I was in grade 10 at the time. My mom dropped me off a block away from the movie theater. I got out of our car, straightened my coat, took a deep breath, and slowly walked toward the group of friends I was meeting that night. I wasn’t a popular girl growing up. Like most teenagers, I was gangly and awkward, spending most of my days trying to avoid embarrassment. But like most teenagers, I also wanted to have groups of friends and a yearbook full of fun memories. I wanted to be invited out and have a crush on the captain of the football team. I wanted to belong. And on this particular night, that feeling was waiting for me in a [...]

If you’re asked to give a presentation in the final hours of a four-day conference, then brace yourself, because you’re facing some serious impediments. Your audience members have been on a fevered engagement high for half a week. They’re exhausted. They’re ready to catch flights back home. And they’re tapped out on charts and data. So what do you do if you’re in one of the more unfavorable positions that a public speaker can face? How do you keep an audience engaged during a presentation? You let down your guard — and you let your audience in. A Tale of Effective Professional Storytelling If your immediate response is, “Great idea, but a story won’t keep an audience engaged,” you’re incorrect. I’ve seen how [...]