When People Listen to You
Posted On April 20, 2015 BY Dean Brenner
We all know how it feels to have our time wasted. Have you ever been in a meeting/presentation/conference call that seemed to have no purpose? Or where the speaker could not get to the point? Or where you wondered why you were even there? [Pause for you to nod in agreement…] Have you ever listened […]
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 […]
A Real-World Case for Clear Communication
Posted On March 23, 2015 BY Dean Brenner
Today’s post was written by Brett Slater, Chief Social Media Officer at The Latimer Group As The Latimer Group’s Chief Social Media Officer, I’m exposed to every single piece of content Dean and the team produces. I read every blog post, watch every video, and listen to every podcast, and as you imagine, some of […]
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 […]
Context is King
Posted On March 11, 2015 BY Dean Brenner
Over our last several posts, we have been touching on a few of the important ingredients for great communication… clarity and brevity chief among them. Today we touch on a third critical ingredient: context. Context is critical. Context creates relevance. Context helps your audience engage and listen. Context helps your audience care. We are all […]
In Search of Brevity
Posted On March 9, 2015 BY Dean Brenner
Have you ever sat through a meeting, or a conference call, or a presentation, and thought to yourself… “Oh my god… I wish this person would get to the point…“? Yeah. Me too. Many, many times. We all know what it feels like to have our time wasted by someone who just won’t, or can’t, […]
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 […]