Meetings

Death by PowerPoint. Or as Dilbert put it: “PowerPoint poisoning.” It is software that is so despised that it has been banished by many organizations, and is the frequent subject of cartoons about the proverbial drudge of office life. It’s easy to hate on PowerPoint. After all, it’s often the single common denominator between all the boring presentations […]

Communication clarity is really hard in the 21st century… a mantra I have recited over and over in this space. It’s hard because of the noise, the competition for mind share, and shrinking attention spans. But often the best way to combat difficulty and noise is to focus on the most simple, basic elements of […]

Hello, clients and friends of The Latimer Group, We are excited to share the latest issue of Fathom with you, as the first installment of our “Latimer at 20” anniversary campaign. Over the next several months, we will be coming to you with a wide variety of content, all of designed to share our best learnings […]

Most people think of their communication as a tangible and clear output: words on the page, images and messages on a slide, words coming out of the mouth. And there is truth in that belief. Strong communication is a series of clear outputs. We spend a ton of energy here at The Latimer Group helping […]

My colleagues and I write all the time about the characteristics and keys to great communication. Many of them are obvious… preparation and practice are near the top of any list. But there is another component to great communication, that often goes unnoticed in our fast-paced, back-to-back-to-back meeting world. Time management, and creating a short […]

This post was written by Hannah Morris, Facilitator and Coach at The Latimer Group. In our first post in this series, we examined the idea that, within our authentic presence, each of us shows up in a variety of different ways based on choices we make to adapt to our environment, audience, and situation. We have […]

This post was written by Hannah Morris, Facilitator and Coach at The Latimer Group. Imagine yourself speaking with your closest colleague in an impromptu conversation where you’ve just dropped in to say “hi”. Now imagine yourself speaking with the Executive Leadership Team of your organization as you deliver a presentation about an important issue your department […]

In a recent workshop, one participant asked a series of questions about how broad the application of the content we were teaching in the course actually was. I answered in a very “Latimer way,” by saying that our model applies to all forms of workplace communication: meetings, conference calls, presentations, email exchanges, etc. As I […]

This post was written by Hannah Morris, Facilitator and Coach at The Latimer Group. Have you ever found yourself struggling to respond to the question, “What’s your presentation about?” or “Why were you meeting with X?” or “What was in that report you sent?” When asked to create concise summaries of complex topics, many of […]

Think of all the communications courses you’ve taken, seminars you’ve attended, and articles you’ve seen in which they tell you how to speak, how to present, or how to create a PowerPoint slide. Compare that to how much less often a course is offered on how to listen. Listening (good, active and intentional listening) is a […]