Often, a person is passionate about their work but may struggle to express that feeling in words. Clients who select me tend to be passionate about their work but want to be able to translate their passion verbally.

They are diligent, though, in writing what their work is about on paper and, at times, will even interview folks who champion them to help define their motivation.

This is not easy. It takes digging deep and using examples and stories and to explain why their work makes a difference. Step two is to practice by choosing and using impactful words that are easy to say. Bring clarity around the why, how and who. Clients that practice and practice then keep practicing become very capable at verbally expressing their passion.

The new trend is wearing bold on bold in patterns and colors. It is the fashion industry trying to mix it up. I myself love the new trends. However in my profession, the center of attention is on the client and the audience so I stay more conservative in my dress.

But in my personal world, I like living large! All my sport clothing is in bright yellows, greens and pinks. I have yet to embrace the patterned leggings, though, maybe next year. I have encouraged my C-suite clients and friends, men and women, to add bits of boldness to their accessories. For the women, larger necklaces and very smart print underpinnings look good with their black and gray suits.

Men can wear the tie and shirt selections with a bold print in the tie and pick a shirt color to match the suit. They can do the bold stripe socks as long the sock is in the same color family. Recently, a client wore a grey striped sock with his gray suit. It was fun but not distracting. Having fun with clothing selections will definitely make you feel more uplifted.

PowerPoint is a wonderful tool to use when making a presentation. It adds a visual context to your message and hopefully adds clarity to the point you are driving. At the same time, PowerPoint can confuse the message and become handicap to the speaker.

For a twenty minute talk, the maximum number of slides used would be 30 and most of them would be picture visuals you can talk to.

Years ago, I attended a presentation given by two CEOs. (Their companies were my clients at the time.) One CE0 had too many slides for a 45 minute presentation. Many of the slides were in small print and graphs that no one could make out. The other CEO, who spoke immediately after, only had one slide with visuals that transitioned in when he was making a point. The audience was much more engaged with the second CEO even though the points both CEOs were making were the same (albeit from different viewpoints).

Which presentation would you have liked to attend?