'Have you ever thought about how storytelling helps us create a better life and a better place in the real world? Storytelling is becoming increasingly popular, not just with the professional speaker, but with novices. We all have our stories to tell and we now realize that it helps feed our need for connection and more recently for social change. MORE >>

Preparation is everything. While we focus on our content, and sometimes fuss about our slides, it’s essential we never forget about the framework holding everything together. How will we introduce and conclude? How should we segment the content into logical bite-sized pieces? How do we pull together our fundamental arguments? The Main Message. MORE >>

During my recent workshop on business networking at the World Tea Expo , there was a discussion about asking questions. Everyone agreed that open-ended questions are important in getting to know the people you're talking to, and building the foundation of a relationship. That sounded like a reasonable question when you're in the tea business. MORE >>

In 2006, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stood in front of an audience of software developers and thanked them for building applications that run on Windows. He really, REALLY wanted them to know that he recognized how important they were to the future of Microsoft and that he personally appreciated all of their efforts. Can’t wait for that one. MORE >>

"What are you gonna do?" But Shriver urged the graduates not to feel pushed to rush toward things. Instead, she invoked "the power of the pause," and made it a call to action (or inaction, if you like) to the graduates: "Pausing allows you to take a beat -- to take a breath in your life. You can help us change the channel." The video is below. MORE >>