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effective training solutions

Home
Services
Causative Communication
Beyond Persuasion®: The new route to extraordinary outcomes (virtual)
Transforming Your Presentation Skills
Mastering Virtual Presentations
Executive Communication: Direct to Camera, Direct to People
Designing Presentations for Executive Audiences
Executive Presence
Executive Coaching
Effective Communication: Skills for Engineers
Effective Communication: Skills for Customer-Facing Engineers
100% Proficiency Training
Articles
Articles
About
About ETS
About Ingrid Gudenas
About Our Team
Contact Us
July 22, 2026
Causative Communication
Ingrid Gudenas
The missing ingredient in executive ...

You have to master this ability before you speak, before you listen. In the in-person Causative Communication program, it takes half a day. It’s not something we skate over lightly.

July 15, 2026
Presentations, virtual presentations, Designing Presentations
Ingrid Gudenas
Eloquence brings your vision to life

Everyone wants to connect. Most people don’t know how.

July 8, 2026
Presentations, virtual presentations
Ingrid Gudenas
How to change everything in a single ...

Everyone wants to connect. Most people don’t know how.

July 1, 2026
Executive Presence, Presentations
Ingrid Gudenas
How to Maintain Executive Presence When You ...

The most important factor in a truly successful presentation is the deep, powerful, human connection a great presenter makes with every person in the room. Slides can easily BREAK your connection with the audience. 

June 24, 2026
Causative Communication
Ingrid Gudenas
How to change a corporate culture in 2 hours

How long does it take to change a corporate culture? Apparently two hours if you have the skills to do so.

Ingrid Gudenas
July 22, 2026
Causative Communication

The missing ingredient in executive communication

Ingrid Gudenas
July 22, 2026
Causative Communication

You have to master this ability before you speak, before you listen. In the in-person Causative Communication program, it takes half a day. It’s not something we skate over lightly.

Tagged: causative communications

Ingrid Gudenas
July 15, 2026
Presentations, virtual presentations, Designing Presentations

Eloquence brings your vision to life

Ingrid Gudenas
July 15, 2026
Presentations, virtual presentations, Designing Presentations

Everyone wants to connect. Most people don’t know how.

Tagged: presentation classes, presentation skills, virtual presentation, Design presentations for executives

Ingrid Gudenas
July 8, 2026
Presentations, virtual presentations

How to change everything in a single presentation

Ingrid Gudenas
July 8, 2026
Presentations, virtual presentations

Everyone wants to connect. Most people don’t know how.

Tagged: presentation classes, presentation skills, virtual presentation

Ingrid Gudenas
July 1, 2026
Executive Presence, Presentations

How to Maintain Executive Presence When You Have to Use Slides

Ingrid Gudenas
July 1, 2026
Executive Presence, Presentations

The most important factor in a truly successful presentation is the deep, powerful, human connection a great presenter makes with every person in the room. Slides can easily BREAK your connection with the audience. 

Tagged: Executive Presence, presentation classes, presentation skills

Ingrid Gudenas
June 24, 2026
Causative Communication

How to change a corporate culture in 2 hours

Ingrid Gudenas
June 24, 2026
Causative Communication

How long does it take to change a corporate culture? Apparently two hours if you have the skills to do so.

Tagged: Communication skills

Ingrid Gudenas
June 17, 2026
Presentations, Public Speaking

The Communication Skill AI Can't Reproduce

Ingrid Gudenas
June 17, 2026
Presentations, Public Speaking

There are times when I’m coaching higher level executives that they also have multiple speech writers to craft the key messages, and Comm’s Departments to create their slides. Now a number of them are also relying on AI to write their speeches.

Tagged: presentations

Ingrid Gudenas
June 10, 2026
Presentations, Public Speaking

When you're not a "natural" public speaker

Ingrid Gudenas
June 10, 2026
Presentations, Public Speaking

When you see Marcus now, you would say he’s a natural. You would be correct.  He is completely natural. A truly competent speaker IS completely natural. That doesn’t mean they start out that way. Marcus certainly didn’t.

