Recently, I was asked to present a speech at Ignite Brisbane and so I chose to discuss the two ways we learn – and the two ways we teach. Ignite presentations, by the way, are where you give a presentation that lasts _exactly_ five minutes – and which is accompanied by 20 PowerPoint slides each…
In my Thursday Thoughts post two weeks ago, I wrote about ‘draining the swamp’ – or dealing with the big picture, and not getting bogged down in the minutiae. And that led one reader to point me to a really useful ‘life hack’ page about the 80:20 rule. The 80:20 rule, as Steve Young points out, is…
You may have noticed that this week’s Wed Workshop’ is actually being posted on a Sunday (Australian time). That’s because, as the poet said, “The best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley….” I am, as I’ve mentioned, an occasional ‘enrichment lecturer’ on cruise ships – and in recent weeks I’ve been on…
I am, this week, on a cruise ship sailing around the South Pacific. I say that not to make you jealous – although I AM ON A SOUTH PACIFIC CRUISE! – but to tell you why I am on that ship. I’m what’s called an ‘enrichment speaker’ .. In return for a ‘free’ cruise for…
I was at a Toastmasters meeting last night when a member, attempting to encourage newer speakers, said “No speech is a failure – Each speech has an outcome. It’s how you deal with that outcome that counts.” And I’d agree – at least as far as the sentiment goes. But to paraphrase the old saying, sentiment (and…
One of the first ‘Train the Trainer’ sessions I ever undertook started with us being asked to make a hot drink for a fellow participant. However, we were told we could only ask what what was required once – and after that, we could not ask for any further information. The idea, of course, was to show…
It’s a cliche that we’ve all heard – PRIOR PREPARATION PREVENTS POOR PERFORMANCE – but just because it’s a cliche doesn’t mean it is untrue. Over the years, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of successful presentations that resulted from the presenter ‘winging it.’ Oh, we have all seen cases…
Cairns Communications 