Testimonials from Clients of Patti Wood, Speaker, Trainer and Body Language Expert

Testimonials from Clients of Patti Wood Speaker, Trainer and Body Language Expert

Your Evaluations were Outstanding and Filled with Superlatives "The comments from your keynote evaluations where outstanding and filled with superlatives including  repeated comments such as , " Awesome, Fascinating, Energetic, Informative, Highly Recommend, Amazing, Very Dynamic, Exceeded Expectations, Captivating, Fantastic, Very Engaging, Fun, Energizing, Just Terrific, Loved the interaction, Wonderful, Great information, Very Entertaining."  There was even one of our favorites, "...so honored to learn from the best of the best!” Stephanie Gunner National Alliance for Grieving Children Program and Communications Coordinator Fantastic Presentation... "It' been almost a week since your presentation and the team is still buzzing.  Your presentation was fantastic.  We've received great feedback from all levels of Management, our Account Executives and support staff that was in attendance.  I was very pleased to see the long line at your book signing and the multiple questions that came with it. We were also extremely pleased with the way you seamlessly incorporated our objectives and theme into your presentation.  It was like you were working with us for weeks.    I've been in the business world almost 30 years and never quite knew the proper protocol on how, when or how long to shake a woman's hand.  I now can confidently do this." Scott Bloom Director, Optimum Business Sales Operations Cablevision   Fresh, Motivating and Funny...highly recommend Patti... "...one month later I am still getting comments from satisfied members who attended her body language symposium.  She was fresh, motivating, and funny.  She has a knack for making her point in a way you won't forget.  Her simple tools to enhance the first impression you give are invaluable.  I walked into a member office the other day and laughed as two of the attendees to Patti's class were standing there talking about one of Patti's techniques!" "We enjoyed all of our speakers, but few stay with you like Patti does!  We highly recommend using Patti Wood as your next speaker." Libby Sheard, E-PRO Little Rock REALTORS® Association Absolutely Fantastic...A Joy to Watch in Action... "I just wanted to thank you so much for coming and speaking to our members.  You were absolutely fantastic and a joy to watch in action. We hope to have you back very soon....  Dana Earl Operations Administrator Greater Albuquerque Association of REALTORS® An Ultimate Professional "I am writing to say that I have had the privilege of working with Patti Wood on two separate occasions for our GFOA-PA Annual Conferences.  I have never before seen an audience on their feet within 5 minutes after the speaker took the microphone! Patti has an amazing knack for involving every single attendee.  And they have such a great time!  She has people who have never met before sharing information, learning about and from each other.  The first time I worked with Patti, she was virtually an unknown to our group.  Within 30 minutes after Patti ended her presentation, I was told by the committee that we had to have her return again the next year.  When Patti is on the Agenda, I know that my attendance is going to increase.  Patti is the ultimate professional who takes time to learn about her audience and their professional needs so that she can customize her remarks to assure that the audience can relate. I am happy to entertain any questions and will happily offer personal recommendations to anyone who may be considering working with Patti Wood.  I can assure you, it is a win-win situation." R. Keith McNally GFOA-PA Program Coordinator I Don't Think I've Seen Our Group Laugh So Much!  "On behalf of the New Mexico Court Reporters Association, I would like to sincerely thank you for a wonderfully entertaining and engaging show! Everyone truly enjoyed your spirited presentation on body language. I don't think I've ever seen our group laugh so much! Thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us!" Vanessa Arrieta, NM CCR, RPR Past President NMCRA Incredible Energy... "Thank you so much for bringing your incredible energy and wonderful knowledge to us. I've been sharing some of your stories all week with co-workers! " Susan Y. Shen Deloitte Consulting LLP  Hired Patti Over 40 Times! "I have hired Patti Wood over forty times to kick-off my seminars around the country and plan to use her six more times this year. She gets my audiences energized, focused and she teaches them skills that they can incorporate in their work life immediately. The first thing my audience members ask me when they're deciding on whether to register is, 'Is Patti going to be there?'" Yes she is! Jeff Justice Seminars Awesome Job... You did an awesome job! An entire day of you giving keynotes in a studio for us. I think we have enough information captured to truly give us what we need for your videos. Now begins the edit process. We have so much great information from you that it will be difficult to decide what stays and what goes. We reported out to Richard and Ashley yesterday, and everyone felt that you showed up great on camera and delivered (as usual). I'm looking forward to April as well (When you are live with us again). Take care Patti, and rest easy knowing you did a great job for us! Kenny Simon