Tagged: presentations

Ingrid Gudenas
June 3, 2026
Presentations, Public Speaking

The moment before the first word

Ingrid Gudenas
June 3, 2026
Presentations, Public Speaking

350 people were paying attention, listening with a focus that’s surprising in one person, let alone 350.

Tagged: presentations, transforming your presentations

Ingrid Gudenas
May 27, 2026
Designing Presentations, Design Presos for Execs

The $7 million presentation slide

Ingrid Gudenas
May 27, 2026
Designing Presentations, Design Presos for Execs

Teaching him how to be fully present, to see them and really listen just about killed him.

Tagged: presentations, executive, Design presentations for executives

Ingrid Gudenas
May 20, 2026
Designing Presentations, Design Presos for Execs

How the smartest people lose their exec audience

Ingrid Gudenas
May 20, 2026
Designing Presentations, Design Presos for Execs

These technical people are geniuses. That’s their strength and their downfall.

Tagged: presentations, executive, Design presentations for executives

Ingrid Gudenas
May 13, 2026
Beyond Persuasion

Managing 12 people in a heated debate

Ingrid Gudenas
May 13, 2026
Beyond Persuasion

The meeting transformed from conflict into a collaboration.

Tagged: Conflict

Ingrid Gudenas
May 6, 2026
Coaching, Public Speaking, Presentations

The seven-figure presentation

Ingrid Gudenas
May 6, 2026
Coaching, Public Speaking, Presentations

Where are you supposed to look when you’re presenting?

Tagged: public speaking, presentation skills, transforming your presentations

Ingrid Gudenas
April 29, 2026
Beyond Persuasion

For those of you who are parents

Ingrid Gudenas
April 29, 2026
Beyond Persuasion

It’s not surprising to me that our clients start applying what they’re learning at home, because it helps them do just that.

Tagged: family, Beyond Persuasion

Ingrid Gudenas
April 22, 2026
Beyond Persuasion

Becoming a trusted advisor to the C-Suite

Ingrid Gudenas
April 22, 2026
Beyond Persuasion

This is a story about an Executive Assistant whose communication skills were better than the executives she supported.

Tagged: persuade, Communication skills, executive assistant

Ingrid Gudenas
April 15, 2026
Beyond Persuasion

When a “nobody” can influence the CEO

Ingrid Gudenas
April 15, 2026
Beyond Persuasion

The ability to cause willingness in others will unlock the door to any outcome you want to achieve. Without it, you’ll stare at the door that is locked to you for a long time.

Tagged: persuade, Communication skills

Ingrid Gudenas
April 8, 2026
Beyond Persuasion

A new approach for when they just don’t get it

Ingrid Gudenas
April 8, 2026
Beyond Persuasion

What I used was only one of the tools from a very select set designed to help you remove any obstacle standing between you and what you want to achieve.

Tagged: persuade, Communication skills

Ingrid Gudenas
April 1, 2026
Public Speaking, Presentations

I am so excited to announce this!

Ingrid Gudenas
April 1, 2026
Public Speaking, Presentations

This course teaches you a skill no one has, at least not up to this point.

Tagged: presentation skills

Ingrid Gudenas
March 25, 2026
Public Speaking, Presentations

The first step to creating extraordinary outcomes

Ingrid Gudenas
March 25, 2026
Public Speaking, Presentations

The shift from ordinary to extraordinary begins with this moment: knowing the exact effect you want to create and stating it precisely.

Tagged: presentation skills

Ingrid Gudenas
March 18, 2026
virtual, Coaching, Causative Communication

How to astonish your boss, the world, and you

Ingrid Gudenas
March 18, 2026
virtual, Coaching, Causative Communication

When you have real communication skills, you have the ability to transform others and see the transformation happen before your eyes.

