Presentation Skills

Tom Voss ran a company with a poor safety ­rec­­ord and the status quo was ­­un­­acceptable. At the time, Voss was chief operating officer of Ameren, a utility company in the Midwest. He sought to overhaul the firm’s lax safety culture by hosting a meeting with 200 of his senior man­agers. To galvanize his audience, the normally soft-spoken Voss turned into an inspiring dynamo.

The best public speakers foster so much goodwill with their audience that even if something mortifying happens, they can recover. Just ask Joey Asher.

David Pensak faced a challenge during the early days of the Internet. He wanted people to understand the purpose of a firewall. But they were still grappling with the newness of the Web itself, so he had to figure out a simple way to explain a complex concept.