Nearly 70 people attended the Studer Community Institute workshop, “Making Your Presentation Bulletproof ~ How to engage your audience and keep them engaged” at Olive Baptist Church.

“Eighty-five percent of your success in the next five years will result from your ability to speak, lead and communicate your ideas, according to a Carnegie-Mellon study,” Pennington said. “It is not your degree, your title or who you know … but your ability to present your ideas and engage your audience.”

Start a presentation “close to the action and tell a story to illustrate the point.” said Daniel Pennington, the keynote speaker for the workshop. People in attendance identified closely with his next comment, “Effective public speaking is all about confidence, but most people feel the opposite.”

The workshop is part of a series of training's on effective communication for small businesses, nonprofits and other groups hosted by the Studer Community Institute.