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Coaching Education fun web meetings

Class v. Workshop: What’s the difference?

A class is where you learn facts and theories.
A workshop is where you learn skills and practices.

A class is where you get grades and certificates.
A workshop is where you get feedback and stickers.

A class is where you have homework and exams.
A workshop is where you have projects and presentations.

A class is where you have classmates and friends.
A workshop is where you have colleagues and enemies.

And finally,

A class is where you sit and listen to a teacher who knows everything and tells you what to do.

A workshop is where you sit and listen to a facilitator who knows nothing and asks you what to do!


Laura Bergells teaches classes and workshops. Hire Laura.

Or you can take Laura’s communications and public speaking classes at LinkedIn Learning.  – Free to LinkedIn Premium Members! 

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Coaching communication Education

Don’t Overcome Imposter Syndrome. Cultivate It!

I get calls and requests about “overcoming imposter syndrome.” But I don’t recommend it! Imposter syndrome is normal and manageable.

Frankly, I’ve heard people talk with complete confidence and authority about topics they know little about. I often think they could use a little imposter syndrome!

The times I’ve felt acute imposter syndrome are when I’ve performed at my very best! My imposter syndrome inspires me to learn more about my subject matter. It also transmits vulnerability, which audiences like.

What is Imposter Syndrome?

Imposter syndrome is a psychological phenomenon. Many high-achieving people experience it. So do perfectionists! So do some favorite actors, singers, writers, and performers!

It’s the feeling that you’re not as competent or capable as others think you are, and that you’ll be exposed as a fake any minute. It’s common and it’s normal.

Why Overcome Something Normal???

So instead of fighting or hiding your imposter syndrome, what if you could embrace it and learn from it? What if you could see it as a gift, not a curse?

Imposter syndrome is not a sign of weakness or incompetence. It’s a sign of growth and potential.

It means you’re pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and trying new things. It means you’re challenging yourself and expanding your horizons.

The Benefits of Imposter Syndrome

Imposter syndrome is also a great teacher. It can help you improve your skills, knowledge, and performance. It can make you a more thorough researcher, careful planner, and thoughtful communicator. It can make you more humble, more curious, more open-minded.

So, how can you embrace your imposter syndrome and turn it into a positive force? Here are four tips:

  • Acknowledge and respect your feelings. Don’t ignore or suppress them. Instead, name them and accept them as part of your journey. You’re not a fraud. You’re a learner.
  • Re-write your resume or LinkedIn profile every quarter. This can remind you of your strengths and achievements. In a resume, you don’t focus on your flaws or gaps. Instead, writing your resume helps you remember what you’ve done well and accomplished.
  • Seek feedback and support. Don’t isolate yourself or pretend to know everything. Instead, ask for help and advice from others who can guide you and cheer you on. Find a mentor, coach, or friend who can support and challenge you.
  • Take action and experiment. Don’t let fear or doubt stop you from pursuing your dreams. Instead, take small steps and try new things. Learn from your mistakes and failures. See them as opportunities to grow and improve.

Imposter syndrome is not something to be ashamed of or afraid of. It’s something to be grateful for! If you didn’t experience it, you wouldn’t be normal, vulnerable, or likeable! Plus, it inspires you to learn and grow.

Your imposter syndrome shows that you care about what you do and that you want to do it well. It shows that you have high standards and expectations for yourself. It also shows that you have room to grow and evolve!

So, don’t let imposter syndrome hold you back. Instead, let it propel you forward.

Do you embrace your imposter syndrome? How do you use it to your advantage? 😊


Laura Bergells teaches public speaking and business communication classes and workshops. Hire Laura!

Take Laura’s communications and public speaking classes at LinkedIn Learning – Free to LinkedIn Premium Members!

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Coaching communication design Education Presentation public speaking storyfinding

How to Hook Your Audience: In Medias Res

Picture this: You’re on stage, telling a story about the night you became a criminal. You say:

I’m lying in wet grass behind a cow barn. I just vandalized a property. Two angry men are hunting me down. My heart is pounding. I’m thinking, ‘I’m a mom of two. What am I doing here?

