by Sharí | Sep 6, 2026 | Communication Skills, Influence, & Message Strategy, Event & Conference Marketing, Influential Communication, Presence-Forward Marketing & Sales, Thought Leadership
Audiences are changing what they want from events, meeting planners are reacting, and B2B speakers should be paying attention.
Events are having a renaissance right now. There's real excitement about people wanting to gather at events once again. But I'm also worried.
Meeting planners are picking up signals from their audiences and, in some cases, drawing the wrong conclusions from them. They hear "the networking was the best part" and decide to shrink the programming. They believe "audiences have shorter attention spans" and start capping presentations at twenty minutes.
I find it particularly ironic that some meeting planners are “fixing” programming by shortening speaking slots to 20 minutes. Any speaker will tell you that a shorter presentation is harder to pull off than a longer one.
Mark Twain once wrote to a friend, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”
Shorter presentations also means they’re likely pooling amateur speakers.
Which means, meeting planners are choosing amateur speakers for a more difficult speech format. And when that doesn’t work, they’ll blame it on audiences having short attention spans or that networking is more valuable.
If audiences are walking away from an event saying "the networking was the best part," then, yes, that's a signal that something needs to shift in programming decisions.
But the answer isn't less programming; it's deeper programming. Not shorter speeches, just smarter ones.
If you're a B2B speaker who wants to keep getting booked — and turn your time on stage into real business — this is the shift to understand.
To understand today's audiences, it helps to look back at how we got here.
The Legendary Era (1960s through the 1990s).
This was the golden age of the professional speaker. Professionals went to conferences because there was no other way to access the network in the room or the information on stage.
Speakers were practically mythical. Voices of industry titans could only be heard behind hotel ballroom doors.
You’d sit in those rooms for once-in-a-lifetime moments. Then, go home and tell your spouse, your colleagues, your friends about the experience and share the insights that completely changed the way you thought about work and life.
The Digital Era (2000s into the 2010s).
Three shifts happened in quick succession.
First, access. Globally renowned experts became familiar faces and constant companions. Those once-in-a-lifetime voices were now playing on your car's speakers, in your earbuds while walking the dog, and on your iPhone at the gym.
Second, reverence. Even celebrity lost its draw. I can't tell you how many times I've heard conference-goers scoff at the celebrity headline speaker. "What's Nicole Kidman really going to teach me about my business?"
Third, the raised bar. Audiences could now watch the best speeches ever delivered — on demand, for free. The greatest TED Talks. Legendary commencement addresses. Viral last lectures. Audiences walked into ballrooms with that benchmark in their heads. The speakers didn't get worse. But the comparison set got infinitely better.
The AI Era (now). Today, information isn't just accessible. It's personalized. Your audience can have a strategic conversation about their exact business problem in minutes.
Which means today's speeches need to offer information and experiences that are better than a conversation with AI.
The good news, as Skift Meetings' Megatrends 2026 report puts it: live events are becoming the antidote to AI slop.
Storytellers have always adjusted to the wants of audiences.
Live theater became movie theaters. Movies became episodic TV. TV became 24/7 streaming.
Each format shift evolved the art form: a script from the 1940s is structurally different from a script in 2026 in its pacing, its exposition, and what a scene has to do in the first thirty seconds.
The medium didn't kill the storyteller. It rewrote what good storytelling sounds like.
Movies aren't dead. Theater isn't dead.
The keynote isn't dying. It's evolving.
The mistake is following a format your audiences have already moved past.
What Audiences Are Starving For
Three things are genuinely scarce in your audience's daily lives, and a live room is the only place they can get them.
Human presence. People work from home, behind screens. Work is asynchronous and isolated. Real interpersonal interaction is rarer than it has ever been.
Being drawn out. Information comes at your audience constantly. What's vanishing is anything that pulls something out of them: the Socratic facilitator who points where to look instead of telling them what to see. Audiences are saturated with content coming at them and starved for experiences that draw their own thinking out.
Orchestrated group experience. This is the deepest layer, and the one most speakers miss. We're tribal creatures. There's something the human nervous system needs from being in a group of other humans, working through ideas together, that you can't replicate alone. The room itself is part of the experience, and the experience is part of the insight.
What an Integrated Speech Is
Most speakers treat the stage as the canvas. An integrated speech treats the entire event as the canvas.
