Most of us are not aware that were speaking with an accent. What’s your accent and how does it impact on others when you present?

As we travel the world teaching people to present with impact we are constantly presented with different accents and colloquial sayings that can confuse audiences and negatively impact on the delivery of your message.

You have about 10seconds to make a first impression when presenting yourself

So focus on your accent and try to speak in what we call mid Atlantic accent in English. Not hard American English nor overly Queens English. We are not asking you to give up your identity nor are we asking you to lose the connection with your origins. What we want you to do is to communicate more effectively in simple business English. Leave the flamboyant words out of your presentation. Words such as: “anthisus” “antipoean” and “onomatopoeia” have little impact with international audiences.

Consider this when next presenting …