Napoleon had a great scriptwriter and bad barber
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
– Napoleon Bonaparte
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
– Napoleon Bonaparte
It happens a lot doesn’t it? We have a proposal to present to a group of clients, and we know that the assorted senior people from the same firm, don’t agree on how to proceed, but we have our plan and we have to present it. Our success depends on our ability to find favour…
I was forced to attend a driver education programme in the UK recently, having been caught on a speed camera doing 34 miles per hour in a 30 mph zone. Well I wasn’t really forced to attend. I was given the choice to pay a £90 fine and accept 3 penalty points on my driver’s…
Because they talk about their products and services from the wrong perspective. Inexperienced ‘sales’ people have an unfortunate tendency to talk from ‘inside to out’, rather than from the customer’s perspective in. Often the pitcher will start by describing their product and how it works before they get on to what it will do for…
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 love Prezi as a visual aid as long as it’s used really well. I’ve whinged about it often, and I’ve written books, articles and posts imploring presenters, Prezi and the world to stop with all the ‘Look, isn’t it amazing to zoom, and spin…’ stuff. It doesn’t often happen, but Prezi and I agree…
I was working with a group of (London) city professionals last week. Building a pitch for a piece of new business. One of the team asked me a great question. How do I stop myself ‘freezing’ when I’m speaking? She was an excellent presenter. Engaging, warm, knowledgeable and very well prepared. She asked me a simple, direct question and…