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I often make the comment in workshops—especially when the class is for internal trainers or SMEs preparing to lead their own workshops—that the best teacher-training I ever received occurred at my first job, the three years I worked as a high school English teacher. No group of learners of any age or occupation is more...
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It’s pretty close to impossible to get all the way to your first real job without hearing the phrase, “Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.” What people usually mean by it is look professional—like management—even if you are interviewing to be a line cook / intern / stockroom staffer. The...
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I listened to a really interesting NPR story last week about workday meetings. It said that “the average American office worker spends more than nine hours of every week preparing for, or attending, project update meetings.” That’s a lot of time. And the problem, as the story pointed out, is that most of these meetings last...
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“I want my presentation to be perfect.” This is something we hear from our course participants now and then, and I reckon more people think it than actually say it. Most of the time, when people talk about a “perfect” presentation, they seem to mean that their presentation goes exactly the way they envision it...
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Business presentations and meetings exist for one reason: to move business forward. And they ought to do that effectively and efficiently. But do they? As it turns out, in far too many cases, no. Backstory Some time ago, I delivered a keynote address at a conference. The presentation focused on some of the ideas in...
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If you’re a business presenter, you know that the presentations you deliver serve one purpose—they help you get business done. Your presentations aren’t big speeches. They aren’t TED talks. They’re practical, necessary, and far too often time-consuming and frustrating. If you’re like most presenters, you probably spend too much time worrying that you’re over or under-prepared,...
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Over the weekend, I was reminded yet again of how poorly people understand the art of facilitating group discussions. Backstory I participated in a meeting made up of leaders of various professional organizations in Chicago. Our goal was to identify ways for us to work better together. I was seated at a table of four,...
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Granville Circle Press announces the July 15, 2014 publication of “The Orderly Conversation,” a groundbreaking resource for business communication. News Release – PDF Granville Circle Press announced today the publication of “The Orderly Conversation: Business Presentations Redefined” by Dale Ludwig and Greg Owen-Boger, a book that challenges some long-held beliefs in the corporate training world about engaging...
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While listening to All Things Considered on NPR yesterday afternoon, I heard a story about video game jargon. Although I don’t know anything about video games, by the end of the story, I knew exactly what they were talking about. It was part of a special series ATC is doing on trade lingo. The show’s producers have...
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Why a Performance Approach to Business Presentations Doesn’t Work Presentations should not be confused with speeches. Speeches are a type of performance. Presentations are a type of conversation. That’s why we’ve redefined them as “Orderly Conversations.” Unfortunately, many people, even industry experts, hang on to the idea that a presentation should be “performed,” that it...
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