This week we had another inspiring speech on leadership from Darrell Winfrey, during which he talked about leadership by example. Congratulations to Brett Seiler on a superb Ice Breaker speech. Daniel Hector wowed us with his prepared speech on Facebook and Kathy Moon presented another passionate speech on her favorite topic, remodeling of her home.
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On February 6th, we will have an Open House featuring Eldonna Lewis Fernandez (for more information, please go to our Event page) In fact, she has been featured on KTTV news! In this video clip, she discusses positive thinking, via a 3-part Rules of Engagement.
**NOTE: Not viewable at work **
We had a bitter-sweet moment tonight. Our former president Mayur Patel stopped by to say hello, and goodbye. He is off to Washington DC for bigger and better things within Northrop Grumman. Best wishes to Mayor, and BTW he is not leaving empty-handed… Mayur walked away with the Best Program Manager award. Continue reading
In November, we included a video clip where Nancy Duarte analyzed various presentations with her brilliant sparkline analysis technique. The sparkline (invented by Edward Tufte and often used when displaying stocks) is an example of information design, a powerful tool for data heavy (financial, scientific, etc.) presentations.
Here, Nancy does a more in-depth analysis of the I Have A Dream Speech using the sparkline. You can literally see the “shape” of the speech and its power.
**NOTE: Not viewable at work **
This Monday was Martin Luther King Jr Day. In his honor, we’ve included a video clip of his “I Have A Dream” Speech as well as a transcript (after the “Continue Reading” link.)
**NOTE: Not viewable at work **
Darrell Winfrey delivered a 10-minute educational talk on Committing to Reach Your Goals. He spoke at length about how people get sidetracked from their dreams and succumb to a false sense of security. He made the case for focusing on dreams and desires by simplifying our goals. Phuoc Quach delivered a speech on setting goals as well, talking about his New Year’s Resolutions. Sauli Danpour delivered an entertaining personal toast to our President Monica Alexander. He won Best Speech of the night. Continue reading
John Truby is one of the leading screenwriting teachers and “Story Doctors” in Hollywood, having consulted on more than 1000 scripts. He is the author of the soon-to-be seminal book Anatomy of Story, where he breaks down the deep structure of genre writing, powerful story, and memorable dialogue.
Here, he speaks about the importance of a compelling premise and especially a powerful need. A premise is a one sentence summary of the entire story, describing the goals of the main character. However, a premise is made compelling not by the goals of the character, but the tension between what the character desire and what the characters need.
**NOTE: Not viewable at work **
