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The famous TV pitchman Billy Mays died today. He had an anstonishing iconic voice. The voice that pitchedhttp://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=7955223&page=1 Orange Glo and Oxi Clean. The voice was fast loud and though many people thought it was horribly irratating you couldn't mistake his voice for any one elses and it apsolutely captured your attention. I have used his voice as an example of forceful and effective paralanguage for years.

Reading body language videos for news link with YouTube

Now news stories are working in conjunction with Youtube to have the story online side by side with the video about the story. I am very excited about this as I am often sent to Youtube by journalists to view a video and read the body language and share my "read." So now the video can be right there for me to refer to. How exciting. Here are some links to the story.

http://mashable.com/2009/06/29/google-news-youtube-partners/
http://www.mediabistro.com/webnewser/video_sites/with_content_from_google_news_youtube_launches_news_site_110531.asp?c=rss

Series: Famous statements about lies #6

"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."

- Mark Twain
(http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1611/sins22lies0index.html)

For a speaker and coach on body language and deception detection go to www.PattiWood.net and book Patti or buy her book Success Signals.

College Students Body Language Interviewing for Jobs

Last week I spoke to the career counselors for MBA programs across the country and I have been reading about college students concerns about finding a job and what they are most concerned about in their interviews. In last month's issue of Campus Activities Programming magazine, Megan Stumph from www.Cbcampus.com wrote a great article about college graduates persevering through difficult situations while looking for jobs. She mentioned several specific experiences of college grads and offered up some advice for those trekking through the job market. Here are a few recommendations Megan Stumpth made in her article:

1) Focus your resume and cover letter on the positives. If some of your college courses relate directly to the job you're applying for, mention them in the cover letter. If you balanced school and job to pay your way through, mention your drive and determination.

2) Be persistent in making contact with places you'd like to work for. Show them you know how to work hard for something.

3) Continue self-improvement. If you're working right now, consider how additional education could increase your pay or advance your career further down the road.

I would add work on your body language. Click Here to link to my article on interviewing written by my summer intern Julie Levin.

http://community.naca.org/blogs/edblog/archive/2009/04/23/difficulties-in-job-searching.aspx

Deception, College Professors Posing as Students Online

I was reading an article about college professors who teach online classes posing as students in the online discussions to get discussion started in their forums.(www.community.naca.org/blogs)

Oh my goodness. How horrible! The article asked if this was, "close to the edge of faculty ethics." I think the faculty members who did this crossed the line. If they want online discussion it is their responsibility to inspire it. I am a body language expert and I am a college speaker (for my college program descriptions go to www.pattiwood.net) as well as a corporate speaker. I know my college student audiences would be appalled to discover that sort of deception. I teach deception detection techniques. My audience members have horror stories of being "fooled" by such practices. No one feels good about being lied to and I believe students would lose respect for their instructors if they discovered that they where pretending to be students. I wonder if they change their "tone" and dumb down their vocabulary to act as if they are students. That would be so insulting.

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional
The Body Language Expert
Web - www.PattiWood.net
Blog - www.bodylanguagelady.blogspot.com