Happy New Year! Most business professionals who attend my class will start snickering when I act out how business presentations often begin… “Hi everyone. For those who don’t know me my name is John Houser and I’m in the marketing department. Our VP of marketing asked me to come down here and show you guys some of the […]
My wife calls me at home and says, “Russ, I’m lost! Must be solar flares or something because neither of my gps devices are working. I need you to give me directions so I can get home.” Before I can give her any directions, what is my first question for her? “Where are you?” That’s right! It […]
The salesman at my front door held out the vile and said, “Fill this with some water from your tap and I’ll show you what you’re drinking.” The football game wasn’t on for another 20 minutes so I was game. I also had a question in my head, “What am I drinking!?” After returning the tap […]
“Can you help our engineers with their presentations? They’re horrible! They always bombard us with too much data.” I’ve been asked this question countless times by business leaders who sit through presentations from their engineering teams. The complaint is that the presentations include way too much data and detail. What needs to be done? There’s a […]
In every Corporate Ovations workshop I deliver, I ask my students, “How many of you want me to show 125 slides full of text, then turn my back and read to you?” It’s no surprise, the response is always zero. Then I ask a follow-up question… “How many of you still see people doing that?” 100% of […]
You know who I’m talking about. It’s that one guy who always seems to derail your presentation by first interrupting you. Then once he has your attention, he takes everyone down a rabbit-trail. “Hey, wait a minute… take a look at the numbers for the Southwest Region in Q2. How did that happen? Clay, that’s your region. What […]
The Disney World attendant reached out her hand toward my crying son and said, “Russell… will you come with me please?” Earlier we had asked about getting Peter Pan’s autograph and we were told he would not be signing autographs today, but he would be in the parade down Main Street USA. Peter Pan was […]
It’s the classic tale where the unlikely hero saves the day. We’ve seen it in many Hollywood summer blockbusters like Transformers, Independence Day, and Apollo 13. While most of the time these popcorn blockbusters are known for one-liners and lots of action, what you may not realize is how the unlikely hero uses classic rhetoric to save […]
