When One Deck Won’t Cut It

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Your ability to present effectively can make or break your ability to persuade, inspire, or educate. But here’s the truth: sometimes one slide deck cannot do it all.

Your slides are not the star of the show—you are. Your visuals should support your message and make it easier for your audience to follow your story. Unfortunately, many corporate presentations end up overloaded with content, which leaves audiences confused, disengaged, or simply tuned out.

Why does this happen? Here are common reasons:

  • “I need the slides to remind me what to say.”
    That’s not what slides are for. Use slide notes to keep track of your talking points. And rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Confidence comes with preparation.
  • “The slides have to tell the whole story if I’m not there.”
    Then you’re creating a document or report, not a visual aid for a talk. Instead, create a separate, detailed document as a leave-behind. Presentations are for engaging your audience in real time—not for giving them a reading assignment.
  • “I have to send the slides as a pre-read.”
    Pre-reads are not presentations. Prepare a clean, concise summary document for pre-reading, so your presentation can focus on what matters most in the moment.
  • “I can’t leave out the data—my audience needs to see it all.”
    Your audience trusts you to curate and communicate the most relevant insights. Have backup data ready in case they ask for it, but don’t overwhelm them with everything up front.

The takeaway here is clear: one slide deck can rarely achieve all these goals. You may need multiple versions—a pared-down deck for your presentation, a pre-read document, and a more detailed summary for post-presentation follow-ups.

Is it more work? Absolutely. Is it worth it? Without a doubt.

Engaging presentations are about your audience, not you. Sure, you have goals for presenting, but if the audience can’t keep up or gets confused you’re not going to reach them.

Overloaded slides distract from your message and reduce your impact. If you want to inspire action and leave a lasting impression, focus on making your presentation clear, digestible, and memorable.

This article originally appeared at WeAreComvia.com and is reprinted here with permission.

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Michael Piperno is a communication coach and executive presence expert. His insights empower leaders to communicate effectively and authentically.

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Let’s Talk Relationships

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In the ever-evolving world of leadership, one constant remains: relationships are at the heart of every thriving organization. Leaders who prioritize building strong, respectful relationships are not only more effective in their roles, but they also foster teams that consistently outperform others. Yet, many leadership development programs fail to address one critical component of success: relationship intelligence, or RQ.

What Is Relationship Intelligence (RQ)?

Relationship intelligence is the science of understanding, improving, and nurturing relationships. It’s about recognizing and respecting the unique differences individuals bring to the table, while fostering an environment where trust and collaboration can flourish.

Without relationship intelligence, even the most well-intentioned leaders risk encountering challenges such as:

  • Mistrust: Poor communication can erode confidence and trust among team members.
  • Conflict: Misunderstandings often escalate into unnecessary tension.
  • Top Talent Turnover: A lack of connection can drive your best performers to seek other opportunities.

On the flip side, leaders with strong RQ build teams where ideas flow freely, collaboration thrives, and productivity soars.

The Cost of Neglecting RQ

Imagine this scenario: A high-potential team struggles to meet their goals because of recurring misunderstandings. Tension builds, relationships fray, and frustration mounts. Eventually, the team’s most talented members start disengaging (or even leaving), citing an inability to work effectively with their peers or leadership.

Unfortunately, this story is all too common. The root cause? A gap in relationship intelligence. Many leaders focus heavily on technical skills or task execution, while underestimating the critical role that strong relationships play in achieving long-term success.

Becoming a Leader with RQ

The good news is that relationship intelligence is a skill you can cultivate. It begins with heightened self-awareness and empathy—seeing the world through others’ perspectives. Here are three ways to start building your RQ:

  1. Listen Actively: Truly understanding your team members’ concerns and aspirations starts with active listening. Put distractions aside and focus on their words, emotions, and unspoken cues.
  2. Recognize Individual Strengths: Every person brings unique strengths to the table. Celebrate these differences and find ways to leverage them for collective success.
  3. Communicate Clearly and Compassionately: How you say something is just as important as what you say. Clear, thoughtful, and respectful communication can prevent misunderstandings and nurture trust.

