Jun 12

Humorously Speaking, part 3

Here’s a post about the 3rd project in the Humorously Speaking manual. The first video in this series is viewable here Humorously Speaking 1. and the 2nd post is here. There’s more to creating humour than just comedy writing techniques; this video goes “beyond the rule of three”.

As I’ve said before, if you want to learn to be humorous, this video is can help you add humour to your presentations whether you’re a member of Toastmasters International or not. This clip is 18 mins long, so you may want to set aside some time to watch it. Continue reading

Jun 04

Rewrite, Rewrite, Rewrite

You’ve probably heard the expression “great speeches aren’t written, they’re re-written”. It’s a clichéd expression that has been adapted countless times and has previously been used for novels, screenplays, theatre scripts and so on.

It’s become a cliché because an element of truth can be found in it and it’s absolutely applicable if you have to write a speech or make a presentation. One the areas that you want to watch out for when editing a speech is tautology. Fowler’s Modern English Usage defines it as “saying the same thing twice”. This is different from repetition of meaning, which can improve the style of a piece. Continue reading

Jun 03

How Room Design May Affect Your Presentation

“…the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture in San Diego are encouraging interdisciplinary research into how a planned ­environment influences the mind…” Scientific American Mind, April 09

It’s interesting that research is being done into how the architecture of buildings affects mental ability. I think this research is interesting for those of us who have to make presentations.  Continue reading

Jun 01

Speedlinking – Posts I’ve Read – 1st June 2009

I’ve decided to experiment after reading a post here about a technique called Speed-linking that Darren Rowse used to use. Fundamentally, it’s a round up of links that I have found interesting over the last day or five, and hope that you find interesting too. There isn’t an overall theme, other than presentation skills and public speaking. So here are some post that I’ve read and enjoyed today:

  • Over at Maniactive, Laura Bergells discusses her Presentation Diet Plan. I’m now noodling on conducting an actual experiment with this. Complete with graphs, bunsen burners and tapioca. Continue reading

May 28

Public Speaking Blogger Appears in First Feature Film

sisterhood2Sisterhood Gets a DVD release!

If you are a regular reader you would have read about an appearance that I made in a low budget movie called Sisterhood.

I blogged about this Brit-Kiwi comedy here, it’s been slowly building up momentum and has appeared at a few film festivals, been nominated for a few awards and even won one!

It had its world premiere at The Feelgood Film Festival in Hollywood in August 2008, where it was part of The Official Selection. It was also part of The Official Selection at LA Femme Film Festival the same year.

This year Sisterhood appeared at in The Official Selection at The British Film Festival in L.A., U.S.A. where it was nominated for 3 awards including Best Comedy, Best Actress and Best First Film. It ended up winning Best First Film! Continue reading