END OF THE WORLD CLAIM PROVES SLIGHTLY PREMATURE

I suppose you're wondering why this special Michael Dodd Communications Christmas extravaganza edition is coming out today when it doesn't normally arrive on Saturdays. Well it's all because of those Mayans. You may be aware certain interpretations of the ancient Mayan calendar suggested that the world would end on 21 December 2012. We now know that these interpretations - or misinterpretations - are nonsense. But of course until today dawned we couldn't be absolutely sure. And as someone who prides himself on being at the cutting edge of important global developments, I've been worried about the timing of the seasonal issue of this ezine. Just think about it. I'd look pretty stupid wishing everyone a merry little Christmas if it turned out that 25 December 2012 never turned up. And, to be frank, it would be a quite a bit of work for little reward if no one ever got to read this ezine... or you looked at it but then disappeared along with everything else an instant later without the time to think profoundly about its deep, multiple and potentially paradoxical meanings. How embarrassing would that be for Michael Dodd Communications in the after life? And my concerns were heightened when it seemed that someone as important as the Australian Prime Minister, no less, suggested the Mayan interpreters might be onto something. Julia Gillard made her doomsday pronouncements known in a promotional broadcast for the Australian youth radio station, Triple J, which did a special programme on the End of the World.     Triple J's promotion for its End Of The World show I used to report for Triple J when I was an Australian Broadcasting Corporation foreign correspondent based in Berlin and London. Therefore I know from first hand experience that many Triple J reports are absolutely true. So when Ms Gillard threw her prime ministerial authority behind the Mayan interpreters, I had to consider the possibility that she might know something that the rest of us didn't. You can check out her warning here:    Whether it's wise for a prime minister to throw the prestige of office behind such a stunt is a matter for fine judgement. I've got doubts about her decision myself. But you can't blame Australia alone. After all Ms Gilliard was born in Wales.

AUSTRALIA TAKES ANOTHER LEAD Now that it looks as though there will be a 2013 afterall, it's worth doing a bit of future planning on bad health habits. I'm sure most readers of this ezine are far too sensible to smoke. But for those who have succumbed to the evils of nicotine, you might be inspired to quit the habit by Australia's far-sighted move to ban all branding images on cigarette packets. I would be the first concede that not everything that comes out of Australia is necessarily a brilliant idea (see above story). But this latest move against smoking is a fantastic leap forward - and other countries would be well advised to follow suit. Why am I so sure? Well I've spend a lot of time working to help boost the communications skills of those wonderful people who assist others to give up smoking. And I've been privileged to work with some health charities who help those who suffer from diseases which smoking can cause - or make worse. So I've learned a bit about the downside of inhaling the smoke - and just how difficult it is for many addicted people to give up the habit. I think that anything which helps de-glamourise smoking to stop people taking it up in the first place is, on balance, a good thing. And if you watch this item below after the initial news story, you'll be rewarded by experiencing the views of a lifelong Australian non-smoker who bobs up to put his two cents worth in on BBC News.   Whether it's worth waiting for his appearance a couple of minutes in I'll leave you to decide. CHRISTMAS TREE WITH A DIFFERENCE At this time of year you might expect that an august publication such as this would contain a seasonal picture of a tree. And here it is.  Photo Credit: Jonathan Brind This particular photo is of an apple tree - but a very special one. It's located within the grounds of the National Measurement Office in Teddington in London's southern suburbs.  I've been fortunate enough to have been doing some communications-boosting work there this week where I had the opportunity to observe the tree. So what's important about it? Well it's supposedly been grown from a cutting of an apple tree which once lived much further north. And it's said to be the tree which Sir Isaac Newton was observing when he saw that apple fall and - after wondering why it fell down, not up - went on to discover the law of gravity.  Sir Isaac Newton plus apple    Here's hoping the tree inspires you too. AND HERE'S YOUR POLITICALLY CORRECT CHRISTMAS GREETING The Michael Dodd Communications ezine is read by people of many cultures in many lands. This means that wishing a simple Merry Christmas could potentially cause ruffles - or at least seem overly Christian-centric - in some circles. One has to be so correct these days that at a seasonal function organised by the Professional Speaking Association we were all handed the following message to keep us on the safe side. So here is an adapted version of it which serves to form a very special seasonal greeting - especially for you. Best wishes for an environmentally-conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most joyous traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, but with respect for the religious persuasion of others who choose to practice their own religion as well as those who choose not to practice a religion at all. Additionally, a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the generally accepted calendar year 2013, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures (like those Mayans) whose contributions have helped make our society great, without regards to the race, creed, colour, religious or sexual preferences of the wishers. (Legal Disclaimer: This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for himself or herself or others and no responsibility for any unintended emotional stress these greetings may bring to those not caught up in the holiday spirit.) Keep smiling throughout the festive season whatever your religious, political or philosophical perspective. Michael

