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CASE STUDY – The Skilled Presenter™ – Controlling Nerves in a Challenging Environment

John experienced significant challenges in communicating as he transitioned from the military to civilian life. For many years, he struggled to communicate effectively and confidently in face-to-face interactions, often feeling extremely nervous and emotional, even to the point of tears … Continue reading

Presenting to an audience that is not an expert like you

Gilly Meek, Accredited The Skilled Presenter™ Trainer You’ve been invited to present to a non-technical audience. Excited to share your expertise and insight, you open PowerPoint® and start building your slides. You include lots of information and data, as you … Continue reading

When you need to get technical – do people really understand you?

In every industry, there are technical teams with specific skills. These teams have various internal stakeholders, (executive teams, managers and other employees) and external stakeholders (customers, providers and the public)… …success or failure hinges on the team’s ability to clearly … Continue reading

Think on Your Feet® when storytelling – utilising the Think on Your Feet® techniques to tell a story

People are more likely to remember information when it’s wrapped in a story. The flow of your narrative and the strength of the images you position, will help your listener recall what has been said and remember it. As humans … Continue reading

Ensure your sales team can confidently think on their feet

Sales can be a challenging profession and the way businesses sell is constantly changing. Effective communication is a cornerstone of success for sales professionals. Our clients tell us their sales teams consistently face communication challenges that impact their ability to … Continue reading

How to engage your audience and perform with impact whether online or in-person!

Why should your presentations be more dynamic, engaging and persuasive? Whether you’re giving sales pitches, leading meetings or presenting research findings – the ability to present dynamically can set you apart and open up opportunities for growth. Dynamic presentation skills … Continue reading

Collaborative Writing

Richard Morris, Accredited Trainer With the introduction of hybrid working, we are spending less time in face-to-face conversations. So when you send that business report – you may not have a chance to talk someone through it. Having great writing … Continue reading

Allowing people’s creativity to flow when writing for business

Richard Morris, Accredited Trainer Creativity in business enhances success. It fosters engagement, teamwork, innovative ideas, product and service enhancements. Breaking old thinking habits and work patterns. But how often do businesses actually promote creativity in their business writing? In creative … Continue reading

Plan, Perform, Practice – the three P’s of dynamic and persuasive presentations

Many psychological surveys rank public speaking as a greater fear for us than death. Rather than run from our presentations – we need to harness those fears. Here’s our three P’s of dynamic, persuasive presentations: Plan Probably the most important step, … Continue reading

Overcoming the most common regulatory writing issues

Richard Morris, Accredited Trainer Regulatory writing is essential in ensuring compliance and safety, but it comes with its own set of challenges! We spoke to Richard Morris, a Writing Dynamics™ trainer at Indigo, about some of the common regulatory writing issues … Continue reading

The do’s and don’ts of presenting

The pandemic presented many challenges to the way we live and work. The birth of the beloved online meeting meant that a lot of the skills we had honed and perfected before, were simply lost or substituted for other skills. … Continue reading

Indigo is proud to sponsor the YES22 People Choice award – but who will win?

“We are proud to have sponsored the YES People’s Choice award for over a decade now.” said Robert Fisher of Indigo. ”Having a brilliant mind and amazing ideas is at the heart of this competition – translating ideas into something … Continue reading

Be more John Wayne – the lost art of brevity.

I have always talked about clarity and conciseness as an entry point into good, professional communication. Lots of management books tell us that managers with good communications skills, are often more effective leaders. ‘John Wayne in pinstripes’ was a term … Continue reading

Converting from academic to business writing

Richard Morris, Accredited Trainer Remember those good ‘ole university dissertations when you were 150 words short of the minimum word count? What did you do? You added in words to extend sentences and paragraphs to get you over the line! … Continue reading

Are all graduates masters of verbal communication?

Richard Morris, Accredited Trainer When organisations develop Graduate Recruitment Days, you can almost guarantee that at the top of the assessment criteria is ‘communication’! Naturally, all employers are looking for an intake of new talent who can ‘hit the ground … Continue reading

Forget the “Big Resignation” – what about “the Big Presentation”?

