A Simple Tip for Communicating More Value
Posted On April 2, 2015 BY Dean Brenner
When you are giving a business presentation, do you tell people what you think is most important? Or do you find ways to demonstrate value from their perspective? When we are talking about being more persuasive, this is one of the most important things to consider. If you want to persuade anyone of anything, you […]
Are You Ready for the Post-PowerPoint World?
Posted On March 30, 2015 BY Dean Brenner
How many PowerPoint presentations are given every day? No one really knows, but there is an oft-cited number of 30 million daily that seems to make its way around the internet. But this number has no apparent source, and there really is no way to truly know the correct number. But here is something we […]
What’s at the Heart of All Great Business Communication?
Posted On March 25, 2015 BY Dean Brenner
The hardest thing for any subject matter expert (SME) to do is to explain his or her area of expertise in simple and clear ways. When we are “in” it, when we are living the topic every day, and when we know a lot about it, it is really hard to distance yourself from it and […]
Embracing the Communication Age
Posted On March 19, 2015 BY Dean Brenner
I hear people refer all the time to a seemingly indisputable fact that we are neck deep in The Information Age. Everything about the way we generate it, consume it, store it, and share it is changing, rapidly. But while those trends are real and will continue for the foreseeable future, there is a bigger […]
5 Steps to Giving Your Message More Impact
Posted On March 16, 2015 BY Dean Brenner
Over our last several posts, we have been reviewing the key characteristics of great business communication: Clarity, brevity, context… and today’s topic: impact. Does you message stand out? Do you make it easy for your audience to remember what you say? Does your message make an impact on the mind of your listener? You need […]
Your Message Can Never Be TOO Clear
Posted On March 3, 2015 BY Dean Brenner
Here is something your colleagues or customers will never, ever, say to you… “That presentation was TOO clear. Please be LESS clear next time.” There are very few universal truths in the business world. Many issues and topics depend on context and the details of the situation. Rarely can we make rigid rules of things […]
5 (More) Ways Your PowerPoint Slides Can Hurt You
Posted On February 25, 2015 BY Dean Brenner
This is a topic we have written on before, but it merits another emphatic mention. PowerPoint and slide decks are completely overdone, to the point where the whole concept of the business meeting presentation is often (and accurately) lampooned. But many large organizations still rely on the internal presentation as a primary method of communication […]
Help Your Audience Retain Your Message
Posted On February 23, 2015 BY Dean Brenner
I’m writing to you early on a Sunday morning from my hotel room in Perth, Australia, the sun still hiding behind the eastern horizon. My colleagues and I are blessed and grateful to have a client base that takes us all over the world, with active relationships on five continents. And while that means we […]
4 Key Strategies for Persuasion
Posted On February 19, 2015 BY Dean Brenner
A quick post from the road today, about a pretty hot topic here at The Latimer Group: Persuasion. We write and talk about it all the time, and I think about it a lot, too (especially during down time when I’m traveling, like now). Consider the strategies you may need and use to persuade someone […]
The Balance of Needs
Posted On February 16, 2015 BY Dean Brenner
As a small business owner, I am constantly thinking about the various needs that I, and my teammates, should always be thinking about. What needs am I referring to? Whose needs? I am constantly thinking of three sets of need: 1. Our clients’ needs. We are a service provider, and we preach “knowing your audience” […]