As if women don't have enough career hurdles. Add video to the list.

I travelled the world for ABC TV for twenty-five years. After filming thousands of people on camera it was clear to me that *'middle aged' women were most hesitant, reticent about being on camera.

After talking with the business world about the need to get better presenting on video it's clear to me that 'middle aged' women are the most hesitant, reticent about being on camera.

This didn't really matter up until now. Now Video is becoming an important business language. I came across a Dove soap ad from 2013. It clearly highlights a social phenomenon that would be familiar to most: women recoiling and hiding their face when they suddenly realise they are being videoed.

What we all feel is very real. I'm in no way discounting that. What I can tell you is there are some simple physics of how we look, how we sound, how we move on camera that most of us don't understand and we are making decisions based upon these...

I just got off a video link up with a conference organiser about an upcoming speaking event and it's prompted me to make this quick video for other event planners

If someone sent you an email and it was full of typos, spelling and grammar errors and it just looked awful, that's a bad first impression isn't it.

We're fast moving into the video age where quick personal videos will start to replace email more and more. So we all need to lift our game on how we present ourselves on video. First impressions will matter a lot.

So when you have your laptop comfortably on the desk or your smartphone cleverly angled up against the screen of your computer, that may be comfortable for you but is uncomfortable for the person on the other end.

If you're looking down on someone there is an imbalance in the power dynamic. You are sending subliminal messages you are not meaning to send.

And worst of all you are featuring your double chins.

All you need to do to fix this is have a stack of books on...

Do you want something that costs ten cents, you can put in your pocket and it will give you confidence when speaking in front of people?

There’s only one thing worse than singing the wrong note, that’s singing it louder.

People proudly show me their videos for business - and speaking on video is public speaking - and I see the same things over and over again that simply shouldn’t be there. These errors detract from the core message. Ultimately they cost you money.

People would never include these things if they understood some fundamentals like 

• the purpose of your video
• the psychology of your audience
• the mechanics of storytelling

To give you an example of the importance of understanding fundamentals I’m going to show you a great tool that solves the problem of what do I do if things go wrong and I’m just left standing there on stage. This is a fear that stops a lot of people speaking.

This was one of a series of emergency outs that I...

How good are you at dealing with change? There is a no more important question you can ask yourself as we move into the 2020’s.

Find change difficult? Let me introduce you to Frank. 

Frank built supermarkets and carwashes.

A no-nonsense, knockabout sort of guy 

Frank went everywhere with a hard hat, a roll of plans and a surveyor's ‘theodolite' under the other.

Frank was asked to submit a quote to build a temple

Not just any temple, the largest Taoist temple outside of mainland China, and it was just down the road from where he lives in Australia.

Frank thought this'll be a laugh so he drew up some plans. 

He didn't bargain on it but he got the job.

First though, the alignment ceremony.

What’s that? 

“We need to align the site to a spiritual energy axis of the water and the mountains,” the Taoists smiled.

Right said Frank. See you there 9 am Monday morning.

So Frank rolls up with his hard hat, his set of plans and his theodolite

They...

Does how you mean to say it get lost in what you are trying to say?

A woman woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head. "Well," she said, "I think I'll platt my hair today." So she did and she had a wonderful day. 

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head. "H-M-M," she said, "I think I'll part my hair down the middle today." So she did and she had a grand day. 

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head. "Well," she said, “I always wanted to wear my hair in a ponytail." So she did, and she had a top day. 

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn't a single hair on her head. "YAY!" she exclaimed. "I don't have to fix my hair today!"

Hasn't she got a great attitude? More importantly, how well do you respond to someone with a great attitude? It inspires me to action.

I see a...

A pair of socks helped me make more effective videos that people wanted to watch.

The Army’s simple strategy involves tearing you down to nothing then rebuilding you. They take everything you arrive with, even your hair. Then they start taking away everything they gave you when you arrived like pillows, blankets, ashtrays, towels and little by little, like lab rats, you learnt that if you pushed the wrong button you got a zap and the right button got you a pellet of corn. I could accept that. In return they had to accept just one thing: they couldn’t have my sense of humour and there was much to laugh at, unannounced locker inspections for one.

 Any one item out of place resulted in the contents of your locker being ripped out and tossed to the floor. This gave you the ‘opportunity’ to start afresh.  I actually like being neat and tidy and ordered. Mine was a model locker, faultless to a point or so I thought. For this character trait I expected...

A woman was preparing a leg roast. She sawed the end of the bone off. Why do you do that she was asked?

“Because it makes it taste better.” Really? “Yes, my mother taught me that.”

They went to her mother and asked where’d you learn this secret? She said she learned it from her mother. 

They went to the grandmother and asked the same question. She said, she too, had learned it from her mother.

The great-grandmother was still alive so they went to her.

Why does sawing the end off a leg roast make it taste better?

The great-grandmother said, “Well I don’t know about the taste but - and she spreads her hands twelve inches apart - my oven was only this big.”

Do you know why magicians protect their secrets?

Their code of secrecy is not to protect them, it’s to protect you, the audience, from disappointment. Much of magic operates on basic physics principles you would learn in the first year of high school.  

We hope that the...

When I first started performing magic I used to busk to get experience. It was scary. I would stand in the busy tourist square at Southbank in Brisbane, start making some noise, calling to people who were busy going elsewhere.

Once I had one, then it was three and so the crowd would build.

During the show, I would stand on my case to get higher so more people could see what I was doing. It was then that I saw them. Usually two, maybe be three. Men more so than women. They stood there, a little back from the group, arms folded. Silent sentinels studying me, my every move. I knew who they were. 

They were me, ten years earlier.

I would watch these street performers and marvel at how they could gather a crowd and keep them there. It was a real mystery to me.

Over time I learned the strategies and tactics. None of this was random. It was planned. It was definitely something I could learn. It is teachable.

So if you wonder if you could present yourself comfortably and confidently in...

Senator John McCain died three days ago. Have you noticed the common words used to describe him? A man of moral courage seems to sum him up.

I randomly chose an article from my news feed and pulled these words from this one Forbes story. It reminded me that what will be said at my funeral is directly related to the life I am leading right now. Time to get cracking and live the life you want rather than the life you've accepted.

Civility
Courage
Integrity
Values
bravest
decent
honorable
exceptional
conscience
duty
deep sense of right and wrong
respect
moral courage
human decency
civility
service
truthteller
refusal to diminish or dehumanize people
legacy
compassion
affect positive change
equitable
dignity

When was the last time you misinterpreted a written message? 

How many times have you had to explain ‘it’s not what I meant when I wrote that.’

I was listening to Seth Godin’s podcast called Akimbo and he was talking about the concept of faux intimacy, you know, when a business sends you a generic printed birthday card in a misguided attempt to infer they have a relationship with you, and it got me thinking.

When we read, the faux intimacy of print means the reader hears the words in their head in their own voice. So if the voice in their head is one of negativity and resistance to change then it is possible they might ‘hear’ your email in a way you didn’t intend it to be heard. The result is confusion which is likely to be the opposite of the clarity you were aiming for.

However, the faux intimacy of video means the listener hears the words in your voice. Video delivers the message in the tone you intended.

So, save yourself time and...