KIDNAP ALARM IN IRAQ

It was the moment western visitors to the Middle East dread.    The taxi had driven a couple of miles out of the airport in northern Iraq when inexplicably it pulled into a carpark.    It drew alongside another vehicle and stopped.    The three of us were told to get out.    The driver ushered us towards another car.    We looked at each other.    There didn't seem to be any alternative but to do as we were told.    Our baggage was transferred from one taxi to the other. Nervously we asked what was going on. In broken English (our collective Arabic isn't crash-hot) we were told it was standard procedure. It was explained that taxis cleared to pick up passengers from the planes can only operate within the airport boundaries, and that another taxi has to take travelers further on. It sounded a bit unlikely. But doing a runner into the desert sands seemed futile. Reluctantly we got into the second car.  Kidnapped in Iraq - what it can be like. We were driven for miles through the outskirts of the city - past a mixture of oldblock-style, sandy-coloured Arabic buildings and newly emerging office towers. Eventually we pulled up outside a modern hotel. It had the same name as the hotel into which we had been booked.    Relief. And then the real shock. Before our arrival we'd been told the journey would be twenty-five American dollars. But the driver insisted it was thirty-five. I dug into my modest wad of greenbacks. Never has an extra ten dollars been handed over so happily. I was even given a receipt.  Welcome to Iraq.

