I’d never heard this expression until last week. I was talking to someone about how we use Present.Me day to day and he said ‘Ahh! You eat your own dogfood’. Well, yes, we do. Apparently it started off at Microsoft in 1988 and has become a well known phrase throughout the software industry. So… Read more »
Beware the curse of techniloquence. Lady Justice Hallett, the coroner at the inquest into the July 7 London bombings, last week made a special request that emergency service workers should speak in plain English. The Times reported her “concern that nearly all senior witnesses had used cumbersome language”. The inquest is designed for us to… Read more »
To be persuadable, people need to sense unity between what they see, the sounds they hear and the words they understand. If my body language says “I am very nervous” and my voice says “I am extremely embarrassed”, then the exciting possibilities of my big idea are unlikely to enjoy a great reception. It doesn’t… Read more »
You have arranged a meeting. You care about the outcome. It’s your job to introduce the meeting. “So – what we want to do today is to consider our response to the JRC report, determine the way forward and assign responsibility for the next steps”. Sounds good: everyone there needs to know the purpose of… Read more »