Customer Service Manager is perhaps the new name for the Senior Flight Attendant on my British Airways flight to Dublin today. It is therefore ironic that her voice catches my attention due to the level of boredom she is communicating to her captive audience. I would love to pass on two or three techniques to help her …
Can you identify a moment where you had an epiphany and it changed the way you thought or did something forever? About 4 years ago, it happened when I was running the precursor to Bespoken and teaching English at a co-ed secondary school. It was on break-time duty one morning that five of my Year 10 students, …
Credit Where Credit is Due In 1997, Kurt Vonnegut delivered an MIT commencement speech which became known as the ‘Everybody needs to wear sunscreen’ speech. Or did he? Published on August 3rd 1997, it was apparently one of the first ever written pieces to go viral in the late ’90s, just about the time going viral became …
“The barriers that prevent women from being in the room are absolutely artificial” So said the inspirational Rev. Rose Hudson Wilkin of Oprah Winfrey. Recently, she talked about how Caribbean women led the way in what is called the Windrush generation. And yet the picture is very different today for black women in the workplace. No matter your …
What are the barriers to you being “in the room”? Read The Post »
What do you think of the rise and popularity of face-to-face networking in its current format? Networking is as old as community and economics but it has taken a deliberate turn in the 21st century in order to cope with a society which is more individualistic and communities that are more transient and mobile. Some don’t like …
How often? “Inside every adult lurks a graduation speaker dying to get out,” wrote Mary Schmich in a column for the Chicago Tribune in June 1997. She continued in the article to offer advice which included “Do one thing every day that scares you.” I would love to live by that maxim but have to admit that, …
Here’s a simple tip to improve your public speaking if you like/need to use notes, with a couple of other tips thrown in for good measure: Most of us type up a speech so printing it on card isn’t always convenient. I don’t recommend using paper as it’s far too easy for pages to stick together and …
One form of powerful marketing communication is networking – historically known as talking to people in business! At a networking gathering, I now belong to, feedback was requested on what people most wanted help with. Out of the two requests that emerged, one was that people starting out in small business want to know how to market …
It’s official – youthquake is the word of the year, declares Oxford Dictionaries. This comes as a result of the word’s resurgence since it was first coined in the ‘60s to describe sudden changes in fashion, music and attitudes by Vogue Fashion Editor Diana Vreeland. This time around it’s because of young people driving political change in …
October turned to May in the UK when everyone was talking about the disasters that befell the current leader of our government during her main party speech. While many used it as an opportunity to deride UK Prime Minister Theresa May as a leader, I was filled with compassion for the human and the woman. There are …
The Pitfalls, Pity and Paranoia of Public Speaking Read The Post »
Have you ever paused to think of the many life lessons you can learn from playing sports? I am not a sporty person. I mean, that is not how anyone would have described me growing up. However, I have always aspired to be fit and healthy so over the years I have taken part in activities which …
Today, it is one month since Bespoken received its first award, about a year after it’s genesis. Firstly, I was honoured to present an award to Marjorie Mair for Best Speaker over the last year. She is a wonderful businesswoman and person. I was then honoured to be shortlisted among 3 out of 19 Newcomers at WADBCC. …
In the last year, I have invested many hours in growing and promoting Bespoken for voice and speech coaching. I’ve learned more than I ever thought I wanted to know about websites and social media! I have attended business breakfast and networking events, which have been really insightful and encouraging, especially when there’s a speaker sharing her …
“There’s no such thing as a bad voice; there are only voices with blocks in them” – Patsy Rodenburg, Voice and Speech Coach. Recently at Bespoken, I’ve had reason to draw on generational theory to help my clients understand causes of blocks in their voices. Have you come across generational theory? In brief, it’s “a theory that attempts …
Generational Theory – understanding yourself, working together Read The Post »
Understanding ourselves better before the next job interview No matter how great our CV looks or how confident we are in an interview, one of the biggest questions the interviewer’s mind for schools, universities and especially workplace interviews is, “Will they be a good fit for the school/team/organisation?” This is why it’s important to invest in a good personality …
I love learning! If I’m honest, I’m something of a learning junkie. But I know that as we get older, even past 25, it becomes harder to learn a new skill. It can even seem unpleasant at times, certainly uncomfortable. That’s possibly why a lot of us give up at a certain stage and decide it’s not …
