Don't phone it in!

A few posts back, I reproduced an article by Seth Godin on the dangers of using too much data. It holds good advice for those presenting lots of statistics. Godin is the author of ten books about marketing, change and work that are international bestsellers. His blog is one of my favourites and I recommend it to […]
Quotes for Public Speakers (No. 15) – Dale Carnegie

“There are always three speeches for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave.” Dale Carnegie
Make no apologies

“It is a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them.” – P. G. Wodehouse In a previous post, I wrote about apologies and thanks. Now I am saying “Make no apologies” – what’s going on? The Parker […]
Apologies and thanks

This morning I had a surprise. An unpleasant one. When I went to check the activity on this blog, I was greeted with a message that it had been suspended for violating the WordPress terms of service. Now, a dozen thoughts raced through my mind as I tried to figure out what had happened. But […]
Quotes for Public Speakers (No. 14) – Cato

“Find the message first and the words will follow.” — Cato
Analysis of a speech by Sir Ken Robinson

This TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson is one of my favourites. Robinson is an internationally recognized leader in education, innovation, creativity and human resources. In his latest book, The Element, Robinson states: “The element is the point at which natural talent meets personal passion. When people arrive at the element, they feel most themselves and most […]
Quotes for Public Speakers (No. 13) – Winston Churchill

“First he read his speech; second he read it badly; third it wasn’t worth reading.” Winston Churchill
What Yanni can teach us about public speaking

I have been writing this blog for a little over eight months now. I recently looked back at some of the posts that I have written. Most of those posts contain advice about things that we should, or should not, do as speakers: look at the audience; don’t read your notes; use the stage; don’t […]
Why Too Much Data Can Be Bad

Seth Godin is the author of ten books about marketing, change and work that have been bestsellers around the world. His blog is one of my favourites. The post below appeared on his blog on 21 January 2010. In a previous post, I quoted Margaret Thatcher who said that a statistic should tell a story. The problem with […]
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