Presentation myths

How to be an ‘interesting’ speaker

11.02.2010

Most speeches and presentations are dull affairs. Soporific experiences to be endured, rather than enjoyed. Part of the fabric of everyday life; like a visit to the dentist – but more frequent. But why should this be? After all, there are plenty of interesting, articulate people around. So how is it that so many of [...]

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Mehrabian Nights – an informative tale about (mis)communication

31.12.2009

A happy, healthy and prosperous New Year to all our readers, Twitter followers and clients. We’re ending 2009 with some good news: we’ve just found out that the TrainingZone community have voted my Mehrabian article the best feature of 2009 – and it has been read 20,564 times, so far. This is the article that [...]

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The Dangers of Co-opting Scientific Explanation

28.10.2009

As non-scientists plying our trade, I believe we should be wary of justifying our practice on the basis of scientific research. Don’t get me wrong, science intrigues me as much as it does the next layperson. But the problem for laypeople like us is that all our scientific knowledge necessarily comes predigested – usually second, [...]

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UK Speechwriters’ Guild inaugural conference video

15.10.2009

Here’s a video of the UK Speechwriters’ Guild inaugural conference. It was filmed last month in Bournemouth by talented film maker and producer Tim Clague – who’s done a superb job in capturing the flavour, and excitement, of the event. Martha and I were invited to show our ‘Busting the Mehrabian Myth’ video and give [...]

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How not using PowerPoint can make you a better presenter

06.10.2009

This morning I began writing a response to a comment posted on yesterday’s blog by Olivia Mitchell but as I did it slowly evolved into a post – so here it is. Olivia’s comment can be seen on yesterday’s post – Warning: PowerPoint may cause template thinking syndrome. Olivia – thanks for some really good [...]

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Warning: PowerPoint may cause template thinking syndrome

05.10.2009

PowerPoint users – and I know there are many of you – don’t be alarmed, but there is a growing body of evidence that many of you run the risk of developing a condition known as template thinking syndrome. The main symptom of template thinking syndrome is an overwhelming tendency to begin the preparation for [...]

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Busting the Mehrabian Myth!

20.08.2009

Can words really account for only 7 percent of the meaning of a spoken message? Our video animation puts ‘Mehrabian’s rule’ under the magnifying glass and shows why it can’t be true. And the story behind the video…

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