The time you spend on the platform is still the centerpiece. But the speech extends backwards into how you show up before, outward into what happens in the room while you're on stage, and forward into what the audience does with it after.
Here are five ways to build that into your next keynote.
5 Interactive Keynote Techniques That Work
1. The Self-Locating Moment
Build a moment into your speech where the audience places themselves on your framework. A poll. A paddle. A color-coded sticker.
They apply your concept to themselves in real time, and they see where their peers land. =
2. The Compare-With-Your-Neighbor Prompt
A short prompt that creates an immediate one-on-one exchange between two audience members. "Sixty seconds: write down X. Now turn to the person next to you and compare."
The point is the live experience of how differently two professionals in the same room can think about the same prompt. It's the lowest-friction way to get an audience thinking with each other while you're still leading.
3. The Reframe Catch
Early in your talk, ask the audience to write down the one assumption they walked in with. After your reframe section, ask them to check whether they still hold it.
The point is the catch itself. The audience experiences themselves changing their mind in real time. Most insight is invisible to the person having it; this move makes it visible.
4. Build or Solve Something Together
Hands-on construction or puzzles during the speech, tied directly to your concept.
The act of building or solving is part of the learning. It's tactile, it's memorable, and it creates an automatic peer-comparison moment when people glance at each other's work.
5. The Integration Station
A designated space at the event where the audience keeps working with your lesson during breaks, between sessions, and across the rest of the event. Your speech doesn't end when you walk off stage. It keeps living in the room.
A few options:
- The Reflection Station. Attendees write a one-line answer to a prompt and leave it behind. The wall fills up across the day.
- The Diagnostic Station. An interactive visual of your framework with prompts for self-assessment.
- The Conversation Starter Station. Attendees vote on which topics from your speech they'd most like to discuss further, and the planner uses the votes to host mini-discussions later in the event.
The Opportunity Ahead
The dust hasn't settled. The events industry is still working out what audiences really want.
But the speakers who adapt first are about to break out. The techniques above are the new baseline for a speech that earns its room.
Fees, packaging, positioning, conversion from the stage: these are the questions serious B2B speakers run into constantly. That's the work we do inside Stage & Strategy, an invitation-only community for B2B speakers who use stages to drive real revenue. Request a conversation →
by Sharí | Aug 28, 2026 | Communication Skills, Influence, & Message Strategy
There's a principle every novelist knows, every screenwriter lives by, and almost every business presenter ignores.
Show, don't tell.
Most B2B presentations tell. They summarize, they label, they hand the audience a conclusions.
Meanwhile, the audience listens politely while their imagination sits idle.
Why most B2B presentations fall flat
Corporate business presenters are trained to be efficient. Get to the point. Don't waste anyone's time.
Efficiency at the expense of experience is how you end up with a talk nobody can recall by tomorrow. You deliver information, they receive it, and it walks out the door when they do.
Why? Because your audience has nothing to do. There's no scene to picture, no tension to feel, no conclusion to reach on their own.
Here are 7 show-don’t-tell techniques to engage your audience and create memorable presentations.
1. Stories and anecdotes
Most business presenter think that they are storytelling when they are really summarizing. They describe what happened instead of reliving it. They give information rather than putting the audience in the moment.
Joan Didion said details are the lifeblood of nonfiction. She was talking about the page, but it holds anywhere one person is trying to get another person to care.
Here’s the difference:
Telling: "We had a difficult product launch. The team was stressed, but we figured it out and it ended up being one of our best quarters."
Showing: "It was the Tuesday before launch. Eight o'clock at night and we were still in the meeting room getting everything ready. At 8:02 the lead engineer looked up from his laptop and said, 'We have a problem.' And the room went silent."
The first version gives your audience information. The second puts them in the room.
Notice that the fix is in slowing down the moment before the resolution. You want the audience to feel the tension of the situation instead of hearing a report about it.
For a deeper look at how to build a story into a talk — intention, obstacle, stakes, and all — I laid out the full framework in storytelling for B2B presentations.
2. Precise descriptions
One precise detail gives your audience's imagination something to grab onto, and happily fill in the rest.
There are four things worth learning to describe well.
People. How do they carry themselves? How does the room change when they walk into it? Is there something distinct in their appearance or their voice? "He had the handshake of a man who wanted you to know he was in charge." Your audience knows exactly who just walked in.
