My Resolutions for 2011

So it’s a new year and as always I will be making some resolutions.

1. To at long last write my book about being the stadium announcer at West Ham. The club have given me permission and I’ve found a publisher.

2. To do more after dinner speaking outside of London.

3. To get friends to refer me more speaking gigs by offering them ten percent of my fee. I’ve done this a bit in the back end of 2010 and it’s proved very popular with friends, and more effective than using an agent or speakers bureau.

4. To learn Afrikaans.

5. To lose eleven pounds. I currently weigh 12 stone 11, so that is a neat number. I’m calling it ‘losing 11 in 2011’ and that is the slogan that would be on the bumper stickers, if I was making bumper stickers, which I’m not.

So just five this year, let’s hope they are achievable.
And now let’s have a look at my ten resolutions from this time last year and see how many of them came true.

TEN THINGS THAT I WOULD LIKE TO ACHIEVE IN 2010 BY JEREMY NICHOLAS

1. To appear as a guest host on BBC Television’s Have I Got News For You. (didn’t happen)

2. To speak at the National Speakers Association convention in the USA or the Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa. (it did happen, I went down a storm in Johannesburg, despite splitting my trousers onstage, maybe that’s why they liked it!)

3. To be appointed the main stadium announcer at the London 2012 Olympics. (I have applied and should find out soon if I’ve made it past the first stage)

4. To be a guest on Radio 5Live’s Fighting Talk programme. (hasn’t happened yet)

5. To review the newspapers on Sky News. (ditto)

6. To do some kind of journalism- written, TV or radio at the football World Cup in South Africa in June and July.

cape-town (we went to SA the month before the World Cup, and I spoke at PSASA, but there was no work at the tournament)

7. To present a show on a UK radio station as a fill-in host. (I had an offer from a local radio station, but the fee was a bit too low for me)

8. To produce and present my own podcast on media skills and humorous stories from around the world. (that’s still in the pipeline)

9. To set up my own mastermind group for professional speakers in the London area. (I am now in a brilliant mastermind group with six other pro speakers- Ayd Instone, John Hotowka, Geoff Ramm, Andy Lopata, Richard McCann and Rod Sloane. It’s not exactly in the London area as three of the group are based in the north, but it’s a cracking group)

10. To write my second book- Talking Toolbox- full of great tools to help get your message across. (I’ve put that on a back burner to concentrate on my West Ham book)

11. To become a fellow of the Professional Speakers Association. – hang on I thought there was meant to be ten ambitions? (I decided I couldn’t see the benefit in being a fellow, so I’m staying as a humble member)

So not many of the eleven came off, but it’s always best to aim for the stars.

Happy New Year

Jem