Claudia Raab's Blog

Do you want new, better results in your career? Do you want to improve your professional image? Do you want to make a stronger impact when talking and presenting to your colleagues, clients or boss?

If your answer to any of these questions is "yes", make sure you only use powerful phrases and get rid of powerless ones that take away your credibility and damage your professional image tremendously.

By powerless phrases I mean phrases like: "you know", "you know what I mean", "kind of", "sort of", "in a way", "maybe" - all vague, useless expressions. In fact, expressions that don't really add value to your conversation or presentation.

Keep your language clear and exact. No fuzzing and blurring! Show your audience you are a professional. If you are convinced your company should cut down costs, simply say so. No "maybes", no "you knows", no "sort ofs". If you want to convey your expertise and professionalism convince and impress with a professional, clear language and presentation.

Start to improve your public speaking, communication and presentation skills today and remember: We're here to help! Simply give us a call on 0425 785 143 or email info@raabconsulting.com today! Have a great and successful new week and good luck with your conversations and presentations!

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Happy Australia Day to all our clients and readers! While preparing to celebrate Australia Day the Raab & Raab team was wondering where the word "Australia" comes from. Thanks to Celine's fabulous research skills we now know:

 The name Australia derives from the Latin "Australis", meaning "Southern". Since Roman times people were telling stories about an unknown land of the South "terra australis incognita". 

However, it wasn't before 1625 that the word "Australia" was first used in the English language in "A note of Australia del Espiritu Santo", written by Master Hakluyt and published by Samuel Purchas in Hakluytus Posthumus.

And wikipekia tells us that the name Australia was popularised by the 1814 work "A Voyage to Terra Australis" by the navigator Matthew Flinders,  who became the first person known to have circumnavigated the red continent.

 If you have to give a presentation in the next couple of days, how about using "Australia", its meaning or even "terra australis incognita" as an idea for your opening? Great for telling a story, for comparing past and present and future, and so on. Now, that's a thought, isn't it? So, once again: Happy Australia Day! Enjoy your presentation!

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They are fun, easy to come up with and fabulous when it comes to expanding your vocab: Acrostic poems! Sounds complicated? Not at all: Acrostic poems are simple poems where the first letter of each line forms a word or even a whole sentence (read vertically).

A ustralia - huge country
U nder the southern sky,
S trong winds blowing,
R ivers flowing,
T ime seems to stop.
A bsorb the beauty!
L ove the adventure!
I ndulge in the culture!
A ustralia - adorable. 

What's your version? You've got 60 seconds - counting now. Try doing one acrostic poem once a day and your think on your feet ability increases incredibly fast. And your unleashing your creativity! It's a great exercise and fun game! Go for it!

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You're listening to a talk and the presenter is constantly using words like "honestly", "frankly", "to tell you the truth ...", "sort of", "pretty much" and "basically"?

What a pity! When using these words - journalists call them unnecessary since meaningless "fillers" - the presenter is not only giving away that he or she has not rehearsed enough and therefore delivering a poor speech wasting the audiences time.

He or she also looses credibility, respect and command. Gone  is the chance to make an impact. Even if the message is great and strong, when poorly presented and weakened by fillers - no one will hear or rembered it.

When delivering a presentation, use powerful, meaningful words. Eliminate words that carry no information value. Create short, dense sentences, rehearse until you are comfortable, deliver powerfully and you'll create a strong impact.

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At the end of each year editors and language researchers of Webster's New World - renowned for their Dictionaries and Thesauri - are looking forward to one of their most favourite duties: Finding the Word of the Year. “We survey the emerging English of the past year,” says Editor in Chief Michael Agnes, “and choose one word or phrase that captures our imagination – whether with its intrinsic linguistic attributes or by the way it expresses how language reflects changing realities.”

“In most cases,” says Agnes, “the word chosen is a new one and thus hasn’t yet found its way into the dictionary. As we do not try to predict the future of language change in English, the choice does not reflect an opinion that the term will eventually be found in the dictionary. In short, it’s merely one that made us chuckle, think, reflect, or just shake our heads.”

This week Webster has announced this year's winner. It's the word "overshare", meaning "divulge excessive personal information." Sharing more than you wanted to know. Those personal, overly-detailed revelations that you simply don't wanted to know. But in an era of online social networking and instant digital broadcasts, this type of unsolicited and often embarrassing communication is an inescapable sign of the times. Simply TMI - too much information.

The Word of the Year 2008 can act as a great reminder in the area of public speaking in particular when preparing your next presentation. Remember the rule that is so important when structuring your next public speaking event: Three main points you're going to talk about are what everybody can take in - supported by three statements each in the main body of your presentation. Put in more and you're simply oversharing when giving a presentation! Keep it short and simple!

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Once you've decided you want to improve your professional image to show your expertise and confidence while earning new respect for what you do, make sure you watch your language and avoid powerless words and expressions!

What you say reflects what you are and vice versa: What you are reflects what you say! Check yourself! How often do you use vague phrases like: "That's kind of strange", "That sort of thing happens to me a lot!"

Expressions like "kind of ...", "sort of ..." are powerless words and demonstrate you are not sure of what you say! Does such a behaviour add to your credibility and professional image and gets you new results? Not at all! People expect clarity and precise facts from an expert!

Eliminate these powerless words from your vocabulary instantly! Be precise and clear and you'll be guaranteed your professional image improves while saving a lot of time! Start today!

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Expanding your vocabulary is a great way of increasing your professional image. Eloquent people - people who can express themselves well - are almost automatically perceived as experts. Expanding your vocabulary is also a great way of conquering your fear of public speaking since the richer your vocabulary the more confident you become.

How about this: Instead of "We have to start all over again" simply use "Back to square one." Do you know where this simple but powerful phrase comes from? Easy: Many board games divide the playing field into numbered sections. Incurring a penalty in a game such as Snakes and Ladders, a player must return to the beginning, or "square one". It's a phrase that dates only to the early 1950 although most of the games that use this system are much older.

Try to use the phrase at least once today and enjoy how this will make you more confident when using the full potential of the English language and at the same time add to your professional image.

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