I’m starting a new thing today.  Every Friday I’m going to give you a little nugget of communication joy to help you through your weekend.  You’ll be able to listen to it quickly since it should only run about 5 minutes or so.  My hope is you will be inspired to grow connection with those who are most important to you by incorporating these tips and techniques into your life.

Today’s Tip:  Listening!

I want you to “Be All Ears”.  It’s amazing what can happen when you stop just thinking about your own agenda and begin really listening and paying attention to those in your life.

• Focus
• Follow
• Feedback

Encouraging Word for the Weekend:  James 1:19  “Know this, my beloved brothers and sisters: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;”

The post #501: 5 Minute Friday – Be All Ears (Podcast) appeared first on Christy Largent.

In today’s podcast, Christy will empower you to overcome your fear and convey your message in the best possible way.  Whether it’s a presentation to your company VP’s or an effort to increase volunteers at your local YMCA, these suggestions will help you gain confidence and increase your competence, so that you will deliver an awesome presentation every time.  And who knows?  You just might love it too! 

Key Ideas:

Set Yourself Up for Success – Your professional image is based on how others see you:

1. Body Image:  Passive – Aggressive – Assertive
2. Verbal and Non-verbal Image
3. Your Clothes Image
4. Your Content Image
5. Your Voice Image

Your Presentation – Just Like a H.S. Term Paper!

1. Introduction – Hook
2. 3 Main Points – with supporting components
3. Closing – Call to Action

Include these elements:

• Stories – personal, 3rd person as well as movies and books
• Facts – not too much
• Examples
• Pictures
• HUMOR!

Key Items to Remember:

• Be Authentic – Be Yourself
• Practice, Practice, Practice
• Magic Bullet:  It’s NOT all about you!!

Best Book Resources: 

Communicate with Confidence, Revised and Expanded Edition: How to Say it Right the First Time and Every Time

How to Say It For Women: Communicating with Confidence and Power Using the Language of Success

Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds

Website Resources:

gallocommunications.com – Carmine Gallo, author of Talk like TED

http://www.toastmasters.org

http://www.dalecarnegie.com

One more thing:  Remember, my book give away this week for the first person to rate and leave a review on iTunes gets Talk Like TED as my gift!

Encouraging Word of the Week:  Proverbs 15:23  A person finds joy in giving an apt reply— and how good is a timely word!

Question:  What’s your biggest fear about public speaking?  What have you done that helped you overcome that fear?  Why do you think it’s so scary?  I can’t wait to read your comments below.

The post #012: Say It Like a Pro – Overcoming Your Fear of Public Speaking (Podcast) appeared first on Christy Largent.

If you’ve ever asked, “Why does he act that way?” then you’re going to want to listen to this podcast as I give the second of two overviews on the personality styles.  I’ll speak on this with an emphasis on how to recognize them, along with answering what is the key motivator for each.

The study of The Personalities is very old – dating all the way back to Hippocrates in about 400B.C.  He started it, and still today we are wondering why people act the way they do.  Florence Littauer has written the most user-friendly book on the subject that I have found.  You can find Personality Plus Here.  Back to Hippocrates, he categorized people into 4 basic styles:

Sanguine, Choleric, Phlegmatic and Melancholy.  Today we  still find it useful to recognize these general categories.

In this podcast, I explain in detail about the Powerful Choleric – “Action Annie” and the Peaceful Phlegmatic – “Peaceful Patty”.  If you want to get the full picture of these styles, be sure to listen to the podcast episode 002 for the details.

Powerful Choleric (Red) – Action Annie:  You know her because she is;

• High Energy
• Strong with her words and gestures
• Functional for optimum performance

Her motivator is to BE IN CONTROL!!

Peaceful Phlegmatic (Green)- Peaceful Patty:  You know her because she is;

• Laid Back and Easy Going
• Great sense of Dry Humor
• Great Listener

Her motivator is PEACE AT ANY PRICE!!

The styles basically work together so that you have one dominate with a supporting style.  The natural combinations (which can vary between the two as to most dominant) are:

• Sally Sunshine (Yellow) dominant with Action Annie (Red) secondary or Red dominant with Yellow secondary
• Action Annie (Red) dominant with Detailed Danielle (Blue) secondary or Blue dominant with Red secondary
• Detailed Danielle (Blue) dominant with Peaceful Patty (Green) secondary or Green dominant with Blue secondary
• Peaceful Patty (Green) dominant with Sally Sunshine (Yellow) secondary or Yellow dominant with Green secondary

Remember, you can change positions but you’ll never change teams.  It’s a learning journey.  Hopefully, we are all growing and changing every day.  For more details on this topic, be sure to listen to episode 002, and then check back for episodes 004-005 when I’ll go in to specifics on what to do with these people!  It will be entertaining and educational.  I promise.  After all, I’m a yellow!

P.S. If you haven’t subscribed to these podcasts, please go to iTunes and subscribe.  Then download the episodes so you’re up to date.  Thank you so much!!

Question:  Which of these 4 styles we’ve covered are you?  What are your challenges? What’s easy for you?  How has your style helped you at work and home?  Please leave your answer below.

The post #003: Understanding The Personalities Part 2 (Podcast) appeared first on Christy Largent.