{ "feed": "NgageContent AI Tools", "generated": "2026-06-05T18:27:25-05:00", "items": [ { "id": 11430, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/why-business-storytelling-and-why-now-2/", "title": "Why Business Storytelling, and Why Now?", "h1": "Why Business Storytelling, and Why Now?", "summary": "", "content": "

Everyone knows how critical people are to the resilience and success of any operation. Today’s leaders recognize that they need to advance strategic initiatives by giving their people the skills to demonstrate value, influence decision-making, and drive business forward. But the reality is, everyone is moving fast, has lots of ideas and data to communicate, and needs to adapt to a variety of customer and stakeholder needs—all with limited time and resources.

Although many of us are accustomed to doing more with less, now more than ever it’s critical that we build confident and resilient teams that can handle whatever comes their way. One way to do this is to arm teams with a common language and framework to communicate their strategy, ideas, and data with clarity. According to a Microsoft work trend report1, the average employee spends 57% of their time communicating (think meetings, email, and chat) and 43% creating (in documents, spreadsheets, and presentations).

When you consider that all of our time at work is spent either communicating or creating things as a means to communicate, it’s never been more essential to have clear and concise communication across your organization.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.
\"\"

According to a recent study, 93% of business leaders acknowledge that effective communication is the backbone of their business. But nearly three in four business leaders say their teams struggled with communicating effectively over the last year. And here’s the real kicker: Poor communication can cost your organization $12,000+ per employee every year.2

Of course, those numbers don’t convey how poor communication manifests itself in everyday business interactions. Think about all the ineffective meetings that lead to yet another meeting to gain clarity. Consider all the poorly communicated initiatives that don’t achieve results. Or how about the lack of collaboration that stifles innovation, and the snooze-worthy decks that miss the chance to influence and require valuable time to rework? And finally, the data dumping that lacks any insight or recommendation, leaving decision- makers decoding, “What do you want me to know or do?”

\"\"

Over time, these deficiencies add up, and they all point to one root issue—a lack of effective communication skills. The question, then, is how do we address this skills gap… and what’s the best way to integrate the learned skills into your organization?

Storytelling is the key to transforming people into strategic communicators and influencing organizational change

It’s time to empower your people with the skills and capabilities to help progress strategic priorities, deliver on long-term value, and optimize business impact. Here are six ways you can use storytelling to develop your leaders – and elevate your business:

  1. Uplevel the conversation
    Storytelling helps make employees more dynamic communicators, while also giving them the ability to move conversations from tactical to strategic. And because everyone can relate to a powerfully constructed story, conversations are more productive across the business, as well as with external customers.
  2. Boost executive presence
    Storytelling helps you display mastery of material and flex your narrative in real-time to meet the diverse needs of your audience. The result? You gain the confidence to connect authentically and with more authority. Plus, knowing how to choose visuals with purpose and intention will maximize the impact of your message, make you (and your ideas) more memorable, and help you stand out from the crowd.
  3. \"\"Supercharge data literacy and analytics
    Every day, data drives business-critical decisions. Knowing how to extract and interpret data is only one side of the coin; the other side is having the data literacy and analytics skills to transform data into insights. Storytelling gives anyone who works with data the skills to curate and present data that advances the story, which will help stakeholders understand complex concepts, remember key information, and ultimately make informed decisions.
  4. Communicate change
    According to McKinsey, 70% of change communications and programs fail to achieve their goals.2 Getting employee buy-in and engagement is critical to any successful transformation effort. Storytelling is your secret change agent. It humanizes the “why, what, how” to your audience, which is an effective way to build empathy, community, and trust with employees.
  5. Align cross-functional teams
    Uniting teams with a common language establishes a mutual methodology for teams to share ideas, collaborate, and get on the same page. Storytelling also helps improve efficiency and productivity; teams will spend less time in meetings explaining slides and instead engage in meaningful dialogue that helps accelerate decision-making. When teams are working from a common framework, it helps eliminate review cycles and costly rework.
  6. \"\"Give everyone a voice
    Creating equitable learning opportunities is now a baseline expectation. Employees want a company culture that provides a sense of belonging and allows everyone to feel seen and heard. Storytelling skills can be scaled across the entire organization, giving everyone a seat at the table and the ability to effectively share their ideas, no matter their role or seniority.

A unique methodology to drive business forward

So how can you make storytelling relevant and practical to everyone in your organization? We believe the best communicators need a story strategy, visual strategy, and data strategy to help them create and deliver impactful visual stories.

\"\"

Why story strategy?

Applying a story strategy to your business communications allows you to connect authentically with your audience while giving them a reason to care. Learn how to leverage the power of storytelling and integrate it into anything you say, send, deliver, or present (hint: think presentations, 1-pagers, or emails). Get a practical framework to turn your ideas and data into meaningful business stories that are clear, actionable, and memorable.

\"\"Why visual strategy?

Storytelling fundamentals are essential, but storytelling without visuals is only half the story. Molecular Biologist John Medina explains: three days after hearing a piece of information, you typically only remember 10% of it. But add a visual and you’ll remember 65%. Effective storytelling requires the skills and mindset to choose visuals with purpose and intention. With an effective visual strategy, every visual in your story will be relevant, bolster your insights, and support your narrative.

Why data strategy?

Too many numbers and graphs (aka data dumping!) can overwhelm and disengage audiences, but wrapping data in story and visuals gives decision-makers the context they need to understand what the numbers are actually communicating. A data strategy will give you the tools and skills to create easy-to- scan charts, tables, and graphs that cut through the noise and lead to actionable data insights.

Get the skills and confidence to flex your story

Having a storytelling framework is essential to crafting a powerful and persuasive narrative. But beyond having good story structure, we also need to be able to flex to how we communicate every day. After all, we know storytelling isn’t one size fits all. So what do we mean by flexing your story?

\"storytelling-flex\"

Imagine you’ve spent countless hours preparing to present to a room full of executives, and at the last minute you find out your 30 minutes have been cut down to five, or maybe as you’re gearing up for a team presentation, your boss tells you “no more than 3 to 5 slides.” And what if you’re trying to secure a deal with a decision-maker but need to influence and sell your ideas over email?

\"\"Learning how to flex your story to adapt to these scenarios – and also knowing how to share your story with diverse audiences – is a skill as critical as storytelling itself. The ability to pivot in the moment will boost your confidence and executive presence, while putting your audience in the driver’s seat to make them feel like they are part of a two-way dialogue.

Impact business outcomes and influence organizational change

Want to hear firsthand how having a story, visual, and data strategy has helped companies like yours drive business forward?

\"Three

References:
1 Microsoft Work Trend Index Annual Report, Will AI Fix Work?
2 Grammarly/The Harris Poll, 2023 The State of Business Communication
3 McKinsey & Company, Changing Change Management

", "content_plain": "Everyone knows how critical people are to the resilience and success of any operation. Today’s leaders recognize that they need to advance strategic initiatives by giving their people the skills to demonstrate value, influence decision-making, and drive business forward. But the reality is, everyone is moving fast, has lots of ideas and data to communicate, and needs to adapt to a variety of customer and stakeholder needs—all with limited time and resources. Although many of us are accustomed to doing more with less, now more than ever it’s critical that we build confident and resilient teams that can handle whatever comes their way. One way to do this is to arm teams with a common language and framework to communicate their strategy, ideas, and data with clarity. According to a Microsoft work trend report1, the average employee spends 57% of their time communicating (think meetings, email, and chat) and 43% creating (in documents, spreadsheets, and presentations). When you consider that all of our time at work is spent either communicating or creating things as a means to communicate, it’s never been more essential to have clear and concise communication across your organization. You can view our Privacy Policy here. According to a recent study, 93% of business leaders acknowledge that effective communication is the backbone of their business. But nearly three in four business leaders say their teams struggled with communicating effectively over the last year. And here’s the real kicker: Poor communication can cost your organization $12,000+ per employee every year.2 Of course, those numbers don’t convey how poor communication manifests itself in everyday business interactions. Think about all the ineffective meetings that lead to yet another meeting to gain clarity. Consider all the poorly communicated initiatives that don’t achieve results. Or how about the lack of collaboration that stifles innovation, and the snooze-worthy decks that miss the chance to influence and require valuable time to rework? And finally, the data dumping that lacks any insight or recommendation, leaving decision- makers decoding, “What do you want me to know or do?” Over time, these deficiencies add up, and they all point to one root issue—a lack of effective communication skills. The question, then, is how do we address this skills gap… and what’s the best way to integrate the learned skills into your organization? Storytelling is the key to transforming people into strategic communicators and influencing organizational change It’s time to empower your people with the skills and capabilities to help progress strategic priorities, deliver on long-term value, and optimize business impact. Here are six ways you can use storytelling to develop your leaders – and elevate your business: Uplevel the conversation Storytelling helps make employees more dynamic communicators, while also giving them the ability to move conversations from tactical to strategic. And because everyone can relate to a powerfully constructed story, conversations are more productive across the business, as well as with external customers. Boost executive presence Storytelling helps you display mastery of material and flex your narrative in real-time to meet the diverse needs of your audience. The result? You gain the confidence to connect authentically and with more authority. Plus, knowing how to choose visuals with purpose and intention will maximize the impact of your message, make you (and your ideas) more memorable, and help you stand out from the crowd. Supercharge data literacy and analytics Every day, data drives business-critical decisions. Knowing how to extract and interpret data is only one side of the coin; the other side is having the data literacy and analytics skills to transform data into insights. Storytelling gives anyone who works with data the skills to curate and present data that advances the story, which will help stakeholders understand complex concepts, remember key information, and ultimately make informed decisions. Communicate change According to McKinsey, 70% of change communications and programs fail to achieve their goals.2 Getting employee buy-in and engagement is critical to any successful transformation effort. Storytelling is your secret change agent. It humanizes the “why, what, how” to your audience, which is an effective way to build empathy, community, and trust with employees. Align cross-functional teams Uniting teams with a common language establishes a mutual methodology for teams to share ideas, collaborate, and get on the same page. Storytelling also helps improve efficiency and productivity; teams will spend less time in meetings explaining slides and instead engage in meaningful dialogue that helps accelerate decision-making. When teams are working from a common framework, it helps eliminate review cycles and costly rework. Give everyone a voice Creating equitable learning opportunities is now a baseline expectation. Employees want a company culture that provides a sense of belonging and allows everyone to feel seen and heard. Storytelling skills can be scaled across the entire organization, giving everyone a seat at the table and the ability to effectively share their ideas, no matter their role or seniority. A unique methodology to drive business forward So how can you make storytelling relevant and practical to everyone in your organization? We believe the best communicators need a story strategy, visual strategy, and data strategy to help them create and deliver impactful visual stories. Why story strategy? Applying a story strategy to your business communications allows you to connect authentically with your audience while giving them a reason to care. Learn how to leverage the power of storytelling and integrate it into anything you say, send, deliver, or present (hint: think presentations, 1-pagers, or emails). Get a practical framework to turn your ideas and data into meaningful business stories that are clear, actionable, and memorable. Why visual strategy? Storytelling fundamentals are essential, but storytelling without visuals is only half the story. Molecular Biologist John Medina explains: three days after hearing a piece of information, you typically only remember 10% of it. But add a visual and you’ll remember 65%. Effective storytelling requires the skills and mindset to choose visuals with purpose and intention. With an effective visual strategy, every visual in your story will be relevant, bolster your insights, and support your narrative. Why data strategy? Too many numbers and graphs (aka data dumping!) can overwhelm and disengage audiences, but wrapping data in story and visuals gives decision-makers the context they need to understand what the numbers are actually communicating. A data strategy will give you the tools and skills to create easy-to- scan charts, tables, and graphs that cut through the noise and lead to actionable data insights. Get the skills and confidence to flex your story Having a storytelling framework is essential to crafting a powerful and persuasive narrative. But beyond having good story structure, we also need to be able to flex to how we communicate every day. After all, we know storytelling isn’t one size fits all. So what do we mean by flexing your story? Imagine you’ve spent countless hours preparing to present to a room full of executives, and at the last minute you find out your 30 minutes have been cut down to five, or maybe as you’re gearing up for a team presentation, your boss tells you “no more than 3 to 5 slides.” And what if you’re trying to secure a deal with a decision-maker but need to influence and sell your ideas over email? Learning how to flex your story to adapt to these scenarios – and also knowing how to share your story with diverse audiences – is a skill as critical as storytelling itself. The ability to pivot in the moment will boost your confidence and executive presence, while putting your audience in the driver’s seat to make them feel like they are part of a two-way dialogue. Impact business outcomes and influence organizational change Want to hear firsthand how having a story, visual, and data strategy has helped companies like yours drive business forward? “It’s rare to find a skill set that can directly impact the performance and transformation of an organization. Storytelling is truly a change agent.” – Colgate-Palmolive “We have been killing it with our learnings! We’re establishing value quickly with teams as we implement our new storytelling mindset and approach.” – Medtronic “It’s not often you find a no-nonsense approach that can impact your business and talent pool. We’ve been adopting these storytelling principles for years and never looked back.” – Meta “There’s no greater skill than being able to influence and translate data into insights. Storytelling is the winning formula.” – Oracle “Storytelling has been one of the most invigorating learnings our organization has invested in. It’s enabled us to show up differently, not just internally, but with our retailers.” – Kraft Heinz References: 1 Microsoft Work Trend Index Annual Report, Will AI Fix Work? 2 Grammarly/The Harris Poll, 2023 The State of Business Communication 3 McKinsey & Company, Changing Change Management", "image": false, "modified": "2026-05-19T11:32:55-05:00" }, { "id": 12016, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/business-communications-skills-training/tech-presentations/", "title": "Technology", "h1": "Technology", "summary": "Engineers, CTOs, and product managers constantly bridge technical complexity and business value. Our business communications skills training gives technology teams the skills to turn product decisions, roadmaps, and innovations into narratives that drive alignment and earn stakeholder buy-in.", "content": "

The communication gap at the heart of every technology company

Technology organizations face a communication challenge that’s uniquely their own. Products evolve rapidly, roadmaps shift, and teams are in a near-constant state of change. Across functions — including product, engineering, sales, marketing, and customer success — everyone is contributing to narratives that need to land with executives, customers, and cross-functional partners simultaneously. When each function speaks a slightly different language and messaging varies by team, even the strongest ideas get lost in translation. The result is misalignment, slower decisions, and tech presentations that inform, but don’t drive action. In an industry moving this fast, unclear communication isn’t just inefficient, it’s a risk.

How storytelling elevates tech presentations for every audience

Technology teams are constantly translating across audiences, explaining technical decisions to executives, communicating product value to customers, and keeping cross-functional partners aligned as priorities shift. But when every team speaks a different language, it’s like a game of telephone. Stories break down with every handoff and critical insights get diluted. 

A shared storytelling approach gives technology organizations the consistency they need to keep narratives aligned across functions, audiences, and moments of change. TPC gives technology teams the storytelling skills to turn complex ideas into clear, compelling communications that move people to act, whether they’re closing enterprise deals, securing budget approval, or alignment cross-functional teams. 

Related Content \"The Premium content

The Business World Runs on Stories: Why Storytelling is an Essential “Hard Skill”

For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human ...Continue Reading

Find the right solution for your technology organization

Whether your teams are pitching enterprise buyers, presenting to the board, or aligning across product and engineering, our training gives technology teams the storytelling skills to communicate with clarity and impact when it matters most.

For Organizations Culture change starts here

Storytelling Learning Journey

The Complete Picture: Our three-part practitioner training takes teams through the full arc of business storytelling, from organizing ideas into audience-centric narratives, to bringing that story to life visually, to turning data into compelling insights. Each workshop flows from one to the next, with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and create lasting behavior change.

Ideal for: Teams and organizations ready to build a shared storytelling language and culture

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Story strategy

Crafting Strategic Visual Stories

The Foundation: Give your team a proven framework for structuring narratives that engage, persuade, and stick. They’ll gain practical skills, increased confidence, and a clear action plan for applying business storytelling to their everyday communications.

Ideal for: Teams who need to transform ideas and data into compelling, audience-centric stories that persuade and drive action

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Visual strategy

Influencing with Visuals

Design Meets Strategy: Bad slides kill good ideas. This workshop is geared to those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals.

Ideal for: Anyone who needs to uplevel their ability to communicate ideas visually

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Data strategy

Presenting Data Visually

Data as a Differentiator: Make your data impossible to ignore by wrapping it in a story that’s easy to scan, digest, and act on. This workshop arms teams with data storytelling best practices to help communicate meaningfully with data.

Ideal for: Anyone who needs to communicate data insights with clarity, whether you’re a data expert or occasional data presenter

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Hour of power

Business Storytelling Fundamentals

Skills at Scale: This one-hour, on-demand course gives everyone in your organization — regardless of role or function — the foundational storytelling skills to elevate any business communication into a narrative that influences decisions and moves business forward.

Ideal for: Large, cross-functional teams and broad organizational audiences (from individual contributors to executives), or teams that have been through our practitioner training and need a powerful reinforcement

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›

Learning formats designed to meet teams where they are

\"In-person\"

In-person

In-person workshops bring teams together for an immersive, high-engagement learning experience, guided by expert instructors and grounded in real-world application.

Learn about in-person training ›

\"In-person\"

Virtual instructor-led

All the engagement of in-person training, in a live, interactive format designed for distributed teams who need flexibility without compromising the learning experience.

Learn about virtual training ›

\"Digital

Digital on-demand

Self-paced, online courses deliver an immersive, high-engagement learning experience that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, with tools that can be immediately applied to real work.

Learn about digital training ›

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

", "content_plain": "The communication gap at the heart of every technology company Technology organizations face a communication challenge that’s uniquely their own. Products evolve rapidly, roadmaps shift, and teams are in a near-constant state of change. Across functions — including product, engineering, sales, marketing, and customer success — everyone is contributing to narratives that need to land with executives, customers, and cross-functional partners simultaneously. When each function speaks a slightly different language and messaging varies by team, even the strongest ideas get lost in translation. The result is misalignment, slower decisions, and tech presentations that inform, but don’t drive action. In an industry moving this fast, unclear communication isn’t just inefficient, it’s a risk. How storytelling elevates tech presentations for every audience Technology teams are constantly translating across audiences, explaining technical decisions to executives, communicating product value to customers, and keeping cross-functional partners aligned as priorities shift. But when every team speaks a different language, it’s like a game of telephone. Stories break down with every handoff and critical insights get diluted. A shared storytelling approach gives technology organizations the consistency they need to keep narratives aligned across functions, audiences, and moments of change. TPC gives technology teams the storytelling skills to turn complex ideas into clear, compelling communications that move people to act, whether they’re closing enterprise deals, securing budget approval, or alignment cross-functional teams. Related Content Premium content The Business World Runs on Stories: Why Storytelling is an Essential “Hard Skill” For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human ...Continue Reading Find the right solution for your technology organization Whether your teams are pitching enterprise buyers, presenting to the board, or aligning across product and engineering, our training gives technology teams the storytelling skills to communicate with clarity and impact when it matters most. For Organizations Culture change starts here Storytelling Learning Journey The Complete Picture: Our three-part practitioner training takes teams through the full arc of business storytelling, from organizing ideas into audience-centric narratives, to bringing that story to life visually, to turning data into compelling insights. Each workshop flows from one to the next, with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and create lasting behavior change. Ideal for: Teams and organizations ready to build a shared storytelling language and culture Learning Outcomes Story Strategy: Organize your ideas and data into a meaningful narrative Visual Strategy: Bring your story to life with clear, intentional visuals Data Strategy: Turn facts and figures into easy-to-scan data visualizations half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Story strategy Crafting Strategic Visual Stories The Foundation: Give your team a proven framework for structuring narratives that engage, persuade, and stick. They’ll gain practical skills, increased confidence, and a clear action plan for applying business storytelling to their everyday communications. Ideal for: Teams who need to transform ideas and data into compelling, audience-centric stories that persuade and drive action Learning Outcomes Apply a simple, repeatable storytelling framework to organize ideas and data strategically Craft compelling BIG Ideas that prioritize audience needs over presenter-focused content Flex stories to adapt to common scenarios: executives with limited time, high-stakes emails, strict slide constraints half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Visual strategy Influencing with Visuals Design Meets Strategy: Bad slides kill good ideas. This workshop is geared to those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals. Ideal for: Anyone who needs to uplevel their ability to communicate ideas visually Learning Outcomes Discover and apply the elements of effective visual strategy Use interactive tools to lay out the narrative and visual flow of your story Apply basic design principles to transform slides into clear visuals that inspire action half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Data strategy Presenting Data Visually Data as a Differentiator: Make your data impossible to ignore by wrapping it in a story that’s easy to scan, digest, and act on. This workshop arms teams with data storytelling best practices to help communicate meaningfully with data. Ideal for: Anyone who needs to communicate data insights with clarity, whether you’re a data expert or occasional data presenter Learning Outcomes Humanize data by identifying what your audience needs to know or do with it Transform cluttered charts and tables into concise and compelling data visualizations Use clever design techniques to elevate your data story half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Hour of power Business Storytelling Fundamentals Skills at Scale: This one-hour, on-demand course gives everyone in your organization — regardless of role or function — the foundational storytelling skills to elevate any business communication into a narrative that influences decisions and moves business forward. Ideal for: Large, cross-functional teams and broad organizational audiences (from individual contributors to executives), or teams that have been through our practitioner training and need a powerful reinforcement Learning Outcomes Audit and improve existing communications through a simple storytelling framework Use simple techniques to craft better emails that generate action Craft powerful headlines that boost your confidence and advance your story one hour on-demand 100+ Explore More › Learning formats designed to meet teams where they are In-person In-person workshops bring teams together for an immersive, high-engagement learning experience, guided by expert instructors and grounded in real-world application. Learn about in-person training › Virtual instructor-led All the engagement of in-person training, in a live, interactive format designed for distributed teams who need flexibility without compromising the learning experience. Learn about virtual training › Digital on-demand Self-paced, online courses deliver an immersive, high-engagement learning experience that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, with tools that can be immediately applied to real work. Learn about digital training › Want to learn more? Let’s chat.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/iStock-1536191188.webp", "modified": "2026-05-27T20:57:35-05:00" }, { "id": 12014, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/business-communications-skills-training/consumer-packaged-goods-cpg-presentation/", "title": "Consumer Packaged Goods", "h1": "Consumer Packaged Goods", "summary": "Category managers, brand teams, and sales leaders operate in a world where every recommendation needs to win both internal alignment and retailer buy-in. Our business communications skills training gives CPG teams the storytelling capability to structure retail pitches, translate category and shopper data into clear insights, and build retailer partnerships that last.", "content": "

The communication challenges facing every CPG organization

CPG companies operate in one of the most communication-intensive environments in business. Retailers are making decisions faster than ever, expecting their partners to show up with shopper-centric insights, clear recommendations, and stories that justify shelf space. Internally, cross-functional teams — including category leadership, sales, marketing, and insights — all contribute to the messages that reach those retailers. But when everyone is moving fast and working from different approaches, clarity breaks down. The result is CPG presentations that don’t land, rework that eats up time, and data dumping that overwhelms instead of persuades. For organizations competing for retailer attention every day, the cost of poor communication compounds quickly.

How TPC strengthens CPG presentations

CPG teams need to communicate critical materials seamlessly, from macro trends and shopper insights to tactical recommendations, both internally and with retail partners. When multiple teams contribute to the messages that reach retailers, inconsistency is inevitable. A shared storytelling framework becomes the true north, aligning teams around a common way to structure insights, build recommendations, and communicate with impact.

Retailers are busier than ever, meeting with suppliers all day, every day. The organizations that stand out show up with a clear story, a sharp point of view, and data that makes a recommendation easy to act on. TPC equips CPG teams with the storytelling skills to do exactly that, helping them show up as strategic, consultative partners.

Related Content \"\"

How Storytelling has Empowered My Teams at Kraft Heinz to Become the Indispensable Partner to our Customers

For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human ...Continue Reading

Our partnership with the Category Management Association (CMA)

TPC is proud to be an official member of the Category Management Association (CMA), the leading authority in category management and shopper insights. We’re a featured presenter at their annual conference, delivering top-rated storytelling sessions to industry experts at every level. Our ongoing content partnership reflects a shared commitment to CPG excellence and to helping teams show up as the strategic partners retailers want to work with.

Read our latest CMA feature

I’ve seen so many powerful ideas get lost behind a spaghetti pile of data, decks, and emails.”

– Customer, Global Consumer Goods Company

Find the right solution for your CPG organization

From sales decks and category reviews to business updates and joint business plans, our training gives CPG teams the storytelling skills to communicate with clarity and impact at every level.

For Organizations Culture change starts here

Storytelling Learning Journey

The Complete Picture: Our three-part practitioner training takes teams through the full arc of business storytelling, from organizing ideas into audience-centric narratives, to bringing that story to life visually, to turning data into compelling insights. Each workshop flows from one to the next, with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and create lasting behavior change.

Ideal for: Teams and organizations ready to build a shared storytelling language and culture

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Story strategy

Crafting Strategic Visual Stories

The Foundation: Give your team a proven framework for structuring narratives that engage, persuade, and stick. They’ll gain practical skills, increased confidence, and a clear action plan for applying business storytelling to their everyday communications.

Ideal for: Teams who need to transform ideas and data into compelling, audience-centric stories that persuade and drive action

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Visual strategy

Influencing with Visuals

Design Meets Strategy: Bad slides kill good ideas. This workshop is geared to those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals.

Ideal for: Anyone who needs to uplevel their ability to communicate ideas visually

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Data strategy

Presenting Data Visually

Data as a Differentiator: Make your data impossible to ignore by wrapping it in a story that’s easy to scan, digest, and act on. This workshop arms teams with data storytelling best practices to help communicate meaningfully with data.

Ideal for: Anyone who needs to communicate data insights with clarity, whether you’re a data expert or occasional data presenter

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Hour of power

Business Storytelling Fundamentals

Skills at Scale: This one-hour, on-demand course gives everyone in your organization — regardless of role or function — the foundational storytelling skills to elevate any business communication into a narrative that influences decisions and moves business forward.

Ideal for: Large, cross-functional teams and broad organizational audiences (from individual contributors to executives), or teams that have been through our practitioner training and need a powerful reinforcement

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›

Learning formats designed to meet teams where they are

\"In-person\"

In-person

In-person workshops bring teams together for an immersive, high-engagement learning experience, guided by expert instructors and grounded in real-world application.

Learn about in-person training ›

\"In-person\"

Virtual instructor-led

All the engagement of in-person training, in a live, interactive format designed for distributed teams who need flexibility without compromising the learning experience.

Learn about virtual training ›

\"Digital

Digital on-demand

Self-paced, online courses deliver an immersive, high-engagement learning experience that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, with tools that can be immediately applied to real work.

Learn about digital training ›

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

", "content_plain": "The communication challenges facing every CPG organization CPG companies operate in one of the most communication-intensive environments in business. Retailers are making decisions faster than ever, expecting their partners to show up with shopper-centric insights, clear recommendations, and stories that justify shelf space. Internally, cross-functional teams — including category leadership, sales, marketing, and insights — all contribute to the messages that reach those retailers. But when everyone is moving fast and working from different approaches, clarity breaks down. The result is CPG presentations that don’t land, rework that eats up time, and data dumping that overwhelms instead of persuades. For organizations competing for retailer attention every day, the cost of poor communication compounds quickly. How TPC strengthens CPG presentations CPG teams need to communicate critical materials seamlessly, from macro trends and shopper insights to tactical recommendations, both internally and with retail partners. When multiple teams contribute to the messages that reach retailers, inconsistency is inevitable. A shared storytelling framework becomes the true north, aligning teams around a common way to structure insights, build recommendations, and communicate with impact. Retailers are busier than ever, meeting with suppliers all day, every day. The organizations that stand out show up with a clear story, a sharp point of view, and data that makes a recommendation easy to act on. TPC equips CPG teams with the storytelling skills to do exactly that, helping them show up as strategic, consultative partners. Related Content How Storytelling has Empowered My Teams at Kraft Heinz to Become the Indispensable Partner to our Customers For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human ...Continue Reading Our partnership with the Category Management Association (CMA) TPC is proud to be an official member of the Category Management Association (CMA), the leading authority in category management and shopper insights. We’re a featured presenter at their annual conference, delivering top-rated storytelling sessions to industry experts at every level. Our ongoing content partnership reflects a shared commitment to CPG excellence and to helping teams show up as the strategic partners retailers want to work with. Read our latest CMA feature I’ve seen so many powerful ideas get lost behind a spaghetti pile of data, decks, and emails.” – Customer, Global Consumer Goods Company Find the right solution for your CPG organization From sales decks and category reviews to business updates and joint business plans, our training gives CPG teams the storytelling skills to communicate with clarity and impact at every level. For Organizations Culture change starts here Storytelling Learning Journey The Complete Picture: Our three-part practitioner training takes teams through the full arc of business storytelling, from organizing ideas into audience-centric narratives, to bringing that story to life visually, to turning data into compelling insights. Each workshop flows from one to the next, with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and create lasting behavior change. Ideal for: Teams and organizations ready to build a shared storytelling language and culture Learning Outcomes Story Strategy: Organize your ideas and data into a meaningful narrative Visual Strategy: Bring your story to life with clear, intentional visuals Data Strategy: Turn facts and figures into easy-to-scan data visualizations half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Story strategy Crafting Strategic Visual Stories The Foundation: Give your team a proven framework for structuring narratives that engage, persuade, and stick. They’ll gain practical skills, increased confidence, and a clear action plan for applying business storytelling to their everyday communications. Ideal for: Teams who need to transform ideas and data into compelling, audience-centric stories that persuade and drive action Learning Outcomes Apply a simple, repeatable storytelling framework to organize ideas and data strategically Craft compelling BIG Ideas that prioritize audience needs over presenter-focused content Flex stories to adapt to common scenarios: executives with limited time, high-stakes emails, strict slide constraints half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Visual strategy Influencing with Visuals Design Meets Strategy: Bad slides kill good ideas. This workshop is geared to those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals. Ideal for: Anyone who needs to uplevel their ability to communicate ideas visually Learning Outcomes Discover and apply the elements of effective visual strategy Use interactive tools to lay out the narrative and visual flow of your story Apply basic design principles to transform slides into clear visuals that inspire action half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Data strategy Presenting Data Visually Data as a Differentiator: Make your data impossible to ignore by wrapping it in a story that’s easy to scan, digest, and act on. This workshop arms teams with data storytelling best practices to help communicate meaningfully with data. Ideal for: Anyone who needs to communicate data insights with clarity, whether you’re a data expert or occasional data presenter Learning Outcomes Humanize data by identifying what your audience needs to know or do with it Transform cluttered charts and tables into concise and compelling data visualizations Use clever design techniques to elevate your data story half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Hour of power Business Storytelling Fundamentals Skills at Scale: This one-hour, on-demand course gives everyone in your organization — regardless of role or function — the foundational storytelling skills to elevate any business communication into a narrative that influences decisions and moves business forward. Ideal for: Large, cross-functional teams and broad organizational audiences (from individual contributors to executives), or teams that have been through our practitioner training and need a powerful reinforcement Learning Outcomes Audit and improve existing communications through a simple storytelling framework Use simple techniques to craft better emails that generate action Craft powerful headlines that boost your confidence and advance your story one hour on-demand 100+ Explore More › Learning formats designed to meet teams where they are In-person In-person workshops bring teams together for an immersive, high-engagement learning experience, guided by expert instructors and grounded in real-world application. Learn about in-person training › Virtual instructor-led All the engagement of in-person training, in a live, interactive format designed for distributed teams who need flexibility without compromising the learning experience. Learn about virtual training › Digital on-demand Self-paced, online courses deliver an immersive, high-engagement learning experience that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, with tools that can be immediately applied to real work. Learn about digital training › Want to learn more? Let’s chat.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/iStock-1322898659-scaled.webp", "modified": "2026-05-27T20:53:16-05:00" }, { "id": 12007, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/business-presentation-skills/communication-training/", "title": "High-Potential Programs", "h1": "High-Potential Programs", "summary": "High-potential programs are designed to accelerate future leaders, but strong strategic thinking only gets them so far. We weave storytelling into your hi-po program so rising leaders can frame ideas for executive audiences, influence without authority, and demonstrate the executive presence that signals they're ready for what's next.", "content": "

Why communication training is essential for high-potential programs

High-potential programs are designed to accelerate your best people into bigger, more complex roles. You’ve identified the employees with the strongest strategic thinking, business acumen, and leadership potential. You’re investing in their development through stretch assignments, executive mentorship, and accelerated learning. But when it’s time to present to senior leadership, pitch strategic initiatives, or influence across the organization, many fall short. Their ideas are strong, but their communication doesn’t yet reflect the level they’re being prepared for.

The challenge isn’t their potential. It’s their ability to demonstrate it. Without the right communication training, promising leaders plateau before they’re ready, your succession bench stalls, and your investment in high-potential development doesn’t translate to the leadership impact you’re cultivating.

How TPC enhances high-potential programs with communication training

High-potential programs are built around exposure, experience, and expectation. We add the storytelling capability that enables rising leaders to turn their insights into influence.

We integrate storytelling directly into your curriculum so participants can connect ideas to business impact, frame recommendations for executive audiences, and influence without authority.

From program kickoffs to capstone presentations, our communication training ensures high-potentials don’t just develop strong ideas; they learn how to present them in a way that earns trust, builds alignment, and proves readiness for the next level.

The result? A pipeline of leaders who demonstrate readiness not just through their thinking, but through their ability to influence, align, and inspire.

Related Content \"power-of-communication-in-leadership-resource-center-featured-image\" Premium content

The Power of Communication in Leadership (and Why It’s Critical to Success)

For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human ...Continue Reading

Communication training for high-potential leaders across every function

Rising leaders across every function face distinct communication challenges. Here’s how we support them.

\"sales

Customer-Facing Leaders

When presentations don’t land, deals don’t close. We equip customer-facing teams with the corporate storytelling skills to build consultative relationships and win more business.

Read more\"technical

Technical Leaders

Your technical teams have the answers, but nontechnical stakeholders aren’t hearing them. We equip technical teams with the corporate storytelling skills to translate complexity into clarity and earn the buy-in they need.

Read more\"business

Functional Leaders

Internal teams drive the business forward, but without strong communication their insights get overlooked. We equip functional teams with the corporate storytelling skills to earn influence and get their strategic recommendations heard.

Read more\"employee

Customer Support Leaders

Customer support teams sit closest to the customer, but their insights rarely get heard. We equip frontline teams with the corporate storytelling skills to translate customer intelligence into strategic impact.

Read more

Learning formats that fit your high-potential programs

\"In-person\"

In-person

In-person workshops bring teams together for an immersive, high-engagement learning experience, guided by expert instructors and grounded in real-world application.

Learn about in-person training ›

\"In-person\"

Virtual instructor-led

All the engagement of in-person training, in a live, interactive format designed for distributed teams who need flexibility without compromising the learning experience.

Learn about virtual training ›

\"Digital

Digital on-demand

Self-paced, online courses deliver an immersive, high-engagement learning experience that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, with tools that can be immediately applied to real work.

Learn about digital training ›

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

", "content_plain": "Why communication training is essential for high-potential programs High-potential programs are designed to accelerate your best people into bigger, more complex roles. You’ve identified the employees with the strongest strategic thinking, business acumen, and leadership potential. You’re investing in their development through stretch assignments, executive mentorship, and accelerated learning. But when it’s time to present to senior leadership, pitch strategic initiatives, or influence across the organization, many fall short. Their ideas are strong, but their communication doesn’t yet reflect the level they’re being prepared for. The challenge isn’t their potential. It’s their ability to demonstrate it. Without the right communication training, promising leaders plateau before they’re ready, your succession bench stalls, and your investment in high-potential development doesn’t translate to the leadership impact you’re cultivating. How TPC enhances high-potential programs with communication training High-potential programs are built around exposure, experience, and expectation. We add the storytelling capability that enables rising leaders to turn their insights into influence. We integrate storytelling directly into your curriculum so participants can connect ideas to business impact, frame recommendations for executive audiences, and influence without authority. From program kickoffs to capstone presentations, our communication training ensures high-potentials don’t just develop strong ideas; they learn how to present them in a way that earns trust, builds alignment, and proves readiness for the next level. The result? A pipeline of leaders who demonstrate readiness not just through their thinking, but through their ability to influence, align, and inspire. Related Content Premium content The Power of Communication in Leadership (and Why It’s Critical to Success) For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human ...Continue Reading Communication training for high-potential leaders across every function Rising leaders across every function face distinct communication challenges. Here’s how we support them. Customer-Facing LeadersWhen presentations don’t land, deals don’t close. We equip customer-facing teams with the corporate storytelling skills to build consultative relationships and win more business. Read moreTechnical LeadersYour technical teams have the answers, but nontechnical stakeholders aren’t hearing them. We equip technical teams with the corporate storytelling skills to translate complexity into clarity and earn the buy-in they need. Read moreFunctional LeadersInternal teams drive the business forward, but without strong communication their insights get overlooked. We equip functional teams with the corporate storytelling skills to earn influence and get their strategic recommendations heard. Read moreCustomer Support LeadersCustomer support teams sit closest to the customer, but their insights rarely get heard. We equip frontline teams with the corporate storytelling skills to translate customer intelligence into strategic impact. Read more Learning formats that fit your high-potential programs In-person In-person workshops bring teams together for an immersive, high-engagement learning experience, guided by expert instructors and grounded in real-world application. Learn about in-person training › Virtual instructor-led All the engagement of in-person training, in a live, interactive format designed for distributed teams who need flexibility without compromising the learning experience. Learn about virtual training › Digital on-demand Self-paced, online courses deliver an immersive, high-engagement learning experience that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, with tools that can be immediately applied to real work. Learn about digital training › Want to learn more? Let’s chat.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/iStock-1399217879.webp", "modified": "2026-05-27T20:41:22-05:00" }, { "id": 12005, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/business-presentation-skills/sales-kickoff-sessions-sko-training/", "title": "Sales Kickoff Sessions", "h1": "Sales Kickoff Sessions", "summary": "Your annual SKO energizes your revenue team, launches new messaging, and aligns the organization for the year ahead. But inspiration without skill development doesn't stick. We incorporate storytelling training into your SKO to build capabilities that translate to shorter sales cycles, higher win rates, and stronger deals.", "content": "

Why your SKO training needs to build communication capability

For revenue leaders, the annual sales kickoff isn’t just another event; it’s one of the highest-stakes enablement investments of the year. In just a few days, you’re expected to set strategy, align teams around product messaging, and create momentum that leads to revenue results. And most of the time, it works. The energy is high, motivation peaks, and teams leave inspired.

But without structured skill development built in, that momentum is hard to sustain. The gap isn’t unmotivated sellers. It’s that inspiration alone doesn’t translate into the communication skills that win deals.

The most effective SKOs bring together every client-facing function, not just sales. When account executives, sales engineers, and business development reps share a common language for how to communicate value, the entire revenue organization moves in the same direction.

Across most SKOs, the same challenges show up:

That’s where building communication capability, not just excitement, makes the difference.

How TPC makes your SKO training stick

We incorporate storytelling training directly into your SKO so the communication skills your team builds during the kickoff carry into every customer conversation, from discovery calls to final pitches and high-stakes proposals.

Our storytelling framework helps them structure consultative narratives, tailor their pitch for different buyers, and differentiate your offering in competitive situations. The result is faster adoption of new messaging and greater consistency across regions, roles, and customer interactions.

Every organization has different priorities, messaging, and selling challenges. We partner with your team in advance to understand your selling environment, ensuring our training reflects your most important strategic priorities.

Resource Link

The Sales Communication Scorecard: Assess Your Team’s Revenue-Driving Capabilities [asset not yet published, in progress]

The right solution for your sales kickoff

Our Interactive Storytelling Sessions are live, high-energy experiences designed to complement your sales kickoff and align your entire revenue team around a common storytelling framework. Built for high-visibility events, our SKO training fits seamlessly into your agenda, whether delivered as a high-impact general session or interactive breakout. We turn passive listeners into active participants so your team walks away with skills they can apply immediately.

We know agendas fill quickly, so now is the time to ensure your event delivers impact that lasts all year.

Ready to bring storytelling to your next SKO? Let’s talk.

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

", "content_plain": "Why your SKO training needs to build communication capability For revenue leaders, the annual sales kickoff isn’t just another event; it’s one of the highest-stakes enablement investments of the year. In just a few days, you’re expected to set strategy, align teams around product messaging, and create momentum that leads to revenue results. And most of the time, it works. The energy is high, motivation peaks, and teams leave inspired. But without structured skill development built in, that momentum is hard to sustain. The gap isn’t unmotivated sellers. It’s that inspiration alone doesn’t translate into the communication skills that win deals. The most effective SKOs bring together every client-facing function, not just sales. When account executives, sales engineers, and business development reps share a common language for how to communicate value, the entire revenue organization moves in the same direction. Across most SKOs, the same challenges show up: Too much information, not enough retention Inconsistent messaging across teams and regions High energy that fades within weeks No clear bridge from kickoff content to real customer conversations That’s where building communication capability, not just excitement, makes the difference. How TPC makes your SKO training stick We incorporate storytelling training directly into your SKO so the communication skills your team builds during the kickoff carry into every customer conversation, from discovery calls to final pitches and high-stakes proposals. Our storytelling framework helps them structure consultative narratives, tailor their pitch for different buyers, and differentiate your offering in competitive situations. The result is faster adoption of new messaging and greater consistency across regions, roles, and customer interactions. Every organization has different priorities, messaging, and selling challenges. We partner with your team in advance to understand your selling environment, ensuring our training reflects your most important strategic priorities. Resource Link The Sales Communication Scorecard: Assess Your Team’s Revenue-Driving Capabilities [asset not yet published, in progress] The right solution for your sales kickoff Our Interactive Storytelling Sessions are live, high-energy experiences designed to complement your sales kickoff and align your entire revenue team around a common storytelling framework. Built for high-visibility events, our SKO training fits seamlessly into your agenda, whether delivered as a high-impact general session or interactive breakout. We turn passive listeners into active participants so your team walks away with skills they can apply immediately. We know agendas fill quickly, so now is the time to ensure your event delivers impact that lasts all year. Ready to bring storytelling to your next SKO? Let’s talk. Want to learn more? Let’s chat.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/iStock-533991320.webp", "modified": "2026-05-27T20:29:03-05:00" }, { "id": 12003, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/business-presentation-skills/employee-communication-skills/", "title": "Onboarding Programs", "h1": "Onboarding Programs", "summary": "A strong onboarding program sets new hires up for success, but that takes more than products, processes, and culture. Without the right training, new hires struggle to contribute meaningfully from the start. We embed storytelling into your onboarding so every new hire has the confidence to hit the ground running and make an impact.", "content": "

Why employee communication skills matter in onboarding

Onboarding programs give new hires the tools, context, and knowledge they need to succeed. In their first weeks, they learn your products, absorb the culture, meet colleagues, and take in mountains of new information. But when it’s time to sell an idea, provide an update, or make a recommendation, many struggle. The gap isn’t their talent. It’s that building employee communication skills is rarely a core part of the onboarding experience.

And the impact of scaling communication skills goes beyond any single new hire. The benefits cascade across the entire organization. When every employee operates from the same communication framework, it unites teams, strengthens collaboration, and drives productivity across your entire workforce.

How TPC integrates employee communication skills into onboarding programs

We embed storytelling directly into your onboarding program, complementing the product training, process orientation, and team building that’s already happening. We give new hires a repeatable framework to structure clear communications, adapt their story for any audience or scenario, and deliver with confidence even when they’re still learning the business.

Whether onboarding individual contributors or new managers, our employee communication skills training accelerates the transition from new hire to trusted contributor. They leave with practical skills they can apply in team meetings, project updates, and cross-functional conversations from day one. The result? An onboarding program that not only informs, but empowers.

Related Content \"\" Premium content

Storytelling is a Team Sport: Why Communication Excellence Requires Organization-Wide Alignment

For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human ...Continue Reading

The right solution for your onboarding program

Business Storytelling Fundamentals is our on-demand course built for scale, making it the ideal fit for onboarding programs that need to build employee communication skills across large, diverse groups of new hires quickly and consistently.

For Organizations Hour of power

Business Storytelling Fundamentals

Skills at Scale: This one-hour, on-demand course gives everyone in your organization — regardless of role or function — the foundational storytelling skills to elevate any business communication into a narrative that influences decisions and moves business forward.

Ideal for: Large, cross-functional teams and broad organizational audiences (from individual contributors to executives), or teams that have been through our practitioner training and need a powerful reinforcement

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

", "content_plain": "Why employee communication skills matter in onboarding Onboarding programs give new hires the tools, context, and knowledge they need to succeed. In their first weeks, they learn your products, absorb the culture, meet colleagues, and take in mountains of new information. But when it’s time to sell an idea, provide an update, or make a recommendation, many struggle. The gap isn’t their talent. It’s that building employee communication skills is rarely a core part of the onboarding experience. And the impact of scaling communication skills goes beyond any single new hire. The benefits cascade across the entire organization. When every employee operates from the same communication framework, it unites teams, strengthens collaboration, and drives productivity across your entire workforce. How TPC integrates employee communication skills into onboarding programs We embed storytelling directly into your onboarding program, complementing the product training, process orientation, and team building that’s already happening. We give new hires a repeatable framework to structure clear communications, adapt their story for any audience or scenario, and deliver with confidence even when they’re still learning the business. Whether onboarding individual contributors or new managers, our employee communication skills training accelerates the transition from new hire to trusted contributor. They leave with practical skills they can apply in team meetings, project updates, and cross-functional conversations from day one. The result? An onboarding program that not only informs, but empowers. Related Content Premium content Storytelling is a Team Sport: Why Communication Excellence Requires Organization-Wide Alignment For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human ...Continue Reading The right solution for your onboarding program Business Storytelling Fundamentals is our on-demand course built for scale, making it the ideal fit for onboarding programs that need to build employee communication skills across large, diverse groups of new hires quickly and consistently. For Organizations Hour of power Business Storytelling Fundamentals Skills at Scale: This one-hour, on-demand course gives everyone in your organization — regardless of role or function — the foundational storytelling skills to elevate any business communication into a narrative that influences decisions and moves business forward. Ideal for: Large, cross-functional teams and broad organizational audiences (from individual contributors to executives), or teams that have been through our practitioner training and need a powerful reinforcement Learning Outcomes Audit and improve existing communications through a simple storytelling framework Use simple techniques to craft better emails that generate action Craft powerful headlines that boost your confidence and advance your story one hour on-demand 100+ Explore More › Want to learn more? Let’s chat.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/iStock-526636979.webp", "modified": "2026-05-27T20:23:01-05:00" }, { "id": 12001, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/business-presentation-skills/leadership-communication/", "title": "Leadership Programs", "h1": "Leadership Programs", "summary": "Most leadership programs focus on strategic thinking and business acumen, but execution breaks down when leaders can't communicate those ideas with clarity. We integrate storytelling into your leadership training so leaders can translate strategy into messages their teams understand, trust, and act on.", "content": "

Why leadership communication matters

Leadership programs often invest heavily in building strategic thinking and business acumen. But execution breaks down when leaders can’t communicate their ideas with clarity. Messages get lost in translation, priorities don’t stick, and teams slowly fall out of alignment. The result? The outcomes you’re driving toward don’t consistently show up in execution. The gap isn’t your curriculum. It’s that leadership communication is treated as a given, rather than a skill that can be taught.

How TPC strengthens leadership communication

We integrate our proven storytelling framework directly into your leadership programs, so the strategic priorities leaders are responsible for show up clearly in how they communicate. We arm leaders with a repeatable business process to translate complex ideas and data into clear, compelling messages their teams can understand and act on.

From emerging leader cohorts to the C-suite, our leadership communication training fits seamlessly into your existing programs and works across every function. Leaders leave with practical skills they can apply in team meetings, 1:1s, cross-functional conversations, high-stakes presentations, and more.

Related Content \"power-of-communication-in-leadership-resource-center-featured-image\" Premium content

The Power of Communication in Leadership (and Why It’s Critical to Success)

For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human ...Continue Reading

Leadership Communication Training for Every Function

Leaders across every function face distinct communication challenges. Here’s how we support them.

\"employee

Customer Support Leaders

Customer support teams sit closest to the customer, but their insights rarely get heard. We equip frontline teams with the corporate storytelling skills to translate customer intelligence into strategic impact.

Read more\"technical

Technical Leaders

Your technical teams have the answers, but nontechnical stakeholders aren’t hearing them. We equip technical teams with the corporate storytelling skills to translate complexity into clarity and earn the buy-in they need.

Read more\"business

Functional Leaders

Internal teams drive the business forward, but without strong communication their insights get overlooked. We equip functional teams with the corporate storytelling skills to earn influence and get their strategic recommendations heard.

Read more\"communication

High-Potential Programs

High-potential programs are designed to accelerate future leaders, but strong strategic thinking only gets them so far. We weave storytelling into your hi-po program so rising leaders can frame ideas for executive audiences, influence without authority, and demonstrate the executive presence that signals they’re ready for what’s next.

Read more

Learning formats that fit your leadership programs

\"In-person\"

In-person

In-person workshops bring teams together for an immersive, high-engagement learning experience, guided by expert instructors and grounded in real-world application.

Learn about in-person training ›

\"In-person\"

Virtual instructor-led

All the engagement of in-person training, in a live, interactive format designed for distributed teams who need flexibility without compromising the learning experience.

Learn about virtual training ›

\"Digital

Digital on-demand

Self-paced, online courses deliver an immersive, high-engagement learning experience that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, with tools that can be immediately applied to real work.

Learn about digital training ›

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

", "content_plain": "Why leadership communication matters Leadership programs often invest heavily in building strategic thinking and business acumen. But execution breaks down when leaders can’t communicate their ideas with clarity. Messages get lost in translation, priorities don’t stick, and teams slowly fall out of alignment. The result? The outcomes you’re driving toward don’t consistently show up in execution. The gap isn’t your curriculum. It’s that leadership communication is treated as a given, rather than a skill that can be taught. How TPC strengthens leadership communication We integrate our proven storytelling framework directly into your leadership programs, so the strategic priorities leaders are responsible for show up clearly in how they communicate. We arm leaders with a repeatable business process to translate complex ideas and data into clear, compelling messages their teams can understand and act on. From emerging leader cohorts to the C-suite, our leadership communication training fits seamlessly into your existing programs and works across every function. Leaders leave with practical skills they can apply in team meetings, 1:1s, cross-functional conversations, high-stakes presentations, and more. Related Content Premium content The Power of Communication in Leadership (and Why It’s Critical to Success) For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human ...Continue Reading Leadership Communication Training for Every Function Leaders across every function face distinct communication challenges. Here’s how we support them. Customer Support LeadersCustomer support teams sit closest to the customer, but their insights rarely get heard. We equip frontline teams with the corporate storytelling skills to translate customer intelligence into strategic impact. Read moreTechnical LeadersYour technical teams have the answers, but nontechnical stakeholders aren’t hearing them. We equip technical teams with the corporate storytelling skills to translate complexity into clarity and earn the buy-in they need. Read moreFunctional LeadersInternal teams drive the business forward, but without strong communication their insights get overlooked. We equip functional teams with the corporate storytelling skills to earn influence and get their strategic recommendations heard. Read moreHigh-Potential ProgramsHigh-potential programs are designed to accelerate future leaders, but strong strategic thinking only gets them so far. We weave storytelling into your hi-po program so rising leaders can frame ideas for executive audiences, influence without authority, and demonstrate the executive presence that signals they’re ready for what’s next. Read more Learning formats that fit your leadership programs In-person In-person workshops bring teams together for an immersive, high-engagement learning experience, guided by expert instructors and grounded in real-world application. Learn about in-person training › Virtual instructor-led All the engagement of in-person training, in a live, interactive format designed for distributed teams who need flexibility without compromising the learning experience. Learn about virtual training › Digital on-demand Self-paced, online courses deliver an immersive, high-engagement learning experience that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, with tools that can be immediately applied to real work. Learn about digital training › Want to learn more? Let’s chat.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/iStock-2162995942.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-27T18:52:03-05:00" }, { "id": 11998, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/business-communications-skills-training/", "title": "Industries", "h1": "Industries", "summary": "", "content": "\"CPG

Consumer Packaged Goods

Category managers, brand teams, and sales leaders operate in a world where every recommendation needs to win both internal alignment and retailer buy-in. Our business communications skills training gives CPG teams the storytelling capability to structure retail pitches, translate category and shopper data into clear insights, and build retailer partnerships that last.

Read more\"tech

Technology

Engineers, CTOs, and product managers constantly bridge technical complexity and business value. Our business communications skills training gives technology teams the skills to turn product decisions, roadmaps, and innovations into narratives that drive alignment and earn stakeholder buy-in.

Read more

Don’t see your industry here?

We’ve partnered with teams across diverse industries, including financial services, healthcare, and more. No matter your sector, our storytelling training gives your teams the skills to communicate with clarity and impact.

Let’s talk
", "content_plain": "Consumer Packaged GoodsCategory managers, brand teams, and sales leaders operate in a world where every recommendation needs to win both internal alignment and retailer buy-in. Our business communications skills training gives CPG teams the storytelling capability to structure retail pitches, translate category and shopper data into clear insights, and build retailer partnerships that last. Read moreTechnologyEngineers, CTOs, and product managers constantly bridge technical complexity and business value. Our business communications skills training gives technology teams the skills to turn product decisions, roadmaps, and innovations into narratives that drive alignment and earn stakeholder buy-in. Read more Don’t see your industry here? We’ve partnered with teams across diverse industries, including financial services, healthcare, and more. No matter your sector, our storytelling training gives your teams the skills to communicate with clarity and impact. Let’s talk", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/iStock-2203784032.webp", "modified": "2026-05-27T20:46:34-05:00" }, { "id": 11994, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/business-presentation-skills/", "title": "Use Cases", "h1": "Use Cases", "summary": "", "content": "\"leadership

Leadership Programs

Most leadership programs focus on strategic thinking and business acumen, but execution breaks down when leaders can’t communicate those ideas with clarity. We integrate storytelling into your leadership training so leaders can translate strategy into messages their teams understand, trust, and act on.

Read more\"employee

Onboarding Programs

A strong onboarding program sets new hires up for success, but that takes more than products, processes, and culture. Without the right training, new hires struggle to contribute meaningfully from the start. We embed storytelling into your onboarding so every new hire has the confidence to hit the ground running and make an impact.

Read more\"SKO

Sales Kickoff Sessions

Your annual SKO energizes your revenue team, launches new messaging, and aligns the organization for the year ahead. But inspiration without skill development doesn’t stick. We incorporate storytelling training into your SKO to build capabilities that translate to shorter sales cycles, higher win rates, and stronger deals.

Read more\"communication

High-Potential Programs

High-potential programs are designed to accelerate future leaders, but strong strategic thinking only gets them so far. We weave storytelling into your hi-po program so rising leaders can frame ideas for executive audiences, influence without authority, and demonstrate the executive presence that signals they’re ready for what’s next.

Read more", "content_plain": "Leadership ProgramsMost leadership programs focus on strategic thinking and business acumen, but execution breaks down when leaders can’t communicate those ideas with clarity. We integrate storytelling into your leadership training so leaders can translate strategy into messages their teams understand, trust, and act on. Read moreOnboarding ProgramsA strong onboarding program sets new hires up for success, but that takes more than products, processes, and culture. Without the right training, new hires struggle to contribute meaningfully from the start. We embed storytelling into your onboarding so every new hire has the confidence to hit the ground running and make an impact. Read moreSales Kickoff SessionsYour annual SKO energizes your revenue team, launches new messaging, and aligns the organization for the year ahead. But inspiration without skill development doesn’t stick. We incorporate storytelling training into your SKO to build capabilities that translate to shorter sales cycles, higher win rates, and stronger deals. Read moreHigh-Potential ProgramsHigh-potential programs are designed to accelerate future leaders, but strong strategic thinking only gets them so far. We weave storytelling into your hi-po program so rising leaders can frame ideas for executive audiences, influence without authority, and demonstrate the executive presence that signals they’re ready for what’s next. Read more", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/iStock-2204309551-scaled.webp", "modified": "2026-05-28T10:31:37-05:00" }, { "id": 11986, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/who-we-serve/employee-presentation-skills/", "title": "Customer Support Leaders", "h1": "Customer Support Leaders", "summary": "Customer support teams sit closest to the customer, but their insights rarely get heard. We equip frontline teams with the corporate storytelling skills to translate customer intelligence into strategic impact.", "content": "

The gap between frontline customer knowledge and the insights that should drive strategy

No one in your organization knows your customers better than your support teams. They hear the complaints, spot the patterns, and understand what’s really driving satisfaction or churn. But when it’s time to present those insights to product teams, influence strategic priorities, or demonstrate their impact to leadership, the message doesn’t land. Critical customer intelligence gets dismissed as anecdotal, strategic recommendations go unheard, and support teams remain stuck in a reactive role when they could be shaping strategy. The gap isn’t customer knowledge. It’s communication. Without employee presentation skills to bridge that gap, your organization loses valuable insights that could shape better products, services, and strategies.

The real cost of customer insights that go unheard

When customer support teams can’t bridge their frontline insights to broader business goals, the patterns they spot every day rarely shape messaging or influence upstream decisions. They’re perceived as complaint-handlers rather than customer advocates, and leadership misses opportunities to reduce churn, improve satisfaction, and differentiate the service. The impact compounds: disengaged support teams who feel unheard, customer insights that go nowhere, and a growing disconnect between what customers need and what the business prioritizes.

Related Content \"The Premium content

The Business World Runs on Stories: Why Storytelling is an Essential “Hard Skill”

For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human ...Continue Reading

Employee presentation skills training that gives customer support teams a strategic voice

Customer support teams sit on a goldmine of customer intelligence, and storytelling is how it gets heard. We give them a practical framework to translate frontline interactions into strategic narratives, present data as actionable insights, and bridge the gap between what customers need and what the business needs to do about it.

Our practical storytelling framework arms customer support teams with employee presentation skills that turn everyday customer interactions into insights leadership can act on. And because the framework is repeatable, the results are too: support teams that earn attention from leadership, customer insights that drive meaningful change, and a stronger relationship between frontline teams and the rest of the organization.

Find the right solution for your customer support team

Our training is built to turn frontline knowledge into strategic impact. Explore what’s possible.

For Organizations Culture change starts here

Storytelling Learning Journey

The Complete Picture: Our three-part practitioner training takes teams through the full arc of business storytelling, from organizing ideas into audience-centric narratives, to bringing that story to life visually, to turning data into compelling insights. Each workshop flows from one to the next, with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and create lasting behavior change.

Ideal for: Teams and organizations ready to build a shared storytelling language and culture

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Story strategy

Crafting Strategic Visual Stories

The Foundation: Give your team a proven framework for structuring narratives that engage, persuade, and stick. They’ll gain practical skills, increased confidence, and a clear action plan for applying business storytelling to their everyday communications.

Ideal for: Teams who need to transform ideas and data into compelling, audience-centric stories that persuade and drive action

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Visual strategy

Influencing with Visuals

Design Meets Strategy: Bad slides kill good ideas. This workshop is geared to those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals.

Ideal for: Anyone who needs to uplevel their ability to communicate ideas visually

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Data strategy

Presenting Data Visually

Data as a Differentiator: Make your data impossible to ignore by wrapping it in a story that’s easy to scan, digest, and act on. This workshop arms teams with data storytelling best practices to help communicate meaningfully with data.

Ideal for: Anyone who needs to communicate data insights with clarity, whether you’re a data expert or occasional data presenter

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›

Learning formats designed to meet teams where they are

\"In-person\"

In-person

In-person workshops bring teams together for an immersive, high-engagement learning experience, guided by expert instructors and grounded in real-world application.

Learn about in-person training ›

\"In-person\"

Virtual instructor-led

All the engagement of in-person training, in a live, interactive format designed for distributed teams who need flexibility without compromising the learning experience.

Learn about virtual training ›

\"Digital

Digital on-demand

Self-paced, online courses deliver an immersive, high-engagement learning experience that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, with tools that can be immediately applied to real work.

Learn about digital training ›

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

", "content_plain": "The gap between frontline customer knowledge and the insights that should drive strategy No one in your organization knows your customers better than your support teams. They hear the complaints, spot the patterns, and understand what’s really driving satisfaction or churn. But when it’s time to present those insights to product teams, influence strategic priorities, or demonstrate their impact to leadership, the message doesn’t land. Critical customer intelligence gets dismissed as anecdotal, strategic recommendations go unheard, and support teams remain stuck in a reactive role when they could be shaping strategy. The gap isn’t customer knowledge. It’s communication. Without employee presentation skills to bridge that gap, your organization loses valuable insights that could shape better products, services, and strategies. The real cost of customer insights that go unheard When customer support teams can’t bridge their frontline insights to broader business goals, the patterns they spot every day rarely shape messaging or influence upstream decisions. They’re perceived as complaint-handlers rather than customer advocates, and leadership misses opportunities to reduce churn, improve satisfaction, and differentiate the service. The impact compounds: disengaged support teams who feel unheard, customer insights that go nowhere, and a growing disconnect between what customers need and what the business prioritizes. Related Content Premium content The Business World Runs on Stories: Why Storytelling is an Essential “Hard Skill” For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human ...Continue Reading Employee presentation skills training that gives customer support teams a strategic voice Customer support teams sit on a goldmine of customer intelligence, and storytelling is how it gets heard. We give them a practical framework to translate frontline interactions into strategic narratives, present data as actionable insights, and bridge the gap between what customers need and what the business needs to do about it. Our practical storytelling framework arms customer support teams with employee presentation skills that turn everyday customer interactions into insights leadership can act on. And because the framework is repeatable, the results are too: support teams that earn attention from leadership, customer insights that drive meaningful change, and a stronger relationship between frontline teams and the rest of the organization. Find the right solution for your customer support team Our training is built to turn frontline knowledge into strategic impact. Explore what’s possible. For Organizations Culture change starts here Storytelling Learning Journey The Complete Picture: Our three-part practitioner training takes teams through the full arc of business storytelling, from organizing ideas into audience-centric narratives, to bringing that story to life visually, to turning data into compelling insights. Each workshop flows from one to the next, with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and create lasting behavior change. Ideal for: Teams and organizations ready to build a shared storytelling language and culture Learning Outcomes Story Strategy: Organize your ideas and data into a meaningful narrative Visual Strategy: Bring your story to life with clear, intentional visuals Data Strategy: Turn facts and figures into easy-to-scan data visualizations half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Story strategy Crafting Strategic Visual Stories The Foundation: Give your team a proven framework for structuring narratives that engage, persuade, and stick. They’ll gain practical skills, increased confidence, and a clear action plan for applying business storytelling to their everyday communications. Ideal for: Teams who need to transform ideas and data into compelling, audience-centric stories that persuade and drive action Learning Outcomes Apply a simple, repeatable storytelling framework to organize ideas and data strategically Craft compelling BIG Ideas that prioritize audience needs over presenter-focused content Flex stories to adapt to common scenarios: executives with limited time, high-stakes emails, strict slide constraints half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Visual strategy Influencing with Visuals Design Meets Strategy: Bad slides kill good ideas. This workshop is geared to those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals. Ideal for: Anyone who needs to uplevel their ability to communicate ideas visually Learning Outcomes Discover and apply the elements of effective visual strategy Use interactive tools to lay out the narrative and visual flow of your story Apply basic design principles to transform slides into clear visuals that inspire action half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Data strategy Presenting Data Visually Data as a Differentiator: Make your data impossible to ignore by wrapping it in a story that’s easy to scan, digest, and act on. This workshop arms teams with data storytelling best practices to help communicate meaningfully with data. Ideal for: Anyone who needs to communicate data insights with clarity, whether you’re a data expert or occasional data presenter Learning Outcomes Humanize data by identifying what your audience needs to know or do with it Transform cluttered charts and tables into concise and compelling data visualizations Use clever design techniques to elevate your data story half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › Learning formats designed to meet teams where they are In-person In-person workshops bring teams together for an immersive, high-engagement learning experience, guided by expert instructors and grounded in real-world application. Learn about in-person training › Virtual instructor-led All the engagement of in-person training, in a live, interactive format designed for distributed teams who need flexibility without compromising the learning experience. Learn about virtual training › Digital on-demand Self-paced, online courses deliver an immersive, high-engagement learning experience that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, with tools that can be immediately applied to real work. Learn about digital training › Want to learn more? Let’s chat.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/iStock-2187593295.webp", "modified": "2026-05-27T18:39:56-05:00" }, { "id": 11984, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/who-we-serve/business-presentation-skills/", "title": "Functional Leaders", "h1": "Functional Leaders", "summary": "Internal teams drive the business forward, but without strong communication their insights get overlooked. We equip functional teams with the corporate storytelling skills to earn influence and get their strategic recommendations heard.", "content": "

The gap between what functional teams deliver and how leadership perceives

Finance, marketing, operations, and legal teams run the essential functions that keep the business moving, from managing budgets and optimizing processes to driving the initiatives that enable every other team to succeed. But when it’s time to present those strategies to leadership or build alignment across functions, the message doesn’t land. Budget proposals get deprioritized, change initiatives stall, and strategic recommendations get dismissed as operational details instead of the business imperatives they are. The gap isn’t the quality of their thinking. It’s business presentation skills. And it’s costing your internal teams influence, resources, and credibility.

The real cost of great work that goes unrecognized

When functional teams can’t communicate their insights clearly, great work goes unrecognized and influence slips away. Cross-functional alignment becomes a struggle, simple approvals spiral into endless meetings and revisions, and teams that should be seen as strategic contributors get dismissed as support functions. The impact shows up everywhere: longer decision cycles, stalled initiatives, and frustrated team members who feel undervalued. The result? A widening gap between the value functional teams provide and how leadership perceives their contributions.

Related Content \"How Premium content

How Ineffective Communication is Sabotaging Your Business Impact

For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human ...Continue Reading

Business presentation skills training that elevates functional teams to strategic contributors

Every functional team has insights worth hearing, and storytelling is what ensures they get heard. We give internal teams a practical framework to translate expertise into business outcomes, build executive alignment around functional initiatives, and position their recommendations as the organizational priorities they are.

Our practical storytelling framework arms teams with business presentation skills that can be applied to any type of communication and work across any stakeholder group. And because the framework is repeatable, the results are too: faster approvals, stronger cross-functional collaboration, and teams recognized as the strategic contributors driving organizational success.

Find the right solution for your functional team

Our training is built to boost the visibility and influence your teams deserve. Explore what’s possible.

For Organizations Culture change starts here

Storytelling Learning Journey

The Complete Picture: Our three-part practitioner training takes teams through the full arc of business storytelling, from organizing ideas into audience-centric narratives, to bringing that story to life visually, to turning data into compelling insights. Each workshop flows from one to the next, with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and create lasting behavior change.

Ideal for: Teams and organizations ready to build a shared storytelling language and culture

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Story strategy

Crafting Strategic Visual Stories

The Foundation: Give your team a proven framework for structuring narratives that engage, persuade, and stick. They’ll gain practical skills, increased confidence, and a clear action plan for applying business storytelling to their everyday communications.

Ideal for: Teams who need to transform ideas and data into compelling, audience-centric stories that persuade and drive action

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Visual strategy

Influencing with Visuals

Design Meets Strategy: Bad slides kill good ideas. This workshop is geared to those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals.

Ideal for: Anyone who needs to uplevel their ability to communicate ideas visually

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Data strategy

Presenting Data Visually

Data as a Differentiator: Make your data impossible to ignore by wrapping it in a story that’s easy to scan, digest, and act on. This workshop arms teams with data storytelling best practices to help communicate meaningfully with data.

Ideal for: Anyone who needs to communicate data insights with clarity, whether you’re a data expert or occasional data presenter

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›

Learning formats designed to meet teams where they are

\"In-person\"

In-person

In-person workshops bring teams together for an immersive, high-engagement learning experience, guided by expert instructors and grounded in real-world application.

Learn about in-person training ›

\"In-person\"

Virtual instructor-led

All the engagement of in-person training, in a live, interactive format designed for distributed teams who need flexibility without compromising the learning experience.

Learn about virtual training ›

\"Digital

Digital on-demand

Self-paced, online courses deliver an immersive, high-engagement learning experience that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, with tools that can be immediately applied to real work.

Learn about digital training ›

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

", "content_plain": "The gap between what functional teams deliver and how leadership perceives Finance, marketing, operations, and legal teams run the essential functions that keep the business moving, from managing budgets and optimizing processes to driving the initiatives that enable every other team to succeed. But when it’s time to present those strategies to leadership or build alignment across functions, the message doesn’t land. Budget proposals get deprioritized, change initiatives stall, and strategic recommendations get dismissed as operational details instead of the business imperatives they are. The gap isn’t the quality of their thinking. It’s business presentation skills. And it’s costing your internal teams influence, resources, and credibility. The real cost of great work that goes unrecognized When functional teams can’t communicate their insights clearly, great work goes unrecognized and influence slips away. Cross-functional alignment becomes a struggle, simple approvals spiral into endless meetings and revisions, and teams that should be seen as strategic contributors get dismissed as support functions. The impact shows up everywhere: longer decision cycles, stalled initiatives, and frustrated team members who feel undervalued. The result? A widening gap between the value functional teams provide and how leadership perceives their contributions. Related Content Premium content How Ineffective Communication is Sabotaging Your Business Impact For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human ...Continue Reading Business presentation skills training that elevates functional teams to strategic contributors Every functional team has insights worth hearing, and storytelling is what ensures they get heard. We give internal teams a practical framework to translate expertise into business outcomes, build executive alignment around functional initiatives, and position their recommendations as the organizational priorities they are. Our practical storytelling framework arms teams with business presentation skills that can be applied to any type of communication and work across any stakeholder group. And because the framework is repeatable, the results are too: faster approvals, stronger cross-functional collaboration, and teams recognized as the strategic contributors driving organizational success. Find the right solution for your functional team Our training is built to boost the visibility and influence your teams deserve. Explore what’s possible. For Organizations Culture change starts here Storytelling Learning Journey The Complete Picture: Our three-part practitioner training takes teams through the full arc of business storytelling, from organizing ideas into audience-centric narratives, to bringing that story to life visually, to turning data into compelling insights. Each workshop flows from one to the next, with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and create lasting behavior change. Ideal for: Teams and organizations ready to build a shared storytelling language and culture Learning Outcomes Story Strategy: Organize your ideas and data into a meaningful narrative Visual Strategy: Bring your story to life with clear, intentional visuals Data Strategy: Turn facts and figures into easy-to-scan data visualizations half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Story strategy Crafting Strategic Visual Stories The Foundation: Give your team a proven framework for structuring narratives that engage, persuade, and stick. They’ll gain practical skills, increased confidence, and a clear action plan for applying business storytelling to their everyday communications. Ideal for: Teams who need to transform ideas and data into compelling, audience-centric stories that persuade and drive action Learning Outcomes Apply a simple, repeatable storytelling framework to organize ideas and data strategically Craft compelling BIG Ideas that prioritize audience needs over presenter-focused content Flex stories to adapt to common scenarios: executives with limited time, high-stakes emails, strict slide constraints half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Visual strategy Influencing with Visuals Design Meets Strategy: Bad slides kill good ideas. This workshop is geared to those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals. Ideal for: Anyone who needs to uplevel their ability to communicate ideas visually Learning Outcomes Discover and apply the elements of effective visual strategy Use interactive tools to lay out the narrative and visual flow of your story Apply basic design principles to transform slides into clear visuals that inspire action half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Data strategy Presenting Data Visually Data as a Differentiator: Make your data impossible to ignore by wrapping it in a story that’s easy to scan, digest, and act on. This workshop arms teams with data storytelling best practices to help communicate meaningfully with data. Ideal for: Anyone who needs to communicate data insights with clarity, whether you’re a data expert or occasional data presenter Learning Outcomes Humanize data by identifying what your audience needs to know or do with it Transform cluttered charts and tables into concise and compelling data visualizations Use clever design techniques to elevate your data story half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › Learning formats designed to meet teams where they are In-person In-person workshops bring teams together for an immersive, high-engagement learning experience, guided by expert instructors and grounded in real-world application. Learn about in-person training › Virtual instructor-led All the engagement of in-person training, in a live, interactive format designed for distributed teams who need flexibility without compromising the learning experience. Learn about virtual training › Digital on-demand Self-paced, online courses deliver an immersive, high-engagement learning experience that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, with tools that can be immediately applied to real work. Learn about digital training › Want to learn more? Let’s chat.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/iStock-2237546496.webp", "modified": "2026-05-27T18:37:26-05:00" }, { "id": 11982, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/who-we-serve/professional-presentation-skills-training/", "title": "Learning & Development Leaders", "h1": "Learning & Development Leaders", "summary": "Communication skills are the multiplier that makes every other learning investment pay off. We give L&D leaders a corporate storytelling curriculum that embeds that capability across their entire talent pool.", "content": "

The gap between your learning programs and real business outcomes

You’re responsible for building talent pipelines, closing capability gaps, and curating learning experiences that drive employee engagement, career advancement, and retention. But without a common approach to communication, even the best learning investments fall short. Strategic messages don’t cascade, skill gaps stay hidden until it’s too late, and employees struggle to demonstrate what they’ve learned when it matters most. The gap isn’t your curriculum design or learning strategy. It’s communication. And until it’s treated as a core competency, everything else you’re building has a ceiling. That’s where professional presentation skills training comes in.

The real cost of overlooking communication in your upskilling strategy

Without communication skills in the mix, upskilling efforts only go so far. Employees can’t demonstrate what they’ve learned, strategic messages stall before they reach the people who need them, and L&D investments don’t deliver the business impact they should. Professional presentation skills training is what bridges the gap between knowledge and performance.

Related Content \"Communication Premium content

Beyond One-Size-Fits-All: The Holistic Approach to Communication Training That Actually Works

For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human ...Continue Reading

Professional presentation skills training that scales across your entire organization

We partner with L&D leaders to close the communication gap through storytelling training, using our practical, repeatable framework that gives every employee a common language for communicating with clarity and impact. From onboarding experiences and high-potential tracks to new manager programs and organization-wide initiatives, this professional presentation skills training integrates seamlessly into the programs that develop your talent pool.

When storytelling becomes part of your organization’s culture rather than a one-time event, everything changes. Ideas get heard, people stay and grow, and every other learning investment you’ve made pays off more than it would have otherwise.

Storytelling training that strengthens your most important L&D initiatives

Our professional presentation skills training enhances your existing programs and amplifies the impact of every other learning investment you’ve made. Here’s how we support your most important initiatives.

\"leadership

Leadership Programs

Most leadership programs focus on strategic thinking and business acumen, but execution breaks down when leaders can’t communicate those ideas with clarity. We integrate storytelling into your leadership training so leaders can translate strategy into messages their teams understand, trust, and act on.

Read more\"employee

Onboarding Programs

A strong onboarding program sets new hires up for success, but that takes more than products, processes, and culture. Without the right training, new hires struggle to contribute meaningfully from the start. We embed storytelling into your onboarding so every new hire has the confidence to hit the ground running and make an impact.

Read more\"communication

High-Potential Programs

High-potential programs are designed to accelerate future leaders, but strong strategic thinking only gets them so far. We weave storytelling into your hi-po program so rising leaders can frame ideas for executive audiences, influence without authority, and demonstrate the executive presence that signals they’re ready for what’s next.

Read more

Find the right solution for your organization

Whether you need workshops for specific teams or scalable on-demand training for your entire organization, we have solutions that fit your learning architecture and business goals. Explore what’s possible.

For Organizations Hour of power

Business Storytelling Fundamentals

Skills at Scale: This one-hour, on-demand course gives everyone in your organization — regardless of role or function — the foundational storytelling skills to elevate any business communication into a narrative that influences decisions and moves business forward.

Ideal for: Large, cross-functional teams and broad organizational audiences (from individual contributors to executives), or teams that have been through our practitioner training and need a powerful reinforcement

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Culture change starts here

Storytelling Learning Journey

The Complete Picture: Our three-part practitioner training takes teams through the full arc of business storytelling, from organizing ideas into audience-centric narratives, to bringing that story to life visually, to turning data into compelling insights. Each workshop flows from one to the next, with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and create lasting behavior change.

Ideal for: Teams and organizations ready to build a shared storytelling language and culture

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Story strategy

Crafting Strategic Visual Stories

The Foundation: Give your team a proven framework for structuring narratives that engage, persuade, and stick. They’ll gain practical skills, increased confidence, and a clear action plan for applying business storytelling to their everyday communications.

Ideal for: Teams who need to transform ideas and data into compelling, audience-centric stories that persuade and drive action

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Visual strategy

Influencing with Visuals

Design Meets Strategy: Bad slides kill good ideas. This workshop is geared to those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals.

Ideal for: Anyone who needs to uplevel their ability to communicate ideas visually

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Data strategy

Presenting Data Visually

Data as a Differentiator: Make your data impossible to ignore by wrapping it in a story that’s easy to scan, digest, and act on. This workshop arms teams with data storytelling best practices to help communicate meaningfully with data.

Ideal for: Anyone who needs to communicate data insights with clarity, whether you’re a data expert or occasional data presenter

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›

Learning formats designed to meet teams where they are

\"In-person\"

In-person

In-person workshops bring teams together for an immersive, high-engagement learning experience, guided by expert instructors and grounded in real-world application.

Learn about in-person training ›

\"In-person\"

Virtual instructor-led

All the engagement of in-person training, in a live, interactive format designed for distributed teams who need flexibility without compromising the learning experience.

Learn about virtual training ›

\"Digital

Digital on-demand

Self-paced, online courses deliver an immersive, high-engagement learning experience that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, with tools that can be immediately applied to real work.

Learn about digital training ›

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

", "content_plain": "The gap between your learning programs and real business outcomes You’re responsible for building talent pipelines, closing capability gaps, and curating learning experiences that drive employee engagement, career advancement, and retention. But without a common approach to communication, even the best learning investments fall short. Strategic messages don’t cascade, skill gaps stay hidden until it’s too late, and employees struggle to demonstrate what they’ve learned when it matters most. The gap isn’t your curriculum design or learning strategy. It’s communication. And until it’s treated as a core competency, everything else you’re building has a ceiling. That’s where professional presentation skills training comes in. The real cost of overlooking communication in your upskilling strategy Without communication skills in the mix, upskilling efforts only go so far. Employees can’t demonstrate what they’ve learned, strategic messages stall before they reach the people who need them, and L&D investments don’t deliver the business impact they should. Professional presentation skills training is what bridges the gap between knowledge and performance. Related Content Premium content Beyond One-Size-Fits-All: The Holistic Approach to Communication Training That Actually Works For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human ...Continue Reading Professional presentation skills training that scales across your entire organization We partner with L&D leaders to close the communication gap through storytelling training, using our practical, repeatable framework that gives every employee a common language for communicating with clarity and impact. From onboarding experiences and high-potential tracks to new manager programs and organization-wide initiatives, this professional presentation skills training integrates seamlessly into the programs that develop your talent pool. When storytelling becomes part of your organization’s culture rather than a one-time event, everything changes. Ideas get heard, people stay and grow, and every other learning investment you’ve made pays off more than it would have otherwise. Storytelling training that strengthens your most important L&D initiatives Our professional presentation skills training enhances your existing programs and amplifies the impact of every other learning investment you’ve made. Here’s how we support your most important initiatives. Leadership ProgramsMost leadership programs focus on strategic thinking and business acumen, but execution breaks down when leaders can’t communicate those ideas with clarity. We integrate storytelling into your leadership training so leaders can translate strategy into messages their teams understand, trust, and act on. Read moreOnboarding ProgramsA strong onboarding program sets new hires up for success, but that takes more than products, processes, and culture. Without the right training, new hires struggle to contribute meaningfully from the start. We embed storytelling into your onboarding so every new hire has the confidence to hit the ground running and make an impact. Read moreHigh-Potential ProgramsHigh-potential programs are designed to accelerate future leaders, but strong strategic thinking only gets them so far. We weave storytelling into your hi-po program so rising leaders can frame ideas for executive audiences, influence without authority, and demonstrate the executive presence that signals they’re ready for what’s next. Read more Find the right solution for your organization Whether you need workshops for specific teams or scalable on-demand training for your entire organization, we have solutions that fit your learning architecture and business goals. Explore what’s possible. For Organizations Hour of power Business Storytelling Fundamentals Skills at Scale: This one-hour, on-demand course gives everyone in your organization — regardless of role or function — the foundational storytelling skills to elevate any business communication into a narrative that influences decisions and moves business forward. Ideal for: Large, cross-functional teams and broad organizational audiences (from individual contributors to executives), or teams that have been through our practitioner training and need a powerful reinforcement Learning Outcomes Audit and improve existing communications through a simple storytelling framework Use simple techniques to craft better emails that generate action Craft powerful headlines that boost your confidence and advance your story one hour on-demand 100+ Explore More › For Organizations Culture change starts here Storytelling Learning Journey The Complete Picture: Our three-part practitioner training takes teams through the full arc of business storytelling, from organizing ideas into audience-centric narratives, to bringing that story to life visually, to turning data into compelling insights. Each workshop flows from one to the next, with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and create lasting behavior change. Ideal for: Teams and organizations ready to build a shared storytelling language and culture Learning Outcomes Story Strategy: Organize your ideas and data into a meaningful narrative Visual Strategy: Bring your story to life with clear, intentional visuals Data Strategy: Turn facts and figures into easy-to-scan data visualizations half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Story strategy Crafting Strategic Visual Stories The Foundation: Give your team a proven framework for structuring narratives that engage, persuade, and stick. They’ll gain practical skills, increased confidence, and a clear action plan for applying business storytelling to their everyday communications. Ideal for: Teams who need to transform ideas and data into compelling, audience-centric stories that persuade and drive action Learning Outcomes Apply a simple, repeatable storytelling framework to organize ideas and data strategically Craft compelling BIG Ideas that prioritize audience needs over presenter-focused content Flex stories to adapt to common scenarios: executives with limited time, high-stakes emails, strict slide constraints half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Visual strategy Influencing with Visuals Design Meets Strategy: Bad slides kill good ideas. This workshop is geared to those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals. Ideal for: Anyone who needs to uplevel their ability to communicate ideas visually Learning Outcomes Discover and apply the elements of effective visual strategy Use interactive tools to lay out the narrative and visual flow of your story Apply basic design principles to transform slides into clear visuals that inspire action half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Data strategy Presenting Data Visually Data as a Differentiator: Make your data impossible to ignore by wrapping it in a story that’s easy to scan, digest, and act on. This workshop arms teams with data storytelling best practices to help communicate meaningfully with data. Ideal for: Anyone who needs to communicate data insights with clarity, whether you’re a data expert or occasional data presenter Learning Outcomes Humanize data by identifying what your audience needs to know or do with it Transform cluttered charts and tables into concise and compelling data visualizations Use clever design techniques to elevate your data story half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › Learning formats designed to meet teams where they are In-person In-person workshops bring teams together for an immersive, high-engagement learning experience, guided by expert instructors and grounded in real-world application. Learn about in-person training › Virtual instructor-led All the engagement of in-person training, in a live, interactive format designed for distributed teams who need flexibility without compromising the learning experience. Learn about virtual training › Digital on-demand Self-paced, online courses deliver an immersive, high-engagement learning experience that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, with tools that can be immediately applied to real work. Learn about digital training › Want to learn more? Let’s chat.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/iStock-595761688.webp", "modified": "2026-05-27T18:34:43-05:00" }, { "id": 11980, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/who-we-serve/technical-presentation-training/", "title": "Technical Leaders", "h1": "Technical Leaders", "summary": "Your technical teams have the answers, but nontechnical stakeholders aren't hearing them. We equip technical teams with the corporate storytelling skills to translate complexity into clarity and earn the buy-in they need.", "content": "

The gap between what technical teams know and what leadership hears

From engineering and architecture to data, security, and IT, technical teams drive the innovation and infrastructure that businesses depend on. But when it’s time to present those decisions to executives or cross-functional stakeholders, something gets lost. Critical initiatives get deprioritized, approvals stall, and your best technical minds avoid presenting entirely because they can’t translate their expertise into messages that resonate. The gap isn’t technical competence. It’s communication. And it’s costing you resources, credibility, and strategic influence.

The real cost of technical insights that don’t land

When technical teams can’t communicate clearly to nontechnical stakeholders, critical investments in infrastructure, security, and innovation get rejected or delayed. Approvals stall, cross-functional alignment feels impossible, and talented technical professionals who can’t make their case to leadership eventually stop trying. The impact shows up everywhere: slower innovation, missed opportunities, and a widening gap between what technical experts know needs to happen and what actually gets prioritized.

Related Content \"\"

Evolution of the CIO and IT Function: How Storytelling has Helped IT Become More Effective, Influential, and Strategic

For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human ...Continue Reading

Technical presentation training that turns technical expertise into strategic influence

Great technical work deserves to be understood, and storytelling is what makes that possible. We give technical teams a practical framework to translate complexity into clarity, structure insights around business outcomes, and communicate with confidence to any stakeholder group, without ever sacrificing technical accuracy.

Our technical presentation training arms teams across engineering, IT, architecture, data, and security with a repeatable business process rooted in storytelling that works at every level of the organization. A repeatable process drives repeatable results: faster approvals, stronger cross-functional relationships, and technical teams who command influence not just for what they know, but for how they communicate why it matters.

Find the right solution for your technical team

Our training is built to close the communication gaps holding your teams back. Explore what’s possible.

For Organizations Culture change starts here

Storytelling Learning Journey

The Complete Picture: Our three-part practitioner training takes teams through the full arc of business storytelling, from organizing ideas into audience-centric narratives, to bringing that story to life visually, to turning data into compelling insights. Each workshop flows from one to the next, with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and create lasting behavior change.

Ideal for: Teams and organizations ready to build a shared storytelling language and culture

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Story strategy

Crafting Strategic Visual Stories

The Foundation: Give your team a proven framework for structuring narratives that engage, persuade, and stick. They’ll gain practical skills, increased confidence, and a clear action plan for applying business storytelling to their everyday communications.

Ideal for: Teams who need to transform ideas and data into compelling, audience-centric stories that persuade and drive action

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Visual strategy

Influencing with Visuals

Design Meets Strategy: Bad slides kill good ideas. This workshop is geared to those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals.

Ideal for: Anyone who needs to uplevel their ability to communicate ideas visually

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Data strategy

Presenting Data Visually

Data as a Differentiator: Make your data impossible to ignore by wrapping it in a story that’s easy to scan, digest, and act on. This workshop arms teams with data storytelling best practices to help communicate meaningfully with data.

Ideal for: Anyone who needs to communicate data insights with clarity, whether you’re a data expert or occasional data presenter

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›

Learning formats designed to meet teams where they are

\"In-person\"

In-person

In-person workshops bring teams together for an immersive, high-engagement learning experience, guided by expert instructors and grounded in real-world application.

Learn about in-person training ›

\"In-person\"

Virtual instructor-led

All the engagement of in-person training, in a live, interactive format designed for distributed teams who need flexibility without compromising the learning experience.

Learn about virtual training ›

\"Digital

Digital on-demand

Self-paced, online courses deliver an immersive, high-engagement learning experience that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, with tools that can be immediately applied to real work.

Learn about digital training ›

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

", "content_plain": "The gap between what technical teams know and what leadership hears From engineering and architecture to data, security, and IT, technical teams drive the innovation and infrastructure that businesses depend on. But when it’s time to present those decisions to executives or cross-functional stakeholders, something gets lost. Critical initiatives get deprioritized, approvals stall, and your best technical minds avoid presenting entirely because they can’t translate their expertise into messages that resonate. The gap isn’t technical competence. It’s communication. And it’s costing you resources, credibility, and strategic influence. The real cost of technical insights that don’t land When technical teams can’t communicate clearly to nontechnical stakeholders, critical investments in infrastructure, security, and innovation get rejected or delayed. Approvals stall, cross-functional alignment feels impossible, and talented technical professionals who can’t make their case to leadership eventually stop trying. The impact shows up everywhere: slower innovation, missed opportunities, and a widening gap between what technical experts know needs to happen and what actually gets prioritized. Related Content Evolution of the CIO and IT Function: How Storytelling has Helped IT Become More Effective, Influential, and Strategic For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human ...Continue Reading Technical presentation training that turns technical expertise into strategic influence Great technical work deserves to be understood, and storytelling is what makes that possible. We give technical teams a practical framework to translate complexity into clarity, structure insights around business outcomes, and communicate with confidence to any stakeholder group, without ever sacrificing technical accuracy. Our technical presentation training arms teams across engineering, IT, architecture, data, and security with a repeatable business process rooted in storytelling that works at every level of the organization. A repeatable process drives repeatable results: faster approvals, stronger cross-functional relationships, and technical teams who command influence not just for what they know, but for how they communicate why it matters. Find the right solution for your technical team Our training is built to close the communication gaps holding your teams back. Explore what’s possible. For Organizations Culture change starts here Storytelling Learning Journey The Complete Picture: Our three-part practitioner training takes teams through the full arc of business storytelling, from organizing ideas into audience-centric narratives, to bringing that story to life visually, to turning data into compelling insights. Each workshop flows from one to the next, with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and create lasting behavior change. Ideal for: Teams and organizations ready to build a shared storytelling language and culture Learning Outcomes Story Strategy: Organize your ideas and data into a meaningful narrative Visual Strategy: Bring your story to life with clear, intentional visuals Data Strategy: Turn facts and figures into easy-to-scan data visualizations half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Story strategy Crafting Strategic Visual Stories The Foundation: Give your team a proven framework for structuring narratives that engage, persuade, and stick. They’ll gain practical skills, increased confidence, and a clear action plan for applying business storytelling to their everyday communications. Ideal for: Teams who need to transform ideas and data into compelling, audience-centric stories that persuade and drive action Learning Outcomes Apply a simple, repeatable storytelling framework to organize ideas and data strategically Craft compelling BIG Ideas that prioritize audience needs over presenter-focused content Flex stories to adapt to common scenarios: executives with limited time, high-stakes emails, strict slide constraints half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Visual strategy Influencing with Visuals Design Meets Strategy: Bad slides kill good ideas. This workshop is geared to those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals. Ideal for: Anyone who needs to uplevel their ability to communicate ideas visually Learning Outcomes Discover and apply the elements of effective visual strategy Use interactive tools to lay out the narrative and visual flow of your story Apply basic design principles to transform slides into clear visuals that inspire action half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Data strategy Presenting Data Visually Data as a Differentiator: Make your data impossible to ignore by wrapping it in a story that’s easy to scan, digest, and act on. This workshop arms teams with data storytelling best practices to help communicate meaningfully with data. Ideal for: Anyone who needs to communicate data insights with clarity, whether you’re a data expert or occasional data presenter Learning Outcomes Humanize data by identifying what your audience needs to know or do with it Transform cluttered charts and tables into concise and compelling data visualizations Use clever design techniques to elevate your data story half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › Learning formats designed to meet teams where they are In-person In-person workshops bring teams together for an immersive, high-engagement learning experience, guided by expert instructors and grounded in real-world application. Learn about in-person training › Virtual instructor-led All the engagement of in-person training, in a live, interactive format designed for distributed teams who need flexibility without compromising the learning experience. Learn about virtual training › Digital on-demand Self-paced, online courses deliver an immersive, high-engagement learning experience that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, with tools that can be immediately applied to real work. Learn about digital training › Want to learn more? Let’s chat.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/iStock-2187596750.webp", "modified": "2026-05-29T09:14:58-05:00" }, { "id": 11976, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/who-we-serve/sales-presentation-training/", "title": "Customer-Facing Leaders", "h1": "Customer-Facing Leaders", "summary": "When presentations don't land, deals don't close. We equip customer-facing teams with the corporate storytelling skills to build consultative relationships and win more business.", "content": "

The gap between your strategy and revenue results

Client-facing teams carry a unique burden. They represent their organization and their client’s interests at the same time. They have to know their audience better than the audience knows themselves. And they have to make complex information land clearly with someone who has limited time and competing priorities.

To meet this high bar, you’ve invested in the right people, the right product, and the right value proposition. But when it’s time to present, whether it’s a discovery call, a business review, or a high-stakes proposal, something gets lost. Features replace storytelling, generic decks fail to resonate, differentiation disappears, and opportunities you should be winning go to competitors who simply told a better story. The gap isn’t knowledge. It’s communication. And it’s costing you.

The real cost of not connecting with customers

When customer-facing teams can’t tell a compelling story, they’re seen as a vendor, not a partner. Trust erodes, relationships stay transactional, and the case for change is never clear enough to act on.

Resource Link

The Sales Communication Scorecard: Assess Your Team’s Revenue-Driving Capabilities [asset not yet published, in progress]

Sales presentation training that transforms how teams connect, persuade, and drive decisions

A successful sales cycle involves multiple client-facing functions, each playing a distinct role. Sales makes the case to buy. Pre-sale proves the solution fits. Category management turns data into a recommendation. Account management builds the case for renewal or growth. No matter the role, every customer interaction is an opportunity to build trust, demonstrate unique value, and drive decisions.

The skill that ties client-facing roles together is the ability to tell a clear, compelling story. Whether you’re prospecting, deepening accounts, winning shelf space, or proving ROI in the room, a storytelling framework is what ensures your expertise lands.

We give customer-facing teams a practical framework to structure consultative narratives, adapt messaging for any stakeholder, and communicate differentiation that wins more business. Our sales presentation training arms teams with a repeatable process that works across every client interaction. A repeatable process drives repeatable results: stronger client relationships, faster decisions, and conversations that consistently move business forward.

Turn your sales kickoff into a competitive advantage

A great SKO inspires teams and creates momentum. TPC builds the communication skills that carry the impact forward.

Learn more
\"sales

Find the right solution for your customer-facing team

Our training is built to close the communication gaps holding your teams back. Explore what’s possible.

For Organizations Culture change starts here

Storytelling Learning Journey

The Complete Picture: Our three-part practitioner training takes teams through the full arc of business storytelling, from organizing ideas into audience-centric narratives, to bringing that story to life visually, to turning data into compelling insights. Each workshop flows from one to the next, with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and create lasting behavior change.

Ideal for: Teams and organizations ready to build a shared storytelling language and culture

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Story strategy

Crafting Strategic Visual Stories

The Foundation: Give your team a proven framework for structuring narratives that engage, persuade, and stick. They’ll gain practical skills, increased confidence, and a clear action plan for applying business storytelling to their everyday communications.

Ideal for: Teams who need to transform ideas and data into compelling, audience-centric stories that persuade and drive action

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Visual strategy

Influencing with Visuals

Design Meets Strategy: Bad slides kill good ideas. This workshop is geared to those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals.

Ideal for: Anyone who needs to uplevel their ability to communicate ideas visually

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Data strategy

Presenting Data Visually

Data as a Differentiator: Make your data impossible to ignore by wrapping it in a story that’s easy to scan, digest, and act on. This workshop arms teams with data storytelling best practices to help communicate meaningfully with data.

Ideal for: Anyone who needs to communicate data insights with clarity, whether you’re a data expert or occasional data presenter

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›

Learning formats designed to meet teams where they are

\"In-person\"

In-person

In-person workshops bring teams together for an immersive, high-engagement learning experience, guided by expert instructors and grounded in real-world application.

Learn about in-person training ›

\"In-person\"

Virtual instructor-led

All the engagement of in-person training, in a live, interactive format designed for distributed teams who need flexibility without compromising the learning experience.

Learn about virtual training ›

\"Digital

Digital on-demand

Self-paced, online courses deliver an immersive, high-engagement learning experience that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, with tools that can be immediately applied to real work.

Learn about digital training ›

I’ve seen so many powerful ideas get lost behind a spaghetti pile of data, decks, and emails.”

– Customer, Global Consumer Goods Company

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

", "content_plain": "The gap between your strategy and revenue results Client-facing teams carry a unique burden. They represent their organization and their client’s interests at the same time. They have to know their audience better than the audience knows themselves. And they have to make complex information land clearly with someone who has limited time and competing priorities. To meet this high bar, you’ve invested in the right people, the right product, and the right value proposition. But when it’s time to present, whether it’s a discovery call, a business review, or a high-stakes proposal, something gets lost. Features replace storytelling, generic decks fail to resonate, differentiation disappears, and opportunities you should be winning go to competitors who simply told a better story. The gap isn’t knowledge. It’s communication. And it’s costing you. The real cost of not connecting with customers When customer-facing teams can’t tell a compelling story, they’re seen as a vendor, not a partner. Trust erodes, relationships stay transactional, and the case for change is never clear enough to act on. Resource Link The Sales Communication Scorecard: Assess Your Team’s Revenue-Driving Capabilities [asset not yet published, in progress] Sales presentation training that transforms how teams connect, persuade, and drive decisions A successful sales cycle involves multiple client-facing functions, each playing a distinct role. Sales makes the case to buy. Pre-sale proves the solution fits. Category management turns data into a recommendation. Account management builds the case for renewal or growth. No matter the role, every customer interaction is an opportunity to build trust, demonstrate unique value, and drive decisions. The skill that ties client-facing roles together is the ability to tell a clear, compelling story. Whether you’re prospecting, deepening accounts, winning shelf space, or proving ROI in the room, a storytelling framework is what ensures your expertise lands. We give customer-facing teams a practical framework to structure consultative narratives, adapt messaging for any stakeholder, and communicate differentiation that wins more business. Our sales presentation training arms teams with a repeatable process that works across every client interaction. A repeatable process drives repeatable results: stronger client relationships, faster decisions, and conversations that consistently move business forward. Turn your sales kickoff into a competitive advantage A great SKO inspires teams and creates momentum. TPC builds the communication skills that carry the impact forward. Learn more Find the right solution for your customer-facing team Our training is built to close the communication gaps holding your teams back. Explore what’s possible. For Organizations Culture change starts here Storytelling Learning Journey The Complete Picture: Our three-part practitioner training takes teams through the full arc of business storytelling, from organizing ideas into audience-centric narratives, to bringing that story to life visually, to turning data into compelling insights. Each workshop flows from one to the next, with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and create lasting behavior change. Ideal for: Teams and organizations ready to build a shared storytelling language and culture Learning Outcomes Story Strategy: Organize your ideas and data into a meaningful narrative Visual Strategy: Bring your story to life with clear, intentional visuals Data Strategy: Turn facts and figures into easy-to-scan data visualizations half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Story strategy Crafting Strategic Visual Stories The Foundation: Give your team a proven framework for structuring narratives that engage, persuade, and stick. They’ll gain practical skills, increased confidence, and a clear action plan for applying business storytelling to their everyday communications. Ideal for: Teams who need to transform ideas and data into compelling, audience-centric stories that persuade and drive action Learning Outcomes Apply a simple, repeatable storytelling framework to organize ideas and data strategically Craft compelling BIG Ideas that prioritize audience needs over presenter-focused content Flex stories to adapt to common scenarios: executives with limited time, high-stakes emails, strict slide constraints half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Visual strategy Influencing with Visuals Design Meets Strategy: Bad slides kill good ideas. This workshop is geared to those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals. Ideal for: Anyone who needs to uplevel their ability to communicate ideas visually Learning Outcomes Discover and apply the elements of effective visual strategy Use interactive tools to lay out the narrative and visual flow of your story Apply basic design principles to transform slides into clear visuals that inspire action half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Data strategy Presenting Data Visually Data as a Differentiator: Make your data impossible to ignore by wrapping it in a story that’s easy to scan, digest, and act on. This workshop arms teams with data storytelling best practices to help communicate meaningfully with data. Ideal for: Anyone who needs to communicate data insights with clarity, whether you’re a data expert or occasional data presenter Learning Outcomes Humanize data by identifying what your audience needs to know or do with it Transform cluttered charts and tables into concise and compelling data visualizations Use clever design techniques to elevate your data story half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › Learning formats designed to meet teams where they are In-person In-person workshops bring teams together for an immersive, high-engagement learning experience, guided by expert instructors and grounded in real-world application. Learn about in-person training › Virtual instructor-led All the engagement of in-person training, in a live, interactive format designed for distributed teams who need flexibility without compromising the learning experience. Learn about virtual training › Digital on-demand Self-paced, online courses deliver an immersive, high-engagement learning experience that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, with tools that can be immediately applied to real work. Learn about digital training › I’ve seen so many powerful ideas get lost behind a spaghetti pile of data, decks, and emails.” – Customer, Global Consumer Goods Company Want to learn more? Let’s chat.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/iStock-2162645349-scaled.webp", "modified": "2026-05-28T14:58:33-05:00" }, { "id": 11921, "type": "formats", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/communications-training/learning-formats/presentation-skills-training-online/", "title": "Digital On-Demand Training", "h1": "Digital On-Demand Training", "summary": "Learning on your own terms has never been easier. Our digital, on-demand courses give teams the flexibility to build practical skills without scheduling constraints. Rich with engaging videos, short exercises, and case studies, every course is designed to let participants move at their own pace and revisit key ideas whenever they need them.", "content": "

Practical skills, on your schedule

Our digital, on-demand courses give busy professionals the flexibility to build critical communication skills anytime, anywhere, on any device. No scheduling constraints, no travel, no waiting for the next available session. Work through engaging videos, interactive knowledge checks, and real-world case studies at your own pace, revisit key concepts often, and apply what you learn immediately.

Get Started

What to expect in our on-demand training

We offer the following courses in a digital, on-demand format: Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, Influencing with Visuals, Presenting Data Visually and Business Storytelling Fundamentals. 

Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, Influencing with Visuals, and Presenting Data Visually are available for organizations and individual learners, with each course taking 3–5 hours to complete. Business Storytelling Fundamentals is available exclusively for organizations, designed for teams of 100 or more participants, and can be completed in just one hour.

Here’s what every digital, on-demand course includes:

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

", "content_plain": "Practical skills, on your schedule Our digital, on-demand courses give busy professionals the flexibility to build critical communication skills anytime, anywhere, on any device. No scheduling constraints, no travel, no waiting for the next available session. Work through engaging videos, interactive knowledge checks, and real-world case studies at your own pace, revisit key concepts often, and apply what you learn immediately. Get Started What to expect in our on-demand training We offer the following courses in a digital, on-demand format: Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, Influencing with Visuals, Presenting Data Visually and Business Storytelling Fundamentals. Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, Influencing with Visuals, and Presenting Data Visually are available for organizations and individual learners, with each course taking 3–5 hours to complete. Business Storytelling Fundamentals is available exclusively for organizations, designed for teams of 100 or more participants, and can be completed in just one hour. Here’s what every digital, on-demand course includes: Bite-sized video lessons and real-world case studies that bring concepts to life Interactive knowledge checks and hands-on assignments to practice new skills Bonus content and resources to reinforce and extend the learnings beyond the course Want to learn more? Let’s chat.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/iStock-1469802883.webp", "modified": "2026-05-27T16:39:23-05:00" }, { "id": 11917, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/communications-training/learning-modalities/", "title": "Learning Formats", "h1": "Learning Formats", "summary": "Training should fit the way real people work, not the other way around. We offer flexible delivery options — from in-person and virtual, instructor-led training to digital, on-demand training — so teams can build high-impact communications skills wherever they are and however they work.", "content": "\"presentation

In-Person Training

Worried about wasting a day in training? Not with us. Participants bring real work, get expert feedback, and leave with skills they can apply immediately. Expect hands-on collaboration, real-time iteration, and peer-to-peer coaching.

Read more\"virtual

Virtual Instructor-Led Training

This isn’t another Zoom meeting. Our virtual instructor-led training is purpose-built for online delivery, with live expert instruction that encourages two-way dialogue. Features like polling, breakout rooms, whiteboarding, and chat make every session truly interactive and keep teams engaged.

Read more\"presentation

Digital On-Demand Training

Learning on your own terms has never been easier. Our digital, on-demand courses give teams the flexibility to build practical skills without scheduling constraints. Rich with engaging videos, short exercises, and case studies, every course is designed to let participants move at their own pace and revisit key ideas whenever they need them.

Read more", "content_plain": "In-Person TrainingWorried about wasting a day in training? Not with us. Participants bring real work, get expert feedback, and leave with skills they can apply immediately. Expect hands-on collaboration, real-time iteration, and peer-to-peer coaching. Read moreVirtual Instructor-Led TrainingThis isn’t another Zoom meeting. Our virtual instructor-led training is purpose-built for online delivery, with live expert instruction that encourages two-way dialogue. Features like polling, breakout rooms, whiteboarding, and chat make every session truly interactive and keep teams engaged. Read moreDigital On-Demand TrainingLearning on your own terms has never been easier. Our digital, on-demand courses give teams the flexibility to build practical skills without scheduling constraints. Rich with engaging videos, short exercises, and case studies, every course is designed to let participants move at their own pace and revisit key ideas whenever they need them. Read more", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/hero-iStock-1392016982.webp", "modified": "2026-05-28T10:14:06-05:00" }, { "id": 11907, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/who-we-serve/", "title": "Who We Serve", "h1": "Who We Serve", "summary": "", "content": "\"sales

Customer-Facing Leaders

When presentations don’t land, deals don’t close. We equip customer-facing teams with the corporate storytelling skills to build consultative relationships and win more business.

Read more\"technical

Technical Leaders

Your technical teams have the answers, but nontechnical stakeholders aren’t hearing them. We equip technical teams with the corporate storytelling skills to translate complexity into clarity and earn the buy-in they need.

Read more\"professional

Learning & Development Leaders

Communication skills are the multiplier that makes every other learning investment pay off. We give L&D leaders a corporate storytelling curriculum that embeds that capability across their entire talent pool.

Read more\"business

Functional Leaders

Internal teams drive the business forward, but without strong communication their insights get overlooked. We equip functional teams with the corporate storytelling skills to earn influence and get their strategic recommendations heard.

Read more\"employee

Customer Support Leaders

Customer support teams sit closest to the customer, but their insights rarely get heard. We equip frontline teams with the corporate storytelling skills to translate customer intelligence into strategic impact.

Read more
\"professional

Don’t see your team here?

Great communication matters in every function and at every level. Wherever your team fits, we have a corporate storytelling solution to meet your needs.

Let's Talk
", "content_plain": "Customer-Facing LeadersWhen presentations don’t land, deals don’t close. We equip customer-facing teams with the corporate storytelling skills to build consultative relationships and win more business. Read moreTechnical LeadersYour technical teams have the answers, but nontechnical stakeholders aren’t hearing them. We equip technical teams with the corporate storytelling skills to translate complexity into clarity and earn the buy-in they need. Read moreLearning & Development LeadersCommunication skills are the multiplier that makes every other learning investment pay off. We give L&D leaders a corporate storytelling curriculum that embeds that capability across their entire talent pool. Read moreFunctional LeadersInternal teams drive the business forward, but without strong communication their insights get overlooked. We equip functional teams with the corporate storytelling skills to earn influence and get their strategic recommendations heard. Read moreCustomer Support LeadersCustomer support teams sit closest to the customer, but their insights rarely get heard. We equip frontline teams with the corporate storytelling skills to translate customer intelligence into strategic impact. Read more Don’t see your team here? Great communication matters in every function and at every level. Wherever your team fits, we have a corporate storytelling solution to meet your needs. Let's Talk", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/iStock-1830166403.webp", "modified": "2026-05-28T10:21:45-05:00" }, { "id": 11903, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/communications-training/presentation-skills-courses/", "title": "For Individuals", "h1": "For Individuals", "summary": "Effective communication isn't a luxury; it's a necessity. The way you communicate shapes how your ideas are received, how your data is understood, and how far your career can go. Your ideas need to land, your data needs to tell a story, and your audience needs to walk away ready to act. The right communications training gets you there, helping you build the skills to communicate with clarity and confidence, accelerate your career, and elevate your influence.", "content": "

Build the storytelling skills that set you apart

Ideas are only as powerful as how they’re communicated. At The Presentation Company (TPC), we believe anyone can learn to tell a compelling business story, regardless of role, function, or experience level. Our presentation skills courses give you a practical framework for organizing ideas and data in ways that actually land.

Whether you’re looking to get your ideas heard in a meeting, make a recommendation to your boss, or show up more confidently in front of clients, our on-demand courses give you the storytelling skills to do it all on your own terms and at your own pace.

On-demand presentation skills courses for every communicator

We offer three self-paced, on-demand presentation skills courses that deliver the same proven methodology as our instructor-led workshops, with an engaging, interactive experience designed for the individual learner. Each course builds on the next as part of our complete learning journey.

For Individuals The skill set that sets you apart

Storytelling Learning Journey for Individuals

The Complete Picture: Our three-part practitioner training takes you through the full arc of business storytelling, from organizing ideas into audience-centric narratives, to bringing that story to life visually, to turning data into compelling insights. Each workshop flows from one to the next, with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and create lasting behavior change.

Ideal for: Any professional ready to build the complete storytelling skill set that drives clarity, confidence, and career growth

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Individuals Story strategy

Crafting Strategic Visual Stories

The Foundation: Get a proven framework for structuring narratives that engage, persuade, and stick. You’ll gain practical skills, increased confidence, and a clear action plan for applying business storytelling to their everyday communications.

Ideal for: Anyone who churns out presentations, emails, and one-pagers or leads meetings and needs every communication to persuade and drive action

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Individuals Visual strategy

Influencing with Visuals

Design Meets Strategy: Bad slides kill good ideas. This course is designed for those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals.

Ideal for: Anyone who needs the skills and confidence to ensure every visual is chosen purposefully to earn its place in the story

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Individuals Data strategy

Presenting Data Visually

Data as a Differentiator: Make your data impossible to ignore by wrapping it in a story that’s easy to scan, digest, and act on. This course arms you with data storytelling best practices to help you communicate meaningfully with data.

Ideal for: Anyone who needs to cut through the noise and tame the impulse to data dump, whether you’re a data expert or occasional data presenter

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
", "content_plain": "Build the storytelling skills that set you apart Ideas are only as powerful as how they’re communicated. At The Presentation Company (TPC), we believe anyone can learn to tell a compelling business story, regardless of role, function, or experience level. Our presentation skills courses give you a practical framework for organizing ideas and data in ways that actually land. Whether you’re looking to get your ideas heard in a meeting, make a recommendation to your boss, or show up more confidently in front of clients, our on-demand courses give you the storytelling skills to do it all on your own terms and at your own pace. On-demand presentation skills courses for every communicator We offer three self-paced, on-demand presentation skills courses that deliver the same proven methodology as our instructor-led workshops, with an engaging, interactive experience designed for the individual learner. Each course builds on the next as part of our complete learning journey. For Individuals The skill set that sets you apart Storytelling Learning Journey for Individuals The Complete Picture: Our three-part practitioner training takes you through the full arc of business storytelling, from organizing ideas into audience-centric narratives, to bringing that story to life visually, to turning data into compelling insights. Each workshop flows from one to the next, with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and create lasting behavior change. Ideal for: Any professional ready to build the complete storytelling skill set that drives clarity, confidence, and career growth Learning Outcomes Story Strategy: Organize your ideas and data into a meaningful narrative Visual Strategy: Bring your story to life with clear, intentional visuals Data Strategy: Turn facts and figures into easy-to-scan data visualizations 3-5 hours self-paced, on-demand 12 months Explore More › For Individuals Story strategy Crafting Strategic Visual Stories The Foundation: Get a proven framework for structuring narratives that engage, persuade, and stick. You’ll gain practical skills, increased confidence, and a clear action plan for applying business storytelling to their everyday communications. Ideal for: Anyone who churns out presentations, emails, and one-pagers or leads meetings and needs every communication to persuade and drive action Learning Outcomes Apply a simple, repeatable storytelling framework to organize ideas and data strategically Craft compelling BIG Ideas that prioritize audience needs over presenter-focused content Flex stories to adapt to common scenarios: executives with limited time, high-stakes emails, strict slide constraints 3-5 hours self-paced, on-demand 6 Months Explore More › For Individuals Visual strategy Influencing with Visuals Design Meets Strategy: Bad slides kill good ideas. This course is designed for those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals. Ideal for: Anyone who needs the skills and confidence to ensure every visual is chosen purposefully to earn its place in the story Learning Outcomes Discover and apply the elements of effective visual strategy Use interactive tools to lay out the narrative and visual flow of your story Apply basic design principles to transform slides into clear visuals that inspire action 3-5 Hours self-paced, on-demand 6 months Explore More › For Individuals Data strategy Presenting Data Visually Data as a Differentiator: Make your data impossible to ignore by wrapping it in a story that’s easy to scan, digest, and act on. This course arms you with data storytelling best practices to help you communicate meaningfully with data. Ideal for: Anyone who needs to cut through the noise and tame the impulse to data dump, whether you’re a data expert or occasional data presenter Learning Outcomes Humanize data by identifying what your audience needs to know or do with it Transform cluttered charts and tables into concise and compelling data visualizations Use clever design techniques to elevate your data story 3-5 hours self-paced, on-demand 6 months Explore More ›", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/hero-iStock-1299849134.webp", "modified": "2026-05-28T11:01:23-05:00" }, { "id": 11896, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/communications-training/", "title": "Training", "h1": "Training", "summary": "", "content": "

Storytelling for Your Entire Organization

Storytelling is a team sport. Every role and function contributes to your organization’s success, which means effective communication is everyone’s job. The right communications training builds cross-functional alignment, strengthens collaboration, and gives every team a shared language and framework for transforming everyday business communications into compelling stories. The goal? To build a culture of storytelling from the inside out, one where everyone has the skills to transform ideas and data into actionable narratives that move business forward.

Explore Training for Organizations

Storytelling for You

Effective communication isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity. The way you communicate shapes how your ideas are received, how your data is understood, and how far your career can go. Your ideas need to land, your data needs to tell a story, and your audience needs to walk away ready to act. The right communications training gets you there, helping you build the skills to communicate with clarity and confidence, accelerate your career, and elevate your influence.

Explore Training for Individuals

Communications Training the Way You Need It

Training should fit the way real people work, not the other way around. We offer flexible delivery options — from in-person and virtual, instructor-led training to digital, on-demand training — so teams can build high-impact communications skills wherever they are and however they work.

Explore Learning Formats
", "content_plain": "Storytelling for Your Entire Organization Storytelling is a team sport. Every role and function contributes to your organization’s success, which means effective communication is everyone’s job. The right communications training builds cross-functional alignment, strengthens collaboration, and gives every team a shared language and framework for transforming everyday business communications into compelling stories. The goal? To build a culture of storytelling from the inside out, one where everyone has the skills to transform ideas and data into actionable narratives that move business forward. Explore Training for Organizations Storytelling for You Effective communication isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity. The way you communicate shapes how your ideas are received, how your data is understood, and how far your career can go. Your ideas need to land, your data needs to tell a story, and your audience needs to walk away ready to act. The right communications training gets you there, helping you build the skills to communicate with clarity and confidence, accelerate your career, and elevate your influence. Explore Training for Individuals Communications Training the Way You Need It Training should fit the way real people work, not the other way around. We offer flexible delivery options — from in-person and virtual, instructor-led training to digital, on-demand training — so teams can build high-impact communications skills wherever they are and however they work. Explore Learning Formats", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/hero-iStock-1189302672.webp", "modified": "2026-05-28T07:21:57-05:00" }, { "id": 11831, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/csvs-activity/", "title": "Protected: Crafting Strategic Visual Stories Activity Resources", "h1": "Protected: Crafting Strategic Visual Stories Activity Resources", "summary": "There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.", "content": "
\"\"

Fillable PDF of Weak vs. Strong Visual Story Planner

Quantum Airlines

Download now

Harmony Health

Download now", "content_plain": "Fillable PDF of Weak vs. Strong Visual Story Planner Quantum Airlines Download now Harmony Health Download now", "image": false, "modified": "2026-03-20T12:13:29-05:00" }, { "id": 11683, "type": "individuals", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/communications-training/presentation-skills-courses/business-storytelling-training/", "title": "Storytelling Learning Journey for Individuals", "h1": "Storytelling Learning Journey for Individuals", "summary": "Elevate your impact with TPC's professional communications skills training. Master story, visual, and data strategy to influence decisions and advance your career.", "content": "

Elevate your influence, maximize your impact, and accelerate your career

Everyone recognizes a powerful story when they hear one. Yet at work, most of us fall into familiar traps: messages that miss the mark, data that overwhelms, and visuals that distract. The result? Missed opportunities to influence decisions, build credibility, and demonstrate your value to the business.

Here at The Presentation Company (TPC), we believe effective communication isn’t reserved for natural-born presenters; it’s a skill anyone can develop. For over two decades, we’ve trained thousands of professionals at the world’s top companies, and we’re bringing that same proven methodology to you.

Our 3-part digital learning journey brings storytelling to life through the lens of story strategy, visual strategy, and data strategy. Whether you’re an individual contributor, aspiring leader, or seasoned executive, you’ll gain a competitive edge: the ability to communicate your ideas and data with clarity and confidence.

Start my journey

Why invest in professional communications skills training

Influence decisions and outcomes with narratives that command attention and drive action

Build professional confidence and executive presence through a practical, repeatable framework you can apply to any business scenario

Accelerate your career trajectory by developing communication skills that set you apart

Collaborate more effectively with cross-functional teams through a common language and shared communication process

Save time and reduce stress with proven tools and templates that streamline your workflow 

Earn certifications to showcase your expertise and commitment to communication excellence

Our learning journey at a glance

Our self-paced curriculum is designed to flow from one course to the next, with skills, tools, and coaching tips that build upon each other. These learnings travel with you on the journey and beyond, well into your career.

\"business

A closer look at our 3-part learning journey

The journey consists of three digital, on-demand courses — Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, Influencing with Visuals, and Presenting Data Visually — together giving you a complete storytelling skill set.

For Individuals Story strategy

Crafting Strategic Visual Stories

The Foundation: Get a proven framework for structuring narratives that engage, persuade, and stick. You’ll gain practical skills, increased confidence, and a clear action plan for applying business storytelling to their everyday communications.

Ideal for: Anyone who churns out presentations, emails, and one-pagers or leads meetings and needs every communication to persuade and drive action

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Individuals Visual strategy

Influencing with Visuals

Design Meets Strategy: Bad slides kill good ideas. This course is designed for those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals.

Ideal for: Anyone who needs the skills and confidence to ensure every visual is chosen purposefully to earn its place in the story

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Individuals Data strategy

Presenting Data Visually

Data as a Differentiator: Make your data impossible to ignore by wrapping it in a story that’s easy to scan, digest, and act on. This course arms you with data storytelling best practices to help you communicate meaningfully with data.

Ideal for: Anyone who needs to cut through the noise and tame the impulse to data dump, whether you’re a data expert or occasional data presenter

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›

Our learning journey delivers real impact

Designed for immediate application

Not a “one and done” learning event

Cutting-edge visual learning experience

Skills you’ll develop throughout the journey

See it in action: from data dump to strategic story

Here’s an example of what happened when our professional communications skills training was applied to a real client presentation. The result was a dramatic improvement in clarity, focus, and impact.

\"After
\"After

Ready to transform how you communicate?

Don’t let poor communication skills hold you back from the career advancement you deserve. Join thousands of professionals who have elevated their impact through our professional communications skills training. Start your learning journey today.

Enroll Now
\"professional
", "content_plain": "Elevate your influence, maximize your impact, and accelerate your career Everyone recognizes a powerful story when they hear one. Yet at work, most of us fall into familiar traps: messages that miss the mark, data that overwhelms, and visuals that distract. The result? Missed opportunities to influence decisions, build credibility, and demonstrate your value to the business. Here at The Presentation Company (TPC), we believe effective communication isn’t reserved for natural-born presenters; it’s a skill anyone can develop. For over two decades, we’ve trained thousands of professionals at the world’s top companies, and we’re bringing that same proven methodology to you. Our 3-part digital learning journey brings storytelling to life through the lens of story strategy, visual strategy, and data strategy. Whether you’re an individual contributor, aspiring leader, or seasoned executive, you’ll gain a competitive edge: the ability to communicate your ideas and data with clarity and confidence. Start my journey Why invest in professional communications skills training Influence decisions and outcomes with narratives that command attention and drive action Build professional confidence and executive presence through a practical, repeatable framework you can apply to any business scenario Accelerate your career trajectory by developing communication skills that set you apart Collaborate more effectively with cross-functional teams through a common language and shared communication process Save time and reduce stress with proven tools and templates that streamline your workflow Earn certifications to showcase your expertise and commitment to communication excellence Our learning journey at a glance Our self-paced curriculum is designed to flow from one course to the next, with skills, tools, and coaching tips that build upon each other. These learnings travel with you on the journey and beyond, well into your career. A closer look at our 3-part learning journey The journey consists of three digital, on-demand courses — Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, Influencing with Visuals, and Presenting Data Visually — together giving you a complete storytelling skill set. For Individuals Story strategy Crafting Strategic Visual Stories The Foundation: Get a proven framework for structuring narratives that engage, persuade, and stick. You’ll gain practical skills, increased confidence, and a clear action plan for applying business storytelling to their everyday communications. Ideal for: Anyone who churns out presentations, emails, and one-pagers or leads meetings and needs every communication to persuade and drive action Learning Outcomes Apply a simple, repeatable storytelling framework to organize ideas and data strategically Craft compelling BIG Ideas that prioritize audience needs over presenter-focused content Flex stories to adapt to common scenarios: executives with limited time, high-stakes emails, strict slide constraints 3-5 hours self-paced, on-demand 6 Months Explore More › For Individuals Visual strategy Influencing with Visuals Design Meets Strategy: Bad slides kill good ideas. This course is designed for those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals. Ideal for: Anyone who needs the skills and confidence to ensure every visual is chosen purposefully to earn its place in the story Learning Outcomes Discover and apply the elements of effective visual strategy Use interactive tools to lay out the narrative and visual flow of your story Apply basic design principles to transform slides into clear visuals that inspire action 3-5 Hours self-paced, on-demand 6 months Explore More › For Individuals Data strategy Presenting Data Visually Data as a Differentiator: Make your data impossible to ignore by wrapping it in a story that’s easy to scan, digest, and act on. This course arms you with data storytelling best practices to help you communicate meaningfully with data. Ideal for: Anyone who needs to cut through the noise and tame the impulse to data dump, whether you’re a data expert or occasional data presenter Learning Outcomes Humanize data by identifying what your audience needs to know or do with it Transform cluttered charts and tables into concise and compelling data visualizations Use clever design techniques to elevate your data story 3-5 hours self-paced, on-demand 6 months Explore More › Our learning journey delivers real impact Designed for immediate application Transform your own communications (presentations, emails, or reports) in real time Connect learning to real-world scenarios through practical toolkits and case studies Build confidence through hands-on practice with tools and templates Not a “one and done” learning event Access concepts and tools when you need them in the flow of work Revisit content for continuous reinforcement long after course completion Deepen your understanding with coaching moments sprinkled throughout Cutting-edge visual learning experience Easily scan and navigate highly visual content with clear learning objectives and intuitive flow Learn from expert instructors through engaging video lessons See transformations through before and after examples that showcase real business scenarios Skills you’ll develop throughout the journey Bring clarity and meaning to complex ideas and data Put your audience’s needs at the center of every communication Craft a BIG Idea that tells your audience the one thing they should know or do Flex to any audience or scenario to be situationally fluent Cleverly use visuals to influence decision-making and buy-in Transform cluttered charts and tables into clear, compelling data visualizations See it in action: from data dump to strategic story Here’s an example of what happened when our professional communications skills training was applied to a real client presentation. The result was a dramatic improvement in clarity, focus, and impact. Ready to transform how you communicate? Don’t let poor communication skills hold you back from the career advancement you deserve. Join thousands of professionals who have elevated their impact through our professional communications skills training. Start your learning journey today. Enroll Now", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/iStock-1307615661.webp", "modified": "2026-05-28T11:02:53-05:00" }, { "id": 10008, "type": "individuals", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/communications-training/presentation-skills-courses/communication-skills-training/", "title": "Crafting Strategic Visual Stories", "h1": "Crafting Strategic Visual Stories", "summary": "", "content": "

Create, simplify, and adapt a story strategy for any audience

Great business communications don’t just inform; they connect. You have the ideas and the data. But that sweet spot between logic and emotion? That’s where decisions get made. When a message misses the mark, it’s rarely a knowledge problem. It’s a communication problem, and that’s a skill anyone can develop.

Crafting Strategic Visual Stories introduces a simple, repeatable storytelling framework for transforming any business communication into a compelling narrative. The result? Messages that resonate, persuade, and drive decisions forward.

Get Started
\"business

The case for business storytelling training

Science backs it up: people are 22x more likely to remember something when it’s wrapped in a story. But most business professionals skip the story and lead with a data dump, which means their audience tunes out, asks too many questions, or worse, decides not to act.

What you need is a practical framework that takes the guesswork out of every communication you create, whether it’s a presentation, email, proposal, or one-pager.

That’s exactly what our business storytelling training delivers: a proven method that transforms the way you communicate at work.

\"csvs

You’ll learn how to

\"visual

Build stories that persuade

Apply a repeatable storytelling framework to transform presentations, emails, 1-pagers, and more into actionable narratives.

\"Map

Walk in your audience’s shoes

Put your audience at the center of every story, identifying who they are and what matters to them most.

\"Maximize

Craft a BIG Idea

Distill your messages into a single, powerful BIG Idea that tells your audience exactly what you want them to know or do.

\"Jumpstart

Flex for any scenario

Adapt your story to fit the constraints of the moment, from tight timelines and strict slide limits to a room full of competing agendas.

\"Pressure

Boost your executive presence

Demonstrate control and mastery of your story. Build the confidence to capture attention, field questions, and drive conversations forward.

What to expect

This business storytelling training is built for busy professionals. It’s self-paced, on-demand, and designed to fit into your real work life. Watch bite-sized videos, complete hands-on activities, and practice on a real communication you’re working on right now.

The Crafting Strategic Visual Stories digital course runs across nine modules and takes approximately 3 to 5 hours to complete. We recommend finishing it within two weeks to keep momentum, but it’s fully flexible so go at whatever pace works for you.

You’ll learn from senior instructors with decades of real-world experience working with companies like T-Mobile, Medtronic, and Colgate-Palmolive. You’ll also hear from Cole, our AI teaching assistant, who brings a fresh voice to select modules.

When you finish, you’ll earn your Certified Storyteller digital badge to showcase on LinkedIn.

\"certified

What’s included

\"csvs

What our participants say

“The videos were outstanding!”

“The examples of the re-designed presentations were excellent!”

“The story language prompts will be hanging on my bulletin board for sure!”

Get Started

Ready to transform how you communicate? Enroll in Crafting Strategic Visual Stories and start your storytelling journey today!

6-month course access: $599 USD

Enroll Now

Want to build the complete storytelling skill set? Bundle Crafting Strategic Visual Stories with our other on-demand courses at a discounted rate. Explore Bundles ›

\"business

FAQs

What should I expect during checkout?

To enroll in Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, you’ll need to create a Eurekos account before checkout. You’ll receive guided messages along the way, including your payment receipt, a course welcome, and complimentary access to your copy of Everyday Business Storytelling.

Tip! To ensure messages are received, add these email addresses to your safe senders list: on-demand@presentation-company.com help@presentation-company.com

How do I best prepare for the course?

Think of a topic for an upcoming (or past) presentation or communication, such as an email, one-pager, blog, or slides. You’ll have an opportunity to work or rework it using our storytelling framework. Note: you don’t need a presentation deck. A topic for your story is all you need.

Do I need to read Everyday Business Storytelling before the course begins?

It’s your choice! You’re welcome to read the book before the course begins to preview the concepts, during the course as reference material, or after the course as reinforcement. Think of it as bonus material, not a prerequisite.

Does my time zone matter?

This course is 100% online and self-paced, so you can take it from any time zone, anywhere in the world.

What are the technical requirements for accessing my course?

This course is hosted on our learning platform provider, Eurekos. Eurekos works well on any modern browser, including the latest versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. It has no specific computer or OS requirements and is fully compatible with mobile devices.

How do I earn a Certificate of Completion?

To earn your Certificate of Completion you can watch videos, take quizzes, or complete assignments – the choice is yours! At the end of the course, you’ll receive a congratulations email with your certificate of completion and a badge to showcase on LinkedIn.

What if I'd like to enroll my team?

We offer instructor-led and virtual instructor-led workshops for teams. Email us at inquiries@presentation-company.com to learn more.

What is the refund policy?

No refund will be issued after 7 days from the date of purchase or if the course link has been activated. A 20% restocking fee will be charged on all refund requests within 7 days of the purchase date and prior to activation of the course link. The restocking fee will be subtracted from the refund amount.

", "content_plain": "Create, simplify, and adapt a story strategy for any audience Great business communications don’t just inform; they connect. You have the ideas and the data. But that sweet spot between logic and emotion? That’s where decisions get made. When a message misses the mark, it’s rarely a knowledge problem. It’s a communication problem, and that’s a skill anyone can develop. Crafting Strategic Visual Stories introduces a simple, repeatable storytelling framework for transforming any business communication into a compelling narrative. The result? Messages that resonate, persuade, and drive decisions forward. Get Started The case for business storytelling training Science backs it up: people are 22x more likely to remember something when it’s wrapped in a story. But most business professionals skip the story and lead with a data dump, which means their audience tunes out, asks too many questions, or worse, decides not to act. What you need is a practical framework that takes the guesswork out of every communication you create, whether it’s a presentation, email, proposal, or one-pager. That’s exactly what our business storytelling training delivers: a proven method that transforms the way you communicate at work. You’ll learn how to Build stories that persuade Apply a repeatable storytelling framework to transform presentations, emails, 1-pagers, and more into actionable narratives. Walk in your audience’s shoes Put your audience at the center of every story, identifying who they are and what matters to them most. Craft a BIG Idea Distill your messages into a single, powerful BIG Idea that tells your audience exactly what you want them to know or do. Flex for any scenario Adapt your story to fit the constraints of the moment, from tight timelines and strict slide limits to a room full of competing agendas. Boost your executive presence Demonstrate control and mastery of your story. Build the confidence to capture attention, field questions, and drive conversations forward. What to expect This business storytelling training is built for busy professionals. It’s self-paced, on-demand, and designed to fit into your real work life. Watch bite-sized videos, complete hands-on activities, and practice on a real communication you’re working on right now. The Crafting Strategic Visual Stories digital course runs across nine modules and takes approximately 3 to 5 hours to complete. We recommend finishing it within two weeks to keep momentum, but it’s fully flexible so go at whatever pace works for you. You’ll learn from senior instructors with decades of real-world experience working with companies like T-Mobile, Medtronic, and Colgate-Palmolive. You’ll also hear from Cole, our AI teaching assistant, who brings a fresh voice to select modules. When you finish, you’ll earn your Certified Storyteller digital badge to showcase on LinkedIn. What’s included 20+ engaging instructional videos A practical storytelling toolkit, which includes hands-on tools like the Visual Story Planner™, StoryStarters™, StoryCoach™, and more Case studies showing exactly how to improve a presentation, email, and one-pager A copy of Everyday Business Storytelling, the best-selling companion book co-authored by TPC’s founders What our participants say “The videos were outstanding!” “The examples of the re-designed presentations were excellent!” “The story language prompts will be hanging on my bulletin board for sure!” Get Started Ready to transform how you communicate? Enroll in Crafting Strategic Visual Stories and start your storytelling journey today! 6-month course access: $599 USD Enroll Now Want to build the complete storytelling skill set? Bundle Crafting Strategic Visual Stories with our other on-demand courses at a discounted rate. Explore Bundles › FAQs What should I expect during checkout?To enroll in Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, you’ll need to create a Eurekos account before checkout. You’ll receive guided messages along the way, including your payment receipt, a course welcome, and complimentary access to your copy of Everyday Business Storytelling. Tip! To ensure messages are received, add these email addresses to your safe senders list: on-demand@presentation-company.com help@presentation-company.com How do I best prepare for the course?Think of a topic for an upcoming (or past) presentation or communication, such as an email, one-pager, blog, or slides. You’ll have an opportunity to work or rework it using our storytelling framework. Note: you don’t need a presentation deck. A topic for your story is all you need. Do I need to read Everyday Business Storytelling before the course begins?It’s your choice! You’re welcome to read the book before the course begins to preview the concepts, during the course as reference material, or after the course as reinforcement. Think of it as bonus material, not a prerequisite. Does my time zone matter?This course is 100% online and self-paced, so you can take it from any time zone, anywhere in the world. What are the technical requirements for accessing my course?This course is hosted on our learning platform provider, Eurekos. Eurekos works well on any modern browser, including the latest versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. It has no specific computer or OS requirements and is fully compatible with mobile devices. How do I earn a Certificate of Completion?To earn your Certificate of Completion you can watch videos, take quizzes, or complete assignments – the choice is yours! At the end of the course, you’ll receive a congratulations email with your certificate of completion and a badge to showcase on LinkedIn. What if I'd like to enroll my team?We offer instructor-led and virtual instructor-led workshops for teams. Email us at inquiries@presentation-company.com to learn more. What is the refund policy?No refund will be issued after 7 days from the date of purchase or if the course link has been activated. A 20% restocking fee will be charged on all refund requests within 7 days of the purchase date and prior to activation of the course link. The restocking fee will be subtracted from the refund amount.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/CSVS-for-individuals.webp", "modified": "2026-05-28T13:22:12-05:00" }, { "id": 11637, "type": "individuals", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/communications-training/presentation-skills-courses/visual-storytelling-training/", "title": "Influencing with Visuals", "h1": "Influencing with Visuals", "summary": "", "content": "

Bring your ideas and data to life with a visual story strategy

You’ve done the hard work of developing your narrative. But when it’s time to build your presentation, something gets lost in translation. Too often, professionals grab a template and start picking visuals without a clear story driving those choices. The result? Presentations jammed with text, messages that are vague or confusing, and data that hits like an avalanche.

When visuals undermine rather than reinforce your message, your valuable work goes unrecognized, decision-making stalls, and your credibility takes a hit. In today’s workplace, that’s a risk your career can’t afford.

Influencing with Visuals gives you a practical visual story strategy that makes the critical connection between your story, your visuals, your data, and your audience, every time.

Get Started

The case for visual storytelling

The numbers are hard to ignore. According to molecular biologist John Medina, hear a piece of information and three days later you’ll remember 10% of it. Add a picture and you’ll remember 65%.

That’s the power of visual storytelling. But visuals alone aren’t enough. Without a clear narrative driving your visual choices, even the most beautifully designed presentation can fall flat. A story first, visuals second mindset is what separates communications that get remembered and acted on from those that get forgotten the moment the meeting ends.

\"visual

Before you begin

\"learning-journey\"

Crafting Strategic Visual Stories is a prerequisite for this course. Why? Because narrative and visuals are inseparable. This visual storytelling course is designed to pick up where Crafting Strategic Visual Stories leaves off, building directly on the narrative foundation you’ve already developed.

You’ll learn how to

\"visual

Build a tailored visual story strategy

Develop a visual approach that accounts for your audience’s unique characteristics, how they think, and what they need to see to ensure every visual choice is intentional.

\"Map

Map the narrative and visual flow

Lay out how your story and visuals work together before a single slide gets built, saving time and getting everyone on the same page quickly.

\"Maximize

Pressure test your story

Use guided coaching prompts to ensure your headlines and visuals are working hard before they reach key stakeholders.

\"Jumpstart

Maximize your visual impact

Apply basic design principles to transform text-heavy or data-dense slides into clear, compelling visuals that inspire action.

\"Pressure

Jumpstart your design thinking

Draw on real-world examples and visual inspiration to make creative, purposeful design decisions with confidence.

What to expect

This isn’t a passive learning experience. To get the most out of this course, come prepared with a completed Story Planner or 5 to 10 slides from a deck you’re currently working on. You’ll have the opportunity to map out your story or give your existing presentation a visual makeover, applying everything you learn to real work that matters to your career.

The Influencing with Visuals digital course runs across nine modules and takes approximately 3 to 5 hours to complete. We recommend finishing it within two weeks to keep momentum, but it’s fully flexible so go at whatever pace works for you.

You’ll learn from senior instructors with decades of real-world experience working with Fortune 500 companies. You’ll also hear from Hope and Cole, our AI teaching assistants, who bring a fresh voice to select modules.

When you finish, you’ll earn your Visual Communicator digital badge to showcase on LinkedIn.

\"Certified

What’s included

\"example

What our participants say

“This course gave me the confidence to present to senior leadership. I finally understand how to make my slides work for my story instead of against it.”

“The Visual Story Library alone is worth the investment. It’s like having a design coach right there with you as you build your presentation.”

“I used to dread building presentations. Now I have a repeatable process that saves me time and makes my communications significantly more effective.”

Get Started

Ready to bring your visual storytelling skills to the next level? Enroll in Influencing with Visuals and continue your storytelling journey today!

Please note: Crafting Strategic Visual Stories is a prerequisite for this course. The good news? You can bundle both courses together and save.

Enroll Now
\"visual

FAQs

Is Crafting Strategic Visual Stories really a prerequisite?

Yes. Influencing with Visuals builds directly on the narrative framework and concepts introduced in Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, so a solid story foundation is essential to getting the most out of your visual strategy training. 

I've already completed Crafting Strategic Visual Stories. Can I enroll in Influencing with Visuals on its own?

Absolutely! Reach out to us at inquiries@presentation-company.com and we’ll help you get started.

What should I expect during checkout?

To enroll in Influencing with Visuals, you’ll need to create a Eurekos account before checkout. You’ll receive guided messages along the way, including your payment receipt and a course welcome.

How do I best prepare for the course?

Come prepared with a completed Story Planner or 5 to 10 slides from a deck you’re currently working on. You’ll have the opportunity to map out your story or give your existing presentation a visual makeover.

Which presentation software does this course support?

This course will show you how to efficiently build visual stories in Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides. No matter which you use (or if you dabble in both), we’ve got you covered.

Does my time zone matter?

This course is 100% online and self-paced, so you can take it from any time zone, anywhere in the world.

What are the technical requirements for accessing my course?

This course is hosted on Eurekos, our learning platform. Eurekos works well on any modern browser, including the latest versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. It has no specific computer or OS requirements and is fully compatible with mobile devices.

How do I earn my Visual Communicator badge?

Complete the course and pass a short quiz to earn your Visual Communicator digital badge to showcase on LinkedIn.

What if I'd like to enroll my team?

We offer instructor-led and virtual instructor-led workshops for teams. Email us at inquiries@presentation-company.com to learn more.

What is the refund policy?

No refund will be issued after 7 days from the date of purchase or if the course link has been activated. A 20% restocking fee will be charged on all refund requests within 7 days of the purchase date and prior to activation of the course link. The restocking fee will be subtracted from the refund amount.

", "content_plain": "Bring your ideas and data to life with a visual story strategy You’ve done the hard work of developing your narrative. But when it’s time to build your presentation, something gets lost in translation. Too often, professionals grab a template and start picking visuals without a clear story driving those choices. The result? Presentations jammed with text, messages that are vague or confusing, and data that hits like an avalanche. When visuals undermine rather than reinforce your message, your valuable work goes unrecognized, decision-making stalls, and your credibility takes a hit. In today’s workplace, that’s a risk your career can’t afford. Influencing with Visuals gives you a practical visual story strategy that makes the critical connection between your story, your visuals, your data, and your audience, every time. Get Started The case for visual storytelling The numbers are hard to ignore. According to molecular biologist John Medina, hear a piece of information and three days later you’ll remember 10% of it. Add a picture and you’ll remember 65%. That’s the power of visual storytelling. But visuals alone aren’t enough. Without a clear narrative driving your visual choices, even the most beautifully designed presentation can fall flat. A story first, visuals second mindset is what separates communications that get remembered and acted on from those that get forgotten the moment the meeting ends. Before you begin Crafting Strategic Visual Stories is a prerequisite for this course. Why? Because narrative and visuals are inseparable. This visual storytelling course is designed to pick up where Crafting Strategic Visual Stories leaves off, building directly on the narrative foundation you’ve already developed. You’ll learn how to Build a tailored visual story strategy Develop a visual approach that accounts for your audience’s unique characteristics, how they think, and what they need to see to ensure every visual choice is intentional. Map the narrative and visual flow Lay out how your story and visuals work together before a single slide gets built, saving time and getting everyone on the same page quickly. Pressure test your story Use guided coaching prompts to ensure your headlines and visuals are working hard before they reach key stakeholders. Maximize your visual impact Apply basic design principles to transform text-heavy or data-dense slides into clear, compelling visuals that inspire action. Jumpstart your design thinking Draw on real-world examples and visual inspiration to make creative, purposeful design decisions with confidence. What to expect This isn’t a passive learning experience. To get the most out of this course, come prepared with a completed Story Planner or 5 to 10 slides from a deck you’re currently working on. You’ll have the opportunity to map out your story or give your existing presentation a visual makeover, applying everything you learn to real work that matters to your career. The Influencing with Visuals digital course runs across nine modules and takes approximately 3 to 5 hours to complete. We recommend finishing it within two weeks to keep momentum, but it’s fully flexible so go at whatever pace works for you. You’ll learn from senior instructors with decades of real-world experience working with Fortune 500 companies. You’ll also hear from Hope and Cole, our AI teaching assistants, who bring a fresh voice to select modules. When you finish, you’ll earn your Visual Communicator digital badge to showcase on LinkedIn. What’s included Bite-sized instructional videos featuring real-world examples and practical demonstrations A practical visual storytelling toolkit, which includes hands-on tools like the Visual StoryBuilder™, VisualCoach™, and more The Visual Story Library, a suite of 100+ beautifully designed slides that guide you through the storytelling signposts and provide inspiration, pro-tips, and coaching examples to jumpstart your design thinking Hands-on activities that help you apply visual strategy concepts to your own presentations Coaching moments sprinkled throughout to help you maintain a story first, visuals second mindset and pressure test your visual choices An interactive Story Lab where you’ll apply everything you’ve learned and share your work with peers for valuable feedback What our participants say “This course gave me the confidence to present to senior leadership. I finally understand how to make my slides work for my story instead of against it.” “The Visual Story Library alone is worth the investment. It’s like having a design coach right there with you as you build your presentation.” “I used to dread building presentations. Now I have a repeatable process that saves me time and makes my communications significantly more effective.” Get Started Ready to bring your visual storytelling skills to the next level? Enroll in Influencing with Visuals and continue your storytelling journey today! Please note: Crafting Strategic Visual Stories is a prerequisite for this course. The good news? You can bundle both courses together and save. Enroll Now FAQs Is Crafting Strategic Visual Stories really a prerequisite?Yes. Influencing with Visuals builds directly on the narrative framework and concepts introduced in Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, so a solid story foundation is essential to getting the most out of your visual strategy training. I've already completed Crafting Strategic Visual Stories. Can I enroll in Influencing with Visuals on its own?Absolutely! Reach out to us at inquiries@presentation-company.com and we’ll help you get started. What should I expect during checkout?To enroll in Influencing with Visuals, you’ll need to create a Eurekos account before checkout. You’ll receive guided messages along the way, including your payment receipt and a course welcome. How do I best prepare for the course?Come prepared with a completed Story Planner or 5 to 10 slides from a deck you’re currently working on. You’ll have the opportunity to map out your story or give your existing presentation a visual makeover. Which presentation software does this course support?This course will show you how to efficiently build visual stories in Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides. No matter which you use (or if you dabble in both), we’ve got you covered. Does my time zone matter?This course is 100% online and self-paced, so you can take it from any time zone, anywhere in the world. What are the technical requirements for accessing my course?This course is hosted on Eurekos, our learning platform. Eurekos works well on any modern browser, including the latest versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. It has no specific computer or OS requirements and is fully compatible with mobile devices. How do I earn my Visual Communicator badge?Complete the course and pass a short quiz to earn your Visual Communicator digital badge to showcase on LinkedIn. What if I'd like to enroll my team?We offer instructor-led and virtual instructor-led workshops for teams. Email us at inquiries@presentation-company.com to learn more. What is the refund policy?No refund will be issued after 7 days from the date of purchase or if the course link has been activated. A 20% restocking fee will be charged on all refund requests within 7 days of the purchase date and prior to activation of the course link. The restocking fee will be subtracted from the refund amount.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/hero-iStock-1130519249.webp", "modified": "2026-05-28T13:17:06-05:00" }, { "id": 11475, "type": "individuals", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/communications-training/presentation-skills-courses/data-visualization-course/", "title": "Presenting Data Visually", "h1": "Presenting Data Visually", "summary": "", "content": "

Turn your data into stories that drive action

Ever found yourself drowning in spreadsheets, wondering how to make your audience care about your data? You’re not alone. Most professionals have critical insights to share, but too often we jump straight to building charts without first establishing why our audience should care. The result? People struggle to decode the information, decision-makers lose interest, and valuable insights go unrecognized.

The problem isn’t the data. It’s the approach. Without a clear narrative driving your data choices, even the most powerful numbers can fall flat.

Presenting Data Visually introduces a proven data strategy that helps you move from data dump to data fluency. Whether you’re a data expert or an occasional presenter, get the skills to craft compelling data stories that serve your audience and drive the decisions that matter.

Get Started

The real cost of a data dump

Without a clear data strategy, the consequences add up:

Data overload stalls decision-making. When you present too much information without clear insights or recommendations, your audience is left to draw their own conclusions.

You report the news instead of driving action. Without a clear point of view, your data becomes a dump of facts rather than a strategic narrative that influences outcomes.

Follow-up meetings and rework cycles drain productivity. When data presentations lack clarity, you waste time re-explaining findings instead of moving work forward.

Your technical expertise doesn’t translate to business impact. Knowing complex data inside and out doesn’t automatically mean your audience will understand or act on it.

Your credibility takes a hit. When stakeholders can’t quickly grasp your point, your valuable work gets overshadowed by the confusion your data creates.

\"visual

The case for data storytelling

Whether we’re aiming to influence a decision, propose a new initiative, or report on performance, we rely on data. But data on its own is not an idea. There’s usually more data than there is clarity and, instead of supporting our message, we force our audience to decode it and draw their own conclusions.

At its core, great visual data presentation is rooted in storytelling. Whether you’re a data expert struggling to influence leadership or an occasional data presenter who wants to make every number count, data storytelling ensures your insights drive the business conversations that matter.

You’ll learn how to

\"visual

Humanize your data

Identify exactly what your audience needs to know or do with data and distill numbers into meaningful insights.

\"Map

Apply a proven data strategy

Transform your cluttered charts and tables into concise, compelling data visualizations that are easy to scan, digest, and act on.

\"Maximize

Think outside the chart

Go beyond the typical bar or pie chart and use creative visual techniques to present your data in ways that resonate and stick.

\"Jumpstart

Use clever design techniques

Apply color, size, and shape to highlight key information and make your data easy to interpret at a glance.

\"Pressure

Tell a complete data story

Wrap your data in a story that elevates insights and gives stakeholders a clear path forward.

What to expect

This isn’t a passive learning experience. To get the most out of this course, come prepared with one or two data-rich slides you’re currently working on. You’ll have the opportunity to rework them using our visual data presentation tools and techniques, applying everything you learn to real work that matters to your career.

The Presenting Data Visually digital course runs across seven modules and takes approximately 3 to 5 hours to complete. We recommend finishing it within two weeks to keep momentum, but it’s fully flexible so go at whatever pace works for you. We suggest allowing extra time to practice and apply the exercises as you go.

You’ll learn from senior instructors with decades of real-world experience working with Fortune 500 companies.

When you finish, you’ll earn your Certified Data Communicator digital badge to showcase on LinkedIn.

\"Certified

What’s included

The transformation is real

The difference between a data dump and a data story speaks for itself. Here’s a real example.

\"Before

Before: Vague titles, single-color data series, and unranked information leave audiences confused and struggling to find insights

\"After

After: Active headlines, strategic color use, ranked data, and clear callouts make your key points instantly visible

What our participants say

“This class was a game-changer. Now I wish I could get back those years I wasted building lackluster charts in PowerPoint!”

“Very practical tips and resources that will save me time when trying to visualize the insights that we’re getting from data.”

This is one of those courses you don’t come across often. The content can be utilized in your day-to-day work instantly and effectively.”

Get Started

Ready to turn numbers into narratives? Enroll in Presenting Data Visually today!

6-month course access: $599 USD

Want to build the complete storytelling skill set? Bundle Presenting Data Visually with our other on-demand courses at a discounted rate. Explore Bundles ›

Enroll Now
\"Presenting

FAQs

What should I expect during checkout?

To enroll in Presenting Data Visually, you’ll need to create a Eurekos account before checkout. You’ll receive guided messages along the way, including your payment receipt and a course welcome.

How do I best prepare for the course?

Come prepared with one or two data-rich slides you’re currently working on. You’ll have the opportunity to rework them using our data visualization tools and techniques.

Which presentation software does this course support?

This course will show you how to efficiently build data visualizations in both Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides. No matter which you use (or if you dabble in both), we’ve got you covered.

Does my time zone matter?

This course is 100% online and self-paced, so you can take it from any time zone, anywhere in the world.

What are the technical requirements for accessing my course?

This course is hosted on Eurekos, our learning platform. Eurekos works well on any modern browser, including the latest versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. It has no specific computer or OS requirements and is fully compatible with mobile devices.

How do I earn my Certified Data Communicator badge?

Complete the course and pass a short quiz to earn your Certified Data Communicator digital badge to showcase on LinkedIn.

What if I'd like to enroll my team?

We offer instructor-led and virtual instructor-led workshops for teams. Email us at inquiries@presentation-company.com to learn more.

What is the refund policy?

No refund will be issued after 7 days from the date of purchase or if the course link has been activated. A 20% restocking fee will be charged on all refund requests within 7 days of the purchase date and prior to activation of the course link. The restocking fee will be subtracted from the refund amount.

", "content_plain": "Turn your data into stories that drive action Ever found yourself drowning in spreadsheets, wondering how to make your audience care about your data? You’re not alone. Most professionals have critical insights to share, but too often we jump straight to building charts without first establishing why our audience should care. The result? People struggle to decode the information, decision-makers lose interest, and valuable insights go unrecognized. The problem isn’t the data. It’s the approach. Without a clear narrative driving your data choices, even the most powerful numbers can fall flat. Presenting Data Visually introduces a proven data strategy that helps you move from data dump to data fluency. Whether you’re a data expert or an occasional presenter, get the skills to craft compelling data stories that serve your audience and drive the decisions that matter. Get Started The real cost of a data dump Without a clear data strategy, the consequences add up: Data overload stalls decision-making. When you present too much information without clear insights or recommendations, your audience is left to draw their own conclusions. You report the news instead of driving action. Without a clear point of view, your data becomes a dump of facts rather than a strategic narrative that influences outcomes. Follow-up meetings and rework cycles drain productivity. When data presentations lack clarity, you waste time re-explaining findings instead of moving work forward. Your technical expertise doesn’t translate to business impact. Knowing complex data inside and out doesn’t automatically mean your audience will understand or act on it. Your credibility takes a hit. When stakeholders can’t quickly grasp your point, your valuable work gets overshadowed by the confusion your data creates. The case for data storytelling Whether we’re aiming to influence a decision, propose a new initiative, or report on performance, we rely on data. But data on its own is not an idea. There’s usually more data than there is clarity and, instead of supporting our message, we force our audience to decode it and draw their own conclusions. At its core, great visual data presentation is rooted in storytelling. Whether you’re a data expert struggling to influence leadership or an occasional data presenter who wants to make every number count, data storytelling ensures your insights drive the business conversations that matter. You’ll learn how to Humanize your data Identify exactly what your audience needs to know or do with data and distill numbers into meaningful insights. Apply a proven data strategy Transform your cluttered charts and tables into concise, compelling data visualizations that are easy to scan, digest, and act on. Think outside the chart Go beyond the typical bar or pie chart and use creative visual techniques to present your data in ways that resonate and stick. Use clever design techniques Apply color, size, and shape to highlight key information and make your data easy to interpret at a glance. Tell a complete data story Wrap your data in a story that elevates insights and gives stakeholders a clear path forward. What to expect This isn’t a passive learning experience. To get the most out of this course, come prepared with one or two data-rich slides you’re currently working on. You’ll have the opportunity to rework them using our visual data presentation tools and techniques, applying everything you learn to real work that matters to your career. The Presenting Data Visually digital course runs across seven modules and takes approximately 3 to 5 hours to complete. We recommend finishing it within two weeks to keep momentum, but it’s fully flexible so go at whatever pace works for you. We suggest allowing extra time to practice and apply the exercises as you go. You’ll learn from senior instructors with decades of real-world experience working with Fortune 500 companies. When you finish, you’ll earn your Certified Data Communicator digital badge to showcase on LinkedIn. What’s included Bite-sized instructional videos featuring real-world examples and practical demonstrations A practical data storytelling toolkit, which includes hands-on tools like DataCoach™, DataCheck™, and more The Data Visualization Library, a suite of 100+ professionally designed data visualizations that guide you through the five ways to display data and provide inspiration, pro-tips, and coaching examples Hands-on activities that help you apply data visualization concepts to your own presentations Coaching moments sprinkled throughout to help you pressure test your data choices and ensure every visualization serves your story The transformation is real The difference between a data dump and a data story speaks for itself. Here’s a real example. Before: Vague titles, single-color data series, and unranked information leave audiences confused and struggling to find insights After: Active headlines, strategic color use, ranked data, and clear callouts make your key points instantly visible What our participants say “This class was a game-changer. Now I wish I could get back those years I wasted building lackluster charts in PowerPoint!” “Very practical tips and resources that will save me time when trying to visualize the insights that we’re getting from data.” This is one of those courses you don’t come across often. The content can be utilized in your day-to-day work instantly and effectively.” Get Started Ready to turn numbers into narratives? Enroll in Presenting Data Visually today! 6-month course access: $599 USD Want to build the complete storytelling skill set? Bundle Presenting Data Visually with our other on-demand courses at a discounted rate. Explore Bundles › Enroll Now FAQs What should I expect during checkout?To enroll in Presenting Data Visually, you’ll need to create a Eurekos account before checkout. You’ll receive guided messages along the way, including your payment receipt and a course welcome. How do I best prepare for the course?Come prepared with one or two data-rich slides you’re currently working on. You’ll have the opportunity to rework them using our data visualization tools and techniques. Which presentation software does this course support?This course will show you how to efficiently build data visualizations in both Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides. No matter which you use (or if you dabble in both), we’ve got you covered. Does my time zone matter?This course is 100% online and self-paced, so you can take it from any time zone, anywhere in the world. What are the technical requirements for accessing my course?This course is hosted on Eurekos, our learning platform. Eurekos works well on any modern browser, including the latest versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. It has no specific computer or OS requirements and is fully compatible with mobile devices. How do I earn my Certified Data Communicator badge?Complete the course and pass a short quiz to earn your Certified Data Communicator digital badge to showcase on LinkedIn. What if I'd like to enroll my team?We offer instructor-led and virtual instructor-led workshops for teams. Email us at inquiries@presentation-company.com to learn more. What is the refund policy?No refund will be issued after 7 days from the date of purchase or if the course link has been activated. A 20% restocking fee will be charged on all refund requests within 7 days of the purchase date and prior to activation of the course link. The restocking fee will be subtracted from the refund amount.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/visual-data-presentation.webp", "modified": "2026-05-28T11:04:03-05:00" }, { "id": 11774, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/learn-the-storytelling-skills-ai-cant-replace-join-us-at-cma-2026/", "title": "Learn the Storytelling Skills AI Can’t Replace: Join Us at CMA 2026", "h1": "Learn the Storytelling Skills AI Can’t Replace: Join Us at CMA 2026", "summary": "For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human insight. The competitive advantage has shifted—it’s not who has the best technology, but who knows their story before creating a single slide. As AI tools proliferate, the ability to craft […]", "content": "

For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human insight. The competitive advantage has shifted—it’s not who has the best technology, but who knows their story before creating a single slide.

As AI tools proliferate, the ability to craft a compelling narrative has never been more critical. The real work is making the strategic decisions AI can’t: What story does your audience need? What’s the ONE thing you want them to know or do? How do you distill complex data into insights that drive action?

That’s where business storytelling comes in.

By mastering a common storytelling language and framework, category leaders and CPG professionals can bring clarity and meaning to their ideas, data, and recommendations—ensuring they stand out and influence key business decisions in an AI-powered world.

Join The Presentation Company (TPC) at this year’s Category Management Association | Shopper Insights Management Association (CMA | SIMA) annual conference, February 15-18 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. We’re thrilled to be back at this event for our fourth consecutive year, and this time, we’re tackling the topic that’s on everyone’s mind.

Janine Kurnoff, TPC’s Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, will lead an interactive 90-minute session, The Human Edge: Storytelling in the Age of AI, on Monday, February 16 from 9-10:30 AM PT.

Janine will share TPC’s proven storytelling approach that’s grounded in a story first, visuals second mindset. You’ll learn a practical, repeatable framework to transform any business communication into memorable stories that land—from category reviews to joint business plans and even emails.

Whether you’re influencing a skeptical buyer, presenting category or shopper insights, updating leadership, or collaborating with retail partners, walk away with practical skills to organize ideas and data into compelling narratives that drive decisions forward.

You’ll learn how to:

Our sessions have packed the room and been top-rated for three years running. Whether you’re returning or joining us for the first time, you’re sure to gain practical value. We can’t wait to see you in Vegas… be sure to come ready to actively participate!

Bonus content! P.S. Spoiler alert: Janine will be giving out limited copies of her Amazon best-selling book, Everyday Business Storytelling, after the session. Don’t miss your chance to get 288 pages of practical storytelling tips that are sure to make you a more confident, influential, and strategic communicator!

", "content_plain": "For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human insight. The competitive advantage has shifted—it’s not who has the best technology, but who knows their story before creating a single slide. As AI tools proliferate, the ability to craft a compelling narrative has never been more critical. The real work is making the strategic decisions AI can’t: What story does your audience need? What’s the ONE thing you want them to know or do? How do you distill complex data into insights that drive action? That’s where business storytelling comes in. By mastering a common storytelling language and framework, category leaders and CPG professionals can bring clarity and meaning to their ideas, data, and recommendations—ensuring they stand out and influence key business decisions in an AI-powered world. Join The Presentation Company (TPC) at this year’s Category Management Association | Shopper Insights Management Association (CMA | SIMA) annual conference, February 15-18 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. We’re thrilled to be back at this event for our fourth consecutive year, and this time, we’re tackling the topic that’s on everyone’s mind. Janine Kurnoff, TPC’s Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, will lead an interactive 90-minute session, The Human Edge: Storytelling in the Age of AI, on Monday, February 16 from 9-10:30 AM PT. Janine will share TPC’s proven storytelling approach that’s grounded in a story first, visuals second mindset. You’ll learn a practical, repeatable framework to transform any business communication into memorable stories that land—from category reviews to joint business plans and even emails. Whether you’re influencing a skeptical buyer, presenting category or shopper insights, updating leadership, or collaborating with retail partners, walk away with practical skills to organize ideas and data into compelling narratives that drive decisions forward. You’ll learn how to: Use a proven storytelling framework to craft influential, audience-centric business narratives Identify and craft a BIG Idea—the ONE thing you want your audience to know or do Structure complex information so your audience can follow your logic and take action Our sessions have packed the room and been top-rated for three years running. Whether you’re returning or joining us for the first time, you’re sure to gain practical value. We can’t wait to see you in Vegas… be sure to come ready to actively participate! Bonus content! P.S. Spoiler alert: Janine will be giving out limited copies of her Amazon best-selling book, Everyday Business Storytelling, after the session. Don’t miss your chance to get 288 pages of practical storytelling tips that are sure to make you a more confident, influential, and strategic communicator!", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/2026-CMA-conference-promo-graphic-v3.jpg", "modified": "2026-01-16T10:19:36-05:00" }, { "id": 11676, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/transform-your-sales-team-from-generic-pitches-to-stories-that-win/", "title": "Transform Your Sales Team: From Generic Pitches to Stories That Win", "h1": "Transform Your Sales Team: From Generic Pitches to Stories That Win", "summary": "Your sales team knows the products inside and out. They follow the sales process. They incorporate content-rich slides from Marketing. So why aren’t they breaking through with customers the way they should? It’s not that they don’t have the right answers. It’s that they’re not communicating them in a way that resonates or connects. What’s missing isn’t more product knowledge. It’s a customer-focused storytelling mindset that strikes the right […]", "content": "

Your sales team knows the products inside and out. They follow the sales process. They incorporate content-rich slides from Marketing. So why aren’t they breaking through with customers the way they should? 

It’s not that they don’t have the right answers. It’s that they’re not communicating them in a way that resonates or connects.

What’s missing isn’t more product knowledge. It’s a customer-focused storytelling mindset that strikes the right balance between narrative, visual, and data strategy. 

The Problem: Your Team Can’t Articulate What Matters 

Every seller faces the same challenge: how do they break through the noise when customers are sitting through countless competitive pitches? 

Here’s what often happens in customer interactions, from meetings to emails: Sellers’ value propositions sound generic because they’re talking about what you do, not why it matters to the customer. They ask surface-level discovery questions that lead to surface-level messages. And even when they have the right solution, they can’t articulate it in a memorable way. Why? Because they often lead with features and capabilities instead of a compelling BIG Idea. 

Beyond the competitive noise, there’s an even bigger challenge: your prospects aren’t just comparing vendors. They’re putting out fires, advancing strategic initiatives, and managing daily operations that demand their attention. Your sales team is competing for mindshare against everything else on their plate, not just other vendors. 

The result? Customers forget presentations the moment they leave the room. And your team loses deals to competitors who weren’t necessarily better, but could clearly communicate a BIG Idea. 

The Solution: Storytelling as a Repeatable Sales Process 

Most sales leaders hear “storytelling” and think soft skills. But storytelling isn’t just a communication technique; it’s a repeatable business process for uncovering what matters to customers and delivering messages they can’t ignore. 

When your team learns to use storytelling as part of their sales approach, here’s what changes: 

  1. They Lead with BIG Ideas, Not Features

Your sellers will stop defaulting to the “how” (your features and capabilities). Instead, they’ll lead with tailored BIG Ideas that address what each customer cares about. 

When your team articulates clear value propositions rooted in the customer’s specific challenges rather than generic capabilities, they transform forgettable presentations into compelling business cases. They’re not just another vendor pitching a solution. They’re strategic partners who understand the customer’s business. 

  1. They Customize Generic Messages for Each Customer

Most sellers rely on corporate decks with standard messaging. But in era where customers expect hyper-personalized experiences, those decks are often text-heavy and difficult to adapt, leaving sellers frustrated with ‘approved content’ they can’t make their own.  

Storytelling gives your team a framework to adapt and contextualize any message so it resonates with the specific challenges their customers face. Instead of just parroting slides, they bring content to life in a way that feels personal, specific, and relevant. 

  1. They Build a Common Language Across Teams

Successful selling doesn’t happen in a silo. A complex sales engagement might include solution engineers, product specialists, architects, and account executives—all trying to tell parts of the story. Without a shared communication framework, these voices compete for airtime rather than reinforce each other, and the message becomes muddled and unclear. 

Storytelling gives your entire organization a unified approach to communication. Imagine marketing and sales on the same page, both using the same framework to visually bring your customer story to life. This alignment matters even in structured processes like RFPs, where matrixed pitch teams can still differentiate themselves by how they present against requirements. When cross-functional teams align on the same story structure, they spend less time translating and more time communicating your business value. 

  1. They Move Beyond Surface-Level Discovery

Generic discovery leads to generic pitches. Your team needs to ask better questions that uncover the underlying problems customers face, not just the surface symptoms. 

Storytelling doesn’t replace your sales methodology; it bridges the gap by bringing discovery insights to life. When sellers understand the full scope of their customer’s challenges, storytelling gives them a framework to translate that understanding into a choreographed, data-driven narrative that connects the dots between customer problems and your solution, supported by intentionally chosen visuals and data. 

  1.  They Create Conversations, Not Monologues

The days of “show up and throw up” presentations are over. Customers want dialogue, not lectures. Storytelling helps your team shift from rinse-and-repeat pitches to dynamic conversations that adapt based on what they’re hearing. 

When your sellers learn to structure their message as a story rather than a feature list, they naturally create more engagement. Customers lean in. They ask questions. They see themselves in the examples. And they remember your team long after the meeting ends. 

The Bottom Line 

In a crowded market where it’s hard to stand out, storytelling is your team’s competitive edge. It’s not about being more creative or charismatic. It’s about giving them a way to: 

Give your sales team the competitive advantage they need. Equip them with the storytelling framework that helps them stand out in every customer conversation, demonstrate real value, and win more deals. Because when your team can tell the right story to the right customer at the right time, they don’t just make quota—they become the partners customers want to work with. 

", "content_plain": "Your sales team knows the products inside and out. They follow the sales process. They incorporate content-rich slides from Marketing. So why aren’t they breaking through with customers the way they should? It’s not that they don’t have the right answers. It’s that they’re not communicating them in a way that resonates or connects. What’s missing isn’t more product knowledge. It’s a customer-focused storytelling mindset that strikes the right balance between narrative, visual, and data strategy. The Problem: Your Team Can’t Articulate What Matters Every seller faces the same challenge: how do they break through the noise when customers are sitting through countless competitive pitches? Here’s what often happens in customer interactions, from meetings to emails: Sellers’ value propositions sound generic because they’re talking about what you do, not why it matters to the customer. They ask surface-level discovery questions that lead to surface-level messages. And even when they have the right solution, they can’t articulate it in a memorable way. Why? Because they often lead with features and capabilities instead of a compelling BIG Idea. Beyond the competitive noise, there’s an even bigger challenge: your prospects aren’t just comparing vendors. They’re putting out fires, advancing strategic initiatives, and managing daily operations that demand their attention. Your sales team is competing for mindshare against everything else on their plate, not just other vendors. The result? Customers forget presentations the moment they leave the room. And your team loses deals to competitors who weren’t necessarily better, but could clearly communicate a BIG Idea. The Solution: Storytelling as a Repeatable Sales Process Most sales leaders hear “storytelling” and think soft skills. But storytelling isn’t just a communication technique; it’s a repeatable business process for uncovering what matters to customers and delivering messages they can’t ignore. When your team learns to use storytelling as part of their sales approach, here’s what changes: They Lead with BIG Ideas, Not Features Your sellers will stop defaulting to the “how” (your features and capabilities). Instead, they’ll lead with tailored BIG Ideas that address what each customer cares about. When your team articulates clear value propositions rooted in the customer’s specific challenges rather than generic capabilities, they transform forgettable presentations into compelling business cases. They’re not just another vendor pitching a solution. They’re strategic partners who understand the customer’s business. They Customize Generic Messages for Each Customer Most sellers rely on corporate decks with standard messaging. But in era where customers expect hyper-personalized experiences, those decks are often text-heavy and difficult to adapt, leaving sellers frustrated with ‘approved content’ they can’t make their own. Storytelling gives your team a framework to adapt and contextualize any message so it resonates with the specific challenges their customers face. Instead of just parroting slides, they bring content to life in a way that feels personal, specific, and relevant. They Build a Common Language Across Teams Successful selling doesn’t happen in a silo. A complex sales engagement might include solution engineers, product specialists, architects, and account executives—all trying to tell parts of the story. Without a shared communication framework, these voices compete for airtime rather than reinforce each other, and the message becomes muddled and unclear. Storytelling gives your entire organization a unified approach to communication. Imagine marketing and sales on the same page, both using the same framework to visually bring your customer story to life. This alignment matters even in structured processes like RFPs, where matrixed pitch teams can still differentiate themselves by how they present against requirements. When cross-functional teams align on the same story structure, they spend less time translating and more time communicating your business value. They Move Beyond Surface-Level Discovery Generic discovery leads to generic pitches. Your team needs to ask better questions that uncover the underlying problems customers face, not just the surface symptoms. Storytelling doesn’t replace your sales methodology; it bridges the gap by bringing discovery insights to life. When sellers understand the full scope of their customer’s challenges, storytelling gives them a framework to translate that understanding into a choreographed, data-driven narrative that connects the dots between customer problems and your solution, supported by intentionally chosen visuals and data. They Create Conversations, Not Monologues The days of “show up and throw up” presentations are over. Customers want dialogue, not lectures. Storytelling helps your team shift from rinse-and-repeat pitches to dynamic conversations that adapt based on what they’re hearing. When your sellers learn to structure their message as a story rather than a feature list, they naturally create more engagement. Customers lean in. They ask questions. They see themselves in the examples. And they remember your team long after the meeting ends. The Bottom Line In a crowded market where it’s hard to stand out, storytelling is your team’s competitive edge. It’s not about being more creative or charismatic. It’s about giving them a way to: Lead with BIG Ideas that address what customers actually care about Customize generic corporate messaging for each customer’s specific needs Build cross-functional alignment with a shared communication framework Translate discovery insights into data-driven narratives supported by compelling visuals Create dynamic conversations that engage customers and drive action Give your sales team the competitive advantage they need. Equip them with the storytelling framework that helps them stand out in every customer conversation, demonstrate real value, and win more deals. Because when your team can tell the right story to the right customer at the right time, they don’t just make quota—they become the partners customers want to work with. ", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/iStock-2224622182-1.jpg", "modified": "2025-12-17T16:50:21-05:00" }, { "id": 11425, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/when-ld-strategy-meets-business-purpose-a-perfect-match/", "title": "When L&D Strategy Meets Business Purpose: A Perfect Match", "h1": "When L&D Strategy Meets Business Purpose: A Perfect Match", "summary": "Every L&D leader has been there… you’re running great programs, completion rates look fantastic, and everyone’s engaged with the latest training. But here’s the million-dollar question: what happens when all that learning energy gets channeled directly into work that actually matters to your organization’s bigger picture? The most successful organizations have cracked the code… L&D […]", "content": "

Every L&D leader has been there… you’re running great programs, completion rates look fantastic, and everyone’s engaged with the latest training. But here’s the million-dollar question: what happens when all that learning energy gets channeled directly into work that actually matters to your organization’s bigger picture?

The most successful organizations have cracked the code…

L&D becomes exponentially more powerful when it builds capabilities that help people live out the company’s values while showing employees how their personal growth contributes to something bigger than themselves.

L&D as a culture catalyst

The magic happens when L&D leaders become true purpose partners in helping the organization live its values. This means getting genuinely curious about why the organization exists and where it’s headed.

Those energizing conversations with leadership about vision and deeper purpose? They become your roadmap for creating development programs that truly matter.

Many organizations are discovering that living their values authentically requires a handful of core capabilities that show up everywhere. Think collaborating across boundaries, driving accountability, demonstrating agility, fostering innovation, and creating inclusive environments (just to name a few!). The key is identifying which values-based behaviors matter most for your organization, then determining the specific skills that support them.

This alignment will create a noticeable shift in the business culture itself. Instead of values living only on conference room walls, they start showing up in how people collaborate, make decisions, and solve problems. The culture becomes more authentic and cohesive because everyone is developing the same purpose-driven capabilities.

From values to capabilities: Making purpose practical

Once you understand what your organization truly stands for, the fun begins. It’s time to reverse-engineer your way from values and purpose to specific, developable skills.

Take collaboration, for instance. Everyone says they want it, but what does it look like when it’s rooted in your organization’s values? Maybe it’s storytelling skills that help teams communicate complex ideas with empathy and clarity. Maybe it’s executive presence that gives leaders the authority and credibility to rally teams at a town hall around vision. Or perhaps it’s the communication skills to turn data into compelling narratives that inspire action around shared purpose.

Every person as a vision ambassador

Many organizations miss a huge opportunity by expecting a handful of senior leaders to carry the entire load of communicating why the work matters and how it connects to something bigger. That’s like asking a few people to sing loudly enough for the whole stadium to hear.

The real breakthrough happens when every employee becomes equipped to tell the vision and purpose story authentically and consistently, especially those crucial middle managers and next-level leaders. These are the people having daily conversations with your employees. They’re the ones who can connect the dots between someone’s individual contribution and the meaningful impact they’re making.

When your L&D strategy includes developing storytelling and communication capabilities at every level, you create something powerful. Suddenly, purpose and vision aren’t things that only get mentioned in quarterly all-hands meetings; rather, they become part of everyday conversations, project kickoffs, and performance discussions.

The retention revolution

So what does this mean for keeping your best people? When employees see that their development directly connects to meaningful work and career progression, something shifts. They’re not just collecting certificates, they’re building a toolkit that makes them more valuable both within your organization and in their chosen field.

This alignment creates what we might call “purpose-driven growth.” Employees feel invested in because the skills they’re developing clearly matter to the business. They can see how their learning translates to impact, recognition, and advancement opportunities. And the real bonus is, they’re developing capabilities that make them feel seen and heard, which creates deep engagement and loyalty.

Skills that scale with your vision

Smart L&D leaders are always thinking about future-proofing. The values that matter today need to be lived out differently as the organization grows and changes. Building adaptability into your skills framework means your people can evolve how they contribute to the mission rather than losing connection to what matters most.

This is especially true for what we might call “human skills,” the capabilities that become more important as AI handles routine tasks. Things like creative problem-solving, empathetic leadership, and yes, storytelling, are becoming differentiators in ways we couldn’t have predicted even five years ago.

The real test of purpose alignment is to embed these skills into daily operations, from routine meetings and email exchanges to performance conversations and recognition programs. Every interaction should reinforce how work connects to purpose and celebrate behaviors that embody organizational values.

When employees can connect their learning to mission fulfillment, you’ve created a learning culture that fosters personal growth while driving organizational impact.

The bottom line for L&D leaders

Your role as an L&D leader is uniquely positioned to be the architect of capability building that serves both business vision and human potential. When you create that connection, retention becomes a natural outcome of employees feeling genuinely invested in work that matters.

The question isn’t whether your organization needs this kind of alignment, it’s how quickly you can make it happen.

", "content_plain": "Every L&D leader has been there… you’re running great programs, completion rates look fantastic, and everyone’s engaged with the latest training. But here’s the million-dollar question: what happens when all that learning energy gets channeled directly into work that actually matters to your organization’s bigger picture? The most successful organizations have cracked the code… L&D becomes exponentially more powerful when it builds capabilities that help people live out the company’s values while showing employees how their personal growth contributes to something bigger than themselves. L&D as a culture catalyst The magic happens when L&D leaders become true purpose partners in helping the organization live its values. This means getting genuinely curious about why the organization exists and where it’s headed. Those energizing conversations with leadership about vision and deeper purpose? They become your roadmap for creating development programs that truly matter. Many organizations are discovering that living their values authentically requires a handful of core capabilities that show up everywhere. Think collaborating across boundaries, driving accountability, demonstrating agility, fostering innovation, and creating inclusive environments (just to name a few!). The key is identifying which values-based behaviors matter most for your organization, then determining the specific skills that support them. This alignment will create a noticeable shift in the business culture itself. Instead of values living only on conference room walls, they start showing up in how people collaborate, make decisions, and solve problems. The culture becomes more authentic and cohesive because everyone is developing the same purpose-driven capabilities. From values to capabilities: Making purpose practical Once you understand what your organization truly stands for, the fun begins. It’s time to reverse-engineer your way from values and purpose to specific, developable skills. Take collaboration, for instance. Everyone says they want it, but what does it look like when it’s rooted in your organization’s values? Maybe it’s storytelling skills that help teams communicate complex ideas with empathy and clarity. Maybe it’s executive presence that gives leaders the authority and credibility to rally teams at a town hall around vision. Or perhaps it’s the communication skills to turn data into compelling narratives that inspire action around shared purpose. Every person as a vision ambassador Many organizations miss a huge opportunity by expecting a handful of senior leaders to carry the entire load of communicating why the work matters and how it connects to something bigger. That’s like asking a few people to sing loudly enough for the whole stadium to hear. The real breakthrough happens when every employee becomes equipped to tell the vision and purpose story authentically and consistently, especially those crucial middle managers and next-level leaders. These are the people having daily conversations with your employees. They’re the ones who can connect the dots between someone’s individual contribution and the meaningful impact they’re making. When your L&D strategy includes developing storytelling and communication capabilities at every level, you create something powerful. Suddenly, purpose and vision aren’t things that only get mentioned in quarterly all-hands meetings; rather, they become part of everyday conversations, project kickoffs, and performance discussions. The retention revolution So what does this mean for keeping your best people? When employees see that their development directly connects to meaningful work and career progression, something shifts. They’re not just collecting certificates, they’re building a toolkit that makes them more valuable both within your organization and in their chosen field. This alignment creates what we might call “purpose-driven growth.” Employees feel invested in because the skills they’re developing clearly matter to the business. They can see how their learning translates to impact, recognition, and advancement opportunities. And the real bonus is, they’re developing capabilities that make them feel seen and heard, which creates deep engagement and loyalty. Skills that scale with your vision Smart L&D leaders are always thinking about future-proofing. The values that matter today need to be lived out differently as the organization grows and changes. Building adaptability into your skills framework means your people can evolve how they contribute to the mission rather than losing connection to what matters most. This is especially true for what we might call “human skills,” the capabilities that become more important as AI handles routine tasks. Things like creative problem-solving, empathetic leadership, and yes, storytelling, are becoming differentiators in ways we couldn’t have predicted even five years ago. The real test of purpose alignment is to embed these skills into daily operations, from routine meetings and email exchanges to performance conversations and recognition programs. Every interaction should reinforce how work connects to purpose and celebrate behaviors that embody organizational values. When employees can connect their learning to mission fulfillment, you’ve created a learning culture that fosters personal growth while driving organizational impact. The bottom line for L&D leaders Your role as an L&D leader is uniquely positioned to be the architect of capability building that serves both business vision and human potential. When you create that connection, retention becomes a natural outcome of employees feeling genuinely invested in work that matters. The question isn’t whether your organization needs this kind of alignment, it’s how quickly you can make it happen.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/value-skills-graphic-scaled.png", "modified": "2025-09-17T09:05:41-05:00" }, { "id": 11383, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/webinar-crafting-executive-summaries-that-tell-a-story/", "title": "Join Our Live Webinar for the Ultimate Storytelling Challenge: Conquer Executive Summaries", "h1": "Join Our Live Webinar for the Ultimate Storytelling Challenge: Conquer Executive Summaries", "summary": "Data is everywhere—and business professionals across every industry are drowning in it. At the same time, resources and bandwidth are becoming increasingly scarce. Teams need to communicate critical information, learnings, and trends seamlessly between each other, to others in their organization, and to external stakeholders. This spans everything from project status updates, to business insights, […]", "content": "

Data is everywhere—and business professionals across every industry are drowning in it. At the same time, resources and bandwidth are becoming increasingly scarce. Teams need to communicate critical information, learnings, and trends seamlessly between each other, to others in their organization, and to external stakeholders. This spans everything from project status updates, to business insights, to strategic recommendations.

To be successful, the ability to craft a compelling story is more critical than ever— especially when you need to present an executive summary. But when you’re constrained to just one page (or slide), how do you decide what information to include and ensure it connects with your audience? With limited time and unlimited data, how do you craft a concise story with data insights that truly resonate? Enter business storytelling.

By uniting everyone with a common storytelling language and framework to communicate, organizations can bring clarity and meaning to their ideas, data, and recommendations to influence key decisions and move business forward. Whether you’re crafting a detailed presentation, a quick email update, or a one-page executive summary, storytelling helps you cut through the noise and deliver your message with maximum impact—no matter the format or constraint.

Ready to transform how you communicate with data? Join us for a live webinar, From Data to Decisions: Crafting Executive Summaries That Tell a Story, on Tuesday, August 26, 2025 @ 3 PM ET / 12 PM PT. We’ll share practical storytelling tips and real-world examples in a power-packed hour with a special focus on telling compelling stories on one page (or slide)!

➡️Click here to reserve your spot!

What to expect

This interactive session will be led by Janine Kurnoff, Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer at The Presentation Company (TPC), who will be joined by Laura Shaw, VP of Commercial Excellence at Impossible Foods, and Kathleen McHugh, Director of Category Development at Chobani.

Get ready for the ultimate storytelling challenge: how do you tell your story supported by the right data… on one page only (hint: think executive summaries)? To help bring our data storytelling concepts to life, you’ll see some real before-and-after executive summary transformations that are sure to resonate! And the best part? You’ll walk away with practical tips you can immediately apply to your real work.

What you’ll learn

You won’t want to miss this game-changing session – come ready to actively participate and transform your approach to data storytelling!

➡️ Register Now

", "content_plain": "Data is everywhere—and business professionals across every industry are drowning in it. At the same time, resources and bandwidth are becoming increasingly scarce. Teams need to communicate critical information, learnings, and trends seamlessly between each other, to others in their organization, and to external stakeholders. This spans everything from project status updates, to business insights, to strategic recommendations. To be successful, the ability to craft a compelling story is more critical than ever— especially when you need to present an executive summary. But when you’re constrained to just one page (or slide), how do you decide what information to include and ensure it connects with your audience? With limited time and unlimited data, how do you craft a concise story with data insights that truly resonate? Enter business storytelling. By uniting everyone with a common storytelling language and framework to communicate, organizations can bring clarity and meaning to their ideas, data, and recommendations to influence key decisions and move business forward. Whether you’re crafting a detailed presentation, a quick email update, or a one-page executive summary, storytelling helps you cut through the noise and deliver your message with maximum impact—no matter the format or constraint. Ready to transform how you communicate with data? Join us for a live webinar, From Data to Decisions: Crafting Executive Summaries That Tell a Story, on Tuesday, August 26, 2025 @ 3 PM ET / 12 PM PT. We’ll share practical storytelling tips and real-world examples in a power-packed hour with a special focus on telling compelling stories on one page (or slide)! ➡️Click here to reserve your spot! What to expect This interactive session will be led by Janine Kurnoff, Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer at The Presentation Company (TPC), who will be joined by Laura Shaw, VP of Commercial Excellence at Impossible Foods, and Kathleen McHugh, Director of Category Development at Chobani. Get ready for the ultimate storytelling challenge: how do you tell your story supported by the right data… on one page only (hint: think executive summaries)? To help bring our data storytelling concepts to life, you’ll see some real before-and-after executive summary transformations that are sure to resonate! And the best part? You’ll walk away with practical tips you can immediately apply to your real work. What you’ll learn The Why, What, and How of business storytelling How to use a storytelling framework to ensure your story is coherent Practical tips for crafting compelling, digestible data stories on one page (or slide) You won’t want to miss this game-changing session – come ready to actively participate and transform your approach to data storytelling! ➡️ Register Now", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025-Webinar-promo-graphic-v3.jpg", "modified": "2025-08-12T08:30:35-05:00" }, { "id": 11364, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/about/tpc-msa/", "title": "Master Services Agreement", "h1": "Master Services Agreement", "summary": "", "content": "

These Online Purchase Terms & Conditions (“Agreement“) are between The Presentation Company, LLC (“TPC“), and the entity (“Client“) purchasing goods or services from the TPC website and/or signing a Statement of Work or other document (“SOW“) setting forth specific services to be provided by TPC (“Services“) and referencing this Agreement. By making a purchase from the TPC website and/or signing an SOW referencing this Agreement, Client agrees to the terms of this Agreement. This Agreement will be deemed effective upon the earlier of (a) when Client first purchases Services, (b) when Client first receives TPC’s Services or (c) the effective date listed in the applicable SOW (such date, the “Effective Date“).

The parties agree as follows:

1. Scope of Agreement
As of the Effective Date, Client engages TPC to provide, and TPC agrees to provide, the Services. Detailed descriptions of TPC’s services and technology are available here (services) and here (technology). The descriptions include important information regarding (a) logistics, (b) technical specifications and requirements, and (c) materials provided with various services. The descriptions are incorporated by reference into this Agreement, and TPC may update the descriptions from time to time in its sole and absolute discretion.

2. Fees and Expenses; Timelines
Client will pay TPC for the Services as specified in the applicable SOW or purchase screen on the website; upfront payment may be required for website purchase. Client agrees that TPC may charge any credit card on file for outstanding amounts. All prices are USD. TPC may update its fees and expenses (a) on an annual basis without notice and/or (b) more frequently if it provides at least 30 days’ prior notice to Client (which may be provided by email). Client is responsible for such updated fees and expenses upon (y) updating by TPC or (z) notification to Client, whichever occurs first. Unless stated otherwise in this Agreement or the applicable SOW, all fees and expenses for the Term (as defined below) are noncancellable and nonrefundable, notwithstanding TPC invoicing for such fees and expenses on a monthly (or other periodic) basis.

Unless stated otherwise in an SOW or website purchase screen, Client must pay invoices within 30 calendar days after receipt. If Client fails to timely pay any amounts due, TPC may, in addition to all other remedies available to it at law, in equity, or otherwise, cease providing all Services. This includes, without limitation, immediately suspending or terminating Client’s access to e-learning programs, terminating this Agreement, and/or terminating any/all SOWs. In addition, any late payments will be subject to interest charges equal to the lesser of (i) 1.5 percent per month or (ii) the maximum amount allowed by applicable law. Interest begins accruing on the applicable due date. TPC may refer collection of any unpaid amounts to an attorney or collections agency and recover from Client all costs and fees incurred.

3. Confidentiality
During the Term, each party (the “Receiving Party“) may acquire non-public information (orally, by visual observation, or in writing) the other party (the “Disclosing Party“) considers confidential and proprietary, including without limitation:
(a) matters of a technical nature such as know-how, formulas, trade secrets, inventions, methods, programs, designs, models, or research projects; (b) matters of a business nature such as information about costs, profits, pricing policies, markets, sales, suppliers, customers, employees, subcontractors, references, plans for future development, plans for future products, marketing plans, or strategies; and (c) other information of a similar nature not generally disclosed by Disclosing Party to the public (collectively, “Confidential Information“).

During the Term, Receiving Party will (x) keep secret and retain in the strictest confidence all Disclosing Party Confidential Information, (y) not disclose Disclosing Party Confidential Information to any third party other than its employees, officers, directors, and subcontractors with a “need to know” such information to enable Receiving Party’s performance of this Agreement, and (z) not use any Disclosing Party Confidential Information for any purpose other than performance of this Agreement. Receiving Party further agrees, upon Disclosing Party’s request, to either return or securely destroy Disclosing Party’s Confidential Information and all memoranda, notes, records, reports, manuals, drawings or other documents (and all copies thereof) relating to Disclosing Party’s Confidential Information that are in the possession or under the control of Receiving Party.

TPC will also protect personal information it receives under this Agreement in the same manner as Confidential Information and process it only to perform the Services or as otherwise disclosed at the time of collection (e.g., for optional surveys and testimonials). TPC will not retain, use, disclose, or otherwise process such personal information for any other purpose, “share” or “sell” (as such terms are defined by applicable law) personal information, or combine it with other personal information it collects. Notwithstanding the foregoing, TPC may process personal information to improve the quality of TPC’s services.

Upon termination or expiration of an SOW, TPC will, upon request, delete or return Client’s personal information; provided that TPC may retain such information if required to do so by law.

If TPC becomes aware of the unauthorized access, use, or disclosure of personal information received from Client (a “Security Incident”), it will notify Client without undue delay and provide reasonable assistance to enable Client (at Client’s cost and expense) to respond to and remediate the Security Incident. TPC will also provide, upon request and at Client’s expense, such information as Client may reasonably request to confirm TPC’s compliance with its obligations under applicable privacy laws.

Notwithstanding the expiration or termination of this Agreement, each party will continue to comply with its confidentiality and nondisclosure obligations set forth in this Section 3 with respect to any of the other party’s Confidential Information and/or personal information it possesses.

4. Intellectual Property
All intellectual property rights, including copyrights, patents, patent disclosures and inventions (whether patentable or not), trademarks, service marks, trade secrets, know-how, trade dress, trade names, logos, corporate names and domain names, together with all of the goodwill associated therewith, derivative works and all other rights (collectively, “Intellectual Property Rights”) in and to all TPC information, methods, programs, designs, models, workshops, materials, documents, and work product existing as of the Effective Date or developed independent of this Agreement will be owned by TPC. TPC will also own all Intellectual Property Rights in anything that is conceived or developed by TPC in the course of performing the Services, or any feedback provided by Client (collectively, the “Developed IP”); provided that, as long as Client complies with its obligations under this Agreement, TPC grants Client a license to use all Intellectual Property Rights in the Developed IP free of additional charge and on a non-exclusive, worldwide, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, fully paid-up, royalty-free and perpetual basis solely to the extent necessary for Client’s internal business use of the Developed IP and Services. TPC will not own Client Confidential Information, Client personal information, or any other materials or information provided by Client: all such information and materials will be owned by Client; provided that TPC will have a license to use such Client information and materials to provide the Services.

5. Client Responsibilities
TPC’s timely, accurate, and successful provision of the Services depends, in part, on Client’s timely performance and functionality of Client’s systems, including without limitation Client’s computer network and learning-management system. TPC is not responsible for any delays arising from Client’s actions or omissions, including without limitation any failure to timely provide any access, information, or materials as TPC may reasonably request, or any failure or delay arising out of or related to Client’s systems.

In addition, Client is solely responsible for the accuracy, content, completeness, and legality of all information and materials provided or made available to TPC, including without limitation information provided by or related to Client’s employees (collectively, “Client Data”). Client is also solely responsible for ensuring that its use of TPC and the Services does not violate any obligations to any third parties. Client must obtain all third-party licenses, rights, clearances, consents, and approvals that are required for TPC to perform the Services, and Client represents and warrants that TPC’s performance will not violate any applicable law or any intellectual property, publicity, privacy, or other rights of any third parties.

Client is solely responsible for paying any sales, use, goods, value-added, or similar taxes or levies related to the Services, other than taxes based on TPC’s income. All such taxes and levies are excluded from any prices provided by TPC.

6. Independent Contractors; No Exclusivity
TPC is an independent contractor and not an employee of Client. TPC is not subject to direct supervision or control by Client. TPC is not eligible for Client employee benefits. TPC may use subcontractors to perform the Services; provided that (a) TPC enters into agreements with its subcontractors committing them to relevant obligations of TPC under this Agreement, such as confidentiality, and (b) TPC will be responsible for all actions and omissions of its subcontractors.

The Services are not exclusive to Client: TPC may provide similar or identical services to third parties.

7. No Assignment
This Agreement may not be assigned by Client without the prior written consent of TPC, which will not be unreasonably withheld. Any attempted assignment in violation of this Section is voidable in TPC’s sole and absolute discretion. This Agreement is binding on and inures to the benefit of the parties and their respective successors and permitted assigns.

8. Term and Termination
This Agreement and each SOW will commence on their respective Effective Date and, unless stated otherwise in the applicable SOW, will continue for two years (“Initial Term“) from such date; provided that this Agreement and each SOW will automatically renew for successive two-year terms (each a “Renewal Term“) unless a party provides notice of its intent to not renew at least 90 days before the expiration of the then-current Term. In addition, notwithstanding expiration (and unless previously terminated), each SOW will survive until the Services under that SOW are completed. “Term” will mean, collectively, the Initial Term and any Renewal Term(s).

Either party may terminate this Agreement if the other party is in material breach and fails to cure such breach within 30 days of being provided notice by the non-breaching party. Regardless of the reason for termination, Client will remain responsible for all costs, fees, and expenses that are (or will be) due through the effective date of termination.

If Client needs to cancel or reschedule a scheduled workshop (or other event), it must provide TPC with written notice more than 30 business days before such event. If it fails to timely provide such notice, Client will be invoiced, and responsible for, fees as follows (in addition to any of TPC’s out-of-pocket expenses):

9. Limited Warranties
TPC warrants that the Services will be performed by personnel with commercially reasonable skill, experience, and qualifications. EXCEPT FOR THE LIMITED WARRANTIES SET FORTH IN THIS SECTION, CLIENT ACKNOWLEDGES AND AGREES THAT THE SERVICES, TOGETHER WITH ALL RESULTS AND OUTPUTS OF THE SERVICES, ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. TPC MAKES NO OTHER GUARANTEES OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, ACCURACY, TITLE, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.

10. Limitation of Liability; Indemnification
IN NO EVENT WILL TPC BE LIABLE TO CLIENT OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY LOSS OF USE, REVENUE, PROFIT, OR DATA, OR DIMINUTION IN VALUE, OR FOR ANY OTHER CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, EXEMPLARY, SPECIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, WHETHER ARISING OUT OF BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR OTHERWISE, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH DAMAGE WAS FORESEEABLE AND WHETHER OR NOT TPC HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, AND NOTWITHSTANDING THE FAILURE OF ANY AGREED OR OTHER REMEDY OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT WILL TPC’S AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THIS AGREEMENT, WHETHER ARISING OUT OF BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), INDEMNITY, OR OTHERWISE, EXCEED THE AGGREGATE AMOUNTS PAID TO TPC PURSUANT TO THE APPLICABLE SOW IN THE THREE-MONTH PERIOD PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM.

Client will defend, indemnify, and hold TPC harmless from and against any and all claims for damages (whether ordinary, direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or exemplary), judgments, liabilities, fines, penalties, losses, costs, and expenses (including, without limitation, reasonable attorney fees) asserted by a third party arising out of or related to any (a) Services, (b) Client Data, (c) alleged infringement of a third-party’s intellectual property, privacy, or other proprietary rights by Client, (d) alleged breach of this Agreement by Client, or (e) gross negligence or willful misconduct by Client.

11. Governing Law; Arbitration
This Agreement will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Oregon, without regard to Oregon’s conflict of laws principles. Any dispute or claim that arises out of or relates to this Agreement, or to the interpretation or breach thereof, or to the existence, validity, or scope of this Agreement, will be resolved by confidential arbitration in Portland, Oregon, in accordance with the then effective arbitration rules of (and by filing a claim with) Arbitration Service of Portland, Inc., and judgment upon the award rendered pursuant to such arbitration may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. The parties agree to a single arbitrator.

12. Entire Agreement; Counterparts
This Agreement, including all signed SOWs, constitutes the entire agreement and understanding of the parties with respect to the subject matter of this Agreement and supersedes all prior understandings and agreements, whether written or oral, among the parties with respect to such subject matter. If there is a conflict between this Agreement and online purchase terms or an SOW, this Agreement will control and govern. SOWs and other documents under this Agreement requiring signature may be executed in multiple counterparts, including by electronic (e.g., PDF) document exchange, each of which will be deemed an original, and all of which together will constitute the same agreement.

13. Amendment
This Agreement and any SOWs may be amended only by an instrument in writing executed by both parties, which writing must refer to this Agreement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if any dates and times are not specified when a purchase is made or an SOW is executed, the parties may later mutually agree to such dates/times and memorialize that agreement via email. In addition, (a) the parties may change the (i) dates and times for an event and (ii) personnel associated with events if they reach consensus by email; no formal signed amendment is necessary for such purposes, and (b) TPC may update this Agreement from time to time, effective upon the earlier of (i) posting an updated version to its website (https://tpc.ngagedev.com/) or (ii) providing notice to Client (which may be provided by email). Client’s continued use or receipt of Services after such updates are effective is deemed Client’s acceptance of the updated Agreement.

14. Notices
Notices under this Agreement must be given by email to (a) TPC at the following address: privacy@presentation-company.com and (b) to Client at the address (i) Client used when making an online purchase or (ii) set forth in the applicable SOW. Notice will be deemed received on the same day it is sent if sent during the regular business hours of the receiving party (or on the next business day if sent outside the recipient’s regular business hours). A party may update their email address for notices by providing its updated email address to the other party.

15. Third-Party Beneficiaries
This Agreement benefits solely the parties to this Agreement. Nothing in this Agreement, express or implied, confers on any other person (including without limitation Client’s employees) any legal or equitable right, benefit, or remedy of any nature whatsoever.

16. Force Majeure
TPC will not be liable or responsible to Client, nor be deemed to have defaulted or breached this Agreement, for any failure or delay in fulfilling or performing any term of this Agreement when and to the extent such failure or delay is caused by or results from acts or circumstances beyond TPC’s reasonable control including, without limitation, acts of God, flood, fire, earthquake, explosion, governmental actions, war, invasion or hostilities (whether war is declared or not), terrorist threats or acts, riot, or other civil unrest, national emergency, revolution, insurrection, epidemic or pandemic, lock-outs, strikes or other labor disputes, failure or unavailability of services or software provided by third parties retained in connection with the Services, or restraints or delays affecting carriers or inability or delay in obtaining supplies of adequate or suitable materials, materials or telecommunication breakdown or power outage; provided that, if the event in question continues for a continuous period longer than 60 days, Client will at that time be entitled to terminate this Agreement by giving notice to TPC.

17. Attorney Fees

In any litigation related to or arising out of this Agreement, the prevailing party will be awarded reasonable costs and attorney fees incurred in such proceeding, including on appeal.

", "content_plain": "These Online Purchase Terms & Conditions (“Agreement“) are between The Presentation Company, LLC (“TPC“), and the entity (“Client“) purchasing goods or services from the TPC website and/or signing a Statement of Work or other document (“SOW“) setting forth specific services to be provided by TPC (“Services“) and referencing this Agreement. By making a purchase from the TPC website and/or signing an SOW referencing this Agreement, Client agrees to the terms of this Agreement. This Agreement will be deemed effective upon the earlier of (a) when Client first purchases Services, (b) when Client first receives TPC’s Services or (c) the effective date listed in the applicable SOW (such date, the “Effective Date“). The parties agree as follows: 1. Scope of Agreement As of the Effective Date, Client engages TPC to provide, and TPC agrees to provide, the Services. Detailed descriptions of TPC’s services and technology are available here (services) and here (technology). The descriptions include important information regarding (a) logistics, (b) technical specifications and requirements, and (c) materials provided with various services. The descriptions are incorporated by reference into this Agreement, and TPC may update the descriptions from time to time in its sole and absolute discretion. 2. Fees and Expenses; Timelines Client will pay TPC for the Services as specified in the applicable SOW or purchase screen on the website; upfront payment may be required for website purchase. Client agrees that TPC may charge any credit card on file for outstanding amounts. All prices are USD. TPC may update its fees and expenses (a) on an annual basis without notice and/or (b) more frequently if it provides at least 30 days’ prior notice to Client (which may be provided by email). Client is responsible for such updated fees and expenses upon (y) updating by TPC or (z) notification to Client, whichever occurs first. Unless stated otherwise in this Agreement or the applicable SOW, all fees and expenses for the Term (as defined below) are noncancellable and nonrefundable, notwithstanding TPC invoicing for such fees and expenses on a monthly (or other periodic) basis. Unless stated otherwise in an SOW or website purchase screen, Client must pay invoices within 30 calendar days after receipt. If Client fails to timely pay any amounts due, TPC may, in addition to all other remedies available to it at law, in equity, or otherwise, cease providing all Services. This includes, without limitation, immediately suspending or terminating Client’s access to e-learning programs, terminating this Agreement, and/or terminating any/all SOWs. In addition, any late payments will be subject to interest charges equal to the lesser of (i) 1.5 percent per month or (ii) the maximum amount allowed by applicable law. Interest begins accruing on the applicable due date. TPC may refer collection of any unpaid amounts to an attorney or collections agency and recover from Client all costs and fees incurred. 3. Confidentiality During the Term, each party (the “Receiving Party“) may acquire non-public information (orally, by visual observation, or in writing) the other party (the “Disclosing Party“) considers confidential and proprietary, including without limitation: (a) matters of a technical nature such as know-how, formulas, trade secrets, inventions, methods, programs, designs, models, or research projects; (b) matters of a business nature such as information about costs, profits, pricing policies, markets, sales, suppliers, customers, employees, subcontractors, references, plans for future development, plans for future products, marketing plans, or strategies; and (c) other information of a similar nature not generally disclosed by Disclosing Party to the public (collectively, “Confidential Information“). During the Term, Receiving Party will (x) keep secret and retain in the strictest confidence all Disclosing Party Confidential Information, (y) not disclose Disclosing Party Confidential Information to any third party other than its employees, officers, directors, and subcontractors with a “need to know” such information to enable Receiving Party’s performance of this Agreement, and (z) not use any Disclosing Party Confidential Information for any purpose other than performance of this Agreement. Receiving Party further agrees, upon Disclosing Party’s request, to either return or securely destroy Disclosing Party’s Confidential Information and all memoranda, notes, records, reports, manuals, drawings or other documents (and all copies thereof) relating to Disclosing Party’s Confidential Information that are in the possession or under the control of Receiving Party. TPC will also protect personal information it receives under this Agreement in the same manner as Confidential Information and process it only to perform the Services or as otherwise disclosed at the time of collection (e.g., for optional surveys and testimonials). TPC will not retain, use, disclose, or otherwise process such personal information for any other purpose, “share” or “sell” (as such terms are defined by applicable law) personal information, or combine it with other personal information it collects. Notwithstanding the foregoing, TPC may process personal information to improve the quality of TPC’s services. Upon termination or expiration of an SOW, TPC will, upon request, delete or return Client’s personal information; provided that TPC may retain such information if required to do so by law. If TPC becomes aware of the unauthorized access, use, or disclosure of personal information received from Client (a “Security Incident”), it will notify Client without undue delay and provide reasonable assistance to enable Client (at Client’s cost and expense) to respond to and remediate the Security Incident. TPC will also provide, upon request and at Client’s expense, such information as Client may reasonably request to confirm TPC’s compliance with its obligations under applicable privacy laws. Notwithstanding the expiration or termination of this Agreement, each party will continue to comply with its confidentiality and nondisclosure obligations set forth in this Section 3 with respect to any of the other party’s Confidential Information and/or personal information it possesses. 4. Intellectual Property All intellectual property rights, including copyrights, patents, patent disclosures and inventions (whether patentable or not), trademarks, service marks, trade secrets, know-how, trade dress, trade names, logos, corporate names and domain names, together with all of the goodwill associated therewith, derivative works and all other rights (collectively, “Intellectual Property Rights”) in and to all TPC information, methods, programs, designs, models, workshops, materials, documents, and work product existing as of the Effective Date or developed independent of this Agreement will be owned by TPC. TPC will also own all Intellectual Property Rights in anything that is conceived or developed by TPC in the course of performing the Services, or any feedback provided by Client (collectively, the “Developed IP”); provided that, as long as Client complies with its obligations under this Agreement, TPC grants Client a license to use all Intellectual Property Rights in the Developed IP free of additional charge and on a non-exclusive, worldwide, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, fully paid-up, royalty-free and perpetual basis solely to the extent necessary for Client’s internal business use of the Developed IP and Services. TPC will not own Client Confidential Information, Client personal information, or any other materials or information provided by Client: all such information and materials will be owned by Client; provided that TPC will have a license to use such Client information and materials to provide the Services. 5. Client Responsibilities TPC’s timely, accurate, and successful provision of the Services depends, in part, on Client’s timely performance and functionality of Client’s systems, including without limitation Client’s computer network and learning-management system. TPC is not responsible for any delays arising from Client’s actions or omissions, including without limitation any failure to timely provide any access, information, or materials as TPC may reasonably request, or any failure or delay arising out of or related to Client’s systems. In addition, Client is solely responsible for the accuracy, content, completeness, and legality of all information and materials provided or made available to TPC, including without limitation information provided by or related to Client’s employees (collectively, “Client Data”). Client is also solely responsible for ensuring that its use of TPC and the Services does not violate any obligations to any third parties. Client must obtain all third-party licenses, rights, clearances, consents, and approvals that are required for TPC to perform the Services, and Client represents and warrants that TPC’s performance will not violate any applicable law or any intellectual property, publicity, privacy, or other rights of any third parties. Client is solely responsible for paying any sales, use, goods, value-added, or similar taxes or levies related to the Services, other than taxes based on TPC’s income. All such taxes and levies are excluded from any prices provided by TPC. 6. Independent Contractors; No Exclusivity TPC is an independent contractor and not an employee of Client. TPC is not subject to direct supervision or control by Client. TPC is not eligible for Client employee benefits. TPC may use subcontractors to perform the Services; provided that (a) TPC enters into agreements with its subcontractors committing them to relevant obligations of TPC under this Agreement, such as confidentiality, and (b) TPC will be responsible for all actions and omissions of its subcontractors. The Services are not exclusive to Client: TPC may provide similar or identical services to third parties. 7. No Assignment This Agreement may not be assigned by Client without the prior written consent of TPC, which will not be unreasonably withheld. Any attempted assignment in violation of this Section is voidable in TPC’s sole and absolute discretion. This Agreement is binding on and inures to the benefit of the parties and their respective successors and permitted assigns. 8. Term and Termination This Agreement and each SOW will commence on their respective Effective Date and, unless stated otherwise in the applicable SOW, will continue for two years (“Initial Term“) from such date; provided that this Agreement and each SOW will automatically renew for successive two-year terms (each a “Renewal Term“) unless a party provides notice of its intent to not renew at least 90 days before the expiration of the then-current Term. In addition, notwithstanding expiration (and unless previously terminated), each SOW will survive until the Services under that SOW are completed. “Term” will mean, collectively, the Initial Term and any Renewal Term(s). Either party may terminate this Agreement if the other party is in material breach and fails to cure such breach within 30 days of being provided notice by the non-breaching party. Regardless of the reason for termination, Client will remain responsible for all costs, fees, and expenses that are (or will be) due through the effective date of termination. If Client needs to cancel or reschedule a scheduled workshop (or other event), it must provide TPC with written notice more than 30 business days before such event. If it fails to timely provide such notice, Client will be invoiced, and responsible for, fees as follows (in addition to any of TPC’s out-of-pocket expenses): 30 business days’ notice or less: $2,500. 20 business days’ notice or less: $5,000. 10 business days’ notice or less: full price. 9. Limited Warranties TPC warrants that the Services will be performed by personnel with commercially reasonable skill, experience, and qualifications. EXCEPT FOR THE LIMITED WARRANTIES SET FORTH IN THIS SECTION, CLIENT ACKNOWLEDGES AND AGREES THAT THE SERVICES, TOGETHER WITH ALL RESULTS AND OUTPUTS OF THE SERVICES, ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. TPC MAKES NO OTHER GUARANTEES OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, ACCURACY, TITLE, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. 10. Limitation of Liability; Indemnification IN NO EVENT WILL TPC BE LIABLE TO CLIENT OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY LOSS OF USE, REVENUE, PROFIT, OR DATA, OR DIMINUTION IN VALUE, OR FOR ANY OTHER CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, EXEMPLARY, SPECIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, WHETHER ARISING OUT OF BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR OTHERWISE, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH DAMAGE WAS FORESEEABLE AND WHETHER OR NOT TPC HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, AND NOTWITHSTANDING THE FAILURE OF ANY AGREED OR OTHER REMEDY OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT WILL TPC’S AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THIS AGREEMENT, WHETHER ARISING OUT OF BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), INDEMNITY, OR OTHERWISE, EXCEED THE AGGREGATE AMOUNTS PAID TO TPC PURSUANT TO THE APPLICABLE SOW IN THE THREE-MONTH PERIOD PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM. Client will defend, indemnify, and hold TPC harmless from and against any and all claims for damages (whether ordinary, direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or exemplary), judgments, liabilities, fines, penalties, losses, costs, and expenses (including, without limitation, reasonable attorney fees) asserted by a third party arising out of or related to any (a) Services, (b) Client Data, (c) alleged infringement of a third-party’s intellectual property, privacy, or other proprietary rights by Client, (d) alleged breach of this Agreement by Client, or (e) gross negligence or willful misconduct by Client. 11. Governing Law; Arbitration This Agreement will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Oregon, without regard to Oregon’s conflict of laws principles. Any dispute or claim that arises out of or relates to this Agreement, or to the interpretation or breach thereof, or to the existence, validity, or scope of this Agreement, will be resolved by confidential arbitration in Portland, Oregon, in accordance with the then effective arbitration rules of (and by filing a claim with) Arbitration Service of Portland, Inc., and judgment upon the award rendered pursuant to such arbitration may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. The parties agree to a single arbitrator. 12. Entire Agreement; Counterparts This Agreement, including all signed SOWs, constitutes the entire agreement and understanding of the parties with respect to the subject matter of this Agreement and supersedes all prior understandings and agreements, whether written or oral, among the parties with respect to such subject matter. If there is a conflict between this Agreement and online purchase terms or an SOW, this Agreement will control and govern. SOWs and other documents under this Agreement requiring signature may be executed in multiple counterparts, including by electronic (e.g., PDF) document exchange, each of which will be deemed an original, and all of which together will constitute the same agreement. 13. Amendment This Agreement and any SOWs may be amended only by an instrument in writing executed by both parties, which writing must refer to this Agreement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if any dates and times are not specified when a purchase is made or an SOW is executed, the parties may later mutually agree to such dates/times and memorialize that agreement via email. In addition, (a) the parties may change the (i) dates and times for an event and (ii) personnel associated with events if they reach consensus by email; no formal signed amendment is necessary for such purposes, and (b) TPC may update this Agreement from time to time, effective upon the earlier of (i) posting an updated version to its website (https://tpc.ngagedev.com/) or (ii) providing notice to Client (which may be provided by email). Client’s continued use or receipt of Services after such updates are effective is deemed Client’s acceptance of the updated Agreement. 14. Notices Notices under this Agreement must be given by email to (a) TPC at the following address: privacy@presentation-company.com and (b) to Client at the address (i) Client used when making an online purchase or (ii) set forth in the applicable SOW. Notice will be deemed received on the same day it is sent if sent during the regular business hours of the receiving party (or on the next business day if sent outside the recipient’s regular business hours). A party may update their email address for notices by providing its updated email address to the other party. 15. Third-Party Beneficiaries This Agreement benefits solely the parties to this Agreement. Nothing in this Agreement, express or implied, confers on any other person (including without limitation Client’s employees) any legal or equitable right, benefit, or remedy of any nature whatsoever. 16. Force Majeure TPC will not be liable or responsible to Client, nor be deemed to have defaulted or breached this Agreement, for any failure or delay in fulfilling or performing any term of this Agreement when and to the extent such failure or delay is caused by or results from acts or circumstances beyond TPC’s reasonable control including, without limitation, acts of God, flood, fire, earthquake, explosion, governmental actions, war, invasion or hostilities (whether war is declared or not), terrorist threats or acts, riot, or other civil unrest, national emergency, revolution, insurrection, epidemic or pandemic, lock-outs, strikes or other labor disputes, failure or unavailability of services or software provided by third parties retained in connection with the Services, or restraints or delays affecting carriers or inability or delay in obtaining supplies of adequate or suitable materials, materials or telecommunication breakdown or power outage; provided that, if the event in question continues for a continuous period longer than 60 days, Client will at that time be entitled to terminate this Agreement by giving notice to TPC. 17. Attorney Fees In any litigation related to or arising out of this Agreement, the prevailing party will be awarded reasonable costs and attorney fees incurred in such proceeding, including on appeal.", "image": false, "modified": "2025-09-24T19:56:04-05:00" }, { "id": 11307, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/communications-training/communications-skills-workshops/data-visualization-course/presenting-data-visually-partner-toolkit/", "title": "Presenting Data Visually – Partner Toolkit", "h1": "Presenting Data Visually – Partner Toolkit", "summary": "", "content": "

Presenting Data Visually – Partner Toolkit

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We’ve gathered a set of best practices and ready-to-use resources to help you generate buzz, drive engagement, and support learners on their Presenting Data Visually journey. These assets have been valuable for many of our clients — and if there’s anything you don’t see here that would be helpful, just let us know. We’d love to partner with you to create it!

Have a request or idea? Email us at help@presentation-company.com.

Course Launch 

Resources to help you kick things off and create excitement from day one. 

Monitoring & Engagement 

Support ongoing engagement and learning momentum. 

", "content_plain": "Presenting Data Visually – Partner Toolkit We’ve gathered a set of best practices and ready-to-use resources to help you generate buzz, drive engagement, and support learners on their Presenting Data Visually journey. These assets have been valuable for many of our clients — and if there’s anything you don’t see here that would be helpful, just let us know. We’d love to partner with you to create it! Have a request or idea? Email us at help@presentation-company.com. Course Launch Resources to help you kick things off and create excitement from day one. Announce Email Template Customize this ready-to-send email to introduce the course to learners. We recommend tailoring it to show how the course supports your organization’s goals and priorities. Promotional Images Visual assets you can use across internal channels to create buzz. Course Syllabus An overview of the course content for learners. Great for including in your launch email or sharing during a team kickoff. Monitoring & Engagement Support ongoing engagement and learning momentum. Nudge & Reinforcement Email Templates (coming soon!) Pre-written templates to help you follow up with learners. A great way to encourage continued participation and re-engagement when energy dips. Reflection Questions (coming soon!) Encourage deeper learning with prompts that can be used in 1:1s, team discussions, or midpoint check-ins. Perfect for manager touchpoints or peer conversations. ", "image": false, "modified": "2025-04-30T08:34:30-05:00" }, { "id": 11284, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/communications-training/communications-skills-workshops/business-presentation-training/business-storytelling-fundamentals-toolkit/", "title": "Business Storytelling Fundamentals – Partner Toolkit", "h1": "Business Storytelling Fundamentals – Partner Toolkit", "summary": "", "content": "

Business Storytelling Fundamentals – Partner Toolkit

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We’ve gathered a set of best practices and ready-to-use resources to help you generate buzz, drive engagement, and support learners on their Business Storytelling Fundamentals journey. These assets have been valuable for many of our clients — and if there’s anything you don’t see here that would be helpful, just let us know. We’d love to partner with you to create it!  
 
Have a request or idea? Email us at help@presentation-company.com.

Course Launch 

Resources to help you kick things off and create excitement from day one. 

Monitoring & Engagement 

Support ongoing engagement and learning momentum. 

Closing the Loop 

Wrap things up with thoughtful feedback and next steps. 

", "content_plain": "Business Storytelling Fundamentals – Partner Toolkit We’ve gathered a set of best practices and ready-to-use resources to help you generate buzz, drive engagement, and support learners on their Business Storytelling Fundamentals journey. These assets have been valuable for many of our clients — and if there’s anything you don’t see here that would be helpful, just let us know. We’d love to partner with you to create it! Have a request or idea? Email us at help@presentation-company.com. Course Launch Resources to help you kick things off and create excitement from day one. Announce Email Template Customize this ready-to-send email to introduce the course to learners. We recommend tailoring it to show how the course supports your organization’s goals and priorities. Kick-Off Presentation Slides A ready-to-use slide deck to help you launch the course with maximum impact! This presentation is your secret weapon for team meetings or kick-offs, complete with fully scripted speaker notes to make delivery a breeze. These slides will help you showcase the course’s purpose, structure, and benefits while sparking discussion on storytelling and why it matters. Easy to customize and present, get ready to generate excitement and buzz from the very start. Course Syllabus An overview of the course content for learners. Great for including in your launch email or sharing during a team kickoff. Executive Sponsor Video Script A customizable script to help an executive sponsor/team leader create a short video introducing the course and reinforcing its value. This personal message can help build momentum by demonstrating leadership support and connecting storytelling skills to specific business goals. Share the video during a program kick-off, on internal social channels, or in team meetings to increase visibility and boost learner engagement! Promotional Video for Learners Use this video to kick off your course launch, build pre-course excitement in your LMS, or explain your investment in their communication skills during team meetings. In this short video, TPC’s Co-Founder Janine Kurnoff reveals the universal communication problems plaguing every organization. Learners will discover why “Frankendecks” create confusion instead of clarity—and how storytelling transforms confusing messages into compelling communications. Your learners will immediately understand why Business Storytelling Fundamentals is the solution your team needs. Promotional Images Visual assets you can use across internal channels to create buzz. Monitoring & Engagement Support ongoing engagement and learning momentum. Nudge & Reinforcement Email Templates Pre-written templates to help you follow up with learners. A great way to encourage continued participation and re-engagement when energy dips. Social Learning Ideas Spark meaningful discussion by setting up peer channels (like Slack groups or midpoint meetings) where learners can reflect and share takeaways together. Blog Posts (Coming soon!) Thought-starters or reflections to share internally and keep storytelling top of mind. Reflection Questions Encourage deeper learning with prompts that can be used in 1:1s, team discussions, or midpoint check-ins. Perfect for manager touchpoints or peer conversations. Closing the Loop Wrap things up with thoughtful feedback and next steps. Post-Course Survey Template This course doesn’t include a built-in survey, so we’ve left space for your own. Use your preferred method to collect learner feedback, and feel free to adapt our suggested questions if helpful. ", "image": false, "modified": "2025-07-23T07:43:41-05:00" }, { "id": 11227, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/about/tpc-description-of-technology/", "title": "Description of Technology", "h1": "Description of Technology", "summary": "", "content": "

Technology powers our learning experiences

The use of innovative technology allows for meaningful interaction and effective collaboration during our workshops. The Presentation Company (TPC) uses these technologies to enable a highly interactive, hands-on experience for our learners. This page explains how TPC engages with Subprocessors to deliver our services.

Subprocessors

Third-Party Subprocessor Purpose Products Processing Location
Anthropic Productivity All USA
Eurekos LMS Digital Workshops EU
Google Hands-on practice with Google Slides & Sheets All USA
LinkedIn Sales operations All USA
Microsoft Productivity & communication (SharePoint, Outlook, Forms), Hands-on practice with Microsoft PPT & Excel All USA
Padlet Enables virtual “gallery walks” where learners share work & provide feedback ILT & VILT Workshops USA
Porchlight Book distribution (physical) Storytelling Workshops USA
Rustici Software eLearning Deployment (options below) Digital Workshops & Subscriptions USA
Salesforce Sales operations All USA
SurveyMonkey Survey management ILT & VILT Workshops USA
TPC Website Web All USA
WebEx Virtual classrooms VILT Workshops USA
Wiley Redshelf Book distribution (eBook) Storytelling Workshops USA
Zoom Virtual classrooms VILT Workshops USA

Rustici Software eLearning deployment options:

  1. Rustici SCORM Cloud Dispatch (Client facilitates registration via Client’s learning-management system). Under this configuration, the Services are provided to Client via a .zip file using Rustici Software’s SCORM Cloud Dispatch, an industry standard for e-learning courses. This delivery mechanism allows the Services to live on Client’s learning-management system while enabling TPC to push updates to the Services, control the number of End Users, and turn off access at the end of the Term. Information regarding Rustici’s ISO-27001 certification is available at https://rusticisoftware.com/security-certifications/. 
  2. Rustici Invitations (TPC facilitates registration by collecting name and email address)

Due to the nature of our global business and our ongoing efforts to delight our customers, our business needs and service providers may change from time to time.

For more information on The Presentation Company’s privacy practices, please visit our Privacy Policy. If you have any questions regarding this page, please contact us at privacy@presentation-company.com.

", "content_plain": "Technology powers our learning experiences The use of innovative technology allows for meaningful interaction and effective collaboration during our workshops. The Presentation Company (TPC) uses these technologies to enable a highly interactive, hands-on experience for our learners. This page explains how TPC engages with Subprocessors to deliver our services. Subprocessors Third-Party Subprocessor Purpose Products Processing Location Anthropic Productivity All USA Eurekos LMS Digital Workshops EU Google Hands-on practice with Google Slides & Sheets All USA LinkedIn Sales operations All USA Microsoft Productivity & communication (SharePoint, Outlook, Forms), Hands-on practice with Microsoft PPT & Excel All USA Padlet Enables virtual “gallery walks” where learners share work & provide feedback ILT & VILT Workshops USA Porchlight Book distribution (physical) Storytelling Workshops USA Rustici Software eLearning Deployment (options below) Digital Workshops & Subscriptions USA Salesforce Sales operations All USA SurveyMonkey Survey management ILT & VILT Workshops USA TPC Website Web All USA WebEx Virtual classrooms VILT Workshops USA Wiley Redshelf Book distribution (eBook) Storytelling Workshops USA Zoom Virtual classrooms VILT Workshops USA Rustici Software eLearning deployment options: Rustici SCORM Cloud Dispatch (Client facilitates registration via Client’s learning-management system). Under this configuration, the Services are provided to Client via a .zip file using Rustici Software’s SCORM Cloud Dispatch, an industry standard for e-learning courses. This delivery mechanism allows the Services to live on Client’s learning-management system while enabling TPC to push updates to the Services, control the number of End Users, and turn off access at the end of the Term. Information regarding Rustici’s ISO-27001 certification is available at https://rusticisoftware.com/security-certifications/. Rustici Invitations (TPC facilitates registration by collecting name and email address) Due to the nature of our global business and our ongoing efforts to delight our customers, our business needs and service providers may change from time to time. For more information on The Presentation Company’s privacy practices, please visit our Privacy Policy. If you have any questions regarding this page, please contact us at privacy@presentation-company.com.", "image": false, "modified": "2026-03-09T16:22:03-05:00" }, { "id": 11222, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/about/tpc-description-of-services/", "title": "Description of Services", "h1": "Description of Services", "summary": "", "content": "

Description of Services

Workshops

Crafting Strategic Visual Stories

Our story strategy workshop teaches the fundamentals of storytelling using a practical, easy-to-use framework. Teams learn how to transform any form of business communication into memorable narratives that drive conversations forward, inspire action, and accelerate decision-making. This workshop also explores the executive mindset and what they want to see and hear during a presentation. To ensure behavior change, participants work on a relevant high-stakes communication during this training and receive peer-to-peer and instructor coaching.

Influencing with Visuals 

Building upon Crafting Strategic Visual Stories (which is a pre-requisite to this course), our visual strategy workshop teaches teams how to embrace a story first, visuals second mindset. Teams will learn a practical visual story strategy that connects narrative, visuals, data, and audience. It is geared to those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals. Using a highly experiential, hands-on learning approach, participants learn how to lay out the narrative and visual flow of their story using an interactive story building and coaching tool. Participants walk away with design inspiration to help ensure visual choices are meaningful and optimally illustrate their story. Teams also get pro-tips and real-world examples to make the visual design process simple, quick, and fun! Influencing with Visuals provides the skills to transform storytelling fundamentals into visual storytelling mastery.

Presenting Data Visually

Our data strategy workshop provides techniques for turning facts and figures into easy-to-scan data visualizations. Participants get “under the hood” to help transform data findings into visually compelling insights that get actioned. Teams learn skills to cut through the noise, tame their impulse to data dump, and communicate data-driven recommendations clearly. We’ll help elevate how to create data stories at the slide level, using easy-to-scan charts, tables, and graphs and push participants to think outside the chart.

3-Part Learning Journey

Our Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, Influencing with Visuals, and Presenting Data Visually curriculum is designed to flow from one workshop to the next… with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other. All workshops address the most common business scenarios we face today and how to stay confident under pressure with diverse audiences.

Interactive Storytelling Sessions

The Power of Business Storytelling

In The Power of Business Storytelling keynote, we explore the three key ingredients you need to master the art of business storytelling: a story strategy, a visual strategy, and a data strategy. Get introduced to a simple, repeatable storytelling framework that helps teams elevate conversations and transform ideas and data into actionable recommendations.

Keynote participants will learn how to:

eLearning Programs

Business Storytelling Fundamentals

Based on our award-winning storytelling approach, this one-hour, self-paced course enables a broad cross-functional audience to gain the knowledge and skills to elevate any business communication—from presentations, emails, 1-pagers, and even elevator pitches—into powerful narratives that influence the conversation and propel business forward.

Crafting Strategic Visual Stories

Telling a clear, engaging story is more critical than ever. Whether you’re working on a project update, proposal, or the ever-intimidating executive briefing, you need a roadmap to guide you. This self-paced, on-demand workshop teaches the fundamentals of storytelling using a practical, easy-to-use framework that will elevate anything you say, send, deliver, or present. Get armed with a collaborative tool and a common language for bringing clarity and meaning to your ideas and data. You’ll learn how to transform any form of business communication – whether a presentation, 1-pager, or email – into memorable narratives that drive conversations forward, inspire action, and accelerate decision-making.

Influencing with Visuals 

Building upon Crafting Strategic Visual Stories (which is a pre-requisite to this course), our visual strategy workshop teaches teams how to embrace a story first, visuals second mindset. Teams will learn a practical visual story strategy that connects narrative, visuals, data, and audience. It is geared to those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals. Using a highly experiential, hands-on learning approach, participants learn how to lay out the narrative and visual flow of their story using an interactive story building and coaching tool. Participants walk away with design inspiration to help ensure visual choices are meaningful and optimally illustrate their story. Teams also get pro-tips and real-world examples to make the visual design process simple, quick, and fun! Influencing with Visuals provides the skills to transform storytelling fundamentals into visual storytelling mastery.

Presenting Data Visually

Our data strategy workshop provides techniques for turning facts and figures into easy-to-scan data visualizations. Participants get “under the hood” to help transform data findings into visually compelling insights that get actioned. Teams learn skills to cut through the noise, tame their impulse to data dump, and communicate data-driven recommendations clearly. We’ll help elevate how to create data stories at the slide level, using easy-to-scan charts, tables, and graphs and push participants to think outside the chart.

Logistics

Onsite Workshops

All participants are requested to bring a laptop computer loaded with Adobe Reader and Microsoft PowerPoint for maximum benefit.

To ensure a quality training experience, Client must supply the following:

Virtual Workshops

This online training will be facilitated using a Zoom/Webex Virtual Training Room with integrated voice-over-IP (VOIP) audio provided by TPC. We will also provide an online technical producer to ensure a seamless experience for the workshop participants.

Our virtual workshops are designed to promote engagement, interaction, and feedback. To participate in our virtual workshops, learners will need the following to ensure a smooth and productive experience:

We ask individuals to participate from a quiet workspace with their own computer and headset, and to be ready to join on camera. This will allow learners to easily participate in group discussions and breakout sessions. We do not recommend that learners join in a clustered group setting, as this impedes the instructor’s ability to interact with individual learners and impacts the quality of the audio recording for participants to review after each module.

eLearning

To participate in our eLearning courses, learners will need the following to ensure a smooth and productive experience:

Materials Included with Services

All workshop participants receive a robust set of resources that map directly back to the curriculum covered during training to reinforce key concepts. All workshop materials are to be used solely by registered workshop participants and may not be redistributed. Participants walk away with the following tools to enable behavior change:

Crafting Strategic Visual Stories:

Influencing with Visuals:

Presenting Data Visually:

Business Storytelling Fundamentals:

Optional Surveys

TPC provides opportunities for Client feedback through optional surveys, which will collect contact information and any other feedback recipients elect to provide. The information received from these optional surveys will be owned by TPC and used by TPC solely for improving its products and services or as otherwise disclosed in connection with the survey.

", "content_plain": "Description of Services Workshops Crafting Strategic Visual Stories Our story strategy workshop teaches the fundamentals of storytelling using a practical, easy-to-use framework. Teams learn how to transform any form of business communication into memorable narratives that drive conversations forward, inspire action, and accelerate decision-making. This workshop also explores the executive mindset and what they want to see and hear during a presentation. To ensure behavior change, participants work on a relevant high-stakes communication during this training and receive peer-to-peer and instructor coaching. Influencing with Visuals Building upon Crafting Strategic Visual Stories (which is a pre-requisite to this course), our visual strategy workshop teaches teams how to embrace a story first, visuals second mindset. Teams will learn a practical visual story strategy that connects narrative, visuals, data, and audience. It is geared to those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals. Using a highly experiential, hands-on learning approach, participants learn how to lay out the narrative and visual flow of their story using an interactive story building and coaching tool. Participants walk away with design inspiration to help ensure visual choices are meaningful and optimally illustrate their story. Teams also get pro-tips and real-world examples to make the visual design process simple, quick, and fun! Influencing with Visuals provides the skills to transform storytelling fundamentals into visual storytelling mastery. Presenting Data Visually Our data strategy workshop provides techniques for turning facts and figures into easy-to-scan data visualizations. Participants get “under the hood” to help transform data findings into visually compelling insights that get actioned. Teams learn skills to cut through the noise, tame their impulse to data dump, and communicate data-driven recommendations clearly. We’ll help elevate how to create data stories at the slide level, using easy-to-scan charts, tables, and graphs and push participants to think outside the chart. 3-Part Learning Journey Our Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, Influencing with Visuals, and Presenting Data Visually curriculum is designed to flow from one workshop to the next… with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other. All workshops address the most common business scenarios we face today and how to stay confident under pressure with diverse audiences. Interactive Storytelling Sessions The Power of Business Storytelling In The Power of Business Storytelling keynote, we explore the three key ingredients you need to master the art of business storytelling: a story strategy, a visual strategy, and a data strategy. Get introduced to a simple, repeatable storytelling framework that helps teams elevate conversations and transform ideas and data into actionable recommendations. Keynote participants will learn how to: Use a storytelling framework to organize ideas and data into audience-centric business narratives Flex your story to adapt to common business scenarios and diverse audiences, including senior executives Choose clear, impactful visuals with purpose and intention to help advance your story and inspire action Get tips for turning facts and figures into easy-to-scan data visualization eLearning Programs Business Storytelling Fundamentals Based on our award-winning storytelling approach, this one-hour, self-paced course enables a broad cross-functional audience to gain the knowledge and skills to elevate any business communication—from presentations, emails, 1-pagers, and even elevator pitches—into powerful narratives that influence the conversation and propel business forward. Crafting Strategic Visual Stories Telling a clear, engaging story is more critical than ever. Whether you’re working on a project update, proposal, or the ever-intimidating executive briefing, you need a roadmap to guide you. This self-paced, on-demand workshop teaches the fundamentals of storytelling using a practical, easy-to-use framework that will elevate anything you say, send, deliver, or present. Get armed with a collaborative tool and a common language for bringing clarity and meaning to your ideas and data. You’ll learn how to transform any form of business communication – whether a presentation, 1-pager, or email – into memorable narratives that drive conversations forward, inspire action, and accelerate decision-making. Influencing with Visuals Building upon Crafting Strategic Visual Stories (which is a pre-requisite to this course), our visual strategy workshop teaches teams how to embrace a story first, visuals second mindset. Teams will learn a practical visual story strategy that connects narrative, visuals, data, and audience. It is geared to those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals. Using a highly experiential, hands-on learning approach, participants learn how to lay out the narrative and visual flow of their story using an interactive story building and coaching tool. Participants walk away with design inspiration to help ensure visual choices are meaningful and optimally illustrate their story. Teams also get pro-tips and real-world examples to make the visual design process simple, quick, and fun! Influencing with Visuals provides the skills to transform storytelling fundamentals into visual storytelling mastery. Presenting Data Visually Our data strategy workshop provides techniques for turning facts and figures into easy-to-scan data visualizations. Participants get “under the hood” to help transform data findings into visually compelling insights that get actioned. Teams learn skills to cut through the noise, tame their impulse to data dump, and communicate data-driven recommendations clearly. We’ll help elevate how to create data stories at the slide level, using easy-to-scan charts, tables, and graphs and push participants to think outside the chart. Logistics Onsite Workshops All participants are requested to bring a laptop computer loaded with Adobe Reader and Microsoft PowerPoint for maximum benefit. To ensure a quality training experience, Client must supply the following: Separate training room for the onsite workshop that fits 16 people comfortably in each (set-up U-shape style if possible) LCD or DLP projector & white screen (preferably built-into the training room) Side table for materials Extension cords (for participants & trainer) Flip charts (2 total) with flip-chart paper and pens Food & Beverage Services (breakfast and lunch recommended) Wi-Fi login details for our trainer Ensure each participant brings their laptop to our training All participants will join in person and not attend virtually Virtual Workshops This online training will be facilitated using a Zoom/Webex Virtual Training Room with integrated voice-over-IP (VOIP) audio provided by TPC. We will also provide an online technical producer to ensure a seamless experience for the workshop participants. Our virtual workshops are designed to promote engagement, interaction, and feedback. To participate in our virtual workshops, learners will need the following to ensure a smooth and productive experience: A Reliable Internet Connection: A stable connection is essential for accessing course content, completing interactive activities, and viewing multimedia. A Compatible Device: A desktop, laptop, or tablet is recommended for the best experience. Ensure the device has an updated web browser (such as Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Safari). Audio Capabilities: Learners should have headphones or speakers to listen to video and audio content included in the course. A Quiet and Comfortable Workspace: We recommend a distraction-free environment to allow learners to fully focus on the material. We ask individuals to participate from a quiet workspace with their own computer and headset, and to be ready to join on camera. This will allow learners to easily participate in group discussions and breakout sessions. We do not recommend that learners join in a clustered group setting, as this impedes the instructor’s ability to interact with individual learners and impacts the quality of the audio recording for participants to review after each module. eLearning To participate in our eLearning courses, learners will need the following to ensure a smooth and productive experience: A Reliable Internet Connection: A stable connection is essential for accessing course content, completing interactive activities, and viewing multimedia. A Compatible Device: A desktop, laptop, or tablet is recommended for the best experience. Ensure the device has an updated web browser (such as Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Safari). Audio Capabilities: Learners should have headphones or speakers to listen to video and audio content included in the course. A Quiet and Comfortable Workspace: We recommend a distraction-free environment to allow learners to fully focus on the material. Materials Included with Services All workshop participants receive a robust set of resources that map directly back to the curriculum covered during training to reinforce key concepts. All workshop materials are to be used solely by registered workshop participants and may not be redistributed. Participants walk away with the following tools to enable behavior change: Crafting Strategic Visual Stories: Conceptual Guide: A follow-along booklet that includes key concepts and best practices introduced in the workshop, designed to help reinforce the learnings Visual Story Planner™: A one-page story planning framework, used during and after the workshop, to organize ideas and data into a compelling and meaningful narrative Story Starters: Language prompts to jumpstart story development (think “Mad Libs” for business storytelling) StoryCoach™: Coaching prompts to ensure your story headlines are working hard for you Sample Story Planners: Reference material to use as inspiration and a starting point Badge of certification: A Certified Storyteller digital badge that can be posted to LinkedIn to showcase your credentials Influencing with Visuals: Conceptual Guide: A follow-along booklet that includes key concepts and best practices introduced in the workshop, designed to help reinforce the learnings Visual StoryBuilder™: A hands-on, coach-me-through-it tool that allows you to lay out the narrative flow of your story and see the visual strategy that supports it Visual Story Library: A suite of 100+ beautifully designed slides that guide you through the storytelling signposts and provide inspiration, pro-tips, and coaching examples to help jumpstart design thinking StoryCoach™: Coaching prompts to ensure your story headlines are working hard for you VisualCoach™: Coaching prompts to ensure your visuals support your headlines StoryCheck™: A cheat sheet to help pressure test your story headlines and visuals Badge of certification: A Certified Visual Communicator digital badge that can be posted to LinkedIn to showcase your credentials Presenting Data Visually: Conceptual Guide: A follow-along booklet that includes key concepts and best practices introduced in the workshop, designed to help reinforce the learnings Data Visualization Library: A suite of 100+ professionally designed data visualizations that guide you through the five ways to display data and provide inspiration, pro-tips, and coaching examples to help make presenting data a quick and simple process DataCoach™: Coaching prompts from experts to ensure your data visualizations are understandable to any audience at a glance (embedded in the Data Visualization Library) DataCheck™: A cheat sheet to help pressure test your data visualizations before sharing them with key stakeholders (embedded in the Data Visualization Library) Quick Access Toolbar: A time-saving resource that gives you rapid access to commonly used functions for building data visualizations Badge of certification: A Certified Data Communicator digital badge that can be posted to LinkedIn to showcase your credentials Business Storytelling Fundamentals: Companion Guide: A cheat sheet that includes key concepts and best practices introduced in the eLearning, designed to help reinforce course content Optional Surveys TPC provides opportunities for Client feedback through optional surveys, which will collect contact information and any other feedback recipients elect to provide. The information received from these optional surveys will be owned by TPC and used by TPC solely for improving its products and services or as otherwise disclosed in connection with the survey.", "image": false, "modified": "2026-05-20T07:09:49-05:00" }, { "id": 11196, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/the-new-power-couple-ai-and-storytelling/", "title": "The New Power Couple: AI and Storytelling", "h1": "The New Power Couple: AI and Storytelling", "summary": "We get it— you’ve finally landed a meeting with a key stakeholder and a lot is at stake. But you’re swamped with work, deadlines are looming, and time is slipping away. You’re desperate to craft a stand-out presentation to make an impact, and quick. What could give you the jumpstart you need to get it […]", "content": "

We get it— you’ve finally landed a meeting with a key stakeholder and a lot is at stake. But you’re swamped with work, deadlines are looming, and time is slipping away. You’re desperate to craft a stand-out presentation to make an impact, and quick. What could give you the jumpstart you need to get it done?

Enter AI.

Across industries and business functions, the use of AI is progressing at breakneck speed. In a recent survey by McKinsey, 65% percent of respondents said they were regularly using generative AI in at least one business function, up one-third from just a year ago.1

The growth isn’t all that surprising; after all, the benefits of AI are valid. A report from Forbes revealed that 97% of business owners believe ChatGPT will help their business.2

But there’s another side of AI to consider. While AI is a powerful tool for organizing information and increasing efficiency, it lacks two key elements of effective communication—emotional intelligence and creative thinking.

As one expert said3, “Machines will never be able to disentangle the intricacies of diverse human motives and biases that color all our interactions with information.”

The truth is, decision-makers need more than an AI output to be engaged; they need inspiring content that feels personal and speaks directly to their needs.

They need storytelling that keeps humans at the center of the narrative.

Stories are a great way to bridge the gap between AI complexities and human imagination. By pairing the art of business storytelling with the science of AI, you can tap into the future of effective communication. This potent combination gives you the best of both worlds—improved efficiency and memorable messaging.

How AI can complement business storytelling

Let’s go back to that presentation you need. Think of AI as an extra resource to help you get started – like having an intern to conduct research on your behalf. Just as you would with an intern, you’d want to check and validate what AI produces. While there’s value in leveraging AI for brainstorming and ideation, you’d be remiss not to review and approve the outputs before using them.

So while it’s a great workhorse, AI takes the human element out of communication. And when it comes to building lasting business relationships and trust, the human element is what makes all the difference. AI should be thought of as a collaborative partner – not a replacement for human expertise.

But this is where storytelling and AI emerge as the new power couple… the real magic happens when you combine the two.

Still not convinced? Here are six ways AI can help create engaging business communications in tandem with storytelling techniques:

1. Audience analysis and personalization: AI can analyze audience data (like demographics, preferences, and engagement history) to tailor your story. This allows storytellers to personalize content, tone, and examples to resonate with specific audiences, making your narrative more relatable and authentic.

2. Content generation and organization: AI can generate and organize content based on industry-specific trends and topics. It can suggest anecdotes, examples, and key points that align with your message, creating a coherent and engaging flow that guides the audience through your story.

3. Data analysis and curation: AI can analyze big data to identify trends, patterns, and insights, which can serve as the foundation of compelling data stories. Storytellers can use these insights to create narratives that resonate with their audience, provide actionable recommendations, and enhance decision-making.

4. Visual enhancements and media suggestions: AI tools can recommend visuals, such as photos, charts, and icons, that reinforce and enhance key messages. These elements not only make a presentation visually appealing but also help illustrate your ideas and data, making complex information easier to understand.

5. Dynamic storyboarding and script writing: AI can help outline the narrative arc of a business story by suggesting storyboarding techniques that guide the presenter in building a clear, persuasive narrative. It can even draft scripts and suggest transitions that keep the storytelling smooth and engaging.

6. Flex based on audience sentiment and feedback: AI can provide feedback on the effectiveness of your customer-facing business communication by analyzing audience reactions (e.g., social media, reviews, other digital content). This helps organizations understand how their brand is perceived, and enables presenters to adapt their messaging to better connect with the audience and address customer opinions and concerns.

Storytelling’s differentiator: a common language for everyone

Despite its growth, levels of AI adoption can vary across any given organization. Not everyone has the same level of access, uses it consistently (or at all!), or operates from the same tool. And since AI outputs can widely differ based on how a question is asked, the results can be inconsistent. To navigate this issue and ensure everyone is operating from the same communications playbook, we need to align everyone around a common language and framework. The common language of storytelling becomes the missing ingredient to bring clarity, meaning, and humanity to AI’s contributions.

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Personalizing AI with storytelling

There’s no doubt that AI has changed business as we know it. We should all lean in and embrace how it might benefit us. The key is to strike the right balance between human and AI collaboration, where the human remains in the driver’s seat and uses AI as a supportive tool, not an autonomous replacement.

We believe storytelling with AI assistance requires thoughtful human intervention and oversight to produce an output that keeps humans at the center of every story. By harnessing the power of AI in tandem with storytelling, you can create effective business narratives – quickly and efficiently – that make complex data relatable, evoke empathy, and, most importantly, turn decision-makers into business partners.


References

1 McKinsey, The state of AI in early 2024: Gen AI adoption spikes and starts to generate value
2 Forbes, How Businesses Are Using Artificial Intelligence In 2024
3 Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health magazine, Why AI Needs People
4 Peak AI blog, 16 inspiring quotes about AI

", "content_plain": "We get it— you’ve finally landed a meeting with a key stakeholder and a lot is at stake. But you’re swamped with work, deadlines are looming, and time is slipping away. You’re desperate to craft a stand-out presentation to make an impact, and quick. What could give you the jumpstart you need to get it done? Enter AI. Across industries and business functions, the use of AI is progressing at breakneck speed. In a recent survey by McKinsey, 65% percent of respondents said they were regularly using generative AI in at least one business function, up one-third from just a year ago.1 The growth isn’t all that surprising; after all, the benefits of AI are valid. A report from Forbes revealed that 97% of business owners believe ChatGPT will help their business.2 But there’s another side of AI to consider. While AI is a powerful tool for organizing information and increasing efficiency, it lacks two key elements of effective communication—emotional intelligence and creative thinking. As one expert said3, “Machines will never be able to disentangle the intricacies of diverse human motives and biases that color all our interactions with information.” The truth is, decision-makers need more than an AI output to be engaged; they need inspiring content that feels personal and speaks directly to their needs. They need storytelling that keeps humans at the center of the narrative. Stories are a great way to bridge the gap between AI complexities and human imagination. By pairing the art of business storytelling with the science of AI, you can tap into the future of effective communication. This potent combination gives you the best of both worlds—improved efficiency and memorable messaging. How AI can complement business storytelling Let’s go back to that presentation you need. Think of AI as an extra resource to help you get started – like having an intern to conduct research on your behalf. Just as you would with an intern, you’d want to check and validate what AI produces. While there’s value in leveraging AI for brainstorming and ideation, you’d be remiss not to review and approve the outputs before using them. So while it’s a great workhorse, AI takes the human element out of communication. And when it comes to building lasting business relationships and trust, the human element is what makes all the difference. AI should be thought of as a collaborative partner – not a replacement for human expertise. But this is where storytelling and AI emerge as the new power couple… the real magic happens when you combine the two. Still not convinced? Here are six ways AI can help create engaging business communications in tandem with storytelling techniques: 1. Audience analysis and personalization: AI can analyze audience data (like demographics, preferences, and engagement history) to tailor your story. This allows storytellers to personalize content, tone, and examples to resonate with specific audiences, making your narrative more relatable and authentic. 2. Content generation and organization: AI can generate and organize content based on industry-specific trends and topics. It can suggest anecdotes, examples, and key points that align with your message, creating a coherent and engaging flow that guides the audience through your story. 3. Data analysis and curation: AI can analyze big data to identify trends, patterns, and insights, which can serve as the foundation of compelling data stories. Storytellers can use these insights to create narratives that resonate with their audience, provide actionable recommendations, and enhance decision-making. 4. Visual enhancements and media suggestions: AI tools can recommend visuals, such as photos, charts, and icons, that reinforce and enhance key messages. These elements not only make a presentation visually appealing but also help illustrate your ideas and data, making complex information easier to understand. 5. Dynamic storyboarding and script writing: AI can help outline the narrative arc of a business story by suggesting storyboarding techniques that guide the presenter in building a clear, persuasive narrative. It can even draft scripts and suggest transitions that keep the storytelling smooth and engaging. 6. Flex based on audience sentiment and feedback: AI can provide feedback on the effectiveness of your customer-facing business communication by analyzing audience reactions (e.g., social media, reviews, other digital content). This helps organizations understand how their brand is perceived, and enables presenters to adapt their messaging to better connect with the audience and address customer opinions and concerns. Storytelling’s differentiator: a common language for everyone Despite its growth, levels of AI adoption can vary across any given organization. Not everyone has the same level of access, uses it consistently (or at all!), or operates from the same tool. And since AI outputs can widely differ based on how a question is asked, the results can be inconsistent. To navigate this issue and ensure everyone is operating from the same communications playbook, we need to align everyone around a common language and framework. The common language of storytelling becomes the missing ingredient to bring clarity, meaning, and humanity to AI’s contributions. Personalizing AI with storytelling There’s no doubt that AI has changed business as we know it. We should all lean in and embrace how it might benefit us. The key is to strike the right balance between human and AI collaboration, where the human remains in the driver’s seat and uses AI as a supportive tool, not an autonomous replacement. We believe storytelling with AI assistance requires thoughtful human intervention and oversight to produce an output that keeps humans at the center of every story. By harnessing the power of AI in tandem with storytelling, you can create effective business narratives – quickly and efficiently – that make complex data relatable, evoke empathy, and, most importantly, turn decision-makers into business partners. References 1 McKinsey, The state of AI in early 2024: Gen AI adoption spikes and starts to generate value 2 Forbes, How Businesses Are Using Artificial Intelligence In 2024 3 Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health magazine, Why AI Needs People 4 Peak AI blog, 16 inspiring quotes about AI", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/AI-blog-update-img.png", "modified": "2025-07-24T09:49:34-05:00" }, { "id": 11202, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/join-us-at-cma-to-unlock-the-power-of-data-driven-storytelling/", "title": "Join us at CMA to Unlock the Power of Data-Driven Storytelling", "h1": "Join us at CMA to Unlock the Power of Data-Driven Storytelling", "summary": "In today’s world, retailers, category leaders, and shopper insights professionals are overwhelmed by data. At the same point, resources and time are becoming increasingly scarce. The people on those teams need to communicate critical materials, information, learnings, and trends seamlessly between each other and to others in their organizations—from macro trends to shopper insights, to […]", "content": "

In today’s world, retailers, category leaders, and shopper insights professionals are overwhelmed by data. At the same point, resources and time are becoming increasingly scarce. The people on those teams need to communicate critical materials, information, learnings, and trends seamlessly between each other and to others in their organizations—from macro trends to shopper insights, to tactical recommendations.

To be successful, the ability to craft a compelling story is more critical than ever. But within a great story, how do you decide which data to include and ensure it connects with your audience? With limited time and unlimited data, how do you understand your audience to craft a story that includes the data insights presented in a way that resonates?

Enter business storytelling.

By uniting everyone with a common storytelling language and framework to communicate, category leaders – and CPG companies as a whole – can bring clarity and meaning to their ideas, data, and recommendations to influence key business decisions and help stand out from the competition.

Join us for the ultimate storytelling challenge at this year’s Category Management Association/Shopper Insights Management Association annual conference, Feb. 16-19 at the JW Marriott Hill Country in San Antonio, Texas. This interactive workshop will be led by The Presentation Company (TPC), the team that led top-rated storytelling sessions at the CMA | SIMA conferences in 2023 and 2024. Janine Kurnoff, TPC’s Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, will be joined by Chobani’s Laura Shaw, Senior Director of Category Development, and Kathleen McHugh, Director of Category Development, to lead a 90-minute workshop, Unlock the Power of Data-Driven Storytelling. This session is being presented on Monday, February 17 from 9-10:30 AM CT.

What you’ll learn:

During this hands-on session, you’ll be challenged to tell your story supported by the right data… on one page only (hint: think executive summaries)! Plus, you’ll see some real before-and-after story transformations from Chobani (including Executive Summaries) that are sure to resonate in your world and help bring our data storytelling concepts to life!

Whether you joined any of TPC’s previous CMA sessions or only heard about them through the grapevine, you’re sure to gain value from this workshop. Be sure to come ready to actively participate!

Bonus content!
P.S. Spoiler alert: Janine will be giving out limited copies of her Amazon best-selling book, Everyday Business Storytelling, during the session. Don’t miss your chance to get 288 pages of practical storytelling tips that are sure to make you a more confident, influential, and strategic communicator!

", "content_plain": "In today’s world, retailers, category leaders, and shopper insights professionals are overwhelmed by data. At the same point, resources and time are becoming increasingly scarce. The people on those teams need to communicate critical materials, information, learnings, and trends seamlessly between each other and to others in their organizations—from macro trends to shopper insights, to tactical recommendations. To be successful, the ability to craft a compelling story is more critical than ever. But within a great story, how do you decide which data to include and ensure it connects with your audience? With limited time and unlimited data, how do you understand your audience to craft a story that includes the data insights presented in a way that resonates? Enter business storytelling. By uniting everyone with a common storytelling language and framework to communicate, category leaders – and CPG companies as a whole – can bring clarity and meaning to their ideas, data, and recommendations to influence key business decisions and help stand out from the competition. Join us for the ultimate storytelling challenge at this year’s Category Management Association/Shopper Insights Management Association annual conference, Feb. 16-19 at the JW Marriott Hill Country in San Antonio, Texas. This interactive workshop will be led by The Presentation Company (TPC), the team that led top-rated storytelling sessions at the CMA | SIMA conferences in 2023 and 2024. Janine Kurnoff, TPC’s Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, will be joined by Chobani’s Laura Shaw, Senior Director of Category Development, and Kathleen McHugh, Director of Category Development, to lead a 90-minute workshop, Unlock the Power of Data-Driven Storytelling. This session is being presented on Monday, February 17 from 9-10:30 AM CT. What you’ll learn: How to use a storytelling framework to ensure your data story is coherent Tips for understanding your audience and choosing the data that matters to them How to tell a compelling, digestible story on one page (or slide) During this hands-on session, you’ll be challenged to tell your story supported by the right data… on one page only (hint: think executive summaries)! Plus, you’ll see some real before-and-after story transformations from Chobani (including Executive Summaries) that are sure to resonate in your world and help bring our data storytelling concepts to life! Whether you joined any of TPC’s previous CMA sessions or only heard about them through the grapevine, you’re sure to gain value from this workshop. Be sure to come ready to actively participate! Bonus content! P.S. Spoiler alert: Janine will be giving out limited copies of her Amazon best-selling book, Everyday Business Storytelling, during the session. Don’t miss your chance to get 288 pages of practical storytelling tips that are sure to make you a more confident, influential, and strategic communicator!", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2025-CMA-conference-promo-graphic-v3.jpg", "modified": "2025-01-21T17:08:55-05:00" }, { "id": 11167, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/about/presentation-training-careers/were-hiring-marketing-program-manager/", "title": "We’re hiring: Marketing Program Manager (Contract)", "h1": "We’re hiring: Marketing Program Manager (contract)", "summary": "", "content": "

We’re hiring: Marketing Program Manager (contract)

\"\"

The Presentation Company is seeking a Marketing Program Manager (contract) to join our team.

Learn more below and apply here if you’re the perfect fit! 

Who we are: 

At The Presentation Company (TPC) we enable people – in all roles and industries – to bring meaning to their ideas and influence decisions through visual storytelling. Our mission is to design and deliver award-winning training programs that make a real impact on people’s lives, confidence, and careers. We’re a purpose-driven company, and our beliefs are the foundation of how we show up and conduct business every day. We’re guided by our core values of a pioneering spirit, clarity, inclusivity, accountability, and empathy. Whether we’re training well-known brands like Kraft Heinz, T-Mobile, Hewlett Packard, or helping an up-and-coming company tell its story, we put our customers at the heart of everything we do. We are a proud, women-owned company that is looking to enable the hopes, dreams, and ambitions of our team members!

The Presentation Company is seeking a Marketing Program Manager (via contract) to be the driving force behind the marketing and sales enablement strategy for our on-demand, digital product called Business Storytelling Fundamentals. Reporting to the CMO, this role will spearhead marketing efforts tailored to this key product line, with a focus on driving the product’s market success by developing targeted marketing strategies that resonate with our Human Resources and Learning & Development buyers. You will be responsible for understanding buyer needs, determining marketing tactics to drive awareness and demand, create timely and relevant thought leadership content to engage the buyer and support sales by creating relevant sales enablement materials.

TPC is seeking a contractor who has experience in defining, building, and executing product-focused marketing programs to engage prospects and bring them into our marketing funnel.

What you will be doing:

What you will need to be successful:

Why work at TPC? 

If you’re inspired by working with smart, passionate people who are driven by each other’s success, this may be your next, ideal job. Our clients love us because we deliver on our promises, value their partnerships, and approach everything we do in a refreshingly authentic way.

TPC is committed to a diverse work environment and is proud to be a women-owned business and equal opportunity employer.

Apply now!", "content_plain": "We’re hiring: Marketing Program Manager (contract) The Presentation Company is seeking a Marketing Program Manager (contract) to join our team. Learn more below and apply here if you’re the perfect fit! Who we are: At The Presentation Company (TPC) we enable people – in all roles and industries – to bring meaning to their ideas and influence decisions through visual storytelling. Our mission is to design and deliver award-winning training programs that make a real impact on people’s lives, confidence, and careers. We’re a purpose-driven company, and our beliefs are the foundation of how we show up and conduct business every day. We’re guided by our core values of a pioneering spirit, clarity, inclusivity, accountability, and empathy. Whether we’re training well-known brands like Kraft Heinz, T-Mobile, Hewlett Packard, or helping an up-and-coming company tell its story, we put our customers at the heart of everything we do. We are a proud, women-owned company that is looking to enable the hopes, dreams, and ambitions of our team members! The Presentation Company is seeking a Marketing Program Manager (via contract) to be the driving force behind the marketing and sales enablement strategy for our on-demand, digital product called Business Storytelling Fundamentals. Reporting to the CMO, this role will spearhead marketing efforts tailored to this key product line, with a focus on driving the product’s market success by developing targeted marketing strategies that resonate with our Human Resources and Learning & Development buyers. You will be responsible for understanding buyer needs, determining marketing tactics to drive awareness and demand, create timely and relevant thought leadership content to engage the buyer and support sales by creating relevant sales enablement materials. TPC is seeking a contractor who has experience in defining, building, and executing product-focused marketing programs to engage prospects and bring them into our marketing funnel. What you will be doing: Develop and Implement Marketing Strategies: Create and execute comprehensive marketing plans for Business Storytelling Fundamentals to achieve business objectives. Campaign Management: Plan, execute, and manage marketing campaigns across various channels (digital, social, email, events) to drive awareness, engagement, and sales for the product. Content Creation: Responsible for creating thought leadership and blog content, which showcases our relevance and point of view to our buyers. Content will be used in marketing campaigns. Sales Support: Work with the sales team to create sales tools, and support sales efforts with effective marketing collateral. Client Marketing: Create and execute plan to continue to engage learners to return to the course and increase completion rate (i.e., monthly touches to engage client audiences, etc.) Performance Tracking: Monitor and analyze campaign performance, sales metrics, and customer feedback. Adjust strategies as needed to optimize results and achieve KPIs. What you will need to be successful: 5+ years’ experience in product marketing, with a track record of managing varied marketing programs for a B2B audience. Experience developing effective marketing programs that utilize various marketing inbound and outbound channels including digital advertising, thought leadership content, email and organic search/social) Understanding of product marketing tactics, metrics, and measurements and how to translate them into action Ability to craft compelling and persuasive marketing copy across multiple channels (email, search ads, social media) Experience working with sales teams by creating marketing content to support their sales efforts Familiarity with HubSpot (or other marketing automation tools) is required Strong project management skills and ability to use data to guide decision-making and prioritization Accountable and proactive; approaches work with optimism, enthusiasm, curiosity, and commitment to meeting the needs of clients and colleagues Well-organized, resourceful, and detail-oriented Knowledge of the corporate training space a plus Knowledge of marketing SaaS products is a plus Why work at TPC? If you’re inspired by working with smart, passionate people who are driven by each other’s success, this may be your next, ideal job. Our clients love us because we deliver on our promises, value their partnerships, and approach everything we do in a refreshingly authentic way. TPC is committed to a diverse work environment and is proud to be a women-owned business and equal opportunity employer. Apply now!", "image": false, "modified": "2024-09-30T08:30:19-05:00" }, { "id": 11124, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/unite-everyone-in-your-organization-with-business-storytelling-fundamentals/", "title": "Unite Everyone in Your Organization with Business Storytelling Fundamentals", "h1": "Unite Everyone in Your Organization with Business Storytelling Fundamentals", "summary": "Did you know… the average employee spends 57% of their time communicating (whether in meetings, email, or chat)?1 On top of that, 70% of employees are expected to heavily use data by 20252. When most of your time at work is spent trying to communicate your ideas (and the data that supports them!), having the skills to […]", "content": "

Did you know… the average employee spends 57% of their time communicating (whether in meetings, email, or chat)?1 On top of that, 70% of employees are expected to heavily use data by 20252. When most of your time at work is spent trying to communicate your ideas (and the data that supports them!), having the skills to do so effectively is more than just a goal… it’s a must to succeed.

Effective communication has been the bedrock for productivity for ages. But when time is limited and everyone’s moving fast, it creates a recipe for poorly crafted messages that don’t land.

The bottom line? Developing great communicators is no longer reserved for a select few.

When we asked business leaders about their biggest challenges, many expressed that their people struggle to communicate ideas and data in a way that drives decision-making and moves business forward. Instead, cobbled together slides and data dumping leave the audience overwhelmed, there is no clear call to action, and you’ve missed an opportunity to influence decisions. And when it comes to email, vague subject lines and missing context leave recipients wondering what’s needed of them.

To make matters worse, when cross-functional teams develop communications using different approaches, it leads to a hodge-podge mess with everyone on a different page. In short, these ineffective business communications raise more questions than answers.

The result? Meetings lead to more meetings. Decision-making is stalled and projects are delayed. Critical conversations, budget pitches, and approvals get derailed. Ultimately, trust erodes. And to make things worse, this inefficiency is costing your business time and money.

So how do we stop the madness?

Today’s business environment demands that every employee – at all levels, roles, and functions – can influence across the business, whether they’re selling an idea, providing an update, or making a recommendation.

So how can you give everyone in your organization the knowledge and skills to…

You need a practical storytelling solution

Here at The Presentation Company (TPC), we believe storytelling is more than just words. It’s a choreographed dance between your story, visuals, and data that can empower everyone to be strategic, influential communicators.

\"\"

TPC’s new storytelling solution, Business Storytelling Fundamentals, introduces these critical communication pillars, designed to help large audiences tap into the power of business storytelling. And the best part? This training can be delivered to an organization at scale.

Not your typical training solution

Discover what Business Storytelling Fundamentals allows your business to achieve:

Introducing Business Storytelling Fundamentals

Business Storytelling Fundamentals is a one-hour, self-paced online course that arms a broad cross-functional audience with a common language and framework to elevate any business communication – from presentations, emails, 1-pagers, and even elevator pitches – into powerful narratives that influence the conversation and drive business forward.

This on-demand solution is specifically designed to be deployed to a large group of employees across any roles or functions – from individual contributors to executives, and from finance to IT to marketing.

Go beyond basic learning tactics

Business Storytelling Fundamentals includes a variety of interactive content, like short-form videos, before-and-after examples, knowledge checks, and embedded coaching tips.

 

\"\"Plus, it includes these key learning benefits:

The course was built for constant recall, with simple and practical content that can be used repeatedly to foster collaboration and accountability. And the best part? It includes a detailed action plan and companion guide designed to reinforce and extend the learning.

 

\"\"

It’s time to reimagine how we communicate at work. Learn more about how to unite everyone in your organization with Business Storytelling Fundamentals.


References
1Microsoft Work Trend Index Annual Report
2Building Data Literacy: The Key To Better Decisions, Greater Productivity, And Data-Driven Organizations

", "content_plain": "Did you know… the average employee spends 57% of their time communicating (whether in meetings, email, or chat)?1 On top of that, 70% of employees are expected to heavily use data by 20252. When most of your time at work is spent trying to communicate your ideas (and the data that supports them!), having the skills to do so effectively is more than just a goal… it’s a must to succeed. Effective communication has been the bedrock for productivity for ages. But when time is limited and everyone’s moving fast, it creates a recipe for poorly crafted messages that don’t land. The bottom line? Developing great communicators is no longer reserved for a select few. When we asked business leaders about their biggest challenges, many expressed that their people struggle to communicate ideas and data in a way that drives decision-making and moves business forward. Instead, cobbled together slides and data dumping leave the audience overwhelmed, there is no clear call to action, and you’ve missed an opportunity to influence decisions. And when it comes to email, vague subject lines and missing context leave recipients wondering what’s needed of them. To make matters worse, when cross-functional teams develop communications using different approaches, it leads to a hodge-podge mess with everyone on a different page. In short, these ineffective business communications raise more questions than answers. The result? Meetings lead to more meetings. Decision-making is stalled and projects are delayed. Critical conversations, budget pitches, and approvals get derailed. Ultimately, trust erodes. And to make things worse, this inefficiency is costing your business time and money. So how do we stop the madness? Today’s business environment demands that every employee – at all levels, roles, and functions – can influence across the business, whether they’re selling an idea, providing an update, or making a recommendation. So how can you give everyone in your organization the knowledge and skills to… Add clarity and impact to anything they say, send, deliver, or present Differentiate their ideas and recommendations from others Build and maintain trust with stakeholders and customers, and Progress strategic initiatives that drive business forward You need a practical storytelling solution Here at The Presentation Company (TPC), we believe storytelling is more than just words. It’s a choreographed dance between your story, visuals, and data that can empower everyone to be strategic, influential communicators. TPC’s new storytelling solution, Business Storytelling Fundamentals, introduces these critical communication pillars, designed to help large audiences tap into the power of business storytelling. And the best part? This training can be delivered to an organization at scale. Not your typical training solution Discover what Business Storytelling Fundamentals allows your business to achieve: Accelerate decision-making: Our storytelling framework can help improve critical forms of communication that influence decisions and move business forward Improve productivity: With a practical action plan built into the course, learners will see immediate results in their ability to communicate more effectively Put data in the right context: Drive better decisions by articulating data insights, rather than fire-hosing your audience with too much information Foster a culture of storytelling: L&D leaders are often forced to seek different methodologies when trying to bring in learning at scale. By deploying a single storytelling approach to unite all employees, you can support peer-to-peer coaching and collaboration opportunities. Introducing Business Storytelling Fundamentals Business Storytelling Fundamentals is a one-hour, self-paced online course that arms a broad cross-functional audience with a common language and framework to elevate any business communication – from presentations, emails, 1-pagers, and even elevator pitches – into powerful narratives that influence the conversation and drive business forward. This on-demand solution is specifically designed to be deployed to a large group of employees across any roles or functions – from individual contributors to executives, and from finance to IT to marketing. Go beyond basic learning tactics Business Storytelling Fundamentals includes a variety of interactive content, like short-form videos, before-and-after examples, knowledge checks, and embedded coaching tips.   Plus, it includes these key learning benefits: Learn in the flow of work: This course is relevant to day-to-day work, with readily accessible bite-sized content that people can leverage on the job as they craft business narratives Not a one-and-done: Business Storytelling Fundamentals is a practical training resource that learners will revisit often to improve their everyday communications Natural pathway to mastery: This course provides a foundational introduction to storytelling, and as people progress in their role they can develop a deeper level of proficiency through our additional content and tools Tap into award-winning training: Our storytelling approach has been delivered to more than 50 Fortune 500 clients and 40,000+ learners The course was built for constant recall, with simple and practical content that can be used repeatedly to foster collaboration and accountability. And the best part? It includes a detailed action plan and companion guide designed to reinforce and extend the learning.   It’s time to reimagine how we communicate at work. Learn more about how to unite everyone in your organization with Business Storytelling Fundamentals. References 1Microsoft Work Trend Index Annual Report 2Building Data Literacy: The Key To Better Decisions, Greater Productivity, And Data-Driven Organizations", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/cover-lg.jpg", "modified": "2024-08-21T09:47:17-05:00" }, { "id": 10977, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/pdv-video-dvl/", "title": "Protected: The Data Visualization Library at a Glance", "h1": "The Data Visualization Library at a Glance", "summary": "There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.", "content": "

The Data Visualization Library at a Glance

", "content_plain": "The Data Visualization Library at a Glance", "image": false, "modified": "2026-04-24T07:15:07-05:00" }, { "id": 10956, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/iwv-video-dvl/", "title": "Protected: Influencing with Visuals StoryBuilder", "h1": "Use the Visual Story Library to Bring your Story Headlines to Life Visually", "summary": "There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.", "content": "

Use the Visual Story Library to Bring your Story Headlines to Life Visually

", "content_plain": "Use the Visual Story Library to Bring your Story Headlines to Life Visually", "image": false, "modified": "2024-07-11T14:53:58-05:00" }, { "id": 10912, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/pdv-cp/", "title": "Protected: Presenting Data Visually Participant Resources (Colgate-Palmolive)", "h1": "Your data visualization toolkit", "summary": "There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.", "content": "
\"\"

Your data visualization toolkit

Conceptual Guide – A follow-along companion booklet designed to help reinforce skills learned in class. Conceptual Guide

Quick Reference Guide – Serves as an overview of the hands-on concepts covered in the workshop. Quick Reference Guide

Manager guidelines: Link

Peer coaching guidelines: Link

Generic practice data: If you need data for practice, use this Link

Keyboard shortcuts for Google Slides: Link

Keyboard shortcuts for Google Sheets: Link

Quick Access Toolbar – A downloadable resource that gives you rapid access to commonly used functions (PowerPoint only) | Download here (alternatively access via Google, Box or SharePoint)

\"\"

Hands-on videos: This set of brand-agnostic videos reviews each of the primary hands-on examples we demonstrate in the workshop. These videos give you the option of jumping right to the relevant example after the workshop. This link takes you to a page with all five videos: https://vimeo.com/showcase/9172849 Password for all hands-on videos: tpc503

  1. Overview of the Visual Slide Library and shape shortcuts
  2. Revenues skyrocket line chart example with decluttering, date formats, number formats, formatting line style, and basic callouts
  3. Project management bar chart example with decluttering (including hiding axis labels), adding values to the bars, and basic callouts
  4. 3 auto companies table example with instructions on changing chart borders, quick chart formatting, and adding callouts behind a table
  5. Creating flexible non-linear presentations

Colgate-Palmolive brand resources

We’ve built a family of Colgate Palmolive brand resources tied to TPC’s Presenting Data Visually. You have access to three resources for each brand:

Visual Slide Library (VSL): Over 100 pre-built layouts to jumpstart your visual thinking.

Exercise worksheet: A Google Sheet we use in the workshop to explore data visualization concepts. It contains the basic color palette for each brand.

Non-linear exercise file: A Google Slides deck we use in the workshop to explore creating non-linear presentations.

For each relevant file please open the link and choose File > Make a copy to create a working version for yourself.

Brand

Visual Slide Library 

Exercise worksheet

Non-linear exercise file
Ajax*

V01 29APR2022

Link

Link
Fabuloso*

V01 29APR2022

Link

Link
Hills Pet Nutrition

V01 10MAY2022

Link

Link
Irish Spring

V02 08MAR2022

Link

Link
Oral Care / CP Red template

V02 08MAR2022

Link

Link
Palmolive*

V01 29APR2022

Link

Link
Softsoap*

V01 29APR2022

Link

Link
Suavitel*

V01 29APR2022

Link

Link
Tom’s of Maine

V01 07MAR2022

Link

Link

Bonus videos

\"\"

If you want to deepen your knowledge and skills, check out the bonus videos available to you as part of this workshop. Learn how to set up a flexible non-linear presentation, master shape and alignment shortcuts, and get tips for maximum speed and efficiency when building data visualizations. Link to videos for PowerPoint | Link to videos for Google Slides (Password: StoryFirst)

Showcase your certification

Want to tout your accomplishment and let people know about your new skills in business storytelling and visual story strategy? Click here to learn how to add workshop certification badges to your LinkedIn profile.

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Continue the learnings

\"\"

Ready to take your knowledge to the next level? Stay up to date on the latest trends and best practices by following us on social, reading our blog, or visiting the TPC Resource Center for articles, videos, checklists, and other content that will help you — and your team — become strategic, influential communicators!

", "content_plain": "Your data visualization toolkit Conceptual Guide – A follow-along companion booklet designed to help reinforce skills learned in class. Conceptual Guide Quick Reference Guide – Serves as an overview of the hands-on concepts covered in the workshop. Quick Reference Guide Manager guidelines: Link Peer coaching guidelines: Link Generic practice data: If you need data for practice, use this Link Keyboard shortcuts for Google Slides: Link Keyboard shortcuts for Google Sheets: Link Quick Access Toolbar – A downloadable resource that gives you rapid access to commonly used functions (PowerPoint only) | Download here (alternatively access via Google, Box or SharePoint) Hands-on videos: This set of brand-agnostic videos reviews each of the primary hands-on examples we demonstrate in the workshop. These videos give you the option of jumping right to the relevant example after the workshop. This link takes you to a page with all five videos: https://vimeo.com/showcase/9172849 Password for all hands-on videos: tpc503 Overview of the Visual Slide Library and shape shortcuts Revenues skyrocket line chart example with decluttering, date formats, number formats, formatting line style, and basic callouts Project management bar chart example with decluttering (including hiding axis labels), adding values to the bars, and basic callouts 3 auto companies table example with instructions on changing chart borders, quick chart formatting, and adding callouts behind a table Creating flexible non-linear presentations Colgate-Palmolive brand resources We’ve built a family of Colgate Palmolive brand resources tied to TPC’s Presenting Data Visually. You have access to three resources for each brand: Visual Slide Library (VSL): Over 100 pre-built layouts to jumpstart your visual thinking. Exercise worksheet: A Google Sheet we use in the workshop to explore data visualization concepts. It contains the basic color palette for each brand. Non-linear exercise file: A Google Slides deck we use in the workshop to explore creating non-linear presentations. For each relevant file please open the link and choose File > Make a copy to create a working version for yourself. Brand Visual Slide Library Exercise worksheet Non-linear exercise file Ajax* V01 29APR2022 Link Link Fabuloso* V01 29APR2022 Link Link Hills Pet Nutrition V01 10MAY2022 Link Link Irish Spring V02 08MAR2022 Link Link Oral Care / CP Red template V02 08MAR2022 Link Link Palmolive* V01 29APR2022 Link Link Softsoap* V01 29APR2022 Link Link Suavitel* V01 29APR2022 Link Link Tom’s of Maine V01 07MAR2022 Link Link Bonus videos If you want to deepen your knowledge and skills, check out the bonus videos available to you as part of this workshop. Learn how to set up a flexible non-linear presentation, master shape and alignment shortcuts, and get tips for maximum speed and efficiency when building data visualizations. Link to videos for PowerPoint | Link to videos for Google Slides (Password: StoryFirst) Showcase your certification Want to tout your accomplishment and let people know about your new skills in business storytelling and visual story strategy? Click here to learn how to add workshop certification badges to your LinkedIn profile. Continue the learnings Ready to take your knowledge to the next level? Stay up to date on the latest trends and best practices by following us on social, reading our blog, or visiting the TPC Resource Center for articles, videos, checklists, and other content that will help you — and your team — become strategic, influential communicators!", "image": false, "modified": "2026-04-24T07:15:02-05:00" }, { "id": 10868, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/join-us-at-atd-learn-how-to-transform-teams-into-strategic-influential-communicators/", "title": "Join us at ATD: Learn how to transform teams into strategic, influential communicators", "h1": "Join us at ATD: Learn how to transform teams into strategic, influential communicators", "summary": "Let’s face it, teams more than ever need to support cross-functional initiatives and sell their ideas, provide updates, or make recommendations across the business. Getting everyone on the same page is not easy, but it’s only compounded when there’s little to zero alignment on a communications approach or process. When teams aren’t speaking the same […]", "content": "

Let’s face it, teams more than ever need to support cross-functional initiatives and sell their ideas, provide updates, or make recommendations across the business. Getting everyone on the same page is not easy, but it’s only compounded when there’s little to zero alignment on a communications approach or process. When teams aren’t speaking the same language or don’t have guardrails to follow, chances are those critical conversations, budget pitches, and approvals get derailed.

The result? Managers end up being the help desk, having to rework decks or intervene in high-stakes meetings. With such limited time, can they really be expected to carry the burden of upskilling their team and course correcting when presentations go awry? From our lens, this is simply not sustainable, nor a good use of money and time.

No matter the role or function, teams need the skills and confidence to show up differently and prove they’re equipped to take on strategic conversations. The first step is knowing how to communicate ideas clearly and succinctly – not only to improve one’s influence and reputation, but to help drive business forward.

So, how can L&D leaders help support this need? What’s the best way to get all employees to speak the same language, build trust, and help them demonstrate value (i.e., land the ‘BIG Idea’ of their presentation to the business)?

The answer may surprise you: storytelling.

Strong communication is the cornerstone of any healthy company culture, and storytelling gives teams a better way to share ideas and collaborate – and stop the chaos of hodge-podge communication. Whether holding a brainstorming session, presenting an update, or writing a high-stakes email, storytelling establishes a common language and methodology to uplevel any business communication, and it provides everyone the opportunity to be seen and heard.

Want to learn more?

We’re presenting at #ATD24!

Join our “Innogizer” session – Stop the Chaos: Bring Teams Into Alignment With Business Storytelling – at this year’s ATD 2024 conference in New Orleans.

This one-hour, interactive session will be held on Tuesday, May 21 @ 4:30 PM, led by Janine Kurnoff, Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer at The Presentation Company (TPC) and author of Everyday Business Storytelling. Janine is a storytelling expert who has helped thousands of leaders and teams from Fortune 500 companies master the art of business storytelling.

Join our ATD session to learn how to:

Don’t miss this chance to learn how to transform your teams into strategic, influential, and visual storytellers!

We want your feedback: a unique opportunity for L&D leaders!
If you’re attending ATD, we’d love to meet with a select number of L&D leaders to give a sneak peek of a NEW foundational storytelling solution we are bringing to market. We always do our best work when we use an outside-in approach and rely on expert opinions on our ideas. There is no commitment here on any level; we are simply seeking feedback and want to leverage the expertise of learning and development leaders to help influence our work.

If you’re interested in exploring this opportunity, please contact us at inquiries@presentation-company.com.

We hope to see you in New Orleans for #ATD24!

", "content_plain": "Let’s face it, teams more than ever need to support cross-functional initiatives and sell their ideas, provide updates, or make recommendations across the business. Getting everyone on the same page is not easy, but it’s only compounded when there’s little to zero alignment on a communications approach or process. When teams aren’t speaking the same language or don’t have guardrails to follow, chances are those critical conversations, budget pitches, and approvals get derailed. The result? Managers end up being the help desk, having to rework decks or intervene in high-stakes meetings. With such limited time, can they really be expected to carry the burden of upskilling their team and course correcting when presentations go awry? From our lens, this is simply not sustainable, nor a good use of money and time. No matter the role or function, teams need the skills and confidence to show up differently and prove they’re equipped to take on strategic conversations. The first step is knowing how to communicate ideas clearly and succinctly – not only to improve one’s influence and reputation, but to help drive business forward. So, how can L&D leaders help support this need? What’s the best way to get all employees to speak the same language, build trust, and help them demonstrate value (i.e., land the ‘BIG Idea’ of their presentation to the business)? The answer may surprise you: storytelling. Strong communication is the cornerstone of any healthy company culture, and storytelling gives teams a better way to share ideas and collaborate – and stop the chaos of hodge-podge communication. Whether holding a brainstorming session, presenting an update, or writing a high-stakes email, storytelling establishes a common language and methodology to uplevel any business communication, and it provides everyone the opportunity to be seen and heard. Want to learn more? We’re presenting at #ATD24! Join our “Innogizer” session – Stop the Chaos: Bring Teams Into Alignment With Business Storytelling – at this year’s ATD 2024 conference in New Orleans. This one-hour, interactive session will be held on Tuesday, May 21 @ 4:30 PM, led by Janine Kurnoff, Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer at The Presentation Company (TPC) and author of Everyday Business Storytelling. Janine is a storytelling expert who has helped thousands of leaders and teams from Fortune 500 companies master the art of business storytelling. Join our ATD session to learn how to: Use storytelling to align your teams and create trust and influence in your organization Apply a storytelling framework to help your teams communicate their strategy, ideas, and data in a clear and powerful way Use a story strategy, a visual strategy, and a data strategy as an anchor to any business communication Don’t miss this chance to learn how to transform your teams into strategic, influential, and visual storytellers! We want your feedback: a unique opportunity for L&D leaders! If you’re attending ATD, we’d love to meet with a select number of L&D leaders to give a sneak peek of a NEW foundational storytelling solution we are bringing to market. We always do our best work when we use an outside-in approach and rely on expert opinions on our ideas. There is no commitment here on any level; we are simply seeking feedback and want to leverage the expertise of learning and development leaders to help influence our work. If you’re interested in exploring this opportunity, please contact us at inquiries@presentation-company.com. We hope to see you in New Orleans for #ATD24!", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-ATD-promo-graphic-v2.jpg", "modified": "2024-04-25T09:14:03-05:00" }, { "id": 10834, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/back-by-popular-demand-elevate-your-data-story-with-powerful-visuals-with-kraft-heinz/", "title": "Back by Popular Demand: Elevate Your Data Story with Powerful Visuals with Kraft Heinz", "h1": "Back by Popular Demand: Elevate Your Data Story with Powerful Visuals with Kraft Heinz", "summary": "The Presentation Company (TPC) and our client partner, Kraft Heinz, packed the house for the second-straight year at the 2024 CMA | SIMA conference in Dallas. Our session, Elevate Your Data Story with Powerful Visuals, was the highest-rated session in the storytelling track, with participants raving: “TPC was the best session!” and “This session provided […]", "content": "

The Presentation Company (TPC) and our client partner, Kraft Heinz, packed the house for the second-straight year at the 2024 CMA | SIMA conference in Dallas. Our session, Elevate Your Data Story with Powerful Visuals, was the highest-rated session in the storytelling track, with participants raving: “TPC was the best session!” and “This session provided exceptional guidance!” 

Did you miss the event? You’re in luck, because we’re offering a second chance for you to see Janine Kurnoff, TPC’s Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, joined by Hasan Issa, Kraft Heinz’s Category Leadership Senior Advisor, as they reprise their popular CMA act for a one-hour, live webinar.  

This live and interactive webinar with CMA will be presented on Wednesday, May 15, at 9 AM PT/12 PM ET. Click here to reserve your spot! 

Together, Janine and Hasan will dive deep into the consumer packaged goods (CPG) world and discuss the challenges today’s category leaders face as they strive to become indispensable partners to retailers. They’ll explore practical storytelling strategies to help you mine through mounds of information and serve up visually compelling data stories and actionable recommendations. Plus, Hasan will supply his firsthand perspective and share real before-and-after transformations you won’t want to miss! 

What you’ll learn: 

Ready to go beyond data dumping and create powerful data stories that help your audience make better, more informed decisions? Join us! 

 

", "content_plain": "The Presentation Company (TPC) and our client partner, Kraft Heinz, packed the house for the second-straight year at the 2024 CMA | SIMA conference in Dallas. Our session, Elevate Your Data Story with Powerful Visuals, was the highest-rated session in the storytelling track, with participants raving: “TPC was the best session!” and “This session provided exceptional guidance!” Did you miss the event? You’re in luck, because we’re offering a second chance for you to see Janine Kurnoff, TPC’s Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, joined by Hasan Issa, Kraft Heinz’s Category Leadership Senior Advisor, as they reprise their popular CMA act for a one-hour, live webinar. This live and interactive webinar with CMA will be presented on Wednesday, May 15, at 9 AM PT/12 PM ET. Click here to reserve your spot! Together, Janine and Hasan will dive deep into the consumer packaged goods (CPG) world and discuss the challenges today’s category leaders face as they strive to become indispensable partners to retailers. They’ll explore practical storytelling strategies to help you mine through mounds of information and serve up visually compelling data stories and actionable recommendations. Plus, Hasan will supply his firsthand perspective and share real before-and-after transformations you won’t want to miss! What you’ll learn: How to use a storytelling framework to ensure your data story is coherent Tips for summarizing your data story so your audience doesn’t have to work hard Clever ways to make your data visualizations easy to understand at a glance And more! Ready to go beyond data dumping and create powerful data stories that help your audience make better, more informed decisions? Join us!  ", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-CMA-Live-Webinar-graphic.jpg", "modified": "2024-04-25T08:53:14-05:00" }, { "id": 10720, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/transforming-business-communication-with-strategic-story-driven-narratives/", "title": "TPC Featured in Manage HR Magazine: Transforming Business Communication with Strategic Story-Driven Narratives", "h1": "TPC Featured in Manage HR Magazine: Transforming Business Communication with Strategic Story-Driven Narratives", "summary": "Effective communication, the most powerful force of businesses, can be the ticket to success when used constructively. Compelling business ideas with the potential to drive innovation, must be strategically narrated to influence decisions and drive business forward. While pursuing her MBA, Janine Kurnoff identified that her classmates struggled to communicate their ideas using presentation tools […]", "content": "

Effective communication, the most powerful force of businesses, can be the ticket to success when used constructively. Compelling business ideas with the potential to drive innovation, must be strategically narrated to influence decisions and drive business forward.

While pursuing her MBA, Janine Kurnoff identified that her classmates struggled to communicate their ideas using presentation tools like PowerPoint. Standing out from her peers, Kurnoff’s presentations were clear, visually engaging, and always told a compelling story. She realized that raw creativity alone wasn’t enough to bridge the communication gap with customers and be heard in a competitive market.

From this observation, Kurnoff established The Presentation Company (TPC) in 2001. Janine’s sister, Lee Lazarus, joined her at TPC a year later after being convinced that together, they could change the way business presentations are created.

As an award-winning training company, TPC is dedicated to helping talented businesspeople, at all organizational levels, bring clarity and meaning to their ideas via hands-on, experiential workshops delivered in-person, virtually, or through online self-paced platforms. Simply put, they believe that storytelling is more than just words.

“Our mission is to empower talented professionals at any level to communicate with clarity and confidence by transforming them into great storytellers,” says Kurnoff, co-founder and chief innovation officer at TPC.

\"\"In the fast-paced business world that demands higher productivity, making quicker and more impactful decisions is paramount to staying ahead of the competition.

TPC is a response to this inherent requirement to accomplish more with fewer resources. Instilling confidence in individuals and helping them articulate ideas have transformed how leaders in organizations collaborate and share concepts, building a united approach toward success.

TPC’s learning journey is grounded in a new mindset: story first, visuals second, which applies to all facets of the company’s workshops. The workshops equip teams with practical tools and a common language and framework for crafting cohesive narratives.

TPC’s curriculum is designed to flow from one workshop to the next, offering skills, tools, and coaching that build on each other and travel with learners throughout the journey. The journey begins with Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, a workshop centered around story strategy – a way to organize ideas and data into meaningful narratives.

The next workshop, Influencing with Visuals, focuses on visual strategy and brings learner’s stories to life with maximum visual impact. The final workshop in the journey, Presenting Data Visually, teaches data strategy and how to turn facts and figures into easy-to-scan data visualizations.

Fueling the award-winning curriculum, TPC instructors come from diverse business backgrounds and have a wide range of expertise, offering real-world experience while encouraging behavior change.

For example, TPC’s client Colgate-Palmolive, a multinational consumer products company renowned for its diverse range of oral care, personal care, home care, and pet nutrition products, quickly realized that they needed to rethink the way they were using data to drive growth, profitability, and efficiency. They partnered with TPC to equip thousands of employees with storytelling, visual messaging and data visualization skills so anyone could have these skills in their toolkits to communicate effectively to both their business and their customers.

Teams at Colgate-Palmolive were able to apply TPC’s story strategy and data strategy to tell a more unified story, get to decision-making faster, open new strategic partnerships, and empower their employees to not only interpret data, but tell the ‘so what’ behind the data story. In recognition of its excellence, TPC received the prestigious Brandon Hall Gold Medal award in partnership with Colgate-Palmolive.

To maximize the reach of TPC’s storytelling approach, Kurnoff and Lazarus co-authored the best-selling book Everyday Business Storytelling in 2021. The book distills the essence of their workshops into a practical companion guide, making storytelling accessible for anyone, no matter their role or function. It features case studies, before-and-after scenarios, and content that improves presentation skills and effective data storytelling.

Being authentic is at the heart of TPC’s operations. By embracing the concept that ‘every story and individual matters,’ the company champions inclusivity and ensures clients’ distinct narratives receive the attention they deserve.

“Everyone deserves to be seen and heard. We are geared to bring voice to their narratives,” says Lee Lazarus, co-founder and chief strategy officer at TPC.

Reprinted with permission from Manage HR Magazine

", "content_plain": "Effective communication, the most powerful force of businesses, can be the ticket to success when used constructively. Compelling business ideas with the potential to drive innovation, must be strategically narrated to influence decisions and drive business forward. While pursuing her MBA, Janine Kurnoff identified that her classmates struggled to communicate their ideas using presentation tools like PowerPoint. Standing out from her peers, Kurnoff’s presentations were clear, visually engaging, and always told a compelling story. She realized that raw creativity alone wasn’t enough to bridge the communication gap with customers and be heard in a competitive market. From this observation, Kurnoff established The Presentation Company (TPC) in 2001. Janine’s sister, Lee Lazarus, joined her at TPC a year later after being convinced that together, they could change the way business presentations are created. As an award-winning training company, TPC is dedicated to helping talented businesspeople, at all organizational levels, bring clarity and meaning to their ideas via hands-on, experiential workshops delivered in-person, virtually, or through online self-paced platforms. Simply put, they believe that storytelling is more than just words. “Our mission is to empower talented professionals at any level to communicate with clarity and confidence by transforming them into great storytellers,” says Kurnoff, co-founder and chief innovation officer at TPC. In the fast-paced business world that demands higher productivity, making quicker and more impactful decisions is paramount to staying ahead of the competition. TPC is a response to this inherent requirement to accomplish more with fewer resources. Instilling confidence in individuals and helping them articulate ideas have transformed how leaders in organizations collaborate and share concepts, building a united approach toward success. TPC’s learning journey is grounded in a new mindset: story first, visuals second, which applies to all facets of the company’s workshops. The workshops equip teams with practical tools and a common language and framework for crafting cohesive narratives. TPC’s curriculum is designed to flow from one workshop to the next, offering skills, tools, and coaching that build on each other and travel with learners throughout the journey. The journey begins with Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, a workshop centered around story strategy – a way to organize ideas and data into meaningful narratives. The next workshop, Influencing with Visuals, focuses on visual strategy and brings learner’s stories to life with maximum visual impact. The final workshop in the journey, Presenting Data Visually, teaches data strategy and how to turn facts and figures into easy-to-scan data visualizations. Fueling the award-winning curriculum, TPC instructors come from diverse business backgrounds and have a wide range of expertise, offering real-world experience while encouraging behavior change. For example, TPC’s client Colgate-Palmolive, a multinational consumer products company renowned for its diverse range of oral care, personal care, home care, and pet nutrition products, quickly realized that they needed to rethink the way they were using data to drive growth, profitability, and efficiency. They partnered with TPC to equip thousands of employees with storytelling, visual messaging and data visualization skills so anyone could have these skills in their toolkits to communicate effectively to both their business and their customers. Teams at Colgate-Palmolive were able to apply TPC’s story strategy and data strategy to tell a more unified story, get to decision-making faster, open new strategic partnerships, and empower their employees to not only interpret data, but tell the ‘so what’ behind the data story. In recognition of its excellence, TPC received the prestigious Brandon Hall Gold Medal award in partnership with Colgate-Palmolive. To maximize the reach of TPC’s storytelling approach, Kurnoff and Lazarus co-authored the best-selling book Everyday Business Storytelling in 2021. The book distills the essence of their workshops into a practical companion guide, making storytelling accessible for anyone, no matter their role or function. It features case studies, before-and-after scenarios, and content that improves presentation skills and effective data storytelling. Being authentic is at the heart of TPC’s operations. By embracing the concept that ‘every story and individual matters,’ the company champions inclusivity and ensures clients’ distinct narratives receive the attention they deserve. “Everyone deserves to be seen and heard. We are geared to bring voice to their narratives,” says Lee Lazarus, co-founder and chief strategy officer at TPC. Reprinted with permission from Manage HR Magazine", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/TPC2-scaled.jpg", "modified": "2024-03-18T11:14:29-05:00" }, { "id": 10686, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/use-storytelling-to-build-your-teams-influence-and-reputation/", "title": "Use Storytelling to Build Your Team’s Influence and Reputation", "h1": "Use Storytelling to Build Your Team’s Influence and Reputation", "summary": "It’s finally happening—your team is getting a seat at the table. After months of trying to get a meeting in front of the C-suite, leadership has agreed to hear what your team has to say. The stakes feel high. Delivering a successful presentation will not only help get your project approved, but it could give […]", "content": "

It’s finally happening—your team is getting a seat at the table. After months of trying to get a meeting in front of the C-suite, leadership has agreed to hear what your team has to say. The stakes feel high. Delivering a successful presentation will not only help get your project approved, but it could give your team the clout it needs for future opportunities.

Stumbling through it, however, could result in pushback from key stakeholders and position your team as inexperienced and ill-equipped to take on mission-critical initiatives.

Are you ready? Does your team know what to say, and even more so, do they have the communication chops to serve up a clear call to action, influence multiple stakeholders, and move people to a decision?

Getting your team up to par

The above scenario is a challenge most business professionals will face at some point, either individually or as a people leader. No matter what function you work in, chances are you have to influence across the business – whether you’re selling an idea, providing an update, or making a recommendation. For teams that support cross-functional initiatives, it’s even more critical to know how to uplevel the conversation.

Executive presence and reputation are table stakes in today’s cross-functional work environment, and influence, trust, and credibility are the prizes everyone is working toward.

Consider your team is trying to communicate to IT about the support you need for a new product launch. Or maybe they need to justify to the CFO why your initiative needs more budget. When everyone’s already short on time and stressed over these big moments, the last thing they’re thinking about is how to prepare for all the possible scenarios that could arise. But they need to be! The challenge of being pulled in different directions, presenting to diverse audiences across the business, and keeping the conversation on track adds another layer of complexity to an already high-stakes situation.

But if your team ends up data dumping, sharing text-heavy slides, and getting into the weeds about operational details, it won’t get your new budget passed, and they certainly won’t win any bonus time with executives.

For those of us in leadership roles who are already spread thin, reworking our team’s decks at the eleventh hour is NOT productive nor a financially responsible use of time. Neither is feeling the pressure to attend every meeting in case you have to helicopter in to redirect the conversation. This is especially true if you’re leading employees who are being thrust into leadership roles and have little experience leading a strategic dialogue.

A better way? Having a team that can create and deliver engaging and impactful content is critical to driving business forward. But to do this, they need the skills and confidence to communicate clearly and with impact during these once-in-a-blue-moon opportunities with key stakeholders.

To start, you need to get your team on the same page and equipped with a common language and framework – one that brings clarity and succinctness to every business communication (think emails, 1-pagers, or presentations). The sky’s the limit for the time you’d save, the business outcomes you’d achieve, and the growth potential for your team.

So how do you ‘teach them to fish’? (i.e., get everyone aligned and on the same page?)

Start with storytelling

The key is to get everyone speaking the same language, and that language is storytelling. Using the basic structure of story—setting, characters, conflict, a BIG Idea, and resolution—your team can build strong business narratives that make their presentations engaging, informative, and most importantly, actionable. You’ll be able to answer the question, “What do you want me to know and do in the limited time I have?”

A powerful way to demonstrate value to the business

Storytelling is an effective way to clearly and succinctly share project updates, pitch new ideas, or communicate change initiatives. When done effectively, teams can demonstrate their value to the business while also becoming more trusted advisors within the organization and to their audience. Leaders will take notice of a team’s vital contributions through storytelling.

But like any upskilling effort, building a storytelling muscle takes time, training, and practice. However, the payoff will benefit busy managers while making your team a more influential and integral part of the organization.

Here are some of the ways storytelling can transform the way your team interacts internally and with decision-makers:

Strength in numbers

As any leader knows, teams are only as strong as their weakest link, and storytelling is one way to level up each and every member. When used strategically, business storytelling can build your team’s collective skill set, improve its reputation, and most importantly, help gain the visibility and influence you need when it matters most.

