Be yourself – everyone else is taken! This is the second of what will be a series of blogs following my journey towards the TEDx stage in November this year delivering my first TED talk. I was reminded of the quote ascribed to Oscar Wilde when recently the speakers at the TEDx event met informally […]
My 7 year old son came home from school the other day and announced he wasn’t sure who had written his story in his school book. He remembered starting it but it was almost as if it wrote itself! Spooky? Or maybe he was just ‘in flow’ I have been thinking about ‘ease’ recently and […]
Do you watch The Apprentice? It has become a firm family favourite in our house at a time when we rarely all sit down together to watch anything on the TV or find something that appeals to both me, my husband and my teenage son. But there is nothing quite like a programme that generates […]
Practice makes perfect. It makes sense then, to be careful what you practice. This phrase made me stop and think when I read it in ‘Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff ‘ by Richard Carlson recently. Because for many years when people have said that to get better at presenting you need to practice,(after all practice […]
I’ve had enough: Of people who insist on telling us all they know and cramming it in ten minutes Of people who don’t take the time to find out about their audiences Of people who don’t prepare because they prefer to speak from the heart Of people who put their scripts on PowerPoint so they […]
I was listening to Richard Eyre the director speaking on Radio the other day. It was interesting hearing how he goes about directing a play or film from the beginning. He described it as ‘creating a landscape from scratch, with a world, people, language and activities’ This world was for the audience. It made me […]
Here’s my take on four of the Seven Deadly Sins for Speaking in Public. I would be interested to know your thoughts… Pride: We base a presentation on what we want to say to our audiences with little or no consideration to what they need to hear. Our first concern is for what we know […]
Sometimes when I am delivering a presentation or training session I will ask people whether they are experts. There will always be one person who puts up their hand quickly, confidently and as high as it goes. But what about the rest of the audience? Well, some people half raise their hand hiding it under […]
Should we give people feedback on their presentations and if we do, how honest should we be? Let’s be honest, if we deliver a presentation we are not likely to get any feedback that is helpful from the majority of people in the audience. If we say, ‘how did it go?’ the answer usually is […]
I am delighted to post a guest blog today. I met Denise earlier this year when we both attended a comedy workshop. She is a very funny lady and knows a thing or two about performing. Enjoy her blog about nerves, the stage and giving presentations! A friend’s Facebook status today read ‘I’m an actor, […]
The Day my projector broke…presentation disaster?
Three reasons why PowerPoint stinks
Feedback is useless…
Could you present on anything?
Catherine Sandland: Oh I like this story. Thank ou for sharing....
Colin Barnes: A great lineI heard from a speaker, who was speak...
Catherine Sandland: Thank you for posting this link. I absolutely agr...
@LightbulbJo Jo Cook: One way to focus is using Action Mapping. It bring...
Catherine Sandland: Hi Kieron, thank you for your comment. This is an...