Here’s how to be brilliant: try hanging out with some other people, brilliant or otherwise. Richard Hall, in his excellent (or perhaps that should be brilliant) book ‘Brilliant Presentation: What the Best Presenters Know, Say and Do’ writes: ‘Brilliance lies in pubs and shops, not desks. This is a serious point. People working with other people […]

Watch this TED talk by Ken Robinson if you have the time (it’s 19 and a half minutes). It’s informative, entertaining and inspiring, and is the kind of thing I aspire to deliver. Here’s what I think are the most important aspects that you can learn from it: He knows the subject. He’s passionate about

That’s the construction of a joke; the set-up is all the required information, and the punchline is where everything falls into place. Here’s what it means for you and your public speaking: After each piece of information, give its application. Sounds obvious perhaps, but unless you give the audience the reason you’ve told them this particular

At my second comedy gig, much like James T Kirk doing the Kobayashi Maru* test, I skewed the odds in my favour (by inviting a lot of my friends). There were so many of them that the venue was at capacity, and they probably made up two-thirds of the audience. I did it because I

I think I’m different to most people, perhaps even slightly weird, and I love it. Michael Lazerow is responsible for an inspiring piece here on being weird, in which he writes:‘Normal is blah. You don’t want to be blah. Blah is boring. Boring people are forgettable. I like weirdos. They are interesting. They have crazy ideas. They have