Nicholas Craig column

Oct 13 2006 By Nicholas Craig, The Journal

Last Sunday I had to speak in front of 500 people, almost all of whom I did not know.

The only thing we had in common was the shared loss of a good friend. It was a long distance from the after-dinner speeches I've enjoyed preparing in the past, but a memorable event nonetheless.

Speaking to an audience happens to just about all of us, whether it's to persuade an interview panel, host a company presentation or informally entertain a friendly crowd. Yet very few of us are trained to put our points across effectively and engagingly, and fewer still are born orators.

It's as though a whole dimension of communication is now being ignored. We choose instead to hunch over a computer and email our thoughts. It means that occasions on which we have no choice but to get up and talk suffer from our lack of expertise, confidence and training.

Public speaking should be an important part of in-house training for companies. The effect of a well-constructed and delivered speech is electric - look at the remarkable results politicians bring about with their best efforts - and the counter-effects of their worst.

But more importantly it would also turn around the parlous state of internal communications in most organisations. Getting across what we want to say clearly, pleasantly and concisely, face-to-face, makes an impression that lasts far longer than an email or memo. The more we talk to each other at work, and meet to find out about what others are doing, the better for our own morale and our company's productivity.

It would also increase the confidence of people who have never thought of themselves as performers. When you have something to say that you believe in, and have thought through, most people can express themselves surprisingly fluently.

Unaccustomed as I am to lofty recommendations, I would like to introduce presentation and public speaking training as part of the induction programme for the workplace. It would help to counteract the silencing effect of emails.

I'm off to China today. Amongst other things, I will be promoting the North-East as a tourist destination as publicly as possible while I am there, and I am visiting the Ministry of Tourism as well as visiting several companies that are thinking of setting up here. I'll keep you posted about Beijing and Shanghai's plans for the Olympics and the associated pitfalls next week.

Nicholas Craig is a partner at Watson Burton law firm