THE RISING PARADISE OF NORTHERN IRAQ And that was as scary as it got. There were lots of soldiers, guns at the ready, guarding buildings. But we never saw a shot fired or a hint of trouble. So the strategic communications company we were working with, CB3, and their client, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, made an excellent locational choice. In fact the city of Erbil - in northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region - was remarkably calm, well-organised and growing in prosperity. You could wander streets in the early morning and watch immigrants waiting patiently in the hope of being hired for their labour.  Would-be workers in Iraq awaiting opportunity You could peer inside the shop windows of bakeries and watch feverishly toiling bread-makers oiling trays, massaging dough and pulling out endless supplies of pancake-like delicacies with long handled kitchen implements. And you could visit the glitziest of shopping malls just like the ones that Middle Eastern shoppers and tourists so love in places like Abu Dhabi. An Erbil Shopping Mall The bustling new malls contrast happily with the ancient Erbil citadel where the dramatic walls rise upwards of thirty metres in order to protect the courtyards, alleyways and mosques within, as they've done for millennia. It's claimed to be the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in history - stretching back seven-thousand years and beyond. In that time the citadel has survived numerous sieges and other assaults - not to mention various rebuilds and refurbishments. Who cares if the current almost-as-new walls are only a mere several hundred years old? Amidst the ancient and modern, we were constantly reminded that Erbil isn't like the rest of Iraq - and views itself as largely separate from it. Its emerging reputation as an oasis of calm was why our United Nations hosts felt it the ideal place to convene the conference to enhance Iraqi journalistic skills where our team was contributing. Having been granted semi-autonomous status after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the Kurds are keen to tell you that you're not really in Iraq - you're in Kurdistan. It's rather like when you're not in England, you're in Yorkshire; you're not in Germany, you're in Bavaria - and, of course, you're not in Australia, you're in Queensland. The spirit of Kurdish separatism is encapsulated on the wall surrounding this school in the Erbil suburbs. A totally separate Kurdistan - the writing's on the wall! Somehow if feels as though a completely independent Kurdistan in some form will one day exist. Here's hoping it won't take the violence of former Yugoslavia in order to bring it about.  INVEST IN NORTHERN IRAQ NOW (IT'S GUARANTEED!!!) Iraqi Kurdistan is enjoying an impressive economic boom - allowing it to surge ahead of other parts of the country. To the annoyance of Bagdad, the Kurdish authorities are selling their oil on the international market - to the Russians among others - and this is helping to fuel other sectors like construction and even tourism. Inside a shopping mall we were almost enticed to buy palatial new homes off the plan. "They're 100 per cent guaranteed to double their value in the next two years", we were told by an enthusiastic sales rep. (He could prove to be right - though I vaguely remember hearing something similar in Dubai before the last bubble burst.) The rep insisted on taking my details to email more information, even though I confessed to being a pretty unlikely buyer. His killer line is that his offerings are right next to the Kurdish mini-Disneyland. California look out! TRANSFORMING YOUR COMMUNICATION SKILLS While northern Iraq transforms itself, equally dramatic uplifts in the field of your communications skills are also possible. The next open sessions on boosting your ability to get your message across are about to take place at the Royal Institute for British Architects in Central London. "Giving Great Answers To Tough Questions" is 9.30am to 12.30pm on Friday 30 November. "Perfecting Your Elevator Pitch" runs later on the same day from 2pm to 5pm. "Presenting with Confidence, Impact and Pizzazz" is being held all day on Wednesday 5 December. There's a soon-to-expire early bird offer for each on the website. Places can be booked by emailing michael@michaeldoddcommunications.com or phoning UK 07944 952835. Or you can book through paypal at http://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/presentation_training.php All sessions are guaranteed to be fun... even better than living next door to the Iraqi Disneyland! FUN AT THE DEAD SEA But you don't know what real fun is until you've been on the Dead Sea. I say "on" it advisedly. The Dead Sea water is so salty that swimming there is an incredibly buoyant experience. Its salinity is 33.7 per cent - making it more than eight times saltier than the ocean. This means you tend to float atop it rather than sink deeply into it - as demonstrated by this randomly-selected rugged human specimen reading the Jordanian Times. Photo Credit: York Smith Productions ( www.yorksmith.co.uk )  The Dead Sea is the earth's lowest elevation on land. It's 423 metres below sea level - lying between Jordan, Israel and the West Bank. I've been fortunate to be working beside the Dead Sea and in the Jordanian capital, Amman, for Pulford Global - helping United Nations agencies work on their international communications challenges over the past week. With the missile fire going on across other side of the sea - mercifully out of site and the line of fire - it's a great place for a conference where participants need to get away from it all! But don't take my word for it. King Herod the Great and the Egpytian Queen, Cleopatra, have luxuriated in the Dead Sea waters. They thrived on the experience. But the extreme saltiness means no animals or fish can survive in the Dead Sea waters. There's not much in the way of waves. But if you have a fear sharks, it's even better than Bondi! Keep smiling, Michael

WHAT BOND MOVIES MEAN FOR YOUR NEXT PRESENTATION

When I was in the high school debating team in Sydney, there was one topic on the list which our team always hoped we would get: "That every man thinks he's James Bond." Alas, under the system where our team and the opposition had to jointly agree on the question, this was one debating topic that never happened. But whether you're for or against the Bond everyman theory, there's something that the start of the latest 007 - Skyfall - can teach us all when it comes to giving hugely more gripping presentations. I'm not giving too much away here for those yet to see it by telling you that Skyfall starts with a truly amazing - albeit ridiculously incredible - action sequence.  Bond chases a villain through the market places of Istanbul causing mayhem on an almost nuclear scale, fights on top of a train as it goes through tunnels and demonstrates a hitherto unknown talent for driving a bulldozer with murderous intent after he runs out of bullets. As you can see it's pretty much like the start of the previous 22 Bond films over the past fifty years - only more so. I can assure you that no one walked out of the cinema...and I don't think anyone drifted off either. So what does this mean for your next presentation? Lots!

