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Archive for June, 2010

Viva la All Whites

June 24th, 2010 No comments

It’s do or die tonight for the All Whites.

New Zealand is ranked 78th in the world, and Paraguay is 31st. On paper Paraguay is a superior team. But that’s what they said about Italy, and we all know what happened there. With Paraguay at the top of the table with four points, New Zealand will have to beat them to get to five points and qualify for Round 2.

If Paraguay and New Zealand draw, and Italy and Slovakia draw as well, it will come down to goal difference.

Should be an exciting game. We support the All Whites, and wish them all the best for this crucial game.

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Categories: General observations Tags:

The secret to effective presentations – Paulus Romijn

June 15th, 2010 No comments
In 2005, I signed up for a course to improve my presentation skills.  I was conducting a few lectures at that time and figured I could do with some help. That was when I met Paulus Romijn from Presenters Platform. I’ve lost count of the number of courses/seminars I’ve attended; yet Presenters Platform stands out as a really unique course.  At the time I told Paulus that Presenters Platform was undoubtedly the best interpersonal communications course I have ever done.

Five years down the track, my opinion hasn’t changed. I can still recall vividly the experiential exercises: from trying to sell an exercise machine infomercial-style to producing a travel documentary, it was an amazing experience. I met some really interesting people, and we all had a great time on this course. It was initially a little unnerving to put myself out there, especially when I was the only guy in the class.  Every speech is recorded and played back to the whole class. If most people are like me, they will feel uncomfortable with seeing themselves on screen, as this means having our insecurities laid bare.

Once I learnt how to let go and just be myself, I started to enjoy myself. Towards the end of the course, I was actually looking forward to the weekly session, and really missed the sessions once they were over. Perhaps the most important lesson I learnt was that there wasn’t a specific technique to master. In fact the real key to becoming an effective public speaker is to overcome our own fears and insecurities.

The Presenters Platform was created by Paulus Romijn in Auckland in 2004. Paulus was brought up in Wellington from Dutch migrant parents. He was picked as a speaker from an early age at school delivering Church readings and Drama. Over the years in his studies he excelled in subjects like motivation, leadership, group norms and International Business. Then after attending many courses he thought there was so much more to presenting to an audience or screen he developed over years of research a series of courses with comprehensive tutelage with small groups.

Over the past few years, I’ve kept in touch with Paulus and recommended some of my friends to sign up for his course. In fact, we even had the opportunity to work together, with Paulus assisting a few of Euroasia’s corporate clients with skills-development and learning how to effectively present to a Kiwi audience. Paulus is certainly a talented teacher and facilitator.

I asked Paulus to give me a list of 10 tips for effective presentations.

Being a pragmatic man, Paulus has given us 10 practical tips to you get thinking about your choices and preparation when speaking.

1.     What do I want to say rather than what I think the audience wants to hear.

2.     Do not have the objective of going through the motions but of making an impression.

3.     Keep movement minimal and if you do move know where you are going.

4.     If using Power Point do not rely on it.

5.     Think about the chronological order of your delivery. What is a powerful opening rather than a predictable opening.?

6.     Practical examples are always credible in relation to a theory.

7.     Allow yourself to pause rather than use non words such as um and ah.

8.     Practice, practice,practice. Say it out loud to a friend or partner and ask for their feedback.

9.     Give yourself permission to have an opinion. “I believe”  is a very powerful start to a sentence.

10.  Fear of judgement is in your own head; your audience wants you to succeed.

After 7 years in the education business and seeing thousands of Kiwis come to Euroasia to embark on a journey to learn a foreign language, I am now more convinced that the key to self-improvement is the ability to push yourself beyond your comfort zone. This applies whether you want to learn a language or to speak in public. With a lot of life development, what holds us back is not a lack of skill, but a lack of will.

Check out Presenters Platform if you’re looking for a course that will challenge you so that you can be a more effective public speaker. You can reach Paulus on 09 360-5039.

Posted via web from Euroasia

Categories: General observations Tags: , , , , ,

The most spoken languages in the world

June 11th, 2010 1 comment

This would have been a Top 10 list, except Number 11 is Japanese and Number 12 German, both very important languages, so I’ll make this the TOP 12 list of the most spoken languages in the world, as at 2009. Source is Ethnologue, a widely cited reference for languages. The full list can be found on Wikipedia if you’re keen.

No surprises here. Chinese is number one – but do note that there are many dialects within the Chinese language. Chinese and Spanish are the top two because both China and South America are very populous. If we compiled another list of the most spoken languages in the world, including people who speak English as a second language, English will come up tops, especially given the rate at which young Chinese and Spanish kids are learning English.

Ranking by number of native speakers Language Number of speakers Where spoken natively by more than 5% of the population or listed as an official language in the countries’ constitution
1 Chinese 1,205m People’s Republic of China (including self-governing Special Administrative Regions),Republic of China (Taiwan), Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia
2 Spanish 429m Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic,Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua,Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela,Andorra, Western Sahara.
3 English 428m United Kingdom, United States, India, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand,Ireland, British Overseas Territories, Singapore, Malaysia, Belize, Bermuda,Gibraltar, Northern Mariana Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, The Bahamas,Barbados, Guam, Cayman Islands, Philippines, Pakistan, Trinidad and Tobago,Malta, Hong Kong, Botswana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Zimbabwe Also see List of countries by English-speaking population
4 Hindi 260m (Kariboli only) India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Singapore, and in parts of United States, Canada, United Kingdom.
5 Arabic 221m Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Iraq, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Tunisia, Libya,Lebanon, Jordan, Mauritania, Palestinian territories, Israel, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Chad, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Djibouti, Somalia, Western Sahara
6 Malay/Indonesian 260m Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Southern Thailand, Southern Philippines,East Timor
7 Portuguese 205m Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique, Angola, Cape Verde, Goa, Macau, East Timor,Guinea-Bissau
8 Bengali 193m Bangladesh, India
9 Russian 144m Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Israel,Moldova, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Estonia, Lithuania, Turkmenistan
10 French 128m (2005) Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Channel Islands, Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, France, French Guiana,French Polynesia, Gabon, Guinea, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali,Morocco, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Switzerland, Togo, Vanuatu, Andorra, Grenada,French overseas territories
11 Japanese 122m Japan
12 Standard German 101m (1994) Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Belgium (German-speaking community of Belgium), Italy (Province of Bolzano-Bozen)

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Categories: Language learning Tags: , , , ,