Communications Archives - The pincus Group

Communication Intelligence

aileen — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 19:38:06 +0000

“Less actually is more when presenting ‘up’ to decision makers,” asserts Aileen Pincus, the founder at The Pincus Group, an executive communications firm near Washington DC., and a former US Senate senior communications director.

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Power Up Your Communications

aileen — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 21:00:40 +0000

No matter how the workplace changes, every management survey we have still ranks communication skills at the top of those valued. That’s because even a high level of expertise can’t overcome a failure to communicate that expertise well to others. Yet, somehow, we still expect professional communications to just magically and consistently happen. Even AI, as useful a tool as it is, is only a tool. It can’t substitute for your own clear, powerful voice communicating your ideas to colleagues, clients, or decision-makers. As 2026 gets underway, let’s remind ourselves of a few basics to help power up workplace communications:

1.) Respect the process.
Never walk into a presentation, conference, meeting or opportunity without preparing for it. Take just a moment to ask yourself who is going to be there, what your intent is in speaking to them, and what you want them to remember from what you have to say. It’s not about always having an answer. It’s about preparing for them. This one simple step can help shape your reputation as a polished professional.

2.) Your reputation is inseparable from your communication skill.
Every professional wants the judgment of others to be based solely on their work. That’s why we’re uncomfortable with public speaking. We tend to separate what we know (which we think we have more control over), from how we communicate about it, something we suspect we might be judged unfairly for. Embrace the reality. If you want credit for what you’re bringing to the workplace, display it clearly for others. Communication is the burden of the communicator, not those listening to you.

3.) The data (and pretty much everything else) actually doesn’t speak for itself. Whether delivering a written or oral report, it’s up to you to supply the “so what”. Don’t confuse information with wisdom, data with authority. You are the one who needs to supply the bigger picture. (Think “Here’s what the data tells us”, rather than “You asked me to look at…”)

4.) Own it.
The power of in person communication is in tone, delivery, word choice and body language, along WITH the content. A strong voice, confident posture, eye contact, and declarative, clear sentences, signals to others you have something worth listening to. (Even in remote meetings, turn that camera back on, look up, and speak up.)

And of course, make sure to get feedback. We hope you’ll call us in for that but do find the time to keep on top of your communication game. To get the credit for your ideas, you’ll have to connect them to the power of your communications.

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What To Do If The Worst Happens: (Why drawing a blank doesn’t have to upend your presentation)

aileen — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 20:42:17 +0000

You’ve prepared and are ready for that big briefing or presentation and
suddenly, the nightmare happens. You draw a blank. You look at your slide or your notes and can’t find your place or recall what you were supposed to say. How do you recover? Easily, if you bear in mind a few tips:

1. Prepare For The Unexpected
If you had to deliver your briefing or presentation in half the time you thought
you had, or without any notes or materials, could you? Next time you get ready
to take the stage, identify two or three key messages in your presentation, a
support point for each, and a conclusion. That’s the “elevator pitch” version of
your briefing. If you can deliver that one, your Plan B is ready.

2. Don’t Ask For Sympathy
“Wow, I’m sorry, my mind just went blank.” That kind of admission may start your audience down a path of doubt about your competence that you don’t want to lead them to. Instead, try to turn the focus on exactly where every audience likes that focus: on them. Have a few questions ready. (“Before we continue, let me pause here and take a quick survey,” or try soliciting questions. The goal is to give you a moment to remember what’s next and shift the focus from you to your audience while you do it. Always prepare some questions to bring out at times like these when you need them (a lull before they think of their own questions, to buy you more time, or to simply help you engage them).

3. Pause and Review
Without speaking, look over your notes. There’s no need to continually fill the
silence. If you’ve lost your place, return to your notes silently, calmly, without explanation and look them over. Your audience knows what you’re
doing and doesn’t mind the break. In fact, they may think you’ve deliberately timed it to let what you’ve said so far, sink in.

4. Stay Calm
Your audience isn’t looking for perfection.
Powerful presentations aren’t about showing your memorization skills. If
things go wrong (and eventually they will), use the opportunity to showcase
your ability to stay on track. Handling the unexpected with calm assurance
displays your leadership skills more than a flawless reading ever could.