Tagged: coaching, Executive Presence

Ingrid Gudenas
March 11, 2026
Presentations

Reading the mind of your audience

Ingrid Gudenas
March 11, 2026
Presentations

If you’ve ever taken presentation skills training or gotten coached, you know most presentation coaching focuses on the presenter.

My work focuses on the audience.

Tagged: presentation classes, presentation skills, virtual presentation

Older Posts
Search article Archives

Each weekly issue of Causative Communication offers you fresh insights into your communications and relationships, both at work and at home, along with specific actions to take to become more causative in your life. To get on the list to receive the next issue, enter your information below.

Featured
iStock-683911800.jpg
July 22, 2026
The missing ingredient in executive communication
July 22, 2026

You have to master this ability before you speak, before you listen. In the in-person Causative Communication program, it takes half a day. It’s not something we skate over lightly.

Read more →
July 22, 2026
iStock-1806223369.jpg
July 15, 2026
Eloquence brings your vision to life
July 15, 2026

Everyone wants to connect. Most people don’t know how.

Read more →
July 15, 2026
iStock-970324544.jpg
July 8, 2026
How to change everything in a single presentation
July 8, 2026

Everyone wants to connect. Most people don’t know how.

Read more →
July 8, 2026
iStock-2148737959.jpg
July 1, 2026
How to Maintain Executive Presence When You Have to Use Slides
July 1, 2026

The most important factor in a truly successful presentation is the deep, powerful, human connection a great presenter makes with every person in the room. Slides can easily BREAK your connection with the audience. 

Read more →
July 1, 2026
iStock-530685891.jpg
June 24, 2026
How to change a corporate culture in 2 hours
June 24, 2026

How long does it take to change a corporate culture? Apparently two hours if you have the skills to do so.

Read more →
June 24, 2026
iStock-2174029831.jpg
June 17, 2026
The Communication Skill AI Can't Reproduce
June 17, 2026

There are times when I’m coaching higher level executives that they also have multiple speech writers to craft the key messages, and Comm’s Departments to create their slides. Now a number of them are also relying on AI to write their speeches.

Read more →
June 17, 2026
iStock-1178152960.jpg
June 10, 2026
When you're not a "natural" public speaker
June 10, 2026

When you see Marcus now, you would say he’s a natural. You would be correct.  He is completely natural. A truly competent speaker IS completely natural. That doesn’t mean they start out that way. Marcus certainly didn’t.

Read more →
June 10, 2026
iStock-2223908201.jpg
June 3, 2026
The moment before the first word
June 3, 2026

350 people were paying attention, listening with a focus that’s surprising in one person, let alone 350.

Read more →
June 3, 2026
proposal for capital investment.png
May 27, 2026
The $7 million presentation slide
May 27, 2026

Teaching him how to be fully present, to see them and really listen just about killed him.

Read more →
May 27, 2026
iStock-2152719769.jpg
May 20, 2026
How the smartest people lose their exec audience
May 20, 2026

These technical people are geniuses. That’s their strength and their downfall.

Read more →
May 20, 2026
inspire - Affinity - Meeting.jpg
May 13, 2026
Managing 12 people in a heated debate
May 13, 2026

The meeting transformed from conflict into a collaboration.

Read more →
May 13, 2026
iStock-892254096.jpg
May 6, 2026
The seven-figure presentation
May 6, 2026

Where are you supposed to look when you’re presenting?

Read more →
May 6, 2026
iStock-2253487633.jpg
April 29, 2026
For those of you who are parents
April 29, 2026

It’s not surprising to me that our clients start applying what they’re learning at home, because it helps them do just that.

Read more →
April 29, 2026
iStock-588266040.jpg
April 22, 2026
Becoming a trusted advisor to the C-Suite
April 22, 2026

This is a story about an Executive Assistant whose communication skills were better than the executives she supported.

