Biesenblog
Riveting Insights on Communication, Storytelling and Presentation Skills
‘My’ is the Rudest Word
Madonna gave an acceptance speech at the Golden Globes the other night in which she used the word "my" six times in just a minute and thirty-nine seconds. * My writers. My co-producer. My leading lady. My film. My, my, my ... I was taught by a very proper Southern...
How To Fix the MLK Memorial: Get a Writer on Board
What a small mess they've made of the Martin Luther King memorial. And all for the want of a good writer. If you haven't been following the controversy, they botched the main inscription on the front of the statue -- so badly, in fact, that Maya Angelou said it made...
The Kids Are Alright
I tell you, the kids these days. They've got an entitlement mentality. They don't believe they should have to pay their dues. They think if they've done something once they've learned it and shouldn't have to do it again. They get bored too easily. They're impatient...
PR Is Only As Stressful As You Make It
For years, "PR executive" has been listed high among the most stressful occupations -- Number 2, in fact. Yes, I know -- take that, neurosurgeons and air traffic controllers! This year, somehow, it dropped all the way down to Number 7, behind soldiers, firefighter,...
A Little Self Promotion
One indicator that you've come upon a subject that you're passionate about is that in all the thinking and analyzing and dissecting, you constantly come up with new ways to talk about it. I'm doing a couple of PR industry speeches in the coming months, and this is...
A Pointless Phrase That Everyone on the Planet Abuses
You hear it all the time in speeches, announcements, Facebook posts and every awards presentation that's ever occurred: "I'd like to thank ..." "I'd like to introduce ..." "I'd like to congratulate ..." Practically everyone does it, which is reason enough to be...
How To Go Home for the Holidays and Come Back in One Piece
There may be no place like home for the holidays, but these gatherings can be precarious affairs. It seems even the most innocuous remark comes loaded with extra freight -- a lifetime of built-up resentments and slights. "Nice haircut! I love your hair short!" "I...
Let’s Get Visual: A Lesson from the White House
Now that's how to use a prop! I've lamented the fact before that so many executives (including chief executives and presidents) fail to make good use of physical props to illustrate their points. They're concerned that it's somehow cheesy or beneath them. But I love...
A Quick Tip for Radio Interviews
Conventional wisdom would tell you that doing a radio interview in the actual studio would be a more comfortable, natural experience than conducting it over the phone. But that's just another proof point for how conventional wisdom gets its name. As I found this...
Job Interviews: 10 Questions to Help You Stand Out From the Crowd
"Don't hire anyone you wouldn't want to run into in the hallway at three in the morning." - Tina Fey, Bossypants This has always been my approach when interviewing people for a job. Not that my kind of work would have me roaming office hallways at 3 in the morning....
5 Reasons to Dump Your Narrator
Every time I help a client create a video, it seems someone during the planning stage brings up narration: "And here the narrator should talk about ..." And I'm thinking, "No, there will be NO narrator!" But I don't usually bring it up at that point because for some...
Language is the Mother of Thought
Right now I'm reading Cleopatra: A Life, which is excellent so far. In it I found this pearl of wisdom handed down from Cicero: "As reason is the glory of man, so the lamp of reason is eloquence." No offense to Cicero -- he was clearly no slouch -- but that is...
