A Blog Designed to Help You Become a Better Speaker

We've all sat through those presentations. You know the ones.

Slide after slide of charts, bar graphs, and statistically significant snooze-fests.

Here’s the thing: data doesn’t move people. Emotions do.

If you're a speaker—whether on a stage, in a boardroom, or pitching to a potential client—your goal isn’t to transfer information. It’s to inspire action. And that happens when your audience feels something.

🔁 Swap Stats for Stories 🖼️ Trade Graphs for Gut Punches 🎯 Use Visuals that Move, Not Just Inform

In the short video above (taken from my course "How to Add Creativity, Humor and Audience Engagement to Your Speech"), I break down exactly how to use emotionally-charged visuals in your slides to create connection—and convert audiences from passive listeners to raving fans. I show some of my ACTUAL slides, as an FYI. (AKA - You'll want to click and watch.)

Let’s break this down:

🔹 Why Stats Often Fail: Numbers don’t stick. What sticks is the emotion behind the message. A...

(Be prepared: I am going to “should” all over you about storytelling in your speech. There are always ways to bend rules, but as a general practice, I find these to be effective in regards to creating an emotional powerful moment with the audience – which is a huge part of what stories are for.)

 Annnnnd Action. 🎬

He was an old white guy rambling on for an hour. His speech was basically a thinly veiled sales pitch to hire him for his services. Right when I thought he couldn’t annoy me anymore, he pulled out the ol’ sports hero story to end his sales pitch/speech.

 He wasn’t an athlete. If he was and it was HIS story - that would be different. It wasn’t. It was something I could have googled and read about on Wikipedia. I, and half the room, don’t care about sports. We politely endured what I am assuming was what he considered motivational.

When he was done, I imagined him getting his hefty speaking check, sauntering over to the bar to order an Arnold Palmer or Whiskey Sour, hitt...