Gilly Meek, Accredited Think on Your Feet® Trainer When taking on a new role, client or job, you will likely be asked to make “that big presentation!” You know the one… the career-defining introduction, the presentation that ties your stomach … Continue reading

Hybrid meeting challenges and how to overcome them

The pandemic changed the way we work and changed it fast. After that initial scramble to source the tech and make sure everyone is supported to work remotely, we are now looking at ways to integrate hybrid working into the … Continue reading

Virtual selling – the new sales disruptor

Richard Morris, Accredited Trainer The world of the sales professional has changed. Consideration needs to be given to the skills that are now needed. The COVID pandemic has meant virtual selling has become the new reality of the sales function … Continue reading

Impactful and effective virtual communication

Richard Morris, Accredited Trainer 2020 made businesses adapt their channels of communication. Lockdown meant a focus on virtual platforms, with internal and external stakeholders working remotely. The emphasis for many was ‘Do we have the right platforms in place?’ Perhaps … Continue reading

The big presentation

Gilly Meek, Accredited Think on Your Feet® Trainer We all have that presentation, whether it’s online or face-to-face,  the one that we really want to go well – the big presentation! Maybe it’s presenting our new strategy to the board, … Continue reading

Giving a project update

Gilly Meek, Accredited Think on Your Feet® Trainer Project updates are a key part of landing projects successfully – it’s really important to keep stakeholders updated on progress. The way you deliver your updates can be the difference between your … Continue reading

Deal with tough questions that make you feel nervous

Gilly Meek, Accredited Think on Your Feet® Trainer Nobody likes tough questions. Especially when you aren’t prepared for them! The feeling of a loss of control, that we might not be able to answer the question or that we can’t … Continue reading

Supporting Young Scientists – Young Entrepreneurs Scheme “People’s choice” award in 2019

Indigo are proud to champion university teams through our ongoing Young Entrepreneurs Scheme “People’s choice” award in 2019. Jack Fleet was a member of the University of Manchester’s winning YES19 team, Larvita. ‘Our business idea was a vertical insect farm producing … Continue reading

Writing virtually: collaboration and clarity make for great documents that get results

This is a critical time for most organisations and more than ever, documents and communications need to be clear, understandable, and to the point. Have you thought about how you are helping the people on your teams to achieve this? … Continue reading

Navigating the new normal: getting your message across

Imagine that you have just concluded an online meeting or briefing. Everyone who was in that virtual space heads to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. Their partner joins them. “What was your meeting about?” they ask. Are … Continue reading

Crucial conversations

Gilly Meek, Accredited Think on Your Feet® Trainer There are times in our career when we all have to have difficult conversations. As Managers, we may need to have a conversation with a team member to discuss a required behavioural … Continue reading

Getting your point across to a difficult stakeholder

Gilly Meek, Accredited Think on Your Feet® Trainer We all have those colleagues and customers that we find difficult. More often than not, it’s one of our important stakeholders. They might be demanding. They might talk over us or appear … Continue reading

Charity Challenge (February 2020 – Manchester) – Think on Your Feet®

We delivered another great Think on Your Feet® workshop in Manchester this week.  Thanks to all our attendees for contributing so positively, making it a fun and engaging two days. Due to its success we ran our third charity challenge. … Continue reading

Charity Challenge (January 2020 – London) – Think on Your Feet®

Here at Indigo we’ve had a busy start to 2020.  We delivered another busy Think on Your Feet® workshop in London. Thanks to all our attendees for contributing so positively, making it a fun and engaging two days. The charity … Continue reading

Sponsoring The Engineers And Scientists Of The Future (YES19)

The final of the Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (YES19) global competition was held on Tuesday 10 December at the Royal Society, London. Teams of postgraduate students and post-doctoral researchers went head-to-head to compete for a prize fund of £15K. Every year … Continue reading

Charity Challenge (December 2019 – London) – Think on Your Feet®

Congratulations to Charlotte Cullen from Wolff Olins for winning the London Think on Your Feet® Charity Challenge last week.  Charlotte delivered a passionate, informative and heartfelt pitch telling us why her chosen charity should get a £100 donation. Voted the … Continue reading

