If you’re looking to increase the likelihood of getting a yes when presenting your ideas, ask yourself three questions. At the end of the conversation, what do you want your audience to:

**Are you struggling to present your ideas in a way that inspires action?**

Over the past 25 years, I've had the good fortune to train and coach thousands of executives at all levels, helping them present their ideas in ways that truly inspire and move their audiences. From securing multi-million-dollar sports sponsorships and selling pharmaceuticals to physicians to launching tech startups and advocating for non-profits, I've consistently seen one key factor that makes the difference: preparation.

**Why Is Preparation So Important?**

Are you harnessing the power of YOU to accelerate business?

With the advent of new technology, in particular mobile, it’s no revelation that it’s now easier to communicate than ever – and the race to make it even easier is rampant. For those of you that don’t know me that well, I know this all to well as I’m a technology enthusiast – a sophisticated way of saying a gadget geek. So I understand technology, perhaps too well for my own good. I understand how it works, why it works and I appreciate the efficiencies it allows us and it’s ability to connect in ways we could never have in the past. I now consume content in new ways and through new channels. I pretty much spend most of my ‘screen time’ in front of a digital device both personally and professionally. Not necessarily proud of it, but it’s simply about accessibility and relevance.

Have you ever walked out of a high stakes presentation wishing you could get a ‘do over’? Have you ever started a critical conversation and ended it without any resolve because the two parties left even more upset than when the conversation began? Have you ever left a sales pitch only to realize that you left out a key message that could have been the deciding factor for the prospect to commit?

What do you think is the most common concern when faced with having to deliver a presentation to peers, colleagues or clients? I have asked this question to hundreds of clients, at all levels within an organization. The answer invariably, is the same from all of these people. They simply want to ‘feel more confident’ when presenting.

One of the most rewarding and crucial components of my coaching and training role is when clients experience those special ‘a-ha’ discovery moments … When a perfectly practical solution strikes them so clearly, they immediately want to apply it to their daily business process.

For those of you who have children that have recently gone back to school you’re probably having very similar conversations with them asking “who’s in their class?”, “what they’re learning right now?”, “how are their teachers?’, etc.. Well, this morning I had an interesting conversation with my children asking them about their teachers and they chose to describe their teachers’ performance using a scale of one to ten.

I was having a conversation with a good friend and colleague who was intrigued and wanted to understand why this site is called goto11.ca and what that name has to do with my business. I thought it only fitting that I share the response on this site.

Here is my response.