Mandel Communications Blog

Many times, when people talk or present — especially when the stakes are high or the audience is tough — they struggle to be their natural, conversational selves. They needlessly worry that who they are is not enough. The truth is, people can sense when you're being real — and when you're not. Showing up as yourself is the single best way to convey credibility and trustworthiness. Here are a few tips to help you "get real" when communicating with others.

When you’re talking to colleagues and customers, what does YOUR word cloud look like? Too often, clouds are filled with crutch words like, “ums” and “ahs” and “you knows.” The good news? People can change the shape of their word clouds using an underrated, yet powerful, communication skill: the ability to say nothing at all. Using the “power of the pause” will make you a more effective communicator. Read on to learn more.

Executive time is a scarce commodity. Why do meetings squander it? Because, too often, they fail to focus on the strategic issues that are most important to executives. They fail to drive progress on the decisions that need to be made in order to move your business forward. Here are 3 things you can do to change that and to insure your executives' time is well-spent.

What do business meeting attendees have in common with parole board officers? Both suffer from decision fatigue. The consequences? Productivity plummets. Decisions get delayed. Bad choices get made. Outcomes can be disastrous. How can you improve decision quality and productivity? Help your meeting leaders and attendees overcome decision fatigue with these three proven approaches.

Is your organization stuck running mediocre meetings that fail to move the needle on important projects and business goals? You're not alone. Distraction and disengagement have reached epidemic proportions and it's killing the "Return on Meeting Time" of companies everywhere. What's the antidote? A common meeting communications framework. Here's why...

Over many years of attending, speaking at, and preparing speakers for user conferences, I've learned there are three all-too-common deadly failures that conference speakers make. Learn what those 3 killer fails are, so you can avoid them.

The decision makers whose attention you're trying to get are too distracted to hear a word you're saying. The implication: having a great business idea is no longer enough. You’ve got to be able to present it in a way that GRABS attention and KEEPS it. Your ability to do that boils down to whether you can accomplish these 3 things quickly…

I’m always excited and inspired after returning from events like ATD’s TechKnowledge… after this year’s conference, I was told a story by one of our Mandel trainers about a session she led in Paris with a group of millennials, and I’m reminded… it’s all about balance.

Ready or not, you’ve probably already had to present to stakeholders or customers this year. And, the stakes are high. Building on my last blog post, here are some additional presentation tips to help you hone your skills and start 2016 off right.