Charisma is one of those words that causes confusion. From its roots as an, apparently, God-given gift, to its modern application to pop stars and TV celebrities, it’s confusing and difficult to define. Well I’m determined to define it and turn it into a measurable, trainable, concrete human competence. I’ve spent most of my professional…
In my previous post I talked a bit about charisma as the defining characteristic of any speaker. Here’s the acid-test. How do you do? 10 things that show you’re a charismatic speaker You’re confident enough in yourself to treat every audience you meet as (at least) your equal in most things, and your superior in…
Charisma is one of those words that causes confusion. From its roots as an, apparently, God-given gift, to its modern application to pop stars and TV celebrities, it’s confusing and difficult to define. Well I’m determined to define it and turn it into a measurable, trainable, concrete human competence. I think that charisma is a…
I work abroad a lot, and I spend 50 day plus a year in Barcelona that beautiful, hot, dripping in culture city in Catalunya, Spain. I love Barcelona, and I know it pretty well, so I was asked to speak about the city at my son’s school as a part of their ‘different cultures’ week….
In January 2005, Eric Cantona, a gifted, French footballer, then playing for Manchester United, launched himself into the crowd at a thug who had spent minutes hurling the most vicious abuse at him. He had had enough. He had been spat at, mocked, insulted and he’d reached his limit. For his crime, he was arrested,…
At the Tower of London again for a session on The Globe Theatre’s 2011 production of ‘Anne Boleyn’ with writer Howard Menton and star, Miranda Raison talking about the play and the theatre. She said a really interesting thing about ‘connecting’ with an audience, that’s relevant to actors, but to us presenters in a business…
I’m a speaker, speech writer and speaking coach. I work with very capable people, helping them to show their brilliance to the rest of the world. Charisma is a subject that often comes up in discussion. It’s something that many of my clients would give their right arms to ‘be’. But most of them worry…
Here’s how to make a great point with metaphor and a blackboard. Viktor Frankl keeps an audience spellbound and makes a point that is still valid today. One of my heroes, proving that if you’ve got a relevant message, then the technology and the visuals ad a little emphasis and no more. But if you ‘aint got a message it doesn’t much…
There are three types of people in business- Those people who take away energy and enthusiasm from a room- ‘dementors’ if you like Harry Potter. Those people that leave the energy and enthusiasm the same in the room after they’ve left as it was when they were in the room- ‘Neutrals’ for want of a better expressions Those…