Digital Coach: Recent Episodes
Distinction Communication, Inc.
Nationally-recognized experts in professional presentation messaging, advanced design, and critical delivery skills coaching.
I have running joke with my family that each of us have a pull string like the Woody doll from Toy Story (“There’s a snake in my boot!”). My least favorite is “What’s for dinner?” said every dang night from a beloved family member that shall remain unnamed.
In my role as speaker coach, I have developed my own pull-string phrases; authenticity over perfection being my favorite. But I also tirelessly warn of common presentation mistakes.
Do you struggle with any of these?
- Assuming people care
Ouch. Sometimes we are so heads-down into our own work that we forget that presentations are to serve our audience with information, data, story, or vision. Consider starting with a statement about why or how your information will help them.
- Trying to say too much in too short of time
The number one reason why I see presenters fail at delivering confidently and clearly is because they are in a hurry. And you’ll always be in a hurry when you have too much to say. Be realistic. Time out your content. Which brings us to the next mistake.
- Not practicing out loud
One way to know if you’ve planned too much content is by saying it out loud. Practice a slide or two out loud and notice how long it took. While you gauge your timing, you should also be practicing a good pace, pauses instead of filler words, and strong eye contact. Pro tip: practice talking to objects in your room as if they were people. Then heed the next warning.
- Not scaling content
If you are long winded or have too much content, you should scale your content. Make the opening story the 2-minute version, not the 5-minute version. Another reason we scale is because of the audience. Perhaps your technical deep dive for 7 minutes should be scaled to 3 minutes because of who is in the room. Scale your content or lose your audience.
- Talking faster when running out of time
If you don’t scale, if you have too much to say, you’ll be tempted to race through your ideas at the end. You may leave the meeting relieved that you got through all your information, but that is not the same as your audience getting your information. Instead, edit as you near the end of your time. Prioritize: sacrifice the good ideas to elevate the great ones. Close strong.
- Using slides as handouts, pre-reads, or scripts
The #1 pushback I get about creating simple, crisp slides is that they are used as handouts, pre-reads, or scripts – they need to contain all the talking points/data. Try putting the paragraphs of information in the notes section or as appendix slides but keep the projected visual simple. (Number one pet peeve of audiences is a presenter reading busy slides verbatim.)
- Poor transitions (or none at all)
Make sure your audience doesn’t feel lost or confused because you don’t verbally transition between your talking points or slides. Keep your message fluid and clear by crafting one-liners that connect Idea One to Idea Two. “Now that we understand the conditions of the market, let’s talk about our Q2 strategy.” Pro tip: Keep your transitions to one sentence.
- Relying on either charisma or data
Don’t assume either charisma or data will do the heavy lifting. Audience’s need relevant, well-organized information from charismatic speakers. They also need energy and passion in data-heavy presentations. You may naturally gravitate to one side of the spectrum, but strong communicators strive for an engaging presence with solid content. Both.
- Letting emotions evaluate success
People tend to evaluate their presentations based on whether it felt bad or felt good. Unfortunately, I’ve seen presenters feel good but present horribly (over confidence) or feel bad but present well (under confidence). Don’t trust your feelings as your feedback mechanism. Which is why you should avoid the next mistake.
- Not preemptivelyasking for feedback
To evaluate your presentation skills, you’ll need to solicit external feedback. But if you ask for feedback from a peer or manager after the meeting, it may not be specific or helpful. Instead, ask beforehand and be specific: “I’m trying to slow down. Can you give me feedback?” or “I’m working on smooth transitions between my main ideas. Can you listen for clarity?”
I’ve heard it said that we don’t accidentally drift towards excellence. It’s true of being a great communicator too. Roll up your sleeves. Make small adjustments. Establish best practices.
Be worthy of people’s most precious asset: their time.
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I grew in Seattle so I was born a Mariner’s fan. The most vivid Mariner’s memory I have isn’t from the 7th inning stretch or crushing on Ken Griffey Jr. The memory was the day after a game I attended when I was between 6-9 years old. That next day my dad realized that the team pendant he purchased for us had stuck to another pendant – a freebee! Lucky, right!? Not to Jim Endicott.
My dad wrote a check to the franchise to pay for the second pendant because, to him, that was integrity.
