
It's a noisy world out there.
It's a noisy world out there.
Welcome to The Latimer Blog.
Twice a week, The Latimer Group’s experienced facilitators deliver clear, succinct, and actionable lessons about business communication to tens of thousands of readers worldwide. These are real-world observations from our team, underpinned by working with over 25,000 participants since 2000.
Get these lessons delivered, read on below, or search for specific topics, themes or authors:
On Leadership, Parenting and The Importance of Principles
personal accountability and planning is enormously helpful in the workplace
Mastering Presentation Nerves: Insights from a Seasoned Speaker
As comfortable as I am as a speaker, managing nerves is important for all of us. Here are three strategies that help manage nerves, all of them backed by neuroscience.
Are You Ready and Able to Translate?
True power, influence and success comes when you can combine your expertise with the ability to translate what is important for others who are not fluent.
3 Visual Mistakes to Avoid in Your Next Slide Deck
At The Latimer Group, we recommend a hybrid slide deck design that includes both text and visuals and doing your best to avoid these three common visual mistakes when creating your slide deck.
Persuasion Is Not Always Possible
We preach preparation and audience understanding, all day, every day here at The Latimer Group. One of our foundational beliefs is that the more you understand about what your audience cares about, wants, needs, is motivated by, the easier it will be for you to…
What Are Your Coffee Beans?
In my workshops and coaching sessions, I often ask, “What are your coffee beans?” This metaphor represents the mindfulness practices that help you stay present and focused, even when it’s tough.
The Recipe for Great Communication
If we look at our communication as if it were a meal that our audience will consume, we’ll of course want to prepare a communication “meal” they will enjoy. And in order to do that, there are 5 ingredients that must be included in our recipe
Bridging the Gap Between Intent and Impact
There is often a big divide between the intent of the speaker and the impact on the audience. Now, what do we do to close that potential gap?
How to Gain Competitive Advantage as a Speaker
The cool thing about being a coach, is that sometimes you can impart wisdom on your clients and other times, they impart wisdom back on you. Recently, I was the recipient of some wisdom when a…
Become a More Confident Public Speaker
The single most frequently asked question I hear regarding public speaking is this… “Dean, how can I be more confident as a speaker?” And throughout my time leading The Latimer Group, my answer has remained essentially the same:
Assess Your “Degree of Difficulty”
There are lots of ways to think about persuasion. And our team always advocates an approach that is based on preparation and a thorough understanding of the audience. But there’s one fundamental and additional element that can never be forgotten.
Silence Does Not Mean an Absence of Music
Well-timed moments of silence will enhance the experience for everyone in the room.
You Always Have An Audience
So, when it comes to your business writing, whether it is notes in a CRM, or seemingly benign report that you assume will never again see the light of day, don’t ever forget that every piece of business writing has
Make a Complete Persuasive Argument
But regardless of the kind of persuasive argument you might be trying to make, there are a a few universal truths we all need to keep in mind. If we want to make our most persuasive argument, we need to do a few things…
Overcome the Overwhelm of Learning Something New
And today, I want to offer a bit of encouragement and share three ways I personally get grounded anytime I am learning something new and working to implement it into my life:
Simple Advice: Bring Positivity, Every Day
Keeping your energy level up all the time is hard. We all get tired. We all get frustrated. We all get sick of our work/colleagues/friends/selves. And when we are any of these things,
“Changing” Gen Z Starts with Us
We hear many of our senior executive clients say, over and over, that their Gen Z employees are lacking certain critical communication skills that are required for business success. We get asked all the time to help bridge this gap,
Manage Your Detail, Always
There are a few questions we frequently hear from our workshop participants. And perhaps the most vexing is the question of detail: how much do I need, where do I put it, how much is too much?
Wide-Angle Vs. Zoom: Choose the Correct Lens for Your Communication
The best communicators carry around different lenses in their metaphorical camera bag, and depending on the situation will bring out a different lens.
Early Career Professionals: Need Approval? Be Ready with Answers to These 8 Questions
In our communication workshops, we work with clients from many countries, across several continents, and of course, in varying age groups, from just-out-of-college Gen Z’ers to Millennials to Gen X’ers to late Baby-Boomers.