Take the Next Step

I challenge you to reflect on your own relationship intelligence. Are you fostering an environment where your team feels heard, valued, and supported? Strong relationships don’t just happen—they’re built through deliberate effort and thoughtful communication.

By focusing on RQ, you can transform workplace communication, strengthen collaboration, and build a culture where everyone thrives.

Want to learn more about how we help teams boost RQ, minimize conflict, and be at their collaborative best? Let’s talk.

This article originally appeared at WeAreComvia.com and is reprinted here with permission.

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Michael Piperno is a communication coach and executive presence expert. His insights empower leaders to communicate effectively and authentically.

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Are You Really a Good Listener? The Leadership Test

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Listening is one of the most overlooked yet vital skills for effective leadership. While many leaders consider themselves good listeners, the reality is often different. True listening requires deliberate effort and focus—it’s not just hearing words; it’s fully understanding the meaning, intent, and emotions behind them.

If you’re a mid- or senior-level leader, the stakes are even higher. Your ability to listen directly impacts your effectiveness in building relationships, resolving conflicts, and fostering trust within your team and with stakeholders. Yet, even the most seasoned professionals fall into the trap of reactive listening—formulating responses, judgments, or solutions before the other person has even finished speaking.

Barriers to Effective Listening

Listening requires work, and numerous barriers can make it challenging to stay present:

  • Distractions: Phones, notifications, and mental to-do lists can easily pull your attention away.
  • Prejudgments: Your attitude toward the speaker or topic might bias how you receive information.
  • Physical State: Hunger, fatigue, or discomfort can prevent you from giving your full attention.

One of the most common barriers, however, is the urge to respond prematurely. As leaders, you’re often wired to solve problems or share expertise quickly. But this instinct can lead to miscommunication or even alienate those you’re trying to support.

A Self-Reflection Challenge

Take the next week to observe your own listening habits in conversations. Do you find yourself crafting your response while the other person is still speaking? Do distractions frequently pull your attention away? If so, make an effort to refocus:

  1. Stay in the Moment: Let the speaker finish their thought completely before you begin to process your response.
  2. Withhold Judgment: Avoid jumping to conclusions or making assumptions. Give yourself space to fully absorb the message.
  3. Eliminate Controllable Distractions: Silence your phone, turn off notifications, and commit to being fully present.

The Power of Being Present

Data shows that we typically retain only about 25% of what we hear. Combine this with the distractions of the digital age, and it becomes clear why effective listening is such a rare but valuable skill. However, leaders who truly listen create a ripple effect: they build stronger connections, foster collaboration, and inspire loyalty in those they lead.

When you give someone your undivided attention, you demonstrate respect and empathy—two qualities that are hallmarks of exceptional leaders. You don’t just hear the words being said; you gain insights into concerns, motivations, and potential solutions that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Listening as a Leadership Tool

Listening isn’t just about comprehension; it’s about building trust and engagement. Your team members want to feel seen, heard, and valued. When you actively listen, you empower them to share openly, leading to more innovative ideas, better problem-solving, and greater alignment with your leadership vision.

Remember: It’s not always about having the right answer in the moment. Sometimes, the most impactful thing you can do as a leader is to simply listen and acknowledge what’s being shared.

Moving Forward

Commit to improving your listening skills. Start small—focus on one conversation at a time. With practice, active listening will become second nature, and you’ll notice the difference it makes in your relationships and your ability to lead with clarity and compassion.

This article originally appeared at WeAreComvia.com and is reprinted here with permission.

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Michael Piperno is a communication coach and executive presence expert. His insights empower leaders to communicate effectively and authentically.

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Telling a Story Versus Talking Through Slides

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You’ve likely faced the challenge of delivering a presentation that needs to resonate deeply with your audience. It’s a crucial skill—leading others requires not just communicating, but connecting.

