Conversational riffs - revised

I had something of a breakthrough earlier this week. One of my workshops/skill sets is based upon some material that I have always been quite pleased with and has certainly been well received by various audiences.

I was always aware, however, that one or two of the elements were rather clumsy. You become particularly aware of this when you are delivering the workshop and can almost feel yourself blurting it out instead of enjoying the material.

I have a very exciting opportunity to present to some major employers next week and so I took the opportunity to revisit the material. I was able to come up with new, better titles and the impact has been great. With only a few different words, the material is now much stronger. The eleven components of the course group together in a natural thematic way, into elements of language that we currently use too readily, to components that we can aim to try more frequently and finishing up with a couple of punchy no-go's - Despair and flair.

Despair is that temptation to throw your hand in or give up. Flair is any comment that comes from showboating, being over-elaborate, or self indulgent flippancy or sarcasm.

I'm looking forward to getting the improved material out there and will be sure to let you know how it is received. If my own vanity gets the better of me, this will probably be the book I write.