George Orwell - suitable subject for a tattoo?

I know that Orwell only wrote 4 decent books (The Road to Wigan Pier,  Down and Out in Paris & London, 1984 and Animal Farm- in my opinion). As a novelist, I feel he was better at the ideas than their expression, but the was a truly great journalist. You'll all probably know his rules for writers-

1. Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.

3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

4. Never use the passive when you can use the active.

5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything barbarous.

Well I don't understand why they're not tattooed onto the forehead of every single one of us who would seek to tell others how to talk.  Yes, you'd change the first point to 'hearing in conversation' but that'd be it.  It's great advice for us all and I'm going to commit to enforcing these rules whenever I hear professionals abusing them.
 
Oh,  and as for point 6, I didn't really understand it until the evening I told a rather rude story about a celebrity at an after dinner speech I was making, and got roars of wicked laughter from every table except one. 
 
I later found out from one of the party that the 'victim's' mother (and the story was true), had paid for the 12 people to be there and was sat stony-faced among them.  Who would have thought it was possible?  So I understand the point and still feel like a barbarian for having embarrassed a lovely lady, even though her son is a brute.

The confidence myth- why confident presenters often miss the point

I've got a friend called Quentin.  He's an actor and a good one too with a long track record of theatre, stage & screen roles behind him.  Actors can sometimes be a bit full of themselves but not Quenty, he's a no-nonsense kind of bloke and when he says something to me with that special look on his face (like a bald bulldog chewing a wasp), I tend to listen.

We were working together with a group of high-end consultants preparing to pitch for a massive governement outsourcing contract in Europe. The pitch was strong, straight to the point and short.  The team was skilful and experienced and very good, with one crucial exception. Let's call him Bob.

Bob was a technically competent presenter, with great experience in his field, but he was 'performing' the role of 'opener' and 'closer' of the pitch and he was borderline bloody awful. He was a classic example of the confident (but not really) presenter yhou see in corporate life.  Here's what we could see with Bob-

1. He was smiling like the joker from Batman
2. He was talking too loudly for the room they were (and would be in)
3. There was an edge of 'I'm not frightened of you' in his delivery
4. He was trying too hard to be 'good'
5. He was presenting like he was watching himself on video and enjoying the experience

Bob was a really nice man off stage, but as soon as he got up in front of an audience he became unbearable to watch, and he didn't know it.  As it always is, it became a matter of how do you broach the issue in a way that will allow him to learn, move on and do better for himself. Quent gave me 'the look' and I let him go.

Quent just asked him to stop 'performing', or 'pretending' to be something that he was not.  He wasn't fearless, he was trying not to show his fear.  He wasn't charismatic, he was trying to be charismatic.  He wasn't compelling he was working at being compelling and all of that effort to be something else, took away from his technical skill as a presenter and his honesty as a real human being.

Bob came back to the room a totally different figure. Thoughtful, slightly shy and awkward, reflective and decibels quieter and he gave the introduction again and his team were spellbound and applauded at the end.  Bob said to them, 'What's that for?' and one of them said 'for sounding like you really believed in what we are going to do.'  Bob smiled and looked at Quentin and said it's his fault, he reminded me of the dictionary definition of confidence.'
'What's that?' said his colleaguue. 'Con fides, in good faith.' said Bob and Q said

'The problem for experienced and skilled presenters is that they often become 'performers' and switch off the thing that made them good in the first place, their warmth and honesty as a person.  Then they become like hammy actors...'  Everyone laughed and went on with the reheaesal.

Who should we look up to?

When you're pretty good at something it can be easy to get into a comfortable spot and stay there.  It happens to me about once a week, when I'm sitting there thinking, 'That went rather well.  God I'm good...' and for those 15 seconds of warmth and complacency all is rather nice with the world.

I've painted myself as a bit of a lazy fool here, but to be fair, I don't tend to stay smug for very long.  I'm rational enough to know that the world is full of talented people and that my loyal clients are only loyal to me as long as I continue to do well for them.  Today though, I'm inspired and Stephanine Flanders (pictured) is the reason.