One of the first steps to delivering impactful presentations is to prioritize the story you intend to tell. It’s tempting to dive straight into PowerPoint and start building your deck. Many of us do it, but this approach often leads to slides that are overloaded with content, used more as a script than as a tool to support your delivery. This can dilute your core message and disengage your team, board, or stakeholders.

To avoid this, focus on your story before you touch PowerPoint. Ask yourself:

  • What is the outcome I want from this presentation?
  • How can I guide my audience to think, feel, or act in alignment with my goals?

Leaders often face a unique balancing act—they must both inspire confidence and deliver substance. While it’s easy to get trapped in the data, remember that storytelling is what compels people to care about the insights behind the numbers.

Personally, I like to use PowerPoint as a storyboard to map out initial ideas. However, those early versions are always drafts. The final slides only come after I’m crystal clear on the narrative, key messages, and presentation objectives. This process ensures the slides complement my delivery, rather than overshadow it.

Here’s a tip: Once your presentation is ready, step away from your slides. Practice delivering the narrative as if you’re having a conversation over coffee or a casual dinner. If you can clearly articulate the story without relying on the slides, you’re ready to step in front of an audience. If not, revisit it and revise it.

Why does this matter so much? Because powerful storytelling in presentations inspires action and fosters trust. Slides will always be secondary to the message you deliver and the story you tell.

This article originally appeared at WeAreComvia.com and is reprinted here with permission.

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Michael Piperno is a communication coach and executive presence expert. His insights empower leaders to communicate effectively and authentically.

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Leading Virtual Meetings Like a Pro

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Virtual environments can’t fully replicate the richness of in-person interactions, but with the right approach, they can still be engaging and impactful. Effective leaders can refine their virtual presence, communication, and engagement strategies to make their meetings shine.

Here are three essential tips to excel in virtual meetings and workshops:

  1. Polish Your Virtual Presence: Leading effectively online requires you to project confidence and credibility—even more so than when you’re in person. Position your camera at eye level, ensure your face occupies the top two-thirds of the screen, and ensure your face is well-lit to avoid grainy video. Dressing appropriately and maintaining good posture—whether seated or standing—reinforce your leadership presence. Clear audio is also crucial, so invest in a quality microphone or headset to ensure your voice resonates clearly.
  2. Mind Your Facial Expressions and Eye Contact: Your face is one of your most powerful communications tools. Watch your facial expressions — and make sure they match the tone and setting of the meeting. Now, it’s true that eye contact remains an effective tool for commanding attention and building trust, even in virtual settings. And you know what? Not everyone is comfortable making direct eye contact. I personally can’t make full eye contact due to my lazy eye, and one of my friends who is on the autism spectrum struggles with it, too—and that’s okay. We both do our best while also finding other ways to make people feel we are engaged with them. If you can make eye contact, look directly into the camera when addressing your audience. Move participants’ video tiles closer to the camera in Zoom’s Gallery view to monitor their reactions while maintaining eye contact.
  3. Engage, Interact, and Energize: Virtual workshops can feel static if participants aren’t actively involved. Use tools like the Reactions tab in Zoom, chat features, icebreakers, breakout rooms, and live polls to encourage interaction. Guest speakers or co-presenters can also enhance the energy of your session, and a meeting room manager can help manage logistics while you focus on connecting with your audience.

As a leader, you set the tone for your team’s virtual experience. By mastering your presence, creating connection through eye contact and body language, and fostering participation, you can transform virtual workshops and meetings into impactful and memorable experiences.

This article originally appeared at WeAreComvia.com and is reprinted here with permission.

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Michael Piperno is a communication coach and executive presence expert. His insights empower leaders to communicate effectively and authentically.

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Are You Setting Your Team Up for Success?

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How often do you pause to consider if the way you and your team are communicating is helping or actually hindering success?

