Business storytelling: Put your story to work

Featured

Posted on by

Humans are wired to connect by hearing and telling stories

Kevin Swayze business storytelling
Kevin Swayze, business storyteller and presentation coach.

Put the power of business storytelling to work when you want your message heard — and remembered.

Connect with your customers.

Craft engaging sales presenations.

Build your brand online and in person.

Personal, deliberate storytelling does that — and more.

Kevin Swayze helps you unearth, shape and empower your story so it cuts through the static of social media. He’ll guide you to give reporters what they want to boost your image in earned media opportunities. Business storytelling helps you win positive attention in our age of distraction

Give your audience what it wants

Kevin has 30+ years of journalism experience digging for the root of what’s going on. After writing thousands of stories on daily deadlines, Kevin knows how to zero in on the key issues. He asks questions to polish your next blog entry, craft a memorable Facebook post memorable or impress clients during your next business presentation.

Put business storytelling to work

Kevin crafts messages using Emotional Intelligence and proven journalism tactics. Honestly, transparency and empathy build memorable sponsored content, sales presentations or keynote speeches. Kevin prepares you for the moment your elevator pitch impresses an investor.

Deliver your message with impact

Kevin coaches you on how to effectively connect with your audience by expanding your toolkit of interpersonal tactics and online communication skills. Learn engaging and entertaining tactics of audience engagement. Hold everyone’s attention in the room from the first breath of your speech all the way to the closing applause.

Contact Kevin today to help you build compelling, persuasive messages that are remembered and shared. Reach him by email; text or voice at 226-924-4237, or use the contact form below.

Scared of public speaking? Build in-demand career skills at Toastmasters

Posted on by
Toastmasters helps build personal communcations kills businesses value.
Toastmasters International helps you build personal communications skills businesses value. Photo: Toastmasters International

My experience as a member of Toastmasters International helped me pass a teaching test to successfully earn my first contract as a business communications instructor at Conestoga College in 2020.

In every semester I have instructed since then, in person or online, I mention my membership in the Cambridge Toastmasters Club. I, particular, I suggest my international students investigate Toastmasters to build communication and leadership skills in a new culture.

Effective communication is the top skill employers look for in 2024, according to LinkedIn.

Toastmasters International was founded in 1924 at YCMA in Santa Clara, California. Today, it has more than 270,000 members, in 150 countries, in more than 14,000 local clubs around the world.

Cambridge Toastmasters was founded 50 years ago and meets Thursdays at 7 p.m. Members range from senior business leaders to entrepreneurs to recent college graduates practicing their communications skills and receiving feedback in a supportive environment.

Toastmasters offers members opportunities to build personal confidence and leadership skills through practicing public speaking. This link shares information about Toastmasters programs.

There’s also a Toastmasters International YouTube channel with self-help videos you can learn from and share at no charge.

If you’re scared of public speaking or worried your communication skills aren’t as strong as you like, I encourage you to visit a Toastmasters Club to see what they offer.

Find a club near you with this online tool.

There are dues to join a local Toastmasters club, which vary depending on factors such as meeting frequency and location meeting costs.

Remembering Hurricane Hazel flooding in 1954 in what’s now Cambridge, Ontario

Posted on by
cars drive through flood water over rural road in 1954 near what's now Cambridge Ontario Canada
This photo from October 15, 1954 shows cars driving along Blair Road through Grand River flood waters, caused by Hurricane Hazel. The photo was taken by Harold Kingle, and is now part of the Cambridge Archives Collection.

This year, Cambridge, Ontario, residents remembered the last big Grand River flood on May 17, 1974, with a 50th anniversary event at Cambridge Firehall Museum and Education Centre.

It caused millions of dollars of damage in downtown Galt 50 years ago, but it isn’t the only flood anniversary this year.

October 15 and 16, 2024, marks the 70th anniversary of Hurricane Hazel in 1954, which drenched southern Ontario when it took an unexpected northern turn from the southern United States.

The storm killed 81 people in Toronto. Damage there was estimated at between $25 million and $100 million, or more than $1 billion, says the Canadian Encyclopedia.

Galt downtown flooded

In Galt, now called Downtown Cambridge, there were dozens of people rescued from homes along the Grand River by firefighters using boats.

No injuries were noted after the rainstorm storm flooded downtown Galt and washed-out sections of roads between Blair and Galt and Blair and Preston. The storm also destroyed the tent city at the International Plowing Match at Breslau.

The river rose four metres above normal and covered Water Street and Grand Avenue.  

The Galt Evening Reporter on Monday, October 18, 1954, covered the flooding in detail, including eyewitness accounts of bystanders rescuing a Waterloo man from a submerged car on flooded Highway 97 east, and men on horseback saving a herd of cattle trapped by rising waters at the Cruickston Park Farm in Estate in Blair.

Folk music pub night concert planned for Cambridge on October 19, 2024

Posted on by

Bring your Saturday night singing voice to a Folk Music Pub Night at Wesley United Church on October 19, 2024.

I’ll be your emcee for the night, as local trio Tea for Three will be joined in concert by two other local folk musicians, Bill Nesbitt and Tom Miller.

