Recently I had the privilege of coaching Hakki Akdeniz for his TED talk in which he tells the inspiring story of his journey as a 21 year old penniless, homeless, Turkish immigrant in NYC to successful entrepreneur, philanthropist and advocate for the homeless. Twenty years ago Hakki came to the United States speaking no English, Read more
James Earl Jones, the voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars stutters? Yes, you’re reading this correctly! This 91 year old award-winning actor is a lifelong stutterer. According to The New York Times, the Shubert Organization will name the Cort Theater, a landmark 110-year-old house located on West 48th Street, after Jones, a two-time competitive Read more
How important are presentation skills if I’m working on a remote platform like Zoom? Other participants don’t expect a polished presentation on Zoom — or do they? Can’t I just read my script on Zoom as if I were presenting in person? Some of the concerns my clients have raised over the years have changed Read more
How to be safe and still receive services? LazarSpeech transitioned to an entirely virtual platform on March 20, 2020. All sessions have been held on Zoom, occasionally on Skype or FaceTime if clients need a different online application. With a randomly generated meeting ID and embedded password, clients have a secure link — they simply Read more
In these difficult times we can still use words to keep us together without touching Words separate human beings from every other species. It’s a gift from nature we can use in these difficult times to gather and share information, comfort, reassure one another, and continue the social interactions so necessary for the mind Read more
Do people really want to hear my story? Do I want to relate personal details to strangers? Whether you’re an executive presenting your sales pitch, a college graduate interviewing for your first job, or a high school student speaking with an admissions officer, your personal narrative can be the key to reaching your goals. Telling Read more
Create a Dialogue If I’m giving a presentation, why do I need to create a dialogue with my audience? When you make a presentation — to one or 500 people — you want to capture their attention and engage them so they see your point of view. If you’re simply speaking “at them,” it’s likely Read more
How important can storytelling be if it’s not taught in school? In a recent article in The New York Times by Frank Bruni entitled, “How to Get the Most Out of College,” he writes: “Every successful pitch for a new policy, new product or new company is essentially a story, with a shape and logic intended to Read more
literate [lit-er-it] adjective 1. able to read and write 2. having or showing knowledge of literature, writing, etc.; literary; well-read 3. characterized by skill, lucidity, polish, or the like 4. having knowledge or skill in a specified field 5. having an education; educated; learned Fundamentally, the literate person is a “learned person.” Computer literate, social media literate, etc. What does it mean to be “learned” these days? We live in a constantly changing world. Technology has altered our society in ways as profound as the industrial revolution and the Read more
Isn’t listening easier than speaking? Aren’t listening and paying attention the same? Most people will answer “yes” to these two questions. But listening is actually more complicated than most people realize and in some ways, as difficult a process as expressing yourself. While you must be paying attention in order to “listen” there are actually two Read more