Emersonhc.com The Best Conference because of You... "....I heard .... our participants saying this years "Gathering of Eagles Conference" was the best and that's because of YOU!" Dr. Penelope Schmidt Executive Director of Advancement & Foundation South Wiregrass Georgia Technical College Outstanding Keynote... "Thank you for your outstanding keynote presentation to kick off our Credit Insurer's Association meeting. The participants said you were excellent. You built up interest and momentum from your high energy session which carried throughout our meeting. The two days were abuzz with comments that showed how much fun they had and how much they learned such as "Did you see him put his hands in his pockets!" and "I cross my arms to think but, I'm not ADD." You really made a lasting impression. People came up to me and said they wanted more of you and "we could listen to Patti all day.” I really appreciate you motivating our group. We are hoping we can have you back some time in the future so check your calendar." Beth Kastigar Credit Insurers Association Incredibly interesting... "Great to listen to you and soak up so many great and valuable pointers on people and interactions. It was incredibly interesting. I thank you for presenting so masterfully and sincerely." Kate Carpenter Stowe Kitchen Bath and Linens We Could Have Listened to You For Several Hours More! On behalf of my entire Builder 20 group I would like to thank you for a wonderful presentation Friday morning. It was very informative and we could have easily listened to you for several more hours. Brian Builder 20 Group You Have a Wonderful Way About You! Didn't want this day to end without telling you how much the group and I enjoyed listening to you, learning from you and watching that body language! You have a wonderful way about you. Mary Jo IHG Best Presentation ... "I just wanted to say thank you for an excellent presentation at last week's entrepreneur expo. It was easily one of the best presentations and information sessions I have ever seen. I learned a lot about body language and the funny thing was that you start to see examples of it everywhere. From being at a bar talking with some friends to working with potential clients, it was just eye-opening to see how accurate your information was..." Billy Gallagher Florida Web Presence, LLC Engaging...Enthusiastic and Insightful... "Thank you so much for such an engaging program last night" "We were treated to an intimate, captivating gathering." I wish I'd taken your program years ago and over and above anything else paid attention to my own 'gut'. Thank you for your enthusiasm and insights about so much." Lynn Cromer Awesome... "I thought your training was awesome! I will pass your information on to our Top Directors and Nationals at our next meeting and suggest they schedule an event for you to come in and talk to all of us." Linda Morris Future Director Mary Kay Cosmetics You're fantastic... I have never been to a more delightful or interesting presentation. I started practicing what I learned and I just can't believe the difference it has made in such a short time. I am so glad you will be back next year; I am bringing friends to hear you speak. Thank you for the book, I have already started reading it. It really reinforces your presentation and makes a great reference manual too! Good luck and thank you." Patty Griffin San Antonio Program Patti is a rare individual... "Patti is a rare individual...warm, funny, and so knowledgeable....you can really learn from her. Her programs are A1." Vickie Okoro   Patti's Audience Members Rave  About her Body Language Keynotes and Deception Detection Training Excellent & informative Presentation... "Thank you so much for such an excellent and informative presentation! Your enthusiasm about the subject is contagious....Thanks again for such an awesome presentation!" Susan Meyer UCB Pharm Group You were Superb... "You were superb!!!!! Thank you for the insight and the wonderful suggestions." Lynne A. Harper RN C COHN Manager The Coca Cola Company Amazing... "Patti's workshop on Deception was amazing. The next day I looked at video clips of the politicians she mentioned. Then I stopped people in the locker room and at book group to tell them about Patti and her insights. Can't wait to use her tips with eHarmony matches! I'm getting a group together to go to Patti's workshop on Body Language." Marilyn Harris Detecting Deception Class  What Participants said about Patti Wood's Presentation Skills Training Hold on to Your Seats... "Hold on to your seats! If you want to improve your presentation skills, Patti Ann Wood is the person to help. She will teach you how to grab your audience. Patti Wood is Excellent! You were the top rated speaker at our conference. Denise Crowe CSPA Patti is the Person to Help You... If you need to be a better speaker Patti Wood is the person to help you. She will teach you how to grab your audience with tricks to hold your audience and help you build your presentation. Don't book her for just half a day, or one day as the audience wants to interact with her. Patti will WOW you!!" Ana Woerner RN BS COHN-S AAOHN Program

 Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

Patti's New Book - People Savvy

People Savvy is a great book to help you improve your awareness of yourself, your ability to read others.  Each chapter is a separate topic and can be read in any order your choose.

