Make your mark -- memories are short

Whatever your field of expertise, make your mark, and ensure that you are not overlooked. Too often you are like a stick in a pail of water, standing out while you are there, but once you leave, the ripples quickly subside, leaving no evidence of who you were or what you did. Unless you change the colour of the water.

Ten years ago, some half a dozen speakers, including myself, started the Professional Speakers Association (PSA). I was the Marketing Director for the first four years, promoting membership and building up the organisaton itself. Much of the work I did was behind the scenes, in helping to formulate policies and strategies and ensuring that they were carried out. As any director would.

We were too democratic. Instead of retaining ownership, we decided to let the PSA be owned by its members. Bad mistake.

In recent times I have not been involved with the PSA, except to attend the occasional meeting. About a month ago I received an invitation to join one of the groups (just like the Ecademy clubs), and automatically accepted.

To my amazement, last week I received a message from someone who may be the group's facilitator, saying that he had read my profile but could not find any information about my speaking activities or my connection with the PSA. I replied simply that I was one of the handful of people who founded the PSA.

What would you have done?

Phillip

What's in the food you eat?

Yesterday I saw the film, Food Inc. and if you haven't seen it yet, I urge you to find it. It will change the way you think about the food you eat.

Very simply, it's a fine piece of investigative journalism on the misuse of power by the food industry in the US. Some of those practices almost certainly exist in Britain and the EU. They are doing you harm.

Two things, in particular, bothered me about the film's content. One, it revealed how much danger we are in from the way animals are factory-processed for our consumption. The other was the way that five or six major food corporations dominate the industry, exploiting and intimidating their suppliers (farmers) in a so-called free society.

On the first point, did you know that 'ground beef' (mince) prepared for commercial hamburgers seems to have contained every bit of the animal parts, including those you would throw away yourself? And did you know that cattle raised for beef stand all day in deep piles of their own manure, which is barely washed off when they are slaughtered, so that it affects (and even infects) the meat that goes on sale? And did you know that the millk you drink probably contains the pus from infected teats and traces of cow dung?

The film also told the story of a healthy young boy who ate a hamburger and was dead within 12 days. His mother has been campaigning for something to be done to prevent it happening again. E-coli is being bred into foodstuffs, and the food companies don't seem to care.

You don't want to know about the way chickens are reared. It's all driven by money.

You think it doesn't happen here? Well, I feed my local foxes on well-known brands of dog food which I buy in major supermarkets. Quite often they walk right past the food and refuse to eat it. A friend has a cat that similarly ignores the tinned food she puts out. Why do you suppose that is?

Could it be that the carcasses of diseased farm animals are used for pet food? What else is in the processed food we buy? Start reading labels and see how much 'real' food you are getting, and how much is some form of corn derivative. And start taking notice of the conditions in which farm animals are kept before slaughter. You may never eat meat again.

So what can we do about it? Well, consider what happened to the tobacco industry. Laws were introduced to protect us from the effects of tobacco smoke because of people power. Buy organic food. Raise this as an issue at the General Election. Vote for those who promise to expose bad practices in food preparation.

You have the power. Time to use it.

Phillip

What is happening to Whom in Britain?

I was having dinner in San Diego with a retired English teacher, when he rather cleverly asked me, "What is happening to whom in England?" I knew he meant "What is happening to the use of the word 'whom'?" so I replied that it was hardly used at all, except incorrectly.

Here's an example: I contacted John Smith whom I believe is the man in charge. It's a common error, caused by the parenthetical phrase 'I believe'. Take out that phrase and you'll know it's right to say "who is the man in charge".

We continued talking about common mistakes in English, and exchanged notes on the following:

As a valued customer we can offer you ... Is the valued customer making the offer? Should have been "As you are a valued customer, we can offer you ..." or (better) "Because you are a valued customer ..."

Your alright. Should be You're all right. You're sounds like Your, but here it stands for You are. And 'all right' is the correct form, as two words. 'Alright' is one of those abuses that are gaining acceptance just because so many people use it.

Celebrating it's anniversary. The possessive form is 'its'. 'It's', with the apostrophe, means 'it is.'

Between 12pm and 1pm. There is no such time as 12p.m. Or 12 a.m. either. It is 12 noon or 12 midnight.

This mitigates against them recommending you. Some words are used in error instead of another word that sound similar. Mitigates means 'making less bad', so perhaps the speaker means 'militates', which means 'being a powerful factor in preventing something'.

XYZ ups the anti on driving skills. This is another example of the previous error. It should have been "ups the ante." The word means the bet a player makes when gambling (Latin for 'before').

He span around. The past tense of 'to spin' is 'spun'.

It was given to my friend and I. This is another version of 'between you and I'. Should be 'given to my friend and me'.

These common mistakes in English can result in the user being considered ill-educated, and create an unfavourable impression. Two excellent reference books on this topic are Usage and Abusage by Eric Partridge (Penguin) and The Right Word at the Right Time from Reader's Digest.

Phillip Khan-Panni
www.pkpcommunicators.com

Could this be why Murray lost?

The Times this morning is full of reports and analysis of the Australia Open and Andy Murray's failure to end a 74 drought of Grand Slam victories by a British male. One of the journalists wrote that Murray brought his A game but lost because he did not also bring his A service.

I think he was watching a different match from the one I saw.

