In my role as a conference producer, I’ve always used my professional theatre training to help senior leaders stand on-stage with confidence and optimise their spoken word. So it seemed a natural evolution to create a series of courses and workshops designed to help anyone and everyone to communicate more effectively, by improving vocal and breathing techniques and body language to inspire and influence a live audience for maximum impact.

A consequence of the coronavirus crisis has seen us move away from live to online, so the need to be heard through a purely vocal performance is now an even more vital tool in the communications toolbox.

The curtain may be temporarily down on the physical stage but the show must go on as we attempt to get our messages across in daily Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts or Microsoft Teams meetings.

And it’s exhausting right? Our brains need to work harder during a video call to consciously process non-verbal cues like facial expressions and tone-of-voice.

All those faces staring directly back at you from the computer screen doesn’t help either. Whilst the intensity of seeing all our own facial expressions played out on the screen in front of us can build insecurity and fear for how we’re perceived by others. And that’s even before you’ve begun to speak or present.

Vocals in Business is currently helping the employees of several well-known corporations to build confidence in speaking online so that they can get their ideas and contributions heard.

Take a look at the below tips and see where you could benefit from improvements in vocal techniques. And if you’d like to chat about how to get your company’s message across more effectively, get in touch for a no-cost, no-obligation chat.

Virtual meeting vocal tips

1. Be aware of your posture and the positioning of your screen. Looking down will most likely result in hunched shoulders and a rounded spine so look up to your screen for a straighter back and raised neck and chin. It provides a more natural vocal projection when we speak up and out.
   
2. Don’t forget to breathe. Taking a deep breath in and exhaling through the mouth is a simple way to let the breath fall to the abdomen, calming us down in the process. Theatre breathing exercises control nerves and give us better control over the pitch and strength of the voice. Just don’t be doing them with your camera and sound turned on!
   
3. Raise your energy levels. You may have less time to make a positive impression. Learning how to increase and maintain energy and focus is vital for online presenting and speaking. The energy you resonate rubs off onto your virtual audience so you’ll need ways to stay upbeat over a sustained period of time.
   
4. Eradicate the umm and errs. Vocal ticks and unnecessary pause-fillers all sound louder and more pronounced in an online environment. Controlling the pace of what you say and articulating how you say it will get rid of all those troublesome umm and errs for a more confident delivery.
   
5. Be present in the room. Before you even connect, make sure you’re ‘in the zone’.
   Block out distractions such as email or social media notifications. If it’s your first meeting of the day, you may not have even spoken out loud. Make sure you’re hydrated and give your voice a few warm-up exercises. It can be something as simple as singing along to a favourite song or learned techniques used by the stars of the stage and screen. 
6. Maintain virtual meeting etiquette. Inspiring confidence in others will reflect back on you. So make a point of letting attendees know you’re in control by informing them that you won’t be going over the allotted meeting time, there will be time for questions at the end of the presentation, you’ll be sticking to the agenda you sent them earlier, and that you’re recording the session incase anyone needs to refer back. This will help you set the scene for a more confident performance.
7. Finally, remember – a smile goes a long way. If you’re naturally smiling then your voice sounds more upbeat. You’ll often notice that the people around you will smile too. So spread a little happiness when you present.

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As in-person event planners, we became virtual technology and digital marketing experts overnight, whilst in many cases also juggling the role of home-school teacher and parental carer of others. It was overwhelming. It was all-consuming. But you did it.

Unfortunately, a new year hasn’t eradicated the events of the past ten months. We’re still in lockdown, conference centres remain closed and WFH is more tightly woven into the fabric of our everyday lives.

As a valued connection of The Rachel Ley Consultancy, we’d like to remind everyone to be kind to yourself. We are all in this together to stay well. That means mentally well too.

Personally, I’m taking part in the Conqueror virtual challenge to run the 90-mile distance of Hadrian’s Wall. Aside from a very nice medal on completion and motivational postcards along the way, the fitness element is keeping body and mind healthy and the company behind the scheme plants a tree for every 20% of the distance achieved.

However you’re coping, we want you to know that you’re doing the best you can in challenging times and I invite you to virtually reach out for any reason should you need.

Remember, 2021 will be better. For small businesses such as mine, 2021 offers hope. We’ve up-skilled, we’ve diversified to offer new services and we’re ready to embrace this accelerated and vaccinated future with your continued support.

