How to make the move into After Dinner Speaking
The formation of PADS – PSA After Dinner Speakers I’ve formed a Professional Expert Group (PEG) for After Dinner Speakers who belong to the Professional Speaking Association. This weekend, at the Hilton Hotel, Coventry I spoke at the PSA annual convention, giving a session on how to make the move into after dinner speaking and […]
Victory eclipsed by Mr Moon
I’m never one to moan about a fellow West Ham fan, but there’s one chap who is getting on my nerves. This Mr Moon fellow has been arriving and leaving the stadium during games for as long as I can remember. There’s nothing more annoying than people arriving midway through games is there? You’re in […]
The pub full of Rooneys
All this week I’m putting a different favourite TV report on my site each day. It’s a sort of advent calendar without the chocolate. This year, being a World Cup year, I did a lot of quirky football reports for the BBC. I had a drink in a pub where all the bar staff were […]
Badges, badges, badges
Frank Setchfield from Loughborough has over 150 thousand badges. He collects all types except military and he specialises in button badges. He has sporty badges, funny badges, ones with saucy slogans and political badges that have changed the world. I interviewed him for my BBC series on Collectors. Here’s the report.
Edinburgh Talk
I’m off to Edinburgh next week for the festival. On Wednesday night I’ll be giving a talk on how to keep an audience’s attention using comedy. Forget jokes, I’m a big believer in telling true stories that have happened to you. It’s called ‘Putting the U in Humour’ . It’s a talk I’ve done many […]
Putting the ‘U’ in Humour
One of my most popular talks is on how to use humour effectively when you are speaking in public. As a professional speaker I use humour a lot. It helps keep the audience engaged. If they are being entertained, they are less likely to switch off and stop listening. It’s so much easier to put […]
Write your own introduction
As well as speaking for a living, I often act as the MC or compere at an event. It’s not rocket science. I tell people where the fire exits and toilets are located and glare at them until they switch their mobile phones to silent. Then I pop up in between speakers, make a few […]
The face of Elvis on a piece of Stilton cheese
When the face of Elvis was discovered on a piece of Stilton cheese nearly 30 years to the day after his death, the BBC knew they had to send their top reporter to cover the story. Sadly when I arrived, the cheese had already been cut up, because it was worth £70! I’m sure that […]
Too mean to pay to hear me talk? Here’s some free speech.
One of my most popular talks is ‘Putting the U in Humour’. It’s aimed at business people who want to get their message across more effectively by keeping their audience entertained. Its a 30 minute keynote or a 60 minute interactive workshop. The main message is to forget telling old jokes and concentrate on using […]
Tim Gard with me
[ti_audio media=”428″ autoplay=”1″] Picture courtesy of www.timgard.com Here’s my interview with Tim Gard, the brilliant American speaker. He’d just come off stage at the PSA 2009 convention in Marlow. His after dinner set was hilarious. For me it was extra special because it was my birthday, and Tim invited eight fellow speakers onto the stage […]
