I just finished a six week assignment with a major health corporation in town, helping them to cascade their 10 year vision into a repeatable resonant story for their 16,000 associates to understand. The experience was a familiar one — take two years worth of strategic planning work and find a way to get it […]
Yesterday morning I delivered a keynote address on influential storytelling to 80 executives at the company DSW, headquartered in Columbus. They sell shoes and lots of them. In attempting to find the perfect metaphor to begin my talk, I made them each take off their right shoes. To a group of shoe execs, the energy
It takes both sides. Read More »
Last week I went to my first graduation ceremony since my own in 1990. Mine was filled with caps, gowns, traditional music, flags and honorary degrees. But this one at Hampshire College, settled on a pristine and isolated swath of land 5 miles outside of Amherst, MA, embodied a different spirit. One that was authentic
The Graduation Speech. Read More »
Every now and then, we get an invitation to work with a different type of client – and we love the opportunity to adapt what we do for someone new. So when Skyler Rogers, a senior at BGSU and former TEDxBGSU organizer, reached out for some help with his business competition pitch (an old concept
Winning the Business Competition Read More »
Last week, we suggested an outrageous idea to a client who was addicted to PowerPoint (as in she had sent at least 200 pages of slides in 4 decks). While we were helping her to narrow down a presentation to 15 slides, we also suggested they use a black slide when one of the 5
Dare to fade to black Read More »
Last week we re-launched our Influential Storytelling class. Like all good motors, it needed a tune up, and just in time too. These 15 participants came together from 7 different organizations to get down to the business of “story.” One of the attendees in his evaluation said: “It is rare that one experiences something
Our Influential Storytelling Class Read More »
Every car has four wheels, a radiator and glove compartment. It is not those things that make a car fancy, fast or memorable. But without those things it would not be a car. After attending my second TED conference and beginning to preparing our 5th TEDx event, I thought it was time to take a stab at my interpretation
The arc, or rather petals of a TED talk Read More »
This week we were welcomed into the capacity building workshop for the 12 grant partners of the Women’s Fund of Central Ohio. We fashioned an abbreviated version of a critical thinking workshop, helping them to focus on their high-value ideas and resonating stories. We were thrilled to be there as these partners had amazing passion
Women’s Fund Workshop: High Value Ideas and Overflowing Passion Read More »
While we have been involved in hundreds of keynote addresses over the years, I thought it was time to document the pathway of one from start to finish. Each is different of course based on the speaker, event and audience. We adapt for each and in this case, we’re working with the founder of a
The Keynote: One Pathway Read More »
No theory or speaker reviews in this post, just a quick update on some of our whereabouts for the new year. Ongoing Training and Coaching We are actively scheduling both classes and individual sessions for our Storytelling Training and Presentation Coaching offerings. These are private-reserve classes (no public sessions, sorry) which means we can customize them
What’s Happening at ar.tic.u.la.tion. in 2012 Read More »
