Andy Bounds

Category: Communication

  • ‘Any questions?’ or ‘Thank you!’ ??

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    Emma Thomas
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    A presentation’s final slide usually says one of: “Any questions?” “Thank you” “Summary” Contact details Legal disclaimer And you can see the benefits in each: You might get questions – interactivity, engagement etc They feel thanked – a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling You’ve reminded them of your main points They can contact you if they…

  • How to be interesting

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    Emma Thomas
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    Let’s start this week’s Tip with a Disney Quiz. Who is the only Disney title character that can’t speak? Who is the only Disney princess based on a real person? Which of the seven dwarfs didn’t have a beard? When you put the seven dwarfs in alphabetical order, which is the middle one?   The…

  • Great Parenting or Shameless Brainwashing?

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    Emma Thomas
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    I was interviewed at Sky TV Campus recently. Child #3 came with me, and gave me this Proud Parent Moment… (Quick background – she’s 17, and it was the first Work Thing she’d attended with me). A charming guy came up to her and introduced himself as a motivational speaker. Her reply: “What do you…

  • Destroy half your communications

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    Emma Thomas
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    Most communications are too long: 60-minute meetings that could have taken 30 20-slide presentations that could have been 10 (or none!) War and Peace emails that could have been… well anything would have been better And since most comms are too long – this means your comms might well be too long. So, shorten them.…

  • Turn your agenda into theirs

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    Emma Thomas
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    Have you ever been bored during someone’s presentation? Has someone ever been bored during yours? It’s hard to turn your agenda into theirs. But we have to. Or they won’t buy-in or act as we want. One simple fix: when preparing your content, play the Why’s That Good? Game. You do this by imagining your…

  • The secret power of subtitles

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    Emma Thomas
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    When you make a presentation, the only aim of Slide #1 is that they want to see Slide #2. But most Slide #1s aren’t engaging – so don’t achieve this. We’ve all seen presentations called “Q3 Review”, “Update”, “Credentials Presentation”, or – my absolute favourite – “Excel Intermediate”. None of these are interesting. Which means…

  • Stop getting GHOSTED

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    Emma Thomas
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    Getting ghosted – where people stop replying to you – is rubbish. It happens to all of us. And it isn’t nice. It wastes time. It lowers our self-esteem. It sucks. So here are a few techniques to stop people ghosting you: BEST ONE: agree Meeting #2’s date during Meeting #1 – when you end…

  • Simple conversation structure (IDEA)

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    Emma Thomas
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    The better our conversations, the better our life. A good structure for conversations is IDEA – which stands for: Impact Discover Enhance Action In more detail: Impact – first impressions drive everything. So, start brilliantly Discover – find what matters to the other person, by asking great questions Enhance – once we know what matters…

  • Referrals – how to ask for (and get) them

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    Emma Thomas
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    Personal recommendations (or “referrals”) are brilliant. Because, when someone recommends us, we’re more likely to be chosen. Very useful if we’re going for a new job, a sale, a promotion. In fact, the only problem with referrals is… they don’t happen often enough. (Which just does NOT make sense. After all, when you think how…

  • Emails that cause ACTION

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    Emma Thomas
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    When you send an email, you want the reader to DO something. Which means your email needs a Call To Action – where you ask them to DO something! Ending an email like this… “Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call” …is NOT a Call To Action. Because you aren’t asking them…