Presentation Skills

(Author’s Note: This is a piece I originally wrote several years ago. But we republish it every 18 months or so, because the point continues to be true, and because my colleagues and I continue to see evidence of the risk of PowerPoint every single day. As you read this, keep this in mind… your […]

Have you ever listened to that person who says something like “um” over and over and over? After a while, all you hear are the “ums.” How about the person who says “like,” or “you know?” Distracting, right? How about the person who qualifies everything they say with a “sort of” or a “kind of” […]

Over the last month, we have spent nearly every day in workshops with some of our top clients. And in every single one, the concept of terrible PowerPoint slides came up. Everyone wants to know how to make their slides simpler. Everyone wants to have a “Steve Jobs” level of simplicity with their slides. But […]

There is a mindset I hear people articulate from time to time… and that mindset is that your presence is primarily created by the way you look and carry yourself. I heard this again recently in a workshop I was teaching, and the participant said that they did not have the wardrobe to create a […]

When we are listening to music, and there is a moment of silence in the piece of music, that moment of silence is not an absence of music. No. Rather, the moment of silence is part OF the music. I love this idea. The silence is a conscious choice by the composer. The silence contributes […]

Details matter in business, and in some industries, the details are everything. But the amount of detail we discuss in meetings and presentations, and the way in which we communicate it, is a daily source of frustration in most companies. I hear this every single day… I am drowning in detail… I didn’t need to […]

Being a great communicator is about so much more than the sales call you’re about to make, the meeting you’re about to join, or the conversation you’re about to have… Beyond the immediate benefits of closing a sale, or contributing to a meeting, great communication skills create several significant realities that will benefit you in […]

Do you ever have to participate in a standard, regularly-scheduled meeting within your company, where you (or someone you work with) presents updated data and information on the business/project? (I am sure your answer is “yes.” Most of us have.) Do these meetings end up feeling like the same meeting over and over and over […]

There are a few scenarios that show up frequently in our workshops. And one of the most common is a request from a participant to help them sell their idea/initiative/recommendation. Nearly every day, we work with people who have looked at the problem, done the research, and believe they have the correct solution or idea […]

I have a wide range of conversations with the people I coach. Coaching discussions on communication and leadership skills can cover a lot of territory. But there is a short list of things that seem to come up over and over and over. And at the top of the list is this seemingly simple idea. […]