In his 14-plus years as a strategic communications trainer, the biggest obstacle our guests comes across - one that connects directly to nervousness, stammering, rambling, and epic fail - is that most speakers and writers don't have a point.

They typically have just a title, a theme, a topic, an idea, an assertion, a catchphrase, or even something much less.

A point is something more. It's a contention you can propose, argue, defend, illustrate, and prove.

When we have a point, our influence snaps into place. We communicate belief, conviction, and urgency. Our guest shows us how to identify a point, leverage it, stick to it, and sell it and how to train others to identify and successfully make their own points.

In a world of information over abundance standing out becomes even more difficult, yet so many of us don't know how to make a point.

As professional communications shifted from physical to virtual, he noticed firsthand both highly effective and utterly ruinous approaches to using video conference technology to communicate and make strong points.

We welcome public speaking trainer and author of Get to the point, sharpen your message and make your words matter and friend of the show Joel Schwartzberg

We discuss an overview of Get to the point and the takeaways from Joel's Harvard Business review article entitled "How to Elevate Your Presence in a Virtual Meeting"

We discuss:

• How we often have what we think is a point, but it is often just:
• • A topic
  • A title
  • A theme
• Uptalking
• Bias in communication
• Tips for panelists and MCs
• How we formulate a point and the "I believe that test"
• Virtual meetings in a digital world
• Elevating both your point and your presence
• Projecting your voice
• Proximity plays a part

The HBR article is here: https://bit.ly/2TLkpvk

Joel is here: https://www.joelschwartzberg.net/

Previous episode with Joel is here: https://bit.ly/2ZGRw7y