Dean Brenner

We had a fascinating conversation with a workshop participant last week. He shared a real story, about a presentation he gave soon after he joined his current company. He worked hard at it, he prepared, and he was nervous, but ready. He made the presentation, it seemed to go OK, and then afterwards he asked […]

My colleagues and I see a lot of PowerPoint slide decks. More than we can count, actually. So we have a deep reservoir of context on what makes a good slide deck and a bad slide deck. And very often, people make a critical mistake when thinking about slides, and how to make them better. […]

There has been a lot of chatter lately about work flexibility, the ability to work from home, etc. It’s a great conversation, and figuring this out is critical for most organizations. Each company has to sort out what works, and then develop and maintain a policy that will attract top talent. I’ve been an entrepreneur […]

According to some sources, more than 30 million business presentations are created each day. And you know what? Most of them are terrible. We’ve all sat through the proverbial terrible presentation with no purpose, nothing memorable, no clear action items, too many slides, the monotonous drone of the boring presenter. There is a reason business […]

Did you learn some new things last week? Do you look at the world the same way you did six months ago? Do your business strategy and business goals change over time? In other words, if my knowledge of you and your business is based on where things were for you six months ago, would […]

I spent the last week on vacation with my family. Which means that for a few days prior to the beginning of vacation, my wife and I had our annual negotiation about mobile devices and the boundaries during vacation. In general, she and I agree on the basic premise… it is healthy to turn off […]

Let me know if this sounds familiar… you have a presentation to give. You immediately begin thinking about your slide deck. You pull out the last presentation you gave on the topic, you dust it off and realize that some of the same slides will work. So you are on your way. Then you look […]

Do you want to be an effective communicator? Be more memorable? Do you want people to follow your lead, support your idea, or buy your product or service? Of course you do. When I say “be memorable,” I’m not suggesting that you do something outrageous so that they remember that crazy person who did “x.” […]

… the way they treat people when they think no one else is looking. … the way they treat people who “don’t matter” to them. People who can’t give them what they want. … the way they treat you when they don’t need anything from you. I apologize for the apparent sermon today. What prompted […]

We have shared many past posts here on the need and importance of clarity and brevity in your communications. Clarity and brevity are often the price of admission to be heard in the 21st century — table stakes — the cost to simply be able to play in the big leagues and have people listen […]