How well do your people give difficult feedback to colleagues and clients clearly, just in time, and with observable results?

How many times have you been in a crucial meeting where you knew that the “real meeting” was going to happen afterwards, because your culture is too nice for conflict – or your leaders are dismissive of other people’s perspectives?

What if you could take the skeptical audience you’re pitching and convert them from “I’m not sure…” to “I’m in!” through your persuasive storytelling?

If any of these are keeping you up at night, I’m here to help. And while improving your personal ability to communicate effectively is critical, but it doesn’t do a lot of good in a vacuum. Through my interactive keynotes, workshop, programs, and retreats, I can help leaders at all levels of your organization navigate big presentations and difficult conversations with both courage and care.

I have helped transform the communication and presentations skills of leaders and teams ranging from Amazon, American Express, and BlackRock to Intel, PepsiCo, and The United States Army. And I can do it with your leaders and teams, too.

Presentation Skills

Whether you and you colleagues need to get better at thinking on your feet, making pitches to clients, selling ideas internally, balancing data with stories, or doing all of these things in a virtual environment, you’ll find a program below that will get you from good to great – or from great to phenomenal!

Making a presentation is about more than having the right words—it requires a powerful, poised delivery. In the workshop, you’ll learn strategies to minimize anxiety in advance, and you’ll gain tools to portray confidence when you address the room. I’ll cover the importance of cultivating presence, including how to move, when to pause, vocal variety, thinking on your feet, and much more, so you can engage every audience you address.

To keep people’s interest, your presentation needs to follow the right structure. This involves a balance of ethos (credibility), pathos (emotion), and logos (logic) – the three crucial elements of a persuasive pitch. You’ll learn how to set up your presentation based on your goal and audience, including the importance of framing, powerful introductions and closings, storytelling, use of data and statistics, and more.

Some audiences are more difficult than others, but you can learn how to win over any group. Whether you are facing a hostile group, a non-technical audience, or a bunch of busy professionals who have better things to do, you can gain and keep their attention. You’ll learn to create engagement, use Q&A, read the room, adapt your presentation style to re-engage lost listeners, and diffuse difficult situations with poise.

Effective storytelling engages customers, increases sales, rallies the troops, sells ideas internally and externally, recruits talented staff, and shares the key messages about your company and the services it provides. You’ll learn to plan, organize, and craft strategic stories, and then practice delivering those stories in a way that drives listeners to think, feel, and to take action.

This interactive, blended workshop (using both online and in-person opportunities) teaches and models how to run a productive, engaging, and creative online presentation or meeting. This session takes participants through the critical pre-planning, facilitating and follow-up steps needed to accomplish an effective meeting—without letting time zones and technology stand in your way. You’ll learn when to have an online presentation and when not to; different types of online meetings; pre-meeting activities; how to build a bell-based, outcome-driven agenda, effective techniques for facilitating and group processing; creative techniques for engagement, and how to follow up to keep the momentum going.

Nonnative English speakers face unique challenges when trying to get their ideas across in a presentation. Considering the language barriers they need to overcome, the cultural norms they need to learn, and the anticipatory anxiety associated with public speaking, nonnative English speakers have it harder than most. This workshop makes it easier — and helps professionals for whom English is their second (or third or fourth) language improve their confidence, competence, and cultural comfort when presenting in English.

Gravitas helps professionals at all levels earn attention, engagement, and respect when they speak — and when they don’t. Gravitas is both internal and external, and I’ll help participants understand how their internal mindsets drive their external, visible behaviors. In this interactive workshop, participants will learn how to communicate with composure, confidence, and courage in any setting.

Giving and Receiving Effective Feedback

Feedback is how we get better at our work, serve our clients more effectively, collaborate more productively, and impact the bottom line with greater success. But feedback is only as helpful as someone’s ability to deliver it well, and as their colleague’s ability to receive it without defensiveness, and act on it.

Navigating Conflict and Tricky Conversations

Once leaders understand their communication strengths and weaknesses, and how best to connect with and address others, they’ll feel more confident and capable addressing tricky topics – and even everyday conversations.

Communicating With Impact and Influence

Build trust, accountability, and develop your team through proven communication strategies that bring out the best in others – and yourself.

Navigating Stress at Work and in Life

Help your colleagues, team members, and yourself navigate and mitigate anxiety, stress, overwhelm, boundaries, and burnout with helpful, practical strategies.

Online Course

Did you click on the workshops page hoping to find a way to gain skills today? My online course covers presentation skills, giving and receiving effective feedback, navigating conflict and tricky conversations, and communicating with impact and influence.