Fast forward nearly a dozen years. The night before moving into my freshman college dorm room, I dumped my high school boyfriend because I was convinced that I’d find my soul mate in college (spoiler alert: 3 years later I married said high school boyfriend). I didn’t waste time looking – within the first few days at college I was skipping arm-in-arm with my friend Carley to every boy dorm, going door-to-door introducing ourselves. (Cringe). So imagine my delight when a vase full of beautiful flowers were delivered to my dorm room later that year. But they weren’t from the new boys on the block.
My first flowers were from my dad with a note, “I just wanted to be the first guy to send you flowers.”
21st birthday with my parents.Fast forward a few years, I’m developing my career. I’m working at PR agency, learning the corporate-life ropes: managing emails, filling out self-reviews, and contributing to a 401k. Three years in, I get an awesome opportunity to work closer to home (closer to my newborn daughter). It’s a great new job, but only lasted 18 short months when I got another job offer. One I couldn’t refuse.
My dad offered me my dream job at his speaker coaching company, with a clear invitation of succession someday.
Father Daughter Duo circa 2012Fast forward 10 wonderful years and that day is here.
In a sense, Jim has spent 39 years preparing me for this moment of taking over his business.
First, by modeling integrity.
He ran his business with integrity – with honesty, hard work, and honoring every client’s dignity while coaching them through uncomfortable experiences – but I observed his private pursuit of integrity, yes with a Mariner’s pendant, but also as a young girl every morning. I’d wake up and stagger downstairs to find my dad reading scriptures under a lamp in the living room. I’d crawl into his lap as he started his day with humility and perspective. And when he closed up the Good Book for the morning, he spent the next 12 hours trying to honor God through decisions of integrity.
Second, by offering affirmation and love.
My dad never held back affirmation or affection. He showed up to my dance and piano recitals, when I was crowned May Day Court princess my senior year of high school, when I published my first book in 2021, and recently, cheered me on at my first TEDx talk in front of 7,000 people in May 2022. He always offered a post-event big embrace while whispering in my ear, “I’m so proud of you”. (I was grateful when he shaved off his mustache when I was in middle school – his whispers of affirmation became way less itchy!) And when my TEDx talk was postponed in 2020 due to COVID, I received flowers from my dad, “Today was supposed to be your day. I love you.” I never had to earn my dad’s love and pride. Not as a kid. Not as a college student. He generously poured it out, always.
By the time he invited me to join his business in 2012, I felt supported, empowered, and ready.
But a wee bit intimidated.
Jim built an impressive business. He did the grueling work of getting it off the ground, evolving its services, developing a credible reputation, building a deep well of happy clients, and seeing its favor and influence grow in astonishing ways. (“If only our global clients could see that we’re a small business, answering emails from rural Oregon while watching deer out our home office window.” – he said all the time.)
I may have had confidence to step into the business that year, but not the experience. It was intimidating. I remember within the first year of coaching I showed up to train a sales team at a hotel venue in Portland. As each client walked in that day, they asked me questions as if I was the hotel staff. Surprise – I’m your 29-year-old expert coach offering you constructive criticism today.
Those first years, maybe the first 4-5, I was hesitant for clients to know that Boss-man was also my dad, lest they assumed I didn’t earn my coaching role. But slowly, as I developed my coaching instincts and credentials, instead of it being a point of insecurity, it became a mark of pride.
My boss is my dad. We’re a healthy family business.We get to do our dream jobs side-by-side.Pinch me.
We didn’t coach or speak together much, but we did coach concurrently together at an HVAC company in Minnesota, a solar-power company in California, a lifestyle apparel company in Portland, and at a swanky law firm in Seattle many years in a row. The one speaking gig we had together was in New Orleans. I remember it vividly because afterwards, my dad and I strolled together down the street sipping cocktails out of huge Styrofoam cups!
New Orleans pic (sans liquor in Styrofoam cups)But probably my favorite memory was at the Logan airport in Boston. We both were supporting a medical security company – he was there for a few days, then I flew in for the next few days. Unbeknownst to me, the plane I took into Boston was the same plane my dad was flying home on. When I stepped off the plane into the airport, my dad was standing at the gate with my favorite coffee in hand. We laughed, high fived, and went our separate ways.
But it wasn’t always smooth sailing.
In 2016, we barely survived a company rebrand and website redesign. We tried hard to find a unified voice between us for the brand, and even though it was painful, Jim never played his trump card (the one that read “I’m the expert who started this business while you were still learning your middle school locker combination.”). He treated me like an equal owner of the business long before I was and we survived the rebrand!