Boom! You’ve got your audience hooked. They want to know more. They’re on the edge of their seats.

You’ve also just used a storytelling technique called in medias res.

What is in medias res?

In medias res is Latin for “in the middle of things”. It means starting your story in the middle of the action, instead of at the beginning.

Why use in medias res?

En medias res can make your story more exciting and intriguing. It can spark curiosity and suspense in your audience. It can make them wonder:

  • What’s going on?
  • Who’s the speaker?
  • How did they end up in this situation?

Then, you can go back to the beginning and fill in the gaps.

How to Use In Medias Res

You don’t have to use in medias res for every story. Sometimes, it’s better to start at the beginning and build up to the climax.

But if you want to add some excitement to your story, try starting in the middle. Here are five tips for using in media res effectively:

  • Choose a moment that’s dramatic, surprising, or funny.
  • Make sure it’s relevant to your main point or message.
  • Don’t give away too much information at once. Keep some mystery.
  • Use sensory details to make the scene vivid and realistic.
  • Let your audience know that you’re safe and that everything turned out okay.

Experiment with in medias res and see how it changes your stories. You might find that it makes them more engaging and memorable!


Laura Bergells teaches public speaking and business communication classes and workshops. Hire Laura!

Take Laura’s communications and public speaking classes at LinkedIn Learning – Free to LinkedIn Premium Members!

Categories
Coaching Education fun public speaking video

What if you have to sneeze in an on-camera interview?

What if you have to sneeze on camera

What do you do when you feel like you have to sneeze during an on-camera interview? Here’s your two step process:

1. Camera off first.

2. Then, hit mute.

Nobody wants to see or hear you as you “ugly sneeze!”

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Laura Bergells is a professional story finder. She writes, coaches, teaches, and speaks. Check out her online courses at LinkedIn Learning

🔥🔥🔥 Laura coaches executives on Camera via Zoom. When you need to rehearse an important presentation or prepare for a media interview, why not book a one-hour, online consultation?

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Coaching Education public speaking storyfinding

How to generate chit-chat in online meetings and classes

how to generate chit chat

Chit-chat is valuable. It’s how we connect with each other. It generates feelings of trust and empathy.

How do you generate chit-chat and off-topic discussions in online classes and meetings? Here are my top 6 ways.

1. Pre-game. I tell students that I show up 15 minutes before class starts. If they’d like to pop in early, they can. Usually, a few students show up. We start talking. Lately, we’ve been talking about dogs. But when others enter, they hear dog talk and join in. (Dogs have nothing to do with my class!)

2. Bio breaks. If you have to go, go! But keep the session open while you’re gone. People who don’t have to “go” can chat. (Some usually do.) When people come back, there’s a conversation in progress that extends beyond the scheduled break as people jump in.

3. Backgrounds, backgrounds, backgrounds! “Hey, what’s in your background? Why is it important to you? What do you wish was in your background?” Some interesting stories and lively back-and-forth have fallen out of simple curiosity.

4. Breakout rooms. Assign an exercise, then put people into rooms together to work. Sometimes, people get the exercise done early and chat. Other times, they come back to the main session and chat. Either way, it’s cool. We all chit-chat when we return to the main session.

5. Tell stories. To create a culture of storytelling, I like to use this simple tactic: start each meeting by asking if anyone has a good story to share. This works both online and off. It also gets people into the habit of talking in terms of story instead of data points.

6. Show and tell. Ask if anyone has a weird thing in their house that they’d like to share with the group. I’ve seen some weird things — and they always come with a little bit of a story. It seems that almost everyone has something weird laying around their home or office.

How else do you make the serendipity of chit-chat happen?

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Laura Bergells is a professional story finder. She writes, coaches, teaches, and speaks. Check out her online courses at LinkedIn Learning.