Table of Contents

1.       Introduction

2.       Patti’s Bio

3.       The Body Language of Listening – How to Be A Great Listener- Remember to Be                       G.E.N.T.L.E.R.

4.       Five Ways to Create A Great First Impression

5.       Recognizing DISC Personalities Through Their Nonverbal Cues a Body Language
Expert's Insights

6.       Conversation Cues – How Can You Tell When It Is Time To Talk  and  it is Time to Talk

7.       How to Let Someone Know When it is Time to Go

8.       Ten Tips for Self Promotion for Women -How to Brag Successfully, So You Don't Look Like      A Show Off

9.       Electronic Devices and the Brain -Why We Have a Techno Addiction

10.   Nonverbal Cues At Work

11.   Why Women Seek Comfort and Men Seek Solutions -Gender Differences in Our Responses To Stress

12.   What about Me? Narcissism and Reaching Out For a Real Conversation

13.   I’m Running Late, The Silent Signals of Lateness

14.   How to Handle Your Anger

15.   Being Fully Alive

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

No More Boring Data In Your Sales, Technical or Scientific Presentations How to Make Numbers Interesting and Meaningful

Do you want to avoid having the eyes of your audience glaze over as you present your sixty-seventh powerpoint slide of dry data? Here are some tips from my book Easy Speaking for making research data interesting, meaningful and compelling:

1. Make it come alive to the senses.

Relating your numbers to something your audience can see, hear, taste, touch, feel or that affects them profoundly. Our senses are processed in the same part of the brain as our emotions and memory, so the audience will not only wake up when you link it to their senses, they will also remember the content you shared.

Examples:

Boring Statistic - Our new plastic wrap has a food moisture retention rate that is 72% higher than the current popular brand.
Sense Translation - Pass around half an orange wrapped in your new brand and a half in the popular brand, each having been stored in the same fridge for one month. Your brand looks fresh. The other is shriveled and brown. Ask them which they would like to eat.

Boring Statistic - Intimate space extends out from the body approximately 16 inches. We prefer to have a zone of space between us and strangers that extend out from the front of our bodies 16 inches.
Sense Translation - Have someone stand across the room facing toward you.  Walk toward them telling them to say "stop" when you get too close. They will say stop approximately 16 inches from you. You can then extend your arm out and show them how the the length of your arm from the fingertip to the elbow is about 16 inches. Or ask someone to walk up and shake hands with you and then show them how 16 inches is about the distance they have you stopped at to shake hands

Boring Statistic - We produce 3.4 bits of data every 15 minutes. (First you can Make it Real by saying, "That is enough data to write on 2049 yards of ticker tape.")
Sense Translation - Hold up a 100-yard ball of string and say, "That’s like 200 balls of string" and start wrapping the string around the outer edges of the room while adding, "…enough to wrap around this room 400 times.

2. Simplify the wording to increase understanding. Don’t oversimplify and insult your audience, but simplify to be respectful. 

TYGACIL is a product that provides physicians a simplified, empiric management for polymicrobial infections.

Translation:  TYGACIL simplifies treatment for the multiple microbial infections.
Even Simpler: TYGCIL makes is easier to fight different infections.

3. Compare abstract data with something familiar and concrete.

A number all by itself is abstract and meaningless. Take a number and relate it to something people are familiar with. 

Examples:

Abstract Statistic - "Delta Airlines burns about 2.5 billion gallons of jet fuel a year."
Make it Real - "Picture the Georgia aquarium. It’s really big, isn’t it? Well that’s enough jet fuel to fill its 5 million gallon tank 500 times!"

Abstract Statistic - Increasing the cost of each parcel we deliver by a penny would increase our profit by $136,000 a day.
Make it Real - That means we could add four new delivery vans a day to our fleet for the next year. 