In my view, Murray played reactive tennis -- a feature of his natural style. He seemed to be waiting for Federer to make an error, and when Federer played a soft slice, he responded with his own soft slice. Only in the third set, which he needed to win, did he come out and play with the kind of intensity that wins matches. He nearly won that set, and he played some of his best tennis in the tie break, when his motivation was finally at the right level.

So what can we learn from that?

Federer was in charge. He deployed his own resources, he dictated the plays, he made his opponent respond to what he was doing. Murray seldom took the initiative. He has the talent (the means), he has the technique (the method), but he fell short on motivation or mindset.

Means, method, mindset -- the 3Ms that provide the chance of success at the top.

Some unfortunate names

Some people have names they regret. Some business names convey the wrong impression. Here are a few I have collected. Do you have any you could add?

RESTAURANTS

FU KING Chinese Restaurant in Lake City, Florida.
Kum Den Restaurant in Melbourne, Australia.
My Dung Restaurant in Rosemead, California.
Chinese Food Takeaway - Fu Do, in Bromley, Kent
Gassey Jack's near Orange City, Florida.
Hitler's Cross in Mumbai, changed its name after residents objected
Sar's Oriental Cuisine, Tacoma, Washington
McWanks's in Watson Lake, Yukon, Canada
Colon Restaurant, Barcelona, Spain
Bang a Dong in Metro, Atlanta
Cabbages and Condoms in Thailand

PEOPLE

Kim Yoo Suk is a pole vaulter
Chew Kok is a tourist guide
Sue Yoo is a lawyer in New York
Dr Ted Kadivar is a Florida surgeon
Dr Melvin Boner is an Endodentist in Florida
Dr Alden Cockburn is a urologist in New Mexico
Brad Slaughter is a Meat Manager
Karl Thojntxhebvwg is a Mortgage Consultant
Oliver Loser stood for election in Denmark
Willie Stroker was a judge at an outdoor event
Mike Litoris is an American
Rusty Kuntz plays baseball for the Detroit Tigers
Robert G. Aycock does plastic surgery
Dr Will Tickle is a chiropractor

CARS

Mazda LaPuta = The whore
Mitsubishi Pajero = Wanker
Nissan Moco = booger (nose picking)
Buick LaCrosse = masturbating teenagers (in Quebec)
Opel Ascona = vagina
Honda Fitta = vagina
Daihatsu Charade = just pretending
Dodge Swinger = so '70s!
Lamborghini Reventon = wheel puncture
Mazda Furai = stealing (in Romanian)

Sources: 2leep.com and oddee.com

I deal in words that work. If you want to be sure of getting it right, contact me.

PKP
www.pkpcommunicators.com

Think 'local' when doing business abroad

Many a contract has been lost by not knowing how things are done locally. If you do business abroad, you need to have an understanding of how meetings are run out there ... and why.

The Western way is to start with a sliver of small talk, and then to get on with the agenda. It's well documented how Americans have flown abroad to do the business, sign the contracts, and get off home before the day is done, only to find that the locals cannot (will not) move so fast ... unless the Americans make big concessions!

It is equally well known that Arabs and other Easterners take offence when they are expected to get down to brass tacks before they have had the chance to develop a relationship of trust. So what's the best way to approach business meetings with cultures that differ from your own?

In some countries in Africa and Asia, formal meetings take a long time and frequently seem to achieve nothing - nothing that is obvious to the Western eye. It is their custom to allow and even encourage everyone present to say something on every topic that arises, even if what is said is hardly worth the breath.

It gives each person present a sense of self worth and is, in effect, a confirmation of their right to be at the meeting. It's an affirmation of status, even if the decision is eventually made by the senior person present, no matter what anyone else might say.

To get the result you want, you must be patient and fit in with the local ways. Find out what the purpose of the meeting is, and who are the really important people there. It is better to err on the side of generosity, and give a person more respect than he may deserve, rather than less.

The former may lose you nothing, while the latter may lose you everything.

PKP

What makes a speech or presentation succeed

I was recently approached by a friend to evaluate a speech she had prepared. It was good, well written and full of interesting content. But it wasn't a speech. It was, in effect, a spoken essay.
I told her that the text that's written to be said is different from the text that's written to be read.

An article printed in a magazine or newspaper allows you to read at your own pace, go back and read again the bits you didn't get the first time, memorise the things you want to retain. Listening to a speech is different. You hear it all just once, at the speaker's pace, and there is no instant rewind.

The speaker needs to be aware of this, and make it easy for the listener to get the point. Another consideration is the fact that our concentrations spans are very short, perhaps as little as seven seconds. Every seven seconds our minds switch to something else, so we are not paying attention all the time. (Even as you read this, you have had extraneous thoughts swim into your mind.)

Those are the built-in obstacles that a speaker must overcome. But the speaker has (or should have) a purpose for making the speech or presentation: it must be to bring about some change in the thinking, attitude or behaviour of the listener(s). That change can only come about if there is 'buy in' on the part of the listener, which implies some emotional response.

For a speech to work, for it to achieve its purpose, there needs to be a certain type of structure, the use of repetition, and some oratorical devices. Think of the famous speeches that you remember: JFK, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama, Winston Churchill. Think of the memorable phrases in those speeches, and note the devices - repetition, triads, mini climaxes and so on. These are the powerful elements that help the speaker to reach into the hearts of the hearers.

Being able to write in prose is not enough ... unless your PROSE stands for Purpose, Relevance, Oratory, Structure and Energy. And that's the message in my Masterclass, How to Make a Speech Worth Hearing. Saturday at The PSA London Chapter.

Get in touch.