I hate being boring.
Life is too rich, too extraordinary, far too much of a joy for dullness.
However! Just this once, I’m going to take the risk of being a little less than interesting and exciting.
Because what I’m about to say is critical for compelling communication, however tedious and annoying.
We’re just beginning the fourth run of my Compelling Communication Skills course.
I’m delighted, and very proud to say, that it’s been a great success from the start.
We began with around 50 learners, a record number, and sign ups since have only grown and grown.
This is where the critical, but less than exciting lesson comes in.
Having achieved such a happy state of success, I might feel entitled to sit back, smile, and bask in the sunshine of achievement.
But no, no way.
I believed the course was good to start with, if you’ll excuse me being immodest.
But I still thought, with every run, there were areas we could improve.
And so we have.
Every single time we delivered the course, myself and our wonderful tutors looked back on it…
Analysed how the learners did…
What they found difficult, what they found easier…
What they found fulfilling, what they found less necessary…
The texture of the course, the ebbs, and flows of some detailed learning, followed by a video to explore a point further, followed by a challenge to put it to use, followed by a podcast to investigate another element of the subject, followed by a live lecture to raise any questions, followed by an assignment to put all the learning into action…
In short, we analysed everything.
And every single time we made improvements.
It’s just the same when I teach in person.
If I deliver a day on public speaking and presentations, I take notes as I go about areas which could be made better.
And then, the next day, I’ll edit the course to improve it.
Likewise with teaching storytelling, likewise with writing skills, likewise with blogging, likewise with teaching absolutely everything.
If I write a book, as I’m happy to be doing at the moment with Compelling Communication, a companion to my course…
I don’t just write it.
I write it, then edit it, then edit it again, then take into account feedback from our beta readers, and my editor…
And then edit again and again, until it’s as good as it can possibly be.
So, at risk of being boring, never forget:
As the great Ernest Hemingway once put it…
The only kind of writing is re-writing.
If you want to become a truly compelling communicator…
Whether with public speaking, presenting, writing, storytelling, teaching, leading, persuading, inspiring, whatever…
Edit, improve, then edit and improve your work some more, and then more, and more and more and more…
And never ever stop.
