Humour in the Workplace

There seems to be a lot of information out there at the moment about the benefits of using humor in the workplace. In fact on Google there are about 363,000 results (at the time of writing), so clearly it’s quite a popular subject area. But it’s a topic that concerns me. Gravely concerns me. Continue reading

What have you loved, learned and laughed at in 2008?

Happy New Year! So here we are right on the cusp of a new year (it’s the 4th of January 2009 as I write this). I always like to take this time of year for a little bit of reflection. I try not to just plough on into a new year without taking the time to have a little think about the previous year and remind myself what I’ve achieved and what I have yet to achieve.

Personally, I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions. I prefer to… Continue reading

Public Speaking tip: “Just the facts, ma’am”

I was inspired to write this post after seeing a similar post on Lisa Braithwaite’s Speak Schmeak and remembering some of my own frustrations with this area. A lot of speakers I’ve seen this past year seem to have developed the “habit” of quoting information without citing any sources. Continue reading

Speech Masterclass D.I.Y – would you do it?

I have decided to split this post in half because there is something that needs to be addressed before we even get into looking at Simon Bucknall’s Masterclass. If you wanted to take your speaking skills to the next level and maybe even compete, but you couldn’t afford a speech coach what would you do? Continue reading

French & Saunders Tear up the Comedy Rulebook!

I saw British comedy duo French & Saunders on Wednesday night at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. They’re currently doing their Final Farewell show part of a tour of the same name. For those of you who don’t know they’ve decided to hang up their “comedy gloves” after 30 years.  At over two hours (incl. interval) they were certainly not in danger of running out of material when they did their encore.

And yes I witnessed them take the comedy rulebook and tear it limb from limb and throw the pieces on to a metaphorical bonfire. Okay, if you’re bit confused I’ll tell you exactly what they did… Continue reading