She's the BBC's (British Broadcasting Corporation)  Economics Editor.  I'm 45, male, reasonably well educated and literate, but that's what she did to me.  She made me look at myself, and she made me feel that I could do better.  I suggest that you watch her, wherever you're from, and notice these things about her, or other things if she strikes you differently-

• She's not trying to be anything she just is- authoritative, concise and confident.
• There's a truthfulness in her tone and delivery that is about her as a human being.
• She is a model to watch while talking with projected visuals.

Hear her speak
See her present a piece to camera

I think she's the best the BBC has. I'd be interested to see whether you agree.

The 5 most irritating things that good presenters do but great presenter's don't

I'm not trying to be smug, that comes with out effort, but it's a question I asked myself today. And here are my answers- based on exhaustive research (none) behind the ranking-  The 5 most irritating things that good presenters do, but great presenters don't are-

1. Think that they can get away with 'winging it'.
2. Ignore the people in the seats until the presentation starts.
3. Assume that the audience knows and/or cares who they are.
4. Ask people to save their questions until the end.
5. Ask questions of the audience that they know the answers to already.

NB- the question came to me when I started thinking, honestly, about my own performance highs and lows- Physician heal thyself!  What have I missed?

6 pieces of tomfoolery that some public speaking coaches tell you- and why they're wrong

Philip Larkin, late, lonely, lovely English poet, wrote a short and bitter little thing that leads us into why so much rubbish is spouted to us by people who really should know better.  'This be the Verse'...

They F*** you up your Mum and Dad'
They do not mean to but they do,
They fill you up with all their troubles,
Then throw a few in extra just for you.

But they were f***ed up in their turn,
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern,
And half at one another's throats,

Man hands on misery to man,
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as quickly as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself.

Hmmm.  Larkin didn't have any kids and he died friendless and alone, so let's not use him as too much of a role model.  But it makes me think that we've all been taught things by people who, were doing what they thought was best for us, with the tools at their disposal, at the time.  Hindsight is the human being's greatest gift, isn't it?

Obviously a lot of what we've been told is valid but some, we come to realise, is just plain useless. I look round the great presentation skills blogs by my colleagues across the world (I'll tell you who they are as we go on) and all of us seem to have a collected a few of the presenting  'myths' to dispel, so here are 6 things that I was taught on my journey; by trainers who meant well; but that I've found to be fool's gold as I've grown.

1. Don't speak too quickly- What a lot of tosh.  Some people speak more quickly than others, and they should because it reflects them, their culture and their personality.  It's never how quickly you speak that affects whether you're understood.  It's how well. Ever seen the 'Quick Shakespeare Company' who can do 'Hamlet' in 4 minutes?  They speak at a rate of hundreds of words a minute and are easily understood.  Why?  Because their articulation is perfect and they honour the punctuation in the piece.
2. Don't say 'Umm' or 'Errrr'-  Why not and who cares? If it's a natural, human sound you make occasionally when you're thinking, then I think people don't notice.  But if it's the sound you make at the end of every sentence while you think of what to say next, it probably means you're not prepared and you should be whipped for it.
3. Don't use notes-Why not?  What they often mean is 'pretend you don't need notes' and you end up using your slides, or a surreptitously hidden piece of paper, that looks poor and makes you nervous.  Notes, cue cards, scripts are all fine and rather like wigs (toupees, hairpieces, whatever they're called where you live), they should be used unapologetically and well.
4. Don't get nervous?- Why not?  Surely it's nervous excitement that delivers real performance.  You should get nervous, throw-up if it helps, but learn to use the adrenaline and manage the effects so that you're really 'switched on' when you perform.  Most audiences like to see a little sign of nervous energy at the start.  It tends to mean that the speaker is taking us, and her subject seriously.
5. Don't wave your hands about-  Again, what are the other options?  Handcuffs? Pockets? Behind your back?  No.  Use your hands, gleefully, joyfully (and all those other words from 'The Logical Song' by Supertramp) naturally.  It's what human beings do when they talk, and it helps you to express, emote and, errr, think.
6. Don't get in the way of the projecter- OK so why not? Surely you have to if you want to engage with your visuals, and direct your audience's attention to where it's best for them. What's the alternative? Stand next to it, stiff as a board, looking like a lemon? Just do it deliberately and love it.