HIT YOUR AUDIENCE FROM THE START The consistent success of Bond openings means you should start your presentation with a bang...that is, something that will grab and hold your audience.    This sounds logical, but most presentations don't achieve it. Too many presentations start with speakers wasting those vital opening seconds and  minutes by talking about something the audience is probably not all that interested in... usually themselves. "Let me just tell you some background about myself and my organisation..." Or they start with an unnecessary apology. "I'm sorry this won't be very good because it was Fred who was meant to do it and unfortunately he can't be here..." There are no clearer signals to an audience that this is time for them to drift off. The thing is that unless you are somebody the world is desperate to hear about, starting with background about yourself - or why you were roped in to do it instead of someone else - is not what the audience wants. What they do like is energy and excitement. This is why Skyfall took a record amount of takings in the first seven days of its opening week in the UK. And why 007 movies, under the never-ending parade of Bond acting stars, have consistently performed so well at the box office.    When you start your next presentation, make your opening line something which grabs from the start. If you provide enough oomph, you're well on your way to holding your audience for the entirety of your presentation. After that you can make a decision about whether every man thinks he's James Bond.  Picture Credit: Lucinda Dodd And for those with eagle eyes, do be assured that the red spot near the collar of this would-be 007 isn't blood. It's actually a Professional Speaking Association badge...a license to speak, if not to kill! But if it weren't for this, only a close relative would be able to identify the difference between this picture and the other Bond stars in the newsletter. MAKING YOUR PRESENTATIONS AS GRIPPING AS 007 Communications skills are improvable skills - whether you're seeking a major overhaul or just a touch of Bond stardust. There's an opportunity to throw yourselves into the challenge in the next open communications-boosting master classes in Central London. "Giving Great Answers To Tough Questions" and "Perfecting Your Elevator Pitch" run on Friday 30 November 2012. And "Presenting with Confidence, Impact and Pizzazz" runs on Wednesday 5 December 2012. There's an early bird offer for each which expires on 19 November. Places can be booked by emailing michael@michaeldoddcommunications.com or phoning UK 07944 952835. Or you can book through paypal at: http://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/presentation_training.php Each session will start with a bang. Your communications skills will jump Bond-like from one plane to a higher plane. You can expect to come out with your performances shaken and your audiences stirred. My mission to save the universe from dull, nervous communications attempts continues...  FORTHCOMING MIDDLE EAST MISSIONS November looks like being as exciting as a series of Bond assignments...but hopefully a touch safer. There's a mission in Iraq which is hopefully less dangerous than it sounds...as it's taking place in Erbil in the supposedly calmer, northern part of the country. And the planned mission to Beruit has been switched to safer territory, which is nice...though I was keen see the so-called Paris of the Middle East. This follows latest car bomb and subsequent threats to Lebanese stability. The assignment has been shifted to Jordan which - while being close to Syria - isn't as troubled. So for those who have Dodd bookings for your events in later November, December and in 2013, I have every intention of returning in one piece to fulfill these commitments ("Inshallah - or "God willing" - as they constantly say in the Middle East).  AND FOR THE BOND WOMEN... Meanwhile after deciding whether every man thinks he's James Bond, you might also like to consider the parallel female question. Does every woman think she's a Bond girl...or a powerful Judi Dench-like female M?    Looking forward to your answers to these big questions. Keep smiling, Michael

DO YOU REALLY NEED ALL THOSE NOTES?

