Just back from a trip to the West Coast, where I was working with people at the top of the food chain in terms of their cognitive intelligence.\u00a0 Yale, Stanford, Notre Dame–brainiacs.\u00a0 My assignment?\u00a0 Help them get presence!<\/em><\/p>\n

I skirted that word by simply saying that presence<\/em> is hard to define, but we know it when we see it.\u00a0 So we did not spend any time trying to define it.\u00a0 Instead, we spent time trying to display it.<\/p>\n

So far, having dismissed the foggier aspects of the topic as too obscure for our purposes, we are working on vehemence as a behavior that could lead<\/em> to presence.<\/p>\n

We’re not saying that being more expressive is the only way to have presence<\/em>, but it’s a start.\u00a0 To speak with vehemence makes people pay attention, which makes the speaker more of a presence<\/em> in the consciousness of the listener.<\/p>\n

I am aware of the argument that to speak with vehemence is to assert one’s truth by increasing the violence of the assertion.\u00a0 But I am also aware of the unfortunate fact: if truth were self-evident, eloquence would not be necessary.<\/p>\n

We are working on vehemence of purpose, vehemence of structure<\/a>, vehemence of word choice<\/a>, and vehemence of speech<\/a> and gesture.\u00a0 The before and after contrast was astounding.<\/p>\n

Sims Wyeth & Co.<\/a> provides public speaking courses, executive speech coaching<\/a>, presentation skills training, voice and speech training, speech writing<\/a>, and courses that address stage fright, body language, presentation strategy, and effective use of PowerPoint, all of which contribute to greater executive presence and personal impact.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just back from a trip to the West Coast, where I was working with people at the top of the food chain in terms of their cognitive intelligence.\u00a0 Yale, Stanford, Notre Dame–brainiacs.\u00a0 My assignment?\u00a0 Help them get presence! I skirted that word by simply saying that presence is hard to define, but we know it… Read More »The wonders of vehemence<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":""},"categories":[24,615],"tags":[612,906],"yoast_head":"\n