Abstract Statistic - The old chemical process cools to five bits per billion. The new process cools at 7,000 bits per billion. 
Make it Real - The old process is equal to the cooling power of a single ice cube in a swimming pool of boiling water. The new process has so much more cooling power it’s like taking an ice cube the size of a swimming pool and putting it into a glass of boiling water.

Abstract Statistic -TYGACIL is unaffected by resistance mechanisms that have affected antibacterial drug use. 
Make it Real - Like a picky child waving off broccoli, antibacterial drugs have been affected by resistance mechanisms or Tygacil is like TV’s "Super Nanny" resistance to the protests of spoiled kids Tygacil is unaffected by resistance mechanisms.

4. Deliver it with gusto.

Use voice, body language, emotional emphasis and repetition to make it pop.

Examples:

Dry Statistic - That’s an increase in profit margin of 50 percent in the last quarter.
Gusto Delivery - Gesturing with your outstretched palm show where it was last year at your stomach and then put your palm above your head to show the 50 percent increase.

Dry Statistic - "…which produces waste at 500 million gallons a day."
Gusto Delivery - When you get to "...five hundred million…" raise the volume level to shout and slow down your delivery.

Dry Statistic - Coca Cola sells 4.5 billion cases of soft drinks in the U.S. annually.
Gusto Delivery - Say 4.5 billion normally then repeat it, whispering and elongating the word "billionnnnnnn" as you raise your eyebrows and show an amazed expression.

Dry Statistic - TYGACIL simplifies treatment for the multiple microbial infections.
Gusto Delivery - as you say simplifies slow down the word as you lift your voice in a light, positive, happy delivery raising your arms high or snapping your fingers to show it’s a snap.  As you say the word multiple increase your volume and punch the word with force and drama.

Dry Statistic - TYGACIL is unaffected by resistance mechanisms that have affected antibacterial drug use. 
Gusto Delivery - as you deliver the word unaffected increase your volume and hit the prefix UN with gusto and lift your energy. As you say have affected bring up your volume on the word have, vocally emphasize and put a little of displeasure in your voice.

Now you have four great ways to pep up your dry data. Use them in your next presentation and turn what could be audience snores into rousing applause.

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

Business Videos Mistakes – Mistakes Made in Making Business Videos and How to Avoid them

Business Videos Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Adapted from books by Patti Wood MA, CSP

1.     Sharing Just Dry Facts

In business videos you need to connect to the viewer’s emotions and things they can Taste, Touch, See and Feel, because learning is not just cerebral. Learning takes place throughout the entire body. All of the senses are deeply involved in the process. In fact, research shows that you cannot separate a person’s senses from learning. Studies on retention find that audiences will forget 80% of what you say within 24 hours of watching your video. So what can you do to avoid making your business videos boring and increase attention and retention of your business content?

First look at any videos you have created and analyze them. What have you emphasized or repeated or driven home with your video? What have you done to make sure they will remember? Imagine someone from your audience being asked by someone who saw the video, “What did you get from watching the video?”

Your viewer is not going to recite the details from 62 slides you showed in the video. They will remember the content; you or your speakers delivered with gusto. They will remember it is the speaker had a unique delivery such as singing, or whispering or standing on a chair. What will you do to capture the viewers attention and engage them? Ok so that right and left brain stuff has been heard before, but it is so remarkable. Isn’t it amazing that it’s not words that stick like peanut butter on our brains, but what effects our senses that arouse our more primitive brain and cause us to remember deeper and longer. We remember with our emotions our sense of touch or sense of smell and hearing.  You want to give your audience that same wondrous experience. A slide of a bar graph won’t do that. Having someone drone on and on with lists of items won’t do that.                                                                                                                                                  

2.      Not Using Stories to Convey Your Message

Instead of listing facts, reading bullet points, and showing charts, tell stories in your business video. The human brain, specifically the right hemisphere, is particularly receptive to information shared through story telling. Think about it, before the internet-books and DVDs, knowledge and wisdom were shared through stories, myths, and epic poetry. If you think you can’t use stories because you are dealing with a business topic or a technical audience, think again.  All those political and spiritual leaders who have used storytelling over the centuries can’t be wrong.  No matter whom your viewing audience or what your topic, the power of stories is phenomenal. Share customer interactions, clinical cases and anecdotes. Stimulate the audience’s imagination through imagery of stories.      

