Public Speaking Skills

What we care about most at The Latimer Group is your ability to communicate your message — your story — powerfully and persuasively to your audience. Virtually all the work we do points back to that theme of great communication, and great storytelling. Even in the workplace, great stories and great storytelling are what will stand out among your clients […]

Most people communicate selfishly in the workplace. Sorry… I apologize for that harsh opinion. But I believe it to be true. Most people communicate with their colleagues, customers, vendors, and suppliers based primarily on their own needs, wants and goals. Most people build their communication (presentations, meeting agendas, negotiation points, talking points) based on what they want, […]

There are a few questions we frequently hear from our workshop participants. And perhaps the most vexing is the question of detail: how much do I need, where do I put it, how much is too much? Without exception, it comes up and is a major topic of conversation in every workshop. Why? For two simple, […]

Here are five of the most common communication problems or roadblocks that we see, with solutions for each: If your communication problem is time, then brevity is your friend. Make sure to shorten your message significantly, and dramatically reduce the amount of detail you try to squeeze in. Reduce your information to a list of “three things,” […]

This post was written by Hannah Morris, Facilitator and Coach at The Latimer Group. In our first post in this series, we examined the idea that, within our authentic presence, each of us shows up in a variety of different ways based on choices we make to adapt to our environment, audience, and situation. We have […]

Here’s a great goal for you in your next meeting or presentation. Make it your mission in life to make it easy for people to remember what you say. Have you ever had the experience where a presenter just walked into the room, and from the moment he or she opened their mouth, you were captivated? […]

How often do you sit in a meeting, or on a conference call, or listen to a presentation, and feel disengaged within the first five minutes? Yep… me too. It usually takes people forever to simply get to the point, and find ways to engage the audience. And by the time they do, it usually […]

My colleagues and I always preach preparation and practice before you stand up to speak. And whenever I bring up these twin concepts in a workshop, there is almost always someone who raises their hand and says “well, what if you don’t have time to prepare or practice? What do you do then?” That question always […]

This post was written by Hannah Morris, Facilitator and Coach at The Latimer Group. In Part 1 of this post, we examined the importance of knowing one’s persuasive point of view to effective communication. It is our thesis statement. It is what our audience most needs to hear in order to understand our message, care […]

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?” Hard to listen to that after a while, isn’t it? How about the person who qualifies everything they say […]