Karen Susman and Associates

11/17/2024

The Amalfi coast: Beauty, history, people and gelato.

12/15/2022

I made an Ugly Chanukah sweater.

12/09/2022

Walking toward Petra in October.

06/22/2020

Want to gain more exposure? Write articles.

If you'd like a complimentary copy of my White Paper on How to Use Articles To Gain More Exposure, please let me know. It covers: Why to write an article, What to write about, How to organize your article, Where to publish it and How to leverage your writing for maximum visibility. Message me or email me at [email protected]. writing

08/16/2019

©Karen Susman Here are five buring questions I’ve received from audience members. They’ve been selected at random from a fat file labeled “Burning Questions.

08/12/2019

Content Without Delivery Won’t Launch
©Karen Susman

Emily Dickinson said of a writer, “She has the facts, but not the phosphorescence.” This could describe many speakers. They have content, they have statistics, they have data, they have fancy slides. But, without delivery skills, their content misses making the impact it could.

“But, my content is so important. I’ve spent hours putting it together. I’ve got the mother of all outlines, “ you cry. “Isn’t that enough?” (Gee. If you’d only put that much emotion into delivering your content.)

Consider a rocket launching a satellite into space. Delivering that satellite is the goal of the launch. That satellite is hot stuff. It’s important. But, without the rocket, also known as the delivery system, the satellite is just a bunch of metal in the dumpster-o-missions. The same goes for your content. Without a strong delivery system, your message will never get off the ground.

What goes into delivery? I’m glad you asked, since so many ignore delivery elements.

1. Your body: gestures, eye contact, posture and purposeful movement, facial expression.
2. Your voice (I know it’s a part of your body, but your voice deserves its own listing.): Variety, volume, pace, pitch, accents, inflection, intonation, breathing and the much-overlooked pauses.
3. Your dress and appearance.
4. Your image: genuine or fake.
5. Your image: confident or scared.
6. Your working of the crowd before and after your presentation.
7. Your ability to read the audience and adjust your pacing and content if necessary.
8. Your ability to handle the audience.
9. Your ability to shift gears and be flexible.
10. Your ability to deal calmly with snafus.
11. Your ability to adjust your material so you can end on time or early.
12. Your ability to use slides and other audio visuals effectively.
13. Your use, or not, of notes.
14. Your focus on the audience.
15. Your willingness to practice, video record yourself and be coached.
16. Your ability to deliver a close with a call to action and a wallop.

There may be more items on the delivery list. But, you get the idea. Content is not enough. Even if you must present boring material, your delivery can bring it to life. As Alan Alda said about oatmeal, “I agree that ordinary oatmeal is very boring, but not the steel-cut Irish kind - the kind that pops in your mouth when you bite into it in little glorious bursts like a sort of gummy champagne.”

Why have oatmeal when you can have phosphorescent oatmeal? Why have content without delivery?

Phosphorescence - get you some!

©Karen Susman and Associates • PO Box 371500 • Denver, CO 80237 • 303-756-6939 • [email protected] •

Karen Susman is NOT a dog trainer. But, have you ever felt you and the person you’re trying to communicate with are two different species? You might as well be talking terrier. If you start panting when you have to speak to a group, converse face-to-face, lead meetings or network, Karen will put y...

06/18/2019

I tried. I really tried.

03/28/2019

Karen Susman's NextLevel Tools©
March 28, 2019

There’s Always A Reason to Celebrate: April Fools Day and Other Days To Bring Out the Party Favors

It’s the end of March. It’s 73 degrees in Denver, Colorado. It’s the first day over 70 degrees since October 2018. If that isn’t reason enough to celebrate, I don’t know what is.

April Fools Day is rapidly approaching. I’ve never been much for pranks or being pranked, so I was curious to see what other marked days April had to offer.

According to Google University, here are several April celebrations:

April 2 – National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day
April 6 – National Teflon Day
April 6 – National Love our Children Day (What about the rest of the year?)
April 11 – National Eight-Track Tape Day
April 14 – National Reach As High as You Can Day
April 15 – National Glazed Spiral Ham Day
April 16 - National Wear Your Pajamas To Work Day
April 18 – National High Five Day
April 20 – National Lima Bean Respect Day
April 25 – National Hairball Awareness Day
April 30 – National Oatmeal Cookie Day

If none of those appeal to you, remember there’s nothing to stop you from celebrating every day. Doesn’t have to be something huge like, “I got a big promotion. Break out the Champagne.” Perhaps you took a walk. Maybe you drank water. Did you reuse a plastic bottle? How about separating the whites from those red towels before dumping everything in the washer?

Whoo-hoo!!! Jump up and down. Wear your party hat. Give yourself a hug.

Silly? Maybe. Except I know many of us beat ourselves up if autocorrect has a power surge and we press send before we notice. I texted someone that I was taking the dogs for a ride in the car-car. Autocorrect judged that I was too old for baby talk, so it substituted “e-card-car” for car-car. The text recipient was kind enough not to go, “Huh?”

We proclaim that the day is a “bad day” if it rains on our just washed car. The stars are misaligned if we get too many robocalls. (One is too many!)

April is coming. Don’t be a fool. There is something to celebrate every day even if you already respect Lima Beans. Let me know what you celebrate and I’ll cheer for you, too.

--------------------------------------------------------
Are You Looking For A Speaker For Your Next Meeting Or Conference? Well, here I am. My programs on communication and wellness are chock full of content, interaction, energy and humor.

Recently, Kathy Lawless, Life Story Curator, commented, “Many thanks to Karen Susman for presenting to our Master Mind group. She definitely lives up to her tag line of "Bore no More"! She presented the basics (along with secrets) of speaking professionally. Karen makes speaking professionally look easy and makes it fun and engaging!! Can't wait to try out some of her tips.”
--------------------------------------------------------
Please share this or reprint. Just remember to include my copyright and contact information.©

12/21/2018

Are You Limiting Opportunities?

12/21/2018

It's All In Your Perspective:

My 30 lb. miniature poodle, Cody, and I approached a group of dachshunds who were attending a dachshund meet-up at the park. One owner said her dog was afraid of BIG dogs. In her (and her dog's mind) a 30 pound dog is a big dog. That belief ends the possibility of her dog and sweet Cody becoming buds - even for a few minutes. How are your perspective, biases, and other protective devices limiting your opportunities?