Author - Sarah Denholm

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13Nov

3 Communication Lessons to Learn from Trump

At the risk of adding to the noise about Donald Trump's communication style, I think now is the perfect time for me to highlight three things I believe he did very well during rallies. Things we can all learn from. And while I’m not going to mention the politics to avoid distracting from my message, what I will say is this: Touting his anti-authoritarian, strong-man credentials was one key pillar to his success – and his communication style utterly sold it. What did he do so well?  Repetition of clear key themes. While often appearing distracted, Trump continued to return to emphasising his...

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30Oct

Confident Speaker? 2 Pitfalls that Disconnect Audiences

I ran a lunchtime session for the Law Institute of Victoria recently, and one of the topics mentioned was if you're a confident speaker, pitfalls that disconnect audiences. If this is you, you might recognise 1 of the 2 issues I mention specifically! There are 2 common issues I see time and time again. And when they're pointed out, it can lead to a practical conversation about framing their ideas or their energy differently. Transcript is below the video if you prefer to read. https://vimeo.com/1024568156?share=copy#t=0  

Video Transcript

I ran a session for the Law Institute of Victoria last week, and one of the topics we touched...

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16Oct

To Avoid a Bored Audience, a Science-backed Tip on Timing

Boredom is universal. So to avoid a bored audience, here's a science-backed tip on how to time some contrast. Even if you don’t believe in being bored (I count myself among those people), do you agree there are still moments when a situation is just…so…dull that it causes you to long for the exit? This is what’s called situational boredom, which happens when the environment or activity is uninteresting or lacks engagement, leaving us mentally stuck, despite having the capacity for interest.

If boredom is universal:

As a presenter or speaker, how often should we change up what we’re doing, to keep our audience...

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02Oct

“Your truth” or “Universal truth”?

Video link below. Last week, I watched a media interview outside a court in Hobart, where I heard this bald statement:

“The verdict demonstrates a simple truth. Women are better than men.”

The speaker was Kirsha Kaechele, the creator of the Ladies Lounge at MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) in Hobart. The issue at hand involved a challenge to the women-only policy of the lounge, which some had claimed was discriminatory for excluding men. However, the verdict overturned the challenge, allowing the lounge to continue as a women-only space — if you weren’t aware of the case What stood out to...

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18Sep

Communication that Sticks: Simple, Succinct, and Spacious Communication

Communication that Sticks with your Audience Simple, succinct and spacious communication - easy to remember, sometimes hard to do! I've been working in-house with a lot of organisations recently. And a topic that comes up over and over again is this: our ideas are only as good as our audience's ability to consume and digest them. Whether that audience is 1 or 10,000. Would you agree? People don't learn by listening, or watching. They learn by reflecting on, and processing in the moment, what they see and hear. No matter how great our content is - if we don't allow reflection and processing time, we will...

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04Sep

Consistency is the enemy of engagement

When we don't use enough variety as we speak, it's almost inevitable that people stop listening and tune out.

And consistency is the enemy of engagement! 'Sameness' will not get attention, and it won't keep attention. Let alone bring it back once it's been lost. And unless you're super-aware of your own speaking style, it's surprisingly easy to slip into sounding the same, most of the time. Particularly when you're: In a stream of consciousness flow. Pace is likely to remain constant - think of your voice on cruise control, and you probably won't be far off! Focused intently on the content. Whatever your...

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19Aug

Public Speaking Preparation: How’s your PEP?

With the main Olympics over (and Paralympians in action soon) - and whether you liked or watched the Games - you may know that competitors often have pre-event routines.

Some competitors paint their nails in specific ways.  Others knit, or listen to the same piece of music. This idea ties into work I may do with clients. I’ll often give them a PEP talk:

Personal Effectiveness Plan!

This plan is built from whatever makes them personally feel anchored, comforted or more certain in what they’re doing. Remembering that our brains love certainty. [See my post on this topic here.] It gives them stability, and a clear...

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30Jul

Don’t Forget to Breathe

I spent last week in SA running workshops for both Flinders University medical workforce and Limestone Coast Regional Development. My 3rd visit, and always so rewarding. And one of the topics that came up again - for many different reasons - breathing!  At the risk of banging on about this again - believe me, it bears repeating - we often don't realise what a big deal taking enough breath can be when we speak. There are so many benefits such as: - Being able to think more clearly. - Telegraphing control and authority. - Life-force and energy: demonstrating this is a known winner for audiences.  - Projecting...

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17Jul

Do you Shrink Wrap when you Speak?

Our mind and body follow each other when public speaking, and tightly controlling your body will mean that your mind also contracts. You want to move to be able to think!

Do you ever shrink-wrap yourself when you're speaking? Our mind follows our body and vice versa. And if you are nervous, or focused very hard on controlling your message...or indeed remembering your message, it's quite possible that you'll start to tighten. And if your body is tightening, your mind will also contract and you won't have that free flow of thinking that we need so strongly. It's therefore very important to think: "Okay. What do...

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02Jul

Screen Apnoea

Have you heard of screen apnea?

Also called email apnea, this is a very unhelpful state that can occur when we are on devices or looking at a desktop and focusing. We either hold our breath or enter very shallow breathing patterns. Of course, when this happens, we go into low-level fight-flight. Because the system is always activated (and I'm sure you can join the dots on why I'm talking about this in terms of speaking, presenting, or difficult situations) if you're already in that state at work without even necessarily being aware of it, how much easier is it to escalate to...

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