OVERCOMING YOUR FEAR OF PREPARATION

FEAR OF PREPARATION  Here's a scene I encounter pretty much every week. There's a gathering of leaders...sometimes from the same company; sometimes from the same business leaders group. They all say they're nervous. And indeed they are. They talk of sweaty palms. They talk of shaking hands. They talk of butterflies in the tummy.    They're about to have their communications skills tested - and taken to a new, more inspirational level. It could be to make a presentation. It could be do a brief business introduction. It could be to answer tough questions. What makes them even more apprehensive is the presence of the camera operator setting up in the corner. There are surveys which show people fear speaking in front of audiences more than they fear rattlesnakes, death and going to the dentist. But here's the crucial thing I've discovered. What they really fear is not speaking in front of others - even the camera. They fear PREPARING to speak. And the reason they fear this is frequently because they don't know quite how to prepare. When they're shown how to choose the right content and the right structure for those presentations, introductions and questions they feel so much better. And as we spend the session focusing on how to prepare - and then actually preparing, it makes the world of difference. Those business leaders who were so nervous feel so much better. They prove to themselves they can actually do it - if they know how to prepare and then actually take the trouble to do so. And when they know how best to stand, how to involve their hands and how to best utilise their voice, they feel still more at ease. Those sweaty palms and shaky hands disappear. And if there are any butterflies left, at least they're flying in formation. There's more on "Presenting with Confidence, Impact and Pizzazz" at http://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/presentation_training.php AT LAST!!! In many of the groups of business leaders I work with, the participants have to give the professional speakers who conduct the session a mark out of ten. Your reputation as a speaker lives or dies by these marks. And there's one brand of groups who actually pay the speakers in accordance with their score.   No pressure, eh? But while the participants can be generous with their marking when they feel they've made great progress, it is - quite understandably - tough to completely satisfy everyone in a session. So it was nice to finally hit the jackpot with a group outside Wigan where for once all members managed to give a score of ten out of ten.  Wigan in the English North-West Three cheers for Wigan, Adrian Sharpe and members of his Vistage K231. And a big thanks to all those chairs of business leaders groups and members for your constructive suggestions to put me on the right track over the past few years. Alas the scores can only go down from here!!!  ANSWER THE QUESTION MR BATES It's fair to say that the Canadian company, Research In Motion, which produces Blackberrys is feeling the heat from its rivals Apple and Samsung after a massive loss in market share. How do I know? Not by studying the Blackberry figures, but by listening the interviews given by the company's European Managing Director, Stephen Bates. When I say "interviews" I am using the term loosely. Interviews traditionally involve actually responding to questions. Mr Bates's approach to being interviewed is to avoid answering the question completely - time after time. As a result he looks and sounds dodgy....as bad as the worst of politicians. Viewers watching his performances can be forgiven for shouting at their TVs and radios: "Answer the question, Mr Bates." Questioned about the delay in the launch of a new model Blackberry on BBC Breakfast TV, Mr Bates was asked repeatedly "What went wrong?" His answers began variously with: "Actually it's interesting..." "So, so you know I'm always excited to be part of this ..." "Traditionally, this is a great market..." "This is a phenomenal market..." You can re-live all Stephen Bates's non-answers at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p014f3p9  Mr Bates similarly evaded all questions on Radio 5 Live on the subject of what had Blackberry learned from the Apple iphone? The conclusion you have to reach from all the non-answers is "Lots and lots and lots". Judge for yourself at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p014f43k?utm_source=February+2013&utm_campaign=12th+February+2013&utm_medium=email HOW YOU SHOULD TREAT THOSE QUESTIONS    If you want to come across as devious, slimy and insecure under pressure then copy the Stephen Bates technique whenever you're interviewed. If you want to look honest, relaxed and in control then do what Mr Bates should have done: ANSWER THE QUESTION RIGHT UP FRONT. Once you have answered the question, you then have a license under the normal rules of conversation to add a bit more - and convey an additional message. But if you