          

Using stories in your videos can

            1) Create a more attentive and interested audience

            2) Provide a safe way for you to talk about controversial or sensitive topics

            3) Give you a unique opportunity to change minds and behavior

            4) Make your message easier to understand and remember

            5) Provide a personal connection with your audience

            6) Enliven your delivery and energize the viewer

3.     Not Making Your Material Memorable

Think about what they will say about your video after they watch it. What made the best business videos you’ve seen so memorable? What made the worst ones so forgettable? The best videos probably incorporated some or all of the following elements—humor, entertainment, speaking from the heart, unique information, a connection with the audience, and depth of knowledge.  The elements of not-so-great videos probably included data dumping, monotonous delivery.

4.     Not Concluding Powerfully

The conclusion is what provides a bridge from your message to the day-to-day lives of the audience. It is what the audience remembers about your video. It is where you establish your businesses credibility.  You can make or break a video by how you conclude it. So conclude like the finale.

5.     Making the Data Dry Boring and Uninteresting

     Here are Ways to Make Dry Data More Interesting from My Easy Speaking book.

No More Boring Data

In Your Sales, Technical,
 or Scientific  Presentations

How to Make Numbers Interesting and Meaningful.

By Patti W. Wood, M.A., C.S.P.
From her book  "Easy Speaking"

Do you want to avoid having the eyes of your audience glaze over as you present your sixty-seventh power point slide of dry data? Here are some tips for making research data interesting, meaningful and compelling:

1. Make it come alive to the senses.

Relating your numbers to something your audience can see, hear, taste, touch, feel or do affects them profoundly. Our senses are processed in the same part of the brain as our emotions and memory, so the audience will not only wake up when you link it to their senses, they will also remember the content your shared.

Examples:

Boring Statistic – Our new plastic wrap has a food moisture retention rate that is 

72% higher than the current popular brand.

Sense Translation – Pass around half an orange wrapped in your new brand and a half in the popular brand, each having been stored in the same fridge for one month. Your brand looks fresh. The other is shriveled and brown. Ask them which they would like to eat.

Boring Statistic – Intimate space extends out from the body approximately 16 inches. We prefer to have a zone of space between us and strangers that extend out from the front of our bodies 16 inches. anger.

Sense Translation –Have someone stand across the room facing toward you.  Walk toward them telling them to stay “stop” when before you get too close. They will stop approximately 16 inches from you. You can then extend your arm out and show them how the the length of your arm from the fingertip to the elbow is about 16 inches. Or ask someone to walk up and shake hands with you and then show them how 16 inches about the distance they have you stopped at to shake hands.

Boring Statistic – We produce 3.4 bits of data every 15 minutes. (First you can Make it real by saying, “That is enough data to write on 2049 yards of ticker tape.”)Sense Translation- Hold up a 100-yard ball of string and say, “That’s like 200 balls of string” and start wrapping the string around the outer edges of the room while adding, “…enough to wrap around this room 400 times

2. Simplify the wording to increase understanding. Don’t oversimplify and insult your audience, but simplify to be respectful. 

TYGACIL is a product that provides physicians a simplified empiric management for polymicrobial infections.

Translation:  TYGACIL simplifies treatment for the multiple microbial infections.
Even Simpler: TYGCIL makes is easier to fight different infections.

3. Compare abstract data with something familiar and concrete.

A number all by itself is abstract and meaningless. Take a number and relate it something to people are familiar with. 

Examples:

Abstract statistic: “Delta airlines burns about 2.5 billion gallons of jet fuel a year.” Make it real: “Picture the Georgia aquarium. It’s really big, isn’t it? Well that’s enough Jet Fuel to fill its 5 million gallon tank 500 times!”

Abstract statistic – Increasing the cost of each parcel we deliver by a penny would increase our profit by $136,000 a day. Make it Real – That means we could add four new delivery vans a day to our fleet for the next year. 

Abstract statistic- The old chemical process cools to five bits per billion. The new process cools at 7,000 bits per billion. Make it Real – The old process is equal to the cooling power of a single ice cube in a swimming pool of boiling water. The new process has so much more cooling power its like is like taking an ice cube the size of swimming pool and putting it into a glass of boiling power.

