Eleni's Blog
presentation skills training

4 Ways to Honor Intellectual Property (and Your Fellow Speakers)

I have always been an extremely ethical person—even, some might say, to a fault. When I raise my hand to swear an oath, I mean it.  When I’m asked to respect rules and regulations, I do (just ask my schoolmates who teased me about being a “goody two-shoes” and a “teacher’s pet.”)  And if someone asked me to do something I knew in my bones was just plain wrong—like lying in an interview, or falsely claiming someone else’s idea was mine—I wouldn’t do it. Which is why I was really taken back when, at a conference at which I was

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presentation skills training

Presentation Skills Training: Beige Doesn’t Read from the Stage

If you’ve ever participated in one of my presentation skills training classes, you’ve heard me say the following words:  BAN WISHY WASHY!  I even reinforce this point by brandishing a sign on which the words WISHY WASHY are slashed through with a big red line.  That’s because, when it comes to public speaking, nothing galls me more than ho-hum, sorta-kinda-not-really-sure-what-I’ve decided-to-do-or-say-here moments.  Unfortunately, most of the presentations I see are full of wishy-washy, bland, or what I call beige moments. For those of you who don’t know what beige is, here’s a nifty definition from Merriam-Webster dictionary:  a variable color

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presentation skills training

Presentation Skills Training: Five Benefits of Group Learning

I just finished facilitating a full-day Presentation Skills Training session—this one for a team of medical sales people at a bio-tech company—and am feeling exhausted but exhilarated. Exhausted, because, as usual, I gave it my all for seven hours, modeling an energized, in-the-moment, give-it-everything-you’ve-got presence for my attendees. Exhilarated, because I’d yet again witnessed the surprise, delight, and personal transformation that comes when human beings come face-to-face with obstacles—and then overcome them—in a group learning setting. Now, you may know me—and have perhaps even worked with me—as a coach who engages individually with thought leaders, business leaders and authors to

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presentation skills training

How to Overcome Fear of Public Speaking – 6 Tips to Tame the Speech Anxiety Monster

Are you an executive, author, salesperson, entrepreneur, or professional with aspirations of success? Think you can avoid public speaking and achieve those aspirations? Alas, you cannot. Studies show that fear of public speaking and the inability to communicate effectively can be a hindrance to advancement – in school and in business. Indeed, Paul Argenti, corporate communications professional, said it succinctly, “If you want to be a leader, you had better be able to communicate.” Is fear of public speaking stifling your ability to achieve success?  Here’s something you might not realize – 90% of people have public speaking anxiety.   

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presentation skills training

Want to be a Better Public Speaker? Don’t Shirk the Work

In the space of one week, three of my presentation skills training clients gave critical, public, high-stakes presentations.  After they delivered those presentations, they emailed, called or texted me, triumphant. “I killed it!” was the basic theme of each of their messages. I was thrilled that they’d had such success with their presentations. But I wasn’t surprised. Because each of them had done whatever it took to be fully prepared to give their presentations. They didn’t shirk the work. Client number one, a high-level sales executive and budding motivational speaker, worked with me on turning his harrowing but victorious battle

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Dog listening to contact about public speaking training
presentation skills training

Four Ways to Be a Better Listener

As I was prepping the stuffing for my Thanksgiving turkey, I happened to catch Joshua Johnson’s great interview show, 1 A on NPR.  The topic of the program —How Not to Fight with Your Family on Thanksgiving—seemed quite fitting for these politically polarized times. Mr. Johnson kicked off the show with a lively conversation with communication expert, Celeste Headlee—she’s the host of On Second Thought on Georgia Public Radio and the author of a book now queued in my Kindle reader, We Need to Talk: How to Have Conversations That Matter.  Her TED talk, “10 Ways to Have a Better

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presentation skills training

A Lesson in Pitching and Presentation Skills from Mr. Rogers

As a presentations skills trainer and coach, I often work with entrepreneurs who pitch their products and services to audiences of investors.  They are often so heavily focused on putting together the perfect slide presentation– chock full of numbers, graphs zippy videos—they forget to bring a powerful, somewhat intangible element to their pitches: Their relatable, human selves. Which is why I always gently (and sometimes vehemently) steer my coaching clients towards the following five principles for pitching and presentations skills mastery: Tell a good story. And tell it well. Move your audience into feeling. Help your audience see and feel

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presentation skills training

Get Out of the Basement and Dare to Be of Influence

I’ve recently enjoyed reading Austin Kleon’s two, wonderful books Steal Like an Artist, and Show Your Work. The latter reinforces something I’ve always believed: When it comes to creating something—like writing a book, crafting a presentation; developing a new idea or product; painting a picture; or finessing a new app—there is a time to hole up in the basement and massage it into being, and a time to climb up the basement stairs, open the door, and share your creation with others. I learned this lesson deeply when my dear friend, Lisa Michelson, was killed in a freak car accident

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presentation skills training

Embrace a Growth Mindset

In the first quarter of my freshman year at Brown University, I decided to take Psychology 101. When the first exam rolled around, I was pretty sure I knew the material well and that I would, as usual, get a high grade. Which is why I was shocked when my professor handed me back my exam marked with a big, red D+. As a self-avowed, perfectionistic “grade grubber” whose entire identity was dependent on being “smart” and “an A student,” this D+ threw me for a complete loop. My initial reaction was that the Psych professor had made some sort

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