don't answer then your audience and the journalistic world will draw their own conclusion - which is probably far worse than any embarrassing truth. You can get the Michael Dodd Communications free media interview tipsheet at http://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/products.php/#mediatipsheet And if you want to be prepared for a media crisis, I have a way of bringing it to life through an unfolding series of mock media stories based on what your organisation would have to deal with if something goes wrong. There's more information about master classes in media interview response at: http://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/media_training.php  THE PRIME MINISTERS AND ME I hope none of you missed the interview I did on Australian radio twenty years ago with then Canadian prime minister, Brian Mulroney. In the unlikely event that you missed it, it was conducted in Munich where I was covering what was then called the G-7 conference of the leading economic nations. Mr Mulroney was giving a press conference as a controversial Canadian domestic issue blew up involving French-speakings in Quebec - and only Canadian journalists were admitted. Brian Mulroney, 18th Prime Minister of Canada The press conference went on ages and we journalists from other countries were locked outside listening on a speaker system, but unable to put our questions to the big man of Canada about issues important to our audiences. Eventually the press conference ended and the Canadian journo's all rushed out to file their stories. I stormed in and went up to Mr Mulroney saying "Canada locked Australia out of your press conference!" He was apologetic, in a jovial kind of way, and asked me if I knew Bob Hawke - the then Australian Prime Minister. As I had previously been a Canberra correspondent, I could tell him that I did indeed and had asked Mr Hawke many questions at many press conferences Down Under. Mr Mulroney told me how much he liked Bob Hawke, and said that as I knew Mr Hawke he would give me my own exclusive interview. He did it on the spot. Brian Mulroney proved to be a fascinating, colourful and engaging interviewee (who actually answered the questions - Mr Bates take note). My lords and masters at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation were very pleased with the result. So I had a good, albeit narrow, perception of Canadian politics...until this week when I was sent the following story supposedly about the latest Canadian PM. Please read it with a massive pinch of salt... SPIN, CANADIAN STYLE (ALLEGEDLY) Judy Harper an amateur genealogy researcher in Northern Ontario, was doing some personal work on her own family tree. She discovered that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's great-great uncle, Remus Rudd, was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Winnipeg in 1889. Both Judy and Stephen Harper share this common ancestor. The only known photograph of Remus shows him standing on the gallows at Canada's Manitoba Provincial Jail. On the back of the picture Judy obtained during her research is this inscription: 'Remus Rudd horse thief, sent to Stoney Mountain Jail 1885, escaped 1887, robbed the Canadian Pacific (Railway) and Canadian National (Railway) trains six times. Caught by Mounted Police Force, convicted and hanged in 1889.' So Judy recently e-mailed Prime Minister Harper  for information about their great-great uncle, Remus Rudd. Believe it or not, Harper's staff sent back the following biographical sketch for her genealogy research: "Remus Rudd was famous in Ontario during the mid to late 1800s.  His business empire grew to include acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and intimate dealings with the CP and CN Railways.. Beginning in 1883, he devoted several years of his life to government service, finally taking leave to resume his dealings with the railroads. In 1887, he was a key player in a vital investigation run by the Mounted Police Force. In 1889, Remus passed away during an important civic function held in his honour when the platform upon which he was standing collapsed." It would be fascinating if this story were true. Unfortunately, in my attempts to verify it, I came across an almost identical story on the web put up earlier about the former Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. Here's a picture of Mr Rudd's supposed long lost relative being hung...or as Australian's were told "taking part in an important civic function in his honour."    It seems the Australian story is as untrue as the Canadian one. But I hope you enjoyed it anyway. Meanwhile, as the descendent of an Australian convict who escaped to New Zealand where he had children by a Maori (my great-great-great grandma), my policy is to reveal all on the topic of family skeletons. The plus side of this true story means I may be entitled to fishing rights in New Zealand waters. I've just had the pleasure of basking by Middle Eastern waters, on a mission in Dubai. Picture credit: Anthony Miles But it's nice to have the option of making a living from the waters further south if the need arises. So being truthful about the family history isn't always so bad. Keep smiling, Michael