", "content_plain": "It’s finally happening—your team is getting a seat at the table. After months of trying to get a meeting in front of the C-suite, leadership has agreed to hear what your team has to say. The stakes feel high. Delivering a successful presentation will not only help get your project approved, but it could give your team the clout it needs for future opportunities. Stumbling through it, however, could result in pushback from key stakeholders and position your team as inexperienced and ill-equipped to take on mission-critical initiatives. Are you ready? Does your team know what to say, and even more so, do they have the communication chops to serve up a clear call to action, influence multiple stakeholders, and move people to a decision? Getting your team up to par The above scenario is a challenge most business professionals will face at some point, either individually or as a people leader. No matter what function you work in, chances are you have to influence across the business – whether you’re selling an idea, providing an update, or making a recommendation. For teams that support cross-functional initiatives, it’s even more critical to know how to uplevel the conversation. Executive presence and reputation are table stakes in today’s cross-functional work environment, and influence, trust, and credibility are the prizes everyone is working toward. Consider your team is trying to communicate to IT about the support you need for a new product launch. Or maybe they need to justify to the CFO why your initiative needs more budget. When everyone’s already short on time and stressed over these big moments, the last thing they’re thinking about is how to prepare for all the possible scenarios that could arise. But they need to be! The challenge of being pulled in different directions, presenting to diverse audiences across the business, and keeping the conversation on track adds another layer of complexity to an already high-stakes situation. But if your team ends up data dumping, sharing text-heavy slides, and getting into the weeds about operational details, it won’t get your new budget passed, and they certainly won’t win any bonus time with executives. For those of us in leadership roles who are already spread thin, reworking our team’s decks at the eleventh hour is NOT productive nor a financially responsible use of time. Neither is feeling the pressure to attend every meeting in case you have to helicopter in to redirect the conversation. This is especially true if you’re leading employees who are being thrust into leadership roles and have little experience leading a strategic dialogue. A better way? Having a team that can create and deliver engaging and impactful content is critical to driving business forward. But to do this, they need the skills and confidence to communicate clearly and with impact during these once-in-a-blue-moon opportunities with key stakeholders. To start, you need to get your team on the same page and equipped with a common language and framework – one that brings clarity and succinctness to every business communication (think emails, 1-pagers, or presentations). The sky’s the limit for the time you’d save, the business outcomes you’d achieve, and the growth potential for your team. So how do you ‘teach them to fish’? (i.e., get everyone aligned and on the same page?) Start with storytelling The key is to get everyone speaking the same language, and that language is storytelling. Using the basic structure of story—setting, characters, conflict, a BIG Idea, and resolution—your team can build strong business narratives that make their presentations engaging, informative, and most importantly, actionable. You’ll be able to answer the question, “What do you want me to know and do in the limited time I have?” A powerful way to demonstrate value to the business Storytelling is an effective way to clearly and succinctly share project updates, pitch new ideas, or communicate change initiatives. When done effectively, teams can demonstrate their value to the business while also becoming more trusted advisors within the organization and to their audience. Leaders will take notice of a team’s vital contributions through storytelling. But like any upskilling effort, building a storytelling muscle takes time, training, and practice. However, the payoff will benefit busy managers while making your team a more influential and integral part of the organization. Here are some of the ways storytelling can transform the way your team interacts internally and with decision-makers: Storytelling helps democratize effective and influential communication. No matter their role or function, storytelling skills level the playing field and give team members the ability to express their ideas and influence conversations. This can help foster team unity, reduce internal conflict, and improve collaborative and innovative thinking. Storytelling improves confidence and helps build executive presence. With an impactful message and focused communication strategy, teams are emboldened to present in high-stakes situations and win over key executives. A great story decreases the odds of being derailed, facing challenging questions, or ending a meeting without buy-in. Plus, having a strong narrative as a foundation allows teams to display mastery of their material and showcase their expertise in an authentic way. Storytelling provides a mechanism for constructive feedback among internal teams. If teams are working from a common tool and methodology, it provides a way to have a non-biased conversation. There are no personal preferences involved. Instead, the question becomes: Does this fit into the narrative or not? This can also aid in breaking down cultural or language barriers because everyone is speaking the same language. Storytelling increases team productivity. With everyone on the same page, teams can avoid rework, multiple review cycles, and having senior leaders sit in on meetings or get in the weeds of presentations. This makes the whole team more productive and focused on strategic priorities. Storytelling can elevate the visibility and reputation of a team within a company. Teams with strong communication skills earn trust among internal stakeholders, which can open up new opportunities to collaborate. This also helps individuals gain visibility and improve their potential career mobility for leadership roles. Strength in numbers As any leader knows, teams are only as strong as their weakest link, and storytelling is one way to level up each and every member. When used strategically, business storytelling can build your team’s collective skill set, improve its reputation, and most importantly, help gain the visibility and influence you need when it matters most.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/iStock-1828281659.jpg", "modified": "2024-03-11T12:18:35-05:00" }, { "id": 10658, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/cma-2024-elevate-your-data-story-with-powerful-visuals/", "title": "Join us at CMA and learn how to Elevate Your Data Story with Powerful Visuals", "h1": "Join us at CMA and learn how to Elevate Your Data Story with Powerful Visuals", "summary": "After leading a top-rated session at last year’s Category Management Association/Shopper Insights Management Association conference, we are so excited to make a return to the 2024 conference, February 26-28 in Dallas, Texas! Janine Kurnoff, TPC’s Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, will be joined by Kraft Heinz’s dynamic duo, Hasan Issa and Kevin Carrington, to lead […]", "content": "

After leading a top-rated session at last year’s Category Management Association/Shopper Insights Management Association conference, we are so excited to make a return to the 2024 conference, February 26-28 in Dallas, Texas!

Janine Kurnoff, TPC’s Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, will be joined by Kraft Heinz’s dynamic duo, Hasan Issa and Kevin Carrington, to lead an interactive breakout session, Elevate Your Data Story with Powerful Visuals. This 45-minute session is being presented on Tuesday, February 27 at 2:15 pm CT as part of the conference track, Harnessing the Power of Data-Driven Storytelling.

Whether you joined last year’s workshop or only heard about it through the grapevine, you’re sure to gain value from this session. We can’t wait to get back in the room with an engaged and enthusiastic consumer packaged goods (CPG) audience!

What to expect
Today’s category leaders are striving to become indispensable partners to retailers. To accomplish this, they need to navigate a massive amount of data from the marketplace, customers, and many other sources . But how do you mine through mounds of information and serve up visually compelling data stories and actionable recommendations to help retailers make the best decision?

In this interactive session, you’ll get practical guidance and tips on how to elevate your data story with powerful visuals. Plus, Kraft Heinz’s category leaders, Hasan and Kevin, will supply their perspective and share their real before-and-after transformations you won’t want to miss!

What you’ll learn:

Bonus content!
P.S. Spoiler alert: Janine will be giving out limited copies of our Amazon best-selling book, Everyday Business Storytelling, after the session. Don’t miss your chance to get 288 pages of practical storytelling tips that are sure to make you a more confident, influential, and strategic communicator!

Have questions ahead of the conference or interested in scheduling 1:1 time with our team on-site? Send us a note here!

 

", "content_plain": "After leading a top-rated session at last year’s Category Management Association/Shopper Insights Management Association conference, we are so excited to make a return to the 2024 conference, February 26-28 in Dallas, Texas! Janine Kurnoff, TPC’s Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, will be joined by Kraft Heinz’s dynamic duo, Hasan Issa and Kevin Carrington, to lead an interactive breakout session, Elevate Your Data Story with Powerful Visuals. This 45-minute session is being presented on Tuesday, February 27 at 2:15 pm CT as part of the conference track, Harnessing the Power of Data-Driven Storytelling. Whether you joined last year’s workshop or only heard about it through the grapevine, you’re sure to gain value from this session. We can’t wait to get back in the room with an engaged and enthusiastic consumer packaged goods (CPG) audience! What to expect Today’s category leaders are striving to become indispensable partners to retailers. To accomplish this, they need to navigate a massive amount of data from the marketplace, customers, and many other sources . But how do you mine through mounds of information and serve up visually compelling data stories and actionable recommendations to help retailers make the best decision? In this interactive session, you’ll get practical guidance and tips on how to elevate your data story with powerful visuals. Plus, Kraft Heinz’s category leaders, Hasan and Kevin, will supply their perspective and share their real before-and-after transformations you won’t want to miss! What you’ll learn: How to use a storytelling framework to ensure your data story is coherent Tips for summarizing your data story so your audience doesn’t have to work hard Clever ways to make your data visualizations easy to understand at a glance Bonus content! P.S. Spoiler alert: Janine will be giving out limited copies of our Amazon best-selling book, Everyday Business Storytelling, after the session. Don’t miss your chance to get 288 pages of practical storytelling tips that are sure to make you a more confident, influential, and strategic communicator! Have questions ahead of the conference or interested in scheduling 1:1 time with our team on-site? Send us a note here!  ", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2024-CMA-Elevate-graphic-v1.jpg", "modified": "2024-01-31T14:57:35-05:00" }, { "id": 10539, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/participant-resource-test/", "title": "Participant Resource Test Page", "h1": "TPC Participant Resource Test Page", "summary": "", "content": "

TPC Participant Resource Test Page

 

 

Please click the hyperlinks associated with your workshop below to ensure you and the selected participants are able to download the course content.

\"\"

Course agendas:

\"\"

Course agendas:

\"\"

Course agendas:

", "content_plain": "TPC Participant Resource Test Page     Please click the hyperlinks associated with your workshop below to ensure you and the selected participants are able to download the course content. Course agendas: Onsite agenda Virtual agenda Course agendas: Onsite agenda Virtual agenda Course agendas: Onsite agenda Virtual agenda", "image": false, "modified": "2023-11-09T15:12:23-05:00" }, { "id": 10508, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/about/presentation-training-careers/master-facilitator/", "title": "We’re hiring: Master Facilitator", "h1": "We’re hiring: Master Facilitator", "summary": "", "content": "

We’re hiring: Master Facilitator

\"Hiring

The Presentation Company is seeking a Master Facilitator who will deliver our in-person and virtual workshops with an eye toward building a culture of storytelling within TPC’s Fortune 500 customers. This is a part-time contract position.

Learn more below and apply here if you’re the perfect fit! 

Who we are: 

At The Presentation Company (TPC) we enable people – in all roles and industries – to bring meaning to their ideas and influence decisions through visual storytelling. Our mission is to design and deliver award-winning training programs that make a real impact on people’s lives, confidence, and careers. We’re a purpose-driven company, and our beliefs are the foundation of how we show up and conduct business every day. We’re guided by our core values of a pioneering spirit, clarity, inclusivity, accountability, and empathy. Whether we’re training well-known brands like Kraft-Heinz, T-Mobile, Hewlett Packard, or helping an up-and-coming company tell its story, we put our customers at the heart of everything we do. We are a proud, women-owned company that is looking for top notch facilitators to join our award-winning team.  

What you will be doing: 

TPC Master Facilitators join a group of dedicated, mission-driven peers who truly make a difference to our clients every day. With a background in in-person and virtual training delivery, combined with executive coaching experience, the ideal candidate will facilitate, coach, and lead business storytelling, visual messaging, and data visualization workshops for our clients. The Master Facilitator projects the right balance of passion, professionalism, confidence, and authenticity, and can build rapport at all levels in a corporate environment. 

Responsibilities for this role include: 

What you will need to be successful: 

Why work at TPC?  

If you’re inspired by working with smart, passionate people who are driven by the success of our clients and each other, this may be your next, dream job! Our clients love us because we deliver on our promises, value their partnerships, and approach everything we do in a refreshingly authentic way.

TPC is committed to a diverse work environment and is proud to be a woman-owned business and equal opportunity employer.  

Apply now!", "content_plain": "We’re hiring: Master Facilitator The Presentation Company is seeking a Master Facilitator who will deliver our in-person and virtual workshops with an eye toward building a culture of storytelling within TPC’s Fortune 500 customers. This is a part-time contract position. Learn more below and apply here if you’re the perfect fit! Who we are: At The Presentation Company (TPC) we enable people – in all roles and industries – to bring meaning to their ideas and influence decisions through visual storytelling. Our mission is to design and deliver award-winning training programs that make a real impact on people’s lives, confidence, and careers. We’re a purpose-driven company, and our beliefs are the foundation of how we show up and conduct business every day. We’re guided by our core values of a pioneering spirit, clarity, inclusivity, accountability, and empathy. Whether we’re training well-known brands like Kraft-Heinz, T-Mobile, Hewlett Packard, or helping an up-and-coming company tell its story, we put our customers at the heart of everything we do. We are a proud, women-owned company that is looking for top notch facilitators to join our award-winning team. What you will be doing: TPC Master Facilitators join a group of dedicated, mission-driven peers who truly make a difference to our clients every day. With a background in in-person and virtual training delivery, combined with executive coaching experience, the ideal candidate will facilitate, coach, and lead business storytelling, visual messaging, and data visualization workshops for our clients. The Master Facilitator projects the right balance of passion, professionalism, confidence, and authenticity, and can build rapport at all levels in a corporate environment. Responsibilities for this role include: Facilitate TPC workshops both in person and virtually Share relevant client feedback with TPC’s Product Development team to help TPC iterate and improve workshop content when needed Complete a trainer feedback survey after each workshop to ensure that your insights are shared with TPC’s account team Represent the TPC brand by being authentic and approachable, offering coaching to learners if time allows Encourage participants to do their best work, ensuring a successful workshop Work closely with our production teams (in a virtual environment) to ensure a two-way dialogue is created between participants and the instructor Attend a dry run (to meet your production team to ensure alignment ahead of a virtual training) and participate in a debrief after each virtual workshop to share anything relevant with your TPC partners What you will need to be successful: Experience: Delivering training using an approach that incorporates confidence, energy, professionalism, technical knowledge, white-glove participant support, and a great sense of humor! 10+ years of experience in corporate learning and/or coaching Facilitating workshops in-person, demonstrating confidence in managing a physical classroom including presenting slides, setting up group activities around the room, communicating important concepts or announcements on a flip chart/whiteboard, etc. Facilitating workshops in a virtual classroom with ease and confidence including sharing presenter slides while simultaneously using annotation tools to gesture and creating a two-way dialogue with participants in Chat and via audio Coaching all levels of leaders and individual contributors (executive coaching experience a plus) Deep business acumen across multiple industries is essential (experience in consumer-packaged-goods industry a plus) History building and delivering influential business presentations that incorporate storytelling, data visualization, and visual messaging Flexibility to work off hours to deliver TPC’s workshops online to audiences globally; this could include late night and/or early morning engagements in your local time zone Prioritize TPC deliveries while balancing other scheduled obligations Willingness to research client’s business and gain critical insights prior to a workshop; Invest time to understand individual participant roles, address specific participant needs in the classroom and adjust your delivery as needed Access to a professional, quiet and clutter-free workspace and background, while using your own high-speed, reliable Internet connection and computer equipment to deliver virtual training; Please note: TPC instructors are required to deliver virtual training using two computers – a primary and a backup, as well as a hands-free headset. TPC requires that all contract trainers utilize their own technical equipment. Technically savvy: Knowledge of Microsoft Office and Google Suite (specifically PowerPoint, Excel, Google Slides and Google Sheets) The ability to facilitate training from both a PC and Mac Facilitate virtual training via Zoom, Teams and WebEx Fluent in English with the ability to deliver training in any of these languages a plus: Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Japanese, Mandarin Why work at TPC? If you’re inspired by working with smart, passionate people who are driven by the success of our clients and each other, this may be your next, dream job! Our clients love us because we deliver on our promises, value their partnerships, and approach everything we do in a refreshingly authentic way. TPC is committed to a diverse work environment and is proud to be a woman-owned business and equal opportunity employer. Apply now!", "image": false, "modified": "2024-02-23T10:04:03-05:00" }, { "id": 10497, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/pdv-handouts/", "title": "Protected: Presenting Data Visually Participant Resources", "h1": "Your data visualization toolkit", "summary": "There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.", "content": "
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Your data visualization toolkit

Conceptual Guide – A follow-along companion booklet designed to help reinforce skills learned in class. Conceptual Guide

Data Visualization Library (DVL): 100+ professionally designed data visualizations that guide you through the five ways to display data and provide inspiration, pro-tips, and coaching examples to help make presenting data a quick and simple process Link to PowerPoint Data Visualization Library | Link to Google Slides Data Visualization Library

DataCoach™ – Coaching prompts from experts to ensure your data visualizations are understandable to any audience at a glance (embedded in the Data Visualization Library)

DataCheck™ – A cheat sheet to help pressure test your data visualizations before sharing them with key stakeholders (embedded in the Data Visualization Library)

Quick Access Toolbar – A downloadable resource that gives you rapid access to commonly used functions (PowerPoint only) | Download here (alternatively access via Google, Box or SharePoint)

Note: Be sure to watch the companion video “Set up your QAT” available in the bonus videos below.

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Bonus videos

\"\"

If you want to deepen your knowledge and skills, check out the bonus videos available to you as part of this workshop. Learn how to set up a flexible non-linear presentation, master shape and alignment shortcuts, and get tips for maximum speed and efficiency when building data visualizations. Link to videos for PowerPoint | Link to videos for Google Slides (Password: StoryFirst)

Showcase your certification

Want to tout your accomplishment and let people know about your new skills in business storytelling and visual story strategy? Click here to learn how to add workshop certification badges to your LinkedIn profile.

\"\"

Continue the learnings

\"\"

Ready to take your knowledge to the next level? Stay up to date on the latest trends and best practices by following us on social, reading our blog, or visiting the TPC Resource Center for articles, videos, checklists, and other content that will help you — and your team — become strategic, influential communicators!

", "content_plain": "Your data visualization toolkit Conceptual Guide – A follow-along companion booklet designed to help reinforce skills learned in class. Conceptual Guide Data Visualization Library (DVL): 100+ professionally designed data visualizations that guide you through the five ways to display data and provide inspiration, pro-tips, and coaching examples to help make presenting data a quick and simple process Link to PowerPoint Data Visualization Library | Link to Google Slides Data Visualization Library DataCoach™ – Coaching prompts from experts to ensure your data visualizations are understandable to any audience at a glance (embedded in the Data Visualization Library) DataCheck™ – A cheat sheet to help pressure test your data visualizations before sharing them with key stakeholders (embedded in the Data Visualization Library) Quick Access Toolbar – A downloadable resource that gives you rapid access to commonly used functions (PowerPoint only) | Download here (alternatively access via Google, Box or SharePoint) Note: Be sure to watch the companion video “Set up your QAT” available in the bonus videos below. Bonus videos If you want to deepen your knowledge and skills, check out the bonus videos available to you as part of this workshop. Learn how to set up a flexible non-linear presentation, master shape and alignment shortcuts, and get tips for maximum speed and efficiency when building data visualizations. Link to videos for PowerPoint | Link to videos for Google Slides (Password: StoryFirst) Showcase your certification Want to tout your accomplishment and let people know about your new skills in business storytelling and visual story strategy? Click here to learn how to add workshop certification badges to your LinkedIn profile. Continue the learnings Ready to take your knowledge to the next level? Stay up to date on the latest trends and best practices by following us on social, reading our blog, or visiting the TPC Resource Center for articles, videos, checklists, and other content that will help you — and your team — become strategic, influential communicators!", "image": false, "modified": "2024-10-04T07:36:51-05:00" }, { "id": 10486, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/start-your-teams-journey-to-becoming-great-storytellers/", "title": "Start Your Teams’ Journey to Becoming Great Storytellers", "h1": "Start Your Teams’ Journey to Becoming Great Storytellers", "summary": "As we emerge from a few years of economic volatility and business uncertainty, today’s leaders are ready to move forward and advance strategic initiatives. Although many of us are accustomed to doing more with less, now more than ever it’s critical that we build confident and resilient teams that can handle whatever comes their way. […]", "content": "

As we emerge from a few years of economic volatility and business uncertainty, today’s leaders are ready to move forward and advance strategic initiatives. Although many of us are accustomed to doing more with less, now more than ever it’s critical that we build confident and resilient teams that can handle whatever comes their way. (Hint: Your teams need a new superpower!) 

The most successful organizations are investing in their people to develop skill sets to ensure teams are swimming in the same direction, speaking a common language, and most importantly, communicating their strategy, ideas, and data with clarity.  

What if we told you there was one critical skill that could help you achieve this, while boosting team collaboration, improving efficiency, and progressing your company’s big-picture goals? Better yet, this tool can be learned and leveraged across your entire organization and used in just about every business transaction.  

And don’t worry, we’re not talking about some high-priced tech gimmick or overused management buzzword. We’re talking about a fundamental business skill that is often overlooked and highly underrated. 

It’s storytelling.  

Storytelling moves business forward

The fact is, many business problems can be remedied or even prevented with better communication, and storytelling is one of the most effective ways to master this essential business skill. 

Not only does neuroscience prove that story is the most impactful form of communication, but it can be adapted to any audience and any format, from concise presentations updating the C-Suite to persuasive sales emails engaging prospective clients. 

And here’s the best part—its scalability allows it to be used by everyone in the company, creating synergy among teams and better engagement with your customers. 

We can all agree that everyone loves a good story. The problem is, at work, we struggle to apply storytelling to our everyday business communications. Without the skills and confidence, we resort to cobbling together ideas and data dumping, leaving our audience confused, frustrated, and (let’s face it) forced into another meeting.  

And worst of all? We’ve just missed an opportunity to influence decisions, communicate value, and drive business forward. 

There’s a better way. 

Here at The Presentation Company (TPC), we believe storytelling is more than just words. It’s a choreographed dance between your story, visuals, and data. Each element is critical and when combined correctly, they provide the spark to bring your teams’ ideas to life. 

To help you get there, we’ve created the ultimate storytelling learning journey that provides teams with a common language and framework to communicate their strategy, ideas, and data with clarity.  

This journey grounds everyone in a new, powerful mindset: Story first, visuals second. 

Turning storytelling into strategy

Our three-part learning journey brings business storytelling to life through the lens of story strategy, visual strategy, and data strategy. Our interactive journey takes professionals through three highly experiential workshops that unpack each strategic principle and how they can be applied, giving teams the collaborative tools and common language they need to create impactful visual stories. 

\"\"

Why story strategy? 

Through our Crafting Strategic Visual Stories workshop, learn storytelling fundamentals and get tools to easily apply the power of narrative into every aspect of your job. Our storytelling framework will teach you how to turn your ideas and data into meaningful business stories that are clear, actionable, and memorable. You will also learn how to flex your story to any audience or scenario (like when your 30-minute presentation is cut to only 5 minutes!). 

Why visual strategy? 

As any great communicator knows, strong visuals are absolutely critical to effective messaging. Our Influencing with Visuals workshop is geared toward those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals. You’ll learn how to create a tailored visual story strategy, use interactive story building and coaching tools to pressure test your story, and get inspired with real-world examples that inspire action. 

Why data strategy? 

Too many numbers and graphs can overwhelm and disengage audiences, but wrapping data in story and visuals gives decision-makers the context they need to understand what the numbers are actually communicating. Presenting Data Visually rounds out our other two workshops by giving teams the tools to create easy-to-scan charts, tables, and graphs that cut through the noise and lead to actionable data insights. 

See individual and organizational results

Here’s the best part: Storytelling not only levels up the individual skills team members bring to the table, but also, it creates a shared communication framework that can lead to widespread organizational change. 

In other words, your ROI will show up in more ways than one. 

As individual learners go through our journey, they’ll gain a wide range of advanced communication skills, including how to:

When these skills are taught and leveraged across the entire organization, even greater results are possible. Business leaders can:  

 

Grounded in theory and smothered in practicality

There’s a reason we refer to our program as a journey. Our curriculum is designed to flow from one workshop to the next with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and travel with you on – and beyond – the journey. Our goal is to provide useful skills you can apply immediately, build on as you move through the program, and fine-tune long after training ends. 

We also value your time. Stepping away from daily work responsibilities for learning and development can be a real challenge. That’s why we ask participants to bring their real work, presentations, emails, one-pagers… (anything!) to transform during our workshops. This not only makes the best use of your training time, but also, it allows you to see the immediate value of storytelling and motivates you (and your team) to keep learning.  

And if you are worried about making these new skills stick, we have that covered, too.  

Getting everyone to speak “story” in your organization requires one main change in your everyday process: Coaching. But don’t sweat it—we’ve incorporated those tools into our learning journey as well. Throughout TPC’s program, teams are introduced to collaborative coaching techniques, tools, and resources that layer upon each other and are intended to be used outside the workshop setting.  

All of these resources come together to facilitate real change that can transform the communication dynamics and culture of your company. Storytelling will become your strategic superpower as your team continues to build and improve their business stories well after the training wraps up. 

Communicating a more successful future

Every company is looking for a way to elevate their business right now. Some will grasp at trends and risky initiatives, but the most impactful change starts from the inside out.  

Storytelling is an innovative way to get your teams speaking the same language while also strengthening their most critical business skills. By embarking on our three-part learning journey, you can upskill your people in real-time, move your business forward as they progress in their abilities and support each other, and create organizational and cultural change that will benefit your business now—and well into the future.

", "content_plain": "As we emerge from a few years of economic volatility and business uncertainty, today’s leaders are ready to move forward and advance strategic initiatives. Although many of us are accustomed to doing more with less, now more than ever it’s critical that we build confident and resilient teams that can handle whatever comes their way. (Hint: Your teams need a new superpower!) The most successful organizations are investing in their people to develop skill sets to ensure teams are swimming in the same direction, speaking a common language, and most importantly, communicating their strategy, ideas, and data with clarity. What if we told you there was one critical skill that could help you achieve this, while boosting team collaboration, improving efficiency, and progressing your company’s big-picture goals? Better yet, this tool can be learned and leveraged across your entire organization and used in just about every business transaction. And don’t worry, we’re not talking about some high-priced tech gimmick or overused management buzzword. We’re talking about a fundamental business skill that is often overlooked and highly underrated. It’s storytelling. Storytelling moves business forward The fact is, many business problems can be remedied or even prevented with better communication, and storytelling is one of the most effective ways to master this essential business skill. Not only does neuroscience prove that story is the most impactful form of communication, but it can be adapted to any audience and any format, from concise presentations updating the C-Suite to persuasive sales emails engaging prospective clients. And here’s the best part—its scalability allows it to be used by everyone in the company, creating synergy among teams and better engagement with your customers. We can all agree that everyone loves a good story. The problem is, at work, we struggle to apply storytelling to our everyday business communications. Without the skills and confidence, we resort to cobbling together ideas and data dumping, leaving our audience confused, frustrated, and (let’s face it) forced into another meeting. And worst of all? We’ve just missed an opportunity to influence decisions, communicate value, and drive business forward. There’s a better way. Here at The Presentation Company (TPC), we believe storytelling is more than just words. It’s a choreographed dance between your story, visuals, and data. Each element is critical and when combined correctly, they provide the spark to bring your teams’ ideas to life. To help you get there, we’ve created the ultimate storytelling learning journey that provides teams with a common language and framework to communicate their strategy, ideas, and data with clarity. This journey grounds everyone in a new, powerful mindset: Story first, visuals second. Turning storytelling into strategy Our three-part learning journey brings business storytelling to life through the lens of story strategy, visual strategy, and data strategy. Our interactive journey takes professionals through three highly experiential workshops that unpack each strategic principle and how they can be applied, giving teams the collaborative tools and common language they need to create impactful visual stories. Why story strategy? Through our Crafting Strategic Visual Stories workshop, learn storytelling fundamentals and get tools to easily apply the power of narrative into every aspect of your job. Our storytelling framework will teach you how to turn your ideas and data into meaningful business stories that are clear, actionable, and memorable. You will also learn how to flex your story to any audience or scenario (like when your 30-minute presentation is cut to only 5 minutes!). Why visual strategy? As any great communicator knows, strong visuals are absolutely critical to effective messaging. Our Influencing with Visuals workshop is geared toward those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals. You’ll learn how to create a tailored visual story strategy, use interactive story building and coaching tools to pressure test your story, and get inspired with real-world examples that inspire action. Why data strategy? Too many numbers and graphs can overwhelm and disengage audiences, but wrapping data in story and visuals gives decision-makers the context they need to understand what the numbers are actually communicating. Presenting Data Visually rounds out our other two workshops by giving teams the tools to create easy-to-scan charts, tables, and graphs that cut through the noise and lead to actionable data insights. See individual and organizational results Here’s the best part: Storytelling not only levels up the individual skills team members bring to the table, but also, it creates a shared communication framework that can lead to widespread organizational change. In other words, your ROI will show up in more ways than one. As individual learners go through our journey, they’ll gain a wide range of advanced communication skills, including how to: Ensure that your audience’s needs are top of mind in any communication Bring clarity and meaning to complex ideas and data Flex business stories to any audience or scenario Craft a BIG idea to help your audience understand the one thing they should know or do Cleverly use visuals to influence decision making and buy-in Boost executive presence by building authentic connections and displaying mastery of material When these skills are taught and leveraged across the entire organization, even greater results are possible. Business leaders can: Empower teams to elevate conversations and drive meaningful change Accelerate decision-making, time to revenue, and innovation Improve efficiency by reducing ineffective meetings and costly review cycles Create alignment and agility among teams Achieve results that tie back to corporate initiatives   Grounded in theory and smothered in practicality There’s a reason we refer to our program as a journey. Our curriculum is designed to flow from one workshop to the next with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and travel with you on – and beyond – the journey. Our goal is to provide useful skills you can apply immediately, build on as you move through the program, and fine-tune long after training ends. We also value your time. Stepping away from daily work responsibilities for learning and development can be a real challenge. That’s why we ask participants to bring their real work, presentations, emails, one-pagers… (anything!) to transform during our workshops. This not only makes the best use of your training time, but also, it allows you to see the immediate value of storytelling and motivates you (and your team) to keep learning. And if you are worried about making these new skills stick, we have that covered, too. Getting everyone to speak “story” in your organization requires one main change in your everyday process: Coaching. But don’t sweat it—we’ve incorporated those tools into our learning journey as well. Throughout TPC’s program, teams are introduced to collaborative coaching techniques, tools, and resources that layer upon each other and are intended to be used outside the workshop setting. All of these resources come together to facilitate real change that can transform the communication dynamics and culture of your company. Storytelling will become your strategic superpower as your team continues to build and improve their business stories well after the training wraps up. Communicating a more successful future Every company is looking for a way to elevate their business right now. Some will grasp at trends and risky initiatives, but the most impactful change starts from the inside out. Storytelling is an innovative way to get your teams speaking the same language while also strengthening their most critical business skills. By embarking on our three-part learning journey, you can upskill your people in real-time, move your business forward as they progress in their abilities and support each other, and create organizational and cultural change that will benefit your business now—and well into the future.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/iStock-530820616-1-scaled.jpg", "modified": "2023-10-03T11:35:02-05:00" }, { "id": 10477, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/iwv-storybuilder/", "title": "Protected: Influencing with Visuals StoryBuilder", "h1": "Access the Visual StoryBuilderTM", "summary": "There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.", "content": "
\"\"

Access the Visual StoryBuilderTM

A hands-on interactive tool that allows you to lay out the visual flow of your story and check your work with built-in StoryCoach™ and VisualCoach™ guidance from storytelling experts Link to PowerPoint StoryBuilder | Link to Google Slides StoryBuilder

\"\"
", "content_plain": "Access the Visual StoryBuilderTM A hands-on interactive tool that allows you to lay out the visual flow of your story and check your work with built-in StoryCoach™ and VisualCoach™ guidance from storytelling experts Link to PowerPoint StoryBuilder | Link to Google Slides StoryBuilder", "image": false, "modified": "2024-09-23T12:34:00-05:00" }, { "id": 10464, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/iwv-handouts/", "title": "Protected: Influencing with Visuals Participant Resources", "h1": "Your visual storytelling toolkit", "summary": "There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.", "content": "
\"\"

Your visual storytelling toolkit

Conceptual Guide – A follow-along companion booklet designed to help reinforce skills learned in class. Conceptual Guide 

Visual StoryBuilder™ – A hands-on interactive tool that allows you to lay out the visual flow of your story and check your work with built-in StoryCoach™ and VisualCoach™ guidance from storytelling experts Link to PPT StoryBuilder | Link to Google Slides StoryBuilder

Visual Story Library – 100+ beautifully designed slides that guide you through the storytelling signposts and provide inspiration, pro-tips, and coaching examples to help jumpstart design thinking Link to PPT Story Library | Link to Google Slides Story Library

StoryCoach™ – Coaching prompts to ensure your story headlines are working hard for you (embedded in the Visual Story Library)

VisualCoach™ – Coaching prompts to ensure your visuals support your headlines (embedded in the Visual Story Library)

StoryCheck™ – A cheat sheet to help pressure test your story headlines and visuals (embedded in the Visual Story Library)

\"\"

Bonus videos

\"\"

If you want to deepen your knowledge and skills, check out the bonus videos available to you as part of this workshop. Get a tour of the Visual StoryBuilder™ or the Visual Story Library, learn how to set up a flexible non-linear presentation, and master shape and alignment shortcuts. Link to videos for PowerPoint | Link to videos for Google Slides

(password: StoryFirst)

Showcase your certification

Want to tout your accomplishment and let people know about your new skills in business storytelling and visual story strategy? Click here to learn how to add workshop certification badges to your LinkedIn profile.

\"\"

Continue the learnings

\"\"

Ready to take your knowledge to the next level? Stay up to date on the latest trends and best practices by following us on social, reading our blog, or visiting the TPC Resource Center for articles, videos, checklists, and other content that will help you — and your team — become strategic, influential communicators!

", "content_plain": "Your visual storytelling toolkit Conceptual Guide – A follow-along companion booklet designed to help reinforce skills learned in class. Conceptual Guide Visual StoryBuilder™ – A hands-on interactive tool that allows you to lay out the visual flow of your story and check your work with built-in StoryCoach™ and VisualCoach™ guidance from storytelling experts Link to PPT StoryBuilder | Link to Google Slides StoryBuilder Visual Story Library – 100+ beautifully designed slides that guide you through the storytelling signposts and provide inspiration, pro-tips, and coaching examples to help jumpstart design thinking Link to PPT Story Library | Link to Google Slides Story Library StoryCoach™ – Coaching prompts to ensure your story headlines are working hard for you (embedded in the Visual Story Library) VisualCoach™ – Coaching prompts to ensure your visuals support your headlines (embedded in the Visual Story Library) StoryCheck™ – A cheat sheet to help pressure test your story headlines and visuals (embedded in the Visual Story Library) Bonus videos If you want to deepen your knowledge and skills, check out the bonus videos available to you as part of this workshop. Get a tour of the Visual StoryBuilder™ or the Visual Story Library, learn how to set up a flexible non-linear presentation, and master shape and alignment shortcuts. Link to videos for PowerPoint | Link to videos for Google Slides (password: StoryFirst) Showcase your certification Want to tout your accomplishment and let people know about your new skills in business storytelling and visual story strategy? Click here to learn how to add workshop certification badges to your LinkedIn profile. Continue the learnings Ready to take your knowledge to the next level? Stay up to date on the latest trends and best practices by following us on social, reading our blog, or visiting the TPC Resource Center for articles, videos, checklists, and other content that will help you — and your team — become strategic, influential communicators!", "image": false, "modified": "2024-09-23T12:35:56-05:00" }, { "id": 10405, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/about/awards/", "title": "Awards", "h1": "Awards", "summary": "", "content": "

TPC is proud of the work we do, creating real behavior change within our clients’ organizations. We are honored to be recognized by industry associations over the years.

Top Corporate Workshops Services Provider 2024

Manage HR Magazine

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\"\"

Brandon Hall Group Gold Medal 2023

Best Advance in Competencies and Skill Development

In partnership with our client Colgate-Palmolive

Brandon Hall Group Gold Medal 2023

Best Learning Program Supporting a Change Transformation Business Strategy

In partnership with Datacamp, and our client Colgate-Palmolive

\"\"
\"\"

Brandon Hall Group Bronze Medal 2019

Best Advance in Senior Manager Development

In partnership with our client Medtronic

Brandon Hall Group Bronze Medal 2019

Best Results of a Learning Program

In partnership with our client Boston Scientific

\"\"
\"\"

Excellence in Content Award Bronze Medal 2018

Learning in Practice Award, Chief Learning Officer

In partnership with our client Boston Scientific

Brandon Hall Group Bronze Medal 2016

Best Results of a Learning Program

In partnership with our client Meta (formerly Facebook)

\"\"
", "content_plain": "TPC is proud of the work we do, creating real behavior change within our clients’ organizations. We are honored to be recognized by industry associations over the years. Top Corporate Workshops Services Provider 2024 Manage HR Magazine Brandon Hall Group Gold Medal 2023 Best Advance in Competencies and Skill Development In partnership with our client Colgate-Palmolive Brandon Hall Group Gold Medal 2023 Best Learning Program Supporting a Change Transformation Business Strategy In partnership with Datacamp, and our client Colgate-Palmolive Brandon Hall Group Bronze Medal 2019 Best Advance in Senior Manager Development In partnership with our client Medtronic Brandon Hall Group Bronze Medal 2019 Best Results of a Learning Program In partnership with our client Boston Scientific Excellence in Content Award Bronze Medal 2018 Learning in Practice Award, Chief Learning Officer In partnership with our client Boston Scientific Brandon Hall Group Bronze Medal 2016 Best Results of a Learning Program In partnership with our client Meta (formerly Facebook)", "image": false, "modified": "2026-04-22T14:52:54-05:00" }, { "id": 10392, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/in-2024-make-a-bet-on-your-people/", "title": "In 2024, Make a Bet on Your People", "h1": "In 2024, Make a Bet on Your People", "summary": "As we sit in 2023, and another squirrely year of disruption and economic uncertainty, many are feeling enough is enough, and next year is THE year we have to get things right. This would seem easy if we didn’t face the reality that no matter the company size, business leaders in every industry are forced […]", "content": "

As we sit in 2023, and another squirrely year of disruption and economic uncertainty, many are feeling enough is enough, and next year is THE year we have to get things right. This would seem easy if we didn’t face the reality that no matter the company size, business leaders in every industry are forced to reimagine success while being asked to do more with fewer resources.

We’ve heard from many of our clients that they’ve been in survival mode for the past few years and are just now coming up for air. This period of uncertainty and instability has shed light on how critical people are to the resilience and success of any operation. Understanding how each person contributes to the business, including their talents and transferable skills, is now table stakes as next year’s success will require agility, collaboration, and the ability to make faster (and smarter) decisions.

Let’s admit it… now more than ever, it’s become a business imperative to squeeze every dollar you can out of your learning budgets and leverage training to develop skill-building that can flex and adapt to the hard-to-predict needs of business moving forward. And just as important? Developing a skill set that gives everyone a chance to be seen and heard – no matter their role or function (hint: give your DEI efforts a boost).

So, if you had to make one training bet going into 2024… where do you want to be a year from now? Here’s a tip: think about what it would mean to unite your teams with a common language and framework to communicate their strategy, ideas, and data with clarity.

After all, when people aren’t rowing in the same direction, it leads to disorganization, lack of productivity, and rework of messages. It can halt decision-making and hinder your team’s ability to demonstrate their value to the business. Ultimately, these missed opportunities to influence means missed opportunities to elevate your team’s reputation and become trusted advisors or change agents.

One critical skill that’s increasingly being recognized as essential for capabilities fluency is storytelling. Storytelling can help teams stay on message and in control of the conversation, all while keeping their audience’s needs front and center. It’s a skill that anyone can learn and use every day as they progress in their career. If budgets are tight going into next year, storytelling training might be the secret sauce to help amplify and synergize your teams across ALL their other training and L&D efforts.

And the best part? Storytelling can help teams who have been newly thrust into the leadership spotlight find their footing and build confidence to communicate effectively with key business stakeholders. What better way to establish trust and credibility within the business while also building up your team’s reputation?

Need some proof?

At the start of the pandemic in 2020, a new leadership team at Kraft Heinz, the world’s fifth-largest food and beverage company, set its focus on developing talent and critical expertise in their Customer Development Organization (CDO). The team is tasked with providing a deep understanding of the marketplace to Kraft Heinz retail partners who crave insights into their customers’ rapidly evolving and changing purchase behaviors.

To arm the team with communication skills, Kraft Heinz realized they needed to tell a more compelling story to ensure conversations with retail partners were both timely and relevant. The Presentation Company (TPC)’s Crafting Strategic Visual Stories provided the storytelling framework to enable the team to share compelling insights, and Presenting Data Visually complemented the storytelling skills to teach key principles of how to share data with actionable insights and meaningful takeaways. More recently, Kraft Heinz piloted TPC’s newly reimagined Influencing with Visuals workshop to complete their storytelling learning journey.

After delivering successful workshop pilots to the CDO, the Kraft Heinz Transformation Office requested a rollout of TPC’s storytelling workshops to the entire U.S. sales organization.

The training has been so successful that Kraft Heinz executive leadership has infused TPC’s storytelling concepts and approach into everything they do, and the entire organization is now held accountable for using these core competencies.

\"\"

Get skills that lead to impactful organizational change

If you’re ready to make a bet on your people in 2024, consider storytelling training. We’ve created the ultimate 3-part learning journey that addresses today’s most critical business challenges and provides teams with a common language and framework to communicate their strategy, ideas, and data with clarity. We also ground everyone in a new mindset: Story first, visuals second. Our curriculum is designed to flow from one workshop to the next… with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and travel with you on the journey.

Ready to get started? Let’s chat!

", "content_plain": "As we sit in 2023, and another squirrely year of disruption and economic uncertainty, many are feeling enough is enough, and next year is THE year we have to get things right. This would seem easy if we didn’t face the reality that no matter the company size, business leaders in every industry are forced to reimagine success while being asked to do more with fewer resources. We’ve heard from many of our clients that they’ve been in survival mode for the past few years and are just now coming up for air. This period of uncertainty and instability has shed light on how critical people are to the resilience and success of any operation. Understanding how each person contributes to the business, including their talents and transferable skills, is now table stakes as next year’s success will require agility, collaboration, and the ability to make faster (and smarter) decisions. Let’s admit it… now more than ever, it’s become a business imperative to squeeze every dollar you can out of your learning budgets and leverage training to develop skill-building that can flex and adapt to the hard-to-predict needs of business moving forward. And just as important? Developing a skill set that gives everyone a chance to be seen and heard – no matter their role or function (hint: give your DEI efforts a boost). So, if you had to make one training bet going into 2024… where do you want to be a year from now? Here’s a tip: think about what it would mean to unite your teams with a common language and framework to communicate their strategy, ideas, and data with clarity. After all, when people aren’t rowing in the same direction, it leads to disorganization, lack of productivity, and rework of messages. It can halt decision-making and hinder your team’s ability to demonstrate their value to the business. Ultimately, these missed opportunities to influence means missed opportunities to elevate your team’s reputation and become trusted advisors or change agents. One critical skill that’s increasingly being recognized as essential for capabilities fluency is storytelling. Storytelling can help teams stay on message and in control of the conversation, all while keeping their audience’s needs front and center. It’s a skill that anyone can learn and use every day as they progress in their career. If budgets are tight going into next year, storytelling training might be the secret sauce to help amplify and synergize your teams across ALL their other training and L&D efforts. And the best part? Storytelling can help teams who have been newly thrust into the leadership spotlight find their footing and build confidence to communicate effectively with key business stakeholders. What better way to establish trust and credibility within the business while also building up your team’s reputation? Need some proof? At the start of the pandemic in 2020, a new leadership team at Kraft Heinz, the world’s fifth-largest food and beverage company, set its focus on developing talent and critical expertise in their Customer Development Organization (CDO). The team is tasked with providing a deep understanding of the marketplace to Kraft Heinz retail partners who crave insights into their customers’ rapidly evolving and changing purchase behaviors. To arm the team with communication skills, Kraft Heinz realized they needed to tell a more compelling story to ensure conversations with retail partners were both timely and relevant. The Presentation Company (TPC)’s Crafting Strategic Visual Stories provided the storytelling framework to enable the team to share compelling insights, and Presenting Data Visually complemented the storytelling skills to teach key principles of how to share data with actionable insights and meaningful takeaways. More recently, Kraft Heinz piloted TPC’s newly reimagined Influencing with Visuals workshop to complete their storytelling learning journey. After delivering successful workshop pilots to the CDO, the Kraft Heinz Transformation Office requested a rollout of TPC’s storytelling workshops to the entire U.S. sales organization. The training has been so successful that Kraft Heinz executive leadership has infused TPC’s storytelling concepts and approach into everything they do, and the entire organization is now held accountable for using these core competencies. Get skills that lead to impactful organizational change If you’re ready to make a bet on your people in 2024, consider storytelling training. We’ve created the ultimate 3-part learning journey that addresses today’s most critical business challenges and provides teams with a common language and framework to communicate their strategy, ideas, and data with clarity. We also ground everyone in a new mindset: Story first, visuals second. Our curriculum is designed to flow from one workshop to the next… with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and travel with you on the journey. Ready to get started? Let’s chat!", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Blog-Make-a-Bet-on-your-People-2024_v3.png", "modified": "2023-09-07T15:26:57-05:00" }, { "id": 10227, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/5-tips-for-building-better-business-dashboards/", "title": "Are Your Dashboards Putting Your Audience to Sleep? Here are 5 Tips for Building Better Business Dashboards", "h1": "Are Your Dashboards Putting Your Audience to Sleep? Here are 5 Tips for Building Better Business Dashboards", "summary": "Thanks to today’s data-driven culture, we all live in dashboards. Whether you’re logging on to Salesforce, Tableau, Google Data Studio, or Power BI, odds are you spend a chunk of your work week reviewing and updating a series of charts and tables. Maybe you’re using dashboards to track sales pipeline, marketing leads, customer satisfaction, or […]", "content": "

Thanks to today’s data-driven culture, we all live in dashboards. Whether you’re logging on to Salesforce, Tableau, Google Data Studio, or Power BI, odds are you spend a chunk of your work week reviewing and updating a series of charts and tables.

Maybe you’re using dashboards to track sales pipeline, marketing leads, customer satisfaction, or supply chain efficiency. No matter your role or industry, monitoring your KPIs is critical. And if you’re tasked with presenting or preparing dashboards for senior leaders, then you’ve got an added challenge on your hands.

But if your dashboard has become nothing more than a snapshot of numbers that gets refreshed – and no one sees the signal from the noise (HINT: they start to go into a daze), it’s time to switch up your approach.

Like them or hate them, dashboards can be extremely valuable. Having a way to efficiently and consistently track and visualize data is a critical part of any decision-making strategy, whether you’re tracking progress toward a goal or trying to spot problem areas.

But here’s the issue: Dashboards are limited by our ability to make sense of them. As with any business tool, they are only as good as the insights they provide and even more so, the results they produce. Once they become nothing more than static wellness checks, we’re missing the point. Data, when it’s useful, should lead to action – not fatigue.

Ultimately, for dashboards to be valuable, we need to be using them to talk to leaders – and not just data dump.

What is your dashboard communicating?

Although it may seem obvious, humans aren’t machines, which means we need to attach meaning to numbers if they’re going to be truly useful.

At face value, dashboards are a convenient way to view the most important data, but what they’re actually doing is giving us permission to stop thinking—and not always in a good way.

A well-crafted dashboard should be about more than just the data and reporting the news; it should be about what the data means and the story it’s telling. That’s where the value lies.

Here’s what we need to remember: Data on its own are not ideas. Data wrapped in a story – with insight and analysis, however, will provide the context you need to absorb what the numbers are actually communicating, which may inspire new ideas, lead to problem solving, and help with decision-making.

Bring your dashboards to life with storytelling – and spur business action

So, how do you build a narrative into your dashboards and, more importantly, optimize them to get the most value?

Here are five tips to help you bring your data—and dashboards—to life:

  1. Don’t make yourself (or your audience) work hard. Use active headlines and visual callouts. Also, reduce visual noise as much as possible, and choose graphics that show trends as clearly as possible. For example, bar graphs tend to highlight quantity differences better than pie graphs.
  2. Present your data with a POV. The dashboards themselves should be a discovery tool, not the final output on their own. Dashboards alone don’t provide value; they need a human to analyze it and provide insight. What message is the data communicating? What call to action is it prompting? It’s your job to make it make sense.
  3. More is not always better. Yes, even when it comes to data. Don’t overwhelm your audience with too much data. Be selective about what your dashboard is highlighting, and don’t be afraid to change it up as your business goals evolve. Instead of showing multiple charts on a slide, consider using drill downs to help focus your data story.
  4. Bolster dashboards on either end. Dashboards can’t stand alone—they require pre-work and post-work. On the front-end, understand and think about what you want to track first and why? In other words, identify where the data sits within the story. On the back-end, go beyond what’s on the screen and turn your numbers into narratives. Provide a call to action or recommendation based on what you’re seeing.
  5. Create a 2-way dialogue. Invite others to collaborate and explore your data with you. Dashboards provide a shared context that can help you discover new and profound insights, and strong storytelling sets the stage for these conversations to be productive and effective.

See it for yourself

Here is an example of dashboard data that uses active headlines, visual callouts, and drill downs to help tell a clear and actionable data story.

\"\"\"\"

\"\"Put your data to work

When dashboards first arrived on the scene, businesses were hyper-focused on data quantity. Now, that focus has shifted toward data quality and analysis—and with good reason. Decision-makers don’t need data; they need insight. Dashboards need to follow suit.

If you want to make your dashboard work for you, it’s got to make sense. By being selective about your data, choosing the right visual cues, and adding context, your dashboard can evolve from a quick check-in tool to an indispensable business resource you can count on.

", "content_plain": "Thanks to today’s data-driven culture, we all live in dashboards. Whether you’re logging on to Salesforce, Tableau, Google Data Studio, or Power BI, odds are you spend a chunk of your work week reviewing and updating a series of charts and tables. Maybe you’re using dashboards to track sales pipeline, marketing leads, customer satisfaction, or supply chain efficiency. No matter your role or industry, monitoring your KPIs is critical. And if you’re tasked with presenting or preparing dashboards for senior leaders, then you’ve got an added challenge on your hands. But if your dashboard has become nothing more than a snapshot of numbers that gets refreshed – and no one sees the signal from the noise (HINT: they start to go into a daze), it’s time to switch up your approach. Like them or hate them, dashboards can be extremely valuable. Having a way to efficiently and consistently track and visualize data is a critical part of any decision-making strategy, whether you’re tracking progress toward a goal or trying to spot problem areas. But here’s the issue: Dashboards are limited by our ability to make sense of them. As with any business tool, they are only as good as the insights they provide and even more so, the results they produce. Once they become nothing more than static wellness checks, we’re missing the point. Data, when it’s useful, should lead to action – not fatigue. Ultimately, for dashboards to be valuable, we need to be using them to talk to leaders – and not just data dump. What is your dashboard communicating? Although it may seem obvious, humans aren’t machines, which means we need to attach meaning to numbers if they’re going to be truly useful. At face value, dashboards are a convenient way to view the most important data, but what they’re actually doing is giving us permission to stop thinking—and not always in a good way. A well-crafted dashboard should be about more than just the data and reporting the news; it should be about what the data means and the story it’s telling. That’s where the value lies. Here’s what we need to remember: Data on its own are not ideas. Data wrapped in a story – with insight and analysis, however, will provide the context you need to absorb what the numbers are actually communicating, which may inspire new ideas, lead to problem solving, and help with decision-making. Bring your dashboards to life with storytelling – and spur business action So, how do you build a narrative into your dashboards and, more importantly, optimize them to get the most value? Here are five tips to help you bring your data—and dashboards—to life: Don’t make yourself (or your audience) work hard. Use active headlines and visual callouts. Also, reduce visual noise as much as possible, and choose graphics that show trends as clearly as possible. For example, bar graphs tend to highlight quantity differences better than pie graphs. Present your data with a POV. The dashboards themselves should be a discovery tool, not the final output on their own. Dashboards alone don’t provide value; they need a human to analyze it and provide insight. What message is the data communicating? What call to action is it prompting? It’s your job to make it make sense. More is not always better. Yes, even when it comes to data. Don’t overwhelm your audience with too much data. Be selective about what your dashboard is highlighting, and don’t be afraid to change it up as your business goals evolve. Instead of showing multiple charts on a slide, consider using drill downs to help focus your data story. Bolster dashboards on either end. Dashboards can’t stand alone—they require pre-work and post-work. On the front-end, understand and think about what you want to track first and why? In other words, identify where the data sits within the story. On the back-end, go beyond what’s on the screen and turn your numbers into narratives. Provide a call to action or recommendation based on what you’re seeing. Create a 2-way dialogue. Invite others to collaborate and explore your data with you. Dashboards provide a shared context that can help you discover new and profound insights, and strong storytelling sets the stage for these conversations to be productive and effective. See it for yourself Here is an example of dashboard data that uses active headlines, visual callouts, and drill downs to help tell a clear and actionable data story. Put your data to work When dashboards first arrived on the scene, businesses were hyper-focused on data quantity. Now, that focus has shifted toward data quality and analysis—and with good reason. Decision-makers don’t need data; they need insight. Dashboards need to follow suit. If you want to make your dashboard work for you, it’s got to make sense. By being selective about your data, choosing the right visual cues, and adding context, your dashboard can evolve from a quick check-in tool to an indispensable business resource you can count on.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/iStock-962466980-resized.jpg", "modified": "2023-07-10T14:14:47-05:00" }, { "id": 10198, "type": "formats", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/communications-training/learning-formats/virtual-instructor-led-training/", "title": "Virtual Instructor-Led Training", "h1": "Virtual Instructor-Led Training", "summary": "This isn't another Zoom meeting. Our virtual instructor-led training is purpose-built for online delivery, with live expert instruction that encourages two-way dialogue. Features like polling, breakout rooms, whiteboarding, and chat make every session truly interactive and keep teams engaged.", "content": "

Virtual training done right

Since 2004, clients like Apple, Meta, and Cisco have come to us to level up their teams’ communication skills. We’ve spent over two decades pushing the boundaries of what virtual instructor-led training can be, with content instructionally designed to promote two-way dialogue, foster genuine collaboration, and generate lasting behavior change. Whether your teams are down the hall or across the globe, we keep them connected, engaged, and learning together.

This learning format is part of our broader training solutions for organizations.

Get Started

What to expect in our virtual instructor-led training

We offer presentation skills training in-person across three workshops: Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, Influencing with Visuals and Presenting Data Visually.

Each virtual workshop is designed for teams of 15–20 participants. Virtual sessions consist of three 2.5-hour modules delivered over three days.

Here’s what every virtual instructor-led training session includes:

Need to train a larger team? We can run multiple virtual sessions across your organization.

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

", "content_plain": "Virtual training done right Since 2004, clients like Apple, Meta, and Cisco have come to us to level up their teams’ communication skills. We’ve spent over two decades pushing the boundaries of what virtual instructor-led training can be, with content instructionally designed to promote two-way dialogue, foster genuine collaboration, and generate lasting behavior change. Whether your teams are down the hall or across the globe, we keep them connected, engaged, and learning together. This learning format is part of our broader training solutions for organizations. Get Started What to expect in our virtual instructor-led training We offer presentation skills training in-person across three workshops: Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, Influencing with Visuals and Presenting Data Visually. Each virtual workshop is designed for teams of 15–20 participants. Virtual sessions consist of three 2.5-hour modules delivered over three days. Here’s what every virtual instructor-led training session includes: Live, interactive features including polling, whiteboarding, and chat Hands-on activities in breakout rooms to practice new skills and get real-time peer and instructor feedback Expert facilitators certified in virtual instruction to ensure participation and engagement Need to train a larger team? We can run multiple virtual sessions across your organization. Want to learn more? Let’s chat.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/VILT.webp", "modified": "2026-05-28T10:16:16-05:00" }, { "id": 10205, "type": "formats", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/communications-training/learning-formats/presentation-skills-training-in-person/", "title": "In-Person Training", "h1": "In-Person Training", "summary": "Worried about wasting a day in training? Not with us. Participants bring real work, get expert feedback, and leave with skills they can apply immediately. Expect hands-on collaboration, real-time iteration, and peer-to-peer coaching.", "content": "

Learn from an expert. Get coached by your peers.

In our in-person presentation skills training, you’re never just a passive participant. You’ll work alongside colleagues who face the same communication challenges you do, giving and getting feedback in real time from people who already understand your world. Add a certified expert instructor guiding every step, and you have a learning experience that’s as practical as it is powerful. This learning format is part of our broader training solutions for organizations.

Get Started

Bring real work. Leave with real results.

This isn’t a boring lecture. Teams will roll up their sleeves from the start. Participants come prepared with a real presentation, idea, or story they’re actively working on, and spend the day applying concepts, transforming their work, and getting feedback that sticks.

What to expect onsite

We offer presentation skills training in-person across three workshops: Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, Influencing with Visuals and Presenting Data Visually.

Each workshop is designed for teams of 15–20 participants. In-person sessions run as a full day (8 hours) or half-day (4 hours) for select workshops.

Here’s what every session includes:

Need to train a larger team? We can run multiple in-person sessions across your organization.

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

", "content_plain": "Learn from an expert. Get coached by your peers. In our in-person presentation skills training, you’re never just a passive participant. You’ll work alongside colleagues who face the same communication challenges you do, giving and getting feedback in real time from people who already understand your world. Add a certified expert instructor guiding every step, and you have a learning experience that’s as practical as it is powerful. This learning format is part of our broader training solutions for organizations. Get Started Bring real work. Leave with real results. This isn’t a boring lecture. Teams will roll up their sleeves from the start. Participants come prepared with a real presentation, idea, or story they’re actively working on, and spend the day applying concepts, transforming their work, and getting feedback that sticks. What to expect onsite We offer presentation skills training in-person across three workshops: Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, Influencing with Visuals and Presenting Data Visually. Each workshop is designed for teams of 15–20 participants. In-person sessions run as a full day (8 hours) or half-day (4 hours) for select workshops. Here’s what every session includes: Hands-on group activities and individual exercises with debriefs Real-time feedback and expert coaching from your certified instructor and your peers Access to practical tools, each embedded with coaching guidance and pro-tips, to jumpstart story development and extend learnings beyond the day of training Need to train a larger team? We can run multiple in-person sessions across your organization. Want to learn more? Let’s chat.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Kitta-bodmer-photography-portland-commercial620of893-scaled.webp", "modified": "2026-05-27T16:29:54-05:00" }, { "id": 10091, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/7-reasons-why-business-storytelling-can-help/", "title": "Do Your Ideas Need Resuscitation? Here are 7 Reasons Why Business Storytelling Can Help!", "h1": "Do Your Ideas Need Resuscitation? Here are 7 Reasons Why Business Storytelling Can Help!", "summary": "", "content": "

We get it… your team needs to demonstrate value, influence decision-making, and drive business forward. But the reality is, everyone is moving fast, has lots of ideas and data to communicate, and needs to adapt to a variety of customer and stakeholder needs—all with limited time and resources.

When you’ve only got one shot to communicate your message and stand out, it’s never been more critical to have clear and concise communication across your organization.

\"\"

According to a recent study, 93% of business leaders acknowledge that effective communication is the backbone of their business. But nearly three in four business leaders say their teams struggled with communicating effectively over the last year. And here’s the real kicker: Poor communication can cost your organization $12,000+ per employee every year.1

Of course, those numbers don’t convey how poor communication manifests itself in everyday business interactions. Think about all the ineffective meetings that lead to yet another meeting to gain clarity. Consider all the poorly communicated initiatives that don’t achieve results. Or how about the lack of collaboration that stifles innovation, and the snooze-worthy decks that miss the chance to influence and require upper management’s time to rework? And finally, the exhaustive data reports that lack any contextualization or BIG Idea and leave decision-makers decoding, “What do you want me to know or do?”

We could go on and on, but you get the picture.

Over time, those deficiencies add up, and they all point to one root issue—a lack of effective communication skills. The question, then, is how do we address this skills gap… and what’s the best way to integrate the learned skills into your organization?

We believe storytelling is the key to transforming people into strategic communicators and influencing organizational change.

It’s time to empower your people with the skills to help progress strategic priorities, deliver on long-term value, and optimize business impact. Let’s dig into just some of the ways you can use storytelling to elevate your business…

  1. Uplevel the conversation
    Any executive will tell you it’s never been more critical to strategically influence the conversation. No longer is this a skill reserved for senior management; it’s a skill everyone needs. Storytelling will make employees more dynamic communicators, while also making them more thoughtful listeners and more confident problem solvers—critical skills that can be applied to any role. And because storytelling gets everyone communicating in the same way, conversations are more productive across departments, as well as up and down the chain of command.
  2. Supercharge data literacy and analytics
    Every day, data drives business-critical decisions. But when presented poorly, data can create confusion, leading people to misinterpret your message and stall decision-making. Knowing how to extract and interpret data is only one side of the coin; the other side is having the data literacy and analytics skills to transform data into insights. Storytelling empowers anyone who works with data with the skills to curate and present data insights that advance the story, which will help stakeholders understand complex concepts, remember key information, and ultimately make informed decisions.
  3. Communicate change
    Despite the ongoing nature of change in business, change management is still an area where many organizations struggle. 70% of change communications and programs fail to achieve their goals, according to McKinsey.2 Getting employee buy-in and engagement is critical to any successful transformation effort. Storytelling is your secret change agent. It humanizes the “why, what, how” to your audience, which makes employees feel like they are a part of something, rather than just receiving an impersonal business update.
  4. Boost executive presence
    Contrary to what many people think, executive presence is not about personality, it’s about skill. Anybody can learn how to have executive presence. The key is to establish connection, and storytelling gives you the chops to connect authentically and with more authority. Displaying confidence, showing mastery of material, and flexing your narrative in real-time to meet the diverse needs of your audience is the ultimate showstopper. Who wouldn’t want that for their team?
  5. Align cross-functional teams
    Silos don’t just slow teams down. They create blind spots, stall decisions, and erode trust across the business. Research shows that 81% of leaders believe collaboration is critical to their company’s success.3 Using a common language like storytelling is a sure-fire way to break down silos, build up teams, and turn collaboration from friction into a multiplier. Whether holding a brainstorming session, presenting an update, or writing an email, storytelling gives teams a shared methodology for communicating ideas and getting everyone on the same page. That’s how fragmented teams become a unified force.
  6.  Make productivity your edge
    In a “no hire, no fire” economy, companies can’t grow headcount to drive results. They need to do more with the talent they already have. This means investing in skills that improve output per employee and contribute to organizational success. Communication skills transform how your people plan, influence, and execute. Teams that communicate with clarity move faster, waste less, and deliver more without adding resources. That’s not a soft skill. That’s a business strategy.
  7. Upskill for the AI era
    AI upskilling has moved from curiosity to business priority. The experimentation phase is over and organizations are going all in. But technology alone doesn’t drive results; people do. The teams that thrive will have both the AI fluency and the storytelling skills to put it to work. AI can accelerate the work, but storytelling is what makes it land. The most successful businesses will be the ones that keep humans in the driver’s seat.

Can business storytelling really accomplish all of this? The answer is yes (and more!). Stories help people understand ideas through the power of emotion—giving your audience a reason to care about anything you say, send, deliver, or present. Whether you’re looking to align your teams, drive change initiatives, or demonstrate value, business storytelling might be the secret to your success.


References:
1Grammarly/The Harris Poll, 2023 The State of Business Communication
2McKinsey & Company, Changing Change Management
3Harvard Business Review, How Collaboration Wins
4Microsoft, Hybrid Work is Just Work. Are We Doing It Wrong?

", "content_plain": "We get it… your team needs to demonstrate value, influence decision-making, and drive business forward. But the reality is, everyone is moving fast, has lots of ideas and data to communicate, and needs to adapt to a variety of customer and stakeholder needs—all with limited time and resources. When you’ve only got one shot to communicate your message and stand out, it’s never been more critical to have clear and concise communication across your organization. According to a recent study, 93% of business leaders acknowledge that effective communication is the backbone of their business. But nearly three in four business leaders say their teams struggled with communicating effectively over the last year. And here’s the real kicker: Poor communication can cost your organization $12,000+ per employee every year.1 Of course, those numbers don’t convey how poor communication manifests itself in everyday business interactions. Think about all the ineffective meetings that lead to yet another meeting to gain clarity. Consider all the poorly communicated initiatives that don’t achieve results. Or how about the lack of collaboration that stifles innovation, and the snooze-worthy decks that miss the chance to influence and require upper management’s time to rework? And finally, the exhaustive data reports that lack any contextualization or BIG Idea and leave decision-makers decoding, “What do you want me to know or do?” We could go on and on, but you get the picture. Over time, those deficiencies add up, and they all point to one root issue—a lack of effective communication skills. The question, then, is how do we address this skills gap… and what’s the best way to integrate the learned skills into your organization? We believe storytelling is the key to transforming people into strategic communicators and influencing organizational change. It’s time to empower your people with the skills to help progress strategic priorities, deliver on long-term value, and optimize business impact. Let’s dig into just some of the ways you can use storytelling to elevate your business… Uplevel the conversation Any executive will tell you it’s never been more critical to strategically influence the conversation. No longer is this a skill reserved for senior management; it’s a skill everyone needs. Storytelling will make employees more dynamic communicators, while also making them more thoughtful listeners and more confident problem solvers—critical skills that can be applied to any role. And because storytelling gets everyone communicating in the same way, conversations are more productive across departments, as well as up and down the chain of command. Supercharge data literacy and analytics Every day, data drives business-critical decisions. But when presented poorly, data can create confusion, leading people to misinterpret your message and stall decision-making. Knowing how to extract and interpret data is only one side of the coin; the other side is having the data literacy and analytics skills to transform data into insights. Storytelling empowers anyone who works with data with the skills to curate and present data insights that advance the story, which will help stakeholders understand complex concepts, remember key information, and ultimately make informed decisions. Communicate change Despite the ongoing nature of change in business, change management is still an area where many organizations struggle. 70% of change communications and programs fail to achieve their goals, according to McKinsey.2 Getting employee buy-in and engagement is critical to any successful transformation effort. Storytelling is your secret change agent. It humanizes the “why, what, how” to your audience, which makes employees feel like they are a part of something, rather than just receiving an impersonal business update. Boost executive presence Contrary to what many people think, executive presence is not about personality, it’s about skill. Anybody can learn how to have executive presence. The key is to establish connection, and storytelling gives you the chops to connect authentically and with more authority. Displaying confidence, showing mastery of material, and flexing your narrative in real-time to meet the diverse needs of your audience is the ultimate showstopper. Who wouldn’t want that for their team? Align cross-functional teams Silos don’t just slow teams down. They create blind spots, stall decisions, and erode trust across the business. Research shows that 81% of leaders believe collaboration is critical to their company’s success.3 Using a common language like storytelling is a sure-fire way to break down silos, build up teams, and turn collaboration from friction into a multiplier. Whether holding a brainstorming session, presenting an update, or writing an email, storytelling gives teams a shared methodology for communicating ideas and getting everyone on the same page. That’s how fragmented teams become a unified force. Make productivity your edge In a “no hire, no fire” economy, companies can’t grow headcount to drive results. They need to do more with the talent they already have. This means investing in skills that improve output per employee and contribute to organizational success. Communication skills transform how your people plan, influence, and execute. Teams that communicate with clarity move faster, waste less, and deliver more without adding resources. That’s not a soft skill. That’s a business strategy. Upskill for the AI era AI upskilling has moved from curiosity to business priority. The experimentation phase is over and organizations are going all in. But technology alone doesn’t drive results; people do. The teams that thrive will have both the AI fluency and the storytelling skills to put it to work. AI can accelerate the work, but storytelling is what makes it land. The most successful businesses will be the ones that keep humans in the driver’s seat. Can business storytelling really accomplish all of this? The answer is yes (and more!). Stories help people understand ideas through the power of emotion—giving your audience a reason to care about anything you say, send, deliver, or present. Whether you’re looking to align your teams, drive change initiatives, or demonstrate value, business storytelling might be the secret to your success. References: 1Grammarly/The Harris Poll, 2023 The State of Business Communication 2McKinsey & Company, Changing Change Management 3Harvard Business Review, How Collaboration Wins 4Microsoft, Hybrid Work is Just Work. Are We Doing It Wrong?", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/iStock-495193237_750-1-scaled.jpg", "modified": "2026-04-24T10:33:40-05:00" }, { "id": 10104, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/csvs-handouts/", "title": "Protected: Crafting Strategic Visual Stories Participant Resources", "h1": "Your storytelling toolkit", "summary": "There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.", "content": "
\"\"

Your storytelling toolkit

Conceptual Guide – A follow-along companion booklet designed to help reinforce skills learned in class. Conceptual Guide

Visual Story Planner™ – A one-page story planning framework for organizing your ideas and data into a meaningful narrative (think “story on a page”). Link to PDF Planner | Link to Google Slides Planner

Real Story Planners – Revisit the stories of Bastion Mobile, Quantum Airlines, and Harmony Health for inspiration as you craft your own story headlines in your planner. Bastion Mobile | Quantum Airlines | Harmony Health

StoryStarters™ – Language prompts to jumpstart your story development (think of it as “Mad Libs” for business storytelling). StoryStarters

StoryCoach™ – A one-page coaching tool to ensure your story headlines are working hard for you. StoryCoach

\"\"

Bonus videos

\"\"

If you want to deepen your knowledge and skills, check out the bonus videos available to you as part of this workshop. You’ll learn how to flex your story for the following scenarios: you’re told “only 3 to 5 slides,” you have to tell a story on 1-page, or your audience is diverse with different roles and needs.

(password: StoryFirst)

Showcase your certification

Want to tout your accomplishment and let people know about your new skills in business storytelling? Click here to learn how to add a workshop certification badge to your LinkedIn profile.

\"\"

Continue the learnings

\"\"

Ready to take your knowledge to the next level? Stay up to date on the latest trends and best practices by following us on social, reading our blog, or visiting the TPC Resource Center for articles, videos, checklists, and other content that will help you — and your team — become strategic, influential communicators!

", "content_plain": "Your storytelling toolkit Conceptual Guide – A follow-along companion booklet designed to help reinforce skills learned in class. Conceptual Guide Visual Story Planner™ – A one-page story planning framework for organizing your ideas and data into a meaningful narrative (think “story on a page”). Link to PDF Planner | Link to Google Slides Planner Real Story Planners – Revisit the stories of Bastion Mobile, Quantum Airlines, and Harmony Health for inspiration as you craft your own story headlines in your planner. Bastion Mobile | Quantum Airlines | Harmony Health StoryStarters™ – Language prompts to jumpstart your story development (think of it as “Mad Libs” for business storytelling). StoryStarters StoryCoach™ – A one-page coaching tool to ensure your story headlines are working hard for you. StoryCoach Bonus videos If you want to deepen your knowledge and skills, check out the bonus videos available to you as part of this workshop. You’ll learn how to flex your story for the following scenarios: you’re told “only 3 to 5 slides,” you have to tell a story on 1-page, or your audience is diverse with different roles and needs. (password: StoryFirst) Showcase your certification Want to tout your accomplishment and let people know about your new skills in business storytelling? Click here to learn how to add a workshop certification badge to your LinkedIn profile. Continue the learnings Ready to take your knowledge to the next level? Stay up to date on the latest trends and best practices by following us on social, reading our blog, or visiting the TPC Resource Center for articles, videos, checklists, and other content that will help you — and your team — become strategic, influential communicators!", "image": false, "modified": "2024-09-23T12:33:07-05:00" }, { "id": 10000, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/for-individuals/", "title": "For Individuals", "h1": "Everyday Business Storytelling", "summary": "", "content": "

You’ve got one shot to sell your ideas

But you’re busy. And like many smart, talented businesspeople, you often struggle to clearly and succinctly communicate ideas when strapped for time. In today’s data-obsessed, technical world, you’re constantly balancing how to narrow down the metrics and share only the most critical insights. This course helps you bring order to the chaos.

Grounded in theory, but smothered in practicality

Get armed with a simple, repeatable storytelling framework—backed by science—that will help you elevate your conversations, influence decisions, and ensure your audience knows exactly what you want them to know and do with the information. Use it to kick-start business communications that save you time, capture your audience’s attention, and ensure your ideas are actionable.

Everyday Business Storytelling

On-demand course

Start Date: Anytime (180-day access from date of purchase)

Time: 3-5 hours

Price: $749 USD

Enroll

GOT QUESTIONS? CLICK HERE

Course outcomes

Up-level your communications

Learn to apply a simple—yet powerful—story framework to anything you say, send, deliver or present

Learn to flex your story

Discover strategies—that you won’t find anywhere else—for tackling scenarios like how to flex your story when your meeting is cut short, how to build and deliver content for audiences with competing interests, or how to build your story when someone asks for “just 3-5 slides”.

Reclaim your time

Get back hours of your day by leveraging a repeatable story framework that helps you craft your story right the first time and avoid rounds of edits

Download Syllabus

This course is for you if…

You churn out presentations, one-pagers, emails, virtual meetings (or any type of business communication) that need to influence decisions and outcomes. Storytelling will help you no matter your role, level, or industry. Whether you’re presenting alone or as part of a team, this course will teach you how to instinctively elevate any conversation and connect authentically with your audience.

Everyday Business Storytelling included with workshop

Continue learning with your copy of our new book, Everyday Business Storytelling, which will help keep your storytelling skills fresh and extend the value of this course indefinitely. You’ll get more tip, strategies, case studies, and so much more packaged up in a scannable, highly visual 288-page book.

Enroll

Trusted by top brands

\"marriott\"
\"\"
\"\"
\"meta\"
\"nestle\"
\"t-mobile\"
\"\"
\"\"
\"google\"
\"columbia\"
\"microsoft\"
\"Accenture\"
\"at&t\"
\"MetLife\"
\"ebay\"
\"boston-scientific\"
\"iata\"
\"jj\"
\"lego\"
\"\"
\"The
\"medtronic\"
\"lego\"
\"global
\"colgate\"

“When you wrap your data and visuals in a well-crafted story, you’ll be unstoppable”

Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus

Co-founders of The Presentation Company
Co-authors of Everyday Business Storytelling

Enroll

FAQ

What should I expect after enrolling?

After you enroll expect to receive three emails: one containing your order confirmation, one containing a redemption code for your Everyday Business Storytelling e-book, and a welcome email to the self-paced on-demand course. To ensure messages are received, add these email addresses to your safe senders list:

everydaybusinessstorytelling@presentation-company.com
help@presentation-company.com
noreply-ebs-open-enrollment@novoed.com

How do I best prepare for the course?

Think of a topic for an upcoming (or past) presentation or communication (email, one-pager, blog, or slides). You will have an opportunity to work or re-work it, using a storytelling framework. Note: You do not need a presentation deck! A topic for your story will work.

Do I need to read the book Everyday Business Storytelling before the course begins?

It’s your choice! You’re welcome to read the book before the course begins to get a preview of the concepts, during the course as reference material, or after the course as reinforcement. Think of it as bonus material—not a prerequisite!

Does my time zone matter?

This course is 100% online and self-paced, so you can take it from any time zone, anywhere in the world.

What are the technical requirements for accessing my course?

This course is hosted on our learning platform provider, NovoEd, whose technical requirements can be found here. NovoEd works well on any modern browser, including the latest versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Microsoft Internet Explorer. NovoEd does not have any specific computer or OS requirements and is fully compatible and responsive with mobile devices.

How do I earn a Certificate of Completion for my course?

To earn your Certificate of Completion, you must earn 700 points by completing assignments, knowledge checks, quizzes, and other activities by the final date of your course. Certificates will be automatically awarded upon successful completion of the course and will appear on your course dashboard.

What if I'd like to enroll my team?

The Presentation Company offers an enterprise-level, cohort experience of this course. Email us at inquiries@presentation-company.com to learn more.

What is the Refund Policy?

No refund will be issued to a customer after 7 days from the date of purchase or if a customer has activated the course link. A 20% restocking fee will be charged on all refund requests within 7 days of the purchase date and prior to activation of the course link. The restocking fee will be subtracted from the refund amount.

Testimonials

This presentation framework helped me give an presentation at my National Sales meeting. I was on stage and wasn’t sure how I was going to do. I opened my presentation with a question for the first time and it went off quite well. I noticed when you’re storytelling the actual presentation is smoother. It’s easy to remember key points and the transition to the next slides are easier.

“This was a one-of-a-kind experience —the course is jam-packed with useful information, but not monotonous due to the variety of videos, quizzes, prompts, assignments, and resources.”

“Wish I’d had this in my business tool kit years ago!

Very easy to follow, simple to understand and practice along the way . I especially loved that I could easily do this course on the go with my phone!”

“This course is easy to understand, effective, and overall a great experience. The visuals throughout are beautifully done and really help reinforce the concepts.”

“Ingenious approach to presentation development—or any kind of communication (emails, memos, etc.)”

“The way the course was designed and content was delivered is best in class“

Enroll now in Everyday Business Storytelling

On-demand course

Get armed with a simple, repeatable storytelling framework that will help you save time, elevate your conversations, and influence decisions.

", "content_plain": "You’ve got one shot to sell your ideas But you’re busy. And like many smart, talented businesspeople, you often struggle to clearly and succinctly communicate ideas when strapped for time. In today’s data-obsessed, technical world, you’re constantly balancing how to narrow down the metrics and share only the most critical insights. This course helps you bring order to the chaos. Grounded in theory, but smothered in practicality Get armed with a simple, repeatable storytelling framework—backed by science—that will help you elevate your conversations, influence decisions, and ensure your audience knows exactly what you want them to know and do with the information. Use it to kick-start business communications that save you time, capture your audience’s attention, and ensure your ideas are actionable. Everyday Business Storytelling On-demand course Start Date: Anytime (180-day access from date of purchase) Time: 3-5 hours Price: $749 USD Enroll GOT QUESTIONS? CLICK HERE Course outcomes Up-level your communications Learn to apply a simple—yet powerful—story framework to anything you say, send, deliver or present Learn to flex your story Discover strategies—that you won’t find anywhere else—for tackling scenarios like how to flex your story when your meeting is cut short, how to build and deliver content for audiences with competing interests, or how to build your story when someone asks for “just 3-5 slides”. Reclaim your time Get back hours of your day by leveraging a repeatable story framework that helps you craft your story right the first time and avoid rounds of edits Download Syllabus This course is for you if… You churn out presentations, one-pagers, emails, virtual meetings (or any type of business communication) that need to influence decisions and outcomes. Storytelling will help you no matter your role, level, or industry. Whether you’re presenting alone or as part of a team, this course will teach you how to instinctively elevate any conversation and connect authentically with your audience. Everyday Business Storytelling included with workshop Continue learning with your copy of our new book, Everyday Business Storytelling, which will help keep your storytelling skills fresh and extend the value of this course indefinitely. You’ll get more tip, strategies, case studies, and so much more packaged up in a scannable, highly visual 288-page book. Enroll Trusted by top brands “When you wrap your data and visuals in a well-crafted story, you’ll be unstoppable” Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus Co-founders of The Presentation Company Co-authors of Everyday Business Storytelling Enroll FAQ What should I expect after enrolling? After you enroll expect to receive three emails: one containing your order confirmation, one containing a redemption code for your Everyday Business Storytelling e-book, and a welcome email to the self-paced on-demand course. To ensure messages are received, add these email addresses to your safe senders list: everydaybusinessstorytelling@presentation-company.com help@presentation-company.com noreply-ebs-open-enrollment@novoed.com How do I best prepare for the course? Think of a topic for an upcoming (or past) presentation or communication (email, one-pager, blog, or slides). You will have an opportunity to work or re-work it, using a storytelling framework. Note: You do not need a presentation deck! A topic for your story will work. Do I need to read the book Everyday Business Storytelling before the course begins? It’s your choice! You’re welcome to read the book before the course begins to get a preview of the concepts, during the course as reference material, or after the course as reinforcement. Think of it as bonus material—not a prerequisite! Does my time zone matter? This course is 100% online and self-paced, so you can take it from any time zone, anywhere in the world. What are the technical requirements for accessing my course? This course is hosted on our learning platform provider, NovoEd, whose technical requirements can be found here. NovoEd works well on any modern browser, including the latest versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Microsoft Internet Explorer. NovoEd does not have any specific computer or OS requirements and is fully compatible and responsive with mobile devices. How do I earn a Certificate of Completion for my course? To earn your Certificate of Completion, you must earn 700 points by completing assignments, knowledge checks, quizzes, and other activities by the final date of your course. Certificates will be automatically awarded upon successful completion of the course and will appear on your course dashboard. What if I'd like to enroll my team? The Presentation Company offers an enterprise-level, cohort experience of this course. Email us at inquiries@presentation-company.com to learn more. What is the Refund Policy? No refund will be issued to a customer after 7 days from the date of purchase or if a customer has activated the course link. A 20% restocking fee will be charged on all refund requests within 7 days of the purchase date and prior to activation of the course link. The restocking fee will be subtracted from the refund amount. Testimonials This presentation framework helped me give an presentation at my National Sales meeting. I was on stage and wasn’t sure how I was going to do. I opened my presentation with a question for the first time and it went off quite well. I noticed when you’re storytelling the actual presentation is smoother. It’s easy to remember key points and the transition to the next slides are easier. “This was a one-of-a-kind experience —the course is jam-packed with useful information, but not monotonous due to the variety of videos, quizzes, prompts, assignments, and resources.” “Wish I’d had this in my business tool kit years ago! Very easy to follow, simple to understand and practice along the way . I especially loved that I could easily do this course on the go with my phone!” “This course is easy to understand, effective, and overall a great experience. The visuals throughout are beautifully done and really help reinforce the concepts.” “Ingenious approach to presentation development—or any kind of communication (emails, memos, etc.)” “The way the course was designed and content was delivered is best in class“ Enroll now in Everyday Business Storytelling On-demand course Get armed with a simple, repeatable storytelling framework that will help you save time, elevate your conversations, and influence decisions. Start Date: Anytime (180-day access from date of purchase) Time: 3-5 hours Price: $749 USD", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/placeholder-blue-800x600px.png", "modified": "2026-04-22T16:31:54-05:00" }, { "id": 9921, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/storytelling-with-data-webinar-featuring-kraft-heinz/", "title": "A second chance: Storytelling with Data, featuring Kraft Heinz", "h1": "A second chance: Storytelling with Data, featuring Kraft Heinz", "summary": "Back by popular demand! It was a packed house at the 2023 Category Management Association/Shopper Insights Management Association conference for one big reason: the top-rated session featuring The Presentation Company and our client partner, Kraft Heinz! Miss the event? Here’s your chance to see Janine Kurnoff, TPC’s Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Jessica Keenan, Associate […]", "content": "

Back by popular demand! It was a packed house at the 2023 Category Management Association/Shopper Insights Management Association conference for one big reason: the top-rated session featuring The Presentation Company and our client partner, Kraft Heinz!

Miss the event? Here’s your chance to see Janine Kurnoff, TPC’s Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Jessica Keenan, Associate Director, Category Leadership, and Hasan Issa, Category Leadership Advisory, in action discussing the topic of Storytelling with Data in the CPG space. We’re taking this event virtual and will present it as a LIVE webinar with CMA – on Wednesday, June 7, at 9 AM PT/12 PM ET. Click here to reserve your spot!

(The on-demand version of this webinar can be accessed here.)

Together, Janine, Jessica, and Hasan will dive deep into the consumer packaged goods (CPG) world and uncover opportunities to apply storytelling to your most critical customer conversations. We’ll address how to uplevel the dialogue with retailers and influence buyers with a more consultative mindset. And, you’ll learn how to navigate presenting large volumes of complex data and weave it into a story that brings category value and recommendations to your audience.

Jessica and Hasan will also share real-world examples of Kraft Heinz’s storytelling successes, including some eye-opening before and after transformations that will look all-too-familiar to anyone in category management!

Participants raved…

“It was the most impactful presentation of the week! We will be immediately incorporating storytelling for every presentation.”

 

“I loved the framework you presented and the real-life examples Jessica and Hasan used. We’re in the middle of revamping our category growth story so am excited to put the framework into practice!”

 

“The presentation was wonderful and extremely relevant to my role. I will definitely be sharing the takeaways with our team. Thank you so much!”

See firsthand how a simple, repeatable storytelling framework from The Presentation Company’s bestselling book, Everyday Business Storytelling, can help elevate conversations, influence decisions, and ensure your audience knows exactly what you want them to know and do. Plus, find out how it’s improved team collaboration, fostered better customer partnerships, and shaped the Kraft Heinz culture.

Ready to move beyond transactional conversations to ones that move your business – and the category – forward? Join us for Storytelling with Data!

Register Now

", "content_plain": "Back by popular demand! It was a packed house at the 2023 Category Management Association/Shopper Insights Management Association conference for one big reason: the top-rated session featuring The Presentation Company and our client partner, Kraft Heinz! Miss the event? Here’s your chance to see Janine Kurnoff, TPC’s Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Jessica Keenan, Associate Director, Category Leadership, and Hasan Issa, Category Leadership Advisory, in action discussing the topic of Storytelling with Data in the CPG space. We’re taking this event virtual and will present it as a LIVE webinar with CMA – on Wednesday, June 7, at 9 AM PT/12 PM ET. Click here to reserve your spot! (The on-demand version of this webinar can be accessed here.) Together, Janine, Jessica, and Hasan will dive deep into the consumer packaged goods (CPG) world and uncover opportunities to apply storytelling to your most critical customer conversations. We’ll address how to uplevel the dialogue with retailers and influence buyers with a more consultative mindset. And, you’ll learn how to navigate presenting large volumes of complex data and weave it into a story that brings category value and recommendations to your audience. Jessica and Hasan will also share real-world examples of Kraft Heinz’s storytelling successes, including some eye-opening before and after transformations that will look all-too-familiar to anyone in category management! Participants raved… “It was the most impactful presentation of the week! We will be immediately incorporating storytelling for every presentation.”   “I loved the framework you presented and the real-life examples Jessica and Hasan used. We’re in the middle of revamping our category growth story so am excited to put the framework into practice!”   “The presentation was wonderful and extremely relevant to my role. I will definitely be sharing the takeaways with our team. Thank you so much!” See firsthand how a simple, repeatable storytelling framework from The Presentation Company’s bestselling book, Everyday Business Storytelling, can help elevate conversations, influence decisions, and ensure your audience knows exactly what you want them to know and do. Plus, find out how it’s improved team collaboration, fostered better customer partnerships, and shaped the Kraft Heinz culture. Ready to move beyond transactional conversations to ones that move your business – and the category – forward? Join us for Storytelling with Data! Register Now", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CMA-Webinar-June-7-2023-Promo-Graphic.png", "modified": "2023-06-22T13:09:28-05:00" }, { "id": 9805, "type": "organizations", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/communications-training/communications-skills-workshops/business-storytelling-training/", "title": "Storytelling Learning Journey", "h1": "Storytelling Learning Journey", "summary": "Our Business Storytelling Workshop arms cross-functional teams with a collaborative tool and language for sharing ideas and presenting only the best solutions.", "content": "

Grounded in theory, smothered in practicality

Everyone loves a good story. But the reality is, at work, we struggle to apply storytelling to our everyday business communications. Without the skills and confidence, we resort to what we do know… we cobble together ideas and data that lack a clear, cohesive narrative and visual strategy. Ultimately, we leave our audience confused, frustrated, and (let’s face it) forced into another meeting. And worst of all? You’ve just missed an opportunity to influence decisions and drive business forward.

Here at The Presentation Company (TPC), we believe storytelling is more than just words. It’s a choreographed dance between your story, visuals, and data that anyone (no matter role or function) can benefit from. Our 3-part business storytelling training unites teams with a common language to communiate their strategy, ideas, and data with clarity. And this learning journey grounds everyone in a new mindset: Story first, visuals second.

Let's talk

Journey at a glance

Our business storytelling training curriculum is designed to flow from one workshop to the next, with skills, tools and coaching that build upon each other.

\"business

A closer look at our 3-part learning journey

The journey consists of three workshops — Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, Influencing with Visuals, and Presenting Data Visually — together giving your teams a complete storytelling skill set.

For Organizations Story strategy

Crafting Strategic Visual Stories

The Foundation: Give your team a proven framework for structuring narratives that engage, persuade, and stick. They’ll gain practical skills, increased confidence, and a clear action plan for applying business storytelling to their everyday communications.

Ideal for: Teams who need to transform ideas and data into compelling, audience-centric stories that persuade and drive action

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Visual strategy

Influencing with Visuals

Design Meets Strategy: Bad slides kill good ideas. This workshop is geared to those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals.

Ideal for: Anyone who needs to uplevel their ability to communicate ideas visually

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Data strategy

Presenting Data Visually

Data as a Differentiator: Make your data impossible to ignore by wrapping it in a story that’s easy to scan, digest, and act on. This workshop arms teams with data storytelling best practices to help communicate meaningfully with data.

Ideal for: Anyone who needs to communicate data insights with clarity, whether you’re a data expert or occasional data presenter

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›

Our model for meaningful behavior change

We believe that true transformation begins on the day of training but is fully accomplished over time. That’s why our workshop content is driven by a unique learning model built for meaningful, long-lasting behavior change. Who doesn’t want learning that’s repeatable, scalable, and immediately applicable on the job?

\"business

With our business storytelling training, you’ll learn how to

Get skills that lead to impactful organizational change

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

", "content_plain": "Grounded in theory, smothered in practicality Everyone loves a good story. But the reality is, at work, we struggle to apply storytelling to our everyday business communications. Without the skills and confidence, we resort to what we do know… we cobble together ideas and data that lack a clear, cohesive narrative and visual strategy. Ultimately, we leave our audience confused, frustrated, and (let’s face it) forced into another meeting. And worst of all? You’ve just missed an opportunity to influence decisions and drive business forward. Here at The Presentation Company (TPC), we believe storytelling is more than just words. It’s a choreographed dance between your story, visuals, and data that anyone (no matter role or function) can benefit from. Our 3-part business storytelling training unites teams with a common language to communiate their strategy, ideas, and data with clarity. And this learning journey grounds everyone in a new mindset: Story first, visuals second. Let's talk Journey at a glance Our business storytelling training curriculum is designed to flow from one workshop to the next, with skills, tools and coaching that build upon each other. A closer look at our 3-part learning journey The journey consists of three workshops — Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, Influencing with Visuals, and Presenting Data Visually — together giving your teams a complete storytelling skill set. For Organizations Story strategy Crafting Strategic Visual Stories The Foundation: Give your team a proven framework for structuring narratives that engage, persuade, and stick. They’ll gain practical skills, increased confidence, and a clear action plan for applying business storytelling to their everyday communications. Ideal for: Teams who need to transform ideas and data into compelling, audience-centric stories that persuade and drive action Learning Outcomes Apply a simple, repeatable storytelling framework to organize ideas and data strategically Craft compelling BIG Ideas that prioritize audience needs over presenter-focused content Flex stories to adapt to common scenarios: executives with limited time, high-stakes emails, strict slide constraints half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Visual strategy Influencing with Visuals Design Meets Strategy: Bad slides kill good ideas. This workshop is geared to those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals. Ideal for: Anyone who needs to uplevel their ability to communicate ideas visually Learning Outcomes Discover and apply the elements of effective visual strategy Use interactive tools to lay out the narrative and visual flow of your story Apply basic design principles to transform slides into clear visuals that inspire action half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Data strategy Presenting Data Visually Data as a Differentiator: Make your data impossible to ignore by wrapping it in a story that’s easy to scan, digest, and act on. This workshop arms teams with data storytelling best practices to help communicate meaningfully with data. Ideal for: Anyone who needs to communicate data insights with clarity, whether you’re a data expert or occasional data presenter Learning Outcomes Humanize data by identifying what your audience needs to know or do with it Transform cluttered charts and tables into concise and compelling data visualizations Use clever design techniques to elevate your data story half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › Our model for meaningful behavior change We believe that true transformation begins on the day of training but is fully accomplished over time. That’s why our workshop content is driven by a unique learning model built for meaningful, long-lasting behavior change. Who doesn’t want learning that’s repeatable, scalable, and immediately applicable on the job? With our business storytelling training, you’ll learn how to Walk in your audience’s shoes to ensure their needs are top of mind in any communication Bring clarity and meaning to complex ideas and data to cut through the noise and be heard Flex to any audience or scenario to be situationally fluent Craft your BIG Idea to help your audience understand the one thing they should know or do Cleverly use visuals to influence decision making and buy-in Boost executive presence by building authentic connections and showing mastery of material Get skills that lead to impactful organizational change Empower teams to elevate conversations and drive meaningful change Accelerate decision-making, time-to-revenue, and innovation Improve efficiency by reducing ineffective meetings and costly review cycles Create alignment and agility among teams Achieve results that tie back to corporate initiatives Want to learn more? Let’s chat.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/iStock-1443245439.webp", "modified": "2026-05-28T10:57:09-05:00" }, { "id": 6946, "type": "organizations", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/communications-training/communications-skills-workshops/communications-skills-training/", "title": "Crafting Strategic Visual Stories", "h1": "Crafting Strategic Visual Stories", "summary": "Our Business Storytelling Workshop arms cross-functional teams with a collaborative tool and language for sharing ideas and presenting only the best solutions.", "content": "

Give your teams a framework for creating persuasive business narratives

Your team is moving fast, juggling complex ideas, and presenting to diverse audiences with competing priorities. Without a clear story to anchor it all, messages get lost, stakeholders disengage, and opportunities slip through the cracks. The missing ingredient isn’t more information; it’s a clearer story.

Crafting Strategic Visual Stories is our foundational business storytelling workshop, grounded in story strategy. Give your team a simple, proven framework for building narratives that cut through the noise, align stakeholders, and move business forward.

This communication skills training arms cross-functional teams with a shared language to communicate ideas with clarity and confidence and influence the decisions that matter.

Let's talk

Through this communications skills training, teams learn how to

\"Build

Build stories that persuade

Apply a repeatable storytelling framework to transform presentations, emails, 1-pagers, and more into actionable narratives.

\"Walk

Walk in their audience’s shoes

Put the audience at the center of every story, identifying who they are and what matters to them most.

\"Craft

Craft a BIG Idea

Distill messages into a single, powerful BIG Idea that tells your audience exactly what you want them to know or do.

\"Flex

Flex for any scenario

Adapt any story to fit the constraints of the moment, from tight timelines and strict slide limits to a room full of competing agendas.

\"Boost

Boost executive presence

Demonstrate control and mastery of every story. Build the confidence to capture attention, field questions, and drive conversations forward.

Teams walk away with

A practical storytelling toolkit

From the Visual Story Planner to StoryStarters and StoryCoach, participants leave with hands-on tools they can plug into their daily workflows immediately.

A copy of Everyday Business Storytelling

Each participant receives the best-selling book written by TPC Co-founders Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus, packed with real-world examples and case studies that reinforce and extend the workshop learnings.

Training that doubles as productivity

Teams bring real work to the workshop and leave with tangible output. It’s not time away from work; it’s time spent on it.

Skills that stick, culture that shifts

This isn’t a one-and-done training. It leads to lasting behavior change, sparking a cultural shift that improves collaboration, reduces friction, and drives productivity across the organization.

A Certified Storyteller credential

Upon completion of this communication skills training, participants earn a digital badge to showcase their achievement and share it with their professional network.

\"communication

What participants say

“My team is walking out with the confidence and skills to immediately communicate with more impact.”

“This was truly a best-in-class program that can be easily applied across functions. It’s great to have a common language that we can all work from to drive consistency.”

“This is going to completely change how I write emails and approach presentations.”

Workshop details

Learning format

Enrollment size

Ideal for

The journey starts here

\"\"

Crafting Strategic Visual Stories is where our storytelling learning journey begins. As our foundational communication skills training course, it sets the stage for everything that follows. Go deeper with our visual strategy and data strategy workshops to give your teams a complete storytelling skill set.

Explore the learning journey

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

", "content_plain": "Give your teams a framework for creating persuasive business narratives Your team is moving fast, juggling complex ideas, and presenting to diverse audiences with competing priorities. Without a clear story to anchor it all, messages get lost, stakeholders disengage, and opportunities slip through the cracks. The missing ingredient isn’t more information; it’s a clearer story. Crafting Strategic Visual Stories is our foundational business storytelling workshop, grounded in story strategy. Give your team a simple, proven framework for building narratives that cut through the noise, align stakeholders, and move business forward. This communication skills training arms cross-functional teams with a shared language to communicate ideas with clarity and confidence and influence the decisions that matter. Let's talk Through this communications skills training, teams learn how to Build stories that persuade Apply a repeatable storytelling framework to transform presentations, emails, 1-pagers, and more into actionable narratives. Walk in their audience’s shoes Put the audience at the center of every story, identifying who they are and what matters to them most. Craft a BIG Idea Distill messages into a single, powerful BIG Idea that tells your audience exactly what you want them to know or do. Flex for any scenario Adapt any story to fit the constraints of the moment, from tight timelines and strict slide limits to a room full of competing agendas. Boost executive presence Demonstrate control and mastery of every story. Build the confidence to capture attention, field questions, and drive conversations forward. Teams walk away with A practical storytelling toolkit From the Visual Story Planner to StoryStarters and StoryCoach, participants leave with hands-on tools they can plug into their daily workflows immediately. A copy of Everyday Business Storytelling Each participant receives the best-selling book written by TPC Co-founders Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus, packed with real-world examples and case studies that reinforce and extend the workshop learnings. Training that doubles as productivity Teams bring real work to the workshop and leave with tangible output. It’s not time away from work; it’s time spent on it. Skills that stick, culture that shifts This isn’t a one-and-done training. It leads to lasting behavior change, sparking a cultural shift that improves collaboration, reduces friction, and drives productivity across the organization. A Certified Storyteller credential Upon completion of this communication skills training, participants earn a digital badge to showcase their achievement and share it with their professional network. What participants say “My team is walking out with the confidence and skills to immediately communicate with more impact.” “This was truly a best-in-class program that can be easily applied across functions. It’s great to have a common language that we can all work from to drive consistency.” “This is going to completely change how I write emails and approach presentations.” Workshop details Learning format In-person (full-day or half-day) Virtual, instructor-led (three 2.5-hr modules, three days) On-demand (3-5 hours) Enrollment size 15-20 participants per workshop Ideal for Teams who need to transform ideas and data into compelling, audience-centric stories that persuade and drive action The journey starts here Crafting Strategic Visual Stories is where our storytelling learning journey begins. As our foundational communication skills training course, it sets the stage for everything that follows. Go deeper with our visual strategy and data strategy workshops to give your teams a complete storytelling skill set. Explore the learning journey Want to learn more? Let’s chat.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Kitta-bodmer-photography-portland-commercial491of893-scaled.webp", "modified": "2026-05-28T10:57:45-05:00" }, { "id": 7015, "type": "organizations", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/communications-training/communications-skills-workshops/visual-storytelling-training/", "title": "Influencing with Visuals", "h1": "Influencing with Visuals", "summary": "Build better presentations. Learn more about our Visual Messaging Workshop that teaches teams how to organize ideas into memorable, visual messages.", "content": "

Give your teams the visual strategy behind every great story

Your teams have the ideas and the data. But too often, the critical connection between story and visuals gets lost in translation. Visuals are key to ensuring insights are understood, remembered, and acted on, yet presentations get jammed with text, messages turn vague or confusing, and data hits like an avalanche. One unclear presentation is all it takes to lose a stakeholder’s attention and your team’s one shot at being heard.

Influencing with Visuals arms teams with a practical visual story strategy built on a story first, visuals second mindset. It makes the critical connection between story, visuals, and data in service of what the audience needs most. Teams learn to net out complex ideas, land messages with clarity and brevity, and choose visuals that advance the story rather than derail or distract.

This visual storytelling training builds upon our foundational workshop, Crafting Strategic Visual Stories. It’s designed for teams who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals. Give your teams the skills to transform storytelling fundamentals into visual storytelling mastery.

Let's talk

Through this visual storytelling training, teams learn how to

\"Build

Build a tailored visual story strategy

Develop a visual approach that accounts for the audience’s unique characteristics, how they think, and what they need to see to ensure every visual choice is intentional.

\"Map

Map the narrative and visual flow

Lay out how story and visuals work together before a single slide gets built, saving time and getting everyone on the same page quickly.

\"Pressure

Pressure test every story

Use guided coaching prompts to ensure headlines and visuals are working hard before they reach key stakeholders.

\"Maximize

Maximize visual impact

Apply basic design principles to transform text-heavy or data-dense slides into clear, compelling visuals that inspire action.

\"Jumpstart

Jumpstart design thinking

Draw on real-world examples and visual inspiration to make creative, purposeful design decisions with confidence.

Teams walk away with

\"visual

A robust visual storytelling toolkit

From the Visual StoryBuilder™ to StoryCoach™ and StoryCheck™, participants leave with hands-on tools they can plug into their daily workflows immediately.

The Visual Story Library

A suite of 100+ beautifully designed slides that guides teams through storytelling signposts and provides pro-tips, inspiration, and real-world coaching examples to jumpstart design thinking.

Training that doubles as productivity

Participants bring a completed Visual Story Planner™ or an existing presentation to build their visual strategy during the workshop. It’s not time away from work; it’s time spent on it.

A story first, visuals second mindset

A lasting shift in how teams approach every communication. When story leads, visuals follow and everything becomes clearer, more intentional, and more effective.

A Certified Visual Communicator credential

Upon completion of this visual storytelling training, participants earn a digital badge to showcase their achievement and share it with their professional network.

What participants say

“This training was incredible. Never have I taken a course where I could IMMEDIATELY put what I learned to use. Amazing job. The Visual Story Library alone is worth its weight in gold!”

“What makes this course different are the tools. The Visual StoryBuilder™ and the Visual Story Library are game-changing! I feel empowered to go back and work on my presentations.”

“This workshop, with all the tools and coaching, can make you a more effective communicator. If you want to be memorable and up your executive presence, you need to take this!”

Workshop details

Learning format

Enrollment size

Ideal for

The journey continues here

\"learning-journey\"

Influencing with Visuals is the second step in TPC’s storytelling learning journey. Our story strategy workshop, Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, is a prerequisite, so if your team hasn’t experienced it yet, that’s the place to start.

Explore the full learning journey

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

", "content_plain": "Give your teams the visual strategy behind every great story Your teams have the ideas and the data. But too often, the critical connection between story and visuals gets lost in translation. Visuals are key to ensuring insights are understood, remembered, and acted on, yet presentations get jammed with text, messages turn vague or confusing, and data hits like an avalanche. One unclear presentation is all it takes to lose a stakeholder’s attention and your team’s one shot at being heard. Influencing with Visuals arms teams with a practical visual story strategy built on a story first, visuals second mindset. It makes the critical connection between story, visuals, and data in service of what the audience needs most. Teams learn to net out complex ideas, land messages with clarity and brevity, and choose visuals that advance the story rather than derail or distract. This visual storytelling training builds upon our foundational workshop, Crafting Strategic Visual Stories. It’s designed for teams who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals. Give your teams the skills to transform storytelling fundamentals into visual storytelling mastery. Let's talk Through this visual storytelling training, teams learn how to Build a tailored visual story strategy Develop a visual approach that accounts for the audience’s unique characteristics, how they think, and what they need to see to ensure every visual choice is intentional. Map the narrative and visual flow Lay out how story and visuals work together before a single slide gets built, saving time and getting everyone on the same page quickly. Pressure test every story Use guided coaching prompts to ensure headlines and visuals are working hard before they reach key stakeholders. Maximize visual impact Apply basic design principles to transform text-heavy or data-dense slides into clear, compelling visuals that inspire action. Jumpstart design thinking Draw on real-world examples and visual inspiration to make creative, purposeful design decisions with confidence. Teams walk away with A robust visual storytelling toolkit From the Visual StoryBuilder™ to StoryCoach™ and StoryCheck™, participants leave with hands-on tools they can plug into their daily workflows immediately. The Visual Story Library A suite of 100+ beautifully designed slides that guides teams through storytelling signposts and provides pro-tips, inspiration, and real-world coaching examples to jumpstart design thinking. Training that doubles as productivity Participants bring a completed Visual Story Planner™ or an existing presentation to build their visual strategy during the workshop. It’s not time away from work; it’s time spent on it. A story first, visuals second mindset A lasting shift in how teams approach every communication. When story leads, visuals follow and everything becomes clearer, more intentional, and more effective. A Certified Visual Communicator credential Upon completion of this visual storytelling training, participants earn a digital badge to showcase their achievement and share it with their professional network. What participants say “This training was incredible. Never have I taken a course where I could IMMEDIATELY put what I learned to use. Amazing job. The Visual Story Library alone is worth its weight in gold!” “What makes this course different are the tools. The Visual StoryBuilder™ and the Visual Story Library are game-changing! I feel empowered to go back and work on my presentations.” “This workshop, with all the tools and coaching, can make you a more effective communicator. If you want to be memorable and up your executive presence, you need to take this!” Workshop details Learning format In-person (full day: 8 hours) Virtual, instructor-led (three 2.5-hr modules, three days) On-demand (3-5 hours) Enrollment size 15-20 participants per workshop Ideal for Anyone who needs the skills and confidence to ensure every visual is chosen purposefully to earn its place in the story The journey continues here Influencing with Visuals is the second step in TPC’s storytelling learning journey. Our story strategy workshop, Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, is a prerequisite, so if your team hasn’t experienced it yet, that’s the place to start. Explore the full learning journey Want to learn more? Let’s chat.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/visual-storytelling-training.webp", "modified": "2026-05-28T10:59:03-05:00" }, { "id": 9771, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/about/why-tpc/", "title": "Why TPC", "h1": "Why TPC", "summary": "", "content": "

Why The Presentation Company?

For over 20 years, The Presentation Company has designed and delivered award-winning, best-in-class storytelling training that helps business professionals bring clarity and meaning to their ideas and influence decisions.

\"presentation

Here’s what sets us apart

How do we do it? The Presentation Company empowers teams to:

Learn better

We don’t believe in a “one and done” experience. Our programs keep learners engaged long after training ends, with accountability activities, reinforcement tools, and bonus resources. Whether learning in-person, virtually, or on-demand, our courses are designed to fully engage learners and drive real behavior change. The skills stick, and the impact compounds. Teams leave with a shared language and framework that builds a culture of storytelling across your entire organization.

Learn from the best\"\"

Our master facilitators aren’t just great trainers, they’re seasoned business professionals who’ve worked across industries and functions. Every instructor goes through a rigorous onboarding process unique to each modality, ensuring they meet the highest standards for corporate instruction. They understand what it takes to engage cross-functional teams, navigate cultural nuances, and create an environment where every participant feels confident sharing their ideas. This combination of real-world experience and instructional excellence is what sets our facilitators apart.

Learn for a lifetime with The Presentation Company

We believe our training is just the start when it comes to mastering the art of business storytelling. Our programs are designed to create lasting behavior change, not a one-time skill boost. Participants walk away with critical, lifelong skills they can apply to their work throughout their careers. The goal isn’t just to upskill individuals. It’s to embed great communication into the DNA of your organization.

Our promise

Learn concepts:

Our simple and easy-to-use storytelling framework is a proven way to craft business stories quickly and efficiently

Get hands-on with tools:

Interactive and collaborative tools are introduced throughout our learning journey to jumpstart development and reinforce learnings beyond the day of training

Apply concepts to real work:

We go beyond theory and ask participants to bring their real work—presentations, emails, one-pagers—to transform during training

Give and get coaching:

Our learning journey is filled with opportunities to collaborate, mentor, and build confidence through expert and peer-to-peer coaching

Accelerate with AI

Purpose-built AI prompts jumpstart story development and visual ideation, while ensuring human thinking shapes the final narrative

Flexible delivery options:

We offer training delivered the way you want it; our workshops are available in-person, virtual, or on-demand

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

", "content_plain": "Why The Presentation Company? For over 20 years, The Presentation Company has designed and delivered award-winning, best-in-class storytelling training that helps business professionals bring clarity and meaning to their ideas and influence decisions. Here’s what sets us apart How do we do it? The Presentation Company empowers teams to: Learn better We don’t believe in a “one and done” experience. Our programs keep learners engaged long after training ends, with accountability activities, reinforcement tools, and bonus resources. Whether learning in-person, virtually, or on-demand, our courses are designed to fully engage learners and drive real behavior change. The skills stick, and the impact compounds. Teams leave with a shared language and framework that builds a culture of storytelling across your entire organization. Learn from the best Our master facilitators aren’t just great trainers, they’re seasoned business professionals who’ve worked across industries and functions. Every instructor goes through a rigorous onboarding process unique to each modality, ensuring they meet the highest standards for corporate instruction. They understand what it takes to engage cross-functional teams, navigate cultural nuances, and create an environment where every participant feels confident sharing their ideas. This combination of real-world experience and instructional excellence is what sets our facilitators apart. Learn for a lifetime with The Presentation Company We believe our training is just the start when it comes to mastering the art of business storytelling. Our programs are designed to create lasting behavior change, not a one-time skill boost. Participants walk away with critical, lifelong skills they can apply to their work throughout their careers. The goal isn’t just to upskill individuals. It’s to embed great communication into the DNA of your organization. Our promise Learn concepts: Our simple and easy-to-use storytelling framework is a proven way to craft business stories quickly and efficiently Get hands-on with tools: Interactive and collaborative tools are introduced throughout our learning journey to jumpstart development and reinforce learnings beyond the day of training Apply concepts to real work: We go beyond theory and ask participants to bring their real work—presentations, emails, one-pagers—to transform during training Give and get coaching: Our learning journey is filled with opportunities to collaborate, mentor, and build confidence through expert and peer-to-peer coaching Accelerate with AI Purpose-built AI prompts jumpstart story development and visual ideation, while ensuring human thinking shapes the final narrative Flexible delivery options: We offer training delivered the way you want it; our workshops are available in-person, virtual, or on-demand Want to learn more? Let’s chat.", "image": false, "modified": "2026-05-27T21:18:50-05:00" }, { "id": 9761, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/tpc-programs-for-medtronic/", "title": "Protected: TPC Programs for Medtronic", "h1": "Protected: TPC Programs for Medtronic", "summary": "There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.", "content": "

The Presentation Company invites you to attend an exclusive, on-demand business storytelling course specifically for Medtronic. Telling a clear, engaging story is more critical than ever… especially if you’re remote. Whether you are working on a project update, proposal, or the ever-intimidating executive briefing, you need a roadmap to guide you.

Crafting Strategic Visual Stories introduces the Visual Story Planner™, a simple framework for turning your data, insights, and recommendations into compelling, audience-centric business stories. This course arms you with a collaborative tool and a common language for sharing ideas and presenting only the best solutions.

Watch this video to learn more

Interested in attending this on-demand learning journey? Here’s what you can expect:

Details

10-day active learning journey (in a cohort with a Learning Community Manager) + 80 days of self-guided reinforcement

Time Commitment: Set aside 3 - 5 hours over 10 days to complete the active learning journey portion to receive your certification.

\"\"
\"\"

Expectations

Space is limited so please register up to 7 days prior to the course start date to secure your spot.

*Note: Refunds or exchanges will not be granted for this digital course.

", "content_plain": "The Presentation Company invites you to attend an exclusive, on-demand business storytelling course specifically for Medtronic. Telling a clear, engaging story is more critical than ever… especially if you’re remote. Whether you are working on a project update, proposal, or the ever-intimidating executive briefing, you need a roadmap to guide you. Crafting Strategic Visual Stories introduces the Visual Story Planner™, a simple framework for turning your data, insights, and recommendations into compelling, audience-centric business stories. This course arms you with a collaborative tool and a common language for sharing ideas and presenting only the best solutions. Watch this video to learn more Interested in attending this on-demand learning journey? Here’s what you can expect: A practical storytelling approach you can apply to any type of communication: from presentations, emails, to one-pagers A gamified, collaborative on-demand experience with short videos, case studies and assignments to bring concepts to life Strategies for “flexing” your story based on common scenarios, like when your time is cut short, your audience has diverse needs, or you’re told “only 3 to 5 slides” Details 10-day active learning journey (in a cohort with a Learning Community Manager) + 80 days of self-guided reinforcement Course Starts on Monday: Date coming soon! Course Ends (assignments due) on Friday: Date coming soon! Self-Guided Reinforcement: Date coming soon! Time Commitment: Set aside 3 - 5 hours over 10 days to complete the active learning journey portion to receive your certification. Expectations Think of a topic for an upcoming or past communication that you’d like to transform Set aside time to watch videos, take quizzes, and complete assignments Stay engaged: Join discussions, ask questions, give peer feedback – the more you put in, the more value you will get from the experience Space is limited so please register up to 7 days prior to the course start date to secure your spot. *Note: Refunds or exchanges will not be granted for this digital course.", "image": false, "modified": "2023-04-28T10:57:46-05:00" }, { "id": 9759, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/pdv-insights-in-your-headline/", "title": "Protected: PDV Insights in your Headline", "h1": "Protected: PDV Insights in your Headline", "summary": "There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.", "content": "", "content_plain": "", "image": false, "modified": "2023-04-12T12:22:27-05:00" }, { "id": 9754, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/pdv-data-you-show/", "title": "Protected: PDV Data You Show", "h1": "Protected: PDV Data You Show", "summary": "There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.", "content": "", "content_plain": "", "image": false, "modified": "2023-04-12T12:21:24-05:00" }, { "id": 9794, "type": "organizations", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/communications-training/communications-skills-workshops/data-visualization-course/", "title": "Presenting Data Visually", "h1": "Presenting Data Visually", "summary": "Learn data storytelling best practices to distill numbers into clear, meaningful messages that drive decision-making.", "content": "

Stop the data dump. Start the data story.

Every day, data drives business-crucial decisions. But when presented poorly, data creates confusion, leading stakeholders to misinterpret the message, draw their own conclusions, and stall decision-making. The problem is rarely the data itself. It’s the absence of a clear story around it.

Our Presenting Data Visually workshop arms teams with data storytelling best practices to help communicate meaningful messages with data. Teams learn to cut through the noise, tame the impulse to data dump, and transform data findings into visually compelling insights that get remembered and acted on.

Whether teams are presenting data to provide an internal update, gain approval, or influence a key customer, our data visualization course helps them get under the hood at the chart level, turning data insights into actionable recommendations that drive the conversation forward.

Let's talk

Through this data visualization course, teams learn how to:

\"Humanize

Humanize data

Identify what the audience needs to know or do with data and distill numbers into meaningful insights.

\"Apply

Apply a proven data strategy

Transform cluttered charts and tables into concise, compelling data visualizations that are easy to scan, digest, and act on.

\"Think

Think outside the chart

Go beyond the typical bar or pie chart and use creative visual techniques to present data in ways that resonate and stick.

\"Use

Use clever design techniques

Apply color, size, and shape to highlight key information and make data easy to interpret at a glance.

\"Tell

Tell a complete data story

Wrap data in a story that elevates insights and gives stakeholders a clear path forward.

Teams walk away with

\"data

A robust data storytelling toolkit

From DataCoach™ to DataCheck,™ and a Quick Access Toolbar, participants leave with hands-on tools they can plug into their daily workflows immediately.

The Data Visualization Library

A suite of 100+ professionally designed data visualizations that guides teams through the five ways to display data and provides inspiration, pro-tips, and coaching examples to help make presenting data quick and simple.

Coaching that goes beyond the classroom

Guidance and feedback embedded directly into the tools supports learners as they execute on their data strategy, during the workshop and beyond.

Training that doubles as productivity

Participants bring real data-rich presentations to transform during the workshop. It’s not time away from work; it’s time spent on it.

Data storytelling credentials

Upon completion of this data visualization course, participants earn a digital badge to showcase their achievement and share it with their professional network.

 What participants say

“This class was a game changer. I wish I could get back those years I wasted building lackluster charts in PowerPoint!”

“This was the perfect wrap-up to our storytelling journey. Having the toolkit to keep after the training will be incredibly valuable as I put the techniques learned into practice.”

“I am frequently presenting data-heavy content and will absolutely use these new strategies to drive a clearer message. I also love the creative ways of presenting data to make the content more engaging.”

Workshop details

Learning format

Enrollment size

Ideal for

Where the journey comes together

\"\"

Presenting Data Visually is the third and final workshop in our 3-part storytelling learning journey. By this point, teams understand storytelling fundamentals, know how to bring a story to life visually, and are ready to take it further with a data strategy that brings the full picture into focus. This is where story strategy, visual strategy, and data strategy come together, giving teams a complete, connected skill set to communicate with clarity and confidence.

Explore the learning journey

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

", "content_plain": "Stop the data dump. Start the data story. Every day, data drives business-crucial decisions. But when presented poorly, data creates confusion, leading stakeholders to misinterpret the message, draw their own conclusions, and stall decision-making. The problem is rarely the data itself. It’s the absence of a clear story around it. Our Presenting Data Visually workshop arms teams with data storytelling best practices to help communicate meaningful messages with data. Teams learn to cut through the noise, tame the impulse to data dump, and transform data findings into visually compelling insights that get remembered and acted on. Whether teams are presenting data to provide an internal update, gain approval, or influence a key customer, our data visualization course helps them get under the hood at the chart level, turning data insights into actionable recommendations that drive the conversation forward. Let's talk Through this data visualization course, teams learn how to: Humanize data Identify what the audience needs to know or do with data and distill numbers into meaningful insights. Apply a proven data strategy Transform cluttered charts and tables into concise, compelling data visualizations that are easy to scan, digest, and act on. Think outside the chart Go beyond the typical bar or pie chart and use creative visual techniques to present data in ways that resonate and stick. Use clever design techniques Apply color, size, and shape to highlight key information and make data easy to interpret at a glance. Tell a complete data story Wrap data in a story that elevates insights and gives stakeholders a clear path forward. Teams walk away with A robust data storytelling toolkit From DataCoach™ to DataCheck,™ and a Quick Access Toolbar, participants leave with hands-on tools they can plug into their daily workflows immediately. The Data Visualization Library A suite of 100+ professionally designed data visualizations that guides teams through the five ways to display data and provides inspiration, pro-tips, and coaching examples to help make presenting data quick and simple. Coaching that goes beyond the classroom Guidance and feedback embedded directly into the tools supports learners as they execute on their data strategy, during the workshop and beyond. Training that doubles as productivity Participants bring real data-rich presentations to transform during the workshop. It’s not time away from work; it’s time spent on it. Data storytelling credentials Upon completion of this data visualization course, participants earn a digital badge to showcase their achievement and share it with their professional network. What participants say “This class was a game changer. I wish I could get back those years I wasted building lackluster charts in PowerPoint!” “This was the perfect wrap-up to our storytelling journey. Having the toolkit to keep after the training will be incredibly valuable as I put the techniques learned into practice.” “I am frequently presenting data-heavy content and will absolutely use these new strategies to drive a clearer message. I also love the creative ways of presenting data to make the content more engaging.” Workshop details Learning format In-person (full-day: 8 hours) Virtual, instructor-led (three 2.5-hr modules, three days) On-demand (3-5 hours) Enrollment size 15-20 participants per workshop Ideal for Anyone who needs to communicate data insights with clarity Where the journey comes together Presenting Data Visually is the third and final workshop in our 3-part storytelling learning journey. By this point, teams understand storytelling fundamentals, know how to bring a story to life visually, and are ready to take it further with a data strategy that brings the full picture into focus. This is where story strategy, visual strategy, and data strategy come together, giving teams a complete, connected skill set to communicate with clarity and confidence. Explore the learning journey Want to learn more? Let’s chat.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/iStock-598255892-scaled.webp", "modified": "2026-05-28T10:59:27-05:00" }, { "id": 9699, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/5-ways-storytelling-can-elevate-your-change-management-strategy/", "title": "5 Ways Storytelling Can Elevate Your Change Management Strategy", "h1": "5 Ways Storytelling Can Elevate Your Change Management Strategy", "summary": "Change is everywhere… especially in business. Maybe your company is undergoing a digital transformation or restructuring, or perhaps you’re in the midst of a leadership or personnel change? From mergers and acquisitions to company rebrands and new product launches, business is full of constant and dynamic challenges, no matter your industry. And change shows no […]", "content": "

Change is everywhere… especially in business. Maybe your company is undergoing a digital transformation or restructuring, or perhaps you’re in the midst of a leadership or personnel change? From mergers and acquisitions to company rebrands and new product launches, business is full of constant and dynamic challenges, no matter your industry.

And change shows no signs of abating… Research indicates that nearly 80% of people need to adapt their enterprises every two to five years to survive.1

Despite the ongoing nature of change in business, change management is still an area where many organizations struggle.

Did you know?

The business implications for change management failure are clear. With these jaw-dropping costs of poor communication, you can’t afford (literally!) for another project to go awry. But what’s the root cause of these failures? Let’s explore some common threads that contribute to unsuccessful change initiatives:

So, how do we overcome these roadblocks? Let’s address them head on with better communication throughout the organization. And (spoiler alert!), we believe business storytelling is an effective way to uplevel your change communication strategy, by giving everyone the ability to bring clarity and meaning to their ideas, influence decisions, and improve collaboration.

In short, storytelling can be your change management superpower.

Let’s dig in…

Here are 5 ways to bolster your change management strategy through storytelling:

  1. Deliver clear and digestible messages. Let’s face it – you want to be in the know and not have to read between the lines when it comes to change and how it might impact you. The not knowing causes employee anxiety which can lead to burnout, or worse – losing top talent. 73% of change-affected employees report experiencing moderate to high stress levels, and those suffering from change-related stress perform 5% worse than the average employee.8 Storytelling will help you deliver updates on your change initiative with clarity… so that your audience (employees) knows the information critical to them – and if they need to act on it.
  2. Establish a two-way communication effort. The days of top-down, one-way communications are on their way out. Employees need an approach that engages them in a dialogue and values their opinions and feedback. One way to address employee resistance is by making employees feel involved throughout the process, rather than telling them what will happen. Storytelling helps foster this by always putting the audience first in any form of communications; this is an authentic way to promote open dialogue, get feedback, and improve collaboration.
  3. Humanize the change. Even in the world of business, people just want to feel seen and heard… and one way to do that is to communicate in an authentic way that makes a connection to your audience. Storytelling helps you achieve this by establishing the proper context for your change initiative – setting and characters – to make your employees feel something rather than just receiving an impersonal business update. At the end of the day, when we humanize our messages and tap into people’s emotions, they are more likely to share their experience… and there’s no better way for people to connect than through shared experiences.9
  4. Align and empower teams. Being on the same page and feeling a sense of solidarity is hugely important for teams going through change – especially newly formed teams (in the case of a merger & acquisition, for example). Storytelling helps provide teams a common language for communicating, which can help break down silos and encourage collaboration. When teams are aligned, they’re more likely to feel like change agents themselves… and empowering employees to be active participants in your change efforts may be the difference between success and failure.
  5. Have cultural awareness. 88% of professionals say find cultural awareness is important to a change management initiative.10 Change management is most effective when leaders acknowledge and understand the cultural landscape of impacted employees and tailor their communications accordingly. For example, a message on a change initiative might be different depending on the culture of a particular audience. Storytelling helps you walk into your audience’s shoes and truly understand their perspective.

There’s no debating that strong communication is vital to successful organizational change management. Using storytelling as a tool to guide you through your business transformations is an effective way to build empathy, community, and trust with employees. When your people feel connected to and part of the change – rather than bystanders without any control – they are more likely to commit to its success. Change isn’t going anywhere… the best we can do is try to navigate its waters and communicate its impact as smoothly as possible.

References:

1WalkMe, Change Management Statistics You Need to Know in 2023
2Gartner, Organizational Change Management
3PMI, The High Cost of Low Performance: The Essential Role of Communications
4McKinsey & Company, Changing change management
5Gartner, This New Strategy Could Be Your Ticket to Change Management Success
6Harvard Division of Continuing Education, 7 Reasons Why Change Management Strategies Fail and How to Avoid Them
7Spiceworks, 6 Examples of Merger Failures Owing to Cultural Incompatibility
8Gartner, Change Management Communication
9Jake Jacobs Consulting, How Viral Marketing Can Support Your Large Scale Change Efforts
10Prosci, Culture and Change Management: The Water We Swim In

", "content_plain": "Change is everywhere… especially in business. Maybe your company is undergoing a digital transformation or restructuring, or perhaps you’re in the midst of a leadership or personnel change? From mergers and acquisitions to company rebrands and new product launches, business is full of constant and dynamic challenges, no matter your industry. And change shows no signs of abating… Research indicates that nearly 80% of people need to adapt their enterprises every two to five years to survive.1 Despite the ongoing nature of change in business, change management is still an area where many organizations struggle. Did you know? Only 34% of change initiatives succeed2 > 30% of project failures are caused by poor communication3 This costs businesses $75 million for every $1 billion spent The business implications for change management failure are clear. With these jaw-dropping costs of poor communication, you can’t afford (literally!) for another project to go awry. But what’s the root cause of these failures? Let’s explore some common threads that contribute to unsuccessful change initiatives: Employee resistance – According to McKinsey, 70% of change programs fail to achieve their goals, largely due to employee resistance and lack of management support.4 What’s more, Gartner research shows that in 2016, 74% of employees were willing to support organizational change; by the end of 2022 that number dropped to 38%5. People resist change for many reasons – unknown risks to their job, lack of trust in the organization, or general disagreement with the business strategy (just to name a few!). Poor communication by leadership – Change communication has historically been a “top-down” practice – that is, leaders communicate the change initiative to employees without seeking their input. To exacerbate this one-way channel, communication is typically not frequent enough, particularly after the initiative is underway, which leaves employees in the dark and feeling undervalued. Incomplete strategy – Many leaders focus on the what and why of change but not the how6 … It can be difficult to achieve desired results when you aren’t clear on defining what success would look like. Not having a complete change management strategy can also undermine your efforts to get buy-in, create difficulty in communicating your vision with employees, and ultimately break down trust within the organization. Lack of culture integration – Cultural incompatibility is cited as a top reason for many M&A failures.7 Culture represents the values, beliefs, and behaviors of an organization’s people – the human side of a company. Unfortunately, this often takes a backburner when it comes to planning and implementing change initiatives. So, how do we overcome these roadblocks? Let’s address them head on with better communication throughout the organization. And (spoiler alert!), we believe business storytelling is an effective way to uplevel your change communication strategy, by giving everyone the ability to bring clarity and meaning to their ideas, influence decisions, and improve collaboration. In short, storytelling can be your change management superpower. Let’s dig in… Here are 5 ways to bolster your change management strategy through storytelling: Deliver clear and digestible messages. Let’s face it – you want to be in the know and not have to read between the lines when it comes to change and how it might impact you. The not knowing causes employee anxiety which can lead to burnout, or worse – losing top talent. 73% of change-affected employees report experiencing moderate to high stress levels, and those suffering from change-related stress perform 5% worse than the average employee.8 Storytelling will help you deliver updates on your change initiative with clarity… so that your audience (employees) knows the information critical to them – and if they need to act on it. Establish a two-way communication effort. The days of top-down, one-way communications are on their way out. Employees need an approach that engages them in a dialogue and values their opinions and feedback. One way to address employee resistance is by making employees feel involved throughout the process, rather than telling them what will happen. Storytelling helps foster this by always putting the audience first in any form of communications; this is an authentic way to promote open dialogue, get feedback, and improve collaboration. Humanize the change. Even in the world of business, people just want to feel seen and heard… and one way to do that is to communicate in an authentic way that makes a connection to your audience. Storytelling helps you achieve this by establishing the proper context for your change initiative – setting and characters – to make your employees feel something rather than just receiving an impersonal business update. At the end of the day, when we humanize our messages and tap into people’s emotions, they are more likely to share their experience… and there’s no better way for people to connect than through shared experiences.9 Align and empower teams. Being on the same page and feeling a sense of solidarity is hugely important for teams going through change – especially newly formed teams (in the case of a merger & acquisition, for example). Storytelling helps provide teams a common language for communicating, which can help break down silos and encourage collaboration. When teams are aligned, they’re more likely to feel like change agents themselves… and empowering employees to be active participants in your change efforts may be the difference between success and failure. Have cultural awareness. 88% of professionals say find cultural awareness is important to a change management initiative.10 Change management is most effective when leaders acknowledge and understand the cultural landscape of impacted employees and tailor their communications accordingly. For example, a message on a change initiative might be different depending on the culture of a particular audience. Storytelling helps you walk into your audience’s shoes and truly understand their perspective. There’s no debating that strong communication is vital to successful organizational change management. Using storytelling as a tool to guide you through your business transformations is an effective way to build empathy, community, and trust with employees. When your people feel connected to and part of the change – rather than bystanders without any control – they are more likely to commit to its success. Change isn’t going anywhere… the best we can do is try to navigate its waters and communicate its impact as smoothly as possible. References: 1WalkMe, Change Management Statistics You Need to Know in 2023 2Gartner, Organizational Change Management 3PMI, The High Cost of Low Performance: The Essential Role of Communications 4McKinsey & Company, Changing change management 5Gartner, This New Strategy Could Be Your Ticket to Change Management Success 6Harvard Division of Continuing Education, 7 Reasons Why Change Management Strategies Fail and How to Avoid Them 7Spiceworks, 6 Examples of Merger Failures Owing to Cultural Incompatibility 8Gartner, Change Management Communication 9Jake Jacobs Consulting, How Viral Marketing Can Support Your Large Scale Change Efforts 10Prosci, Culture and Change Management: The Water We Swim In", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/iStock-1137329699-scaled.jpg", "modified": "2023-06-21T11:54:12-05:00" }, { "id": 9688, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/join-tpc-and-novoed-for-a-webinar-everyday-business-storytelling-with-kevin-campbell/", "title": "Join TPC and NovoEd for a webinar: Everyday Business Storytelling with Kevin Campbell", "h1": "Join TPC and NovoEd for a webinar: Everyday Business Storytelling with Kevin Campbell", "summary": "We know that strong collaboration depends on effective communication. But that’s not always easy to accomplish! Join Kevin Campbell, Senior Director, Global Training Strategy and Chief Trainer, for a live webinar that will give you the tools and techniques to help you communicate and collaborate more effectively with your colleagues. In this hour-long session, explore […]", "content": "

We know that strong collaboration depends on effective communication. But that’s not always easy to accomplish! Join Kevin Campbell, Senior Director, Global Training Strategy and Chief Trainer, for a live webinar that will give you the tools and techniques to help you communicate and collaborate more effectively with your colleagues.

In this hour-long session, explore a simple, repeatable storytelling framework that will help you elevate your conversations, influence decisions, and ensure your audience knows exactly what you want them to know and do with the information. Whether you’re building a presentation, crafting a high-stakes email, or delivering a sales pitch, you’ll learn how to transform any form of business communication into a compelling narrative.

Kevin will show you how to:

Register Now! 

Can’t make it? Get everything — and more — by grabbing a copy of Everyday Business Storytelling.

", "content_plain": "We know that strong collaboration depends on effective communication. But that’s not always easy to accomplish! Join Kevin Campbell, Senior Director, Global Training Strategy and Chief Trainer, for a live webinar that will give you the tools and techniques to help you communicate and collaborate more effectively with your colleagues. In this hour-long session, explore a simple, repeatable storytelling framework that will help you elevate your conversations, influence decisions, and ensure your audience knows exactly what you want them to know and do with the information. Whether you’re building a presentation, crafting a high-stakes email, or delivering a sales pitch, you’ll learn how to transform any form of business communication into a compelling narrative. Kevin will show you how to: Use a storytelling framework to organize ideas and data into influential, audience-centric business narratives that drive action Craft a BIG Idea: The one thing you want your audience to remember most Flex your story for different audiences, including senior executives Register Now! Can’t make it? Get everything — and more — by grabbing a copy of Everyday Business Storytelling.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/NovoEd-webinar.png", "modified": "2023-03-27T16:07:02-05:00" }, { "id": 9655, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/join-us-in-vegas-for-an-interactive-session-on-storytelling-with-data/", "title": "Join us in Vegas for an interactive session on Storytelling with Data!", "h1": "Join us in Vegas for an interactive session on Storytelling with Data!", "summary": "We are excited to attend and present at the 2023 Category Management Association/Shopper Insights Management Association conference – on February 27 in Las Vegas! Janine Kurnoff, TPC’s Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, will be joined by Jessica Keenan and Hasan Issa from Kraft Heinz to lead an interactive workshop, Storytelling with Data. This will be […]", "content": "

We are excited to attend and present at the 2023 Category Management Association/Shopper Insights Management Association conference – on February 27 in Las Vegas!

Janine Kurnoff, TPC’s Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, will be joined by Jessica Keenan and Hasan Issa from Kraft Heinz to lead an interactive workshop, Storytelling with Data.

This will be TPC’s first appearance at this conference and we can’t wait to share our storytelling magic with a consumer packaged goods (CPG) audience. We know from our experience working with CPG companies that if you’re a category manager, you’re looking to uplevel the conversation with retailers and influence buyers with a more consultative mindset. But you’re challenged with navigating and presenting huge volumes of complex and disorganized data about products, retailers, shoppers, consumers, and more.

With limited time and no shortage of information to share, how can you distill your ideas and data into actionable recommendations, while also making authentic connections with your audience?

Enter business storytelling.

In this workshop, Janine will bring the concepts from her bestselling book, Everyday Business Storytelling, to life. She’ll be joined by Jessica and Hasan from our valued partner, Kraft Heinz, to discuss the power of storytelling and how it has shaped the Kraft Heinz culture.

Join the session to discover a simple, repeatable storytelling framework that will help elevate conversations, influence decisions, and ensure your audience knows exactly what you want them to know and do. Plus, get real-world examples of Kraft Heinz’s storytelling successes and find out how it’s improved team collaboration and fostered better customer partnerships.

Learn how to:

We hope to see you there!

P.S. Spoiler alert: After the session, Janine will be giving out signed copies of Everyday Business Storytelling to all workshop participants! Don’t miss your chance to get 288 pages of practical storytelling tips that are sure to make you a more confident and strategic communicator.

", "content_plain": "We are excited to attend and present at the 2023 Category Management Association/Shopper Insights Management Association conference – on February 27 in Las Vegas! Janine Kurnoff, TPC’s Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, will be joined by Jessica Keenan and Hasan Issa from Kraft Heinz to lead an interactive workshop, Storytelling with Data. This will be TPC’s first appearance at this conference and we can’t wait to share our storytelling magic with a consumer packaged goods (CPG) audience. We know from our experience working with CPG companies that if you’re a category manager, you’re looking to uplevel the conversation with retailers and influence buyers with a more consultative mindset. But you’re challenged with navigating and presenting huge volumes of complex and disorganized data about products, retailers, shoppers, consumers, and more. With limited time and no shortage of information to share, how can you distill your ideas and data into actionable recommendations, while also making authentic connections with your audience? Enter business storytelling. In this workshop, Janine will bring the concepts from her bestselling book, Everyday Business Storytelling, to life. She’ll be joined by Jessica and Hasan from our valued partner, Kraft Heinz, to discuss the power of storytelling and how it has shaped the Kraft Heinz culture. Join the session to discover a simple, repeatable storytelling framework that will help elevate conversations, influence decisions, and ensure your audience knows exactly what you want them to know and do. Plus, get real-world examples of Kraft Heinz’s storytelling successes and find out how it’s improved team collaboration and fostered better customer partnerships. Learn how to: Use a storytelling framework to organize ideas and data into influential, audience-centric business narratives that drive action Craft a BIG Idea—the one thing you want your audience to remember Flex your story for different audiences and common business scenarios We hope to see you there! P.S. Spoiler alert: After the session, Janine will be giving out signed copies of Everyday Business Storytelling to all workshop participants! Don’t miss your chance to get 288 pages of practical storytelling tips that are sure to make you a more confident and strategic communicator.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CMA_Join-us.png", "modified": "2023-02-28T09:07:59-05:00" }, { "id": 9640, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/", "title": "Blog", "h1": "Blog", "summary": "", "content": "

The TPC Blog: Enhance your business presentation skills

Practical tips, expert insights, and fresh perspectives on business presentation skills and storytelling, from AI-driven storytelling and executive presence to change management, building team influence, and more.

\"The

Learn the Storytelling Skills AI Can’t Replace: Join Us at CMA 2026

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Transform Your Sales Team: From Generic Pitches to Stories That Win

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Join Our Live Webinar for the Ultimate Storytelling Challenge: Conquer Executive Summaries

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The New Power Couple: AI and Storytelling

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Join us at CMA to Unlock the Power of Data-Driven Storytelling

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Unite Everyone in Your Organization with Business Storytelling Fundamentals

Did you know… the average employee spends 57% of their time communicating (whether in meetings, email, or chat)?1 On top of that, 70% of employees are expected ...Continue Reading

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Join us at ATD: Learn how to transform teams into strategic, influential communicators

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TPC Featured in Manage HR Magazine: Transforming Business Communication with Strategic Story-Driven Narratives

Effective communication, the most powerful force of businesses, can be the ticket to success when used constructively. Compelling business ideas with the potential to drive ...Continue Reading

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Use Storytelling to Build Your Team’s Influence and Reputation

It’s finally happening—your team is getting a seat at the table. After months of trying to get a meeting in front of the C-suite, leadership ...Continue Reading

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Join us at CMA and learn how to Elevate Your Data Story with Powerful Visuals

After leading a top-rated session at last year’s Category Management Association/Shopper Insights Management Association conference, we are so excited to make a return to the ...Continue Reading

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Start Your Teams’ Journey to Becoming Great Storytellers

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In 2024, Make a Bet on Your People

As we sit in 2023, and another squirrely year of disruption and economic uncertainty, many are feeling enough is enough, and next year is THE ...Continue Reading

\"\"

Are Your Dashboards Putting Your Audience to Sleep? Here are 5 Tips for Building Better Business Dashboards

Thanks to today’s data-driven culture, we all live in dashboards. Whether you’re logging on to Salesforce, Tableau, Google Data Studio, or Power BI, odds are ...Continue Reading

\"Do

Do Your Ideas Need Resuscitation? Here are 7 Reasons Why Business Storytelling Can Help!

We get it… your team needs to demonstrate value, influence decision-making, and drive business forward. But the reality is, everyone is moving fast, has lots ...Continue Reading

\"\"

A second chance: Storytelling with Data, featuring Kraft Heinz

Back by popular demand! It was a packed house at the 2023 Category Management Association/Shopper Insights Management Association conference for one big reason: the top-rated ...Continue Reading

\"\"

5 Ways Storytelling Can Elevate Your Change Management Strategy

Change is everywhere… especially in business. Maybe your company is undergoing a digital transformation or restructuring, or perhaps you’re in the midst of a leadership ...Continue Reading

\"\"

Join TPC and NovoEd for a webinar: Everyday Business Storytelling with Kevin Campbell

We know that strong collaboration depends on effective communication. But that’s not always easy to accomplish! Join Kevin Campbell, Senior Director, Global Training Strategy and ...Continue Reading

\"\"

Join us in Vegas for an interactive session on Storytelling with Data!

We are excited to attend and present at the 2023 Category Management Association/Shopper Insights Management Association conference – on February 27 in Las Vegas! Janine Kurnoff, ...Continue Reading

\"Lee

Use the Power of Story to Build Up Women Leaders

It’s the elephant in the boardroom we need to keep talking about: gender equity. It’s not a new issue, of course, but it’s one that continues ...Continue Reading

\"Close-up

A Powerful Tool to Upskill Existing Talent

The struggle to find and retain high quality talent is real, and if you’re like most companies, you’re scrambling to fill the gaps, ease workloads, ...Continue Reading

\"\"

Undergoing Digital Transformation? Use Storytelling to Smooth the Transition

The push to integrate digital technology into all areas of business is now table stakes, and if you’re part of a team leading the charge, you’re ...Continue Reading

\"\"

Pro-Tip: Don’t Miss the Power of Storytelling in your DEI Initiatives

You don’t need another hashtag to convince you that your company should be investing in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). And we aren’t just talking ...Continue Reading

\"\"

How CPG Organizations Use Storytelling to Deliver Critical Insights Across (and Outside) the Business

For consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, earning a spot on retailers’ shelves or digital storefront is extremely challenging, particularly with the high levels of innovation ...Continue Reading

\"\"

Need to Align Teams with Mixed Skills? Consider Storytelling

If you're still dealing with the after-effects of the great resignation (and now #quietquitting), you're not alone. Talent shortages and hybrid work have created massive ...Continue Reading

\"ATD

Learn How to FIND Your Story at ATD 2022!

Whether you're attending in-person or virtually, we're back at the Association for Talent Development (ATD) Annual International Conference & Expo for the FIFTH year in ...Continue Reading

\"Everyday

Join TPC and NovoEd for Book Club LIVE: Everyday Business Storytelling

How does storytelling become widespread in an organization? A culture of coaching. Join TPC and NovoEd for a LIVE, virtual Book Club session with Janine ...Continue Reading

\"\"

We’re Hiring! Global Account Director

We’re looking for a Global Account Director to join our growing sales team. This is a salaried position with bonus potential. West Coast candidates highly ...Continue Reading

\"Story

Story First, Visuals Second

In a visual world where the pressure is on to choose the right image, chart, or video for your business presentations, what can help? Storytelling. We’ve ...Continue Reading

", "content_plain": "The TPC Blog: Enhance your business presentation skills Practical tips, expert insights, and fresh perspectives on business presentation skills and storytelling, from AI-driven storytelling and executive presence to change management, building team influence, and more. Filter by Topic About TPC Business Storytelling Career Advancement Coaching Culture of Storytelling Data DE&I Email Events Executive Presence General Meetings Online Learning Presentations Sales Pitch Talent Development Tips Visuals Learn the Storytelling Skills AI Can’t Replace: Join Us at CMA 2026 For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human ...Continue Reading Transform Your Sales Team: From Generic Pitches to Stories That Win Your sales team knows the products inside and out. They follow the sales process. They incorporate content-rich slides from Marketing. So why aren't they breaking through with customers the ...Continue Reading When L&D Strategy Meets Business Purpose: A Perfect Match Every L&D leader has been there… you're running great programs, completion rates look fantastic, and everyone's engaged with the latest training. But here's the million-dollar ...Continue Reading Join Our Live Webinar for the Ultimate Storytelling Challenge: Conquer Executive Summaries Data is everywhere—and business professionals across every industry are drowning in it. At the same time, resources and bandwidth are becoming increasingly scarce. Teams need ...Continue Reading The New Power Couple: AI and Storytelling We get it— you’ve finally landed a meeting with a key stakeholder and a lot is at stake. But you’re swamped with work, deadlines are ...Continue Reading Join us at CMA to Unlock the Power of Data-Driven Storytelling In today's world, retailers, category leaders, and shopper insights professionals are overwhelmed by data. At the same point, resources and time are becoming increasingly scarce. ...Continue Reading Unite Everyone in Your Organization with Business Storytelling Fundamentals Did you know… the average employee spends 57% of their time communicating (whether in meetings, email, or chat)?1 On top of that, 70% of employees are expected ...Continue Reading Join us at ATD: Learn how to transform teams into strategic, influential communicators Let’s face it, teams more than ever need to support cross-functional initiatives and sell their ideas, provide updates, or make recommendations across the business. Getting ...Continue Reading Back by Popular Demand: Elevate Your Data Story with Powerful Visuals with Kraft Heinz The Presentation Company (TPC) and our client partner, Kraft Heinz, packed the house for the second-straight year at the 2024 CMA | SIMA conference in ...Continue Reading TPC Featured in Manage HR Magazine: Transforming Business Communication with Strategic Story-Driven Narratives Effective communication, the most powerful force of businesses, can be the ticket to success when used constructively. Compelling business ideas with the potential to drive ...Continue Reading Use Storytelling to Build Your Team’s Influence and Reputation It’s finally happening—your team is getting a seat at the table. After months of trying to get a meeting in front of the C-suite, leadership ...Continue Reading Join us at CMA and learn how to Elevate Your Data Story with Powerful Visuals After leading a top-rated session at last year’s Category Management Association/Shopper Insights Management Association conference, we are so excited to make a return to the ...Continue Reading Start Your Teams’ Journey to Becoming Great Storytellers As we emerge from a few years of economic volatility and business uncertainty, today’s leaders are ready to move forward and advance strategic initiatives. Although ...Continue Reading In 2024, Make a Bet on Your People As we sit in 2023, and another squirrely year of disruption and economic uncertainty, many are feeling enough is enough, and next year is THE ...Continue Reading Are Your Dashboards Putting Your Audience to Sleep? Here are 5 Tips for Building Better Business Dashboards Thanks to today’s data-driven culture, we all live in dashboards. Whether you’re logging on to Salesforce, Tableau, Google Data Studio, or Power BI, odds are ...Continue Reading Do Your Ideas Need Resuscitation? Here are 7 Reasons Why Business Storytelling Can Help! We get it… your team needs to demonstrate value, influence decision-making, and drive business forward. But the reality is, everyone is moving fast, has lots ...Continue Reading A second chance: Storytelling with Data, featuring Kraft Heinz Back by popular demand! It was a packed house at the 2023 Category Management Association/Shopper Insights Management Association conference for one big reason: the top-rated ...Continue Reading 5 Ways Storytelling Can Elevate Your Change Management Strategy Change is everywhere… especially in business. Maybe your company is undergoing a digital transformation or restructuring, or perhaps you’re in the midst of a leadership ...Continue Reading Join TPC and NovoEd for a webinar: Everyday Business Storytelling with Kevin Campbell We know that strong collaboration depends on effective communication. But that’s not always easy to accomplish! Join Kevin Campbell, Senior Director, Global Training Strategy and ...Continue Reading Join us in Vegas for an interactive session on Storytelling with Data! We are excited to attend and present at the 2023 Category Management Association/Shopper Insights Management Association conference – on February 27 in Las Vegas! Janine Kurnoff, ...Continue Reading Use the Power of Story to Build Up Women Leaders It’s the elephant in the boardroom we need to keep talking about: gender equity. It’s not a new issue, of course, but it’s one that continues ...Continue Reading A Powerful Tool to Upskill Existing Talent The struggle to find and retain high quality talent is real, and if you’re like most companies, you’re scrambling to fill the gaps, ease workloads, ...Continue Reading Undergoing Digital Transformation? Use Storytelling to Smooth the Transition The push to integrate digital technology into all areas of business is now table stakes, and if you’re part of a team leading the charge, you’re ...Continue Reading Pro-Tip: Don’t Miss the Power of Storytelling in your DEI Initiatives You don’t need another hashtag to convince you that your company should be investing in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). And we aren’t just talking ...Continue Reading How CPG Organizations Use Storytelling to Deliver Critical Insights Across (and Outside) the Business For consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, earning a spot on retailers’ shelves or digital storefront is extremely challenging, particularly with the high levels of innovation ...Continue Reading Need to Align Teams with Mixed Skills? Consider Storytelling If you're still dealing with the after-effects of the great resignation (and now #quietquitting), you're not alone. Talent shortages and hybrid work have created massive ...Continue Reading Learn How to FIND Your Story at ATD 2022! Whether you're attending in-person or virtually, we're back at the Association for Talent Development (ATD) Annual International Conference & Expo for the FIFTH year in ...Continue Reading Join TPC and NovoEd for Book Club LIVE: Everyday Business Storytelling How does storytelling become widespread in an organization? A culture of coaching. Join TPC and NovoEd for a LIVE, virtual Book Club session with Janine ...Continue Reading We’re Hiring! Global Account Director We’re looking for a Global Account Director to join our growing sales team. This is a salaried position with bonus potential. West Coast candidates highly ...Continue Reading Story First, Visuals Second In a visual world where the pressure is on to choose the right image, chart, or video for your business presentations, what can help? Storytelling. We’ve ...Continue Reading", "image": false, "modified": "2026-05-27T21:05:39-05:00" }, { "id": 9626, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/csvs-story-development-process-2/", "title": "Protected: CSVS Story Development Process", "h1": "Protected: CSVS Story Development Process", "summary": "There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.", "content": "", "content_plain": "", "image": false, "modified": "2023-02-24T14:41:41-05:00" }, { "id": 9622, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/csvs-story-headlines-2/", "title": "Protected: CSVS Story Headlines", "h1": "Protected: CSVS Story Headlines", "summary": "There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.", "content": "", "content_plain": "", "image": false, "modified": "2023-02-15T14:12:36-05:00" }, { "id": 9554, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/use-the-power-of-story-to-build-up-women-leaders/", "title": "Use the Power of Story to Build Up Women Leaders", "h1": "Use the Power of Story to Build Up Women Leaders", "summary": "", "content": "

It’s the elephant in the boardroom we need to keep talking about: gender equity.

It’s not a new issue, of course, but it’s one that continues to plague the corporate pipeline, especially when it comes to women in leadership. The latest research from McKinsey shows that a mere 28% of senior management positions are held by women, and only one in four C-suite leaders is a woman.1 For women in tech and women of color, the numbers are even lower.2

The good news is that forward-thinking companies – like Nestlé, Colgate-Palmolive, Medtronic, and Intuit – are catching on and being more intentional about not just promoting more women, but also investing in their future success.4,5,6

As a women-owned company, we know a thing or two about raising up female leaders. We believe that equity isn’t a siloed HR exercise based on closing the gender gap (an exercise that continues to fail in corporate America1), but a holistic set of core values that infuses a company culture with day-to-day practices that get everyone speaking the same language, and even more so, giving everyone a voice. In a nutshell, the fundamentals of great storytelling.

For TPC, this includes the core values of Clarity, Inclusivity, Accountability, and Empathy. By embracing discomfort, walking in our audience’s shoes, soliciting input from everyone (while encouraging healthy debate), and being cognizant of people’s communication styles… it forces meaningful teamwork and collaboration. And when we successfully collaborate, biases and barriers are broken and a sense of purposeful belonging increases. Isn’t that what we ALL want at the end of the day?

So – what could this culture shift look like within your organization? We’re so glad you asked!

It all starts with establishing a culture built on equity and empowerment. The key is putting tools and training opportunities in place that better equip women leaders, set the stage for their career advancement, and give them a reason to pay it forward with future mentoring opportunities.

Storytelling as a Cultural Equalizer

Like any DEI initiative, real change requires organizations to take a hard look at their company culture. Gender equity needs to become the rule, not the exception, and that means creating an environment where mutual respect, empowerment, and equal opportunity are standard operating procedures.

Equipping all aspiring leaders with strong communication skills gives everyone the tools they need to be successful, whether that means learning how to craft a killer slide deck for a prospective client or creating compelling data visualizations for a financial update for the C-suite.

Storytelling also sets a tone of mutual understanding across the organization. The entire storytelling framework is built around putting your audience’s needs first and coming up with a resolution that benefits all stakeholders. Both female and male leaders learn how to empathize with each other while also understanding that the focus needs to stay on the BIG Idea.

Not only does this create a more collaborative work environment, it can also help break down the communication barriers women often feel when they’re sitting in a room full of men. When everyone is operating from the same framework, it’s less about who is speaking and more about what’s being said. This puts everyone on an equal communication field, increases meeting productivity, and creates an overall sense of teamwork and alignment.

Storytelling as an Empowerment Tool

Perhaps the real benefit of business storytelling is how it can be used to support women’s career growth and representation in leadership ranks.

Here are just a few ways storytelling can both equip and empower women—and future leaders—within your organization:

Storytelling as a Mentorship Opportunity

One of the roadblocks that many female professionals run into is a small pool of mentors—a disadvantage that stems from the lack of women in upper management. Companies that want to better support their female employees need to be intentional about creating an environment where women can encourage each other, learn from each other, and teach each other.

Because storytelling is driven and reinforced by ongoing, internal coaching, it offers women the perfect scenario for both peer-to-peer interaction and mentorship. It gives female leaders the opportunity to model storytelling and offer feedback to up-and-coming talent, and it gives peers the opportunity to practice their skills and hold each other accountable in a safe environment.

Setting a More Equitable Table

After decades of fighting for a seat at the decision-making table, women are done waiting for companies to see their potential. Today’s female leaders know their worth, and they are seeking out employers that are taking measurable steps to support women and close the gender gaps at the top of the ladder.

If we want to evolve DEI in the workplace, we need to transform how we work together. By creating an even playing field through storytelling for everyone, all boats rise with the tide, and we begin to solve what to-date has seemed unsolvable… giving all women the chance to be seen, heard, and valued in the workplace.

 

References:
1McKinsey, Women in the Workplace 2022
2CIO.com, 7 challenges women face in getting ahead in IT
3Forbes, A ‘Great Breakup’— Female Leaders Switching Jobs In Unprecedented Numbers, Survey Shows
4Colgate-Palmolive, Celebrating Women in Science
5Nestlé press release, Nestlé recognized in 2022 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index for fourth consecutive year
6Medtronic, Diversity, Inclusion & Equity Initiatives Elevating Women Leaders
7Intuit, Four Ways to Empower Women in Tech

Website Photo by Kitta Bodmer Photography

", "content_plain": "It’s the elephant in the boardroom we need to keep talking about: gender equity. It’s not a new issue, of course, but it’s one that continues to plague the corporate pipeline, especially when it comes to women in leadership. The latest research from McKinsey shows that a mere 28% of senior management positions are held by women, and only one in four C-suite leaders is a woman.1 For women in tech and women of color, the numbers are even lower.2 The good news is that forward-thinking companies – like Nestlé, Colgate-Palmolive, Medtronic, and Intuit – are catching on and being more intentional about not just promoting more women, but also investing in their future success.4,5,6 As a women-owned company, we know a thing or two about raising up female leaders. We believe that equity isn’t a siloed HR exercise based on closing the gender gap (an exercise that continues to fail in corporate America1), but a holistic set of core values that infuses a company culture with day-to-day practices that get everyone speaking the same language, and even more so, giving everyone a voice. In a nutshell, the fundamentals of great storytelling. For TPC, this includes the core values of Clarity, Inclusivity, Accountability, and Empathy. By embracing discomfort, walking in our audience’s shoes, soliciting input from everyone (while encouraging healthy debate), and being cognizant of people’s communication styles… it forces meaningful teamwork and collaboration. And when we successfully collaborate, biases and barriers are broken and a sense of purposeful belonging increases. Isn’t that what we ALL want at the end of the day? So – what could this culture shift look like within your organization? We’re so glad you asked! It all starts with establishing a culture built on equity and empowerment. The key is putting tools and training opportunities in place that better equip women leaders, set the stage for their career advancement, and give them a reason to pay it forward with future mentoring opportunities. Storytelling as a Cultural Equalizer Like any DEI initiative, real change requires organizations to take a hard look at their company culture. Gender equity needs to become the rule, not the exception, and that means creating an environment where mutual respect, empowerment, and equal opportunity are standard operating procedures. Equipping all aspiring leaders with strong communication skills gives everyone the tools they need to be successful, whether that means learning how to craft a killer slide deck for a prospective client or creating compelling data visualizations for a financial update for the C-suite. Storytelling also sets a tone of mutual understanding across the organization. The entire storytelling framework is built around putting your audience’s needs first and coming up with a resolution that benefits all stakeholders. Both female and male leaders learn how to empathize with each other while also understanding that the focus needs to stay on the BIG Idea. Not only does this create a more collaborative work environment, it can also help break down the communication barriers women often feel when they’re sitting in a room full of men. When everyone is operating from the same framework, it’s less about who is speaking and more about what’s being said. This puts everyone on an equal communication field, increases meeting productivity, and creates an overall sense of teamwork and alignment. Storytelling as an Empowerment Tool Perhaps the real benefit of business storytelling is how it can be used to support women’s career growth and representation in leadership ranks. Here are just a few ways storytelling can both equip and empower women—and future leaders—within your organization: Storytelling provides a clear, concise, and compelling way to share ideas, which helps elevate women’s voices and gives them more power and influence over the messages they send and the outcomes they hope to achieve Storytelling can help provide women with the confidence, executive presence, and persuasion skills they need for senior leadership roles Storytelling can improve data literacy—a critical skill for women who want to lead in more technical roles like product management and solutions engineering Storytelling helps develop trust and establish personal credibility with co-workers, which sets women up for future leadership success Storytelling helps women gain recognition as impactful, strategic communicators—the type of people executives want to put in front of key stakeholders and are more likely to promote Storytelling as a Mentorship Opportunity One of the roadblocks that many female professionals run into is a small pool of mentors—a disadvantage that stems from the lack of women in upper management. Companies that want to better support their female employees need to be intentional about creating an environment where women can encourage each other, learn from each other, and teach each other. Because storytelling is driven and reinforced by ongoing, internal coaching, it offers women the perfect scenario for both peer-to-peer interaction and mentorship. It gives female leaders the opportunity to model storytelling and offer feedback to up-and-coming talent, and it gives peers the opportunity to practice their skills and hold each other accountable in a safe environment. Setting a More Equitable Table After decades of fighting for a seat at the decision-making table, women are done waiting for companies to see their potential. Today’s female leaders know their worth, and they are seeking out employers that are taking measurable steps to support women and close the gender gaps at the top of the ladder. If we want to evolve DEI in the workplace, we need to transform how we work together. By creating an even playing field through storytelling for everyone, all boats rise with the tide, and we begin to solve what to-date has seemed unsolvable… giving all women the chance to be seen, heard, and valued in the workplace.   References: 1McKinsey, Women in the Workplace 2022 2CIO.com, 7 challenges women face in getting ahead in IT 3Forbes, A ‘Great Breakup’— Female Leaders Switching Jobs In Unprecedented Numbers, Survey Shows 4Colgate-Palmolive, Celebrating Women in Science 5Nestlé press release, Nestlé recognized in 2022 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index for fourth consecutive year 6Medtronic, Diversity, Inclusion & Equity Initiatives Elevating Women Leaders 7Intuit, Four Ways to Empower Women in Tech Website Photo by Kitta Bodmer Photography", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/TPC.5-scaled.jpg", "modified": "2026-01-16T10:21:27-05:00" }, { "id": 9410, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/a-powerful-tool-to-upskill-existing-talent/", "title": "A Powerful Tool to Upskill Existing Talent", "h1": "A Powerful Tool to Upskill Existing Talent", "summary": "", "content": "

The struggle to find and retain high quality talent is real, and if you’re like most companies, you’re scrambling to fill the gaps, ease workloads, and keep your teams—and your business—on track.

Pile on an uncertain economy, the growth of remote teams, and a quitting trend that isn’t easing up, and the talent challenge facing today’s companies is nothing short of daunting. Even big names like Twitter, Meta, and Amazon have grabbed headlines with recent layoff announcements, leaving these once-giant workforces with thinning headcounts even more susceptible to burnout.1 There’s no doubt that many leaders are feeling the pressure.

So, what’s the answer? How can you do more with less when you’re already operating in a reduced state?

One possible solution: Focus on upskilling the talent you already have in your arsenal. They just might be your best investment.

A recent Microsoft survey2 found that companies looking for a competitive advantage should be focusing on professional growth of current employees, or what they are calling “re-recruitment” and “re-onboarding.” This not only helps fill talent gaps, but can also re-energize existing employees and help with overall employee retention. In fact, according to Microsoft’s findings, 76% of employees said they’d stick around longer if they could benefit more from learning and development support.

Investing in L&D and talent development is always a win-win, but perhaps now more than ever. Upskilling existing employees not only benefits their professional growth, it positions them for new roles, added responsibilities, and helps them adapt to the evolving needs of your business. Upskilling is also a critical part of succession planning. Ensuring employees at all levels have the opportunity to grow and learn in their role will help identify and develop new, potential leaders who can move into leadership roles when the opportunity arises.

But where do you start?

Communication, Communication, Communication

Think about it. Every successful team is built on good communication, but when employees are dispersed, managers are stressed, and internal dynamics are shifting, it’s easy for messages to get lost in translation or, even worse, stop altogether.

This is where enhanced communication skills like business storytelling can help. Whether you need a manager to bring a remote team into alignment or a mid-level executive to sell an idea to the C-suite, teaching employees how to leverage the art of storytelling gives them the skills they need to be effective and strategic communicators in any role you need them to step into.

Case in point: Virtual meetings have become a mainstay in today’s post-pandemic world, but most of us had to learn how to conduct online presentations on the fly and without any formal training. And as I’m sure most can attest, it often shows.

How Storytelling Helps Fill the Gaps

Upskilling sounds great in theory, but is business storytelling training a practical way to address your staffing woes?

Yes, and here’s why:

“Train people well enough so they can leave, but treat them well enough so they don't want to.”
– Richard Branson

Don’t Neglect Your Greatest Asset

Every leader knows: You’re only as strong as your weakest link.

By investing in your current talent and giving them the skills they need to be successful now and into the future, you’re taking your greatest asset and making your entire organization stronger—from the inside, out.

References:

1NPR, Amazon plans to lay off 10 thousand employees, following job cuts at Meta, Twitter
2Tech.co, Microsoft Tells Companies to “Re-Recruit” Employees to Their Positions

", "content_plain": "The struggle to find and retain high quality talent is real, and if you’re like most companies, you’re scrambling to fill the gaps, ease workloads, and keep your teams—and your business—on track. Pile on an uncertain economy, the growth of remote teams, and a quitting trend that isn’t easing up, and the talent challenge facing today’s companies is nothing short of daunting. Even big names like Twitter, Meta, and Amazon have grabbed headlines with recent layoff announcements, leaving these once-giant workforces with thinning headcounts even more susceptible to burnout.1 There’s no doubt that many leaders are feeling the pressure. So, what’s the answer? How can you do more with less when you’re already operating in a reduced state? One possible solution: Focus on upskilling the talent you already have in your arsenal. They just might be your best investment. A recent Microsoft survey2 found that companies looking for a competitive advantage should be focusing on professional growth of current employees, or what they are calling “re-recruitment” and “re-onboarding.” This not only helps fill talent gaps, but can also re-energize existing employees and help with overall employee retention. In fact, according to Microsoft’s findings, 76% of employees said they’d stick around longer if they could benefit more from learning and development support. Investing in L&D and talent development is always a win-win, but perhaps now more than ever. Upskilling existing employees not only benefits their professional growth, it positions them for new roles, added responsibilities, and helps them adapt to the evolving needs of your business. Upskilling is also a critical part of succession planning. Ensuring employees at all levels have the opportunity to grow and learn in their role will help identify and develop new, potential leaders who can move into leadership roles when the opportunity arises. But where do you start? Communication, Communication, Communication Think about it. Every successful team is built on good communication, but when employees are dispersed, managers are stressed, and internal dynamics are shifting, it’s easy for messages to get lost in translation or, even worse, stop altogether. This is where enhanced communication skills like business storytelling can help. Whether you need a manager to bring a remote team into alignment or a mid-level executive to sell an idea to the C-suite, teaching employees how to leverage the art of storytelling gives them the skills they need to be effective and strategic communicators in any role you need them to step into. Case in point: Virtual meetings have become a mainstay in today’s post-pandemic world, but most of us had to learn how to conduct online presentations on the fly and without any formal training. And as I’m sure most can attest, it often shows. How Storytelling Helps Fill the Gaps Upskilling sounds great in theory, but is business storytelling training a practical way to address your staffing woes? Yes, and here’s why: Storytelling equips people with the skills they need to advance. Employees launched into new leadership roles are often expected to know how to lead teams, present in front of executives, and influence key stakeholders. These aren’t typically skills that come inherently, but they can be taught. Storytelling training focused on crafting compelling messages, delivering engaging presentations, and establishing confidence (which in turn boosts your executive presence!) helps newly appointed staff check all of the management boxes – and more. Storytelling makes employees more agile. With high turnover and gaps in hiring, seats on the boat are quickly shifting, which means you need people who can adapt and flex to the evolving demands of the company. Storytelling gives employees the communication skills they need to uplevel their messaging, both internally and externally, making your whole team more agile and dynamic. Storytelling promotes self-coaching. As understaffed teams thrust more junior employees into new roles with added responsibilities, getting them up to speed via mentorship and coaching is a huge challenge when time is already at a premium. Storytelling provides a framework for people to organize their ideas and helps them think, speak, and communicate these ideas in a more influential way. This skill set can lead to better self-sufficiency when it comes to how to interact with and present to key stakeholders with confidence. Upskilling shows your teams they belong. As the great resignation confirmed, today’s workers are looking for more than a paycheck from their employers. Investing in the employees who haven’t jumped ship sends a clear message that they are valued members of your company and that you care about their professional development. This not only boosts personal confidence and productivity, it can foster loyalty, help with employee retention, promote a positive company culture, and improve overall morale. “Train people well enough so they can leave, but treat them well enough so they don't want to.” – Richard Branson Don’t Neglect Your Greatest Asset Every leader knows: You’re only as strong as your weakest link. By investing in your current talent and giving them the skills they need to be successful now and into the future, you’re taking your greatest asset and making your entire organization stronger—from the inside, out. References: 1NPR, Amazon plans to lay off 10 thousand employees, following job cuts at Meta, Twitter 2Tech.co, Microsoft Tells Companies to “Re-Recruit” Employees to Their Positions", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/iStock-949208436.jpg", "modified": "2023-02-28T09:09:30-05:00" }, { "id": 9385, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/testimonials-about-tpc-training/", "title": "Workshop Testimonials", "h1": "Workshop Testimonials", "summary": "", "content": "

For over two decades, TPC workshops have helped the world’s top brands tell visual stories that powerfully connect with their audience.

By now you may have browsed our course offerings, but wouldn’t you rather hear from real workshop participants?

In these testimonials, you’ll get short case studies from three different companies – Kraft Heinz, Meta, and IATA. Read on to hear about each of their business challenges and how TPC storytelling training helped tackle them.

Workshop Testimonials

Click a button below to explore how TPC
transformed storytelling at these global brands

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Infusing storytelling into the Kraft Heinz Culture

the WHO

Kraft Heinz is the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world.

Their interest in storytelling training originated from their Customer Development Organization (CDO), an externally facing team focused on helping retailers take advantage of consumer insights to capture marketing opportunities and realize revenue.

the WHY

Building storytelling skills was identified as a critical need across the entire organization.

With the introduction of a new leadership team in 2020, Kraft Heinz set its focus on developing talent and critical expertise; simplifying their portfolio by having a better understanding of consumers; and building stronger partnerships.

To arm their team with the skills to communicate critical insights to retailers—from point of sale, to shopper and shelf strategy, Kraft Heinz realized that they needed to tell a more effective story to ensure conversations were relevant to their customers.

the HOW

Crafting Strategic Visual Stories provided the storytelling framework to enable the team to share compelling insights with retail partners, and Presenting Data Visually complemented the storytelling skills to teach key principles of how to share data with actionable insights and meaningful takeaways.

After delivering a successful workshop pilot to the CDO, the Kraft Heinz Transformation Office requested a rollout of Crafting Strategic Visual Stories and Presenting Data Visually to the entire U.S. sales organization.

Over the course of 6 months, TPC delivered 27 workshops to this group.

the OUTCOME

Kraft Heinz executive leadership has infused TPC’s storytelling concepts and approach into everything they do.

The entire organization is now held accountable to these core competencies. Our trusted and continued partnership with Kraft Heinz allows us to enhance our workshop content and experience.

\"\"

Best. Training. Ever. Seriously, this was fantastic, easy to follow, and will be incredibly helpful in my job. I can’t wait improve on this further!”

\"\"

Getting executive buy-in at Meta

the WHO

Meta is a technology company considered among the world’s most valuable public companies.

Meta owns Facebook, the world’s largest online social media and social networking service, with nearly 3 billion monthly users.

the WHY

The finance organization was having challenges conveying their value to internal stakeholders.

Mired in too much data, they identified the need to tell audience-centric stories to share with different functional teams across the business.

the HOW

Meta found that Presenting Data Visually was the perfect workshop for a data-driven finance team. It helped them understand how to curate and present data in a meaningful and insightful way. The data workshop was the right complement to Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, which laid the groundwork for narrative storytelling skills.

Various teams within the global finance organization have participated in successful pilots of Crafting Strategic Visual Stories and Presenting Data Visually.

Since 2016, TPC has trained 2,000+ people within Meta’s marketing and sales teams.

the OUTCOME

Meta has gained executive buy-in to instill a culture of storytelling across the organization more broadly.

It has committed to these core communications competencies at the Chief Accounting Office level. TPC has become Meta’s primary storytelling and data visualization training provider.

\"\"

After the workshop, I went on stage and delivered my story to 900 people. I was the only person to receive a standing ovation in the whole event!”

\"\"

Staying ahead of the learning curve at IATA

the WHO

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is a trade association of the world’s airlines.

Its mission is to represent, lead, and serve the airline industry. Consisting of 290 airlines representing 121 countries, IATA member airlines carry 83% of the world’s air traffic.

the WHY

IATA’s subject matter experts routinely present to decision makers and stakeholders.

As advocates for the air transport industry, their audience includes governmental bodies, regulators, and airline executives.

With a knowledgeable group of people serving a diverse audience, IATA found that it was critical for their presentations to have a compelling narrative, clear calls to action, and an elevated visual quality. Storytelling training was identified as the right way to meet this challenge and up-skill their people.

the HOW

IATA’s Learning & Development (L&D) team offers virtual, cohort-driven access to TPC’s foundational storytelling workshops: Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, Influencing with Visuals, and Presenting Data Visually. In 2020, IATA and the airline industry was deeply affected by the global COVID pandemic. Since TPC was already offering a robust virtual classroom experience prior to COVID, IATA saw little interruption to their learning access.

With TPC as a partner and industry leader in delivering virtual instructor-led courses, IATA felt confident and even ahead of the curve when it came to keeping training a priority.

Since 2015, IATA has had over 1,000 employees in all areas of the business, located across 51 countries, participate in nearly 80 TPC workshops.

the OUTCOME

TPC and the IATA L&D team have a strong and meaningful partnership that allows us to continuously deliver quality training to their global teams. The culture of storytelling has permeated across the organization, with workshop participants making recommendations to their colleagues to take TPC training.

Employees have adopted TPC tools into their day-to-day work and some have said it has changed their careers.

\"\"

TPC offers top-quality virtual classroom delivery. This course blew me away!”

\"\"
", "content_plain": "For over two decades, TPC workshops have helped the world’s top brands tell visual stories that powerfully connect with their audience. By now you may have browsed our course offerings, but wouldn’t you rather hear from real workshop participants? In these testimonials, you’ll get short case studies from three different companies – Kraft Heinz, Meta, and IATA. Read on to hear about each of their business challenges and how TPC storytelling training helped tackle them. Workshop Testimonials Click a button below to explore how TPC transformed storytelling at these global brands Infusing storytelling into the Kraft Heinz Culture the WHO Kraft Heinz is the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world. Their interest in storytelling training originated from their Customer Development Organization (CDO), an externally facing team focused on helping retailers take advantage of consumer insights to capture marketing opportunities and realize revenue. the WHY Building storytelling skills was identified as a critical need across the entire organization. With the introduction of a new leadership team in 2020, Kraft Heinz set its focus on developing talent and critical expertise; simplifying their portfolio by having a better understanding of consumers; and building stronger partnerships. To arm their team with the skills to communicate critical insights to retailers—from point of sale, to shopper and shelf strategy, Kraft Heinz realized that they needed to tell a more effective story to ensure conversations were relevant to their customers. the HOW Crafting Strategic Visual Stories provided the storytelling framework to enable the team to share compelling insights with retail partners, and Presenting Data Visually complemented the storytelling skills to teach key principles of how to share data with actionable insights and meaningful takeaways. After delivering a successful workshop pilot to the CDO, the Kraft Heinz Transformation Office requested a rollout of Crafting Strategic Visual Stories and Presenting Data Visually to the entire U.S. sales organization. Over the course of 6 months, TPC delivered 27 workshops to this group. the OUTCOME Kraft Heinz executive leadership has infused TPC’s storytelling concepts and approach into everything they do. The entire organization is now held accountable to these core competencies. Our trusted and continued partnership with Kraft Heinz allows us to enhance our workshop content and experience. Best. Training. Ever. Seriously, this was fantastic, easy to follow, and will be incredibly helpful in my job. I can’t wait improve on this further!” Getting executive buy-in at Meta the WHO Meta is a technology company considered among the world’s most valuable public companies. Meta owns Facebook, the world’s largest online social media and social networking service, with nearly 3 billion monthly users. the WHY The finance organization was having challenges conveying their value to internal stakeholders. Mired in too much data, they identified the need to tell audience-centric stories to share with different functional teams across the business. the HOW Meta found that Presenting Data Visually was the perfect workshop for a data-driven finance team. It helped them understand how to curate and present data in a meaningful and insightful way. The data workshop was the right complement to Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, which laid the groundwork for narrative storytelling skills. Various teams within the global finance organization have participated in successful pilots of Crafting Strategic Visual Stories and Presenting Data Visually. Since 2016, TPC has trained 2,000+ people within Meta’s marketing and sales teams. the OUTCOME Meta has gained executive buy-in to instill a culture of storytelling across the organization more broadly. It has committed to these core communications competencies at the Chief Accounting Office level. TPC has become Meta’s primary storytelling and data visualization training provider. After the workshop, I went on stage and delivered my story to 900 people. I was the only person to receive a standing ovation in the whole event!” Staying ahead of the learning curve at IATA the WHO The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is a trade association of the world’s airlines. Its mission is to represent, lead, and serve the airline industry. Consisting of 290 airlines representing 121 countries, IATA member airlines carry 83% of the world’s air traffic. the WHY IATA’s subject matter experts routinely present to decision makers and stakeholders. As advocates for the air transport industry, their audience includes governmental bodies, regulators, and airline executives. With a knowledgeable group of people serving a diverse audience, IATA found that it was critical for their presentations to have a compelling narrative, clear calls to action, and an elevated visual quality. Storytelling training was identified as the right way to meet this challenge and up-skill their people. the HOW IATA’s Learning & Development (L&D) team offers virtual, cohort-driven access to TPC’s foundational storytelling workshops: Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, Influencing with Visuals, and Presenting Data Visually. In 2020, IATA and the airline industry was deeply affected by the global COVID pandemic. Since TPC was already offering a robust virtual classroom experience prior to COVID, IATA saw little interruption to their learning access. With TPC as a partner and industry leader in delivering virtual instructor-led courses, IATA felt confident and even ahead of the curve when it came to keeping training a priority. Since 2015, IATA has had over 1,000 employees in all areas of the business, located across 51 countries, participate in nearly 80 TPC workshops. the OUTCOME TPC and the IATA L&D team have a strong and meaningful partnership that allows us to continuously deliver quality training to their global teams. The culture of storytelling has permeated across the organization, with workshop participants making recommendations to their colleagues to take TPC training. Employees have adopted TPC tools into their day-to-day work and some have said it has changed their careers. TPC offers top-quality virtual classroom delivery. This course blew me away!”", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/workshop-testimonials.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T15:16:50-05:00" }, { "id": 9382, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/packaged-tpc-pitch-for-executives/", "title": "Packaged Pitch for Executives", "h1": "Packaged Pitch for Executives", "summary": "", "content": "

You’ve had a front-row seat to far too many confusing and meandering presentations – or ones that just don’t keep people’s attention. And now you’ve done your research and understand how business storytelling training could transform the way your organization communicates.

But how do you convey this message to your boss or decisionmaker in charge of training? We have just what you need to make the case!

We’ve put together this packaged pitch for executives, a ready-to-present deck that will help you communicate the value of TPC storytelling training to your organization.

Download this presentation, round up your team, and get ready to share why your organization needs to get on board with storytelling training.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.
\"DOWNLOAD
", "content_plain": "You’ve had a front-row seat to far too many confusing and meandering presentations – or ones that just don’t keep people’s attention. And now you’ve done your research and understand how business storytelling training could transform the way your organization communicates. But how do you convey this message to your boss or decisionmaker in charge of training? We have just what you need to make the case! We’ve put together this packaged pitch for executives, a ready-to-present deck that will help you communicate the value of TPC storytelling training to your organization. Download this presentation, round up your team, and get ready to share why your organization needs to get on board with storytelling training. You can view our Privacy Policy here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Packaged-Pitch-Package-for-Executives.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T11:06:46-05:00" }, { "id": 9366, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/undergoing-digital-transformation-use-storytelling-to-smooth-the-transition/", "title": "Undergoing Digital Transformation? Use Storytelling to Smooth the Transition", "h1": "Undergoing Digital Transformation? Use Storytelling to Smooth the Transition", "summary": "", "content": "

The push to integrate digital technology into all areas of business is now table stakes, and if you’re part of a team leading the charge, you’re probably feeling the pressure.

Study1 after study2 has shown that the pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital technology by several years, leaving businesses with no choice but to up their digital game. But here’s a truth many business leaders are missing when it comes to digital transformation: Making your business digital-first is only half the challenge.

The other half? Well, that’s another story that isn’t analog or digital—it’s human.

Like any change initiative, digital transformation requires leaders to get everyone on board and in alignment, and the only way that can happen is with effective change communication.

Enter business storytelling. With the right skills and mindset, your team can use the power of story to not only effectively communicate your digital strategy, but garner the internal and external buy-in you need to make it a success.

Why is Change Communication Important?

Whether you’re leveling up your data protection and security, implementing customer data platforms, or powering your business through AI-driven initiatives, digital transformation is more than just a technology upgrade. It’s a total shift in the way your organization operates and even more so, the way your employees work and communicate with one another. And let’s face it—most people resist change, especially if there is a learning curve attached to it.

Research shows that 70% of complex, large-scale change programs don’t reach their stated goals.3 In fact, one report estimates that some Fortune 100 companies have lost hundreds of billions of dollars on failed digital transformation programs.4

While the reasons behind a failed change initiative are pretty nuanced and unique to each company, most experts seem to agree on one common pitfall: Poor communication. In the end, most leaders just don’t have the skills needed to get the entire organization – not to mention external stakeholders – to buy-in and stay engaged long enough to make the transformation a success.3

Storytelling: Your Secret Change Agent

The good news is that change management communication is a learned skill that aligns perfectly with the business storytelling framework:

Make Storytelling Part of Your Digital Strategy

Using storytelling to smooth out the edges of your digital transformation is almost a no-brainer. Although most people don’t like change, everyone likes a good story.

The truth is, any type of change initiative will usher in some level of resistance and employee pushback. Digital transformation is no exception. The key is to be proactive and have a concrete communication strategy in place.

Change communication built around storytelling will give your leaders the skills they need to address the human element of change management, while keeping key stakeholders informed and on track to meet your digital transformation goals.

References:

1McKinsey & Company, How COVID-19 has pushed companies over the technology tipping point—and transformed business forever

2Forbes, 97% Of Executives Say Covid-19 Sped Up Digital Transformation

3McKinsey & Company, The ‘how’ of transformation

4CNBC, The $900 billion reason GE, Ford and P&G failed at digital transformation

", "content_plain": "The push to integrate digital technology into all areas of business is now table stakes, and if you’re part of a team leading the charge, you’re probably feeling the pressure. Study1 after study2 has shown that the pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital technology by several years, leaving businesses with no choice but to up their digital game. But here’s a truth many business leaders are missing when it comes to digital transformation: Making your business digital-first is only half the challenge. The other half? Well, that’s another story that isn’t analog or digital—it’s human. Like any change initiative, digital transformation requires leaders to get everyone on board and in alignment, and the only way that can happen is with effective change communication. Enter business storytelling. With the right skills and mindset, your team can use the power of story to not only effectively communicate your digital strategy, but garner the internal and external buy-in you need to make it a success. Why is Change Communication Important? Whether you’re leveling up your data protection and security, implementing customer data platforms, or powering your business through AI-driven initiatives, digital transformation is more than just a technology upgrade. It’s a total shift in the way your organization operates and even more so, the way your employees work and communicate with one another. And let’s face it—most people resist change, especially if there is a learning curve attached to it. Research shows that 70% of complex, large-scale change programs don’t reach their stated goals.3 In fact, one report estimates that some Fortune 100 companies have lost hundreds of billions of dollars on failed digital transformation programs.4 While the reasons behind a failed change initiative are pretty nuanced and unique to each company, most experts seem to agree on one common pitfall: Poor communication. In the end, most leaders just don’t have the skills needed to get the entire organization – not to mention external stakeholders – to buy-in and stay engaged long enough to make the transformation a success.3 Storytelling: Your Secret Change Agent The good news is that change management communication is a learned skill that aligns perfectly with the business storytelling framework: Storytelling can be adapted to diverse audiences. Communicating a digital transformation means you’ll have to share with multiple stakeholders throughout the business, whether that’s a C-suite executive, an IT manager, or a team leader. And of course, your efforts will need to be communicated outside the business as well. For example, if the digital transformation will change the way you work with your customers, partners, or suppliers, they’ll need to be in the know. The storytelling framework of WHY, WHAT, and HOW can easily be adapted to the perspective of each stakeholder, while still maintaining the same BIG Idea. This keeps your narrative both compelling and consistent, which keeps everyone moving in the same direction and working toward the same goals. Storytelling creates a human connection. Storytelling is built upon four structural elements – setting, characters, conflict, and a resolution – that create a familiar pattern of ideas that gives your audience a reason to care and feel something. By framing up your digital transformation with this approach, your audience – and customers, in particular – will connect with the characters in your story and see the humanity in your message. Storytelling allows you to effectively communicate the ways in which digital transformation will impact them in the long run. This will lead to stronger customer partnerships built on trust and shared mutual goals. Storytelling in business can be used in any form of communication. An effective digital transformation communications plan should include frequent communications and often in different formats. The storytelling framework can be implemented no matter how you are sharing information, from e-mails and town hall meetings to one-pagers and team presentations. Every form of business communication is an opportunity to tell a compelling story, and in this case, it can be used to reinforce the key messages around your digital transformation initiative. Storytelling improves data literacy and builds executive presence. After a digital transformation is underway, executive leadership will want to know how it is progressing – whether it’s budget updates, digital spending trends, or ROI on your digital investments. Knowing how to use storytelling to share updates with valuable data insights will be critical to telling executives what they need to know without overwhelming them with numbers. This not only improves your team’s data literacy, it helps build executive presence and overall confidence. Make Storytelling Part of Your Digital Strategy Using storytelling to smooth out the edges of your digital transformation is almost a no-brainer. Although most people don’t like change, everyone likes a good story. The truth is, any type of change initiative will usher in some level of resistance and employee pushback. Digital transformation is no exception. The key is to be proactive and have a concrete communication strategy in place. Change communication built around storytelling will give your leaders the skills they need to address the human element of change management, while keeping key stakeholders informed and on track to meet your digital transformation goals. References: 1McKinsey & Company, How COVID-19 has pushed companies over the technology tipping point—and transformed business forever 2Forbes, 97% Of Executives Say Covid-19 Sped Up Digital Transformation 3McKinsey & Company, The ‘how’ of transformation 4CNBC, The $900 billion reason GE, Ford and P&G failed at digital transformation", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/digital-transformation.jpg", "modified": "2023-02-28T12:28:52-05:00" }, { "id": 9353, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/pro-tip-dont-miss-the-power-of-storytelling-in-your-dei-initiatives/", "title": "Pro-Tip: Don’t Miss the Power of Storytelling in your DEI Initiatives", "h1": "Pro-Tip: Don’t Miss the Power of Storytelling in your DEI Initiatives", "summary": "", "content": "

You don’t need another hashtag to convince you that your company should be investing in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). And we aren’t just talking about socially conscious logos or carefully worded email blasts about new policies. DEI has become so much more than that.

Over the last several years, DEI has quickly moved from a feel-good HR initiative to a top business priority for companies that want to attract—and maintain—employees and new customers. A diverse talent pool, equitable opportunities, and inclusive language are now baseline expectations, and the onus is on organizations to bake them into the fabric of their company culture.

For many, that’s a pretty tall order, and if you’re like most L&D leaders, you’re looking for ways to extend DEI beyond checkboxes and optics and ingrain it into your everyday business.

So, how can you integrate equality and diversity into the workplace every day?

Storytelling. To make a real DEI impact, organizations can start by changing the conversation from the inside out. Put simply: You need to foster a culture that allows everyone to feel seen and heard, and one great way to do that is through skilled business communications training like storytelling.

How Storytelling Can Boost Your DEI efforts

Research1 shows that while the vast majority of employees say their organizations have prioritized diversity and inclusion, one in five can’t point to anyone within the organization who backs this up with action. So, while many organizations are engaging in DEI conversations, it’s still not cutting it for today’s socially conscious employees.

This means L&D leaders need to be intentional about how they facilitate their DEI initiatives, and even more so, how they get everyone speaking the same language.

Storytelling helps accomplish this and more. With the right training, employees can learn how to better communicate with each other and with clients by crafting compelling visual narratives that connect with the listener and empower the presenter.

Let’s break it down:

Upskill and Empower Your Team

The best part about storytelling training is that it gives teams equal access to a new set of skills they can apply to different aspects of their job. This helps build employee confidence and morale, improves cross-functional communication, and benefits the organization as a whole.

In our foundational storytelling workshop, Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, teams learn how to turn data, insights, and recommendations into compelling, audience-centric business stories. Whether you’re an account manager putting together a quarterly business review or a sales lead crafting a product customer pitch, the same skills can be applied and adapted. Essentially, everyone wins.

DEI = Meaningful and Open Dialogue

If your equality and inclusion efforts are limited to a DEI statement on your website or annual DEI training, you may need to rethink your strategy.

At the center of the DEI movement is the human experience, which is also the very heart of storytelling. By leveraging the power of story in business, you are giving your employees an effective way to share their experiences and their ideas, and, in turn, building a culture that values compassion, creativity, good communication, and most of all, mutual respect.

The truth is, actions will always speak louder than words, but that’s only when the words don’t measure up. With storytelling training, you can make your team’s words count and drive meaningful change, all at the same time.

References:
1Eagle Hill Consulting, Want to improve the employee experience? Tighten the gap between action and impact in diversity and inclusion

", "content_plain": "You don’t need another hashtag to convince you that your company should be investing in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). And we aren’t just talking about socially conscious logos or carefully worded email blasts about new policies. DEI has become so much more than that. Over the last several years, DEI has quickly moved from a feel-good HR initiative to a top business priority for companies that want to attract—and maintain—employees and new customers. A diverse talent pool, equitable opportunities, and inclusive language are now baseline expectations, and the onus is on organizations to bake them into the fabric of their company culture. For many, that’s a pretty tall order, and if you’re like most L&D leaders, you’re looking for ways to extend DEI beyond checkboxes and optics and ingrain it into your everyday business. So, how can you integrate equality and diversity into the workplace every day? Storytelling. To make a real DEI impact, organizations can start by changing the conversation from the inside out. Put simply: You need to foster a culture that allows everyone to feel seen and heard, and one great way to do that is through skilled business communications training like storytelling. How Storytelling Can Boost Your DEI efforts Research1 shows that while the vast majority of employees say their organizations have prioritized diversity and inclusion, one in five can’t point to anyone within the organization who backs this up with action. So, while many organizations are engaging in DEI conversations, it’s still not cutting it for today’s socially conscious employees. This means L&D leaders need to be intentional about how they facilitate their DEI initiatives, and even more so, how they get everyone speaking the same language. Storytelling helps accomplish this and more. With the right training, employees can learn how to better communicate with each other and with clients by crafting compelling visual narratives that connect with the listener and empower the presenter. Let’s break it down: Storytelling establishes empathy. One of the fundamental principles of storytelling training is putting yourself in your audience’s shoes. This approach teaches employees to be more thoughtful, compassionate, and sensitive to the needs of their listener, whether that’s a prospective client or fellow team member. From creating a visually appealing slide deck to pitching internal ideas, business storytelling teaches teams how to put their audience first by calling out the challenges they face and then offering a resolution that benefits everyone. Storytelling encourages visual mindfulness. If a picture is worth a thousand words, the visuals you select to tell your story matter. Be mindful to ensure your visuals are diverse and inclusive of different cultures, ages, and abilities (just to name a few!). And what about those PowerPoint decks or Google slides we all create? Has anyone stopped to think about those with color blindness? These simple measures are so often overlooked. Storytelling enables us to be the change agent. It encourages teams to craft a narrative with characters and visuals that will resonate with their audience. Storytelling gives everyone a voice. Storytelling skills can be scaled across the entire organization, giving everyone a seat at the table and the ability to effectively share their ideas, no matter their role or seniority. Additionally, employees feel valued when you invest in their skills and support their professional growth. Storytelling promotes team building and unity. By following a consistent communication framework like storytelling, the entire organization will be on the same page, speaking the same language, and reaching for the same goals. Say hello to reduced cycles and more productive meetings because your team built the narrative right the first time! What’s more unifying than that? Upskill and Empower Your Team The best part about storytelling training is that it gives teams equal access to a new set of skills they can apply to different aspects of their job. This helps build employee confidence and morale, improves cross-functional communication, and benefits the organization as a whole. In our foundational storytelling workshop, Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, teams learn how to turn data, insights, and recommendations into compelling, audience-centric business stories. Whether you’re an account manager putting together a quarterly business review or a sales lead crafting a product customer pitch, the same skills can be applied and adapted. Essentially, everyone wins. DEI = Meaningful and Open Dialogue If your equality and inclusion efforts are limited to a DEI statement on your website or annual DEI training, you may need to rethink your strategy. At the center of the DEI movement is the human experience, which is also the very heart of storytelling. By leveraging the power of story in business, you are giving your employees an effective way to share their experiences and their ideas, and, in turn, building a culture that values compassion, creativity, good communication, and most of all, mutual respect. The truth is, actions will always speak louder than words, but that’s only when the words don’t measure up. With storytelling training, you can make your team’s words count and drive meaningful change, all at the same time. References: 1Eagle Hill Consulting, Want to improve the employee experience? Tighten the gap between action and impact in diversity and inclusion", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/power-of-storytelling.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T16:11:41-05:00" }, { "id": 9348, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/how-cpg-organizations-use-storytelling-to-deliver-critical-insights/", "title": "How CPG Organizations Use Storytelling to Deliver Critical Insights Across (and Outside) the Business", "h1": "How CPG Organizations Use Storytelling to Deliver Critical Insights Across (and Outside) the Business", "summary": "For consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, earning a spot on retailers’ shelves or digital storefront is extremely challenging, particularly with the high levels of innovation and renovation in the industry. Retailers have a major task in front of them to understand and satisfy their core shoppers, hoping to gain their loyalty. The time and economic […]", "content": "

For consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, earning a spot on retailers’ shelves or digital storefront is extremely challenging, particularly with the high levels of innovation and renovation in the industry.

Retailers have a major task in front of them to understand and satisfy their core shoppers, hoping to gain their loyalty. The time and economic pressures on shoppers make retailers’ jobs even harder as they need to make the best choices for their shoppers quickly. To support their retailer partners, CPG companies are now even more accountable to support their recommendations with critical insights that inform and accelerate decision-making.

When cross-functional teams are moving fast and working from different approaches, it makes communicating with clarity and impact that much more challenging. The result? Time wasted on rework of presentations, meetings that don’t land, a constant need to ‘circle back,’ and data dumping that overwhelms the audience.

Let’s explore the complex matrix we see in CPG organizations. There are several important roles and functions that impact the customer, and everyone has a role to play in how they deliver insights that drive business forward.

The Sales team “owns” the customer relationship and overall P&L and results. They are held accountable by their company to deliver strong results for their customer and company. The Sales team partners with several adjacent organizations to deliver against their goals. Sales Planning/Strategy is a critical partner that provides a bridge between the Marketing and Sales teams, communicating key objectives and selling materials to the Sales team. The Marketing team supports the growth of existing brands while also commercializing innovation that meets the ever-evolving needs of the consumer. The Category Leadership team is focused on helping the retailer grow their entire category.

To work efficiently, these teams need to communicate critical materials, information, learnings, and trends seamlessly between each other and to the retailer—from macro trends, to shopper insights, to tactical recommendations. With the recent advent of multiple data sources and the complexity that brings, being focused on the story is even more important. Using the data properly allows the story to be even more customized and specific to the retailer.

Strong internal partnerships and seamless ways of working are critical to moving with speed and building a strong retailer partnership. When multiple teams contribute to the messages delivered to customers, there’s enormous value in having everyone aligned on a shared communications approach.

We believe that by uniting everyone across the organization with a common storytelling language and framework to communicate, CPG companies can bring clarity and meaning to their ideas, updates, and recommendations to influence key business decisions and help the whole organization stand out.

Why storytelling?

Within CPG manufacturers, having a common framework centered around the story to be told can provide a “true north,” simplify ways of working, and define points of ownership. It can truly bring clarity across the CPG matrix while eliminating churn. From a retailer perspective, retail partners are busier than ever and they meet with people all day, every day. It’s critical to stand out and become that one meeting they remember at the end of the day. While the goal is to be memorable and get action on your idea, many CPG folks are challenged with how to be compelling. How can they stand out from the competition to deliver messages that resonate with their audience and lead to action? The right tools and skills (spoiler alert – storytelling!) that can streamline, simplify, and elevate every business interaction (from emails, to presentations, to 1-pagers and even elevator pitches!) are essential to today’s CPG leaders.

Storytelling provides a framework for you to clearly communicate your ideas and provide calls to action – and it offers a clear path for incorporating your data. We know data is necessary to inform business decisions, big and small, but challenges arise for CPG teams when trying to determine how much, or what data to share. The key is ensure whatever data you include advances your overall narrative, and appears in the right part of the story – in support of setting, characters, conflict, or the resolution. This approach to data storytelling will breathe life into your numbers and give your audience something to remember.

Great storytellers leave a lasting impression

Whether you’re aiming to showcase your consultative skills as a great partner, sending a high-stakes email, or preparing a pitch, crafting your story around a BIG Idea will help you tell a compelling and influential narrative that help you stand out and – more importantly – get your audience to say “Yes!”

Every story needs a BIG Idea – this is the one thing you want your audience to remember. Your BIG Idea should be a simple, conversational statement that captures the so what? of your story with high-level benefits. In short, it’s a one-line “a-ha” to your audience that will get them to lean in and want to hear more. Think about how many pitches retailers must listen to. Don’t you want to be the one remembered among your competitors?

Here are just a few examples of BIG Ideas in the CPG world:

Once you’ve shared your BIG Idea, you can move into the resolution of your story. This is the “HOW” you recommend bringing your BIG Idea to life and should be the easy part – after all, no one knows your product or solution better than you do. Now that you’ve given your audience a reason to care, the rest of the story should come naturally. You’re just resolving the tension you’ve built up in your narrative – and who doesn’t love a satisfying story ending, after all?

Level up with storytelling

CPG organizations are challenged with communicating to a diverse group of internal and external stakeholders on a regular basis. Telling a story will humanize your content, create a productive two-way dialogue, and meet your audience’s needs in the moment. The best part? You’ll look like an expert and master presenter to your audience, which will give them more confidence to buy into what you’re selling.

Whether you’re pitching to retailers, delivering a price increase, communicating supply chain issues, or sharing a product update internally, our storytelling framework will help you communicate better through the eyes of your audience.

Want more? Here are other resources that may help:

", "content_plain": "For consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, earning a spot on retailers’ shelves or digital storefront is extremely challenging, particularly with the high levels of innovation and renovation in the industry. Retailers have a major task in front of them to understand and satisfy their core shoppers, hoping to gain their loyalty. The time and economic pressures on shoppers make retailers’ jobs even harder as they need to make the best choices for their shoppers quickly. To support their retailer partners, CPG companies are now even more accountable to support their recommendations with critical insights that inform and accelerate decision-making. When cross-functional teams are moving fast and working from different approaches, it makes communicating with clarity and impact that much more challenging. The result? Time wasted on rework of presentations, meetings that don’t land, a constant need to ‘circle back,’ and data dumping that overwhelms the audience. Let’s explore the complex matrix we see in CPG organizations. There are several important roles and functions that impact the customer, and everyone has a role to play in how they deliver insights that drive business forward. The Sales team “owns” the customer relationship and overall P&L and results. They are held accountable by their company to deliver strong results for their customer and company. The Sales team partners with several adjacent organizations to deliver against their goals. Sales Planning/Strategy is a critical partner that provides a bridge between the Marketing and Sales teams, communicating key objectives and selling materials to the Sales team. The Marketing team supports the growth of existing brands while also commercializing innovation that meets the ever-evolving needs of the consumer. The Category Leadership team is focused on helping the retailer grow their entire category. To work efficiently, these teams need to communicate critical materials, information, learnings, and trends seamlessly between each other and to the retailer—from macro trends, to shopper insights, to tactical recommendations. With the recent advent of multiple data sources and the complexity that brings, being focused on the story is even more important. Using the data properly allows the story to be even more customized and specific to the retailer. Strong internal partnerships and seamless ways of working are critical to moving with speed and building a strong retailer partnership. When multiple teams contribute to the messages delivered to customers, there’s enormous value in having everyone aligned on a shared communications approach. We believe that by uniting everyone across the organization with a common storytelling language and framework to communicate, CPG companies can bring clarity and meaning to their ideas, updates, and recommendations to influence key business decisions and help the whole organization stand out. Why storytelling? Within CPG manufacturers, having a common framework centered around the story to be told can provide a “true north,” simplify ways of working, and define points of ownership. It can truly bring clarity across the CPG matrix while eliminating churn. From a retailer perspective, retail partners are busier than ever and they meet with people all day, every day. It’s critical to stand out and become that one meeting they remember at the end of the day. While the goal is to be memorable and get action on your idea, many CPG folks are challenged with how to be compelling. How can they stand out from the competition to deliver messages that resonate with their audience and lead to action? The right tools and skills (spoiler alert – storytelling!) that can streamline, simplify, and elevate every business interaction (from emails, to presentations, to 1-pagers and even elevator pitches!) are essential to today’s CPG leaders. Storytelling provides a framework for you to clearly communicate your ideas and provide calls to action – and it offers a clear path for incorporating your data. We know data is necessary to inform business decisions, big and small, but challenges arise for CPG teams when trying to determine how much, or what data to share. The key is ensure whatever data you include advances your overall narrative, and appears in the right part of the story – in support of setting, characters, conflict, or the resolution. This approach to data storytelling will breathe life into your numbers and give your audience something to remember. Great storytellers leave a lasting impression Whether you’re aiming to showcase your consultative skills as a great partner, sending a high-stakes email, or preparing a pitch, crafting your story around a BIG Idea will help you tell a compelling and influential narrative that help you stand out and – more importantly – get your audience to say “Yes!” Every story needs a BIG Idea – this is the one thing you want your audience to remember. Your BIG Idea should be a simple, conversational statement that captures the so what? of your story with high-level benefits. In short, it’s a one-line “a-ha” to your audience that will get them to lean in and want to hear more. Think about how many pitches retailers must listen to. Don’t you want to be the one remembered among your competitors? Here are just a few examples of BIG Ideas in the CPG world: Skyrocket your category sales by investing more in convenient and healthy family meal options. To get more loyalty from health and eco-conscious shoppers, we must provide transparency into our manufacturing process and how we source our ingredients. To attract the next generation of shoppers, we must create an interactive and informative app for consumers to engage with us. Once you’ve shared your BIG Idea, you can move into the resolution of your story. This is the “HOW” you recommend bringing your BIG Idea to life and should be the easy part – after all, no one knows your product or solution better than you do. Now that you’ve given your audience a reason to care, the rest of the story should come naturally. You’re just resolving the tension you’ve built up in your narrative – and who doesn’t love a satisfying story ending, after all? Level up with storytelling CPG organizations are challenged with communicating to a diverse group of internal and external stakeholders on a regular basis. Telling a story will humanize your content, create a productive two-way dialogue, and meet your audience’s needs in the moment. The best part? You’ll look like an expert and master presenter to your audience, which will give them more confidence to buy into what you’re selling. Whether you’re pitching to retailers, delivering a price increase, communicating supply chain issues, or sharing a product update internally, our storytelling framework will help you communicate better through the eyes of your audience. Want more? Here are other resources that may help: How Storytelling has Empowered My Teams at Kraft Heinz to Become the Indispensable Partner to our Customers [Webinar] 2024 CMA Conference Highlight: Elevate Your Data Story with Powerful Visuals [Webinar] Reimagining Customer Engagement in the New World Learn more about our storytelling learning journey that has helped transform teams at top CPG brands into strategic, influential communicators", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/storytelling.jpg", "modified": "2024-05-30T12:38:34-05:00" }, { "id": 9268, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/need-to-align-teams-with-mixed-skills-consider-storytelling/", "title": "Need to Align Teams with Mixed Skills? Consider Storytelling", "h1": "Need to Align Teams with Mixed Skills? Consider Storytelling", "summary": "", "content": "

If you’re still dealing with the after-effects of the great resignation (and now #quietquitting), you’re not alone. Talent shortages and hybrid work have created massive shifts in how teams work and collaborate with one another, leaving many organizations now struggling with a talent pool with an uneven mix of skills and institutional knowledge. Getting everyone on the same page is never easy, with managers feeling the burden of having to upskill their teams with limited time in the day, and many L&D professionals now tasked with solving this through training and internal education programs.

So, how do you get new and existing employees speaking the same language while also building and strengthening team dynamics? The answer may surprise you: Create a culture of storytelling.

Yes, storytelling.

Good communication is the cornerstone of any healthy company culture, and storytelling gives teams a better way to communicate. Whether holding a brainstorming session, presenting an update, or writing an email, a culture of storytelling establishes a common methodology to share ideas and interact internally and externally.

In other words, it gives managers an effective way to bring their team into alignment – and also gain influence across the organization.

Anyone Can Learn This

Like any newly acquired skill, it starts with investing in your people.

While everyone enjoys a good story, most people don’t have the right skills to craft a great story, especially in a business setting. Many teams are especially challenged with how to weave mountains of data into a compelling story. With some basic understanding of the key elements of story fundamentals, along with training and consistent coaching, storytelling can become a shared language within your teams and across the entire organization.

Consider the workshop, Crafting Strategic Visual Stories. It teaches the fundamentals of storytelling with a practical, easy-to-use framework that will transform business communications into memorable narratives that drive conversations forward. The best part? Teams will discover strategies for adjusting their narrative to any scenario, including meetings cut short, a boss’s request for 3 to 5 slides, a diverse audience, a high-stakes email, or a virtual presentation. This will help boost their confidence and executive presence while literally and figuratively getting everyone on the same page.

Creating a Culture of Storytelling

Now comes the fun. Once employees are trained on the foundational principles of storytelling, managers can start weaving it into every aspect of the organization. This will take time, practice, and consistent coaching as you implement this mindset into your everyday operations. The result? Getting your team to speak in “story” can completely transform the way you do business.

Communicating at the Speed of Business

Soft Skills are More Critical Than Ever

In an ever-evolving employment landscape, listening, teaming up with others, sharing thoughts, and communicating with colleagues is essential in our always-on, never done business reality. Building a culture of storytelling may seem a little out of the box, but the reality is that narrative has always been the driving force behind any company product, innovation, or strategic growth. Think of any great brand you admire, and chances are they have an amazing story they tell.

With the right training, storytelling can become a strategic business tool that leaders can use to align their teams, empower employees old and new, and equip their organization for the next level of success.

", "content_plain": "If you’re still dealing with the after-effects of the great resignation (and now #quietquitting), you’re not alone. Talent shortages and hybrid work have created massive shifts in how teams work and collaborate with one another, leaving many organizations now struggling with a talent pool with an uneven mix of skills and institutional knowledge. Getting everyone on the same page is never easy, with managers feeling the burden of having to upskill their teams with limited time in the day, and many L&D professionals now tasked with solving this through training and internal education programs. So, how do you get new and existing employees speaking the same language while also building and strengthening team dynamics? The answer may surprise you: Create a culture of storytelling. Yes, storytelling. Good communication is the cornerstone of any healthy company culture, and storytelling gives teams a better way to communicate. Whether holding a brainstorming session, presenting an update, or writing an email, a culture of storytelling establishes a common methodology to share ideas and interact internally and externally. In other words, it gives managers an effective way to bring their team into alignment – and also gain influence across the organization. Anyone Can Learn This Like any newly acquired skill, it starts with investing in your people. While everyone enjoys a good story, most people don’t have the right skills to craft a great story, especially in a business setting. Many teams are especially challenged with how to weave mountains of data into a compelling story. With some basic understanding of the key elements of story fundamentals, along with training and consistent coaching, storytelling can become a shared language within your teams and across the entire organization. Consider the workshop, Crafting Strategic Visual Stories. It teaches the fundamentals of storytelling with a practical, easy-to-use framework that will transform business communications into memorable narratives that drive conversations forward. The best part? Teams will discover strategies for adjusting their narrative to any scenario, including meetings cut short, a boss’s request for 3 to 5 slides, a diverse audience, a high-stakes email, or a virtual presentation. This will help boost their confidence and executive presence while literally and figuratively getting everyone on the same page. Creating a Culture of Storytelling Now comes the fun. Once employees are trained on the foundational principles of storytelling, managers can start weaving it into every aspect of the organization. This will take time, practice, and consistent coaching as you implement this mindset into your everyday operations. The result? Getting your team to speak in “story” can completely transform the way you do business. Communicating at the Speed of Business Storytelling breaks down information silos and ensures a shared vision within a team and across the company Shared stories streamline everyday business communication, encourage collaboration, and drive goals forward faster Communicating with stories makes organizations more agile while encouraging individuals to tap into their creative and innovative thinking Storytelling skills improve executive presence by building confidence, and showing mastery of material when teams can pivot their story in real-time to meet diverse audience needs Storytelling training shows new and existing employees that you value their professional growth, which can help with employee retention and improve morale Soft Skills are More Critical Than Ever In an ever-evolving employment landscape, listening, teaming up with others, sharing thoughts, and communicating with colleagues is essential in our always-on, never done business reality. Building a culture of storytelling may seem a little out of the box, but the reality is that narrative has always been the driving force behind any company product, innovation, or strategic growth. Think of any great brand you admire, and chances are they have an amazing story they tell. With the right training, storytelling can become a strategic business tool that leaders can use to align their teams, empower employees old and new, and equip their organization for the next level of success.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/team-huddle-blog-scaled.jpeg", "modified": "2023-03-03T16:02:24-05:00" }, { "id": 9244, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/why-you-shouldnt-give-up-on-communications-training-yet/", "title": "Why You Shouldn’t Give Up on Communications Training Yet", "h1": "Why You Shouldn’t Give Up on Communications Training Yet", "summary": "", "content": "

Does this sound familiar? You’ve invested in communications training in the past, but the skills didn’t stick. You still find yourself reworking decks, editing your colleagues’ proposals, and presenting on behalf of your team. You wish your peers had the skills and confidence to tell authentic stories and engage their audience, but they dread pitching their ideas or building team presentations.

If you and your team have lived through any of these experiences, you know it can feel exhausting. Unfortunately, you’re not alone. Research conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit shows that communication barriers lead to project delays and failures for 44% of respondents, low morale for 31%, and missed performance goals for 25%.

Fortunately, even if traditional communications training didn’t produce the outcomes you were looking for, you have other solutions to explore. So, really, don’t give up on communications training just yet.

\"\"We’ve tried other communications training. Why didn’t that training work for our organization?

Traditional communications training may not create the outcomes you desire in your organization for a wide variety of reasons. Let’s dig into some of them.

  1. Most training solutions don’t teach practical business storytelling skills

Amid all of the content we’re exposed to on a daily basis, great storytelling stands out. That’s why TED Talks, personal brand storytelling, and memorable speeches show up on our various news and social media sites with such regularity. The problem is that most of the stories we see or hear, online or in person, fail to embrace practical storytelling concepts. Most of us, for example, will never deliver a TED Talk. Instead, we’re more likely delivering the non-sexy stuff like giving a project update to clients or presenting a quarterly progress report. So, while we may pick up a few storytelling tips from them, what we can learn and implement on a daily basis is limited.

The benefits of high-quality storytelling aren’t limited to situations where someone stands on a stage and speaks to a large audience. More likely, we will spend most of our time communicating with colleagues, clients, and customers face to face — or at least person to person — via phone calls, email, or virtual meetings. Or we might draft a one-pager about a new product, or create a presentation for a small group of colleagues.

No matter the medium, audience, or purpose, great storytelling will enhance the persuasive power of your message. The most effective communications training teaches people to pair storytelling with insights, data, and recommendations to create a compelling, audience-centric narrative. Data and facts can be dry, but we often need to use them to convey important information — to support our story and help lead to the action we want the audience to take. Incorporating data and facts into a story for optimal impact is part of an easy-to-learn storytelling framework. With that, anyone can become a master storyteller — in any format or medium.

Above all, a business communication training that emphasizes storytelling is practical. Imagine you’ve prepared a 30-minute presentation for your CEO. As you’re walking through the door she tells you, Sorry, I’ve only got five minutes. How do you adjust on the fly? Or maybe you’re presenting to a large audience with diverse needs or care-abouts. How do you cater to everyone’s needs and engage them throughout the presentation? Learning how to use storytelling effectively teaches you and your team how to be nimble, and prepares you to succeed in any scenario.

  1. Charisma isn’t enough

There’s nothing that can replace a charismatic speaker — someone who captivates an audience from start to finish. But even the most persuasive speaker will fail without a good story. In other words, charisma helps, but it’s hard to beat a charismatic speaker who also has a solid grasp of the content.

A charismatic speaker can make audience members feel important — make them feel that someone is speaking directly to them and keep them engaged from start to finish. But charisma is a trait that’s difficult to teach, and it’s only part of the equation for a successful presentation. Can communications training influence someone’s level of charisma? Absolutely. It can help the person learn how to better command the room. But it can’t transform someone overnight, and it can’t really help the person learn how to create a compelling story. So, what’s the alternative?

More effective than attempting to teach people in your organization how to be more charismatic is teaching them business storytelling. This makes sense if you take a step back and consider the two features that researchers say define charisma: influence (the ability to guide others) and affability (the ability to make other people feel comfortable and at ease). What makes great storytelling so powerful is that when it’s done well, it gives speakers opportunities to capitalize on both of these elements of charisma — influence and affability. Even if someone isn’t naturally charismatic, that person can be taught how to shape an audience’s perception by using a narrative that will guide audience members to a desired decision or outcome. See? The speaker is wielding influence. Similarly, an engaging storyteller will have learned to help the audience feel at ease, speak to key pain points and needs, and constantly be aware of the reactions to the story.

  1. Traditional training doesn’t bring the narrative and visual elements together

It’s critical for your next business communications training to teach the skills of storytelling and effective visual design. Research shows that audiences process information more quickly, and remember it longer, when it’s communicated visually. We’ve all seen this in practice: Well-designed visuals complement a speaker and enhance the entire presentation. But it’s ironic that while 60% of professionals say presentation decks are somewhat or very effective, most presenters don’t use these elements often — perhaps because they lack the skills or confidence to do so effectively.

In truth, most professional communications lack high-quality visual components. And yet, we know that effective visual elements are an essential partner for an engaging narrative — not to mention building credibility for and contributing to the success of the speaker and their employer.

\"\"How do I know if my team needs communications training?

The cost of poor communication can be significant. In fact, for companies with more than 100,000 employees, the average cost of inadequate business communication is $62.4 million per year. If your organization is experiencing any of the following seven situations, your team could likely benefit from additional (or better!) communications training.

  1. Teams get caught in analysis paralysis when collaborating on presentations. Lacking clarity on what to communicate — as well as the confidence to communicate effectively — decision making is stalled.
  2. Leaders spend hours reworking presentations. When organizations haven’t established a common language and multiple people work on decks, presentations lose their coherence. As a result, leaders don’t trust others to craft the message correctly, and take up the task themselves.
  3. Speakers struggle to distill data into a compelling story, making the message of most presentations confusing and difficult to follow.
  4. Emails get misunderstood, causing responses and actions that aren’t needed or just go unanswered altogether.
  5. Audiences are not engaged during presentations and/or meeting participants are distracted.
  6. Audiences don’t understand the message you’re trying to convey
  7. Acronyms get in the way of what you’re trying to say or accomplish. They distract from your credibility and prevent your expertise from shining through.
  8. The same people always present for your company, placing a disproportionate amount of pressure on a small group of employees.

\"\"How does storytelling-based training differ from traditional communications training?

From bedtime stories to campfire stories, we tell stories all day, every day — and we’ve done it for thousands of years. We use stories to create trust and connection. Unfortunately, when we communicate at work, we forget how to tell stories and instead pack our meetings and presentations with dry data, corporate jargon, and complex information that bores our audience. But data itself isn’t the problem. It’s the dull and confusing ways we frame and present it.

Storytelling training can teach you the theory and practice of how to turn data into a compelling narrative. But the benefits of this kind of training are not theoretical.

Is the effectiveness of storytelling backed by science?

Yes! Research shows our brains react differently to stories than they do to information or statistics alone. In his book Descartes’ Error: Reason, Emotion, and the Human Brain, Antonio Damasio describes the neuroscience behind storytelling, explaining that “humans respond more powerfully to stories than plain facts or data alone.” We’ve all experienced this at one time or another. Speakers that exhilarate audiences use story, while those that bore us do not.

Is there a proven ROI to business storytelling?

The argument for investing in business storytelling training isn’t just anecdotal. There is no doubt that storytelling engages listeners, viewers, and readers. After all, our brains are wired to respond to stories. But storytelling is good for business too. Skillful use of storytelling can make a pitch more persuasive and ultimately drive prospects to action. Plus, when you use storytelling for internal meetings and presentations, you’ll increase employment engagement and help people remember help people remember vital information more easily.

\"\"The right training will have a lasting impact

We’re natural storytellers — until, of course, we’re given data and facts to present. Fortunately, when done right, communications training can transform an organization — producing significant outcomes like increased employee engagement and revenue.

There’s a hunger for professional development in this area. We’re all tired of sitting through — and delivering — boring, unengaging materials that will be forgotten or ignored. In fact, 6 out of 10 employees say that firm-wide training, and having a wider range of communication tools to use, would significantly improve work communication.

If you’re tired of reworking slide decks, editing your team’s emails, and speaking on behalf of your company, try storytelling-based communications training. It will deliver a different outcome — one that sticks with you and your team, long after our training wraps up.

", "content_plain": "Does this sound familiar? You’ve invested in communications training in the past, but the skills didn’t stick. You still find yourself reworking decks, editing your colleagues’ proposals, and presenting on behalf of your team. You wish your peers had the skills and confidence to tell authentic stories and engage their audience, but they dread pitching their ideas or building team presentations. If you and your team have lived through any of these experiences, you know it can feel exhausting. Unfortunately, you’re not alone. Research conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit shows that communication barriers lead to project delays and failures for 44% of respondents, low morale for 31%, and missed performance goals for 25%. Fortunately, even if traditional communications training didn’t produce the outcomes you were looking for, you have other solutions to explore. So, really, don’t give up on communications training just yet. We’ve tried other communications training. Why didn’t that training work for our organization? Traditional communications training may not create the outcomes you desire in your organization for a wide variety of reasons. Let’s dig into some of them. Most training solutions don’t teach practical business storytelling skills Amid all of the content we’re exposed to on a daily basis, great storytelling stands out. That’s why TED Talks, personal brand storytelling, and memorable speeches show up on our various news and social media sites with such regularity. The problem is that most of the stories we see or hear, online or in person, fail to embrace practical storytelling concepts. Most of us, for example, will never deliver a TED Talk. Instead, we’re more likely delivering the non-sexy stuff like giving a project update to clients or presenting a quarterly progress report. So, while we may pick up a few storytelling tips from them, what we can learn and implement on a daily basis is limited. The benefits of high-quality storytelling aren’t limited to situations where someone stands on a stage and speaks to a large audience. More likely, we will spend most of our time communicating with colleagues, clients, and customers face to face — or at least person to person — via phone calls, email, or virtual meetings. Or we might draft a one-pager about a new product, or create a presentation for a small group of colleagues. No matter the medium, audience, or purpose, great storytelling will enhance the persuasive power of your message. The most effective communications training teaches people to pair storytelling with insights, data, and recommendations to create a compelling, audience-centric narrative. Data and facts can be dry, but we often need to use them to convey important information — to support our story and help lead to the action we want the audience to take. Incorporating data and facts into a story for optimal impact is part of an easy-to-learn storytelling framework. With that, anyone can become a master storyteller — in any format or medium. Above all, a business communication training that emphasizes storytelling is practical. Imagine you’ve prepared a 30-minute presentation for your CEO. As you’re walking through the door she tells you, Sorry, I’ve only got five minutes. How do you adjust on the fly? Or maybe you’re presenting to a large audience with diverse needs or care-abouts. How do you cater to everyone’s needs and engage them throughout the presentation? Learning how to use storytelling effectively teaches you and your team how to be nimble, and prepares you to succeed in any scenario. Charisma isn’t enough There’s nothing that can replace a charismatic speaker — someone who captivates an audience from start to finish. But even the most persuasive speaker will fail without a good story. In other words, charisma helps, but it’s hard to beat a charismatic speaker who also has a solid grasp of the content. A charismatic speaker can make audience members feel important — make them feel that someone is speaking directly to them and keep them engaged from start to finish. But charisma is a trait that’s difficult to teach, and it’s only part of the equation for a successful presentation. Can communications training influence someone’s level of charisma? Absolutely. It can help the person learn how to better command the room. But it can’t transform someone overnight, and it can’t really help the person learn how to create a compelling story. So, what’s the alternative? More effective than attempting to teach people in your organization how to be more charismatic is teaching them business storytelling. This makes sense if you take a step back and consider the two features that researchers say define charisma: influence (the ability to guide others) and affability (the ability to make other people feel comfortable and at ease). What makes great storytelling so powerful is that when it’s done well, it gives speakers opportunities to capitalize on both of these elements of charisma — influence and affability. Even if someone isn’t naturally charismatic, that person can be taught how to shape an audience’s perception by using a narrative that will guide audience members to a desired decision or outcome. See? The speaker is wielding influence. Similarly, an engaging storyteller will have learned to help the audience feel at ease, speak to key pain points and needs, and constantly be aware of the reactions to the story. Traditional training doesn’t bring the narrative and visual elements together It’s critical for your next business communications training to teach the skills of storytelling and effective visual design. Research shows that audiences process information more quickly, and remember it longer, when it’s communicated visually. We’ve all seen this in practice: Well-designed visuals complement a speaker and enhance the entire presentation. But it’s ironic that while 60% of professionals say presentation decks are somewhat or very effective, most presenters don’t use these elements often — perhaps because they lack the skills or confidence to do so effectively. In truth, most professional communications lack high-quality visual components. And yet, we know that effective visual elements are an essential partner for an engaging narrative — not to mention building credibility for and contributing to the success of the speaker and their employer. How do I know if my team needs communications training? The cost of poor communication can be significant. In fact, for companies with more than 100,000 employees, the average cost of inadequate business communication is $62.4 million per year. If your organization is experiencing any of the following seven situations, your team could likely benefit from additional (or better!) communications training. Teams get caught in analysis paralysis when collaborating on presentations. Lacking clarity on what to communicate — as well as the confidence to communicate effectively — decision making is stalled. Leaders spend hours reworking presentations. When organizations haven’t established a common language and multiple people work on decks, presentations lose their coherence. As a result, leaders don’t trust others to craft the message correctly, and take up the task themselves. Speakers struggle to distill data into a compelling story, making the message of most presentations confusing and difficult to follow. Emails get misunderstood, causing responses and actions that aren’t needed or just go unanswered altogether. Audiences are not engaged during presentations and/or meeting participants are distracted. Audiences don’t understand the message you’re trying to convey Acronyms get in the way of what you’re trying to say or accomplish. They distract from your credibility and prevent your expertise from shining through. The same people always present for your company, placing a disproportionate amount of pressure on a small group of employees. How does storytelling-based training differ from traditional communications training? From bedtime stories to campfire stories, we tell stories all day, every day — and we’ve done it for thousands of years. We use stories to create trust and connection. Unfortunately, when we communicate at work, we forget how to tell stories and instead pack our meetings and presentations with dry data, corporate jargon, and complex information that bores our audience. But data itself isn’t the problem. It’s the dull and confusing ways we frame and present it. Storytelling training can teach you the theory and practice of how to turn data into a compelling narrative. But the benefits of this kind of training are not theoretical. Is the effectiveness of storytelling backed by science? Yes! Research shows our brains react differently to stories than they do to information or statistics alone. In his book Descartes’ Error: Reason, Emotion, and the Human Brain, Antonio Damasio describes the neuroscience behind storytelling, explaining that “humans respond more powerfully to stories than plain facts or data alone.” We’ve all experienced this at one time or another. Speakers that exhilarate audiences use story, while those that bore us do not. Is there a proven ROI to business storytelling? The argument for investing in business storytelling training isn’t just anecdotal. There is no doubt that storytelling engages listeners, viewers, and readers. After all, our brains are wired to respond to stories. But storytelling is good for business too. Skillful use of storytelling can make a pitch more persuasive and ultimately drive prospects to action. Plus, when you use storytelling for internal meetings and presentations, you’ll increase employment engagement and help people remember help people remember vital information more easily. The right training will have a lasting impact We’re natural storytellers — until, of course, we’re given data and facts to present. Fortunately, when done right, communications training can transform an organization — producing significant outcomes like increased employee engagement and revenue. There’s a hunger for professional development in this area. We’re all tired of sitting through — and delivering — boring, unengaging materials that will be forgotten or ignored. In fact, 6 out of 10 employees say that firm-wide training, and having a wider range of communication tools to use, would significantly improve work communication. If you’re tired of reworking slide decks, editing your team’s emails, and speaking on behalf of your company, try storytelling-based communications training. It will deliver a different outcome — one that sticks with you and your team, long after our training wraps up.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Hero-Comms-Training-1200x627-v2.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T15:21:23-05:00" }, { "id": 9243, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/how-to-build-a-future-focused-leadership-development-program/", "title": "How to Build a Future-focused Leadership Development Program", "h1": "How to Build a Future-focused Leadership Development Program", "summary": "", "content": "

Leadership development programs do exactly that: They develop leaders. But how they do that is the tricky part. What separates the best from the rest? That’s what you’ll learn in this article.

To sum up where we’re going, developing leaders is a bet on the future. The program provides the structure to bring your future vision into today. Said another way, leadership development programs propel your current high-potential people into your envisioned future.

Doing this well requires anticipating the organization’s needs in the future, taking stock of your present team, and charting a course from today to tomorrow.

\"\"Anticipate the future

The first analysis L&D leaders need to do to create a topnotch leadership development program is to evaluate where the business is going. That way, you can plan backward and then work toward developing the skills your leaders will need to succeed in that future.

This analysis requires leaders to get a sense of the economic landscape and future projections, review career paths for internal candidates based on their skills and the external economics, and then prepare the talent pipeline to meet the internal skills with external needs.

To be sure, some of this might be a little heady. It also goes beyond just enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, though that can help in the analysis. That’s why L&D teams building a leadership development program need to consult with the rest of the talent management team, business leaders, and even financial and data analysis teams.

But let’s start with first things first.

How can you survey the economic landscape?

Consider the current, so-called Great Resignation. Millions of workers are leaving the workforce retiring early, dropping out, or taking time off to reassess their values. Millions more are reshuffling their career priorities and decisions about where they want to live and raise their families. This has all shaken up employers’ talent pipelines. You’re well aware of these trends.

Looking ahead, analysts at Emsi BurningGlass have labeled the next period the “Demographic Drought” because of larger structural issues facing the economy and American society in general like lower birth rates and higher rates of retirement, for example. This has led others to emphasize how the war for talent is back, “with an intensity unsee in recent years.”

Better understanding the future economic landscape including even macroeconomic and demographic factors like retirement rates can help influence how you build your program today.

For example, savvy leaders, like those writing this article in Harvard Business Review, know that they need to manage their talent pipeline like they would a supply chain. This includes drawing from a larger talent base, growing their own, and implementing fundamental principles from supply chain management. We cover these factors in more detail over the rest of this article. “Demographic Drought” “with an intensity unseen in recent years.”

Why should you start with a review of internal growth plans?

First, you’ll want to define what your organization s growth prospects look like. In which areas will you grow? Are certain skills required over others? Do you have the talent to fill those future-ready roles? Are they caught up in the Great Resignation? These questions are essential before building a leadership development plan.

The HBR article mentioned above says that only 31% of workers with expertise in emerging technologies today … were promoted from within. This may be because of a lack of technical skills within organizations. But it also may be because many L&D leaders haven’t adequately prepared their current workforces for the skills required for what’s next. Of course, that may be because those L&D leaders haven’t had the resources to do so, but we digress …

At the end of the day, it’s important to understand exactly who in your organization needs what skills. These are the fundamental questions facing every L&D professional: What skills do they currently have, what do they need in the future, and how can they get there?

Recent surveys mentioned in The Wall Street Journal noted how high turnover rates are being seen not only in low-wage, front-line jobs but also in middle-management positions, especially those held by women. This corroborates other recent data from McKinsey and LeanIn.org.

These studies all indicate that women need help balancing childcare responsibilities as well as gaining access to new leadership opportunities and learning new skills that will outpace the advances made by automation technologies. It’s a tall order. Yet there’s one skill that every position in the organization needs. (More details on that later.)

A review of your internal candidates and the skills they have will require the help of your ERP software as well as other talent management leaders to gain the insights required.

How can you prepare the talent pipeline?

Now, seeing the future and taking stock of the current talent needs, you can begin to build out your leadership pipeline. An article in Chief Learning Officer notes that today’s bench strength the quality of current leadership talent is at its lowest level in years. Leadership pipelines are running dry. The writer argues that senior leadership needs to address burnout, engagement, and strategic alignment if they’re going to create future leader success.

But how?

Eva Sage-Gavin, a former Fortune 500 CHRO, writes in HR Executive that leaders should first invest in continuous learning. Developing skills no matter the subject requires an ongoing, almost daily process of practice and refinement. It’s not a one-and-done approach.

After this process, you can take stock of the present to see what you need to do.

\"\"Take stock of the present

You can’t get where you’re going without knowing where you are right now.

How can you assess your leadership bench, especially potential retirements?

According to the Global Leadership Forecast 2021 by DDI, a global leadership consulting firm, leadership bench strength is 10% to 25% below current capabilities in every industry surveyed. This means that as the economy grows again, companies will struggle to have ready-now leaders.

The reasons are varied, but here are a few common factors to be aware of:

What’s your pipeline looking like? How are the trends outlined above likely to affect leadership gaps for your organization?

Why should you throw a wider net to identify high potentials?

As the DDI report says, Companies have six generations of employees at work, ranging in age from people in their late teens to vibrant workers in their 70s and 80s. So, the idea of a linear, progressive leadership pipeline must change.

Your future leaders could be older than you expect. Or they could be remote workers rather than people tethered to the traditional office space and who are more readily familiar to your leadership team. Or they could be from an underrepresented group that you didn’t initially imagine fitting this role.

As you reconsider where your organization looks for its future leaders and how you can increase leadership retention, consider these factors that a DDI analysis concluded are most predictive of a leader’s engagement and long-term retention. In order of the most impact, leaders who intend to stay:

  1. Know what constitutes good performance in their role
  2. Have a clear understanding of their future career path in the organization
  3. Feel that their direct manager genuinely cares about their well-being
  4. Have a high-quality development plan
  5. Receive effective coaching from their manager
  6. Get feedback on their skills
  7. Have access to the information and tools needed to do their job well

It’s important to note that what’s not on that list are such things as promotion rate, taking on new assignments, or work-life balance.

Why should we learn to develop talent virtually?

You may not agree, but the future of work will be largely in the cloud. That could mean fully remote work, a hybrid model of remote and office-based jobs, or even an altogether decentralized framework (a Decentralized Autonomous Organization, or DAO, with work rules embedded into a completely transparent code and not influenced by central leadership).

Regardless of the model, the writing on the wall says talent leaders now need to embrace the reality of virtual work and work toward integrating it into their current practices.

What are your strategies for developing talent virtually? How many employees do you expect to hire that are remote or hybrid? How do your current employees feel about this kind of future?

Researchers at MIT’s Sloan School of Business suggest taking five critical steps to start developing early career talent in a virtual workplace:

  1. Set up new employees properly. Ensure everyone has the technology they need and the training to use it. MIT Sloan research found that when interns and early career hires can rely on their remote work setups, it becomes 85% easier for them to connect with peers and to reach out for help when needed.
  2. Connect interns and early career hires with mentors. Explicitly pairing each new hire with a mentor ensures that this traditionally office-based opportunity for growth and connection doesn’t go missing in a completely virtual workplace. MIT Sloan’s study concluded that access to a mentor reduces stress from a daunting workload by over 70%.
  3. Run frequent virtual events, workshops, and training programs. Learning opportunities tend to fall by the wayside when people are working remotely. The most effective virtual training exercises that MIT Sloan observed helped more than 75% of entry hires understand and adopt their company culture.
  4. Use the opportunities that remote work provides. With virtual meetings and collaboration now the norm, it’s possible for interns and new hires to work with a broader range of colleagues. Rotating through different departments improves early career employees’ confidence by 80% and it helps them figure out what they’re most interested in, MIT Sloan research found.
  5. Ensure that new hires feel confident in their roles and have a grasp on the opportunities in front of them. MIT Sloan research suggests this can be achieved by granting employees more autonomy than ever by reducing and reassigning responsibilities that they find draining and disengaging letting workers design their own job descriptions and make modifications that suit them specifically to better reflect their strengths, interests, and core values.

\"\"Chart a course from the present to the future

Now that you have answers to help better know where you’re starting from and where you’re headed, you can create a plan of action to move down that path. Here are three questions to ask before you start.

Why do I need leadership buy in across departments?

If your executive sponsors aren’t on board, the whole program may come apart before it even gets going. It’s crucial that you get executive buy-in for what each department needs of its future leaders.

Why should I seek to include many different learning styles?

Learners today need a variety of modalities to learn effectively, including video, audio, in-person, virtual, on-demand, and so on. Be inclusive of the types of learning your program incorporates and the needs of every employee.

Why should I include training for communication skills?

Many leadership development programs focus on technical skills for specific roles: finance, supply chain, and logistics even HR for people management executive seats. However, the best programs focus on transferable skills like communication. This is among the most important skills for future leaders, since much of what they’ll be doing is transmitting information between departments as well as between technical roles and senior leadership.

\"\"Assess the present to impact the future

We hope that these questions and resources will help you guide your leadership development program into an uncertain future, one that will encourage and equip your people to help your business succeed.

", "content_plain": "Leadership development programs do exactly that: They develop leaders. But how they do that is the tricky part. What separates the best from the rest? That’s what you’ll learn in this article. To sum up where we’re going, developing leaders is a bet on the future. The program provides the structure to bring your future vision into today. Said another way, leadership development programs propel your current high-potential people into your envisioned future. Doing this well requires anticipating the organization’s needs in the future, taking stock of your present team, and charting a course from today to tomorrow. Anticipate the future The first analysis L&D leaders need to do to create a topnotch leadership development program is to evaluate where the business is going. That way, you can plan backward and then work toward developing the skills your leaders will need to succeed in that future. This analysis requires leaders to get a sense of the economic landscape and future projections, review career paths for internal candidates based on their skills and the external economics, and then prepare the talent pipeline to meet the internal skills with external needs. To be sure, some of this might be a little heady. It also goes beyond just enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, though that can help in the analysis. That’s why L&D teams building a leadership development program need to consult with the rest of the talent management team, business leaders, and even financial and data analysis teams. But let’s start with first things first. How can you survey the economic landscape? Consider the current, so-called Great Resignation. Millions of workers are leaving the workforce retiring early, dropping out, or taking time off to reassess their values. Millions more are reshuffling their career priorities and decisions about where they want to live and raise their families. This has all shaken up employers’ talent pipelines. You’re well aware of these trends. Looking ahead, analysts at Emsi BurningGlass have labeled the next period the “Demographic Drought” because of larger structural issues facing the economy and American society in general like lower birth rates and higher rates of retirement, for example. This has led others to emphasize how the war for talent is back, “with an intensity unsee in recent years.” Better understanding the future economic landscape including even macroeconomic and demographic factors like retirement rates can help influence how you build your program today. For example, savvy leaders, like those writing this article in Harvard Business Review, know that they need to manage their talent pipeline like they would a supply chain. This includes drawing from a larger talent base, growing their own, and implementing fundamental principles from supply chain management. We cover these factors in more detail over the rest of this article. “Demographic Drought” “with an intensity unseen in recent years.” Why should you start with a review of internal growth plans? First, you’ll want to define what your organization s growth prospects look like. In which areas will you grow? Are certain skills required over others? Do you have the talent to fill those future-ready roles? Are they caught up in the Great Resignation? These questions are essential before building a leadership development plan. The HBR article mentioned above says that only 31% of workers with expertise in emerging technologies today … were promoted from within. This may be because of a lack of technical skills within organizations. But it also may be because many L&D leaders haven’t adequately prepared their current workforces for the skills required for what’s next. Of course, that may be because those L&D leaders haven’t had the resources to do so, but we digress … At the end of the day, it’s important to understand exactly who in your organization needs what skills. These are the fundamental questions facing every L&D professional: What skills do they currently have, what do they need in the future, and how can they get there? Recent surveys mentioned in The Wall Street Journal noted how high turnover rates are being seen not only in low-wage, front-line jobs but also in middle-management positions, especially those held by women. This corroborates other recent data from McKinsey and LeanIn.org. These studies all indicate that women need help balancing childcare responsibilities as well as gaining access to new leadership opportunities and learning new skills that will outpace the advances made by automation technologies. It’s a tall order. Yet there’s one skill that every position in the organization needs. (More details on that later.) A review of your internal candidates and the skills they have will require the help of your ERP software as well as other talent management leaders to gain the insights required. How can you prepare the talent pipeline? Now, seeing the future and taking stock of the current talent needs, you can begin to build out your leadership pipeline. An article in Chief Learning Officer notes that today’s bench strength the quality of current leadership talent is at its lowest level in years. Leadership pipelines are running dry. The writer argues that senior leadership needs to address burnout, engagement, and strategic alignment if they’re going to create future leader success. But how? Eva Sage-Gavin, a former Fortune 500 CHRO, writes in HR Executive that leaders should first invest in continuous learning. Developing skills no matter the subject requires an ongoing, almost daily process of practice and refinement. It’s not a one-and-done approach. After this process, you can take stock of the present to see what you need to do. Take stock of the present You can’t get where you’re going without knowing where you are right now. How can you assess your leadership bench, especially potential retirements? According to the Global Leadership Forecast 2021 by DDI, a global leadership consulting firm, leadership bench strength is 10% to 25% below current capabilities in every industry surveyed. This means that as the economy grows again, companies will struggle to have ready-now leaders. The reasons are varied, but here are a few common factors to be aware of: In the U.S. alone, 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day. According to an article by Arlene S. Hirsch for SHRM, this trend started in 2011 and will continue until 2030.Because the average retirement age for baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) lies somewhere between 61 and 65, it’s pretty clear that this so-called silver tsunami is going to create some serious challenges for L&D and HR learners. Among the varied reasons for an aging workforce, here are four common factors noted by Jeffrey Tamburo, an author and professor of labor relations and employment at Cornell University, in an article by the Academy to Innovate HR: Financial need: A lack of a proper pension plan or retirement savings forces a lot of people over 55 to continue to work. The fallout of the financial crisis of 2008 left many of them with debts and/or insufficient income from their pension. People are living longer and are healthier: The life expectancy for both men and women in the developed world generally increases. Talent shortages: The generation that came immediately after the baby boomers those born between 1965 and 1976 is a lot smaller. As a result, there aren’t enough people to take over the jobs of retiring baby boomers, who are being asked to stay Enjoying work and being productive: According to Tamburo, it seems that where millennials are looking for purpose in their jobs, baby boomers want to feel productive. Millions of women have dropped out of the job market altogether. One in three women say they have considered downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce in 2021, compared with one in four who said this a few months into the pandemic. Additionally, the report by McKinsey and LeanIn.org says their companies are switching jobs and high employee turnover in recent months suggests that many of them are following through.” What’s your pipeline looking like? How are the trends outlined above likely to affect leadership gaps for your organization? Why should you throw a wider net to identify high potentials? As the DDI report says, Companies have six generations of employees at work, ranging in age from people in their late teens to vibrant workers in their 70s and 80s. So, the idea of a linear, progressive leadership pipeline must change. Your future leaders could be older than you expect. Or they could be remote workers rather than people tethered to the traditional office space and who are more readily familiar to your leadership team. Or they could be from an underrepresented group that you didn’t initially imagine fitting this role. As you reconsider where your organization looks for its future leaders and how you can increase leadership retention, consider these factors that a DDI analysis concluded are most predictive of a leader’s engagement and long-term retention. In order of the most impact, leaders who intend to stay: Know what constitutes good performance in their role Have a clear understanding of their future career path in the organization Feel that their direct manager genuinely cares about their well-being Have a high-quality development plan Receive effective coaching from their manager Get feedback on their skills Have access to the information and tools needed to do their job well It’s important to note that what’s not on that list are such things as promotion rate, taking on new assignments, or work-life balance. Why should we learn to develop talent virtually? You may not agree, but the future of work will be largely in the cloud. That could mean fully remote work, a hybrid model of remote and office-based jobs, or even an altogether decentralized framework (a Decentralized Autonomous Organization, or DAO, with work rules embedded into a completely transparent code and not influenced by central leadership). Regardless of the model, the writing on the wall says talent leaders now need to embrace the reality of virtual work and work toward integrating it into their current practices. What are your strategies for developing talent virtually? How many employees do you expect to hire that are remote or hybrid? How do your current employees feel about this kind of future? Researchers at MIT’s Sloan School of Business suggest taking five critical steps to start developing early career talent in a virtual workplace: Set up new employees properly. Ensure everyone has the technology they need and the training to use it. MIT Sloan research found that when interns and early career hires can rely on their remote work setups, it becomes 85% easier for them to connect with peers and to reach out for help when needed. Connect interns and early career hires with mentors. Explicitly pairing each new hire with a mentor ensures that this traditionally office-based opportunity for growth and connection doesn’t go missing in a completely virtual workplace. MIT Sloan’s study concluded that access to a mentor reduces stress from a daunting workload by over 70%. Run frequent virtual events, workshops, and training programs. Learning opportunities tend to fall by the wayside when people are working remotely. The most effective virtual training exercises that MIT Sloan observed helped more than 75% of entry hires understand and adopt their company culture. Use the opportunities that remote work provides. With virtual meetings and collaboration now the norm, it’s possible for interns and new hires to work with a broader range of colleagues. Rotating through different departments improves early career employees’ confidence by 80% and it helps them figure out what they’re most interested in, MIT Sloan research found. Ensure that new hires feel confident in their roles and have a grasp on the opportunities in front of them. MIT Sloan research suggests this can be achieved by granting employees more autonomy than ever by reducing and reassigning responsibilities that they find draining and disengaging letting workers design their own job descriptions and make modifications that suit them specifically to better reflect their strengths, interests, and core values. Chart a course from the present to the future Now that you have answers to help better know where you’re starting from and where you’re headed, you can create a plan of action to move down that path. Here are three questions to ask before you start. Why do I need leadership buy in across departments? If your executive sponsors aren’t on board, the whole program may come apart before it even gets going. It’s crucial that you get executive buy-in for what each department needs of its future leaders. Why should I seek to include many different learning styles? Learners today need a variety of modalities to learn effectively, including video, audio, in-person, virtual, on-demand, and so on. Be inclusive of the types of learning your program incorporates and the needs of every employee. Why should I include training for communication skills? Many leadership development programs focus on technical skills for specific roles: finance, supply chain, and logistics even HR for people management executive seats. However, the best programs focus on transferable skills like communication. This is among the most important skills for future leaders, since much of what they’ll be doing is transmitting information between departments as well as between technical roles and senior leadership. Assess the present to impact the future We hope that these questions and resources will help you guide your leadership development program into an uncertain future, one that will encourage and equip your people to help your business succeed.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Hero-Build-Future-Focused-Dev-Program-1200x627-v2.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T15:21:48-05:00" }, { "id": 9236, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/heres-why-you-should-put-storytelling-at-the-center-of-your-company-culture/", "title": "Here’s Why You Should Put Storytelling at the Center of Your Company Culture", "h1": "Here’s Why You Should Put Storytelling at the Center of Your Company Culture", "summary": "", "content": "

It’s no secret that storytelling is a key to success in business communication. Whether it’s writing an email, delivering a presentation, or creating any number of other materials, crafting a compelling story will ensure audiences are engaged and can clearly understand the points you’re trying to make.

For the broader success of your business, you need more than one or two individuals trained in the art of storytelling. Instead, it needs to take a central role in your business, and that means making storytelling a priority across your organization.

If you’re wondering how to capitalize on the power of storytelling, investing in business storytelling training is the answer. Here are three ways the right training can put storytelling at the center of your company culture and help you reach your goals.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

\"\"Culture Sets the Tone for Your Organization

Healthy company culture has long been highlighted as an essential part of any successful business. When it comes to effective communication and selling, storytelling is no different; it needs to be embedded in your day-to-day process to the point that it is part of your organization’s DNA. Here are two things to keep in mind when you think about storytelling and how it can become a foundational element of your team’s culture.

  1. Leaders Must Be the Driving Force

A change in culture starts with leadership. To build a culture of storytelling at your organization, this effort needs to be modeled from the top. That’s because, even if they don’t realize it, executives always lead by example. In other words, if you want your organization to become masters of storytelling, and you want to make it foundational to the way you do business, everyone needs to embrace it. That means executives should participate in training — embrace, champion and reinforce it — and make storytelling part of their daily work, just as managers and individual contributors must do the same.

  1. Storytelling Creates a Shared Language for Your Organization

We’ve all been there. You’re sitting with a colleague trying to work through a challenge, but the solution is just not coming together. Then it happens. You realize that the way you’re using language to describe the problem you’re facing doesn’t line up with how your coworker is interpreting it. This happens in business a lot. We use acronyms and specialized language, and meaning isn’t always shared, especially when we’re working with someone from a different team or department.

But when storytelling is the foundation of your organization’s communications strategy, everyone will be on the same page. If everyone works from the same story framework and uses a shared vocabulary to describe story elements, you’ll find it much easier to find solutions because you won’t have to worry about whether you’ve translated key terms for everyone in the room. Instead, you’ll know that everyone is following along because your organization uses the same communication strategies and everyone has gone through the same storytelling training.

\"\"Storytelling Will Advance Everyone’s Professional Goals

To encourage your team to embrace storytelling — and storytelling training — remind them that mastering this skill will not only help the organization succeed, but also, will help them grow and advance in their careers.

One way that business storytelling training can help people reach their professional goals is by helping participants develop executive presence — or the aura of confidence, authority, and self-assuredness one projects when they speak. Though prevalent among business leaders, executive presence can be less common among individual contributors. But this quality can be developed by anyone.

Experienced communicators often have executive presence because they know how to interact effectively with an audience and know how to prepare for a presentation. As a result, these individuals often come across as highly confident and well versed in the subject matter being discussed. In the workplace, having executive presence can help people advance their careers because they’re more persuasive and, as a result, able to convince leaders to follow their recommendations, close sales, and otherwise exert influence.

The connection between learning how to command the room with executive presence and business storytelling training is clear. With the right training program, individuals learn how to engage audiences and communicate effectively, developing the skills necessary to influence audiences. Business storytelling training also teaches people how to prepare for the unexpected twists and turns — like technology issues, meeting time being cut short, or managing competing interests from their audience — that can occur during a presentation or meeting, equipping them with the skills that will help them come across as nimble, prepared and knowledgeable.

\"\"Focus on Coaching and Embrace Mistakes

How do you make the leap from an organization that wants storytelling to be part of its company culture to one where it actually exists? Through coaching and iteration. Here are four strategies for ensuring storytelling will become the bedrock of your organization’s business success.

Peer Coaching Puts Storytelling at the Center of Your Workflow

To stay in practice, everyone needs coaching. To make storytelling part of your organization’s culture, managers must demonstrate coaching, encouraging everyone to make peer coaching a regular practice. That way, storytelling, through coaching — and application of those skills — becomes a part of everyone’s daily work.

Manager Coaching and Leadership Helps Everyone Grow as a Storyteller

To make storytelling part of the bedrock of your organization’s culture, managers must drive and reinforce a culture of coaching by participating in it directly and encouraging their teams to share and question each other’s stories. Coaching should be a regular part of the story development process. But what does coaching actually look like? Here are five elements of coaching, and managing the coaching process, to implement with your teams:

Take an Agile Approach to Your Work

As we’ve suggested, learning to use storytelling in business doesn’t happen all at once. It takes practice. For this reason, it’s critical to encourage an agile approach to learning and storytelling.

But what does an agile approach look like? For one thing, being agile means trying new things — or iterating— constantly and quickly. With an agile approach to work, organizations embrace mistakes and (more importantly) the learning that results from them. By testing ideas and assessing what worked and what went wrong along the way, organizations can collect information, adjust, and move forward with opportunities to test more ideas and make more mistakes.

Applying agile methodology to storytelling and coaching means that teams have the opportunity to practice and learn constantly. Know that mistakes will happen — and recognize that this is OK — because it makes space for continued learning and iteration, and ultimately a better end product.

Lay the Foundation for a Successful Future

By making storytelling a pillar of your organization’s culture, you’ll also create a more resilient business. Storytelling allows organizations to quickly respond to change and helps individuals leverage creativity and innovation. Building these soft skills can be a difference-maker for your organization.

Resilient organizations share three characteristics:

  1. They anticipate changes to the way they do business
  2. They regularly develop and test plans for potential changes
  3. They plan for various avenues for success to prepare for multiple potential changes

Resilient businesses are more successful because they are better prepared to recognize and take advantage of opportunities. They also recover more quickly, and even thrive, in times of turmoil. Business storytelling teaches these kinds of resilient behaviors and can help you be more successful, whether it’s in a meeting that takes an unexpected turn or an event that impacts the way your organization works.

\"\"Training Makes It All Possible

If you’re serious about making storytelling a core part of your organization’s culture, consider bringing in outside help. Business storytelling training will help everyone on your team learn similar strategies, which will make your storytelling efforts more seamless. Training also sets you up to provide peer coaching once the training concludes, which will make your culture of storytelling more sustainable. So, if you’d like to build a more successful and resilient organization, take the next step to learn what business storytelling training can do for you.

", "content_plain": "It’s no secret that storytelling is a key to success in business communication. Whether it’s writing an email, delivering a presentation, or creating any number of other materials, crafting a compelling story will ensure audiences are engaged and can clearly understand the points you’re trying to make. For the broader success of your business, you need more than one or two individuals trained in the art of storytelling. Instead, it needs to take a central role in your business, and that means making storytelling a priority across your organization. If you’re wondering how to capitalize on the power of storytelling, investing in business storytelling training is the answer. Here are three ways the right training can put storytelling at the center of your company culture and help you reach your goals. You can view our Privacy Policy here. Culture Sets the Tone for Your Organization Healthy company culture has long been highlighted as an essential part of any successful business. When it comes to effective communication and selling, storytelling is no different; it needs to be embedded in your day-to-day process to the point that it is part of your organization’s DNA. Here are two things to keep in mind when you think about storytelling and how it can become a foundational element of your team’s culture. Leaders Must Be the Driving Force A change in culture starts with leadership. To build a culture of storytelling at your organization, this effort needs to be modeled from the top. That’s because, even if they don’t realize it, executives always lead by example. In other words, if you want your organization to become masters of storytelling, and you want to make it foundational to the way you do business, everyone needs to embrace it. That means executives should participate in training — embrace, champion and reinforce it — and make storytelling part of their daily work, just as managers and individual contributors must do the same. Storytelling Creates a Shared Language for Your Organization We’ve all been there. You’re sitting with a colleague trying to work through a challenge, but the solution is just not coming together. Then it happens. You realize that the way you’re using language to describe the problem you’re facing doesn’t line up with how your coworker is interpreting it. This happens in business a lot. We use acronyms and specialized language, and meaning isn’t always shared, especially when we’re working with someone from a different team or department. But when storytelling is the foundation of your organization’s communications strategy, everyone will be on the same page. If everyone works from the same story framework and uses a shared vocabulary to describe story elements, you’ll find it much easier to find solutions because you won’t have to worry about whether you’ve translated key terms for everyone in the room. Instead, you’ll know that everyone is following along because your organization uses the same communication strategies and everyone has gone through the same storytelling training. Storytelling Will Advance Everyone’s Professional Goals To encourage your team to embrace storytelling — and storytelling training — remind them that mastering this skill will not only help the organization succeed, but also, will help them grow and advance in their careers. One way that business storytelling training can help people reach their professional goals is by helping participants develop executive presence — or the aura of confidence, authority, and self-assuredness one projects when they speak. Though prevalent among business leaders, executive presence can be less common among individual contributors. But this quality can be developed by anyone. Experienced communicators often have executive presence because they know how to interact effectively with an audience and know how to prepare for a presentation. As a result, these individuals often come across as highly confident and well versed in the subject matter being discussed. In the workplace, having executive presence can help people advance their careers because they’re more persuasive and, as a result, able to convince leaders to follow their recommendations, close sales, and otherwise exert influence. The connection between learning how to command the room with executive presence and business storytelling training is clear. With the right training program, individuals learn how to engage audiences and communicate effectively, developing the skills necessary to influence audiences. Business storytelling training also teaches people how to prepare for the unexpected twists and turns — like technology issues, meeting time being cut short, or managing competing interests from their audience — that can occur during a presentation or meeting, equipping them with the skills that will help them come across as nimble, prepared and knowledgeable. Focus on Coaching and Embrace Mistakes How do you make the leap from an organization that wants storytelling to be part of its company culture to one where it actually exists? Through coaching and iteration. Here are four strategies for ensuring storytelling will become the bedrock of your organization’s business success. Peer Coaching Puts Storytelling at the Center of Your Workflow To stay in practice, everyone needs coaching. To make storytelling part of your organization’s culture, managers must demonstrate coaching, encouraging everyone to make peer coaching a regular practice. That way, storytelling, through coaching — and application of those skills — becomes a part of everyone’s daily work. Manager Coaching and Leadership Helps Everyone Grow as a Storyteller To make storytelling part of the bedrock of your organization’s culture, managers must drive and reinforce a culture of coaching by participating in it directly and encouraging their teams to share and question each other’s stories. Coaching should be a regular part of the story development process. But what does coaching actually look like? Here are five elements of coaching, and managing the coaching process, to implement with your teams: Always focus on the audience. When discussing story structure, remember to always view communications through the lens of what the audience needs. Assign peer coaching partners. When individuals have a practice partner, it’s easier to integrate coaching and storytelling into daily work, and thus make it part of company culture. Integrate coaching into regular practice. Find opportunities to teach while you work. Ensure a safe environment. Create a space where individuals can ask questions and for help. Share results. Whether you had a great experience crafting an engaging story, or you struggled to bring the pieces together, it’s important to share. At team meetings or other gatherings, make sharing part of your storytelling culture. As a leader, you must set the example by sharing, especially when things didn’t go the way you’d hoped they would. That way, everyone can learn from your successes — and failures. Take an Agile Approach to Your Work As we’ve suggested, learning to use storytelling in business doesn’t happen all at once. It takes practice. For this reason, it’s critical to encourage an agile approach to learning and storytelling. But what does an agile approach look like? For one thing, being agile means trying new things — or iterating— constantly and quickly. With an agile approach to work, organizations embrace mistakes and (more importantly) the learning that results from them. By testing ideas and assessing what worked and what went wrong along the way, organizations can collect information, adjust, and move forward with opportunities to test more ideas and make more mistakes. Applying agile methodology to storytelling and coaching means that teams have the opportunity to practice and learn constantly. Know that mistakes will happen — and recognize that this is OK — because it makes space for continued learning and iteration, and ultimately a better end product. Lay the Foundation for a Successful Future By making storytelling a pillar of your organization’s culture, you’ll also create a more resilient business. Storytelling allows organizations to quickly respond to change and helps individuals leverage creativity and innovation. Building these soft skills can be a difference-maker for your organization. Resilient organizations share three characteristics: They anticipate changes to the way they do business They regularly develop and test plans for potential changes They plan for various avenues for success to prepare for multiple potential changes Resilient businesses are more successful because they are better prepared to recognize and take advantage of opportunities. They also recover more quickly, and even thrive, in times of turmoil. Business storytelling teaches these kinds of resilient behaviors and can help you be more successful, whether it’s in a meeting that takes an unexpected turn or an event that impacts the way your organization works. Training Makes It All Possible If you’re serious about making storytelling a core part of your organization’s culture, consider bringing in outside help. Business storytelling training will help everyone on your team learn similar strategies, which will make your storytelling efforts more seamless. Training also sets you up to provide peer coaching once the training concludes, which will make your culture of storytelling more sustainable. So, if you’d like to build a more successful and resilient organization, take the next step to learn what business storytelling training can do for you.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Heres-Why-You-Should-Put-Storytelling-at-the-Center-of-Your-Company-Culture.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T10:29:57-05:00" }, { "id": 9223, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/10-business-challenges-you-can-solve-with-improved-communication-skills/", "title": "10 Business Challenges You Can Solve With Improved Communication Skills", "h1": "10 Business Challenges You Can Solve With Improved Communication Skills", "summary": "", "content": "

When you think about what it takes to solve big business challenges, what comes to mind? Maybe it’s reevaluating strategic goals. Or maybe it’s undertaking big, bold initiatives like organizational redesign, reengineered workforce planning, or even merger and acquisition assessment. And, business is also chock-full of challenges that can be solved much more quickly and incredibly efficiently if you have one critical tool: good communication across your organization.

Think about all the ineffective meetings that waste everyone’s time. Consider all of the poorly executed change initiatives that cost money and damage employee engagement. The fact is, many business problems can be remedied or even prevented with better communication.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

\"\"The best of intentions are more likely to fail without good communication

We’ve all been there. We’ve all struggled to stay focused during a meeting that’s covering so much ground we’ve forgotten what the presenter really wants us to know (if they ever clearly told us in the first place). We’ve all been overwhelmed by a mountain of facts and data that only confuse us and add nothing to our understanding of the challenge we’re being asked to tackle.

According to the Project Management Institute:

Think about all the missed opportunities and wasted time and money that result from poorly communicated emails, one-pagers, high-stakes presentations, quarterly reports, product updates, program pitches, change-management initiatives, business process updates — in other words, anything said, sent, delivered, or presented.

Those communications and their goals may seem widely divergent and unrelated. Think about a fancy video and snappy brochure designed to generate excitement around a new product. That’s a whole different animal from an all-hands-on-deck presentation from the C-suite intended to address the FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) amid a company merger or acquisition. Now think how badly both of those initiatives can go if they’re poorly communicated.

But what is “good” communication?

If poor communication is the most common factor among business problems and failed programs, then we have to ask: What is good business communication? In a nutshell, it’s organizing ideas into a cohesive, audience-centric message that tells a compelling story.

Of course there’s more to it than that. You need to know how to build an authentic narrative and limit your charts and data to the ones that really matter. If you use visuals to humanize your message, you need to carefully select them so they bring your story to life but don’t get in its way. In the end, good communication in business is telling a story that inspires your audience to act and moves the business forward.

\"\"10 common business challenges that great communication can help solve

From improved change management to greater shareholder return, here’s how great communication can have an impact on your business.

  1. Change management that meets its goals

According to McKinsey & Company, 70% of change communications and programs fail to achieve their goals, “largely due to employee resistance and lack of management support.” Failed change management costs an organization more than just money. Short- and long-term impacts have direct and indirect costs that include wasted time and people resources, drops in morale, loss in confidence of the leadership, resistance to future change, and an increased likelihood that future change initiatives will stall or fail.

On the other hand, “change is 30% more likely to stick if people are truly invested.” Great communication can get people invested because when it’s done right, it tells a story in a way that gives the audience a reason to care. It considers the topic from their perspective and appeals to what they care about the most.

  1. Innovation that doesn’t get blocked and dropped

A 2019 study by Harvard Business School found that 95% of new product and service launches fail. The reasons innovation fails are as varied as the mountains of surveys and research into the topic. Some explain why projects fail internally (e.g., lack of coordination among key stakeholders). Other reasons explain why products fail after being launched (e.g., failure to clearly tie the product to the company’s brand).

But somewhere on every list is at least one — and usually more — explanations that are the direct result of failed communication. What else could explain failing to get buy-in and coordination among key internal stakeholders or failing to attach your new product to your company brand in the mind of your market?

Great communication can make those connections. When a story is built and presented in a clear, compelling way, you have a framework for developing communications to different audiences and for different outcomes. In other words, you are better able to support every step of an innovation initiative, from early collaborative brainstorming to final go-to-market messaging.

  1. Big data that actually provides insight and wisdom

Far too often, more data is confused with good communication. No wonder Gartner research predicted in 2019 that through 2022, only 20% of analytic insights will deliver business outcomes. As with unsuccessful innovation projects, big data fails to achieve its desired outcomes for varied reasons. Again, the lists of reasons share a common denominator.

Analysts, consultants, and anyone else relying on mountains of data to drive their audience to action fail to use their data in a way that, in the words of one consultant and author, builds “a shared understanding” with their audience.

With the right communication training, anyone can use data to create a shared understanding with their audience. It’s about learning to transform data into stories. For example:

  1. Faster, better project alignment

Research from the Project Management Institute shows that 56% of project risk comes from ineffective communication. Having a sophisticated project plan with elaborate documentation does not guarantee a successful project, especially if the people responsible for executing it aren’t in sync from the start. As Verne Harnish. founder of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization says, “The consensus is clear. An aligned team is an efficient team that can move faster, think faster, and grow faster.”

Getting teams in sync and moving, thinking, and growing faster can be solved with communication training that teaches people how to:

  1. Faster, better project collaboration

Research shows that 81% of people believe collaboration is critical, and 71% think their managers are making it a priority. So why is collaboration often so painstaking? It’s typically because leaders assume their direct reports are aligned with their vision, expect everyone to collaborate by default (or have an idealized view of cooperation), or expect every collaboration to be conflict-free.

To avoid falling into these collaboration traps, leaders can leverage the power of business storytelling to develop executive presence. It’s a sure path to better communication between leaders and their teams, and — get this — it’s learnable, by anyone. Executive presence requires preparation in three crucial ways:

Because anyone can learn these skills, collaboration can go faster and more smoothly within teams, as well as between multifunctional teams, and between teams and external groups.

  1. More shared expertise, credibility, and content

Shared learning with internal or external leaders and experts is a great idea — in theory. It can let people work as a team to achieve a common objective. It allows subject matter experts to share their explicit and tacit knowledge and complement each other’s skills. Shared learning can help teams hit their goals faster and prevent or at least reduce the loss of knowledge and soft skills leaving the organization.

But shared learning can’t do any of that if all of that great knowhow and insight ends up piled into decks that no one reads, emails no one cares to open, and presentations no one is inspired by.

Instead, with the right communication training, anyone can learn to structure data and facts into a narrative that follows the classic arc of storytelling — including setting, character, conflict, and resolution — to take any audience on an emotional journey of any topic, and making shared learning more memorable and more effective.

  1. Enhanced company culture

How do you know your company culture is at risk? What are the warning signs? Very often a toxic or broken culture is, in fact, a confused culture. And, as an article in HR News points out, a culture is confused when employees receive conflicting messages, when sales guidelines are inconsistent with performance objectives, or when leaders’ behavior does not match expected employee behavior.

What do all of those warning signs have in common? Poor communication.

With training, companies can prevent having a confused culture by building a culture of storytelling — a proven way to share ideas and move them into action. It starts with leadership inspiring and propelling the practice of storytelling from the top down. With training, the ability to weave ideas, data, and insights into a strong narrative — and mitigate culture confusion — will seep into day-to-day business communications.

  1. Better communication across the organization

There are innumerable ways communication can fail within an organization. Often it’s because communication is siloed or compartmentalized. Usually, it’s simply because the information being delivered is misunderstood (or worse, ignored completely). The impacts range from an unpredictable work environment to less effective collaboration.

Among the many causes of poor communication across an organization, two that are on every list are:

Imagine the difference if your leaders and managers had the skills to deliver communication that’s not only crystal clear but inspirational. Imagine if they could effectively drive better action toward goals in any department or function, and were encouraged to communicate more frequently. Everyone would have one trait that is common among high performers everywhere: They are more effective communicators who also communicate more often across a range of topics. Great business storytelling yields those results.

  1. Better customer experience (CX)

Gartner research has shown that although 48% of leaders claim their CX efforts exceed management’s expectations, only 22% report the same efforts exceeded customer’s expectations. Why the disconnect? Research shows three common reasons customer experience strategies fail are because they:

Think of the best experiences you’ve had as a business customer or client. What made them good experiences? The business probably helped you form solid strategies based on the goals you set for yourself. They likely set good expectations, including timelines, metrics, and processes. The process was efficient because everyone on both sides was well-informed and on the same page. And at each step, the business probably communicated with you about what was happening and what was expected of them.

Boil it all down and it’s clear that your great experiences as a business consumer all resulted from great communication.

Many missteps with customers are forgivable, and many customers are all too willing to accept that things change. However, what customers don’t forgive is a failure to communicate what’s happening or why things have changed. In other words, clear, transparent communication can make up for and prevent many mistakes.

  1. Greater shareholder return

Failing to communicate effectively quite simply destroys shareholder value. Companies with highly effective communication skills in their business practices see 47% higher total returns to shareholders compared with firms that are the least effective at communicating. Volumes have been written about what makes some companies profitable year after year. But they all share one attribute. You can guess it by now — good communication.

This only makes sense when you consider the two factors that most affect shareholder return: a company’s value and the expectations of how that value will perform going forward. Both factors can be greatly influenced by a company’s communication practices.

Regarding value, clear communication can help companies generate cash faster (which is one of the most important value drivers in business). When GE made its legal contracts shorter, clearer, and written in plain language, the company significantly reduced its sales and procurement time and costs, which brought cash into the business much more quickly than before.

As for expectations, consider the critical role of leadership in communicating guidance for the future of the company to investors, suppliers, and other stakeholders. That includes emails, presentations, and memos for internal staff, the supply chain, and many more, before communication even goes to shareholders.

The good news is that these skills can be learned to help people communicate better inside and outside the organization, which ultimately influences shareholder return.

\"\"Are you ready to embrace improved communication?

Leaders attack business challenges from many different angles. However, good communication is an often-overlooked solution because it’s seemingly hard to quantify, train, and implement. But only seemingly.

The skills that will dramatically improve employees’ communication and boost your business performance are learnable. In fact, they’re all part of learning how to tell a great story. And because our brains are wired to remember stories, great storytelling remains the single proven path to achieving the right balance of logic and emotion to generate the action you want an audience to take.

Regardless of the form of communication or whether you’re communicating to the C-suite, team members, managers, customers, or prospects, strong storytelling can mitigate and prevent many of the challenges that hamstring business every day.

", "content_plain": "When you think about what it takes to solve big business challenges, what comes to mind? Maybe it’s reevaluating strategic goals. Or maybe it’s undertaking big, bold initiatives like organizational redesign, reengineered workforce planning, or even merger and acquisition assessment. And, business is also chock-full of challenges that can be solved much more quickly and incredibly efficiently if you have one critical tool: good communication across your organization. Think about all the ineffective meetings that waste everyone’s time. Consider all of the poorly executed change initiatives that cost money and damage employee engagement. The fact is, many business problems can be remedied or even prevented with better communication. You can view our Privacy Policy here. The best of intentions are more likely to fail without good communication We’ve all been there. We’ve all struggled to stay focused during a meeting that’s covering so much ground we’ve forgotten what the presenter really wants us to know (if they ever clearly told us in the first place). We’ve all been overwhelmed by a mountain of facts and data that only confuse us and add nothing to our understanding of the challenge we’re being asked to tackle. According to the Project Management Institute: More than 30% of project failures are caused by poor communication Those project failures cost U.S. businesses $75 million for every $1 billion spent High-performing organizations “distinguish themselves by excelling in all quantified aspects of project communications” — specifically in communicating business benefits and identifying company trouble spots Think about all the missed opportunities and wasted time and money that result from poorly communicated emails, one-pagers, high-stakes presentations, quarterly reports, product updates, program pitches, change-management initiatives, business process updates — in other words, anything said, sent, delivered, or presented. Those communications and their goals may seem widely divergent and unrelated. Think about a fancy video and snappy brochure designed to generate excitement around a new product. That’s a whole different animal from an all-hands-on-deck presentation from the C-suite intended to address the FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) amid a company merger or acquisition. Now think how badly both of those initiatives can go if they’re poorly communicated. But what is “good” communication? If poor communication is the most common factor among business problems and failed programs, then we have to ask: What is good business communication? In a nutshell, it’s organizing ideas into a cohesive, audience-centric message that tells a compelling story. Of course there’s more to it than that. You need to know how to build an authentic narrative and limit your charts and data to the ones that really matter. If you use visuals to humanize your message, you need to carefully select them so they bring your story to life but don’t get in its way. In the end, good communication in business is telling a story that inspires your audience to act and moves the business forward. 10 common business challenges that great communication can help solve From improved change management to greater shareholder return, here’s how great communication can have an impact on your business. Change management that meets its goals According to McKinsey & Company, 70% of change communications and programs fail to achieve their goals, “largely due to employee resistance and lack of management support.” Failed change management costs an organization more than just money. Short- and long-term impacts have direct and indirect costs that include wasted time and people resources, drops in morale, loss in confidence of the leadership, resistance to future change, and an increased likelihood that future change initiatives will stall or fail. On the other hand, “change is 30% more likely to stick if people are truly invested.” Great communication can get people invested because when it’s done right, it tells a story in a way that gives the audience a reason to care. It considers the topic from their perspective and appeals to what they care about the most. Innovation that doesn’t get blocked and dropped A 2019 study by Harvard Business School found that 95% of new product and service launches fail. The reasons innovation fails are as varied as the mountains of surveys and research into the topic. Some explain why projects fail internally (e.g., lack of coordination among key stakeholders). Other reasons explain why products fail after being launched (e.g., failure to clearly tie the product to the company’s brand). But somewhere on every list is at least one — and usually more — explanations that are the direct result of failed communication. What else could explain failing to get buy-in and coordination among key internal stakeholders or failing to attach your new product to your company brand in the mind of your market? Great communication can make those connections. When a story is built and presented in a clear, compelling way, you have a framework for developing communications to different audiences and for different outcomes. In other words, you are better able to support every step of an innovation initiative, from early collaborative brainstorming to final go-to-market messaging. Big data that actually provides insight and wisdom Far too often, more data is confused with good communication. No wonder Gartner research predicted in 2019 that through 2022, only 20% of analytic insights will deliver business outcomes. As with unsuccessful innovation projects, big data fails to achieve its desired outcomes for varied reasons. Again, the lists of reasons share a common denominator. Analysts, consultants, and anyone else relying on mountains of data to drive their audience to action fail to use their data in a way that, in the words of one consultant and author, builds “a shared understanding” with their audience. With the right communication training, anyone can use data to create a shared understanding with their audience. It’s about learning to transform data into stories. For example: Focus on the right data to make their point, not just more data. Humanize your data — find the stories it tells — because data alone won’t tell an audience how the numbers affect them. Go beyond your data and take the time to find the story you need to tell for the audience you’re hoping to influence; not every audience will receive your data the same way or have the same need for the story you’re telling. Faster, better project alignment Research from the Project Management Institute shows that 56% of project risk comes from ineffective communication. Having a sophisticated project plan with elaborate documentation does not guarantee a successful project, especially if the people responsible for executing it aren’t in sync from the start. As Verne Harnish. founder of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization says, “The consensus is clear. An aligned team is an efficient team that can move faster, think faster, and grow faster.” Getting teams in sync and moving, thinking, and growing faster can be solved with communication training that teaches people how to: Use a story structure to focus their ideas and clearly articulate what your audience should know and do with the information Deliver a story centered on one BIG Idea they want people to remember or act on Humanize their message to cut through the noise and address audiences’ needs Organize and prioritize facts, data, and ideas in a way that — science has proved — helps human brains digest information quickly Save time by using a common framework across teams and functions Faster, better project collaboration Research shows that 81% of people believe collaboration is critical, and 71% think their managers are making it a priority. So why is collaboration often so painstaking? It’s typically because leaders assume their direct reports are aligned with their vision, expect everyone to collaborate by default (or have an idealized view of cooperation), or expect every collaboration to be conflict-free. To avoid falling into these collaboration traps, leaders can leverage the power of business storytelling to develop executive presence. It’s a sure path to better communication between leaders and their teams, and — get this — it’s learnable, by anyone. Executive presence requires preparation in three crucial ways: First and most important, deeply think about the needs of your audience. Get clear on your main points — the ones that directly address those audience needs. Finally, use a storytelling framework to better navigate these points. Because anyone can learn these skills, collaboration can go faster and more smoothly within teams, as well as between multifunctional teams, and between teams and external groups. More shared expertise, credibility, and content Shared learning with internal or external leaders and experts is a great idea — in theory. It can let people work as a team to achieve a common objective. It allows subject matter experts to share their explicit and tacit knowledge and complement each other’s skills. Shared learning can help teams hit their goals faster and prevent or at least reduce the loss of knowledge and soft skills leaving the organization. But shared learning can’t do any of that if all of that great knowhow and insight ends up piled into decks that no one reads, emails no one cares to open, and presentations no one is inspired by. Instead, with the right communication training, anyone can learn to structure data and facts into a narrative that follows the classic arc of storytelling — including setting, character, conflict, and resolution — to take any audience on an emotional journey of any topic, and making shared learning more memorable and more effective. Enhanced company culture How do you know your company culture is at risk? What are the warning signs? Very often a toxic or broken culture is, in fact, a confused culture. And, as an article in HR News points out, a culture is confused when employees receive conflicting messages, when sales guidelines are inconsistent with performance objectives, or when leaders’ behavior does not match expected employee behavior. What do all of those warning signs have in common? Poor communication. With training, companies can prevent having a confused culture by building a culture of storytelling — a proven way to share ideas and move them into action. It starts with leadership inspiring and propelling the practice of storytelling from the top down. With training, the ability to weave ideas, data, and insights into a strong narrative — and mitigate culture confusion — will seep into day-to-day business communications. Better communication across the organization There are innumerable ways communication can fail within an organization. Often it’s because communication is siloed or compartmentalized. Usually, it’s simply because the information being delivered is misunderstood (or worse, ignored completely). The impacts range from an unpredictable work environment to less effective collaboration. Among the many causes of poor communication across an organization, two that are on every list are: Uninspiring leadership Unclear objectives and goals (especially from managers) Imagine the difference if your leaders and managers had the skills to deliver communication that’s not only crystal clear but inspirational. Imagine if they could effectively drive better action toward goals in any department or function, and were encouraged to communicate more frequently. Everyone would have one trait that is common among high performers everywhere: They are more effective communicators who also communicate more often across a range of topics. Great business storytelling yields those results. Better customer experience (CX) Gartner research has shown that although 48% of leaders claim their CX efforts exceed management’s expectations, only 22% report the same efforts exceeded customer’s expectations. Why the disconnect? Research shows three common reasons customer experience strategies fail are because they: Fail to link to clear and relevant business goals or strategies Are siloed and lack the backing of leaders, departments, and employees Fail to innovate, evolve, and improve through collaboration Think of the best experiences you’ve had as a business customer or client. What made them good experiences? The business probably helped you form solid strategies based on the goals you set for yourself. They likely set good expectations, including timelines, metrics, and processes. The process was efficient because everyone on both sides was well-informed and on the same page. And at each step, the business probably communicated with you about what was happening and what was expected of them. Boil it all down and it’s clear that your great experiences as a business consumer all resulted from great communication. Many missteps with customers are forgivable, and many customers are all too willing to accept that things change. However, what customers don’t forgive is a failure to communicate what’s happening or why things have changed. In other words, clear, transparent communication can make up for and prevent many mistakes. Greater shareholder return Failing to communicate effectively quite simply destroys shareholder value. Companies with highly effective communication skills in their business practices see 47% higher total returns to shareholders compared with firms that are the least effective at communicating. Volumes have been written about what makes some companies profitable year after year. But they all share one attribute. You can guess it by now — good communication. This only makes sense when you consider the two factors that most affect shareholder return: a company’s value and the expectations of how that value will perform going forward. Both factors can be greatly influenced by a company’s communication practices. Regarding value, clear communication can help companies generate cash faster (which is one of the most important value drivers in business). When GE made its legal contracts shorter, clearer, and written in plain language, the company significantly reduced its sales and procurement time and costs, which brought cash into the business much more quickly than before. As for expectations, consider the critical role of leadership in communicating guidance for the future of the company to investors, suppliers, and other stakeholders. That includes emails, presentations, and memos for internal staff, the supply chain, and many more, before communication even goes to shareholders. The good news is that these skills can be learned to help people communicate better inside and outside the organization, which ultimately influences shareholder return. Are you ready to embrace improved communication? Leaders attack business challenges from many different angles. However, good communication is an often-overlooked solution because it’s seemingly hard to quantify, train, and implement. But only seemingly. The skills that will dramatically improve employees’ communication and boost your business performance are learnable. In fact, they’re all part of learning how to tell a great story. And because our brains are wired to remember stories, great storytelling remains the single proven path to achieving the right balance of logic and emotion to generate the action you want an audience to take. Regardless of the form of communication or whether you’re communicating to the C-suite, team members, managers, customers, or prospects, strong storytelling can mitigate and prevent many of the challenges that hamstring business every day.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/10-Business-Challenges-You-Can-Solve-With-Improved-Communication-Skills.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T10:11:45-05:00" }, { "id": 9220, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/five-questions-to-ask-business-communications-training-vendors-before-partnering/", "title": "5 Questions to Ask Business Communications Training Vendors Before Partnering", "h1": "5 Questions to Ask Business Communications Training Vendors Before Partnering", "summary": "", "content": "

Finding a good partner can be challenging, but it’s possible when you know what to look for — and what to avoid.

So you’ve identified a need for training. Now what?

Selecting a business communications training vendor can be difficult and time-consuming. But choosing the right vendor can transform your organization and make your company more successful. In fact, a study conducted by Towers Watson found companies with highly effective communication were 47% more profitable.

When it comes to ensuring your team communicates effectively, the stakes are high. But how do you know which to choose? 47% more profitable.

Before you make a decision, be sure to ask these five questions.

  1. What kinds of results can I expect from the training?

There are more business communication training options today than ever before. But regardless of the program you choose, here are a few things you should expect from your training partner:

  1. How “sticky” is the training?

No one wants to spend precious time and resources on training that doesn’t have a lasting impact. If the concepts from training are too theoretical or difficult to apply, it’s not worthwhile. When you speak with potential vendors, be sure to ask how they ensure your team’s learning will be sustained long term.

If the skills people learn in training are going to stick, they need to be used right away. For this reason, when considering a training vendor, one thing to consider is whether the concepts covered in the program are immediately applicable and practical for their everyday work. The program you choose should leverage the learning done during the training right away — with the next email employees write or the next slide presentation they design.

  1. Will this training fit into the flow of my team’s work?

Here’s the problem with most business communications training programs: They tend to be compartmentalized or separated from day-to-day work. It takes effort to apply the principles of training to regular work. It’s like trying to make a square peg fit into a round hole.

With the right business communications training, employees won’t have to complete a lot of pre-work that’s unrelated to their ongoing projects. Instead, seek to minimize disruption to your employees’ workday by focusing on what’s immediately relevant to your team — the projects they’re working on right now.

Be sure to ask your potential vendors if participants can use actual work examples within the training. That way, people can shift seamlessly from training to work, and inspiration from the program will show up in the flow of daily projects.

  1. What kinds of tools does the training provide?

Before selecting a training partner, you’ll want to know what your team will get out of it — during the program itself and after it’s done. Teams need to be equipped to continue learning and applying the skills they’ve developed in in the weeks, months, and years that follow. Whether it’s templates, guides, videos, a book, or some other resource, it’s essential that individuals be able to revisit training materials and reorient themselves to key concepts whenever they need a refresher.

In addition to resources, be sure to ask potential vendors about access to training that will create opportunities for peer and manager coaching at your organization. The ability to provide ongoing training helps keep everyone’s skills sharp. Access to peer and manager coaching will allow effective business communication practices to permeate the culture of your organization. It also equips your team with the tools and knowledge needed to maintain your momentum long after the training ends.

  1. What modalities do you offer?

Modality matters. With so many teams working remotely and scattered around the world, you need a training partner that’s as flexible as you are. If your team works best face to face, find a partner that offers training programs that will allow you to gather in a physical space. If your workplace is decentralized, make sure your vendor provides high-quality virtual training led by a live instructor. With a vendor that offers top-notch instructional design and technological expertise, live virtual sessions provide training that is just as effective and engaging as face-to-face options. Or, if your team prefers to learn asynchronously in an online environment, find a vendor that offers on-demand training so employees can learn anytime, anywhere. Whatever your situation, be sure that your vendor provides the delivery methods that are right for your team.

Make your investment in training count

How do you know if you’ve selected the right training for your organization? It’s a simple question, but perhaps without a simple answer. The truth is, not all business communications training programs are the same. To make sure you’ve selected the right training, think about the kinds of skills you want people within your organization to build and what training modality will best serve your team.

", "content_plain": "Finding a good partner can be challenging, but it’s possible when you know what to look for — and what to avoid. So you’ve identified a need for training. Now what? Selecting a business communications training vendor can be difficult and time-consuming. But choosing the right vendor can transform your organization and make your company more successful. In fact, a study conducted by Towers Watson found companies with highly effective communication were 47% more profitable. When it comes to ensuring your team communicates effectively, the stakes are high. But how do you know which to choose? 47% more profitable. Before you make a decision, be sure to ask these five questions. What kinds of results can I expect from the training? There are more business communication training options today than ever before. But regardless of the program you choose, here are a few things you should expect from your training partner: Deep skills learning: It’s critical that your business communication training vendor teach more than isolated skills. Instead, be sure your vendor helps individuals engage in deep learning to build practical skills they can transfer to other situations. Your team needs to learn how to give a good presentation, but the right vendor will teach these skills in a way that transfers to running smoother meetings, creating engaging one-pagers, writing clearer emails, and more. Saving time for everyone: Leaders tell us they spend a lot more time than they’d like reworking high-stakes communications for employees. The same burden is carried by individuals who have been singled out as “the one who knows how to win over prospects and get executives to say ‘yes.’” With the right business communications training program, everyone at your organization will have the skills to create quality materials, saving time and energy. Not only that, the increased efficiency you’ll see will shorten work cycles. As a result, increased efficiency means you’ll get more done, and improve your company’s bottom line. A common language: When you choose the right training vendor, your organization will share a common language. Instead of each department or team developing communications in their own way, you’ll have a unified strategy. A common language will help your organization achieve consistency and quality in messaging while also increasing efficiency. How “sticky” is the training? No one wants to spend precious time and resources on training that doesn’t have a lasting impact. If the concepts from training are too theoretical or difficult to apply, it’s not worthwhile. When you speak with potential vendors, be sure to ask how they ensure your team’s learning will be sustained long term. If the skills people learn in training are going to stick, they need to be used right away. For this reason, when considering a training vendor, one thing to consider is whether the concepts covered in the program are immediately applicable and practical for their everyday work. The program you choose should leverage the learning done during the training right away — with the next email employees write or the next slide presentation they design. Will this training fit into the flow of my team’s work? Here’s the problem with most business communications training programs: They tend to be compartmentalized or separated from day-to-day work. It takes effort to apply the principles of training to regular work. It’s like trying to make a square peg fit into a round hole. With the right business communications training, employees won’t have to complete a lot of pre-work that’s unrelated to their ongoing projects. Instead, seek to minimize disruption to your employees’ workday by focusing on what’s immediately relevant to your team — the projects they’re working on right now. Be sure to ask your potential vendors if participants can use actual work examples within the training. That way, people can shift seamlessly from training to work, and inspiration from the program will show up in the flow of daily projects. What kinds of tools does the training provide? Before selecting a training partner, you’ll want to know what your team will get out of it — during the program itself and after it’s done. Teams need to be equipped to continue learning and applying the skills they’ve developed in in the weeks, months, and years that follow. Whether it’s templates, guides, videos, a book, or some other resource, it’s essential that individuals be able to revisit training materials and reorient themselves to key concepts whenever they need a refresher. In addition to resources, be sure to ask potential vendors about access to training that will create opportunities for peer and manager coaching at your organization. The ability to provide ongoing training helps keep everyone’s skills sharp. Access to peer and manager coaching will allow effective business communication practices to permeate the culture of your organization. It also equips your team with the tools and knowledge needed to maintain your momentum long after the training ends. What modalities do you offer? Modality matters. With so many teams working remotely and scattered around the world, you need a training partner that’s as flexible as you are. If your team works best face to face, find a partner that offers training programs that will allow you to gather in a physical space. If your workplace is decentralized, make sure your vendor provides high-quality virtual training led by a live instructor. With a vendor that offers top-notch instructional design and technological expertise, live virtual sessions provide training that is just as effective and engaging as face-to-face options. Or, if your team prefers to learn asynchronously in an online environment, find a vendor that offers on-demand training so employees can learn anytime, anywhere. Whatever your situation, be sure that your vendor provides the delivery methods that are right for your team. Make your investment in training count How do you know if you’ve selected the right training for your organization? It’s a simple question, but perhaps without a simple answer. The truth is, not all business communications training programs are the same. To make sure you’ve selected the right training, think about the kinds of skills you want people within your organization to build and what training modality will best serve your team.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/5-Questions-to-Ask-Business-Communications-Training-Vendors-Before-Partnering.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T15:22:14-05:00" }, { "id": 9212, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/how-to-get-learning-to-start-stick-and-scale-within-your-organization/", "title": "How to Get Learning to Start, Stick, and Scale Within Your Organization", "h1": "How to Get Learning to Start, Stick, and Scale Within Your Organization", "summary": "", "content": "

Nine times out of 10, training is just an event — but what happens after it’s over? Learning can be hard work, its outcomes aren’t always clear, and while difficult to achieve, getting the content to stick and drive behavior change is the holy grail of L&D leaders everywhere.

Once you find the right training programs, however, the real challenge becomes not only scaling those L&D opportunities across the organization, but also ensuring that they drive the desired behavior change within your teams. While there’s no magic solution, experience has taught us a few pro tips to drive knowledge and behavior change to every employee.

What can you do to make training start, stick, and scale within your organization?

\"\"Learning initiatives fail because of time, application, and scalability.

Business storytelling applies to everyone in your organization — starting today. The number one obstacle for learning is that employees don’t have the time to learn. We’ve all been there, where a great learning opportunity is presented but we don’t feel like we have the time. In fact, we hear that learners interested in our workshops sometimes hesitate to attend because they fear it’s “just another training” they’re forced to go to, using up precious time they don’t have. That concern is usually not dispelled until they begin the course.

That’s why it’s hard to get learning to start.

Additionally, much of what people learn isn’t immediately applicable to them in their daily work, so it’s quickly forgotten. A popular model in psychology research suggests that most information is forgotten soon after first hearing it — this is called the Forgotten Curve. However, when information is presented with meaning and logic, say, by encoding information in a story, the content is more easily stored and remembered for later. This is why business storytelling is so crucial.

That’s why it’s hard to get learning to stick.

People also learn differently: Some want hands-on application while some enjoy lecture modalities. And there are different kinds of knowledge: explicit, implicit, tacit, a priori, positive, normative, and so on. And then there’s just the technical and logistical challenges of running a global business.

That’s why it’s hard to get learning to scale.

Experience has taught us these obstacles can be overcome in several key ways.

\"\"Storytelling gets learning to start, stick, and scale.

With the demand for and the results obtained from innovative training programs, leaders must get their people learning. But how? One approach is through storytelling, the art of using stories to humanize a story, build emotion, and compel people to act. Business storytelling is immediately applicable and cross-functional — it’s a lifelong skill that enhances every area of an employee’s workday.

Additionally, storytelling is not only an end in itself for learners, but also a means to better learn and internalize material. For example, neuroscience research shows effective presentations can help learners store and access the information they learn: animations, visuals, a coherent narrative that builds credibility, trust, and decision-making.

Let’s explore how storytelling can get learning to start, stick, and scale across the organization.

  1. Get employees to start learning.

So, how do you get employees to start learning? Remember, the main objection to learning is that people don’t have enough time. The first thing is to clear enough space on the schedule to conduct the training, or you can persuade learners to value the training enough to create the time they need.

Selling the value of the training is a crucial starting point to drive adoption. It’s a marketing task more than anything. First, ensure people know about all of the tools they’ll walk away with that will make their job easier day to day. Point them to relevant resources that will help employees want more. And remind them that this skill will carry on with them throughout their career, helping them get noticed and promoted at work today and in the future.

For instance, we’ve heard from many practitioners that employees often don’t see the value in taking a storytelling workshop. They may think it’s not applicable or relevant to their work — that because they’re in a technical role, they don’t need to be “fluffy” storytellers. To cut through the former objection, consider showing before-and-after examples of other learners’ work. One way to do this is to ask employees to bring with them a presentation or some other work they need help with. Throughout the workshop, employees can use the skills they’re learning and apply it immediately to the work they need to accomplish that week anyway.

This helps embed the training opportunity’s value into something they can take with them: “Look at what this training did for me. Before, I had trouble communicating effectively. Then I went to this workshop — now look at what I can create.”

It also proves to them that it’s not only relevant for the work they do — no matter what kind of work that may be — but also that it has an immediate impact in their day-to-day tasks. Finally, it shows that even the most technical skill sets can apply storytelling techniques to, for instance, better communicate their data analysis or financial reporting capabilities.

For the second objection regarding time, this is a counterintuitive tip, but sometimes going more slowly can end up making things go more quickly in the end. When you slow down to do something right the first time, you won’t have to waste time later reworking those slides or rewriting that memo.

As a small example, we often see employees put too much information on a slide, thinking that the viewer can pick and choose which information applies to them. Yet this actually creates more work for the audience to decode what’s important. If they just spent a little more time organizing their thoughts, it would shave off a few minutes of viewers’ time and ease their cognitive load. In this way, your time is spent in the most efficient way possible and your overall work life becomes much more productive.

The bottom line is that your employees likely do have enough time, but better communicating the value of the training can go a long way toward reprioritizing their workload.

  1. Get learning content to stick.

Let’s say you’ve seen great attendance for your training programs. Now, how do you get that training to stick? The first tip — using day-to-day projects to show relevance — can apply here as well. Using employees’ own work allows them to apply it and see its impact, letting the concepts sink in more deeply.

We’ve seen a few other storytelling processes work well for reinforcing key concepts. It all boils down to continuing the conversation. That is, innovative learning programs provide resources and coaching for ongoing reinforcement. Coaching helps emphasize the key skills employees have learned, especially coaching from peers and managers. This is helpful because manager buy-in can often be a major challenge to continuing the conversation.

Explaining such benefits to peers — peers from the same workshop, on the same team or department, or those in matrixed departments — can further extend the concentric circle of coaching.

Finally, you can obtain further leadership buy-in by showing how training — especially business communication and storytelling — can help managers and employees gain executive presence through clearer communication and greater confidence.

By adding better resources and coaching to keep the story going, you can help your L&D initiatives develop more stickiness over the program’s lifetime.

  1. Get learning programs to scale.

Learning is tough to scale for many leaders, but it doesn’t have to be. Practicality and relevance are key. Word of mouth through networks is also an engine for driving scalable growth. Let’s explore these in more detail.

Some training applies to very niche subjects, which makes it difficult to scale to hundreds or thousands of employees. However, some skills, like business storytelling, can apply to just about every role throughout a global enterprise. The simple reason is that we all have points to make, initiatives to justify, and positions to clarify, whether that’s a high-stakes presentation or a quarterly business review. By learning a few tricks of the trade, every employee in every department can enhance their confidence, clarity, and executive presence.

Additionally, McKinsey research notes how the most desirable skills within today’s organizations are so-called soft skills. These include leadership and management, decision making, adaptability, and continuous learning, as well as interpersonal skills and empathy. With this growing group of in-demand skills, it’s no wonder that communication skills have seen a huge increase in training programs.

This is in part due to the fact that many soft skills — which are increasingly referred to as power skills due to the growing understanding of their impact — apply to every level of an organization as well as every stage of an employee’s career. Even the most junior employees need to learn how to understand their audience’s needs and things they care about, communicate their ideas effectively, and build communications as a team.

The difficulty with the way business works now — with hybrid, flexible, and asynchronous environments becoming more commonplace — is that training must also evolve to fit into the day-to-day lives of employees everywhere. This is where practicality and relevance come into play.

That is, getting learning to scale requires providing real skills employees can use in their daily work lives, which in turn helps others get on board. We’ve seen over and over again how one employee’s storytelling and presentation skills become so advanced in such a short time that other employees lean over and ask, “How did you learn to do that?” They can see the confidence and clarity on every slide, and they want the same training for themselves. Employees who have gone through this training receive positive feedback from their managers or audience, proving that the training paid off — through closed deals or approved initiatives — and convincing them that the training should be more widespread.

We’ve illustrated a few ways L&D initiatives can help learning start, stick, and scale throughout an organization. Underneath each of the trends and experiences we see, storytelling holds the key.

\"\"Business storytelling applies to everyone in your organization — starting today.

Scaling your learning programs is possible even in today’s hybrid, remote, and digital work environments. By following these tips, you’ll find that communicating effectively can make your content start, stick, and scale better than ever.

