Recently we were working with a group of trainers in a facilitation skills training workshop. During a conversation about how they preferred to prepare, one of them, we’ll call him Steve, said, “I hate dry runs, but we do them all the time. It’s a torturous process for me.” As a leader or manager of...
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Eye Contact and Pausing… Is That All You Got?!
August 31, 2016
Some time back, Dale and I were the guest speakers on a webinar. The topic was about how we’ve redefined business presentations as Orderly Conversations. We were talking about the use of eye contact and pausing in order to get yourself engaged in the conversation. When we talk about being engaged as a presenter, we’re talking about...
read moreFor Leaders Who Expect Better Communication from Employees: 5 Ways to Achieve It
August 18, 2016
As a leader, you expect your employees’ business communication to be effective and efficient. But is it? Too often, it’s not. (I’ve written about the business implications here.) However, it doesn’t have to be that way. To be effective and efficient, business interactions must succeed on two levels. Helping your employees understand this concept is the...
read moreSuccessful Presenters Engage People in a Conversation
June 6, 2016
As a presenter, when you are engaged in the conversation, you are connected to your thoughts and externally focused on the people you are speaking with. If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you know that some presenters are NOT engaged in the process. Not only are their presentations hard to listen...
read moreThrow Out the Ground Rules: 5 Things Learners Want Us to Know
May 25, 2016
Have you ever attended a training event at work that began with the trainer delivering a set of ground rules for the class? If the answer is yes, the rules probably sounded like this. Good morning everyone! Before we get started, let me go over a few ground rules for today’s class. First, and most...
read moreDale Ludwig Receives Training Industry’s Readership Award!
Congratulations to Dale Ludwig, Turpin Communication’s Founder and President, for winning the Training Industry Readership Award at the Training Industry Conference & Expo in Raleigh, NC on May 10, 2016! The award is for his much-read article, “Let’s Get Serious about Live, Instructor-Led Training,” which was published in the fall 2015 edition of Training Industry...
read moreTaking Time to Pause During a Presentation is a Sign of Respect
March 22, 2016
In our business presentation workshops, we sometimes do an exercise in which we stretch the length of a pause—way beyond what would ever be comfortable or necessary—in order to show our learners how pausing helps eliminate a variety of presentation habits they want to avoid. We also teach people that in a presentation or meeting...
read moreDale Ludwig Makes Training Industry’s Top 10 Articles of 2015!
Wow! An article written by Dale Ludwig, Turpin Communication’s President and Founder, has been listed in Training Industry’s Top 10 Articles of 2015! The Top 10 list highlights the most-read articles of the year at Training Industry, one of the premier resources in corporate learning & development. According to their website, “By making this list,...
read moreInformation Overload: How to Avoid It When Presenting to Leadership
December 4, 2015
You’re a detail-oriented person working in a highly technical position. You probably wonder how much detail you should go into when presenting to managers and leaders. You may even have been asked not to go into information overload again. You’re not alone. This is a topic that comes up a lot in our presentation skills...
read moreFewer Slides ≠ More Efficient Presentation
December 1, 2015
Among many of our learners, there is a persistent belief that the number of slides in one’s presentation is somehow related to the amount of time the presentation will take. While there is some connection when it comes to big differences (a 600 slide deck will probably take longer to present than a 6 slide...
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