Jenny Rogers stumbled into it, years ago. She didn't even know it had a name - not till she found a handful of others were doing it too. It's not therapy. It's not being a priest. But it's got something in common with them both. It's coaching. I discovered coaching after many years as a journalist, and saw many similarities. I found it helpful myself to have a coach, and I trained to coach others. But when I hit a bad time, the coaching became too much, and I gave it up. Jenny is one of the grea...
Apr 06, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 24
I met some journalists who fled their homeland, and it got me thinking.
Apr 01, 2021•12 min•Season 1Ep. 23
In one hand you have content, and in the other hand you have formats. Mix them up!
Mar 19, 2021•6 min•Season 1Ep. 22
This episode covers so much, in one interview. Dr Nic Hooper talks to me about what it's like to prepare to publish his first book; about mental health (good and bad, his own, mine, other people's); about how illustrations can complement words, without being cheap; about the physiological effect of watching Tom Cruise hanging off a skyscraper with one glove; what Nic will remember when he's dying; whether to keep video recordings to put on a website he doesn't even have (yet), and why I needed t...
Mar 12, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Every great writer learns by copying the great writers of the past. For centuries, this involved collecting verbal wonders in a “commonplace book“. In this episode I share something I’ve written for The Idler about my own commonplace book.
Mar 10, 2021•10 min•Season 1Ep. 20
In which we hear again from Joel Levack, who featured in episode 11.
Mar 08, 2021•7 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Rebecca Twomey is good with words. As a journalist, she knows a lot about dating, having written about it for several years. As an interviewer, she’s used to being recorded. But until recently she had never given a wedding speech – and felt all the pressure that comes with it. In this interview, recorded as research when I was writing A Modest Book About How To Make An Adequate Speech, Rebecca remembers in detail how she approached it, what worked (and what didn’t), and explains how she came to ...
Mar 03, 2021•28 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Steve Chapman was working with somebody a bit wooden, who wanted to be more natural. But how? You can't just say, "Be more natural". What Steve did was utterly unexpected (it involved dandelions). The interview with Steve in this episode was recorded as part of the research for my book, back in the days when you could meet a friend and sit in the park together, beneath noisy planes and near laughing children, without wearing a mask. As you listen to Steve, please notice that his interaction with...
Mar 01, 2021•17 min•Season 1Ep. 16
If you're talking about something delicate, it's important to set up expectations from the start. This episode contains the beginning of a workshop I delivered to an audience of speakers and would-be speakers, courtesy of a charity, Illuminate, which helps people to overcome their mental health problems, then talk publicly about their experiences. In other words, what you're going to hear is me giving a talk about giving a talk. So apologies in advance that it's a bit self-referential. Some memb...
Feb 25, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Ron Boyd-MacMillan wrote a remarkably useful and entertaining book, Explosive Preaching , which I picked up while researching my own book. His insights, intended to aid religious preachers, are useful to anybody who intends to make a speech, whether at a wedding or for work. In this interview, Ron tells me why the great early preacher St Augustine used to improvise; says he's been disappointed that churches, in Covid, have sounded like bureaucrats interested only in health and safety; and tells ...
Feb 22, 2021•44 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Hannah Murray of Talk Radio Europe interviewed me about public speaking and mental health. She started with a welcome question about my breakdown. Audio courtesy of Hannah, and Talk Radio Europe.
Feb 19, 2021•20 min•Season 1Ep. 13
I had hoped to record the audiobook myself. But Covid stopped that. After a few hours feeling sorry for myself, I came to see how much better it is that the book was narrated by Kris Dyer. He's narrated 200 audiobooks, and in this episode he shares how he started; why this kind of "public speaking" suits an introvert; how he aims to "channel" each author, what he did when a character he'd voiced as a Londoner turned out in book four of a series to be necessarily Scottish; what he did about voici...
Feb 16, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 12
In which I reveal what happened to Brendan Barns, after he put his home up as collateral to pay for his quirky dream. Plus, a real life example of someone wondering how to make best use of material that may not, initially, seem entirely promising. And some animal sounds, just because.