Let’s plan something to look forward to.

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The former wheelchair basketball athlete and now BBC presenter and documentary-maker has certainly needed his unwavering positivity and huge smile to overcome his life’s adversity.

His repeated attempts to win a place on the British Olympic team were rejected over and over again for 15 years, before he was finally given his chance to compete in the Sydney 2000 Paralympics. If that’s not single-minded determination, I don’t know what is.

However, it wasn’t Ade’s struggles to succeed that impacted me the most from his talk. It was a video clip of him playing wheelchair basketball against the World Champions, the USA in the 2004 Athens Paralympics.

It was the quarter-final and Team GB was losing by one point with seven seconds left in the game. Ade was fouled in the act of shooting and was awarded two free throws.

The footage shows him unopposed and alone with his thoughts in his chair, behind the free throw line. He sinks both free shots and seals an incredible victory plus a bronze medal for his team.

The reason this impacted me more than Ade’s battles with his disability, or the challenges he sets himself for TV was because, in that grainy television footage from Athens, you can clearly see that Ade is present on the court.

According to American social psychologist, Amy Cuddy: “When we are present, we approach our biggest challenges with excitement instead of fear, act with self-assurance instead of anxiety, and leave with satisfaction instead of regret.”

There was no way Ade was going to miss those two free shots. In the footage, he shows no fear, only the presence of mind to stand on the biggest sporting stage of all and give his very best performance.

The majority of us can relate to this moment. We may have found ourselves on stage in front of a microphone, with an expectant audience fanned out before us. Or you may have recently started a new job and been given your first opportunity to impress.

No matter how much you’ve prepared, trained or rehearsed, if you’re not completely present when your curtain rises, the slightest self-doubt can find a way in and effect your performance.

If you’d like to understand what it takes to stay present in a high-pressured work environment where we’re required to communicate or present, speak to us about our Vocals in Business courses.

On 31st January, we’ll be hosting two free-to-attend taster sessions of this theatre-based training in central London and you’re most welcome to come along. Otherwise, download the Vocals in Business course booklet and drop us a line for a free consultation.

Ade’s sporting story of course didn’t end with the Athens Olympics. Seven months later he did the exact same thing again, this time at the inaugural Paralympic world cup in the final against Australia. In overtime, Ade hit the winning shot to beat Australia and help his team win Gold.

You too can achieve personal goals by learning the confidence-building and positive projection techniques used by actors and sports men and women alike. When your moment to shine comes along, will you be present enough to excel?

The post The art of being present appeared first on Rachel Ley Consultancy.

This year’s visit got me thinking about food waste at events, particularly from a venue’s perspective and how in 2020, with the rise of veganism and more complex dietary requirements, a renewed focus on the best approach to serving food at events is required.

Earlier this year, the international association IACC, surveyed 250 meeting planners from five continents for its Meeting Room of the Future report. When they were asked ‘what frustrates you the most in terms of event food and beverage offerings?’, planners indicated that the excessive waste of food was a key concern. In fact, a staggering 62 per cent of respondents said that they look at how a venue manages its food waste before booking their event.

Excessive food waste at events appears to be driven by Fear of Running Out. #FORO, as it’s been dubbed, may explain some of the strange behaviour we’re all responsible for when working on events.

Any planner will tell you that almost half of all delegate feedback concerns the food. Attendees will forgive almost every other aspect of an event – the AV failing, queues at registration, even poor venue Wifi, but running out of food will always be considered a cardinal sin.

It’s why a hotel or venue kitchen will often prepare an extra 10 per cent of meals to make sure the event is able to cater for any guest who hasn’t provided a dietary requirement, or who changes their mind at the last minute.

If we’re staging an event for 2,000 guests, that’s potentially an additional 200 meals which are going to waste.

Standing in a food bank at Christmas, surrounded by tins of beans and packets of cornflakes, 200 high-quality, high-value main courses going to waste suddenly seems quite obscene.

As consumer behaviour towards food changes, so too will event menus. Many clients are requesting plant-based starters and mains with more confidence and making policy decisions to limit red meat from larger attendee menus.

Choice however will remain important. Therefore, getting the balance right between managing a venue’s #FORO and helping the client to serve more responsible food options, is going to be one of the biggest organiser challenges for the year ahead.

As for managing event food wastage, I hope we’ll start to see more app-based services in future, such as OLIO (a Spanish word for a dish of many ingredients).