Anxiety when communicating, can cloud your thinking

You’ve been expecting that really tricky, difficult conversation with a key stakeholder. Within the first few minutes you get a response, a question that you didn’t anticipate and the rest of the conversation goes a bit wrong. You’ve spent days … Continue reading

Soft skills are essential for strong business growth

As a seasoned communications professional with experience spanning four decades working with a variety of large and small organisations, I feel I have built up a powerful armoury of soft skills. Which is comforting, especially in light of the fact … Continue reading

A mum’s tale – Thinking on your feet after a career break.

After a career break to raise two boys, the day finally came to wave my youngest off to school. The time was right for me to return to work. I’ll be honest, although I was excited about the prospect of … Continue reading

Essential soft skills for graduates

Most newly employed graduates have the sector-specific knowledge required to hit the ground running, yet many lack the fundamental practical core skills that prevent them actually doing the job and reaching their full potential. These transferable skills, used across the … Continue reading

When you need to answer quickly and persuasively…

Gilly Meek, Accredited Think on Your Feet®, Six Thinking Hats® and Skilled Presenter™ trainer. Imagine you’re asked to present at a really important meeting. You’re ok with the presentation itself but the questions and answers section fills you with dread! … Continue reading

When your mind goes blank, when writing…

You’ve got a great idea. You need to sell your idea. Your fingers hit the keyboard. Your mind goes blank? Absolutely nothing! Your mind goes blank. You’ve got writer’s block. This happens to all of us at times. So how … Continue reading

When your mind goes blank, when responding…

Gilly Meek, Accredited Think on Your Feet® trainer. You’re stood by the coffee machine, a Director happens to bump into you and asks you how things are going with that project you’ve been working on with her team. You open … Continue reading

Indigo Business Services Named Exclusive UK Distributor for Think on Your Feet®

RICHMOND, UK, 30 August 2018: McLuhan & Davies Communications, Inc. has appointed their exclusive UK distributor, Indigo Business Services Limited. Indigo will be the sole provider of their suite of business-communication workshops in the UK. “From September 2018 our 17-year relationship … Continue reading

Creativity throughout an organisation

We all know that change is happening more often and faster than ever before! Organisations have to be innovative, whether they’re responding to change or driving it. They’ll need to innovate at all levels and in all functions to be … Continue reading

Getting your message across when presenting

By Richard White – Master Trainer: Think on Your Feet®, Writing Dynamics™ and Grammar on the Rocks™. Most people are very nervous about public speaking and giving presentations. There are a number of ways to deal with nerves in our … Continue reading

Getting your message across when writing

By Richard White – Master Trainer: Think on Your Feet®, Writing Dynamics™ and Grammar on the Rocks™. We’ve all been writing for most of our lives and have developed our own style and method. Most of us probably haven’t questioned … Continue reading

Getting your message across in conversations

By Richard White – Master Trainer: Think on Your Feet®, Writing Dynamics™ and Grammar on the Rocks™. Conversations, unlike formal presentations and written documents, give no time to prepare how to get our message across. In conversations, we can’t try … Continue reading

Changing the way you do things

By Richard White – de Bono Accredited Trainer. Change for the better is always good but we have to make it happen, we can’t sit back and wait for it. Adding to that, the old adage “nothing is perfect” suggests … Continue reading

Making your words effective and dynamic

We all know that time is money: constructing documents, presenting or in dialogue. And the time it commands from your recipient to read, attend or listen. Whatever we write and say has to hit the mark. It doesn’t matter how … Continue reading

Do you plan what you say?

During my career I have received and delivered communication skills training, achieving both effective and candid outcomes. Much of this development has been preparing what I would say in any given scenario – and it’s served me well. However, there … Continue reading

Add IMPACT To What You Say

There have been times in my career when I had business VIP visits and opportunities to make an impact; to show just what an expert I was. I would be asked an easy question such as “how’s the project going?” … Continue reading