Blog

Get free and fresh ideas every weekday

Talking Talks: The other secrets to great public speaking

 

 You know when you watch something that seems magical? It seems somehow effortless.  

Well, it’s not. 

So today I want to delve into the details of Chris Anderson’s excellent talk on TED talks to reveal the hidden secrets to his great presentation, the ones he didn’t tell us about.

Welcome to Talking Talks, a behind the scenes look at how great presenters make great presentations.

I’m your host, Bri Williams, and today I’m watching Chris...

Continue Reading...

What should I do? Just do this...

 

It's a familiar question, but especially now.

What should I do?

  • What should I do about cash flow?
  • What should we do to increase sales conversion?
  • What should our value proposition be?
  • Should we have a returns policy?
  • How should we design our website?

Our days are riddled with these types of questions, which burn up higher level thinking and distract us from our 'why'.

So I wanted to help those who are short on time and simply want answers.

What should I do?

Just Do This

Just Do This...

Continue Reading...

Talking Talks: How much of yourself should you bring to stage? With Rachel Service

 

In this episode of Talking Talks I speak with Rachel Service, founder and CEO of The Happiness Concierge.

Rachel in a TEDx speaker, global expert on workplace culture and says she's never met a microphone she didn't like!

We talk about how to contain emotion, who you are really there to serve, tricks to be "present", how to cue your audience before interaction, what sort of feedback to ask for.

Shownotes:
- Find out more about Rachel: www.rachelservice.com/rachel-service
- Rachel's TEDx talk: ...

Continue Reading...

Talking Talks: How to know what to leave out, with Dave McCaughan

 

In this episode of Talking Talks Bri speaks with Dave McCaughan, founder of storytelling and market insights consultancy, Bibliosexual.

Dave is a master storyteller who has spoken at over 600 conferences across the globe.

We talk about how to know what to leave out of a presentation, coming up with titles that stand out and why format can be more important than content. Oh, and why 5 year old's are the toughest audience of all!

Shownotes:
- View Dave in action: ...

Continue Reading...

Talking Talks: How to influence an audience the right way

A large part of our ability to influence is how we engage people.

And one of the prime opportunities for that is when we are presenting to an audience, say in a team meeting, from the stage, or making a sales call.

We can use engagement techniques which appeal to the rational mind of our audience, like facts and logic.

And we can use engagement techniques which appeal to the emotional mind, like story and design.

Unfortunately, most presenters are botching the balance, and assuming the weight...

Continue Reading...

Talking Talks: How to make a dull topic interesting, with Christian Hunt

 

In this episode of Talking Talks I speak with Christian Hunt, founder of Human-Risk.

Christian specialises in applying behavioural science to ethics and compliance, topics that may seem dull but he manages to bring to life for his audience.

In our discussion we cover a range of things, like why some titles can be terrible, whether you should finish in Q&A, the difference between stage and virtual presentations and why Christian thinks PowerPoint "is the devil's work"!

View a sample of...

Continue Reading...

Talking Talks: How to talk about uncomfortable things, with Anne Miles

 

In this episode of Talking Talks I speak with Anne Miles.

Anne is the founder and Managing Director of Suits & Sneakers, a marketing and advertising talent network, and host of Suits & Sneakers TV.

Anne speaks regularly on removing unconscious bias from communications and workplaces and is an much-called upon expert in gender neutral communication. She is also one of the most constructively provocative people I know.

A trigger warning. Anne is a survivor of family and domestic...

Continue Reading...

Forget the sh*t sandwich. How to deliver bad news.

How should you deliver bad news?

There’s a lot of bad news being shared right now. In Australia we are experiencing various degrees of lockdown across the country, and our political leaders are grappling with how best to share bad news.

New South Wales, for example, started with a relatively light-touch approach that has become more stringent the longer lockdown has lasted.

In Victoria’s latest lockdown, conditions were restrictive from the get go.

While I won’t go into the...

Continue Reading...

Breaking bad habits

 

 

What kind of habits do people struggle most with, and what can we do?

In this article I’m going to share three types of habits, and the best strategies to use with each.

A few years ago I wrote a book called The How of Habits, and since then I’ve provided a free “habits inventory” tool on my website that people can fill out to self-assess areas they’d like to improve.

I get the de-identified, aggregate data that indicates what people would most like to get...

Continue Reading...

Why a smaller ask can be easier refuse

Richard Branson was sharing a story about introducing TV screens to the back of airplane seats.

He went to his board and the banks but couldn’t get the $10 million loan he needed to retrofit his Virgin Atlantic planes.

So instead he called Boeing and asked “if I buy 15 new planes, could you include seat back video screens?”

“Of course!”, came Boeing’s reply.

Branson’s point was he couldn’t get a loan for $10 million, but he could for $2 billion....

Continue Reading...
Close

50% Complete

Two Step

Register your interest and Bri will let you know as soon as the course is available