Core Professional Training
The foundation programs. These build the presence, communication, and judgment every professional needs, and they anchor our corporate, university, and individual offerings.
Professional Image and Executive Presence
How your team shows up affects how your organization is judged. Make no mistake: it is all in the details. This program helps professionals understand the signals they send through appearance, posture, eye contact, voice, grooming, attire, and attention to detail. Participants learn to present themselves with confidence, credibility, and consistency in every setting. The result is stronger first impressions, greater client trust, and a presence that reflects your standards.
Topics
- Men's executive wardrobe and accessories
- Proper cut and fit
- Business casual defined
- Wardrobe essentials and closet staples
- Attire do's and don'ts
- Voice and self-presentation
- Women's executive wardrobe and accessories
- Shoes, socks, and the details that matter
- Casual vs. corporate work wear
- Travel wear
- Grooming, posture, and poise
- Deportment and social graces
Business Etiquette and Workplace Professionalism
Every workplace interaction shapes how clients, colleagues, and partners experience your organization. Corporate etiquette, the people skills at the center of the executive tool kit, helps professionals handle those moments with confidence, courtesy, and good judgment. Participants learn to manage greetings, introductions, meetings, client and vendor interactions, personal space, and everyday office conduct. The result is a more polished, respectful, and client-ready team that communicates clearly and strengthens your reputation in every interaction.
Topics
- The proper introduction
- A handshake that matters
- Eye contact and body language basics
- Meeting behavior and conduct
- Client and vendor interactions
- Technology and cell phone courtesy
- Responding to introductions
- Tips for remembering names
- Forms of address
- Shared and personal workspace courtesy
- The power of words and tone
- Respectful, inclusive collaboration
Who should attend Employees at all levels.
Networking and Conversation Skills
Strong relationships rarely happen by accident. The mere thought of making conversation with a stranger is enough to make most people break out in a sweat, yet companies value people who can communicate and network with ease. This program gives professionals the confidence to enter a room, start meaningful conversations, make credible connections, and follow up with purpose. Participants turn brief introductions into real opportunities at conferences, receptions, client events, and community gatherings.
Topics
- Making a powerful entrance
- Working a room with ease
- Breaking into an existing conversation
- Remembering names
- Balancing food and drink
- Areas of the room to avoid
- First impressions that last
- Conversation skill basics
- Appropriate small talk
- The art of the business card
- Body language to avoid
- Graceful exits and purposeful follow-up
Who should attend Employees who represent the company at receptions, conferences, chamber events, client gatherings, fundraisers, and community functions.
The Art of Business Dining
It is not just lunch. It is business. Second interviews are routinely held over a meal to assess comfort in social situations. A relationship can be built, or an opportunity lost, over a simple dinner. Confidence at the table frees a professional to focus on the conversation rather than which fork to use. This hands-on program helps participants host clients, manage seating and place settings, make appropriate toasts, handle difficult foods, treat wait staff with respect, and recover smoothly from the unexpected.
Topics
- Extending an invitation properly
- Ordering with confidence
- Place settings and utensils
- American vs. Continental (ZigZag) styles
- Difficult-to-eat foods
- Coughs, sneezes, and awkward moments
- Excusing oneself from the table
- Best job-interview menu choices
- Valet, coat check, and other services
- Host and guest duties
- Ordering liquor: do's and don'ts
- Napkin know-how
- The toast: giving and receiving
- Silent service signals
- Handling accidents gracefully
- Dining conversation
- Foods to avoid
- Paying the bill and tipping
Who should attend Development officers, client-facing professionals, managers, emerging leaders, and anyone who hosts or attends meals with clients, donors, prospects, or partners.
Public Speaking and Presentation Skills
Strong communication changes how people hear your message, judge your leadership, and respond to your ideas. Whether speaking to one client, presenting to a board, addressing a conference, joining a panel, appearing on camera, or leading a public event, the ability to speak with clarity and confidence matters. This program helps professionals, executives, civic leaders, candidates, and client-facing teams become stronger, more prepared communicators. More than half of the experience is active practice, with personalized coaching and individualized feedback on body language, voice, and presence.
