Speakeasy launches in Manchester
A new Business Networking initiative ‘Speakeasy’ has been launched in Manchester and the first group meeting was held at Manchester Metropolitan University Business School on Monday 25th January 2010. It is the brain child of Business Skills Trainer Andrew Thorp and the idea is to get like minded business owners together in order to help them improve their presentation skills as well as giving them an opportunity to talk to different businesses in an informal environment.
There were 4 speakers on the night, Chris Allwood of Allwood Business Solutions UK Ltd, Karl Southern of Image Excellence, David Wolstenholme of S2Photosphere and Lorne Hamill of Wow Training. They were all given 5 minutes to talk about their relevant businesses and exactly what it is they have a passion for.
The whole group then gave constructive feedback on issues such as Presentation Style, Voice Projection & Delivery, Confidence, Audience Interaction & Rapport, Use of Powerpoint etc. It was all about how to get their message across clearly with enthusiasm and simplicity.
At the end of the session there was a guest contribution from Neil Firth, Corporate Vocal Coach and founder of The Vocal Group. Neil gave a brief insight into how he helps organisations develop the effectiveness of their work force by helping them improve their presentation skills and vocal delivery. He also gave a short 10 minute preview of some of the physical and vocal exercises he uses to great effect in his Corporate Voice Training Workshops.
The group plans to meet once a month for the next 6 months and each meeting will have 4 different presenters and a guest contributor who specialises in a particular field of presentation skills training. The next meeting of this particular group takes place on Tuesday 23rd February 2010, although Andrew plans to launch a second group on Tuesday 9th February 2010 due to the high level of interest. For more information visit www.andrewthorp.co.uk and click on Presentation Skills under the heading ‘Categories’ on the right hand side.