Why you should master this powerful influencing tool — The Window to the Soul Can you remember a time when you met someone for the first time, introduced yourself, shook their hand, looked them in the eye, and they didn’t return the eye contact? How did that feel? If you can remember that scenario happening it was probably awkward and left you feeling like…

The power of congruence in public speaking — Verbal vs Nonverbal I recently attended a presentation where the speaker started almost every important statement with the words “I think.” He also used phrases like “kind of” several times throughout his presentation with a “basically” and “obviously” thrown in now and then for good measure. He established a good presence with his…

How I found perspective in his final story — His Legacy A close friend of mine passed away recently. He’s the only friend from college I still had a strong relationship with. He was so talented and I secretly envied him in so many ways. I respected him as an actor, director, businessman, writer, and most significantly, as a husband and…

3 tips for effective virtual presentations — As we all experience various levels of mandated or self-imposed quarantines, it’s becoming more apparent that communicating virtually is our new reality. Most people are working from home and any meetings, presentations, or pitches are being delivered through some virtual platform. …

How to maximize the impact of your presentation — What’s Your Problem? I’ve coached public speaking skills for a long time and though delivering an engaging presentation is challenging for many, I’ve found the bigger problem people have is structuring a compelling story. Most people see a presentation as the information they need to share. The problem is, the information we need…

What do they need to hear? — What Do I Want to Say? How many times have you sat down to start preparing for a presentation, opened your favorite slide creation tool, and thought: “What do I want to say?” The fact is, nobody cares what you want to say. I know that sounds harsh but it’s true, even if people don’t realize…

The foundation of a great presentation — The Foundation I vividly remember standing in a room in front of some important stakeholders. I needed them to buy-in to my project in order to get the budget approved to continue our work. I was half-way through my presentation when I felt the sinking sensation of disinterest from this highly influential…

Think differently about how you prepare your presentations — It Starts With Preparation The reason most presentations don’t land the way people want them to is not that they weren’t engaging enough with their body language, eye contact, or vocal variety. It’s not because they weren’t confident or skilled enough. It’s most likely because they neglected a crucial part of the process. Those…

Take the guilt out of focusing on yourself — Where’s Your Focus? Do you want to have an impact on the world around you and be a champion of positive change? Do you want to be your best self every day and contribute to society in meaningful ways? …