🔥🔥🔥 Laura also teaches “Presenting On Camera” – a live, interactive group class for sales and training professionals who need to shift from in-person to on-camera presentations. Call to inquire about availability and rates.

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communication crisis Education fun Presentation public speaking web meetings

Zoom Meetings: Prevent BATS IN THE CAVE with 2 simple tips

I’ve been in quite a few Zoom web meetings lately, and I’ve seen a lot of BATS IN THE CAVE, if you know what I mean.

If you don’t know what I mean by BATS IN THE CAVE — it’s when someone is using the camera on their laptop and I can look straight up their nose during the meeting.

Really, BATS IN THE CAVE is not a good look on anyone!

If you use a laptop for web meetings, I’ll give you two tips to help you get rid of that BATS IN THE CAVE look.

1. Get a stack of books. Raise your laptop up so your eyes are level with the camera.

2. Get a sticky note. Attach it to your monitor with an arrow or a smiley face, reminding you to look up and SMILE.

It’s the simple things. You can MacGyver this and still look like a polished professional.

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Laura Bergells is a professional story finder. She writes, coaches, teaches, and speaks. Check out her online courses at LinkedIn Learning.

If you’re a LinkedIn Premium or Lynda.com member, these courses are free! If you’re not a member, you can either become a member or buy each of these classes à la carte.

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Blogging Coaching communication content ideas design Education PowerPoint PowerPoint Presentation Presentation public speaking social media Twitter video

How to transform presentation content into video social media posts

Here’s a question about presentations and videos I started to get a lot last month. I’ll paraphrase it:

Hey Laura. How do you do those square, short, silent little videos that you share on LinkedIn and Twitter?

The answer is: really easily! I use a tool called Canva. Update: And here’s a direct link so you can use Canva to create presentations and slides.

As a stand & deliver trainer, I have oodles of presentation content. Canva lets me repurpose bits and pieces of this content for easy social media sharing.

Yes, Canva excels at quick online video creation. I’m finding a lot of people use Canva — but we tend not to think of using it for video. We tend to think of it for images.

I’m also thinking a lot of people have PowerPoint presentations. Why not try using Canva to repurpose your presentation content for social media posts?

Canva lets you do this in a way that’s super easy to accomplish. I show you how in this two minute video. Enjoy!


Laura Bergells is a professional story finder. She writes, coaches, teaches, and speaks. Check out her online courses at LinkedIn Learning.

If you’re a LinkedIn Premium or Lynda.com member, these courses are free! If you’re not a member, you can either become a member or buy each of these classes à la carte.

Categories
Coaching communication content ideas Education PowerPoint PowerPoint Presentation Presentation public speaking video

Introduce emotional relevance to your presentations

Brain Rules by John Medina

“We don’t pay attention to boring things.”

John Medina, Brain Rules

Sounds basic, right?

But how do you NOT be boring when you’re speaking or presenting?

Medina tells us to be sure to introduce something emotionally relevant every 10 minutes.

At least every 10 minutes!

If we don’t, we risk losing the attention and interest of our audiences….because….

“We don’t pay attention to boring things.”

What can you do to shake things up for your audience?

Click on the video to discover 5 things you can do…in under 51 seconds!


Laura Bergells is a professional story finder. She writes, coaches, teaches, and speaks. Check out her online courses at LinkedIn Learning.

If you’re a LinkedIn Premium or Lynda.com member, these courses are free! If you’re not a member, you can either become a member or buy each of these classes à la carte.

Categories
content ideas Education

Flip W. Edwards Deming on his head…

Without opinion, you're just another person with data.

A popular quote by W. Edwards Deming reads:

“Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.”

But what if you flipped this saying?

“Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.”

Leaders need to share informed opinions and insights.

Any dashboard can spew data.

It takes soft intelligence, leadership, and communication skills to win hearts and minds.

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HE: The data speaks for itself.
SHE: It really doesn’t. It’s why we have analysts. And data scientists. And leaders who interpret the data…

Because data on its own doesn’t say much.

