Imagine being taken on a guided tour of a magnificent palace.

Each room you enter offers a unique experience: from grandiose ballrooms that leave you in awe, to intimate parlours designed for the warmth and comfort of just a handful of people.

A well-crafted presentation should feel like a similar journey, in both the content and the delivery.

I'm always reminding the people I work with that in order to achieve effective communication we should think about pausing as something we do for the listener: a pause creates space in which to process information, so your thoughts are more digestible. Then listeners can pick up on their value.

In the latest season of The Traitors UK, Charlotte - from London has employed a unique strategy to gain trust: faking a Welsh accent. Why?

January is my busiest time of year.

This is the month when many people decide it’s finally time to soften their accent, or improve their public speaking and communication skills.

Looking in detail at the differences between one speaker and another, with broadly the same accent, reminded me that although RP is its own distinctive accent, it's tempting to observe that no two British English RP speakers sound the same!

Unconfident speakers, especially those nervous about public speaking in front of even a small audience, often focus heavily on their content to avoid addressing their delivery. This common public speaking challenge highlights the importance of balancing engaging content with confident presentation skills.

Last weekend, I was in the Sunday Telegraph doing some (ex-) royal watching: that paper ran a story about whether King Charles' second son’s accent has become more American since resettling in California with his wife Meghan Markle and family.

Discover how accents impact trust and communication. Learn accent reduction tips for clear British English and professional success in London and beyond

A few listeners might notice your impressive vocabulary or spotless grammar. What they remember, though, is when you spent the whole presentation talking about 'copyright' and pronouncing it 'corporate'.

With recent high-profile political speeches in the spotlight, there’s been renewed interest in what makes a good election speech. One of the key elements? The power of pacing and pauses.

 This week I've been developing a tailored program of public speaking and personal impact coaching for the sales team of a big corporate client.

Chris Packham is a professional communicator with decades of experience of speaking on and off camera. The bar is high.

But I'm especially fascinated by the speech as an example of all the things I encourage speakers to do, when I talk about 'doing the listeners' work'.

Most of what the internet says about hand gestures in public speaking is BS. Read my insightful thought leadership (ie. marketing) on the subject. Then click through to the BS, naturally.

Powerful movements need powerful speakers. Read my latest newsletter to hear about how I've been helping a climate activist to inspire direct action.

The highlight of your presentation is not your slides. It’s not even your content. The highlight is YOU

Anyone on the internet can show you what to do, and pronounce the sounds for you. But coaching means you have an expert to listen to you and guide you.

This time yesterday, I found myself asking a group of professionals to try to sound as unprofessional as possible.

What we can learn about how to work smarter, based on how we feel and behave in speaking situations where we don't deliver

Speaking French and trying to perfect my pronunciation gave me some great insights into how to work on accent reduction and still feel confident and authentic

This post is all about me. No really, it is all about how it’s all about ME