StoryQuest Blog

Are you a co-dependent speaker? Do you watch your audience members’ faces for reactions while you’re speaking, attributing subversive meanings to their body language?

“That lady in the sweater is bored.” “That guy thinks I’m stupid.” “Why is that person leaving the room? Did I say something that offended them?”

Co-dependency is defined as the need to please others over the need to please ones self. It doesn’t work in one-on-one relationships and it’s deadly as a speaker. While giving a speech, it’s hard enough to focus on what you want to say and to deliver it in a convincing and organized manner without trying to get everyone in the audience to like you.

Continue reading “The Number One Secret to Confident Speaking” »

Whatever it was that got you where you are today is not sufficient to keep you there,” Peter Karlsson says, smiles, then waits while chuckles ripple through the dim light of a Marriott Hotel ballroom in San Francisco. Karlsson, VP of Enterprise Sales is onstage peering out over 400 of his sales professionals from Commscope, a multi-million dollar global technology provider, to set the bar for their 2008 agenda. This gathering of sales reps and support staff has flown in from 112 countries speaking over 50 languages. This is the modern sales conference; a critical community-building, learning and motivational ritual that is produced like a major Hollywood event complete with lighting, sound and smoke machines.

Continue reading “Don’t Let Them Forget – Getting Maximum ROI from Conferences” »