Effective Communication and Master Media Engagement
September 9th, 2020
Can you spot the strategic communications error in this Calgary park signage? (And do you know why it’s relevant for your next media interview?) I’m not talking about the graffiti’d objection to the ownership of wild bunnies and birds signalled by the possessive “our” — although I agree with the correction. No, I’m referring to […]
read more...Replace negative phrasing with positive imagery for more effective media interviews
Increase Your Impact as a Speaker and Presenter
July 30th, 2018
Now that Russian interference in the US election has been clearly established, many are concerned about the implications for democracy. But universities and researchers should be paying attention to another contributing factor to Hillary Clinton’s loss. By all objective criteria, she was more experienced and more knowledgeable, less narcissistic and less impulsive. She was also […]
read more...Are students universities’ most effective means of mobilizing knowledge?
Improve your Writing
July 18th, 2018
In the dog days of summer 2017, when many people were at the beach, or glued to the media coverage of Charlottesville’s neo-Nazi march and the shocking response from the leader of the free world, a small posse of women with informed opinions were speaking up to make change. University of Ottawa law prof, Liz […]
read more...9 tips to improve the chances of getting your op ed published
Increase Your Impact as a Speaker and Presenter
May 25th, 2018
Why would 80 women who spend most of their working hours talking to people from the front of a room be nervous enough about their speaking ability to sign up for a presentation skills workshop? I asked myself this the first time the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) hired me to deliver such workshops. […]
read more...Women need to let go of perfectionism: it’s the enemy of good (and of engagement)
Effective Communication, Improve your Writing and Increase Your Impact as a Speaker and Presenter
July 18th, 2017
“Great lectures, bad hair.” Clearly, I’m no Einstein, but in the fight for my most memorable student evaluation as a university communications instructor, that comment from 1992 runs neck and neck with this one from 1998: “Puncuashun, and speling, to strick.” Translated, this means “Punctuation and spelling too strict.” (Which, I’m pretty sure, totally redeems […]
read more...Critical feedback is one key to success
Increase Your Impact as a Speaker and Presenter
April 27th, 2017
Brilliance, without the capacity to communicate it, is wasted. I learned this in grade 10 chemistry from the intellectually-gifted, but communicationally-impaired Mr. Philipps. Sadly, that’s about all I learned (and it wasn’t the lesson he was intending to teach). Although my parents may have been disappointed that I dropped sciences in grade 11, I’ve never […]
read more...Five Steps to Overcoming Public Speaking Nerves
Improve your Writing
April 12th, 2017
Gloria Steinem… senior bureaucrats… somebody who funds the kind of work you do? Whose attention would you most like to attract? In recent years, Canadian women writing timely, engaging and persuasive commentary have elicited responses from all of the above. Others have sparked international conversations, investigative journalism, and a reversal of government policy. And […]
read more...Whose attention would you most like to attract?
Increase Your Impact as a Speaker and Presenter
September 29th, 2016
Power pointers everywhere, can we talk? The time has long passed for you to be creating slides featuring 79 word-paragraphs. It’s not a good idea to share detailed graphs with data that’s indecipherable from even the first row. And no one wants to see your meticulously footnoted sources during a stand-up presentation. That’s what handouts are for […]
read more...How to Avoid Power Point Crimes
Increase Your Impact as a Speaker and Presenter
September 14th, 2016
Three times in recent weeks, women I know and respect have declared, in conversation or in print, “I’m really good at what I do.” In all cases, I knew them to be stating the truth. And because a part of what Informed Opinions does is remind women of the importance of owning their expertise, I […]
read more...How to rescue yourself from a poor introduction
Effective Communication and Increase Your Impact as a Speaker and Presenter
July 12th, 2016
You can tell how old this Punch cartoon is by the honorific applied to the sidelined “Miss” Triggs. But sadly, even though it was first published more than half a century ago, including it in a slide deck in 2016 still elicits the laughter of recognition. What stops you from speaking up at meetings? Even […]
read more...7 Ways to Get Heard at Meetings
