Workshops & Presentations

An interactive workshop stolen from the mind of Aristotle himself. The philosopher described three characteristics of an effective leader. Modern neuroscience has proven him right. We’ll cover the secrets of a powerful “ethos” or brand, and practice the techniques that make others want to follow your lead. A bonus round has you conduct an ethos analysis of your resume or CV.

A full-day workshop in which students learn the characteristics admissions officers seek in reading an essay. We practice a different kind of storytelling, go through a drafting exercise called the “period,” and share a technique that shows the student’s ability to learn and grow. The workshop includes one-on-one sessions with me, discussing the ideal topics for each student. (Note: if you want help for an individual student, I can recommend the best coach. I rarely do such coaching myself.)

When should you speak at a meeting? When should you challenge a speaker or oppose an idea? How can you use regularly scheduled meetings to make others look to you as a leader? In a presentation or a half-day workshop, I call on the wisdom of such diverse minds as Lisa Simpson, Winston Churchill, and Josef Stalin.

Well, comfortable at least. Using government data and private surveys, I show how a degree in the humanities actually pays more than business degree—provided you take care to avoid this one mistake. This presentation leads to a call for a “New Trivium” to prepare students for challenging times ahead.

An interactive workshop that shows the three steps to getting an employer to love you. We work through various scenarios and cover the mistakes to avoid.

This workshop can be as short as an hour and works well online. We cover the ways to gain the high ground in any dispute; brand a product, service, or idea; and even frame your own reputation.

Everybody makes mistakes, whether you’re a careless spouse or a global corporation. In this presentation, I show not only how to recover from a screwup but to come out looking better than ever. It takes just three rhetoric-enabled steps.

Tropes vault your audience into a different reality. They lie behind the most successful advertising campaigns, social media influencers, and evil political forces. They can also level up your writing and speaking games. I’ve delivered tropes workshops and presentations, focusing on the least known—and most powerful—trope of all: the metonymy.

Invention, Hypocrisy, Liberal, Virtue, Decorum, Pathetic, Idiot: These words have had their definitions change dramatically since America’s founding. This fun—and at times hilarious—talk helps us recover the meanings, while revealing a way out of our increasingly tribal times.

A half-day workshop on ways to take the anger out of confrontations, earn the love of people who don’t look like you, and inspire action when it counts the most.

I’ve done this as a presentation and as a half-day workshop. At the end, participants have a sophisticated understanding of the uses of the past, present, and future tenses. They come away enabled to take the anger out of arguments, and win influence over others.

We make a serious mistake when we think that an argument and a fight are the same thing. In fight, we try to dominate our opponent or win an argument on logical points. In argument, the goal is to win over an audience—changing their mood, their mind, or their willingness to take action. This topic works beautifully as an hourlong presentation or a full-day workshop with writing, speaking, and dialog exercises. Among the secrets I share: the persuadable audience isn’t always the one who’s arguing with you.