“Don’t judge a book by its cover” and other dumb things people say
Writing a book meant venturing into a new form of creative expression, one in which I had limited skill and experience. The natural thing to do was to seek advice. With creative expression comes judgment and concern for how things might fail often stops us from...
How To Present When There Is No Time To Prepare
Have you ever found yourself in the terrifying position of being called on to speak with almost no time to prepare? “Fear paralyses you – fear of flying, fear of the future, fear of leaving a rubbish marriage, fear of public speaking, or whatever it is.” -Annie Lennox...
Playing With Presentation Structure
How to play with structure in your next speech or presentation Organising your ideas into a coherent structure can be a challenge. Great communicators know what works and they reach for tried and true techniques. It is not necessary to make the architecture of your...
um, er, ah, oh… 5 Steps To Rid Your Presentation of Filler Words
Fillers — What are they? The most common filler sounds are: ‘um’, ‘ah’, ‘oh’, ‘huh’, ‘mmmm’… Then we advance to filler words, including: ‘yes’, ‘so’,...
Hannah Gadsby – Douglas
“I’m not here to collect your pity, I’m here to disrupt your confidence” Hannah Gadsby’s 2nd Netflix 75 minute comedy performance is not, strictly speaking, a speech. But, it’s not not a speech either. There are so many lessons...
Elie Wiesel: The Perils of Indifference (Speech)
Elie Wiesel delivered a breathtaking speech at the White House on the 12th of April 1999. His message combined his own experience of the holocaust and the evil of apathy. “The opposite of love is not hatred, it’s indifference… Even hatred at times may elicit a...
Abraham Lincoln – Gettysburg Address
Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, delivered on the 19th of November 1863 remains one of the most impactful speeches of all time. Perhaps the most impressive use of so few words the world has ever seen. “Four score and seven years ago our...
Oprah Winfrey (SPEECH: Their time is up)
Oprah Winfrey was given a lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes on 7 January 2018. She used this occasion, and her powerful platform to make a stand. “For too long women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power...
