Lots of PR Firms Sell Their Crisis Work – Let The Buyer Beware
By Bruce Hennes/Hennes Communications With no barriers to entry, every public relations firm in the U.S. now appears to offer “crisis communications.” They don’t. At least, all of those who claim to don’t. Crisis work requires a different – and often counterintuitive – skill set from the traditional practice of public relations. It’s also an art […]
Everything in Moderation: Some Best Practices about Moderating Panels
The City Club of Cleveland is one of the nation’s great free speech forums. A product of the Progressive Era, it was founded in 1912 and is one of the nation’s oldest continuous independent free speech forums, renowned for their tradition of debate and discussion. For more than a hundred years, all of their speakers—from […]
Most Keynote Speeches are Disasters. Here are 5 Big Ideas to Save Your Talk, Your Sanity, and Your Career on Stage
From Stephen Denny, managing director, Denny Leinberger Strategy, writing in Inc. Magazine: There’s a lot of advice out there about public speaking, and not all of it is great. Having done keynotes and other high stakes presentations for the past two decades in venues from hotel ballrooms to conference centers, boardrooms, the occasional brewery, movie theater, and college lecture […]
Presentation Tips: When Your Speech Stands Between Your Audience and Happy Hour
By Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications So you finally snagged a speaking slot at an important industry conference and you’re jazzed. You’ve tightened your script, added cool multimedia to your PowerPoint deck and you’re ready to rock an audience you know will be hanging on your every word. One problem. The slot you got is on […]
Take the Opportunity to Tell Your Story – After You Prepare and Practice
Q. What do I do if the media wants to talk to me? A. Start by asking yourself what you think when you read or hear that the subject of a story – particularly a story in which others are critical of the person or the person’s organization – says “no comment” or that the […]
How Best to Convey “Executive Presence” Non-Verbally
From Dan Hill, writing for CommPro: From U.S. presidents to NFL quarterbacks, I’ve studied their signature facial expressions—looking for the patterns that indicate success. Maybe you weren’t the first choice for the C-suite corner office you now have, but surely you weren’t the 199th overall pick for the job (like the New England Patriot’s Tom […]
Body Language and Leadership Effectiveness – How to Achieve ‘Executive Presence’
From CommPro, written by Dr. Nick Morgan, Author: Most of us think of charisma, or executive presence, as something mysterious and elusive that certain executives are born with or are trained to achieve in some executive school we haven’t been invited to. We all know we need that mysterious quality when we’re in front of […]
How Best to Convey “Executive Presence” Non-Verbally
By Dan Hill, from Sensory Logic: From U.S. presidents to NFL quarterbacks, I’ve studied their signature facial expressions—looking for the patterns that indicate success. Maybe you weren’t the first choice for the C-suite corner office you now have, but surely you weren’t the 199th overall pick for the job (like the New England Patriot’s Tom Brady). […]
When the CEO Must be the Spokesperson
[By Nora Jacobs, Hennes Communications] One of the questions we frequently debate with clients when they are about to make a public announcement is the question of attribution: Who’s going to speak on behalf of the organization? After explaining all the reasons why having members of our crisis team fill that role is a bad […]
Want A Good Answer Amid A Crisis? Know The Question Before It’s Asked
By Thom Fladung/Hennes Communications The Q&A session is a staple of leadership, whether those questions come at you in employee meetings, community forums or in an interview with a journalist. It can be challenging in any setting. But doing a Q&A amid a crisis or serious issue your company or organization is facing ratchets up […]