This afternoon I finished my first online course for the United Nations on the general theme of drafting talking-points and speechwriting. Running any course through successive webinars poses interesting new challenges. Above all, how to get the participants to do something useful between sessions and during the sessions. In this […]
So, in the past two weeks I have spent a week in chilly Kazakhstan (Astana) where the road-signs are rather difficult to fathom. Does this mean that public drinking while ten-pin bowling and carrying a primitive smartphone is banned? If it isn’t, it should be. In Astana I gave two […]
That row in Poland about my speechwriting support for former foreign Minister Radek Sikorski rumbles on inconclusively. See eg here (where they impertinently add a year to my age) and here. Excellent that Hungarians are following this saga with keen interest. And Czech that! Here are some extended thoughts from me about […]
Almost there with my ebook. Thanks for your patience. We recently noted two consecutive movie speeches offering very different techniques for engaging with an audience. Yes, I mean Black Dynamite! I have been pointed to this other superb pair of consecutive movie speeches, this time offering substantive policy and moral […]
Back from a lively session of specialist media training, featuring a no-holds-barred account of my own encounters with the media down the decades. Highlights included: my disastrous exchange with Peter Fabricius in South Africa on the day Mrs Thatcher resigned my first live broadcast on a global news network – […]
There I was, over in Geneva at a top international organisation watching officials there make short presentations to improve their public speaking skills. It was notable that some of them (not least those with a French accent) began in a deadening way by breaking down the question posed and defining […]
Greetings. Long time no blog. I have been racing around the planet and just don’t feel like opining from a weary hotel bedroom. My peregrinations have included the IAEA in Vienna to deliver with other colleagues a senior leadership course; Astana in Kazakhstan, for a speechwriting course for top Kazakh officials, […]
The Russian Embassy in London says on its website that it has written a letter of protest to the Daily Mirror: Mr. Lloyd Embley Editor «Daily Mirror» Dear Sir, The Embassy has noticed the article «Vladimir Putin’s daughter flees £2million Dutch penthouse flat as fury grows over jet tragedy» published […]
Long time no blog. Too much work that (unlike writing here) pays something, including mulling over my first book on the general theme of diplomatic speechwriting. Then there’s been the World Cup. I currently am busy preparing for several masterclasses in Poland later this month, on Diplomatic Drafting and (now) […]
Some of you may be wondering how to improve your written work. It’s either too long or too dense or not persuasive or just somehow too clunky and unengaging. Help is at hand. You can sign up with my new Guardian Masterclass for @guardianclasses: Professional Writing with Impact Course description […]
