Body Language at the Second Presidential Debate
From The Washington Post: It’s not our faces that tend to offer the strongest clues about what we are feeling, but rather our bodies. In fact, the more intense the emotion, the more difficult the human face becomes to read and the more telling and accurate body language seems to become. That’s what a team of […]
Looking Your Best on Skype, TV, YouTube & FaceTime
A picture says a thousand words. A video quadruples that. Looking your best means taking care with the way you move and gesture, the way your hair is cut and the manner in which you’re dressed. Make-up, too, is important, for both men and women, especially because of the widespread use of high-definition video. As we […]
The Benefits of Executive Communications Coaching
[by Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications] As part of your organization’s leadership team, you’re a walking, talking standard bearer of your brand and your reputation. What you communicate can dramatically impact your organization’s reputation. But HOW you communicate is crucial. Ineffectual, weak presentations are one of the quickest ways to damage your brand’s reputation. If your […]
Context is King: 3 Ways to Take Control of Interviews

[by Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications] The second a crisis rears its ugly head and a reporter knocks on your door about it, you start quaking in your boots. You get a lump in your throat and notice you’re sweating. But you know in your heart that your organization is not the villain in this issue, […]
You’re Ready For Your Video Interview. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Don’t like being interviewed on video? Prefer an in-person meeting? Well, according to Chris Brown, Vice President of Human Resources at West Corporation, you are out of luck. Video interviewing is here to stay. Love it (most Millennials) or loathe it (many of the rest of us) we’ve all got to get better at it. […]
Communication Tactics To Supercharge Your Leadership
Communication is the real work of leadership: articulating a vision. Breathing life into professed values. Challenging the status quo. Engaging people’s heads, hearts and hopes. A lot of that communication is in day-to-day conversation, in meetings, and other routine interactions. But some of it also comes in the form of speeches or presentations. Death-by-PowerPoint is unacceptable. […]
Context is King: 4 Ways to Take Control of That Interview

[by Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications] The second a crisis rears its ugly head and a reporter knocks on your door about it, you start quaking in your boots. You get a lump in your throat and notice you’re sweating. But you know in your heart that your organization is not the villain in this issue, […]
6 Proven Methods of Persuasion

Presentations are a gamble; they’re risky. You invest valuable time and money, but you can’t predict the presentation climate that you will be dealt. You cannot calculate the exact mood of the audience or control all variables of the situation. To succeed, you must be bold, and come prepared with an ace up your sleeve. […]
The TV I-Team is Back: Better Be Ready!

[by Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications] They’re the bane of guilty players everywhere. They pop out from behind buildings and bushes as you’re scrambling to get into your car. They run you down with a microphone stuck in your face and a Frezzi light blinding you. You’re trapped like a deer in a headlight with an […]
Horse-Race Journalism Dominated Primary Media Coverage

The media love to tell “horse race” stories. And if you’ve been watching/reading about the presidential race over the last year, you’ve seen a lot of them. While horse race stories are certainly legitimate storytelling “frames,” we’re not sure democracy is best-served with an overabundance on that particular frame. From Poynter in a piece written by […]