", "content_plain": "Nine times out of 10, training is just an event — but what happens after it’s over? Learning can be hard work, its outcomes aren’t always clear, and while difficult to achieve, getting the content to stick and drive behavior change is the holy grail of L&D leaders everywhere. Once you find the right training programs, however, the real challenge becomes not only scaling those L&D opportunities across the organization, but also ensuring that they drive the desired behavior change within your teams. While there’s no magic solution, experience has taught us a few pro tips to drive knowledge and behavior change to every employee. What can you do to make training start, stick, and scale within your organization? Learning initiatives fail because of time, application, and scalability. Business storytelling applies to everyone in your organization — starting today. The number one obstacle for learning is that employees don’t have the time to learn. We’ve all been there, where a great learning opportunity is presented but we don’t feel like we have the time. In fact, we hear that learners interested in our workshops sometimes hesitate to attend because they fear it’s “just another training” they’re forced to go to, using up precious time they don’t have. That concern is usually not dispelled until they begin the course. That’s why it’s hard to get learning to start. Additionally, much of what people learn isn’t immediately applicable to them in their daily work, so it’s quickly forgotten. A popular model in psychology research suggests that most information is forgotten soon after first hearing it — this is called the Forgotten Curve. However, when information is presented with meaning and logic, say, by encoding information in a story, the content is more easily stored and remembered for later. This is why business storytelling is so crucial. That’s why it’s hard to get learning to stick. People also learn differently: Some want hands-on application while some enjoy lecture modalities. And there are different kinds of knowledge: explicit, implicit, tacit, a priori, positive, normative, and so on. And then there’s just the technical and logistical challenges of running a global business. That’s why it’s hard to get learning to scale. Experience has taught us these obstacles can be overcome in several key ways. Storytelling gets learning to start, stick, and scale. With the demand for and the results obtained from innovative training programs, leaders must get their people learning. But how? One approach is through storytelling, the art of using stories to humanize a story, build emotion, and compel people to act. Business storytelling is immediately applicable and cross-functional — it’s a lifelong skill that enhances every area of an employee’s workday. Additionally, storytelling is not only an end in itself for learners, but also a means to better learn and internalize material. For example, neuroscience research shows effective presentations can help learners store and access the information they learn: animations, visuals, a coherent narrative that builds credibility, trust, and decision-making. Let’s explore how storytelling can get learning to start, stick, and scale across the organization. Get employees to start learning. So, how do you get employees to start learning? Remember, the main objection to learning is that people don’t have enough time. The first thing is to clear enough space on the schedule to conduct the training, or you can persuade learners to value the training enough to create the time they need. Selling the value of the training is a crucial starting point to drive adoption. It’s a marketing task more than anything. First, ensure people know about all of the tools they’ll walk away with that will make their job easier day to day. Point them to relevant resources that will help employees want more. And remind them that this skill will carry on with them throughout their career, helping them get noticed and promoted at work today and in the future. For instance, we’ve heard from many practitioners that employees often don’t see the value in taking a storytelling workshop. They may think it’s not applicable or relevant to their work — that because they’re in a technical role, they don’t need to be “fluffy” storytellers. To cut through the former objection, consider showing before-and-after examples of other learners’ work. One way to do this is to ask employees to bring with them a presentation or some other work they need help with. Throughout the workshop, employees can use the skills they’re learning and apply it immediately to the work they need to accomplish that week anyway. This helps embed the training opportunity’s value into something they can take with them: “Look at what this training did for me. Before, I had trouble communicating effectively. Then I went to this workshop — now look at what I can create.” It also proves to them that it’s not only relevant for the work they do — no matter what kind of work that may be — but also that it has an immediate impact in their day-to-day tasks. Finally, it shows that even the most technical skill sets can apply storytelling techniques to, for instance, better communicate their data analysis or financial reporting capabilities. For the second objection regarding time, this is a counterintuitive tip, but sometimes going more slowly can end up making things go more quickly in the end. When you slow down to do something right the first time, you won’t have to waste time later reworking those slides or rewriting that memo. As a small example, we often see employees put too much information on a slide, thinking that the viewer can pick and choose which information applies to them. Yet this actually creates more work for the audience to decode what’s important. If they just spent a little more time organizing their thoughts, it would shave off a few minutes of viewers’ time and ease their cognitive load. In this way, your time is spent in the most efficient way possible and your overall work life becomes much more productive. The bottom line is that your employees likely do have enough time, but better communicating the value of the training can go a long way toward reprioritizing their workload. Get learning content to stick. Let’s say you’ve seen great attendance for your training programs. Now, how do you get that training to stick? The first tip — using day-to-day projects to show relevance — can apply here as well. Using employees’ own work allows them to apply it and see its impact, letting the concepts sink in more deeply. We’ve seen a few other storytelling processes work well for reinforcing key concepts. It all boils down to continuing the conversation. That is, innovative learning programs provide resources and coaching for ongoing reinforcement. Coaching helps emphasize the key skills employees have learned, especially coaching from peers and managers. This is helpful because manager buy-in can often be a major challenge to continuing the conversation. Explaining such benefits to peers — peers from the same workshop, on the same team or department, or those in matrixed departments — can further extend the concentric circle of coaching. Finally, you can obtain further leadership buy-in by showing how training — especially business communication and storytelling — can help managers and employees gain executive presence through clearer communication and greater confidence. By adding better resources and coaching to keep the story going, you can help your L&D initiatives develop more stickiness over the program’s lifetime. Get learning programs to scale. Learning is tough to scale for many leaders, but it doesn’t have to be. Practicality and relevance are key. Word of mouth through networks is also an engine for driving scalable growth. Let’s explore these in more detail. Some training applies to very niche subjects, which makes it difficult to scale to hundreds or thousands of employees. However, some skills, like business storytelling, can apply to just about every role throughout a global enterprise. The simple reason is that we all have points to make, initiatives to justify, and positions to clarify, whether that’s a high-stakes presentation or a quarterly business review. By learning a few tricks of the trade, every employee in every department can enhance their confidence, clarity, and executive presence. Additionally, McKinsey research notes how the most desirable skills within today’s organizations are so-called soft skills. These include leadership and management, decision making, adaptability, and continuous learning, as well as interpersonal skills and empathy. With this growing group of in-demand skills, it’s no wonder that communication skills have seen a huge increase in training programs. This is in part due to the fact that many soft skills — which are increasingly referred to as power skills due to the growing understanding of their impact — apply to every level of an organization as well as every stage of an employee’s career. Even the most junior employees need to learn how to understand their audience’s needs and things they care about, communicate their ideas effectively, and build communications as a team. The difficulty with the way business works now — with hybrid, flexible, and asynchronous environments becoming more commonplace — is that training must also evolve to fit into the day-to-day lives of employees everywhere. This is where practicality and relevance come into play. That is, getting learning to scale requires providing real skills employees can use in their daily work lives, which in turn helps others get on board. We’ve seen over and over again how one employee’s storytelling and presentation skills become so advanced in such a short time that other employees lean over and ask, “How did you learn to do that?” They can see the confidence and clarity on every slide, and they want the same training for themselves. Employees who have gone through this training receive positive feedback from their managers or audience, proving that the training paid off — through closed deals or approved initiatives — and convincing them that the training should be more widespread. We’ve illustrated a few ways L&D initiatives can help learning start, stick, and scale throughout an organization. Underneath each of the trends and experiences we see, storytelling holds the key. Business storytelling applies to everyone in your organization — starting today. Scaling your learning programs is possible even in today’s hybrid, remote, and digital work environments. By following these tips, you’ll find that communicating effectively can make your content start, stick, and scale better than ever.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/How-to-Get-Learning-to-Start-Stick-and-Scale-Within-Your-Organization.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T15:22:43-05:00" }, { "id": 9192, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/how-l-and-d-can-support-an-internal-communications-initiative-through-business-storytelling-training/", "title": "How L&D Can Support an Internal Communications Initiative Through Business Storytelling Training", "h1": "How L&D Can Support an Internal Communications Initiative Through Business Storytelling Training", "summary": "Fill out the form below to get a link to our slideshow.", "content": "

If you’re an L&D leader, you know that effective communications training can help your people speed up the decision-making process, elevate the conversation, and better sell their ideas and influence decisions. But first, you must figure out the one critical factor to any training initiative—how to engage your organization. So, where do you start?

With a helpful playbook, you’ll get everything you need to make an informed decision about the right communications training for your business.

Check out this slideshow to find out what questions L&D leaders need to ask themselves to successfully support a business communications training initiative.

Fill out the form below to get a link to our slideshow.

\"DOWNLOAD
", "content_plain": "If you’re an L&D leader, you know that effective communications training can help your people speed up the decision-making process, elevate the conversation, and better sell their ideas and influence decisions. But first, you must figure out the one critical factor to any training initiative—how to engage your organization. So, where do you start? With a helpful playbook, you’ll get everything you need to make an informed decision about the right communications training for your business. Check out this slideshow to find out what questions L&D leaders need to ask themselves to successfully support a business communications training initiative. Fill out the form below to get a link to our slideshow.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/TPC-Slide-LO-How-LD-Can-Support-FA_Page_01.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T15:23:02-05:00" }, { "id": 9188, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/the-future-is-hybrid-how-to-use-business-storytelling-to-effectively-connect-with-everyone-everywhere/", "title": "The Future Is Hybrid: How to Use Business Storytelling to Effectively Connect With Everyone, Everywhere", "h1": "The Future Is Hybrid: How to Use Business Storytelling to Effectively Connect With Everyone, Everywhere", "summary": "", "content": "

Hybrid work is here to stay — and that’s not just anecdotal watercooler conversation. Microsoft’s 2021 Work Trend Index, a study of over 30,000 people in 31 countries, found that 73% of respondents desire remote work options. Similarly, when McKinsey surveyed 100 executives, the firm found that 9 out of 10 organizations will combine remote and on-site working in the post-pandemic world.

As it becomes clear that many organizations will never go back to 100% in-person work, we must shift from being functional in hybrid environments to being exceptional in them. If teams fail to master hybrid work, they risk eroding culture, negatively impacting productivity and well-being, and increasing turnover, among other damaging outcomes.

If you want your organization to raise the bar for the virtual interactions that the hybrid workplace demands, your teams must learn how to craft stories their audiences care about, build interaction into their meetings, and engage everyone — whether they’re in-person or remote.

\"\"Use storytelling to engage your team

Whether you’re reading a bedtime story, sitting around a campfire, or enjoying a meal with friends, storytelling is something we all do every day — and we’ve done it for thousands of years. We use stories to develop trust, build community, and create connections. Unfortunately, when we communicate at work, we often overload our audience with facts and data, ultimately missing an opportunity to create engaging stories that drive business forward.

The ROI of storytelling in a hybrid workplace

Studies show that storytelling is critical in business:

Structuring stories your audience cares about

If you want to engage a hybrid audience, a well-prepared narrative is a must. Every meaningful story should include the following five elements:

When you use a clear story structure while designing a presentation or meeting, you’re also arming yourself with a road map. This helps prevent falling victim to tangents or losing focus when speaking in front of a group of people. But more than just keeping your presentation on track, having a compelling story structure compels your audience to lean in and truly engage. It’s a capability that’s even more important now, as so many speakers need to present to virtual or hybrid audiences, where distractions abound and listeners have little patience for a poorly delivered presentation.

The best stories — whether delivered in-person, virtually, or in a hybrid environment — are never about the speaker; they’re about the audience. A great storyteller always considers the challenges their audience is currently facing and what they care about most.

\"\"Build interaction into your meetings

Since virtual meetings lack the level of body language that occurs in person, your audience — especially those joining virtually — need to know how and when you want them to interact with you. If you don’t prescribe this interaction in your hybrid meetings, it’s unlikely to happen.

How to infuse interaction in hybrid meetings and presentations

 

  1. Check in with remote participants first

When you pause for discussion, ask if your colleagues have questions or comments, starting with your virtual audience to ensure their voices are heard.

  1. Use interactive placeholders every three to five minutes

For example, include a slide that reads, “Q&A: Raise Your Hand to Unmute or Chat: [Insert Question]. These serve as visual pauses and signal to your audience that you want them to engage.

  1. Leverage interactive tools

Use built-in features (like polls and chat) and external tools like virtual whiteboards (Miro or Mural) or Slido Ideas to capture open-ended feedback from all audience members.

Co-hosting meetings to improve interaction

To ensure your interactions go smoothly, consider co-hosting hybrid events with a colleague. In the online environment, a co-pilot can help manage technical issues, remind folks to mute or unmute, post useful links in the chat, and moderate Q&A. In a physical space, a co-host can remind participants to speak loudly or position themselves in view of the camera so virtual attendees can see and hear them.

PRO TIP!

Should my co-host be in-person or virtual?

Consider this: If the meeting leader is in-person, it’s helpful to have a co-pilot attending virtually so both environments — virtual and face-to-face — have a lifeline. The reverse is also true. A virtual meeting leader can benefit from having a co-pilot in the physical meeting space.

\"\"Subvert proximity bias by engaging with remote colleagues first

According to Harvard Business Review, “Remote members of a hybrid team will often wonder whether they fare differently than collocated workers.” This gets at the concept of proximity bias, or the idea that employees with close physical proximity to their team and leaders will be fare differently than collocated workers perceived as better workers. To minimize the likelihood of proximity bias, presenters can intentionally engage with everyone present, whether they’re physically in the room or attending remotely. But start by recognizing your remote audience members first.

Welcome online colleagues at the top of your meeting, by name if possible. If you have a large team, offer a general greeting to your remote folks, like: Hi to the London folks. How are you doing there?”

The dangers of proximity bias and how to avoid it

Proximity bias is a significant concern as workplaces become increasingly decentralized. Gallup goes so far as saying that proximity bias “is reckless behavior in the hybrid world of work.” To subvert proximity bias, in addition to engaging all attendees during virtual or hybrid meetings, managers can:

\"\"The bottom line? Great storytelling supports the hybrid work model.

With the future of work being hybrid, it’s now everyone’s responsibility to manage relationships with colleagues and clients in a virtual space. What this means in practice is that employees are now under increased pressure to communicate and present information in a way that’s engaging, effective, and equitable. It’s not easy to do, but there are easily learnable strategies to make it easier. By building prescribed interaction into your hybrid meetings, you can encourage meaningful engagement, and by prioritizing substantive interactions with remote colleagues, you can subvert proximity bias.

But perhaps the most powerful tool for creating an exceptional hybrid experience is through storytelling. Stories not only hold your audience’s attention. They help your audience to authentically care about the topics being discussed and encourage them to participate in meaningful ways. You have the power to transform your team’s remote work experience — all you have to do is tell a meaningful story.

", "content_plain": "Hybrid work is here to stay — and that’s not just anecdotal watercooler conversation. Microsoft’s 2021 Work Trend Index, a study of over 30,000 people in 31 countries, found that 73% of respondents desire remote work options. Similarly, when McKinsey surveyed 100 executives, the firm found that 9 out of 10 organizations will combine remote and on-site working in the post-pandemic world. As it becomes clear that many organizations will never go back to 100% in-person work, we must shift from being functional in hybrid environments to being exceptional in them. If teams fail to master hybrid work, they risk eroding culture, negatively impacting productivity and well-being, and increasing turnover, among other damaging outcomes. If you want your organization to raise the bar for the virtual interactions that the hybrid workplace demands, your teams must learn how to craft stories their audiences care about, build interaction into their meetings, and engage everyone — whether they’re in-person or remote. Use storytelling to engage your team Whether you’re reading a bedtime story, sitting around a campfire, or enjoying a meal with friends, storytelling is something we all do every day — and we’ve done it for thousands of years. We use stories to develop trust, build community, and create connections. Unfortunately, when we communicate at work, we often overload our audience with facts and data, ultimately missing an opportunity to create engaging stories that drive business forward. The ROI of storytelling in a hybrid workplace Studies show that storytelling is critical in business: We are approximately 22 times more likely to remember facts when they’re part of a story. Storytelling is proven to be one of the most effective methods of increasing employee engagement. Stories can help normalize innovative concepts by making complex ideas easier to understand. Structuring stories your audience cares about If you want to engage a hybrid audience, a well-prepared narrative is a must. Every meaningful story should include the following five elements: Setting – to provide context (often backed by data) and build focus for the audience Characters – to add an emotional element and help the audience feel and connect with the story Conflict – to give your audience a reason to care and allow you to illuminate a current problem they’re facing Big idea – the essential point you want your audience to take away with them that clearly addresses the primary conflict you introduced Resolution – the last element of your story, where you unveil a new opportunity or idea When you use a clear story structure while designing a presentation or meeting, you’re also arming yourself with a road map. This helps prevent falling victim to tangents or losing focus when speaking in front of a group of people. But more than just keeping your presentation on track, having a compelling story structure compels your audience to lean in and truly engage. It’s a capability that’s even more important now, as so many speakers need to present to virtual or hybrid audiences, where distractions abound and listeners have little patience for a poorly delivered presentation. The best stories — whether delivered in-person, virtually, or in a hybrid environment — are never about the speaker; they’re about the audience. A great storyteller always considers the challenges their audience is currently facing and what they care about most. Build interaction into your meetings Since virtual meetings lack the level of body language that occurs in person, your audience — especially those joining virtually — need to know how and when you want them to interact with you. If you don’t prescribe this interaction in your hybrid meetings, it’s unlikely to happen. How to infuse interaction in hybrid meetings and presentations   Check in with remote participants first When you pause for discussion, ask if your colleagues have questions or comments, starting with your virtual audience to ensure their voices are heard. Use interactive placeholders every three to five minutes For example, include a slide that reads, “Q&A: Raise Your Hand to Unmute or Chat: [Insert Question]. These serve as visual pauses and signal to your audience that you want them to engage. Leverage interactive tools Use built-in features (like polls and chat) and external tools like virtual whiteboards (Miro or Mural) or Slido Ideas to capture open-ended feedback from all audience members. Co-hosting meetings to improve interaction To ensure your interactions go smoothly, consider co-hosting hybrid events with a colleague. In the online environment, a co-pilot can help manage technical issues, remind folks to mute or unmute, post useful links in the chat, and moderate Q&A. In a physical space, a co-host can remind participants to speak loudly or position themselves in view of the camera so virtual attendees can see and hear them. PRO TIP! Should my co-host be in-person or virtual? Consider this: If the meeting leader is in-person, it’s helpful to have a co-pilot attending virtually so both environments — virtual and face-to-face — have a lifeline. The reverse is also true. A virtual meeting leader can benefit from having a co-pilot in the physical meeting space. Subvert proximity bias by engaging with remote colleagues first According to Harvard Business Review, “Remote members of a hybrid team will often wonder whether they fare differently than collocated workers.” This gets at the concept of proximity bias, or the idea that employees with close physical proximity to their team and leaders will be fare differently than collocated workers perceived as better workers. To minimize the likelihood of proximity bias, presenters can intentionally engage with everyone present, whether they’re physically in the room or attending remotely. But start by recognizing your remote audience members first. Welcome online colleagues at the top of your meeting, by name if possible. If you have a large team, offer a general greeting to your remote folks, like: Hi to the London folks. How are you doing there?” The dangers of proximity bias and how to avoid it Proximity bias is a significant concern as workplaces become increasingly decentralized. Gallup goes so far as saying that proximity bias “is reckless behavior in the hybrid world of work.” To subvert proximity bias, in addition to engaging all attendees during virtual or hybrid meetings, managers can: Pay attention to everyone’s engagement preferences — understanding, for example, that some individuals may prefer to contribute via the chat function or with their camera off. Be aware, too, that proximity bias disproportionately affects women. Be aware of the pitfall of unintentionally developing a culture that considers home-workers second-class citizens, [which] risks squandering all the hard-won competitive differentiators that remote working brings.” When you pause for Q&A or a discussion, check in first with your online colleagues. For example, you might say, For those online … Alex, Maria, Tony, and Miguel, let’s hear from you first. What questions are coming up?” The bottom line? Great storytelling supports the hybrid work model. With the future of work being hybrid, it’s now everyone’s responsibility to manage relationships with colleagues and clients in a virtual space. What this means in practice is that employees are now under increased pressure to communicate and present information in a way that’s engaging, effective, and equitable. It’s not easy to do, but there are easily learnable strategies to make it easier. By building prescribed interaction into your hybrid meetings, you can encourage meaningful engagement, and by prioritizing substantive interactions with remote colleagues, you can subvert proximity bias. But perhaps the most powerful tool for creating an exceptional hybrid experience is through storytelling. Stories not only hold your audience’s attention. They help your audience to authentically care about the topics being discussed and encourage them to participate in meaningful ways. You have the power to transform your team’s remote work experience — all you have to do is tell a meaningful story.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/gettyimages-1164230550-612x612-1200x627-1.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T15:23:27-05:00" }, { "id": 9187, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/its-time-to-reframe-soft-skills-as-power-skills/", "title": "It’s Time to Reframe Soft Skills as Power Skills", "h1": "It’s Time to Reframe Soft Skills as Power Skills", "summary": "", "content": "

It’s time for business leaders to appreciate the impact of soft skills on the bottom line. There’s hidden gold in the nontechnical skills that can help leaders and managers reach their goals through better communication, collaboration, and conflict management.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

Let’s Define “Soft Skills” and Why They Matter

Soft skills” are behaviors, personality traits, and work habits that help people thrive in their jobs. They’re things like resilience, collaboration, critical thinking, perseverance, and communication. SMHR suggests thinking of the importance of soft skills like this: A talented graphic designer might wow people with her creations. But if she’s constantly missing deadlines or not listening to and accepting feedback, she’ll create costly project delays or anger clients. Those projects — and her career — could easily stall, maybe even die on the vine.

In short, the lack of soft skills can easily hobble someone who has solid technical expertise. And it’s costing companies time and money.

In its “Enterprise Guide to Closing the Skills Gap,” IBM’s Institute for Business Value concluded today’s workforce requires more than just technical or basic business skills. Professionals also need “softer” capabilities — an adaptive mindset, collaboration, and strategic communication skills — to be successful in their careers.

Consider this: 89% of recruiters say that when a hire doesn’t work out, the reason usually comes down to a lack of soft skills (LinkedIn’s “ 2019 Global Talent Trends” report).

No wonder many employers — your competition most likely among them — are prioritizing uncovering soft skills during hiring. The top skills employers want in new hires are soft skills such as dependability, teamwork/collaboration, flexibility, and problem-solving, according to Monster’s “The Future of Work 2021: Global Hiring Outlook.”

\"\"Soft Skills Meet Today’s Changing
Business Needs

The pandemic didn’t teach business that change is constant, but it sure drove the lesson home. It drove home the reality of digital transformation in a very real, very sudden way. It also proved that employees in nearly every industry and in companies of any size are more likely to thrive if they are adaptive, agile, nimble, and poised for change.

Changes in Technology Are Driving the Need for Soft Skills

The digital workplace is evolving by the minute, and AI and other forms of technology continue to advance in terms of emotional intelligence. No matter what segment of technology or business you’re operating in, it’s become increasingly important to have a solid mix of technical and soft skills to stay current. Consider developing some of the six soft skills recommended by Future of Work to enhance the use of changing technology:

  1. Contextualization — to know how your data can solve your business problems (as much as AI can target issues, it can’t tell you how to solve them)
  2. Critical thinking — to keep from being blinded by the magic of big data and creating blind spots in your thinking
  3. Curiosity — to continue learning and finding relevant ways to use your technical skills to move your company forward
  4. Creativity — to think beyond data and make it inspirational, and to envision new ways to use data to personalize and energize communication to leaders, colleagues, and customers
  5. Ethical judgment — to develop standards for your company and protect your brand and culture (because no matter how good it is, AI can’t determine right from wrong)
  6. Communication — ideas are nothing if you can’t use them to tell a story that resonates with your audience and persuades them to take the action you want

Changes in Employee Demographics Are Driving the Need for Soft Skills

For the first time, we have four generations in the workplace. And with the accelerating trend toward hybrid work, we also have more people working remotely, more global hiring, and a changing ratio of age groups in the workforce (as more baby boomers retire early in response to the pandemic). It’s critical that leaders, managers, and employees have the necessary skills to manage work in new ways. That’s where soft skills come in.

Fostering collaboration and productivity in a more diverse workforce requires soft skills in at least five areas:

  1. Resilience and adaptability — to be able to change, learn, and grow
  2. Collaboration and diversity — to share expertise, perspective, and ideas, and build trust, community, and connection
  3. Interpersonal communication — to get your message across, regardless of whether it’s in an email, a presentation, a memo, or any
  4. Creativity — to think beyond data and make it inspirational, and to envision new ways to use data to personalize and energize communication to leaders, colleagues, and customers
  5. Professionalism — to ensure your work is valued, you have credibility, and your voice is heard in your organization
  6. Leadership — to take responsibility for your work, feel confident, and gain support from others, regardless of your title or role

\"\"Practicing Soft Skills in Today’s More Accessible, More Flexible Work Environments

The importance of soft skills is also reflected in the increase of corporate academies and the types of learning they can offer. Unlike traditional corporate learning, these use a mix of resources and are ideally suited to enhancing soft skills for leaders and managers. Even if they’re not part of a formal corporate academy, new ways of learning can enhance and sharpen soft skills as efficiently and effectively as traditional corporate learning methods.

Shared Learning With Internal or External Leaders and Experts

With shared learning, people work as a team to achieve a common objective, sharing their knowledge and complementing each other’s skills to see better results and hit goals faster than if they kept their knowledge to themselves. Three other great benefits of knowledge sharing include:

  1. Being able to capture explicit and tacit knowledge— the know how inside someone’s brain — and eventually reduce the amount of knowledge and soft skills leaving the organization
  2. Making scarce expertise and insight into soft skills widely available to your entire workforce
  3. Becoming more accessible, thanks to peer-to-peer knowledge-sharing platforms and similar online tools

Learning Experiences

Experiential learning — aka learning experiences — let employees put new skills into action on the job, in their everyday work. It’s a great way to learn and practice soft skills. In fact, the concept of gaining soft skills through on-the-job learning experiences is at the heart of what HR industry analyst Josh Bersin says is a major shift away from prioritizing technical and functional skills to instead focusing on helping employees hone “business capabilities.”

It’s the difference between teaching customer service representatives how to use the phone response system and standard scripts, and instead teaching them how to empathize with customers, communicate more clearly, better explain and illustrate your company’s products or policies, and be better brand ambassadors.

Personalized Microlearning

Personalized microlearning gives employees more control by offering continuous, on-demand, and often bite-size lessons. You can also add or change learning content as you need and automatically distribute offerings to learners who need it, when they need it, wherever they are.

The potential for teaching soft skills is immense when you consider what this type of learning means:

  1. Personalized — It’s self-directed to suit the needs and preferences of your organization (or even just one business unit or team).
  2. Micro — Content is more targeted, flexible, and adaptable in terms of
    its scale and duration, and is offered on a platform that supports multiformat, multi-device learning.
  3. Learner controlled — Relinquish monitoring and tracking, and instead facilitate motivated learning for on-the-job capabilities.

Coaching

Because of its one-to-one dynamic, coaching is tailor-made for teaching soft skills. But you can also partner with a communication skills provider that offers group training and arms learners (and their managers!) with tools to make coaching easy and resources to make the concepts stick well beyond the workshop. This approach provides ongoing reinforcement of skills through oneon-one or group coaching. It also has added benefits like:

  1. Sharing knowledge your organization already has.It’s another form of shared learning, rather than buying learning programs and software.
  2. Delivering coaching by people who already know the company culture and its business needs. Even the best outside trainers will need some time to learn your culture and strategic goals.
  3. Having coaches available in the flow of work.Manager and peer coaching enables faster feedback, more ready support, and the application of teaching on the job.

Capstone Projects

Similar to how they’re used in college coursework, capstone projects in business deploy teams to develop a real-world solution for a very real business challenge. The method is not only great for teaching soft skills, it’s also been used in undergraduate IT departments for over a decade specifically for that purpose — by embedding soft skills requirements into the projects.

Typical soft skills taught through IT capstone projects include capabilities that extend across departments and are valuable in most areas of any organization:

  1. Communication
  2. Presentation
  3. Documentation
  4. Research
  5. Handling tough challenges
  6. Time management

\"\"Communication: The Soft Skill That Runs Through All the Others

If you look at all the soft skills, you’ll see one that inherently flows through all the rest: communication.

Maybe you need your leaders to be more responsive to different audiences as your workforce becomes more remote and more diverse. Maybe you need managers to communicate insights more clearly or be more agile in the face of change. Maybe you need your people to collaborate more efficiently and effectively, tear down silos, or find new solutions to company challenges. In each of those cases, the outcomes are far more likely to succeed when they’re supported by good communication.

But what is “good communication”? In essence, it’s sharing an idea and moving it into action and co-creation. Fortunately, that’s an easily teachable soft skill that is a goldmine for increasing productive collaboration and connectedness. And good communication will drive dramatic gains in almost every other soft skill an employee is developing.

In the words of Theo Gold, author of Positive Thinking: Change Your Attitude, Change Your Life!, “Communication is your ticket to success, if you pay attention and learn to do it effectively.”

The most effective way to communicate is to learn how to tell a compelling story — to connect with your audience and move them to action. That, in a nutshell, is the heart of great communication.

Done right, storytelling — an undeniably powerful soft skill — can deliver critical personal and business advantages while enhancing many other soft skills. Regardless of the format, from a high-stakes email to a formal presentation to the C-suite, great storytelling can:

  1. Boost your executive presence
  2. Make it easy to address diverse audiences
  3. Elevate the meaning of your data
  4. Increase cross-functional collaboration and communication
  5. Give your audience a reason to care, because you’ve reflected on thier unique prospective, needs and priorities
  6. Focus your ideas and cut through the noise
  7. Help you choose relevant visuals
  8. Humanize your message by putting your audience at the center of your communications
  9. Provide guardrails for staying on track and keeping your meeting or presentation for getting highjacked
  10. Offer flexibility and help you be nimble in unexpected or difficult situations
  11. Prevent “freeze-ups” during any kind of live communication
  12. Catapult your career by presenting ideas and information more clearly
  13. Save you and your organization time and money by giving you a framework and common language for employees to develop, review, and edit communications

Great communication will enhance every other soft skill. And the proven best way to communicate with any audience, in any situation, is through great storytelling. One could argue that great storytelling is a very valuable soft skill in its own right.

In fact, business storytelling is now the one critical skill that’s increasingly being recognized as essential for capabilities fluency – the accelerant needed for career growth and success today. If that interests you, read more about it here.

", "content_plain": "It’s time for business leaders to appreciate the impact of soft skills on the bottom line. There’s hidden gold in the nontechnical skills that can help leaders and managers reach their goals through better communication, collaboration, and conflict management. You can view our Privacy Policy here. Let’s Define “Soft Skills” and Why They Matter Soft skills” are behaviors, personality traits, and work habits that help people thrive in their jobs. They’re things like resilience, collaboration, critical thinking, perseverance, and communication. SMHR suggests thinking of the importance of soft skills like this: A talented graphic designer might wow people with her creations. But if she’s constantly missing deadlines or not listening to and accepting feedback, she’ll create costly project delays or anger clients. Those projects — and her career — could easily stall, maybe even die on the vine. In short, the lack of soft skills can easily hobble someone who has solid technical expertise. And it’s costing companies time and money. In its “Enterprise Guide to Closing the Skills Gap,” IBM’s Institute for Business Value concluded today’s workforce requires more than just technical or basic business skills. Professionals also need “softer” capabilities — an adaptive mindset, collaboration, and strategic communication skills — to be successful in their careers. Consider this: 89% of recruiters say that when a hire doesn’t work out, the reason usually comes down to a lack of soft skills (LinkedIn’s “ 2019 Global Talent Trends” report). No wonder many employers — your competition most likely among them — are prioritizing uncovering soft skills during hiring. The top skills employers want in new hires are soft skills such as dependability, teamwork/collaboration, flexibility, and problem-solving, according to Monster’s “The Future of Work 2021: Global Hiring Outlook.” Soft Skills Meet Today’s Changing Business Needs The pandemic didn’t teach business that change is constant, but it sure drove the lesson home. It drove home the reality of digital transformation in a very real, very sudden way. It also proved that employees in nearly every industry and in companies of any size are more likely to thrive if they are adaptive, agile, nimble, and poised for change. Changes in Technology Are Driving the Need for Soft Skills The digital workplace is evolving by the minute, and AI and other forms of technology continue to advance in terms of emotional intelligence. No matter what segment of technology or business you’re operating in, it’s become increasingly important to have a solid mix of technical and soft skills to stay current. Consider developing some of the six soft skills recommended by Future of Work to enhance the use of changing technology: Contextualization — to know how your data can solve your business problems (as much as AI can target issues, it can’t tell you how to solve them) Critical thinking — to keep from being blinded by the magic of big data and creating blind spots in your thinking Curiosity — to continue learning and finding relevant ways to use your technical skills to move your company forward Creativity — to think beyond data and make it inspirational, and to envision new ways to use data to personalize and energize communication to leaders, colleagues, and customers Ethical judgment — to develop standards for your company and protect your brand and culture (because no matter how good it is, AI can’t determine right from wrong) Communication — ideas are nothing if you can’t use them to tell a story that resonates with your audience and persuades them to take the action you want Changes in Employee Demographics Are Driving the Need for Soft Skills For the first time, we have four generations in the workplace. And with the accelerating trend toward hybrid work, we also have more people working remotely, more global hiring, and a changing ratio of age groups in the workforce (as more baby boomers retire early in response to the pandemic). It’s critical that leaders, managers, and employees have the necessary skills to manage work in new ways. That’s where soft skills come in. Fostering collaboration and productivity in a more diverse workforce requires soft skills in at least five areas: Resilience and adaptability — to be able to change, learn, and grow Collaboration and diversity — to share expertise, perspective, and ideas, and build trust, community, and connection Interpersonal communication — to get your message across, regardless of whether it’s in an email, a presentation, a memo, or any Creativity — to think beyond data and make it inspirational, and to envision new ways to use data to personalize and energize communication to leaders, colleagues, and customers Professionalism — to ensure your work is valued, you have credibility, and your voice is heard in your organization Leadership — to take responsibility for your work, feel confident, and gain support from others, regardless of your title or role Practicing Soft Skills in Today’s More Accessible, More Flexible Work Environments The importance of soft skills is also reflected in the increase of corporate academies and the types of learning they can offer. Unlike traditional corporate learning, these use a mix of resources and are ideally suited to enhancing soft skills for leaders and managers. Even if they’re not part of a formal corporate academy, new ways of learning can enhance and sharpen soft skills as efficiently and effectively as traditional corporate learning methods. Shared Learning With Internal or External Leaders and Experts With shared learning, people work as a team to achieve a common objective, sharing their knowledge and complementing each other’s skills to see better results and hit goals faster than if they kept their knowledge to themselves. Three other great benefits of knowledge sharing include: Being able to capture explicit and tacit knowledge— the know how inside someone’s brain — and eventually reduce the amount of knowledge and soft skills leaving the organization Making scarce expertise and insight into soft skills widely available to your entire workforce Becoming more accessible, thanks to peer-to-peer knowledge-sharing platforms and similar online tools Learning Experiences Experiential learning — aka learning experiences — let employees put new skills into action on the job, in their everyday work. It’s a great way to learn and practice soft skills. In fact, the concept of gaining soft skills through on-the-job learning experiences is at the heart of what HR industry analyst Josh Bersin says is a major shift away from prioritizing technical and functional skills to instead focusing on helping employees hone “business capabilities.” It’s the difference between teaching customer service representatives how to use the phone response system and standard scripts, and instead teaching them how to empathize with customers, communicate more clearly, better explain and illustrate your company’s products or policies, and be better brand ambassadors. Personalized Microlearning Personalized microlearning gives employees more control by offering continuous, on-demand, and often bite-size lessons. You can also add or change learning content as you need and automatically distribute offerings to learners who need it, when they need it, wherever they are. The potential for teaching soft skills is immense when you consider what this type of learning means: Personalized — It’s self-directed to suit the needs and preferences of your organization (or even just one business unit or team). Micro — Content is more targeted, flexible, and adaptable in terms of its scale and duration, and is offered on a platform that supports multiformat, multi-device learning. Learner controlled — Relinquish monitoring and tracking, and instead facilitate motivated learning for on-the-job capabilities. Coaching Because of its one-to-one dynamic, coaching is tailor-made for teaching soft skills. But you can also partner with a communication skills provider that offers group training and arms learners (and their managers!) with tools to make coaching easy and resources to make the concepts stick well beyond the workshop. This approach provides ongoing reinforcement of skills through oneon-one or group coaching. It also has added benefits like: Sharing knowledge your organization already has.It’s another form of shared learning, rather than buying learning programs and software. Delivering coaching by people who already know the company culture and its business needs. Even the best outside trainers will need some time to learn your culture and strategic goals. Having coaches available in the flow of work.Manager and peer coaching enables faster feedback, more ready support, and the application of teaching on the job. Capstone Projects Similar to how they’re used in college coursework, capstone projects in business deploy teams to develop a real-world solution for a very real business challenge. The method is not only great for teaching soft skills, it’s also been used in undergraduate IT departments for over a decade specifically for that purpose — by embedding soft skills requirements into the projects. Typical soft skills taught through IT capstone projects include capabilities that extend across departments and are valuable in most areas of any organization: Communication Presentation Documentation Research Handling tough challenges Time management Communication: The Soft Skill That Runs Through All the Others If you look at all the soft skills, you’ll see one that inherently flows through all the rest: communication. Maybe you need your leaders to be more responsive to different audiences as your workforce becomes more remote and more diverse. Maybe you need managers to communicate insights more clearly or be more agile in the face of change. Maybe you need your people to collaborate more efficiently and effectively, tear down silos, or find new solutions to company challenges. In each of those cases, the outcomes are far more likely to succeed when they’re supported by good communication. But what is “good communication”? In essence, it’s sharing an idea and moving it into action and co-creation. Fortunately, that’s an easily teachable soft skill that is a goldmine for increasing productive collaboration and connectedness. And good communication will drive dramatic gains in almost every other soft skill an employee is developing. In the words of Theo Gold, author of Positive Thinking: Change Your Attitude, Change Your Life!, “Communication is your ticket to success, if you pay attention and learn to do it effectively.” The most effective way to communicate is to learn how to tell a compelling story — to connect with your audience and move them to action. That, in a nutshell, is the heart of great communication. Done right, storytelling — an undeniably powerful soft skill — can deliver critical personal and business advantages while enhancing many other soft skills. Regardless of the format, from a high-stakes email to a formal presentation to the C-suite, great storytelling can: Boost your executive presence Make it easy to address diverse audiences Elevate the meaning of your data Increase cross-functional collaboration and communication Give your audience a reason to care, because you’ve reflected on thier unique prospective, needs and priorities Focus your ideas and cut through the noise Help you choose relevant visuals Humanize your message by putting your audience at the center of your communications Provide guardrails for staying on track and keeping your meeting or presentation for getting highjacked Offer flexibility and help you be nimble in unexpected or difficult situations Prevent “freeze-ups” during any kind of live communication Catapult your career by presenting ideas and information more clearly Save you and your organization time and money by giving you a framework and common language for employees to develop, review, and edit communications Great communication will enhance every other soft skill. And the proven best way to communicate with any audience, in any situation, is through great storytelling. One could argue that great storytelling is a very valuable soft skill in its own right. In fact, business storytelling is now the one critical skill that’s increasingly being recognized as essential for capabilities fluency – the accelerant needed for career growth and success today. If that interests you, read more about it here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Hero-Soft-Skills-1200x627-v3.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T11:00:45-05:00" }, { "id": 9185, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/what-employees-want-a-stable-career-built-on-communications-training/", "title": "What Employees Want: A Stable Career Built on Communications Training", "h1": "What Employees Want: A Stable Career Built on Communications Training", "summary": "", "content": "

Employees everywhere are quitting their jobs in favor of a more stable, quiet life away from the busy city. That includes their careers. After a year of lockdowns and disruptions, your people are reassessing their lives and what’s important. That’s where learning and development (L&D) can come in (yes, really!).

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

Training impacts careers and corporate budgets

Employees are quitting their jobs while seeking careers

Article after article has noted how the realities of burnout and exhaustion are setting in. Some organizations are shifting their policies while others shift their work weeks, schedules, locations, and more. Still others are introducing new benefits and paternalistic attitudes toward their people.

Quieter “exurbs” like Murfreesboro, Tennessee; Asheville, North Carolina; and Northwest Arkansas have exploded in growth as workers seek stability. Employees want stability not only in their local communities but also in their careers, a space (real and psychological) to build a family.

This trend has been buttressed and accelerated by longstanding movements in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, especially if you include diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) efforts to support marginalized groups in leadership and women- and minority-owned businesses. In short, employees crave employers who take stands on social issues.

Over the last few years, Deloitte’s Millennial Leadership Surveys have quantified these trends among younger workers. The 2021 report is no exception. It should be no surprise that young workers are passionate about inequality, climate change, and diversity and inclusion.

L&D initiatives and communication training opportunities offer these urban expats the career growth they want and the talent retention organization’s need.

\"\"In response to these trends, L&D budgets and investment have exploded

Because employees want a career path, smart leaders know that the key to recruiting and retention lies in the organization’s emphasis on training. Innovative firms have taken note: Amazon, JPMorgan Chase and others have in recent years invested millions in training programs. And the 2021 LinkedIn Learning report highlights how L&D has gained a long-term, strategic seat at the executive table. As a result, L&D leaders expect their budgets to grow.

Since our founding, but definitely in the last year, we’ve become even more convinced of one crucial truth: Better training = better talent.

Whether your company is now letting you work from home or giving you mental health days (or weeks, as Nike did recently), providing training opportunities is how to capture talent that is excited about their professional development and invest in existing employees to keep them around. Training is not just for high potential employees either. It’s for all roles and levels within the organization, as well as across industries, geographies, and more.

But why is this the case?

Communication training gives employees the stable careers they want, and employers the top talent they
need

With all this investment in training programs, learning leaders may think they should concentrate their budgets on tech skills. And yes, there is some truth to this. Basic digital skills are table stakes for the modern workforce, especially after “Reskilling Revolution” the has begun. Yet, as McKinsey and others have noted earlier this year, the skills employees really need are more soft skills like leadership, empathy, resilience, and interpersonal skills. Even in this group, there’s a skill set that can impact every single person in the enterprise that goes often overlooked: communication.

Communication is essential in business. Though it may be hard to quantify, you know how crucial it can be. Some research, however, from an MIT study on factory workers to career advice at the CFA Institute to plain-language contracts at GE, has proven the value of soft skills and effective communication time and time again.

Ambitious employees know that this value compounds over time. As they seek the stable careers and growth mentioned earlier, they need and want communication training to support their efforts.

How does communication training help?

\"\"Communication training increases efficiency by increasing clarity

You’ve experienced a poorly worded email or cluttered presentation with an inarticulate speaker. In those moments you waste precious time deciphering the “So what?” or the big idea or the what-the-heck-does-this-have-to-do-with-me. You may have been distracted by the superfluous numbers haphazardly strewn all over the slides.

We often slap together our paragraphs and presentations because we don’t have time to “do it right.” But this thinking unfortunately creates even more wasted time later. You’ll need follow-up meetings, addenda, and time to edit and clarify the first drafts.

You’re not alone. Many leaders we talk to bemoan the hours spent editing emails and presentations. Here are a few quotes that may resonate with you:

\"\"
“I find quite a few of my IT teams are good at managing execution, but very poor at putting together compelling presentations. I find myself spending hours coaching them, or making drastic edits to slides slide by slide even reorganizing the talk-track… You understand my pain.”

“I have five million things to do. I don’t have time to spend 20 hours editing and re-editing this PowerPoint deck, but I know it needs to be good, so I need to know how to do it better so I can do it faster.”

We are not marketers. We are not good at presenting our story and simplifying the message for the audience. We are really good at slapping up Excel spreadsheets and cutting and pasting them into PowerPoint slides and expecting everybody to follow along because it’s the world we live in.”\"\"

What if you could train your teams to get to the point quickly, use one stat to support the point, and give actionable takeaways for your leaders? How much time would that save you in a week?

The difficulty with saving time by writing and presenting more clearly is that, ironically, it often requires time to be succinct and compelling. Your teams need to learn how to write and edit quickly, which is a learned skill. Like that famous (paraphrased) quote from Blaise Pascal, “I would have written you a shorter letter if I had the time.”

But there’s another quote from the military that comes to mind when thinking about communication and efficiency: “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.” If you and your teams take a little time at the beginning to refine the ideas in your email, talk, or presentation, you’ll find that this creates much more efficiency down the road.

\"\"Communication training is a win-win

By creating compelling, clear documents, your young, career-oriented workers will begin to gain the trust and confidence of executives in your organization. They’ll be seen as leaders, as peers by those who know the value of good communication. They’ll be on the fast-track toward a brighter future.

The organization, in turn, gains a crop of workers who increasingly see themselves as the future of the firm. You’ll gain productivity as well as long-term success plans, having retained top talent for years to come.

This may sound like a stretch, but we’ve seen this progression develop again and again. It’s a win-win for organizations and employees who want to grow in an increasingly competitive world.

", "content_plain": "Employees everywhere are quitting their jobs in favor of a more stable, quiet life away from the busy city. That includes their careers. After a year of lockdowns and disruptions, your people are reassessing their lives and what’s important. That’s where learning and development (L&D) can come in (yes, really!). You can view our Privacy Policy here. Training impacts careers and corporate budgets Employees are quitting their jobs while seeking careers Article after article has noted how the realities of burnout and exhaustion are setting in. Some organizations are shifting their policies while others shift their work weeks, schedules, locations, and more. Still others are introducing new benefits and paternalistic attitudes toward their people. Quieter “exurbs” like Murfreesboro, Tennessee; Asheville, North Carolina; and Northwest Arkansas have exploded in growth as workers seek stability. Employees want stability not only in their local communities but also in their careers, a space (real and psychological) to build a family. This trend has been buttressed and accelerated by longstanding movements in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, especially if you include diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) efforts to support marginalized groups in leadership and women- and minority-owned businesses. In short, employees crave employers who take stands on social issues. Over the last few years, Deloitte’s Millennial Leadership Surveys have quantified these trends among younger workers. The 2021 report is no exception. It should be no surprise that young workers are passionate about inequality, climate change, and diversity and inclusion. L&D initiatives and communication training opportunities offer these urban expats the career growth they want and the talent retention organization’s need. In response to these trends, L&D budgets and investment have exploded Because employees want a career path, smart leaders know that the key to recruiting and retention lies in the organization’s emphasis on training. Innovative firms have taken note: Amazon, JPMorgan Chase and others have in recent years invested millions in training programs. And the 2021 LinkedIn Learning report highlights how L&D has gained a long-term, strategic seat at the executive table. As a result, L&D leaders expect their budgets to grow. Since our founding, but definitely in the last year, we’ve become even more convinced of one crucial truth: Better training = better talent. Whether your company is now letting you work from home or giving you mental health days (or weeks, as Nike did recently), providing training opportunities is how to capture talent that is excited about their professional development and invest in existing employees to keep them around. Training is not just for high potential employees either. It’s for all roles and levels within the organization, as well as across industries, geographies, and more. But why is this the case? Communication training gives employees the stable careers they want, and employers the top talent they need With all this investment in training programs, learning leaders may think they should concentrate their budgets on tech skills. And yes, there is some truth to this. Basic digital skills are table stakes for the modern workforce, especially after “Reskilling Revolution” the has begun. Yet, as McKinsey and others have noted earlier this year, the skills employees really need are more soft skills like leadership, empathy, resilience, and interpersonal skills. Even in this group, there’s a skill set that can impact every single person in the enterprise that goes often overlooked: communication. Communication is essential in business. Though it may be hard to quantify, you know how crucial it can be. Some research, however, from an MIT study on factory workers to career advice at the CFA Institute to plain-language contracts at GE, has proven the value of soft skills and effective communication time and time again. Ambitious employees know that this value compounds over time. As they seek the stable careers and growth mentioned earlier, they need and want communication training to support their efforts. How does communication training help? Communication training increases efficiency by increasing clarity You’ve experienced a poorly worded email or cluttered presentation with an inarticulate speaker. In those moments you waste precious time deciphering the “So what?” or the big idea or the what-the-heck-does-this-have-to-do-with-me. You may have been distracted by the superfluous numbers haphazardly strewn all over the slides. We often slap together our paragraphs and presentations because we don’t have time to “do it right.” But this thinking unfortunately creates even more wasted time later. You’ll need follow-up meetings, addenda, and time to edit and clarify the first drafts. You’re not alone. Many leaders we talk to bemoan the hours spent editing emails and presentations. Here are a few quotes that may resonate with you: “I find quite a few of my IT teams are good at managing execution, but very poor at putting together compelling presentations. I find myself spending hours coaching them, or making drastic edits to slides slide by slide even reorganizing the talk-track… You understand my pain.” “I have five million things to do. I don’t have time to spend 20 hours editing and re-editing this PowerPoint deck, but I know it needs to be good, so I need to know how to do it better so I can do it faster.” We are not marketers. We are not good at presenting our story and simplifying the message for the audience. We are really good at slapping up Excel spreadsheets and cutting and pasting them into PowerPoint slides and expecting everybody to follow along because it’s the world we live in.” What if you could train your teams to get to the point quickly, use one stat to support the point, and give actionable takeaways for your leaders? How much time would that save you in a week? The difficulty with saving time by writing and presenting more clearly is that, ironically, it often requires time to be succinct and compelling. Your teams need to learn how to write and edit quickly, which is a learned skill. Like that famous (paraphrased) quote from Blaise Pascal, “I would have written you a shorter letter if I had the time.” But there’s another quote from the military that comes to mind when thinking about communication and efficiency: “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.” If you and your teams take a little time at the beginning to refine the ideas in your email, talk, or presentation, you’ll find that this creates much more efficiency down the road. Communication training is a win-win By creating compelling, clear documents, your young, career-oriented workers will begin to gain the trust and confidence of executives in your organization. They’ll be seen as leaders, as peers by those who know the value of good communication. They’ll be on the fast-track toward a brighter future. The organization, in turn, gains a crop of workers who increasingly see themselves as the future of the firm. You’ll gain productivity as well as long-term success plans, having retained top talent for years to come. This may sound like a stretch, but we’ve seen this progression develop again and again. It’s a win-win for organizations and employees who want to grow in an increasingly competitive world.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/What-Employees-Want-A-Stable-Career-Built-on-Communications-Training.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T11:31:53-05:00" }, { "id": 9173, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/how-one-medical-device-manufacturer-transformed-its-communications-from-eye-glazing-to-impactful/", "title": "How One Medical Device Manufacturer Transformed Its Communications From Eye-Glazing to Impactful", "h1": "How One Medical Device Manufacturer Transformed Its Communications From Eye-Glazing to Impactful", "summary": "", "content": "

For years, the technical teams of a global manufacturer of medical devices struggled to communicate effectively with their business partners. Their messages were overly technical and not audience-centric. But communicating extremely technical information is intrinsic to the company’s work.

Employees regularly communicate critical technical information internally and externally to set context for marketing, to explain the proper use of medical devices, and for other mission-critical purposes. At this company, when information is not properly communicated, the result can have very serious health and safety consequences. Clear and effective communications are a top priority.

Yet, clear and effective communication weren’t happening as often as the company felt it should be. As we all know, this is a problem that many companies in technology face. However, thanks to some very specific communications training, it’s no longer a challenge for this company. After completing The Presentation Company’s storytelling and data visualization workshops, communications at this organization were transformed into audience-centric, meaningful stories and data representations that drive desired actions.

“I sit through an awful lot of presentations throughout the work week. It has been remarkable to see the rapid shift to a much more compelling discussion led by those that have attended the class. Fantastic outcome!”

 

— Post-training statement from the vice president of IT

Read on to learn more about the challenges this company faced and how communication training from The Presentation Company helped overcome those business-critical challenges.

\"\"Getting to the Root of the Matter: Changing the Mindset Around Communicating Highly Technical Information

To be fair, as a global manufacturer of medical devices, this company is constantly collaborating with healthcare professionals around the world to improve patient outcomes. So communicating highly technical information is in its DNA. Yet its teams routinely faced the same problem as many other companies:

Well before connecting with The Presentation Company (TPC), the organization’s learning and development team had been searching for methods to improve the way its IT project managers (ITPMs) communicated, in hopes of achieving better business outcomes. ITPMs are embedded in and deeply connected with the organization’s business units that they support. They serve as liaisons within the business and regularly make in-person and virtual presentations about their teams’ projects and programs to business partners around the world.

Even when they broke down the information into bite-size bits and tried to use layman’s terms, the presentations were failing to effectively convey the technical information that project managers knew so well. They realized their audiences weren’t understanding critical details and had no idea of what the presenters wanted them to do with all of that information.

The company realized it needed to reset the mindset around communicating highly technical information. It had to shift from a focus of communicating their technology and priorities, to an understanding of communication that is audience-focused, has a clear understanding of the audience’s business needs, and humanizes their messages to make them memorable and easy to interpret.

\"\"Narrowing It Down: The Three Most Critical Communication Challenges

The Presentation Company worked with one of the company’s talent development managers (responsible for supporting 8,000 employees) and one manager of its IT department to clearly identify three key communication problems to solve:

  1. Problem 1: ITPMs presented information and related data in a highly technical way that didn’t result in the outcomes they needed

Like many presentations, the ones from this company’s ITPMs led with solutions and were filled with slides that were text-heavy or filled with data. Their presenters relied on technical jargon and acronyms. Presentations were long and difficult to understand. People told learning leaders that data was often “thrown into a chart” without clear insights and direction on what actions were needed.

While presenting to executives, ITPMs often focused the attention on a single slide — usually holding what they believed was the most critical data point. This would halt further discussion and leave audiences forming inaccurate conclusions.

Instead, audiences needed digestible narratives and easy-to-scan visuals to help them interpret the information they were being presented to clearly understand what they needed to know or do.

  1. Problem 2: Communications were disconnected from audience needs and perspectives

ITPM’s presentations did not represent a clear understanding of each audience’s unique needs and perspectives, or the factors in their business that would affect their actions after a presentation. Part of the problem was that despite being embedded with teams, project managers often appeared to have an incomplete understanding of projects and their intended business outcomes.

The result was a lack of audience connection and further confusion among audience members about what actions the presenter wanted them to take. Motivation to take any action at all was crippled.

Instead, the project managers needed to better identify the needs of their audiences, to wrap ideas in a story that any audience could relate to, and use visuals to better communicate clear messages.

  1. Problem 3: The organization had no common language or framework for building presentations and communications

Each presenter in the organization had a method for building presentations. Because they often worked under serious time constraints, project managers often leveraged slides from other presentations. The result was presentations that were incongruent and lacked direct relevance.

Instead, the company needed a coherent and consistent methodology for building presentations that would help them quickly and easily develop clear and memorable presentations across teams.

\"\"TPC Listened — and Learned

TPC conducted a thorough process of information-gathering and analysis before formalizing a learning solution. This helped us and our contacts at the company clearly identify business problems, learning objectives, and learner-specific needs.

Armed with this information about the organization’s current state of communication abilities, TPC proposed a high-level approach that combined business storytelling (Crafting Strategic Visuals Stories) and data visualization (Presenting Data Visually). These are modular workshops that build on one another’s concepts.

\"\"What the Storytelling and Data Visualizations Workshops Entailed

In CSVS, participants worked hands-on to develop business narratives using a practical storytelling framework and technique. Learners began with a historical review of business presentations and storytelling, and learning the challenges and value of using data (and about presenting it intentionally and in a way that reinforces insights). Learners were introduced to the fundamental concepts of storytelling and presentation, including:

Each project manager worked on creating a story using TPC’s Visual Story Planner™ (a framework for mapping out stories) and then received feedback from their peers and TPC’s expert coaches.

After learners demonstrated they can build an effective story and visual strategy for their presentations, they applied these skills to their data in the Presenting Data Visually (PDV) methodology. They developed a data visualization strategy that enables audiences to quickly interpret the data insights being presented and to act on the presenters recommendations. Finally, learners fine-tuned their messages, pulling elements from one of their critical reinforcement tools, the Visual Slide Library, to quickly build well-designed visuals that support their message.

To ensure the learning would continue being used on the job, workshop participants received reinforcement tools that made it easy to continue developing stories and data visualizations.

\"\"TPC Continued Listening and Modified the Design After the Pilot Launch

Post-workshop surveys and a thorough debrief provided data on the initial pilot program’s effectiveness, and what changes would be useful for the greater rollout. What the surveys identified as the most useful components of the training were reinforced more deeply: job-support tools, templates, handson activities, classroom support, and “before and after” examples.

Follow-up data showed that other keys to successful learning retention were:

The “delta” items that were noted in the pilot and immediately applied to a wider rollout were a desire for:

In response, TPC modified the design of the workshop to allow more participants to share their stories earlier in the process. This provided extra opportunities for peer coaching through the remainder of the workshop. TPC also developed a condensed version of the Visual Story Planner to help participants shorten their own stories, as well as decrease story development time. To make the training available to a wider audience, the model was shifted from intact teams to open-enrollment style, allowing employees from various business units to take part.

\"\"Huge Growth — Mostly Through Word of Mouth

The initial audience for the pilot project was 82 ITPMs in the company’s project management development center. Their roles ranged from individual contributors to senior leaders. The first group of ITPMs took the training in late Q4 2017, and the program was expanded the next quarter to an additional 40 project managers.

By the end of 2018, the company had expanded its target audience to 280 learners in its project management development center, with about 300 more employees participating in 2019, 130 employees in 2020, and 420 employees in 2021. The company did very little promotion of the learning program — because they didn’t need to. The growth and interest came almost entirely through word of mouth among peers and leaders.

The program was later expanded to other audiences who continue to fill workshops, including high-potential managers, research and development professionals, and sales and marketing teams.

“This program has simply exploded — there’s no other word to describe it. In my 6 ½ years here, I have not seen this level of interest in a learning initiative. And it was all generated by word of mouth.”

 

— Regional talent development manager involved in the program’s design and implementation

\"\"Measurable Benefits at All Levels

The first pilot session was assessed using 18 postworkshop surveys received from learners. Based on these responses:

Participant feedback post workshop was overwhelmingly positive

97.3%

would recommend the course to other employees

96.1%

believed the course will enhance their effectiveness as an employee

95%

said the facilitator delivered the course content effectively

\"\"

Learning was measured during the workshop, too

Learning and retention were tested during the workshop using quizzes, discussions, debriefs, peer coaching, and hands-on exercises. Learning of key concepts and methods was also demonstrated by applying learnings and tools to develop a baseline story structure, headlines, and visuals. Visual Story Planners and headlines were reviewed and discussed in class.

To ensure ongoing coaching, participants were also encouraged to plan to submit stories to their facilitators two-to-four weeks after the workshop. These submissions demonstrated continued learning, ongoing improvement, and application of storytelling skills and key concepts from the workshop.

“When preparing and delivering messages before, I was too loyal to my self-style.’ I am adjusting my approach now. I know my audience and let them know what’s in it for them. Visual presentations always had very good data to support the facts and initiatives, but the BIG Idea was not sold the best way. It was too technical. I am putting more visuals into my presentations … planning the story with the goal in mind to capture their attention, to let them leave the room with the BIG Idea.”

— Industrial Engineer Manager and pilot program participant

Learners New Skills Could Affect Every Area of the Company’s Business

Workshop participants said if the communication training were shared across the company, they felt it could sharpen the business impact among leadership, customers, direct reports, and peers. Participants were also surveyed several weeks after the program to assess their ongoing use of the training and the resources and the actual business impact.

Here is anonymous feedback from four workshop participants:

“This class has been very valuable to me inside and outside the company. I have already seen a difference in keeping people engaged in my presentations, as well as higher-quality presentations from others who took the classes.”

“CSVS provides a fantastic framework to create impactful stories. … PDV provided a whole new way to look at graphs and charts. I now make sure I understand what I want my audience to understand from the data, and that I make that insight clear and accessible, so the audience can focus on the insight and not on interpreting my chart.”

“I especially liked that many of the examples were very relatable to what I do at work. Oftentimes during these types of classes, the examples are difficult to directly relate to what I do day-to-day, because they are geared towards a more general audience. But I felt that the course was geared specifically for (my company’s) employees, especially with the template visual library slides.”

“For being a virtual class, it was engaging throughout the course. The presenters were very good. It was very handson, which kept me engaged — very simple ideas that anyone could leverage and apply.”

\"\"Challenges Overcome in All Three Areas Where Change Was Needed Most

After completing the program, learners demonstrated a tangible improvement in business communications and in new behaviors and skills. They also committed to continuing to improve their communication skills on the job, including:

The big takeaway is that the training was proven to overcome the three critical communication challenges the company faced.

  1. Technical overload was replaced by storytelling with context and critical insights

Learners became equipped with a framework for creating stories and framing solutions in digestible, understandable terms. They learned how to establish context and to present their recommendation or update and follow up by discussing their solution. They practiced simplifying messages and learning how to selectively identify facts, figures, and visuals to highlight critical insights. Recommendations became actionable and next steps clear.

  1. Audiences needs were better addressed with an empathetic communication strategy and audience centric presentation techniques

Learners practiced identifying audience needs in parallel with the context of their world and what is most critical to the audience. Working with broad audience scenarios, participants zeroed in on those needs and then conducted inquiries to establish a communication strategy that resonated with their audiences. They learned techniques to flex and pivot when communicating with a variety of audiences and to create a dialogue, not a monolog.

  1. A common language was achieved through a consistent method for building story-based presentations and data visualization

Learners were given an easy-to-use framework, multiple on-the-job-support tools, peer/manager coaching opportunities, and peer review guidelines for long-term success. Most importantly, they effectively used those tools consistently on the job, having an impact on business success through improved communications.

", "content_plain": "For years, the technical teams of a global manufacturer of medical devices struggled to communicate effectively with their business partners. Their messages were overly technical and not audience-centric. But communicating extremely technical information is intrinsic to the company’s work. Employees regularly communicate critical technical information internally and externally to set context for marketing, to explain the proper use of medical devices, and for other mission-critical purposes. At this company, when information is not properly communicated, the result can have very serious health and safety consequences. Clear and effective communications are a top priority. Yet, clear and effective communication weren’t happening as often as the company felt it should be. As we all know, this is a problem that many companies in technology face. However, thanks to some very specific communications training, it’s no longer a challenge for this company. After completing The Presentation Company’s storytelling and data visualization workshops, communications at this organization were transformed into audience-centric, meaningful stories and data representations that drive desired actions. “I sit through an awful lot of presentations throughout the work week. It has been remarkable to see the rapid shift to a much more compelling discussion led by those that have attended the class. Fantastic outcome!”   — Post-training statement from the vice president of IT Read on to learn more about the challenges this company faced and how communication training from The Presentation Company helped overcome those business-critical challenges. Getting to the Root of the Matter: Changing the Mindset Around Communicating Highly Technical Information To be fair, as a global manufacturer of medical devices, this company is constantly collaborating with healthcare professionals around the world to improve patient outcomes. So communicating highly technical information is in its DNA. Yet its teams routinely faced the same problem as many other companies: They struggled to clearly communicate highly technical information to business partners They failed to deliver messages that were actionable and audience-centric Rather than focus on audience needs, presenters naturally led with what most interested them — the technology itself and the message they believed they needed to convey about that technology Well before connecting with The Presentation Company (TPC), the organization’s learning and development team had been searching for methods to improve the way its IT project managers (ITPMs) communicated, in hopes of achieving better business outcomes. ITPMs are embedded in and deeply connected with the organization’s business units that they support. They serve as liaisons within the business and regularly make in-person and virtual presentations about their teams’ projects and programs to business partners around the world. Even when they broke down the information into bite-size bits and tried to use layman’s terms, the presentations were failing to effectively convey the technical information that project managers knew so well. They realized their audiences weren’t understanding critical details and had no idea of what the presenters wanted them to do with all of that information. The company realized it needed to reset the mindset around communicating highly technical information. It had to shift from a focus of communicating their technology and priorities, to an understanding of communication that is audience-focused, has a clear understanding of the audience’s business needs, and humanizes their messages to make them memorable and easy to interpret. Narrowing It Down: The Three Most Critical Communication Challenges The Presentation Company worked with one of the company’s talent development managers (responsible for supporting 8,000 employees) and one manager of its IT department to clearly identify three key communication problems to solve: Problem 1: ITPMs presented information and related data in a highly technical way that didn’t result in the outcomes they needed Like many presentations, the ones from this company’s ITPMs led with solutions and were filled with slides that were text-heavy or filled with data. Their presenters relied on technical jargon and acronyms. Presentations were long and difficult to understand. People told learning leaders that data was often “thrown into a chart” without clear insights and direction on what actions were needed. While presenting to executives, ITPMs often focused the attention on a single slide — usually holding what they believed was the most critical data point. This would halt further discussion and leave audiences forming inaccurate conclusions. Instead, audiences needed digestible narratives and easy-to-scan visuals to help them interpret the information they were being presented to clearly understand what they needed to know or do. Problem 2: Communications were disconnected from audience needs and perspectives ITPM’s presentations did not represent a clear understanding of each audience’s unique needs and perspectives, or the factors in their business that would affect their actions after a presentation. Part of the problem was that despite being embedded with teams, project managers often appeared to have an incomplete understanding of projects and their intended business outcomes. The result was a lack of audience connection and further confusion among audience members about what actions the presenter wanted them to take. Motivation to take any action at all was crippled. Instead, the project managers needed to better identify the needs of their audiences, to wrap ideas in a story that any audience could relate to, and use visuals to better communicate clear messages. Problem 3: The organization had no common language or framework for building presentations and communications Each presenter in the organization had a method for building presentations. Because they often worked under serious time constraints, project managers often leveraged slides from other presentations. The result was presentations that were incongruent and lacked direct relevance. Instead, the company needed a coherent and consistent methodology for building presentations that would help them quickly and easily develop clear and memorable presentations across teams. TPC Listened — and Learned TPC conducted a thorough process of information-gathering and analysis before formalizing a learning solution. This helped us and our contacts at the company clearly identify business problems, learning objectives, and learner-specific needs. TPC collected and reviewed sample presentations to identify additional challenges the teams were facing, along with their skills gaps — especially those not immediately apparent to management. This gave our instructional design and delivery team critical insight into the organizational behavior that was contributing to the business problem. It also gave TPC a clear picture of individual learner needs. TPC would incorporate relevant “current state” presentations into the learning model, to reinforce the new learning with familiar examples. This would give learners tangible ways of seeing how key concepts and skills could be applied to communications. “Before” presentations from learners were overlaid with TPC’s framework of “four signposts of storytelling,” which would be used to illustrate where key story elements were missing or out of order. (This would later prove to deliver truly revelatory moments for participants; they quickly realized where their communications had gone wrong). TPC surveyed potential learners about the world in which they communicate — who they present to, what formats they present in, and more — to help better design the training and make the learning stick. Armed with this information about the organization’s current state of communication abilities, TPC proposed a high-level approach that combined business storytelling (Crafting Strategic Visuals Stories) and data visualization (Presenting Data Visually). These are modular workshops that build on one another’s concepts. What the Storytelling and Data Visualizations Workshops Entailed In CSVS, participants worked hands-on to develop business narratives using a practical storytelling framework and technique. Learners began with a historical review of business presentations and storytelling, and learning the challenges and value of using data (and about presenting it intentionally and in a way that reinforces insights). Learners were introduced to the fundamental concepts of storytelling and presentation, including: Applying a baseline story structure, which includes the four signposts of storytelling and a BIG Idea (the one thing you want your audience to remember) Identifying and addressing unique audience priorities and needs by taking a “walk in their audience’s shoes” Writing active and memorable headlines (slide titles) that flow and advance the story Choosing appropriate visuals to clarify messages and ensure they are memorable Each project manager worked on creating a story using TPC’s Visual Story Planner™ (a framework for mapping out stories) and then received feedback from their peers and TPC’s expert coaches. After learners demonstrated they can build an effective story and visual strategy for their presentations, they applied these skills to their data in the Presenting Data Visually (PDV) methodology. They developed a data visualization strategy that enables audiences to quickly interpret the data insights being presented and to act on the presenters recommendations. Finally, learners fine-tuned their messages, pulling elements from one of their critical reinforcement tools, the Visual Slide Library, to quickly build well-designed visuals that support their message. To ensure the learning would continue being used on the job, workshop participants received reinforcement tools that made it easy to continue developing stories and data visualizations. Example story assets Visual Story Planner (interactive tool guides users to identify audience needs, story framing, headline development, and visuals) Visual story checklists for effective stories and data visualizations Conceptual booklets to reinforce key concepts Manager and peer coaching guide A Visual Slide Library™ (about 100 grab-and-go slide layouts to jumpstart visual thinking) TPC Continued Listening and Modified the Design After the Pilot Launch Post-workshop surveys and a thorough debrief provided data on the initial pilot program’s effectiveness, and what changes would be useful for the greater rollout. What the surveys identified as the most useful components of the training were reinforced more deeply: job-support tools, templates, handson activities, classroom support, and “before and after” examples. Follow-up data showed that other keys to successful learning retention were: Content and program relevance Engaging content Experienced storytellers as facilitators (with a deep understanding of business problems faced by the organization) A well-planned learning methodology The “delta” items that were noted in the pilot and immediately applied to a wider rollout were a desire for: More story examples (specifically internal examples) Tips for shortening stories Rolling out the training to a wider audience at the company In response, TPC modified the design of the workshop to allow more participants to share their stories earlier in the process. This provided extra opportunities for peer coaching through the remainder of the workshop. TPC also developed a condensed version of the Visual Story Planner to help participants shorten their own stories, as well as decrease story development time. To make the training available to a wider audience, the model was shifted from intact teams to open-enrollment style, allowing employees from various business units to take part. Huge Growth — Mostly Through Word of Mouth The initial audience for the pilot project was 82 ITPMs in the company’s project management development center. Their roles ranged from individual contributors to senior leaders. The first group of ITPMs took the training in late Q4 2017, and the program was expanded the next quarter to an additional 40 project managers. By the end of 2018, the company had expanded its target audience to 280 learners in its project management development center, with about 300 more employees participating in 2019, 130 employees in 2020, and 420 employees in 2021. The company did very little promotion of the learning program — because they didn’t need to. The growth and interest came almost entirely through word of mouth among peers and leaders. The program was later expanded to other audiences who continue to fill workshops, including high-potential managers, research and development professionals, and sales and marketing teams. “This program has simply exploded — there’s no other word to describe it. In my 6 ½ years here, I have not seen this level of interest in a learning initiative. And it was all generated by word of mouth.”   — Regional talent development manager involved in the program’s design and implementation Measurable Benefits at All Levels The first pilot session was assessed using 18 postworkshop surveys received from learners. Based on these responses: The courseware and instructor were well-received Learning was effective The program had a high impact on participant’s jobs and business results Respondents believe there will be a significant return on investment Participant feedback post workshop was overwhelmingly positive 97.3% would recommend the course to other employees 96.1% believed the course will enhance their effectiveness as an employee 95% said the facilitator delivered the course content effectively Learning was measured during the workshop, too Learning and retention were tested during the workshop using quizzes, discussions, debriefs, peer coaching, and hands-on exercises. Learning of key concepts and methods was also demonstrated by applying learnings and tools to develop a baseline story structure, headlines, and visuals. Visual Story Planners and headlines were reviewed and discussed in class. To ensure ongoing coaching, participants were also encouraged to plan to submit stories to their facilitators two-to-four weeks after the workshop. These submissions demonstrated continued learning, ongoing improvement, and application of storytelling skills and key concepts from the workshop. “When preparing and delivering messages before, I was too loyal to my self-style.’ I am adjusting my approach now. I know my audience and let them know what’s in it for them. Visual presentations always had very good data to support the facts and initiatives, but the BIG Idea was not sold the best way. It was too technical. I am putting more visuals into my presentations … planning the story with the goal in mind to capture their attention, to let them leave the room with the BIG Idea.” — Industrial Engineer Manager and pilot program participant Learners New Skills Could Affect Every Area of the Company’s Business Workshop participants said if the communication training were shared across the company, they felt it could sharpen the business impact among leadership, customers, direct reports, and peers. Participants were also surveyed several weeks after the program to assess their ongoing use of the training and the resources and the actual business impact. Here is anonymous feedback from four workshop participants: “This class has been very valuable to me inside and outside the company. I have already seen a difference in keeping people engaged in my presentations, as well as higher-quality presentations from others who took the classes.” “CSVS provides a fantastic framework to create impactful stories. … PDV provided a whole new way to look at graphs and charts. I now make sure I understand what I want my audience to understand from the data, and that I make that insight clear and accessible, so the audience can focus on the insight and not on interpreting my chart.” “I especially liked that many of the examples were very relatable to what I do at work. Oftentimes during these types of classes, the examples are difficult to directly relate to what I do day-to-day, because they are geared towards a more general audience. But I felt that the course was geared specifically for (my company’s) employees, especially with the template visual library slides.” “For being a virtual class, it was engaging throughout the course. The presenters were very good. It was very handson, which kept me engaged — very simple ideas that anyone could leverage and apply.” Challenges Overcome in All Three Areas Where Change Was Needed Most After completing the program, learners demonstrated a tangible improvement in business communications and in new behaviors and skills. They also committed to continuing to improve their communication skills on the job, including: Building presentations that are tailored to each audience’s needs and priorities Creating well-structured stories that are easy to follow and lead to influencing audiences by helping them make informed decisions Delivering clear, visually represented messages and data insights that are easy to understand and act-upon The big takeaway is that the training was proven to overcome the three critical communication challenges the company faced. Technical overload was replaced by storytelling with context and critical insights Learners became equipped with a framework for creating stories and framing solutions in digestible, understandable terms. They learned how to establish context and to present their recommendation or update and follow up by discussing their solution. They practiced simplifying messages and learning how to selectively identify facts, figures, and visuals to highlight critical insights. Recommendations became actionable and next steps clear. Audiences needs were better addressed with an empathetic communication strategy and audience centric presentation techniques Learners practiced identifying audience needs in parallel with the context of their world and what is most critical to the audience. Working with broad audience scenarios, participants zeroed in on those needs and then conducted inquiries to establish a communication strategy that resonated with their audiences. They learned techniques to flex and pivot when communicating with a variety of audiences and to create a dialogue, not a monolog. A common language was achieved through a consistent method for building story-based presentations and data visualization Learners were given an easy-to-use framework, multiple on-the-job-support tools, peer/manager coaching opportunities, and peer review guidelines for long-term success. Most importantly, they effectively used those tools consistently on the job, having an impact on business success through improved communications.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Hero-UseCase-BostonScientific-1200x627-v1.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T15:23:46-05:00" }, { "id": 9172, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/key-questions-for-l-and-d-leaders-how-to-evaluate-employee-training-gaps/", "title": "Key Questions for L&D Leaders: How to Evaluate Employee Training Gaps", "h1": "Key Questions for L&D Leaders: How to Evaluate Employee Training Gaps", "summary": "", "content": "

When there’s a big push from the C-suite or Learning & Development (L&D) to train their workers, many leaders immediately think of some technology platform that will do X and Y amazing thing. But the truth is it may not. Some enterprise challenges are more fundamental than what technology alone can address.

Below are some questions for L&D leaders to consider when addressing employee training gaps before immediately jumping to technology to magically solve your problems.

What’s getting in the way of tackling skills gaps? Knowledge

In back in 2019, learning leaders at major companies bemoaned the challenges of plugging skills gaps amid a
talent shortage. The writer begins by saying that there’s a pool of talent for which executives wouldn’t have to spend a dime recruiting: their own workers … “if only they knew how to reskill them.”

And then 2020 happened. It seemed the talent shortage was over. And then 2021 happened — the shortage came right back. Same problems, different day.

So, what was the challenge for these enterprise leaders? There are many, but it comes down to knowledge. In other words… training, not technology.

As the economy has become increasingly centered around knowledge, it seems there’s less of it: Many executives don’t know what skills their people have, and their people often don’t know how to learn the new skills they need in the future. But no one really knows what skills will be important in the future since the business environment changes so quickly.

Erik Brynjolfsson, director of the Initiative on the Digital Economy at MIT cited in the WSJ article, said, “Human capital is quantitatively a much bigger share of the capital in the economy than physical assets like plants, technology and equipment, and we understand it less well.”

Here’s how the WSJ journalist put it:

\"\"
Instead of teaching new skills to their current workers, employers often choose the disruption and high costs of layoffs or buyouts. Why? Sometimes the required skills aren’t easily taught to existing employees, experts say. It’s also often because companies have only a hazy sense of what their internal talent is capable of, and migrating large numbers of employees into new positions requires time, money and commitment.

Employers are still trying to master the challenge of mapping the skills of their current workers, identifying the skills required of their future workforce and filling the gaps between the two. By the time many companies figure out exactly who they need, it s often too late to invest the necessary time and money into retraining.\"\"

It’s crucial that L&D leaders overcome this knowledge asymmetry. That is, they need
to first seek answers for the larger business strategy, the skills required to get there,
and the ability of their workforce to adapt to these new requirements.

However, one skill can help move knowledge efficiently throughout the organization: communication through storytelling.

Let’s look at a few questions L&D leaders can ask themselves, their vendors, and their employees to begin tackling these important challenges — and none of them has to do with technology.

Consider these 5 key questions to find training gaps

When analyzing your investments before and during an RFP process, consider setting aside some time to thoroughly address the following questions.

  1. What is the overall business strategy you’re really trying to achieve? No, really?

It’s painfully obvious that the organizational strategy is often buried in obscurity. What is it you’re really trying to achieve as a business? The answer isn’t always obvious.

Perhaps your mission is to be the market leader in apparel manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, or electricity generation. How does that corporate strategy align with your business units, functional teams, stakeholders, and operations? Are there communication breakdowns within the value chain, especially in light of the disruptions experienced over the last year?

This line of reasoning is an opportunity to align business strategy and skills required to enable strategy, identifying the gaps that exist in your workforce’s capability to execute on your imperatives.

  1. Do our people have the time to learn?

The greatest obstacle to learning in a modern organization, according to Josh Bersin and many others, is a lack of time. This is the elephant in the room. We’ve heard from many leaders over the years that this is the crucial element when it comes to skill development and communication. Here are a few quotes you’ve probably heard or even said yourself:

\"\"
“I have five million things to do. I don’t have time to spend 20 hours editing and re-editing this PowerPoint deck.”

“Nobody has any time, so it’s really critical that you get your message moving forward the first time.”

“I’m trying to teach our team to be compelling. I would have 4-5 prep calls before a client meeting.”\"\"

Many L&D initiatives have great intentions, but they often fall flat in execution because managers don’t have the time to implement the project and employees don’t have the time to learn.

Ask yourself this: Do you want real behavior change or knowledge transfer? Be real with yourself and know that some things simply cannot happen in a short time. You may want behavior change, but you may also want shorter training formats, but the two often conflict.

So, before starting any training regimen, it’s imperative that you first clear out enough space for your people to learn in the first place.

  1. Are your current communication practices serving your purpose and strategy?

Now that we’ve thought through the corporate strategy and the time required to change people’s behavior, we must consider the value in streamlining and clarifying your communication.

The knowledge asymmetry mentioned above drains an enormous amount of value from today’s organizations. Efficient information movement can actually unleash untapped potential.

This may be a bit heady, but think about the market system and its prices. One of the hallmarks of capitalism is the price mechanism to signal information around the world quickly and easily. When a good’s price rises, that indicates it’s in demand somewhere else, which affects your decision making in real time. You don’t need to know why or how — all you have to know is the changing price. This is how economies flourish and move trillions of dollars in capital to the most-needed place.

Organizations that efficiently manage knowledge in this way are able to use their resources to effectively serve the broader mission and strategy. But they first must learn how to communicate efficiently to do so. One article in Harvard Business Review, for example, noted cost and time savings gained by just changing the language the organizations used.

Before implementing a new training initiative, therefore, first consider how communication practices could hinder or enhance that initiative.

  1. Do your data-driven decision-makers know how to find insight in their data?

Much of the problem with today’s data-driven cultures isn’t a lack of data, but a lack of insight from that data.

Across the data science industry, for example, you’ll see a recurring theme: Even the most technical jobs like data scientists need soft skills to find insights hidden in their data. You can read comment after comment in fora, threads, and communities like r/datascience or Kaggle that extol the virtues of business and communication skills as foundational to more technical skills.

Why? Not all data is relevant to the problem at hand. So you can do a linear regression with Pandas or build a market sizing Excel table from scratch. Does it actually tell you anything important about your business?

Finding the insight in your data with industry-specific knowledge or a little business sense can often go much further than programming knowledge.

Yet even more important than finding insight amid a sea of data is the ability to communicate that insight in a compelling way. This leads us to our final question.

  1. Do your people know how to be compelling?

This is a deceptively simple question. We’ve heard from many of our clients over the years that their people lack clarity in their messages, or that they struggle to create a compelling pitch succinct enough for executives to make decisions.

You may have the best technology and the best processes in place to maintain your competitive advantage, but if your people can’t communicate effectively, it may all be for naught.

The purpose of your data and communications is to either a) inform your audience or b) spur them to act. However, without compelling, succinct communication, your audience may now understand what you’re saying or what they’re supposed to do with that information.

Learning how to be a compelling communicator is a lifelong skill, but there are a few basic principles that can exponentially increase your effectiveness.

Be honest with yourself, and seek help when you need it

The “Reskilling Revolution has firmly taken root, but so has the “Great Resignation and other societal shifts. It’s not easy to implement training initiatives and reskill your workforce. Thankfully, L&D budgets are growing and learning leaders are gaining a seat at the executive table.

We hope these questions can help you make wise decisions regarding those investments.

", "content_plain": "When there’s a big push from the C-suite or Learning & Development (L&D) to train their workers, many leaders immediately think of some technology platform that will do X and Y amazing thing. But the truth is it may not. Some enterprise challenges are more fundamental than what technology alone can address. Below are some questions for L&D leaders to consider when addressing employee training gaps before immediately jumping to technology to magically solve your problems. What’s getting in the way of tackling skills gaps? Knowledge In back in 2019, learning leaders at major companies bemoaned the challenges of plugging skills gaps amid a talent shortage. The writer begins by saying that there’s a pool of talent for which executives wouldn’t have to spend a dime recruiting: their own workers … “if only they knew how to reskill them.” And then 2020 happened. It seemed the talent shortage was over. And then 2021 happened — the shortage came right back. Same problems, different day. So, what was the challenge for these enterprise leaders? There are many, but it comes down to knowledge. In other words… training, not technology. As the economy has become increasingly centered around knowledge, it seems there’s less of it: Many executives don’t know what skills their people have, and their people often don’t know how to learn the new skills they need in the future. But no one really knows what skills will be important in the future since the business environment changes so quickly. Erik Brynjolfsson, director of the Initiative on the Digital Economy at MIT cited in the WSJ article, said, “Human capital is quantitatively a much bigger share of the capital in the economy than physical assets like plants, technology and equipment, and we understand it less well.” Here’s how the WSJ journalist put it: Instead of teaching new skills to their current workers, employers often choose the disruption and high costs of layoffs or buyouts. Why? Sometimes the required skills aren’t easily taught to existing employees, experts say. It’s also often because companies have only a hazy sense of what their internal talent is capable of, and migrating large numbers of employees into new positions requires time, money and commitment. Employers are still trying to master the challenge of mapping the skills of their current workers, identifying the skills required of their future workforce and filling the gaps between the two. By the time many companies figure out exactly who they need, it s often too late to invest the necessary time and money into retraining. It’s crucial that L&D leaders overcome this knowledge asymmetry. That is, they need to first seek answers for the larger business strategy, the skills required to get there, and the ability of their workforce to adapt to these new requirements. However, one skill can help move knowledge efficiently throughout the organization: communication through storytelling. Let’s look at a few questions L&D leaders can ask themselves, their vendors, and their employees to begin tackling these important challenges — and none of them has to do with technology. Consider these 5 key questions to find training gaps When analyzing your investments before and during an RFP process, consider setting aside some time to thoroughly address the following questions. What is the overall business strategy you’re really trying to achieve? No, really? It’s painfully obvious that the organizational strategy is often buried in obscurity. What is it you’re really trying to achieve as a business? The answer isn’t always obvious. Perhaps your mission is to be the market leader in apparel manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, or electricity generation. How does that corporate strategy align with your business units, functional teams, stakeholders, and operations? Are there communication breakdowns within the value chain, especially in light of the disruptions experienced over the last year? This line of reasoning is an opportunity to align business strategy and skills required to enable strategy, identifying the gaps that exist in your workforce’s capability to execute on your imperatives. Do our people have the time to learn? The greatest obstacle to learning in a modern organization, according to Josh Bersin and many others, is a lack of time. This is the elephant in the room. We’ve heard from many leaders over the years that this is the crucial element when it comes to skill development and communication. Here are a few quotes you’ve probably heard or even said yourself: “I have five million things to do. I don’t have time to spend 20 hours editing and re-editing this PowerPoint deck.” “Nobody has any time, so it’s really critical that you get your message moving forward the first time.” “I’m trying to teach our team to be compelling. I would have 4-5 prep calls before a client meeting.” Many L&D initiatives have great intentions, but they often fall flat in execution because managers don’t have the time to implement the project and employees don’t have the time to learn. Ask yourself this: Do you want real behavior change or knowledge transfer? Be real with yourself and know that some things simply cannot happen in a short time. You may want behavior change, but you may also want shorter training formats, but the two often conflict. So, before starting any training regimen, it’s imperative that you first clear out enough space for your people to learn in the first place. Are your current communication practices serving your purpose and strategy? Now that we’ve thought through the corporate strategy and the time required to change people’s behavior, we must consider the value in streamlining and clarifying your communication. The knowledge asymmetry mentioned above drains an enormous amount of value from today’s organizations. Efficient information movement can actually unleash untapped potential. This may be a bit heady, but think about the market system and its prices. One of the hallmarks of capitalism is the price mechanism to signal information around the world quickly and easily. When a good’s price rises, that indicates it’s in demand somewhere else, which affects your decision making in real time. You don’t need to know why or how — all you have to know is the changing price. This is how economies flourish and move trillions of dollars in capital to the most-needed place. Organizations that efficiently manage knowledge in this way are able to use their resources to effectively serve the broader mission and strategy. But they first must learn how to communicate efficiently to do so. One article in Harvard Business Review, for example, noted cost and time savings gained by just changing the language the organizations used. Before implementing a new training initiative, therefore, first consider how communication practices could hinder or enhance that initiative. Do your data-driven decision-makers know how to find insight in their data? Much of the problem with today’s data-driven cultures isn’t a lack of data, but a lack of insight from that data. Across the data science industry, for example, you’ll see a recurring theme: Even the most technical jobs like data scientists need soft skills to find insights hidden in their data. You can read comment after comment in fora, threads, and communities like r/datascience or Kaggle that extol the virtues of business and communication skills as foundational to more technical skills. Why? Not all data is relevant to the problem at hand. So you can do a linear regression with Pandas or build a market sizing Excel table from scratch. Does it actually tell you anything important about your business? Finding the insight in your data with industry-specific knowledge or a little business sense can often go much further than programming knowledge. Yet even more important than finding insight amid a sea of data is the ability to communicate that insight in a compelling way. This leads us to our final question. Do your people know how to be compelling? This is a deceptively simple question. We’ve heard from many of our clients over the years that their people lack clarity in their messages, or that they struggle to create a compelling pitch succinct enough for executives to make decisions. You may have the best technology and the best processes in place to maintain your competitive advantage, but if your people can’t communicate effectively, it may all be for naught. The purpose of your data and communications is to either a) inform your audience or b) spur them to act. However, without compelling, succinct communication, your audience may now understand what you’re saying or what they’re supposed to do with that information. Learning how to be a compelling communicator is a lifelong skill, but there are a few basic principles that can exponentially increase your effectiveness. Be honest with yourself, and seek help when you need it The “Reskilling Revolution has firmly taken root, but so has the “Great Resignation and other societal shifts. It’s not easy to implement training initiatives and reskill your workforce. Thankfully, L&D budgets are growing and learning leaders are gaining a seat at the executive table. We hope these questions can help you make wise decisions regarding those investments.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/gettyimages-1164230550-612x612-1200x627-1.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T15:24:14-05:00" }, { "id": 9125, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/how-to-create-consistent-sales-communications-culture/", "title": "How to Create a Consistent Sales Communications Culture", "h1": "How to Create a Consistent Sales Communications Culture", "summary": "", "content": "

Without a consistent message, your business can’t succeed. But how do you ensure that you have a consistent message that your team can adapt to a prospect’s situation. You need a common language and a consistent culture of communication so sellers can sell. Learning how to do it is key!

Success comes down to the people, product, and process. The same goes for the way the business communicates — it’s not just about what you say but also how you say it.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

\"\"Principles for a Common Language and a Consistent Culture

We all need effective communication to get work done. We need to communicate internally, externally, to prospects, clients and each other. To create this, you must first establish a common language.

Below we’ll discuss five principles for creating a common language and consistent culture of communication in your organization. Think of these principles as creative constraints to guide sales and marketing leaders toward hitting their goals. These five guidelines will help you develop a framework to drive consistency and quality in messaging across your team’s culture.

Focus on improving efficiency

Establishing a routine when it comes to selling is key to increasing your team’s efficiency. The thing that makes routines so powerful is that they make your processes repeatable — and therefore more efficient over time. A great sales process can be executed the same way, every single time, across your entire sales team without confusion or mix-ups.

Put the customer first

Selling happens in largely virtual or hybrid settings where customers look for the best experience, not necessarily the best price. Today, every touchpoint is part of this all-important customer or client experience. That’s why having a good customer-centric communications strategy throughout your sales process is critical. It will lead to increased revenue by helping you close more deals, and that means more growth for your company — and who doesn’t love that?

Ensure scalability

Ensure that you’re building a communications framework that can grow as your team grows. In other words, think ahead! When your sales team is handling twice the number of calls, leads, or customer engagements than they are today, you need a common framework to fall back on and share with new hires.

Flexible

Your communications strategy needs to be flexible enough to nail the marketing message but also adapt itself to the personalized needs of sales prospects.

Flexibility means being able to pivot to meet audience needs at a moment’s notice. As a result, you need to know your story backward and forward. This allows you to anticipate your audience’s questions and needs so you’re ready to address them when they come up.

Embrace simplicity

Finally, remember to keep your processes simple. After all, the human mind can only handle so much information at once. But not only that, consider the importance of plain language, a central strategy for effective professional communications. Plain language increases readability and comprehension, but it also drives sales and reduces costs.

Aside from plain language, find other ways to embrace simplicity. A lot of sales communications training programs talk about a “12-step plan” or ask you to go through some other complex processes to achieve success. Often these programs are just too complicated to become part of your organizational culture. Maybe one or two people could become experts at implementing the 12-step plan, but certainly not every seller in your organization.

\"\"Embracing Hybrid Doesn’t Have to Be Hard

In business communication, an effective strategy is focusing on the most important parts of your process. In doing so, you can create a more consistent communication culture over time because these kinds of processes are repeatable and easy for everyone to adopt. That’s why the best sales-focused communications training is simple. It should only require a few steps, and those steps should be familiar to our innate inclination toward storytelling — which we’ll discuss in the next section.

The Best Communication Tells a Timeless Story

So, we’re searching for a communication strategy that will help sellers sell. What aspects of communication have continued to prove themselves effective, tested over generations? Stories! That’s why storytelling is timeless… the ability to tell a story that resonates with audience members, helping them remember what you have to say and driving them to take action.

With storytelling, we have the opportunity to leverage the most potent form of communication. For that reason, when you create a communications framework for your organization, remember to employ a business storytelling framework, which includes a story’s:

\"\"A Storytelling Culture Can Work Wonders When Paired With Other Sales Strategies

Building a culture of storytelling can transform your sales team into one that takes typically-mundane communications and turns them into compelling stories that spur action.

Storytelling can help salespeople address one of their most common challenges, failing to make an effective argument because they talk about their resolution too early in the conversation. Salespeople often jump into describing their product features and benefits without setting up the context of why the potential buyer should care. With a business storytelling framework, you can be sure that your BIG Idea and resolution will be well-received because you’ve given your audience a reason to care.

Consider, too, how storytelling can integrate with other common sales techniques like the Challenger Sale or how to navigate the customer journey. By combining these strategies, your teams will create a consistent and effective method of communication that can transform your business.

\"\"Keep the Conversation Going

To ensure your organization successfully adopts a communication culture that embraces storytelling, remember that leaders need to be on board. Leaders can do this by demonstrating best practices, thus cementing your organization’s desired cultural norms. All leaders can accomplish this by leading by example, while others can reinforce your communications framework through coaching. Whatever methods your leaders employ, their actions should work to weave your communications strategy into the fabric of how your organization operates.

", "content_plain": "Without a consistent message, your business can’t succeed. But how do you ensure that you have a consistent message that your team can adapt to a prospect’s situation. You need a common language and a consistent culture of communication so sellers can sell. Learning how to do it is key! Success comes down to the people, product, and process. The same goes for the way the business communicates — it’s not just about what you say but also how you say it. You can view our Privacy Policy here. Principles for a Common Language and a Consistent Culture We all need effective communication to get work done. We need to communicate internally, externally, to prospects, clients and each other. To create this, you must first establish a common language. Below we’ll discuss five principles for creating a common language and consistent culture of communication in your organization. Think of these principles as creative constraints to guide sales and marketing leaders toward hitting their goals. These five guidelines will help you develop a framework to drive consistency and quality in messaging across your team’s culture. Focus on improving efficiency Establishing a routine when it comes to selling is key to increasing your team’s efficiency. The thing that makes routines so powerful is that they make your processes repeatable — and therefore more efficient over time. A great sales process can be executed the same way, every single time, across your entire sales team without confusion or mix-ups. Put the customer first Selling happens in largely virtual or hybrid settings where customers look for the best experience, not necessarily the best price. Today, every touchpoint is part of this all-important customer or client experience. That’s why having a good customer-centric communications strategy throughout your sales process is critical. It will lead to increased revenue by helping you close more deals, and that means more growth for your company — and who doesn’t love that? Ensure scalability Ensure that you’re building a communications framework that can grow as your team grows. In other words, think ahead! When your sales team is handling twice the number of calls, leads, or customer engagements than they are today, you need a common framework to fall back on and share with new hires. Flexible Your communications strategy needs to be flexible enough to nail the marketing message but also adapt itself to the personalized needs of sales prospects. Flexibility means being able to pivot to meet audience needs at a moment’s notice. As a result, you need to know your story backward and forward. This allows you to anticipate your audience’s questions and needs so you’re ready to address them when they come up. Embrace simplicity Finally, remember to keep your processes simple. After all, the human mind can only handle so much information at once. But not only that, consider the importance of plain language, a central strategy for effective professional communications. Plain language increases readability and comprehension, but it also drives sales and reduces costs. Aside from plain language, find other ways to embrace simplicity. A lot of sales communications training programs talk about a “12-step plan” or ask you to go through some other complex processes to achieve success. Often these programs are just too complicated to become part of your organizational culture. Maybe one or two people could become experts at implementing the 12-step plan, but certainly not every seller in your organization. Embracing Hybrid Doesn’t Have to Be Hard In business communication, an effective strategy is focusing on the most important parts of your process. In doing so, you can create a more consistent communication culture over time because these kinds of processes are repeatable and easy for everyone to adopt. That’s why the best sales-focused communications training is simple. It should only require a few steps, and those steps should be familiar to our innate inclination toward storytelling — which we’ll discuss in the next section. The Best Communication Tells a Timeless Story So, we’re searching for a communication strategy that will help sellers sell. What aspects of communication have continued to prove themselves effective, tested over generations? Stories! That’s why storytelling is timeless… the ability to tell a story that resonates with audience members, helping them remember what you have to say and driving them to take action. With storytelling, we have the opportunity to leverage the most potent form of communication. For that reason, when you create a communications framework for your organization, remember to employ a business storytelling framework, which includes a story’s: Setting: A single place, circumstance, or time. Its main purpose is to establish context for the story you’re telling. Characters: Those who are affected by the current situation being described in your story. With business storytelling, this is usually your customers, employees, or team. Conflict: The tension that gives your audience a reason to care about your story, as well as motivation to see it resolved BIG Idea: What is the most important piece of information or concept that you want your audience to understand? That’s your BIG Idea. This will be the common theme that runs through your entire presentation, email, report, or other communication. Every fact or piece of data you include should support your BIG Idea. Resolution: This is your recommendation for resolving the conflict. Usually, this is your product, or other solution you offer clients. A Storytelling Culture Can Work Wonders When Paired With Other Sales Strategies Building a culture of storytelling can transform your sales team into one that takes typically-mundane communications and turns them into compelling stories that spur action. Storytelling can help salespeople address one of their most common challenges, failing to make an effective argument because they talk about their resolution too early in the conversation. Salespeople often jump into describing their product features and benefits without setting up the context of why the potential buyer should care. With a business storytelling framework, you can be sure that your BIG Idea and resolution will be well-received because you’ve given your audience a reason to care. Consider, too, how storytelling can integrate with other common sales techniques like the Challenger Sale or how to navigate the customer journey. By combining these strategies, your teams will create a consistent and effective method of communication that can transform your business. Keep the Conversation Going To ensure your organization successfully adopts a communication culture that embraces storytelling, remember that leaders need to be on board. Leaders can do this by demonstrating best practices, thus cementing your organization’s desired cultural norms. All leaders can accomplish this by leading by example, while others can reinforce your communications framework through coaching. Whatever methods your leaders employ, their actions should work to weave your communications strategy into the fabric of how your organization operates.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Hero-Create-Consistent-Sales-Comms-Culture-1200x627-R1.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T10:49:34-05:00" }, { "id": 9124, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/chasing-innovation-how-storytelling-boosted-one-cpg-companys-sales-org/", "title": "Chasing Innovation: How Storytelling Boosted One CPG Company’s Sales Org", "h1": "Chasing Innovation: How Storytelling Boosted One CPG Company’s Sales Org", "summary": "", "content": "

For one global leader in the Consumer-Packaged Goods (CPG) space, innovation is, and has been, the norm. They’re used to leading the way and evolving to support customers’ needs. But they had a problem. Their business communications weren’t up to standards company-wide, which put a strain on their organization.

“Often, presentations weren’t as effective as they needed to be because they lacked consistency, message clarity, audience focus, and visual organization.”

They needed help to ensure everyone in their organization could meet the company’s high standards.

\"\"The Business Landscape Is Changing Fast — How Can Enterprise Companies Keep Up?

The speed of business today is fast, and it’s only accelerating as the CPG industry becomes more and more crowded. With competition at an all time high, it was more important than ever for this company to improve how it communicates with its retailers and consumers (and internally!) through authentic, relevant stories that include meaningful data insights. They also realized that taking a customer-centric approach, one that accounts for multiple distinct categories within their industry, would be critical to their ongoing success.

Prior to participating in storytelling training, employees across the organization demonstrated varying levels of proficiency for using storytelling for business communications and using visuals to effectively represent data. After assessing the state of people’s ability across the company, leaders believed it was clear that many did not possess the skills to communicate in a compelling, persuasive way. They were also ill-equipped to use imagery to tell a story with data in ways that moved audiences to action.

In other words, they needed to tell stories that spoke directly to multiple audiences with diverse needs, and they knew it. But at the speed of modern enterprises, ensuring that people across the company possess these important skills is a challenge.

\"\" Getting Specific: How the Company Identified Their Specific Needs and Skills

This company realized they needed to take a category-based approach to communication. That is, each category within their industry represents a different audience, and they needed to speak to each of them in a unique way.

Identifying needs to be addressed

To master this category-based thinking, the company realized they needed to:

To be successful, this company needed to maintain its position as a global leader — one that is innovative in the face of an ever-changing marketplace. For them, profitability and growth are dependent on being able to develop insights, understand audiences, and communicate through stories and data.

To do this, they identified four areas of their business that needed to take action around storytelling:

  1. Procurement: Communicating with data at all levels, across functions
  2. Marketing: Creating actionable insights from multiple data streams
  3. Sales: Distinguishing themselves from other manufacturers
  4. Finance: Communicating complex data more effectively

What this meant for the company was that new skills would be needed for people in several departments.

Identifying skills that needed to be developed

Having identified that different organizations within the company had different yet particular needs, leaders recognized that those needs also overlapped with the needs of the entire company. These included the need to:

After identifying these needs, each organization within the company assessed their skills and behavior gaps to determine exactly what they needed to address. They determined that building new business storytelling and data visualization skills were critical to their long-term success — but many of the people at the company, though otherwise capable, did not have these skills.

The company needed their written, verbal, and visual communications to have greater impact. And because they are such a large enterprise, they needed this kind of effective communication to be part of their everyday practice. But could they build those skills for so many people?

They began by looking at existing internal solutions. While there were existing presentation skills resources available, they weren’t set up in a way that made these new skills easy to learn and apply day-to-day.

\"\"How They Built Data Visualization and Business Storytelling Skills at Enterprise Scale

Now that needs and skills were identified, the company developed a strategy with their communications training vendor. The strategy was to invest in developing these skills quickly and holistically across the organization. To accomplish this, they worked toward designing a learning and development program to build strong business storytelling and data visualization capabilities for 750 employees across procurement, sales, marketing, and finance, representing around 2% of the company’s U.S. employee base.

Before committing the practice to the entire organization, however, the company validated the approach with pilots and other sessions that tested the solution’s design.

The purpose of this evaluation step was to assess learning effectiveness, build participant confidence, encourage participant’s involvement in their learning, confirm learning and business needs are being met, and adjust the design or instruction when needed.

This refinement process allowed them to confirm the design would close the gaps as intended. The company rolled out the practice to different organizations over time, allowing them to assess success and make changes, further validating the appropriateness of the solution.

\"\"Seeing the Results of Storytelling Training

As a result of learning how to use storytelling and data visualization skills, the company is now better equipped to support retailers’ needs and priorities by framing stories from their category-based perspectives.

In brief, the company evolved their communications capabilities to adapt to changing retailer and consumer demands. They drive better and faster decisions by clearly communicating recommendations with data and insights. They demonstrate consistent presentation capability and proficiency across functions.

How the company saw results in their business storytelling

Participants demonstrated that they achieved the learning objectives. They can now:

In the short term, participants demonstrated rapid improvement in storytelling capabilities and audience-centric communication, as well as improved presentation quality.
In the long term (as measured by manager coaching and observations), proficiency and confidence have notably improved, meetings became more collaborative and efficient, communications became clearer and more audience focused.

Additionally, post-workshop story submissions demonstrated that participants have retained knowledge and skills learned and continue to build proficiency over time.

How the company saw results in data visualization

Participants also demonstrated that they achieved the learning objectives set forth in the data visualization training. They can now:

In the short term, participants demonstrated the ability to create visuals that highlight important points and keep the audience focused on their recommendations. They communicate data through stories to help audiences understand what actions are needed. This is observed during workshop activities and presentation labs.

In the long term (as measured by manager coaching and observations), participants’ ability to influence stakeholders and solve problems has improved and reported increased confidence when presenting recommendations.

In post-surveys, participants also said that their training had:

\"\"Use Storytelling to Improve the Way Your Teams Communicate

Business storytelling and data visualization training measurably improved the way employees at one world-leading enterprise communicate their ideas, data, and information. Participants from across the company increased their confidence and credibility, accelerated collaboration and decision making, and refocused discussions on the audience and their needs.

", "content_plain": "For one global leader in the Consumer-Packaged Goods (CPG) space, innovation is, and has been, the norm. They’re used to leading the way and evolving to support customers’ needs. But they had a problem. Their business communications weren’t up to standards company-wide, which put a strain on their organization. “Often, presentations weren’t as effective as they needed to be because they lacked consistency, message clarity, audience focus, and visual organization.” They needed help to ensure everyone in their organization could meet the company’s high standards. The Business Landscape Is Changing Fast — How Can Enterprise Companies Keep Up? The speed of business today is fast, and it’s only accelerating as the CPG industry becomes more and more crowded. With competition at an all time high, it was more important than ever for this company to improve how it communicates with its retailers and consumers (and internally!) through authentic, relevant stories that include meaningful data insights. They also realized that taking a customer-centric approach, one that accounts for multiple distinct categories within their industry, would be critical to their ongoing success. Prior to participating in storytelling training, employees across the organization demonstrated varying levels of proficiency for using storytelling for business communications and using visuals to effectively represent data. After assessing the state of people’s ability across the company, leaders believed it was clear that many did not possess the skills to communicate in a compelling, persuasive way. They were also ill-equipped to use imagery to tell a story with data in ways that moved audiences to action. In other words, they needed to tell stories that spoke directly to multiple audiences with diverse needs, and they knew it. But at the speed of modern enterprises, ensuring that people across the company possess these important skills is a challenge. Getting Specific: How the Company Identified Their Specific Needs and Skills This company realized they needed to take a category-based approach to communication. That is, each category within their industry represents a different audience, and they needed to speak to each of them in a unique way. Identifying needs to be addressed To master this category-based thinking, the company realized they needed to: Tell stories from the perspective of retailers, focused on category growth Speak the language of digitally-empowered shoppers around need satisfaction Analyze an ever-rising sea of data to understand the factors driving consumer behaviors, and then communicate key insights Describe how the practice aligns to overall organizational goals and strategies To be successful, this company needed to maintain its position as a global leader — one that is innovative in the face of an ever-changing marketplace. For them, profitability and growth are dependent on being able to develop insights, understand audiences, and communicate through stories and data. To do this, they identified four areas of their business that needed to take action around storytelling: Procurement: Communicating with data at all levels, across functions Marketing: Creating actionable insights from multiple data streams Sales: Distinguishing themselves from other manufacturers Finance: Communicating complex data more effectively What this meant for the company was that new skills would be needed for people in several departments. Identifying skills that needed to be developed Having identified that different organizations within the company had different yet particular needs, leaders recognized that those needs also overlapped with the needs of the entire company. These included the need to: Apply business storytelling best practices to presentations. Factually and persuasively tell stories with data; connect recommendations with retailers’ needs. Communicate from the audiences’ perspective by focusing on their strategies and needs. Articulate what audiences need to know or do with information being shared. Drive quick, sound decisions with confident and credible communications. Extract meaningful, actionable insights and recommendations from consumer data to communicate them clearly and responsively. Collaborate with stakeholders to solve problems quickly. Deliver consistently high-quality presentations. After identifying these needs, each organization within the company assessed their skills and behavior gaps to determine exactly what they needed to address. They determined that building new business storytelling and data visualization skills were critical to their long-term success — but many of the people at the company, though otherwise capable, did not have these skills. The company needed their written, verbal, and visual communications to have greater impact. And because they are such a large enterprise, they needed this kind of effective communication to be part of their everyday practice. But could they build those skills for so many people? They began by looking at existing internal solutions. While there were existing presentation skills resources available, they weren’t set up in a way that made these new skills easy to learn and apply day-to-day. How They Built Data Visualization and Business Storytelling Skills at Enterprise Scale Now that needs and skills were identified, the company developed a strategy with their communications training vendor. The strategy was to invest in developing these skills quickly and holistically across the organization. To accomplish this, they worked toward designing a learning and development program to build strong business storytelling and data visualization capabilities for 750 employees across procurement, sales, marketing, and finance, representing around 2% of the company’s U.S. employee base. Before committing the practice to the entire organization, however, the company validated the approach with pilots and other sessions that tested the solution’s design. The purpose of this evaluation step was to assess learning effectiveness, build participant confidence, encourage participant’s involvement in their learning, confirm learning and business needs are being met, and adjust the design or instruction when needed. Prior to the program launch: The training partner conducted stakeholder interviews, presentation reviews, and content quality assurance checks to verify the curriculum’s effectiveness and establish general learner baselines. Prior to each workshop: Participant surveys evaluated individual learners’ existing knowledge, skills, and behaviors related to the learning needs. Throughout every workshop: Facilitators checked in with participants frequently to assess learning progress and make adjustments as needed, using discussions, activities, assignments, peer coaching sessions, and pace-polling. Immediately after each workshop: Surveys captured participant reactions to the learning, facilitator success, performance support relevance, and leading indicators of on-the-job application including confidence and commitment. Three- to six-months post-training: Managers conducted 1:1 coaching for as long as needed, gathering insights as they coach. Organizational leaders and HR business partners observe participant presentations to validate behavior change. At any point after the workshop: Participants were invited to share business stories and presentations with the facilitator team for feedback. Ongoing: Enrollment and attendance rates were continuously monitored as indicators of continued engagement and value of the program. Informal check-ins with stakeholders verified that the practice continued to provide value and was achieving business goals. This refinement process allowed them to confirm the design would close the gaps as intended. The company rolled out the practice to different organizations over time, allowing them to assess success and make changes, further validating the appropriateness of the solution. Seeing the Results of Storytelling Training As a result of learning how to use storytelling and data visualization skills, the company is now better equipped to support retailers’ needs and priorities by framing stories from their category-based perspectives. In brief, the company evolved their communications capabilities to adapt to changing retailer and consumer demands. They drive better and faster decisions by clearly communicating recommendations with data and insights. They demonstrate consistent presentation capability and proficiency across functions. How the company saw results in their business storytelling Participants demonstrated that they achieved the learning objectives. They can now: apply storytelling best practices to communications communicate from the audience’s perspective articulate what audiences need to know and do with information being shared deliver consistently high-quality presentations across organizations In the short term, participants demonstrated rapid improvement in storytelling capabilities and audience-centric communication, as well as improved presentation quality. In the long term (as measured by manager coaching and observations), proficiency and confidence have notably improved, meetings became more collaborative and efficient, communications became clearer and more audience focused. Additionally, post-workshop story submissions demonstrated that participants have retained knowledge and skills learned and continue to build proficiency over time. How the company saw results in data visualization Participants also demonstrated that they achieved the learning objectives set forth in the data visualization training. They can now: factually and persuasively tell stories with data, connecting recommendations with retailers’ needs drive fast, sound decisions with confident and credible communications extract meaningful, actionable insights and recommendations from consumer data to communicate and respond to them clearly solve problems quickly with stakeholders by providing clear, actionable recommendations connect and collaborate with stakeholders to move quickly and solve problems In the short term, participants demonstrated the ability to create visuals that highlight important points and keep the audience focused on their recommendations. They communicate data through stories to help audiences understand what actions are needed. This is observed during workshop activities and presentation labs. In the long term (as measured by manager coaching and observations), participants’ ability to influence stakeholders and solve problems has improved and reported increased confidence when presenting recommendations. In post-surveys, participants also said that their training had: on the job application: 99% positive impact to organization: 98% confidence: 93% commitment: 97% usefulness of performance support materials: 98% Use Storytelling to Improve the Way Your Teams Communicate Business storytelling and data visualization training measurably improved the way employees at one world-leading enterprise communicate their ideas, data, and information. Participants from across the company increased their confidence and credibility, accelerated collaboration and decision making, and refocused discussions on the audience and their needs.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/How-Storytelling-Boosted-One-CPG-Companys-Sales-Org.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T15:24:32-05:00" }, { "id": 9122, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/how-to-derive-value-from-sales-communications-training/", "title": "How to Derive Value from Sales Communications Training", "h1": "How to Derive Value from Sales Communications Training", "summary": "", "content": "

You might think sales communication training is a waste of time or that it’s expensive. Some could be. But also think of the cost of inaction. Can you continue communicating as you are now? Can you afford to have stalled sales cycles or ineffective communication?

In this article, we’ll discuss those concerns as well as ways to see the value in training your teams for better communication and storytelling. Let’s dive in.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

\"\"Overcoming your fears

You might have concerns about bringing communications training to your sellers. Let’s unpack them and address them:

You might be fearful that your sellers can’t be storytellers. But think of it this way: If your team isn’t good at communicating, then the sales cycle can be stalled based on ineffective communication.

Besides, everyone tells stories. Some of your salespeople told you a hilarious stories they heard at a dinner party. Or they relayed the drama of the last few minutes of last weekend’s big game.

You’re concerned that the sales team can only parrot the message built for them. But some people don’t want to be parrots. Some clients don’t want to be parroted to, and they can eagle-eye a canned pitch from a distance.

And let’s face it, sometimes that standard deck isn’t robust enough for the prospect and the seller has more value to add, but is limited to the standard message. They may be afraid to go off script because they haven’t been given the go-ahead from the higher-ups.

You can’t let people make up their own story about what your brand is and what you do, right? However, this approach doesn’t allow a seller to build trust by building a narrative on what the customer needs most. It makes sellers feel inauthentic, and the buyers can often tell.

It could also prohibit making a bigger sale because they get caught up in a tactical solution — instead of being more aware that the customer is actually looking for a higher-level, more strategic conversation.

The point is this: With a little training and a few tweaks, everyone can learn the dynamics of telling a powerful, compelling story.

So, you want your sellers to create excitement or to differentiate your company from your competition, and yet creating custom decks each time wastes time.

What do you do?

\"\"Recognize the damage of inaction and the true value of storytelling

As leaders, we’re often afraid to make a seemingly “risky” decision because we don’t know the outcomes. As a result, we don’t decide at all. However, not deciding can be costlier than deciding, since inaction often creates larger consequences down the road.

For instance, not training your sales team could allow the pipeline to dry up and jeopardize future revenue. The standard messages or ineffective communication practices might not connect with the marketplace any longer.

But how do you train your team and toward what goal?

We believe that teaching sales leaders storytelling skills can help them apply basic fundamentals to hit on compelling messages every time, no matter the content or context.

Storytelling is simply a framework for connecting your brand to the evolutionary power of narrative in the human mind. It consists of five basic tenets:

So, what value will this story structure, and turning your sellers into storytellers, have on your business?

Build an audience-centric mindset

Every great storyteller knows that the audience is the number one thing to think about before communicating. Who are they? What do they care about? How do they consume and interpret information?

Like that old adage, you’re not a leader if you don’t have followers — you’re not communicating if you don’t know your audience. Some people prefer to speak over the phone, while others like to have video calls. Some like presentations, while others like written briefings.

How you communicate changes depending on the medium and the way it will be perceived.

By focusing on the tenets of storytelling, especially focusing on your audience, you can adapt your conversation to different audiences. This allows you to, like a consultative seller, freely move around the concepts based on how the discussion goes without your buyers feeling like they need to sit through a prepared speech. It truly becomes a conversation.

But what do you say?

Focus on the BIG Idea

Surely you’ve had an hour-long meeting where only in the last 10 minutes does the conversation actually move the needle. What if you could have started there at the very beginning and gained 50 minutes of important details and nuance through rigorous conversation?

That’s the promise of putting the heart of the story right at the beginning. What’s the BIG Idea you want your audience to take away from the meeting?

Peter Drucker famously said that the effective decision maker needs to “classify the problem.” Think of the BIG Idea that way. Do you want your audience to know something or do something based on what you’re about to tell them? Usually it’s both, right? But is the emphasis placed on the knowing or the doing?

That will help frame the rest of your story.

For example, you want to sell your product or service. That’s the doing. But it may be more effective for your audience to know that their largest competitor has gained 12% market share over the last quarter. That little insight will stoke what you want them to do.

Alternatively, you may want your prospects to take a next step, like to try your product for one week and measure the results. Then you can pair it with a knowledge bomb, like that every customer that’s tried your product has reduced annual expenses by 7%.

Clarify up front

All too often, we get weeks into a sales conversation only to realize that our terms or expectations were misaligned to begin with. Since we didn’t create the necessary conversations at the beginning of the sales journey, the prospects in the pipeline have slowed because there now needs to be several follow-up conversations with multiple stakeholders to re-explain what was missed in the original meeting.

This is the added benefit of leading with the BIG Idea.

But we can also clarify terms and expectations up front by beginning with the setting. Who needs to be involved as part of the buying committee? What knowledge or expertise do we need to make certain decisions? Are there underlying political contexts or timeline assumptions to be aware of before we begin having the bigger conversations?

Even just one slide on the main stakeholders, the problems, and the bigger picture can help smooth out the story going forward.

Find hidden ways to upsell

Clarifying the discussion with setting and the BIG Idea can shed light on additional ways your company can help your buyers.

By applying the principles of storytelling, you may be able to identify additional stakeholders or understand underlying assumptions that could either accelerate your sales cycle or find new services to sell to solve those additional problems.

When you’re able to focus on the needs of the client through more strategic conversations, you’ll unlock the ability to explore deeper into what the prospect was saying they needed.

\"\"Reduce the cost of inaction and embrace the value of storytelling

Inaction has consequences. Offering your sales team storytelling training can help your team overcome hurdles and meet their goals, one sales cycle at a time.

", "content_plain": "You might think sales communication training is a waste of time or that it’s expensive. Some could be. But also think of the cost of inaction. Can you continue communicating as you are now? Can you afford to have stalled sales cycles or ineffective communication? In this article, we’ll discuss those concerns as well as ways to see the value in training your teams for better communication and storytelling. Let’s dive in. You can view our Privacy Policy here. Overcoming your fears You might have concerns about bringing communications training to your sellers. Let’s unpack them and address them: You might be fearful that your sellers can’t be storytellers. But think of it this way: If your team isn’t good at communicating, then the sales cycle can be stalled based on ineffective communication. Besides, everyone tells stories. Some of your salespeople told you a hilarious stories they heard at a dinner party. Or they relayed the drama of the last few minutes of last weekend’s big game. You’re concerned that the sales team can only parrot the message built for them. But some people don’t want to be parrots. Some clients don’t want to be parroted to, and they can eagle-eye a canned pitch from a distance. And let’s face it, sometimes that standard deck isn’t robust enough for the prospect and the seller has more value to add, but is limited to the standard message. They may be afraid to go off script because they haven’t been given the go-ahead from the higher-ups. You can’t let people make up their own story about what your brand is and what you do, right? However, this approach doesn’t allow a seller to build trust by building a narrative on what the customer needs most. It makes sellers feel inauthentic, and the buyers can often tell. It could also prohibit making a bigger sale because they get caught up in a tactical solution — instead of being more aware that the customer is actually looking for a higher-level, more strategic conversation. The point is this: With a little training and a few tweaks, everyone can learn the dynamics of telling a powerful, compelling story. So, you want your sellers to create excitement or to differentiate your company from your competition, and yet creating custom decks each time wastes time. What do you do? Recognize the damage of inaction and the true value of storytelling As leaders, we’re often afraid to make a seemingly “risky” decision because we don’t know the outcomes. As a result, we don’t decide at all. However, not deciding can be costlier than deciding, since inaction often creates larger consequences down the road. For instance, not training your sales team could allow the pipeline to dry up and jeopardize future revenue. The standard messages or ineffective communication practices might not connect with the marketplace any longer. But how do you train your team and toward what goal? We believe that teaching sales leaders storytelling skills can help them apply basic fundamentals to hit on compelling messages every time, no matter the content or context. Storytelling is simply a framework for connecting your brand to the evolutionary power of narrative in the human mind. It consists of five basic tenets: Setting Characters Conflict BIG Idea Resolution So, what value will this story structure, and turning your sellers into storytellers, have on your business? Build an audience-centric mindset Every great storyteller knows that the audience is the number one thing to think about before communicating. Who are they? What do they care about? How do they consume and interpret information? Like that old adage, you’re not a leader if you don’t have followers — you’re not communicating if you don’t know your audience. Some people prefer to speak over the phone, while others like to have video calls. Some like presentations, while others like written briefings. How you communicate changes depending on the medium and the way it will be perceived. By focusing on the tenets of storytelling, especially focusing on your audience, you can adapt your conversation to different audiences. This allows you to, like a consultative seller, freely move around the concepts based on how the discussion goes without your buyers feeling like they need to sit through a prepared speech. It truly becomes a conversation. But what do you say? Focus on the BIG Idea Surely you’ve had an hour-long meeting where only in the last 10 minutes does the conversation actually move the needle. What if you could have started there at the very beginning and gained 50 minutes of important details and nuance through rigorous conversation? That’s the promise of putting the heart of the story right at the beginning. What’s the BIG Idea you want your audience to take away from the meeting? Peter Drucker famously said that the effective decision maker needs to “classify the problem.” Think of the BIG Idea that way. Do you want your audience to know something or do something based on what you’re about to tell them? Usually it’s both, right? But is the emphasis placed on the knowing or the doing? That will help frame the rest of your story. For example, you want to sell your product or service. That’s the doing. But it may be more effective for your audience to know that their largest competitor has gained 12% market share over the last quarter. That little insight will stoke what you want them to do. Alternatively, you may want your prospects to take a next step, like to try your product for one week and measure the results. Then you can pair it with a knowledge bomb, like that every customer that’s tried your product has reduced annual expenses by 7%. Clarify up front All too often, we get weeks into a sales conversation only to realize that our terms or expectations were misaligned to begin with. Since we didn’t create the necessary conversations at the beginning of the sales journey, the prospects in the pipeline have slowed because there now needs to be several follow-up conversations with multiple stakeholders to re-explain what was missed in the original meeting. This is the added benefit of leading with the BIG Idea. But we can also clarify terms and expectations up front by beginning with the setting. Who needs to be involved as part of the buying committee? What knowledge or expertise do we need to make certain decisions? Are there underlying political contexts or timeline assumptions to be aware of before we begin having the bigger conversations? Even just one slide on the main stakeholders, the problems, and the bigger picture can help smooth out the story going forward. Find hidden ways to upsell Clarifying the discussion with setting and the BIG Idea can shed light on additional ways your company can help your buyers. By applying the principles of storytelling, you may be able to identify additional stakeholders or understand underlying assumptions that could either accelerate your sales cycle or find new services to sell to solve those additional problems. When you’re able to focus on the needs of the client through more strategic conversations, you’ll unlock the ability to explore deeper into what the prospect was saying they needed. Reduce the cost of inaction and embrace the value of storytelling Inaction has consequences. Offering your sales team storytelling training can help your team overcome hurdles and meet their goals, one sales cycle at a time.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Hero-Finding-ROI-Derive-Value-from-Sales-Comms-Training-1200x627-R2.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T10:53:31-05:00" }, { "id": 9116, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/how-to-define-and-address-your-organizations-communications-needs/", "title": "How to Define — and Address — Your Organization’s Communications Needs", "h1": "How to Define — and Address — Your Organization’s Communications Needs", "summary": "", "content": "

A Practical Guide for L&D Leaders

What communications challenges plague your organization? For many, it goes beyond the volume of communication and the sheer noise disrupting so much of what teams are trying to say to each other. Simply put, the biggest challenge is the lack of effective communication.

In other words, volume and noise are symptoms rather than the cause of communications challenges. If everyone in your organization communicated effectively, there would be much less noise and the quantity wouldn’t be as much of a problem.

Let’s explore how to identify what’s driving the problem — and what you can do to resolve it.

\"\"Step 1: Identify the Causes of Ineffective Communication

Like a doctor seeking to cure a patient, the first step is to find the root cause of the communications challenges — it’s not enough to simply treat the symptoms. With that in mind, here are three ways to diagnose the problem.

How do you make time for high-quality work?

One of the biggest challenges to great communication, as we’ve written elsewhere, is a lack of time. People often feel hurried to type up that email or throw together slides for that presentation at the last minute — not because they’re lazy, but because they simply don’t have enough time.

Chat features are one culprit for why people feel as if they don’t have enough time. Instant messages may feel like an easy way to get a quick answer from a colleague, but they actually represent a significant disruption. In fact, thanks in part to instant messaging features, office workers are interrupted every three minutes, on average. The result is that many workers are unable to do their work without interruption, which harms people’s ability to do high-quality work of any kind. The same is true for a multitude of other communications channels, such as endless emails flooding your inbox, back-to-back meetings clogging your calendar, and urgent last-minute requests from colleagues.

But here’s the thing: When you make time for high-quality work, better communication will follow.

By freeing up people’s schedules and privileging asynchronous communication (which we’ll discuss in more detail later), employees can focus on producing high-quality work instead of responding to a consistent stream of messages as quickly as possible. This kind of approach to time allows people to make space for designing better presentations, creates opportunities to edit for clarity, and allows for more thoughtfulness to be put into effective, efficient communication.

How do you break down communication silos between teams?

Another driver of poor communication is a lack of transparency and information sharing between teams. A World Economic Forum interview noted that this was one of the greatest challenges facing teams in the new virtual and hybrid working environments, specifically “overcoming communication silos, particularly between the weak ties between workers and across departments, as well as sharing non-codified information and knowledge.”

To communicate more effectively, help your teams collaborate and share knowledge more quickly and easily. Consider, for example, how much better the analysis of data could be if teams were to share the information they own earlier in the process than they typically do.

Keep in mind the difficulties concerning the volume and noise of communication mentioned earlier. Also keep in mind that as collaboration increases, so too can transaction costs to work more closely together, which can encourage the first cause of poor communication mentioned earlier: a lack of time.

It’s a double-edged sword. Successful organizations communicate across teams, but breaking down communication siloes can lead to an overwhelming amount of work. The key is balance. Remember to keep communications channels open, but recognize the effect this can have on each individual’s capacity.

How do you save time by embracing asynchronous communication?

People feel rushed for all kinds of reasons, but too many meetings might be at the top of the list. When it comes to an unsustainable frequency of meetings, the digital revolution is partially to blame. It’s so easy to “hop on a call” and chat through a project instead of sending an email or waiting for a meeting that’s already been scheduled. The result is that meetings pile up and clog calendars, which leaves people with little time to actually get work done. Most successful professionals, however, have learned to take a different approach to their calendar — one that emphasizes reserving work time that’s free of meetings.

Before scheduling a meeting, ask yourself if the topics you’d like to discuss could instead be distributed in a short brief or email, leaving only the most necessary conversations for a scheduled meeting. Our natural inclination is to put a meeting on the calendar to provide better context, elaborate on certain points, or respond to inevitable feedback from stakeholders. But this isn’t the most effective way to use time.

Instead, reserve meetings for only the most vital information that requires immediate and crucial feedback in real time. For example, board meetings or annual strategy sessions might fall into this category. Additionally, you should consider recording meetings or presentations to be reviewed on employees’ own time.

By reducing the frequency and length of synchronous communication, you can create time for developing clearer and more concise messages, while also combating meeting fatigue, which can harm productivity and individual well-being.

\"\"Step 2: Understand the Role — and Value — of Training, and How It Can Solve Your Problems

High-quality communications training can make a world of difference for teams and individuals alike. That’s because business communications training helps people understand how to effectively engage and persuade audience members while also giving teams a shared language to discuss and plan communications strategies.

Consider ways that you can provide resources for people in your organization and, just as important, make sure they have time to work with them.

Offer training resources designed to meet the needs of the organization

Whatever training partner you choose, it needs to meet the unique needs of your organization. One of the best ways for individuals on your team to improve their communication is to have them take a course or read a book on the subject.

The first option — taking a course — can be a fun, interactive way to learn effective communication skills and apply them to their real work. By immersing themselves in a collaborative learning experience that provides ample resources to make the learning easy to retain and practice on an ongoing basis, employees can dramatically increase their clarity and effectiveness by working strategies such as storytelling and data visualization best practices into their daily business communications.

The second option — reading a book — may seem like it won’t make a huge impact. However, books can serve as reference material that your people can use as they’re building their next communication. If you don’t think your team would be interested in reading a book on the subject of business communications, consider other options such as videos from industry-leading experts. Whatever medium you select, these kinds of resources can be a cost-effective way to improve your team’s communication skills in ways big and small.

Of course, none of this works if people don’t have time to dedicate to reading a book or taking a course. (Remember our conversation above about how people often feel rushed?) For this reason, take steps to ensure that people have time to participate in professional development activities. One way to accomplish this is to schedule time for it every week or every month. Whatever approach you take, putting time on your team’s calendar for learning means no one will feel pressure to work on other projects, because everyone will be emphasizing professional development at the same time.

Ensure the training is relevant to day-to-day work so it can be applied immediately

The best workshops allow participants to bring in the tasks they’re currently working on and revise them in real time based on the instructor’s teaching and feedback from peers. Workshops that allow participants to bring their existing projects as samples increase engagement and relevance of the training. They also help make learning “stickier,” or less likely to fade, because the training is being put to use from the very beginning.

Ensure that managers are able to coach their teams, and that they can leverage peer coaching

Once a training concludes, it’s critical for people to be able to share what they’ve learned with each other and offer support. For managers, this means providing high-quality coaching. This kind of mentorship reinforces learning and helps teams implement the skills they’ve learned.

Successful teams also reinforce learning through peer coaching. Learning socially in this manner helps to reinforce key skills and provide accountability going forward, both of which increase the likelihood that learning will stick. In this scenario, people will not only learn together when the course takes place, but in the weeks and months that follow. With a shared experience, individuals can support one another in the ongoing learning process that occurs as lessons from the training are applied in the flow of work.

\"\"Communication Doesn’t Have to Be a Struggle

If your team is struggling to identify its communication needs, much less address them, you’re not alone. Luckily, there are tools you can use to diagnose the cause of your team’s communications struggles, and effectively treat them. So, if you’re looking to make a change in your organization’s communications practices, consider how changes to the way you schedule meetings can make work more efficient, as well as how people can benefit from training to build the skills they need to increase the quality of their business communications.

", "content_plain": "A Practical Guide for L&D Leaders What communications challenges plague your organization? For many, it goes beyond the volume of communication and the sheer noise disrupting so much of what teams are trying to say to each other. Simply put, the biggest challenge is the lack of effective communication. In other words, volume and noise are symptoms rather than the cause of communications challenges. If everyone in your organization communicated effectively, there would be much less noise and the quantity wouldn’t be as much of a problem. Let’s explore how to identify what’s driving the problem — and what you can do to resolve it. Step 1: Identify the Causes of Ineffective Communication Like a doctor seeking to cure a patient, the first step is to find the root cause of the communications challenges — it’s not enough to simply treat the symptoms. With that in mind, here are three ways to diagnose the problem. How do you make time for high-quality work? One of the biggest challenges to great communication, as we’ve written elsewhere, is a lack of time. People often feel hurried to type up that email or throw together slides for that presentation at the last minute — not because they’re lazy, but because they simply don’t have enough time. Chat features are one culprit for why people feel as if they don’t have enough time. Instant messages may feel like an easy way to get a quick answer from a colleague, but they actually represent a significant disruption. In fact, thanks in part to instant messaging features, office workers are interrupted every three minutes, on average. The result is that many workers are unable to do their work without interruption, which harms people’s ability to do high-quality work of any kind. The same is true for a multitude of other communications channels, such as endless emails flooding your inbox, back-to-back meetings clogging your calendar, and urgent last-minute requests from colleagues. But here’s the thing: When you make time for high-quality work, better communication will follow. By freeing up people’s schedules and privileging asynchronous communication (which we’ll discuss in more detail later), employees can focus on producing high-quality work instead of responding to a consistent stream of messages as quickly as possible. This kind of approach to time allows people to make space for designing better presentations, creates opportunities to edit for clarity, and allows for more thoughtfulness to be put into effective, efficient communication. How do you break down communication silos between teams? Another driver of poor communication is a lack of transparency and information sharing between teams. A World Economic Forum interview noted that this was one of the greatest challenges facing teams in the new virtual and hybrid working environments, specifically “overcoming communication silos, particularly between the weak ties between workers and across departments, as well as sharing non-codified information and knowledge.” To communicate more effectively, help your teams collaborate and share knowledge more quickly and easily. Consider, for example, how much better the analysis of data could be if teams were to share the information they own earlier in the process than they typically do. Keep in mind the difficulties concerning the volume and noise of communication mentioned earlier. Also keep in mind that as collaboration increases, so too can transaction costs to work more closely together, which can encourage the first cause of poor communication mentioned earlier: a lack of time. It’s a double-edged sword. Successful organizations communicate across teams, but breaking down communication siloes can lead to an overwhelming amount of work. The key is balance. Remember to keep communications channels open, but recognize the effect this can have on each individual’s capacity. How do you save time by embracing asynchronous communication? People feel rushed for all kinds of reasons, but too many meetings might be at the top of the list. When it comes to an unsustainable frequency of meetings, the digital revolution is partially to blame. It’s so easy to “hop on a call” and chat through a project instead of sending an email or waiting for a meeting that’s already been scheduled. The result is that meetings pile up and clog calendars, which leaves people with little time to actually get work done. Most successful professionals, however, have learned to take a different approach to their calendar — one that emphasizes reserving work time that’s free of meetings. Before scheduling a meeting, ask yourself if the topics you’d like to discuss could instead be distributed in a short brief or email, leaving only the most necessary conversations for a scheduled meeting. Our natural inclination is to put a meeting on the calendar to provide better context, elaborate on certain points, or respond to inevitable feedback from stakeholders. But this isn’t the most effective way to use time. Instead, reserve meetings for only the most vital information that requires immediate and crucial feedback in real time. For example, board meetings or annual strategy sessions might fall into this category. Additionally, you should consider recording meetings or presentations to be reviewed on employees’ own time. By reducing the frequency and length of synchronous communication, you can create time for developing clearer and more concise messages, while also combating meeting fatigue, which can harm productivity and individual well-being. Step 2: Understand the Role — and Value — of Training, and How It Can Solve Your Problems High-quality communications training can make a world of difference for teams and individuals alike. That’s because business communications training helps people understand how to effectively engage and persuade audience members while also giving teams a shared language to discuss and plan communications strategies. Consider ways that you can provide resources for people in your organization and, just as important, make sure they have time to work with them. Offer training resources designed to meet the needs of the organization Whatever training partner you choose, it needs to meet the unique needs of your organization. One of the best ways for individuals on your team to improve their communication is to have them take a course or read a book on the subject. The first option — taking a course — can be a fun, interactive way to learn effective communication skills and apply them to their real work. By immersing themselves in a collaborative learning experience that provides ample resources to make the learning easy to retain and practice on an ongoing basis, employees can dramatically increase their clarity and effectiveness by working strategies such as storytelling and data visualization best practices into their daily business communications. The second option — reading a book — may seem like it won’t make a huge impact. However, books can serve as reference material that your people can use as they’re building their next communication. If you don’t think your team would be interested in reading a book on the subject of business communications, consider other options such as videos from industry-leading experts. Whatever medium you select, these kinds of resources can be a cost-effective way to improve your team’s communication skills in ways big and small. Of course, none of this works if people don’t have time to dedicate to reading a book or taking a course. (Remember our conversation above about how people often feel rushed?) For this reason, take steps to ensure that people have time to participate in professional development activities. One way to accomplish this is to schedule time for it every week or every month. Whatever approach you take, putting time on your team’s calendar for learning means no one will feel pressure to work on other projects, because everyone will be emphasizing professional development at the same time. Ensure the training is relevant to day-to-day work so it can be applied immediately The best workshops allow participants to bring in the tasks they’re currently working on and revise them in real time based on the instructor’s teaching and feedback from peers. Workshops that allow participants to bring their existing projects as samples increase engagement and relevance of the training. They also help make learning “stickier,” or less likely to fade, because the training is being put to use from the very beginning. Ensure that managers are able to coach their teams, and that they can leverage peer coaching Once a training concludes, it’s critical for people to be able to share what they’ve learned with each other and offer support. For managers, this means providing high-quality coaching. This kind of mentorship reinforces learning and helps teams implement the skills they’ve learned. Successful teams also reinforce learning through peer coaching. Learning socially in this manner helps to reinforce key skills and provide accountability going forward, both of which increase the likelihood that learning will stick. In this scenario, people will not only learn together when the course takes place, but in the weeks and months that follow. With a shared experience, individuals can support one another in the ongoing learning process that occurs as lessons from the training are applied in the flow of work. Communication Doesn’t Have to Be a Struggle If your team is struggling to identify its communication needs, much less address them, you’re not alone. Luckily, there are tools you can use to diagnose the cause of your team’s communications struggles, and effectively treat them. So, if you’re looking to make a change in your organization’s communications practices, consider how changes to the way you schedule meetings can make work more efficient, as well as how people can benefit from training to build the skills they need to increase the quality of their business communications.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Hero-Defining-Orgs-Comms-Needs-1200x627-R2.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T15:24:51-05:00" }, { "id": 9111, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/consistently-missing-your-sales-targets-try-storytelling-your-way-to-quota/", "title": "Consistently Missing Your Sales Targets? Try Storytelling Your Way to Quota", "h1": "Consistently Missing Your Sales Targets? Try Storytelling Your Way to Quota", "summary": "", "content": "

Members of your team are missing quotas. You’ve tried many different ways to get them back on track, but those methods aren’t working. Maybe the solution isn’t about sales tactics. Maybe it’s an issue with communication. If you harness the power of communication — clear, direct, relevant communication — we believe that sales will follow.

Let’s unpack how.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

\"\"How to frame the story

To put it simply, sales is storytelling. But far too few sellers are trained to tell a meaningful, relatable story. There are many approaches out there, but a straightforward way is to build a story that helps your audience understand why they need to change, why now is the right time, and why they should go with your solution.

Why change

Sometimes, prospects in your sales pipeline already know why they need to change. After all, they’re speaking with you about your solution presumably because they have a problem.

However, to help them understand the value of your product or service, the key is to focus on the audience. This is the first step in telling any good story. Who are you speaking with? Are they senior decision-makers or lower-level soldiers on a reconnaissance mission? Do they appreciate relationship building or getting straight to the point? What do they really need, not just what they want? Knowing the answers to these questions is crucial.

Gartner research shows that at least for B2B buyers, only 17% of a buyer’s time is spent with potential suppliers. If they’re meeting with multiple suppliers, they may only be spending 5 or 6% of their buying journey with a sales rep. The rest of the time is spent researching or meeting with the buying team.

This data indicates that your communications with the prospect — the value proposition, the differentiation, the answers to “why change” — all need to be crystal clear, succinct, and compelling. Sellers need to know who they’re speaking to and what they need right off the bat.

Too often, however, sales folks are talking to the wrong person about the wrong thing. They don’t diagnose the root cause of the issue during the sales process and instead get distracted by tactical tasks instead of strategic goals.

To combat this problem, the best sales teams get from why change to why now in a hurry.

Why now

The next step is to crystalize why now is the time for change. This is where the real nuts and bolts of storytelling come into play. You want to create excitement up front, to hook them. Let’s look at the four signposts of storytelling to help you build the business case for your solution. But don’t mention your solution just yet! You’re still trying to help them understand their problem.

And don’t forget to weave the BIG Idea — the key thing that you want them to remember — into what you share with them.

Now that we’ve outlined the major parts of a great story, apply this framework to your audience’s problem.

What is the “setting” of their issue? Is it that they are short on talent, trying (unsuccessfully) to embrace the digital transformation, or perhaps that they’re struggling with their vendors? These are obviously broad examples, but try to understand the story behind their story to see the setting.

Who are the characters involved? Is it a miserly boss, an unsatisfactory vendor, or perhaps “the economy” in general? Who is keeping the prospect back from achieving their goals?

What is the conflict they’re facing? How are the characters interacting with the setting? If the prospect is the hero (or protagonist) of the story, what is the obstacle they must overcome to save the day at the end?

If you lose because of “no decision,” helping your prospect understand why they should make the change now is critical to moving them to the next stage of their buying decision: why they should choose you.

Why us

Finally, you’re nearing the finish line of the sales journey and your prospect is eager to hear what they should do. That’s when you can tell your story.

Moving the needle on sales conversations at this point is tough, but a huge predictor of success is trust. Gartner points out that sales leaders who help their prospects make sense of chaos and help them become more confident raise the odds of closing high-quality, low-regret deals by 157%. They call this leader the “sense making seller.”

Buyers want to feel that they’re making a great decision. But with the myriad of available solutions and enormous complexity in the market today, they’re increasingly uneasy about going with any one provider.

Use the storytelling techniques mentioned above to build trust. The key to doing so is to intensely focus on what matters most to them rather than focusing on you.

Too many pitches start with what you do and what your story is, but, frankly, the buyer doesn’t care who you are. You’re one of an endless number of pitches they’ve heard that week. They are the ones with the problem, so make them the hero of the story and help them get to a resolution.

This seems counterintuitive because this section is labeled why us. But the truth is, when you focus on the buyer as the hero of the story, it communicates this to them: You understand me. You know my problems and my pain. I’m willing to trust you with this decision because you are listening to me and will be my partner in this journey.

At the end of the day, if you’re losing to competitors, it’s because you’re not clearly defining why the prospect should listen to you at all, let alone about \"\"what you’re selling. But keeping the buyer in the center of the story lets them know you can be trusted with their business.

How storytelling can close deals

Strong storytelling is one of the most effective ways to differentiate your offerings among a sea of competitors. This is especially true for mature markets in which many competitors are very similar. To stand out and plant your flag in the sand, consider storytelling to help close those deals.

", "content_plain": "Members of your team are missing quotas. You’ve tried many different ways to get them back on track, but those methods aren’t working. Maybe the solution isn’t about sales tactics. Maybe it’s an issue with communication. If you harness the power of communication — clear, direct, relevant communication — we believe that sales will follow. Let’s unpack how. You can view our Privacy Policy here. How to frame the story To put it simply, sales is storytelling. But far too few sellers are trained to tell a meaningful, relatable story. There are many approaches out there, but a straightforward way is to build a story that helps your audience understand why they need to change, why now is the right time, and why they should go with your solution. Why change Sometimes, prospects in your sales pipeline already know why they need to change. After all, they’re speaking with you about your solution presumably because they have a problem. However, to help them understand the value of your product or service, the key is to focus on the audience. This is the first step in telling any good story. Who are you speaking with? Are they senior decision-makers or lower-level soldiers on a reconnaissance mission? Do they appreciate relationship building or getting straight to the point? What do they really need, not just what they want? Knowing the answers to these questions is crucial. Gartner research shows that at least for B2B buyers, only 17% of a buyer’s time is spent with potential suppliers. If they’re meeting with multiple suppliers, they may only be spending 5 or 6% of their buying journey with a sales rep. The rest of the time is spent researching or meeting with the buying team. This data indicates that your communications with the prospect — the value proposition, the differentiation, the answers to “why change” — all need to be crystal clear, succinct, and compelling. Sellers need to know who they’re speaking to and what they need right off the bat. Too often, however, sales folks are talking to the wrong person about the wrong thing. They don’t diagnose the root cause of the issue during the sales process and instead get distracted by tactical tasks instead of strategic goals. To combat this problem, the best sales teams get from why change to why now in a hurry. Why now The next step is to crystalize why now is the time for change. This is where the real nuts and bolts of storytelling come into play. You want to create excitement up front, to hook them. Let’s look at the four signposts of storytelling to help you build the business case for your solution. But don’t mention your solution just yet! You’re still trying to help them understand their problem. Setting: Your setting is a snapshot in time, a place, or a circumstance. It immediately establishes the context for your message. Characters: Your characters are who or what is affected by the current situation — your customers, employees, or team. Characters help your audience relate to your story. Conflict: With the context of setting and characters in place, it’s time to reveal the conflict. Conflict provides the tension that gives your audience a reason to care and want to take action. Resolution: With setting, characters, and conflict established, your audience’s emotions will be built up. They will hopefully be ready to embrace your resolution — your recommendation, product, or solution. And don’t forget to weave the BIG Idea — the key thing that you want them to remember — into what you share with them. Now that we’ve outlined the major parts of a great story, apply this framework to your audience’s problem. What is the “setting” of their issue? Is it that they are short on talent, trying (unsuccessfully) to embrace the digital transformation, or perhaps that they’re struggling with their vendors? These are obviously broad examples, but try to understand the story behind their story to see the setting. Who are the characters involved? Is it a miserly boss, an unsatisfactory vendor, or perhaps “the economy” in general? Who is keeping the prospect back from achieving their goals? What is the conflict they’re facing? How are the characters interacting with the setting? If the prospect is the hero (or protagonist) of the story, what is the obstacle they must overcome to save the day at the end? If you lose because of “no decision,” helping your prospect understand why they should make the change now is critical to moving them to the next stage of their buying decision: why they should choose you. Why us Finally, you’re nearing the finish line of the sales journey and your prospect is eager to hear what they should do. That’s when you can tell your story. Moving the needle on sales conversations at this point is tough, but a huge predictor of success is trust. Gartner points out that sales leaders who help their prospects make sense of chaos and help them become more confident raise the odds of closing high-quality, low-regret deals by 157%. They call this leader the “sense making seller.” Buyers want to feel that they’re making a great decision. But with the myriad of available solutions and enormous complexity in the market today, they’re increasingly uneasy about going with any one provider. Use the storytelling techniques mentioned above to build trust. The key to doing so is to intensely focus on what matters most to them rather than focusing on you. Too many pitches start with what you do and what your story is, but, frankly, the buyer doesn’t care who you are. You’re one of an endless number of pitches they’ve heard that week. They are the ones with the problem, so make them the hero of the story and help them get to a resolution. This seems counterintuitive because this section is labeled why us. But the truth is, when you focus on the buyer as the hero of the story, it communicates this to them: You understand me. You know my problems and my pain. I’m willing to trust you with this decision because you are listening to me and will be my partner in this journey. At the end of the day, if you’re losing to competitors, it’s because you’re not clearly defining why the prospect should listen to you at all, let alone about what you’re selling. But keeping the buyer in the center of the story lets them know you can be trusted with their business. How storytelling can close deals Strong storytelling is one of the most effective ways to differentiate your offerings among a sea of competitors. This is especially true for mature markets in which many competitors are very similar. To stand out and plant your flag in the sand, consider storytelling to help close those deals.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Hero-Missed-Sales-Targets-1200x627-R1.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T10:24:35-05:00" }, { "id": 9104, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/is-your-training-falling-short-four-questions-to-assess-your-business-communications-needs/", "title": "Is Your Training Falling Short?", "h1": "Is Your Training Falling Short?", "summary": "", "content": "

4 Questions to Assess Your Business Communications Needs

You’d like to think that the training you provide employees is valuable and sticks with them once the experience concludes. But even if that’s the case, there may still be gaps that the L&D team would be wise to fill.

\"\"Choosing the Right Training Can Be Challenging

Not all training programs can meet your organization’s needs. In fact, 75% of managers are dissatisfied with their company’s training offerings, according to one study. And it doesn’t stop there. Many employees find training programs ineffective too. Only 25% feel that training helped improve their job performance, according to a study performed by McKinsey & Company. With that and the critical need for training, finding the right partner, who offers the right content, is critical.

\"\"4 Questions to Help You Assess Your Business Communications Needs

You recognize that there is a skills gap that prevents your business from reaching its full potential — effective communication. Though employees largely report being dissatisfied with their past training experiences, there is still a significant need for learning within an organization. Consider that a whopping 70% of employees report that they don’t have mastery of the skills needed to do their jobs.

To understand where your organization is, ask yourself — or your employees — these four questions, and learn how the right communications training can help strengthen your business.

1. How Do You Currently Assess Your Communications Needs?

Like everything else in business, communications needs can change rapidly. Survey employees regularly — once a year, or even once per quarter — to determine the effectiveness of your communications practices and training programs, as well as to track your organization’s changing needs.

To ensure these surveys are effective, follow these four best practices for designing and implementing surveys:

Communicate expectations and the importance of the survey

Make it clear to employees that surveys about their communications practices and needs will happen regularly. That way, over time they will become part of their workflow. It’s also a good idea to remind people of why they’re participating in the survey, as well as what you will do with the data. So, when you email employees with the survey link, briefly explain why the data is being collected in the first place. Make it clear to your teams that their feedback is important, and that it’s being used to make sure the organization’s communications practices are meeting their diverse and evolving needs.

Make it quick

To ensure fuller participation, keep the survey brief — no more than two or three questions or prompts. Research tells us that shorter surveys yield more reliable results, while also producing higher response and completion rates compared with longer surveys. Brevity is especially important for regularly occurring surveys; when respondents know the survey will only take a couple of minutes, they’ll be more likely to participate.

Ask customers to share their insights

To gain a more complete picture of your communications needs, you can also reach out to customers to learn about the experience of communicating with you in order to learn from their perspective. Customer surveys should be less frequent than those distributed in-house, but as a result, can contain a few more questions, yielding more detailed feedback.

Make sure questions and prompts have a narrow focus

Writing survey questions can feel daunting. But there’s an easy way to determine whether the survey you’ve designed is a good one: Make sure each question (or prompt) asks for just one thing.

For example, here’s a poorly worded prompt:

“On a scale of 1–10, rate your experience communicating at work and your satisfaction with our current communications platform.”

The problem with this prompt is that it asks respondents to rate two different things. There could be many reasons why a person’s overall communications experience is good or bad, but it may not be related to your company’s communications platform. Instead of cramming two prompts into one, identify what data you really want to collect — do you want to know about people’s overall experience, or are you looking for specific feedback on the communications platform?

2. How Will You Measure the Success of a Training Experience?

To maximize the impact of your training investment, it’s critical to know what kinds of outcomes you can expect from training. When you assess past training experiences, or as you prepare to work with a new vendor, be sure to identify the outcomes that are important to you. In doing so, you’ll be prepared to make an informed decision on which vendor and what type of program can most effectively fill in the training gaps.

Once you’ve identified outcomes you’d like to see, share them with your existing (or potential) training vendor. Ask them how they will help you meet these goals. You can also leverage their experience conducting training to add to or revise your goals. By making it clear what you want to gain from the learning experience, vendors will be better equipped to shape the experience to fit your needs.

When you and your vendor have agreed on a set of goals, and a strategy for achieving them, work toward a consensus on how you will measure the training’s outcomes. Survey your team for input — from senior leadership to individual contributors — to determine the metrics you’ll use to measure the results. By determining what you’d like to measure, and how you’d like to measure it, you’ll be better prepared to come to a consensus.

There are many ways you can approach an assessment of your organization’s learning experiences. But in most cases, a pre- and post-training surveys will allow you to measure gains and note the specific ways the training helped participants. These surveys will also help you consider the needs across your business. For this reason, when you design surveys, be sure that the metrics you select are specific and measurable so the actions you take in response to the results can be actionable. Additionally, recognize that some providers may only offer solutions for some roles or departments and not others. For this reason, consider the ways a one-solution provider can help you find solutions across your organization.

3. How Will You Ensure Your Training Experience Is Sticky?

Humans forget 70% of new information they’ve learned within 24 hours, according to the authors of the book Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. No one wants to invest time and resources in a training experience that goes in one ear and out the other. But there are strategies that can help you flatten the “forgetting curve” and ensure that learners build skills and continue using them for months and years to come.
To ensure that what you teach is sticky, follow these three tips while working with your team and your training vendor to develop robust learning experiences:

Communicate value to your team

Clearly explain the value of the training experience to your team before, during, and after the training. Doing so will help individuals understand the direct benefit to them and expected outcomes, and give them direction on how to approach the training.

Design training to have an immediate impact

Ensure concepts covered in the program are immediately applicable to the work being done in your organization. When participants apply the concepts learned immediately following the training experience, they can sustain that learning over the long term.

Extend training beyond the training experience

Training doesn’t end with the conclusion of the experience. You can reinforce learning in the weeks and months following training by using peer and manager coaching to keep skills sharp. You can also encourage learners to leverage other resources made available from your vendor, like handouts, guides, checklists, and other materials that employees can use to help them keep their communications skills sharp once the training is complete.

4. Would Your Organizational Culture Benefit From Storytelling?

Neuroscience shows us how storytelling shapes decision-making by influencing our brain chemistry. In short, our brains are hardwired for stories. This means that effective storytelling is key to business success because, without story, you can’t effectively share messages with customers, partners, or anyone else.

But how do you know if your organization would benefit from developing a culture of storytelling? Think about this: Does your organization struggle to deliver meetings, emails, or presentations that engage readers and audiences? Have teams ever failed to communicate important information about your company’s value to people inside or outside the organization? If you answered “yes” to either of these questions, storytelling could make all the difference.

Whether it’s in a Zoom meeting, an email, a presentation, or any other business communication scenario, high-quality storytelling can prove to be an essential component to business success. Crafting a compelling story will ensure audiences are engaged, and more importantly, that they take action based on your ideas and recommendations.

Storytelling also establishes a shared language for crafting communications within your organization. This makes it easier to collaborate within teams — or even work cross-functionally — by giving people a common framework to build communications and discuss feedback. When storytelling is the bedrock of your organization’s communications, you don’t have to worry about different departments using different approaches, causing confusion or making reviews and editing cycles overly complicated (and time-consuming!).

\"\"Maximize Your Training Experience — and Your Investment

For a truly successful learning experience, you must identify the gaps in your existing practices and come up with a plan to address them. By asking yourself and your employees these four questions, you’ll be prepared to make your next training experience truly transformational for your business.

", "content_plain": "4 Questions to Assess Your Business Communications Needs You’d like to think that the training you provide employees is valuable and sticks with them once the experience concludes. But even if that’s the case, there may still be gaps that the L&D team would be wise to fill. Choosing the Right Training Can Be Challenging Not all training programs can meet your organization’s needs. In fact, 75% of managers are dissatisfied with their company’s training offerings, according to one study. And it doesn’t stop there. Many employees find training programs ineffective too. Only 25% feel that training helped improve their job performance, according to a study performed by McKinsey & Company. With that and the critical need for training, finding the right partner, who offers the right content, is critical. 4 Questions to Help You Assess Your Business Communications Needs You recognize that there is a skills gap that prevents your business from reaching its full potential — effective communication. Though employees largely report being dissatisfied with their past training experiences, there is still a significant need for learning within an organization. Consider that a whopping 70% of employees report that they don’t have mastery of the skills needed to do their jobs. To understand where your organization is, ask yourself — or your employees — these four questions, and learn how the right communications training can help strengthen your business. 1. How Do You Currently Assess Your Communications Needs? Like everything else in business, communications needs can change rapidly. Survey employees regularly — once a year, or even once per quarter — to determine the effectiveness of your communications practices and training programs, as well as to track your organization’s changing needs. To ensure these surveys are effective, follow these four best practices for designing and implementing surveys: Communicate expectations and the importance of the survey Make it clear to employees that surveys about their communications practices and needs will happen regularly. That way, over time they will become part of their workflow. It’s also a good idea to remind people of why they’re participating in the survey, as well as what you will do with the data. So, when you email employees with the survey link, briefly explain why the data is being collected in the first place. Make it clear to your teams that their feedback is important, and that it’s being used to make sure the organization’s communications practices are meeting their diverse and evolving needs. Make it quick To ensure fuller participation, keep the survey brief — no more than two or three questions or prompts. Research tells us that shorter surveys yield more reliable results, while also producing higher response and completion rates compared with longer surveys. Brevity is especially important for regularly occurring surveys; when respondents know the survey will only take a couple of minutes, they’ll be more likely to participate. Ask customers to share their insights To gain a more complete picture of your communications needs, you can also reach out to customers to learn about the experience of communicating with you in order to learn from their perspective. Customer surveys should be less frequent than those distributed in-house, but as a result, can contain a few more questions, yielding more detailed feedback. Make sure questions and prompts have a narrow focus Writing survey questions can feel daunting. But there’s an easy way to determine whether the survey you’ve designed is a good one: Make sure each question (or prompt) asks for just one thing. For example, here’s a poorly worded prompt: “On a scale of 1–10, rate your experience communicating at work and your satisfaction with our current communications platform.” The problem with this prompt is that it asks respondents to rate two different things. There could be many reasons why a person’s overall communications experience is good or bad, but it may not be related to your company’s communications platform. Instead of cramming two prompts into one, identify what data you really want to collect — do you want to know about people’s overall experience, or are you looking for specific feedback on the communications platform? 2. How Will You Measure the Success of a Training Experience? To maximize the impact of your training investment, it’s critical to know what kinds of outcomes you can expect from training. When you assess past training experiences, or as you prepare to work with a new vendor, be sure to identify the outcomes that are important to you. In doing so, you’ll be prepared to make an informed decision on which vendor and what type of program can most effectively fill in the training gaps. Once you’ve identified outcomes you’d like to see, share them with your existing (or potential) training vendor. Ask them how they will help you meet these goals. You can also leverage their experience conducting training to add to or revise your goals. By making it clear what you want to gain from the learning experience, vendors will be better equipped to shape the experience to fit your needs. When you and your vendor have agreed on a set of goals, and a strategy for achieving them, work toward a consensus on how you will measure the training’s outcomes. Survey your team for input — from senior leadership to individual contributors — to determine the metrics you’ll use to measure the results. By determining what you’d like to measure, and how you’d like to measure it, you’ll be better prepared to come to a consensus. There are many ways you can approach an assessment of your organization’s learning experiences. But in most cases, a pre- and post-training surveys will allow you to measure gains and note the specific ways the training helped participants. These surveys will also help you consider the needs across your business. For this reason, when you design surveys, be sure that the metrics you select are specific and measurable so the actions you take in response to the results can be actionable. Additionally, recognize that some providers may only offer solutions for some roles or departments and not others. For this reason, consider the ways a one-solution provider can help you find solutions across your organization. 3. How Will You Ensure Your Training Experience Is Sticky? Humans forget 70% of new information they’ve learned within 24 hours, according to the authors of the book Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. No one wants to invest time and resources in a training experience that goes in one ear and out the other. But there are strategies that can help you flatten the “forgetting curve” and ensure that learners build skills and continue using them for months and years to come. To ensure that what you teach is sticky, follow these three tips while working with your team and your training vendor to develop robust learning experiences: Communicate value to your team Clearly explain the value of the training experience to your team before, during, and after the training. Doing so will help individuals understand the direct benefit to them and expected outcomes, and give them direction on how to approach the training. Design training to have an immediate impact Ensure concepts covered in the program are immediately applicable to the work being done in your organization. When participants apply the concepts learned immediately following the training experience, they can sustain that learning over the long term. Extend training beyond the training experience Training doesn’t end with the conclusion of the experience. You can reinforce learning in the weeks and months following training by using peer and manager coaching to keep skills sharp. You can also encourage learners to leverage other resources made available from your vendor, like handouts, guides, checklists, and other materials that employees can use to help them keep their communications skills sharp once the training is complete. 4. Would Your Organizational Culture Benefit From Storytelling? Neuroscience shows us how storytelling shapes decision-making by influencing our brain chemistry. In short, our brains are hardwired for stories. This means that effective storytelling is key to business success because, without story, you can’t effectively share messages with customers, partners, or anyone else. But how do you know if your organization would benefit from developing a culture of storytelling? Think about this: Does your organization struggle to deliver meetings, emails, or presentations that engage readers and audiences? Have teams ever failed to communicate important information about your company’s value to people inside or outside the organization? If you answered “yes” to either of these questions, storytelling could make all the difference. Whether it’s in a Zoom meeting, an email, a presentation, or any other business communication scenario, high-quality storytelling can prove to be an essential component to business success. Crafting a compelling story will ensure audiences are engaged, and more importantly, that they take action based on your ideas and recommendations. Storytelling also establishes a shared language for crafting communications within your organization. This makes it easier to collaborate within teams — or even work cross-functionally — by giving people a common framework to build communications and discuss feedback. When storytelling is the bedrock of your organization’s communications, you don’t have to worry about different departments using different approaches, causing confusion or making reviews and editing cycles overly complicated (and time-consuming!). Maximize Your Training Experience — and Your Investment For a truly successful learning experience, you must identify the gaps in your existing practices and come up with a plan to address them. By asking yourself and your employees these four questions, you’ll be prepared to make your next training experience truly transformational for your business.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Hero-4QstoEvaluateBizcomGaps-R1.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T15:25:13-05:00" }, { "id": 9103, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/how-to-choose-a-communications-training-partner/", "title": "How to Choose a Communications Training Partner", "h1": "How to Choose a Communications Training Partner", "summary": "", "content": "

Storytelling is innate in all of us. We’ve been doing it for thousands of years. Yet somehow in business, we forget how to craft and communicate great stories. In this case, we don’t mean “story” like a novel or a fiction piece in The New Yorker. You can, in fact, deliver a compelling story in a presentation, an email, or an investor memo.

What if you could learn how to build a narrative that moved your audience to action? Better yet, what if all employees within your organization could craft their own stories, saving your colleagues and managers hours of time reworking decks and editing memos before submitting them to the executive team? That could be a game changer.

Let’s explore how to choose the right communications training partner for your organization, helping you build business stories that showcase credibility and confidence, saving employees hours every week, and driving audiences to make a decision.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

Choose a Communications Training Partner That Aligns with These Seven Principles

\"\"When looking to implement communications training, there are several key insights we’ve learned over the past 20-plus years of delivering training to the world’s top brands that will make your program stand out. As you’re evaluating potential vendors, consider these seven tips as a guide to getting to the final — and best — decision.

  1. Choose communications training that impacts every part of your business and drives real behavior change

Great communication skills aren’t just for marketing teams or liberal arts grads. In fact, business storytelling is one of the most important skills for today’s teams in all functions. Consider highly technical skills, like finance: It’s well known that crafting a compelling narrative through valuation models, as noted by McKinsey consultants, can significantly increase business value. Valuation guru Aswath Damodaran, professor of finance at NYU’s business school, even wrote a book called Narrative and Numbers: The Value of Stories in Business. The same goes for many other technical skills: computer science, data analysis, and the law.

To be clear, storytelling isn’t just for a TED Talk. It encompasses the everyday, practical communication skills that speed up productivity, efficiency, and creativity.

For instance, one professor at Harvard Business School argued that information has become cheap (virtually free) and available everywhere, which allows quicker and more decentralized decision-making for many within the modern enterprise. However, because information is so cheap, today’s “leaders need to be able to understand and evaluate this information.” That is, leaders need to learn how to understand what to know and do with the information they’re presented. How do they do that? Effective communication.

She continues by saying that this information dynamic can help transform the entire organizational structure of the company, where leadership creates value by “understanding data and making decisions based on both objective information and a multitude of perspectives rather than by simply imposing your individual views on the world.” Yet not all managers are able to make that shift, she warns.

The transmission mechanism, if you will, between the data and information to the decision-makers is effective communication. As teams rely more on each other to make judgments from data, they’ll need better storytelling skills to increase the clarity of the information.

The important point here is that your chosen vendor needs to understand how to capitalize on these dynamic interactions to drive the behavior change you’re looking for. This helps to build a culture of storytelling within your organization.

The benefit of building this skill cross-functionally leads to what you might call a trickle-down effect. For example, if the people pulling the initial data have storytelling skills, it’s easier on the marketers to whom they relay this data since meaning has already been made. This also applies to the sales folks as they pass the “beautified” data to prospects. If one link in this chain doesn’t understand storytelling, the whole thing could unravel. Everyone needs a common approach and language to make information transmission smooth and efficient.

  1. Choose a partner that knows how to build executive sponsorship and consensus

No major purchase decisions are made in an organization without executive sponsorship. That means vendors need to help sell the case through to the senior leadership team to smooth the implementation process.

Can your vendor build a business case? Do they have case studies for how successful the training was for other organizations like yours? Can they provide sales and marketing materials to “land and expand” with your organization’s lines of business and move toward the senior executives? Will they walk you through before-and-after demonstrations of employees’ presentations or internal memos to evaluate practical outcomes? Can they deliver professional, best-practice calls and sales meetings without a hitch?

Perhaps most importantly, do they practice what they preach? This process is a storytelling exercise in itself. If a vendor knows how to rally the buying committee and effectively communicate their value proposition, you can be sure they know how to train your teams to do it too.

  1. Choose a vendor with a smooth, configurable implementation

There are a lot of things to consider when beginning any initiative within a modern organization, especially with remote and hybrid work growing in popularity. That’s why you need a partner that will go to great lengths in their due diligence to understand what your organization needs. To get there, you’ll need a partner for whom this isn’t their first implementation rodeo.

One way to do this is to “contextualize” the training and workshops to fit in your organization’s processes and culture. For example, the vendor could infuse examples relevant to your industry in order to see the training brought to life in your business environment. Another idea is to conduct pre-workshop interviews to better understand the issues facing your organization. This helps to “get inside the world” of each group going through the training. For example, the vendor could conduct interviews if there’s a new training group to better understand their issues and language. That leads to each workshop having a little different focus, depending on the audience, whether to marketing folks or technical folks.

Further, if your employees bring the projects they’re currently working on to the workshops to practice their communication skills, you can be sure that the training, as well as the output from the training, is perfectly aligned with the daily requirements of the organization. This is an important point that many vendors overlook, which we’ll explore more in the next section.

In short, look for a partner that can implement an acutely relevant solution and is configured for your business’s most pressing needs.

  1. Choose a partner whose training is immediately relevant for the practical, everyday communication tasks

Following on from the previous points, business storytelling applies to nearly every job in the modern enterprise. That’s why an experienced partner allows time for employees to work on their actual projects during the workshops.

The right communications training model will work with the tasks that employees need to do immediately. For example, the best workshops allow employees to bring in their communication challenges facing them that week, where the facilitators guide employees to use business storytelling principles in their actual projects. No pre-work required.

This way employees get immediate application and a seamless flow from the training experience back into their days. This process reinforces the concepts in almost the very next thing they do. Some research on retaining information shows that using what you’ve learned via practical experience enhances the retention process. That is, by employees bringing their projects into the workshops, this increases the chance that they’ll remember what they’ve learned. Not only that, but attendees will see this training as something other than “a day wasted in a workshop.”

Urge your prospective vendor to show how relevant and practical the learning experience will be in your teams’ everyday work.

  1. Choose a vendor that helps training stick over time

Following up on that point, it’s crucial that the content doesn’t fall out of your employees’ brains the next day. We’ve written elsewhere about the “forgetting curve” and how quickly people forget what they’ve learned.

However, applying the learning material to employees’ everyday work helps them remember what they’ve learned. A Training Industry article explores ideas for “retention boosters” after workshops have concluded to keep employees engaged with the material.

In addition to those, we’ve seen a few other approaches work well for many organizations. For one, manager coaching guidelines can help empower leaders as well as direct reports on effective communication techniques. That way, as teams continue to build business communications throughout the workweek, they can hold each other accountable for what they’ve learned. The same goes for peer-to-peer coaching. The best workshops provide guides and notes that employees can take with them to aid their coaching long after the training has ended.

Additionally, we’ve seen that “refresher” webinars help keep concepts top of mind and fresh even six or 12 months or more after training. Modern vendors also offer on-demand courses so employees can reference and explore the skills more deeply.

All this to say, it’s important to ask how the prospective partner can ensure your learning budget isn’t wasted as time passes.

  1. Choose a vendor whose communications focused workshops complement and build on each other

Great learning programs are holistic. They bring forward a connected ecosystem of knowledge and skills that have myriad applications. As you’re going through the evaluation process, consider the following criterion.

Evaluate other departments’ needs and how one training provider can get the most people up to speed across today’s matrixed organizations. Workshops, for example, can build on and complement each other across lines of business. That way you’re able to see each department’s needs, like effective storytelling skills, and consider how the vendor’s other offerings also support the secondary needs, like data visualization or visual messaging.

Not only will this increase learning retention, but also, more departments can get involved in the learning process, helping the material spread throughout employee networks. This has the added bonus of making your learning budget go further, faster, with more learning per dollar.

  1. Choose a provider that specializes in the type of communication training your organization needs

You wouldn’t seek out an accountant for legal advice. You wouldn’t even seek out many attorneys for, say, an M&A transaction. You need a specialist for a specialized problem. In a similar way, many consultants have a broad skill set that addresses a wide range of problems, and many consultancies thrive on tackling complex issues.

However, for a need as important and particular as strategic communications in the modern enterprise, it’s imperative that the vendor you choose is a specialist in communication. That’s what their entire business should focus on, and they have the resources and expertise to provide what you need.

Consider asking your potential partner if this is one line of business they offer or if it’s their one business offering. The distinction between the two can make or break a successful training operation.

\"\"Choose the Model That’s Best For You

Communications training models come in all shapes and sizes, so choosing the ideal model that’s right for you may take some effort. We hope this guide will help you better analyze vendors and methodologies for selecting a model fit for your business.

", "content_plain": "Storytelling is innate in all of us. We’ve been doing it for thousands of years. Yet somehow in business, we forget how to craft and communicate great stories. In this case, we don’t mean “story” like a novel or a fiction piece in The New Yorker. You can, in fact, deliver a compelling story in a presentation, an email, or an investor memo. What if you could learn how to build a narrative that moved your audience to action? Better yet, what if all employees within your organization could craft their own stories, saving your colleagues and managers hours of time reworking decks and editing memos before submitting them to the executive team? That could be a game changer. Let’s explore how to choose the right communications training partner for your organization, helping you build business stories that showcase credibility and confidence, saving employees hours every week, and driving audiences to make a decision. You can view our Privacy Policy here. Choose a Communications Training Partner That Aligns with These Seven Principles When looking to implement communications training, there are several key insights we’ve learned over the past 20-plus years of delivering training to the world’s top brands that will make your program stand out. As you’re evaluating potential vendors, consider these seven tips as a guide to getting to the final — and best — decision. Choose communications training that impacts every part of your business and drives real behavior change Great communication skills aren’t just for marketing teams or liberal arts grads. In fact, business storytelling is one of the most important skills for today’s teams in all functions. Consider highly technical skills, like finance: It’s well known that crafting a compelling narrative through valuation models, as noted by McKinsey consultants, can significantly increase business value. Valuation guru Aswath Damodaran, professor of finance at NYU’s business school, even wrote a book called Narrative and Numbers: The Value of Stories in Business. The same goes for many other technical skills: computer science, data analysis, and the law. To be clear, storytelling isn’t just for a TED Talk. It encompasses the everyday, practical communication skills that speed up productivity, efficiency, and creativity. For instance, one professor at Harvard Business School argued that information has become cheap (virtually free) and available everywhere, which allows quicker and more decentralized decision-making for many within the modern enterprise. However, because information is so cheap, today’s “leaders need to be able to understand and evaluate this information.” That is, leaders need to learn how to understand what to know and do with the information they’re presented. How do they do that? Effective communication. She continues by saying that this information dynamic can help transform the entire organizational structure of the company, where leadership creates value by “understanding data and making decisions based on both objective information and a multitude of perspectives rather than by simply imposing your individual views on the world.” Yet not all managers are able to make that shift, she warns. The transmission mechanism, if you will, between the data and information to the decision-makers is effective communication. As teams rely more on each other to make judgments from data, they’ll need better storytelling skills to increase the clarity of the information. The important point here is that your chosen vendor needs to understand how to capitalize on these dynamic interactions to drive the behavior change you’re looking for. This helps to build a culture of storytelling within your organization. The benefit of building this skill cross-functionally leads to what you might call a trickle-down effect. For example, if the people pulling the initial data have storytelling skills, it’s easier on the marketers to whom they relay this data since meaning has already been made. This also applies to the sales folks as they pass the “beautified” data to prospects. If one link in this chain doesn’t understand storytelling, the whole thing could unravel. Everyone needs a common approach and language to make information transmission smooth and efficient. Choose a partner that knows how to build executive sponsorship and consensus No major purchase decisions are made in an organization without executive sponsorship. That means vendors need to help sell the case through to the senior leadership team to smooth the implementation process. Can your vendor build a business case? Do they have case studies for how successful the training was for other organizations like yours? Can they provide sales and marketing materials to “land and expand” with your organization’s lines of business and move toward the senior executives? Will they walk you through before-and-after demonstrations of employees’ presentations or internal memos to evaluate practical outcomes? Can they deliver professional, best-practice calls and sales meetings without a hitch? Perhaps most importantly, do they practice what they preach? This process is a storytelling exercise in itself. If a vendor knows how to rally the buying committee and effectively communicate their value proposition, you can be sure they know how to train your teams to do it too. Choose a vendor with a smooth, configurable implementation There are a lot of things to consider when beginning any initiative within a modern organization, especially with remote and hybrid work growing in popularity. That’s why you need a partner that will go to great lengths in their due diligence to understand what your organization needs. To get there, you’ll need a partner for whom this isn’t their first implementation rodeo. One way to do this is to “contextualize” the training and workshops to fit in your organization’s processes and culture. For example, the vendor could infuse examples relevant to your industry in order to see the training brought to life in your business environment. Another idea is to conduct pre-workshop interviews to better understand the issues facing your organization. This helps to “get inside the world” of each group going through the training. For example, the vendor could conduct interviews if there’s a new training group to better understand their issues and language. That leads to each workshop having a little different focus, depending on the audience, whether to marketing folks or technical folks. Further, if your employees bring the projects they’re currently working on to the workshops to practice their communication skills, you can be sure that the training, as well as the output from the training, is perfectly aligned with the daily requirements of the organization. This is an important point that many vendors overlook, which we’ll explore more in the next section. In short, look for a partner that can implement an acutely relevant solution and is configured for your business’s most pressing needs. Choose a partner whose training is immediately relevant for the practical, everyday communication tasks Following on from the previous points, business storytelling applies to nearly every job in the modern enterprise. That’s why an experienced partner allows time for employees to work on their actual projects during the workshops. The right communications training model will work with the tasks that employees need to do immediately. For example, the best workshops allow employees to bring in their communication challenges facing them that week, where the facilitators guide employees to use business storytelling principles in their actual projects. No pre-work required. This way employees get immediate application and a seamless flow from the training experience back into their days. This process reinforces the concepts in almost the very next thing they do. Some research on retaining information shows that using what you’ve learned via practical experience enhances the retention process. That is, by employees bringing their projects into the workshops, this increases the chance that they’ll remember what they’ve learned. Not only that, but attendees will see this training as something other than “a day wasted in a workshop.” Urge your prospective vendor to show how relevant and practical the learning experience will be in your teams’ everyday work. Choose a vendor that helps training stick over time Following up on that point, it’s crucial that the content doesn’t fall out of your employees’ brains the next day. We’ve written elsewhere about the “forgetting curve” and how quickly people forget what they’ve learned. However, applying the learning material to employees’ everyday work helps them remember what they’ve learned. A Training Industry article explores ideas for “retention boosters” after workshops have concluded to keep employees engaged with the material. In addition to those, we’ve seen a few other approaches work well for many organizations. For one, manager coaching guidelines can help empower leaders as well as direct reports on effective communication techniques. That way, as teams continue to build business communications throughout the workweek, they can hold each other accountable for what they’ve learned. The same goes for peer-to-peer coaching. The best workshops provide guides and notes that employees can take with them to aid their coaching long after the training has ended. Additionally, we’ve seen that “refresher” webinars help keep concepts top of mind and fresh even six or 12 months or more after training. Modern vendors also offer on-demand courses so employees can reference and explore the skills more deeply. All this to say, it’s important to ask how the prospective partner can ensure your learning budget isn’t wasted as time passes. Choose a vendor whose communications focused workshops complement and build on each other Great learning programs are holistic. They bring forward a connected ecosystem of knowledge and skills that have myriad applications. As you’re going through the evaluation process, consider the following criterion. Evaluate other departments’ needs and how one training provider can get the most people up to speed across today’s matrixed organizations. Workshops, for example, can build on and complement each other across lines of business. That way you’re able to see each department’s needs, like effective storytelling skills, and consider how the vendor’s other offerings also support the secondary needs, like data visualization or visual messaging. Not only will this increase learning retention, but also, more departments can get involved in the learning process, helping the material spread throughout employee networks. This has the added bonus of making your learning budget go further, faster, with more learning per dollar. Choose a provider that specializes in the type of communication training your organization needs You wouldn’t seek out an accountant for legal advice. You wouldn’t even seek out many attorneys for, say, an M&A transaction. You need a specialist for a specialized problem. In a similar way, many consultants have a broad skill set that addresses a wide range of problems, and many consultancies thrive on tackling complex issues. However, for a need as important and particular as strategic communications in the modern enterprise, it’s imperative that the vendor you choose is a specialist in communication. That’s what their entire business should focus on, and they have the resources and expertise to provide what you need. Consider asking your potential partner if this is one line of business they offer or if it’s their one business offering. The distinction between the two can make or break a successful training operation. Choose the Model That’s Best For You Communications training models come in all shapes and sizes, so choosing the ideal model that’s right for you may take some effort. We hope this guide will help you better analyze vendors and methodologies for selecting a model fit for your business.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Hero-Comms-training-partner-1200x627-v2.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T10:45:13-05:00" }, { "id": 9085, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/you-need-business-communications-training-the-right-solution-can-change-everything/", "title": "You Need Business Communications Training — the Right Solution Can Change Everything", "h1": "You Need Business Communications Training — the Right Solution Can Change Everything", "summary": "", "content": "

Engaging audiences, delivering compelling presentations, and designing other high-quality communication aren’t just about making your company look good to the rest of the world. Telling a story about your work, and making sure people listen, is the best way to encourage people to take action — to buy your product, use your service, or otherwise act in ways that will help your business thrive.

But how do you get everyone in your organization good at this important set of skills? Selecting the right communications training for your organization is the critical first step.

The right business communications training can transform your organization. By making storytelling the central component of your communications strategy, you’ll not only empower individuals in your organization to make meetings more engaging and productive, but also, you’ll set your business up for broader success.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

\"\"Improved Communication Can Have Positive Effects Across Your Business

It’s hard to understate how critical it is to be an effective communicator in today’s business landscape. Strong communicators can save your organization time and money. In fact, McKinsey estimates that organizational productivity increases between 20 and 25% with improved communication.

But effective business communication isn’t just about being a charismatic speaker or “commanding the room.” That’s important, but it’s only part of the equation. Instead, success means understanding your

\"\"

Great Communicators Take a Strategic Approach

Traditional communications training focuses on skills that can give people the appearance of professional polish, but without the substance. They teach you how to use hand gestures and make eye contact when speaking to a group, or how to change your diction to sound more “professional” in emails.

But these types of training focus on how people should act, instead of how they should think.

It’s about strategy, not performance

Some people think of effective communicators as those who deliver thrilling speeches by “owning the room.” But what if you don’t feel like a particularly inspiring speaker, or the topic itself — a quarterly sales report or a program update — just isn’t that exciting? That’s where effective storytelling comes into play.

The problem with the traditional understanding of business communication is that business presentations are often viewed as performances. By redefining effective business communication as a strategic dialogue, individuals can be empowered to be successful communicators, not just charismatic performers.

Even a great speaker will fail without a big idea or coherent message. You can be a great speaker, but if the content isn’t clear or there’s no key takeaway that you want the audience to leave with, your ideas fall flat. While some communications training will teach people how to act, the real transformational power lies with teaching people how to think strategically and succeed by using a storytelling framework.

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Appreciating the Importance of Storytelling

A great storyteller will captivate audiences and communicate critical information in a way that’s compelling, easy to digest, and will lead the audience to the desired action. That’s why using story as a central component of your business communication is the key to your organization’s broader success. High-quality storytelling can also:

With storytelling-based communications training, individuals can learn how to tell these kinds of compelling stories. Here are outcomes you can expect when you strategically craft your story:

Nimbly respond to the needs of the audience

Imagine you’re in a meeting with executives and your time is cut short. You’re asked to compress your 30-minute presentation into five minutes. By using story structure to organize your presentation, you can seamlessly jump to what your audience needs to know. By organizing your communications around storytelling, you’ll have the flexibility to respond to the needs of the moment. Traditional communications training doesn’t teach that.

Focus your ideas

It’s easy to fall into the trap of following tangents or otherwise losing focus during a meeting or presentation — especially if you tend to get nervous when you speak in front of people. Organizing a presentation around story structure ensures you isolate one big idea that is woven in from start to finish. Doing so will give audience members a unifying idea to hold on to throughout, and gives the presenter a strong message to tie all of their facts and figures back to.

Make the most of your presentation by engaging your audience

Neuroscience shows us that humans respond to storytelling in profound ways. An engaged audience can give suggestions, provide insights, and serve as important partners in the future.

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Storytelling builds executive presence

People who have executive presence are confident, well prepared, and can explain their ideas in ways that are easy to understand. It’s not the same as being intelligent or having technical skills. After all, people with a great deal of experience or knowledge can struggle to communicate effectively. They may overload audiences with too much data or share so many facts that listeners can’t see intended connections. Ironically, sometimes it can be more powerful to share less information when that information is concise and directly relevant to the topic at hand.

Executive presence is critical in face-to-face, virtual, and hybrid meetings

The ability to connect authentically is central to executive presence, and it’s something that can be difficult in face-to-face interactions, and especially those mediated by a screen. Presenters with executive presence have a deep knowledge of the story they want to tell, and they can use their familiarity with that story to create an authentic dialogue with their audience. A deep understanding of story means that speakers can move seamlessly between different parts of the story and nimbly respond to the needs of the audience, regardless of where they’re located.

Why is executive presence important?

Presentation skills are among the most important capabilities for developing executive presence and help speakers maximize their impact. With strong executive presence, audience members will listen more intently and remember the speaker’s ideas and proposals. The confidence that speakers exude when they have executive presence is a reflection of their comfort level with the material they’re presenting, which in turn builds the audience’s confidence in the speaker. It’s easy to see how a strong foundation in storytelling can give speakers confidence, and in turn help them develop executive presence.

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How to tell if your communications training has been successful

When organizations invest in communications training, determining the ROI is a central concern. If your communications training is meeting your needs, you’ll know it’s worth the investment when:

With the right business communications training, the investment is well worth the transformation you’ll observe in your organization.

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Which communications training is best for you?

Storytelling-based business communications training doesn’t just help people present a slide deck with greater confidence, it can increase collaboration and efficiency within your organization and improve your bottom line.

Whether it’s leading a meeting over Zoom, speaking at a conference, or sending a high-stakes email, effective business communication is critical to your organization’s success. Learning how to leverage storytelling to benefit your business means that individuals at your organization will build the skills and learn the strategies they need to succeed.

", "content_plain": "Engaging audiences, delivering compelling presentations, and designing other high-quality communication aren’t just about making your company look good to the rest of the world. Telling a story about your work, and making sure people listen, is the best way to encourage people to take action — to buy your product, use your service, or otherwise act in ways that will help your business thrive. But how do you get everyone in your organization good at this important set of skills? Selecting the right communications training for your organization is the critical first step. The right business communications training can transform your organization. By making storytelling the central component of your communications strategy, you’ll not only empower individuals in your organization to make meetings more engaging and productive, but also, you’ll set your business up for broader success. You can view our Privacy Policy here. Improved Communication Can Have Positive Effects Across Your Business It’s hard to understate how critical it is to be an effective communicator in today’s business landscape. Strong communicators can save your organization time and money. In fact, McKinsey estimates that organizational productivity increases between 20 and 25% with improved communication. But effective business communication isn’t just about being a charismatic speaker or “commanding the room.” That’s important, but it’s only part of the equation. Instead, success means understanding your Great Communicators Take a Strategic Approach Traditional communications training focuses on skills that can give people the appearance of professional polish, but without the substance. They teach you how to use hand gestures and make eye contact when speaking to a group, or how to change your diction to sound more “professional” in emails. But these types of training focus on how people should act, instead of how they should think. It’s about strategy, not performance Some people think of effective communicators as those who deliver thrilling speeches by “owning the room.” But what if you don’t feel like a particularly inspiring speaker, or the topic itself — a quarterly sales report or a program update — just isn’t that exciting? That’s where effective storytelling comes into play. The problem with the traditional understanding of business communication is that business presentations are often viewed as performances. By redefining effective business communication as a strategic dialogue, individuals can be empowered to be successful communicators, not just charismatic performers. Even a great speaker will fail without a big idea or coherent message. You can be a great speaker, but if the content isn’t clear or there’s no key takeaway that you want the audience to leave with, your ideas fall flat. While some communications training will teach people how to act, the real transformational power lies with teaching people how to think strategically and succeed by using a storytelling framework. Appreciating the Importance of Storytelling A great storyteller will captivate audiences and communicate critical information in a way that’s compelling, easy to digest, and will lead the audience to the desired action. That’s why using story as a central component of your business communication is the key to your organization’s broader success. High-quality storytelling can also: Make complex topics easier to understand, facilitating your organization’s ability to innovate Help employees feel more connected with their work, giving individuals an enhanced sense of purpose Increase the likelihood that individuals will remember important information, improving efficiency across your organization With storytelling-based communications training, individuals can learn how to tell these kinds of compelling stories. Here are outcomes you can expect when you strategically craft your story: Nimbly respond to the needs of the audience Imagine you’re in a meeting with executives and your time is cut short. You’re asked to compress your 30-minute presentation into five minutes. By using story structure to organize your presentation, you can seamlessly jump to what your audience needs to know. By organizing your communications around storytelling, you’ll have the flexibility to respond to the needs of the moment. Traditional communications training doesn’t teach that. Focus your ideas It’s easy to fall into the trap of following tangents or otherwise losing focus during a meeting or presentation — especially if you tend to get nervous when you speak in front of people. Organizing a presentation around story structure ensures you isolate one big idea that is woven in from start to finish. Doing so will give audience members a unifying idea to hold on to throughout, and gives the presenter a strong message to tie all of their facts and figures back to. Make the most of your presentation by engaging your audience Neuroscience shows us that humans respond to storytelling in profound ways. An engaged audience can give suggestions, provide insights, and serve as important partners in the future. Storytelling builds executive presence People who have executive presence are confident, well prepared, and can explain their ideas in ways that are easy to understand. It’s not the same as being intelligent or having technical skills. After all, people with a great deal of experience or knowledge can struggle to communicate effectively. They may overload audiences with too much data or share so many facts that listeners can’t see intended connections. Ironically, sometimes it can be more powerful to share less information when that information is concise and directly relevant to the topic at hand. Executive presence is critical in face-to-face, virtual, and hybrid meetings The ability to connect authentically is central to executive presence, and it’s something that can be difficult in face-to-face interactions, and especially those mediated by a screen. Presenters with executive presence have a deep knowledge of the story they want to tell, and they can use their familiarity with that story to create an authentic dialogue with their audience. A deep understanding of story means that speakers can move seamlessly between different parts of the story and nimbly respond to the needs of the audience, regardless of where they’re located. Why is executive presence important? Presentation skills are among the most important capabilities for developing executive presence and help speakers maximize their impact. With strong executive presence, audience members will listen more intently and remember the speaker’s ideas and proposals. The confidence that speakers exude when they have executive presence is a reflection of their comfort level with the material they’re presenting, which in turn builds the audience’s confidence in the speaker. It’s easy to see how a strong foundation in storytelling can give speakers confidence, and in turn help them develop executive presence. How to tell if your communications training has been successful When organizations invest in communications training, determining the ROI is a central concern. If your communications training is meeting your needs, you’ll know it’s worth the investment when: Leaders spend less time revising communications You close more deals, and close them more quickly More individuals present and speak during meetings and other events Pitches get approved with greater regularity Teams collaborate on developing presentation materials Employees are more productive and engaged With the right business communications training, the investment is well worth the transformation you’ll observe in your organization. Which communications training is best for you? Storytelling-based business communications training doesn’t just help people present a slide deck with greater confidence, it can increase collaboration and efficiency within your organization and improve your bottom line. Whether it’s leading a meeting over Zoom, speaking at a conference, or sending a high-stakes email, effective business communication is critical to your organization’s success. Learning how to leverage storytelling to benefit your business means that individuals at your organization will build the skills and learn the strategies they need to succeed.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Hero-You-Need-Bus-Comms-Training-1200x627-v3.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T11:36:59-05:00" }, { "id": 9051, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/the-deep-dark-secrets-of-poor-communication/", "title": "The Deep Dark Secrets of Poor Communication Within Your Organization", "h1": "The Deep Dark Secrets of Poor Communication Within Your Organization", "summary": "", "content": "

Poor communication costs businesses millions. David Grossman reports the average cost of inadequate communication — to and between employees — is $62.4 million per year (based on a survey of 400 companies with more than 100,000 employees). For smaller companies, the annual loss amounts to approximately $420,000. By wasting hours editing presentations and memos, misaligning expectations, or requesting follow-up meetings for clarifying questions, poor communication hits you right in the bottom line.

If you spend hours reworking decks created by your team, and you cringe at emails you’re copied on, you’re not alone. In a study surveying more than 650 employers, 54% of respondents said it was very or somewhat difficult to find qualified applicants with communication skills.

To cover for your team’s poor communication, you may find yourself painstakingly making slide-by-slide edits and always being the one to present — while also wishing that your team had the confidence to craft and tell compelling, data-backed business storytelling.

So how do you know when it’s time to invest in communications training for your team to empower creative business storytelling?

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

\"\"The Business Cost of Poor Communication

It can be difficult to calculate how much poor communication costs an organization, but its effects are innumerable. Sometimes it’s implicitly understood that poor communication adds up in myriad ways, like deciphering a poorly structured email, or shaking your head at an employee’s slides, spending precious minutes trying to decode what you’re supposed to know or do with the information.

But we do know this: Poor communication leads to less productive employees, less innovation, and less credibility when trying to move forward in your career.

Less Productivity

Studies show that effective communication produces a 47% higher return to shareholders over a five-year period . That’s because the organization gets out its messages and turns the gears of the machine much faster than with sloppy communications, ultimately creating higher value in the long run.

Clients have told us, “I spend a lot of time reviewing and reworking presentations, sometimes until one o’clock in the morning. I find myself spending hours making drastic edits, slide by slide.” Sound familiar?

You see, organizational efficiency isn’t just slowed down by the lack of clarity. Employees are also slowed down by reworking communications to better appeal to executive stakeholders, suppliers, and more. That’s time wasted that could’ve been better spent providing additional value for the firm.

Less Innovation

One head of supply chain told us, “I see many powerful ideas get lost behind a spaghetti pile of a presentation.” Have you seen that too? Clients also say, “Imagination, creativity, and collaboration all suffer because [some employees] don’t know how to communicate better. People can’t communicate their ideas in a succinct way.

If you’ve ever lost a deal or a project approval because of miscommunication or by the audience not getting what you’re saying, you’ve been there too. Maybe you’ve had a great idea that would save the organization money or propel a product forward, but the idea got lost somewhere between the employee’s mind and the PowerPoint slide.

A great story starts with a meaningful insight, drawn out by what’s going on in your audience’s world and how you can help solve their business challenges. Stories like these move readers of Malcolm Gladwell books or listeners of Freakonomics podcasts. Can your employees tell stories that capture their audiences and compel them to act? Or are the most innovative ideas trapped like marble inside Michelangelo’s visions?

Less Credibility

Think about the soaring heights the best orators have taken you. Have you ever been stirred by a speech or late-night dinner party conversation? Or consider a Michelin-star culinary journey and how it sweeps you into another place: It’s all a matter of presentation.

Research shows that “[e]ffective and appropriate communication [is] positively related to perceptions of credibility (competence, goodwill, and trustworthiness). Many L&D leaders want training to instill a sense of executive presence within their teams. If midlevel managers could confidently sway the senior leadership with great business storytelling, the organization could be that much more effective.

We’ve heard from clients the difficulty of subject matter experts explaining complex ideas in a simple way: “When my team starts interacting with our internal customers (senior-level executives), our acronyms muddle the conversation. They’re clear to us, but they’re just words to our customers. They don’t know why they need us.”

You know there’s a better way. So, how do you know when it s time to invest in communications training for your team?

\"\"8 Dark Secrets of Poor Communicators

Often, organizations experience issues that they don’t even realize are the result of communication gaps. Here are eight signs of poor communication — signaling that it’s time to invest in communications training for your team.

Half of the signs relate to communication that happens behind the scenes while the other half show up on the spot in meetings or presentations. Let’s look at them one at a time.

4 secrets of poor communication that occur behind the scenes

  1. When the team experiences analysis paralysis while building presentations

You’ve likely been here before: analysis paralysis. You analyze a million things because you’re so close to the problem that you can’t reason your way to a solution.

Without clarity about what to communicate, and confidence about how to communicate it, teams can experience analysis paralysis where they struggle to make decisions.

We’ve heard that teams “get caught in analysis paralysis and chase data trails, although ultimately it hits the cutting room floor — they spend a ton of time chasing down the data only to not use it.” If this is you, it may be a good time to invest in communications training and push your teams forward.

  1. When teams struggle to collaborate on presentations

Collaboration isn’t easy, especially in global enterprises when much of the work happens across languages and culture, and all on video or online tools.

Consider a typical quarterly report or investor presentation. The output requires statistical analysis, writing, creative, and management support. Teams of five, 10, or 15 people have to build and approve the work before it hits the stage, where even the smallest misalignment can push deadlines back days or weeks.

We’ve heard that, “Collaboration on a large presentation is one of the hardest parts of my job. For example, every month we have a presentation that’s 20 pages long, and I’ve got eight people collaborating to provide content. They’re not on the same page as far as format and style, or even the story they’re trying to tell. Consistency would be a huge time saver.

Consistency amid collaborative communication tasks can be a killer, but some effective communication training upfront can save weeks on the timeline.

  1. When leaders spend hours reworking presentations

Let’s be honest: When you have a big presentation coming up, you make a copy of the last one and start editing, right? We all do it. You might grab slides from another deck, make some adjustments, and pray it gets the job done. We call that a Frankendeck. Unfortunately, most people can tell that the creature recently crawled out of a lab. The fonts are different sizes or colors, the charts show irrelevant data, and there’s no clear storyline or compelling journey with which the audience leans in and acts on the message. Ultimately, the team has to say, “Um, in the interest of time, let’s skip to this slide.”

We get it. Time is precious, so you gotta do what you gotta do.

But your audience — and your calendar — are less forgiving. One client said, “I have 5 million things to do. I don’t have time to spend 20 hours editing and re-editing this PowerPoint deck, but I know it needs to be good, so I need to know how to do it better so I can do it faster.”

The thing is, spending quality time building your story, and not creating a Frankendeck, will end up saving you hours and hours of reworking in the future. Like the Navy SEALs say, “Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.”

  1. When speakers struggle to distill data into a compelling story

How many times have you seen chart after chart trying to figure out what’s important to know or remember? Too many communicators think that the more data you show, the better. That’s a lie. Most of the time, you need one good stat to provide an interesting insight, and then build a story around that stat to help explain it.

One client needed help “turning the story into something compelling and trying to teach our team to be compelling. I would have four or five prep calls [before a client meeting].” Another asked, “How do you distill it down to the key points and focus on insights and implications instead of regurgitating raw data?”

4 dark secrets of poor communication in meetings and presentations

It’s not just the 1 a.m. rework (that few people see, but everyone knows) that gets communicators into trouble. It’s also the raised eyebrows in the boardroom or distracted audiences on a Zoom call. If you’ve experienced any of these signs, it’s time to invest in communication training.

  1. When audiences are bored or not engaged

The dreaded glance away from your gaze, down toward whatever just popped up on their screen. It’s a communicator’s worst nightmare. You know you’ve lost your audience. Conversely, you’ve probably attended a meeting or event where the keynote speaker captured the audience in such a way that you could’ve heard a pin drop. You’re almost afraid to breathe and lose focus. Do your people have that skill?

Maybe that’s an extreme scene, but that kind of focus is critical for convincing influential executives and moving large projects forward. When meeting participants are distracted, it’s bad news for everyone. Data compiled by BOOQED shows that 91% of employees have daydreamed during meetings, 39% have slept during meetings, and 73% have worked on other things during meetings.

We know. It happens to the best of us. But when distraction becomes routine, it’s a sign communication training is beckoning.

  1. When prospects don t understand why they should work with you

Marketers know that your value proposition is key to getting others to say “yes.” If they can’t understand why you’re different or why you’re special, it’s hard to convince anyone to invest in you. The trouble is that most professionals aren’t marketers and haven’t been trained to understand their audiences and deliver the message that answers, “So what?”

A client once said, “We’re not marketers. We’re not good at presenting our story and we’re not good at simplifying the message for the audience.” We completely understand. It’s a skill you must practice.

However, with some basic training, employees at every level of an organization can learn how to distill their audience’s pain points and present their ideas and recommendations in a compelling way, even if it’s for a small task. The time spent in training will pay dividends over the weeks and months to come.

  1. When the same people (or person) always present

You’ve got that go-to rock star who knows how to start the presentation with a low-key joke to break the ice, then get straight to the point, then outro with a scintillating question to pique the audience’s interest. But what happens when she’s on maternity leave or out sick?

Forbes reports that “20% of respondents said they would do almost anything to avoid giving a presentation, including pretending to be sick or asking a colleague to give the presentation, even if it means ’losing respect’ in the workplace.”

Many employees have a debilitating fear of public speaking. However, like anything else, the more you learn about your fear — and the more skill you grow in that area — the less fear you eventually have. When you were starting out in your career, you may have been afraid to say the wrong term regarding your industry to your boss’s boss. But the more you understood about your industry, the more you understood about the nuances between the different terms, and the more confident you became in talking about it.

The same is true of communicating important information to executives. And building that skill across your team — and not just that one superstar on staff — will make your entire department more confident going forward.

  1. When attendees ask you to define buzzwords and acronyms

They call it “the curse of knowledge” when you forget what it’s like to not know something. Deep in their souls, designers know about color theory, space, and balance; financial executives know balance sheet ratios, profitability, and macroeconomic impacts; and a thousand other employees know the acronyms and tacit knowledge that keep them sharp.

But does your audience?

They may be unfamiliar with internal or industry jargon. Acronyms that are second nature to you may be completely foreign to the readers of your emails. You might think it’s common knowledge, but it’s hard to know for sure. Additionally, some acronyms mean one thing in one industry but something else in another, or even two different meanings within the same industry: For psychologists, does the ACA mean the Affordable Care Act or the American Counseling Association?

Clients have told us that they “need a compelling way to cut through terminology buzzwords.” If that’s you, it may be time to… you get the picture.

Now that you know the signs, it’s time to evaluate whether you’re ready to get started with communications training.

\"\"How to Come into the Light of Business Storytelling Today

If poor communication is costing you time and leaving you frustrated, it’s time to invest in communications training for your team. A lack of communication skills can also materialize in meetings and presentations, confusing prospects and boring attendees.

", "content_plain": "Poor communication costs businesses millions. David Grossman reports the average cost of inadequate communication — to and between employees — is $62.4 million per year (based on a survey of 400 companies with more than 100,000 employees). For smaller companies, the annual loss amounts to approximately $420,000. By wasting hours editing presentations and memos, misaligning expectations, or requesting follow-up meetings for clarifying questions, poor communication hits you right in the bottom line. If you spend hours reworking decks created by your team, and you cringe at emails you’re copied on, you’re not alone. In a study surveying more than 650 employers, 54% of respondents said it was very or somewhat difficult to find qualified applicants with communication skills. To cover for your team’s poor communication, you may find yourself painstakingly making slide-by-slide edits and always being the one to present — while also wishing that your team had the confidence to craft and tell compelling, data-backed business storytelling. So how do you know when it’s time to invest in communications training for your team to empower creative business storytelling? You can view our Privacy Policy here. The Business Cost of Poor Communication It can be difficult to calculate how much poor communication costs an organization, but its effects are innumerable. Sometimes it’s implicitly understood that poor communication adds up in myriad ways, like deciphering a poorly structured email, or shaking your head at an employee’s slides, spending precious minutes trying to decode what you’re supposed to know or do with the information. But we do know this: Poor communication leads to less productive employees, less innovation, and less credibility when trying to move forward in your career. Less Productivity Studies show that effective communication produces a 47% higher return to shareholders over a five-year period . That’s because the organization gets out its messages and turns the gears of the machine much faster than with sloppy communications, ultimately creating higher value in the long run. Clients have told us, “I spend a lot of time reviewing and reworking presentations, sometimes until one o’clock in the morning. I find myself spending hours making drastic edits, slide by slide.” Sound familiar? You see, organizational efficiency isn’t just slowed down by the lack of clarity. Employees are also slowed down by reworking communications to better appeal to executive stakeholders, suppliers, and more. That’s time wasted that could’ve been better spent providing additional value for the firm. Less Innovation One head of supply chain told us, “I see many powerful ideas get lost behind a spaghetti pile of a presentation.” Have you seen that too? Clients also say, “Imagination, creativity, and collaboration all suffer because [some employees] don’t know how to communicate better. People can’t communicate their ideas in a succinct way. If you’ve ever lost a deal or a project approval because of miscommunication or by the audience not getting what you’re saying, you’ve been there too. Maybe you’ve had a great idea that would save the organization money or propel a product forward, but the idea got lost somewhere between the employee’s mind and the PowerPoint slide. A great story starts with a meaningful insight, drawn out by what’s going on in your audience’s world and how you can help solve their business challenges. Stories like these move readers of Malcolm Gladwell books or listeners of Freakonomics podcasts. Can your employees tell stories that capture their audiences and compel them to act? Or are the most innovative ideas trapped like marble inside Michelangelo’s visions? Less Credibility Think about the soaring heights the best orators have taken you. Have you ever been stirred by a speech or late-night dinner party conversation? Or consider a Michelin-star culinary journey and how it sweeps you into another place: It’s all a matter of presentation. Research shows that “[e]ffective and appropriate communication [is] positively related to perceptions of credibility (competence, goodwill, and trustworthiness). Many L&D leaders want training to instill a sense of executive presence within their teams. If midlevel managers could confidently sway the senior leadership with great business storytelling, the organization could be that much more effective. We’ve heard from clients the difficulty of subject matter experts explaining complex ideas in a simple way: “When my team starts interacting with our internal customers (senior-level executives), our acronyms muddle the conversation. They’re clear to us, but they’re just words to our customers. They don’t know why they need us.” You know there’s a better way. So, how do you know when it s time to invest in communications training for your team? 8 Dark Secrets of Poor Communicators Often, organizations experience issues that they don’t even realize are the result of communication gaps. Here are eight signs of poor communication — signaling that it’s time to invest in communications training for your team. Half of the signs relate to communication that happens behind the scenes while the other half show up on the spot in meetings or presentations. Let’s look at them one at a time. 4 secrets of poor communication that occur behind the scenes When the team experiences analysis paralysis while building presentations You’ve likely been here before: analysis paralysis. You analyze a million things because you’re so close to the problem that you can’t reason your way to a solution. Without clarity about what to communicate, and confidence about how to communicate it, teams can experience analysis paralysis where they struggle to make decisions. We’ve heard that teams “get caught in analysis paralysis and chase data trails, although ultimately it hits the cutting room floor — they spend a ton of time chasing down the data only to not use it.” If this is you, it may be a good time to invest in communications training and push your teams forward. When teams struggle to collaborate on presentations Collaboration isn’t easy, especially in global enterprises when much of the work happens across languages and culture, and all on video or online tools. Consider a typical quarterly report or investor presentation. The output requires statistical analysis, writing, creative, and management support. Teams of five, 10, or 15 people have to build and approve the work before it hits the stage, where even the smallest misalignment can push deadlines back days or weeks. We’ve heard that, “Collaboration on a large presentation is one of the hardest parts of my job. For example, every month we have a presentation that’s 20 pages long, and I’ve got eight people collaborating to provide content. They’re not on the same page as far as format and style, or even the story they’re trying to tell. Consistency would be a huge time saver. Consistency amid collaborative communication tasks can be a killer, but some effective communication training upfront can save weeks on the timeline. When leaders spend hours reworking presentations Let’s be honest: When you have a big presentation coming up, you make a copy of the last one and start editing, right? We all do it. You might grab slides from another deck, make some adjustments, and pray it gets the job done. We call that a Frankendeck. Unfortunately, most people can tell that the creature recently crawled out of a lab. The fonts are different sizes or colors, the charts show irrelevant data, and there’s no clear storyline or compelling journey with which the audience leans in and acts on the message. Ultimately, the team has to say, “Um, in the interest of time, let’s skip to this slide.” We get it. Time is precious, so you gotta do what you gotta do. But your audience — and your calendar — are less forgiving. One client said, “I have 5 million things to do. I don’t have time to spend 20 hours editing and re-editing this PowerPoint deck, but I know it needs to be good, so I need to know how to do it better so I can do it faster.” The thing is, spending quality time building your story, and not creating a Frankendeck, will end up saving you hours and hours of reworking in the future. Like the Navy SEALs say, “Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.” When speakers struggle to distill data into a compelling story How many times have you seen chart after chart trying to figure out what’s important to know or remember? Too many communicators think that the more data you show, the better. That’s a lie. Most of the time, you need one good stat to provide an interesting insight, and then build a story around that stat to help explain it. One client needed help “turning the story into something compelling and trying to teach our team to be compelling. I would have four or five prep calls [before a client meeting].” Another asked, “How do you distill it down to the key points and focus on insights and implications instead of regurgitating raw data?” 4 dark secrets of poor communication in meetings and presentations It’s not just the 1 a.m. rework (that few people see, but everyone knows) that gets communicators into trouble. It’s also the raised eyebrows in the boardroom or distracted audiences on a Zoom call. If you’ve experienced any of these signs, it’s time to invest in communication training. When audiences are bored or not engaged The dreaded glance away from your gaze, down toward whatever just popped up on their screen. It’s a communicator’s worst nightmare. You know you’ve lost your audience. Conversely, you’ve probably attended a meeting or event where the keynote speaker captured the audience in such a way that you could’ve heard a pin drop. You’re almost afraid to breathe and lose focus. Do your people have that skill? Maybe that’s an extreme scene, but that kind of focus is critical for convincing influential executives and moving large projects forward. When meeting participants are distracted, it’s bad news for everyone. Data compiled by BOOQED shows that 91% of employees have daydreamed during meetings, 39% have slept during meetings, and 73% have worked on other things during meetings. We know. It happens to the best of us. But when distraction becomes routine, it’s a sign communication training is beckoning. When prospects don t understand why they should work with you Marketers know that your value proposition is key to getting others to say “yes.” If they can’t understand why you’re different or why you’re special, it’s hard to convince anyone to invest in you. The trouble is that most professionals aren’t marketers and haven’t been trained to understand their audiences and deliver the message that answers, “So what?” A client once said, “We’re not marketers. We’re not good at presenting our story and we’re not good at simplifying the message for the audience.” We completely understand. It’s a skill you must practice. However, with some basic training, employees at every level of an organization can learn how to distill their audience’s pain points and present their ideas and recommendations in a compelling way, even if it’s for a small task. The time spent in training will pay dividends over the weeks and months to come. When the same people (or person) always present You’ve got that go-to rock star who knows how to start the presentation with a low-key joke to break the ice, then get straight to the point, then outro with a scintillating question to pique the audience’s interest. But what happens when she’s on maternity leave or out sick? Forbes reports that “20% of respondents said they would do almost anything to avoid giving a presentation, including pretending to be sick or asking a colleague to give the presentation, even if it means ’losing respect’ in the workplace.” Many employees have a debilitating fear of public speaking. However, like anything else, the more you learn about your fear — and the more skill you grow in that area — the less fear you eventually have. When you were starting out in your career, you may have been afraid to say the wrong term regarding your industry to your boss’s boss. But the more you understood about your industry, the more you understood about the nuances between the different terms, and the more confident you became in talking about it. The same is true of communicating important information to executives. And building that skill across your team — and not just that one superstar on staff — will make your entire department more confident going forward. When attendees ask you to define buzzwords and acronyms They call it “the curse of knowledge” when you forget what it’s like to not know something. Deep in their souls, designers know about color theory, space, and balance; financial executives know balance sheet ratios, profitability, and macroeconomic impacts; and a thousand other employees know the acronyms and tacit knowledge that keep them sharp. But does your audience? They may be unfamiliar with internal or industry jargon. Acronyms that are second nature to you may be completely foreign to the readers of your emails. You might think it’s common knowledge, but it’s hard to know for sure. Additionally, some acronyms mean one thing in one industry but something else in another, or even two different meanings within the same industry: For psychologists, does the ACA mean the Affordable Care Act or the American Counseling Association? Clients have told us that they “need a compelling way to cut through terminology buzzwords.” If that’s you, it may be time to… you get the picture. Now that you know the signs, it’s time to evaluate whether you’re ready to get started with communications training. How to Come into the Light of Business Storytelling Today If poor communication is costing you time and leaving you frustrated, it’s time to invest in communications training for your team. A lack of communication skills can also materialize in meetings and presentations, confusing prospects and boring attendees.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Hero-Secrets-Poor-Communication-2-1200x627-1.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T11:23:28-05:00" }, { "id": 9043, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/how-meta-got-95-percent-engagement-with-its-on-demand-storytelling-program/", "title": "How Meta Got 95% Engagement with Its On-Demand Storytelling Program", "h1": "How Meta Got 95% Engagement with Its On-Demand Storytelling Program", "summary": "", "content": "

If you feel like life demands too much of you, you’re not alone. According to one 2020 study, 60% of Americans feel “significant daily stress.” One contributing factor is time: Many people feel they simply don’t have enough of it. Amid these challenges, it’s easy to see how professional training can be difficult to prioritize, but learning new skills is no less critical to an individual or company’s success.

Read on to learn about TPC’s process for ensuring engagement in on-demand learning programs, and get six practical tips for how you can break through the stress and noise of daily life to provide high-quality training to your employees.

\"\"eLearning: Time for an Evolution?

Despite the promise that on-demand eLearning provides a flexible and scalable training solution for large organizations, in practice… it typically doesn’t go as planned. Oftentimes, people don’t complete their online courses, and for those that do, there’s a question brewing in the L&D community about whether or not this type of training has the same impact and stickiness as live, instructor-led training.

At the same time, there’s been growing development around the idea of “social, collaborative online learning”, and technology platforms being developed that attempt to replicate the behavior change that instructor-led workshops generate. Central to this shift was a growing observation that perhaps current online learning solutions had over-indexed on technology. In the industry’s effort to scale and automate… did we lose sight of the human taking the course, and the emotional needs that adult learners have when it comes to learning, engagement, and retention of workplace training?

\"\"The Power Thruple: Facebook + NovoEd + TPC

In 2017, we set out to create a new type of on-demand training program that would be social, collaborative, flexible, and, most importantly, compelling. The program we envisioned would be online and asynchronous, but still deliver rich opportunities for collaboration and connection among a community of learners. To create the training program we envisioned, we needed to lean on our network of experts.

Facebook

We started with a longtime client, Facebook, as our client partner. As a global company with offices worldwide in the fast-paced and ever-changing technology industry, Facebook strives to provide professional training that is scalable and easy to administer to its employees across multiple regions to ensure each individual develops the skills needed for the business to succeed. Facebook’s openness to exploring and developing cutting-edge learning solutions proved to be an invaluable asset in developing this training program, and for the first iterations of our program together, Facebook employees served as beta participants.

NovoEd

With an emphasis on encouraging authentic engagement, NovoEd’s learning platform was the ideal delivery mechanism for our on-demand training program. NovoEd specializes in creating a collaborative online experience that features guided social interaction. These interactions boost engagement and outcomes for participants and achieves comparable results to in-person training.

TPC

With Facebook and NovoEd as our committed partners, TPC’s expertise in human-centric storytelling allowed us to create a highly engaging learning experience for participants that turned out to be just as effective as the in-person and live virtual training we have conducted for years.

\"\"Grappling with the challenges of traditional programs

With an abundance of questions ahead of us, we needed to grapple with several challenges when it comes to traditional online training programs:

  1. Online training programs are perceived as boring and difficult to complete.

    Our response?     Create a program that’s engaging and helps participants feel as if they want to complete the training.
  2. It’s difficult to foster collaboration in traditional eLearning, meaning participants rarely learn from one another.

    Our response?     Make our program genuinely collaborative and award points for giving peer feedback.
  3. Managers often feel disconnected from online training programs, and organizations struggle to integrate their leadership into learning environments that happen remotely.

    Our response?     Develop a truly integrated program that permeates and benefits an entire organization.
  4. L&D worries that digital learning programs don’t work, and that learning doesn’t stick with participants… especially with remote workers.

    Our response?     Design a program that shares qualities of our in-person and virtual training to create a lasting, positive impact on participants.

\"\"We built it. They came (in droves). So how does it work?

Our on-demand storytelling program places participants in cohorts of 30, 60, or 90, and includes a ten-day active learning journey broken into four modules, plus one optional “bonus” module. Following the ten-day active learning period, course materials are available to participants for an additional 80 days.

\"\"A seamless, integrated experience

Unlike traditional eLearning that’s often composed as a patchwork of videos, discussion, and other features that were not designed to be gathered into one course, this course features an intuitive interface where videos, discussion boards, quizzes, assignments, and the ability to tag classmates for feedback are all central components.

This approach to on-demand learning creates a seamless experience for participants, ultimately contributing to the stickiness of the training and encouraging higher levels of authentic engagement.

“We wanted to create a place that is natural, intuitive, and safe for people to exchange ideas, give and receive feedback, and ask questions.” — Charlie Chang, VP of Business Development at NovoEd

\"\"
Six key lessons we learned from this experience

  1. Put people at the center of course design

Even with the best technology, we can’t lose sight of the people at the center consuming the learning. We learned that creating a video culture with high-quality, humanized content generates the best results. Videos featured real TPC facilitators — real humans telling stories — who are deeply familiar with the content.

Creating a video culture contributed to the course’s 95% engagement rate. When we say that there was a 95% engagement rate in the course, that means 95% of learners not only completed the course, but went above and beyond the minimum requirements!

\"\"
  1. Human coaches can make all the difference

One of our big “aha!” moments came when we inserted a real live Learning Community Manager into the flow of learning. Participants used them as a guide through the program, a sounding board, and an encouraging voice to collaborate with peers.

The Learning Community Manager can also provide a personal nudge from time to time to keep things moving along.The Learning Community Manager, who we call the “professional cheerleader,” was a smash hit. In fact, adding the Learning Community Manager to the course drove participant feedback on peer assignments up by 5X!

  1. Make it flexible — but not unstructured

People want flexibility in their learning opportunities. But we needed to determine exactly what kind of flexibility is most desirable. We learned that the most important element of flexibility is time. We also learned that people thrive on having a schedule. In other words, people want to consume learning at their pace but within a loosely prescribed timeframe. So, asynchronous courses work best when accompanied by clear deadlines for each milestone.

One problem with traditional eLearning is that it’s linear and overly prescriptive. We sought to find the perfect balance of flexibility and rigidity. Participants can take their own path in completing course content — the entire course (except for the last module with bonus content) is available to everyone from the first day of the course. As a result, learners can work through the course content in whatever order works for them.

However, we do provide a recommended sequence for course content. We learned that participants prefer this kind of guidance: 97% consumed the learning in the recommended order, even though they didn’t have to. Why? We found it’s because asking learners to choose places the burden on them. Providing the flexibility of choice can be valuable to some, but a recommended sequence and timeline is ideal, mainly because those following the sequence can interact as they work through content, generally at the same time, together.

\"\"
  1. People learn better together — so let them

Research backs up the notion that learning together helps foster a sense of belonging, and a deeper level of learning and engagement. Collaborative learning helps employees practice and apply new skills, promotes discussion and feedback, enables team-based learning across an organization, and engages managers and mentors. The social element of our course, utilized with integrated collaboration tools built right into the interface, encouraged 100% of the participants to engage in peer discussions.

  1. Motivate and communicate to get learners to show up and stay engaged

We learned a few strategies to ensure that learners stay engaged throughout the course:

  1. Done is better than perfect

Lining the walls at Facebook’s offices are posters challenging everyone to think differently. One that inspired us at TPC says, “Done is Better than Perfect.” It means our best ideas and products need to come to life in the real world in order for us to learn how to make them better. It’s about taking risks and being okay that our output might not be completely perfect, that it’s a work-in-progress, and success comes through iteration (and lots of listening to our audience).

For example, because engagement was our goal, in the development of this course, we specifically tested for participant engagement and iterated in response to what we learned. For instance, we experimented with using live speakers in the course and found that it wasn’t as engaging because it removed an element of flexibility for learners. Instead, we learned that asynchronous work, where high-quality video content was a central component, was the most engaging for learners.

\"\"

\"\"Never lose sight of the humans behind the screen

We learned that, when partnering with companies like Facebook and NovoEd, the right application of technology can create an impactful online learning experience that meets the needs of learners in an increasingly digital world where hybrid work environments are the new normal.

But as good as it is, at the core of any great training program is people and our innate craving for connection and community. It’s how we build trust with one another. So as you think about how on-demand training fits into your learning journeys, let’s not forget the humans at the center of it all.

", "content_plain": "If you feel like life demands too much of you, you’re not alone. According to one 2020 study, 60% of Americans feel “significant daily stress.” One contributing factor is time: Many people feel they simply don’t have enough of it. Amid these challenges, it’s easy to see how professional training can be difficult to prioritize, but learning new skills is no less critical to an individual or company’s success. Read on to learn about TPC’s process for ensuring engagement in on-demand learning programs, and get six practical tips for how you can break through the stress and noise of daily life to provide high-quality training to your employees. eLearning: Time for an Evolution? Despite the promise that on-demand eLearning provides a flexible and scalable training solution for large organizations, in practice… it typically doesn’t go as planned. Oftentimes, people don’t complete their online courses, and for those that do, there’s a question brewing in the L&D community about whether or not this type of training has the same impact and stickiness as live, instructor-led training. At the same time, there’s been growing development around the idea of “social, collaborative online learning”, and technology platforms being developed that attempt to replicate the behavior change that instructor-led workshops generate. Central to this shift was a growing observation that perhaps current online learning solutions had over-indexed on technology. In the industry’s effort to scale and automate… did we lose sight of the human taking the course, and the emotional needs that adult learners have when it comes to learning, engagement, and retention of workplace training? The Power Thruple: Facebook + NovoEd + TPC In 2017, we set out to create a new type of on-demand training program that would be social, collaborative, flexible, and, most importantly, compelling. The program we envisioned would be online and asynchronous, but still deliver rich opportunities for collaboration and connection among a community of learners. To create the training program we envisioned, we needed to lean on our network of experts. Facebook We started with a longtime client, Facebook, as our client partner. As a global company with offices worldwide in the fast-paced and ever-changing technology industry, Facebook strives to provide professional training that is scalable and easy to administer to its employees across multiple regions to ensure each individual develops the skills needed for the business to succeed. Facebook’s openness to exploring and developing cutting-edge learning solutions proved to be an invaluable asset in developing this training program, and for the first iterations of our program together, Facebook employees served as beta participants. NovoEd With an emphasis on encouraging authentic engagement, NovoEd’s learning platform was the ideal delivery mechanism for our on-demand training program. NovoEd specializes in creating a collaborative online experience that features guided social interaction. These interactions boost engagement and outcomes for participants and achieves comparable results to in-person training. TPC With Facebook and NovoEd as our committed partners, TPC’s expertise in human-centric storytelling allowed us to create a highly engaging learning experience for participants that turned out to be just as effective as the in-person and live virtual training we have conducted for years. Grappling with the challenges of traditional programs With an abundance of questions ahead of us, we needed to grapple with several challenges when it comes to traditional online training programs: Online training programs are perceived as boring and difficult to complete. Our response? Create a program that’s engaging and helps participants feel as if they want to complete the training. It’s difficult to foster collaboration in traditional eLearning, meaning participants rarely learn from one another. Our response? Make our program genuinely collaborative and award points for giving peer feedback. Managers often feel disconnected from online training programs, and organizations struggle to integrate their leadership into learning environments that happen remotely. Our response? Develop a truly integrated program that permeates and benefits an entire organization. L&D worries that digital learning programs don’t work, and that learning doesn’t stick with participants… especially with remote workers. Our response? Design a program that shares qualities of our in-person and virtual training to create a lasting, positive impact on participants. We built it. They came (in droves). So how does it work? Our on-demand storytelling program places participants in cohorts of 30, 60, or 90, and includes a ten-day active learning journey broken into four modules, plus one optional “bonus” module. Following the ten-day active learning period, course materials are available to participants for an additional 80 days. A seamless, integrated experience Unlike traditional eLearning that’s often composed as a patchwork of videos, discussion, and other features that were not designed to be gathered into one course, this course features an intuitive interface where videos, discussion boards, quizzes, assignments, and the ability to tag classmates for feedback are all central components. This approach to on-demand learning creates a seamless experience for participants, ultimately contributing to the stickiness of the training and encouraging higher levels of authentic engagement. “We wanted to create a place that is natural, intuitive, and safe for people to exchange ideas, give and receive feedback, and ask questions.” — Charlie Chang, VP of Business Development at NovoEd Six key lessons we learned from this experience Put people at the center of course design Even with the best technology, we can’t lose sight of the people at the center consuming the learning. We learned that creating a video culture with high-quality, humanized content generates the best results. Videos featured real TPC facilitators — real humans telling stories — who are deeply familiar with the content. Creating a video culture contributed to the course’s 95% engagement rate. When we say that there was a 95% engagement rate in the course, that means 95% of learners not only completed the course, but went above and beyond the minimum requirements! Human coaches can make all the difference One of our big “aha!” moments came when we inserted a real live Learning Community Manager into the flow of learning. Participants used them as a guide through the program, a sounding board, and an encouraging voice to collaborate with peers. The Learning Community Manager can also provide a personal nudge from time to time to keep things moving along.The Learning Community Manager, who we call the “professional cheerleader,” was a smash hit. In fact, adding the Learning Community Manager to the course drove participant feedback on peer assignments up by 5X! Make it flexible — but not unstructured People want flexibility in their learning opportunities. But we needed to determine exactly what kind of flexibility is most desirable. We learned that the most important element of flexibility is time. We also learned that people thrive on having a schedule. In other words, people want to consume learning at their pace but within a loosely prescribed timeframe. So, asynchronous courses work best when accompanied by clear deadlines for each milestone. One problem with traditional eLearning is that it’s linear and overly prescriptive. We sought to find the perfect balance of flexibility and rigidity. Participants can take their own path in completing course content — the entire course (except for the last module with bonus content) is available to everyone from the first day of the course. As a result, learners can work through the course content in whatever order works for them. However, we do provide a recommended sequence for course content. We learned that participants prefer this kind of guidance: 97% consumed the learning in the recommended order, even though they didn’t have to. Why? We found it’s because asking learners to choose places the burden on them. Providing the flexibility of choice can be valuable to some, but a recommended sequence and timeline is ideal, mainly because those following the sequence can interact as they work through content, generally at the same time, together. People learn better together — so let them Research backs up the notion that learning together helps foster a sense of belonging, and a deeper level of learning and engagement. Collaborative learning helps employees practice and apply new skills, promotes discussion and feedback, enables team-based learning across an organization, and engages managers and mentors. The social element of our course, utilized with integrated collaboration tools built right into the interface, encouraged 100% of the participants to engage in peer discussions. Motivate and communicate to get learners to show up and stay engaged We learned a few strategies to ensure that learners stay engaged throughout the course: Use communications channels we know people are using. Features such as email and tagging comments make communication easy and intuitive by leveraging experience learners are already accustomed to. Celebrate milestones along the way. We know that recognition increases engagement in the workplace, and we observed a similar trend in this course as well. Use automated personalized communications that are sent as people work through the program. We learned that reminders are needed to help people stay on track throughout the course. These communications are personalized and related to the individual’s progress on specific assignments. These strategies are effective and scalable because communications are personalized and automated. They also help participants prioritize the training amid everything else going on in their lives. Leverage gamification to encourage participation. By gamifying the course, we capitalize on humans being hard-wired to compete. To complete the course, participants must earn 700 points, which they can collect in a variety ways, such as watching videos, passing knowledge checks, participating in discussions, and completing a final survey. At any point during the program, participants can view a leaderboard to see how their progress compares to others in their cohort. Done is better than perfect Lining the walls at Facebook’s offices are posters challenging everyone to think differently. One that inspired us at TPC says, “Done is Better than Perfect.” It means our best ideas and products need to come to life in the real world in order for us to learn how to make them better. It’s about taking risks and being okay that our output might not be completely perfect, that it’s a work-in-progress, and success comes through iteration (and lots of listening to our audience). For example, because engagement was our goal, in the development of this course, we specifically tested for participant engagement and iterated in response to what we learned. For instance, we experimented with using live speakers in the course and found that it wasn’t as engaging because it removed an element of flexibility for learners. Instead, we learned that asynchronous work, where high-quality video content was a central component, was the most engaging for learners. Never lose sight of the humans behind the screen We learned that, when partnering with companies like Facebook and NovoEd, the right application of technology can create an impactful online learning experience that meets the needs of learners in an increasingly digital world where hybrid work environments are the new normal. But as good as it is, at the core of any great training program is people and our innate craving for connection and community. It’s how we build trust with one another. So as you think about how on-demand training fits into your learning journeys, let’s not forget the humans at the center of it all.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Hero-How-FB-Got-95-Percent-1200x627-R1.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T15:25:32-05:00" }, { "id": 9042, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/three-skills-that-separate-top-sellers-from-the-rest/", "title": "3 Skills That Separate Top Sellers From the Rest", "h1": "3 Skills That Separate Top Sellers From the Rest", "summary": "", "content": "

Some sellers always be closing. Some sellers sometimes be closing (the month with a missed quota). What separates these two sellers?

A decade ago, researchers from CEB Inc., a talent management insights company now part of Gartner, published a book that revolutionized the selling industry: The Challenger Sale. In the book, the authors note the stark performance differences between the Challenger seller and the other seller profiles, which Gartner research further supports.

Top sellers outpace the rest

Gartner researchers suggest that most sellers fall into one of five personas or profiles as they’re communicating with prospects, with one seller outpacing the others:

The five profiles of sales professionals

\"\"

Challengers out-perform the others by a landslide

\"\"

\"\"Top sellers do these three things

Let’s further break down the skills Challenger reps have in common, highlighting their talent for communication.

  1. Define the pain point

Most of us think we know what our problems are. Yet we often need greater insight to understand the why beneath our problem. Leaders may think pipeline volume is down 15% this quarter (the problem), but do they know why (the insight)? Sometimes the why is unclear, or the correlation has little causation.

That’s where top sellers shine. They understand the prospect’s business well enough that they can pinpoint the real pain point, separating the signal from the noise. This insight might be counterintuitive to preexisting notions of what the problem might be.

This skill is what Gartner researchers call “commercial insight.” David Anderson, practice leader at Gartner, argues that “sales leaders must arm reps with commercial insight to push beyond presenting a new idea to actually undermine an existing one.”

Sales leaders and marketers may think that thought leadership is the way to communicate their ideas in a way that moves prospects toward purchase decisions. However, Anderson says, “Rarely will thought leadership alone cause customers to change their views or prompt immediate action.”

What can they do? Gartner argues that four attributes of commercial insight can make sellers better communicators:

  1. Reframe the issue

Next, though similar to the previous point, top sales reps reframe the challenges prospects face with new information they haven’t yet considered. Even before that, however, great sellers first explain to the prospect why they need to change at all.

That’s where the “reframe” comes into play. Top sellers don’t just respond to their prospects’ needs — they redefine them. They break the news to them that their problems will not be solved with inaction or the solution they’ve imagined.

Few sellers really know how to do this. “Astonishingly,” Jeff Michaels says in the same article above, “the results showed that 86% of the time, the rep’s message had no commercial impact whatsoever. This meant that only 14% of the time, the rep communicated their message in a way that suggested a reason for change.”

What’s missing?

As mentioned before, the prospect’s understanding of the problem may be built on untrue assumptions. For example, one writer explains how he teaches sellers to reframe the issue this way:

Many people assume that when they run out of closet space, it’s because they have too many clothes or too small a closet. The reality, however, is that they use plastic hangers that are seven times thicker than wire hangers. If dry cleaners used plastic hangers, they would need facilities 30% larger than the one they built. So, by simply switching out your plastic hangers for wire hangers, you can increase your closet space by 30% for a fraction of the cost of a renovation.

This is a small example of a reframe that leads to the solution, but the important point is not to lead with the solution but to the solution. Communication and a detailed, proper understanding of the prospect’s business become keys. Pairing that with well-placed data (7x bigger, 30% larger) cinches it.

In sum, to get there, you need to live in your customers’ shoes, understand their challenges, clearly communicate your big idea, and then deliver a good narrative to close the deal.

  1. Create a compelling narrative

To do the above well, sales reps need to create a compelling narrative with their communications to prospects. With the myriad messages and overwhelming data bombarding prospects every day, top sellers make sense of the mania, turning chaos into clarity.

Another section of Gartner research illustrates the importance of the sense-making seller, while others similarly describe the need for the sense-making leader. The sense maker, in contrast to the “giver” and the “teller” of information, acts instead as a guide to understand the complex conversations across the web and business press, especially as it relates to the prospect’s business.

\"\"

The sense maker helps reduce the buyer’s skepticism during the sales process while at the same time helps to increase their confidence that they’re making the right decision. Gartner research indicates that sense- making sellers close higher-value deals with little regret after the decision is made.

\"\"

That’s why sellers need to be expert communicators who craft stories that inspire action. The impact of good storytelling leads to a results-orientated interaction, moving clients’ focus off the cost of the product or service to the outcomes on the other side. In other words, the conversation becomes about value instead of cost. Think outcomes, not price.

As you progress in a sales conversation, especially if you’re selling a broad and complex solution, you need to have the ability to contextualize what you’re saying to different audiences. The solutions will have similar components, but it needs to sound different to each person to address individual cares within the buying committee.

So, what separates top sellers from rest can be a series and not just one piece.

\"\"Teach these skills to your sales reps with business storytelling

Hybrid work offerCombining the above three skills with business storytelling can transform your sales conversations. Why does this work so well? Business storytelling helps break through the noise surrounding the buyer, but also helps them to reframe their problem with commercial insight and sense-making. In other words, it combines the most effective skills of the top sellers amid a complex selling environment.

It may take time for sellers to deeply understand the details of a prospect’s business, but adding storytelling skills can help present those assumptions and problems in a meaningful way. For example, neuroscience research has shown that bringing concrete visuals and interactivity into your presentation can dramatically improve results.

\"\"

Organizations all over the world have helped their employees develop these skills through training and other resources, transforming their sales approach to bring in high-value customers more quickly.

We’ve seen that one of the biggest catalysts for sales initiating a search for communications vendors is an observed correlation between sales presentation skills and salespeople’s results. By using the above skills, sales leaders can create a more consistent language and communications culture across the sales team through expert communications training.

It’s time to make great communication a part of your selling brand.

", "content_plain": "Some sellers always be closing. Some sellers sometimes be closing (the month with a missed quota). What separates these two sellers? A decade ago, researchers from CEB Inc., a talent management insights company now part of Gartner, published a book that revolutionized the selling industry: The Challenger Sale. In the book, the authors note the stark performance differences between the Challenger seller and the other seller profiles, which Gartner research further supports. Top sellers outpace the rest Gartner researchers suggest that most sellers fall into one of five personas or profiles as they’re communicating with prospects, with one seller outpacing the others: The five profiles of sales professionals Challengers out-perform the others by a landslide Hard worker: The hard worker is a self-motivated person unafraid to cold call anyone, anywhere, anytime. They show up to work early and leave late. They ask for feedback and how to improve, and believe that their sheer force of will lead them to sales victory. Yet just because they work hard doesn’t mean they outperform. Relationship builder: The relationship builder is the most prevalent sales persona delivering core performance to the organization. This is a very common sales approach, where they build long-term relationships with prospects and customers. They have a congenial spirit as team players willing to help however they can. Yet regarding high performance, these are the least effective salespeople. Lone wolf: The lone wolf is the maverick, the self-assured, self- confident salesperson driven by instinct. They have a “good nose” for deals and influential relationships. They like to be alone in their decision making, and it often pays off: Their instincts net them a second-place finish among high-performance salespeople. Yet one group is still superior. Problem solver: The problem solver is the detail-oriented person in the bunch. They aim to intimately understand the prospect’s problem, and they’re talented communicators that help the prospect analyze what’s working and what’s not working, with practical solutions to address their needs. Yet these approaches don’t always understand the underlying problems, and their performance shows. Challenger: The challenger leaves the others behind in terms of performance. Why? Because they have business acumen and a unique worldview to understand the prospect’s problem and how to present the solution better than anyone else. Their edge is their confidence to push and challenge the prospect toward considering an alternative view, what Gartner calls “commercial insight” or “commercial teaching.” This skill is invaluable, but it’s not always easy to grasp. It requires an extraordinary knack for great communication.What is it about Challengers’ communication that so outperforms the others? And how can leaders get there? Top sellers do these three things Let’s further break down the skills Challenger reps have in common, highlighting their talent for communication. Define the pain point Most of us think we know what our problems are. Yet we often need greater insight to understand the why beneath our problem. Leaders may think pipeline volume is down 15% this quarter (the problem), but do they know why (the insight)? Sometimes the why is unclear, or the correlation has little causation. That’s where top sellers shine. They understand the prospect’s business well enough that they can pinpoint the real pain point, separating the signal from the noise. This insight might be counterintuitive to preexisting notions of what the problem might be. This skill is what Gartner researchers call “commercial insight.” David Anderson, practice leader at Gartner, argues that “sales leaders must arm reps with commercial insight to push beyond presenting a new idea to actually undermine an existing one.” Sales leaders and marketers may think that thought leadership is the way to communicate their ideas in a way that moves prospects toward purchase decisions. However, Anderson says, “Rarely will thought leadership alone cause customers to change their views or prompt immediate action.” What can they do? Gartner argues that four attributes of commercial insight can make sellers better communicators: Highlight unique strengths to generate customer appreciation for your unique strengths Challenge customer assumptions in a way that persuades them Catalyze action to advance the sales cycle Scale across customers in a way that does not cause burden reps or resourcesCommercial insight, they say, “is typically developed by combining information, such as facts, data, industry trends, experiences and observations with customer needs, like business growth, increasing profits and reducing attrition, to create a unique conclusion.”We’ll talk about this more later on. Reframe the issue Next, though similar to the previous point, top sales reps reframe the challenges prospects face with new information they haven’t yet considered. Even before that, however, great sellers first explain to the prospect why they need to change at all. That’s where the “reframe” comes into play. Top sellers don’t just respond to their prospects’ needs — they redefine them. They break the news to them that their problems will not be solved with inaction or the solution they’ve imagined. Few sellers really know how to do this. “Astonishingly,” Jeff Michaels says in the same article above, “the results showed that 86% of the time, the rep’s message had no commercial impact whatsoever. This meant that only 14% of the time, the rep communicated their message in a way that suggested a reason for change.” What’s missing? As mentioned before, the prospect’s understanding of the problem may be built on untrue assumptions. For example, one writer explains how he teaches sellers to reframe the issue this way: Many people assume that when they run out of closet space, it’s because they have too many clothes or too small a closet. The reality, however, is that they use plastic hangers that are seven times thicker than wire hangers. If dry cleaners used plastic hangers, they would need facilities 30% larger than the one they built. So, by simply switching out your plastic hangers for wire hangers, you can increase your closet space by 30% for a fraction of the cost of a renovation. This is a small example of a reframe that leads to the solution, but the important point is not to lead with the solution but to the solution. Communication and a detailed, proper understanding of the prospect’s business become keys. Pairing that with well-placed data (7x bigger, 30% larger) cinches it. In sum, to get there, you need to live in your customers’ shoes, understand their challenges, clearly communicate your big idea, and then deliver a good narrative to close the deal. Create a compelling narrative To do the above well, sales reps need to create a compelling narrative with their communications to prospects. With the myriad messages and overwhelming data bombarding prospects every day, top sellers make sense of the mania, turning chaos into clarity. Another section of Gartner research illustrates the importance of the sense-making seller, while others similarly describe the need for the sense-making leader. The sense maker, in contrast to the “giver” and the “teller” of information, acts instead as a guide to understand the complex conversations across the web and business press, especially as it relates to the prospect’s business. The sense maker helps reduce the buyer’s skepticism during the sales process while at the same time helps to increase their confidence that they’re making the right decision. Gartner research indicates that sense- making sellers close higher-value deals with little regret after the decision is made. That’s why sellers need to be expert communicators who craft stories that inspire action. The impact of good storytelling leads to a results-orientated interaction, moving clients’ focus off the cost of the product or service to the outcomes on the other side. In other words, the conversation becomes about value instead of cost. Think outcomes, not price. As you progress in a sales conversation, especially if you’re selling a broad and complex solution, you need to have the ability to contextualize what you’re saying to different audiences. The solutions will have similar components, but it needs to sound different to each person to address individual cares within the buying committee. So, what separates top sellers from rest can be a series and not just one piece. Teach these skills to your sales reps with business storytelling Hybrid work offerCombining the above three skills with business storytelling can transform your sales conversations. Why does this work so well? Business storytelling helps break through the noise surrounding the buyer, but also helps them to reframe their problem with commercial insight and sense-making. In other words, it combines the most effective skills of the top sellers amid a complex selling environment. It may take time for sellers to deeply understand the details of a prospect’s business, but adding storytelling skills can help present those assumptions and problems in a meaningful way. For example, neuroscience research has shown that bringing concrete visuals and interactivity into your presentation can dramatically improve results. Organizations all over the world have helped their employees develop these skills through training and other resources, transforming their sales approach to bring in high-value customers more quickly. We’ve seen that one of the biggest catalysts for sales initiating a search for communications vendors is an observed correlation between sales presentation skills and salespeople’s results. By using the above skills, sales leaders can create a more consistent language and communications culture across the sales team through expert communications training. It’s time to make great communication a part of your selling brand.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Hero-WhatSeparatesTopSellers-1200x627-v4.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T15:25:53-05:00" }, { "id": 9040, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/how-communications-training-can-build-and-repair-client-relationships/", "title": "How Communications Training Can Build — and Repair — Client Relationships", "h1": "How Communications Training Can Build — and Repair — Client Relationships", "summary": "", "content": "

Sales leaders, we’ve all been there. It usually goes like this: You’ve been working with a partner or client for a few weeks or a few months, but things just aren’t clicking. The conversation stalls or the discussion goes dark. Something’s wrong, but you can’t put your finger on what it is. All you know is that, for some reason, you’re no longer moving forward.

If this sounds familiar, you might be focused on trying many varied tactics to reignite the relationship — tempted to offer discounts or offer deals or ignore the situation completely. But that doesn’t mend the situation.

In this article, we’ll introduce a different strategy to combat stalled conversations — better communication! We’ll talk about how these struggling relationships get created, and what you can do to repair them — and avoid situations like these in the future.

\"\"Sometimes Client-Seller Relationships Need Some Help — But Why?

If you feel that you’re just not connecting with a customer or prospect, it’s likely that you both have a too-narrow view of the relationship. In other words, you’re expecting something from your client, and they’re expecting something from you. But there’s no alignment between each of your expectations. Or, perhaps there is a sore spot in the relationship that needs to be addressed.

\"\"Improved Communication is a Likely Solution for Strained Relationships

There are many ways to rebuild a strained relationship. The next time you find your relationship with a client is stalling, consider these strategies for improving communication.

Reassess your approach

When relationships are strained, reassessing your approach to communication can allow you to reset the relationship, even potentially starting fresh with a new strategy. To do this, think about the ways you’ve communicated in the past. What were your strategies that worked and didn’t work? What kind of responses did you get based on how you communicated?

Identify and acknowledge the problem

Before you can resolve a problem, you must agree that a problem exists. This helps you get started working on a mutually acceptable solution. To start, try talking with your client or prospect about the communication you’ve had with them to date. Listen to their feedback and learn from their experience.

Once you and the client or prospect fully understand what has gone wrong, you can negotiate a resolution that meets both of your needs.

Focus on facts

When you sit down to talk with your client about your communication challenges, start the conversation by outlining the facts. Determine the who, what, where, when, why, and how of your shared experience, and work to remain objective. It can be easy to be blinded by your personal opinions, but it’s critical to ensure that emotions don’t get in the way of solving the problem. Use this conversation to identify the key information that will help you move forward in your relationship.

Address the issues

Once you’ve identified the problems in your relationship, and how those are reflected in your communication practices, you can begin working to fix them. You can resolve disputes or problems in a constructive way by addressing the issues, identifying the necessary improvements, and setting expectations going forward.

When you approach this task, you must get inside your audience’s shoes. Take on their perspective to better understand it. Then, develop a big idea that supports your audience’s needs and delivers a compelling outcome for them.

Make sure you continue to listen

An undervalued component of communication strategy is listening. Without it, you do not have a way to craft a communication that will address their needs. As you work with your client or prospect to repair and improve your relationship, you’ll need to do a lot of listening before you can offer an effective solution. But even after you’ve agreed on a course of action to make things better going forward, you must continue to practice listening. When your client offers feedback, take it into consideration as you move forward. And if your client doesn’t offer feedback, consider asking them for their suggestions and reflections periodically. Not only will this help you ensure you’re meeting your client’s needs, but it will also build trust.

Training Can Help You Revive Client Relationships\"\"

The strategy outlined above cannot be successful without clear, effective communication. So how do you ensure that your communication will be effective, and what does this effective communication look like? Consider investing in training to build your communication skills and develop effective strategies.

Try business storytelling training

Business storytelling training — and using a storytelling framework — can help make communication easier to understand. Imagine if you had a roadmap for clearly articulating the why, what, and how of the story that you can share with clients or prospects. This clear and focused communication can keep the lines open and enable you to meet them where they are.

Effective communication facilitates the seller’s ability to respond to the needs of buyers, helping avoid the “sore spots” that can strain relationships in the first place. Not only that, business storytelling training can help your team develop executive presence, a critical skill in relationship-building, which will set you up for success down the road.

It is also important to consider the needs of your prospects or clients. Maybe they would appreciate having information presented visually. Maybe they like facts and data. Enabling your sales team to perfect storytelling with data can develop skills that sellers may not normally have but need to be successful.

\"\"Struggling Relationships are an Invitation to Better Communication

If your team is struggling to build and maintain relationships with clients and prospects, poor communication is a likely culprit, whether it initially feels that way or not. While resetting and listening are important first steps, it is critical to enable your team with tools to help them reset and build a strong foundation for future growth with the client.

Communications training — learning how to build clear, relevant stories using the why, what and how of the solution to build on — will not only allow your sellers to communicate more clearly, but also build stronger relationships and potentially sell bigger deals.

", "content_plain": "Sales leaders, we’ve all been there. It usually goes like this: You’ve been working with a partner or client for a few weeks or a few months, but things just aren’t clicking. The conversation stalls or the discussion goes dark. Something’s wrong, but you can’t put your finger on what it is. All you know is that, for some reason, you’re no longer moving forward. If this sounds familiar, you might be focused on trying many varied tactics to reignite the relationship — tempted to offer discounts or offer deals or ignore the situation completely. But that doesn’t mend the situation. In this article, we’ll introduce a different strategy to combat stalled conversations — better communication! We’ll talk about how these struggling relationships get created, and what you can do to repair them — and avoid situations like these in the future. Sometimes Client-Seller Relationships Need Some Help — But Why? If you feel that you’re just not connecting with a customer or prospect, it’s likely that you both have a too-narrow view of the relationship. In other words, you’re expecting something from your client, and they’re expecting something from you. But there’s no alignment between each of your expectations. Or, perhaps there is a sore spot in the relationship that needs to be addressed. Improved Communication is a Likely Solution for Strained Relationships There are many ways to rebuild a strained relationship. The next time you find your relationship with a client is stalling, consider these strategies for improving communication. Reassess your approach When relationships are strained, reassessing your approach to communication can allow you to reset the relationship, even potentially starting fresh with a new strategy. To do this, think about the ways you’ve communicated in the past. What were your strategies that worked and didn’t work? What kind of responses did you get based on how you communicated? Identify and acknowledge the problem Before you can resolve a problem, you must agree that a problem exists. This helps you get started working on a mutually acceptable solution. To start, try talking with your client or prospect about the communication you’ve had with them to date. Listen to their feedback and learn from their experience. Once you and the client or prospect fully understand what has gone wrong, you can negotiate a resolution that meets both of your needs. Focus on facts When you sit down to talk with your client about your communication challenges, start the conversation by outlining the facts. Determine the who, what, where, when, why, and how of your shared experience, and work to remain objective. It can be easy to be blinded by your personal opinions, but it’s critical to ensure that emotions don’t get in the way of solving the problem. Use this conversation to identify the key information that will help you move forward in your relationship. Address the issues Once you’ve identified the problems in your relationship, and how those are reflected in your communication practices, you can begin working to fix them. You can resolve disputes or problems in a constructive way by addressing the issues, identifying the necessary improvements, and setting expectations going forward. When you approach this task, you must get inside your audience’s shoes. Take on their perspective to better understand it. Then, develop a big idea that supports your audience’s needs and delivers a compelling outcome for them. Make sure you continue to listen An undervalued component of communication strategy is listening. Without it, you do not have a way to craft a communication that will address their needs. As you work with your client or prospect to repair and improve your relationship, you’ll need to do a lot of listening before you can offer an effective solution. But even after you’ve agreed on a course of action to make things better going forward, you must continue to practice listening. When your client offers feedback, take it into consideration as you move forward. And if your client doesn’t offer feedback, consider asking them for their suggestions and reflections periodically. Not only will this help you ensure you’re meeting your client’s needs, but it will also build trust. Training Can Help You Revive Client Relationships The strategy outlined above cannot be successful without clear, effective communication. So how do you ensure that your communication will be effective, and what does this effective communication look like? Consider investing in training to build your communication skills and develop effective strategies. Try business storytelling training Business storytelling training — and using a storytelling framework — can help make communication easier to understand. Imagine if you had a roadmap for clearly articulating the why, what, and how of the story that you can share with clients or prospects. This clear and focused communication can keep the lines open and enable you to meet them where they are. Effective communication facilitates the seller’s ability to respond to the needs of buyers, helping avoid the “sore spots” that can strain relationships in the first place. Not only that, business storytelling training can help your team develop executive presence, a critical skill in relationship-building, which will set you up for success down the road. It is also important to consider the needs of your prospects or clients. Maybe they would appreciate having information presented visually. Maybe they like facts and data. Enabling your sales team to perfect storytelling with data can develop skills that sellers may not normally have but need to be successful. Struggling Relationships are an Invitation to Better Communication If your team is struggling to build and maintain relationships with clients and prospects, poor communication is a likely culprit, whether it initially feels that way or not. While resetting and listening are important first steps, it is critical to enable your team with tools to help them reset and build a strong foundation for future growth with the client. Communications training — learning how to build clear, relevant stories using the why, what and how of the solution to build on — will not only allow your sellers to communicate more clearly, but also build stronger relationships and potentially sell bigger deals.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Hero-How-Comms-Training-Can-Build-1200x627-R1.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T15:26:11-05:00" }, { "id": 9028, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/want-an-edge-in-the-age-of-digital-selling-craft-meaningful-stories/", "title": "Want an Edge in the Age of Digital Selling? Craft Meaningful Stories", "h1": "Want an Edge in the Age of Digital Selling? Craft Meaningful Stories", "summary": "", "content": "

Sales today is facing a perfect storm of challenges: Buyers have more control over the sales process than ever; they’re concerned and distracted by a unique combination of supply chain upheaval, high employee turnover, and rising inflation; and finally, buyers aren’t willing to give as much time to salespeople because of tight schedules and all of the previously mentioned concerns that are eating up their bandwidth. It all means that selling is harder than it’s ever been before.

Sales Has Changed, and Sellers Must Change with It

What’s more, the move to digital has completely transformed the way we sell. Whether a business buyer is searching for office supplies or enterprise technology, they can easily and quickly access huge amounts of information about almost any product or company long before they ever talk to a sales representative. This is an especially challenging shift for business-to-business (B2B) sales, where chief sales officers have been slower than their business-to-consumer (B2C) counterparts to move away from thinking that the traditional sales process is the best — maybe even the only — way for buyers to learn what they need to know before pulling the trigger to buy.

Putting a finer point on the impact of this change, Gartner research found that B2B buyers now spend only 17% of their total purchase journey in conversations with sales reps. Considering the average business purchase involves multiple potential suppliers, any given sales rep gets roughly 5% of a customer’s total purchase time, according to the research.

That’s worth repeating. You or your sales rep can now expect to get only 5% of a customer’s total purchase time!

The good news is that in this quickly changing age of digital everything, salespeople can turn to a traditional, time-honored, and tried-and-true method for closing more deals: craft authentic, audience-centric stories.

\"\"

First, Embrace the New Realities of Selling

Despite spending increasingly less time with sales reps, research shows that one of the biggest reasons people buy is their experience with the seller. So, when a buyer does finally interact with a salesperson today — even if it’s only for a small fraction of the entire buyer journey — it’s more important than ever to build relationships. Why? Because it will help you quickly lead to these three outcomes:

To achieve those goals, sales needs to come to terms with a few new realities.

Sales is no longer the source of all knowledge and wisdom

As sales converges with marketing and customer service, selling has become “more about helping and less about hyping,” in the words of Joel Book, director of digital marketing insight for Salesforce. Motivational speaker Tony Robbins has a similar attitude toward the role that salespeople need to play today: “Engaging people is about meeting their needs — not yours.”

A bad salesperson concentrates solely on what they want to say. A good salesperson understands prospects want to be heard — and not have their time wasted listening to information they already have or don’t need to hear. Sales leaders who are reluctant to acknowledge their customers’ digital-first proclivities will be outpaced by their competitors who are delivering significant value through digital and omnichannel sales models.

“We are witnessing a decided end to the era where sales reps were the channel; now they are merely a channel to customers.” — Gartner, 5 Ways the Future of B2B Buying Will Rewrite the Rules of Effective Selling

Sales needs to be a sense-maker, not an information bombarder

In the new sales model, sales reps and specialists will play a more prominent role navigating self-learning customers toward more confident decisions, not by arming them with more information, but by helping them make sense of the information they already have. The age is gone when salespeople made a good impression by rolling out all of their product’s features and benefits via emails, white papers, e-books, and sales sheets.

Why? Because sales prospects already have that information, and they trust it. They’re simply overwhelmed. Nearly 9 out of 10 respondents to Gartner’s 2019 Buyer Survey felt the information they had encountered in a recent purchase was generally of high quality, relevant, and evidenced. Yet over half reported feeling overwhelmed specifically by the volume of trustworthy information they encountered as part of their purchase journey.

So more information isn’t necessarily the answer if you want better sales. Sales reps instead need to help buyers make sense of it all — and, of course, guide them to the decision they hope for.

\"\"Second, Learn How Every Customer Is Unique

A well-planned presentation is key to success when presenting your ideas to colleagues. But the needs of audience members change depending on their modality, and typically it’s easier for virtual audiences to feel left out. For this reason, make sure that your presentation takes both in-person and remote audiences into consideration, but focus on virtual participants first to make sure they feel heard and seen.

Take the time to learn about your buyer

If you want to build trust and credibility with buyers, you can’t assume that the same pitch will work for all of them. Rather than starting your process by building your story in PowerPoint (or Google Slides, or whatever format you use), first spend some time considering the mindset of your prospect. 

Who are they? What makes them unique? What is happening in their world? You might be surprised to learn — and it’s a good idea to assume — that certain assumptions about your audience are wrong. Digging deeper will give you more insight into what’s familiar for them, ensuring your narrative is relevant and effective.

Ask questions — and carefully listen to their answers

How do you learn about your prospect? Use storytelling to deepen understanding and engagement. Here are three tactics for doing just that:

  1. Have prospects tell their own stories about current challenges, and ask for specific examples and anecdotes. This helps your buyers think through their problems in a different way and discover new insights on their own — which in turn builds their trust in you. It also helps establish you as someone supporting them to separate the wheat from all of the information chaff they’ve amassed about whatever it is that you’re selling.
  2. Identify each buyer’s “root cause” — the singular problem they’re facing that has led them to you. Again, walk in the shoes of each individual buyer and see things from their point of view. The alternative is missing a larger opportunity for personal connection — and closing a deal.
  3. Don’t get stuck in the tactical items you’ve built into your presentation, or all the minutiae of your products or services. Instead, direct your buyer to think about their business in a different light, from the perspective of their root cause for needing what you’re selling. This will help you create excitement and motivate your buyer to join you on this journey.

Third, Learn How to Tell a Great Story: 5 Top Tips (It’s Easier Than You Think)

\"\"Now, about that thing mentioned at the top of this article: the power of storytelling for better selling. The human brain is wired for stories. Here are three clear reasons why meaningful, authentic stories are much more likely to get a prospect to act the way you want them to:

  1. A story helps people connect with an idea through emotion. It helps give your buyer a reason to care about what you’re selling and about you.
  2. It helps your prospects better understand the complexities and abstractions of your product or service, because you put all of that in a context that’s more tangible and relatable to them and addressing their most pressing pain.
  3. It weaves facts and data (all of those important features and benefits that are your differentiators) into a story that creates a much more memorable, more effective sales presentation.

In short, a great story creates the connection and trust that buyers are craving. It doesn’t just pile on more information for them to wade through.

And the best part? Great storytelling is not only a learnable skill, it’s easier than you might think. Here are five tips for crafting an engaging story that gets your prospect to say “yes.”

  1. Build a compelling story

A surefire way to capture any prospect’s attention is by applying a universal story structure, which has four elements: setting, character, conflict, and resolution.

  1. Give them something to stay focused on: your BIG Idea

Your story needs a singular throughline — the one clear thing you want your prospect to take away from the presentation. Think about it like this: If you only had one chance to send an email to your entire sales pipeline to explain your main selling point, what would the subject line be? 

This is your presentation’s BIG Idea. It needs to:

  1. Customize the broad-brush canvas

After you have created a compelling story for general use, you need to adapt it for different prospects and markets. This ties back to the importance of listening to your buyer and realizing each prospect is unique.

With a solid story structure already in place, you only need to switch out content in the appropriate sections. Maybe you can “mix and match” your characters or the setting. Or you can swap out case studies or testimonials to be as relevant as possible for each prospect.

Over time, your sales team might try to build a “grab-and-go” library of customization options you can all share to connect better with vertical markets, regions, buyer demographics, etc. Just be sure to steer clear of the dreaded Frankendeck!

  1. Use your data wisely

Data can easily become the demise of a great story. Or it can play a wonderfully engaging supporting role. Are you using data strategically to bolster your ideas? The trick is to wrap your data inside of your story, not the other way around. The best storytellers do exactly this because they keep one important fact in mind: People are 22 times more likely to remember information when it’s wrapped in a story.

When you do use data, be sure it directly and clearly helps your buyer navigate all of the information they already have (yet another admonition not to pile more information on top of your overloaded buyer).

  1. Guide buyers to a choice

When it’s all said and done, you want to make it easy for your buyer to feel that you’re offering them a trustworthy path to a rational choice. You want them to feel you’re helping them make the right choice amid a chaotic market or among a confusing array of options.

One way to embrace this sense-making approach is to apply the unique value-add that you bring to guide customers to make a confident decision. Another way is to minimize uncertainty over competing perspectives and potential alternate actions the buyer might make — make their decision-making process easier, not more challenging.

\"\"When It Comes to Selling, Story Is Key

No matter how much digital technology changes the role of the salesperson, one thing remains true: Great storytelling will always win the hearts and minds of buyers. Because at the end of day, and especially in the B2B sales world, people want to buy from people they trust and whom they feel have truly listened to them.

The time you get with prospects may be getting shorter and shorter. But the victories will go to salespeople who, no matter how limited their face time with a prospect is, can tell a story that shows that they thoroughly understand their buyer’s most critical problems and help them cut through all of the noise to guide them toward a better future.

", "content_plain": "Sales today is facing a perfect storm of challenges: Buyers have more control over the sales process than ever; they’re concerned and distracted by a unique combination of supply chain upheaval, high employee turnover, and rising inflation; and finally, buyers aren’t willing to give as much time to salespeople because of tight schedules and all of the previously mentioned concerns that are eating up their bandwidth. It all means that selling is harder than it’s ever been before. Sales Has Changed, and Sellers Must Change with It What’s more, the move to digital has completely transformed the way we sell. Whether a business buyer is searching for office supplies or enterprise technology, they can easily and quickly access huge amounts of information about almost any product or company long before they ever talk to a sales representative. This is an especially challenging shift for business-to-business (B2B) sales, where chief sales officers have been slower than their business-to-consumer (B2C) counterparts to move away from thinking that the traditional sales process is the best — maybe even the only — way for buyers to learn what they need to know before pulling the trigger to buy. Putting a finer point on the impact of this change, Gartner research found that B2B buyers now spend only 17% of their total purchase journey in conversations with sales reps. Considering the average business purchase involves multiple potential suppliers, any given sales rep gets roughly 5% of a customer’s total purchase time, according to the research. That’s worth repeating. You or your sales rep can now expect to get only 5% of a customer’s total purchase time! The good news is that in this quickly changing age of digital everything, salespeople can turn to a traditional, time-honored, and tried-and-true method for closing more deals: craft authentic, audience-centric stories. First, Embrace the New Realities of Selling Despite spending increasingly less time with sales reps, research shows that one of the biggest reasons people buy is their experience with the seller. So, when a buyer does finally interact with a salesperson today — even if it’s only for a small fraction of the entire buyer journey — it’s more important than ever to build relationships. Why? Because it will help you quickly lead to these three outcomes: Create trust and connection between the buyer and the seller, as opposed to seeing an opportunity for the seller to roll out all of the product’s features and functions (which, by the way, the buyer likely already knows about!) Guide the buyer through the mountain of information already consumed, downloaded, or printed out, to help reach a decision Put the buyer at ease with the whole process To achieve those goals, sales needs to come to terms with a few new realities. Sales is no longer the source of all knowledge and wisdom As sales converges with marketing and customer service, selling has become “more about helping and less about hyping,” in the words of Joel Book, director of digital marketing insight for Salesforce. Motivational speaker Tony Robbins has a similar attitude toward the role that salespeople need to play today: “Engaging people is about meeting their needs — not yours.” A bad salesperson concentrates solely on what they want to say. A good salesperson understands prospects want to be heard — and not have their time wasted listening to information they already have or don’t need to hear. Sales leaders who are reluctant to acknowledge their customers’ digital-first proclivities will be outpaced by their competitors who are delivering significant value through digital and omnichannel sales models. “We are witnessing a decided end to the era where sales reps were the channel; now they are merely a channel to customers.” — Gartner, 5 Ways the Future of B2B Buying Will Rewrite the Rules of Effective Selling Sales needs to be a sense-maker, not an information bombarder In the new sales model, sales reps and specialists will play a more prominent role navigating self-learning customers toward more confident decisions, not by arming them with more information, but by helping them make sense of the information they already have. The age is gone when salespeople made a good impression by rolling out all of their product’s features and benefits via emails, white papers, e-books, and sales sheets. Why? Because sales prospects already have that information, and they trust it. They’re simply overwhelmed. Nearly 9 out of 10 respondents to Gartner’s 2019 Buyer Survey felt the information they had encountered in a recent purchase was generally of high quality, relevant, and evidenced. Yet over half reported feeling overwhelmed specifically by the volume of trustworthy information they encountered as part of their purchase journey. So more information isn’t necessarily the answer if you want better sales. Sales reps instead need to help buyers make sense of it all — and, of course, guide them to the decision they hope for. Second, Learn How Every Customer Is Unique A well-planned presentation is key to success when presenting your ideas to colleagues. But the needs of audience members change depending on their modality, and typically it’s easier for virtual audiences to feel left out. For this reason, make sure that your presentation takes both in-person and remote audiences into consideration, but focus on virtual participants first to make sure they feel heard and seen. Take the time to learn about your buyer If you want to build trust and credibility with buyers, you can’t assume that the same pitch will work for all of them. Rather than starting your process by building your story in PowerPoint (or Google Slides, or whatever format you use), first spend some time considering the mindset of your prospect. Who are they? What makes them unique? What is happening in their world? You might be surprised to learn — and it’s a good idea to assume — that certain assumptions about your audience are wrong. Digging deeper will give you more insight into what’s familiar for them, ensuring your narrative is relevant and effective. Ask questions — and carefully listen to their answers How do you learn about your prospect? Use storytelling to deepen understanding and engagement. Here are three tactics for doing just that: Have prospects tell their own stories about current challenges, and ask for specific examples and anecdotes. This helps your buyers think through their problems in a different way and discover new insights on their own — which in turn builds their trust in you. It also helps establish you as someone supporting them to separate the wheat from all of the information chaff they’ve amassed about whatever it is that you’re selling. Identify each buyer’s “root cause” — the singular problem they’re facing that has led them to you. Again, walk in the shoes of each individual buyer and see things from their point of view. The alternative is missing a larger opportunity for personal connection — and closing a deal. Don’t get stuck in the tactical items you’ve built into your presentation, or all the minutiae of your products or services. Instead, direct your buyer to think about their business in a different light, from the perspective of their root cause for needing what you’re selling. This will help you create excitement and motivate your buyer to join you on this journey. Third, Learn How to Tell a Great Story: 5 Top Tips (It’s Easier Than You Think) Now, about that thing mentioned at the top of this article: the power of storytelling for better selling. The human brain is wired for stories. Here are three clear reasons why meaningful, authentic stories are much more likely to get a prospect to act the way you want them to: A story helps people connect with an idea through emotion. It helps give your buyer a reason to care about what you’re selling and about you. It helps your prospects better understand the complexities and abstractions of your product or service, because you put all of that in a context that’s more tangible and relatable to them and addressing their most pressing pain. It weaves facts and data (all of those important features and benefits that are your differentiators) into a story that creates a much more memorable, more effective sales presentation. In short, a great story creates the connection and trust that buyers are craving. It doesn’t just pile on more information for them to wade through. And the best part? Great storytelling is not only a learnable skill, it’s easier than you might think. Here are five tips for crafting an engaging story that gets your prospect to say “yes.” Build a compelling story A surefire way to capture any prospect’s attention is by applying a universal story structure, which has four elements: setting, character, conflict, and resolution. Set the scene and ground the conversation with context by introducing a setting — for example, their root cause for seeking what you’re selling. Use characters to create empathy — maybe similar companies with the same problem, or even a story about yourself or a fictitious character. Create tension by adding some conflict — for example, the consequences of sticking with the status quo or of buying from a competitor.Finally, share the action that your buyers should ultimately take — guide them to choose your product or service. Give them something to stay focused on: your BIG Idea Your story needs a singular throughline — the one clear thing you want your prospect to take away from the presentation. Think about it like this: If you only had one chance to send an email to your entire sales pipeline to explain your main selling point, what would the subject line be? This is your presentation’s BIG Idea. It needs to: Address the central issue — the root cause — that your buyer cares most about Tie back to helping your buyers make sense of what they’re seeing and help guide them to a decision Help them feel confident in what they’re learning elsewhere and make the learning journey clear-cut and painless, by offering a clear path for them to stay on Customize the broad-brush canvas After you have created a compelling story for general use, you need to adapt it for different prospects and markets. This ties back to the importance of listening to your buyer and realizing each prospect is unique. With a solid story structure already in place, you only need to switch out content in the appropriate sections. Maybe you can “mix and match” your characters or the setting. Or you can swap out case studies or testimonials to be as relevant as possible for each prospect. Over time, your sales team might try to build a “grab-and-go” library of customization options you can all share to connect better with vertical markets, regions, buyer demographics, etc. Just be sure to steer clear of the dreaded Frankendeck! Use your data wisely Data can easily become the demise of a great story. Or it can play a wonderfully engaging supporting role. Are you using data strategically to bolster your ideas? The trick is to wrap your data inside of your story, not the other way around. The best storytellers do exactly this because they keep one important fact in mind: People are 22 times more likely to remember information when it’s wrapped in a story. When you do use data, be sure it directly and clearly helps your buyer navigate all of the information they already have (yet another admonition not to pile more information on top of your overloaded buyer). Guide buyers to a choice When it’s all said and done, you want to make it easy for your buyer to feel that you’re offering them a trustworthy path to a rational choice. You want them to feel you’re helping them make the right choice amid a chaotic market or among a confusing array of options. One way to embrace this sense-making approach is to apply the unique value-add that you bring to guide customers to make a confident decision. Another way is to minimize uncertainty over competing perspectives and potential alternate actions the buyer might make — make their decision-making process easier, not more challenging. When It Comes to Selling, Story Is Key No matter how much digital technology changes the role of the salesperson, one thing remains true: Great storytelling will always win the hearts and minds of buyers. Because at the end of day, and especially in the B2B sales world, people want to buy from people they trust and whom they feel have truly listened to them. The time you get with prospects may be getting shorter and shorter. But the victories will go to salespeople who, no matter how limited their face time with a prospect is, can tell a story that shows that they thoroughly understand their buyer’s most critical problems and help them cut through all of the noise to guide them toward a better future.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/TPC-Hero-BetterSellingWithStorytelling-R1.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T15:26:32-05:00" }, { "id": 9022, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/a-sellers-guide-to-building-and-maintaining-strong-relationships/", "title": "A Seller’s Guide to Building & Maintaining Strong Relationships — in Any Communication Environment", "h1": "A Seller’s Guide to Building & Maintaining Strong Relationships — in Any Communication Environment", "summary": "", "content": "

Have you struggled with building trust and credibility with prospects, clients, or business partners in virtual or hybrid environments? If so, you’re not alone. The days of relying on wining and dining prospects to grow and nurture relationships are pretty much gone. Sure, social distancing requirements put a dent in the traditional in-person avenues for talking business. But even before that, the way salespeople developed meaningful relationships was changing. The world had started going virtual long before COVID-19, and the change seems to be permanent.

In short, many of the walls (and most of the swanky, reimbursed dinners) have been removed. Top salespeople are adapting accordingly, which means not only building a good message, but also being able to deliver it with communication skills and savviness in any sales situation — from social selling (using social media to interact with prospects and customers) to presentations, as well in emails, brochures, and one-pagers.

Increasing your sales revenue starts with learning how to execute on the mission-critical basics, like communication. Then you and your team can learn how to polish, refine, and personalize your sales communications to become true sales superstars — in front of any audience and in any situation.

This guide offers eight proven, practical tips for communicating better, so any sales team can build and maintain strong relationships with prospects, clients, and business partners in today’s increasingly virtual, hybrid-workplace, and mobile world.

Learn the Mission-critical Basics

  1. Craft meaningful, compelling stories using a simple framework

Great salespeople know intuitively what neuroscience has proven: People make decisions based on a combination of logic and emotion. And of course, the purpose of nearly all sales communication is to drive one decision — to buy from you. Undeniably, the most effective way to establish the potent decision-driving combo of logic and emotion is by weaving your facts, data, and ideas into stories.

The best stories knit your sales facts, data, and ideas together using a simple, repeatable framework with setting, characters, conflict and resolution, with a big idea running through them. The big idea is your through-line; it’s the best way to cut through the noise of your competitors and connect with your audience. This story structure allows you to organize information and stay nimble in any presentation and for any audience and drive them to the decision you want. It also allows you to be highly responsive to questions and be able to easily and efficiently customize a sales presentation (or any high-stakes communication) for any audience, even with little or no notice.

  1. Make it a dialogue, not a one-sided monologue

Just because you’re not sitting face-to-face or exchanging pleasantries over lunch doesn’t mean you can’t master the critical skill of keeping your prospect (or your client or business partner) interacting with you. Interaction is critical to keeping people engaged and guiding them to the outcome you want to see.

We’ve learned that virtual presentations fall apart for two main reasons: Either your audience gets bored or you’re failing to sufficiently respond to their needs. To prevent either of those pitfalls, pause during your presentation to ask if your pace is alright, if your content is resonating with your audience, and if they have any questions. Also, you need to present yourself authentically and be just as relatable, approachable, and vulnerable virtually as you are when you are sitting in front of a prospect.

You can also enhance your personal connection with any virtual audience by leveraging the interactivity tools built into web conferencing platforms. You can launch a poll, invite chat responses, activate a Q&A session, and more. For these reasons alone, you can’t use the same presentation deck or demo in a virtual meeting that you may have successfully delivered in conference rooms countless times before.

  1. Set yourself up for success

Just as you check your clothes and appearance before a face-to-face sales meeting, and just as you make sure your meeting room is properly arranged, the success in the world of virtual sales similarly demands that you pay attention to a host of details to make sure things go smoothly. You don’t want to lose a deal because of a technical glitch or oversight.

Here are a few of the most basic tips to avert disaster in online meetings:

These may sound like no-brainers, but you’d be surprised how little it takes for a presentation to implode before it ever gets off the ground.

  1. Have a backup plan to divert disaster

You don’t want your presentation to fall flat or leave your prospect sitting in the dark when your virtual presentation goes awry. In addition to potential technical glitches, you often can’t read facial responses or body language in virtual presentations. Great communication always includes a contingency plan. For example:

Learn the Fine Points to Become a Sales Presentation Superstar

  1. Practice, so you present confidently

It bears repeating that it’s a new world for selling, and if you’re serious about staying ahead of the competition you need to hone your online delivery skills. And the best way to do that is to practice using all the tools at your disposal and rehearse your presentation. It’s not like when you could just get up from your seat and walk over to the whiteboard on the wall.

Rehearsing will help you refine your presentation skills, so you know when and how to seamlessly transition from your content to an interactive tool, such as a whiteboard, chat discussion or poll. Practice is also the only way to get the full impact of the presentation platform’s annotation tools and interactivity tools.

At minimum, you should rehearse your opening, transitions, and closing slides. This is different from reading your presenter notes verbatim; you want to remain natural and personable during your presentation. Finally, use trial and error in your practice runs. It’s how you’ll grow as a presenter and figure out which tools you’re most comfortable using — and which you might choose to avoid!

  1. Build your presentations to be visually engaging

In an environment where you don’t have the benefit of body language, visuals can make or break your presentation. That’s why you want to learn how to build decks that have a proven underlying structure, and have a guided, logical flow that considers every moment of your presentation. Not only does science tell us that the human eye (and brain) process visuals much faster than text, but in an environment where you don’t have the benefit of body language, visuals can make or break your presentation.

So, slide decks for virtual presentations should provide a guided, logical flow that considers every moment of your presentation. For example, consider using a “visual pause” to transition into new sections of your deck, rather than verbally moving on or simply relying on the headline of the first slide of the new section. Your “visual pause” can be as simple as a separate slide with icons or oversized text.

This tactic serves another important purpose as well: It provides a chance for you to entertain questions, solicit feedback, or bring your audience back into focus.

\"\"

  1. Don’t leave your data behind

Speaking of being visually engaging, virtual meetings can be a goldmine full of sales-driving insights. All of those chat conversations, poll responses, and whiteboard brainstorm sessions that went on during the presentation are teeming with juicy information. All of that interactivity and in-the-moment thinking — including things you may not even have thought about — is yours to review offline later.

Although taking notes during your presentation or recording is never a bad thing, there’s a quicker way to save and reflect on these insights: Manually save the logs via your virtual meeting platform. Be sure to save your chat or feedback logs before you close the session.

  1. Be flexible — to switch gears at the drop of a hat

To really be a sales presentation superstar, you need to learn how to use the tools that allow you to flex and pivot to meet different audience “care-abouts.” Why? Because you might easily find yourself presenting to stakeholders who you weren’t expecting to be in the meeting at all. Or you might suddenly find that your setting has changed — for example, if you thought you had 30 minutes and at the last minute learn you only have five.

This is where the story framework and big idea really show their value for skilled presenters. With a carefully defined big idea, you can provoke a dialogue with any audience. If they want further context, you can pivot to the setting, characters, or conflict in your story. On the other hand, if you suddenly learn you only have five minutes to present instead of 30, your big idea can act as a very brief background explanation to what you were going to present in your full presentation.

Improve Your Sales Team’s Communication Skills No Matter Where the Conversation Occurs

Whether in person or virtually, great salespeople have a coherent, structured story that they bring to life visually and punctuate with plenty of pauses to generate valuable interaction. With this kind of skill, any salesperson can continue to sell confidently and successfully regardless of the setting, unexpected challenges and changes that may be thrown at them.

", "content_plain": "Have you struggled with building trust and credibility with prospects, clients, or business partners in virtual or hybrid environments? If so, you’re not alone. The days of relying on wining and dining prospects to grow and nurture relationships are pretty much gone. Sure, social distancing requirements put a dent in the traditional in-person avenues for talking business. But even before that, the way salespeople developed meaningful relationships was changing. The world had started going virtual long before COVID-19, and the change seems to be permanent. In short, many of the walls (and most of the swanky, reimbursed dinners) have been removed. Top salespeople are adapting accordingly, which means not only building a good message, but also being able to deliver it with communication skills and savviness in any sales situation — from social selling (using social media to interact with prospects and customers) to presentations, as well in emails, brochures, and one-pagers. Increasing your sales revenue starts with learning how to execute on the mission-critical basics, like communication. Then you and your team can learn how to polish, refine, and personalize your sales communications to become true sales superstars — in front of any audience and in any situation. This guide offers eight proven, practical tips for communicating better, so any sales team can build and maintain strong relationships with prospects, clients, and business partners in today’s increasingly virtual, hybrid-workplace, and mobile world. Learn the Mission-critical Basics Craft meaningful, compelling stories using a simple framework Great salespeople know intuitively what neuroscience has proven: People make decisions based on a combination of logic and emotion. And of course, the purpose of nearly all sales communication is to drive one decision — to buy from you. Undeniably, the most effective way to establish the potent decision-driving combo of logic and emotion is by weaving your facts, data, and ideas into stories. The best stories knit your sales facts, data, and ideas together using a simple, repeatable framework with setting, characters, conflict and resolution, with a big idea running through them. The big idea is your through-line; it’s the best way to cut through the noise of your competitors and connect with your audience. This story structure allows you to organize information and stay nimble in any presentation and for any audience and drive them to the decision you want. It also allows you to be highly responsive to questions and be able to easily and efficiently customize a sales presentation (or any high-stakes communication) for any audience, even with little or no notice. Make it a dialogue, not a one-sided monologue Just because you’re not sitting face-to-face or exchanging pleasantries over lunch doesn’t mean you can’t master the critical skill of keeping your prospect (or your client or business partner) interacting with you. Interaction is critical to keeping people engaged and guiding them to the outcome you want to see. We’ve learned that virtual presentations fall apart for two main reasons: Either your audience gets bored or you’re failing to sufficiently respond to their needs. To prevent either of those pitfalls, pause during your presentation to ask if your pace is alright, if your content is resonating with your audience, and if they have any questions. Also, you need to present yourself authentically and be just as relatable, approachable, and vulnerable virtually as you are when you are sitting in front of a prospect. You can also enhance your personal connection with any virtual audience by leveraging the interactivity tools built into web conferencing platforms. You can launch a poll, invite chat responses, activate a Q&A session, and more. For these reasons alone, you can’t use the same presentation deck or demo in a virtual meeting that you may have successfully delivered in conference rooms countless times before. Set yourself up for success Just as you check your clothes and appearance before a face-to-face sales meeting, and just as you make sure your meeting room is properly arranged, the success in the world of virtual sales similarly demands that you pay attention to a host of details to make sure things go smoothly. You don’t want to lose a deal because of a technical glitch or oversight. Here are a few of the most basic tips to avert disaster in online meetings: Make sure all devices are plugged into power and have a strong internet connection. Log into your virtual meeting on two separate devices (e.g., two computers or a computer and a tablet). On your main computer, log into the virtual room and use this computer to upload or share content, annotate your slides, and monitor audience feedback. On your back-up device, log in as a participant using a name like “Your name — Backup.” Mute your back-up device to avoid feedback. This will allow you to see what participants see, so you can avoid asking questions like, “can you see this?” Connect to the audio using a hands-free headset; avoid using your computer’s microphone and speakers, because the audio quality can be poor. Know how to mute individuals who might not realize their audio line is open, causing background noise. These may sound like no-brainers, but you’d be surprised how little it takes for a presentation to implode before it ever gets off the ground. Have a backup plan to divert disaster You don’t want your presentation to fall flat or leave your prospect sitting in the dark when your virtual presentation goes awry. In addition to potential technical glitches, you often can’t read facial responses or body language in virtual presentations. Great communication always includes a contingency plan. For example: If the hardware breaks or your presentation won’t work, have backup screenshots ready to share instead. If you’re getting low responses to polls, check to make sure the poll is open, verbally remind participants specifically what they need to do to vote. If you’re not getting comments or questions in the chat panel, use staged questions to get people thinking. Also, model behavior for your audience by typing in the chat function yourself to show participants what you’re looking for or launch icebreakers to get the conversations started. Learn the Fine Points to Become a Sales Presentation Superstar Practice, so you present confidently It bears repeating that it’s a new world for selling, and if you’re serious about staying ahead of the competition you need to hone your online delivery skills. And the best way to do that is to practice using all the tools at your disposal and rehearse your presentation. It’s not like when you could just get up from your seat and walk over to the whiteboard on the wall. Rehearsing will help you refine your presentation skills, so you know when and how to seamlessly transition from your content to an interactive tool, such as a whiteboard, chat discussion or poll. Practice is also the only way to get the full impact of the presentation platform’s annotation tools and interactivity tools. At minimum, you should rehearse your opening, transitions, and closing slides. This is different from reading your presenter notes verbatim; you want to remain natural and personable during your presentation. Finally, use trial and error in your practice runs. It’s how you’ll grow as a presenter and figure out which tools you’re most comfortable using — and which you might choose to avoid! Build your presentations to be visually engaging In an environment where you don’t have the benefit of body language, visuals can make or break your presentation. That’s why you want to learn how to build decks that have a proven underlying structure, and have a guided, logical flow that considers every moment of your presentation. Not only does science tell us that the human eye (and brain) process visuals much faster than text, but in an environment where you don’t have the benefit of body language, visuals can make or break your presentation. So, slide decks for virtual presentations should provide a guided, logical flow that considers every moment of your presentation. For example, consider using a “visual pause” to transition into new sections of your deck, rather than verbally moving on or simply relying on the headline of the first slide of the new section. Your “visual pause” can be as simple as a separate slide with icons or oversized text. This tactic serves another important purpose as well: It provides a chance for you to entertain questions, solicit feedback, or bring your audience back into focus. Don’t leave your data behind Speaking of being visually engaging, virtual meetings can be a goldmine full of sales-driving insights. All of those chat conversations, poll responses, and whiteboard brainstorm sessions that went on during the presentation are teeming with juicy information. All of that interactivity and in-the-moment thinking — including things you may not even have thought about — is yours to review offline later. Although taking notes during your presentation or recording is never a bad thing, there’s a quicker way to save and reflect on these insights: Manually save the logs via your virtual meeting platform. Be sure to save your chat or feedback logs before you close the session. Be flexible — to switch gears at the drop of a hat To really be a sales presentation superstar, you need to learn how to use the tools that allow you to flex and pivot to meet different audience “care-abouts.” Why? Because you might easily find yourself presenting to stakeholders who you weren’t expecting to be in the meeting at all. Or you might suddenly find that your setting has changed — for example, if you thought you had 30 minutes and at the last minute learn you only have five. This is where the story framework and big idea really show their value for skilled presenters. With a carefully defined big idea, you can provoke a dialogue with any audience. If they want further context, you can pivot to the setting, characters, or conflict in your story. On the other hand, if you suddenly learn you only have five minutes to present instead of 30, your big idea can act as a very brief background explanation to what you were going to present in your full presentation. Improve Your Sales Team’s Communication Skills No Matter Where the Conversation Occurs Whether in person or virtually, great salespeople have a coherent, structured story that they bring to life visually and punctuate with plenty of pauses to generate valuable interaction. With this kind of skill, any salesperson can continue to sell confidently and successfully regardless of the setting, unexpected challenges and changes that may be thrown at them.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/A-Sellers-Guide-to-Building-Maintaining-Strong-Relationships-—in-Any-Communication-Environment.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T15:26:55-05:00" }, { "id": 9009, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/the-4-most-common-mistakes-made-by-sellers/", "title": "The 4 Most Common Mistakes Made by Sellers", "h1": "The 4 Most Common Mistakes Made by Sellers", "summary": "", "content": "

Are your prospects ghosting you — failing to respond to emails and calls? Are your sales materials failing to generate your desired outcomes? If so, you may be falling victim to some of the biggest mistakes sellers make when contacting potential buyers. Read on to learn the four things buyers would change about sellers, as well as strategies to help you avoid committing these errors.

We all fall into habits with repetition. When it comes to selling, some of those habits may not contribute to success. If you’ve ever wondered, “What does that buyer want?” — keep reading.

\"\"Sellers Don’t Understand the Buyer’s Needs — and It Shows

In sales, trust is critical. Without it, buyers say they won’t feel comfortable signing on with a seller. It’s fair to say that when a deal falls through, a lack of trust likely played a role.

Step 1 in building trust: Diagnose the buyer’s problem

Building trust with buyers can be challenging and, honestly, it takes serious effort.
If you want to build trust with potential clients, be sure to dig deep into their company’s needs and be prepared to demonstrate your nuanced understanding of the challenges they face. A good seller will be able to demonstrate knowledge of how the buyer’s business works, the stakeholders involved, and the specific struggles facing the company.

Once you demonstrate a thorough and nuanced understanding of the challenges facing your buyer, you’ll have the credibility to talk persuasively about solutions.

Step 2 in building trust: Make sure buyers can tell you’ve put in the work to understand their needs

When we ask buyers to tell us about the biggest mistake sellers make, they say it’s that sellers sound like they really understand their needs. It’s not enough to do your research to understand your client’s situation. You need to show buyers that you understand their problems — and that you’re a reliable partner that will help them find a solution.

\"\"It’s All About the Seller — and That’s a Problem

Without a nuanced understanding of the buyer’s needs, sellers will fall back on talking about what they know — the thing they’re selling. This leads to sales conversations that focus on product features instead of the challenges facing the buyer. When sellers talk about themselves, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to excite the buyer with solutions to their problems, which means they probably won’t be able to close the deal.

Sellers need to be creative problem-solvers

When you work to identify the core problems facing a potential client, you’re not only in a position to build trust, you’ll possess a nuanced understanding of the issues that will enable you to come up with — and sell — a solution.

In essence, sellers are creative problem-solvers. As a seller, you can help potential clients reimagine and better understand their challenges. This can be a powerful service, in addition to helping you make the sale.

Sellers need to understand the root causes of the buyer’s problem

To be successful, sellers need to immerse themselves in the client’s world until they understand what’s going on, who’s involved, and what challenges they face. In doing so, sellers put themselves in a position to build that trust and excitement in the buyer. The thing is, clients often don’t fully understand the problems they face. As a result, they may not be able to identify the best solution without help. That’s where the seller comes in. By understanding the root cause of a buyer’s problem, sellers can make a more compelling argument that their solution is the answer.

\"\"Sellers Don’t Pivot to Meet the Buyer’s Needs

One of the things that can make selling hard is that, even within a given organization, there can be multiple stakeholders who all have different priorities, needs, and challenges. A good seller has to be able to present a coherent and persuasive argument that’s consistent and catered to the needs of various audiences — we call this being situationally fluent.

Situational fluency is a critical skill for sellers, especially when they’re making a sales presentation. When your audience is made up of multiple stakeholders, you must organize your presentation to meet the various care-abouts of those stakeholders. If you don’t, then you risk losing support from everyone in the group, and may ultimately fail to close the deal.

A storytelling framework guides you through the pivot

To effectively pivot during a presentation, savvy sellers use a business storytelling framework to organize their ideas and authentically understand the customer’s needs and concerns. Without such a framework, presenters risk going down a rabbit hole of too much information or losing the thread of their argument when they try to pivot to meet the needs of a particular stakeholder. When that happens, it’s hard to stay focused on the buyer’s needs. But with a storytelling framework, you’ll keep your presentation focused on a persuasive narrative, regardless of whether you need to pivot.

A business storytelling framework provides a road map for the facts and data that make up your argument. The major elements of the storytelling framework are:

One of the things that makes a storytelling framework so powerful is that it equips you to pivot — to address the needs of a given stakeholder at a moment’s notice — without disrupting the flow of your argument. Not only that, a storytelling framework helps sellers identify the root cause of the prospect’s problems and articulate a solution. In doing so, sellers can feel confident that they understand the buyer’s mindset, and that the the story they’re telling resonates with them. When it’s done right, business storytelling effectively communicates the fact that you’ve identified and understand the prospect’s needs, and that you offer authentic and actionable solutions.

\"\"Sellers Offer More Information Instead of the Right Information

When sellers don’t put in the work to understand their buyer’s needs upfront, they often overcompensate with information. As a result, presentations tend to contain too much detail. In these situations, every possible data point, statistic, and fact is provided to address any questions that may come up for the buyer. This requires the seller to put in a lot of extra work, and it also gives buyers far more information than they need — much of which isn’t relevant.

Providing too much information is a common struggle for sellers, but it dilutes your most powerful and persuasive arguments, rendering your sales efforts less effective. This approach also hurts buyers. When sellers don’t prioritize information, buyers are left with too much information to decode and filter out. This creates more work for the buyer and renders the entire process less engaging and less helpful.

Storytelling helps you increase efficiency

As we’ve discussed, a storytelling framework helps you address the needs of everyone in the room (or virtual room), all without overwhelming your audience by giving them all the information available to you. Without a storytelling framework, sellers often fall into the trap of using presentation slides to anticipate every question the buyer could possibly ask. The result is an over-long, overwhelming presentation that fails to be persuasive.

Not only do these over-long sales presentations fail to help you close deals, but they waste time. In their attempts to address every possible question a buyer could ask with a slide or graph, sellers end up spending too much time on presentation materials. In the end, the payoff for all that work isn’t worth it because that deck is so long that it’s unusable and, in the end, can only be used once anyway. Talk about inefficient!

To be successful, sellers need to be flexible, responding to audience needs in the moment. For example, when their time with a customer is cut short. As we’ve discussed, a business storytelling framework helps you customize your communications based on your audience and enables you to be nimble based on audience needs. At the same time, story structure allows sellers to create materials that make a compelling argument — one that holds your audience’s attention, while also providing all the information necessary to persuade people that your solution is the one they need.

\"\"Communication Best Practices Can Unlock Your Sales Potential

It’s easy to fall into old habits in sales. But if you’re finding it hard to close deals, some of those strategies may need to be revised. Whether you’re struggling to build trust with potential clients or your pitches just aren’t as persuasive as they could be, identifying common mistakes can help you leverage communication best practices and make more sales.

", "content_plain": "Are your prospects ghosting you — failing to respond to emails and calls? Are your sales materials failing to generate your desired outcomes? If so, you may be falling victim to some of the biggest mistakes sellers make when contacting potential buyers. Read on to learn the four things buyers would change about sellers, as well as strategies to help you avoid committing these errors. We all fall into habits with repetition. When it comes to selling, some of those habits may not contribute to success. If you’ve ever wondered, “What does that buyer want?” — keep reading. Sellers Don’t Understand the Buyer’s Needs — and It Shows In sales, trust is critical. Without it, buyers say they won’t feel comfortable signing on with a seller. It’s fair to say that when a deal falls through, a lack of trust likely played a role. Step 1 in building trust: Diagnose the buyer’s problem Building trust with buyers can be challenging and, honestly, it takes serious effort. If you want to build trust with potential clients, be sure to dig deep into their company’s needs and be prepared to demonstrate your nuanced understanding of the challenges they face. A good seller will be able to demonstrate knowledge of how the buyer’s business works, the stakeholders involved, and the specific struggles facing the company. Once you demonstrate a thorough and nuanced understanding of the challenges facing your buyer, you’ll have the credibility to talk persuasively about solutions. Step 2 in building trust: Make sure buyers can tell you’ve put in the work to understand their needs When we ask buyers to tell us about the biggest mistake sellers make, they say it’s that sellers sound like they really understand their needs. It’s not enough to do your research to understand your client’s situation. You need to show buyers that you understand their problems — and that you’re a reliable partner that will help them find a solution. It’s All About the Seller — and That’s a Problem Without a nuanced understanding of the buyer’s needs, sellers will fall back on talking about what they know — the thing they’re selling. This leads to sales conversations that focus on product features instead of the challenges facing the buyer. When sellers talk about themselves, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to excite the buyer with solutions to their problems, which means they probably won’t be able to close the deal. Sellers need to be creative problem-solvers When you work to identify the core problems facing a potential client, you’re not only in a position to build trust, you’ll possess a nuanced understanding of the issues that will enable you to come up with — and sell — a solution. In essence, sellers are creative problem-solvers. As a seller, you can help potential clients reimagine and better understand their challenges. This can be a powerful service, in addition to helping you make the sale. Sellers need to understand the root causes of the buyer’s problem To be successful, sellers need to immerse themselves in the client’s world until they understand what’s going on, who’s involved, and what challenges they face. In doing so, sellers put themselves in a position to build that trust and excitement in the buyer. The thing is, clients often don’t fully understand the problems they face. As a result, they may not be able to identify the best solution without help. That’s where the seller comes in. By understanding the root cause of a buyer’s problem, sellers can make a more compelling argument that their solution is the answer. Sellers Don’t Pivot to Meet the Buyer’s Needs One of the things that can make selling hard is that, even within a given organization, there can be multiple stakeholders who all have different priorities, needs, and challenges. A good seller has to be able to present a coherent and persuasive argument that’s consistent and catered to the needs of various audiences — we call this being situationally fluent. Situational fluency is a critical skill for sellers, especially when they’re making a sales presentation. When your audience is made up of multiple stakeholders, you must organize your presentation to meet the various care-abouts of those stakeholders. If you don’t, then you risk losing support from everyone in the group, and may ultimately fail to close the deal. A storytelling framework guides you through the pivot To effectively pivot during a presentation, savvy sellers use a business storytelling framework to organize their ideas and authentically understand the customer’s needs and concerns. Without such a framework, presenters risk going down a rabbit hole of too much information or losing the thread of their argument when they try to pivot to meet the needs of a particular stakeholder. When that happens, it’s hard to stay focused on the buyer’s needs. But with a storytelling framework, you’ll keep your presentation focused on a persuasive narrative, regardless of whether you need to pivot. A business storytelling framework provides a road map for the facts and data that make up your argument. The major elements of the storytelling framework are: Setting establishes the context for your argument. The setting of your narrative is a specific time, place, or circumstance. Characters are those who are affected by the current situation — customers, employees, team members, etc. As a seller, you must establish who is affected by a problem that the buyer needs to have solved. Conflict is the problem that your buyer needs to have solved. Conflict also provides tension in the narrative and motivates audience members to care about the story — and feel motivated to resolve the conflict. Resolution is the solution to the buyer’s problem. This could be the seller’s recommendation for a course of action, product or service, or some other type of solution. The BIG Idea is the one thing you want audience members to remember at the end of your pitch. It’s also the common thread that runs through your entire text, whether it’s a presentation, email, or something else. One of the things that makes a storytelling framework so powerful is that it equips you to pivot — to address the needs of a given stakeholder at a moment’s notice — without disrupting the flow of your argument. Not only that, a storytelling framework helps sellers identify the root cause of the prospect’s problems and articulate a solution. In doing so, sellers can feel confident that they understand the buyer’s mindset, and that the the story they’re telling resonates with them. When it’s done right, business storytelling effectively communicates the fact that you’ve identified and understand the prospect’s needs, and that you offer authentic and actionable solutions. Sellers Offer More Information Instead of the Right Information When sellers don’t put in the work to understand their buyer’s needs upfront, they often overcompensate with information. As a result, presentations tend to contain too much detail. In these situations, every possible data point, statistic, and fact is provided to address any questions that may come up for the buyer. This requires the seller to put in a lot of extra work, and it also gives buyers far more information than they need — much of which isn’t relevant. Providing too much information is a common struggle for sellers, but it dilutes your most powerful and persuasive arguments, rendering your sales efforts less effective. This approach also hurts buyers. When sellers don’t prioritize information, buyers are left with too much information to decode and filter out. This creates more work for the buyer and renders the entire process less engaging and less helpful. Storytelling helps you increase efficiency As we’ve discussed, a storytelling framework helps you address the needs of everyone in the room (or virtual room), all without overwhelming your audience by giving them all the information available to you. Without a storytelling framework, sellers often fall into the trap of using presentation slides to anticipate every question the buyer could possibly ask. The result is an over-long, overwhelming presentation that fails to be persuasive. Not only do these over-long sales presentations fail to help you close deals, but they waste time. In their attempts to address every possible question a buyer could ask with a slide or graph, sellers end up spending too much time on presentation materials. In the end, the payoff for all that work isn’t worth it because that deck is so long that it’s unusable and, in the end, can only be used once anyway. Talk about inefficient! To be successful, sellers need to be flexible, responding to audience needs in the moment. For example, when their time with a customer is cut short. As we’ve discussed, a business storytelling framework helps you customize your communications based on your audience and enables you to be nimble based on audience needs. At the same time, story structure allows sellers to create materials that make a compelling argument — one that holds your audience’s attention, while also providing all the information necessary to persuade people that your solution is the one they need. Communication Best Practices Can Unlock Your Sales Potential It’s easy to fall into old habits in sales. But if you’re finding it hard to close deals, some of those strategies may need to be revised. Whether you’re struggling to build trust with potential clients or your pitches just aren’t as persuasive as they could be, identifying common mistakes can help you leverage communication best practices and make more sales.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/The-4-Most-Common-Mistakes-Made-by-Sellers.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T15:27:15-05:00" }, { "id": 9003, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/its-not-just-you-selling-is-getting-harder/", "title": "It’s Not Just You: Selling Is Getting Harder", "h1": "It’s Not Just You: Selling Is Getting Harder", "summary": "", "content": "

Want to be a more effective seller? Meet buyers where they are to thrive amid a changing sales landscape.

If you’ve noticed that sales has become more difficult, you’re not alone. Among other reasons, the very nature of selling is undergoing a paradigm shift amid trends toward remote work and increased access to information online. This all means that sales representatives must adjust to change at lightning speed. But that’s easier said than done, right?

The first step to succeeding in this environment is to understand why it’s getting harder to sell. Here’s the thing: It’s not that buyers don’t need a relationship with salespeople. While it’s true the internet is a treasure trove of information, and most buyers research a multitude of options before even engaging a sales representative, that doesn’t mean they want to be ignored. In fact, 71% of buyers want to be contacted early in the sales process.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

\"\"What’s Making Selling So Hard?

There’s no doubt that the art of selling is in the midst of a transformation. But understanding these changes can help you meet buyers where they are and experience greater success. Here are four reasons why selling is getting harder:

Sellers have fewer opportunities to influence buyers

The move toward self-service and autonomy is accelerating across industries, and it’s entering our daily lives. The vast majority of shoppers, for example, prefer self-service buying experiences, while about half of all American households order groceries online and use a delivery service. Preferences are similar for B2B buyers, who have an increasing desire for self-service. As a result, sales representatives have only about 5% of a customer’s time during the B2B buying process. The twin influences of a preference for self-service and lack of time with buyers means that the nature of sales is changing — and challenging.

Growing competition and shrinking budgets result in increasing scrutiny

Even before COVID-19, organizations were looking for ways to maximize profitability and get an edge over the competition. But the pandemic turned things upside down and created weaknesses in many companies’ financial planning. Both of these elements — the drive to beat the competition paired with damage done by the pandemic — have resulted in increased scrutiny around budgets.

Instead of settling on an annual budget and comparing forecasted spending to actual costs, many companies are now opting to review expenditures on a quarterly, or even monthly, basis. These “rolling forecasts” can also extend beyond the current fiscal year, allowing organizations to plan further ahead. Amid this kind of budget scrutiny, CFOs and other C-level executives may also require direct approval for many expenses. As a result, some may find closing deals can take more time, or upon executive review, have them canceled altogether.

Virtual meetings lack personal connection and are easier to ignore

Where sellers used to work toward sales by building credibility and relationships grounded in trust through in-person meetings, today those opportunities are rare. The personal connection that comes from a shared meal, or even a simple handshake, feels like a relic from the past. With fewer face-to-face meetings, these connections are more difficult to achieve, and it’s making selling harder.

Many business relationships have likely suffered due to the decrease in personal connection in recent years. Plus, we’ve all experienced a bit of Zoom fatigue, and it may be one of the reasons it’s more difficult to close a sale in a virtual meeting than face to face. The intensity of focus required for a video call can tire participants, and the nature of talking with someone across the digital divide makes it easier for participants to be distracted by email or other concerns. Plus, since we’ve learned that attention spans are shorter in virtual meetings, sales representatives must ensure that interactions are brief. The problem is, this can also result in video meetings being less substantive and focused, while also robbing sales reps of the opportunity to build trust and credibility in meaningful ways.

Sales timelines have compressed

The pace of sales has increased. Buyers tend to conduct research on their own when a business need is identified, which means sales representatives can be less involved than they used to be. Plus, B2B buyers prefer to dedicate less time to the buying process. They prefer speed, and this is driving quicker sales cycles in many industries.