MAD MEDITERRANEAN MONKEY MAULS MICHAEL

THE KEY TO GETTING FREE PUBLICITY The art of getting free media coverage for your organisation largely depends on coming up with what journalists regard as REAL NEWS. So when I'm showing people during master classes how to achieve this, I seek to get them inside the mind of the journalist. Journalists don't see the world in quite the same way as other people do. They know REAL NEWS when they spot it - even if they can't eloquently define it. Alas many other people are totally unable to fully grasp what is news...as reflected in so many badly written press releases which hit the metaphorical cutting room floor in newsrooms around the world. When you know what real news is you're a long way down the road to getting loads of free publicity. The traditional definition has it that when a dog bites a man it's probably not news. This is because it happens too often.....and only becomes news if it's a particularly ferocious attack or if the dog belongs to a celebrity. But if a man bites a dog, that is news. That's because it's rare. In this ezine we are going a step further with our own MONKEY BITES MAN story.    Now this is particularly big news - because that man was me! It happened on The Rock of Gibraltar - during an otherwise fabulously enjoyable professional speaking mission. There's more on the infamous monkey bite later.   Crime scene: Rock of Gibraltar where the bite took place

WHAT MAKES NEWS? There is a formula for what makes news which is easy to remember. It revolves around the fact that, journalists are always after is one thing - TRUTH. Yes, really!!! The TRUTH formula is as follows: Topical: If something is running in the news - say the French troops in Timbuktu or the debate on whether Britain leaves the European Union - then if you have a story which touches on that in some way the media will probably be interested. Relevant: If you present a branch of the media with something that is relevant to their particular audience then they should be interested. The bigger the impact on their audience - emotionally or economically - the more attracted they'll be. Unusual: This is the "Man Bites Dog" factor....or for the purposes of this newsletter "Monkey Bites Michael" factor. Trouble: The media love trouble and controversy. So anything that touches on this should spark their interest. This is a potentially dangerous factor though, as you don't normally want your organisation seen as being a trouble-maker. Better to portray yourselves - if the facts allow - as the trouble-solver. Human: People love stories about people....particularly interesting people. Welsh ballboy Charlie Morgan has been kicked by a Premier League football player, aptly named Hazard, which has resulted in phenomenal interest in the humans involved in the drama. So if your potential story doesn't hit any of these factors it may not be worth sending out a press release out about it. Instead, look for something that hits one or preferably more of these "TRUTH" factors and you're in with a chance. There's much more information about getting free media publicity for your business in an interview I did with a round-the-world radio station - Voice America - hosted by international radio star Chris Cooper. It's an hour-long interview which explains how to project your message through radio, television, newspapers and news websites. You can hear it at: http://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/66822/michael-dodd-tools-techniques-and-tips-for-working-with-the-media Details about my master classes on "Position Your Business For Free Media Publicity" are at: http://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/workshops_for_business_leaders_groups.php MEANWHILE BACK AT THE ROCK... Despite being only the ninth biggest rock in the world (way behind Australia's Uluru in the Number 1 Spot and not doing anything to improve its position), Gibraltar has a lot going for it. Great winter sunshine, spectacular views and - as professional speakers really appreciate - top audiences. One particular audience I encountered was especially interesting...though it has to be said not all that well-behaved at times. But audience members made up for it by throwing themselves wholeheartedly into the learning exercises. Here's tribute to the audience for my big talk on top of the Rock. And if you keep watching after the closing credits there's a bizarre sequence which will be explained later. This audience took a pick-and-mix approach to my professional speaking offerings. If you have a conference coming up, you may want to choose more selectively from the full menu of interactive keynotes. # BECOMING INSPIRATIONAL BUSINESS COMMUNICATORS # HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOUR COMPANY - PREPARING FOR MEDIA EMERGENCIES # MASTERING THE MEDIA - WITH BALLS # YOUR 2013 MESSAGE ACROSS IN SIXTY SECONDS # GIVING GREAT ANSWERS TO TOUGH QUESTIONS Details of the keynote options are set out at: http://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/international_speaking.php PUTTING THE BITE ON TOURISTS So here's how the big moment happened. My camera operator and I had trudged and sweated our way to the summit of The Rock when a tour bus drove up. The monkeys were very excited to see the driver for whom they clearly had a certain affection. It became obvious that - despite signs across The Rock warning not to feed the monkeys - the driver had managed to make himself a hero of the wildlife community by hand-feeding them nuts. The monkeys gathered on the roof of his bus, and when tourists put their arms out, they would spectacularly leap onto them - to be rewarded by the driver. This got the monkeys (and the tourists) increasingly excited. So I was persuaded that having a monkey leap upon me seemed like a good idea at the time (the so-called streaker's defence). And shortly after outstretching my arms I was blessed with a giant leap of a seemingly lovely, almost cuddly, though rather hefty monkey who landed with bang. He then made his way down to my hands. And perhaps disappointed that there was no nut to be found there, he proceeded to sink his teeth into my finger. There was blood...though admittedly not that much. You can just about see the gory detail in this picture if you look closely.    So the person who said never perform with children and animals knew what he was saying. But at least it gives me another story for my after dinner speech on "Tales and Tips from Six Continents" THE AFTERMATH You'll be ecstatically relieved to know that there've been no side-effects from the monkey bite so far. If you see me frothing at the mouth during my next conference speech, that's just natural Australian exuberance - not rabies. Apparently the potential danger from a Gibraltar monkey bite is actually tetanus. But my doctors' surgery assured me that, having had a tetanus jab in 2005 which lasts ten years, I'm in the clear. At this point I should pay tribute to our charming and dynamic Gibraltarian host, Pete Yeoman, who looked after us, ferried us diligently between speaking engagements and kept us fully entertained. However Pete does take rugby seriously, and as an Englishman who has a close interest in the forthcoming Lions Tour, he does perhaps have less sympathy for Australians than you might imagine. Nonetheless he's even trying to line up engagements for my next Gibraltar speaking excursion. Pete - who is pictured here at the foot of the Rock - was the first to send a text message when the monkey bite news got out.    I keep it on my phone for sentimental purposes. It says: "Hope the ape survived!!" Keep smiling, Michael

THE COMMUNICATIONS CHALLENGE OF THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION

As we zoom into another year of the digital revolution, people have more and more sources of easily-accessible information. This is a fantastic thing. But it gives rise to the biggest business communications challenge of our age. How do we grab and keep our audience when we're competing for attention with an ever-exploding number of information sources? And how do we get our message across when - as a consequence of the upsurge in available information - our targets have less and less time to listen to us? This challenge is reflected in the media world by the ever-diminishing length which television gives people to make their point in news reports. In America, where they make a point of studying such things, the typical length of a "sound bite" on television - the time the news bulletin gives to a person being interviewed - has fallen from forty-three seconds in the 1960s to nine seconds now.    This has unkindly been interpreted as part of a "dumbing down" process by the media. But you can also interpret it as meaning audiences are becoming more discriminating, and so are inherently gravitating to information packaged in more easily digestible chunks. Whether we are trying to get across a message on TV or face-to-face or through the internet, we're faced with the challenge of making our point in a shorter, punchier more memorable way than was previously necessary. And in the business world, getting across your message is something you must do - amidst this tougher competition in the information market place. As the American businessman, Lee Iacocca, observed "You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere." Of course it often takes more time and thought to ensure that our message is constructed in a more succinct and impactful way. It's a truth Mark Twain noticed when he confessed: "I did not have time to write a short letter, so I wrote you a long one." These days, time constraints and digital competition mean most long versions just don't stand a chance.