Places. Give your audience a setting before the action starts: the size of the room, the sounds around you, the light at that hour. Instead of "I was at a conference," try "The conference was in a hotel ballroom with a carpet pattern and overhead lighting that was making my eyes twitch." Detail that sets the tone for everything that happens inside.
Emotions. Instead of "I was nervous," describe what nervousness actually felt like in your body. "I could feel my heartbeat in my throat. I kept rereading the same line in my notes and none of it was going in." Your audience recognizes the feeling from the inside, without you needing to name it.
Actions. When you're describing behavior, slow the moment down instead of labeling it. Instead of "she disagreed," try: "She set her pen down. Folded her hands. And waited." The tension shows up without having to announce it.
3. Sensory language
You don't need all five senses in every description. One or two is plenty.
- Sight. Where did this happen? Who else was in the room? What did you expect to see and not find?
- Sound. What was running in the background? What did someone's voice sound like? What sound was unexpected?
- Touch. What did it feel like physically? Was there a shift in your breathing? What was the temperature?
- Smell. Often the most visceral of the five. A single smell reference can be remarkably transporting.
- Taste. Unless you're in the culinary industry you won't reach for this one often, but when the moment calls for it, it tends to get a reaction.
One note worth underlining: these tools aren't only for describing things that already happened. They work just as well when you're painting a picture of what's possible.
What does your audience's work look like after they implement what you're teaching? What do they see, hear, and feel on the day it's finally working? A vivid picture of that future is one of the most persuasive things you can offer from a stage.
4. Dialogue
Dialogue puts your audience inside an exchange.
Compare "she told me she felt invisible" with: "She looked at me and said, 'I've been doing this for fifteen years, and I have never felt more invisible in a room.'" One is a report; the other is a scene.
Two things worth knowing before you use it.
You don't need verbatim accuracy. You're not writing a deposition. You can be economical with the words and still be completely faithful to the spirit and truth of what was said.
And your own internal dialogue counts. "The whole time I was standing there, I kept thinking: there is no way this is going to work." The inner voice is often the most relatable line in the whole story, because everyone in that room has had the same thought about something.
5. Visual models
This one steps outside language entirely.
Visual models — frameworks, diagrams, quadrants, concentric circles, triangles, timelines — let your audience see a relationship between ideas instead of holding it all in the abstract. They turn a concept into a structure someone can carry around.
My test for a good model: could someone sketch it on a napkin and understand it at a glance? If it needs a legend and three minutes of setup, it isn't finished yet.
Models earn their place in B2B presentations for one more reason. They give your audience something to take back to their team — a shape they can reference, share, and use long after you've left the building.
6. Images and video
Images. I'm not talking about generic stock photography: the handshake, the lightbulb, the person pointing at a whiteboard. Whenever you can, use images that are unique, specific, unexpected, or emotionally resonant. The right image does in two seconds what a paragraph can't.
Video. Use it sparingly, test it every single time, and always have a backup plan.
Beyond the technical risk, video creates a pacing problem most presenters don't see coming. You've spent twenty minutes earning your audience's attention, building trust, creating energy, and establishing a connection with them — and then you hand all of it off to a screen.
Video can absolutely be the right call. Just ask yourself first whether you could get the same result with a still image and your own words. More often than not, you can.
7. Embodiment
This is the most overlooked tool on the list, and the one I love most.
Sometimes the strongest way to show something is to physically inhabit it: a slight shift in posture, a change in vocal quality, a single gesture. When you embody a moment, your audience's mirror neurons fire. They don't just picture what you're describing; they feel a version of it in their own bodies.
You don't have to turn into an actor. Subtlety is enough — no need to perform a whole scene.
A few brief moments of embodiment are also practical. They break up pacing, tone, and rhythm, which gives your audience's eyes and ears some variety, and variety is one of the simplest ways to hold attention across a long talk.
How to start using these techniques
You don't have to overhaul your entire presentation. Pick one moment in your next talk. Not the whole talk. One moment.
Find the line where you normally summarize. Then make a single swap:
- Add a detail people can picture.
- Add a sentence of dialogue.
- Add one sensory cue.
- Slow the moment down by three beats.
