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Getting the geography right

I am currently delivering some training for Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust, as part of an excellent project to improve public health. The idea is to recruit people who are active in the community – youth workers, religious leaders, voluntary group co-ordinators, ESOL teachers and the like – and get them to help promote particular important health campaigns locally.

The hotel venue for this . . . → Read More: Getting the geography right

Fun but far from Frivolous

I’ve just got back from a 3-day conference in Amsterdam of the Applied Improvisation Network. A gathering of about 200 people from all over the world, who use Improv not just for entertainment, but to bring about social, personal, political or organisational change.

Now, if you’ve read my page on Applied Improvisation, you will understand that training in theatre Improv promotes and nurtures a number . . . → Read More: Fun but far from Frivolous

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

Whistling in the Light

Box of Frogs has been meeting for 6 months now. There are around a dozen regular attenders, and about another 20 or 30 who drop in occasionally. We’ve been talking for a while now about performing in public. Because it’s one thing to amuse ourselves, it’s another to stand up in front of a real audience and see if what you do has any . . . → Read More: Whistling in the Light

DIY or (Wo)Man who can?

Updating this website has been an ongoing back-burner project for most of this year, but finally was moved to the front ring of the cooker this month. I had a fairly clear idea about what I wanted, but none on how to achieve it. So I started looking around.

The first person I spoke to, a sole-trader freelancer, wouldn’t even quote an hourly, daily . . . → Read More: DIY or (Wo)Man who can?

Is your team a rock band?

During the summer months, I spend most of my weekends skydiving. More specifically, I am a skydiving cameraman. Even more specifically, I specialise in being a cameraflyer for competitive Four-way Formation Skydiving teams. I won’t bore you with fine details of what this entails – if you are really interested you can find out here. But, briefly, each team of four skydivers is trying . . . → Read More: Is your team a rock band?

Yah Boo Politics

Presenting with Passion – Elected Members, Coventry City Council

This was a first – I was asked to work with Elected Members of the council. I have often worked with employees and officers of Local Authorities, but Coventry have had the great idea of offering personal development courses to it’s elected Councillors.

This was a cross-party group of attendees, and I’m pleased to . . . → Read More: Yah Boo Politics

What Exactly Do You Mean When You Ask Me To ‘Just Be Myself’?

A recent event has reminded me of the importance of clearly setting up the framework within which I operate.

I was invited run a taster session by the Organisational Development department of a university, for a group of participants who were by and large postgraduate members of the lecturing staff. Early in the session it became clear to me that I was facing a . . . → Read More: What Exactly Do You Mean When You Ask Me To ‘Just Be Myself’?

Bad News

Presenting With Passion course at TRW Cooper Standard Automotive

At the end of the session, somebody asks me “This is all very well, but we only dealt with upbeat topics. What if I have to deliver bad news, such as redundancies?”

I replied “The fact is, the challenge is identical. The task is still to take your audience on an emotional journey. In . . . → Read More: Bad News

Breakthrough

Presenting with Passion course.

The participants are 14 young people from all around the world, on their Graduate Training programme. Working with a multinational group is interesting. Half the group do not have English as their first language, although all have an acceptable level as English is the working language of the business. I have to remember to speak more slowly and clearly than . . . → Read More: Breakthrough

Fear and Demons

Presenting with Passion – Telford and Wrekin District Council

The first part of a Presenting With Passion day usually consists of a series of games and exercises around fluidity and ease of speech. I do this for fun and energy, and also to give people the confidence that they actually can speak without preparation and notes. One or two of the games I . . . → Read More: Fear and Demons

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