Where do most of these myths come from?  American political pollsters who look at politicians and how they 'work' on TV.  Their results, over time are then passed on to political advisers, who work with their politicians on very specific issues to do with the way they come over on camera. And guess what? All of the things I've listed above do look terrible on TV because there's that really powerful, small frame, close-up, magnifying effect that TV has. 

From Nixon vs Kennedy in the 60's (we're back to old style hats and coats) to McCain v Obama right now, the US election is a battle that's won on the news networks, so it's really important that candidates know the rules. 

That's where all this stuff comes from.  It's all valid for TV and totally, completely, ludicrously irrelevant for us in the real world of work.

Lesson 6- Use everything in the verbal bag of tricks- but sparingly

Use Alliteration:

Alliteration is the deliberate arrangement of words with the same letters and sounds at their start for explosive effect. Alliteration is a trick of the spoken word. A technique that is very popular with tabloid newspaper editors, TV presenters and poets… Examples

• Magazine articles: “Science has Spoiled my Supper", “Too Much Talent in Tennessee", and "Kurdish Control of Kirkuk Creates a Powder Keg in Iraq"
• Comic/cartoon characters: Beetle Bailey, Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Phineas and Ferb, and the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.
• Children's Books: Animalia by Graeme Base is a famous example of alliteration within a storybook.
• Shops: "Coffee Corner", "Sushi Station", "Best Buy".
• Expressions: "busy as a bee", "dead as a doornail", "good as gold", "right as rain", etc..

Try Onomatopoeia:

 The formation of names or words from sounds that resemble those associated with the action or thing to be named, or that seem to suggest its qualities; babble, cuckoo, croak, ping-pong, quack, sizzle and snore are all probable examples.

 It can also mean the use of words whose sound adds meaning to the meaning of those words. “Whoosh” is a word that actually sounds like the sound that you are using it to describe.

 Slimy, slithering, slippery and squelchy are words used to describe how something feels. The words themselves have a similar feeling. Slithering sounds wet and greasy and disgusting so hopefully the impact of the sentence and the overall meaning is enhanced.

Use the Rhythm of the words:

“Rhythmic speech or writing is like waves of the sea, moving onward with alternating rise and fall, connected yet separate, like but different, suggesting of some law, too complex for analysis or statement, controlling the relations between wave and wave, waves and sea, phrase and phrase, phrases and speech. In other words live speech, said or written, is rhythmic, and rhythmless speech is at best dead.” (Fowler’s Modern English Usage)

Some people use meter, the counting of beats and pauses and syllables and lines as the measure of rhythm. Don’t bother. Just get into the habit of saying what you write or intend to say out loud. If it sounds good then it’s probably rhythmical. If it sounds stilted, confused, over-complex then it probably isn’t.

Lesson 5- Use the simple metaphor to help- Learn Jeremy Clarkson's only trick

Metaphor is a fundamental tool of the English language. Without it, meaning would suffer because we would be left with flat description not vivid pictures in words. A metaphor makes a link between previously unlinked things. This linking can add meaning, and depth to our understanding of the world.

When Mrs Thatcher, the UK's formidable first lady Prime Minister, was first called the "Iron Lady" many people laughed because the word "iron" is used metaphorically. To some iron represents fearlessness, to others heartlessness, for some it represented her principles and for others her lack of them. This metaphor stuck because it allowed people to say so much about their subject in a simple phrase. Well-worn examples of metaphor:

• A trail of broken dreams
• Someone or something falling at the first hurdle
• Shareholders crying foul
• Lloyds TSB gobbling up Royal Bank of Scotland
• Heavy-handed asset strippers

Use simile too, she's metaphor's more direct sister and we know and love her as a natural part of our language, for simile is another version of metaphor. The difference though is that in a simile the comparison between two things is direct, and is often signified by the use of phrases like “like a” and “as if…” Common examples of similes include…

• To follow like a lamb to the slaughter
• To laugh like a drain
• To look like grim death
• To swear like a trooper

 With a bit of thought you can invent your own for great and memorable phrases, remember Jeremy Clarkson  has built his career out of this single skill. http://www.jeremyclarkson.co.uk/jc-top-gear-quotes/

Lesson 4 - Use visual imagery

Hypnotists and comedians know that people hypnotise and amuse themselves. A hypnotist's job is to get the subject to use her own imagination to 'see' that other possibilities exist.  To see her walking into a room with confidence, getting the job, making the presentation.

