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Seen on a T-shirt: “Let’s eat grandma Let’s eat, grandma (Commas save lives)”

‘Tis the season of the round robin – the time of year when some people feel inclined to write to friends and relatives with an update on their adventures and misfortunes of the past 12 months. And what a communication minefield that is. The starting point for any piece of communication, whether verbal, face to face or in print, is the audience. If you put them at the centre of your preparation, you will deliver content which is relevant, engaging and memorable. And, crucially, you will adopt the correct tone – vital in keeping your audience on-side. If your starting…

The Plain English Campaign has announced the winners of its 2013 awards and there are some fabulous examples of communication which is entirely opaque. One of the ‘winners’ is SEGRO’s Chief Investment Officer (Phil Redding)’s comment about its sale of a business park: “The sale is very much in line with our ongoing focus on recycling capital out of assets at the appropriate time in the cycle in order to crystallise gains from higher value uses and redeploy into other profitable growth opportunities in our core markets.” Even better is Phil Redding’s response: “Guilty as charged on this one. The…

One of the things most feared by the people I teach is losing their train of thought mid-talk: forgetting the next part of the presentation or finding that a crucial word has simply evaporated. The key to dealing with this is (a) not to be wedded to a particular form of words in the first place and to be comfortable with the fact that the talk comes out slightly differently each time; (b) if there are names, dates, figures etc which are pivotal to your content and if it’s possible to carry notes, write them down; (c) adopt a sufficiently…

I am generally at odds with the kind of speaker training which concentrates exclusively on performance (I focus equally on content and ‘delivery’). However, I have come to realise that body language is important not just because it influences the way audiences feel about us but because it changes the way we feel about ourselves. This is powerful and potentially life changing stuff, better explained by Harvard Business School professor Amy Cuddy who carried out the research and who is living proof of the theory. Watch her 15 minute TED talk and then put your hands on your hips!

One of the most common weaknesses I encounter when training people to be better communicators is an inability to begin and end strongly. It’s hugely important to make an impact at the start of a talk/presentation, and to finish cleanly and memorably. Too often openings are rambling and apologetic, closings protracted and weak. If not well scripted and rehearsed, they can undermine what otherwise might be strong and relevant content – rather like two slices of flaccid white bread either side of a chunk of vintage cheddar. So here’s Kevin Spacey showing us how it should be done.

Inspiration can come from the most unexpected places. So I discovered last Sunday morning, dozing in bed, with Radio 4 in the background. On came Sunday Worship from St John’s Church, Buxton and with it a sermon from Bishop Jack Nicholls which made me literally sit up and pay attention. (transcript below) http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b037s2rc – 1315 mins in to the programme. Only about 5 minutes long, it encapsulates many of the things I teach in my presentation training – a strong opening, appropriate humour, simple language, good use of pauses, clear chapters, a clear and strong single message and use of…

During the long wait for the birth of Prince George, we were treated to some fabulous examples of ‘filling’ – the age-old broadcasting technique of talking without content. Minutes, hours, days of air time were padded out with the merest hint of a fact, and the broadcasters in question should all be knighted for their services to waffle. I remember such moments from my broadcasting days and so watched the hapless reporters with a mixture of pity and admiration. Ad libs can be a very effective tool for all speakers/presenters but the key to their success is thorough rehearsal! Don’t…

The results of a survey of 2000 parents, released yesterday, reveal that half of them choose to text, ‘phone or email family members, rather than speak to them, even when they are in the same house. I’ve long suspected that modern technology is having a detrimental effect on the communication skills of young people – how many families have you observed, each focusing on their electronic device rather than interacting with each other? Why are so many parents asking me to work with their children? Here’s some hard evidence to support my theory. Face to face communication is a subtle…