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Water, water everywhere

10/2/2014

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We know Mary Dhonau of the National Flood Forum. Well, that's not strictly true. She came for dinner once in 2008ish. She was going out with Anne's brother, presumably before she realised his dress sense was holding her career back. I hope I convey my feelings when I say I found her forthright and intelligent.

Anyway, her and my brother-in-law went their separate ways and we never saw her again. Except on television, a lot. And so it was that our own experience as flood victims and “Mary Dhonau” became conflated in our heads. Comes the rain, and comes Mary. Local TV and the River Severn love her. For seven years Anne and I have had a running joke whenever the 6 o'clock news covers flooding. “Things are bad. The situation is grim. Mary Donhau will be on later, stood by a river, talking bollocks.”

And so it was. Except tonight. Except tonight Mary took an ox-bow loop away from her usual platitudes about Blitz-style stoicism and the need to do something. Instead she made an impassioned plea to stop excoriating the Environment Agency and Chris Smith and to recognise what an amazing job they were doing in the most difficult of circumstances. Shamelessly political and wavering of voice, in an anorak with the hood up. Good game, very well played.     




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Training Masterclass (1) - Pacing

7/2/2014

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Inexperienced trainers and presenters always make the same mistake in how they judge their audience. They are quite naturally drawn to those people looking at them encouragingly - smiling and nodding - whilst feeling less positively about those sitting there with arms folded, or doodling, or otherwise seemingly not enjoying themselves.

It's an important lesson to get across that the actual engagement of the audience often has little to do with the non verbal feedback each individual is giving you. Some people naturally “pace” you and others naturally don't. I was waxing lyrical about this very subject once upon a time in a training session, enjoying the sound of my own voice and the positive feedback I was receiving from a couple of attractive young ladies to my right, when the rest of the delegates drew my attention to the person right in front of me. A heavily pregnant woman, who had just fainted...    
 




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