Blog: Communications Tips
Alan’s blog will inspire you and your organization to be different, to have the highest communication standards at all levels, and to stand out and maximize your influence to empower your teams to greatness.
How to Make Your Audience Listen
Every year for the last decade, I’ve chosen to pick a single word rather than making New Year’s Resolutions. This word becomes a point of focus, study, and emphasis in the coming year. My friend Dan Britton introduced me to the concept through his book of...
You can’t read the label from inside the can
“We are the world’s worst judge of ourselves.” We can’t see ourselves the way others do—our intentions don’t always match reality. Read this excerpt from Deep Thoughts from the Shallow End by Alan Hoffler.
We broke up
“Good relationships can handle observations and grow from them.” A speech tic ended one relationship and strengthened another. Read this thought-provoking excerpt from Deep Thoughts from the Shallow End by Alan Hoffler.
Speed
Video Transcript: In our public speaking skills workshops, we frequently ask how many of you have been told that you talk too fast? Usually about three out of every four people raise their hand and go, "yep that's me talk too fast. Done it my whole life." But...
Be Rather Than Seem
Video Transcript: My wonderful home state of North Carolina has a motto, “Esse Quam Videri”...“to be rather than to seem”. It comes from an essay by Cicero on friendship. Few are those who wish to be endowed with virtue, rather than to seem so....
Always On
Video Transcript: In the video that won't age well, it's three weeks from today that I'll drop my youngest child off on the steps of a dormitory. It's bittersweet. I'm super proud of her, but I'm going to miss her. As a dad, I'm pondering in my mind -...
Becoming Comfortable With the Uncomfortable
Video Transcript Probably the greatest barrier for a speaker to overcome is the internal voice inside their head. We joke in our workshops that it's the little voice on our shoulder. Often it sounds like one of our parents, or maybe an early teacher, or...
The Importance of Video
Video Transcript Due to the pandemic quarantines, live audiences have kind of been on hold for awhile. I've gotten very comfortable at looking at this video set up that we've got doing zoom recordings. Last week, I had one of my very first live...
How Do I Get My Audience To Remember?
Video Transcript One of my favorite questions, which I shamelessly stole from Joe Ehrmann in my work with youth sports is the question, “What's your definition of success?” As that applies to speaking or communicating, I've adopted this definition -...
How do I make Eye Contact in an online meeting?
Video Transcript: I was asked recently in an online seminar, “what's the most difficult thing you've had to adjust to in the new online world?” The answer was easy. The most difficult thing for most of us to do is to change a habit. That's the...
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