And then COVID hit in 2020. All forecasted revenue fell off our training calendar within days as clients closed up shop until we all ‘flattened the curve’. Luckily, we just came off the biggest revenue year to date (yeah 2019), which meant we had cash in the bank to carry us through because Jim was a wise business guy. Within a few months, we pivoted to virtual coaching (something we refused to do before 2020). In hindsight, COVID forced our hand to offer a service that we probably should have offered all along. The scope of our client reach grew, obtaining new clients all over the globe. We survived a global pandemic.
Then, in December 2021, he sat down in my living room and handed over the keys to the coaching kingdom, making me full owner of the business effective January 1, 2022.
Signing the final shares of DistinctionAfter one year of speaker coaching as my employee (we had fun with that, as you could imagine), Jim retires December 31, 2022 from the 24-year-old business he spun up in 1998.
What a ride.
Most people don’t know this, but a few months after spinning up Distinction Communication, my brother Jeremy died at 18 years old. In some respects, this business was a gift that year. When the suffocating cloud of grief finally settled just enough to take a breath, this business offered a sliver of hope. It offered an earthly purpose – to serve clients with class, expertise, and compassion.
Distinction has always felt more like a calling than a career, first for Jim, and now for me.
It’s not just professional – it’s deeply personal.
I get to honor his rich legacy of integrity and love, first in my personal life with my family, and secondly in the way I lead this business and serve our clients.
People found it strange that I called dad Jim in work settings and he always signed his emails to me Jim. It’s just what we did. But last week he sent a work email to Jake and I and wrote, “So time to sign off. No more emails signed Jim anymore. After 10 years, I get to be just dad again. Love you guys. Dad”
Dad, it’s been an amazing ride together in this business. Cheers to your immense impact as speaker coach over the last 24 years. And cheers to many more years of impacting people with your integrity and love.
Partners for life,
Amy
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I’ll fully admit to you, my motivation to start Distinction Communication was your classic ‘keep the lights on’ kind of desperation move after being laid off in 1998. There was no time for a finely crafted business plan, and I certainly didn’t feel like your classic roll-the-dice kind of entrepreneur. I was like most of you, just trying to make ends meet.
But what I can tell you is this, what happened over the course of the next 24 years was nothing short of the most amazing journey I could have ever imagined. Many of you reading this blog right now played an important role in that. I sincerely thank you.
As I head into retirement, I think I’ve also become a little more retrospect these days too. Some of that is simply end-of-career reflection but perhaps a bigger part for me realizes I had somehow finagled a front row seat to one of the most unprecedented industry evolutions we may see.
So, with that firmly in mind and at the conclusion of this blog, I’d like to offer up 3 important takeaways for you. (It just seemed like a fitting way to wrap-up a career as a speaker coach.) It’s my hope you may glean a few nuggets to accelerate your own career and perhaps be the catalyst for a business or two.
The birth of an industry.When I was hired by Genigraphics in 1986, it was probably best known at the time as an early pioneer in the presentation graphics world. As it turned out, we would also play an instrumental role in helping Microsoft breathe life into a newly acquired little presentation graphics application. And what was initially conceived as a clever “Buy 2 Microsoft Office applications, get one free” offer, eventually became PowerPoint. Anyone could now create a ‘tray’ of slides and business professionals everywhere seemed strangely gleeful at the prospect of taking on a business process that had early on been relegated to already overworked administrative assistants. (Thank you, SNL, for chronicling that change.)
What seemed at the time as an incredibly strategic partnership for Genigraphic, however, ultimately drove our customers to a much more cost-effective alternative to high-end service bureaus and bankrupted the company. But for me, it also teed up a short stint with another industry pioneer, InFocus Systems and the opportunity to write a monthly column for Presentations magazine. InFocus ultimately lost their industry dominance as well, and I was laid off in March of 1998. An event I’ve often shared as the best thing that could ever have happened to me and my family.
What most people never knew, my small business, Distinction Communication, started as a presentation design business and the traction was immediate. It was the low hanging fruit of business communication in the 90s and it certainly didn’t hurt that serious design professionals at the time shunned working in such a pedestrian application. In the years that followed, our little business evolved to include messaging assistance as well (at a 50% premium).