MAKING YOUR POINT - IN TIME WITH TOAST Having been mulling over the challenge of getting through to ever-busier audiences, I've come up with a new offering for the year. It's called "Your 2013 Message In Sixty Seconds". The idea is to help you make your point in a more powerful way - in the time it takes to cook a piece of toast. There's a keynote version for conferences - so audiences leave better equipped to hit their targets in the information jungle. This can involve a few volunteers on stage who we work on to sharpen their sixty- second messaging as the keynote progresses. Their improvement levels are measured by audience votes. And there's a half-day master class version for business leaders and others. In these workshops, every participant can leave knowing that in their next professional conversation, meeting or webcast they can make their point more succinctly and effectively - and in a way that sticks. As a primary school student, I remember being taught how to put bread in a pop-up toaster and being told it would take a minute to turn brown. So putting this to the test, I've recorded part of my 2013 new year message with some timing assistance from the Dodd family toaster. Having said that, if you study it with a stop watch in hand, you might find the Dodd toaster takes slightly more than 60 seconds to deliver the goods. But here's hoping it's nonetheless helped produce a crisp, tasty, bite-sized message.    The full range of communications-boosting master classes is here. http://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/workshops_for_business_leaders_groups.php POLAND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS ON I've just been helping to run communications skills sessions in Poland - a country which has undergone an amazing transformation over the past quarter of a century. Compared with my first visit there in 1988, it's now amazingly well-organised, efficient and creative. On my first mission to Warsaw during the Cold War there were long, miserable queues in the streets for food; shoddily built and badly-maintained apartment blocks and communist secret police who would monitor and sometimes attack those who took on the system. When I arrived in Warsaw Airport twenty-five years ago it was a grim, forbidding place. This time it was so vibrant, the airport arrivals hall was being used as a movie set - with participants only too happy to explain what was going on as they awaited their moment in the spotlight.    At the airport and beyond, Warsaw proved to be hugely cleaner and better maintained - with far more freedom than on my initial visit when, as a foreign journalist, I was trailed by secret police. It was of course Polish campaigners for freedom who did more than anyone else to bring an end to the communist dictatorship imposed on Eastern Europe by the Soviet Union. So when I was able to travel to Gdansk in the north to do an interview with Lech Walesa - the leader of Poland's Solidarity Free Trade Union - it was of interest to the secret police as they fought to suppress the union's heroic efforts to overturn the system. Getting to meet Lech Walesa - at a time when a new wave of coal miners' strikes was kicking off - was a highlight of my 1988 visit. But there was one character who stood out even more than the man who went on to be the first fully democratically-elected Polish president. This was another Solidarity activist called Jacek Szymanderski who was regularly put in jail for his pro-freedom activities.  Jacek Szymanderski, left, in a 1989 election campaign poster with Solidarity leader Lech Walesa in historic elections which helped free Eastern Europe Conditions in the jails run by the Polish communists were not great, as you might imagine, and the food was normally dire. But I particularly remember Jacek telling me in his vibrant, broken English how on one occasion in 1986 he and his fellow inmates were surprised that instead of the usual drab food they were suddenly given lettuce. "Great leaves of salad," was how he excitedly described them. This was a particularly rare treat as even Poles outside of jail found fresh produce extremely hard to come by. The prisoners devoured the lettuce leaves with gusto. But afterwards they experienced what Jacek colourfully described as much "vomitation". It was only later the democracy-campaigners found out where the lettuces had originated. It was a place called Chernobyl. They'd been exported to Poland from the Ukraine in the immediate aftermath of the world's worst nuclear accident there. Jacek's story is among those I tell in my new after dinner speech called "Tales and Tips from Six Continents". More details in the After Dinner Speaking section at: http://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/international_speaking.php THAT'S NOT A ROCK!!! I'm looking forward to my first international mission of 2013 - next week in Gibraltar. Given the British territory's location on the southern coast of Spain, temperatures are bound to be higher than we're experiencing in wintry London at present. I'm fortunate enough to be going there courtesy of the Academy for Chief Executives. I await with much anticipation my first view of the Rock of Gibraltar - which I'm sure you'll agree looks pretty magnificent.    In the world rankings of monoliths (big rocks, to you and me), The Rock of Gibraltar rates as the ninth largest in the world. Mind you, I will have to be careful what I say about it. Coming from Australia - the land of earth's biggest rock - I might be tempted to scoff at the size of Gibraltar's. You may recall the Australian movie character, Mick "Crocodile" Dundee, famously and disparagingly saying to a would-be New York mugger "That's not a knife" while producing his own much larger weapon. I was thinking of taking a picture of Uluru - the seriously large rock pictured below - and saying to Gibraltarians about their pride and joy: "That's not a rock".    If you need a reminder of how Australian's can drop in such a line with masterly understatement, click here. Wishing you the rocks you deserve in 2013. Keep smiling, Michael

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