Speaking Well In Public presents SpeakEasy,  an occasional series of free informal drop-in discussion events. It’s for anyone who has to speak in public for any reason and would like some friendly support and advice.

Bring your public speaking ‘issue’ to discuss, share ideas and inspiration with the group and get some personal advice from me.

SpeakEasy -  it all happens in a cafe near you, and all you pay for is your coffee and cake. It’s fun, friendly – and free. Hope to see you at the next one – details will follow soon.

So often we develop a shell we think will protect us from whatever it is we fear when speaking in public. Those vocal habits, the ums, ers and repetitive phrases [anything rather than allow a pause!]; the physical habits, the rocking backwards and forwards, pacing, fiddling and other displacement activity; and the reliance on safety nets, peering at notes, staring at the powerpoint or over the audience’s heads, are all piled on like armour, building up over the years. Actors are trained to strip all this away, to relax physically and mentally and to connect with the audience, and to develop the tools of their trade, their breathing and voices, so the story can be told.

I concluded that far from making the public speaker less authentic, using these techniques can only help you to become more so.

Introduction to Investigative Interviewing

For employers, the ability to conduct an effective investigative interview can be a useful skill for your employees, with many professional and business applications including anti-fraud action, disciplinary procedures, investigating complaints and allegations and fact-finding exercises.

For job-seekers, transferrable investigative interviewing skills can be an attractive selling point to feature on the CV and a confident beginning to new career directions.

Introduction to Investigative Interviewing is a one-day foundation course for Beginners and Improvers who need a clear grounding in investigative interview technique.

The local colleges’ new brochures are brimming with evening classes and ideas. So how are you going to celebrate the new season?  Take a look round the site and see what we have to offer to give you a boost to your confidence, skills and CV to take you into 2012.

“Attractive people sell more, work better in teams, are more productive and profitable for employers … social intelligence is increasingly valuable in knowledge economies.”

So self-presentation really does matter both in social and business situations, as it directly affects just how successful you’ll be. Your interpersonal, non-verbal and public speaking skills all form important facets of your personal impact, guiding how employers, colleagues and clients see you.

“It only takes a newborn a few weeks to learn the value of their smile.

Using the facial muscles that create a smile affects both the smiler and the recipient of that smile. Research shows that using muscles that create a smile triggers the release of serotonin in the brain. This hormone is the feel-good one. The more serotonin being secreted into the brain, the happier you will feel…

Being smiled at effects a similar change in the recipient. If the smile is genuine, it always creates a feel-good factor. A genuine smile is spontaneous and involves all of the facial muscles. It will include the whole face. Instinctively we know that others like to be smiled at and so this is almost invariably an important initiator of relationships.

Any first encounter can produce anxiety. That first smile on the occasion of which we may be feeling nervous or self-conscious is not only very important, as first impressions can take a long time to alter, it is also the one that is most likely to be a conscious smile rather than an unconscious one.”

Dr Sharifzad explains that smiling not only helps you feel good, it helps those to whom you’re speaking feel good, too.

The same goes for making a phone call, speaking on the radio, a podcast or voice-over. We can hear the difference when the speaker is smiling, and this recognition has the same impact, triggering the same positive response.

So if you’re nervous, a genuine, friendly smile at the beginning of your speech will do wonders to raise your confidence, increase your likeability and personal impact, and help everyone else enjoy listening to you.

“The common error with the many is their rapid or, so to say, slovenly manner of speaking; the slurring over of the final syllables, the dropping the voice before the words have been but half-uttered, and the running a string of words together with hurried ungraceful accents, too often starting with a jerk and concluding with a rush.”

Perhaps the language is a little old fashioned, but the advice is right up to date:

Speaking too quickly means your audience will find it hard to keep up, not speaking clearly means they’ll have trouble understanding you and not projecting consistently means they just won’t hear everything.

Not much changes!

Do you have difficulty chairing meetings?

Are your skills and abilities better than many of your bosses – save that one key skill, confident public speaking? And might this be why you haven’t yet reached your full potential at work?

Have you not yet started your dream business because the thought of presenting your business plan to your bank manager fills you with dread?

Do you worry that your anxiety might be discovered?

Do you feel that others can sense your fears – and exploit them?

Would you love to have a party piece; tell a joke, or recite poetry?

So what’s really getting in your way?

Did you know you can do so much more?

Speaking Well In Public can help.

7th August 2011

The Mr Men franchise is 40 years old this week – and still sells a copy every 27 seconds.

The creator, Roger Hargreaves, died in 1988 yet he remains the third most successful author of the last decade behind JK Rowling and Dan Brown.

Hargreaves’ son Adam says that he thinks their success is down to the simplicity of the characters and the tales. “They are wonderful and simple and that’s what my dad was striving for. Even the shape and the size of the books were designed so that a child could hold them. My dad took essentially parts of beings and created the characters – that’s why everyone recognises parts of themselves in them.”

Rick McShane from Waterstone’s bookshop says “Kids’ literacy and getting kids to read has become incredibly important over the last few years. What you’ve got with Roger is someone that starts children reading from a young age. You have their parents reading to them and then the children use the books themselves in their first steps of reading alone.”                                        Sky News

Specsavers commits to literacy

4th August, 2011

Specsavers  have joined the drive to promote literacy in the UK  and the intrinsic link between reading and eyecare, with a new initiative to give away thousands of books this summer.

Until Saturday 3 September every customer who has an eye examination can claim a free book.                                                           

Reading to children is so important to help develop a  love of reading, literacy and words, yet so many parents shy away from even trying. Speaking Well In Public teaches techniques for reading to children that will be enjoyed by all generations.

Why read aloud to children?                                                  

Books for reading to children

Reading aloud to children – the course

A casting director may see 150 people in a day for a commercial, yet only a few will be pencilled in for possible casting – and it’s often the same people over and over again, because they are the ones who’ve learned.

I’ve just attended a workshop on improvisation for commercials castings with casting director Mark Summers and actor and acting coach Jay Simon.  Packed with practical demonstrations, exercises, advice and information useful for any actor looking to break into advertising.