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Found this particularly interesting (and reassuring) as an autistic person...In general your speaking and presenting tips are really helpful for folks like me who might not pick up on the 'hidden rules' of communication, but it's also heartening to be reminded that while important, body language and tone are maybe not the giants they're sometimes made out to be in terms of how people understand each other.

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While I think the results of that study were important to think about, we often take anything sourced by academia as an "empirical evidence" absolute and don't question its meaning. I love what you wrote, "With just a bit of critical thinking we should be able to see that language cannot carry only 7% of the weight of communication... Can any of us, with any certainty, verify that it was merely somebody’s word choice, or vocal tone, or body language that made us trust them? Or distrust them? Of course not."

Off topic: A photo of you and the fantastic Allison Kluger (and you too, Mr. Alper!) was fun to see.

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Thanks Michael!

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Thank you for alerting those who might not know to the fallacious myth of the 7-38-55"rule." Personally, I'd love to see some research that instructs on how body language and voice are best adapted to virtual settings, and how to integrate reactions and other Zoom and Teams functions into an effective presentation.

You're killing it J.D. Those of us lucky enough to know you are in no way surprised that you are in such high demand. It's fantastic to witness.

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Great recommendation to look at your talk from the three viewpoints: Verbal, Vocal and Visual. Each tells the story in its own way yet they all must come together to support the overall message. When the messages don't align it can create confusion in the mind of the audience, which will likely lead to misunderstanding, which nobody wants.

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Awesome post JD and congratulations on your posting tenure. Well done.

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