Event planners and venues can use OLIO to recruit food-safety trained local volunteers. These volunteers then collect any unserved food and store it safely in their domestic kitchens, where it can be collected by local charities and food banks.

With 1.5 million users already on the platform and more than three million meals donated, OLIO appears a perfect example of how technology and events need to work closer together to solve these important issues.

As the founder of OLIO told one industry trade magazine recently: ““Can we solve it all? No. Are policy and regulation really important? Yes. Are we going to solve the climate crisis with a food sharing app? No. But, do we believe that billions of small actions got us into this mess, and that billions of small actions can get us back out again? Absolutely.” 

One of the major anniversary events that 2019 will be remembered for was the passing of 50 years since the first moon landing. Our collective responsibility for billions of small actions is, in the famous words of Neil Armstrong, our one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind (and womankind). It’s a footprint we should all be striving to leave behind.

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In a bid to prove that although her politics were fixed, her voice could be altered, Margaret lowered her pitch and softened her tones. It obviously worked because after the Conservatives were defeated in 1974, Margaret Thatcher, as she’s better known, became party leader and subsequently, Prime Minister.

This story intrigued me, not because of any political leanings but because I’ve recently launched Vocals in Business – a series of training courses and workshops designed to help anyone and everyone to communicate more effectively by improving vocal techniques and body language to inspire and influence an audience for maximum impact.

I trained and worked as a professional actress before ‘falling’ into the events industry so I’ve always  coached business speakers and conference presenters to optimise their spoken word. After all, presenting, telling stories and even politics is simply theatre in a different form.

Expressive speech, with modulation in pitch and volume alongside fewer pauses and a more confident stance can really boost credibility in both the boardroom and onstage. But for a nervous presenter or company employees lacking in social confidence, having to pitch, present or approach people with a view to striking up a conversation can be the most daunting of tasks.

To launch Vocals in Business, I’m currently running four core courses – Presenting with confidence, Handling nerves and positive personal projection, Vocal impact and creating drama, plus Better body language for business.

I reveal some of the secrets from the stage, such as theatrical techniques for managing nerves and energy, and finding your authentic stage self. Plus, I balance the theory of great storytelling with practical elements such as projection, pitch, placement, pace and pause in delivery.

In an era where all the world, really does appear to be a stage and attention spans are frighteningly short, it is vital that we maximise our communication skills so that our messaging lands with impact. You don’t need such lofty ambitions as Prime Minister to benefit from a Vocals in Business course. You may simply just want to be heard.

For more information on Vocals in Business, download the core courses booklet here

The post The power of the voice appeared first on Rachel Ley Consultancy.

I’ve been doing it for years but never knew it had a name.

At the C&IT Agency Forum in Belfast last week, the sheer mention of an ‘after-party’ and the ensuing peer pressure to stay ‘out out’, had me slowly backing away from the group, stealthily collecting my coat from the cloakroom, and disappearing off into the night with the call of my hotel room bed ringing in my ears.

I didn’t say goodbye, I didn’t thank my host and I didn’t offer to share my cab. I just knew it was time to go… so I went. No fuss, no long goodbyes…. I just left.

It was only the following day that one of my more bleary-eyed colleagues, with whom I’d shared much of an enjoyable evening prior to my disappearing act, said he’d witnessed my ‘French exit’.

The Oxford English Dictionary traces “the French leave” as far back as 1751. “French Leave is a phrase we had often in use, when one slily elop’d; nor left coin or excuse,” it says. 

Interestingly, I’ve since discovered there’s more than a single phrase to describe the action of an undeclared departure. In America, they call it the ‘Irish goodbye’. In Germany, it’s called a ‘Polish exit’. Whilst in France, they say ‘partir à l’anglaise’ or ‘to leave the English way’.

The origins of these fixed expressions are no doubt rooted in insult, with the ‘Irish goodbye’ referring to someone too drunk to say their farewells, and ‘French leave’ insinuating that French troops were prone to desertion. But is the action itself rude?

My personal view is that we are all different and we should fear not the FOMO associated with calling it a night when we feel the time is right.

After all, not all industry relationships are forged at the hotel bar at 3am and great quality contacts and conversations can be had during a few hours of networking earlier on in the evening, when everyone is still in a business mindset.