While compressed sales timelines can offer opportunities for more deals, there are also drawbacks. If a prospect is hoping to move quickly, they may be less open to hearing from multiple sellers. So, you may only get one shot at making a good impression or articulating your value to buyers. Plus, the blistering pace can take a toll. One study found that 67% of salespeople are close to, or currently, experiencing burnout.

\"\"Selling Is Getting Harder — Here’s How You Can Succeed Anyway

Selling is getting harder — and that’s a problem. But this doesn’t mean that selling is now impossible. Let’s discuss some solutions that will help you more effectively connect with clients and close more deals.

Solution No. 1: Meet Buyers Where They Are

Since business is increasingly moving toward a digital and self-service model, it may sometimes feel like the personalized sales touch is no longer needed. But that’s not the case. When you meet prospects where they are, selling won’t feel so hard.

Provide a high-quality digital experience

Even before the pandemic, 50% of sales interactions were virtual. The truth is that virtual sales experiences can be much more efficient and cost-effective than face-to-face meetings. In fact, while the cost of self-service interactions is negligible, live-service interactions cost more than $13 apiece for B2B companies. It seems like a win-win, then, that Gartner predicts 80% of B2B sales interactions will occur over digital channels by 2025.

Since B2B buyers are seeking increased control over the buying experience, meet customers where they are by providing intuitive digital tools and a high-quality online buying experience.

Lean into email

Email has been around for decades, and for years experts have argued that it’s still one of the best ways to reach prospects. The same is true today as one study found that eight in 10 prospects prefer to be contacted via email.

The problem is that emails are often poorly crafted, leading with information about the seller’s product or service instead of highlighting the buyer’s needs. For sellers, it’s important to understand that email isn’t about you, it’s about the reader. When writing emails, your message must emphasize what the prospect has to gain from connecting with you. Give readers a compelling reason to get in touch with you, and it’s likely that they’ll do just that.

Just as organizations will be well served to meet prospects where they are with a high-quality digital buying experience, sales representatives should act on the same principle by utilizing email. Instead of the de facto preference for more face-to-face meetings or adding another Zoom call to a busy day, a well-crafted email can be used to initiate and maintain contact with prospects. Using email fits in with customer preferences, and using it well can set you apart from the competition.

Solution No. 2: Tell a Compelling Story

Prospects have more options than ever before, which means only the best messaging will break through the noise. When you tell a good story, you’ll be more likely to stand out and persuade buyers to work with you.

Like any good story, an email or other communication with prospects should rely on story structure to take the reader on a journey. Story structure is composed of three parts:

The WHY

Start by providing readers with context such as the story’s setting and characters. It’s essential to keep in mind, though, that the message isn’t about you, it’s about the reader. Think about what’s going on in their worlds, what challenges they may be facing, and how you can help.

Understanding your audience will also allow you to establish the conflict: Clearly identify a problem that readers may wish to solve. Readers need this information early in the message, and it needs to be compelling enough to give them a reason to care and keep reading. Otherwise, you’ll wind up in their digital dustbin with the other 100 sales pitches they get throughout the day.

The WHAT

Next, describe your “big idea.” In other words, share the one thing that every fact or statistic you share will tie back to. The big idea is the thing that connects the WHY of your message — the context, such as setting, characters, and conflict — to the resolution. Be sure to emphasize that your big idea makes a strong business case for your product or service because it can help you get your foot in the door with buyers. In one study, 75% of C-level prospects said they will take a meeting if a sales representative can make an argument for ROI.

The HOW

Finally, resolve the conflict presented at the beginning of the message, meeting, or other interaction by describing HOW your company can help. The best part is, talking about HOW you can help meets buyers where they are. They have a need, and you’re clearly showing them how you can meet it.

\"\"Always Take an Audience-centric Approach

When selling gets hard, it’s easy to double down and focus more heavily on what you offer and why your company offers a valuable solution. Although it’s important to make your value proposition clear, remember to always take an audience-centric approach, instead of making it all about you. This will help you provide a high-quality digital experience, tell a compelling story, and meet buyers where they are — allowing you to close more deals, despite today’s selling challenges.

", "content_plain": "Want to be a more effective seller? Meet buyers where they are to thrive amid a changing sales landscape. If you’ve noticed that sales has become more difficult, you’re not alone. Among other reasons, the very nature of selling is undergoing a paradigm shift amid trends toward remote work and increased access to information online. This all means that sales representatives must adjust to change at lightning speed. But that’s easier said than done, right? The first step to succeeding in this environment is to understand why it’s getting harder to sell. Here’s the thing: It’s not that buyers don’t need a relationship with salespeople. While it’s true the internet is a treasure trove of information, and most buyers research a multitude of options before even engaging a sales representative, that doesn’t mean they want to be ignored. In fact, 71% of buyers want to be contacted early in the sales process. You can view our Privacy Policy here. What’s Making Selling So Hard? There’s no doubt that the art of selling is in the midst of a transformation. But understanding these changes can help you meet buyers where they are and experience greater success. Here are four reasons why selling is getting harder: Sellers have fewer opportunities to influence buyers The move toward self-service and autonomy is accelerating across industries, and it’s entering our daily lives. The vast majority of shoppers, for example, prefer self-service buying experiences, while about half of all American households order groceries online and use a delivery service. Preferences are similar for B2B buyers, who have an increasing desire for self-service. As a result, sales representatives have only about 5% of a customer’s time during the B2B buying process. The twin influences of a preference for self-service and lack of time with buyers means that the nature of sales is changing — and challenging. Growing competition and shrinking budgets result in increasing scrutiny Even before COVID-19, organizations were looking for ways to maximize profitability and get an edge over the competition. But the pandemic turned things upside down and created weaknesses in many companies’ financial planning. Both of these elements — the drive to beat the competition paired with damage done by the pandemic — have resulted in increased scrutiny around budgets. Instead of settling on an annual budget and comparing forecasted spending to actual costs, many companies are now opting to review expenditures on a quarterly, or even monthly, basis. These “rolling forecasts” can also extend beyond the current fiscal year, allowing organizations to plan further ahead. Amid this kind of budget scrutiny, CFOs and other C-level executives may also require direct approval for many expenses. As a result, some may find closing deals can take more time, or upon executive review, have them canceled altogether. Virtual meetings lack personal connection and are easier to ignore Where sellers used to work toward sales by building credibility and relationships grounded in trust through in-person meetings, today those opportunities are rare. The personal connection that comes from a shared meal, or even a simple handshake, feels like a relic from the past. With fewer face-to-face meetings, these connections are more difficult to achieve, and it’s making selling harder. Many business relationships have likely suffered due to the decrease in personal connection in recent years. Plus, we’ve all experienced a bit of Zoom fatigue, and it may be one of the reasons it’s more difficult to close a sale in a virtual meeting than face to face. The intensity of focus required for a video call can tire participants, and the nature of talking with someone across the digital divide makes it easier for participants to be distracted by email or other concerns. Plus, since we’ve learned that attention spans are shorter in virtual meetings, sales representatives must ensure that interactions are brief. The problem is, this can also result in video meetings being less substantive and focused, while also robbing sales reps of the opportunity to build trust and credibility in meaningful ways. Sales timelines have compressed The pace of sales has increased. Buyers tend to conduct research on their own when a business need is identified, which means sales representatives can be less involved than they used to be. Plus, B2B buyers prefer to dedicate less time to the buying process. They prefer speed, and this is driving quicker sales cycles in many industries. While compressed sales timelines can offer opportunities for more deals, there are also drawbacks. If a prospect is hoping to move quickly, they may be less open to hearing from multiple sellers. So, you may only get one shot at making a good impression or articulating your value to buyers. Plus, the blistering pace can take a toll. One study found that 67% of salespeople are close to, or currently, experiencing burnout. Selling Is Getting Harder — Here’s How You Can Succeed Anyway Selling is getting harder — and that’s a problem. But this doesn’t mean that selling is now impossible. Let’s discuss some solutions that will help you more effectively connect with clients and close more deals. Solution No. 1: Meet Buyers Where They Are Since business is increasingly moving toward a digital and self-service model, it may sometimes feel like the personalized sales touch is no longer needed. But that’s not the case. When you meet prospects where they are, selling won’t feel so hard. Provide a high-quality digital experience Even before the pandemic, 50% of sales interactions were virtual. The truth is that virtual sales experiences can be much more efficient and cost-effective than face-to-face meetings. In fact, while the cost of self-service interactions is negligible, live-service interactions cost more than $13 apiece for B2B companies. It seems like a win-win, then, that Gartner predicts 80% of B2B sales interactions will occur over digital channels by 2025. Since B2B buyers are seeking increased control over the buying experience, meet customers where they are by providing intuitive digital tools and a high-quality online buying experience. Lean into email Email has been around for decades, and for years experts have argued that it’s still one of the best ways to reach prospects. The same is true today as one study found that eight in 10 prospects prefer to be contacted via email. The problem is that emails are often poorly crafted, leading with information about the seller’s product or service instead of highlighting the buyer’s needs. For sellers, it’s important to understand that email isn’t about you, it’s about the reader. When writing emails, your message must emphasize what the prospect has to gain from connecting with you. Give readers a compelling reason to get in touch with you, and it’s likely that they’ll do just that. Just as organizations will be well served to meet prospects where they are with a high-quality digital buying experience, sales representatives should act on the same principle by utilizing email. Instead of the de facto preference for more face-to-face meetings or adding another Zoom call to a busy day, a well-crafted email can be used to initiate and maintain contact with prospects. Using email fits in with customer preferences, and using it well can set you apart from the competition. Solution No. 2: Tell a Compelling Story Prospects have more options than ever before, which means only the best messaging will break through the noise. When you tell a good story, you’ll be more likely to stand out and persuade buyers to work with you. Like any good story, an email or other communication with prospects should rely on story structure to take the reader on a journey. Story structure is composed of three parts: The WHY Start by providing readers with context such as the story’s setting and characters. It’s essential to keep in mind, though, that the message isn’t about you, it’s about the reader. Think about what’s going on in their worlds, what challenges they may be facing, and how you can help. Understanding your audience will also allow you to establish the conflict: Clearly identify a problem that readers may wish to solve. Readers need this information early in the message, and it needs to be compelling enough to give them a reason to care and keep reading. Otherwise, you’ll wind up in their digital dustbin with the other 100 sales pitches they get throughout the day. The WHAT Next, describe your “big idea.” In other words, share the one thing that every fact or statistic you share will tie back to. The big idea is the thing that connects the WHY of your message — the context, such as setting, characters, and conflict — to the resolution. Be sure to emphasize that your big idea makes a strong business case for your product or service because it can help you get your foot in the door with buyers. In one study, 75% of C-level prospects said they will take a meeting if a sales representative can make an argument for ROI. The HOW Finally, resolve the conflict presented at the beginning of the message, meeting, or other interaction by describing HOW your company can help. The best part is, talking about HOW you can help meets buyers where they are. They have a need, and you’re clearly showing them how you can meet it. Always Take an Audience-centric Approach When selling gets hard, it’s easy to double down and focus more heavily on what you offer and why your company offers a valuable solution. Although it’s important to make your value proposition clear, remember to always take an audience-centric approach, instead of making it all about you. This will help you provide a high-quality digital experience, tell a compelling story, and meet buyers where they are — allowing you to close more deals, despite today’s selling challenges.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Its-Not-Just-You-Selling-Is-Getting-Harder.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T10:59:55-05:00" }, { "id": 9000, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/how-sales-marketing-can-partner-to-improve-every-stage-of-the-pipeline/", "title": "How Sales & Marketing Can Partner to Improve Every Stage of the Pipeline", "h1": "How Sales & Marketing Can Partner to Improve Every Stage of the Pipeline", "summary": "Great salespeople tell each prospect a story, and a story will always beat an impersonal product pitch. Why? Because people love stories — and the best salespeople know how to tell a great one.", "content": "

The world’s best salespeople tend to avoid two communication mistakes that their less-successful colleagues fall victim to:

  1. Using one-size-fits-all communication templates for everything from emails to call scripts to presentations, rather than being authentic and connecting personally with their buyers.
  2. Parroting a version of the same tired sales communication instead of telling a compelling story each time — a story that differentiates them and your company and that drives excitement and confidence in your buyers.

Instead, great salespeople tell each prospect a story, and a story will always beat an impersonal product pitch. Why? Because people love stories — and the best salespeople know how to tell a great one.

Regardless of which stage of the buyer’s journey you’re selling to, great storytelling requires two key elements.

1. Use a Proven Structure

The trick to telling a story that will lead to the response you want is to use a proven structure for telling a compelling story that every salesperson can fine-tune and revise, in their own way, to engage and persuade any audience, every time.

2. Pull the Thread, From Nurture to Post-sales

You need to find the perfect thread within your story that will engage and excite your buyer. Then, you pull that thread through every stage of the sales cycle. To be most effective, you need to keep learning throughout the sales process and continue applying new information to win over your buyer.

With those guidelines firmly in hand, here’s a checklist of best practices to optimally apply great storytelling at each state of the buyer’s journey and close more deals faster.

  1. Prospecting/Lead Generation: You Can’t Land ‘Em if You Don’t Hook ‘Em

Eight in 10 prospects prefer talking to sales reps over email. So, if you need to use email, review them to be sure they avoid the top 5 mistakes sales and marketing make in emails to prospects.

  1. Lead Qualification: Don’t Waste Your Time — or Theirs

To get to yes faster, get a deep understanding of each prospect as soon as you can.

  1. Demo or Meeting: Prove You’ve Got the Goods You’ve Promised

Buyers have done their homework and know what you’re offering. Now they want to know what’s in it for them — quickly and efficiently. Capture their attention with a universal story structure that ensure that you meet them where they are, every time. Your structure should include:

  1. The Proposal: Make It Personal to Seal the Deal

Make your proposal personalized, accurate, and engaging. Check to see if your presentation succinctly applies three key elements of audience awareness:

  1. Negotiating/Handling Objections: Be Ready to Pivot

Be prepared to smoothly and confidently change course late in the process — hopefully to negotiate terms and conditions. Be able to confidently:

  1. Opportunity Won/Closing: Stay Open, Stay Curious — In Any Environment

The old saying of “always be closing” has shifted to “always be connecting.” Whether virtually or in-person, closing a deal today requires you to practice these three skills:

  1. Post-purchase/Client Retention: Build a Relationship for Keeps

Take advantage of the “honeymoon phase” to boost revenues by selling more and getting referrals. Build engagement with your best new friend. Here’s a 5-point checklist for that:

Successful salespeople apply great storytelling techniques at every stage of the sales pipeline. It delivers a set of communication skills that are proven to engage prospects, keep their interest, and guide them toward choosing your company — and staying with you.

", "content_plain": "The world’s best salespeople tend to avoid two communication mistakes that their less-successful colleagues fall victim to: Using one-size-fits-all communication templates for everything from emails to call scripts to presentations, rather than being authentic and connecting personally with their buyers. Parroting a version of the same tired sales communication instead of telling a compelling story each time — a story that differentiates them and your company and that drives excitement and confidence in your buyers. Instead, great salespeople tell each prospect a story, and a story will always beat an impersonal product pitch. Why? Because people love stories — and the best salespeople know how to tell a great one. Regardless of which stage of the buyer’s journey you’re selling to, great storytelling requires two key elements. 1. Use a Proven Structure The trick to telling a story that will lead to the response you want is to use a proven structure for telling a compelling story that every salesperson can fine-tune and revise, in their own way, to engage and persuade any audience, every time. 2. Pull the Thread, From Nurture to Post-sales You need to find the perfect thread within your story that will engage and excite your buyer. Then, you pull that thread through every stage of the sales cycle. To be most effective, you need to keep learning throughout the sales process and continue applying new information to win over your buyer. With those guidelines firmly in hand, here’s a checklist of best practices to optimally apply great storytelling at each state of the buyer’s journey and close more deals faster. Prospecting/Lead Generation: You Can’t Land ‘Em if You Don’t Hook ‘Em Eight in 10 prospects prefer talking to sales reps over email. So, if you need to use email, review them to be sure they avoid the top 5 mistakes sales and marketing make in emails to prospects. Failing to make a case for why the reader should build a relationship with you Not telling a compelling story Delivering bland, forgettable subject lines Putting your product ahead of the buyer’s pain and situation Putting the call to action too soon Lead Qualification: Don’t Waste Your Time — or Theirs To get to yes faster, get a deep understanding of each prospect as soon as you can. Walk in their shoes — dig in to really understand their core problem. Build trust by focusing on what matters most to your customer — not by focusing on your product. Create empathy with your prospect and learn from them. Demo or Meeting: Prove You’ve Got the Goods You’ve Promised Buyers have done their homework and know what you’re offering. Now they want to know what’s in it for them — quickly and efficiently. Capture their attention with a universal story structure that ensure that you meet them where they are, every time. Your structure should include: Setting: Your setting is a snapshot in time, a place, or a circumstance. It immediately establishes the context for your message. Characters: Your characters are who or what is affected by the current situation — your customers, employees, or team. Characters help your audience relate to your story. Conflict: With the context of setting and characters in place, it’s time to reveal the conflict. Conflict provides the tension that gives your audience a reason to care and want to take action. Resolution: With setting, characters, and conflict established, your audience’s emotions will be built up. They will hopefully be ready to embrace your resolution — your recommendation, product, or solution. BIG Idea: The one thing you want your audience to remember The Proposal: Make It Personal to Seal the Deal Make your proposal personalized, accurate, and engaging. Check to see if your presentation succinctly applies three key elements of audience awareness: Appeals to what’s happening in their world (e.g., uses only data points that drive conflict and resolution for the buyer) Clearly identifies what they care about (hint: it’s not your product’s features and benefits) Speaks to the challenges they’re facing and how you solve them Negotiating/Handling Objections: Be Ready to Pivot Be prepared to smoothly and confidently change course late in the process — hopefully to negotiate terms and conditions. Be able to confidently: Leverage The BIG Idea of your story to successfully pivot Articulate a clear throughline of your sales story Apply a deliberate approach so you can flex your story based on the various needs and interests of each buyer Opportunity Won/Closing: Stay Open, Stay Curious — In Any Environment The old saying of “always be closing” has shifted to “always be connecting.” Whether virtually or in-person, closing a deal today requires you to practice these three skills: Always be studying your prospects Continue adapting, so you match their expectations and needs Continue to tell compelling stories beyond the sales presentation — in one-pagers and other formats Post-purchase/Client Retention: Build a Relationship for Keeps Take advantage of the “honeymoon phase” to boost revenues by selling more and getting referrals. Build engagement with your best new friend. Here’s a 5-point checklist for that: Continue learning about your customers. Use highly relevant, short stories to help your customer absorb difficult concepts. Continue to capture their attention with a universal story structure. Use compelling stories to deepen engagement.Make your stories more tangible by incorporating elements that engage the senses. Successful salespeople apply great storytelling techniques at every stage of the sales pipeline. It delivers a set of communication skills that are proven to engage prospects, keep their interest, and guide them toward choosing your company — and staying with you.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/How-Sales-Marketing-Can-Partner-to-Improve-Every-Stage-of-the-Pipeline.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T15:27:44-05:00" }, { "id": 8995, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/finding-communications-training-thats-going-to-stick/", "title": "Finding Communications Training That’s Going to Stick", "h1": "Finding Communications Training That’s Going to Stick", "summary": "", "content": "

How often do employees in your organization engage with L&D? Quarterly? During compliance season? Only when something new and interesting comes up?

How often do employees in your organization learn something new during their day-to-day work? Constantly! This is especially true when it comes to communication; there are always new and better ways to use and improve this critical skill.

However, in the end, learning isn’t what really matters. Results — the outcome of learning and performance — are the only true measuring stick. To use that measuring stick, you need to get what people in your organization have learned to, well, stick. How do you do it? Read on, my friend.

\"\"What to Look for in the Best Communications Training Vendors That Get Learning to Stick

We’ve all been there. You hired a supposed training expert to come in for a workshop and transform the lives and work of your employees — only to find that a month later no one remembered what the heck they were taught. You then went back to the vendor for a refresher or sought out a new trainer. Talk about a waste of time and money!

However, some vendors have mastered the art of getting their training content to stick with learners over time. These are the training companies that can help you improve your business communications, making it a central component of your organization’s success.

So what makes these super-vendors different? Here are three ways that top-notch communications training companies make their sessions relevant, practical, and useful over the long haul, giving you the best value for money and the best results:

Make it practical for everyday work

One of the most crucial keys to getting learning to stick may seem obvious, but is often overlooked: Make it practical for the people in the training. Many training vendors come in and focus a lot on theory. Their slideshows are beautiful, their lectures are quippy, and they end with a crescendo that leaves everyone in awe — even inspired. In the moment, everyone might be wowed by a trainer like this, but in the end, you may find that it was all just flashy rhetoric; it didn’t actually impact your employees’ daily realities or improve their output.

The best training vendors, on the other hand, provide relevant case studies and examples, which make it easy for learners to relate to, get inspired, and apply new strategies to their own work. We’ve all attended trainings where case studies came across as wooden or unhelpful. Inauthentic examples tend to oversimplify the lessons being taught, making it difficult to put theory into practice. In contrast, relevant and inspiring case studies can energize participants and provide a clear path for applying the strategies being discussed in the training.

In addition to high-quality, relevant examples, a top-shelf training vendor will encourage employees to bring in their own projects and apply what they’re learning to what they’re working on that week. That way, participants will be deeply familiar with the work being discussed in the training, so it’s easier to put theory into practice. This method also makes it more likely for participants to remember the lessons being taught in the training because they’re being applied in the flow of work — and can easily be applied to future projects as well.

When it comes to learning, there’s no substitute for practical, relevant examples.

Provide ample useful resources

Some training vendors think their primary duty is to give lectures to an (ideally) attentive, eager audience. The problem with this approach is that facilitators don’t take responsibility for the performance or results of their training long after they’re gone (although, they would be wise to do so).

Despite this tendency, after a session wraps, it’s crucial for participants to keep the learning — and practice — going. Otherwise, the learning simply won’t stick, and the training session is rendered more or less a waste of time. After all, training can’t yield results if participants can’t put their learning into practice.

The truth is, the best trainers work themselves out of a job. In other words, their training should be so practical and useful that employees can’t forget what they learned because they use it every day. And when that happens, there’s less demand for additional or repeated training from the same clients.

Some clients return to the same training provider regularly — every year, for example — to provide a refresher on business communications best practices. This is a good strategy for giving new employees a high-level overview of the skills, and helping veterans stay sharp in their storytelling practice. And while a yearly refresher is a valuable service, these super-trainers know they won’t have to start from scratch because their initial sessions set participants up to successfully use business storytelling in their daily work.

For example, after a communications training workshop, trainers can provide resources such as peer and manager training guides so participants (and their bosses) can support one another in their work. These materials should provide foundational and actionable advice, and will complement handouts that provide relevant examples and summaries of the material. Vendors can also provide recordings of any training sessions so participants can revisit them later if they need to be reminded of relevant details or suggestions.

Use good peer pressure

Peer pressure isn’t a good thing. At least, that’s what we were taught in grade school: If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?

Right?

Not necessarily. Social influence can be used for good. For the record, we’re not talking about “shaming” someone into doing what you want. That’s not good.

But it is good if your employees take away important lessons from the workshop that they can and want to use to help their peers continue to practice what they’ve learned. Employees — and their managers and senior leadership — can then become coaches, mentors, and cheerleaders to encourage the behaviors modeled in the workshop.

This type of positive peer pressure amplifies the training investment by helping it spread throughout the organization — and by helping it stick over the long term. In other words, you get more bang for your buck.

What’s good peer pressure got to do with business communications training? Plenty! One of the most important things a training provider can do is equip participants with the skills they need to provide support to their peers after the training is over. One option that works well is to hold small, internal group meetings each week or month where learners can remind each other of best practices or provide each other with the opportunity to give feedback on their communications. Whatever your “stickiness strategy” may be, individuals should be taught how to use their newfound knowledge to collaborate with colleagues and practice the skills they’ve learned. In doing so, all participants will be set up to put their learning into action on a daily basis, keeping lessons from the training fresh in their minds and evident in the work they produce.

\"\"Find a Vendor That “Walks the Walk” of Business Storytelling

If you’ve been through a business communications training that flopped — either because the training wasn’t as useful as you’d hoped, or because the learning quickly faded from the minds of participants — you’re not alone. Nevertheless, working with the wrong vendor can be frustrating. After all, if you can’t effectively communicate your organization’s value to potential customers or clients, what hope do you have of succeeding?

Luckily, there is hope. With the right training vendor, your organization’s communications can be transformed into something that can be a game-changer for your business. But finding the right vendor is critical. So the next time you’re in the market for business communications training, ask vendors a few questions. First, ask to see some sample materials or a demo. If the vendor “walks the walk” with their materials — that is, they tell a compelling story — you can feel confident they’ll help your people build these skills too. Then, ask how they’ll make their session practical for your people, what resources they’ll provide to help participants continue learning in the weeks and months ahead, and how they’ll equip your team to support one another after the training concludes. If your chosen vendor can promise to fulfill these needs, it’s likely they’ll be a valued partner for your organization.

", "content_plain": "How often do employees in your organization engage with L&D? Quarterly? During compliance season? Only when something new and interesting comes up? How often do employees in your organization learn something new during their day-to-day work? Constantly! This is especially true when it comes to communication; there are always new and better ways to use and improve this critical skill. However, in the end, learning isn’t what really matters. Results — the outcome of learning and performance — are the only true measuring stick. To use that measuring stick, you need to get what people in your organization have learned to, well, stick. How do you do it? Read on, my friend. What to Look for in the Best Communications Training Vendors That Get Learning to Stick We’ve all been there. You hired a supposed training expert to come in for a workshop and transform the lives and work of your employees — only to find that a month later no one remembered what the heck they were taught. You then went back to the vendor for a refresher or sought out a new trainer. Talk about a waste of time and money! However, some vendors have mastered the art of getting their training content to stick with learners over time. These are the training companies that can help you improve your business communications, making it a central component of your organization’s success. So what makes these super-vendors different? Here are three ways that top-notch communications training companies make their sessions relevant, practical, and useful over the long haul, giving you the best value for money and the best results: Make it practical for everyday work One of the most crucial keys to getting learning to stick may seem obvious, but is often overlooked: Make it practical for the people in the training. Many training vendors come in and focus a lot on theory. Their slideshows are beautiful, their lectures are quippy, and they end with a crescendo that leaves everyone in awe — even inspired. In the moment, everyone might be wowed by a trainer like this, but in the end, you may find that it was all just flashy rhetoric; it didn’t actually impact your employees’ daily realities or improve their output. The best training vendors, on the other hand, provide relevant case studies and examples, which make it easy for learners to relate to, get inspired, and apply new strategies to their own work. We’ve all attended trainings where case studies came across as wooden or unhelpful. Inauthentic examples tend to oversimplify the lessons being taught, making it difficult to put theory into practice. In contrast, relevant and inspiring case studies can energize participants and provide a clear path for applying the strategies being discussed in the training. In addition to high-quality, relevant examples, a top-shelf training vendor will encourage employees to bring in their own projects and apply what they’re learning to what they’re working on that week. That way, participants will be deeply familiar with the work being discussed in the training, so it’s easier to put theory into practice. This method also makes it more likely for participants to remember the lessons being taught in the training because they’re being applied in the flow of work — and can easily be applied to future projects as well. When it comes to learning, there’s no substitute for practical, relevant examples. Provide ample useful resources Some training vendors think their primary duty is to give lectures to an (ideally) attentive, eager audience. The problem with this approach is that facilitators don’t take responsibility for the performance or results of their training long after they’re gone (although, they would be wise to do so). Despite this tendency, after a session wraps, it’s crucial for participants to keep the learning — and practice — going. Otherwise, the learning simply won’t stick, and the training session is rendered more or less a waste of time. After all, training can’t yield results if participants can’t put their learning into practice. The truth is, the best trainers work themselves out of a job. In other words, their training should be so practical and useful that employees can’t forget what they learned because they use it every day. And when that happens, there’s less demand for additional or repeated training from the same clients. Some clients return to the same training provider regularly — every year, for example — to provide a refresher on business communications best practices. This is a good strategy for giving new employees a high-level overview of the skills, and helping veterans stay sharp in their storytelling practice. And while a yearly refresher is a valuable service, these super-trainers know they won’t have to start from scratch because their initial sessions set participants up to successfully use business storytelling in their daily work. For example, after a communications training workshop, trainers can provide resources such as peer and manager training guides so participants (and their bosses) can support one another in their work. These materials should provide foundational and actionable advice, and will complement handouts that provide relevant examples and summaries of the material. Vendors can also provide recordings of any training sessions so participants can revisit them later if they need to be reminded of relevant details or suggestions. Use good peer pressure Peer pressure isn’t a good thing. At least, that’s what we were taught in grade school: If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you do it too? Right? Not necessarily. Social influence can be used for good. For the record, we’re not talking about “shaming” someone into doing what you want. That’s not good. But it is good if your employees take away important lessons from the workshop that they can and want to use to help their peers continue to practice what they’ve learned. Employees — and their managers and senior leadership — can then become coaches, mentors, and cheerleaders to encourage the behaviors modeled in the workshop. This type of positive peer pressure amplifies the training investment by helping it spread throughout the organization — and by helping it stick over the long term. In other words, you get more bang for your buck. What’s good peer pressure got to do with business communications training? Plenty! One of the most important things a training provider can do is equip participants with the skills they need to provide support to their peers after the training is over. One option that works well is to hold small, internal group meetings each week or month where learners can remind each other of best practices or provide each other with the opportunity to give feedback on their communications. Whatever your “stickiness strategy” may be, individuals should be taught how to use their newfound knowledge to collaborate with colleagues and practice the skills they’ve learned. In doing so, all participants will be set up to put their learning into action on a daily basis, keeping lessons from the training fresh in their minds and evident in the work they produce. Find a Vendor That “Walks the Walk” of Business Storytelling If you’ve been through a business communications training that flopped — either because the training wasn’t as useful as you’d hoped, or because the learning quickly faded from the minds of participants — you’re not alone. Nevertheless, working with the wrong vendor can be frustrating. After all, if you can’t effectively communicate your organization’s value to potential customers or clients, what hope do you have of succeeding? Luckily, there is hope. With the right training vendor, your organization’s communications can be transformed into something that can be a game-changer for your business. But finding the right vendor is critical. So the next time you’re in the market for business communications training, ask vendors a few questions. First, ask to see some sample materials or a demo. If the vendor “walks the walk” with their materials — that is, they tell a compelling story — you can feel confident they’ll help your people build these skills too. Then, ask how they’ll make their session practical for your people, what resources they’ll provide to help participants continue learning in the weeks and months ahead, and how they’ll equip your team to support one another after the training concludes. If your chosen vendor can promise to fulfill these needs, it’s likely they’ll be a valued partner for your organization.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Finding-Communications-Training-Thats-Going-to-Stick.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T15:30:14-05:00" }, { "id": 8988, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/a-managers-guide-for-ensuring-alignment-with-a-new-team/", "title": "A Manager’s Guide for Ensuring Alignment With a New Team", "h1": "A Manager’s Guide for Ensuring Alignment With a New Team", "summary": "", "content": "

Congratulations! You’ve recently been promoted or newly hired and have inherited a new team to manage. Now what? A priority should be to ensure that all the members of your team are aligned on your vision, the work to be done, and the goals to be achieved. Why is alignment on these points so important? Because team alignment is critical to achieving your goals and ensuring everyone is happy with their role in that journey.

There are of course many challenges to getting alignment. There’s also an easy fix that may not seem obvious: Storytelling.

Read on to learn why great storytelling will help break down information silos in any workplace structure and ensure your team shares your vision, meets the goals you’ve targeted, is a trusted source of information, and has greater, more immediate influence on the decision-making in their work.

\"\"Use Storytelling to Help With Alignment — and More

Maybe alignment isn’t your most critical need. Perhaps you know what good communication looks like, and you simply want to bring the skills of your new team up to the level of those you’ve managed before. This can happen in any company, and it’s stressful if you’re a new manager seeking a smooth transition to take the reins and lead with trust and authority.

Maybe you’ve decided your fresh start as a new manager is a great opportunity to support your people to be more productive by cutting down the time spent in meetings that go nowhere or suffering through endless rounds of requests for revisions and clarifications — all because presentations or other forms of communication have been confusing, dull, or worst of all, have failed to get their desired outcomes.

Regardless, the goals of achieving alignment and supporting your people to be more productive and have a greater impact on the organization are certainly easier to define than accomplish. But there’s one step you can take that will make any of those goals more attainable and help you achieve them faster: Ensure that everyone on your team is able to communicate clearly and effectively. More specifically, give them the tools to be able to tell a compelling story to any audience, using any communication format.

Why will communication that centers on storytelling do the trick? Because gaining alignment within your team, improving collaboration with other teams, and making your people more efficient and productive — all of these goals require communication that guarantees your team’s ideas get heard and are acted on every time.

\"\"With Storytelling Skills Come Team — and Business — Success

Communication training that centers on building storytelling skills will help you align your team and make them more effective and efficient because it first and foremost saves everyone time by giving team members a structure and “common language” around which to organize their ideas. The result: You avoid rounds of needless revisions.

So, what skills and impacts of great storytelling make that possible? Let’s take a look.

Transforming Data Into Actionable Insights

We’ve all seen presentations filled with a bunch of data that simply make our eyes glaze over and lose the audience. One skill used to tell a compelling story is learning to wrap data into your story. This can transform data into valuable, actionable insights, making it easier for audiences to understand and remember your team’s key points.

Being Agile and Flexible With Presentations

What do you do when you find out mere minutes before a presentation that your time has been cut from 30 minutes to five? Or that your team is now presenting to an entire leadership team rather than only a few stakeholders? Using a proven structure for storytelling and applying a clear throughline each time gives your team a flexible approach for crafting and presenting communications. This enables any presenter to be nimble and able to meet changing needs in the moment.

Boosting Executive Presence

Imagine if all of your team members had “executive presence” — that aura of confidence, authority, and self-assuredness that defines many senior-level people. When your team members learn the skills of great storytelling, it boosts their executive presence and up-levels their confidence because they know they’re firmly in control of the information they present and able to pivot if necessary. They are clear on their main points, use a storytelling framework for navigating those points, and most importantly, deeply think about the needs of their audience.

Influencing Decisions

Because great storytelling improves the flow of how information is presented, it boosts the quality of presentations so your team can engage audiences more easily. When they can do that, your team is much more likely to get their audiences to take the desired action or come away knowing the most critical information you wanted them to have. The result is that your team will be able to influence decisions and move the business forward faster.

Improving All Forms of Communication

The skills learned in business storytelling don’t only apply to presentations. They’re easily and immediately transferred to emails, one-pagers, video scripts, project plans, and more. Even short social media posts benefit from the skills needed to create a compelling story.

\"\"Why Storytelling Can Yield Benefits for Managers and Their Teams

Think about your favorite book or movie. It is undoubtedly built on a framework of four key components: setting, characters, conflict, and resolution. Think about the best presentation you’ve ever seen. It also most likely had a very clear theme running through it, and every piece of data supported that theme and moved the story along.

Apply a universal story structure

When your team applies this same framework to present their ideas, they can choreograph their insights, facts, and data so it all flows seamlessly and commands the attention of any audience. Why is that true? Because stories are the best way to contextualize information, make it memorable, and have it get the results we want.

Here’s a brief look at those four elements that combined, give your presenter and their audience a roadmap of where the story is going and where it’s been.

Leverage the power of The BIG Idea

Think about it. Every great story has one overarching, most-important lesson, moral, concept, or piece of information the author wants you to know. This is The BIG Idea — the one key message you want your audience to remember. It is the thread that runs through your entire presentation. Every fact or piece of data you include should be supporting and driving your BIG idea forward. Employing a BIG Idea also helps make you and your team more confident and nimble during presentations.

Wrap your data in the story

Contrary to what many people believe, it’s better to present less data and present it better than to bury your audience in slide after slide of mind-numbing charts, tables, and graphs. Compelling storytelling uses data to further your story, not be the story. Skillful use of data also includes putting callouts or focal points in graphs and charts, to easily draw the audience’s attention to the most important information.

\"\"Prepare to Align Your Team and Enhance Their Impact

Want to learn more about how to learn to use storytelling for communication that will help you better align your team, ensure greater collaboration and innovation, and help move the business forward faster? Contact The Presentation Company today.

", "content_plain": "Congratulations! You’ve recently been promoted or newly hired and have inherited a new team to manage. Now what? A priority should be to ensure that all the members of your team are aligned on your vision, the work to be done, and the goals to be achieved. Why is alignment on these points so important? Because team alignment is critical to achieving your goals and ensuring everyone is happy with their role in that journey. There are of course many challenges to getting alignment. There’s also an easy fix that may not seem obvious: Storytelling. Read on to learn why great storytelling will help break down information silos in any workplace structure and ensure your team shares your vision, meets the goals you’ve targeted, is a trusted source of information, and has greater, more immediate influence on the decision-making in their work. Use Storytelling to Help With Alignment — and More Maybe alignment isn’t your most critical need. Perhaps you know what good communication looks like, and you simply want to bring the skills of your new team up to the level of those you’ve managed before. This can happen in any company, and it’s stressful if you’re a new manager seeking a smooth transition to take the reins and lead with trust and authority. Maybe you’ve decided your fresh start as a new manager is a great opportunity to support your people to be more productive by cutting down the time spent in meetings that go nowhere or suffering through endless rounds of requests for revisions and clarifications — all because presentations or other forms of communication have been confusing, dull, or worst of all, have failed to get their desired outcomes. Regardless, the goals of achieving alignment and supporting your people to be more productive and have a greater impact on the organization are certainly easier to define than accomplish. But there’s one step you can take that will make any of those goals more attainable and help you achieve them faster: Ensure that everyone on your team is able to communicate clearly and effectively. More specifically, give them the tools to be able to tell a compelling story to any audience, using any communication format. Why will communication that centers on storytelling do the trick? Because gaining alignment within your team, improving collaboration with other teams, and making your people more efficient and productive — all of these goals require communication that guarantees your team’s ideas get heard and are acted on every time. With Storytelling Skills Come Team — and Business — Success Communication training that centers on building storytelling skills will help you align your team and make them more effective and efficient because it first and foremost saves everyone time by giving team members a structure and “common language” around which to organize their ideas. The result: You avoid rounds of needless revisions. So, what skills and impacts of great storytelling make that possible? Let’s take a look. Transforming Data Into Actionable Insights We’ve all seen presentations filled with a bunch of data that simply make our eyes glaze over and lose the audience. One skill used to tell a compelling story is learning to wrap data into your story. This can transform data into valuable, actionable insights, making it easier for audiences to understand and remember your team’s key points. Being Agile and Flexible With Presentations What do you do when you find out mere minutes before a presentation that your time has been cut from 30 minutes to five? Or that your team is now presenting to an entire leadership team rather than only a few stakeholders? Using a proven structure for storytelling and applying a clear throughline each time gives your team a flexible approach for crafting and presenting communications. This enables any presenter to be nimble and able to meet changing needs in the moment. Boosting Executive Presence Imagine if all of your team members had “executive presence” — that aura of confidence, authority, and self-assuredness that defines many senior-level people. When your team members learn the skills of great storytelling, it boosts their executive presence and up-levels their confidence because they know they’re firmly in control of the information they present and able to pivot if necessary. They are clear on their main points, use a storytelling framework for navigating those points, and most importantly, deeply think about the needs of their audience. Influencing Decisions Because great storytelling improves the flow of how information is presented, it boosts the quality of presentations so your team can engage audiences more easily. When they can do that, your team is much more likely to get their audiences to take the desired action or come away knowing the most critical information you wanted them to have. The result is that your team will be able to influence decisions and move the business forward faster. Improving All Forms of Communication The skills learned in business storytelling don’t only apply to presentations. They’re easily and immediately transferred to emails, one-pagers, video scripts, project plans, and more. Even short social media posts benefit from the skills needed to create a compelling story. Why Storytelling Can Yield Benefits for Managers and Their Teams Think about your favorite book or movie. It is undoubtedly built on a framework of four key components: setting, characters, conflict, and resolution. Think about the best presentation you’ve ever seen. It also most likely had a very clear theme running through it, and every piece of data supported that theme and moved the story along. Apply a universal story structure When your team applies this same framework to present their ideas, they can choreograph their insights, facts, and data so it all flows seamlessly and commands the attention of any audience. Why is that true? Because stories are the best way to contextualize information, make it memorable, and have it get the results we want. Here’s a brief look at those four elements that combined, give your presenter and their audience a roadmap of where the story is going and where it’s been. Setting: This is a snapshot in time, a place, or a circumstance that immediately establishes the context for your message to get your audience grounded and engaged. Characters: Your characters are who — or what — is affected by the current situation. Characters can be customers, employees, or team members. They humanize your story. Conflict: Every story has a level of conflict. It provides the tension that gives your audience a reason to care — and to look forward to how it is resolved. Resolution: Having (hopefully) built up your audience’s emotions to prepare them to embrace your resolution, you offer your recommendation, product, or solution.. Leverage the power of The BIG Idea Think about it. Every great story has one overarching, most-important lesson, moral, concept, or piece of information the author wants you to know. This is The BIG Idea — the one key message you want your audience to remember. It is the thread that runs through your entire presentation. Every fact or piece of data you include should be supporting and driving your BIG idea forward. Employing a BIG Idea also helps make you and your team more confident and nimble during presentations. Wrap your data in the story Contrary to what many people believe, it’s better to present less data and present it better than to bury your audience in slide after slide of mind-numbing charts, tables, and graphs. Compelling storytelling uses data to further your story, not be the story. Skillful use of data also includes putting callouts or focal points in graphs and charts, to easily draw the audience’s attention to the most important information. Prepare to Align Your Team and Enhance Their Impact Want to learn more about how to learn to use storytelling for communication that will help you better align your team, ensure greater collaboration and innovation, and help move the business forward faster? Contact The Presentation Company today.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/A-Managers-Guide-for-Ensuring-Alignment-With-a-New-Team.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T15:30:33-05:00" }, { "id": 8980, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/a-managers-guide-for-turning-presentation-flops-into-communication/", "title": "A Manager’s Guide for Turning Presentation Flops Into Communication Victories", "h1": "A Manager’s Guide for Turning Presentation Flops Into Communication Victories", "summary": "", "content": "

Are you hearing that your team’s presentations fall flat, fail to drive the desired outcomes, or don’t meet your team’s goals? Maybe you’ve even seen this happen right before your eyes. Or perhaps you’re simply tired of spending your time fixing someone else’s bad presentations to avoid those sorts of lackluster (at best) and painful (at worst) scenarios.

In a perfect world, managers should expect their teams to deliver clear, concise, and compelling presentations that ensure their most critical points get heard, encourage collaboration, and spur business growth and innovation. It’s a challenge that managers have struggled with, well, seemingly forever. Today it’s an even greater headache and bigger challenge thanks to our headline-centric, social media-driven world where everything is boiled down to 280 characters or less.

But it’s also a huge opportunity to provide effective, practical communication training for your entire team, especially for new hires, lower-paid employees, and the younger generations for whom professional training is a top incentive as they consider career opportunities and changes. Research by Robert Walters, a global recruiting firm, found that 91% of millennial professionals feel the potential for career progression is a top priority when choosing a new job. The New York Times in 2021 reported that employer job postings for positions that did not require four-year degrees included the term “training” 32% more often than in the same period two years earlier.

Here’s a short guide with four tips to help you make the case for upskilling your team’s presentation skills right now.

\"\"1. Define the business cost of poor presentation skills

If you want to sell communication training to your leadership, start by showing how bad presentations can result in damages ranging from lost productivity to a damaged brand.

Bad presentation skills waste time and decrease productivity

Microsoft estimates more than 30 million PowerPoint presentations are made every day. Because PowerPoint holds an estimated 95% share of the market for presentation software, we can estimate that more than 31.5 million PowerPoint-type presentations are given every day. Let’s assume (and these are conservative parameters):

If just 1 in 4 presentations fails to accomplish the desired outcome or otherwise wastes people’s time (again, we’re being conservative here), the wasted time due to poor presentations is 236,500 hours daily — costing businesses a whopping $4.5 million every workday.

I have 5 million things to do. I don’t have time to spend 20 hours editing and re-editing a PowerPoint deck. But I know it needs to be good, so I need to know how to do it better, so I can do this faster.

— Head of field category leadership for a multinational food company

Damaged customer experiences

There are only two ways to grow a business: acquire new customers and retain existing clients. Bad presentations will hurt on both fronts. Failure to turn an opportunity into new revenue is the obvious outcome of a bad sales presentation. But if a presentation to a prospect or current client is confusing or boring — or worse, if your audience feels you’ve wasted their time — then you may suffer greater, longer-lasting repercussions.

Bad presentations can damage your brand among potential customers and cripple brand loyalty, which can be worse in the long run than losing the sale. After all, 65% of a company’s business comes from existing customers, according to the Customer Service Institute of America.

An acute trend among our sales team is changing their methods and approach to accommodate a more digital motion and a more remote motion with our prospects. We have to be very cognizant of the relationship element in our pipeline.

— SVP of sales and field operations for a Europe-based global software testing company

Failing to reach a specific desired outcome

More specifically, bad presentations will prevent you or your team from influencing decision-making. Full stop.

Maybe you’re making a presentation to get approval for a new project for your team, but your data is confusing (or boring!), or your director simply doesn’t get a clear idea of the value of the project. You don’t get the go-ahead, you go back to the drawing board with your team, work stalls, and morale drops.

Almost 3 in 10 leaders (28%) report poor communication as the primary cause of failing to deliver a project within its original time frame.

— SMARP, employee engagement and advocacy platform

Less collaboration

The odds of successful collaboration go down dramatically when people can’t present their ideas and drive desired actions clearly and convincingly. And the need for better collaboration has grown as an increasing number of people work remotely (at least part of the time) and so much of our work lives has become increasingly complex.

While the need for more effective collaboration affects every aspect of every business, it may be most acute in product development. Consider these findings from a 2020 survey of 155 manufacturers in various industries found that poor collaboration causes engineers to work with outdated data 28% of the time, resulting in more rework, delays, and errors, leading to lower-quality products, higher costs, missed deadlines, and delays in time to market.

Collaboration on a large presentation is one of the hardest parts of my job. For example, every month we have a presentation that’s 20 pages long. I’ve got eight people collaborating to provide content — and none of them are on the same page for format and style. Consistency would be a huge time saver.

— Quality manager and business planner for a multinational information technology company

\"\"2. Flip the script: Define the business incentives of presentation training

After you have presented the potential fallout from poor presentation skills, turn it around. Illustrate the wide-ranging benefits of great presentations.

Improved productivity

Research shows that effective communication can increase an organization’s productivity by 25%. When your team members can clearly and effectively make themselves heard and drive desired results, everyone can work more efficiently and reach goals faster.

Everything from hiring to product development to sales to operations can be more productive when presentations at every step are engaging and effectively drive the outcomes presenters seek.

This [culture of storytelling] can make an impact at any touch point, whether internal or a customer. It’s about changing the fabric of the organization itself.

— Global head of delivery capability, diversity, and inclusion for a multinational information technology services and consulting company

A feather in the cap of the employer brand — a recruiting advantage

The job market is tough and isn’t going to change anytime soon. When your organization can communicate more strongly with prospective hires, and create a better candidate experience, you’re more likely to get them on board before the competition does.

Research by the hiring software company CareerPlug found that 80% of job seekers felt a positive candidate experience influenced their decision to say yes to an offer, and 58% of job seekers said a poor candidate experience led them to decline a job.

Every year you should invest in your people, and the number one thing should always be to improve communication skills. A lot of people dismiss it and think, ‘We’re good enough,’ or overlook this because they think communication is a soft skill. But it has hard payouts — for us and our people.

— Chairman of a demand-generation strategy firm

Engagement and retention

Offering communication upskilling to employees polishes your employer brand. You’re offering one of the most desired features among employees today (and especially for the younger generations): a commitment to providing professional training incentives that are practical and they can carry with them anywhere in the organization — and beyond.

People [learn how to tell a compelling story] and they’re transformed. The proof is in the pudding.

— Manager II for a manufacturer of medical devices used worldwide

Get the results your team wants

If you have communication training that is designed using your team’s current objectives and projects, it immediately supports team members to achieve their goals. It has the added value of helping them achieve career goals.

Nobody has any time today, so it’s critical that you get your message moving forward the first time you present it. It’s all part of not only the need for speed, but of going virtual and even changes in organizational structure. The right communication skills make you able to move fast and influence decisions.

— Procurement business partner and manager for a multinational food and drink processing corporation

Greater collaboration

Presentations in which your team members are truly heard and can drive action can tear down the walls between groups and departments. They will empower your people to work better with others in your area of the business or in different departments, spur innovation, and achieve common goals more efficiently.

Think about it: If everyone on your team were trained to build and deliver communications using the same approach, they would be better able to “speak the same language” during the development and review process, ultimately saving everyone time and headaches.

The bar is higher for every part of the organization today. The smart organizations are investing in making sure their teams are great in engaging audiences virtually — regardless of who their audience is.

— Chief revenue officer for a demand-generation strategy firm

\"\"3. Assess your team’s presentation skills

Before you seek help upskilling your team, evaluate their current presentation capabilities and find the root of your bad-presentation problems.

Identify the pain point (or points!)

Does the problem lie with one or two team members, or is it a more widespread concern? Is lack of presentation skills a company culture issue? In other words, does your organization suffer from low expectations for presentation quality?

In many companies, presentations that waste time and fail to get the desired results are considered par for the course — a sort of ever-present evil that you just need to put up with. Some organizations or individual leaders actually reinforce bad presentation design by demanding to see all the data the team compiled, and the slides become a hot mess as a result.

Also, try to identify if what you’re seeing is an ongoing problem (whether in your team or throughout the organization) or if it’s begun more recently. The answer could influence where the communication upskilling needs to occur — or at least where it needs to start.

Identify the most critical themes that should be addressed

As you look at the source and scope of bad presentations, also look for the most common reasons presentations by your team or in the company fail to meet expectations and get results. Among the most common traits of bad presentations are:

\"\"4. Leverage the power of upskilling through storytelling

Now it’s time to lean into the meat of your argument. When you understand why storytelling can transform your team’s presentation skills, you can make a stronger case for training that teaches employees how to present using effective storytelling.

Who doesn’t love a good story? We grow up listening to stories. Our brains are wired to remember stories. But effective stories — stories that spur customers, prospects, or leaders to take action — do more than tell a fairytale. They follow a proven arc and include powerful data insights and strong visuals to achieve an optimal balance of logic and emotion. To do what? To generate the decision-making their presenters seek within their audience.

How killer stories are crafted (in a nutshell)

A great presentation is built on a story with a tried-and-true road map. The good news is that once it’s learned, this structure can be applied to any form of communication and in any area of business. In brief, the road map has three key elements: the why, the what, and the how:

1. The WHY of the story: setting, characters, and conflict

2. The WHAT of the story: The BIG Idea

Great presenters through the ages have known the power of the BIG Idea — a crystal-clear understanding of the one critical takeaway they want their audience to know or do when the presentation is over. In presentations, this can be presented as an inspiring, insightful, and actionable preview of what’s to come. It’s how great presenters cut through the noise, connect with their audience, and drive decision-making.

3. The HOW of the story: The resolution

Resolution is where the presenter unveils a new opportunity, idea, or the call to action they want their audience to take. It gives the audience a clear direction forward.

Wrap data in a story (don’t let data drive the bus)

Many people believe that showing more data, more facts, or more evidence will bolster their presentation and help prove their point. Even some of the savviest data wizards have trouble controlling the amount of information they present. In fact, the opposite is usually true. Less data is best — if it’s told in the context of a story, is visually well displayed, and truly adds value to impact the audience.

Leverage the advantages of storytelling training

Great storytelling skills pay benefits beyond improving your team’s presentations. They also apply to emails, one-pagers, project plans, and more. Storytelling training has advantages for your team, including:

\"\"Prepare to Dramatically Improve Your Team’s Communication Impact

No manager wants their people to waste time — theirs or anyone else’s. Yet that’s what poor presentations do, every day. Every manager wants their people to communicate their ideas in a way that achieves the desired outcome and drives everyone toward success. That’s what storytelling can help your people do.

If poor presentations are costing your team time and slowing things down, if they’re leaving you and your team members frustrated, and costing you credibility, it’s time to invest in communication training. Specifically, it’s time to invest in communication training that centers on storytelling. It’s a proven path to getting your team’s ideas heard, making team members feel confident and valued, and moving your company forward.

", "content_plain": "Are you hearing that your team’s presentations fall flat, fail to drive the desired outcomes, or don’t meet your team’s goals? Maybe you’ve even seen this happen right before your eyes. Or perhaps you’re simply tired of spending your time fixing someone else’s bad presentations to avoid those sorts of lackluster (at best) and painful (at worst) scenarios. In a perfect world, managers should expect their teams to deliver clear, concise, and compelling presentations that ensure their most critical points get heard, encourage collaboration, and spur business growth and innovation. It’s a challenge that managers have struggled with, well, seemingly forever. Today it’s an even greater headache and bigger challenge thanks to our headline-centric, social media-driven world where everything is boiled down to 280 characters or less. But it’s also a huge opportunity to provide effective, practical communication training for your entire team, especially for new hires, lower-paid employees, and the younger generations for whom professional training is a top incentive as they consider career opportunities and changes. Research by Robert Walters, a global recruiting firm, found that 91% of millennial professionals feel the potential for career progression is a top priority when choosing a new job. The New York Times in 2021 reported that employer job postings for positions that did not require four-year degrees included the term “training” 32% more often than in the same period two years earlier. Here’s a short guide with four tips to help you make the case for upskilling your team’s presentation skills right now. 1. Define the business cost of poor presentation skills If you want to sell communication training to your leadership, start by showing how bad presentations can result in damages ranging from lost productivity to a damaged brand. Bad presentation skills waste time and decrease productivity Microsoft estimates more than 30 million PowerPoint presentations are made every day. Because PowerPoint holds an estimated 95% share of the market for presentation software, we can estimate that more than 31.5 million PowerPoint-type presentations are given every day. Let’s assume (and these are conservative parameters): Six people are in each meeting Each meeting is 30 minutes The average salary of presentation participants is $40,000, and there are an average of 2,087 average work hours in a calendar year If just 1 in 4 presentations fails to accomplish the desired outcome or otherwise wastes people’s time (again, we’re being conservative here), the wasted time due to poor presentations is 236,500 hours daily — costing businesses a whopping $4.5 million every workday. I have 5 million things to do. I don’t have time to spend 20 hours editing and re-editing a PowerPoint deck. But I know it needs to be good, so I need to know how to do it better, so I can do this faster. — Head of field category leadership for a multinational food company Damaged customer experiences There are only two ways to grow a business: acquire new customers and retain existing clients. Bad presentations will hurt on both fronts. Failure to turn an opportunity into new revenue is the obvious outcome of a bad sales presentation. But if a presentation to a prospect or current client is confusing or boring — or worse, if your audience feels you’ve wasted their time — then you may suffer greater, longer-lasting repercussions. Bad presentations can damage your brand among potential customers and cripple brand loyalty, which can be worse in the long run than losing the sale. After all, 65% of a company’s business comes from existing customers, according to the Customer Service Institute of America. An acute trend among our sales team is changing their methods and approach to accommodate a more digital motion and a more remote motion with our prospects. We have to be very cognizant of the relationship element in our pipeline. — SVP of sales and field operations for a Europe-based global software testing company Failing to reach a specific desired outcome More specifically, bad presentations will prevent you or your team from influencing decision-making. Full stop. Maybe you’re making a presentation to get approval for a new project for your team, but your data is confusing (or boring!), or your director simply doesn’t get a clear idea of the value of the project. You don’t get the go-ahead, you go back to the drawing board with your team, work stalls, and morale drops. Almost 3 in 10 leaders (28%) report poor communication as the primary cause of failing to deliver a project within its original time frame. — SMARP, employee engagement and advocacy platform Less collaboration The odds of successful collaboration go down dramatically when people can’t present their ideas and drive desired actions clearly and convincingly. And the need for better collaboration has grown as an increasing number of people work remotely (at least part of the time) and so much of our work lives has become increasingly complex. While the need for more effective collaboration affects every aspect of every business, it may be most acute in product development. Consider these findings from a 2020 survey of 155 manufacturers in various industries found that poor collaboration causes engineers to work with outdated data 28% of the time, resulting in more rework, delays, and errors, leading to lower-quality products, higher costs, missed deadlines, and delays in time to market. Collaboration on a large presentation is one of the hardest parts of my job. For example, every month we have a presentation that’s 20 pages long. I’ve got eight people collaborating to provide content — and none of them are on the same page for format and style. Consistency would be a huge time saver. — Quality manager and business planner for a multinational information technology company 2. Flip the script: Define the business incentives of presentation training After you have presented the potential fallout from poor presentation skills, turn it around. Illustrate the wide-ranging benefits of great presentations. Improved productivity Research shows that effective communication can increase an organization’s productivity by 25%. When your team members can clearly and effectively make themselves heard and drive desired results, everyone can work more efficiently and reach goals faster. Everything from hiring to product development to sales to operations can be more productive when presentations at every step are engaging and effectively drive the outcomes presenters seek. This [culture of storytelling] can make an impact at any touch point, whether internal or a customer. It’s about changing the fabric of the organization itself. — Global head of delivery capability, diversity, and inclusion for a multinational information technology services and consulting company A feather in the cap of the employer brand — a recruiting advantage The job market is tough and isn’t going to change anytime soon. When your organization can communicate more strongly with prospective hires, and create a better candidate experience, you’re more likely to get them on board before the competition does. Research by the hiring software company CareerPlug found that 80% of job seekers felt a positive candidate experience influenced their decision to say yes to an offer, and 58% of job seekers said a poor candidate experience led them to decline a job. Every year you should invest in your people, and the number one thing should always be to improve communication skills. A lot of people dismiss it and think, ‘We’re good enough,’ or overlook this because they think communication is a soft skill. But it has hard payouts — for us and our people. — Chairman of a demand-generation strategy firm Engagement and retention Offering communication upskilling to employees polishes your employer brand. You’re offering one of the most desired features among employees today (and especially for the younger generations): a commitment to providing professional training incentives that are practical and they can carry with them anywhere in the organization — and beyond. People [learn how to tell a compelling story] and they’re transformed. The proof is in the pudding. — Manager II for a manufacturer of medical devices used worldwide Get the results your team wants If you have communication training that is designed using your team’s current objectives and projects, it immediately supports team members to achieve their goals. It has the added value of helping them achieve career goals. Nobody has any time today, so it’s critical that you get your message moving forward the first time you present it. It’s all part of not only the need for speed, but of going virtual and even changes in organizational structure. The right communication skills make you able to move fast and influence decisions. — Procurement business partner and manager for a multinational food and drink processing corporation Greater collaboration Presentations in which your team members are truly heard and can drive action can tear down the walls between groups and departments. They will empower your people to work better with others in your area of the business or in different departments, spur innovation, and achieve common goals more efficiently. Think about it: If everyone on your team were trained to build and deliver communications using the same approach, they would be better able to “speak the same language” during the development and review process, ultimately saving everyone time and headaches. The bar is higher for every part of the organization today. The smart organizations are investing in making sure their teams are great in engaging audiences virtually — regardless of who their audience is. — Chief revenue officer for a demand-generation strategy firm 3. Assess your team’s presentation skills Before you seek help upskilling your team, evaluate their current presentation capabilities and find the root of your bad-presentation problems. Identify the pain point (or points!) Does the problem lie with one or two team members, or is it a more widespread concern? Is lack of presentation skills a company culture issue? In other words, does your organization suffer from low expectations for presentation quality? In many companies, presentations that waste time and fail to get the desired results are considered par for the course — a sort of ever-present evil that you just need to put up with. Some organizations or individual leaders actually reinforce bad presentation design by demanding to see all the data the team compiled, and the slides become a hot mess as a result. Also, try to identify if what you’re seeing is an ongoing problem (whether in your team or throughout the organization) or if it’s begun more recently. The answer could influence where the communication upskilling needs to occur — or at least where it needs to start. Identify the most critical themes that should be addressed As you look at the source and scope of bad presentations, also look for the most common reasons presentations by your team or in the company fail to meet expectations and get results. Among the most common traits of bad presentations are: A lack of structure or framework to tell an authentic story and instead suffer from a lack of flow and cohesiveness Visuals that don’t directly support the message Mountains of data that numb the audience rather than advance the intention of the presentation Time wasted setting up the context at the start of the presentation and failing to allow for time to get to the BIG Idea and key takeaways Virtual presentations that are clunky and awkward or leave the audience wondering what information was most important to know or what they were being asked to do 4. Leverage the power of upskilling through storytelling Now it’s time to lean into the meat of your argument. When you understand why storytelling can transform your team’s presentation skills, you can make a stronger case for training that teaches employees how to present using effective storytelling. Who doesn’t love a good story? We grow up listening to stories. Our brains are wired to remember stories. But effective stories — stories that spur customers, prospects, or leaders to take action — do more than tell a fairytale. They follow a proven arc and include powerful data insights and strong visuals to achieve an optimal balance of logic and emotion. To do what? To generate the decision-making their presenters seek within their audience. How killer stories are crafted (in a nutshell) A great presentation is built on a story with a tried-and-true road map. The good news is that once it’s learned, this structure can be applied to any form of communication and in any area of business. In brief, the road map has three key elements: the why, the what, and the how: 1. The WHY of the story: setting, characters, and conflict The setting provides the context of the presentation and is often backed up with data and trends; it builds critical focus for the audience and gets them on the same page with the presenter. Characters establish an emotional element for the audience to relate to. They can be customers, suppliers, partners, key stakeholders, or others. Conflict gives your audience a reason to care (and pay attention to the presentation). It allows the presenter to illuminate a current problem — one that may not be blatantly obvious to the audience. 2. The WHAT of the story: The BIG Idea Great presenters through the ages have known the power of the BIG Idea — a crystal-clear understanding of the one critical takeaway they want their audience to know or do when the presentation is over. In presentations, this can be presented as an inspiring, insightful, and actionable preview of what’s to come. It’s how great presenters cut through the noise, connect with their audience, and drive decision-making. 3. The HOW of the story: The resolution Resolution is where the presenter unveils a new opportunity, idea, or the call to action they want their audience to take. It gives the audience a clear direction forward. Wrap data in a story (don’t let data drive the bus) Many people believe that showing more data, more facts, or more evidence will bolster their presentation and help prove their point. Even some of the savviest data wizards have trouble controlling the amount of information they present. In fact, the opposite is usually true. Less data is best — if it’s told in the context of a story, is visually well displayed, and truly adds value to impact the audience. Leverage the advantages of storytelling training Great storytelling skills pay benefits beyond improving your team’s presentations. They also apply to emails, one-pagers, project plans, and more. Storytelling training has advantages for your team, including: Streamlining how your team’s best ideas get heard, so they’re better enabled to influence decision-making and drive your team’s desired outcomes Transforming data from confusing and mind-numbing to engaging and supportive Using a framework that enables them to adapt their presentation on the fly anytime they need to — and giving you the flexibility to be nimble to meet changing needs in the moment as well Saving time creating presentations, and avoiding rounds of edits with colleagues, because they’ll have a structure around which to organize their idea Improving how your people present — gaining confidence, boosting presentation quality, and developing executive presence Prepare to Dramatically Improve Your Team’s Communication Impact No manager wants their people to waste time — theirs or anyone else’s. Yet that’s what poor presentations do, every day. Every manager wants their people to communicate their ideas in a way that achieves the desired outcome and drives everyone toward success. That’s what storytelling can help your people do. If poor presentations are costing your team time and slowing things down, if they’re leaving you and your team members frustrated, and costing you credibility, it’s time to invest in communication training. Specifically, it’s time to invest in communication training that centers on storytelling. It’s a proven path to getting your team’s ideas heard, making team members feel confident and valued, and moving your company forward.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/A-Managers-Guide-for-Turning-Presentation-Flops-Into-Communication-Victories.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T16:08:27-05:00" }, { "id": 8968, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/storytelling-beyond-powerpoint-how-great-storytelling-skills-translate-across-the-business/", "title": "Storytelling Beyond PowerPoint: How Great Storytelling Skills Translate Across the Business", "h1": "Storytelling Beyond PowerPoint: How Great Storytelling Skills Translate Across the Business", "summary": "", "content": "

How Great Communication Skills Translate to More Than Just Presentations

Storytelling, as you’ve probably heard, is one of the most powerful tools businesspeople can harness. But, most of the time, when we hear the word “storytelling,” we think about a novel or film. Or perhaps you know the power of applying storytelling to business communication, but you don’t regularly create presentations or speak in front of executives and key stakeholders. How can you apply storytelling to any type of business communication you create every day, like emails, one-pagers, meeting agendas, or voicemails?

In this article we’ll show you how to use the powerful tools of storytelling in daily business communications, like providing product or status updates, crafting emails, and building one-pagers.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

\"\"First, let’s review. What is storytelling? What is it not?

You love stories. We love stories. Everyone loves a good story (because, duh, we’re humans). But many of us find it really hard to invite storytelling in our everyday business lives.

Why? Because we’re not Hollywood screenwriters or advertising gurus (at least most of us aren’t). We’re businesspeople who must communicate both internally and externally, up, across, and down the organization.

And most of the time we have to communicate fairly dry content: the quarterly business review, product update, new initiative, and so on. To many of us, it’s not obvious how storytelling is going to help us with our day job. Oh but it is. Just you wait.

Storytelling is relevant and practical to everyone (and can be learned by anyone).

Let’s discuss what storytelling is not before we discuss what it is.

What storytelling is not

Storytelling is not necessarily a novel or film. It’s also not rote information conveyed in a dry, boring format. Even the driest information can be transmitted in an engaging way.

There’s a difference between transmitting information, telling personal stories, and telling business stories. The first is simply dumping data and text into a presentation and telling your audience what’s happening. Bo-ring! This kind of communication is like listening to Charlie Brown’s teacher drone on with indistinguishable monotony.

Personal storytelling uses the principles of stories (which we’ll explain next) to describe the personal struggle or transformation that you’ve experienced. Your problem has been resolved, and you’re the focus of this type of communication. You can use this approach to inspire your audience and provide a life lesson for them to take away, but it doesn’t typically translate to the business world where you might need to give bad news on a project update or pitch a prospective customer to buy your widget.

Business storytelling, on the other hand, is focused on the audience and their problems, for which you make recommendations to help them resolve those problems. The problem is not yet resolved, which is one of the key differences.

So, how do you provide recommendations and help your audience resolve their problems? Use the key principles of storytelling.

What storytelling is

Much of business communication is simply creating an argument for others to do something. However, by using the key components of storytelling, you can make that argument more convincing and influence more people.

But before we get there, you’ll need to wrestle with what you want your BIG Idea to be. What’s a BIG Idea? It’s a simple, conversational statement that captures the WHAT of your story with high-level benefits. The BIG Idea serves as the actionable preview of what’s to come in the resolution (see below). Think of it like a trailer to prime the audience’s attention and focus for the rest of the piece.

Aside from the BIG Idea, storytelling is broken down into four distinct parts: setting, characters, conflict, and resolution. These are what we call the four “signposts” of storytelling.

Setting provides the context for the story: Where are we? What’s happening? What baseline are we working from? In a business context, setting could be as simple as this:

Characters represent the people involved in the story: Who or what is the setting about? What is happening to them? Good character building helps the audience empathize with the story. Business characters can include:

Conflict is what makes a story a story. “Drama,” as critic William Archer once observed, “is anticipation mingled with uncertainty.” It’s what gives stories their power and your audience a reason to care, so don’t neglect it. What will happen to the characters? Will the story end happily ever after or in tragedy? In business, conflict looks like this:

These statements invite your audience to ask, “So, what can we do?” This leads us into the resolution.

Resolution brings your characters — and your audience — safely through the conflict. It requires a BIG Idea bridge to get from the WHAT to the HOW, and it answers questions like these: How can we improve? What can we do? Will it work? After seeing the resolution, your audience should sigh, “Phew!” knowing that you have the solution to the problem you presented. Consider these business resolutions:

With these four signposts at your disposal, you can begin to build stories across your organization in a variety of contexts. Here are a few examples…

\"\"3 use cases for everyday business storytelling

To create an authentic, impactful story that influences your audience in a business setting, you need a story strategy. Strategizing about your story helps you craft an email, a one-page brief, or an update for your team.

To begin, ask yourself a few questions to identify the signposts for your story:

These questions help to illuminate the most important information, and the order in which you should present this information.

Now that you know who you want to talk to and what they need to hear, let’s look at a few examples of the daily communications that can be transformed into compelling narratives.

Emails

These questions help to illuminate the most important information, and the order in which you should present this information.
Now that you know who you want to talk to and what they need to hear, let’s look at a few examples of the daily communications that can be transformed into compelling narratives.

Let’s take a look at a real example of a confusing, meandering email, and how it can be transformed into a clear, concise email that’s more likely to get opened and acted on.

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One-pagers

A one-pager needs to convey a lot of information very quickly, and often in a very visual style. These assets are usually created for salespeople to deliver to prospects, but they could also be used for internal purposes, like teaching a customer service rep how a product works or helping knowledge workers find information on the intranet.

Here are a few ways to get the most out of your one-pagers.

Let’s take a look at a real example of a “bad” one-pager transformed into one that is clear, insightful, and easy-to-scan.

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Updates

You likely need to provide updates for your teams across myriad channels like Slack, chat, emails, or project management tools. The most important message for this type of communication is typically: Is the project on track or not? If not, what do you need to get it back on track? That’s it.
Since this may be your shortest type of communication during the day, it’s important to use the storytelling skills mentioned above to get to this information quickly.

Importantly, for an update, you don’t need a conflict if the project is on track. I know, shocking. But! You can still accomplish a lot without it. The BIG Idea is simply a soundbite.

Provide a quick setting. As mentioned before, your audience needs to know the context of this update. Answer these questions: What’s it about? Why am I receiving this?

Introduce the characters. Remember, your audience needs to know who’s involved. Answer these questions: Who needs to know this information? Why should they care?

Give a soundbite BIG Idea. Now that we’ve laid the groundwork, build the house. Answer these questions: What do I need to know? What do I need to do? What do you need from me?

This may sound simple, but it’s far from it. Like Blaise Pascal said, “I would have written a shorter letter if I had the time.” It’s deceptively difficult to produce a quick update, especially if there’s no conflict. But with a little practice, you can keep your team up to date without the meeting. However, if you do need a meeting and you do have some conflict to discuss and resolve, storytelling is the best way to get to the resolution.

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\"\"Practice Storytelling in ALL of your Business Communications

Business storytelling goes far beyond PowerPoint. It cuts across every communication, in every format. These tips can help you harness the power of storytelling beyond just presentations to help bring your ideas to life and get your desired outcomes, regardless of how they’re delivered.

", "content_plain": "How Great Communication Skills Translate to More Than Just Presentations Storytelling, as you’ve probably heard, is one of the most powerful tools businesspeople can harness. But, most of the time, when we hear the word “storytelling,” we think about a novel or film. Or perhaps you know the power of applying storytelling to business communication, but you don’t regularly create presentations or speak in front of executives and key stakeholders. How can you apply storytelling to any type of business communication you create every day, like emails, one-pagers, meeting agendas, or voicemails? In this article we’ll show you how to use the powerful tools of storytelling in daily business communications, like providing product or status updates, crafting emails, and building one-pagers. You can view our Privacy Policy here. First, let’s review. What is storytelling? What is it not? You love stories. We love stories. Everyone loves a good story (because, duh, we’re humans). But many of us find it really hard to invite storytelling in our everyday business lives. Why? Because we’re not Hollywood screenwriters or advertising gurus (at least most of us aren’t). We’re businesspeople who must communicate both internally and externally, up, across, and down the organization. And most of the time we have to communicate fairly dry content: the quarterly business review, product update, new initiative, and so on. To many of us, it’s not obvious how storytelling is going to help us with our day job. Oh but it is. Just you wait. Storytelling is relevant and practical to everyone (and can be learned by anyone). Let’s discuss what storytelling is not before we discuss what it is. What storytelling is not Storytelling is not necessarily a novel or film. It’s also not rote information conveyed in a dry, boring format. Even the driest information can be transmitted in an engaging way. There’s a difference between transmitting information, telling personal stories, and telling business stories. The first is simply dumping data and text into a presentation and telling your audience what’s happening. Bo-ring! This kind of communication is like listening to Charlie Brown’s teacher drone on with indistinguishable monotony. Personal storytelling uses the principles of stories (which we’ll explain next) to describe the personal struggle or transformation that you’ve experienced. Your problem has been resolved, and you’re the focus of this type of communication. You can use this approach to inspire your audience and provide a life lesson for them to take away, but it doesn’t typically translate to the business world where you might need to give bad news on a project update or pitch a prospective customer to buy your widget. Business storytelling, on the other hand, is focused on the audience and their problems, for which you make recommendations to help them resolve those problems. The problem is not yet resolved, which is one of the key differences. So, how do you provide recommendations and help your audience resolve their problems? Use the key principles of storytelling. What storytelling is Much of business communication is simply creating an argument for others to do something. However, by using the key components of storytelling, you can make that argument more convincing and influence more people. But before we get there, you’ll need to wrestle with what you want your BIG Idea to be. What’s a BIG Idea? It’s a simple, conversational statement that captures the WHAT of your story with high-level benefits. The BIG Idea serves as the actionable preview of what’s to come in the resolution (see below). Think of it like a trailer to prime the audience’s attention and focus for the rest of the piece. Aside from the BIG Idea, storytelling is broken down into four distinct parts: setting, characters, conflict, and resolution. These are what we call the four “signposts” of storytelling. Setting provides the context for the story: Where are we? What’s happening? What baseline are we working from? In a business context, setting could be as simple as this: After our Q1 meeting in March, Gerald raised a few key questions, and this presentation provides answers to them. As you know, the senior leadership team is meeting next month to discuss their recommendations to the board about our supply chain issues. Characters represent the people involved in the story: Who or what is the setting about? What is happening to them? Good character building helps the audience empathize with the story. Business characters can include: Customers Suppliers Partners Employees Board members Other key stakeholders Conflict is what makes a story a story. “Drama,” as critic William Archer once observed, “is anticipation mingled with uncertainty.” It’s what gives stories their power and your audience a reason to care, so don’t neglect it. What will happen to the characters? Will the story end happily ever after or in tragedy? In business, conflict looks like this: We’ve historically relied on Google display ads, but our old methods aren’t working anymore. Last week, the hospital underwent an inspection, and we received a critical report, threatening our accreditation. These statements invite your audience to ask, “So, what can we do?” This leads us into the resolution. Resolution brings your characters — and your audience — safely through the conflict. It requires a BIG Idea bridge to get from the WHAT to the HOW, and it answers questions like these: How can we improve? What can we do? Will it work? After seeing the resolution, your audience should sigh, “Phew!” knowing that you have the solution to the problem you presented. Consider these business resolutions: Here’s our path to enabling our sales team: Publish more resources, initiate handoffs between marketing and customer experience teams, and build an insights library to help them answer prospect questions. With these four signposts at your disposal, you can begin to build stories across your organization in a variety of contexts. Here are a few examples… 3 use cases for everyday business storytelling To create an authentic, impactful story that influences your audience in a business setting, you need a story strategy. Strategizing about your story helps you craft an email, a one-page brief, or an update for your team. To begin, ask yourself a few questions to identify the signposts for your story: Who is your audience? What’s their specific role? What do they need? What is their attitude toward the topic? What’s their prior knowledge of your topic? What environment will you be presenting in? What BIG Idea do you want them to take away? These questions help to illuminate the most important information, and the order in which you should present this information. Now that you know who you want to talk to and what they need to hear, let’s look at a few examples of the daily communications that can be transformed into compelling narratives. Emails These questions help to illuminate the most important information, and the order in which you should present this information. Now that you know who you want to talk to and what they need to hear, let’s look at a few examples of the daily communications that can be transformed into compelling narratives. Include a BIG Idea in your subject line. Many subject lines we receive include something like “Update” or “Meeting prep.” These just don’t say anything meaningful to the reader, and it’s a missed opportunity to state what you want the recipient to know or do with your email. Here’s an example: Tell a story, beginning with your subject line: “Need your feedback by Thursday for our senior leadership presentation” This helps establish the WHAT and HOW of your message, providing urgency for them to respond. Begin with the setting, characters, and conflict. Every recipient needs to know WHY you’re communicating with them. Without the why, who cares? Provide the setting and characters, and introduce conflict, but do it concisely “As you know, we have a meeting next week … During that meeting, we’ll discuss why we haven’t hit our lead targets and have missed deadlines. Making matters worse …” You get the picture. This helps create urgency but also gives context for the recipient to give the right feedback you’re looking for. Offer a BIG Idea and resolution. What do you want your audience to do with this email? That’s the question this section answers. Tell your audience what to do: BIG Idea: “To increase the number of leads and improve our engagement, we need ‘quick wins’ for next quarter.” Resolution: “Action requested: Add recommendations, share new ideas, and identify anything to be removed.” Clear CTA: “Please provide by next Wednesday EOD.” By providing a clear call to action, there’s no mistaking what you want and when you want it. Let’s take a look at a real example of a confusing, meandering email, and how it can be transformed into a clear, concise email that’s more likely to get opened and acted on. One-pagers A one-pager needs to convey a lot of information very quickly, and often in a very visual style. These assets are usually created for salespeople to deliver to prospects, but they could also be used for internal purposes, like teaching a customer service rep how a product works or helping knowledge workers find information on the intranet. Here are a few ways to get the most out of your one-pagers. Write a big, bold headline that introduces your BIG Idea. Remember, readers skim, so put the most important information at the top so your reader doesn’t have to guess what they’re looking at. Instead of “Patient Urgent Care Plan,” why not just say what you want the reader to know? Write “Patient care starts with facility care.” Group key information using elements like color, hierarchy, space, and balance. Not everyone is a professional graphic designer. We get that. Yet by knowing a few simple keys of good design, you can totally transform your visual design skills: Color: Group related information with the same color, and apply a “pop” of color for important highlights. Hierarchy: The critical information should be at the top, followed by successive information with headings. Use type size judiciously (like in this article!). Space: Give enough breathing room for readers to understand what’s happening and where. In other words, don’t cram too much into a small space. Balance: Provide a pleasing sense of balance by keeping your information symmetrical, or at least in some uniform way, like text on the left and graphs on the right. Be brief. This is a one-pager, not a book! Say only what you need to say, and no more. As famed editor E. B. White once said, “Omit needless words.” Let’s take a look at a real example of a “bad” one-pager transformed into one that is clear, insightful, and easy-to-scan. Updates You likely need to provide updates for your teams across myriad channels like Slack, chat, emails, or project management tools. The most important message for this type of communication is typically: Is the project on track or not? If not, what do you need to get it back on track? That’s it. Since this may be your shortest type of communication during the day, it’s important to use the storytelling skills mentioned above to get to this information quickly. Who’s it for? (E.g. are they an executive or an individual contributor?) Do they need detailed information or not? What’s the BIG Idea? (E.g. is the project on track or not?) Can we hit our goal? What needs to be done differently? Importantly, for an update, you don’t need a conflict if the project is on track. I know, shocking. But! You can still accomplish a lot without it. The BIG Idea is simply a soundbite. Provide a quick setting. As mentioned before, your audience needs to know the context of this update. Answer these questions: What’s it about? Why am I receiving this? Introduce the characters. Remember, your audience needs to know who’s involved. Answer these questions: Who needs to know this information? Why should they care? Give a soundbite BIG Idea. Now that we’ve laid the groundwork, build the house. Answer these questions: What do I need to know? What do I need to do? What do you need from me? This may sound simple, but it’s far from it. Like Blaise Pascal said, “I would have written a shorter letter if I had the time.” It’s deceptively difficult to produce a quick update, especially if there’s no conflict. But with a little practice, you can keep your team up to date without the meeting. However, if you do need a meeting and you do have some conflict to discuss and resolve, storytelling is the best way to get to the resolution. Practice Storytelling in ALL of your Business Communications Business storytelling goes far beyond PowerPoint. It cuts across every communication, in every format. These tips can help you harness the power of storytelling beyond just presentations to help bring your ideas to life and get your desired outcomes, regardless of how they’re delivered.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Hero-BeyondPPT-1200x627-R1.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T10:31:42-05:00" }, { "id": 8956, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/hybrid-is-here-to-stay-heres-what-you-need-to-know/", "title": "Hybrid is Here to Stay: Here’s What You Need to Know", "h1": "Hybrid is Here to Stay: Here’s What You Need to Know", "summary": "", "content": "

By now, it’s no secret that the future of work is hybrid. Right now, 45% of white-collar workers in the U.S. work fully or partially remote, according to Gallup. And that number is likely to increase. A survey conducted by Gartner found that nearly half of white-collar employers will allow people to work remotely to some extent for the foreseeable future. Hybrid is here to stay.

But the way it’s viewed — and its impact on people — is already getting complicated. Some workers may chafe at the unintended consequences of working outside their physical office, such as trying to be productive with an inadequate home workspace, or even missed opportunities for career advancement. These challenges, due in part to proximity bias, may cause some to feel that business can’t move forward as effectively when it’s not happening face to face.

For this reason, knowing how to engage your audience and communicate with influence in a hybrid environment is more critical than ever. Here are three things you need to know to make sure you — and your organization — are ready.

\"\"Make Technology an Asset, Not a Liability

The truth is that hybrid work environments are challenging. It’s often much simpler if everyone is either in-person or remote. The good news? Although hybrid work will increasingly become the norm for most of us, there’s no need to worry. With the right tools — and knowledge on how to use them — you’ll be able to thrive regardless of your team’s modality.

Always have a plan

As valuable and reliable as technology is, sometimes things are bound to go wrong. We’ve all been there! Maybe your internet goes down or your microphone stops working. Technology can feel like the enemy sometimes, but it doesn’t have to. To ensure you’re prepared for high-stakes meetings or presentations, be sure to:

Enlist a co-pilot: Ask a colleague to serve as your co-pilot (also known as a “producer”) during hybrid meetings. Partnering with a colleague in this way allows you, the presenter, to focus on the meeting while someone else addresses technology challenges. This helps you avoid wasting precious time where attendees are simply waiting for technical issues to be resolved. Producers can also take on other administrative tasks, such as letting people into the meeting, helping attendees with their own technical issues, and launching polls, leaving the presenter with more capacity for interacting with attendees.

Present using two devices: Even if you have a co-pilot, it may be useful to present using two devices. The primary device you’ll be working from should be the one that you use to present slides. It should also be the device that you use to speak to — the one that has your webcam and microphone.

But what about the second device? If you’re presenting with a computer, try logging in using a second computer (if you have one) or a smartphone so you can see how things look for other attendees. Don’t forget to mute your audio and turn off the camera on your second device to avoid unpleasant audio feedback. This way, you can avoid awkward and time-consuming interruptions where you must ask questions like, “Can everyone see this?” Instead, simply refer to your second device and you’ll know the answer. Being logged in on a second device has the added benefit of avoiding wasted time if you run into issues on your primary computer, because you’ll be ready to jump back in where you left off using your second device.

Use interactive features: For some, it may feel like enough of a stretch to simply use virtual meeting software. But making interactive features part of your presentation practice can help you leverage technology to provide a better meeting experience for everyone, regardless of location. For instance, polls can help you quickly get a feel for the needs or level of understanding of your audience, while starting a conversation in the chat can help attendees share their opinions and ideas. Plus, you can record or save contributions from chat, polls, whiteboard, etc., and refer to that information later.

As the speaker, you must practice using these tools yourself to make sure they’re smoothly integrated into your presentation. But even when you’re comfortable using tools such as polls and breakout rooms, audience members may not be. The best way to ensure that attendees know how to use interactive features is to show them. At the start of your meeting, provide a demonstration with detailed instructions on how to use your interactive tools of choice. This can be done using screen captures or through a live demonstration.

Another option is to use interactive placeholders or instructions on the slides being presented that give audience members specifics on what they need to do. For instance, at the start of a presentation, you can include a slide that asks participants to close their email (or other applications that can cause distractions) and prepare to be called on to share with the group. Or, if you’d like participants to use a certain tool, include a slide with instructions such as “click on the annotation toolbar on the left-hand side of your screen.” When you use interactive placeholders, attendees face fewer barriers to participation and are ultimately more engaged audience members.

\"\"Embracing Hybrid Doesn’t Have to Be Hard

Hybrid work offers endless opportunities There’s a learning curve to hybrid work. When some people are in person and others are not, it can be tough. Here are some ways to ensure that your team works effectively with a partially remote workforce.

We all need more time

If there’s one universal truth about work in the 21st century, it’s that everyone is busy. For this reason, when conducting and scheduling meetings, recognize that time is everyone’s most valuable resource, and that we must all be careful with the way we use it.

When conducting a meeting, respect everyone’s time by making sure that you start and end on time. Because many attendees must participate in many virtual calls each day, sticking to your schedule is critical to keeping everyone on track.

When scheduling meetings, be sure to leave time for yourself and your colleagues to do deep work. People perform deep work when they focus on one task, uninterrupted, for a long period of time. This is critical for business success because it gives people space to complete tasks and generate high-quality work. Without deep work, individuals can’t succeed. For this reason, avoid filling your colleagues’ schedules with meetings and ensure that they don’t interfere with time that’s already dedicated to deep work.

Create an inclusive work environment

To be successful in a hybrid work environment, organizations must first recognize that, in addition to providing many people with great freedom and flexibility, working remotely also presents serious challenges. Organizations must recognize that working away from the office can be isolating for some, especially those who have never worked face to face and built relationships with their colleagues.

To address this challenge, ensure that all participants in a hybrid meeting feel like they are seen and heard, regardless of where they are located. A good way to do this is to intentionally engage meeting participants and audience members who are not physically present. By calling these individuals out by name and asking them to contribute, you’ll create a more inclusive and supportive environment for everyone in your organization.

\"\"Build Presentations Specifically for Virtual Audiences

A well-planned presentation is key to success when presenting your ideas to colleagues. But the needs of audience members change depending on their modality, and typically it’s easier for virtual audiences to feel left out. For this reason, make sure that your presentation takes both in-person and remote audiences into consideration, but focus on virtual participants first to make sure they feel heard and seen.

Use visual cues to help engage viewers

Instead of verbally transitioning from one section to the next — which audience members may miss or misunderstand — add “visual pauses” that tell people when you’re moving on to a new topic. These cues can be simple — a single image or plain words on the screen — but they’re effective. Often these kinds of cues are just one slide. We call them interactive placeholder slides, and they help viewers stay engaged while also avoiding confusion during presentations.

Another helpful strategy for engaging viewers is to ask questions at several points during presentations and present them on the screen. Providing high-quality, thoughtful questions and discussion prompts into the presentation at regular intervals will help you get feedback from audience members, help people regain focus if their attention has wandered, and engage people in what you have to say.

You can’t rely on body language, so use your voice

One of the most jarring differences between remote and in-person presentations has to do with body language. With in-person presentations, speakers can lean heavily on body language to communicate and “read the room” to gauge audience engagement. But body language is much less useful when presenting remotely, especially when the speaker is presenting slides and may not be visible to audience members at all.

Speakers who are used to relying on body language may find that their presentations are less effective in virtual or hybrid environments. This is a problem because meeting attendees can be easily distracted by email or other work tasks, which underscores the importance of engaging virtual presentations.

To make up for the absence of body language, create vocal energy to project confidence and energy to meeting participants, and more effectively engage your audience. Here’s how:

\"\"Hybrid work offers endless opportunities

There’s a learning curve to hybrid work. When some people are in person and others are not, it can be tough. Here are some ways to ensure that your team works effectively with a partially remote workforce. With a decentralized workforce, companies can recruit the best talent from around the world, individuals can have greater freedom in where they choose to live, and employees can create a work environment that aligns with their needs. But to fully take advantage of these opportunities, organizations must be prepared to overcome the challenges associated with a hybrid workforce. By leveraging technology solutions, intentionally engaging all meeting participants, and preparing thoughtfully designed presentation materials to meet audience needs, your team’s hybrid work experience can be transformed — and your organization will reap the benefits.

", "content_plain": "By now, it’s no secret that the future of work is hybrid. Right now, 45% of white-collar workers in the U.S. work fully or partially remote, according to Gallup. And that number is likely to increase. A survey conducted by Gartner found that nearly half of white-collar employers will allow people to work remotely to some extent for the foreseeable future. Hybrid is here to stay. But the way it’s viewed — and its impact on people — is already getting complicated. Some workers may chafe at the unintended consequences of working outside their physical office, such as trying to be productive with an inadequate home workspace, or even missed opportunities for career advancement. These challenges, due in part to proximity bias, may cause some to feel that business can’t move forward as effectively when it’s not happening face to face. For this reason, knowing how to engage your audience and communicate with influence in a hybrid environment is more critical than ever. Here are three things you need to know to make sure you — and your organization — are ready. Make Technology an Asset, Not a Liability The truth is that hybrid work environments are challenging. It’s often much simpler if everyone is either in-person or remote. The good news? Although hybrid work will increasingly become the norm for most of us, there’s no need to worry. With the right tools — and knowledge on how to use them — you’ll be able to thrive regardless of your team’s modality. Always have a plan As valuable and reliable as technology is, sometimes things are bound to go wrong. We’ve all been there! Maybe your internet goes down or your microphone stops working. Technology can feel like the enemy sometimes, but it doesn’t have to. To ensure you’re prepared for high-stakes meetings or presentations, be sure to: Enlist a co-pilot: Ask a colleague to serve as your co-pilot (also known as a “producer”) during hybrid meetings. Partnering with a colleague in this way allows you, the presenter, to focus on the meeting while someone else addresses technology challenges. This helps you avoid wasting precious time where attendees are simply waiting for technical issues to be resolved. Producers can also take on other administrative tasks, such as letting people into the meeting, helping attendees with their own technical issues, and launching polls, leaving the presenter with more capacity for interacting with attendees. Present using two devices: Even if you have a co-pilot, it may be useful to present using two devices. The primary device you’ll be working from should be the one that you use to present slides. It should also be the device that you use to speak to — the one that has your webcam and microphone. But what about the second device? If you’re presenting with a computer, try logging in using a second computer (if you have one) or a smartphone so you can see how things look for other attendees. Don’t forget to mute your audio and turn off the camera on your second device to avoid unpleasant audio feedback. This way, you can avoid awkward and time-consuming interruptions where you must ask questions like, “Can everyone see this?” Instead, simply refer to your second device and you’ll know the answer. Being logged in on a second device has the added benefit of avoiding wasted time if you run into issues on your primary computer, because you’ll be ready to jump back in where you left off using your second device. Use interactive features: For some, it may feel like enough of a stretch to simply use virtual meeting software. But making interactive features part of your presentation practice can help you leverage technology to provide a better meeting experience for everyone, regardless of location. For instance, polls can help you quickly get a feel for the needs or level of understanding of your audience, while starting a conversation in the chat can help attendees share their opinions and ideas. Plus, you can record or save contributions from chat, polls, whiteboard, etc., and refer to that information later. As the speaker, you must practice using these tools yourself to make sure they’re smoothly integrated into your presentation. But even when you’re comfortable using tools such as polls and breakout rooms, audience members may not be. The best way to ensure that attendees know how to use interactive features is to show them. At the start of your meeting, provide a demonstration with detailed instructions on how to use your interactive tools of choice. This can be done using screen captures or through a live demonstration. Another option is to use interactive placeholders or instructions on the slides being presented that give audience members specifics on what they need to do. For instance, at the start of a presentation, you can include a slide that asks participants to close their email (or other applications that can cause distractions) and prepare to be called on to share with the group. Or, if you’d like participants to use a certain tool, include a slide with instructions such as “click on the annotation toolbar on the left-hand side of your screen.” When you use interactive placeholders, attendees face fewer barriers to participation and are ultimately more engaged audience members. Embracing Hybrid Doesn’t Have to Be Hard Hybrid work offers endless opportunities There’s a learning curve to hybrid work. When some people are in person and others are not, it can be tough. Here are some ways to ensure that your team works effectively with a partially remote workforce. We all need more time If there’s one universal truth about work in the 21st century, it’s that everyone is busy. For this reason, when conducting and scheduling meetings, recognize that time is everyone’s most valuable resource, and that we must all be careful with the way we use it. When conducting a meeting, respect everyone’s time by making sure that you start and end on time. Because many attendees must participate in many virtual calls each day, sticking to your schedule is critical to keeping everyone on track. When scheduling meetings, be sure to leave time for yourself and your colleagues to do deep work. People perform deep work when they focus on one task, uninterrupted, for a long period of time. This is critical for business success because it gives people space to complete tasks and generate high-quality work. Without deep work, individuals can’t succeed. For this reason, avoid filling your colleagues’ schedules with meetings and ensure that they don’t interfere with time that’s already dedicated to deep work. Create an inclusive work environment To be successful in a hybrid work environment, organizations must first recognize that, in addition to providing many people with great freedom and flexibility, working remotely also presents serious challenges. Organizations must recognize that working away from the office can be isolating for some, especially those who have never worked face to face and built relationships with their colleagues. To address this challenge, ensure that all participants in a hybrid meeting feel like they are seen and heard, regardless of where they are located. A good way to do this is to intentionally engage meeting participants and audience members who are not physically present. By calling these individuals out by name and asking them to contribute, you’ll create a more inclusive and supportive environment for everyone in your organization. Build Presentations Specifically for Virtual Audiences A well-planned presentation is key to success when presenting your ideas to colleagues. But the needs of audience members change depending on their modality, and typically it’s easier for virtual audiences to feel left out. For this reason, make sure that your presentation takes both in-person and remote audiences into consideration, but focus on virtual participants first to make sure they feel heard and seen. Use visual cues to help engage viewers Instead of verbally transitioning from one section to the next — which audience members may miss or misunderstand — add “visual pauses” that tell people when you’re moving on to a new topic. These cues can be simple — a single image or plain words on the screen — but they’re effective. Often these kinds of cues are just one slide. We call them interactive placeholder slides, and they help viewers stay engaged while also avoiding confusion during presentations. Another helpful strategy for engaging viewers is to ask questions at several points during presentations and present them on the screen. Providing high-quality, thoughtful questions and discussion prompts into the presentation at regular intervals will help you get feedback from audience members, help people regain focus if their attention has wandered, and engage people in what you have to say. You can’t rely on body language, so use your voice One of the most jarring differences between remote and in-person presentations has to do with body language. With in-person presentations, speakers can lean heavily on body language to communicate and “read the room” to gauge audience engagement. But body language is much less useful when presenting remotely, especially when the speaker is presenting slides and may not be visible to audience members at all. Speakers who are used to relying on body language may find that their presentations are less effective in virtual or hybrid environments. This is a problem because meeting attendees can be easily distracted by email or other work tasks, which underscores the importance of engaging virtual presentations. To make up for the absence of body language, create vocal energy to project confidence and energy to meeting participants, and more effectively engage your audience. Here’s how: Prepare your body: Take some time before your presentation to stretch out the muscles in your face and practice talking out loud. Just like you should warm up before exercising, your body needs time to prepare for an engaging presentation. Be mindful of your body: During the presentation, focus on your posture. By sitting or standing up straight, your body will respond with more energy. Also, use hand gestures. Even if attendees can’t see you, using hand gestures will engage your entire body in the act of speaking, and this will be reflected in your voice. Assess your performance: After the presentation, reflect on what you did well and how you could improve. If possible, watch a recording of your presentation and take notes on what you’d like to change or continue doing going forward. Hybrid work offers endless opportunities There’s a learning curve to hybrid work. When some people are in person and others are not, it can be tough. Here are some ways to ensure that your team works effectively with a partially remote workforce. With a decentralized workforce, companies can recruit the best talent from around the world, individuals can have greater freedom in where they choose to live, and employees can create a work environment that aligns with their needs. But to fully take advantage of these opportunities, organizations must be prepared to overcome the challenges associated with a hybrid workforce. By leveraging technology solutions, intentionally engaging all meeting participants, and preparing thoughtfully designed presentation materials to meet audience needs, your team’s hybrid work experience can be transformed — and your organization will reap the benefits.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Hybrid-is-Here-to-Stay-Heres-What-You-Need-to-Know-.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T16:08:52-05:00" }, { "id": 8946, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/checklist-7-must-haves-when-presenting-to-executives/", "title": "Checklist: 7 Must-haves When Presenting to Executives", "h1": "Checklist: 7 Must-haves When Presenting to Executives", "summary": "", "content": "

Presenting to executives can feel daunting. But with these tips, you’ll be prepared to present confidently and persuasively.

Presenting to executives can be a make-or-break moment in careers, not to mention nerve-wracking. Whether it’s requesting approval, sharing a status update, or presenting a quarterly business report, it’s important that your presentation is concise, meaningful, and insightful. Follow this short checklist each time you create an executive presentation to ensure you make the best impression possible.

\"\"Make sure your presentation is really worth sitting through

Executives’ schedules are packed with meetings. Like all of us, their time is precious. For this reason, executives won’t have patience for a drawn-out introduction that doesn’t seem relevant. Respect their time by getting to the point of your presentation quickly — within 30 or 60 seconds.

In addition to getting to the heart of your argument quickly, be sure to keep the presentation short, simple, and candid. Executives need to gather information and make decisions quickly. Overly complicated presentations with indirect language open the door for misunderstandings and confusion. Avoid this by being direct and concise.

Finally, before you schedule a presentation with an executive, ask yourself if scheduling a meeting is really necessary. If it’s not, save their calendar by providing a status update offline instead.

\"\"Have a BIG Idea

The BIG Idea is the one critical message you want your audience to remember. It needs to be concise, easy to remember, and specific. But keep in mind that the BIG Idea is not the name and details of your product, solutions, or recommendations. Instead, your BIG Idea must be an easy-to-understand sentence about WHAT your presentation is about, and must include one to three benefits that are relevant to the audience.

In addition, your BIG Idea must link WHY your audience should care about what you’re saying to HOW you plan to implement the next steps. Your BIG Idea is the central idea that ties together your entire presentation. It’s the core of the story you’ll tell your audience. But in order to implement your BIG Idea successfully, you’ll need to organize your entire presentation around business storytelling structure, which we’ll discuss next.

\"\"Apply story structure to your presentation

The most effective way to present to executives — or anyone, for that matter — is to use classic storytelling structure. When you lead with stories instead of data, you drive people to action. That’s because facts and data without context can be hard to understand, follow along with, and remember later on. Storytelling provides a road map, making it easier to understand what the data really means and how it should influence decisions.

To create an effective story, structure it around these four elements:

The power of business storytelling lies in the fact that it allows you to clearly describe a problem, lay out the implications of that problem, and provide a solution for it. By establishing the setting and characters, you help your audience envision themselves (or their stakeholders) in the story, ultimately motivating them to care about the problem and encouraging them to support, and act on, the solution you recommend.

\"\"Take on an executive mindset

Executives think big picture and long term. And generally, people with a strong executive presence do the same. They prioritize vision over details and like to frame their ideas in the context of growth, profitability, and competitive advantage. When you present to executives, provide the perspective and the kind of information they’re most interested in. For example, talk about your organization’s most important strategic initiatives and goals. But before you do anything else, start by talking about the big picture — presenting your BIG Idea first — before you get into the details.

Executives must also take multiple stakeholders into consideration when they make decisions. Keep this in mind when planning your presentation. Look at issues (and data) from multiple perspectives to account for the various groups that could be affected by the executive’s decisions. Relevant constituencies will depend on your organization and the topic being discussed, but these groups could include boards of directors, analysts, competitors, shareholders, customers, regulators, and more.

\"\"Walk in your audience’s shoes

A good rule of thumb for all presenters is to prioritize the needs of the audience. In other words, the presentation is not about you. Instead, ask yourself what the audience is experiencing, and how the information you’re providing contributes to their understanding and success.

We said earlier that you need to keep presentations short and simple. At the same time, don’t dumb things down too much. Refine your message in a way that allows you to communicate all of the necessary nuances of your argument while remaining concise. Executives are experienced audience members, so cut any content that’s common knowledge and anticipate informed questions. This kind of balance allows you to respect your audience’s time, without sacrificing content.

Clarify rewards and risks: Executives are constantly required to evaluate risks and rewards. Be clear about them by finding an insider to coach you on this mindset (e.g., an executive assistant, direct report, or colleague who presents to executives regularly). Keep their business goals, professional aspirations, and fears top of mind, and show them how your project will help them achieve success and mitigate risk.

\"\"Use active headlines

When designing a visual presentation, think about the way audience members will interact with each slide. The headline, or title, for each slide will be the largest text on the screen. That means it’s also the most likely to be read, while smaller text on each slide will probably be skimmed or passed over altogether. This means that the headlines are the most important text in your presentation.

To write an effective headline, aim for concise yet descriptive language that highlights your key takeaway or insight on that slide. Active, attention-grabbing headlines emblazoned across every slide will spark curiosity in your audience and encourage them to listen more intently.

\"\"Be prepared to pivot

Imagine you’ve scheduled a 30-minute meeting with an executive, complete with a detailed presentation. When you arrive, you find out that the executive’s schedule has changed. Now you only have five minutes to present — yikes! So what do you do? Pivot!

The pivot strategy is a technique that gives you the best chance to address audience needs in real time. Pivoting gives you the flexibility to adapt to your circumstances without sacrificing results.

A good pivot starts with knowing your presentation and its content — including the storytelling structure you’ve used to create it — backward and forward. You’ll also want to make sure you’re armed with all of the supporting data necessary to make your argument, especially if it’s counterintuitive, unexpected, or challenging to current opinions and practices. When you know your stuff, you’ll be prepared to pivot between different parts of the presentation depending on your audience’s needs. For instance, if you’re presenting to an executive who’s impatient or short on time, you can jump to your presentation’s BIG Idea. Then you can ask, “Do you want more context?” If they do, dive deeper into the characters, setting, and conflict of your story. Or, you can ask, “Do you want to see more details about my proposed solution?” If they do, you can jump into your resolution.

\"\"Now You’re Ready to Present to Executives

By following these seven steps in each of your executive presentations, you’re guaranteed to put your best foot forward. Executives will walk away informed, grateful, and impressed with the work you put in front of them.

", "content_plain": "Presenting to executives can feel daunting. But with these tips, you’ll be prepared to present confidently and persuasively. Presenting to executives can be a make-or-break moment in careers, not to mention nerve-wracking. Whether it’s requesting approval, sharing a status update, or presenting a quarterly business report, it’s important that your presentation is concise, meaningful, and insightful. Follow this short checklist each time you create an executive presentation to ensure you make the best impression possible. Make sure your presentation is really worth sitting through Executives’ schedules are packed with meetings. Like all of us, their time is precious. For this reason, executives won’t have patience for a drawn-out introduction that doesn’t seem relevant. Respect their time by getting to the point of your presentation quickly — within 30 or 60 seconds. In addition to getting to the heart of your argument quickly, be sure to keep the presentation short, simple, and candid. Executives need to gather information and make decisions quickly. Overly complicated presentations with indirect language open the door for misunderstandings and confusion. Avoid this by being direct and concise. Finally, before you schedule a presentation with an executive, ask yourself if scheduling a meeting is really necessary. If it’s not, save their calendar by providing a status update offline instead. Have a BIG Idea The BIG Idea is the one critical message you want your audience to remember. It needs to be concise, easy to remember, and specific. But keep in mind that the BIG Idea is not the name and details of your product, solutions, or recommendations. Instead, your BIG Idea must be an easy-to-understand sentence about WHAT your presentation is about, and must include one to three benefits that are relevant to the audience. In addition, your BIG Idea must link WHY your audience should care about what you’re saying to HOW you plan to implement the next steps. Your BIG Idea is the central idea that ties together your entire presentation. It’s the core of the story you’ll tell your audience. But in order to implement your BIG Idea successfully, you’ll need to organize your entire presentation around business storytelling structure, which we’ll discuss next. Apply story structure to your presentation The most effective way to present to executives — or anyone, for that matter — is to use classic storytelling structure. When you lead with stories instead of data, you drive people to action. That’s because facts and data without context can be hard to understand, follow along with, and remember later on. Storytelling provides a road map, making it easier to understand what the data really means and how it should influence decisions. To create an effective story, structure it around these four elements: Setting: Your setting provides the context for your presentation. It’s a place or a circumstance that places your story in a specific point in time. Characters: Those who are affected by the current situation are your story’s characters. In business storytelling, characters are usually people like customers, employees, or your team. The executive you’re presenting to can even be a character in your story. Conflict: Once you establish the context of your story (the setting) and introduce the characters, describe the conflict, or problem being faced. Conflict provides tension in the story. It gives your audience a reason to care — and take action to resolve it. Resolution: After describing the setting and characters and establishing the conflict, your audience will be emotionally involved in the story. At this point, audience members will be motivated to resolve the conflict, and hopefully embrace the resolution that you recommend. In business storytelling, resolution is often a course of action or a new product or service that needs to be provided. The power of business storytelling lies in the fact that it allows you to clearly describe a problem, lay out the implications of that problem, and provide a solution for it. By establishing the setting and characters, you help your audience envision themselves (or their stakeholders) in the story, ultimately motivating them to care about the problem and encouraging them to support, and act on, the solution you recommend. Take on an executive mindset Executives think big picture and long term. And generally, people with a strong executive presence do the same. They prioritize vision over details and like to frame their ideas in the context of growth, profitability, and competitive advantage. When you present to executives, provide the perspective and the kind of information they’re most interested in. For example, talk about your organization’s most important strategic initiatives and goals. But before you do anything else, start by talking about the big picture — presenting your BIG Idea first — before you get into the details. Executives must also take multiple stakeholders into consideration when they make decisions. Keep this in mind when planning your presentation. Look at issues (and data) from multiple perspectives to account for the various groups that could be affected by the executive’s decisions. Relevant constituencies will depend on your organization and the topic being discussed, but these groups could include boards of directors, analysts, competitors, shareholders, customers, regulators, and more. Walk in your audience’s shoes A good rule of thumb for all presenters is to prioritize the needs of the audience. In other words, the presentation is not about you. Instead, ask yourself what the audience is experiencing, and how the information you’re providing contributes to their understanding and success. We said earlier that you need to keep presentations short and simple. At the same time, don’t dumb things down too much. Refine your message in a way that allows you to communicate all of the necessary nuances of your argument while remaining concise. Executives are experienced audience members, so cut any content that’s common knowledge and anticipate informed questions. This kind of balance allows you to respect your audience’s time, without sacrificing content. Clarify rewards and risks: Executives are constantly required to evaluate risks and rewards. Be clear about them by finding an insider to coach you on this mindset (e.g., an executive assistant, direct report, or colleague who presents to executives regularly). Keep their business goals, professional aspirations, and fears top of mind, and show them how your project will help them achieve success and mitigate risk. Use active headlines When designing a visual presentation, think about the way audience members will interact with each slide. The headline, or title, for each slide will be the largest text on the screen. That means it’s also the most likely to be read, while smaller text on each slide will probably be skimmed or passed over altogether. This means that the headlines are the most important text in your presentation. To write an effective headline, aim for concise yet descriptive language that highlights your key takeaway or insight on that slide. Active, attention-grabbing headlines emblazoned across every slide will spark curiosity in your audience and encourage them to listen more intently. Be prepared to pivot Imagine you’ve scheduled a 30-minute meeting with an executive, complete with a detailed presentation. When you arrive, you find out that the executive’s schedule has changed. Now you only have five minutes to present — yikes! So what do you do? Pivot! The pivot strategy is a technique that gives you the best chance to address audience needs in real time. Pivoting gives you the flexibility to adapt to your circumstances without sacrificing results. A good pivot starts with knowing your presentation and its content — including the storytelling structure you’ve used to create it — backward and forward. You’ll also want to make sure you’re armed with all of the supporting data necessary to make your argument, especially if it’s counterintuitive, unexpected, or challenging to current opinions and practices. When you know your stuff, you’ll be prepared to pivot between different parts of the presentation depending on your audience’s needs. For instance, if you’re presenting to an executive who’s impatient or short on time, you can jump to your presentation’s BIG Idea. Then you can ask, “Do you want more context?” If they do, dive deeper into the characters, setting, and conflict of your story. Or, you can ask, “Do you want to see more details about my proposed solution?” If they do, you can jump into your resolution. Now You’re Ready to Present to Executives By following these seven steps in each of your executive presentations, you’re guaranteed to put your best foot forward. Executives will walk away informed, grateful, and impressed with the work you put in front of them.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/7-Must-haves-When-Presenting-to-Executives.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T16:09:12-05:00" }, { "id": 8938, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/real-reason-you-lose-your-audience-when-you-present-data/", "title": "The REAL Reason You Lose Your Audience When You Present Data", "h1": "The REAL Reason You Lose Your Audience When You Present Data", "summary": "", "content": "

Data plays an increasingly critical role in today’s business world. It adds credibility to your ideas, quantifies the work you do, and validates the solutions you provide. Unfortunately, most people who present data fail to consider the needs of their audience, ultimately losing their audience’s attention — and the chance to move them to action.

Although data is important, when poorly presented, it will hurt your presentation rather than help it. Data-minded professionals tend to lose their audience by making three common yet avoidable presentation mistakes.

\"\"3 Common Mistakes Data-focused Presenters Make

Have you ever sat through a meeting or presentation where the slides were packed with data? Not only did you have to squint to read it, but you spent time trying to decipher the meaning behind the data — and tuned out everything the presenter was actually saying while doing so. Our advice? Don’t be that person. Avoid these common mistakes when presenting data.

Failing to use an audience-centric approach

Presenters often use data backward: They talk about what’s important to them instead of what’s important to the people listening. This kind of speaker-centric approach means audience members can easily become bored or confused, especially when presentations include complicated graphs and excess data. The same thing can happen when presenters fail to explain the meaning of the data and why it matters, or if they take too long to “get to the point.” Without guidance and interpretation from the presenter, audiences are left to decode the data themselves.

Another way that speakers can fail to be audience-centric is by talking at people. When a presenter has a long slide deck full of graphs and limited time to get through them, audience engagement becomes an afterthought. By not creating a two-way dialogue with the audience, the speaker misses an opportunity to connect with the audience and hear valuable insights and feedback.

Absence of storytelling

We’ve all been there. You’re giving a presentation and the audience clearly isn’t paying attention, or maybe after a few slides filled with charts and graphs, you notice people’s eyes beginning to glaze over. It’s times like these that the need for storytelling is clear. The benefits of storytelling are grounded in brain science. Narratives can help the speaker come across as trustworthy, cause audience members to pay closer attention, and influence a listener’s decision-making. But without the scaffolding of purpose and context, data is ineffective, or worse, paralyzing for viewers. That’s where storytelling comes in. Effective storytelling, complemented by data, can engage audiences and drive action. In other words, data on its own is not an idea — it’s just overwhelming.

Lack of emotion

It’s easy to imagine how a presenter could go through slide after slide of charts without much emotion. But this kind of monotone delivery — and a failure to stir an emotional reaction within viewers — can limit business success. Evoking an emotional response on the part of an audience is not a new idea.

Aristotle taught of the power of pathos over 2,300 years ago, and it’s still relevant today. There’s clear evidence suggesting companies that make an emotional connection with customers are more successful. We also know that emotions influence choices and drive decision-making. For these reasons, presenters who fail to connect with the emotions of their audience fail to take advantage of a powerful tool.

\"\"The Good News? You Don’t Have to Struggle With Data

Thinking about all the ways presenting data can go wrong can be distressing. But don’t give up on data — it’s a critical tool for communicating in ways that are informative and compelling. Instead of getting discouraged, try these strategies to get the most from your data.

\"\"Solution #1: Wrap Your Data in a Story

The most important thing you can do to improve how your team represents data is to start with a compelling story. Follow the four signposts of storytelling — setting, characters, conflict, and resolution — to determine what matters to your audience, and see how you can use data to support your solution to their problems.

Map data to the four signposts of storytelling

To craft a story that will be compelling to your audience, use the four signposts of storytelling. With this structure, you can use data to complement your story, and ultimately enrich the value of the information you provide:

  1. Setting — where, when, and in what circumstances does the data exist?
  2. Characters — who or what is affected by the current situation? Characters can be, for example, customers or employees.
  3. Resolution — describe the ideal future state, using data to support your resolution of the conflict.
  4. Conflict — what problem do you face? Or, why are you not in the place you’d like to be?

Emphasize your BIG Idea

Determine the one thing you want your audience to know or do with the information you’re presenting. That’s your BIG Idea, and it’s the north star that guides every slide and data point you add to your presentation.

Close with a call to action

What do you want audience members to do with the knowledge you’ve just shared with them? Use a clear call to action that provides specific direction to audience members. This will help reiterate the resolution for listeners, while also helping them see a clear path to it. And the good news? Your call to action can be as simple as restating or rephrasing your big idea to reiterate your key message and motivate people to act.

\"\"Solution #2: Upskill Your Team’s Presentation Abilities

Once you’ve mastered the four signposts of storytelling, it’s time to polish your presentations and ensure you’re highlighting your key insights. Follow these five recommendations to take your presentations to the next level.

Be selective and eliminate excess data

Let’s imagine that you just completed a big research project and there’s a ton of data. You want to share it all because you put in so much work to bring it all together. While this impulse is understandable, try not to give in. Too much data will overwhelm audience members and distort the message you actually want to convey. Instead, include only what’s most relevant for your audience to understand the meaning behind the data rather than burying your audience in too many charts and graphs.

Use color intentionally

Data needs to be easy to read, and it doesn’t need to be flashy. Presentation software offers many tools for adding color and other effects to your data, but be careful with how you use them. Instead of adding bright neon colors that are difficult to interpret, aim for contrast by using dark text against a light background (or vice versa). When adding color, dark blues, greens, and oranges can be useful for calling out important observations, especially when contextual data is subdued in gray to maintain focus on your key insights.

When used well, visual effects — and especially color — will help make your presentation.

Use visuals to highlight key insights

When presenting data, use visuals to make your key takeaways clear. Without them, your audience can be easily confused and not come to the conclusions you intend for them. This kind of strategic use of visuals can help you draw attention to key insights while allowing you to lead audiences through the narrative you’ve designed. The goal is to tell your audience why a graph or set of statistics matters — and to say it in a way that’s easy to understand.

Infuse characters to connect with diverse audiences

To use data in a way that effectively engages all members of your audience, you must account for the diverse needs of everyone present. A CFO, for example, will have a different set of priorities than an HR manager or an engineer. This means that amid each person’s varying needs, you must craft an authentic and succinct narrative. But how?

When audiences have diverse priorities, speakers must design a narrative consisting of multiple characters and their corresponding conflicts. Each combination of characters and conflicts addresses the most common needs found within your audience. With this strategy, you can be prepared to go into detail on any one, or all, of the stories you’ve prepared depending on what needs arise in the moment.

\"\"When Data Supports a Story, Audiences Can’t Help but Be Engaged

Data is important, but data alone does not showcase your strategic insights, make you look like a strategic communicator, or make it easy for your audience to quickly grasp what they need to understand. In fact, datacentric presentations can make you lose your audience (and the deal). If you want to engage your audience, address the three common mistakes made by datafocused presenters by focusing on storytelling, adding emotion, and taking an audience-centric approach. When you upskill your team’s presentation skills, you also level up your business.

", "content_plain": "Data plays an increasingly critical role in today’s business world. It adds credibility to your ideas, quantifies the work you do, and validates the solutions you provide. Unfortunately, most people who present data fail to consider the needs of their audience, ultimately losing their audience’s attention — and the chance to move them to action. Although data is important, when poorly presented, it will hurt your presentation rather than help it. Data-minded professionals tend to lose their audience by making three common yet avoidable presentation mistakes. 3 Common Mistakes Data-focused Presenters Make Have you ever sat through a meeting or presentation where the slides were packed with data? Not only did you have to squint to read it, but you spent time trying to decipher the meaning behind the data — and tuned out everything the presenter was actually saying while doing so. Our advice? Don’t be that person. Avoid these common mistakes when presenting data. Failing to use an audience-centric approach Presenters often use data backward: They talk about what’s important to them instead of what’s important to the people listening. This kind of speaker-centric approach means audience members can easily become bored or confused, especially when presentations include complicated graphs and excess data. The same thing can happen when presenters fail to explain the meaning of the data and why it matters, or if they take too long to “get to the point.” Without guidance and interpretation from the presenter, audiences are left to decode the data themselves. Another way that speakers can fail to be audience-centric is by talking at people. When a presenter has a long slide deck full of graphs and limited time to get through them, audience engagement becomes an afterthought. By not creating a two-way dialogue with the audience, the speaker misses an opportunity to connect with the audience and hear valuable insights and feedback. Absence of storytelling We’ve all been there. You’re giving a presentation and the audience clearly isn’t paying attention, or maybe after a few slides filled with charts and graphs, you notice people’s eyes beginning to glaze over. It’s times like these that the need for storytelling is clear. The benefits of storytelling are grounded in brain science. Narratives can help the speaker come across as trustworthy, cause audience members to pay closer attention, and influence a listener’s decision-making. But without the scaffolding of purpose and context, data is ineffective, or worse, paralyzing for viewers. That’s where storytelling comes in. Effective storytelling, complemented by data, can engage audiences and drive action. In other words, data on its own is not an idea — it’s just overwhelming. Lack of emotion It’s easy to imagine how a presenter could go through slide after slide of charts without much emotion. But this kind of monotone delivery — and a failure to stir an emotional reaction within viewers — can limit business success. Evoking an emotional response on the part of an audience is not a new idea. Aristotle taught of the power of pathos over 2,300 years ago, and it’s still relevant today. There’s clear evidence suggesting companies that make an emotional connection with customers are more successful. We also know that emotions influence choices and drive decision-making. For these reasons, presenters who fail to connect with the emotions of their audience fail to take advantage of a powerful tool. The Good News? You Don’t Have to Struggle With Data Thinking about all the ways presenting data can go wrong can be distressing. But don’t give up on data — it’s a critical tool for communicating in ways that are informative and compelling. Instead of getting discouraged, try these strategies to get the most from your data. Solution #1: Wrap Your Data in a Story The most important thing you can do to improve how your team represents data is to start with a compelling story. Follow the four signposts of storytelling — setting, characters, conflict, and resolution — to determine what matters to your audience, and see how you can use data to support your solution to their problems. Map data to the four signposts of storytelling To craft a story that will be compelling to your audience, use the four signposts of storytelling. With this structure, you can use data to complement your story, and ultimately enrich the value of the information you provide: Setting — where, when, and in what circumstances does the data exist? Characters — who or what is affected by the current situation? Characters can be, for example, customers or employees. Resolution — describe the ideal future state, using data to support your resolution of the conflict. Conflict — what problem do you face? Or, why are you not in the place you’d like to be? Emphasize your BIG Idea Determine the one thing you want your audience to know or do with the information you’re presenting. That’s your BIG Idea, and it’s the north star that guides every slide and data point you add to your presentation. Close with a call to action What do you want audience members to do with the knowledge you’ve just shared with them? Use a clear call to action that provides specific direction to audience members. This will help reiterate the resolution for listeners, while also helping them see a clear path to it. And the good news? Your call to action can be as simple as restating or rephrasing your big idea to reiterate your key message and motivate people to act. Solution #2: Upskill Your Team’s Presentation Abilities Once you’ve mastered the four signposts of storytelling, it’s time to polish your presentations and ensure you’re highlighting your key insights. Follow these five recommendations to take your presentations to the next level. Be selective and eliminate excess data Let’s imagine that you just completed a big research project and there’s a ton of data. You want to share it all because you put in so much work to bring it all together. While this impulse is understandable, try not to give in. Too much data will overwhelm audience members and distort the message you actually want to convey. Instead, include only what’s most relevant for your audience to understand the meaning behind the data rather than burying your audience in too many charts and graphs. Use color intentionally Data needs to be easy to read, and it doesn’t need to be flashy. Presentation software offers many tools for adding color and other effects to your data, but be careful with how you use them. Instead of adding bright neon colors that are difficult to interpret, aim for contrast by using dark text against a light background (or vice versa). When adding color, dark blues, greens, and oranges can be useful for calling out important observations, especially when contextual data is subdued in gray to maintain focus on your key insights. When used well, visual effects — and especially color — will help make your presentation. Use visuals to highlight key insights When presenting data, use visuals to make your key takeaways clear. Without them, your audience can be easily confused and not come to the conclusions you intend for them. This kind of strategic use of visuals can help you draw attention to key insights while allowing you to lead audiences through the narrative you’ve designed. The goal is to tell your audience why a graph or set of statistics matters — and to say it in a way that’s easy to understand. Infuse characters to connect with diverse audiences To use data in a way that effectively engages all members of your audience, you must account for the diverse needs of everyone present. A CFO, for example, will have a different set of priorities than an HR manager or an engineer. This means that amid each person’s varying needs, you must craft an authentic and succinct narrative. But how? When audiences have diverse priorities, speakers must design a narrative consisting of multiple characters and their corresponding conflicts. Each combination of characters and conflicts addresses the most common needs found within your audience. With this strategy, you can be prepared to go into detail on any one, or all, of the stories you’ve prepared depending on what needs arise in the moment. When Data Supports a Story, Audiences Can’t Help but Be Engaged Data is important, but data alone does not showcase your strategic insights, make you look like a strategic communicator, or make it easy for your audience to quickly grasp what they need to understand. In fact, datacentric presentations can make you lose your audience (and the deal). If you want to engage your audience, address the three common mistakes made by datafocused presenters by focusing on storytelling, adding emotion, and taking an audience-centric approach. When you upskill your team’s presentation skills, you also level up your business.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/The-REAL-Reason-You-Lose-Your-Audience-When-You-Present-Data.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T16:09:32-05:00" }, { "id": 8925, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/dont-make-training-one-more-source-of-wasted-company-time/", "title": "Don’t Make Training One More Source of Wasted Company Time", "h1": "Don’t Make Training One More Source of Wasted Company Time", "summary": "", "content": "

If employees appear unproductive — like they don’t have enough time to do their job — it’s often because their time is being used inefficiently. When researching unproductive organizations, Bain & Company point to common factors like excessive e-communications, unnecessary meetings, and bureaucratic processes.

These inefficiencies often share a common denominator: poor communication. And they do, in fact, tend to create environments where people do not have time to do the jobs they’ve been hired for or make the impact on the organization that you had hoped they would. Instead, employees are often busy sorting through excess email, editing and revising other people’s work, and mitigating misunderstandings. All of that wasted time is costing businesses $62.4 million per year.

Costly inefficiencies obviously can’t fix themselves. But solutions like business coaching and communications training that people can relate to and immediately apply in their work can make a huge difference.

Are your employees struggling to do their jobs? Here are six common sources of wasted time and examples of how good communication training can help give that time back to your employees.

\"\"1. Workplace stress: A hidden productivity thief

Research has shown that as employee stress increases, productivity decreases. Stress also has a negative impact on psychological well-being at work and job satisfaction. You might be asking: Where’s this stress coming from? One source is poor communication. One study found that 80% of the U.S. workforce (based on 1,000 survey respondents) reported feeling stressed because of ineffective company communication.

How effective communication training can help

Take meetings and presentations, for example. Poorly run meetings and presentations cause people’s minds to wander and squander time. They have always contributed to employee stress and lost productivity. Now the problem is exacerbated by the increase in virtual presentations — one result of more companies moving to hybrid work models with more remote employees.

Training that keenly and effectively focuses on ways to improve virtual meetings and presentations will go a long way toward reducing wasted time and in turn help reduce workplace stress by giving people more time to do what matters to them — and to the company. Two ways to improve are having a “co-pilot” to help manage the technical side of virtual meetings and co-presenting with a team. Both options will help avert disruptions, overcome technical glitches, better engage the audience, and look more professional.

\"\"2. Excessive digital communication: A constant, major distraction

We are all drowning in digital information coming at us 24 hours a day through so many channels: instant messenger, email, chat apps, text messages, internal portals, and on and on. Email alone is a huge distraction. People sent and received 306 billion emails in 2020, and employees spent 44% more time reading emails in 2020 than in three years prior. Phone notifications are another distractor: The average person gets between 65 and 80 phone notifications a day. It’s no wonder why people struggle to maintain focus and productivity in a world where we’re constantly inundated with breaking news, urgent requests, and outrageous memes flooding our screens.

How effective communication training can help

Consider training that will help you and your team be part of the solution rather than the problem. Effective communication training can teach your team to write emails that cut through the noise and stand out in someone’s inbox — emails that don’t add to their stress level.
The right communication training will make sure that when you send an email, the people on the other end actually want to read it, rather than having the immediate reaction that it’s one more digital transmission they have to worry about, wonder about, ignore completely, or send to their trash folder.

\"\"3. Poorly crafted communications: Riding the rewrite merry-go-round

If you’re a leader who cares about and pays attention to how your people deliver their ideas — or help you deliver yours — you’ve probably said to yourself, “I have 5 million things to do. I don’t have time to spend 20 hours editing and re-editing this memo, slide deck, one-pager, etc., but it just isn’t there yet.” Editing and revising presentations in particular is a huge source of lost productivity for leaders. But we shouldn’t be surprised. Employees seeking to make a good impression often try to dazzle managers, leadership, and audiences with their knowledge, often in the form of massive presentation decks. The same is true for white papers, case studies, and more.

How effective communication training can help

Regardless of its format, audience, or desired outcome, communication that needs rounds of rewriting and massaging almost always fails to tell a clear, engaging story. That’s because communication efforts that waste time and increase stress levels during their development are often created in the absence of a practical, sensible road map.

Effective communication training that centers on this critical early stage of creating an engaging story will save everyone time and headaches in the long run. The right communication training will reduce the need for rewrites if it teaches people how to use a proven, repeatable framework for organizing their data, insights, and recommendations so they can tell audience-centric business stories faster and with fewer words (and fewer slides).

\"\"4. Meetings, meetings, meetings: Work time down the drain

Whether completely virtual, on-site, or hybrid, meetings are often a time sink for everyone involved. One survey found that 65% of senior managers feel meetings keep them from completing their work. Seven in 10 said meetings are unproductive and inefficient. And leaders aren’t alone in feeling that way. A whopping 91% of employees have daydreamed during meetings, while 39% have slept, and 73% admit they have worked on other things during meetings. Now, with more meetings being conducted online, people are probably even less engaged in their meetings.

How effective communication training can help

Neuroscience tells us that our brains respond more powerfully to stories than to facts and data. So why do so many meetings serve up nothing but a meandering mountain of facts and data? No wonder meeting participants feel they’d be better off skipping most meetings. Communication training that teaches people how to structure their information so it follows the classic arc of storytelling will achieve two big wins. Your meetings will have more engaged participants, and everyone will get time back to get their work done

\"\"5. Lack of role clarity: You want me to do what?

When employees have role clarity, they have a clear understanding of their tasks, responsibilities, and processes at work. It sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? Yet almost 50% of employees currently lack role clarity. This is no small matter. Data shows that these employees are costing companies money. Employees who are very clear about what is expected of them and how their jobs are supposed to get done are 53% more efficient and 27% more effective than their coworkers who experience role ambiguity.

How effective communication training can help

When employees lack role clarity, the problem is often that roles are poorly communicated. It doesn’t matter how clearly your company’s roles are defined. If they’re not communicated in a way that employees can relate to them, take them to heart, and act on them, then you greatly diminish the chances of achieving role clarity and optimal job performance.

Effective communication training can help leaders and managers avoid this pitfall by applying elements of great storytelling to convey an employee’s role so the message will positively impact the employee’s job behavior. For example, just as great storytellers first build empathy with their audiences, managers can learn to take the time to better understand how employees view their jobs, rather than simply handing them their role descriptions. Managers can also apply the storytelling technique of making their communication about their audience — asking what challenges the employee is facing on the job or what confusion or lack of clarity they may have.

\"\"6. People working on their own stuff during training

How many times have you heard leadership question the value of training because people use the time to take care of their own work, or worse, spend that time on social media or checking their email? How often have employees and managers complained about how much time is spent on training? They know training can be helpful, sometimes even critical, but they can’t afford to spend so much time away from their daily responsibilities.

How do you reduce time spent in employee training without compromising its effectiveness?

How effective communication training can help

People want learning that sticks and that can be put to practical use right away. The right communication training will use your team’s time more effectively because people will be engaged in learning that is not only directly related to their jobs but also can be used immediately.

One practice is the use of deep learning — or the development of in-depth knowledge and problem-solving abilities around a given subject — to build practical skills that people can also transfer to other areas of their work — from running smoother meetings to creating more engaging one-pagers and clearer emails, and more. Another best practice is to minimize disruption to your employees’ workday by using a vendor who will focus on what’s immediately relevant to your team — the projects they’re working on right now.

Turn Training Into a Time Saver

Training can too often seem like a time-consuming, check-the-box obligation — one more source of wasted time. But communication training can pay off in short order when it helps people quickly and effectively learn how to turn their data, facts, and ideas into persuasive narratives. Everyone becomes more efficient when people know how to communicate by telling visual stories that powerfully connect with their audience, regardless of the communication format or delivery channel.

", "content_plain": "If employees appear unproductive — like they don’t have enough time to do their job — it’s often because their time is being used inefficiently. When researching unproductive organizations, Bain & Company point to common factors like excessive e-communications, unnecessary meetings, and bureaucratic processes. These inefficiencies often share a common denominator: poor communication. And they do, in fact, tend to create environments where people do not have time to do the jobs they’ve been hired for or make the impact on the organization that you had hoped they would. Instead, employees are often busy sorting through excess email, editing and revising other people’s work, and mitigating misunderstandings. All of that wasted time is costing businesses $62.4 million per year. Costly inefficiencies obviously can’t fix themselves. But solutions like business coaching and communications training that people can relate to and immediately apply in their work can make a huge difference. Are your employees struggling to do their jobs? Here are six common sources of wasted time and examples of how good communication training can help give that time back to your employees. 1. Workplace stress: A hidden productivity thief Research has shown that as employee stress increases, productivity decreases. Stress also has a negative impact on psychological well-being at work and job satisfaction. You might be asking: Where’s this stress coming from? One source is poor communication. One study found that 80% of the U.S. workforce (based on 1,000 survey respondents) reported feeling stressed because of ineffective company communication. How effective communication training can help Take meetings and presentations, for example. Poorly run meetings and presentations cause people’s minds to wander and squander time. They have always contributed to employee stress and lost productivity. Now the problem is exacerbated by the increase in virtual presentations — one result of more companies moving to hybrid work models with more remote employees. Training that keenly and effectively focuses on ways to improve virtual meetings and presentations will go a long way toward reducing wasted time and in turn help reduce workplace stress by giving people more time to do what matters to them — and to the company. Two ways to improve are having a “co-pilot” to help manage the technical side of virtual meetings and co-presenting with a team. Both options will help avert disruptions, overcome technical glitches, better engage the audience, and look more professional. 2. Excessive digital communication: A constant, major distraction We are all drowning in digital information coming at us 24 hours a day through so many channels: instant messenger, email, chat apps, text messages, internal portals, and on and on. Email alone is a huge distraction. People sent and received 306 billion emails in 2020, and employees spent 44% more time reading emails in 2020 than in three years prior. Phone notifications are another distractor: The average person gets between 65 and 80 phone notifications a day. It’s no wonder why people struggle to maintain focus and productivity in a world where we’re constantly inundated with breaking news, urgent requests, and outrageous memes flooding our screens. How effective communication training can help Consider training that will help you and your team be part of the solution rather than the problem. Effective communication training can teach your team to write emails that cut through the noise and stand out in someone’s inbox — emails that don’t add to their stress level. The right communication training will make sure that when you send an email, the people on the other end actually want to read it, rather than having the immediate reaction that it’s one more digital transmission they have to worry about, wonder about, ignore completely, or send to their trash folder. 3. Poorly crafted communications: Riding the rewrite merry-go-round If you’re a leader who cares about and pays attention to how your people deliver their ideas — or help you deliver yours — you’ve probably said to yourself, “I have 5 million things to do. I don’t have time to spend 20 hours editing and re-editing this memo, slide deck, one-pager, etc., but it just isn’t there yet.” Editing and revising presentations in particular is a huge source of lost productivity for leaders. But we shouldn’t be surprised. Employees seeking to make a good impression often try to dazzle managers, leadership, and audiences with their knowledge, often in the form of massive presentation decks. The same is true for white papers, case studies, and more. How effective communication training can help Regardless of its format, audience, or desired outcome, communication that needs rounds of rewriting and massaging almost always fails to tell a clear, engaging story. That’s because communication efforts that waste time and increase stress levels during their development are often created in the absence of a practical, sensible road map. Effective communication training that centers on this critical early stage of creating an engaging story will save everyone time and headaches in the long run. The right communication training will reduce the need for rewrites if it teaches people how to use a proven, repeatable framework for organizing their data, insights, and recommendations so they can tell audience-centric business stories faster and with fewer words (and fewer slides). 4. Meetings, meetings, meetings: Work time down the drain Whether completely virtual, on-site, or hybrid, meetings are often a time sink for everyone involved. One survey found that 65% of senior managers feel meetings keep them from completing their work. Seven in 10 said meetings are unproductive and inefficient. And leaders aren’t alone in feeling that way. A whopping 91% of employees have daydreamed during meetings, while 39% have slept, and 73% admit they have worked on other things during meetings. Now, with more meetings being conducted online, people are probably even less engaged in their meetings. How effective communication training can help Neuroscience tells us that our brains respond more powerfully to stories than to facts and data. So why do so many meetings serve up nothing but a meandering mountain of facts and data? No wonder meeting participants feel they’d be better off skipping most meetings. Communication training that teaches people how to structure their information so it follows the classic arc of storytelling will achieve two big wins. Your meetings will have more engaged participants, and everyone will get time back to get their work done 5. Lack of role clarity: You want me to do what? When employees have role clarity, they have a clear understanding of their tasks, responsibilities, and processes at work. It sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? Yet almost 50% of employees currently lack role clarity. This is no small matter. Data shows that these employees are costing companies money. Employees who are very clear about what is expected of them and how their jobs are supposed to get done are 53% more efficient and 27% more effective than their coworkers who experience role ambiguity. How effective communication training can help When employees lack role clarity, the problem is often that roles are poorly communicated. It doesn’t matter how clearly your company’s roles are defined. If they’re not communicated in a way that employees can relate to them, take them to heart, and act on them, then you greatly diminish the chances of achieving role clarity and optimal job performance. Effective communication training can help leaders and managers avoid this pitfall by applying elements of great storytelling to convey an employee’s role so the message will positively impact the employee’s job behavior. For example, just as great storytellers first build empathy with their audiences, managers can learn to take the time to better understand how employees view their jobs, rather than simply handing them their role descriptions. Managers can also apply the storytelling technique of making their communication about their audience — asking what challenges the employee is facing on the job or what confusion or lack of clarity they may have. 6. People working on their own stuff during training How many times have you heard leadership question the value of training because people use the time to take care of their own work, or worse, spend that time on social media or checking their email? How often have employees and managers complained about how much time is spent on training? They know training can be helpful, sometimes even critical, but they can’t afford to spend so much time away from their daily responsibilities. How do you reduce time spent in employee training without compromising its effectiveness? How effective communication training can help People want learning that sticks and that can be put to practical use right away. The right communication training will use your team’s time more effectively because people will be engaged in learning that is not only directly related to their jobs but also can be used immediately. One practice is the use of deep learning — or the development of in-depth knowledge and problem-solving abilities around a given subject — to build practical skills that people can also transfer to other areas of their work — from running smoother meetings to creating more engaging one-pagers and clearer emails, and more. Another best practice is to minimize disruption to your employees’ workday by using a vendor who will focus on what’s immediately relevant to your team — the projects they’re working on right now. Turn Training Into a Time Saver Training can too often seem like a time-consuming, check-the-box obligation — one more source of wasted time. But communication training can pay off in short order when it helps people quickly and effectively learn how to turn their data, facts, and ideas into persuasive narratives. Everyone becomes more efficient when people know how to communicate by telling visual stories that powerfully connect with their audience, regardless of the communication format or delivery channel.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Dont-Make-Training-One-More-Source-of-Wasted-Company-Time.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T16:09:51-05:00" }, { "id": 8918, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/is-training-worth-it-3-reasons-tpc-training-provides-roi/", "title": "Is Training Worth It? 3 Reasons TPC Training Provides ROI", "h1": "Is Training Worth It? 3 Reasons TPC Training Provides ROI", "summary": "", "content": "

These days, there are tons of business storytelling solutions to choose from — and for good reason! Storytelling is a critical skill in today’s business environment, and many vendors have jumped at the opportunity to teach it. But it’s hard to truly know which vendor can help your team become more confident, effective communicators, and ultimately prove they’re worth the investment of time and treasure. Not only that, but the effectiveness of storytelling can be hard to quantify, which can make choosing a vendor even more difficult.

Here are three reasons you can feel confident you’re in good hands when choosing TPC as your business storytelling vendor.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

\"\"Follow the Data: TPC Customers Say Our Training Makes a Difference

At TPC, we closely monitor customer satisfaction to make sure we’re providing the training and resources you need to be successful. In fact, in a survey of thousands of our workshop participants, 98% agreed that TPC’s training was a worthwhile investment in their career.

98% of TPC customers say their business storytelling training is a worthwhile investment.

Tracking customer satisfaction through Net Promoter Scores, or NPS, is another way to make sure you’re choosing the right business communications training vendor. Created in 2003 by Bain & Company, NPS measures customer loyalty and satisfaction at regular intervals, allowing organizations to make adjustments based on customer needs.

At TPC, we use NPS surveys to make sure participants are getting what they need from our business storytelling training. In 2021, we asked more than 2,000 of our storytelling workshop participants to rate the sessions they attended on a scale of 1 to 5. Here’s what they said:

\"\"With TPC Training, Organizations See Results — and Come Back for More

We’ve all heard the phrase “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” At TPC, we’ve heard some version of this feedback again and again. That’s why 80% of our clients are repeat customers.

80% of TPC’s clients are repeat customers.

And not only do our customers return to train new hires and different departments, but many choose to invest in more training by bringing TPC in for keynote events and refresher sessions. That’s because teams that take our training are seeing results, and many customers choose to share the power of business storytelling with others in their organization.

\"\"Modality Matters: TPC Meets Your Needs With Multiple Modality Options

Everyone’s got their own learning style, and every organization has its own special blend of in-person, hybrid, and remote work. That’s why TPC offers several delivery modalities. With TPC, you can feel confident that training will be offered in the mode, and at the pace, your people need to be successful, including:

\"\"The Transformational Power of Storytelling

Business storytelling training can help people in your organization build the skills needed to grow your business. And when you choose TPC as your partner, you’ll know you’ve made the right choice. That’s because TPC is proven to get results — that’s why so many of our customers return for more training year after year, and it’s why 98% say our training is a worthwhile investment. Plus, you’ll know that TPC will work with your team to help you choose the training, and the modality, your organization needs to be successful. If you want a business storytelling training partner with proven results and expertise, choose TPC.

", "content_plain": "These days, there are tons of business storytelling solutions to choose from — and for good reason! Storytelling is a critical skill in today’s business environment, and many vendors have jumped at the opportunity to teach it. But it’s hard to truly know which vendor can help your team become more confident, effective communicators, and ultimately prove they’re worth the investment of time and treasure. Not only that, but the effectiveness of storytelling can be hard to quantify, which can make choosing a vendor even more difficult. Here are three reasons you can feel confident you’re in good hands when choosing TPC as your business storytelling vendor. You can view our Privacy Policy here. Follow the Data: TPC Customers Say Our Training Makes a Difference At TPC, we closely monitor customer satisfaction to make sure we’re providing the training and resources you need to be successful. In fact, in a survey of thousands of our workshop participants, 98% agreed that TPC’s training was a worthwhile investment in their career. 98% of TPC customers say their business storytelling training is a worthwhile investment. Tracking customer satisfaction through Net Promoter Scores, or NPS, is another way to make sure you’re choosing the right business communications training vendor. Created in 2003 by Bain & Company, NPS measures customer loyalty and satisfaction at regular intervals, allowing organizations to make adjustments based on customer needs. At TPC, we use NPS surveys to make sure participants are getting what they need from our business storytelling training. In 2021, we asked more than 2,000 of our storytelling workshop participants to rate the sessions they attended on a scale of 1 to 5. Here’s what they said: 4.6: What I learned in this workshop will help me on the job. 4.6: My learning was enhanced by the facilitator’s knowledge, responsiveness to our needs, and ability to communicate concepts. 4.5: This training will have a positive impact on my organization. With TPC Training, Organizations See Results — and Come Back for More We’ve all heard the phrase “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” At TPC, we’ve heard some version of this feedback again and again. That’s why 80% of our clients are repeat customers. 80% of TPC’s clients are repeat customers. And not only do our customers return to train new hires and different departments, but many choose to invest in more training by bringing TPC in for keynote events and refresher sessions. That’s because teams that take our training are seeing results, and many customers choose to share the power of business storytelling with others in their organization. Modality Matters: TPC Meets Your Needs With Multiple Modality Options Everyone’s got their own learning style, and every organization has its own special blend of in-person, hybrid, and remote work. That’s why TPC offers several delivery modalities. With TPC, you can feel confident that training will be offered in the mode, and at the pace, your people need to be successful, including: Virtual: If learners are unable to gather physically, live virtual training offers an alternative that’s just as effective. At TPC, we’re experts in providing high-quality instructor-led training. On demand: Live training can be tough to schedule because it requires everyone on your team to be available at the same time. If this sounds like a challenge your team would face, consider on-demand training. With on-demand training, learners participate on their own time, engaging in peer collaboration and feedback with a cohort asynchronously. Face to face: There’s no understating the power that being in the same room and working alongside colleagues can have. Face-to-face training is immersive, experiential, and fun. If your team can meet in person, TPC’s face-to-face training could be the right choice for you. The Transformational Power of Storytelling Business storytelling training can help people in your organization build the skills needed to grow your business. And when you choose TPC as your partner, you’ll know you’ve made the right choice. That’s because TPC is proven to get results — that’s why so many of our customers return for more training year after year, and it’s why 98% say our training is a worthwhile investment. Plus, you’ll know that TPC will work with your team to help you choose the training, and the modality, your organization needs to be successful. If you want a business storytelling training partner with proven results and expertise, choose TPC.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/TPC-Training-Provides-ROI.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T10:58:01-05:00" }, { "id": 8915, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/case-study-storytelling-in-business/", "title": "Video Case Study: Storytelling in Business", "h1": "Video Case Study: Storytelling in Business", "summary": "", "content": "

By now, you’re well aware of the power that storytelling can have on improving your business communications. It focuses your ideas, reminds you to reflect on your audience’s perspective, elevates the meaning behind your data, and, ultimately, it boosts your executive presence to help you get ahead in your career.

And while you’ve likely read blogs or books that give you strategies for building more authentic, influential business stories, you might still be wondering… Am I doing this right?!

If you want to get inspired by seeing a real transformation – a case study that, step-by-step, shows a “bad” presentation made over into a compelling, audience-centric story – this one’s for you.

Watch the video below to see a data-heavy presentation (with no clear storyline) translated into a highly visual, highly engaging story that drives the conversation forward in a succinct, meaningful way.

", "content_plain": "By now, you’re well aware of the power that storytelling can have on improving your business communications. It focuses your ideas, reminds you to reflect on your audience’s perspective, elevates the meaning behind your data, and, ultimately, it boosts your executive presence to help you get ahead in your career. And while you’ve likely read blogs or books that give you strategies for building more authentic, influential business stories, you might still be wondering… Am I doing this right?! If you want to get inspired by seeing a real transformation – a case study that, step-by-step, shows a “bad” presentation made over into a compelling, audience-centric story – this one’s for you. Watch the video below to see a data-heavy presentation (with no clear storyline) translated into a highly visual, highly engaging story that drives the conversation forward in a succinct, meaningful way.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Storytelling-in-Business.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T16:11:17-05:00" }, { "id": 8813, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/about/presentation-training-careers/", "title": "Careers", "h1": "Careers", "summary": "", "content": "

What we do

At The Presentation Company (TPC), we enable people across all roles and industries to bring meaning to their ideas and influence decisions through storytelling. We’ve spent over 20 years designing and delivering award-winning training programs that have a real impact on how organizations communicate, collaborate, and drive decisions. We’re a purpose-driven company, and that purpose shows up in everything we do, from how we serve clients like Kraft-Heinz, T-Mobile, and Medtronic, to how we show up for each other every day. Our clients keep coming back because we deliver on our promises, invest in their success, and approach every partnership in a refreshingly authentic way.

\"\"

We are a proud, women-owned business, founded by two sisters with a passion for helping people find their voice and tell their story.

The Presentation Company’s core values

At TPC, our values aren’t just words on a wall. They shape how we work, how we treat each other, and how we show up for our clients every day.

Pioneering Spirit

As a team, we lean into the unknown and open ourselves to possibilities. This results in new paths, relevant solutions, and deep relationships.

Clarity

Clarity helps us work on what is essential. We make time to gather our perspectives and focus our energy on the right goals, not just the easy ones.

Inclusivity

We help people find their voices and share their ideas; this creates connection and better solutions.

Accountability

We keep our promises. This results in trusting relationships and transformative learning experiences.

Empathy

We show compassion and genuine interest in each other’s lives. This results in people feeling valued and therefore they can show up as their best selves.

Interested in presentation training careers? Consider The Presentation Company

If you’re inspired by working with smart, passionate people who are driven by each other’s success, this may be your ideal workplace.

Imagine a career where you:

Employee testimonials

TPC’s training is so powerful that it changed the way I approach business storytelling. When the opportunity presented itself to work at TPC, I knew that I had to share that power with others.

–Grace Fraraccio, VP client success

I have had many wonderful experiences at different companies throughout my career. But joining TPC feels like the culmination of all my hard work. Our culture is alive here. We genuinely care about each other and our clients. We work as a team to meet our goals and we live our values every day. I feel energized and inspired by the people around me and the work I do!

– Rachel Behrle, CMO

If I had to choose one word, it would be ‘Supported.’ From Day 1 at TPC, I’ve felt genuinely valued—not just as an employee, but as a person. The entire company is committed to helping you feel successful and confident in your role, with a clear plan to back it up. I’ve never felt more encouraged or supported in any position I’ve held.

– Heather Brown, customer success manager

Explore our open roles 

Do your values align with ours? Join our team! Whether we have an opening that fits or not, we’d love to hear from you. Send us your resume at inquiries@presentation-company.com and we’ll be in touch when the right opportunity comes along.

We welcome and value diverse perspectives!

Links to job forms go here

Employee benefits and perks

The health and wellbeing of our team is important to us. Here are some of the benefits that come with building your career at TPC:

", "content_plain": "What we do At The Presentation Company (TPC), we enable people across all roles and industries to bring meaning to their ideas and influence decisions through storytelling. We’ve spent over 20 years designing and delivering award-winning training programs that have a real impact on how organizations communicate, collaborate, and drive decisions. We’re a purpose-driven company, and that purpose shows up in everything we do, from how we serve clients like Kraft-Heinz, T-Mobile, and Medtronic, to how we show up for each other every day. Our clients keep coming back because we deliver on our promises, invest in their success, and approach every partnership in a refreshingly authentic way. We are a proud, women-owned business, founded by two sisters with a passion for helping people find their voice and tell their story. The Presentation Company’s core values At TPC, our values aren’t just words on a wall. They shape how we work, how we treat each other, and how we show up for our clients every day. Pioneering Spirit As a team, we lean into the unknown and open ourselves to possibilities. This results in new paths, relevant solutions, and deep relationships. Clarity Clarity helps us work on what is essential. We make time to gather our perspectives and focus our energy on the right goals, not just the easy ones. Inclusivity We help people find their voices and share their ideas; this creates connection and better solutions. Accountability We keep our promises. This results in trusting relationships and transformative learning experiences. Empathy We show compassion and genuine interest in each other’s lives. This results in people feeling valued and therefore they can show up as their best selves. Interested in presentation training careers? Consider The Presentation Company If you’re inspired by working with smart, passionate people who are driven by each other’s success, this may be your ideal workplace. Imagine a career where you: Take on new challenges that tap into your full potential and boost your career Work with Fortune 500 and 100 clients you’re proud to support Feel empowered to share your ideas and creativity with the team Collaborate daily with people who are passionate about what we do Are part of a small organization with a healthy, supportive, inclusive environment Feel the impact of your work and see how it contributes to the growth of a strong and financially stable company Have direct access to senior leaders and owners who coach and mentor you Employee testimonials TPC’s training is so powerful that it changed the way I approach business storytelling. When the opportunity presented itself to work at TPC, I knew that I had to share that power with others. –Grace Fraraccio, VP client success I have had many wonderful experiences at different companies throughout my career. But joining TPC feels like the culmination of all my hard work. Our culture is alive here. We genuinely care about each other and our clients. We work as a team to meet our goals and we live our values every day. I feel energized and inspired by the people around me and the work I do! – Rachel Behrle, CMO If I had to choose one word, it would be ‘Supported.’ From Day 1 at TPC, I’ve felt genuinely valued—not just as an employee, but as a person. The entire company is committed to helping you feel successful and confident in your role, with a clear plan to back it up. I’ve never felt more encouraged or supported in any position I’ve held. – Heather Brown, customer success manager Explore our open roles Do your values align with ours? Join our team! Whether we have an opening that fits or not, we’d love to hear from you. Send us your resume at inquiries@presentation-company.com and we’ll be in touch when the right opportunity comes along. We welcome and value diverse perspectives! Links to job forms go here Employee benefits and perks The health and wellbeing of our team is important to us. Here are some of the benefits that come with building your career at TPC: Competitive compensation package Healthcare – Medical, Dental, and Vision Care 401k program Annual bonuses based on company performance Cell and internet allowance Generous paid time off (PTO, Sick time, Mental Health days off, 11 paid holidays a year, and company closes between Christmas and New Year’s Day) Annual training allowance And many other fantastic benefits!", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025-TPC-Farm.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-29T09:12:09-05:00" }, { "id": 8765, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/learn-how-to-find-your-story-at-atd-2022/", "title": "Learn How to FIND Your Story at ATD 2022!", "h1": "Learn How to FIND Your Story at ATD 2022!", "summary": "Whether you’re attending in-person or virtually, we’re back at the Association for Talent Development (ATD) Annual International Conference & Expo for the FIFTH year in a row! If you’ve caught any of our past sessions, you know we’ve spoken about a number of topics, including… How to turn numbers into narratives through data visualization How […]", "content": "

Whether you’re attending in-person or virtually, we’re back at the Association for Talent Development (ATD) Annual International Conference & Expo for the FIFTH year in a row! If you’ve caught any of our past sessions, you know we’ve spoken about a number of topics, including…

This year, we’re tackling the toughest — and, unfortunately, most overlooked —part of putting together any business communication: the energy and effort required to find the story. The truth is, most people jump straight into building decks without taking time to truly understand their audience, learn about their unique needs and challenges, and discover insights that get their audience to lean in and take action. It’s the pre-work we have to do before doing the work-work of putting together and delivering the actual meeting, presentation, or conversation. In a nutshell? Before we can share our story, we have to find it.

Janine Kurnoff, Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer at The Presentation Company, will walk you through a simple, practical framework to help you discover your story and organize your ideas and data into a compelling business narrative. You’ll walk away with a formula and vocabulary that makes finding (and ultimately telling) your story so much easier, and you’ll learn how to adapt your story based on scenarios we all face too often: like what to do when your meeting gets cut from 30 minutes to just five minutes, or when you need to build a cohesive story as a team.

During the session, you’ll:

So, what are you waiting for? Learn more and register here.

And don’t forget! While you’re in Orlando, make sure to stop by the ATD Book Store to grab a copy of Everyday Business Storytelling, where you’ll get 288 pages of practical, flexible storytelling tips that are sure to make you a more confident, credible communicator… in any scenario.

", "content_plain": "Whether you’re attending in-person or virtually, we’re back at the Association for Talent Development (ATD) Annual International Conference & Expo for the FIFTH year in a row! If you’ve caught any of our past sessions, you know we’ve spoken about a number of topics, including… How to turn numbers into narratives through data visualization How to connect with audiences that have various needs and priorities How to build meaningful, engaging online training and meetings How to design and deliver on-demand training that actually sticks How to build interaction into your hybrid meetings This year, we’re tackling the toughest — and, unfortunately, most overlooked —part of putting together any business communication: the energy and effort required to find the story. The truth is, most people jump straight into building decks without taking time to truly understand their audience, learn about their unique needs and challenges, and discover insights that get their audience to lean in and take action. It’s the pre-work we have to do before doing the work-work of putting together and delivering the actual meeting, presentation, or conversation. In a nutshell? Before we can share our story, we have to find it. Janine Kurnoff, Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer at The Presentation Company, will walk you through a simple, practical framework to help you discover your story and organize your ideas and data into a compelling business narrative. You’ll walk away with a formula and vocabulary that makes finding (and ultimately telling) your story so much easier, and you’ll learn how to adapt your story based on scenarios we all face too often: like what to do when your meeting gets cut from 30 minutes to just five minutes, or when you need to build a cohesive story as a team. During the session, you’ll: Learn a step-by-step process for finding, crafting, and telling a clear, compelling business story that drives action Explore ways to walk in your audience’s shoes to help you find and tell your story through their eyes, and Position your ideas more strategically to help you up-level your ideas — and your career So, what are you waiting for? Learn more and register here. And don’t forget! While you’re in Orlando, make sure to stop by the ATD Book Store to grab a copy of Everyday Business Storytelling, where you’ll get 288 pages of practical, flexible storytelling tips that are sure to make you a more confident, credible communicator… in any scenario.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ATD-01-1.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T16:00:33-05:00" }, { "id": 8762, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/join-tpc-and-novoed-for-book-club-live-everyday-business-storytelling/", "title": "Join TPC and NovoEd for Book Club LIVE: Everyday Business Storytelling", "h1": "Join TPC and NovoEd for Book Club LIVE: Everyday Business Storytelling", "summary": "How does storytelling become widespread in an organization? A culture of coaching. Join TPC and NovoEd for a LIVE, virtual Book Club session with Janine Kurnoff, Co-founder of The Presentation Company, who will bring the concepts in her book, Everyday Business Storytelling, to life. Janine will explore a simple, repeatable storytelling framework that will help […]", "content": "

How does storytelling become widespread in an organization? A culture of coaching. Join TPC and NovoEd for a LIVE, virtual Book Club session with Janine Kurnoff, Co-founder of The Presentation Company, who will bring the concepts in her book, Everyday Business Storytelling, to life.

Janine will explore a simple, repeatable storytelling framework that will help you elevate your conversations, influence decisions, and ensure your audience knows exactly what you want them to know and do with the information.

During her session, you’ll learn how to use a storytelling framework to organize ideas and data into influential, audience-centric business narratives that drive action and facilitate collaboration across your organization.

After this one-hour webinar, you’ll walk away knowing how to:

Plus, you’ll get a handout that encapsulates the framework that you’ll see in action during the session. Can’t make it? Get everything — and more — by grabbing a copy of Everyday Business Storytelling.

\"REGISTER

", "content_plain": "How does storytelling become widespread in an organization? A culture of coaching. Join TPC and NovoEd for a LIVE, virtual Book Club session with Janine Kurnoff, Co-founder of The Presentation Company, who will bring the concepts in her book, Everyday Business Storytelling, to life. Janine will explore a simple, repeatable storytelling framework that will help you elevate your conversations, influence decisions, and ensure your audience knows exactly what you want them to know and do with the information. During her session, you’ll learn how to use a storytelling framework to organize ideas and data into influential, audience-centric business narratives that drive action and facilitate collaboration across your organization. After this one-hour webinar, you’ll walk away knowing how to: Craft a compelling business story using an easy-to-grasp formula Transform a “bad” presentation into an engaging visual narrative Flex your story based on common audience scenarios Plus, you’ll get a handout that encapsulates the framework that you’ll see in action during the session. Can’t make it? Get everything — and more — by grabbing a copy of Everyday Business Storytelling.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Janine-Kurnoff_LinkedIn_NovoEd-Book-Club-LIVE.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T15:59:58-05:00" }, { "id": 8742, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/were-hiring-global-account-director/", "title": "We’re Hiring! Global Account Director", "h1": "We’re Hiring! Global Account Director", "summary": "", "content": "

We’re looking for a Global Account Director to join our growing sales team. This is a salaried position with bonus potential. West Coast candidates highly preferred. Learn more below and apply here if you’re the perfect fit!

What you will be doing:

What you will need to be successful:

\"APPLY

What’s in it for you?

Who we are:

At The Presentation Company (TPC) we enable people – in all roles and industries – to bring meaning to their ideas and influence decisions through visual storytelling. Our mission is to design and deliver award-winning training programs that make a real impact on people’s lives, confidence, and careers. We’re a purpose-driven company, and our beliefs are the foundation of how we show up and conduct business every day. We’re guided by our core values of a pioneering spirit, clarity, inclusivity, accountability, and empathy. Whether we’re training well-known brands like Kraft-Heinz, T-Mobile, Hewlett Packard, or helping an up-and-coming company tell its story, we put our customers at the heart of everything we do. We are a proud, women-owned company that is looking to enable the hopes, dreams, and ambitions of our team members!

Why work at TPC?

If you’re inspired by working with smart, passionate people who are driven by each other’s success, this may be your next, ideal job. Our clients love us because we deliver on our promises, value their partnerships, and approach everything we do in a refreshingly authentic way.

\"APPLY

TPC is committed to a diverse work environment and is proud to be a women-owned business and equal opportunity employer.

All employees need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and show proof of an FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccination prior to the start date of employment with TPC.

", "content_plain": "We’re looking for a Global Account Director to join our growing sales team. This is a salaried position with bonus potential. West Coast candidates highly preferred. Learn more below and apply here if you’re the perfect fit! What you will be doing: Cultivate relationships with existing customers and promote the spectrum of TPC’s workshops that align to corporate learning path and skill development needs Build strong, long-lasting relationships with senior-level executives within large global companies, and help educate customers on the value of TPC throughout the adoption cycle Develop account plans and exhibit business acumen and strategic thinking, with the ability to go deep into an account, and align our training programs with their global learning and development strategy Demonstrate thorough, up-to-date knowledge of our product portfolio to communicate the benefits of our program to new and existing clients Provide high-quality customer engagement activities to support learning program deployment, quarterly business reviews, ROI conversations, etc. Build account plans that set account strategy and identify key decision-makers, regional approaches, buying processes, product utilization, and new revenue opportunities Provide onboarding support for new clients to ensure a smooth delivery cycle thru all steps of the process Provide project coordination for client agreements including Statements of Work (SOWs), product and service orders, contract addendums and renewals, obtaining necessary customer signatures What you will need to be successful: 3+ years of experience in a B2B sales role and/or 5-years work experience in a client service capacity BA/BS degree preferred but not required Experience managing large accounts with complex organizational structures is ideal Experience with Salesforce and/or other CRM systems is essential Experience selling solutions into Learning and Development and business functions, i.e., Sales, Marketing, Finance, IT is preferred Demonstrated ability to generate and execute against a plan to ensure deep penetration into global accounts Proven track record of meeting or exceedingly quarterly/annual revenue targets Partner with our internal teams to support accounts in pre-sales and program deployment to execute on agreed-upon account goals, strategies, and tactics for growth and expansion. Coordinate and delegate across functional teams of subject matter experts and internal resources to support your accounts. Share successful selling strategies and best practices with teammates Utilize Salesforce.com to track activities and accurately forecast new and expansion revenue opportunities Be open, collaborative, credible, and customer-focused in all communications and transactions with colleagues and clients. Team-oriented yet able to work independently with ease Possess the ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver high-quality work under tight deadlines Excellent communicator who can adjust their communication style to their audience while maintaining a high level of professionalism Accountable and proactive; approaches work with optimism, enthusiasm, and commitment to meeting the needs of clients and colleagues Well-organized, resourceful, and detail-oriented is a must. Comfort in working in a fast-paced work environment while maintaining focus on your role. Creative problem solver, you have an innovative spirit, and you are a big-picture thinker. You bring your authentic self to work and contribute your superpower every day! You are comfortable ‘rolling up your sleeves’ if something doesn’t exist, create it! What’s in it for you? Competitive compensation package Healthcare – Medical, Dental, and Vision Care 401k program Annual bonuses based on company performance Cell and internet allowance Generous paid time off (PTO, Sick time, Mental Health days off, 11 paid holidays a year, and company close between Christmas and New Year’s) Annual Training allowance And many other fantastic benefits! Who we are: At The Presentation Company (TPC) we enable people – in all roles and industries – to bring meaning to their ideas and influence decisions through visual storytelling. Our mission is to design and deliver award-winning training programs that make a real impact on people’s lives, confidence, and careers. We’re a purpose-driven company, and our beliefs are the foundation of how we show up and conduct business every day. We’re guided by our core values of a pioneering spirit, clarity, inclusivity, accountability, and empathy. Whether we’re training well-known brands like Kraft-Heinz, T-Mobile, Hewlett Packard, or helping an up-and-coming company tell its story, we put our customers at the heart of everything we do. We are a proud, women-owned company that is looking to enable the hopes, dreams, and ambitions of our team members! Why work at TPC? If you’re inspired by working with smart, passionate people who are driven by each other’s success, this may be your next, ideal job. Our clients love us because we deliver on our promises, value their partnerships, and approach everything we do in a refreshingly authentic way. TPC is committed to a diverse work environment and is proud to be a women-owned business and equal opportunity employer. All employees need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and show proof of an FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccination prior to the start date of employment with TPC.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Global-Account-Director.png", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:37:58-05:00" }, { "id": 8718, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/story-first-visuals-second/", "title": "Story First, Visuals Second", "h1": "Story First, Visuals Second", "summary": "In a visual world where the pressure is on to choose the right image, chart, or video for your business presentations, what can help? Storytelling. We’ve all felt the heat when putting together a presentation that’s meant to wow the room. In an increasingly visual world, where pictures and videos stand-in for written communication through our smartphones […]", "content": "

In a visual world where the pressure is on to choose the right image, chart, or video for your business presentations, what can help? Storytelling.

We’ve all felt the heat when putting together a presentation that’s meant to wow the room. In an increasingly visual world, where pictures and videos stand-in for written communication through our smartphones and laptops, visuals can act as a shortcut to convey information quickly to audiences with seemingly shorter and shorter attention spans. Think about the punchy billboards you drive by, a recent TED Talk with a compelling infographic, or a YouTube video that explains a complex topic with clever animation. Regardless of age, location, or culture, people express themselves through light, sound, and motion, which helps to explain why the human brain can process images 60,000 times faster than text.

But before you go on the hunt for “professional-looking” slides (the ones that have been reused and reassembled over and over in countless decks), or spend hours combing through stock photography and inspirational videos, remember that regardless of the visual choice of the day… every memorable presentation starts with a compelling story. We’ll be the first to warn you: more bright and shiny visuals are not necessarily better. You must choose your visuals wisely because, as amazing of a shortcut they are for getting people to understand and remember information, they’re only as good as what they’re shortcutting to –your ideas, insights, and recommendations.

This means pausing on what your presentation looks like and first focusing on the context, characters, ideas, and resolution that takes your audience on a journey. Remember, business storytelling isn’t much different from any other type of storytelling. Within every story is a simple framework. A framework that anyone can learn, and with repeated use, propel all your stories, using visuals or not, to the next level (and yes… still wow the room).

The Four Signposts+ a BIG Idea

Every story has four structural elements, or “signposts” –setting, characters, conflict, and a resolution. These signposts create a pattern of ideas that feel familiar, feel human, feel satisfying, but most importantly, just feel. And if ideas, especially big ones, make us feel -we remember them better.

\"\"

Setting: The setting builds context and helps get everyone on the same page by emphasizing what is happening in their world (and gives them a reason to care). Think of it as a mini-education that shines a spotlight on issues you (and hopefully your audience) want to solve.

Characters: Why are characters so irresistible? Simple: because we are human, so “meeting” a character in a story feels familiar to us. It helps to serve a critical function in stories by presenting who or what matters to your audience. Characters can be named (“meet Ben”), unnamed (“Consumers”), or YOU (think of a TED Talk where someone puts themselves in their speech). And just as your audience begins to care about your characters, your story needs to convey that something is happening to them. You need conflict.

Conflict: Conflict in your story is a significant differentiator between super-exciting and utterly forgettable. Without some form of conflict or tension, your story has no momentum. Conflict gives your audience further reasons to care because it reveals the challenges they’re facing. Revealing it lets you be a hero twice –first when you identify a problem, and then again when you propose a way to fix it.

BIG Idea: In every great story, you’ve established context through setting and characters. You’ve built-in uncomfortable conflict. You’ve got your audience to care. Now is the time to add a BIG Idea –the one thing you want your audience to remember. Your BIG Idea acts as a mental bridge to help bring your audience through the conflict and accept your resolution.

For example:

We need to invest more in our partners must get intentional about cross-border shoppers it’s time to pause and rethink our approach

Resolution: A strong resolution brings your characters – and your audience –safely through the conflict. It’s the “meat and potatoes” of your story. For a salesperson, it’s the features and benefits of their solution. For a product manager giving an update, it’s their recommendation to spur product growth.

But often, in our eagerness to solve the conflict quickly, most people start with the resolution at the beginning of the story. In fact, starting with the resolution is the opposite of good business storytelling. Can you imagine if The Wizard of Oz started with “there’s no place like home”? We lose all the setting, characters, and conflict that got us engaged with the story. We care because we went on a journey with Dorothy.

You must build context for your audience, including some healthy tension, so they have a reason to care. Otherwise, they will not be motivated to hear the details of your resolution. Your resolution must be earned.

Remember: Story first…

And so there you have it. Before jumping into your visuals, remember to follow this baseline story structure:

  1. Follow the four signposts to explain WHY your audience should care (Tip! The first three can go in any order, but resolution should always come last)
  2. Have a BIG Idea (that captures the WHAT of your story)
  3. Reveal your resolution (which details the HOW of your features, solutions, or recommendation)

…Visuals second

And now the fun begins – the visuals! Remember, there are five basic ways to visualize your story: photos, diagrams, data, videos, and text (yes, event text can be used as a visual element!). Use them strategically to link to your narrative with purpose to get people to notice and, more importantly – respond to – your ideas. For help, check out our quick and easy guide for choosing the best visuals for your next presentation.

Photos: Pictures are infinitely more memorable than text because they help connect with your audience on an emotional level. They’re also useful in creating a mood or theme for your presentation — particularly if you are presenting data or facts about people.

Diagrams: Diagrams are great for clustering information into digestible concepts using shapes and colors. They can be a great alternative to overused charts, tables, or timelines to call out your key message.

Data: Data is most often presented in the form of traditional charts and tables. However, don’t be afraid to think outside the chart by using a combination of oversized numbers, text, and basic shapes to draw the eye to key data insight and advance a story forward.

Text: Believe it or not, the text is the most commonly visual. Unfortunately, it’s wildly overused. Since popular programs (like PowerPoint) default to bulleted lists of text, we often create slides that are jammed up with words, making it difficult to quickly scan and digest. But text can work very well when used sparingly with contrasting colors and sizes. Video: Video can help set the tone for your story’s opening, bring your characters to life, or provide a dramatic close that reinforces your BIG Idea. It’s best kept brief and, of course, totally on message.

Visual storytelling: The most powerful way to spread your ideas

Want more advice on how to use visual storytelling to help you cut through the noise? Check out our best-selling book Everyday Business Storytelling for practical tips and real-world examples designed to help anyone learn the art of crafting persuasive communications.

", "content_plain": "In a visual world where the pressure is on to choose the right image, chart, or video for your business presentations, what can help? Storytelling. We’ve all felt the heat when putting together a presentation that’s meant to wow the room. In an increasingly visual world, where pictures and videos stand-in for written communication through our smartphones and laptops, visuals can act as a shortcut to convey information quickly to audiences with seemingly shorter and shorter attention spans. Think about the punchy billboards you drive by, a recent TED Talk with a compelling infographic, or a YouTube video that explains a complex topic with clever animation. Regardless of age, location, or culture, people express themselves through light, sound, and motion, which helps to explain why the human brain can process images 60,000 times faster than text. But before you go on the hunt for “professional-looking” slides (the ones that have been reused and reassembled over and over in countless decks), or spend hours combing through stock photography and inspirational videos, remember that regardless of the visual choice of the day… every memorable presentation starts with a compelling story. We’ll be the first to warn you: more bright and shiny visuals are not necessarily better. You must choose your visuals wisely because, as amazing of a shortcut they are for getting people to understand and remember information, they’re only as good as what they’re shortcutting to –your ideas, insights, and recommendations. This means pausing on what your presentation looks like and first focusing on the context, characters, ideas, and resolution that takes your audience on a journey. Remember, business storytelling isn’t much different from any other type of storytelling. Within every story is a simple framework. A framework that anyone can learn, and with repeated use, propel all your stories, using visuals or not, to the next level (and yes… still wow the room). The Four Signposts+ a BIG Idea Every story has four structural elements, or “signposts” –setting, characters, conflict, and a resolution. These signposts create a pattern of ideas that feel familiar, feel human, feel satisfying, but most importantly, just feel. And if ideas, especially big ones, make us feel -we remember them better. Setting: The setting builds context and helps get everyone on the same page by emphasizing what is happening in their world (and gives them a reason to care). Think of it as a mini-education that shines a spotlight on issues you (and hopefully your audience) want to solve. Characters: Why are characters so irresistible? Simple: because we are human, so “meeting” a character in a story feels familiar to us. It helps to serve a critical function in stories by presenting who or what matters to your audience. Characters can be named (“meet Ben”), unnamed (“Consumers”), or YOU (think of a TED Talk where someone puts themselves in their speech). And just as your audience begins to care about your characters, your story needs to convey that something is happening to them. You need conflict. Conflict: Conflict in your story is a significant differentiator between super-exciting and utterly forgettable. Without some form of conflict or tension, your story has no momentum. Conflict gives your audience further reasons to care because it reveals the challenges they’re facing. Revealing it lets you be a hero twice –first when you identify a problem, and then again when you propose a way to fix it. BIG Idea: In every great story, you’ve established context through setting and characters. You’ve built-in uncomfortable conflict. You’ve got your audience to care. Now is the time to add a BIG Idea –the one thing you want your audience to remember. Your BIG Idea acts as a mental bridge to help bring your audience through the conflict and accept your resolution. For example: We need to invest more in our partners must get intentional about cross-border shoppers it’s time to pause and rethink our approach Resolution: A strong resolution brings your characters – and your audience –safely through the conflict. It’s the “meat and potatoes” of your story. For a salesperson, it’s the features and benefits of their solution. For a product manager giving an update, it’s their recommendation to spur product growth. But often, in our eagerness to solve the conflict quickly, most people start with the resolution at the beginning of the story. In fact, starting with the resolution is the opposite of good business storytelling. Can you imagine if The Wizard of Oz started with “there’s no place like home”? We lose all the setting, characters, and conflict that got us engaged with the story. We care because we went on a journey with Dorothy. You must build context for your audience, including some healthy tension, so they have a reason to care. Otherwise, they will not be motivated to hear the details of your resolution. Your resolution must be earned. Remember: Story first… And so there you have it. Before jumping into your visuals, remember to follow this baseline story structure: Follow the four signposts to explain WHY your audience should care (Tip! The first three can go in any order, but resolution should always come last) Have a BIG Idea (that captures the WHAT of your story) Reveal your resolution (which details the HOW of your features, solutions, or recommendation) …Visuals second And now the fun begins – the visuals! Remember, there are five basic ways to visualize your story: photos, diagrams, data, videos, and text (yes, event text can be used as a visual element!). Use them strategically to link to your narrative with purpose to get people to notice and, more importantly – respond to – your ideas. For help, check out our quick and easy guide for choosing the best visuals for your next presentation. Photos: Pictures are infinitely more memorable than text because they help connect with your audience on an emotional level. They’re also useful in creating a mood or theme for your presentation — particularly if you are presenting data or facts about people. Diagrams: Diagrams are great for clustering information into digestible concepts using shapes and colors. They can be a great alternative to overused charts, tables, or timelines to call out your key message. Data: Data is most often presented in the form of traditional charts and tables. However, don’t be afraid to think outside the chart by using a combination of oversized numbers, text, and basic shapes to draw the eye to key data insight and advance a story forward. Text: Believe it or not, the text is the most commonly visual. Unfortunately, it’s wildly overused. Since popular programs (like PowerPoint) default to bulleted lists of text, we often create slides that are jammed up with words, making it difficult to quickly scan and digest. But text can work very well when used sparingly with contrasting colors and sizes. Video: Video can help set the tone for your story’s opening, bring your characters to life, or provide a dramatic close that reinforces your BIG Idea. It’s best kept brief and, of course, totally on message. Visual storytelling: The most powerful way to spread your ideas Want more advice on how to use visual storytelling to help you cut through the noise? Check out our best-selling book Everyday Business Storytelling for practical tips and real-world examples designed to help anyone learn the art of crafting persuasive communications.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Story-first-visuals-second.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T10:49:04-05:00" }, { "id": 8715, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/were-hiring-training-development-coordinator/", "title": "We’re Hiring! Training Development Coordinator", "h1": "We’re Hiring! Training Development Coordinator", "summary": "We’re looking for a Training Development Coordinator to help build the next generation of TPC products. In this exciting role with broad visibility, you will be working with our organization’s key players – including TPC’s co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer Janine Kurnoff, as well as interfacing with development leads, trainers, and cross-functional business partners. Think of this role […]", "content": "

We’re looking for a Training Development Coordinator to help build the next generation of TPC products. In this exciting role with broad visibility, you will be working with our organization’s key players – including TPC’s co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer Janine Kurnoff, as well as interfacing with development leads, trainers, and cross-functional business partners. Think of this role as an apprenticeship.

By being part of the development roadmap and vision for new and innovative versions of TPC’s products, you will flex your analytical and creative muscles. We truly believe in a “learn by doing” approach so get ready to learn hands-on from industry thought leaders, gain valuable career coaching, and receive ongoing mentoring.

While you’ll be working remotely, we are ideally looking for candidates near our headquarters in Portland, Oregon. This is a salaried position with bonus potential. Learn more below and apply here if you’re the perfect fit!

What you will be doing:

Use your organized left-brain way of thinking to help support our various training development needs, including:

Use your creative right-brain way of thinking, that loves to get hands-on, to help visualize and translate ideas from concept to real-life, including:

Help us stay abreast with what’s happening in our industry by researching and collaborating with key stakeholders to gather relevant information and distill it down into actionable recommendations

What you will need to be successful:

APPLY HERE

What’s in it for you?

Who we are:

At The Presentation Company (TPC) we enable people – in all roles and industries – to bring meaning to their ideas and influence decisions through visual storytelling. Our mission is to design and deliver award-winning training programs that make a real impact on people’s lives, confidence, and careers. We’re a purpose-driven company, and our beliefs are the foundation of how we show up and conduct business every day. We’re guided by our core values of a pioneering spirit, clarity, inclusivity, accountability, and empathy. Whether we’re training well-known brands like Kraft-Heinz, T-Mobile, Hewlett Packard, or helping an up-and-coming company tell its story, we put our customers at the heart of everything we do. We are a proud, women-owned company that is looking to enable the hopes, dreams, and ambitions of our team members!

Why work at TPC?

If you’re inspired by working with smart, passionate people who are driven by each other’s success, this may be your next, ideal job. Our clients love us because we deliver on our promises, value their partnerships, and approach everything we do in a refreshingly authentic way.

APPLY HERE

TPC is committed to a diverse work environment and is proud to be a women-owned business and equal opportunity employer. All employees need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and show proof of an FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccination prior to the start date of employment with TPC.

", "content_plain": "We’re looking for a Training Development Coordinator to help build the next generation of TPC products. In this exciting role with broad visibility, you will be working with our organization’s key players – including TPC’s co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer Janine Kurnoff, as well as interfacing with development leads, trainers, and cross-functional business partners. Think of this role as an apprenticeship. By being part of the development roadmap and vision for new and innovative versions of TPC’s products, you will flex your analytical and creative muscles. We truly believe in a “learn by doing” approach so get ready to learn hands-on from industry thought leaders, gain valuable career coaching, and receive ongoing mentoring. While you’ll be working remotely, we are ideally looking for candidates near our headquarters in Portland, Oregon. This is a salaried position with bonus potential. Learn more below and apply here if you’re the perfect fit! What you will be doing: Use your organized left-brain way of thinking to help support our various training development needs, including: Update, maintain and provide quality assurance (QA) for all instructor and participant resources to ensure everything (from copy to visuals to videos) is current and consistent across our learning modalities (ILT, VILT, and e-Learning) Build and manage content for our e-Learning courses including but not limited to: building course pages in our online learning platform (NovoEd), setting up gamification, automating learner communications, and documenting step-by-step processes to educate customers on what to expect Organize and maintain our course development files on Box and then publish those files to our trainer community Document best practices and create style guides/templates to enable efficient course development in collaboration with our Project Management Office (PMO) Gather and analyze data from our workshops to develop actionable insights to improve courses Support all activities before, during, and after in-studio video production including securing vendors, ensuring all scripts and talent are prepared for shoot day, and notating in scripts during filming to speed up post-production editing Use your creative right-brain way of thinking, that loves to get hands-on, to help visualize and translate ideas from concept to real-life, including: Source visual assets (photos, icons, etc.) to support course building Brainstorm and mockup visual concepts to hand off to a designer Review, update, and enhance training materials such as instructor and producer guides and cheat sheets, art direction in video scripts, course descriptions, etc. with a focus on storytelling, flow, visual style, and delivering a positive learner experience Help us stay abreast with what’s happening in our industry by researching and collaborating with key stakeholders to gather relevant information and distill it down into actionable recommendations What you will need to be successful: 3+ years of relevant work experience (ideally in the training and development industry) Superior organizational skills with experience ensuring others stay organized too Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with a thorough knowledge of the English language, grammar, spelling, punctuation, and usage Experience building course content in NovoEd (or comparable online learning platform) Proficiency with presentation software like PowerPoint and Google Slides Experience sourcing photography to humanize a concept or key message Experience working with multiple vendors that support different aspects of a project Comfortable working in a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment that values a “can-do” attitude, proactive thinking, commitment to quality, and strong time management skills to help us meet simultaneous deadlines Curious by nature, you are resourceful and possess excellent research skills Ability to take direction, feedback, and guidance from management Creative problem solver, you have an innovative spirit, and you are a big-picture thinker. You bring your authentic self to work and contribute your superpower every day! Entrepreneurial mindset with an ability to flex with our evolving business needs APPLY HERE What’s in it for you? Competitive compensation package Healthcare – Medical, Dental, and Vision Care 401k program Annual bonuses based on company performance Cell and internet allowance Generous paid time off (PTO, Sick time, Mental Health days off, 11 paid holidays a year, and company close between Christmas and New Year’s) Annual Training allowance And many other fantastic benefits! Who we are: At The Presentation Company (TPC) we enable people – in all roles and industries – to bring meaning to their ideas and influence decisions through visual storytelling. Our mission is to design and deliver award-winning training programs that make a real impact on people’s lives, confidence, and careers. We’re a purpose-driven company, and our beliefs are the foundation of how we show up and conduct business every day. We’re guided by our core values of a pioneering spirit, clarity, inclusivity, accountability, and empathy. Whether we’re training well-known brands like Kraft-Heinz, T-Mobile, Hewlett Packard, or helping an up-and-coming company tell its story, we put our customers at the heart of everything we do. We are a proud, women-owned company that is looking to enable the hopes, dreams, and ambitions of our team members! Why work at TPC? If you’re inspired by working with smart, passionate people who are driven by each other’s success, this may be your next, ideal job. Our clients love us because we deliver on our promises, value their partnerships, and approach everything we do in a refreshingly authentic way. APPLY HERE TPC is committed to a diverse work environment and is proud to be a women-owned business and equal opportunity employer. All employees need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and show proof of an FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccination prior to the start date of employment with TPC.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Hiring_Training-Development-Coordinator.png", "modified": "2023-02-28T10:41:21-05:00" }, { "id": 8708, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/9-tips-to-nail-a-virtual-sales-pitch/", "title": "9 Tips to Nail a Virtual Sales Pitch", "h1": "9 Tips to Nail a Virtual Sales Pitch", "summary": "With online sales presentations being more necessary than ever, it’s critical to know how to make the most of your time with prospects and customers. The days of building trust and credibility through face-to-face meetings, 5-star dinners, and trips to the golf course are over. So how can you develop meaningful buyer relationships in just […]", "content": "

With online sales presentations being more necessary than ever, it’s critical to know how to make the most of your time with prospects and customers. The days of building trust and credibility through face-to-face meetings, 5-star dinners, and trips to the golf course are over. So how can you develop meaningful buyer relationships in just a 15-minute Zoom call – and overcome the technical issues, at-home distractions, and lack of genuine connection that come with it?

All it takes is some preparation and a few simple strategies, and you too can have an audience fully immersed in the experience. Try these nine tips and you’ll be sure to up-level your confidence – and outcomes – in online sales meetings.

1. Set Yourself Up for Success

Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” These are the golden words to follow when preparing your online sales presentations.

When conducting a high-stakes demo – or if you simply want to minimize the risk of technical issues – use two separate computers to conduct your virtual sales pitch. On your main computer, login to the virtual room as the host using a name such as “Your name – Presenter” so that your audience can clearly distinguish who you are in the sea of participants. On your back-up device, login as a participant using a name such as “Your name – Backup”. After muting your “participant” computer, this method allows you to be a part of their experience, and you don’t have to guess or ask what they are seeing.

Another pro tip? Use a quality hands-free headset. Your computer’s audio system can be low-quality or pick up background noises in your home. If you’re presenting to a large group, consider setting your participants’ audio to mute to avoid feedback or distracting background noise.

2. Know When to Upload Content vs. Share Your Screen

If your virtual meeting platform allows you to upload content, you have more options to give your participants the best viewing experience. You may prefer uploads if you are a little more tech-savvy.

Uploading content is best if you…

Screen sharing is fine when you don’t have the option to upload content or need to flip between sharing multiple browser windows that cannot be uploaded.

Share your screen if you…

3. Use Storytelling Structure

Beyond the technical aspects of presenting virtually, you’ll want to give your virtual sales pitch the best start by grounding it in a rock-solid foundation. What’s the best way to engage your online audience and get them to lean in and take action? Through story. Craft yours by understanding the basics of what makes a good story. Every great narrative has four primary elements, also known as “signposts.” These signposts tell an audience why they should care and keep listening.

It’s important to note that the first three signposts – Setting, Characters, and Conflict – can come in any order, but Resolution must come last. Can you guess where most sales professionals start their presentations?

\"First

4. Make Sure Your BIG Idea Is Clear

Your virtual sales pitch has to be spot-on to stand out from the noise of the crowd. It’s critical to dial into what your customer wants and present precisely that to your audience in your online sales presentations. Do this by identifying your BIG Idea – the one key message you want your audience to remember – and infuse it throughout your presentation.

When telling your story, every fact, figure, and insight within your narrative should tie back to this BIG Idea. The goal is to clarify the idea in such a way that resonates with your customers emotionally, making them feel a strong connection to your story. Your potential customers are suffering from information overload already and feeling overwhelmed, so keep your “BIG Idea” clear. Try not to muddy the waters with additional offers or other information.

5. Use Interactive Placeholders

Want to ensure you create a two-way dialogue with your virtual audience? Plan ahead! Use interactive placeholder slides every 3- to 5-minutes to prescribe interaction into your online meeting to keep your audience engaged.

For instance, add an interactive placeholder slide after you have introduced the main pain points by asking, “Can any of you relate to this?” This gives your customers a chance to A) stop and think about how they see themselves in your story and B) describe their issues – a prime opportunity for you to get real-time feedback. Adding these interactive placeholders at the beginning, end, and other critical junctures not only gives you, the presenter, a moment to pause and catch your breath, but it keeps your audience engaged and supplying critical feedback to guide where you go in your presentation.

\"Interactive

6. Fill the Awkward Silence

Suppose you have asked a question to your audience that you would like feedback on, but you’re left with the deafening sound of silence. That enormous awkward space needs filling while your audience tries to figure out their response. Maybe they’re answering a poll question and are choosing the best response. Some may need a minute to figure out how to turn their microphones back on to answer a request for verbal feedback.

You can fill that space by coming prepared with simple language prompts and providing direction as needed. When you help your audience verbally, you fill that awkward dead air with something constructive.

\"fill

7. Practice, Practice, Practice

Delivering an effective virtual sales meeting takes practice. Are you comfortable multitasking in your virtual environment? Have you practiced using the annotation tools (that allow you to write text, highlight, or point onscreen) while speaking? Be sure to practice ahead of time, not during your live event!

Run through your virtual sales pitch several times beforehand. Try not to precisely memorize a script, but get yourself comfortable with the ideas you want to express and how you want to convey them from your notes. This can also include practicing using the interactive tools you want to use in your online sales presentation. Don’t overly worry about mistakes. Get comfortable with what you want to say and any tools you use.

8. Have a Strong Virtual Presence

With all that practicing, you should also consider how your “virtual body language” comes across. That’s right — the way you carry yourself in your own physical space actually translates to how your audience perceives you, which can mean a huge different between a captivated audience… and a bored one. The more vocally and physically animated you are, the more engaged your audience will be. One best practice is to record yourself beforehand to see how you come off in virtual space.

Before your virtual sales pitch starts, stretch your face a bit and yawn loudly. Get those face and mouth muscles limbered up! Then, when presenting, always have a great posture. Stand and sit straight and gesture like you ordinarily would when speaking in person.

9. Have a Backup Plan for Disasters

Come what may, disasters will happen. Your perfectly planned online sales presentation is no exception if you don’t have a Plan B. The best way to avoid a disaster is to… well… plan for one. If your demo acts up and won’t function, have backup screenshots ready to use instead. Is everyone dozing off and not responding to poll questions? Verify it’s working and remind your audience of the steps to register their response. Crickets in the chatbox? Use pre-prepared questions to get their thought juices churning or type something in the chat yourself.

For high-stakes sales meetings with lots of participants on the call, consider enlisting a “co-pilot” or producer – this could be a colleague, or anyone that’s tech-savvy enough to assist you during the meeting. This simple trick takes the burden of you as the presenter to manage technical issues or background questions that don’t pertain to the content you’re there to deliver.

Plan for Success, and Success Will Follow

So, there you have it— a rock-solid plan to ensure the success of your virtual sales pitch. Going forward, you can feel confident and more able to handle any problems that may pop up during your online sales presentation. If you want to learn more about how to design and deliver compelling sales pitches that get your audience to lean in and want more, check out our business storytelling workshops.

", "content_plain": "With online sales presentations being more necessary than ever, it’s critical to know how to make the most of your time with prospects and customers. The days of building trust and credibility through face-to-face meetings, 5-star dinners, and trips to the golf course are over. So how can you develop meaningful buyer relationships in just a 15-minute Zoom call – and overcome the technical issues, at-home distractions, and lack of genuine connection that come with it? All it takes is some preparation and a few simple strategies, and you too can have an audience fully immersed in the experience. Try these nine tips and you’ll be sure to up-level your confidence – and outcomes – in online sales meetings. 1. Set Yourself Up for Success Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” These are the golden words to follow when preparing your online sales presentations. When conducting a high-stakes demo – or if you simply want to minimize the risk of technical issues – use two separate computers to conduct your virtual sales pitch. On your main computer, login to the virtual room as the host using a name such as “Your name – Presenter” so that your audience can clearly distinguish who you are in the sea of participants. On your back-up device, login as a participant using a name such as “Your name – Backup”. After muting your “participant” computer, this method allows you to be a part of their experience, and you don’t have to guess or ask what they are seeing. Another pro tip? Use a quality hands-free headset. Your computer’s audio system can be low-quality or pick up background noises in your home. If you’re presenting to a large group, consider setting your participants’ audio to mute to avoid feedback or distracting background noise. 2. Know When to Upload Content vs. Share Your Screen If your virtual meeting platform allows you to upload content, you have more options to give your participants the best viewing experience. You may prefer uploads if you are a little more tech-savvy. Uploading content is best if you… Often get “pinged” with IMs, meeting reminders, email notifications, etc. and want to keep these private from (or not distract) your audience Want to easily skip ahead or go back in your presentation using thumbnails Need to mark up your slides by drawing or pointing to something onscreen Screen sharing is fine when you don’t have the option to upload content or need to flip between sharing multiple browser windows that cannot be uploaded. Share your screen if you… Need to demo tools or products Want to edit content in real-time Don’t have an alternative (ie: your virtual meeting platform doesn’t support uploading content) 3. Use Storytelling Structure Beyond the technical aspects of presenting virtually, you’ll want to give your virtual sales pitch the best start by grounding it in a rock-solid foundation. What’s the best way to engage your online audience and get them to lean in and take action? Through story. Craft yours by understanding the basics of what makes a good story. Every great narrative has four primary elements, also known as “signposts.” These signposts tell an audience why they should care and keep listening. Setting: Provides context to your story by using data, trends, and any insights into places or situations where (usually) you’ve found shortcomings Characters: Establishes an emotional connection – this could be your customers themselves or other key stakeholders like partners, suppliers, or employees Conflict: Creates tension and gives your audience a reason to lean in. It’s the question or difficulty that needs to be resolved Resolution: Your path to the desired outcome – for most salespeople, it’s the features and benefits of your product or solution It’s important to note that the first three signposts – Setting, Characters, and Conflict – can come in any order, but Resolution must come last. Can you guess where most sales professionals start their presentations? 4. Make Sure Your BIG Idea Is Clear Your virtual sales pitch has to be spot-on to stand out from the noise of the crowd. It’s critical to dial into what your customer wants and present precisely that to your audience in your online sales presentations. Do this by identifying your BIG Idea – the one key message you want your audience to remember – and infuse it throughout your presentation. When telling your story, every fact, figure, and insight within your narrative should tie back to this BIG Idea. The goal is to clarify the idea in such a way that resonates with your customers emotionally, making them feel a strong connection to your story. Your potential customers are suffering from information overload already and feeling overwhelmed, so keep your “BIG Idea” clear. Try not to muddy the waters with additional offers or other information. 5. Use Interactive Placeholders Want to ensure you create a two-way dialogue with your virtual audience? Plan ahead! Use interactive placeholder slides every 3- to 5-minutes to prescribe interaction into your online meeting to keep your audience engaged. For instance, add an interactive placeholder slide after you have introduced the main pain points by asking, “Can any of you relate to this?” This gives your customers a chance to A) stop and think about how they see themselves in your story and B) describe their issues – a prime opportunity for you to get real-time feedback. Adding these interactive placeholders at the beginning, end, and other critical junctures not only gives you, the presenter, a moment to pause and catch your breath, but it keeps your audience engaged and supplying critical feedback to guide where you go in your presentation. 6. Fill the Awkward Silence Suppose you have asked a question to your audience that you would like feedback on, but you’re left with the deafening sound of silence. That enormous awkward space needs filling while your audience tries to figure out their response. Maybe they’re answering a poll question and are choosing the best response. Some may need a minute to figure out how to turn their microphones back on to answer a request for verbal feedback. You can fill that space by coming prepared with simple language prompts and providing direction as needed. When you help your audience verbally, you fill that awkward dead air with something constructive. 7. Practice, Practice, Practice Delivering an effective virtual sales meeting takes practice. Are you comfortable multitasking in your virtual environment? Have you practiced using the annotation tools (that allow you to write text, highlight, or point onscreen) while speaking? Be sure to practice ahead of time, not during your live event! Run through your virtual sales pitch several times beforehand. Try not to precisely memorize a script, but get yourself comfortable with the ideas you want to express and how you want to convey them from your notes. This can also include practicing using the interactive tools you want to use in your online sales presentation. Don’t overly worry about mistakes. Get comfortable with what you want to say and any tools you use. 8. Have a Strong Virtual Presence With all that practicing, you should also consider how your “virtual body language” comes across. That’s right — the way you carry yourself in your own physical space actually translates to how your audience perceives you, which can mean a huge different between a captivated audience… and a bored one. The more vocally and physically animated you are, the more engaged your audience will be. One best practice is to record yourself beforehand to see how you come off in virtual space. Before your virtual sales pitch starts, stretch your face a bit and yawn loudly. Get those face and mouth muscles limbered up! Then, when presenting, always have a great posture. Stand and sit straight and gesture like you ordinarily would when speaking in person. 9. Have a Backup Plan for Disasters Come what may, disasters will happen. Your perfectly planned online sales presentation is no exception if you don’t have a Plan B. The best way to avoid a disaster is to… well… plan for one. If your demo acts up and won’t function, have backup screenshots ready to use instead. Is everyone dozing off and not responding to poll questions? Verify it’s working and remind your audience of the steps to register their response. Crickets in the chatbox? Use pre-prepared questions to get their thought juices churning or type something in the chat yourself. For high-stakes sales meetings with lots of participants on the call, consider enlisting a “co-pilot” or producer – this could be a colleague, or anyone that’s tech-savvy enough to assist you during the meeting. This simple trick takes the burden of you as the presenter to manage technical issues or background questions that don’t pertain to the content you’re there to deliver. Plan for Success, and Success Will Follow So, there you have it— a rock-solid plan to ensure the success of your virtual sales pitch. Going forward, you can feel confident and more able to handle any problems that may pop up during your online sales presentation. If you want to learn more about how to design and deliver compelling sales pitches that get your audience to lean in and want more, check out our business storytelling workshops.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/iStock-1184053276.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T13:43:26-05:00" }, { "id": 8704, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/podcast-everyday-business-storytelling-featured-on-the-marketing-book-podcast/", "title": "Podcast: Everyday Business Storytelling (Featured on The Marketing Book Podcast)", "h1": "Podcast: Everyday Business Storytelling (Featured on The Marketing Book Podcast)", "summary": "Tired of sitting through long meetings and boring presentations? TPC Co-Founder Janine Kurnoff joins The Marketing Book Podcast to discuss how the key to strong communication lies in one’s ability to tell a great story. In addition to sharing her journey to starting TPC, Janine defines what it means to “unfluff” the art of business […]", "content": "

Tired of sitting through long meetings and boring presentations? TPC Co-Founder Janine Kurnoff joins The Marketing Book Podcast to discuss how the key to strong communication lies in one’s ability to tell a great story.

In addition to sharing her journey to starting TPC, Janine defines what it means to “unfluff” the art of business storytelling, and offers practical tips and best practices to communicate more strategically.

Listen to the episode below to learn how to:

LISTEN HERE:

Republished with permission from The Marketing Book Podcast

", "content_plain": "Tired of sitting through long meetings and boring presentations? TPC Co-Founder Janine Kurnoff joins The Marketing Book Podcast to discuss how the key to strong communication lies in one’s ability to tell a great story. In addition to sharing her journey to starting TPC, Janine defines what it means to “unfluff” the art of business storytelling, and offers practical tips and best practices to communicate more strategically. Listen to the episode below to learn how to: “Walk in your audience’s shoes” to ensure your story is relevant and relatable Identify the four signposts and your BIG Ideas of your story Become comfortable introducing conflict in business narratives LISTEN HERE: Republished with permission from The Marketing Book Podcast", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Janine-Kurnoff-of-The-Marketing-Book-Podcast.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T16:08:22-05:00" }, { "id": 8701, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tpc-contributes-to-authority-magazine-5-non-intuitive-ways-to-grow-your-marketing-career/", "title": "TPC Contributes to Authority Magazine: 5 Non-Intuitive Ways To Grow Your Marketing Career", "h1": "TPC Contributes to Authority Magazine: 5 Non-Intuitive Ways To Grow Your Marketing Career", "summary": "Article republished with permission from Authority Magazine As part of my Marketing Strategy Series, I’m talking with fellow marketing pros at the top of their game to give entrepreneurs and marketers an inside look at proven strategies you might also be able to leverage to grow your business or career. Today I had the pleasure of […]", "content": "

Article republished with permission from Authority Magazine

As part of my Marketing Strategy Series, I’m talking with fellow marketing pros at the top of their game to give entrepreneurs and marketers an inside look at proven strategies you might also be able to leverage to grow your business or career. Today I had the pleasure of talking with Rachel Behrle.

Rachel Behrle, Chief Marketing Officer at The Presentation Company, has over 20 years of marketing and communications experience with a focus on net new revenue growth through demand generation and brand strategy programs. Rachel has a Bachelor of Arts degree from SUNY Albany and holds various project management certifications from The Project Management Institute (PMI) and Stanford, Duke, and George Washington Universities.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

My childhood dream was to be a play-by-play announcer for the NY Mets, which led me to majoring in Journalism in college. Graduating way before any women were in baseball broadcasting, I started working for a weekly publication, which taught me amazing writing/editing skills but also showed me that living and dying by a weekly deadline wasn’t for me. So, I made the pivot to marketing, where I knew that I could continue to write.

Led by a few amazing marketing leaders early in my career, I was able to try on many different marketing outfits to see what fit: demand/lead generation, website creation, digital marketing, events, brand marketing, etc. And, before I knew it, I built this well-rounded marketing skill-set that was closely followed by an intrinsic need to create order from chaos, which is why I pursued project management certifications from top-tier universities. Tada, here I am!

Can you share a story about the funniest marketing mistake you made when you were first starting and what lesson you learned from that?

I joined a marketing team to lead the first marketing communications function at this particular company. Among my responsibilities was writing and editing collateral (back in the days when collateral was printed on super expensive, glossy paper). I got my first set of final prints back, a mere few weeks into the job, and the headline had a major typo in it! DOH! I’m sitting at my desk, heart racing, thinking that there is NO way that I approved this, and already planning to complain to my new boss about an error at the printer. And then I looked at the approval sheet and see my signature next to the big ol’ typo! I wanted to cry!

My lesson? Read the headlines. And, more than that, pay attention to the details. I learned that no matter what, take responsibility for the final product. I marched into my boss’ office and took total accountability for the mistake. Shifting blame and passing the buck is a sure way to lose respect. Looking back, I know that was a pivotal moment for me in my journey. I was humbled and super bummed to make a poor impression so early on but I’m proud of how I handled it — and my boss was too.

Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?

Finding my niche, what I was passionate about and good at, really helped me see success. For example, I learned that I am great at leading messy projects — the ones with multiple stakeholders, many deliverables and a lot of ambiguity. So, I kept leading those — redesigning websites, creating complex nurture paths, launching new products. With that came the recognition of what I’m not good at, and the critical need to hire super talented people who are — and letting them be super stars. I learned to hire my weaknesses, which set me free to focus on what I am good at! The advice I give my team is that once you find your superpower, harness it. And, surround yourself with talented people who have other superpowers so you can build an amazing team that can accomplish anything. Think about it as assembling a multi-talented and skilled team of diverse Marketing Avengers!

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

The Presentation Company was born 20 years ago in Silicon Valley when sisters Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus decided there must be a better way to tell business stories. It was a time when software like PowerPoint and other visual presentation tools were catching on big time. They realized that people were getting all caught up in the slides and gizmo animations…and forgetting about how to tell a compelling story. We lost the human being behind the presentation.

TPC’s mission became clear: Combine the best of visual storytelling with a human-centric approach that puts people at the center of every narrative. The approach caught on, and they’ve been providing storytelling training to some of the world’s largest brands like Nestle, T-Mobile, Medtronic, Facebook, and many more. TPC’s workshops provide innovative business storytelling and data visualization solutions that address today’s top presentation challenges: clearly communicating the value of your message and inspiring conversations that drive people to action.

As our first CMO, TPC stands out to me for a different reason: The week before Thanksgiving, we spent a few days at a leadership offsite talking about our products and our future. How many times had I sat around with colleagues and hammered out a mission and guiding principles only to wrap it up and stick it on a shelf until next year? TPC is different. Here are eight committed individuals who were walking the walk when it comes to our purpose, storytelling ideology, and understanding that there was no one outside of that room that was going to make it happen for us. We are the company, and how we behave so behaves the organization.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

As a leadership team, we’re talking about how we empower women and underserved communities of color with access to our workshops, to enable them to be prepared as they interview for roles. So many companies have initiatives around diversity but often, the qualified candidate pool lacks diversity.

We’re building a strategy around how we teach underserved people the power of storytelling to help them find their voice, have tools to formulate their ideas, and understand how to be heard and drive impact.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are?

Julie Ogilvie. It’s not even a question. Julie started the first corporate marketing function at Skillsoft in the early 2000s and hired me to the lead the web, in my 20s. I knew nothing about websites but she told me that I’d be the editor-in-chief of the site (yep, I could do that!) and she’d hire a super talented web developer who could help with the rest.

Julie continued to take chances on me. She let me try and then lead anything that interested me. She gave me authority to make decisions, backed me up when needed, and taught me the critical marketing skills that I use every day.

While I’m acknowledging people who changed my life, my college journalism professor, Neal Bandlow, was the first teacher to ever believe in me. He invited me to join a sports writing class, which at that point, had no women in it. He gave me confidence in what I could do…and then, a few years later, Julie let me do it. Grateful for both of them.

Wonderful. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. What advice would you give to other marketers to thrive and avoid burnout?

This isn’t unique to marketing, but it’s how I thrive and keep from burnout: Don’t take yourself too seriously and celebrate everything! I do happy dances every chance I get (even when a Zoom meeting is being recorded!). My co-workers all laugh with me. It keeps us smiling. I go over the top celebrating even the small wins because they’re all important. An acknowledgment of even the mundane makes people feel that you’re paying attention to their work, and let’s face, it who doesn’t want their work seen and appreciated?

I love it when I get to lead a cheer for someone else who has done something great! I create short videos, send notes, make announcements on team meetings — anything to cheer on someone else! This not only boosts morale, but it motivates people to pay it forward. What is better than that?

There are hundreds of memorable marketing campaigns that have become part of the lexicon of our culture. What is your favorite marketing or branding campaign from history?

I have always loved the Budweiser Clydesdales commercials. I love them because they always represent the times in which they’re in (honoring first responders post-9/11, as an example) and they are meant to evoke feeling and nostalgia.

Budweiser has found a way to instill human emotion in those beautiful horses so the commercials leave the audience feeling good. And, from a marketing point of view, the long-standing use of Clydesdales is genius because every time I see one, either on TV or in person, I immediately think of Budweiser.

If you could break down a very successful campaign into a “blueprint”, what would that blueprint look like?

Campaigns can’t be one and done exercises. Gone are the days when a marketer has a good idea, implements it, measures it, and then thinks of the next big idea. It used to be a very linear processes, one after the other.

Great ideas are important but we know that the vast majority of buying decisions happen before someone speaks with a seller, so the marketing team needs to meet buyers where they are, with what they’re interested in, in their moments of need. How do we do that? We need to understand our buyer’s journey and create content and assets that align to where they are — and make them easy to find, either via search or on a website.

What does that mean? Rather than thinking of marketing as a set of discrete tactics, think of marketing as a way to plug into what the buyer is already doing, either via advertising, offering thought leadership content, webinars or podcasts — resources to share your perspective with a buyer who is evaluating solutions.

Give buyers a way to find what they need on your website, offering a clear way to understand your solutions and how they’d apply to their problems. It’s not about selling to them at this point. It’s about empowering them to self-evaluate your business until they’re ready for the next step.

Consumers have become more jaded and resistant to anything “salesy”. In your industry, where do you see the future of marketing going?

We must recognize that Gen Z, the largest generation of consumers in world history, will impact how we market and sell our products. In fact, they’ll impact everything. Consumers now control the dialogue (sorry brands), and marketers need to develop supportive relationships with their target group of consumers who have very different needs and ideas on what they want from a company (social good, diversity, sustainability, co-creation, community-first, people over profits, etc.).

By utilizing technology that will allow personalization and a 1:1 connection (powered by AI and Machine Learning), we can offer innovative marketing into new and hopefully productive territories with today and tomorrow’s customers who are BEGGING for brands to be relevant and meaningful to them at the individual level.

Training is an enabler — to growth, innovation, better jobs/salary. More specifically, storytelling helps talented business people at all levels bring clarity and meaning to their ideas. So, as this next generation of buyers make buying decisions — for themselves and for the companies in which they work, organizations need to tie their intrinsic benefits to what is important to their consumers.

Companies need to find their place in the world — and then offer products that help organizations and individuals meet their goals. We have to meet consumers where they are now.

What 5 things do you wish someone told you before you started?

  1. There is no silver bullet: There are a lot of great ideas out there and many are worth trying. Rather than trying to focus on something that can change everything, tackle projects that change one thing at a time. Those incremental wins add up.
  2. Past experience is a great guide: Turning 40 (as I now near 50) made me realize that I finally had some wisdom to share. I had accomplished a lot and had great experience to draw upon and share. I am proud of every success and failure, and I use those to guide my decisions today.
  3. Titles don’t hold you back from success: Through the years, as I’ve mentored young marketers, they tell me that they feel limited by their “lower level” title and feel that a new, sexier title will help them achieve more. People at any level can lead projects, bring forth ideas, and become a natural leader on the team. Decide that the title doesn’t matter and make things happen. Be the voice of ideas, the cheerleader, the go-to person. Your title won’t hold you back and it won’t be your title for long.
  4. Don’t have a work persona, let people know YOU: I am a people person. I love building relationships. (My best friend says that I’m the nice one. (She’s the fun one.)) Let people see that, see YOU. The more authentic you are, the more you’re able to connect with your co-workers, teams, clients… get to know them. Let them get to know you. Invest. It’s worth it.
  5. Be confident, even if you don’t feel it: If you don’t show up with confidence, you won’t instill confidence, even if you’re right. If you present an idea with confidence — how it can work and what it can do, the room (virtual or otherwise) will read your confidence and absorb it. If you apologize for it or qualify it, they’ll hear the insecurity and become insecure in it too. We all have imposter syndrome. My best advice is to tell the imposter to sit down and be quiet or better yet, buzz off completely. You don’t need that.

Can you share a few examples of marketing tools or marketing technology that you think can dramatically empower small business owners to become more effective marketers?

Building automation into your marketing is important, especially for a small business. If you think about how much time, energy, and money it takes to bring in leads, nurturing them is a never-ending endeavor. Imagine having an automated nurture so you can focus your marketing calories on other things — bringing in more leads; creating experiences for your prospects that make them remember you; adding personalization to a buying experience so your buyers feel like you’re talking to them, specifically. Automating the things that marketers do daily is a great time saver to focus on higher-value work.

Also, advocacy marketing is here to stay. We all do it naturally — ask a friend or a colleague as we’re looking for something. Building a strong advocacy program, with or without technology, can harness the power of your cheerleaders and believers, turning them into loud voices as prospects are looking for suggestions and opinions.

One more before we go: What books, podcasts, documentaries or other resources do you use to sharpen your marketing skills?

Sirius Decisions (now Forrester) has a lot of great information about marketing trends and the future of B2B marketing. I follow Seth Godin, a true marketing guru, who has hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter and Instagram. His ideas are great.

I also read trade publications and articles on LinkedIn that are relevant to marketing. I’m big on reading about the training industry too. Our industry must be innovative and offer learners ways to learn that meet their needs, so reading about new trends and innovations in the learning space is important.

Finally, I network with other marketers who I’ve met along the way — who give me great ideas about events or webinars that can help me evolve my craft. It takes a village.

Thank you for sharing so many valuable insights with us today!

", "content_plain": "Article republished with permission from Authority Magazine As part of my Marketing Strategy Series, I’m talking with fellow marketing pros at the top of their game to give entrepreneurs and marketers an inside look at proven strategies you might also be able to leverage to grow your business or career. Today I had the pleasure of talking with Rachel Behrle. Rachel Behrle, Chief Marketing Officer at The Presentation Company, has over 20 years of marketing and communications experience with a focus on net new revenue growth through demand generation and brand strategy programs. Rachel has a Bachelor of Arts degree from SUNY Albany and holds various project management certifications from The Project Management Institute (PMI) and Stanford, Duke, and George Washington Universities. Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path? My childhood dream was to be a play-by-play announcer for the NY Mets, which led me to majoring in Journalism in college. Graduating way before any women were in baseball broadcasting, I started working for a weekly publication, which taught me amazing writing/editing skills but also showed me that living and dying by a weekly deadline wasn’t for me. So, I made the pivot to marketing, where I knew that I could continue to write. Led by a few amazing marketing leaders early in my career, I was able to try on many different marketing outfits to see what fit: demand/lead generation, website creation, digital marketing, events, brand marketing, etc. And, before I knew it, I built this well-rounded marketing skill-set that was closely followed by an intrinsic need to create order from chaos, which is why I pursued project management certifications from top-tier universities. Tada, here I am! Can you share a story about the funniest marketing mistake you made when you were first starting and what lesson you learned from that? I joined a marketing team to lead the first marketing communications function at this particular company. Among my responsibilities was writing and editing collateral (back in the days when collateral was printed on super expensive, glossy paper). I got my first set of final prints back, a mere few weeks into the job, and the headline had a major typo in it! DOH! I’m sitting at my desk, heart racing, thinking that there is NO way that I approved this, and already planning to complain to my new boss about an error at the printer. And then I looked at the approval sheet and see my signature next to the big ol’ typo! I wanted to cry! My lesson? Read the headlines. And, more than that, pay attention to the details. I learned that no matter what, take responsibility for the final product. I marched into my boss’ office and took total accountability for the mistake. Shifting blame and passing the buck is a sure way to lose respect. Looking back, I know that was a pivotal moment for me in my journey. I was humbled and super bummed to make a poor impression so early on but I’m proud of how I handled it — and my boss was too. Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that? Finding my niche, what I was passionate about and good at, really helped me see success. For example, I learned that I am great at leading messy projects — the ones with multiple stakeholders, many deliverables and a lot of ambiguity. So, I kept leading those — redesigning websites, creating complex nurture paths, launching new products. With that came the recognition of what I’m not good at, and the critical need to hire super talented people who are — and letting them be super stars. I learned to hire my weaknesses, which set me free to focus on what I am good at! The advice I give my team is that once you find your superpower, harness it. And, surround yourself with talented people who have other superpowers so you can build an amazing team that can accomplish anything. Think about it as assembling a multi-talented and skilled team of diverse Marketing Avengers! What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story? The Presentation Company was born 20 years ago in Silicon Valley when sisters Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus decided there must be a better way to tell business stories. It was a time when software like PowerPoint and other visual presentation tools were catching on big time. They realized that people were getting all caught up in the slides and gizmo animations…and forgetting about how to tell a compelling story. We lost the human being behind the presentation. TPC’s mission became clear: Combine the best of visual storytelling with a human-centric approach that puts people at the center of every narrative. The approach caught on, and they’ve been providing storytelling training to some of the world’s largest brands like Nestle, T-Mobile, Medtronic, Facebook, and many more. TPC’s workshops provide innovative business storytelling and data visualization solutions that address today’s top presentation challenges: clearly communicating the value of your message and inspiring conversations that drive people to action. As our first CMO, TPC stands out to me for a different reason: The week before Thanksgiving, we spent a few days at a leadership offsite talking about our products and our future. How many times had I sat around with colleagues and hammered out a mission and guiding principles only to wrap it up and stick it on a shelf until next year? TPC is different. Here are eight committed individuals who were walking the walk when it comes to our purpose, storytelling ideology, and understanding that there was no one outside of that room that was going to make it happen for us. We are the company, and how we behave so behaves the organization. Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people? As a leadership team, we’re talking about how we empower women and underserved communities of color with access to our workshops, to enable them to be prepared as they interview for roles. So many companies have initiatives around diversity but often, the qualified candidate pool lacks diversity. We’re building a strategy around how we teach underserved people the power of storytelling to help them find their voice, have tools to formulate their ideas, and understand how to be heard and drive impact. None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Julie Ogilvie. It’s not even a question. Julie started the first corporate marketing function at Skillsoft in the early 2000s and hired me to the lead the web, in my 20s. I knew nothing about websites but she told me that I’d be the editor-in-chief of the site (yep, I could do that!) and she’d hire a super talented web developer who could help with the rest. Julie continued to take chances on me. She let me try and then lead anything that interested me. She gave me authority to make decisions, backed me up when needed, and taught me the critical marketing skills that I use every day. While I’m acknowledging people who changed my life, my college journalism professor, Neal Bandlow, was the first teacher to ever believe in me. He invited me to join a sports writing class, which at that point, had no women in it. He gave me confidence in what I could do…and then, a few years later, Julie let me do it. Grateful for both of them. Wonderful. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. What advice would you give to other marketers to thrive and avoid burnout? This isn’t unique to marketing, but it’s how I thrive and keep from burnout: Don’t take yourself too seriously and celebrate everything! I do happy dances every chance I get (even when a Zoom meeting is being recorded!). My co-workers all laugh with me. It keeps us smiling. I go over the top celebrating even the small wins because they’re all important. An acknowledgment of even the mundane makes people feel that you’re paying attention to their work, and let’s face, it who doesn’t want their work seen and appreciated? I love it when I get to lead a cheer for someone else who has done something great! I create short videos, send notes, make announcements on team meetings — anything to cheer on someone else! This not only boosts morale, but it motivates people to pay it forward. What is better than that? There are hundreds of memorable marketing campaigns that have become part of the lexicon of our culture. What is your favorite marketing or branding campaign from history? I have always loved the Budweiser Clydesdales commercials. I love them because they always represent the times in which they’re in (honoring first responders post-9/11, as an example) and they are meant to evoke feeling and nostalgia. Budweiser has found a way to instill human emotion in those beautiful horses so the commercials leave the audience feeling good. And, from a marketing point of view, the long-standing use of Clydesdales is genius because every time I see one, either on TV or in person, I immediately think of Budweiser. If you could break down a very successful campaign into a “blueprint”, what would that blueprint look like? Campaigns can’t be one and done exercises. Gone are the days when a marketer has a good idea, implements it, measures it, and then thinks of the next big idea. It used to be a very linear processes, one after the other. Great ideas are important but we know that the vast majority of buying decisions happen before someone speaks with a seller, so the marketing team needs to meet buyers where they are, with what they’re interested in, in their moments of need. How do we do that? We need to understand our buyer’s journey and create content and assets that align to where they are — and make them easy to find, either via search or on a website. What does that mean? Rather than thinking of marketing as a set of discrete tactics, think of marketing as a way to plug into what the buyer is already doing, either via advertising, offering thought leadership content, webinars or podcasts — resources to share your perspective with a buyer who is evaluating solutions. Give buyers a way to find what they need on your website, offering a clear way to understand your solutions and how they’d apply to their problems. It’s not about selling to them at this point. It’s about empowering them to self-evaluate your business until they’re ready for the next step. Consumers have become more jaded and resistant to anything “salesy”. In your industry, where do you see the future of marketing going? We must recognize that Gen Z, the largest generation of consumers in world history, will impact how we market and sell our products. In fact, they’ll impact everything. Consumers now control the dialogue (sorry brands), and marketers need to develop supportive relationships with their target group of consumers who have very different needs and ideas on what they want from a company (social good, diversity, sustainability, co-creation, community-first, people over profits, etc.). By utilizing technology that will allow personalization and a 1:1 connection (powered by AI and Machine Learning), we can offer innovative marketing into new and hopefully productive territories with today and tomorrow’s customers who are BEGGING for brands to be relevant and meaningful to them at the individual level. Training is an enabler — to growth, innovation, better jobs/salary. More specifically, storytelling helps talented business people at all levels bring clarity and meaning to their ideas. So, as this next generation of buyers make buying decisions — for themselves and for the companies in which they work, organizations need to tie their intrinsic benefits to what is important to their consumers. Companies need to find their place in the world — and then offer products that help organizations and individuals meet their goals. We have to meet consumers where they are now. What 5 things do you wish someone told you before you started? There is no silver bullet: There are a lot of great ideas out there and many are worth trying. Rather than trying to focus on something that can change everything, tackle projects that change one thing at a time. Those incremental wins add up. Past experience is a great guide: Turning 40 (as I now near 50) made me realize that I finally had some wisdom to share. I had accomplished a lot and had great experience to draw upon and share. I am proud of every success and failure, and I use those to guide my decisions today. Titles don’t hold you back from success: Through the years, as I’ve mentored young marketers, they tell me that they feel limited by their “lower level” title and feel that a new, sexier title will help them achieve more. People at any level can lead projects, bring forth ideas, and become a natural leader on the team. Decide that the title doesn’t matter and make things happen. Be the voice of ideas, the cheerleader, the go-to person. Your title won’t hold you back and it won’t be your title for long. Don’t have a work persona, let people know YOU: I am a people person. I love building relationships. (My best friend says that I’m the nice one. (She’s the fun one.)) Let people see that, see YOU. The more authentic you are, the more you’re able to connect with your co-workers, teams, clients… get to know them. Let them get to know you. Invest. It’s worth it. Be confident, even if you don’t feel it: If you don’t show up with confidence, you won’t instill confidence, even if you’re right. If you present an idea with confidence — how it can work and what it can do, the room (virtual or otherwise) will read your confidence and absorb it. If you apologize for it or qualify it, they’ll hear the insecurity and become insecure in it too. We all have imposter syndrome. My best advice is to tell the imposter to sit down and be quiet or better yet, buzz off completely. You don’t need that. Can you share a few examples of marketing tools or marketing technology that you think can dramatically empower small business owners to become more effective marketers? Building automation into your marketing is important, especially for a small business. If you think about how much time, energy, and money it takes to bring in leads, nurturing them is a never-ending endeavor. Imagine having an automated nurture so you can focus your marketing calories on other things — bringing in more leads; creating experiences for your prospects that make them remember you; adding personalization to a buying experience so your buyers feel like you’re talking to them, specifically. Automating the things that marketers do daily is a great time saver to focus on higher-value work. Also, advocacy marketing is here to stay. We all do it naturally — ask a friend or a colleague as we’re looking for something. Building a strong advocacy program, with or without technology, can harness the power of your cheerleaders and believers, turning them into loud voices as prospects are looking for suggestions and opinions. One more before we go: What books, podcasts, documentaries or other resources do you use to sharpen your marketing skills? Sirius Decisions (now Forrester) has a lot of great information about marketing trends and the future of B2B marketing. I follow Seth Godin, a true marketing guru, who has hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter and Instagram. His ideas are great. I also read trade publications and articles on LinkedIn that are relevant to marketing. I’m big on reading about the training industry too. Our industry must be innovative and offer learners ways to learn that meet their needs, so reading about new trends and innovations in the learning space is important. Finally, I network with other marketers who I’ve met along the way — who give me great ideas about events or webinars that can help me evolve my craft. It takes a village. Thank you for sharing so many valuable insights with us today!", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Authority-Magazine-and-Rachel-Behrle.png", "modified": "2023-03-02T08:39:40-05:00" }, { "id": 8696, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/5-ways-managers-can-transform-their-team-into-compelling-storytellers/", "title": "5 Ways Managers Can Transform Their Teams into Compelling Storytellers", "h1": "5 Ways Managers Can Transform Their Teams into Compelling Storytellers", "summary": "It’s no secret that storytelling is the most powerful way to share ideas and get decision-makers to say “yes.” But the truth is, in many organizations, it often feels like good storytelling only happens in isolation – like that high-gloss pitch deck that sales and marketing spent months developing, or your CEO’s big announcement at the company […]", "content": "

It’s no secret that storytelling is the most powerful way to share ideas and get decision-makers to say “yes.” But the truth is, in many organizations, it often feels like good storytelling only happens in isolation – like that high-gloss pitch deck that sales and marketing spent months developing, or your CEO’s big announcement at the company annual kickoff event. The good news? It doesn’t have to be this way.

With just a few simple strategies, managers can nurture a culture of storytelling among anyone in their organization – better yet everyone – by weaving storytelling into their team’s day-to-day communication process.

So where do you start? Surprisingly enough, with a little training and consistent coaching, anyone can become a compelling, authentic communicator. And the best part is, teams who receive regular story coaching from their managers and peers not only become more clear, concise communicators, they become more efficient, too. This is because storytelling provides teams with a common language for building, reviewing, and providing feedback on their business communications – countless rounds of revisions saved. Better still, this level of efficient team collaboration helps customers, managers, and other decision-makers get to “yes” faster.

Here are five ways managers can nurture a culture of storytelling within their organization:

1. Remind your team: storytelling opportunities are everywhere

Business stories are comprised of a basic framework that anyone can learn. It’s based on the development of one BIG Idea woven through four structural components: setting, characters, conflict, and resolution. We’ve written volumes about this framework (and even a book!).

The most powerful thing about adopting a storytelling structure is that, once learned, the opportunities to use it are infinite! Managers eager to get their team to communicate more strategically — with crystal clear insights at the forefront — should take every opportunity to remind their team that storytelling strengthens all forms of communication. From emails to marketing collateral to conference calls to elevator pitches… opportunities to tell stories are everywhere.

2. Make sure anyone presenting ideas knows who their audience is

Oftentimes — particularly on sales teams — similar stories are presented over and over again. Of course, people will always try to save time by reusing slides, data, text or whatever components they are using to tell their story. There is nothing inherently wrong with this if audiences are always exactly the same. But in reality, audiences can shift dramatically depending on their unique needs and care-abouts, the industry they come from, the role they serve, the level of decision-making authority they have, and so on. To foster a successful team of storytellers, managers should ensure they carefully consider exactly who is receiving their ideas. And then, they must customize their narrative to best suit that specific audience.

3. Systematize peer-to-peer coaching for high-stakes communications

They say “practice makes perfect”, but more importantly, practice makes permanent. Managers should model and coach their team in the story-building process whenever they can. And it’s perhaps even more important to integrate peer-to-peer coaching in their daily process.

Whether managers assign peer-coaching partnerships or let people select their own partners (depending on the project they’re working on) the key is to normalize and systematize the coaching practice. What’s more, smart managers will have peer coaching partners share the results of coaching sessions during internal meetings. They’ll discuss:

There are three strategic advantages to having teams share their coaching process:

4. Link great storytelling with the promise of real career advancement

One mistake story-happy managers should be wary of: letting your team think storytelling is extra work with an unclear payoff. Always make sure it’s clear that storytelling not only offers immediate benefit to current projects and business outcomes, it is THE way for anyone to strengthen their performance in their role and advance their career. Sell the message: the better your storytelling skills, the faster you will sell your ideas – and yourself. The long-term reward of learning this skill is to help everyone (including managers) move up.

5. Consider formal storytelling training

Managers who want to leverage the power of storytelling for all team communications and embed the practice of coaching should seriously consider formal training. Corporate workshops are an effective way to bring teams together to learn strategies, ask questions, receive peer and expert coaching, and get equipped to immediately apply their learnings on the job. Training will also equip a team with reinforcement tools to help people use the concepts they learned long past the workshop.

Managers are the Engine of a Storytelling Culture

Business storytelling has the greatest effect when it’s actively instilled into the culture of an organization. Managers are at the helm of this movement by coaching their teams and encouraging them to coach one another. With steady reinforcement, they’ll ensure the practice will permeate their department and their organization at large.

Are you spending hours reworking your team’s decks? Do you feel compelled to review every high-stakes communication before it’s delivered? Check out our storytelling training options that fit the needs of any size of organization.

", "content_plain": "It’s no secret that storytelling is the most powerful way to share ideas and get decision-makers to say “yes.” But the truth is, in many organizations, it often feels like good storytelling only happens in isolation – like that high-gloss pitch deck that sales and marketing spent months developing, or your CEO’s big announcement at the company annual kickoff event. The good news? It doesn’t have to be this way. With just a few simple strategies, managers can nurture a culture of storytelling among anyone in their organization – better yet everyone – by weaving storytelling into their team’s day-to-day communication process. So where do you start? Surprisingly enough, with a little training and consistent coaching, anyone can become a compelling, authentic communicator. And the best part is, teams who receive regular story coaching from their managers and peers not only become more clear, concise communicators, they become more efficient, too. This is because storytelling provides teams with a common language for building, reviewing, and providing feedback on their business communications – countless rounds of revisions saved. Better still, this level of efficient team collaboration helps customers, managers, and other decision-makers get to “yes” faster. Here are five ways managers can nurture a culture of storytelling within their organization: 1. Remind your team: storytelling opportunities are everywhere Business stories are comprised of a basic framework that anyone can learn. It’s based on the development of one BIG Idea woven through four structural components: setting, characters, conflict, and resolution. We’ve written volumes about this framework (and even a book!). The most powerful thing about adopting a storytelling structure is that, once learned, the opportunities to use it are infinite! Managers eager to get their team to communicate more strategically — with crystal clear insights at the forefront — should take every opportunity to remind their team that storytelling strengthens all forms of communication. From emails to marketing collateral to conference calls to elevator pitches… opportunities to tell stories are everywhere. 2. Make sure anyone presenting ideas knows who their audience is Oftentimes — particularly on sales teams — similar stories are presented over and over again. Of course, people will always try to save time by reusing slides, data, text or whatever components they are using to tell their story. There is nothing inherently wrong with this if audiences are always exactly the same. But in reality, audiences can shift dramatically depending on their unique needs and care-abouts, the industry they come from, the role they serve, the level of decision-making authority they have, and so on. To foster a successful team of storytellers, managers should ensure they carefully consider exactly who is receiving their ideas. And then, they must customize their narrative to best suit that specific audience. 3. Systematize peer-to-peer coaching for high-stakes communications They say “practice makes perfect”, but more importantly, practice makes permanent. Managers should model and coach their team in the story-building process whenever they can. And it’s perhaps even more important to integrate peer-to-peer coaching in their daily process. Whether managers assign peer-coaching partnerships or let people select their own partners (depending on the project they’re working on) the key is to normalize and systematize the coaching practice. What’s more, smart managers will have peer coaching partners share the results of coaching sessions during internal meetings. They’ll discuss: What path did your coaching questions take? How did the coaching session change the story from beginning to end? What was the ultimate outcome of the story? There are three strategic advantages to having teams share their coaching process: It elevates the importance of coaching as an integral, developmental step in all high-stakes communication It brings out storytelling techniques that will benefit the rest of the team, such as adapting narratives for different audiences It really engrains the storytelling framework in everyone’s mind, so it becomes progressively more familiar every time a team member uses it 4. Link great storytelling with the promise of real career advancement One mistake story-happy managers should be wary of: letting your team think storytelling is extra work with an unclear payoff. Always make sure it’s clear that storytelling not only offers immediate benefit to current projects and business outcomes, it is THE way for anyone to strengthen their performance in their role and advance their career. Sell the message: the better your storytelling skills, the faster you will sell your ideas – and yourself. The long-term reward of learning this skill is to help everyone (including managers) move up. 5. Consider formal storytelling training Managers who want to leverage the power of storytelling for all team communications and embed the practice of coaching should seriously consider formal training. Corporate workshops are an effective way to bring teams together to learn strategies, ask questions, receive peer and expert coaching, and get equipped to immediately apply their learnings on the job. Training will also equip a team with reinforcement tools to help people use the concepts they learned long past the workshop. Managers are the Engine of a Storytelling Culture Business storytelling has the greatest effect when it’s actively instilled into the culture of an organization. Managers are at the helm of this movement by coaching their teams and encouraging them to coach one another. With steady reinforcement, they’ll ensure the practice will permeate their department and their organization at large. Are you spending hours reworking your team’s decks? Do you feel compelled to review every high-stakes communication before it’s delivered? Check out our storytelling training options that fit the needs of any size of organization.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/iStock-1160680854.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T13:38:13-05:00" }, { "id": 8690, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tpc-contribute-to-training-industry-want-an-executive-to-say-yes-dont-make-these-presentation-mistakes/", "title": "TPC Contributes to Training Industry: Want an Executive to Say Yes? Don’t Make These Presentation Mistakes", "h1": "TPC Contributes to Training Industry: Want an Executive to Say Yes? Don’t Make These Presentation Mistakes", "summary": "To give yourself the best chance of getting what you want from an executive, you must first understand their mindset. What do they care about most? What do they need in order to act quickly on your request? Most senior managers say their life boils down to making decisions, one after another after another, all […]", "content": "

To give yourself the best chance of getting what you want from an executive, you must first understand their mindset. What do they care about most? What do they need in order to act quickly on your request? Most senior managers say their life boils down to making decisions, one after another after another, all day. Your critical initiative is competing with many others, all simmering and ready to bubble up at any time. To process any one request, busy executives need to be fed relevant, organized data and facts. They need to quickly absorb three things:

This list might seem obvious, but we skip one or more of these elements all the time. We charge ahead, fire-hosing executives with slide after slide of bullets, charts and tables. We always assume more facts and data are better. Unfortunately, this is usually a recipe for disaster. Data overload makes it more difficult for people to quickly process and make a decision on any initiative. In many cases, executives will tune out or shut down the idea in a matter of minutes. Game over.

\"\"

Data-overloaded charts like these get you ignored.

Successfully winning over an executive requires helping them organize their thoughts around your proposal. Think of yourself as a concierge of your ideas. It requires being flexible and responsive to their questions in the moment. Here are three strategies that will help you get the response you are looking for.

1. Have a Big Idea

\"\"

There’s one thing most executives agree on: They want to understand your point quickly. The best way to ensure their understanding is by maintaining one overarching message throughout the presentation. This message is your big idea. Your big idea is the strategic engine of your presentation. It should sum up what you want from them and offer a solid benefit that will result from your plan. Make it clear and concise, and repeat it often throughout your narrative. Here are some examples:

The beauty of establishing your one big idea is that it helps you confidently choose which supporting data and facts to include in your story – whatever supports your big idea – and which you should leave out. If you always keep your big idea in view, you will stay on a consistent narrative track.

2. Cut Any Extraneous Information

\"\"

A common mistake is to recite everything you know about your topic in a presentation. However, it doesn’t make you look smart; it makes you lose your audience quickly. Executives hate to sit through information they already know or don’t need to know. Good preparation means making absolutely sure that you are only including facts and data that propel your big idea forward. While you should always be familiar with greater details yourself, don’t waste your airtime on anything that isn’t going to help you get to your “yes.” Heavy data collectors, in particular, need to avoid over-reporting their findings. Too many charts and tables will only muddle their message.

That being said, executives might ask for details. Always be prepared to drill down when asked.

3. Be Prepared to Pivot

Executives are active listeners; they love to control the flow of information. Dive into that chart further! Back up to your first slide! Get on with your recommendations! Your presentation could go anywhere. The ability to nimbly pivot when your audience changes your direction or cuts your show time from 30 minutes to five is very important. In fact, it’s the hallmark of a sophisticated presenter.

Here are some keys elements of a pivot strategy:

Good for Today’s Initiative; Great for Your Career

The fastest way to tank your chances of selling your ideas to executives is to frustrate them with meandering, over-detailed presentations. It makes their job as decision-makers even harder. To give your ideas (and all the people who helped you work on them) the chance they deserve, keep in mind your audience’s mindset, articulate a big idea and, finally, stay flexible throughout your presentation. These tips will give you the best chance to drive your strategies, recommendations and, ultimately, your career forward.

Republished with permission from TrainingIndustry.com

", "content_plain": "To give yourself the best chance of getting what you want from an executive, you must first understand their mindset. What do they care about most? What do they need in order to act quickly on your request? Most senior managers say their life boils down to making decisions, one after another after another, all day. Your critical initiative is competing with many others, all simmering and ready to bubble up at any time. To process any one request, busy executives need to be fed relevant, organized data and facts. They need to quickly absorb three things: What you want them to know What you want them to do Why they should do it now This list might seem obvious, but we skip one or more of these elements all the time. We charge ahead, fire-hosing executives with slide after slide of bullets, charts and tables. We always assume more facts and data are better. Unfortunately, this is usually a recipe for disaster. Data overload makes it more difficult for people to quickly process and make a decision on any initiative. In many cases, executives will tune out or shut down the idea in a matter of minutes. Game over. Data-overloaded charts like these get you ignored. Successfully winning over an executive requires helping them organize their thoughts around your proposal. Think of yourself as a concierge of your ideas. It requires being flexible and responsive to their questions in the moment. Here are three strategies that will help you get the response you are looking for. 1. Have a Big Idea There’s one thing most executives agree on: They want to understand your point quickly. The best way to ensure their understanding is by maintaining one overarching message throughout the presentation. This message is your big idea. Your big idea is the strategic engine of your presentation. It should sum up what you want from them and offer a solid benefit that will result from your plan. Make it clear and concise, and repeat it often throughout your narrative. Here are some examples: Offering new training initiatives will help decrease turnover. Let’s build a culture of storytellers to connect with our future customers. We need to commit to bite-size learning to make employees more effective at work. The beauty of establishing your one big idea is that it helps you confidently choose which supporting data and facts to include in your story – whatever supports your big idea – and which you should leave out. If you always keep your big idea in view, you will stay on a consistent narrative track. 2. Cut Any Extraneous Information A common mistake is to recite everything you know about your topic in a presentation. However, it doesn’t make you look smart; it makes you lose your audience quickly. Executives hate to sit through information they already know or don’t need to know. Good preparation means making absolutely sure that you are only including facts and data that propel your big idea forward. While you should always be familiar with greater details yourself, don’t waste your airtime on anything that isn’t going to help you get to your “yes.” Heavy data collectors, in particular, need to avoid over-reporting their findings. Too many charts and tables will only muddle their message. That being said, executives might ask for details. Always be prepared to drill down when asked. 3. Be Prepared to Pivot Executives are active listeners; they love to control the flow of information. Dive into that chart further! Back up to your first slide! Get on with your recommendations! Your presentation could go anywhere. The ability to nimbly pivot when your audience changes your direction or cuts your show time from 30 minutes to five is very important. In fact, it’s the hallmark of a sophisticated presenter. Here are some keys elements of a pivot strategy: Create a dialogue, not a monologue. Check in frequently with your audience, and invite questions at logical moments in your presentation. Do they want more context? Back it up and further set the stage. Even if a senior manager seems like they’re pushing you to hurry, chances are – if their interest is piqued – they will ask you to go back and provide supporting data. Be ready to pivot! Read the room. Always be cognizant of the disparate interests of the executives in your audience. Very often, we must present ideas to people who serve very different functions (e.g., the CEO, the vice president of finance, and the head of HR, all in one room). Clearly, they all have different agendas. If you don’t want to face a restless audience, anticipate their questions, and be prepared to pivot (quickly) with multiple supporting arguments. Good for Today’s Initiative; Great for Your Career The fastest way to tank your chances of selling your ideas to executives is to frustrate them with meandering, over-detailed presentations. It makes their job as decision-makers even harder. To give your ideas (and all the people who helped you work on them) the chance they deserve, keep in mind your audience’s mindset, articulate a big idea and, finally, stay flexible throughout your presentation. These tips will give you the best chance to drive your strategies, recommendations and, ultimately, your career forward. Republished with permission from TrainingIndustry.com", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Presenting-to-Executives.jpg", "modified": "2023-02-28T13:01:38-05:00" }, { "id": 8685, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tpc-contributes-to-atd-ctdo-magazine-tell-a-story-with-complex-data/", "title": "TPC Contributes to ATD CTDO Magazine: Tell A Story With Complex Data", "h1": "TPC Contributes to ATD CTDO Magazine: Tell A Story With Complex Data", "summary": "Use these five methods to strategically present data to stakeholders. As a talent development executive, you help organizations grow and transform their workforces. As such, you’re often called upon to share a wealth of data-driven insights and recommendations with other senior leaders. But that can be challenging. How do you present complex information to a […]", "content": "

Use these five methods to strategically present data to stakeholders.

As a talent development executive, you help organizations grow and transform their workforces. As such, you’re often called upon to share a wealth of data-driven insights and recommendations with other senior leaders.

But that can be challenging. How do you present complex information to a roomful of colleagues with limited time—and short attention spans—who desire to quickly understand the big picture?

You need a data visualization strategy. The benefits are twofold. It helps you understand what the data is really saying, providing guidance for an organization on how to bring forth the right insights that drive real business impact; and it helps you communicate your insights to others.

By combining data with strong, simple visuals, you humanize your most important points, guiding decision-makers to understand complex concepts, remember important information, and make business-critical decisions.

Better yet, you don’t need to be a PowerPoint samurai or graphic designer to excel at this. A few classic design principles can help you learn the skill of visual storytelling.

Address the audience’s needs

Storytelling with data requires offering a larger, holistic view of your message. Focus first on your audience and structure a broader narrative before you choose any data visualizations.

Walk in your audience’s shoes by asking yourself from the start:

We can’t understate how important it is that you have a purpose for all data you present. The more specific you can be, the better.

If executives, board members, and other decision makers don’t understand your key message in the first 60 seconds, your communication—whether a full presentation, a few slides, a one-pager, or even an email—could be doomed. Present your vision immediately before delving into the details, always link to strategic initiatives, and lead with stories—not data.

Although it may be tempting to take everyone behind the scenes or reveal your inner data geek with multiple slides with complex graphs, decision makers are craving insights and broad analysis that help them guide strategy. Consider issues from the perspective of a group of stakeholders who often have multiple constituencies. Remember, they ultimately want you to answer the unspoken question: What do you want me to know or do with this information?”

Don’t make your audience decode your message

It’s your job to make it easy for stakeholders to scan and digest information quickly. Data isn’t the big idea—your story is.

Articulate your message, then choose the right type of visual to support that message. When your next meeting is on the horizon, first examine your data insights and isolate your key message.

Next, consider what metrics will support your story and help it pack a punch. Don’t flash unnecessary data just because you have it.

Feature primary data in the proper chart and keep the rest of your data hidden. For powerful data storytelling, the right chart will get you well on your way.

Demonstrate Data Relationships

How do you choose a chart that tells a story and drives action? The main thing to remember is that the purpose of all charts is to show the relationships in your data. Think about what charts or tables best feature the relationships that fit the data story you are trying to tell.

\"\"When using charts, highlight key insights

Spreadsheet-generated graphical charts can bring your numbers to life, but often the output is visually cluttered—think gridlines, legends, and labels—and doesn’t shine a spotlight on the real insights the charts need to convey.

To help your audience quickly understand what you want to communicate, provide a visual focal point that highlights the critical points. Three simple visual tricks can work wonders to help accentuate your data.

\"\"Turn headings into headlines

Don’t overlook the text. Imagine each slide or document as a news article.

What is the most significant data insight you want to share? Then develop headlines and let them do the heavy lifting by telling the stakeholders exactly what to conclude about the data they are looking at.

Keep headlines short and crisp and compelling and provocative. Include a benefit, cause and effect, or analysis results. For example:

“Fuel Costs to Drive Airfares up 25%”

“QuickPass Cuts 18 Minutes Off the Average Commute”

“Top 2 Movie Distributors Hold 1/3 of Total Market Share”

Think outside the chart

Slapping a spreadsheet with lots of bullets on a slide is the opposite of good data visualization. The information will simply wash over stakeholders, causing squints and confusion. Instead, demonstrate the data beyond pie charts and line graphs.

Be strategic

Decision-makers face a nearly universal problem: too much data and not enough real answers to critical questions. However, when you strategically present data and complex information, you illuminate your ideas and lead decision-makers to better, faster outcomes.

When presented poorly, your data can create confusion, leading stakeholders to decode the data themselves, misinterpret your message, and ultimately stall in their next steps. To avoid falling into that credibility trap, remember this mantra: story first, visuals second.

Combining the art and science of storytelling will take your organization to new heights. In the end, what everyone is craving are insights that help drive innovation, investments, and even hiring decisions. Pushing your organization—in every role or level—toward a culture of meaningful, authentic data storytelling could be the critical move that accelerates growth across your company in the years ahead.

Republished with permission from TD.org.

", "content_plain": "Use these five methods to strategically present data to stakeholders. As a talent development executive, you help organizations grow and transform their workforces. As such, you’re often called upon to share a wealth of data-driven insights and recommendations with other senior leaders. But that can be challenging. How do you present complex information to a roomful of colleagues with limited time—and short attention spans—who desire to quickly understand the big picture? You need a data visualization strategy. The benefits are twofold. It helps you understand what the data is really saying, providing guidance for an organization on how to bring forth the right insights that drive real business impact; and it helps you communicate your insights to others. By combining data with strong, simple visuals, you humanize your most important points, guiding decision-makers to understand complex concepts, remember important information, and make business-critical decisions. Better yet, you don’t need to be a PowerPoint samurai or graphic designer to excel at this. A few classic design principles can help you learn the skill of visual storytelling. Address the audience’s needs Storytelling with data requires offering a larger, holistic view of your message. Focus first on your audience and structure a broader narrative before you choose any data visualizations. Walk in your audience’s shoes by asking yourself from the start: What’s going on in their world? What current challenges are they seeking answers to? What do I want my audience to know or do with the data I am presenting? How will I structure a narrative that leads to the desired action? How is my data helping drive that decision? We can’t understate how important it is that you have a purpose for all data you present. The more specific you can be, the better. If executives, board members, and other decision makers don’t understand your key message in the first 60 seconds, your communication—whether a full presentation, a few slides, a one-pager, or even an email—could be doomed. Present your vision immediately before delving into the details, always link to strategic initiatives, and lead with stories—not data. Although it may be tempting to take everyone behind the scenes or reveal your inner data geek with multiple slides with complex graphs, decision makers are craving insights and broad analysis that help them guide strategy. Consider issues from the perspective of a group of stakeholders who often have multiple constituencies. Remember, they ultimately want you to answer the unspoken question: What do you want me to know or do with this information?” Don’t make your audience decode your message It’s your job to make it easy for stakeholders to scan and digest information quickly. Data isn’t the big idea—your story is. Articulate your message, then choose the right type of visual to support that message. When your next meeting is on the horizon, first examine your data insights and isolate your key message. Next, consider what metrics will support your story and help it pack a punch. Don’t flash unnecessary data just because you have it. Feature primary data in the proper chart and keep the rest of your data hidden. For powerful data storytelling, the right chart will get you well on your way. Demonstrate Data Relationships How do you choose a chart that tells a story and drives action? The main thing to remember is that the purpose of all charts is to show the relationships in your data. Think about what charts or tables best feature the relationships that fit the data story you are trying to tell. When using charts, highlight key insights Spreadsheet-generated graphical charts can bring your numbers to life, but often the output is visually cluttered—think gridlines, legends, and labels—and doesn’t shine a spotlight on the real insights the charts need to convey. To help your audience quickly understand what you want to communicate, provide a visual focal point that highlights the critical points. Three simple visual tricks can work wonders to help accentuate your data. Color: Use a pop of color (such as bright blue) to draw attention while subduing other elements (use gray for those elements). Size: Increase text size, bar width, and line width to emphasize key metrics. Shapes: Use basic shapes to call out important key data insights. Turn headings into headlines Don’t overlook the text. Imagine each slide or document as a news article. What is the most significant data insight you want to share? Then develop headlines and let them do the heavy lifting by telling the stakeholders exactly what to conclude about the data they are looking at. Keep headlines short and crisp and compelling and provocative. Include a benefit, cause and effect, or analysis results. For example: “Fuel Costs to Drive Airfares up 25%” “QuickPass Cuts 18 Minutes Off the Average Commute” “Top 2 Movie Distributors Hold 1/3 of Total Market Share” Think outside the chart Slapping a spreadsheet with lots of bullets on a slide is the opposite of good data visualization. The information will simply wash over stakeholders, causing squints and confusion. Instead, demonstrate the data beyond pie charts and line graphs. Photos: An image can be powerful in data storytelling. Photos are memorable and can humanize your data by helping to connect it to your audience on an emotional level. Icons and other visuals: Try using icons, rather than photos, to represent ideas. Use a combination of oversized numbers, text, and basic shapes to draw the eye to a key data insight and advance the story forward. Diagrams: This is a great method for chunking and clustering information into small, digestible concepts using various shapes and colors. Text: Use big, bold numbers to highlight critical metrics or summarize findings. Video: Incorporate short clips to change the pace, voice, and medium of your data story. Be strategic Decision-makers face a nearly universal problem: too much data and not enough real answers to critical questions. However, when you strategically present data and complex information, you illuminate your ideas and lead decision-makers to better, faster outcomes. When presented poorly, your data can create confusion, leading stakeholders to decode the data themselves, misinterpret your message, and ultimately stall in their next steps. To avoid falling into that credibility trap, remember this mantra: story first, visuals second. Combining the art and science of storytelling will take your organization to new heights. In the end, what everyone is craving are insights that help drive innovation, investments, and even hiring decisions. Pushing your organization—in every role or level—toward a culture of meaningful, authentic data storytelling could be the critical move that accelerates growth across your company in the years ahead. Republished with permission from TD.org.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ATD-CTDO-Header-Image.png", "modified": "2023-03-02T08:47:47-05:00" }, { "id": 8673, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/5-tips-for-presenting-to-c-level-executives/", "title": "5 Tips for Presenting To C-Level Executives", "h1": "5 Tips for Presenting To C-Level Executives", "summary": "When it comes to presenting your ideas to executives, we know this for sure: more information is not necessarily better. Unfortunately, most of us have learned this the hard way.But regardless of whether it’s your first time or 500th time presenting to senior leaders, anyone can naturally “own the room,” navigate difficult questions, and influence decision-making […]", "content": "

When it comes to presenting your ideas to executives, we know this for sure: more information is not necessarily better. Unfortunately, most of us have learned this the hard way.But regardless of whether it’s your first time or 500th time presenting to senior leaders, anyone can naturally “own the room,” navigate difficult questions, and influence decision-making when meeting with busy, get-to-the-point executives. And the best part? It doesn’t involve practicing power poses or adopting a certain swagger.

If you’ve struggled to get distracted, hyper-impatient executives to focus on your key messages, try these five simple tricks to get heard – and noticed.

1. Include an executive summary

\"\"An executive summary – a single snapshot of your whole presentation – offers your audience control. Executives love control and knowing how they are about to spend their next 5, 15, or 60 minutes. Get to the point quickly. Get to the point visually. Cut extensive background information. If your boss doesn’t get the gist of what you’re proposing in 60 seconds, you’re probably doomed.

*Remember: Executives want to get in, make a decision, and get out.

2. Have a BIG Idea

\"\"Always include a BIG idea in the executive summary. The BIG Idea should be the most important, high-level idea you’re presenting and serve as an inspiring, insightful, actionable preview of what’s to come. Carefully consider what the presentation is about and the one key takeaway you want your audience to know or do when they leave. This simple exercise will help you discover and ultimately articulate your big idea.

You should be able to capture your BIG Idea in one concise, conversational statement that is made up of two parts: the “what” of your story (what you want your audience to know or do) and one to three high-level benefits.

Here is an example of a big idea: A new performance tracking dashboard will improve business results. In this case, “a new performance tracking dashboard” is what you want your audience to know, and “improve business results” is the benefit.

*Remember: Your BIG idea is the through-line for your presentation, connecting every other (supporting) fact or piece of data. You should reinforce it continually throughout your presentation verbally, visually, or both.

3. Prepare for a dialogue, not a monologue

\"\"Executives want a summarized overview…until they don’t. They love to control the flow of information, consuming it in their own order and at their own pace. It’s a good rule of thumb to not only expect to be interrupted throughout a discussion or presentation but to actually invite interruption. Building in moments to check in with your audience will ensure you have an open dialogue and allow you to zig and zag based on audience needs – especially if your meeting is virtual.

Because the truth is, online meetings tank for two primary main reasons: your audience is bored, or you’re not responding to their needs sufficiently. The best way to prevent both? Keep people interacting with you and with each other using a solid story as your foundation. It helps you build in planned interactivity to engage your audience and get critical feedback during the session.

*Remember: To satisfy impatient execs, it’s critical to be able to rearrange the order of your ideas. Don’t forget to include a call to action.

4. Speak in headlines, not headings

\"\"Executives are begging to have information distilled for them. Yet we are always bombarding them with (what we call “headings”) that tell almost nothing.

Headlines, on the other hand, are much more useful because the real “news” in the chart is right there on top. No squinting or decoding required! For example, instead of “Project update,” you could say, “Project X is on target but needs additional development resources.” This helps you position the conversation exactly where you want it. It also diminishes the number of immediate questions executives have. If they do want to drill down, their questions will likely be much more focused and relevant.

*Remember: The more an executive has to work to decipher information, the less impact your ideas will have. Headlines immediately draw attention to your key point.

5. Prepare for executives with different needs

\"\"Sometimes we present to the VP of Sales. Sometimes we present to the Director of Marketing. Sometimes we present to both at the same time. When we aren’t prepared to address different constituencies, each with diverse needs… we run into trouble.

Our advice? Be agile and read the room (yes, even if it’s a virtual room.) If you don’t want to face a restless audience, anticipate their questions and be prepared to pivot (quickly) with multiple supporting arguments. Think of the controls to your deck like a joystick. Practice going back, forward, drilling down, turning around… all on the fly. They want to discuss that graph back on slide 2? Be ready. They want to pour over one table the entire time? Be ready. They’re asking for more extensive analysis? Be ready.

*Remember: Your BIG idea might be the same, but you must pull out multiple benefits to attract every constituency in attendance.

Think of yourself as a concierge of your ideas

The fastest way to lose your chance of selling your ideas to executives is to frustrate them with meandering, over-detailed presentations. It makes their job as decision-makers even harder. To give your ideas (and all the people who helped you work on them) the chance they deserve, keep in mind your audience’s mindset, articulate a big idea and stay flexible throughout your presentation. These tips will give you the best chance to drive your strategies, recommendations and, ultimately, your career.

Want more tips for presenting to C-level executives? Check out our storytelling workshop options for corporate teams and individuals.

", "content_plain": "When it comes to presenting your ideas to executives, we know this for sure: more information is not necessarily better. Unfortunately, most of us have learned this the hard way.But regardless of whether it’s your first time or 500th time presenting to senior leaders, anyone can naturally “own the room,” navigate difficult questions, and influence decision-making when meeting with busy, get-to-the-point executives. And the best part? It doesn’t involve practicing power poses or adopting a certain swagger. If you’ve struggled to get distracted, hyper-impatient executives to focus on your key messages, try these five simple tricks to get heard – and noticed. 1. Include an executive summary An executive summary – a single snapshot of your whole presentation – offers your audience control. Executives love control and knowing how they are about to spend their next 5, 15, or 60 minutes. Get to the point quickly. Get to the point visually. Cut extensive background information. If your boss doesn’t get the gist of what you’re proposing in 60 seconds, you’re probably doomed. *Remember: Executives want to get in, make a decision, and get out. 2. Have a BIG Idea Always include a BIG idea in the executive summary. The BIG Idea should be the most important, high-level idea you’re presenting and serve as an inspiring, insightful, actionable preview of what’s to come. Carefully consider what the presentation is about and the one key takeaway you want your audience to know or do when they leave. This simple exercise will help you discover and ultimately articulate your big idea. You should be able to capture your BIG Idea in one concise, conversational statement that is made up of two parts: the “what” of your story (what you want your audience to know or do) and one to three high-level benefits. Here is an example of a big idea: A new performance tracking dashboard will improve business results. In this case, “a new performance tracking dashboard” is what you want your audience to know, and “improve business results” is the benefit. *Remember: Your BIG idea is the through-line for your presentation, connecting every other (supporting) fact or piece of data. You should reinforce it continually throughout your presentation verbally, visually, or both. 3. Prepare for a dialogue, not a monologue Executives want a summarized overview…until they don’t. They love to control the flow of information, consuming it in their own order and at their own pace. It’s a good rule of thumb to not only expect to be interrupted throughout a discussion or presentation but to actually invite interruption. Building in moments to check in with your audience will ensure you have an open dialogue and allow you to zig and zag based on audience needs – especially if your meeting is virtual. Because the truth is, online meetings tank for two primary main reasons: your audience is bored, or you’re not responding to their needs sufficiently. The best way to prevent both? Keep people interacting with you and with each other using a solid story as your foundation. It helps you build in planned interactivity to engage your audience and get critical feedback during the session. *Remember: To satisfy impatient execs, it’s critical to be able to rearrange the order of your ideas. Don’t forget to include a call to action. 4. Speak in headlines, not headings Executives are begging to have information distilled for them. Yet we are always bombarding them with (what we call “headings”) that tell almost nothing. Headlines, on the other hand, are much more useful because the real “news” in the chart is right there on top. No squinting or decoding required! For example, instead of “Project update,” you could say, “Project X is on target but needs additional development resources.” This helps you position the conversation exactly where you want it. It also diminishes the number of immediate questions executives have. If they do want to drill down, their questions will likely be much more focused and relevant. *Remember: The more an executive has to work to decipher information, the less impact your ideas will have. Headlines immediately draw attention to your key point. 5. Prepare for executives with different needs Sometimes we present to the VP of Sales. Sometimes we present to the Director of Marketing. Sometimes we present to both at the same time. When we aren’t prepared to address different constituencies, each with diverse needs… we run into trouble. Our advice? Be agile and read the room (yes, even if it’s a virtual room.) If you don’t want to face a restless audience, anticipate their questions and be prepared to pivot (quickly) with multiple supporting arguments. Think of the controls to your deck like a joystick. Practice going back, forward, drilling down, turning around… all on the fly. They want to discuss that graph back on slide 2? Be ready. They want to pour over one table the entire time? Be ready. They’re asking for more extensive analysis? Be ready. *Remember: Your BIG idea might be the same, but you must pull out multiple benefits to attract every constituency in attendance. Think of yourself as a concierge of your ideas The fastest way to lose your chance of selling your ideas to executives is to frustrate them with meandering, over-detailed presentations. It makes their job as decision-makers even harder. To give your ideas (and all the people who helped you work on them) the chance they deserve, keep in mind your audience’s mindset, articulate a big idea and stay flexible throughout your presentation. These tips will give you the best chance to drive your strategies, recommendations and, ultimately, your career. Want more tips for presenting to C-level executives? Check out our storytelling workshop options for corporate teams and individuals.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/iStock-1325899588-scaled.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T13:37:26-05:00" }, { "id": 8004, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/", "title": "TPC Resource Center", "h1": "TPC Resource Center", "summary": "", "content": "

Find resources to enhance your business communications skills

Dig into articles, webinars, and in-depth guides that explore why storytelling matters in business and what great communication looks like in practice. TPC’s business communications skills resources are designed to help leaders and their teams communicate strategy, ideas, and data with clarity and confidence.

Premium content

Why Business Storytelling, and Why Now?

Everyone knows how critical people are to the resilience and success of any operation. Today’s leaders recognize that they need to advance strategic initiatives by ...Continue Reading

\"workshop

Workshop Testimonials

For over two decades, TPC workshops have helped the world’s top brands tell visual stories that powerfully connect with their audience. By now you may have ...Continue Reading

\"Packaged Premium content

Packaged Pitch for Executives

You’ve had a front-row seat to far too many confusing and meandering presentations – or ones that just don’t keep people’s attention. And now you’ve ...Continue Reading

\"Communications

Why You Shouldn’t Give Up on Communications Training Yet

Does this sound familiar? You’ve invested in communications training in the past, but the skills didn’t stick. You still find yourself reworking decks, editing your ...Continue Reading

\"\"

How to Build a Future-focused Leadership Development Program

Leadership development programs do exactly that: They develop leaders. But how they do that is the tricky part. What separates the best from the rest? ...Continue Reading

\"Here’s Premium content

Here’s Why You Should Put Storytelling at the Center of Your Company Culture

It’s no secret that storytelling is a key to success in business communication. Whether it’s writing an email, delivering a presentation, or creating any number ...Continue Reading

\"10 Premium content

10 Business Challenges You Can Solve With Improved Communication Skills

When you think about what it takes to solve big business challenges, what comes to mind? Maybe it’s reevaluating strategic goals. Or maybe it’s undertaking ...Continue Reading

\"5

5 Questions to Ask Business Communications Training Vendors Before Partnering

Finding a good partner can be challenging, but it’s possible when you know what to look for — and what to avoid. So you’ve identified a ...Continue Reading

\"How

How to Get Learning to Start, Stick, and Scale Within Your Organization

Nine times out of 10, training is just an event — but what happens after it’s over? Learning can be hard work, its outcomes aren’t ...Continue Reading

\"How

How L&D Can Support an Internal Communications Initiative Through Business Storytelling Training

Fill out the form below to get a link to our slideshow. ...Continue Reading

\"\"

The Future Is Hybrid: How to Use Business Storytelling to Effectively Connect With Everyone, Everywhere

Hybrid work is here to stay — and that’s not just anecdotal watercooler conversation. Microsoft’s 2021 Work Trend Index, a study of over 30,000 people ...Continue Reading

\"\" Premium content

It’s Time to Reframe Soft Skills as Power Skills

It’s time for business leaders to appreciate the impact of soft skills on the bottom line. There’s hidden gold in the nontechnical skills that can ...Continue Reading

\"What Premium content

What Employees Want: A Stable Career Built on Communications Training

Employees everywhere are quitting their jobs in favor of a more stable, quiet life away from the busy city. That includes their careers. After a ...Continue Reading

\"How

How One Medical Device Manufacturer Transformed Its Communications From Eye-Glazing to Impactful

For years, the technical teams of a global manufacturer of medical devices struggled to communicate effectively with their business partners. Their messages were overly technical ...Continue Reading

\"\"

Key Questions for L&D Leaders: How to Evaluate Employee Training Gaps

When there’s a big push from the C-suite or Learning & Development (L&D) to train their workers, many leaders immediately think of some technology platform ...Continue Reading

\"\" Premium content

How to Create a Consistent Sales Communications Culture

Without a consistent message, your business can’t succeed. But how do you ensure that you have a consistent message that your team can adapt to ...Continue Reading

\"How

Chasing Innovation: How Storytelling Boosted One CPG Company’s Sales Org

For one global leader in the Consumer-Packaged Goods (CPG) space, innovation is, and has been, the norm. They’re used to leading the way and evolving ...Continue Reading

\"\" Premium content

How to Derive Value from Sales Communications Training

You might think sales communication training is a waste of time or that it’s expensive. Some could be. But also think of the cost of ...Continue Reading

\"How

How to Define — and Address — Your Organization’s Communications Needs

A Practical Guide for L&D Leaders What communications challenges plague your organization? For many, it goes beyond the volume of communication and the sheer noise disrupting ...Continue Reading

\"\" Premium content

Consistently Missing Your Sales Targets? Try Storytelling Your Way to Quota

Members of your team are missing quotas. You’ve tried many different ways to get them back on track, but those methods aren’t working. Maybe the ...Continue Reading

\"How

Is Your Training Falling Short?

4 Questions to Assess Your Business Communications Needs You’d like to think that the training you provide employees is valuable and sticks with them once the ...Continue Reading

\"How Premium content

How to Choose a Communications Training Partner

Storytelling is innate in all of us. We’ve been doing it for thousands of years. Yet somehow in business, we forget how to craft and ...Continue Reading

\"\" Premium content

You Need Business Communications Training — the Right Solution Can Change Everything

Engaging audiences, delivering compelling presentations, and designing other high-quality communication aren’t just about making your company look good to the rest of the world. Telling ...Continue Reading

\"The Premium content

The Deep Dark Secrets of Poor Communication Within Your Organization

Poor communication costs businesses millions. David Grossman reports the average cost of inadequate communication — to and between employees — is $62.4 million per year ...Continue Reading

\"How

How Meta Got 95% Engagement with Its On-Demand Storytelling Program

If you feel like life demands too much of you, you’re not alone. According to one 2020 study, 60% of Americans feel “significant daily stress.” ...Continue Reading

\"\"

3 Skills That Separate Top Sellers From the Rest

Some sellers always be closing. Some sellers sometimes be closing (the month with a missed quota). What separates these two sellers? A decade ago, researchers from ...Continue Reading

\"\"

How Communications Training Can Build — and Repair — Client Relationships

Sales leaders, we’ve all been there. It usually goes like this: You’ve been working with a partner or client for a few weeks or a ...Continue Reading

\"\"

Want an Edge in the Age of Digital Selling? Craft Meaningful Stories

Sales today is facing a perfect storm of challenges: Buyers have more control over the sales process than ever; they’re concerned and distracted by a ...Continue Reading

\"A

A Seller’s Guide to Building & Maintaining Strong Relationships — in Any Communication Environment

Have you struggled with building trust and credibility with prospects, clients, or business partners in virtual or hybrid environments? If so, you’re not alone. The ...Continue Reading

\"The

The 4 Most Common Mistakes Made by Sellers

Are your prospects ghosting you — failing to respond to emails and calls? Are your sales materials failing to generate your desired outcomes? If so, ...Continue Reading

\"It’s Premium content

It’s Not Just You: Selling Is Getting Harder

Want to be a more effective seller? Meet buyers where they are to thrive amid a changing sales landscape. If you’ve noticed that sales has become ...Continue Reading

\"How

How Sales & Marketing Can Partner to Improve Every Stage of the Pipeline

Great salespeople tell each prospect a story, and a story will always beat an impersonal product pitch. Why? Because people love stories — and the ...Continue Reading

\"Finding

Finding Communications Training That’s Going to Stick

How often do employees in your organization engage with L&D? Quarterly? During compliance season? Only when something new and interesting comes up? How often do employees ...Continue Reading

\"A

A Manager’s Guide for Ensuring Alignment With a New Team

Congratulations! You've recently been promoted or newly hired and have inherited a new team to manage. Now what? A priority should be to ensure that ...Continue Reading

\"A

A Manager’s Guide for Turning Presentation Flops Into Communication Victories

Are you hearing that your team’s presentations fall flat, fail to drive the desired outcomes, or don’t meet your team’s goals? Maybe you’ve even seen ...Continue Reading

\"Storytelling Premium content

Storytelling Beyond PowerPoint: How Great Storytelling Skills Translate Across the Business

How Great Communication Skills Translate to More Than Just Presentations Storytelling, as you’ve probably heard, is one of the most powerful tools businesspeople can harness. But, ...Continue Reading

\"Hybrid

Hybrid is Here to Stay: Here’s What You Need to Know

By now, it’s no secret that the future of work is hybrid. Right now, 45% of white-collar workers in the U.S. work fully or partially ...Continue Reading

\"7

Checklist: 7 Must-haves When Presenting to Executives

Presenting to executives can feel daunting. But with these tips, you’ll be prepared to present confidently and persuasively. Presenting to executives can be a make-or-break moment ...Continue Reading

\"The

The REAL Reason You Lose Your Audience When You Present Data

Data plays an increasingly critical role in today’s business world. It adds credibility to your ideas, quantifies the work you do, and validates the solutions ...Continue Reading

\"Don’t

Don’t Make Training One More Source of Wasted Company Time

If employees appear unproductive — like they don’t have enough time to do their job — it’s often because their time is being used inefficiently. ...Continue Reading

\"TPC Premium content

Is Training Worth It? 3 Reasons TPC Training Provides ROI

These days, there are tons of business storytelling solutions to choose from — and for good reason! Storytelling is a critical skill in today’s business ...Continue Reading

\"Storytelling

Video Case Study: Storytelling in Business

By now, you’re well aware of the power that storytelling can have on improving your business communications. It focuses your ideas, reminds you to reflect ...Continue Reading

\"They

3 Data Skills You Need to Thrive in an AI-Driven World

Everyone nowadays is “data-driven,” secretly aspiring to be a data scientist, the “hottest job of the 21st century.” But the challenge today isn’t being data-driven ...Continue Reading

\"How

How to Survive the 5 Worst-Case Presentation Scenarios

We've all been there. You've spent weeks preparing to deliver a hugely important proposal. You’ve put in hours of time researching the care-abouts of every ...Continue Reading

\"Are Premium content

TPC Contributes to Forbes.com: Are Decision-Makers Getting Turned Off Before They Even Hear Your Idea?

When planning any high-stakes communication, knowing who your audience is absolutely essential. But what happens when you are pitching to a variety of people with ...Continue Reading

\"Extreme Premium content

[Video] Extreme Makeovers: Slide Edition

Many of our workshop participants ask us, \"What makes a compelling presentation... and how can we make our slides go from bad to great?\" ...Continue Reading

\"Executive

The Ultimate Guide to Gaining Executive Presence

If you’ve ever wondered what gives certain people that je ne sais quoi we call \"executive presence\", this guide is for you. ...Continue Reading

\"\" Premium content

[Webinar] Reimagining Customer Engagement in the New World

Transformation is a hot topic in the business world today. For consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, it’s more than just a buzzword and part of ...Continue Reading

\"Storytelling Premium content

[Webinar] Storytelling with Data

It was a packed house at the 2023 Category Management Association/Shopper Insights Management Association conference for one big reason: the top-rated session featuring The Presentation ...Continue Reading

\"\"

How TPC’s Storytelling Learning Journey Can Upskill Your People – and Elevate Your Business

Today’s complex business landscape is chock full of challenges – like digital transformation, economic uncertainty, customer satisfaction, and increased market competition (just to name a ...Continue Reading

\"\"

Evolution of the CIO and IT Function: How Storytelling has Helped IT Become More Effective, Influential, and Strategic

By Vivek Kolpe in partnership with The Presentation Company Storytelling has become an art form of critical importance in today’s business world. It has recently ...Continue Reading

\"\" Premium content

[On-Demand Webinar] Everyday Business Storytelling

Did you know we’re 22x more likely to remember a fact if it’s wrapped in a story? Amazing, right? While wrapping our ideas and data ...Continue Reading

\"\"

How Storytelling has Empowered My Teams at Kraft Heinz to Become the Indispensable Partner to our Customers

As anyone working in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) space knows, grabbing the attention of today’s shopper is like trying to hit a moving target. ...Continue Reading

\"Why

Why Business Storytelling, and Why Now?

Everyone knows how critical people are to the resilience and success of any operation. Today’s leaders recognize that they need to advance strategic initiatives by ...Continue Reading

\"\" Premium content

[Webinar] Elevate Your Data Story with Powerful Visuals

The Presentation Company (TPC) and our client partner, Kraft Heinz, packed the house for the second-straight year at the 2024 CMA | SIMA conference in ...Continue Reading

\"\" Premium content

[Webinar] Business Storytelling: Your Communications Superpower

Let’s be honest, the ability to communicate effectively at work can mean the difference between success and failure. After all, 93% of business leaders acknowledge that ...Continue Reading

\"\"

[Webinar] Story, Visuals and Data: Unlocking the Power of Storytelling in Life Sciences

Everyone loves a good story. But at work, we struggle to apply storytelling to our everyday business communications. And for life sciences, health, and pharma ...Continue Reading

\"\"

Meeting L&D’s Mandate: How to Become a Strategic Partner to the Business

Like most aspects of business, the L&D landscape is changing. The goal, of course, remains the same—to upskill employees so they can bring their best to ...Continue Reading

\"\"

The Art of the Executive Summary: How CPG Leaders can Tell a Compelling Story on a Page (or Slide)

We have a love/hate relationship with executive summaries. On the surface, they’re a great idea. What’s not to love? You’ve spent hours or days developing ...Continue Reading

\"\"

When Projects Fail, Look at the Stories (Not Just the Structures)

Communication breakdowns are everywhere and happen every day but rarely make it into boardroom conversations. Our clients frequently point out that communication failures are among ...Continue Reading

\"\"

How Colgate-Palmolive Improves Data Literacy Through Business Storytelling

The push to invest in data is stronger than ever. Data provides crucial evidence to support your ideas and recommendations. When presented well, it illuminates your ...Continue Reading

\"\" Premium content

Scaling Your L&D: 6 Must-Haves for a Successful L&D Program

If you are like most L&D professionals, you probably feel like you are constantly beating the same drum. You know that investing in learning and ...Continue Reading

\"\" Premium content

Storytelling is a Team Sport: Why Communication Excellence Requires Organization-Wide Alignment

Effective business communication rarely happens in isolation. The process of developing, refining, and sharing ideas involves collaboration across departments, input from various stakeholders, and alignment ...Continue Reading

\"\" Premium content

Breaking Down Barriers: Elevating Employee Impact Through Communication

In today's hyper-connected, information-overloaded business landscape, the ability to communicate effectively isn't just a nice-to-have skill—it's the difference between organizational success and stagnation. When critical ...Continue Reading

\"Why Premium content

Why Communication Skills Matter: The Hidden Crisis Costing Organizations Billions

Communication continues to be the #1 most in-demand skill desired by organizations, yet many companies fail at it. In a world where attention is scarce ...Continue Reading

\"Executive

The Art of the Executive Summary: How to Tell a Compelling Story on a Page (or Slide)

We have a love/hate relationship with executive summaries. On the surface, they’re a great idea. What’s not to love? You've invested countless hours crafting a ...Continue Reading

\"\" Premium content

[Webinar] From Data to Decisions: Crafting Executive Summaries That Tell a Story

You have unlimited data but limited time. Your stakeholders want insights, not spreadsheets. And when you're tasked with creating an executive summary, you face the ...Continue Reading

\"\" Premium content

The Top 5 Challenges of Communicating Amid Everyday Business Demands

Have you ever spent weeks perfecting a presentation only to hear \"Actually, we only have five minutes\"? Or sent what you thought was a clear ...Continue Reading

\"How Premium content

How Ineffective Communication is Sabotaging Your Business Impact 

Strong communication isn’t just an skill, it’s a strategic advantage. In a world where efficiency and collaboration often determine business success, even the most capable ...Continue Reading

\"The Premium content

The Business World Runs on Stories: Why Storytelling is an Essential “Hard Skill”

When you consider that the average knowledge worker spends 80-90% of their time communicating, the stakes become clear: effective communication isn’t just nice to have, ...Continue Reading

\"power-of-communication-in-leadership-resource-center-featured-image\" Premium content

The Power of Communication in Leadership (and Why It’s Critical to Success)

Being a leader isn't just about making decisions or fixing problems. Great leaders create shared vision, improve conversations, and help people reach their potential. And ...Continue Reading

\"Communication Premium content

Beyond One-Size-Fits-All: The Holistic Approach to Communication Training That Actually Works

When companies realize that their strategic initiatives are getting lost in translation due to poor communication, they face a sobering reality: even the most valuable ...Continue Reading

", "content_plain": "Find resources to enhance your business communications skills Dig into articles, webinars, and in-depth guides that explore why storytelling matters in business and what great communication looks like in practice. TPC’s business communications skills resources are designed to help leaders and their teams communicate strategy, ideas, and data with clarity and confidence. Content Type Basic Content Premium Content All Topics Career Focused  (9) Case Studies  (6) Consumer-Packaged Goods (CPG)  (7) Customer Support  (15) Enterprise  (15) External LOB  (32) Individuals  (5) Internal LOB  (26) Internal Operations  (54) L&D  (50) Leadership  (29) Presentation Skills  (28) Revenue Driving  (29) Sales  (33) Technical  (22) Webinars  (7) All Industries Consumer Packaged Goods  (58) Finance & Insurance  (62) Healthcare  (57) Professional Services  (64) Technology  (68) Premium content Why Business Storytelling, and Why Now? Everyone knows how critical people are to the resilience and success of any operation. Today’s leaders recognize that they need to advance strategic initiatives by ...Continue Reading Workshop Testimonials For over two decades, TPC workshops have helped the world’s top brands tell visual stories that powerfully connect with their audience. By now you may have ...Continue Reading Premium content Packaged Pitch for Executives You’ve had a front-row seat to far too many confusing and meandering presentations – or ones that just don’t keep people’s attention. And now you’ve ...Continue Reading Why You Shouldn’t Give Up on Communications Training Yet Does this sound familiar? You’ve invested in communications training in the past, but the skills didn’t stick. You still find yourself reworking decks, editing your ...Continue Reading How to Build a Future-focused Leadership Development Program Leadership development programs do exactly that: They develop leaders. But how they do that is the tricky part. What separates the best from the rest? ...Continue Reading Premium content Here’s Why You Should Put Storytelling at the Center of Your Company Culture It’s no secret that storytelling is a key to success in business communication. Whether it’s writing an email, delivering a presentation, or creating any number ...Continue Reading Premium content 10 Business Challenges You Can Solve With Improved Communication Skills When you think about what it takes to solve big business challenges, what comes to mind? Maybe it’s reevaluating strategic goals. Or maybe it’s undertaking ...Continue Reading 5 Questions to Ask Business Communications Training Vendors Before Partnering Finding a good partner can be challenging, but it’s possible when you know what to look for — and what to avoid. So you’ve identified a ...Continue Reading How to Get Learning to Start, Stick, and Scale Within Your Organization Nine times out of 10, training is just an event — but what happens after it’s over? Learning can be hard work, its outcomes aren’t ...Continue Reading How L&D Can Support an Internal Communications Initiative Through Business Storytelling Training Fill out the form below to get a link to our slideshow. ...Continue Reading The Future Is Hybrid: How to Use Business Storytelling to Effectively Connect With Everyone, Everywhere Hybrid work is here to stay — and that’s not just anecdotal watercooler conversation. Microsoft’s 2021 Work Trend Index, a study of over 30,000 people ...Continue Reading Premium content It’s Time to Reframe Soft Skills as Power Skills It’s time for business leaders to appreciate the impact of soft skills on the bottom line. There’s hidden gold in the nontechnical skills that can ...Continue Reading Premium content What Employees Want: A Stable Career Built on Communications Training Employees everywhere are quitting their jobs in favor of a more stable, quiet life away from the busy city. That includes their careers. After a ...Continue Reading How One Medical Device Manufacturer Transformed Its Communications From Eye-Glazing to Impactful For years, the technical teams of a global manufacturer of medical devices struggled to communicate effectively with their business partners. Their messages were overly technical ...Continue Reading Key Questions for L&D Leaders: How to Evaluate Employee Training Gaps When there’s a big push from the C-suite or Learning & Development (L&D) to train their workers, many leaders immediately think of some technology platform ...Continue Reading Premium content How to Create a Consistent Sales Communications Culture Without a consistent message, your business can’t succeed. But how do you ensure that you have a consistent message that your team can adapt to ...Continue Reading Chasing Innovation: How Storytelling Boosted One CPG Company’s Sales Org For one global leader in the Consumer-Packaged Goods (CPG) space, innovation is, and has been, the norm. They’re used to leading the way and evolving ...Continue Reading Premium content How to Derive Value from Sales Communications Training You might think sales communication training is a waste of time or that it’s expensive. Some could be. But also think of the cost of ...Continue Reading How to Define — and Address — Your Organization’s Communications Needs A Practical Guide for L&D Leaders What communications challenges plague your organization? For many, it goes beyond the volume of communication and the sheer noise disrupting ...Continue Reading Premium content Consistently Missing Your Sales Targets? Try Storytelling Your Way to Quota Members of your team are missing quotas. You’ve tried many different ways to get them back on track, but those methods aren’t working. Maybe the ...Continue Reading Is Your Training Falling Short? 4 Questions to Assess Your Business Communications Needs You’d like to think that the training you provide employees is valuable and sticks with them once the ...Continue Reading Premium content How to Choose a Communications Training Partner Storytelling is innate in all of us. We’ve been doing it for thousands of years. Yet somehow in business, we forget how to craft and ...Continue Reading Premium content You Need Business Communications Training — the Right Solution Can Change Everything Engaging audiences, delivering compelling presentations, and designing other high-quality communication aren’t just about making your company look good to the rest of the world. Telling ...Continue Reading Premium content The Deep Dark Secrets of Poor Communication Within Your Organization Poor communication costs businesses millions. David Grossman reports the average cost of inadequate communication — to and between employees — is $62.4 million per year ...Continue Reading How Meta Got 95% Engagement with Its On-Demand Storytelling Program If you feel like life demands too much of you, you’re not alone. According to one 2020 study, 60% of Americans feel “significant daily stress.” ...Continue Reading 3 Skills That Separate Top Sellers From the Rest Some sellers always be closing. Some sellers sometimes be closing (the month with a missed quota). What separates these two sellers? A decade ago, researchers from ...Continue Reading How Communications Training Can Build — and Repair — Client Relationships Sales leaders, we’ve all been there. It usually goes like this: You’ve been working with a partner or client for a few weeks or a ...Continue Reading Want an Edge in the Age of Digital Selling? Craft Meaningful Stories Sales today is facing a perfect storm of challenges: Buyers have more control over the sales process than ever; they’re concerned and distracted by a ...Continue Reading A Seller’s Guide to Building & Maintaining Strong Relationships — in Any Communication Environment Have you struggled with building trust and credibility with prospects, clients, or business partners in virtual or hybrid environments? If so, you’re not alone. The ...Continue Reading The 4 Most Common Mistakes Made by Sellers Are your prospects ghosting you — failing to respond to emails and calls? Are your sales materials failing to generate your desired outcomes? If so, ...Continue Reading Premium content It’s Not Just You: Selling Is Getting Harder Want to be a more effective seller? Meet buyers where they are to thrive amid a changing sales landscape. If you’ve noticed that sales has become ...Continue Reading How Sales & Marketing Can Partner to Improve Every Stage of the Pipeline Great salespeople tell each prospect a story, and a story will always beat an impersonal product pitch. Why? Because people love stories — and the ...Continue Reading Finding Communications Training That’s Going to Stick How often do employees in your organization engage with L&D? Quarterly? During compliance season? Only when something new and interesting comes up? How often do employees ...Continue Reading A Manager’s Guide for Ensuring Alignment With a New Team Congratulations! You've recently been promoted or newly hired and have inherited a new team to manage. Now what? A priority should be to ensure that ...Continue Reading A Manager’s Guide for Turning Presentation Flops Into Communication Victories Are you hearing that your team’s presentations fall flat, fail to drive the desired outcomes, or don’t meet your team’s goals? Maybe you’ve even seen ...Continue Reading Premium content Storytelling Beyond PowerPoint: How Great Storytelling Skills Translate Across the Business How Great Communication Skills Translate to More Than Just Presentations Storytelling, as you’ve probably heard, is one of the most powerful tools businesspeople can harness. But, ...Continue Reading Hybrid is Here to Stay: Here’s What You Need to Know By now, it’s no secret that the future of work is hybrid. Right now, 45% of white-collar workers in the U.S. work fully or partially ...Continue Reading Checklist: 7 Must-haves When Presenting to Executives Presenting to executives can feel daunting. But with these tips, you’ll be prepared to present confidently and persuasively. Presenting to executives can be a make-or-break moment ...Continue Reading The REAL Reason You Lose Your Audience When You Present Data Data plays an increasingly critical role in today’s business world. It adds credibility to your ideas, quantifies the work you do, and validates the solutions ...Continue Reading Don’t Make Training One More Source of Wasted Company Time If employees appear unproductive — like they don’t have enough time to do their job — it’s often because their time is being used inefficiently. ...Continue Reading Premium content Is Training Worth It? 3 Reasons TPC Training Provides ROI These days, there are tons of business storytelling solutions to choose from — and for good reason! Storytelling is a critical skill in today’s business ...Continue Reading Video Case Study: Storytelling in Business By now, you’re well aware of the power that storytelling can have on improving your business communications. It focuses your ideas, reminds you to reflect ...Continue Reading 3 Data Skills You Need to Thrive in an AI-Driven World Everyone nowadays is “data-driven,” secretly aspiring to be a data scientist, the “hottest job of the 21st century.” But the challenge today isn’t being data-driven ...Continue Reading How to Survive the 5 Worst-Case Presentation Scenarios We've all been there. You've spent weeks preparing to deliver a hugely important proposal. You’ve put in hours of time researching the care-abouts of every ...Continue Reading Premium content TPC Contributes to Forbes.com: Are Decision-Makers Getting Turned Off Before They Even Hear Your Idea? When planning any high-stakes communication, knowing who your audience is absolutely essential. But what happens when you are pitching to a variety of people with ...Continue Reading Premium content [Video] Extreme Makeovers: Slide Edition Many of our workshop participants ask us, \"What makes a compelling presentation... and how can we make our slides go from bad to great?\" ...Continue Reading The Ultimate Guide to Gaining Executive Presence If you’ve ever wondered what gives certain people that je ne sais quoi we call \"executive presence\", this guide is for you. ...Continue Reading Premium content [Webinar] Reimagining Customer Engagement in the New World Transformation is a hot topic in the business world today. For consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, it’s more than just a buzzword and part of ...Continue Reading Premium content [Webinar] Storytelling with Data It was a packed house at the 2023 Category Management Association/Shopper Insights Management Association conference for one big reason: the top-rated session featuring The Presentation ...Continue Reading How TPC’s Storytelling Learning Journey Can Upskill Your People – and Elevate Your Business Today’s complex business landscape is chock full of challenges – like digital transformation, economic uncertainty, customer satisfaction, and increased market competition (just to name a ...Continue Reading Evolution of the CIO and IT Function: How Storytelling has Helped IT Become More Effective, Influential, and Strategic By Vivek Kolpe in partnership with The Presentation Company Storytelling has become an art form of critical importance in today’s business world. It has recently ...Continue Reading Premium content [On-Demand Webinar] Everyday Business Storytelling Did you know we’re 22x more likely to remember a fact if it’s wrapped in a story? Amazing, right? While wrapping our ideas and data ...Continue Reading How Storytelling has Empowered My Teams at Kraft Heinz to Become the Indispensable Partner to our Customers As anyone working in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) space knows, grabbing the attention of today’s shopper is like trying to hit a moving target. ...Continue Reading Why Business Storytelling, and Why Now? Everyone knows how critical people are to the resilience and success of any operation. Today’s leaders recognize that they need to advance strategic initiatives by ...Continue Reading Premium content [Webinar] Elevate Your Data Story with Powerful Visuals The Presentation Company (TPC) and our client partner, Kraft Heinz, packed the house for the second-straight year at the 2024 CMA | SIMA conference in ...Continue Reading Premium content [Webinar] Business Storytelling: Your Communications Superpower Let’s be honest, the ability to communicate effectively at work can mean the difference between success and failure. After all, 93% of business leaders acknowledge that ...Continue Reading [Webinar] Story, Visuals and Data: Unlocking the Power of Storytelling in Life Sciences Everyone loves a good story. But at work, we struggle to apply storytelling to our everyday business communications. And for life sciences, health, and pharma ...Continue Reading Meeting L&D’s Mandate: How to Become a Strategic Partner to the Business Like most aspects of business, the L&D landscape is changing. The goal, of course, remains the same—to upskill employees so they can bring their best to ...Continue Reading The Art of the Executive Summary: How CPG Leaders can Tell a Compelling Story on a Page (or Slide) We have a love/hate relationship with executive summaries. On the surface, they’re a great idea. What’s not to love? You’ve spent hours or days developing ...Continue Reading When Projects Fail, Look at the Stories (Not Just the Structures) Communication breakdowns are everywhere and happen every day but rarely make it into boardroom conversations. Our clients frequently point out that communication failures are among ...Continue Reading How Colgate-Palmolive Improves Data Literacy Through Business Storytelling The push to invest in data is stronger than ever. Data provides crucial evidence to support your ideas and recommendations. When presented well, it illuminates your ...Continue Reading Premium content Scaling Your L&D: 6 Must-Haves for a Successful L&D Program If you are like most L&D professionals, you probably feel like you are constantly beating the same drum. You know that investing in learning and ...Continue Reading Premium content Storytelling is a Team Sport: Why Communication Excellence Requires Organization-Wide Alignment Effective business communication rarely happens in isolation. The process of developing, refining, and sharing ideas involves collaboration across departments, input from various stakeholders, and alignment ...Continue Reading Premium content Breaking Down Barriers: Elevating Employee Impact Through Communication In today's hyper-connected, information-overloaded business landscape, the ability to communicate effectively isn't just a nice-to-have skill—it's the difference between organizational success and stagnation. When critical ...Continue Reading Premium content Why Communication Skills Matter: The Hidden Crisis Costing Organizations Billions Communication continues to be the #1 most in-demand skill desired by organizations, yet many companies fail at it. In a world where attention is scarce ...Continue Reading The Art of the Executive Summary: How to Tell a Compelling Story on a Page (or Slide) We have a love/hate relationship with executive summaries. On the surface, they’re a great idea. What’s not to love? You've invested countless hours crafting a ...Continue Reading Premium content [Webinar] From Data to Decisions: Crafting Executive Summaries That Tell a Story You have unlimited data but limited time. Your stakeholders want insights, not spreadsheets. And when you're tasked with creating an executive summary, you face the ...Continue Reading Premium content The Top 5 Challenges of Communicating Amid Everyday Business Demands Have you ever spent weeks perfecting a presentation only to hear \"Actually, we only have five minutes\"? Or sent what you thought was a clear ...Continue Reading Premium content How Ineffective Communication is Sabotaging Your Business Impact Strong communication isn’t just an skill, it’s a strategic advantage. In a world where efficiency and collaboration often determine business success, even the most capable ...Continue Reading Premium content The Business World Runs on Stories: Why Storytelling is an Essential “Hard Skill” When you consider that the average knowledge worker spends 80-90% of their time communicating, the stakes become clear: effective communication isn’t just nice to have, ...Continue Reading Premium content The Power of Communication in Leadership (and Why It’s Critical to Success) Being a leader isn't just about making decisions or fixing problems. Great leaders create shared vision, improve conversations, and help people reach their potential. And ...Continue Reading Premium content Beyond One-Size-Fits-All: The Holistic Approach to Communication Training That Actually Works When companies realize that their strategic initiatives are getting lost in translation due to poor communication, they face a sobering reality: even the most valuable ...Continue Reading", "image": false, "modified": "2026-05-27T21:04:26-05:00" }, { "id": 7963, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/3-data-skills-you-need-to-thrive-today/", "title": "3 Data Skills You Need to Thrive in an AI-Driven World", "h1": "3 Data Skills You Need to Thrive in an AI-Driven World", "summary": "Everyone nowadays is “data-driven,” secretly aspiring to be a data scientist, the “hottest job of the 21st century.” But the challenge today isn’t being data-driven — it’s being data-fluent: optimally using data to communicate more efficiently and with greater impact.", "content": "

Everyone talks about being “data-driven,” yet in a world where AI can generate dashboards, run analyses, and surface insights in seconds, the challenge has shifted entirely. The bottleneck isn’t accessing data—it’s cutting through it. The real competitive advantage today isn’t being data-driven — it’s being data-fluent: using data strategically to communicate with clarity and drive decisions that matter.

Organizations recognize this shift. Companies like Bloomberg, Adobe, and Guardian Insurance have established data academies to help employees across all disciplines develop analytical capabilities. Meanwhile, AI-powered analytics platforms promise to democratize data insights for everyone. Yet paradoxically, as data becomes more accessible, decision-making often becomes more muddled. We’re drowning in dashboards, metrics, and AI-generated reports—but starving for genuine insight.

The solution isn’t more data or better tools. By keeping three simple principles in mind, you can stop drowning in data and start using it as a life vest — one that bolsters your ideas and brings clarity to your message.

\"more-data\"1. More data does not necessarily lead to better insight

In The Tyranny of Metrics, historian Jerry Muller describes two critical problems with our data obsession:

First, tying outcomes to data-driven metrics can backfire. Think of call center employees who are measured solely on call volume. They may rush customers off the phone to hit their numbers, effectively destroying the customer experience the metric was supposed to improve. The measurement becomes the goal, and the actual objective suffers.

The second problem is more insidious and affects daily work: We convince ourselves we don’t have enough data to decide. With AI tools capable of generating endless analyses, this trap has become even more seductive. We can always run one more query, generate one more visualization, or pull another cut of the data. We spin our wheels hunting for the perfect dataset while our audience drowns in a flood of facts and figures.

The antidote? Focus ruthlessly on the right data. George Orwell advised writers to never use a long word where a short one will do. Apply the same principle to data: Never use five statistics when one will make your point. In an AI-saturated environment where anyone can generate impressive-looking charts instantly, your competitive edge is knowing which single number or visualization will land, then having the discipline to stop there.

This leads to the second principle:

\"breathe-life\"2. Breathe life into your numbers

There’s often more to the story than what the numbers tell you, and uncovering that context can be more compelling than any statistic. Here’s a simple example: Your company’s customer satisfaction score dropped 5 points this quarter. That’s the headline number—but what’s the story behind it?

Maybe you lost three major accounts that skewed the average, but your other 200 customers are actually more satisfied than ever. Or perhaps the drop reflects a deliberate decision to stop over-servicing unprofitable clients. The number alone doesn’t tell you whether to panic or celebrate… you need the context.

Sometimes the most important story is what your headline statistic doesn’t reveal. Perhaps there are critical insights buried beneath your top-line numbers that your audience needs to understand the complete picture.

The truth is, data doesn’t provide insights or context on its own. Data doesn’t have a heart and doesn’t walk and talk. It won’t tell your audience how the numbers affect them personally, or why they should care about your story. That’s your job as the communicator.

In a world where anyone can ask an AI to “analyze this data and create five charts,” the premium is on human interpretation—the ability to understand what the numbers mean for real people facing real decisions. AI can process data faster than any human, but it can’t replace the business acumen and audience understanding that turns raw information into actionable insight.

But it takes time to unearth and explain those stories, which leads us to our last point:

\"give-time\"3. Give yourself time

Finding the most important data to influence your stakeholders — and digging into the story beneath the numbers — requires time. Unfortunately, we often have too much data and too little time. This might seem tangential, but it’s actually the most critical principle of all.

Give yourself time to find the story your audience needs to hear. You might use similar data to tell nearly identical stories to different audiences, but every audience has distinct priorities, challenges, and contexts.

You’ll deliver more cohesive, well-organized, audience-centric stories when you step back from the data and walk in your audience’s shoes. What do they really want (and need!) to know? What pain points or challenges can you help them solve? What’s happening in their world? How would you explain your insights if you were sitting across from them over coffee?

In other words, take the time to humanize your data, and transform valuable insights into actionable recommendations that resonate with your audience.

Remember the five Ws of information gathering — who, what, where, when, and why? Your BIG Idea is the “what” — what your data and your story are fundamentally about, captured in one short statement. When you start with a bold, clear big idea, you can devote more energy to making your data and insights more cohesive, more human, and more likely to be heard and acted upon.

Transform data coal into storytelling diamonds

There’s no denying the value of data in business and in our lives. We’re surrounded by it, constantly using it or being influenced by it.

AI tools have made it easier than ever to access and manipulate data, generating impressive-looking analyses on demand. But they’ve also made it easier to generate noise that masquerades as insight. The real power lies in human discernment: knowing which data matters, understanding what it means in context, and communicating it in ways that drive decisions rather than just documenting information.

The next time you climb a mountain of data, keep in mind that it’s coal waiting to be transformed into diamonds for the story you want to tell. Your audience doesn’t need more data; they need you to make sense of it for them.