A comedian's job is to get us to see the joke just before he deliver's the punchline. Billy Connolly telling us that he told his ageing father that you could get prescription windscreens made for short-sighted drivers, and his father, having believed him, pestering him for weeks for the phone number of the garage who could fit him one.  Billy then turns to us and says 'can you imagine driving in front of a car with a prescription windscreen?  You'd look in your rear-view mirror and see a head (signalling with his hands) THIS BIG'.

When you give a presentation, try to create strong mental pictures for your audience. We are open to language that gets us to use our mind's eye to imagine whatever it is being described to us. Poets do it too.

“He was a proper poet he was,
He had a way with words,
Images flocked around him like birds,
Words, he could almost make them talk…”

Roger McGough

It's not just hypnotists, poets and comedians who can use it though, Gerry Spence, a very successful trial lawyer puts it as follows…

“I visualise my arguments, I don’t intellectualise them. I don’t choose the intellectual words like, ‘My client suffered grave emotional distress as a result of the serious fraud perpetrated against him by the defendant bank.’ Instead in my mind’s eye I see him coming home at night and I tell the story:

‘I see Joe Smith trudging home at night to face a heap of unpaid bills sitting on the kitchen table. Nothing but cold bills to greet him in that cold empty place. No heat, no light, no water, all cut off by the utility companies. I see my client, a tired man, a man worn down by the weight of his troubles, a man without a penny to him. The bank had it all…’

Lesson 3- Avoid cliché like the plague:

In the " Dictionary of Plain English", the editor A.G. Fowler says…

"Hackneyed phrases become hackneyed because they are useful in the first instance; but they derive a new efficiency from the very fact that they are hackneyed."

I think he means that clichés can be useful if you use the right ones. Use the familiar phrase if it expresses your meaning clearly, but not simply because it is familiar. Then it becomes lazy.

"Dog-tired" is ok, "sick as a parrot" is not.

"Original thinking" is OK, "Blue sky thinking" is vomit worthy

"From start to finish" is OK, "chapter and verse" is hopeless

"Starting tomorrow" is OK, "Going forward" is horrible

Lesson 2- Remove business jargon: Blah, blah, blah

Abstractions distance the audience from you as a speaker, they make it harder for you to connect your ideas with their lives. On bad days they make you sound like a charicature of corporate foolishness.  The most commonly used abstractions in presentations are jargon. If you want to leave a warm & human impression behind, and sound sincere, then delete stuff like this from your phrasebook.  No-one will notice if you do't use such tired old guff, key people will notice if you do and they won't be thinking 'What joy that he's talking like a  buffoon...'

To help you understand how audiences think ( Based on expensve and rigorous reserach by the British Psychological Society) , I've added the internal commentary that you'd get from the audience as you said each of these words or phrases-

• Empowerment- bullshit
• Synergy- Utter bullshit he means job cuts
• Commitment- don't talk to me about commitment
• Bespoke- pompous oaf
• Blue sky thinking- fool
• Synergistic- I think he's going to sack me, kill me and sell my kids for medical research
• Value-added- you're about as relevant as Cliff Richard (Outside the UK, look him up)
• Leading-edge- When did we get in a time machine and go back to the 1980's?
• Post-modern- Guardian (UK based liberal arts newspaper for students and hippies) reading poseur

Every company and industry also has its jargon.  Just notice what yours is and remove it from your lexicon.. Try testing your next big speech on your friends, family and pets.  If they think it sounds like bullshit.  Guess what?