Buckling to peer pressure to stay with the last ones standing will most likely see you surrounded by extroverts as the night draws on. But if you’re one of life’s introverts, you shouldn’t be made to feel like you can’t just leave.

With my event organiser hat on, I would much rather attendees arrived on time and fresh for the start of a second day of conferencing. And I’m sure the keynote speaker, forced to address a room full of hungover sleepy-heads would agree.

Others may argue though that it’s the extended networking opportunities of events like the C&IT Agency Forum that should take priority over education and learning. And with only two nights of partying to cement friendships and form collaborative bonds, you should just get the next round in at the bar and keep up with wherever the night may take you.

Of course, this stance is generally only ever argued at 2am in the back of a taxi heading to an ‘after-party’. So I’ve never heard it. I’m usually tucked up in a warm bed hoping that once my new-found industry friends have discovered I’m no longer there, they don’t think me rude and instead recall the value and benefit of our earlier conversation.

The post When it’s time to leave, do you just go? appeared first on Rachel Ley Consultancy.

The awards, hosted by Conference News magazine at the Cafe de Paris in London, took place on Thursday 21 March, 2019.

Rachel, who beat off stiff competition in her category, won for her work on projects for clients including DHL Express and The Institute of Travel Management.

Ian Harvey-Piper, managing director, Technovation says: “Rachel operates in such a way, that no matter what project she tackles, the end result is always superb. Her ability to create excitement from nothing, the way she can motivate her team (and clients) in the most adverse situations, and her fun demeanour whilst running massive events, all add up to her being the best event producer in the business.”

The Event Producer of the Year category was created to ‘celebrate the multi-tasking genius of an agency event producer who is capable of juggling technical duties with creative flair to deliver all aspects of an event from conception to execution.’

Neil Foster, creative producer at Voytek says: “Having worked with Rachel for over a decade, it’s clear that for each event she produces, the bar is raised. She is not content to churn out the same old thing every year, and as a result, we always feel like we are part of something inventive and new. Clients come back to Rachel (especially DHL & ITM) because they know she has a creative tenacity that they would not find anywhere else.”

To speak with The Rachel Ley Consultancy about your next event, call 01420 593610 or email hello@rlcuk.com

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My star-rating as a passenger with Uber dropped from a perfect 5 to 4.5 last weekend. ‘What did I do wrong?’ I cried. The answer, as it turned out was that I kept my driver waiting outside a London hotel for ten whole minutes.

My intolerance to ‘waiting’ meant that I ordered a car ten minutes before I was ready to leave.

Society’s intolerance to ‘waiting’ and technology’s ability to overcome the injustices of standing idle, meant that my driver was sat outside said hotel before I’d even left the app.

On my way to the airport, I used the ‘dead’ time to do some mobile banking, check-in for my flight and order a next-day Amazon delivery – three tasks that would have otherwise seen me waiting in queues and ‘wasting’ time. On arrival at the airport, I discovered that my flight had been delayed for four hours and all I could do was wait.

On seeing my flight delay on an airport departure board, my instant reaction was one of anxiety, stress and foreboding. I couldn’t understand why though.

Yes, I had planned a two-day itinerary and was meeting a client, but not until the following morning. I had no dinner reservation, no hotel check-in time and no-one waiting for me at arrivals who would be inconvenienced. I had my laptop, my phone and an airport full of shops to browse and places that would feed me. So why did I dread the wait?

The simple answer is that with every tap, pinch, and swipe of our mobile devices, we’ve altered our behaviour, heightened our expectation for instant gratification and become less tolerant to road-blocks that bring us crashing to a halt.

Technology has accelerated our pace of life and we’ve relinquished the art of waiting as a consequence. Yet learning to wait is an important skill, especially for an event planner.

It teaches us patience, not only with ourselves but also with others. It teaches us to stay calm, to stay focused on the bigger picture, and gives us the ability to problem-solve more effectively.

When we wait, we see things more clearly (Google the duck-rabbit graph if you need proof. Whichever animal you see first, wait and you’ll see it change).

When we have patience we can better plan events, as opposed to merely reacting to the demands and requests of clients and suppliers in real-time. That in turn allows us to optimise the use of our resources by giving us time to think about what will provide the best event solution or greatest return on investment.

Learning to wait allows us to make better decisions, it improves our health and it makes us mentally stronger. There’s confidence and equanimity in being able to just be. The more we have this feeling of composure, the less likely we are to seek comfort in immediate action, in a perceived need to restore order when something (like a delayed flight) feels uncomfortable.