Here’s the thing: Great communication starts with empathy and intentionality. Before hitting send on your next email or Teams message, ask yourself: “Am I crafting this to suit me or the individual I’m addressing?” Adjusting your communication style to meet the needs of your audience not only clears the path for better results—it builds trust and demonstrates respect.

Know Your Audience, Empower Their Success

You’ve probably seen it before—an overstuffed email or a barrage of messages that overwhelm rather than inform. Let’s break the cycle. Being intentional about how you communicate leads to smoother, more productive exchanges. Consider these examples:

  • Respecting Workflow Styles: If you know that one of your direct reports, Alex, thrives on quick and actionable information, avoid sending him emails with lengthy paragraphs and buried questions. Instead, send concise messages with clearly bulleted requests he can act on immediately. You’ll both benefit from faster results and less friction.
  • Simplifying for Overloaded Managers: If your supervisor, Janelle, seems swamped, think strategically about how you communicate. Rather than sending multiple emails throughout the day, consolidate your updates and questions into one streamlined message—or better yet, schedule a short one-on-one to discuss non-urgent issues.

Thoughtful adjustments like these can reduce their stress and improve your own clarity.

Your Leadership Challenge

Over the next few days, reflect on at least three communications you send. Ask yourself: Am I setting the recipient up for success? Whether it’s an email, a text, or an in-person conversation, focus on how you can:

  • Adjust your tone and format to suit their needs.
  • Eliminate unnecessary complexity or distractions.
  • Foster a sense of mutual respect and productivity.

The Power of Thoughtful Communication

Setting someone up for success doesn’t mean complicating your approach—it means simplifying it. When you make it easier for others to thrive, you also save yourself time, minimize misunderstandings, and reduce unnecessary frustration on both sides.

This article originally appeared at WeAreComvia.com and is reprinted here with permission.

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Michael Piperno is a communication coach and executive presence expert. His insights empower leaders to communicate effectively and authentically.

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From Chaos to Clarity: Winning Slide Strategies

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Listen up. Your presentation should do one thing: support your story. Your slides are not meant to replace you, nor should they compete with your voice. Yet, it’s easy to fall into the trap of overloading slides with text or data, trying to anticipate every possible need.

Here’s the challenge: when you present overloaded slides, your audience tunes out. They shift their focus to reading rather than listening. To keep your audience in the moment and connected with your message, you need to take a more strategic approach to slide design.

Here are some tips to ensure your slides are truly supportive:

  • Keep It Visual: Replace text-heavy bullets with charts, graphs, or images that communicate your points visually and clearly.
  • Use Builds to Reveal Content: Instead of overwhelming your audience with six bullet points at once, reveal each point as you address it. This keeps the focus where it belongs—on your narrative.
  • Simplify Relentlessly: During rehearsals, look for opportunities to trim your slides further. The less cluttered they are, the more easily your audience will process them.
  • Guide Their Focus: When presenting complex slides—like those with data tables or detailed graphics—use tools like highlight boxes or builds to direct attention to specific areas. Your audience should never have to guess where to look.
  • Ask Critical Questions: As you prepare your slides, challenge yourself with questions like “Do I really need a slide for this?” and “What’s the purpose of this slide?” Let these questions guide you toward concise, purposeful visuals.

Well-designed, concise slides that enhance your story will make your presentations shine. Remember, your slides are there to elevate your message—not steal the spotlight. 

This article originally appeared at WeAreComvia.com and is reprinted here with permission.

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Michael Piperno is a communication coach and executive presence expert. His insights empower leaders to communicate effectively and authentically.

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Reading the Room

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Some people just know how to read a room. They have this seemingly uncanny ability to perceive and understand the emotions, attitudes, and dynamics of a group of people in a given setting — and tailor their communications and behaviors in real time to make the most of the moment. 

Guess what? Those who do it well aren’t unicorns. They’ve honed the skill over time. 

Still, some leaders struggle with reading the room effectively. Why? Well, sometimes the issue is that it involves keen observation, empathy, and intuition. It means paying attention to, and honoring, emotions, and moods. In other words, it involves many things that old-style leadership used to tell you to check at the door. 

