We regularly advise clients to be brave and inventive. Those of you who have attended one of our workshops will remember, we hope, being told to do some metaphorical white coats and to experiment with your communication with the aim of discovering new and possibly better ways to convey your messages and authentic personality.

Similarly, many of you will have been on the receiving end of a pitch or presentation that stood out for its creative initiative and has thus stuck with you.  In short, creativity born of experimentation in rehearsals can often yield great returns.

 One obvious area where this can be done is in your content. In that spirit, I thought it would be fun to try a little festive experiment with a couple of well-known Christmas carols by rewriting the lyrics to fit some core areas of GPB advice. After discarding a few classics-in-waiting (‘O, answer the question’ to the tune of ‘O, come all ye faithful’, and ‘O little voice constrained by phlegm’ to the tune of ‘O little town of Bethlehem’) I decided on the following two carols: 

The Twelve Days of Coaching…

(Sung to the tune of ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas…’)

On the first day of coaching, my tips from G.P.B:

“It’s Content and Delivery!”

On the second day of coaching, my tips from G.P.B:

“Key messages,

And it’s Content and Delivery!”

On the third day of coaching, my tips from G.P.B:

“Use evidence,

Key messages,

And it’s Content and Delivery!”

On the fourth day of coaching, my tips from G.P.B:

“More rhetoric,

Use evidence,

Key messages,

And it’s Content and Delivery!”

On the fifth day of coaching, my tips from G.P.B:

“WORK – ON YOUR – VOICE,

More rhetoric,

Use evidence,

Key messages,

And it’s Content and Delivery!”

On the sixth day of coaching, my tips from G.P.B:

“Set out the structure,

WORK – ON YOUR – VOICE,

More rhetoric,

Use evidence,

Key messages,

And it’s Content and Delivery!”

On the seventh day of coaching, my tips from G.P.B:

“Eye contact is crucial,

Set out the structure,

WORK -ON YOUR – VOICE,

More rhetoric,

Use evidence,

Key messages,

And it’s Content and Delivery!”

On the eighth day of coaching, my tips from G.P.B:

“Yes, gestures help you!

Eye contact is crucial,

Set out the structure,

WORK -ON YOUR – VOICE,

More rhetoric,

Use evidence,

Key messages,

And it’s Content and Delivery!”

On the ninth day of coaching, my tips from G.P.B:

“Now practise questions,

Yes, gestures help you,

Eye contact is crucial,

Set out the structure

WORK -ON YOUR – VOICE,

More rhetoric,

Use evidence,

Key messages,

And it’s Content and Delivery!”

On the tenth day of coaching, my tips from G.P.B:

“PLEASE do tough questions,

Now practise questions,

Yes, gestures help you,

Eye contact is crucial,

Set out the structure,

WORK – ON YOUR – VOICE,

More rhetoric,

Use evidence,

Key messages, 

And it’s Content and Delivery!”

On the eleventh day of coaching, my tips from G.P.B:

“Rehearsing makes a difference,

PLEASE do tough questions,

Now practise questions,

Yes, gestures help you,

Eye contact is crucial,

Set out the structure,

WORK – ON YOUR – VOICE,

More rhetoric,

Use evidence,

Key messages, 

And it’s Content and Delivery!”

On the twelfth day of coaching, my tips from G.P.B:

“Great! Now you’re ready,

Rehearsing has worked wonders,

Don’t over-answer,

Bridge if you can do, 

Gestures are potent,

Eye contact’s now working,

Your structure’s sturdy!

-NICE VO-CAL WORK-

Good rhetoric,

Strong evidence,

Key messages, 

So great Content and De-li-ver-y!”

We wish you success when pitching

(Sung to the tune of ‘We wish you a Merry Christmas…’)

We wish you success when pitching,

We wish you success when pitching,

We wish you success when pitching, with a fab Q&A.

(“Yourself at your best”,

despite being stressed.)

We wish you success when pitching, with a fab Q&A!

Now bring us a shorter slide deck,

Now bring us a shorter slide deck,

Now bring us a shorter slide deck, with far fewer slides.

(We know this one irks,

But trust us it works!)

Now bring us a shorter slide deck, with far fewer slides!

For we all like engaging speakers,

For we all like engaging speakers,

For we all like engaging speakers, and that can be you.

(Some stronger pa-thos

helps you come ac-ross.)

For we all like engaging speakers, and that can be you.

We won’t make your voice sound silly,

We won’t make your voice sound silly,

We won’t make your voice sound silly, it still sounds like you.

(Pitch mod-u-la-tion

in your o-ra-tion!)

We won’t make your voice sound silly, it still sounds like you!

——————————————————

Here’s my seasonal advice: be brave and try to be creative: take risks in rehearsals and, who knows, you may have some fun, and it may even pay off when you are giving your next presentation or pitch.

Merry Christmas everyone, and a Happy Healthy Hogmanay and 2022.

By Richard Keith

References:

1. Photograph of Richard Keith—by Ori Jones Photography

2. Merry Christmas image: https://unsplash.com/photos/K6qH4pYiKvs

3. Gesture image: https://unsplash.com/photos/wXJViXxHP44

4. Christmas tree image: https://unsplash.com/photos/ocq7NBmpOYU

5. Happy New Year image: https://unsplash.com/photos/PXl_S152jNM