93% of the message is complete twaddle- The truth is much better

We've all heard the numbers- 7% of your meaning is contained in the words you say; 35% in the vocal delivery and the rest (I can't be bothered to do the sums), is body language... Well folks it seems like even the guy who did the study thinks it's not true.  Dr Albert Meherabian did the work back in the 60's, with a very specififc focus- Read here if you're interested http://www.speakingaboutpresenting.com/presentation-myths/stickiest-idea-presenting-wrong/

So if these numbers are so limited as a piece of research, why do we trainers use them so much?  Is it to give us credibility?  To add proof to the value of what we do?  Who knows, but the thing to remember for presenters is that your power as a speaker is a fragile combination of -

1. You and how enthusiastic, confident, open and credible you are
2. The quality of your story and the logic in the path you take through your topic
3. The audience you're facing and how you deal with what they bring into the room

The great thing about brilliance is that it's derived differently for each one of us, and we can all be brilliant (or rubbish) in different ways, for different reasons, on different days. 

The most moving speech I've ever heard was given by a very nervous 19 year old girl, with terrible diction, in halting prose with no visual aids, in a terrible room, at a wedding.  It was the bride's daughter saying how much she appreciated what she'd done for her since she, her sister and her mum had been abandoned by her father 20  years before.  It's the only time I've ever cried at a wedding.

Why was it so powerful?  Because she was telling the heartfelt truth.

Adding flair to your presentation Lesson 1- Remove abstract language:

A noun, as you know, is a word that describes a thing.  An object, a town, a cat, a condition. An abstract noun is a word that describes a thing that has no physical reality. Abstract nouns can describe feelings, qualities, ideas and thoughts. Abstract nouns can describe feelings such as helplessness and sorrow; qualities like quality, courage and reliability, ideas such as equality and freedom, and thoughts such as concepts and creativity. When the abstract is overdone it can cause problems for readers and listeners.

“Pseud’s Corner” in the UK satirical magazine “Private Eye”,  is filled with examples of speech and prose where people seem to be constructing whole articles out of abstract nouns.

“In this feminist exploration of the erotics of the marketplace, Hegel’s notion of property and Lacan’s idea of the phallus serve parallel functions in the creation of the sense of subjectivity necessary for self-actualisation.”

If you combine loads of abstract nouns with the passive voice and add a few technical terms you can create written works so dense that they are impenetrable.

So if you mean a telephone say "telephone" not 'novel communication facility’. You may know what you mean, make sure that the audience does. "Woolly" speech is usually full of abstractions and is often a sign of unclear thinking on the part of the speaker. At worst it can come across as ambiguous, pompous often misleading and just helps to distance the audience from you and the stuff you're trying to put over.

Use quotations to make really strong points gently

If you have something controversial to say it is often a good idea to put the words in someone else's mouth. If you want to say that Audi make dull but reliable cars, quote Jeremy Clarkson. You can always follow up your insult with "I don't happen to agree…" but your point has already been made.  Three of my favourite quotes from the large teenager-

“This is a Renault Espace, probably the best of the people carriers. Not that that’s much to shout about. That’s like saying ‘Oh good, I’ve got syphilis, the best of the sexually transmitted diseases!’”

“Koenigsegg are saying that the CCX is more comfortable. More comfortable than what... being stabbed?”

“I’m sorry, but having an Aston Martin DB9 on the drive and not driving it is a bit like having Keira Knightley in your bed and sleeping on the couch. If you’ve got even half a scrotum it’s not going to happen.”

I don't agree with any of these sentiments and find the disease references quite disturbing, but....

3 acts worked for Shakespeare maybe they'll work for you- Story structure

Everbody knows that stories have structure.  They start with 'Once upon a time....' and end with 'happily ever after.' And in between the beginning and the end, comes the middle.  In Western culture, most novels, plays and films tend to follow a simple 3 act structure, with each act playing a particular role in driving the story to its end.  Broadly speaking-

• Act 1- Sets the scene and introduces the characters, the context and the challenge.
• Act 2- Introduces the challenge in more detail and gives choices for the character to take
• Act 3- Sees the pay-off where the character makes a decison, takes action and gets a result.

Each of the acts allows the audience to be taken on a journey that starts with- 'I Don't know anything about this character and don't really care what happens to the little bleeder...'; through 'I care now and don't want to see this lovely little thing fail'; to 'Oh my God, is he going to fall, die, leave, lose, love...?'  To the bitter (or sweet) end of the story, where our emotions are released in joy or pain or hope..., and we can relax and go back to our lives with a lesson learned, or a message taken.  But the story has to build step-by-step or it will fail.