", "content_plain": "Everyone talks about being “data-driven,” yet in a world where AI can generate dashboards, run analyses, and surface insights in seconds, the challenge has shifted entirely. The bottleneck isn’t accessing data—it’s cutting through it. The real competitive advantage today isn’t being data-driven — it’s being data-fluent: using data strategically to communicate with clarity and drive decisions that matter. Organizations recognize this shift. Companies like Bloomberg, Adobe, and Guardian Insurance have established data academies to help employees across all disciplines develop analytical capabilities. Meanwhile, AI-powered analytics platforms promise to democratize data insights for everyone. Yet paradoxically, as data becomes more accessible, decision-making often becomes more muddled. We’re drowning in dashboards, metrics, and AI-generated reports—but starving for genuine insight. The solution isn’t more data or better tools. By keeping three simple principles in mind, you can stop drowning in data and start using it as a life vest — one that bolsters your ideas and brings clarity to your message. 1. More data does not necessarily lead to better insight In The Tyranny of Metrics, historian Jerry Muller describes two critical problems with our data obsession: First, tying outcomes to data-driven metrics can backfire. Think of call center employees who are measured solely on call volume. They may rush customers off the phone to hit their numbers, effectively destroying the customer experience the metric was supposed to improve. The measurement becomes the goal, and the actual objective suffers. The second problem is more insidious and affects daily work: We convince ourselves we don’t have enough data to decide. With AI tools capable of generating endless analyses, this trap has become even more seductive. We can always run one more query, generate one more visualization, or pull another cut of the data. We spin our wheels hunting for the perfect dataset while our audience drowns in a flood of facts and figures. The antidote? Focus ruthlessly on the right data. George Orwell advised writers to never use a long word where a short one will do. Apply the same principle to data: Never use five statistics when one will make your point. In an AI-saturated environment where anyone can generate impressive-looking charts instantly, your competitive edge is knowing which single number or visualization will land, then having the discipline to stop there. This leads to the second principle: 2. Breathe life into your numbers There’s often more to the story than what the numbers tell you, and uncovering that context can be more compelling than any statistic. Here’s a simple example: Your company’s customer satisfaction score dropped 5 points this quarter. That’s the headline number—but what’s the story behind it? Maybe you lost three major accounts that skewed the average, but your other 200 customers are actually more satisfied than ever. Or perhaps the drop reflects a deliberate decision to stop over-servicing unprofitable clients. The number alone doesn’t tell you whether to panic or celebrate… you need the context. Sometimes the most important story is what your headline statistic doesn’t reveal. Perhaps there are critical insights buried beneath your top-line numbers that your audience needs to understand the complete picture. The truth is, data doesn’t provide insights or context on its own. Data doesn’t have a heart and doesn’t walk and talk. It won’t tell your audience how the numbers affect them personally, or why they should care about your story. That’s your job as the communicator. In a world where anyone can ask an AI to “analyze this data and create five charts,” the premium is on human interpretation—the ability to understand what the numbers mean for real people facing real decisions. AI can process data faster than any human, but it can’t replace the business acumen and audience understanding that turns raw information into actionable insight. But it takes time to unearth and explain those stories, which leads us to our last point: 3. Give yourself time Finding the most important data to influence your stakeholders — and digging into the story beneath the numbers — requires time. Unfortunately, we often have too much data and too little time. This might seem tangential, but it’s actually the most critical principle of all. Give yourself time to find the story your audience needs to hear. You might use similar data to tell nearly identical stories to different audiences, but every audience has distinct priorities, challenges, and contexts. You’ll deliver more cohesive, well-organized, audience-centric stories when you step back from the data and walk in your audience’s shoes. What do they really want (and need!) to know? What pain points or challenges can you help them solve? What’s happening in their world? How would you explain your insights if you were sitting across from them over coffee? In other words, take the time to humanize your data, and transform valuable insights into actionable recommendations that resonate with your audience. Remember the five Ws of information gathering — who, what, where, when, and why? Your BIG Idea is the “what” — what your data and your story are fundamentally about, captured in one short statement. When you start with a bold, clear big idea, you can devote more energy to making your data and insights more cohesive, more human, and more likely to be heard and acted upon. Transform data coal into storytelling diamonds There’s no denying the value of data in business and in our lives. We’re surrounded by it, constantly using it or being influenced by it. AI tools have made it easier than ever to access and manipulate data, generating impressive-looking analyses on demand. But they’ve also made it easier to generate noise that masquerades as insight. The real power lies in human discernment: knowing which data matters, understanding what it means in context, and communicating it in ways that drive decisions rather than just documenting information. The next time you climb a mountain of data, keep in mind that it’s coal waiting to be transformed into diamonds for the story you want to tell. Your audience doesn’t need more data; they need you to make sense of it for them.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/3-Data-Skills-You-Need-to-Thrive-Today.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T16:11:41-05:00" }, { "id": 7961, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/how-to-survive-the-5-worst-case-presentation-scenarios/", "title": "How to Survive the 5 Worst-Case Presentation Scenarios", "h1": "How to Survive the 5 Worst-Case Presentation Scenarios", "summary": "We've all been there. You've spent weeks preparing to deliver a hugely important proposal. You’ve put in hours of time researching the care-abouts of every member of the executive team you’re about to face. You’ve had dozens of sets of eyeballs review your presentation, and you’ve rehearsed it countless times.", "content": "

We’ve all been there. You’ve spent weeks preparing to deliver a hugely important proposal. You’ve put in hours of time researching the care-abouts of every member of the executive team you’re about to face. You’ve had dozens of sets of eyeballs review your presentation, and you’ve rehearsed it countless times.

Your moment arrives. Everyone on your team is on edge already — all of them hoping you will nail the tightly scripted, 30-minute presentation and take home the gold. Land this one, and you all look really good.

Then it happens. You learn that your 30-minute window to present has been cut to five minutes to accommodate other executive committee business. Or you suddenly feel so nervous about presenting that you feel like you’re going to throw up. Or half-way through your presentation, you realize one key audience member is not only not listening, he’s dominating the conversation to push his own agenda.

These are three of the five worst-case presentation scenarios anyone can suffer. The other two nightmare situations can occur even before your big moment in the spotlight. Maybe you’ve been here, too: You’re past the deadline for getting your presentation to your boss for review and suddenly you feel you either have way too much data and can’t fit it all in, or that if you leave anything out you’ll be accused of cherry-picking the facts to bolster some desired action from your audience.

Don’t worry. These five scenarios are more common than you might think, and each of them can be prevented or at least mitigated with a few proven presentation tactics taken in advance.

\"dont-panic\"But First: Don’t Panic — You’ll Be OK

Philosophers and scientists have long argued that one of the immutable laws of the universe is that if something can go wrong, it eventually will. The lesson to take away from this is that try as you might to bullet-proof your presentation plan, you need to be as prepared as possible to deal with a sudden wrong turn.

Let’s step back and look at this from 35,000 feet. Things often go differently than you had anticipated, right? Sometimes that’s a good thing, like bumping into an old friend out of the blue. Other times, the turn of events can be a lot more serious. When that happens, negative emotions such as fear, anger, and frustration can cause your brain’s “central executive network” (yes, that’s a thing; it’s responsible for problem solving) to constrict and work less effectively. On the other hand, positive emotions help your brain generate more creative solutions to problems.

So, how can you become prepared to generate more positive emotions and fewer negative ones when life throws you curveballs, like when you suddenly have to use different technology to make your presentation?

Dr. Jennice Vilhauer, a psychotherapist and author, gave these four tips in a Psychology Today article:

  1. Pause before you act. Don’t let your mind and emotions act on the first — and almost always reflexive — reaction to the turn of events. Slow things down and take stock of the situation.
  2. Don’t assume that the things you don’t want are bad. Aren’t we talking about dealing with suddenly worse situations than we’d planned for? Yes, but on the other hand, unexpected situations often have the potential to open the door to new, positive events in our lives.
  3. Plan for everything to turn out well. The minute you ask yourself what you can do to make something better, you’ve taken the first step in planning for events to go well, Vilhauer explains. So, when things go south, immediately start planning for them to go well, even if that’s different from what you’d originally hoped for.
  4. Trust in your ability to be OK. “When you redirect your attention from a problem to the knowledge that you’re able to handle it, you will start to feel better,” Vlillhauer says.

\"remember-prevention\"Second, Remember That Prevention Is the Best Medicine

That’s all great life-lesson stuff, right? And it absolutely can help you shift course more easily and with greater success. But you might be asking, “What about those five worst-case presentation scenarios? How do I deal with them?” We’ll drill down into those in a minute.

First, consider a few presentation tips that can help you achieve all four of those strategies for thinking and acting more positively — including anytime you need to shift gears for a business presentation that matters:

Now, about those five worst-case scenarios…

  1. “Yikes! They’ve cut my presentation time from 30 minutes to five!”

Meetings get cut short… All. The. Time. Make sure during your preparation that your presentation has a clear, well-defined story structure. This will help you navigate through your content and reorient effectively when your time is cut short. If you have a 100-slide frankendeck with everything but the kitchen sink in it, you can’t successfully manage the sudden need for a much shorter presentation. In that case, you have a jumbled mess of ideas, when what you need is a roadmap from which you can easily reorient yourself.

Also, have a clearly identified proposition or “big idea” for your presentation — the one thing you want your audience to know or do. You can use this central idea to guide you and pivot when you need to.

Finally, inject tension early on in your story, to be sure you give your audience a reason to care and the desire to lean into your presentation, no matter how short it will be.

  1. “I’m suddenly so nervous, I think I’m going to throw up.”

You’re waiting to be called in to make your big presentation and suddenly, your palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. You get the picture, right? It happens, even to those of us who have delivered hundreds of presentations.

To calm your nerves, take the focus off yourself. Preparation is key here. Employ these tactics before it’s show time. First, take a walk in your audience’s shoes; uncover what matters most to them, what they will most need to know from you. Then, use that insight to orient you as you prepare your presentation. When you apply these tactics, your talk becomes about serving your audience’s needs, and not about how much you know or how polished you look. When you put the focus on your audience, you take the pressure off yourself.

This audience-first approach also has an added benefit. It engages your audience from the start and provides more value to the meeting — because what you are sharing is relevant to what they care about.

  1. “Bill isn’t listening. He’s pushing his own agenda, dominating the conversation, and derailing my presentation.”

As in Scenario 2, first take a walk in your audience’s shoes — Bill’s shoes. Bill wants to be heard and unfortunately, he’s using your presentation as his platform. And again, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Rather than ignore Bill and plow ahead regardless of Bill’s positioning, find out what he cares about, and then connect his care-abouts to your message.

If you know ahead of time that Bill will be resistant to certain ideas you’ll be presenting, incorporate those concerns into your presentation to head him off at the pass. Build into your presentation an explanation of how your idea addresses Bill’s specific concerns. Then, during your presentation, ask Bill if he can think of any other reasons why your idea might not work.

What you’ve done is allow Bill to feel seen and heard, while establishing yourself as confident yet flexible and open to suggestions. In the end, you’ll have strengthened the reason for your audience to take the action you want them to.

  1. “If I only show some of my data, I’ll be accused of cherry-picking or bias.”

If you’re a scientist, engineer, statistician, or data analyst, you know this particular challenge. Your technical audience wants to see all the data, because they want to know your process and draw their own conclusions. But you only have 20 minutes to present. You don’t know how to choose between communicating clearly and communicating with transparency. What to do?

First, add value to the meeting by avoiding the fool’s choice. Don’t assume it’s an either-or decision between clarity and transparency. You can indeed communicate clearly and transparently.

Here’s how: Come prepared to present your data with clear takeaways that are relevant to your audience in the moment. (See Scenario #5 for tips on how to do this). After your presentation, provide your audience with access to all the data and encourage them to alert the team if they come to a different conclusion. Alternatively, you can provide them all the data as a pre-read. Either way, you’re communicating very clearly while offering full transparency. Everybody wins.

  1. “I have too much data to show and not enough time to show it all.”

If you’ve done your research well, you will never have enough time to show all of your data — and you can always find more data to show. Unleashing an indiscriminate avalanche of data on your audience leads to confusion, lack of focus, circular discussions, and more meetings. To make matters worse, your reputation as an effective communicator takes a hit.

To avoid all of that, follow these three rules when presenting data:

  1. Share only the data that is most relevant to your audience in that moment. Think about why your audience needs your data. Do they need it to make a decision? If so, show them data that is relevant to that decision and highlight it.
  2. Summarize your data story. You’re not getting paid to show raw data and your audience doesn’t want that. You’re getting paid to analyze data and show up with a well-considered point of view, maybe even a recommendation. To help summarize your data story, write a headline for each data slide that pulls out the most important and relevant takeaway from that part data.
  3. Minimize the noise and boost the signal. Stand back and look at each data slide. Can your audience glean the key takeaway in just a few seconds? If not, remove unnecessary text, chart elements, and other noise until nothing is interfering with the most important signal you want your data to transmit. Then, use color and callouts to highlight the most important data points in your data set.
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\"remember-prevention\"

Our best advice? Be prepared and focus on your audience

If the solutions to these five worst-case presentation scenarios have anything in common, it is to be well prepared and keep your focus on your audience. These and other presentation nightmares can be avoided or mitigated when you set yourself up with a clear story that’s clearly told, a singular proposition or big idea you want your audience to leave with, and a constant awareness of what really matters to your audience and what you can do to deliver that to them.

Expect the unexpected, hope for the best, and plan for the worst. This way, the worst will never be as bad as you think it could be.

", "content_plain": "We’ve all been there. You’ve spent weeks preparing to deliver a hugely important proposal. You’ve put in hours of time researching the care-abouts of every member of the executive team you’re about to face. You’ve had dozens of sets of eyeballs review your presentation, and you’ve rehearsed it countless times. Your moment arrives. Everyone on your team is on edge already — all of them hoping you will nail the tightly scripted, 30-minute presentation and take home the gold. Land this one, and you all look really good. Then it happens. You learn that your 30-minute window to present has been cut to five minutes to accommodate other executive committee business. Or you suddenly feel so nervous about presenting that you feel like you’re going to throw up. Or half-way through your presentation, you realize one key audience member is not only not listening, he’s dominating the conversation to push his own agenda. These are three of the five worst-case presentation scenarios anyone can suffer. The other two nightmare situations can occur even before your big moment in the spotlight. Maybe you’ve been here, too: You’re past the deadline for getting your presentation to your boss for review and suddenly you feel you either have way too much data and can’t fit it all in, or that if you leave anything out you’ll be accused of cherry-picking the facts to bolster some desired action from your audience. Don’t worry. These five scenarios are more common than you might think, and each of them can be prevented or at least mitigated with a few proven presentation tactics taken in advance. But First: Don’t Panic — You’ll Be OK Philosophers and scientists have long argued that one of the immutable laws of the universe is that if something can go wrong, it eventually will. The lesson to take away from this is that try as you might to bullet-proof your presentation plan, you need to be as prepared as possible to deal with a sudden wrong turn. Let’s step back and look at this from 35,000 feet. Things often go differently than you had anticipated, right? Sometimes that’s a good thing, like bumping into an old friend out of the blue. Other times, the turn of events can be a lot more serious. When that happens, negative emotions such as fear, anger, and frustration can cause your brain’s “central executive network” (yes, that’s a thing; it’s responsible for problem solving) to constrict and work less effectively. On the other hand, positive emotions help your brain generate more creative solutions to problems. So, how can you become prepared to generate more positive emotions and fewer negative ones when life throws you curveballs, like when you suddenly have to use different technology to make your presentation? Dr. Jennice Vilhauer, a psychotherapist and author, gave these four tips in a Psychology Today article: Pause before you act. Don’t let your mind and emotions act on the first — and almost always reflexive — reaction to the turn of events. Slow things down and take stock of the situation. Don’t assume that the things you don’t want are bad. Aren’t we talking about dealing with suddenly worse situations than we’d planned for? Yes, but on the other hand, unexpected situations often have the potential to open the door to new, positive events in our lives. Plan for everything to turn out well. The minute you ask yourself what you can do to make something better, you’ve taken the first step in planning for events to go well, Vilhauer explains. So, when things go south, immediately start planning for them to go well, even if that’s different from what you’d originally hoped for. Trust in your ability to be OK. “When you redirect your attention from a problem to the knowledge that you’re able to handle it, you will start to feel better,” Vlillhauer says. Second, Remember That Prevention Is the Best Medicine That’s all great life-lesson stuff, right? And it absolutely can help you shift course more easily and with greater success. But you might be asking, “What about those five worst-case presentation scenarios? How do I deal with them?” We’ll drill down into those in a minute. First, consider a few presentation tips that can help you achieve all four of those strategies for thinking and acting more positively — including anytime you need to shift gears for a business presentation that matters: Know your material inside and out. This sounds like a no-brainer. But you’d be surprised (or maybe you wouldn’t be) at how many people communicate material they aren’t completely familiar with. It’s a lot easier to be resilient and adapt to a suddenly new situation if you know your material well enough to revise it at a moment’s notice. Being intimately familiar with your material will also help you maintain executive presence and tell a story that is clear and has impact if you face an unplanned scenario. Know your audience. The best storytellers step outside of their world and walk in the shoes of their audience. This does more than help you tell a story that addresses your audience’s unique perspective and makes it feel more relevant to them. It helps you feel more comfortable when you suddenly have an unexpected change in your presentation plans. Structure your presentation to tell a story. If you flow your ideas, facts, and data to tell a story with clear “acts” or stages, you’ll be better prepared to pull out the key threads of the whole pattern if you need to cut it down or otherwise improvise. Then, become so familiar with that story that you could lay it out to anyone, from a colleague to your mom. Be very clear about the one essential point you want your audience to take with them — the single greatest thing you’re offering that addresses a key challenge or conflict that your audience cares about. When you have this through-line clearly established in your mind, you will be less likely to be thrown off your game if your presentation plan is unexpectedly blown up. Now, about those five worst-case scenarios… “Yikes! They’ve cut my presentation time from 30 minutes to five!” Meetings get cut short… All. The. Time. Make sure during your preparation that your presentation has a clear, well-defined story structure. This will help you navigate through your content and reorient effectively when your time is cut short. If you have a 100-slide frankendeck with everything but the kitchen sink in it, you can’t successfully manage the sudden need for a much shorter presentation. In that case, you have a jumbled mess of ideas, when what you need is a roadmap from which you can easily reorient yourself. Also, have a clearly identified proposition or “big idea” for your presentation — the one thing you want your audience to know or do. You can use this central idea to guide you and pivot when you need to. Finally, inject tension early on in your story, to be sure you give your audience a reason to care and the desire to lean into your presentation, no matter how short it will be. “I’m suddenly so nervous, I think I’m going to throw up.” You’re waiting to be called in to make your big presentation and suddenly, your palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. You get the picture, right? It happens, even to those of us who have delivered hundreds of presentations. To calm your nerves, take the focus off yourself. Preparation is key here. Employ these tactics before it’s show time. First, take a walk in your audience’s shoes; uncover what matters most to them, what they will most need to know from you. Then, use that insight to orient you as you prepare your presentation. When you apply these tactics, your talk becomes about serving your audience’s needs, and not about how much you know or how polished you look. When you put the focus on your audience, you take the pressure off yourself. This audience-first approach also has an added benefit. It engages your audience from the start and provides more value to the meeting — because what you are sharing is relevant to what they care about. “Bill isn’t listening. He’s pushing his own agenda, dominating the conversation, and derailing my presentation.” As in Scenario 2, first take a walk in your audience’s shoes — Bill’s shoes. Bill wants to be heard and unfortunately, he’s using your presentation as his platform. And again, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Rather than ignore Bill and plow ahead regardless of Bill’s positioning, find out what he cares about, and then connect his care-abouts to your message. If you know ahead of time that Bill will be resistant to certain ideas you’ll be presenting, incorporate those concerns into your presentation to head him off at the pass. Build into your presentation an explanation of how your idea addresses Bill’s specific concerns. Then, during your presentation, ask Bill if he can think of any other reasons why your idea might not work. What you’ve done is allow Bill to feel seen and heard, while establishing yourself as confident yet flexible and open to suggestions. In the end, you’ll have strengthened the reason for your audience to take the action you want them to. “If I only show some of my data, I’ll be accused of cherry-picking or bias.” If you’re a scientist, engineer, statistician, or data analyst, you know this particular challenge. Your technical audience wants to see all the data, because they want to know your process and draw their own conclusions. But you only have 20 minutes to present. You don’t know how to choose between communicating clearly and communicating with transparency. What to do? First, add value to the meeting by avoiding the fool’s choice. Don’t assume it’s an either-or decision between clarity and transparency. You can indeed communicate clearly and transparently. Here’s how: Come prepared to present your data with clear takeaways that are relevant to your audience in the moment. (See Scenario #5 for tips on how to do this). After your presentation, provide your audience with access to all the data and encourage them to alert the team if they come to a different conclusion. Alternatively, you can provide them all the data as a pre-read. Either way, you’re communicating very clearly while offering full transparency. Everybody wins. “I have too much data to show and not enough time to show it all.” If you’ve done your research well, you will never have enough time to show all of your data — and you can always find more data to show. Unleashing an indiscriminate avalanche of data on your audience leads to confusion, lack of focus, circular discussions, and more meetings. To make matters worse, your reputation as an effective communicator takes a hit. To avoid all of that, follow these three rules when presenting data: Share only the data that is most relevant to your audience in that moment. Think about why your audience needs your data. Do they need it to make a decision? If so, show them data that is relevant to that decision and highlight it. Summarize your data story. You’re not getting paid to show raw data and your audience doesn’t want that. You’re getting paid to analyze data and show up with a well-considered point of view, maybe even a recommendation. To help summarize your data story, write a headline for each data slide that pulls out the most important and relevant takeaway from that part data. Minimize the noise and boost the signal. Stand back and look at each data slide. Can your audience glean the key takeaway in just a few seconds? If not, remove unnecessary text, chart elements, and other noise until nothing is interfering with the most important signal you want your data to transmit. Then, use color and callouts to highlight the most important data points in your data set. Our best advice? Be prepared and focus on your audience If the solutions to these five worst-case presentation scenarios have anything in common, it is to be well prepared and keep your focus on your audience. These and other presentation nightmares can be avoided or mitigated when you set yourself up with a clear story that’s clearly told, a singular proposition or big idea you want your audience to leave with, and a constant awareness of what really matters to your audience and what you can do to deliver that to them. Expect the unexpected, hope for the best, and plan for the worst. This way, the worst will never be as bad as you think it could be.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/How-to-Survive-the-5-Worst-Case-Presentation-Scenarios.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T16:12:02-05:00" }, { "id": 7958, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/tpc-contributes-to-forbes-com-are-decision-makers-getting-turned-off-before-they-even-hear-your-idea/", "title": "TPC Contributes to Forbes.com: Are Decision-Makers Getting Turned Off Before They Even Hear Your Idea?", "h1": "TPC Contributes to Forbes.com: Are Decision-Makers Getting Turned Off Before They Even Hear Your Idea?", "summary": "When planning any high-stakes communication, knowing who your audience is absolutely essential. But what happens when you are pitching to a variety of people with widely differing interests?", "content": "

When planning any high-stakes communication, knowing who your audience is absolutely essential. But what happens when you are pitching to a variety of people with widely differing interests? In other words, what happens if the “audience” for your pitch is actually “audiences” that can’t be motivated (or even kept awake) by the same story?

For example, suppose you’re proposing a seismic new product strategy to the C-suite at your company. The CTO wants just the technical details. The HR rep sees the new strategy only in terms of what new talent they’ll need to reel in. The CFO may only wake up when you roll out the financials. We all face something like this scenario when we try to convey a new idea. So, how can you fold in multiple characters, and a variety of contexts, to keep everyone off their cell phones and leaning in to hear your message?

The short answer is that you have to grow your story and be nimble.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

Your Baseline Story Structure – The Why? The What? and The How… 

Every story consists of four ‘signposts’: setting, characters, conflict, and resolution. The first three signposts establish the why of your story. This is the context that’ll give your audience a reason to care about what you propose, conclude, recommend, etc. In other words, this is how you convince your audience why they should remain in their seat through the conclusion of the meeting.

Then there’s the what of your story. Also known as your BIG Idea, this is the one thing you want your audience to remember as compellingly as possible.

The how of your presentation is your story’s resolution. For project managers, this might be the details on timing and resources for a new product strategy. For salespeople, it’s the big reveal of the new product and all it’s tempting features. For CEOs, it may be revenue forecasts presented to the Board. Your resolution is how your BIG Idea will come to life.

Once you have a good story structure firmly in place, here are three simple-yet-powerful tips to try in your next big face-to-face from Janine Kurnoff, Founder of The Presentation Company:

Tip 1: Introduce Multiple Characters

“Characters in your story will help your audience relate more deeply to your content. So, when you are faced with a room — or virtual space — of people with a variety of needs and knowledge levels, introduce multiple characters,” Kurnoff suggests. “Each character should face their own unique conflict. It’s important not to go into too much detail. Don’t cloud the main ideas, and don’t over present. And always make sure to circle back to your BIG Idea: it’s the one thing you want your audience to remember after they leave.”

TIP 2: Include A Resolution Landing Page as “Homebase”

For the how of your story, Kurnoff suggests you consider a resolution landing page that shows exactly how you are prepared to resolve each of the conflicts facing the characters you’ve introduced.

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“This visual map drills down for more detail on each conflict, arranged as subtopics. This allows you the storyteller to respond to your audience in the moment by easily navigating to the requested areas of interest. When your audience has a visual cue of what you are discussing, it invites conversation, lets you dig in, and helps address their specific needs. It is also easy from this position to click back to your home base, and drill down into another area,” she says.

TIP 3: Get Your Audience Involved

Kurnoff’s final tip for handling a diverse audience: Get them involved in the conversation early and often. “We know that the hallmark of a great communicator is someone who understands their audiences’ varying needs, and prepares diligently. But it’s also crucial to continually address audience needs by gauging their interest in the moment. A strategic way to do this is building into your presentation an opportunity for two-way dialogue.”

Below is her example of a “check-in” right at the outset of your presentation:

“Ms. Busy CEO: I know we only have a few minutes today. So, let me ask you…

“Senior leaders, who are often short on time, love to ask questions. They love to be in the driver’s seat — so put their hands on the wheel! By creating a two-way dialogue, you can zig and zag through your content, only showing relevant information that meets their specific in-the-moment needs,” she concludes.

Good Presenters Strive to Connect with Everyone

Can you really give the same amount of attention to everyone in your audience? Probably not. But a group of VIPs will be much more open — and awake! — during a narrative that speaks to them directly and asks them for feedback along the way.

Today, professional storytelling experts can help you hone your messaging. You can also take a corporate training from a company like The Presentation Company or Lynda.com, to learn how to anticipate the needs of your whole audience and invite frequent engaging interactions. The primary message of trainings like these is simple: when you understand and respond to what your audience cares about, they are much more likely to care about you!

Republished with permission from Forbes.com.

", "content_plain": "When planning any high-stakes communication, knowing who your audience is absolutely essential. But what happens when you are pitching to a variety of people with widely differing interests? In other words, what happens if the “audience” for your pitch is actually “audiences” that can’t be motivated (or even kept awake) by the same story? For example, suppose you’re proposing a seismic new product strategy to the C-suite at your company. The CTO wants just the technical details. The HR rep sees the new strategy only in terms of what new talent they’ll need to reel in. The CFO may only wake up when you roll out the financials. We all face something like this scenario when we try to convey a new idea. So, how can you fold in multiple characters, and a variety of contexts, to keep everyone off their cell phones and leaning in to hear your message? The short answer is that you have to grow your story and be nimble. You can view our Privacy Policy here. Your Baseline Story Structure – The Why? The What? and The How… Every story consists of four ‘signposts’: setting, characters, conflict, and resolution. The first three signposts establish the why of your story. This is the context that’ll give your audience a reason to care about what you propose, conclude, recommend, etc. In other words, this is how you convince your audience why they should remain in their seat through the conclusion of the meeting. Then there’s the what of your story. Also known as your BIG Idea, this is the one thing you want your audience to remember as compellingly as possible. The how of your presentation is your story’s resolution. For project managers, this might be the details on timing and resources for a new product strategy. For salespeople, it’s the big reveal of the new product and all it’s tempting features. For CEOs, it may be revenue forecasts presented to the Board. Your resolution is how your BIG Idea will come to life. Once you have a good story structure firmly in place, here are three simple-yet-powerful tips to try in your next big face-to-face from Janine Kurnoff, Founder of The Presentation Company: Tip 1: Introduce Multiple Characters “Characters in your story will help your audience relate more deeply to your content. So, when you are faced with a room — or virtual space — of people with a variety of needs and knowledge levels, introduce multiple characters,” Kurnoff suggests. “Each character should face their own unique conflict. It’s important not to go into too much detail. Don’t cloud the main ideas, and don’t over present. And always make sure to circle back to your BIG Idea: it’s the one thing you want your audience to remember after they leave.” TIP 2: Include A Resolution Landing Page as “Homebase” For the how of your story, Kurnoff suggests you consider a resolution landing page that shows exactly how you are prepared to resolve each of the conflicts facing the characters you’ve introduced. “This visual map drills down for more detail on each conflict, arranged as subtopics. This allows you the storyteller to respond to your audience in the moment by easily navigating to the requested areas of interest. When your audience has a visual cue of what you are discussing, it invites conversation, lets you dig in, and helps address their specific needs. It is also easy from this position to click back to your home base, and drill down into another area,” she says. TIP 3: Get Your Audience Involved Kurnoff’s final tip for handling a diverse audience: Get them involved in the conversation early and often. “We know that the hallmark of a great communicator is someone who understands their audiences’ varying needs, and prepares diligently. But it’s also crucial to continually address audience needs by gauging their interest in the moment. A strategic way to do this is building into your presentation an opportunity for two-way dialogue.” Below is her example of a “check-in” right at the outset of your presentation: “Ms. Busy CEO: I know we only have a few minutes today. So, let me ask you… Would you like to know WHY I’m recommending the new XYZ Initiative? Or, would you like me to show the details of HOW we think the initiative will benefit the company?” “Senior leaders, who are often short on time, love to ask questions. They love to be in the driver’s seat — so put their hands on the wheel! By creating a two-way dialogue, you can zig and zag through your content, only showing relevant information that meets their specific in-the-moment needs,” she concludes. Good Presenters Strive to Connect with Everyone Can you really give the same amount of attention to everyone in your audience? Probably not. But a group of VIPs will be much more open — and awake! — during a narrative that speaks to them directly and asks them for feedback along the way. Today, professional storytelling experts can help you hone your messaging. You can also take a corporate training from a company like The Presentation Company or Lynda.com, to learn how to anticipate the needs of your whole audience and invite frequent engaging interactions. The primary message of trainings like these is simple: when you understand and respond to what your audience cares about, they are much more likely to care about you! Republished with permission from Forbes.com.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Are-Decision-Makers-Getting-Turned-Off-Before-They-Even-Hear-Your-Idea.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T11:10:44-05:00" }, { "id": 7473, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/business-storytelling/", "title": "Business Storytelling", "h1": "Catapult Your Career With Business Storytelling", "summary": "Catapult Your Career With Business Storytelling. Get a simple, proven framework for crafting presentations, emails, 1-pagers and proposals that gets people to say “yes”", "content": "
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Catapult Your Career With Business Storytelling

Get a simple, proven framework for crafting presentations, emails, 1-pagers and proposals that gets people to say “yes”

Let's Get Started
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The only method that teaches you how to adapt business stories for different audiences and scenarios

\"\"

Arms you with an easy-to-grasp 3-step framework that saves you time when crafting communications

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Get practical resources that help you apply and reinforce concepts

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The only method that teaches you how to adapt business stories for different audiences and scenarios

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Arms you with an easy-to-grasp 3-step framework that saves you time when crafting communications

Transform Your Emails and Drive Business Results

From This

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Get Practical Strategies For Everyday Business Scenarios, Like How To:

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Pivot when your meeting or presentation gets cut from 30 minutes to 5 minutes

You’ve spent weeks preparing to deliver a huge proposal, including countless hours putting together a tightly scripted 30-minute presentation. If you land this deal, you’re going to look really good. Except, the team of senior executives you’re prepared to wow is running late. You now have five minutes. What do you do? How do you cram 30 minutes of awesomeness into just five minutes?

Address unique care-abouts when your audience has diverse needs or competing interests

When planning any high-stakes communication, knowing who your audience is absolutely essential. But what happens when you are pitching to a variety of people with widely differing interests? In other words, what happens if the “audience” for your pitch is actually “audiences” that can’t be motivated (or even kept awake) by the same story?

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Build and deliver a team presentation — who does what?

Doesn’t everyone at some point in their career end up working on a team? And with your colleagues, you’ve probably had to collaborate on a high stakes meeting or presentation… one that can turn out to be highly rewarding, or utterly painful. So how do you choreograph building AND delivering a seamless, cohesive team presentation?

Ready to Learn More?

Let's get Started

Helping The World’s Top Brands Become Strategic Communicators

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Which Is Right for You?

Learn With Your Team

Designed for organizations looking to develop a culture of strategic, influential communicators

Learn On Your Own

Designed for individuals and small teams looking to clearly communicate ideas and improve their executive presence

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I learned more in this session than any other training I have been though in 15 years.

\"\"

There’s been a cascade among teams that have taken this workshop – I’m seeing better slides and great stories

\"\"

Love that we worked on real examples that are relevant to us.

\"\"

This is definitely a one-of-a-kind experience. The course is packed with information while not feeling bombarding or monotonous. Love the variety of videos, quizzes, assignments, visual summaries… truly helpful and inspirational.

\"\"

I can’t express how much i appreciate the simple yet compelling framework for communicating and presenting our point of view.

\"\"

The videos were outstanding. The examples of the re-designed presentations were excellent! The story language prompts will be hanging on my bulletin board for sure!

Let’s Get Started

Ready to learn more about bringing storytelling to your organization?

Let's Connect

Want to learn more about signing up for an individual, self-paced storytelling course?

Explore the Course

Team Training

Self Paced Course

Learn a simple, repeatable framework for crafting influential business stories

Get downloadable resources and tools to make learning stick

Develop a common language and culture of storytelling among your team

Collaborate with colleagues and get real-time feedback through peer and expert coaching

See real business examples and case studies that make concepts relevant

Experience the energy of a story coach to help apply and reinforce concepts

Earn a badge to showcase your certification on LinkedIn

", "content_plain": "Catapult Your Career With Business Storytelling Get a simple, proven framework for crafting presentations, emails, 1-pagers and proposals that gets people to say “yes” Let's Get Started The only method that teaches you how to adapt business stories for different audiences and scenarios Arms you with an easy-to-grasp 3-step framework that saves you time when crafting communications Get practical resources that help you apply and reinforce concepts The only method that teaches you how to adapt business stories for different audiences and scenarios Arms you with an easy-to-grasp 3-step framework that saves you time when crafting communications Transform Your Emails and Drive Business Results From This Vague subject line is a missed opportunity to state BIG Idea Resolution is unclear with no specific details of the ask Meeting context is missing, leaving recipients wondering why they are receiving this email To This Context is established in first line with setting and characters Conflict is stated clearly so recipients know exactly what’s at stake Variation of BIG Idea is repeated and highlighted to restate the WHAT + BENEFIT From This Confusing headline – this is about clinics, not patients’ health. Plus, there is no Big Idea Data is confusing and doesn’t clearly connect to anything Resolution comes too early before any context is set To This Big Idea is a headline blazing from the top of the page Select data shows setting and characters Resolution comes last and is put into clear, visual buckets From This Title is vague Photo is randomly placed, feels small and unimportant. Detailed list distracts from key message To This Title is concise, specific, and conversational Oversized text inside a shape makes data easy to scan Full screen photo creates a mood and anchors insight Get Practical Strategies For Everyday Business Scenarios, Like How To: Pivot when your meeting or presentation gets cut from 30 minutes to 5 minutes You’ve spent weeks preparing to deliver a huge proposal, including countless hours putting together a tightly scripted 30-minute presentation. If you land this deal, you’re going to look really good. Except, the team of senior executives you’re prepared to wow is running late. You now have five minutes. What do you do? How do you cram 30 minutes of awesomeness into just five minutes? Address unique care-abouts when your audience has diverse needs or competing interests When planning any high-stakes communication, knowing who your audience is absolutely essential. But what happens when you are pitching to a variety of people with widely differing interests? In other words, what happens if the “audience” for your pitch is actually “audiences” that can’t be motivated (or even kept awake) by the same story? Build and deliver a team presentation — who does what? Doesn’t everyone at some point in their career end up working on a team? And with your colleagues, you’ve probably had to collaborate on a high stakes meeting or presentation… one that can turn out to be highly rewarding, or utterly painful. So how do you choreograph building AND delivering a seamless, cohesive team presentation? Ready to Learn More? Let's get Started Helping The World’s Top Brands Become Strategic Communicators Which Is Right for You? Learn With Your Team Designed for organizations looking to develop a culture of strategic, influential communicators Fosters real-time peer feedback and expert coaching through experiential, collaborative training Delivered by engaging, enthusiastic coaches who bring the concepts to life within your business context Provides a common language and shared approach to help teams avoid rounds of edits Learn On Your Own Designed for individuals and small teams looking to clearly communicate ideas and improve their executive presence Includes the same course content that’s delivered at Fortune 500 companies, but consumable at your own pace, on your own time Provides 24/7 access to videos, resources, activities, quizzes, and more Come back again and again to reinforce the concepts and check the strength of your communications I learned more in this session than any other training I have been though in 15 years. There’s been a cascade among teams that have taken this workshop – I’m seeing better slides and great stories Love that we worked on real examples that are relevant to us. This is definitely a one-of-a-kind experience. The course is packed with information while not feeling bombarding or monotonous. Love the variety of videos, quizzes, assignments, visual summaries… truly helpful and inspirational. I can’t express how much i appreciate the simple yet compelling framework for communicating and presenting our point of view. The videos were outstanding. The examples of the re-designed presentations were excellent! The story language prompts will be hanging on my bulletin board for sure! Let’s Get Started Ready to learn more about bringing storytelling to your organization? Let's Connect Want to learn more about signing up for an individual, self-paced storytelling course? Explore the Course Team Training Self Paced Course Learn a simple, repeatable framework for crafting influential business stories Get downloadable resources and tools to make learning stick Develop a common language and culture of storytelling among your team Collaborate with colleagues and get real-time feedback through peer and expert coaching See real business examples and case studies that make concepts relevant Experience the energy of a story coach to help apply and reinforce concepts Earn a badge to showcase your certification on LinkedIn", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Business-Storytelling2.jpg", "modified": "2022-12-01T10:44:02-05:00" }, { "id": 7466, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/extreme-makeovers-slide-edition/", "title": "[Video] Extreme Makeovers: Slide Edition", "h1": "[Video] Extreme Makeovers: Slide Edition", "summary": "Many of our workshop participants ask us, \"What makes a compelling presentation... and how can we make our slides go from bad to great?\"", "content": "

Many of our workshop participants ask us, “What makes a compelling presentation… and how can we make our slides go from bad to great?”

The answer may surprise you: a whopping 90% of the information our brain takes in is visual. So how can we use visuals in our presentations to make information easily scannable, digestible, and—most importantly—memorable? The trick is to put yourself in your audience’s shoes and show them what they need to know and doin just a glance.

Watch the video below to see a “bad” slide transformed into a “great” slide that will capture attention, get your ideas heard, and drive business forward.

You can view our Privacy Policy here. ", "content_plain": "Many of our workshop participants ask us, “What makes a compelling presentation… and how can we make our slides go from bad to great?” The answer may surprise you: a whopping 90% of the information our brain takes in is visual. So how can we use visuals in our presentations to make information easily scannable, digestible, and—most importantly—memorable? The trick is to put yourself in your audience’s shoes and show them what they need to know and doin just a glance. Watch the video below to see a “bad” slide transformed into a “great” slide that will capture attention, get your ideas heard, and drive business forward. You can view our Privacy Policy here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Extreme-makeovers-slide-edition-1.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T10:04:38-05:00" }, { "id": 7463, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/the-ultimate-guide-to-gaining-executive-presence/", "title": "The Ultimate Guide to Gaining Executive Presence", "h1": "The Ultimate Guide to Gaining Executive Presence", "summary": "If you’ve ever wondered what gives certain people that je ne sais quoi we call \"executive presence\", this guide is for you.", "content": "

Think about the last time you were “wowed” by someone in business. Was it the way they navigated difficult questions? How they commanded the room (or perhaps even the “virtual room”)? Or was it simply the way they kept the conversation focused?

If you’ve ever wondered what gives certain people that je ne sais quoi we call “executive presence”, this guide is for you.

To those that don’t have it (yet), executive presence may seem like a superpower that some are born with. It’s not. Anybody can learn how to have executive presence. It requires preparation in three crucial ways:

This guide will help you learn key skills for developing executive presence and arm you with strategies to help you naturally “own the room”, whether you’re selling your ideas in person or online. These skills will give you – and your audience – focus and control over your ideas, providing you with the confidence and poise that will highlight your authority on the subject. (Not to mention, it’s a surefire way to significantly boost your career!)

Let’s dig in.

What is executive presence?

\"What

Executive presence is the aura of confidence, authority, and self-assuredness that (typically) separates senior-level people from entry-level individuals. Another way to describe executive presence is gravitas, which comes directly from the Roman language meaning “dignified and serious conduct”.

Today, gravitas is used to describe an authoritative manner that “commands the room” and grabs your audience’s attention. In the office, having gravitas or executive presence is recognized as an important differentiator in realizing your career potential.

What are the qualities of executive presence?

Those with executive presence are confident, well-prepared and can clearly articulate their ideas. This is not the same as being smart or having technical skills. Often people with a ton of knowledge struggle to communicate their ideas tactfully. They may share mounds of data or spew endless facts that, ultimately, aren’t digestible because they don’t keep their audience top of mind. Ironically, sometimes it can be more powerful to share less information, when that information is concise and directly relevant to the topic at hand.

Executive presence can even shine through during virtual meetings. How? Much like a face-to-face environment, online presenters must know their story backwards and forwards, be prepared to create a two-way dialogue with their audience, and know how to be nimble and responsive. These skills are a recipe for letting your virtual presence soar.

Why is executive presence important?

Strong executive presence will bring notice to your ideas, recommendations, proposals, or truly any kind of business communication. It is one of the critical differences between an experienced communicator and an inexperienced one. Executive presence showcases the confidence you feel in yourself and your material, which in turn, builds confidence that others have in you, your ideas, your reputation, and your company. Simply put, executive presence is a career game changer.

Great. So how do I improve my executive presence?

There are four essential ways you can instantly improve your executive presence.

\"How

  1. Use a story framework

Much like your favorite book, movie or TV show, business stories have four key components: setting, characters, conflict, and resolution. When you apply a business storytelling framework to your ideas, it helps you choreograph your insights, facts, and data in a way that flows seamlessly and commands the attention of your audience. Why? Because stories are the best way to contextualize information and make it memorable. They offer the presenter and the audience a roadmap of where the narrative is going and where it’s been.

\"4

Following this structure results in greater control over your material, keeping you in the driver’s seat throughout your presentation. Having this guide as a “safety net” also does wonders for your level of confidence which, of course, boosts your executive presence.

  1. Have a BIG Idea

One of the key elements of your story framework is a BIG Idea. It’s the ONE most important thing you want your audience to remember. Keep in mind: This is not the name and details of your product, solutions, or recommendations. Your BIG Idea is a simple, concise sentence about WHAT your presentation is about, and includes one to three benefits that are relevant to the audience. It links WHY your audience should care to HOW you plan to implement next steps.

\"\"

Some examples of BIG Ideas include:

Why does having a BIG Idea improve executive presence? If you isolate your BIG Idea before approaching your audience, you’re much more likely to present a clear, simple, memorable message that they can act on. The more you cut through the noise (either in your own head or from outside) will give you and your ideas powerful focus. Focus and clarity goes a long way in enhancing your executive presence.

  1. For visual presentations, always use active headlines

A potent tool to guide your story is using headlines for every slide you present. Headlines should be similar to any headline you see in a news article: It’s the most important message placed at the top of the slide. It’s an excellent mechanism to guide your story and ensure information is clear at-a-glance.

\"\"

\"executiveAs you can see above, the original slide offers a generic heading that doesn’t clearly further the narrative. The updated slide moves the narrative forward with an insightful message at the top. In essence, headlines provide cues, which keep you oriented on a clear path throughout your presentation. Knowing exactly where you’re going gives you assuredness, and this confidence is a key driver of executive presence.

  1. Know your audience

One of the best ways to elevate executive presence is to know your audience. As you prepare for any business communication, anticipate questions you might get. Remember: The best presenters facilitate a two-way dialogue—not a monologue! Envision where even the sharpest folks might have trouble making a connection from one of your points to another, prepare to be nimble and be ready to pivot based on where the conversation leads (more on pivoting below).

This is particularly important when facing executives. They are experts at finding holes in logic, spotty research, or pointing out problematic conclusions. If you have thought through potential questions and points of contention, you will be well-prepared to respond.

It’s a good rule of thumb to not only expect to be interrupted throughout a discussion or presentation, but to actually invite interruption. Building in moments to check-in with your audience will ensure you have an open dialogue and allows you to zig and zag based on audience needs. Speaking of zigging and zagging, let’s talk about the pivot…

What is the “pivot” and how does it help my executive presence?

The pivot strategy is a technique that gives you the best chance to address audience needs real-time. How? It starts with making sure you’re armed with supporting data for anything you present, especially if it’s counter-intuitive, unexpected, challenging to current opinions and practices, or expected to result in major change.

\"executive

A smart strategy is to keep the supporting data in hidden “drill-down” slides which are a simply click away should your audience want to dive deeper. You should always be ready to skip ahead, jump back, or dig in deeper depending on where the audience wants to go. People can boost their executive presence simple by showing they are nimble and quick to respond to their audience.

How can I boost my executive presence in a virtual environment?

The virtual world can leave us feeling blind by removing cues (like body language or normal conversation) to help us gauge our audience. To fill the blind spots, you must find a way to build a connection with your audience, regularly opening up the floor for interaction in a natural— yet controlled—way.

You can build frequent opportunities for interaction directly into your story using interactive placeholder slides. What are interactive placeholders? At the core, they’re presentation slides that “direct virtual traffic.” They visually show your audience what they need to know or do at any given moment. These visual pauses might signal a break for Q&A, a quick poll to check the audience’s understanding, a discussion in chat, a virtual whiteboard brainstorming session, or even breakout rooms for small group exercises. Interactive placeholder slides guarantee valuable feedback opportunities that will help you discover and directly address your audience’s needs.

Another way to boost your virtual presence is to verbally reinforce what your interactive placeholder slides are communicating visually onscreen. Why? Because you can expect some awkward silence when launching a poll, or pausing for Q&A, etc. Your audience needs a moment to think and process what you just asked them to do. Therefore, be ready with pre-scripted language prompts to fill the void.

What is different about the mindset of someone with strong executive presence?

\"\"

Generally, people with strong executive presence think big picture and long-term. They always present vision before details. They may frame their ideas in the context of growth, profitability, and competitive advantage. After that, they’re thinking of the company’s key strategic initiatives and the specific measurable goals of their business unit. Think like an executive (even if you aren’t one) by understanding corporate vision, mission and values.

How can I (and my team) gain executive presence quickly?

One of the best ways to learn executive presence is by mastering business storytelling. Once you learn to apply the framework and organize your thoughts into an audience-centric narrative, the easier it gets. The key driver of executive presence — confidence — will increase when you know how to easily flex your story, handle any audience, and motivate them to act.

The same is true for teams. When the entire team is working from a story framework and speaking a common “language”, it offers the group better control and helps avoid awkward transitions. Everyone knows where they are in the story journey at all times. An organized and coordinated team will inherently display impressive executive presence.

Companies like T-Mobile, Nestle and Facebook turn to TPC to enhance their teams’ executive presence. If you’re looking to up-level your team’s executive presence skills, learn more here.

", "content_plain": "Think about the last time you were “wowed” by someone in business. Was it the way they navigated difficult questions? How they commanded the room (or perhaps even the “virtual room”)? Or was it simply the way they kept the conversation focused? If you’ve ever wondered what gives certain people that je ne sais quoi we call “executive presence”, this guide is for you. To those that don’t have it (yet), executive presence may seem like a superpower that some are born with. It’s not. Anybody can learn how to have executive presence. It requires preparation in three crucial ways: Get clear on your main points Use a storytelling framework for navigating these points Most importantly, deeply think about the needs of your audience This guide will help you learn key skills for developing executive presence and arm you with strategies to help you naturally “own the room”, whether you’re selling your ideas in person or online. These skills will give you – and your audience – focus and control over your ideas, providing you with the confidence and poise that will highlight your authority on the subject. (Not to mention, it’s a surefire way to significantly boost your career!) Let’s dig in. What is executive presence? Executive presence is the aura of confidence, authority, and self-assuredness that (typically) separates senior-level people from entry-level individuals. Another way to describe executive presence is gravitas, which comes directly from the Roman language meaning “dignified and serious conduct”. Today, gravitas is used to describe an authoritative manner that “commands the room” and grabs your audience’s attention. In the office, having gravitas or executive presence is recognized as an important differentiator in realizing your career potential. What are the qualities of executive presence? Those with executive presence are confident, well-prepared and can clearly articulate their ideas. This is not the same as being smart or having technical skills. Often people with a ton of knowledge struggle to communicate their ideas tactfully. They may share mounds of data or spew endless facts that, ultimately, aren’t digestible because they don’t keep their audience top of mind. Ironically, sometimes it can be more powerful to share less information, when that information is concise and directly relevant to the topic at hand. Executive presence can even shine through during virtual meetings. How? Much like a face-to-face environment, online presenters must know their story backwards and forwards, be prepared to create a two-way dialogue with their audience, and know how to be nimble and responsive. These skills are a recipe for letting your virtual presence soar. Why is executive presence important? Strong executive presence will bring notice to your ideas, recommendations, proposals, or truly any kind of business communication. It is one of the critical differences between an experienced communicator and an inexperienced one. Executive presence showcases the confidence you feel in yourself and your material, which in turn, builds confidence that others have in you, your ideas, your reputation, and your company. Simply put, executive presence is a career game changer. Great. So how do I improve my executive presence? There are four essential ways you can instantly improve your executive presence. Use a story framework Much like your favorite book, movie or TV show, business stories have four key components: setting, characters, conflict, and resolution. When you apply a business storytelling framework to your ideas, it helps you choreograph your insights, facts, and data in a way that flows seamlessly and commands the attention of your audience. Why? Because stories are the best way to contextualize information and make it memorable. They offer the presenter and the audience a roadmap of where the narrative is going and where it’s been. Following this structure results in greater control over your material, keeping you in the driver’s seat throughout your presentation. Having this guide as a “safety net” also does wonders for your level of confidence which, of course, boosts your executive presence. Have a BIG Idea One of the key elements of your story framework is a BIG Idea. It’s the ONE most important thing you want your audience to remember. Keep in mind: This is not the name and details of your product, solutions, or recommendations. Your BIG Idea is a simple, concise sentence about WHAT your presentation is about, and includes one to three benefits that are relevant to the audience. It links WHY your audience should care to HOW you plan to implement next steps. Some examples of BIG Ideas include: We need to implement the performance tracking dashboard to improve business results Embracing sustainability will help us meet customer demands and protect our leadership position We ought to give our clients a compelling reason to share and retweet by creating content that sticks Why does having a BIG Idea improve executive presence? If you isolate your BIG Idea before approaching your audience, you’re much more likely to present a clear, simple, memorable message that they can act on. The more you cut through the noise (either in your own head or from outside) will give you and your ideas powerful focus. Focus and clarity goes a long way in enhancing your executive presence. For visual presentations, always use active headlines A potent tool to guide your story is using headlines for every slide you present. Headlines should be similar to any headline you see in a news article: It’s the most important message placed at the top of the slide. It’s an excellent mechanism to guide your story and ensure information is clear at-a-glance. As you can see above, the original slide offers a generic heading that doesn’t clearly further the narrative. The updated slide moves the narrative forward with an insightful message at the top. In essence, headlines provide cues, which keep you oriented on a clear path throughout your presentation. Knowing exactly where you’re going gives you assuredness, and this confidence is a key driver of executive presence. Know your audience One of the best ways to elevate executive presence is to know your audience. As you prepare for any business communication, anticipate questions you might get. Remember: The best presenters facilitate a two-way dialogue—not a monologue! Envision where even the sharpest folks might have trouble making a connection from one of your points to another, prepare to be nimble and be ready to pivot based on where the conversation leads (more on pivoting below). This is particularly important when facing executives. They are experts at finding holes in logic, spotty research, or pointing out problematic conclusions. If you have thought through potential questions and points of contention, you will be well-prepared to respond. It’s a good rule of thumb to not only expect to be interrupted throughout a discussion or presentation, but to actually invite interruption. Building in moments to check-in with your audience will ensure you have an open dialogue and allows you to zig and zag based on audience needs. Speaking of zigging and zagging, let’s talk about the pivot… What is the “pivot” and how does it help my executive presence? The pivot strategy is a technique that gives you the best chance to address audience needs real-time. How? It starts with making sure you’re armed with supporting data for anything you present, especially if it’s counter-intuitive, unexpected, challenging to current opinions and practices, or expected to result in major change. A smart strategy is to keep the supporting data in hidden “drill-down” slides which are a simply click away should your audience want to dive deeper. You should always be ready to skip ahead, jump back, or dig in deeper depending on where the audience wants to go. People can boost their executive presence simple by showing they are nimble and quick to respond to their audience. How can I boost my executive presence in a virtual environment? The virtual world can leave us feeling blind by removing cues (like body language or normal conversation) to help us gauge our audience. To fill the blind spots, you must find a way to build a connection with your audience, regularly opening up the floor for interaction in a natural— yet controlled—way. You can build frequent opportunities for interaction directly into your story using interactive placeholder slides. What are interactive placeholders? At the core, they’re presentation slides that “direct virtual traffic.” They visually show your audience what they need to know or do at any given moment. These visual pauses might signal a break for Q&A, a quick poll to check the audience’s understanding, a discussion in chat, a virtual whiteboard brainstorming session, or even breakout rooms for small group exercises. Interactive placeholder slides guarantee valuable feedback opportunities that will help you discover and directly address your audience’s needs. Another way to boost your virtual presence is to verbally reinforce what your interactive placeholder slides are communicating visually onscreen. Why? Because you can expect some awkward silence when launching a poll, or pausing for Q&A, etc. Your audience needs a moment to think and process what you just asked them to do. Therefore, be ready with pre-scripted language prompts to fill the void. What is different about the mindset of someone with strong executive presence? Generally, people with strong executive presence think big picture and long-term. They always present vision before details. They may frame their ideas in the context of growth, profitability, and competitive advantage. After that, they’re thinking of the company’s key strategic initiatives and the specific measurable goals of their business unit. Think like an executive (even if you aren’t one) by understanding corporate vision, mission and values. How can I (and my team) gain executive presence quickly? One of the best ways to learn executive presence is by mastering business storytelling. Once you learn to apply the framework and organize your thoughts into an audience-centric narrative, the easier it gets. The key driver of executive presence — confidence — will increase when you know how to easily flex your story, handle any audience, and motivate them to act. The same is true for teams. When the entire team is working from a story framework and speaking a common “language”, it offers the group better control and helps avoid awkward transitions. Everyone knows where they are in the story journey at all times. An organized and coordinated team will inherently display impressive executive presence. Companies like T-Mobile, Nestle and Facebook turn to TPC to enhance their teams’ executive presence. If you’re looking to up-level your team’s executive presence skills, learn more here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/The-Ultimate-Guide-to-Gaining-Executive-Presence.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T16:12:36-05:00" }, { "id": 7438, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/qat/", "title": "Quick Access Toolbar", "h1": "Quick Access Toolbar", "summary": "", "content": "

The methods of creating a Quick Access Toolbar for Mac and PC are different.
Click here to jump to setting up the Quick Access Toolbar in PowerPoint for Mac 2016.

Installing the Quick Access Toolbar in PowerPoint for PC users

Step 1: Download the QAT file (Windows only)

Click on this link QAT file download and save the TPC_QAT.exportedUI file to a location you can easily find, such as your downloads folder or desktop.

\"\"

Step 2: Reposition the QAT

The default location of the QAT is on the left edge of the title bar above the ribbon
To reposition the QAT, click the down arrow at the end of the QAT and choose Show Below the Ribbon

\"\"

Step 3: Import Commands to the QAT

Click the down arrow at the end of the QAT and select More Commands

\"\"

From the PowerPoint Options dialog box, under Customizations, click the down-arrow next to Import/Export (lower right corner) then choose Import customization file

\"\"

Locate the PowerPoint Customizations (QAT_IwV.exportedUI) file saved locally on your computer and click Open

\"\"

Choose Yes when asked to replace all existing Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar customizations

\"\"

All of your customizations will appear in the far right column of the PowerPoint Options dialog | Click OK

\"\"

Setting up the Quick Access Toolbar in PowerPoint for Mac 2016 users

", "content_plain": "The methods of creating a Quick Access Toolbar for Mac and PC are different. Click here to jump to setting up the Quick Access Toolbar in PowerPoint for Mac 2016. Installing the Quick Access Toolbar in PowerPoint for PC users Step 1: Download the QAT file (Windows only) Click on this link QAT file download and save the TPC_QAT.exportedUI file to a location you can easily find, such as your downloads folder or desktop. Step 2: Reposition the QAT The default location of the QAT is on the left edge of the title bar above the ribbon To reposition the QAT, click the down arrow at the end of the QAT and choose Show Below the Ribbon Step 3: Import Commands to the QAT Click the down arrow at the end of the QAT and select More Commands From the PowerPoint Options dialog box, under Customizations, click the down-arrow next to Import/Export (lower right corner) then choose Import customization file Locate the PowerPoint Customizations (QAT_IwV.exportedUI) file saved locally on your computer and click Open Choose Yes when asked to replace all existing Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar customizations All of your customizations will appear in the far right column of the PowerPoint Options dialog | Click OK Setting up the Quick Access Toolbar in PowerPoint for Mac 2016 users", "image": false, "modified": "2022-01-14T14:53:02-05:00" }, { "id": 7429, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/case-study-bastion-story-makeover/", "title": "Protected: Case Study: Bastion Story Makeover", "h1": "Protected: Case Study: Bastion Story Makeover", "summary": "There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.", "content": "", "content_plain": "", "image": false, "modified": "2022-01-14T05:30:27-05:00" }, { "id": 7426, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/csvs-story-development-process/", "title": "Protected: Story Development Process", "h1": "Protected: Story Development Process", "summary": "There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.", "content": "", "content_plain": "", "image": false, "modified": "2022-01-14T05:31:47-05:00" }, { "id": 7421, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/csvs-story-headlines/", "title": "Protected: Story Headlines", "h1": "Protected: Story Headlines", "summary": "There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.", "content": "", "content_plain": "", "image": false, "modified": "2022-01-14T05:26:15-05:00" }, { "id": 7416, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/csvsvideo2/", "title": "Protected: TED Talk: Mark Bezos", "h1": "Protected: TED Talk: Mark Bezos", "summary": "There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.", "content": "", "content_plain": "", "image": false, "modified": "2022-01-14T05:23:08-05:00" }, { "id": 7414, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/csvsvideo1/", "title": "Protected: TED Talk: Steve Jobs", "h1": "Protected: TED Talk: Steve Jobs", "summary": "There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.", "content": "", "content_plain": "", "image": false, "modified": "2022-01-14T05:18:41-05:00" }, { "id": 7412, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/webex-training-center-viop-audio/", "title": "WebEx Training Center VIOP Audio", "h1": "WebEx Training Center VIOP Audio", "summary": "", "content": "", "content_plain": "", "image": false, "modified": "2022-01-14T05:13:14-05:00" }, { "id": 7277, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/contact/", "title": "Contact", "h1": "Contact", "summary": "", "content": "

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

\"contact-icon-phone\"

US: 1-888-991-0208
Non-US: 001-971-217-9130

\"contact-icon-at\"

General Inquiries:
inquiries@presentation-company.com

Media Inquiries:
media@presentation-company.com

\"contact-icon-marker\"

12725 SW Millikan Way Suite 300
Beaverton, OR 97005
United States

", "content_plain": "Want to learn more? Let’s chat. US: 1-888-991-0208 Non-US: 001-971-217-9130 General Inquiries: inquiries@presentation-company.com Media Inquiries: media@presentation-company.com 12725 SW Millikan Way Suite 300 Beaverton, OR 97005 United States", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/iStock-2162645349-1.webp", "modified": "2026-05-27T21:31:13-05:00" }, { "id": 9728, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/webinar-reimagining-customer-engagement-in-the-new-world/", "title": "[Webinar] Reimagining Customer Engagement in the New World", "h1": "[Webinar] Reimagining Customer Engagement in the New World", "summary": "", "content": "

Transformation is a hot topic in the business world today. For consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, it’s more than just a buzzword and part of their everyday reality. Can you relate? To adapt to the complex and ever-changing environment, it’s critical for CPG brands to communicate insights to their customers in a way that humanizes their message.

In this webinar, Bob Seiler, TPC’s Chief Executive Officer, sits down for a conversation with Jessica Keenan at Kraft Heinz and Andre Martins at Colgate-Palmolive to discuss the power of storytelling as a tool to foster more productive customer engagements and create positive organizational change.

They’ll also explore how storytelling makes their teams more distinctive and memorable, and the role it plays in enabling suppliers to partner with retailers to better serve their shoppers.

Some of the important questions tackled include:

Watch the video to learn more.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.
", "content_plain": "Transformation is a hot topic in the business world today. For consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, it’s more than just a buzzword and part of their everyday reality. Can you relate? To adapt to the complex and ever-changing environment, it’s critical for CPG brands to communicate insights to their customers in a way that humanizes their message. In this webinar, Bob Seiler, TPC’s Chief Executive Officer, sits down for a conversation with Jessica Keenan at Kraft Heinz and Andre Martins at Colgate-Palmolive to discuss the power of storytelling as a tool to foster more productive customer engagements and create positive organizational change. They’ll also explore how storytelling makes their teams more distinctive and memorable, and the role it plays in enabling suppliers to partner with retailers to better serve their shoppers. Some of the important questions tackled include: How are Kraft Heinz and Colgate-Palmolive enriching their customer relationships? How is customer engagement evolving? How can storytelling help teams prevent ‘data dumping’ to communicate valuable data insights? Watch the video to learn more. You can view our Privacy Policy here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/intro-slide.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T10:10:13-05:00" }, { "id": 7192, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/about/team/", "title": "Team", "h1": "Our Team", "summary": "", "content": "

Our Team

\"Bob

Bob Seiler

Chief Executive Officer
\"Janine

Janine Kurnoff

Co-founder & Chief Innovation Officer
\"Lee

Lee Lazarus

Co-founder & Chief Strategy Officer
\"Simon

Simon Gottheiner

Chief Operating Officer
\"Rachel

Rachel Behrle

Chief Marketing Officer
\"Brad_Willard_018_Websize\"

Brad Willard

Chief Revenue Officer
\"Carlie

Carlie Johnston

Director, Business Systems
\"Pouy

Pouy Tran

Director, Marketing
\"Megan

Megan Peck

Director of Digital Strategy and Growth
\"Meghan

Meghan Costella

Customer Success Manager
\"Kristen

Kristen Shannon

Customer Success Manager
\"Shelby

Shelby Milne

Global Training Operations Manager
\"Heather\"

Heather Brown

Customer Success Manager
\"Maggi

Maggi Stefanides

Customer Success Manager
\"Patricia

Patricia Gardner

Customer Success Manager
\"Katie

Katie Mardon

VP, Client Solutions
\"Heather

Heather Pownall

VP, Client Solutions
\"Picture1\"

Grace Fraraccio

VP, Client Solutions
\"Kilee

Kilee Rheinsburg

Director, Client Solutions
\"Taylor\"

Taylor Reicosky

Sales Administrator
\"Heather

Heather Aguilar

Master Facilitator
\"Michael

Michael Broussard

Master Facilitator
\"Aimee

Aimee Symington

Master Facilitator
\"Michelle

Michelle Williams

Master Facilitator
\"Daren

Daren Lewis

Master Facilitator
\"Tony

Tony Brazelton

Master Facilitator
\"Laurali

Laurali Rivera Tolkki

Master Facilitator
\"Lynn

Lynn Gregson

Master Facilitator
\"Giusi-C\"

Giusi Cerfeda

Master Facilitator
\"Catherine

Catherine Grainger

Master Facilitator
\"Julie

Julie Terberg

Senior Design Consultant
\"Julia

Julia Pickar

Contributing Writer", "content_plain": "Our Team Bob SeilerChief Executive Officer Janine KurnoffCo-founder & Chief Innovation Officer Lee LazarusCo-founder & Chief Strategy Officer Simon GottheinerChief Operating Officer Rachel BehrleChief Marketing Officer Brad WillardChief Revenue Officer Carlie JohnstonDirector, Business Systems Pouy TranDirector, Marketing Megan PeckDirector of Digital Strategy and Growth Meghan CostellaCustomer Success Manager Kristen ShannonCustomer Success Manager Shelby MilneGlobal Training Operations Manager Heather BrownCustomer Success Manager Maggi StefanidesCustomer Success Manager Patricia GardnerCustomer Success Manager Katie MardonVP, Client Solutions Heather PownallVP, Client Solutions Grace FraraccioVP, Client Solutions Kilee RheinsburgDirector, Client Solutions Taylor ReicoskySales Administrator Heather AguilarMaster Facilitator Michael BroussardMaster Facilitator Aimee SymingtonMaster Facilitator Michelle WilliamsMaster Facilitator Daren LewisMaster Facilitator Tony BrazeltonMaster Facilitator Laurali Rivera TolkkiMaster Facilitator Lynn GregsonMaster Facilitator Giusi CerfedaMaster Facilitator Catherine GraingerMaster Facilitator Julie TerbergSenior Design Consultant Julia PickarContributing Writer", "image": false, "modified": "2024-02-23T10:00:46-05:00" }, { "id": 7116, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/about/", "title": "About", "h1": "About", "summary": "", "content": "

Over 20 years of helping business professionals communicate with clarity and impact

Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus, two sisters with a passion for storytelling, founded The Presentation Company in 2001 on the belief that to be truly heard, you must wrap your ideas and data into a compelling visual story, one that contains the right combination of logic and emotion. They’ve spent over two decades developing practical techniques and tools to help business professionals at the world’s top brands become strategic, visual communicators.

Our story

Janine Kurnoff has always had a passion for helping people tell their stories through a very common medium. When Janine was pursuing her MBA, she quickly noticed that her classmates struggled to communicate ideas using PowerPoint. Her classmates and professors noticed her presentations were clear, visually engaging, and always told a story. Everyone wanted in, and soon she was asked to develop a class to share her approach. It happened again when Janine joined Yahoo! Inc. in global sales training. Her impromptu “Lunch and Learn” sessions were an instant success among the sales and marketing teams, and word was spreading fast. She knew she was onto something, so in 2001 she founded The Presentation Company (TPC).

Janine’s sister, Lee Lazarus, joined her at TPC in 2002, convinced that together they could change the way people communicate at work. Lee had spent years developing the branding, marketing communication, and PR strategy for two of the fastest-growing Internet and telecommunications market-research firms in Silicon Valley. As head of media relations, she understood the importance of translating mounds of data and information into clear and concise messages.

In 2021, Janine and Lee co-authored Everyday Business Storytelling, a bestselling book that brings their proven storytelling approach to a wider audience. It has since become a companion guide and natural extension to TPC’s training programs.

\"\"

We believe that no matter your role or function, anyone can be a great business storyteller”

– Janine and Lee

Our mission

Our mission is to make storytelling relevant and practical to everyone in business. We do this by teaching professionals – regardless of their role, function, or industry – how to create, simplify, and adapt a visual narrative for any audience, every day. Our comprehensive training solutions address today’s business challenges, provide teams with a common language and framework, and anchor everyone in a new mindset: story first, visuals second.
Grounded in theory and smothered in practicality, our training arms teams with tools, skills, and embedded coaching to bring clarity and meaning to their ideas and move business forward.

The Presentation Company’s core values

As self-avowed “sister-preneurs,” Lee and Janine have invested over 20 years in developing a company culture that cherishes personal life as seriously as it values business life. In this vein, they’ve recruited the best talent who, like them, choose to live, not just preach, their core values every day. It’s these values that have made us a trusted partner to our clients.

Pioneering Spirit

As a team, we lean into the unknown and open ourselves to possibilities. This results in new paths, relevant solutions, and deep relationships.

Clarity

Clarity helps us work on what is essential. We make time to gather our perspectives and focus our energy on the right goals, not just the easy ones.

Inclusivity

We help people find their voices and share their ideas; this creates connection and better solutions.

Accountability

We keep our promises. This results in trusting relationships and transformative learning experiences.

Empathy

We show compassion and genuine interest in each other’s lives. This results in people feeling valued and therefore they can show up as their best selves.

Don’t just take our word for it

“It’s rare to find a partner that can directly impact the performance and transformation of your organization. The Presentation Company is truly a change agent.”

— Colgate-Palmolive

“It’s not often you find a no-nonsense approach that can impact your business and talent pool. We’ve been adopting these principles for years and never looked back.”

— Meta

“There’s no greater skill than being able to influence and translate data into insights. TPC is the winning formula.”

— Oracle

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

", "content_plain": "Over 20 years of helping business professionals communicate with clarity and impact Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus, two sisters with a passion for storytelling, founded The Presentation Company in 2001 on the belief that to be truly heard, you must wrap your ideas and data into a compelling visual story, one that contains the right combination of logic and emotion. They’ve spent over two decades developing practical techniques and tools to help business professionals at the world’s top brands become strategic, visual communicators. Our story Janine Kurnoff has always had a passion for helping people tell their stories through a very common medium. When Janine was pursuing her MBA, she quickly noticed that her classmates struggled to communicate ideas using PowerPoint. Her classmates and professors noticed her presentations were clear, visually engaging, and always told a story. Everyone wanted in, and soon she was asked to develop a class to share her approach. It happened again when Janine joined Yahoo! Inc. in global sales training. Her impromptu “Lunch and Learn” sessions were an instant success among the sales and marketing teams, and word was spreading fast. She knew she was onto something, so in 2001 she founded The Presentation Company (TPC). Janine’s sister, Lee Lazarus, joined her at TPC in 2002, convinced that together they could change the way people communicate at work. Lee had spent years developing the branding, marketing communication, and PR strategy for two of the fastest-growing Internet and telecommunications market-research firms in Silicon Valley. As head of media relations, she understood the importance of translating mounds of data and information into clear and concise messages. In 2021, Janine and Lee co-authored Everyday Business Storytelling, a bestselling book that brings their proven storytelling approach to a wider audience. It has since become a companion guide and natural extension to TPC’s training programs. We believe that no matter your role or function, anyone can be a great business storyteller” – Janine and Lee Our mission Our mission is to make storytelling relevant and practical to everyone in business. We do this by teaching professionals – regardless of their role, function, or industry – how to create, simplify, and adapt a visual narrative for any audience, every day. Our comprehensive training solutions address today’s business challenges, provide teams with a common language and framework, and anchor everyone in a new mindset: story first, visuals second. Grounded in theory and smothered in practicality, our training arms teams with tools, skills, and embedded coaching to bring clarity and meaning to their ideas and move business forward. The Presentation Company’s core values As self-avowed “sister-preneurs,” Lee and Janine have invested over 20 years in developing a company culture that cherishes personal life as seriously as it values business life. In this vein, they’ve recruited the best talent who, like them, choose to live, not just preach, their core values every day. It’s these values that have made us a trusted partner to our clients. Pioneering Spirit As a team, we lean into the unknown and open ourselves to possibilities. This results in new paths, relevant solutions, and deep relationships. Clarity Clarity helps us work on what is essential. We make time to gather our perspectives and focus our energy on the right goals, not just the easy ones. Inclusivity We help people find their voices and share their ideas; this creates connection and better solutions. Accountability We keep our promises. This results in trusting relationships and transformative learning experiences. Empathy We show compassion and genuine interest in each other’s lives. This results in people feeling valued and therefore they can show up as their best selves. Don’t just take our word for it “It’s rare to find a partner that can directly impact the performance and transformation of your organization. The Presentation Company is truly a change agent.” — Colgate-Palmolive “It’s not often you find a no-nonsense approach that can impact your business and talent pool. We’ve been adopting these principles for years and never looked back.” — Meta “There’s no greater skill than being able to influence and translate data into insights. TPC is the winning formula.” — Oracle Want to learn more? Let’s chat.", "image": false, "modified": "2026-05-28T15:13:01-05:00" }, { "id": 6944, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/communications-training/communications-skills-workshops/", "title": "For Organizations", "h1": "For Organizations", "summary": "Storytelling is a team sport. Every role and function contributes to your organization's success, which means effective communication is everyone’s job. The right communications training builds cross-functional alignment, strengthens collaboration, and gives every team a shared language and framework for transforming everyday business communications into compelling stories. The goal? To build a culture of storytelling from the inside out, one where everyone has the skills to transform ideas and data into actionable narratives that move business forward.", "content": "

Great communication starts with great storytelling

Storytelling is a team sport, and successful organizations don’t leave it to chance. Here at The Presentation Company (TPC), we believe great storytelling is a choreographed dance between your story, visuals, and data. It’s an approach that anyone, no matter their role or function, can learn and apply.

Our communications skills workshops give teams a common language to communicate ideas and data with clarity, confidence, and impact. With our storytelling framework, some simple guidance, and the right tools, anyone can be a great business storyteller.

Equip your team

Communications skills workshops and on-demand training

We offer three live, instructor-led communications skills workshops, each designed for small cohorts, plus a one-hour on-demand course built to scale storytelling knowledge across your entire organization.

For Organizations Culture change starts here

Storytelling Learning Journey

The Complete Picture: Our three-part practitioner training takes teams through the full arc of business storytelling, from organizing ideas into audience-centric narratives, to bringing that story to life visually, to turning data into compelling insights. Each workshop flows from one to the next, with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and create lasting behavior change.

Ideal for: Teams and organizations ready to build a shared storytelling language and culture

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Story strategy

Crafting Strategic Visual Stories

The Foundation: Give your team a proven framework for structuring narratives that engage, persuade, and stick. They’ll gain practical skills, increased confidence, and a clear action plan for applying business storytelling to their everyday communications.

Ideal for: Teams who need to transform ideas and data into compelling, audience-centric stories that persuade and drive action

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Visual strategy

Influencing with Visuals

Design Meets Strategy: Bad slides kill good ideas. This workshop is geared to those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals.

Ideal for: Anyone who needs to uplevel their ability to communicate ideas visually

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Data strategy

Presenting Data Visually

Data as a Differentiator: Make your data impossible to ignore by wrapping it in a story that’s easy to scan, digest, and act on. This workshop arms teams with data storytelling best practices to help communicate meaningfully with data.

Ideal for: Anyone who needs to communicate data insights with clarity, whether you’re a data expert or occasional data presenter

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›
For Organizations Hour of power

Business Storytelling Fundamentals

Skills at Scale: This one-hour, on-demand course gives everyone in your organization — regardless of role or function — the foundational storytelling skills to elevate any business communication into a narrative that influences decisions and moves business forward.

Ideal for: Large, cross-functional teams and broad organizational audiences (from individual contributors to executives), or teams that have been through our practitioner training and need a powerful reinforcement

Learning Outcomes

Explore More ›

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

", "content_plain": "Great communication starts with great storytelling Storytelling is a team sport, and successful organizations don’t leave it to chance. Here at The Presentation Company (TPC), we believe great storytelling is a choreographed dance between your story, visuals, and data. It’s an approach that anyone, no matter their role or function, can learn and apply. Our communications skills workshops give teams a common language to communicate ideas and data with clarity, confidence, and impact. With our storytelling framework, some simple guidance, and the right tools, anyone can be a great business storyteller. Equip your team Communications skills workshops and on-demand training We offer three live, instructor-led communications skills workshops, each designed for small cohorts, plus a one-hour on-demand course built to scale storytelling knowledge across your entire organization. For Organizations Culture change starts here Storytelling Learning Journey The Complete Picture: Our three-part practitioner training takes teams through the full arc of business storytelling, from organizing ideas into audience-centric narratives, to bringing that story to life visually, to turning data into compelling insights. Each workshop flows from one to the next, with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and create lasting behavior change. Ideal for: Teams and organizations ready to build a shared storytelling language and culture Learning Outcomes Story Strategy: Organize your ideas and data into a meaningful narrative Visual Strategy: Bring your story to life with clear, intentional visuals Data Strategy: Turn facts and figures into easy-to-scan data visualizations half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Story strategy Crafting Strategic Visual Stories The Foundation: Give your team a proven framework for structuring narratives that engage, persuade, and stick. They’ll gain practical skills, increased confidence, and a clear action plan for applying business storytelling to their everyday communications. Ideal for: Teams who need to transform ideas and data into compelling, audience-centric stories that persuade and drive action Learning Outcomes Apply a simple, repeatable storytelling framework to organize ideas and data strategically Craft compelling BIG Ideas that prioritize audience needs over presenter-focused content Flex stories to adapt to common scenarios: executives with limited time, high-stakes emails, strict slide constraints half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Visual strategy Influencing with Visuals Design Meets Strategy: Bad slides kill good ideas. This workshop is geared to those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals. Ideal for: Anyone who needs to uplevel their ability to communicate ideas visually Learning Outcomes Discover and apply the elements of effective visual strategy Use interactive tools to lay out the narrative and visual flow of your story Apply basic design principles to transform slides into clear visuals that inspire action half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Data strategy Presenting Data Visually Data as a Differentiator: Make your data impossible to ignore by wrapping it in a story that’s easy to scan, digest, and act on. This workshop arms teams with data storytelling best practices to help communicate meaningfully with data. Ideal for: Anyone who needs to communicate data insights with clarity, whether you’re a data expert or occasional data presenter Learning Outcomes Humanize data by identifying what your audience needs to know or do with it Transform cluttered charts and tables into concise and compelling data visualizations Use clever design techniques to elevate your data story half-day full-day in-person virtual on-demand cohorts of 15-20 Explore More › For Organizations Hour of power Business Storytelling Fundamentals Skills at Scale: This one-hour, on-demand course gives everyone in your organization — regardless of role or function — the foundational storytelling skills to elevate any business communication into a narrative that influences decisions and moves business forward. Ideal for: Large, cross-functional teams and broad organizational audiences (from individual contributors to executives), or teams that have been through our practitioner training and need a powerful reinforcement Learning Outcomes Audit and improve existing communications through a simple storytelling framework Use simple techniques to craft better emails that generate action Craft powerful headlines that boost your confidence and advance your story one hour on-demand 100+ Explore More › Want to learn more? Let’s chat.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/hero-iStock-1154105097-scaled.webp", "modified": "2026-05-28T11:57:29-05:00" }, { "id": 6938, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/cookie-notice/", "title": "Cookie Notice", "h1": "Cookie Notice", "summary": "", "content": "

Cookie and Automated Technology Notice

Technologies such as: cookies, beacons, tags, and scripts are used by us and our tracking utility partners. These technologies are used in analyzing trends, administering the site, tracking users’ movements around the site and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole. We may receive reports based on the use of these technologies by these companies on an individual as well as aggregated basis.

TPC utilizes Cookie technology on our sites for purposes of Website traffic analysis such as the time/date of the visit, the time/date of last visit, the page viewed, the referring site, and other data. TPC also uses Cookie technology in order to market its products and services, and to track click behavior in the e-mails we send out. This data is used to update specific user-profile information, ascertain the areas of most interest to opt-in e-mail recipients, personalize e-mail messages and deliver advertising tailored to individual’s interests.

A “cookie” is a small text file that is stored on a user’s computer and downloaded to your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. Cookies then send information back to the originating website on each subsequent visit, or to another website that recognizes that same cookie. Cookies are useful because they allow a website to recognize a user’s device.

Cookies perform many different jobs, like allowing you to navigate between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences, and generally improving a user’s experience on a website. They can also help to ensure that the advertisements you see online are more relevant to you and your interests. We use different types of cookies on our website, as explained below.

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

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Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.

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Targeting Cookies

These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

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", "content_plain": "Cookie and Automated Technology Notice Technologies such as: cookies, beacons, tags, and scripts are used by us and our tracking utility partners. These technologies are used in analyzing trends, administering the site, tracking users’ movements around the site and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole. We may receive reports based on the use of these technologies by these companies on an individual as well as aggregated basis. TPC utilizes Cookie technology on our sites for purposes of Website traffic analysis such as the time/date of the visit, the time/date of last visit, the page viewed, the referring site, and other data. TPC also uses Cookie technology in order to market its products and services, and to track click behavior in the e-mails we send out. This data is used to update specific user-profile information, ascertain the areas of most interest to opt-in e-mail recipients, personalize e-mail messages and deliver advertising tailored to individual’s interests. A “cookie” is a small text file that is stored on a user’s computer and downloaded to your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. Cookies then send information back to the originating website on each subsequent visit, or to another website that recognizes that same cookie. Cookies are useful because they allow a website to recognize a user’s device. Cookies perform many different jobs, like allowing you to navigate between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences, and generally improving a user’s experience on a website. They can also help to ensure that the advertisements you see online are more relevant to you and your interests. We use different types of cookies on our website, as explained below. Cookie List A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes: Strictly Necessary Cookies These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information. Cookie Subgroup Cookies Cookies used blog.presentation-company.com __cfduid 1st Party presentation-company.com OptanonAlertBoxClosed, eupubconsent, OptanonConsent 1st Party info.presentation-company.com hs_ab_test, __cfruid 1st Party cookielaw.org __cfduid 3rd Party onetrust.com __cfduid 3rd Party Performance Cookies These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance. Cookie Subgroup Cookies Cookies used presentation-company.com _ga, _gid, __hssrc, __hssc, _gat, __hstc 1st Party Targeting Cookies These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising. Cookie Subgroup Cookies Cookies used presentation-company.com _fbp, _gat_gtag_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, __hs_opt_out 1st Party media.net gdpr_status 3rd Party hubapi.com __cfduid 3rd Party hubspot.com __cfduid 3rd Party scorecardresearch.com UID, UIDR 3rd Party youtube.com GPS, YSC, VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE 3rd Party www.linkedin.com bscookie 3rd Party hsforms.com __cfduid 3rd Party hsforms.net __cfduid 3rd Party doubleclick.net test_cookie 3rd Party linkedin.com li_gc, lang, bcookie, UserMatchHistory, lissc, lidc 3rd Party ads.linkedin.com lang 3rd Party hubspot.net __cfduid 3rd Party Functional Cookies These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly. Cookie Subgroup Cookies Cookies used presentation-company.com hubspotutk 1st Party hs-analytics.net __cfduid 3rd Party vimeo.com vuid 3rd Party", "image": false, "modified": "2026-04-24T07:15:11-05:00" }, { "id": 10158, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/webinar-storytelling-with-data/", "title": "[Webinar] Storytelling with Data", "h1": "[Webinar] Storytelling with Data", "summary": "", "content": "

It was a packed house at the 2023 Category Management Association/Shopper Insights Management Association conference for one big reason: the top-rated session featuring The Presentation Company and our client partner, Kraft Heinz!

By popular demand, we took this event virtual and presented it as a webinar with CMA. In this one-hour session, Janine, Jessica, and Hasan dove deep into the consumer packaged goods (CPG) world and uncovered opportunities to apply storytelling to your most critical customer conversations.

You’ll learn how to navigate presenting large volumes of complex data and weave it into a story that brings value and insightful recommendations to your audience.

Jessica and Hasan also shared real-world examples of Kraft Heinz’s storytelling successes, including some eye-opening before and after transformations that may look all-too-familiar to some of you!

Watch the on-demand recording to learn more.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.
", "content_plain": "It was a packed house at the 2023 Category Management Association/Shopper Insights Management Association conference for one big reason: the top-rated session featuring The Presentation Company and our client partner, Kraft Heinz! By popular demand, we took this event virtual and presented it as a webinar with CMA. In this one-hour session, Janine, Jessica, and Hasan dove deep into the consumer packaged goods (CPG) world and uncovered opportunities to apply storytelling to your most critical customer conversations. You’ll learn how to navigate presenting large volumes of complex data and weave it into a story that brings value and insightful recommendations to your audience. Jessica and Hasan also shared real-world examples of Kraft Heinz’s storytelling successes, including some eye-opening before and after transformations that may look all-too-familiar to some of you! Watch the on-demand recording to learn more. You can view our Privacy Policy here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/CMA_Join-us-On-demand.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T10:11:00-05:00" }, { "id": 3, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/full-privacy-notice/", "title": "Privacy Policy", "h1": "Privacy Policy", "summary": "", "content": "

Privacy Notice Highlights

When you visit our website, or if you use our services to embark on a learning journey, we will receive information about you. Our Privacy Notice provides more detail about how we gather that information, how we use it, and how we support your rights to your data. Let’s start off with the highlights!

We want to make you a great communicator.

Our visual storytelling workshops arm people with the strategies, tools, and confidence to become strategic communicators. We know people learn best by doing—not by being lectured to. The Presentation Company’s (TPC’s) training is delivered in-person, virtually and on-demand digitally, but—regardless of modality—all of our workshops are highly experiential. We incorporate hands-on activities, knowledge checks, and time to work on real communications in every course. This means we collect certain information about you through the learning journey.

We believe in secure and transparent use.

We use personal information to present our website and our services, and to fulfill other requests you may have (like answering support questions). We have implemented measures designed to secure your Personal Information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration and disclosure. We have included additional details in our Privacy Statement, but what we want you to remember is that we safeguard the information we hold, and we are not going to sell it to a third party.

This is how we collect information.

We collect personal information:

You have options.

If you ever decide you don’t want to receive our promotional information any more, you can unsubscribe at any time – either through the unsubscribe link in the message or by emailing us at privacy@presentation-company.com and include in the subject line “Opt-out”. You may also have additional rights if you are based in the European Union or in California, so check out the full Privacy Notice for more details.

We are available for additional information.

If you have questions about our privacy practices, or if you have a question about your information specifically, you can contact us with additional inquiries:

The Presentation Company, LLC
12725 SW Millikan Way
Suite 300
Beaverton, OR 97005
United States privacy@presentation-company.com Toll Free: 1-888-991-0208

We have more to share.

We have created a full Privacy Statement to plainly communicate how we handle your data. You can view that below.

Privacy Notice

Effective November 4, 2014; updated March 9, 2021.

The Presentation Company, LLC (TPC) provides on-demand courses, training, and tools for creating and delivering effective, engaging presentations. This Privacy Notice applies to https://tpc.ngagedev.com/, blog.presentation-company.com, and TPC websites, services that collect data and display these terms. It does not apply to any TPC website, service or product that does not display or link to this statement or that contains its own privacy notice.

INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

Your privacy and trust are very important to us. This Privacy Notice describes the types of information we may collect about you or that you may provide when you use our applications, content, communications, or purchase on-demand courses, visit the website https://tpc.ngagedev.com/ (our “Website“) or use our services (collectively the “Services”) and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting and disclosing that information.

Please read this Privacy Notice carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our Services. By accessing or using our Services, you agree to this Privacy Notice. This Privacy Notice may change from time to time; your continued use of our Services after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please be sure to check this Privacy Notice periodically for updates.

TPC is committed to protecting your privacy in a variety of ways including using industry-accepted security measures to protect against loss, misuse and alteration of data contained in our systems. This Privacy Notice is designed to describe how we secure and maintain our customers’ and visitors’ personal information when collected on sites which link to this Privacy Notice. This includes presentation-company.com, info.presentation-company.com, and blog.presentation-company.com. Any information given to us will never be sold, rented, traded, shared or leased other than as outlined in this Policy.

TPC is committed to complying with privacy laws to which it is subject, including those applying to our target audience. Our Services are not intended for children under 16 years of age and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children. If you are under 16, do not provide any information on this Website. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 16 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information.

HOW WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

How we collect your personal information is based on how you use and interact with our Website or Services. Some of this information is provided directly by you, while other information may be provided by your employer, our customer, in connection with use of our Services.

We collect information when you provide it.

Website Services
When you, or your organization, sign up to use our Websites or Services, or you fill in forms on our Website, such as the “Contact Us” formor register for
one of our publicly available training sessions we may receive certain necessary information including:
  • your name
  • job title
  • email address
  • phone number
  • employer name

All of this information may be collected while using the Services.

 When you use the Services, TPC receives information provided by you or your organization in order to deliver the courses in your learning journey.

Additionally, you may be required to provide specific information (such as your login credentials) that allows our digital learning platform to verify your identity before accessing certain data we host.

We may also receive your information through your participation virtually or at in-person or onsite trainings. This information allows us to deliver the services as contracted by you or your organization.

Your information is kept secure, is used to assist you in accessing your account and/or to deliver the services and is not shared except in accordance with this Privacy Notice.

We collect information from some third-party sources.

We may collect information about you from third party or public sources, such as social networks when you click “Share This” via Facebook, Connect, Twitter, Linked In, Google+, or other social media “like” buttons or plug-ins available on the Website.

We may also collect information about you from the third party that supports our on-demand course fulfillment and delivery (Shopify) as well as payment providers such as Paypal, ApplePay, GPay, etc., when you purchase one of our on-demand self-paced courses. This information is limited to transaction detail associated with your order and includes your name, email, shipping address.

Within the digital learning environment, we allow you to link your learning profile with a social network profile to share information or to create one from scratch. Any data collected by a third party, such as social networking sites, would be handled based on their privacy practices rather than this notice.

We indirectly collect information through automatic technologies.

We and our service providers may collect information about the computer or device you are using and Internet connection, including your IP address, operating system and browser type. This automatically collected information is statistical data and typically does not include Personal Information. Having information like this helps us to improve our Website and to deliver a better and more personalized service. Additional information is available in the section on How We Use your Information.

As is true of most websites, the information we and our service providers may collect include, browsing actions and patterns including traffic data, location data, logs, website resources you access, and search queries.

While we do not provide any Personal Information to third-party advertising partners, they may combine this information with Personal Information they collect directly from you or receive from other sources.

We want to be transparent about the automated technologies we use, and in order to accomplish that, we have made additional resources available to provide more detail around automatic information collection technologies available at our Cookie and Automated Technology Notice.

Information you post on the blog.

Our services offer community forums your organization may leverage to enhance your learning journey. If you elect to post information by using this functionality, any information you provide in these areas may be read, collected, and used by others with access. To request removal of your personal information from the community forum, contact us at privacy@presentation-company.com. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your personal information, in which case we will let you know if we are unable to do so and why.

Do Not Track Requests

Some browsers offer a “Do Not Track” privacy preference. Generally, when a user turns on the Do Not Track Signal, their browser sends a message to websites requesting that the user not be tracked. Our Website and Services currently do not respond to “Do Not Track” signals. However, you do have other options for opting out of tracking for interest-based advertising purposes as described in this Privacy Policy.

HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We use automatic data collection technologies to collect and store certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns whenever you interact with this Website or the Services. More specifically, we use personal information for categories of services like these:

Website Services
  • Developing/improving the services
  • Emailing users with marketing offers where permitted
  • Predictive analytics and data mining
  • Interest-Based Advertising
  • Providing our Services to users
  • Communicating with customers about the Services
  • Responding to support requests
  • Developing/improving the Services

We also use service providers who help us deliver our Services. For licensed users of applications used to deliver training, we or our service providers may use tools and other tracking software within those applications to collect information related to the pages and areas within pages you visit, which enables us to provide improved functionality and other enhancements within the services.

You might see an advertisement from us on your social media page. Sometimes we allow third party advertising companies and ad networks to use automatic data collection technologies to collect similar information about you for purposes of providing you with interest-based ads. Interest-based ads are helpful because they are more likely to be tailored to your particular interests. They are also more likely to help you discover new services that are actually relevant to you and your interests. Also, if interest-based tracking is enabled, you likely will not see the same ads over and over because the number of times you see a particular interest-based ad is usually limited. By opting-out of interest-based ads, you lose all of these benefits.

WHEN WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Once your personal information is collected, as detailed above, we sometimes share it with third parties for various reasons. For example, we share personal information with our customer relationship management provider, content storage provider and analytics providers. Note that when we share your personal information with a third party, we require that third party to protect that information consistent with this Notice and limit its use of that information to performing the services they provide to us.

For purchasers of our publicly available on-demand courses, we partner with Shopify for order processing and fulfillment. Your credit card or other financial information will be provided directly to Shopify and we will only be notified that payment has been made and provided with your contact details. Once you have purchased a course, a confirmation email will be sent to you from Shopify with a link to access course content. Your contact information (name and email) will also be provided to our platform delivery partner, NovoEd, to enable you to stream the content on demand. Other than as stated in this Privacy Notice, we do not sell, rent or share your information with third parties.

ACCESS TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION AND YOUR CHOICES

TPC is engaged by top companies around the world to deliver our training services and where personal information is collected in relation to those services, we do so on behalf of customer organizations and those customer organizations manage the data in accordance with their own internal policies and procedures. In limited cases TPC may receive your personal information in connection with a publicly available training course we offer directly. Where that is the case, TPC will manage your data in accordance with our own internal policies and procedures and in accordance with applicable law and this Notice. Please note that where we receive your information in connection with training courses offered to company customers, any questions related to how that customer organization may process, use or share your information should be directed to that customer organization by contacting them directly as we are not responsible for their data management practices.

We strive to provide you with choices regarding the Personal Information you provide to us. We have created mechanisms to provide you with the following control over your information:

Visitors to Our Website

If you do not wish to receive promotional e-mails from us, including our e-newsletters, you may either opt-out or follow the unsubscribe process at the bottom of the promotional e-mail or email us at privacy@presentation-company.com. Note that even if you opt-out, you may still receive transactional e-mails from us (e.g., e-mails related to the completion of your registration, correction of user data, password reset requests, reminder e-mails that you have requested, and any other similar communications essential to your transactions on this Website) which may be necessary for us to continue to provide you with Services or respond to your enquiries.

You can set your browser to refuse some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being set. Some cookies are required to use the Services. To learn how you can manage your Flash cookie settings, visit our Cookie Notice. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this site may then be inaccessible or not function properly.

We do not control third parties’ collection or use of your information to serve interest-based ads. However, you can opt-out of receiving interest-based ads from third party advertisers and ad networks who are members of the NAI or who follow the DAA’s Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising by visiting the opt-out pages of the NAI and DAAwebsites. If you opt-out, you may still see contextual advertising from us, meaning you may still see personalized recommendations about our products and services and other similar features on this Website. You may also still see ads provided by us or others on other third-party websites; they just will not be based on your particular interests. Also note that your opt-out will be managed through the use of cookies, so if you delete these cookies or use a different browser or computer, you will have to make this same election again.

Individuals from the EU or UK.

Individuals residing in the European Economic Area (EEA), including Switzerland and the United Kingdom (UK) have additional rights reserved under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the UK Data Protection Act and/or ePrivacy Directive, as applicable. This section details those additional rights and information on how to exercise them:

Any request received by TPC for access to personal information processed in connection with delivery of services to our business customer will be forwarded to that customer for review and response. TPC will respond to instructions from our business customer pertaining to such access/correction/deletion requests within a reasonable timeframe as required by law.

For requests TPC receives in connection with a direct purchase of our on-demand courses or associated with our direct marketing initiatives (where TPC is acting as a controller of that personal information), TPC will respond directly to those requests within the timeframe required by law.

To make a request, please contact us at privacy@presentation-company.com with “Personal Information Request” in the subject line, and provide us with full details in relation to your request, including your contact information and any other detail you feel is relevant.

International Transfers

TPC is headquartered in the United States. Your personal information may be transferred to, processed, and maintained in places other than where you live.

The United States currently is not a country the European Union has deemed “adequate” under applicable data protection laws. TPC collects, transfers, and processes personal information under terms required by applicable law, including: when you provide your consent, to perform a contract with you (such as to deliver products or services), or to fulfill a compelling legitimate interest of TPC in a manner that does not outweigh your rights and freedoms. TPC may enter into data protection agreements or other legally approved mechanisms with its vendors to support compliance with applicable law.

TPC has implemented appropriate safeguards to require that the personal information we process will remain protected in accordance with this Notice when transferred internationally, including when processed internationally by third-party service providers and partners. The safeguards we have taken may include implementing the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses, relying on a third-party service provider’s Binding Corporate Rules or other legally approved mechanism, for any transfer of personal information to non-EEA third-party service providers or business partners.

California Consumer Rights

As of January 1, 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act provides specific rights to certain individuals who live in the state of California. We have determined that we are not currently subject to this law. If our business practices and future expansion changes so that CCPA applies to us, we will update these terms to ensure we reflect any additional rights granted. Those updates will be made available within this Privacy Notice, in accordance with those regulations.

LEGAL DISCLOSURES

In certain situations, TPC may be required to disclose personal information in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.

We reserve the right to disclose your personal information as required by law and when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and/or comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on us.

SECURE COMMUNICATIONS

TPC will take reasonable precautions to protect personal information in its possession from loss, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. We have implemented precautions designed to secure your Personal Information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration and disclosure. However, the safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you a password for access to certain parts of our Website, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential.

We follow generally-accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. However, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

If you have any questions about security on our Web site, you can e-mail us at privacy@presentation-company.com with “Questions about Web site Security” in the subject line.

Consent to the use of cookies.

For our website to function properly we use cookies. To obtain your valid consent for the use and storage of cookies in the browser you use to access our website and to properly document this we use a consent management platform: CookieFirst. This technology is provided by Digital Data Solutions BV, Plantage Middenlaan 42a, 1018 DH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Website: https://cookiefirst.com referred to as CookieFirst.

When you access our website, a connection is established with CookieFirst’s server to give us the possibility to obtain valid consent from you to the use of certain cookies. CookieFirst then stores a cookie in your browser in order to be able to activate only those cookies to which you have consented and to properly document this. The data processed is stored until the predefined storage period expires or you request to delete the data. Certain mandatory legal storage periods may apply notwithstanding the aforementioned.

CookieFirst is used to obtain the legally required consent for the use of cookies. The legal basis for this is article 6(1)(c) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Data processing agreement

We have concluded a data processing agreement with CookieFirst. This is a contract required by data protection law, which ensures that data of our website visitors is only processed in accordance with our instructions and in compliance with the GDPR.

Server log files

Our website and CookieFirst automatically collect and store information in so-called server log files, which your browser automatically transmits to us. The following data is collected:

BUSINESS TRANSFER

In the event TPC goes through a business transition, such as a merger, acquisition by another company, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, your personal information will likely be among the assets transferred. You will be notified via prominent notice on our Web site for 30 days of any such change in ownership or control of your personal information.

BREACH OF PRIVACY NOTICE

If you have received unwanted, unsolicited e-mail sent by TPC or from any TPC system or purporting to be sent via TPC, please forward a copy of that e-mail with your comments to privacy@presentation-company.com for review.

If you have questions or complaints regarding our Privacy Notice or practices, please contact us at privacy@presentation-company.com with “Privacy Enquiry” in the subject line and provide detail on your question or complaint so that we may adequately respond. Questions or comments regarding this Policy should be submitted to TPC by mail or e-mail as follows:

The Presentation Company, LLC
12725 SW Millikan Way
Suite 300
Beaverton, OR 97005
United States
privacy@presentation-company.com

CHANGES

Any updates or changes to our Privacy Notice will be posted to this Privacy Notice, the home page, and other places we deem appropriate so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Notice at any time, so please review it frequently. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here, by e-mail, or by means of a notice on our home page prior to the change becoming effective.

", "content_plain": "Privacy Notice Highlights When you visit our website, or if you use our services to embark on a learning journey, we will receive information about you. Our Privacy Notice provides more detail about how we gather that information, how we use it, and how we support your rights to your data. Let’s start off with the highlights! We want to make you a great communicator. Our visual storytelling workshops arm people with the strategies, tools, and confidence to become strategic communicators. We know people learn best by doing—not by being lectured to. The Presentation Company’s (TPC’s) training is delivered in-person, virtually and on-demand digitally, but—regardless of modality—all of our workshops are highly experiential. We incorporate hands-on activities, knowledge checks, and time to work on real communications in every course. This means we collect certain information about you through the learning journey. We believe in secure and transparent use. We use personal information to present our website and our services, and to fulfill other requests you may have (like answering support questions). We have implemented measures designed to secure your Personal Information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration and disclosure. We have included additional details in our Privacy Statement, but what we want you to remember is that we safeguard the information we hold, and we are not going to sell it to a third party. This is how we collect information. We collect personal information: When you provide it: whenever you enter information into our website or digital learning platform From third-parties, like social media platforms Through automatic information collection technologies, like cookies You have options. If you ever decide you don’t want to receive our promotional information any more, you can unsubscribe at any time – either through the unsubscribe link in the message or by emailing us at privacy@presentation-company.com and include in the subject line “Opt-out”. You may also have additional rights if you are based in the European Union or in California, so check out the full Privacy Notice for more details. We are available for additional information. If you have questions about our privacy practices, or if you have a question about your information specifically, you can contact us with additional inquiries: The Presentation Company, LLC 12725 SW Millikan Way Suite 300 Beaverton, OR 97005 United States privacy@presentation-company.com Toll Free: 1-888-991-0208 We have more to share. We have created a full Privacy Statement to plainly communicate how we handle your data. You can view that below. Privacy Notice Effective November 4, 2014; updated March 9, 2021. The Presentation Company, LLC (TPC) provides on-demand courses, training, and tools for creating and delivering effective, engaging presentations. This Privacy Notice applies to https://tpc.ngagedev.com/, blog.presentation-company.com, and TPC websites, services that collect data and display these terms. It does not apply to any TPC website, service or product that does not display or link to this statement or that contains its own privacy notice. INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW Your privacy and trust are very important to us. This Privacy Notice describes the types of information we may collect about you or that you may provide when you use our applications, content, communications, or purchase on-demand courses, visit the website https://tpc.ngagedev.com/ (our “Website“) or use our services (collectively the “Services”) and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting and disclosing that information. Please read this Privacy Notice carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our Services. By accessing or using our Services, you agree to this Privacy Notice. This Privacy Notice may change from time to time; your continued use of our Services after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please be sure to check this Privacy Notice periodically for updates. TPC is committed to protecting your privacy in a variety of ways including using industry-accepted security measures to protect against loss, misuse and alteration of data contained in our systems. This Privacy Notice is designed to describe how we secure and maintain our customers’ and visitors’ personal information when collected on sites which link to this Privacy Notice. This includes presentation-company.com, info.presentation-company.com, and blog.presentation-company.com. Any information given to us will never be sold, rented, traded, shared or leased other than as outlined in this Policy. TPC is committed to complying with privacy laws to which it is subject, including those applying to our target audience. Our Services are not intended for children under 16 years of age and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children. If you are under 16, do not provide any information on this Website. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 16 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. HOW WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION How we collect your personal information is based on how you use and interact with our Website or Services. Some of this information is provided directly by you, while other information may be provided by your employer, our customer, in connection with use of our Services. We collect information when you provide it. Website Services When you, or your organization, sign up to use our Websites or Services, or you fill in forms on our Website, such as the “Contact Us” formor register for one of our publicly available training sessions we may receive certain necessary information including: your name job title email address phone number employer name All of this information may be collected while using the Services. When you use the Services, TPC receives information provided by you or your organization in order to deliver the courses in your learning journey. Additionally, you may be required to provide specific information (such as your login credentials) that allows our digital learning platform to verify your identity before accessing certain data we host. We may also receive your information through your participation virtually or at in-person or onsite trainings. This information allows us to deliver the services as contracted by you or your organization. Your information is kept secure, is used to assist you in accessing your account and/or to deliver the services and is not shared except in accordance with this Privacy Notice. We collect information from some third-party sources. We may collect information about you from third party or public sources, such as social networks when you click “Share This” via Facebook, Connect, Twitter, Linked In, Google+, or other social media “like” buttons or plug-ins available on the Website. We may also collect information about you from the third party that supports our on-demand course fulfillment and delivery (Shopify) as well as payment providers such as Paypal, ApplePay, GPay, etc., when you purchase one of our on-demand self-paced courses. This information is limited to transaction detail associated with your order and includes your name, email, shipping address. Within the digital learning environment, we allow you to link your learning profile with a social network profile to share information or to create one from scratch. Any data collected by a third party, such as social networking sites, would be handled based on their privacy practices rather than this notice. We indirectly collect information through automatic technologies. We and our service providers may collect information about the computer or device you are using and Internet connection, including your IP address, operating system and browser type. This automatically collected information is statistical data and typically does not include Personal Information. Having information like this helps us to improve our Website and to deliver a better and more personalized service. Additional information is available in the section on How We Use your Information. As is true of most websites, the information we and our service providers may collect include, browsing actions and patterns including traffic data, location data, logs, website resources you access, and search queries. While we do not provide any Personal Information to third-party advertising partners, they may combine this information with Personal Information they collect directly from you or receive from other sources. We want to be transparent about the automated technologies we use, and in order to accomplish that, we have made additional resources available to provide more detail around automatic information collection technologies available at our Cookie and Automated Technology Notice. Information you post on the blog. Our services offer community forums your organization may leverage to enhance your learning journey. If you elect to post information by using this functionality, any information you provide in these areas may be read, collected, and used by others with access. To request removal of your personal information from the community forum, contact us at privacy@presentation-company.com. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your personal information, in which case we will let you know if we are unable to do so and why. Do Not Track Requests Some browsers offer a “Do Not Track” privacy preference. Generally, when a user turns on the Do Not Track Signal, their browser sends a message to websites requesting that the user not be tracked. Our Website and Services currently do not respond to “Do Not Track” signals. However, you do have other options for opting out of tracking for interest-based advertising purposes as described in this Privacy Policy. HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION We use automatic data collection technologies to collect and store certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns whenever you interact with this Website or the Services. More specifically, we use personal information for categories of services like these: Website Services Developing/improving the services Emailing users with marketing offers where permitted Predictive analytics and data mining Interest-Based Advertising Providing our Services to users Communicating with customers about the Services Responding to support requests Developing/improving the Services We also use service providers who help us deliver our Services. For licensed users of applications used to deliver training, we or our service providers may use tools and other tracking software within those applications to collect information related to the pages and areas within pages you visit, which enables us to provide improved functionality and other enhancements within the services. You might see an advertisement from us on your social media page. Sometimes we allow third party advertising companies and ad networks to use automatic data collection technologies to collect similar information about you for purposes of providing you with interest-based ads. Interest-based ads are helpful because they are more likely to be tailored to your particular interests. They are also more likely to help you discover new services that are actually relevant to you and your interests. Also, if interest-based tracking is enabled, you likely will not see the same ads over and over because the number of times you see a particular interest-based ad is usually limited. By opting-out of interest-based ads, you lose all of these benefits. WHEN WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION Once your personal information is collected, as detailed above, we sometimes share it with third parties for various reasons. For example, we share personal information with our customer relationship management provider, content storage provider and analytics providers. Note that when we share your personal information with a third party, we require that third party to protect that information consistent with this Notice and limit its use of that information to performing the services they provide to us. For purchasers of our publicly available on-demand courses, we partner with Shopify for order processing and fulfillment. Your credit card or other financial information will be provided directly to Shopify and we will only be notified that payment has been made and provided with your contact details. Once you have purchased a course, a confirmation email will be sent to you from Shopify with a link to access course content. Your contact information (name and email) will also be provided to our platform delivery partner, NovoEd, to enable you to stream the content on demand. Other than as stated in this Privacy Notice, we do not sell, rent or share your information with third parties. ACCESS TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION AND YOUR CHOICES TPC is engaged by top companies around the world to deliver our training services and where personal information is collected in relation to those services, we do so on behalf of customer organizations and those customer organizations manage the data in accordance with their own internal policies and procedures. In limited cases TPC may receive your personal information in connection with a publicly available training course we offer directly. Where that is the case, TPC will manage your data in accordance with our own internal policies and procedures and in accordance with applicable law and this Notice. Please note that where we receive your information in connection with training courses offered to company customers, any questions related to how that customer organization may process, use or share your information should be directed to that customer organization by contacting them directly as we are not responsible for their data management practices. We strive to provide you with choices regarding the Personal Information you provide to us. We have created mechanisms to provide you with the following control over your information: Visitors to Our Website If you do not wish to receive promotional e-mails from us, including our e-newsletters, you may either opt-out or follow the unsubscribe process at the bottom of the promotional e-mail or email us at privacy@presentation-company.com. Note that even if you opt-out, you may still receive transactional e-mails from us (e.g., e-mails related to the completion of your registration, correction of user data, password reset requests, reminder e-mails that you have requested, and any other similar communications essential to your transactions on this Website) which may be necessary for us to continue to provide you with Services or respond to your enquiries. You can set your browser to refuse some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being set. Some cookies are required to use the Services. To learn how you can manage your Flash cookie settings, visit our Cookie Notice. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this site may then be inaccessible or not function properly. We do not control third parties’ collection or use of your information to serve interest-based ads. However, you can opt-out of receiving interest-based ads from third party advertisers and ad networks who are members of the NAI or who follow the DAA’s Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising by visiting the opt-out pages of the NAI and DAAwebsites. If you opt-out, you may still see contextual advertising from us, meaning you may still see personalized recommendations about our products and services and other similar features on this Website. You may also still see ads provided by us or others on other third-party websites; they just will not be based on your particular interests. Also note that your opt-out will be managed through the use of cookies, so if you delete these cookies or use a different browser or computer, you will have to make this same election again. Individuals from the EU or UK. Individuals residing in the European Economic Area (EEA), including Switzerland and the United Kingdom (UK) have additional rights reserved under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the UK Data Protection Act and/or ePrivacy Directive, as applicable. This section details those additional rights and information on how to exercise them: You may request to access, correct, update or request deletion of your personal information based on information collected from accessing our Website or participating in our Forums or Webinars. You may request additional information related to the purposes for which we process your personal information, the categories of personal information we process, where we originally collected the information, who we share it with, and how long we will retain it. You may object to our processing of your personal information, request that we restrict the processing of your personal information or request portability. You have the right to opt-out of marketing communications we sent you at any time. You can do so by clicking the “unsubscribe” or “opt-out” link in the marketing emails we send to you. You may also opt-out of other forms of marketing (such as postal or telemarketing). Where we have collected and processed your personal information with your consent, you can withdraw your consent at any time. However, withdrawing your consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we conducted prior to your withdrawal nor will it affect the processing of your personal information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent. Upon your request, and where it is technically feasible, NAVEX Global will provide you with a copy of your personal data or transmit it directly to another controller. You have the right to submit a complaint to a data protection authority about our collection and use of your personal information. For more information, please contact your local data protection authorities. Contact details are available here. [https://ec.europa.eu/justice/article-29/structure/data-protection-authorities/index_en.htm] Any request received by TPC for access to personal information processed in connection with delivery of services to our business customer will be forwarded to that customer for review and response. TPC will respond to instructions from our business customer pertaining to such access/correction/deletion requests within a reasonable timeframe as required by law. For requests TPC receives in connection with a direct purchase of our on-demand courses or associated with our direct marketing initiatives (where TPC is acting as a controller of that personal information), TPC will respond directly to those requests within the timeframe required by law. To make a request, please contact us at privacy@presentation-company.com with “Personal Information Request” in the subject line, and provide us with full details in relation to your request, including your contact information and any other detail you feel is relevant. International Transfers TPC is headquartered in the United States. Your personal information may be transferred to, processed, and maintained in places other than where you live. The United States currently is not a country the European Union has deemed “adequate” under applicable data protection laws. TPC collects, transfers, and processes personal information under terms required by applicable law, including: when you provide your consent, to perform a contract with you (such as to deliver products or services), or to fulfill a compelling legitimate interest of TPC in a manner that does not outweigh your rights and freedoms. TPC may enter into data protection agreements or other legally approved mechanisms with its vendors to support compliance with applicable law. TPC has implemented appropriate safeguards to require that the personal information we process will remain protected in accordance with this Notice when transferred internationally, including when processed internationally by third-party service providers and partners. The safeguards we have taken may include implementing the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses, relying on a third-party service provider’s Binding Corporate Rules or other legally approved mechanism, for any transfer of personal information to non-EEA third-party service providers or business partners. California Consumer Rights As of January 1, 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act provides specific rights to certain individuals who live in the state of California. We have determined that we are not currently subject to this law. If our business practices and future expansion changes so that CCPA applies to us, we will update these terms to ensure we reflect any additional rights granted. Those updates will be made available within this Privacy Notice, in accordance with those regulations. LEGAL DISCLOSURES In certain situations, TPC may be required to disclose personal information in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements. We reserve the right to disclose your personal information as required by law and when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and/or comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on us. SECURE COMMUNICATIONS TPC will take reasonable precautions to protect personal information in its possession from loss, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. We have implemented precautions designed to secure your Personal Information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration and disclosure. However, the safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you a password for access to certain parts of our Website, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We follow generally-accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. However, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. If you have any questions about security on our Web site, you can e-mail us at privacy@presentation-company.com with “Questions about Web site Security” in the subject line. Consent to the use of cookies. For our website to function properly we use cookies. To obtain your valid consent for the use and storage of cookies in the browser you use to access our website and to properly document this we use a consent management platform: CookieFirst. This technology is provided by Digital Data Solutions BV, Plantage Middenlaan 42a, 1018 DH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Website: https://cookiefirst.com referred to as CookieFirst. When you access our website, a connection is established with CookieFirst’s server to give us the possibility to obtain valid consent from you to the use of certain cookies. CookieFirst then stores a cookie in your browser in order to be able to activate only those cookies to which you have consented and to properly document this. The data processed is stored until the predefined storage period expires or you request to delete the data. Certain mandatory legal storage periods may apply notwithstanding the aforementioned. CookieFirst is used to obtain the legally required consent for the use of cookies. The legal basis for this is article 6(1)(c) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Data processing agreement We have concluded a data processing agreement with CookieFirst. This is a contract required by data protection law, which ensures that data of our website visitors is only processed in accordance with our instructions and in compliance with the GDPR. Server log files Our website and CookieFirst automatically collect and store information in so-called server log files, which your browser automatically transmits to us. The following data is collected: Your consent status or the withdrawal of consent Your anonymised IP address Information about your Browser Information about your Device The date and time you have visited our website The webpage url where you saved or updated your consent preferences The approximate location of the user that saved their consent preference A universally unique identifier (UUID) of the website visitor that clicked the cookie banner BUSINESS TRANSFER In the event TPC goes through a business transition, such as a merger, acquisition by another company, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, your personal information will likely be among the assets transferred. You will be notified via prominent notice on our Web site for 30 days of any such change in ownership or control of your personal information. BREACH OF PRIVACY NOTICE If you have received unwanted, unsolicited e-mail sent by TPC or from any TPC system or purporting to be sent via TPC, please forward a copy of that e-mail with your comments to privacy@presentation-company.com for review. If you have questions or complaints regarding our Privacy Notice or practices, please contact us at privacy@presentation-company.com with “Privacy Enquiry” in the subject line and provide detail on your question or complaint so that we may adequately respond. Questions or comments regarding this Policy should be submitted to TPC by mail or e-mail as follows: The Presentation Company, LLC 12725 SW Millikan Way Suite 300 Beaverton, OR 97005 United States privacy@presentation-company.com CHANGES Any updates or changes to our Privacy Notice will be posted to this Privacy Notice, the home page, and other places we deem appropriate so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Notice at any time, so please review it frequently. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here, by e-mail, or by means of a notice on our home page prior to the change becoming effective.", "image": false, "modified": "2024-08-14T08:43:24-05:00" }, { "id": 10217, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/tpc-storytelling-learning-journey/", "title": "How TPC’s Storytelling Learning Journey Can Upskill Your People – and Elevate Your Business", "h1": "How TPC’s Storytelling Learning Journey Can Upskill Your People – and Elevate Your Business", "summary": "", "content": "

Today’s complex business landscape is chock full of challenges – like digital transformation, economic uncertainty, customer satisfaction, and increased market competition (just to name a few!). Knowing which lever to pull is key—but that’s only half the battle.

The other half is making sure your initiatives map back to business goals and produce positive results. And let’s be honest, these are business challenges in and of themselves. Hybrid work teams, talent shortages, and information overload are just a few of the hurdles today’s managers have to jump over as they attempt to get everyone swimming in the same direction.

Of course, these challenges don’t even account for everyday business interactions. Think about all the ineffective meetings that take up everyone’s time. Consider all the poorly communicated change programs that hinder employee engagement, the lack of collaboration that stifles innovation, the snooze-worthy decks that miss the mark and need to be constantly reworked, and the exhaustive data reports that lack context and leave decision-makers confused.

These interactions contribute to productivity issues among teams that are already stretched thin, inefficient use of time and resources, and worse yet – stalled decisions due to unclear recommendations or calls to action on mission-critical business initiatives.

\"\"What if we told you there was one critical skill that could help you solve these business challenges more quickly and efficiently? Better yet, this skill can be learned and leveraged across your entire organization and give cross-functional teams the ability to influence decisions, communicate value, and drive business forward.

And don’t worry, we’re not talking about some tech gimmick or overused buzzword. We’re talking about a fundamental business skill that’s often overlooked and highly underrated.

It’s storytelling.

Storytelling is how we move business forward

We believe that business storytelling can become your organization’s superpower. Not only does neuroscience prove that story is the most impactful form of communication, but it can be adapted to any audience and used in just about every business interaction, from concise presentations updating the C-suite to persuasive sales emails engaging prospective clients. Its scalability allows it to be used by everyone in the company, creating synergy among teams and better engagement with your customers.

Teams need a common language and framework
While we all enjoy a good story, the reality is that most people struggle to apply storytelling to their everyday business communications. Without the right skills and confidence, we resort to cobbling together ideas and data dumping, leaving our audience confused or worse, totally tuned out.

Here’s what we’ve learned: To effectively address today’s business challenges, teams need a common language and framework that’s grounded in a new mindset: Story First, Visuals Second

Introducing our storytelling learning journey

At The Presentation Company (TPC), our learning journey brings business storytelling to life through the lens of story strategy, visual strategy, and data strategy. The journey comes together with three highly experiential workshops that unpack each strategic principle and how they can be applied, giving teams the collaborative tools and common language they need to create impactful visual stories.

\"\"

\"\"Story strategy

This serves as the bread and butter of your business communication strategy. Through our Crafting Strategic Visual Stories workshop, learn how to leverage the power of narrative and integrate it into anything you say, send, deliver, or present (hint: think emails, presentations, or meetings). Our storytelling framework will teach you how to turn your ideas and data into meaningful business stories that are clear, actionable, and memorable. You’ll discover how to get to the essence of the conversation and succinctly share your critical insight – the one thing you want your audience to remember. The framework is a proven method of organizing your ideas and data into a meaningful and influential narrative.

Get the skills and confidence to flex your story
Imagine you’ve spent countless hours preparing to present to a room full of executives, and at the last minute you find out your 30 minutes have been cut down to five, or maybe as you’re gearing up for a team presentation, your boss tells you “no more than 3 to 5 slides.” And what if you’re trying to secure a deal with a decision-maker but need to influence and sell your ideas over email?

In Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, you’ll learn how to flex your story to adapt to these scenarios and also understand how to share your story with diverse audiences with varying needs. The ability to pivot in the moment will boost your confidence and executive presence, while allowing you to display complete mastery of your material.

\"\"

Visual strategy

As any great communicator knows, good visuals are absolutely critical to effective messaging. However, mindless images that crowd the page are usually more distracting than helpful. Our Influencing with Visuals workshop is geared toward those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals. Learn how to create a tailored visual story strategy, use interactive story building and coaching tools to pressure test your story, and get inspired with real-world examples of clear visuals that inspire action.

Jumpstart design thinking with a Visual Story Library
Influencing with Visuals participants receive a Visual Story Library, a suite of 100+ beautifully designed slides that guide you through the storytelling signposts and provide pro-tips and coaching examples to help inspire creativity. This is an indispensable tool that ensures a powerful connection between your story and visuals, every time.

\"\"

Data strategy

Every company relies on data to make decisions, but presenting too many numbers and graphs will overwhelm and disengage audiences. Wrapping data in story and visuals, however, will give decision-makers the context they need to understand what the numbers are actually communicating. Presenting Data Visually rounds out our other two workshops and gives teams practical skills and tools for today’s data-driven landscape. Using key principles of data visualization, learn best practices for creating easy-to-scan charts, tables, and graphs that cut through the noise, are easily digestible, and lead to actionable data insights and recommendations.

Elevate your data stories at the slide level
In Presenting Data Visually, you’ll receive a Data Visualization Library to guide you through the five ways to display data. This collection of professionally designed data visualization slides provides inspiration, pro-tips, and coaching examples to help you create simple but impactful data visualizations.

\"\"

Grounded in theory and smothered in practicality

There’s a reason we refer to our program as a journey. Our curriculum is designed to flow from one workshop to the next with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and travel with you on – and beyond – the journey. Our goal is to provide useful skills you can apply immediately, build on as you move through the program, and fine-tune long after training ends.

We believe down to our core that true transformation begins on the day of training but is fully accomplished over time. That’s why we developed a unique learning model for meaningful, long-lasting behavior change. Who doesn’t want learning that’s repeatable, scalable, and immediately applicable on the job?

\"\"

Learn concepts: Get access to our simple and easy-to-use storytelling framework, a proven way to craft business stories quickly and efficiently. See firsthand how visuals and data bolster your ideas and can bring complex ideas to life from a whole new perspective.

Get hands-on with tools: Practice makes perfect! Our robust suite of interactive and collaborative tools, each embedded with coaching and pro-tips, are introduced throughout the journey to jumpstart development and reinforce learnings beyond the day of training.

Apply concepts to real work: We get it. Time away from the office is hard. That’s why we go beyond just theory and ask participants to bring any real work—presentations, emails, one-pagers (seriously, anything)—to transform during our workshops.

Give and get coaching: We all need a gut check sometimes. Our journey is filled with opportunities to collaborate, mentor, and build confidence through expert and peer-to-peer coaching. Plus, our tools are designed to encourage coaching in the workplace, with the ultimate goal of building a culture of coaching internally.

\"\"

Coaching helps build a culture of storytelling

So how can you go from “Hey, storytelling sounds like something we should do” to actually making it an everyday team practice that creates long-lasting change? It starts with building and maintaining a culture of storytelling that will permeate your team, department, and eventually your entire organization. The first step is getting everyone to speak “story” in your organization – through the common framework and collaborative tools that our journey provides. Another key piece to scaling storytelling across your organization requires the buy-in and support of leaders, and that’s coaching.

Throughout TPC’s program, teams are introduced to collaborative coaching techniques and resources that layer upon each other and are intended to be used outside the workshop setting. Our suite of tools is embedded with coaching prompts and reinforcement of key storytelling concepts, allowing participants to confidently coach each other with essential resources at their fingertips. Teams will feel like TPC’s experts are with them as they continue to build and improve their business stories well after the training wraps up.

Experience has shown us that reinforcement is a critical aspect of upskilling. That’s why coaching is so important. When managers and peers join together to take learning beyond the classroom—or computer screen—the degree of long-term behavior change and real transformation goes up exponentially. It’s the difference between acquiring “soft skills” that make everyone feel good and empowering your team with useful tools that impact the bottom line. And don’t sweat it—we’ve incorporated practical coaching tools and resources into every step of our learning journey as well.

Don’t just take our word for it

\"\"

\"\"

Communicating a more successful future

Every company is looking for a way to elevate their business right now. Some will grasp at trends and risky initiatives, but true organizational change starts from the inside out. It requires strategic thinking, collaborative action, and most importantly, good communication.

Storytelling is an innovative way to get your teams speaking the same language while also strengthening their most critical business skills. Using our three-part learning journey, you can upskill your people in real-time, move your business forward as they progress in their abilities and support each other, and create organizational and cultural change that will benefit your business now—and well into the future.

", "content_plain": "Today’s complex business landscape is chock full of challenges – like digital transformation, economic uncertainty, customer satisfaction, and increased market competition (just to name a few!). Knowing which lever to pull is key—but that’s only half the battle. The other half is making sure your initiatives map back to business goals and produce positive results. And let’s be honest, these are business challenges in and of themselves. Hybrid work teams, talent shortages, and information overload are just a few of the hurdles today’s managers have to jump over as they attempt to get everyone swimming in the same direction. Of course, these challenges don’t even account for everyday business interactions. Think about all the ineffective meetings that take up everyone’s time. Consider all the poorly communicated change programs that hinder employee engagement, the lack of collaboration that stifles innovation, the snooze-worthy decks that miss the mark and need to be constantly reworked, and the exhaustive data reports that lack context and leave decision-makers confused. These interactions contribute to productivity issues among teams that are already stretched thin, inefficient use of time and resources, and worse yet – stalled decisions due to unclear recommendations or calls to action on mission-critical business initiatives. What if we told you there was one critical skill that could help you solve these business challenges more quickly and efficiently? Better yet, this skill can be learned and leveraged across your entire organization and give cross-functional teams the ability to influence decisions, communicate value, and drive business forward. And don’t worry, we’re not talking about some tech gimmick or overused buzzword. We’re talking about a fundamental business skill that’s often overlooked and highly underrated. It’s storytelling. Storytelling is how we move business forward We believe that business storytelling can become your organization’s superpower. Not only does neuroscience prove that story is the most impactful form of communication, but it can be adapted to any audience and used in just about every business interaction, from concise presentations updating the C-suite to persuasive sales emails engaging prospective clients. Its scalability allows it to be used by everyone in the company, creating synergy among teams and better engagement with your customers. Teams need a common language and framework While we all enjoy a good story, the reality is that most people struggle to apply storytelling to their everyday business communications. Without the right skills and confidence, we resort to cobbling together ideas and data dumping, leaving our audience confused or worse, totally tuned out. Here’s what we’ve learned: To effectively address today’s business challenges, teams need a common language and framework that’s grounded in a new mindset: Story First, Visuals Second Introducing our storytelling learning journey At The Presentation Company (TPC), our learning journey brings business storytelling to life through the lens of story strategy, visual strategy, and data strategy. The journey comes together with three highly experiential workshops that unpack each strategic principle and how they can be applied, giving teams the collaborative tools and common language they need to create impactful visual stories. Story strategy This serves as the bread and butter of your business communication strategy. Through our Crafting Strategic Visual Stories workshop, learn how to leverage the power of narrative and integrate it into anything you say, send, deliver, or present (hint: think emails, presentations, or meetings). Our storytelling framework will teach you how to turn your ideas and data into meaningful business stories that are clear, actionable, and memorable. You’ll discover how to get to the essence of the conversation and succinctly share your critical insight – the one thing you want your audience to remember. The framework is a proven method of organizing your ideas and data into a meaningful and influential narrative. Get the skills and confidence to flex your story Imagine you’ve spent countless hours preparing to present to a room full of executives, and at the last minute you find out your 30 minutes have been cut down to five, or maybe as you’re gearing up for a team presentation, your boss tells you “no more than 3 to 5 slides.” And what if you’re trying to secure a deal with a decision-maker but need to influence and sell your ideas over email? In Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, you’ll learn how to flex your story to adapt to these scenarios and also understand how to share your story with diverse audiences with varying needs. The ability to pivot in the moment will boost your confidence and executive presence, while allowing you to display complete mastery of your material. Visual strategy As any great communicator knows, good visuals are absolutely critical to effective messaging. However, mindless images that crowd the page are usually more distracting than helpful. Our Influencing with Visuals workshop is geared toward those who know how to craft a business story and are ready to bring it to life with clear, impactful visuals. Learn how to create a tailored visual story strategy, use interactive story building and coaching tools to pressure test your story, and get inspired with real-world examples of clear visuals that inspire action. Jumpstart design thinking with a Visual Story Library Influencing with Visuals participants receive a Visual Story Library, a suite of 100+ beautifully designed slides that guide you through the storytelling signposts and provide pro-tips and coaching examples to help inspire creativity. This is an indispensable tool that ensures a powerful connection between your story and visuals, every time. Data strategy Every company relies on data to make decisions, but presenting too many numbers and graphs will overwhelm and disengage audiences. Wrapping data in story and visuals, however, will give decision-makers the context they need to understand what the numbers are actually communicating. Presenting Data Visually rounds out our other two workshops and gives teams practical skills and tools for today’s data-driven landscape. Using key principles of data visualization, learn best practices for creating easy-to-scan charts, tables, and graphs that cut through the noise, are easily digestible, and lead to actionable data insights and recommendations. Elevate your data stories at the slide level In Presenting Data Visually, you’ll receive a Data Visualization Library to guide you through the five ways to display data. This collection of professionally designed data visualization slides provides inspiration, pro-tips, and coaching examples to help you create simple but impactful data visualizations. Grounded in theory and smothered in practicality There’s a reason we refer to our program as a journey. Our curriculum is designed to flow from one workshop to the next with skills, tools, and coaching that build upon each other and travel with you on – and beyond – the journey. Our goal is to provide useful skills you can apply immediately, build on as you move through the program, and fine-tune long after training ends. We believe down to our core that true transformation begins on the day of training but is fully accomplished over time. That’s why we developed a unique learning model for meaningful, long-lasting behavior change. Who doesn’t want learning that’s repeatable, scalable, and immediately applicable on the job? Learn concepts: Get access to our simple and easy-to-use storytelling framework, a proven way to craft business stories quickly and efficiently. See firsthand how visuals and data bolster your ideas and can bring complex ideas to life from a whole new perspective. Get hands-on with tools: Practice makes perfect! Our robust suite of interactive and collaborative tools, each embedded with coaching and pro-tips, are introduced throughout the journey to jumpstart development and reinforce learnings beyond the day of training. Apply concepts to real work: We get it. Time away from the office is hard. That’s why we go beyond just theory and ask participants to bring any real work—presentations, emails, one-pagers (seriously, anything)—to transform during our workshops. Give and get coaching: We all need a gut check sometimes. Our journey is filled with opportunities to collaborate, mentor, and build confidence through expert and peer-to-peer coaching. Plus, our tools are designed to encourage coaching in the workplace, with the ultimate goal of building a culture of coaching internally. Coaching helps build a culture of storytelling So how can you go from “Hey, storytelling sounds like something we should do” to actually making it an everyday team practice that creates long-lasting change? It starts with building and maintaining a culture of storytelling that will permeate your team, department, and eventually your entire organization. The first step is getting everyone to speak “story” in your organization – through the common framework and collaborative tools that our journey provides. Another key piece to scaling storytelling across your organization requires the buy-in and support of leaders, and that’s coaching. Throughout TPC’s program, teams are introduced to collaborative coaching techniques and resources that layer upon each other and are intended to be used outside the workshop setting. Our suite of tools is embedded with coaching prompts and reinforcement of key storytelling concepts, allowing participants to confidently coach each other with essential resources at their fingertips. Teams will feel like TPC’s experts are with them as they continue to build and improve their business stories well after the training wraps up. Experience has shown us that reinforcement is a critical aspect of upskilling. That’s why coaching is so important. When managers and peers join together to take learning beyond the classroom—or computer screen—the degree of long-term behavior change and real transformation goes up exponentially. It’s the difference between acquiring “soft skills” that make everyone feel good and empowering your team with useful tools that impact the bottom line. And don’t sweat it—we’ve incorporated practical coaching tools and resources into every step of our learning journey as well. Don’t just take our word for it Communicating a more successful future Every company is looking for a way to elevate their business right now. Some will grasp at trends and risky initiatives, but true organizational change starts from the inside out. It requires strategic thinking, collaborative action, and most importantly, good communication. Storytelling is an innovative way to get your teams speaking the same language while also strengthening their most critical business skills. Using our three-part learning journey, you can upskill your people in real-time, move your business forward as they progress in their abilities and support each other, and create organizational and cultural change that will benefit your business now—and well into the future.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Learning-journey-article.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T16:12:55-05:00" }, { "id": 10359, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/storytelling-evolution-of-the-cio/", "title": "Evolution of the CIO and IT Function: How Storytelling has Helped IT Become More Effective, Influential, and Strategic", "h1": "Evolution of the CIO and IT Function: How Storytelling has Helped IT Become More Effective, Influential, and Strategic", "summary": "", "content": "

By Vivek Kolpe in partnership with The Presentation Company

Storytelling has become an art form of critical importance in today’s business world. It has recently gained significant focus within organizations across all industries. I’ve seen firsthand how storytelling techniques are helping IT leaders at various levels become more effective partners to their business stakeholders. Equipped with this skill, IT professionals are taking stronger partnership roles with business, leading and winning the debates for project funding, and demonstrating greater influence in driving digital transformations. From an outcomes standpoint, I have personally seen IT personnel trained in storytelling techniques far outperform their peers with equally strong technical skills, grow faster in the organization, and display greater satisfaction in their careers.

Adapting to a changing business landscape

Just a few years ago, the dividing line between business and IT was obvious – business stakeholders focused their efforts on envisioning a new solution, developing their business case, and making the representations for budget dollars. IT, on the other hand, focused their efforts on technology and solutions areas such as solutioning, architecture, development, implementation cycles, and operations responsibilities. Their contributions were more supportive in the partnership model.

The post-pandemic times have only increased the competitive pressures, highlighted new global risks, and accelerated the digital/AI revolution. The role of the CIO/CDO has greatly evolved and further expanded IT’s rise as a strategic function. IT has evolved beyond a function that owns technology, applications, infrastructure, and IT security; to one that is more deeply engaged in strategy definition through outcomes and results management, bringing their leadership to major initiatives in the business. These factors have raised the demands and significantly increased expectations for IT leaders – from CIO down to Directors and even Managers.

\"\" The demands for strategic technology-based solutions and transition to digital products and business models have changed everything! Long gone are the days of waterfall projects and project-based team structures. Companies now routinely organize their resources into Product Teams, which inherently requires IT personnel to have increased visibility and strong presentation skills. Companies are also making increased investments in cloud platforms, SAAS applications, Data Lakes and Analytics capabilities, AI/ML capabilities, in addition to increased investments in security.

One of the obvious results of all this activity has been an even greater level of competition for limited funding. In my experience, steering and funding committees became places of intense lobbying and debates. The presentations and representations need to be greatly well-positioned and thoroughly prepared. It becomes imperative to have very clear storylines about the investment case, value and outcome propositions, and clarity on how each investment outshines an alternative investment option.

According to Deloitte, from 2017 to 2022, CIOs spent 11% less time as operators and 21% more time as strategists1. The IT teams I have led have moved from being systems personnel and order-takers to being outcome-oriented influential contributors, engaging business partners to identify problems, evaluate strategic options, and leading change. IT leaders now are called to actively partner and ensure the delivery of committed outcomes of the business case.

\"\"Gartner recently rated influence as the most important tool in the CIO’s toolbox, followed by personal communication skills and business acumen.2 IT leaders must be able to interact, influence, and communicate with the different CxOs and their functions in addition to contributing to strategy and preparing for future scenarios. They must be stronger in their leadership presence and their ability to deliver innovative solutions and rapid change.

Digital-savvy organizations now comprise strong IT and business personnel working together in envisioning the future ‘product/solutions’ and developing, measuring, and evolving solutions at a rapid pace. IT leaders, at all levels, are expected to bring strong leadership, business understanding and representation skills, own product roadmaps, and continuously evolve the technology ‘products’ to ensure competitive advantage. These IT leaders actively participate in defining the business case and future vision while leading funding discussions and presentations. Their representations can make or break the case for investing in the ever-increasing intensity of IT funding debates. Storytelling is an important enabler for capturing the attention of decision-makers, driving the active conversation, and ensuring successful approvals.

Transforming IT leaders through storytelling

In my recent leadership roles, I led large IT areas of multiple ERP and Corporate Systems across several corporate functions and business units. I saw a clear opportunity to level up our IT talent, specifically in business storytelling.

Prior to this emphasis on storytelling, most presentations had some amount of hodge-podge of cobbled together slides with a lot of data dumping. Decks lacked clear calls to action and often had an incoherent (or no) narrative flow – The Presentation Company (TPC) refers to these as Frankendecks™. Some presentations easily exceeded 20 (or more) slides, and unclear messages resulted in funding or committee presentations failing to achieve the desired outcomes. Quite often the conversations went on unexpected tangents. This most often resulted in the teams being asked to go back and bring more information or clarity.

\"\"To achieve the intended change, we actively invested in storytelling training with TPC. Leaders at various levels – from managers to tech leads, architects to directors – learned effective storytelling techniques and were encouraged to ingrain those concepts in every presentation or business communication they prepared. Over a two-year period, we actively mentored, supported, and provided feedback, allowing time for practicing their pitches and ensuring the supporting presentation material had just the right level of content.

Applying TPC’s storytelling framework ensured our communications were crafted with brevity, careful flow of thought, clarity for the ask, the value, and outcomes. As with most change efforts, this is rarely a ‘switch’ to turn on. It requires multiple training sessions spread over weeks and months to shift to a new mindset and reinforce the concepts. Through this partnership with TPC, my teams acquired the skills to transform their presentations into clear and concise audience-centric narratives that resonated with demanding stakeholders.

The benefits of this upskilling of IT personnel have shown up in a variety of ways and exceeded my expectations:

In short, storytelling helped my teams become indispensable to their business partners and functional counterparts. My business stakeholders have never been more ecstatic about the role of IT in partnership with them; this has led to unparalleled competitive advantage in the industry.

This work doesn’t end here, and as with any journey, we must continue to assess, train, reinforce, and enhance this skill. This storytelling training goes way beyond IT and should be expanded to similar levels in every function of the company.

The case for storytelling in IT

\"\"

I’ve gone into detail about how storytelling has empowered my team to advance conversations and elevate their partnership with the business. I truly believe it’s one of the most effective ways to make complex, data-driven information both compelling and memorable. Here are just a few more reasons why storytelling is essential for today’s IT leaders:

It provides a common language and framework. Every form of business communication has a story to tell—the trick is knowing how to uncover it and present it. By learning and applying the foundational elements of storytelling, IT teams have a simple, yet effective way to create compelling messages and engage their audiences. Using a practical, repeatable framework provides a common storytelling language that can flex to any audience and format, from written proposals to in-person presentations.

It improves data visualization. As any IT leader knows, data drives many of today’s business decisions—but only when it’s meaningful. Numbers and graphs that lack insight are nothing more than distractions, especially for nontechnical audiences. Data wrapped in a story and supported by strong visual elements, however, is unstoppable. Knowing how to pull key insights and build a narrative journey around data not only engages and educates business stakeholders but also gives credibility and establishes the authority IT leaders need to influence decisions.

It supports effective change management. Big IT initiatives such as digital transformation are only successful with effective change management—and that requires good communication. Case in point: Research shows that around 70% change initiatives fail to achieve their goals2, and more than 30% of project failures are caused by poor communication.3 IT leaders looking to implement any form of change will need the skills to make those changes stick. Business storytelling is a must-have change communication skill because it puts the audience’s needs first, which helps foster buy-in. It also brings clarity and meaning, which gets everyone on the same page and moving toward the same goal.

It fosters collaboration and innovation. Today’s IT leaders need to be able to prioritize projects, gain buy-in, and establish rapport with CxOs. Storytelling aids in all these aspects by providing a persuasive communication strategy that clearly articulates new ideas while focusing on how it will benefit their audiences. This not only promotes collaboration and teamwork, but it also builds executive presence and trust among these cross-functional groups, each with different needs. Uncovering the bigger narrative also helps teams think more strategically and opens the door to more innovative thinking.

It helps IT professionals (and their companies) level up. Perhaps the most compelling argument for business storytelling is that it equips today’s IT leaders with the skills they will need for tomorrow. While strong communication skills may be a differentiator among IT professionals today, they will likely be table stakes in the future. Elevated roles will require elevated abilities, and storytelling helps rising CIO and IT leaders develop the critical skills companies are starting to demand—and will eventually need—to stay competitive.

\"\"Rising to the occasion

The call on today’s CIOs and IT leaders is a far cry from the “order taker” of years past. Their expertise has now become a more collaborative and integral part of the larger business strategy, and I’ve been happy to see my teams finally getting a much-deserved seat at the table.

The IT function today is not only expected to understand the business strategy, but also be able to translate and incorporate that strategy into their technology playbook. They need to be much stronger in their presence to solve problems, champion for what projects need to be prioritized in the company, and how to ask for the right funding on said projects.

From redesigning the customer experience, getting buy-in and adoption on new tools, to working in lockstep with the CEO, IT leaders are being challenged to think more dynamically and strategically. By expanding their skill set outside of their technical comfort zone, IT professionals are winning the new race of digitization. Storytelling is without doubt a key component of that success.

Vivek Kolpe is an experienced IT leader in the MedTech and Healthcare industry. He has worked in various IT leadership roles at Medtronic and Boston Scientific and management consulting roles at Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) and Computer Sciences and Top Tier Consulting (now Cognizant). He has focused on IT Enterprise Apps and Platforms, IT Capability/People Development, Product Team optimizations, and driving global digital transformation.

The Presentation Company (TPC) is a corporate training company that helps talented businesspeople bring clarity and meaning to their ideas and data and influence decisions through storytelling. For over 20 years, TPC’s workshops have helped the world’s top brands – including Meta, T-Mobile, and Medtronic – transform their teams into strategic, influential visual communicators and drive business forward. We believe that with our storytelling framework, some simple guidance, and the right tools, everyone can be a great business storyteller!

References
1Deloitte Insights, Charting your course: A road map for transitioning to the CIO role
22021 Gartner What’s Next for CIOs Survey
3McKinsey, Changing change management
4PMI, The High Cost of Low Performance: The Essential Role of Communications
", "content_plain": "By Vivek Kolpe in partnership with The Presentation Company Storytelling has become an art form of critical importance in today’s business world. It has recently gained significant focus within organizations across all industries. I’ve seen firsthand how storytelling techniques are helping IT leaders at various levels become more effective partners to their business stakeholders. Equipped with this skill, IT professionals are taking stronger partnership roles with business, leading and winning the debates for project funding, and demonstrating greater influence in driving digital transformations. From an outcomes standpoint, I have personally seen IT personnel trained in storytelling techniques far outperform their peers with equally strong technical skills, grow faster in the organization, and display greater satisfaction in their careers. Adapting to a changing business landscape Just a few years ago, the dividing line between business and IT was obvious – business stakeholders focused their efforts on envisioning a new solution, developing their business case, and making the representations for budget dollars. IT, on the other hand, focused their efforts on technology and solutions areas such as solutioning, architecture, development, implementation cycles, and operations responsibilities. Their contributions were more supportive in the partnership model. The post-pandemic times have only increased the competitive pressures, highlighted new global risks, and accelerated the digital/AI revolution. The role of the CIO/CDO has greatly evolved and further expanded IT’s rise as a strategic function. IT has evolved beyond a function that owns technology, applications, infrastructure, and IT security; to one that is more deeply engaged in strategy definition through outcomes and results management, bringing their leadership to major initiatives in the business. These factors have raised the demands and significantly increased expectations for IT leaders – from CIO down to Directors and even Managers. The demands for strategic technology-based solutions and transition to digital products and business models have changed everything! Long gone are the days of waterfall projects and project-based team structures. Companies now routinely organize their resources into Product Teams, which inherently requires IT personnel to have increased visibility and strong presentation skills. Companies are also making increased investments in cloud platforms, SAAS applications, Data Lakes and Analytics capabilities, AI/ML capabilities, in addition to increased investments in security. One of the obvious results of all this activity has been an even greater level of competition for limited funding. In my experience, steering and funding committees became places of intense lobbying and debates. The presentations and representations need to be greatly well-positioned and thoroughly prepared. It becomes imperative to have very clear storylines about the investment case, value and outcome propositions, and clarity on how each investment outshines an alternative investment option. According to Deloitte, from 2017 to 2022, CIOs spent 11% less time as operators and 21% more time as strategists1. The IT teams I have led have moved from being systems personnel and order-takers to being outcome-oriented influential contributors, engaging business partners to identify problems, evaluate strategic options, and leading change. IT leaders now are called to actively partner and ensure the delivery of committed outcomes of the business case. Gartner recently rated influence as the most important tool in the CIO’s toolbox, followed by personal communication skills and business acumen.2 IT leaders must be able to interact, influence, and communicate with the different CxOs and their functions in addition to contributing to strategy and preparing for future scenarios. They must be stronger in their leadership presence and their ability to deliver innovative solutions and rapid change. Digital-savvy organizations now comprise strong IT and business personnel working together in envisioning the future ‘product/solutions’ and developing, measuring, and evolving solutions at a rapid pace. IT leaders, at all levels, are expected to bring strong leadership, business understanding and representation skills, own product roadmaps, and continuously evolve the technology ‘products’ to ensure competitive advantage. These IT leaders actively participate in defining the business case and future vision while leading funding discussions and presentations. Their representations can make or break the case for investing in the ever-increasing intensity of IT funding debates. Storytelling is an important enabler for capturing the attention of decision-makers, driving the active conversation, and ensuring successful approvals. Transforming IT leaders through storytelling In my recent leadership roles, I led large IT areas of multiple ERP and Corporate Systems across several corporate functions and business units. I saw a clear opportunity to level up our IT talent, specifically in business storytelling. Prior to this emphasis on storytelling, most presentations had some amount of hodge-podge of cobbled together slides with a lot of data dumping. Decks lacked clear calls to action and often had an incoherent (or no) narrative flow – The Presentation Company (TPC) refers to these as Frankendecks™. Some presentations easily exceeded 20 (or more) slides, and unclear messages resulted in funding or committee presentations failing to achieve the desired outcomes. Quite often the conversations went on unexpected tangents. This most often resulted in the teams being asked to go back and bring more information or clarity. To achieve the intended change, we actively invested in storytelling training with TPC. Leaders at various levels – from managers to tech leads, architects to directors – learned effective storytelling techniques and were encouraged to ingrain those concepts in every presentation or business communication they prepared. Over a two-year period, we actively mentored, supported, and provided feedback, allowing time for practicing their pitches and ensuring the supporting presentation material had just the right level of content. Applying TPC’s storytelling framework ensured our communications were crafted with brevity, careful flow of thought, clarity for the ask, the value, and outcomes. As with most change efforts, this is rarely a ‘switch’ to turn on. It requires multiple training sessions spread over weeks and months to shift to a new mindset and reinforce the concepts. Through this partnership with TPC, my teams acquired the skills to transform their presentations into clear and concise audience-centric narratives that resonated with demanding stakeholders. The benefits of this upskilling of IT personnel have shown up in a variety of ways and exceeded my expectations: No more Frankendecks. Now that the teams are equipped with effective storytelling skills, their decks are succinct, well-thought out, and the flow of information is just right. The material connects with, captivates, and compels the audience to engage and take decisive action. Improved job satisfaction. We received consistent employee feedback that the storytelling training was fundamentally most effective and helped grow their careers. They experienced improved job satisfaction and professional fulfillment. I have personally seen team members advance from Architects to Director-level leaders in short timespans. Better alignment between IT and business. The IT leaders also expressed great satisfaction in seeing tangible and remarkably notable improvements in how they were viewed by business. My business stakeholders have come to rely on my teams and make our IT investments most effective for the company. In short, storytelling helped my teams become indispensable to their business partners and functional counterparts. My business stakeholders have never been more ecstatic about the role of IT in partnership with them; this has led to unparalleled competitive advantage in the industry. This work doesn’t end here, and as with any journey, we must continue to assess, train, reinforce, and enhance this skill. This storytelling training goes way beyond IT and should be expanded to similar levels in every function of the company. The case for storytelling in IT I’ve gone into detail about how storytelling has empowered my team to advance conversations and elevate their partnership with the business. I truly believe it’s one of the most effective ways to make complex, data-driven information both compelling and memorable. Here are just a few more reasons why storytelling is essential for today’s IT leaders: It provides a common language and framework. Every form of business communication has a story to tell—the trick is knowing how to uncover it and present it. By learning and applying the foundational elements of storytelling, IT teams have a simple, yet effective way to create compelling messages and engage their audiences. Using a practical, repeatable framework provides a common storytelling language that can flex to any audience and format, from written proposals to in-person presentations. It improves data visualization. As any IT leader knows, data drives many of today’s business decisions—but only when it’s meaningful. Numbers and graphs that lack insight are nothing more than distractions, especially for nontechnical audiences. Data wrapped in a story and supported by strong visual elements, however, is unstoppable. Knowing how to pull key insights and build a narrative journey around data not only engages and educates business stakeholders but also gives credibility and establishes the authority IT leaders need to influence decisions. It supports effective change management. Big IT initiatives such as digital transformation are only successful with effective change management—and that requires good communication. Case in point: Research shows that around 70% change initiatives fail to achieve their goals2, and more than 30% of project failures are caused by poor communication.3 IT leaders looking to implement any form of change will need the skills to make those changes stick. Business storytelling is a must-have change communication skill because it puts the audience’s needs first, which helps foster buy-in. It also brings clarity and meaning, which gets everyone on the same page and moving toward the same goal. It fosters collaboration and innovation. Today’s IT leaders need to be able to prioritize projects, gain buy-in, and establish rapport with CxOs. Storytelling aids in all these aspects by providing a persuasive communication strategy that clearly articulates new ideas while focusing on how it will benefit their audiences. This not only promotes collaboration and teamwork, but it also builds executive presence and trust among these cross-functional groups, each with different needs. Uncovering the bigger narrative also helps teams think more strategically and opens the door to more innovative thinking. It helps IT professionals (and their companies) level up. Perhaps the most compelling argument for business storytelling is that it equips today’s IT leaders with the skills they will need for tomorrow. While strong communication skills may be a differentiator among IT professionals today, they will likely be table stakes in the future. Elevated roles will require elevated abilities, and storytelling helps rising CIO and IT leaders develop the critical skills companies are starting to demand—and will eventually need—to stay competitive. Rising to the occasion The call on today’s CIOs and IT leaders is a far cry from the “order taker” of years past. Their expertise has now become a more collaborative and integral part of the larger business strategy, and I’ve been happy to see my teams finally getting a much-deserved seat at the table. The IT function today is not only expected to understand the business strategy, but also be able to translate and incorporate that strategy into their technology playbook. They need to be much stronger in their presence to solve problems, champion for what projects need to be prioritized in the company, and how to ask for the right funding on said projects. From redesigning the customer experience, getting buy-in and adoption on new tools, to working in lockstep with the CEO, IT leaders are being challenged to think more dynamically and strategically. By expanding their skill set outside of their technical comfort zone, IT professionals are winning the new race of digitization. Storytelling is without doubt a key component of that success. Vivek Kolpe is an experienced IT leader in the MedTech and Healthcare industry. He has worked in various IT leadership roles at Medtronic and Boston Scientific and management consulting roles at Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) and Computer Sciences and Top Tier Consulting (now Cognizant). He has focused on IT Enterprise Apps and Platforms, IT Capability/People Development, Product Team optimizations, and driving global digital transformation. The Presentation Company (TPC) is a corporate training company that helps talented businesspeople bring clarity and meaning to their ideas and data and influence decisions through storytelling. For over 20 years, TPC’s workshops have helped the world’s top brands – including Meta, T-Mobile, and Medtronic – transform their teams into strategic, influential visual communicators and drive business forward. We believe that with our storytelling framework, some simple guidance, and the right tools, everyone can be a great business storyteller! References 1Deloitte Insights, Charting your course: A road map for transitioning to the CIO role 22021 Gartner What’s Next for CIOs Survey 3McKinsey, Changing change management 4PMI, The High Cost of Low Performance: The Essential Role of Communications", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/cio-no-text.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T16:13:16-05:00" }, { "id": 10656, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/on-demand-webinar-everyday-business-storytelling/", "title": "[On-Demand Webinar] Everyday Business Storytelling", "h1": "[On-Demand Webinar] Everyday Business Storytelling", "summary": "", "content": "

Did you know we’re 22x more likely to remember a fact if it’s wrapped in a story? Amazing, right? While wrapping our ideas and data into a story – at work – might seem like a daunting challenge, with the right tools and techniques, anyone (no matter role or function) can learn how to be a great business storyteller.

In this 30-minute on-demand webinar, explore a simple, practical, and repeatable storytelling framework that will help you elevate your conversations, influence decisions, and ensure your audience knows exactly what you want them to know and do with the information.

Whether you’re building a presentation, crafting a high-stakes email, or delivering a sales pitch, you’ll learn how to transform any form of business communication into a compelling narrative.

(Spoiler alert! This session provides a sneak peek of the concepts covered in our story strategy workshop.)

You can view our Privacy Policy here.
", "content_plain": "Did you know we’re 22x more likely to remember a fact if it’s wrapped in a story? Amazing, right? While wrapping our ideas and data into a story – at work – might seem like a daunting challenge, with the right tools and techniques, anyone (no matter role or function) can learn how to be a great business storyteller. In this 30-minute on-demand webinar, explore a simple, practical, and repeatable storytelling framework that will help you elevate your conversations, influence decisions, and ensure your audience knows exactly what you want them to know and do with the information. Whether you’re building a presentation, crafting a high-stakes email, or delivering a sales pitch, you’ll learn how to transform any form of business communication into a compelling narrative. (Spoiler alert! This session provides a sneak peek of the concepts covered in our story strategy workshop.) You can view our Privacy Policy here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/EBS-Webinar-cover-slide.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T10:05:20-05:00" }, { "id": 10650, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/how-storytelling-has-empowered-my-teams-at-kraft-heinz/", "title": "How Storytelling has Empowered My Teams at Kraft Heinz to Become the Indispensable Partner to our Customers", "h1": "How Storytelling has Empowered My Teams at Kraft Heinz to Become the Indispensable Partner to our Customers", "summary": "As anyone working in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) space knows, grabbing the attention of today’s shopper is like trying to hit a moving target. Changes in buyer preferences have created a new reality that has challenged the retail space and reshaped the role of category leaders.", "content": "

By Chris Conroy, former Head of Field Category Leadership at Kraft Heinz, in partnership with The Presentation Company

As anyone working in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) space knows, grabbing the attention of today’s shopper is like trying to hit a moving target. Changes in buyer preferences have created a new reality that has challenged the retail space and reshaped the role of category leaders.

The evolution of Category Leadership

Category Leadership as a discipline has experienced an accelerated evolution over the past few years, driven by a number of factors. First and foremost, shopper behavior has changed rapidly in reaction to the ever-shifting economic environment. Shoppers have more choices and are now more inclined to shop where it is beneficial to them, versus being loyal to any specific retailer. This growth in choice continues to broaden with e-commerce. As a result, retailers are having to make decisions much more quickly than they ever did before, which has an impact on how category leaders deliver insights to inform and accelerate their decision-making.

For retailers, these changes to shopper behavior require a change in strategy. Within Category Leadership, retailers want strategic partners with shopper-centric insights that can add value and inform decisions that help the shopper, the category, and the retailer succeed. They are now looking for category advisors whose expertise goes beyond the category. They want someone who can look at the store holistically and understand how to incorporate different tactics to help not grow just the category, but also adjacent categories, the aisle, and ultimately the entire store.

At Kraft Heinz, our Category Leadership Advisors are working to support this need for faster decision-making while having to navigate a massive amount of data coming at us from the customer, the marketplace, and other sources related to the macro-environment. Incorporating this growing volume of data into a cohesive story is harder than when it was just scan and shopper data.

\"\"Because of the amount of data and necessity for speed, it is super challenging to make actionable and concise recommendations. How do you mine through all the data and serve up compelling headlines to help retailers make the best decision? You need to present information in an easy-to-digest way that is relevant and relatable to the audience, and also put forward a clear call to action.

At Kraft Heinz, our primary goal is to become the indispensable partner to our retailers. Retailers are looking for partners to be their go-to resource for thought leadership, shopper and industry trends, and problem solving. We are striving to be the first phone call a retailer makes, whether they want to validate a consumer trend or seek counsel on a business opportunity. To become that trusted partner, we must establish ourselves as trustworthy and credible and put the category and retailer’s interests front and center.

Success in our partnerships results in the achievement of the three pillars of our category growth model: getting more people in the store, to buy more, more often – or, said another way, driving loyalty for our retailers. If we don’t do our jobs well, one of these three components will be impacted. For the retailer, the implications of this are massive: if they can’t get the insights they need to make decisions that grow the business, shoppers will go elsewhere and the stores will suffer.

\"\"And let’s be clear: having the data retailers need is only part of the task at hand. The more pressing challenge is being able to share the ‘so what’ from that data and then communicate it in a way that makes you a memorable and trusted resource.

This evolution in the Category Leadership space means that the partnership is now earned, not expected. So, the question is, how do you equip your team with the skills – and mindset – to stand out from the competition, build those critical relationships, and become that indispensable partner?

Leveling up from the competition requires a skills transformation

For my team at Kraft Heinz, this has challenged us to shift our approach. We have become obsessed with getting to the root cause of our customer’s problem. We wanted our teams to think even bigger when presenting their ideas. In earlier days, we would enter a meeting with a retailer armed with 50+ slides packed with every data point we had in our arsenal. Our presentations rarely came from an audience point of view. We were not creating excitement upfront when presenting our ideas, so we didn’t stand out. Instead, we were just one of a series of daily meetings for our retailers. We recognized that something had to change if we wanted to become more distinctive and memorable, and to build trust with our retail partners.

\"\"

The truth is that leveling up the dialogue and gaining influence with your retail partners requires a whole new set of competencies, from strong executive presence and presentation skills to data literacy.

Over the past few years, through our partnership with The Presentation Company, my team at Kraft Heinz – along with other cross-functional groups outside of Category Leadership– have gained critical storytelling skills that have enabled us to demonstrate value to the business – and our customers.

Storytelling: the key to being an indispensable partner

With the proper framework and skills in place, storytelling has been an essential component of our mission to become an indispensable partner. We have used storytelling to build business narratives that pull in our audience, keep them interested, and prompt them into action. Instead of our retail partners becoming static receivers of information, they have become the central focus of a story we’ve written specifically for them. What could be more compelling than that?

Here are just a few of the ways storytelling can become an invaluable capability for not only today’s category leaders, but for any and all functions across an organization.

\"\"Storytelling provides a common language among cross-functional teams.

Once an entire organization can “speak story,” it unlocks a whole new level of teamwork. We have seen a culture of storytelling emerge at Kraft Heinz. My teams regularly incorporate TPC’s coaching and story building tools into their process. Whether brainstorming ideas with the sales team or sifting through data with the consumer insights team, the storytelling framework helps us clearly communicate our goals cross-functionally. It creates a shared form of communication that promotes collaboration, saves time, and quite frankly, makes working together more fun.

A visual strategy helps you become more distinct and memorable.

Layering a strong visual strategy on top of storytelling fundamentals has helped us net out complex ideas and present information that could be overly complicated or overwhelming in a very simple way. We have made a conscious effort to “de-word” our slides and reduce what may have been a list of bullet points down into a single takeaway. Our visual strategy has earned us some ‘wow’ reactions to our stories; retailers are even using our slides when presenting ideas to their audiences. We are helping our buyers communicate the insights. This has been a game-changer when it comes to leaving a lasting impression and building trust.

Storytelling improves data literacy.

When data is presented poorly and lacks context, it can cause confusion, slow decision-making, and alienate your audience. Knowing how to wrap your data in a story and strong visuals, however, makes all the difference. I will admit that we used to be data reporters. We would export a complex chart from any one of our various data providers, then we reported the news: here’s what’s happening, here’s what the data says, but not what it tells us to do. We have gone from letting the data control the narrative to putting the focus on the audience and letting their needs drive the story. And in doing this, we have been able to transform numbers into meaningful insights that can help our customers understand complex concepts, remember key information, and most importantly, make informed decisions.

\"\"Storytelling puts your audience at the center of the story.

Today’s retailers are looking for brand-agnostic partners that bring innovative ideas, real-world solutions, and category strategies to the table. As category leaders, we are in a unique position in that we are working in service to multiple audiences – the shopper and the retailer. Storytelling has helped us develop the mindset to put ourselves into our audience’s shoes and ensure that our story does the same. This has allowed us to make the shopper and the retailer the principal focus. Instead of just communicating information, we are in a position to get to the root of our audience’s problem and speak directly to what they’re seeking to solve for.

\"\"Storytelling helps you uplevel the conversation.

Being able to deliver a powerful business story shows customers your mastery of the material while also taking off some pressure. Instead of spending all your energy trying to sell data points, you can let the story speak for you and leave space for feedback and conversation. This moves customer interactions from transactional to strategic, which builds both loyalty and trust. I have seen my team grow their confidence, too. If they know their story, they are comfortable presenting it and less reliant on having to rehash every word on the slide or data point on a chart. Instead, we call out the takeaway, then speak to supporting points. If there is something we don’t know, we’re comfortable following up or providing the information separately.

Storytelling has enabled us to create a two-way dialogue and have conversations that really make a difference to our buyers, versus just addressing the tactical questions. And once you can move past the tactical, it leaves room to think bigger. Through storytelling, we have been able to help our partners to consider new ideas and solve for something more than just today’s fire drill.

Storytelling can flex to different scenarios and be adjusted on the fly.

The new business landscape means we must make the most of our time with retail partners. Meetings are now kept short and often virtual. The storytelling framework has helped us maximize our impact by keeping presentations concise. It’s also allowed us to easily adapt if our presentation time gets cut short. We only focus on sharing information that moves the story forward. And the best part? The storytelling framework can be applied to any form of business communications; I have seen my team use it in high-stakes emails and even during store walks.

\"\"Storytelling improves our meeting productivity and efficiency.

One of the most compelling parts about applying a storytelling framework to a presentation with a retailer is that there is no confusion on the ‘so what?’ Decision-makers are clear on what the recommendation is and what they’re being asked to act on. Oftentimes this can lead to a decision being made in the moment vs. spending the entire meeting time presenting, then having to schedule more meetings to make decisions and address questions. This has allowed us to get to action more quickly, rather than in subsequent follow-up meetings or many email exchanges later.

Storytelling has changed how our customers view us.

Retailers have definitely taken notice of how we’re showing up differently. Now we are more prepared and are approaching conversations with a strategic mindset. My team members are more thoughtful about what they present, and storytelling helps us uncover what we are trying to solve for – and also share recommendations on how we get there. We have not only seen this in direct feedback from our customers; the impact is reflected in quantitative data, too. In two recent retailer surveys compiled by Advantage and Kantar, our ranking by retailers improved significantly, showing that our efforts to become indispensable are hitting home and making a difference with our customers.

\"\"From supplier to strategic partner

There is no question—continual changes in buyer behavior and preferences have completely upended the CPG landscape. The retail environment is far more dynamic than it used to be, and category leaders are now part of a larger ecosystem of communication, data sharing, and strategic planning all centered on one overarching goal—winning over today’s shopper.

Storytelling can help category leaders better engage with retailers, effectively communicate critical learnings, and demonstrate that they are an indispensable strategic partner that can add value both now – and well into the future.

Chris Conroy was the Head of Category Leadership for The Kraft Heinz Company. In this strategic leadership role, Chris brought his passion as a team builder and talent developer to lead a high-powered team of category leadership professionals. That team is keenly focused on driving shopper loyalty for Kraft Heinz’s retailer partners by linking shopper insights, category strategies and tactics to store, aisle, and category growth solutions. Throughout his career in consumer products, Chris has held leadership roles spanning Sales, Shopper Marketing, and Category Leadership. Chris began his career with Kraft Foods in 2011, as the Associate Director of Category Management.

The Presentation Company (TPC) is a corporate training company that helps talented businesspeople bring clarity and meaning to their ideas and data and influence decisions through storytelling. For over 20 years, TPC has partnered with Fortune 500 companies – including Meta, T-Mobile, Medtronic, and top CPG brands Kraft Heinz, Colgate-Palmolive, and Nestlé – to transform teams into strategic, influential visual communicators and drive business forward. We believe that with our storytelling framework, some simple guidance, and the right tools, everyone can be a great business storyteller!

", "content_plain": "By Chris Conroy, former Head of Field Category Leadership at Kraft Heinz, in partnership with The Presentation Company As anyone working in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) space knows, grabbing the attention of today’s shopper is like trying to hit a moving target. Changes in buyer preferences have created a new reality that has challenged the retail space and reshaped the role of category leaders. The evolution of Category Leadership Category Leadership as a discipline has experienced an accelerated evolution over the past few years, driven by a number of factors. First and foremost, shopper behavior has changed rapidly in reaction to the ever-shifting economic environment. Shoppers have more choices and are now more inclined to shop where it is beneficial to them, versus being loyal to any specific retailer. This growth in choice continues to broaden with e-commerce. As a result, retailers are having to make decisions much more quickly than they ever did before, which has an impact on how category leaders deliver insights to inform and accelerate their decision-making. For retailers, these changes to shopper behavior require a change in strategy. Within Category Leadership, retailers want strategic partners with shopper-centric insights that can add value and inform decisions that help the shopper, the category, and the retailer succeed. They are now looking for category advisors whose expertise goes beyond the category. They want someone who can look at the store holistically and understand how to incorporate different tactics to help not grow just the category, but also adjacent categories, the aisle, and ultimately the entire store. At Kraft Heinz, our Category Leadership Advisors are working to support this need for faster decision-making while having to navigate a massive amount of data coming at us from the customer, the marketplace, and other sources related to the macro-environment. Incorporating this growing volume of data into a cohesive story is harder than when it was just scan and shopper data. Because of the amount of data and necessity for speed, it is super challenging to make actionable and concise recommendations. How do you mine through all the data and serve up compelling headlines to help retailers make the best decision? You need to present information in an easy-to-digest way that is relevant and relatable to the audience, and also put forward a clear call to action. At Kraft Heinz, our primary goal is to become the indispensable partner to our retailers. Retailers are looking for partners to be their go-to resource for thought leadership, shopper and industry trends, and problem solving. We are striving to be the first phone call a retailer makes, whether they want to validate a consumer trend or seek counsel on a business opportunity. To become that trusted partner, we must establish ourselves as trustworthy and credible and put the category and retailer’s interests front and center. Success in our partnerships results in the achievement of the three pillars of our category growth model: getting more people in the store, to buy more, more often – or, said another way, driving loyalty for our retailers. If we don’t do our jobs well, one of these three components will be impacted. For the retailer, the implications of this are massive: if they can’t get the insights they need to make decisions that grow the business, shoppers will go elsewhere and the stores will suffer. And let’s be clear: having the data retailers need is only part of the task at hand. The more pressing challenge is being able to share the ‘so what’ from that data and then communicate it in a way that makes you a memorable and trusted resource. This evolution in the Category Leadership space means that the partnership is now earned, not expected. So, the question is, how do you equip your team with the skills – and mindset – to stand out from the competition, build those critical relationships, and become that indispensable partner? Leveling up from the competition requires a skills transformation For my team at Kraft Heinz, this has challenged us to shift our approach. We have become obsessed with getting to the root cause of our customer’s problem. We wanted our teams to think even bigger when presenting their ideas. In earlier days, we would enter a meeting with a retailer armed with 50+ slides packed with every data point we had in our arsenal. Our presentations rarely came from an audience point of view. We were not creating excitement upfront when presenting our ideas, so we didn’t stand out. Instead, we were just one of a series of daily meetings for our retailers. We recognized that something had to change if we wanted to become more distinctive and memorable, and to build trust with our retail partners. The truth is that leveling up the dialogue and gaining influence with your retail partners requires a whole new set of competencies, from strong executive presence and presentation skills to data literacy. Over the past few years, through our partnership with The Presentation Company, my team at Kraft Heinz – along with other cross-functional groups outside of Category Leadership– have gained critical storytelling skills that have enabled us to demonstrate value to the business – and our customers. Storytelling: the key to being an indispensable partner With the proper framework and skills in place, storytelling has been an essential component of our mission to become an indispensable partner. We have used storytelling to build business narratives that pull in our audience, keep them interested, and prompt them into action. Instead of our retail partners becoming static receivers of information, they have become the central focus of a story we’ve written specifically for them. What could be more compelling than that? Here are just a few of the ways storytelling can become an invaluable capability for not only today’s category leaders, but for any and all functions across an organization. Storytelling provides a common language among cross-functional teams. Once an entire organization can “speak story,” it unlocks a whole new level of teamwork. We have seen a culture of storytelling emerge at Kraft Heinz. My teams regularly incorporate TPC’s coaching and story building tools into their process. Whether brainstorming ideas with the sales team or sifting through data with the consumer insights team, the storytelling framework helps us clearly communicate our goals cross-functionally. It creates a shared form of communication that promotes collaboration, saves time, and quite frankly, makes working together more fun. A visual strategy helps you become more distinct and memorable. Layering a strong visual strategy on top of storytelling fundamentals has helped us net out complex ideas and present information that could be overly complicated or overwhelming in a very simple way. We have made a conscious effort to “de-word” our slides and reduce what may have been a list of bullet points down into a single takeaway. Our visual strategy has earned us some ‘wow’ reactions to our stories; retailers are even using our slides when presenting ideas to their audiences. We are helping our buyers communicate the insights. This has been a game-changer when it comes to leaving a lasting impression and building trust. Storytelling improves data literacy. When data is presented poorly and lacks context, it can cause confusion, slow decision-making, and alienate your audience. Knowing how to wrap your data in a story and strong visuals, however, makes all the difference. I will admit that we used to be data reporters. We would export a complex chart from any one of our various data providers, then we reported the news: here’s what’s happening, here’s what the data says, but not what it tells us to do. We have gone from letting the data control the narrative to putting the focus on the audience and letting their needs drive the story. And in doing this, we have been able to transform numbers into meaningful insights that can help our customers understand complex concepts, remember key information, and most importantly, make informed decisions. Storytelling puts your audience at the center of the story. Today’s retailers are looking for brand-agnostic partners that bring innovative ideas, real-world solutions, and category strategies to the table. As category leaders, we are in a unique position in that we are working in service to multiple audiences – the shopper and the retailer. Storytelling has helped us develop the mindset to put ourselves into our audience’s shoes and ensure that our story does the same. This has allowed us to make the shopper and the retailer the principal focus. Instead of just communicating information, we are in a position to get to the root of our audience’s problem and speak directly to what they’re seeking to solve for. Storytelling helps you uplevel the conversation. Being able to deliver a powerful business story shows customers your mastery of the material while also taking off some pressure. Instead of spending all your energy trying to sell data points, you can let the story speak for you and leave space for feedback and conversation. This moves customer interactions from transactional to strategic, which builds both loyalty and trust. I have seen my team grow their confidence, too. If they know their story, they are comfortable presenting it and less reliant on having to rehash every word on the slide or data point on a chart. Instead, we call out the takeaway, then speak to supporting points. If there is something we don’t know, we’re comfortable following up or providing the information separately. Storytelling has enabled us to create a two-way dialogue and have conversations that really make a difference to our buyers, versus just addressing the tactical questions. And once you can move past the tactical, it leaves room to think bigger. Through storytelling, we have been able to help our partners to consider new ideas and solve for something more than just today’s fire drill. Storytelling can flex to different scenarios and be adjusted on the fly. The new business landscape means we must make the most of our time with retail partners. Meetings are now kept short and often virtual. The storytelling framework has helped us maximize our impact by keeping presentations concise. It’s also allowed us to easily adapt if our presentation time gets cut short. We only focus on sharing information that moves the story forward. And the best part? The storytelling framework can be applied to any form of business communications; I have seen my team use it in high-stakes emails and even during store walks. Storytelling improves our meeting productivity and efficiency. One of the most compelling parts about applying a storytelling framework to a presentation with a retailer is that there is no confusion on the ‘so what?’ Decision-makers are clear on what the recommendation is and what they’re being asked to act on. Oftentimes this can lead to a decision being made in the moment vs. spending the entire meeting time presenting, then having to schedule more meetings to make decisions and address questions. This has allowed us to get to action more quickly, rather than in subsequent follow-up meetings or many email exchanges later. Storytelling has changed how our customers view us. Retailers have definitely taken notice of how we’re showing up differently. Now we are more prepared and are approaching conversations with a strategic mindset. My team members are more thoughtful about what they present, and storytelling helps us uncover what we are trying to solve for – and also share recommendations on how we get there. We have not only seen this in direct feedback from our customers; the impact is reflected in quantitative data, too. In two recent retailer surveys compiled by Advantage and Kantar, our ranking by retailers improved significantly, showing that our efforts to become indispensable are hitting home and making a difference with our customers. From supplier to strategic partner There is no question—continual changes in buyer behavior and preferences have completely upended the CPG landscape. The retail environment is far more dynamic than it used to be, and category leaders are now part of a larger ecosystem of communication, data sharing, and strategic planning all centered on one overarching goal—winning over today’s shopper. Storytelling can help category leaders better engage with retailers, effectively communicate critical learnings, and demonstrate that they are an indispensable strategic partner that can add value both now – and well into the future. Chris Conroy was the Head of Category Leadership for The Kraft Heinz Company. In this strategic leadership role, Chris brought his passion as a team builder and talent developer to lead a high-powered team of category leadership professionals. That team is keenly focused on driving shopper loyalty for Kraft Heinz’s retailer partners by linking shopper insights, category strategies and tactics to store, aisle, and category growth solutions. Throughout his career in consumer products, Chris has held leadership roles spanning Sales, Shopper Marketing, and Category Leadership. Chris began his career with Kraft Foods in 2011, as the Associate Director of Category Management. The Presentation Company (TPC) is a corporate training company that helps talented businesspeople bring clarity and meaning to their ideas and data and influence decisions through storytelling. For over 20 years, TPC has partnered with Fortune 500 companies – including Meta, T-Mobile, Medtronic, and top CPG brands Kraft Heinz, Colgate-Palmolive, and Nestlé – to transform teams into strategic, influential visual communicators and drive business forward. We believe that with our storytelling framework, some simple guidance, and the right tools, everyone can be a great business storyteller!", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/storytelling.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T16:13:34-05:00" }, { "id": 10858, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/why-business-storytelling-and-why-now/", "title": "Why Business Storytelling, and Why Now?", "h1": "Why Business Storytelling, and Why Now?", "summary": "", "content": "

Everyone knows how critical people are to the resilience and success of any operation. Today’s leaders recognize that they need to advance strategic initiatives by giving their people the skills to demonstrate value, influence decision-making, and drive business forward. But the reality is, everyone is moving fast, has lots of ideas and data to communicate, and needs to adapt to a variety of customer and stakeholder needs—all with limited time and resources.

Although many of us are accustomed to doing more with less, now more than ever it’s critical that we build confident and resilient teams that can handle whatever comes their way. One way to do this is to arm teams with a common language and framework to communicate their strategy, ideas, and data with clarity. According to a Microsoft work trend report1, the average employee spends 57% of their time communicating (think meetings, email, and chat) and 43% creating (in documents, spreadsheets, and presentations).

When you consider that all of our time at work is spent either communicating or creating things as a means to communicate, it’s never been more essential to have clear and concise communication across your organization.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.
\"\"

According to a recent study, 93% of business leaders acknowledge that effective communication is the backbone of their business. But nearly three in four business leaders say their teams struggled with communicating effectively over the last year. And here’s the real kicker: Poor communication can cost your organization $12,000+ per employee every year.2

Of course, those numbers don’t convey how poor communication manifests itself in everyday business interactions. Think about all the ineffective meetings that lead to yet another meeting to gain clarity. Consider all the poorly communicated initiatives that don’t achieve results. Or how about the lack of collaboration that stifles innovation, and the snooze-worthy decks that miss the chance to influence and require valuable time to rework? And finally, the data dumping that lacks any insight or recommendation, leaving decision- makers decoding, “What do you want me to know or do?”

\"\"

Over time, these deficiencies add up, and they all point to one root issue—a lack of effective communication skills. The question, then, is how do we address this skills gap… and what’s the best way to integrate the learned skills into your organization?

Storytelling is the key to transforming people into strategic communicators and influencing organizational change

It’s time to empower your people with the skills and capabilities to help progress strategic priorities, deliver on long-term value, and optimize business impact. Here are six ways you can use storytelling to develop your leaders – and elevate your business:

  1. Uplevel the conversation
    Storytelling helps make employees more dynamic communicators, while also giving them the ability to move conversations from tactical to strategic. And because everyone can relate to a powerfully constructed story, conversations are more productive across the business, as well as with external customers.
  2. Boost executive presence
    Storytelling helps you display mastery of material and flex your narrative in real-time to meet the diverse needs of your audience. The result? You gain the confidence to connect authentically and with more authority. Plus, knowing how to choose visuals with purpose and intention will maximize the impact of your message, make you (and your ideas) more memorable, and help you stand out from the crowd.
  3. \"\"Supercharge data literacy and analytics
    Every day, data drives business-critical decisions. Knowing how to extract and interpret data is only one side of the coin; the other side is having the data literacy and analytics skills to transform data into insights. Storytelling gives anyone who works with data the skills to curate and present data that advances the story, which will help stakeholders understand complex concepts, remember key information, and ultimately make informed decisions.
  4. Communicate change
    According to McKinsey, 70% of change communications and programs fail to achieve their goals.2 Getting employee buy-in and engagement is critical to any successful transformation effort. Storytelling is your secret change agent. It humanizes the “why, what, how” to your audience, which is an effective way to build empathy, community, and trust with employees.
  5. Align cross-functional teams
    Uniting teams with a common language establishes a mutual methodology for teams to share ideas, collaborate, and get on the same page. Storytelling also helps improve efficiency and productivity; teams will spend less time in meetings explaining slides and instead engage in meaningful dialogue that helps accelerate decision-making. When teams are working from a common framework, it helps eliminate review cycles and costly rework.
  6. \"\"Give everyone a voice
    Creating equitable learning opportunities is now a baseline expectation. Employees want a company culture that provides a sense of belonging and allows everyone to feel seen and heard. Storytelling skills can be scaled across the entire organization, giving everyone a seat at the table and the ability to effectively share their ideas, no matter their role or seniority.

A unique methodology to drive business forward

So how can you make storytelling relevant and practical to everyone in your organization? We believe the best communicators need a story strategy, visual strategy, and data strategy to help them create and deliver impactful visual stories.

\"\"

Why story strategy?

Applying a story strategy to your business communications allows you to connect authentically with your audience while giving them a reason to care. Learn how to leverage the power of storytelling and integrate it into anything you say, send, deliver, or present (hint: think presentations, 1-pagers, or emails). Get a practical framework to turn your ideas and data into meaningful business stories that are clear, actionable, and memorable.

\"\"Why visual strategy?

Storytelling fundamentals are essential, but storytelling without visuals is only half the story. Molecular Biologist John Medina explains: three days after hearing a piece of information, you typically only remember 10% of it. But add a visual and you’ll remember 65%. Effective storytelling requires the skills and mindset to choose visuals with purpose and intention. With an effective visual strategy, every visual in your story will be relevant, bolster your insights, and support your narrative.

Why data strategy?

Too many numbers and graphs (aka data dumping!) can overwhelm and disengage audiences, but wrapping data in story and visuals gives decision-makers the context they need to understand what the numbers are actually communicating. A data strategy will give you the tools and skills to create easy-to- scan charts, tables, and graphs that cut through the noise and lead to actionable data insights.

Get the skills and confidence to flex your story

Having a storytelling framework is essential to crafting a powerful and persuasive narrative. But beyond having good story structure, we also need to be able to flex to how we communicate every day. After all, we know storytelling isn’t one size fits all. So what do we mean by flexing your story?

\"storytelling-flex\"

Imagine you’ve spent countless hours preparing to present to a room full of executives, and at the last minute you find out your 30 minutes have been cut down to five, or maybe as you’re gearing up for a team presentation, your boss tells you “no more than 3 to 5 slides.” And what if you’re trying to secure a deal with a decision-maker but need to influence and sell your ideas over email?

\"\"Learning how to flex your story to adapt to these scenarios – and also knowing how to share your story with diverse audiences – is a skill as critical as storytelling itself. The ability to pivot in the moment will boost your confidence and executive presence, while putting your audience in the driver’s seat to make them feel like they are part of a two-way dialogue.

Impact business outcomes and influence organizational change

Want to hear firsthand how having a story, visual, and data strategy has helped companies like yours drive business forward?

\"Three

References:
1 Microsoft Work Trend Index Annual Report, Will AI Fix Work?
2 Grammarly/The Harris Poll, 2023 The State of Business Communication
3 McKinsey & Company, Changing Change Management

", "content_plain": "Everyone knows how critical people are to the resilience and success of any operation. Today’s leaders recognize that they need to advance strategic initiatives by giving their people the skills to demonstrate value, influence decision-making, and drive business forward. But the reality is, everyone is moving fast, has lots of ideas and data to communicate, and needs to adapt to a variety of customer and stakeholder needs—all with limited time and resources. Although many of us are accustomed to doing more with less, now more than ever it’s critical that we build confident and resilient teams that can handle whatever comes their way. One way to do this is to arm teams with a common language and framework to communicate their strategy, ideas, and data with clarity. According to a Microsoft work trend report1, the average employee spends 57% of their time communicating (think meetings, email, and chat) and 43% creating (in documents, spreadsheets, and presentations). When you consider that all of our time at work is spent either communicating or creating things as a means to communicate, it’s never been more essential to have clear and concise communication across your organization. You can view our Privacy Policy here. According to a recent study, 93% of business leaders acknowledge that effective communication is the backbone of their business. But nearly three in four business leaders say their teams struggled with communicating effectively over the last year. And here’s the real kicker: Poor communication can cost your organization $12,000+ per employee every year.2 Of course, those numbers don’t convey how poor communication manifests itself in everyday business interactions. Think about all the ineffective meetings that lead to yet another meeting to gain clarity. Consider all the poorly communicated initiatives that don’t achieve results. Or how about the lack of collaboration that stifles innovation, and the snooze-worthy decks that miss the chance to influence and require valuable time to rework? And finally, the data dumping that lacks any insight or recommendation, leaving decision- makers decoding, “What do you want me to know or do?” Over time, these deficiencies add up, and they all point to one root issue—a lack of effective communication skills. The question, then, is how do we address this skills gap… and what’s the best way to integrate the learned skills into your organization? Storytelling is the key to transforming people into strategic communicators and influencing organizational change It’s time to empower your people with the skills and capabilities to help progress strategic priorities, deliver on long-term value, and optimize business impact. Here are six ways you can use storytelling to develop your leaders – and elevate your business: Uplevel the conversation Storytelling helps make employees more dynamic communicators, while also giving them the ability to move conversations from tactical to strategic. And because everyone can relate to a powerfully constructed story, conversations are more productive across the business, as well as with external customers. Boost executive presence Storytelling helps you display mastery of material and flex your narrative in real-time to meet the diverse needs of your audience. The result? You gain the confidence to connect authentically and with more authority. Plus, knowing how to choose visuals with purpose and intention will maximize the impact of your message, make you (and your ideas) more memorable, and help you stand out from the crowd. Supercharge data literacy and analytics Every day, data drives business-critical decisions. Knowing how to extract and interpret data is only one side of the coin; the other side is having the data literacy and analytics skills to transform data into insights. Storytelling gives anyone who works with data the skills to curate and present data that advances the story, which will help stakeholders understand complex concepts, remember key information, and ultimately make informed decisions. Communicate change According to McKinsey, 70% of change communications and programs fail to achieve their goals.2 Getting employee buy-in and engagement is critical to any successful transformation effort. Storytelling is your secret change agent. It humanizes the “why, what, how” to your audience, which is an effective way to build empathy, community, and trust with employees. Align cross-functional teams Uniting teams with a common language establishes a mutual methodology for teams to share ideas, collaborate, and get on the same page. Storytelling also helps improve efficiency and productivity; teams will spend less time in meetings explaining slides and instead engage in meaningful dialogue that helps accelerate decision-making. When teams are working from a common framework, it helps eliminate review cycles and costly rework. Give everyone a voice Creating equitable learning opportunities is now a baseline expectation. Employees want a company culture that provides a sense of belonging and allows everyone to feel seen and heard. Storytelling skills can be scaled across the entire organization, giving everyone a seat at the table and the ability to effectively share their ideas, no matter their role or seniority. A unique methodology to drive business forward So how can you make storytelling relevant and practical to everyone in your organization? We believe the best communicators need a story strategy, visual strategy, and data strategy to help them create and deliver impactful visual stories. Why story strategy? Applying a story strategy to your business communications allows you to connect authentically with your audience while giving them a reason to care. Learn how to leverage the power of storytelling and integrate it into anything you say, send, deliver, or present (hint: think presentations, 1-pagers, or emails). Get a practical framework to turn your ideas and data into meaningful business stories that are clear, actionable, and memorable. Why visual strategy? Storytelling fundamentals are essential, but storytelling without visuals is only half the story. Molecular Biologist John Medina explains: three days after hearing a piece of information, you typically only remember 10% of it. But add a visual and you’ll remember 65%. Effective storytelling requires the skills and mindset to choose visuals with purpose and intention. With an effective visual strategy, every visual in your story will be relevant, bolster your insights, and support your narrative. Why data strategy? Too many numbers and graphs (aka data dumping!) can overwhelm and disengage audiences, but wrapping data in story and visuals gives decision-makers the context they need to understand what the numbers are actually communicating. A data strategy will give you the tools and skills to create easy-to- scan charts, tables, and graphs that cut through the noise and lead to actionable data insights. Get the skills and confidence to flex your story Having a storytelling framework is essential to crafting a powerful and persuasive narrative. But beyond having good story structure, we also need to be able to flex to how we communicate every day. After all, we know storytelling isn’t one size fits all. So what do we mean by flexing your story? Imagine you’ve spent countless hours preparing to present to a room full of executives, and at the last minute you find out your 30 minutes have been cut down to five, or maybe as you’re gearing up for a team presentation, your boss tells you “no more than 3 to 5 slides.” And what if you’re trying to secure a deal with a decision-maker but need to influence and sell your ideas over email? Learning how to flex your story to adapt to these scenarios – and also knowing how to share your story with diverse audiences – is a skill as critical as storytelling itself. The ability to pivot in the moment will boost your confidence and executive presence, while putting your audience in the driver’s seat to make them feel like they are part of a two-way dialogue. Impact business outcomes and influence organizational change Want to hear firsthand how having a story, visual, and data strategy has helped companies like yours drive business forward? “It’s rare to find a skill set that can directly impact the performance and transformation of an organization. Storytelling is truly a change agent.” – Colgate-Palmolive “We have been killing it with our learnings! We’re establishing value quickly with teams as we implement our new storytelling mindset and approach.” – Medtronic “It’s not often you find a no-nonsense approach that can impact your business and talent pool. We’ve been adopting these storytelling principles for years and never looked back.” – Meta “There’s no greater skill than being able to influence and translate data into insights. Storytelling is the winning formula.” – Oracle “Storytelling has been one of the most invigorating learnings our organization has invested in. It’s enabled us to show up differently, not just internally, but with our retailers.” – Kraft Heinz References: 1 Microsoft Work Trend Index Annual Report, Will AI Fix Work? 2 Grammarly/The Harris Poll, 2023 The State of Business Communication 3 McKinsey & Company, Changing Change Management", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Why-Business-Storytelling-and-Why-Now.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-15T10:50:37-05:00" }, { "id": 10892, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/webinar-elevate-your-data-story-with-powerful-visuals/", "title": "[Webinar] Elevate Your Data Story with Powerful Visuals", "h1": "[Webinar] Elevate Your Data Story with Powerful Visuals", "summary": "", "content": "

The Presentation Company (TPC) and our client partner, Kraft Heinz, packed the house for the second-straight year at the 2024 CMA | SIMA conference in Dallas. Our session, Elevate Your Data Story with Powerful Visuals, was the highest-rated session in the storytelling track, with participants raving: “TPC was the best session!” and “This session provided exceptional guidance!”

By popular demand, we took this event virtual and presented it as a webinar with CMA. Watch this one-hour session to see Janine Kurnoff, TPC’s Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, joined by Hasan Issa, Kraft Heinz’s Category Leadership Senior Advisor, as they reprise their popular CMA act.

Together, Janine and Hasan dive deep into the consumer packaged goods (CPG) world and discuss the challenges today’s category leaders face as they strive to become indispensable partners to retailers. They’ll explore practical storytelling strategies to help you mine through mounds of information and serve up visually compelling data stories and actionable recommendations. Plus, Hasan will supply his firsthand perspective and share real before-and-after transformations you won’t want to miss!

Watch the on-demand recording to learn more.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.
", "content_plain": "The Presentation Company (TPC) and our client partner, Kraft Heinz, packed the house for the second-straight year at the 2024 CMA | SIMA conference in Dallas. Our session, Elevate Your Data Story with Powerful Visuals, was the highest-rated session in the storytelling track, with participants raving: “TPC was the best session!” and “This session provided exceptional guidance!” By popular demand, we took this event virtual and presented it as a webinar with CMA. Watch this one-hour session to see Janine Kurnoff, TPC’s Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, joined by Hasan Issa, Kraft Heinz’s Category Leadership Senior Advisor, as they reprise their popular CMA act. Together, Janine and Hasan dive deep into the consumer packaged goods (CPG) world and discuss the challenges today’s category leaders face as they strive to become indispensable partners to retailers. They’ll explore practical storytelling strategies to help you mine through mounds of information and serve up visually compelling data stories and actionable recommendations. Plus, Hasan will supply his firsthand perspective and share real before-and-after transformations you won’t want to miss! Watch the on-demand recording to learn more. You can view our Privacy Policy here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2024-CMA-On-Demand-Webinar-graphic-v3.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T10:07:21-05:00" }, { "id": 11159, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/webinar-business-storytelling-your-communications-superpower/", "title": "[Webinar] Business Storytelling: Your Communications Superpower", "h1": "[Webinar] Business Storytelling: Your Communications Superpower", "summary": "", "content": "

Let’s be honest, the ability to communicate effectively at work can mean the difference between success and failure. After all, 93% of business leaders acknowledge that effective communication is the backbone of their business. But nearly three in four business leaders say their teams struggled with communicating effectively over the last year.1

Are you tired of sitting through lackluster presentations or reading emails that:

If you answered ‘yes,’ then it’s time to rethink how you and your teams are showing up.

In this 1-hour on-demand webinar, get introduced to the key ingredients you need to master the art of business storytelling: a story strategy, a visual strategy, and a data strategy.

Watch now to discover how business storytelling has the power to boost your team’s influence and reputation – and unite cross-functional teams with a common language and framework to communicate ideas and data with clarity and impact.

You can view our Privacy Policy here. ", "content_plain": "Let’s be honest, the ability to communicate effectively at work can mean the difference between success and failure. After all, 93% of business leaders acknowledge that effective communication is the backbone of their business. But nearly three in four business leaders say their teams struggled with communicating effectively over the last year.1 Are you tired of sitting through lackluster presentations or reading emails that: Lack a ‘BIG Idea’ Ignore the audience’s care-abouts Introduce more questions than answers, and Don’t communicate a clear point of view and call to action…? If you answered ‘yes,’ then it’s time to rethink how you and your teams are showing up. In this 1-hour on-demand webinar, get introduced to the key ingredients you need to master the art of business storytelling: a story strategy, a visual strategy, and a data strategy. Watch now to discover how business storytelling has the power to boost your team’s influence and reputation – and unite cross-functional teams with a common language and framework to communicate ideas and data with clarity and impact. You can view our Privacy Policy here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Business-Storytelling-On-demand-webinar-graphic-v1.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T10:06:07-05:00" }, { "id": 7650, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/podcast-the-power-of-storytelling-for-your-business-featured-on-into-the-wild/", "title": "Podcast: The Power of Storytelling for Your Business (Featured on Into the Wild”)”", "h1": "Podcast: The Power of Storytelling for Your Business (Featured on Into the Wild”)”", "summary": "TPC co-founders and storytelling gurus Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus join Renee Warren on the Into the Wild podcast to discuss the inspiration behind TPC and how the two “sister-preneurs” pioneered the idea of taking their love language of storytelling—that we all use in our everyday lives—and applying it to our business lives. In this episode, […]", "content": "

TPC co-founders and storytelling gurus Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus join Renee Warren on the Into the Wild podcast to discuss the inspiration behind TPC and how the two “sister-preneurs” pioneered the idea of taking their love language of storytelling—that we all use in our everyday lives—and applying it to our business lives.

In this episode, you will learn about:

Listen here:

", "content_plain": "TPC co-founders and storytelling gurus Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus join Renee Warren on the Into the Wild podcast to discuss the inspiration behind TPC and how the two “sister-preneurs” pioneered the idea of taking their love language of storytelling—that we all use in our everyday lives—and applying it to our business lives. In this episode, you will learn about: The inspiration behind the Presentation Company Some of the best tips from Everyday Business Storytelling The importance of storytelling in business How to avoid some of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to present ideas How to turn data insights into sales Why your audience needs a “why” when you’re presenting a story Why you need a mentor or a network in business The importance of focusing on your mental health and self-care Listen here:", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Facebook-Lee-and-Janine-1.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T16:10:15-05:00" }, { "id": 7651, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/were-hiring-global-account-manager/", "title": "We’re Hiring! Global Account Manager", "h1": "We’re Hiring! Global Account Manager", "summary": "We’re looking for an experienced Global Account Manager to join our growing sales team. This is a salaried position with bonus potential, and West Coast candidates are highly preferred. Learn more below and apply here if you’re the perfect fit! What you will be doing… Cultivate relationships with existing customers and promote the spectrum of […]", "content": "

We’re looking for an experienced Global Account Manager to join our growing sales team. This is a salaried position with bonus potential, and West Coast candidates are highly preferred. Learn more below and apply here if you’re the perfect fit!

What you will be doing…

\"APPLY

What you need to be successful…

\"APPLY

What’s in it for you?

Who is TPC?

At The Presentation Company (TPC), we believe a lot of talented businesspeople are unable to move their careers forward because they don’t know how to communicate strategically. Instead, they lead with facts, data, and lots of bullet points. In 2001, we set out to change this by developing award-winning training programs that help some of the world’s largest companies wrap their ideas and data into compelling visual narratives.

Today we help some of the world’s top brands such as Facebook, Medtronic, and Nestlé to elevate the way they communicate critical information both internally and externally. We change the world; our culture is purpose-driven and our work has real impact. We are a proud, women-owned business seeking a passionate and collaborative individual to join our growing team!

Why work at TPC?

If you’re inspired by working with smart, passionate people who are driven by each other’s success, this may be your ideal job. Our clients love us because we deliver on our promises, value their partnerships, and approach everything we do in a refreshingly authentic way.

\"APPLY

", "content_plain": "We’re looking for an experienced Global Account Manager to join our growing sales team. This is a salaried position with bonus potential, and West Coast candidates are highly preferred. Learn more below and apply here if you’re the perfect fit! What you will be doing… Cultivate relationships with existing customers and promote the spectrum of TPC’s workshops that align to corporate learning path and skill development needs Build strong, long-lasting relationships with senior-level executives within large global companies, and help educate customers on the value of TPC throughout the adoption cycle Develop account plans and exhibit business acumen and strategic thinking, with the ability to go deep into an account, and align our training programs with their global learning and development strategy Demonstrate thorough, up-to-date knowledge of our product portfolio to communicate the benefits of our program to new and existing clients Provide high-quality customer engagement activities to support learning program deployment, quarterly business reviews, ROI conversations, etc. Build account plans that set account strategy and identify key decision-makers, regional approaches, buying processes, product utilization, and new revenue opportunities Provide onboarding support for new clients to ensure a smooth delivery cycle thru all steps of the process Provide project coordination for client agreements including Statements of Work (SOWs), product and service orders, contract addendums and renewals, obtaining necessary customer signatures What you need to be successful… 3+ years of experience in a B2B sales role and/or 5-years work experience in a client service capacity BA/BS degree preferred but not required Experience managing large accounts with complex organizational structures is ideal Experience with Salesforce and/or other CRM systems is essential Experience selling solutions into Learning and Development and business functions, i.e., Sales, Marketing, Finance, IT is preferred Demonstrated ability to generate and execute against a plan to ensure deep penetration into global accounts Proven track record of meeting or exceedingly quarterly/annual revenue targets Partner with our internal teams to support accounts in pre-sales and program deployment to execute on agreed-upon account goals, strategies, and tactics for growth and expansion. Coordinate and delegate across functional teams of subject matter experts and internal resources to support your accounts. Share successful selling strategies and best practices with teammates Utilize Salesforce.com to track activities and accurately forecast new and expansion revenue opportunities Be open, collaborative, credible, and customer-focused in all communications and transactions with colleagues and clients. Team-oriented yet able to work independently with ease Possess the ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver high-quality work under tight deadlines Excellent communicator who can adjust their communication style to their audience while maintaining a high level of professionalism Accountable and proactive; approaches work with optimism, enthusiasm, and commitment to meeting the needs of clients and colleagues Well-organized, resourceful, and detail-oriented are a must Comfort in working in a fast-paced work environment while maintaining focus on your role Creative problem solver, you have an innovative spirit, and you are a big-picture thinker. You bring your authentic self to work and contribute your superpower every day! You are comfortable ‘rolling up your sleeves’ if something doesn’t exist, create it! What’s in it for you? Competitive compensation package Healthcare – Medical, Dental, and Vision Care 401k program Annual bonuses based on company performance Cell and internet allowance Generous paid time off (PTO, Sick time, Mental Health days off, 11 paid holidays a year, and company close between Christmas and New Year’s) Annual Training allowance And many other fantastic benefits! Who is TPC? At The Presentation Company (TPC), we believe a lot of talented businesspeople are unable to move their careers forward because they don’t know how to communicate strategically. Instead, they lead with facts, data, and lots of bullet points. In 2001, we set out to change this by developing award-winning training programs that help some of the world’s largest companies wrap their ideas and data into compelling visual narratives. Today we help some of the world’s top brands such as Facebook, Medtronic, and Nestlé to elevate the way they communicate critical information both internally and externally. We change the world; our culture is purpose-driven and our work has real impact. We are a proud, women-owned business seeking a passionate and collaborative individual to join our growing team! Why work at TPC? If you’re inspired by working with smart, passionate people who are driven by each other’s success, this may be your ideal job. Our clients love us because we deliver on our promises, value their partnerships, and approach everything we do in a refreshingly authentic way.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Global-Account-Manager_TPC-1-1.jpg", "modified": "2023-02-28T10:42:03-05:00" }, { "id": 7652, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/welcome-to-tpc-rachel-behrle/", "title": "Welcome to TPC, Rachel Behrle!", "h1": "Welcome to TPC, Rachel Behrle!", "summary": "Every day, all over the globe, business professionals at the world’s top brands learn to utilize great storytelling to motivate an audience to act through our workshops. Today, we start a new chapter in TPC’s story. It is with great excitement that we introduce Rachel Behrle as our new Chief Marketing Officer. So, why now? […]", "content": "

Every day, all over the globe, business professionals at the world’s top brands learn to utilize great storytelling to motivate an audience to act through our workshops. Today, we start a new chapter in TPC’s story. It is with great excitement that we introduce Rachel Behrle as our new Chief Marketing Officer.

So, why now?

We’re constantly striving to refine our workshops based on client feedback and innovate our products to give learners the tools they need to create story-driven narratives that accelerate decision-making. With this innovation comes the opportunity to consider how we share our own story with the world. With a background in journalism, communications, and digital marketing, Rachel will help TPC bring our story to life for our customers and prospects.

How does Rachel fit into TPC?

Rachel will lead the evolution of marketing at TPC. Working in tandem with our talented team, Rachel will focus on maturing our digital marketing programs, continuing to build our brand and reputation in the market, and enabling us to better connect with prospects as they solve communication challenges in their organizations.

Prior to joining TPC, Rachel led various marketing functions and teams at training providers throughout the US, including 2U, Skillsoft, and Strategy Execution. Her decades of experience in the learning industry give her a unique understanding of the needs of our buyers and we’re excited to harness that rich knowledge as we continue to grow.

We are so excited to have Rachel join the TPC family! Her energy, knowledge, skills, and mission-driven sense of purpose are a perfect addition to our team. Please join us in giving Rachel a warm welcome!

", "content_plain": "Every day, all over the globe, business professionals at the world’s top brands learn to utilize great storytelling to motivate an audience to act through our workshops. Today, we start a new chapter in TPC’s story. It is with great excitement that we introduce Rachel Behrle as our new Chief Marketing Officer. So, why now? We’re constantly striving to refine our workshops based on client feedback and innovate our products to give learners the tools they need to create story-driven narratives that accelerate decision-making. With this innovation comes the opportunity to consider how we share our own story with the world. With a background in journalism, communications, and digital marketing, Rachel will help TPC bring our story to life for our customers and prospects. How does Rachel fit into TPC? Rachel will lead the evolution of marketing at TPC. Working in tandem with our talented team, Rachel will focus on maturing our digital marketing programs, continuing to build our brand and reputation in the market, and enabling us to better connect with prospects as they solve communication challenges in their organizations. Prior to joining TPC, Rachel led various marketing functions and teams at training providers throughout the US, including 2U, Skillsoft, and Strategy Execution. Her decades of experience in the learning industry give her a unique understanding of the needs of our buyers and we’re excited to harness that rich knowledge as we continue to grow. We are so excited to have Rachel join the TPC family! Her energy, knowledge, skills, and mission-driven sense of purpose are a perfect addition to our team. Please join us in giving Rachel a warm welcome!", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Welcome-CMO-Rachel-Behrle-1.jpg", "modified": "2023-02-28T09:46:58-05:00" }, { "id": 7653, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tpc-contributes-to-training-industry-team-presentations-who-does-what/", "title": "TPC Contributes to Training Industry: Team Presentations: Who Does What?", "h1": "TPC Contributes to Training Industry: Team Presentations: Who Does What?", "summary": "Doesn’t everyone at some point in their career end up working on a team? You’ve probably had to collaborate with your colleagues on a high-stakes meeting or presentation. This process can turn out to be highly rewarding, or utterly painful. We’ve all been there: Different teams, different priorities, all coming together last-minute with their own slides. […]", "content": "

Doesn’t everyone at some point in their career end up working on a team? You’ve probably had to collaborate with your colleagues on a high-stakes meeting or presentation. This process can turn out to be highly rewarding, or utterly painful.

We’ve all been there: Different teams, different priorities, all coming together last-minute with their own slides. It gets combined into a classic “Frankendeck” — a cobbled-together communication with no clear storyline, no united call to action, and often a different look and feel between each person’s contributions. The team delivers their hodge-podge ideas, and it can result in a clunky “stop-start-stop” as different speakers present their respective sections without smooth, pre-planned transitions.

But the truth is, team storytelling doesn’t have to be messy. In fact, team collaboration can be incredibly powerful when it draws on the varied talents of multiple people – a “brain trust” – who all contribute in their own way.

To avoid a rambling, audience-confusing presentation, your team just needs a plan (and a process) for building and delivering a communal story. And the best part? Excelling at this will not only help you move business goals forward, but it can help advance your career, too.

So, how do you choreograph building and delivering a seamless, cohesive team presentation? Here’s how:

Building together, then apart, then together

\"\"

As you begin building your narrative, have the team collaborate on three main components: The “why” of the story (the setting, characters, and conflict), the “what” (your big idea) and a high-level preview of the “how” (the resolution). At this stage, it’s critical for all team members to iterate on the story elements together and ensure everyone is on the same page so that all members are clear on what story they’re collectively trying to tell.

As two, three or more people build a story using the framework, they riff off one another to hammer out the building blocks of the story. When they all stick to a common framework, they can align quickly.

Once your team agrees on the “why” and the “what,” you can move on to the preview of the “how.” This preview is where you introduce the different paths you will take to solve the conflict. Think of it like the 30,000-foot view (or navigational directory) of your resolution.

This preview can be accomplished with a landing page that visually “bucketizes” each part of the resolution and lets each speaker drill into their content (and hand off to the next speaker without losing flow). In a business presentation, three to five “buckets” is a good rule of thumb to not overwhelm your audience.

\"\"

At this point, the team can split up and individually build out their portion of the story’s resolution. In particular, having collaborated on the conflict of the story gives everyone a target to aim for in their part of the resolution, and being mindful of the big idea helps everyone carry it through until the end.

So how do you wrap up the story build? Always together. The team must reassemble to join their pieces and make sure they all lead back to the (oft-repeated) big idea.

Now, it’s time to present … or “dance,” because delivering a team story requires a bit of choreography. Here’s how: The delivery of the team story is flipped. Choose one person to act as the host, and have them set up the context, including the “why” (setting, characters and conflict), the big idea and a preview of the “how.”

Then, other members of the team can present their individual “how’s” (the resolution). One tip is to assign portions of the “how” based upon a team member’s role and expertise. This choreographed dance ensures all story elements flow with minimal overlap or distraction between the speakers.

When everyone is finished, have the host who started the story return to recap and close by revisiting the big idea.

When done correctly, this technique makes it possible for even large teams to co-build and present a strong, cohesive narrative. As you approach your next big meeting or presentation, always have a plan and a process to guide both the development of your story and the choreography of your delivery. Remember: A coordinated approach to storytelling will always go a long way toward getting your ideas heard (career gold!) and moving business forward.

Republished with permission from TrainingIndustry.com

", "content_plain": "Doesn’t everyone at some point in their career end up working on a team? You’ve probably had to collaborate with your colleagues on a high-stakes meeting or presentation. This process can turn out to be highly rewarding, or utterly painful. We’ve all been there: Different teams, different priorities, all coming together last-minute with their own slides. It gets combined into a classic “Frankendeck” — a cobbled-together communication with no clear storyline, no united call to action, and often a different look and feel between each person’s contributions. The team delivers their hodge-podge ideas, and it can result in a clunky “stop-start-stop” as different speakers present their respective sections without smooth, pre-planned transitions. But the truth is, team storytelling doesn’t have to be messy. In fact, team collaboration can be incredibly powerful when it draws on the varied talents of multiple people – a “brain trust” – who all contribute in their own way. To avoid a rambling, audience-confusing presentation, your team just needs a plan (and a process) for building and delivering a communal story. And the best part? Excelling at this will not only help you move business goals forward, but it can help advance your career, too. So, how do you choreograph building and delivering a seamless, cohesive team presentation? Here’s how: Building together, then apart, then together As you begin building your narrative, have the team collaborate on three main components: The “why” of the story (the setting, characters, and conflict), the “what” (your big idea) and a high-level preview of the “how” (the resolution). At this stage, it’s critical for all team members to iterate on the story elements together and ensure everyone is on the same page so that all members are clear on what story they’re collectively trying to tell. As two, three or more people build a story using the framework, they riff off one another to hammer out the building blocks of the story. When they all stick to a common framework, they can align quickly. Once your team agrees on the “why” and the “what,” you can move on to the preview of the “how.” This preview is where you introduce the different paths you will take to solve the conflict. Think of it like the 30,000-foot view (or navigational directory) of your resolution. This preview can be accomplished with a landing page that visually “bucketizes” each part of the resolution and lets each speaker drill into their content (and hand off to the next speaker without losing flow). In a business presentation, three to five “buckets” is a good rule of thumb to not overwhelm your audience. At this point, the team can split up and individually build out their portion of the story’s resolution. In particular, having collaborated on the conflict of the story gives everyone a target to aim for in their part of the resolution, and being mindful of the big idea helps everyone carry it through until the end. So how do you wrap up the story build? Always together. The team must reassemble to join their pieces and make sure they all lead back to the (oft-repeated) big idea. Now, it’s time to present … or “dance,” because delivering a team story requires a bit of choreography. Here’s how: The delivery of the team story is flipped. Choose one person to act as the host, and have them set up the context, including the “why” (setting, characters and conflict), the big idea and a preview of the “how.” Then, other members of the team can present their individual “how’s” (the resolution). One tip is to assign portions of the “how” based upon a team member’s role and expertise. This choreographed dance ensures all story elements flow with minimal overlap or distraction between the speakers. When everyone is finished, have the host who started the story return to recap and close by revisiting the big idea. When done correctly, this technique makes it possible for even large teams to co-build and present a strong, cohesive narrative. As you approach your next big meeting or presentation, always have a plan and a process to guide both the development of your story and the choreography of your delivery. Remember: A coordinated approach to storytelling will always go a long way toward getting your ideas heard (career gold!) and moving business forward. Republished with permission from TrainingIndustry.com", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Training-Industry-Team-Presentations-1.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-01T10:10:20-05:00" }, { "id": 7654, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/the-critical-skill-to-have-in-your-2022-talent-development-roadmap/", "title": "The Critical Skill to Have in Your 2022 Talent Development Roadmap", "h1": "The Critical Skill to Have in Your 2022 Talent Development Roadmap", "summary": "If we’ve learned anything from the past 18 months, it’s a renewed appreciation for how critical people are to the resilience and success of everyday business operations. Understanding how each person contributes to the business, including their talents and transferable skills, is table stakes as we head into a future where growth is determined by […]", "content": "

If we’ve learned anything from the past 18 months, it’s a renewed appreciation for how critical people are to the resilience and success of everyday business operations. Understanding how each person contributes to the business, including their talents and transferable skills, is table stakes as we head into a future where growth is determined by agility, collaboration, and being able to make faster (and smarter) decisions.

What’s this mean for you? Now is the time for companies to double down on professional development and leverage training to develop skills that can flex and adapt to the changing needs of business.

So what’s the one critical skill that’s increasingly being recognized as essential for capabilities fluency? Business storytelling. The ability to communicate with impact has unlimited benefits for an organization, and for many individuals, it’s the accelerant needed for career growth and success.

Regardless of your role, level, or industry, storytelling is a foundational power skill that helps organizations embrace three emerging trends:

1. Finding success in the new “Distance Economy”

Technology has dramatically come to the rescue to help organizations operate effectively when physical interactions with customers became increasingly impossible — including the dramatic rise of telemedicine, professional services, and live virtual events. As we emerge from the pandemic, consumers’ love affair with accessing business services remotely is here to stay. In the process, it’s forcing companies to reinvent work and, in some cases, transform the way workers perform and interact with their customers.

Because the ability to connect and empathize with customers is more challenging in remote environments, storytelling is a superpower for unlocking productive virtual meetings and presentations. How? Storytelling helps you:

2. Creating connection in hybrid work environments

Hybrid workforce models are now embraced by 63% of high-revenue growth companies, and 66% of business leaders are considering redesigning physical spaces to better accommodate blended work environments. This new reality means most interactions with colleagues will now live in a hybrid environment. Unfortunately, running these types of hybrid meetings, presentations, or trainings can be super stressful. You must corral the attention of people hidden behind their screens, engage them, answer questions, solve technical problems, all while trying to get through your content.

And while today’s virtual meeting technology can help, it also presents its own set of challenges. Technical issues can kill your flow and confidence and make it harder for meeting attendees to stay engaged and participate. Moreover, a poorly executed hybrid meeting risks leaving colleagues bored and unlikely to act on meeting insights.

How does business storytelling translate to more productive hybrid meetings? It ensures that everyone is included in the participation and outcomes of any well-planned meeting, including:

3. Innovating through social connectivity

In a world of newsfeeds, overflowing inboxes, and information overload, the ability to get your ideas heard and acted on is critical. One of the biggest complaints we hear from business leaders is their struggle to deal with an “always-on, never done” business culture where ideas across an organization are not clearly communicated, opportunities for collaboration breakdown, and ultimately, innovation suffers.

The solution? Simply put, a compelling story helps us cut through the noise and make ideas memorable, whether you’re presenting internally to co-workers or externally to clients and business partners. Most great ideas that come to life start with a story. It’s how we move business forward. Why? Because storytelling creates a speed of trust that encourages insights to spread across an organization. If you look at any great product breakthrough in the past decade that disrupted an industry, chances are it came out of an organization that communicates and collaborates well with one another through storytelling.

BONUS! Boosting career agility

It’s undeniable: People who work in environments with a rich storytelling ecosystem rise more rapidly in their careers than those who don’t. It allows you better understand your audience’s needs and care-abouts, allowing you to craft more memorable, persuasive communications. And even better, a powerful byproduct of learning effective business storytelling skills is that it increases our executive presence, making us demonstrably more confident, authoritative communicators.

Now, we know what you’re thinking: Storytelling is usually thought of as “fluffy” — it doesn’t apply to the average person in business who doesn’t write Hollywood scripts or give TED Talks. But the truth is, story structure doesn’t just apply to screenplays or marketing folks. It’s a critical communication skill that can be applied to presentations, emails, virtual meetings, one-pagers, even voicemails. No matter where or who you are presenting to, a succinct story provides a clear roadmap to help you navigate flexibly through your material and stay calm, responsive, and confident.

Whether you’re making a recommendation to your boss’s boss, providing a product update, or managing difficult questions from a prospective customer, knowing how to frame your ideas in a story framework humanizes your content, creates a two-way dialogue, and lets you meet your audience’s needs in the moment.

Now is the time to invest in business storytelling

Given the increasingly fast pace of change in today’s business environment, companies need to invest in learning and development of their employees while simultaneously future-proofing their strategies to ensure they remain relevant as skills evolve. Recent innovations in online delivery options make it possible to personalize learning and make it accessible even when teams cannot meet in person, either through live virtual instructor-led training or self-paced on-demand learning. When done well, online delivery fosters a sense of community and allows employees to fit learning into their busy schedules.

So, what are you waiting for? The Presentation Company has a variety of storytelling training modalities, including flexible face-to-face, virtual, and on-demand delivery options. Whether you want training to create a culture of storytellers in your organization or are simply looking to up-level your own skills, our business storytelling workshops are designed to craft compelling visual narratives, flex your stories, and reclaim your time. Who doesn’t want that?!

", "content_plain": "If we’ve learned anything from the past 18 months, it’s a renewed appreciation for how critical people are to the resilience and success of everyday business operations. Understanding how each person contributes to the business, including their talents and transferable skills, is table stakes as we head into a future where growth is determined by agility, collaboration, and being able to make faster (and smarter) decisions. What’s this mean for you? Now is the time for companies to double down on professional development and leverage training to develop skills that can flex and adapt to the changing needs of business. So what’s the one critical skill that’s increasingly being recognized as essential for capabilities fluency? Business storytelling. The ability to communicate with impact has unlimited benefits for an organization, and for many individuals, it’s the accelerant needed for career growth and success. Regardless of your role, level, or industry, storytelling is a foundational power skill that helps organizations embrace three emerging trends: 1. Finding success in the new “Distance Economy” Technology has dramatically come to the rescue to help organizations operate effectively when physical interactions with customers became increasingly impossible — including the dramatic rise of telemedicine, professional services, and live virtual events. As we emerge from the pandemic, consumers’ love affair with accessing business services remotely is here to stay. In the process, it’s forcing companies to reinvent work and, in some cases, transform the way workers perform and interact with their customers. Because the ability to connect and empathize with customers is more challenging in remote environments, storytelling is a superpower for unlocking productive virtual meetings and presentations. How? Storytelling helps you: Create a two-way dialogue: Online meetings tank for two main reasons: your audience is bored, or you’re not responding to their needs sufficiently. The best way to prevent both? Keep people interacting with you and with each other using a solid story as your foundation. It helps you build in planned interactivity to engage your audience and get critical feedback during the session. Be nimble and responsive: Using a story framework allows you to organize information into a roadmap from which you can jump around based on your audience’s needs and questions. This makes is easy for you to pivot in unexpected situations, like when technology inevitably fails, or your meeting time is cut short. “Own” the virtual room: Being able to break through in virtual meetings is critical for professional recognition and career growth. Showing up with a well-prepared story, including visual and verbal cues to guide interaction, will help you stand out from the crowd and feel relaxed, in control, and confident, which is key to developing your communication and leadership skills. 2. Creating connection in hybrid work environments Hybrid workforce models are now embraced by 63% of high-revenue growth companies, and 66% of business leaders are considering redesigning physical spaces to better accommodate blended work environments. This new reality means most interactions with colleagues will now live in a hybrid environment. Unfortunately, running these types of hybrid meetings, presentations, or trainings can be super stressful. You must corral the attention of people hidden behind their screens, engage them, answer questions, solve technical problems, all while trying to get through your content. And while today’s virtual meeting technology can help, it also presents its own set of challenges. Technical issues can kill your flow and confidence and make it harder for meeting attendees to stay engaged and participate. Moreover, a poorly executed hybrid meeting risks leaving colleagues bored and unlikely to act on meeting insights. How does business storytelling translate to more productive hybrid meetings? It ensures that everyone is included in the participation and outcomes of any well-planned meeting, including: Helping to get the story straight. Yes, it’s important to know a story backward and forwards for any meeting, but when the audience is split between people in the room and people calling in remotely, you can’t take any chances. A well-prepared narrative that uses basic storytelling structure becomes the foundation for meetings where people may struggle to belong. Building in prescribed interactions. Storytelling creates frequent opportunities for hybrid participant interaction by helping you inject interaction at natural (yet meaningful) touchpoints during your story. Planning proactively for when you will engage your audience makes for more lively and productive hybrid meetings where everyone can weigh in and feel heard. Encouraging equity. A cohesive story encourages inclusion by choreographing opportunities for everyone to speak. When presenters know their story inside out and their audience can easily track along and pause for questions, everyone in the virtual and physical rooms are more likely to enthusiastically participate. 3. Innovating through social connectivity In a world of newsfeeds, overflowing inboxes, and information overload, the ability to get your ideas heard and acted on is critical. One of the biggest complaints we hear from business leaders is their struggle to deal with an “always-on, never done” business culture where ideas across an organization are not clearly communicated, opportunities for collaboration breakdown, and ultimately, innovation suffers. The solution? Simply put, a compelling story helps us cut through the noise and make ideas memorable, whether you’re presenting internally to co-workers or externally to clients and business partners. Most great ideas that come to life start with a story. It’s how we move business forward. Why? Because storytelling creates a speed of trust that encourages insights to spread across an organization. If you look at any great product breakthrough in the past decade that disrupted an industry, chances are it came out of an organization that communicates and collaborates well with one another through storytelling. BONUS! Boosting career agility It’s undeniable: People who work in environments with a rich storytelling ecosystem rise more rapidly in their careers than those who don’t. It allows you better understand your audience’s needs and care-abouts, allowing you to craft more memorable, persuasive communications. And even better, a powerful byproduct of learning effective business storytelling skills is that it increases our executive presence, making us demonstrably more confident, authoritative communicators. Now, we know what you’re thinking: Storytelling is usually thought of as “fluffy” — it doesn’t apply to the average person in business who doesn’t write Hollywood scripts or give TED Talks. But the truth is, story structure doesn’t just apply to screenplays or marketing folks. It’s a critical communication skill that can be applied to presentations, emails, virtual meetings, one-pagers, even voicemails. No matter where or who you are presenting to, a succinct story provides a clear roadmap to help you navigate flexibly through your material and stay calm, responsive, and confident. Whether you’re making a recommendation to your boss’s boss, providing a product update, or managing difficult questions from a prospective customer, knowing how to frame your ideas in a story framework humanizes your content, creates a two-way dialogue, and lets you meet your audience’s needs in the moment. Now is the time to invest in business storytelling Given the increasingly fast pace of change in today’s business environment, companies need to invest in learning and development of their employees while simultaneously future-proofing their strategies to ensure they remain relevant as skills evolve. Recent innovations in online delivery options make it possible to personalize learning and make it accessible even when teams cannot meet in person, either through live virtual instructor-led training or self-paced on-demand learning. When done well, online delivery fosters a sense of community and allows employees to fit learning into their busy schedules. So, what are you waiting for? The Presentation Company has a variety of storytelling training modalities, including flexible face-to-face, virtual, and on-demand delivery options. Whether you want training to create a culture of storytellers in your organization or are simply looking to up-level your own skills, our business storytelling workshops are designed to craft compelling visual narratives, flex your stories, and reclaim your time. Who doesn’t want that?!", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iStock-1295078108-2-scaled.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T10:02:05-05:00" }, { "id": 7655, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/going-to-atd-heres-what-to-expect-at-our-super-session/", "title": "Going To ATD? Here’s What to Expect at Our Super Session", "h1": "Going To ATD? Here’s What to Expect at Our Super Session", "summary": "Whether you’re attending the ATD International Conference in-person or virtually this year, you won’t want to miss our super session for a behind-the-scenes look at how we built next-generation storytelling training for modern adult learners. TPC Co-founder Janine Kurnoff will be joined by our partners Facebook and NovoEd for an interactive panel discussion — and […]", "content": "

Whether you’re attending the ATD International Conference in-person or virtually this year, you won’t want to miss our super session for a behind-the-scenes look at how we built next-generation storytelling training for modern adult learners. TPC Co-founder Janine Kurnoff will be joined by our partners Facebook and NovoEd for an interactive panel discussion — and practical tips you can implement immediately — on how we collaboratively designed an on-demand course that is human-centric and integrated.

eLearning: Time for an Evolution

In 2017, during the seemingly innocent days before the global pandemic threw our work environments and best-laid plans into chaos, it was clear that — despite the promise of self-paced eLearning providing a flexible, scalable training solution for companies — in practice… it wasn’t working. Learners didn’t complete their courses, and for those that did, there was a question brewing in the L&D community about whether or not this type of training could stand up to live instructor-led training.

Around the same time, there was growing interest around social collaborative learning, and technology platforms being developed that could replicate the impact in-person workshops manifest in the physical world. Central to this shift was a growing observation that current online learning solutions had over-indexed on the exact thing that enabled the shift: technology. Yep — in the industry’s effort to scale and automate… many lost sight of the people taking the courses, and the needs that adults (who make up the primary participant population) have when it comes to learning, engagement, and retention of workplace training education.

This got us thinking. What if we took what we know about human-centric visual storytelling, and combined it with an online social collaborative learning platform AND a client willing to go on a development ride with us to create something totally new?

The Power Thruple: TPC + Facebook + NovoEd

As we embarked on our mission to build engaging, people-first on-demand storytelling training, we know we were grappling with several challenges when it comes to traditional online training:

Our super session will give you a formula for transforming “boring, linear” on-demand training into a high-value, collaborative experience that learners actually enjoy. Register for the virtual session here and the in-person session here.

And if you’re looking for more tips from TPC, join our education session on Monday for tips on how business storytelling and planned interaction will take your hybrid meetings and presentations to the next level. Register for “Navigating Hybrid Meetings” here.

See you at ATD!

", "content_plain": "Whether you’re attending the ATD International Conference in-person or virtually this year, you won’t want to miss our super session for a behind-the-scenes look at how we built next-generation storytelling training for modern adult learners. TPC Co-founder Janine Kurnoff will be joined by our partners Facebook and NovoEd for an interactive panel discussion — and practical tips you can implement immediately — on how we collaboratively designed an on-demand course that is human-centric and integrated. eLearning: Time for an Evolution In 2017, during the seemingly innocent days before the global pandemic threw our work environments and best-laid plans into chaos, it was clear that — despite the promise of self-paced eLearning providing a flexible, scalable training solution for companies — in practice… it wasn’t working. Learners didn’t complete their courses, and for those that did, there was a question brewing in the L&D community about whether or not this type of training could stand up to live instructor-led training. Around the same time, there was growing interest around social collaborative learning, and technology platforms being developed that could replicate the impact in-person workshops manifest in the physical world. Central to this shift was a growing observation that current online learning solutions had over-indexed on the exact thing that enabled the shift: technology. Yep — in the industry’s effort to scale and automate… many lost sight of the people taking the courses, and the needs that adults (who make up the primary participant population) have when it comes to learning, engagement, and retention of workplace training education. This got us thinking. What if we took what we know about human-centric visual storytelling, and combined it with an online social collaborative learning platform AND a client willing to go on a development ride with us to create something totally new? The Power Thruple: TPC + Facebook + NovoEd As we embarked on our mission to build engaging, people-first on-demand storytelling training, we know we were grappling with several challenges when it comes to traditional online training: Online training programs are often perceived as boring and cumbersome to complete It can be difficult to administer on-demand learning for teams who need to collaborate in their work environments on joint-projects Management often feels removed from online training programs, and struggle to integrate their leadership into learning environments that happen remotely. Some believe that on-demand learning programs may not even work. How do you make the learning stick… especially for remote workers? Our super session will give you a formula for transforming “boring, linear” on-demand training into a high-value, collaborative experience that learners actually enjoy. Register for the virtual session here and the in-person session here. And if you’re looking for more tips from TPC, join our education session on Monday for tips on how business storytelling and planned interaction will take your hybrid meetings and presentations to the next level. Register for “Navigating Hybrid Meetings” here. See you at ATD!", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ATD_Super-session-blog-1.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T14:33:19-05:00" }, { "id": 7656, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/top-5-mistakes-sales-and-marketing-makes-when-emailing-prospects/", "title": "Top 5 Mistakes Sales and Marketing Makes When Emailing Prospects", "h1": "Top 5 Mistakes Sales and Marketing Makes When Emailing Prospects", "summary": "If you think email marketing’s time has passed, think again. It may not be the sexiest tactic out there, but the data is clear: Sales and marketing professionals have good reason to keep pounding out those prospect emails. A recent report from Forbes said that email marketing is seeing a resurgence as a primary outreach […]", "content": "

If you think email marketing’s time has passed, think again. It may not be the sexiest tactic out there, but the data is clear: Sales and marketing professionals have good reason to keep pounding out those prospect emails.

A recent report from Forbes said that email marketing is seeing a resurgence as a primary outreach tool, although it’s questionable if it ever really fell by the wayside. Research from the RAIN Group Center for Sales found that 78% of sales reps still use email to reach out to prospective customers, and that eight in 10 prospects actually prefer talking to sales reps via email compared to other communication tools.

 

So, what’s the catch? The problem with outreach messaging is not the method of delivery; it’s the content. When it comes to crafting compelling emails that will help get a foot in the door, most of today’s marketing and sales professionals fall short. Instead of engaging prospects with meaningful messages, companies are sending out generic sales pitches or aggressive asks that offer little to no value to the potential client. We’ve all fallen victim to a sales email that leads with, “Why you should buy our solution” but then never actually explains what’s in it for us — a total waste of time for everyone involved.

If you’re having a hard time breaking through the sea of emails sitting in your prospective customers’ inboxes, odds are you are making some common but oh-so-critical mistakes.

 

Below are the top five email slips-ups marketers and sales reps make — and how to avoid them before you press send.

1. Your email is too short

Yes, you read that correctly. Contrary to popular belief, brevity is not necessarily your friend when it comes to crafting an effective email. If you get to the point too quickly, without making a case for why the reader should build a relationship with you, it’s likely your message will be ignored, forgotten, or sent straight to trash. Of course, long-winded emails can also turn off the reader.

 

The key is striking a balance between establishing context for the prospective customer while also respecting their time limitations. Most executives will take a few minutes to read an email if it offers a valid business reason for engaging with you. Ask yourself: Does my email address their pain points? Does it share insight and perspective?

Put simply: Keep your messages lean but meaningful — and always focused on what’s in it for the reader.

2. Your message doesn’t tell a story

Everybody loves a good story, including busy decision-makers. Brain science confirms that stories not only grab attention, they also help people retain the information they’ve received. This suggests that even the hardest-to-reach prospect is more likely to read and respond to your email if it paints a persuasive picture.

 

So what does that look like? Like any powerful story, your email needs structure and should take the reader on a journey of WHY, WHAT, and HOW.

 

Let’s break that down: To set up the WHY of your email, start by providing context using storytelling elements like setting, characters, and a conflict. Make sure your content touches on who you are, why you are reaching out, and what problem your customer might be facing. Next, layout your “BIG Idea” that clarifies WHAT solution or service you are offering. Finally, tie a nice bow on your story by offering a final resolution that tells HOW your company can help solve the conflict you have already described.

 

3. Your subject line is forgettable

First impressions are everything, especially when it comes to sending an effective email query. Unfortunately, too many sales and marketing folks drop the ball on (possibly the most important) first point of contact: the subject line. A strong subject line should provide value to the reader and state the “big idea” established in your email story. This will draw a prospect in and compel them to open your message.

 

A well-crafted subject line should read like a newspaper headline and state the WHAT of your email narrative. “Let’s partner to streamline your hiring process” will garner greater interest than vague, overused subject lines like “Introduction,” “Quick Call,” or “Let’s Connect.”

4. Your email is all about you

The best storytellers walk in their audience’s shoes. Your emails should do the same. No matter how clever or persuasive you think your sales pitch reads, if you or your company is positioned as the main character, it’s not going to resonate with your potential customer. Your message should be centered around your prospect and what they have to gain from connecting with you. Customers want to know the reason they should connect with you, not the reason you want to connect with them.

 

Ask yourself these three questions:

The answers you compile will help uncover the WHY part of your email message and ensure that what you write is relevant enough to elicit a response.

5. You gave your call to action too early

In an effort to keep messages short, many professionals make the mistake of starting their email with their call to action. “I’d like to set up a meeting” or “Can I give you a call?” are never good lead-ins. Not only are they off-putting to new contacts, they go directly against the structure of a story. Never start with the resolution!

 

Because the call to action makes up the HOW of your email story, it should always come last. If a strong narrative has been established, the final element of your email will do exactly what it is supposed to do — prompt your prospect to take action and move the business relationship forward.

 

Context is Key

The bottom line? People need context before they will take action or buy into your solution. Who would take time out of their busy day to join a sales call if they are unclear what they would gain from it? An outreach message that logically flows through the key elements of storytelling will give the reader a reason to care, and more importantly, a reason to respond.

Want more tips for crafting emails that generate results? Our Everyday Business Storytelling self-paced course will help you develop clear, compelling stories — regardless of the communication medium. 

", "content_plain": "If you think email marketing’s time has passed, think again. It may not be the sexiest tactic out there, but the data is clear: Sales and marketing professionals have good reason to keep pounding out those prospect emails. A recent report from Forbes said that email marketing is seeing a resurgence as a primary outreach tool, although it’s questionable if it ever really fell by the wayside. Research from the RAIN Group Center for Sales found that 78% of sales reps still use email to reach out to prospective customers, and that eight in 10 prospects actually prefer talking to sales reps via email compared to other communication tools. So, what’s the catch? The problem with outreach messaging is not the method of delivery; it’s the content. When it comes to crafting compelling emails that will help get a foot in the door, most of today’s marketing and sales professionals fall short. Instead of engaging prospects with meaningful messages, companies are sending out generic sales pitches or aggressive asks that offer little to no value to the potential client. We’ve all fallen victim to a sales email that leads with, “Why you should buy our solution” but then never actually explains what’s in it for us — a total waste of time for everyone involved. If you’re having a hard time breaking through the sea of emails sitting in your prospective customers’ inboxes, odds are you are making some common but oh-so-critical mistakes. Below are the top five email slips-ups marketers and sales reps make — and how to avoid them before you press send. 1. Your email is too short Yes, you read that correctly. Contrary to popular belief, brevity is not necessarily your friend when it comes to crafting an effective email. If you get to the point too quickly, without making a case for why the reader should build a relationship with you, it’s likely your message will be ignored, forgotten, or sent straight to trash. Of course, long-winded emails can also turn off the reader. The key is striking a balance between establishing context for the prospective customer while also respecting their time limitations. Most executives will take a few minutes to read an email if it offers a valid business reason for engaging with you. Ask yourself: Does my email address their pain points? Does it share insight and perspective? Put simply: Keep your messages lean but meaningful — and always focused on what’s in it for the reader. 2. Your message doesn’t tell a story Everybody loves a good story, including busy decision-makers. Brain science confirms that stories not only grab attention, they also help people retain the information they’ve received. This suggests that even the hardest-to-reach prospect is more likely to read and respond to your email if it paints a persuasive picture. So what does that look like? Like any powerful story, your email needs structure and should take the reader on a journey of WHY, WHAT, and HOW. Let’s break that down: To set up the WHY of your email, start by providing context using storytelling elements like setting, characters, and a conflict. Make sure your content touches on who you are, why you are reaching out, and what problem your customer might be facing. Next, layout your “BIG Idea” that clarifies WHAT solution or service you are offering. Finally, tie a nice bow on your story by offering a final resolution that tells HOW your company can help solve the conflict you have already described. 3. Your subject line is forgettable First impressions are everything, especially when it comes to sending an effective email query. Unfortunately, too many sales and marketing folks drop the ball on (possibly the most important) first point of contact: the subject line. A strong subject line should provide value to the reader and state the “big idea” established in your email story. This will draw a prospect in and compel them to open your message. A well-crafted subject line should read like a newspaper headline and state the WHAT of your email narrative. “Let’s partner to streamline your hiring process” will garner greater interest than vague, overused subject lines like “Introduction,” “Quick Call,” or “Let’s Connect.” 4. Your email is all about you The best storytellers walk in their audience’s shoes. Your emails should do the same. No matter how clever or persuasive you think your sales pitch reads, if you or your company is positioned as the main character, it’s not going to resonate with your potential customer. Your message should be centered around your prospect and what they have to gain from connecting with you. Customers want to know the reason they should connect with you, not the reason you want to connect with them. Ask yourself these three questions: What’s happening in their world? Who or what matters to them? What challenges are they facing? The answers you compile will help uncover the WHY part of your email message and ensure that what you write is relevant enough to elicit a response. 5. You gave your call to action too early In an effort to keep messages short, many professionals make the mistake of starting their email with their call to action. “I’d like to set up a meeting” or “Can I give you a call?” are never good lead-ins. Not only are they off-putting to new contacts, they go directly against the structure of a story. Never start with the resolution! Because the call to action makes up the HOW of your email story, it should always come last. If a strong narrative has been established, the final element of your email will do exactly what it is supposed to do — prompt your prospect to take action and move the business relationship forward. Context is Key The bottom line? People need context before they will take action or buy into your solution. Who would take time out of their busy day to join a sales call if they are unclear what they would gain from it? An outreach message that logically flows through the key elements of storytelling will give the reader a reason to care, and more importantly, a reason to respond. Want more tips for crafting emails that generate results? Our Everyday Business Storytelling self-paced course will help you develop clear, compelling stories — regardless of the communication medium. ", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/GettyImages-525958582-2-scaled.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-02T08:48:48-05:00" }, { "id": 10993, "type": "organizations", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/communications-training/communications-skills-workshops/business-presentation-training/", "title": "Business Storytelling Fundamentals", "h1": "Business Storytelling Fundamentals", "summary": "Our Business Storytelling Workshop arms cross-functional teams with a collaborative tool and language for sharing ideas and presenting only the best solutions.", "content": "

Business presentation training for your organization

Today’s most successful companies recognize that every employee has a role in moving business forward, and this starts with more effective communication across the organization. The fact is, no matter an employee’s role or function, it’s more critical than ever that they can influence across the business – whether selling an idea, providing an update, or making a recommendation.

But in our rush to deliver results, we rarely align our people with a shared approach to communication. The result? Unproductive meetings, stalled decisions, and time wasted on rework.

TPC’s Business Storytelling Fundamentals is a one-hour, self-paced course designed to change that. It takes the greatest hits of our storytelling learning journey on story, visuals, and data, and delivers them in a format designed to scale across your entire organization. Give every employee a repeatable framework for communicating with clarity and confidence.

Let's talk

Improving communication isn’t a simple fix. Here’s what we’ve heard…

“We need to give people the skills to lead important conversations and influence stakeholders.”

“Productivity is suffering… we’re stuck in endless review cycles and meetings that lead to more meetings.”

“Everyone’s email boxes are full of unclear messages that don’t get actioned or are completely ignored.”

“Our communications are not clear or cohesive—we data dump and cobble together slides without any narrative or visual direction.”

“We need to build confidence so that people can be situationally fluent and adapt to diverse audience needs.”

“Teams aren’t working from the same approach, which makes it hard to collaborate and show up consistently.”

\"business

To address these challenges, you need to deliver skills at scale to meet broad audience needs

You need a common language and framework that works for everyone in your organization — from individual contributors to executives — not just the select few with access to formal business presentation training. One that’s simple, repeatable, and practical enough to use immediately after completing the course.

When your whole organization communicates from the same playbook, the business benefits follow

\"Boost

Boost efficiency and productivity

\"Coaching

Coaching and mentorship opportunities

\"Better

Better collaboration and innovation

\"Fewer

Fewer (and more productive) meetings

\"Cross-functional

Cross-functional team alignment

\"Improved

Improved employee engagement

That’s exactly what Business Storytelling Fundamentals is built to deliver.

\"business

With our business presentation training, teams learn to

\"business

Why this training is different

\"Scales

Scales without sacrifice

Most training that works well in a room doesn’t translate at scale. Business Storytelling Fundamentals was built for broad deployment from the start: subscription-based, LMS-ready, and optimized for any device. Get the same quality of content whether you deploy to 100 people or 10,000.

\"Flow

Learn in the flow of work

This isn’t a “one and done” training. With continuous and flexible course access, participants can revisit concepts, apply them to real work, and build their storytelling muscle over time without disruption to their jobs.

\"practical

Practical by design

Participants are encouraged to bring a real business communication into the course and apply the storytelling framework to it. They leave with a tangible output, not just concepts.

\"Reinforces

Reinforces your broader training investment

For organizations already running TPC’s workshops, this course extends and deepens the learning, giving workshop participants a resource to return to and giving everyone else a foundation to build on.

\"Integrates\"

Integrates into your existing

L&D infrastructure Delivered as a SCORM file or direct link via Rustici software, the course uploads seamlessly into your LMS and can be tagged and aligned to multiple learning pathways. It meets inclusivity standards with closed captioning, keyboard navigation, and screen reader compatibility.

\"Business

What participants say

“Practical tips and tools that can be applied immediately, with ease”

“Fantastic course and will definitely improve my capabilities and the wider business if rolled through.”

“I was surprised by how much I could learn in an hour!”

Workshop details

Learning format

Enrollment size

Ideal for

Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

", "content_plain": "Business presentation training for your organization Today’s most successful companies recognize that every employee has a role in moving business forward, and this starts with more effective communication across the organization. The fact is, no matter an employee’s role or function, it’s more critical than ever that they can influence across the business – whether selling an idea, providing an update, or making a recommendation. But in our rush to deliver results, we rarely align our people with a shared approach to communication. The result? Unproductive meetings, stalled decisions, and time wasted on rework. TPC’s Business Storytelling Fundamentals is a one-hour, self-paced course designed to change that. It takes the greatest hits of our storytelling learning journey on story, visuals, and data, and delivers them in a format designed to scale across your entire organization. Give every employee a repeatable framework for communicating with clarity and confidence. Let's talk Improving communication isn’t a simple fix. Here’s what we’ve heard… “We need to give people the skills to lead important conversations and influence stakeholders.” “Productivity is suffering… we’re stuck in endless review cycles and meetings that lead to more meetings.” “Everyone’s email boxes are full of unclear messages that don’t get actioned or are completely ignored.” “Our communications are not clear or cohesive—we data dump and cobble together slides without any narrative or visual direction.” “We need to build confidence so that people can be situationally fluent and adapt to diverse audience needs.” “Teams aren’t working from the same approach, which makes it hard to collaborate and show up consistently.” To address these challenges, you need to deliver skills at scale to meet broad audience needs You need a common language and framework that works for everyone in your organization — from individual contributors to executives — not just the select few with access to formal business presentation training. One that’s simple, repeatable, and practical enough to use immediately after completing the course. When your whole organization communicates from the same playbook, the business benefits follow Boost efficiency and productivity Coaching and mentorship opportunities Better collaboration and innovation Fewer (and more productive) meetings Cross-functional team alignment Improved employee engagement That’s exactly what Business Storytelling Fundamentals is built to deliver. With our business presentation training, teams learn to Audit and improve existing communications through a storytelling framework Stop “reporting the news” with data and highlight key data insights Use simple techniques to craft better emails that generate action Understand how using visuals with intention and purpose can enhance a story Craft powerful headlines that boost confidence and advance a story Why this training is different Scales without sacrifice Most training that works well in a room doesn’t translate at scale. Business Storytelling Fundamentals was built for broad deployment from the start: subscription-based, LMS-ready, and optimized for any device. Get the same quality of content whether you deploy to 100 people or 10,000. Learn in the flow of work This isn’t a “one and done” training. With continuous and flexible course access, participants can revisit concepts, apply them to real work, and build their storytelling muscle over time without disruption to their jobs. Practical by design Participants are encouraged to bring a real business communication into the course and apply the storytelling framework to it. They leave with a tangible output, not just concepts. Reinforces your broader training investment For organizations already running TPC’s workshops, this course extends and deepens the learning, giving workshop participants a resource to return to and giving everyone else a foundation to build on. Integrates into your existing L&D infrastructure Delivered as a SCORM file or direct link via Rustici software, the course uploads seamlessly into your LMS and can be tagged and aligned to multiple learning pathways. It meets inclusivity standards with closed captioning, keyboard navigation, and screen reader compatibility. What participants say “Practical tips and tools that can be applied immediately, with ease” “Fantastic course and will definitely improve my capabilities and the wider business if rolled through.” “I was surprised by how much I could learn in an hour!” Workshop details Learning format Online, on-demand Enrollment size 100+ with 2-year contract Available to groups of 25 as workshop add-on Ideal for Cross-functional teams and large audiences (from individual contributors to executives), or teams that have taken our workshops and need a powerful reinforcement Want to learn more? Let’s chat.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/iStock-1209869264.webp", "modified": "2026-05-28T11:02:14-05:00" }, { "id": 7658, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/storytelling-in-zoomland-3-tips-for-telling-business-stories-online/", "title": "Storytelling in Zoomland: 3 Tips for Telling Business Stories Online", "h1": "Storytelling in Zoomland: 3 Tips for Telling Business Stories Online", "summary": "Let’s face it… virtual meetings are here to stay. In today’s business climate, that critical meeting you scored with a room full of decision-makers has gone virtual. No longer does that deck you normally used for in-person meetings going to work because you’re now disconnected from critical feedback that allows you to read your audience. […]", "content": "

Let’s face it… virtual meetings are here to stay. In today’s business climate, that critical meeting you scored with a room full of decision-makers has gone virtual. No longer does that deck you normally used for in-person meetings going to work because you’re now disconnected from critical feedback that allows you to read your audience. So what’s the recipe for success? It includes three important ingredients: Get your story straight, build in prescribed interaction, and let your virtual presence soar.

Get Your Story Straight

Yes, it’s important to know your story backward and forwards for any meeting, but when everyone’s virtual and behind a screen, you can’t take any chances. A well-prepared narrative that uses your basic storytelling structure is a must.

Build in Prescribed Interaction

Why is pre-planned, built in interaction necessary? Because the virtual world leaves gaping holes where natural body language or normal conversation could be. You must create a “natural” connection with your audience.

The trick? Create frequent opportunities for virtual audience interaction by adopting interactive placeholder slides. Slides that visually show your audience what they need to know or do at any given moment. They’ll act as a visual pause that signals a break for Q&A, a quick poll, discussion in a chat, a virtual whiteboard brainstorming session, or even breakout rooms for small group exercises. It breaks up your constant monologue by guaranteeing valuable feedback opportunities that will help you discover and directly address your audience’s needs in the moment. These are the lifeline for virtual meetings.

\"\"

Let Your Virtual Presence Soar

In today’s “always on, never done” business culture, being able to break through in virtual meetings is critical for your internal recognition by peers and career growth. Showing up with a well-prepared story, including visual and verbal cues to guide interaction, will make you appear nimble and responsive. Inside, you’ll feel relaxed, in control, and confident, which is key to developing your communication and leadership skills.

Up-level your conversations… and your career

Ready to take your online meetings to the next level? Get a deeper dive when you sign up for our self-paced, on-demand storytelling course. It’s filled with practical examples, case studies, and proven techniques to help you sell through your ideas with confidence… no matter what the meeting situation. Learn more here.

", "content_plain": "Let’s face it… virtual meetings are here to stay. In today’s business climate, that critical meeting you scored with a room full of decision-makers has gone virtual. No longer does that deck you normally used for in-person meetings going to work because you’re now disconnected from critical feedback that allows you to read your audience. So what’s the recipe for success? It includes three important ingredients: Get your story straight, build in prescribed interaction, and let your virtual presence soar. Get Your Story Straight Yes, it’s important to know your story backward and forwards for any meeting, but when everyone’s virtual and behind a screen, you can’t take any chances. A well-prepared narrative that uses your basic storytelling structure is a must. Build in Prescribed Interaction Why is pre-planned, built in interaction necessary? Because the virtual world leaves gaping holes where natural body language or normal conversation could be. You must create a “natural” connection with your audience. The trick? Create frequent opportunities for virtual audience interaction by adopting interactive placeholder slides. Slides that visually show your audience what they need to know or do at any given moment. They’ll act as a visual pause that signals a break for Q&A, a quick poll, discussion in a chat, a virtual whiteboard brainstorming session, or even breakout rooms for small group exercises. It breaks up your constant monologue by guaranteeing valuable feedback opportunities that will help you discover and directly address your audience’s needs in the moment. These are the lifeline for virtual meetings. Let Your Virtual Presence Soar In today’s “always on, never done” business culture, being able to break through in virtual meetings is critical for your internal recognition by peers and career growth. Showing up with a well-prepared story, including visual and verbal cues to guide interaction, will make you appear nimble and responsive. Inside, you’ll feel relaxed, in control, and confident, which is key to developing your communication and leadership skills. Up-level your conversations… and your career Ready to take your online meetings to the next level? Get a deeper dive when you sign up for our self-paced, on-demand storytelling course. It’s filled with practical examples, case studies, and proven techniques to help you sell through your ideas with confidence… no matter what the meeting situation. Learn more here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Laptop-heads.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T10:46:06-05:00" }, { "id": 7660, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/what-to-do-when-someone-else-will-be-presenting-your-ideas/", "title": "What to Do When Someone Else Will Be Presenting Your Ideas", "h1": "What to Do When Someone Else Will Be Presenting Your Ideas", "summary": "Your boss just asked you to send them “three to five slides” that they can use to present your idea to their boss. You now have two challenges: First, you must truncate your presentation to get to your point quickly, and second, you must prepare your story to be easily delivered by someone else. What […]", "content": "

Your boss just asked you to send them “three to five slides” that they can use to present your idea to their boss. You now have two challenges: First, you must truncate your presentation to get to your point quickly, and second, you must prepare your story to be easily delivered by someone else. What do you do? (And no, the answer isn’t to decrease the font size!)

There are two good options for telling your story in three to five slides. Option 1: present your setting, character, and conflict (the WHY) verbally, or option 2: show your WHY visually on just one slide.

If your boss is presenting the story for you, you need to decide if you can rely on them to verbally establish the WHY or if they’ll need the visual cue of the one slide. In other words, how much of a control freak do you need to be about your story?

Option 1: Present your WHY verbally

In this scenario, you establish the setting, characters, and conflict (the WHY) of your story verbally and show your BIG Idea (the WHAT) on a slide. After the BIG Idea is presented, the resolution (the HOW) can be shown. Remember, you’ve only got a few slides, so be sure to keep the detail to a minimum. This option works best when you have confidence the storyteller can deliver your WHY effectively and stay on message the way you intended. If you’re in doubt, option 2 is a safer choice.

\"\"

Option 2: Show your WHY visually

In this scenario, you will need to condense the setting, characters, and conflict down to one slide (yes, only one!) to visually show your WHY. We’re not going to lie… truncating all that context onto one slide is tough! You must only include the most relevant points that supports your BIG Idea.

\"\"

Want to see it in action? Our self-paced, on-demand storytelling course has videos, quizzes, and case studies that will show you, step-by-step, how to tell your story in just a few slides. Register today.

", "content_plain": "Your boss just asked you to send them “three to five slides” that they can use to present your idea to their boss. You now have two challenges: First, you must truncate your presentation to get to your point quickly, and second, you must prepare your story to be easily delivered by someone else. What do you do? (And no, the answer isn’t to decrease the font size!) There are two good options for telling your story in three to five slides. Option 1: present your setting, character, and conflict (the WHY) verbally, or option 2: show your WHY visually on just one slide. If your boss is presenting the story for you, you need to decide if you can rely on them to verbally establish the WHY or if they’ll need the visual cue of the one slide. In other words, how much of a control freak do you need to be about your story? Option 1: Present your WHY verbally In this scenario, you establish the setting, characters, and conflict (the WHY) of your story verbally and show your BIG Idea (the WHAT) on a slide. After the BIG Idea is presented, the resolution (the HOW) can be shown. Remember, you’ve only got a few slides, so be sure to keep the detail to a minimum. This option works best when you have confidence the storyteller can deliver your WHY effectively and stay on message the way you intended. If you’re in doubt, option 2 is a safer choice. Option 2: Show your WHY visually In this scenario, you will need to condense the setting, characters, and conflict down to one slide (yes, only one!) to visually show your WHY. We’re not going to lie… truncating all that context onto one slide is tough! You must only include the most relevant points that supports your BIG Idea. Want to see it in action? Our self-paced, on-demand storytelling course has videos, quizzes, and case studies that will show you, step-by-step, how to tell your story in just a few slides. Register today.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/GettyImages-642091736.jpg", "modified": "2023-02-28T09:39:23-05:00" }, { "id": 7662, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/youve-got-five-minutes-with-an-executive-go/", "title": "You’ve Got Five Minutes with an Executive…Go!", "h1": "You’ve Got Five Minutes with an Executive…Go!", "summary": "You’ll probably recognize this scenario: You’ve spent weeks preparing to deliver a huge proposal, including countless hours researching, designing, and putting together a tightly scripted 30-minute presentation. If you land this deal, you’re going to look really good. …except, the team of senior executives you’re prepared to wow is running late. You now have five […]", "content": "

You’ll probably recognize this scenario: You’ve spent weeks preparing to deliver a huge proposal, including countless hours researching, designing, and putting together a tightly scripted 30-minute presentation. If you land this deal, you’re going to look really good.

…except, the team of senior executives you’re prepared to wow is running late. You now have five minutes.

What do you do? How do you cram 30 minutes of awesomeness into just five minutes?

Introducing… The Pivot™

As part of knowing your audience and walking in their shoes, you need to always prepare for the unexpected, and be flexible enough to pivot to their needs. Using core story structure as your foundation, when given a compressed timeframe to present your story, start with your BIG idea first.

\"executive

By starting with the BIG Idea, you can provoke a dialogue with your audience, in this case a team of senior executives. If they ask for more context, you can then pivot to the setting, characters, or conflict in your story (the WHY). This can be done verbally or visually, and act as a very brief background explanation to what you were going to present in 30 minutes.

If your executives are impatient and want to hear the resolution (meaning, if they accept your BIG Idea without requesting more context) you can jump to the resolution (the HOW). The resolution is where you can hit them with your concrete plan and details ready upon request.

Expect the Unexpected

The Pivot isn’t hard, but you must know your story backwards and forwards, and learn the important skill of being flexible. Yes, you’ve prepared a well-ordered, well-constructed story, but you must also be prepared to get thrown off course. Depending on the needs of your audience, you’ll have to zig and zag, go back and forth, drill down, or stay high level. To keep you (and your audience) oriented to your story, you’ll need an anchor point… a home base from which to pivot. The anchor point is always your BIG Idea.

Want more strategies for navigating difficult situations, like when your time is cut short or your boss asks you for “just 3-5 slides”? Our self-paced, on-demand storytelling course has videos and case studies that will teach you how, plus loads of real-world advice and examples to help make you a nimble storyteller. Click here to register!

", "content_plain": "You’ll probably recognize this scenario: You’ve spent weeks preparing to deliver a huge proposal, including countless hours researching, designing, and putting together a tightly scripted 30-minute presentation. If you land this deal, you’re going to look really good. …except, the team of senior executives you’re prepared to wow is running late. You now have five minutes. What do you do? How do you cram 30 minutes of awesomeness into just five minutes? Introducing… The Pivot™ As part of knowing your audience and walking in their shoes, you need to always prepare for the unexpected, and be flexible enough to pivot to their needs. Using core story structure as your foundation, when given a compressed timeframe to present your story, start with your BIG idea first. By starting with the BIG Idea, you can provoke a dialogue with your audience, in this case a team of senior executives. If they ask for more context, you can then pivot to the setting, characters, or conflict in your story (the WHY). This can be done verbally or visually, and act as a very brief background explanation to what you were going to present in 30 minutes. If your executives are impatient and want to hear the resolution (meaning, if they accept your BIG Idea without requesting more context) you can jump to the resolution (the HOW). The resolution is where you can hit them with your concrete plan and details ready upon request. Expect the Unexpected The Pivot isn’t hard, but you must know your story backwards and forwards, and learn the important skill of being flexible. Yes, you’ve prepared a well-ordered, well-constructed story, but you must also be prepared to get thrown off course. Depending on the needs of your audience, you’ll have to zig and zag, go back and forth, drill down, or stay high level. To keep you (and your audience) oriented to your story, you’ll need an anchor point… a home base from which to pivot. The anchor point is always your BIG Idea. Want more strategies for navigating difficult situations, like when your time is cut short or your boss asks you for “just 3-5 slides”? Our self-paced, on-demand storytelling course has videos and case studies that will teach you how, plus loads of real-world advice and examples to help make you a nimble storyteller. Click here to register!", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/GettyImages-1168877430-scaled.jpg", "modified": "2023-02-28T09:13:45-05:00" }, { "id": 7664, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/audience-is-everything-a-manifesto/", "title": "Audience is Everything: A Manifesto", "h1": "Audience is Everything: A Manifesto", "summary": "Doesn’t it seem that Murphy’s Law (anything that can go wrong, will go wrong) always happens when the pressure’s on, a deadline needs to be hit, or that super important presentation (that you’ve been working on for weeks) is almost complete? If there’s one thing for certain (especially in today’s business culture)… change is inevitable. […]", "content": "

Doesn’t it seem that Murphy’s Law (anything that can go wrong, will go wrong) always happens when the pressure’s on, a deadline needs to be hit, or that super important presentation (that you’ve been working on for weeks) is almost complete? If there’s one thing for certain (especially in today’s business culture)… change is inevitable.

So, what’s the key to staying on track and avoiding disaster? Use this constant disruption to create empathy with your audience. If you’re feeling the heat of change, your audience is probably feeling it too (and maybe ten times worse). The best storytellers step outside of their world and walk in their audience’s shoes. The more your story addresses your audience’s unique perspective, the more relevant it will feel to them. After all, storytelling isn’t a one-size-fits-all. The key is to understand the care-abouts of your audience.

When doing this digging, ask yourself these three questions:

\"\"

What’s Happening in Their World?

Discovering this helps establish your story setting and gets everyone in the room to nod with agreement. What you’re telling them makes sense, describes the space they operate in, and provides critical focus for what comes next in your story.

Example: “When purchasing or renewing insurance, consumers have many resources at their fingertips.”

Who or What do They Care About?

\"\"This becomes the main character in your story that helps to establish an emotional connection with the audience. It’s human for us to want to relate to characters, and it helps you humanize what often can be abstract (customers, suppliers, key stakeholders, etc.). You could give your character a name (Meet Beth, a young mother…), or use yourself (I was shopping yesterday…), or unnamed groups, like in the case of our insurance story example above, the characters are consumers.

\"\"

What Challenge(s) are They Facing?

Remember that disruption and change we were empathizing about… well every great story, especially for your audience, has conflict. Conflict is what keeps your audience up at night, and is the critical thing they may be focused upon that gives them a reason to lean in and care about what you’re telling them. Conflict in our insurance story could be a business competitor, or industry consolidation, or digital disruption that has changed how consumers purchase insurance products. Revealing conflict in your story lets you be the hero twice… first when you identify a problem, and then again when you propose a way to fix it.

Remember: It’s Not About You

In an imperfect world, setting the foundation with an audience-centric approach will allow you to zig and zag your storytelling no matter what the situation. Our Golden Rule? It’s not about you. It’s always about your audience.

Want more tips for crafting stories that powerfully connect with your audience? Our Crafting Strategic Visual Stories workshop will arm you and your teams with practical strategies to “walk in your audience’s shoes” and craft compelling business narratives that drive action. Click here to learn more!

", "content_plain": "Doesn’t it seem that Murphy’s Law (anything that can go wrong, will go wrong) always happens when the pressure’s on, a deadline needs to be hit, or that super important presentation (that you’ve been working on for weeks) is almost complete? If there’s one thing for certain (especially in today’s business culture)… change is inevitable. So, what’s the key to staying on track and avoiding disaster? Use this constant disruption to create empathy with your audience. If you’re feeling the heat of change, your audience is probably feeling it too (and maybe ten times worse). The best storytellers step outside of their world and walk in their audience’s shoes. The more your story addresses your audience’s unique perspective, the more relevant it will feel to them. After all, storytelling isn’t a one-size-fits-all. The key is to understand the care-abouts of your audience. When doing this digging, ask yourself these three questions: What’s Happening in Their World? Discovering this helps establish your story setting and gets everyone in the room to nod with agreement. What you’re telling them makes sense, describes the space they operate in, and provides critical focus for what comes next in your story. Example: “When purchasing or renewing insurance, consumers have many resources at their fingertips.” Who or What do They Care About? This becomes the main character in your story that helps to establish an emotional connection with the audience. It’s human for us to want to relate to characters, and it helps you humanize what often can be abstract (customers, suppliers, key stakeholders, etc.). You could give your character a name (Meet Beth, a young mother…), or use yourself (I was shopping yesterday…), or unnamed groups, like in the case of our insurance story example above, the characters are consumers. What Challenge(s) are They Facing? Remember that disruption and change we were empathizing about… well every great story, especially for your audience, has conflict. Conflict is what keeps your audience up at night, and is the critical thing they may be focused upon that gives them a reason to lean in and care about what you’re telling them. Conflict in our insurance story could be a business competitor, or industry consolidation, or digital disruption that has changed how consumers purchase insurance products. Revealing conflict in your story lets you be the hero twice… first when you identify a problem, and then again when you propose a way to fix it. Remember: It’s Not About You In an imperfect world, setting the foundation with an audience-centric approach will allow you to zig and zag your storytelling no matter what the situation. Our Golden Rule? It’s not about you. It’s always about your audience. Want more tips for crafting stories that powerfully connect with your audience? Our Crafting Strategic Visual Stories workshop will arm you and your teams with practical strategies to “walk in your audience’s shoes” and craft compelling business narratives that drive action. Click here to learn more!", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Walk-in-Audience-Shoes.png", "modified": "2024-08-01T10:36:57-05:00" }, { "id": 7666, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tpc-contributes-to-harvard-business-review-the-key-to-landing-your-next-job-storytelling/", "title": "TPC Contributes to Harvard Business Review: The Key to Landing Your Next Job? Storytelling.", "h1": "TPC Contributes to Harvard Business Review: The Key to Landing Your Next Job? Storytelling.", "summary": "  Today’s workforce is hyper-competitive. It’s hard to stand out, and if you’re hunting for a job, you need strategies to appear more credible, authentic, and memorable than your peers. What’s the best approach? In his bestselling book, Brain Rules, molecular biologist John Medina shares a surprising insight that explains why one job candidate’s application gets them noticed […]", "content": "

 

Today’s workforce is hyper-competitive. It’s hard to stand out, and if you’re hunting for a job, you need strategies to appear more credible, authentic, and memorable than your peers.

What’s the best approach?

In his bestselling book, Brain Rules, molecular biologist John Medina shares a surprising insight that explains why one job candidate’s application gets them noticed while another’s lands them in the reject pile: emotion.

Recruiters may think they make decisions based purely on logic, but their feelings play just as large of a role. It’s human nature. Emotions drive how connected we feel to other people, and those connections lead us to perceive someone in either a positive or a negative light. The quickest way to land on the “positive” side of that equation is simple: Tell a good story on your resume, in your cover letter, and during your interview.

\"Right

Storytelling is a powerful tool when it comes to influence and persuasion. Science tells us that voicing our opinions is often more polarizing than persuasive, and statistics, even when used as evidence, are difficult to retain. But if you blend the two together and weave them into an engaging narrative, suddenly, you can tug at heart strings and change minds.

This means you, job candidate, have a lot of power. With the right narrative, you can make anyone you want feel great — about you. All you have to do is organize your ideas into a story that elicits positive emotions, resulting in a rush of the feel-good hormone, dopamine, in your listener’s brain. As Medina points out, “Dopamine greatly aids memory and information processing … it creates a Post-It note that reads, ‘Remember this.’”

So how can you weave storytelling into your next job application? Here are four tips that will help you get noticed — and get ahead — in your career.

Begin with your audience in mind.

Increasingly, employers are using artificial intelligence platforms to quickly scan through thousands of resumes and make decisions based solely on objective criteria (like keywords that match job descriptions). These are important factors to incorporate into your resume, which should be tailored to the specific job you’re applying to. But the good news is that appealing to a robot recruiter is not incompatible with appealing to a human recruiter behind the screen. You can, and should, try to influence both.

Whether you’re fresh out of college, or a seasoned industry vet, many of us enter the job-hunting process thinking it’s best to offer a lengthy, chronological laundry list of projects and activities we’ve been part of. Why not? If you jam in as much experience as you can fit into a 45-minute interview or a two-paragraph email, something’s gotta click, right?

Actually, the opposite is true.

Let’s stop and look at this through a business storytelling lens. Is the person receiving this information going to remember everything? No way. Would it be wiser to use your time prioritizing the information that will be most relevant to them? Absolutely.

\"Cookie

We can’t say it enough: Always begin with your audience in mind. What is their role? What is their level? What’s going on with their business and industry? What current challenges are most important to them?

Conducting some extra research on LinkedIn, the company website, a corporate report, or through mutual contacts will let you “walk in the recruiter’s shoes” and craft a narrative — both through the accomplishments you include on your resume and through the message you write in your cover letter — of how what you bring to the table as a candidate is perfect for the challenges and needs their company is looking to hire for.

And remember, recruiters are looking for more than a list of skills and experiences. They want to hire a candidate who possesses both the technical skills the position requires and soft skills — also known as people skills: authenticity, strong communication, mindfulness, inclusivity, and the ability to bring new perspectives to a team. Resist the temptation to pepper your resume and cover letters with jargony keywords, and instead, be thoughtful about the words you use to convey your voice and tone. You don’t want to seem like a cookie cutter applicant. You want to seem like a real human.

Have a theme — and promote it throughout your job hunt.

Now that you know your audience, stop and imagine the ONE thing you want your prospective boss to remember about you above everything else. Before you interact with a recruiter, hiring manager, or anyone, be prepared to offer a single, simple theme you will leave with them.

In storytelling, this is called the big idea and it’s the lynchpin of every good narrative. During your job hunt, your theme, or big idea, should encapsulate precisely what you will bring to an organization and be woven into all of your written and verbal communications.

Are you trying to join a marketing organization? The overarching theme in your application materials could relay: I’m a person who is driven by innovation and growth. Every example you cite should point to how you use your creativity to help brands expand their audience. (I grew a marketing department by 50%. I increased clicks on our ads by 30%. Our customer base doubled in two years.)

If you are a recent grad just beginning your search, you may be wondering how you can have a “theme” as someone with a limited employment history. Well, you may not have a lot of job experience, but you do have more than 20 years of life experience, moving through the world with your unique history, mind, and perspective. This alone provides you with a great foundation for telling the story of who you are, what you’ve done, the challenges you’ve overcome, and the type of employee you’ll be if hired.

\"theme\"

For instance, let’s say you want to join that marketing organization, but you’re also fresh out of college. To start, showcase your theme by saying something like, “I’m all about boosting brand awareness on social media.” From there, cite specific examples from your personal social media accounts, one-off gigs, internships, or school projects. Maybe you can describe how you grew your TikTok following by 50% in a year and how you’re excited to help XYZ company do the same. Or maybe you can share how, in your last internship, you helped the marketing team grow their newsletter subscribers by 25% in just three months.

Again, all the experiences you reference on your resume, in your cover letter, and during your interview should directly tie into this single idea. Your theme is not just there to help you take control of your narrative — it is a tool you can use to influence the memory a recruiter associates with you.

Context! Context! Context!

Throughout the application process, you’ll have to tell many stories about yourself and your experiences. Like all great stories, the experiences you talk about will need clear context to resonate with your listeners. Storytelling experts call context the “why” that drives the plot of a narrative. It gives your audience a reason to listen through to the end and arrive happily at your resolution.

Job hunters often make the mistake of leading with their resolution. (I managed a team during my summer job. I built a 50K digital marketing campaign. I implemented a plan to reduce the cost of our supply chain by 25%.) These are all good things to include on your resume, which will likely be quickly skimmed and used to judge your capabilities.

In your cover letter and in your interview, however, it’s your chance to really expand, let your personality shine, and set yourself apart from all the other candidates. You do this through context.

Whether you’re just starting out or have years of experience, context is typically established through three things: setting, characters, and conflict. Let’s break these elements down:

Setting: The place where the event of your story occurs. Did you launch a product in a past job? Your setting could be the marketplace for this product.

Characters: The people involved in and impacted by the inciting incident of your story. Were you leading a team on campus, or managing an important project at work? Were you working with suppliers, volunteers, or interns? Paint the characters in your story to make it (and you) feel more authentic.

Conflict: The inciting incident that causes you and the other characters in your story to take action. What problem were you trying to solve together? It could be your sales plummeting or even something as simple as a disorganized process that needed to be optimized. Spelling out the conflict is crucial because it builds tension and raises the stakes. Think of it like this: What makes the hero of a story heroic? Saving the day — or resolving some kind of conflict.

As you tell your story, let the context sink in to give your potential boss or co-worker a reason to lean in and gain a better understanding of how you work with others, approach challenging situations, and solve problems. This is the best way to establish your credibility.

Be the hero. End your story with a clearly stated resolution.

With all of this context, you’ve hopefully given your prospective colleague or manager a reason to care about the outcome of your story. And, if you’ve researched your audience well, you’re highlighting experiences that will feel relevant to their world.

Now it’s time to be the hero and tell them how you resolved the conflict you set up. This is the part of the story where you can state those impressive metrics listed on your resume, but in a lot more detail.

For instance, your resume might say, “Boosted sales by 15% in the first quarter of the fiscal year.”

\"Resolution\"

In your cover letter, and during your interview, you can expand this resolution into a much more interesting narrative: “One of my strengths is the ability to pivot strategically under pressure (the big idea). For example, our sales plummeted in the last quarter of this fiscal year due to travel bans brought on by Covid-19 (the conflict). To work around this, I started thinking about what our customers (the characters) really needed from us during this time, and how we could refocus our strategy to serve domestic markets (the setting) with locally produced products. My team (more characters) did this by doing A, B, and C. As a result, we were not only able to contribute to improving local economies worldwide, we also boosted our sales by 15% the first quarter of the next year (the resolution).”

Do you see the difference? One version states a fact, whereas the other breaks down how you solve problems and what you value as an individual: contributing to local communities and bettering the lives of your customers during a challenging time.

You get the idea.

In the end, the resolution you are suggesting is to hire you. Combined, the above tools can help you influence any recruiter to do just that.

Storytelling is innate in all of us.

If you’re feeling intimidated, remember that you are already a master storyteller. Every time a family member asks you how you are and you respond genuinely, you are telling a story. Every time you recall a funny memory during a conversation with your friends, you are telling a story. Every time you “catch up” with your coworkers, you are probably also telling some kind of story — about your life, about your mental health, or even about your weekend plans.

Now apply your special skill to your job applications, and see what happens. We promise, it will be good.

You’ve got this.

Janine Kurnoff is the co-founder and chief innovation officer at The Presentation Company (TPC) and co-author of the bestselling book, Everyday Business Storytelling. She and her sister, Lee, founded TPC in 2001 after seeing talented businesspeople miss opportunities to sell their ideas because their messages lacked clarity, authenticity, and meaning. TPC’s workshops provide innovative solutions to help people clearly communicate the value of their message and inspire conversations that drive action.

Lee Lazarus is the co-founder and chief revenue officer at The Presentation Company (TPC) and co-author of the bestselling book, Everyday Business Storytelling. Together with her sister, Janine, and their team, TPC has devoted the past 20 years to helping some of the world’s top brands—such as Facebook, Nestle, Medtronic and Hewlett-Packard—create captivating, results-oriented business communications.

Republished with permission from HBR.org

Check out Sheryl Sandberg’s personal endorsement of this article

", "content_plain": "  Today’s workforce is hyper-competitive. It’s hard to stand out, and if you’re hunting for a job, you need strategies to appear more credible, authentic, and memorable than your peers. What’s the best approach? In his bestselling book, Brain Rules, molecular biologist John Medina shares a surprising insight that explains why one job candidate’s application gets them noticed while another’s lands them in the reject pile: emotion. Recruiters may think they make decisions based purely on logic, but their feelings play just as large of a role. It’s human nature. Emotions drive how connected we feel to other people, and those connections lead us to perceive someone in either a positive or a negative light. The quickest way to land on the “positive” side of that equation is simple: Tell a good story on your resume, in your cover letter, and during your interview. Storytelling is a powerful tool when it comes to influence and persuasion. Science tells us that voicing our opinions is often more polarizing than persuasive, and statistics, even when used as evidence, are difficult to retain. But if you blend the two together and weave them into an engaging narrative, suddenly, you can tug at heart strings and change minds. This means you, job candidate, have a lot of power. With the right narrative, you can make anyone you want feel great — about you. All you have to do is organize your ideas into a story that elicits positive emotions, resulting in a rush of the feel-good hormone, dopamine, in your listener’s brain. As Medina points out, “Dopamine greatly aids memory and information processing … it creates a Post-It note that reads, ‘Remember this.’” So how can you weave storytelling into your next job application? Here are four tips that will help you get noticed — and get ahead — in your career. Begin with your audience in mind. Increasingly, employers are using artificial intelligence platforms to quickly scan through thousands of resumes and make decisions based solely on objective criteria (like keywords that match job descriptions). These are important factors to incorporate into your resume, which should be tailored to the specific job you’re applying to. But the good news is that appealing to a robot recruiter is not incompatible with appealing to a human recruiter behind the screen. You can, and should, try to influence both. Whether you’re fresh out of college, or a seasoned industry vet, many of us enter the job-hunting process thinking it’s best to offer a lengthy, chronological laundry list of projects and activities we’ve been part of. Why not? If you jam in as much experience as you can fit into a 45-minute interview or a two-paragraph email, something’s gotta click, right? Actually, the opposite is true. Let’s stop and look at this through a business storytelling lens. Is the person receiving this information going to remember everything? No way. Would it be wiser to use your time prioritizing the information that will be most relevant to them? Absolutely. We can’t say it enough: Always begin with your audience in mind. What is their role? What is their level? What’s going on with their business and industry? What current challenges are most important to them? Conducting some extra research on LinkedIn, the company website, a corporate report, or through mutual contacts will let you “walk in the recruiter’s shoes” and craft a narrative — both through the accomplishments you include on your resume and through the message you write in your cover letter — of how what you bring to the table as a candidate is perfect for the challenges and needs their company is looking to hire for. And remember, recruiters are looking for more than a list of skills and experiences. They want to hire a candidate who possesses both the technical skills the position requires and soft skills — also known as people skills: authenticity, strong communication, mindfulness, inclusivity, and the ability to bring new perspectives to a team. Resist the temptation to pepper your resume and cover letters with jargony keywords, and instead, be thoughtful about the words you use to convey your voice and tone. You don’t want to seem like a cookie cutter applicant. You want to seem like a real human. Have a theme — and promote it throughout your job hunt. Now that you know your audience, stop and imagine the ONE thing you want your prospective boss to remember about you above everything else. Before you interact with a recruiter, hiring manager, or anyone, be prepared to offer a single, simple theme you will leave with them. In storytelling, this is called the big idea and it’s the lynchpin of every good narrative. During your job hunt, your theme, or big idea, should encapsulate precisely what you will bring to an organization and be woven into all of your written and verbal communications. Are you trying to join a marketing organization? The overarching theme in your application materials could relay: I’m a person who is driven by innovation and growth. Every example you cite should point to how you use your creativity to help brands expand their audience. (I grew a marketing department by 50%. I increased clicks on our ads by 30%. Our customer base doubled in two years.) If you are a recent grad just beginning your search, you may be wondering how you can have a “theme” as someone with a limited employment history. Well, you may not have a lot of job experience, but you do have more than 20 years of life experience, moving through the world with your unique history, mind, and perspective. This alone provides you with a great foundation for telling the story of who you are, what you’ve done, the challenges you’ve overcome, and the type of employee you’ll be if hired. For instance, let’s say you want to join that marketing organization, but you’re also fresh out of college. To start, showcase your theme by saying something like, “I’m all about boosting brand awareness on social media.” From there, cite specific examples from your personal social media accounts, one-off gigs, internships, or school projects. Maybe you can describe how you grew your TikTok following by 50% in a year and how you’re excited to help XYZ company do the same. Or maybe you can share how, in your last internship, you helped the marketing team grow their newsletter subscribers by 25% in just three months. Again, all the experiences you reference on your resume, in your cover letter, and during your interview should directly tie into this single idea. Your theme is not just there to help you take control of your narrative — it is a tool you can use to influence the memory a recruiter associates with you. Context! Context! Context! Throughout the application process, you’ll have to tell many stories about yourself and your experiences. Like all great stories, the experiences you talk about will need clear context to resonate with your listeners. Storytelling experts call context the “why” that drives the plot of a narrative. It gives your audience a reason to listen through to the end and arrive happily at your resolution. Job hunters often make the mistake of leading with their resolution. (I managed a team during my summer job. I built a 50K digital marketing campaign. I implemented a plan to reduce the cost of our supply chain by 25%.) These are all good things to include on your resume, which will likely be quickly skimmed and used to judge your capabilities. In your cover letter and in your interview, however, it’s your chance to really expand, let your personality shine, and set yourself apart from all the other candidates. You do this through context. Whether you’re just starting out or have years of experience, context is typically established through three things: setting, characters, and conflict. Let’s break these elements down: Setting: The place where the event of your story occurs. Did you launch a product in a past job? Your setting could be the marketplace for this product. Characters: The people involved in and impacted by the inciting incident of your story. Were you leading a team on campus, or managing an important project at work? Were you working with suppliers, volunteers, or interns? Paint the characters in your story to make it (and you) feel more authentic. Conflict: The inciting incident that causes you and the other characters in your story to take action. What problem were you trying to solve together? It could be your sales plummeting or even something as simple as a disorganized process that needed to be optimized. Spelling out the conflict is crucial because it builds tension and raises the stakes. Think of it like this: What makes the hero of a story heroic? Saving the day — or resolving some kind of conflict. As you tell your story, let the context sink in to give your potential boss or co-worker a reason to lean in and gain a better understanding of how you work with others, approach challenging situations, and solve problems. This is the best way to establish your credibility. Be the hero. End your story with a clearly stated resolution. With all of this context, you’ve hopefully given your prospective colleague or manager a reason to care about the outcome of your story. And, if you’ve researched your audience well, you’re highlighting experiences that will feel relevant to their world. Now it’s time to be the hero and tell them how you resolved the conflict you set up. This is the part of the story where you can state those impressive metrics listed on your resume, but in a lot more detail. For instance, your resume might say, “Boosted sales by 15% in the first quarter of the fiscal year.” In your cover letter, and during your interview, you can expand this resolution into a much more interesting narrative: “One of my strengths is the ability to pivot strategically under pressure (the big idea). For example, our sales plummeted in the last quarter of this fiscal year due to travel bans brought on by Covid-19 (the conflict). To work around this, I started thinking about what our customers (the characters) really needed from us during this time, and how we could refocus our strategy to serve domestic markets (the setting) with locally produced products. My team (more characters) did this by doing A, B, and C. As a result, we were not only able to contribute to improving local economies worldwide, we also boosted our sales by 15% the first quarter of the next year (the resolution).” Do you see the difference? One version states a fact, whereas the other breaks down how you solve problems and what you value as an individual: contributing to local communities and bettering the lives of your customers during a challenging time. You get the idea. In the end, the resolution you are suggesting is to hire you. Combined, the above tools can help you influence any recruiter to do just that. Storytelling is innate in all of us. If you’re feeling intimidated, remember that you are already a master storyteller. Every time a family member asks you how you are and you respond genuinely, you are telling a story. Every time you recall a funny memory during a conversation with your friends, you are telling a story. Every time you “catch up” with your coworkers, you are probably also telling some kind of story — about your life, about your mental health, or even about your weekend plans. Now apply your special skill to your job applications, and see what happens. We promise, it will be good. You’ve got this. Janine Kurnoff is the co-founder and chief innovation officer at The Presentation Company (TPC) and co-author of the bestselling book, Everyday Business Storytelling. She and her sister, Lee, founded TPC in 2001 after seeing talented businesspeople miss opportunities to sell their ideas because their messages lacked clarity, authenticity, and meaning. TPC’s workshops provide innovative solutions to help people clearly communicate the value of their message and inspire conversations that drive action. Lee Lazarus is the co-founder and chief revenue officer at The Presentation Company (TPC) and co-author of the bestselling book, Everyday Business Storytelling. Together with her sister, Janine, and their team, TPC has devoted the past 20 years to helping some of the world’s top brands—such as Facebook, Nestle, Medtronic and Hewlett-Packard—create captivating, results-oriented business communications. Republished with permission from HBR.org Check out Sheryl Sandberg’s personal endorsement of this article", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Harvard-Business-Review_Storytelling-to-Land-Your-Next-Job-825x510-1.png", "modified": "2023-03-01T10:50:43-05:00" }, { "id": 7668, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tpc-contributes-to-ceoworld-magazine-how-to-build-a-culture-of-storytelling-in-your-organization-and-why-it-matters/", "title": "TPC Contributes to CEOWorld Magazine: How to Build a Culture of Storytelling in Your Organization (And Why It Matters)", "h1": "TPC Contributes to CEOWorld Magazine: How to Build a Culture of Storytelling in Your Organization (And Why It Matters)", "summary": "The key to unlocking innovation for many senior leaders is figuring out ways to improve how multi-functional teams collaborate and communicate with each other, with clients, and with external groups. Great products and services are born when people embrace storytelling to share an idea and move it into action and co-creation. It is an easily […]", "content": "

The key to unlocking innovation for many senior leaders is figuring out ways to improve how multi-functional teams collaborate and communicate with each other, with clients, and with external groups. Great products and services are born when people embrace storytelling to share an idea and move it into action and co-creation. It is an easily teachable skill that is a goldmine for increasing productive collaboration and connectedness for any organization looking to succeed in what many are calling the New Creative Economy… a world where ideas and imagination become the competitive advantage of companies looking for profitable growth and revenue in the decades to come.

So, what exactly is this formula and how can it be implemented in any organization?

Storytelling is based on simple, concrete tools to organize and prioritize facts, data, and ideas in a way that—science has proven—helps human brains digest information quickly.

Here’s an example:

Data Only: “The global pet insurance market was valued at USD 5.7 billion in 2018. The global market will reach USD 10.2 billion in 2025.”

Data + Story: “It’s official. We’ve gone poodle crazy. By 2025 pet owners will spend over ten billion dollars worldwide to make sure their pups are healthy.”

As you can see, ideas that are arranged by establishing context, identifying a problem or event that has occurred within that context, and bringing resolution to that problem not only hold the audience’s attention longer, but also better position decision-makers to quickly and decisively take action.

To build a culture of storytelling, leadership must be the ones to inspire and propel the practice of storytelling from the top down through the organization. First, senior leaders must be model coaches themselves. Then they must encourage staff to coach one another. When coaching happens regularly, the ability to weave ideas, data, and insights into a strong narrative will skyrocket. And soon, impactful storytelling will seep into day-to-day business communications.

Story fluency will not come without plenty of practice in an open, trusting work environment. The first common obstacle organizations face when ingraining storytelling into an organization is the pressure of time and resources (or lack thereof). In today’s fast-paced, overextended culture, it’s no wonder people often feel pressure to assemble proposals, design project strategy, and respond to high-stakes emails quickly. It often seems faster to isolate and whip up a story by ourselves. For teams, this usually means breaking off individual pieces and patching them together at the end. While this appears to save time, the final product is often a mess; presenting results in a hodge-podge and possibly even confusing narrative that may contain extraneous information and no throughline (…or possibly both).

Regular, ongoing manager and peer story coaching helps people better organize and target their ideas to see what works and what doesn’t, and prevents the fallout of siloed working communications. The story coaching step should not be seen as “extra,” but as a time-saver that produces a more effective final product and better sells ideas. Making people comfortable with coaching check-ins is an important first step in ensuring storytelling becomes common practice and never a waste of time.

The second obstacle to regular coaching is more personal. People often feel uncomfortable sharing ideas that might not be fully thought through. They’re worried they’ll get it wrong, look foolish, or seem amateurish. This is possibly the harder obstacle to get past. Top and mid-level managers must signal to teams that it’s acceptable to get it wrong at first, and they should do what they can to ease any insecurity about sharing. Story development is all about iteration.

The remarkable bi-product of integrated coaching—besides better storytelling—is how quickly it will spread the language of storytelling, ultimately building a more productive and efficient idea-driven culture. This leads directly to the main two reasons why organizations should build a culture of storytelling:

  1. Storytelling Creates a Shared Language, Making it Easier to Communicate
    Business communications are often prepared by teams, many of which are remote these days. This can mean multiple people, serving different functions or at different levels—possibly all over the world they founded The Presentation Company (TPC) in 2001 after seeing so many talented business people miss opportunities to sell their ideas due to messages that lacked clarity, authenticity, and meaning. collaborating on one story. Perhaps it’s the sales team calling on marketing folks to send over some slides for a pitch. Or perhaps it’s a product manager looping in the finance team for a projected budget. If everyone is working from a common story framework and using a shared vocabulary to describe the story elements, their mission is made infinitely easier.
  2. Story Coaching is Steroids for Great Collaboration and Innovation
    A culture of storytelling goes hand-in-hand with a culture of coaching since leaders must model story coaching themselves, working with staff to ensure every sales presentation, budget proposal, product update, etc. adheres to the story framework and is targeted accurately toward the intended audience. This modeled coaching also encourages peer-to-peer coaching as a regular part of the story development process. No more siloed working.

Managers should never miss the chance to point out the everyday opportunities to tell stories, and the more they do, the more successful they will be in their role today… and tomorrow. Once mastered, business storytelling is a skill people take with them for life.

Republished with permission from CEOWorld.biz

", "content_plain": "The key to unlocking innovation for many senior leaders is figuring out ways to improve how multi-functional teams collaborate and communicate with each other, with clients, and with external groups. Great products and services are born when people embrace storytelling to share an idea and move it into action and co-creation. It is an easily teachable skill that is a goldmine for increasing productive collaboration and connectedness for any organization looking to succeed in what many are calling the New Creative Economy… a world where ideas and imagination become the competitive advantage of companies looking for profitable growth and revenue in the decades to come. So, what exactly is this formula and how can it be implemented in any organization? Storytelling is based on simple, concrete tools to organize and prioritize facts, data, and ideas in a way that—science has proven—helps human brains digest information quickly. Here’s an example: Data Only: “The global pet insurance market was valued at USD 5.7 billion in 2018. The global market will reach USD 10.2 billion in 2025.” Data + Story: “It’s official. We’ve gone poodle crazy. By 2025 pet owners will spend over ten billion dollars worldwide to make sure their pups are healthy.” As you can see, ideas that are arranged by establishing context, identifying a problem or event that has occurred within that context, and bringing resolution to that problem not only hold the audience’s attention longer, but also better position decision-makers to quickly and decisively take action. To build a culture of storytelling, leadership must be the ones to inspire and propel the practice of storytelling from the top down through the organization. First, senior leaders must be model coaches themselves. Then they must encourage staff to coach one another. When coaching happens regularly, the ability to weave ideas, data, and insights into a strong narrative will skyrocket. And soon, impactful storytelling will seep into day-to-day business communications. Story fluency will not come without plenty of practice in an open, trusting work environment. The first common obstacle organizations face when ingraining storytelling into an organization is the pressure of time and resources (or lack thereof). In today’s fast-paced, overextended culture, it’s no wonder people often feel pressure to assemble proposals, design project strategy, and respond to high-stakes emails quickly. It often seems faster to isolate and whip up a story by ourselves. For teams, this usually means breaking off individual pieces and patching them together at the end. While this appears to save time, the final product is often a mess; presenting results in a hodge-podge and possibly even confusing narrative that may contain extraneous information and no throughline (…or possibly both). Regular, ongoing manager and peer story coaching helps people better organize and target their ideas to see what works and what doesn’t, and prevents the fallout of siloed working communications. The story coaching step should not be seen as “extra,” but as a time-saver that produces a more effective final product and better sells ideas. Making people comfortable with coaching check-ins is an important first step in ensuring storytelling becomes common practice and never a waste of time. The second obstacle to regular coaching is more personal. People often feel uncomfortable sharing ideas that might not be fully thought through. They’re worried they’ll get it wrong, look foolish, or seem amateurish. This is possibly the harder obstacle to get past. Top and mid-level managers must signal to teams that it’s acceptable to get it wrong at first, and they should do what they can to ease any insecurity about sharing. Story development is all about iteration. The remarkable bi-product of integrated coaching—besides better storytelling—is how quickly it will spread the language of storytelling, ultimately building a more productive and efficient idea-driven culture. This leads directly to the main two reasons why organizations should build a culture of storytelling: Storytelling Creates a Shared Language, Making it Easier to Communicate Business communications are often prepared by teams, many of which are remote these days. This can mean multiple people, serving different functions or at different levels—possibly all over the world they founded The Presentation Company (TPC) in 2001 after seeing so many talented business people miss opportunities to sell their ideas due to messages that lacked clarity, authenticity, and meaning. collaborating on one story. Perhaps it’s the sales team calling on marketing folks to send over some slides for a pitch. Or perhaps it’s a product manager looping in the finance team for a projected budget. If everyone is working from a common story framework and using a shared vocabulary to describe the story elements, their mission is made infinitely easier. Story Coaching is Steroids for Great Collaboration and Innovation A culture of storytelling goes hand-in-hand with a culture of coaching since leaders must model story coaching themselves, working with staff to ensure every sales presentation, budget proposal, product update, etc. adheres to the story framework and is targeted accurately toward the intended audience. This modeled coaching also encourages peer-to-peer coaching as a regular part of the story development process. No more siloed working. Managers should never miss the chance to point out the everyday opportunities to tell stories, and the more they do, the more successful they will be in their role today… and tomorrow. Once mastered, business storytelling is a skill people take with them for life. Republished with permission from CEOWorld.biz", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/CEO-World-825x510-1.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-01T14:28:04-05:00" }, { "id": 7670, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tpc-contributes-to-business-insider-5-email-tips-to-stop-your-messages-from-being-ignored-according-to-experts-who-work-with-facebook-and-nestle/", "title": "TPC Contributes to Business Insider: 5 email tips to stop your messages from being ignored, according to experts who work with Facebook and Nestle", "h1": "TPC Contributes to Business Insider: 5 email tips to stop your messages from being ignored, according to experts who work with Facebook and Nestle", "summary": "Inboxes are overwhelming, particularly for busy managers, key stakeholders, and VIP executives that everyone wants a response from. Most of us are bombarded with dozens of emails each day, if not more, and can’t afford more than a few seconds to glance over each one before moving on. So if you want to cut through […]", "content": "

Inboxes are overwhelming, particularly for busy managers, key stakeholders, and VIP executives that everyone wants a response from. Most of us are bombarded with dozens of emails each day, if not more, and can’t afford more than a few seconds to glance over each one before moving on. So if you want to cut through the noise to reach decision-makers and move business forward, focus on structuring every email (and we mean every email) with a story strategy.

Adopting good email strategy — the kind that gets a response — is often the result of years of experience. To save you some time, we’re sharing our five top email strategies, purely based on classic story structure.

1. Find the right balance between brief and meaningful

Before diving into your email storytelling strategy, we want to dispel a very common myth — that emails must be super-short to get answered. This isn’t true. When emails are too brief — perhaps just requesting some immediate action — they will often be ignored because they actually “get to the point” too quickly. They lack the context that gives recipients a deeper understanding of why you’re reaching out and what you need from them.

Additional information can actually enable the reader to make a decision more quickly. If they’re confused, or your ask seems complicated, they’re more likely to put off the answer you’re looking for. Still, being overly wordy is also a sure way to get your email ignored.

Make sure you find the right balance between brevity and key details in your emails. The reader should always be left with a clear idea of what they need to know and do with your information — and why.

Data suggests the ideal length of an email is between 50 and 125 words. Emails this length had a response rate above 50%.

2. Always have a headline and put it in your subject line

Good emails should tell a story. Good stories have a headline. Ergo, your email needs a headline! And where should said headline reside? Right up top of course, in the subject line.

Unfortunately, it’s very common for people to squander this opportunity for an attention-grabbing headline and instead use boring subject lines such as “Meeting follow up” or “Project update.” These generic tags tell your recipient very little and probably won’t grab their attention.

Maximize the prime real estate of your subject line instead and introduce the big idea of your email story. Your big idea is the key information — the ‘what’ of your story — that you want your recipients to remember the most. So, instead of “meeting follow up,” you could say “Reconnecting on next steps for sales kickoff next month.” Instead of “Project update,” you could say, “Project X is on target but needs additional design resources.”

Focus on your single biggest, most consequential, or most insightful piece of information. Put this headline in the subject line to give your email the best chance of being opened.

3. Your email opener must provide context

As we mentioned above, jumping too soon into your ask without providing context will leave your reader confused. Context is key so they can process your information (or request).

In storytelling terms, context is the combination of setting, characters, and conflict that build the arc of a story. For example, if the email is a follow up to a budget meeting from last week, the setting must take the reader back to the “scene” of last week’s financial discussion, the important “characters” affected by budget decisions, and the chief conflicts affecting those characters.

This look back is critical to remind them who and what’s at stake, and what decisions must be made.

4. Repeat your big idea

Being overly repetitive is the death knell for any email, however, restating your single big idea is the power move of any great storyteller. When you remind readers of your key takeaway — the ‘what’ of your email story — you cement it in their brains.

The best way to get in that one-two punch is to establish your big idea first in your headline (i.e. your subject line), then repeat it after you’ve established your context.

5. Always unveil your resolution last

One of the hallmarks of a poorly structured email is when it begins with your recommendations or your call to action without any context. As we mentioned above, many people believe that keeping an email as short as possible is best. So, they just state upfront what they need from the recipient: “Please approve this budget,” or “Can I get your feedback?” or “Need approval for a new hire.”

These requests are all part of their resolution, the answer to a certain conflict. If the resolution comes before the conflict, the recipient is less likely to buy into why they should complete your request. So instead, have this element last in your email.

 

Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus are authors of the new book “Everyday Business Storytelling: Create, Simplify, and Adapt a Visual Narrative for Any Audience.” These Silicon Valley-bred sisters founded The Presentation Company in 2001 and work with brands like Facebook, Nestle, and Medtronic. Follow them on Twitter.

Republished with permission from BusinessInsider.com

", "content_plain": "Inboxes are overwhelming, particularly for busy managers, key stakeholders, and VIP executives that everyone wants a response from. Most of us are bombarded with dozens of emails each day, if not more, and can’t afford more than a few seconds to glance over each one before moving on. So if you want to cut through the noise to reach decision-makers and move business forward, focus on structuring every email (and we mean every email) with a story strategy. Adopting good email strategy — the kind that gets a response — is often the result of years of experience. To save you some time, we’re sharing our five top email strategies, purely based on classic story structure. 1. Find the right balance between brief and meaningful Before diving into your email storytelling strategy, we want to dispel a very common myth — that emails must be super-short to get answered. This isn’t true. When emails are too brief — perhaps just requesting some immediate action — they will often be ignored because they actually “get to the point” too quickly. They lack the context that gives recipients a deeper understanding of why you’re reaching out and what you need from them. Additional information can actually enable the reader to make a decision more quickly. If they’re confused, or your ask seems complicated, they’re more likely to put off the answer you’re looking for. Still, being overly wordy is also a sure way to get your email ignored. Make sure you find the right balance between brevity and key details in your emails. The reader should always be left with a clear idea of what they need to know and do with your information — and why. Data suggests the ideal length of an email is between 50 and 125 words. Emails this length had a response rate above 50%. 2. Always have a headline and put it in your subject line Good emails should tell a story. Good stories have a headline. Ergo, your email needs a headline! And where should said headline reside? Right up top of course, in the subject line. Unfortunately, it’s very common for people to squander this opportunity for an attention-grabbing headline and instead use boring subject lines such as “Meeting follow up” or “Project update.” These generic tags tell your recipient very little and probably won’t grab their attention. Maximize the prime real estate of your subject line instead and introduce the big idea of your email story. Your big idea is the key information — the ‘what’ of your story — that you want your recipients to remember the most. So, instead of “meeting follow up,” you could say “Reconnecting on next steps for sales kickoff next month.” Instead of “Project update,” you could say, “Project X is on target but needs additional design resources.” Focus on your single biggest, most consequential, or most insightful piece of information. Put this headline in the subject line to give your email the best chance of being opened. 3. Your email opener must provide context As we mentioned above, jumping too soon into your ask without providing context will leave your reader confused. Context is key so they can process your information (or request). In storytelling terms, context is the combination of setting, characters, and conflict that build the arc of a story. For example, if the email is a follow up to a budget meeting from last week, the setting must take the reader back to the “scene” of last week’s financial discussion, the important “characters” affected by budget decisions, and the chief conflicts affecting those characters. This look back is critical to remind them who and what’s at stake, and what decisions must be made. 4. Repeat your big idea Being overly repetitive is the death knell for any email, however, restating your single big idea is the power move of any great storyteller. When you remind readers of your key takeaway — the ‘what’ of your email story — you cement it in their brains. The best way to get in that one-two punch is to establish your big idea first in your headline (i.e. your subject line), then repeat it after you’ve established your context. 5. Always unveil your resolution last One of the hallmarks of a poorly structured email is when it begins with your recommendations or your call to action without any context. As we mentioned above, many people believe that keeping an email as short as possible is best. So, they just state upfront what they need from the recipient: “Please approve this budget,” or “Can I get your feedback?” or “Need approval for a new hire.” These requests are all part of their resolution, the answer to a certain conflict. If the resolution comes before the conflict, the recipient is less likely to buy into why they should complete your request. So instead, have this element last in your email.   Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus are authors of the new book “Everyday Business Storytelling: Create, Simplify, and Adapt a Visual Narrative for Any Audience.” These Silicon Valley-bred sisters founded The Presentation Company in 2001 and work with brands like Facebook, Nestle, and Medtronic. Follow them on Twitter. Republished with permission from BusinessInsider.com", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Business-Insider-logo.png", "modified": "2023-03-02T08:34:43-05:00" }, { "id": 7672, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/3-tips-to-help-you-rock-your-next-virtual-team-presentation-video-1/", "title": "3 Tips to Help You Rock Your Next Virtual Team Presentation [VIDEO]", "h1": "3 Tips to Help You Rock Your Next Virtual Team Presentation [VIDEO]", "summary": "Most of us work on some kind of team where we present our proposals, updates, or recommendations… collectively. Team presentations require a powerful narrative and strong coordination to be successful. In other words, everyone must be in sync. But in a virtual environment, teams need to synchronize at a whole new level. Online audiences are […]", "content": "

Most of us work on some kind of team where we present our proposals, updates, or recommendations… collectively. Team presentations require a powerful narrative and strong coordination to be successful. In other words, everyone must be in sync. But in a virtual environment, teams need to synchronize at a whole new level. Online audiences are much harder to read, meaning it’s easier for there to be disconnects between presenters and their audience (or even worse, presenters with each other) and the meeting falls flat.

