The Top 20 Posts on Moving People to Action 2013-2014

Title Views
17 Daily personal habits for a fulfilling life – my earliest “went viral” post;  this was a long reflection on the first 35 years of my life 16,719
Three Examples of Ice-Breaker Speeches – simple – three ways to introduce yourself 14,257
Amazon Staff Meetings: “No Powerpoint” – Jeff Bezos doesn’t like powerpoint – easy for presenter, hard for audience 13,822
“Be water, my friend” Bruce Lee – what did Bruce mean? 8,698
Geert Hofstede: the 6 Dimensions of National Culture – why are Germans, French, Swiss, Americans and Chinese different? 7,032
10 Commandments for Business Development from Goldman Sachs – clear, direct and simple.  5,785
10 Personal Habits of Resilient People – what makes a mentally strong person? 4,252
If you think you are beaten, you are, If you think you dare not, you don’t. – a classic poem 4,239
A 9 Step Cheatsheet for Becoming a Public Speaking Expert – new on the top 20, infographic 4,068
The Top 10 TED Talks of All Time – what’s good on TED?  you must watch at least these 10. 3,390
Emotional Manipulators: Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing – charismatic but using you? how to know. 3,111
How to video yourself speaking – webcam is single most valuable tool in improving your oral communication 2,486
Exercise: How to Start a Speech – videos and a question: how should you start a good speech? 2,331
12 Tips for Public Speaking – simple, but effective, tips 2,020
14 Things Highly Productive People Do Differently – get more good stuff done 1,929
Sun-Tzu’s 5 Factors for Victory and 5 Attributes of a Leader – Ancient Chinese wisdom applied to today’s challenges 1,909
The Speech Act Theory of JL Austin – How to move people with words 1,835
Announcing Jedi Productivity Blog Series: 11 Steps to Stop Procrastinating and Get Important Stuff Done – Productivity series 1,632
Leading Teams: The 5 Styles of Managing People – There are at least 5 basic styles of leading individuals 1,489
TED Education: What Aristotle and Joshua Bell can teach us about persuasion – TED-Ed video lesson 1,461

The 12 Most Read Posts on Moving People to Action

These are the top 12 posts on Moving People to Action based on number of readers:

Rank Title Views
1 Amazon Staff Meetings: “No Powerpoint” 121,993
2 Three Examples of Ice-Breaker Speeches 14,496
3 17 Daily personal habits for a fulfilling life 8,367
4 “Be water, my friend” Bruce Lee 6,809
5 Geert Hofstede: the 6 Dimensions of National Culture 5,422
6 If you think you are beaten, you are, If you think you dare not, you don’t. 5,022
7 TEDx University of Navarra: The Discipline of Finishing 4,637
8 14 Things Highly Productive People Do Differently 4,511
9 Emotional Manipulators: Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing 4,321
10 The Top 10 TED Talks of All Time 3,076
11 Simple Rules for Effective Meetings 2,031
12 The 5 Cardinal Sins of Presentations 1,929

Keep Wonder Alive

click for download page

In the next 10 years through to 2024, 1 Billion jobs will be taken over by machines. Google cars will replace taxis. IBM’s Watson will replace customer service staff. We cannot out-reason the machines.

We must change the way we teach, the way we parent and the role of “I don’t know” in our society.

I have written a Manifesto setting out the change that I ask from you: Get it Here

After Action Review: 100,000 Blog Readers in 24 Hours

I’ve been blogging fairly consistently now for about 4 years.  I try not to focus on metrics, just spend time writing posts.  I try to write for myself, not to write for fame or fortune or impact…

However, there has always been a little dream that sits at the corner of my conscious mind of a massive wave of visitors.  Imagine if 100,000 readers found this post today…  It was a dream…

Until this month.

24 hours, 100,000 Visitors

Over a 24 hour period between 14 and 15th May, over 100,000 readers swarmed in to this blog to read a specific post.

WordPress Statistics of Visitors to Blog: http://www.conorneill.com

The post: Amazon Staff Meetings: “No Powerpoint”

Why?  Where did everyone come from?

The visitors were sparked by this tweet by Edward Tufte, professor at Yale and data visualization guru:

Following this tweet, a major discussion at Reddit began:

See the Main Discussion: http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1ebavs/amazon_staff_meetings_no_powerpoint/

Highlights of the Reddit Discussion

  • [friedice5005] Powerpoint isn’t the problem. It’s a very useful tool to augment information you are trying to get across. The problem is people people who are bad at it using it as a crutch. Powerpoint should basically be an outline of what you’re talking about with MAJOR discussion points and any images or graphs you need to show. It should not be blocks of text that you read verbatim.
  • [via Yajirobi ] if you dont integrate people into it, they just sleep. Forcing them with made up questions is a bad idea too. Getting random questions from the audience is the best way to do it. Its a GIFT. They make the presentation good for you, without any effort from your part.
  • [via EngineerVsMBA]I experienced this system, and I loved it. I will use it in every job from here on out. Let me explain why:1.) It requires meaningful preparation by the presenter. They cannot hide behind pretty slides, and you can’t use the usual confusion tactics. If you can’t fit it in six pages, you didn’t prepare enough…

After the Flood

After the flood, what changed?

