The world’s a stage – are you ready for the spotlight?

Professional life can seem like a series of conferences, meetings, product launches, reviews, seminars and road shows. And, for many, that means facing a string of uncomfortable challenges. It’s said that more people are afraid of speaking in public than of swimming with sharks. How are some individuals able to stand on stage with confidence, or make a difficult point in a meeting without sweating and stumbling, whilst others avoid any occasion to speak in front of a group?

If public speaking brings so much stress, what’s the point? Unfortunately, the professional world isn’t fair and those that are unable to shout out or speak up can’t get ahead in the way that they should. In today’s competitive business environment, developing the ability to communicate well is a genuine asset to any employer, and gets you noticed. Practice makes perfect, but there are some techniques that even the most nervous person can use to improve their delivery.

This year Wordville’s summer school is focussing on much-sought after personal and management skills. There’s a list below of what’s on offer for anyone needing to improve their ability to manage a team – communicate with confidence in front of a crowd – or develop coaching skills that will help bring out the best in the people they work with. The courses run throughout August at our training room in London Bridge – can be taken together or as a one-off.

SUMMER SCHOOL 2009 PUBLIC SCHEDULE
· Public Speaking and Presentation Skills (course code: PR-PRESPUB01)

Stepping into the spotlight can cause more stress than any other part of professional life. Master the art of speaking to a crowd by learning the skills you need to make your point in public with confidence and flare. Work with a professional presentation coach to improve your delivery, find ways to beat any nerves, and use presentation tools to become a compelling speaker.
NEXT COURSE - Monday 24th August 8:30-11:30Cost: £200 per person + VAT

· Dealing With Difficult People (course code: MG-DIFPUB01)
Harmonious relationships and good teamwork are essential to the productivity of any organisation. Internal and external pressures can lead to people being difficult, aggressive or uncooperative. Find out how to handle sticky and potentially confrontational situations more confidently and effectively.
NEXT COURSE – Friday 21st August 1:30-4:30Cost: £200 per person + VAT

· Clear Communication – Good News and Bad (course code: MG-COMPUB01)
Effective communication skills make all the difference – in the way you manage, sell, work within a team. Whatever your working environment, learn how to communicate effectively. Understand the barriers to communication, the proper techniques to impart the worst news, how to work with a variety of audiences and make an impact with colleagues, clients and the outside world. A practical session that will give you the confidence to use what you learn immediately.
NEXT COURSE – Tuesday 25th August 1:30-4:30Cost: £200 per person + VAT

· Motivating, Engaging and Re-Energising Your Team (course code: MG-MOTPUB01)
Missed deadlines, mistakes, absenteeism, a lack of enthusiasm – signs of poor performers? Not necessarily. In times such as these, more common than not your team could be worrying about their jobs and the state of the business. Learn the vital steps you can take to get your team motivated, re-energised and facing future challenges with focus.
NEXT COURSE – Tuesday 25th August 8:30-11:30Cost: £200 per person + VAT

· Time Management (course code: MG-TIMEPUB01)
Constantly being asked to achieve more under increasing time pressures can turn the calmest person into a nervous wreck. The current climate demands higher levels of performance but there’s never a moment to spare. Learn how to make better use of your time at work, plan and schedule tasks so that you can keep your head above water, and deliver to deadline.
NEXT COURSES – Wednesday 12th August 8:30-11:30 or Monday 24th August 1:30-4:30
Cost: £200 per person + VAT

· Coaching Your People For Enhanced Performance (course code: MG-COAPUB01)
How much time do you spend every day solving your team’s problems – especially those they could solve themselves? Getting the best out of your people requires more than just throwing them in at the deep end and fishing them out when things get too rough. Knowledge leads to action - and action leads to performance. Learn an effective coaching model to get the most out of your direct reports.
NEXT COURSES – Monday 17th August 1:30-4:30 or Thursday 27th August 8:30-11:30
Cost: £200 per person + VAT

· Running Productive Meetings (course code: MG-MTGPUB01)
If you’ve ever sat through a three-hour waffle session, you’ll appreciate the real art of managing a business meeting. Whether it’s a client meeting, an internal update, or a regular project review learn how to control the timing, gather contributions, prepare and stick to an agenda and use your personal presentation skills to make an impact.
NEXT COURSES – Monday 17th August 8:30-11:30 or Thursday 27th August 1:30-4:30
Cost: £200 per person + VAT

· Problem Solving Facilitation & Brainstorming (course code: MG-BRAPUB01)
Getting the best ideas from a group of creative thinkers is as difficult as working through any problem if you don’t have a method for assessing issues and gathering ideas. Learn the best way to brainstorm, how to prepare and guide the session and work through problems by getting to grips with proven critical thinking techniques.
NEXT COURSES – Friday 21st August 8:30-4:30 or Wednesday 26th August 1:30-4:30Cost: £200 per person + VAT

If the first wave of recovery really does start in October (and let’s hope it does) be ready for whatever the business throws at you.

