Scott Peck's Idea of Community Building

"Community building" also refers to a group process developed by Dr. M. Scott Peck. This practice brings together individuals to go through the four basic psychological stages that typify the formation of a cohesive group that has established trust and a deep sense of connection.

As described in his book "The Different Drum", these four stages are known as "pseudo-community", "Chaos", "Emptiness" and "Community". Individuals within the group may be at different stages at different times, and may move back and forth through the stages.

According to Peck, moving into "organisation", forming rules for the group, disrupts the process and prevents community.

Pseudo community is where people are guarded but polite, talking of less important things and giving little away about themselves. Chaos is conflict. In Emptiness, participants "empty" themselves of their requirements and desires for the process and the other participants, enabling them to reach Community, in which they appreciate the process and other participants, and themselves.

How to Present Like Steve Jobs

I found this great video about how Steve Jobs wows his audience from BNET. Learn how to electrify your audience using several key techniques. Learn from the best and you can become the best...

Do you need help executing these techniques in a speech you are preparing? Let us know and we'll provide answers from our team of experts.

Todays Video is: How to Effectively Communicate with Constituents: the email formula that works.

Communicating with people through e-mail is important. It will bring people to your side by crafting your e-mail in a certain way.

The components you need in every e-mail are:

• Appreciate
• Your point
• Call to action

Do you have trouble crafting a professional e-mail? Do you want tips for certain scenarios? Comment below and we'll provide answers from our professionals.

Three Opening Strategies to Grab the Audience and Make Them Yours

You have 30 seconds to grab an audiences’ attention. The best way to open depends on who you are, what style you use, and the purpose of your presentation.

1. Use a Story: A story is a strong way to open a presentation if you can transition to the objective of your speech. A personal, well told story works best.

2. Use a Quote: If you’re talking about leadership you might want to start with, General Eisenhower said, “Leadership is the ability to decide what has to be done and then to get people to want to do it.”

3. Use an Interesting Statistic: Newt Gingrich had a great opening to a speech using a statistic that connected with the audience, “If you were born today, you would already owe $186,000 to pay off your share of the national debt." He also used the word you three times instead of the word I or me. Including your listeners in your speech is a way to captivate them.

Have you used any of these strategies to open a speech? Did they work?

Steps to Great Speech Writing

image: Zazzle

• Know the objectives and expectations of the speech
• Know the time constraints
• Choose an interesting topic
• Create an outline of ideas with an introduction that flows to conclusion
• Avoid excessive and unneeded language
• Begin the speech with a strong introduction that lets the audience know what to expect
• End the speech with a strong conclusion that recaps the speech
• Use transitional words and phrases between main topics to tie them together
• Don’t make slides that are the exact script of the speech
• Visual aids should enhance the speech, not be a distraction

After reading this do you have any questions about speech writing? Have you ever written a successful speech? Do you need more tips?

How to Communicate with your Constituents

How do you become a respected community leader? What do leaders do to gain support?

This video should is a glimpse into those answers. We are happy to answer any questions you have about becoming a respected community leader.