At the SMDC Meeting on April 10, 2021, Toni Lahera’s and Cindy Anfinson’s presentation on The Art of Effective Conversation explored the power of storytelling and examined the recent science of human communication. As individuals, we have widely differing priorities, opinions and positions. How do we bridge the differences and work together as a community? How do we simmer down a heated conversation? Attendees were excited to learn more about these techniques and wanted to continue with more practice sessions. Toni and Cindy’s PowerPoint slides are available upon request.