British Prime Minister, David Cameron, today gives his speech to the annual Conservative Party conference under more pressure than he was a short time ago. Foremost amongst the reasons for this increased pressure is a single speech last week by the Opposition Labour Party leader, Ed Milliband. There was one thing about the Milliband speech which proved to be a political game-changer - at least temporarily and maybe for much longer. And it had little to do with any bold new Labour policy idea or attacks on the government's style and substance. The thing about Ed Milliband's speech which has really got notice was that it was delivered without notes. Ed Milliband...Look Mum, no notes. There was universal agreement among commentators that this was Mr Milliband's most confident speech - where spoke without any lectern, autocue or papers while surrounded by audience members on all sides. Now speaking fluently without notes for nearly an hour and to grip the audience throughout is an impressive thing to do. David Cameron has been known to do the same to much acclaim - such as one still remembered note-free speech he gave when running to be his party's leader.  David Cameron - Hey I can do it too What the note-free speech enables both leaders to do is to convey their personality and their message far more powerfully than they would otherwise come across. In Ed Milliband's case, being freed from notes helped him become seen as a more genuine and impressive figure - who spoke from the heart and connected emotionally with those in the audience and on TV to a far greater extent than ever before. Here's around four minutes of it. So if you're not seeking high political office, then what does the Milliband experience mean for you? It shows that when you give a presentation and you do it without notes (or without using slides as a memory prompt) that you can potentially have a far bigger impact and move the audience far more in the direction you want them to go.

HINTS TO HELP YOU DO IT What people often find when they leave the notes behind is that it's easier and more liberating than they thought. But you don't have to go completely down the Milliband route, to gain a benefit. You can make a big difference by just using fewer notes - and often less obvious notes. Rather than holding large pieces of paper, a tiny card in your hand to remind you of your main points tends to be far more useful to you if you get lost, and allows you to connect much more clearly with your audience. And if you are wedded to some notes, at least have points where you can depart from them. One of the best times to do this is when you're telling a personal story. Because you it happened to you, then it's imprinted on your mind and so much easier to tell without any prompts. Being freed from the notes will allow you to sound more naturally conversational. And it will allow you to keep eye contact with your audience which underlines the point that your speech is really for them. TRY IT YOURSELF While you can spend a lifetime to taking your speaking skills to a higher level - and become ever less reliant on notes along the way - most people can make a transformational difference to their presentations in a very short space of time. It's a distinctly learnable skill. A couple of half-day sessions or a full day dedicated to training for it typically makes a big difference to people's performance and confidence. It allows you also to know what to leave in and what to leave out - and how to structure your speech for maximum effect. It can make your pitches for business far more persuasive. Michael Dodd Communications runs bespoke presentation training sessions inside organisations - in boardrooms, hotels and conference centres. There's also an open session of "Presenting with Confidence, Impact and Pizzazz" coming up on 5 December. And if it's the killer questions you might get during and after your talk that put you on edge, there's an open session of "Giving Great Answers To Tough Questions" on 30 November. The early bird offer on both these Central London sessions at:  http://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/presentation_training.php THE NEW AFTER DINNER SPEECH Why is this strange character being photographed outside a McDonalds? McDonalds in Budapest 2012 And surely, as it's in the magnificent city of Budapest, there are more impressive things to picture than a fast food restaurant! Well every picture tells a story, and this is to illustrate one of the more bizarre elements of my new after dinner speech called "Tales and Tips From Six Continents". I made my first visit to Budapest in 1988 - just before the anti-communist revolutions swept across Eastern Europe the following year. But in Hungary they had embarked on their own economic revolution even before the communists were thrown out. Taking advantage of the more enlightened approach to governing by the then Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev, some of Hungary's leaders were pushing to see what they could get away in terms of economic liberalization. And what they managed to do took them far beyond anything that was happening inside Mr Gorbachev's own country at the time. I remember doing an interview in Budapest with the economic advisor to the prime minister who was vehemently in favour of free market forces - to the extent that would have made the then British prime minister Margaret Thatcher proud. One of the signs of this was that when I arrived in Budapest the first McDonalds in the communist bloc had just opened amidst much excitement.  McDonalds in Budapest 1988 It seems crazy now, but people would queue for hours in Hungary get hold of a Big Mac - and to get a taste of America which for so long they'd been told was such an evil place. On my recent trip to Budapest it was fascinating to talk to those Hungarians who remembered the amazing moment of their first McDonalds visit back in the days when communism was being challenged. But the early-starting revolution in Hungary wasn't entirely smooth. There was still resistance from the secret police whose job it was to do whatever it took to keep the old-style regime in place. While I was interviewing dissidents in Hungary in 1988 the secret police made their presence felt in one particular interview with a young female environmental activist. Ecological campaigners were regarded by the old-style communist authorities as being a particularly sinister threat - as they opposed the production-at-all-cost mentality which was causing massive water and air pollution throughout the communist bloc. I was conducting the interview in a quiet spot in a major western-style hotel in the Budapest city centre when a man emerged beside us heckling the environmentalist, snarling repeatedly in broken English "You are nothing, you are nothing". At first I thought he was drunk, but as the tirade continued it became clearer that he wasn't. To her huge credit, the environmentalist refused to be intimidated, and insisted that we continue the interview regardless. It felt at times as if the harassment might turn physical. But never did. My interviewee said the secret police constantly sought to disrupt the environmentalists' efforts - and she was determined not to give in to them. And she didn't. Eventually the man gave up and left...though goodness knows what he wrote on her file. It's these and other stories from my time reporting and speaking on six continents that makes up my new after dinner speech. But I'm afraid that there are no stories from the seventh continent - Antactica. At least not yet. So if you want colourful tales about penguins on ice for your after-dinner entertainment, you'll have to look elsewhere. Keep smiling, Michael

