Passion. Is that all you’ve got?
It’s something that drives me mad. When you hear professional and amateurs alike, talking about ‘passion’ as the most important element in a speaker’s arsenal. It doesn’t make sense, does it?
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8 things professional speakers do that really piss people off
And he wasn’t talking about fish… Talk endlessly and positively about themselves and their experiences-Because it looks vain and probably is a sign of vanity. Fix: tell stories where you’re the fool and someone else is the hero. Make the link for the audience when the point is obvious- People are generally more intelligent than…
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A singularly inappropriate Christmas greeting-
Oh dear, It’s really hard to get this right isn’t it? Yorkshire Building Society creates cards with 6 female employees baking and it gets labelled ‘sexist’. Some businesses don’t do cards but do do cash to charity (The Co-op). And Deutsche Bank just sends out a snow-covered sales pitch about how well their investments have…
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How flexible a presenter are you? Could you deliver a ‘good cop, bad cop’ message?
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. -
LinkedIn – Career Tips For Novice Networkers
Here’s a really interesting article for Linked in novices about using it to build a solid, helpful and valuable network. LinkedIn SVP Deep Nishar’s Three Career Tips For Novice Networkers | Fast Company. From the ever excellent Fast Company Magazine.
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Networking to save your life- and your business
Waiting to speak to a group of internal IT experts in a global banking business last week. Listening to their boss talk to them about why networking was so important to them, however difficult they may find it. He said a really interesting thing-
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Which mirror? The good one or the bad one?- Developing our skills as platform speakers
I’m never that bothered about seeing the ‘evaluation reports’ that the crowd fills in after they’ve heard you speak. I always know how it’s gone don’t you? 30, 60, 80 90% as you’d expected it to be, and the reactions that you got after the event, the number who’ve connected to you on twitter or linked in. You always kind of know. But you don’t really do you?
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Does your face speak an international language?
Before the study began, facial expressions were considered a “hard-wired human behavior trait,” suggesting that various cultures did not interpret facial expressions differently. However, Jack conducted his study to prove that facial expression interpretation is culturally relevant, using statistical documentation and computer-generated facial expressions.
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How much to beat up our audience? Should we?
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,…