Our most significant evolution occurred just a few years laterWe came to realize a presenter’s visuals could look nice, the message could be sound, but ultimately it was the flesh and blood conduit for that process that most greatly impacted outcomes. One afternoon after the local Business Journal wrote a little piece on my one-person company, I would receive a call from Fred, “Jim, I think I’m supposed to work for you.” Fred would not only become an important mentor to me, but over the years many of you reading this blog would come to appreciate and love him as well.
So, after a few months of building out the foundation of a presentation training workshop, we launch it with great expectation! Crickets. But 6 months later and after some persistence and timely introductions, we would add Honeywell, adidas and other high-profile companies to our client list and for many, became their #1 rated training partner. Somehow we found ourselves smack in the sweet spot of business professional’s #1 fear.
The value for any business is related to the size of the problem you solve for peopleIf presentation skills training was the most significant evolution of our business, our step into the big leagues occurred on a late summer afternoon in 2004 in Hillsboro, OR where we found ourselves sitting around a large conference room table pitching Intel for the opportunity to provide personal speaker coaching for their senior leadership team. (Presenting on being a presentation coach. No pressure.)
But Fred and I would somehow pull off a big win that day and soon faced the reality of working with executives in Fortune 500 companies. After nearly a year of agreements, legal requirements and contracts, the call finally came and on a cold rainy Sunday evening in San Francisco, I found myself standing on the big stage at the Moscone Center in San Francisco working with Intel’s Doug Davis as a sea of event planners, producers and AV teams scurried around us. Many more senior leaders at Intel would be added in the years to come and our one-on-one coaching would expand to executives in hundreds of organizations – small business start-ups to some of the people you see on the 6 o’clock news.
So, what’s changed in the presentation world the last 24 years?The short answer… everything, and very little.
Since PowerPoint 97, the dizzying acceleration of presentation software features has been nothing short of mind boggling. Video, animation and third-party effects could be inserted and edited as easily as clipart. Covid accelerated by a decade our willingness to take our presentations online and it seemed like every board room and training room in America now had connected LCD screens – the equivalent of an electric car charging station on every street corner.
This last year, I was even part of a consulting team to the PowerPoint development group tasked with providing feedback on an embedded delivery skills coach. That’s right. Present to your computer and a digital coach will critique you in dozens of ways. Perhaps the best part for most people… you can just close your laptops if it gets a little too uncomfortable. To be honest, trying to have algorithms address our personal short comings as communicators was just a little too Hall 9000 for me. Google it.
Over the years, I would also come to understand that as a presentation and speaker coach, I was never working with someone in the moment. Yes, we’d try to address issues like message flow, visuals, and their personal skills, but it was never lost on me that many presenters still struggled to disengaged from the bigger issues in their lives. Ones that would follow them to the front of a room like a shadow; their carefully camouflaged insecurities, baggage from every bad big presentation fail, body image issues and on occasion, haunting childhood family of origin voices.
Presenters were first and foremost human beings. And trying to be a good coach seemed to require finding ways to provide victories on several fronts.
... and how have presenters evolved in 35 years?The answer to that question might best be found in the advice I was imparting to business presenters back in 1985.
Don’t turn around and read your slides to your audiences.
Don’t put so many words on your slides.
Use more stories to breathe life into your charts, graphs and bullets.
Get your eyes off your presentation screen and talk to your audience.
Don’t try to communicate so much!
What the…?
Fast forward over three decades and the struggles presenters face seemed to have changed surprisingly little. So, it begs the question (or should) – if the tools around the presentation process have evolved so dramatically in all this time – why haven’t presenters?
In my final thoughts to every presenter, big stage or small – I’ll offer up a few seasoned observations.
1 We’ve relied too much on tools to do all the heavy lifting for our ideasThe hope of most technological evolutions is that we all somehow get time back in our busy lives. Time to do more things or sometimes just do things better. Unfortunately, that never really happened for most presenters. We bought smaller, brighter projectors but struggling presenters still struggled. We tried jettisoning PowerPoint for sexier software with nichey features hoping our thoughts would magically become more coherent more quickly. They did not. We trusted that all the graphical options now at our fingertips would somehow make our ideas come to life faster, but our choices would often work against us.
Looking back, perhaps the one feature that could have made the biggest difference, could never be created… the commonsense wizard. One of audience’s top complaints 35 years ago and still today… too much stuff on the screen.
So, are most presentions simply destined to mediocrity?
