engagement | Let's Talk

But where do I find the stories…..?

It’s now standard lore that in order to make your presentation stand-out, in order to capture your listeners’ ears and hearts, you have to use stories. As I always tell participants on my Public Speaking courses, if you are just giving people facts and information, they aren’t listening. You have to engage them on some kind of emotional journey, and stories are by far . . . → Read More: But where do I find the stories…..?

Are they listening – or playing Catchword Bingo?

Like many I’m an inveterate people-watcher, but as a soft-skills trainer I have an extra level of professional fascination, particularly when it comes to watching those in customer service roles.

On the first morning of our Xmas fly-and-flop getaway, our holiday rep gathered us all together, to do what holiday reps are paid to do – make us feel welcome, answer our questions, and . . . → Read More: Are they listening – or playing Catchword Bingo?

Building Engagement Brick By Brick

This past month has seen a lot of Lego building. No, not at the weekends, not as de-stress therapy, but as an integral part of my working day.

I was asked to run a series of workshops for a medium-sized organisation (around 75 staff) to boost employee engagement, and to provide an opportunity for everyone to examine and discuss the internal issues that were . . . → Read More: Building Engagement Brick By Brick

Set your phone to 'stun'

Right up to the moment it all went wrong, I had been feeling pretty pleased with myself. Because it had been a really tough brief, yet it all seemed to be going so well. I had been asked to create an experiential workshop on customer care, and deliver it, solo, as a participatory session for 140 delegate from my local PCT! I had serious . . . → Read More: Set your phone to ‘stun’

Hearts and Minds

I am currently working as an associate to another training company, which is helping one of our major utilities with a massive IT rollout. The new system, which is costing hundreds of millions of pounds, will replace a host of incompatible and crumbling legacy systems, some of which date back more than 20 years, with a modern, streamlined, fit-for-purpose corporate platform. The change and . . . → Read More: Hearts and Minds