language

One thing that distinguishes great presenters is their choice of language. What do we need to know about language to help us do even better presentations? Imagine you were running a university [...]

What passing bells for those who die as cattle? Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifles rapid rattle Can patter out their hasty orisons. “Anthem for Doomed Youth” by [...]

Any good presentation should take the audience on a journey: from point A – where they are when they walk into the room, to point B – where they know what the presenter wants, why they want [...]

The 50th anniversary of his death has put John F. Kennedy firmly back in the spotlight. And what strikes me about Kennedy is that he is Mr Contrast. Not just in the startling differences between [...]

I’m obsessed with someone off the telly. For a middle-aged bloke, this might be embarrassing enough; the fact that the object of my obsession is another bloke around 20 years my senior takes it [...]

Delivery – according to Demosthenes, this is the key to good speaking. As anyone who has seen a bad actor mangle Shakespeare can attest, how the words are spoken plays a vital role. What then [...]

Question & Answer Contrast Lists of Three Repetition We use these techniques constantly, naturally, unconsciously in everyday conversation. When we step up to do a presentation something [...]

Because In a wonderfully elegant experiment involving queuing to use a photocopier, Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer showed the persuasive power of giving reasons. Requests to push in and use [...]

Writing is not speaking. What looks good on paper nearly always sounds turgid and long-winded when spoken aloud. You don’t know if what you’ve written is any good until you actually say it. The [...]