Mapping Your Communication Progress
Posted On December 12, 2016 BY Dean Brenner
Our work at The Latimer Group is all about helping our clients build strong and powerful communication skills. And to do that effectively, we have to be able to help them assess two things: current strengths and weaknesses, AND a path towards improvement. One without the other just isn’t that helpful. Skill development, in any […]
Speaking Tips: Substance Over Style
Posted On November 8, 2016 BY Dean Brenner
At The Latimer Group, we constantly preach the importance of substance over style. Substance matters. The details matter. Your message matters. Otherwise you are like this guy. Major props to our friend and client Karen for sharing this video with us. Have a great day. At The Latimer Group, our individual Coaching services are highly […]
A Simple Tip for More Powerful Storytelling
Posted On October 31, 2016 BY Dean Brenner
This is a simple idea, but a very powerful one. We’ve all heard it before, yet so many of us continue to ignore it’s value. Whenever possible, tell your story with pictures and not words. Pictures create images in the mind, and for most of us the mind retains the things it sees much longer […]
Think of Your Message Like a Meal
Posted On October 17, 2016 BY Dean Brenner
A good meal should be enjoyed, one bite at a time. Take a bite, chew it, swallow it, enjoy it. If you eat it too quickly, it will be over and you will not have had a chance to think about it and appreciate the experience. Slow down! Don’t eat so quickly! And a good chef […]
Anticipate the Objection, and Make the Connection
Posted On October 12, 2016 BY Dean Brenner
I am currently in Paris, France running a series of two-day executive communication skills workshops for one of our top clients. The participants came from all over EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa.) In today’s workshop, we had executives from France, UK, Morocco, Italy, Portugal and Egypt. It was an outstanding group, and a thoroughly enjoyable day. In […]
Is Practice Part of Your Communication Routine?
Posted On October 11, 2016 BY Dean Brenner
It is early on a Tuesday morning, and I am up early preparing for a couple of weeks of Executive Communication Skills workshops with our largest client. The participants will come from all over Europe, and the Middle East. I have advocated many times in the past that we all should “know our audience.” And […]
The Secret to Finding Your Executive Voice
Posted On October 6, 2016 BY Dean Brenner
We recently finished an intensive workshop with one of our top clients. The topic was Executive Communication Skills, and the goal was to coach a small group of about 10 rising executive stars in the art of persuasive, executive-level communication skills. We covered a lot of ground over the two days, but one topic worth […]
Speaking Tips from an Unprepared Donald Trump
Posted On October 3, 2016 BY Dean Brenner
There will be no politics or political preferences in this post. But I will make a critical, although seemingly obvious, point. We advocate to our clients all the time the importance of not only strong preparation for your presentations, but we also advocate for time spent on practice. We separate those two concepts into two […]
3 Simple Tips for Speaking to a Global Audience
Posted On September 28, 2016 BY Dean Brenner
In the 21st century business world, very few things are NOT global in some way, and successful professionals and organizations have no choice but to be thinking about how to reach and connect to a global audience. There are a few things we encourage our clients to do when they are speaking/presenting/meeting with a global […]
A Real-Life Example of the Risk Your PowerPoint Slides Hold
Posted On August 4, 2016 BY Dean Brenner
We had a fascinating conversation with a workshop participant last week. He shared a real story, about a presentation he gave soon after he joined his current company. He worked hard at it, he prepared, and he was nervous, but ready. He made the presentation, it seemed to go OK, and then afterwards he asked […]