if you ever give a presentation or lead a learning exercise i’m sure you’ll hear someone tell you to remember to engage your audience.

do this, do that, use multimedia to grab their attention — don’t you dare put your hands in your pockets! — and remember to ask questions and involve the group in the topic you’re covering.

but sometimes the most engaging thing we can do is to just be ourselves and to tell a great story. hit those empathy receptors. make your story so personal everyone in the room thinks you’re talking to them, about something that’s too important to miss.