There’s been an amazing growth the past twenty years, however, by a group of design professionals who have carved out a very deep niche in building good presentations. And many more today understand their role is not just about how to use software features more elegantly, but they’ve become quite expert at helping their presenting partners merge sometimes fractured ideas and imagery into a more compelling storyline. In essence, they have become your ‘common sense wizard’.
I get that some companies can’t afford in-house expertise, but we seem to have no problem outsourcing HR, payroll or legal advice. So, why do many still see this kind of support as a luxury? The reason is simple. We’ve muted the stakes associated with a presentation. The one opportunity to make an important first impression. One shot to change a mind or make a case. Never a do-over. And I’ve often seen the repercussions of that reality impair countless careers.
Maybe it’s time to seek out a design professional who understands how to merge your ideas into simpler visual information. But this partnership will ask something of you too. You will need to see them the same way a professional golfer sees their caddy. Over time, they will know your strengths and weaknesses and will adapt a strategy accordingly. Trust them. They also understand the “course”, perhaps better than you do. Value their advice. And when they suggest a ‘swing coach’ for your skills, swallow your pride and do it. The stakes are just too high not to.
(Resources for you. Presentation Summit and Presentation Guild)
You get time back in your life when you understand, just because you can create a deck, doesn’t mean you should.
2 Presenters often confuse giving with getting.Somehow in the time sucking process of building a presentation deck to help us sell a product, service or idea, we’ve lost track of something very important. The equivalent of Star Trek’s prime directive not to screw up other alien civilizations. It’s simply this. Most sixth graders routinely ‘give’ presentations these days. They’ve learned how to type, paste, embed and link content in a presentation and project it on a wall. Maybe better than you. There should be no parking lot high-fives for just getting through a big presentation these days.
What should occupy or thoughts and perhaps keep us up at night is a much higher calling – our prime directive. When everything is said and done and our captive audience walks out of the room (or exits Teams or Zoom), did they truly “get” what I was saying? And in the getting, did they agree more deeply, care more passionately and will they ultimately take action? It’s been my experience that far too much time is spent simply giving presentations these days. It takes a unique and practiced set of skill and insight to ensure your audiences actually get them.
Our ability to step out of the task at hand, embrace the relational dynamic of our role and make the complex simpler should be a starting point for presenters – not an afterthought.
3 Make the “how” as important as the “what”.For the better part of 20 years, I’ve consistently asked one very important question in every group workshop and 1-1 coaching session – and I did it in the first 5 minutes. How do you want to be perceived? I did this for 2 very important reasons. First, I learn a lot about the person in front of me in the words they choose to use.
Engaging. Confident. Knowledgeable. Clear. Passionate. Trustworthy. Concise.
The second and more important reason, however, was to make one potentially career-impacting point that would cause them to lean into this challenging process and not flee from it.
None of the words they used with me were a by-product of having great presentation slides. All the descriptive words they felt were so important were all forged in the “how” skills; the building blocks of human interaction when we stand in front of a room or screen. Yet, to a person, they fully admitted they spent nearly all their valuable time just getting their visuals right and little or no time on how they were actually delivering their messages.
This month I complete the transition of Distinction Communication to my daughter, Amy Wolff. She has been a significant part of the business the last 10 years and has created her own impressive credentials as a popular national speaker, speaker coach, as well as a featured TedX speaker here in Portland, OR – May 2022. Distinction Communication’s legacy as a premier coaching/training company will continue on and when the time is right, reach out to Amy at amy@distinctioncommunication.com.
Taking the initiative to continually hone your how skills will change the trajectory of a life and career.
As I wrap-up, maybe 30 years from now we’ll all be talking about how amazingly better presenters are, but I suspect that may not be the case. Just like I can count on Taylor Made who makes the driver in my golf bag to come up with a must-have ($600) club every year, the fact is golf clubs will still always require someone who knows how to swing them. And so will presentations.
It’s my hope you can regularly experience one of the most empowering, encouraging moments many people have – finding the powerful convergence of simple messages, skillfully delivered that get through to the busy and distracted people in your lives. Be that presenter. The world needs you. Your ideas need you.
As I sign-off for the last time, sadly I won’t be on the next part of your journey with you but there are many people who can be if you let them. You can be that presenter everyone wants to hear. Make every moment count!
So, goodbye my friends. The memories I made with you changed my life.
Jim Endicott, Retired.
