One of the best ways to improve how you come across as a speaker is to cut out filler words. Often known as the “ums and ahs”, they fill in silences when a speaker is thinking about what to say next. It isn’t just ums and ahs that are fillers. Speakers often use other words […]
Supportive slides
One of the most common complaints about any seminar or presentation is that the speaker has put a lot of text on a slide and is reading it out. There really is no point to that. If there is just a lot of text on a slide, the audience could easily have read this themselves. […]
What makes a good seminar?
Whether online, back in the room or new hybrid formats, there are key things that make a seminar good (or not!). Here are some key aspects to consider when preparing and delivering seminars. What is it designed to do? As with any aspect of public speaking, you should start with purpose. Many professionals put on […]
Adjusting to hybrid
The Covid-19 pandemic has undoubtedly changed the world. As we move into new ways of working, it appears hybrid working is here to stay, and for good reason. Many are keen to get back to the connection and interaction you can have in a room. The advantages of enabling online attendance are also clear in […]
Facilitating Single Speaker Events (Facilitation Focus 3)
When it comes to facilitating events, having / being a great MC is crucial. I’ve written previously about the role of the MC in providing the links between the programme in a large event. This one is focussed on facilitating events with a single speaker. Warm-up The MC is the first person to speak to […]
Chairing a Panel Discussion (Facilitation Focus 2)
A panel discussion is a great way to elicit a range of views from people with different expertise and perspectives. They might come from different fields within your industry, different types of company or have had different starting points/journeys within the topic area. Here are key things to consider if you are chairing a panel […]
How to be an Effective Interviewer (Facilitation Focus 1)
There are types of speaking which rely heavily on preparation. In others you must speak completely off-the-cuff with no preparation at all. One of my favourite aspects of speaking is facilitation. The kind of speaking where you are semi-prepared. You can prepare some of what you are going to say, but the rest relies on […]
The Power of Purpose…in Meetings
In the first article of this series, we looked at the power of purpose in speaking – essentially communication. The fundamental reason for meetings is to facilitate communication. Often, meetings are viewed as an inconvenience. This could be because the person calling the meeting hasn’t properly thought about the purpose of the meeting. Or hasn’t […]
Why having an MC matters (Virtual Events 4)
Following on from my previous blog about audience interaction and engagement, I want to highlight just how influential an MC can be. They have the power to set the tone, engage the audience and facilitate the smooth running of the event. Many of these insights come from the larger scale events I’ve attended – conferences […]
Audience Engagement (Virtual Events 3)
We attend events for a variety of reasons – to learn something, to be entertained, to meet people. Often it’s a combination of these things. If you are bringing people together for anything other than a purely information conveying webinar, your participants are likely to want to be able to interact with the speakers and […]
