After hosting hundreds of safety meetings, training sessions, and presentations, I’ve picked up a few “handling heckler hacks.” here are the three I’ve found most effective in handling the ever-not-popular know-it-all all who interrupts and won’t shut up. 1) [...]
First off, turn the lights down so the room is dim. Even though it will reduce energy and make it difficult to see the nuances of your facial expressions, if you want a lousy meeting, you have to [...]
Over the many years of my career, I’ve had dozens of fellow safety and health professionals ask me for advice on becoming a professional speaker. Typically the person will ask, “I’m an excellent speaker, and everybody tells me how good [...]
It drives me crazy! It’s 2019 and still I see “Safety Speaker” after “Safety Speaker” boring their audience with the same stuff I heard when I started my career over 35 years ago!! Don’t get me wrong; I’ve experienced some [...]
Once you leave the board you might as well flip Because there’s no way you’re going to start the dive over Those are verses from a song I wrote several years ago entitled "16 Positions." It's about being committed to [...]
Like an icon that represents a software program, your name represents you. Nothing captures a person's attention more than hearing their name called out. The renowned speaker and author, Dale Carnegie recognized this. In fact, he devoted an entire chapter [...]
How you finish your presentations or training matters way more than how you start, I use to think otherwise, but now, after 50 years or so in front of hundreds of audiences, I’m positive your finale matters most. (The first [...]
This tactic works every time when someone is glued to their phone. It also works for all kinds of things that are distracting someone in your audience, or when someone is the distraction. It’s worked for me for over 30 [...]
Everyone likes to feel special. I do and so do you. So, why not use this universal desire to make your next safety talk or safety meeting stand out as a memorable, feel-good event?! Of course your main purpose is [...]
Core exercises are tough for me. I don’t like them, but I know they help me a lot. Same goes for viewing videos of my presentations whether it’s a safety keynote or training session, it’s painful but necessary if I [...]