Read more →
April 22, 2026
iStock-2162095372.jpg
April 15, 2026
When a “nobody” can influence the CEO
April 15, 2026

The ability to cause willingness in others will unlock the door to any outcome you want to achieve. Without it, you’ll stare at the door that is locked to you for a long time.

Read more →
April 15, 2026
iStock-2238105825.jpg
April 8, 2026
A new approach for when they just don’t get it
April 8, 2026

What I used was only one of the tools from a very select set designed to help you remove any obstacle standing between you and what you want to achieve.

Read more →
April 8, 2026
Picture2.jpg
April 1, 2026
I am so excited to announce this!
April 1, 2026

This course teaches you a skill no one has, at least not up to this point.

Read more →
April 1, 2026
iStock-2202442511.jpg
March 25, 2026
The first step to creating extraordinary outcomes
March 25, 2026

The shift from ordinary to extraordinary begins with this moment: knowing the exact effect you want to create and stating it precisely.

Read more →
March 25, 2026
iStock-2198763720.jpg
March 18, 2026
How to astonish your boss, the world, and you
March 18, 2026

When you have real communication skills, you have the ability to transform others and see the transformation happen before your eyes.

Read more →
March 18, 2026
iStock-2208292053.jpg
March 11, 2026
Reading the mind of your audience
March 11, 2026

If you’ve ever taken presentation skills training or gotten coached, you know most presentation coaching focuses on the presenter.

My work focuses on the audience.

Read more →
March 11, 2026
iStock-2162395761.jpg
March 4, 2026
Transforming a screen full of "black squares" into real connection
March 4, 2026

This meeting, however, was virtual with seven people Isabella had never met. None of them had their camera on. She was looking at a wall of little black squares with names written on them. They looked more like gravestones than people.

How do you build rapport with that?

Read more →
March 4, 2026
iStock-1231858479-modified-92e506f6-5aaa-4e98-899f-d6c79c8e1af9.jpg
February 25, 2026
How to achieve a standing ovation
February 25, 2026

Standing ovations are the hallmark of highly skilled presenters. They occur in proportion to how precisely you reach your audience, whether you hit a true bull’s eye with your delivery and your message. They start long before your final sentence. There’s only one driving element that produces them. Simply put, the depth of your skill in both message and delivery determines the depth of your audience’s response.

Read more →
February 25, 2026
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February 18, 2026
The 10 Rules of Executive-Level Presentations
February 18, 2026

That email came from Vikram, a senior leader who had sent his top team to our Art of Executive-Level Presentations workshop.

Before that, everyone was frustrated. The ELT was frustrated with long, unfocused presentations that buried the point. Vikram’s direct reports were frustrated because they couldn’t get anything approved.

They had an abundance of good ideas, intelligence, and spent hours preparing their presentations to the ELT. None of these were working because they weren’t playing by the rules.

Everything changed once they learned The 10 Rules of Executive-Level Presentations I’m making available in this PDF. (Free Download)

Read more →
February 18, 2026
iStock-2229024528.jpg
February 11, 2026
How to move people when logic isn’t enough
February 11, 2026

David leads a large group in an organization that has over 80,000 people. They’ve been  getting hammered in the news for months now, trying to recover from mistakes made by the then-CEO five years ago.  Unfortunately, they’ve just had to announce layoffs.  There’s a tremendous amount of unsettling re-organization and re-shuffling going on. Where people will land is up in the air.  The future of the organization is uncertain and morale is at an all-time low.

David’s group is the only inspired group in the whole organization. They’re engaged, focused, forward-looking. And helping the new CEO turn the whole organization around. That wasn’t always true.

They’re inspired not because conditions are better for them, but because David changed the story he was telling them.

When David first came for Beyond Persuasion, his attempts to “inspire” his team were falling flat. He was saying all the right things: the new vision, the plan, the priorities, the outcomes, the call to action. All good, but none of it was working.