The real simple answer… nothing much.  The blog has gone back to its previous daily visitor numbers.  I had a moderate upsurge in email subscribers to my Free Online Speaking Course.  I had 16 comments on the post.  The post did get 2,200 Facebook Likes, it got 1,324 ReTweets,  821 LinkedIn Shares – so there is a sort of residual flow of new visitors.

It is a strange sensation to watch the visits rack up, and then just float away.

A good reminder that fame is illusive… and not really the goal… and a dangerous distraction 😉  Anyone know what’s up with Psy of Gangnam Style these days now that the frenzy has past?

Maybe I could do a little bit of work on improving conversion of visitors into readers, and readers into subscribers?  Anyone got good ideas on how to make a blog into a community, or make it a more “sticky” destination?

The Focus for 2013

IESE Classroom

The photo is the view just before my last class of 2012. As we reach the end of another year, I am reminded of a quote “The days go slow, the years go fast.” This year has flown by. I feel like summer has only just passed, and here we are approaching the end of the year.

I wish you health and grand adventures for 2013. January sets the tone for the year. What’s your 20-Mile march for 2013?


100,000 Video Views

Thanks to your help my Educational YouTube channel The Rhetorical Journey achieved over 100,000 views this year. YouTube has overtaken my blog as the most consumed information that I have on the web.

My most viewed video is Improve Your Speaking with

  • 60,000 views
  • 127,000 minutes watched
  • 50% of viewers have watched more than 3:20 minutes of the video.

Focus and Discipline

My 3 words for 2012 were:

  • Create
  • Connect
  • Complete

I didn’t complete my one BIG project for 2012 – write a book.  However, I did manage to create a lot of content in my procrastination.  Plenty of video on the YouTube channel, an online course and an iTunes podcast; new seminar formats and seminars in new countries.

How was your 2012?  Did you have a focus?

What will 2013 be for you?  What words will represent your year?

Happy 2013 from me to you.

Resources for Developing Relationships and Career Success Seminar

This is a central page with links to resources for participants in the IESE Business School Seminar: Developing Relationships and Career Management.

Handouts:

Further Discussion and Questions

Articles on Networking

Articles on Use of Email
Great Blogs on Networking
Why?
Books & IESE Technical Notes
  • Managing with Power, Jeffrey Pfeffer (link to IESE Library Catalog)
  • SMN-676-E Creating and Nurturing your Social Network: The Art of Building Long-term Mutually Beneficial Relationships, Ferraro & Neill
Video Resources
 

The top 10 most read RJ posts of 2010

As we come to the end of 2010 I did a quick google analytics review.
I generally try and avoid looking at the statistics as I tell myself that I am not writing this blog for anyone other than myself…  but I am a competitive soul and so many years of sport mean that I desire some sort of score 😉

Year to Date: 18,313 Visits, 30,482 Pageviews.  Thanks to you for reading, interacting, commenting, sharing and helping me become a better writer and thinker about these themes.

The top 10 most read posts of 2010 in rank order are:

  1. 17 Habits for a Fulfilling Life
  2. If you think you are beaten, you are; if you think you dare not, you don’t
  3. Persuasive Speaking: The 4 types of audience
  4. Why you should not be an Entrepreneur
  5. 3 things to control when negativity “kidnaps” your brain
  6. 3 keys to powerful body language while speaking
  7. 12 tips for public speaking
  8. How to pitch a brilliant idea
  9. On goal setting. How I do it.
  10. An entrepreneurial business plan is a promise
Have a great day.

Welcome to the Course

Speak as a Leader: 10 weeks email-driven course

Congratulations on Beginning the Speaking As A Leader Course

You are now successfully registered for the Speaking as a Leader Program.  You should begin receiving the first course emails in your inbox right now.

It took me years to be happy with how I look, sound and speak on the webcam.  Years of not liking how I looked, how I gestured, how I rubbed my chin or my nose, how I was searching for the words and not transmitting confidence in what I was saying…  years…

But, the improvement doesn’t take years.  People will notice your improvement in days or in weeks.  Your clarity will improve in days.

 

Well done.  This is an important step.

We now begin our journey together. I can show you a path, but I need you to take the steps. Will you complete each exercise that I send to you? If you do complete the exercises, you will see a difference in how people respond to you. You will have greater confidence. You will get the commitment of others when you seek it.

– Conor

3 Most Popular Blog Posts

  1. The Complete Guide to Personal Habits: 158 Positive Reflections in 7 Categories to Be The Best Version of Yourself
  2. 10 Personal Habits of Resilient People
  3. 14 Things Highly Productive People Do Differently

If you find the exercises in the course useful, please feel free to share.

I’d love to know about You:

Would you take 30 seconds and let me know about your challenges?

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Enjoy this Short Lesson on Persuasion:

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