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Non Verbals: Why They Are Killing Your Presentations

aileen — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 11:46:58 +0000

Non Verbals: Why They Are Killing Your Presentations
(and what to do about it)

Anyone who has ever sat through a briefing or presentation knows how quickly you can lose an audience without saying a word. Here are a few reminders on how to make sure your non-verbal’s are sending the right signals to your target audiences:

1. Come out of hiding
We know it may be more comfortable for nervous presenters to stand behind a lectern. That’s why when we see you behind one, our first thought might be to question your confidence. It’s almost impossible to really connect with your audience from behind a barrier (even a see-through one designed to give the audience the illusion of connection.) Display your confidence first and foremost by not hiding from your audience. If you need to check your notes, or get off track, you can simply stop speaking and do so. Presenting well isn’t about perfection, it’s about connection. (And your audience has no idea what you might have left out.)

2. Natural movements and eye contact signal confidence
The goal is to stand and move as naturally as possible. Pay attention to how you normally move, gesture, and maintain eye contact. That’s what you’ll want to mimic when delivering presentations and briefings in the real world. If you normally gesture freely with your hands, continue to do so. (That doesn’t mean gesturing widely and remember moving without purpose is usually called pacing.)

3. Pauses are refreshing.
We hear at a faster rate than we process information. That means deliberate pauses allows your audience to keep up with you and consider your points. That has the added benefit of making you the presenter seem in control and deliberate. If you naturally tend to be a fast talker, it’s far easier to adjust for that with pauses and some repetition, rather than to try and slow your delivery rate. No audience will complain you are too easy to understand.

4. Connect Deliberately
The advantage your audience has in watching you, is being able to judge immediately whether what you’re saying is relevant and worth exploring. The advantage you have in standing in front of them is watching that judgement happen and adjusting. Are you seeing heads nod? Looks of interest? Good, proceed. If not, pause and ask for feedback. There’s no point in barreling ahead if your audience isn’t ready to go with you. Think ahead of time about any hurdles you want to help your audience get over. Be ready with examples, data, stories to help them get there.
Of course, we hope you’ll seek some professional training to help you make the most out of every presentation or briefing. You can however, improve your own performance by remembering why your audience is there, what they hope to get from you, and how you’re going to meet and exceed their expectations.

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What Your Team Gains From Communications Coaching

aileen — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 20:30:10 +0000

What Your Team Gains From Communications Coaching

“The greatest mistake in communication is in thinking it’s been achieved”. That quip from George Bernard Shaw gives us some insight into why you may be noticing a frustrating variety of skill levels among your team members.
Communication skills need development like any other skill set. They are what make all you are offering obvious to others and help you showcase your company’s unique brand in a way nothing else can.
Powering up your team’s skills can help them advance to a whole new level by:

1.) Unifying Your Messaging
Brochures, online marketing tools and websites all have their roles, but they can’t replace the power of having people who can speak to what you do and why you do it better than anyone else. That takes being sure of your messaging and being comfortable in delivering it in ways that are authentic.

2.) Team Performance
When your team is comfortable with each other, those outside your organization will be able to see it and hear it in your communications. Organizations that work cohesively are comfortable supporting each other to get things done. That cohesiveness sells itself to your target audiences.

3.) Confidence has a ripple effect.
There’s nothing as powerfully instructive as watching a confident, skilled communicator. Success breeds success. Those team members with less confidence and developing skills have a greater chance of improving their own performance in turn.

Your teams can and will learn to communicate powerfully is given support. Invest in a coach that’ll help elevate your collective success and help you match the power of your ideas to the power of your communications.

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Teleprompters: When And How They Can Help Public Speakers

aileen — Thu, 29 May 2025 20:29:23 +0000

Teleprompters are more accessible now than they’ve ever been. They can be as readily available and inexpensive as the nearest IPAD. But how do you know if using a Teleprompter is the right choice for your next presentation or appearance? Here are some things to consider when deciding if and when a Teleprompter is the right tool for you.

1.) Teleprompters only supply the sizzle, not the steak.
If you’re thinking a teleprompter will help save you time and preparation for your speech or presentation, don’t bother. Teleprompters are designed as a prompt on the content you already know. If you don’t have time to work on your content and on delivering that content, a teleprompter isn’t going to help you.

2.) Practice (Until You Can Let Go of Perfection)
No one knows what you were supposed to say, but stumbling over written words will give them a good idea about the difference. If you’re using your teleprompter the way a professional actor might, word for word, your performance is going to suffer. Practice until the prompter actually is a PROMPT, and not a literal script for you. (In fact, using bullets instead of whole sentences on a teleprompter will force you to do that.)

3.) Connection, not perfection is the point.
The teleprompter was invented by an actor. You’re not acting. For you, the point of a teleprompter is to allow you to connect with your audience instead of focusing on memorization. That means eye contact, voice inflection and body language are as important when using a teleprompter as in any other kind of verbal connection. If you’re standing in one spot READING to an audience, that connection will be lost.