Read more →
February 11, 2026
iStock-2170333398.jpg
February 4, 2026
How to become a fearless presenter
February 4, 2026

Most people begin presentations unsure how the audience will react. It’s the not-knowing that undermines self-confidence. They look for the first response to regain their footing. And when the reaction isn’t what they expected, confidence drops again.

Prediction vanquishes fear, even when the starting point looks dismal. You’re not needing. You’re not guessing. You’re not hoping or wishing. You’re able to predict. With certainty. Prediction becomes possible when …

Read more →
February 4, 2026
iStock-154954788.jpg
January 28, 2026
Communication Doesn’t Transmit Reality. It Creates It.
January 28, 2026

Most leaders assume communication transmits reality, that if the words are clear enough, they will see it.

But communication doesn’t transmit reality. It creates it.

That’s a subtle but seismic shift.

And that means every time you speak, especially at a senior level, you are not just sharing ideas. You are shaping how reality is experienced in the room.

Read more →
January 28, 2026
iStock-1757819857.jpg
January 21, 2026
The 10 rules of “Audience Logic”
January 21, 2026

Most people don’t know how to create instant acceptance. It’s rare to see someone who does. When the stakes are high, most think they’re being “logical” when they’re actually relying on a kind of logic that generates too many words. They talk a lot, present too much detail and explanation, believing it’s essential to creating understanding and agreement. Audiences don’t work like that.

Especially at the executive and senior levels. They have their own logic.

To be successful you have to master a different logic. Audience Logic. Audience Logic decides the outcome.

Here are the rules of Audience Logic (especially senior level audiences):

Read more →
January 21, 2026
iStock-1226991473.jpg
January 14, 2026
How to win the audience before you say a word
January 14, 2026

Laura: “You weren’t watching me!”

Me: “No, I could hear you. I knew what you were doing. I was watching the audience to see what change you produced in them.”

Laura had asked me to be there when she presented at an industry conference with hundreds of potential customers. The revenue potential was enormous if she was successful with her presentation. I spent several days coaching her to get her messaging, and the way she delivered it, just right.

The big day came. I was watching the audience like a hawk. I wanted to see the audience reactions from the moment she said “Hello”, all the way through exactly how they looked as she walked off the stage. Were they looking at her with admiration as they applauded? Or shuffling around and checking their phones?

I started watching the audience before Laura even walked on. They were on their phones or talking to the person next to them.  Laura entered the room. I could feel something change in the room as they watched her walk. It was the way she was walking. They could see she carried herself differently.

Read more →
January 14, 2026
iStock-590610698.jpg
January 7, 2026
He didn’t argue. Everything changed.
January 7, 2026

Many people come to us for training and coaching because they want to create a personal transformation. What surprises, and blows them away, is when they find they’re also creating a beautiful transformation in the other person, whether it’s one person or thousands. That’s where the true power is.

This is Michael’s story, which started when he said:

“I am so frustrated! My new boss won’t listen and keeps overriding me. If this keeps up, I’m going to quit.”

Michael was one of the students on the Beyond Persuasion: The new route to extraordinary outcomes course. He chose this “unsolvable problem” to work on as part of the course.

Read more →
January 7, 2026
iStock-2190718869-modified-a6fa548b-57e3-483c-afc6-3a1c3f6d993a.jpg
December 31, 2025
Dreams don’t take a day off
December 31, 2025

My parents came to America from Lithuania with nothing. They had a beautiful life in the old country, and lost it all when the Soviets occupied their land and took it all away. I gained something infinitely valuable from them as they built a new life here. My parents showed me by example that the only real security we have is our innate ability to dream new realities and create them into being, abilities which nothing and no one can take away without our permission, and which they did so well.

I always think about what I learned from them as we go into a new year.  I’m filled with a feeling that was well expressed by the great poet Ranier Maria Rilke, “And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been.”

This threshold into a new year is a beautiful time for self-reflection, for dreaming of the future.

Read more →
December 31, 2025

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