Participants learn to
- Build and organize a clear, persuasive message
- Open strong and close with impact
- Hold attention in small and large rooms
- Use voice, pace, tone, volume, breath, and emphasis effectively
- Improve eye contact, facial expression, posture, and hand movement
- Use notes, teleprompters, cameras, and visual aids with confidence
- Present in meetings, forums, conferences, panels, and media interviews
- Speak effectively on television, video, radio, podcasts, and virtual platforms
- Manage nerves and stay composed under pressure
- Read the audience and adjust to their needs, values, and expectations
- Prepare persuasive, motivational, ceremonial, welcome, introduction, response, apology, and remembrance remarks
Who should attend Executives, civic leaders, candidates, client-facing teams, and individuals preparing for high-stakes speaking opportunities. Available for individuals or groups, tailored to corporate, political, nonprofit, academic, civic, and media-facing settings.
Telephone Communication and Etiquette
For many organizations, the phone is one of the first points of contact with clients, customers, vendors, and the public. A single call shapes how the organization is heard and remembered. This program helps front-line employees handle calls with professionalism, warmth, clarity, and control, using voice, tone, listening, and word choice to manage every call effectively.
Topics
- Voice, tone, and warmth
- Active listening and word choice
- Transferring calls properly
- Ending calls with care
- Using the caller's name
- Placing callers on hold
- Handling difficult callers
- Case studies and practice scenarios
Who should attend Employees responsible for answering, routing, or managing business phone calls.
Professional Email and Digital Communication
Every email reflects the professionalism of the sender and the organization. Clear, polished messages build trust. Casual or unclear ones weaken credibility. This program helps employees write with greater clarity, tone, purpose, and structure. It also covers when email is the right tool, when another channel is better, and how to manage an overflowing inbox with discipline.
Topics
- Structuring a clear message
- Correct written and digital form
- When to use email vs. another channel
- Choosing the right words and tone
- Avoiding common mistakes
- Inbox discipline and efficiency
Who should attend Employees at all levels.
Virtual Meeting Presence
How to communicate effectively on Zoom and other virtual platforms through appearance, voice, eye contact, body language, preparation, and meeting conduct. Participants learn to project the same credibility on screen that they bring to the room
Digital Presence and Social Media Etiquette
Your reputation now lives online, and most reputation damage happens there. Before a meeting is booked, people search. This program helps professionals manage their digital footprint with the same care they bring to a handshake. Participants learn to present a consistent, credible, and professional self across every platform, and to understand where the personal account ends and the professional one begins.
Topics
- Building a credible LinkedIn profile
- What to post, share, and avoid
- Email signatures and digital first impressions
- Managing your name in search results
- Privacy settings and judgment
- Personal vs. professional accounts
- Professional photos and headshots
- Comment, tone, and tag discipline
- Online networking and outreach
- Recovering from a digital misstep
Who should attend Employees, executives, job seekers, and anyone whose name represents the organization online.
Cross-Cultural and Global Business Etiquette
Today’s business crosses borders. A gesture that builds trust in one country can end a deal in another. This executive-level program builds the awareness, judgment, and skill to engage confidently and respectfully across cultures. Participants learn to read different expectations, avoid costly missteps, and represent the organization well in any market or boardroom.
Topics
- Greetings, names, and titles across cultures
- Business card customs
- Negotiation and communication styles
- Dining and hosting differences
- Punctuality and time expectations
- Forms of address and rank
- Gift-giving etiquette and taboos
- High-context vs. low-context cultures
- Religious and regional sensitivities
- Eye contact, space, and nonverbal cues
Who should attend Executives, sales teams, and professionals working with international clients, partners, employers, or colleagues.