Have an important presentation coming up? It’s no secret that the introduction of any speech is one of the most critical aspects. After all, it’s what will grab your audience’s attention and keep them listening.

When done correctly, the opening section of your presentation will draw your readers in and get them excited to hear what you have to say.

When done incorrectly (because, yes, there’s definitely an incorrect way to open your presentations) you risk losing your audience. And once they’re disengaged, it’s a lot tougher to bring them back.

If you want to know the secret to an engaging introduction and learn a formula to open your presentations step-by-step, you’re in the right place.

First, let’s begin by establishing what an introduction is supposed to do.

The Purpose of An Introduction

In a nutshell, the purpose of any presentation introduction is to engage the audience and to tell them what you’re going to tell them. 

Your introduction should:

1. Hook your audience with
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Spontaneity is a powerful tool that I’ve used throughout my life and career (mostly without realizing it).

In general, I’ve always been a person that has said ‘yes’ to things. From starting multiple businesses (one of which was a cheesecake operation out of my home) to moving across the country for various jobs, to traveling Europe at age 18 – I’ve always been what someone would call a spontaneous person.

When I’ve told these stories of spontaneity to my friends or clients, their reactions were typically, ‘Wow, you did that?’ To which I responded, ‘Of course! Wouldn’t you?’

It wasn’t until I had these conversations with others that I realized not everyone is as quick to say ‘yes’ to things. Personally, I don’t believe there’s a right or wrong way to live your life since everyone’s feelings and circumstances are different. That said, I’ve noticed some major payoffs when it comes to spontaneity in my life, my business, and in my communication. 

The ability to be spontaneous has helpe...

Creativity is like a muscle: if you don’t use it—you’ll lose it. 

Okay, lose is a strong word. However, if you aren’t carving out time in your days to be creative or do the things that fill you up, creativity will be hard to access when you really require it. 

You wouldn’t go and lift 300 pounds without extensive training just like you couldn’t expect to write a novel without writing anything down prior.

Being creative takes effort, and it doesn’t always magically appear when we want it. And hey, sometimes it requires reading a blog post on ways to boost creativity and executing those strategies. Hint: if you’ve been feeling less than creative lately, you’re in the right place.

Whether it’s for your work or for fun, here are ten easy things you can do to boost your creativity right now.

1. Make time to be creative

One of the most important aspects of being more creative is making time to actually be creative. I know—a crazy concept. The fact is, if boosting your creativity is imp...

The ability to get great results when communicating with your clients, prospects, and staff requires that you have the right message for your audience, that your message addresses what’s important to them, and that you deliver the message in a powerful, effective manner.

In this blog post, we’re going to cover the 7 simplest communication strategies designed to help you and your organization confidently communicate the right message to the right audience at the right time. In other words, increase sales.

Strategy #1: Always take the time to prepare for your communication situation

The need to prepare for communication is not news. And, so many (ahem, I’m talking to you salespeople) go into situations where the stakes are high with little or no preparation and they “wing it” GASP! Let me be blunt. Regardless of whether you’re an individual planning for a meeting or a professional getting ready to speak to a large group, never go into a communication situation without taking time to f...

Have you ever heard of the term “drive-by communication”?

In a nutshell, drive-by communication is communication that’s squeezed in between areas of our lives without focused attention. This type of communication is quick, lacks direction, and is ineffective. 

No matter what industry you work in, drive-by communication can be detrimental to your success as a communicator, a leader, or an effective team member. If practiced frequently, drive-by communication can lead to a sharp decline in results in your conversations, presentations, sales pitches, the list goes on.

It’s important to recognize when this type of communication occurs so that you can nip it in the bud. And the good news is that there’s a simple mindset shift you can implement immediately to quit the drive-by communicating and start seeing immediate results.

First, let’s begin with the issues in drive-by communication and how to recognize if you might be behind the wheel so-to-speak.

The Three Main Problems with Being ...

