Ok. Vagina. There, I’ve said it. It made me feel awkward, but it needed to be said to outline an example of one doctor’s attempt to convince surgeons to change their behaviour. A few years ago, I worked with Dr Marcus Carey, a Melbourne-based uro-gynaecologist to help him ‘sell’ his great ideas. He had developed a groundbreaking medical procedure More…
Ashton Kutcher speech uses Steve Jobs’ Structure
I love writing about Steve Jobs and his incredible communication skills. And this Ashton Kutcher speech let’s me do it again. For example, How Steve Jobs’ messaging changed the world, Steve Jobs top 5 leadership messages and particularly the speech outline of his famous Stanford graduation speech. Jobs’ ability to leverage message and structure helped Apple More…
How to make a ‘save’. Update on Michael Bay meltdown
Wow. I’ve had a lot of questions on Michael Bay’s public speaking meltdown at CES and the article I wrote about it. It’s painful to watch because many of us have either had public-speaking-anxiety-driven experience – or worried about one. So I thought we’d focus on how to make a ‘Save’ when there is a More…
How to avoid a Michael Bay presentation meltdown
Michael Bay, one of hollywood’s hottest directors (eg: Transformers movies) and worth $400 million, had a public speaking meltdown yesterday and abruptly walked off stage mid presentation. It started with Bay joining Joe Stinziano, Executive VP of Samsung, on stage at CES (Consumer Electronics Show). After a minute or so, he lost his place, panicked and More…
David Morrison Speech Transcript: The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.
Here is the transcript of the David Morrison Speech – a leadership speech delivered by Chief of the Army, Lieutenant-General David Morrison. In the midst of a “Jedi Council” sex scandal, this was posted as a 3 minute video regarding unacceptable behaviour. [For the article that outlines 3 reasons why this is a great leadership speech, click here] I’ve More…
Great speeches in Kevin Rudd’s leadership challenge
Public speaking is your core opportunity to demonstrate leadership qualities. There were some great speeches in the recent leadership challenge, and some not so great speeches. Overall, they tell a fascinating story. They explain a lot about leadership communication and public speaking. I’m not going to address who’s right or wrong, who lied or betrayed, etc. More…
How to write a speech in only 15 minutes
Parkinsons’s Law controls how you write a speech. I know it controls how I write a speech. When I ignore it’s power, productivity bleeds out of me, soaking the floor under my desk. “Work expands to fill the time allotted to it.” That’s Parkinson’s Law. So, if you have an hour to do something, it will More…
A short speech – create a 3 minute speech that rocks
I’m in the Charles Pearson Theatre at the University of Melbourne, watching 12 short speeches. It’s a 3 minute speech competition called the 3 minute Thesis. These annual, 3 minute speech competitions challenge Ph.D and Masters students to effectively communicate 3-1/2 years’ of technical research into a short speech. Their task is to convey only the most important More…
How to END a speech with power and impact
The universe has no end. Doesn’t that blow your mind a little? When you look up in the sky, it doesn’t end. Ever. Han Solo and Chewbacca could travel at light speed in the Millennium Falcon forever, and they’d never get to the ‘far reaches of the galaxy’, because it just keeps going on and More…
Speech outline example: Steve Jobs Stanford address
How does Steve Jobs plan a speech? The structure of Steve Jobs speeches varied depending on his goals for the communication event. But he always had 2 things; a clear take-home message and an engaging structure. For example, this speech tells an amazing story and shares unique life lessons, but it’s also a wonderful example of More…
