The Heart of Listening
Over the last two years, facilitators like me were forced to pivot our training programmes for the online space. As someone BBF (Born Before Technology), I’m loathe to admit that this concept was entirely overwhelming at first. But like the title of acclaimed South African satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys’s first one-man show, it was an Adapt or Dye situation – well, in my case – Adapt or Die!
The Perfect Pitch
They say a true Parisian woman can size you up from your head to your shoes and back up again in milliseconds, so fast that most people won’t even notice ‘the look’. If judgment calls are made just by passing someone in the street, imagine the reaction to a clumsy elevator pitch.
The Listeria hysteria: How not to communicate from a crisis communications vantage point
If there could be anything worse than the largest ever recorded outbreak of this severe form of listeriosis globally, it could only be the way it has been communicated. In fact, from a crisis communications perspective, the killer polony scandal can be used as a case study of how NOT to respond to an unfolding tragedy of such mammoth proportions.
In the firing line – tips for dealing with the media
OK. So you’ve learned the basics of how to deal with the media. And you think you’re ready. The fact is – you’re not. When last did you go through rigorous Media Skills Training? A few years ago? And was it a rather dull PowerPoint presentation with a handy guide book thrown in for good measure?
Beware: Cyber assault coming soon, so how to communicate
South Africa could face a massive cyber assault this year. At a recent International Data Corporation (IDC) and Microsoft event on cyber threats, the IDC’s Jon Tullett said one of the company’s predictions for 2017 was the country could see an attack at “public service level or within financial services. It will be a very public malware or ransomware attack“.