Feb 13, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 11
In this episode, I tell you about a man I interviewed (in real life) a while ago, because I interviewed him again more recently (on Zoom, in lockdown) and I think you might like to know his backstory first. He's Brendan Barns. Plus... I share a short highlight from an interview with Dr Guy Hayward, an all-round entertainer and polymath who inspired me to do last year's Virtual Pilgrimage (and this years too). And... your good fortune really is boundless today because in this episode I also share...
Feb 10, 2021•22 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Creative Conscience helps young people focus on using their talents to share things that matter. In this episode I tell a group of people I don’t know the crucial importance of focusing on your audience... That focus, and a clear sense of purpose, is much more important than anything else... Find out more about Creative Conscience here.
Feb 07, 2021•32 min•Season 1Ep. 9
My new book is out. I just got hold of my first copies. It feels like I'm back on my feet as a writer. In this episode, I interview my agent Jaime Marshall about how A Modest Book About How To Make An Adequate Speech came into being - with particular reference to the title, and the book proposal Jaime submitted to my publisher, Short Books. You can see the photo of me waving my book at Jaime on my blog. You can buy the book here: https://amzn.to/3cyiuEN If you send me proof of purchase I will se...
Feb 04, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Training in theatrical impro with Keith Johnstone, I learned to play The Rejection Game, in which one of the four people on stage must be rejected by the other three. Playing the game teaches how to exclude - but also how to include. And it teaches us that we can't focus on everybody all the time. Someone, somewhere, is liable to feel left out at times. Plainly, this has important consequences in everyday life, but it also applies very much to anybody thinking of public speaking - the subject of...
Feb 01, 2021•23 min•Season 1Ep. 7
I met Jo Gubbay when I was in a very dark place, on the Talk For Health training course that was the subject of the previous episode. Despite seeing me in a bad way - or, in fact, because of that - Jo invited me to speak to hundreds of people at her workplace, one of the most prestigious law firms in the world. Jo is highly regarded in her field, as a lawyer herself with oodles of experience at the top of learning and development. But I had little self esteem at the time, and didn’t believe I ha...
Jan 29, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 6
I shouldn't have done it, but in this episode I do it again - one last time - then I apologise. Later in the episode, as part of my research for an article about how public speaking helped in my recovery, I talk to a psychotherapist who discovered that lay people, given a bit of training, could be just as helpful as - well, psychotherapists. One of the people she trained, as you will hear, was me. I welcome your comments and questions. Send an email - or better still leave a voice message and I ...
Jan 26, 2021•18 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Audiences on Zoom, like audiences anywhere else, like to be acknowledged. They like to be "seen". If you can't literally see into their eyes, there are other ways to acknowledge them. This episode features a short highlight from a recent online workshop in which I challenged individuals to "see" each other. I'm indebted to Keith Johnstone, author of Impro, who first taught me this exercise. Buy Keith's classic book, Impro: https://amzn.to/3sRJVPA And (from me) A Modest Book About How To Make An ...
Jan 24, 2021•18 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Presidential Inauguration speeches are rare: just one every four years. To mark the special occasion, here's a bonus episode, featuring an interview with Jay Heinrichs, author of the New York Times bestseller Thank You For Arguing. We touch on the differences between British and American speaking styles, and Jay shares a remarkable discovery he made when he researched the differences between Democrat and Republican political speeches - a difference that may help to explain why Republicans have c...
Jan 20, 2021•15 min•Season 1Ep. 3
In this episode, festival organiser Helen Bagnall says that speakers who have something worthwhile to say can do it "all wrong" and still be good - adding that the TED style talk isn't always right. Later in the episode, I share with you what I got back from the magazine after submitting the story I read aloud in Episode 1 - and what I did about it. Read about Helen by clicking here: Salon London.
Jan 15, 2021•12 min•Season 1Ep. 2
"Most of us dread speaking, even to a small gathering of friends and family. I certainly did, until I had spoken publicly often enough for all my greatest fears to have come true..." I've written and submitted a story to a magazine about my greatest humiliations as a public speaker. I've read it aloud for this first episode, along with a short interview I did with an incredible man who lived trapped inside his body for 14 years, unable to communicate. I hope you find Martin Pistorius as inspirin...
Jan 08, 2021•21 min•Season 1Ep. 1
