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Who needs speed dating when you can practice speed declining? Last week, I facilitated a workshop in Nashville for legal professionals on how to speak with authority in meetings and conversations, including how to clearly and convincingly say "no" to requests. To get more comfortable with declining, we prepared a response to a recent or expected request and said it aloud five times in a "speed speaking" format. During each rehearsal, speakers focused on improving one of the five elements of #executivepresence. By the end, everyone felt, looked, and sounded more confident! Now, they have the tools to replicate their success for future speaking roles. Spoken with Authority #leadershipcommunication #presentationskills

😇😇😇 In my mailbox : "Thank you for hosting the ‘Present With Impact’ Workshop on the 29th of February. Please find hereafter a summary of the feedback we received: Rate of the workshop: 8.80 Positive things about the workshop: - Informal atmosphere, interactive, hands-on tips and tricks. - The presentation exercise. - Examples, help with a real presentation. - Lot of space to participate, good structure of the day. - Small groups, great communication, positive energy, motivating critics. Improvements/recommendations: - Bigger meeting room, earlier breaks. Once again, we would like to thank you for the workshop. It was a great success!" So happy with this feedback from a very communicative audience from a high level international law firm 🎖 . However, I think I should start wearing a watch again 😉. #publicspeaking #presentationcoach #sprekenmetimpact

😇😇😇 In my mailbox : "Thank you for hosting the ‘Present With Impact’ Workshop on the 29th of February. Please find hereafter a summary of the feedback we received: Rate of the workshop: 8.80 Positive things about the workshop: - Informal atmosphere, interactive, hands-on tips and tricks. - The presentation exercise. - Examples, help with a real presentation. - Lot of space to participate, good structure of the day. - Small groups, great communication, positive energy, motivating critics. Improvements/recommendations: - Bigger meeting room, earlier breaks. Once again, we would like to thank you for the workshop. It was a great success!" So happy with this feedback from a very communicative audience from a high level international law firm 🎖 . However, I think I should start wearing a watch again 😉. #publicspeaking #presentationcoach #sprekenmetimpact

How can lawyers who speak at industry conferences keep the attention of their varied audiences? It's a tough gig because lawyers speak about complex topics - often to tough audiences. Hands down - one of the hardest audiences for lawyers to engage is at industry conferences. Why so tough? • It's a mix of business people, technologists, CEOs, scientists, sales people and more    • Lawyers sometimes miss WHO is actually in the audience... so they speak to them as though they were all lawyers After training hundreds of lawyers to speak at industry conferences, here's my best advice: 𝟭- 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 - 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲 • Describe a likely scenario of how the issue arises in every day language. • This buys goodwill. They decide to listen - because they see it is relevant to them 𝟮- 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲 - 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗻𝗲 • Focus on the business aspects. They probably aren't interested in legal issues. 𝟯- 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 - 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 + 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 • Articulate the likely impact of the issue on them by telling a story. • Include a number or other measure of the possible breadth of impact or cost. What challenges have you seen for lawyers speaking at industry conferences? How did you solve them? --------- I'm Marsha Redmon. I've been teaching public speaking workshops to lawyers who want to raise their profiles for 25 years. Does your law firm need to schedule a Thought Leadership Speaking skills workshop to kickstart business development this year? DM me to discuss how we could customize a workshop for your specific needs.

Pitch Perfect, Part 4 If you are doing a pitch presentation ... Spend a little bit of time giving background on your company but don’t go overboard. If you are at a pitch presentation, they already know about your company; they don’t care where you went to school, what awards you won, etc. and that stuff should be in your firm bio if it's important. If you focus too much on your ratings or awards, the message it sends is that you are insecure, not that you are good. You may care a lot about your company’s history or culture but the person making a decision probably doesn’t care unless it is really, really relevant and even then, keep it short.  Do, however, highlight your relationships with any external decision makers that will impact the success of the project. For example, for law firms, prior cases before a judge deciding a case, knowledge of government regulators where regulatory issues are important, experience with opposing counsel, etc. For other pitch ideas, review my prior posts and stay tuned for more. #businessdevelopment #professionaldevelopment #marketing #lawfirms

