Looking for corporate workshop ideas that are fun workshops for employees?

In 2017, I became a contract speaker for Google. Since then, I have taught thousands of people how to improve their digital skills to grow their businesses and careers. I’ve worked with wonderful organizations like the SBDC, SBA, SCORE, chambers of commerce, colleges, and libraries across the United States and Canada. Let me know if you’d like some help too.

As a Grow with Google speaker, Google trusts me to represent them across multiple states, including Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arizona. I’ve even represented Google on local and national television news.

One highlight of representing Google was being booked as the head trainer for six flagship events across Canada, where I spoke to audiences in the hundreds. Along this journey, I was also asked to train Google trainers to improve their presentation skills in train-the-trainers sessions.

Now I’m offering this to you. If you have a team of trainers or a department (like sales and marketing) who wish to improve their communication skills, or you want to communicate with confidence, check this out.

Next week, I will be in Arizona teaching a team of wonderful trainers in my COMMUNICATION & STORYTELLING WORKSHOP. I can't wait to help them improve how they represent their company. I’d love to help you too.

Do You Have These Social Intelligence Skills?

In order to effectively lead an organization or department, one must be fluent in social intelligence skills.

The key elements of social intelligence are verbal fluency and conversational skills; knowledge of social roles, rules, and scripts; effective listening skills; understanding what makes other people tick; social self-efficacy; and impression management skills. Social intelligence (SI) is one of the core areas my corporate training focuses on in the Nice Method. How versed are you in each of these areas?

Social Intelligence Skills

Verbal Fluency and Conversational Skills. Ronald E Riggio Ph.D. explains this well in his article in Psychology Today. “You can easily spot someone with lots of SI at a party or social gathering because he or she knows how to “work the room.” The highly socially intelligent person can carry on conversations with a wide variety of people, and is tactful and appropriate in what is said. Combined, these represent what are called “social expressiveness skills.”

Effective Listening Skills. I obsess about actively listening with intent. I love the reaction I get from audiences when I share the fact that an anagram for the word ‘silent’ is ‘listen’ (also ‘tinsel’, but I digress). We don’t learn from speaking, we learn from listening. Here’s a quick video from The Master Communicator’s Secret Weapon presentation for more on how to improve your listening skills.

We don’t learn from speaking, we learn from listening.

Understanding What Makes Other People Tick. As a speaker and improv performer, I have studied how to read an audience. Noting the facial expressions and body language of the crowd is important in adjusting my performance to leave them satisfied. The same goes for professional settings like sales calls, video meetings, candidate interviews, employee performance meetings, and investor calls. Not only is reading the people important but understanding why they are behaving the way they do is crucial.

Knowledge of Social Roles, Rules, and Scripts. To come off as socially sophisticated and wise, one must understand the difference in the people they interact with. In an office setting or virtual meeting, you come across many different types of people who demand different styles of interaction. Recognizing these differences and adapting your communication style is key to effective communication.

Impression Management Skills. You need to be aware of the impression you are leaving on the people you communicate with. This means mixing a healthy dose of authenticity with self-censorship. Being honest and sincere is paramount in everything we do, but being completely transparent can have serious ramifications in professional relationships.

Role-Playing and Social Self-Efficacy. Knowing how to play different social roles will make you feel comfortable no matter who you are communicating with. When you practice these skills you feel socially self-confident and more effective. This is why role-playing is an important part of the Nice Method, which leads to improved social self-efficacy.

5 Must Hear Podcasts about Presentations. Are you subscribed?

As a keynote speaker, I am always working to improve my craft and my business. I find plugging peers into my ears via podcasts is a fantastic way to learn new methodologies of the craft of public speaking.

Even if you are not striving to grow a speaking business, you must admit that you can always improve how you communicate. Perhaps you will have a presentation to deliver to your board, an all-hands meeting for your staff, a pitch to investors, a wedding toast or eulogy. You can always improve how you communicate by learning from master communicators.