WHAT TO SAY IF YOU DON'T KNOW THE ANSWER

David Cameron has earned himself a series of unflattering headlines after failing to answer a couple of quiz questions on American TV. Mr Cameron - perhaps bravely, perhaps unwisely - agreed to become the first serving British Prime Minister to appear on the largely comedy-focused Late Show during a visit to New York. Now having watched the whole of his appearance, contrary to the headlines, it's fair to say that overall he did pretty well - and certainly avoided the biggest potential trap of taking himself too seriously in front viewers mainly looking for laughs. And as you might expect, on the occasional serious topics David Cameron was able to give some easy-to-follow answers to explain some of the finer points of the United Kingdom to a less than totally clued-up audience across the Atlantic. But the news media - being highly selective as they typically are - focused on those moments when he was completely stumped by host David Letterman's quiz questions.       First up, Cameron didn't know who composed Rule Britannia (understandably not being too familiar with the less-than-famous Thomas Arne). Then he couldn't give the translation of "Magna Carta" - a rather bigger crime for someone who presumably studied Latin at Eton. To his credit, Mr Cameron did make some self-deprecating remarks while admitting he didn't know the answers - the most drastic being "I've ended my career on your show". But he allowed himself to be portrayed looking far sillier than he needed to. There's a useful formula which anyone can use when being asked a question where you don't know the answer. Mr Cameron got the first bit right: admit you don't know. This is far safer than bluffing. But he didn't follow the essential next steps. The second step is to briefly, and without being defensive, explain why you don't know. "Well of course I'm only the prime minister, not the British historian-in-chief," would have been fine for the Magna Carta question. The third step is then to gently move the conversation onwards so that you say something on the same topic that you do know. The full Cameron-Letterman interview is here on Youtube: If you watch it you'll see that the prime minister had earlier in the interview demonstrated he knew quite a bit about the historic document, including the fact that it was signed in 1215. So all Mr Cameron needed to do was to move on and explain a little more about the significance of the Magna Carta for Britain, and the world. This would have made a far more impressive conclusion to his response and would have enabled him to avoid being hit by such Letterman barbs as "it would be good if you knew this" which were fired off during the embarrassing prime ministerial silences. The trick is that once you've dealt with a pesky question by saying you can't answer and explaining why, then you're perfectly within your conversational rights to add something you do know on the subject. If you get this right you'll look far more authoritative and in control than David Cameron managed.