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“I wish that I could brag that this wasn’t a big deal to me, that I’m a pro, but the truth is, I’ve been feeling anxiety.” It was one month before my TEDx talk. I was sitting on my counselor’s couch processing the physical stress I was feeling: quickened heart rate, shallow breathing, ... Continued
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The juggle is real, as I’m sure many of you can relate. These are scary times for small business owners. I’m trying to stay engaged with clients to keep our business afloat while throwing chicken nuggets and carrot sticks at my young daughters for lunch while trying to keep the house quiet for my husband’s ... Continued
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Harper excitedly hugged her brown paper bag as if it contained gold. To her, it did. Three items were inside: a sparkly bow, a bright pink soapstone hippo trinket from Rwanda, and a plastic toy microphone. Today was her day. It was finally her turn to bring show-and-tell items to school; three items that revealed ... Continued
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I bet you didn’t know this, but storytelling is a lot like wrapping paper. Let’s say for a moment that your ideas are like gifts to the world (it’s a bit of an exaggeration but let’s puff up our egos and roll with it). We do our best to package or box up these ideas… ... Continued
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Think back over the last few years… What presenter managed to stand out most in your mind? Who did you think of right away and what did you specifically remember? A story? Profound point? An object lesson? Sadly, most of us will struggle with this little exercise. After billions of dollars spent on presentation-related tech., ... Continued
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Every year, without fail, there’s a unique issue that surfaces when supporting a TEDx speaker. And, so far, it’s been a different issue every year. One year it was struggling to memorize the talk. Another year the speaker needed hip-surgery a couple weeks before the event. The next year was a 15-year-old speaker battling some serious ... Continued
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Last month I had the pleasure of being the Monday morning keynote speaker for PowerPoint Live 2004. I flew into San Diego a few days early for some R&R and the weather was… well it was San Diego. I had been looking forward to speaking at this particular conference because instead of having an audience ... Continued
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They're a strange breed, alright...Their passion appears endless. Their optimism seems to willfully disregard the odds of actually scoring a big deal. And the more extreme among them; that group seems to get a special kind of rush from mortgaging the family home to make next months payroll. But despite those things, they press on ... Continued
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You intended to start on your conference presentation weeks ago but you got interrupted; by the phone, emails, deadlines, yoga, juggling the kids schedule, flossing your teeth. Basically, anything and everything was a good excuse to delay your prep. Life interrupted. Now you’re staring at the calendar as nausea and dread wash over. It’s almost ... Continued
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The phone call came in July 2010 and was uncharacteristically last minute for such a high-profile event. The very next Sunday evening I found myself standing on the big stage at the Moscone Center in San Francisco waiting to prepare a senior executive for his big moment in front of a worldwide audience the next ... Continued
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The research is pretty overwhelming and so is the wisdom of those who have lead the way before us as successful organizational leaders… ————————- 89% of business professionals believe that communicating with a solid level of clarity and confidence directly impacts their career and income. Distinction January 2015 client database survey ————————- Leaders who are ... Continued
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Jim reflects on one young “presenter” who had an incredible knack for making the complex seem pretty simple. So simple in fact, that Jim and a few family members made some purchases they would quickly regret.