No matter what industry you work in, your career plays a huge role in your life. We all spend a great deal of time at our jobs, and unfortunately, they often contribute to some of the stress we experience throughout the day. Whether it’s relentless emails, Zoom calls or meetings – every day we’re bombarded with information and data exchange, and it can be a challenge to remain focused and present.

According to Domo’s Data Never Sleeps 5.0 Report, there are 2.5 quintillion bytes of data created every day (1). In other words, whether it’s our work, social media, tv, or anything else – we’re exposed to an overwhelming amount of data.

So what are we to do? Well, mindfulness is a great place to start.

In this post, you’ll learn some of the basics of mindfulness and a few steps you can take right now to be a more present, happy version of yourself while you’re on the clock.

What is mindfulness, anyways?

The word mindfulness gets tossed around a lot, and it can be confusing to figure out...

Wondering how to deliver a more effective presentation that gets results?

If you’re like most people, you’ve probably found that the outcomes of your presentations aren’t always exactly as you’d hoped.

What many people don’t realize is that they hold the power to deliver an effective presentation versus a not-so-effective one. And there are two distinct communication strategies that allow them to get consistent results.

Strategy #1: Evaluate the purpose of your presentation

We had a discussion with a client several years back about different types of presentations. This client made the distinction between persuasive and informational presentations, and a member of our team interjected with the opinion that the purpose of all presentations is to persuade. Our client brought up the important point that something like a “how-to presentation” isn’t intended to persuade, but to inform.

The types of presentations we give at Connect To The Core (and coach others on) are mostly in the per...

As a company that specializes in communication coaching, we have a big responsibility to give important feedback to people who are often in vulnerable positions (one of the things we do is presentation coaching after all). It’s always been our intention to give this feedback in a way that’s empowering while providing practical ways to improve.

We’ve been asked many times by our clients, how is it that you can give this feedback and keep the recipient feeling whole? How is it that you can have these tough and uncomfortable conversations and they end up thanking you?

So, here’s the deal – we follow a specific set of rules and if we don’t deviate from them, it ends up being a positive interaction. 

If you’re a team leader, manager, or head honcho, it’s guaranteed that you’ll be required to give some feedback to an employee at some point, and it might not be easy. If you follow these suggestions, it’ll go a lot smoother with better results.

Here are 7 quick, actionable items to remembe...

What do you think of when you hear the term “spring cleaning”?

If you’re like most people, your mind might instantly go to cleaning out your closet, organizing your pantry, or getting rid of items around your home that you no longer need.

And while we highly recommend all of those things (hey, who doesn’t love a good closet declutter!), spring cleaning can also be applied to many other areas in your life.

Given the fact that we’re a communications company, we thought it would be appropriate to provide you with some simple steps you can take to spring clean your communication. Because yes, even your communication can use a tidy-up from time to time.

Here are 5 ways to declutter your communication (in your business and personal life) right now.

1. Simplify your call to action in presentations and meetings

Did you know that the average person will only remember a maximum of three takeaways from a presentation? That means that if your Call To Action (CTA) isn’t super clear, concise, ...

A few weeks ago, we published a blog called 4 Simple and Effective Ways to Stay on Track with Your New Years Goals. In that blog, we spoke a lot about how to accomplish goals once you have them, and also about how to course-correct if you feel like you’ve been de-railed.

This week, we will introduce a fresh way of looking at goals and provide more insight into the “before” part of goal setting. Specifically, how to make the distinction between goals and tasks. They might appear the same on the surface, yet they’re very different and our recommendation is that you approach them in different ways.

The key attribute that distinguishes a true goal from a task is the emotional connection we have with the result. With goals, we have a deeper emotional connection that inspires us toward achievement. 

As an example, and for the purpose of this blog, I’ll use a “goal” that just about everyone has had at one point or another – that elusive “lose 5 pounds” (or 10, or 20, or fill in the blank)....