That's it. Give them a scene, and they'll give you their attention.
Do that consistently and what you build over time is a body of work that moves people instead of merely informing them. That's the difference between a talk that earns applause and one that earns clients.
Speaking isn't just a performance, it's your pipeline. That's the work we do inside Stage & Strategy — turning the right talks into a reliable client pipeline.
by Sharí | Jan 23, 2026 | Communication Skills, Influence, & Message Strategy, Event & Conference Marketing, Featured, Presence-Forward Marketing & Sales
Most B2B speakers don't have a storytelling problem. They have a client story problem.
They know stories matter. They've heard the stats about how audiences remember narratives better than data. But when it comes to actually weaving a story into a business presentation, they freeze. They briefly mention a client win, rattle off the results, and move on.
That's not a story. That's a book report.
The client story—the transformation of someone who worked with you from struggle to success—is the one story every B2B speaker needs to master. It's proof that your method works. It's relatable. And when told well, it does more selling than any slide ever could.
Here's how to tell it well.
Start With Intention and Obstacle
If there's one thing you absolutely need to know about storytelling, it's this: every story is built on intention and obstacle.
What did your client want? What stood in their way?
Aaron Sorkin—the writer behind The West Wing, A Few Good Men, and The Social Network—says it best: "I worship at the altar of intention and obstacle."
Well, I worship at the altar of Mr. Sorkin's writing. And if intention and obstacle are that important to him, then it should be that important to any storyteller.
In your client story, the client is the hero. So you must clarify:
- What did the client want, need, desire, or demand?
- What stood in their way, held them back, worked in opposition, or created some damned bad luck?
Most speakers whiz by this part. They briefly mention the intention, maybe the obstacle, and then jump right into their intervention and the actions that led to success.
That's why most B2B "stories" fall flat.
To give your story more oomph, describe the intention and obstacle. Let your audience in on the hopes and struggles.
Then raise the stakes.
Raise the Stakes So Your Audience Cares
The stakes give your audience a reason to root for your client.
Ask yourself: What would have happened if your client didn't succeed? What was on the line?
Stakes transform a case study into a story. Without them, you're just reporting outcomes. With them, you're creating tension that draws your audience in.
One way to raise stakes is to add a ticking clock—a strict deadline for success within the story.
This technique comes straight from Hollywood. Think Speed, Armageddon, Ocean's Eleven.
If your client had a real deadline—a product launch, a board meeting, a contract renewal—use it. Let your audience feel that clock ticking as your hero strives for success.
Don't fabricate urgency if it wasn't there. But if it was? It's storytelling gold.
Show What Your Client Tried Before You
In 2013, Emma Coats, a director and storyboard artist at Pixar, shared 22 storytelling rules on Twitter. One applies directly to B2B presentations:
"You admire a character for trying more than for their successes."
Here's what that means for your client story: tell your audience what your client had already tried—and how those attempts failed—before they found you and your method.
This does two things. First, it builds empathy. Your audience has probably tried similar things themselves. Second, it positions your solution as the thing that finally worked when everything else didn't.
Pair that with meaningful stakes, and you've got a compelling story, baby!
Show, Don't Tell
If there were a Ten Commandments of Storytelling, "Show, don't tell" would be the second one—right after intention and obstacle.
Of course, showing is easier when you're making movies or writing novels. In movies you have a camera to literally show something, and in novels you can use as many pages as you want for your prose.
In speeches, you're mostly limited to your words and your voice.
The "hack" here is to use sensory language.
One of the most useful tools I learned from studying NLP (neurolinguistic programming) years ago is the VAK framework:
- V – Visual (see)
- A – Auditory (hear)
- K – Kinesthetic (feel)
Transport yourself into the moments of your story. What would you have seen? What would you have heard? What would your body have been feeling? What about the other people in the story?
When you weave in visual, auditory, and kinesthetic language, your audience will see the story like a movie in their mind.
