If you spend every bus, tube, tram or train journey with your head in your phone, you’re throwing away one of the best opportunities you have to improve your creative skills. Ironically, many of you reading this post will be reading it on your phone. Hopefully, you’ll look up and around you when you finish.
Communication skills
Get your head out of your phone and be a more creative person
28 May / by: Lorraine Forrest-Turner / 0 comments /
Presentations: why we need to feel the fear and do it anyway
22 Apr / by: Lorraine Forrest-Turner / 0 comments /Racing heart. Dry mouth. Sweaty palms. Wobbly voice. Red face. Foggy brain. And a general inability to breathe properly. Few of us haven’t felt at least one of these when we’ve stood (or sat) up to speak in an important meeting. While I can’t claim to stop you from ever experiencing any of these side
Why your website isn’t generating the leads you’d expected
22 Apr / by: Lorraine Forrest-Turner / 0 comments /You’ve laboured long and hard on writing the content. You’ve sought out the best designer and developer. And you love how your new site looks. But, while all your friends and family tell you how great it is, you haven’t had a single lead. What have you done wrong? The simple answer is ‘probably nothing’.
Woke: why communicators need to be especially mindful
03 Nov / by: Lorraine Forrest-Turner / 0 comments /If you think ‘woke’ is a buzzword reserved for Gen Z liberals, think again. While some accuse “politically correct snowflakes” of being “over-sensitive”, those of us who work with words need to be especially mindful of our language. Let me start by saying that I’m a white, straight, 64-year-old female. I live in a lovely
It’s THE phrase of 2020. Usually said to someone talking on video with their mic switched off, ‘unmute yourself’ is actually excellent advice for anyone whose written or spoken words are going unheard. Words are wonderful things. But because our non-verbal communication (facial expressions, body language and voice) conveys such a huge part of the message in
With so many of us now spending a lot more time on the phone and/or in virtual meetings, it’s worth revisiting my earlier post on pitching by phone. It’s not easy being engaging on the phone. Listeners are easily distracted, confused or bored so your words and voice have to work extra hard. Here are ten
Stay alert/aware/ready/ prepared/mindful/etc: the dangers of slogans
12 May / by: Lorraine Forrest-Turner / 0 comments /When we’re in the communications business, in principle isn’t good enough. Leaving our words open to interpretation is the proverbial recipe for disaster.
The good, the bad and the smugly: how to communicate well during the Covid-19 lockdown
21 Apr / by: Lorraine Forrest-Turner / 8 comments /They’re all at it. Banks, doctors’ surgeries, supermarkets, travel agents, courier companies we used just once four years ago – they’re all emailing us. Some are checking how we are. Some are letting us know how they are. And many are just trying to make an honest buck. But while some, like Sainsburys, have nailed
How to stop people interrupting you when you speak
22 May / by: Lorraine Forrest-Turner / 2 comments /Do people talk over you in meetings? Are you interrupted when you speak? Did you ever consider that the fault might be yours? It’s frustrating, isn’t it? You have an important point to make but can never get a word in edgeways. Or, when you finally get a chance to speak, you’ve barely said two
Now we’re talking – the power of the human voice
29 Mar / by: Lorraine Forrest-Turner / 0 comments /It’s not so long ago that the idea of a ‘virtual assistant’ organising our lives was the stuff of science fiction. Now, every major tech company offers one. So what effect will voice activation software have on the way we communicate in the future? If ‘the young’ are anything to go by, the phone call
