Category Archives: Blog
How Do I Say “I Don’t Know” Without Losing Authority?
It’s a question I hear often — and it’s an important one. At a certain level in your career, there’s an unspoken pressure to have the answers. To be decisive. To project certainty. So what happens when you genuinely don’t know? The instinct is often to say it outright — or, at the other extreme,…
What It’s Like to Work With Me: A Communication Coaching Experience
When people come to me for communication or presentation coaching, they often arrive with a similar feeling: they know they have something valuable to say, but they’re not always sure how to say it in a way that feels natural, confident, and fully them. Our work together focuses on developing that sense of clarity, confidence and…
How to Deal With an Antagonistic Audience Member
We’ve all been there. You’re speaking, and you sense there’s someone in the room who is antagonistic to what you’re saying. You’ll be able to identify who they are because they’ll be looking down, they may look very serious—they will be feeling inside that they cannot look at you—almost because they’re sorry for you that…
Reading Your Audience: How Do You Know You’ve Got Them?
This is the first of two blog posts about how to read your audience. How do you know if you’ve really caught your audience’s attention? Usually, they subtly give you something back in return. They might give you very good eye contact or a smile of recognition and encouragement. One of my favourite signs is when an audience…
Last Minute Nerves: A Problem for High-Stakes Communication?
Before a high-stakes presentation, nerves are not the problem. Unmanaged nerves are. The adrenaline that pumps in the body when we feel a little nervous gives an energy that can sharpen our thinking, lift our presence, and bring urgency to our message—if we know how to work with it. The goal isn’t to eliminate nerves,…
Does your Voice Reflect your Leadership?
Your voice is one of the most powerful tools you have as a leader—yet it’s often the least developed. If you aren’t using your voice to its full potential, you may find:– you’re not heard clearly in meetings– your message lacks impact– you may receive feedback that your communication skills don’t match your ability and…
Interacting With Your Audience: The Power of the Pre-Speech Connection
Want to know the best way to engage with an audience as they’re coming in and when you’re about to start? Smile at your audience. Why would that help? Well, it helps to make people feel welcome. As they enter the room where you’re going to present, if you’re smiling, you are quietly welcoming people into your…
Dealing With Nerves: Reframing How We Think About Nerves
You’ve done all the preparation and you know you’re ready to give this presentation, but on the day – still, there’s something going on—perhaps in your stomach or maybe in your chest. You’ve addressed your breathing to get your heart rate under control, so now is the time to focus your mindset. Don’t give in…
Dealing with Nerves: Do You Hate Walking on Stage to Give a Presentation?
Do you hate walking on stage when you’ve got to perform or present? You’re not alone. I’ve got a tip which I hope will be helpful to you. Making an Entrance
Dealing With Nerves: Does Your Heart Race or Pound Before Giving a Presentation?
We’ve all been there: you’re about to stand up to present or perform, and suddenly, your heart is racing. When that surge of adrenaline hits, this specific breathing exercise really comes into its own. Here is a simple guide to regaining control of your breathing and heart rate within minutes. The foundation of this exercise is a…
Dealing With Nerves: How to Change Your Mindset
Your heart is pounding so strongly you can feel it in your throat. You’re hot all of a sudden, maybe nauseous, too. You worry about what the audience might think of you. What if you forget what you’re going to say? What if you trip as you walk in? Recognise any of this? If so,…
Dealing With Nerves: Do Presentation Nerves Hold You Back?
Welcome to a new series of posts about dealing with nerves when you have to speak in public. Fear of public speaking is something that affects so many people. I’ve had to deal with it myself throughout my life, and if I’m honest, it’s an ongoing process. It is a decision you have to make every single…
Executive Presence: Character
When we discuss executive presence, we often refer to character. But what do we mean by ‘character’? Simply put: are we true to our values? Are our actions aligned with those values? I believe this has interesting implications for how we present. For example, one of my core values is integrity; from integrity, stems openness….
The Power of Connection in Executive Prescence
How do we build genuine, effective connections with others? It starts by getting outside of our own heads. Too often, we’re preoccupied with what we’re going to say next, how we’re coming across, or whether we’re getting it right. Real connection, however, requires a shift in focus — from us to them. It asks us to become more aware…
Executive Presence: The Art of Composure
Composure is often mentioned as a characteristic of a successful leader. So what do we mean by composure? It is that calm assuredness that puts your team and your audience at ease in the knowledge that you know what you’re talking about. If we want to carry an air of composure with us when we’re…
Executive Presence: How Do You Speak with Confidence?