There has been much written about Paula Vennells since her three days in the witness box at the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry. If you watch it, it's 21 minutes of your life that you'll never get back, but for those of you who really want to understand what makes Vennells tick, her 2017 TedTalk at Bedford School is highly illuminating. In essence, Vennells' thesis is that as a business leader one needs to 'rethink the norm'. This apparently means 'being curious'; 'keep asking questions'; and 'caring about people'. This is complete and absolute rubbish isn't it given her own track record? And it's advice which she singularly failed to follow both when it came to investigating the Horizon bugs, and looking after her own #subpostmaster colleagues. Possibly the most staggering fact is that the TedTalk was given in 2017, some two years after her now notorious appearance before the Parliamentary Select Committee in 2015 where she stated, referring to the compensation scheme that had been set up: 'we set it up to find out what people are concerned about' and 'we are rigorous about every single case'. On any objective analysis, those are just bare-faced lies aren't they? An email in 2013 written by Vennells actually said: 'the hope of mediation was to avoid or minimise compensation'. And thereby lies the rub. She says one thing at the Inquiry, zealously following the script of her #solicitors and #prconsultants, but contemporaneous evidence gives a very different picture. On which subject, it's worth a look at what was for me the most compelling moment of the day from Friday's proceedings. She was asked by Tim Moloney KC what she felt about an email that she had written on 17th December 2014 after an item on the BBC's One Show about the #postofficescandal in which she had stated 'Hype and human interest'.....I was more bored than outraged' 'the MP quoted - who? - was full of bluster and inaccurate' and best of all 'Jo Hamilton lacked passion and admitted false accounting'. After the standard apology, the KC asked her not what she thought today but what she thought on the day after she had sent the email. Vennells simply had no reply. I also wanted to share my impressions having been at the Inquiry last Friday in person. It was a powerful and moving experience to be there and despite everything they have been through and their shameful treatment - not just by Vennells - the fortitude and resilience of #subpostmasters should be a lesson and example to us all. For the most part, it seems not even to be so much about the money: what they want more than anything else is for justice to be done and for those immensely powerful people who crushed and destroyed them to be properly held to account David Phillips Nick Gould Garry Honey Natasha Bondy Judith Raphaely Shahnaz Alim Brian Rogers FCMI Warren Simmons Henry Bonsu Dr. Jason Price Paul Gilbert Nick Wallis Richard Moorhead Nicola Ibison Christina Smith Jay Sahota 🌶🪄💰🕰Antony Perlmutter

It turns out that the optional lectures actually have the highest attendance 🤪 Yesterday marked the biggest event of Aula Polska (#191 #mergersandacquisitions), with 600 tickets sold. From #legalrisks to the intricacies of #negotiations, the discussions were a goldmine of knowledge. What makes some deals fall apart at the last minute? How do you safeguard against miscommunication and ambiguity? These fireside chats provided a rare opportunity to explore the nitty-gritty details of #transactions, the dynamics of deal-making, and the strategic thinking that’s necessary for success in the modern #business world. Sometimes, stepping outside the traditional format opens up space for deeper conversations and fresh perspectives.

Good read about mastering the art of direct but kind feedback for effective communication.

"With 4 decades of teaching, research, business consulting and public speaking experience, Roger distilled important marketing and business concepts and theories into their essence, and explained everything in an easy-to-understand, informal, yet informative style. Also provided so many excellent examples to support the theory." Saving America-->https://buff.ly/3EoLMTv

What do you do when you don't know the answer? 🤔 🫤 The ever insightful Sterling Miller shares the 10 things that in-house counsel need to know when faced with a question they cannot answer. Here's a quick summary: 1. It happens to everyone: Not knowing an answer is common and acceptable. 2. Two scenarios: Different approaches for questions received via communication tools or in meetings. 3. Be prepared: Anticipate potential questions and prepare accordingly. 4. Don’t multitask: Stay focused during meetings to avoid being caught off-guard. 5. Make sure you understand the question: Ask for clarification if needed. 6. Don’t bluff: Admit when you don’t know and commit to finding the answer. 7. Find the answer quickly: Use reliable sources to research the answer promptly. 8. Stay in your lane: Only provide insights on topics within your expertise. 9. Follow-up as promised: Ensure you deliver the answer you committed to finding. 10. How do you get better?: Use each “I don’t know” moment as a learning opportunity. Read the full article here 👉 https://loom.ly/NNtvLfo