I’m asked regularly: a) who speaks when at a wedding; and b) who needs to say what in their wedding speech? As you’ll read elsewhere on the site, I suggest planning your speech around the ‘must haves’ and the ‘might haves’. The list below focuses solely on the ‘must haves’. Many wedding speeches fall foul [...]

It’s OK. The speech is ages away. There’s nothing to worry about yet. You may be absolutely right, but there is no substitute for preparation even if you are an accomplished public speaker. Take the politicians who finesse and practise their first speech in office long before the election is won (or lost!). If you [...]

Bessie Braddock: “Winston, you are drunk, and what’s more, you are disgustingly drunk.” Churchill: “Bessie, my dear, you are ugly, and what’s more, you are disgustingly ugly. And tomorrow morning at least I shall be sober.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It never ceases to surprise me how often my clients ask me what to do if heckled during [...]

There is a school of thought that ‘great’ and ‘PowerPoint’ should never be used in the same sentence, and it is true that there are many other ways to engage your audience. However, PowerPoint is a fact of business life, and it can be an incredibly impactful tool when used in the right way. Too [...]

At a time when ‘internal communications’ are becoming ever more of a business buzzword, I speak to an increasing number of clients about how best to present news and information to their colleagues. Presentations of this sort can range from a five minute update around a boardroom table to a set-piece presentation in front of the entire [...]