Admission is by donation.

Local musicians in the spotlight

Tea For Three consists of Paul Morris, Gwen Potter, and Brad McEwen, who are also members of the band Tethera, which has performed across Ontario and in the UK. The repertoire is traditional folk music, mostly from England, with many tunes from France, Belgium, Scotland, Canada, Scandinavia, and anywhere else as long as they like it and it fits.     

Bill loves traditional music of all kinds and plays Anglo Concertina. He also plays for Contra, Morris, and Ceilidh dances throughout southern Ontario. He has a particular interest in songs and tunes from Newfoundland. 

Tom has been attending folk clubs, concerts and festivals for more than 50 years, and singing at open stages for over twenty years. He ran the Moonshine Cafe Folk Club and Song Circle in Oakville for 13 years before moving to Cambridge.

“Tom sings unaccompanied – all the songs have choruses – please join in,” Brad says.

Wesley United Church and Mill Race Folk Traditions organized the event.

Please join me for the show as I practice my hosting skills, which I continue as part of public speaking at the Cambridge Toastmasters club.

Concert information

Sat., Oct. 19, 2024

Wesley United Church, Ainslie Hall

6 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, ON

Concert: 8-10 pm

Admission by donation (cash, credit or debit)

Parking for the show is available behind City Hall, in the Cambridge Street lot.  Please enter the church through the Cambridge Street doors.

Doors and Bar Open at 7:30 pm

For information about the concert, email: events@wesleyunitedchurchcambridge.ca

Paper Business Cards Remain in My Networking Tool Kit

Posted on by

I’m a fan of business cards as networking and job search tools.

And I know that sounds weird in a digital world, where people might just say: “Look me up on LinkedIn!”

I always try to remember to carry business cards with me so that I may efficiently share my contact information with someone – if they ask for it. 

(Here’s my LinkedIn profile, in case you’re not interested in my business card: www.linkedin.com/in/kevinswayze)

Again this week in class at Conestoga College, I told my 20-something-year-old students about the value I give to simple paper business cards in a digital world. They’re graduating at the end of this semester and will be looking for work. I encourage them to add business cards to their job-search tool kit.

And since the class was about Starting a Consulting Practice, talking about business cards was even more appropriate in a world of personal business branding. In mind, it’s showing you’re ready to connect with potential clients.

I adopt the outlook that you never know who you might meet today, who might be the connection to the job you are looking for. My ritual of placing business cards in my pocket at the start of the day primes me to be ready and open to opportunities.

You can order 100 business cards for $5 at Walmart, I tell my students. That’s about the price of two basic coffees at Starbucks, after you add the HST.

I suggest students pick a simple design that’s easy to read. And put their name and essential information on one side. That way, if someone wants to take a photo of your contact info, it’s easier.

In a digital world, I think paper business cards remain a good addition to anyone’s job-hunting and networking kit.

What do you think?

Cambridge Fall Fair an easy bus ride for Conestoga College students

Posted on by
The Cambridge Fall Fair runs in Dickson Park, Cambridge, on the second weekend of September.

Updated Sept. 7, 2024

I teach international students business communication at Conestoga College and regularly hear questions about what events and festivals happen in the Cambridge-Kitchener-Waterloo area.

Fall fairs are events I always mention in September. They usually include demolition derbies, animal displays, a midway, and live entertainment. And lots of food.

The easiest fall fair for Conestoga students to reach without a car is the Cambridge Fall Fair, Thurs., Sept. 5 through Sun., Sept. 8, 2024, at Dickson Park in Cambridge.

Dickson Park is on the Grand River Transit bus Route 57, which runs between the Doon and Cambridge Campuses of Conestoga College, and the Ainslie Street GRT bus terminal at 35 Ainslie St. in Downtown Cambridge.

Thursdays and Sundays offer free admission, but there is always a charge to take midway rides. Admission is $10 at the entry gates on Friday and $15 on Saturday when most events are scheduled.

Route 57 buses run Monday through Saturday, morning, afternoon, and evening.

On Sunday, you’ll have to take a bus to the Ainslie Street terminal and then walk about 10 minutes to Dickson Park through the old Galt Downtown area. (If you’re heading to the fair in Cambridge on Sunday from Kitchener or Waterloo, your probably best to take the Route 302 or Route 206 express buses to the Ainslie Terminal).

There are other fairs in the Waterloo Region area, but they’re not easy to reach by public transit. Here’s a link to all the fall fair dates in Ontario.

The Wellesley Township Fair runs on Sept. 10 and 11, 2024, at the Wellesley Recreation Complex Centre, 1401 Queen’s Bush Road, Wellesley. That’s a 20-minute car drive northwest of Waterloo.

The New Hamburg Fall Fair runs Sept. 12-15, 2024 at 251 Jacob St. in New Hamburg Fairgrounds, west of Kitchener. To reach that location by public transit from Kitchener or Waterloo, you can take the GRT Route 77, but only on weekdays mornings or afternoons. That doesn’t work well to visit the fair in the evening.