top of page
Search
Fred Miller
Jan 2, 20133 min read

TODAY: Looking Back and Looking. . .

F FORWARD!

Many things come to mind this time of year. Here are several I want to share.


NO SWEAT Public Speaking - <Standing Desk

Looking Back Standing Desk

This Stand Up Idea has proven to be Outstanding!

In 2010 I had an operation for a herniated disk. Ouch!

After the surgery, like many of you, I sat in a leather, high-back, swivel office chair at my standard office desk. The problem was: the longer I sat, the harder it was to get up and walk.

In 2012 I started investigating standing desks. Ben Franklin had one, as did Donald Rumsfeld. The more investigating I conducted, the more I was convinced that standing was better than sitting. I’m sure all my chiropractic doctor friends agree!

I saw several Facebook friends posting they had standing desks and talked to two of them about their decision. Both confirmed my research. They were not going back to sitting at a desk. After six months with my standing desk, I’m not either!

Here are some reasons:

  1. Far less back pain.

  2. If you’ve ever had severe back pain, you’ll know why, for this reason alone, I will not go back to sitting.

  3. Way more productive.

  4. You know how you pull out the chair, sit on it, pull it up to the desk, move the mouse, adjust the keyboard. . .

  5. I walk up to my desk, move the mouse to wake my computer, and I’m at it!

  6. We’re all familiar with the expression, “I think better on my feet!”

  7. I’m sure it’s true.

  8. Clients and guests love it!

  9. Some of my coaching is done in my home office. All the responses have been positive. Clients agree our sessions are more productive standing than sitting.

BTW, I’ve taken the bar stool away because I never use it! It’s only available to clients, who only use it to lean on!


Audio Post

I started posting the audio of each post I wrote in March, 2011. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made for improving my writing and my speaking.

The thought was: an author’s writings should have a voice. Posting the audio of each article gives the reader a voice to listen to – the author’s voice! The text is there if they prefer to read, or want to refer to a point made in the audio. Since listening and seeing are two prominent learning styles, the combination helps more site visitors GET IT!

Initially, listening to my recording of my post was a very humbling experience. I found grammatical errors, misspellings, and paragraphs that needed rewriting.

It wasn’t just the writing that needed work! I listened and discovered my voice sometimes trailed off when it should have stayed strong. On occasion, I would mumble and would have to replay what I just heard to understand the words. (This is not a good thing for a person who speaks and coaches speaking to have to do!)

Bottom line, I am now a better writer and speaker and give this advice as one of my top recommendations for improving speaking skills!

Looking Forward

Video

Two important things we know about communication are: 

  1. Nonverbal trumps verbal.

As an example, our recent election debates where President Obama’s “indifference” body language and Vice President Biden’s “grinning” got more press, at times, than the issues!

2.  Most people are visual learners. (Approximately 65%.)

We believe what we see!

We also know this about YouTube and its Traffic (2011 statistics):

  1. 60 hours of video are uploaded every minute, or one hour of video is uploaded to YouTube every second.

  2. Over 4 billion videos are viewed a day.

  3. Over 800 million unique users visit YouTube each month.

  4. Over 3 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube.

  5. More video is uploaded to YouTube in one month than the 3 major US networks created in 60 years.

  6. In 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views.

  7. In 2011 there were almost 140 views for every person on Earth.

Since I’m in the Presentation Business, it makes sense to let visitors “see” me “show” what I preach and write about. (Yikes! – I’m feeling some pressure!)

With all this in mind, I’m constructing a small video studio. My intention is to have short videos available that give one or two Super Presentation Tips each; the kind that have the viewer saying, “Wow! I’ll try that next time I speak!”

Stay Tuned and “Watch” this site. You’ll “See” what I mean!

About the Author Fred E. Miller is a speaker, a coach, and the author of the book, “No Sweat Public Speaking!” Businesses and individuals hire him because they want to improve their Public Speaking and Presentation Skills. They do this because we perceive really great speakers to be Experts. Perception is reality, and we rather deal with Experts.

They also know: Speaking Opportunities are Business Opportunities. Speaking Opportunities are Career Opportunities. Speaking Opportunities are Leadership Opportunities.

He shows them how to: Develop, Practice, and Deliver ‘Knock Your Socks Off Presentations!’ with – NO SWEAT!

Connect/Follow me: FaceBook LinkedIn Twitter

Comments

bottom of page