2nd Year for Wordville with Leading Charity Recruitment Event

2008 success sees forum3 renew contract

Following the successful campaign in 2008, forum3, the leading UK recruitment event for the Third Sector, has renewed its contract with Wordville.

forum3 hosts a yearly recruitment event for over 12,000 visitors, including 150 top charities such as Cancer Research UK, Big Issue, NSPCC and the RSPCA. The partnership with Wordville resulted in a 20% increase in attendance and forum3 directors engaged with key print, broadcast and online journalists. Extensive coverage was featured in trade, national and international media.

“Wordville was a key part of our 2008 success, enabling us to influence the Third Sector agenda through key media engagement. We saw an increase in visitor attendance and we are now a point of reference for anyone looking for the latest developments in our industry. We are very much looking forward to working with Wordville again this year,” said Debbie Hockham, director, forum3.

The forum3 event will take placed on September 10-11 at the Business Design Centre in Islington in London. For more information, please visit: http://www.forum3.co.uk

Mistrust Reality

Two friends of mine have recently become embroiled in reality TV shows - not the talent show variety but sideshows nonetheless. Both willing participants of on air behind the scenes programmes with two different reasons for taking part. First was emotional (wanted to talk through a relationship breakup), second promotional (wanted to get more clients for his business).

All cautionary tales seemed to fall on deaf ears because they both had a strange belief that they wouldn't "be like those who look insane and unreasonable".

It's not just reality TV that brings out the delusion. Company executives step unprepared into TV studios, confident that the ego that does them so well in the boardroom will work its magic on camera. And subject matter experts ramble on to journalists convinced that their evangelical zeal will inspire.

If you're doing TV for promotional purposes work out what you want to achieve and how your offline activity supports your onscreen appearance. Have you timed your marketing with the transmission? Are you ready to take advantage of any incoming queries and are your staff prepped for any possible negative reaction? If it seems obvious, you'd be surprised how many people think it'll just fall into place.

Ultimately anyone producing a reality TV show is looking to deliver entertainment not reality. Take stock before you agree to appear - think what's in it for you, don't trust that your everyday charm will make it onscreen, and take advice from experts before signing anything. Reality bites.

It’s the way you tell ‘em

Writing speeches for someone else is an unusual way to spend your time. Finding the right words, weaving in the key points, following a thread to a conclusion. It’s got to be more than an intellectual exercise. You’ve got to find the humour, the passion, something beyond the metre of the words to stir the audience and keep them involved. But when you hand over the pages it’s down to the speaker to make your sentences into something memorable. Those attending the recent event at the V&A’s Sackler Centre were lucky to have Sir Christopher Frayling on hand to kick off the launch of the National Museums Online Learning Project. An excellent engaging speaker, he said what was needed but so much better than anything that could be written on a page.

I enjoy reading speeches – a pleasurable homework to keep my own speechwriting skills up to scratch. But it was a real pleasure this week to stumble on the British Library’s exhibition The Sound and The Fury: The Power of Public Speaking. A row of headphones lets you listen in on some of the greatest speeches given over the last 150 years, drawn from the Newspaper and Sound Archive. The pacing of the great actors, the passion of the sportsmen, the wit and humour of the statesmen. So much better than reading the transcript - the breathing and phrasing makes all the difference. So many of the recordings are famous enough that you can anticipate the words “I am the greatest...”, “Once more unto the breach”, “We shall fight them on the beaches” - but it’s great to hear them spoken.

What makes a great speech? There are certainly some dos and don’ts that can help even the novice to improve. What makes a great speaker? Practice, for sure. But more important is the desire to connect with the audience, to really say something that changes how people feel, that knocks them for six. Engage the audience and they’ll feel lucky to be listening.

How do you know that you’re ready for PR?

Before you kick off a campaign - PR, marketing or any other type of formal communication - there are a few important questions you need to ask yourself to avoid putting the cart before the horse.

Key messages are just that. Key to working out your press targets, key to finding the case studies to support your business, key to every piece of collateral that you create. However, it takes time to work them out. Sit in a boardroom with a group of executives, with the company's brand seemingly running through their bloodstreams, and you’ll find that each one has a different perspective on what the company stands for, how it stands out and why customers chose them.

If the board is unclear every level down will have a variety of other company colours to add to the mix. Unfortunately, rather than making the end result a kaleidoscope of opportunity - if you mix too many colours the result is mud.

If you want to build a multifaceted business start with an achievable goal then build. Find your main differentiators and ensure that one important selling point doesn't contradict another.

When Amazon launched with a goal to be "Wal-Mart online" the story goes that the chairman and founder, Jeffrey P. Bezos, threw out the extensive marketing plan declaring "We're going to sell books." Building credibility in one area before expanding to another makes marketing sense rather than be an 'all things to all people’ newcomer who can get lost in the crowd.

As times get tougher you need to make it easier for your clients or customers to buy. Can your service be simply explained? Is the product's benefit easy to understand? Is what you charge clear and not laden with hidden costs? Whatever size your customer is, their budgets are being scrutinized. If you can’t be clear about what you sell, how much it’s going to cost, and how they’re going to benefit – they’ll never to the internal selling job needed to get you a purchase order.

What do you want to be famous for? Take the time to establish your messages before you turn on the PR machine. It’ll provide you with a engine under the bonnet and make all the difference.