Went to the Professional Speakers’ Association’s Convention in Bloomsbury. This was a piece of a voice coach’s heaven. Just sitting back and listening to professional speakers for the day. There was an opportunity to meet with experts in their field and it was interesting to meet with Deborah Swallow who was giving advice on Cross Cultural Communication. One of the first things I learned when I started training people in India was to respect their dress code for women. There was a friendly HR lady who advised me at the time. Learning about other people’s culture is one of the perks of working internationally. Debbie spoke about the content of Presentations and how to change the ratio of emotional content, factual content and anecdotal content according to whereabouts in the world you’re presenting. I just love listening to stories – and that’s apparently what Americans like. Graham Davies who’s written the best selling book on Presenting was another expert giving advice. His book is great – so well researched and written. With a background as a barrister he’s in a prime position to know how to sway an audience. The barristers I’ve worked with have sometimes been better sight-readers than actors. The need for a confident voice (not a bullish voice) is an asset for a barrister. I believe that people who give speeches in public and people who present – all benefit from voice training.