OUTSTANDING PREPARATION CAN SAVE YOUR CAREER

Great preparation lies at the heart of great communication.      Whether you're giving a speech, answering challenging business questions or doing a media interview, proper professional preparation is vital to success.       In case there was ever any doubt about this, a would-be Australian politician has just given the world a most dramatic lesson in the importance of doing your homework.       A few days ago 27-year-old Stephanie Banister was a candidate for Australia's One Nation party in the state of Queensland in the current election campaign.        One Nation is an anti-immigration party broadly similar to the British National Party.        Ms Banister already had obtained some publicity by being arrested for going into a supermarket and putting stickers on Nestle products saying "halal food funds terrorism".         She then did an interview with Australia's Channel 7 and - Whoopsi Daisy!!! - clearly didn't do much in the way of effective, ever-so-basic homework.             As a result Stephanie Banister literally put Islam on the map...revealing that she thought Islam was a country.        "I don't oppose Islam as a country, but I do feel that their laws should not be welcome here in Australia", Ms Banister declared.          She also made a series of other gaffs, including expressing her mistaken belief that Jews worship Jesus Christ.          With the help of mainstream media and social media her comments whizzed around the world.           Ms Banister has been given the dubious accolade of being dubbed "Australia's Sarah Palin" - after the hapless US vice-presidential candidate who, among other howlers, sought to build up her image of someone who understood Moscow-Washington relations by saying she could see Russia from her kitchen window in Alaska.           Sarah Palin never became America's vice-president.  Spot the moose! Sarah Palin with a caribou that she shot - upsetting animal lovers and her own nine-year-old daughter.              And Stephanie Banister has now quit in embarrassment as an Australian candidate.           A bit of preparation before you have an important communications moment can go along way ....from Queensland to Alaska and beyond.           This is why communications master classes work for my clients.            You get the chance to plan, prepare and practice and to be tested out in advance.            Any mistakes you make remain in the privacy of the session - not tweeted around the world in an instant.             As a result you have every reason to feel so much more confident about your speeches, your answers to questions and your media interviews.             You can check out the interview which led to Stephanie Banister's rather truncated political career here:                   BECOMING AN INSPIRATIONAL COMMUNICATOR        The next opportunity to boost your communications skills and your confidence in an open master class is coming up.         "Becoming An Inspirational Communicator" is a two-day master class in Central London.         It covers: # Presenting with Confidence, Impact and Pizzazz # Giving Great Answers To Tough Questions # Perfecting Your 60-second Elevator Pitch         A particular benefit of running it over two days is that you get the chance to try things on the first day, absorb the feedback, review your approach overnight and come back on the second day to hit the right spots.         We work on the content of what you say, the way you structure your communications and the way you look and sound when you deliver them.          Your ability to impress, connect, sell and motivate will soar.         "Becoming An Inspirational Communicator" runs on Thursday 21 November and Friday 22 November.         It starts each day at 10am and runs to 5pm.         The investment is £495 per place.         There's an early bird offer of £387 for bookings made before 13 September.          Your investment includes VAT, lunch on both days and refreshments.          Email enquiries@michaeldoddcommunications.com to secure your place. LEARNING FROM THE JUNGLE GIRL       I'm hoping the opening story of Stephanie Banister hasn't made you think Australian women can't be inspirational communicators.        They can be - even if Australia's ruling Labor Party has managed to depose the first sheila as prime minister after feeling she wasn't connecting strongly enough with the voters.        One Aussie woman who deserves the title of being an inspirational communicator is Bindi Irwin - daughter of the late crocodile hunter and conservationist, Steve Irwin.        She has heroically carried on her father's TV environmental campaigning with her captivating programme "Bindi the Jungle Girl" seen around the world.            Bindi has just had her fifteenth birthday...and unlike most teenagers chose to celebrate the occasion by talking to the media about one of the more controversial conservation issues - Zero Population Growth.          The idea of limiting the number of humans overrunning the planet is a tricky cause which can run into all kinds of religious and philosophical objections.          But Bindi remains undaunted and took the opportunity to push the issue when speaking to the media at her birthday party press conference at The Australia Zoo.              This drew more attention to her powerful Youtube essay on the topic.          Bindi talks about a friend of hers, Ruth, who died a little while back at the age of 104.          She says that in Ruth's lifetime the population of the earth went from 1.5-billion to 7-billion of us.           We are, of course, all arguably wondrous in our own way, but Bindi has spotted the dangers if we keep multiplying as we are.           In a particularly powerful analogy about the ongoing population explosion, she talks about the concept of inviting 15 friends to a birthday party - to find that 70 friends show up.           Check this out two minutes into the video:          It's interesting that Bindi has chosen to read her script from paper rather than use an autocue which, as a TV performer, she would be well used to using.          I find it more powerful when people talk in a conversational style straight to the camera...and run master classes for individuals and groups showing them how it can be done for high impact webcasts.          Nonetheless Bindi is such a splendid communicator that she somehow gets away with reading the script - and just looking up where she can.          It shows how strong arguments and a well-thought-out script can be highly powerful - even without perfect delivery.  MUSIC FROM THE BLUE DANUBE             When you think about The Blue Danube meandering its way through Austria, you may well have the famous waltz of Johann Strauss come into your mind.             But the river provided the backdrop for a much wider variety of performances at the thirtieth Danube Island Music Festival - with offerings of pop, rock, soul, jazz, blues, hip hop and hard rock as well as oompa music accompanied by knickerbocker-wearing, thigh-slapping locals.                However, when I had the good fortune to be working in Vienna, and staying in a hotel just up from the festival, I spotted one musical act which had much more far-distant origins.             Not only was it from a more ancient tradition than the others, but the two didgeridoo players didn't even mind if one of their countrymen joined in the fun.   Photo credit: Nick Shaw           No prizes for spotting the imposter.         I think it's fair to say the Blue Danube has never witnessed a scene like it.         However I'm not so sure if Johann Strauss would be deeply impressed by the musical quality of the third man.         Keep smiling,         Michael