Why acronyms are effective communication worst enemy

Over the past few years, I became increasingly annoyed over the use of acronyms in my organisation. I am far from the only person out there which hates acronyms, and Elon Musk’s 2010 email regarding acronyms in SpaceX resonates very strongly with me. “Excessive use of made-up acronyms is a significant impediment to communication and … Read more

Speaking and leadership mastery begins with the basics

A couple of months ago I decided to start a new daily habit of spending at least one hour upskilling myself. Given my interest in strategy and data analysis, I decided to become an Excel superuser. Currently, I would classify myself as an advanced Excel user, with my biggest accomplishment so far being building data … Read more

What constitutes good feedback and why it matters

Less than a year after starting my journey as a speaker, I was offered the chance to become a “mystery speaker” in a Toastmasters club. As it would be my sixth Toastmasters speech, and the one which would enable me to enter the international speech competition. I said yes to this opportunity, thinking that I … Read more

Want to do hybrid meetings? Think carefully!

Over the last few weeks, I have heard from many people and quarters – “the future of Toastmasters is hybrid” or “the post-pandemic new normal will be one of hybrid meetings and events.” Yet just like the assertion that the future of public speaking is online. I believe that the actual mechanics of and what … Read more

Follow this method to prepare a speech quickly

You’ve perhaps been asked to “say a few words” and deliver a short speech at very short notice, and with only a limited amount of time to prepare. This will be especially the case if you are in a position of responsibility or a leadership position. In my leadership journey, this happened so many times … Read more

Why the future of public speaking isn’t online

It feels strange to realise that it will soon be one year since we moved online because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our post-pandemic world will be far more attuned to the idea of working remotely and attending remote meetings with team members, friends and colleagues from all over the world. Meanwhile, new services make it … Read more

The challenges of speaking online

One year ago, I would have never imagined that nearly all of my speaking would move online to the virtual world. Yet, the pandemic changed the world beyond recognition and forced organisations worldwide to move their activities online or face extinction. By leading the transition from physical to online meetings in my own organisation. I … Read more

Speaking with Impact Webinar Tomorrow

I am delighted to be presenting a webinar for the Nuclear Institute tomorrow entitled ‘Speaking with Impact’. It is always a pleasure for me to do anything relating to the industry where I learnt a lot about leadership and made some cool memories like walking atop working Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactors. Here is why you should … Read more

Don’t let technology control you when you speak!

I’ve run a lot of workshops over the last few weeks. Typically, an email exchange takes place between myself and my host regarding the equipment I’ll need and whether I’ll be using slides or not. Most of the time I present, everything happens smoothly and I’m capable of handling any small glitches happening on the … Read more

Self-evaluation or why you should watch yourself speak!

I spent a couple of hours during the Christmas break to watch the recording of my recent speeches. It is an exercise that I had somewhat neglected in the past as I discovered that I hadn’t done a self-evaluation of many speeches, some even stretching back to 2018! It was time well spent and reminded … Read more