EXAMPLES OF SENSORY ADJECTIVES
| Visual |
Auditory |
Kinesthetic |
| Clear |
Loud |
Solid |
| Bright |
Quiet |
Warm |
| Colorful |
Harmonious |
Cool |
| Dim |
Discordant |
Heavy |
| Focused |
Resonant |
Light |
| Hazy |
Melodic |
Smooth |
| Vivid |
Shrill |
Rough |
| Sparkling |
Silent |
Sharp |
| Dark |
Noisy |
Soft |
| Brilliant |
Tone-deaf |
Concrete |
| Foggy |
Rhythmic |
Tangible |
| Sharp |
Vocal |
Sticky |
| Dull |
Muffled |
Flowing |
| Illuminating |
Piercing |
Tight |
| Transparent |
Monotone |
Grounded |
| Murky |
Hushed |
Tense |
| Glowing |
Ringing |
Relaxed |
| Obscure |
Crisp |
Firm |
| Radiant |
Faint |
Pressure |
| Gleaming |
Thunderous |
Prickly |
End With Transformation
Story is change.
If there's no transformation, there's no story.
Your client story needs to land on a clear before-and-after. Not just in metrics (though those help), but in state. Where were they emotionally, operationally, strategically before? Where are they now?
The transformation is the payoff. It's what your audience has been waiting for. And it's also what makes them think: I want that too.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a client story in B2B speaking?
A client story is a narrative that shares the transformation of one or more of your clients—from struggle to success, from challenge to victory. It serves as proof that your method works while giving your audience someone to root for. Client stories can be the foundation of an entire presentation, a five-minute vignette, or several brief examples woven throughout a speech.
How do you use "show don't tell" in a speech?
In speeches, you "show" by using sensory language—visual, auditory, and kinesthetic details that help your audience picture the story in their mind. Instead of saying "the client was stressed," describe what stress looked like: the tight shoulders, the 2am emails, the third cup of cold coffee on the desk. Sensory details turn abstract concepts into vivid scenes.
What makes a B2B presentation story compelling?
A compelling B2B story has four elements: a clear intention (what the hero wanted), a real obstacle (what stood in their way), meaningful stakes (what would happen if they failed), and transformation (how things changed). Most B2B speakers rush through these elements or skip them entirely, which is why their stories feel like case study summaries rather than narratives.
How long should a client story be in a presentation?
A client story can range from two minutes to twenty, depending on your presentation format. The key isn't length—it's structure. Even a brief story should establish the intention, the obstacle, the stakes, and the transformation. A longer story simply has more room to develop tension and sensory detail.
Should I use multiple client stories or just one?
Both approaches work. A single client story can anchor an entire presentation, giving you depth and emotional resonance. Multiple shorter stories work well when you want to show range or address different audience segments. The important thing is that each story follows the same structural principles—intention, obstacle, stakes, transformation.
Sharí Alexander helps B2B entrepreneurs and executives turn speaking engagements into more clients, without turning their talk into a sales pitch. Her clients routinely turn presentations into pipeline: about 30% of attendees raise a hand afterward—roughly 6× the industry benchmark.
This article was originally published in the Presence-Forward Marketing Newsletter.
by Sharí | Dec 5, 2025 | B2B Lead Generation, Communication Skills, Influence, & Message Strategy, Entrepreneurial Insights, Event & Conference Marketing, Featured, Influential Communication, Presence-Forward Marketing & Sales, Thought Leadership
[FROM THE ELEVATED i NEWSLETTER]
“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
“A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” — Herbert A. Simon
Perhaps one of the most common mistakes I spot when working with a new client is that they try to fit a course’s worth of information into a single speech.
Chances are, your signature speech might actually have three speeches’ worth of content.
Realizing that is good news for two reasons:
- This could unlock why past speeches fell short of bringing in more leads (even though it felt like a solid speech).
- Looking ahead to 2026, you can deconstruct your current speech and have THREE speeches to offer events
If you feel like there’s something paradoxical about having a value-packedspeech that doesn't result in new leads or clients, you'd be 100% correct.
Logic would tell us that the more we put into a speech, the more compelled audiences will be to work with you.
But, alas.
We humans aren’t known for our rational decisions and behaviors.
In marketing, this phenomenon is often referred to as The Paradox of Choice.
Distilled: when you present people with too many options (or too much information), they will choose status quo—making no decision and taking no action.
How Cognitive Overload Kills Your Lead Generation
Common side effects of a should-be-3-speeches speech:
- The audience experiences cognitive overload
- They feel a need to process the information or “do some homework” before they’re "ready" to work with you
- They are confused about what you actually do and provide (even though they learned things)
- They’re exhausted
- They checked out
- They learned some new perspectives and “nice reminders” but they didn’t understand precisely how to apply it in their life/business.
