Storytelling for Influence

How to use AI in the workplace

AI is helping us write emails, summarize meetings, build presentations, and even prepare for difficult conversations. But as these tools become part of our day to day, are they slowly weakening one of our most valuable skills? In this episode, we explore where AI enhances communication, and where it can unintentionally create problems like generic messaging, tone mismatches, overconfidence, and less critical thinking. We also discuss why human judgment, relationships, and context remain impossible to automate. Most importantly, you'll learn practical ways to use AI as a communication assistant rather than letting it become your communicator. If you rely on tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, Grammarly, or Claude, this episode will help you communicate with more clarity, authenticity, and impact.

Your slides aren't the presentation - you are

In this episode we're discussing the speaker is the presentation, not their PowerPoint slides. While your slides should aid you and your talk, your audience's sole focus shouldn't be on the visuals, otherwise you've lost them. We'll discuss: * Why dense slides can hurt your talk * How to simplify dense slides (which can mean different things to different organizations) * The real purpose around slides and how great communicators interact with them The slides are there to help guide your audience, give them something else to engage with, and be your speaker notes, but they shouldn't be the main show.

Hybrid & Remote Team Communication

Hybrid work. It's not going away. So the best thing we can do is learn how to make it most effective, whether you use it daily or just a couple of times a month. You need to consider a few things: 1. How to prepare before the meeting even begins 2. The best practices that can help you be clear, confident, and prepared 3. Whether cameras need to be on or off 4. Understand how to end effectively A lot of people start virtual meetings on a whim. This can work at times, but if you want your meetings to be purposeful, engaging, and you want people to come back in the future, there's a lot more that goes into making this happen. Don't skip the prep work simply because all you need to do is hit "start meeting".

Storytelling for Influence

This month, we're discussing Storytelling as an influential tool. People tend to remember a story long after they forget the data. A great message may inform, but a great story can help people feel the message. We discuss a few specific areas: 1. Why stories influence better than information alone 2. Where we see stories show up, and why they work 3. Some common mistakes people make with their stories Storytelling can be an effective tool in so many areas; you just need to know how to tell the right story.

Why eye contact matters

This month, we're talking about eye contact. We've all heard we should look at people as we speak, but what exactly does that mean? How long do we look at them? How do we move when there are multiple people to look at? If it feels awkward to the speaker, does it come across awkward to the listener? All great questions. Here's what we unpack: 1. Why eye contact matters 2. What does your eye contact communicate 3. How to vary it based on the setting/situation 4. When and how to practice it