How to prepare to answer all interview questions with 5 responsesHaving conducted thousands of interviews in my career, I find candidates are either under- or over-prepared for the interview. While I prefer someone who is well prepared, the under-prepared candidate still does better than the one with scripted and canned responses. Read more
10 commandments for presentersIf you want to be a better presenter, speak to someone who listens to a lot of presentations. In most companies, that would include someone in procurement or any department that does a lot of buying. Erik Halverson at eBay perfectly fits the bill. Read more
Each week, the Fast Track Tools training company and the Cubicle Ninjas design firm work together to publish a template that makes it easier for you to communicate your ideas. This week we bring you a library of “Harvey Balls,” better known as the little circles from Consumer Reports. Read more
Persuasion takes time and repetitionMinds can change after hearing a single presentation, but more often, it takes significant pre-work and follow-up to convince your listeners to take action. You may have a great story or metaphor that makes your idea “sticky,” but to really change behavior, you may have to think about extending the metaphor. Read more
Can leadership be taught?Many had gone before me, but I was a skeptic. I remember asking my boss what I could learn from climbing up a 40-foot tall post, balancing on a small platform and then jumping off? It didn’t seem relevant at the time. In the deep woods of Arkansas, I was proven wrong. Read more
Each week, the Fast Track Tools training company and the Cubicle Ninjas design firm work together to publish a template that makes it easier for you to communicate your ideas. This week, we take on “flexibility” – an often overused term in business. This free template will help you stand out from the crowd when you incorporate flexibility as a concept in a presentation. Read more
“Isms” ensure you are remembered and quotedWe all have our favorite sayings. I have a friend, Doug, who says: “Even a blind squirrel can find an acorn sometimes” when talking about someone who just got lucky. It wasn’t skill or ambition – just dumb luck. I have come to know this saying as a Doug’ism. I always quote him when I use it. Read more
Don’t ignore Facebook for authentic business networking with people who “have your back”Over and over again, we hear that Facebook is for personal topics and LinkedIn is the social media hub for business. This is true in most cases. But, segmenting these networks is like saying you would never take a job lead from someone at church or from your buddy who you play softball with on Wednesday nights. Networking for business should not stop at the Facebook login page. Read more
Rich descriptions really bring the point home in business communicationWhere can you learn to be a better business presenter? Maybe at a music concert?
Madeleine Peyroux, the French American singer/ song writer could teach us a few things about business communication. From a structural standpoint, Peyroux’s aim as a writer involves: Read more
How to connect with your audience for a successful presentationEarlier this week, I wrote about how I drafted a presentation for what I assumed would be a demanding audience with high expectations. (The fact that they could leave the presentation at any time and were not obligated to stay for the end was a little intimidating as well.) Read how I got my ideas together HERE… Read more