Browsing in category 'Presentation Coaching'
We Are All TV Presenters
At a recent TV Presenting Course that we ran in Dublin, Ireland, it became very clear to me why most ‘presentation skills’ type courses fall short of achieving the results they should be getting – those results being a more confident, persuasive and eloquent speaker. In fact most of them miss the point completely! They fail to acknowledge the most […]
Have You Noticed Why No One Listens To You?
Every day I am asked to help individuals, teams and organisations to be noticed, to engage their listeners and to be memorable when they speak. The stark reality is that if people are not listening to you, you’re not interesting enough for them. That’s it. Don’t make excuses, don’t blame them, don’t reframe it, don’t opt out – just hold […]
3 Words To Never Forget When You Speak
An audience is there to hear you: your thoughts, your observations, your insights and your recommendations. They do not want to listen to someone who is devoid of all personality and emotion. Yes, we would all love to have the eloquence of Clinton or Obama, and that will come with years of practice, but get the basics right first and […]
Body Talking – To You or To Me?
It was very interesting to recently become aware of the research work that Social Psychologist Amy Cuddy has been pioneering at Harvard Business School. She gives evidence to show that body language can change other people’s perceptions — and even our own body chemistry — simply by changing body positions. As a young training Actor in the 1980s I was introduced to […]
Smart Phones vs Smart People
Last year I read research which revealed that smart phones are now outselling desk top computers and more than 57% of people in Japan are reading their emails only on their iPhone, Blackberry or Galaxy. The statistics showed that USA, Canada and Europe are not far behind and very quickly heading the same way. As if there wasn’t enough pressure […]
Congratulations Jared Leto!
I’m really thrilled to see that Jared Leto won an Oscar for his role in ‘Dallas Buyers Club”. Jared was the first Actor I coached on the first film I worked on as a Dialogue Coach. His extraordinary portrayal is mesmerising and the award well deserved. In our next newsletter I will be writing an article about how Jared, and […]
Charisma – Fact or Fiction?
Charisma is one of those words that is hard to define. Ask 100 people to explain why someone is charismatic, and you’ll notice that very quickly it becomes subjective – “the passion in her voice”, “his confidence”, “her intelligence”, “the way he moves”, “the connection to her message”… etc. Each of us has our own process of evaluating what’s important […]
Are You the ‘Singer’, the ‘Song’ or the ‘CD’?
What makes you want to listen to music? The singer and their unique passion? The song and it’s compelling melody or lyrics? Could it be the memories of experiences and emotions associated to the song? It’s probably any one, or all, of these depending on each unique situation. Years ago when I was coaching a well known recording artist, a […]
Improve Your Word Power – 8 Ways To Say Yes!
Yes is a very old word. It entered English before 900, and comes from the Old English word gese loosely meaning “be it.” Before the 1600s, yes was often used only as an affirmative to a negative question, and yea was used as the all-purpose way to say “yes.” Aye. This archaism is still used as the formal response meaning […]
The Lessons of Excellence in Sport
George Best, Bobby Charlton, Eric Cantona, Ryan Giggs, Roy Keane, David Beckham, Christiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney… No – don’t worry, I’m not suggesting that these are all great public speakers! However they have all proven themselves to be some of the most skilful footballers of recent times. You’ll guess from my choices that I am a fervent Manchester United fan, […]