Watch this 2-minute video to learn three simple tips for pulling off some well-coordinated team magic at your next virtual meeting.

Want more practical advice for building and delivering team presentations—whether you’re face-to-face or virtual? Our book Everyday Business Storytelling covers this and much more. Order your copy on Amazon here.

", "content_plain": "Most of us work on some kind of team where we present our proposals, updates, or recommendations… collectively. Team presentations require a powerful narrative and strong coordination to be successful. In other words, everyone must be in sync. But in a virtual environment, teams need to synchronize at a whole new level. Online audiences are much harder to read, meaning it’s easier for there to be disconnects between presenters and their audience (or even worse, presenters with each other) and the meeting falls flat. Watch this 2-minute video to learn three simple tips for pulling off some well-coordinated team magic at your next virtual meeting. Want more practical advice for building and delivering team presentations—whether you’re face-to-face or virtual? Our book Everyday Business Storytelling covers this and much more. Order your copy on Amazon here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/3-tips-for-running-virtual-team-meetings.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T12:52:15-05:00" }, { "id": 7674, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tpc-contributes-to-fast-company-how-to-use-storytelling-strategies-to-get-your-emails-answered/", "title": "TPC Contributes to Fast Company: How to use storytelling strategies to get your emails answered", "h1": "TPC Contributes to Fast Company: How to use storytelling strategies to get your emails answered", "summary": "Our brains love stories. When you use storytelling to share information and ideas, they often stand out and are more memorable to the listener. Stories also engage visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners because they often include graphics, the spoken word, and experiences or feelings. You may think storytelling would come in handy if you’re preparing for […]", "content": "

Our brains love stories. When you use storytelling to share information and ideas, they often stand out and are more memorable to the listener. Stories also engage visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners because they often include graphics, the spoken word, and experiences or feelings.

You may think storytelling would come in handy if you’re preparing for a presentation, but Lee Lazarus and Janine Kurnoff, founders of The Presentation Company and co-authors of the book Everyday Business Storytelling, say it can also help your email get answered.

“Storytelling sounds fluffy,” says Lazarus. “The average engineer doesn’t wake up and think ‘I’m a storyteller.’ But this is not about telling personal stories. Instead, we can all use story structure to organize our thoughts to better present them to our coworkers and bosses.”

This is especially true with email, where the challenge is to cut through the noise and stand out in someone’s inbox. ”You often have one shot to connect and influence someone,” says Kurnoff. “You don’t want to miss that opportunity.”

Lazarus and Kurnoff say every great story includes four signposts:

  1. Setting: This includes data, trends and insights that provide context.
  2. Characters: These are the participants that are part of your message, including the recipient and sender (you), as well as any other stakeholders
  3. Conflict: This is the problem you’re hoping to solve and the reason for your email
  4. Resolution: And this is how you ask for the conflict to be solved

By crafting your email with these important parts, you can improve your chances of breaking through. Here’s how:

Start with the subject line

The first step to getting your email read and answered is to get your email opened. “Your email subject line is the gatekeeper,” says Lazarus. “It can make or break your chances of being read, and it should convey your big idea.”

Too often, emails have vague or passive subject lines, such as “meeting follow up.” This doesn’t tell the receiver which meeting or who will need to do any of the work. Instead, a subject line should be specific, such as “I need these additional resources on project X.” It should answer the question, “What?”

“When you leave it vague, you’re leaving the receiver to decode what you want them to do,” says Kurnoff. “The subject line should tell the recipient what they are being asked to click on. It should be a choreographed roadmap that helps the reader know where they’re headed.”

Fill out the email body

A lot has been written about keeping emails brief, however, Kurnoff says “less is more” is a myth.

“When it comes to email, people need context,” she says. “When you are fixated on being short and sweet, it may not be clear to the reader what action you want them to take.”

The body of the email should answer the question “Why?” This is where you include the setting, the characters and the conflict.

“Why are you writing the email?” asks Lazarus. “Good storytelling is being in your audience’s shoes. Make it easy for them to help you. Instead of starting with your ask, take them back to scene, remind them who the important characters are, and spell out the problem that needs to be solved.”

An email doesn’t need to be long; often the setting, characters, and conflict can be stated in a few sentences. But don’t be afraid to write a long email if providing enough context requires it, the authors say.

End with a call to action

Once you provide all of the necessary information, get to the resolution part of the email, which answers the question, “How?”

“This is the specific details of your ask,” says Lazarus. “Offer a deadline or a true call to action for your request. You can also repeat or reframe your big idea subject line to make it stand out.”

For example, you could end your email with, “To ensure we hit our target dates, I will need these additional resources on project X by Friday.” Then bullet point your action list.

“By bringing in the four signposts of storytelling, and spelling out ‘What,’ ‘Why,’ and ‘How,’ you have a better chance of pushing your message ahead of the daily blizzard and get your ideas the response and attention they deserve,” says Kurnoff.

Republished with permission from FastCompany.com

", "content_plain": "Our brains love stories. When you use storytelling to share information and ideas, they often stand out and are more memorable to the listener. Stories also engage visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners because they often include graphics, the spoken word, and experiences or feelings. You may think storytelling would come in handy if you’re preparing for a presentation, but Lee Lazarus and Janine Kurnoff, founders of The Presentation Company and co-authors of the book Everyday Business Storytelling, say it can also help your email get answered. “Storytelling sounds fluffy,” says Lazarus. “The average engineer doesn’t wake up and think ‘I’m a storyteller.’ But this is not about telling personal stories. Instead, we can all use story structure to organize our thoughts to better present them to our coworkers and bosses.” This is especially true with email, where the challenge is to cut through the noise and stand out in someone’s inbox. ”You often have one shot to connect and influence someone,” says Kurnoff. “You don’t want to miss that opportunity.” Lazarus and Kurnoff say every great story includes four signposts: Setting: This includes data, trends and insights that provide context. Characters: These are the participants that are part of your message, including the recipient and sender (you), as well as any other stakeholders Conflict: This is the problem you’re hoping to solve and the reason for your email Resolution: And this is how you ask for the conflict to be solved By crafting your email with these important parts, you can improve your chances of breaking through. Here’s how: Start with the subject line The first step to getting your email read and answered is to get your email opened. “Your email subject line is the gatekeeper,” says Lazarus. “It can make or break your chances of being read, and it should convey your big idea.” Too often, emails have vague or passive subject lines, such as “meeting follow up.” This doesn’t tell the receiver which meeting or who will need to do any of the work. Instead, a subject line should be specific, such as “I need these additional resources on project X.” It should answer the question, “What?” “When you leave it vague, you’re leaving the receiver to decode what you want them to do,” says Kurnoff. “The subject line should tell the recipient what they are being asked to click on. It should be a choreographed roadmap that helps the reader know where they’re headed.” Fill out the email body A lot has been written about keeping emails brief, however, Kurnoff says “less is more” is a myth. “When it comes to email, people need context,” she says. “When you are fixated on being short and sweet, it may not be clear to the reader what action you want them to take.” The body of the email should answer the question “Why?” This is where you include the setting, the characters and the conflict. “Why are you writing the email?” asks Lazarus. “Good storytelling is being in your audience’s shoes. Make it easy for them to help you. Instead of starting with your ask, take them back to scene, remind them who the important characters are, and spell out the problem that needs to be solved.” An email doesn’t need to be long; often the setting, characters, and conflict can be stated in a few sentences. But don’t be afraid to write a long email if providing enough context requires it, the authors say. End with a call to action Once you provide all of the necessary information, get to the resolution part of the email, which answers the question, “How?” “This is the specific details of your ask,” says Lazarus. “Offer a deadline or a true call to action for your request. You can also repeat or reframe your big idea subject line to make it stand out.” For example, you could end your email with, “To ensure we hit our target dates, I will need these additional resources on project X by Friday.” Then bullet point your action list. “By bringing in the four signposts of storytelling, and spelling out ‘What,’ ‘Why,’ and ‘How,’ you have a better chance of pushing your message ahead of the daily blizzard and get your ideas the response and attention they deserve,” says Kurnoff. Republished with permission from FastCompany.com", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Fast-Company_Using-Storytelling-in-Email_Screenshot.png", "modified": "2023-03-01T14:29:19-05:00" }, { "id": 7676, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tpc-contributes-to-forbes-com-7-storytelling-techniques-to-boost-your-career/", "title": "TPC Contributes to Forbes.com: 7 Storytelling Techniques To Boost Your Career", "h1": "TPC Contributes to Forbes.com: 7 Storytelling Techniques To Boost Your Career", "summary": "Whether you’re trying to persuade someone to support your project or motivate a team, storytelling is a fundamental business skill. So what makes a compelling narrative, and how can you improve your ability to influence an audience? According to Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus, founders of The Presentation Company and co-authors of the book Everyday Business […]", "content": "

Whether you’re trying to persuade someone to support your project or motivate a team, storytelling is a fundamental business skill. So what makes a compelling narrative, and how can you improve your ability to influence an audience? According to Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus, founders of The Presentation Company and co-authors of the book Everyday Business Storytelling, “Great storytelling is a skill that anyone can learn. In every company that we’ve ever worked with, we’ve seen how storytelling is an essential ingredient in building mastery of ideas, audience connection, and the power skill everyone wants—executive presence.” Here are seven storytelling techniques that are sure to boost your career.

Understand your audience

Compelling storytellers always seek to understand their audience first. Kurnoff and Lazarus suggest feeding your curiosity and learning everything you can about your boss, co-workers, clients, and companies you admire. Discover what’s important to them, keeps them up at night, and how you are a possible solution to their challenges. Knowing your audience’s pain points and what they value will help you choose the right narrative. Think about your intent and desired impact.

Begin by asking yourself some key questions:

Really understanding whom you are talking to is a crucial first step in your storytelling journey.

Focus on structure

One of the most impressive skills of a talented communicator is combining ideas, facts, and data to make them flow. Kurnoff shares the four key structural elements of every powerful story:

  1. Setting: the setting provides the context (often backed up with data and trends) that helps build critical focus for the audience and gets everyone on the same page.
  2. Characters: characters establish an emotional element and include customers, suppliers, partners, or key stakeholders.
  3. Conflict: conflict gives your audience a reason to care and allows you to illuminate a current problem.
  4. Resolution: resolution is the last element of your story where you can unveil a new opportunity or idea.

Identify a central theme

“We’ve seen that stories that fall flat usually fail to have a central theme,” adds Lazarus. “Before you interact with any recruiter, hiring manager, or cross-functional partner, always be prepared to offer a single, simple theme you will leave with them. For job hunters, this overarching theme or big idea should encapsulate precisely what you will bring to a company. And to really make it stick, this key takeaway should be woven into all your written and verbal communication. Bring in your theme early and repeat it throughout the process.”

Balance the use of data, text and visuals

Slides with data give the story credibility, and visuals bring it to life. Every piece of data, text or visual element should connect to your big idea. And while there’s no exact science to the right mix of data and visuals, it’s a good idea to offer a variety. Kurnoff suggests these best practices:

Keep it simple

Some of the most successful and memorable stories are relatively simple and straightforward. When you craft your narrative, eliminate any details that don’t move the story forward or develop the characters. Storytelling is about keeping the audience’s attention, so less is more. If they don’t need to know what color jacket you were wearing when you climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, don’t tell them. But if a few well-placed details help to transport your audience and drive home your message, by all means, include them.

Make it personal

The best storytellers communicate their message through memories and life experiences. Think of moments when your failures led to lessons that you’ve learned. Leverage a personal story that makes the topic real and authentic. Look for that emotional entry point through anecdotes that illustrate struggle and barriers you’ve had to overcome. This approach will draw listeners in and make you more relatable.

Practice makes perfect

Some leaders believe they are effective storytellers, so they don’t bother preparing in advance. Don’t wing it. Storytelling is an art, and practice makes perfect. After you’ve strategically selected the right narrative, take time to rehearse it out loud to yourself and others. Lazarus adds, “remember, 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, so how you come across to others can help (or hurt) your story. Work up the courage to record yourself on your laptop or smartphone. Pay attention to subtle visual cues that could be distracting your audience.” Use a conversational tone to help your audience relate to you as a person, even in a business setting. It will go a long way in establishing a genuine connection.

You can use storytelling techniques in many ways: to inspire the organization, communicate a vision, teach important lessons, define culture and values or explain who you are and what you believe. When you experience a memorable life lesson, write it down. You never know when it will turn into your next great story.

Republished with permission from Forbes.com

", "content_plain": "Whether you’re trying to persuade someone to support your project or motivate a team, storytelling is a fundamental business skill. So what makes a compelling narrative, and how can you improve your ability to influence an audience? According to Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus, founders of The Presentation Company and co-authors of the book Everyday Business Storytelling, “Great storytelling is a skill that anyone can learn. In every company that we’ve ever worked with, we’ve seen how storytelling is an essential ingredient in building mastery of ideas, audience connection, and the power skill everyone wants—executive presence.” Here are seven storytelling techniques that are sure to boost your career. Understand your audience Compelling storytellers always seek to understand their audience first. Kurnoff and Lazarus suggest feeding your curiosity and learning everything you can about your boss, co-workers, clients, and companies you admire. Discover what’s important to them, keeps them up at night, and how you are a possible solution to their challenges. Knowing your audience’s pain points and what they value will help you choose the right narrative. Think about your intent and desired impact. Begin by asking yourself some key questions: Who is my story for, and what is their current situation? What do I want or need them to do? What do they need to think or feel to take that action? Really understanding whom you are talking to is a crucial first step in your storytelling journey. Focus on structure One of the most impressive skills of a talented communicator is combining ideas, facts, and data to make them flow. Kurnoff shares the four key structural elements of every powerful story: Setting: the setting provides the context (often backed up with data and trends) that helps build critical focus for the audience and gets everyone on the same page. Characters: characters establish an emotional element and include customers, suppliers, partners, or key stakeholders. Conflict: conflict gives your audience a reason to care and allows you to illuminate a current problem. Resolution: resolution is the last element of your story where you can unveil a new opportunity or idea. Identify a central theme “We’ve seen that stories that fall flat usually fail to have a central theme,” adds Lazarus. “Before you interact with any recruiter, hiring manager, or cross-functional partner, always be prepared to offer a single, simple theme you will leave with them. For job hunters, this overarching theme or big idea should encapsulate precisely what you will bring to a company. And to really make it stick, this key takeaway should be woven into all your written and verbal communication. Bring in your theme early and repeat it throughout the process.” Balance the use of data, text and visuals Slides with data give the story credibility, and visuals bring it to life. Every piece of data, text or visual element should connect to your big idea. And while there’s no exact science to the right mix of data and visuals, it’s a good idea to offer a variety. Kurnoff suggests these best practices: Don’t be repetitive: if one visual category seems to dominate your narrative, rethink your choices and look for ways to mix things up. Keep it simple: you don’t need to use every visual display or PowerPoint trick. Use text in moderation: slides crowded with text are difficult for your audience to take in, so less is more. Keep it simple Some of the most successful and memorable stories are relatively simple and straightforward. When you craft your narrative, eliminate any details that don’t move the story forward or develop the characters. Storytelling is about keeping the audience’s attention, so less is more. If they don’t need to know what color jacket you were wearing when you climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, don’t tell them. But if a few well-placed details help to transport your audience and drive home your message, by all means, include them. Make it personal The best storytellers communicate their message through memories and life experiences. Think of moments when your failures led to lessons that you’ve learned. Leverage a personal story that makes the topic real and authentic. Look for that emotional entry point through anecdotes that illustrate struggle and barriers you’ve had to overcome. This approach will draw listeners in and make you more relatable. Practice makes perfect Some leaders believe they are effective storytellers, so they don’t bother preparing in advance. Don’t wing it. Storytelling is an art, and practice makes perfect. After you’ve strategically selected the right narrative, take time to rehearse it out loud to yourself and others. Lazarus adds, “remember, 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, so how you come across to others can help (or hurt) your story. Work up the courage to record yourself on your laptop or smartphone. Pay attention to subtle visual cues that could be distracting your audience.” Use a conversational tone to help your audience relate to you as a person, even in a business setting. It will go a long way in establishing a genuine connection. You can use storytelling techniques in many ways: to inspire the organization, communicate a vision, teach important lessons, define culture and values or explain who you are and what you believe. When you experience a memorable life lesson, write it down. You never know when it will turn into your next great story. Republished with permission from Forbes.com", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Forbes_Storytelling-to-Boost-your-Career_Screenshot.png", "modified": "2023-03-01T13:45:48-05:00" }, { "id": 7678, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/two-sisters-a-dream-and-the-art-of-storytelling/", "title": "Two Sisters, a Dream, and the Art of Storytelling", "h1": "Two Sisters, a Dream, and the Art of Storytelling", "summary": "Portland-based “sister-preneurs” Lee Lazarus and Janine Kurnoff are on a lifelong journey together, building practical, experiential visual storytelling workshops that teach talented businesspeople in all functions, at all levels, a simple framework that injects impact into the ideas behind every presentation, proposal, email, and even phone call they make. Co-founders of The Presentation Company, the […]", "content": "

Portland-based “sister-preneurs” Lee Lazarus and Janine Kurnoff are on a lifelong journey together, building practical, experiential visual storytelling workshops that teach talented businesspeople in all functions, at all levels, a simple framework that injects impact into the ideas behind every presentation, proposal, email, and even phone call they make. Co-founders of The Presentation Company, the two are at a particularly exciting point in the arc of their own 20-year business story. Their first book, Everyday Business Storytelling—based on the practical storytelling strategies from their workshops—is hitting bookshelves nationwide on February 17th.

On the eve of their debut as published authors, Lee and Janine reflect on the road that got them to where they are today.

How Silicon Valley shaped what we wanted… and didn’t want

Janine: In 2001, the dot-com-dot-bomb was busting, companies were downsizing, and most of the recent start-ups were getting vaporized. Lee and I had both been working in tech for several years and saw it all. I was in global sales training at Yahoo! Inc. (and later as an on-camera webcast host). Lee was head of marketing communications for two of the fastest-growing Internet and telecommunications market-research firms in the Valley.

We were no strangers to rambling PowerPoint presentations, choc-a-block with data and no story. We could see how audiences were left perplexed by what they were supposed to know or do with the information being presented. Communications were often built without their audience in mind. We became fixated on helping people change that.

Lee: It was a moment that many people have in their careers, where they ask themselves, “Can I do better than this? What would it take to start my own business?” Both of us were doing well professionally, and we knew that regardless of how we were going to leave it all and start our own company, we needed a dream that was big enough to include our ambitious vision of the future… a future that included building a successful company, having families, and a work life that didn’t run us into the ground.

We were inspired by two things our entrepreneurial immigrant parents instilled in us from a young age: take risks, and follow your passion. So we put our minds together, took a leap, and started The Presentation Company (TPC) in 2001.

Passion is ignited and a company is born

Janine: Starting out, we had very little money, but also very little overhead. We had no kids, no husbands, and rent was cheap! We were virtual… all we needed was a computer and stable Internet. It brought us huge benefits and allowed us to devote our energy to building a solid business.

Lee: We quickly found that clients really needed what we were offering… and they tended not to judge us on whether we had a fancy office space or a team of employees. They liked what they heard, and they wanted to hear more. It was never about relentlessly selling ourselves, it was about teaching people to become more confident, strategic communicators. Not only that, but we were pioneering the space of virtual learning (yes, 20 years before the pandemic!). When we told companies that we could train their teams to communicate and learn more effectively in an online environment, people’s ears started to perk up.

Janine: We’d invite them into a conversation and suddenly they wanted to be a part of a new and better way to communicate. This curiosity with our work turned into request after request with new teams, and word of mouth spread like wildfire throughout companies. Our first corporate client, Symantec, happened to be in the audience at a networking session we held for a Silicon Valley Women’s group. She saw our content and clearly envisioned what this could do for her, her team, and her company.

Lee: From there, as we developed our storytelling workshop, we observed hundreds of organizations with varying paces, workstyles, and cultural norms. We trained ultra-fast-moving companies. We trained the slowest dinosaurs. But no matter who we encountered, we unmistakably noticed that those with a culture of storytelling were truly winning. They have more cohesive messaging, better team collaboration, and a far better approach to selling their ideas to their customers, partners, and executives.

The power of sisterhood

Janine: It’s no coincidence that we follow the architecture of a great story in everything we do at TPC. Transparency shows up in the WHY of any story—it’s an opportunity to establish context.

We’ve had to be transparent with each other as business partners and sisters as well. On day one, Lee and I didn’t look at each other and say, we are going to grow an empire, raise money, get office space, and take over the world! Our approach was to quietly chip away at our business and continue to focus on what we were capable of. We were young 20-somethings, passionate about what we were doing. But we wanted to grow our families as much as we wanted to grow our business.

Lee: This really speaks to our relationship as sisters. We have been able to work hard, while not killing ourselves… or each other! We always make sure we’re on the same page, have the same desired outcomes, and work toward the same resolution—just like what we teach our clients about the arc of any story.

Our advice for aspiring entrepreneurs…

Janine: The advice I would give to any entrepreneur is: don’t wait. Get out there, show others what you have to offer, be a thought leader. Remember you’re entering into a world of unknowns, which means you’ll need to get comfortable with the uncomfortable and operate without an exact blueprint (that’s the fun!).

For fellow moms out there, balance between work and family is easiest when you have passion for both. At times, I’ve had to step away from work. Other times, the business spills over and the kids are wondering why mommy is working so much. But, even on the hardest days, I am always proud of what of I have created and the legacy I’ll leave behind… which fills me with gratitude.

Lee: First, find a network of people who inspire you outside of work life—trusted people you can turn to for strategy and perspective. Female leaders especially can benefit from mentors who lift them up through bumpy times, as well as celebrate the wins.

Second, take care of your physical health. Being present for people in your life is one of the most challenging yet most important balancing acts to strike when growing a company. Whether it’s yoga or a run, you need something to help you reset and refuel.

Want more tips for becoming a better leader?

\"EBS-mockup-stack2-2\"Get your hands on the business storytelling strategies that The Presentation Company has delivered to clients like Facebook, Nestle, Accenture, Marriott, McDonald’s, and many others over the past 20 years. Everyday Business Storytelling is filled with practical techniques and real-world business story transformations. Order your copy today.

", "content_plain": "Portland-based “sister-preneurs” Lee Lazarus and Janine Kurnoff are on a lifelong journey together, building practical, experiential visual storytelling workshops that teach talented businesspeople in all functions, at all levels, a simple framework that injects impact into the ideas behind every presentation, proposal, email, and even phone call they make. Co-founders of The Presentation Company, the two are at a particularly exciting point in the arc of their own 20-year business story. Their first book, Everyday Business Storytelling—based on the practical storytelling strategies from their workshops—is hitting bookshelves nationwide on February 17th. On the eve of their debut as published authors, Lee and Janine reflect on the road that got them to where they are today. How Silicon Valley shaped what we wanted… and didn’t want Janine: In 2001, the dot-com-dot-bomb was busting, companies were downsizing, and most of the recent start-ups were getting vaporized. Lee and I had both been working in tech for several years and saw it all. I was in global sales training at Yahoo! Inc. (and later as an on-camera webcast host). Lee was head of marketing communications for two of the fastest-growing Internet and telecommunications market-research firms in the Valley. We were no strangers to rambling PowerPoint presentations, choc-a-block with data and no story. We could see how audiences were left perplexed by what they were supposed to know or do with the information being presented. Communications were often built without their audience in mind. We became fixated on helping people change that. Lee: It was a moment that many people have in their careers, where they ask themselves, “Can I do better than this? What would it take to start my own business?” Both of us were doing well professionally, and we knew that regardless of how we were going to leave it all and start our own company, we needed a dream that was big enough to include our ambitious vision of the future… a future that included building a successful company, having families, and a work life that didn’t run us into the ground. We were inspired by two things our entrepreneurial immigrant parents instilled in us from a young age: take risks, and follow your passion. So we put our minds together, took a leap, and started The Presentation Company (TPC) in 2001. Passion is ignited and a company is born Janine: Starting out, we had very little money, but also very little overhead. We had no kids, no husbands, and rent was cheap! We were virtual… all we needed was a computer and stable Internet. It brought us huge benefits and allowed us to devote our energy to building a solid business. Lee: We quickly found that clients really needed what we were offering… and they tended not to judge us on whether we had a fancy office space or a team of employees. They liked what they heard, and they wanted to hear more. It was never about relentlessly selling ourselves, it was about teaching people to become more confident, strategic communicators. Not only that, but we were pioneering the space of virtual learning (yes, 20 years before the pandemic!). When we told companies that we could train their teams to communicate and learn more effectively in an online environment, people’s ears started to perk up. Janine: We’d invite them into a conversation and suddenly they wanted to be a part of a new and better way to communicate. This curiosity with our work turned into request after request with new teams, and word of mouth spread like wildfire throughout companies. Our first corporate client, Symantec, happened to be in the audience at a networking session we held for a Silicon Valley Women’s group. She saw our content and clearly envisioned what this could do for her, her team, and her company. Lee: From there, as we developed our storytelling workshop, we observed hundreds of organizations with varying paces, workstyles, and cultural norms. We trained ultra-fast-moving companies. We trained the slowest dinosaurs. But no matter who we encountered, we unmistakably noticed that those with a culture of storytelling were truly winning. They have more cohesive messaging, better team collaboration, and a far better approach to selling their ideas to their customers, partners, and executives. The power of sisterhood Janine: It’s no coincidence that we follow the architecture of a great story in everything we do at TPC. Transparency shows up in the WHY of any story—it’s an opportunity to establish context. We’ve had to be transparent with each other as business partners and sisters as well. On day one, Lee and I didn’t look at each other and say, we are going to grow an empire, raise money, get office space, and take over the world! Our approach was to quietly chip away at our business and continue to focus on what we were capable of. We were young 20-somethings, passionate about what we were doing. But we wanted to grow our families as much as we wanted to grow our business. Lee: This really speaks to our relationship as sisters. We have been able to work hard, while not killing ourselves… or each other! We always make sure we’re on the same page, have the same desired outcomes, and work toward the same resolution—just like what we teach our clients about the arc of any story. Our advice for aspiring entrepreneurs… Janine: The advice I would give to any entrepreneur is: don’t wait. Get out there, show others what you have to offer, be a thought leader. Remember you’re entering into a world of unknowns, which means you’ll need to get comfortable with the uncomfortable and operate without an exact blueprint (that’s the fun!). For fellow moms out there, balance between work and family is easiest when you have passion for both. At times, I’ve had to step away from work. Other times, the business spills over and the kids are wondering why mommy is working so much. But, even on the hardest days, I am always proud of what of I have created and the legacy I’ll leave behind… which fills me with gratitude. Lee: First, find a network of people who inspire you outside of work life—trusted people you can turn to for strategy and perspective. Female leaders especially can benefit from mentors who lift them up through bumpy times, as well as celebrate the wins. Second, take care of your physical health. Being present for people in your life is one of the most challenging yet most important balancing acts to strike when growing a company. Whether it’s yoga or a run, you need something to help you reset and refuel. Want more tips for becoming a better leader? Get your hands on the business storytelling strategies that The Presentation Company has delivered to clients like Facebook, Nestle, Accenture, Marriott, McDonald’s, and many others over the past 20 years. Everyday Business Storytelling is filled with practical techniques and real-world business story transformations. Order your copy today.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/TPC2-scaled.jpg", "modified": "2023-02-28T12:37:18-05:00" }, { "id": 7680, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/the-rise-of-the-frankendeck-what-it-is-and-how-to-avoid-falling-victim-to-it/", "title": "The Rise of the Frankendeck: What It Is, and How to Avoid Falling Victim to It", "h1": "The Rise of the Frankendeck: What It Is, and How to Avoid Falling Victim to It", "summary": "  Nobody would blame you or your team for trying to save time building presentation decks. Whether you’re prepping a do-or-die proposal or simply giving the boss their umpteenth status update, time is always of the essence. But, what if the way most of us try to save time actually wastes time? We are talking […]", "content": "

 

Nobody would blame you or your team for trying to save time building presentation decks. Whether you’re prepping a do-or-die proposal or simply giving the boss their umpteenth status update, time is always of the essence. But, what if the way most of us try to save time actually wastes time?

We are talking about the way most of us build decks—by leveraging all of the existing resources we can get our hands on. We throw together pretty slides from old decks, borrow from co-workers, or dig into the corporate marketing portal. Essentially, we go thrifting! And what is the result of this shopping spree? A muddy, cobbled-together, confusing mess. We call this a Frankendeck™.

You’ve seen them. They show up in our meetings and flood our inboxes. And the results can be scary! There’s no clear message or call-to-action. Your audience is left confused. And ultimately, you lose your opportunity to influence decisions and move business forward.

Admit it. You’ve built Frankendecks. (We’ve all built Frankendecks.)

So why are these frightening Frankendecks so common? Three reasons:

1. They appear to save time.

Whether we’re building the deck of a lifetime or an unsexy, run-of-the-mill update, we’ve got a million other things to do. We are lured by the false feeling of efficiency.

2. They seem easy to pull off!

Leveraging old charts, graphics, and bullet points seem like a no-brainer. They contain “information” that’s produced and appear ready to go. They have to be valuable to our audience. Right? Right?!

3. They look good… sometimes.

Sure, Frankendecks—filled with recycled content—might actually look pretty jazzy, depending on who you borrowed from. But unfortunately, these colorful, data-packed monsters are a mirage.

Even if the charts, bullets, and other graphics appear to fit well and the deck looks finished, Frankendecks lack a coherent narrative that an audience can easily follow from beginning to end. They don’t save time because they don’t achieve the actual goal: to drive business conversations forward.

Simply put, Frankendecks don’t serve your key message

Successful presentations (or any form of business communications) should always follow the arc of a story and carry one central message. Every single fact, supporting piece of data, or additional insights you include in your story should serve that chief message. This BIG Idea is the through-line for any communication you produce (the one thing your audience must remember).

Without it, you’ll have difficulty sorting which old slides you want to use, how to edit them to strengthen your story, and which ones you should save for another time.

So what’s the REAL time-saver? A story framework

We can get anywhere faster if we have a map, right? Well, a story framework serves as a basic roadmap for building any narrative. It will help you (or your team) organize your ideas and build a clean, clear narrative quickly. The framework follows four classic signposts that form the arc of any story:

With a story arc established, it is much easier to borrow slides, charts, or anything that was originally built for another purpose. It allows you to see clearly where everything will fit best into your narrative. On the flip side, you can edit out anything that detracts from your core insights.

\"4

Repurpose old slides for TODAY’S story

So, go ahead. Consider leveraging any of your colleague’s old charts, your favorite slide layouts, or that diagram you built last month. BUT, always make sure that whatever you include always maps to your overarching story strategy. That way, it will be much easier to see right away if a slide will work as-is, whether it needs editing, or if you need to save it for another time. The point is, everything you use must serve a purpose in the story you are trying to tell at that moment. Check those boxes and you’ll never miss an opportunity to serve up your ideas to their best advantage and move any business conversation forward.

Here’s to #NoMoreFrankendecks

\"Everyday

Ready to learn more about a Frankendeck-free, story-driven future? Our self-paced, on-demand storytelling course will arm you with a simple framework—plus loads of videos, resources, and practical examples—to help you quickly organize your ideas, data, and insights into a powerful, audience-centric business story. Sign up here.", "content_plain": "  Nobody would blame you or your team for trying to save time building presentation decks. Whether you’re prepping a do-or-die proposal or simply giving the boss their umpteenth status update, time is always of the essence. But, what if the way most of us try to save time actually wastes time? We are talking about the way most of us build decks—by leveraging all of the existing resources we can get our hands on. We throw together pretty slides from old decks, borrow from co-workers, or dig into the corporate marketing portal. Essentially, we go thrifting! And what is the result of this shopping spree? A muddy, cobbled-together, confusing mess. We call this a Frankendeck™. You’ve seen them. They show up in our meetings and flood our inboxes. And the results can be scary! There’s no clear message or call-to-action. Your audience is left confused. And ultimately, you lose your opportunity to influence decisions and move business forward. Admit it. You’ve built Frankendecks. (We’ve all built Frankendecks.) So why are these frightening Frankendecks so common? Three reasons: 1. They appear to save time. Whether we’re building the deck of a lifetime or an unsexy, run-of-the-mill update, we’ve got a million other things to do. We are lured by the false feeling of efficiency. 2. They seem easy to pull off! Leveraging old charts, graphics, and bullet points seem like a no-brainer. They contain “information” that’s produced and appear ready to go. They have to be valuable to our audience. Right? Right?! 3. They look good… sometimes. Sure, Frankendecks—filled with recycled content—might actually look pretty jazzy, depending on who you borrowed from. But unfortunately, these colorful, data-packed monsters are a mirage. Even if the charts, bullets, and other graphics appear to fit well and the deck looks finished, Frankendecks lack a coherent narrative that an audience can easily follow from beginning to end. They don’t save time because they don’t achieve the actual goal: to drive business conversations forward. Simply put, Frankendecks don’t serve your key message Successful presentations (or any form of business communications) should always follow the arc of a story and carry one central message. Every single fact, supporting piece of data, or additional insights you include in your story should serve that chief message. This BIG Idea is the through-line for any communication you produce (the one thing your audience must remember). Without it, you’ll have difficulty sorting which old slides you want to use, how to edit them to strengthen your story, and which ones you should save for another time. So what’s the REAL time-saver? A story framework We can get anywhere faster if we have a map, right? Well, a story framework serves as a basic roadmap for building any narrative. It will help you (or your team) organize your ideas and build a clean, clear narrative quickly. The framework follows four classic signposts that form the arc of any story: Setting is a snapshot in time, a place, or a circumstance. It immediately establishes the context for your story, such as market conditions or a company’s health. Characters are who or what is affected by the current situation (e.g. your customers, employees, or team). Conflict is what provides the tension in the situation that’ll give your audience a reason to care. Resolution is your recommendations, product, or solution to ease the tension. With a story arc established, it is much easier to borrow slides, charts, or anything that was originally built for another purpose. It allows you to see clearly where everything will fit best into your narrative. On the flip side, you can edit out anything that detracts from your core insights. Repurpose old slides for TODAY’S story So, go ahead. Consider leveraging any of your colleague’s old charts, your favorite slide layouts, or that diagram you built last month. BUT, always make sure that whatever you include always maps to your overarching story strategy. That way, it will be much easier to see right away if a slide will work as-is, whether it needs editing, or if you need to save it for another time. The point is, everything you use must serve a purpose in the story you are trying to tell at that moment. Check those boxes and you’ll never miss an opportunity to serve up your ideas to their best advantage and move any business conversation forward. Here’s to #NoMoreFrankendecks Ready to learn more about a Frankendeck-free, story-driven future? Our self-paced, on-demand storytelling course will arm you with a simple framework—plus loads of videos, resources, and practical examples—to help you quickly organize your ideas, data, and insights into a powerful, audience-centric business story. Sign up here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/TPC-EBS_BlogArt.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T09:03:37-05:00" }, { "id": 7682, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/the-one-big-idea-sales-trends-are-missing/", "title": "The One Big Idea Sales Trends are Missing", "h1": "The One Big Idea Sales Trends are Missing", "summary": "In 2021, sales leaders that ground their communications in storytelling—and guide customers to a central BIG Idea—will beat out the competition. In 2020, industries that were slow to dip their toes in the digital-first waters had to adopt technology and virtual selling at an accelerated pace. Now, global sales teams are quickly transitioning from being […]", "content": "

In 2021, sales leaders that ground their communications in storytelling—and guide customers to a central BIG Idea—will beat out the competition. 

In 2020, industries that were slow to dip their toes in the digital-first waters had to adopt technology and virtual selling at an accelerated pace. Now, global sales teams are quickly transitioning from being “forced” to adapt to lockdowns to recognizing that online selling is here to stay—and that it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

In fact, research by McKinsey shows that more than three quarters of B2B buyers and sellers actually prefer remote human engagement over face-to-face interactions.

On one hand, this may seem like an advantage for sales teams—buyers can readily access a wealth of information online that they can utilize to make smart purchasing decisions. On the other hand, the sheer amount of information is also causing customers to feel overwhelmed, resulting in delayed or abandoned purchases.

 

Customers are left to their own devices (both literally and figuratively) while navigating all that’s available online, which means the key selling point might be getting missed.

 

With more emphasis than ever on the digital customer journey, you’ve probably read loads of predictions for 2021 that concentrate on virtual selling environments and tools to support digital marketing. But many sales leaders are overlooking one key trend that’s been around far longer than any trendy piece of technology: storytelling.

Using Storytelling in a Virtual World to Be More Effective

In today’s oversaturated environment, sales leaders must look beyond the tech-enabled tools and acknowledge what many of the forecasted trends for next year are missing: the need for effective storytelling.

Whether face-to-face or remote, the best salespeople know how to impart a rock-solid narrative that gets straight to the point. 

 

Sales leaders must ensure their teams get to the root cause of the issue their buyers are facing. This requires salespeople to walk in their buyers’ shoes and see things from their point of view, or risk missing a larger opportunity. Oftentimes, salespeople get stuck in the tactical items and fail to direct the customer to think about their business in a different light.

Once the root cause has been identified, sellers must frame up their narrative in a way that creates excitement and motivates the customer to action. In many cases, over-reliance on facts and data get in the way of communicating the BIG Idea. More time must therefore be spent on discovering the story that drives audiences to act.

 

Driving this BIG Idea home with executive presence requires a deliberate approach on the part of a salesperson to flex their story based on the various needs and interests of each buyer. For instance, the senior executive in your audience likely has different priorities than the product engineer that’s also in the room. Adjusting your story (with your audience’s mindset always at the forefront) not only helps you meet the information needs of different audiences, but it helps you anticipate questions and command the room.

But what exactly is storytelling in the world of sales? While definitions abound, it all boils down to brands sharing their message in a way that engages audiences and drives them to a desired action. 

“Buyers… expect every interaction to bring them value, relevancy, and continuity”

-Mary Shea, Principal Analyst at Forrester

Storytelling helps customers immediately connect with what you’re selling on an emotional level, making it easy to gather the facts, weigh their options, and make a decision. 

\"Forrester

The BIG Idea: How to Communicate the Sum and Substance

Of course, storytelling in business is not a new trend. But there is one key component that can make or break a business narrative when selling your product or service, and that’s having one BIG Idea.

Your BIG Idea is the one key message you want your audience to remember. They need to be able to understand—and remember—this point easily, whether you’re engaging them online or face-to-face. (Yes, it works no matter how you deliver your ideas—even in emails!)

When telling your story, every fact, figure, and insight within your narrative should tie back to this BIG Idea. The goal is to clarify the idea in such a way that resonates with your customers emotionally, making them feel a strong connection to your story. 

Think about it like this: your BIG Idea is the subject line of your most hard-hitting, impactful, and click-worthy email. If you only had one chance to send out an email to your entire network explaining your main selling point, what would the subject line be? 

It wouldn’t make sense to include something vague—like “meeting agenda” or “product update.” Rather, your BIG Idea needs to address the central issue that your audience cares about. 

As we look to 2021, sales leaders that help customers make sense of what they’re seeing and guide them to the central, BIG Idea will come out on top. 

While the opportunities created by digital selling environments are undoubtedly exciting, the future of sales trends will be defined by a sense-making approach and a core focus on storytelling. 

Today’s customers want to feel confident in what they learn and engage with online, and it’s up to the seller to drive forth a solid narrative and BIG Idea that makes the learning journey clear-cut and painless. 

Want to learn more about up-leveling your sales teams’ storytelling skills in 2021? Check out our Corporate Storytelling Workshop for Teams or order your copy of our new book, Everyday Business Storytelling.

", "content_plain": "In 2021, sales leaders that ground their communications in storytelling—and guide customers to a central BIG Idea—will beat out the competition. In 2020, industries that were slow to dip their toes in the digital-first waters had to adopt technology and virtual selling at an accelerated pace. Now, global sales teams are quickly transitioning from being “forced” to adapt to lockdowns to recognizing that online selling is here to stay—and that it’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, research by McKinsey shows that more than three quarters of B2B buyers and sellers actually prefer remote human engagement over face-to-face interactions. On one hand, this may seem like an advantage for sales teams—buyers can readily access a wealth of information online that they can utilize to make smart purchasing decisions. On the other hand, the sheer amount of information is also causing customers to feel overwhelmed, resulting in delayed or abandoned purchases. Customers are left to their own devices (both literally and figuratively) while navigating all that’s available online, which means the key selling point might be getting missed. With more emphasis than ever on the digital customer journey, you’ve probably read loads of predictions for 2021 that concentrate on virtual selling environments and tools to support digital marketing. But many sales leaders are overlooking one key trend that’s been around far longer than any trendy piece of technology: storytelling. Using Storytelling in a Virtual World to Be More Effective In today’s oversaturated environment, sales leaders must look beyond the tech-enabled tools and acknowledge what many of the forecasted trends for next year are missing: the need for effective storytelling. Whether face-to-face or remote, the best salespeople know how to impart a rock-solid narrative that gets straight to the point. Sales leaders must ensure their teams get to the root cause of the issue their buyers are facing. This requires salespeople to walk in their buyers’ shoes and see things from their point of view, or risk missing a larger opportunity. Oftentimes, salespeople get stuck in the tactical items and fail to direct the customer to think about their business in a different light. Once the root cause has been identified, sellers must frame up their narrative in a way that creates excitement and motivates the customer to action. In many cases, over-reliance on facts and data get in the way of communicating the BIG Idea. More time must therefore be spent on discovering the story that drives audiences to act. Driving this BIG Idea home with executive presence requires a deliberate approach on the part of a salesperson to flex their story based on the various needs and interests of each buyer. For instance, the senior executive in your audience likely has different priorities than the product engineer that’s also in the room. Adjusting your story (with your audience’s mindset always at the forefront) not only helps you meet the information needs of different audiences, but it helps you anticipate questions and command the room. But what exactly is storytelling in the world of sales? While definitions abound, it all boils down to brands sharing their message in a way that engages audiences and drives them to a desired action. “Buyers… expect every interaction to bring them value, relevancy, and continuity” -Mary Shea, Principal Analyst at Forrester Storytelling helps customers immediately connect with what you’re selling on an emotional level, making it easy to gather the facts, weigh their options, and make a decision. The BIG Idea: How to Communicate the Sum and Substance Of course, storytelling in business is not a new trend. But there is one key component that can make or break a business narrative when selling your product or service, and that’s having one BIG Idea. Your BIG Idea is the one key message you want your audience to remember. They need to be able to understand—and remember—this point easily, whether you’re engaging them online or face-to-face. (Yes, it works no matter how you deliver your ideas—even in emails!) When telling your story, every fact, figure, and insight within your narrative should tie back to this BIG Idea. The goal is to clarify the idea in such a way that resonates with your customers emotionally, making them feel a strong connection to your story. Think about it like this: your BIG Idea is the subject line of your most hard-hitting, impactful, and click-worthy email. If you only had one chance to send out an email to your entire network explaining your main selling point, what would the subject line be? It wouldn’t make sense to include something vague—like “meeting agenda” or “product update.” Rather, your BIG Idea needs to address the central issue that your audience cares about. As we look to 2021, sales leaders that help customers make sense of what they’re seeing and guide them to the central, BIG Idea will come out on top. While the opportunities created by digital selling environments are undoubtedly exciting, the future of sales trends will be defined by a sense-making approach and a core focus on storytelling. Today’s customers want to feel confident in what they learn and engage with online, and it’s up to the seller to drive forth a solid narrative and BIG Idea that makes the learning journey clear-cut and painless. Want to learn more about up-leveling your sales teams’ storytelling skills in 2021? Check out our Corporate Storytelling Workshop for Teams or order your copy of our new book, Everyday Business Storytelling.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/2021-sales-trends.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T09:08:33-05:00" }, { "id": 11190, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/webinar-story-visuals-and-data-unlocking-the-power-of-storytelling-in-life-sciences/", "title": "[Webinar] Story, Visuals and Data: Unlocking the Power of Storytelling in Life Sciences", "h1": "[Webinar] Story, Visuals and Data: Unlocking the Power of Storytelling in Life Sciences", "summary": " ", "content": "

Everyone loves a good story. But at work, we struggle to apply storytelling to our everyday business communications. And for life sciences, health, and pharma companies in particular, it can be challenging to organize complex scientific data into a clear and cohesive narrative.

In this 1-hour, on-demand webinar, presented in partnership with the Life Sciences Trainers & Educators Network (LTEN), Janine Kurnoff, TPC’s co-founder and chief innovation officer and author of Everyday Business Storytelling, will explore how to transform scientific presentations into compelling business narratives. She’ll introduce the key ingredients you need to master the art of business storytelling: a story strategy, a visual strategy and a data strategy.

During this session, you’ll learn how to:

Watch now to discover how storytelling can give any form of business communications (from presentations, to posters, to emails) a boost! Plus, you’ll see some eye-opening before-and-after transformations of life sciences communications that will bring these concepts to life!

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

 

", "content_plain": "Everyone loves a good story. But at work, we struggle to apply storytelling to our everyday business communications. And for life sciences, health, and pharma companies in particular, it can be challenging to organize complex scientific data into a clear and cohesive narrative. In this 1-hour, on-demand webinar, presented in partnership with the Life Sciences Trainers & Educators Network (LTEN), Janine Kurnoff, TPC’s co-founder and chief innovation officer and author of Everyday Business Storytelling, will explore how to transform scientific presentations into compelling business narratives. She’ll introduce the key ingredients you need to master the art of business storytelling: a story strategy, a visual strategy and a data strategy. During this session, you’ll learn how to: Use a storytelling framework to organize ideas and complex scientific data into audience-centric business narratives Flex your story to adapt to common business scenarios and diverse audiences, including senior executives Choose clear, impactful visuals with purpose and intention to help advance your story and inspire action Gets tips for turning facts and figures into easy-to-scan data visualizations Watch now to discover how storytelling can give any form of business communications (from presentations, to posters, to emails) a boost! Plus, you’ll see some eye-opening before-and-after transformations of life sciences communications that will bring these concepts to life! You can view our Privacy Policy here.  ", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/2024-LTEN-On-demand-webinar-graphic-v1-1.png", "modified": "2026-05-15T10:50:38-05:00" }, { "id": 11209, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/meeting-lds-mandate-how-to-become-a-strategic-partner-to-the-business/", "title": "Meeting L&D’s Mandate: How to Become a Strategic Partner to the Business", "h1": "Meeting L&D’s Mandate: How to Become a Strategic Partner to the Business", "summary": "", "content": "

Like most aspects of business, the L&D landscape is changing.

The goal, of course, remains the same—to upskill employees so they can bring their best to the organization and contribute to its success. However, over the last few years, there have been some major shifts in the business environment that are ushering in a whole new approach.

And we’re not just talking about leveling up the tech and getting creative with remote teams. In the current competitive market, L&D leaders are being asked to join forces with the rest of the business to become strategic partners.

As one L&D executive put it1: “Forming strategic partnerships across the organization is becoming increasingly important. We need to collaborate with other departments to align our learning initiatives with the overall business strategy.” 

What does that look like? According to the latest industry research, companies are looking for learning initiatives that are not only dynamic and scalable, but that are specifically designed to equip employees with skills that align with organizational goals and produce measurable outcomes.2

That’s a tall order, and if you’re like most L&D managers, the task at hand may feel a little daunting.

But here’s the good news: Leaders are finding that with a fresh approach and the right program in place, L&D can become the secret weapon and part of a company’s competitive edge.

Filling the talent gap with L&D

Let’s take the market’s current talent shortage as an example.3 Not only are most companies across most industries continuing to face a huge skills gap, but finding talent—and keeping it—is a major struggle. The latest data shows that 1 in 2 U.S. employees are open to leaving their organization.4

\"\"

L&D leaders can own a big part of the solution by equipping new employees and giving middle managers a reason to stick around. In fact, a Microsoft Work Trends Index study showed that 76% of employees said that they would stay at their company longer if they could benefit more from learning and development support.5

But oftentimes, training programs fall short in delivering their intended value. And when existing training programs don’t meet the needs of the business, L&D’s important role can be hidden behind training dollars that aren’t bringing in the expected return on investment.

Part of the struggle is finding quality programs that are engaging and memorable. However, the real challenge is finding training opportunities that are relevant and practical to every level, function, and role. 

So, how do you do that? Training needs to take the current skills of employees into consideration, as well as the skills they need now and the skills they will need for the future. With so many conflicting and overlapping priorities, many L&D professionals don’t have the time or resources for this type of customization, especially in larger organizations. Commonly, the result is an “all in one” training offering that doesn’t apply to the actual work most employees are doing day in and day out.

\"\"

Enter strategic thinking: How can L&D equip, empower, and retain good, quality talent? How can a single training program meet the entire organization’s needs? What type of program will give that kind of ROI?

One possible answer is addressing one of the most impactful but underrated skills—communication. Strategic communication and more specifically, storytelling, is a skill that everyone in the company can develop and even more so, build upon.

In fact, with quality training, business storytelling can be L&D’s answer to providing the type of skills that are relevant and aligned with the strategic direction of the business.

In a RedThread roundtable with L&D leaders, the participants collectively agreed on a purpose statement for L&D: “It’s our job to make sure that the people in the organizations we work with have the skills they need to drive the business strategy forward.”

Adding business value to the whole organization with business storytelling

\"\"

At its core, storytelling is a fundamental skill. Experts agree that it is by far the most powerful form of communication. The problem is that most people struggle to leverage it in a business setting.

This is where storytelling training comes into play. By applying the basic elements of storytelling to any business communication, employees can become more effective communicators in every business scenario they face, whether they’re presenting in front of executives, crafting a high-stakes email, or pitching a new client. The right storytelling approach strategy combines storytelling with a visual messaging and data visualization strategy to create a scalable toolkit and skillset that is useful to everyone.

Unlike other training programs that are either too generalized or theoretical, storytelling provides practical skills that can be used and applied by everyone at every level as they train. Part of the training is the practicing, which means real work is happening during skills development. As an L&D manager, this is critical because it makes training immediately valuable to every single stakeholder.

Not quite convinced? Let’s take a look at five key ways storytelling training can bring value to the business:

1. It offers skills that can align with business goals. One of the biggest benefits of storytelling training is that employees are aligned and literally speaking the same language. They are fully equipped to communicate a cohesive message and communicate it well. For example, if the business is looking to focus on its quality efforts, everyone from marketing to HR to operations can be on the same page internally and have the communication chops to effectively share a unified message externally.

2. It helps with talent retention. \"\"Storytelling training is designed to meet employees where they are, while strategically providing upward skills like executive presence. This strategy empowers employees, makes them feel valuable, and builds loyalty. In fact, RedThread Research’s survey of 200 business leaders found that at organizations with a formal skills strategy, employees are 3.4 times more likely than others to rate their employer with a positive NPS, twice as likely to say their company is innovative, and 1.7 times more likely to report that their organization met its business goal.6

3. It provides practical skills that improve performance and business results. Perhaps the greatest advantage of storytelling training is that it is practical and can be immediately applied to real work. Whether it’s an email, presentation, or one-pager, the storytelling framework can transform any business communication into a compelling narrative. The end result is not only a polished business product, but a hands-on and effective L&D experience.

4. It is flexible and can be delivered at scale. Finding a training program that can be scaled across the entire organization is difficult, but in the current business landscape, it’s essential. With business goals constantly shifting and teams dispersed all over, offering one cohesive training program up and down the chain keeps everyone on the same page and with the same tools in hand.

5. It builds a continuous learning culture. Storytelling is not a one-and-done learning experience or check-the-box training. Employees should be empowered and encouraged to revisit the concepts any time they need it and employ their skills every day and to multiple types of business interactions. Storytelling is a skill that builds upon itself and grows with the learner.

According to Jean-Marc Laouchez, president of the Korn Ferry Institute: “Constant learning—driven by both workers and organizations—will be central to the future of work, extending far beyond the traditional definition of learning and development.”3

Storytelling as strategy

\"\"We get it. Finding training that fits the needs of everyone in the business isn’t easy.

With so many training priorities, L&D’s role to align its strategy with the larger business strategy is critical. Storytelling can be the dynamic skill that helps you meet your company’s training demands, while also arming every employee with the tools they need to propel the business forward.

References
1 RedThread Research, 2023, L&D Skills Roundtable
2 RedThread Research, 2024, L&D Strategy Roundtable – 5 Takeaways
3 Korn Ferry, The $8.5 Trillion Talent Shortage
4 Gallup, Employee Retention & Attraction
5 Microsoft, Work Trend Index Special Report: Hybrid Work Is Just Work. Are We Doing It Wrong?
6 Human Resource Executive, Why L&D can be key to the success of a skills strategy

", "content_plain": "Like most aspects of business, the L&D landscape is changing. The goal, of course, remains the same—to upskill employees so they can bring their best to the organization and contribute to its success. However, over the last few years, there have been some major shifts in the business environment that are ushering in a whole new approach. And we’re not just talking about leveling up the tech and getting creative with remote teams. In the current competitive market, L&D leaders are being asked to join forces with the rest of the business to become strategic partners. As one L&D executive put it1: “Forming strategic partnerships across the organization is becoming increasingly important. We need to collaborate with other departments to align our learning initiatives with the overall business strategy.” What does that look like? According to the latest industry research, companies are looking for learning initiatives that are not only dynamic and scalable, but that are specifically designed to equip employees with skills that align with organizational goals and produce measurable outcomes.2 That’s a tall order, and if you’re like most L&D managers, the task at hand may feel a little daunting. But here’s the good news: Leaders are finding that with a fresh approach and the right program in place, L&D can become the secret weapon and part of a company’s competitive edge. Filling the talent gap with L&D Let’s take the market’s current talent shortage as an example.3 Not only are most companies across most industries continuing to face a huge skills gap, but finding talent—and keeping it—is a major struggle. The latest data shows that 1 in 2 U.S. employees are open to leaving their organization.4 L&D leaders can own a big part of the solution by equipping new employees and giving middle managers a reason to stick around. In fact, a Microsoft Work Trends Index study showed that 76% of employees said that they would stay at their company longer if they could benefit more from learning and development support.5 But oftentimes, training programs fall short in delivering their intended value. And when existing training programs don’t meet the needs of the business, L&D’s important role can be hidden behind training dollars that aren’t bringing in the expected return on investment. Part of the struggle is finding quality programs that are engaging and memorable. However, the real challenge is finding training opportunities that are relevant and practical to every level, function, and role. So, how do you do that? Training needs to take the current skills of employees into consideration, as well as the skills they need now and the skills they will need for the future. With so many conflicting and overlapping priorities, many L&D professionals don’t have the time or resources for this type of customization, especially in larger organizations. Commonly, the result is an “all in one” training offering that doesn’t apply to the actual work most employees are doing day in and day out. Enter strategic thinking: How can L&D equip, empower, and retain good, quality talent? How can a single training program meet the entire organization’s needs? What type of program will give that kind of ROI? One possible answer is addressing one of the most impactful but underrated skills—communication. Strategic communication and more specifically, storytelling, is a skill that everyone in the company can develop and even more so, build upon. In fact, with quality training, business storytelling can be L&D’s answer to providing the type of skills that are relevant and aligned with the strategic direction of the business. In a RedThread roundtable with L&D leaders, the participants collectively agreed on a purpose statement for L&D: “It’s our job to make sure that the people in the organizations we work with have the skills they need to drive the business strategy forward.” Adding business value to the whole organization with business storytelling At its core, storytelling is a fundamental skill. Experts agree that it is by far the most powerful form of communication. The problem is that most people struggle to leverage it in a business setting. This is where storytelling training comes into play. By applying the basic elements of storytelling to any business communication, employees can become more effective communicators in every business scenario they face, whether they’re presenting in front of executives, crafting a high-stakes email, or pitching a new client. The right storytelling approach strategy combines storytelling with a visual messaging and data visualization strategy to create a scalable toolkit and skillset that is useful to everyone. Unlike other training programs that are either too generalized or theoretical, storytelling provides practical skills that can be used and applied by everyone at every level as they train. Part of the training is the practicing, which means real work is happening during skills development. As an L&D manager, this is critical because it makes training immediately valuable to every single stakeholder. Not quite convinced? Let’s take a look at five key ways storytelling training can bring value to the business: 1. It offers skills that can align with business goals. One of the biggest benefits of storytelling training is that employees are aligned and literally speaking the same language. They are fully equipped to communicate a cohesive message and communicate it well. For example, if the business is looking to focus on its quality efforts, everyone from marketing to HR to operations can be on the same page internally and have the communication chops to effectively share a unified message externally. 2. It helps with talent retention. Storytelling training is designed to meet employees where they are, while strategically providing upward skills like executive presence. This strategy empowers employees, makes them feel valuable, and builds loyalty. In fact, RedThread Research’s survey of 200 business leaders found that at organizations with a formal skills strategy, employees are 3.4 times more likely than others to rate their employer with a positive NPS, twice as likely to say their company is innovative, and 1.7 times more likely to report that their organization met its business goal.6 3. It provides practical skills that improve performance and business results. Perhaps the greatest advantage of storytelling training is that it is practical and can be immediately applied to real work. Whether it’s an email, presentation, or one-pager, the storytelling framework can transform any business communication into a compelling narrative. The end result is not only a polished business product, but a hands-on and effective L&D experience. 4. It is flexible and can be delivered at scale. Finding a training program that can be scaled across the entire organization is difficult, but in the current business landscape, it’s essential. With business goals constantly shifting and teams dispersed all over, offering one cohesive training program up and down the chain keeps everyone on the same page and with the same tools in hand. 5. It builds a continuous learning culture. Storytelling is not a one-and-done learning experience or check-the-box training. Employees should be empowered and encouraged to revisit the concepts any time they need it and employ their skills every day and to multiple types of business interactions. Storytelling is a skill that builds upon itself and grows with the learner. According to Jean-Marc Laouchez, president of the Korn Ferry Institute: “Constant learning—driven by both workers and organizations—will be central to the future of work, extending far beyond the traditional definition of learning and development.”3 Storytelling as strategy We get it. Finding training that fits the needs of everyone in the business isn’t easy. With so many training priorities, L&D’s role to align its strategy with the larger business strategy is critical. Storytelling can be the dynamic skill that helps you meet your company’s training demands, while also arming every employee with the tools they need to propel the business forward. References 1 RedThread Research, 2023, L&D Skills Roundtable 2 RedThread Research, 2024, L&D Strategy Roundtable – 5 Takeaways 3 Korn Ferry, The $8.5 Trillion Talent Shortage 4 Gallup, Employee Retention & Attraction 5 Microsoft, Work Trend Index Special Report: Hybrid Work Is Just Work. Are We Doing It Wrong? 6 Human Resource Executive, Why L&D can be key to the success of a skills strategy", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/meeting-LD-new-mandate_resource-featured-image.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T16:13:59-05:00" }, { "id": 11269, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/the-art-of-the-executive-summary-how-cpg-leaders-can-tell-a-compelling-story-on-a-page-or-slide/", "title": "The Art of the Executive Summary: How CPG Leaders can Tell a Compelling Story on a Page (or Slide)", "h1": "The Art of the Executive Summary: How CPG Leaders can Tell a Compelling Story on a Page (or Slide)", "summary": "", "content": "

We have a love/hate relationship with executive summaries. On the surface, they’re a great idea. What’s not to love? You’ve spent hours or days developing a high-stakes presentation that tells a great story. And now, with that first slide you flash to your audience, you’ve boiled it down nicely to just one, condensed summary. Your busy retail partners – with five more meetings lined up that day – get a sneak peek of precisely what you want them to know or do. All the juice up front! Perfect.

But of course, it’s never that simple.

A poorly crafted executive summary is a missed opportunity to drive business forward

Here’s the hate part: Even the most well-crafted stories, distilled down into one page, can easily turn into a crowded, impossible-to-digest data dump. Cross-functional teams at consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies face the daunting task of distilling vast amounts of data into actionable insights. Retailers often expect to begin meetings by getting an overview of the main category and its composition – typically via an executive summary. But with so much data to share, the challenge is to highlight the most critical information without overwhelming the audience – especially when you only have one page (or slide) to do it.

\"\"

This is made even more difficult by the fact that CPG teams often present to busy executives and stakeholders with limited time. To make the most of everyone’s time, the goal is to have a two-way dialogue, not to explain busy charts and text-heavy slides. When meetings turn into tactical or transactional exchanges, objectives don’t land and decisions aren’t made. Ultimately this leads to yet another meeting and a loss of productivity for everyone involved.

On the flip side, the ability to effectively net out your message and share insights needed to make informed decisions will have a huge impact on your success. Executive presence soars, critical initiatives move forward, and most importantly, trust and loyalty with retail partners grows.

This is where a well-crafted executive summary can make a difference.

\"\"

Aim your executive summary squarely at your audience

The expectation of your audience should weigh heavily in how you craft your executive summary. For example, flashing it for 90 seconds as the first slide of your presentation might make sense for one audience, but a one-pager shared as a pre-read might be more valuable for another. Regardless of the form or layout, it’s crucial to keep the audience’s care-abouts top of mind.

\"\"

Yes, you can absolutely tell a story on one page

Brain science tells us that organizing your ideas and data into a story will help your audience remember your message. And an executive summary is the perfect opportunity to tell a story on one page. As a reminder, the essential elements of a story are setting, characters, and conflict (the WHY of your story); a BIG Idea (the WHAT of your story); and resolution (the HOW of your story).

CPG leaders often struggle to highlight conflict in their presentations – whether it gets buried within slides or not shown at all. There’s a tendency to focus more on setting and characters while shying away from sharing conflict or challenges, due to the perception that it signifies a loss or failure. But the reality is, conflict is crucial because it gives you the chance to reveal opportunities and recommendations on how you’ll address it.

Applying a storytelling framework to executive summaries empowers CPG leaders to be bolder in not only presenting conflict, but also how to solve for it.

The question is, can you build a compelling executive summary that fits all these elements into one page and not become a jam-packed mess? Yes. Let’s see how…

Example 1: State of the Category

Here’s an example of a typical executive summary from the category leadership world. This was a quarterly deliverable used to inform cross-functional internal teams as well as leadership on the State of Category X. The goal was to inform internal and external partners of upcoming headwinds and tailwinds within the Category, by sharing key takeaways and commercial recommendations.

\"\"

In the “before” version, the team focused on the “What, So What, Now What?” – which for them was a typical format for Executive Summaries. While all the content was there, it was difficult to pull out the key insights and call to action!

What’s not working? Here’s a marked-up version of this “before” executive summary slide:

\"\"

If we zoom out and look at this executive summary from a distance, here’s what’s evident: there’s a clear WHY and HOW but no WHAT! What’s the ONE THING the audience needs to know or do? The title is a missed opportunity to communicate the BIG Idea.

And yet, an executive summary is supposed to be a summary of an entire story! So right away, we can see this summary is missing critical storytelling elements to make it whole. Visually, the content is displayed in a table, but with no color to help break down the information, it makes it hard to scan at a glance. Color, oversized text, even a graphic or photo could help make the information more memorable.

Ready for some relief? Take a look at the “after” version of the same executive summary.

\"\"

What’s working? Here’s a marked-up version of this “after” executive summary slide:

\"\"

Notice how this made-over executive summary incorporates each storytelling element. The BIG Idea is on big, bold text on the left side of the page. Then on the right, we lead with the WHY, which establishes necessary context for the story. Finally, we have the HOW, or resolution. It’s also important to note that there is the main headline (blaring the BIG Idea) and another active sub-headline, working together to bring the story forward.

Example 2: Pre/Post-Planogram Analysis

Here’s another example of an executive summary. This was shared with a retailer category manager who requested a pre/post-Planogram analysis to help them talk to their leadership. This executive summary is unique in that it’s a look back – essentially an update on the impact of planogram changes.

\"\"

In the “before” version, the team tried to use color to break up some of the information, and arrows to indicate that the left was “before” reset and the right was “after.”

What’s not working? Here’s a marked-up version of this “before” executive summary slide:

\"\"

Performing a story audit on this executive summary, it’s evident that some important storytelling elements are missing:

Ready for some relief? Let’s move on to the “after” executive summary that tells a story.

\"\"

What’s working? Here’s a marked-up version of this “after” executive summary slide:

\"\"

If we zoom out and look at the AFTER through the lens of storytelling….

Bottom line: The audience doesn’t have to work hard to interpret this story on a page! This “after” executive summary has a clear WHY, WHAT and HOW.

\"\"

To Recap: Storytelling + Executive Summaries = ❤️

By applying effective story strategy, any residual hate feelings for executive summaries should tip in favor of love. Introduce just the key elements of your story, revealing glimpses of the WHY, WHAT, and HOW. Done right, this will pique the curiosity of your audience, compel them to lean in, and offer you the spotlight for your full story.

", "content_plain": "We have a love/hate relationship with executive summaries. On the surface, they’re a great idea. What’s not to love? You’ve spent hours or days developing a high-stakes presentation that tells a great story. And now, with that first slide you flash to your audience, you’ve boiled it down nicely to just one, condensed summary. Your busy retail partners – with five more meetings lined up that day – get a sneak peek of precisely what you want them to know or do. All the juice up front! Perfect. But of course, it’s never that simple. A poorly crafted executive summary is a missed opportunity to drive business forward Here’s the hate part: Even the most well-crafted stories, distilled down into one page, can easily turn into a crowded, impossible-to-digest data dump. Cross-functional teams at consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies face the daunting task of distilling vast amounts of data into actionable insights. Retailers often expect to begin meetings by getting an overview of the main category and its composition – typically via an executive summary. But with so much data to share, the challenge is to highlight the most critical information without overwhelming the audience – especially when you only have one page (or slide) to do it. This is made even more difficult by the fact that CPG teams often present to busy executives and stakeholders with limited time. To make the most of everyone’s time, the goal is to have a two-way dialogue, not to explain busy charts and text-heavy slides. When meetings turn into tactical or transactional exchanges, objectives don’t land and decisions aren’t made. Ultimately this leads to yet another meeting and a loss of productivity for everyone involved. On the flip side, the ability to effectively net out your message and share insights needed to make informed decisions will have a huge impact on your success. Executive presence soars, critical initiatives move forward, and most importantly, trust and loyalty with retail partners grows. This is where a well-crafted executive summary can make a difference. Aim your executive summary squarely at your audience The expectation of your audience should weigh heavily in how you craft your executive summary. For example, flashing it for 90 seconds as the first slide of your presentation might make sense for one audience, but a one-pager shared as a pre-read might be more valuable for another. Regardless of the form or layout, it’s crucial to keep the audience’s care-abouts top of mind. Yes, you can absolutely tell a story on one page Brain science tells us that organizing your ideas and data into a story will help your audience remember your message. And an executive summary is the perfect opportunity to tell a story on one page. As a reminder, the essential elements of a story are setting, characters, and conflict (the WHY of your story); a BIG Idea (the WHAT of your story); and resolution (the HOW of your story). CPG leaders often struggle to highlight conflict in their presentations – whether it gets buried within slides or not shown at all. There’s a tendency to focus more on setting and characters while shying away from sharing conflict or challenges, due to the perception that it signifies a loss or failure. But the reality is, conflict is crucial because it gives you the chance to reveal opportunities and recommendations on how you’ll address it. Applying a storytelling framework to executive summaries empowers CPG leaders to be bolder in not only presenting conflict, but also how to solve for it. The question is, can you build a compelling executive summary that fits all these elements into one page and not become a jam-packed mess? Yes. Let’s see how… Example 1: State of the Category Here’s an example of a typical executive summary from the category leadership world. This was a quarterly deliverable used to inform cross-functional internal teams as well as leadership on the State of Category X. The goal was to inform internal and external partners of upcoming headwinds and tailwinds within the Category, by sharing key takeaways and commercial recommendations. In the “before” version, the team focused on the “What, So What, Now What?” – which for them was a typical format for Executive Summaries. While all the content was there, it was difficult to pull out the key insights and call to action! What’s not working? Here’s a marked-up version of this “before” executive summary slide: If we zoom out and look at this executive summary from a distance, here’s what’s evident: there’s a clear WHY and HOW but no WHAT! What’s the ONE THING the audience needs to know or do? The title is a missed opportunity to communicate the BIG Idea. And yet, an executive summary is supposed to be a summary of an entire story! So right away, we can see this summary is missing critical storytelling elements to make it whole. Visually, the content is displayed in a table, but with no color to help break down the information, it makes it hard to scan at a glance. Color, oversized text, even a graphic or photo could help make the information more memorable. Ready for some relief? Take a look at the “after” version of the same executive summary. What’s working? Here’s a marked-up version of this “after” executive summary slide: Notice how this made-over executive summary incorporates each storytelling element. The BIG Idea is on big, bold text on the left side of the page. Then on the right, we lead with the WHY, which establishes necessary context for the story. Finally, we have the HOW, or resolution. It’s also important to note that there is the main headline (blaring the BIG Idea) and another active sub-headline, working together to bring the story forward. Example 2: Pre/Post-Planogram Analysis Here’s another example of an executive summary. This was shared with a retailer category manager who requested a pre/post-Planogram analysis to help them talk to their leadership. This executive summary is unique in that it’s a look back – essentially an update on the impact of planogram changes. In the “before” version, the team tried to use color to break up some of the information, and arrows to indicate that the left was “before” reset and the right was “after.” What’s not working? Here’s a marked-up version of this “before” executive summary slide: Performing a story audit on this executive summary, it’s evident that some important storytelling elements are missing: There’s no BIG Idea!! There’s no WHAT of the story on a page Ready for some relief? Let’s move on to the “after” executive summary that tells a story. What’s working? Here’s a marked-up version of this “after” executive summary slide: If we zoom out and look at the AFTER through the lens of storytelling…. Notice the BIG Idea in big bold text on the left Color blocks are used to break down the information to make it easy to scan We kept “Executive Summary” in the title for context (and because we know some audiences still want to see it), but the eye is drawn to the most contrasted element on this slide – the BIG Idea (which is what we want)! The WHY is contained on the left in navy blue The HOW is contained on the right in green Bottom line: The audience doesn’t have to work hard to interpret this story on a page! This “after” executive summary has a clear WHY, WHAT and HOW. To Recap: Storytelling + Executive Summaries = ❤️ By applying effective story strategy, any residual hate feelings for executive summaries should tip in favor of love. Introduce just the key elements of your story, revealing glimpses of the WHY, WHAT, and HOW. Done right, this will pique the curiosity of your audience, compel them to lean in, and offer you the spotlight for your full story.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/TPC-exec-summary-article-for-CPG-featured-image.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T16:14:16-05:00" }, { "id": 11337, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/communication-management-capital-projects/", "title": "When Projects Fail, Look at the Stories (Not Just the Structures)", "h1": "When Projects Fail, Look at the Stories (Not Just the Structures)", "summary": "", "content": "

Communication breakdowns are everywhere and happen every day but rarely make it into boardroom conversations. Our clients frequently point out that communication failures are among the biggest issues in projects, whether in conference room presentations or email exchanges. This reality resonates across the capital projects sector, especially in organizations involved with multi-billion-dollar projects happening globally.

The hidden crisis within capital projects

Here lies the uncomfortable truth: in today’s world of complex, capital projects, it’s rarely the technical aspects that sink projects—it’s how teams communicate about them.

The numbers tell a painful story:

And unfortunately, these problems are only getting worse. The industry is changing faster than communication methods can keep up.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

Companies have BIM models, AI-powered project management, drones surveying infrastructure sites, and augmented reality walkthroughs—all generating more data than ever before. They’re building more complex structures and systems with teams spread across continents and time zones. 

Yet many still rely on the same communication approaches used decades ago: technical specifications, Gantt charts, and jargon-filled emails that nobody fully reads. 

The Real Pain Points

Several critical communication failures consistently plague capital projects across the board—whether it’s pipelines, processing facilities, highways, water treatment plants, or commercial buildings. 

\"\"Information overload without context

Project leaders often report that updates lack proper structure, causing audience members to disengage midway through presentations when there’s no compelling narrative holding the information together. These updates frequently devolve into unstructured streams of consciousness that quickly become difficult to follow.

Project updates commonly resemble massive spreadsheets that simply check boxes to indicate project status, often highlighting that things are behind schedule. This mechanical approach fails to engage stakeholders or provide meaningful context.

Failure to simplify complexity

Major infrastructure and industrial projects are inherently complex, and simplifying this complexity presents an enormous challenge. This creates a significant communication hurdle, especially when subject matter experts who thoroughly understand the technical aspects struggle to effectively explain challenges to others who lack their specialized knowledge.

Inability to bring forward the one, most important strategic insight

Despite having the technical expertise to solve complex problems, teams often stumble at the critical first step: clearly defining what problem they’re actually trying to solve. When presenters can’t distill their message into one memorable BIG Idea—the key takeaway that stakeholders absolutely must remember—they leave their audience adrift in a sea of information, missing the forest for the trees. The result? Confusion replaces clarity, and the most crucial point gets buried under an avalanche of details that, while technically accurate, fail to drive understanding or alignment.

Email communication chaos \"\"

The sector struggles with email management. Our clients share scenarios where they receive hundreds of emails daily about a single project, creating an overwhelming volume that buries critical information and makes it difficult to distinguish what truly matters.

Presentations without purpose

Whether it’s project updates or business development pitches, presentations frequently miss the mark. Presenters often simply showcase their products or services without considering whether they’re relevant to the stakeholder’s actual needs—essentially forcing solutions without understanding the current situation.

And, worse, many presenters fail to clearly communicate the problem they’re trying to solve. Without establishing why the audience should care about the information being presented, they struggle to maintain attention and engagement. Beginning with a clear explanation of the “why” behind a presentation would significantly improve audience attentiveness.

Misaligned perspectives across stakeholders

Different parties view projects through different lenses. Audience members—owners, contractors, and suppliers—all perceive the same problem from different angles, like viewing different sides of a dice. Though they’re examining the same issue, their perspectives and priorities can vary dramatically.

\"\"How Storytelling Changes Everything (Without Changing Your Processes)

Business storytelling isn’t about fiction—it’s about framing technical information in ways that create meaning, context, and connection. Research has sho wn that stories can be up to 22 times more memorable than facts alone.

Here’s what storytelling can do in the capital projects sector:

Communicating complex ideas and technical concepts

Storytelling helps translate complex technical details into understandable narratives. For example, a project manager could tell a story about how a certain process design will enhance process efficacy, or how specific safety measures will protect workers in a processing plant. This humanizes the information and makes it easier to understand.

\"\"Enhancing leadership and aligning teams

Storytelling creates a shared vision that helps unite diverse project teams around a common goal. It weaves a narrative that highlights the project’s purpose and vision. This sense of shared purpose can increase motivation and collaboration.

When people understand the broader story behind a project—whether it’s a bridge connecting communities or an industrial facility creating jobs—they often feel more invested in its success. This engagement can lead to greater enthusiasm and more effective teamwork.

Industry leaders emphasize the importance of distilling information down to its essence—identifying exactly what message you want to convey and ensuring the audience can walk away with that core idea clearly in mind.

Managing stakeholder expectations

Clear storytelling helps manage stakeholder expectations. By telling a story about the project’s development, potential hurdles, and timelines, the project team can set realistic expectations and prevent future misunderstandings.

Enhancing risk management

Storytelling is a powerful tool for risk management in high-risk environments like oil and gas facilities or industrial plants. Project managers can use storytelling to communicate potential risks in an engaging and relatable way, which helps teams prepare and adapt.

Making safety a priority \"\"

By framing risks within a story about a project’s potential challenges and solutions, teams can more easily grasp the importance of proactive measures. Safety narratives that highlight real consequences and successful preventative actions create an emotional connection that technical safety manuals simply cannot achieve. When team members can visualize and relate to safety scenarios, compliance transforms from a checkbox exercise into a meaningful commitment to protect themselves and their colleagues.

Building community relationships

Many capital projects—from highways to energy infrastructure—impact local communities. Storytelling helps build a narrative that connects the project to the people it will affect, making it more meaningful and creating positive community relations.

The Bottom Line: Better Stories = Better Projects

73% of projects that maintain effective communication practices meet their goals, compared to just 37% of projects with poor communication—representing a near-doubling of success rates.5

\"\"So clearly, communication is the critical factor in project success. When projects fall flat, it’s rarely because of technical failures—it’s because team members didn’t spend enough time preparing effective communications. 

We know that thorough preparation—taking time to consider exactly what message you want the audience to leave with—is crucial. Success happens when you distill information down to one, clearly articulated idea that audience members can easily grasp and potentially repeat after the presentation.

But how? It is critical to identify and articulate a BIG Idea with precision and impact. This allows teams to cut through information overload and lead with the core message that matters most.

Rather than leading with complex visuals or data-heavy slides, start with a story. When you build a compelling narrative first and use visuals to support that story—not the other way around—your message becomes stickier and more actionable. Your stakeholders don’t just understand what you’re saying; they feel it, remember it, and act on it. This story-first approach ensures that technical brilliance doesn’t get lost in translation.

In a world where professionals wake up to hundreds of emails each morning and sit through hours of poorly structured presentations, storytelling creates a framework that cuts through the noise.

\"\"In an industry integrally engaged with physical structures, it’s easy to forget that understanding, alignment, and trust are built through stories. The most successful professionals of tomorrow won’t just be technical experts—they’ll be master storytellers who can translate complex information into meaningful narratives that inspire action, create alignment, and build trust.

When the next project is at risk of falling behind—whether it’s an offshore platform, a manufacturing facility, or a transportation system—look beyond the structure to the stories being told—or not told—about it. That’s where the real foundation of success lies.

What story is your current project telling? And more importantly—is everyone hearing the same story?

References

1Construction Industry Institute. (2023). “The Impact of Communication on Project Performance.” CII Annual Research Report, 24(3), 112-126.

2Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2024). “Communication Failures in Construction Site Accidents.” OSHA Technical Report, 2024-05.

3Robinson, M. & Johnson, K. (2024). “Client Satisfaction Drivers in Engineering and Construction Projects.” Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 150(4), 418-433.

4Global Construction Disputes Report. (2024). Arcadis Construction Disputes Annual Report, 12th Edition.

5Project Management Institute. (2023). “Pulse of the Profession: Navigating Complexity.” PMI Annual Global Survey Report, 2023, 15-18.

", "content_plain": "Communication breakdowns are everywhere and happen every day but rarely make it into boardroom conversations. Our clients frequently point out that communication failures are among the biggest issues in projects, whether in conference room presentations or email exchanges. This reality resonates across the capital projects sector, especially in organizations involved with multi-billion-dollar projects happening globally. The hidden crisis within capital projects Here lies the uncomfortable truth: in today’s world of complex, capital projects, it’s rarely the technical aspects that sink projects—it’s how teams communicate about them. The numbers tell a painful story: 52% of rework comes directly from poor communication (that’s billions wasted annually) 1 66% of workplace accidents have communication failures as contributing factors2 40% of client complaints boil down to “this isn’t what I thought I was getting”3 70% of construction disputes stem from misunderstandings, not technical failures4 And unfortunately, these problems are only getting worse. The industry is changing faster than communication methods can keep up. You can view our Privacy Policy here. Companies have BIM models, AI-powered project management, drones surveying infrastructure sites, and augmented reality walkthroughs—all generating more data than ever before. They’re building more complex structures and systems with teams spread across continents and time zones. Yet many still rely on the same communication approaches used decades ago: technical specifications, Gantt charts, and jargon-filled emails that nobody fully reads. The Real Pain Points Several critical communication failures consistently plague capital projects across the board—whether it’s pipelines, processing facilities, highways, water treatment plants, or commercial buildings. Information overload without context Project leaders often report that updates lack proper structure, causing audience members to disengage midway through presentations when there’s no compelling narrative holding the information together. These updates frequently devolve into unstructured streams of consciousness that quickly become difficult to follow. Project updates commonly resemble massive spreadsheets that simply check boxes to indicate project status, often highlighting that things are behind schedule. This mechanical approach fails to engage stakeholders or provide meaningful context. Failure to simplify complexity Major infrastructure and industrial projects are inherently complex, and simplifying this complexity presents an enormous challenge. This creates a significant communication hurdle, especially when subject matter experts who thoroughly understand the technical aspects struggle to effectively explain challenges to others who lack their specialized knowledge. Inability to bring forward the one, most important strategic insight Despite having the technical expertise to solve complex problems, teams often stumble at the critical first step: clearly defining what problem they’re actually trying to solve. When presenters can’t distill their message into one memorable BIG Idea—the key takeaway that stakeholders absolutely must remember—they leave their audience adrift in a sea of information, missing the forest for the trees. The result? Confusion replaces clarity, and the most crucial point gets buried under an avalanche of details that, while technically accurate, fail to drive understanding or alignment. Email communication chaos The sector struggles with email management. Our clients share scenarios where they receive hundreds of emails daily about a single project, creating an overwhelming volume that buries critical information and makes it difficult to distinguish what truly matters. Presentations without purpose Whether it’s project updates or business development pitches, presentations frequently miss the mark. Presenters often simply showcase their products or services without considering whether they’re relevant to the stakeholder’s actual needs—essentially forcing solutions without understanding the current situation. And, worse, many presenters fail to clearly communicate the problem they’re trying to solve. Without establishing why the audience should care about the information being presented, they struggle to maintain attention and engagement. Beginning with a clear explanation of the “why” behind a presentation would significantly improve audience attentiveness. Misaligned perspectives across stakeholders Different parties view projects through different lenses. Audience members—owners, contractors, and suppliers—all perceive the same problem from different angles, like viewing different sides of a dice. Though they’re examining the same issue, their perspectives and priorities can vary dramatically. How Storytelling Changes Everything (Without Changing Your Processes) Business storytelling isn’t about fiction—it’s about framing technical information in ways that create meaning, context, and connection. Research has sho wn that stories can be up to 22 times more memorable than facts alone. Here’s what storytelling can do in the capital projects sector: Communicating complex ideas and technical concepts Storytelling helps translate complex technical details into understandable narratives. For example, a project manager could tell a story about how a certain process design will enhance process efficacy, or how specific safety measures will protect workers in a processing plant. This humanizes the information and makes it easier to understand. Enhancing leadership and aligning teams Storytelling creates a shared vision that helps unite diverse project teams around a common goal. It weaves a narrative that highlights the project’s purpose and vision. This sense of shared purpose can increase motivation and collaboration. When people understand the broader story behind a project—whether it’s a bridge connecting communities or an industrial facility creating jobs—they often feel more invested in its success. This engagement can lead to greater enthusiasm and more effective teamwork. Industry leaders emphasize the importance of distilling information down to its essence—identifying exactly what message you want to convey and ensuring the audience can walk away with that core idea clearly in mind. Managing stakeholder expectations Clear storytelling helps manage stakeholder expectations. By telling a story about the project’s development, potential hurdles, and timelines, the project team can set realistic expectations and prevent future misunderstandings. Enhancing risk management Storytelling is a powerful tool for risk management in high-risk environments like oil and gas facilities or industrial plants. Project managers can use storytelling to communicate potential risks in an engaging and relatable way, which helps teams prepare and adapt. Making safety a priority By framing risks within a story about a project’s potential challenges and solutions, teams can more easily grasp the importance of proactive measures. Safety narratives that highlight real consequences and successful preventative actions create an emotional connection that technical safety manuals simply cannot achieve. When team members can visualize and relate to safety scenarios, compliance transforms from a checkbox exercise into a meaningful commitment to protect themselves and their colleagues. Building community relationships Many capital projects—from highways to energy infrastructure—impact local communities. Storytelling helps build a narrative that connects the project to the people it will affect, making it more meaningful and creating positive community relations. The Bottom Line: Better Stories = Better Projects 73% of projects that maintain effective communication practices meet their goals, compared to just 37% of projects with poor communication—representing a near-doubling of success rates.5 So clearly, communication is the critical factor in project success. When projects fall flat, it’s rarely because of technical failures—it’s because team members didn’t spend enough time preparing effective communications. We know that thorough preparation—taking time to consider exactly what message you want the audience to leave with—is crucial. Success happens when you distill information down to one, clearly articulated idea that audience members can easily grasp and potentially repeat after the presentation. But how? It is critical to identify and articulate a BIG Idea with precision and impact. This allows teams to cut through information overload and lead with the core message that matters most. Rather than leading with complex visuals or data-heavy slides, start with a story. When you build a compelling narrative first and use visuals to support that story—not the other way around—your message becomes stickier and more actionable. Your stakeholders don’t just understand what you’re saying; they feel it, remember it, and act on it. This story-first approach ensures that technical brilliance doesn’t get lost in translation. In a world where professionals wake up to hundreds of emails each morning and sit through hours of poorly structured presentations, storytelling creates a framework that cuts through the noise. In an industry integrally engaged with physical structures, it’s easy to forget that understanding, alignment, and trust are built through stories. The most successful professionals of tomorrow won’t just be technical experts—they’ll be master storytellers who can translate complex information into meaningful narratives that inspire action, create alignment, and build trust. When the next project is at risk of falling behind—whether it’s an offshore platform, a manufacturing facility, or a transportation system—look beyond the structure to the stories being told—or not told—about it. That’s where the real foundation of success lies. What story is your current project telling? And more importantly—is everyone hearing the same story? References 1Construction Industry Institute. (2023). “The Impact of Communication on Project Performance.” CII Annual Research Report, 24(3), 112-126. 2Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2024). “Communication Failures in Construction Site Accidents.” OSHA Technical Report, 2024-05. 3Robinson, M. & Johnson, K. (2024). “Client Satisfaction Drivers in Engineering and Construction Projects.” Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 150(4), 418-433. 4Global Construction Disputes Report. (2024). Arcadis Construction Disputes Annual Report, 12th Edition. 5Project Management Institute. (2023). “Pulse of the Profession: Navigating Complexity.” PMI Annual Global Survey Report, 2023, 15-18.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/ECC-article-featured-image.png", "modified": "2026-05-15T10:47:49-05:00" }, { "id": 11346, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/how-colgate-palmolive-improves-data-literacy-through-business-storytelling/", "title": "How Colgate-Palmolive Improves Data Literacy Through Business Storytelling", "h1": "How Colgate-Palmolive Improves Data Literacy Through Business Storytelling", "summary": "", "content": "

The push to invest in data is stronger than ever. 

Data provides crucial evidence to support your ideas and recommendations. When presented well, it illuminates your points and inspires action. But when presented poorly, data can create confusion and mistrust, leading people to misinterpret your message, raise questions, and stall decision-making. 

As important as having accurate data is having people who can demonstrate data literacy – the ability to understand, interpret, and humanize data for any audience and communicate data-driven recommendations clearly.  

We’re not just talking about your analytics and insights teams! A recent Forrester study1 shows that 70% of employees are expected to heavily use data by 2025, making data literacy a must-have skill at every level and in every role of an organization.  

Here’s the problem: The same study revealed a gap between the need for data literacy initiatives and implementation, with less than half of workers responding that they’ve been offered comprehensive data training. In other words, not all organizations equip their teams with the skills needed to read and interpret all the data flooding in, let alone how to make it meaningful and strategic.  

Odds are you have already experienced the fallout of this gap—long, overworked slide decks full of hollow numbers and graphs that overwhelm everyone in the room, especially key stakeholders and decision-makers. Or worse yet, your data dump puts everyone into a daze, completely checked out of the presentation. With no true data literacy skills, most teams resort to sharing data for data’s sake, which means no one actually benefits from it—especially not your audience. 

So, how do you develop the data literacy chops to drive business success? 

\"\"Companies like Colgate-Palmolive, which sells essential health & hygiene products in more than 200 countries and territories and whose Colgate brand is in more homes than any other, are finding that the secret to data literacy is going beyond analytics. Instead of just investing in data collection and hiring specialists, they are upskilling people across their organization with the ability to interpret data, gather insights, and effectively communicate these insights to the business and to their customers.  

And one way they’ve done it is by teaching their teams this essential skill—storytelling. 

As part of its Data Literacy & Analytics Academy, Colgate-Palmolive’s Global Learning team partnered with The Presentation Company (TPC) to upskill (and in some cases, reskill) the Company’s commercial functions on how to influence and drive business forward with any form of communication, from emails and one-pagers to presentations. They sought to do this while successfully transforming facts and figures into clear and actionable data insights.  

\"\"Data and story—a winning combination 

Taking note of an increasingly competitive and data-driven retail market, Colgate-Palmolive realized it needed to rethink the way it used data to drive growth, profitability, and efficiency in the business – while advancing its purpose to reimagine a healthier future for all people, their pets, and our planet. The changing business landscape placed new realities on everyone, specifically less time with customers.  

The data-heavy product pitches of yesteryear were no longer cutting it, and Colgate-Palmolive heard the feedback loud and clear: customers want presentations that focus on their needs and care-abouts.  

Partnering with TPC, Colgate-Palmolive’s teams embarked on a storytelling learning journey to: 

\"\"Through this partnership, TPC has helped equip more than 1,000 Colgate-Palmolive employees with advanced storytelling and data visualization skills through its Crafting Strategic Visual Stories and Presenting Data Visually workshops. In fact, TPC and Colgate-Palmolive were awarded two Brandon Hall Group Gold Medals for their successful work in this area.2 

\"\"Storytelling can drive meaningful business outcomes at Colgate-Palmolive 

Here are just a few of the business outcomes storytelling has helped drive: 

Turn your team into a data literate powerhouse 

As with every strategic initiative, investments in data and analytics must deliver measurable business value. Slides full of numbers but lacking insights won’t be enough to create a competitive advantage, and relegating analytics to a few specialists will only limit the potential a data strategy can offer.

Leading companies like Colgate-Palmolive are quickly discovering that in today’s demanding market, data literacy is a critical skill at every level of the organization. By equipping employees with the right mix of data strategy and storytelling skills, companies can turn their data into outcomes and their teams into a united strategic powerhouse.

References

1 Forrester Consulting, Building Data Literacy

2 The Presentation Company, Awards and recognition of TPC’s work with our clients

", "content_plain": "The push to invest in data is stronger than ever. Data provides crucial evidence to support your ideas and recommendations. When presented well, it illuminates your points and inspires action. But when presented poorly, data can create confusion and mistrust, leading people to misinterpret your message, raise questions, and stall decision-making. As important as having accurate data is having people who can demonstrate data literacy – the ability to understand, interpret, and humanize data for any audience and communicate data-driven recommendations clearly. We’re not just talking about your analytics and insights teams! A recent Forrester study1 shows that 70% of employees are expected to heavily use data by 2025, making data literacy a must-have skill at every level and in every role of an organization. Here’s the problem: The same study revealed a gap between the need for data literacy initiatives and implementation, with less than half of workers responding that they’ve been offered comprehensive data training. In other words, not all organizations equip their teams with the skills needed to read and interpret all the data flooding in, let alone how to make it meaningful and strategic. Odds are you have already experienced the fallout of this gap—long, overworked slide decks full of hollow numbers and graphs that overwhelm everyone in the room, especially key stakeholders and decision-makers. Or worse yet, your data dump puts everyone into a daze, completely checked out of the presentation. With no true data literacy skills, most teams resort to sharing data for data’s sake, which means no one actually benefits from it—especially not your audience. So, how do you develop the data literacy chops to drive business success? Companies like Colgate-Palmolive, which sells essential health & hygiene products in more than 200 countries and territories and whose Colgate brand is in more homes than any other, are finding that the secret to data literacy is going beyond analytics. Instead of just investing in data collection and hiring specialists, they are upskilling people across their organization with the ability to interpret data, gather insights, and effectively communicate these insights to the business and to their customers. And one way they’ve done it is by teaching their teams this essential skill—storytelling. As part of its Data Literacy & Analytics Academy, Colgate-Palmolive’s Global Learning team partnered with The Presentation Company (TPC) to upskill (and in some cases, reskill) the Company’s commercial functions on how to influence and drive business forward with any form of communication, from emails and one-pagers to presentations. They sought to do this while successfully transforming facts and figures into clear and actionable data insights. Data and story—a winning combination Taking note of an increasingly competitive and data-driven retail market, Colgate-Palmolive realized it needed to rethink the way it used data to drive growth, profitability, and efficiency in the business – while advancing its purpose to reimagine a healthier future for all people, their pets, and our planet. The changing business landscape placed new realities on everyone, specifically less time with customers. The data-heavy product pitches of yesteryear were no longer cutting it, and Colgate-Palmolive heard the feedback loud and clear: customers want presentations that focus on their needs and care-abouts. Partnering with TPC, Colgate-Palmolive’s teams embarked on a storytelling learning journey to: Build narratives that grounded every conversation in a “BIG Idea” with the right balance of storytelling, data, and visuals Understand their audience to ensure they served up data that is relevant and actionable to them Create compelling data visualizations to influence decision-making and gain buy-in Through this partnership, TPC has helped equip more than 1,000 Colgate-Palmolive employees with advanced storytelling and data visualization skills through its Crafting Strategic Visual Stories and Presenting Data Visually workshops. In fact, TPC and Colgate-Palmolive were awarded two Brandon Hall Group Gold Medals for their successful work in this area.2 Storytelling can drive meaningful business outcomes at Colgate-Palmolive Here are just a few of the business outcomes storytelling has helped drive: A more unified story is being told. Through storytelling, the company has shifted to an audience-centric mindset, one that places the customer and the category at the center of the data conversation. Category managers are now telling a unified story. They continue to build upon the narrative and iterate but maintain a unified message – communicated through a ”BIG Idea” – each time. This provides clarity, consistency, and direction for their audiences and moves business forward efficiently. Decisions are made faster due to the clarity of conversations. Storytelling has helped teams bring their ideas together in a clear, compelling way that centers around a narrative-based data strategy that answers a key question: “What do you want me to know and do with this information?” The data tells a story with a clear point-of-view, allowing them to talk not just about Colgate-Palmolive essential health & hygiene products, but the category as a whole, with non-biased insights. Employees feel empowered and add more value. Individuals are now showing up more confident and demonstrating the capability to fill senior leaders’ shoes. Enhanced data literacy and storytelling skills have allowed employees to be seen and heard in new ways, which has helped to improve company-wide productivity. The culture is starting to shift. Storytelling principles are helping teams have objective, non-emotional conversations around the elements that need to be highlighted in any given communication medium. Selling ideas internally or having challenging conversations over funding/budgets is easier using established storytelling and data visualization techniques. The end result of having this common language and framework has been driving efficiency at Colgate-Palmolive. Turn your team into a data literate powerhouse As with every strategic initiative, investments in data and analytics must deliver measurable business value. Slides full of numbers but lacking insights won’t be enough to create a competitive advantage, and relegating analytics to a few specialists will only limit the potential a data strategy can offer. Leading companies like Colgate-Palmolive are quickly discovering that in today’s demanding market, data literacy is a critical skill at every level of the organization. By equipping employees with the right mix of data strategy and storytelling skills, companies can turn their data into outcomes and their teams into a united strategic powerhouse. References 1 Forrester Consulting, Building Data Literacy 2 The Presentation Company, Awards and recognition of TPC’s work with our clients", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/TPC-Colgate-Data-Literacy-article-featured-image.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T16:14:41-05:00" }, { "id": 11355, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/scaling-your-ld-6-must-haves-for-a-successful-ld-program/", "title": "Scaling Your L&D: 6 Must-Haves for a Successful L&D Program", "h1": "Scaling Your L&D: 6 Must-Haves for a Successful L&D Program", "summary": "", "content": "

If you are like most L&D professionals, you probably feel like you are constantly beating the same drum. You know that investing in learning and development is critical to long-term growth, yet leadership wants short-term results and measurable ROI.

And the problem isn’t the data. Research easily backs up the value of L&D, especially in a day and age of talent shortages and skills gaps. According to a study from Intellum, 43% of companies reported increased revenue since implementing an education program.1 Separate findings from SHRM reveal that 51% of HR managers say training existing employees (not hiring) is their main way of closing the skills gap.2

Let’s be honest, though. These stats point to successful L&D programs. The truth is that not all programs are created equal, nor are they all built for organizational growth. Many training programs start with onboarding and never go further than compliance. In fact, data shows that historically, only 10% of corporate training drives tangible results.1

So what makes a successful program? How do you actually make strides and produce outcomes that speak for themselves?

In a word, scalability.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

\"\"Skills that Stretch

Although a lot of variables go into making L&D effective, finding a program that is scalable will always give you the most bang for your buck. By reaching a wider employee base, a scaled L&D program can improve overall employee skills, boost productivity, create career development opportunities, and better align the workforce with company goals. In fact, research found that among companies that experienced increased revenue, those that valued scalable learning were most likely to see increased revenue.3 

Of course, this is all easier said than done. Finding a training program that can adjust to different departments, roles, and experience levels within an organization can feel like hunting for a unicorn. Is there really a program that can benefit Jill in finance, Tom in marketing, and Lorna in operations? Many programs are either too general to be useful, too customized to be flexible, or end up falling flat due to low interest and participation. 

To get results, you need a scalable learning program that can benefit everyone, no matter their role or function, with content that is practical, relevant, and can propel your organization forward. And, yes, they are out there. The key is knowing what to look for and, just as importantly, what to avoid. 

 How to Find Learning that Sticks and Scales 

\"\"

Scaling your L&D starts with choosing a quality program. Here are the six elements a successful learning program, delivered at scale, should do: 

 1. Provide an Equitable Learning Opportunity to a Diverse Employee Base

Far too many companies fall into the trap of limiting L&D to a specific group. Annual sales training, anyone? In today’s dynamic business landscape, every employee has a role to play in the company’s success—and they know it. Research by TalentLMS and Vyon found that 66% of employees said they need to develop new skills to be successful at their job. And here’s the kicker: 41% said that if their company doesn’t offer some form of continuous training, they will look for another job.3 

Whether they are a junior-level individual contributor or an experienced executive, everyone should be given the opportunity to make valuable contributions to the business. A solid L&D program should be able to span departments and adapt to diverse learning styles and preferences, as well as different levels of institutional knowledge. 

\"\"2. Maintain Quality While Scaling

Perhaps one of the hardest aspects of scaling L&D is maintaining the quality of the learning experience. How do you ensure excellent content and a fruitful experience across the whole organization? 

Although there are several “all you can eat” approaches out there that offer A LOT of content, that quantity usually comes at the cost of quality. These programs are essentially a glamorized YouTube search that offer zero personalization and little to no practical application. As a result, L&D leaders are often forced to cobble together different methodologies across a variety of providers. This leads to a lack of cohesion and discrepancies in knowledge and skills among employees—the exact opposite of the alignment you are trying to achieve. An effective L&D program should offer a consistent, skills-based framework, but still maintain updated and industry-specific content to keep the curriculum dynamic and relevant to changing market needs.

3. Address Time Constraints

Expecting someone to fit learning into their work schedule is a big ask. Most professionals are overscheduled and drowning in work, which means that L&D initiatives need to be accessible and worth every minute. The goal is to contribute to the business, not take away from it. 

To be effective, a learning solution should be easily integrated into a busy work schedule and shouldn’t interrupt or interfere with productivity. Choose a program that literally teaches on the job, allowing people to get work done and learn in the flow of work. This not only addresses time constraints, it gives learners the ability to acquire, apply, and fine-tune skills in real time.

4. Align to Organizational Success\"\"

Investing in your employees should be just that—an investment that provides returns. L&D programs should benefit individuals by enhancing their skills and setting them up for advancement, but at the same time, they should also have a strategic impact on business outcomes. 

Put simply, seek out a program that teaches skills that will help the bottom-line. Does it improve productivity? Accelerate decision-making? Spur innovation? Build trust? Growth-oriented L&D needs to be strategic in both scope and content. Building a program around a core skill like communication is a good example of a scalable tool that can be broadly applied and immediately useful to the business. 

5. Offer a Pathway to Continued Learning

Many scalable learning programs are a “one and done” when in reality, training should offer continuous learning opportunities that reinforce what’s been learned and help employees become more proficient as they advance in their careers. This is where the “development” part of L&D comes into play. Skills worth having aren’t acquired overnight. They take time and practice, and a good program should offer that, while leaving room for future growth. 

When choosing a program, look for learning content that builds on itself as people progress or are offered opportunities for further development. This not only benefits the organization, it sends a message to employees that you care about them and are investing in their future. It creates trust, garners buy-in, and most of all, builds loyalty.

\"\"6. Engage and Motivate Employees 

Scaling L&D means you are dealing with a lot of different people and personality types. Getting everyone excited and motivated can be like trying to convince a middle schooler that a trip to the Grand Canyon will be fun. This is why subject matter and approach are so critical. Your people will literally make or break your program. 

If you want to win people over, pick a program that provides a skill set that will help them do their job better and set them up for advancement. Continuous learning and “learn as you go” models (as described above) help with this. Content should also be engaging, interesting, and relevant, and it should keep people’s attention through a variety of formats (e.g., video, knowledge checks, coaching, case studies, a personal action plan). L&D that is effective isn’t boring. People should want to do it. If you wouldn’t personally enjoy sitting through it, we promise you no one else will either. 

Symphony of Change \"\"

There’s no question that finding and executing a scalable learning program is challenging. There are a lot of variables at play and interests to consider, including the pressure coming from leadership. 

Frankly, if you want that L&D drum you are beating to be more than just noise, you need to make sure you using the right instrument.  

When you know the key elements of an effective learning program—and the telltale signs of a dud—you can drive change, cultivate harmony, and equip everyone with the skills they need to better themselves and, even more so, better the business as a whole.  

And that? Well, that’ll be music to everyone’s ears. 

Resources:

1 Intellum, Employee Training Statistics: The Value of Good Training

2 SHRM, 2022 Workplace Learning & Development Trends

3 Talent LMS, What employees want from L&D in 2024

", "content_plain": "If you are like most L&D professionals, you probably feel like you are constantly beating the same drum. You know that investing in learning and development is critical to long-term growth, yet leadership wants short-term results and measurable ROI. And the problem isn’t the data. Research easily backs up the value of L&D, especially in a day and age of talent shortages and skills gaps. According to a study from Intellum, 43% of companies reported increased revenue since implementing an education program.1 Separate findings from SHRM reveal that 51% of HR managers say training existing employees (not hiring) is their main way of closing the skills gap.2 Let’s be honest, though. These stats point to successful L&D programs. The truth is that not all programs are created equal, nor are they all built for organizational growth. Many training programs start with onboarding and never go further than compliance. In fact, data shows that historically, only 10% of corporate training drives tangible results.1 So what makes a successful program? How do you actually make strides and produce outcomes that speak for themselves? In a word, scalability. You can view our Privacy Policy here. Skills that Stretch Although a lot of variables go into making L&D effective, finding a program that is scalable will always give you the most bang for your buck. By reaching a wider employee base, a scaled L&D program can improve overall employee skills, boost productivity, create career development opportunities, and better align the workforce with company goals. In fact, research found that among companies that experienced increased revenue, those that valued scalable learning were most likely to see increased revenue.3 Of course, this is all easier said than done. Finding a training program that can adjust to different departments, roles, and experience levels within an organization can feel like hunting for a unicorn. Is there really a program that can benefit Jill in finance, Tom in marketing, and Lorna in operations? Many programs are either too general to be useful, too customized to be flexible, or end up falling flat due to low interest and participation. To get results, you need a scalable learning program that can benefit everyone, no matter their role or function, with content that is practical, relevant, and can propel your organization forward. And, yes, they are out there. The key is knowing what to look for and, just as importantly, what to avoid. How to Find Learning that Sticks and Scales Scaling your L&D starts with choosing a quality program. Here are the six elements a successful learning program, delivered at scale, should do: 1. Provide an Equitable Learning Opportunity to a Diverse Employee Base Far too many companies fall into the trap of limiting L&D to a specific group. Annual sales training, anyone? In today’s dynamic business landscape, every employee has a role to play in the company’s success—and they know it. Research by TalentLMS and Vyon found that 66% of employees said they need to develop new skills to be successful at their job. And here’s the kicker: 41% said that if their company doesn’t offer some form of continuous training, they will look for another job.3 Whether they are a junior-level individual contributor or an experienced executive, everyone should be given the opportunity to make valuable contributions to the business. A solid L&D program should be able to span departments and adapt to diverse learning styles and preferences, as well as different levels of institutional knowledge. 2. Maintain Quality While Scaling Perhaps one of the hardest aspects of scaling L&D is maintaining the quality of the learning experience. How do you ensure excellent content and a fruitful experience across the whole organization? Although there are several “all you can eat” approaches out there that offer A LOT of content, that quantity usually comes at the cost of quality. These programs are essentially a glamorized YouTube search that offer zero personalization and little to no practical application. As a result, L&D leaders are often forced to cobble together different methodologies across a variety of providers. This leads to a lack of cohesion and discrepancies in knowledge and skills among employees—the exact opposite of the alignment you are trying to achieve. An effective L&D program should offer a consistent, skills-based framework, but still maintain updated and industry-specific content to keep the curriculum dynamic and relevant to changing market needs. 3. Address Time Constraints Expecting someone to fit learning into their work schedule is a big ask. Most professionals are overscheduled and drowning in work, which means that L&D initiatives need to be accessible and worth every minute. The goal is to contribute to the business, not take away from it. To be effective, a learning solution should be easily integrated into a busy work schedule and shouldn’t interrupt or interfere with productivity. Choose a program that literally teaches on the job, allowing people to get work done and learn in the flow of work. This not only addresses time constraints, it gives learners the ability to acquire, apply, and fine-tune skills in real time. 4. Align to Organizational Success Investing in your employees should be just that—an investment that provides returns. L&D programs should benefit individuals by enhancing their skills and setting them up for advancement, but at the same time, they should also have a strategic impact on business outcomes. Put simply, seek out a program that teaches skills that will help the bottom-line. Does it improve productivity? Accelerate decision-making? Spur innovation? Build trust? Growth-oriented L&D needs to be strategic in both scope and content. Building a program around a core skill like communication is a good example of a scalable tool that can be broadly applied and immediately useful to the business. 5. Offer a Pathway to Continued Learning Many scalable learning programs are a “one and done” when in reality, training should offer continuous learning opportunities that reinforce what’s been learned and help employees become more proficient as they advance in their careers. This is where the “development” part of L&D comes into play. Skills worth having aren’t acquired overnight. They take time and practice, and a good program should offer that, while leaving room for future growth. When choosing a program, look for learning content that builds on itself as people progress or are offered opportunities for further development. This not only benefits the organization, it sends a message to employees that you care about them and are investing in their future. It creates trust, garners buy-in, and most of all, builds loyalty. 6. Engage and Motivate Employees Scaling L&D means you are dealing with a lot of different people and personality types. Getting everyone excited and motivated can be like trying to convince a middle schooler that a trip to the Grand Canyon will be fun. This is why subject matter and approach are so critical. Your people will literally make or break your program. If you want to win people over, pick a program that provides a skill set that will help them do their job better and set them up for advancement. Continuous learning and “learn as you go” models (as described above) help with this. Content should also be engaging, interesting, and relevant, and it should keep people’s attention through a variety of formats (e.g., video, knowledge checks, coaching, case studies, a personal action plan). L&D that is effective isn’t boring. People should want to do it. If you wouldn’t personally enjoy sitting through it, we promise you no one else will either. Symphony of Change There’s no question that finding and executing a scalable learning program is challenging. There are a lot of variables at play and interests to consider, including the pressure coming from leadership. Frankly, if you want that L&D drum you are beating to be more than just noise, you need to make sure you using the right instrument. When you know the key elements of an effective learning program—and the telltale signs of a dud—you can drive change, cultivate harmony, and equip everyone with the skills they need to better themselves and, even more so, better the business as a whole. And that? Well, that’ll be music to everyone’s ears. Resources: 1 Intellum, Employee Training Statistics: The Value of Good Training 2 SHRM, 2022 Workplace Learning & Development Trends 3 Talent LMS, What employees want from L&D in 2024", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/scaling-ld-featured-image-for-resource-center.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T11:09:06-05:00" }, { "id": 7684, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/welcome-to-tpc-bob-seiler/", "title": "Welcome to TPC, Bob Seiler!", "h1": "Welcome to TPC, Bob Seiler!", "summary": "2020 has been—to put it mildly—a dramatic year for the planet, the U.S., and The Presentation Company. Amongst all the change, one thing has remained the same… and even grown: the need for great storytelling. A New Era for TPC As we speed toward 2021, we’re gearing up for a new phase of exciting growth […]", "content": "

2020 has been—to put it mildly—a dramatic year for the planet, the U.S., and The Presentation Company. Amongst all the change, one thing has remained the same… and even grown: the need for great storytelling.

A New Era for TPC

As we speed toward 2021, we’re gearing up for a new phase of exciting growth at The Presentation Company and looking to further scale and operationalize our businesses. Therefore, it is with great excitement and anticipation that we welcome Bob Seiler as the new CEO of The Presentation Company. Bob has been advising TPC for the past 10 months and is now joining our team to help build on the high-quality content and unsurpassed learning experiences TPC offers on multiple platforms. Bob will lead our growth strategy and help us take advantage of the immense market opportunity that lies ahead.

Most recently, Bob was the CEO at Strategy Execution, a project management training company, and Executive Advisor of ANNUITAS, a digital demand marketing company. Bob also directed global sales, marketing, and operations strategy for PR Newswire, serving North America, EMEA, LATAM, and Asia. He has spent time at many leading technology companies in sales and marketing leadership roles.

But Some Things Will Never Change

TPC has been growing steadily for over 20 years. And we have never—ever—been short on ideas. Today we are ready to leap forward and let Bob help us continue to execute on our vision to help talented businesspeople advance their careers through effective storytelling. We are beyond excited.

What won’t change? We are still a proud, women-owned business. Our passion is the same. Our culture is the same. And of course, we will continue to provide the same top-notch training that our clients, big or small, have come to appreciate.

For those who know TPC co-founders Lee Lazarus and Janine Kurnoff, you will still be interacting with them, finding them in meetings and playing a pivotal role in the company’s growth plans. And they—like the rest of the TPC team—love to hear from you. For now, please come together with us to welcome Bob Seiler to the TPC team and join our anticipation of a fantastic 2021 and beyond!

", "content_plain": "2020 has been—to put it mildly—a dramatic year for the planet, the U.S., and The Presentation Company. Amongst all the change, one thing has remained the same… and even grown: the need for great storytelling. A New Era for TPC As we speed toward 2021, we’re gearing up for a new phase of exciting growth at The Presentation Company and looking to further scale and operationalize our businesses. Therefore, it is with great excitement and anticipation that we welcome Bob Seiler as the new CEO of The Presentation Company. Bob has been advising TPC for the past 10 months and is now joining our team to help build on the high-quality content and unsurpassed learning experiences TPC offers on multiple platforms. Bob will lead our growth strategy and help us take advantage of the immense market opportunity that lies ahead. Most recently, Bob was the CEO at Strategy Execution, a project management training company, and Executive Advisor of ANNUITAS, a digital demand marketing company. Bob also directed global sales, marketing, and operations strategy for PR Newswire, serving North America, EMEA, LATAM, and Asia. He has spent time at many leading technology companies in sales and marketing leadership roles. But Some Things Will Never Change TPC has been growing steadily for over 20 years. And we have never—ever—been short on ideas. Today we are ready to leap forward and let Bob help us continue to execute on our vision to help talented businesspeople advance their careers through effective storytelling. We are beyond excited. What won’t change? We are still a proud, women-owned business. Our passion is the same. Our culture is the same. And of course, we will continue to provide the same top-notch training that our clients, big or small, have come to appreciate. For those who know TPC co-founders Lee Lazarus and Janine Kurnoff, you will still be interacting with them, finding them in meetings and playing a pivotal role in the company’s growth plans. And they—like the rest of the TPC team—love to hear from you. For now, please come together with us to welcome Bob Seiler to the TPC team and join our anticipation of a fantastic 2021 and beyond!", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/02.1.png", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:38:11-05:00" }, { "id": 10376, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/storytelling-with-visuals-is-only-half-the-story-part-3/", "title": "Storytelling with Visuals is Only Half the Story Part 3", "h1": "Storytelling with Visuals is Only Half the Story Part 3", "summary": "Now that you’ve learned the fundamentals of business storytelling, how can you bring your story to life… visually? Part 3: Storytelling Without Visuals is Only Half the Story teaches you about the importance humanizing your ideas and data, and making them digestible and memorable, through simple, clever visuals.  ", "content": "

Now that you’ve learned the fundamentals of business storytelling, how can you bring your story to life… visually? Part 3: Storytelling Without Visuals is Only Half the Story teaches you about the importance humanizing your ideas and data, and making them digestible and memorable, through simple, clever visuals.

 

", "content_plain": "Now that you’ve learned the fundamentals of business storytelling, how can you bring your story to life… visually? Part 3: Storytelling Without Visuals is Only Half the Story teaches you about the importance humanizing your ideas and data, and making them digestible and memorable, through simple, clever visuals.  ", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Business-storytelling-decoded_Video-Series_Thumbnail.png", "modified": "2023-08-14T08:43:55-05:00" }, { "id": 7686, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/business-storytelling-video-series-part-1/", "title": "Business Storytelling Decoded in This 3-Part Video Series", "h1": "Business Storytelling Decoded in This 3-Part Video Series", "summary": "Let’s face it: Business storytelling is one of the greatest ways to amplify the meaning of your facts and figures and inspire your audience to act. No wonder it’s all the rage in the business world…but who has time to add one more to-do to their plate?! We get it. We’re here to help inspire you […]", "content": "

Let’s face it: Business storytelling is one of the greatest ways to amplify the meaning of your facts and figures and inspire your audience to act. No wonder it’s all the rage in the business world…but who has time to add one more to-do to their plate?!

We get it. We’re here to help inspire you to easily infuse storytelling into your everyday business communications. Watch Part 1: A Story About Storytelling to get quick tips on getting started crafting business stories: 

 

", "content_plain": "Let’s face it: Business storytelling is one of the greatest ways to amplify the meaning of your facts and figures and inspire your audience to act. No wonder it’s all the rage in the business world…but who has time to add one more to-do to their plate?! We get it. We’re here to help inspire you to easily infuse storytelling into your everyday business communications. Watch Part 1: A Story About Storytelling to get quick tips on getting started crafting business stories:  ", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Business-storytelling-decoded_Video-Series_Thumbnail.png", "modified": "2023-08-14T08:15:13-05:00" }, { "id": 10373, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/the-four-signposts-of-storytelling-part-2/", "title": "The Four Signposts of Storytelling Part 2", "h1": "The Four Signposts of Storytelling Part 2", "summary": "Now that you understand the brain science behind why stories make information memorable, how do you apply it to the business world? Watch Part 2: The Four Signposts of Storytelling to learn a simple framework for turning your data and insights into authentic, compelling visual stories that your audience will remember and act on.  ", "content": "

Now that you understand the brain science behind why stories make information memorable, how do you apply it to the business world? Watch Part 2: The Four Signposts of Storytelling to learn a simple framework for turning your data and insights into authentic, compelling visual stories that your audience will remember and act on.

 

", "content_plain": "Now that you understand the brain science behind why stories make information memorable, how do you apply it to the business world? Watch Part 2: The Four Signposts of Storytelling to learn a simple framework for turning your data and insights into authentic, compelling visual stories that your audience will remember and act on.  ", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Business-storytelling-decoded_Video-Series_Thumbnail.png", "modified": "2023-08-14T08:35:47-05:00" }, { "id": 7688, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/3-peer-coaching-tips-for-building-a-culture-of-storytellers/", "title": "3 Peer Coaching Tips for Building a Culture of Storytellers", "h1": "3 Peer Coaching Tips for Building a Culture of Storytellers", "summary": "Today, the world’s most successful companies have discovered that the best way to spread ideas and drive business forward—both internally and externally—is through business storytelling. Think about it: Steve Jobs unveiled Apple’s new products through riveting stories that compelled people to buy. Facebook and Instagram made sharing stories with friends and family easier than ever […]", "content": "

Today, the world’s most successful companies have discovered that the best way to spread ideas and drive business forward—both internally and externally—is through business storytelling. Think about it: Steve Jobs unveiled Apple’s new products through riveting stories that compelled people to buy. Facebook and Instagram made sharing stories with friends and family easier than ever through photos and status updates.

So how can we evoke this same sense of inspiration and clarity through our everyday business communications? You know… those “un-sexy” project updates, quarterly business reviews, or even emails? The key is to build an organizational culture that speaks a common language of storytelling. But to get entire teams, departments, and companies to efficiently, consistently transform all their facts, data, and insights into stories that spur action… coaching. is. critical.

So, what can companies—regardless of size—that are eager to instill a storytelling culture do? It all boils down to peer-to-peer coaching.

Here are the three most essential coaching questions peers should be asking one another:

1. Does your story include all four signposts?

Every good story told at work, home, or anywhere else, takes you on a journey through four fundamental signposts: Establishing a Setting, bringing in Characters, introducing Conflict, and ultimately, offering a Resolution. Each of these signposts serve a crucial purpose in the story arc.

To assess how well a peer has established Setting, ask:

Peers can also help one another assess if the story introduces meaningful Characters that clearly represent the interests of the audience. Ask:

Next, if there a clear Conflict, ask:

Finally, peer coaches should help each other determine if the story’s Resolution directly addresses and satisfies the Conflict. In many cases, the Resolution is where a storyteller gets into the details of their product features, actionable timelines, and recommendations. A good peer coach asks:

2. Do you have a clear, concise BIG Idea?

There is perhaps nothing more crucial a peer coach can offer their teammate than helping them make absolutely sure A) the story has a BIG Idea and B) that it is the right BIG Idea. A powerful BIG Idea is the lynchpin of the story. Peer coaches should ask:

If peers can help one another draw a clear line from all secondary information to the BIG Idea, they help cut away the “noise” from a story which detracts from its impact.

3. Does the Resolution fully reinforce the BIG Idea?

A strong story concludes with the Resolution. For it to make sense in the story (and hopefully, move the audience to action) it must be the obvious route to achieving the benefits touted in the BIG Idea. This is what makes a satisfying ending to the story. And so, peer coaches should always help colleagues reassess that every detail included in the Resolution specifically pushes the BIG Idea forward. Ask:

Peer coaching is vital to an organization’s storytelling culture

Nothing will build stronger stories and better collaboration than peer-to-peer coaching. In order to foster a stellar storytelling culture, peer coaching should be ingrained directly into the story-building process. Teammates can play a key role in helping one another establish strong, succinct messages and streamlining all supporting facts and data to elevate that message.

This not only helps individuals, but is also seeps into the broader language of entire teams, departments, and eventually, the whole organization. A culture of storytelling is born. Hooray!

Want more strategies for building a culture of storytelling at your organization, including resources like peer coaching checklists? You’ll love our corporate storytelling workshop for teams.

", "content_plain": "Today, the world’s most successful companies have discovered that the best way to spread ideas and drive business forward—both internally and externally—is through business storytelling. Think about it: Steve Jobs unveiled Apple’s new products through riveting stories that compelled people to buy. Facebook and Instagram made sharing stories with friends and family easier than ever through photos and status updates. So how can we evoke this same sense of inspiration and clarity through our everyday business communications? You know… those “un-sexy” project updates, quarterly business reviews, or even emails? The key is to build an organizational culture that speaks a common language of storytelling. But to get entire teams, departments, and companies to efficiently, consistently transform all their facts, data, and insights into stories that spur action… coaching. is. critical. So, what can companies—regardless of size—that are eager to instill a storytelling culture do? It all boils down to peer-to-peer coaching. Here are the three most essential coaching questions peers should be asking one another: 1. Does your story include all four signposts? Every good story told at work, home, or anywhere else, takes you on a journey through four fundamental signposts: Establishing a Setting, bringing in Characters, introducing Conflict, and ultimately, offering a Resolution. Each of these signposts serve a crucial purpose in the story arc. To assess how well a peer has established Setting, ask: Does it build context that brings your audience into a familiar market or company dynamic? More importantly, is it a situation the intended audience will care about? Peers can also help one another assess if the story introduces meaningful Characters that clearly represent the interests of the audience. Ask: Do the Characters represent the audience you’re facing? Do the Characters face issues this audience actually resonates with? Next, if there a clear Conflict, ask: Does it reveal understanding of the audience’s problems? Does the story identify outcomes for the characters if action (or inaction) is taken? Finally, peer coaches should help each other determine if the story’s Resolution directly addresses and satisfies the Conflict. In many cases, the Resolution is where a storyteller gets into the details of their product features, actionable timelines, and recommendations. A good peer coach asks: Does the Resolution go into too much or too little detail? Will the Resolution achieve what was set forth in the BIG Idea? 2. Do you have a clear, concise BIG Idea? There is perhaps nothing more crucial a peer coach can offer their teammate than helping them make absolutely sure A) the story has a BIG Idea and B) that it is the right BIG Idea. A powerful BIG Idea is the lynchpin of the story. Peer coaches should ask: Does the story state the BIG Idea clearly—with its specific benefit(s)? Does every fact and piece of data directly support the BIG Idea? If peers can help one another draw a clear line from all secondary information to the BIG Idea, they help cut away the “noise” from a story which detracts from its impact. 3. Does the Resolution fully reinforce the BIG Idea? A strong story concludes with the Resolution. For it to make sense in the story (and hopefully, move the audience to action) it must be the obvious route to achieving the benefits touted in the BIG Idea. This is what makes a satisfying ending to the story. And so, peer coaches should always help colleagues reassess that every detail included in the Resolution specifically pushes the BIG Idea forward. Ask: Does the Resolution include too much detail about a product, proposal, or recommendations that are unrelated to the BIG Idea? If so, this will distract from the key message. Alternatively, does the Resolution include too little detail? This will leave the audience unready to make a decision. Peer coaching is vital to an organization’s storytelling culture Nothing will build stronger stories and better collaboration than peer-to-peer coaching. In order to foster a stellar storytelling culture, peer coaching should be ingrained directly into the story-building process. Teammates can play a key role in helping one another establish strong, succinct messages and streamlining all supporting facts and data to elevate that message. This not only helps individuals, but is also seeps into the broader language of entire teams, departments, and eventually, the whole organization. A culture of storytelling is born. Hooray! Want more strategies for building a culture of storytelling at your organization, including resources like peer coaching checklists? You’ll love our corporate storytelling workshop for teams.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iStock-909542676-scaled.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T11:52:23-05:00" }, { "id": 7690, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/were-hiring-workshop-facilitators/", "title": "We’re Hiring! Master Workshop Facilitators", "h1": "We’re Hiring! Master Workshop Facilitators", "summary": "Do you have a passion for helping talented business professionals grow in their roles? Do you have a background in virtual training delivery combined with executive coaching experience, and an authentic, engaging presence? The Presentation Company, an industry-leading corporate training company, is seeking an exceptional facilitator and coach to lead virtual storytelling, data visualization, and […]", "content": "

Do you have a passion for helping talented business professionals grow in their roles? Do you have a background in virtual training delivery combined with executive coaching experience, and an authentic, engaging presence?

The Presentation Company, an industry-leading corporate training company, is seeking an exceptional facilitator and coach to lead virtual storytelling, data visualization, and visual messaging workshops for some of the world’s top brands.

The ideal candidate projects the right balance of passion, professionalism, confidence and authenticity and can build rapport at all levels in a corporate environment because you know what matters to them and understand their day-to-day challenges.

Applicants must have experience delivering training in virtual environments and effortlessly demonstrate facility with Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, and other data visualization tools. Good visual design, data and insights visualization, and business storytelling knowledge are also critical to the role.

If your delivery approach incorporates confidence, energy, professionalism, technical knowledge, white-glove participant support, and a great sense of humor, apply here!

Skills & knowledge required:

Responsibilities:

", "content_plain": "Do you have a passion for helping talented business professionals grow in their roles? Do you have a background in virtual training delivery combined with executive coaching experience, and an authentic, engaging presence? The Presentation Company, an industry-leading corporate training company, is seeking an exceptional facilitator and coach to lead virtual storytelling, data visualization, and visual messaging workshops for some of the world’s top brands. The ideal candidate projects the right balance of passion, professionalism, confidence and authenticity and can build rapport at all levels in a corporate environment because you know what matters to them and understand their day-to-day challenges. Applicants must have experience delivering training in virtual environments and effortlessly demonstrate facility with Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, and other data visualization tools. Good visual design, data and insights visualization, and business storytelling knowledge are also critical to the role. If your delivery approach incorporates confidence, energy, professionalism, technical knowledge, white-glove participant support, and a great sense of humor, apply here! Skills & knowledge required: 10+ years in corporate learning and coaching Deep business acumen across multiple industries Experience coaching all levels of leaders and individual contributors History building and delivering influential business presentations that incorporate storytelling, data visualization, and visual messaging Technical facility with Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, and other data visualization tools Virtual online training tools including WebEx and Zoom Strong knowledge and an ability to facilitate training from both PC and Mac platforms Responsibilities: Effectively deliver TPC’s workshops online to audiences globally, including late night and early morning engagements Prioritize TPC deliveries within your regular delivery schedule Research client’s business, know individual participant roles, address specific participant needs in the classroom—adjusting delivery for the audience when required Focus on participants’ needs and their success on the job as a primary concern Prepare workshop communications and materials Deliver from a professional, clean, dedicated workspace free of background noise and distractions, while using your own high-speed, reliable Internet connection and equipment", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Join-our-Team_TPC_Sales-Coordinator-1.jpg", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:38:25-05:00" }, { "id": 7692, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/the-essential-visual-storytelling-guide/", "title": "The Essential Visual Storytelling Guide", "h1": "The Essential Visual Storytelling Guide", "summary": "Ever wish you had a guidebook for becoming a strategic, influential communicator? This one’s for you. Because, let’s face it: We all strive to come across as credible, authentic, and persuasive in our business lives. Luckily, it all boils down to one basic skill that we’re all capable of: how well we’re able to clearly […]", "content": "

Ever wish you had a guidebook for becoming a strategic, influential communicator? This one’s for you. Because, let’s face it: We all strive to come across as credible, authentic, and persuasive in our business lives. Luckily, it all boils down to one basic skill that we’re all capable of: how well we’re able to clearly communicate our ideas and insights.

To truly influence decisions, we must cut through the noise—the endless meetings, flooded inboxes, and barrages of data—to get our message heard. So how do we up-level the way we communicate in today’s (chaotic) business environment? The trick is to turn our facts, data, and ideas into a compelling, audience-centric narrative. But how do we do this? Visual storytelling.

For many of us, visual storytelling may seem confusing, complicated, or time-consuming. But the truth is… it isn’t. With a little organization and inspiration, everyone can become a visual storyteller and apply it to any type of business communication. Really.

Whether you need to craft a compelling business narrative for your next high-stakes meeting, create easy-to-scan slides that capture your audience’s attention, transform your data into meaningful insights, or deliver a flawless virtual meeting, this toolkit is for you. We’ve compiled some of our favorite tips—taken directly from TPC’s award-winning workshops delivered to Fortune 500 teams around the globe—into a one-stop shop for everything you need to know about visual storytelling.

Your Business Storytelling Toolkit

By now, everyone knows the value of business storytelling—it’s the best way to organize your ideas and drive conversations forward. The beauty of business storytelling is that it works whether you’re giving a presentation, sending an email, building a one-page leave-behind, having a lunch meeting, or even leaving a voicemail. No matter the medium, it’s the way to persuade and motivate your audience to take action—and it’s remarkably easy. All it takes is following a simple storytelling framework that drives one BIG Idea forward. And the real magic of this framework? It guides you on precisely which ideas to include—the ones that advance the narrative—and which to leave out.

\"\"

Check out our Ultimate Guide to Corporate Storytelling for strategies to jumpstart your own business stories, including the four signposts of a great story, how to isolate your BIG Idea, and the importance of always putting your audience’s needs first.

Visual Messaging 101

Storytelling is great, but storytelling without visuals is only half the story. Molecular Biologist John Medina tells us why: three days after hearing a piece of information, you typically only remember 10% of it. But with visuals added? It jumps to 65%. That’s because visuals humanize information, making visual messaging a potent way to connect with your audience. But we’ll be the first to warn you: more bright, shiny visuals are not necessarily better. You must choose your visuals wisely. Everything you build must be relevant, bolster your insights, and support your story. Distracting visuals do exactly the opposite.

But the reality is, most of us are busy and don’t have time to tinker endlessly with slides. To save time, we borrow, reuse, and repurpose existing slides. We put together a deck that may look pretty but is cobbled together into a narrative mess. These “Frankendecks” happen all the time when presenters don’t have a visual slide strategy.

\"\"

In this Easy Guide to Choosing the Right Presentation Visuals, you’ll learn visualization techniques that’ll strengthen your presentation design and get you thinking outside the box. You’ll learn five basic ways to display information, how to use slide headlines to move your story forward, and finally, discover an ingenious navigation technique that can turn anyone into a responsive, nimble visual storyteller.

A Data Visualization Primer

Data is powerful. Data supports our ideas. Data helps us get decisions made. Right? Right…?

Well, sometimes. But too much data can actually hinder decision-making. Why? Because data is only truly valuable when it directly promotes your story’s key message. This can be tough when you’re sitting on a pile of valuable data that you spent weeks—maybe even months—collecting. Nevertheless, great data visualization requires thoughtful editing and some simple visualization techniques. Just like any good business story, you must only use the metrics that push your BIG Idea forward, then display them in a way that makes your insights clear at-a-glance. The best part? You don’t have to be a designer to master data visualization strategies.

\"\"

In the Ultimate Guide to Data Visualization vs. Storytelling with Data, we include some of our favorite examples for how to turn your numbers into narratives.

Plan, Design, and Deliver Effective Virtual Meetings

Online meetings can be a rich, interactive vehicle for communicating ideas when you can’t meet in person. But too often, they become boring, overlong, or marred by technical challenges. So, let’s get one thing totally straight: virtual meetings must be built and conducted differently than face-to-face meetings. They require mindful planning, clear design, and built-in audience interaction.

\"\"

Check out our Ultimate Guide to Conducting Virtual Meetings for strategies that will help you create a two-way dialogue, come across confidently, and build your “virtual body language” —in any virtual platform. You’ll understand key differences between presenting virtually vs. meeting face-to-face, discover a simple but brilliant technique to guarantee audience interaction, and explore how to avoid some of the most common (and painful) virtual meeting mistakes.

Your Visual Storytelling Toolkit

There you have it, your complete toolkit to infusing visual storytelling into any type of business communication. Want a deeper dive? Our team workshops will help you master these skills and up-level the way you communicate. Get in touch to learn more.

", "content_plain": "Ever wish you had a guidebook for becoming a strategic, influential communicator? This one’s for you. Because, let’s face it: We all strive to come across as credible, authentic, and persuasive in our business lives. Luckily, it all boils down to one basic skill that we’re all capable of: how well we’re able to clearly communicate our ideas and insights. To truly influence decisions, we must cut through the noise—the endless meetings, flooded inboxes, and barrages of data—to get our message heard. So how do we up-level the way we communicate in today’s (chaotic) business environment? The trick is to turn our facts, data, and ideas into a compelling, audience-centric narrative. But how do we do this? Visual storytelling. For many of us, visual storytelling may seem confusing, complicated, or time-consuming. But the truth is… it isn’t. With a little organization and inspiration, everyone can become a visual storyteller and apply it to any type of business communication. Really. Whether you need to craft a compelling business narrative for your next high-stakes meeting, create easy-to-scan slides that capture your audience’s attention, transform your data into meaningful insights, or deliver a flawless virtual meeting, this toolkit is for you. We’ve compiled some of our favorite tips—taken directly from TPC’s award-winning workshops delivered to Fortune 500 teams around the globe—into a one-stop shop for everything you need to know about visual storytelling. Your Business Storytelling Toolkit By now, everyone knows the value of business storytelling—it’s the best way to organize your ideas and drive conversations forward. The beauty of business storytelling is that it works whether you’re giving a presentation, sending an email, building a one-page leave-behind, having a lunch meeting, or even leaving a voicemail. No matter the medium, it’s the way to persuade and motivate your audience to take action—and it’s remarkably easy. All it takes is following a simple storytelling framework that drives one BIG Idea forward. And the real magic of this framework? It guides you on precisely which ideas to include—the ones that advance the narrative—and which to leave out. Check out our Ultimate Guide to Corporate Storytelling for strategies to jumpstart your own business stories, including the four signposts of a great story, how to isolate your BIG Idea, and the importance of always putting your audience’s needs first. Visual Messaging 101 Storytelling is great, but storytelling without visuals is only half the story. Molecular Biologist John Medina tells us why: three days after hearing a piece of information, you typically only remember 10% of it. But with visuals added? It jumps to 65%. That’s because visuals humanize information, making visual messaging a potent way to connect with your audience. But we’ll be the first to warn you: more bright, shiny visuals are not necessarily better. You must choose your visuals wisely. Everything you build must be relevant, bolster your insights, and support your story. Distracting visuals do exactly the opposite. But the reality is, most of us are busy and don’t have time to tinker endlessly with slides. To save time, we borrow, reuse, and repurpose existing slides. We put together a deck that may look pretty but is cobbled together into a narrative mess. These “Frankendecks” happen all the time when presenters don’t have a visual slide strategy. In this Easy Guide to Choosing the Right Presentation Visuals, you’ll learn visualization techniques that’ll strengthen your presentation design and get you thinking outside the box. You’ll learn five basic ways to display information, how to use slide headlines to move your story forward, and finally, discover an ingenious navigation technique that can turn anyone into a responsive, nimble visual storyteller. A Data Visualization Primer Data is powerful. Data supports our ideas. Data helps us get decisions made. Right? Right…? Well, sometimes. But too much data can actually hinder decision-making. Why? Because data is only truly valuable when it directly promotes your story’s key message. This can be tough when you’re sitting on a pile of valuable data that you spent weeks—maybe even months—collecting. Nevertheless, great data visualization requires thoughtful editing and some simple visualization techniques. Just like any good business story, you must only use the metrics that push your BIG Idea forward, then display them in a way that makes your insights clear at-a-glance. The best part? You don’t have to be a designer to master data visualization strategies. In the Ultimate Guide to Data Visualization vs. Storytelling with Data, we include some of our favorite examples for how to turn your numbers into narratives. Plan, Design, and Deliver Effective Virtual Meetings Online meetings can be a rich, interactive vehicle for communicating ideas when you can’t meet in person. But too often, they become boring, overlong, or marred by technical challenges. So, let’s get one thing totally straight: virtual meetings must be built and conducted differently than face-to-face meetings. They require mindful planning, clear design, and built-in audience interaction. Check out our Ultimate Guide to Conducting Virtual Meetings for strategies that will help you create a two-way dialogue, come across confidently, and build your “virtual body language” —in any virtual platform. You’ll understand key differences between presenting virtually vs. meeting face-to-face, discover a simple but brilliant technique to guarantee audience interaction, and explore how to avoid some of the most common (and painful) virtual meeting mistakes. Your Visual Storytelling Toolkit There you have it, your complete toolkit to infusing visual storytelling into any type of business communication. Want a deeper dive? Our team workshops will help you master these skills and up-level the way you communicate. Get in touch to learn more.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/The-Essential-Visual-Storytelling-Guide.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T10:01:00-05:00" }, { "id": 7694, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/sanitize-before-you-share-video/", "title": "Sanitize Before You Share [VIDEO]", "h1": "Sanitize Before You Share [VIDEO]", "summary": "These days we’re all hyper-vigilant about sanitizing our hands and surfaces. But did you know this good hygiene can actually translate into your virtual meetings and presentations? We’ve likely all been in online meetings where the person sharing their screen has endless browser tabs open or is getting “pinged” with notifications and pop-ups. When this […]", "content": "

These days we’re all hyper-vigilant about sanitizing our hands and surfaces. But did you know this good hygiene can actually translate into your virtual meetings and presentations?

We’ve likely all been in online meetings where the person sharing their screen has endless browser tabs open or is getting “pinged” with notifications and pop-ups. When this happens, our audience can easily become distracted—or worse—see something you may have wanted to keep private.

Watch the video to learn a crazy simple—yet incredibly useful—two-click trick that will help you “sanitize” your desktop before you share… and help you avoid embarrassment.

Want more tips for delivering stress-free virtual meetings, presentations, or training? Check out our team workshop, Successful Online Presentations.

", "content_plain": "These days we’re all hyper-vigilant about sanitizing our hands and surfaces. But did you know this good hygiene can actually translate into your virtual meetings and presentations? We’ve likely all been in online meetings where the person sharing their screen has endless browser tabs open or is getting “pinged” with notifications and pop-ups. When this happens, our audience can easily become distracted—or worse—see something you may have wanted to keep private. Watch the video to learn a crazy simple—yet incredibly useful—two-click trick that will help you “sanitize” your desktop before you share… and help you avoid embarrassment. Want more tips for delivering stress-free virtual meetings, presentations, or training? Check out our team workshop, Successful Online Presentations.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Sanitize-before-you-share_with-play-button.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T16:13:00-05:00" }, { "id": 7696, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/dont-leave-your-data-behind/", "title": "Don’t Leave Your Data Behind [VIDEO]", "h1": "Don’t Leave Your Data Behind [VIDEO]", "summary": "Did you know virtual meetings can be a goldmine full of insights? That’s right… all of those chat conversations, poll responses, and whiteboard brainstorm sessions are teeming with juicy information. Perhaps it’s common questions you receive from prospects, fantastic feedback from a new client, or updated protocols from a colleague in another department. Make. Sure. […]", "content": "

Did you know virtual meetings can be a goldmine full of insights? That’s right… all of those chat conversations, poll responses, and whiteboard brainstorm sessions are teeming with juicy information. Perhaps it’s common questions you receive from prospects, fantastic feedback from a new client, or updated protocols from a colleague in another department.

Make. Sure. To. Capture. These. Insights!

And while taking notes or recording the meeting is never a bad thing, another quick way to save and reflect back on these insights is by manually saving the logs via your virtual meeting platform. Watch this short video to learn more about saving your audience interaction data in Zoom and WebEx:

Want more tips for hosting productive web meetings? Check out our workshop for teams, Successful Online Presentations.

", "content_plain": "Did you know virtual meetings can be a goldmine full of insights? That’s right… all of those chat conversations, poll responses, and whiteboard brainstorm sessions are teeming with juicy information. Perhaps it’s common questions you receive from prospects, fantastic feedback from a new client, or updated protocols from a colleague in another department. Make. Sure. To. Capture. These. Insights! And while taking notes or recording the meeting is never a bad thing, another quick way to save and reflect back on these insights is by manually saving the logs via your virtual meeting platform. Watch this short video to learn more about saving your audience interaction data in Zoom and WebEx: Want more tips for hosting productive web meetings? Check out our workshop for teams, Successful Online Presentations.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Janine-still_with-play-button-1.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T14:31:06-05:00" }, { "id": 7698, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/how-shapes-make-your-data-insights-pop-video/", "title": "How Shapes Make Your Data Insights POP [VIDEO]", "h1": "How Shapes Make Your Data Insights POP [VIDEO]", "summary": "Shapes can be incredibly powerful. It’s a statement you’ve probably never heard before, but it’s true—circles, squares, and triangles can really pack a punch when it comes to data visualization. How? When used strategically, shapes—along with color and size—can help draw attention to key data points and highlight your insights. That’s right, you should never […]", "content": "

Shapes can be incredibly powerful. It’s a statement you’ve probably never heard before, but it’s true—circles, squares, and triangles can really pack a punch when it comes to data visualization.

How? When used strategically, shapes—along with color and size—can help draw attention to key data points and highlight your insights. That’s right, you should never expect your data to speak for itself if you simply flash a chart in your virtual meeting or presentation. You must explicitly SHOW your audience where you want their attention.

And the best part about using shapes in data visualizations? You don’t need to be a designer to create easy-to-scan “callouts” using simple shapes. Check out the video to learn a few tricks for adding shapes to make your insights clear at-a-glance.

 
Want more strategies for creating easy-to-digest data visualizations that shine a spotlight on your ideas? Check out our Presenting Data Visually workshop for teams.

", "content_plain": "Shapes can be incredibly powerful. It’s a statement you’ve probably never heard before, but it’s true—circles, squares, and triangles can really pack a punch when it comes to data visualization. How? When used strategically, shapes—along with color and size—can help draw attention to key data points and highlight your insights. That’s right, you should never expect your data to speak for itself if you simply flash a chart in your virtual meeting or presentation. You must explicitly SHOW your audience where you want their attention. And the best part about using shapes in data visualizations? You don’t need to be a designer to create easy-to-scan “callouts” using simple shapes. Check out the video to learn a few tricks for adding shapes to make your insights clear at-a-glance.   Want more strategies for creating easy-to-digest data visualizations that shine a spotlight on your ideas? Check out our Presenting Data Visually workshop for teams.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Janine_Shapes_Still-02.png", "modified": "2024-04-25T08:34:17-05:00" }, { "id": 7700, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/size-up-your-data-how-varying-size-draws-focus-to-your-insights-video/", "title": "Size Up Your Data: How Varying Size Draws Focus to Your Insights [VIDEO]", "h1": "Size Up Your Data: How Varying Size Draws Focus to Your Insights [VIDEO]", "summary": "Have you ever considered how the size of your data display could impact how well your insights are received by your audience? Odds are… probably not. But data experts know: Size is a critical component in making well-balanced data visualizations that can be easily scanned and remembered (the two other critical components are color and […]", "content": "

Have you ever considered how the size of your data display could impact how well your insights are received by your audience? Odds are… probably not. But data experts know: Size is a critical component in making well-balanced data visualizations that can be easily scanned and remembered (the two other critical components are color and shapes.)

Whether you’re presenting a bar chart, line chart, or table—online or in-person—varying the size of certain elements is a surefire way to draw focus to your data insights. Watch this short video to learn tips for building clear, visually engaging data visualizations.

Want more strategies for creating easy-to-digest data visualizations that shine a spotlight on your ideas? Stay tuned for “Part 3: Shapes” next week or check out our Presenting Data Visually workshop for teams.

", "content_plain": "Have you ever considered how the size of your data display could impact how well your insights are received by your audience? Odds are… probably not. But data experts know: Size is a critical component in making well-balanced data visualizations that can be easily scanned and remembered (the two other critical components are color and shapes.) Whether you’re presenting a bar chart, line chart, or table—online or in-person—varying the size of certain elements is a surefire way to draw focus to your data insights. Watch this short video to learn tips for building clear, visually engaging data visualizations. Want more strategies for creating easy-to-digest data visualizations that shine a spotlight on your ideas? Stay tuned for “Part 3: Shapes” next week or check out our Presenting Data Visually workshop for teams.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Daren_Size_Still-02.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T10:50:12-05:00" }, { "id": 7702, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/think-outside-the-box-to-make-online-learning-engaging/", "title": "Think Outside the Box to Make Online Learning Engaging [VIDEO]", "h1": "Think Outside the Box to Make Online Learning Engaging [VIDEO]", "summary": "Picture this: You’re in a brainstorming session with a colleague online. You’re attempting to mark up a diagram of your company’s new product roadmap, but you’re finding it difficult to draw clearly on the whiteboard with your mouse. You grab a piece of paper and start jotting down ideas and figures… but to share it […]", "content": "

Picture this: You’re in a brainstorming session with a colleague online. You’re attempting to mark up a diagram of your company’s new product roadmap, but you’re finding it difficult to draw clearly on the whiteboard with your mouse. You grab a piece of paper and start jotting down ideas and figures… but to share it with your colleague, you hold the paper up close to the webcam. You ask, “Can you read this?” They respond, “Bring it closer. Wait, hold still!”

By now, most of us have experienced this scenario in one form another—especially folks like teachers who need to zoom in on math problems, books, or science experiments. Not easy!

Here at TPC, we’ve come up with a very *out of the box* approach to solve this issue. How? By turning your tablet or smartphone into a “document camera” that allows you to spotlight a physical object in a virtual meeting and gives you flexibility to draw with a pencil or stylus instead of your mouse.

Sounds crazy helpful, right? Check out the video below to see how simple it is to set up yourself.

Want more tips for creating engaging online meetings or training? Check out our team workshop: Successful Online Presentations.

", "content_plain": "Picture this: You’re in a brainstorming session with a colleague online. You’re attempting to mark up a diagram of your company’s new product roadmap, but you’re finding it difficult to draw clearly on the whiteboard with your mouse. You grab a piece of paper and start jotting down ideas and figures… but to share it with your colleague, you hold the paper up close to the webcam. You ask, “Can you read this?” They respond, “Bring it closer. Wait, hold still!” By now, most of us have experienced this scenario in one form another—especially folks like teachers who need to zoom in on math problems, books, or science experiments. Not easy! Here at TPC, we’ve come up with a very *out of the box* approach to solve this issue. How? By turning your tablet or smartphone into a “document camera” that allows you to spotlight a physical object in a virtual meeting and gives you flexibility to draw with a pencil or stylus instead of your mouse. Sounds crazy helpful, right? Check out the video below to see how simple it is to set up yourself. Want more tips for creating engaging online meetings or training? Check out our team workshop: Successful Online Presentations.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Doc-Cam-Still-01-for-blog.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-02T08:49:41-05:00" }, { "id": 7704, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/do-this-not-that-how-to-choose-color-for-data-visualizations/", "title": "Do This, Not That: How to Choose Color for Data Visualizations [VIDEO]", "h1": "Do This, Not That: How to Choose Color for Data Visualizations [VIDEO]", "summary": "Let’s talk about one of data visualization’s best friends: color. When used correctly, color can be a powerful conduit for making your data insights shine. A smart pop of color will highlight key information and focus your audience’s attention (whether online or face-to-face). The reality is… most businesspeople aren’t graphic designers, so color is often […]", "content": "

Let’s talk about one of data visualization’s best friends: color. When used correctly, color can be a powerful conduit for making your data insights shine. A smart pop of color will highlight key information and focus your audience’s attention (whether online or face-to-face).

The reality is… most businesspeople aren’t graphic designers, so color is often used in a way that’s distracting—or even counterintuitive—to the message we want to send. This approach not only stifles all of the hard work you’ve put into gathering, analyzing, and displaying your data, but improper use of color can actually be unreadable to people who are color blind.

Whether you’re presenting data in a virtual meeting, in person, or emailing your deck, watch the video below to learn the do’s and don’ts of how to choose the right color for your data visualizations.

Want more strategies for creating easy-to-scan data visualizations that shine a spotlight on your insights? Watch Part 2 of our Data Visualization series or check out our Presenting Data Visually workshop for teams.

", "content_plain": "Let’s talk about one of data visualization’s best friends: color. When used correctly, color can be a powerful conduit for making your data insights shine. A smart pop of color will highlight key information and focus your audience’s attention (whether online or face-to-face). The reality is… most businesspeople aren’t graphic designers, so color is often used in a way that’s distracting—or even counterintuitive—to the message we want to send. This approach not only stifles all of the hard work you’ve put into gathering, analyzing, and displaying your data, but improper use of color can actually be unreadable to people who are color blind. Whether you’re presenting data in a virtual meeting, in person, or emailing your deck, watch the video below to learn the do’s and don’ts of how to choose the right color for your data visualizations. Want more strategies for creating easy-to-scan data visualizations that shine a spotlight on your insights? Watch Part 2 of our Data Visualization series or check out our Presenting Data Visually workshop for teams.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Kevin-with-watch-now_Accentuate-with-color.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T14:30:04-05:00" }, { "id": 7706, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/how-to-conduct-a-stress-free-virtual-meeting/", "title": "How to Conduct a Stress-Free Virtual Meeting", "h1": "How to Conduct a Stress-Free Virtual Meeting", "summary": "Running virtual meetings, presentations, or trainings can be super stressful. You must corral the attention of people hidden behind their screens, engage them, answer questions, solve technical problems… all while trying to get through your content. If it sounds like a lot for one person to manage… that’s because it is. Anything can go wrong […]", "content": "

Running virtual meetings, presentations, or trainings can be super stressful. You must corral the attention of people hidden behind their screens, engage them, answer questions, solve technical problems… all while trying to get through your content. If it sounds like a lot for one person to manage… that’s because it is. Anything can go wrong when trying to juggle technology, interactive virtual tools, and… getting attendees to participate!

But don’t despair. There’s a surefire way to take the burden off yourself and be freed up to conduct a more seamless, confident presentation or training that lets your ideas shine. So what’s the secret? Enlist a producer, colleague, or essentially anyone that’s tech-savvy as your “co-pilot” to assist you in the meeting.

Producers manage technical details… so you don’t have to

What exactly is a producer? A producer is a second person in a virtual meeting who runs all the behind-the-scenes tools, jumps in when there are technical glitches and, generally, helps manage the administrative details of the session. This provides instant relief for the meeting facilitator, much like a co-pilot would. The benefit? The primary presenter is able to focus solely on presenting, instructing, interacting with, and responding to the learning needs of participants.

Producers stay ahead of issues before they become disruptive

Imagine you’re running a virtual meeting with 25 people. One participant is having difficulty using the whiteboarding tool (despite the fact that you carefully explained and demonstrated how to use it). Does it make sense to completely halt the meeting? Probably not. You’d be at risk of frustrating people who will quickly begin to multitask… and good luck getting them back. Now imagine having a producer in the meeting that can immediately jump in and help the confused participant. They can tackle this one-on-one (via private chat) and ensure the facilitator stays on track with content and timing.

Now let’s address one of the most stressful, worst-case scenarios as a presenter:YOU lose your internet connection. Your frozen face is sitting there helplessly on the screen as the real you scrambles to get back online. The truth is, your participants will most likely log off if you can’t fix this quickly. But if you have a co-pilot to stand in for you, they can rescue you temporarily by opening up a relevant discussion to keep folks engaged or presenting on your behalf until you get back online (more on this below).

Producers encourage participation and liven up the meeting

Sometimes it’s not technical problems that bring things to a grinding halt—it’s the audience. There’s nothing worse than trying to encourage interaction from your virtual crowd and being met with *crickets*. You might start to think: is my content resonating, are they multitasking? Unresponsive audiences are unbearable, but they can happen to any presenter—even the most skilled.

There are three ways a producer can be a big help here. First, your producer can emcee the meeting, ushering things along and allowing you to concentrate purely on the content. Second, they can offer another active voice in the meeting and help encourage participation. Just one person modeling engaged behavior can really get the ball rolling. And finally—if they know your content well enough—they can actually co-present, allowing a more “talk show” style delivery. Having this second, trusted voice of authority in the meeting is hugely comforting. Not only can they help explain your ideas, they can even present on your behalf if you suddenly lose your connection. (It is not unheard of for both your presenter and backup computers to lose connection.)

Producers supporting you like this will increase your confidence and audience engagement. And even better, it will ultimately influence how your presentation skills are perceived.

Increase your confidence when you unleash interactive tools

You probably know by now that interactive tools help you create a two-way dialogue, meet your audience’s needs, and have an overall more successful virtual meeting. However, unleashing interactive tools with a larger audience is risky if you can’t process their feedback all by yourself. Having a producer is the best solution because it allows you to design for larger audiences without the headache of managing everything on your own.

In addition to providing technical support, producers can help you launch and report out on poll responses, set up breakout sessions, manage Q&A, and moderate chat discussions so you don’t get flooded. Together, the two of you can eliminate unnecessary pauses to keep your presentation or training session flowing smoothly.

Producers can range from being a colleague to an outsourced production crew

There are countless ways a producer can assist you. Perhaps they join for only the first 20 minutes of the meeting to ensure participants successfully join audio and video. Or, you might want them to stay the entire time to help you post links, upload resources, monitor chat, queue up questions, etc. They can also help capture useful participant data—like chat logs, poll responses, attendance, etc.—which can be particularly important when you’re testing new content.

Producers are typically only needed for large audiences

While it never hurts to have backup, having a producer for small virtual groups may be unnecessary. The larger the audience, the more likely technical difficulties will occur. Not only that, but when you try to use interactive tools with large groups, the onslaught of audience feedback will likely overwhelm you. Producers provide you an indispensable safety net.

Our advice? Don’t take the chance

The time and productivity cost of meeting disruptions—which happen all the time—far outweigh the cost of using a producer. Having a “co-pilot” will help you avert these disruptions. What’s more, presenting with a team—rather than just one lone person—simply looks more professional, especially when conducting a training or formal presentation. Not to mention, it can be more fun, too!

And one final thing to consider… if you’re looking to grow your team, there’s no better way to train a new presenter than having them be your co-pilot. When one day they fly solo themselves, they will have greatly benefited from learning the session flow, content, common questions and problems, and most effective tools. Win-win!

So don’t risk it. Plan ahead and set up this simple yet critical component for your next large virtual meeting. That way, when those problems (inevitably) creep up, they can be handled in the background by your trusted partner while you make your content shine and your audience happy.

Virtual training that’s just as good as face-to-face

At TPC, our virtual trainings are delivered by a facilitator-producer team. In fact, our virtual delivery model (from instructional design all the way to seamless delivery) is so well-refined, survey feedback is just as positive as our onsite workshops. You read that right: participants find our virtual workshops just as engaging, informative, and valuable as our live classroom training—without having to leave their desks.

Want more tips for telling your story virtually? Our new book, Everyday Business Storytelling, arms you with practical strategies for creating meaningful, interactive experiences online.

", "content_plain": "Running virtual meetings, presentations, or trainings can be super stressful. You must corral the attention of people hidden behind their screens, engage them, answer questions, solve technical problems… all while trying to get through your content. If it sounds like a lot for one person to manage… that’s because it is. Anything can go wrong when trying to juggle technology, interactive virtual tools, and… getting attendees to participate! But don’t despair. There’s a surefire way to take the burden off yourself and be freed up to conduct a more seamless, confident presentation or training that lets your ideas shine. So what’s the secret? Enlist a producer, colleague, or essentially anyone that’s tech-savvy as your “co-pilot” to assist you in the meeting. Producers manage technical details… so you don’t have to What exactly is a producer? A producer is a second person in a virtual meeting who runs all the behind-the-scenes tools, jumps in when there are technical glitches and, generally, helps manage the administrative details of the session. This provides instant relief for the meeting facilitator, much like a co-pilot would. The benefit? The primary presenter is able to focus solely on presenting, instructing, interacting with, and responding to the learning needs of participants. Producers stay ahead of issues before they become disruptive Imagine you’re running a virtual meeting with 25 people. One participant is having difficulty using the whiteboarding tool (despite the fact that you carefully explained and demonstrated how to use it). Does it make sense to completely halt the meeting? Probably not. You’d be at risk of frustrating people who will quickly begin to multitask… and good luck getting them back. Now imagine having a producer in the meeting that can immediately jump in and help the confused participant. They can tackle this one-on-one (via private chat) and ensure the facilitator stays on track with content and timing. Now let’s address one of the most stressful, worst-case scenarios as a presenter:YOU lose your internet connection. Your frozen face is sitting there helplessly on the screen as the real you scrambles to get back online. The truth is, your participants will most likely log off if you can’t fix this quickly. But if you have a co-pilot to stand in for you, they can rescue you temporarily by opening up a relevant discussion to keep folks engaged or presenting on your behalf until you get back online (more on this below). Producers encourage participation and liven up the meeting Sometimes it’s not technical problems that bring things to a grinding halt—it’s the audience. There’s nothing worse than trying to encourage interaction from your virtual crowd and being met with *crickets*. You might start to think: is my content resonating, are they multitasking? Unresponsive audiences are unbearable, but they can happen to any presenter—even the most skilled. There are three ways a producer can be a big help here. First, your producer can emcee the meeting, ushering things along and allowing you to concentrate purely on the content. Second, they can offer another active voice in the meeting and help encourage participation. Just one person modeling engaged behavior can really get the ball rolling. And finally—if they know your content well enough—they can actually co-present, allowing a more “talk show” style delivery. Having this second, trusted voice of authority in the meeting is hugely comforting. Not only can they help explain your ideas, they can even present on your behalf if you suddenly lose your connection. (It is not unheard of for both your presenter and backup computers to lose connection.) Producers supporting you like this will increase your confidence and audience engagement. And even better, it will ultimately influence how your presentation skills are perceived. Increase your confidence when you unleash interactive tools You probably know by now that interactive tools help you create a two-way dialogue, meet your audience’s needs, and have an overall more successful virtual meeting. However, unleashing interactive tools with a larger audience is risky if you can’t process their feedback all by yourself. Having a producer is the best solution because it allows you to design for larger audiences without the headache of managing everything on your own. In addition to providing technical support, producers can help you launch and report out on poll responses, set up breakout sessions, manage Q&A, and moderate chat discussions so you don’t get flooded. Together, the two of you can eliminate unnecessary pauses to keep your presentation or training session flowing smoothly. Producers can range from being a colleague to an outsourced production crew There are countless ways a producer can assist you. Perhaps they join for only the first 20 minutes of the meeting to ensure participants successfully join audio and video. Or, you might want them to stay the entire time to help you post links, upload resources, monitor chat, queue up questions, etc. They can also help capture useful participant data—like chat logs, poll responses, attendance, etc.—which can be particularly important when you’re testing new content. Producers are typically only needed for large audiences While it never hurts to have backup, having a producer for small virtual groups may be unnecessary. The larger the audience, the more likely technical difficulties will occur. Not only that, but when you try to use interactive tools with large groups, the onslaught of audience feedback will likely overwhelm you. Producers provide you an indispensable safety net. Our advice? Don’t take the chance The time and productivity cost of meeting disruptions—which happen all the time—far outweigh the cost of using a producer. Having a “co-pilot” will help you avert these disruptions. What’s more, presenting with a team—rather than just one lone person—simply looks more professional, especially when conducting a training or formal presentation. Not to mention, it can be more fun, too! And one final thing to consider… if you’re looking to grow your team, there’s no better way to train a new presenter than having them be your co-pilot. When one day they fly solo themselves, they will have greatly benefited from learning the session flow, content, common questions and problems, and most effective tools. Win-win! So don’t risk it. Plan ahead and set up this simple yet critical component for your next large virtual meeting. That way, when those problems (inevitably) creep up, they can be handled in the background by your trusted partner while you make your content shine and your audience happy. Virtual training that’s just as good as face-to-face At TPC, our virtual trainings are delivered by a facilitator-producer team. In fact, our virtual delivery model (from instructional design all the way to seamless delivery) is so well-refined, survey feedback is just as positive as our onsite workshops. You read that right: participants find our virtual workshops just as engaging, informative, and valuable as our live classroom training—without having to leave their desks. Want more tips for telling your story virtually? Our new book, Everyday Business Storytelling, arms you with practical strategies for creating meaningful, interactive experiences online.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/5-tips-for-delivering-effective-online-meetings.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T15:49:04-05:00" }, { "id": 7708, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/filling-the-awkward-silence-verbal-prompts-for-virtual-meetings-video/", "title": "Filling the Awkward Silence: Verbal Prompts for Virtual Meetings [VIDEO]", "h1": "Filling the Awkward Silence: Verbal Prompts for Virtual Meetings [VIDEO]", "summary": "We’ve all been there: You’re on a virtual call and want feedback from the group. You ask them to post in chat or respond verbally… and you’re met with *crickets*. You panic: Did they hear me? Are they ever going to chime in? The truth is, online meeting interaction sometimes takes a second… or ten. […]", "content": "

We’ve all been there: You’re on a virtual call and want feedback from the group. You ask them to post in chat or respond verbally… and you’re met with *crickets*. You panic: Did they hear me? Are they ever going to chime in?

The truth is, online meeting interaction sometimes takes a second… or ten. Your audience needs time to type a response or unmute their audio line—all while lacking the natural “cues” of an in-person meeting, like knowing when another person is about to talk. But here’s the real issue: not only does that ten seconds of silence feel like eons to everyone on the call, but it can actually kill the energy on a virtual meeting and cause engagement to dwindle.

What do TPC’s virtual veterans do while their meeting participants take a moment to weigh in? They fill the silence with helpful, conversational commentary. Check out this video to learn simple language prompts you can use to fill those awkward gaps during a virtual meeting, presentation or training.

Want more tips for conducting engaging virtual meetings, presentations or trainings? Check out our Successful Online Presentations workshop!

", "content_plain": "We’ve all been there: You’re on a virtual call and want feedback from the group. You ask them to post in chat or respond verbally… and you’re met with *crickets*. You panic: Did they hear me? Are they ever going to chime in? The truth is, online meeting interaction sometimes takes a second… or ten. Your audience needs time to type a response or unmute their audio line—all while lacking the natural “cues” of an in-person meeting, like knowing when another person is about to talk. But here’s the real issue: not only does that ten seconds of silence feel like eons to everyone on the call, but it can actually kill the energy on a virtual meeting and cause engagement to dwindle. What do TPC’s virtual veterans do while their meeting participants take a moment to weigh in? They fill the silence with helpful, conversational commentary. Check out this video to learn simple language prompts you can use to fill those awkward gaps during a virtual meeting, presentation or training. Want more tips for conducting engaging virtual meetings, presentations or trainings? Check out our Successful Online Presentations workshop!", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Janine-still_with-play-button.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T14:41:43-05:00" }, { "id": 7710, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tpc-contributes-to-training-industry-yes-even-you-can-become-a-masterful-storyteller/", "title": "TPC Contributes to Training Industry: Yes, Even You Can Become A Masterful Storyteller", "h1": "TPC Contributes to Training Industry: Yes, Even You Can Become A Masterful Storyteller", "summary": "According to Antonio Damasio’s book “Descartes’ Error: Reason, Emotion and the Human Brain,” neuroscience tells us that humans respond more powerfully to stories than plain facts or data alone. We don’t need an advanced degree to understand this concept, though. We already know (and feel) that the most thoughtful, powerful and exhilarating leaders present in […]", "content": "

According to Antonio Damasio’s book “Descartes’ Error: Reason, Emotion and the Human Brain,” neuroscience tells us that humans respond more powerfully to stories than plain facts or data alone. We don’t need an advanced degree to understand this concept, though. We already know (and feel) that the most thoughtful, powerful and exhilarating leaders present in the language of story. Yet, structuring our business presentations into stories remains one of our greatest struggles.

What do we do instead? Think back to your last meeting. Was it filled with a litany of dry, bulleted facts? Were you overwhelmed with mountains of data? Did the presenter drone on in a colorless monologue? The reality is that most of us – even smart and talented people – present this way.

How do we stop these mind-numbing performances? It’s simple: Structure data and facts into a narrative that follows the classic arc of storytelling you find in great books, movies and plays. Using story structure – including setting, character, conflict and resolution – in business communications will take your audience on an emotional journey, making your ideas much more memorable.

A Storytelling Framework Jumpstarts Your Presentation

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Preparing a story-driven presentation is much less bewildering if you have a framework to help you organize your thoughts, facts and data into a logical flow. A framework should guide you in three areas: your audience, your story arc and your big idea. All three of these exercises are performed before you build your first slide. This prep work ultimately saves time, because it makes the visual part of your presentation much more intuitive.

First, Take a Walk in Your Audience’s Shoes

We know generally whom we are presenting to, but a deeper understanding of our audience is often lacking. It cannot be overstated how important it is to know:

If you are hoping to change people’s mindsets and convince them to accept your recommendations, it helps immensely to know the answers to these questions. This is also the time to imagine what’s at stake for your audience if they reject your ideas. It will point you to which supporting data or facts to include to build the foundation for your argument.

Piece Together Your Story

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What do “Game of Thrones,” “War and Peace,” or “Superman” have in common with your story-driven presentation? They all contain the four signposts of classic storytelling:

If you’ve accurately analyzed your audience and established a clear setting, characters and conflict, your audience will be much more likely to care about your resolution. You can begin to weave together your supporting facts and data as they serve to advance your story. Business storytelling requires you to take your audience on both an emotional and a logical journey.

Make Sure You Always Have a Big Idea

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Your story framework should guide you through the identification of your big idea – the key takeaway of your story. If your audience only remembers one thing about your presentation, it’s this lynchpin idea that serves as the purpose and guide for every one of your other ideas. If any of your facts or data fail to make an obvious connection to your big idea, they should likely not be included in your presentation.

It’s helpful to think of your presentation as a combination of “why,” “what” and “how” messages. The setting, character and conflict are the “why” (giving us a reason to care). Your Big idea is the “what” (it should address the conflict and tease the resolution). Finally, your resolution is the “how” (i.e., what is your detailed solution to resolving the conflict?) Your big idea is usually revealed early and repeated throughout your story. Be sure not to confuse it with your resolution.

Bring Your Story to Life Visually

Think of your story like building a house. Your story arc and your big idea are the infrastructure; you have rooms, the walls are in place and you have your supporting beams. Adding visuals is your chance to create aesthetic finishes. It’s your paint, carpet and lighting. Clever visual design, including photos, diagrams, charts, text or video, will turn up the emotional volume on your story. Three of the most engaging visual techniques are:

We all tell stories every day, but to become stronger, more strategic presenters, it’s time to bring stories inside the office. The key is to use a framework that will guide you to understand your audience, craft a big idea and architect a story structure. With this roadmap, anyone can build a narrative that leads with story, not just endless facts and data.

As great presenters already know, storytelling isn’t just about an entertaining show for the audience. It is a method that will significantly improve the impact you will have on the executives, customers and partners you face every day.

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM TRAININGINDUSTRY.COM

", "content_plain": "According to Antonio Damasio’s book “Descartes’ Error: Reason, Emotion and the Human Brain,” neuroscience tells us that humans respond more powerfully to stories than plain facts or data alone. We don’t need an advanced degree to understand this concept, though. We already know (and feel) that the most thoughtful, powerful and exhilarating leaders present in the language of story. Yet, structuring our business presentations into stories remains one of our greatest struggles. What do we do instead? Think back to your last meeting. Was it filled with a litany of dry, bulleted facts? Were you overwhelmed with mountains of data? Did the presenter drone on in a colorless monologue? The reality is that most of us – even smart and talented people – present this way. How do we stop these mind-numbing performances? It’s simple: Structure data and facts into a narrative that follows the classic arc of storytelling you find in great books, movies and plays. Using story structure – including setting, character, conflict and resolution – in business communications will take your audience on an emotional journey, making your ideas much more memorable. A Storytelling Framework Jumpstarts Your Presentation Preparing a story-driven presentation is much less bewildering if you have a framework to help you organize your thoughts, facts and data into a logical flow. A framework should guide you in three areas: your audience, your story arc and your big idea. All three of these exercises are performed before you build your first slide. This prep work ultimately saves time, because it makes the visual part of your presentation much more intuitive. First, Take a Walk in Your Audience’s Shoes We know generally whom we are presenting to, but a deeper understanding of our audience is often lacking. It cannot be overstated how important it is to know: What is happening in your audience’s world? What challenges or obstacles are they facing? Who or what matters to your audience? What is their current mindset? If you are hoping to change people’s mindsets and convince them to accept your recommendations, it helps immensely to know the answers to these questions. This is also the time to imagine what’s at stake for your audience if they reject your ideas. It will point you to which supporting data or facts to include to build the foundation for your argument. Piece Together Your Story What do “Game of Thrones,” “War and Peace,” or “Superman” have in common with your story-driven presentation? They all contain the four signposts of classic storytelling: Setting: Your setting is a snapshot in time, a place or a circumstance. It immediately establishes the context for your message. Characters: Your characters are who or what is affected by the current situation — your customers, employees or team. Characters help your audience relate to your story. Conflict: With the context of setting and characters in place, it’s time to reveal the conflict. Conflict provides the tension that gives your audience a reason to care. Resolution: With setting, characters and conflict established, your audience’s emotions will be built up. They will hopefully be ready to embrace your resolution – your recommendation, product or solution. If you’ve accurately analyzed your audience and established a clear setting, characters and conflict, your audience will be much more likely to care about your resolution. You can begin to weave together your supporting facts and data as they serve to advance your story. Business storytelling requires you to take your audience on both an emotional and a logical journey. Make Sure You Always Have a Big Idea Your story framework should guide you through the identification of your big idea – the key takeaway of your story. If your audience only remembers one thing about your presentation, it’s this lynchpin idea that serves as the purpose and guide for every one of your other ideas. If any of your facts or data fail to make an obvious connection to your big idea, they should likely not be included in your presentation. It’s helpful to think of your presentation as a combination of “why,” “what” and “how” messages. The setting, character and conflict are the “why” (giving us a reason to care). Your Big idea is the “what” (it should address the conflict and tease the resolution). Finally, your resolution is the “how” (i.e., what is your detailed solution to resolving the conflict?) Your big idea is usually revealed early and repeated throughout your story. Be sure not to confuse it with your resolution. Bring Your Story to Life Visually Think of your story like building a house. Your story arc and your big idea are the infrastructure; you have rooms, the walls are in place and you have your supporting beams. Adding visuals is your chance to create aesthetic finishes. It’s your paint, carpet and lighting. Clever visual design, including photos, diagrams, charts, text or video, will turn up the emotional volume on your story. Three of the most engaging visual techniques are: Photos of people: Photos of people bring emotion to your story when used appropriately. Audiences (made up of people) are programmed to respond to pictures of other people. Callouts: The absolute go-to for great data visualization, callouts use color, size and shape to instantly draw your audience’s focus to your key points. Infographics, icons and oversized text: These simple visual aids help you “think outside the spreadsheet” to highlight critical data points and illustrate your story. They go well beyond the standard (overused) charts, tables and bulleted text. We all tell stories every day, but to become stronger, more strategic presenters, it’s time to bring stories inside the office. The key is to use a framework that will guide you to understand your audience, craft a big idea and architect a story structure. With this roadmap, anyone can build a narrative that leads with story, not just endless facts and data. As great presenters already know, storytelling isn’t just about an entertaining show for the audience. It is a method that will significantly improve the impact you will have on the executives, customers and partners you face every day. REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM TRAININGINDUSTRY.COM", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Becoming-a-masterful-business-storyteller_Training-INdustry.jpg", "modified": "2023-02-28T09:17:12-05:00" }, { "id": 7712, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/watch-webinar-tell-visual-stories-virtually/", "title": "Webinar: How to Tell Visual Stories Virtually", "h1": "Webinar: How to Tell Visual Stories Virtually", "summary": "  Business storytelling is a powerful way to sell your ideas and spur people to action. But for many of us, telling our story in an online environment can feel clunky and uncomfortable. So how do you craft your content specifically for virtual delivery? We partnered with Cisco WebEx to bring you a one-hour webinar […]", "content": "

 

Business storytelling is a powerful way to sell your ideas and spur people to action. But for many of us, telling our story in an online environment can feel clunky and uncomfortable. So how do you craft your content specifically for virtual delivery?

We partnered with Cisco WebEx to bring you a one-hour webinar that will arm you with strategies and a framework for presenting with confidence and selling your ideas online. Using real-world examples, TPC Co-founder Janine Kurnoff discusses why storytelling is so effective and demonstrates how to adjust your story to drive business forward virtually.

In this virtual storytelling webinar, you’ll learn how to:

Fill out the form to watch the webinar and find out why hundreds of business professionals around the world joined this session.

", "content_plain": "  Business storytelling is a powerful way to sell your ideas and spur people to action. But for many of us, telling our story in an online environment can feel clunky and uncomfortable. So how do you craft your content specifically for virtual delivery? We partnered with Cisco WebEx to bring you a one-hour webinar that will arm you with strategies and a framework for presenting with confidence and selling your ideas online. Using real-world examples, TPC Co-founder Janine Kurnoff discusses why storytelling is so effective and demonstrates how to adjust your story to drive business forward virtually. In this virtual storytelling webinar, you’ll learn how to: Craft a business story using four signposts of classic storytelling Bring your story to life visually to captivate your virtual audience Leverage WebEx tools to ensure audience engagement Fill out the form to watch the webinar and find out why hundreds of business professionals around the world joined this session.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Virtual-Storytelling-Webinar_TPC.png", "modified": "2023-02-28T09:54:35-05:00" }, { "id": 7714, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-gaining-executive-presence/", "title": "The Ultimate Guide to Gaining Executive Presence", "h1": "The Ultimate Guide to Gaining Executive Presence", "summary": "Think about the last time you were “wowed” by someone in business. Was it the way they navigated difficult questions? How they commanded the room (or perhaps even the “virtual room”)? Or was it simply the way they kept the conversation focused? If you’ve ever wondered what gives certain people that je ne sais quoi […]", "content": "

Think about the last time you were “wowed” by someone in business. Was it the way they navigated difficult questions? How they commanded the room (or perhaps even the “virtual room”)? Or was it simply the way they kept the conversation focused?

If you’ve ever wondered what gives certain people that je ne sais quoi we call “executive presence”, this guide is for you.

To those that don’t have it (yet), executive presence may seem like a superpower that some are born with. It’s not. Anybody can learn how to have executive presence. It requires preparation in three crucial ways:

This guide will help you learn key skills for developing executive presence and arm you with strategies to help you naturally “own the room”, whether you’re selling your ideas in person or online. These skills will give you – and your audience – focus and control over your ideas, providing you with the confidence and poise that will highlight your authority on the subject. (Not to mention, it’s a surefire way to significantly boost your career!)

Let’s dig in.

What is executive presence?

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Executive presence is the aura of confidence, authority, and self-assuredness that (typically) separates senior-level people from entry-level individuals. Another way to describe executive presence is gravitas, which comes directly from the Roman language meaning “dignified and serious conduct”.

Today, gravitas is used to describe an authoritative manner that “commands the room” and grabs your audience’s attention. In the office, having gravitas or executive presence is recognized as an important differentiator in realizing your career potential.

What are the qualities of executive presence?

Those with executive presence are confident, well-prepared and can clearly articulate their ideas. This is not the same as being smart or having technical skills. Often people with a ton of knowledge struggle to communicate their ideas tactfully. They may share mounds of data or spew endless facts that, ultimately, aren’t digestible because they don’t keep their audience top of mind. Ironically, sometimes it can be more powerful to share less information, when that information is concise and directly relevant to the topic at hand.

Executive presence can even shine through during virtual meetings. How? Much like a face-to-face environment, online presenters must know their story backwards and forwards, be prepared to create a two-way dialogue with their audience, and know how to be nimble and responsive. These skills are a recipe for letting your virtual presence soar.

Why is executive presence important?

Strong executive presence will bring notice to your ideas, recommendations, proposals, or truly any kind of business communication. It is one of the critical differences between an experienced communicator and an inexperienced one. Executive presence showcases the confidence you feel in yourself and your material, which in turn, builds confidence that others have in you, your ideas, your reputation, and your company. Simply put, executive presence is a career game changer.

Great. So how do I improve my executive presence?

There are four essential ways you can instantly improve your executive presence.

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1. Use a story framework

Much like your favorite book, movie or TV show, business stories have four key components: setting, characters, conflict, and resolution. When you apply a business storytelling framework to your ideas, it helps you choreograph your insights, facts, and data in a way that flows seamlessly and commands the attention of your audience. Why? Because stories are the best way to contextualize information and make it memorable. They offer the presenter and the audience a roadmap of where the narrative is going and where it’s been.

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Following this structure results in greater control over your material, keeping you in the driver’s seat throughout your presentation. Having this guide as a “safety net” also does wonders for your level of confidence which, of course, boosts your executive presence.

2. Have a BIG Idea

One of the key elements of your story framework is a BIG Idea. It’s the ONE most important thing you want your audience to remember. Keep in mind: This is not the name and details of your product, solutions, or recommendations. Your BIG Idea is a simple, concise sentence about WHAT your presentation is about, and includes one to three benefits that are relevant to the audience. It links WHY your audience should care to HOW you plan to implement next steps.

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Some examples of BIG Ideas include:

Why does having a BIG Idea improve executive presence? If you isolate your BIG Idea before approaching your audience, you’re much more likely to present a clear, simple, memorable message that they can act on. The more you cut through the noise (either in your own head or from outside) will give you and your ideas powerful focus. Focus and clarity goes a long way in enhancing your executive presence.

3. For visual presentations, always use active headlines

A potent tool to guide your story is using headlines for every slide you present. Headlines should be similar to any headline you see in a news article: It’s the most important message placed at the top of the slide. It’s an excellent mechanism to guide your story and ensure information is clear at-a-glance.

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As you can see above, the original slide offers a generic heading that doesn’t clearly further the narrative. The updated slide moves the narrative forward with an insightful message at the top. In essence, headlines provide cues, which keep you oriented on a clear path throughout your presentation. Knowing exactly where you’re going gives you assuredness, and this confidence is a key driver of executive presence.

4. Know your audience

One of the best ways to elevate executive presence is to know your audience. As you prepare for any business communication, anticipate questions you might get. Remember: The best presenters facilitate a two-way dialogue—not a monologue! Envision where even the sharpest folks might have trouble making a connection from one of your points to another, prepare to be nimble and be ready to pivot based on where the conversation leads (more on pivoting below).

This is particularly important when facing executives. They are experts at finding holes in logic, spotty research, or pointing out problematic conclusions. If you have thought through potential questions and points of contention, you will be well-prepared to respond.

It’s a good rule of thumb to not only expect to be interrupted throughout a discussion or presentation, but to actually invite interruption. Building in moments to check-in with your audience will ensure you have an open dialogue and allows you to zig and zag based on audience needs. Speaking of zigging and zagging, let’s talk about the pivot…

What is the “pivot” and how does it help my executive presence?

The pivot strategy is a technique that gives you the best chance to address audience needs real-time. How? It starts with making sure you’re armed with supporting data for anything you present, especially if it’s counter-intuitive, unexpected, challenging to current opinions and practices, or expected to result in major change.

\"Pivot\"

A smart strategy is to keep the supporting data in hidden “drill-down” slides which are a simply click away should your audience want to dive deeper. You should always be ready to skip ahead, jump back, or dig in deeper depending on where the audience wants to go. People can boost their executive presence simple by showing they are nimble and quick to respond to their audience.

How can I boost my executive presence in a virtual environment?

The virtual world can leave us feeling blind by removing cues (like body language or normal conversation) to help us gauge our audience. To fill the blind spots, you must find a way to build a connection with your audience, regularly opening up the floor for interaction in a natural— yet controlled—way.

You can build frequent opportunities for interaction directly into your story using interactive placeholder slides. What are interactive placeholders? At the core, they’re presentation slides that “direct virtual traffic.” They visually show your audience what they need to know or do at any given moment. These visual pauses might signal a break for Q&A, a quick poll to check the audience’s understanding, a discussion in chat, a virtual whiteboard brainstorming session, or even breakout rooms for small group exercises. Interactive placeholder slides guarantee valuable feedback opportunities that will help you discover and directly address your audience’s needs.

Another way to boost your virtual presence is to verbally reinforce what your interactive placeholder slides are communicating visually onscreen. Why? Because you can expect some awkward silence when launching a poll, or pausing for Q&A, etc. Your audience needs a moment to think and process what you just asked them to do. Therefore, be ready with pre-scripted language prompts to fill the void.

What is different about the mindset of someone with strong executive presence?

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Generally, people with strong executive presence think big picture and long-term. They always present vision before details. They may frame their ideas in the context of growth, profitability, and competitive advantage. After that, they’re thinking of the company’s key strategic initiatives and the specific measurable goals of their business unit. Think like an executive (even if you aren’t one) by understanding corporate vision, mission and values.

How can I (and my team) gain executive presence quickly?

One of the best ways to learn executive presence is by mastering business storytelling. Once you learn to apply the framework and organize your thoughts into an audience-centric narrative, the easier it gets. The key driver of executive presence — confidence — will increase when you know how to easily flex your story, handle any audience, and motivate them to act.

The same is true for teams. When the entire team is working from a story framework and speaking a common “language”, it offers the group better control and helps avoid awkward transitions. Everyone knows where they are in the story journey at all times. An organized and coordinated team will inherently display impressive executive presence.

Companies like T-Mobile, Nestle and Facebook turn to TPC to enhance their teams’ executive presence. If you’re looking to up-level your team’s executive presence skills, learn more here.

", "content_plain": "Think about the last time you were “wowed” by someone in business. Was it the way they navigated difficult questions? How they commanded the room (or perhaps even the “virtual room”)? Or was it simply the way they kept the conversation focused? If you’ve ever wondered what gives certain people that je ne sais quoi we call “executive presence”, this guide is for you. To those that don’t have it (yet), executive presence may seem like a superpower that some are born with. It’s not. Anybody can learn how to have executive presence. It requires preparation in three crucial ways: Get clear on your main points Use a storytelling framework for navigating these points Most importantly, deeply think about the needs of your audience This guide will help you learn key skills for developing executive presence and arm you with strategies to help you naturally “own the room”, whether you’re selling your ideas in person or online. These skills will give you – and your audience – focus and control over your ideas, providing you with the confidence and poise that will highlight your authority on the subject. (Not to mention, it’s a surefire way to significantly boost your career!) Let’s dig in. What is executive presence? Executive presence is the aura of confidence, authority, and self-assuredness that (typically) separates senior-level people from entry-level individuals. Another way to describe executive presence is gravitas, which comes directly from the Roman language meaning “dignified and serious conduct”. Today, gravitas is used to describe an authoritative manner that “commands the room” and grabs your audience’s attention. In the office, having gravitas or executive presence is recognized as an important differentiator in realizing your career potential. What are the qualities of executive presence? Those with executive presence are confident, well-prepared and can clearly articulate their ideas. This is not the same as being smart or having technical skills. Often people with a ton of knowledge struggle to communicate their ideas tactfully. They may share mounds of data or spew endless facts that, ultimately, aren’t digestible because they don’t keep their audience top of mind. Ironically, sometimes it can be more powerful to share less information, when that information is concise and directly relevant to the topic at hand. Executive presence can even shine through during virtual meetings. How? Much like a face-to-face environment, online presenters must know their story backwards and forwards, be prepared to create a two-way dialogue with their audience, and know how to be nimble and responsive. These skills are a recipe for letting your virtual presence soar. Why is executive presence important? Strong executive presence will bring notice to your ideas, recommendations, proposals, or truly any kind of business communication. It is one of the critical differences between an experienced communicator and an inexperienced one. Executive presence showcases the confidence you feel in yourself and your material, which in turn, builds confidence that others have in you, your ideas, your reputation, and your company. Simply put, executive presence is a career game changer. Great. So how do I improve my executive presence? There are four essential ways you can instantly improve your executive presence. 1. Use a story framework Much like your favorite book, movie or TV show, business stories have four key components: setting, characters, conflict, and resolution. When you apply a business storytelling framework to your ideas, it helps you choreograph your insights, facts, and data in a way that flows seamlessly and commands the attention of your audience. Why? Because stories are the best way to contextualize information and make it memorable. They offer the presenter and the audience a roadmap of where the narrative is going and where it’s been. Following this structure results in greater control over your material, keeping you in the driver’s seat throughout your presentation. Having this guide as a “safety net” also does wonders for your level of confidence which, of course, boosts your executive presence. 2. Have a BIG Idea One of the key elements of your story framework is a BIG Idea. It’s the ONE most important thing you want your audience to remember. Keep in mind: This is not the name and details of your product, solutions, or recommendations. Your BIG Idea is a simple, concise sentence about WHAT your presentation is about, and includes one to three benefits that are relevant to the audience. It links WHY your audience should care to HOW you plan to implement next steps. Some examples of BIG Ideas include: We need to implement the performance tracking dashboard to improve business results Embracing sustainability will help us meet customer demands and protect our leadership position We ought to give our clients a compelling reason to share and retweet by creating content that sticks Why does having a BIG Idea improve executive presence? If you isolate your BIG Idea before approaching your audience, you’re much more likely to present a clear, simple, memorable message that they can act on. The more you cut through the noise (either in your own head or from outside) will give you and your ideas powerful focus. Focus and clarity goes a long way in enhancing your executive presence. 3. For visual presentations, always use active headlines A potent tool to guide your story is using headlines for every slide you present. Headlines should be similar to any headline you see in a news article: It’s the most important message placed at the top of the slide. It’s an excellent mechanism to guide your story and ensure information is clear at-a-glance. As you can see above, the original slide offers a generic heading that doesn’t clearly further the narrative. The updated slide moves the narrative forward with an insightful message at the top. In essence, headlines provide cues, which keep you oriented on a clear path throughout your presentation. Knowing exactly where you’re going gives you assuredness, and this confidence is a key driver of executive presence. 4. Know your audience One of the best ways to elevate executive presence is to know your audience. As you prepare for any business communication, anticipate questions you might get. Remember: The best presenters facilitate a two-way dialogue—not a monologue! Envision where even the sharpest folks might have trouble making a connection from one of your points to another, prepare to be nimble and be ready to pivot based on where the conversation leads (more on pivoting below). This is particularly important when facing executives. They are experts at finding holes in logic, spotty research, or pointing out problematic conclusions. If you have thought through potential questions and points of contention, you will be well-prepared to respond. It’s a good rule of thumb to not only expect to be interrupted throughout a discussion or presentation, but to actually invite interruption. Building in moments to check-in with your audience will ensure you have an open dialogue and allows you to zig and zag based on audience needs. Speaking of zigging and zagging, let’s talk about the pivot… What is the “pivot” and how does it help my executive presence? The pivot strategy is a technique that gives you the best chance to address audience needs real-time. How? It starts with making sure you’re armed with supporting data for anything you present, especially if it’s counter-intuitive, unexpected, challenging to current opinions and practices, or expected to result in major change. A smart strategy is to keep the supporting data in hidden “drill-down” slides which are a simply click away should your audience want to dive deeper. You should always be ready to skip ahead, jump back, or dig in deeper depending on where the audience wants to go. People can boost their executive presence simple by showing they are nimble and quick to respond to their audience. How can I boost my executive presence in a virtual environment? The virtual world can leave us feeling blind by removing cues (like body language or normal conversation) to help us gauge our audience. To fill the blind spots, you must find a way to build a connection with your audience, regularly opening up the floor for interaction in a natural— yet controlled—way. You can build frequent opportunities for interaction directly into your story using interactive placeholder slides. What are interactive placeholders? At the core, they’re presentation slides that “direct virtual traffic.” They visually show your audience what they need to know or do at any given moment. These visual pauses might signal a break for Q&A, a quick poll to check the audience’s understanding, a discussion in chat, a virtual whiteboard brainstorming session, or even breakout rooms for small group exercises. Interactive placeholder slides guarantee valuable feedback opportunities that will help you discover and directly address your audience’s needs. Another way to boost your virtual presence is to verbally reinforce what your interactive placeholder slides are communicating visually onscreen. Why? Because you can expect some awkward silence when launching a poll, or pausing for Q&A, etc. Your audience needs a moment to think and process what you just asked them to do. Therefore, be ready with pre-scripted language prompts to fill the void. What is different about the mindset of someone with strong executive presence? Generally, people with strong executive presence think big picture and long-term. They always present vision before details. They may frame their ideas in the context of growth, profitability, and competitive advantage. After that, they’re thinking of the company’s key strategic initiatives and the specific measurable goals of their business unit. Think like an executive (even if you aren’t one) by understanding corporate vision, mission and values. How can I (and my team) gain executive presence quickly? One of the best ways to learn executive presence is by mastering business storytelling. Once you learn to apply the framework and organize your thoughts into an audience-centric narrative, the easier it gets. The key driver of executive presence — confidence — will increase when you know how to easily flex your story, handle any audience, and motivate them to act. The same is true for teams. When the entire team is working from a story framework and speaking a common “language”, it offers the group better control and helps avoid awkward transitions. Everyone knows where they are in the story journey at all times. An organized and coordinated team will inherently display impressive executive presence. Companies like T-Mobile, Nestle and Facebook turn to TPC to enhance their teams’ executive presence. If you’re looking to up-level your team’s executive presence skills, learn more here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Ultimate-Guide-to-Gaining-Executive-Presence.png", "modified": "2023-03-02T12:05:44-05:00" }, { "id": 7716, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/how-to-make-virtual-sales-meetings-just-as-good-as-face-to-face/", "title": "How to Make Virtual Sales Meetings Just as Good as Face-To-Face", "h1": "How to Make Virtual Sales Meetings Just as Good as Face-To-Face", "summary": "Our new reality: All selling is virtual selling. And even for the smartest, savviest salespeople, it isn’t easy. Sure, your face-to-face sales skills might be incredible—winning contracts, clinching deals, and building valuable relationships—but, pitching in a virtual meeting changes everything. Why? Because “reading the room” is much harder in a virtual environment. Talented salespeople are […]", "content": "

Our new reality: All selling is virtual selling. And even for the smartest, savviest salespeople, it isn’t easy. Sure, your face-to-face sales skills might be incredible—winning contracts, clinching deals, and building valuable relationships—but, pitching in a virtual meeting changes everything. Why? Because “reading the room” is much harder in a virtual environment.

Talented salespeople are “people persons”. They know how to read the body language of prospects and pivot their pitch based on visual cues. If they see puzzled expressions, they slow it down. When they see restless eyes darting around (or down at phones) they speed it up. They can easily sense a prospect’s energy and address it head on.

Buyers are Also Adjusting to a New Reality

Consumers must now place their trust in people they (probably) have never met. They must make purchasing decisions on products they haven’t personally engaged with. And most importantly, they must rely on a virtual meeting or presentation to gather enough information—and hopefully be wowed—to make a decision. So, how can salespeople harness their sales skills and create that same magic online?

Build Trust, Rapport and Relationships by Tailoring Your Story Specifically for Virtual

Simply put, you can’t use the same presentation deck or demo in a virtual meeting that you might have delivered countless times in a conference room. You need to take that compelling product or service story you’ve crafted and make a few critical adjustments.

So what are the magic ingredients for a stellar virtual sales presentation? Storytelling, pre-planned interaction, and presence.

First you must structure a rock-solid narrative. The best salespeople know better than to plunge right into their products, services or features first—no one wants to listen to a 40-minute pitch that focuses on their solutions without addressing the real pains of the buyer! Storytelling applies to any presentation, whether it’s face-to-face or virtual.

Second, you must clearly integrate verbal and visual cues into your presentation to ensure frequent two-way (or group) interaction.

Last (but certainly not least), it’s critical for salespeople to have presence in a virtual environment. Sure, it can seem more difficult to come across as confident, authentic, and trustworthy when you can’t be physically present, but coming prepared with your narrative and visual cues will instantly elevate your presence and set you up for success.

Let’s start by reviewing the fundamental structure of any great story.

Fundamental Storytelling Structure

Stories contain four recognizable elements, or “signposts”: 1) Setting, 2) Characters, 3) Conflict, and 4) Resolution. The first three signposts are where all your juicy sales insights live—they build context and directly answer the question: WHY should your prospect or customer care about this story? The 4th signpost, Resolution, fills in detail (like product or service features). It is the HOW of your story.

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Every great story should also have a BIG Idea. Your BIG Idea is not about you or your product—it’s the boiled-down snapshot of what you want your prospect to remember: the WHAT of your story. After introducing your BIG Idea, weave it throughout the rest of your narrative.

Now Let’s Adjust Your Story for Virtual Meetings

Just like in-person meetings, virtual meetings are a choreographed dance between your content, your presence, and your visuals. Your content is your story—you should know it backwards and forwards. Your presence comes from “owning” the room (yes, even the virtual room), both from a technical standpoint and one where you confidently engage your audience. And finally, your visuals should be clear, simple and always—always—tell your audience: what do you want them to know or do?

Interactive Placeholders Are Critical for a Two-way Dialogue

What sets the average salesperson (or any presenter) apart from the rest? Strong audience engagement. In a virtual environment, it’s even more important to build in frequent opportunities throughout your story or demo for audience interaction. To ensure this happens throughout any virtual meeting, you need highly visual interactive placeholder slides. These slides act as a pause in your narrative, signaling a check-in with your prospect—both verbally and visually—to solicit feedback. It’s a simple trick to guarantee you create a two-way dialogue, not a monologue.

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Interactive placeholder slides are a game-changer because they help you pick up on virtual body language and unveil your audience’s reaction to your ideas. Simply put, these interactions are your lifeline throughout the meeting.

Structuring Your Deck with Prescribed Interaction

Let’s look at an example. The colored slides below show opportunities to intersperse interaction into your content. It’s important to note: these planned interactions are not random, they are strategically placed within your narrative. Always be intentional where you place the interaction and *carefully* consider what type of interactive feature or tool you want to employ. It’s never a one size fits all! For instance, a meeting with only five participants typically doesn’t warrant the need for a poll or breakout room. This small group would benefit more from a pause for Q&A or discussion.

\"\"

Pro tip: Notice how frequently interactive slides appear in the sample above? Ideally, you should plan for interactivity every 3-5 minutes (Yes, this means you’ll have more slides than you might be used to for a face-to-face presentation)! Just remember, everything comes down to anticipating the needs of your audience and your desired outcomes of the meeting. Consider how often you’ll want to check in, the type of information you’re looking for, and what kind of feedback will help you best navigate your story ahead.

Integrating Planned Interaction with Your Story

Now let’s look at interactive placeholders in the context of a real presentation deck that uses good story structure. We’ve likely all sat through sales meetings where the seller starts off by talking about their company history or product details, without understanding the customer’s needs first. This approach is sure to fail whether online or in person!

In this product demo below, you can see how interaction is spliced into the narrative. We start out with a discussion: Maybe you reconfirm the challenges you’ve heard previously or set desired outcomes for the meeting. Next, Setting and Characters establish context and acknowledge the “pain points” the buyer is experiencing. Then… pause… an interaction is inserted. The storyteller does not plunge ahead blindly. Instead, they build in a chat slide to test the waters: Can we all relate to this, am I on track?

\"\"

From there, Conflict is introduced: Here’s what’s at risk of NOT taking action. Then once again, pause… another interaction is built in. In this case, they introduce a visual pointer poll to get a read on the main concerns of their audience and let their audience have a voice. Next, the storyteller rolls out their BIG Idea: the one key message they want their audience to remember. Then comes the Resolution, where the seller showcases their solution and dives into a demo of product features and benefits. Finally, a visual placeholder cues up final questions for discussion to close things out.

As you can see in this example, even if you’ve built a great story, you still need strong visual cues to guide and direct your virtual audience so they know what’s expected of them and how they should interact. What’s more, visual cues help avoid the *awkward* silence that is the (oh-so-unfortunate) hallmark of online meetings. And the best part? Not only do these visual pauses “direct traffic” for your audience, they skyrocket your executive presence by arming you with a roadmap for what’s to come.

Story + Visuals = Your Executive Presence Soars

When you can’t meet prospects face-to-face, you must still find a way to build trust and communicate genuinely. Showing up in a virtual environment with the technical know-how, clever online meeting management skills, and content that wows will instantly build your credibility. Nervous presenters will get a boost of confidence when they have a choreographed roadmap for presenting and engaging with prospects authentically. After all, the more they include their audience in the conversation, the more they take themselves out of the hot seat. Win-win!

A Successful Close is Based on Knowing Your Audience

Great salespeople learn to thrive from the feedback (and sometimes resistance) they get from their customers… whether online or in person. How they respond to this feedback directly impacts whether they can build the critical trust, rapport, and relationships necessary to meet their goals. To establish this connection in a virtual environment, sellers must not attempt to simply replicate their face-to-face meetings. Instead, they must have a coherent, structured story brought to life visually with plenty of pauses for valuable interaction. With this new kind of body language, any salesperson can continue to sell confidently and successfully.

Like what you’ve read? These are just a few of the concepts from our corporate storytelling workshop. To learn more strategies and techniques for selling your ideas in a virtual environment, contact us about team training options.

", "content_plain": "Our new reality: All selling is virtual selling. And even for the smartest, savviest salespeople, it isn’t easy. Sure, your face-to-face sales skills might be incredible—winning contracts, clinching deals, and building valuable relationships—but, pitching in a virtual meeting changes everything. Why? Because “reading the room” is much harder in a virtual environment. Talented salespeople are “people persons”. They know how to read the body language of prospects and pivot their pitch based on visual cues. If they see puzzled expressions, they slow it down. When they see restless eyes darting around (or down at phones) they speed it up. They can easily sense a prospect’s energy and address it head on. Buyers are Also Adjusting to a New Reality Consumers must now place their trust in people they (probably) have never met. They must make purchasing decisions on products they haven’t personally engaged with. And most importantly, they must rely on a virtual meeting or presentation to gather enough information—and hopefully be wowed—to make a decision. So, how can salespeople harness their sales skills and create that same magic online? Build Trust, Rapport and Relationships by Tailoring Your Story Specifically for Virtual Simply put, you can’t use the same presentation deck or demo in a virtual meeting that you might have delivered countless times in a conference room. You need to take that compelling product or service story you’ve crafted and make a few critical adjustments. So what are the magic ingredients for a stellar virtual sales presentation? Storytelling, pre-planned interaction, and presence. First you must structure a rock-solid narrative. The best salespeople know better than to plunge right into their products, services or features first—no one wants to listen to a 40-minute pitch that focuses on their solutions without addressing the real pains of the buyer! Storytelling applies to any presentation, whether it’s face-to-face or virtual. Second, you must clearly integrate verbal and visual cues into your presentation to ensure frequent two-way (or group) interaction. Last (but certainly not least), it’s critical for salespeople to have presence in a virtual environment. Sure, it can seem more difficult to come across as confident, authentic, and trustworthy when you can’t be physically present, but coming prepared with your narrative and visual cues will instantly elevate your presence and set you up for success. Let’s start by reviewing the fundamental structure of any great story. Fundamental Storytelling Structure Stories contain four recognizable elements, or “signposts”: 1) Setting, 2) Characters, 3) Conflict, and 4) Resolution. The first three signposts are where all your juicy sales insights live—they build context and directly answer the question: WHY should your prospect or customer care about this story? The 4th signpost, Resolution, fills in detail (like product or service features). It is the HOW of your story. Every great story should also have a BIG Idea. Your BIG Idea is not about you or your product—it’s the boiled-down snapshot of what you want your prospect to remember: the WHAT of your story. After introducing your BIG Idea, weave it throughout the rest of your narrative. Now Let’s Adjust Your Story for Virtual Meetings Just like in-person meetings, virtual meetings are a choreographed dance between your content, your presence, and your visuals. Your content is your story—you should know it backwards and forwards. Your presence comes from “owning” the room (yes, even the virtual room), both from a technical standpoint and one where you confidently engage your audience. And finally, your visuals should be clear, simple and always—always—tell your audience: what do you want them to know or do? Interactive Placeholders Are Critical for a Two-way Dialogue What sets the average salesperson (or any presenter) apart from the rest? Strong audience engagement. In a virtual environment, it’s even more important to build in frequent opportunities throughout your story or demo for audience interaction. To ensure this happens throughout any virtual meeting, you need highly visual interactive placeholder slides. These slides act as a pause in your narrative, signaling a check-in with your prospect—both verbally and visually—to solicit feedback. It’s a simple trick to guarantee you create a two-way dialogue, not a monologue. Interactive placeholder slides are a game-changer because they help you pick up on virtual body language and unveil your audience’s reaction to your ideas. Simply put, these interactions are your lifeline throughout the meeting. Structuring Your Deck with Prescribed Interaction Let’s look at an example. The colored slides below show opportunities to intersperse interaction into your content. It’s important to note: these planned interactions are not random, they are strategically placed within your narrative. Always be intentional where you place the interaction and *carefully* consider what type of interactive feature or tool you want to employ. It’s never a one size fits all! For instance, a meeting with only five participants typically doesn’t warrant the need for a poll or breakout room. This small group would benefit more from a pause for Q&A or discussion. Pro tip: Notice how frequently interactive slides appear in the sample above? Ideally, you should plan for interactivity every 3-5 minutes (Yes, this means you’ll have more slides than you might be used to for a face-to-face presentation)! Just remember, everything comes down to anticipating the needs of your audience and your desired outcomes of the meeting. Consider how often you’ll want to check in, the type of information you’re looking for, and what kind of feedback will help you best navigate your story ahead. Integrating Planned Interaction with Your Story Now let’s look at interactive placeholders in the context of a real presentation deck that uses good story structure. We’ve likely all sat through sales meetings where the seller starts off by talking about their company history or product details, without understanding the customer’s needs first. This approach is sure to fail whether online or in person! In this product demo below, you can see how interaction is spliced into the narrative. We start out with a discussion: Maybe you reconfirm the challenges you’ve heard previously or set desired outcomes for the meeting. Next, Setting and Characters establish context and acknowledge the “pain points” the buyer is experiencing. Then… pause… an interaction is inserted. The storyteller does not plunge ahead blindly. Instead, they build in a chat slide to test the waters: Can we all relate to this, am I on track? From there, Conflict is introduced: Here’s what’s at risk of NOT taking action. Then once again, pause… another interaction is built in. In this case, they introduce a visual pointer poll to get a read on the main concerns of their audience and let their audience have a voice. Next, the storyteller rolls out their BIG Idea: the one key message they want their audience to remember. Then comes the Resolution, where the seller showcases their solution and dives into a demo of product features and benefits. Finally, a visual placeholder cues up final questions for discussion to close things out. As you can see in this example, even if you’ve built a great story, you still need strong visual cues to guide and direct your virtual audience so they know what’s expected of them and how they should interact. What’s more, visual cues help avoid the *awkward* silence that is the (oh-so-unfortunate) hallmark of online meetings. And the best part? Not only do these visual pauses “direct traffic” for your audience, they skyrocket your executive presence by arming you with a roadmap for what’s to come. Story + Visuals = Your Executive Presence Soars When you can’t meet prospects face-to-face, you must still find a way to build trust and communicate genuinely. Showing up in a virtual environment with the technical know-how, clever online meeting management skills, and content that wows will instantly build your credibility. Nervous presenters will get a boost of confidence when they have a choreographed roadmap for presenting and engaging with prospects authentically. After all, the more they include their audience in the conversation, the more they take themselves out of the hot seat. Win-win! A Successful Close is Based on Knowing Your Audience Great salespeople learn to thrive from the feedback (and sometimes resistance) they get from their customers… whether online or in person. How they respond to this feedback directly impacts whether they can build the critical trust, rapport, and relationships necessary to meet their goals. To establish this connection in a virtual environment, sellers must not attempt to simply replicate their face-to-face meetings. Instead, they must have a coherent, structured story brought to life visually with plenty of pauses for valuable interaction. With this new kind of body language, any salesperson can continue to sell confidently and successfully. Like what you’ve read? These are just a few of the concepts from our corporate storytelling workshop. To learn more strategies and techniques for selling your ideas in a virtual environment, contact us about team training options.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/How-to-Make-Virtual-Sales-Meetings-Just-as-Good-as-Face-To-Face.png", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:34:47-05:00" }, { "id": 7718, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/how-to-ensure-your-virtual-audience-engages-with-you-video/", "title": "How to Ensure Your Virtual Audience Engages with You [VIDEO]", "h1": "How to Ensure Your Virtual Audience Engages with You [VIDEO]", "summary": "Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: We’ve all sat through virtual meetings and presentations that are awkward, unengaging, or just plain boring. The truth is… they shouldn’t be. Online meetings can be rich, interactive experiences as long as the presenter and the audience are in sync about expectations. Watch this short video to […]", "content": "

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: We’ve all sat through virtual meetings and presentations that are awkward, unengaging, or just plain boring. The truth is… they shouldn’t be. Online meetings can be rich, interactive experiences as long as the presenter and the audience are in sync about expectations.

Watch this short video to learn how visual interactive placeholder slides help virtual presenters “direct traffic” and create a two-way dialogue with their audience.

Want to learn more about how to create interaction in your virtual meetings? Check out our workshop on how to conduct engaging virtual meetings and presentations: Successful Online Presentations.

", "content_plain": "Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: We’ve all sat through virtual meetings and presentations that are awkward, unengaging, or just plain boring. The truth is… they shouldn’t be. Online meetings can be rich, interactive experiences as long as the presenter and the audience are in sync about expectations. Watch this short video to learn how visual interactive placeholder slides help virtual presenters “direct traffic” and create a two-way dialogue with their audience. Want to learn more about how to create interaction in your virtual meetings? Check out our workshop on how to conduct engaging virtual meetings and presentations: Successful Online Presentations.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Janine-still-02.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T15:49:58-05:00" }, { "id": 7720, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/beyond-the-basics-5-pro-tips-for-delivering-effective-virtual-meetings-presentations/", "title": "Beyond the Basics: 5 Pro Tips for Delivering Effective Virtual Meetings", "h1": "Beyond the Basics: 5 Pro Tips for Delivering Effective Virtual Meetings", "summary": "There are loads of articles circulating nowadays about how to deliver more engaging online presentations and meetings. Most are filled with generic, barely helpful tips like “Make your presentation entertaining” or “Leave time for questions”. While we appreciate the intent, we know you’re looking for more than basic fundamentals. This article will arm you with […]", "content": "

There are loads of articles circulating nowadays about how to deliver more engaging online presentations and meetings. Most are filled with generic, barely helpful tips like “Make your presentation entertaining” or “Leave time for questions”. While we appreciate the intent, we know you’re looking for more than basic fundamentals.

This article will arm you with five simple, yet practical tips from our virtual presentation veterans to help you not only deliver engaging virtual meetings, but up-level your confidence and executive presence in an online environment.

1. Set Yourself Up for Success

A wise man once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” This couldn’t be more true for virtual meetings! Start by getting yourself situated in a quiet location, away from distractions and by securing the proper equipment.

For high-stakes deliveries, we recommend logging into your virtual meeting on two separate devices (such as two computers or a computer and a tablet). Make sure all devices are plugged into power and have strong internet connection. On your main computer, login to the virtual room as the host using a name such as “Your name – Presenter” so that your audience can clearly distinguish who you are in the sea of participants. On your back-up device, login as a participant using a name such as “Your name – Backup”. Be sure to mute your second device so your audio isn’t picked up by both microphones, causing an echo. An alternative approach is to not join the audio on your second device at all.

Use your main computer to upload or share content, annotate slides, and watch for feedback in chat discussions. In the meantime, your back-up “participant” device will allow you to see what attendees see—avoiding the need to ask, “Can you see this?”. If your main device fails, use your back-up to continue without interruption to the audience.

You’ll also want to make sure you’re connected to the audio using a hands-free headset—avoid using your computer’s microphone and speakers because the audio quality can be poor. It’s also helpful to familiarize yourself with the audio settings in your virtual platform. Not only will this help you present more smoothly, but it also empowers you to be ready to help others with audio issues.

Another important audio tip? Make sure you know how to mute individuals who might not realize their audio line is open, causing background noise. The controls for muting participants individually vs. all participants is different in each platform, so we recommend a quick Google search around “how host can manage audio in [virtual meeting platform name]” to get specific instructions.

2. Know When to Upload Content vs. Share Your Screen

If you’re familiar with virtual meeting platforms, you’ve probably noticed that some allow you to upload content directly into your meeting, while others only allow you to share content from your desktop or a specific application. Let’s explore some best practices for both.

Uploading content is best if you…

Share your screen if you….

3. Present with Confidence by Practicing

Delivering an effective virtual meeting, presentation or training takes practice. Are you comfortable multitasking online? Do you know how to transition seamlessly from your content to an interactive tool like a whiteboard, chat discussion or poll? Have you practiced using the annotation tools (that allow you to write text, highlight, or point onscreen) while speaking? Be sure to practice ahead of time, not during your live event!

If you’re serious about improving your online delivery skills, the best way to do that is to rehearse. At a minimum, rehearse your opening, transitions, and closing slides. To be clear, this does not mean you should read your presenter notes verbatim. Doing so will likely result in sounding unnatural and cause your audience to tune out. Remember: you’re speaking to your audience—not your slides! If you want to view your speaker notes while presenting in Zoom, for example, we recommend arranging your panels across two screens to give you full visibility.

Rehearsal should also include practicing with the interactive tools available in most virtual platforms. Schedule practice sessions by yourself or with a colleague, and don’t be afraid to make mistakes and figure out which tools you’re most comfortable using—and which might be best to avoid!

4. Have a Backup Plan for Diverting Online Disasters

Murphy’s Law says: what can go wrong, will go wrong. Such is true for virtual meetings. As veteran virtual presenters, we’ve seen it all, so make sure you have a backup plan. Divert online disasters by including contingency plans—you will be glad you had the solution at your fingertips!

Let’s look at some examples:

5. Create Vocal Energy Using “Virtual Body Language”

Virtual presenters with monotone voices are practically begging their audience to multi-task. But you don’t have to be a professionally trained radio talk show host to deliver online with energy, poise and confidence. You just need to create “virtual body language”. That’s right—the way you carry yourself in your own physical space actually translates to how your audience perceives you, which can mean a huge different between a captivated audience… and a bored one.

Here are simple techniques to use before, during and after your virtual session that will help improve your speaking voice.

Ready to up-level the way you lead virtual meetings? We can help. Since 2004, our team of virtual presentation experts has helped teams at Apple, Facebook, Cisco and other Fortune 500 companies learn to plan, design and deliver online presentations like pros.

Whether you’re preparing to deliver a formal presentation or need to collaborate with colleagues our Successful Online Presentations workshop will help you create rich, interactive online experiences that are as good as any face-to-face meeting. Contact us to learn more.

", "content_plain": "There are loads of articles circulating nowadays about how to deliver more engaging online presentations and meetings. Most are filled with generic, barely helpful tips like “Make your presentation entertaining” or “Leave time for questions”. While we appreciate the intent, we know you’re looking for more than basic fundamentals. This article will arm you with five simple, yet practical tips from our virtual presentation veterans to help you not only deliver engaging virtual meetings, but up-level your confidence and executive presence in an online environment. 1. Set Yourself Up for Success A wise man once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” This couldn’t be more true for virtual meetings! Start by getting yourself situated in a quiet location, away from distractions and by securing the proper equipment. For high-stakes deliveries, we recommend logging into your virtual meeting on two separate devices (such as two computers or a computer and a tablet). Make sure all devices are plugged into power and have strong internet connection. On your main computer, login to the virtual room as the host using a name such as “Your name – Presenter” so that your audience can clearly distinguish who you are in the sea of participants. On your back-up device, login as a participant using a name such as “Your name – Backup”. Be sure to mute your second device so your audio isn’t picked up by both microphones, causing an echo. An alternative approach is to not join the audio on your second device at all. Use your main computer to upload or share content, annotate slides, and watch for feedback in chat discussions. In the meantime, your back-up “participant” device will allow you to see what attendees see—avoiding the need to ask, “Can you see this?”. If your main device fails, use your back-up to continue without interruption to the audience. You’ll also want to make sure you’re connected to the audio using a hands-free headset—avoid using your computer’s microphone and speakers because the audio quality can be poor. It’s also helpful to familiarize yourself with the audio settings in your virtual platform. Not only will this help you present more smoothly, but it also empowers you to be ready to help others with audio issues. Another important audio tip? Make sure you know how to mute individuals who might not realize their audio line is open, causing background noise. The controls for muting participants individually vs. all participants is different in each platform, so we recommend a quick Google search around “how host can manage audio in [virtual meeting platform name]” to get specific instructions. 2. Know When to Upload Content vs. Share Your Screen If you’re familiar with virtual meeting platforms, you’ve probably noticed that some allow you to upload content directly into your meeting, while others only allow you to share content from your desktop or a specific application. Let’s explore some best practices for both. Uploading content is best if you… Want to easily skip ahead or go back in your presentation using thumbnails Need to mark up your slides by drawing or pointing to something onscreen Often get “pinged” with IMs, meeting reminders, email notifications, etc. and want to keep these private from (or not distract) your audience Share your screen if you…. Want to edit content real-time Need to demo tools or products Don’t have an alternative (ie: your virtual meeting platform doesn’t support uploading content) 3. Present with Confidence by Practicing Delivering an effective virtual meeting, presentation or training takes practice. Are you comfortable multitasking online? Do you know how to transition seamlessly from your content to an interactive tool like a whiteboard, chat discussion or poll? Have you practiced using the annotation tools (that allow you to write text, highlight, or point onscreen) while speaking? Be sure to practice ahead of time, not during your live event! If you’re serious about improving your online delivery skills, the best way to do that is to rehearse. At a minimum, rehearse your opening, transitions, and closing slides. To be clear, this does not mean you should read your presenter notes verbatim. Doing so will likely result in sounding unnatural and cause your audience to tune out. Remember: you’re speaking to your audience—not your slides! If you want to view your speaker notes while presenting in Zoom, for example, we recommend arranging your panels across two screens to give you full visibility. Rehearsal should also include practicing with the interactive tools available in most virtual platforms. Schedule practice sessions by yourself or with a colleague, and don’t be afraid to make mistakes and figure out which tools you’re most comfortable using—and which might be best to avoid! 4. Have a Backup Plan for Diverting Online Disasters Murphy’s Law says: what can go wrong, will go wrong. Such is true for virtual meetings. As veteran virtual presenters, we’ve seen it all, so make sure you have a backup plan. Divert online disasters by including contingency plans—you will be glad you had the solution at your fingertips! Let’s look at some examples: Demo not working as expected? Have backup screenshots ready to share instead. Low poll responses? Make sure the poll is open, verbally remind participants how to vote (and be specific! E.g. “click the submit button to ensure your vote is counted”), and fill the “dead air” (you know… that awkward silence while people are voting) No comments or questions in the chat panel? Use staged questions to get people thinking, model behavior by typing in chat yourself to show participants what you want, or launch an “ice breaker” poll with a related topic to get the conversation started 5. Create Vocal Energy Using “Virtual Body Language” Virtual presenters with monotone voices are practically begging their audience to multi-task. But you don’t have to be a professionally trained radio talk show host to deliver online with energy, poise and confidence. You just need to create “virtual body language”. That’s right—the way you carry yourself in your own physical space actually translates to how your audience perceives you, which can mean a huge different between a captivated audience… and a bored one. Here are simple techniques to use before, during and after your virtual session that will help improve your speaking voice. Before your session: Stretch out your face and mouth and yawn with noise (we know this sounds crazy, but it helps!) During your session: Stand or sit up straight, and gesture like you’re talking to your audience in person After your session: Conduct a self-review (if possible, watch a recording of yourself) and choose one thing at a time to improve Ready to up-level the way you lead virtual meetings? We can help. Since 2004, our team of virtual presentation experts has helped teams at Apple, Facebook, Cisco and other Fortune 500 companies learn to plan, design and deliver online presentations like pros. Whether you’re preparing to deliver a formal presentation or need to collaborate with colleagues our Successful Online Presentations workshop will help you create rich, interactive online experiences that are as good as any face-to-face meeting. Contact us to learn more.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Deliver-effective-online-meetings_1200x627.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T14:23:38-05:00" }, { "id": 7722, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/skills-for-the-virtual-classroom-survey-for-educators/", "title": "Skills for the Virtual Classroom: Survey for Educators", "h1": "Skills for the Virtual Classroom: Survey for Educators", "summary": "Calling all teachers! TPC is helping educators navigate the world of online learning and keep their students engaged as we all manage through this “new normal”. We’ve created a quick survey to understand what skills teachers need most in the virtual environment. In the coming weeks, our team will create free content to help teachers […]", "content": "

Calling all teachers! TPC is helping educators navigate the world of online learning and keep their students engaged as we all manage through this “new normal”. We’ve created a quick survey to understand what skills teachers need most in the virtual environment.

In the coming weeks, our team will create free content to help teachers get comfortable using virtual platforms and create a two-way dialogue with students. If you or someone you know is a teacher (at any grade level) please share this post so we can gather as much feedback as possible. The survey will close Sunday, March 29th at midnight.

", "content_plain": "Calling all teachers! TPC is helping educators navigate the world of online learning and keep their students engaged as we all manage through this “new normal”. We’ve created a quick survey to understand what skills teachers need most in the virtual environment. In the coming weeks, our team will create free content to help teachers get comfortable using virtual platforms and create a two-way dialogue with students. If you or someone you know is a teacher (at any grade level) please share this post so we can gather as much feedback as possible. The survey will close Sunday, March 29th at midnight.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Teacher-Survey-Pic-02.jpg", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:39:57-05:00" }, { "id": 7724, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/the-secret-to-eliciting-feedback-in-a-virtual-environment/", "title": "The Secret to Eliciting Feedback in a Virtual Environment [VIDEO]", "h1": "The Secret to Eliciting Feedback in a Virtual Environment [VIDEO]", "summary": "Picture this: You’re meeting virtually with your customer… or team… or (fill in the blank). You ask for their input on the initiative you’re discussing, but you’re met with bitter silence. You start to panic… Are they waiting for others to chime in first? Did their audio cut out? Are they typing their responses in […]", "content": "

Picture this: You’re meeting virtually with your customer… or team… or (fill in the blank). You ask for their input on the initiative you’re discussing, but you’re met with bitter silence. You start to panic… Are they waiting for others to chime in first? Did their audio cut out? Are they typing their responses in the chat panel instead of saying them aloud?

Virtual meeting pros know one thing for sure: If you want your audience to interact, you must explicitly guide them on what to do. Simply asking for feedback is not enough—you must SHOW them how to engage and make it as straightforward as possible. In other words, you need to explain step by step what is expected and prepare your content beforehand to make it easy for them.

So what’s the secret to doing this efficiently? Watch the video to learn a simple trick to elicit and capture feedback during a virtual meeting:

Does your team need virtual presentation training? Since 2004, our Successful Online Presentations workshop has armed teams at some of the world’s top brands with techniques, tools, tips, and tricks to manage any online meeting, conversation, presentation, or training.

Whether you’re preparing to deliver something formal or just need to collaborate internally, this workshop will help you create rich, interactive online experiences that are as good as a face-to-face meeting. Contact us to learn more.

", "content_plain": "Picture this: You’re meeting virtually with your customer… or team… or (fill in the blank). You ask for their input on the initiative you’re discussing, but you’re met with bitter silence. You start to panic… Are they waiting for others to chime in first? Did their audio cut out? Are they typing their responses in the chat panel instead of saying them aloud? Virtual meeting pros know one thing for sure: If you want your audience to interact, you must explicitly guide them on what to do. Simply asking for feedback is not enough—you must SHOW them how to engage and make it as straightforward as possible. In other words, you need to explain step by step what is expected and prepare your content beforehand to make it easy for them. So what’s the secret to doing this efficiently? Watch the video to learn a simple trick to elicit and capture feedback during a virtual meeting: Does your team need virtual presentation training? Since 2004, our Successful Online Presentations workshop has armed teams at some of the world’s top brands with techniques, tools, tips, and tricks to manage any online meeting, conversation, presentation, or training. Whether you’re preparing to deliver something formal or just need to collaborate internally, this workshop will help you create rich, interactive online experiences that are as good as a face-to-face meeting. Contact us to learn more.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Janine_Still_01.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T08:59:43-05:00" }, { "id": 7726, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/setting-up-dual-screens-in-zoom-even-if-you-only-have-one-monitor/", "title": "Setting Up Dual Screens in Zoom (Even If You Only Have One Monitor!)", "h1": "Setting Up Dual Screens in Zoom (Even If You Only Have One Monitor!)", "summary": "Whether you’re meeting with colleagues, presenting to customers, or facilitating training, Zoom is one of the most popular virtual meeting platforms out there today. So how do you set yourself up for success “behind the scenes” when presenting? We recommend *strategically* arranging your panels across two screens to give you full visibility over your slides, […]", "content": "

Whether you’re meeting with colleagues, presenting to customers, or facilitating training, Zoom is one of the most popular virtual meeting platforms out there today. So how do you set yourself up for success “behind the scenes” when presenting?

We recommend *strategically* arranging your panels across two screens to give you full visibility over your slides, speaker notes, participants, and chat panel. Don’t have dual monitors? No problem. Watch the video to learn a simple workaround for utilizing the devices you have on-hand and maximizing efficiency.

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Want more tips and tricks for delivering effective virtual meetings? Contact us to learn more about our Successful Online Presentations workshop.

", "content_plain": "Whether you’re meeting with colleagues, presenting to customers, or facilitating training, Zoom is one of the most popular virtual meeting platforms out there today. So how do you set yourself up for success “behind the scenes” when presenting? We recommend *strategically* arranging your panels across two screens to give you full visibility over your slides, speaker notes, participants, and chat panel. Don’t have dual monitors? No problem. Watch the video to learn a simple workaround for utilizing the devices you have on-hand and maximizing efficiency. {% video_player “embed_player” overrideable=False, type=’scriptV4′, hide_playlist=True, viral_sharing=False, embed_button=False, width=’650′, height=’366′, player_id=’27474482366′, style=” %} Want more tips and tricks for delivering effective virtual meetings? Contact us to learn more about our Successful Online Presentations workshop.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Zoom-setup.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T16:13:44-05:00" }, { "id": 7728, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/storytelling-and-corporate-academies-a-powerful-duo-for-strengthening-your-workforce/", "title": "The Power Skill That’s Rising to the Top in Business", "h1": "The Power Skill That’s Rising to the Top in Business", "summary": "Corporate learning has never been more relevant. Companies today are cultivating broad, dynamic development environments, rich in skills that aim for long-term career advancement among nearly all roles and levels. What’s more, through these learning environments, there’s a growing emphasis on fostering “human” skills such as communication, emotional intelligence and collaboration. Why is this? Because […]", "content": "

Corporate learning has never been more relevant. Companies today are cultivating broad, dynamic development environments, rich in skills that aim for long-term career advancement among nearly all roles and levels. What’s more, through these learning environments, there’s a growing emphasis on fostering “human” skills such as communication, emotional intelligence and collaboration.

Why is this? Because studies show that human skills are required to drive the change and innovation that power business today. In other words, employees need to learn the right thing at the right time in order to do the right thing at the right time. The latest learning trend at the forefront of this movement are Corporate Academies.

Designed to Mesh with Today’s Workplace

Corporate academies are designed with a firm eye on how the modern workforce learns, collaborates, and applies skills on the job. Unlike traditional corporate learning, academies use a mix of resources including shared content from leaders and experts, learning experiences, personalized microlearning (often available a consumer-style interface), coaching programs, and even capstone projects. Not only have delivery styles changed, but models have shifted away from “one and done”, instead encouraging continuous learning that meshes with the daily workflow.

So, what’s spurred this latest evolution? Three key elements of the workplace: people, company needs, and of course, technology.

Learning is Changing Because People are Changing

Recently, IBM’s Institute for Business Value published fundamental recommendations to guide companies looking to invest in talent development for the future workforce. The study showed an emerging skills gap: Today’s workforce requires more than just technical or basic business skills. Professionals also need “softer” capabilities such as an adaptive mindset, collaboration, and strategic communication skills in order to be successful in their careers.

Learning is Changing because Company Needs are Changing

One of the biggest efforts among enterprises today is digital transformation. On the surface, this may seem purely focused on technology advances, but at the core, it’s really about change. The pace of change today makes change the constant. This means that employees need to have adaptive, growth mindsets to succeed. In other words, modern workforces must be agile, nimble, and poised for change to meet the demands of ever-changing environments.

\"Change

Learning is Changing Because Technology is Changing

Technology changes everything. It enables us to do more, use sophisticated tools for more effective learning, and ultimately, speeds up the development of new skills. Companies must meet the demand of changing demographics – who drive new requirements – with excellent user experiences and a plethora of choices for how companies approach learning. Investing in a modern learning platform will help address the need.

That said, how does storytelling fit into a corporate academy?

One key power skill we’ve seen rise to the top of the capabilities list is storytelling. Many Fortune 500 companies report they need employees to be able to clearly and succinctly communicate technical information, humanize their data, and learn to elevate the conversation. Even the brightest talent may struggle to influence decision-making and drive business forward using current communication methods. The next generation of learning directly addresses this by combining the benefits of a capability academy (such as collaboration, learning in-the flow of work, assessments, etc.) with relevant examples that directly relate to their day-to-day work.

How can you meet the evolving demands of the future workplace?

To start, consider offering employees an academy-style learning environment to develop new knowledge, skills and experiences (a.k.a. “capabilities”). This requires the perfect blend of learning technologies, content development, and partnering with subject matter experts that’ll help people learn a broader range of skills. These skills will serve both their career, and the overall performance of the company.

Want to learn more about how TPC’s blend of onsite, virtual, and on-demand learning solutions can be adapted to fit within your corporate academy? Check out our flexible workshop delivery modalities.

", "content_plain": "Corporate learning has never been more relevant. Companies today are cultivating broad, dynamic development environments, rich in skills that aim for long-term career advancement among nearly all roles and levels. What’s more, through these learning environments, there’s a growing emphasis on fostering “human” skills such as communication, emotional intelligence and collaboration. Why is this? Because studies show that human skills are required to drive the change and innovation that power business today. In other words, employees need to learn the right thing at the right time in order to do the right thing at the right time. The latest learning trend at the forefront of this movement are Corporate Academies. Designed to Mesh with Today’s Workplace Corporate academies are designed with a firm eye on how the modern workforce learns, collaborates, and applies skills on the job. Unlike traditional corporate learning, academies use a mix of resources including shared content from leaders and experts, learning experiences, personalized microlearning (often available a consumer-style interface), coaching programs, and even capstone projects. Not only have delivery styles changed, but models have shifted away from “one and done”, instead encouraging continuous learning that meshes with the daily workflow. So, what’s spurred this latest evolution? Three key elements of the workplace: people, company needs, and of course, technology. Learning is Changing Because People are Changing Recently, IBM’s Institute for Business Value published fundamental recommendations to guide companies looking to invest in talent development for the future workforce. The study showed an emerging skills gap: Today’s workforce requires more than just technical or basic business skills. Professionals also need “softer” capabilities such as an adaptive mindset, collaboration, and strategic communication skills in order to be successful in their careers. Learning is Changing because Company Needs are Changing One of the biggest efforts among enterprises today is digital transformation. On the surface, this may seem purely focused on technology advances, but at the core, it’s really about change. The pace of change today makes change the constant. This means that employees need to have adaptive, growth mindsets to succeed. In other words, modern workforces must be agile, nimble, and poised for change to meet the demands of ever-changing environments. Learning is Changing Because Technology is Changing Technology changes everything. It enables us to do more, use sophisticated tools for more effective learning, and ultimately, speeds up the development of new skills. Companies must meet the demand of changing demographics – who drive new requirements – with excellent user experiences and a plethora of choices for how companies approach learning. Investing in a modern learning platform will help address the need. That said, how does storytelling fit into a corporate academy? One key power skill we’ve seen rise to the top of the capabilities list is storytelling. Many Fortune 500 companies report they need employees to be able to clearly and succinctly communicate technical information, humanize their data, and learn to elevate the conversation. Even the brightest talent may struggle to influence decision-making and drive business forward using current communication methods. The next generation of learning directly addresses this by combining the benefits of a capability academy (such as collaboration, learning in-the flow of work, assessments, etc.) with relevant examples that directly relate to their day-to-day work. How can you meet the evolving demands of the future workplace? To start, consider offering employees an academy-style learning environment to develop new knowledge, skills and experiences (a.k.a. “capabilities”). This requires the perfect blend of learning technologies, content development, and partnering with subject matter experts that’ll help people learn a broader range of skills. These skills will serve both their career, and the overall performance of the company. Want to learn more about how TPC’s blend of onsite, virtual, and on-demand learning solutions can be adapted to fit within your corporate academy? Check out our flexible workshop delivery modalities.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Business-Storytelling-and-Corporate-Academies.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T10:47:21-05:00" }, { "id": 7730, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/how-to-change-your-zoom-background/", "title": "How to Change Your Zoom Background [VIDEO]", "h1": "How to Change Your Zoom Background [VIDEO]", "summary": "So, here we are… working from home. If you’re like many of us, you’re logging in virtually from your kitchen, living room, or your bedroom. You may even have children, pets, roommates or spouses running wild in the background. So how do we maintain our professionalism—and save ourselves from embarrassing on-camera mishaps? In other words, […]", "content": "

So, here we are… working from home. If you’re like many of us, you’re logging in virtually from your kitchen, living room, or your bedroom. You may even have children, pets, roommates or spouses running wild in the background.

So how do we maintain our professionalism—and save ourselves from embarrassing on-camera mishaps? In other words, how do we keep our private world out of the business world?

Watch the video below for some practical (and fun!) tips on how to change your background in Zoom:

A few additional tips…

Want to download photos for your virtual background?

Check out these sites!

Does your team need help with presenting virtually?

Whether you’re preparing to deliver something formal or just need to collaborate internally, this workshop will help you create rich, interactive online experiences that are as good as a face-to-face meeting. Our Successful Online Presentations workshop has armed teams at some of the world’s top brands with techniques, tools, tips, and tricks to manage any online meeting, conversation, presentation, or training. Contact us to learn more.

", "content_plain": "So, here we are… working from home. If you’re like many of us, you’re logging in virtually from your kitchen, living room, or your bedroom. You may even have children, pets, roommates or spouses running wild in the background. So how do we maintain our professionalism—and save ourselves from embarrassing on-camera mishaps? In other words, how do we keep our private world out of the business world? Watch the video below for some practical (and fun!) tips on how to change your background in Zoom: A few additional tips… Try to ensure your lighting is uniform, meaning the light source is directed at your face straight on and there are no shadows. Do not wear clothing that is the same color as your virtual background (Unless you’re practicing a disappearing act!) To achieve the best virtual background effect, use a solid color background—preferably green. Depending on the compatibility of your processor, you may need to use a green screen. Check out the requirements here. Zoom recommends green screens from Webaround or Amazon. Want to download photos for your virtual background? Check out these sites! Canva (free) ZoomMeetingBackgrounds.com (free) Pexels (free) Unsplash (free) ZoomVirtualBackgrounds.com (paid) Does your team need help with presenting virtually? Whether you’re preparing to deliver something formal or just need to collaborate internally, this workshop will help you create rich, interactive online experiences that are as good as a face-to-face meeting. Our Successful Online Presentations workshop has armed teams at some of the world’s top brands with techniques, tools, tips, and tricks to manage any online meeting, conversation, presentation, or training. Contact us to learn more.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Janine-Bay-Bridge-01.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T15:48:03-05:00" }, { "id": 7732, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-conducting-virtual-meetings/", "title": "The Ultimate Guide to Conducting Virtual Meetings", "h1": "The Ultimate Guide to Conducting Virtual Meetings", "summary": "It’s never been more critical to communicate clearly and purposefully in a remote environment than now. But how do we get started? How do we transform in-person interactions—which often come so naturally as part of our social DNA—into the seemingly impersonal setting of an online meeting? First, you must understand that great virtual presentations have […]", "content": "

It’s never been more critical to communicate clearly and purposefully in a remote environment than now. But how do we get started? How do we transform in-person interactions—which often come so naturally as part of our social DNA—into the seemingly impersonal setting of an online meeting?

First, you must understand that great virtual presentations have three main ingredients:

  1. Thoughtful planning
  2. Superior design
  3. Nimble, interactive delivery

This blog will arm you with strategies for mastering all three. We’ll explore key differences between presenting virtually vs. meeting face-to-face, discuss how to leverage interactive tools and techniques that allow you to take full advantage of the online environment, and review some of the common pitfalls to avoid awkward blunders.

If you need to deliver virtual meetings, presentations, teleconferences, or any type of communication in a remote setting—bookmark this page as your ultimate guide.

How can clever planning and design help my virtual presentation?

Pre-meeting planning and design are vital for a successful online meeting or presentation (this cannot be stressed enough!). Without thoughtful planning and design, two things are likely to happen:

  1. Your audience will become bored and unfocused, or
  2. You won’t properly respond to their needs.

During your planning, try to focus on three basic elements:

What are interactive tools and why are they so important in virtual meetings?

No matter your preference, most virtual platforms (Zoom, Webex, RingCentral, BlueJeans, GoToMeeting, Microsoft Teams and many others) are filled with features like whiteboards, polls, chat panels, Q&A, screen sharing and breakout rooms to promote interactivity. These are all proven tools to increase audience participation and provide you, the host, critical feedback. Think of them as your virtual body language.

Interactive tools will help you understand if your ideas are resonating, if your pace is working, and if your audience has input. A meeting, presentation, or training that lacks “check-ins” means the presenter is essentially blind to its audience’s reaction to the material. If your content isn’t resonating, it’s not only an inefficient use of everyone’s time, but it also doesn’t move the conversation in the direction of your desired results (e.g. a decision).

A key tip? Never use these tools randomly. Each tool has a specific purpose in the type of interaction they bring. Understanding which tool will elicit the information you need will help you springboard your story forward and incorporate audience needs real-time.

What interactive features are best for creating a two-way dialogue during a virtual meeting?

There are endless ways that interactive tools can be used in a virtual meeting. Not sure how to actually implement them? Let’s take a look at a few best practices for eliciting feedback for various scenarios:

Here’s how to apply these best practices to a large sales team meeting as an example:

How do I make sure my audience knows how to use interactive tools?

The best way to ensure all meeting participants know how to use the tools is to tell them—and show them. At the start of the meeting, make your introductions and then give explicit instruction on using whatever interactive tools you will be inviting them to use. You can do this through screen captures or live demonstration to make sure it’s clear what they should do.

When you get to the part of the presentation that requires interaction, it doesn’t hurt to remind them again (verbally or visually) where the tool lives and how to use it.

What are the key differences between decks built for virtual delivery vs. face-to-face?

For face-to-face presentations, deliberately chosen visuals are important. But for virtual presentations, they are essential. In other words, slides filled with bulleted text and distracting images will kill your virtual presentation. Simple, intentional visuals will make it easier for your audience to know what to expect, do, and remember from your presentation.

The other key difference is that virtual meetings need planned interactivity to keep your audience engaged. Unlike face-to-face meetings, you must understand how to use features in the virtual environment—from a technical and a strategic standpoint—to check in with your audience at the right times. Without the benefit of body language, smart visuals and thoughtfully planned interactivity will hold their attention.

How can I guarantee the right pace and flow during a virtual presentation?

Your deck should be designed with a guided, logical flow that take into account every moment of the presentation. As you build your deck, ask yourself: When should I check in with my audience to gauge reactions? Is the meeting long enough to require a break for coffee, email, or a quick stretch? Will any important information need to be captured using chat, whiteboard, or by recording the session?

The key thing to remember is that, while it may suffice to make these transitions verbally when meeting face-to-face, your virtual meeting will flow so much smoother if you show your transitions visually.

Building “placeholder slides” into your deck is a great way to guide the flow of your presentation or meeting and give your audience visual cues when transitioning. Whether you call a 5-minute break, need to move into a new topic or solicit feedback from your audience, inserting a *strategically* placed visual pause will cue your audience (and you) as to what’s about to happen. This helps you know precisely when to stop and interact with your audience.

A good rule of thumb? Use a placeholder slide every 3-5 minutes.

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How do you fill in the silence or dead air while you are transitioning?

Whether you’re opening a poll, switching to application sharing, or asking for feedback, sometimes it takes a bit of time… and there’s silence. There is nothing that screams amateur more than long, awkward bouts of silence. Any transition that takes too long will send your audience straight to checking email.

How to solve this? The screen should always tell your audience what is going on. And at the same time, verbally remind the audience what is happening. Seeing and hearing the message at the same time will really help let people feel they know what is happening.

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How can I stay nimble while I’m presenting?

What’s the secret to staying agile and instantly responding to your audience’s needs in a virtual environment? Well, it may depend on the software you’re using. Let’s look at WebEx and Zoom as examples:

For WebEx:

One simple trick to help you stay nimble in WebEx is to use the thumbnail view. This “behind-the-scenes” navigation will let you jump around your deck because it’s only visible to you. If you need to jump back and forth in your deck (to answer audience questions), you should never have to click back through twelve slides to review a concept. (This is clunky and will beckon people to check their phone!) This trick allows you to quickly pivot to any slide without wasting time or showing content that’s not relevant.

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In Zoom:

Though Zoom does not provide the hidden Thumbnail view option, it does give you flexibility if you have dual monitors. Monitor One is set to regular slideshow view (allowing your audience to view the single slide you are sharing), Monitor Two (visible only to you) is set to show you either the next slide on deck and speaker notes (View A below), or thumbnail view of ALL slides (View B below). These two options give you the power to flip through slides in your presentation without your audience knowing.

View A: Monitor Two gives you a preview of your speaker notes and the upcoming slide

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View B: Monitor Two shows thumbnails of your entire deck

\"Thumbnail

Does the size of my audience make a difference in how I design my virtual meeting?

Absolutely—this is a big one. Always plan for the size of your audience. A 150-person global sales team will participate at a much different level than a five-person HR department. You would never hold a meeting with a hundred people and invite everyone to write on a white board all at once (chaos!). In this case, polling would be an interactive tool that may work better.

Bottom line, you must always consider the size of your audience and decide: How do I want to engage? What is the best tool to capture the information I need while not overwhelming my audience—or me?Do I need to get help running the meeting?

Do I need to get help running the meeting?

Possibly. If you are conducting a virtual conference for 50 or more people, consider having a producer. A little math will show you why: if your presentation is an hour, set aside five minutes upfront for late attendees. You’ll also want to include 10 minutes for “housekeeping” (introductions, meeting context and tools instruction) + 40 minutes for presenting content (and audience interaction) + five minutes to wrap up. There’s your hour. But how much has been apportioned for technical problems?

Every minute YOU are solving audio problems, responding to extra chatty folks, opening polls, or transitioning slides is a minute taken away from your focus on presenting. Virtual meeting producers are like your stage crew that takes control of behind-the-scenes mechanics so that you can focus on presenting your content.

A couple extra tips:

How can I make use of the data “left behind” by my virtual audience?

If you’ve solicited a lot of interaction with your audience, there is probably useful data you should take with you. Whether it’s a chat exchange, Q&A session, or poll result, it’s valuable. Questions, comments, and (perhaps most importantly) complaints provide great insight into the power of your message and how well you addressed the feedback.

Virtual meetings are often filled with useful, off-the-cuff, comments which turn into critical nuggets of information. Be sure to save these exchanges to look back on how your message was received by your audience, and the input they provided.

This is particularly true if you are selling to a prospect. Q&As, chats, and polls offer meaningful feedback as to how the market is reacting to your offering. Why not seize this opportunity to perfect your message? Don’t close the meeting before you save this information.

How can my company conduct effective virtual meetings?

Making the shift to a virtual setting is not as simple as logging in and clicking through your presentation. It’s just too easy for meetings to get off track, lose audience focus, or experience technical difficulties. Decks must be strategically designed for the pace of a virtual presentation and presenters must be given tools and training. Learning important social norms, behaviors and tips for online presentations will generate much better results.

Want more tips for telling your story virtually? Our new book, Everyday Business Storytelling, arms you with practical strategies for creating meaningful, interactive experiences online.

", "content_plain": "It’s never been more critical to communicate clearly and purposefully in a remote environment than now. But how do we get started? How do we transform in-person interactions—which often come so naturally as part of our social DNA—into the seemingly impersonal setting of an online meeting? First, you must understand that great virtual presentations have three main ingredients: Thoughtful planning Superior design Nimble, interactive delivery This blog will arm you with strategies for mastering all three. We’ll explore key differences between presenting virtually vs. meeting face-to-face, discuss how to leverage interactive tools and techniques that allow you to take full advantage of the online environment, and review some of the common pitfalls to avoid awkward blunders. If you need to deliver virtual meetings, presentations, teleconferences, or any type of communication in a remote setting—bookmark this page as your ultimate guide. How can clever planning and design help my virtual presentation? Pre-meeting planning and design are vital for a successful online meeting or presentation (this cannot be stressed enough!). Without thoughtful planning and design, two things are likely to happen: Your audience will become bored and unfocused, or You won’t properly respond to their needs. During your planning, try to focus on three basic elements: Audience needs: In order to gain buy-in from your audience to participate, you must give them a reason to care. Why should they be attentive, willing participants on the call (instead of multitasking)? How does their participation directly impact their world? Make sure your content addresses each constituency’s needs and clearly articulates what each person needs to know or do when the meeting wraps. Interactivity: With your audience in mind, you can then begin to incorporate interactive tools that will keep your audience engaged. By soliciting their questions, comments, and feedback you’ll ensure they’re focused and getting their needs addressed in-the-moment. Desired outcomes: While this may seem obvious, it’s absolutely critical to define what success will look like for the meeting. Do you need to get approval to secure additional budget? Make a decision on an upcoming initiative? Identifying—and communicating—the desired outcome upfront will help everyone on the call understand why they are there and what you are collectively working towards. It also helps you plan the type of interactivity you’ll design into your presentation to help achieve the outcome. What are interactive tools and why are they so important in virtual meetings? No matter your preference, most virtual platforms (Zoom, Webex, RingCentral, BlueJeans, GoToMeeting, Microsoft Teams and many others) are filled with features like whiteboards, polls, chat panels, Q&A, screen sharing and breakout rooms to promote interactivity. These are all proven tools to increase audience participation and provide you, the host, critical feedback. Think of them as your virtual body language. Interactive tools will help you understand if your ideas are resonating, if your pace is working, and if your audience has input. A meeting, presentation, or training that lacks “check-ins” means the presenter is essentially blind to its audience’s reaction to the material. If your content isn’t resonating, it’s not only an inefficient use of everyone’s time, but it also doesn’t move the conversation in the direction of your desired results (e.g. a decision). A key tip? Never use these tools randomly. Each tool has a specific purpose in the type of interaction they bring. Understanding which tool will elicit the information you need will help you springboard your story forward and incorporate audience needs real-time. What interactive features are best for creating a two-way dialogue during a virtual meeting? There are endless ways that interactive tools can be used in a virtual meeting. Not sure how to actually implement them? Let’s take a look at a few best practices for eliciting feedback for various scenarios: Need to gather opinions or check understanding? Use a poll. Need to post a reminder or link to resources? Use chat. Need to brainstorm real-time or capture critical ideas? Use a whiteboard. Here’s how to apply these best practices to a large sales team meeting as an example: Run a poll to learn the greatest challenges your salesforce is facing Start a chat to gather insight about your competitor’s R&D programs Create a whiteboard to brainstorm product or service innovation ideas How do I make sure my audience knows how to use interactive tools? The best way to ensure all meeting participants know how to use the tools is to tell them—and show them. At the start of the meeting, make your introductions and then give explicit instruction on using whatever interactive tools you will be inviting them to use. You can do this through screen captures or live demonstration to make sure it’s clear what they should do. When you get to the part of the presentation that requires interaction, it doesn’t hurt to remind them again (verbally or visually) where the tool lives and how to use it. What are the key differences between decks built for virtual delivery vs. face-to-face? For face-to-face presentations, deliberately chosen visuals are important. But for virtual presentations, they are essential. In other words, slides filled with bulleted text and distracting images will kill your virtual presentation. Simple, intentional visuals will make it easier for your audience to know what to expect, do, and remember from your presentation. The other key difference is that virtual meetings need planned interactivity to keep your audience engaged. Unlike face-to-face meetings, you must understand how to use features in the virtual environment—from a technical and a strategic standpoint—to check in with your audience at the right times. Without the benefit of body language, smart visuals and thoughtfully planned interactivity will hold their attention. How can I guarantee the right pace and flow during a virtual presentation? Your deck should be designed with a guided, logical flow that take into account every moment of the presentation. As you build your deck, ask yourself: When should I check in with my audience to gauge reactions? Is the meeting long enough to require a break for coffee, email, or a quick stretch? Will any important information need to be captured using chat, whiteboard, or by recording the session? The key thing to remember is that, while it may suffice to make these transitions verbally when meeting face-to-face, your virtual meeting will flow so much smoother if you show your transitions visually. Building “placeholder slides” into your deck is a great way to guide the flow of your presentation or meeting and give your audience visual cues when transitioning. Whether you call a 5-minute break, need to move into a new topic or solicit feedback from your audience, inserting a *strategically* placed visual pause will cue your audience (and you) as to what’s about to happen. This helps you know precisely when to stop and interact with your audience. A good rule of thumb? Use a placeholder slide every 3-5 minutes. How do you fill in the silence or dead air while you are transitioning? Whether you’re opening a poll, switching to application sharing, or asking for feedback, sometimes it takes a bit of time… and there’s silence. There is nothing that screams amateur more than long, awkward bouts of silence. Any transition that takes too long will send your audience straight to checking email. How to solve this? The screen should always tell your audience what is going on. And at the same time, verbally remind the audience what is happening. Seeing and hearing the message at the same time will really help let people feel they know what is happening. How can I stay nimble while I’m presenting? What’s the secret to staying agile and instantly responding to your audience’s needs in a virtual environment? Well, it may depend on the software you’re using. Let’s look at WebEx and Zoom as examples: For WebEx: One simple trick to help you stay nimble in WebEx is to use the thumbnail view. This “behind-the-scenes” navigation will let you jump around your deck because it’s only visible to you. If you need to jump back and forth in your deck (to answer audience questions), you should never have to click back through twelve slides to review a concept. (This is clunky and will beckon people to check their phone!) This trick allows you to quickly pivot to any slide without wasting time or showing content that’s not relevant. In Zoom: Though Zoom does not provide the hidden Thumbnail view option, it does give you flexibility if you have dual monitors. Monitor One is set to regular slideshow view (allowing your audience to view the single slide you are sharing), Monitor Two (visible only to you) is set to show you either the next slide on deck and speaker notes (View A below), or thumbnail view of ALL slides (View B below). These two options give you the power to flip through slides in your presentation without your audience knowing. View A: Monitor Two gives you a preview of your speaker notes and the upcoming slide View B: Monitor Two shows thumbnails of your entire deck Does the size of my audience make a difference in how I design my virtual meeting? Absolutely—this is a big one. Always plan for the size of your audience. A 150-person global sales team will participate at a much different level than a five-person HR department. You would never hold a meeting with a hundred people and invite everyone to write on a white board all at once (chaos!). In this case, polling would be an interactive tool that may work better. Bottom line, you must always consider the size of your audience and decide: How do I want to engage? What is the best tool to capture the information I need while not overwhelming my audience—or me?Do I need to get help running the meeting? Do I need to get help running the meeting? Possibly. If you are conducting a virtual conference for 50 or more people, consider having a producer. A little math will show you why: if your presentation is an hour, set aside five minutes upfront for late attendees. You’ll also want to include 10 minutes for “housekeeping” (introductions, meeting context and tools instruction) + 40 minutes for presenting content (and audience interaction) + five minutes to wrap up. There’s your hour. But how much has been apportioned for technical problems? Every minute YOU are solving audio problems, responding to extra chatty folks, opening polls, or transitioning slides is a minute taken away from your focus on presenting. Virtual meeting producers are like your stage crew that takes control of behind-the-scenes mechanics so that you can focus on presenting your content. A couple extra tips: Consider using a producer for audiences of 25+ for highly interactive meetings. One alternative is to have a producer on the line for the first ~15 minutes of the meeting—the most common time for people to have issues logging in, hearing audio, or using the tools. Once these issues are settled, the producer may not be necessary for the remainder of the meeting. How can I make use of the data “left behind” by my virtual audience? If you’ve solicited a lot of interaction with your audience, there is probably useful data you should take with you. Whether it’s a chat exchange, Q&A session, or poll result, it’s valuable. Questions, comments, and (perhaps most importantly) complaints provide great insight into the power of your message and how well you addressed the feedback. Virtual meetings are often filled with useful, off-the-cuff, comments which turn into critical nuggets of information. Be sure to save these exchanges to look back on how your message was received by your audience, and the input they provided. This is particularly true if you are selling to a prospect. Q&As, chats, and polls offer meaningful feedback as to how the market is reacting to your offering. Why not seize this opportunity to perfect your message? Don’t close the meeting before you save this information. How can my company conduct effective virtual meetings? Making the shift to a virtual setting is not as simple as logging in and clicking through your presentation. It’s just too easy for meetings to get off track, lose audience focus, or experience technical difficulties. Decks must be strategically designed for the pace of a virtual presentation and presenters must be given tools and training. Learning important social norms, behaviors and tips for online presentations will generate much better results. Want more tips for telling your story virtually? Our new book, Everyday Business Storytelling, arms you with practical strategies for creating meaningful, interactive experiences online.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Ultimate-guide-to-virtual-meetings.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T08:43:13-05:00" }, { "id": 7734, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/3-ways-your-team-can-avoid-slowdown-and-thrive-online/", "title": "3 Ways Your Team Can Avoid Slowdown and Thrive Online", "h1": "3 Ways Your Team Can Avoid Slowdown and Thrive Online", "summary": "Here we are. Our new reality for the next few weeks (or months). A whole bunch of people working from home, some super-comfortable conducting business online, others lacking critical skills to manage virtual meetings. But business must keep moving. Salespeople must hit their targets; managers must lead their teams, and analysts must communicate their data. […]", "content": "

Here we are. Our new reality for the next few weeks (or months). A whole bunch of people working from home, some super-comfortable conducting business online, others lacking critical skills to manage virtual meetings. But business must keep moving. Salespeople must hit their targets; managers must lead their teams, and analysts must communicate their data. How can remote teams – with or without a pandemic – thrive online?

How to be nimble and confident in a virtual environment

Many of us feel awkward, unprepared, and blindsided when we try to share content or even have a conversation online. It’s easy to lose control without the familiar interaction and non-verbal communication we get in live meetings. But there are plenty of well-tested methods and tools that pros swear by that will help you plan, design, and deliver influential meetings and presentations.

Here are three ways to thrive in a virtual environment:

1. Create a Two-Way Dialogue

Web presentations tank for two main reasons: your audience is bored, or you are not responding to their needs sufficiently. Want to know the way to prevent both of those potential pitfalls? Keep people interacting with you and with each other. Web conferencing platforms are loaded with tools to promote interactivity – launch a poll, ask for chat responses, activate a Q&A session, etc. These tools keep the conversation lively and provide critical feedback (for you) during the session.

Am I going too fast? Is this content resonating? Are they still with me?

A warning… you should always use these tools intentionally. It’s much more effective if you know which tool will encourage feedback that will keep you tuned in with your audience. Speaking of being “in tune” with your audience, let’s look at the value of storytelling in the virtual environment.

2. Tell a Story… with a Framework

The purpose of nearly all business communications is to produce a decision, whether big or small. And we know from neuroscience, decisions are based on both logic and emotion. The absolute best way to establish this potent, decision-driving combination is by weaving your facts, data, and ideas into a story. To do this well in a virtual environment, you need a story framework. Using a framework allows you to organize information, develop a BIG Idea and stay nimble, no matter who’s in the audience. It also allows you to be highly responsive to questions. And if you lose your audience at any point, you’ll be able to get quickly back on track.

3. Build Decks Expressly for Virtual Delivery

Visuals are the lifeblood of any great virtual presentation or meeting. Science tells us that the human eye (and brain) process visuals much faster than text. And, in an environment where you don’t have the benefit of body language, visuals can make or break your presentation.

Slide decks for virtual presentations should provide a guided, logical flow that consider every moment of your presentation. Rather than verbally transitioning into new sections of your deck, try adding a “visual pause” that signals to your audience that you’re moving on. It doesn’t need to be overly designed—it can even be as simple as a slide with icons or oversized text. This also provides an opportunity to ask for questions, solicit feedback, or bring your audience back into focus. These strategies can help you deliver a seamless message, whether it’s something formal or quick and casual.

Let’s Up Our Online Behavior

Learning to plan, design and deliver for the virtual environment makes a huge difference to keep audiences attentive, work flowing smoothly, and decisions getting made. Eventually Coronavirus will pass, and the world will get back to its regularly scheduled programming of shaking hands and catching flights. In the meantime, there’s no need to halt skills training. Instead, why not use this as an opportunity for online learning? You may end up forging a new path of interactivity within your organization, long after this bug is gone.

For more information about how we can help your team up-level their skills online, learn more about our Successful Online Presentations workshop or our Corporate Storytelling Workshop (delivered virtually and on-demand digitally).

", "content_plain": "Here we are. Our new reality for the next few weeks (or months). A whole bunch of people working from home, some super-comfortable conducting business online, others lacking critical skills to manage virtual meetings. But business must keep moving. Salespeople must hit their targets; managers must lead their teams, and analysts must communicate their data. How can remote teams – with or without a pandemic – thrive online? How to be nimble and confident in a virtual environment Many of us feel awkward, unprepared, and blindsided when we try to share content or even have a conversation online. It’s easy to lose control without the familiar interaction and non-verbal communication we get in live meetings. But there are plenty of well-tested methods and tools that pros swear by that will help you plan, design, and deliver influential meetings and presentations. Here are three ways to thrive in a virtual environment: 1. Create a Two-Way Dialogue Web presentations tank for two main reasons: your audience is bored, or you are not responding to their needs sufficiently. Want to know the way to prevent both of those potential pitfalls? Keep people interacting with you and with each other. Web conferencing platforms are loaded with tools to promote interactivity – launch a poll, ask for chat responses, activate a Q&A session, etc. These tools keep the conversation lively and provide critical feedback (for you) during the session. Am I going too fast? Is this content resonating? Are they still with me? A warning… you should always use these tools intentionally. It’s much more effective if you know which tool will encourage feedback that will keep you tuned in with your audience. Speaking of being “in tune” with your audience, let’s look at the value of storytelling in the virtual environment. 2. Tell a Story… with a Framework The purpose of nearly all business communications is to produce a decision, whether big or small. And we know from neuroscience, decisions are based on both logic and emotion. The absolute best way to establish this potent, decision-driving combination is by weaving your facts, data, and ideas into a story. To do this well in a virtual environment, you need a story framework. Using a framework allows you to organize information, develop a BIG Idea and stay nimble, no matter who’s in the audience. It also allows you to be highly responsive to questions. And if you lose your audience at any point, you’ll be able to get quickly back on track. 3. Build Decks Expressly for Virtual Delivery Visuals are the lifeblood of any great virtual presentation or meeting. Science tells us that the human eye (and brain) process visuals much faster than text. And, in an environment where you don’t have the benefit of body language, visuals can make or break your presentation. Slide decks for virtual presentations should provide a guided, logical flow that consider every moment of your presentation. Rather than verbally transitioning into new sections of your deck, try adding a “visual pause” that signals to your audience that you’re moving on. It doesn’t need to be overly designed—it can even be as simple as a slide with icons or oversized text. This also provides an opportunity to ask for questions, solicit feedback, or bring your audience back into focus. These strategies can help you deliver a seamless message, whether it’s something formal or quick and casual. Let’s Up Our Online Behavior Learning to plan, design and deliver for the virtual environment makes a huge difference to keep audiences attentive, work flowing smoothly, and decisions getting made. Eventually Coronavirus will pass, and the world will get back to its regularly scheduled programming of shaking hands and catching flights. In the meantime, there’s no need to halt skills training. Instead, why not use this as an opportunity for online learning? You may end up forging a new path of interactivity within your organization, long after this bug is gone. For more information about how we can help your team up-level their skills online, learn more about our Successful Online Presentations workshop or our Corporate Storytelling Workshop (delivered virtually and on-demand digitally).", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Coronavirus_Virtual-Conference.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T12:54:37-05:00" }, { "id": 7736, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/join-tpc-for-business-storytelling-at-training-magazine-annual-conference/", "title": "Join TPC for Business Storytelling at Training Conference 2020", "h1": "Join TPC for Business Storytelling at Training Conference 2020", "summary": "Want to learn business storytelling fundamentals in an hour? Join us at Training magazine’s annual conference on February 26th at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort. This session gets hands-on with practical, flexible storytelling fundamentals, fit for diverse audiences we face every day. You’ll explore how to flex and adapt story structure to specific audience needs—particularly an […]", "content": "

Want to learn business storytelling fundamentals in an hour? Join us at Training magazine’s annual conference on February 26th at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort.

This session gets hands-on with practical, flexible storytelling fundamentals, fit for diverse audiences we face every day. You’ll explore how to flex and adapt story structure to specific audience needs—particularly an audience filled with multiple constituencies—and examine three common audience scenarios that can impact how stories are delivered.

Want in? BUY TICKETS HERE!

", "content_plain": "Want to learn business storytelling fundamentals in an hour? Join us at Training magazine’s annual conference on February 26th at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort. This session gets hands-on with practical, flexible storytelling fundamentals, fit for diverse audiences we face every day. You’ll explore how to flex and adapt story structure to specific audience needs—particularly an audience filled with multiple constituencies—and examine three common audience scenarios that can impact how stories are delivered. Want in? BUY TICKETS HERE!", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Training-mag-conference_Social-graphic_V01.png", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:40:18-05:00" }, { "id": 7738, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tpc-contributes-to-training-industry-drowning-in-data-these-3-simple-visual-tricks-will-rescue-you/", "title": "TPC Contributes to Training Industry: Drowning in Data? These 3 Simple Visual Tricks Will Rescue You", "h1": "TPC Contributes to Training Industry: Drowning in Data? These 3 Simple Visual Tricks Will Rescue You", "summary": "Picture this: Your team is prepping for a presentation to win a big deal … or have a budget approved … or (fill in the blank). It should be wildly successful, since your team is made up of smart, talented superstars who bring loads of juicy data to the mix. What could possibly go wrong? […]", "content": "

Picture this: Your team is prepping for a presentation to win a big deal … or have a budget approved … or (fill in the blank). It should be wildly successful, since your team is made up of smart, talented superstars who bring loads of juicy data to the mix. What could possibly go wrong? A lot.

The presentation is jammed with text, bullets, charts and tables. When decision-makers should be wowed by all the valuable information flashed in front of them, they’re wrinkling up their faces in confusion and impatience. They miss the key message. The presentation lands with a thud.

For a presentation to be useful (i.e., to help an audience make a decision), it needs a succinct narrative supported by relevant data and purposeful visuals. There should be no extraneous information or visuals for the sake of visuals. In other words, you should ferociously edit the presentation.

Unsure where to start? Here are three simple visual tricks that will make your insights clear at just a glance.

1. Minimize the Clutter

Flashing slides in front of busy, tired or stressed executives requires you to think about where their eyes will land. One thing to keep in mind: the less clutter, the better. Do you need to include every increment in your axis and every single data point? Probably not. Perhaps measurements on a single axis could convey the message. And, if it is necessary to label every value in a chart, perhaps a table would be a more effective visual display.

\"\"

\"Minimize

This chart uses annual averages to reduce the number of data points and simplify the x-axis. Remember: Always keep your data clear, concise and easy to interpret.

Another way to minimize slide clutter is to incorporate the legend into the chart. Including a legend as a separate element not only reduces the size of the chart, making it hard for the audience to read, but requires the viewer’s eyes to dance between the chart and legend to understand the data. Try using space inside your chart instead, like this example:

\"Incorporate

\"Incorporate

Tables and charts are often heavy on gridlines as well. Ask yourself whether you can subdue your gridlines (e.g., gray, not black, lines) or eliminate them altogether. Consider whether your chart actually needs gridlines to orient the data points or if the message is clear without them.

2. Craft Headlines That Tell Your Story

A powerful data storytelling device is to use headlines at the top of every slide. Think of each slide as a news story. Every news story has a title that conveys the single most important idea in the story. Put that title — the headline of the slide’s “news” — at the top.

This headline is probably the first (maybe the only) thing the audience reads. ­­­­­­A vague headline like “Q4 Update” or “Summary” provides no meaningful information. Which of these slides tells the audience more?

 

\"Headlines_After-2\"

The first headline doesn’t say much, leaving the audience to decode the data for themselves. The second headline highlights the main insight, making it easy to scan and interpret.

3. Use Visual Callouts to Draw Attention to Key Data

Callouts are an easy way to create a focal point for the key metric on your slide. They draw viewers’ attention using shapes, color and size. Callouts are particularly useful in visually “gesturing” to your key data point, particularly in conjunction with the slide headline.

Notice below how the first chart lacks a true focal point and a strong headline. The second, on the other hand, uses a blue arrow to call out the launch date and a matching blue circle to highlight the increase in revenue.

Two additional tips on using callouts: The callout should support the headline of the slide and should focus attention on one key message. A good rule of thumb is to never use more than three callouts per chart.

\"Callouts_Before\"

\"Callouts_After\"

Keep the Visuals That Support Your Narrative, and Lose the Ones that Don’t

We must fight the urge to overload our audiences with rows of numbers, endless charts and tons of text. If we do, we will fail to influence those busy executives, customers or colleagues. Instead, it’s important to write clear headlines that advance our story and only include data that directly supports that narrative. Finally, using simple, uncluttered visuals will punctuate our message and give our ideas the opportunity to inform and influence decisions.

REPUBLISHED WITH PERMISSION FROM TRAINING INDUSTRY.COM

", "content_plain": "Picture this: Your team is prepping for a presentation to win a big deal … or have a budget approved … or (fill in the blank). It should be wildly successful, since your team is made up of smart, talented superstars who bring loads of juicy data to the mix. What could possibly go wrong? A lot. The presentation is jammed with text, bullets, charts and tables. When decision-makers should be wowed by all the valuable information flashed in front of them, they’re wrinkling up their faces in confusion and impatience. They miss the key message. The presentation lands with a thud. For a presentation to be useful (i.e., to help an audience make a decision), it needs a succinct narrative supported by relevant data and purposeful visuals. There should be no extraneous information or visuals for the sake of visuals. In other words, you should ferociously edit the presentation. Unsure where to start? Here are three simple visual tricks that will make your insights clear at just a glance. 1. Minimize the Clutter Flashing slides in front of busy, tired or stressed executives requires you to think about where their eyes will land. One thing to keep in mind: the less clutter, the better. Do you need to include every increment in your axis and every single data point? Probably not. Perhaps measurements on a single axis could convey the message. And, if it is necessary to label every value in a chart, perhaps a table would be a more effective visual display. This chart uses annual averages to reduce the number of data points and simplify the x-axis. Remember: Always keep your data clear, concise and easy to interpret. Another way to minimize slide clutter is to incorporate the legend into the chart. Including a legend as a separate element not only reduces the size of the chart, making it hard for the audience to read, but requires the viewer’s eyes to dance between the chart and legend to understand the data. Try using space inside your chart instead, like this example: Tables and charts are often heavy on gridlines as well. Ask yourself whether you can subdue your gridlines (e.g., gray, not black, lines) or eliminate them altogether. Consider whether your chart actually needs gridlines to orient the data points or if the message is clear without them. 2. Craft Headlines That Tell Your Story A powerful data storytelling device is to use headlines at the top of every slide. Think of each slide as a news story. Every news story has a title that conveys the single most important idea in the story. Put that title — the headline of the slide’s “news” — at the top. This headline is probably the first (maybe the only) thing the audience reads. ­­­­­­A vague headline like “Q4 Update” or “Summary” provides no meaningful information. Which of these slides tells the audience more?   The first headline doesn’t say much, leaving the audience to decode the data for themselves. The second headline highlights the main insight, making it easy to scan and interpret. 3. Use Visual Callouts to Draw Attention to Key Data Callouts are an easy way to create a focal point for the key metric on your slide. They draw viewers’ attention using shapes, color and size. Callouts are particularly useful in visually “gesturing” to your key data point, particularly in conjunction with the slide headline. Notice below how the first chart lacks a true focal point and a strong headline. The second, on the other hand, uses a blue arrow to call out the launch date and a matching blue circle to highlight the increase in revenue. Two additional tips on using callouts: The callout should support the headline of the slide and should focus attention on one key message. A good rule of thumb is to never use more than three callouts per chart. Keep the Visuals That Support Your Narrative, and Lose the Ones that Don’t We must fight the urge to overload our audiences with rows of numbers, endless charts and tons of text. If we do, we will fail to influence those busy executives, customers or colleagues. Instead, it’s important to write clear headlines that advance our story and only include data that directly supports that narrative. Finally, using simple, uncluttered visuals will punctuate our message and give our ideas the opportunity to inform and influence decisions. REPUBLISHED WITH PERMISSION FROM TRAINING INDUSTRY.COM", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/TI.com_Data-heavy_Main-Image.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-01T10:40:23-05:00" }, { "id": 7740, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/3-storytelling-tips-your-team-needs-to-know-in-2020/", "title": "3 Storytelling Tips Your Team Needs to Know in 2020", "h1": "3 Storytelling Tips Your Team Needs to Know in 2020", "summary": "How will teams elevate their ideas and drive business forward in 2020? Well, much like in years past, they’ll gather information, build a strategy, develop recommendations, and try to sell their ideas to decision-makers. But as we head into 2020, storytelling is becoming more and more critical for every new proposal, update, or big pitch. […]", "content": "

How will teams elevate their ideas and drive business forward in 2020? Well, much like in years past, they’ll gather information, build a strategy, develop recommendations, and try to sell their ideas to decision-makers.

But as we head into 2020, storytelling is becoming more and more critical for every new proposal, update, or big pitch. It’s never been more vital for teams to quickly pull together one high-stakes presentation after another.

Business storytelling is the way to do it.

But nailing presentations isn’t just about employing engaged, talented people and whipping up a few pretty slides. After all, ten smart people may have ten smart—yet differing—opinions about how the story should look (and when everyone starts pulling in materials from all different sources, things get messy…). The best way to satisfy the will and talent of a fierce team facing a time crunch is to use a story framework—and a common language—that teams can leverage quickly.

A Story Framework Guides the Team from Start to Finish

First, let’s make one thing clear: story frameworks don’t preclude people from pulling slides in from outside sources. On the contrary, frameworks enable the entire team to see precisely where a contributed slide or idea might (or might not) fit in to the narrative. A story framework makes building a story as a team easy and quick. It’s the ultimate roadmap.

Here are three storytelling tips your team NEEDS to know in 2020:

1. Think First, Create Second

When team presentations kick off, what’s the first thing everyone does? Spring into action and “borrow” slides from old decks, right? They end up with the worst manifestations of team presentations: the “Frankendeck”. While each slide might look decent on its own, together they lack a cohesive storyline. What’s worse is that getting Frankendecks to tell a clear, succinct story often requires many more rounds of edits than when starting with the story structure. So, first things first: before any slide is built or adapted, the team must agree on the narrative. Visuals emerge from there. In other words: think first, create second.

Now, onto the story. Stories will contain four recognizable elements, or “signposts”: characters, setting, conflict, and resolution. The first three (characters, setting, and conflict) signposts should directly answer the question: why should anyone care about this story? The final signpost, resolution, will detail the HOW of the story.

\"4

2. Decide (as a Team) on Your Key Message—Your BIG Idea

Every great story contains a BIG Idea. It’s absolutely critical for the team to agree on what that is. Why? Because the BIG Idea boils down the ONE critical message your audience must remember. It clearly illuminates WHAT the story is fundamentally about and should be woven throughout the entire narrative.

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With this in place, when team members build their respective pieces of the presentation, this single message—like a beacon—guides all of the other content. Every single fact, data point, or idea must adhere to the BIG Idea. The BIG Idea helps everyone work towards the same goal.

3. Active Headlines Tell the Story for You

With the BIG Idea in place—guiding the rest of the story—another powerful tactic to push the narrative forward are active headlines. How do active headlines drive that story forward? They put the most important piece of information right at the top of the slide. Active slide headlines blare the key insight of the slide to offer the audience the most important piece of information instantly. Notice the difference in the example below between the vague header (“before”) and the active headline (“after”).

\"Headlines_before-2\"

\"Headlines_after_border\"

Maybe it’s a new discovery from the data, maybe it’s a recommendation. Whatever it is, active headlines always pull out the most vital piece of information and bring them to attention.

Active headlines also make it easy to deliver a presentation if team members are not there or, if the deck is being emailed. With active headlines, the story will tell itself.

Get Ready for a Smooth “Game Day” Team Performance

Even with tons of preparation, what actually happens when you present can vary widely. When we’re coordinating a full team, the chance for mishaps can increase. Imagine that inquisitive, impatient executive in the audience who asks the team to jump back or forward in the deck. Having a story framework that every team member inherently understands (and can follow) is hugely helpful. At any point in the presentation, each team member knows exactly where they—and the rest of their team—are in the story.

Having this context is indispensable when multiple presenters are switching off with one another. Nobody will ever lose their place or freeze up again.

Build a Culture of Storytellers at Your Company

Business storytelling will pervade in 2020 and the more it is practiced, the deeper it will be entrenched in organizational culture. Teams that span departments, functions, or regions will have an easier time collaborating on presentations if everyone speaks the language of storytelling. Slides will fit together in an obvious way, messaging will be straightforward, and visuals will be consistent. Get ready for the new decade with the vital language of business storytelling. Happy New Year!

To learn more about team storytelling, check out our 3x award-winning business storytelling workshop or call us at 1-888-991-0208.

", "content_plain": "How will teams elevate their ideas and drive business forward in 2020? Well, much like in years past, they’ll gather information, build a strategy, develop recommendations, and try to sell their ideas to decision-makers. But as we head into 2020, storytelling is becoming more and more critical for every new proposal, update, or big pitch. It’s never been more vital for teams to quickly pull together one high-stakes presentation after another. Business storytelling is the way to do it. But nailing presentations isn’t just about employing engaged, talented people and whipping up a few pretty slides. After all, ten smart people may have ten smart—yet differing—opinions about how the story should look (and when everyone starts pulling in materials from all different sources, things get messy…). The best way to satisfy the will and talent of a fierce team facing a time crunch is to use a story framework—and a common language—that teams can leverage quickly. A Story Framework Guides the Team from Start to Finish First, let’s make one thing clear: story frameworks don’t preclude people from pulling slides in from outside sources. On the contrary, frameworks enable the entire team to see precisely where a contributed slide or idea might (or might not) fit in to the narrative. A story framework makes building a story as a team easy and quick. It’s the ultimate roadmap. Here are three storytelling tips your team NEEDS to know in 2020: 1. Think First, Create Second When team presentations kick off, what’s the first thing everyone does? Spring into action and “borrow” slides from old decks, right? They end up with the worst manifestations of team presentations: the “Frankendeck”. While each slide might look decent on its own, together they lack a cohesive storyline. What’s worse is that getting Frankendecks to tell a clear, succinct story often requires many more rounds of edits than when starting with the story structure. So, first things first: before any slide is built or adapted, the team must agree on the narrative. Visuals emerge from there. In other words: think first, create second. Now, onto the story. Stories will contain four recognizable elements, or “signposts”: characters, setting, conflict, and resolution. The first three (characters, setting, and conflict) signposts should directly answer the question: why should anyone care about this story? The final signpost, resolution, will detail the HOW of the story. 2. Decide (as a Team) on Your Key Message—Your BIG Idea Every great story contains a BIG Idea. It’s absolutely critical for the team to agree on what that is. Why? Because the BIG Idea boils down the ONE critical message your audience must remember. It clearly illuminates WHAT the story is fundamentally about and should be woven throughout the entire narrative. {% video_player “embed_player” overrideable=False, type=’scriptV4′, hide_playlist=True, viral_sharing=False, embed_button=False, autoplay=True, hidden_controls=True, loop=True, muted=False, full_width=False, width=’800′, height=’450′, player_id=’24417526360′, style=” %}   With this in place, when team members build their respective pieces of the presentation, this single message—like a beacon—guides all of the other content. Every single fact, data point, or idea must adhere to the BIG Idea. The BIG Idea helps everyone work towards the same goal. 3. Active Headlines Tell the Story for You With the BIG Idea in place—guiding the rest of the story—another powerful tactic to push the narrative forward are active headlines. How do active headlines drive that story forward? They put the most important piece of information right at the top of the slide. Active slide headlines blare the key insight of the slide to offer the audience the most important piece of information instantly. Notice the difference in the example below between the vague header (“before”) and the active headline (“after”). Maybe it’s a new discovery from the data, maybe it’s a recommendation. Whatever it is, active headlines always pull out the most vital piece of information and bring them to attention. Active headlines also make it easy to deliver a presentation if team members are not there or, if the deck is being emailed. With active headlines, the story will tell itself. Get Ready for a Smooth “Game Day” Team Performance Even with tons of preparation, what actually happens when you present can vary widely. When we’re coordinating a full team, the chance for mishaps can increase. Imagine that inquisitive, impatient executive in the audience who asks the team to jump back or forward in the deck. Having a story framework that every team member inherently understands (and can follow) is hugely helpful. At any point in the presentation, each team member knows exactly where they—and the rest of their team—are in the story. Having this context is indispensable when multiple presenters are switching off with one another. Nobody will ever lose their place or freeze up again. Build a Culture of Storytellers at Your Company Business storytelling will pervade in 2020 and the more it is practiced, the deeper it will be entrenched in organizational culture. Teams that span departments, functions, or regions will have an easier time collaborating on presentations if everyone speaks the language of storytelling. Slides will fit together in an obvious way, messaging will be straightforward, and visuals will be consistent. Get ready for the new decade with the vital language of business storytelling. Happy New Year! To learn more about team storytelling, check out our 3x award-winning business storytelling workshop or call us at 1-888-991-0208.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Building-Presentations-as-a-team.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T11:53:13-05:00" }, { "id": 11359, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/storytelling-is-a-team-sport-why-communication-excellence-requires-organization-wide-alignment/", "title": "Storytelling is a Team Sport: Why Communication Excellence Requires Organization-Wide Alignment", "h1": "Storytelling is a Team Sport: Why Communication Excellence Requires Organization-Wide Alignment", "summary": "", "content": "

Effective business communication rarely happens in isolation. The process of developing, refining, and sharing ideas involves collaboration across departments, input from various stakeholders, and alignment around common goals. At the heart of great communication lies storytelling—the art of organizing ideas and data into compelling narratives that drive understanding and action.

When organizations recognize that storytelling is a choreographed dance requiring cross-functional coordination, they unlock a powerful truth: great communication isn’t just an individual competency but a collective capability that requires everyone speaking the same language.

The choreography behind presenting ideas

Presenting ideas has become increasingly complex. What appears to be a straightforward communication task—sharing an idea, recommendation, or update—actually involves multiple layers of coordination.

After all, most business presentations aren’t solo performances. They’re collaborative efforts that pull together insights from various departments, require input from different stakeholders, and must serve diverse audiences with different priorities and varying levels of expertise. A single presentation might need to satisfy the detailed requirements of technical teams while also providing the high-level strategic overview that executives need for decision-making.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

The challenge intensifies when organizations operate across different functions, regions, or business units. Each group brings its own communication style, terminology, and expectations. What resonates with one audience may completely miss the mark with another. Ultimately, when everyone isn’t operating from the same communications playbook, even the best ideas can get lost in translation, leading to confusion, delayed decisions, and missed opportunities. 

\"\"Innovation buried by poor communication 

Despite having talented people with excellent technical skills and innovative ideas, many organizations struggle with effective communication. Good ideas often never see the light of day—not because they lack merit, but because they aren’t communicated clearly. 

Subject matter experts struggle to articulate the value of their innovations to stakeholders, not because they lack information or expertise, but because they can’t translate their knowledge into digestible narratives. Their presentations are often data-heavy but insight-light, overwhelming audiences with data dumps rather than clear business impact. The result? Delayed product launches, missed market opportunities, and promising R&D investments that never receive proper funding—all because decision-making slows to a crawl when messages don’t land. 

\"\"The true cost of communication failures 

The consequences of ineffective communication extend far beyond just wasted meeting time. When messages don’t land effectively, organizations experience: 

These breakdowns reveal a fundamental truth: organizations need to invest in communication training to prevent these costly impacts from compounding across the business. 

Why upskilling select teams isn’t enough 

Many organizations recognize these challenges and focus on improving communication for specific teams or departments—typically investing in training for top talent, high potentials, or senior leaders. However, this approach often falls short. It overlooks the majority of employees who may not present in meetings, but still need to know how to serve up critical insights and collaborate effectively. A team’s ability to communicate effectively is only as strong as the communication skills of the cross-functional partners they rely on to collaborate.  

But when learning is limited to a select few, it creates a culture of “haves and have-nots” that compounds these challenges: 

\"\"No common approach to communicating: When different departments use varying frameworks for organizing and presenting information, collaboration becomes inefficient. Teams spend excessive time translating between different approaches rather than focusing on the actual work.  

No alignment on how to show up: Teams lack consistency in their professional presence and communication standards. This misalignment creates friction in cross-functional meetings where different communication styles clash, leaving stakeholders confused about priorities and approaches. 

Inconsistent coaching and development: Without a common method, managers struggle to provide consistent guidance on communication skills. Employees may receive conflicting feedback depending on who’s mentoring them, leaving them unclear on what constitutes effective communication and creating uneven skill development across the organization. 

Hidden skill gaps: Organizations often don’t realize they have communication problems until critical moments—like failed client presentations or missed funding opportunities. By then, the damage is done and teams are playing catch-up rather than preventing problems. 

Resource inefficiencies: Companies end up bringing in multiple training providers or approaches to serve different audiences, cobbling together resources without a unified strategy. This prevents economies of scale and creates confusion about standards and expectations. 

The competitive advantage of aligned communication 

When everyone in your organization is given the opportunity to uplevel their communication skills using a shared methodology, the business impact is substantial and measurable. The benefits show up in these key areas: 

\"\"Faster decision-making with less churn and fewer cycles emerges as teams spend less time in meetings and revision cycles because presentations hit the mark the first time. Decision-making accelerates as stakeholders receive actionable insights rather than overwhelming data presentations. Strategic initiatives cascade faster across departments when everyone can articulate the vision clearly. 

Innovation and insights are recognized when teams can translate complex concepts into compelling business value. Breakthrough ideas that previously struggled for support now receive executive backing because teams can clearly communicate their potential impact. Organizations unlock their full innovation potential as great ideas finally get the recognition and resources they deserve.  

Trust and reputation soar across all levels of the organization. Teams develop stronger credibility with stakeholders when they consistently deliver clear and compelling communications. External relationships deepen as organizations move beyond transactional interactions to more strategic conversations with customers, partners, and industry peers. 

Focus on skills that drive career growth as employees develop the communication chops that make them more valuable contributors. When people can articulate their expertise and value proposition clearly, they advance more quickly and become sought-after collaborators. A common communication language strengthens cross-functional partnerships, elevating individuals from functional experts to strategic partners. 

\"\"Winning with organization-wide alignment 

Storytelling isn’t just an individual skill to be developed in isolation. It’s a team sport that requires coordination, practice, and a shared understanding of the rules. By investing in a common storytelling framework across your organization, you shift communication from a liability to a competitive advantage—unlocking exponential value through better collaboration, faster decisions, and stronger business outcomes. 

Remember: Ideas are only as powerful as the ability to communicate them effectively. And in today’s collaborative business environment, effective communication is everyone’s responsibility. The next time your teams prepare for an important presentation or meeting, remember that they’re not playing solo—they’re part of a broader team whose success depends on how well your entire organization has aligned around a shared approach to storytelling. 

", "content_plain": "Effective business communication rarely happens in isolation. The process of developing, refining, and sharing ideas involves collaboration across departments, input from various stakeholders, and alignment around common goals. At the heart of great communication lies storytelling—the art of organizing ideas and data into compelling narratives that drive understanding and action. When organizations recognize that storytelling is a choreographed dance requiring cross-functional coordination, they unlock a powerful truth: great communication isn’t just an individual competency but a collective capability that requires everyone speaking the same language. The choreography behind presenting ideas Presenting ideas has become increasingly complex. What appears to be a straightforward communication task—sharing an idea, recommendation, or update—actually involves multiple layers of coordination. After all, most business presentations aren’t solo performances. They’re collaborative efforts that pull together insights from various departments, require input from different stakeholders, and must serve diverse audiences with different priorities and varying levels of expertise. A single presentation might need to satisfy the detailed requirements of technical teams while also providing the high-level strategic overview that executives need for decision-making. You can view our Privacy Policy here. The challenge intensifies when organizations operate across different functions, regions, or business units. Each group brings its own communication style, terminology, and expectations. What resonates with one audience may completely miss the mark with another. Ultimately, when everyone isn’t operating from the same communications playbook, even the best ideas can get lost in translation, leading to confusion, delayed decisions, and missed opportunities. Innovation buried by poor communication Despite having talented people with excellent technical skills and innovative ideas, many organizations struggle with effective communication. Good ideas often never see the light of day—not because they lack merit, but because they aren’t communicated clearly. Subject matter experts struggle to articulate the value of their innovations to stakeholders, not because they lack information or expertise, but because they can’t translate their knowledge into digestible narratives. Their presentations are often data-heavy but insight-light, overwhelming audiences with data dumps rather than clear business impact. The result? Delayed product launches, missed market opportunities, and promising R&D investments that never receive proper funding—all because decision-making slows to a crawl when messages don’t land. The true cost of communication failures The consequences of ineffective communication extend far beyond just wasted meeting time. When messages don’t land effectively, organizations experience: Delayed decision-making: When presentations are unclear, more meetings are needed for clarification, with some teams requiring cycles of rework before presentations are ready Missed opportunities: Great ideas get buried under excessive detail or people’s inability to articulate business value Eroded trust: Stakeholders lose confidence in teams that can’t communicate effectively or demonstrate their value clearly Wasted resources: Teams misinterpret goals or requirements, investing time and money in the wrong directions Implementation challenges: Even approved initiatives falter when employees don’t understand the vision or strategic direction These breakdowns reveal a fundamental truth: organizations need to invest in communication training to prevent these costly impacts from compounding across the business. Why upskilling select teams isn’t enough Many organizations recognize these challenges and focus on improving communication for specific teams or departments—typically investing in training for top talent, high potentials, or senior leaders. However, this approach often falls short. It overlooks the majority of employees who may not present in meetings, but still need to know how to serve up critical insights and collaborate effectively. A team’s ability to communicate effectively is only as strong as the communication skills of the cross-functional partners they rely on to collaborate. But when learning is limited to a select few, it creates a culture of “haves and have-nots” that compounds these challenges: No common approach to communicating: When different departments use varying frameworks for organizing and presenting information, collaboration becomes inefficient. Teams spend excessive time translating between different approaches rather than focusing on the actual work. No alignment on how to show up: Teams lack consistency in their professional presence and communication standards. This misalignment creates friction in cross-functional meetings where different communication styles clash, leaving stakeholders confused about priorities and approaches. Inconsistent coaching and development: Without a common method, managers struggle to provide consistent guidance on communication skills. Employees may receive conflicting feedback depending on who’s mentoring them, leaving them unclear on what constitutes effective communication and creating uneven skill development across the organization. Hidden skill gaps: Organizations often don’t realize they have communication problems until critical moments—like failed client presentations or missed funding opportunities. By then, the damage is done and teams are playing catch-up rather than preventing problems. Resource inefficiencies: Companies end up bringing in multiple training providers or approaches to serve different audiences, cobbling together resources without a unified strategy. This prevents economies of scale and creates confusion about standards and expectations. The competitive advantage of aligned communication When everyone in your organization is given the opportunity to uplevel their communication skills using a shared methodology, the business impact is substantial and measurable. The benefits show up in these key areas: Faster decision-making with less churn and fewer cycles emerges as teams spend less time in meetings and revision cycles because presentations hit the mark the first time. Decision-making accelerates as stakeholders receive actionable insights rather than overwhelming data presentations. Strategic initiatives cascade faster across departments when everyone can articulate the vision clearly. Innovation and insights are recognized when teams can translate complex concepts into compelling business value. Breakthrough ideas that previously struggled for support now receive executive backing because teams can clearly communicate their potential impact. Organizations unlock their full innovation potential as great ideas finally get the recognition and resources they deserve. Trust and reputation soar across all levels of the organization. Teams develop stronger credibility with stakeholders when they consistently deliver clear and compelling communications. External relationships deepen as organizations move beyond transactional interactions to more strategic conversations with customers, partners, and industry peers. Focus on skills that drive career growth as employees develop the communication chops that make them more valuable contributors. When people can articulate their expertise and value proposition clearly, they advance more quickly and become sought-after collaborators. A common communication language strengthens cross-functional partnerships, elevating individuals from functional experts to strategic partners. Winning with organization-wide alignment Storytelling isn’t just an individual skill to be developed in isolation. It’s a team sport that requires coordination, practice, and a shared understanding of the rules. By investing in a common storytelling framework across your organization, you shift communication from a liability to a competitive advantage—unlocking exponential value through better collaboration, faster decisions, and stronger business outcomes. Remember: Ideas are only as powerful as the ability to communicate them effectively. And in today’s collaborative business environment, effective communication is everyone’s responsibility. The next time your teams prepare for an important presentation or meeting, remember that they’re not playing solo—they’re part of a broader team whose success depends on how well your entire organization has aligned around a shared approach to storytelling. ", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Storytelling-is-a-Team-Sport-featured-image-for-resource-center.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T11:11:54-05:00" }, { "id": 11360, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/breaking-down-barriers-elevating-employee-impact-through-communication/", "title": "Breaking Down Barriers: Elevating Employee Impact Through Communication", "h1": "Breaking Down Barriers: Elevating Employee Impact Through Communication", "summary": "", "content": "

In today’s hyper-connected, information-overloaded business landscape, the ability to communicate effectively isn’t just a nice-to-have skill—it’s the difference between organizational success and stagnation. When critical initiatives fail or goals are missed, the root cause can often be traced back to one fundamental issue: ineffective communication across teams and departments.

Think about it: How many meetings have you sat through where you found yourself wondering, “What’s the point here?” How many hours has your team spent deciphering confusing emails or reworking presentations that missed the mark? These aren’t isolated frustrations—they’re symptoms of a pervasive challenge costing businesses both time and opportunity.

Why communication skills matter to a company’s success

Communication continues to be the #1 most in-demand skill desired by organizations, forming the backbone of every business operation.1 Yet according to research, business leaders estimate their teams lose nearly 7.5 hours per week—almost an entire workday—due to poor communication.2

When your team only has one shot to communicate a message, it’s never been more critical to have clear and concise communication across your organization.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

Without good communication, your team and business will hit roadblocks 

\"\"

The costs of communication breakdowns aren’t always immediately visible, but they’re consistently damaging: 

Decreased productivity

When ideas aren’t clearly expressed, time is wasted re-working communications, meetings leading to more meetings, and decisions are stalled. Managers spend nearly four hours per week just preparing for meetings, including reviewing and refining team presentations.3

Innovation and valuable insights go unrecognized 

Experts across departments often excel at specialized aspects of their work—gathering data, conducting analysis, and managing complex processes—but struggle when it comes to translating that expertise into compelling narratives that resonate with stakeholders. This gap leads to valuable insights being missed and limits an organization’s ability to adapt and thrive in a competitive market. 

Trust is challenged 

Poor presentation skills and ineffective internal communications erode trust between departments, damage professional reputations, and often force leadership to step in and mediate. Organizations frequently struggle with inconsistent communication styles—some team members produce dense, text-heavy documents that overwhelm readers, while others create visually appealing materials that lack substantive data to support their points. These inconsistencies damage credibility and undermine trust across departments. 

\"\"Lower morale and job satisfaction 

Individuals who feel unheard or undervalued become disengaged with their work and the organization. This frustration extends beyond dissatisfaction—it directly impacts career trajectories. Many employees receive feedback about their communication skills being a barrier to advancement yet find themselves without access to the training resources needed to improve. This creates a particularly demoralizing cycle: being told to develop critical skills while simultaneously being denied the tools to do so.  

When employees recognize that communication deficiencies are holding them back professionally but see no organizational pathway to improvement, they may realize their growth potential is limited within the company. This disconnect frequently becomes a driver for talented employees to seek opportunities elsewhere, where they believe their learning and development needs will be better supported. 

Why training everyone is important\"\"

Communication in today’s workplace is not a solo sport. Consider these realities:  

Making an impact through communication

Organizations that invest in communication training across all levels see transformative benefits:

Boost efficiency and productivity 

When everyone speaks the same language of business communication, teams reclaim hours previously lost to misunderstandings, review cycles, and unproductive meetings. In fact, organizations with strong communicators report up to 30% fewer follow-up sessions and significantly faster decision cycles.4 Why? Because information presented through compelling, audience-focused communication drives action the first time, eliminating the back-and-forth clarifications that consume valuable time and energy across every level of your business.

\"\"Better collaboration and innovation 

Having a practical method for sharing ideas and data – and a common language that everyone is operating from – eliminates friction that typically hinders cross-functional collaboration. When everyone operates from the same approach, communications are crafted correctly the first time, which eliminates unnecessary meetings or re-work.  

Operating from a shared approach accelerates decision-making, creating agility, efficiency, and momentum across the organization. When communication is clear and compelling, bottlenecks disappear, allowing projects to move forward without unnecessary delays. Confident, timely decisions help build trust among teams, fostering even better collaboration. 

A quicker decision-making process enables organizations to test, iterate, and implement new ideas more efficiently. Organizations that master this collaborative communication see more innovative ideas successfully implemented, more creative solutions to complex problems, and faster adaptation to market changes. 

Cross-functional team alignment \"\"

When marketing, sales, operations, and technical teams adopt a unified communication framework, organizational silos don’t just weaken—they collapse entirely. This powerful alignment can transform how decisions are made: project timelines accelerate by 30-40%4 as miscommunications fade, strategic initiatives gain momentum rather than stalling between departments, and customer experiences become seamless instead of fragmented. Most importantly, this alignment creates organizational clarity where everyone understands not just what they’re working toward, but why it matters—connecting daily tasks to strategic objectives and eliminating the costly “lost in translation” effect that derails so many cross-functional initiatives. 

Coaching and mentorship opportunities 

A shared communications framework democratizes coaching across your entire organization. When everyone speaks the same storytelling language, giving feedback no longer depends on title or tenure—it flows naturally in all directions. This universal capability transforms your culture from one where communication expertise is held by a select few to one where everyone becomes both teacher and student. The result? An exponential increase in knowledge transfer, dramatically faster skill development, and the elimination of communication bottlenecks that can slow organizational growth. 

\"\"Communication as a competitive advantage 

In a business landscape where attention is the scarcest resource, effective communication has never been more valuable. By investing in communication training for your entire organization, you won’t just improve presentations and emails—you’ll transform how your business operates at its core. 

The companies that thrive in today’s complex environment aren’t necessarily those with the best products or most innovative strategies. They’re the ones that can articulate their value clearly, align their teams efficiently, and connect with stakeholders authentically through the power of story. 