4.) Your content needs to still be written for the ear, even when you’re reading.
Don’t forget that your audience is listening to you, not reading along. That means everything you’re delivering needs to be understood the first time. Your teleprompter script should be written the way you will be delivering it: shorter, more direct sentences, without words and phrases that need further explanation.
If you can’t ad lib around what you’ve written, re-write it.

Teleprompters have their place in formal, high profile speeches and appearances, and at industry conferences and presentations. They can help free you up from worry over the content, and allow you to be in the moment to make connections with your audience. Like all tools in your toolkit, it’s a matter of using the right one in any given circumstance and having the experience to use that tool to your advantage.

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What Are Your Non-Verbals Saying?

aileen — Mon, 19 May 2025 15:46:55 +0000

Executives: Don’t undercut your own communication

Identifying what’s NOT working for others in public speeches or presentations is relatively easy. We immediately sense discomfort or boredom and can tell when the speaker and content aren’t in sync.
Fixing those issues in our own presenting gets harder because we’re usually concentrating on the content, not the way we’re delivering it.

The problem, especially for executives, is that nonverbal communication is more telling than we imagine. If we rush, stumble, fail to make eye contact, our audience might think we’re disconnected from what we’re saying. That forces them to speculate about why. Is it nerves? Unfamiliarity with the subject?

How do you make sure your delivery matches the power of your content? Here are some tips and techniques to remind you to power up your non-verbal communication:

1.) It isn’t acting.
If you feel uncomfortable with your content, we’re going to see it. Make sure you’re only speaking to or presenting about what you know and have confidence in. This doesn’t mean there won’t be unknowns, or that you need to master every angle. Focus on what you DO know and build around it and you’ll automatically sound more confident. If you have limited knowledge, defer to someone else for detail, but remember, if you head the team, get comfortable with the impact of what’s being said by others. You’ll need to authoritatively supply the context of any detail others offer and the bigger picture. (A note to team leads: Be careful about interrupting subordinates with clarifications. That can look like questioning their expertise and may undercut their effectiveness or show distrust.).

2.) If you build it, we’ll come.
If you sound excited and interested, we’ll stay tuned to find out why. If you sound and look uninterested, we’ll notice that too. Don’t mistake a flat delivery for a professional one. Speak to us about what you want us to understand, and your voice will naturally follow normal patterns of rising and falling with animation. That’s why you don’t want to read to any audience. It flattens your voice and distances you from your audience. If you must read, refer to your notes, pause, then look up and speak. (Otherwise, consider a teleprompter: the subject for another post.)

3.) If you’re comfortable, we’ll see it.
Natural movements convey comfort. (Pacing doesn’t). Don’t hold yourself back from using your hands and natural expressions. (Hold a pen if you need to). The idea is to mimic your natural speaking style without hands in pockets or clasped in front or behind you. I’ve said before butterflies are a normal part of public speaking. Welcome them to supply you with the energy to stay animated. The trick is to make sure the butterflies fly in formation. Practice (and videotaping) can help you see the difference.

Remember people, no one really cares about the small mistakes. They care about the connection.

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Looking for an Opening? Try Something New For Your Next Speech

aileen — Mon, 12 May 2025 09:41:11 +0000

The right start can make all the difference in how your next speech is remembered, or whether it’s remembered at all. You only have a few seconds to either peak your audience’s interest or spend the rest of your time trying to win it back. Rather than use the usual “Hi, my name is…” greeting with a summary of why you’re there (which might signal it’s going to take a while to figure out the relevance to them), look for an immediate way to connect.

That audience connection will help you grab and keep your audience’s attention from the start. You don’t want to start with a long introduction of yourself, and not because they don’t care about you personally. They do, but they care more about what listening to you means for them.

Remember your audience already has at least some information on who you are and why they’re sitting in front of you. It makes sense to get right to the part that signals what you have to say is relevant, and they’re going to want to hear it.

Here then are some tips and techniques to help make yourself and your speech more memorable:

1.) Make Everything About Them: Rather than outlining a problem for instance, and walking an audience through a solution, start with how the problem impacts them. If you’re talking about a fix for a problem, start first with the frustration they feel in dealing with it. Obviously, you have to do the legwork to know their concerns, but that homework is worth it. Speaking directly to their interest will grab their attention and help you keep it.