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You’ve probably heard that expression before. We’re coming up on the 20 year mark for our company and I remember the day I chose the name Distinction. It was 1998 and I had some business filings that needed to be done for my new LLC and they wanted a name. To be honest, I hadn’t ... Continued
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I’m an amateur woodworker. For me, it’s all about mental therapy. The smell of the freshly cut oak or cherry that overwhelms the slight musty smell of the workshop. Every once in a while, my daughter (and business partner) hands me a picture from a magazine. “Do you think you can make this for us?” ... Continued
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More and more these days people are seeking out coaching resources for their organization leaders. Why? You probably already know the answer to that question – the ability for leaders to impact their organization seems to be directly related to their ability to communicate well. And if they can’t, it’s probably going to be an ... Continued
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Whether you plan sales kick-offs, all company meetings or major partner events for a living – you probably love your job and hate it at times too. The love part… for a period of time at least, you have the attention of leaders who are pretty vested in the process whether they want to be ... Continued
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At this point, perhaps I tweaked your interest. But in the spirit of full disclosure, I’ll admit, the title was a hook and one that electronic communication SMEs say often works with newsletters, emails and most importantly from a career perspective – your presentations. Forging audience engagement from the moment they sit down to ... Continued
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Big breath. You just delivered a big presentation. Relief washes over you as you gather your things and head back to your office. You replay a few of the minutes over in your mind – analyzing their reactions, wondering if your answer to their curve-ball question sounded competent. You make a few quick mental notes ... Continued
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The wiring in your house is pretty fundamental really. You flip a switch, the circuit is completed and the light goes on. It’s not like your house one day gets a bit moody and decides it’s really not a fan of the whole light thing. The same is true for hundreds of other areas of ... Continued
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I’ve seen it hundreds of times over the last 20 years… A very confident and capable employee gets promoted into a leadership role. And it makes sense on the surface. They’re smart. They have a ton of experience and all the employees seem to like them. Then it happens… the new manager soon comes to ... Continued
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“What do you think about having notes?” We get this question a lot. Can I have notes? Where do I put them? What’s on them? Are there do’s and don’ts? First, if you want notes because you don’t know your content, you’re out of luck. That’s a lose-lose situation. You’re uncomfortable and your audience is ... Continued
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I really like to watch State of the Union addresses. Not so much because of my politics, but because of what I do for a living. As an executive presentation coach, the fodder for commentary is endless. [I would normally ask readers at this point to set aside their particular political perspective for the greater ... Continued
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Sit or stand? If today is like most days in your life, you’ll probably find yourself filing into a conference room at some point with a handful of equally busy and distracted people to have a meeting no one really has time for. So the question comes up from time to time in our workshops ... Continued
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Her subject line read ‘Presentation Freak Out’. “We didn’t finalize the presentation until 6pm. I have 70 slides and 13 pages of copy to memorize in a few days. I’m freaking out. I’ve never had this little time to prepare and it’s the biggest presentation I’ve ever made. Any advice?” Sounds familiar? ... Continued
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Let me transport you back to 1984 for a moment… Back then I was working for the largest presentation graphics service bureau in the world. There was no PowerPoint. No electronic projectors or wireless remote devices. And the idea of video, audio and music were still relegated to insanely expensive corporate videos. The art of ... Continued
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There are some things you can’t teach in the field of public speaking (which I hate to admit but it’s true). Passion and commitment. I can’t make people passionate about their ideas. If a presenter isn’t interested in what they’re saying, why should an audience? I also can’t coach someone to ... Continued
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Most people bristle at that word… average. Average customer service. A movie that’s just ‘ok’. Sushi that’s palatable. You’ve got to admit, none of these things sounds very appealing. But when ‘average’ gets applied to the people who present to us, there can be a much more significant impact. Great ideas never see the light ... Continued
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My role as speaker coach and the moment I’ll remember forever Adrenaline coursed through my veins as I snuck behind the heavy red velvet curtain, weaved my way down the hallway past the green room and entered the blackness of stage wing left. There she sat amidst the darkness, ropes, curtains, ... Continued
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Recently I had an opportunity to do some personal presentation skills coaching with Michael. That’s not his real name but his story could be your’s, your manager’s or maybe even your company president’s… ————————————————– Michael certainly made a very polished first impression as he walked in. He was well groomed and very executive looking in ... Continued
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_________________________ Let’s talk about the elephant in the training room. You bring in a presentation skills trainer… your team makes excellent progress during the day – then your coach get’s back on an airplane and goes home. Mission accomplished? Maybe not. In this podcast interview, I talk with Employee Development Specialist Jill Boileau at ... Continued
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On the surface, this request doesn’t sound too unreasonable…. Probably because so many training organizations today are still working with budgets cut back years ago. (Unfortunately, push comes to shove… training dollars are too often low on a list of organizational priorities.) And to get the most bang for every training dollar, there seems ... Continued
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PowerPoint gets blamed for a lot of things these days… tedium, eye strain, mind-numbing boredom, maybe even a case of mild indigestion after lunch. But a recent review of GM’s internal communication processes by former US Attorney Anton Valuka, suggested that the use of PowerPoint may have been complicit in something far worse. The report ... Continued
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Jim shares some practical observations about ABC's The Shark Tank and how you can apply those powerful principles in your next high-pressure presentation.