Imagine the film 'Toy Story' going straight in at the scene where Buzz appears on the kid's bed.  It would have no meaning, because we wouldn't understand so many things.  Why his arrival changed things, why the toys were talking, who the skinny guy in the cowboy outfit was.  We wouldn't know and we wouldn't care and we wouldn't watch for long. Imagine 'Titanic' starting at the point where they're all in the water; or 'High Noon beginning with the gunfight. 'Saving Private Ryan' opening with the tedious walk through the hinterland of Omaha Beach, looking for a kid called Ryan.

Stories whether drama and fictional or commercial and factual work better if the thousand year old structure of a story is used.

P.S.  I know that there are more than 3 acts in Shakespeare, and there's alot of controversy about story structures, Freytag's 5 act structure and Quentin Tarantino's method, but sometimes you've just got to choose.  I did.  For more information- try this-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenwriting or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dramatic_structure

Using your voice

It’s your instrument and most people don’t really know how to play it.

1. Rehearse in the place where you'll make your speech if you can, it makes a full dress rehearsal and readies you for the real thing. If you can't use the venue, use somewhere like it.

2. Project to people at the back of the room by imagining the breath that you'll need to make your voice get there and doing it.

3. Learn to breathe from your diaphragm for deep, slow, powerful breaths that give you all the oomph you need to project.

4. Practice hitting the end consonants of the words ('She sells seashells on the sea shore' is unintelligible to an audience unless you do).

5. Use the punctuation (verbal or actual) to pause for breath which helps your delivery and allows the audience to catch up with what you're saying. Practice a comma for a short pause (say 'one thousand' inside your head)and breath, full stop twice that, paragraph three times 'one thousand' again.

6. Rehearse the pauses too because confident use of them will help you to deliver your key points, with real impact.

7. Emphasise the 2 or 3 key words in a sentence to deliver the real meaning in what you say.

8. Rehearse practising changes of pace, emphasis, tone and drama until it feels right for you. That's what rehearsal is for, not simply so you remember what to say, but how you say it too.

9. If there are words, phrases, or parts of the speech you just can't say in rehearsal, cut them out or change them because you won't be able to say them in the real thing.

10. Speak with your real voice, not your 'phone voice or your actor's voice, your own voice with its accent, inflection, pitch and tone will deliver the most credible message to your audience.

Starting well

Remember that the first 2 minutes are the point at which you have the audience's full attention, use it to full effect.

1. Contact as many people as you can before the date and ask them what they want to get out of the session, what they'd like to know and what they don't want. Even if they don't respond, they'll remember you asked them and it will warm you to them.

2. Get a list of names before the event and memorize as much of the list as you can, then fit faces to names as they walk in to the room.

3. Meet people (even if you know them) as they come into the room, shake hands, have a brief chat with them to help show your confidence and 'break the ice'.

4. Tell them who you are and why you're there (I'm the person who knows this system as well as anybody in the world and I'd like to help you learn how to make the most of this excellent piece of software...').

5. Tell them what they're going to get out of being here (You'll get an interesting, useful and memorable set of hints and tips that will help you to make the most of the investment you're making....).

6. Tell them how long you'll be and that if they 'do with patient ears attend...' they'll get lots out of the session. (I'll talk for 20 minutes, and you'll see how useful this product will be for you...).

7. Tell them what you want them to do. (Please feel free to ask questions as we go through and help me to give you what you need, though if I'm going to cover the point later I may ask you to be a little patient with me...').

8. Match your energy to the energy in the room (just above the energy level of a quiet room and just below that of a noisy room).

9. Take them through the 'story structure' for the presentation so they see your logic at the start.

10. Do your introduction to a blank screen at the start so they focus on you and use the story structure slide for the 'bridge' to act 1. Then you're in control and ready to go.

Telling tales- particularly about yourself

Steve was a guy I worked with many years ago and he was a great role-model as a presenter.  He showed me that it's OK to look to amuse your audience as long as there's a serious point lurking in the background and he taught me the value of a story to make a powerful point in a subtle way.  He also showed me how not to tell the personal anecdote.  He told loads of them and they were interesting and funny and always had a point.  The problem was that he was always the hero.