Abstract - TYGACIL is unaffected by resistance mechanisms that have affected antibacterial drug use. Make it real: Like a picky child waving off broccoli, Antibacterial Drugs have been affected by resistance mechanisms Or Tygacil like TV’s "Super Nanny" resistance and to the protests of spoiled kids Tygacil is unaffected my resistance mechanisms.

4. Deliver it with gusto.

Use voice, body language, emotional emphasis and repetition to make it pop.

Examples:

Dry statistic – That’s an increase in profit margin of 50 percent in the last quarter.Gusto Delivery – Gesturing with your outstretched palm show where it was last year at your stomach and then put your palm above your head to show the 50 percent increase.

Dry statistic – “…which produces waste at 500 million gallons a day.”Gusto Delivery – When you get to “..five hundred million…” raise the volume level to shout and slow down your delivery.

Dry Statistic – Coca Cola sells 4.5 billion cases of soft drinks in the U.S. annually.Gusto Delivery- Say 4.5 billion normally then repeat it, whispering and elongating the word “billionnnnnnn” as your raise your eyebrows and show an amazed expression.

Dry Statistic -- TYGACIL simplifies treatment for the multiple microbial infections.

Gusto Delivery – as you say simplifies slow down the word as you lift your voice in light positive happy delivery raising your arms high or snapping your fingers to show its a snap.  As you say the word multiple increase your volume and punch the word with force and drama.

Dry Statistic -- TYGACIL is unaffected by resistance mechanisms that have affected antibacterial drug use. Gusto Delivery as you deliver the word unaffected increase you volume and hit the prefix UN with gusto and lift your energy. As you say have affected bring up your volume on the word have, vocally emphasize and put a little of displeasure in your voice.

Now you have four great ways to pep up your dry data. Use them in your next presentation and turn what could be audience snores into rousing applause.

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

Three Great Books to Help You on Your Job Search

Three Great Books to Help You on Your Job Search

I am a professional speaker, body language expert and career coach. I recommend several books to my clients including; "Over-40 Job Search Guide" by Gail Geary, "Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type"and my book "SNAP –Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma." (One chapter in my book is dedicated to networking and one is dedicated to the nonverbal aspects of interviewing for a job. The SNAP book synopsis is below.

  

From business meetings and sales presentations, to customer and client interactions our ability to read people accurately and convey the right first impression drives the success and quality of our businesses. Body language expert Patti Wood, a sought-after consultant and speaker to Fortune 500 companies, helps you and your business stand out, and create profitable relationship with practical and proven guidance on accurately interpreting nonverbal cues and creating impressions both in person and digitally.

                              

* Use your voice and body language to convey confidence and charisma, authenticity and authority
* Immediately discern people’s hidden agendas
* Make the best impressions via email, phone, video conferencing, and social networks
* Convey and interpret signals of likability, power, credibility, and attractiveness
* Use nonverbal tools to spot true integrity or recognize charming frauds
* Attract the best matches in business and romantic partners
* Recognize how you really look to others

Patti Wood MA, CSP

Body Language Expert

Author

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

Dressing Nicer Improves How You Feel and How Others Perceive You

As a body language expert I have studied the research on professional attire for many years. Here is an article examining some of the research that indicates that you can dress to improve your confidence and how others perceive you.

A scientific argument for dressing a little nicer at work

Carmel Lobello

When it comes to work clothes, we are in a new era — the era of Mark Zuckerberg's hoody, and Mary Barra's "jeans allowed" policy. Where 20 years ago, dark power suits with sculpted shoulders emanated prosperity and productivity, now people seem to think henleys do the trick.

Even in corporate environments that have not adopted the casual, start-up ethos, business casual is the new business formal; weekend wear is the new business casual; and pajamas are legitimate uniforms for the growing ranks of telecommuters and freelancers who work from the privacy of their bedrooms. Suits are gross.

Given the changing fads, you may not want to start showing up at work in a three-piece suit and a tight half-Windsor, especially if you work at a flip-flop office. But there's some evidence that for most of us, a return to slightly more formal work attire may be a good thing. Even if you work at home.

Clothes can make you smarter
Last year, the phrase "enclothed cognition" — an offshoot of "embodied cognition," the idea that aspects of your thoughts are shaped by your body — entered the b-school vocabulary. The term came from Adam D. Galinsky, a professor at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, who found that when people don a white lab coat they believe belongs to a doctor, they become more focused and careful — effectively a little smarter when performing cognitive tasks.

