Every book or training program devoted to business, and indeed personal, presenting and communications, includes an early section on the topic of understanding your audience. In fact it’s so cliched now, and such a given, that it’s easy to gloss over ...
Thinking Fast/Slow
I finally got around to reading Daniel Kahneman’s ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’ and can highly recommend it. For those who may not know, Daniel, with his colleague Amos Twersky, won the Nobel Prize for their work in behavioural economics. ...
What’s Changed in the Last 20 Years?
Last month we started to answer the question that was asked of me in a workshop, “what’s changed in the last 20 years in the world of presenting?” For better or for worse, the issue of technology and powerpoint overtook our first blog ...
Powerpoint – the good, the bad and the rather pretty solution
Luckily, every time I find myself searching for a blog topic, someone kindly asks me a new and interesting question during a meeting or workshop. One I recently received, from a highly experienced presenter and salesman just before Christmas, was “ ...
How to present numbers so they make sense to the listener
I’m regularly asked in workshops how to bring numbers to life particularly for your less numerically inclined audiences, so here’s a quick acronym for you. To remember it, think ‘Very Compelling Maths’ (though I understand that ...
Fact Check Your Presentations
In a world of fake news and alternative facts, good quality data matters. Good data at least allows the possibility of good decisions, and a culture of fact-checked presentations and reports can therefore be the difference between success and failure of ...
The Brain Chemistry of Presenting
I’m reading a book at the moment about human behaviour that includes a lot of information about brain chemistry. I like saying that because it makes me sound intelligent but in reality, I skim a lot of the science-y bits because I don’t real ...
Authenticity
It seems to me I didn't start to find my authentic voice until about 50. I'm a slow learner. To qualify that and to be fair, I would say that I've been incredibly lucky to be in work where I've been able to be absolutely true to myself ...
Like it or not, presentation skills are a critical part of our role
Seven months ago my husband had a pretty decent motorbike accident. What could be decent about a motorbike accident you may well ask? Well, he didn’t lose his life, nor did he sustain brain or spinal damage. On the other hand, all the medical staff ...
I’m now an author!
Woohoo! It’s finally here. After four years of joyful collaboration with my awesome illustrator, Jan Scherpenhuizen, we are proud to announce the release of our new all-graphic guide to presenting, 'Presenting to the Max'. P2TM is the first ever comic-st ...