Of Lectures and Presentations

Once again, I missed a good lecture/ presentation offered by the ITA.
I refer to Stephen Rifkind's Improving the Quality of Presentations; a Very Important Subject, as all speakers and conference attendees will agree.

My excuse for not attending was that I had a house-guest, a dear friend from London. She was staying for just over a week and I didn't want to go away for an entire afternoon/evening.
But the reason I didn't go, I'm ashamed to admit, is the practically insurmountable distance. Can you imagine, traveling ALL THE WAY from Rishon to Haifa, and back again? In one afternoon/evening? It's a cross-country trip! It's all the way from what Tel Avivians consider The Gate to the South to what Rishonites consider Up North.

I'm sure the lecture & presentation were edifying, useful and interesting, and the loss is all mine.

I would, however, like to take advantage of your (hopefully) being in the right frame of mind to give you a few complementary tips about public speaking. Not my own, but from my friend, coach Marion Claire of Los Angeles. Years before she became a personal coach (what Israelis call "coacher", shudder shudder), Marion was a script writer and editor, who most definitely has a way with words, a way with people, and a way of getting her words across to people.

Since copy-pasting the article in question is technically awkward at the moment, here's the link to Marion's Speaker's Tip #10 - Ten Rules for the Reluctant Speaker: http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs011/1102717540757/archive/1103241326454.html. Enjoy.