5 Must Subscribe Podcasts to Improve Your Presentation Skills

Steal the Show with Michael Port

Every day, there are moments when you must persuade, inform, and motivate others effectively. Each of these moments requires you in some way, to play a role to heighten the impact of your words, and manage your emotions and nerves. Every interaction is a performance whether you’re speaking up in a meeting, pitching a client, or walking into a job interview. Michael’s great voice and inspiring delivery will keep you hooked from the very first episode. Web | Apple Podcasts

Standing Ovation with Jay Baer

Standing Ovation, hosted by keynote speaker and emcee Jay Baer is where the very best public speakers reveal the secrets behind their greatest successes. In each episode, listeners hear a legendary on-stage story from a world-class speaker, and then hear Jay and his guest dissect and discuss that story. How are the best on-stage stories (some of them decades old) found, written, polished, and changed? When do they work best? When do they bomb? Web | Apple Podcasts

The Speaker Lab with Grant Baldwin

Grant Baldwin from The Speaker Lab podcast shares speaking business tactics, tips, and strategies from his own experience, case studies, and interviewing the experts. Whether you're just getting started trying to get your first booking or you're a veteran speaker looking to build and grow your business, this is for you. Web | Apple Podcasts

The Freenoter with Tamsen and Tom Webster

Introducing The Freenoter! There are lots of resources out there on how to become a paid speaker or keynoter, but what if you speak to build your business, as a FREEnoter? Each week, join Tamsen and Tom Webster as they cover all the angles of how to profit from speaking for free. If you are looking to grow your business from the stage--without "selling from the stage," this is the show for you. We will cover EVERY aspect of building your business through speaking, and even share a different craft cocktail recipe every week, just because. Web | Apple Podcasts

Good One with Jesse David Fox

(NSFW) Each week, a comedian will play one of their jokes and then break it down with Vulture.com Senior Editor Jesse David Fox. The is a podcast about - well - jokes, and the people who tell them. Web | Apple Podcasts

Each of these stellar shows will teach you the ins and outs of the speaking business. You will learn countless performance techniques and business development skills that will help you next time you are delivering a presentation or a speech.

Let me know what you think. I would love to hear from you.

Public Speaking Tips You Haven't Heard Before

Do a Google search for “public speaking tips” and you will find 313,000,000 results. I hope I can share a few tips here that you may not be familiar with.

This post came as a result of me doing a recent search for a specific image on Flickr. That’s when I happened upon this photo by the late, great Dave Barger. I hadn’t seen the photo in years. I was surprised to note the photo is from 2008.

I’ve been presenting to audiences for over ten years.

Dave’s photo made me reflective on the lessons I have learned. I’ve presented to audiences in the thousands and in the tens, so I decided to share a few tips I hope you find useful.

Whether you are just getting started as a speaker or you’ve been doing this a long time, I hope these lessons help you.

Public Speaking Tips You Haven’t Heard Before

I always ask conference organizers the following questions, “What does success look like in the minds of your audience?” and “Who are the most popular speakers you have had? What made them stand out?” This information helps me craft my presentation with the audience in mind.

Give the audience a way to get in touch with you after your presentation. Include a slide with your URL/email/phone number/social. Bonus points for leaving them something of value like a digital download of your presentation or cheat sheet with takeaways from your talk. I use a text-to-download service for this*. Anyone who downloads the PDF also gets subscribed to my email newsletter. This is noted before they download the document, so they can choose not to if they prefer.

* If you use such a service and you’re speaking in a different country be sure this will still work.

Always talk to the AV team before your talk. They are there to support you (not work for you). Do a mic and presentation test to be sure everything looks and works the way you expect. Test it from the stage not the AV booth. Don’t rely on a solid Wi-Fi connection. Embed videos if you plan to include them.

Avoid using other peoples' equipment whenever possible. If you must use their equipment, test it ahead of time. For example, the range of the clicker may not be wide enough for you to work the entire stage or move around the floor. 

Get as much information as possible about the audience. The more you know, the better you can make your presentation. 

Research the city. I search the city in Google News to find topics I should mention and perhaps avoid. 

Eat locally. I try to plug a local restaurant or coffee shop I discovered before the event. Audiences appreciate you spending your money locally instead of hiding in your hotel room or going to a chain restaurant. 

Be respectful to the organizers, audience, and other speakers by staying on time. I just bought a small countdown timer to pack along with my gear. Other speakers I know use their watches, iPads, and apps. Keynote and Powerpoint also include a timer if you are presenting with you computer in view.

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I hope these tips will serve you well. Leave a comment with your favorite public speaking tip. I’m always learning, even though I’ve been doing this for a while