So how did I spent my airport ‘waiting’ time?

I sat, I watched, I became aware of my calmness of breath, I felt present and I even reevaluated an event logistical issue that had been stumping me before coming up with the perfect solution.

And then I wrote this, to remind myself that mindfulness is a powerful addition to the event planners tool-kit and if we lose the art of waiting, it is detrimental to so many more important things than my Uber star-rating.

The post The Art of Waiting appeared first on Rachel Ley Consultancy.

Rachel is shortlisted in the Event Producer of the Year category, for her work on projects for clients including DHL Express and The Institute of Travel Management.

On hearing the news, Neil Foster, creative producer at Voytek said: “Having worked with Rachel for over a decade, it’s clear that for each event she produces, the bar is raised. She is not content to churn out the same old thing every year, and as a result, we feel like we are part of something inventive and new. Clients come back to Rachel because they know she has a creative tenacity that they would not find anywhere else.”

The awards ceremony will take place on 21 March at Cafe de Paris, in Piccadilly, London.

Ian Harvey-Piper, managing director at Technovation said: “Rachel’s place on the shortlist is fantastic news. She’s a powerhouse within the industry, and her colleagues and crew will follow her wherever she asks us to go.”

We wish Rachel the best of luck with her finalist nomination but whatever happens on 21 March, she’ll always be a winner to us.

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Like many UK-based event professionals, I was vaguely aware of the failure of the Bahamas-based Fyre Festival in the Summer of 2017.

I remember taking a sharp in-take of breath at the news that the organiser had no cancellation or event insurance in place of any kind. I may even have chuckled at the photo of a dried-up cheese sandwich that had gone viral on social media after guests had been promised sushi chefs and food by U.S restauranteur Steven Starr.

And the wry thought most certainly will have crossed my mind that this event management lark is a lot harder than it looks, and people should really only trust us experienced professionals when it comes to staging high-profile events.

What I hadn’t realised however is just how quickly the production team’s problems had escalated while their founder, Billy McFarland was busy defrauding investors and refusing to acknowledge the absolute cluster-f**k that was heading their way.

Or, how they thought they’d get away with pitching hurricane relief tents and passing them off as luxury glamping accommodation on an island that had no event infrastructure to speak of, or even clean drinking water.

Thanks to Netflix’s latest documentary, Fyre (an absolute must-watch for every #eventprof), viewers can witness the very worst-of-the-worst example of what happens when event planning goes wrong.

It really is the stuff of nightmares. However, although I had to watch some bits through my fingers as my toes curled into the carpet, what I found most interesting was the insight into the values of a Millennial and Generation Z event audience.

With over a third of today’s youth more likely to trust a social media influencer’s word over a brand, it’s no surprise that models like Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner had a tremendous impact on the sales and marketing of Fyre festival.

Some 400 of these in-demand influencers, each with millions of followers, posted an orange tile on Instagram, which lead to a promo video and included the hashtag #FyreFestival. These posts generated over 300 million impressions in just 24 hours and the festival sold-out as a result.

In other words, Fyre sold out so quickly because it not only promised a unique festival experience (ticket holders certainly got that!) but it also promised Instagram content that friends and followers wouldn’t be able to compete with.

This FOMO (fear of missing out) resulted in Millennials and Generation Z paying anything up to $12,000 for VIP ticket packages, just to try and guarantee real-time social content for Instagram Stories that would drive their follower count and support the illusion they were living their best lives on a private island in the Bahamas.

The demand for ‘Instagram-able’ content is such that Millennials have been flocking to an art installation of the inside of a private jet currently touring America, just to pose for selfies and fool their followers into thinking they’ve chartered the Gulfstream G3.

While a raft of brands and retail stores are now building Instagram-worthy design into their showrooms, outlets and experiences.

So if there’s two things to take-away from this latest Netflix documentary, don’t let one of them be what Fyre’s event producer was prepared to do to release the drinking water from Customs officials (no more spoilers, you’ll have to watch).

Consider instead, the importance and wider role of the experienced event professional in understanding compliance, health and safety and other regulatory aspects, along with our creative skill-sets to make parts of your event environments more attractive to a generation that views its surroundings through an Instagram lens and the number of ‘Likes’ they’ll receive.

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