER AND LINKEDIN FEEDS PR pro, entrepreneur, author, and keynote speaker Peter Shankman tells you how to send an email and guarantee it will be read The One Trait That […]
This Week in Insights: Week of August 10
ON THE COMMUNICATION SKILLS BLOG: Thinking of banning PowerPoint (or any slides) at your company? Eli Murphy discusses why banning PowerPoint doesn’t solve the real problem. FROM OUR TWITTER AND LINKEDIN FEEDS Scientists now combine light and sound to reveal the brain 15 meeting etiquette rules every professional needs to know [infographic] For the #SwipeFile: […]
This Week in Insights: Week of August 3
On the Communication Skills Blog: Tim Pollard reveals the beating heart of sales messaging. From Our Twitter and LinkedIn Feeds Can imagination be measured? A mathematical algorithm for discovering new things The 12 cognitive biases that prevent you from being rational [An old, but good, list]. 3 Lessons IBM’s Watson can teach us about our brains’ […]
This Week in Insights: Week of July 27
“This Week in Insights” is our weekly recap of interesting and useful posts, articles, links, and other resources. On The Communication Skills Blog: Eli Murphy gives an easy way to remember anyone’s name. From our Twitter and LinkedIn Feeds: Making Learning Visible: Doodling Helps Memories Stick 4 Stealable Ways Great Public Speakers Make Sure You Remember […]
The easiest way to remember names…and any presentation
Has this happened to you? You’re at a cocktail party and are introduced to someone for the first time. You have a brief but interesting conversation…only to realize later that you have no idea what the person’s name is? Or maybe you’re in a business meeting: there are a few new faces at the table, […]
The power of demonstration: Joe Smith’s “How to use one paper towel” [DeconstrucTED]
In our “DeconstrucTED” series, we look at some of our favorite TED and TED-style talks. We deconstruct them to demonstrate how we all can be more effective communicators in our own right. Joe Smith’s TED talk on “How to use one paper towel,” is one of Tamsen Webster’s favorites. In only 4-1/2 minutes, Joe forever […]