AND YOU CAN DO IT YOURSELF Training to utilise this and other techniques is what we work on during my "Giving Great Answers To Tough Questions" sessions. These sessions can be run as keynotes at conferences or as workshops inside your organisation. They deal with tough questions from potential and existing customers, financiers, shareholders, public inquiries and the media. And there's an open session starting on the morning of Friday 30 November in Central London. In the afternoon of same day there's an open session of "Perfecting Your Elevator Pitch". This enables your business introductions become more powerful, effective and memorable when talking about what you do in formal and informal circumstances. It boosts your performance in conversations with new prospects, chance encounters in lifts and in those tricky 60-second pitches at networking meetings. And on Wednesday 5 December there's the opportunity to take part in the open master class on "Presenting with Confidence, Impact and Pizzazz". This shows how to grab and hold audience attention - and boost your presentation content, structure and performance. All three sessions allow participants to feel more confident when in the spotlight. Details of the early bird offer and booking arrangements are at: http://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/presentation_training.php Or you can book your place by emailing enquiries@michaeldoddcommunications.com UNITED NATIONS - THE NEXT MISSION It's been great to work over the past couple of weeks with United Nations officials based across the world - including some of the most troublesome of trouble spots. These dedicated people have to be ready to stand up to tough questions from CNN, the BBC, Al Jazeera and others in some of the most difficult circumstances you can imagine. As luck would have it, the training itself was done under rather easier conditions than their normal working environments. We ran sessions beside the Danube in glorious Budapest.   Photo credit: York Smith And training by the shores of Lake Geneva...allowing for a post-training excursion into the Alps. Photo credit: Rick Ives But it's not always so luxurious - for them or for me. Word has come through that my next training UN mission is in Iraq...yes, really. But before you panic and think your next training course with me will be the last, the good news is the sessions we're running there are in what's described as the relative safe zone of Erbil in Northern Iraq. Nonetheless, advice on security matters from any reader who has been there of late would be most welcome. MADAM BECKY FAILS TO SPANK SPEAKERS The story about ex-brothel owner, Madam Becky, in the last issue of this newsletter generated more reaction than any other item this year. (This clearly says something about some of the readers I manage to attract!) You'll recall that Madam Becky was taking on me and my fellow speakers in a bid to become the UK Business Speaker of the Year 2012.    Madam Becky was promising to enthrall us all by showing how the principles she utilised to build up the profitability of her prostitution operations could be applied to other aspects of business. Well to the disappointment of almost all, alas Madam Becky failed to show up when the rest of the two-dozen qualifying speakers gathered in Southampton for the finals. So our fears that Madam Becky would give us all a right spanking because of her more wide-ranging worldly experience failed to materialize. (However I have a suspicion that the sponsors of the contest may have been a touch relieved at her non-appearance.) The judges then had the rather less exciting task of interviewing the rest of us throughout the day. They had to gauge our speaking prowess in X-Factor style auditions to decide who should be selected to give their speeches in front of the live audience. At the end of their interviews, the judges whittled the survivor list down to a final nine. So it was a privilege to be selected amongst this group to convey our inspirational business message to the audience. There was a fascinating collection of speeches, with the winner being Richard Watts for a very polished performance entitled "The Morale Factor". So hearty congratulations to him. Richard argued persuasively that rather than squeezing suppliers, business leaders should concentrate their efforts on rewarding those they worked with...including sometimes giving them a big hug. Meanwhile one can only wait breathlessly to see whether Madam Becky will titillate the judges with an appearance next year. One can imagine that until then, Madam Becky may be acting on Richard's advice and giving all those she interacts with a big hug. DODD COMMUNICATION-BOOSTING SERVICES Meanwhile, if you decide against having Madam Becky at your next conference, and you need a to transform your people into inspirational business communicators click here: www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/international_speaking.php If you need to know how to perform at your peak in media interviews with the local newspaper, the TV news or anywhere in between then click here:  www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/media_training.php    And if you need a comprehensive communications-boosting programme for your key people click here:  www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/transform_communication_skills.php  CHRISTMAS 2012 COMES EARLY Ever since I can remember, it's been said that commercial activity for Christmas starts earlier each year. In Manchester in 2012 this is certainly the case. At a training gig near the Manchester United Stadium in Salford, the Beefeater restaurant has already begun the festivities - as I found when I had breakfast there. In case no one believes me, here's a diner holding a 24 September 2012 copy of The Telegraph to prove that it really is up.   Picture Credit: Jonathan Brind The presence of the tree is part of a promotion to get you to book there for Christmas dinner - more than three months before the big day. So in case I forget to say it in December... Happy Christmas, Michael