Resources:

1 LinkedIn, “LinkedIn Most In-Demand Hard and Soft Skills,” 2023. 

2 Grammarly/Harris Poll, “State of Business Communication: The Backbone of Business Is Broken,” 2022. 

3 Flowtrace Company Analytics, “Meeting Preparation Research,” 2023. 

4 Harris Poll, “The Cost of Poor Communications,” 2023. 

", "content_plain": "In today’s hyper-connected, information-overloaded business landscape, the ability to communicate effectively isn’t just a nice-to-have skill—it’s the difference between organizational success and stagnation. When critical initiatives fail or goals are missed, the root cause can often be traced back to one fundamental issue: ineffective communication across teams and departments. Think about it: How many meetings have you sat through where you found yourself wondering, “What’s the point here?” How many hours has your team spent deciphering confusing emails or reworking presentations that missed the mark? These aren’t isolated frustrations—they’re symptoms of a pervasive challenge costing businesses both time and opportunity. Why communication skills matter to a company’s success Communication continues to be the #1 most in-demand skill desired by organizations, forming the backbone of every business operation.1 Yet according to research, business leaders estimate their teams lose nearly 7.5 hours per week—almost an entire workday—due to poor communication.2 When your team only has one shot to communicate a message, it’s never been more critical to have clear and concise communication across your organization. You can view our Privacy Policy here. Without good communication, your team and business will hit roadblocks The costs of communication breakdowns aren’t always immediately visible, but they’re consistently damaging: Decreased productivity When ideas aren’t clearly expressed, time is wasted re-working communications, meetings leading to more meetings, and decisions are stalled. Managers spend nearly four hours per week just preparing for meetings, including reviewing and refining team presentations.3 Innovation and valuable insights go unrecognized Experts across departments often excel at specialized aspects of their work—gathering data, conducting analysis, and managing complex processes—but struggle when it comes to translating that expertise into compelling narratives that resonate with stakeholders. This gap leads to valuable insights being missed and limits an organization’s ability to adapt and thrive in a competitive market. Trust is challenged Poor presentation skills and ineffective internal communications erode trust between departments, damage professional reputations, and often force leadership to step in and mediate. Organizations frequently struggle with inconsistent communication styles—some team members produce dense, text-heavy documents that overwhelm readers, while others create visually appealing materials that lack substantive data to support their points. These inconsistencies damage credibility and undermine trust across departments. Lower morale and job satisfaction Individuals who feel unheard or undervalued become disengaged with their work and the organization. This frustration extends beyond dissatisfaction—it directly impacts career trajectories. Many employees receive feedback about their communication skills being a barrier to advancement yet find themselves without access to the training resources needed to improve. This creates a particularly demoralizing cycle: being told to develop critical skills while simultaneously being denied the tools to do so. When employees recognize that communication deficiencies are holding them back professionally but see no organizational pathway to improvement, they may realize their growth potential is limited within the company. This disconnect frequently becomes a driver for talented employees to seek opportunities elsewhere, where they believe their learning and development needs will be better supported. Why training everyone is important Communication in today’s workplace is not a solo sport. Consider these realities: Communicating often involves many stakeholders and can get complex as everyone weighs in Teams rely on other cross-functional team members to gather insights that contribute to the overall message We often start off working in silos but then need to partner and gain buy-in from other “supporting cast” members As information flows across many departments and functions, things get messy as different approaches come together When everyone isn’t operating from the same playbook, critical initiatives fail to get approved or delivered, goals/targets are missed, and careers are stalled Making an impact through communication Organizations that invest in communication training across all levels see transformative benefits: Boost efficiency and productivity When everyone speaks the same language of business communication, teams reclaim hours previously lost to misunderstandings, review cycles, and unproductive meetings. In fact, organizations with strong communicators report up to 30% fewer follow-up sessions and significantly faster decision cycles.4 Why? Because information presented through compelling, audience-focused communication drives action the first time, eliminating the back-and-forth clarifications that consume valuable time and energy across every level of your business. Better collaboration and innovation Having a practical method for sharing ideas and data – and a common language that everyone is operating from – eliminates friction that typically hinders cross-functional collaboration. When everyone operates from the same approach, communications are crafted correctly the first time, which eliminates unnecessary meetings or re-work. Operating from a shared approach accelerates decision-making, creating agility, efficiency, and momentum across the organization. When communication is clear and compelling, bottlenecks disappear, allowing projects to move forward without unnecessary delays. Confident, timely decisions help build trust among teams, fostering even better collaboration. A quicker decision-making process enables organizations to test, iterate, and implement new ideas more efficiently. Organizations that master this collaborative communication see more innovative ideas successfully implemented, more creative solutions to complex problems, and faster adaptation to market changes. Cross-functional team alignment When marketing, sales, operations, and technical teams adopt a unified communication framework, organizational silos don’t just weaken—they collapse entirely. This powerful alignment can transform how decisions are made: project timelines accelerate by 30-40%4 as miscommunications fade, strategic initiatives gain momentum rather than stalling between departments, and customer experiences become seamless instead of fragmented. Most importantly, this alignment creates organizational clarity where everyone understands not just what they’re working toward, but why it matters—connecting daily tasks to strategic objectives and eliminating the costly “lost in translation” effect that derails so many cross-functional initiatives. Coaching and mentorship opportunities A shared communications framework democratizes coaching across your entire organization. When everyone speaks the same storytelling language, giving feedback no longer depends on title or tenure—it flows naturally in all directions. This universal capability transforms your culture from one where communication expertise is held by a select few to one where everyone becomes both teacher and student. The result? An exponential increase in knowledge transfer, dramatically faster skill development, and the elimination of communication bottlenecks that can slow organizational growth. Communication as a competitive advantage In a business landscape where attention is the scarcest resource, effective communication has never been more valuable. By investing in communication training for your entire organization, you won’t just improve presentations and emails—you’ll transform how your business operates at its core. The companies that thrive in today’s complex environment aren’t necessarily those with the best products or most innovative strategies. They’re the ones that can articulate their value clearly, align their teams efficiently, and connect with stakeholders authentically through the power of story. Resources: 1 LinkedIn, “LinkedIn Most In-Demand Hard and Soft Skills,” 2023. 2 Grammarly/Harris Poll, “State of Business Communication: The Backbone of Business Is Broken,” 2022. 3 Flowtrace Company Analytics, “Meeting Preparation Research,” 2023. 4 Harris Poll, “The Cost of Poor Communications,” 2023. ", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/breaking-down-barriers-featured-image-for-resource-center.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T10:19:56-05:00" }, { "id": 11377, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/why-communication-skills-matter-the-hidden-crisis-costing-organizations-billions/", "title": "Why Communication Skills Matter: The Hidden Crisis Costing Organizations Billions", "h1": "Why Communication Skills Matter: The Hidden Crisis Costing Organizations Billions", "summary": "Communication continues to be the #1 most in-demand skill desired by organizations, yet many companies fail at it. In a world where attention is scarce and competition is fierce, discover how great communication may be your most sustainable edge. ", "content": "

Communication continues to be the #1 most in-demand skill desired by organizations, yet many companies fail at it.1 Research shows that $37 billion is lost annually to workplace miscommunication, with employees wasting an average of 31 hours per month in unproductive meetings.2 But the real crisis isn’t just about lost time or money—it’s about the strategic opportunities that vanish when powerful ideas get buried under a spaghetti pile of data, decks, and emails. 

The true cost of communication breakdowns

When we look at what’s happening in organizations today, a troubling pattern emerges. Teams consistently report feeling pressured to jump straight into execution without taking time to craft coherent narratives around their work. This rush-to-action mentality creates problems that spread through the entire organization. 

The cycle repeats itself: teams do great work and come up with valuable insights, but when it’s time to share them, they dump everything on their audience—too much content, too much detail, and jumping from point to point without any real flow. Decision-makers walk away confused about what they’re supposed to do with all this information, presenters lose control of the conversation, and ultimately good ideas get buried without any narrative thread. 

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

\"\"

This scenario plays out repeatedly across organizations worldwide. And the impacts are staggering: 

\"\"The cross-functional communication challenge

Most important business messages today are the result of collaborative efforts, with people from different teams all weighing in. While that sounds great in theory, it often creates a mess in practice. 

When you have multiple departments working on the same presentation, everyone brings their own priorities and styles to the table. Some want eye-catching visuals and creative flair, others want hard data, and still others focus on practical details or customer impact. All valid perspectives, but they don’t always play nicely together. 

What you end up with is a Frankendeck—cobbled together ideas and data from different departments, with no real thread holding it all together. The story jumps around (or is nonexistent!), the visuals don’t match, and the whole thing feels disjointed. 

This gets even trickier for global companies dealing with different cultures, languages, and time zones. Some teams are naturally good at explaining what they do and why it matters. Others struggle to get their point across, even when they’re doing amazing work. 

The result? Teams that communicate well get more resources, attention, and opportunities. Those that don’t get overlooked, even if their work is just as valuable. Communication effectiveness becomes a competitive advantage for some teams while remaining a barrier for others. 

Why templates aren’t enough: Getting to the root cause of the problem

Many organizations attempt to solve communication challenges through standardized templates and formatting guidelines. While these tools can provide structure and consistency, they don’t teach people how to craft a compelling story. The challenge remains: how do we enable everyone to transform ideas and data into narratives that engage and persuade their audience? 

\"\"The real problem shows up in four key ways: 

The strategic storytelling solution

Effective business communication isn’t about following complex processes or memorizing presentation formulas. It’s about applying a simple, practical, and repeatable method that helps anyone organize ideas and data into meaningful narratives. The most successful organizations cultivate a communication mindset grounded in these principles: 

\"\"Story first, visuals second. Rather than starting with templates or slide designs, great communicators begin by getting their narrative down. They understand that compelling stories follow a structure that establishes context, introduces key players, and defines challenges before finally presenting solutions. 

Data as supporting evidence. Numbers and charts shouldn’t drive the narrative—they should support and advance it. Great communicators present data in ways that generate insights rather than confusion. 

Audience-centric messaging. Great communicators put themselves in their audience’s shoes, understanding what matters most to each stakeholder. They craft messages that resonate with what their audience cares about and can adapt their delivery in real-time based on where the audience takes the conversation. 

From individual skills to organizational strength

Solving the communication crisis requires more than individual skill development—it demands an organizational culture shift. When organizations commit to a unified approach, they see transformation happen in four key areas: 

\"\"Democratize access to training. Communication skill development can’t be limited to senior leaders or high-potential employees. All employees—no matter their role or function—need these capabilities to contribute effectively to strategic conversations. 

Establish a common language. Organizations need a shared vocabulary and communication approach that can be scaled across all departments and regions. 

Embed coaching into daily work. Rather than treating communication training as a one-time event, successful organizations build feedback loops and coaching moments into their regular business processes. 

Measure business impact. Organizations can track improvements in decision speed, meeting efficiency, and stakeholder engagement to demonstrate the business value of communication investments. 

The competitive advantage of strategic communication 

Companies that invest in communication don’t just get better presentations—they get better business results. When everyone can clearly explain their ideas and make compelling cases for their work, decisions happen faster. Resources go to the right places. Customer relationships improve. New ideas get adopted instead of getting lost in translation. 

\"\"But here’s the really interesting part: while your competitors can copy your products or try to poach your best people, they can’t easily replicate an entire organization that knows how to communicate well. When your whole company can consistently articulate value and align teams around shared priorities, that’s something that’s genuinely hard to copy. It’s the kind of advantage that compounds over time rather than disappearing when the next shiny thing comes along. 

Your communication transformation roadmap 

Creating a culture of effective communication starts with recognizing that it’s a team sport. Success requires coordinated effort across multiple stakeholders, from technical experts who generate insights to executives who make strategic decisions. 

\"\"Start by figuring out where communication breaks down in your company. Where do important messages get lost? Which teams struggle to explain what they do? What projects have gotten stuck because people couldn’t get on the same page? 

Then use a simple method that everyone can use, no matter what department they’re in. It needs to be easy enough that people will actually adopt it, but robust enough to handle your real business challenges. 

Finally, invest in training that goes beyond just your senior leaders. The biggest transformation happens when organizations realize that everyone—regardless of role or function—plays a role in moving business forward.  

Companies that will thrive in the coming years won’t just have the best products or most innovative technologies. They’ll be the organizations that can most effectively communicate their value, align their people, and execute their strategies with clarity and purpose. In a world where attention is scarce and competition is fierce, great communication may be your most sustainable edge. 

Resources:

1 LinkedIn, The Most In-Demand Skills for 2024

2 Atlassian, Meet the #1 barrier to productivity

", "content_plain": "Communication continues to be the #1 most in-demand skill desired by organizations, yet many companies fail at it.1 Research shows that $37 billion is lost annually to workplace miscommunication, with employees wasting an average of 31 hours per month in unproductive meetings.2 But the real crisis isn’t just about lost time or money—it’s about the strategic opportunities that vanish when powerful ideas get buried under a spaghetti pile of data, decks, and emails. The true cost of communication breakdowns When we look at what’s happening in organizations today, a troubling pattern emerges. Teams consistently report feeling pressured to jump straight into execution without taking time to craft coherent narratives around their work. This rush-to-action mentality creates problems that spread through the entire organization. The cycle repeats itself: teams do great work and come up with valuable insights, but when it’s time to share them, they dump everything on their audience—too much content, too much detail, and jumping from point to point without any real flow. Decision-makers walk away confused about what they’re supposed to do with all this information, presenters lose control of the conversation, and ultimately good ideas get buried without any narrative thread. You can view our Privacy Policy here. This scenario plays out repeatedly across organizations worldwide. And the impacts are staggering: Strategic initiatives stall. Without clear messaging, teams lose sight of priorities and decision-makers can’t distinguish between critical and routine information. Innovation gets buried. Technical experts struggle to translate complex breakthroughs into business language, leaving promising innovations unfunded and unexplored. Decision-making becomes paralyzed. When presentations lack coherent narratives, stakeholders spend more time decoding information than making strategic choices. Cross-functional alignment breaks down. Different departments develop their own communication approaches, creating organizational silos that impede collaboration. Trust erodes rapidly. Inconsistent messaging and confusing presentations damage team credibility and individual career advancement. The cross-functional communication challenge Most important business messages today are the result of collaborative efforts, with people from different teams all weighing in. While that sounds great in theory, it often creates a mess in practice. When you have multiple departments working on the same presentation, everyone brings their own priorities and styles to the table. Some want eye-catching visuals and creative flair, others want hard data, and still others focus on practical details or customer impact. All valid perspectives, but they don’t always play nicely together. What you end up with is a Frankendeck—cobbled together ideas and data from different departments, with no real thread holding it all together. The story jumps around (or is nonexistent!), the visuals don’t match, and the whole thing feels disjointed. This gets even trickier for global companies dealing with different cultures, languages, and time zones. Some teams are naturally good at explaining what they do and why it matters. Others struggle to get their point across, even when they’re doing amazing work. The result? Teams that communicate well get more resources, attention, and opportunities. Those that don’t get overlooked, even if their work is just as valuable. Communication effectiveness becomes a competitive advantage for some teams while remaining a barrier for others. Why templates aren’t enough: Getting to the root cause of the problem Many organizations attempt to solve communication challenges through standardized templates and formatting guidelines. While these tools can provide structure and consistency, they don’t teach people how to craft a compelling story. The challenge remains: how do we enable everyone to transform ideas and data into narratives that engage and persuade their audience? The real problem shows up in four key ways: No common approach to communicating. Teams work in silos using disparate methodologies, creating confusion and inconsistency across the business. No alignment on how to show up. Without shared standards, presentation quality varies dramatically based on individual skill rather than organizational capability. No effective way to mentor or coach. Without a common framework, managers struggle to give consistent, constructive feedback on what makes communication work. No early warning system for communication gaps. Problems only surface during high-stakes presentations when it’s too late to correct course. The strategic storytelling solution Effective business communication isn’t about following complex processes or memorizing presentation formulas. It’s about applying a simple, practical, and repeatable method that helps anyone organize ideas and data into meaningful narratives. The most successful organizations cultivate a communication mindset grounded in these principles: Story first, visuals second. Rather than starting with templates or slide designs, great communicators begin by getting their narrative down. They understand that compelling stories follow a structure that establishes context, introduces key players, and defines challenges before finally presenting solutions. Data as supporting evidence. Numbers and charts shouldn’t drive the narrative—they should support and advance it. Great communicators present data in ways that generate insights rather than confusion. Audience-centric messaging. Great communicators put themselves in their audience’s shoes, understanding what matters most to each stakeholder. They craft messages that resonate with what their audience cares about and can adapt their delivery in real-time based on where the audience takes the conversation. From individual skills to organizational strength Solving the communication crisis requires more than individual skill development—it demands an organizational culture shift. When organizations commit to a unified approach, they see transformation happen in four key areas: Democratize access to training. Communication skill development can’t be limited to senior leaders or high-potential employees. All employees—no matter their role or function—need these capabilities to contribute effectively to strategic conversations. Establish a common language. Organizations need a shared vocabulary and communication approach that can be scaled across all departments and regions. Embed coaching into daily work. Rather than treating communication training as a one-time event, successful organizations build feedback loops and coaching moments into their regular business processes. Measure business impact. Organizations can track improvements in decision speed, meeting efficiency, and stakeholder engagement to demonstrate the business value of communication investments. The competitive advantage of strategic communication Companies that invest in communication don’t just get better presentations—they get better business results. When everyone can clearly explain their ideas and make compelling cases for their work, decisions happen faster. Resources go to the right places. Customer relationships improve. New ideas get adopted instead of getting lost in translation. But here’s the really interesting part: while your competitors can copy your products or try to poach your best people, they can’t easily replicate an entire organization that knows how to communicate well. When your whole company can consistently articulate value and align teams around shared priorities, that’s something that’s genuinely hard to copy. It’s the kind of advantage that compounds over time rather than disappearing when the next shiny thing comes along. Your communication transformation roadmap Creating a culture of effective communication starts with recognizing that it’s a team sport. Success requires coordinated effort across multiple stakeholders, from technical experts who generate insights to executives who make strategic decisions. Start by figuring out where communication breaks down in your company. Where do important messages get lost? Which teams struggle to explain what they do? What projects have gotten stuck because people couldn’t get on the same page? Then use a simple method that everyone can use, no matter what department they’re in. It needs to be easy enough that people will actually adopt it, but robust enough to handle your real business challenges. Finally, invest in training that goes beyond just your senior leaders. The biggest transformation happens when organizations realize that everyone—regardless of role or function—plays a role in moving business forward. Companies that will thrive in the coming years won’t just have the best products or most innovative technologies. They’ll be the organizations that can most effectively communicate their value, align their people, and execute their strategies with clarity and purpose. In a world where attention is scarce and competition is fierce, great communication may be your most sustainable edge. Resources: 1 LinkedIn, The Most In-Demand Skills for 2024 2 Atlassian, Meet the #1 barrier to productivity", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/why-communication-skills-matter-resource-center-featured-image.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T11:34:40-05:00" }, { "id": 7742, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/headlines-vs-headings-how-story-driven-slide-titles-instantly-boost-your-ideas/", "title": "TPC Contributes to Training Industry: Headlines vs. Headings: How Story-driven Slide Titles Instantly Boost Your Ideas", "h1": "TPC Contributes to Training Industry: Headlines vs. Headings: How Story-driven Slide Titles Instantly Boost Your Ideas", "summary": "You’ve been working for weeks on your program proposal, and you’re finally ready to present it to your vice president. There she is, sitting at the conference table, gazing up at your projected ideas. What does she see? Line after line of bullet points? A pie chart with so many colorful slices that she can’t […]", "content": "

You’ve been working for weeks on your program proposal, and you’re finally ready to present it to your vice president. There she is, sitting at the conference table, gazing up at your projected ideas. What does she see? Line after line of bullet points? A pie chart with so many colorful slices that she can’t decipher what they mean? A table stacked with rows and rows of data?

The first piece of information she takes in won’t be a complicated graph or a sea of text. Rather, she will likely scan the slide title to grasp what she needs to know as quickly as possible.

Those oh-so-important, first-glance words are often vague. Slide titles like “Agenda,” “Revenue” or “Update” do nothing to illuminate the meaning of the slide. When the slide title doesn’t say much, your audience must work to decode your message. What a waste of prime real estate!

It doesn’t have to be this way. It’s time to let go of the vague header and bring in the headline.

Every Story Needs a Headline

It’s remarkable how often the slide title is overlooked. In the example below, notice how much less impact the title “Portal Stats” has. There’s not much information. A news-blazing headline that spells out the chief insight — “Customers are visiting our portal but not doing much” — is more informative and active. The conversation is off to a running start.

\"\"

\"\"

Headlines serve five important functions. They:

1. Shout your key message (where the eye lands first)

Much like a news headline, this vital sentence will either draw viewers in … or send their eyes roving elsewhere. A meaningful title sets the context for the body of the slide.

2. Guide you during showtime

There is no better insurance policy for a smooth delivery than embedding your most powerful points into your headlines. Your headlines become your roadmap as you move through the deck, which is especially helpful if you’re presenting to executives who want to jump ahead or go back to the beginning for more context. Like guideposts, every headline will signal where you are in the story. Having this roadmap will also make you a much more confident presenter.

3. Drive your narrative forward 

News headlines contain the most important idea from the story. Their wording is critical, because they will either pique readers’ curiosity or leave them cold. Slide headlines are no different. When read sequentially, slide by slide, your headlines should reveal the outline of the story you want to tell.

4. Help you develop a coherent story

Creating a meaningful headline for every slide will help ensure your presentation contains a real story.

Try this exercise: Read your headlines aloud. Do they include your key messages? Are they coherent when read together? Are they moving your story to a conclusion (i.e., your recommendation, update or final pitch)? If not, edit or eliminate them.

5. Speak for themselves (when you aren’t there to present)

Sometimes, you may not deliver your slides live. In these situations, your deck must tell the story for you. Well-prepared, story-driven headlines will give you greater control over your narrative, whether your slides are being “PDFed,” emailed, or delivered by someone else.

The Essence of a Great Headline

Your headline should reflect the most important information you want your audience to know. You may still have plenty of additional details to discuss, but your headlines distill your insights for your audience (which they will probably appreciate!).

\"Headlines

Great Presenters Use Storytelling Devices

The best presenters take their audience on a journey with a deck that flows from one idea to the next. Slide headlines are a simple strategy to collectively build momentum into the narrative. Well-prepared titles make the conversation seem effortless and give you, the presenter, more confidence. Whether you’re giving an internal business update, providing an executive briefing or pitching a new program, you can benefit from powerful slide headlines. Use these tips, and you’ll never waste valuable slide real estate again.

Republished with permission from TrainingIndustry.com

", "content_plain": "You’ve been working for weeks on your program proposal, and you’re finally ready to present it to your vice president. There she is, sitting at the conference table, gazing up at your projected ideas. What does she see? Line after line of bullet points? A pie chart with so many colorful slices that she can’t decipher what they mean? A table stacked with rows and rows of data? The first piece of information she takes in won’t be a complicated graph or a sea of text. Rather, she will likely scan the slide title to grasp what she needs to know as quickly as possible. Those oh-so-important, first-glance words are often vague. Slide titles like “Agenda,” “Revenue” or “Update” do nothing to illuminate the meaning of the slide. When the slide title doesn’t say much, your audience must work to decode your message. What a waste of prime real estate! It doesn’t have to be this way. It’s time to let go of the vague header and bring in the headline. Every Story Needs a Headline It’s remarkable how often the slide title is overlooked. In the example below, notice how much less impact the title “Portal Stats” has. There’s not much information. A news-blazing headline that spells out the chief insight — “Customers are visiting our portal but not doing much” — is more informative and active. The conversation is off to a running start. Headlines serve five important functions. They: 1. Shout your key message (where the eye lands first) Much like a news headline, this vital sentence will either draw viewers in … or send their eyes roving elsewhere. A meaningful title sets the context for the body of the slide. 2. Guide you during showtime There is no better insurance policy for a smooth delivery than embedding your most powerful points into your headlines. Your headlines become your roadmap as you move through the deck, which is especially helpful if you’re presenting to executives who want to jump ahead or go back to the beginning for more context. Like guideposts, every headline will signal where you are in the story. Having this roadmap will also make you a much more confident presenter. 3. Drive your narrative forward News headlines contain the most important idea from the story. Their wording is critical, because they will either pique readers’ curiosity or leave them cold. Slide headlines are no different. When read sequentially, slide by slide, your headlines should reveal the outline of the story you want to tell. 4. Help you develop a coherent story Creating a meaningful headline for every slide will help ensure your presentation contains a real story. Try this exercise: Read your headlines aloud. Do they include your key messages? Are they coherent when read together? Are they moving your story to a conclusion (i.e., your recommendation, update or final pitch)? If not, edit or eliminate them. 5. Speak for themselves (when you aren’t there to present) Sometimes, you may not deliver your slides live. In these situations, your deck must tell the story for you. Well-prepared, story-driven headlines will give you greater control over your narrative, whether your slides are being “PDFed,” emailed, or delivered by someone else. The Essence of a Great Headline Your headline should reflect the most important information you want your audience to know. You may still have plenty of additional details to discuss, but your headlines distill your insights for your audience (which they will probably appreciate!). Great Presenters Use Storytelling Devices The best presenters take their audience on a journey with a deck that flows from one idea to the next. Slide headlines are a simple strategy to collectively build momentum into the narrative. Well-prepared titles make the conversation seem effortless and give you, the presenter, more confidence. Whether you’re giving an internal business update, providing an executive briefing or pitching a new program, you can benefit from powerful slide headlines. Use these tips, and you’ll never waste valuable slide real estate again. Republished with permission from TrainingIndustry.com", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Slide-Headlines.png", "modified": "2023-03-01T10:35:51-05:00" }, { "id": 11397, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/the-art-of-the-executive-summary-how-to-tell-a-compelling-story-on-a-page-or-slide/", "title": "The Art of the Executive Summary: How to Tell a Compelling Story on a Page (or Slide)", "h1": "The Art of the Executive Summary: How to Tell a Compelling Story on a Page (or Slide)", "summary": "We have a love/hate relationship with executive summaries. On the surface, they’re a great idea. What’s not to love? You've invested countless hours crafting a compelling narrative with data, insights, and strategic recommendations. Now comes the moment of truth: distilling that entire story into a single, powerful overview that immediately captures your audience's attention. Your time-pressed executives – juggling back-to-back meetings – should instantly understand your core message and feel compelled to act. In theory, it's brilliant. In practice? It's where many presentations fall apart before they even begin.", "content": "

We have a love/hate relationship with executive summaries. On the surface, they’re a great idea. What’s not to love? You’ve invested countless hours crafting a compelling narrative with data, insights, and strategic recommendations. Now comes the moment of truth: distilling that entire story into a single, powerful overview that immediately captures your audience’s attention. Your time-pressed executives – juggling back-to-back meetings – should instantly understand your core message and feel compelled to act.

In theory, it’s brilliant. In practice? It’s where many presentations fall apart before they even begin.

Poor executive summaries can sabotage business results and organizational success 

Here’s the hate part: Even the most well-crafted stories, distilled down into one page, can easily turn into a crowded, impossible-to-digest data dump. Those who’ve spent a lot of time organizing their ideas, data, and recommendations into the arc of a story are forced to make decisions about what to keep and what to leave out. What’s often presented is a bullet-filled executive summary – with tiny font to save space – that’s neither emotionally, visually, or even logically compelling. On slide #1, right out of the gate, you’re in danger of losing your audience.

\"\"To make matters even more difficult, executives are short on time and expect to begin meetings with a clear overview of the main topic and its key components. Maximizing everyone’s time requires having a two-way dialogue rather than explaining busy charts and text-heavy slides. When audiences can’t grasp your key message, meetings devolve into clarifying questions and tangential discussions, causing objectives to miss their mark and decisions to stall. Ultimately this leads to yet another meeting and a loss of productivity for everyone involved. 

\"\"On the flip side, the ability to net out your message and share insights needed to make informed decisions will have a huge impact on organizational outcomes. You demonstrate clear value to the business while elevating your team’s reputation and visibility. Critical initiatives move forward, and most importantly, trust and credibility with stakeholders grow – all driving the company’s strategic goals forward. 
 
This is where a well-crafted executive summary can make all the difference. 

Aim your executive summary squarely at your audience 

Many companies have clearly defined rules about what executive summaries should look like, but the most important factor to consider is your audience. The expectation of your cust omer, boss, or strategic partner should weigh heavily in how you craft your executive summary. For example, flashing it for 90 seconds as the first slide of your presentation might make sense for one audience, but a left-behind one-pager might be more valuable for another. Some companies give you carte blanche to design it however you wish while others require the title “Executive Summary” on top with specified sections below. Regardless of the form or layout, it is crucial to always tailor your executive summary to your unique audience.

\"\"Yes, you can absolutely tell a story on one page  

Brain science tells us that organizing your ideas and data in a story structure will help your audience quickly remember your ideas. And an executive summary is the perfect opportunity to tell a story on one page. The arc of a great story includes setting, characters, and conflict (the WHY of your story); a BIG Idea (the WHAT of your story) and resolution (the HOW of your story). Can you build a quick and efficient executive summary that fits all these elements into one page and does not become a jam-packed mess? Yes. Let’s see how…  

Example 1 – GO Insurance 

Here’s a typical one-slide executive summary of a company called GO Insurance that is concerned with how to reach the next generation of insurance shoppers. In the “before” version below, you will see there are only some elements of a story present (but plenty of bullets and text!).  

\"\"

Besides the passive heading at the top that doesn’t capture the BIG Idea, notice in the top portion of the slide, there are statements that represent the WHY of the story (setting, characters, and conflict). The setting (insurance market) and characters (Millennials/Gen Z/Boomers/Gen X) can also be identified. But the problem here (besides the boring look), is that there is nothing in the way of conflict. The audience is left wondering: why should I care?  

What’s not working? Here’s a marked-up version of the GO Insurance “before” executive summary slide: 

\"\"

The bottom portion is all about the HOW (or story’s resolution) in the form of recommendations. This is problematic because without defining the conflict, the resolution feels meaningless.  

Ready for some relief?  

The “after” slide below shows the same executive summary, now with all four signposts and a BIG Idea. Notice how the BIG Idea (the WHAT of the story) is built right in the slide headline: To reach tomorrow’s insurance shoppers, we need to build relevance during their buying journey. Another great trick on this slide is the smaller header above the larger headline reading: Executive Summary. This works well when companies require stricter templates with an executive summary slide that must read “executive summary.” The slide doesn’t waste important storytelling real estate on a boring, generic heading that doesn’t move the story along.  

\"\"

What’s working? Here’s a marked-up version of the GO Insurance “after” executive summary slide: 

\"\"

\"\"If you take a look at this “after” executive summary through the lens of storytelling, you’ll notice the WHY is on the left and is heavily focused on the conflict. On an executive summary slide, the conflict should be front and center and ideally, backed by key data points. Worth noting that characters and setting are secondary. If they can be woven in lightly, great, that can increase the emotional connection of your story. In this example, there is mention of “customers’ kids” and “new buyers” as a hint of characters, but again, the conflict is central.  

Notice the HOW of the GO insurance story (a.k.a. the resolution) on the bottom right does not go deep into recommendations. This is more of a high-level preview. The recommendations are teased but true details will be revealed when the full story is told in supporting drill-down slides.  

What’s the bottom line? This executive summary offers a quick and easy way to grasp the essential elements of the story – the WHY, WHAT and HOW – all on one page.  

Example 2 – Quantum Airlines 

In our next example, Quantum Airlines is proposing ways to combat a pilot shortage. We’ll let the “before” executive summary speak for itself:  

\"\"

Obviously, this is an eyesore with bullets galore! As pointed out below, the headline doesn’t say much and is really just a header. The slide jumps to all kinds of resolution before setting, characters, and most crucially, conflict has been established. And finally, the data is not being used strategically to support the story.  

What’s not working? Here’s a marked-up version of the Quantum Airlines “before” executive summary slide: 

\"\"

You know the drill by now…ready for some relief? Let’s move on to an executive summary that tells a story.  

\"\"

Here’s a great use of a BIG Idea headline: To secure our future, we need our share of pilots is again, a blaring headline at the top. The WHY is focused on the central conflict of the story: Pilot shortage threatens all of us. And finally, the resolution is at the bottom, directly addressing the conflict. 

What’s working? Here’s a marked-up version of the Quantum Airlines “after” executive summary slide: 

\"\"

\"\"Worth pointing out: The horizontal layout of this executive summary is slightly different than the other example as it reads more top to bottom. But, the layout isn’t as critical as ensuring that your BIG Idea (your WHAT) is your dominant headline and that you’ve articulated your WHY and HOW. 

To Recap: Storytelling + Executive Summaries = ❤️ 

By applying effective story strategy, any residual hate feelings for executive summaries should tip in favor of love. Introduce just the key elements of your story, revealing glimpses of the WHY, WHAT, and HOW. Done right, this will pique the curiosity of your audience, compel them to lean in, and offer you the spotlight for your full story.  

", "content_plain": "We have a love/hate relationship with executive summaries. On the surface, they’re a great idea. What’s not to love? You’ve invested countless hours crafting a compelling narrative with data, insights, and strategic recommendations. Now comes the moment of truth: distilling that entire story into a single, powerful overview that immediately captures your audience’s attention. Your time-pressed executives – juggling back-to-back meetings – should instantly understand your core message and feel compelled to act. In theory, it’s brilliant. In practice? It’s where many presentations fall apart before they even begin. Poor executive summaries can sabotage business results and organizational success Here’s the hate part: Even the most well-crafted stories, distilled down into one page, can easily turn into a crowded, impossible-to-digest data dump. Those who’ve spent a lot of time organizing their ideas, data, and recommendations into the arc of a story are forced to make decisions about what to keep and what to leave out. What’s often presented is a bullet-filled executive summary – with tiny font to save space – that’s neither emotionally, visually, or even logically compelling. On slide #1, right out of the gate, you’re in danger of losing your audience. To make matters even more difficult, executives are short on time and expect to begin meetings with a clear overview of the main topic and its key components. Maximizing everyone’s time requires having a two-way dialogue rather than explaining busy charts and text-heavy slides. When audiences can’t grasp your key message, meetings devolve into clarifying questions and tangential discussions, causing objectives to miss their mark and decisions to stall. Ultimately this leads to yet another meeting and a loss of productivity for everyone involved. On the flip side, the ability to net out your message and share insights needed to make informed decisions will have a huge impact on organizational outcomes. You demonstrate clear value to the business while elevating your team’s reputation and visibility. Critical initiatives move forward, and most importantly, trust and credibility with stakeholders grow – all driving the company’s strategic goals forward. This is where a well-crafted executive summary can make all the difference. Aim your executive summary squarely at your audience Many companies have clearly defined rules about what executive summaries should look like, but the most important factor to consider is your audience. The expectation of your cust omer, boss, or strategic partner should weigh heavily in how you craft your executive summary. For example, flashing it for 90 seconds as the first slide of your presentation might make sense for one audience, but a left-behind one-pager might be more valuable for another. Some companies give you carte blanche to design it however you wish while others require the title “Executive Summary” on top with specified sections below. Regardless of the form or layout, it is crucial to always tailor your executive summary to your unique audience. Yes, you can absolutely tell a story on one page Brain science tells us that organizing your ideas and data in a story structure will help your audience quickly remember your ideas. And an executive summary is the perfect opportunity to tell a story on one page. The arc of a great story includes setting, characters, and conflict (the WHY of your story); a BIG Idea (the WHAT of your story) and resolution (the HOW of your story). Can you build a quick and efficient executive summary that fits all these elements into one page and does not become a jam-packed mess? Yes. Let’s see how… Example 1 – GO Insurance Here’s a typical one-slide executive summary of a company called GO Insurance that is concerned with how to reach the next generation of insurance shoppers. In the “before” version below, you will see there are only some elements of a story present (but plenty of bullets and text!). Besides the passive heading at the top that doesn’t capture the BIG Idea, notice in the top portion of the slide, there are statements that represent the WHY of the story (setting, characters, and conflict). The setting (insurance market) and characters (Millennials/Gen Z/Boomers/Gen X) can also be identified. But the problem here (besides the boring look), is that there is nothing in the way of conflict. The audience is left wondering: why should I care? What’s not working? Here’s a marked-up version of the GO Insurance “before” executive summary slide: The bottom portion is all about the HOW (or story’s resolution) in the form of recommendations. This is problematic because without defining the conflict, the resolution feels meaningless. Ready for some relief? The “after” slide below shows the same executive summary, now with all four signposts and a BIG Idea. Notice how the BIG Idea (the WHAT of the story) is built right in the slide headline: To reach tomorrow’s insurance shoppers, we need to build relevance during their buying journey. Another great trick on this slide is the smaller header above the larger headline reading: Executive Summary. This works well when companies require stricter templates with an executive summary slide that must read “executive summary.” The slide doesn’t waste important storytelling real estate on a boring, generic heading that doesn’t move the story along. What’s working? Here’s a marked-up version of the GO Insurance “after” executive summary slide: If you take a look at this “after” executive summary through the lens of storytelling, you’ll notice the WHY is on the left and is heavily focused on the conflict. On an executive summary slide, the conflict should be front and center and ideally, backed by key data points. Worth noting that characters and setting are secondary. If they can be woven in lightly, great, that can increase the emotional connection of your story. In this example, there is mention of “customers’ kids” and “new buyers” as a hint of characters, but again, the conflict is central. Notice the HOW of the GO insurance story (a.k.a. the resolution) on the bottom right does not go deep into recommendations. This is more of a high-level preview. The recommendations are teased but true details will be revealed when the full story is told in supporting drill-down slides. What’s the bottom line? This executive summary offers a quick and easy way to grasp the essential elements of the story – the WHY, WHAT and HOW – all on one page. Example 2 – Quantum Airlines In our next example, Quantum Airlines is proposing ways to combat a pilot shortage. We’ll let the “before” executive summary speak for itself: Obviously, this is an eyesore with bullets galore! As pointed out below, the headline doesn’t say much and is really just a header. The slide jumps to all kinds of resolution before setting, characters, and most crucially, conflict has been established. And finally, the data is not being used strategically to support the story. What’s not working? Here’s a marked-up version of the Quantum Airlines “before” executive summary slide: You know the drill by now…ready for some relief? Let’s move on to an executive summary that tells a story. Here’s a great use of a BIG Idea headline: To secure our future, we need our share of pilots is again, a blaring headline at the top. The WHY is focused on the central conflict of the story: Pilot shortage threatens all of us. And finally, the resolution is at the bottom, directly addressing the conflict. What’s working? Here’s a marked-up version of the Quantum Airlines “after” executive summary slide: Worth pointing out: The horizontal layout of this executive summary is slightly different than the other example as it reads more top to bottom. But, the layout isn’t as critical as ensuring that your BIG Idea (your WHAT) is your dominant headline and that you’ve articulated your WHY and HOW. To Recap: Storytelling + Executive Summaries = ❤️ By applying effective story strategy, any residual hate feelings for executive summaries should tip in favor of love. Introduce just the key elements of your story, revealing glimpses of the WHY, WHAT, and HOW. Done right, this will pique the curiosity of your audience, compel them to lean in, and offer you the spotlight for your full story.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/TPC-resource-exec-summary-generic-featured-image.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T16:14:58-05:00" }, { "id": 11409, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/webinar-from-data-to-decisions-crafting-executive-summaries-that-tell-a-story/", "title": "[Webinar] From Data to Decisions: Crafting Executive Summaries That Tell a Story", "h1": "[Webinar] From Data to Decisions: Crafting Executive Summaries That Tell a Story", "summary": "You have unlimited data but limited time. Your stakeholders want insights, not spreadsheets. And when you're tasked with creating an executive summary, you face the ultimate challenge: how do you communicate critical insights in just ONE page that actually drives decisions? Watch this on-demand webinar to learn more!", "content": "

You have unlimited data but limited time. Your stakeholders want insights, not spreadsheets. And when you’re tasked with creating an executive summary, you face the ultimate challenge: how do you communicate critical insights in just ONE page that actually drives decisions? 

If you’ve ever stared at a blank slide wondering what to include—or worse, crammed everything onto one overwhelming page—you’re not alone. Business professionals across every industry struggle with this exact scenario. 

Are you tired of creating executive summaries that: 

If you answered ‘yes,’ then it’s time to discover the art of storytelling. 

In this 1-hour on-demand webinar, learn the proven storytelling framework that transforms how you craft any business communication. You’ll see real before-and-after executive summary transformations and discover practical techniques you can apply immediately to your own work. 

Watch now to discover how the right storytelling approach can help you cut through the noise, influence key decisions, and ensure your insights actually get the attention—and action—they deserve. 

You can view our Privacy Policy here. ", "content_plain": "You have unlimited data but limited time. Your stakeholders want insights, not spreadsheets. And when you’re tasked with creating an executive summary, you face the ultimate challenge: how do you communicate critical insights in just ONE page that actually drives decisions? If you’ve ever stared at a blank slide wondering what to include—or worse, crammed everything onto one overwhelming page—you’re not alone. Business professionals across every industry struggle with this exact scenario. Are you tired of creating executive summaries that: Overwhelm rather than clarify Include too much data without enough story Leave your audience confused about what action to take Lead to more questions instead of driving decisions? If you answered ‘yes,’ then it’s time to discover the art of storytelling. In this 1-hour on-demand webinar, learn the proven storytelling framework that transforms how you craft any business communication. You’ll see real before-and-after executive summary transformations and discover practical techniques you can apply immediately to your own work. Watch now to discover how the right storytelling approach can help you cut through the noise, influence key decisions, and ensure your insights actually get the attention—and action—they deserve. You can view our Privacy Policy here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2025-Webinar-promo-graphic-On-demand-v2.jpg", "modified": "2026-05-19T10:08:17-05:00" }, { "id": 11385, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/the-top-5-challenges-of-communicating-amid-everyday-business-demands/", "title": "The Top 5 Challenges of Communicating Amid Everyday Business Demands", "h1": "The Top 5 Challenges of Communicating Amid Everyday Business Demands", "summary": "Have you ever spent weeks perfecting a presentation only to hear \"Actually, we only have five minutes\"? Or sent what you thought was a clear email, only to trigger a chain of confused responses and emergency meetings? You're not alone—and it's costing more than just time.", "content": "

Workplace communication has become a make-or-break business skill. Teams are more distributed than ever, data flows faster than insights can be processed, and executives demand strategic thinking over operational updates. The result? Communication breakdowns that derail strategic initiatives and stall career advancement.

According to research, 40% of leaders have observed decreased productivity and extended project timelines as a direct result of poor communication.¹ Organizations consistently report missed opportunities when teams struggle to translate complex work into clear business value, while capable professionals fail to advance because they can’t effectively communicate their contributions.

Ineffective communication doesn’t just slow down projects, it quietly erodes professional credibility and limits organizational influence. The stakes are higher than ever.

Here are the core challenges that can trip up even the most capable teams…

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

\"\"Challenge 1: Email causes more confusion than clarity 

Email is how most people communicate at work, but it often creates confusion and slows things down. In fact, 90% of workplace misunderstandings originate via email.² This statistic reveals how easily context, intent, and strategic thinking can be lost in digital translation. 

Emails lack strategic context 

Teams communicate without explaining the broader business impact. Without proper context, recipients can’t prioritize effectively. Important information gets lost, requiring additional meetings to clarify what should have been clear from the start. 

Emails are forwarded without context 

We’ve all seen it happen—someone forwards an email chain with just “FYI” or “Thoughts?” and suddenly everyone’s playing detective, trying to piece together why this landed in their inbox. Recipients end up scrolling through a maze of replies, searching for clues about what to do with this information.  

The ripple effect is real: critical information slips through the cracks as it bounces between departments and before long, nobody’s quite sure what anyone else is talking about. 

\"\"Global complexity amplifies the problem 

When collaborating with colleagues scattered across the globe, email becomes an organization’s lifeline for keeping projects moving. But teams must juggle not only time zones, but different communication styles and language barriers. And here’s the catch—your team might only have one shot to get their message across before everyone’s day ends. Miss the mark with an unclear email, and 24 hours have just been added to the project timeline while everyone waits for clarification. 

\"\"Challenge 2: Time gets cut short 

Teams spend weeks perfecting presentations, only to hear “Actually, we only have five minutes.” This happens more and more frequently as executives have less time and decisions need to be made quickly. 

Most teams panic and try to speed-talk through their content, cramming 30 minutes of material into a five-minute window. They assume they need to cover every detail they prepared, believing that more information equals better communication.  

Teams often lack the flexibility to adapt their messages for different time constraints. They’ve built their presentation around their slides rather than around a cohesive story, making it impossible to pivot when circumstances change.  

\"\"Challenge 3: Your team is just providing an update 

While status updates may seem like a “check the box” activity, they’re actually opportunities for teams to get people excited about their work. But too many teams treat them like homework assignments they just need to get through. 

When teams don’t have a clear story to tell, people walk away from updates feeling confused. They’re not sure what’s happening next, and they’re not even sure why they should care. 

his is especially frustrating for teams doing amazing work. Teams might be delivering incredible results that drive real organizational impact, but if they can’t communicate that value clearly, nobody notices. Instead of highlighting wins, teams get bogged down in excessive detail, and the success story gets buried in the process. 

Leaders lose confidence in teams that can’t articulate their value. Resources get redirected to initiatives that communicate their importance more effectively, regardless of actual performance. 

\"\"Challenge 4: The audience is diverse 

When teams present to people from different departments, it’s like trying to hit a moving target. Technical folks who want detailed information sit alongside executives who just want the big picture. Go too deep and half the room zones out. Keep it too high-level and people will think the team doesn’t know their stuff.  

If people walk out confused or wondering why they were even there, it leads to yet another follow-up meeting to explain what should have been covered the first time around. Nothing kills project momentum like having to backtrack and re-explain everything.  

Different departments often struggle to align their messaging, making it difficult to establish a common language for storytelling. For regulated industries, this becomes even more complex as teams must balance compliance requirements with engaging communication. 

\"\"Challenge 5: Your team must be brief 

Executives are drowning in information and demand concise insights, yet teams often respond by creating more complex presentations. Fear of missing critical details drives “death by PowerPoint” culture, where every data point feels essential rather than distilling insights into actionable intelligence. 

Teams confuse comprehensiveness with thoroughness, believing they need to present every piece of supporting information to be credible. But when teams can’t translate their work into clear, actionable intelligence, they lose credibility and influence. Executives can’t identify key insights when they’re buried in presentations, leading to delayed decisions and missed opportunities. 

Important initiatives stall because decision-makers can’t quickly grasp what’s being proposed and why it matters. Projects take far longer than necessary when stakeholders must wade through excessive detail to understand implications. 

\"\"Team communication style must flex for any scenario 

Teams can’t use the same communication approach for every situation. What works when discussing project details internally isn’t going to work when presenting to senior leadership. The email style used with a close colleague probably isn’t the right tone for a client update.  

The most successful teams have mastered the art of communication flexibility. They can seamlessly shift between explaining technical details to colleagues and presenting the strategic big picture to executives—sometimes within the same meeting. 

Workplace communication will always present challenges, but these obstacles represent opportunities to stand out. Master flexible communication, and transform routine interactions into moments that build credibility and drive business impact. 

Resources:

1 The Atlantic, The High Stakes of Poor Communication

2 Forbes, To Email Or Not? 90% Of Workplace Misunderstandings Start Via Email

", "content_plain": "Workplace communication has become a make-or-break business skill. Teams are more distributed than ever, data flows faster than insights can be processed, and executives demand strategic thinking over operational updates. The result? Communication breakdowns that derail strategic initiatives and stall career advancement. According to research, 40% of leaders have observed decreased productivity and extended project timelines as a direct result of poor communication.¹ Organizations consistently report missed opportunities when teams struggle to translate complex work into clear business value, while capable professionals fail to advance because they can’t effectively communicate their contributions. Ineffective communication doesn’t just slow down projects, it quietly erodes professional credibility and limits organizational influence. The stakes are higher than ever. Here are the core challenges that can trip up even the most capable teams… You can view our Privacy Policy here. Challenge 1: Email causes more confusion than clarity Email is how most people communicate at work, but it often creates confusion and slows things down. In fact, 90% of workplace misunderstandings originate via email.² This statistic reveals how easily context, intent, and strategic thinking can be lost in digital translation. Emails lack strategic context Teams communicate without explaining the broader business impact. Without proper context, recipients can’t prioritize effectively. Important information gets lost, requiring additional meetings to clarify what should have been clear from the start. Emails are forwarded without context We’ve all seen it happen—someone forwards an email chain with just “FYI” or “Thoughts?” and suddenly everyone’s playing detective, trying to piece together why this landed in their inbox. Recipients end up scrolling through a maze of replies, searching for clues about what to do with this information. The ripple effect is real: critical information slips through the cracks as it bounces between departments and before long, nobody’s quite sure what anyone else is talking about. Global complexity amplifies the problem When collaborating with colleagues scattered across the globe, email becomes an organization’s lifeline for keeping projects moving. But teams must juggle not only time zones, but different communication styles and language barriers. And here’s the catch—your team might only have one shot to get their message across before everyone’s day ends. Miss the mark with an unclear email, and 24 hours have just been added to the project timeline while everyone waits for clarification. Challenge 2: Time gets cut short Teams spend weeks perfecting presentations, only to hear “Actually, we only have five minutes.” This happens more and more frequently as executives have less time and decisions need to be made quickly. Most teams panic and try to speed-talk through their content, cramming 30 minutes of material into a five-minute window. They assume they need to cover every detail they prepared, believing that more information equals better communication. Teams often lack the flexibility to adapt their messages for different time constraints. They’ve built their presentation around their slides rather than around a cohesive story, making it impossible to pivot when circumstances change. Challenge 3: Your team is just providing an update While status updates may seem like a “check the box” activity, they’re actually opportunities for teams to get people excited about their work. But too many teams treat them like homework assignments they just need to get through. When teams don’t have a clear story to tell, people walk away from updates feeling confused. They’re not sure what’s happening next, and they’re not even sure why they should care. his is especially frustrating for teams doing amazing work. Teams might be delivering incredible results that drive real organizational impact, but if they can’t communicate that value clearly, nobody notices. Instead of highlighting wins, teams get bogged down in excessive detail, and the success story gets buried in the process. Leaders lose confidence in teams that can’t articulate their value. Resources get redirected to initiatives that communicate their importance more effectively, regardless of actual performance. Challenge 4: The audience is diverse When teams present to people from different departments, it’s like trying to hit a moving target. Technical folks who want detailed information sit alongside executives who just want the big picture. Go too deep and half the room zones out. Keep it too high-level and people will think the team doesn’t know their stuff. If people walk out confused or wondering why they were even there, it leads to yet another follow-up meeting to explain what should have been covered the first time around. Nothing kills project momentum like having to backtrack and re-explain everything. Different departments often struggle to align their messaging, making it difficult to establish a common language for storytelling. For regulated industries, this becomes even more complex as teams must balance compliance requirements with engaging communication. Challenge 5: Your team must be brief Executives are drowning in information and demand concise insights, yet teams often respond by creating more complex presentations. Fear of missing critical details drives “death by PowerPoint” culture, where every data point feels essential rather than distilling insights into actionable intelligence. Teams confuse comprehensiveness with thoroughness, believing they need to present every piece of supporting information to be credible. But when teams can’t translate their work into clear, actionable intelligence, they lose credibility and influence. Executives can’t identify key insights when they’re buried in presentations, leading to delayed decisions and missed opportunities. Important initiatives stall because decision-makers can’t quickly grasp what’s being proposed and why it matters. Projects take far longer than necessary when stakeholders must wade through excessive detail to understand implications. Team communication style must flex for any scenario Teams can’t use the same communication approach for every situation. What works when discussing project details internally isn’t going to work when presenting to senior leadership. The email style used with a close colleague probably isn’t the right tone for a client update. The most successful teams have mastered the art of communication flexibility. They can seamlessly shift between explaining technical details to colleagues and presenting the strategic big picture to executives—sometimes within the same meeting. Workplace communication will always present challenges, but these obstacles represent opportunities to stand out. Master flexible communication, and transform routine interactions into moments that build credibility and drive business impact. Resources: 1 The Atlantic, The High Stakes of Poor Communication 2 Forbes, To Email Or Not? 90% Of Workplace Misunderstandings Start Via Email", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/communicating-amid-everyday-demands-resource-center-featured-image.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T10:57:08-05:00" }, { "id": 11373, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/how-ineffective-communication-is-sabotaging-your-business-impact/", "title": "How Ineffective Communication is Sabotaging Your Business Impact ", "h1": "How Ineffective Communication is Sabotaging Your Business Impact ", "summary": "Strong communication isn’t just an skill, it’s a strategic advantage. In a world where efficiency and collaboration often determine business success, even the most capable companies can struggle when communication between individuals or teams breaks down.", "content": "

Strong communication isn’t just an skill, it’s a strategic advantage. In a world where efficiency and collaboration often determine business success, even the most capable companies can struggle when communication between individuals or teams breaks down. Managers lose time reworking muddled messages, meetings pile up to clarify misunderstandings, projects stumble past deadlines, and innovative ideas fail to see the light of day.

Without a shared structure and common language for crafting compelling business narratives, the effects of poor communication ripple throughout the organization. Reduced productivity, wasted resources, and plummeting morale don’t just affect day-to-day operations, they hit the bottom line. In fact, companies with 100,000 employees or more lose an average of $62.4 million per year1 due to inadequate communication to and between employees. Worse yet, they hinder opportunities for team members to grow and excel within their roles, impacting the organization’s overall potential.

Let’s explore how these communication breakdowns impact your organization daily.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

\"\"Meetings multiply when communication fails 

Unnecessary meetings are a chronic problem in modern business. Fifty-one percent of people say they have to work overtime a few days a week due to meeting overload, and 78% say they’re expected to attend so many meetings that it’s hard to get their work done.2 Piling on, misunderstandings and lack of preparation often lead to follow-up meetings to clarify objectives or decisions. In fact, meetings are ineffective a whopping 72% of the time!2

Delays arise from misaligned expectations 

Miscommunication is a significant cause of project delays. From misaligned expectations to poorly conveyed priorities, small gaps in understanding can snowball into substantial setbacks. The issue often stems from insufficient context about why team members should contribute, what they need to do, and how their actions (or inactions) may impact the broader objective. When team members can’t quickly grasp what they need to know and do with the information being presented, delays are inevitable.​ ​This can also create a lack of trust between functions, impacting a team’s or individual reputations.

To make matters worse, if the initial communication or recommendation doesn’t land, other team members who are perceived as subject matter experts often get roped in to help clarify or fix the situation. This unintended involvement can create bottlenecks, misaligned focus, and further delays.

\"\"Innovation is stifled and projects fall flat 

Even the best ideas can fail to see the light of day if not communicated effectively. Whether presenting a business update to leadership or proposing a new initiative, failure to articulate value — and connect with your audience’s priorities — can stifle progress or, worse, doom projects even before they start. Innovative ideas thrive on buy-in, and buy-in hinges on compelling communication. 

People don’t understand what they need to do 

When communication fails to clarify what needs to be done and why it matters, your audience can feel disconnected, confused, or unmotivated to act. This lack of direction hampers productivity and increases the likelihood of errors. Emails, meetings, and presentations that lack clear, actionable insights or overuse jargon only exacerbate the problem.

\"\"Leaders and managers spend time reworking communications 

Compelling communication is a cornerstone of effective leadership. Yet, leaders and managers often find themselves stuck in cycles of clarification, rephrasing, and follow-up. When messages lack clarity, the effects are felt throughout the organization, leading to unnecessary work and diluted productivity.

This can also leave leaders stuck with the tedious and time-consuming task of cleaning up slide decks prepared by their teams, essentially becoming the help desk for cleaning up their teams’ presentations. Without a practical approach to communicating, even the most talented, capable professionals can fall short when presenting their ideas. Without succinct messaging, clear visuals, or a cohesive narrative, leaders may be left to pick up the pieces by revising and reworking the deck to ensure it meets the audience’s expectations and accurately represents the team’s contributions.

Progress is hampered by slow decision-making  

In a world where agility is key, slow decision-making can be a costly disadvantage. And worse yet, poor communication slows decision-making to a crawl. When stakeholders don’t have the context or clarity they need, decisions are deferred, debated, or abandoned altogether.

\"\"Turn communication roadblocks into results 

Poor communication is more than just an annoyance; it’s a productivity killer that costs businesses time, money, and innovation. Fortunately, organizations can reverse this trend by addressing it head-on with one of the simplest yet most powerful tools in business communication: storytelling. Business storytelling can bridge the gaps between data and decisions, problems and solutions, and ideas and outcomes.

How? By weaving storytelling into all forms of business communication — from emails, presentations, one-pagers, meetings, and more — professionals can deliver clarity from the outset, minimizing the need for endless meetings, multiple revisions, and audience confusion.

\"\"A well-structured story can present the facts, frame the stakes, and provide a clear recommendation. Instead of drowning in data, decision-makers can focus on the insights that matter most, enabling faster, more confident choices. It’s about crafting a cohesive narrative that connects people to purpose. 

Empowering employees at every level to uplevel their storytelling skills allows them to unlock the ability to translate information into impact. When organizations prioritize effective communication, they give individuals the confidence to navigate challenges and seize opportunities. And when leaders anchor communication in storytelling, they create a shared vision that everyone can rally around. By embedding storytelling into your culture and arming teams with the right tools and training to communicate effectively, productivity soars. Meetings move business forward. Projects hit their targets. And innovation flourishes.

References:

1 SHRM, Companies lose an average of $62.4 million per year due to communication inefficiencies

2 Atlassian, Atlassian statistics on meetings and productivity

", "content_plain": "Strong communication isn’t just an skill, it’s a strategic advantage. In a world where efficiency and collaboration often determine business success, even the most capable companies can struggle when communication between individuals or teams breaks down. Managers lose time reworking muddled messages, meetings pile up to clarify misunderstandings, projects stumble past deadlines, and innovative ideas fail to see the light of day. Without a shared structure and common language for crafting compelling business narratives, the effects of poor communication ripple throughout the organization. Reduced productivity, wasted resources, and plummeting morale don’t just affect day-to-day operations, they hit the bottom line. In fact, companies with 100,000 employees or more lose an average of $62.4 million per year1 due to inadequate communication to and between employees. Worse yet, they hinder opportunities for team members to grow and excel within their roles, impacting the organization’s overall potential. Let’s explore how these communication breakdowns impact your organization daily. You can view our Privacy Policy here. Meetings multiply when communication fails Unnecessary meetings are a chronic problem in modern business. Fifty-one percent of people say they have to work overtime a few days a week due to meeting overload, and 78% say they’re expected to attend so many meetings that it’s hard to get their work done.2 Piling on, misunderstandings and lack of preparation often lead to follow-up meetings to clarify objectives or decisions. In fact, meetings are ineffective a whopping 72% of the time!2 Delays arise from misaligned expectations Miscommunication is a significant cause of project delays. From misaligned expectations to poorly conveyed priorities, small gaps in understanding can snowball into substantial setbacks. The issue often stems from insufficient context about why team members should contribute, what they need to do, and how their actions (or inactions) may impact the broader objective. When team members can’t quickly grasp what they need to know and do with the information being presented, delays are inevitable.​ ​This can also create a lack of trust between functions, impacting a team’s or individual reputations. To make matters worse, if the initial communication or recommendation doesn’t land, other team members who are perceived as subject matter experts often get roped in to help clarify or fix the situation. This unintended involvement can create bottlenecks, misaligned focus, and further delays. Innovation is stifled and projects fall flat Even the best ideas can fail to see the light of day if not communicated effectively. Whether presenting a business update to leadership or proposing a new initiative, failure to articulate value — and connect with your audience’s priorities — can stifle progress or, worse, doom projects even before they start. Innovative ideas thrive on buy-in, and buy-in hinges on compelling communication. People don’t understand what they need to do When communication fails to clarify what needs to be done and why it matters, your audience can feel disconnected, confused, or unmotivated to act. This lack of direction hampers productivity and increases the likelihood of errors. Emails, meetings, and presentations that lack clear, actionable insights or overuse jargon only exacerbate the problem. Leaders and managers spend time reworking communications Compelling communication is a cornerstone of effective leadership. Yet, leaders and managers often find themselves stuck in cycles of clarification, rephrasing, and follow-up. When messages lack clarity, the effects are felt throughout the organization, leading to unnecessary work and diluted productivity. This can also leave leaders stuck with the tedious and time-consuming task of cleaning up slide decks prepared by their teams, essentially becoming the help desk for cleaning up their teams’ presentations. Without a practical approach to communicating, even the most talented, capable professionals can fall short when presenting their ideas. Without succinct messaging, clear visuals, or a cohesive narrative, leaders may be left to pick up the pieces by revising and reworking the deck to ensure it meets the audience’s expectations and accurately represents the team’s contributions. Progress is hampered by slow decision-making In a world where agility is key, slow decision-making can be a costly disadvantage. And worse yet, poor communication slows decision-making to a crawl. When stakeholders don’t have the context or clarity they need, decisions are deferred, debated, or abandoned altogether. Turn communication roadblocks into results Poor communication is more than just an annoyance; it’s a productivity killer that costs businesses time, money, and innovation. Fortunately, organizations can reverse this trend by addressing it head-on with one of the simplest yet most powerful tools in business communication: storytelling. Business storytelling can bridge the gaps between data and decisions, problems and solutions, and ideas and outcomes. How? By weaving storytelling into all forms of business communication — from emails, presentations, one-pagers, meetings, and more — professionals can deliver clarity from the outset, minimizing the need for endless meetings, multiple revisions, and audience confusion. A well-structured story can present the facts, frame the stakes, and provide a clear recommendation. Instead of drowning in data, decision-makers can focus on the insights that matter most, enabling faster, more confident choices. It’s about crafting a cohesive narrative that connects people to purpose. Empowering employees at every level to uplevel their storytelling skills allows them to unlock the ability to translate information into impact. When organizations prioritize effective communication, they give individuals the confidence to navigate challenges and seize opportunities. And when leaders anchor communication in storytelling, they create a shared vision that everyone can rally around. By embedding storytelling into your culture and arming teams with the right tools and training to communicate effectively, productivity soars. Meetings move business forward. Projects hit their targets. And innovation flourishes. References: 1 SHRM, Companies lose an average of $62.4 million per year due to communication inefficiencies 2 Atlassian, Atlassian statistics on meetings and productivity", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/how-inffective-communication-featured-image.png", "modified": "2026-05-19T10:33:35-05:00" }, { "id": 11447, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/the-business-world-runs-on-stories-why-storytelling-is-an-essential-hard-skill/", "title": "The Business World Runs on Stories: Why Storytelling is an Essential “Hard Skill”", "h1": "The Business World Runs on Stories: Why Storytelling is an Essential “Hard Skill”", "summary": "When you consider that the average knowledge worker spends 80-90% of their time communicating, the stakes become clear: effective communication isn’t just nice to have, it’s essential for business success.", "content": "

Poor communication is one of the biggest reasons why projects fail. Organizations lose massive amounts of productivity because people can’t communicate effectively.¹ When you consider that the average knowledge worker spends 80-90% of their time communicating,² the stakes become clear: effective communication isn’t just nice to have, it’s essential for business success.

Yet most organizations are facing a communication crisis hiding in plain sight.

The hidden cost of “Frankendecks” and data dumps

Peek into any business today, and you’ll witness a familiar scene: presentations cobbled together from recycled slides, overwhelming data dumps, and pretty templates that lack any coherent narrative. We call these Frankendecks—business communications that jump straight to solutions before giving the audience a reason to care about the topic.

The results are predictably costly. Stakeholders tune out during critical meetings. Decisions get delayed for weeks. Teams waste countless hours in follow-up meetings trying to clarify what should have been clear the first time. Research shows that better communication and collaboration could raise productivity by 20-25%.³

But here’s what’s particularly troubling: most organizations treat this as a simple skills gap when it’s actually a fundamental misalignment with how humans process information.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

Why your brain craves stories (and rejects bullet points)\"\"

The answer lies in understanding how the brain works. Humans don’t think in bullet points or data tables, we think in stories. Stories provide context, create emotional connection, and help us understand cause and effect.

\"\"When you structure your communication as a story, you’re working with your audience’s brain rather than against it. Think about the most memorable business communications you’ve experienced. They probably weren’t the ones with the most data or the fanciest slides. They were likely the ones that took you on a journey—setting up the situation, building tension around a problem, and delivering a satisfying solution.

This isn’t coincidence; it’s neuroscience. When we hear a story, our brains release oxytocin, which increases trust and empathy. Stories activate multiple areas of the brain simultaneously, making information more memorable and persuasive than traditional presentation formats.

Here’s the crucial difference: Most presentations start with the “how” and jump straight to solutions or recommendations. But storytelling begins with the “why”—establishing context and helping the audience understand the problem before explaining how you’ll solve it.

When you skip the setup, you’re asking your audience to care about something they don’t understand. When you lead with context and conflict, you create investment in the resolution.

From neuroscience to practice: The three pillars of business communication\"\"

Now that we understand why the brain craves stories over data dumps, the question becomes: how do you consistently create communications that work with the brain’s natural wiring? The answer lies in three key ingredients every great communicator needs:

Story Strategy provides a framework for organizing ideas and data into meaningful narratives by understanding audience needs, establishing context, and structuring information logically around the why, what, and how.

Visual Strategy focuses on intentional and purposeful visual design choices that support rather than distract from the narrative, going beyond making presentations “pretty.”

Data Strategy transforms facts into compelling evidence by extracting insights and connecting data points to business outcomes that answer “so what?” rather than just “what happened?”

\"\"While each pillar has its own focus, communicating with data plays a critical role across all three. Here’s how data shows up in each area:

In Story Strategy, we seek to understand where data lives in the context of your story.

In Visual Strategy, we want people to get inspired to bring their story to life visually.

In Data Strategy, we want to make it easy for your audience to digest your data at a glance.

The proven framework behind every compelling business story

These three pillars work together to help create stories that actually connect with people – because they follow the same structure the brain is already wired to understand.

The foundation: Why, what, how 

Every compelling business story answers three fundamental questions:

\"\"

The essential building blocks

Within this framework, every business story contains these essential elements, or what we refer to as the storytelling signposts:

Setting: The business context where your story takes place. This establishes the landscape and helps your audience understand the current situation.

Characters: The people, departments, or organizations affected by the situation. In business contexts, these might be customers, employees, competitors, or market segments.

Conflict: The challenge, problem, or opportunity that creates tension and gives your audience a reason to care. This is what makes your story worth telling.

BIG Idea: The one key message you want your audience to remember and act upon. This should be clear, specific, and actionable.

Resolution: Your recommended solution, strategy, or next steps that address the conflict and deliver on your BIG Idea.

This structure works because it matches how people naturally process information. We’re wired to understand stories, which is why narrative communication is more memorable and persuasive than data dumps or bullet-point presentations.

\"\"Building a culture of storytelling at scale

Understanding the storytelling framework is just the beginning. Successful implementation requires strategic thinking about who needs what level of capability development.

In our experience, the most successful companies take a holistic look at who needs what. We believe people develop capabilities in three distinct ways:

Gain Knowledge: To deliver skills at scale for larger audiences and align all supporting cast members (cross-functional teams)

Build Proficiency: To develop long-lasting behavior change supported by ongoing reinforcement

Increase Fluency: To develop mastery and help build a culture of storytelling across the organization

Our goal is to democratize storytelling and provide a common language and methodology to every employee, regardless of role or function. Because when everyone operates from the same playbook, the compound effect creates lasting impact across the entire organization.

\"\"The competitive advantage of clear communication

Companies that invest in building a culture of storytelling don’t just solve communication problems, they create a sustainable competitive advantage. In an economy where information is abundant but attention is scarce, the ability to craft compelling narratives isn’t just valuable, it’s essential for long-term success.

The question isn’t whether your organization needs better storytelling capabilities. The question is whether you’ll develop them intentionally before your competitors do.

When cross-functional teams share a common language for communication, when data gets transformed into actionable insights, and when every presentation advances the business forward instead of requiring follow-up meetings… that’s when storytelling becomes a strategic differentiator.

The path forward starts with recognizing that communication isn’t a soft skill. It’s the hard skill that determines whether your best ideas get heard, your strategies get executed, and your organization stays competitive.

References:

¹ Project Management Institute, Pulse of the Profession: The Power of Project Management, 2023. 

² McKinsey Global Institute, The Future of Work in America: People and Places, Today and Tomorrow, 2021. 

³ Deloitte, Future of Work Report: Connecting for a Human Purpose, 2022. 

", "content_plain": "Poor communication is one of the biggest reasons why projects fail. Organizations lose massive amounts of productivity because people can’t communicate effectively.¹ When you consider that the average knowledge worker spends 80-90% of their time communicating,² the stakes become clear: effective communication isn’t just nice to have, it’s essential for business success. Yet most organizations are facing a communication crisis hiding in plain sight. The hidden cost of “Frankendecks” and data dumps Peek into any business today, and you’ll witness a familiar scene: presentations cobbled together from recycled slides, overwhelming data dumps, and pretty templates that lack any coherent narrative. We call these Frankendecks—business communications that jump straight to solutions before giving the audience a reason to care about the topic. The results are predictably costly. Stakeholders tune out during critical meetings. Decisions get delayed for weeks. Teams waste countless hours in follow-up meetings trying to clarify what should have been clear the first time. Research shows that better communication and collaboration could raise productivity by 20-25%.³ But here’s what’s particularly troubling: most organizations treat this as a simple skills gap when it’s actually a fundamental misalignment with how humans process information. You can view our Privacy Policy here. Why your brain craves stories (and rejects bullet points) The answer lies in understanding how the brain works. Humans don’t think in bullet points or data tables, we think in stories. Stories provide context, create emotional connection, and help us understand cause and effect. When you structure your communication as a story, you’re working with your audience’s brain rather than against it. Think about the most memorable business communications you’ve experienced. They probably weren’t the ones with the most data or the fanciest slides. They were likely the ones that took you on a journey—setting up the situation, building tension around a problem, and delivering a satisfying solution. This isn’t coincidence; it’s neuroscience. When we hear a story, our brains release oxytocin, which increases trust and empathy. Stories activate multiple areas of the brain simultaneously, making information more memorable and persuasive than traditional presentation formats. Here’s the crucial difference: Most presentations start with the “how” and jump straight to solutions or recommendations. But storytelling begins with the “why”—establishing context and helping the audience understand the problem before explaining how you’ll solve it. When you skip the setup, you’re asking your audience to care about something they don’t understand. When you lead with context and conflict, you create investment in the resolution. From neuroscience to practice: The three pillars of business communication Now that we understand why the brain craves stories over data dumps, the question becomes: how do you consistently create communications that work with the brain’s natural wiring? The answer lies in three key ingredients every great communicator needs: Story Strategy provides a framework for organizing ideas and data into meaningful narratives by understanding audience needs, establishing context, and structuring information logically around the why, what, and how. Visual Strategy focuses on intentional and purposeful visual design choices that support rather than distract from the narrative, going beyond making presentations “pretty.” Data Strategy transforms facts into compelling evidence by extracting insights and connecting data points to business outcomes that answer “so what?” rather than just “what happened?” While each pillar has its own focus, communicating with data plays a critical role across all three. Here’s how data shows up in each area: In Story Strategy, we seek to understand where data lives in the context of your story. In Visual Strategy, we want people to get inspired to bring their story to life visually. In Data Strategy, we want to make it easy for your audience to digest your data at a glance. The proven framework behind every compelling business story These three pillars work together to help create stories that actually connect with people – because they follow the same structure the brain is already wired to understand. The foundation: Why, what, how Every compelling business story answers three fundamental questions: Why should your audience care? (The context and stakes) What do you want them to know or do? (Your BIG Idea) How will you deliver on your promise? (Your solution or recommendation) The essential building blocks Within this framework, every business story contains these essential elements, or what we refer to as the storytelling signposts: Setting: The business context where your story takes place. This establishes the landscape and helps your audience understand the current situation. Characters: The people, departments, or organizations affected by the situation. In business contexts, these might be customers, employees, competitors, or market segments. Conflict: The challenge, problem, or opportunity that creates tension and gives your audience a reason to care. This is what makes your story worth telling. BIG Idea: The one key message you want your audience to remember and act upon. This should be clear, specific, and actionable. Resolution: Your recommended solution, strategy, or next steps that address the conflict and deliver on your BIG Idea. This structure works because it matches how people naturally process information. We’re wired to understand stories, which is why narrative communication is more memorable and persuasive than data dumps or bullet-point presentations. Building a culture of storytelling at scale Understanding the storytelling framework is just the beginning. Successful implementation requires strategic thinking about who needs what level of capability development. In our experience, the most successful companies take a holistic look at who needs what. We believe people develop capabilities in three distinct ways: Gain Knowledge: To deliver skills at scale for larger audiences and align all supporting cast members (cross-functional teams) Build Proficiency: To develop long-lasting behavior change supported by ongoing reinforcement Increase Fluency: To develop mastery and help build a culture of storytelling across the organization Our goal is to democratize storytelling and provide a common language and methodology to every employee, regardless of role or function. Because when everyone operates from the same playbook, the compound effect creates lasting impact across the entire organization. The competitive advantage of clear communication Companies that invest in building a culture of storytelling don’t just solve communication problems, they create a sustainable competitive advantage. In an economy where information is abundant but attention is scarce, the ability to craft compelling narratives isn’t just valuable, it’s essential for long-term success. The question isn’t whether your organization needs better storytelling capabilities. The question is whether you’ll develop them intentionally before your competitors do. When cross-functional teams share a common language for communication, when data gets transformed into actionable insights, and when every presentation advances the business forward instead of requiring follow-up meetings… that’s when storytelling becomes a strategic differentiator. The path forward starts with recognizing that communication isn’t a soft skill. It’s the hard skill that determines whether your best ideas get heard, your strategies get executed, and your organization stays competitive. References: ¹ Project Management Institute, Pulse of the Profession: The Power of Project Management, 2023. ² McKinsey Global Institute, The Future of Work in America: People and Places, Today and Tomorrow, 2021. ³ Deloitte, Future of Work Report: Connecting for a Human Purpose, 2022. ", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/TPC-resource-business-world-runs-on-stories-featured-image.webp", "modified": "2026-05-19T10:55:14-05:00" }, { "id": 11455, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/communication-in-leadership/", "title": "The Power of Communication in Leadership (and Why It’s Critical to Success)", "h1": "The Power of Communication in Leadership (and Why It’s Critical to Success)", "summary": "Being a leader isn't just about making decisions or fixing problems. Great leaders create shared vision, improve conversations, and help people reach their potential. And at the heart of great leadership is great communication.", "content": "

Being a leader isn’t just about making decisions or fixing problems. Great leaders create shared vision, improve conversations, and help people reach their potential. And at the heart of great leadership is great communication. When leaders communicate well, they build trust and clarity that moves teams and businesses forward. When communication breaks down, so does trust, productivity, and progress.

Good communication sounds simple, but it’s a skill most of us were never taught. For many leaders, it’s a weak spot that can hurt relationships, make goals harder to reach, and slow down business success. Research shows that only 20% of U.S. employees trust their organization’s leadership.¹

Poor communication in leadership creates deep problems that keep hurting trust, creating confusion, and stopping progress. Without fixing these issues, teams get weaker, morale drops, and business results suffer.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

The hidden costs when leaders can’t communicate well

Poor leadership communication creates a chain reaction of business problems that companies often don’t see coming. When leaders can’t explain strategy clearly, their teams get stuck in endless meetings trying to figure out what they’re supposed to do. Companies often hold meeting after meeting just to get one presentation ready for executives—basically taking twice as long to make important decisions.

\"\"But the real cost goes far beyond wasted meeting time. When smart leaders can’t explain why their ideas matter, great innovations get unrecognized in boardrooms. Projects that should drive the business forward look like money pits because no one can tell a compelling story about why they’re worth the investment.

The biggest problem? Leaders who can’t communicate change well end up fighting resistance every step of the way. Instead of getting people excited about what’s possible, they have to force people to comply. And forced compliance never works as well as genuine buy-in.

Why most leadership training misses the point

\"\"Here’s a striking fact: Research shows that senior leaders spend the majority of their time communicating—with studies indicating executives spend up to 85% of their time in meetings, on calls, or at events where communication is the primary activity.2

Communication is literally how leadership work gets done.

Yet most leadership training focuses heavily on what are usually called “hard skills,” while treating communication as a nice-to-have skill. This creates a big mismatch. Leaders spend most of their time on something they may never have been trained to do well.

The result? Smart leaders who know their stuff but can’t turn their expertise into real impact. They know what needs to be done but can’t explain the why, the how, or why it’s urgent.

The four biggest communication challenges leaders face

Leadership requires mastering four different types of communication, each with its own challenges and requirements.

Making complex things simple

Technical leaders often know their area inside and out but struggle when talking to mixed audiences. They create “data dumps” instead of clear stories, overwhelming people with information instead of insights. This leads to slow decision-making and missed chances to influence important projects.

When technical experts can’t explain their ideas to non-technical audiences, they get left out of important planning meetings. Their knowledge gets lost because they can’t show leaders why it matters.

Getting different departments to work together

\"\"As companies become more complex, leaders must coordinate across departments that often have competing goals and different ways of communicating. Without a common way to communicate, these cross-department projects become translation exercises, with each department speaking its own language.

When everyone communicates differently, it confuses people and makes it harder for the company to work together on shared goals. Teams spend more time clarifying what they mean than actually getting work done.

Leading change through influence

Leaders must guide teams towards a sometimes murky and ambiguous future. They are tasked with bringing the anxiety level down and boosting the level of clarity up to get people interested in moving from a comfortable place to an uncomfortable place.

Storytelling and conviction are all part of that change journey. Leaders who are good at explaining change don’t try to fight people who resist it. Instead, they show people how the change will make their jobs better.

\"\"Building authentic executive presence

Moving from individual contributor to leader requires a big shift in how you communicate. New leaders must stop being the person with all the answers and become the person who asks the right questions and creates space for others to contribute their best thinking.

Leaders who struggle with authentic presence find themselves cut off from the insights they need to make good decisions. Their teams stop bringing forward challenging ideas or honest feedback, leaving leaders to operate with incomplete information.

Why trust breaks down when communication fails

\"\"When communication fails, trust is one of the first things to break. Over 40% of workers say that poor communication makes them trust their leaders and teammates less.³

Without clear ways to communicate at work, misunderstandings grow and create problems and confusion. Employees start to question what their leaders really want, find it hard to work with their coworkers, and lose confidence in where the company is going.

This breakdown in trust doesn’t just affect deadlines or make work harder—it hurts relationships, which are what really make a workplace healthy. Organizations end up creating expensive fixes: senior executives step in to redo presentations, subject matter experts take over meetings that should have been led by other leaders, and promising projects stall while teams wait for clarity that never comes.

The career effects are just as bad. Leaders who can’t communicate well get excluded from important decisions, passed over for promotions, or constantly need support from more senior executives. What started as a skills gap becomes a leadership crisis that gets harder and harder to fix.

Building trust requires smart communication that makes people confident in their leaders and helps everyone work together better.

How to fix the communication problem

Most companies try to solve communication issues with quick fixes or generic training. But these band-aid solutions don’t address the real problem.

\"\"The answer isn’t more presentation classes or public speaking workshops. Companies need organized ways to make communication a key business skill, not something they think about later.

The most effective approach addresses communication holistically: developing a clear story strategy that resonates with your audience, selecting visuals that reinforce rather than distract from your message, and presenting data in ways that compel action instead of confusion. When leaders master these interconnected skills, they can adapt their communication to any situation—from high-stakes emails to board presentations.

Companies that use this organized approach see real results. Teams report faster decision-making, better stakeholder buy-in, and improved cross-department collaboration. More importantly, they develop leaders who can confidently handle the 85% of their role that involves communication.

Creating lasting change

When leaders communicate with clarity and purpose, the benefits spread throughout the organization. Their teams show up differently, conversations improve, and strategic projects gain the momentum they need to succeed.

\"\"The change starts with recognizing that communication isn’t a soft skill—it’s a business-critical ability that directly affects every organizational outcome. Leaders who master this skill don’t just improve their own effectiveness; they unlock the potential of everyone around them.

Organizations that understand this reality and invest accordingly don’t just solve immediate communication problems. They build competitive advantages through leaders who can turn complexity into clarity, resistance into buy-in, and strategy into action.

References 

¹ Gallup, Indicator of Leadership and Management 

² Bailey-Hughes, B. CEOs Spend 85% of Their Time on One Skill 

³ Forbes, The Impact of Digital Communication in the Workplace 

", "content_plain": "Being a leader isn’t just about making decisions or fixing problems. Great leaders create shared vision, improve conversations, and help people reach their potential. And at the heart of great leadership is great communication. When leaders communicate well, they build trust and clarity that moves teams and businesses forward. When communication breaks down, so does trust, productivity, and progress. Good communication sounds simple, but it’s a skill most of us were never taught. For many leaders, it’s a weak spot that can hurt relationships, make goals harder to reach, and slow down business success. Research shows that only 20% of U.S. employees trust their organization’s leadership.¹ Poor communication in leadership creates deep problems that keep hurting trust, creating confusion, and stopping progress. Without fixing these issues, teams get weaker, morale drops, and business results suffer. You can view our Privacy Policy here. The hidden costs when leaders can’t communicate well Poor leadership communication creates a chain reaction of business problems that companies often don’t see coming. When leaders can’t explain strategy clearly, their teams get stuck in endless meetings trying to figure out what they’re supposed to do. Companies often hold meeting after meeting just to get one presentation ready for executives—basically taking twice as long to make important decisions. But the real cost goes far beyond wasted meeting time. When smart leaders can’t explain why their ideas matter, great innovations get unrecognized in boardrooms. Projects that should drive the business forward look like money pits because no one can tell a compelling story about why they’re worth the investment. The biggest problem? Leaders who can’t communicate change well end up fighting resistance every step of the way. Instead of getting people excited about what’s possible, they have to force people to comply. And forced compliance never works as well as genuine buy-in. Why most leadership training misses the point Here’s a striking fact: Research shows that senior leaders spend the majority of their time communicating—with studies indicating executives spend up to 85% of their time in meetings, on calls, or at events where communication is the primary activity.2 Communication is literally how leadership work gets done. Yet most leadership training focuses heavily on what are usually called “hard skills,” while treating communication as a nice-to-have skill. This creates a big mismatch. Leaders spend most of their time on something they may never have been trained to do well. The result? Smart leaders who know their stuff but can’t turn their expertise into real impact. They know what needs to be done but can’t explain the why, the how, or why it’s urgent. The four biggest communication challenges leaders face Leadership requires mastering four different types of communication, each with its own challenges and requirements. Making complex things simple Technical leaders often know their area inside and out but struggle when talking to mixed audiences. They create “data dumps” instead of clear stories, overwhelming people with information instead of insights. This leads to slow decision-making and missed chances to influence important projects. When technical experts can’t explain their ideas to non-technical audiences, they get left out of important planning meetings. Their knowledge gets lost because they can’t show leaders why it matters. Getting different departments to work together As companies become more complex, leaders must coordinate across departments that often have competing goals and different ways of communicating. Without a common way to communicate, these cross-department projects become translation exercises, with each department speaking its own language. When everyone communicates differently, it confuses people and makes it harder for the company to work together on shared goals. Teams spend more time clarifying what they mean than actually getting work done. Leading change through influence Leaders must guide teams towards a sometimes murky and ambiguous future. They are tasked with bringing the anxiety level down and boosting the level of clarity up to get people interested in moving from a comfortable place to an uncomfortable place. Storytelling and conviction are all part of that change journey. Leaders who are good at explaining change don’t try to fight people who resist it. Instead, they show people how the change will make their jobs better. Building authentic executive presence Moving from individual contributor to leader requires a big shift in how you communicate. New leaders must stop being the person with all the answers and become the person who asks the right questions and creates space for others to contribute their best thinking. Leaders who struggle with authentic presence find themselves cut off from the insights they need to make good decisions. Their teams stop bringing forward challenging ideas or honest feedback, leaving leaders to operate with incomplete information. Why trust breaks down when communication fails When communication fails, trust is one of the first things to break. Over 40% of workers say that poor communication makes them trust their leaders and teammates less.³ Without clear ways to communicate at work, misunderstandings grow and create problems and confusion. Employees start to question what their leaders really want, find it hard to work with their coworkers, and lose confidence in where the company is going. This breakdown in trust doesn’t just affect deadlines or make work harder—it hurts relationships, which are what really make a workplace healthy. Organizations end up creating expensive fixes: senior executives step in to redo presentations, subject matter experts take over meetings that should have been led by other leaders, and promising projects stall while teams wait for clarity that never comes. The career effects are just as bad. Leaders who can’t communicate well get excluded from important decisions, passed over for promotions, or constantly need support from more senior executives. What started as a skills gap becomes a leadership crisis that gets harder and harder to fix. Building trust requires smart communication that makes people confident in their leaders and helps everyone work together better. How to fix the communication problem Most companies try to solve communication issues with quick fixes or generic training. But these band-aid solutions don’t address the real problem. The answer isn’t more presentation classes or public speaking workshops. Companies need organized ways to make communication a key business skill, not something they think about later. The most effective approach addresses communication holistically: developing a clear story strategy that resonates with your audience, selecting visuals that reinforce rather than distract from your message, and presenting data in ways that compel action instead of confusion. When leaders master these interconnected skills, they can adapt their communication to any situation—from high-stakes emails to board presentations. Companies that use this organized approach see real results. Teams report faster decision-making, better stakeholder buy-in, and improved cross-department collaboration. More importantly, they develop leaders who can confidently handle the 85% of their role that involves communication. Creating lasting change When leaders communicate with clarity and purpose, the benefits spread throughout the organization. Their teams show up differently, conversations improve, and strategic projects gain the momentum they need to succeed. The change starts with recognizing that communication isn’t a soft skill—it’s a business-critical ability that directly affects every organizational outcome. Leaders who master this skill don’t just improve their own effectiveness; they unlock the potential of everyone around them. Organizations that understand this reality and invest accordingly don’t just solve immediate communication problems. They build competitive advantages through leaders who can turn complexity into clarity, resistance into buy-in, and strategy into action. References ¹ Gallup, Indicator of Leadership and Management ² Bailey-Hughes, B. CEOs Spend 85% of Their Time on One Skill ³ Forbes, The Impact of Digital Communication in the Workplace ", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/power-of-communication-in-leadership-resource-center-featured-image.webp", "modified": "2026-05-19T11:25:14-05:00" }, { "id": 11680, "type": "resources", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/resources/beyond-one-size-fits-all-communication-training/", "title": "Beyond One-Size-Fits-All: The Holistic Approach to Communication Training That Actually Works", "h1": "Beyond One-Size-Fits-All: The Holistic Approach to Communication Training That Actually Works", "summary": "When companies realize that their strategic initiatives are getting lost in translation due to poor communication, they face a sobering reality: even the most valuable insights mean nothing if they aren’t communicated well.", "content": "

When companies realize that their strategic initiatives are getting lost in translation due to poor communication, they face a sobering reality: even the most valuable insights mean nothing if they aren’t communicated well. This scenario plays out across organizations worldwide, where technical expertise and strategic thinking get buried under data dumps, hodge-podge presentations, and misaligned messaging. The culprit? Organizations rely on one-size-fits-all training approaches that leave most employees behind.

The numbers tell a stark story. According to recent research, 86% of employees and executives cite lack of effective communication as the primary cause of workplace failures.¹ Meanwhile, companies with effective communication practices are 3.5 times more likely to outperform their peers.² Despite these compelling statistics, most organizations continue to treat communication training as a one-size-fits-all solution rather than the strategic capability it needs to be.

The challenge isn’t just about individual communication skills, it’s about creating sustainable, organization-wide change that transforms how teams collaborate, influence decisions, and drive business results. The answer lies not in one-off training events, but in a holistic approach that recognizes different teams have different needs and builds capabilities systematically over time.

With 70% of employees reporting that poor communication has negatively impacted their job performance³, and organizations losing an average of $62.4 million annually due to communication breakdowns⁴, the stakes have never been higher.

You can view our Privacy Policy here.

Why traditional training approaches fall short

Here’s what’s broken. Traditional training falls into these critical traps:

Limited reach means limited impact: The traditional method of providing training only to high-potential individuals or senior leaders creates a culture of “haves and have-nots.” When only a select few receive training, the supporting staff who need to serve up critical insights are left without the skills to craft effective business communications.

\"\"No unified approach: Organizations often pull resources from various sources with no common framework, creating confusion rather than clarity. Different departments may learn conflicting methodologies, making cross-functional collaboration even more challenging. Meanwhile, employees are drowning in data without an effective way to organize it—and when everyone interprets and presents information differently, it leads to misaligned decisions, costly delays from unnecessary rework, and missed opportunities to act on critical insights.

Inconsistent quality: “All you can eat” training approaches introduce average methodologies that rarely tie to strategic initiatives and business goals. Without a cohesive training strategy, organizations end up with piecemeal skill development that doesn’t build upon itself.

Fragmented problem-solving: Traditional training tackles isolated problems—people starting with slides before thinking through their message, rigid templates that prevent contextualization for different audiences, and data dumps that never connect to a clear call-to-action. But these aren’t separate issues to solve individually; they’re symptoms of a larger gap. What’s missing is a comprehensive methodology that helps people think through the entire communication process from strategy to execution.

\"\"The result? Teams struggle with fundamental communication challenges:

The path to effective communication runs through storytelling

At its core, effective business communication is about storytelling—taking complex ideas and data points and weaving them into narratives that drive understanding, alignment, and action. Whether you’re presenting quarterly results, proposing a new initiative, or explaining technical requirements, you’re telling a story that needs a clear structure, a compelling message, and a connection to what matters most to your audience.

\"\"This is why we believe the most effective path to communication training is through storytelling. When organizations adopt storytelling as their communication methodology, the impact goes beyond presentation skills; it creates a systematic business process for how ideas are shared, decisions are influenced, and results are achieved across the entire organization.

The holistic approach: Meeting teams where they are

The most successful organizations recognize that building a culture of storytelling requires meeting diverse audiences where they are and providing appropriate levels of capability development. This means taking a strategic view of who needs what.

Building a holistic approach to storytelling requires three essential components:

  1. Establish a Common Language: Create a shared framework that works across teams and formats 

The first step is recognizing that individuals and teams communicate in fundamentally different ways. Some are primarily client-facing, delivering presentations and proposals. Others work mostly internally, leading meetings and aligning stakeholders. Still others rarely present at all, but communicate constantly through emails and written updates. Despite these differences, everyone needs a unified methodology that can flex to specific audiences and contexts. Organizations must establish a common language and framework that works across all functions and formats, ensuring everyone can adapt the same methodology to their needs while maintaining consistency.

  1. Gain Knowledge: Build skills at scale for broader audiences\"\"

With a common language established, organizations need a way to deliver this framework to broader audiences. Because everyone—regardless of role or function—plays a part in driving business forward, this level provides robust training at scale through a lighter-weight solution. The training includes action plans and real-world application opportunities that ensure it translates to actual skill development, not just passive learning.

  1. Build Proficiency: Develop long-lasting behavior change supported by ongoing reinforcement

\"\"

For teams driving strategic initiatives, influencing decision-makers, and presenting more frequently, teams need to deepen their storytelling mastery through advanced skill development. This happens when teams bring their real work to training sessions, receive in-depth coaching, and gain access to tools and reinforcement mechanisms that help them carry knowledge forward. By fostering peer-to-peer coaching, this level creates a safe and inclusive environment for best-practice sharing and constructive feedback. The result: storytelling becomes embedded into the organization’s culture rather than a temporary improvement.

This holistic approach to skill development addresses the core gaps that traditional training approaches create. It’s designed to: 

The goal is to democratize storytelling and provide a common language and methodology to every employee, because everyone – regardless of role or function – contributes to the success of a business. 

The power of a progressive methodology 

What makes this methodology particularly effective is how each level creates the foundation for the next. Like ascending a mountain, each stage expands storytelling capabilities in an integrated way. 

Rather than learning these skills in isolation, teams develop them together at increasing levels of sophistication. The foundational knowledge creates a common language that supports more advanced proficiency work. The proficiency level, in turn, develops the expertise needed to achieve true mastery. Each stage reinforces and deepens the previous learning while adding new dimensions.  

This progression ensures that teams don’t just learn isolated skills, but develop integrated storytelling capabilities that compound over time. The result is a proven process that works seamlessly across all levels of the organization, with a shared methodology that scales from individual contributors to senior leaders. 

Practical implementation strategies\"\"

Organizations implementing this approach typically follow one of two pathways:

Parallel learning paths: Some organizations run different audiences through appropriate levels simultaneously. Cross-functional teams might start with foundational skills while practitioners and people leaders dive deeper into training to build greater storytelling proficiency.

Sequential development: Other organizations prefer to establish foundational capabilities across the organization first, then select smaller cohorts for further development based on role requirements and business needs.

The key is ensuring that whatever path an organization chooses, the methodology builds upon itself rather than creating a disconnected skill development experience.

Measuring success and sustained impact

Organizations that successfully implement this approach typically see several indicators of success:

Immediate efficiency gains: Faster decision-making, fewer revision cycles, and reduced meeting overhead as communication becomes more effective.

Strategic execution improvements: Better alignment on strategic initiatives, more successful change management, and improved cross-functional collaboration.

Cultural transformation benefits: Common language adoption, enhanced leadership pipeline, and improved innovation recognition.

Sustained competitive advantage: Consistent external communication, stronger stakeholder relationships, and enhanced organizational reputation.

The path forward

Building a culture of storytelling isn’t about finding the perfect training program or the latest communication tool. It’s about making a choice: will you keep patching problems with one-off solutions, or will you prioritize communication as a key organizational capability?

\"\"Organizations that succeed in this effort typically start by assessing their current communication challenges and identifying which teams need what level of capability development. They then create implementation plans that provide appropriate learning pathways while ensuring that foundational skills are broadly distributed across the organization.

When communication becomes a strategic capability rather than a hoped-for outcome, organizations unlock the ability to turn their most valuable insights into business results that matter.

References:

¹ Grammarly Business Communication Report, 2023
² McKinsey Global Institute, “The Social Economy: Unlocking Value and Productivity,” 2023
³ Economist Intelligence Unit, “The Communication Crisis,” 2024
⁴ Society for Human Resource Management, “Communication Costs,” 2024

", "content_plain": "When companies realize that their strategic initiatives are getting lost in translation due to poor communication, they face a sobering reality: even the most valuable insights mean nothing if they aren’t communicated well. This scenario plays out across organizations worldwide, where technical expertise and strategic thinking get buried under data dumps, hodge-podge presentations, and misaligned messaging. The culprit? Organizations rely on one-size-fits-all training approaches that leave most employees behind. The numbers tell a stark story. According to recent research, 86% of employees and executives cite lack of effective communication as the primary cause of workplace failures.¹ Meanwhile, companies with effective communication practices are 3.5 times more likely to outperform their peers.² Despite these compelling statistics, most organizations continue to treat communication training as a one-size-fits-all solution rather than the strategic capability it needs to be. The challenge isn’t just about individual communication skills, it’s about creating sustainable, organization-wide change that transforms how teams collaborate, influence decisions, and drive business results. The answer lies not in one-off training events, but in a holistic approach that recognizes different teams have different needs and builds capabilities systematically over time. With 70% of employees reporting that poor communication has negatively impacted their job performance³, and organizations losing an average of $62.4 million annually due to communication breakdowns⁴, the stakes have never been higher. You can view our Privacy Policy here. Why traditional training approaches fall short Here’s what’s broken. Traditional training falls into these critical traps: Limited reach means limited impact: The traditional method of providing training only to high-potential individuals or senior leaders creates a culture of “haves and have-nots.” When only a select few receive training, the supporting staff who need to serve up critical insights are left without the skills to craft effective business communications. No unified approach: Organizations often pull resources from various sources with no common framework, creating confusion rather than clarity. Different departments may learn conflicting methodologies, making cross-functional collaboration even more challenging. Meanwhile, employees are drowning in data without an effective way to organize it—and when everyone interprets and presents information differently, it leads to misaligned decisions, costly delays from unnecessary rework, and missed opportunities to act on critical insights. Inconsistent quality: “All you can eat” training approaches introduce average methodologies that rarely tie to strategic initiatives and business goals. Without a cohesive training strategy, organizations end up with piecemeal skill development that doesn’t build upon itself. Fragmented problem-solving: Traditional training tackles isolated problems—people starting with slides before thinking through their message, rigid templates that prevent contextualization for different audiences, and data dumps that never connect to a clear call-to-action. But these aren’t separate issues to solve individually; they’re symptoms of a larger gap. What’s missing is a comprehensive methodology that helps people think through the entire communication process from strategy to execution. The result? Teams struggle with fundamental communication challenges: No common approach to communicating No alignment on how to show up in different scenarios No effective way to mentor or coach others No way to expose skill gaps until it’s too late The path to effective communication runs through storytelling At its core, effective business communication is about storytelling—taking complex ideas and data points and weaving them into narratives that drive understanding, alignment, and action. Whether you’re presenting quarterly results, proposing a new initiative, or explaining technical requirements, you’re telling a story that needs a clear structure, a compelling message, and a connection to what matters most to your audience. This is why we believe the most effective path to communication training is through storytelling. When organizations adopt storytelling as their communication methodology, the impact goes beyond presentation skills; it creates a systematic business process for how ideas are shared, decisions are influenced, and results are achieved across the entire organization. The holistic approach: Meeting teams where they are The most successful organizations recognize that building a culture of storytelling requires meeting diverse audiences where they are and providing appropriate levels of capability development. This means taking a strategic view of who needs what. Building a holistic approach to storytelling requires three essential components: Establish a Common Language: Create a shared framework that works across teams and formats The first step is recognizing that individuals and teams communicate in fundamentally different ways. Some are primarily client-facing, delivering presentations and proposals. Others work mostly internally, leading meetings and aligning stakeholders. Still others rarely present at all, but communicate constantly through emails and written updates. Despite these differences, everyone needs a unified methodology that can flex to specific audiences and contexts. Organizations must establish a common language and framework that works across all functions and formats, ensuring everyone can adapt the same methodology to their needs while maintaining consistency. Gain Knowledge: Build skills at scale for broader audiences With a common language established, organizations need a way to deliver this framework to broader audiences. Because everyone—regardless of role or function—plays a part in driving business forward, this level provides robust training at scale through a lighter-weight solution. The training includes action plans and real-world application opportunities that ensure it translates to actual skill development, not just passive learning. Build Proficiency: Develop long-lasting behavior change supported by ongoing reinforcement For teams driving strategic initiatives, influencing decision-makers, and presenting more frequently, teams need to deepen their storytelling mastery through advanced skill development. This happens when teams bring their real work to training sessions, receive in-depth coaching, and gain access to tools and reinforcement mechanisms that help them carry knowledge forward. By fostering peer-to-peer coaching, this level creates a safe and inclusive environment for best-practice sharing and constructive feedback. The result: storytelling becomes embedded into the organization’s culture rather than a temporary improvement. This holistic approach to skill development addresses the core gaps that traditional training approaches create. It’s designed to: Build and layer on the right level of skill development based on diverse audience needs Break down training barriers and eliminate the have/have-not culture that can keep some voices from being heard Ensure a learning experience that is relevant, impactful, and effectively drives both individual and organizational growth The goal is to democratize storytelling and provide a common language and methodology to every employee, because everyone – regardless of role or function – contributes to the success of a business. The power of a progressive methodology What makes this methodology particularly effective is how each level creates the foundation for the next. Like ascending a mountain, each stage expands storytelling capabilities in an integrated way. Rather than learning these skills in isolation, teams develop them together at increasing levels of sophistication. The foundational knowledge creates a common language that supports more advanced proficiency work. The proficiency level, in turn, develops the expertise needed to achieve true mastery. Each stage reinforces and deepens the previous learning while adding new dimensions. This progression ensures that teams don’t just learn isolated skills, but develop integrated storytelling capabilities that compound over time. The result is a proven process that works seamlessly across all levels of the organization, with a shared methodology that scales from individual contributors to senior leaders. Practical implementation strategies Organizations implementing this approach typically follow one of two pathways: Parallel learning paths: Some organizations run different audiences through appropriate levels simultaneously. Cross-functional teams might start with foundational skills while practitioners and people leaders dive deeper into training to build greater storytelling proficiency. Sequential development: Other organizations prefer to establish foundational capabilities across the organization first, then select smaller cohorts for further development based on role requirements and business needs. The key is ensuring that whatever path an organization chooses, the methodology builds upon itself rather than creating a disconnected skill development experience. Measuring success and sustained impact Organizations that successfully implement this approach typically see several indicators of success: Immediate efficiency gains: Faster decision-making, fewer revision cycles, and reduced meeting overhead as communication becomes more effective. Strategic execution improvements: Better alignment on strategic initiatives, more successful change management, and improved cross-functional collaboration. Cultural transformation benefits: Common language adoption, enhanced leadership pipeline, and improved innovation recognition. Sustained competitive advantage: Consistent external communication, stronger stakeholder relationships, and enhanced organizational reputation. The path forward Building a culture of storytelling isn’t about finding the perfect training program or the latest communication tool. It’s about making a choice: will you keep patching problems with one-off solutions, or will you prioritize communication as a key organizational capability? Organizations that succeed in this effort typically start by assessing their current communication challenges and identifying which teams need what level of capability development. They then create implementation plans that provide appropriate learning pathways while ensuring that foundational skills are broadly distributed across the organization. When communication becomes a strategic capability rather than a hoped-for outcome, organizations unlock the ability to turn their most valuable insights into business results that matter. References: ¹ Grammarly Business Communication Report, 2023 ² McKinsey Global Institute, “The Social Economy: Unlocking Value and Productivity,” 2023 ³ Economist Intelligence Unit, “The Communication Crisis,” 2024 ⁴ Society for Human Resource Management, “Communication Costs,” 2024", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/beyond-one-size-fits-all-resource-center-featured-image.webp", "modified": "2026-05-19T10:17:55-05:00" }, { "id": 7744, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/happy-holidays-from-tpc-2019/", "title": "Happy Holidays from TPC! [VIDEO]", "h1": "Happy Holidays from TPC! [VIDEO]", "summary": "May your holidays be filled with wonderful stories, and many more in 2020 ❄️  ", "content": "

May your holidays be filled with wonderful stories, and many more in 2020 ❄️

 

", "content_plain": "May your holidays be filled with wonderful stories, and many more in 2020 ❄️  ", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Holiday-video_thumbnail_V03.png", "modified": "2024-04-25T08:13:21-05:00" }, { "id": 7746, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tpc-contributes-to-trainingindustry-com-the-key-skill-your-boss-desperately-wants-you-to-have/", "title": "TPC Contributes to Training Industry: The Key Skill Your Boss (Desperately) Wants You to Have", "h1": "TPC Contributes to Training Industry: The Key Skill Your Boss (Desperately) Wants You to Have", "summary": "Everyone wants to boost his or her professional skill set to become more credible and influential. The question is, which skills should we focus on? Better yet, what is the one skill that will boost our value the most? The answer is simple: The most important business skill to master is the ability to communicate […]", "content": "

Everyone wants to boost his or her professional skill set to become more credible and influential. The question is, which skills should we focus on? Better yet, what is the one skill that will boost our value the most? The answer is simple: The most important business skill to master is the ability to communicate ideas clearly and succinctly.

Given that we spend most of our waking hours communicating with others, it may be surprising that many of us struggle to communicate ideas in business. Why do we find it challenging to balance the flow of data and information to our audience? It’s likely because we have an abundance of sheer information, and we have difficulty finding the “sweet spot” of what to highlight and what to hold back. Even some of the savviest data wizards have trouble controlling the amount of information they present. Many believe that showing more data, more facts, more evidence will help prove their point, but in fact, the opposite is often true.

A better approach? Have a big idea — an inspiring, insightful and actionable preview of what’s to come in your presentation or conversation. Your big idea is the best way to cut through “noise,” connect with your audience and drive decision-making.

How to Craft Your Big Idea

Too often, we want to dive straight into our status update, program pitch or detailed recommendation. First, however, you must prepare your audience to care about what you are going to say. Carefully consider what the presentation is about and the one critical takeaway you want your audience to know or do when they leave. This simple exercise will help you discover and ultimately articulate your big idea.

You should be able to capture your big idea in one concise, conversational statement that is made up of two parts: the “what” of your story (what you want your audience to know or do) and one to three high-level benefits.

Here is an example of a big idea: A new performance tracking dashboard will improve business results. In this case, “a new performance tracking dashboard” is what you want your audience to know, and “improve business results” is the benefit.

The big idea should be the most important, high-level idea you’re presenting and serve as an inspiring, insightful, actionable preview of what’s to come. Like the trailer to a movie, it must stand on its own. It is the through line for your presentation, connecting every other (supporting) fact or piece of data. You should establish your big idea early and reinforce it continually throughout your presentation verbally, visually or both.

Finally, your big idea should always be audience-focused (not presenter-centric). It should never be about your program, your tagline or the details of your recommendation. It should always focus on something your audience will immediately care about. Otherwise … why should they listen?

Information Overload Saps the Power out of Your Ideas

Given that most of us must sell ideas throughout our careers, it is imperative to master the skill of always having a big idea to drive the conversation forward. When you do have a big idea, you forego the most common mistake in business communication: overwhelming your audience with too many facts and figures. By isolating your big idea and focusing on the crux of your presentation, you can motivate your audience to act on your ideas — whether it’s their first or ninth meeting of the day.

Republished with permission from TrainingIndustry.com

", "content_plain": "Everyone wants to boost his or her professional skill set to become more credible and influential. The question is, which skills should we focus on? Better yet, what is the one skill that will boost our value the most? The answer is simple: The most important business skill to master is the ability to communicate ideas clearly and succinctly. Given that we spend most of our waking hours communicating with others, it may be surprising that many of us struggle to communicate ideas in business. Why do we find it challenging to balance the flow of data and information to our audience? It’s likely because we have an abundance of sheer information, and we have difficulty finding the “sweet spot” of what to highlight and what to hold back. Even some of the savviest data wizards have trouble controlling the amount of information they present. Many believe that showing more data, more facts, more evidence will help prove their point, but in fact, the opposite is often true. A better approach? Have a big idea — an inspiring, insightful and actionable preview of what’s to come in your presentation or conversation. Your big idea is the best way to cut through “noise,” connect with your audience and drive decision-making. How to Craft Your Big Idea Too often, we want to dive straight into our status update, program pitch or detailed recommendation. First, however, you must prepare your audience to care about what you are going to say. Carefully consider what the presentation is about and the one critical takeaway you want your audience to know or do when they leave. This simple exercise will help you discover and ultimately articulate your big idea. You should be able to capture your big idea in one concise, conversational statement that is made up of two parts: the “what” of your story (what you want your audience to know or do) and one to three high-level benefits. Here is an example of a big idea: A new performance tracking dashboard will improve business results. In this case, “a new performance tracking dashboard” is what you want your audience to know, and “improve business results” is the benefit. The big idea should be the most important, high-level idea you’re presenting and serve as an inspiring, insightful, actionable preview of what’s to come. Like the trailer to a movie, it must stand on its own. It is the through line for your presentation, connecting every other (supporting) fact or piece of data. You should establish your big idea early and reinforce it continually throughout your presentation verbally, visually or both. Finally, your big idea should always be audience-focused (not presenter-centric). It should never be about your program, your tagline or the details of your recommendation. It should always focus on something your audience will immediately care about. Otherwise … why should they listen? Information Overload Saps the Power out of Your Ideas Given that most of us must sell ideas throughout our careers, it is imperative to master the skill of always having a big idea to drive the conversation forward. When you do have a big idea, you forego the most common mistake in business communication: overwhelming your audience with too many facts and figures. By isolating your big idea and focusing on the crux of your presentation, you can motivate your audience to act on your ideas — whether it’s their first or ninth meeting of the day. Republished with permission from TrainingIndustry.com", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/BIG-Idea_TI-Main-Photo.jpg", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:33:59-05:00" }, { "id": 7748, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/join-tpc-for-business-storytelling-at-atd-cascadia-annual-conference/", "title": "Join TPC for Business Storytelling at ATD Cascadia Annual Conference", "h1": "Join TPC for Business Storytelling at ATD Cascadia Annual Conference", "summary": "Want to learn business storytelling fundamentals in 75 minutes? Join us at the upcoming ATD Cascadia conference on November 7th. Business storytelling is a powerful way to spread ideas. But often, when faced with a roomful of decision-makers, a story that resonates with one person may not with another. This session gets hands-on with practical, […]", "content": "

Want to learn business storytelling fundamentals in 75 minutes? Join us at the upcoming ATD Cascadia conference on November 7th.

Business storytelling is a powerful way to spread ideas. But often, when faced with a roomful of decision-makers, a story that resonates with one person may not with another. This session gets hands-on with practical, flexible storytelling fundamentals, fit for diverse audiences we face every day. You’ll explore how to flex and adapt story structure to specific audience needs—particularly an audience filled with multiple constituencies—and examine three common audience scenarios that can impact how stories are delivered.

Want in? BUY TICKETS HERE!

", "content_plain": "Want to learn business storytelling fundamentals in 75 minutes? Join us at the upcoming ATD Cascadia conference on November 7th. Business storytelling is a powerful way to spread ideas. But often, when faced with a roomful of decision-makers, a story that resonates with one person may not with another. This session gets hands-on with practical, flexible storytelling fundamentals, fit for diverse audiences we face every day. You’ll explore how to flex and adapt story structure to specific audience needs—particularly an audience filled with multiple constituencies—and examine three common audience scenarios that can impact how stories are delivered. Want in? BUY TICKETS HERE!", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ATD-Cascadia_Announcement_Social-Graphic.png", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:25:56-05:00" }, { "id": 7750, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/using-color-to-design-compelling-visual-presentations/", "title": "How to Use Color to Build Compelling Presentations", "h1": "How to Use Color to Build Compelling Presentations", "summary": "Whether you consciously realize it or not, color is a powerful way to associate ideas or products with certain emotions. The Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science found that colors influence brand personality, familiarity, and most importantly, desirability. Color is never arbitrary. Deep scarlet, mellow yellow, or striking tangerine each have the power to […]", "content": "

Whether you consciously realize it or not, color is a powerful way to associate ideas or products with certain emotions. The Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science found that colors influence brand personality, familiarity, and most importantly, desirability. Color is never arbitrary. Deep scarlet, mellow yellow, or striking tangerine each have the power to alter the general perception of your presentation. Of course the colors and branding for presentations matter just the same.

Here are four simple color tactics for creating clear, influential presentations that help get your message heard: 

1. Consider How You Want Color to Enhance Your Message

When it comes to presenting, colors can seriously affect how people feel about your message. This has dramatic implications for visual communications. When creating visuals for a presentation, consider how the colors you choose will affect the audience’s emotions: will they complement your message or detract from it? Fiery, passionate, red is a commanding, “hot” color. But is that the message you want to convey? Would cool, loyal, conservative blue—the choice of many financial institutions—be a better choice for you? Orange might seem eye-catching and friendly, but it can also be overstimulating. White might seem clean and inviting, but is it conveying your true personality?

The chart below will guide you in understanding the emotions your color choices will evoke—and when to avoid them.

\"\"

2. Let the Color Wheel Guide You

One of the greatest tricks of design is color contrast. Beyond establishing mood, this approach uses color to direct attention to your key message.

\"\"

Colors that are next to each other on the wheel, such as red and orange, typically make poor color match because their contrast is similar (in both hue and value), which can make it difficult to see—especially if your slides are being projected. Better color combinations are usually found using colors that are opposite on the color wheel, such as blue and orange. Black works well with light colors, and white coordinates with darker colors. For example, yellow and black are a good match because they are different in the contrast of both hue and value.

The chart below shows blue and orange contrasting in a very simple way. The colors immediately draw the idea to capture the chart’s key message.

\"Blue

3. Subdue…then POP!

Sometimes, you don’t have to choose complementary color wheel colors. One of our favorite tricks to making your key data pop is to keep all data gray except for one pop of color that draws emphasis to your key message. See below.

\"Using

4. Always be Consistent with Your Corporate Palette

There is no question that the techniques above will help you convey non-verbal ideas and incite emotion. But if you’re building a presentation on the job, it’s critical to always start with the colors found in your company’s brand guidelines. Not only will this keep your branding team happy, but it will guarantee visual consistency across all materials and ensure your presentation looks professional and on-brand.

\"Using

Color helps your message is understood at-a-glance

The important concept at work here is that it is critical to focus your audience’s attention. Using color to highlight your key insights helps ensure that your audience will be able to quickly and accurately grasp the meaning. This is ultimately the best way to use color to maximize the influence of your ideas.

Our Influencing with Visuals workshop goes well beyond use of color, teaching you how to organize your ideas into clear, memorable, persuasive visual messages. Contact us to learn more about training your team to design effective visual presentations.

", "content_plain": "Whether you consciously realize it or not, color is a powerful way to associate ideas or products with certain emotions. The Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science found that colors influence brand personality, familiarity, and most importantly, desirability. Color is never arbitrary. Deep scarlet, mellow yellow, or striking tangerine each have the power to alter the general perception of your presentation. Of course the colors and branding for presentations matter just the same. Here are four simple color tactics for creating clear, influential presentations that help get your message heard: 1. Consider How You Want Color to Enhance Your Message When it comes to presenting, colors can seriously affect how people feel about your message. This has dramatic implications for visual communications. When creating visuals for a presentation, consider how the colors you choose will affect the audience’s emotions: will they complement your message or detract from it? Fiery, passionate, red is a commanding, “hot” color. But is that the message you want to convey? Would cool, loyal, conservative blue—the choice of many financial institutions—be a better choice for you? Orange might seem eye-catching and friendly, but it can also be overstimulating. White might seem clean and inviting, but is it conveying your true personality? The chart below will guide you in understanding the emotions your color choices will evoke—and when to avoid them. 2. Let the Color Wheel Guide You One of the greatest tricks of design is color contrast. Beyond establishing mood, this approach uses color to direct attention to your key message. Colors that are next to each other on the wheel, such as red and orange, typically make poor color match because their contrast is similar (in both hue and value), which can make it difficult to see—especially if your slides are being projected. Better color combinations are usually found using colors that are opposite on the color wheel, such as blue and orange. Black works well with light colors, and white coordinates with darker colors. For example, yellow and black are a good match because they are different in the contrast of both hue and value. The chart below shows blue and orange contrasting in a very simple way. The colors immediately draw the idea to capture the chart’s key message. 3. Subdue…then POP! Sometimes, you don’t have to choose complementary color wheel colors. One of our favorite tricks to making your key data pop is to keep all data gray except for one pop of color that draws emphasis to your key message. See below. 4. Always be Consistent with Your Corporate Palette There is no question that the techniques above will help you convey non-verbal ideas and incite emotion. But if you’re building a presentation on the job, it’s critical to always start with the colors found in your company’s brand guidelines. Not only will this keep your branding team happy, but it will guarantee visual consistency across all materials and ensure your presentation looks professional and on-brand. Color helps your message is understood at-a-glance The important concept at work here is that it is critical to focus your audience’s attention. Using color to highlight your key insights helps ensure that your audience will be able to quickly and accurately grasp the meaning. This is ultimately the best way to use color to maximize the influence of your ideas. Our Influencing with Visuals workshop goes well beyond use of color, teaching you how to organize your ideas into clear, memorable, persuasive visual messages. Contact us to learn more about training your team to design effective visual presentations.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Power-of-COlor_Candy.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T15:57:16-05:00" }, { "id": 7752, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/visual-storytelling-improve-your-executive-presence-and-catapult-your-career/", "title": "Visual Storytelling: Improve Your Executive Presence and Catapult Your Career", "h1": "Visual Storytelling: Improve Your Executive Presence and Catapult Your Career", "summary": "Want to naturally “own the room,” navigate difficult questions, and influence decision-making? The magic happens when you apply storytelling to business communications. Watch this video to learn how our corporate storytelling workshop can boost your executive presence, and ultimately, your career.   Contact us to learn more about our storytelling workshops for teams.", "content": "

Want to naturally “own the room,” navigate difficult questions, and influence decision-making? The magic happens when you apply storytelling to business communications. Watch this video to learn how our corporate storytelling workshop can boost your executive presence, and ultimately, your career.

 

Contact us to learn more about our storytelling workshops for teams.

", "content_plain": "Want to naturally “own the room,” navigate difficult questions, and influence decision-making? The magic happens when you apply storytelling to business communications. Watch this video to learn how our corporate storytelling workshop can boost your executive presence, and ultimately, your career.   Contact us to learn more about our storytelling workshops for teams.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Exec-presence-Thumbnail_03_with-play-button.png", "modified": "2023-02-28T11:27:36-05:00" }, { "id": 7754, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tpc-wins-excellence-in-learning-award-from-brandon-hall-group/", "title": "TPC Wins “Excellence in Learning” Award from Brandon Hall Group", "h1": "TPC Wins “Excellence in Learning” Award from Brandon Hall Group", "summary": "The Presentation Company, which teaches practical visual storytelling and data visualization techniques to teams at the world’s top brands, won Brandon Hall Group’s 2019 coveted “Best Result of a Learning Program” with its client Boston Scientific. In a process that included hundreds of global applicants and extensive documentation of the learning program, TPC was recognized […]", "content": "

The Presentation Company, which teaches practical visual storytelling and data visualization techniques to teams at the world’s top brands, won Brandon Hall Group’s 2019 coveted “Best Result of a Learning Program” with its client Boston Scientific.

In a process that included hundreds of global applicants and extensive documentation of the learning program, TPC was recognized in the Excellence Awards for its success in transforming 700+ Boston Scientific employees into clear, succinct visual storytellers.

Janine Kurnoff, Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer at TPC, said upon winning the achievement, “When communicating complicated and highly critical information like Boston Scientific’s teams are, the ability to distill your ideas into visual—and therefore memorable—messages is imperative. We’re honored to be recognized for making an impact on so many highly skilled professionals, and that the impact has rippled throughout the company.”

Storytelling and Data Visualization Workshops Turn Technical Teams into Visual Storytellers

Boston Scientific began its partnership with TPC in 2017, in search of training solutions that would help its project managers convey complex information to business partners clearly and succinctly. TPC analyzed Boston Scientific’s business challenges and knew that, to be successful, they would need to put audiences and customers at the center of their stories, learn to highlight insights and key points, and communicate data and information in a digestible, actionable way.

After rolling the program out to an initial group of ~80 project managers with tremendous success, Boston Scientific expanded its audience for the training, which now totals roughly 700 employees. Today, colleagues and management of participants continue to notice a dramatic, visible improvement in the quality of communications.

Kathy Shields, Boston Scientific’s Central Region Talent Development Manager, said this about TPC’s storytelling and data visualization workshops: “This program has simply exploded—there’s no other word to describe it. In my 6 ½ years at Boston Scientific, I have not seen this level of interest in a learning initiative…and it was all generated by word of mouth. We have done no marketing for this program, yet people are seeing an immediate difference in the way their colleagues communicate and are asking if they can take part. We were very pleased with the first pilot and course offerings and continue to see sustained strong interest because people see the difference in presentations across the company.”

About Brandon Hall Group and the Excellence Awards Program

“Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards Program has recognized leading organizations for the past twenty-plus years for the latest trends in Human Capital Management,” said Rachel Cooke, Brandon Hall Group COO and leader of the HCM Excellence Awards Program. “The initiatives that were honored are not only innovative but fit the unique needs of the business and create truly remarkable success stories.”

Award entries were evaluated by a panel of veteran, independent senior industry experts, Brandon Hall Group analysts and executives based upon the following criteria: fit the need, design of the program, functionality, innovation and overall measurable benefits.

The Excellence Awards recognize organizations that have led the way in innovation: successfully deploying programs, strategies, modalities, processes, systems, and tools that have achieved measurable results.

“The HCM Excellence Awards recognize programs that measurably benefit organizations,” said Mike Cooke, Brandon Hall Group CEO. “Many human capital management departments are unable to confirm that their initiatives help the business’s bottom line. Because we focus on measurable benefits, our awards program is universally recognized and highly prestigious.”

Brandon Hall Group is an HCM research and advisory services firm that provides insights around key performance areas, including Learning and Development, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Talent Acquisition and HR/Workforce Management. With more than 10,000 clients globally and 25 years of delivering world-class research and advisory services, Brandon Hall Group is focused on developing research that drives performance in emerging and large organizations, and provides strategic insights for executives and practitioners responsible for growth and business results.

About The Presentation Company

For two decades, TPC has offered workshops that help Fortune 500 companies tell visual stories that powerfully connect with their audience. Co-founders (and sisters) Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus, along with their team, have developed award-winning strategy and tools that give people the confidence and skills to turn their data and recommendations into engaging, audience-centric business narratives.

Want to learn more about our award-winning training? Call us at 888-991-0208 or check out our Crafting Strategic Visual Stories workshop.

", "content_plain": "The Presentation Company, which teaches practical visual storytelling and data visualization techniques to teams at the world’s top brands, won Brandon Hall Group’s 2019 coveted “Best Result of a Learning Program” with its client Boston Scientific. In a process that included hundreds of global applicants and extensive documentation of the learning program, TPC was recognized in the Excellence Awards for its success in transforming 700+ Boston Scientific employees into clear, succinct visual storytellers. Janine Kurnoff, Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer at TPC, said upon winning the achievement, “When communicating complicated and highly critical information like Boston Scientific’s teams are, the ability to distill your ideas into visual—and therefore memorable—messages is imperative. We’re honored to be recognized for making an impact on so many highly skilled professionals, and that the impact has rippled throughout the company.” Storytelling and Data Visualization Workshops Turn Technical Teams into Visual Storytellers Boston Scientific began its partnership with TPC in 2017, in search of training solutions that would help its project managers convey complex information to business partners clearly and succinctly. TPC analyzed Boston Scientific’s business challenges and knew that, to be successful, they would need to put audiences and customers at the center of their stories, learn to highlight insights and key points, and communicate data and information in a digestible, actionable way. After rolling the program out to an initial group of ~80 project managers with tremendous success, Boston Scientific expanded its audience for the training, which now totals roughly 700 employees. Today, colleagues and management of participants continue to notice a dramatic, visible improvement in the quality of communications. Kathy Shields, Boston Scientific’s Central Region Talent Development Manager, said this about TPC’s storytelling and data visualization workshops: “This program has simply exploded—there’s no other word to describe it. In my 6 ½ years at Boston Scientific, I have not seen this level of interest in a learning initiative…and it was all generated by word of mouth. We have done no marketing for this program, yet people are seeing an immediate difference in the way their colleagues communicate and are asking if they can take part. We were very pleased with the first pilot and course offerings and continue to see sustained strong interest because people see the difference in presentations across the company.” About Brandon Hall Group and the Excellence Awards Program “Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards Program has recognized leading organizations for the past twenty-plus years for the latest trends in Human Capital Management,” said Rachel Cooke, Brandon Hall Group COO and leader of the HCM Excellence Awards Program. “The initiatives that were honored are not only innovative but fit the unique needs of the business and create truly remarkable success stories.” Award entries were evaluated by a panel of veteran, independent senior industry experts, Brandon Hall Group analysts and executives based upon the following criteria: fit the need, design of the program, functionality, innovation and overall measurable benefits. The Excellence Awards recognize organizations that have led the way in innovation: successfully deploying programs, strategies, modalities, processes, systems, and tools that have achieved measurable results. “The HCM Excellence Awards recognize programs that measurably benefit organizations,” said Mike Cooke, Brandon Hall Group CEO. “Many human capital management departments are unable to confirm that their initiatives help the business’s bottom line. Because we focus on measurable benefits, our awards program is universally recognized and highly prestigious.” Brandon Hall Group is an HCM research and advisory services firm that provides insights around key performance areas, including Learning and Development, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Talent Acquisition and HR/Workforce Management. With more than 10,000 clients globally and 25 years of delivering world-class research and advisory services, Brandon Hall Group is focused on developing research that drives performance in emerging and large organizations, and provides strategic insights for executives and practitioners responsible for growth and business results. About The Presentation Company For two decades, TPC has offered workshops that help Fortune 500 companies tell visual stories that powerfully connect with their audience. Co-founders (and sisters) Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus, along with their team, have developed award-winning strategy and tools that give people the confidence and skills to turn their data and recommendations into engaging, audience-centric business narratives. Want to learn more about our award-winning training? Call us at 888-991-0208 or check out our Crafting Strategic Visual Stories workshop.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/BSC-China-Reception_with-award.jpg", "modified": "2024-06-14T10:35:43-05:00" }, { "id": 7756, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tpc-wins-excellence-in-leadership-development-award-from-brandon-hall-group/", "title": "TPC Wins “Excellence in Leadership Development” Award from Brandon Hall Group", "h1": "TPC Wins “Excellence in Leadership Development” Award from Brandon Hall Group", "summary": "The Presentation Company, which teaches practical business storytelling techniques to teams at the world’s top brands, won Brandon Hall Group’s 2019 coveted “Best Advance in Senior Manager Development” award with its client Medtronic. In a process that included hundreds of global applicants and extensive documentation of the learning program, TPC was recognized in the Excellence […]", "content": "

The Presentation Company, which teaches practical business storytelling techniques to teams at the world’s top brands, won Brandon Hall Group’s 2019 coveted “Best Advance in Senior Manager Development” award with its client Medtronic.

In a process that included hundreds of global applicants and extensive documentation of the learning program, TPC was recognized in the Excellence Awards for its success in transforming 650+ Medtronic employees into strategic, authentic storytellers.

“When you only have one shot at being memorable, having the right tools and strategies to influence, be credible, and come across authentically cannot be understated. It’s a privilege to help so many talented businesspeople up-level the way they communicate their ideas, and ultimately advance their career,” said Lee Lazarus, Co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer at The Presentation Company. “Being recognized for the tangible results of our corporate storytelling workshop is a tremendous honor.”

Storytelling Workshop Turns High-potential Teams into Inspirational Leaders

In 2017, Medtronic sought TPC’s help in transforming senior managers from its Elevate program into influential, engaging leaders. After hearing Medtronic’s business challenges, TPC recognized a pattern of common communication issues and designed programs that would arm these managers with the ability to tell compelling, audience-centric stories (including in an impersonal virtual meeting environment) and find the right balance of information, rather than relying too heavily on data and bullet points.

Seeing overwhelming success of the workshops during early engagements, Medtronic expanded its target audience from the original 500 Elevate members to another 150+ high-potential employees.

After completing the workshop, one Medtronic participant noted, “I led our management team through the ‘Crafting Strategic Visual Stories’ process (using TPC’s Visual Story Planner) to create a presentation on a difficult and contentious topic. The presentation was very successful and, in addition to positive verbal feedback, we received the following written feedback as well: ‘This was one of the best and most compelling presentations I have seen at Medtronic. So simple but so powerful and persuasive.’”

About Brandon Hall Group and the Excellence Awards Program

“Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards Program has recognized leading organizations for the past twenty-plus years for the latest trends in Human Capital Management,” said Rachel Cooke, Brandon Hall Group COO and leader of the HCM Excellence Awards Program. “The initiatives that were honored are not only innovative but fit the unique needs of the business and create truly remarkable success stories.”

Award entries were evaluated by a panel of veteran, independent senior industry experts, Brandon Hall Group analysts and executives based upon the following criteria: fit the need, design of the program, functionality, innovation and overall measurable benefits.

The Excellence Awards recognize organizations that have led the way in innovation: successfully deploying programs, strategies, modalities, processes, systems, and tools that have achieved measurable results.

“The HCM Excellence Awards recognize programs that measurably benefit organizations,” said Mike Cooke, Brandon Hall Group CEO. “Many human capital management departments are unable to confirm that their initiatives help the business’s bottom line. Because we focus on measurable benefits, our awards program is universally recognized and highly prestigious.”

Brandon Hall Group is an HCM research and advisory services firm that provides insights around key performance areas, including Learning and Development, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Talent Acquisition and HR/Workforce Management. With more than 10,000 clients globally and 25 years of delivering world-class research and advisory services, Brandon Hall Group is focused on developing research that drives performance in emerging and large organizations, and provides strategic insights for executives and practitioners responsible for growth and business results.

About The Presentation Company

For two decades, TPC has offered workshops that help Fortune 500 companies tell visual stories that powerfully connect with their audience. Co-founders (and sisters) Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus, along with their team, have developed award-winning strategy and tools that give people the confidence and skills to turn their data and recommendations into engaging, audience-centric business narratives.

Want to learn more about our award-winning training? Call us at 888-991-0208 or check out our Crafting Strategic Visual Stories workshop.

", "content_plain": "The Presentation Company, which teaches practical business storytelling techniques to teams at the world’s top brands, won Brandon Hall Group’s 2019 coveted “Best Advance in Senior Manager Development” award with its client Medtronic. In a process that included hundreds of global applicants and extensive documentation of the learning program, TPC was recognized in the Excellence Awards for its success in transforming 650+ Medtronic employees into strategic, authentic storytellers. “When you only have one shot at being memorable, having the right tools and strategies to influence, be credible, and come across authentically cannot be understated. It’s a privilege to help so many talented businesspeople up-level the way they communicate their ideas, and ultimately advance their career,” said Lee Lazarus, Co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer at The Presentation Company. “Being recognized for the tangible results of our corporate storytelling workshop is a tremendous honor.” Storytelling Workshop Turns High-potential Teams into Inspirational Leaders In 2017, Medtronic sought TPC’s help in transforming senior managers from its Elevate program into influential, engaging leaders. After hearing Medtronic’s business challenges, TPC recognized a pattern of common communication issues and designed programs that would arm these managers with the ability to tell compelling, audience-centric stories (including in an impersonal virtual meeting environment) and find the right balance of information, rather than relying too heavily on data and bullet points. Seeing overwhelming success of the workshops during early engagements, Medtronic expanded its target audience from the original 500 Elevate members to another 150+ high-potential employees. After completing the workshop, one Medtronic participant noted, “I led our management team through the ‘Crafting Strategic Visual Stories’ process (using TPC’s Visual Story Planner) to create a presentation on a difficult and contentious topic. The presentation was very successful and, in addition to positive verbal feedback, we received the following written feedback as well: ‘This was one of the best and most compelling presentations I have seen at Medtronic. So simple but so powerful and persuasive.’” About Brandon Hall Group and the Excellence Awards Program “Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards Program has recognized leading organizations for the past twenty-plus years for the latest trends in Human Capital Management,” said Rachel Cooke, Brandon Hall Group COO and leader of the HCM Excellence Awards Program. “The initiatives that were honored are not only innovative but fit the unique needs of the business and create truly remarkable success stories.” Award entries were evaluated by a panel of veteran, independent senior industry experts, Brandon Hall Group analysts and executives based upon the following criteria: fit the need, design of the program, functionality, innovation and overall measurable benefits. The Excellence Awards recognize organizations that have led the way in innovation: successfully deploying programs, strategies, modalities, processes, systems, and tools that have achieved measurable results. “The HCM Excellence Awards recognize programs that measurably benefit organizations,” said Mike Cooke, Brandon Hall Group CEO. “Many human capital management departments are unable to confirm that their initiatives help the business’s bottom line. Because we focus on measurable benefits, our awards program is universally recognized and highly prestigious.” Brandon Hall Group is an HCM research and advisory services firm that provides insights around key performance areas, including Learning and Development, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Talent Acquisition and HR/Workforce Management. With more than 10,000 clients globally and 25 years of delivering world-class research and advisory services, Brandon Hall Group is focused on developing research that drives performance in emerging and large organizations, and provides strategic insights for executives and practitioners responsible for growth and business results. About The Presentation Company For two decades, TPC has offered workshops that help Fortune 500 companies tell visual stories that powerfully connect with their audience. Co-founders (and sisters) Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus, along with their team, have developed award-winning strategy and tools that give people the confidence and skills to turn their data and recommendations into engaging, audience-centric business narratives. Want to learn more about our award-winning training? Call us at 888-991-0208 or check out our Crafting Strategic Visual Stories workshop.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Medtronic-with-Medal-2.png", "modified": "2024-06-14T10:35:08-05:00" }, { "id": 7758, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/5-advantages-of-working-with-a-certified-women-owned-business-like-tpc/", "title": "5 Advantages of Working with a *Certified* Women-Owned Business (Like TPC)", "h1": "5 Advantages of Working with a *Certified* Women-Owned Business (Like TPC)", "summary": "Many major corporations—like Netflix, Visa, and Proctor & Gamble—are aggressively seeking diversity in who they partner with and hire. Besides the obvious social reasons to do this, there are many other important (and bankable…!) advantages to doing business with diversity-based companies, including those that are women-owned. Here at TPC, we’re proud to be 100% women-owned, […]", "content": "

Many major corporations—like Netflix, Visa, and Proctor & Gamble—are aggressively seeking diversity in who they partner with and hire. Besides the obvious social reasons to do this, there are many other important (and bankable…!) advantages to doing business with diversity-based companies, including those that are women-owned.

Here at TPC, we’re proud to be 100% women-owned, certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). Here are five reasons doing business with a certified women-owned business will give your company more than just good karma:

1) Two words: Tax Incentives!

Working with a women-owned business will get you some well-deserved federal tax benefits. That’s right: the government wants to support diversity and is seriously putting its money where its mouth is. Some states even grant tax incentives for working with women-led companies (thank you California and Georgia!). What’s more, in many cases tax liabilities are reduced for projects funded with federal or state grants or loans. Because, let’s face it: nothing’s wrong with tax incentives.

2) Diversity Breeds High Quality and Reliability
We know…partnerships between companies can be risky. But amazingly, one way to mitigate that risk is to partner with a diverse supplier. Ninety-nine percent of diverse suppliers were shown to meet or exceed their client’s expectations. What more could you ask for?

3) It Shows Your Care About Economic Growth in Local Communities

Did you know that, like other small businesses, diverse companies are some of the fastest growing and most innovative companies in our country? And they are everywhere. They are in cities, suburbs, farmhouses…you name it. Working with women-owned businesses means you are investing in these locales, spurring economic growth and opportunity.

4) Say Hello New Revenue Opportunities!

OK, this one is almost too good to be true…but it’s true! Partnering with diverse organizations isn’t just an issue of social responsibility, it is actually proven to be good for business—including improved quality and increased market share. Research shows that up to 10 percent of sales come with supplier diversity requirements, suggesting that the lack of such a program can even result in lost revenue. This is impossible to ignore.

5) Job seekers will favor you

This one might surprise people. Over two-thirds of all job seekers want to know a company’s approach to diversity before considering working there. They are interested in a diverse workforce, which may include not only who a company hires as an employee, but who they hire as a supplier. The message is getting clearer: social responsibility is becoming more and more important to people (hello, Millennials!).

So, what is the WBENC?

The WBENC is a federal program designed to spur greater diversity in business. They believe that fueling diversity leads to greater innovation, revenue opportunities, and is overall good for the economy.They have a rigorous certification process (believe us!) which, to begin with, guarantees that a business is at least 51% owned and controlled by women. Read more about the WBENC certification here.

You Guessed It, TPC is Certified Women-Owned!

We’ve had the honor of being WBENC-certified since 2016. And although the process was rigorous and involved site visits and extensive documentation, it was well worth it. In addition to offering our popular visual storytelling workshops, we can offer partners and clients some valuable tax and revenue advantages. Win-win!

To find out more about our WBENC certification or corporate storytelling workshops, click here to get in touch.

", "content_plain": "Many major corporations—like Netflix, Visa, and Proctor & Gamble—are aggressively seeking diversity in who they partner with and hire. Besides the obvious social reasons to do this, there are many other important (and bankable…!) advantages to doing business with diversity-based companies, including those that are women-owned. Here at TPC, we’re proud to be 100% women-owned, certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). Here are five reasons doing business with a certified women-owned business will give your company more than just good karma: 1) Two words: Tax Incentives! Working with a women-owned business will get you some well-deserved federal tax benefits. That’s right: the government wants to support diversity and is seriously putting its money where its mouth is. Some states even grant tax incentives for working with women-led companies (thank you California and Georgia!). What’s more, in many cases tax liabilities are reduced for projects funded with federal or state grants or loans. Because, let’s face it: nothing’s wrong with tax incentives. 2) Diversity Breeds High Quality and Reliability We know…partnerships between companies can be risky. But amazingly, one way to mitigate that risk is to partner with a diverse supplier. Ninety-nine percent of diverse suppliers were shown to meet or exceed their client’s expectations. What more could you ask for? 3) It Shows Your Care About Economic Growth in Local Communities Did you know that, like other small businesses, diverse companies are some of the fastest growing and most innovative companies in our country? And they are everywhere. They are in cities, suburbs, farmhouses…you name it. Working with women-owned businesses means you are investing in these locales, spurring economic growth and opportunity. 4) Say Hello New Revenue Opportunities! OK, this one is almost too good to be true…but it’s true! Partnering with diverse organizations isn’t just an issue of social responsibility, it is actually proven to be good for business—including improved quality and increased market share. Research shows that up to 10 percent of sales come with supplier diversity requirements, suggesting that the lack of such a program can even result in lost revenue. This is impossible to ignore. 5) Job seekers will favor you This one might surprise people. Over two-thirds of all job seekers want to know a company’s approach to diversity before considering working there. They are interested in a diverse workforce, which may include not only who a company hires as an employee, but who they hire as a supplier. The message is getting clearer: social responsibility is becoming more and more important to people (hello, Millennials!). So, what is the WBENC? The WBENC is a federal program designed to spur greater diversity in business. They believe that fueling diversity leads to greater innovation, revenue opportunities, and is overall good for the economy.They have a rigorous certification process (believe us!) which, to begin with, guarantees that a business is at least 51% owned and controlled by women. Read more about the WBENC certification here. You Guessed It, TPC is Certified Women-Owned! We’ve had the honor of being WBENC-certified since 2016. And although the process was rigorous and involved site visits and extensive documentation, it was well worth it. In addition to offering our popular visual storytelling workshops, we can offer partners and clients some valuable tax and revenue advantages. Win-win! To find out more about our WBENC certification or corporate storytelling workshops, click here to get in touch.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lee-and-Janine_WBENC_Certified.jpeg", "modified": "2023-03-03T12:56:43-05:00" }, { "id": 7760, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/how-do-i-tell-a-story-in-an-email/", "title": "How Do I Tell a Story in an Email? [VIDEO]", "h1": "How Do I Tell a Story in an Email? [VIDEO]", "summary": "Ever wonder how you can apply storytelling to something as simple as an email? Watch this short video to see a vague, confusing email transformed into a clear, succinct story: Want more storytelling tips you can instantly put into practice? Check out our corporate storytelling workshop for teams: Crafting Strategic Visual Stories", "content": "

Ever wonder how you can apply storytelling to something as simple as an email? Watch this short video to see a vague, confusing email transformed into a clear, succinct story:

Want more storytelling tips you can instantly put into practice? Check out our corporate storytelling workshop for teams: Crafting Strategic Visual Stories

", "content_plain": "Ever wonder how you can apply storytelling to something as simple as an email? Watch this short video to see a vague, confusing email transformed into a clear, succinct story: Want more storytelling tips you can instantly put into practice? Check out our corporate storytelling workshop for teams: Crafting Strategic Visual Stories", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Tell-a-story-in-email_Thumbnail-02_with-play-button.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T15:38:52-05:00" }, { "id": 7762, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/insights-on-digital-on-demand-learning/", "title": "What We’ve Uncovered: How On-demand Learning Increases Global Team Collaboration", "h1": "What We’ve Uncovered: How On-demand Learning Increases Global Team Collaboration", "summary": "Imagine this…you are in an online storytelling workshop alongside colleagues overseas. You share a sample story of a program you’ve been laboring over. Your Parisian colleague quickly comments on your post: “I worked on a nearly identical program 6 months ago! I have many insights to share.” Then another colleague from Dubai chimes in, “I […]", "content": "

Imagine this…you are in an online storytelling workshop alongside colleagues overseas. You share a sample story of a program you’ve been laboring over. Your Parisian colleague quickly comments on your post: “I worked on a nearly identical program 6 months ago! I have many insights to share.”

Then another colleague from Dubai chimes in, “I know the buyer really well. Let me offer you some insights to help tell your story.” Hong Kong then wakes up, “Interesting, we worked with this client on a different project and they have a very specific way they like to be presented to. I suggest you leverage some of our learnings!”

For many, it was the first time they were not operating in a silo. They were interacting digitally and getting much more than the just new skills—they were transforming themselves into peer advisers and coaches.

New relationships, increased accountability, improved learning outcomes

Six months ago, these 30 workshop participants ditched their one-day face-to-face workshop, opting instead for a fully digital, on-demand learning environment. Over the two weeks that followed, an extraordinary amount of interaction took place, unfolding effortlessly.

“We were astonished by the buzz of interaction that erupted,” said TPC’s workshop facilitator, Janine Kurnoff. “The interest in peer coaching on the platform, amongst even the farthest-flung cross-functional employees, was remarkable.” And the best part? It didn’t stop, even after the two-week course wrapped.

Through a blend of videos, assignments, peer mentoring and on-demand coaching, learning and collaboration began immediately. They had options for ways to engage with one another and assess each other’s stories: either by tagging others—including the coach—in a comment to request feedback, creating a group chat, or simply adding to a discussion board. No matter how they went about it, everything was contained in the environment and always mapped back to the concepts and assignments that were being taught.

Digital Platforms Tear Down Learning Barriers

Today’s learning industry is not only faced with the challenge of training teams—all around the globe—in innovative, engaging ways, but also with ensuring behavior change sticks beyond the day of training—often through peer coaching and ongoing reinforcement tools. As business storytelling becomes an increasingly critical skill for improving communications and executive presence, it’s becoming more apparent than ever that on-demand storytelling training is the ultimate delivery vehicle for global teams—providing reach and scale at a fraction of the cost of face-to-face training.

\"Digital

If you’re like many innovative companies, you’re eager to incorporate digital learning into your programs. Digital training provides access to important skills for anyone at your company, regardless of their level, function, or geography. But before you rush, you should know that not all experiences are created equal. While many e-learning experiences offer short videos that provide just a preview of key concepts, true behavior change is generated through a strategic blend of top-notch instructional design; clear, compelling visuals; and endless opportunities for interaction and accountability—all wrapped in a cutting-edge platform. At the end of the day, it’s all about creating a learning experience that’s relevant, applicable, and meets the learners where they’re at.

From storytelling to data visualization, the best digital workshops are pushing the boundaries of collaboration far beyond imagination. To learn more about TPC’s digital on-demand workshops, click here.

", "content_plain": "Imagine this…you are in an online storytelling workshop alongside colleagues overseas. You share a sample story of a program you’ve been laboring over. Your Parisian colleague quickly comments on your post: “I worked on a nearly identical program 6 months ago! I have many insights to share.” Then another colleague from Dubai chimes in, “I know the buyer really well. Let me offer you some insights to help tell your story.” Hong Kong then wakes up, “Interesting, we worked with this client on a different project and they have a very specific way they like to be presented to. I suggest you leverage some of our learnings!” For many, it was the first time they were not operating in a silo. They were interacting digitally and getting much more than the just new skills—they were transforming themselves into peer advisers and coaches. New relationships, increased accountability, improved learning outcomes Six months ago, these 30 workshop participants ditched their one-day face-to-face workshop, opting instead for a fully digital, on-demand learning environment. Over the two weeks that followed, an extraordinary amount of interaction took place, unfolding effortlessly. “We were astonished by the buzz of interaction that erupted,” said TPC’s workshop facilitator, Janine Kurnoff. “The interest in peer coaching on the platform, amongst even the farthest-flung cross-functional employees, was remarkable.” And the best part? It didn’t stop, even after the two-week course wrapped. Through a blend of videos, assignments, peer mentoring and on-demand coaching, learning and collaboration began immediately. They had options for ways to engage with one another and assess each other’s stories: either by tagging others—including the coach—in a comment to request feedback, creating a group chat, or simply adding to a discussion board. No matter how they went about it, everything was contained in the environment and always mapped back to the concepts and assignments that were being taught. Digital Platforms Tear Down Learning Barriers Today’s learning industry is not only faced with the challenge of training teams—all around the globe—in innovative, engaging ways, but also with ensuring behavior change sticks beyond the day of training—often through peer coaching and ongoing reinforcement tools. As business storytelling becomes an increasingly critical skill for improving communications and executive presence, it’s becoming more apparent than ever that on-demand storytelling training is the ultimate delivery vehicle for global teams—providing reach and scale at a fraction of the cost of face-to-face training. If you’re like many innovative companies, you’re eager to incorporate digital learning into your programs. Digital training provides access to important skills for anyone at your company, regardless of their level, function, or geography. But before you rush, you should know that not all experiences are created equal. While many e-learning experiences offer short videos that provide just a preview of key concepts, true behavior change is generated through a strategic blend of top-notch instructional design; clear, compelling visuals; and endless opportunities for interaction and accountability—all wrapped in a cutting-edge platform. At the end of the day, it’s all about creating a learning experience that’s relevant, applicable, and meets the learners where they’re at. From storytelling to data visualization, the best digital workshops are pushing the boundaries of collaboration far beyond imagination. To learn more about TPC’s digital on-demand workshops, click here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Learning-Journey-Anytime-Anywhere-No-words.png", "modified": "2023-02-28T09:28:46-05:00" }, { "id": 7764, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/5-ways-to-ace-your-next-big-meeting-video/", "title": "5 Ways to Ace Your Next Big Meeting [VIDEO]", "h1": "5 Ways to Ace Your Next Big Meeting [VIDEO]", "summary": "Ask nearly any senior leader what their biggest frustrations are and, more often than not, they will answer, “long-winded, unclear communications that pack in too much information and not enough real insights.” Let’s face it: Time-strapped, impatient executives are already overloaded with information. So how do you make your time count? Watch this video to […]", "content": "

Ask nearly any senior leader what their biggest frustrations are and, more often than not, they will answer, “long-winded, unclear communications that pack in too much information and not enough real insights.”

Let’s face it: Time-strapped, impatient executives are already overloaded with information. So how do you make your time count? Watch this video to learn 5 simple tips to ace your next big meeting.

Want more strategies for making your ideas shine? Check out our corporate storytelling workshop for teams: Crafting Strategic Visual Stories

", "content_plain": "Ask nearly any senior leader what their biggest frustrations are and, more often than not, they will answer, “long-winded, unclear communications that pack in too much information and not enough real insights.” Let’s face it: Time-strapped, impatient executives are already overloaded with information. So how do you make your time count? Watch this video to learn 5 simple tips to ace your next big meeting. Want more strategies for making your ideas shine? Check out our corporate storytelling workshop for teams: Crafting Strategic Visual Stories", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/5-ways-to-ace-exec-presentation_Thumbnail-with-play-button.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T13:41:48-05:00" }, { "id": 7766, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/looking-to-increase-collaboration-go-digital/", "title": "Looking to Increase Collaboration? Go Digital. [VIDEO]", "h1": "Looking to Increase Collaboration? Go Digital. [VIDEO]", "summary": "We’ve gone digital. Welcome to our scalable storytelling solution that increases cross-functional collaboration and gives learners the flexibility to access content on their time, on any device. Jump in and see the magic in this 1-minute video:", "content": "

We’ve gone digital. Welcome to our scalable storytelling solution that increases cross-functional collaboration and gives learners the flexibility to access content on their time, on any device. Jump in and see the magic in this 1-minute video:

", "content_plain": "We’ve gone digital. Welcome to our scalable storytelling solution that increases cross-functional collaboration and gives learners the flexibility to access content on their time, on any device. Jump in and see the magic in this 1-minute video:", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Digital-THumbnail_With-play-button.png", "modified": "2024-04-25T08:14:47-05:00" }, { "id": 7768, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/5-tips-for-building-learner-engagement-through-storytelling/", "title": "5 Tips for Building Engagement through Storytelling", "h1": "5 Tips for Building Engagement through Storytelling", "summary": "By Melony Bravmann, Chief Learning Officer at The Presentation Company. The human brain is wired to learn. It’s also wired for story. Stories help learners connect with ideas through the power of emotion—giving their audience a reason to care about what they are learning. They help audiences better understand complex and abstract concepts, creating context […]", "content": "

By Melony Bravmann, Chief Learning Officer at The Presentation Company.

The human brain is wired to learn. It’s also wired for story. Stories help learners connect with ideas through the power of emotion—giving their audience a reason to care about what they are learning. They help audiences better understand complex and abstract concepts, creating context that’s more tangible and relatable.

If you’re after great learning retention (aren’t we all?) stories that are emotionally compelling are more memorable, and more enduring than dry sets of facts and figures. The opposite also holds true. If your content doesn’t include a few great stories, you’re missing an opportunity for deep engagement and high retention.

For the past fifteen years, I’ve dedicated myself to talent development. There’s never been a time I didn’t believe well-placed stories could be helpful learning tools. But today there’s a newer, deeper understanding of the power of storytelling. More than a savvy tool for clear communication or a flourish to dress up your facts, storytelling is the essential DNA behind any learning program.

The good news: It’s not difficult to build storytelling into your learning program, and you can start doing it today. Here are five tips to get you started:

1. Back away from PowerPoint and get to know your audience first.

If you’re like many other businesspeople, there’s a good chance you want to start building your story in PowerPoint. Don’t do it! First, think about your audience. Who are they? What makes them unique? What is happening in their world? You already design learning around your audience’s needs—apply this same discipline to creating stories that will help them understand and relate to it. You might be surprised when you find out that certain assumptions about your audience are wrong. Digging deeper will give you more insight into what’s familiar for them, ensuring your narrative is relevant and effective.

2. Use highly relevant short stories to help learners absorb difficult concepts.

We’re all facing competing priorities and information overload. It’s no wonder learning new skills, ideas, and behaviors can be hard. When you throw challenging concepts or processes into the mix, it’s even tougher to retain everything. Identify the most difficult concepts in your learning and use short stories to bring them to life, so that your audience can connect the ideas to their world.

3. Capture learners’ attention by applying a universal story structure.

Every great story includes setting, character, conflict, and resolution. Whether you’re consciously aware of it or not, it’s a structure you’re intimately familiar with—and it translates beautifully into learning. Set the scene and ground learners by introducing a setting, use characters to create empathy, and increase tension with some conflict before sharing what they are ultimately supposed to know or do.

4. Use stories to deepen engagement.

Have participants tell stories of their own. For instance: Share an example of a time you faced adversity in the workplace because you spoke up against something you knew was wrong, or Tell us about a time a great leader guided you through change effectively? Set the scene for us. How did they introduce the change?

When learners create stories in real time, they are challenged to think through problems in a different way. This helps them discover new insights on their own so they can remember them longer.

5. Set the senses on fire.

When developing stories, make them more tangible by incorporating elements that engage the senses. This can be done verbally: Did the CEO give a speech to an anxious, talkative crowd? Did the team offsite take place at a quiet resort with rolling green hills? Describe the scene in vivid detail to help participants imagine themselves there. Better yet, incorporate visuals, video, or music that directly captivate the senses.

Talent Developers are Devoted to People’s Success

Here’s a window into why I’ve focused much of my career on talent development: We do this work because we are devoted to serving others. We are committed to people’s development, success, and lifelong learning. For me, it’s what makes showing up to my desk each day a joy.

The truth is, no matter how good you are with instructional design; no matter how well you address the technical pieces of the learning design, if you aren’t weaving storytelling into the content, you will probably struggle to hold people’s attention. But when you incorporate narratives that are relevant and emotionally compelling, not only will learners be more engaged, you’ll improve their chances of absorbing and retaining information.

Excited about infusing storytelling into your learning programs? Learn practical strategies for building authentic, captivating visual stories with TPC’s corporate storytelling workshop.

\"Melony

Melony Bravmann, Chief Learning Officer at the Presentation Company, leads the team that designs, develops, and delivers learning programs to our valued customers.

", "content_plain": "By Melony Bravmann, Chief Learning Officer at The Presentation Company. The human brain is wired to learn. It’s also wired for story. Stories help learners connect with ideas through the power of emotion—giving their audience a reason to care about what they are learning. They help audiences better understand complex and abstract concepts, creating context that’s more tangible and relatable. If you’re after great learning retention (aren’t we all?) stories that are emotionally compelling are more memorable, and more enduring than dry sets of facts and figures. The opposite also holds true. If your content doesn’t include a few great stories, you’re missing an opportunity for deep engagement and high retention. For the past fifteen years, I’ve dedicated myself to talent development. There’s never been a time I didn’t believe well-placed stories could be helpful learning tools. But today there’s a newer, deeper understanding of the power of storytelling. More than a savvy tool for clear communication or a flourish to dress up your facts, storytelling is the essential DNA behind any learning program. The good news: It’s not difficult to build storytelling into your learning program, and you can start doing it today. Here are five tips to get you started: 1. Back away from PowerPoint and get to know your audience first. If you’re like many other businesspeople, there’s a good chance you want to start building your story in PowerPoint. Don’t do it! First, think about your audience. Who are they? What makes them unique? What is happening in their world? You already design learning around your audience’s needs—apply this same discipline to creating stories that will help them understand and relate to it. You might be surprised when you find out that certain assumptions about your audience are wrong. Digging deeper will give you more insight into what’s familiar for them, ensuring your narrative is relevant and effective. 2. Use highly relevant short stories to help learners absorb difficult concepts. We’re all facing competing priorities and information overload. It’s no wonder learning new skills, ideas, and behaviors can be hard. When you throw challenging concepts or processes into the mix, it’s even tougher to retain everything. Identify the most difficult concepts in your learning and use short stories to bring them to life, so that your audience can connect the ideas to their world. 3. Capture learners’ attention by applying a universal story structure. Every great story includes setting, character, conflict, and resolution. Whether you’re consciously aware of it or not, it’s a structure you’re intimately familiar with—and it translates beautifully into learning. Set the scene and ground learners by introducing a setting, use characters to create empathy, and increase tension with some conflict before sharing what they are ultimately supposed to know or do. 4. Use stories to deepen engagement. Have participants tell stories of their own. For instance: Share an example of a time you faced adversity in the workplace because you spoke up against something you knew was wrong, or Tell us about a time a great leader guided you through change effectively? Set the scene for us. How did they introduce the change? When learners create stories in real time, they are challenged to think through problems in a different way. This helps them discover new insights on their own so they can remember them longer. 5. Set the senses on fire. When developing stories, make them more tangible by incorporating elements that engage the senses. This can be done verbally: Did the CEO give a speech to an anxious, talkative crowd? Did the team offsite take place at a quiet resort with rolling green hills? Describe the scene in vivid detail to help participants imagine themselves there. Better yet, incorporate visuals, video, or music that directly captivate the senses. Talent Developers are Devoted to People’s Success Here’s a window into why I’ve focused much of my career on talent development: We do this work because we are devoted to serving others. We are committed to people’s development, success, and lifelong learning. For me, it’s what makes showing up to my desk each day a joy. The truth is, no matter how good you are with instructional design; no matter how well you address the technical pieces of the learning design, if you aren’t weaving storytelling into the content, you will probably struggle to hold people’s attention. But when you incorporate narratives that are relevant and emotionally compelling, not only will learners be more engaged, you’ll improve their chances of absorbing and retaining information. Excited about infusing storytelling into your learning programs? Learn practical strategies for building authentic, captivating visual stories with TPC’s corporate storytelling workshop. Melony Bravmann, Chief Learning Officer at the Presentation Company, leads the team that designs, develops, and delivers learning programs to our valued customers.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Building-Learner-Engagement-through-Storytelling-scaled.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T13:33:47-05:00" }, { "id": 7770, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tpc-contributes-to-forbes-com-are-decision-makers-getting-turned-off-before-they-even-hear-your-idea/", "title": "TPC Contributes to Forbes.com: Are Decision-Makers Getting Turned Off Before They Even Hear Your Idea?", "h1": "TPC Contributes to Forbes.com: Are Decision-Makers Getting Turned Off Before They Even Hear Your Idea?", "summary": "When planning any high-stakes communication, knowing who your audience is absolutely essential. But what happens when you are pitching to a variety of people with widely differing interests? In other words, what happens if the “audience” for your pitch is actually “audiences” that can’t be motivated (or even kept awake) by the same story? For […]", "content": "

When planning any high-stakes communication, knowing who your audience is absolutely essential. But what happens when you are pitching to a variety of people with widely differing interests? In other words, what happens if the “audience” for your pitch is actually “audiences” that can’t be motivated (or even kept awake) by the same story?

For example, suppose you’re proposing a seismic new product strategy to the C-suite at your company. The CTO wants just the technical details. The HR rep sees the new strategy only in terms of what new talent they’ll need to reel in. The CFO may only wake up when you roll out the financials. We all face something like this scenario when we try to convey a new idea. So, how can you fold in multiple characters, and a variety of contexts, to keep everyone off their cell phones and leaning in to hear your message?

The short answer is that you have to grow your story and be nimble.

Your Baseline Story Structure – The Why? The What? and The How…

Every story consists of four ‘signposts’: setting, characters, conflict, and resolution. The first three signposts establish the why of your story. This is the context that’ll give your audience a reason to care about what you propose, conclude, recommend, etc. In other words, this is how you convince your audience why they should remain in their seat through the conclusion of the meeting.

Then there’s the what of your story. Also known as your BIG Idea, this is the one thing you want your audience to remember as compellingly as possible.

The how of your presentation is your story’s resolution. For project managers, this might be the details on timing and resources for a new product strategy. For salespeople, it’s the big reveal of the new product and all it’s tempting features. For CEOs, it may be revenue forecasts presented to the Board. Your resolution is how your BIG Idea will come to life.

Once you have a good story structure firmly in place, here are three simple-yet-powerful tips to try in your next big face-to-face from Janine Kurnoff, Founder of The Presentation Company:

Tip 1: Introduce Multiple Characters

“Characters in your story will help your audience relate more deeply to your content. So, when you are faced with a room — or virtual space — of people with a variety of needs and knowledge levels, introduce multiple characters,” Kurnoff suggests. “Each character should face their own unique conflict. It’s important not to go into too much detail. Don’t cloud the main ideas, and don’t over present. And always make sure to circle back to your BIG Idea: it’s the one thing you want your audience to remember after they leave.”

TIP 2: Include A Resolution Landing Page as “Homebase”

For the how of your story, Kurnoff suggests you consider a resolution landing page that shows exactly how you are prepared to resolve each of the conflicts facing the characters you’ve introduced.

\"4

“This visual map drills down for more detail on each conflict, arranged as subtopics. This allows you the storyteller to respond to your audience in the moment by easily navigating to the requested areas of interest. When your audience has a visual cue of what you are discussing, it invites conversation, lets you dig in, and helps address their specific needs. It is also easy from this position to click back to your home base, and drill down into another area,” she says.

TIP 3: Get Your Audience Involved

Kurnoff’s final tip for handling a diverse audience: Get them involved in the conversation early and often. “We know that the hallmark of a great communicator is someone who understands their audiences’ varying needs, and prepares diligently. But it’s also crucial to continually address audience needs by gauging their interest in the moment. A strategic way to do this is building into your presentation an opportunity for two-way dialogue.”

Below is her example of a “check-in” right at the outset of your presentation:

“Ms. Busy CEO: I know we only have a few minutes today. So, let me ask you…

“Senior leaders, who are often short on time, love to ask questions. They love to be in the driver’s seat — so put their hands on the wheel! By creating a two-way dialogue, you can zig and zag through your content, only showing relevant information that meets their specific in-the-moment needs,” she concludes.

Good Presenters Strive to Connect with Everyone

Can you really give the same amount of attention to everyone in your audience? Probably not. But a group of VIPs will be much more open — and awake! — during a narrative that speaks to them directly and asks them for feedback along the way.

Today, professional storytelling experts can help you hone your messaging. You can also take a corporate training from a company like The Presentation Company or Lynda.com, to learn how to anticipate the needs of your whole audience and invite frequent engaging interactions. The primary message of trainings like these is simple: when you understand and respond to what your audience cares about, they are much more likely to care about you!

Republished with permission from Forbes.com.

", "content_plain": "When planning any high-stakes communication, knowing who your audience is absolutely essential. But what happens when you are pitching to a variety of people with widely differing interests? In other words, what happens if the “audience” for your pitch is actually “audiences” that can’t be motivated (or even kept awake) by the same story? For example, suppose you’re proposing a seismic new product strategy to the C-suite at your company. The CTO wants just the technical details. The HR rep sees the new strategy only in terms of what new talent they’ll need to reel in. The CFO may only wake up when you roll out the financials. We all face something like this scenario when we try to convey a new idea. So, how can you fold in multiple characters, and a variety of contexts, to keep everyone off their cell phones and leaning in to hear your message? The short answer is that you have to grow your story and be nimble. Your Baseline Story Structure – The Why? The What? and The How… Every story consists of four ‘signposts’: setting, characters, conflict, and resolution. The first three signposts establish the why of your story. This is the context that’ll give your audience a reason to care about what you propose, conclude, recommend, etc. In other words, this is how you convince your audience why they should remain in their seat through the conclusion of the meeting. Then there’s the what of your story. Also known as your BIG Idea, this is the one thing you want your audience to remember as compellingly as possible. The how of your presentation is your story’s resolution. For project managers, this might be the details on timing and resources for a new product strategy. For salespeople, it’s the big reveal of the new product and all it’s tempting features. For CEOs, it may be revenue forecasts presented to the Board. Your resolution is how your BIG Idea will come to life. Once you have a good story structure firmly in place, here are three simple-yet-powerful tips to try in your next big face-to-face from Janine Kurnoff, Founder of The Presentation Company: Tip 1: Introduce Multiple Characters “Characters in your story will help your audience relate more deeply to your content. So, when you are faced with a room — or virtual space — of people with a variety of needs and knowledge levels, introduce multiple characters,” Kurnoff suggests. “Each character should face their own unique conflict. It’s important not to go into too much detail. Don’t cloud the main ideas, and don’t over present. And always make sure to circle back to your BIG Idea: it’s the one thing you want your audience to remember after they leave.” TIP 2: Include A Resolution Landing Page as “Homebase” For the how of your story, Kurnoff suggests you consider a resolution landing page that shows exactly how you are prepared to resolve each of the conflicts facing the characters you’ve introduced. “This visual map drills down for more detail on each conflict, arranged as subtopics. This allows you the storyteller to respond to your audience in the moment by easily navigating to the requested areas of interest. When your audience has a visual cue of what you are discussing, it invites conversation, lets you dig in, and helps address their specific needs. It is also easy from this position to click back to your home base, and drill down into another area,” she says. TIP 3: Get Your Audience Involved Kurnoff’s final tip for handling a diverse audience: Get them involved in the conversation early and often. “We know that the hallmark of a great communicator is someone who understands their audiences’ varying needs, and prepares diligently. But it’s also crucial to continually address audience needs by gauging their interest in the moment. A strategic way to do this is building into your presentation an opportunity for two-way dialogue.” Below is her example of a “check-in” right at the outset of your presentation: “Ms. Busy CEO: I know we only have a few minutes today. So, let me ask you… Would you like to know WHY I’m recommending the new XYZ Initiative? Or, would you like me to show the details of HOW we think the initiative will benefit the company?” “Senior leaders, who are often short on time, love to ask questions. They love to be in the driver’s seat — so put their hands on the wheel! By creating a two-way dialogue, you can zig and zag through your content, only showing relevant information that meets their specific in-the-moment needs,” she concludes. Good Presenters Strive to Connect with Everyone Can you really give the same amount of attention to everyone in your audience? Probably not. But a group of VIPs will be much more open — and awake! — during a narrative that speaks to them directly and asks them for feedback along the way. Today, professional storytelling experts can help you hone your messaging. You can also take a corporate training from a company like The Presentation Company or Lynda.com, to learn how to anticipate the needs of your whole audience and invite frequent engaging interactions. The primary message of trainings like these is simple: when you understand and respond to what your audience cares about, they are much more likely to care about you! Republished with permission from Forbes.com.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Forbes-Decision-makers-getting-turned-off.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-01T13:45:03-05:00" }, { "id": 7772, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/the-best-kept-secret-to-telling-a-compelling-data-story-video/", "title": "The Best Kept Secret to Telling A Compelling Data Story [VIDEO]", "h1": "The Best Kept Secret to Telling A Compelling Data Story [VIDEO]", "summary": "One of the most common—yet dangerous—mistakes you can make when creating data visualizations is making your audience work hard to understand your key insights. The good news? This one simple trick will help you get to the heart of the data story you’re trying to tell, and keep your audience from decoding the message on their […]", "content": "

One of the most common—yet dangerous—mistakes you can make when creating data visualizations is making your audience work hard to understand your key insights.

The good news? This one simple trick will help you get to the heart of the data story you’re trying to tell, and keep your audience from decoding the message on their own. Watch it here:

Want more pro tips for creating powerful data visualizations that make your insights clear at-a-glance? Check out our Data Visualization workshop for teams!

", "content_plain": "One of the most common—yet dangerous—mistakes you can make when creating data visualizations is making your audience work hard to understand your key insights. The good news? This one simple trick will help you get to the heart of the data story you’re trying to tell, and keep your audience from decoding the message on their own. Watch it here: Want more pro tips for creating powerful data visualizations that make your insights clear at-a-glance? Check out our Data Visualization workshop for teams!", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Grey_Thumbnail-03.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T10:17:14-05:00" }, { "id": 7774, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tpc-to-speak-at-atd-2019-business-storytelling-one-size-audience-doesnt-fit-all/", "title": "TPC to Speak at ATD 2019: Business Storytelling: One Size Audience Doesn’t Fit All", "h1": "TPC to Speak at ATD 2019: Business Storytelling: One Size Audience Doesn’t Fit All", "summary": "We’re excited to announce we’ll be speaking at the ATD International conference this year! Watch this short video for a sneak peek at our session, taking place Tuesday, May 21st at 1pm. See you there!", "content": "

We’re excited to announce we’ll be speaking at the ATD International conference this year! Watch this short video for a sneak peek at our session, taking place Tuesday, May 21st at 1pm. See you there!

", "content_plain": "We’re excited to announce we’ll be speaking at the ATD International conference this year! Watch this short video for a sneak peek at our session, taking place Tuesday, May 21st at 1pm. See you there!", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ATD-Thumbnail.png", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:19:11-05:00" }, { "id": 7776, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/easy-guide-to-choosing-the-right-presentation-visuals/", "title": "Easy Guide to Choosing the Right Presentation Visuals", "h1": "Easy Guide to Choosing the Right Presentation Visuals", "summary": "We live in a visual world. Billboards on the highway, TV commercials, and social media newsfeeds are constantly trying to sell us messages. But these visuals aren’t built merely to be colorful or pretty. Clever visuals are designed for a more strategic purpose – to get us to notice and respond to ideas. This same […]", "content": "

We live in a visual world. Billboards on the highway, TV commercials, and social media newsfeeds are constantly trying to sell us messages. But these visuals aren’t built merely to be colorful or pretty. Clever visuals are designed for a more strategic purpose – to get us to notice and respond to ideas.

This same logic directly applies to business communications: relevant visuals help our insights and recommendations be more easily understood, remembered, and acted on. Here’s a quick and easy guide to understanding how to make clear, powerful visuals in your presentation:

Why do visuals help us remember things?

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In one word: neuroscience. Neuroscientists have discovered that an idea expressed in visual form is processed 60,000 times faster than the same information either printed or spoken.

But visuals do more than just help us remember something – they spur action. Visuals trigger our right brain where we process emotion and feelings. And it’s emotion (even more than pure logic) that motivates us into action.

Why are visuals important in presentations?

\"\"

To understand why getting visuals right is so important, ask yourself this one question: what is the purpose of any presentation? Or email? Or proposal? Isn’t it to help decisions get made? Or move business conversations forward? Clear, simple visuals help our ideas be quickly interpreted and decisions get made faster because they humanize your ideas and infuse emotion (rather than relying on pure logic.) Conversely, distracting visuals slow decision-making down. Slower decisions mean slower business.

What are common mistakes for presentation visuals?

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Visuals often go wrong when we lack either time or an overarching visual slide strategy (or both!). Business presenters are—understandably—always looking to save time, reuse, and repurpose existing slides. As a quick fix, we throw together slides from past decks, or borrow slides from a co-worker without giving thought to the intent of the message we are trying to communicate for the specific purpose (we call these “Frankendecks.”)

Let’s face it: it’s easy to fall prey to bad visuals. Business presentations are essentially known for including too much text and data, while often using off-brand colors, fonts, and imagery (and let’s not forget about cheesy stock photography.)

On the other hand, even slides that are “pretty” aren’t always designed with a clear, easy-to-digest message, ultimately causing confusion rather than advancing the story we need to tell.

What are the visual elements that make a strong presentation?

There are five main ways to display information in presentations: photos, diagrams, data, text, and video.

Photos

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Photos are powerful. They’ll humanize your message help you connect your ideas to your audience on an emotional level. Photos can also build a mood or theme for your presentation.

Diagrams \"\"

Diagrams help breakdown and ‘cluster’ information into digestible concepts. We often suggesting using shapes or icons to call-out key messages. An example of a diagram would be a timeline or an organizational chart.

Data \"Visual

Data is most often presented in charts and tables. But sometimes, like in the case of the image below, only key data – that advances the story – is displayed. Also notice how the use of contrasting colors is used to draw the eye to the data point, and gray is used to subdue data that is simply there for context.

Text \"Text

Text is the most common – and overused – visual we see in business presentations (hello bullets!). Text used sparingly with contrasting color and size, however, creates an easy-to-digest message.

Video 

Video is an excellent to way to change the pace, the voice, and the medium of a presentation. It’s usually a good idea to keep it brief and embedded straight into the slide deck. To ensure good flow to your visuals, it’s important that any change of medium – such as video – is seamlessly integrated.

Now that we’ve established how critical strong visuals are to business presentations…

Let’s get into some simple tips that will help jumpstart visual thinking the next time you open PowerPoint:

TIP 1: Callouts are Visual Eye-Candy

\"Callouts

Callouts are one of the easiest and most potent data visualization techniques. By calling out key information with a contrasting color, size, or shape, you can easily highlight key points. This is a gift to your audience because with a simple visual ‘gesture’ you are helping them digest your message in one glance. This is one of the fastest ways to move your ideas forward.

TIP 2: Slide headlines refer to key visuals and help tell a story

\"Headline-1\"

Hands down, the best place to summarize the key message of your slide is in the headline (particularly if you are offering a lot of facts or data). Summing up your “big idea” in the slide title offers your audience the gift of clarity.

What’s more, slide headlines – like chapter headings – offer a logical outline to the overall story you are telling in your presentation. No data or facts are thrown in just because you have them. Everything should fit together logically.

TIP 3: Create a Landing Page for Easy Navigation

\"Landing

Not every presentation needs to be delivered in a linear format. As you can see from this slide, grouping your presentation into sections on a landing page gives an instant visual picture of everywhere you can go in this presentation.

Even better, each of the tabs on this landing page are portals to dive deeper into those sections, offering not only a visual orientation of your deck from start to finish but a way to jump around depending on your audience’s needs. This non-linear approach is particularly helpful for decks that are presented by someone else or being emailed.

Here are some additional questions we often get about creating memorable, authentic visuals for presentations…

Does Color Matter in Presentations?

So much has been written on the psychology of color and using it in presentations to incite emotion and convey ideas. So yes, red incites passion. And yellow conveys happiness. White is calm and neutral. Always consider color when planning your presentation. However, first and foremost, always select colors from your corporate palette to keep your visuals coordinated and brand-consistent.

How Do I Create Great Visuals Without Being a Graphic Designer?

Our best advice? Keep it simple. Clean, easy-to-interpret visuals are not only efficient to create, but keep the spotlight on your key message, rather than distract from it. Even a common list can be improved with basic icons or shapes. There are many easy, visual tactics that let you prioritize your ideas and offer an easy way to connect with and motivate your audience.

Looking for meaningful, authentic ways to visually express your ideas? We have loads of tips and resources for you. Stock photos don’t have to be cheesy – try adding search terms like “authentic,” “candid,” “context,” or “interactive” after the main search term to find real looking photos that aren’t posed or cliché. And while there’s no harm in trying free stock photo sites first, we’ve found that you often get what you pay for. Our favorite paid stock photos sites are iStock, Getty Images, Adobe Stock, and Shutterstock.

Alternatively, ditch photography altogether and try using icons to represent ideas. The Noun Project has millions of curated, editable icons created by people around the globe. And the best part? They’re all royalty free with attribution, or less than $40 per year for a subscription. Interested in learning best practices for transforming text- and data-heavy presentation slides into visuals that are easy to scan and highlight your key points? Our Influencing with Visuals workshop teaches teams how to organize ideas into visual messages that are clear, memorable, and (you guessed it) authentic.

", "content_plain": "We live in a visual world. Billboards on the highway, TV commercials, and social media newsfeeds are constantly trying to sell us messages. But these visuals aren’t built merely to be colorful or pretty. Clever visuals are designed for a more strategic purpose – to get us to notice and respond to ideas. This same logic directly applies to business communications: relevant visuals help our insights and recommendations be more easily understood, remembered, and acted on. Here’s a quick and easy guide to understanding how to make clear, powerful visuals in your presentation: Why do visuals help us remember things? In one word: neuroscience. Neuroscientists have discovered that an idea expressed in visual form is processed 60,000 times faster than the same information either printed or spoken. But visuals do more than just help us remember something – they spur action. Visuals trigger our right brain where we process emotion and feelings. And it’s emotion (even more than pure logic) that motivates us into action. Why are visuals important in presentations? To understand why getting visuals right is so important, ask yourself this one question: what is the purpose of any presentation? Or email? Or proposal? Isn’t it to help decisions get made? Or move business conversations forward? Clear, simple visuals help our ideas be quickly interpreted and decisions get made faster because they humanize your ideas and infuse emotion (rather than relying on pure logic.) Conversely, distracting visuals slow decision-making down. Slower decisions mean slower business. What are common mistakes for presentation visuals? Visuals often go wrong when we lack either time or an overarching visual slide strategy (or both!). Business presenters are—understandably—always looking to save time, reuse, and repurpose existing slides. As a quick fix, we throw together slides from past decks, or borrow slides from a co-worker without giving thought to the intent of the message we are trying to communicate for the specific purpose (we call these “Frankendecks.”) Let’s face it: it’s easy to fall prey to bad visuals. Business presentations are essentially known for including too much text and data, while often using off-brand colors, fonts, and imagery (and let’s not forget about cheesy stock photography.) On the other hand, even slides that are “pretty” aren’t always designed with a clear, easy-to-digest message, ultimately causing confusion rather than advancing the story we need to tell. What are the visual elements that make a strong presentation? There are five main ways to display information in presentations: photos, diagrams, data, text, and video. Photos Photos are powerful. They’ll humanize your message help you connect your ideas to your audience on an emotional level. Photos can also build a mood or theme for your presentation. Diagrams Diagrams help breakdown and ‘cluster’ information into digestible concepts. We often suggesting using shapes or icons to call-out key messages. An example of a diagram would be a timeline or an organizational chart. Data Data is most often presented in charts and tables. But sometimes, like in the case of the image below, only key data – that advances the story – is displayed. Also notice how the use of contrasting colors is used to draw the eye to the data point, and gray is used to subdue data that is simply there for context. Text Text is the most common – and overused – visual we see in business presentations (hello bullets!). Text used sparingly with contrasting color and size, however, creates an easy-to-digest message. Video Video is an excellent to way to change the pace, the voice, and the medium of a presentation. It’s usually a good idea to keep it brief and embedded straight into the slide deck. To ensure good flow to your visuals, it’s important that any change of medium – such as video – is seamlessly integrated. Now that we’ve established how critical strong visuals are to business presentations… Let’s get into some simple tips that will help jumpstart visual thinking the next time you open PowerPoint: TIP 1: Callouts are Visual Eye-Candy Callouts are one of the easiest and most potent data visualization techniques. By calling out key information with a contrasting color, size, or shape, you can easily highlight key points. This is a gift to your audience because with a simple visual ‘gesture’ you are helping them digest your message in one glance. This is one of the fastest ways to move your ideas forward. TIP 2: Slide headlines refer to key visuals and help tell a story Hands down, the best place to summarize the key message of your slide is in the headline (particularly if you are offering a lot of facts or data). Summing up your “big idea” in the slide title offers your audience the gift of clarity. What’s more, slide headlines – like chapter headings – offer a logical outline to the overall story you are telling in your presentation. No data or facts are thrown in just because you have them. Everything should fit together logically. TIP 3: Create a Landing Page for Easy Navigation Not every presentation needs to be delivered in a linear format. As you can see from this slide, grouping your presentation into sections on a landing page gives an instant visual picture of everywhere you can go in this presentation. Even better, each of the tabs on this landing page are portals to dive deeper into those sections, offering not only a visual orientation of your deck from start to finish but a way to jump around depending on your audience’s needs. This non-linear approach is particularly helpful for decks that are presented by someone else or being emailed. Here are some additional questions we often get about creating memorable, authentic visuals for presentations… Does Color Matter in Presentations? So much has been written on the psychology of color and using it in presentations to incite emotion and convey ideas. So yes, red incites passion. And yellow conveys happiness. White is calm and neutral. Always consider color when planning your presentation. However, first and foremost, always select colors from your corporate palette to keep your visuals coordinated and brand-consistent. How Do I Create Great Visuals Without Being a Graphic Designer? Our best advice? Keep it simple. Clean, easy-to-interpret visuals are not only efficient to create, but keep the spotlight on your key message, rather than distract from it. Even a common list can be improved with basic icons or shapes. There are many easy, visual tactics that let you prioritize your ideas and offer an easy way to connect with and motivate your audience. Looking for meaningful, authentic ways to visually express your ideas? We have loads of tips and resources for you. Stock photos don’t have to be cheesy – try adding search terms like “authentic,” “candid,” “context,” or “interactive” after the main search term to find real looking photos that aren’t posed or cliché. And while there’s no harm in trying free stock photo sites first, we’ve found that you often get what you pay for. Our favorite paid stock photos sites are iStock, Getty Images, Adobe Stock, and Shutterstock. Alternatively, ditch photography altogether and try using icons to represent ideas. The Noun Project has millions of curated, editable icons created by people around the globe. And the best part? They’re all royalty free with attribution, or less than $40 per year for a subscription. Interested in learning best practices for transforming text- and data-heavy presentation slides into visuals that are easy to scan and highlight your key points? Our Influencing with Visuals workshop teaches teams how to organize ideas into visual messages that are clear, memorable, and (you guessed it) authentic.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IWV_Left-aligned_V02.png", "modified": "2023-08-11T09:45:45-05:00" }, { "id": 7778, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/4-easy-tactics-to-get-any-emailed-presentation-read/", "title": "4 Simple Tactics to Get Any Emailed Presentation Read", "h1": "4 Simple Tactics to Get Any Emailed Presentation Read", "summary": "We don’t always deliver our ideas in person. More often, we leave our proposal, sales pitch, or product update to the mercy of the send button. But – as any great communicator knows – timing and flow of information is everything. We must do our best to ensure our facts and data are served up […]", "content": "

We don’t always deliver our ideas in person. More often, we leave our proposal, sales pitch, or product update to the mercy of the send button. But – as any great communicator knows – timing and flow of information is everything. We must do our best to ensure our facts and data are served up to their best advantage.

Here are four simple tips that will get your ideas clearly across…and keep them out of the electronic dust bin.

1. Give Every Slide a News Headline

Delivering a story either in person or in an emailed presentation requires you to, as famed data guru Nate Silver says, “separate the signal from the noise”. Nowhere is this more important than in a presentation that is being read on screen and must deliver itself. For every slide, ask yourself: What is my signal? In other words, what is my key message here?

Then, put that message on the top of every slide like the headline of a news story. If someone is quickly scanning your presentation, your headline will be the first thing they see (maybe the only thing.) A vague headline like “Q4 Update” or “Summary” is not enough information hook your viewer, but a strong signal will compel the viewer to look deeper into your slide.

Also, every headline should further your story. If your audience is skimming your slide headlines quickly one after another, it should give them the gist of your key ideas.

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2. Don’t (Necessarily) Send the Whole Thing

Let’s say you have a new product proposal with sixty slides. You’ve done your homework! It covers technical specs, project management timelines, marketing recommendations, hiring requirements, and cost projections. But not everyone you are sending it to needs to see every slide.

Consider breaking the presentation into parts that will resonate with that particular recipient. If you are sending it to the VP of Sales, perhaps just send the eight slides on marketing and sales. If you are emailing the presentation to tech managers, perhaps you could skip the financial or marketing pieces?

The bottom line is, always consider who is on the other end of your email. Every executive has different needs. Break your presentation into smaller parts to spare them the time it takes to wade through any information that doesn’t concern them. If you can answer their questions with eight slides, why send them 60?

Always be mindful of peoples’ time and you will have a much better chance of getting them to read your ideas.

3. Make it As Visual as Possible

Perhaps the most important fact we share in our workshops is this: visuals are processed sixty thousand times faster than text. So, the more you can convey your ideas visually, the more chance you will have to connect with your audience.

What are good visuals? Aside from charts and tables, you can make your ideas visual – and therefore memorable – by using photos, icons, shapes, and even simple, oversized text (not too much!).

So check again… is your presentation wall-to-wall (or slide-to-slide) bullets? Figure out how you can cut down the text by capturing your key ideas visually.

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4. Save Your PowerPoint in an Easy-to-View Format

Fun fact: the view you save your PowerPoint presentation in – before you press send – is the view your recipient will see it. So, if you are in Notes or Handout view, it’s a good idea to switch it to the Normal slide view before you save it. In the spirit of not making your audience work any harder than needed to decipher your ideas, make sure your presentation is in the best mode for easy viewing.

Give Your Ideas Their Best Shot at Being Heard

Given how often our ideas must speak for themselves when we’re not around to present them, use these four tricks to give them their best advantage, will put you at an advantage.

To learn more about crafting compelling visual stories that motivate your audience to act, check out our award-winning business storytelling workshop.

", "content_plain": "We don’t always deliver our ideas in person. More often, we leave our proposal, sales pitch, or product update to the mercy of the send button. But – as any great communicator knows – timing and flow of information is everything. We must do our best to ensure our facts and data are served up to their best advantage. Here are four simple tips that will get your ideas clearly across…and keep them out of the electronic dust bin. 1. Give Every Slide a News Headline Delivering a story either in person or in an emailed presentation requires you to, as famed data guru Nate Silver says, “separate the signal from the noise”. Nowhere is this more important than in a presentation that is being read on screen and must deliver itself. For every slide, ask yourself: What is my signal? In other words, what is my key message here? Then, put that message on the top of every slide like the headline of a news story. If someone is quickly scanning your presentation, your headline will be the first thing they see (maybe the only thing.) A vague headline like “Q4 Update” or “Summary” is not enough information hook your viewer, but a strong signal will compel the viewer to look deeper into your slide. Also, every headline should further your story. If your audience is skimming your slide headlines quickly one after another, it should give them the gist of your key ideas. 2. Don’t (Necessarily) Send the Whole Thing Let’s say you have a new product proposal with sixty slides. You’ve done your homework! It covers technical specs, project management timelines, marketing recommendations, hiring requirements, and cost projections. But not everyone you are sending it to needs to see every slide. Consider breaking the presentation into parts that will resonate with that particular recipient. If you are sending it to the VP of Sales, perhaps just send the eight slides on marketing and sales. If you are emailing the presentation to tech managers, perhaps you could skip the financial or marketing pieces? The bottom line is, always consider who is on the other end of your email. Every executive has different needs. Break your presentation into smaller parts to spare them the time it takes to wade through any information that doesn’t concern them. If you can answer their questions with eight slides, why send them 60? Always be mindful of peoples’ time and you will have a much better chance of getting them to read your ideas. 3. Make it As Visual as Possible Perhaps the most important fact we share in our workshops is this: visuals are processed sixty thousand times faster than text. So, the more you can convey your ideas visually, the more chance you will have to connect with your audience. What are good visuals? Aside from charts and tables, you can make your ideas visual – and therefore memorable – by using photos, icons, shapes, and even simple, oversized text (not too much!). So check again… is your presentation wall-to-wall (or slide-to-slide) bullets? Figure out how you can cut down the text by capturing your key ideas visually. 4. Save Your PowerPoint in an Easy-to-View Format Fun fact: the view you save your PowerPoint presentation in – before you press send – is the view your recipient will see it. So, if you are in Notes or Handout view, it’s a good idea to switch it to the Normal slide view before you save it. In the spirit of not making your audience work any harder than needed to decipher your ideas, make sure your presentation is in the best mode for easy viewing. Give Your Ideas Their Best Shot at Being Heard Given how often our ideas must speak for themselves when we’re not around to present them, use these four tricks to give them their best advantage, will put you at an advantage. To learn more about crafting compelling visual stories that motivate your audience to act, check out our award-winning business storytelling workshop.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/iStock-1183436035.jpg", "modified": "2023-06-21T10:49:43-05:00" }, { "id": 7780, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/do-you-know-how-to-think-outside-the-chart-video/", "title": "Boost Your Data Visualizations: Try Thinking “Outside the Chart” [VIDEO]", "h1": "Boost Your Data Visualizations: Try Thinking “Outside the Chart” [VIDEO]", "summary": "Data justifies nearly every business decision we made. But too often, our valuable insights get buried among the “noise” of traditional charts and tables. Our best advice? Trying thinking outside the chart or spreadsheet. Watch this short video to learn how to transform your data and insights into clear visuals that drive immediate action.", "content": "

Data justifies nearly every business decision we made. But too often, our valuable insights get buried among the “noise” of traditional charts and tables.

Our best advice? Trying thinking outside the chart or spreadsheet. Watch this short video to learn how to transform your data and insights into clear visuals that drive immediate action.

", "content_plain": "Data justifies nearly every business decision we made. But too often, our valuable insights get buried among the “noise” of traditional charts and tables. Our best advice? Trying thinking outside the chart or spreadsheet. Watch this short video to learn how to transform your data and insights into clear visuals that drive immediate action.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Janine-Thumbnail-03.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T14:27:22-05:00" }, { "id": 7782, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/7-data-visualization-tips-that-will-immediately-amplify-your-message/", "title": "7 Data Visualization Tips That Will Immediately Amplify Your Message", "h1": "7 Data Visualization Tips That Will Immediately Amplify Your Message", "summary": "These days, it’s a battle royale trying to hold people’s attention. To make matters worse, we often needlessly clutter our slides with data and obscure our insights with visual debris. To give your ideas, fact, and data their strongest chance at being heard and acted on, you must find a way to cut through the […]", "content": "

These days, it’s a battle royale trying to hold people’s attention. To make matters worse, we often needlessly clutter our slides with data and obscure our insights with visual debris. To give your ideas, fact, and data their strongest chance at being heard and acted on, you must find a way to cut through the noise, elevate your key message, and keep your visuals simple.

Here are 7 useful data visualization tips that will immediately power up your message:

1. Make a Crisp, Clean Color Choice

If you are projecting your numbers, consider limiting your palette to darker blues, greens and oranges. These colors are calming and exude elegance. On the contrary, yellows and neon colors are jarring and don’t project well. Use red sparingly. Red is perfect if you want to highlight or call attention to one key message, such as a decrease in sales.

And remember, it’s always best to default to your corporate color palette, if your company has one.

\"\"

2. Keep your Lines Solid

Be careful with the use of dashed or dotted lines to depict data trends. Often used to show contrasting trends on a line chart, less-than-solid lines can be hard to decipher between one another. Use different colored solid lines instead.

\"\"

3. Always Use Clear, Large Fonts

Slides crowded with bulleted text are a visual disaster (yikes!). Use a minimum of 18-point font for best viewing in any normal size room, and always start by using the approved font in your company’s brand guidelines. If your company doesn’t have a standard font, go ahead and choose a font you like but try to avoid narrow fonts like Times Roman, or fonts with serifs (you know, those curly-cues and fancy flourishes).

\"\"

4. Incorporate the Legend into the Chart

A legend helps identify data on a chart when there is more than one series. There is usually no reason to place this element outside of the chart perimeter. It forces you to reduce the size of your chart and therefore, make it harder to see from a distance. It’s better to find some free white space inside your chart.

\"\"

5. Be Conservative with Labels

Ask yourself: do I really need to label the value on every single data point in my chart? Could the unit measurements on the Y-axis get this message across? If you find it is necessary to label every value in a chart, perhaps a table would be a better way to present all that data.

\"\"

6. Slide Headlines Should Offer Weighty News

The slide title is typically the first thing the eye goes to. Why make it generic and boring like “Annual Sales”, “Units Sold”, or “Percent Trained”? Create more impact by creating a blazing headline with your chart’s biggest take-away: “Annual Sales Beat Expectations”, “Northwest Region Leads in 2010 Unit Sales”, or “Employee Safety Training Lags in Department XYZ”. What’s the one thing you want your audience to remember about this chart? Put it right on top.

\"\"

7. Tone Down the Gridlines

Consider carefully if you actually need gridlines in your chart. If they are visually useful in orienting your data points, don’t let them overwhelm the other graphical elements in the chart. Opt for a soft gray color rather than a thick, black, line.

\"\"

Never again miss out on getting your story across because your visuals lack clarity. Try these easy tricks to keep your key message clean, clear, and at the forefront.

Ready to learn to design powerful visual presentations that will help sell your ideas? Check out our data visualization workshop, Presenting Data Visually.

", "content_plain": "These days, it’s a battle royale trying to hold people’s attention. To make matters worse, we often needlessly clutter our slides with data and obscure our insights with visual debris. To give your ideas, fact, and data their strongest chance at being heard and acted on, you must find a way to cut through the noise, elevate your key message, and keep your visuals simple. Here are 7 useful data visualization tips that will immediately power up your message: 1. Make a Crisp, Clean Color Choice If you are projecting your numbers, consider limiting your palette to darker blues, greens and oranges. These colors are calming and exude elegance. On the contrary, yellows and neon colors are jarring and don’t project well. Use red sparingly. Red is perfect if you want to highlight or call attention to one key message, such as a decrease in sales. And remember, it’s always best to default to your corporate color palette, if your company has one. 2. Keep your Lines Solid Be careful with the use of dashed or dotted lines to depict data trends. Often used to show contrasting trends on a line chart, less-than-solid lines can be hard to decipher between one another. Use different colored solid lines instead. 3. Always Use Clear, Large Fonts Slides crowded with bulleted text are a visual disaster (yikes!). Use a minimum of 18-point font for best viewing in any normal size room, and always start by using the approved font in your company’s brand guidelines. If your company doesn’t have a standard font, go ahead and choose a font you like but try to avoid narrow fonts like Times Roman, or fonts with serifs (you know, those curly-cues and fancy flourishes). 4. Incorporate the Legend into the Chart A legend helps identify data on a chart when there is more than one series. There is usually no reason to place this element outside of the chart perimeter. It forces you to reduce the size of your chart and therefore, make it harder to see from a distance. It’s better to find some free white space inside your chart. 5. Be Conservative with Labels Ask yourself: do I really need to label the value on every single data point in my chart? Could the unit measurements on the Y-axis get this message across? If you find it is necessary to label every value in a chart, perhaps a table would be a better way to present all that data. 6. Slide Headlines Should Offer Weighty News The slide title is typically the first thing the eye goes to. Why make it generic and boring like “Annual Sales”, “Units Sold”, or “Percent Trained”? Create more impact by creating a blazing headline with your chart’s biggest take-away: “Annual Sales Beat Expectations”, “Northwest Region Leads in 2010 Unit Sales”, or “Employee Safety Training Lags in Department XYZ”. What’s the one thing you want your audience to remember about this chart? Put it right on top. 7. Tone Down the Gridlines Consider carefully if you actually need gridlines in your chart. If they are visually useful in orienting your data points, don’t let them overwhelm the other graphical elements in the chart. Opt for a soft gray color rather than a thick, black, line. Never again miss out on getting your story across because your visuals lack clarity. Try these easy tricks to keep your key message clean, clear, and at the forefront. Ready to learn to design powerful visual presentations that will help sell your ideas? Check out our data visualization workshop, Presenting Data Visually.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/7-data-viz-design-tips_V02.png", "modified": "2023-06-30T08:57:13-05:00" }, { "id": 7784, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tpc-contributes-to-forbes-com-even-the-financial-sector-can-use-storytelling-to-close-deals/", "title": "TPC Contributes to Forbes.com: Even The Financial Sector Can Use Storytelling To Close Deals", "h1": "TPC Contributes to Forbes.com: Even The Financial Sector Can Use Storytelling To Close Deals", "summary": "The financial services industry – heavy on data and metrics – might not seem like the right place for corporate storytelling. But dry, generic messages of performance history, customer service stats, and brand reputation won’t help differentiate a company from the competition. It’s storytelling that helps companies move beyond data, and humanize their services. Janine Kurnoff, Founder of […]", "content": "

The financial services industry – heavy on data and metrics – might not seem like the right place for corporate storytelling. But dry, generic messages of performance history, customer service stats, and brand reputation won’t help differentiate a company from the competition. It’s storytelling that helps companies move beyond data, and humanize their services.

Janine Kurnoff, Founder of The Presentation Company, says that whether talking to institutional or retail clients, companies need to communicate complex ideas but formulate them into easy-to-digest messages that spur decision-making.

So how can storytelling transform the traditional financial messaging of the past? It’s simple: Money and the security it represents are emotional— and there’s nothing that taps into emotions better than storytelling.

Stories are the Great Differentiators

Every company is striving to differentiate themselves from the pack. Kurnoff points out that not only must sales teams compete for new clients, they must also regularly re-sell existing clients every few months or years. Charts filled with performance data just don’t elicit emotions very well — even those that show a soaring upward trend. But when human stories are placed into the mix, the results offer a new way of looking at dry statistics.

Consider this case:

XYZ Financial is trying to convince a technology company to renew their retirement plan for another three years. In the past, the XYZ sales team has leaned heavily on simple messages of stellar brand reputation and outstanding performance metrics. In addition, they always showcased their reliable customer service, top rated portfolio managers, and latest technology advancements. While these criteria are all important points, the reality is that their competitors have been offering nearly identical messages.

So one day, the XYZ team decides to lead with storytelling instead of matrices. Their pitch looks something like this: Meet Joe. Joe is 30, married and works at a leading tech company. Joe was able to purchase his first house this year because his 401K plan performed so well.

Here, XYZ is telling the story of how financial success impacts an employee – and the effect is powerful. Without showing a laundry list of market performance data, the firm is proving the result of great numbers and excellent customer service. Not only is buying a first home an emotional experience, it’s a highly specific one that anyone in the room can relate to.

Storytelling is Limitless

All great stories are comprised of a narrative arc – a high-stakes quest or journey. Kurnoff teaches that this arc should establish a setting, introduce characters, describe conflict, and find a resolution.

Raw data can never communicate such dynamics so poignantly. And the best part about business storytelling? The possibilities are endless. It is easily applied, whether you’re pitching ideas, giving recommendations, or providing internal updates, or presenting to a customer or prospect externally. Storytelling helps contextualize what your audience needs to know and do with the information being shared. The innate interest human beings have in stories helps corporate storytellers break down complex ideas and relate them back to key business issues.

Corporate reputations and branding are important, but the reality is that they too often feel interchangeable. Promises of great services are hard to gauge, but hearing a story about how it works in real life for real people requires storytelling.

Today, many financial services firms are training their teams on how to tell stories. They are learning visual storytelling skills from places like The Presentation Company and Lynda.com, both of whom I have been profiled on Forbes in the past as companies making data visualization easier. They are persuaded that storytelling will help them shine in a fiercely competitive industry. If these companies can do it, so can you!

Republished with permission from Forbes.com 

", "content_plain": "The financial services industry – heavy on data and metrics – might not seem like the right place for corporate storytelling. But dry, generic messages of performance history, customer service stats, and brand reputation won’t help differentiate a company from the competition. It’s storytelling that helps companies move beyond data, and humanize their services. Janine Kurnoff, Founder of The Presentation Company, says that whether talking to institutional or retail clients, companies need to communicate complex ideas but formulate them into easy-to-digest messages that spur decision-making. So how can storytelling transform the traditional financial messaging of the past? It’s simple: Money and the security it represents are emotional— and there’s nothing that taps into emotions better than storytelling. Stories are the Great Differentiators Every company is striving to differentiate themselves from the pack. Kurnoff points out that not only must sales teams compete for new clients, they must also regularly re-sell existing clients every few months or years. Charts filled with performance data just don’t elicit emotions very well — even those that show a soaring upward trend. But when human stories are placed into the mix, the results offer a new way of looking at dry statistics. Consider this case: XYZ Financial is trying to convince a technology company to renew their retirement plan for another three years. In the past, the XYZ sales team has leaned heavily on simple messages of stellar brand reputation and outstanding performance metrics. In addition, they always showcased their reliable customer service, top rated portfolio managers, and latest technology advancements. While these criteria are all important points, the reality is that their competitors have been offering nearly identical messages. So one day, the XYZ team decides to lead with storytelling instead of matrices. Their pitch looks something like this: Meet Joe. Joe is 30, married and works at a leading tech company. Joe was able to purchase his first house this year because his 401K plan performed so well. Here, XYZ is telling the story of how financial success impacts an employee – and the effect is powerful. Without showing a laundry list of market performance data, the firm is proving the result of great numbers and excellent customer service. Not only is buying a first home an emotional experience, it’s a highly specific one that anyone in the room can relate to. Storytelling is Limitless All great stories are comprised of a narrative arc – a high-stakes quest or journey. Kurnoff teaches that this arc should establish a setting, introduce characters, describe conflict, and find a resolution. Raw data can never communicate such dynamics so poignantly. And the best part about business storytelling? The possibilities are endless. It is easily applied, whether you’re pitching ideas, giving recommendations, or providing internal updates, or presenting to a customer or prospect externally. Storytelling helps contextualize what your audience needs to know and do with the information being shared. The innate interest human beings have in stories helps corporate storytellers break down complex ideas and relate them back to key business issues. Corporate reputations and branding are important, but the reality is that they too often feel interchangeable. Promises of great services are hard to gauge, but hearing a story about how it works in real life for real people requires storytelling. Today, many financial services firms are training their teams on how to tell stories. They are learning visual storytelling skills from places like The Presentation Company and Lynda.com, both of whom I have been profiled on Forbes in the past as companies making data visualization easier. They are persuaded that storytelling will help them shine in a fiercely competitive industry. If these companies can do it, so can you! Republished with permission from Forbes.com ", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Forbes-Financial-Services-Blog-Image.png", "modified": "2023-03-01T13:43:25-05:00" }, { "id": 7786, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/5-peer-coaching-tips-you-can-easily-action/", "title": "5 Peer Coaching Tips You Can Easily Action", "h1": "5 Peer Coaching Tips You Can Easily Action", "summary": "Are you reluctant to give feedback to colleagues? You’re not alone. Nearly all of us are tasked with collaborating with peers at some point in our career. Watch this short video to learn five tricks to providing peer coaching in a constructive, yet approachable, manner. {% video_player “embed_player” overrideable=False, type=’scriptV4′, hide_playlist=True, viral_sharing=False, embed_button=False, autoplay=False, hidden_controls=False, […]", "content": "

Are you reluctant to give feedback to colleagues? You’re not alone. Nearly all of us are tasked with collaborating with peers at some point in our career.

Watch this short video to learn five tricks to providing peer coaching in a constructive, yet approachable, manner.

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", "content_plain": "Are you reluctant to give feedback to colleagues? You’re not alone. Nearly all of us are tasked with collaborating with peers at some point in our career. Watch this short video to learn five tricks to providing peer coaching in a constructive, yet approachable, manner. {% video_player “embed_player” overrideable=False, type=’scriptV4′, hide_playlist=True, viral_sharing=False, embed_button=False, autoplay=False, hidden_controls=False, loop=False, muted=False, full_width=False, width=’1200′, height=’675′, player_id=’7804330438′, style=” %}", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/5-Peer-Coaching-Tips-You-Can-Easily-Action.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T13:33:08-05:00" }, { "id": 7788, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/using-icons-in-powerpoint-video/", "title": "Using Icons in PowerPoint? Try These Tips from TPC", "h1": "Using Icons in PowerPoint? Try These Tips from TPC", "summary": "", "content": "

Do you use icons in presentations? Icons are a great alternative to photography when it comes to visualizing your ideas. Watch this short video by TPC’s to learn more about how to insert icons in PowerPoint, how to change the color of icons in PowerPoint, and some best practices for using icons in presentations.

 

Want more tips for building stunning, memorable presentations? Check out our Influencing with Visuals workshop!

", "content_plain": "Do you use icons in presentations? Icons are a great alternative to photography when it comes to visualizing your ideas. Watch this short video by TPC’s to learn more about how to insert icons in PowerPoint, how to change the color of icons in PowerPoint, and some best practices for using icons in presentations.   Want more tips for building stunning, memorable presentations? Check out our Influencing with Visuals workshop!", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Using-Icons-in-PPT_Thumbnail-02-1.jpg", "modified": "2023-02-28T12:21:53-05:00" }, { "id": 7790, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/this-one-small-investment-will-save-your-team-hundreds-of-hours-per-year/", "title": "This One Small Investment Will Save Your Team Hundreds of Hours Per Year", "h1": "This One Small Investment Will Save Your Team Hundreds of Hours Per Year", "summary": "“I didn’t know if I wanted to cry or laugh knowing how many wasted hours I’ve spent designing decks,” is a line your CFO does not want to hear! Unfortunately, whether people admit it or not, this is a universal problem. The productivity lost tinkering with presentations is staggering. Every time we manually adjust shapes, […]", "content": "

“I didn’t know if I wanted to cry or laugh knowing how many wasted hours I’ve spent designing decks,” is a line your CFO does not want to hear! Unfortunately, whether people admit it or not, this is a universal problem. The productivity lost tinkering with presentations is staggering. Every time we manually adjust shapes, text, or colors, another few minutes is wasted. This is precious time that could be spent on enriching ideas, data analysis, and most importantly, the strategy behind the message. Just think, if each employee at your company loses two hours a week on formatting shapes or pictures, it could add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. Yikes!

And then there is the immeasurable loss of brand currency. Presentations are important brand vehicles. They are what bring your employees’ ideas, updates, and strategic plans to life. Think about how often your presentation is the first introduction a sales prospect gets to your brand. And yet, most companies miss this branding opportunity, investing next to nothing in this asset. PowerPoint templates—if they are good—can be worth their weight in gold. Unfortunately though, most aren’t.

Most Templates are a Hot Mess

People depend heavily on presentation templates to look good and to show off their brand, but most just don’t function well. These clunky presentations are usually caused by a poorly-built PowerPoint template. And whether they are built by a design agency or purchased off the Internet, poor templates do a lot of damage.

Design Agencies are No Panacea

Design agencies are hired to create eye-catching PowerPoint templates. And yes, designers are often visually skilled and well-versed in your brand. But they don’t necessarily understand how to translate that brand into a functional presentation environment. These templates look pretty, but they can’t easily be edited by the average employee. (Mac-centric) design agencies are the first to admit, they don’t really understand Office products like PowerPoint. Here are some of the messier problems design agencies run into:

Off-the-Shelf Templates Aren’t Functional (and They Don’t Even Look Good!)

Great templates are so much more than just prettified slides. Off-the-shelf templates do not include your branding, colors, fonts, graphic shapes, images, voice or tone… so your designers or employees will still need to do a lot of editing to incorporate your brand. Off-the-shelf templates function poorly when trying to make adjustments to colors, text, font, and charts. Colors don’t match, fonts don’t translate, and don’t get us started on the meaningless charts and diagrams!

Functional, Stylish Presentation Templates That Will Make Your Brand Shine

What is the point of presentation templates? Aren’t they meant to allow people to save time preparing their ideas while keeping style and branding in place? We believe people should be focused on their ideas and stories, not the mechanics of building the deck. They should have little to do but pick an ideal layout and plug in text, numbers, or graphics. No sizing fonts. No inserting text boxes. No looking for colors. No formatting bullets. Bottom line: templates must be easy to edit, highly visual, and functionally sound.

TPC offers a full collection of beautifully designed layouts, programmed on the back and front end. We understand the mechanics of PowerPoint templates because we are supported by Microsoft MVPs, those who know the application inside and out.

If you want your team to stop spending 6-8 hours developing a presentation, a robust presentation template is where to start. When built correctly, templates increase employee productivity, help people communicate more strategically, and finally they are a vital investment in your brand.

Interested in better productivity and branding through custom templates? Call us at 888-991-0208 or see more information about custom templates here.

", "content_plain": "“I didn’t know if I wanted to cry or laugh knowing how many wasted hours I’ve spent designing decks,” is a line your CFO does not want to hear! Unfortunately, whether people admit it or not, this is a universal problem. The productivity lost tinkering with presentations is staggering. Every time we manually adjust shapes, text, or colors, another few minutes is wasted. This is precious time that could be spent on enriching ideas, data analysis, and most importantly, the strategy behind the message. Just think, if each employee at your company loses two hours a week on formatting shapes or pictures, it could add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. Yikes! And then there is the immeasurable loss of brand currency. Presentations are important brand vehicles. They are what bring your employees’ ideas, updates, and strategic plans to life. Think about how often your presentation is the first introduction a sales prospect gets to your brand. And yet, most companies miss this branding opportunity, investing next to nothing in this asset. PowerPoint templates—if they are good—can be worth their weight in gold. Unfortunately though, most aren’t. Most Templates are a Hot Mess People depend heavily on presentation templates to look good and to show off their brand, but most just don’t function well. These clunky presentations are usually caused by a poorly-built PowerPoint template. And whether they are built by a design agency or purchased off the Internet, poor templates do a lot of damage. Design Agencies are No Panacea Design agencies are hired to create eye-catching PowerPoint templates. And yes, designers are often visually skilled and well-versed in your brand. But they don’t necessarily understand how to translate that brand into a functional presentation environment. These templates look pretty, but they can’t easily be edited by the average employee. (Mac-centric) design agencies are the first to admit, they don’t really understand Office products like PowerPoint. Here are some of the messier problems design agencies run into: They struggle with what you can and can’t do with color using PowerPoint templates, such as how color choices impact tables and charts. They don’t use ‘safe’ fonts that hold up in different presentation environments. When presentations are emailed to other machines (across operating systems) those beautiful layouts turn into a design mess. They often don’t understand how their layouts look on large projection screens or mobile devices. This can render files unreadable. They don’t know how to properly build templates (which, by the way, takes over 100 steps to be done correctly). Off-the-Shelf Templates Aren’t Functional (and They Don’t Even Look Good!) Great templates are so much more than just prettified slides. Off-the-shelf templates do not include your branding, colors, fonts, graphic shapes, images, voice or tone… so your designers or employees will still need to do a lot of editing to incorporate your brand. Off-the-shelf templates function poorly when trying to make adjustments to colors, text, font, and charts. Colors don’t match, fonts don’t translate, and don’t get us started on the meaningless charts and diagrams! Functional, Stylish Presentation Templates That Will Make Your Brand Shine What is the point of presentation templates? Aren’t they meant to allow people to save time preparing their ideas while keeping style and branding in place? We believe people should be focused on their ideas and stories, not the mechanics of building the deck. They should have little to do but pick an ideal layout and plug in text, numbers, or graphics. No sizing fonts. No inserting text boxes. No looking for colors. No formatting bullets. Bottom line: templates must be easy to edit, highly visual, and functionally sound. TPC offers a full collection of beautifully designed layouts, programmed on the back and front end. We understand the mechanics of PowerPoint templates because we are supported by Microsoft MVPs, those who know the application inside and out. If you want your team to stop spending 6-8 hours developing a presentation, a robust presentation template is where to start. When built correctly, templates increase employee productivity, help people communicate more strategically, and finally they are a vital investment in your brand. Interested in better productivity and branding through custom templates? Call us at 888-991-0208 or see more information about custom templates here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/shutterstock_236144698-1-scaled.jpg", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:23:30-05:00" }, { "id": 7792, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/how-to-pick-the-right-chart-for-your-data-story/", "title": "How to Pick the Right Chart for Your Data Story", "h1": "How to Pick the Right Chart for Your Data Story", "summary": "There are many charts options for displaying your data. So how do you choose the one that is going to make your numbers shine? Better yet, how do you know which chart will tell the most memorable, impactful story? Getting this right is critical, and thankfully, not difficult to figure out…with the right mindset. First […]", "content": "

There are many charts options for displaying your data. So how do you choose the one that is going to make your numbers shine? Better yet, how do you know which chart will tell the most memorable, impactful story?

Getting this right is critical, and thankfully, not difficult to figure out…with the right mindset. First though, you must understand this fundamental rule of business storytelling: always have a simple, easily discernible, key message. In other words, what’s the one thing you want your audience to remember?

Incredibly enough, many data presenters don’t actually know what their chief message is. Instead, they try to cram as much data as they can into their chart (after chart after chart…hoping their boss sees the point to it all). It’s time to stop thinking that just because you’ve collected all these numbers, you should flaunt all of them. Great data storytelling requires you to identify key insights from your data and include only information that directly support that message. Extraneous data can be left out or visually subdued (if you’re keeping it as context to support your key data points).

So, how do you choose a chart that tells a story and drives action? The main thing to remember is that the purpose of all charts is to show the relationships in your data. Think about what charts or tables best feature the relationships that best fit the data story you are trying to tell.

Here’s a quick primer on choosing the right chart type for your data story:

LINE GRAPHS

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Line graphs show changes or relative changes to something over a period of time. Notice how the most significant findings are called out directly to the viewer. The data points you report should always be key elements of your story. Ex: “Sales are trending upwards since the Cloud launch because… which means… and so…” Good rule of thumb? Use a maximum of 5 lines per chart for easiest viewing and understanding.

 

BAR GRAPHS

\"\"

Bar graphs display a relationship between variables, usually for the purpose of comparison. This head-to-head comparison of project delivery shows the viewer the story instantly by highlighting the key information in green, adding a callout, and subduing the rest. Always keep charts two-dimensional for easy interpretation.

 

PIE CHART 2.0: THE DONUT CHART

\"\"

Pie charts (and the more modern version, donut charts) show how percentages relate to each other within a whole. The pie or donut should always equal 100% of a meaningful total. Each wedge or segment must be a percentage of that total. This chart tells an instant visual story about what dominates a specific category. The donut improves the pie because it is visually easier for the eye to discern the difference in linear segments than the more nebulous area of pie slices. Pies and donuts are often used for demographic or budgetary data. Important to note: these types of charts can only be used to represent a snapshot of one moment in time.

 

TABLES

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For times when you believe your audience will benefit from viewing a larger universe of data, use a table. Tables display data details which would be lost in graphs or charts. It is still critical that you visually call out your most significant findings in order to let that table tell a story or move your larger story along. Notice above how the shaded rows support the headline of the slide to let the viewer zero in instantly on important information.

Turn Your Numbers Into Narratives

When your next meeting is on the horizon, don’t forget to first examine your data insights and isolate your key message. Consider what metrics will support your story and help it pack a punch – don’t flash unnecessary info just because you’ve got it. Then, feature primary data in the proper chart and keep the rest of your data hidden, but readily available if needed – perhaps in slide notes, hidden slides, or other supportive materials. For powerful data storytelling, the right chart will get you well on your way.

Want to learn more about developing a story with your data? The Presentation Company has data storytelling workshops for you and your team. Get in touch with us today!

", "content_plain": "There are many charts options for displaying your data. So how do you choose the one that is going to make your numbers shine? Better yet, how do you know which chart will tell the most memorable, impactful story? Getting this right is critical, and thankfully, not difficult to figure out…with the right mindset. First though, you must understand this fundamental rule of business storytelling: always have a simple, easily discernible, key message. In other words, what’s the one thing you want your audience to remember? Incredibly enough, many data presenters don’t actually know what their chief message is. Instead, they try to cram as much data as they can into their chart (after chart after chart…hoping their boss sees the point to it all). It’s time to stop thinking that just because you’ve collected all these numbers, you should flaunt all of them. Great data storytelling requires you to identify key insights from your data and include only information that directly support that message. Extraneous data can be left out or visually subdued (if you’re keeping it as context to support your key data points). So, how do you choose a chart that tells a story and drives action? The main thing to remember is that the purpose of all charts is to show the relationships in your data. Think about what charts or tables best feature the relationships that best fit the data story you are trying to tell. Here’s a quick primer on choosing the right chart type for your data story: LINE GRAPHS Line graphs show changes or relative changes to something over a period of time. Notice how the most significant findings are called out directly to the viewer. The data points you report should always be key elements of your story. Ex: “Sales are trending upwards since the Cloud launch because… which means… and so…” Good rule of thumb? Use a maximum of 5 lines per chart for easiest viewing and understanding.   BAR GRAPHS Bar graphs display a relationship between variables, usually for the purpose of comparison. This head-to-head comparison of project delivery shows the viewer the story instantly by highlighting the key information in green, adding a callout, and subduing the rest. Always keep charts two-dimensional for easy interpretation.   PIE CHART 2.0: THE DONUT CHART Pie charts (and the more modern version, donut charts) show how percentages relate to each other within a whole. The pie or donut should always equal 100% of a meaningful total. Each wedge or segment must be a percentage of that total. This chart tells an instant visual story about what dominates a specific category. The donut improves the pie because it is visually easier for the eye to discern the difference in linear segments than the more nebulous area of pie slices. Pies and donuts are often used for demographic or budgetary data. Important to note: these types of charts can only be used to represent a snapshot of one moment in time.   TABLES For times when you believe your audience will benefit from viewing a larger universe of data, use a table. Tables display data details which would be lost in graphs or charts. It is still critical that you visually call out your most significant findings in order to let that table tell a story or move your larger story along. Notice above how the shaded rows support the headline of the slide to let the viewer zero in instantly on important information. Turn Your Numbers Into Narratives When your next meeting is on the horizon, don’t forget to first examine your data insights and isolate your key message. Consider what metrics will support your story and help it pack a punch – don’t flash unnecessary info just because you’ve got it. Then, feature primary data in the proper chart and keep the rest of your data hidden, but readily available if needed – perhaps in slide notes, hidden slides, or other supportive materials. For powerful data storytelling, the right chart will get you well on your way. Want to learn more about developing a story with your data? The Presentation Company has data storytelling workshops for you and your team. Get in touch with us today!", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Chart-That-Tells-a-Story_V05.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T15:55:24-05:00" }, { "id": 7794, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/15-ways-business-storytelling-will-propel-your-career/", "title": "15 Ways Business Storytelling Will Propel Your Career", "h1": "15 Ways Business Storytelling Will Propel Your Career", "summary": "By now, everyone has heard about the undeniable power of business storytelling as a way to get ideas heard. Beyond helping you humanize and organize your thoughts, storytelling also impacts the way you are perceived at work. So, if you are serious about learning the most powerful way to quickly hook attention, spur people to […]", "content": "

By now, everyone has heard about the undeniable power of business storytelling as a way to get ideas heard. Beyond helping you humanize and organize your thoughts, storytelling also impacts the way you are perceived at work. So, if you are serious about learning the most powerful way to quickly hook attention, spur people to action, and advance your career…this is it.

Storytelling…

1. Boosts your executive presence. Not everyone naturally knows how to “own the room”, navigate difficult questions, and come across authentically during a presentation. By incorporating a story framework, you immediately ground your ideas in a cohesive thought process and benefit from a seamless way to advance the storyline. This ultimately helps you stay on track (ie. avoid tangents) and command the room.

2. Makes it easy to address varied audiences. Rarely is your audience totally homogenous. People you present to often serve different functions, at different levels, and have different needs. By incorporating storytelling techniques, you can “flex” your narrative to multiple audience’s care-abouts…and look like a superstar for being mindful of various points of view.

3. Elevates the meaning of your data. We all love data that validates our ideas…but data alone doesn’t tell the full story. Story structure forces us to isolate our key insights and serve up the right data at the right time, increasing the odds of your audience quickly buying into your ideas.

4. Increases cross-functional collaboration and communication. We often build our business communications in teams. Perhaps it’s a client pitch, a strategic plan, or a project update. Using a story structure provides a common “language” for teams – particularly when many parts must come together at the end. A clear, consistent storyline prevents the final output from becoming a non-cohesive “Frankendeck”. Scary!

5. Gives your audience a reason to care. Essential to all storytelling is the establishment of context. This is simply the reason anyone should care about your ideas! Nobody should wonder why they are sitting in a room, on a conference call, in a virtual meeting or reading that email.

6. Helps you choose *relevant* visuals. Yes, we all love gorgeous visuals…but make no mistake – looks alone won’t grant automatic approval of your ideas. Developing a story arc will make it clear how many key messages you have to communicate, making it easy to choose visuals that correspond. The point is to first “net-out” your ideas, then bring them to life visually with intention.

7. Reminds you to reflect on your audience’s perspective. So many times we present our ideas by putting ourselves, our products, or our company at the forefront. Storytelling methodology forces you to think about your audience first…why are they there? What do you want then to know and do with your information?

8. Keeps your presentation from getting hijacked (often by impatient executives.) Most of us have experienced a roomful of senior management who sidetrack the conversation or change the focus of a meeting. It can easily cause us to get lost and rattle our confidence. Having a clear story roadmap will get you back on track with your original agenda no matter how far off these questions take you.

9. Humanizes your message. When we tell stories to a friend or colleague, we effortlessly add color and texture to our ideas. Business communication should be no different. Story structure is designed to make people feel something.

10. Provides guardrails for staying on track. A well-planned story is like a chapter book. At any time you know exactly where you are. The story framework gets you to immediately get back on track. Phew!

11. Helps you consider what your audience already knows. The process of developing a business story ensures that you make adjustments to how deeply you dive into details and background, based on existing knowledge and context. So don’t bore that audience with facts and data they already know. Be mindful and prepare appropriately.

12. Prevents “freeze-ups” during a live presentation. Everyone has experienced nerves and anxiety during a presentation. The higher the stakes, the loftier the bigshots you present to, the more likely you are to freeze-up. Nothing will give you more confidence and feeling of protection than having a story framework that helps you navigate where you are headed.

13. Focuses your ideas. You’re FULL of great ideas. But having too many unfocused, untethered ideas can be counterproductive. Story structure ensures you isolate a BIG Idea that is woven into the presentation from start to finish. This is particularly vital when working on team presentations.  

14. Offers easy flexibility (AKA “the pivot”.) You never know how quickly people will grasp your ideas or how deep they want to go. By grounding everything with context, storytelling lets you nimbly jump around in your presentation backwards or forwards depending on how much information your audience is craving.

15. Develops careers. There is no dispute, being able to deliver a clear message that inspires action is a career game-changer. Storytelling is the best way to ensure you or your team will have a simple way to organize ideas. Goodbye meandering ideas, facts, or data…hello storytelling!

If you’re ready to bring corporate storytelling to your team, learn more about our workshop here.

", "content_plain": "By now, everyone has heard about the undeniable power of business storytelling as a way to get ideas heard. Beyond helping you humanize and organize your thoughts, storytelling also impacts the way you are perceived at work. So, if you are serious about learning the most powerful way to quickly hook attention, spur people to action, and advance your career…this is it. Storytelling… 1. Boosts your executive presence. Not everyone naturally knows how to “own the room”, navigate difficult questions, and come across authentically during a presentation. By incorporating a story framework, you immediately ground your ideas in a cohesive thought process and benefit from a seamless way to advance the storyline. This ultimately helps you stay on track (ie. avoid tangents) and command the room. 2. Makes it easy to address varied audiences. Rarely is your audience totally homogenous. People you present to often serve different functions, at different levels, and have different needs. By incorporating storytelling techniques, you can “flex” your narrative to multiple audience’s care-abouts…and look like a superstar for being mindful of various points of view. 3. Elevates the meaning of your data. We all love data that validates our ideas…but data alone doesn’t tell the full story. Story structure forces us to isolate our key insights and serve up the right data at the right time, increasing the odds of your audience quickly buying into your ideas. 4. Increases cross-functional collaboration and communication. We often build our business communications in teams. Perhaps it’s a client pitch, a strategic plan, or a project update. Using a story structure provides a common “language” for teams – particularly when many parts must come together at the end. A clear, consistent storyline prevents the final output from becoming a non-cohesive “Frankendeck”. Scary! 5. Gives your audience a reason to care. Essential to all storytelling is the establishment of context. This is simply the reason anyone should care about your ideas! Nobody should wonder why they are sitting in a room, on a conference call, in a virtual meeting or reading that email. 6. Helps you choose *relevant* visuals. Yes, we all love gorgeous visuals…but make no mistake – looks alone won’t grant automatic approval of your ideas. Developing a story arc will make it clear how many key messages you have to communicate, making it easy to choose visuals that correspond. The point is to first “net-out” your ideas, then bring them to life visually with intention. 7. Reminds you to reflect on your audience’s perspective. So many times we present our ideas by putting ourselves, our products, or our company at the forefront. Storytelling methodology forces you to think about your audience first…why are they there? What do you want then to know and do with your information? 8. Keeps your presentation from getting hijacked (often by impatient executives.) Most of us have experienced a roomful of senior management who sidetrack the conversation or change the focus of a meeting. It can easily cause us to get lost and rattle our confidence. Having a clear story roadmap will get you back on track with your original agenda no matter how far off these questions take you. 9. Humanizes your message. When we tell stories to a friend or colleague, we effortlessly add color and texture to our ideas. Business communication should be no different. Story structure is designed to make people feel something. 10. Provides guardrails for staying on track. A well-planned story is like a chapter book. At any time you know exactly where you are. The story framework gets you to immediately get back on track. Phew! 11. Helps you consider what your audience already knows. The process of developing a business story ensures that you make adjustments to how deeply you dive into details and background, based on existing knowledge and context. So don’t bore that audience with facts and data they already know. Be mindful and prepare appropriately. 12. Prevents “freeze-ups” during a live presentation. Everyone has experienced nerves and anxiety during a presentation. The higher the stakes, the loftier the bigshots you present to, the more likely you are to freeze-up. Nothing will give you more confidence and feeling of protection than having a story framework that helps you navigate where you are headed. 13. Focuses your ideas. You’re FULL of great ideas. But having too many unfocused, untethered ideas can be counterproductive. Story structure ensures you isolate a BIG Idea that is woven into the presentation from start to finish. This is particularly vital when working on team presentations. 14. Offers easy flexibility (AKA “the pivot”.) You never know how quickly people will grasp your ideas or how deep they want to go. By grounding everything with context, storytelling lets you nimbly jump around in your presentation backwards or forwards depending on how much information your audience is craving. 15. Develops careers. There is no dispute, being able to deliver a clear message that inspires action is a career game-changer. Storytelling is the best way to ensure you or your team will have a simple way to organize ideas. Goodbye meandering ideas, facts, or data…hello storytelling! If you’re ready to bring corporate storytelling to your team, learn more about our workshop here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/15-ways-storytelling-will-propel-your-career.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T10:51:00-05:00" }, { "id": 7796, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/webinar-selling-ideas-through-visual-stories/", "title": "Webinar: Selling Ideas Through Visual Stories", "h1": "Webinar: Selling Ideas Through Visual Stories", "summary": "Neuroscience tells us that two powerful tools — storytelling and visuals — capture attention and drive people to action. The best storytellers do this because they remember one important fact: people are 22 times more likely to remember a message or data if it’s wrapped in story. So why not present that way? Join in […]", "content": "

Neuroscience tells us that two powerful tools — storytelling and visuals — capture attention and drive people to action. The best storytellers do this because they remember one important fact: people are 22 times more likely to remember a message or data if it’s wrapped in story. So why not present that way?

Join in and listen to Janine Kurnoff, founder of The Presentation Company, shares how to turn dry facts and data into audience-grabbing visual stories, and use real-world examples to demonstrate why storytelling is so effective in selling ideas and driving the business conversation forward.

During the webinar, you will learn:

Fill out the form to watch the webinar and boost your confidence the next time you present.

", "content_plain": "Neuroscience tells us that two powerful tools — storytelling and visuals — capture attention and drive people to action. The best storytellers do this because they remember one important fact: people are 22 times more likely to remember a message or data if it’s wrapped in story. So why not present that way? Join in and listen to Janine Kurnoff, founder of The Presentation Company, shares how to turn dry facts and data into audience-grabbing visual stories, and use real-world examples to demonstrate why storytelling is so effective in selling ideas and driving the business conversation forward. During the webinar, you will learn: The 4 signposts of classic storytelling What makes effective business storytelling How storytelling helps pull scattered ideas into a powerful visual story Fill out the form to watch the webinar and boost your confidence the next time you present.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Selling-Ideas-Through-Visual-Stories.jpg", "modified": "2023-02-28T09:52:51-05:00" }, { "id": 7798, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/personal-and-business-storytelling-are-not-the-same/", "title": "Personal and Business Storytelling are NOT the same", "h1": "Personal and Business Storytelling are NOT the same", "summary": "These days, there’s a big push to embrace storytelling in business communications. Companies are hiring acting coaches and improv troupes to help liven up their dry, monotone communications. Kudos to these thespians and comedians who are teaching storytelling through this lens – one that teaches us how to incorporate our personal experiences and weave them […]", "content": "

These days, there’s a big push to embrace storytelling in business communications. Companies are hiring acting coaches and improv troupes to help liven up their dry, monotone communications. Kudos to these thespians and comedians who are teaching storytelling through this lens – one that teaches us how to incorporate our personal experiences and weave them into presentations. The idea is that bringing more of our natural storytelling ability into our work will help us inject emotion into our ideas and make a more authentic connection with our audience.

While this may be true, what these personal storytelling skills lack is an explicit framework to address a business need. There’s a big distinction between writing a movie script…and drafting a corporate narrative. Yet still, many of us will confuse business storytelling and personal storytelling. So let’s clear this up.

What is Personal Storytelling?

Personal stories are often a powerful, inspirational, and emotional type of communication (like a graduation speech, keynote address, or a sermon.) These stories can be anything from introductory ice breakers, like telling a joke, to a deeply personal memory that taught a powerful life lesson. The point of sharing personal stories is to humanize yourself, lower audience defenses, and build connection. Something like:

When we articulate a personal experience, something amazing happens. We transfer our emotions – the fear of failure, overcoming obstacles, or simple doing good in the world – into our audience. When we tell personal narratives and share life lessons, we are authentic, inspiring, and motivational.

What we aren’t doing in personal storytelling is solving an everyday business problem. This is where business storytelling comes in.

Business Stories Are About Your Audience

The most obvious ways to understand how business storytelling is different is noticing who the story is about. Corporate stories are rarely about you – they are about your audience. The focus is squarely on your customer, colleagues, or the decision-maker you are intending to motivate. And again, the goal is to always solve a business need.

Business Stories are not Generally “Resolved” Like a Personal Story… And That’s the Point!

Oftentimes, the point of the story is to present tough news such as revenue loss or a high personnel turnover. Unlike personal storytelling, the “resolution” has yet to occur (so the audience can’t vicariously experience your triumph). With business storytelling, the resolution is your prescribed strategy, next steps, or call to action that will solve the conflict you have just demonstrated. Unlike personal storytelling, you don’t get to celebrate triumph over adversity…yet. The emotional response you’ll stir from your audience (which will make them care about your ideas) comes from carefully laying out relevant context, the conflict, and then your strategy and recommendations.

Do Personal and Business Storytelling Ever Intersect?

Yes! Good personal and business stories both strive to humanize ideas and make them relatable. Business storytelling might start with a personal story to demonstrate that “we” (presenter and audience) have had similar experiences.

For example, say you work for a major athletic company and you just completed a marathon. It would not be a far stretch for you to discuss the incredibly breathable, waterproof jacket that kept you dry for 26.2 miles. But, even if you get a little personal for a few minutes, you must shift yourself out of the limelight and bring things back to your business story arc quickly. The point is to always connect back to the recommendation or update you are delivering.

This can be tricky…especially when dealing with decision-makers that go from meeting to meeting. There is little time for too much abstract narrative. Personal stories should be brief and drive home the ask, recommendation or update.

Here are some major differences between personal and business storytelling:

Personal Storytelling Business Storytelling
Communication Type Keynote Address

Graduation Speech

Fundraising Appeal

 All business communications such as sales presentations, data findings, quarterly reviews, emails, etc.
Focus You Your Audience
Subject Personal struggle/Transformation/

Life Lesson. Conflict introduced and Resolved

 Current business problem yet to be resolved
Desired outcome Inspired, Receptive Audience; issue is resolved Recommendations are accepted, updates are presented
Pronouns used “I”, “Me” “We”, “Us”, or named character such as “Meet Joe”

 

“Storytelling” is a huge buzzword in business. It can mean a lot of different things to different people. Before you hire an entertainment-oriented trainer, beware of the difference between personal storytelling and business storytelling. You can tell always tell a personal story in a business setting, but if you need to build a strategic narrative to solve a business problem, corporate storytelling is the way to get there.

Curious about how to structure your next business story? Check out The Presentation Company’s corporate storytelling workshop for teams here.

", "content_plain": "These days, there’s a big push to embrace storytelling in business communications. Companies are hiring acting coaches and improv troupes to help liven up their dry, monotone communications. Kudos to these thespians and comedians who are teaching storytelling through this lens – one that teaches us how to incorporate our personal experiences and weave them into presentations. The idea is that bringing more of our natural storytelling ability into our work will help us inject emotion into our ideas and make a more authentic connection with our audience. While this may be true, what these personal storytelling skills lack is an explicit framework to address a business need. There’s a big distinction between writing a movie script…and drafting a corporate narrative. Yet still, many of us will confuse business storytelling and personal storytelling. So let’s clear this up. What is Personal Storytelling? Personal stories are often a powerful, inspirational, and emotional type of communication (like a graduation speech, keynote address, or a sermon.) These stories can be anything from introductory ice breakers, like telling a joke, to a deeply personal memory that taught a powerful life lesson. The point of sharing personal stories is to humanize yourself, lower audience defenses, and build connection. Something like: I was living on the streets just five years ago…today, I run a growing non-profit My life turned upside down when I was diagnosed with cancer. I had to ask myself, “What really matters in life?” As a firefighter who sees homes get destroyed daily…recovering a pair of shoes means much more than anyone could imagine… When we articulate a personal experience, something amazing happens. We transfer our emotions – the fear of failure, overcoming obstacles, or simple doing good in the world – into our audience. When we tell personal narratives and share life lessons, we are authentic, inspiring, and motivational. What we aren’t doing in personal storytelling is solving an everyday business problem. This is where business storytelling comes in. Business Stories Are About Your Audience The most obvious ways to understand how business storytelling is different is noticing who the story is about. Corporate stories are rarely about you – they are about your audience. The focus is squarely on your customer, colleagues, or the decision-maker you are intending to motivate. And again, the goal is to always solve a business need. Business Stories are not Generally “Resolved” Like a Personal Story… And That’s the Point! Oftentimes, the point of the story is to present tough news such as revenue loss or a high personnel turnover. Unlike personal storytelling, the “resolution” has yet to occur (so the audience can’t vicariously experience your triumph). With business storytelling, the resolution is your prescribed strategy, next steps, or call to action that will solve the conflict you have just demonstrated. Unlike personal storytelling, you don’t get to celebrate triumph over adversity…yet. The emotional response you’ll stir from your audience (which will make them care about your ideas) comes from carefully laying out relevant context, the conflict, and then your strategy and recommendations. Do Personal and Business Storytelling Ever Intersect? Yes! Good personal and business stories both strive to humanize ideas and make them relatable. Business storytelling might start with a personal story to demonstrate that “we” (presenter and audience) have had similar experiences. For example, say you work for a major athletic company and you just completed a marathon. It would not be a far stretch for you to discuss the incredibly breathable, waterproof jacket that kept you dry for 26.2 miles. But, even if you get a little personal for a few minutes, you must shift yourself out of the limelight and bring things back to your business story arc quickly. The point is to always connect back to the recommendation or update you are delivering. This can be tricky…especially when dealing with decision-makers that go from meeting to meeting. There is little time for too much abstract narrative. Personal stories should be brief and drive home the ask, recommendation or update. Here are some major differences between personal and business storytelling: Personal Storytelling Business Storytelling Communication Type Keynote Address Graduation Speech Fundraising Appeal All business communications such as sales presentations, data findings, quarterly reviews, emails, etc. Focus You Your Audience Subject Personal struggle/Transformation/ Life Lesson. Conflict introduced and Resolved Current business problem yet to be resolved Desired outcome Inspired, Receptive Audience; issue is resolved Recommendations are accepted, updates are presented Pronouns used “I”, “Me” “We”, “Us”, or named character such as “Meet Joe”   “Storytelling” is a huge buzzword in business. It can mean a lot of different things to different people. Before you hire an entertainment-oriented trainer, beware of the difference between personal storytelling and business storytelling. You can tell always tell a personal story in a business setting, but if you need to build a strategic narrative to solve a business problem, corporate storytelling is the way to get there. Curious about how to structure your next business story? Check out The Presentation Company’s corporate storytelling workshop for teams here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Personal-vs-Business-Storytelling_V04.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T16:07:28-05:00" }, { "id": 7800, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tpc-contributes-to-training-industry-how-to-flex-your-story-to-multiple-audiences/", "title": "TPC Contributes to Training Industry: How to Flex Your Story to Multiple Audiences", "h1": "TPC Contributes to Training Industry: How to Flex Your Story to Multiple Audiences", "summary": "It happens to the best of us: Mid-presentation, we suddenly notice something both unnerving and terrifying: vacant, bored, or – heaven forbid – hostile faces in our audience. We might try to talk faster … or slower. But in all likelihood, pace isn’t our problem. Even well-prepared, audience-focused presentations can fall flat because we face […]", "content": "

It happens to the best of us: Mid-presentation, we suddenly notice something both unnerving and terrifying: vacant, bored, or – heaven forbid – hostile faces in our audience. We might try to talk faster … or slower. But in all likelihood, pace isn’t our problem. Even well-prepared, audience-focused presentations can fall flat because we face a crowd of co-workers, executives or customers who serve different functions and care about vastly different things. The problem is that we usually communicate our ideas in a narrow, singular context that might directly resonate with one audience member but doesn’t apply to the others.

For example, let’s say you’re trying to push a radically new program to the C-suite at your company. Pam, the CTO, wants to hear the technical specs. Robert in HR is primarily interested in how many new hires the initiative will require. Maria, the CFO, is laser-focused on which P&L this new service will fall within. Yes, you have one audience, but in actuality, you are facing (at least) three.

So, what can you do? How can you broaden your sights? How can you expand the story of your new initiative, product or recommendation to reach these different audiences? Simply put, you must grow your story.

The Basic Structure of a Story: The Why, the What, the How

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Before we explore how to grow a story, let’s look at basic story structure. All great stories are made up of four signposts: setting, characters, conflict and resolution.

The Why: The context of the story, the “why,” is established by the first three signposts and answers the question, “Why should I care about the proposal, product or idea that you are going to reveal?” Your audience will more likely buy into new ideas if you first establish some context.

The What: Good stories should always contain a big idea, which is the “what” of your story. It’s the one thing you want your audience to remember. Every fact or piece of data you include should be directly connected to and support your big idea.

The How: The fourth signpost of storytelling is your resolution: How you are going to implement your ideas? For engineers, it might be details on timing and resources for a new product. For salespeople, it might be the unveiling of new pricing options. For CEOs, it might be revenue forecasts presented to the board. The resolution is how your big idea will come to life.

Introduce Multiple Characters to Resonate with Each Constituency

To “grow” your story to keep a diverse set of executives interested, introduce multiple characters that will resonate with their varying interests and needs. Keep introductions brief, and then portray each character facing a meaningful conflict. What’s important is that with each character, you are speaking specifically to the different constituents in your audience. By doing so, you are demonstrating that you uniquely understand them.

Build a “Home Base” Resolution Landing Page

\"\"

After you’ve introduced setting, multiple characters and conflict(s), you must “resolve” the issues. Building a resolution “landing page” is an excellent way to guide your conversation and show your audience where you are prepared to go. This visual map drills down to more detail on each conflict, arranged as subtopics. It allows you to respond to your audience in the moment by easily navigating to areas of interest. When your audience has a visual representation of what you are prepared to discuss, it invites conversation and lets you dig in and address their specific needs. It’s as easy as clicking back to your home base and drilling down into another area.

Great Presentations Always Consider the Full Audience

It’s not easy to address the needs of everyone in your audience, but recognizing that there are often many different needs is a great place to start. If you’re presenting to a group, structure a narrative that speaks to as many constituencies as possible. A flexible story that includes multiple characters and addresses their conflict demonstrates that you have broad considerations about who is affected by what you are proposing. Hopefully, this approach will catch (and keep!) everyone’s attention.

Republished with permission from TrainingIndustry.com.

", "content_plain": "It happens to the best of us: Mid-presentation, we suddenly notice something both unnerving and terrifying: vacant, bored, or – heaven forbid – hostile faces in our audience. We might try to talk faster … or slower. But in all likelihood, pace isn’t our problem. Even well-prepared, audience-focused presentations can fall flat because we face a crowd of co-workers, executives or customers who serve different functions and care about vastly different things. The problem is that we usually communicate our ideas in a narrow, singular context that might directly resonate with one audience member but doesn’t apply to the others. For example, let’s say you’re trying to push a radically new program to the C-suite at your company. Pam, the CTO, wants to hear the technical specs. Robert in HR is primarily interested in how many new hires the initiative will require. Maria, the CFO, is laser-focused on which P&L this new service will fall within. Yes, you have one audience, but in actuality, you are facing (at least) three. So, what can you do? How can you broaden your sights? How can you expand the story of your new initiative, product or recommendation to reach these different audiences? Simply put, you must grow your story. The Basic Structure of a Story: The Why, the What, the How Before we explore how to grow a story, let’s look at basic story structure. All great stories are made up of four signposts: setting, characters, conflict and resolution. The Why: The context of the story, the “why,” is established by the first three signposts and answers the question, “Why should I care about the proposal, product or idea that you are going to reveal?” Your audience will more likely buy into new ideas if you first establish some context. The What: Good stories should always contain a big idea, which is the “what” of your story. It’s the one thing you want your audience to remember. Every fact or piece of data you include should be directly connected to and support your big idea. The How: The fourth signpost of storytelling is your resolution: How you are going to implement your ideas? For engineers, it might be details on timing and resources for a new product. For salespeople, it might be the unveiling of new pricing options. For CEOs, it might be revenue forecasts presented to the board. The resolution is how your big idea will come to life. Introduce Multiple Characters to Resonate with Each Constituency To “grow” your story to keep a diverse set of executives interested, introduce multiple characters that will resonate with their varying interests and needs. Keep introductions brief, and then portray each character facing a meaningful conflict. What’s important is that with each character, you are speaking specifically to the different constituents in your audience. By doing so, you are demonstrating that you uniquely understand them. Build a “Home Base” Resolution Landing Page After you’ve introduced setting, multiple characters and conflict(s), you must “resolve” the issues. Building a resolution “landing page” is an excellent way to guide your conversation and show your audience where you are prepared to go. This visual map drills down to more detail on each conflict, arranged as subtopics. It allows you to respond to your audience in the moment by easily navigating to areas of interest. When your audience has a visual representation of what you are prepared to discuss, it invites conversation and lets you dig in and address their specific needs. It’s as easy as clicking back to your home base and drilling down into another area. Great Presentations Always Consider the Full Audience It’s not easy to address the needs of everyone in your audience, but recognizing that there are often many different needs is a great place to start. If you’re presenting to a group, structure a narrative that speaks to as many constituencies as possible. A flexible story that includes multiple characters and addresses their conflict demonstrates that you have broad considerations about who is affected by what you are proposing. Hopefully, this approach will catch (and keep!) everyone’s attention. Republished with permission from TrainingIndustry.com.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Storytelling-and-Presentations-11.21.18.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-01T10:34:32-05:00" }, { "id": 7802, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/the-key-ingredient-to-communicating-your-ideas-successfully/", "title": "The Key Ingredient to Communicating Your Ideas Successfully", "h1": "The Key Ingredient to Communicating Your Ideas Successfully", "summary": "Think back. Do you remember much from the last presentation you attended? Proposal you read? Virtual meeting you dialed into? If not, don’t panic…you’re not alone. Most of us don’t remember a whole lot of what is presented to us. And a common reason is that our presentations lack a BIG Idea. So why do […]", "content": "

Think back. Do you remember much from the last presentation you attended? Proposal you read? Virtual meeting you dialed into? If not, don’t panic…you’re not alone. Most of us don’t remember a whole lot of what is presented to us. And a common reason is that our presentations lack a BIG Idea.

So why do we sit through so many rudderless, meandering, meetings that lack a focus? The typical reason material passes in – and then out – of our brain, is that we receive an overabundance of ancillary information. There isn’t one clear idea marshaled from the beginning of the presentation right through to the end.

We Have Trouble Focusing

Many people believe that to look smart and well-prepared, you should show everything you’ve got. After all, we work hard to gather the facts and data that support whatever proposal, update, or recommendation we present. Sometimes, it’s harder to decide what NOT to include than what to put in. This is why slides get jam-packed with text, charts, and bullets.

So, what is the easiest way to prioritize information? You need to single out one idea that captures the essence of what your presentation is about.

Your BIG Idea is Your Through-Line

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The first question you should ask yourself when planning a presentation is simple: what is my presentation about? Better yet, what is the essential point that I want my audience to take with them? And you should be able to capture this BIG Idea in about two sentences (made up of two parts):

  1. The WHAT
  2. The BENEFIT to your audience.

Here’s an example of a BIG Idea:

A new performance tracking dashboard will improve business results.

In this case, “a new performance tracking dashboard” is the WHAT we want our audience to know and “improve business results” is the BENEFIT. Since this idea is the single most important idea being presented, every other fact or piece of data included in deck should directly support it.

Your BIG Idea is the through-line to your presentation, which means you want to establish it early and continue to reinforce it throughout.

Your BIG Idea Should Address a Conflict Your Audience Cares About

\"\"

Another helpful way to understand what differentiates your BIG Idea from any one of your other ideas, is that it must directly address whatever conflict you are introducing. In other words, the central issue your audience cares about (e.g. decreasing revenue, high turnover, low morale). Your BIG Idea is the overarching concept that will solve it.

It’s important to point out that if there is no clear conflict in your presentation, it is hard to develop a BIG Idea. Solving a conflict is absolutely key to getting anyone to care about your ideas. And if there is no conflict, ask yourself: is there a purpose to this presentation at all? If not, maybe reconsider the meeting!

Your BIG Idea is Always About THEM (Not You)

Finally, given that your BIG Idea is the all-important, ONE thing your audience should remember, it should be both audience-centric and conversational. It’s never about your product, your tagline, or your agenda.

Whatever type of business communication you are planning, developing your BIG Idea is a critical organizational mechanism that will focus and enshrine your message…which is the ultimate key to making it memorable.

If you want to learn more ways to share your ideas successfully, take a look at our storytelling learning journey.

", "content_plain": "Think back. Do you remember much from the last presentation you attended? Proposal you read? Virtual meeting you dialed into? If not, don’t panic…you’re not alone. Most of us don’t remember a whole lot of what is presented to us. And a common reason is that our presentations lack a BIG Idea. So why do we sit through so many rudderless, meandering, meetings that lack a focus? The typical reason material passes in – and then out – of our brain, is that we receive an overabundance of ancillary information. There isn’t one clear idea marshaled from the beginning of the presentation right through to the end. We Have Trouble Focusing Many people believe that to look smart and well-prepared, you should show everything you’ve got. After all, we work hard to gather the facts and data that support whatever proposal, update, or recommendation we present. Sometimes, it’s harder to decide what NOT to include than what to put in. This is why slides get jam-packed with text, charts, and bullets. So, what is the easiest way to prioritize information? You need to single out one idea that captures the essence of what your presentation is about. Your BIG Idea is Your Through-Line The first question you should ask yourself when planning a presentation is simple: what is my presentation about? Better yet, what is the essential point that I want my audience to take with them? And you should be able to capture this BIG Idea in about two sentences (made up of two parts): The WHAT The BENEFIT to your audience. Here’s an example of a BIG Idea: A new performance tracking dashboard will improve business results. In this case, “a new performance tracking dashboard” is the WHAT we want our audience to know and “improve business results” is the BENEFIT. Since this idea is the single most important idea being presented, every other fact or piece of data included in deck should directly support it. Your BIG Idea is the through-line to your presentation, which means you want to establish it early and continue to reinforce it throughout. Your BIG Idea Should Address a Conflict Your Audience Cares About Another helpful way to understand what differentiates your BIG Idea from any one of your other ideas, is that it must directly address whatever conflict you are introducing. In other words, the central issue your audience cares about (e.g. decreasing revenue, high turnover, low morale). Your BIG Idea is the overarching concept that will solve it. It’s important to point out that if there is no clear conflict in your presentation, it is hard to develop a BIG Idea. Solving a conflict is absolutely key to getting anyone to care about your ideas. And if there is no conflict, ask yourself: is there a purpose to this presentation at all? If not, maybe reconsider the meeting! Your BIG Idea is Always About THEM (Not You) Finally, given that your BIG Idea is the all-important, ONE thing your audience should remember, it should be both audience-centric and conversational. It’s never about your product, your tagline, or your agenda. Whatever type of business communication you are planning, developing your BIG Idea is a critical organizational mechanism that will focus and enshrine your message…which is the ultimate key to making it memorable. If you want to learn more ways to share your ideas successfully, take a look at our storytelling learning journey.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Whats-your-BIG-Idea.png", "modified": "2025-08-07T12:22:31-05:00" }, { "id": 7804, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/data-visualization-vs-data-storytelling-whats-the-difference/", "title": "The Ultimate Guide: Data Visualization vs. Storytelling with Data", "h1": "The Ultimate Guide: Data Visualization vs. Storytelling with Data", "summary": "We’re addicted to data. It helps us find golden revenue opportunities. It helps us slash project costs. Whatever path we seek or decision we are trying to make, we rely on data to get there. But sometimes instead of hastening decisions, data can actually hinder them. That’s because those who spend time gathering data have […]", "content": "

We’re addicted to data. It helps us find golden revenue opportunities. It helps us slash project costs. Whatever path we seek or decision we are trying to make, we rely on data to get there. But sometimes instead of hastening decisions, data can actually hinder them. That’s because those who spend time gathering data have a tendency to want to show off ALL of it. Even data visualization experts – with ability to render beautiful, colorful charts and tables – will struggle to give their data meaning unless they know how to tell a story.

Data without a story lacks impact for two reasons:

So how can you combat this data crisis? First, you must distinguish between two important but distinct concepts that are often conflated — storytelling with data and data visualization. Next, check out some powerful techniques that will help you fold your ideas into a data-driven story. Here is a guide to get you started.

What is data visualization?

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Data visualization is simply the visual representation of data. This might be basic charts and tables that are generated from a spreadsheet. Or, it could go well beyond those modalities to include any use of shapes, color, and sizing to draw visual focus to data findings. Bottom line, data visualization is about communicating the substance of your metrics in a visual way.

Data visualization can certainly be used to tell a story at the slide level. It can:

However, the real magic happens when data visualization is driven by storytelling at the slide level and story level.

What is storytelling with data, and why is it important?

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Storytelling with data differs from data visualization because it requires communicators to offer a larger, holistic, view of their message. You must focus first on your audience and structure a larger message before any visuals are rendered. You must identify from the start:

There is no understating how important it is for all presented data to have a purpose. Every piece of data you include should further this purpose – or it should be left out.

How do I get started storytelling with data?

We all know that telling a story with data gives it meaning. But many of us wonder: How do we actually do this? Well, the work begins before you sit down at your computer to build that chart or table. A good data storyteller always begins with their audience and establishes their key message:

Storytellers also determine: “Is the data I am choosing moving forward the story I want to tell?” If the answer is yes, it is probably safe to include it. At that point, you are ready to open your computer and begin to build your visuals.

I don’t have experience in graphic design or storytelling. Where do I start?

Whether you are using basic data visualization software that will quickly elevate and call out key points or sophisticated tools and apps, remember: the best way to get decision-makers to act is through storytelling. This requires you to develop a basic story structure that drives one, overarching BIG Idea forward. With this structure in place, you’ve got a roadmap to identify which data must be included and which can be obscured or left out entirely.

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Once you’ve identified clear points to make, visuals should be kept simple and draw only your key points into focus.

What are some simple data storytelling techniques that enhance my message?

Create a Headline for Every Slide

One of the best visualization techniques is actually all about text. Imagine each slide as a news article. What is the most significant data finding you want to share? Write that headline at the top of your slide. In fact, write a headline on every slide. This powerful practice forces you to visually articulate your key insights and connect your slides in an easily recognizable pattern.

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Consider photography

Slapping a spreadsheet or loads of bullets on a slide is the opposite of good data visualization. The information will simply wash over us, causing squints and confusion. A good alternative is to break up text with photography or simple icons. Not only is it more visually pleasing, it is actually proven to help get your story across. Neuroscience tells us, pictures are infinitely more memorable than text.

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Don’t supply any extraneous data

Be scrupulous. Be selective. Only use data that directly supplies information to the concluding point of your argument or pitch.

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How else can I bring my data story to life visually?

Use call-outs to highlight important data

Call-outs allow you to create a focal point for your key metric on your slide. They are created using color, size, and shapes, attracting focus to a specific area on your slide.

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Don’t use a chart if you don’t need one

Your audience is much more likely to come to a decision based on one simple, conclusive data point. If you don’t need to visually display your data in a traditional bar/pie/line chart, then don’t. Clean lines, over-sized text, or a few simple shapes are often all you need to visualize the data story.

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Minimize the Noise

The opposite of calling out your critical data is figuring out what data to minimize or delete. To minimize clutter, start with your axis labels: Are they as informative, accurate, and concise as possible? Is your data easy to read?

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Where can I learn more about data visualization techniques?

Check out our resource center for more of our favorite storytelling with data tips. Have an hour to spare? Watch our webinar, Storytelling with Data, for an in-depth look at how some of the same data storytelling strategies have helped impact one of the world’s top brands.

", "content_plain": "We’re addicted to data. It helps us find golden revenue opportunities. It helps us slash project costs. Whatever path we seek or decision we are trying to make, we rely on data to get there. But sometimes instead of hastening decisions, data can actually hinder them. That’s because those who spend time gathering data have a tendency to want to show off ALL of it. Even data visualization experts – with ability to render beautiful, colorful charts and tables – will struggle to give their data meaning unless they know how to tell a story. Data without a story lacks impact for two reasons: The data isn’t distilled. We don’t necessarily need more data to solve our problems or uncover opportunity, we need to identify and communicate value from the data we already have. The data doesn’t support a BIG Idea. Data that is “fire-hosed” makes it difficult for our audience to quickly grasp the actionable “news” it brings. So how can you combat this data crisis? First, you must distinguish between two important but distinct concepts that are often conflated — storytelling with data and data visualization. Next, check out some powerful techniques that will help you fold your ideas into a data-driven story. Here is a guide to get you started. What is data visualization? Data visualization is simply the visual representation of data. This might be basic charts and tables that are generated from a spreadsheet. Or, it could go well beyond those modalities to include any use of shapes, color, and sizing to draw visual focus to data findings. Bottom line, data visualization is about communicating the substance of your metrics in a visual way. Data visualization can certainly be used to tell a story at the slide level. It can: Provide context Elevate and draw attention to key insights (and visually subdue the others) Lead to action (AKA: the “ask”) However, the real magic happens when data visualization is driven by storytelling at the slide level and story level. What is storytelling with data, and why is it important? Storytelling with data differs from data visualization because it requires communicators to offer a larger, holistic, view of their message. You must focus first on your audience and structure a larger message before any visuals are rendered. You must identify from the start: What do I want my audience to know or do with the data I am presenting? How will I structure a narrative that leads to desired action? How is my data helping drive a decision? There is no understating how important it is for all presented data to have a purpose. Every piece of data you include should further this purpose – or it should be left out. How do I get started storytelling with data? We all know that telling a story with data gives it meaning. But many of us wonder: How do we actually do this? Well, the work begins before you sit down at your computer to build that chart or table. A good data storyteller always begins with their audience and establishes their key message: What am I trying to achieve with the data I choose to display? Who is my audience? What do they care about? What level of data detail will they likely expect or appreciate? What is my BIG Idea — the one thing I want my audience to know or do with my data? Storytellers also determine: “Is the data I am choosing moving forward the story I want to tell?” If the answer is yes, it is probably safe to include it. At that point, you are ready to open your computer and begin to build your visuals. I don’t have experience in graphic design or storytelling. Where do I start? Whether you are using basic data visualization software that will quickly elevate and call out key points or sophisticated tools and apps, remember: the best way to get decision-makers to act is through storytelling. This requires you to develop a basic story structure that drives one, overarching BIG Idea forward. With this structure in place, you’ve got a roadmap to identify which data must be included and which can be obscured or left out entirely. Once you’ve identified clear points to make, visuals should be kept simple and draw only your key points into focus. What are some simple data storytelling techniques that enhance my message? Create a Headline for Every Slide One of the best visualization techniques is actually all about text. Imagine each slide as a news article. What is the most significant data finding you want to share? Write that headline at the top of your slide. In fact, write a headline on every slide. This powerful practice forces you to visually articulate your key insights and connect your slides in an easily recognizable pattern. Consider photography Slapping a spreadsheet or loads of bullets on a slide is the opposite of good data visualization. The information will simply wash over us, causing squints and confusion. A good alternative is to break up text with photography or simple icons. Not only is it more visually pleasing, it is actually proven to help get your story across. Neuroscience tells us, pictures are infinitely more memorable than text. Don’t supply any extraneous data Be scrupulous. Be selective. Only use data that directly supplies information to the concluding point of your argument or pitch. How else can I bring my data story to life visually? Use call-outs to highlight important data Call-outs allow you to create a focal point for your key metric on your slide. They are created using color, size, and shapes, attracting focus to a specific area on your slide. Don’t use a chart if you don’t need one Your audience is much more likely to come to a decision based on one simple, conclusive data point. If you don’t need to visually display your data in a traditional bar/pie/line chart, then don’t. Clean lines, over-sized text, or a few simple shapes are often all you need to visualize the data story. Minimize the Noise The opposite of calling out your critical data is figuring out what data to minimize or delete. To minimize clutter, start with your axis labels: Are they as informative, accurate, and concise as possible? Is your data easy to read? Where can I learn more about data visualization techniques? Check out our resource center for more of our favorite storytelling with data tips. Have an hour to spare? Watch our webinar, Storytelling with Data, for an in-depth look at how some of the same data storytelling strategies have helped impact one of the world’s top brands.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/storytelling-with-data-vs-Data-visualization_02.png", "modified": "2024-03-22T10:38:20-05:00" }, { "id": 7806, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/the-key-ingredient-to-a-23-million-view-ted-talk/", "title": "The Key Ingredient to a 23-Million-View TED Talk", "h1": "The Key Ingredient to a 23-Million-View TED Talk", "summary": "Many of us are secret (or not so secret!) procrastinators. This is surely what drew interest in this popular TED talk by Tim Urban. But 23 MILLION views?! Even if many people identify strongly with this commonly shared tendency (cat videos anyone?), there is no way it would hit 23 million views with just a […]", "content": "

Many of us are secret (or not so secret!) procrastinators. This is surely what drew interest in this popular TED talk by Tim Urban.

But 23 MILLION views?!

Even if many people identify strongly with this commonly shared tendency (cat videos anyone?), there is no way it would hit 23 million views with just a propensity to waste time. Even if Tim had flashed chart after chart of shocking data on how people waste millions of hours every day on social media, it wouldn’t go 23-million view viral. No way.

But just like his funny and imaginative blog, Wait but Why, Tim Urban melded a very simple idea: Procrastinating is wasting your life and making you miserable, with a heavy dose of storytelling. Watch the video here, then let’s take a closer look:

Introducing a Story Arc: Setting, Character, Conflict, Resolution

Introducing a Story Arc: Setting, Character, Conflict, Resolution

Tim begins his talk by describing his work habits during his senior year of college. With his own simple charts, he shows how he intended to complete his assignments (below left) vs. how he actually executed his work (below right). He of course is the central character in this story with the setting taking place back at college.

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Tim Urban

Although clearly this shows his lopsided study habits, it isn’t the real conflict in Tim’s story arc. He says he was always able to pull it off. Tim’s story faces its conflict when his normal last-minute cramming routine is up against his 90-page senior thesis. Needless to say, the results are painful, hilarious, and all too familiar!

Deepening the Story

Although Tim initially introduced just himself as the original character, he deepened his story to zoom in on the intense drama going on inside his head while in the throes of intense procrastination.

Tim illustrated these opposing forces inside his brain with three characters: Instant Gratification Monkey, Rational Decision-Maker, and The Panic Monster. Rather than dryly describing his constant work vs. waste time dilemma, Tim uses his ingenious characters to illustrate the continual tug-of-war going on inside his (but really all of our) head.

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Tim Urban

The Story Evolves – The BIG Idea is About All of Us

One of the hallmarks of a great TED talk (or any great presentation for that matter) is that although it might seem initially like it’s only about a few limited characters (sometimes the narrator themselves), the key message (what we like to call the BIG Idea) is actually about all of us. Tim did not just assume that he was speaking to a subset of the world who are, like him, continually at war with themselves about better time management. Like any powerful talk, he had a much broader message for his audience.

“Everyone is Procrastinating on Something in Life”

Tim ended his talk by showing a visual that included a sea of boxes. Each box represents a single week in a 90-year life span. His message was that even if we meet our daily deadlines, there are always larger goals in our lives that we are putting off. Chillingly, he mentioned that we have all used up quite a few boxes!

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Tim Urban

The key to how Tim engaged 23 million viewers was how took a subject that initially might have caught the interest of a few people, but used storytelling to reach into the emotions of the audience. He did this through the simple execution of the story arc — from character to setting to conflict through a resolution (i.e. get moving!). With this, he was easily able to show how with comical recognition of his own distraction, how stunningly relevant his internal war is for all of us. At least 23 million of us thought so.

Interested in learning how to transform your own messages into engaging stories? Click here to learn more about our corporate storytelling workshop.

", "content_plain": "Many of us are secret (or not so secret!) procrastinators. This is surely what drew interest in this popular TED talk by Tim Urban. But 23 MILLION views?! Even if many people identify strongly with this commonly shared tendency (cat videos anyone?), there is no way it would hit 23 million views with just a propensity to waste time. Even if Tim had flashed chart after chart of shocking data on how people waste millions of hours every day on social media, it wouldn’t go 23-million view viral. No way. But just like his funny and imaginative blog, Wait but Why, Tim Urban melded a very simple idea: Procrastinating is wasting your life and making you miserable, with a heavy dose of storytelling. Watch the video here, then let’s take a closer look: Introducing a Story Arc: Setting, Character, Conflict, Resolution Introducing a Story Arc: Setting, Character, Conflict, Resolution Tim begins his talk by describing his work habits during his senior year of college. With his own simple charts, he shows how he intended to complete his assignments (below left) vs. how he actually executed his work (below right). He of course is the central character in this story with the setting taking place back at college. Tim Urban Although clearly this shows his lopsided study habits, it isn’t the real conflict in Tim’s story arc. He says he was always able to pull it off. Tim’s story faces its conflict when his normal last-minute cramming routine is up against his 90-page senior thesis. Needless to say, the results are painful, hilarious, and all too familiar! Deepening the Story Although Tim initially introduced just himself as the original character, he deepened his story to zoom in on the intense drama going on inside his head while in the throes of intense procrastination. Tim illustrated these opposing forces inside his brain with three characters: Instant Gratification Monkey, Rational Decision-Maker, and The Panic Monster. Rather than dryly describing his constant work vs. waste time dilemma, Tim uses his ingenious characters to illustrate the continual tug-of-war going on inside his (but really all of our) head. Tim Urban The Story Evolves – The BIG Idea is About All of Us One of the hallmarks of a great TED talk (or any great presentation for that matter) is that although it might seem initially like it’s only about a few limited characters (sometimes the narrator themselves), the key message (what we like to call the BIG Idea) is actually about all of us. Tim did not just assume that he was speaking to a subset of the world who are, like him, continually at war with themselves about better time management. Like any powerful talk, he had a much broader message for his audience. “Everyone is Procrastinating on Something in Life” Tim ended his talk by showing a visual that included a sea of boxes. Each box represents a single week in a 90-year life span. His message was that even if we meet our daily deadlines, there are always larger goals in our lives that we are putting off. Chillingly, he mentioned that we have all used up quite a few boxes! Tim Urban The key to how Tim engaged 23 million viewers was how took a subject that initially might have caught the interest of a few people, but used storytelling to reach into the emotions of the audience. He did this through the simple execution of the story arc — from character to setting to conflict through a resolution (i.e. get moving!). With this, he was easily able to show how with comical recognition of his own distraction, how stunningly relevant his internal war is for all of us. At least 23 million of us thought so. Interested in learning how to transform your own messages into engaging stories? Click here to learn more about our corporate storytelling workshop.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Tim-Urban-TED-Talk.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T09:53:29-05:00" }, { "id": 7808, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/the-top-7-ways-to-investigate-your-audience/", "title": "The Top 7 Ways to Investigate Your Audience", "h1": "The Top 7 Ways to Investigate Your Audience", "summary": "One of the most difficult chasms presenters must cross is understanding their audience’s mindset. When you get people in a room (or in front of a screen), you want to make the conversation about them. Yet so often, we skip this type of preparation entirely. And it’s a bad idea. The truth is, investigating your […]", "content": "

One of the most difficult chasms presenters must cross is understanding their audience’s mindset. When you get people in a room (or in front of a screen), you want to make the conversation about them. Yet so often, we skip this type of preparation entirely. And it’s a bad idea. The truth is, investigating your audience is not typically difficult. It simply requires a thoughtful and deliberate dive into their world.

Get a Clue

In order to make the conversation about your audience, you must first gather good intelligence. So get your Sherlock… or Matlock… or Miss Marple hat on, and consider these seven questions:

1. Who is your audience?

No really, WHO are they? Where are they from? Do you know them well? Will they appreciate some informal, personal chitchat? Or, are they straight to business? Are there any demographic details that will factor into their perception of your presentation?

2. What’s their specific role?

Are you presenting to the VPs of specific departments, or to a far-flung sales force? The level and purview of your audience will factor heavily into the level of detail you offer. Senior-level people tend to want LESS detail and a bigger picture. On the other hand, more junior-level people might be happy to pour over granular information.

3. What do they need?

This is perhaps the most crucial part of your sleuthing. The people you are facing ALL have needs of their own. Can you identify precisely how you are addressing their wishes? Does the CEO have an earnings call coming up? Will the HR manager be affected by a proposed growth strategy? Think thoroughly about how your talk will be interpreted by everyone in the crowd.

4. What is their attitude towards the topic?

Try to predict – prior to your presentation – how people will react to your report, proposal, or data findings. Have you presented something like this to them (or others like them who have served in their specific capacity) before? Take some time to consider how you might avoid surprises while you are under the spotlight.

5. What’s their prior knowledge of your topic?

THIS IS BIG. HUGE. Like, do not overlook this question. There is nothing more irritating to busy executives than having to sit through overly-detailed reviews, or finance reports filled with minutiae, or any particulars they already know (or don’t need to know.) Sure, be prepared to review extra details if they ask, but always consider how you can enter the conversation at a higher level, to keep moving the conversation forward.

6. What environment will you be presenting in? 

Are you setting up for a face-to-face meeting or virtual? Will this be a small group or a large crowd? These factors are important because each of these scenarios will affect how easily it will be for you to interact – and get real-time feedback – from your crowd.

7. What BIG Idea do you want them to take away? 

There is no understating how important it is to have a goal for every conversation. Can you envision exactly what you want this audience will leave with? Would you like to influence a specific decision they are about to make? Are you showing them a forecast that will determine a multitude of new strategies? What specific call to action do you have for this particular audience?

Keep in mind your investigative audience work should happen before you even think about developing any slide. First, summon your inner bloodhound to sniff out and identify the needs, motivations, and desires of the audience you are about to face.

For information about how you can learn to be a great detective and storyteller, check out TPC’s corporate storytelling workshop here.

", "content_plain": "One of the most difficult chasms presenters must cross is understanding their audience’s mindset. When you get people in a room (or in front of a screen), you want to make the conversation about them. Yet so often, we skip this type of preparation entirely. And it’s a bad idea. The truth is, investigating your audience is not typically difficult. It simply requires a thoughtful and deliberate dive into their world. Get a Clue In order to make the conversation about your audience, you must first gather good intelligence. So get your Sherlock… or Matlock… or Miss Marple hat on, and consider these seven questions: 1. Who is your audience? No really, WHO are they? Where are they from? Do you know them well? Will they appreciate some informal, personal chitchat? Or, are they straight to business? Are there any demographic details that will factor into their perception of your presentation? 2. What’s their specific role? Are you presenting to the VPs of specific departments, or to a far-flung sales force? The level and purview of your audience will factor heavily into the level of detail you offer. Senior-level people tend to want LESS detail and a bigger picture. On the other hand, more junior-level people might be happy to pour over granular information. 3. What do they need? This is perhaps the most crucial part of your sleuthing. The people you are facing ALL have needs of their own. Can you identify precisely how you are addressing their wishes? Does the CEO have an earnings call coming up? Will the HR manager be affected by a proposed growth strategy? Think thoroughly about how your talk will be interpreted by everyone in the crowd. 4. What is their attitude towards the topic? Try to predict – prior to your presentation – how people will react to your report, proposal, or data findings. Have you presented something like this to them (or others like them who have served in their specific capacity) before? Take some time to consider how you might avoid surprises while you are under the spotlight. 5. What’s their prior knowledge of your topic? THIS IS BIG. HUGE. Like, do not overlook this question. There is nothing more irritating to busy executives than having to sit through overly-detailed reviews, or finance reports filled with minutiae, or any particulars they already know (or don’t need to know.) Sure, be prepared to review extra details if they ask, but always consider how you can enter the conversation at a higher level, to keep moving the conversation forward. 6. What environment will you be presenting in? Are you setting up for a face-to-face meeting or virtual? Will this be a small group or a large crowd? These factors are important because each of these scenarios will affect how easily it will be for you to interact – and get real-time feedback – from your crowd. 7. What BIG Idea do you want them to take away? There is no understating how important it is to have a goal for every conversation. Can you envision exactly what you want this audience will leave with? Would you like to influence a specific decision they are about to make? Are you showing them a forecast that will determine a multitude of new strategies? What specific call to action do you have for this particular audience? Keep in mind your investigative audience work should happen before you even think about developing any slide. First, summon your inner bloodhound to sniff out and identify the needs, motivations, and desires of the audience you are about to face. For information about how you can learn to be a great detective and storyteller, check out TPC’s corporate storytelling workshop here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Investigate_Thumbnail.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T08:45:50-05:00" }, { "id": 7810, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/how-to-not-freak-out-when-your-audience-looks-bored/", "title": "How to Not FREAK OUT When Your Audience Looks Bored", "h1": "How to Not FREAK OUT When Your Audience Looks Bored", "summary": "Your presentation is starting out great. You’ve got highly-visual slides, the technology is functioning, the crowd is paying attention… well wait, they were paying attention. Now you’re noticing – slowly at first – people are starting to fidget. You do your best to make eye contact with the crowd to keep a connection, but all […]", "content": "

Your presentation is starting out great. You’ve got highly-visual slides, the technology is functioning, the crowd is paying attention… well wait, they were paying attention. Now you’re noticing – slowly at first – people are starting to fidget. You do your best to make eye contact with the crowd to keep a connection, but all you get is…

…nothing. Dead expressions that at best seem bored, at worst, confused or even hostile.

There may be no worse feeling than losing your audience in the middle of a presentation. But there is one simple piece of advice that any experienced presenter will offer: regularly check in with your audience. Where we tend to plunge ahead with our carefully planned deck, we often lose connection with how our audience is reacting. The best way to ensure you will stay connected with your audience is to stay flexible.

Can I go over anything again? Do I need to reestablish context? Perhaps I need to skip ahead to my call to action? The point is to get away from a non-stop, one-way broadcast of your message and become more aware of what your audience needs.

Our Brains Get Bored

Having built-in intervals of interaction is not just good in theory. Molecular biologist John Medina studied the relationship between attention and the brain, contending that you need to change gears in your presentation at least every 10 minutes to maintain engagement. Even if you feel confident that your topic is not dull or boring, Medina has found that attention starts to wander naturally after 10 minutes.

\"Maintain

That being said, we encourage people to check in more often – whenever it feels natural. Especially when presenting to executives, you should check in very often to ensure you haven’t lost this notoriously restless crowd.

So, take a moment often to gather your breath, ask the audience if they need clarification or additional detail on any points, or even ask them a question to get a two-way dialogue started. The point is to be mindful and not wait until you have a flagging audience.

Build Check-ins Right Into Your Deck

Instead of treating your audience like a sounding board, use their reaction to propel you forward. There is no better way to ensure that you will check in with your audience than to build “check-ins” right into your slide deck. For starters, try building in a pause with a visual Q&A slide. Or, ask a simple question on an otherwise un-cluttered slide. Want to really get someone’s attention? Construct a feedback exercise!

The point is, instead of relying on yourself to remember to stop every few slides for check-in, let yourself bump into them so you can let your audience guide you where they want you to go next. They will be more engaged. They will get the information they need. And you will be able to relax. Panic averted!

For more information about our Corporate Storytelling workshops, check us out here.

", "content_plain": "Your presentation is starting out great. You’ve got highly-visual slides, the technology is functioning, the crowd is paying attention… well wait, they were paying attention. Now you’re noticing – slowly at first – people are starting to fidget. You do your best to make eye contact with the crowd to keep a connection, but all you get is… …nothing. Dead expressions that at best seem bored, at worst, confused or even hostile. There may be no worse feeling than losing your audience in the middle of a presentation. But there is one simple piece of advice that any experienced presenter will offer: regularly check in with your audience. Where we tend to plunge ahead with our carefully planned deck, we often lose connection with how our audience is reacting. The best way to ensure you will stay connected with your audience is to stay flexible. Can I go over anything again? Do I need to reestablish context? Perhaps I need to skip ahead to my call to action? The point is to get away from a non-stop, one-way broadcast of your message and become more aware of what your audience needs. Our Brains Get Bored Having built-in intervals of interaction is not just good in theory. Molecular biologist John Medina studied the relationship between attention and the brain, contending that you need to change gears in your presentation at least every 10 minutes to maintain engagement. Even if you feel confident that your topic is not dull or boring, Medina has found that attention starts to wander naturally after 10 minutes. That being said, we encourage people to check in more often – whenever it feels natural. Especially when presenting to executives, you should check in very often to ensure you haven’t lost this notoriously restless crowd. So, take a moment often to gather your breath, ask the audience if they need clarification or additional detail on any points, or even ask them a question to get a two-way dialogue started. The point is to be mindful and not wait until you have a flagging audience. Build Check-ins Right Into Your Deck Instead of treating your audience like a sounding board, use their reaction to propel you forward. There is no better way to ensure that you will check in with your audience than to build “check-ins” right into your slide deck. For starters, try building in a pause with a visual Q&A slide. Or, ask a simple question on an otherwise un-cluttered slide. Want to really get someone’s attention? Construct a feedback exercise! The point is, instead of relying on yourself to remember to stop every few slides for check-in, let yourself bump into them so you can let your audience guide you where they want you to go next. They will be more engaged. They will get the information they need. And you will be able to relax. Panic averted! For more information about our Corporate Storytelling workshops, check us out here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/How-to-Keep-People-Engaged-in-a-Presentation.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T15:54:42-05:00" }, { "id": 7812, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/the-best-presenters-do-this-with-their-audience/", "title": "The Best Presenters Do THIS with Their Audience", "h1": "The Best Presenters Do THIS with Their Audience", "summary": "Recently, we explored a key skill in corporate storytelling – how to build a presentation that addresses the needs of multiple stakeholders (rule of thumb: three different stakeholders? Three different interests!) To continue in this vein, we want to also point out the importance of not just anticipating the needs of your audience before the […]", "content": "

Recently, we explored a key skill in corporate storytelling – how to build a presentation that addresses the needs of multiple stakeholders (rule of thumb: three different stakeholders? Three different interests!) To continue in this vein, we want to also point out the importance of not just anticipating the needs of your audience before the presentation, but during as well. And the best way to address the in-the-moment needs of your audience is to regularly interact with them.

The ability to solicit and respond to audience feedback is one of the most important presentation skills you can have. It truly separates the skilled presenter from the novice. Here is the simplest way to get interactive with your audience:

How Pro Presenters Get People Talking

Creating a two-way dialogue during your presentation is actually pretty simple. Always build in pauses throughout your presentation to solicit questions and gauge interest. For instance, early on in your story, you lay out your BIG Idea. This is a good time to take a pause and ask your audience for feedback. Not only does this give you the opportunity to measure reactions, but pausing – even momentarily – each time you repeat your BIG idea, gives your audience time to let it really sink in. Another bonus? It gives you a moment to breathe and compose your thoughts.

Let’s look at an example for soliciting feedback from an executive in your audience:

“Ms. CEO: I know you’re short on time today. So, let me ask you…would you like to know WHY I’m recommending the new XYZ Initiative or would you like me to show the details of HOW we think the initiative will benefit the company?”

Basically, if she wants you to tell her WHY, you are going into greater detail about the characters setting and of your story (the background). If the answer is “get to the HOW” it is an indication that your audience wants you to move quickly into the resolution of your story. Either way, you have pinpointed exactly what she wants to hear from you, thereby putting her in the driver seat (which most executives love!).

Remember, presenters who garner audience feedback, then zig and zag based on what they are hearing, will always come out ahead. This critical skill will ensure greater attention from your audience and better retention of your presented ideas.

Want to learn more about our Corporate Storytelling workshop for teams? Click here for more information.

", "content_plain": "Recently, we explored a key skill in corporate storytelling – how to build a presentation that addresses the needs of multiple stakeholders (rule of thumb: three different stakeholders? Three different interests!) To continue in this vein, we want to also point out the importance of not just anticipating the needs of your audience before the presentation, but during as well. And the best way to address the in-the-moment needs of your audience is to regularly interact with them. The ability to solicit and respond to audience feedback is one of the most important presentation skills you can have. It truly separates the skilled presenter from the novice. Here is the simplest way to get interactive with your audience: How Pro Presenters Get People Talking Creating a two-way dialogue during your presentation is actually pretty simple. Always build in pauses throughout your presentation to solicit questions and gauge interest. For instance, early on in your story, you lay out your BIG Idea. This is a good time to take a pause and ask your audience for feedback. Not only does this give you the opportunity to measure reactions, but pausing – even momentarily – each time you repeat your BIG idea, gives your audience time to let it really sink in. Another bonus? It gives you a moment to breathe and compose your thoughts. Let’s look at an example for soliciting feedback from an executive in your audience: “Ms. CEO: I know you’re short on time today. So, let me ask you…would you like to know WHY I’m recommending the new XYZ Initiative or would you like me to show the details of HOW we think the initiative will benefit the company?” Basically, if she wants you to tell her WHY, you are going into greater detail about the characters setting and of your story (the background). If the answer is “get to the HOW” it is an indication that your audience wants you to move quickly into the resolution of your story. Either way, you have pinpointed exactly what she wants to hear from you, thereby putting her in the driver seat (which most executives love!). Remember, presenters who garner audience feedback, then zig and zag based on what they are hearing, will always come out ahead. This critical skill will ensure greater attention from your audience and better retention of your presented ideas. Want to learn more about our Corporate Storytelling workshop for teams? Click here for more information.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Get-Interactive_1200x800.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T10:16:16-05:00" }, { "id": 7814, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/atd-international-conference-data-visualization/", "title": "TPC to Speak at ATD International Conference: Turn Numbers Into Narratives Through Data Visualization””", "h1": "TPC to Speak at ATD International Conference: Turn Numbers Into Narratives Through Data Visualization””", "summary": "We live in a data-driven world. But we don’t spend huge amounts of time and money collecting data just for fun. We look for numbers to answer crucial questions and guide us in nearly every decision we make. But there is a major disconnect between decision-makers and those presenting ideas to them: 1. Executives […]", "content": "

We live in a data-driven world. But we don’t spend huge amounts of time and money collecting data just for fun. We look for numbers to answer crucial questions and guide us in nearly every decision we make. But there is a major disconnect between decision-makers and those presenting ideas to them:

1. Executives are frustrated by endless charts and tables being “fire-hosed” at them. Getting blasted with data (that doesn’t tell a story) doesn’t help them make an easy, clear decision.

2. Presenters squander their chance to provide their boss with strategic, actionable insights. Data gatherers are awash in findings. Many choose to show everything, and their important points get muted. What’s worse, their smart ideas and recommendations are also muted. This can harm them not only short-term, but even in long-term career advancement.

Our ability (and love) for vast data collection is not slowing down anytime soon. Virtually all of our modern institutions – including manufacturers, governments, and financial services – rely on the meaningful insights derived from these metrics. It has never been more critical to ensure that those closest to raw data have the structure and tools to bring the data’s vital messages to decision makers.

Visual storytelling expert Janine Kurnoff has devoted her life to teaching business storytelling and data visualization because she believes that these skills are the single greatest way to amplify the meaning and impact of our facts and figures. Since founding The Presentation Company in 2001, with her business partner (and sister) Lee Lazarus, Janine has witnessed over and over that storytelling done right, is nothing short of a career game-changer.

In her session, Turn Numbers into Narratives through Data Visualization, Janine will explore powerful, easy-to-apply processes to help anyone – from data experts to the occasional data presenter – think “outside the spreadsheet.”

\"\"

Janine’s session will begin by revealing a process that helps presenters figure out what they want people to know and do with key findings. She’ll also demonstrate how to “cut through the noise” and elevate the key takeaways from the data. These techniques dramatically elevate the important points, which move your story forward.

After Janine’s session on Tuesday, May 8th at 1pm, you’ll know how to:

 

If you’re looking for a highly experiential session that will change the way you approach data visualization, come join us!

", "content_plain": "We live in a data-driven world. But we don’t spend huge amounts of time and money collecting data just for fun. We look for numbers to answer crucial questions and guide us in nearly every decision we make. But there is a major disconnect between decision-makers and those presenting ideas to them: 1. Executives are frustrated by endless charts and tables being “fire-hosed” at them. Getting blasted with data (that doesn’t tell a story) doesn’t help them make an easy, clear decision. 2. Presenters squander their chance to provide their boss with strategic, actionable insights. Data gatherers are awash in findings. Many choose to show everything, and their important points get muted. What’s worse, their smart ideas and recommendations are also muted. This can harm them not only short-term, but even in long-term career advancement. Our ability (and love) for vast data collection is not slowing down anytime soon. Virtually all of our modern institutions – including manufacturers, governments, and financial services – rely on the meaningful insights derived from these metrics. It has never been more critical to ensure that those closest to raw data have the structure and tools to bring the data’s vital messages to decision makers. Visual storytelling expert Janine Kurnoff has devoted her life to teaching business storytelling and data visualization because she believes that these skills are the single greatest way to amplify the meaning and impact of our facts and figures. Since founding The Presentation Company in 2001, with her business partner (and sister) Lee Lazarus, Janine has witnessed over and over that storytelling done right, is nothing short of a career game-changer. In her session, Turn Numbers into Narratives through Data Visualization, Janine will explore powerful, easy-to-apply processes to help anyone – from data experts to the occasional data presenter – think “outside the spreadsheet.” Janine’s session will begin by revealing a process that helps presenters figure out what they want people to know and do with key findings. She’ll also demonstrate how to “cut through the noise” and elevate the key takeaways from the data. These techniques dramatically elevate the important points, which move your story forward. After Janine’s session on Tuesday, May 8th at 1pm, you’ll know how to: Always prepare presentations with a goal in mind Tell a story with data that lets an audience understand your message at a glance Think “outside the chart” using photography, icons, oversized text and more   If you’re looking for a highly experiential session that will change the way you approach data visualization, come join us!", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ATD_Data-Viz_Thumbnail-1.png", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:12:50-05:00" }, { "id": 7816, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/one-huge-presentation-mistake-even-expert-storytellers-make/", "title": "One Huge Presentation Mistake Even Expert Storytellers Make", "h1": "One Huge Presentation Mistake Even Expert Storytellers Make", "summary": "Taking steps to understand your audience usually puts you on a promising path for a memorable presentation, right? But what if our careful preparation is still not enough? What if we still miss that connection with the crowd? Here’s something to consider: Is that crowd of expectant faces made up of people working in vastly […]", "content": "

Taking steps to understand your audience usually puts you on a promising path for a memorable presentation, right? But what if our careful preparation is still not enough? What if we still miss that connection with the crowd?

Here’s something to consider: Is that crowd of expectant faces made up of people working in vastly different functions? Cindy the Senior VP wants the big picture only. Hannah in HR wants to be updated on your projected needs for new talent. Dan the data engineer will only wake up when you roll out some hard numbers… We all face this scenario at some point. So how do we craft an authentic, succinct story that will serve many different needs?

Multiple Characters, Multiple Needs

For audiences with widely diverse priorities (think: a CEO sitting next the VP of Sales, who are sitting across from a team of data scientists) you have to grow your story to accommodate these varying needs. This means you must introduce multiple characters into your narrative (remember, as part of the why of your presentation). Each character should speak to every major need within your audience.

Of course, each character must also have their own conflict as well (although it isn’t necessary to go into too much detail for each story). The point is that the presenter has thought through these different stories and is prepared to drill down into each of these areas if executives want to go there.

Sometimes, you may be able to find one common conflict and resolution for your whole audience, but this could be tricky to pull off. Your best approach is to briefly call out key needs of your diverse audience through multiple characters and conflicts.

Good Presenters Will Connect with Everyone

Can you always give the same amount of attention to everyone in your audience? Certainly not. But well-prepared presenters always seek to address audience members with different needs and expectations (certainly all senior executives or major stakeholders). You must grow your story to include multiple characters and conflicts that will invite a response from these various people. Demonstrating that you have considered their concerns and challenges is a surefire way to win the room and sell your ideas.

Want to learn more strategies for flexing your story based on your audience’s needs? Our best-selling book, Everyday Business Storytelling, is filled with practical tips and real-world examples that make it easy. Grab your copy here.

", "content_plain": "Taking steps to understand your audience usually puts you on a promising path for a memorable presentation, right? But what if our careful preparation is still not enough? What if we still miss that connection with the crowd? Here’s something to consider: Is that crowd of expectant faces made up of people working in vastly different functions? Cindy the Senior VP wants the big picture only. Hannah in HR wants to be updated on your projected needs for new talent. Dan the data engineer will only wake up when you roll out some hard numbers… We all face this scenario at some point. So how do we craft an authentic, succinct story that will serve many different needs? Multiple Characters, Multiple Needs For audiences with widely diverse priorities (think: a CEO sitting next the VP of Sales, who are sitting across from a team of data scientists) you have to grow your story to accommodate these varying needs. This means you must introduce multiple characters into your narrative (remember, as part of the why of your presentation). Each character should speak to every major need within your audience. Of course, each character must also have their own conflict as well (although it isn’t necessary to go into too much detail for each story). The point is that the presenter has thought through these different stories and is prepared to drill down into each of these areas if executives want to go there. Sometimes, you may be able to find one common conflict and resolution for your whole audience, but this could be tricky to pull off. Your best approach is to briefly call out key needs of your diverse audience through multiple characters and conflicts. Good Presenters Will Connect with Everyone Can you always give the same amount of attention to everyone in your audience? Certainly not. But well-prepared presenters always seek to address audience members with different needs and expectations (certainly all senior executives or major stakeholders). You must grow your story to include multiple characters and conflicts that will invite a response from these various people. Demonstrating that you have considered their concerns and challenges is a surefire way to win the room and sell your ideas. Want to learn more strategies for flexing your story based on your audience’s needs? Our best-selling book, Everyday Business Storytelling, is filled with practical tips and real-world examples that make it easy. Grab your copy here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iStock-858269070-scaled.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T16:04:32-05:00" }, { "id": 7818, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/3-simple-data-visualization-tricks-that-turn-your-numbers-into-narratives/", "title": "TPC Contributes to Training Industry Magazine: 3 Simple Data Visualization Tricks that Turn Your Numbers into Narratives", "h1": "TPC Contributes to Training Industry Magazine: 3 Simple Data Visualization Tricks that Turn Your Numbers into Narratives", "summary": "Ask any executive what their biggest frustrations are and, invariably, they will answer, “long-winded, unfocused presentations that pack in too much data.” Modern institutions – from major manufacturers to governments to financial services – have a real data problem. But the data itself isn’t to blame. After all, charts are not inherently bad or evil. […]", "content": "

Ask any executive what their biggest frustrations are and, invariably, they will answer, “long-winded, unfocused presentations that pack in too much data.” Modern institutions – from major manufacturers to governments to financial services – have a real data problem. But the data itself isn’t to blame. After all, charts are not inherently bad or evil. The problem is that well-meaning data gatherers – who offer charts and tables galore – fail to distill their numbers into a clear, digestible, meaningful message.

And, unfortunately for hectic execs, it doesn’t look like our zeal for data display is slowing down anytime soon. On the contrary, smart, hard-working, capable people, who have spent months gathering product performance numbers or quality assurance trends, or financial projections, want to show the dazzling display of “knowledge” more than ever.

But data with no clear message isn’t knowledge…it’s just data. And the truth is, executives aren’t looking for data – or often even generic knowledge – they’re looking for actionable insights. And they don’t want to have to work to get them. They think it’s your job (and it is!).

\"Its

Learning and development professionals need their ideas to be heard and are often challenged with proving training’s impact to business leaders. By understanding how to display data in a way that is not only visually appealing, but tells a compelling story that engages audiences and drives key messages home, learning leaders are better positioned to demonstrate business value and gain buy-in for their programs.

But before we get to the amazing data visualization techniques, there are two critical steps that should always come first: You must clearly understand your presentation goals, and you must identify the key data points that will support your BIG Idea. With that, you are ready to unleash clever visuals techniques that will trigger lightning bolts of insight within your audience. Here are the three steps:

STEP 1: Understand Your Data Presentation Goals

Most data presenters skip a simple, yet critical, exercise. They don’t ask themselves: What exactly am I trying to achieve with my data presentation? Who is my audience? Am I giving an update or status report? Am I presenting a forecast that will influence future decisions? It’s only when you have truly nailed down your end goal that you can start to tease out the relevance — and the story — behind your numbers.

STEP 2: Highlight Data that Support the Intended Goals

With an established goal in place, you can then select the specific data that will strategically further that goal. Which data should be elevated? Which data should be subdued? Effective data presenters are always picky when choosing which data to display that will further their narrative and drive their key message home.

STEP 3: Make Your Data Visual

Many people don’t understand the difference between pretty slides and true data visualization. Use of color, shapes, and text is never used as just “eye candy”. Data visualization techniques are strategic triggers that draw the eye to a focal point in order to register specific information first with an audience. If you have completed Step 1 and Step 2, you will know exactly which specific data points or trends that you want to visually isolate. There are many kinds of visual elements to choose from – including photos, diagrams, charts/tables, text, and video.

Here are three clever data visualization techniques that will help turn your numbers into narratives:

Data Visualization Technique #1: HEADLINES

One of the easiest ways to highlight key data is through slide headlines. The simple beauty of headlines is that every slide has its key message or takeaway blaring right from the top. What’s even better is that these loud banners are also part of the narrative structure of your entire presentation. Each headline serves to further the story even without the data. It should always culminate with a logical conclusion such as a call to action or a next steps recommendation. No more presenting data just for the sake of it. Every chart and every slide has a point, and more importantly, each display is part of the larger story.

See Figures 1 and 2 for the before and after slides:

\"\"

Figure 1

\"Figure

Figure 2

In Figure 1, the headline “Mobile trends in shopping” tells us generally what the slide is about, but it doesn’t advance the story at all. Figure 2 is much more active. In the headline, “Mobile is changing the way people shop and buy” we are left with information that makes us want to know more. How is mobile changing the way we shop and buy? And the data below should of course, support this question.

Visually, the headline in figure 2 is larger, so the eye goes to it immediately. The key data points of the story have been elevated giving the audience a strong, distinct, message. No one has to work hard to figure out why they should care about this data point. Also, this slide replaces the tired pie charts with the more modern ‘donuts’ that are consistent in size and style. Notice how color is introduced more sparingly in Figure 2, but where it does come in, it makes a bigger splash.

Data Visualization Technique #2: CALL OUTS

Today’s data visualization techniques can give us options from plain tables and graphs. But still, sometimes you just need a chart. In addition to creating the active headline that highlights the key takeaway from your data, the best way to draw the eye to your most crucial data is with color, size, and/or shapes that literally calls out key data.

\"Figure

Figure 3

\"Figure

Figure 4

Figure 3 shows a simple line chart that doesn’t supply a definitive message. The audience cannot immediately glean the significance of the data. Figure 4 has a strong, active headline AND uses color, shape (the circles), and size to call out precisely where the data supports the headline. In this case, we see at-a-glance, precisely how much e-Blast is positively influencing click-through rates.

Data Visualization Technique #3: Beating Back the Bullets

In addition to executives rolling their eyes over the amount of data they are presented, they are also overwhelmed with line after line of bullets. For some reason, people have been trained to believe that adding the little dot to the beginning of each line breaks up crowded text and makes it easier to wade through (see Figure 5). Visually, it doesn’t help much at all. Notice below what a difference the over-sized metrics in Figure 6 do to draw the eye to the key data points.

\"Figure

Figure 5

\"Figure

Figure 6

Data isolated in this way truly supports your story because it becomes a visual focal point, rather than buried within the text.

Also, the photos in Figure 6 are much better contextualized with the data. Notice how keeping them uniform in size, style and alignment serves to humanize and enhance the data rather than muddle it. There are many visual elements, such as text, photos, even bullets, that should only be included to highlight key data points, not compete or obscure them.

Data = Decisions

Executives are decision machines looking for cues to what will make their job easier. Unfortunately, they are often frustrated because where they hope to find glaring signals coming from methodically-collected data, they are often left with a lot of noise. And they don’t have the time to slog through extraneous information to get to the insights. Now more than ever, data is critical in measuring ROI and demonstrating the success of training. But the data won’t speak for itself. As training professionals, we must hone our data storytelling skills in order to protect our budgets, secure additional training, win conversations, and ultimately cultivate a culture of continuous learning.

\"Data

 

 

Those of us who show the greatest value to our boss, team, or customer have taken the time to fully understand the goal of our data presentation. From there, we’ve identified the data that specifically furthers our narrative. And finally, we’ve employed strategic data visualization techniques that will take our audience on a journey through valuable insights and thereby, driving important conversations and decisions forward.

Janine Kurnoff is Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of The Presentation Company (TPC), a business communications firm specializing in onsite and online corporate presentation training. TPC helps some of the world’s top brands to tell visual stories that powerfully connect with their audience.

Re-published with permission from Training Industry Magazine

", "content_plain": "Ask any executive what their biggest frustrations are and, invariably, they will answer, “long-winded, unfocused presentations that pack in too much data.” Modern institutions – from major manufacturers to governments to financial services – have a real data problem. But the data itself isn’t to blame. After all, charts are not inherently bad or evil. The problem is that well-meaning data gatherers – who offer charts and tables galore – fail to distill their numbers into a clear, digestible, meaningful message. And, unfortunately for hectic execs, it doesn’t look like our zeal for data display is slowing down anytime soon. On the contrary, smart, hard-working, capable people, who have spent months gathering product performance numbers or quality assurance trends, or financial projections, want to show the dazzling display of “knowledge” more than ever. But data with no clear message isn’t knowledge…it’s just data. And the truth is, executives aren’t looking for data – or often even generic knowledge – they’re looking for actionable insights. And they don’t want to have to work to get them. They think it’s your job (and it is!). Learning and development professionals need their ideas to be heard and are often challenged with proving training’s impact to business leaders. By understanding how to display data in a way that is not only visually appealing, but tells a compelling story that engages audiences and drives key messages home, learning leaders are better positioned to demonstrate business value and gain buy-in for their programs. But before we get to the amazing data visualization techniques, there are two critical steps that should always come first: You must clearly understand your presentation goals, and you must identify the key data points that will support your BIG Idea. With that, you are ready to unleash clever visuals techniques that will trigger lightning bolts of insight within your audience. Here are the three steps: STEP 1: Understand Your Data Presentation Goals Most data presenters skip a simple, yet critical, exercise. They don’t ask themselves: What exactly am I trying to achieve with my data presentation? Who is my audience? Am I giving an update or status report? Am I presenting a forecast that will influence future decisions? It’s only when you have truly nailed down your end goal that you can start to tease out the relevance — and the story — behind your numbers. STEP 2: Highlight Data that Support the Intended Goals With an established goal in place, you can then select the specific data that will strategically further that goal. Which data should be elevated? Which data should be subdued? Effective data presenters are always picky when choosing which data to display that will further their narrative and drive their key message home. STEP 3: Make Your Data Visual Many people don’t understand the difference between pretty slides and true data visualization. Use of color, shapes, and text is never used as just “eye candy”. Data visualization techniques are strategic triggers that draw the eye to a focal point in order to register specific information first with an audience. If you have completed Step 1 and Step 2, you will know exactly which specific data points or trends that you want to visually isolate. There are many kinds of visual elements to choose from – including photos, diagrams, charts/tables, text, and video. Here are three clever data visualization techniques that will help turn your numbers into narratives: Data Visualization Technique #1: HEADLINES One of the easiest ways to highlight key data is through slide headlines. The simple beauty of headlines is that every slide has its key message or takeaway blaring right from the top. What’s even better is that these loud banners are also part of the narrative structure of your entire presentation. Each headline serves to further the story even without the data. It should always culminate with a logical conclusion such as a call to action or a next steps recommendation. No more presenting data just for the sake of it. Every chart and every slide has a point, and more importantly, each display is part of the larger story. See Figures 1 and 2 for the before and after slides: Figure 1 Figure 2 In Figure 1, the headline “Mobile trends in shopping” tells us generally what the slide is about, but it doesn’t advance the story at all. Figure 2 is much more active. In the headline, “Mobile is changing the way people shop and buy” we are left with information that makes us want to know more. How is mobile changing the way we shop and buy? And the data below should of course, support this question. Visually, the headline in figure 2 is larger, so the eye goes to it immediately. The key data points of the story have been elevated giving the audience a strong, distinct, message. No one has to work hard to figure out why they should care about this data point. Also, this slide replaces the tired pie charts with the more modern ‘donuts’ that are consistent in size and style. Notice how color is introduced more sparingly in Figure 2, but where it does come in, it makes a bigger splash. Data Visualization Technique #2: CALL OUTS Today’s data visualization techniques can give us options from plain tables and graphs. But still, sometimes you just need a chart. In addition to creating the active headline that highlights the key takeaway from your data, the best way to draw the eye to your most crucial data is with color, size, and/or shapes that literally calls out key data. Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 3 shows a simple line chart that doesn’t supply a definitive message. The audience cannot immediately glean the significance of the data. Figure 4 has a strong, active headline AND uses color, shape (the circles), and size to call out precisely where the data supports the headline. In this case, we see at-a-glance, precisely how much e-Blast is positively influencing click-through rates. Data Visualization Technique #3: Beating Back the Bullets In addition to executives rolling their eyes over the amount of data they are presented, they are also overwhelmed with line after line of bullets. For some reason, people have been trained to believe that adding the little dot to the beginning of each line breaks up crowded text and makes it easier to wade through (see Figure 5). Visually, it doesn’t help much at all. Notice below what a difference the over-sized metrics in Figure 6 do to draw the eye to the key data points. Figure 5 Figure 6 Data isolated in this way truly supports your story because it becomes a visual focal point, rather than buried within the text. Also, the photos in Figure 6 are much better contextualized with the data. Notice how keeping them uniform in size, style and alignment serves to humanize and enhance the data rather than muddle it. There are many visual elements, such as text, photos, even bullets, that should only be included to highlight key data points, not compete or obscure them. Data = Decisions Executives are decision machines looking for cues to what will make their job easier. Unfortunately, they are often frustrated because where they hope to find glaring signals coming from methodically-collected data, they are often left with a lot of noise. And they don’t have the time to slog through extraneous information to get to the insights. Now more than ever, data is critical in measuring ROI and demonstrating the success of training. But the data won’t speak for itself. As training professionals, we must hone our data storytelling skills in order to protect our budgets, secure additional training, win conversations, and ultimately cultivate a culture of continuous learning.     Those of us who show the greatest value to our boss, team, or customer have taken the time to fully understand the goal of our data presentation. From there, we’ve identified the data that specifically furthers our narrative. And finally, we’ve employed strategic data visualization techniques that will take our audience on a journey through valuable insights and thereby, driving important conversations and decisions forward. Janine Kurnoff is Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of The Presentation Company (TPC), a business communications firm specializing in onsite and online corporate presentation training. TPC helps some of the world’s top brands to tell visual stories that powerfully connect with their audience. Re-published with permission from Training Industry Magazine", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/3-Data-Visualization-Tips_Training-Magazine.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-01T10:41:56-05:00" }, { "id": 7820, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/the-single-fastest-way-to-gain-executive-presence/", "title": "The Single Fastest Way to Gain Executive Presence", "h1": "The Single Fastest Way to Gain Executive Presence", "summary": "Executive presence… you’ve either got it or you don’t, right? …we beg to differ. Whether you are a data guru or a budding manager, anyone can “own the room”, navigate difficult questions, and come across authentically during a presentation… with the right tools. And it doesn’t involve wearing power suits or adopting a certain swagger. […]", "content": "

Executive presence… you’ve either got it or you don’t, right? …we beg to differ.

