Presentation Skills

Originally published with the Forbes Coaches Council. As a coach, I see a lot of different kinds of speakers: those who are confident and controlled and others who are nervous and still figuring out how to get their point across. And I’ve had people ask, “Don’t you sometimes want to laugh at how bad some of these presentations can be?” […]

At The Latimer Group, we believe that the ability to persuade, influence and build consensus is the most important skill that you can have in the workplace. If you attempt to add one skill to your tool box, verbal persuasion should be at the top of your list. This begs the obvious follow-up question… How do you make yourself […]

In all our work, we strive to help our clients craft their communication in the most effective, persuasive way possible. Here are 5 coaching strategies and story telling approaches you can use to be a more intentional, more persuasive communicator. For more episodes of The Message Makeover Minute, and other videos from The Latimer Group, […]

What does the world of communication look like right now? What are the barriers to getting our point across today, at this moment in time? There are a bunch, and none of them are inconsequential. Truth #1: The world continues to be a really noisy place. There are lots of people and things competing for […]

Web meetings, conference calls, and virtual platforms are no longer “occasional” methods of communication. These are now full-time communication platforms, and likely will be for the foreseeable future. So, we really need to be thinking about how we can communicate in the most effective way possible using these new tools. In the latest edition of […]

A survey from Raindance Communications looked at the issue of multitasking. And for those of you who regularly lead conference calls (like me), brace yourselves… the numbers ain’t pretty. These stats are a little dated but still eye-opening. According to this survey: 90% of people surveyed said they multitask while on conference calls; 70% reported doing other, unrelated work; 50% […]

I am a poker player. I love the odds, the strategy, the bluffing, the reading of the other players, and most of all the social interaction. I play a couple of times a month with friends, never online with strangers. And only for low stakes… very low stakes. I just enjoy the experience. Just like everything […]

A lot of our clients tell us that the new increase in “virtual communication” causes anxiety for a number of reasons: technology, “etiquette,” and so on… However, some basic communication skills will always apply… Fall back on those basic tenets when feeling anxious about the “new” communication concepts that come along, and that anxiety should […]

I was listening in on a conference call last week, with a decent sized audience. The leader of the call was working really hard to manage the call, bring some energy to it, engage people. He had clearly spent a lot of time thinking about what he was going to say. His message was positive, […]

This post was written by Kendra Raguckas, Director of Instructional Design & Technology at The Latimer Group. Two weeks ago, our team hosted a free online conversation focusing on our new normal in the virtual world. We shared our top five observations from the transition to mandated remote work and our recommendations on how to adjust […]