Confident delivery is a key part of executive presence. A few small adjustments will make a big difference. Before you start: Slightly slow down your normal delivery pace – how? Increase and slightly exaggerate your use of inflection and emphasis. These act like highlighters. They show your audience what to pay attention to. And when…
Executive Presence: How to Instill Confidence in an Audience
I wonder—have you ever been in an audience where you were so inspired by what was being said that it sparked a whole load of fresh ideas of your own? Ideas that took you off in a whole new direction? That kind of inspiration wouldn’t have happened if the speaker hadn’t delivered their message clearly….
What is Executive Presence — and Why Does it Matter?
If you’re interested in leadership development, you’ve probably been reading a lot about executive presence lately. But what do people really mean when they talk about executive presence? At its core, executive presence is about how we instil confidence and inspire those around us — whether that’s our senior leadership team, investors, or employees. It’s…
New Year, New You: Make Your Resolutions Work for You
How are you getting on with your New Year’s resolutions? Did you even make any? Without ever setting out to make New Year’s resolutions, I usually find myself reviewing my year somewhere around Christmas. These thoughts tend to mull during that in-between period between Christmas and New Year, and by the time January 1st arrives,…
In Praise of Gazing
My younger daughter loves to stare out of the window. She once said that she thinks, in a former life, she was a cat who spent its days on the windowsill, gazing at the trees. I know how she feels. Wherever I live, or go on holiday, I have to find a tree to stare…
How Can I Sound More Compelling in Online Meetings?
Let’s be honest—when you’re working from home and sitting through your fourth (or eighth) Zoom call of the day, it’s hard to keep your energy up. But if you’re about to speak in a meeting, sounding compelling can make a huge difference in how you’re heard and how your message lands. Here are a few…
How Can I Develop My Confidence in Public Speaking?
Ever feel like you’re confident in your work but somehow lose that spark when you have to speak in public about it? You’re not alone — and it’s one of the things I help people with most. Many of my clients are highly skilled and self-assured in their day-to-day roles, yet something shifts when they…
What Are Your Feet Saying? Top Tips for Presenters
You’ve prepared and rehearsed your presentation, you’ve thought about how to make your audience feel welcome and keep them engaged – you’ve done all the hard work. But does your body language undermine you when you get on stage? In today’s blog, we consider what our hips, legs and feet may be saying about us….
Small First Steps: Talking to Strangers
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how we connect with others, and build community in this our modern, detached, self-contained world… One of the disadvantages of us all working more from home is that we don’t get to meet so many people, or have the opportunity to make friends at work. There’s no conversation…
As the Year Turns… What Shape is Yours?
Do you think in academic years? I realised recently that I do, even though I don’t work in academia. When September comes it’s always a new beginning and a chance to do things differently and better. This sense of the year turning has made me reflect on how I imagine the year. And here’s what…
Julia’s Top Tips for Taming Nerves in Front of an Audience
You’ve done your research, you’ve prepared well, you’ve rehearsed thoroughly. Then you stand up to deliver your presentation, and your nerves get in the way – your heart is palpitating, your voice feels out of control, and you can’t breathe properly. We all feel a little nervous before we give a presentation, even if it’s…
Dealing With the Voice That says: “Who Do You Think You Are?!”
It’s natural to question ourselves from time to time, and it helps us grow. It’s what makes us realise we may need further training in a particular area, thus enabling us to become better practitioners of our art. But if our self-questioning turns to attacking self-doubt, it becomes a problem. Today we deal with a…
Dealing with the fear: “What if I can’t ?!”
It’s natural to question ourselves from time to time, and it helps us grow. It’s what makes us realise we may need further training in a particular area, thus enabling us to become better practitioners of our art. But if our self-questioning turns to attacking self-doubt, it becomes a problem. Have you ever experienced the…
“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” – Dealing with Imposter Syndrome
It’s natural to question ourselves from time to time, and it helps us grow. It’s what makes us realise we may need further training in a particular area, enabling us to become better practitioners of our art. But if our self-questioning turns to attacking self-doubt, it becomes a problem. In this blog, we’re going to…
Dealing With Nerves & Imposter Syndrome – Introduction
You’ve done your research, you’ve prepared well, and you’ve rehearsed thoroughly. Then the moment arrives to deliver that all important presentation and your nerves kick in. Your heart is palpitating, your voice feels out of control, you’re light headed and you can’t breathe properly. What should you do? We all feel a little nervous before…
The Power of Affirmative Leadership
I was fascinated to read a post on LinkedIn recently entitled “The future of leadership is kindness” *. It made me reflect on my own business practice and whether kindness is at play in it. And my thoughts turned to the role of affirmation in our working lives. Affirmation of the good work or practice of others is fundamental…