For the study, Galinsky assigned 58 under grads to either wear a white, doctor's lab coat, or simply the street clothes already on their backs. He then used incongruent trials that tested their focus and mental acuity. He found that those who wore the lab coat made about half as many errors as those who wore street clothes.

In his next test, he assigned 74 students three sartorial options. Some would wear a white coat, and were told it was a doctor's coat. Others wore an identical coat, but were told it was a painter's coat. And a third group merely looked at a white "doctor's" coat. The subject then took an attention test where they were asked to point out differences between two images and speedily write them down. Those who wore the "doctor's" coat performed significantly better than the other two groups.

Though the results were white, doctor's coat-specific, Galinsky's work implies that merely wearing an item associated with intelligence can improve your cognitive abilities. "Clothes invade the body and brain, putting the wearer into a different psychological state," said the New York Times about Galinky's findings.

It is up to you whether you want your PJs invading your mind while you work, or something a little more smart and attractive.

Clothes can also make others think you're smarter
Of course, we're not implying you should show up at the office tomorrow in a white coat with a name tag that says "doctor, not artist." But it's worth thinking about what symbolizes smart and effective in your own office.

Tracy Morris, a professor of psychology at West Virginia University, for years studied how attire impacts perception. For one test, Morris asked a group of professors to dress in three types of garb — formal professional (full dark suits), business casual (slacks or skirts and nice shirts), or casual (jeans, a plaid flannel, sneakers). I should mention here that she conducted her study in the mid-90s.

The professors then gave lectures. Controlling for content, as well as non-verbal behavior like eye contact and smiling, she then asked students to rate professors on several attributes involving competence, character, sociability, composure, and extroversion.

What she found: Perceptions of professional attributes, like competence, composure, and knowledge, "are effected most by dress, with formal dress resulting in the most positive perception." Perceptions of instructor competence were highest in the formal condition, with business casual a close second, and the lowest ratings for the casual wear.

Of course, the study took place in the 90s, and the definition of formal business attire in most industries has shifted toward the more casual (though thankfully away from flannels). Nevertheless, it's worth thinking about what is "formal" in your industry and dressing accordingly.

It also impacts how you see yourself on the job
This one is directed at those who are wearing jeans and sneakers in a mostly slacks and oxfords office — meaning, those who tend to dress more casually than others. Even if you're not violating a dress code, some evidence says dressing "properly" has an impact on how you see your own skill set.

In a 1994 study, Yoon-Hee Kwon, from North Illinois University studied how clothing impacts the way you rate yourself on ten occupational attributes: Responsibility, competence, knowledgeability, professionalism, honesty, reliability, intelligence, trustworthiness, willingness to work hard, and efficiency. Cross-referencing these attributes against broad guidelines like "properly dressed" or "not properly dressed," she found that when wearing appropriate clothes, a person's sense of these occupational traits were augmented.

Once again, the idea is not to show up at work dressed for a gala, or even to wear anything obtrusively businesslike if your office is casual. The idea is simply, if you're dressing like a schlub for work, maybe step it up a notch.

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

My Top Time Travel Movies

There are so many time travel movies, but these are my personal favorites.

Ground Hog Day, Somewhere in Time, Back to the Future, Frequency, Safety Not Guaranteed, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Twelve Monkeys De’ja’ Vu, Peggy Sue Got Married. Several Star Trek movies, Time After Time, Midnight in Paris, Just Visiting (Les Visiteurs the French version is much funnier), Timeline, Austin Powers, Donnie Darko, Source Code, Primer, The Terminator, Looper

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

Why We Love Our Cell Phones

By Patti Wood MA, CSP
Speaker, Author and Coach

Yes, we love our cell phones.  Our cell phones can  give us a high, make us feel superior to others, comfort and advise us. There is so much to love.

Four Reasons We Love Our Cell Phones.

1.       When you interact with a technological device you make what is labeled in the research “quick shallow decisions”, such as, “I want this text. I don't want this text. ““I want this website it’s interesting. I don't want this one it’s boring” “I want to take this call.” “I don’t want to take this call.”

