5-Star Social Proof with Chris Odell
An audience with Chris Odell from Schtore and Zon Coupons who discusses what he does to build trust in his online business models with star ratings and reviews to encourage […]
How to be Heard
Introduction “Here at Toastmasters, we live and die by our presentation successes and failures. The intros can have a massive impact how the audience reacts to the speech. I’m so […]
The Five Es – High Performance Leadership part II
Laura is close to the end of her journey towards Distinguished Toastmaster. This is the penultimate project towards Advanced Leadership Silver. In this speech Laura takes a long hard look […]
10 out of 10! Andrew – Special Occasion Speeches #4
Sausages, Sparkers and Fireworks! With this speech entitled The Secrets of the Seaside Andrew Knowles has completed the competent communicators manual. That’s ten out of ten! Lady President, Mr Toastmaster, […]
Ah Yes! It is Christmas … Storytelling #4
Introduction – Laura McHarrie stumbled upon the subject of this her fourth project from the Story Telling Manual having talked about a Christmas Tradition in a table topic last December. […]
Hitting the Target
How do you get your message across when you are in a client meeting? Do you use PowerPoint? Explain a brochure? Deliver a pre prepared speech? This post is about […]
Beat The Clock – A Toastmaster’s Area Director’s Diary
As we draw to the close of the Toastmaster year, nothing stops! The clock keeps ticking! With two months to go we still have a lot to play for; not […]
A Marxism …
“Surround yourself with people who make you happy. People who make you laugh, who help you when you’re in need. People who genuinely care. They are the ones worth keeping […]
A Letter from George – Storytelling #5
Betsy Loveless was beating the back out of a piece of meat with a weighty rolling pin. The occasional trapped rabbit with wild vegetables regularly put food on the family […]
Robert’s Rules of Order
In the last 9 months I have been involved in a number of political (small p) meetings where Robert’s Rules of Order have been applied. Whilst I have been to […]
Getting Past the Gatekeepers
Roughly only 20% of B2B telephone cold calls reach the decision makers on the first call. You need to recognise that persistence is important if you are going get through the […]
Passing the Baton – A Toastmaster Area Director’s Diary
What are you doing to ensure the ongoing success of your club? Planning an effective succession strategy for your club’s committee is not easy. We are all busy people, but […]
Variations on the Death of Trotsky – Interpretive Reading #4
Laura McHarrie has chosen and for the purpose of timing edited, a short one-act comedy-drama written by David Ives. The play fictionalises the death of Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky through a […]
The Flip Side of Passion
Can you remember having to do your job with one hand tied behind your back? I bet it was one of the reasons you chose to ‘go it alone’? Run […]
It’s All About the Numbers – a Toastmasters Successful Club Speech
How to be a distinguished club Take your felt tip pen and change the Goals Met in the top right hand corner from four to five! As of 6 pm […]
Entelechies! A Toastmaster’s Area Director’s Diary
Interesting how the half way point creeps up whilst you were snoozing over Christmas and slap bam wallop two clubs in the area have achieved Distinguished Club Status with a […]
Satisfaction Guaranteed?
A ‘just’ satisfied customer isn’t really good enough, only delighted ones will spread the words that encourage others to have the same experience. So how do you know what your […]
Three Commercial Love Stories
Advertisers know the phenomenal power behind telling a story. Indeed the reason we call Coronation Street and East Enders ‘soap operas’ is because washing soap advertisers used to sponsor TV […]
The Flood – Interpretive Reading #3
Laura McHarrie has chosen The Flood, one of The Vagina Monologues, a compilation of plays written and performed originally by Eve Ensler in 1996. This is one that Laura thinks […]
Step Out Tuesday – An Area Directors Toastmasters Diary
I mentioned Blue Monday in a blog post yesterday, it affects many of us in business when all the good intentions of our new year resolutions have dissolved. My antidote […]
Smile; It’s Blue Monday
Are you feeling a little overwhelmed with your stay of execution of this year’s resolutions? If, like me, you are experiencing a step back every time you take two forward; […]
Pah to the Pancreas – Storytelling #3
In 1980, (I know some you weren’t born then); Laura McHarrie was diagnosed with diabetes. She had just turned 18. Had she been born 100 years earlier she would have been […]
The Attention Economy by Devonport & Beck
The problem of information overload has a serious impact on economics. In their book, The Attention Economy, Davenport & Beck speculate that attention will replace finance as the focus of […]
The Priority Matrix
A useful method of planning your use of time is with a Priority Matrix. This depends on two criteria: Urgency; a job with a fixed deadline. The close the deadline the more urgent the task Importance; something that has a major impact on your job or which you put a high value on.
Going Public in Dorset – High Performance Leadership part I
Laura McHarrie has chosen this Contest to deliver the first of two speeches in relation to her High Performance Leadership Project. As its name suggests, the aim is for the […]
The Perfect Storm – Storytelling #2
Christmas 1997, I helicoptered into the best year of Excel Clothing’s 10 year history. Full of excitement at taking on my new role as Managing Director of this successful ladies […]
Create Your Business Vision
The vision statement defines the longer term aspirations for your business. The aspirations should inspire the people you work with, whether that is staff or supplier or investors. It is […]
Empowering your staff with business intelligence
Free Training Needs Analysis! In a recent review 43% of people who leave their jobs cite their ineffective manager as the reason. That’s huge! Since the value of most businesses […]
Why Non-Executive Directors? – Laura McHarrie, The Hidden Edge Ltd
A non-executive director is one appointed to the board who is not affiliated with the company in any other capacity nor is s/he involved in the management of the company. […]
Is your Business Niche Enough?
The essence of attraction marketing is creating a niche with your ideal client in mind. This ‘customer driven’ sales strategy means you must have a good idea of your ideal […]
Appraising your business strengths and weaknesses
Free Business Appraisal There are seven key elements to business growth that you need to get right for your business. No two businesses are alike so there are many answers […]
