Listen to most presentations and you will hear a litany of stories half submerged in what might be major points—or maybe just another story.

Regardless, 75 percent of the people leave a presentation with no idea what the point of the message was. Even worse, 50 percent of speakers can’t identify the objective of their own talk.

I spent the summer before my sophomore year in college as a summer missionary in Galveston, Texas. Each week my team visited a different church in the area and led vacation Bible school. It was fun, rewarding work.

In addition, I was assigned to a local church where I lived with the pastor, his wife, and their two children. They were both in their fifties and made me feel right at home.

Presentation software can be a wonderful tool if used correctly. It can also be a dangerous distraction that interferes with communication rather than facilitating it. The line between the two is thin.

Over the course of my career, I have sat through hundreds of presentations. Most of them were done with PowerPoint. Most of them are done poorly.

The great acting teacher Sanford Meisner defined acting as “living truthfully under imaginary circumstances.” But for many of us who communicate before an audience, whether as pastors, executives, educators, or lawyers, the temptation is to do the opposite, to act imaginarily under truthful circumstances.

Fueled by a legitimate desire to deliver a powerful message, we craft our words, our presentation, and our delivery to such an extent that the drive to do our best can actually rob us of sharing a genuine moment with an audience.

“Hi. My name is Michael, and I’m a prepaholic.” If there was a support group for people who over-prepare, I would be a charter member.

In my prior role as a CEO, much of my job involved making presentations—to boards, banks, investors, authors, agents, customers, employees, vendors, the media—you name it. Now, as a professional speaker, it represents most of my life. Each one of these engagements is an opportunity to connect with the audience and make a good “brand impression—or a bad one.

In my previous post, I wrote about how I revamped my Speaking page. I thought I would document the process here, in the event that you are thinking about “going pro.” This is the second of two posts.

If you are an author—or want to be one—I highly recommend that you consider public speaking as part of building your platform. It is a great way to raise your visibility, promote your products, and develop credibility with your audience.

Now that public speaking has become my primary focus, I thought it was time I revamped my Speaking page. I thought I would document the process here, in the event that you are thinking about “going pro.” This is the first of two posts.

If you are an author—or want to be one—I highly recommend that you consider public speaking as part of building your platform. It is a great way to raise your visibility, promote your products, and develop credibility with your audience.

As you may know, I stepped aside from my role as the CEO of Thomas Nelson in April. Though I still remain the company’s Chairman, I am now pursuing speaking and writing full-time.

So far, it has been like starting a new business. I am busier than ever before. I am traveling weekly, speaking for corporations, colleges, conferences, non-profits, and churches. I am having a blast!

Has anyone ever taught you “how” to think? It might seem like an odd question but think about it for a moment. (No pun intended.)

We all think. We’ve all heard about the power of our thoughts. And we’ve all heard about positive thinking.

Today at Thomas Nelson we promoted Mark Schoenwald, our President and Chief Operating Officer, to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer. Effective immediately, I am stepping out of active management of the company, and turning over the reins to Mark. However, I will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board.

I hired Mark in 2005 to be our Chief Sales Officer. I promoted him to President and Chief Operating Officer in 2009. I have watched him grow and develop over the years. He is an outstanding executive in every way, yet humble and committed to our company’s Christian mission. He was my first choice as a successor, and I know he will do a terrific job.