Hatch 22

20/04/2021

Getting more popular in Australia these days!

Speeches and Presentations should be performed, not delivered! I chat with the sensational Donal O’Neill - keynote speech and presentation coach - about what...

04/03/2021

Donal ended up on an Australian pod cast recently. Tnanks to Peter Crewe-Brown.

Episode 5 - Let Others Deliver, You Should PerformDoctors perform an examination. Soldiers perform their duties. Professional truckers perform a U-turn. ...

24/02/2021

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, some people with very committed views ended up in the River Lagan, in Belfast!

They felt so strongly about their beliefs that they would postulate them from the steps of the Customs House.

They always drew a crowd.

Sometimes the crowd disagreed with the speaker’s words and grabbed him, covering the thirty or so yards to the river’s edge before unceremoniously dumping him in the water.

It took guts to speak on the Customs House steps.

Today, people just post on Social Media. The algorithms employed by the companies eventually lead to a situation where only supporters get to see the postings.

And then there is the other situation in some of our universities, where certain speakers are banned because they have controversial views and might “offend” the delicate personalities of audience members.

No chance of being challenged and metaphorically “thrown in the river” there then.

Which of these would you agree with most?

(a) We are in danger of stifling freethinking.

(B) We are loosing the ability to listen, analyse and coherently challenge.

(C) The ability to persuasively influence people, face to face, is a disappearing skill.

(D) It is all fine and I am over reacting.

We would be interested in your views.

30/01/2021

Dream, goal, ambition. Call it what you like. That's where we want to be!

27/01/2021

Sadly, I have too often witnessed experts totally losing an audience, when asked to speak about their subjects.

I am in awe of the calibre of brain that can produce valuable results in the arenas of I.T. and Statistics.

However, brilliant as these people can be, they often struggle when they try to explain their work.

This can be for various reasons.

I.T. experts tend to talk in what is almost a foreign language, often infected with a rash of initialisms and acronyms.

Basic statistics seem logical to some of us but when they become more advanced and terms like “Standard deviation”, “Regression Analysis” and “Regression to the mean” get bandied around, eyes can glass over.

Sadly, I have too often witnessed experts totally losing an audience, when asked to speak about their work.

It is not always because they cannot explain complex things in simple terms.

Sometimes, these people, who spend 90% of their day looking at the small area of their computer screens, just cannot project outwards to an assembly.

Their body language is awkward and quickly communicates that they don’t want to be there.

Do you agree that I.T. experts and Statisticians suffer most in these cases?

Are there other professions with the same issues?

10/12/2020

Cognitive Dissonance occurs when a person holds two or more contradictory beliefs, values or ideas.

For example, if you are male and your best friend choses you to be his Best Man at his wedding.

You are flattered and proud that, out of all of his friends, you are the one entrusted for this task.

However, you are worried sick that you have to give an entertaining speech to his relatives, friends and new relations.

You are not a comedian or a natural public speaker.

Are you going to freeze, mumble or, worse still, say something inappropriate? We have all heard cringe worthy Best Man speeches.

Do you know how to sort through the wonderful memories of your joint exploits, to get stories to tell in your speech?

Do you know how to tweak them just enough to make them hilarious but not totally unbelievable?

I once told a long story about my best friend. It was based on a simple, short incident that really didn’t merit retelling.

By the time I had finished, he was a humorous hero and I was a very relieved speaker.

If you need tips on preparing a speech or if you would like us to work with you on a speech, please get in touch by emailing [email protected].

Incidentally, do you think being asked to be Best Man is a poison chalice?

08/12/2020

We are often repulsed more by the danger of an activity than attracted by its excitement.

We are more repelled by the risk of failure than attracted by the chance of success.

Our ancestors who were cautious when hunting and gathering are the ones who survived, passing their genes along.

Today, we don’t have to watch constantly over our shoulders for predators and be ready to fight or run.

But we still have fears.

Very often those fears are unfounded.

Many people are extremely fearful of having to speak in public.

They don’t look at it logically.

Even if they froze on the stage and didn’t say a word or spoke incoherently, they would not die or be seriously injured.

Their reputation as a speaker might be injured but that is all.

But, just like the hunter who went out prepared, alert and with a team of companions to help keep watch, you can step on stage, well prepared and with an armoury of techniques to help you give a rock solid performance.

The fear is still there but it is reduced to such a level that the attraction of the excitement is much stronger.

The first step is knowing what you are going to say and not just winging it.

Can you relate to those public speaking fears?

Have you gulped and done it anyway?

25/11/2020

I had just finished giving the safety briefing at Kirkistown Circuit.

A new instructor, Nigel, came over to me and said, “I could never do that.”

“Do what?” I asked.

“Speak to that group of people they way you did. I have no problem singing in front of an audience but I couldn’t put a briefing across like that.”

I thought back to a time, years earlier, when I wouldn’t have had the guts to speak to an audience. I would have been scared of making a total fool of myself.

But the first time I steeled myself and gathered my nerves to speak on stage, I was made look foolish.

The audience, all two hundred of my peers, laughed at me.

Not with me. At me.

I look back on that time with fondness, both for the event and for the man who caused my distress, the late, wonderful, Eric Delaney.

With the perfect timing that all great drummers have, he hit the snare drum, just as I was about to speak. I jumped a foot in the air and everyone laughed at me.

I thought, “It can never get any worse than this.”

But I hadn’t died. My world didn’t end. They didn’t boo me off stage.

I, too, laughed at the situation and that was it – my fear of public speaking was gone!

How do you feel about speaking in public?