Name Change

If you have visited my blog before you probably noticed the new name, Speaking in the Semiosphere.

During some research it came to my attention that there was a blog out there called "Professionally Speaking", and another called "Professionally Speaking..." and since they were in existence before mine I thought it only right that I should change my blog name.

Speaking in the Semiosphere was the obvious choice for a couple of reasons. First, my consulting company is called Semiosphere Consulting and so it was a natural fit. Perhaps more importantly it does give some idea of my theoretical foundation as a communications professor and practitioner.

"Semiosphere" was a term coined by Russian scholar of cultural semiotics Yori Lotman. It is essentially the world of signs in which we dwell. Each person is both consumer and producer of signs. A sign is anything which stands for something else and each moment of our lives we are both taking in and sending out signs. And each time two people encounter each other it is a collision of embodied sign systems, from which two distinct meanings emerge.

It's all quite complicated of course, and I'll spare you the advanced Semiotic theory. However, when I analyze a speech, speaker, or any instance of communication, this is where I am coming from. It is what makes Semiosphere Consulting unique. And it's the insight provided by this unique analytic perspective that people are willing to pay me for. The academic term is semiotic phenomenology or simply Communicology. It is better understood though as simply how people make sense and give meaning to their surroundings (including the messages being sent by others). Mostly I apply this to public speaking but it can be applied to any act(s) of communication.

If you would like to read more about it, one of my mentors Dr. Richard Lanigan maintains a site for the International Communicology Institute and lays the philosophical groundwork in this brief essay.

The content of the blog will not change dramatically, as I will continue to record my thoughts about public speaking and communication as always.

Be well, speak well, and as always, thank you for reading.

If you are interested in learning more about Dan Leyes consulting work visit Semiosphere Consulting.