SPEAKING AT THE OFFICE PARTY
Welcome to Telling it Straight – the newsletter dedicated to presentation skills. This month we anticipate the Christmas and New Year period with some tips for successful speeches at the office party. The party was also a problem 18 years ago today for Mrs Thatcher who left office for the last time, following party wrangling. We profile her 1980 conference speech in Speaker's Corner.
In addition to the results from our last survey on how you prepare for presentations, we also have our regular Quotation Marks and Art of Presentation Gallery sections.
It's office party season again. And despite the "credit crunch" there's still scope for serious fun. So, with some festive cheer, these techniques should help you get the most out of your office party.
1) First planning. Identify the type of speech you want. Do some planning, jot down an idea or two and be ready for any surprises. If party music is planned you should be able to use a microphone - essential kit for a noisy party atmosphere.
2) Drinks. Don't even think about public speaking when the party drinks have been flowing for some time. And it goes without saying, you shouldn't consider trying to give a speech yourself when you have had one or two. It doesn't work and is often embarrassing!
3) For starters. Aim to speak near the beginning of the party when people have arrived, had a drink or two and conversation is flowing. If dinner is being served aim to speak before dinner. It's not the best opportunity for an after dinner speech.
4) The next course. It's always best to say a quick thank you to the hotel or catering staff. Or, if your office manager has organised the party it's definitely best to thank them for all their hard work.
5) Presents. The office party is a good time for some other thanks. When thanking people remember to get the technique right. For example, "And now, someone who's always committed to the customer, someone who always puts their customer first, someone who it is a pleasure to work with...[pause]...first name, second name". Applause will kick in spontaneously when you get it this way round.
6) More Presents. For a more solid appraisal of a team consider listing their "virtuous" points and then compare them with a less-virtuous point. Read more.
7) Be brief. Very brief. You have the whole of January next year for a strategic review of the year gone and that ahead.
8) Party lights. Note some closing points that will be important later in the evening..."taxis are on the company account", or "the band is playing an extra hour until 0100". These are good news points. They are easy to make and very appropriate.
9) And finally. Round off your speech with a toast along the lines of..."To ourselves, To absent friends and To the future".
10) Party...party. Now it's time to relax and enjoy the party. Roll on the New Year.
It's short, it's friendly and it's upbeat – it's the office party speech. Read more.
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IN THIS ISSUE
- The Office Party Speech
- Speaker's Corner
- Quotation Marks
- Art of Presentation Gallery
- Training Calendar
- Survey: Presentation Preparation
"To those waiting with baited breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the 'U' turn, I have only one thing to say. You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning." Mrs Thatcher, 1980.
Prime Minister for the previous 18 months Mrs Thatcher had set about the re-structuring of the British economy; no subsidies, income tax cuts, indirect tax increases and 3 million unemployed. Answering critics in her own party and the 364 Times letter-writing economists Mrs Thatcher delivered this speech at the Party conference in 1980. The 'U' turn line is said to have been written by the speechwriter Ronald Millar and is a pun on the title of the play, "The Lady's Not For Burning" by Christoper Fry.
"Bah!" said Scrooge, "Humbug!"
From a relatively modest background - his father was a clerk for the Navy in Portsmouth - Charles Dickens had experienced many of the deprivations of the Victorian age by the time he began his journalism and writing career for the Morning Chronicle at the age of 22; father and family in a debtor's prison and ten hour working days in a boot polish factory in London. Such experiences became the driving force of Dickens' writing. Those around him – landladies, articled clerks and foremen – became his characters. He excelled in documenting the social misery of Victorian Britain. An accomplished raconteur, reader and lecturer, Dickens completed two lecture tours of North America where he actively campaigned for social justice and copyright laws.
Our PresentPerfect™ training courses are held in distinctly more salubrious settings than those of Dickensian London.
The schedule for PresentPerfect training courses in December is now available.
SURVEY: PREPARING YOUR PRESENTATION
Last month's anonymous survey found some revealing insights into how you prepare a new presentation:
- Working on the beginning of your presentation was felt to be the best use of time by 40% of respondents.
- The telephone was noted as the biggest distraction to preparing a presentation by 28% of those surveyed.
- 42% of those surveyed would ideally like three to five hours to prepare a new presentation. Read more.