These quick shallow decisions lay down pathways to the ego centers of your brain. In fact, doing so gives you a bit of a hit of a chemical high. So when you check your phone you get a high, feel in control and because you are getting a hit to the ego centers of the brain it makes you feel superior to those around you. You can now understand why people are constantly checking their phones, especially when they are stressed or have no other activity or bored and why techno jerk doing it rudely, seems irritated and uncomfortable to have ask him to stop interacting with his phone or gets irritated when you want to talk with him face-to-face. Unfortunately, to successfully make quick shallow decisions you are laying down pathways to the ego portion of the brain and having the face-to-face interactions that lay down pathways to the social centers of the brain. You’re laying your tracks down to the ego center that produces that nice addictive high but interpersonal communication becomes more difficult and may even feel like an inferior means of interacting. Something you are "above" having to do. “

Again, when you talk to other people face-to-face you lay down neural pathways to the social centers of your brain.  The more you interact interpersonally human to human the stronger the pathways become. Meeting people and talking to them becomes easier and you become more skilled and confident and make a great first impression.

I discuss this in my book, “SNAP Making the Most of First Impressions Body Language and Charisma”  

2.      In addition, I have seen that nonverbally the small portable device becomes a “comfort artifact” similar to a “blankie” or teddy bear. Touching it and interacting with it, can calm us and create soothing chemicals in the brain.

3.      Also, for many the phone becomes a companion so they touch it and interact with it whenever they feel alone.

4.      Finally, Siri and Google search offer the comforts of a all-knowing and wise parent that can tell them how to get to the grocery store, what to buy when they get there and how to cook it, and if they burn themselves while cooking how to sooth their “Boo Boo.”

My main website is www.PattiWood.net. You can also find my other websites, blogs and YouTube Channel by searching for Body Language Expert.

Here is another piece I have written on this topic.

Why Technology is Stressing Us Out? Technology and the Brain

I was speaking at a private school recently and the teacher updated me on some of the latest research on the brain being done at Emory University. It is very interesting so stick with it.

1. The pruning of (reduction) neural pathways in the brain when we are young is based on how we use our brain. The brain prunes pathways we don’t use and keeps the neural pathways we use the most.
2. The ones laid down when we are highly focused on activities like reading a book or having a deep conversation are deeper and have more capacity like wide superhighways. They can handle more information overload when we are under stress like a highway can handle more cars in commute time than a surface road.
3. The neural pathways laid down for the quick shallow decisions we make when we are on technology such as, “I want this email I don’t want this one.” “I want this website in my Google search I don’t want that one.” are shallow and thin pathways that actually break apart under stress because of their low capacity, like a bridge could collapse if too many cars and trucks are on it at the same time. This is kind neural pathways that young people are forming the most.
4. If we don’t have focused attention and deep social bonds and therefore only have the shallow, narrow, neural pathways formed with our use of technology we have trouble handling stress. We may feel overwhelmed and helpless and unable to make a decision. We may have panic attacks, freeze in place, get sick or call our mommies for help. Any one that uses technology a lot can form more shallow narrow pathways and therefore have less ability to think and function under stress.

Body Language Read of Nikki Reed and Ian Somerhalder

It's hard not to be tense on the Cannes carpet. (so much travel, and so many people) Nikki looks like a department store dummy/doll. So stiff and in place. What is very concerning is that her arm closest to him, that is actually more relaxed rather than stiff like the rest of her, is not reaching towards him or holding him in any way, yet they are on the same plane side by side. The photo is of both of them, but if you clipped it you wouldn’t know they were with anyone else.  Her stare is filled with pain. His stare is one of resignation. He does overlap her and his shoulder is up slightly to wrap his arm around her but his body is very tense and his mouth is closed and again holding his true feeling in. This couple could be unhappy because of the tension of the event but I would like to see them comfort each other if they are tense do to external causes or help make each other more playful with the craziness of Cannes. 

Happy photo of him in a white shirt grey scarf. I love how relaxed he is. He is leaning in a relaxed way towards her with his right hip laying against the front of her body and his weight over the foot closet to her. These cues combined with his bright lifted smile show how happy and comfortable he is with her. Nikki is all about him in this photo, She is checking in too make sure he is truly happy, shown by her head out and towards him and the check in glance and slightly tense smile. But her eye brows have a nice lift and there is not other facial or body tension so I know she is pleased with his happiness and closeness. I would love to see their hands and feet, but I give this photo a four.

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.