The truth is that being able to sense the unspoken cues and underlying sentiments in a room give you great power in influencing interactions and outcomes. 

Want to boost your room-reading ability? Here are a few things to focus on. 

  • Active Listening: Pay close attention to what is being said and how it is being said. Notice the tone, pace, and body language of your team members. 
  • Observe Non-Verbal Cues: Non-verbal communication, like facial expressions, gestures, and posture, provide significant insights into how people are feeling. 
  • Ask Open-Ended Questions: Encourage open dialogue by asking questions that invite detailed responses. This helps you understand perspectives and emotions more deeply. 
  • Practice Empathy: Put yourself in others’ shoes to better understand their feelings and viewpoints. Empathy is key to connecting with others on a human level. 
  • Stay Present: Be fully engaged in the moment. Avoid distractions and focus on the interactions happening around you. 

Reading the room requires practice, and mindfulness. Mastering this skill can lead to more effective communication, stronger relationships, and a more cohesive team. 

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Michael Piperno is a communication coach and executive presence expert. His insights empower leaders to communicate effectively and authentically.

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TMI During Q&A

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You’ve seen it. Maybe you’ve even done it. Providing too much information (TMI) when answering questions.

It’s painful for the audience, and it erodes your credibility.

“But they need all of the details in order to understand!”

Wrong. What they need is the answer to their question. As brief and concise as possible without it sounding curt. It should be tailored so that they hear only what they need to hear to be satisfied — and not a data dump of everything you know on the topic.

The curse of knowledge affects us all. We often know much more than a questioner needs to hear. That’s why when I coach clients on handling Q&A after a presentation or during a high stakes meeting, I teach a visual aid that helps every time.

The Answer Sandwich. Here’s how it works.

Visualize a sandwich in your head. It might look something like this:

Yum. Now, remind yourself before Q&A that for each question, you’re going to make the questioner a sandwich with your answer.

  1. You’ll start with the top bun, which is your short answer. The direct answer to their question. “Yes, we looked at that and I’m happy to share what we found.”
  2. Next, you’ll serve up the “meat” and condiments, and other central elements of the sandwich. These are your supporting points. The trick here is to make them the right sized sandwich. What’s their appetite? Do they need a lot of details? Maybe just a few highlights so they understand? In other words, be audience-centric and consider what this specific person needs from you to be satisfied. Give them that, no more.
  3. Finally, and this is especially important if you’re making them a large sandwich, is to finish off with your bottom bun. This can be a summary of your answer (helpful if you went long) or a restatement of your key message. People are most likely to remember the first and last things you say, so finish strong.

Make sense? Good. Try it. Ask yourself, “What size sandwich does this person need?”

And remember, some people only need a piece of toast.

Clear, concise, and audience-centric answers are your secret weapon when you’re in the Q&A hot seat.

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Michael Piperno is a communication coach and executive presence expert. His insights empower leaders to communicate effectively and authentically.

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Quick Tip: Executive Presence

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Leadership and executive presence have evolved far beyond traditional stereotypes. I coach a lot of leaders on presence, and I’ll tell you right now that there is no “template” or “one way” to have presence.

You need to do the work to find your authentic way to show up for yourself, and for the people you lead. And guess what? Your way might not look like what you traditionally think about presence.

Body language, eye contact, “charisma” — sure, they can help. But that’s not the whole story. In fact, I firmly believe you can be someone who struggles with certain traditional behaviors that are associated with presence and still have a strong presence that inspires people.

One thing that’s critical is authenticity. It’s the cornerstone of executive presence. And it isn’t about conforming to expectations; it’s about staying true to ourselves while adapting to our roles — and adapting our communications for those we lead.

Want to read more about my thoughts on presence? Check out this article on this post.

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Michael Piperno is a communication coach and executive presence expert. His insights empower leaders to communicate effectively and authentically.

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