Back at the end of May I did a how to improve presentation skills workshop for the University of Chicago. I enjoyed it for the most part, but there were a couple of things I hadn’t anticipated. I liaised with my contact and got clarification about the time available and I explained how long my workshop was. But for some reason there was still a  mis-communication between us… Read the rest of this entry

Can British Prime Ministers still learn from Aristotle and rhetoric? Aristotle is important to us as speakers because he is generally credited as developing the basics of rhetorical theory in his book, which is often translated into English as The Art of Rhetoric.

Britain now has a new Tory Prime Minister. As a note for anyone outside the U.K., Tory is the nickname for the Conservative Party. I don’t want to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition, I’m specifically interested in the new Prime Minister’s speaking ability. Read the rest of this entry

I wanted to write about my experiences of Toastmasters in the U.S. compared with my experiences with it in the U.K. While the main focus will be geared towards fellow Toastmasters, I will try provide useful information for the non-member too.

The great thing about Toastmasters is that essentially you can pretty much go to any meeting around the world and find like-minded people. Not only that, but there is also a lot of familiarity as the vast majority of roles are the same. So if you do go to a Toastmasters event in another city or country, like I did, then there is a sense of comfort in that public speaking culture. Read the rest of this entry

Hello, hey, bonjour, ciao… alright?

I can’t believe that it’s been eight months
since I’ve written a post on here. Wowsers
trousers. A LOT has changed! As some of my friends and regular readers know in September 2009 I emigrated to the United States of America to marry my long term American girlfriend.

I’m going to catch you up on the things that I’ve been involved with and I provide you with ten tips and food for thought along the way. They’re not all focused on techniques for using humour in presentations. They’re  more goal setting and getting work oriented.

This blog has been offline ever since because, in the past, I have made some commission off affiliate products that I have promoted. In December 2009 new FTC rules came in to force stating that all bloggers and other affiliate marketers have to be explicit about the products that they promote to their readers. Read the rest of this entry

There has been much written on the subject of verbal and non-verbal communication. I wanted to provide my 2 pence worth on this subject and how it relates to creating funny presentations. A vast majority of speakers and training companies often misuse research by Dr Albert Mehrabian who statistics have been massaged to provide us with quotes such as:

“Studies show that during interpersonal communication 7% of the message is verbally communicated. While 93% is non-verbally transmitted. Of the 93% non-verbal communication: 38% is through vocal tones, 55% is through facial expressions.” Read the rest of this entry