There was no real reason to turn down the offer of a temporary job as a butcher’s delivery person.

Aged 18 with no income, and not much happening in my life at the time, the wackiness of the whole idea somehow appealed.

But I HATED it!

No Satnavs to help me find where I was supposed to go, no mobile phones to connect. Parking outside the shop on the busy street to collect the next round of orders was even harder.

The guys in the butchers thought it was hilarious. What was a GIRL doing, doing the deliveries anyway?

But I had people I couldn’t let down, so I stuck with it for the agreed time.

It’s a story I can use as an example of being up for a challenge, tenacity, loyalty, etc.

What are the forgotten stories from your background that you can use in your talks?

For help with finding those forgotten stories, check out my

Story Prompt Cards and Story Prompt Journal on the Resources page

Rachel Maunder is a communication skills and speaker...

Is there something you want to do but hold back because you don’t feel confident to do it?

You certainly wouldn't be alone.

Whatever your level of success, there’s always another challenge to take and that old hoary chestnut of confidence pops up again.

Think back to another time when you didn’t feel confident about something that you now do with ease. How did you gain that confidence? Probably by doing ‘the thing’.

One of the wonderful parts of the work I do is to see people grow in confidence around sharing their story, around recognising their expertise and owning the difference they make in the world.

The more you do it, the more confident you’ll become – I promise!

Rachel Maunder is a communication skills and speaker coach and professional speaker.

She has been in the world of competent communication, in different guises, for more than 30 years so has a wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise to pass on to her clients, both...

The Thomas the Tank Engine cake I’d made for my son’s 2nd birthday had collapsed. The brown and blue icing had run into each other leaving a pool of icing around the plate.

But hey! The 2 year olds could see that it was Thomas and we Mums had a laugh.

One Mum came into my kitchen, closed the door and said ‘Please don’t take this the wrong way.’

She described how she would have binned the cake and started again, losing sleep, getting stressed, etc.

She admired me for using it and showing that it wasn’t the disaster she would have mentally created had it been her cake.

The point was that the cake was fit for purpose and the overall cost of starting again was too great.

What have you abandoned at great cost to yourself, when actually it would have been fit for purpose? We don’t always need perfection.

Rachel Maunder is a communication skills and speaker coach and professional speaker. 

She has been in the world of competent...

What are some of the funny little things that give you joy?

On my morning dog walks I used meet a couple with 2 Newfoundlands – they’re the big fluffy dogs, the size of a small bear.

What gives me joy is that whenever the brown one spots me, she bounds across in a very ungainly way to see me, like a child running to see a favourite aunt. Sad or stupid – maybe, but it never fails to bring a smile to my face.

They’ve moved away recently so I may never see that dog again, so I’ll hold onto that joyful little memory for moments when I need it.

I’ve stored that memory away for possible use in a future talk or presentation.

What sad or stupid things bring you joy? And how can you bring those into your presentations, to show your audience a bit more about you?

Rachel Maunder is a communication skills and speaker coach and professional speaker.

She has been in the world of competent communication, in different guises, for more than 30...

In August 2021 Hayling Island Sailing Club celebrated its centenary year.

Imagine the stories that have taken place there.

Stories of high wind, no wind; races becalmed, races flattened by squalls; boats of all sizes, old and new.

And of course the people.

How many stories take place there every single day?

A member myself for 20 years, imagine how many stories I alone have. The sailing, the beach and the parties. Don’t get me started - I’ll never stop!*

So what about you? Where do you hang out? Are you a member of a club or organisation? Or somewhere you often go?

What are your stories of triumph and disappointment, of trying new things and meeting new people? Of beautiful sunsets or washed out picnics?

Sharing stories about how and where you spend your time tells your audience something about you and gives them something to resonate with.

So what’s your story?

Rachel Maunder is a communication skills and speaker coach and professional speaker. 

She...

Do you see yourself as a creative? How do you know whether you are or not? Who gets to decide?

What does being creative even mean?

With the following words on my annual school report for Art – 2 years running! - it’s hardly any surprise that I went through life thinking I wasn’t artistic:

‘Rachel’s artistic imagination far exceeds her ability.’

Somewhere along my journey I’ve come to see I can be artistic, or creative in different ways and if you haven’t put your hand up that will be the case for you too.

It doesn’t have to be about painting and drawing – although we can learn to do that too. It can be about homemaking, cooking, gardening, so many ways.

So in what way would you see yourself as creative – because you are?

Do you write? Come up with new ways of working with your clients? Think outside the box?

What other ways are there to be creative? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Rachel Maunder is...

However organised or disorganised you are, I’m guessing you see some value of having a designated place for everything: towels in a cupboard, books on the bookshelf, cutlery in the cutlery drawer.

Easier to find and easier to put away.

How hard could that be without those designated spaces? It’s the same when it comes to sharing your expertise through speaking.

Our brains like to store things, to file them away, so that when we learn something new about a familiar topic, it knows where to store it. If it’s a new topic, our brain needs to create a new storage container.

When you use a simple structure for your talk you’re helping your audience to use appropriate containers to classify what they learn from you. Without that structure, what are the chances of them retaining or retrieving the important parts when they’re scattered among everything else going on in their brain?

Need help with creating your presentation?

Let’s have a...

It’s often said that opposites attract – and the same can be said when you’re looking for your stories.

Your stories need to illustrate a point that you’re making, so instead of looking for examples of when you were a shining example of that point, find a time where you were the opposite.

If you’re talking about resilience, look for a time in your past when you gave up on something. If you’re talking about mindfulness, look for a time when you were anything but. If you’re talking about creating clever designs, look for a time when you came up with a less than clever design.

Not only will these stories show your vulnerability, they will also give you the opportunity to go on to share how you moved from those places of ‘how not to’ to your current place of ’how to. After all, that’s what your clients want to learn.

Rachel Maunder is a communication skills and speaker coach and professional speaker.

She has...

I exchanged a look of shared amusement with the woman behind the counter.

Another customer having a conversation on his mobile phone. He wasn’t being loud and there was nothing untoward about his conversation.

It was just that he was on a mobile phone.

One of the first ones that looked more like a leather-covered brick. It was the late 1980’s and mobile phones were a rare phenomenon.

So our amused look carried a ‘Get you!’ message and tbh, my thoughts were something like ‘What a poser!’ (My problem, I know – not his).

Fast forward 30+ years and seeing someone on their mobile is rarely story-worthy topic – but your stories about your first impressions of innovation can be.

Sharing how your attitude has changed, etc. can add humour and context to your message, can illustrated how thoughts and attitudes change, etc.

What’s your first memory of mobile phones?

For more ideas for other stories, check out the Story Prompt Cards...

Have you ever heard a presentation that felt it wasn’t meant for you? That perhaps the speaker was rolling out a talk they’d prepared for a different audience, and therefore didn’t quite resonate with you?

Context is such an important part of creating an engaging presentation.

Who’s in the audience? What are the common features that bring this group of people together?

Perhaps they all work in a similar industry, belong to the same network or organisation or have similar interests.

Whatever those commonalities are, make them your starting point for what to cover in your presentation. How much will they know already? How can you angle your content to resonate with them? Which story will they relate to?

Adding in just a phrase or two that let’s your audience see that you know who they are and how your content might relate to them makes a world of difference.

Why not a book a call with me now to see how I can help? 

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