Developing a personal brand will help you to stand out from the crowd. Make your audience remember you and your message with these practical tips
Further to my previous posts on the irrelevance of passion for most corporate speakers, here’s a man who is on the very edge of insanity (Where passion without empathy, balance and distance, leads). The speaker seems so full of emotion- anger and indignation mostly- that it’s affecting his ability to think, speak and connect with the unseen…
A ‘brand’ is a set of promises that a Company or product makes about itself in the minds of a potential buyer. It’s a promise about the results that buying that product or service will deliver for the person that hands over their cash. Brands are built over time and defined by the ‘truthfulness’ of…
My corporate client had a tough message that she wanted to get through to a group of her internal stakeholders. The message was-
Grow up
Take some responsibility
Make the most of this amazing opportunity you have working for this world-leading firm.
She hired me to help her make the point and we decided that we’d adopt the strategy of 1950’s film noir cops, and we scripted a speech together for me to deliver as a part of 4-hour session. I played the grizzled ‘bad cop’ and she, the polished, concerned ‘good cop’ of legend.
Lovely post from Simon Raybould on his refreshingly opinionated blog- ‘Telling People’. He makes the point that ‘errr’ is a natural human sound that people make when they’re looking for the next word, and most people in our audiences don’t notice it, but lots of presentation trainers do. His thesis being ‘a little bit is fine’ and presentation coaches can get narrow in what they work on with their clients. Here’s the blog and a recommendation that you read lots of it.
It’s only a disaster if someone gets killed isn’t it? I remember when one of my clients fell off the stage, but he wasn’t actually killed, so it was just an embarrassment that he handled well. A matter for caution, yes; but also an opportunity to show the audience how a professional presenter handles those ‘slapstick’ moments…
In all of the blah blah blan about Mr Starkey’s appearance on ‘Newsnight’ to discuss the riots and their causes, there’s one point that both sides miss. It’s Starkey’s lack of courtesy, generosity and charm that makes him easy to dislike and difficult to listen to. On ‘Newsnight’ last week he was pretty well behaved…
As an addition to the article I wrote for MMC and ‘The Vine’, here’s 10 things you can practice to help you develop flexibility and social skill… For the original article see here. In your head- Assume every person you meet is important, and treat him or her as such. Remember that angry and unhelpful…
In my 20 years of speechwriting, coaching and conference presenting, I’ve noticed that, ironically, it’ s most often native English speakers who are most difficult for international audiences to understand. The reasons are simple. They tend to speak in their vernacular. They use slang and jargon not taught in ‘school’. They use over complex language,…
President Barack Obama is used so often as an example of a great speaker by ‘experts’ that he’s almost become a cliche. There’s no doubt that he can be a great speaker, on occasions, as many of us can be, to friendly crowds, with a well crafted speech, when everyone is listening and no one…