We need to put the data into the context of story.

What story does the data inspire us to tell?

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Laura Bergells is a professional story finder. She writes, coaches, teaches, and speaks. Check out her online courses at LinkedIn Learning.

🔥🔥 Laura also teaches “Presenting On Camera” – a live, interactive group class for sales and training professionals who need to shift from in-person to on-camera presentations. Why not schedule a complementary 30 minute consult so that you can ROCK your next online presentation?

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Blogging Education

What if food prep becomes the top tech skill we can’t live without? Sound crazy? Bear with me…

What if we started learning food prep and cooking in elementary school? And I’m not thinking about food prep as an elective course or two. No, my vision is much bolder:

Learning to cook needs to be mandatory. Food prep needs to be integrated into every class you take in school. You must demonstrate ongoing cooking competence to pass classes and graduate.

Think about it. What might change if food preparation was used as the foundation for every STEM course you take in school? How might it change society and the economy?

For example, imagine if the only STEM education we received in school was food preparation. As you learn to cook, you more deeply learn every STEM subject.

Science. Nutrition, health, chemistry, experimental design, and anatomy. 

Technology. Knives, ovens, stoves, sous vide machines, freezers, and refrigerators. 

Engineering. Spacial relations, temperature, land use, processing, and packaging. 

Math. Calculating and charting: temperature and time and portions and servings. 

Gee whiz. A student can learn almost every topic by learning through food and cooking. It’s a solid STEM education, and then some.

Food is social and cultural. It’s finance and budgeting. It’s art and history and drama and presentation and…

…well, food is actually integrated into everything. It is literally fundamental for human survival. It’s the basis for a wide range of metaphors.

So why isn’t cooking used as a foundation for teaching every STEM subject we learn in school? How is it that you can graduate high school without demonstrating you know how to prepare, serve, and fund a month’s worth of nutritional, well-balanced meals? 

Honestly? I suspect one reason food prep isn’t considered worthy for a complete STEM curriculum is because cooking is traditionally viewed as “women’s work” and thus “not science-y or math-y or tech-y or manly enough”.

Maybe someone is thinking, “No, wait, how dare you? I need my STEM to be wrapped up in more important concepts than lowly food prep. My boy has an interest in computers and wants to work in the auto industry, so STEM means computer labs and an auto shop. He can pick up nutritional knowledge in the streets or at home.”

But why can’t a boy take what he learned about food prep and apply it to whatever field he wishes to pursue? Isn’t taking knowledge from one field and applying it to another a key creative and critical thinking skill?

Critical thinking. Creative thinking. You need both of these skills to write decent code.

And before you code one single line? You need to learn to think. And you need to eat. 

Computer programmer, car mechanic, art historian, athlete, teacher, writer — whatever. Every field involves food and nutrition. Because everybody’s gotta eat. It’s timeless.

While students pursue their career fields, they need the wherewithal to keep themselves healthy and financially solvent. Instead of touching a computer screen all day, they can learn to navigate the real world with the tactile sensation of handling food. 

Fingers sliding over glass is not the interface of the future. You need to know how objects interact with each other in a physical world. (That way, you’ll also know to look up from your phone so you don’t get hit by a car. And feel less lonely.)

“But…but…technology. It means computers…coding…”

What if we kill that concept? What if the tech skills you learn in school today aren’t the tech skills you need in the future? (Hint: they won’t be.)

We’ve been picking up our nutrition in the streets. It hasn’t been working out so well. So let’s flip it around.

Learn to cook in school.

Learn to code in the streets.

Teach people to cook, and you’re teaching them to think. You’re giving them a useful skill and a shared language. You’re giving them metaphors along with nutrition. You’re also exposing students to a broad range of educational and cultural topics.

Who’s with me? Let’s all get fired up about learning to cook!

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Laura Bergells writes, coaches, and teaches. Check out her online courses at LinkedIn Learning.  You can also find Laura on Twitter and at YouTube.

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