2.) Start with a question. You can ask for a show of hands; a quick, easy method of engagement that most people enjoy. Just make sure you craft the question AND are ready to incorporate their response in a way that leads into your discussion. For example: “Let me see a show of hands. How many here struggle with a quick explanation of why your work adds value? I can see I’ve hit on something here. That’s what I want to talk about today: your value.”

3.) Use a prop. Anyone remember watching Steve Jobs announce each new I Phone rollout? Those product release announcements were memorable not only for Job’s powerful performances, but also for their simplicity. He would take the stage with minimal fanfare, using the simplest of visual aids, and at crucial moments, simply hold up the new I Phone. If you have a prop that will work for you in grabbing attention, use it. It will be memorable.

4.) Be a storyteller. Six of the most powerful words in the English language are “Let me tell you a story”. You’ll get the immediate attention and interest of your audience. Of course, the more powerful the story, the better the reaction. Make sure you find the right one to set up your speech. If it resonates, people will find you and tell you why it touched them.

Next speech, try a new approach. Seek the connection and the attention will follow.
Aileen Pincus

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Conquering the Stage Fright: Some Tips and Techniques for Public Speakers

aileen — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 19:55:43 +0000

We know even experienced speakers can be prone to having some anxiety when speaking in public. It’s still the least loved part of the job for many executives, whether speaking to a group of colleagues or before hundreds of strangers. And that’s understandable because communicating what you know isn’t the same as knowing it. Appearing authentic, authoritative and confident about a subject isn’t quite the same as feeling that way. So how do you match the power of your communication to the power of your ideas in a way others can see it? Here are some tips and techniques that take you beyond the ” imagine your audience naked” school of coaching:

1.) Make sure the confidence is real.
Sounds simple, but if you don’t really believe what you’re saying to be true, we’re probably going to be able to tell. This isn’t acting. Make sure you’re only speaking about what you have confidence in. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking pretending there aren’t unknowns simply builds confidence.

2.) Practice (Until You Can Let Go of Perfection)
Great leaders are often great speakers and motivators for a reason: Passion. It’s not about getting every word right or never making mistakes. It’s about connecting with your audience. Let others see the passion that drives you. Data alone won’t move people. Stories, and connections will.

3.) Stop worrying about the judgement
Fear on stage is actually about fearing the judgement of others. ‘What will they think of me if I make a mistake? If I trip over my words, or can’t remember my script?’ Let them judge. That’s where your power is. Just know they’re not judging perfection, but connection: the “so what” (whether what you’re saying relates to them.) Focus on making that connection and watch the fear dissipate. (see point number one).

4.) Give every opportunity the weight its worth.
Senior executives: don’t say yes if you have nothing to say. Don’t let anyone schedule an appearance for you that you don’t have time to prepare for. The stakes for you are too high. Mid and entry level executives: don’t blow the opportunity to show who you are. Take the time you need to get ready. Understand the power you have to build or polish your professional reputation every time you communicate.

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Using the Power Pause in Public Speaking

aileen — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 12:53:44 +0000

The Power Pause in Public Speaking
and why it’s so powerful

Projecting confidence and authority in public speaking is both easier and harder than it looks. It’s easier because hitting the mark as a speaker isn’t really about your title (although that may help set expectations.)

And it’s harder because as much as you might want it to be so, you’re not going to be judged only on what you know. This is also about how you communicate what you know.

If you think about those you’ve watched deliver speeches, give presentations or simply contribute to meetings, consider what separates those who seem to appear confident and authoritative from those who don’t.

It’s not about always having a ready answer. It’s certainly not about having the loudest voice in the room or having the spotlight.

Confidence and authority come only when you let your audience come along with you as you communicate.

That means hesitating and qualifying every statement or simply taking too long to make a point won’t fill your audience with confidence in what you’re saying. Neither will rushing your audience to judgement with a torrent of information they may not understand.

Taking the audience with you means using the power of the pause. The advantage you have when you speak in public is immediate feedback.
Are they staying interested? Are they appearing bored or puzzled?
You’ll know if you’re paying attention.

Their power in listening to you in person is seeing and hearing you in real time. Do you sound confident? Do you look authoritative, authentic? What does that look and sound like when you take the spotlight?

Learn to get comfortable with the silence, a powerful pause at key points.
Even if you’re someone who tends to speak at a faster pace, especially under pressure of speaking in front of people, give your audience planned times to catch up. Let them consider what’s being said. Space those pauses after you’ve made a key point and even write reminders to yourself in your notes if you have to. If presenting with slides, pause before starting each one in the beginning, until you get used to giving your audience a moment.

The results will be an audience more engaged, and a reputation for being poised and more confident. (And yes, get the content right too.)

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