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Could you persuade someone to donate a quarter of a million dollars in 120 seconds? Last year one of our clients was in this situation. He shared his story with me last week while I was leading a workshop for his nonprofit staff. Here’s the backstory. The nonprofit director was ... Continued
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Probably one of the most attractive and arguably influential attributes of any communicator we observe is their personal confidence. Sometimes it’s a quiet and understated confidence yet we get a strong impression of someone who is very comfortable in their own skin. Other times, confidence is more palpable, it’s bigger and bolder and seems to ... Continued
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I remember my first big speaking engagement with the International Association of Business Communicators. It took place over a decade ago in Vancouver, BC Canada and like any trip across the border – it involved a brief chat with a uniformed agent in the customs booth. What would happen next would remind me once again ... Continued
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Check out this podcast interview with Climatec President Terry Keenan, to learn how one company's
investment in presentation skills training has given them a unique competitive advantage.
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Every year Distinction delivers presentation skills workshops all around the country. (It’s a great way to meet people and hear the stories that make up their lives.) Little did we know when we first started doing these sessions that one simple exercise topic could challenge so many to come up with a meaningful answer… “How ... Continued
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In this video blog, Jim takes a closer look at the whole topic of leadership communication; why leaders often struggle with leaning into this critical skill set and what you can do to take them to the next level! It’s not easy but can pay huge dividends to your organization. Learn 3 things that can ... Continued
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My experience from Kigali, Rwanda By Amy Wolff – Distinction Communication There’s nothing like traveling across the globe to appreciate how easy it is to communicate at home! Especially in such a foreign place like Kigali, Rwanda, Africa. Two weeks ago I did a communications training for 50 Rwandan pastors via translator in ... Continued
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Discussion points:
What's changed in the high stakes sales game?
What are the success factors for making a sales presentation successful
Can you be successful in sales and not be a strong presenter and communicator?
Key personal lessens from being a high-profile keynote conference presenter
Secret sauce about what every new leader needs to know about the art of presenting.
The post An Interview with Kevin Madden – Making Every Sales Presentation Produce – 28 Years of Lessons Learned appeared first on Distinction Communication.
By Amy Wolff – Distinction Communication Sweaty hands. Racing heartbeat. Perspiration. Shaky voice. Sound familiar? Most people have these reactions when speaking in front of a group. You’re not the only one! I’m frequently asked what to do about these nerves, so here are my tips: – Be practiced. This is the ... Continued
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Unless you are “preaching to the choir”, most presentations these days seem to be about changing (in some form or fashion) what people think or believe about a company, product or idea. But can you really change what people deeply believe with just some good solid facts and data? Current research would tend to indicate… ... Continued
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So, what kind of first impression do you think you make? From the very moment your co-workers, customers or leadership team walks in the door for your presentation – perceptions of you are already beginning to form. But how quickly is that happening and how can you shape the right kind of impressions before it’s ... Continued
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Caught any of the debates lately? Within hours of those events, fact check websites across the country start the process of sorting fact from fiction. Personally, I really like the little meters so many seem to have that rate a statement from a politician from True (a rating seldom seen) to Pants on Fire. No ... Continued
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Credit: fallingwhistles.com One Saturday I was at happy hour with some friends on a Portland rooftop bar when a guy asked me if I was wearing a dog whistle. For those who don’t know me well, dog whistles aren’t my style. But I was ecstatic he asked. In fact, I was eagerly waiting for ... Continued
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Imagine for a moment I hid a set of keys for a new Lexus in one of those personal storage lockers at Portland International Airport. And all you had to do is find the specific door, put in the key and it’s all yours! My job? I just had to explain to you how to ... Continued
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As the months have unfolded since Steve Jobs death in October 2011, one thing we’ve all become painfully aware of is that our legacies are not really written the day we depart this world, they’re written paragraph by paragraph, chapter by chapter every day of our lives. The choices we make, the conversations we have, ... Continued
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It was the opening 5-minutes of my third keynote… and I felt it was important to create a “moment”. Not because I understood the mechanics of doing that but because in a recent survey of their sales counterparts, there was a gaping hole between the stakes associated with some very specific skills (personal communication) and ... Continued
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Meet some friends of mine… I actually just met them last weekend but they have already become heroes of mine. They were Special Olympic athletes and their dads (and brother) who were participating in the annual Oregon games in Newberg, OR. Although we only had 4-hours together on the golf course – the impact on me will ... Continued
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We’ve all been told how quickly our presentation audiences form impressions of a presenter. Some say 2-minutes. Some 5-minutes. Whatever the precise number, we can generally agree on one thing – finding our stride 10 or 15-minutes into a presentation is a bit late. And when we dive into the research, we begin to understand how sticky (and ... Continued
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