How Steve stood up to bullies at school, how Steve was the the most honest and decent man in the world, how Steve was unfailingly attractive to women, how Steve was faithful, successful, open, honest and modest.  It would have been OK, if there had been even the smallest similarity between the Steve in the story to the selfish little sod speaking, but there wasn't, and for me that made Steve less than convincing over the long-term. 

Then there was Harvey P.  Harvey is exactly the oppsite kind of story teller.  He tells great anecdotes with deep meaning and, yes, sometimes they're about himself.  But when they are, he's more often than not the patsy.  Harvey gets ahead of himself, Harvey thinks he knows what will work in his wife's country, Harvey starts to believe in his own publicity.  We still laugh and learn from the tale but guess who we're really moved by?  My mate Harvey, that's who.

5 business phrases that make you sound like a corporate fool

Maybe I'm in a bad mood today, but there's a bit of a rant.  I got the idea the first five minutes of a speech by a management consultant in 2008 so don’t think I’ve made it up. It was a quite brilliant mix of cliché, banality and diffidence that delivered a well deserved 30 minutes sleep to the audience that had paid $800 to be there.

The point is that some phrases that are cliches are useful. Some are not. These phrases are not useful because they just take time, oxygen and patience away from the room you're in and the people you're with, and make you look like something you're, most probably, not.

It doesn't mean you can't ever use the phrases again but be warned that they have moved beyond their 'use by date' and are beginning to smell rather badly.

•Value-added- In my grumpy head, means you’ve swallowed a text book, got an MBA or wish you had an MBA -try saying 'worth doing'instead.
•Going forward- means absolutely nothing- try saying nothing else and moving on to the next point or be mischievous, and say 'moving backwards' instead and at least challenge us to ask what you could possibly mean.
•Bottom line- means you learned business from 1970’s films about advertising and think that's the height of hard-edged commercialism- try saying 'profit' instead and you'll get to the end quicker too.
•Synergistically - means you’re American and are deliberately trying to say things in as complex way as you can to impress us before you send us an outrageous invoice for your services. Why not - try saying 'by working together'
•Any metaphor that includes flag-poles or saucers of milk- Because such a metaphor was used, as far back as 1956, to show how advertising executives can be mindless spouters of meaningless hogwash,  in the great, Oscar winning film '12 Angry Men' with Henry Fonda.  If it was used like that then, what do you think it says of the user now?

Meaning what you say when cynicism is cool

Great public speakers are really good at sounding like they mean what they say. They practise it, they check for it and they rehearse it because it's so important. That doesn't make them liars, unless they're pretending, it makes them professionals.

How many speakers have you seen who seem like they don't really believe what they're saying?  Or more commonly, seem like they neither believe or disbelieve?  And is that ever appropriate in a professional environment?

Committing to your message is a really big barrier for some of the most honest and sincere people in business, because believing in what you say, and sounding like you do, are hard things to do. Why? because being really committed to something opens you up to hurt and ridicule, and is not very fashionable in the 2000's.

Diffidence is de riguer, cynicism is  cool but it doesn't make you powerful or influential.

Developing Flair is about effort not talent- ask Tiger Woods

Flair is, to many people, an indefinite thing. Some people have it and some people don’t. It’s often counted as innate, something that one person is born with and others are not. I don’t see it that way. If we consider what flair is, it could be defined as “having the ability to do a thing that many people find difficult in a way that seems natural." Tiger Woods- In golf, is the best player on the planet today, and some would say, ever. Let’s hear what Tiger has to say-

“It ticks me off that people talk about me as if I had been given a God-given talent. I’m sure that I do have something that I don’t own, but it also ignores the fact that I have worked harder than most of my peers for the past 20 years.”

How does the audience know how the genius got his or her talent. Often they assume that it's innate, when much more often that not, it's not. The combination of aptitude, learned skill and motivation to improve is a powerful sum. Remove anything and potential is limited but remove motivation and the whole future is lost.

So if we really want to get good at our public speaking, there's a lot we can learn from the best golfer in world.