One way to help us become more interesting to our audiences is to understand what they find interesting. Quotations are one of those things that can help you to become more interesting, and better remembered when you get up to speak. Why? Because quotations are like little golden nuggets of cleverness that people will pass on to their friends, kids and families if they hear…
You might not know that in the original script for the first “Rocky” movie written by Sylvester Stallone, in 1976, Rocky dies after the fight that ends the film? It might have saved us from the dreadful Rocky’s II through VI but I bet that “Rocky” (Which was a truly original piece of writing in the fat,…
Ok. it’s not ideal but sometimes were called upon to make a speech with little or no time to prepare, so what do we do? We spend the time on structure not content, that’s what. Structure is the skeleton of the speech and just enough structure allows us the freedom to fill in the gaps…
I was asked this very pertinent question the other day, and I answered it, lazily, as follows- Your clients love your work and ask you back to do more at the next opportunity. You make money. Then someone said- “But what about doing a great job, objectively? Making a real difference, rather than just having your…
The story is the thing, understand that you’ve got a strong message and everything else will follow. So many business presentations have little or poor story structure. Here’s a short post on the simplest structure for business presenters. Once you’ve got the gist of the three-act thinking, here are a few other ideas that will…
It’s a really good question for presenters. Every slide, every story, every image, every point. Ask yourself ‘So what?’ because it will lead you to shorter, more focused and more powerful messages. And it’s worth reminding ourselves that it’s always the question that the audience will be asking themselves at some stage during your speech. …
Who could have said this without irony? They’d have to be in Management Consulting or HR wouldn’t they? “Having finished my deck of (presumably PowerPoint) slides I shall now ping you over to Paul who will, no doubt be granular in providing you with the long-tail solutions in implementing the TOM by the TIMs through…
Use Alliteration: Alliteration is the deliberate arrangement of words with the same letters and sounds at their start for explosive effect. Alliteration is a trick of the spoken word. A technique that is very popular with tabloid newspaper editors, TV presenters and poets… Examples: Magazine articles: “Science has Spoiled my Supper”, “Too Much Talent in…
Metaphor is a fundamental tool of the English language. Without it, meaning would suffer because we would be left with flat description not vivid pictures in words. A metaphor makes a link between previously unlinked things. This linking can add meaning, and depth to our understanding of the world. When Mrs Thatcher, the UK’s formidable…