When it comes to speaking, the more that's added, the less that sticks.
So, rather than trying to talk faster, there’s a better solution.
Specialize Into Three Focused Talks
Specialize the speech.
What you think is one signature talk could be 3-5 strong, specific talks.
And now is a excellent time to specialize your speech because (thanks to AI) people can find solid, overview-style answers to plenty of questions and problems.
Which means, today’s audiences are expecting (practically demanding) that speakers dive deep into topics.
We’re talkin’ nuanced.
We’re talkin’ niched.
We’re talkin’ “tell me perspectives and insights a robot can’t.”
The win isn’t “cover everything.” It’s to go deep on one thing that matters.
Here’s another great reason to split your speech....
When you talk to meeting planners, you can offer 3 strong options instead of just one. It moves the conversation from “if” to “which.”
And who knows, they might want to book you for multiple engagements.
Giving you more stage time with your ideal audiences.
Questions to Identify Your Talk Suite
Is your talk trying to do too much?
Ask yourself:
- Can I state the one outcome in a single sentence without “and/also”?
- Are there 3 distinct audiences who’d need different examples, context, stories, jargon, or metrics?
- Do I have more than 2 frameworks in my speech?
- Have you ever not gotten through all your slides?
If you can say yes to any of these, then you might have a suite, not a single.
Real-World Examples of Speech Specialization
- We specialized Ben’s speeches into three audience types: individuals (professional development), organizations (cultural shifts), and men- or women-focused groups.
- Eric shifted from broad marketing overviews to narrow marketing topics.
- Elisabeth’s speech had a six-part framework. It was difficult to cover all six in shorter speeches, so we grouped them into three categories. That way she could drill deep into certain ones and lightly cover others. Plus, each category can be its own specialized speech.
Found this helpful?
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by Sharí | Dec 4, 2025 | Communication Skills, Influence, & Message Strategy, Entrepreneurial Insights, Influential Communication
[FROM THE ELEVATED i NEWSLETTER]
"The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries." — Descartes
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." — Mark Twain
Thank you to everyone who responded to my last issue. At the end of the featured article, I asked subscribers if you’d be interested in my book recommendations list and I was pleased by the enthusiastic responses!
Below are 33 books that have shaped my life and my profession. I’ve put them into 7 categories so you can skip to the sections that interest you most.
We start off with books that help you in the craft of writing, then move into improving overall communication skills, then wrap up with some business memoirs and philosophies on a well-lived life.
If you have a favorite book that’s not listed, reply to this email and let me know! I’d love to add some goodies to my reading list. 🤓
A Writer’s Mindset, Also Helpful in Business
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
My most re-read book. Pressfield teaches us that resistance is a force that shows up whenever you're about to level-up, whether it’s in creative pursuits, business growth, or any adventure worth taking. This book reframes resistance from an enemy to a compass—a signal saying you're on the right track. Just push through.
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
Embrace the shitty first draft, break big projects into short assignments, and focus on the frame in front of you. The lessons apply far beyond writing.
The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
Morning Pages, unlike journaling where you recount the day, is where you dump the head junk, gain clarity. It’s also a great mental health practice. Helps you act with intention—from decision-making to content creation to difficult conversations.
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Fear will always be part of any creative or business journey. Gilbert's gift is teaching you to let fear come along for the ride without letting it steer.
Master Your Message
On Writing Well by William Zinsser
A must for anyone who considers themselves a writer. The writing in this book—both his and the examples he shares—always inspire. Clear writing is clear thinking. Zinsser offers the best practical guide on how to improve your writing.
Made to Stick by Chip & Dan Heath
This book breaks down the anatomy of memorable messages and gives you a framework to make sure your core idea is what people remember.
Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks
If you want to get into the nitty gritty of excellent storytelling, this is your book. Dicks teaches you how to find stories and craft them so they land.
On Public Speaking & Presenting (from Harvard Business Review)
A collection of essays on the craft of presenting. The best entry is the first one—How to Give a Killer Presentation by Chris Anderson, founder of TEDTalks.
The Referable Speaker by Michael Port
Written for those who want to be professional speakers, Port teaches you how to position yourself and show up in ways that make people advocate for you—the strategic difference between a one-time speaking gig and a reliable pipeline of opportunities. Plenty of insights into the business of speaking.
Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller
Always make your audience the hero. This book teaches you to position your clients as the protagonist and yourself as the guide on their journey. This mindset will serve you in clarifying your speeches, funnels, sales calls, and web copy.
Sense & Style by Steven Pinker
If you really want to nerd out on writing, check this one out. Pinker’s motivation for this book came from having to read countless academic papers that were bloated with jargon and poor sentence construction. Sins also found in business works.
Influential Communication
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
A timeless classic, and with good reason. The communication foundation that every one should have.
Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
Voss (a former FBI negotiator) teaches emotional intelligence in high-stakes conversations—directly applicable whether you're closing a client or navigating a speaking engagement.
The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier
This book teaches you the discipline of curiosity—how to coach your clients, your team, and the room toward their own breakthroughs.
Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff
Grab attention, frame the narrative, and close when it counts.
Secrets of Power Negotiating by Roger Dawson
A punchier version of Voss’s negotiation book, but still tactical, practical, and street-tested. Dawson gives you the moves and counter-moves that shift leverage in your favor.
Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg
The title is a bit of a misfire, but the content is pure gold. Communication grounded in empathy and honesty. This book teaches you how to express what you need and hear what others actually need—foundational for authentic presence, genuine connection, and collaboratively finding solutions.
The Power of Moments by Chip & Dan Heath
This book teaches you how to design experiences and engineering memorable moments.
Leadership, Entrepreneurship, & Business
The Daily Drucker by Peter Drucker
Drucker is the original systems thinker. These daily excerpts distill decades of management wisdom into bite-sized clarity. Essential for leaders who want to think strategically about their business, not just react to it.
It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson
Burnout is not a badge of honor. Fried and Hansson show how to build a sustainable, profitable business without sacrificing your sanity or your team's. A rebellion against hustle culture.
How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis
Dennis cuts through the romantic mythology of entrepreneurship. His advice pulls no punches and is grounded in decades of building real wealth.
Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull
How do you build an organization where creativity thrives? Catmull's story of Pixar is a masterclass in culture, systems, and the discipline required to do great work consistently.
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
Knight's memoir of building Nike is a study in persistence, vision, and the unglamorous grind of building something real. A reminder that every business, no matter how iconic, started with someone willing to stay the course.
Atomic Habits by James Clear
It’s been on everyone's “Top 10” productivity/habits list for a decade for a reason.
Procrastination by Jane B. Burka, PhD and Lenora M. Yuen, PhD
Provides insights into the psychology behind procrastination. Helps you get to root causes instead of only combating symptoms.
The Gap & the Gain by Dan Sullivan & Benjamin Hardy
For those measuring themselves against an impossible standard. Sullivan and Hardy teach you to measure progress instead—the shift from "I'm still not where I want to be" to "look at how far I've come." Essential mindset staying resilient in a growth journey.
Mindset & Philosophy
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
A journal written by an emperor who’s trying to keep his head on straight among political pressures and the weight of the world on his shoulders. Ancient wisdom about what you can control and what you can't.
The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt
Haidt synthesizes ancient wisdom and modern psychology to produce a practical theory on happiness.
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Psychologist Viktor Frankl survived the unthinkable as a prisoner at Auschwitz. This book teaches you that your ability to choose your response—to your circumstances, your audience, your fear—is the most powerful thing you own.
The Choice by Edith Eva Eger
Lesser known than Frankl's work, this book comes from another Holocaust survivor and psychologist, but a very different reading experience. Eger shares her personal story from her time inside a concentration camp and the trauma’s residual effects in the decades that followed. Beautiful insights on the choices within your control.
Mindset by Carol Dweck
Your beliefs about ability shape your reality. Dweck's fixed vs. growth mindset framework is foundational.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*CK by Mark Manson
My favorite takeaway: problems are inevitable, so choose problems you enjoy solving. Manson's counterculture approach to self-help is refreshing. (Honestly, I snubbed my nose at the one and didn’t read it for years. As Julia Roberts said in Pretty Woman, “Big mistake. Huge.”)
Honorable Mention
Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
Wisdom delivered with compassion and no bullshit. Strayed's collection from her advice column is funny, heartbreaking, and beautifully written.
