WINTER SPECIAL OFFER!

COMMUNICATION SKILLS AND VOICE  COACHING SPECIAL OFFER

Once again I'm offering my fantastic WINTER SPECIAL! 

During June, July and August 2012 you get this amazing deal: for every two private lessons you pay for, you get a third lesson free. YES, FREE!

What does this mean? It means that you could benefit from three sessions for the price of two or six for the price of four and so on. It means that the expert coaching you thought would be way too expensive right now is actually affordable.

Of course, as I'm based in Cape Town you need to be here too.

Contact me here

Know your audience, their needs and expectations

The first of my Top Ten Public Speaking Basics

Helpful things you should know about your audience:

1. How many?
2. What are their positions or occupations?
3. What is their background?
4. What is their gender?
5. What is their age?

More things you should know about your audience:

• Are they experts in the subject?
• How much do you need to tell them in order to achieve your objective?
• What is their attitude to you and your subject?
• What is their previous experience of your topic and how might this influence their attitude?

You should establish:

Why your audience is there: voluntarily? no choice? they invited you?
What they are expecting: to be informed? to be entertained? Beware of assuming that your objective and the audience's expectations are the same. You should make your message relevant to them.
What they need: e.g. if their immediate need is to cut costs they'll have a hard time hearing a message about how increasing expenditure in the short term will eventually save money.

My favourite and most useful general workplace needs come from Cristina Stuart of Speakeasy Training.

For management:

• Saving money
• Increasing productivity
• Saving time
• Improving quality

For staff:

• Making more money
• Being recognised for what they do
• Job security
• Job satisfaction
• Career advancement

In a business context you'll find that if you can meet these needs it is easier to achieve the objective of your presentation. You'll probably be able to identify other needs for your particular audience.

I use aspects of NVC or Nonviolent Communication in my work. For this reason I ask speakers to think about how their speech or presentation contributes to fulfilling more universal human needs. For example, paying attention to the need for autonomy helps us to avoid sounding dictatorial or assuming that everyone's values are the same as ours. Our ability to empathise and listen helps us to align our objectives with those of the audience.

Some basic needs you can bear in mind:

• Autonomy
• Celebration
  
• Integrity
• Interdependence
• Physical nurturance
• Play
• Spiritual communion

1. Autonomy: choosing dreams, goals, values; choosing plans for fulfilling these
2. Celebration: celebrating life affirming events; celebrating losses of loved ones, dreams etc
3. Integrity: authenticity, creativity, meaning, self-worth
4. Interdependence: acceptance, appreciation, closeness, community, consideration, contribution to the enrichment of life, emotional safety, empathy, empowering honesty which enables us to learn, love, reassurance, respect, support, trust, understanding
   
5. Physical nurturance: air, food, water, movement, protection from life-threatening forms of life, rest, shelter, sexual expression, touch
6. Play: fun, laughter
7. Spiritual communion: beauty, harmony, inspiration, order, peace

Being mindful of both particular and general needs will undoubtedly help you deliver a presentation or speech that is relevant and meaningful to your audience.

Good luck!

Sagitta Communication & Life Skills: new rates

My basic rates as of September 2010:

One-on-one coaching

R180,00/hour or R650 for four sessions

One-on-one private learning programmes:

8 hours "Confident Public Speaking": R1200,00
8 hours "Confident Interpersonal Communication": R1200,00

Group learning

Start at R650,00 pp/pd for one-, two- or three-day programmes. Highly negotiable, e.g. recently held a communication skills workshop for the Women on Farms Project, venue supplied by them, for only R500,00 pp for two full days. Two-day entry level "Communication in Customer Service" workshops start at R650,00 pp for two full days.

One-day (10h00 - 17h30) Presentation Skills Workshops R450,00 pp

Next workshop will take take place in October or early November, date to be announced. Please contact me if you'd like to book a place.
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Spring is here in the Western Cape. I've been hard at work in the garden cleaning up after the winter, feeding, composting and mulching ready for the long hot windy summer. Rewarding work, good to get back in touch with my garden. Today there's a north-wester coming up as a cold front moves through. Hoping for some rain as it's been quite a dry winter. When the front has moved off later in the week will complete the last section feeding and mulching.

Last week lost two of my dear goldfish to a beautiful grey heron. If it's the same one, she fishes our pond about once a year, dignified and silent. I don't begrudge her the food, almost all wetlands around here are gone now. Sad though for my big Goldie who survived a previous attack only to have it happen again and this time not so lucky. Of course it happened on a beautiful morning when I decided to leave the net off so they could enjoy a spring frolic. They seem to go still when the pond is covered. Decided to leave net off until about 10h30, went to work in the front garden, came back to see heron with wet head sitting on roof of next-door house. Went cold. Rushed out, no sign of any of the four fish in the pond. Shimmering scales in the water like confetti. Then spotted two quivering wrecks hiding as best they could. Covered pond, thought, "Shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.". Apologised to fish now being reincarnated as heron.

Here comes the rain!