Whether you are a data guru or a budding manager, anyone can “own the room”, navigate difficult questions, and come across authentically during a presentation… with the right tools. And it doesn’t involve wearing power suits or adopting a certain swagger. This is about something entirely different – the power of storytelling.

The magic happens when you apply a business storytelling framework to anything you present. A story framework helps you choreograph your facts, data, insights, and recommendations in a way that prevents the worst presentation plagues – derailment, confusion, or even boredom. Why so? Because story arcs are so familiar to us, they offer both the presenter and the audience a constant guideline of where the narrative is going and where it’s been. The result is that presenters are in the driver’s seat throughout their presentation, which in turn, does wonders for their confidence.

Prepared + Relaxed = Authoritative

So why stories? Because our brains are wired to tell (and respond) to stories. Neuroscience has shown that stories create an emotional response to what we present. We describe a conflict, people and places affected by that conflict, and our audience will automatically crave a resolution. Setting the stage this way early on establishes authority and trust from the beginning.

A common example is the novice salesperson. She might be so eager to jump into the features or function of her product (we call this the resolution) that she skips the crucial step in establishing this trust and authority. She has not given her audience a reason to care. With a storytelling mindset, she won’t fall to pieces when the CEO asks her to pivot back and forth to answer impulsive questions. She won’t panic when her pitch is cut from 30 minutes to 5 (sound familiar?). She won’t see stone-faces or confusion when she faces multiple executives, from different departments, who each have varying objectives. Her story structure lets her ‘zig’ and ‘zag’ through the material, calmly addressing everyone’s needs as it comes.

She’s now able to maintain a controlled dialogue with her audience from start to finish. She is believable, authentic, and relatable.

A Primer: The Why, The What, and the How of Storytelling

The story structure is comprised of a basic arc: setting, characters, conflict, and resolution. Carefully strung through each of these signposts is a single BIG idea. It’s the key, strategic insight of your presentation. In other words it’s the WHAT of your presentation.

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This concept must be supported by every fact or piece of data you present.

Setting, character and conflict are the WHY of your story. Who is affected by your presented facts? In what context does it matter? This establishes a reason for your audience to care about what you eventually will offer – the resolution. Your resolution is the HOW of your story and it must come last. How will your product features/solution/program recommendations resolve the issues that are laid down?

As mentioned above in the salesperson example, we often make the mistake of focusing most of our energy on the HOW of our ideas before we establish the WHY. And it’s the ultimate rookie move.

Audiences start to squirm in their seats, check their phones, or interrupt your session when they don’t know why they should care about your ideas. This of course, makes inexperienced presenters visibly nervous, which in turns saps their believability and authority. Game over.

The best storytellers focus on the WHY and WHAT first…then they share the HOW. It’s also important to note that in a situation where your time is suddenly crunched, your WHY and your WHAT don’t have to take up a lot of time. This could be established in 60 seconds with three quick slides to open your presentation, or verbally with no slides at all. After that, you can quickly move to your HOW.

Chapter Headings Follow A Story Progressing

Stories are helped immeasurably when the key point of every slide is made into a headline. This dynamite storytelling technique will automatically progress your narrative through these “chapter” headings, offering everyone a cue to where you are going and keep your confidence on track!

\"Presentation

As you can see above, the slide on the left offers a generic heading that doesn’t clearly further the narrative. The headline on the right moves the narrative forward with a decisive fact, using a callout to tell the audience what you want them to know about the data.

Executive Presence is a Career Game-Changer

\"Improve

Storytelling helps people structure memorable, persuasive presentations. But a powerful byproduct of learning story structure is that it makes us demonstrably more confident, authoritative presenters. The Center for Talent Innovation finds that executive presence accounts for 26 percent of what it takes to get your next promotion. What’s more, storytelling structure doesn’t just apply to presentations. It’s a communication technique that applies to emails, virtual meetings, handouts, even voicemails. No matter where or who you are presenting to, a clear roadmap to help you navigate flexibly through your material will help you stay calm, responsive, and confident.

Want to up-level your executive presence and stand out from the competition? Learn more about our business storytelling workshops here.

", "content_plain": "Executive presence… you’ve either got it or you don’t, right? …we beg to differ. Whether you are a data guru or a budding manager, anyone can “own the room”, navigate difficult questions, and come across authentically during a presentation… with the right tools. And it doesn’t involve wearing power suits or adopting a certain swagger. This is about something entirely different – the power of storytelling. The magic happens when you apply a business storytelling framework to anything you present. A story framework helps you choreograph your facts, data, insights, and recommendations in a way that prevents the worst presentation plagues – derailment, confusion, or even boredom. Why so? Because story arcs are so familiar to us, they offer both the presenter and the audience a constant guideline of where the narrative is going and where it’s been. The result is that presenters are in the driver’s seat throughout their presentation, which in turn, does wonders for their confidence. Prepared + Relaxed = Authoritative So why stories? Because our brains are wired to tell (and respond) to stories. Neuroscience has shown that stories create an emotional response to what we present. We describe a conflict, people and places affected by that conflict, and our audience will automatically crave a resolution. Setting the stage this way early on establishes authority and trust from the beginning. A common example is the novice salesperson. She might be so eager to jump into the features or function of her product (we call this the resolution) that she skips the crucial step in establishing this trust and authority. She has not given her audience a reason to care. With a storytelling mindset, she won’t fall to pieces when the CEO asks her to pivot back and forth to answer impulsive questions. She won’t panic when her pitch is cut from 30 minutes to 5 (sound familiar?). She won’t see stone-faces or confusion when she faces multiple executives, from different departments, who each have varying objectives. Her story structure lets her ‘zig’ and ‘zag’ through the material, calmly addressing everyone’s needs as it comes. She’s now able to maintain a controlled dialogue with her audience from start to finish. She is believable, authentic, and relatable. A Primer: The Why, The What, and the How of Storytelling The story structure is comprised of a basic arc: setting, characters, conflict, and resolution. Carefully strung through each of these signposts is a single BIG idea. It’s the key, strategic insight of your presentation. In other words it’s the WHAT of your presentation. This concept must be supported by every fact or piece of data you present. Setting, character and conflict are the WHY of your story. Who is affected by your presented facts? In what context does it matter? This establishes a reason for your audience to care about what you eventually will offer – the resolution. Your resolution is the HOW of your story and it must come last. How will your product features/solution/program recommendations resolve the issues that are laid down? As mentioned above in the salesperson example, we often make the mistake of focusing most of our energy on the HOW of our ideas before we establish the WHY. And it’s the ultimate rookie move. Audiences start to squirm in their seats, check their phones, or interrupt your session when they don’t know why they should care about your ideas. This of course, makes inexperienced presenters visibly nervous, which in turns saps their believability and authority. Game over. The best storytellers focus on the WHY and WHAT first…then they share the HOW. It’s also important to note that in a situation where your time is suddenly crunched, your WHY and your WHAT don’t have to take up a lot of time. This could be established in 60 seconds with three quick slides to open your presentation, or verbally with no slides at all. After that, you can quickly move to your HOW. Chapter Headings Follow A Story Progressing Stories are helped immeasurably when the key point of every slide is made into a headline. This dynamite storytelling technique will automatically progress your narrative through these “chapter” headings, offering everyone a cue to where you are going and keep your confidence on track! As you can see above, the slide on the left offers a generic heading that doesn’t clearly further the narrative. The headline on the right moves the narrative forward with a decisive fact, using a callout to tell the audience what you want them to know about the data. Executive Presence is a Career Game-Changer Storytelling helps people structure memorable, persuasive presentations. But a powerful byproduct of learning story structure is that it makes us demonstrably more confident, authoritative presenters. The Center for Talent Innovation finds that executive presence accounts for 26 percent of what it takes to get your next promotion. What’s more, storytelling structure doesn’t just apply to presentations. It’s a communication technique that applies to emails, virtual meetings, handouts, even voicemails. No matter where or who you are presenting to, a clear roadmap to help you navigate flexibly through your material will help you stay calm, responsive, and confident. Want to up-level your executive presence and stand out from the competition? Learn more about our business storytelling workshops here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iStock-864707808-1-scaled.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T08:47:19-05:00" }, { "id": 7822, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/corporate-storytelling-just-went-digital/", "title": "On-Demand Digital Storytelling Training for Teams", "h1": "On-Demand Digital Storytelling Training for Teams", "summary": "Everyone knows that investing in the right professional skills increases your odds at career advancement. Who doesn’t want that? But for most of us, finding the time for additional training is a constant battle. Here at TPC, we understand that time is of the essence. Human behavior and expectations are calling for change in corporate […]", "content": "

Everyone knows that investing in the right professional skills increases your odds at career advancement. Who doesn’t want that? But for most of us, finding the time for additional training is a constant battle. Here at TPC, we understand that time is of the essence. Human behavior and expectations are calling for change in corporate training…we say, “Bring it on!”

Welcome to on-demand learning for corporate storytelling

Our new learning platform teaches powerful, practical storytelling techniques to busy folks in whatever timeframe they wish to learn, on any device.

More than just digitized corporate storytelling workshops, it’s a new learning mindset

TPC’s blended learning solution is a social, collaborative hybrid of technology and real people. Why keep the human element rather than go fully digital? Because we’ve found that while 100% human-free may be perfectly fit for a quick “drive-by” of content, real behavior change comes from human interaction like instructor coaching and peer-to-peer feedback. It’s why we’ve infused our instructional design with the perfect combination of digital and live components – including personal coaching for nearly 50% of the time learners have access to the platform.

Personalization, access and scale

We know from years of experience: just because you build it, doesn’t mean they will come. And if you simply copy + paste your existing classroom or virtual content into the digital learning environment, learners will sure feel the pain. In designing this personalized learning platform, we have been laser-focused on determining two things:

  1. How people want to consume information
  2. What will help them advance their career

As a result, we’re launching a sleek, savvy learning tool that makes it simple to access our workshops in any time-frame or quantity depending on the learner’s needs. Want to spend more time on a certain module, or feel like saving it for later? No problem. The main objective is to offer flexibility that will boost retention and provide access to new skills and knowledge with the click of a button.

Ongoing accountability for managers

The platform also offers managers an easy, ongoing view into the learning progress of their team. In other words, there is built-in measurability and accountability from start to finish. In addition, we offer progress check-ins during the weeks that follow the training to further ensure retention.

\"Online

Powerful technology…with a human touch

Our mission is to help people up-level the way they communicate through corporate storytelling, visual messaging and data visualization. Our platform addresses this in the following ways…

Easy access to learning…for everyone

Storytelling training can dramatically improve the way a team or company communicates, both internally and externally. But due to expense and limited time, company-wide access to training and coaching usually comes down to only a select few. TPC is setting out to change this. Our new menu of solutions expands access to the same techniques taught in the immensely popular workshops which have transformed teams at Facebook, MetLife, Marriott, and many more. Through in-person, virtual, and now digital-blended classes, this vital training is now readily accessible to anyone who wants to learn how to tell persuasive stories.

Intrigued…? We are looking for early adopters who want to take on this next cultural shift in corporate learning. Fill out the form to learn more.

", "content_plain": "Everyone knows that investing in the right professional skills increases your odds at career advancement. Who doesn’t want that? But for most of us, finding the time for additional training is a constant battle. Here at TPC, we understand that time is of the essence. Human behavior and expectations are calling for change in corporate training…we say, “Bring it on!” Welcome to on-demand learning for corporate storytelling Our new learning platform teaches powerful, practical storytelling techniques to busy folks in whatever timeframe they wish to learn, on any device. More than just digitized corporate storytelling workshops, it’s a new learning mindset TPC’s blended learning solution is a social, collaborative hybrid of technology and real people. Why keep the human element rather than go fully digital? Because we’ve found that while 100% human-free may be perfectly fit for a quick “drive-by” of content, real behavior change comes from human interaction like instructor coaching and peer-to-peer feedback. It’s why we’ve infused our instructional design with the perfect combination of digital and live components – including personal coaching for nearly 50% of the time learners have access to the platform. Personalization, access and scale We know from years of experience: just because you build it, doesn’t mean they will come. And if you simply copy + paste your existing classroom or virtual content into the digital learning environment, learners will sure feel the pain. In designing this personalized learning platform, we have been laser-focused on determining two things: How people want to consume information What will help them advance their career As a result, we’re launching a sleek, savvy learning tool that makes it simple to access our workshops in any time-frame or quantity depending on the learner’s needs. Want to spend more time on a certain module, or feel like saving it for later? No problem. The main objective is to offer flexibility that will boost retention and provide access to new skills and knowledge with the click of a button. Ongoing accountability for managers The platform also offers managers an easy, ongoing view into the learning progress of their team. In other words, there is built-in measurability and accountability from start to finish. In addition, we offer progress check-ins during the weeks that follow the training to further ensure retention. Powerful technology…with a human touch Our mission is to help people up-level the way they communicate through corporate storytelling, visual messaging and data visualization. Our platform addresses this in the following ways… Personalized, blended learning right at your fingertips…giving you the flexibility to learn anytime, anywhere. Goodbye 2-day training! Cohort-driven experience with mentoring and peer-to-peer coaching…because having iterative conversations with your colleagues – and even some healthy competition – can do more than only interacting with a facilitator 24/7 access to resources, retention tools, coaching and feedback even after the session wraps…because there’s value in continuing the conversation to keep the knowledge infusion going Easy access to learning…for everyone Storytelling training can dramatically improve the way a team or company communicates, both internally and externally. But due to expense and limited time, company-wide access to training and coaching usually comes down to only a select few. TPC is setting out to change this. Our new menu of solutions expands access to the same techniques taught in the immensely popular workshops which have transformed teams at Facebook, MetLife, Marriott, and many more. Through in-person, virtual, and now digital-blended classes, this vital training is now readily accessible to anyone who wants to learn how to tell persuasive stories. Intrigued…? We are looking for early adopters who want to take on this next cultural shift in corporate learning. Fill out the form to learn more.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Online-corporate-storytelling-workshop-02.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T16:03:40-05:00" }, { "id": 7824, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/atd-2018-recap-overview/", "title": "Purpose, Technology, and Data Drive Talent Development–Three Key Takeaways from ATD ICE 2018", "h1": "Purpose, Technology, and Data Drive Talent Development–Three Key Takeaways from ATD ICE 2018", "summary": "After an exhilarating four days in San Diego at the 2018 Association for Talent Development International Conference and Expo, the TPC team was buzzing. ATD pulled out all the stops for their 75th anniversary, complete with keynote speakers Barack Obama, Marcus Buckingham, and Connie Podesta. 13,000 learning and development professionals from around the globe gathered […]", "content": "

After an exhilarating four days in San Diego at the 2018 Association for Talent Development International Conference and Expo, the TPC team was buzzing. ATD pulled out all the stops for their 75th anniversary, complete with keynote speakers Barack Obama, Marcus Buckingham, and Connie Podesta. 13,000 learning and development professionals from around the globe gathered to share ideas and celebrate an industry brimming with empowerment, innovation, and camaraderie.

When we weren’t preparing for TPC Founder Janine Kurnoff’s Data Visualization breakout session on Tuesday, we popped into several sessions to get inspired and up-to-speed on the latest trends in talent development.

Here are are top three takeaways from ATD 2018:

\"ATD The modern workplace is all about purpose, values, and meaning

By 5:30 Monday morning, the line at the San Diego Convention Center had already snaked around the building. Eager attendees wanted to be among the first in the door to see President Barack Obama. And Obama didn’t disappoint! He kicked off the conference with a nod to his wife: “I saw the line from my hotel room. At first I thought maybe Michelle was speaking!”

As he settled in to a conversation with ATD President and CEO Tony Bingham, he offered this simple yet powerful advice: Be kind, work hard, show compassion, and have fun. And he advised us all to “Think about what you can do, not what you want to be,” focusing our careers on our purpose, meaning, and values, instead of money and titles. Referencing Bill Gates, he told the crowd, “He didn’t start out wanting to be a gazillionaire! ‘But this computer thing is really interesting to me and I want to create software. I want to create the best software.'” Obama’s encouraging words and refreshing optimism left the audience reflecting upon how we can make our workplaces even better using guidance as simple as staying true to our values and purpose.

\"Barack

Strengths-revolution pioneer, Marcus Buckingham emphasized the importance of purpose in his energizing keynote, Love + Work. Buckingham told an appreciative audience that work is for discovering what is unique about you, and how to contribute to your role by starting from that place. Sharing his research on what makes high performing teams successful, he underscored that people perform at their best when they combine love with work, and cultivate the things they do best.

Britt Andreatta echoed this sentiment in her interactive session, Wired to Become: The Neuroscience of Purpose. Andreatta explained that purpose emerges from our core values, and explored why finding purpose and meaning at work is now more important than ever. Not only do employees need to be engaged, but they need to be fulfilled. Fulfillment leads to higher productivity and quality. We attended two of her sessions and like always, Andreatta cut through the “fluff” and backed her findings with scientific evidence, even when crediting the millennial workforce for leading this radical cultural shift that work should be, well…enjoyable. Thank you millennials, and count us in!

\"ATD The future is all about scale… And digital will take us there

In How to Scale Coaching Beyond the C-Suite, Tracy Hutton of The Marcus Buckingham Company and Robert Kovach of Cisco shared a case study of scaling coaching across the workforce at Cisco in part by holding coaching sessions online. The innovative, team-based, online model allowed them to scale coaching, change coaching along with inevitable business changes, and personalize/individualize it to people’s needs. And by focusing efforts on strengths, they are able to drive outcomes identified by Cisco’s senior leadership. They credited the program’s biggest successes to amplifying what people are good at rather than trying to fix where they are bad.

The idea of artificial intelligence and working alongside robots is nothing new – just ask George Jetson. But the emphasis on social and digital learning is one that couldn’t be ignored at this year’s conference. Modern learning is on the cusp of a digital revolution, and much like any other revolution in history, it’s critical that we prepare our workforce for this massive shift. The digital transformation is more than just bolting-on new technology. It’s enterprise-wide, cross-functional, and will require companies to rethink long-term training and business strategies as we re-skill our people to work in conjunction with technology. Artificial intelligence will penetrate deeper and deeper into our work, and we all must be ready to embrace it.

Here at TPC, we’ve been preparing for this shift for quite some time and are excited to launch digital workshops for corporate storytelling and data visualization. Our digital platform is powered by NovoEd and features a cohort-driven, collaborative environment including coaching, manager check-ins, and 24/7 access to resources and supportive tools for ongoing learning.

\"ATD Data, data, data

Ideas were backed by data at nearly every presentation we attended. Over the past few years, there’s been an enormous shift in the way we collect, analyze, and communicate data. And for good reason. Data is being produced and gathered at higher rates than ever, thanks to new trends like adaptive learning that allow us to gather information in the moment. And for learning and development professionals, this should be music to our ears. Why? Because data democratizes decisions. It allows us to put aside biases and make a strong, objective case that may impact budgets, training programs, and ultimately learners. For those of us challenged with demonstrating the return on investment and and business impact of training, we must be prepared to not only collect data, but interpret and transform it into a compelling story that engages our audience and drives key messages.

We saw this need for data storytelling skills first-hand in our session, Turn Numbers into Narratives through Data Visualization. Nearly 400 people packed the room on Tuesday, eager to learn data storytelling and data visualization techniques from TPC’s co-founder Janine Kurnoff. We loved the audience’s and their passionate engagement, along with plenty of smart questions and ideas. It’s days like these that make our hard pay off, and we are beyond grateful to have had the opportunity to be among thousands of inspiring learning and development professionals all working towards a common goal: Creating a world that works better.

And with that…see you next year in D.C.!

\"Janine

 

", "content_plain": "After an exhilarating four days in San Diego at the 2018 Association for Talent Development International Conference and Expo, the TPC team was buzzing. ATD pulled out all the stops for their 75th anniversary, complete with keynote speakers Barack Obama, Marcus Buckingham, and Connie Podesta. 13,000 learning and development professionals from around the globe gathered to share ideas and celebrate an industry brimming with empowerment, innovation, and camaraderie. When we weren’t preparing for TPC Founder Janine Kurnoff’s Data Visualization breakout session on Tuesday, we popped into several sessions to get inspired and up-to-speed on the latest trends in talent development. Here are are top three takeaways from ATD 2018: The modern workplace is all about purpose, values, and meaning By 5:30 Monday morning, the line at the San Diego Convention Center had already snaked around the building. Eager attendees wanted to be among the first in the door to see President Barack Obama. And Obama didn’t disappoint! He kicked off the conference with a nod to his wife: “I saw the line from my hotel room. At first I thought maybe Michelle was speaking!” As he settled in to a conversation with ATD President and CEO Tony Bingham, he offered this simple yet powerful advice: Be kind, work hard, show compassion, and have fun. And he advised us all to “Think about what you can do, not what you want to be,” focusing our careers on our purpose, meaning, and values, instead of money and titles. Referencing Bill Gates, he told the crowd, “He didn’t start out wanting to be a gazillionaire! ‘But this computer thing is really interesting to me and I want to create software. I want to create the best software.'” Obama’s encouraging words and refreshing optimism left the audience reflecting upon how we can make our workplaces even better using guidance as simple as staying true to our values and purpose. Strengths-revolution pioneer, Marcus Buckingham emphasized the importance of purpose in his energizing keynote, Love + Work. Buckingham told an appreciative audience that work is for discovering what is unique about you, and how to contribute to your role by starting from that place. Sharing his research on what makes high performing teams successful, he underscored that people perform at their best when they combine love with work, and cultivate the things they do best. Britt Andreatta echoed this sentiment in her interactive session, Wired to Become: The Neuroscience of Purpose. Andreatta explained that purpose emerges from our core values, and explored why finding purpose and meaning at work is now more important than ever. Not only do employees need to be engaged, but they need to be fulfilled. Fulfillment leads to higher productivity and quality. We attended two of her sessions and like always, Andreatta cut through the “fluff” and backed her findings with scientific evidence, even when crediting the millennial workforce for leading this radical cultural shift that work should be, well…enjoyable. Thank you millennials, and count us in! The future is all about scale… And digital will take us there In How to Scale Coaching Beyond the C-Suite, Tracy Hutton of The Marcus Buckingham Company and Robert Kovach of Cisco shared a case study of scaling coaching across the workforce at Cisco in part by holding coaching sessions online. The innovative, team-based, online model allowed them to scale coaching, change coaching along with inevitable business changes, and personalize/individualize it to people’s needs. And by focusing efforts on strengths, they are able to drive outcomes identified by Cisco’s senior leadership. They credited the program’s biggest successes to amplifying what people are good at rather than trying to fix where they are bad. The idea of artificial intelligence and working alongside robots is nothing new – just ask George Jetson. But the emphasis on social and digital learning is one that couldn’t be ignored at this year’s conference. Modern learning is on the cusp of a digital revolution, and much like any other revolution in history, it’s critical that we prepare our workforce for this massive shift. The digital transformation is more than just bolting-on new technology. It’s enterprise-wide, cross-functional, and will require companies to rethink long-term training and business strategies as we re-skill our people to work in conjunction with technology. Artificial intelligence will penetrate deeper and deeper into our work, and we all must be ready to embrace it. Here at TPC, we’ve been preparing for this shift for quite some time and are excited to launch digital workshops for corporate storytelling and data visualization. Our digital platform is powered by NovoEd and features a cohort-driven, collaborative environment including coaching, manager check-ins, and 24/7 access to resources and supportive tools for ongoing learning. Data, data, data Ideas were backed by data at nearly every presentation we attended. Over the past few years, there’s been an enormous shift in the way we collect, analyze, and communicate data. And for good reason. Data is being produced and gathered at higher rates than ever, thanks to new trends like adaptive learning that allow us to gather information in the moment. And for learning and development professionals, this should be music to our ears. Why? Because data democratizes decisions. It allows us to put aside biases and make a strong, objective case that may impact budgets, training programs, and ultimately learners. For those of us challenged with demonstrating the return on investment and and business impact of training, we must be prepared to not only collect data, but interpret and transform it into a compelling story that engages our audience and drives key messages. We saw this need for data storytelling skills first-hand in our session, Turn Numbers into Narratives through Data Visualization. Nearly 400 people packed the room on Tuesday, eager to learn data storytelling and data visualization techniques from TPC’s co-founder Janine Kurnoff. We loved the audience’s and their passionate engagement, along with plenty of smart questions and ideas. It’s days like these that make our hard pay off, and we are beyond grateful to have had the opportunity to be among thousands of inspiring learning and development professionals all working towards a common goal: Creating a world that works better. And with that…see you next year in D.C.!  ", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lauren-and-Melony-at-ATD-2018-scaled.jpg", "modified": "2024-02-27T09:55:11-05:00" }, { "id": 7826, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-corporate-storytelling/", "title": "The Ultimate Guide to Corporate Storytelling", "h1": "The Ultimate Guide to Corporate Storytelling", "summary": "You’ve probably heard that storytelling is all the rage in the business world today. But you might be wondering, “What is corporate storytelling and how do I get started?” Read on to learn Corporate Storytelling 101: What it is, why it’s the most effective way to get your ideas heard (and acted on), and how […]", "content": "

You’ve probably heard that storytelling is all the rage in the business world today. But you might be wondering, “What is corporate storytelling and how do I get started?” Read on to learn Corporate Storytelling 101: What it is, why it’s the most effective way to get your ideas heard (and acted on), and how to get started.

What is corporate storytelling, and why is it so valuable?

\"What

Corporate storytelling is, well, just what it sounds like…telling stories at work. But let’s face it, most of us don’t know how or where to begin. How can we possibly persuade and motivate our manager, prospects or customers into action through a story?

Like any book, movie, or play, corporate storytelling can take people on an emotional journey. And, bluntly put, humans are suckers for an emotional journey. When presented authentically with strong logic and visuals to bolster your message, a well-crafted story is sure to drive people to act.

Facts and data presented with no story are often difficult to follow because they lack context. Haven’t ALL of us experienced presentations with endless bullets and charts that leave us bored, confused, and remembering nothing?

 

Weaving a story into a product update, customer pitch, or recommendation is remarkably simple. In fact, corporate storytelling sells ideas in any format…from emails, to one-pagers, to PowerPoint decks. Bottom line: story structure strengthens all forms of communication.

How does corporate storytelling lead to getting decisions made?

\"corporate

The end goal of nearly all business communications is producing a decision, whether big or small. The vast majority of decisions we make are based on both logic (which appeals to the left brain) and emotion (which appeals to the right brain). However, neuroscience has proven that emotion is even more important than logic when it comes to driving a decision – even in the boardroom. The best way to establish this potent, decision-driving combination is by weaving your facts, data, and ideas into a story framework.

Who needs corporate storytelling?

\"Corporate

Storytelling is useful for anyone who presents updates, reports, or wants their ideas to influence decisions. This includes:

How do I build a business story?

Like any story, corporate stories should be built on a framework that provides a roadmap for your supporting facts and data. There are four major elements in the arc of a story:

 

Your story framework provides important guidance on what is critical in advancing your story, and what is secondary. Establishing a clear setting, characters, and conflict first, gives you a much better chance of getting your audience to care about your resolution.

\"\"

A story framework has another powerful benefit: It creates flexibility within presentations. Depending on audience needs, well-architected decks will expand and contract easily. Executives can be unpredictable (and impatient). They might want to suddenly drill down into a chart or fast-forward to the resolution. No matter what, a storytelling framework gives you a roadmap at all times so you don’t get lost and prepares you for a sudden dialogue.

The benefits of corporate storytelling are profound. Clear, well-organized, and purposeful communications will catapult careers, further team goals, and create a nimble organization.

Does using a storytelling framework mean starting every presentation from scratch?

Many of us build decks with a big team or “borrow” slides from colleagues. This often creates a hastily cobbled together “Frankendeck” that doesn’t work – logically or visually. The more you understand the patterns of corporate storytelling, the easier it is to incorporate any outside chart, graphic, or anything else. You can still save time by incorporating outside slides but you won’t scare off your audience with a confusing “Frankendeck.”

\"\"

What’s the best advice for getting started with corporate storytelling?

First and foremost, you must have a clear understanding of your audience. You will do no better preparation than stopping, taking a moment, and walking in their shoes. Imagine what is happening in their world? Dedicate yourself to offering them something that will truly benefit them.

\"Walk

Second, isolate the BIG Idea of your presentation. What is the most important piece of information or concept that you want to leave with your audience? It is the through-line that runs through your entire presentation. Every fact or piece of data you include should be supporting and driving your BIG idea forward.

\"\"

Finally, possibly our simplest piece of advice is to advance your story with your slide headlines. As you structure your facts and data into a story framework, shout the main piece of information at the top of every slide. If you look at your slide headlines in isolation of everything else on your slides, they should provide a clear start-to-finish narrative.

\"Presentation

We believe the tools and strategy used in building a visual story is much like those used in constructing a home. Preparation is critical and should always begin before any actual building starts.

What are some resources to get started with corporate storytelling?

There is nothing that better jumpstarts storytelling than having a framework to help you organize your ideas into a story arc. This will set the stage for every presentation you make.

\"Pillars

We have scores of articles about visual storytelling. Our quickest reference on storytelling fundamentals, is our 3-part video series. For a longer conversation, listen to a podcast by corporate storytelling experts here.

We also recommend custom PowerPoint templates that allow you to quickly and easily create story-driven narratives. Well-built templates not only save you tons of time when putting together decks, they allow teams to easily pull together a cohesive story, using slides that speak to Setting, Character, Conflict and Resolution. Again, if everyone is using the same story framework and a presentation template built in their brand, organizing a presentation is simple.

\"\"

Where can I learn more about corporate storytelling training?

The fastest way to develop storytelling expertise is with training. Companies like Facebook, Nike, Marriott, and Accenture, as well as Learning and Development experts everywhere, have recognized the incredible advantages of investing in corporate storytelling. Everyday, more and more companies are striving to imbue storytelling throughout their organization. The Presentation Company’s workshops, including their flagship Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, has trained people at Fortune 500 companies all over the world.

Ready to learn more about TPC’s Corporate Storytelling workshop? Click here for more info.

", "content_plain": "You’ve probably heard that storytelling is all the rage in the business world today. But you might be wondering, “What is corporate storytelling and how do I get started?” Read on to learn Corporate Storytelling 101: What it is, why it’s the most effective way to get your ideas heard (and acted on), and how to get started. What is corporate storytelling, and why is it so valuable? Corporate storytelling is, well, just what it sounds like…telling stories at work. But let’s face it, most of us don’t know how or where to begin. How can we possibly persuade and motivate our manager, prospects or customers into action through a story? Like any book, movie, or play, corporate storytelling can take people on an emotional journey. And, bluntly put, humans are suckers for an emotional journey. When presented authentically with strong logic and visuals to bolster your message, a well-crafted story is sure to drive people to act. Facts and data presented with no story are often difficult to follow because they lack context. Haven’t ALL of us experienced presentations with endless bullets and charts that leave us bored, confused, and remembering nothing?   Weaving a story into a product update, customer pitch, or recommendation is remarkably simple. In fact, corporate storytelling sells ideas in any format…from emails, to one-pagers, to PowerPoint decks. Bottom line: story structure strengthens all forms of communication. How does corporate storytelling lead to getting decisions made? The end goal of nearly all business communications is producing a decision, whether big or small. The vast majority of decisions we make are based on both logic (which appeals to the left brain) and emotion (which appeals to the right brain). However, neuroscience has proven that emotion is even more important than logic when it comes to driving a decision – even in the boardroom. The best way to establish this potent, decision-driving combination is by weaving your facts, data, and ideas into a story framework. Who needs corporate storytelling? Storytelling is useful for anyone who presents updates, reports, or wants their ideas to influence decisions. This includes: Teams that present internally or externally clients, prospects or key stakeholders Those who present to executives Salespeople, or anyone who want to educate prospects and close deals Anyone that presents data and wants to incorporate their metrics into a digestible,meaningful narrative. Numbers alone won’t tell the whole story. How do I build a business story? Like any story, corporate stories should be built on a framework that provides a roadmap for your supporting facts and data. There are four major elements in the arc of a story:   Setting: Your setting is a snapshot in time, a place, or a circumstance. It immediately establishes the context for your message Characters: Your characters are who or what is affected by the current situation — your customers, employees, or team. Conflict: With the context of setting and characters in place, it’s time to reveal the conflict. Conflict provides the tension that gives your audience a reason to care – and get it resolved. Resolution: With setting, characters, and conflict established, your audience’s emotions will be built up. They will hopefully be ready to embrace your resolution – your recommendation, product, or solution. Your story framework provides important guidance on what is critical in advancing your story, and what is secondary. Establishing a clear setting, characters, and conflict first, gives you a much better chance of getting your audience to care about your resolution. A story framework has another powerful benefit: It creates flexibility within presentations. Depending on audience needs, well-architected decks will expand and contract easily. Executives can be unpredictable (and impatient). They might want to suddenly drill down into a chart or fast-forward to the resolution. No matter what, a storytelling framework gives you a roadmap at all times so you don’t get lost and prepares you for a sudden dialogue. The benefits of corporate storytelling are profound. Clear, well-organized, and purposeful communications will catapult careers, further team goals, and create a nimble organization. Does using a storytelling framework mean starting every presentation from scratch? Many of us build decks with a big team or “borrow” slides from colleagues. This often creates a hastily cobbled together “Frankendeck” that doesn’t work – logically or visually. The more you understand the patterns of corporate storytelling, the easier it is to incorporate any outside chart, graphic, or anything else. You can still save time by incorporating outside slides but you won’t scare off your audience with a confusing “Frankendeck.” What’s the best advice for getting started with corporate storytelling? First and foremost, you must have a clear understanding of your audience. You will do no better preparation than stopping, taking a moment, and walking in their shoes. Imagine what is happening in their world? Dedicate yourself to offering them something that will truly benefit them. Second, isolate the BIG Idea of your presentation. What is the most important piece of information or concept that you want to leave with your audience? It is the through-line that runs through your entire presentation. Every fact or piece of data you include should be supporting and driving your BIG idea forward. Finally, possibly our simplest piece of advice is to advance your story with your slide headlines. As you structure your facts and data into a story framework, shout the main piece of information at the top of every slide. If you look at your slide headlines in isolation of everything else on your slides, they should provide a clear start-to-finish narrative. We believe the tools and strategy used in building a visual story is much like those used in constructing a home. Preparation is critical and should always begin before any actual building starts. What are some resources to get started with corporate storytelling? There is nothing that better jumpstarts storytelling than having a framework to help you organize your ideas into a story arc. This will set the stage for every presentation you make. We have scores of articles about visual storytelling. Our quickest reference on storytelling fundamentals, is our 3-part video series. For a longer conversation, listen to a podcast by corporate storytelling experts here. We also recommend custom PowerPoint templates that allow you to quickly and easily create story-driven narratives. Well-built templates not only save you tons of time when putting together decks, they allow teams to easily pull together a cohesive story, using slides that speak to Setting, Character, Conflict and Resolution. Again, if everyone is using the same story framework and a presentation template built in their brand, organizing a presentation is simple. Where can I learn more about corporate storytelling training? The fastest way to develop storytelling expertise is with training. Companies like Facebook, Nike, Marriott, and Accenture, as well as Learning and Development experts everywhere, have recognized the incredible advantages of investing in corporate storytelling. Everyday, more and more companies are striving to imbue storytelling throughout their organization. The Presentation Company’s workshops, including their flagship Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, has trained people at Fortune 500 companies all over the world. Ready to learn more about TPC’s Corporate Storytelling workshop? Click here for more info.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/The-Ultimate-Guide-to-Corporate-Storytelling_Thumbnail-02.png", "modified": "2023-03-02T16:04:24-05:00" }, { "id": 7828, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/webinar-connect-executives-story/", "title": "Webinar: How to Connect with Executives Through Story | Watch Now", "h1": "Webinar: How to Connect with Executives Through Story | Watch Now", "summary": "You’ve got minimal time with big decision-makers. They’ve got competing priorities. Want to make your time count? Learn to create a strong, story-filled narrative they’ll easily grasp, remember, and act on. Watch as Janine Kurnoff explores the strategy behind presenting to busy, impatient, get-to-the-bottom-line executives. In this one-hour webinar, Janine discusses how to develop a […]", "content": "

You’ve got minimal time with big decision-makers. They’ve got competing priorities. Want to make your time count? Learn to create a strong, story-filled narrative they’ll easily grasp, remember, and act on.

Watch as Janine Kurnoff explores the strategy behind presenting to busy, impatient, get-to-the-bottom-line executives. In this one-hour webinar, Janine discusses how to develop a “BIG idea” – a clear and concise way to frame your key takeaway. Together you’ll walk through the fundamental building blocks of storytelling – a methodology that science tells us (and successful presenters know) significantly boost the impact and longevity of your ideas.

Lastly, learn the “Pivot” strategy that details how check in and respond to direction, in the moment. This strategy will give you the best chance of meeting executive’s needs, getting your ideas heard, and getting them to react.

During this webinar, you’ll learn how to:

Fill out the form to watch the webinar:

", "content_plain": "You’ve got minimal time with big decision-makers. They’ve got competing priorities. Want to make your time count? Learn to create a strong, story-filled narrative they’ll easily grasp, remember, and act on. Watch as Janine Kurnoff explores the strategy behind presenting to busy, impatient, get-to-the-bottom-line executives. In this one-hour webinar, Janine discusses how to develop a “BIG idea” – a clear and concise way to frame your key takeaway. Together you’ll walk through the fundamental building blocks of storytelling – a methodology that science tells us (and successful presenters know) significantly boost the impact and longevity of your ideas. Lastly, learn the “Pivot” strategy that details how check in and respond to direction, in the moment. This strategy will give you the best chance of meeting executive’s needs, getting your ideas heard, and getting them to react. During this webinar, you’ll learn how to: Shift from being a data collector to a strategic communicator. Tailor stories to executives and craft a ‘BIG idea’ when presenting information. Discover the art and science of the the “Pivot” Fill out the form to watch the webinar:", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Title-Slide-1024x576-1.jpg", "modified": "2023-02-28T10:40:13-05:00" }, { "id": 7830, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/how-tpc-built-a-culture-of-authenticity-in-an-age-clouded-by-aesthetics/", "title": "How TPC Built a Culture of Authenticity in an Age Clouded by Aesthetics", "h1": "How TPC Built a Culture of Authenticity in an Age Clouded by Aesthetics", "summary": "Since a young age, we were all asked the infamous question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” As a child, your answer was likely a firefighter, princess, astronaut, doctor or Superman. We set the bar high for ourselves, didn’t we? And why not? Most of us jump at the chance to […]", "content": "

Since a young age, we were all asked the infamous question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” As a child, your answer was likely a firefighter, princess, astronaut, doctor or Superman. We set the bar high for ourselves, didn’t we? And why not? Most of us jump at the chance to have a fulfilling career where helping others is critical to what we do.

But somewhere along the way, we often lose sight of our “why”. We begin to think that our dream job is unattainable or won’t pay the bills, and instead we just “do”. In business, we often see this translate into high turnover, low customer satisfaction, and uninspired employees. Let’s face it: profitable, lasting businesses may be founded upon market demand, but they flourish when their people are nurtured.

Here at The Presentation Company (TPC), we put people at the center of our “why” – from our employees to clients to business partners, and everyone in between. People are the reason we exist, and they’re the reason we innovate. For nearly 20 years, we’ve cultivated an atmosphere of innovation, passion and aptitude. Why? Because we believe that, in a time fraught with social media smoke screens and copycat marketers, there’s something refreshing about working with an authentic, caring, compassionate brand that holds its core values close and places an emphasis on growing its people.

\"\"

This mentality has led us to tremendous success over the years and given us the fortune to work with some of the world’s top brands. We have a fire in our bellies to move businesspeople forward within their careers, their companies and their lives – it’s why we show up every day, and it’s why we have not only survived, but are thriving.

We’re continuing to amplify and expand our network of business storytellers, data gurus, and presentation experts. We are casting our net to see what fresh catches will come forth.

Ready to join the movement? If you are someone who exudes the following traits, please connect with us:

 

At TPC we believe that with the power of business storytelling, we have the opportunity to influence action – and influence change. If this fuels you, check out our job listing to learn more about TPC’s open position as a Workshop Facilitator.

", "content_plain": "Since a young age, we were all asked the infamous question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” As a child, your answer was likely a firefighter, princess, astronaut, doctor or Superman. We set the bar high for ourselves, didn’t we? And why not? Most of us jump at the chance to have a fulfilling career where helping others is critical to what we do. But somewhere along the way, we often lose sight of our “why”. We begin to think that our dream job is unattainable or won’t pay the bills, and instead we just “do”. In business, we often see this translate into high turnover, low customer satisfaction, and uninspired employees. Let’s face it: profitable, lasting businesses may be founded upon market demand, but they flourish when their people are nurtured. Here at The Presentation Company (TPC), we put people at the center of our “why” – from our employees to clients to business partners, and everyone in between. People are the reason we exist, and they’re the reason we innovate. For nearly 20 years, we’ve cultivated an atmosphere of innovation, passion and aptitude. Why? Because we believe that, in a time fraught with social media smoke screens and copycat marketers, there’s something refreshing about working with an authentic, caring, compassionate brand that holds its core values close and places an emphasis on growing its people. This mentality has led us to tremendous success over the years and given us the fortune to work with some of the world’s top brands. We have a fire in our bellies to move businesspeople forward within their careers, their companies and their lives – it’s why we show up every day, and it’s why we have not only survived, but are thriving. We’re continuing to amplify and expand our network of business storytellers, data gurus, and presentation experts. We are casting our net to see what fresh catches will come forth. Ready to join the movement? If you are someone who exudes the following traits, please connect with us: You see life through an optimistic lens – life is good and you’d love to make it even better by guiding others to influence action through business storytelling You draw energy from people – the thought of presenting to and working with people fuels you You have experience in business communication with vast audiences – you understand different personality types across an array of business functions You are a natural born leader – others are engaged by listening to you and find it easy to approach you with questions or feedback You are flexible – you are skilled at working virtually and face to face The idea of travel excites you – you are willing and able to hop a plane nationally and internationally You are an activist in the movement of change – doing the bare minimum isn’t enough, you are always hungry to learn more, teach more and help more   At TPC we believe that with the power of business storytelling, we have the opportunity to influence action – and influence change. If this fuels you, check out our job listing to learn more about TPC’s open position as a Workshop Facilitator.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iStock-918351752-scaled.jpg", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:25:04-05:00" }, { "id": 7832, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/want-to-be-a-rockstar-corporate-trainer-at-tpc/", "title": "Want to be a Rockstar Corporate Trainer at TPC?", "h1": "Want to be a Rockstar Corporate Trainer at TPC?", "summary": "Kevin Campbell is more than a Master Trainer at TPC. He’s a master at generating true behavior change in employees at some of the world’s top brands. In the well-functioning machine that is TPC, Kevin plays a vital role in what we offer to our clients – knowledge. The knowledge to create strategic, action-inducing business […]", "content": "

Kevin Campbell is more than a Master Trainer at TPC.

He’s a master at generating true behavior change in employees at some of the world’s top brands. In the well-functioning machine that is TPC, Kevin plays a vital role in what we offer to our clients – knowledge. The knowledge to create strategic, action-inducing business narratives that leave individual contributors, managers, directors and executives wanting more.

On any given day at TPC, you can find him traveling the globe, teaching talented businesspeople to re-engineer the way they approach business presentations and shaping their executive presence. He sees the immediate impact he has by giving participants the tools to up-level the way the communicate. He knows that he’s helping people advance their careers and ultimately transforming their professional lives for the better.

So what makes this trainer so special?

Kevin brings his A-game to every workshop he facilitates and exudes passion in what he does. Why? Because, like all of our trainers, he lives and breathes the TPC culture and embodies what it means to be a great storyteller, mentor, and coach. And he truly believes in TPC’s mission. He knows that great content and instructional design only go so far. To shape world-class presenters, he knows he must practice what TPC preaches: be authentic, be relatable, read the room, and communicate through story.

Kevin walks out of a day of training feeling like a rockstar…because he receives feedback like this:

\"Testimonial_Kevin\"Storytelling\"Corporate\"Corporate

 

Kevin’s story could be yours

Because of our work with vibrant trainers like Kevin, TPC is flourishing and ready to find more workshop facilitators to join our team. If you want to be like Kevin, email us at careers@presentation-company.com to join TPC as a Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach.

", "content_plain": "Kevin Campbell is more than a Master Trainer at TPC. He’s a master at generating true behavior change in employees at some of the world’s top brands. In the well-functioning machine that is TPC, Kevin plays a vital role in what we offer to our clients – knowledge. The knowledge to create strategic, action-inducing business narratives that leave individual contributors, managers, directors and executives wanting more. On any given day at TPC, you can find him traveling the globe, teaching talented businesspeople to re-engineer the way they approach business presentations and shaping their executive presence. He sees the immediate impact he has by giving participants the tools to up-level the way the communicate. He knows that he’s helping people advance their careers and ultimately transforming their professional lives for the better. So what makes this trainer so special? Kevin brings his A-game to every workshop he facilitates and exudes passion in what he does. Why? Because, like all of our trainers, he lives and breathes the TPC culture and embodies what it means to be a great storyteller, mentor, and coach. And he truly believes in TPC’s mission. He knows that great content and instructional design only go so far. To shape world-class presenters, he knows he must practice what TPC preaches: be authentic, be relatable, read the room, and communicate through story. Kevin walks out of a day of training feeling like a rockstar…because he receives feedback like this:   Kevin’s story could be yours Because of our work with vibrant trainers like Kevin, TPC is flourishing and ready to find more workshop facilitators to join our team. If you want to be like Kevin, email us at careers@presentation-company.com to join TPC as a Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Meet-Kevin_V02-1.jpg", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:41:14-05:00" }, { "id": 7834, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/2018-corporate-storytelling-seminars/", "title": "2018 Calendar of Events", "h1": "2018 Calendar of Events", "summary": "You don’t have to be Steve Jobs to give insightful, powerful, memorable presentations. You just need to improve your visual storytelling skills. TPC partnered with the Association for Talent Development (ATD) on a slew of events to offer you easy access to our top techniques around data visualization and presenting to executives. Webinar space is […]", "content": "

You don’t have to be Steve Jobs to give insightful, powerful, memorable presentations. You just need to improve your visual storytelling skills. TPC partnered with the Association for Talent Development (ATD) on a slew of events to offer you easy access to our top techniques around data visualization and presenting to executives.

\"\"

Webinar space is limited! Register below:

 

September 26: “How to Connect with Executives through Story”

Free Live Webinar at 11:30am Pacific – Click Here to Register 

 

June 27: “How to Connect with Executives through Story”

Free Live Webinar at 10am Pacific – Registration Now Closed

 

May 8: “Turn Numbers into Narratives through Data Visualization”

Live Conference in San Diego, California – TPC session at 1pm Pacific

Ticket Sales Now Closed

 

March 14: “Using Data Visualization to Tell Your Story”

Free Live Webinar at 10am Pacific – Registration Now Closed

", "content_plain": "You don’t have to be Steve Jobs to give insightful, powerful, memorable presentations. You just need to improve your visual storytelling skills. TPC partnered with the Association for Talent Development (ATD) on a slew of events to offer you easy access to our top techniques around data visualization and presenting to executives. Webinar space is limited! Register below:   September 26: “How to Connect with Executives through Story” Free Live Webinar at 11:30am Pacific – Click Here to Register   June 27: “How to Connect with Executives through Story” Free Live Webinar at 10am Pacific – Registration Now Closed May 8: “Turn Numbers into Narratives through Data Visualization” Live Conference in San Diego, California – TPC session at 1pm Pacific Ticket Sales Now Closed   March 14: “Using Data Visualization to Tell Your Story” Free Live Webinar at 10am Pacific – Registration Now Closed", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/2018-Calendar-of-Events-Thumbnail.jpg", "modified": "2024-02-27T09:39:53-05:00" }, { "id": 7836, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/claiming-seat-table-one-womans-story-business-empowerment/", "title": "TPC Featured by Cisco WebEx: Claiming Our Seat at the Table: One Woman’s Story of Business Empowerment", "h1": "TPC Featured by Cisco WebEx: Claiming Our Seat at the Table: One Woman’s Story of Business Empowerment", "summary": "As of January of this year, there are an estimated 11.6 million women-owned businesses just in the United States alone. This is an impressive stat, given recent discussions on women in the workplace, our roles and how we support one another. In light of this and being a member of this “girl power” collective of […]", "content": "

As of January of this year, there are an estimated 11.6 million women-owned businesses just in the United States alone. This is an impressive stat, given recent discussions on women in the workplace, our roles and how we support one another. In light of this and being a member of this “girl power” collective of business owners, I wanted to share my story to perhaps inspire another woman who has a desire to fearlessly pursue her business dreams.

From Flying Solo to Soaring Together…

I’ve always had a passion and a knack for helping people tell their stories, which led me to form The Presentation Company in 2001. When I joined the ranks of millions of women entrepreneurs, I was a one-woman show focused on presentation consulting. But even then, I knew flying solo would only get me so far. Thankfully, six months in, my sister (and now business partner) Lee joined me, bringing her amazing market research and branding skills with her. And we haven’t looked back since.

People tend to be a bit amazed that Lee and I are not only sisters, but successful female entrepreneurs who make things work at work. And though we like to joke that we’re “twins” and have been known to tap into a telepathic “sister” thing, the reality is that finding a partner who shares your passion, is trustworthy, has your back and one who can represent you is the foundation of a successful brand. We have and never will get bogged down with stereotypes about women not being able to work together. Rather, we believe women can soar with another entrepreneur whose goals are as lofty as their own.

\"\"

Cheerleaders Aren’t Just for a Big Game…

There is something to be said about having a team of “cheerleaders” in your corner. For me, those cheerleaders were my mom and dad.

Our parents immigrated from England, with two young girls in tow, arriving in1978 at San Francisco’s Pier 35. I often think about what a risk it was for them to leave the familiar to go after their American dreams. Early on, my dad told me “find your passion and the money will follow.” And my mom always encouraged me to believe that I deserved to “have a seat at the table.” Together Lee and I found that passion and confidence. It came in the form of helping talented people tell authentic business stories.

We embraced, honed and followed this vision and our parents were our earliest – and most enthusiastic – cheering force. And their belief in us pushed our belief in ourselves.

Whoever encourages their dreams in the face of the seemingly impossible – these are the people I advise women to surround themselves with to help keep their entrepreneurial fires burning.

\"\"

Because Mentorship Matters…

As business founders, Lee and I both feel honored to be in our roles. We take pride in empowering the talented women (and men!) on our team. Why? Because the same passion for our work and desire to help brands tell their most authentic stories in the most meaningful way – we see that in them. We’ve witnessed team members blossom before us as we pour into them, growing confident enough to own rooms and command audiences. It’s in these small ways that we mentor and influence other women.

And that doesn’t stop, no matter what professional heights you reach. In many ways, my sister is my mentor; indirectly, we’ve done that for each other. And we are constantly learning from the host of compelling women we meet. For a woman to surround herself with other powerfully productive women in the workplace, it’s empowering and encouraging.

As women, we must believe that we have every right to succeed and not downplay, our talents, abilities and accomplishments. We have to communicate who we are and define our own paths with a clear vision. And because I have daughters, I believe we have to share our stories and show other women and young girls not to “fake it until they make it.” But rather, “fake it until they become it” as Amy Cuddy says. Because they, and all of us, deserve seats at the professional tables of their choice.

Republished with permission from WebEx.com

", "content_plain": "As of January of this year, there are an estimated 11.6 million women-owned businesses just in the United States alone. This is an impressive stat, given recent discussions on women in the workplace, our roles and how we support one another. In light of this and being a member of this “girl power” collective of business owners, I wanted to share my story to perhaps inspire another woman who has a desire to fearlessly pursue her business dreams. From Flying Solo to Soaring Together… I’ve always had a passion and a knack for helping people tell their stories, which led me to form The Presentation Company in 2001. When I joined the ranks of millions of women entrepreneurs, I was a one-woman show focused on presentation consulting. But even then, I knew flying solo would only get me so far. Thankfully, six months in, my sister (and now business partner) Lee joined me, bringing her amazing market research and branding skills with her. And we haven’t looked back since. People tend to be a bit amazed that Lee and I are not only sisters, but successful female entrepreneurs who make things work at work. And though we like to joke that we’re “twins” and have been known to tap into a telepathic “sister” thing, the reality is that finding a partner who shares your passion, is trustworthy, has your back and one who can represent you is the foundation of a successful brand. We have and never will get bogged down with stereotypes about women not being able to work together. Rather, we believe women can soar with another entrepreneur whose goals are as lofty as their own. Cheerleaders Aren’t Just for a Big Game… There is something to be said about having a team of “cheerleaders” in your corner. For me, those cheerleaders were my mom and dad. Our parents immigrated from England, with two young girls in tow, arriving in1978 at San Francisco’s Pier 35. I often think about what a risk it was for them to leave the familiar to go after their American dreams. Early on, my dad told me “find your passion and the money will follow.” And my mom always encouraged me to believe that I deserved to “have a seat at the table.” Together Lee and I found that passion and confidence. It came in the form of helping talented people tell authentic business stories. We embraced, honed and followed this vision and our parents were our earliest – and most enthusiastic – cheering force. And their belief in us pushed our belief in ourselves. Whoever encourages their dreams in the face of the seemingly impossible – these are the people I advise women to surround themselves with to help keep their entrepreneurial fires burning. Because Mentorship Matters… As business founders, Lee and I both feel honored to be in our roles. We take pride in empowering the talented women (and men!) on our team. Why? Because the same passion for our work and desire to help brands tell their most authentic stories in the most meaningful way – we see that in them. We’ve witnessed team members blossom before us as we pour into them, growing confident enough to own rooms and command audiences. It’s in these small ways that we mentor and influence other women. And that doesn’t stop, no matter what professional heights you reach. In many ways, my sister is my mentor; indirectly, we’ve done that for each other. And we are constantly learning from the host of compelling women we meet. For a woman to surround herself with other powerfully productive women in the workplace, it’s empowering and encouraging. As women, we must believe that we have every right to succeed and not downplay, our talents, abilities and accomplishments. We have to communicate who we are and define our own paths with a clear vision. And because I have daughters, I believe we have to share our stories and show other women and young girls not to “fake it until they make it.” But rather, “fake it until they become it” as Amy Cuddy says. Because they, and all of us, deserve seats at the professional tables of their choice. Republished with permission from WebEx.com", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Janine-and-Lee-thumbnail.jpg", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:17:26-05:00" }, { "id": 7838, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/using-power-color-presentations/", "title": "Using the Power of Color in Presentations", "h1": "Using the Power of Color in Presentations", "summary": "So much has been written on the psychology of color and using it in presentations to incite emotion and convey ideas. When expressing ideas visually in a presentation with shapes and graphics, we recommend selecting colors from your corporate palette so that all your visuals look coordinated and consistent. For more power in your presentations, choose colors to help […]", "content": "

So much has been written on the psychology of color and using it in presentations to incite emotion and convey ideas. When expressing ideas visually in a presentation with shapes and graphics, we recommend selecting colors from your corporate palette so that all your visuals look coordinated and consistent. For more power in your presentations, choose colors to help reinforce, not distract from, your message.

Below is a color key to help guide you through the various meanings of color.

\"How

Interested in how color and visuals can bring your ideas to life? Check out our workshop, Influencing with Visuals, to learn more about our visual messaging workshop for teams.

", "content_plain": "So much has been written on the psychology of color and using it in presentations to incite emotion and convey ideas. When expressing ideas visually in a presentation with shapes and graphics, we recommend selecting colors from your corporate palette so that all your visuals look coordinated and consistent. For more power in your presentations, choose colors to help reinforce, not distract from, your message. Below is a color key to help guide you through the various meanings of color. Interested in how color and visuals can bring your ideas to life? Check out our workshop, Influencing with Visuals, to learn more about our visual messaging workshop for teams.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Power-of-color.png", "modified": "2023-02-28T11:37:50-05:00" }, { "id": 7840, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/webinar-using-data-visualization-tell-story/", "title": "Webinar: Using Data Visualization to Tell Your Story", "h1": "Webinar: Using Data Visualization to Tell Your Story", "summary": "  Looking for simple yet powerful data visualization techniques? We’ve made it easy. TPC Co-founder and data storytelling expert Janine Kurnoff demonstrates some of her favorite data storytelling examples in this one-hour webinar, hosted in partnership with Cisco WebEx. During the webinar, Janine arms you with tips on how to present data clearly and effectively […]", "content": "

 

Looking for simple yet powerful data visualization techniques? We’ve made it easy. TPC Co-founder and data storytelling expert Janine Kurnoff demonstrates some of her favorite data storytelling examples in this one-hour webinar, hosted in partnership with Cisco WebEx.

During the webinar, Janine arms you with tips on how to present data clearly and effectively using data visualization best practices – some of the same advice she gives teams at Facebook, Salesforce, MetLife, and Hewlett Packard.

In this webinar, you’ll learn how to:

 

Fill out the form to view the webinar:

", "content_plain": "  Looking for simple yet powerful data visualization techniques? We’ve made it easy. TPC Co-founder and data storytelling expert Janine Kurnoff demonstrates some of her favorite data storytelling examples in this one-hour webinar, hosted in partnership with Cisco WebEx. During the webinar, Janine arms you with tips on how to present data clearly and effectively using data visualization best practices – some of the same advice she gives teams at Facebook, Salesforce, MetLife, and Hewlett Packard. In this webinar, you’ll learn how to: Tell a data story that helps your audience quickly understand your message Identify the most common pitfalls with charts and graphs   Fill out the form to view the webinar:", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Data-Webinar-cover-slide-1024x577-1.jpg", "modified": "2023-02-28T09:50:56-05:00" }, { "id": 7842, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/power-of-storytelling-podcast/", "title": "Podcast: The Power of Storytelling (Featured on Brandon Hall HCMx Radio)", "h1": "Podcast: The Power of Storytelling (Featured on Brandon Hall HCMx Radio)", "summary": "TPC co-founder and storytelling evangelist Janine Kurnoff joins the Brandon Hall Group podcast to discuss the power of storytelling in business and how every single one of us has the ability to incorporate storytelling into any presentation (yes, even you!). Janine reveals some of her best advice straight from TPC’s storytelling workshops, including: The importance […]", "content": "

TPC co-founder and storytelling evangelist Janine Kurnoff joins the Brandon Hall Group podcast to discuss the power of storytelling in business and how every single one of us has the ability to incorporate storytelling into any presentation (yes, even you!). Janine reveals some of her best advice straight from TPC’s storytelling workshops, including:

Listen here:

Get in touch to learn more about TPC’s award-winning corporate storytelling workshop.

", "content_plain": "TPC co-founder and storytelling evangelist Janine Kurnoff joins the Brandon Hall Group podcast to discuss the power of storytelling in business and how every single one of us has the ability to incorporate storytelling into any presentation (yes, even you!). Janine reveals some of her best advice straight from TPC’s storytelling workshops, including: The importance of understanding your audience (before you do anything else!) Simple story structure that can serve as a guide for shaping your facts, data, and ideas into a story-driven narrative How to amplify and propel your story with easy-to-build visuals Listen here: Get in touch to learn more about TPC’s award-winning corporate storytelling workshop.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/BH-podcast-thumbnail-2.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T16:09:23-05:00" }, { "id": 7844, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/sure-borrow-slidesbut-beware-frankendeck/", "title": "Halloween is approaching…Beware of the “Frankendeck”!", "h1": "Halloween is approaching…Beware of the “Frankendeck”!", "summary": "You’re busy. We know. But before you pull in slides from your boss’s deck or grab those charts from the marketing guy, ask yourself: Am I offering a clear storyline with an agenda, or am I just creating a fancy-looking hodgepodge with no strategy? Don’t feel bad. We ALL try to save time by […]", "content": "

You’re busy. We know. But before you pull in slides from your boss’s deck or grab those charts from the marketing guy, ask yourself: Am I offering a clear storyline with an agenda, or am I just creating a fancy-looking hodgepodge with no strategy?

Don’t feel bad. We ALL try to save time by leveraging other people’s slides, but few of us actually improve our presentation when we do it. Instead we create the…*eeeeek!* ”Frankendeck.”

Frankendecks Lack a Framework

“Frankendecks” are rampant in today’s business presentations because they seem to save time, add design pizzazz, or let us quickly fold in some juicy data. But this visual mishmash causes three big problems: It creates a deck that lacks narrative clarity, it doesn’t address customer needs, and finally, it doesn’t further any coherent agenda, objectives, or goals. This last one is particularly bad because this is why everyone’s gathered in the first place! What a waste of time.

So yes, “Frankendecks” can create confusion, but that doesn’t mean you can’t combine your homemade slides with borrowed ones and have a powerful presentation. All you need is a solid story framework.

The Story Framework Creates a Clear Narrative and Saves Time

\"business

A story framework gives structure to your all your facts and data. It’s a basic roadmap for building narratives that follows the classic signposts of storytelling: setting, character, conflict, and resolution.

With a story arc established, it is much easier to incorporate slides built originally for another presentation. You will immediately see where they fit best into your narrative to support your desired outcome. Also, you’ll avoid extraneous information that detracts from important insights and doesn’t further the objective of your presentation.

Visuals Must Punctuate Your Ideas and Further Your Narrative

Make no mistake, we love pretty slides! But we strongly believe that unless the slides you are hoping to leverage bear visuals that crystallize your main ideas or further your story, you must edit them. Once you’ve outlined your story using the framework, visual tactics such as use of color, shapes, and focal points (“callouts”) will shine a spotlight on your key ideas.

Another practice that deepens the link between your narrative and your visuals is using active headlines. Rather than using vague slide headlines (such as “Q4 Update” or “Industry Trends”), active headlines put the most important message right at the top of the slide. They are usually conversational, attention-grabbing, and serve as “chapter headings” for your unfolding story.

\"Active Active headlines put your key takeaway at the top of the slide

It’s important to add: Powerful visuals and active slide headlines are even more crucial if you aren’t there to present the deck yourself. Your narrative must always be clear and speak for itself.

We are all pressed for time and few of us are scriptwriters or designers. So, by all means, leverage slides from those around you! But remember, having a clear story framework enhanced by great visuals makes incorporating those slides from your boss or your colleagues much more useful. It tells you exactly where everything belongs within the journey. It also ensures that every time, you have a solid strategy that elevates the conversation beyond just the obvious.

Ready to evolve from “Frankendecks” to visual stories? Find out more about our business storytelling workshop for teams.

", "content_plain": "You’re busy. We know. But before you pull in slides from your boss’s deck or grab those charts from the marketing guy, ask yourself: Am I offering a clear storyline with an agenda, or am I just creating a fancy-looking hodgepodge with no strategy? Don’t feel bad. We ALL try to save time by leveraging other people’s slides, but few of us actually improve our presentation when we do it. Instead we create the…*eeeeek!* ”Frankendeck.” Frankendecks Lack a Framework “Frankendecks” are rampant in today’s business presentations because they seem to save time, add design pizzazz, or let us quickly fold in some juicy data. But this visual mishmash causes three big problems: It creates a deck that lacks narrative clarity, it doesn’t address customer needs, and finally, it doesn’t further any coherent agenda, objectives, or goals. This last one is particularly bad because this is why everyone’s gathered in the first place! What a waste of time. So yes, “Frankendecks” can create confusion, but that doesn’t mean you can’t combine your homemade slides with borrowed ones and have a powerful presentation. All you need is a solid story framework. The Story Framework Creates a Clear Narrative and Saves Time A story framework gives structure to your all your facts and data. It’s a basic roadmap for building narratives that follows the classic signposts of storytelling: setting, character, conflict, and resolution. Setting is a snapshot in time, a place, or a circumstance. It immediately establishes the context for your message Characters are who or what is affected by the current situation — your customers, employees, or team. Conflict is what provides the tension that gives your audience a reason to care. Resolution is your recommendations, product, or solution. With a story arc established, it is much easier to incorporate slides built originally for another presentation. You will immediately see where they fit best into your narrative to support your desired outcome. Also, you’ll avoid extraneous information that detracts from important insights and doesn’t further the objective of your presentation. Visuals Must Punctuate Your Ideas and Further Your Narrative Make no mistake, we love pretty slides! But we strongly believe that unless the slides you are hoping to leverage bear visuals that crystallize your main ideas or further your story, you must edit them. Once you’ve outlined your story using the framework, visual tactics such as use of color, shapes, and focal points (“callouts”) will shine a spotlight on your key ideas. Another practice that deepens the link between your narrative and your visuals is using active headlines. Rather than using vague slide headlines (such as “Q4 Update” or “Industry Trends”), active headlines put the most important message right at the top of the slide. They are usually conversational, attention-grabbing, and serve as “chapter headings” for your unfolding story. Active headlines put your key takeaway at the top of the slide It’s important to add: Powerful visuals and active slide headlines are even more crucial if you aren’t there to present the deck yourself. Your narrative must always be clear and speak for itself. We are all pressed for time and few of us are scriptwriters or designers. So, by all means, leverage slides from those around you! But remember, having a clear story framework enhanced by great visuals makes incorporating those slides from your boss or your colleagues much more useful. It tells you exactly where everything belongs within the journey. It also ensures that every time, you have a solid strategy that elevates the conversation beyond just the obvious. Ready to evolve from “Frankendecks” to visual stories? Find out more about our business storytelling workshop for teams.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/frankendeck-pics-Slide-4.png", "modified": "2024-10-22T09:31:08-05:00" }, { "id": 7846, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/how-to-build-culture-learners/", "title": "How to Build a Culture of Learners", "h1": "How to Build a Culture of Learners", "summary": "How did you actually learn to drive a car? Was it the Drivers Ed classroom, or when you actually buckled up, turned on the engine, and pressed the accelerator? We apply this same logic to our workshops. We’ve doubled down on experiential learning—for both onsite and virtual workshops. Because we know this: people learn best […]", "content": "

How did you actually learn to drive a car? Was it the Drivers Ed classroom, or when you actually buckled up, turned on the engine, and pressed the accelerator?

We apply this same logic to our workshops.

We’ve doubled down on experiential learning—for both onsite and virtual workshops. Because we know this: people learn best through coaching, peer feedback, and lots of hands-on practice.

Want a sneak peek? We’ve captured the essence of our experiential learning style at a recent offsite below—check it out!

", "content_plain": "How did you actually learn to drive a car? Was it the Drivers Ed classroom, or when you actually buckled up, turned on the engine, and pressed the accelerator? We apply this same logic to our workshops. We’ve doubled down on experiential learning—for both onsite and virtual workshops. Because we know this: people learn best through coaching, peer feedback, and lots of hands-on practice. Want a sneak peek? We’ve captured the essence of our experiential learning style at a recent offsite below—check it out! ", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/How-to-Build-a-Culture-of-Learners.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T15:46:24-05:00" }, { "id": 7848, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/data-visualization-video-series-pt-3/", "title": "Calling Out Your Key Data: Part 3 of TPC’s Data Visualization Series", "h1": "Calling Out Your Key Data: Part 3 of TPC’s Data Visualization Series", "summary": "Throwing a bunch of tables and charts into a presentation doesn’t make for great data visualization – just ask your boss. 🙂 Nobody wants to sit through slide after slide of numbers jammed on screen. So what does make for great data visualization? Creating focal points. And the best way to create focal points is […]", "content": "

Throwing a bunch of tables and charts into a presentation doesn’t make for great data visualization – just ask your boss. 🙂 Nobody wants to sit through slide after slide of numbers jammed on screen.

So what does make for great data visualization? Creating focal points. And the best way to create focal points is with ‘callouts’. Callouts are simple uses of things like color, size, and shape to instantly draw your audience’s focus to your important ideas.

This video shows you some great examples of how to highlight your data with callouts. Watch here:

Our data visualization workshop helps teams convert data into valuable insights that accelerate decision-making. Click here to learn more.

", "content_plain": "Throwing a bunch of tables and charts into a presentation doesn’t make for great data visualization – just ask your boss. 🙂 Nobody wants to sit through slide after slide of numbers jammed on screen. So what does make for great data visualization? Creating focal points. And the best way to create focal points is with ‘callouts’. Callouts are simple uses of things like color, size, and shape to instantly draw your audience’s focus to your important ideas. This video shows you some great examples of how to highlight your data with callouts. Watch here: Our data visualization workshop helps teams convert data into valuable insights that accelerate decision-making. Click here to learn more.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Data-video-3_Thumbnail_03.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T14:29:17-05:00" }, { "id": 7850, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/data-visualization-video-series-pt-2/", "title": "Write Headlines that Report the News: Part 2 of our Data Visualization Series", "h1": "Write Headlines that Report the News: Part 2 of our Data Visualization Series", "summary": "", "content": "

We all know that telling a story with our data is what gives it meaning. But sometimes, it’s difficult to know how much data to include. We have a simple way to determine what’s worth including…can you give this chart a meaningful headline? Does it move forward the story you want to tell?

Headlines are the best way to put a spotlight on what your audience needs to know. This quick video will help you think of data not as a pile of numbers but as important “news” you will report. Check it out here:

Our data visualization workshop helps teams convert data into valuable insights that accelerate decision-making. Click here to learn more.

", "content_plain": "We all know that telling a story with our data is what gives it meaning. But sometimes, it’s difficult to know how much data to include. We have a simple way to determine what’s worth including…can you give this chart a meaningful headline? Does it move forward the story you want to tell? Headlines are the best way to put a spotlight on what your audience needs to know. This quick video will help you think of data not as a pile of numbers but as important “news” you will report. Check it out here: Our data visualization workshop helps teams convert data into valuable insights that accelerate decision-making. Click here to learn more.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Video-2-thumbnail-for-blog_V02-1.jpg", "modified": "2023-02-28T09:26:28-05:00" }, { "id": 7852, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/data-visualization-video-series-pt-1/", "title": "Your Data Needs a Story: Part 1 of our Data Visualization Video Series", "h1": "Your Data Needs a Story: Part 1 of our Data Visualization Video Series", "summary": "Let’s address the elephant in the room: We’ve all witnessed presentations by well-meaning data gatherers – who offer charts and tables galore – but fail to distill their numbers into a clear, digestible, meaningful message. It’s true that data provides crucial evidence to influence decisions. But executives say data is rarely presented in a way […]", "content": "

Let’s address the elephant in the room: We’ve all witnessed presentations by well-meaning data gatherers – who offer charts and tables galore – but fail to distill their numbers into a clear, digestible, meaningful message.

It’s true that data provides crucial evidence to influence decisions. But executives say data is rarely presented in a way that makes decision-making easy. Instead, they are blasted with charts and tables that tell no story. To help you shift from being a data collector to a strategic communicator we’ve put together this quick video that includes one major data-presenting DO (hint: it’s all about your audience) and a couple – please believe us – DON’TS.

Check it out here: 

 

", "content_plain": "Let’s address the elephant in the room: We’ve all witnessed presentations by well-meaning data gatherers – who offer charts and tables galore – but fail to distill their numbers into a clear, digestible, meaningful message. It’s true that data provides crucial evidence to influence decisions. But executives say data is rarely presented in a way that makes decision-making easy. Instead, they are blasted with charts and tables that tell no story. To help you shift from being a data collector to a strategic communicator we’ve put together this quick video that includes one major data-presenting DO (hint: it’s all about your audience) and a couple – please believe us – DON’TS. Check it out here:  ", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Video-1-still-image-for-thumbnail_V02.jpg", "modified": "2024-04-25T08:16:00-05:00" }, { "id": 7854, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/4-ways-make-data-easier-understand/", "title": "TPC Contributes to Forbes.com: 4 Simple Ways To Make Data Easier To Understand", "h1": "TPC Contributes to Forbes.com: 4 Simple Ways To Make Data Easier To Understand", "summary": "Are you a data nerd? Do you love ‘mining the numbers’ for deeper meaning and trends? Then you’re in the right place. The amount of data that companies need to process and analyze in order to gain market insights is only growing – and quickly. The bad news is that you need to be presenting […]", "content": "

Are you a data nerd? Do you love ‘mining the numbers’ for deeper meaning and trends? Then you’re in the right place. The amount of data that companies need to process and analyze in order to gain market insights is only growing – and quickly. The bad news is that you need to be presenting important data in a way that non-Excel loving executives and managers can actually use — and you probably aren’t doing that as well as you could.

Here to give you some tips on how make your data ‘at-a-glance’ meaningful to your boss, your team, or your customers is Janine Kurnoff, co-founder of The Presentation Company. Kurnoff’s entire job is to do just that: make data presentation do its job. By following her four tips, you can make any presentation clearer. It all starts with story.

Step 1: Determine Your Story

“You’ve analyzed your data and identified your insights, great. But it isn’t time yet to break out bar charts or scatter plots,” Kurnoff counsels. “You have to stop and ask yourself: ‘What exactly am I trying to achieve here, and why?’ This is an absolutely critical starting point for any coherent focused data story. You can’t show your audience everything, so consider carefully what you want attendees to learn from and more importantly, do with your findings.” In other words, bulk data presented just for its own sake rapidly loses value. “Although the numbers contain critical evidence to support your story, the numbers on their own don’t make up the whole story,” Kurnoff stresses.\"\"

It is absolutely essential to craft your story first. “Data justifies nearly every business decision we make, yet senior managers don’t have the time or patience to wade through rows of numbers and endless charts,” Kurnoff explains. “And it shouldn’t be up to them to tease out the relevance of your numbers. This is your job. It’s where your value to the organization really shows. To summarize, interpret, and share a true story is to fully maximize the impact of your data.”

Step 2: Write Headlines that Report the News

Kurnoff suggests you try to imagine each slide as a news story. “As we know, every news story needs a headline. Writing headlines forces you to articulate your most important data insights for each data graphic. If you have already determined your story (Step 1), this step shouldn’t be difficult.”

\"\"

\"\"

Attention-grabbing headlines emblazoned across every slide will spark curiosity in your audience. “Notice how the slide on the left (below) gives a generic label for the table? Borrrring! It doesn’t say anything about the data other than… this is data. The headline on the right however, tells a story. In a glance you understand who, what, and where this slide is talking about. Notice, too, how specific data points that support the headline are called out in a contrasting color (more on this tactic later).”

She advises, “In addition to carrying your data’s most important piece of information, a great headline should:

Step 3: Use callouts to highlight important data

After determining the headline, it’s time to figure out the best way to display your data. “I am not going get into a debate about bar charts vs. pie charts,” Kurnoff jokes, “but I would like to discuss the amazing power of callouts in your charts. Callouts are a marvelous way to let you visually ‘gesture’ to your most important data, thereby drawing attention to it.”

Kurnoff says: “There are three simple techniques to create useful callouts:

These techniques allow you to create a focal point for the specific metric that supports your story. Note: I suggest never using more than three callouts per chart. Notice the left chart (below) lacks a focal point. The audience is forced to decipher the data story on their own. This is where you are most likely to lose them. On the right, however, the callout (blue circle) highlights the data that is most relevant to the chart’s big story.”

\"\"

\"\"

“Below is another example of a plain table with no focal point (left) and therefore, no real story. However, the callouts on the right use both color and size to signal the most relevant information in the table. This kind of highlighting is absolutely key in helping your audience understand — at a glance — what you want them to understand.”

\"\"

\"\"

Step 4: Minimize the noise

The opposite of calling out your critical data is figuring out what data to minimize or even delete. “To minimize clutter, start with your labels,” Kurnoff explains. “Are they as informative, accurate, and concise as possible? Is your data easy to read? Does the data presentation convey a clear message? Are axis labels accurate and easy to understand?”

“The chart below on the left is teeming with information and is very difficult to parse. On the right, colors are used to call out important data points. The data has been averaged annually to reduce the number of data points, and also allow the horizontal axis to be minimized. Elsewhere, axis labels are abbreviated to trillions and the vertical axis has been removed,” Kurnoff points out.

\"\"

\"\"

“Today’s expectations of data visualization are always about the numbers telling stories. For all those tasked with gathering data, adopting this mindset will help ensure that all your hard work will prove valuable, and lead to real decisions. Anything else is a missed opportunity,” Kurnoff concludes.

Respected data visualization scholar, Stephen Few, notes:

“Numbers have an important story to tell. They rely on you to give them a clear and convincing voice.” By following Kurnoff’s four steps, you can make your data easier to understand, simpler to communicate, and much more useful. The amazing information you have spent so much time and effort teasing out of the mass of data, will be the star of your story.

Interested in learning more data visualization strategies? Check out The Presentation Company’s Presenting Data Visually workshop.

Republished with permission from Forbes.com.

", "content_plain": "Are you a data nerd? Do you love ‘mining the numbers’ for deeper meaning and trends? Then you’re in the right place. The amount of data that companies need to process and analyze in order to gain market insights is only growing – and quickly. The bad news is that you need to be presenting important data in a way that non-Excel loving executives and managers can actually use — and you probably aren’t doing that as well as you could. Here to give you some tips on how make your data ‘at-a-glance’ meaningful to your boss, your team, or your customers is Janine Kurnoff, co-founder of The Presentation Company. Kurnoff’s entire job is to do just that: make data presentation do its job. By following her four tips, you can make any presentation clearer. It all starts with story. Step 1: Determine Your Story “You’ve analyzed your data and identified your insights, great. But it isn’t time yet to break out bar charts or scatter plots,” Kurnoff counsels. “You have to stop and ask yourself: ‘What exactly am I trying to achieve here, and why?’ This is an absolutely critical starting point for any coherent focused data story. You can’t show your audience everything, so consider carefully what you want attendees to learn from and more importantly, do with your findings.” In other words, bulk data presented just for its own sake rapidly loses value. “Although the numbers contain critical evidence to support your story, the numbers on their own don’t make up the whole story,” Kurnoff stresses. It is absolutely essential to craft your story first. “Data justifies nearly every business decision we make, yet senior managers don’t have the time or patience to wade through rows of numbers and endless charts,” Kurnoff explains. “And it shouldn’t be up to them to tease out the relevance of your numbers. This is your job. It’s where your value to the organization really shows. To summarize, interpret, and share a true story is to fully maximize the impact of your data.” Step 2: Write Headlines that Report the News Kurnoff suggests you try to imagine each slide as a news story. “As we know, every news story needs a headline. Writing headlines forces you to articulate your most important data insights for each data graphic. If you have already determined your story (Step 1), this step shouldn’t be difficult.” Attention-grabbing headlines emblazoned across every slide will spark curiosity in your audience. “Notice how the slide on the left (below) gives a generic label for the table? Borrrring! It doesn’t say anything about the data other than… this is data. The headline on the right however, tells a story. In a glance you understand who, what, and where this slide is talking about. Notice, too, how specific data points that support the headline are called out in a contrasting color (more on this tactic later).” She advises, “In addition to carrying your data’s most important piece of information, a great headline should: Be compelling and provocative; Make a bold statement; Use persuasive language; Include a benefit, cause and effect, or prediction; Avoid unnecessarily words, like ‘a’ and ‘the’. Step 3: Use callouts to highlight important data After determining the headline, it’s time to figure out the best way to display your data. “I am not going get into a debate about bar charts vs. pie charts,” Kurnoff jokes, “but I would like to discuss the amazing power of callouts in your charts. Callouts are a marvelous way to let you visually ‘gesture’ to your most important data, thereby drawing attention to it.” Kurnoff says: “There are three simple techniques to create useful callouts: Using color Playing with size Adding basic shapes These techniques allow you to create a focal point for the specific metric that supports your story. Note: I suggest never using more than three callouts per chart. Notice the left chart (below) lacks a focal point. The audience is forced to decipher the data story on their own. This is where you are most likely to lose them. On the right, however, the callout (blue circle) highlights the data that is most relevant to the chart’s big story.” “Below is another example of a plain table with no focal point (left) and therefore, no real story. However, the callouts on the right use both color and size to signal the most relevant information in the table. This kind of highlighting is absolutely key in helping your audience understand — at a glance — what you want them to understand.” Step 4: Minimize the noise The opposite of calling out your critical data is figuring out what data to minimize or even delete. “To minimize clutter, start with your labels,” Kurnoff explains. “Are they as informative, accurate, and concise as possible? Is your data easy to read? Does the data presentation convey a clear message? Are axis labels accurate and easy to understand?” “The chart below on the left is teeming with information and is very difficult to parse. On the right, colors are used to call out important data points. The data has been averaged annually to reduce the number of data points, and also allow the horizontal axis to be minimized. Elsewhere, axis labels are abbreviated to trillions and the vertical axis has been removed,” Kurnoff points out. “Today’s expectations of data visualization are always about the numbers telling stories. For all those tasked with gathering data, adopting this mindset will help ensure that all your hard work will prove valuable, and lead to real decisions. Anything else is a missed opportunity,” Kurnoff concludes. Respected data visualization scholar, Stephen Few, notes: “Numbers have an important story to tell. They rely on you to give them a clear and convincing voice.” By following Kurnoff’s four steps, you can make your data easier to understand, simpler to communicate, and much more useful. The amazing information you have spent so much time and effort teasing out of the mass of data, will be the star of your story. Interested in learning more data visualization strategies? Check out The Presentation Company’s Presenting Data Visually workshop. Republished with permission from Forbes.com.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Forbes-logo-2.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-01T13:46:43-05:00" }, { "id": 7855, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/5-tips-for-nailing-an-executive-presentation/", "title": "5 Tips for Nailing an Executive Presentation [INFOGRAPHIC]", "h1": "5 Tips for Nailing an Executive Presentation [INFOGRAPHIC]", "summary": "When it comes to presenting to executives, we know this for sure: more data is not necessarily better. Unfortunately, most of us have learned this the hard way. We’ve struggled to make distracted, hyper-impatient, executives focus on our key messages. Let’s run through 5 simple ways to prevent some of these common mistakes to help […]", "content": "

When it comes to presenting to executives, we know this for sure: more data is not necessarily better. Unfortunately, most of us have learned this the hard way.

We’ve struggled to make distracted, hyper-impatient, executives focus on our key messages. Let’s run through 5 simple ways to prevent some of these common mistakes to help you nail your next big executive presentation:

\"Nail

", "content_plain": "When it comes to presenting to executives, we know this for sure: more data is not necessarily better. Unfortunately, most of us have learned this the hard way. We’ve struggled to make distracted, hyper-impatient, executives focus on our key messages. Let’s run through 5 simple ways to prevent some of these common mistakes to help you nail your next big executive presentation:", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/blunders-thumbnail.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T13:36:40-05:00" }, { "id": 7857, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/storytelling-with-data/", "title": "Got Data? Here’s How to Give It Meaning [VIDEO]", "h1": "Got Data? Here’s How to Give It Meaning [VIDEO]", "summary": "We spend an incredible amount of time and money collecting data. That’s because data justifies nearly every business decision we make. But too often, we overwhelm customers, prospects and those executives who intimidate us with WAY too many numbers. The result? You’ve just lost your chance to actually provide strategic insights. This is a HUGE mistake. […]", "content": "

We spend an incredible amount of time and money collecting data.

That’s because data justifies nearly every business decision we make. But too often, we overwhelm customers, prospects and those executives who intimidate us with WAY too many numbers. The result? You’ve just lost your chance to actually provide strategic insights. This is a HUGE mistake.

Try weaving only your most relevant data into a story. That’s right: a story. Whether you’re delivering a sales strategy, an executive briefing, or a product update, stories get your message across. Begin by asking yourself: What’s my BIG Idea? What’s the one thing I want my audience to know or do?

Next, using your data, map your big idea to the 4 signposts of storytelling: setting, character, conflict, and resolution.

The setting offers context…connecting your audience to a time, a place, and a circumstance.

Your character is who or what is affected by the current situation…like your customers, your employees or manager. Start with either character or setting – whichever will capture the most attention.

The conflict is the difference between where you are today…and where you need to be. It’s how you let your audience know you understand their problem…and it sets them up to care about what’s coming next: your resolution.

Your resolution presents the ideal future state with data points that directly resolve the conflict and call on your audience to act.

Numbers without story won’t give your audience a reason to care. Remember: Keep it brief. Keep it relevant. Give your data the power and impact it deserves…through storytelling.

 

 

 

", "content_plain": "We spend an incredible amount of time and money collecting data. That’s because data justifies nearly every business decision we make. But too often, we overwhelm customers, prospects and those executives who intimidate us with WAY too many numbers. The result? You’ve just lost your chance to actually provide strategic insights. This is a HUGE mistake. Try weaving only your most relevant data into a story. That’s right: a story. Whether you’re delivering a sales strategy, an executive briefing, or a product update, stories get your message across. Begin by asking yourself: What’s my BIG Idea? What’s the one thing I want my audience to know or do? Next, using your data, map your big idea to the 4 signposts of storytelling: setting, character, conflict, and resolution. The setting offers context…connecting your audience to a time, a place, and a circumstance. Your character is who or what is affected by the current situation…like your customers, your employees or manager. Start with either character or setting – whichever will capture the most attention. The conflict is the difference between where you are today…and where you need to be. It’s how you let your audience know you understand their problem…and it sets them up to care about what’s coming next: your resolution. Your resolution presents the ideal future state with data points that directly resolve the conflict and call on your audience to act. Numbers without story won’t give your audience a reason to care. Remember: Keep it brief. Keep it relevant. Give your data the power and impact it deserves…through storytelling.      ", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Data-storytelling-03-1.png", "modified": "2024-04-25T08:22:18-05:00" }, { "id": 7859, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/forbes-storytelling-in-email-part-one/", "title": "TPC Contributes to Forbes.com: For High Stakes Email, You Need A Killer Subject Line", "h1": "TPC Contributes to Forbes.com: For High Stakes Email, You Need A Killer Subject Line", "summary": "  For a startup, reaching investors, board members, key partners and business reporters is essential to your success. But most business people get over 100 emails a day — and at least 30% of that is spam. How can you ensure your crucial communications will cut through the noise? The key, it turns out, is […]", "content": "

 

For a startup, reaching investors, board members, key partners and business reporters is essential to your success. But most business people get over 100 emails a day — and at least 30% of that is spam. How can you ensure your crucial communications will cut through the noise? The key, it turns out, is one sentence storytelling — in the form of a killer subject line.

So how can you craft a compelling subject line? The Presentation Company (TPC), an organization that helps companies turn their employees into storytellers, shared their top tips on this topic with Forbes:

Step 1: Tell a Story

TPC founder Janine Kurnoff opens with question: “Have you ever pressed ‘Send’ on a high stakes email which you felt confident offered smart, insightful, helpful, and urgent information and ideas, but gotten zero response? You wait and wait…but even your polite, ‘Touching base to make sure you got this email?” gets ignored. You think: ‘What gives? Didn’t I thoroughly outline my clever recommendations? Wasn’t my deadline clear? Where’s the love?’”

\"\"

She continues: “The average business professional receives 121 emails a day. Their boss gets many, many more—usually with deadlines attached. The higher the executive, the more pressing the deadlines. Getting your urgent ideas to shine through the deluge of email most of these folks receive is difficult, to say the least. But there is a clue to success: most of those receiving those hundreds of emails a day are scanning subject lines. (Aren’t you?) So, the key to getting the attention you crave is to craft a make-it-or-break-it subject line. Nobody is going to read your story if they are not drawn in—by emotion. Why? Because emotions are what spur people to act.”

So what makes an emotional splash? Kurnoff suggests asking yourself these questions: “(1) What is my single biggest idea?; (2) What is the most surprising piece of news? (3) What is the one thing I want the recipient(s) to know or do? Whatever your answer is, that should be the subject line. Your only goal should be to help someone decide to open your email.”

\"\"

Step 2: Highlight the call to action

“Busy executives appreciate emails that include whatever immediate action you are requesting upfront, right in the subject line,” Kurnoff continues. Vague subject lines or non-specific requests (e.g., Feedback on the meeting?) will just encourage people to move on to the next email. Anything that seems like a non-urgent time-suck will be left in the digital dust.”

She offers the following “what not to do” examples:

For an update: Don’t call it, “Project Update.” Instead, provide the most essential piece of information, “Program X on track but we need additional design resources.”

For sign off on a recommendation: Don’t say “Next steps needed for project.” Instead be specific and time focused, “Need Sign-off for Phase 2 of Project X by EOD Friday.”

For sales conversations: Trying to move a conversation forward in the sales cycle? You’re probably answering a prospect’s question. Be sure it’s clear you are doing exactly that. Don’t say “Following up.” Instead say, “Reconnecting on next steps for sales kickoff next month in Atlanta.”

Step 3: Let the Subject Lead

Kurnoff is clearly saying that the most important place to tell your story —by far — via email is in the subject line. Period. Full stop. “Every great story has a Big Idea—the one thing you want your recipient to remember about your message. Your subject line is essentially your Big Idea, condensed. If done properly, this is where your story begins.”

\"\"

Once you’ve got a Big Idea subject, the body of the email becomes a supporting document, with the cogent details your contact needs. But, without a strong opener, you’ll never get to share the goods. “If your subject line doesn’t evoke emotion, urgency, or convey relevant news, it will be the story that never began. Crafting a strong subject line is the most important gateway to your audience. Without it, you can expect a lot more silence.”

The Presentation Company has also shared tips for storytelling in the body of the email, which will be posted soon. In the meantime, if you are interested in learning more about how to apply storytelling to your business communications, TPC offers webinars, like Selling Ideas Through Visual Stories, and workshops like Crafting Strategic Visual Stories.

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM Forbes.com.

", "content_plain": "  For a startup, reaching investors, board members, key partners and business reporters is essential to your success. But most business people get over 100 emails a day — and at least 30% of that is spam. How can you ensure your crucial communications will cut through the noise? The key, it turns out, is one sentence storytelling — in the form of a killer subject line. So how can you craft a compelling subject line? The Presentation Company (TPC), an organization that helps companies turn their employees into storytellers, shared their top tips on this topic with Forbes: Step 1: Tell a Story TPC founder Janine Kurnoff opens with question: “Have you ever pressed ‘Send’ on a high stakes email which you felt confident offered smart, insightful, helpful, and urgent information and ideas, but gotten zero response? You wait and wait…but even your polite, ‘Touching base to make sure you got this email?” gets ignored. You think: ‘What gives? Didn’t I thoroughly outline my clever recommendations? Wasn’t my deadline clear? Where’s the love?’” She continues: “The average business professional receives 121 emails a day. Their boss gets many, many more—usually with deadlines attached. The higher the executive, the more pressing the deadlines. Getting your urgent ideas to shine through the deluge of email most of these folks receive is difficult, to say the least. But there is a clue to success: most of those receiving those hundreds of emails a day are scanning subject lines. (Aren’t you?) So, the key to getting the attention you crave is to craft a make-it-or-break-it subject line. Nobody is going to read your story if they are not drawn in—by emotion. Why? Because emotions are what spur people to act.” So what makes an emotional splash? Kurnoff suggests asking yourself these questions: “(1) What is my single biggest idea?; (2) What is the most surprising piece of news? (3) What is the one thing I want the recipient(s) to know or do? Whatever your answer is, that should be the subject line. Your only goal should be to help someone decide to open your email.” Step 2: Highlight the call to action “Busy executives appreciate emails that include whatever immediate action you are requesting upfront, right in the subject line,” Kurnoff continues. Vague subject lines or non-specific requests (e.g., Feedback on the meeting?) will just encourage people to move on to the next email. Anything that seems like a non-urgent time-suck will be left in the digital dust.” She offers the following “what not to do” examples: For an update: Don’t call it, “Project Update.” Instead, provide the most essential piece of information, “Program X on track but we need additional design resources.” For sign off on a recommendation: Don’t say “Next steps needed for project.” Instead be specific and time focused, “Need Sign-off for Phase 2 of Project X by EOD Friday.” For sales conversations: Trying to move a conversation forward in the sales cycle? You’re probably answering a prospect’s question. Be sure it’s clear you are doing exactly that. Don’t say “Following up.” Instead say, “Reconnecting on next steps for sales kickoff next month in Atlanta.” Step 3: Let the Subject Lead Kurnoff is clearly saying that the most important place to tell your story —by far — via email is in the subject line. Period. Full stop. “Every great story has a Big Idea—the one thing you want your recipient to remember about your message. Your subject line is essentially your Big Idea, condensed. If done properly, this is where your story begins.” Once you’ve got a Big Idea subject, the body of the email becomes a supporting document, with the cogent details your contact needs. But, without a strong opener, you’ll never get to share the goods. “If your subject line doesn’t evoke emotion, urgency, or convey relevant news, it will be the story that never began. Crafting a strong subject line is the most important gateway to your audience. Without it, you can expect a lot more silence.” The Presentation Company has also shared tips for storytelling in the body of the email, which will be posted soon. In the meantime, if you are interested in learning more about how to apply storytelling to your business communications, TPC offers webinars, like Selling Ideas Through Visual Stories, and workshops like Crafting Strategic Visual Stories. REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM Forbes.com.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Forbes-logo-3.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-01T13:41:01-05:00" }, { "id": 7861, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/bos-podcast/", "title": "Podcast: How to Plan Your Presentations for Effective Results (Featured on Business of Story”)”", "h1": "Podcast: How to Plan Your Presentations for Effective Results (Featured on Business of Story”)”", "summary": "Ready to directly confront your fears and anxieties about presentations? Good. Janine Kurnoff, Co-founder of the Presentation Company, joins Park Howell’s Business of Story Podcast to lay out the ingredients and the process to whip up effective visual stories for your next meeting. Janine dives straight in to the hardest part of presentation building — […]", "content": "

Ready to directly confront your fears and anxieties about presentations? Good.

Janine Kurnoff, Co-founder of the Presentation Company, joins Park Howell’s Business of Story Podcast to lay out the ingredients and the process to whip up effective visual stories for your next meeting.

Janine dives straight in to the hardest part of presentation building — getting started. She also gets into:

Listen to the show here.

Originally published on Convince and Convert and Business of Story.

", "content_plain": "Ready to directly confront your fears and anxieties about presentations? Good. Janine Kurnoff, Co-founder of the Presentation Company, joins Park Howell’s Business of Story Podcast to lay out the ingredients and the process to whip up effective visual stories for your next meeting. Janine dives straight in to the hardest part of presentation building — getting started. She also gets into: How to uncover your theme (a.k.a. your BIG Idea) and embed it throughout your presentation The four signposts of storytelling that form a classic story arc The sweet spots for where data visualization and storytelling make a perfect duet Listen to the show here. Originally published on Convince and Convert and Business of Story.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/BusinessStoryAd2-1024x535-1.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T14:28:35-05:00" }, { "id": 7863, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/this-one-presentation-hack-will-save-your-team-hundreds-of-hours-per-year/", "title": "This Presentation Hack Will Save Your Team Hundreds of Hours Per Year", "h1": "This Presentation Hack Will Save Your Team Hundreds of Hours Per Year", "summary": "  “I didn’t know if I wanted to cry or laugh knowing how many wasted hours I’ve spent designing decks,” is a line your CFO does not want to hear! Unfortunately, whether people admit it or not, this is a universal problem. The productivity lost tinkering with presentations is staggering. Every time we manually adjust […]", "content": "

 

“I didn’t know if I wanted to cry or laugh knowing how many wasted hours I’ve spent designing decks,” is a line your CFO does not want to hear! Unfortunately, whether people admit it or not, this is a universal problem. The productivity lost tinkering with presentations is staggering. Every time we manually adjust shapes, text, or colors, another few minutes is wasted. This is precious time that could be spent on enriching ideas, data analysis, and most importantly, the strategy behind the message. Just think, if each employee at your company loses two hours a week on formatting shapes or pictures, it could add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. Yikes!

\"\"

And then there is the immeasurable loss of brand currency. Presentations are important brand vehicles. They are what bring your employees’ ideas, updates, and strategic plans to life. Think about how often your presentation is the first introduction a sales prospect gets to your brand. And yet, most companies miss this branding opportunity, investing next to nothing in this asset. PowerPoint templates—if they are good—can be worth their weight in gold. Unfortunately though, most aren’t.

Most Templates are a Hot Mess

People depend heavily on presentation templates to look good and to show off their brand, but most just don’t function well. These clunky presentations are usually caused by a poorly-built PowerPoint template. And whether they are built by a design agency or purchased off the Internet, poor templates do a lot of damage.

Design Agencies are no Panacea

Design agencies are hired to create eye-catching PowerPoint templates. And yes, designers are often visually skilled and well-versed in your brand. But they don’t necessarily understand how to translate that brand into a functional presentation environment. These templates look pretty, but they can’t easily be edited by the average employee. (Mac-centric) design agencies are the first to admit, they don’t really understand Office products like PowerPoint. Here are some of the messier problems design agencies run into:

Off-the-Shelf Templates Aren’t Functional (and They Rarely Look Good!)

Great templates are so much more than just prettified slides. Off-the-shelf templates do not include your branding, colors, fonts, graphic shapes, images, voice or tone… so your designers or employees will still need to do a lot of editing to incorporate your brand. Off-the-shelf templates function poorly when trying to make adjustments to colors, text, font, and charts. Colors don’t match, fonts don’t translate, and don’t get us started on the meaningless charts and diagrams!

Functional, Stylish Presentation Templates That Will Make Your Brand Shine

What is the point of presentation templates? Aren’t they meant to allow people to save time preparing their ideas while keeping style and branding in place? We believe people should be focused on their ideas and stories, not the mechanics of building the deck. They should have little to do but pick an ideal layout and plug in text, numbers, or graphics. No sizing fonts. No inserting text boxes. No looking for colors. No formatting bullets. Bottom line: templates must be easy to edit, highly visual, and functionally sound.

\"\"

TPC offers a full collection of beautifully designed layouts, programmed on the back and front end. We understand the mechanics of PowerPoint templates because we are supported by Microsoft MVPs, those who know the application inside and out.

If you want your team to stop spending 6-8 hours developing a presentation, a robust presentation template is where to start. When built correctly, templates increase employee productivity, help people communicate more strategically, and finally they are a vital investment in your brand.

Interested in better productivity and branding through custom templates? Call us at 888-991-0208 or see more information about custom templates here. 

", "content_plain": "  “I didn’t know if I wanted to cry or laugh knowing how many wasted hours I’ve spent designing decks,” is a line your CFO does not want to hear! Unfortunately, whether people admit it or not, this is a universal problem. The productivity lost tinkering with presentations is staggering. Every time we manually adjust shapes, text, or colors, another few minutes is wasted. This is precious time that could be spent on enriching ideas, data analysis, and most importantly, the strategy behind the message. Just think, if each employee at your company loses two hours a week on formatting shapes or pictures, it could add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. Yikes! And then there is the immeasurable loss of brand currency. Presentations are important brand vehicles. They are what bring your employees’ ideas, updates, and strategic plans to life. Think about how often your presentation is the first introduction a sales prospect gets to your brand. And yet, most companies miss this branding opportunity, investing next to nothing in this asset. PowerPoint templates—if they are good—can be worth their weight in gold. Unfortunately though, most aren’t. Most Templates are a Hot Mess People depend heavily on presentation templates to look good and to show off their brand, but most just don’t function well. These clunky presentations are usually caused by a poorly-built PowerPoint template. And whether they are built by a design agency or purchased off the Internet, poor templates do a lot of damage. Design Agencies are no Panacea Design agencies are hired to create eye-catching PowerPoint templates. And yes, designers are often visually skilled and well-versed in your brand. But they don’t necessarily understand how to translate that brand into a functional presentation environment. These templates look pretty, but they can’t easily be edited by the average employee. (Mac-centric) design agencies are the first to admit, they don’t really understand Office products like PowerPoint. Here are some of the messier problems design agencies run into: They struggle with what you can and can’t do with color using PowerPoint templates, such as how color choices impact tables and charts. They don’t use ‘safe’ fonts that hold up in different presentation environments. When presentations are emailed to other machines (across operating systems) those beautiful layouts turn into a design mess. They often don’t understand how their layouts look on large projection screens or mobile devices. This can render files unreadable. They don’t know how to properly build templates (which, by the way, takes over 100 steps to be done correctly). Off-the-Shelf Templates Aren’t Functional (and They Rarely Look Good!) Great templates are so much more than just prettified slides. Off-the-shelf templates do not include your branding, colors, fonts, graphic shapes, images, voice or tone… so your designers or employees will still need to do a lot of editing to incorporate your brand. Off-the-shelf templates function poorly when trying to make adjustments to colors, text, font, and charts. Colors don’t match, fonts don’t translate, and don’t get us started on the meaningless charts and diagrams! Functional, Stylish Presentation Templates That Will Make Your Brand Shine What is the point of presentation templates? Aren’t they meant to allow people to save time preparing their ideas while keeping style and branding in place? We believe people should be focused on their ideas and stories, not the mechanics of building the deck. They should have little to do but pick an ideal layout and plug in text, numbers, or graphics. No sizing fonts. No inserting text boxes. No looking for colors. No formatting bullets. Bottom line: templates must be easy to edit, highly visual, and functionally sound. TPC offers a full collection of beautifully designed layouts, programmed on the back and front end. We understand the mechanics of PowerPoint templates because we are supported by Microsoft MVPs, those who know the application inside and out. If you want your team to stop spending 6-8 hours developing a presentation, a robust presentation template is where to start. When built correctly, templates increase employee productivity, help people communicate more strategically, and finally they are a vital investment in your brand. Interested in better productivity and branding through custom templates? Call us at 888-991-0208 or see more information about custom templates here. ", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Thumbnail.jpg", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:41:48-05:00" }, { "id": 7865, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/3-things-your-company-needs-to-know-about-storytelling/", "title": "TPC Contributes to Forbes.com: 3 Things Your Company Needs To Know About Storytelling", "h1": "TPC Contributes to Forbes.com: 3 Things Your Company Needs To Know About Storytelling", "summary": "Remember the last time you were stuck in a business presentation with endless bullets, heavy data, and text-filled slides? Last week? Yesterday? Right now? Business meetings are notoriously boring, which is why companies like Facebook, Hewlett Packard and Pepsi are seizing upon a better way to communicate ideas in business — through the narrative device […]", "content": "

Remember the last time you were stuck in a business presentation with endless bullets, heavy data, and text-filled slides? Last week? Yesterday? Right now? Business meetings are notoriously boring, which is why companies like Facebook, Hewlett Packard and Pepsi are seizing upon a better way to communicate ideas in business — through the narrative device of storytelling.

What’s the big deal about storytelling? Why can’t sellers just get right to their product features, project managers to their spreadsheet data, or strategists to their recommendations? Because studies show that weaving data and facts into a story framework makes ideas stick much better than dry presentations.

Storytelling works better because it offers your audience an emotional connection to your ideas. Molecular biologist John Medina studies the link between emotion and recall. He says we internally repeat and think about information that we find compelling. Most of the time, that means emotional material — in other words, stories.

We remember what we feel, and as neuroscientist Antonio Damasio has found, emotions are even more important than logic when it comes to critical retention of the information needed for clear decision-making. If you want to make a presentation that is persuasive, that emotionally engages your audience, it needs to be about story.

But how do you actually incorporate effective story telling in your meetings and presentations? The Presentation Company (TPC) helps companies turn their employees into storytellers. They’ve developed a training to help people in business infuse storytelling into everyday communications. Here are their top three lessons for making your presentations great through storytelling.

Lesson 1: Know Your Audience

“What exactly is storytelling? Generally, it’s a way of laying out your ideas by (1) providing context and setting the stage; (2) making it relatable through well-developed characters; (3) acknowledging challenges by revealing conflict; and (4) resolving your story’s conflict in a way that’s emotionally satisfying,” explains The Presentation Company (TPC) founder Janine Kurnoff.

To address issues of personality and style as well as corporate culture, when working with a new company, TPC conducts pre-workshop interviews where they ask whether people at the company value storytelling. “If they don’t, it is more difficult, though not impossible, to teach them this new mode of operating,” Kurnoff explains.

\"\"

She adds that in addition to understanding the culture of the company, it is paramount that you find out what kind of stories resonate within it. Product? Program Updates? Pitching? Persuasion? “Much of our training in storytelling is taught through examples. For the data junkies or wordy marketers, we pull from an array of stories that we feel will resonate most with that particular audience. Data people often have a harder time understanding the need for what they consider ‘fluffy’ storytelling. Examples of how data can be directly expressed through stories is critical.”

Lesson 2: People Love Concepts, but Tools Make Them Stick

“At the end of the day, when people are in the trenches, facing deadlines, they don’t have time for a lot of high concept and theory,” Kurnoff explains. “They need a time-saving, kick-starter that will organize facts, data, and ideas into a cohesive story.”

Based on this need, TPC built their own Visual Story Planner™ to provide a framework based on the classic storytelling arc that includes setting, characters, conflict, and resolution. It’s a step-by-step tool that helps teams develop a common language based on storytelling that helps them change how they approach presentation development.

\"\"

“Another tool that saves time — and helps our clients make meaningful presentations — is a Visual Slide Library,” Kurnoff points out. “The library is a resource that lets people choose from an array of branded slides that are built for storytelling. Together with their Story Planner, staff members can easily pull together on-brand, targeted, visually powerful slides for each presentation.”

\"\"

Lesson 3: Identify a storytelling advocate

Often after a company decides they want their employees to become storytellers, there are obstacles. “We have learned that there must be a relentless storytelling advocate within every organization,” Kurnoff notes. “In fact, the more advocates the better!”

To help the identified advocates, Kurnoff’s company arms them with a ‘walking deck’ to energize their internal selling. “A Walking Deck, as the names implies, is a storytelling explainer and course description that stands on its own. Big concepts like storytelling must be socialized into the existing culture. An effective way to do this is to let the self-navigating Walking Deck bubble up through the corporate food chain. Advocates aren’t always there to directly remind people of the value of storytelling, but a smart, streamlined, self-contained, educational resource like the Walking Deck makes it much easier to spread the idea around.”

\"\"

To learn more about TPC’s visual storytelling courses click here.

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM Forbes.com

", "content_plain": "Remember the last time you were stuck in a business presentation with endless bullets, heavy data, and text-filled slides? Last week? Yesterday? Right now? Business meetings are notoriously boring, which is why companies like Facebook, Hewlett Packard and Pepsi are seizing upon a better way to communicate ideas in business — through the narrative device of storytelling. What’s the big deal about storytelling? Why can’t sellers just get right to their product features, project managers to their spreadsheet data, or strategists to their recommendations? Because studies show that weaving data and facts into a story framework makes ideas stick much better than dry presentations. Storytelling works better because it offers your audience an emotional connection to your ideas. Molecular biologist John Medina studies the link between emotion and recall. He says we internally repeat and think about information that we find compelling. Most of the time, that means emotional material — in other words, stories. We remember what we feel, and as neuroscientist Antonio Damasio has found, emotions are even more important than logic when it comes to critical retention of the information needed for clear decision-making. If you want to make a presentation that is persuasive, that emotionally engages your audience, it needs to be about story. But how do you actually incorporate effective story telling in your meetings and presentations? The Presentation Company (TPC) helps companies turn their employees into storytellers. They’ve developed a training to help people in business infuse storytelling into everyday communications. Here are their top three lessons for making your presentations great through storytelling. Lesson 1: Know Your Audience “What exactly is storytelling? Generally, it’s a way of laying out your ideas by (1) providing context and setting the stage; (2) making it relatable through well-developed characters; (3) acknowledging challenges by revealing conflict; and (4) resolving your story’s conflict in a way that’s emotionally satisfying,” explains The Presentation Company (TPC) founder Janine Kurnoff. To address issues of personality and style as well as corporate culture, when working with a new company, TPC conducts pre-workshop interviews where they ask whether people at the company value storytelling. “If they don’t, it is more difficult, though not impossible, to teach them this new mode of operating,” Kurnoff explains. She adds that in addition to understanding the culture of the company, it is paramount that you find out what kind of stories resonate within it. Product? Program Updates? Pitching? Persuasion? “Much of our training in storytelling is taught through examples. For the data junkies or wordy marketers, we pull from an array of stories that we feel will resonate most with that particular audience. Data people often have a harder time understanding the need for what they consider ‘fluffy’ storytelling. Examples of how data can be directly expressed through stories is critical.” Lesson 2: People Love Concepts, but Tools Make Them Stick “At the end of the day, when people are in the trenches, facing deadlines, they don’t have time for a lot of high concept and theory,” Kurnoff explains. “They need a time-saving, kick-starter that will organize facts, data, and ideas into a cohesive story.” Based on this need, TPC built their own Visual Story Planner™ to provide a framework based on the classic storytelling arc that includes setting, characters, conflict, and resolution. It’s a step-by-step tool that helps teams develop a common language based on storytelling that helps them change how they approach presentation development. “Another tool that saves time — and helps our clients make meaningful presentations — is a Visual Slide Library,” Kurnoff points out. “The library is a resource that lets people choose from an array of branded slides that are built for storytelling. Together with their Story Planner, staff members can easily pull together on-brand, targeted, visually powerful slides for each presentation.” Lesson 3: Identify a storytelling advocate Often after a company decides they want their employees to become storytellers, there are obstacles. “We have learned that there must be a relentless storytelling advocate within every organization,” Kurnoff notes. “In fact, the more advocates the better!” To help the identified advocates, Kurnoff’s company arms them with a ‘walking deck’ to energize their internal selling. “A Walking Deck, as the names implies, is a storytelling explainer and course description that stands on its own. Big concepts like storytelling must be socialized into the existing culture. An effective way to do this is to let the self-navigating Walking Deck bubble up through the corporate food chain. Advocates aren’t always there to directly remind people of the value of storytelling, but a smart, streamlined, self-contained, educational resource like the Walking Deck makes it much easier to spread the idea around.” To learn more about TPC’s visual storytelling courses click here. REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM Forbes.com", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Forbes-logo-1.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-01T14:24:12-05:00" }, { "id": 7867, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/common-language-sales-marketing-storytelling/", "title": "The Common Language of Sales and Marketing? Storytelling.", "h1": "The Common Language of Sales and Marketing? Storytelling.", "summary": "  Ah, sales and marketing. They go together like peas and carrots. Macaroni and cheese. Peanut butter and jelly. First, the talented marketers gather clever insights, data, and case studies to create the ultimate narrative. They serve it up to sales, who will in turn, deliver this visually striking “Holy Grail” of customer solutions. It […]", "content": "

 

Ah, sales and marketing. They go together like peas and carrots. Macaroni and cheese. Peanut butter and jelly. First, the talented marketers gather clever insights, data, and case studies to create the ultimate narrative. They serve it up to sales, who will in turn, deliver this visually striking “Holy Grail” of customer solutions. It all seems great until… the sales person must adapt the deck for his or her specific customer. They realize the narrative is too broad. Too general. It’s not built specifically for their vertical or their client.

The fact is, marketing can’t build custom narratives for every sales pitch. They create decks for entire vertical markets like food and beverage, automotive, or financial services. Sales, on the other hand, must focus on the needs of individual companies–which vary widely within each vertical. So how can sales and marketing work together quickly, to adapt those beautiful presentations for each target? It all begins with collaboration around a well-constructed, easy-to-edit, storytelling framework.

Marketers develop broad narratives. Sales customizes them (Not easy)

First, it’s helpful to see what’s on everyone’s plate. It’s the marketers’ job to inspire the sales team. They are the main source of stories, data, facts, and insights for the salesforce. And it’s a tough job. Since they don’t know the specific prospect they’re preparing presentations for, they must keep the narratives broad. Sales are left to navigate, edit and customize this generic narrative. For example, the “Food and Beverage” vertical could mean anything from KFC to Morton’s Steakhouse. Both are restaurant chains, but are their procurement needs the same? Should they be getting the same sales pitch? Obviously not. Sales must either do radical transformation for each target or give them a pitch that doesn’t connect well with the customer. Guess which one happens all too often? They default to the broad pitch, missing an opportunity to truly connect with their customer or prospect.

A story framework and a common language for storytelling

1. Easy customization

If marketers and sales teams have signed onto a common story framework, then customization of each deck is easy. Salespeople can adapt it for different prospects, product lines, and markets by simply switching out content in the appropriate sections. Story frameworks offer the ability to easily “mix and match” a character, setting, case study, testimonial, etc. This saves people tons of time customizing one-size-fits-all narratives. Some sales and marketing organizations have vast “grab-and-go” libraries that give huge customization options for many vertical markets.

2. Intuitive slide placement

Whether it comes from sales, marketing, or upper management, sometimes you need that “one” slide to make it into the deck. But where should it go? Use of a story framework helps determine this easily because everyone has a mutual understanding that the narrative is a story. New material should fall within the framework as part of the setting, characters, conflict, or resolution. This makes it much more obvious where to place slides, how to edit titles, and how to link each slide headline to the one before and the one after.

3. Building a strong connection with customers

Ultimately, there is an even more important reason to build a common language: the customer. You know, those people sitting across the table (hopefully) listening to you? Weaving facts and data into a story creates a much more memorable, effective presentation. Stories are relatable, create emotion, and as great presenters know, are much more likely to get a prospect to act. Want to consistently create great stories that build a connection with customers? Use a story framework.

Storytelling: A Language Both Sales and Marketing Should Speak

Classic storytelling techniques used in conjunction with a business storytelling framework make a huge difference in how sales and marketing collaborate. This powerful common language helps marketing provide material rich in research, analysis, and insight that can easily be adapted for specific targets. Sales teams can pull together a relevant presentation, and own the story that they want to tell. This is only possible because both sides can clearly see where all the story elements fit in to the story arc. And at the end of the day, better collaboration between sales and marketing will help create a much more powerful connection with the customer.

The Presentation Company’s best-selling workshop, Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, is the first of its kind to introduce the Visual Story Planner™, a storytelling framework that offers the ultimate collaborative framework for marketing and sales to work together.

", "content_plain": "  Ah, sales and marketing. They go together like peas and carrots. Macaroni and cheese. Peanut butter and jelly. First, the talented marketers gather clever insights, data, and case studies to create the ultimate narrative. They serve it up to sales, who will in turn, deliver this visually striking “Holy Grail” of customer solutions. It all seems great until… the sales person must adapt the deck for his or her specific customer. They realize the narrative is too broad. Too general. It’s not built specifically for their vertical or their client. The fact is, marketing can’t build custom narratives for every sales pitch. They create decks for entire vertical markets like food and beverage, automotive, or financial services. Sales, on the other hand, must focus on the needs of individual companies–which vary widely within each vertical. So how can sales and marketing work together quickly, to adapt those beautiful presentations for each target? It all begins with collaboration around a well-constructed, easy-to-edit, storytelling framework. Marketers develop broad narratives. Sales customizes them (Not easy) First, it’s helpful to see what’s on everyone’s plate. It’s the marketers’ job to inspire the sales team. They are the main source of stories, data, facts, and insights for the salesforce. And it’s a tough job. Since they don’t know the specific prospect they’re preparing presentations for, they must keep the narratives broad. Sales are left to navigate, edit and customize this generic narrative. For example, the “Food and Beverage” vertical could mean anything from KFC to Morton’s Steakhouse. Both are restaurant chains, but are their procurement needs the same? Should they be getting the same sales pitch? Obviously not. Sales must either do radical transformation for each target or give them a pitch that doesn’t connect well with the customer. Guess which one happens all too often? They default to the broad pitch, missing an opportunity to truly connect with their customer or prospect. A story framework and a common language for storytelling 1. Easy customization If marketers and sales teams have signed onto a common story framework, then customization of each deck is easy. Salespeople can adapt it for different prospects, product lines, and markets by simply switching out content in the appropriate sections. Story frameworks offer the ability to easily “mix and match” a character, setting, case study, testimonial, etc. This saves people tons of time customizing one-size-fits-all narratives. Some sales and marketing organizations have vast “grab-and-go” libraries that give huge customization options for many vertical markets. 2. Intuitive slide placement Whether it comes from sales, marketing, or upper management, sometimes you need that “one” slide to make it into the deck. But where should it go? Use of a story framework helps determine this easily because everyone has a mutual understanding that the narrative is a story. New material should fall within the framework as part of the setting, characters, conflict, or resolution. This makes it much more obvious where to place slides, how to edit titles, and how to link each slide headline to the one before and the one after. 3. Building a strong connection with customers Ultimately, there is an even more important reason to build a common language: the customer. You know, those people sitting across the table (hopefully) listening to you? Weaving facts and data into a story creates a much more memorable, effective presentation. Stories are relatable, create emotion, and as great presenters know, are much more likely to get a prospect to act. Want to consistently create great stories that build a connection with customers? Use a story framework. Storytelling: A Language Both Sales and Marketing Should Speak Classic storytelling techniques used in conjunction with a business storytelling framework make a huge difference in how sales and marketing collaborate. This powerful common language helps marketing provide material rich in research, analysis, and insight that can easily be adapted for specific targets. Sales teams can pull together a relevant presentation, and own the story that they want to tell. This is only possible because both sides can clearly see where all the story elements fit in to the story arc. And at the end of the day, better collaboration between sales and marketing will help create a much more powerful connection with the customer. The Presentation Company’s best-selling workshop, Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, is the first of its kind to introduce the Visual Story Planner™, a storytelling framework that offers the ultimate collaborative framework for marketing and sales to work together.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/shutterstock_401590990-1024x683-1.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T10:15:02-05:00" }, { "id": 7869, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/want-your-boss-to-love-your-big-idea/", "title": "TPC Contributes to Inc.com: Want Your Boss to Love Your Big Idea? Follow This Advice", "h1": "TPC Contributes to Inc.com: Want Your Boss to Love Your Big Idea? Follow This Advice", "summary": "  Maybe you’ve got a new initiative that needs funding, you’re trying to close a deal that will skyrocket Q4 revenues, or you’re just trying to keep the boss (or your boss’s boss) awake during a product status update. Regardless of the content, having to make a presentation to busy, impatient, get-to-the-bottom-line executives is a […]", "content": "

 

Maybe you’ve got a new initiative that needs funding, you’re trying to close a deal that will skyrocket Q4 revenues, or you’re just trying to keep the boss (or your boss’s boss) awake during a product status update. Regardless of the content, having to make a presentation to busy, impatient, get-to-the-bottom-line executives is a reality for many people. How do you know how much information to give them? When do you keep things high-level? When do you drill down into the details?

The good news, according to Janine Kurnoff, principal and founder of The Presentation Company, is that you don’t have to consult with a psychic to understand what senior level stakeholders want to hear. When it comes to understanding the mindset of executives, there are some common sense guidelines that will help you keep them awake, engaged, and hopefully, open to your pitch.

Here are five tips for communicating with executives more strategically and effectively:

\"\"

1. Find your BIG Idea

“When we say, ‘Get to the point,’ it can mean different things to different people,” Kurnoff explains. “For executives, the point is your BIG Idea — the what of your presentation. For those who are presenting many big ideas, let’s clarify: this is the ONE thing you most want your audience to remember.” However, Kurnoff warns, “Don’t confuse the BIG Idea with the how of your presentation. This is not the moment for product details, solutions, or strategy recommendations, far-too-common mistakes. Unless directed otherwise, the how should come after you’ve made the WHAT clear. Your BIG Idea should include the what of your story with high-level benefits — one, two or three benefits max.”

Here are examples of BIG Ideas and how to present them to the boss:

The takeaway is that executives appreciate getting your BIG Idea in simple, concise language, and upfront before the details blur your communication.

2. Get to your BIG Idea in the first 30 to 60 seconds

While it can be tempting to explain your reasoning first, that’s not what executives want to hear. “If an executive can’t get the gist of your story in your first 60 seconds in the room, you’re doomed,” Kurnoff warns. To understand why, you need insight into the executive mindset.

“Executives are super-busy humans,” Kurnoff explains. “When they are sitting in front of you, they’re thinking of a slew of other issues: the board meeting they just came from, staffing issues, and if they’re going to make it to their kid’s T-ball game by 5:30. When you get your moment in front of them, they want to know exactly what you need from them, right away. If you engage them immediately, they can organize their thoughts around your message, ask questions, hasten decision-making, and move on to the next meeting. Strategically isolating your opener to the presentation of your BIG Idea helps eliminate time-wasters that derail the discussion or obscure your primary message.”

3. Cut common knowledge and extraneous information

“You know what is excruciating to executives?” Kurnoff asks.

A) Stuff they already know; and

B) Stuff they don’t need to know.

Instead, Kurnoff advises, “Get out your chopping block and remove any background language first. Senior execs don’t have time to learn the details about your topic — that’s your job! An amateur presentation move is telling people everything you know about the topic or everything you’ve done to create your recommendations. Many data collectors are keen to report on the piles of research they’ve done, just because they worked hard to gather it. Endless pie charts and tables will quickly lose your audience if you don’t quickly highlight the most important findings and turn them into a story.” Remember: if management wants more detail, they can always ask. If you are doing good work for them, they trust you to be thoughtful, rational and reliable.

A good story with clean visuals is crucial. To this end, TPC’s offers a workshop on Crafting Strategic Visual Stories that can help you build a narrative that moves quickly and assuredly through the material you want to present.

4. Help yourself get interrupted

Building on point three, Kurnoff adds, “Executives are experts at finding holes in your logic or content. In fact, many consider it their job to do this. Instead of getting thrown off course by interruptions, you should welcome them. They give you a chance to fill in details without boring the audience.” How do you do this? Kurnoff explains: “Check in frequently with your audience, and invite questions at logical moments in your presentation. Get them to tell you what else they want to know about your proposal, and you won’t need to channel your psychic abilities to figure out what they think of your ideas. When you know explicitly that they want more context, it’s fine to back things up, and set the stage. If they are ready for your detailed solutions, by all means jump ahead and delve into the details. Executives love to drive a meeting — and the more they do so, the more engaged they feel.”

Be flexible, ask for feedback, and always be ready with your supporting data. Be sure to reiterate your Big Idea along the way, and tie your research and other data back to it.

5. Ending early wins the room

Think of this as the Disneyworld effect – where every line is shorter than it says it will be, and that makes everyone happy. “No executive ever complains about meetings running too short,” Kurnoff notes. “If you end early, you’ve just given them an extra chunk of their favorite resource: time. Assume that you’ll present for about one-third of the time you’ve been allocated. Allow plenty of time for all those welcome interruptions, questions, and discussion. Then, everyone leaves happy. Hurray!”

Always remember that executives are experienced audience members. Presenters who offer them a well-curated, high-level message that they can easily grasp help them succeed. Being prepared to fill in details as needed, both contextual and concrete, is crucial in smoothing out communication with executives. But sticking closely to the main take-away of your Big Idea is your primary pathway to success.

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM INC.COM

", "content_plain": "  Maybe you’ve got a new initiative that needs funding, you’re trying to close a deal that will skyrocket Q4 revenues, or you’re just trying to keep the boss (or your boss’s boss) awake during a product status update. Regardless of the content, having to make a presentation to busy, impatient, get-to-the-bottom-line executives is a reality for many people. How do you know how much information to give them? When do you keep things high-level? When do you drill down into the details? The good news, according to Janine Kurnoff, principal and founder of The Presentation Company, is that you don’t have to consult with a psychic to understand what senior level stakeholders want to hear. When it comes to understanding the mindset of executives, there are some common sense guidelines that will help you keep them awake, engaged, and hopefully, open to your pitch. Here are five tips for communicating with executives more strategically and effectively: 1. Find your BIG Idea “When we say, ‘Get to the point,’ it can mean different things to different people,” Kurnoff explains. “For executives, the point is your BIG Idea — the what of your presentation. For those who are presenting many big ideas, let’s clarify: this is the ONE thing you most want your audience to remember.” However, Kurnoff warns, “Don’t confuse the BIG Idea with the how of your presentation. This is not the moment for product details, solutions, or strategy recommendations, far-too-common mistakes. Unless directed otherwise, the how should come after you’ve made the WHAT clear. Your BIG Idea should include the what of your story with high-level benefits — one, two or three benefits max.” Here are examples of BIG Ideas and how to present them to the boss: “We need to implement the performance tracking dashboard to improve business results.” “Embracing sustainability will help us meet customer demands and protect our leadership position.” “We ought to give our clients a compelling reason to share and retweet by creating content that sticks.” The takeaway is that executives appreciate getting your BIG Idea in simple, concise language, and upfront before the details blur your communication. 2. Get to your BIG Idea in the first 30 to 60 seconds While it can be tempting to explain your reasoning first, that’s not what executives want to hear. “If an executive can’t get the gist of your story in your first 60 seconds in the room, you’re doomed,” Kurnoff warns. To understand why, you need insight into the executive mindset. “Executives are super-busy humans,” Kurnoff explains. “When they are sitting in front of you, they’re thinking of a slew of other issues: the board meeting they just came from, staffing issues, and if they’re going to make it to their kid’s T-ball game by 5:30. When you get your moment in front of them, they want to know exactly what you need from them, right away. If you engage them immediately, they can organize their thoughts around your message, ask questions, hasten decision-making, and move on to the next meeting. Strategically isolating your opener to the presentation of your BIG Idea helps eliminate time-wasters that derail the discussion or obscure your primary message.” 3. Cut common knowledge and extraneous information “You know what is excruciating to executives?” Kurnoff asks. A) Stuff they already know; and B) Stuff they don’t need to know. Instead, Kurnoff advises, “Get out your chopping block and remove any background language first. Senior execs don’t have time to learn the details about your topic — that’s your job! An amateur presentation move is telling people everything you know about the topic or everything you’ve done to create your recommendations. Many data collectors are keen to report on the piles of research they’ve done, just because they worked hard to gather it. Endless pie charts and tables will quickly lose your audience if you don’t quickly highlight the most important findings and turn them into a story.” Remember: if management wants more detail, they can always ask. If you are doing good work for them, they trust you to be thoughtful, rational and reliable. A good story with clean visuals is crucial. To this end, TPC’s offers a workshop on Crafting Strategic Visual Stories that can help you build a narrative that moves quickly and assuredly through the material you want to present. 4. Help yourself get interrupted Building on point three, Kurnoff adds, “Executives are experts at finding holes in your logic or content. In fact, many consider it their job to do this. Instead of getting thrown off course by interruptions, you should welcome them. They give you a chance to fill in details without boring the audience.” How do you do this? Kurnoff explains: “Check in frequently with your audience, and invite questions at logical moments in your presentation. Get them to tell you what else they want to know about your proposal, and you won’t need to channel your psychic abilities to figure out what they think of your ideas. When you know explicitly that they want more context, it’s fine to back things up, and set the stage. If they are ready for your detailed solutions, by all means jump ahead and delve into the details. Executives love to drive a meeting — and the more they do so, the more engaged they feel.” Be flexible, ask for feedback, and always be ready with your supporting data. Be sure to reiterate your Big Idea along the way, and tie your research and other data back to it. 5. Ending early wins the room Think of this as the Disneyworld effect – where every line is shorter than it says it will be, and that makes everyone happy. “No executive ever complains about meetings running too short,” Kurnoff notes. “If you end early, you’ve just given them an extra chunk of their favorite resource: time. Assume that you’ll present for about one-third of the time you’ve been allocated. Allow plenty of time for all those welcome interruptions, questions, and discussion. Then, everyone leaves happy. Hurray!” Always remember that executives are experienced audience members. Presenters who offer them a well-curated, high-level message that they can easily grasp help them succeed. Being prepared to fill in details as needed, both contextual and concrete, is crucial in smoothing out communication with executives. But sticking closely to the main take-away of your Big Idea is your primary pathway to success. REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM INC.COM", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Inc.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-01T10:45:49-05:00" }, { "id": 7871, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tpc-receives-prestigious-brandon-hall-excellence-learning-award/", "title": "TPC Receives Prestigious Brandon Hall “Excellence in Learning” Award", "h1": "TPC Receives Prestigious Brandon Hall “Excellence in Learning” Award", "summary": "Corporate Storytelling Workshops Clinched Bronze Prize for “Best Results of a Learning Program” The Presentation Company, which provides visual storytelling training for some of the world’s most famous brands, won the coveted Brandon Hall Group’s 2016 “Excellence in Learning” bronze award for “Best Results of a Learning Program.” In a process that included over 700 […]", "content": "

Corporate Storytelling Workshops Clinched Bronze Prize for “Best Results of a Learning Program”

The Presentation Company, which provides visual storytelling training for some of the world’s most famous brands, won the coveted Brandon Hall Group’s 2016 “Excellence in Learning” bronze award for “Best Results of a Learning Program.”

In a process that included over 700 global applicants, TPC was recognized for the design, objectives met, overall benefits, and measurable results of a series of visual storytelling workshops for the global sales force of a Fortune 500 communications company.

Workshop Turned Salespeople into Storytellers

Recognizing why sales people often struggle to connect with their customers, TPC designed a series of pilot workshops pushing a relentless focus on audience, simplified messaging, storytelling technique, and strong visuals. The response was overwhelmingly positive and ultimately, the workshops have been rolled out globally.

“We are delighted to keep showing that with the right strategy and tools, anyone can be a great storyteller,” said Lee Lazarus, co-founder of The Presentation Company. “Being recognized for the tangible results of our visual storytelling workshops is a tremendous honor.”

About the Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards Program

Often called the “Academy Awards” by Learning, Talent and Business Executives, the Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards Program is the most prestigious awards program in the industry. The Excellence Awards recognize organizations that have lead the way in innovation, successfully deploying programs, strategies, modalities, processes, systems, and tools that have achieved measurable results. The program attracts the full gamut of entrants – from small boutiques to the world’s leading corporations.

“Winning a Brandon Hall Group Excellence Award means an organization is an elite innovator within Human Capital Management,” said Rachel Cooke, Chief Operating Officer of Brandon Hall Group and head of the awards program. “Our HCM award winners are not just transforming HCM operations, they are helping to transform the entire business.”

“We continue to see great success with company after company, helping people quickly develop their narrative with an easy to use framework that guides them from start to finish.” said Janine Kurnoff, co-founder of The Presentation Company.

About The Presentation Company

For two decades The Presentation Company has offered workshops, consulting, and coaching that have helped the world’s top brands tell visual stories that powerfully connect with their audience. Co-founders (and sisters) Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus, along with their team, have developed award-winning strategy and tools that give people the confidence and skills to turn their data and facts into a clear and powerful narrative – one that drives decisions.

About Brandon Hall Group

Brandon Hall Group is a HCM research and advisory services firm that provides insights around key performance areas, including Learning and Development, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Talent Acquisition and Workforce Management. With more than 10,000 clients globally and 20 years of delivering world-class research and advisory services, Brandon Hall Group is focused on developing research that drives performance in emerging and large organizations.

Want to learn more about our award-winning training? Call us at 888-991-0208 or check out the Crafting Strategic Visual Stories workshop page.

", "content_plain": "Corporate Storytelling Workshops Clinched Bronze Prize for “Best Results of a Learning Program” The Presentation Company, which provides visual storytelling training for some of the world’s most famous brands, won the coveted Brandon Hall Group’s 2016 “Excellence in Learning” bronze award for “Best Results of a Learning Program.” In a process that included over 700 global applicants, TPC was recognized for the design, objectives met, overall benefits, and measurable results of a series of visual storytelling workshops for the global sales force of a Fortune 500 communications company. Workshop Turned Salespeople into Storytellers Recognizing why sales people often struggle to connect with their customers, TPC designed a series of pilot workshops pushing a relentless focus on audience, simplified messaging, storytelling technique, and strong visuals. The response was overwhelmingly positive and ultimately, the workshops have been rolled out globally. “We are delighted to keep showing that with the right strategy and tools, anyone can be a great storyteller,” said Lee Lazarus, co-founder of The Presentation Company. “Being recognized for the tangible results of our visual storytelling workshops is a tremendous honor.” About the Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards Program Often called the “Academy Awards” by Learning, Talent and Business Executives, the Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards Program is the most prestigious awards program in the industry. The Excellence Awards recognize organizations that have lead the way in innovation, successfully deploying programs, strategies, modalities, processes, systems, and tools that have achieved measurable results. The program attracts the full gamut of entrants – from small boutiques to the world’s leading corporations. “Winning a Brandon Hall Group Excellence Award means an organization is an elite innovator within Human Capital Management,” said Rachel Cooke, Chief Operating Officer of Brandon Hall Group and head of the awards program. “Our HCM award winners are not just transforming HCM operations, they are helping to transform the entire business.” “We continue to see great success with company after company, helping people quickly develop their narrative with an easy to use framework that guides them from start to finish.” said Janine Kurnoff, co-founder of The Presentation Company. About The Presentation Company For two decades The Presentation Company has offered workshops, consulting, and coaching that have helped the world’s top brands tell visual stories that powerfully connect with their audience. Co-founders (and sisters) Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus, along with their team, have developed award-winning strategy and tools that give people the confidence and skills to turn their data and facts into a clear and powerful narrative – one that drives decisions. About Brandon Hall Group Brandon Hall Group is a HCM research and advisory services firm that provides insights around key performance areas, including Learning and Development, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Talent Acquisition and Workforce Management. With more than 10,000 clients globally and 20 years of delivering world-class research and advisory services, Brandon Hall Group is focused on developing research that drives performance in emerging and large organizations. Want to learn more about our award-winning training? Call us at 888-991-0208 or check out the Crafting Strategic Visual Stories workshop page.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/TPC-awards.jpg", "modified": "2024-06-14T10:36:48-05:00" }, { "id": 7873, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/takeaways-from-the-2016-atd-international-conference/", "title": "Brain Science, Emotions and Leadership Training for Everyone: Takeaways from the 2016 ATD International Conference & Expo", "h1": "Brain Science, Emotions and Leadership Training for Everyone: Takeaways from the 2016 ATD International Conference & Expo", "summary": "  I’ve had just over a week to absorb all of the rich and eye-opening knowledge shared by thought leaders at the ATD International Conference and Expo in Denver, and I’m still filled with awe at how dramatically the talent development landscape is changing. Business is evolving in a myriad of ways. At every level, […]", "content": "

 

I’ve had just over a week to absorb all of the rich and eye-opening knowledge shared by thought leaders at the ATD International Conference and Expo in Denver, and I’m still filled with awe at how dramatically the talent development landscape is changing.

Business is evolving in a myriad of ways. At every level, companies are focusing on engagement, self-awareness, passion, purpose, authenticity, happiness, optimal health and values. And if you think this sounds fluffy or new-agey, think again. Brain science, emotions and equal access to leadership training were all on the minds of presenters throughout the show, and their ideas were grounded in research, hard facts and data. Here are a few highlights that stuck with me:

Getting “Social” Brain Chemicals to Flow

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Simon Sinek, author of Start With Why and Leaders Eat Last, delivered an inspiring opening keynote to a standing-room only arena filled with 10,000 buzzing attendees. Simon shared his vision of “a world where nearly everyone wakes up inspired to go to work, feels safe and valued, and returns home fulfilled.” However, this vision is only possible in an environment that allows social chemicals serotonin and oxytocin (which make people happier and more cooperative) to easily flow.

Simon spoke about leaders’ obligation to create “safe” work environments in which leaders are not only taking charge, but are also taking care of the people in their charge. Conversely, a workplace focused on pointing out things people are doing wrong becomes rife with cynicism, paranoia and mistrust, and creates an environment that’s all about self-preservation. Organizations dedicated to safe work environments develop teams that are loyal and dedicated to the organization’s best interest.

Strong Leaders Show Vulnerability

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The arena was just as packed and buzzing on day two at ATD. Research professor and bestselling author Brene Brown spoke about how brave leaders create courageous cultures. Drawing from her research on shame, vulnerability, and courage, Brene told us that in order for leaders to be successful, they must connect with their employees; and to truly connect with others, you must let yourself be vulnerable and even willing to fail. In fact, she says that without failure, there can be no innovation, and there is no learning. Vulnerability is a willingness to face uncertainty and take the risks necessary to do great work.

She shared a few “vulnerability myths” that are helpful to be aware of:

Brilliant leader Britt Andreatta (Lynda.com; LinkedIn) told us outright: business is in the midst of a major evolution to a model that represents a “higher stage of consciousness,” which is at once more values-based, more productive and more effective. All three generations in the workforce want more meaning in work—across cultures there is a rise of passion and purpose, of authenticity and happiness. Referencing Laloux’s Reinventing Organizations and Kofman’s Conscious Business, she told us that in 25 years all companies will be following this model.

At a session on Emotional Intelligence 2.0, Travis Bradberry ended with three silver bullets to improve emotional intelligence:

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We are All Training to Be Leaders

Across the board, presenters spoke of a strong focus on leadership development. Why? Because today’s leaders are being held responsible for employee engagement. What’s more, the boss-subordinate dynamic is evolving. Individual contributors are expected to operate like managers. They are being given access to training previously reserved for leaders, including career coaching, lifestyle balance guidance, presentation skills and storytelling.

Long, Formal Training is Giving Way to Quicker Models

The younger workforce does everything digitally (no big surprise). But it’s fundamentally affecting how training works. Traditional lecture-style, week-long, in-person learning is a thing of the past. Today’s learning cultures focus more on interactive learning that engages participants, and informal learning such as virtual workshops, micro-learning, peer-to-peer coaching, social learning and effective performance support.

People Learn Best with Strong Visuals

This cannot be overstated: in a world where data is now everywhere, visual training is more important than ever. Presenters that support their ideas with relevant, eye-catching graphics and images will tap into emotion—and connect much better—with their audiences.

At TPC, we have seen many of these trends firsthand. Our most forward-thinking clients are embracing a more conscious approach to their missions, values, visions, leadership approaches and talent development efforts. These changes keep us on our toes, compelling our team to remain ahead of trends to continue providing the most innovative solutions to our clients.

Check out what TPC is doing to support these trends. Visit our workshops page or drop us a line.

About the Author

\"MelonyMelony Bravmann, VP of Marketing & Client Services, ensures The Presentation Company’s projects run smoothly and efficiently. Melony brings more than 15 years of experience leading programs in marketing, design, sales enablement, learning and development and client engagement for Fortune 100 companies.

", "content_plain": "  I’ve had just over a week to absorb all of the rich and eye-opening knowledge shared by thought leaders at the ATD International Conference and Expo in Denver, and I’m still filled with awe at how dramatically the talent development landscape is changing. Business is evolving in a myriad of ways. At every level, companies are focusing on engagement, self-awareness, passion, purpose, authenticity, happiness, optimal health and values. And if you think this sounds fluffy or new-agey, think again. Brain science, emotions and equal access to leadership training were all on the minds of presenters throughout the show, and their ideas were grounded in research, hard facts and data. Here are a few highlights that stuck with me: Getting “Social” Brain Chemicals to Flow Simon Sinek, author of Start With Why and Leaders Eat Last, delivered an inspiring opening keynote to a standing-room only arena filled with 10,000 buzzing attendees. Simon shared his vision of “a world where nearly everyone wakes up inspired to go to work, feels safe and valued, and returns home fulfilled.” However, this vision is only possible in an environment that allows social chemicals serotonin and oxytocin (which make people happier and more cooperative) to easily flow. Simon spoke about leaders’ obligation to create “safe” work environments in which leaders are not only taking charge, but are also taking care of the people in their charge. Conversely, a workplace focused on pointing out things people are doing wrong becomes rife with cynicism, paranoia and mistrust, and creates an environment that’s all about self-preservation. Organizations dedicated to safe work environments develop teams that are loyal and dedicated to the organization’s best interest. Strong Leaders Show Vulnerability The arena was just as packed and buzzing on day two at ATD. Research professor and bestselling author Brene Brown spoke about how brave leaders create courageous cultures. Drawing from her research on shame, vulnerability, and courage, Brene told us that in order for leaders to be successful, they must connect with their employees; and to truly connect with others, you must let yourself be vulnerable and even willing to fail. In fact, she says that without failure, there can be no innovation, and there is no learning. Vulnerability is a willingness to face uncertainty and take the risks necessary to do great work. She shared a few “vulnerability myths” that are helpful to be aware of: Vulnerability is weakness I can opt out of it (I don’t need to be vulnerable to connect with others) Vulnerability is “letting it all hang out” (i.e. unfiltered self-disclosure) I can go it alone Brilliant leader Britt Andreatta (Lynda.com; LinkedIn) told us outright: business is in the midst of a major evolution to a model that represents a “higher stage of consciousness,” which is at once more values-based, more productive and more effective. All three generations in the workforce want more meaning in work—across cultures there is a rise of passion and purpose, of authenticity and happiness. Referencing Laloux’s Reinventing Organizations and Kofman’s Conscious Business, she told us that in 25 years all companies will be following this model. At a session on Emotional Intelligence 2.0, Travis Bradberry ended with three silver bullets to improve emotional intelligence: Get your stress under control Get enough sleep Eliminate caffeine (I know, that’s a hard one) We are All Training to Be Leaders Across the board, presenters spoke of a strong focus on leadership development. Why? Because today’s leaders are being held responsible for employee engagement. What’s more, the boss-subordinate dynamic is evolving. Individual contributors are expected to operate like managers. They are being given access to training previously reserved for leaders, including career coaching, lifestyle balance guidance, presentation skills and storytelling. Long, Formal Training is Giving Way to Quicker Models The younger workforce does everything digitally (no big surprise). But it’s fundamentally affecting how training works. Traditional lecture-style, week-long, in-person learning is a thing of the past. Today’s learning cultures focus more on interactive learning that engages participants, and informal learning such as virtual workshops, micro-learning, peer-to-peer coaching, social learning and effective performance support. People Learn Best with Strong Visuals This cannot be overstated: in a world where data is now everywhere, visual training is more important than ever. Presenters that support their ideas with relevant, eye-catching graphics and images will tap into emotion—and connect much better—with their audiences. At TPC, we have seen many of these trends firsthand. Our most forward-thinking clients are embracing a more conscious approach to their missions, values, visions, leadership approaches and talent development efforts. These changes keep us on our toes, compelling our team to remain ahead of trends to continue providing the most innovative solutions to our clients. Check out what TPC is doing to support these trends. Visit our workshops page or drop us a line. About the Author Melony Bravmann, VP of Marketing & Client Services, ensures The Presentation Company’s projects run smoothly and efficiently. Melony brings more than 15 years of experience leading programs in marketing, design, sales enablement, learning and development and client engagement for Fortune 100 companies.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Melony-at-ATD-2016_Thumbnail.jpg", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:42:01-05:00" }, { "id": 7875, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/3-instant-ways-to-give-your-data-more-meaning/", "title": "3 Instant Ways to Give Your Data More Meaning", "h1": "3 Instant Ways to Give Your Data More Meaning", "summary": "If you’ve ever had to present data, you’ve undoubtedly wondered about what visuals to use. Beyond making your data look great, you want it to be easily editable and, most importantly, actually MEAN something to your audience. So our pros pulled together their top tips for choosing the perfect chart for the next time you’re […]", "content": "

If you’ve ever had to present data, you’ve undoubtedly wondered about what visuals to use. Beyond making your data look great, you want it to be easily editable and, most importantly, actually MEAN something to your audience.

So our pros pulled together their top tips for choosing the perfect chart for the next time you’re designing data visualizations:

Tip # 1: Just Say No To Eye Candy

Colors

Darker blues, greens and oranges are best. Avoid yellows and neon colors, as they typically do not project well. Use red to highlight or call attention to a key message. Avoid 3D effects.

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Lines

Be careful with dashed and dotted lines. Instead, use different colored solid lines.

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Fonts

For best viewing in a medium-sized room, use a minimum of 18 pt font. Use your PowerPoint default font; avoid Times Roman, narrow fonts, or fonts with serifs.

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Legends

Legends are used in charts with more than one data series. They should not be placed on the outside of the chart in a way than reduces the plot area, the amount of space given to represent the data.

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Labels

A chart that labels the value of each individual data point does not need labeling on the y-axis. If it seems necessary to label every value in a chart, consider that a table is probably a more efficient way of presenting the data.

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Titles

What is the one thing you want your audience to remember about your chart? Make that your PowerPoint slide title. Avoid passive titles, such as “Annual Sales” or “Percent Trained”. Instead try titles that are conclusions: “Annual Sales Beat Expectations” or “Employee Safety Training Lags in Department XYZ”.

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Gridlines

If they are used at all, use subtle colors, like a soft grey and don’t let them overwhelm the other graphical elements of the chart.

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Tip #2: Choose a Chart That Tells A Story

Line graphs show changes or relative changes to something over a period of time. Use a maximum of 5 lines per chart for easiest viewing and understanding.

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Bar graphs display a relationship between variables, usually for the purpose of comparison. Keep them two dimensional for ease of viewing. Bar color and outline should be the same color.

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Pie charts show how percentages relate to each other within a whole. Use a maximum of 6 wedges per pie. Use pie charts only for data that add up to some meaningful total.

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Tables display data details that would be lost in graphs or charts.

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Tip # 3: For Best Results, Use “Insert Chart”

Instructions

1. From your Excel worksheet, copy just the data you wish to show on your PowerPoint slide
2. In PowerPoint, insert a new slide and choose the Title and Content layout
3. Select the Chart icon (see Tip #2 for help on choosing the right chart)
4. Insert Chart dialog box appears

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5. Select chart type then click OK
6. Paste data into the worksheet that appears then close the worksheet

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Benefits of Insert Chart

 

Want to learn more about TPC’s data visualization workshops for your team or company? Take a look at our Presenting Data Visually workshop page.

", "content_plain": "If you’ve ever had to present data, you’ve undoubtedly wondered about what visuals to use. Beyond making your data look great, you want it to be easily editable and, most importantly, actually MEAN something to your audience. So our pros pulled together their top tips for choosing the perfect chart for the next time you’re designing data visualizations: Tip # 1: Just Say No To Eye Candy Colors Darker blues, greens and oranges are best. Avoid yellows and neon colors, as they typically do not project well. Use red to highlight or call attention to a key message. Avoid 3D effects. Lines Be careful with dashed and dotted lines. Instead, use different colored solid lines. Fonts For best viewing in a medium-sized room, use a minimum of 18 pt font. Use your PowerPoint default font; avoid Times Roman, narrow fonts, or fonts with serifs. Legends Legends are used in charts with more than one data series. They should not be placed on the outside of the chart in a way than reduces the plot area, the amount of space given to represent the data. Labels A chart that labels the value of each individual data point does not need labeling on the y-axis. If it seems necessary to label every value in a chart, consider that a table is probably a more efficient way of presenting the data. Titles What is the one thing you want your audience to remember about your chart? Make that your PowerPoint slide title. Avoid passive titles, such as “Annual Sales” or “Percent Trained”. Instead try titles that are conclusions: “Annual Sales Beat Expectations” or “Employee Safety Training Lags in Department XYZ”. Gridlines If they are used at all, use subtle colors, like a soft grey and don’t let them overwhelm the other graphical elements of the chart. Tip #2: Choose a Chart That Tells A Story Line graphs show changes or relative changes to something over a period of time. Use a maximum of 5 lines per chart for easiest viewing and understanding. Bar graphs display a relationship between variables, usually for the purpose of comparison. Keep them two dimensional for ease of viewing. Bar color and outline should be the same color. Pie charts show how percentages relate to each other within a whole. Use a maximum of 6 wedges per pie. Use pie charts only for data that add up to some meaningful total. Tables display data details that would be lost in graphs or charts. Tip # 3: For Best Results, Use “Insert Chart” Instructions 1. From your Excel worksheet, copy just the data you wish to show on your PowerPoint slide 2. In PowerPoint, insert a new slide and choose the Title and Content layout 3. Select the Chart icon (see Tip #2 for help on choosing the right chart) 4. Insert Chart dialog box appears 5. Select chart type then click OK 6. Paste data into the worksheet that appears then close the worksheet Benefits of Insert Chart Keeps chart colors consistent with your presentation design Maintains confidentiality of your original Excel worksheets Reduces PowerPoint file size   Want to learn more about TPC’s data visualization workshops for your team or company? Take a look at our Presenting Data Visually workshop page.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/3.jpg", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:31:28-05:00" }, { "id": 7877, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/avoid-this-font/", "title": "Avoid this Font. Trust us.", "h1": "Avoid this Font. Trust us.", "summary": "Picture this: The CEO of your company has asked you to whip up a deck for his upcoming keynote. You fire up your Mac and weave visionary statements, startling facts, and elegant charts all into an engaging story. You barely need to think about the choice of font: how could I go wrong with the […]", "content": "

Picture this: The CEO of your company has asked you to whip up a deck for his upcoming keynote. You fire up your Mac and weave visionary statements, startling facts, and elegant charts all into an engaging story. You barely need to think about the choice of font: how could I go wrong with the clean, classy, and simple Helvetica Neue? After all, it’s the font that Apple uses for all interface typography! It could go very wrong, very quickly.

You email the finished deck to your PC-toting boss. When he fires up the presentation in front of a new prospect, there is something off. To his surprise and embarrassment, the text and alignment of his slides are a mess, the word wraps are funky, and worst of all, the fonts have all changed. This is no visual delight…it’s a complete disaster.

Why the drama over a font?

One of the most popular fonts in the world, Helvetica Neue (pronounced: noy-uh), is also a huge troublemaker. It was created in Switzerland in the 50s and adopted by Apple’s design gurus back in 2013 for the iPhone. Apple’s blessing only increased its popularity. Scores of companies have picked it up and are using it for branding. Many Mac-based designers think it’s cool.

So why has Helvetica Neue earned the well-deserved nickname “Helvetica Annoya”? Well, let’s use the PowerPoint example. PowerPoint slides are different than other kinds of branding documents. Designed on a Mac, Helvetica Neue looks chic. But the Mac version of the font is proprietary to the Mac. It is installed at the system level in the “dfont” format. It isn’t compatible with PCs (which swap it with Arial or another Windows system font). To make matters worse, if you purchase ”Helvetica Neue” for PC, it’s a different version than the Mac. The font will be substituted with Arial when opened on the Mac!

To further complicate things, Helvetica Neue is a thin-weight font. The thin letter strokes look elegant in larger sizes, but when shown in a smaller point size, the curves break up. Simply put: it’s a font that disintegrates. This is particularly noticeable on smaller slide text, such as chart axis labels. Also, many people view presentations on cellphones and tablets these days. Disintegrating fonts do not fare well with handheld devices.

How can we stop the Helvetica Neue nightmare? Here are 3 hot tips:

1. Anticipate every platform your presentation might be viewed on.

To keep your design work consistent, make sure you select a cross-platform font. PowerPoint presentations aren’t just projected in front of a crowd, they are often emailed around to be edited or viewed individually. Always choose a font that will provide a consistent look across all operating systems.

2. Find “safe” fonts

There are a limited set of “safe fonts” (such as Arial, Calibri, Century Gothic, and Tahoma) common to all platforms. These fonts will remain consistent whether you open them up on a PC or a Mac. This restricts the variety that designers can use, but it is better to be safe than sorry! And take note, any native Mac fonts (“dfonts”) are proprietary. They’re not safe across platforms.

3. Preview first

When you preview PPTX files from a cloud storage site, such as Dropbox or Box, any custom fonts (or non-safe fonts) will not be recognized and therefore substituted with another font (typically Arial). Upload your files to the cloud and preview them in this environment to ensure that the text appears the same as it does in your desktop version of PowerPoint.

In case you’re wondering, Apple ditched Helvetica Neue in 2015 because of its flaws. They’ve designed a new default system font called San Francisco. But Apple devotees beware! You are still going to be faced with cross-platform problems. It might be better to diverge from Apple’s path this time. Your boss and audience will thank you.

Interested in saving yourself from embarrassing presentation mishaps like this? Check out Influencing with Visuals, a workshop that will arm you with simple yet powerful presentation design tips, tricks and tools.

", "content_plain": "Picture this: The CEO of your company has asked you to whip up a deck for his upcoming keynote. You fire up your Mac and weave visionary statements, startling facts, and elegant charts all into an engaging story. You barely need to think about the choice of font: how could I go wrong with the clean, classy, and simple Helvetica Neue? After all, it’s the font that Apple uses for all interface typography! It could go very wrong, very quickly. You email the finished deck to your PC-toting boss. When he fires up the presentation in front of a new prospect, there is something off. To his surprise and embarrassment, the text and alignment of his slides are a mess, the word wraps are funky, and worst of all, the fonts have all changed. This is no visual delight…it’s a complete disaster. Why the drama over a font? One of the most popular fonts in the world, Helvetica Neue (pronounced: noy-uh), is also a huge troublemaker. It was created in Switzerland in the 50s and adopted by Apple’s design gurus back in 2013 for the iPhone. Apple’s blessing only increased its popularity. Scores of companies have picked it up and are using it for branding. Many Mac-based designers think it’s cool. So why has Helvetica Neue earned the well-deserved nickname “Helvetica Annoya”? Well, let’s use the PowerPoint example. PowerPoint slides are different than other kinds of branding documents. Designed on a Mac, Helvetica Neue looks chic. But the Mac version of the font is proprietary to the Mac. It is installed at the system level in the “dfont” format. It isn’t compatible with PCs (which swap it with Arial or another Windows system font). To make matters worse, if you purchase ”Helvetica Neue” for PC, it’s a different version than the Mac. The font will be substituted with Arial when opened on the Mac! To further complicate things, Helvetica Neue is a thin-weight font. The thin letter strokes look elegant in larger sizes, but when shown in a smaller point size, the curves break up. Simply put: it’s a font that disintegrates. This is particularly noticeable on smaller slide text, such as chart axis labels. Also, many people view presentations on cellphones and tablets these days. Disintegrating fonts do not fare well with handheld devices. How can we stop the Helvetica Neue nightmare? Here are 3 hot tips: 1. Anticipate every platform your presentation might be viewed on. To keep your design work consistent, make sure you select a cross-platform font. PowerPoint presentations aren’t just projected in front of a crowd, they are often emailed around to be edited or viewed individually. Always choose a font that will provide a consistent look across all operating systems. 2. Find “safe” fonts There are a limited set of “safe fonts” (such as Arial, Calibri, Century Gothic, and Tahoma) common to all platforms. These fonts will remain consistent whether you open them up on a PC or a Mac. This restricts the variety that designers can use, but it is better to be safe than sorry! And take note, any native Mac fonts (“dfonts”) are proprietary. They’re not safe across platforms. 3. Preview first When you preview PPTX files from a cloud storage site, such as Dropbox or Box, any custom fonts (or non-safe fonts) will not be recognized and therefore substituted with another font (typically Arial). Upload your files to the cloud and preview them in this environment to ensure that the text appears the same as it does in your desktop version of PowerPoint. In case you’re wondering, Apple ditched Helvetica Neue in 2015 because of its flaws. They’ve designed a new default system font called San Francisco. But Apple devotees beware! You are still going to be faced with cross-platform problems. It might be better to diverge from Apple’s path this time. Your boss and audience will thank you. Interested in saving yourself from embarrassing presentation mishaps like this? Check out Influencing with Visuals, a workshop that will arm you with simple yet powerful presentation design tips, tricks and tools.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/HelvNeue_blog_pic3-1024x683-1.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T13:51:19-05:00" }, { "id": 7879, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/how-to-avoid-the-stock-photo-cliche/", "title": "How to Avoid the Stock Photo Cliché", "h1": "How to Avoid the Stock Photo Cliché", "summary": "Most of us have received the memo: dazzling visuals can punch up your presentation. And thanks to stock photo sites like shutterstock.com, istockphoto.com and Getty Images, there are an unlimited number of images to choose from. Stock photos are hugely useful in illustrating our key message, but the world is growing tired of the umpteenth […]", "content": "

Most of us have received the memo: dazzling visuals can punch up your presentation. And thanks to stock photo sites like shutterstock.com, istockphoto.com and Getty Images, there are an unlimited number of images to choose from.

Stock photos are hugely useful in illustrating our key message, but the world is growing tired of the umpteenth picture of the sweaty runner crossing the finish line. Why do we keep plopping in the most phony looking and meaningless photos? Stock photography has become a cliché.

That being said, here at TPC, we believe in visuals. And we love photography. So here are five points to consider when pulling in stock photos to your next presentation:

1. Skip the most obvious clichés

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There are some images that have been so overdone they should be simply avoided. In fact, Vince Vaughn recently starred in a comedy, Unfinished Business, which used stock-looking photos to promote the movie. The clichéd poses were funny because they looked so much like today’s cheesiest stock photography! Use your common sense. If the smiles look fake, if the emotions are overdone, if people are posed like mannequins, skip it.

Remember: it’s crucial that your photos look like real experiences and exude authenticity. This will help your audience make an emotional connection with your message – which is the only reason they’ll remember it.

Cliché alerts are also set off from hairstyles, clothing, cell phones, and computer monitors that are too old fashioned – or too futuristic. Does the clothing make sense for normal offices, or does it reek of staging? Finally, pay attention to overuse. Note which photos websites feature as ‘most popular’ or ‘most downloaded’ and eliminate these first.

2. Only use photos that advance your story

The best presentations tell a story. We teach that the classic storytelling arc includes character, setting, conflict, and resolution. The right visuals can advance your story beautifully. People in stock photos can make excellent characters in your presentation story – if done right.

For example, stock photo sites often use the same model in many pictures. If appropriate, you could show “Ben” on the phone, Ben on a run, Ben at school…etc. It is a simple way to create a character. Even better, some stock photo sites let you search specifically for a particular model, shown in different contexts.\"\"\"\"\"\"

3. Use a new way to show the clichéd idea

We can’t be overflowing with creativity all of the time. But if only clichés are coming to mind as you hunt for your presentation visuals, think of a new way to show the idea. For example, if you want to show a school setting, why not use a school of fish rather than a classroom of little humans? See the difference:

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Keep in mind that the objects in your story are characters. If you choose a fish theme over children, make sure that any follow on graphics are also fish. It is confusing to shift the theme because it changes the characters in your story.

4. Ask yourself – is the meaning of your photo clear?

\"\"

In our workshops, we teach that photos will help you tell stories. But the interesting thing we notice is that if you flash a photo to 10 people, you might get 10 different ideas of what it represents. In one training exercise, we ask people to create a headline from a given photo. Participants describe two gold rings as symbols of upcoming marriage, a relationship, the end of a marriage, their parents marriage, etc…

Images mean many different things to different people. Pictures of children evoke even more interpretations. Although you must trust your gut in selecting a visual representation of your ideas, it is also crucial that it expresses the meaning you intend. If you’re unsure, show it to a colleague.

5. Never use photos that have too much going on. It’s clutter.

\"\"
Images that have too much going on will often take away from your story. Always go for a big, bold, singular idea rather than trying to show too many things. Less is more.

Also, don’t jam your deck with too many photos. Adding visuals is a great way to break up text – particularly in a presentation – but too many photos can be distracting. And please make sure multiple photos on a slide match each other. Fewer great photos will advance your story farther than too many random ones.

Want to learn more about using visuals to tell your story? TPC’s visual messaging workshop, Influencing with Visuals, teaches participants how to “think visually” and simplify complex information into clear, authentic visual messages.

", "content_plain": "Most of us have received the memo: dazzling visuals can punch up your presentation. And thanks to stock photo sites like shutterstock.com, istockphoto.com and Getty Images, there are an unlimited number of images to choose from. Stock photos are hugely useful in illustrating our key message, but the world is growing tired of the umpteenth picture of the sweaty runner crossing the finish line. Why do we keep plopping in the most phony looking and meaningless photos? Stock photography has become a cliché. That being said, here at TPC, we believe in visuals. And we love photography. So here are five points to consider when pulling in stock photos to your next presentation: 1. Skip the most obvious clichés There are some images that have been so overdone they should be simply avoided. In fact, Vince Vaughn recently starred in a comedy, Unfinished Business, which used stock-looking photos to promote the movie. The clichéd poses were funny because they looked so much like today’s cheesiest stock photography! Use your common sense. If the smiles look fake, if the emotions are overdone, if people are posed like mannequins, skip it. Remember: it’s crucial that your photos look like real experiences and exude authenticity. This will help your audience make an emotional connection with your message – which is the only reason they’ll remember it. Cliché alerts are also set off from hairstyles, clothing, cell phones, and computer monitors that are too old fashioned – or too futuristic. Does the clothing make sense for normal offices, or does it reek of staging? Finally, pay attention to overuse. Note which photos websites feature as ‘most popular’ or ‘most downloaded’ and eliminate these first. 2. Only use photos that advance your story The best presentations tell a story. We teach that the classic storytelling arc includes character, setting, conflict, and resolution. The right visuals can advance your story beautifully. People in stock photos can make excellent characters in your presentation story – if done right. For example, stock photo sites often use the same model in many pictures. If appropriate, you could show “Ben” on the phone, Ben on a run, Ben at school…etc. It is a simple way to create a character. Even better, some stock photo sites let you search specifically for a particular model, shown in different contexts. 3. Use a new way to show the clichéd idea We can’t be overflowing with creativity all of the time. But if only clichés are coming to mind as you hunt for your presentation visuals, think of a new way to show the idea. For example, if you want to show a school setting, why not use a school of fish rather than a classroom of little humans? See the difference: Keep in mind that the objects in your story are characters. If you choose a fish theme over children, make sure that any follow on graphics are also fish. It is confusing to shift the theme because it changes the characters in your story. 4. Ask yourself – is the meaning of your photo clear? In our workshops, we teach that photos will help you tell stories. But the interesting thing we notice is that if you flash a photo to 10 people, you might get 10 different ideas of what it represents. In one training exercise, we ask people to create a headline from a given photo. Participants describe two gold rings as symbols of upcoming marriage, a relationship, the end of a marriage, their parents marriage, etc… Images mean many different things to different people. Pictures of children evoke even more interpretations. Although you must trust your gut in selecting a visual representation of your ideas, it is also crucial that it expresses the meaning you intend. If you’re unsure, show it to a colleague. 5. Never use photos that have too much going on. It’s clutter. Images that have too much going on will often take away from your story. Always go for a big, bold, singular idea rather than trying to show too many things. Less is more. Also, don’t jam your deck with too many photos. Adding visuals is a great way to break up text – particularly in a presentation – but too many photos can be distracting. And please make sure multiple photos on a slide match each other. Fewer great photos will advance your story farther than too many random ones. Want to learn more about using visuals to tell your story? TPC’s visual messaging workshop, Influencing with Visuals, teaches participants how to “think visually” and simplify complex information into clear, authentic visual messages.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/shutterstock_61231831.jpg", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:32:06-05:00" }, { "id": 7881, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/standard-vs-widescreen-powerpoint-templates/", "title": "Standard vs. Widescreen PowerPoint Templates: The Guide to Designing for Any Display", "h1": "Standard vs. Widescreen PowerPoint Templates: The Guide to Designing for Any Display", "summary": "Chances are, your company has at least two templates that you build presentations in: one standard template and one widescreen template. Do you ever wonder why there are two, or get confused about when to use each format? In this blog, we’ll answer those questions and show you how to easily switch your presentation from standard […]", "content": "

Chances are, your company has at least two templates that you build presentations in: one standard template and one widescreen template. Do you ever wonder why there are two, or get confused about when to use each format? In this blog, we’ll answer those questions and show you how to easily switch your presentation from standard to widescreen.

\"Standard

What’s the difference?

A standard template is almost square, with a 4:3 aspect ratio. If you’re showing a PowerPoint presentation on an older projector, iPad, or tablet, you’ll need a Standard template. For all others projection types, including laptops, TV monitors, or modern projectors, you’ll need a Widescreen 16:9 template.

Why can’t ONE master template accommodate both formats?

If only it were that simple. Widescreen templates and standard templates are built differently in PowerPoint: you must construct each new presentation in either standard or widescreen – but not both. When your presentation is only going to be viewed on a single device, this makes sense. But when we want to show off our slides in multiple arenas, problems arise.

Copy-and-pasting standard slides into a widescreen format can make images, backgrounds, and logos go wonky. After all, they have a wider space to fill. Often this means additional time spent trying to format your text and images to look the same in both presentations.

Don’t put up with a distorted deck or limit yourself to one viewing medium. Here are some easy workarounds to help you easily switch from standard to widescreen format:

Option 1: Copy and Paste a 4×3 Slide Into a 16×9 Presentation

Pros: Quick and easy

Cons: Some images, logos and backgrounds may appear distorted

1. Choose Slide Sorter view and select a 4×3 slide by clicking on it

\"4:3

2. Copy the slide and paste it into a 16×9 presentation deck. If your original image is proportional (i.e., a “perfect circle” like the example shown above) the image will stretch, as shown below:

\"16:9

3. To fix the distortion, see Option 2 below

Note: If you are using PowerPoint 2013, the above scenario will not happen as long as your presentation was built for the 2013 widescreen format.

Option 2: Copy and Paste Objects From a 4×3 Slide Onto a 16×9 Slide

Pros: Ensures all elements (images, logos and backgrounds) appear proportional

Cons: Can be time-consuming, requires some work

1. Choose Normal view, select your content and group it. (Note: If selecting multiple objects, hold down Shift and then click to select)

\"copy

2. Copy your content and paste it onto a 16×9 slide. It will appear proportionate as shown below:

\"copy

3. Select your content and, while holding down Shift and Ctrl, drag from a corner to resize it proportionately from the center

\"copy

4. Reposition objects on slide as appropriate (grouping and un-grouping objects as necessary)

Interested in learning more about creating visual presentations? Want a functional, elegant corporate template designed by a pro? Get in touch with The Presentation Company at 888-991-0208 to learn more.

", "content_plain": "Chances are, your company has at least two templates that you build presentations in: one standard template and one widescreen template. Do you ever wonder why there are two, or get confused about when to use each format? In this blog, we’ll answer those questions and show you how to easily switch your presentation from standard to widescreen. What’s the difference? A standard template is almost square, with a 4:3 aspect ratio. If you’re showing a PowerPoint presentation on an older projector, iPad, or tablet, you’ll need a Standard template. For all others projection types, including laptops, TV monitors, or modern projectors, you’ll need a Widescreen 16:9 template. Why can’t ONE master template accommodate both formats? If only it were that simple. Widescreen templates and standard templates are built differently in PowerPoint: you must construct each new presentation in either standard or widescreen – but not both. When your presentation is only going to be viewed on a single device, this makes sense. But when we want to show off our slides in multiple arenas, problems arise. Copy-and-pasting standard slides into a widescreen format can make images, backgrounds, and logos go wonky. After all, they have a wider space to fill. Often this means additional time spent trying to format your text and images to look the same in both presentations. Don’t put up with a distorted deck or limit yourself to one viewing medium. Here are some easy workarounds to help you easily switch from standard to widescreen format: Option 1: Copy and Paste a 4×3 Slide Into a 16×9 Presentation Pros: Quick and easy Cons: Some images, logos and backgrounds may appear distorted 1. Choose Slide Sorter view and select a 4×3 slide by clicking on it 2. Copy the slide and paste it into a 16×9 presentation deck. If your original image is proportional (i.e., a “perfect circle” like the example shown above) the image will stretch, as shown below: 3. To fix the distortion, see Option 2 below Note: If you are using PowerPoint 2013, the above scenario will not happen as long as your presentation was built for the 2013 widescreen format. Option 2: Copy and Paste Objects From a 4×3 Slide Onto a 16×9 Slide Pros: Ensures all elements (images, logos and backgrounds) appear proportional Cons: Can be time-consuming, requires some work 1. Choose Normal view, select your content and group it. (Note: If selecting multiple objects, hold down Shift and then click to select) 2. Copy your content and paste it onto a 16×9 slide. It will appear proportionate as shown below: 3. Select your content and, while holding down Shift and Ctrl, drag from a corner to resize it proportionately from the center 4. Reposition objects on slide as appropriate (grouping and un-grouping objects as necessary) Interested in learning more about creating visual presentations? Want a functional, elegant corporate template designed by a pro? Get in touch with The Presentation Company at 888-991-0208 to learn more.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/blog-thumbnail-1.png", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:10:34-05:00" }, { "id": 7883, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/how-to-use-storytelling-in-sales-presentations/", "title": "How to Use Storytelling in Sales Presentations", "h1": "How to Use Storytelling in Sales Presentations", "summary": "Selling products and services is no longer about showing up with your slides and simply responding to client’s needs. Today, we know that top sales people approach their customers by providing them value through insights about their industry, competitors, even their own company. Sharing insights with a buyer about their own industry is hugely effective because people want to buy from […]", "content": "

Selling products and services is no longer about showing up with your slides and simply responding to client’s needs. Today, we know that top sales people approach their customers by providing them value through insights about their industry, competitors, even their own company. Sharing insights with a buyer about their own industry is hugely effective because people want to buy from knowledgeable people they trust. 

Good companies find value in salespeople who provide solutions. Great companies find value in salespeople who thoroughly understand the company’s problems, then propose new opportunities. Sales pros who can identify their customer’s needs—before their customer does—are better able to channel those needs into sales. And while you don’t learn insight selling overnight, with the right training and tools you can swoop in, disrupt a buyer’s current mode of thinking, and ultimately turn them towards your product or solution.

Great, but how…?

Unfortunately, many salespeople fail to cultivate their ideas into meaningful insights. They struggle to present their knowledge, so they fill their presentations with data and ramble off a list of features and benefits of their product, leaving the prospect feeling overwhelmed and defensive. So how do you infuse storytelling into sales presentations and turn insight into action?

There is a way, and it incorporates one of the most ancient forms of communication: storytelling.

Theory turns concrete… using a story framework

Storytelling can be applied to more than just sales pitches – use a story framework when giving product updates, quarterly reviews, or even when responding to RFPs.

When preparing an upcoming presentation, a framework provides a guide to choreograph your insights into a logical story arc. And like most stories, it lays out character, setting, conflict, and resolution.

\"\"

For example, if you set the stage with characters and a setting that your audience can relate to, it gives them reason to listen, and proves that you know their world. You can then begin to introduce your insights, creating a “conflict” that they may not have known they had, and backing up your insight with data they can’t argue with. This is where your audience starts to lean in: they feel compelled to find out how the story ends because your insight could change the way they do business. And now that the audience is deeply immersed in your story, they’re more likely to be moved by your recommendations.

The framework should be a plug-and-play tool: easy to use and always accessible. Using insight to build a story framework will also encourage cross-functional team collaboration – leading to marketing and sales teams sharing ideas and presenting only the best solutions.

The Presentation Company’s best-selling workshop, Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, is the first of its kind to introduce the Visual Story Planner™, a storytelling framework that brings insight selling to life in a visual format. TPC will teach you how develop your ideas and organize your thoughts through a simple yet logical and attention-grabbing structure, and turn your raw data into audience-centric stories. Click here for more information.

", "content_plain": "Selling products and services is no longer about showing up with your slides and simply responding to client’s needs. Today, we know that top sales people approach their customers by providing them value through insights about their industry, competitors, even their own company. Sharing insights with a buyer about their own industry is hugely effective because people want to buy from knowledgeable people they trust. Good companies find value in salespeople who provide solutions. Great companies find value in salespeople who thoroughly understand the company’s problems, then propose new opportunities. Sales pros who can identify their customer’s needs—before their customer does—are better able to channel those needs into sales. And while you don’t learn insight selling overnight, with the right training and tools you can swoop in, disrupt a buyer’s current mode of thinking, and ultimately turn them towards your product or solution. Great, but how…? Unfortunately, many salespeople fail to cultivate their ideas into meaningful insights. They struggle to present their knowledge, so they fill their presentations with data and ramble off a list of features and benefits of their product, leaving the prospect feeling overwhelmed and defensive. So how do you infuse storytelling into sales presentations and turn insight into action? There is a way, and it incorporates one of the most ancient forms of communication: storytelling. Theory turns concrete… using a story framework Storytelling can be applied to more than just sales pitches – use a story framework when giving product updates, quarterly reviews, or even when responding to RFPs. When preparing an upcoming presentation, a framework provides a guide to choreograph your insights into a logical story arc. And like most stories, it lays out character, setting, conflict, and resolution. For example, if you set the stage with characters and a setting that your audience can relate to, it gives them reason to listen, and proves that you know their world. You can then begin to introduce your insights, creating a “conflict” that they may not have known they had, and backing up your insight with data they can’t argue with. This is where your audience starts to lean in: they feel compelled to find out how the story ends because your insight could change the way they do business. And now that the audience is deeply immersed in your story, they’re more likely to be moved by your recommendations. The framework should be a plug-and-play tool: easy to use and always accessible. Using insight to build a story framework will also encourage cross-functional team collaboration – leading to marketing and sales teams sharing ideas and presenting only the best solutions. The Presentation Company’s best-selling workshop, Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, is the first of its kind to introduce the Visual Story Planner™, a storytelling framework that brings insight selling to life in a visual format. TPC will teach you how develop your ideas and organize your thoughts through a simple yet logical and attention-grabbing structure, and turn your raw data into audience-centric stories. Click here for more information.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/PIllars-of-storytelling-blog-graphic_Thumbnail.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T15:58:08-05:00" }, { "id": 7885, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/corporate-powerpoint-templates/", "title": "Cut Your Presentation-Building Time in Half with Corporate PowerPoint Templates", "h1": "Cut Your Presentation-Building Time in Half with Corporate PowerPoint Templates", "summary": "Want to build visual, story-driven presentations quickly? Get ahold of great plug-and-play corporate presentation templates. Yeah, yeah, yeah… you’ve heard it before. Presentations that tell a story help shape beliefs, change mindsets and inspire action. But you’re also probably wondering… who has time to endlessly tinker over their slides for visually inspiring messages? Instead people […]", "content": "

Want to build visual, story-driven presentations quickly? Get ahold of great plug-and-play corporate presentation templates. 

Yeah, yeah, yeah… you’ve heard it before. Presentations that tell a story help shape beliefs, change mindsets and inspire action. But you’re also probably wondering… who has time to endlessly tinker over their slides for visually inspiring messages? Instead people turn to a ‘black market’ of pretty slides, borrowed from favored colleagues and friends. Sure it saves time, but they end up with a hodge-podgy ‘Frankendeck’ that doesn’t inspire much of anything.

\"\"

A better idea? Get great presentation templates to guide you in weaving your key ideas into stories told through images, video and graphics. Here are 4 characteristics of great templates that make it simple to build an effective visual story.

1. They inspire better storytelling

Well-designed templates should inspire presenters to be intrinsically better storytellers by jumpstarting visual thinking. Typical corporate templates default to a standard body slide ready to be loaded with a bunch of text. It’s easy, but they make terrible presentations. The best templates should serve as plug-and-play starter kits, allowing you to effortlessly weave your facts and ideas into striking infographics, oversized metrics, a table, or a photo montage. No sizing fonts. No inserting text boxes. No looking for colors. No formatting bullets. It should all be there. What looks like an incredible amount of creative work has actually been done (mostly) for you.

\"\"

2. They make data display really simple

Do you want to know the biggest change in data display in the last 20 years? Infographics. And without fail, the best custom templates include pre-built layouts. They’ve become so popular because they tell a simple, visual story that just focuses on key data points or relationships. But sometimes, you must display more data. Smart templates include pre-formatted charts that you can populate with figures from your Excel spreadsheet. No need for anyone to attempt to format within Excel (and produce charts that would clash with the corporate brand).

\"\"

3. They’re designed for front-end elegance AND back-end functionality

Too often, we see corporate templates that have a “pretty face” but, when you look under the hood, they’re a hot mess! So what exactly is the “back-end” of a template? The back-end encompasses all the elements that underpin the template: colors, fonts, slide master and slide layouts, backgrounds, graphics, logos, placeholder formatting, etc. Templates designed for only the front-end are begging for presenters to veer off in their own design directions. Unless you want it to look like everyone works for a different company, this is a big problem! To make the most of your branding investment, templates should be meticulously formatted, properly sized, consistently structured and secured from end-to-end.

\"\"

4. They perfectly reflect your brand

Whether your company is large or small, enterprise- or consumer-focused, your goal is to protect your brand internally and *absolutely* when presenting to the outside world. PowerPoint template design should never be an afterthought. It is a corporate application that is second only to Outlook in popularity. It deserves at least as much investment, attention and energy as tradeshow graphics, a new website or a new brochure. Bottom line: good templates help people quickly build visual stories that simply reek of your brand from the inside out.

Quickly turn your ideas into a visual story. Find out about simple, stunning custom PowerPoint templates from The Presentation Company. Call us at 888-991-0208 to learn more.

", "content_plain": "Want to build visual, story-driven presentations quickly? Get ahold of great plug-and-play corporate presentation templates. Yeah, yeah, yeah… you’ve heard it before. Presentations that tell a story help shape beliefs, change mindsets and inspire action. But you’re also probably wondering… who has time to endlessly tinker over their slides for visually inspiring messages? Instead people turn to a ‘black market’ of pretty slides, borrowed from favored colleagues and friends. Sure it saves time, but they end up with a hodge-podgy ‘Frankendeck’ that doesn’t inspire much of anything. A better idea? Get great presentation templates to guide you in weaving your key ideas into stories told through images, video and graphics. Here are 4 characteristics of great templates that make it simple to build an effective visual story. 1. They inspire better storytelling Well-designed templates should inspire presenters to be intrinsically better storytellers by jumpstarting visual thinking. Typical corporate templates default to a standard body slide ready to be loaded with a bunch of text. It’s easy, but they make terrible presentations. The best templates should serve as plug-and-play starter kits, allowing you to effortlessly weave your facts and ideas into striking infographics, oversized metrics, a table, or a photo montage. No sizing fonts. No inserting text boxes. No looking for colors. No formatting bullets. It should all be there. What looks like an incredible amount of creative work has actually been done (mostly) for you. 2. They make data display really simple Do you want to know the biggest change in data display in the last 20 years? Infographics. And without fail, the best custom templates include pre-built layouts. They’ve become so popular because they tell a simple, visual story that just focuses on key data points or relationships. But sometimes, you must display more data. Smart templates include pre-formatted charts that you can populate with figures from your Excel spreadsheet. No need for anyone to attempt to format within Excel (and produce charts that would clash with the corporate brand). 3. They’re designed for front-end elegance AND back-end functionality Too often, we see corporate templates that have a “pretty face” but, when you look under the hood, they’re a hot mess! So what exactly is the “back-end” of a template? The back-end encompasses all the elements that underpin the template: colors, fonts, slide master and slide layouts, backgrounds, graphics, logos, placeholder formatting, etc. Templates designed for only the front-end are begging for presenters to veer off in their own design directions. Unless you want it to look like everyone works for a different company, this is a big problem! To make the most of your branding investment, templates should be meticulously formatted, properly sized, consistently structured and secured from end-to-end. 4. They perfectly reflect your brand Whether your company is large or small, enterprise- or consumer-focused, your goal is to protect your brand internally and *absolutely* when presenting to the outside world. PowerPoint template design should never be an afterthought. It is a corporate application that is second only to Outlook in popularity. It deserves at least as much investment, attention and energy as tradeshow graphics, a new website or a new brochure. Bottom line: good templates help people quickly build visual stories that simply reek of your brand from the inside out. Quickly turn your ideas into a visual story. Find out about simple, stunning custom PowerPoint templates from The Presentation Company. Call us at 888-991-0208 to learn more.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Frankenstein-Halloween-post_Thumbnail.png", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:21:40-05:00" }, { "id": 7887, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/how-to-present-your-ideas-like-an-architectural-masterpiece/", "title": "How to Present Your Ideas Like an Architectural Masterpiece", "h1": "How to Present Your Ideas Like an Architectural Masterpiece", "summary": "Do all great presenters have professional copywriters and graphic artists at their disposal? The reality is… no. And they don’t all possess some rare skill that allows them to instantly whip up presentations with that certain je ne sais quoi. The truth is, putting together an engaging, motivating presentation does require skill but more importantly, […]", "content": "

\"Blog_graphic_v2\"

Do all great presenters have professional copywriters and graphic artists at their disposal? The reality is… no. And they don’t all possess some rare skill that allows them to instantly whip up presentations with that certain je ne sais quoi. The truth is, putting together an engaging, motivating presentation does require skill but more importantly, it requires a toolkit.

Your toolkit must contain components that arm you to build a visual story strategy and a visual slide strategy. Attendees of our Crafting Strategic Visual Stories and Influencing with Visuals workshops have learned how a great story and powerful visuals can turn any product pitch, status report, or recommendation into a memorable presentation.

Planning a ‘home’ based on your audience

The tools and strategy used in building a visual story is much like those used in constructing a home. There are several, critical, ‘phase 1’ steps to complete before any building starts. You must have an understanding of who’s going to be living in the home (your audience) and what they are expecting to experience. Ask these questions: What is happening in their world? How can you build something that will truly benefit them? Then, you must isolate your big idea.

In our house analogy, this is where you decide — mid-century ranch or Mediterranean stucco? You must clearly figure out how big it should be, how many rooms, and how each room will connect. Again, knowing your audience is crucial in determining how you will build something that will motivate and inspire them.

Framing the ‘home’ with character, setting, conflict and resolution

Now that you have an understanding of your audience and what you want to recommend, it’s time to get out your hammer and nails and start to frame the walls, roof, and floor. As we explore in our workshop, Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, you will find greatest ease and fluidity by having a Visual Storytelling Framework.

This framework arranges your ideas within the arc of a story. You will set the stage with a character – someone or something that is centrally affected by the conflict you are going to reveal. Your character is placed in the context of a setting, which provides critical parameters around your subject. And here is where your familiarity with your audience is most critical: the conflict. When you introduce the conflict and ultimately, the resolution, it is crucial that your audience cares if the conflict goes unresolved. Bottom line, if they care what’s at stake, they’ll most likely be moved by your recommendations.

Story arc in place… bring on the visuals

With the story framework in place, it’s time to move into ‘phase 2’, the visual slide strategy. Using the house analogy, visual slide strategies – explored in-depth in our workshop Influencing with Visuals – are akin to the work of an interior designer.

You are picking room paint, carpet, lighting, and other aesthetic finishes. But excellent visuals are not just about attractive display. They are a way to use design — including photos, diagrams, charts, text, or video — to complement your story. A story alone pushes your ideas through logic and emotion, but the visuals engage the brain in a way that positively cements the deal.

A recap: Planning is everything

Really, is all this planning necessary? Yes. Absolutely. To save time, most people build presentations by pulling straight from their last deck or leveraging colleague’s slides. These old slides might seem to fit but it doesn’t take into account the unique needs of different audiences.

Planning with a storytelling framework ensures we don’t put forth our recommendations before we build out the context of what problem we are solving. We must always be able to answer the question: why should our listeners care? A storytelling framework combined with a visual slide strategy is what continues to keep the audience focused and drawn to the ‘house’. With that, they’ll be eager to move right in…

Interested in learning more about building presentations based on a storytelling framework and a visual slide strategy? Get in touch with The Presentation Company at 888-991-0208 or check out our classes, Crafting Strategic Visual Stories and Influencing with Visuals.

", "content_plain": "Do all great presenters have professional copywriters and graphic artists at their disposal? The reality is… no. And they don’t all possess some rare skill that allows them to instantly whip up presentations with that certain je ne sais quoi. The truth is, putting together an engaging, motivating presentation does require skill but more importantly, it requires a toolkit. Your toolkit must contain components that arm you to build a visual story strategy and a visual slide strategy. Attendees of our Crafting Strategic Visual Stories and Influencing with Visuals workshops have learned how a great story and powerful visuals can turn any product pitch, status report, or recommendation into a memorable presentation. Planning a ‘home’ based on your audience The tools and strategy used in building a visual story is much like those used in constructing a home. There are several, critical, ‘phase 1’ steps to complete before any building starts. You must have an understanding of who’s going to be living in the home (your audience) and what they are expecting to experience. Ask these questions: What is happening in their world? How can you build something that will truly benefit them? Then, you must isolate your big idea. In our house analogy, this is where you decide — mid-century ranch or Mediterranean stucco? You must clearly figure out how big it should be, how many rooms, and how each room will connect. Again, knowing your audience is crucial in determining how you will build something that will motivate and inspire them. Framing the ‘home’ with character, setting, conflict and resolution Now that you have an understanding of your audience and what you want to recommend, it’s time to get out your hammer and nails and start to frame the walls, roof, and floor. As we explore in our workshop, Crafting Strategic Visual Stories, you will find greatest ease and fluidity by having a Visual Storytelling Framework. This framework arranges your ideas within the arc of a story. You will set the stage with a character – someone or something that is centrally affected by the conflict you are going to reveal. Your character is placed in the context of a setting, which provides critical parameters around your subject. And here is where your familiarity with your audience is most critical: the conflict. When you introduce the conflict and ultimately, the resolution, it is crucial that your audience cares if the conflict goes unresolved. Bottom line, if they care what’s at stake, they’ll most likely be moved by your recommendations. Story arc in place… bring on the visuals With the story framework in place, it’s time to move into ‘phase 2’, the visual slide strategy. Using the house analogy, visual slide strategies – explored in-depth in our workshop Influencing with Visuals – are akin to the work of an interior designer. You are picking room paint, carpet, lighting, and other aesthetic finishes. But excellent visuals are not just about attractive display. They are a way to use design — including photos, diagrams, charts, text, or video — to complement your story. A story alone pushes your ideas through logic and emotion, but the visuals engage the brain in a way that positively cements the deal. A recap: Planning is everything Really, is all this planning necessary? Yes. Absolutely. To save time, most people build presentations by pulling straight from their last deck or leveraging colleague’s slides. These old slides might seem to fit but it doesn’t take into account the unique needs of different audiences. Planning with a storytelling framework ensures we don’t put forth our recommendations before we build out the context of what problem we are solving. We must always be able to answer the question: why should our listeners care? A storytelling framework combined with a visual slide strategy is what continues to keep the audience focused and drawn to the ‘house’. With that, they’ll be eager to move right in… Interested in learning more about building presentations based on a storytelling framework and a visual slide strategy? Get in touch with The Presentation Company at 888-991-0208 or check out our classes, Crafting Strategic Visual Stories and Influencing with Visuals.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/shutterstock_219126022-fb.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T15:56:13-05:00" }, { "id": 7889, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/how-to-give-great-presentations-when-youre-not-there/", "title": "How to Give Great Presentations…When You’re Not There", "h1": "How to Give Great Presentations…When You’re Not There", "summary": "Chances are, you’re probably emailing your proposals, executive summaries, or strategy reviews much more often than presenting them live. And if you’re worried this hampers many of your great ideas from getting across — you should be. Why? Because people hate words. Not all words, just too many words. Visuals on the other hand, they […]", "content": "

Chances are, you’re probably emailing your proposals, executive summaries, or strategy reviews much more often than presenting them live. And if you’re worried this hampers many of your great ideas from getting across — you should be.

Why? Because people hate words. Not all words, just too many words. Visuals on the other hand, they love. In fact, visuals are processed remarkably faster than text. So, the more you convey your ideas visually, the less they’ll get lost on your audience – especially when you’re not there to act them out in 3-D. Here are four ways to create a more visual proposal:

1. Like Hansel and Gretel, Use Breadcrumbs

Navigating through a proposal is like going on a road trip. You should have a destination in mind, but plan on making a few stops along the way. First, you need a map. ‘Breadcrumbs’ are a great way to map the journey of your ideas for the ‘travelers’ of your proposal. Like Hansel knew, breadcrumbs will show your audience exactly where they are on the journey. See below examples of a map that includes a visual breadcrumb in each box. \"BG908\"

On the left, you can see on the full map of the upcoming journey. On the right is the first stop on the journey – the executive summary. Notice that although the rest of the presentation is grayed out, it’s still visible. The grayed out ‘bread crumbs’ tell the audience where they will be headed next. Breadcrumbs also let your audience carefully control the flow of information based on their own needs. If you hyperlink each breadcrumb box, your audience can instantly jump to wherever they want in the presentation. And they will appreciate it.

2. 60-second Summary. Upfront. Always.

No matter how in depth your support information, there will always be people who make their decision to dig in or delete your presentation on slide 1. Include an executive summary slide every time to get past that first gate. It’s key is to give the critical ‘need to know’ information right upfront.

Below is a great one-glance example of an executive summary made visual. It is particularly helpful to ‘bucketize’ or group it into segments. Also, highlighting each topic name in a different color helps the viewer sum it up even more quickly. Look at the bottom left vs. the bottom right. When we say ‘at-a-glance’, this is what we mean. \"\" 3. Net It Out

What do audiences wish presenters would do? “Don’t make me work so hard to understand your message.” We hear this plea all the time, and our advice goes for those presenting live or emailing a deck. Net out your ideas. This means, you need to elevate your key messages and eliminate the clutter.

It isn’t easy, because you can’t toss every fact, statistic, and product feature into the deck. You must make choices — you must eliminate words. It will help your audience grasp your proposal much easier by elevating fewer points. That being said… there are different degrees of netting out.

The below examples show extreme netting out and moderate netting out. Only you can determine what absolutely must be kept in. But, we believe that strong editing is critical to holding your audience’s attention. See below how distilling key messages and using simple iconography can transform a slide jammed with words and data. See extreme and moderate versions below.

Extreme Netting Out: \"\"Upper left: Jammed ideas Lower right: Key messages and simple iconography replace words

Moderate Netting Out: \"\" 4. A Warning!

When you do email your proposal for people to self-navigate, we suggest you remind them to view it in ‘slideshow’ mode. This will allow for all the hyperlinks (as discussed in point 1 above) and intuitive self-navigation to be active.

Interested in learning more about creating visual presentations? Get in touch with The Presentation Company at 888-991-0208 or see more information about Influencing with Visuals workshop here.

", "content_plain": "Chances are, you’re probably emailing your proposals, executive summaries, or strategy reviews much more often than presenting them live. And if you’re worried this hampers many of your great ideas from getting across — you should be. Why? Because people hate words. Not all words, just too many words. Visuals on the other hand, they love. In fact, visuals are processed remarkably faster than text. So, the more you convey your ideas visually, the less they’ll get lost on your audience – especially when you’re not there to act them out in 3-D. Here are four ways to create a more visual proposal: 1. Like Hansel and Gretel, Use Breadcrumbs Navigating through a proposal is like going on a road trip. You should have a destination in mind, but plan on making a few stops along the way. First, you need a map. ‘Breadcrumbs’ are a great way to map the journey of your ideas for the ‘travelers’ of your proposal. Like Hansel knew, breadcrumbs will show your audience exactly where they are on the journey. See below examples of a map that includes a visual breadcrumb in each box. On the left, you can see on the full map of the upcoming journey. On the right is the first stop on the journey – the executive summary. Notice that although the rest of the presentation is grayed out, it’s still visible. The grayed out ‘bread crumbs’ tell the audience where they will be headed next. Breadcrumbs also let your audience carefully control the flow of information based on their own needs. If you hyperlink each breadcrumb box, your audience can instantly jump to wherever they want in the presentation. And they will appreciate it. 2. 60-second Summary. Upfront. Always. No matter how in depth your support information, there will always be people who make their decision to dig in or delete your presentation on slide 1. Include an executive summary slide every time to get past that first gate. It’s key is to give the critical ‘need to know’ information right upfront. Below is a great one-glance example of an executive summary made visual. It is particularly helpful to ‘bucketize’ or group it into segments. Also, highlighting each topic name in a different color helps the viewer sum it up even more quickly. Look at the bottom left vs. the bottom right. When we say ‘at-a-glance’, this is what we mean. 3. Net It Out What do audiences wish presenters would do? “Don’t make me work so hard to understand your message.” We hear this plea all the time, and our advice goes for those presenting live or emailing a deck. Net out your ideas. This means, you need to elevate your key messages and eliminate the clutter. It isn’t easy, because you can’t toss every fact, statistic, and product feature into the deck. You must make choices — you must eliminate words. It will help your audience grasp your proposal much easier by elevating fewer points. That being said… there are different degrees of netting out. The below examples show extreme netting out and moderate netting out. Only you can determine what absolutely must be kept in. But, we believe that strong editing is critical to holding your audience’s attention. See below how distilling key messages and using simple iconography can transform a slide jammed with words and data. See extreme and moderate versions below. Extreme Netting Out: Upper left: Jammed ideas Lower right: Key messages and simple iconography replace words Moderate Netting Out: 4. A Warning! When you do email your proposal for people to self-navigate, we suggest you remind them to view it in ‘slideshow’ mode. This will allow for all the hyperlinks (as discussed in point 1 above) and intuitive self-navigation to be active. Interested in learning more about creating visual presentations? Get in touch with The Presentation Company at 888-991-0208 or see more information about Influencing with Visuals workshop here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/shutterstock_319332443-scaled.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T15:51:24-05:00" }, { "id": 7891, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/want-to-save-time-in-powerpoint-meet-the-f4-button/", "title": "Want to Save Time in PowerPoint? Meet the F4 Button.", "h1": "Want to Save Time in PowerPoint? Meet the F4 Button.", "summary": "    Developing PowerPoint decks takes time… but probably less time than you’re spending now. Let’s fix that. We’ll start with all those functions that need to be repeated over and over. You know… creating boxes, duplicating shapes, using the same configuration of elements multiple times. When you need to repeat your last command – […]", "content": "

 

 

Developing PowerPoint decks takes time… but probably less time than you’re spending now. Let’s fix that. We’ll start with all those functions that need to be repeated over and over. You know… creating boxes, duplicating shapes, using the same configuration of elements multiple times.

When you need to repeat your last command – no matter what it is – hit F4, “control + Y” (on a PC) or “command + Y” (on a Mac). This nifty shortcut is built into every version of PowerPoint, across all office programs. We love the F4 shortcut and soon, you will too.

Align, rinse, and repeat

In the first example below, there are three messy columns of boxes that can be lined up perfectly in three moves. First, use the marquee tool to select the boxes. Second, hit the align tool (under drawing tools on PC/under the format tab on Mac). And finally, with the marquee tool, select each other column you wish to align and hit F4 or control/command Y. Presto! Time saved!

\"\"

Insert slides in a flash

The second example shows how to insert many slides quickly. On the top navigation bar, you’ll find the ‘new slide’ button. Now, rather than repeating that process, press F4 (or control/command Y) as many times as you want to fill out your deck. It’s jolly useful and very little effort. Cheers!

\"\"

Get more PowerPoint tips and tricks by taking our Influencing with Visuals or Presenting Data Visually workshops.

", "content_plain": "    Developing PowerPoint decks takes time… but probably less time than you’re spending now. Let’s fix that. We’ll start with all those functions that need to be repeated over and over. You know… creating boxes, duplicating shapes, using the same configuration of elements multiple times. When you need to repeat your last command – no matter what it is – hit F4, “control + Y” (on a PC) or “command + Y” (on a Mac). This nifty shortcut is built into every version of PowerPoint, across all office programs. We love the F4 shortcut and soon, you will too. Align, rinse, and repeat In the first example below, there are three messy columns of boxes that can be lined up perfectly in three moves. First, use the marquee tool to select the boxes. Second, hit the align tool (under drawing tools on PC/under the format tab on Mac). And finally, with the marquee tool, select each other column you wish to align and hit F4 or control/command Y. Presto! Time saved! Insert slides in a flash The second example shows how to insert many slides quickly. On the top navigation bar, you’ll find the ‘new slide’ button. Now, rather than repeating that process, press F4 (or control/command Y) as many times as you want to fill out your deck. It’s jolly useful and very little effort. Cheers! Get more PowerPoint tips and tricks by taking our Influencing with Visuals or Presenting Data Visually workshops.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/F4Mac_cropped2-1024x451-1.jpg", "modified": "2023-02-28T10:46:10-05:00" }, { "id": 7893, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tale-two-presenters/", "title": "A Tale of Two Presenters", "h1": "A Tale of Two Presenters", "summary": "On any random day, you will find two people, working for the same company, eagerly presenting their product updates, project reviews, and strategy pitches. They certainly look similar—with high energy and charming smiles—but there are actually huge differences between them. Just look at their audience. One is presenting to a focused, cohesive crowd that appears […]", "content": "

On any random day, you will find two people, working for the same company, eagerly presenting their product updates, project reviews, and strategy pitches. They certainly look similar—with high energy and charming smiles—but there are actually huge differences between them. Just look at their audience.

One is presenting to a focused, cohesive crowd that appears to match their energy. The other is reading through page after page of jammed slides while the crowd sits (slumps), sneaking glances at their smart phones.

So, what made the difference?

Simple. The first person is presenting a highly visual story that draws laser-focus to their key points. The design is simple, clean, and uses colors purposefully, to enhance meaning and create emphasis. They grip the audience from the beginning and don’t let go until they roll out their call to action. In contrast, the second person put up a flood of text, over-killed the data, and made design attempts that did not serve a logical purpose. Why did this happen? Because they did not have a visual slide strategy and unsurprisingly, the audience simply detached.

So how do you formulate a visual slide strategy?

Here are some quick tips: Before you do anything else: think about your audience. Who are they? What do you want them to know? What do you want them to do?

\"\"

Avoid a sea of words

Where can some of the language be visually elevated with color or a graphic? And equally important – where should secondary text be subdued? Create a laser-focus on your key points (something that audiences cry out for: “please, get to the point!”).

\"\"

Speaking of leaving your audience with a message, do not forget your call to action (AKA: “your BIG Idea”). This message is the first thing you should establish when developing a visual slide strategy – and the last thing you leave with your audience…

\"\"

Learn to use design conventions that let color, shape, and arrangement enhance your ideas even further.

\"\"

Build in visuals that will inject the right balance of emotion, data, and analysis – the keys to capturing and motivating your audience.

\"\" When it comes to presenting ideas, you have one shot at being memorable. Why do some of the largest global brands like Facebook, MetLife, HP and Nike use TPC to train their employees to make compelling, visual presentations? Because TPC teaches the skills that can transform your entire team— from HR to sales to engineering – into builders and deliverers of motivating presentations.

Our popular workshop, Influencing with Visuals, is beaming with more visual concepts, presentation design ideas, and time saving tips than ever before.

", "content_plain": "On any random day, you will find two people, working for the same company, eagerly presenting their product updates, project reviews, and strategy pitches. They certainly look similar—with high energy and charming smiles—but there are actually huge differences between them. Just look at their audience. One is presenting to a focused, cohesive crowd that appears to match their energy. The other is reading through page after page of jammed slides while the crowd sits (slumps), sneaking glances at their smart phones. So, what made the difference? Simple. The first person is presenting a highly visual story that draws laser-focus to their key points. The design is simple, clean, and uses colors purposefully, to enhance meaning and create emphasis. They grip the audience from the beginning and don’t let go until they roll out their call to action. In contrast, the second person put up a flood of text, over-killed the data, and made design attempts that did not serve a logical purpose. Why did this happen? Because they did not have a visual slide strategy and unsurprisingly, the audience simply detached. So how do you formulate a visual slide strategy? Here are some quick tips: Before you do anything else: think about your audience. Who are they? What do you want them to know? What do you want them to do? Avoid a sea of words Where can some of the language be visually elevated with color or a graphic? And equally important – where should secondary text be subdued? Create a laser-focus on your key points (something that audiences cry out for: “please, get to the point!”). Speaking of leaving your audience with a message, do not forget your call to action (AKA: “your BIG Idea”). This message is the first thing you should establish when developing a visual slide strategy – and the last thing you leave with your audience… Learn to use design conventions that let color, shape, and arrangement enhance your ideas even further. Build in visuals that will inject the right balance of emotion, data, and analysis – the keys to capturing and motivating your audience. When it comes to presenting ideas, you have one shot at being memorable. Why do some of the largest global brands like Facebook, MetLife, HP and Nike use TPC to train their employees to make compelling, visual presentations? Because TPC teaches the skills that can transform your entire team— from HR to sales to engineering – into builders and deliverers of motivating presentations. Our popular workshop, Influencing with Visuals, is beaming with more visual concepts, presentation design ideas, and time saving tips than ever before.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/TaleofTwoPresenters_RECTANGLE-1024x683-1.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-03T13:44:41-05:00" }, { "id": 7895, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tpc-featured-forbes-com/", "title": "TPC Contributes to Forbes.com: Your Data Needs a Story", "h1": "TPC Contributes to Forbes.com: Your Data Needs a Story", "summary": "Think of the last time you were in a presentation that was loaded up with charts and tables. Do you remember the key points? Did the data surprise, shock, or create any kind of emotion in you? Most importantly, did it spur you to any kind of action? Maybe yes…but likely no, and too […]", "content": " \"harrison_byline\"
Think of the last time you were in a presentation that was loaded up with charts and tables. Do you remember the key points? Did the data surprise, shock, or create any kind of emotion in you? Most importantly, did it spur you to any kind of action? Maybe yes…but likely no, and too often endless charts, tables, and other analytics do more harm than good.
Data overkill can quickly turn off your audience, weaken your message, and fail to spur anyone to action. Whether you are trying to raise money for your startup or are rallying your team into the next quarter, presenting the right amount of data in a compelling way is a key skill for any CEO or manager. Thankfully, there are many resources available online to help you hone your presentation and storytelling skills, as well as professional coaching companies and organizations. 
The Presentation Company is one such group. They offer corporate trainers that teach business people how to visually integrate their facts and data into story format. Here are some of their top tips for making data manageable when giving a presentation:

Focus On Story

Cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner suggests we are 22 times more likely to remember a fact when it has been wrapped in a story. Why? Because stories are memorable. Stories help us grab the gist of an idea quickly. They trigger our emotions. Injecting hard numbers into your story will raise the stakes and bring your call to action into clearer focus. Bottom line – the combination of data + story — satisfying both left and right brain thinking – is what will ignite your audience to act.

So what is the first step?

1. Establish A Setting

Data has an important place in every element of a story from setting the stage to building the characters to illuminating the conflict to unveiling the resolution.

Establishing a setting doesn’t always require data. But sometimes, it can help provide attention-grabbing context and parameters about your subject. For example, if you are establishing a market size, data will answer the question how many? Where? Why? The examples below define the setting as the mobile and data markets.

\"\"

2. Define Character Traits

You will deepen your story by describing the characters in your setting. Characters are integral to stories because they are both affecting and being affected by the setting you have described. Whether you are talking about customers, senior management, or new hires at your office, your audience will want to learn more about who they are and what their motivations are.

\"\"

3. Define What Is At Stake: THE CONFLICT

After you’ve established the setting and your character, the role of your data is even more critical as it serves to increase the “tension” in your story. But be careful! Here is where you can go overboard and steal your own momentum. Be strategic on charts and tables (read: less is more). Always strive to present data in the most graphical light. The examples below identify the story’s conflict with more data (left) and less (right).

\"\"

The table below is another example of how evidence of the conflict is revealed visually. Notice how the slide headline spells out the most important finding. Also, the most pertinent data is elevated with the use of color and callouts. Don’t make people work hard to understand the key point.

\"\"

4. Show Resolution And The Future

Data used in the resolution of your story is generally about your forward-looking projections. You are defining your “utopia” and unveiling your call to action. Use of hard data is important but remember, by this time, you should have already built your case through setting, characters, and conflict. It is time to make your “ask.” Using short, definitive statements, it’s time to bring your point home in a visual, humanizing way. \"\" And finally…Don’t get caught up in the number of slides in your deck. Keeping your slides digestible and on point – through story — is most important. We recommend you lay out your story before you start constructing your slide deck. Even under time pressure, if you remember the elements of setting, character, conflict, and resolution, you will be well ahead of the game. REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM FORBES.COM", "content_plain": "Think of the last time you were in a presentation that was loaded up with charts and tables. Do you remember the key points? Did the data surprise, shock, or create any kind of emotion in you? Most importantly, did it spur you to any kind of action? Maybe yes…but likely no, and too often endless charts, tables, and other analytics do more harm than good. Data overkill can quickly turn off your audience, weaken your message, and fail to spur anyone to action. Whether you are trying to raise money for your startup or are rallying your team into the next quarter, presenting the right amount of data in a compelling way is a key skill for any CEO or manager. Thankfully, there are many resources available online to help you hone your presentation and storytelling skills, as well as professional coaching companies and organizations. The Presentation Company is one such group. They offer corporate trainers that teach business people how to visually integrate their facts and data into story format. Here are some of their top tips for making data manageable when giving a presentation: Focus On Story Cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner suggests we are 22 times more likely to remember a fact when it has been wrapped in a story. Why? Because stories are memorable. Stories help us grab the gist of an idea quickly. They trigger our emotions. Injecting hard numbers into your story will raise the stakes and bring your call to action into clearer focus. Bottom line – the combination of data + story — satisfying both left and right brain thinking – is what will ignite your audience to act. So what is the first step? 1. Establish A Setting Data has an important place in every element of a story from setting the stage to building the characters to illuminating the conflict to unveiling the resolution. Establishing a setting doesn’t always require data. But sometimes, it can help provide attention-grabbing context and parameters about your subject. For example, if you are establishing a market size, data will answer the question how many? Where? Why? The examples below define the setting as the mobile and data markets. 2. Define Character Traits You will deepen your story by describing the characters in your setting. Characters are integral to stories because they are both affecting and being affected by the setting you have described. Whether you are talking about customers, senior management, or new hires at your office, your audience will want to learn more about who they are and what their motivations are. 3. Define What Is At Stake: THE CONFLICT After you’ve established the setting and your character, the role of your data is even more critical as it serves to increase the “tension” in your story. But be careful! Here is where you can go overboard and steal your own momentum. Be strategic on charts and tables (read: less is more). Always strive to present data in the most graphical light. The examples below identify the story’s conflict with more data (left) and less (right). The table below is another example of how evidence of the conflict is revealed visually. Notice how the slide headline spells out the most important finding. Also, the most pertinent data is elevated with the use of color and callouts. Don’t make people work hard to understand the key point. 4. Show Resolution And The Future Data used in the resolution of your story is generally about your forward-looking projections. You are defining your “utopia” and unveiling your call to action. Use of hard data is important but remember, by this time, you should have already built your case through setting, characters, and conflict. It is time to make your “ask.” Using short, definitive statements, it’s time to bring your point home in a visual, humanizing way. And finally…Don’t get caught up in the number of slides in your deck. Keeping your slides digestible and on point – through story — is most important. We recommend you lay out your story before you start constructing your slide deck. Even under time pressure, if you remember the elements of setting, character, conflict, and resolution, you will be well ahead of the game. REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM FORBES.COM", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Forbes-logo-4.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-01T12:48:03-05:00" }, { "id": 7897, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tpc-tips-featured-forbes/", "title": "TPC Featured on Forbes.com: Visually Selling Your Ideas", "h1": "TPC Featured on Forbes.com: Visually Selling Your Ideas", "summary": "PowerPoint is the second most popular communication tool after email. Yet there is huge variation in how effectively entrepreneurs use it. As an enhancer or a barrier, it’s the visual elements that separate a well-crafted PowerPoint presentation from the rest. The Presentation Company teaches business people how to make persuasive presentations, so I asked […]", "content": "\"forbes\"
PowerPoint is the second most popular communication tool after email. Yet there is huge variation in how effectively entrepreneurs use it. As an enhancer or a barrier, it’s the visual elements that separate a well-crafted PowerPoint presentation from the rest. The Presentation Company teaches business people how to make persuasive presentations, so I asked them to share their top tips for visually boosting your key message. Here is what they advised:

1. “Net out” your topics

The Presentation Company honed in on the term “netted out” when examining a study of executives who were asked, “What would you like presenters to do when they make presentations to you?” The top two responses? “Net it out” and “Don’t make me work so hard to understand your message.”“‘Netting out’ topics allows the audience to immediately digest a slide (as long as you keep it to three topics),” the Presentation Company explained. “The slide below on the left shows one of the most common visual mistakes made in PowerPoint: primary and secondary information are given equal weight. The slide on the right shows ‘netted out’ boxes with instantly digestible meaning.”  \"\"

2. Use active slide titles

Another common mistake of PowerPoint presenters is to use generic slide titles that offer no conclusive information. “Since the title is the first thing the audience sees, it should offer the key point. The slide on the left leaves key information out. The slide on the right immediately gets to the point.”

\"\"

3. Non-linear thinking

 Non-linear thinking is about offering total flexibility to meet the needs of your audience. While being peppered with questions before you have finished presenting can feel annoying as an entrepreneur, embracing flexibility can work to your advantage. “If the investors or clients suddenly have half the time or only want to focus on a single element, the best presenters can expand, contract, and drill down on the fly. You should always say something like, ‘I am prepared to talk through all of these components but where do you want to go today?’”

To present non-linearly in an effective way, you need a “landing page” to give your audience a contextual framework (or a roadmap) for where you are going. The slide below shows a sample landing page, which (as the 4 subsequent slides show) offer the ability to drill down further if there is interest.

\"\"

By embracing these tips you can significantly enhance your effectiveness as a presenter, and instill confidence in your audience that you will produce a superior product and be able to market in effectively – even under changing or adverse conditions. Visuals matter. If you are not tech-savvy, hire a graphic designer to help you create a deck worthy of your brand and your ideas.

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM FORBES.COM.

", "content_plain": "PowerPoint is the second most popular communication tool after email. Yet there is huge variation in how effectively entrepreneurs use it. As an enhancer or a barrier, it’s the visual elements that separate a well-crafted PowerPoint presentation from the rest. The Presentation Company teaches business people how to make persuasive presentations, so I asked them to share their top tips for visually boosting your key message. Here is what they advised: 1. “Net out” your topics The Presentation Company honed in on the term “netted out” when examining a study of executives who were asked, “What would you like presenters to do when they make presentations to you?” The top two responses? “Net it out” and “Don’t make me work so hard to understand your message.”“‘Netting out’ topics allows the audience to immediately digest a slide (as long as you keep it to three topics),” the Presentation Company explained. “The slide below on the left shows one of the most common visual mistakes made in PowerPoint: primary and secondary information are given equal weight. The slide on the right shows ‘netted out’ boxes with instantly digestible meaning.” 2. Use active slide titles Another common mistake of PowerPoint presenters is to use generic slide titles that offer no conclusive information. “Since the title is the first thing the audience sees, it should offer the key point. The slide on the left leaves key information out. The slide on the right immediately gets to the point.” 3. Non-linear thinking Non-linear thinking is about offering total flexibility to meet the needs of your audience. While being peppered with questions before you have finished presenting can feel annoying as an entrepreneur, embracing flexibility can work to your advantage. “If the investors or clients suddenly have half the time or only want to focus on a single element, the best presenters can expand, contract, and drill down on the fly. You should always say something like, ‘I am prepared to talk through all of these components but where do you want to go today?’” To present non-linearly in an effective way, you need a “landing page” to give your audience a contextual framework (or a roadmap) for where you are going. The slide below shows a sample landing page, which (as the 4 subsequent slides show) offer the ability to drill down further if there is interest. By embracing these tips you can significantly enhance your effectiveness as a presenter, and instill confidence in your audience that you will produce a superior product and be able to market in effectively – even under changing or adverse conditions. Visuals matter. If you are not tech-savvy, hire a graphic designer to help you create a deck worthy of your brand and your ideas. REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM FORBES.COM.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Forbes-logo-6-1.jpg", "modified": "2023-02-28T13:00:03-05:00" }, { "id": 7899, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/secret-presenting-executives-let-think-control/", "title": "Secret to Presenting To Executives? Let ‘Em *Think* They Have Control…(Video)", "h1": "Secret to Presenting To Executives? Let ‘Em *Think* They Have Control…(Video)", "summary": "You’re getting ready to present a great idea… supported by a whole bunch of data… to the boss… What could go wrong? A lot. Bosses are human: they will remember 10% of what they hear, 20% of what they read, and 80% of what they see. Here are three pointers to help you maximize the […]", "content": "

You’re getting ready to present a great idea… supported by a whole bunch of data… to the boss… What could go wrong? A lot. Bosses are human: they will remember 10% of what they hear, 20% of what they read, and 80% of what they see.

Here are three pointers to help you maximize the impact:

1. An executive’s most precious asset is time

And it’s always in short supply… Get to the point quickly. Get to the point visually. Cut extensive background information. If your boss doesn’t get the gist of what you’re proposing in 60 seconds, you’re probably doomed.

2. Executives want a summarized overview…until they don’t

They love to control the flow of information. Think of each slide as a gateway for conversation. If the door is opened, have your support slides and extra data ready…

3. Be agile

Think of the controls to your deck like a joystick. Practice going back, forward, drilling down, turning around… all on the fly. They want to discuss that graph back on slide 2? Be ready. They want to pour over one table the whole time? Be ready. They’re asking for more extensive analysis? Be ready.

Interested in learning more about executive presentation skills for your team or company? Head to our Influencing with Visuals workshop page.

", "content_plain": "You’re getting ready to present a great idea… supported by a whole bunch of data… to the boss… What could go wrong? A lot. Bosses are human: they will remember 10% of what they hear, 20% of what they read, and 80% of what they see. Here are three pointers to help you maximize the impact: 1. An executive’s most precious asset is time And it’s always in short supply… Get to the point quickly. Get to the point visually. Cut extensive background information. If your boss doesn’t get the gist of what you’re proposing in 60 seconds, you’re probably doomed. 2. Executives want a summarized overview…until they don’t They love to control the flow of information. Think of each slide as a gateway for conversation. If the door is opened, have your support slides and extra data ready… 3. Be agile Think of the controls to your deck like a joystick. Practice going back, forward, drilling down, turning around… all on the fly. They want to discuss that graph back on slide 2? Be ready. They want to pour over one table the whole time? Be ready. They’re asking for more extensive analysis? Be ready. Interested in learning more about executive presentation skills for your team or company? Head to our Influencing with Visuals workshop page.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/exec.jpg", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:20:15-05:00" }, { "id": 7901, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/3-visual-layouts-will-catapult-ideas/", "title": "3 Uber-simple Visual Layouts to Make a Boring PowerPoint More Engaging (Video)", "h1": "3 Uber-simple Visual Layouts to Make a Boring PowerPoint More Engaging (Video)", "summary": "    It’s no secret — it’s the visuals that get your message heard and retained. Pictures are processed 60 thousand times faster than text. Here are three common visual layouts that work to catapult your ideas. Let’s begin with a simple list. Not exactly a major work of art. But sometimes, it’s all you […]", "content": "

 

 

It’s no secret — it’s the visuals that get your message heard and retained. Pictures are processed 60 thousand times faster than text. Here are three common visual layouts that work to catapult your ideas.

Let’s begin with a simple list. Not exactly a major work of art. But sometimes, it’s all you need. If you can’t keep it short, try a different layout.

Here are some examples of how to display a list. Notice how each item is encased in a box. And boxes are placed in regular patterns. No one item has more weight than another but it brings graphical life to the simple list.

\"\"

Next up, a process. Unlike a list, a process shows sequential information. Look for directional arrows to flow from one item to another. This visual is all about order. Add numbering to really make your point.

\"\"

Which brings us… to timelines. Timelines display events in chronological order. More visual than a bulleted list of dates.

\"\"

So, goodbye endless text. Goodbye bullets. Think visually about your presentation design to really drive the message home.

Looking for a slide library that contains nearly 100 slide layouts in your company’s brand? Look no further.

Participants of our Influencing with Visuals workshop receive a Visual Slide Library™, featuring branded slide layouts (photos, diagrams, data visualization, text displays and more). It also includes how–to PowerPoint instructions for editing slide layouts.

", "content_plain": "    It’s no secret — it’s the visuals that get your message heard and retained. Pictures are processed 60 thousand times faster than text. Here are three common visual layouts that work to catapult your ideas. Let’s begin with a simple list. Not exactly a major work of art. But sometimes, it’s all you need. If you can’t keep it short, try a different layout. Here are some examples of how to display a list. Notice how each item is encased in a box. And boxes are placed in regular patterns. No one item has more weight than another but it brings graphical life to the simple list. Next up, a process. Unlike a list, a process shows sequential information. Look for directional arrows to flow from one item to another. This visual is all about order. Add numbering to really make your point. Which brings us… to timelines. Timelines display events in chronological order. More visual than a bulleted list of dates. So, goodbye endless text. Goodbye bullets. Think visually about your presentation design to really drive the message home. Looking for a slide library that contains nearly 100 slide layouts in your company’s brand? Look no further. Participants of our Influencing with Visuals workshop receive a Visual Slide Library™, featuring branded slide layouts (photos, diagrams, data visualization, text displays and more). It also includes how–to PowerPoint instructions for editing slide layouts.", "image": false, "modified": "2025-08-28T09:55:15-05:00" }, { "id": 7903, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/daren-lewis-director-content-strategy/", "title": "Daren Lewis, Vice President, Insights & Workshop Execution", "h1": "Daren Lewis, Vice President, Insights & Workshop Execution", "summary": "Communicator, Designer, Craftsman Definition of success: I measure my success by the success of the people I love and work alongside. The goal is to make a multiplicative impact. I build the content and train the instructors who will turn around and teach thousands of people to create outstanding, meaningful presentations. I strive to give everyone […]", "content": "

Communicator, Designer, Craftsman

Definition of success: I measure my success by the success of the people I love and work alongside. The goal is to make a multiplicative impact. I build the content and train the instructors who will turn around and teach thousands of people to create outstanding, meaningful presentations. I strive to give everyone around me the knowledge and tools to make them successful. 

Work style: Based on my company experience and with the Coast Guard Auxiliary, I always go to a calm place in a crisis. When I hit rough waters in any capacity I remember two things: use your training, don’t panic.

Best advice: When you’ve been on boats in the middle of the Pacific – 15 days in either direction – or teaching employees of major corporations how to master presentation technologies, you know categorically that you always need a plan. And always assume there will be obstacles. At TPC, if there is something to do with a checklist or process, it has my fingerprints all over it.

Most formative experience: I learned very young to never overlook opportunity that’s right in front of me. In fact, I first discovered my wife living right across the hall from me at UC Santa Cruz! I married her senior year. 

Best thing about TPC: I love how within our small company culture, we are all always learning and building our expertise. An idea that emerges during my morning shower can be shared with the team, turned around, and executed a day later. Whether it means creating a new course or testing new custom templates, we are all constantly innovating.

Early Inspiration: I worked for my family’s mechanical design consulting business right out of college. It was incredible to help build early Cisco routers, voting machines, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment. I fell in love with transformational technology. Moving next into PR, I poured all my energy into driving the message of innovation for other companies such as Nortel and IBM.

Off work hours: Yes, I can relax! But whether it involves guiding my two teenage boys or teaching boating safety classes, I am largely driven by the element of service in my life.

Learn more about Daren here.

", "content_plain": "Communicator, Designer, Craftsman Definition of success: I measure my success by the success of the people I love and work alongside. The goal is to make a multiplicative impact. I build the content and train the instructors who will turn around and teach thousands of people to create outstanding, meaningful presentations. I strive to give everyone around me the knowledge and tools to make them successful. Work style: Based on my company experience and with the Coast Guard Auxiliary, I always go to a calm place in a crisis. When I hit rough waters in any capacity I remember two things: use your training, don’t panic. Best advice: When you’ve been on boats in the middle of the Pacific – 15 days in either direction – or teaching employees of major corporations how to master presentation technologies, you know categorically that you always need a plan. And always assume there will be obstacles. At TPC, if there is something to do with a checklist or process, it has my fingerprints all over it. Most formative experience: I learned very young to never overlook opportunity that’s right in front of me. In fact, I first discovered my wife living right across the hall from me at UC Santa Cruz! I married her senior year. Best thing about TPC: I love how within our small company culture, we are all always learning and building our expertise. An idea that emerges during my morning shower can be shared with the team, turned around, and executed a day later. Whether it means creating a new course or testing new custom templates, we are all constantly innovating. Early Inspiration: I worked for my family’s mechanical design consulting business right out of college. It was incredible to help build early Cisco routers, voting machines, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment. I fell in love with transformational technology. Moving next into PR, I poured all my energy into driving the message of innovation for other companies such as Nortel and IBM. Off work hours: Yes, I can relax! But whether it involves guiding my two teenage boys or teaching boating safety classes, I am largely driven by the element of service in my life. Learn more about Daren here.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Slide1-260x300-1.jpg", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:42:17-05:00" }, { "id": 7905, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/masterful-webex-presentations-3/", "title": "Excuse Me Sir, You Dropped Your Data…", "h1": "Excuse Me Sir, You Dropped Your Data…", "summary": "Masterful WebEx Presentations – Part 3 Your WebEx presentation was meticulously planned. Flawlessly delivered. Your audience vigorously interacted with you – and with each other. Time to pack up and grab a beer, right? Not quite yet. You’ve left something very important behind — valuable data. Just about any interaction, be it a chat exchange, […]", "content": "

Masterful WebEx Presentations – Part 3

Your WebEx presentation was meticulously planned. Flawlessly delivered. Your audience vigorously interacted with you – and with each other. Time to pack up and grab a beer, right?

Not quite yet. You’ve left something very important behind — valuable data. Just about any interaction, be it a chat exchange, Q&A session, or poll result are valuable to keep. Why? Because capturing every question, comment, and (perhaps most importantly) complaint of your audience provides great insight into the power of your message… It also reveals how effective you are addressing these issues in real time. And the more you generate feedback by incorporating interactive tools, the more data you will have to analyze. Here are three examples.

Sales Team Meetings

Want to learn the greatest challenges your 500-person sales force faces in a couple minutes? Launch a poll. Rumors about your competitor’s R&D programs? Start a conversation in the chat panel. Product or service problems that continue to plague rollout? Leverage the Q&A panel. Sure there are other ways to get this information, but when a virtual meeting convenes the floodgates can open and those off-the-cuff comments turn into critical nuggets of information. Often, presenters lose valuable freeform communication captured in chat or on a whiteboard because they don’t save the data before closing the virtual meeting. Don’t let this happen.

\"\"

Webinars

Capturing and analyzing interactions with potential customers or prospects after a webinar is critical – even if they don’t buy your product. What is the big deal about Q&A logs and chat responses? They are customers discussing your product. And these discussions can offer a great deal of knowledge about how the market is responding to your offering. Prospects are also supplying clues about their true needs — which can only help you refine your pitch for the future. Perhaps someone posts a question about your product beta that – you later realize – should be answered by your R&D team. Or perhaps you figure out in hindsight they’d be more interested in a different or upcoming product? Capturing and analyzing your entire interaction with them gives you a leg up in determining how best to follow up and continue the conversation offline. After all, everything is about converting that lead to a customer!

\"\"

What’s more, virtual conferencing is almost unbeatable for doing customer research. Ask everyone you pitch the same three questions about their needs and surely you will understand your market better.

The Challenger Sale is one of our favorite sales strategy books. Rather than recite a standard pitch, the book’s philosophy is that successful salespeople tailor their message to their customers’ specific needs and objectives. Wanna know a great place to gather data about customer needs? Yep, a virtual conference.

Corporate Training

For corporate training, analysis of participant data is gold. You will know instantly where audiences are getting tripped up on the material. Capturing the Q&A logs is a great place to start. Also, examining the discussions and activities that result from simultaneous breakout rooms (where an audience may practice what they have learned) gives a clear picture of how well trainees are retaining information.

Managers: want an idea about how well your staff has been performing in that expensive training you signed them up for? Ask for data detailing their interaction during the conference.

Interested in more in-depth advice for virtual meetings? Check out Successful Online Presentations, our virtual meetings and presentations workshop that coaches teams on state-of-the-art virtual presentation design and delivery techniques through instructor demo and hands-on practice.

", "content_plain": "Masterful WebEx Presentations – Part 3 Your WebEx presentation was meticulously planned. Flawlessly delivered. Your audience vigorously interacted with you – and with each other. Time to pack up and grab a beer, right? Not quite yet. You’ve left something very important behind — valuable data. Just about any interaction, be it a chat exchange, Q&A session, or poll result are valuable to keep. Why? Because capturing every question, comment, and (perhaps most importantly) complaint of your audience provides great insight into the power of your message… It also reveals how effective you are addressing these issues in real time. And the more you generate feedback by incorporating interactive tools, the more data you will have to analyze. Here are three examples. Sales Team Meetings Want to learn the greatest challenges your 500-person sales force faces in a couple minutes? Launch a poll. Rumors about your competitor’s R&D programs? Start a conversation in the chat panel. Product or service problems that continue to plague rollout? Leverage the Q&A panel. Sure there are other ways to get this information, but when a virtual meeting convenes the floodgates can open and those off-the-cuff comments turn into critical nuggets of information. Often, presenters lose valuable freeform communication captured in chat or on a whiteboard because they don’t save the data before closing the virtual meeting. Don’t let this happen. Webinars Capturing and analyzing interactions with potential customers or prospects after a webinar is critical – even if they don’t buy your product. What is the big deal about Q&A logs and chat responses? They are customers discussing your product. And these discussions can offer a great deal of knowledge about how the market is responding to your offering. Prospects are also supplying clues about their true needs — which can only help you refine your pitch for the future. Perhaps someone posts a question about your product beta that – you later realize – should be answered by your R&D team. Or perhaps you figure out in hindsight they’d be more interested in a different or upcoming product? Capturing and analyzing your entire interaction with them gives you a leg up in determining how best to follow up and continue the conversation offline. After all, everything is about converting that lead to a customer! What’s more, virtual conferencing is almost unbeatable for doing customer research. Ask everyone you pitch the same three questions about their needs and surely you will understand your market better. The Challenger Sale is one of our favorite sales strategy books. Rather than recite a standard pitch, the book’s philosophy is that successful salespeople tailor their message to their customers’ specific needs and objectives. Wanna know a great place to gather data about customer needs? Yep, a virtual conference. Corporate Training For corporate training, analysis of participant data is gold. You will know instantly where audiences are getting tripped up on the material. Capturing the Q&A logs is a great place to start. Also, examining the discussions and activities that result from simultaneous breakout rooms (where an audience may practice what they have learned) gives a clear picture of how well trainees are retaining information. Managers: want an idea about how well your staff has been performing in that expensive training you signed them up for? Ask for data detailing their interaction during the conference. Interested in more in-depth advice for virtual meetings? Check out Successful Online Presentations, our virtual meetings and presentations workshop that coaches teams on state-of-the-art virtual presentation design and delivery techniques through instructor demo and hands-on practice.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/DataTrash.png", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:42:34-05:00" }, { "id": 7907, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/delivery-tips-for-virtual-meetings-pt-2/", "title": "Four Delivery Tips for Virtual Meetings That All Webex Stars Know", "h1": "Four Delivery Tips for Virtual Meetings That All Webex Stars Know", "summary": "Masterful WebEx presentations – Part 2 In Part 1 of our series on Masterful WebEx presentations, you learned about interactive tools that lock in audience engagement, how to build slide – decks for virtual (not face-to-face) audiences, and how to plan for the size of your audience. Now, the day of your presentation has arrived […]", "content": "

Masterful WebEx presentations – Part 2

In Part 1 of our series on Masterful WebEx presentations, you learned about interactive tools that lock in audience engagement, how to build slide – decks for virtual (not face-to-face) audiences, and how to plan for the size of your audience. Now, the day of your presentation has arrived and it’s time to focus… on delivery. Here are four critical tips to make it flow oh-so-smoothly.1. Assume your audience knows nothing about using WebEx

1. Assume your audience knows nothing about using WebEx

Imagine your audience has just been released after 25 years from a Siberian gulag. The first place they’re headed? YOUR WebEx presentation. They need general introductions and an overview on what to expect for the next hour. But most of all, they need explicit instruction on using interactive tools. As we learned in the last post, interactive tools are the key to audience interaction. And an interactive audience is an engaged audience. Your instruction should be both visual and verbal. Show them with screen captures or pictures (see slide below) and tell them verbally how to use those tools.

\"\"

Whatever tools you expect your audience to use: chat, Q&A, polls, or whiteboarding, give them a tour of them before you begin. Then, remind them again where the tool lives when you get to that part of the presentation.

2. Fill in the dead air (visually and verbally)

There is nothing that screams amateur more than long, confusing, bouts of silence. You’re opening up a poll, switching to application sharing, asking for feedback. Any transition offers the risk that your audience will dive straight into their email. How to solve this? The screen should always tell your audience what is going on. And at the same time, verbally remind the audience what is happening. Seeing and hearing the message at the same time will help even the most ADHD-prone audience member know what is going on. The two slides below show how to keep everyone in the moment.

\"\"

3. Fire up your annotation toolbar, disable tools you won’t use

The majority of interactive tools live in the annotation toolbar. Just before you begin, make sure it is enabled otherwise you will find yourself panicking. And remember to turn off whatever tools you won’t be using to avoid confusion. Feeling more advanced? Turn tools on or off as you are calling on the audience to use them. You never know when a rogue participant will try and graffiti your elegant slide deck with the highlighter tool! Simply put: engage them with what you choose and eliminate the rest.

\"\"

4. Consider having a producer

If you are conducting a virtual conference for 50 or more people, for goodness sake, get a producer. And here’s why: your presentation is an hour (wait, what? it’s more? We’ll talk another time…). Add together 5 minutes for late attendees + 40 minutes for presenting content and audience interaction + 10 minutes ‘housekeeping’ (introductions and tools instruction) + 5 minutes to wrap up. That’s your hour. And how much have you apportioned for technical problems? – Well maybe now you see the problem…

Every minute YOU are solving audio problems, responding to extra chatty folks, opening polls, or transitioning slides is a minute taken away from your focus on presenting. You either need to curtail your presented content or extend your meeting (and for this, your audience will want to send YOU to the gulag!) This pie chart shows how technical problems eat into your presenting time…

\"\"

Producers are your stage crew. They take control of behind-the-scenes mechanics so that you can focus on helping your audience absorb your content.
Our rule of thumb? You should even consider using a producer for audiences of over 25. If you are conducting a highly interactive meeting or training (say with breakout sessions) with 25 people – having backup will relieve mountains of stress.
Even more -, for web meetings conducted globally, producers can provide a localized experience for participants in different regions. They can translate content into different languages through chat or Q&A.

Look out for Part 3 of Masterful WebEx Presentations: Collecting the customer data your WebEx left behind. For more virtual meeting tips and best practices, check out TPC’s Successful Online Presentations workshop.

", "content_plain": "Masterful WebEx presentations – Part 2 In Part 1 of our series on Masterful WebEx presentations, you learned about interactive tools that lock in audience engagement, how to build slide – decks for virtual (not face-to-face) audiences, and how to plan for the size of your audience. Now, the day of your presentation has arrived and it’s time to focus… on delivery. Here are four critical tips to make it flow oh-so-smoothly.1. Assume your audience knows nothing about using WebEx 1. Assume your audience knows nothing about using WebEx Imagine your audience has just been released after 25 years from a Siberian gulag. The first place they’re headed? YOUR WebEx presentation. They need general introductions and an overview on what to expect for the next hour. But most of all, they need explicit instruction on using interactive tools. As we learned in the last post, interactive tools are the key to audience interaction. And an interactive audience is an engaged audience. Your instruction should be both visual and verbal. Show them with screen captures or pictures (see slide below) and tell them verbally how to use those tools. Whatever tools you expect your audience to use: chat, Q&A, polls, or whiteboarding, give them a tour of them before you begin. Then, remind them again where the tool lives when you get to that part of the presentation. 2. Fill in the dead air (visually and verbally) There is nothing that screams amateur more than long, confusing, bouts of silence. You’re opening up a poll, switching to application sharing, asking for feedback. Any transition offers the risk that your audience will dive straight into their email. How to solve this? The screen should always tell your audience what is going on. And at the same time, verbally remind the audience what is happening. Seeing and hearing the message at the same time will help even the most ADHD-prone audience member know what is going on. The two slides below show how to keep everyone in the moment. 3. Fire up your annotation toolbar, disable tools you won’t use The majority of interactive tools live in the annotation toolbar. Just before you begin, make sure it is enabled otherwise you will find yourself panicking. And remember to turn off whatever tools you won’t be using to avoid confusion. Feeling more advanced? Turn tools on or off as you are calling on the audience to use them. You never know when a rogue participant will try and graffiti your elegant slide deck with the highlighter tool! Simply put: engage them with what you choose and eliminate the rest. 4. Consider having a producer If you are conducting a virtual conference for 50 or more people, for goodness sake, get a producer. And here’s why: your presentation is an hour (wait, what? it’s more? We’ll talk another time…). Add together 5 minutes for late attendees + 40 minutes for presenting content and audience interaction + 10 minutes ‘housekeeping’ (introductions and tools instruction) + 5 minutes to wrap up. That’s your hour. And how much have you apportioned for technical problems? – Well maybe now you see the problem… Every minute YOU are solving audio problems, responding to extra chatty folks, opening polls, or transitioning slides is a minute taken away from your focus on presenting. You either need to curtail your presented content or extend your meeting (and for this, your audience will want to send YOU to the gulag!) This pie chart shows how technical problems eat into your presenting time… Producers are your stage crew. They take control of behind-the-scenes mechanics so that you can focus on helping your audience absorb your content. Our rule of thumb? You should even consider using a producer for audiences of over 25. If you are conducting a highly interactive meeting or training (say with breakout sessions) with 25 people – having backup will relieve mountains of stress. Even more -, for web meetings conducted globally, producers can provide a localized experience for participants in different regions. They can translate content into different languages through chat or Q&A. Look out for Part 3 of Masterful WebEx Presentations: Collecting the customer data your WebEx left behind. For more virtual meeting tips and best practices, check out TPC’s Successful Online Presentations workshop.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/NWEA_VILT_1.png", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:43:14-05:00" }, { "id": 7909, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/masterful-webex-presentations/", "title": "Reduce your laundry bill: Sweat-free virtual presentations with great planning and design.", "h1": "Reduce your laundry bill: Sweat-free virtual presentations with great planning and design.", "summary": "PART 1: Masterful WebEx Presentations: Planning and Design Most agree. It’s crazy-scary making virtual presentations to a large, unknown audience. Hell, it’s scary presenting to a small, known audience. As you’re serving up your brilliant ideas, you can’t see a reaction, you don’t know if you’re going too fast or too slow, and if you […]", "content": "

PART 1: Masterful WebEx Presentations: Planning and Design

Most agree. It’s crazy-scary making virtual presentations to a large, unknown audience. Hell, it’s scary presenting to a small, known audience. As you’re serving up your brilliant ideas, you can’t see a reaction, you don’t know if you’re going too fast or too slow, and if you do lose them… how long ago was it? Oh, and then there’s the distractions. Emails, texts, and IMs screaming “Read me! Read me!” So how does anyone offer an engaging, informative, and entertaining (yes, entertaining) virtual presentation? The answer is simple: superior design, creative planning, and top-notch delivery.

Here are 3 crucial design tips that will help you lock in your virtual audience. Stay tuned for Part 2 coming soon!

1. Plan and prepare the interactive tools you are going to need most

Web presentations tank for two main reasons: your audience is bored or you are not responding to their needs sufficiently. Want to know the way to attack both of those potential pitfalls? Keep them interacting with you and with each other. Your web conferencing platform is filled with tools to promote interactivity – launch a poll, ask for chat responses, activate a Q&A session, etc. These tools keep the conversation lively and they also provide critical feedback during the session. Am I going too fast? Is this content resonating? Are they eager to participate in a conversation? Find out! But don’t use these tools randomly. Anticipate which tool will bring you the type of feedback that will keep you tuned in with your audience.

In this Chat discussion example, the presenter can see where the audience is getting confused.

\"\"

2. Build your decks for virtual delivery, not face-to-face

Visuals help your ideas be memorable

For face-to-face presentations, great visuals are important. But for virtual presentations or meetings, they are the lifeblood. Can you image watching “Game of Thrones” in bullet points? Ok, maybe this is an extreme example, but seriously, lackluster visuals will kill your virtual presentation. Why? Because we know that visuals are processed remarkably faster than text alone. And, in an environment where you don’t have the benefit of human body language, compelling visuals are what will draw your audience in. See the following example:

\"\"

Don’t just deliver an online slideshow. Design a ground-up presentation for your virtual meetings, trainings or demos that is filled with powerful, thoughtful visuals.

Placeholder slides help guide flow

Slide decks for virtual presentations should provide a guided, logical flow that take into account every moment of the presentation. Taking a 5-minute break in your presentation? Moving to a new topic area? Soliciting feedback from your audience? Provide a slide to cue your audience (and you) into what’s happening next. These placeholder slides should be strategically arranged to make you stop and interact with your audience (we recommend) every 3-5 minutes. Here are three great examples of slides that cue the audience for what’s up next:

\"\"

Build in behind-the-scenes navigation

You’ve just realized that you lost your audience twelve slides ago. Web conferencing platforms let you build in a neat trick. Instead of clunkily scrolling back through the last dozen slides, you can enable the ‘thumbnail’ view of the deck that is visible only to you. Behind the scenes, jump to any slide quickly. See example below:

\"\"

3. Plan for the size of your audience

Audience size makes a big difference when planning virtual interaction. A global sales force will participate at a much different level than a small HR department. You can’t possibly invite thousands of people to write on a white board at once, or encourage chat responses (unless you have a team of assistants to answer). Polling however is great for large audiences (see more about savvy polling in Part 2 of our Masterful WebEx Presentations series). Think it through: how do you want to engage? What are the right tools for the size of your audience?

Below is an example of a Q&A session. Q&A is a great feedback tool, that can be utilized any time during a presentation (in fact, we recommend that you don’t wait until the end of your virtual meeting to pause for Q&A). Each discussion is threaded, meaning responses to each question are grouped together. Tracking multiple discussions is easy. For large meetings however, having a dedicated member of your team responsible for answering live Q&A is helpful! But if it’s just you, be sure to carefully plan ahead when you are going to check in and pause for a Q&A break.

\"\"

Coming soon: More expert planning and design tips in Part 2 of Masterful WebEx Presentations. For now? Check out Successful Online Presentations, our popular course teaching many of these state-of-the-art design and delivery techniques through instructor demo and hands-on practice.

", "content_plain": "PART 1: Masterful WebEx Presentations: Planning and Design Most agree. It’s crazy-scary making virtual presentations to a large, unknown audience. Hell, it’s scary presenting to a small, known audience. As you’re serving up your brilliant ideas, you can’t see a reaction, you don’t know if you’re going too fast or too slow, and if you do lose them… how long ago was it? Oh, and then there’s the distractions. Emails, texts, and IMs screaming “Read me! Read me!” So how does anyone offer an engaging, informative, and entertaining (yes, entertaining) virtual presentation? The answer is simple: superior design, creative planning, and top-notch delivery. Here are 3 crucial design tips that will help you lock in your virtual audience. Stay tuned for Part 2 coming soon! 1. Plan and prepare the interactive tools you are going to need most Web presentations tank for two main reasons: your audience is bored or you are not responding to their needs sufficiently. Want to know the way to attack both of those potential pitfalls? Keep them interacting with you and with each other. Your web conferencing platform is filled with tools to promote interactivity – launch a poll, ask for chat responses, activate a Q&A session, etc. These tools keep the conversation lively and they also provide critical feedback during the session. Am I going too fast? Is this content resonating? Are they eager to participate in a conversation? Find out! But don’t use these tools randomly. Anticipate which tool will bring you the type of feedback that will keep you tuned in with your audience. In this Chat discussion example, the presenter can see where the audience is getting confused. 2. Build your decks for virtual delivery, not face-to-face Visuals help your ideas be memorable For face-to-face presentations, great visuals are important. But for virtual presentations or meetings, they are the lifeblood. Can you image watching “Game of Thrones” in bullet points? Ok, maybe this is an extreme example, but seriously, lackluster visuals will kill your virtual presentation. Why? Because we know that visuals are processed remarkably faster than text alone. And, in an environment where you don’t have the benefit of human body language, compelling visuals are what will draw your audience in. See the following example: Don’t just deliver an online slideshow. Design a ground-up presentation for your virtual meetings, trainings or demos that is filled with powerful, thoughtful visuals. Placeholder slides help guide flow Slide decks for virtual presentations should provide a guided, logical flow that take into account every moment of the presentation. Taking a 5-minute break in your presentation? Moving to a new topic area? Soliciting feedback from your audience? Provide a slide to cue your audience (and you) into what’s happening next. These placeholder slides should be strategically arranged to make you stop and interact with your audience (we recommend) every 3-5 minutes. Here are three great examples of slides that cue the audience for what’s up next: Build in behind-the-scenes navigation You’ve just realized that you lost your audience twelve slides ago. Web conferencing platforms let you build in a neat trick. Instead of clunkily scrolling back through the last dozen slides, you can enable the ‘thumbnail’ view of the deck that is visible only to you. Behind the scenes, jump to any slide quickly. See example below: 3. Plan for the size of your audience Audience size makes a big difference when planning virtual interaction. A global sales force will participate at a much different level than a small HR department. You can’t possibly invite thousands of people to write on a white board at once, or encourage chat responses (unless you have a team of assistants to answer). Polling however is great for large audiences (see more about savvy polling in Part 2 of our Masterful WebEx Presentations series). Think it through: how do you want to engage? What are the right tools for the size of your audience? Below is an example of a Q&A session. Q&A is a great feedback tool, that can be utilized any time during a presentation (in fact, we recommend that you don’t wait until the end of your virtual meeting to pause for Q&A). Each discussion is threaded, meaning responses to each question are grouped together. Tracking multiple discussions is easy. For large meetings however, having a dedicated member of your team responsible for answering live Q&A is helpful! But if it’s just you, be sure to carefully plan ahead when you are going to check in and pause for a Q&A break. Coming soon: More expert planning and design tips in Part 2 of Masterful WebEx Presentations. For now? Check out Successful Online Presentations, our popular course teaching many of these state-of-the-art design and delivery techniques through instructor demo and hands-on practice.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/post_sweatyguy.png", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:43:34-05:00" }, { "id": 7911, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/6-ways-to-protect-your-corporate-brand-with-a-bullet-proof-powerpoint-template/", "title": "6 Ways to Protect Your Corporate Brand with a Bullet-Proof PowerPoint Template", "h1": "6 Ways to Protect Your Corporate Brand with a Bullet-Proof PowerPoint Template", "summary": "Can you imagine buying clothes that are stylish, but have no buttons, zippers or pockets? This is how many companies attempt to build corporate PowerPoint templates: beautiful to look at but, functionally, a nightmare. Here are 6 ways great custom templates can be built to protect your brand. 1. Designed for front-end elegance AND back-end functionality […]", "content": "

Can you imagine buying clothes that are stylish, but have no buttons, zippers or pockets? This is how many companies attempt to build corporate PowerPoint templates: beautiful to look at but, functionally, a nightmare. Here are 6 ways great custom templates can be built to protect your brand.

1. Designed for front-end elegance AND back-end functionality

Too often, we see corporate templates that have a “pretty face” but, when you look under the hood, they’re a hot mess! So what exactly is the “back-end” of a template? The back-end encompasses all the elements that underpin the template: colors, fonts, slide master and slide layouts, backgrounds, graphics, logos, placeholder formatting, etc. Templates designed for only the front-end are begging for employees to veer off in their own design directions. Unless you want it to look like each employee works for a different company, this is a big problem! To make the most of your branding investment, templates should be meticulously formatted, properly sized, consistently structured and secured from end-to-end.

\"\"

2. Programmed to perfectly reflect your brand

Whether your company is large or small, enterprise- or consumer-focused, your goal is to protect your brand internally and *absolutely* when employees are let loose on the outside world. PowerPoint template design should never be an afterthought. It is a corporate application that is second only to Outlook in popularity. It deserves at least as much investment, attention and energy as tradeshow graphics, a new website or a new brochure. Bottom line: good templates help people quickly build visual messages that simply reek of your brand from the inside out.

3. Templates should be plug-and-play starter kits for any visual presentation

With a full collection of superbly designed layouts, on the back- and front-end, people should have little to do but pick an ideal layout and plug in text, numbers or graphics. No sizing fonts. No inserting text boxes. No looking for colors. No formatting bullets. It should all be there. Appropriate, pre-built layouts will be used (nay, seized!) for their easy, time-saving and stylish results.

\"\"

4. They inspire better storytelling

PowerPoint presentations don’t exactly have the greatest reputation…you can blame the presenter, but really, it’s text-laden or poorly designed visuals that do most of the damage. Weave your key facts in a chart, a simple shape, an infographic or a meaningful photo and they become memorable and persuasive. And the science backs this up: visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text. A catalog of well-designed templates should inspire employees to be intrinsically better storytellers by jumpstarting visual thinking.

\"\"

5. They make displaying data really simple

Do you want to know the biggest change in data display in the last 20 years? Infographics. And without fail, the best custom templates include pre-built layouts. They’ve become so popular because they tell a simple, visual story that just focuses on key data points or relationships. But sometimes, you must display more data. Smart templates include pre-formatted charts that you can populate with figures from your Excel spreadsheet. No need for anyone to attempt to format within Excel, which would produce charts that would clash with the corporate brand.

\"\"

6. Robust user manuals should be written for end-users, not designers

With differing levels of PowerPoint skill, a customized self-help guide is critical to ensure your marketing department does not become the helpdesk. Many companies build guides that only a well-trained designer understands. Engineers, program managers and sales folks, etc., however, don’t understand ‘designer-speak’. They need simple instructions that anticipate their needs and access to resources for quick, plug-and-play solutions. This is how templates get adopted quickly and become indispensable within organizations. And better still? Your marketing department becomes the hero, not the helpdesk.

\"\"

Ready to talk about new templates for your company? Call us at 1-888-991-0208 to learn more.

", "content_plain": "Can you imagine buying clothes that are stylish, but have no buttons, zippers or pockets? This is how many companies attempt to build corporate PowerPoint templates: beautiful to look at but, functionally, a nightmare. Here are 6 ways great custom templates can be built to protect your brand. 1. Designed for front-end elegance AND back-end functionality Too often, we see corporate templates that have a “pretty face” but, when you look under the hood, they’re a hot mess! So what exactly is the “back-end” of a template? The back-end encompasses all the elements that underpin the template: colors, fonts, slide master and slide layouts, backgrounds, graphics, logos, placeholder formatting, etc. Templates designed for only the front-end are begging for employees to veer off in their own design directions. Unless you want it to look like each employee works for a different company, this is a big problem! To make the most of your branding investment, templates should be meticulously formatted, properly sized, consistently structured and secured from end-to-end. 2. Programmed to perfectly reflect your brand Whether your company is large or small, enterprise- or consumer-focused, your goal is to protect your brand internally and *absolutely* when employees are let loose on the outside world. PowerPoint template design should never be an afterthought. It is a corporate application that is second only to Outlook in popularity. It deserves at least as much investment, attention and energy as tradeshow graphics, a new website or a new brochure. Bottom line: good templates help people quickly build visual messages that simply reek of your brand from the inside out. 3. Templates should be plug-and-play starter kits for any visual presentation With a full collection of superbly designed layouts, on the back- and front-end, people should have little to do but pick an ideal layout and plug in text, numbers or graphics. No sizing fonts. No inserting text boxes. No looking for colors. No formatting bullets. It should all be there. Appropriate, pre-built layouts will be used (nay, seized!) for their easy, time-saving and stylish results. 4. They inspire better storytelling PowerPoint presentations don’t exactly have the greatest reputation…you can blame the presenter, but really, it’s text-laden or poorly designed visuals that do most of the damage. Weave your key facts in a chart, a simple shape, an infographic or a meaningful photo and they become memorable and persuasive. And the science backs this up: visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text. A catalog of well-designed templates should inspire employees to be intrinsically better storytellers by jumpstarting visual thinking. 5. They make displaying data really simple Do you want to know the biggest change in data display in the last 20 years? Infographics. And without fail, the best custom templates include pre-built layouts. They’ve become so popular because they tell a simple, visual story that just focuses on key data points or relationships. But sometimes, you must display more data. Smart templates include pre-formatted charts that you can populate with figures from your Excel spreadsheet. No need for anyone to attempt to format within Excel, which would produce charts that would clash with the corporate brand. 6. Robust user manuals should be written for end-users, not designers With differing levels of PowerPoint skill, a customized self-help guide is critical to ensure your marketing department does not become the helpdesk. Many companies build guides that only a well-trained designer understands. Engineers, program managers and sales folks, etc., however, don’t understand ‘designer-speak’. They need simple instructions that anticipate their needs and access to resources for quick, plug-and-play solutions. This is how templates get adopted quickly and become indispensable within organizations. And better still? Your marketing department becomes the hero, not the helpdesk. Ready to talk about new templates for your company? Call us at 1-888-991-0208 to learn more.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/bullet-hole.jpg", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:22:37-05:00" }, { "id": 7913, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/5-commandments-for-presenting-data-in-powerpoint/", "title": "5 Commandments for Presenting Data in PowerPoint", "h1": "5 Commandments for Presenting Data in PowerPoint", "summary": "  Bar charts. Line charts. Pie charts. We long to nestle our data in these colorful displays in hopes of breathing great meaning into our numbers. But too often, bad chart choices and misuse of our own data, actually reduce the meaning of our message. Charts should pass a basic test: do they elevate your […]", "content": "

 

Bar charts. Line charts. Pie charts. We long to nestle our data in these colorful displays in hopes of breathing great meaning into our numbers. But too often, bad chart choices and misuse of our own data, actually reduce the meaning of our message. Charts should pass a basic test: do they elevate your main point? Do they bolster your pitch or your argument? Do they easily spell out the conclusion you want to communicate? Here are 5 Commandments for presenting data in PowerPoint:

Commandment #1: Thou shalt not supply extraneous data

Be scrupulous. Be selective. Only use data that directly supplies information to the concluding point of your argument or pitch. Don’t succumb to pressure to use excess data just because it is available. It will overload, distort, or confuse your message. The pie chart on the left has a lot of information about using mobile phones to make a purchase, but it is confusing and doesn’t even make a point. The chart on the right (which is not ACTUALLY a chart, more on this later) shows just the relevant data, summarizing ONE compelling point.

\"\"

 

Commandment #2 Thou shalt not use a chart if you don’t need one

You know when you ask your mother someone a simple yes or no, black or white, in or out question and you get a whole, long story that doesn’t really give you an answer? Frustrating, right? This is the same problem presenters run into when they showcase too much data. Your customer/boss/staff are much more likely to absorb and come to a decision based on one simple, conclusive data point. Is it increasing or decreasing? Is it a significant trend or not? Is this something I should pay attention to and why? Visually display your message but not necessarily in a traditional bar/pie/line chart. Clean lines and a few simple shapes are often all you need to tell the story. The above right graphic is a striking example.

Commandment #3 Thou shalt get to your conclusion quickly

Actually, let’s go even further. When presenting your data on a slide, you shouldn’t just get to your conclusion quickly, you should LEAD with your conclusion. In the below left slide, the point of the table about mobile phone usage is not really specified. Are we to conclude that 59% is a lot of users? Not enough users? What is the impact? The slide on the right not only puts mobile use into vivid context, it get straight to the significance of the message.

\"\"

Commandment #4: Thou shalt illustrate your data with a meaningful photo

OK. This is not exactly a commandment. But photos with great context can really visualize and help drive home your message. This is especially true if you are presenting data about people. Photos of people (or silhouettes) will instantly humanize your data. One word of caution: use photos sparingly and never cram too many in one slide. The below slides use photos to effectively illustrate their story.

\"\"

Commandment #5: Charts shalt not be used in the following circumstances:

Looking for data visualization training for your team? TPC’s Presenting Data Visually workshop will arm you with the tools and techniques to make your data story shine.

", "content_plain": "  Bar charts. Line charts. Pie charts. We long to nestle our data in these colorful displays in hopes of breathing great meaning into our numbers. But too often, bad chart choices and misuse of our own data, actually reduce the meaning of our message. Charts should pass a basic test: do they elevate your main point? Do they bolster your pitch or your argument? Do they easily spell out the conclusion you want to communicate? Here are 5 Commandments for presenting data in PowerPoint: Commandment #1: Thou shalt not supply extraneous data Be scrupulous. Be selective. Only use data that directly supplies information to the concluding point of your argument or pitch. Don’t succumb to pressure to use excess data just because it is available. It will overload, distort, or confuse your message. The pie chart on the left has a lot of information about using mobile phones to make a purchase, but it is confusing and doesn’t even make a point. The chart on the right (which is not ACTUALLY a chart, more on this later) shows just the relevant data, summarizing ONE compelling point.   Commandment #2 Thou shalt not use a chart if you don’t need one You know when you ask your mother someone a simple yes or no, black or white, in or out question and you get a whole, long story that doesn’t really give you an answer? Frustrating, right? This is the same problem presenters run into when they showcase too much data. Your customer/boss/staff are much more likely to absorb and come to a decision based on one simple, conclusive data point. Is it increasing or decreasing? Is it a significant trend or not? Is this something I should pay attention to and why? Visually display your message but not necessarily in a traditional bar/pie/line chart. Clean lines and a few simple shapes are often all you need to tell the story. The above right graphic is a striking example. Commandment #3 Thou shalt get to your conclusion quickly Actually, let’s go even further. When presenting your data on a slide, you shouldn’t just get to your conclusion quickly, you should LEAD with your conclusion. In the below left slide, the point of the table about mobile phone usage is not really specified. Are we to conclude that 59% is a lot of users? Not enough users? What is the impact? The slide on the right not only puts mobile use into vivid context, it get straight to the significance of the message. Commandment #4: Thou shalt illustrate your data with a meaningful photo OK. This is not exactly a commandment. But photos with great context can really visualize and help drive home your message. This is especially true if you are presenting data about people. Photos of people (or silhouettes) will instantly humanize your data. One word of caution: use photos sparingly and never cram too many in one slide. The below slides use photos to effectively illustrate their story. Commandment #5: Charts shalt not be used in the following circumstances: Your data is extremely dispersed, such as very high and very low values. For example: If you have a range of salaries and the CEO’s salary is $500K and everyone else’s salary is $50-75K. A chart will be so distorted that it will be distracting to the message. Your data is very homogenous, with extremely similar values. For example: All calls in a call center are answered within the first 3 seconds, so the variance of response times is not great enough to graph. The differences are not meaningful. When you have large amounts of data. In this situation, it’s usually best to present your audience with a summary. For example: Click-through rates for an advertising campaign. When you have sparse data. For example: Rainfall in the desert. Why would you want to graph the one day it rains? Looking for data visualization training for your team? TPC’s Presenting Data Visually workshop will arm you with the tools and techniques to make your data story shine.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Commandements_Thumbnail.png", "modified": "2023-03-03T13:32:28-05:00" }, { "id": 7915, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/presenting-data-more-powerfully-with-3-easy-tips/", "title": "3 Tips for Presenting Data More Powerfully", "h1": "3 Tips for Presenting Data More Powerfully", "summary": "We understand that presenting data in PowerPoint can be a daunting task, especially when you don’t have time to get creative. Here are 3 easy tips for presenting data effectively when you’re short on time: 1. Make your slide title a news headline Every journalist knows that if your headline doesn’t reflect your story’s juice, readers will surely […]", "content": "

We understand that presenting data in PowerPoint can be a daunting task, especially when you don’t have time to get creative. Here are 3 easy tips for presenting data effectively when you’re short on time:

1. Make your slide title a news headline

Every journalist knows that if your headline doesn’t reflect your story’s juice, readers will surely overlook your article. Well, the same principal applies for presenting the “story” of your data. To immediately engage your audience, create a headline that reflects your single most important piece of information.

Elevating your most important message to the headline (a.k.a. the slide title) has two advantages:

Yes, it’s that simple.

Take a look at the generic headline in the slide below. Notice: in order for the audience to learn anything more about the Olympic results, they have to squint their eyes and wade through rows and rows of data. Why make it so difficult?

\"\"

Here is the same data presented with an active, content-rich headline that tells us upfront what the big news is right away. Unlike the above slide, it doesn’t make us work hard to figure out the message:

\"\"

If you’ve ever used the words “comparison” or “overview” as a headline for your charts, we are talking to you! While there might be occasional need for broad language, you are probably missing an opportunity to give power to the message within your data. Try asking yourself: where is my key message? What is this slide about? If you can’t answer this question in the title, then this could be a red flag.

Bonus tip: Whenever possible, the title should include a unit of measurement and a time period to give the audience context.

2. Use callouts to pinpoint your main message

Callouts are simply an added shape that stands apart from the chart but draws attention to the chart’s key message. Callouts are married to the headline. They work together to illuminate the main message. While the headline tells us the most important nugget of information in the chart, the callout points right to it.

In the “after” slide above, the callout is the blue circle to the right of the chart. It points out the exact same message as the headline. Again, both the headline and the callout reinforce each other and the main message of the slide.

3. Color controls eyeballs

Color is the easiest way to differentiate the critical data point (that carries your main message). This is where you want eyeballs to go first. As you see in slide 2 above, it is best to go with a monochromatic color scheme that is clean and simple. When you add a simple contrast color to one data finding, you illuminate it immediately. Your audience will see your main message in one glance.

Although color itself doesn’t add meaning or value to your data, its presence makes a big impact. Consciously or not, when people look at a data display and see visual differences like color, they immediately try to determine the meaning of those differences. Too much color will confuse your message (a very common problem). Used sparingly, color is a great tool in telling your story.

Remember: Your audience will remember four slides in a 20-slide presentation. Make them count.

Want more simple yet powerful tricks for making your data pop? Check out our Ultimate Guide to Data Visualization vs. Data Storytelling or contact us about our Data Visualization workshop for teams!

", "content_plain": "We understand that presenting data in PowerPoint can be a daunting task, especially when you don’t have time to get creative. Here are 3 easy tips for presenting data effectively when you’re short on time: 1. Make your slide title a news headline Every journalist knows that if your headline doesn’t reflect your story’s juice, readers will surely overlook your article. Well, the same principal applies for presenting the “story” of your data. To immediately engage your audience, create a headline that reflects your single most important piece of information. Elevating your most important message to the headline (a.k.a. the slide title) has two advantages: It makes your data memorable It makes your audience lean in and want more information. Yes, it’s that simple. Take a look at the generic headline in the slide below. Notice: in order for the audience to learn anything more about the Olympic results, they have to squint their eyes and wade through rows and rows of data. Why make it so difficult? Here is the same data presented with an active, content-rich headline that tells us upfront what the big news is right away. Unlike the above slide, it doesn’t make us work hard to figure out the message: If you’ve ever used the words “comparison” or “overview” as a headline for your charts, we are talking to you! While there might be occasional need for broad language, you are probably missing an opportunity to give power to the message within your data. Try asking yourself: where is my key message? What is this slide about? If you can’t answer this question in the title, then this could be a red flag. Bonus tip: Whenever possible, the title should include a unit of measurement and a time period to give the audience context. 2. Use callouts to pinpoint your main message Callouts are simply an added shape that stands apart from the chart but draws attention to the chart’s key message. Callouts are married to the headline. They work together to illuminate the main message. While the headline tells us the most important nugget of information in the chart, the callout points right to it. In the “after” slide above, the callout is the blue circle to the right of the chart. It points out the exact same message as the headline. Again, both the headline and the callout reinforce each other and the main message of the slide. 3. Color controls eyeballs Color is the easiest way to differentiate the critical data point (that carries your main message). This is where you want eyeballs to go first. As you see in slide 2 above, it is best to go with a monochromatic color scheme that is clean and simple. When you add a simple contrast color to one data finding, you illuminate it immediately. Your audience will see your main message in one glance. Although color itself doesn’t add meaning or value to your data, its presence makes a big impact. Consciously or not, when people look at a data display and see visual differences like color, they immediately try to determine the meaning of those differences. Too much color will confuse your message (a very common problem). Used sparingly, color is a great tool in telling your story. Remember: Your audience will remember four slides in a 20-slide presentation. Make them count. Want more simple yet powerful tricks for making your data pop? Check out our Ultimate Guide to Data Visualization vs. Data Storytelling or contact us about our Data Visualization workshop for teams!", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/iStock-1124570454-scaled.jpg", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:43:49-05:00" }, { "id": 7917, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/powerpoint-how-to-design-for-widescreen-standard-displays/", "title": "PowerPoint: Widescreen | How to Design for Different Displays", "h1": "PowerPoint: Widescreen | How to Design for Different Displays", "summary": "We build a lot of custom PowerPoint templates for Fortune 500 customers and often we’re asked to create two versions: a standard template (4:3 aspect ratio) and a widescreen template (16:9 aspect ratio). Why the need for both formats? Well, it’s simple: flexibility. If you’re showing a PowerPoint presentation on your laptop, TV monitor or […]", "content": "

We build a lot of custom PowerPoint templates for Fortune 500 customers and often we’re asked to create two versions: a standard template (4:3 aspect ratio) and a widescreen template (16:9 aspect ratio).

Why the need for both formats? Well, it’s simple: flexibility.

If you’re showing a PowerPoint presentation on your laptop, TV monitor or a modern projector, chances are you’ll want to display your slides in a widescreen, cinematic format.

\"\"If you’re showing a presentation on an older projector or even an iPad, the standard 4:3 dimensions apply (at least for now).

Why not have ONE master template that can accommodate both 4:3 and 16:9 formats? If only it were that simple.

PowerPoint widescreen templates and standard templates are built differently. PowerPoint allows you to have only one slide size in a presentation (either standard or widescreen, but not both) which makes sense given that your presentation is viewed on a single device.

If you want to copy and paste standard slides into a widescreen format, the images, backgrounds and logos may appear distorted because they have a wider workspace to fill. That said, there are some easy workarounds to help reduce frustration when switching from standard to widescreen format.

Option 1: Copy + paste a 4×3 slide into a 16×9 presentation

1. Choose Slide Sorter view and select a 4×3 slide by clicking on it

\"\"

2. Copy the slide and paste it into a 16×9 presentation deck. If your original image is proportional (i.e., a “perfect circle” like the example shown above) the image will stretch, as shown below:

\"\"

3. To fix the distortion, see Option 2 below

Note: If you are using PowerPoint 2013, the above scenario will not happen as long as your presentation was built for the 2013 widescreen format.

 

Option 2: Copy and paste objects from a 4×3 slide onto a 16×9 slide

1. Choose Normal view, select content and group it.
Note: If selecting multiple objects, hold down Shift and then click to select

\"\"

2. Copy your content and paste it onto a 16×9 slide. It will appear proportionate as shown below:

\"\"

3. Select your content and, while holding down Shift and Ctrl, drag from a corner to resize it proportionately from the center

\"\"

4. Reposition objects on slide as appropriate (grouping and ungrouping objects as necessary)

Since 2001, The Presentation Company’s professionals have trained thousands of people from Fortune 500 companies on how to use PowerPoint to communicate more effectively. For more visual messaging and PowerPoint tips, check out our Influencing with Visuals workshop.

", "content_plain": "We build a lot of custom PowerPoint templates for Fortune 500 customers and often we’re asked to create two versions: a standard template (4:3 aspect ratio) and a widescreen template (16:9 aspect ratio). Why the need for both formats? Well, it’s simple: flexibility. If you’re showing a PowerPoint presentation on your laptop, TV monitor or a modern projector, chances are you’ll want to display your slides in a widescreen, cinematic format. If you’re showing a presentation on an older projector or even an iPad, the standard 4:3 dimensions apply (at least for now). Why not have ONE master template that can accommodate both 4:3 and 16:9 formats? If only it were that simple. PowerPoint widescreen templates and standard templates are built differently. PowerPoint allows you to have only one slide size in a presentation (either standard or widescreen, but not both) which makes sense given that your presentation is viewed on a single device. If you want to copy and paste standard slides into a widescreen format, the images, backgrounds and logos may appear distorted because they have a wider workspace to fill. That said, there are some easy workarounds to help reduce frustration when switching from standard to widescreen format. Option 1: Copy + paste a 4×3 slide into a 16×9 presentation Pros: Quick and easy Cons: Some images, logos and backgrounds may appear distorted 1. Choose Slide Sorter view and select a 4×3 slide by clicking on it 2. Copy the slide and paste it into a 16×9 presentation deck. If your original image is proportional (i.e., a “perfect circle” like the example shown above) the image will stretch, as shown below: 3. To fix the distortion, see Option 2 below Note: If you are using PowerPoint 2013, the above scenario will not happen as long as your presentation was built for the 2013 widescreen format.   Option 2: Copy and paste objects from a 4×3 slide onto a 16×9 slide Pros: Ensures all elements (images, logos and backgrounds) appear proportional Cons: Can be time-consuming, requires some work 1. Choose Normal view, select content and group it. Note: If selecting multiple objects, hold down Shift and then click to select 2. Copy your content and paste it onto a 16×9 slide. It will appear proportionate as shown below: 3. Select your content and, while holding down Shift and Ctrl, drag from a corner to resize it proportionately from the center 4. Reposition objects on slide as appropriate (grouping and ungrouping objects as necessary) Since 2001, The Presentation Company’s professionals have trained thousands of people from Fortune 500 companies on how to use PowerPoint to communicate more effectively. For more visual messaging and PowerPoint tips, check out our Influencing with Visuals workshop.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/blog-thumbnail.png", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:44:05-05:00" }, { "id": 7919, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/3-tips-better-powerpoint-charts/", "title": "3 Tips for Better PowerPoint Charts", "h1": "3 Tips for Better PowerPoint Charts", "summary": "Why use the Insert Chart feature in PowerPoint versus pasting Excel charts into a PowerPoint slide? What’s the benefit? Well, if you’re trying to manage file size, want to maintain confidentiality of your data and care about keeping chart colors consistent from presentation to presentation, then creating new charts within PowerPoint is the way to go. Tip # 1: […]", "content": "

Why use the Insert Chart feature in PowerPoint versus pasting Excel charts into a PowerPoint slide? What’s the benefit?

Well, if you’re trying to manage file size, want to maintain confidentiality of your data and care about keeping chart colors consistent from presentation to presentation, then creating new charts within PowerPoint is the way to go.

Tip # 1: Use Insert Chart

Instead of pasting Excel charts onto PowerPoint slides, use the Insert Chart feature in PowerPoint. Here’s how:

Instructions

1. From your Excel worksheet, copy just the data you wish to show on your PowerPoint slide
2. In PowerPoint, insert a new slide and choose the Title and Content layout
3. Select the Chart icon (see Tip #2)
4. Insert Chart dialog box appears
5. Select chart type and click OK
6. Paste data into the worksheet that appears
7. Close the worksheet

\"\"

\"\"

Benefits of Insert Chart

Tip #2: Choose a Chart That Tells A Story

Many presenters cram more data onto a chart than is necessary. Include data that supports your message and leave the rest out (or include in slide notes).

Line graphs show changes or relative changes to something over a period of time. Use a maximum of 5 lines per chart for easiest viewing and understanding.

Bar graphs display a relationship between variables, usually for the purpose of comparison. Keep them two dimensional for ease of viewing. Vertical bars are easier to read than horizontal bars. Bar color and outline should be the same color.

Pie charts show how percentages relate to each other within a whole. Use a maximum of
6 wedges per pie. Use pie charts only for data that add up to some meaningful total.

Tables display data details which would be lost in graphs or charts.

Tip # 3: Just Say No To Eye Charts

Use design elements, labels and scales that enhance, not distract from the message.

Colors

Darker blues, greens and oranges are best. Avoid yellows and neon colors, they just don’t project well. Use red to highlight or call attention to a key message. Avoid 3D effects.

Lines

Be careful with dashed and dotted lines. Instead, use different colored solid lines.

Fonts

For best viewing in a medium-sized room, use a minimum of 18 pt font. Use your PowerPoint default font; avoid Times Roman, narrow fonts, or fonts with serifs.

Legends

Legends are used in charts with more than one data series. They should not be placed on the outside of the chart in a way than reduces the plot area, the amount of space given to represent the data.

Labels

A chart that labels the value of each individual data point does not need labeling on the y axis. If it seems necessary to label every value in a chart, consider that a table is probably a more efficient way of presenting the data.

Titles

What is the one thing you want your audience to remember about your chart? Make that your PowerPoint slide title. Avoid passive titles, such as “Annual Sales”, “Units Sold”, or “Percent Trained”. Passive titles don’t give the audience information, they are merely boring labels. Instead try titles that are conclusions: “Annual Sales Beat Expectations”, “Northwest Region Leads in 2010 Unit Sales”, or “Employee Safety Training Lags in Department XYZ”.

Gridlines

If they are used at all, use subtle colors, like a soft grey and don’t let them overwhelm the other graphical elements of the chart.

Want more? Learn more tips for building better PowerPoint charts, plus LOADS of more data visualization tips in our Presenting Data Visually workshop.

", "content_plain": "Why use the Insert Chart feature in PowerPoint versus pasting Excel charts into a PowerPoint slide? What’s the benefit? Well, if you’re trying to manage file size, want to maintain confidentiality of your data and care about keeping chart colors consistent from presentation to presentation, then creating new charts within PowerPoint is the way to go. Tip # 1: Use Insert Chart Instead of pasting Excel charts onto PowerPoint slides, use the Insert Chart feature in PowerPoint. Here’s how: Instructions 1. From your Excel worksheet, copy just the data you wish to show on your PowerPoint slide 2. In PowerPoint, insert a new slide and choose the Title and Content layout 3. Select the Chart icon (see Tip #2) 4. Insert Chart dialog box appears 5. Select chart type and click OK 6. Paste data into the worksheet that appears 7. Close the worksheet Benefits of Insert Chart Keeps chart colors consistent with your presentation design Maintains confidentiality of your original Excel worksheets Reduces PowerPoint file size Tip #2: Choose a Chart That Tells A Story Many presenters cram more data onto a chart than is necessary. Include data that supports your message and leave the rest out (or include in slide notes). Line graphs show changes or relative changes to something over a period of time. Use a maximum of 5 lines per chart for easiest viewing and understanding. Bar graphs display a relationship between variables, usually for the purpose of comparison. Keep them two dimensional for ease of viewing. Vertical bars are easier to read than horizontal bars. Bar color and outline should be the same color. Pie charts show how percentages relate to each other within a whole. Use a maximum of 6 wedges per pie. Use pie charts only for data that add up to some meaningful total. Tables display data details which would be lost in graphs or charts. Tip # 3: Just Say No To Eye Charts Use design elements, labels and scales that enhance, not distract from the message. Colors Darker blues, greens and oranges are best. Avoid yellows and neon colors, they just don’t project well. Use red to highlight or call attention to a key message. Avoid 3D effects. Lines Be careful with dashed and dotted lines. Instead, use different colored solid lines. Fonts For best viewing in a medium-sized room, use a minimum of 18 pt font. Use your PowerPoint default font; avoid Times Roman, narrow fonts, or fonts with serifs. Legends Legends are used in charts with more than one data series. They should not be placed on the outside of the chart in a way than reduces the plot area, the amount of space given to represent the data. Labels A chart that labels the value of each individual data point does not need labeling on the y axis. If it seems necessary to label every value in a chart, consider that a table is probably a more efficient way of presenting the data. Titles What is the one thing you want your audience to remember about your chart? Make that your PowerPoint slide title. Avoid passive titles, such as “Annual Sales”, “Units Sold”, or “Percent Trained”. Passive titles don’t give the audience information, they are merely boring labels. Instead try titles that are conclusions: “Annual Sales Beat Expectations”, “Northwest Region Leads in 2010 Unit Sales”, or “Employee Safety Training Lags in Department XYZ”. Gridlines If they are used at all, use subtle colors, like a soft grey and don’t let them overwhelm the other graphical elements of the chart. Want more? Learn more tips for building better PowerPoint charts, plus LOADS of more data visualization tips in our Presenting Data Visually workshop.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/3-tips-for-better-ppt-charts_Visual.png", "modified": "2023-04-14T08:44:20-05:00" }, { "id": 7921, "type": "post", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/blog/tpc-forbes-storytelling-structure-email/", "title": "TPC Contributes to Forbes.com: What Do Unforgettable Emails Do? They Tell A Story", "h1": "TPC Contributes to Forbes.com: What Do Unforgettable Emails Do? They Tell A Story", "summary": "  Here’s the bitter truth: Your 800-word opus on the status of your upcoming product launch looks like a horrifying avalanche of words on your boss’s computer screen. She clicked out of it immediately, terrified of losing half an hour of her day slogging through all your carefully crafted prose. Within minutes, the ideas you […]", "content": "

 

Here’s the bitter truth: Your 800-word opus on the status of your upcoming product launch looks like a horrifying avalanche of words on your boss’s computer screen. She clicked out of it immediately, terrified of losing half an hour of her day slogging through all your carefully crafted prose. Within minutes, the ideas you labored over are buried under an onslaught of new emails pinging her account.

\"\"

It’s important to remember that it isn’t the words or ideas that doom your emails — it’s the lack of structure. And the best way to give your message structure is through classic storytelling.

In December, I wrote a post on how to write a killer subject line, with advice from The Presentation Company (TPC). Here, TPC founder Janine Kurnoff shares her top tips for bringing the same focus — and impact — to the body of your emails.

\"\"

A Simple Story Structure

“Whether it’s an email, a presentation, or even a conversation, classic story structure is the ideal framework for your ideas,” Kurnoff, explains.

All stories have four recognizable signposts: setting, characters, conflict, and resolution.

\"\"Context Context Context!

If you’re a frazzled, busy executive whose head is in the previous meeting or trying to recall dinner plans or thinking about your kids’ upcoming ballet recital, all incoming ideas are harder to follow. Getting long, rambling emails without context makes them excruciating.

When setting, characters, or conflict are either skipped or buried, the reader is forced to work harder to understand what the writer is trying to communicate,” Kurnoff says.

\"\"

Imagine receiving this email during your 2pm “post-lunch” food coma:

Hi John,

Hope your week is going well! The team is really plugging away on our stuff and we were all talking to each other about what’s next. We think there are a few things to finish up before the hammer falls next week. Do you have any thoughts here? Some of the hold-ups from a few months ago are definitely making it harder to hit our deadline. Let’s chat about this whenever you get the chance. Wow, busy week for all of us!

– Janet

In this example, there is no context for the conversation. There is no apparent setting (What project? What “stuff”?). The characters are confusing because she is only referencing herself and the team. The conflict is buried in there somewhere (the word “deadline” is mentioned on line five!). Some people jump right to their resolution too soon without establishing context. In this case, a concrete resolution is utterly missing.

Here is an example of the same information, told with a story structure:

John,

As you know, the deadline for Phase 1 of the building expansion project is next week. [SETTING, CONFLICT]. The builder [CHARACTERS] has forwarded his list of outstanding items we [CHARACTERS] need to resolve if we want to make this deadline [CONFLICT]. Below is my prioritization of this list [RESOLUTION]. Let me know if you have any specific feedback or changes you’d like me to incorporate.”

– Janet

“Notice how the setting, characters, and conflict all appear within the first two lines?” Kurnoff asks. “The setting is the project finish. The characters are the builder and the team (we). The conflict is the looming deadline. After setting, characters, and conflict are established, you hit the decision-maker with your resolution (in this case, a prioritized to-do list). If you just hit the boss with, ‘here’s our to-do list,’ he or she won’t know what you are talking about or how they fit into the picture.” Kurnoff adds, “This lack of story is one of the most common mistakes people make.”

Stories Drive Ideas in All Forms

Whether it’s a presentation, a conversation, or an email, wrapping your ideas in a story gives you a much better chance of grabbing your audience and getting a response. “With high stakes emails especially, story structure should quickly orient your reader, supplying them context to digest your ideas. You’ve got a few seconds. This is your best chance of avoiding the delete button,” Kurnoff says.

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM FORBES.COM.

", "content_plain": "  Here’s the bitter truth: Your 800-word opus on the status of your upcoming product launch looks like a horrifying avalanche of words on your boss’s computer screen. She clicked out of it immediately, terrified of losing half an hour of her day slogging through all your carefully crafted prose. Within minutes, the ideas you labored over are buried under an onslaught of new emails pinging her account. It’s important to remember that it isn’t the words or ideas that doom your emails — it’s the lack of structure. And the best way to give your message structure is through classic storytelling. In December, I wrote a post on how to write a killer subject line, with advice from The Presentation Company (TPC). Here, TPC founder Janine Kurnoff shares her top tips for bringing the same focus — and impact — to the body of your emails. A Simple Story Structure “Whether it’s an email, a presentation, or even a conversation, classic story structure is the ideal framework for your ideas,” Kurnoff, explains. All stories have four recognizable signposts: setting, characters, conflict, and resolution. Setting: Your setting is a snapshot in time, a place, or a circumstance. It immediately establishes the context for your message Characters: Your characters are who or what is affected by the current situation — your customers, employees, or team. Conflict: With the context of setting and characters in place, it’s time to reveal the conflict. Conflict is what provides the tension that gives your audience a reason to care. Emails that get responses usually detail some type of tension or conflict that — as in any good story — clarify what’s at stake. If you clearly state your conflict or tension, you will have a much better message, and a good shot at getting a response. Resolution: With setting, characters, and conflict established, you can finally bring your reader safely through conflict….to embrace your resolution. Your resolution is, of course, your recommendations, product, or solution.” Context Context Context! If you’re a frazzled, busy executive whose head is in the previous meeting or trying to recall dinner plans or thinking about your kids’ upcoming ballet recital, all incoming ideas are harder to follow. Getting long, rambling emails without context makes them excruciating. When setting, characters, or conflict are either skipped or buried, the reader is forced to work harder to understand what the writer is trying to communicate,” Kurnoff says. Imagine receiving this email during your 2pm “post-lunch” food coma: Hi John, Hope your week is going well! The team is really plugging away on our stuff and we were all talking to each other about what’s next. We think there are a few things to finish up before the hammer falls next week. Do you have any thoughts here? Some of the hold-ups from a few months ago are definitely making it harder to hit our deadline. Let’s chat about this whenever you get the chance. Wow, busy week for all of us! – Janet In this example, there is no context for the conversation. There is no apparent setting (What project? What “stuff”?). The characters are confusing because she is only referencing herself and the team. The conflict is buried in there somewhere (the word “deadline” is mentioned on line five!). Some people jump right to their resolution too soon without establishing context. In this case, a concrete resolution is utterly missing. Here is an example of the same information, told with a story structure: John, As you know, the deadline for Phase 1 of the building expansion project is next week. [SETTING, CONFLICT]. The builder [CHARACTERS] has forwarded his list of outstanding items we [CHARACTERS] need to resolve if we want to make this deadline [CONFLICT]. Below is my prioritization of this list [RESOLUTION]. Let me know if you have any specific feedback or changes you’d like me to incorporate.” – Janet “Notice how the setting, characters, and conflict all appear within the first two lines?” Kurnoff asks. “The setting is the project finish. The characters are the builder and the team (we). The conflict is the looming deadline. After setting, characters, and conflict are established, you hit the decision-maker with your resolution (in this case, a prioritized to-do list). If you just hit the boss with, ‘here’s our to-do list,’ he or she won’t know what you are talking about or how they fit into the picture.” Kurnoff adds, “This lack of story is one of the most common mistakes people make.” Stories Drive Ideas in All Forms Whether it’s a presentation, a conversation, or an email, wrapping your ideas in a story gives you a much better chance of grabbing your audience and getting a response. “With high stakes emails especially, story structure should quickly orient your reader, supplying them context to digest your ideas. You’ve got a few seconds. This is your best chance of avoiding the delete button,” Kurnoff says. REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM FORBES.COM.", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Forbes-logo-5.jpg", "modified": "2023-03-01T12:49:15-05:00" }, { "id": 6446, "type": "page", "url": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/", "title": "Home", "h1": "Home", "summary": "", "content": "

When communication breaks down, business slows down

We come to work ready to advance initiatives and demonstrate value, yet too much time gets lost in unproductive meetings, unclear emails, and reworking high-stakes presentations at the eleventh hour. Without a clear, cohesive narrative, even strong ideas and solid data fail to land.

Our storytelling training gives your teams a common language to cut through the noise, align stakeholders, and drive business forward.

Training designed around your business priorities

Every organization and individual comes to us with different challenges, goals, and capability gaps. We offer solutions for where you are and where you want to go. Our storytelling approach is anchored in the three key ingredients every great communicator needs: story strategy, visual strategy, and data strategy.

\"learning-journey\"

\"organizationsTraining for organizations

Storytelling is a team sport. Our training solutions for organizations give teams a common framework, practical tools, and a shared language to communicate strategy, ideas, and data with clarity at every level.

Explore training for organizations

\"individualsTraining for individuals

Whether you’re making a recommendation to your boss, presenting to a client, or trying to get your ideas heard in a meeting, our training gives you the storytelling skills to lead conversations with confidence and advance your career.

Explore training for individuals

Who we serve

Great storytelling skills have the power to drive real business change. Whether you lead a customer-facing team, a technical division, or an L&D organization, we have solutions geared toward any role or function.

Customer-Facing Leaders

When presentations don’t land, deals don’t close. We equip customer-facing teams with the corporate storytelling skills to build consultative relationships and win more business.

See What's Possible

Technical Leaders

Your technical teams have the answers, but nontechnical stakeholders aren’t hearing them. We equip technical teams with the corporate storytelling skills to translate complexity into clarity and earn the buy-in they need.

See What's Possible

Learning & Development Leaders

Communication skills are the multiplier that makes every other learning investment pay off. We give L&D leaders a corporate storytelling curriculum that embeds that capability across their entire talent pool.

See What's Possible

Functional Leaders

Internal teams drive the business forward, but without strong communication their insights get overlooked. We equip functional teams with the corporate storytelling skills to earn influence and get their strategic recommendations heard.

See What's Possible

Customer Support Leaders

Customer support teams sit closest to the customer, but their insights rarely get heard. We equip frontline teams with the corporate storytelling skills to translate customer intelligence into strategic impact.

See What's Possible

Use cases

Better communication starts with the right opportunity. We integrate our training into the programs and events that matter most to your business.

\"leadership

Leadership Programs

Most leadership programs focus on strategic thinking and business acumen, but execution breaks down when leaders can’t communicate those ideas with clarity. We integrate storytelling into your leadership training so leaders can translate strategy into messages their teams understand, trust, and act on.

View Use Case
\"employee

Onboarding Programs

A strong onboarding program sets new hires up for success, but that takes more than products, processes, and culture. Without the right training, new hires struggle to contribute meaningfully from the start. We embed storytelling into your onboarding so every new hire has the confidence to hit the ground running and make an impact.

View Use Case
\"SKO

Sales Kickoff Sessions

Your annual SKO energizes your revenue team, launches new messaging, and aligns the organization for the year ahead. But inspiration without skill development doesn’t stick. We incorporate storytelling training into your SKO to build capabilities that translate to shorter sales cycles, higher win rates, and stronger deals.

View Use Case
\"communication

High-Potential Programs

High-potential programs are designed to accelerate future leaders, but strong strategic thinking only gets them so far. We weave storytelling into your hi-po program so rising leaders can frame ideas for executive audiences, influence without authority, and demonstrate the executive presence that signals they’re ready for what’s next.

View Use Case

Industries we serve

Great communication is a universal need, but every industry has its own challenges and demands. We bring deep experience across diverse industries to deliver training grounded in the realities of your world.

\"cpg

 Consumer Packaged Goods

From retail buyer pitches to category reviews, storytelling gives CPG teams the skills to communicate with clarity and win the partnerships that matter.

Explore CPG industry

\"technology

Technology

Technology teams speak many languages across product, engineering, sales, and leadership. Storytelling gives them a shared one to communicate with clarity across every audience.

Explore Tech industry

About us

Founded by sisters Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus, The Presentation Company has spent over two decades developing practical techniques and tools to help teams at the world’s top brands become strategic, influential communicators. We believe that no matter your role or function, anyone can be a great business storyteller.

Get to know us ›

\"About
\"t-mobile\"\"The\"meta\"\"marriott\"\"\"\"nestle\"\"intuit\"\"\"\"verizon\"\"google\"\"jj\"\"microsoft\"\"at&t\"\"Accenture\"\"MetLife\"\"ebay\"\"\"\"oracle\"\"iata\"\"medtronic\"\"columbia\"\"columbia\"\"global\"lego\"\"lego\"\"colgate\"

Resource Center

Take a deep dive into articles, webinars, and more to understand why communication matters and how great storytelling can transform the way your organization works.

Explore our resources ›

Premium content

Why Business Storytelling, and Why Now?

Everyone knows how critical people are to the resilience and success of any operation. Today’s leaders recognize that they need to advance strategic initiatives by ...Continue Reading

\"workshop

Workshop Testimonials

For over two decades, TPC workshops have helped the world’s top brands tell visual stories that powerfully connect with their audience. By now you may have ...Continue Reading

\"Packaged Premium content

Packaged Pitch for Executives

You’ve had a front-row seat to far too many confusing and meandering presentations – or ones that just don’t keep people’s attention. And now you’ve ...Continue Reading

Blog

Get practical tips, expert insights, and fresh perspectives on why storytelling is the most powerful communication skill your organization can develop.

Browse our blog ›

\"The

Learn the Storytelling Skills AI Can’t Replace: Join Us at CMA 2026

For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human ...Continue Reading

\"Corporate

Ready to build a team of strategic communicators?

Partner with us to make storytelling your competitive advantage. Get started on your learning journey today.

Let’s talk", "content_plain": "When communication breaks down, business slows down We come to work ready to advance initiatives and demonstrate value, yet too much time gets lost in unproductive meetings, unclear emails, and reworking high-stakes presentations at the eleventh hour. Without a clear, cohesive narrative, even strong ideas and solid data fail to land. Our storytelling training gives your teams a common language to cut through the noise, align stakeholders, and drive business forward. Training designed around your business priorities Every organization and individual comes to us with different challenges, goals, and capability gaps. We offer solutions for where you are and where you want to go. Our storytelling approach is anchored in the three key ingredients every great communicator needs: story strategy, visual strategy, and data strategy. Training for organizations Storytelling is a team sport. Our training solutions for organizations give teams a common framework, practical tools, and a shared language to communicate strategy, ideas, and data with clarity at every level. Explore training for organizations Training for individuals Whether you’re making a recommendation to your boss, presenting to a client, or trying to get your ideas heard in a meeting, our training gives you the storytelling skills to lead conversations with confidence and advance your career. Explore training for individuals Who we serve Great storytelling skills have the power to drive real business change. Whether you lead a customer-facing team, a technical division, or an L&D organization, we have solutions geared toward any role or function. Customer-Facing Leaders When presentations don’t land, deals don’t close. We equip customer-facing teams with the corporate storytelling skills to build consultative relationships and win more business. See What's Possible Technical Leaders Your technical teams have the answers, but nontechnical stakeholders aren’t hearing them. We equip technical teams with the corporate storytelling skills to translate complexity into clarity and earn the buy-in they need. See What's Possible Learning & Development Leaders Communication skills are the multiplier that makes every other learning investment pay off. We give L&D leaders a corporate storytelling curriculum that embeds that capability across their entire talent pool. See What's Possible Functional Leaders Internal teams drive the business forward, but without strong communication their insights get overlooked. We equip functional teams with the corporate storytelling skills to earn influence and get their strategic recommendations heard. See What's Possible Customer Support Leaders Customer support teams sit closest to the customer, but their insights rarely get heard. We equip frontline teams with the corporate storytelling skills to translate customer intelligence into strategic impact. See What's Possible Use cases Better communication starts with the right opportunity. We integrate our training into the programs and events that matter most to your business. Leadership Programs Most leadership programs focus on strategic thinking and business acumen, but execution breaks down when leaders can’t communicate those ideas with clarity. We integrate storytelling into your leadership training so leaders can translate strategy into messages their teams understand, trust, and act on. View Use Case Onboarding Programs A strong onboarding program sets new hires up for success, but that takes more than products, processes, and culture. Without the right training, new hires struggle to contribute meaningfully from the start. We embed storytelling into your onboarding so every new hire has the confidence to hit the ground running and make an impact. View Use Case Sales Kickoff Sessions Your annual SKO energizes your revenue team, launches new messaging, and aligns the organization for the year ahead. But inspiration without skill development doesn’t stick. We incorporate storytelling training into your SKO to build capabilities that translate to shorter sales cycles, higher win rates, and stronger deals. View Use Case High-Potential Programs High-potential programs are designed to accelerate future leaders, but strong strategic thinking only gets them so far. We weave storytelling into your hi-po program so rising leaders can frame ideas for executive audiences, influence without authority, and demonstrate the executive presence that signals they’re ready for what’s next. View Use Case Industries we serve Great communication is a universal need, but every industry has its own challenges and demands. We bring deep experience across diverse industries to deliver training grounded in the realities of your world. Consumer Packaged Goods From retail buyer pitches to category reviews, storytelling gives CPG teams the skills to communicate with clarity and win the partnerships that matter. Explore CPG industry Technology Technology teams speak many languages across product, engineering, sales, and leadership. Storytelling gives them a shared one to communicate with clarity across every audience. Explore Tech industry About us Founded by sisters Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus, The Presentation Company has spent over two decades developing practical techniques and tools to help teams at the world’s top brands become strategic, influential communicators. We believe that no matter your role or function, anyone can be a great business storyteller. Get to know us › Resource Center Take a deep dive into articles, webinars, and more to understand why communication matters and how great storytelling can transform the way your organization works. Explore our resources › Premium content Why Business Storytelling, and Why Now? Everyone knows how critical people are to the resilience and success of any operation. Today’s leaders recognize that they need to advance strategic initiatives by ...Continue Reading Workshop Testimonials For over two decades, TPC workshops have helped the world’s top brands tell visual stories that powerfully connect with their audience. By now you may have ...Continue Reading Premium content Packaged Pitch for Executives You’ve had a front-row seat to far too many confusing and meandering presentations – or ones that just don’t keep people’s attention. And now you’ve ...Continue Reading Blog Get practical tips, expert insights, and fresh perspectives on why storytelling is the most powerful communication skill your organization can develop. Browse our blog › Learn the Storytelling Skills AI Can’t Replace: Join Us at CMA 2026 For category leaders, shopper insights professionals, and CPG teams, AI presents both opportunity and challenge: tools can generate content instantly, but strategy still requires human ...Continue Reading Ready to build a team of strategic communicators? Partner with us to make storytelling your competitive advantage. Get started on your learning journey today. Let’s talk", "image": "https://tpc.ngagedev.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/hero-iStock-863497498.webp", "modified": "2026-05-14T08:18:45-05:00" } ] }