What's an elevator pitch? It's how you encapsulate what you do, who you do it for, possibly where you do it and how you can do it for that particular person, ie what action they need to take.

Click here to take you to my elevator pitch on this site

Click here to see the one on my blog, Talk About Speaking

It's called an elevator pitch as, ideally, it should be short enough to deliver to the client of your dreams should you happen to find yourself with them in a lift or elevator. You've got to make it concise and clear, in the time it takes to move between a few floors. It always used to be the pitch you kept in the back pocket of your mind, should the opportunity arise.

Nowadays, opportunities arise constantly - online. When someone visits your website or blog, you can be there in front of them immediately. How? On video.

"Yeah, but that's just something kids watch, isn't it"?

Well . . . have a look at the stats: In the UK more is now being spent on online advertising than on tv.

More than a billion videos are watched on YouTube every day. That's not just kids.

We are used to watching moving pictures! Attention spans are short nowadays. Video gets you in front of your potential client immediately.

This is what it will do for you

Video not only gives you the opportunity to tell others about your product or service, it also tells people about you. Your potential clients can see and hear you. And if you've ever visited a company website which tells you about all the gizmos the business produces without once giving you a clue about the people who work there, you'll know how refreshing that is!

And this is what my tweeting friend realised. He liked what he saw on my video and asked me if I could help him make one for himself.

An idea was born.

This is what you should do next

Why not make your own video?

"Why not! Why not? Far too difficult!! I'm not a techie person, I don't know how to make videos!"

You don't need to do anything complicated - just click here and visit YouTalkVideo

We take you through the process and tell and show you what to do.

NOT ONLY THAT, we coach you through the delivery too.

You make your video, send it to us in any old format you like, no need to edit, and we watch it and critique it, by video, and send you the video back. Then you try again, as many times as you like.

YouTalkVideo is a partnership between voicebusiness and leading social media company Blether Media and it came about entirely in response to my twitter pal's request.

Online coaching in how to do it.

"I could hire a company to do it all for me!"

Yes, you could. And you could look like every other person or business in your sector. You won't be able to experiment and refine what you do. You might also find that some advertisements have crept into the viewing process too. And it could cost you a lot of money.

Do it the YTV way, and you can have a unique elevator pitch, without having to shell out a fortune.

Who might find this idea useful?

• Anyone who already has an online presence. If your name is on a website, wouldn't it be good if you greeted people who visit you?
• Anyone looking for a job - yep, videos are now encouraged from jobseekers
• If you sell a product or service
• Marketeers
• You and others just like you

The list is pretty well endless. So, worth a look?

Click here to take you straight to YTV.

Special offer … Special Offer … Special Offer

Be quick and you may be in time to take part in our absolutely free trial offer.

Cordelia Ditton

The Skills Context courtesy CIPD

Skills are big news and a big agenda for HR. The Leitch Review of 2006 identified the prospect of long term decline in global markets due to our lack of skills.

The CIPD 2009 Learning and Development Survey identifies several trends around skills:

61% of respondents said that new employees from school, college or university are deficient in business skills/acumen and lack a strong commercial awareness.

60% of respondents still believe that school/college/university leavers are lacking in communication skills

55% reported a general lack of work ethic among new employees

43% were concerned at a lack of customer service skills

[Their] 2008 Learning and Development Survey has previously identified similar issues, and also uncovered several other trends:

There was a discomfort with the Government skills agenda based as it is on 'Train to Gain' with its qualifications focus. (Train to Gain was the Government's main response to the review)

The overall level of employer disengagement with the skills agenda as it stands:

53% of respndents indicated that the skills agenda wasn't at the forefrong of the thinking by replying that their learning and development activity had 'not at all' been influenced by the Leitch agenda.

YouTalkVideo: Video for your business - Your Way

If you're thinking about using video to promote your business - and you probably should be - then YouTalkVideo is designed for you.

We can help you make your own videos for your website, blog and social channels, saving a fortune on film crew and production fees.

We're offering all voicebusiness contacts an exclusive preview of YouTalkVideo AND the opportunity to enjoy the full service completely free of charge (limited to the first 20 applicants!).

Just click here to visit www.youtalkvideo.com and use the password *voicebusiness*

YouTalkVideo is a partnership between voicebusiness and Blether Media.

Stand and Deliver!

The dates for our Public Stand and Deliver courses of 2010 are now confirmed. They are:

Wednesday 14th April, in the Edinburgh Festival Theatre

and

Tuesday 21st September at the CCA, Glasgow

Bookings are now being taken for our ever popular public course, and with prices frozen for another year, they continue to offer excellent value for money. To book, simply download our booking form here or call us on 0141 333 9331 and we'll help you get it organised.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like . . .

Another hugely enjoyable year for voicebusiness has almost come to an end. We've seen many old friends, and have made lots of new ones throughout the past 12 months. Thanks indeed to everyone who has participated in one of our sessions, be they anything from Personal Training, Networking, Lite Bites or the ever popular public Stand and Deliver!

Next year holds new and exciting prospects for voicebusiness. As well as refreshing our website, we will be blogging away like mad. If you have not had a look at yet, you can find it here, or copy and paste http://talkaboutspeaking.com into your browser bar, and keep up to date with great practical advice and videos showing top public speaking tips.

Our Hot Tips may get hotter and hotter, but our prices are definitely getting cooler. voicebusiness has always aimed to be great value for money, and with our prices frozen for a second year in a row, we are confident this will continue to help businesses beat the winter blues.

And as if that is not enough, we will be unveiling our new courses in the New Year. It is the perfect time for forward looking businesses to review training for key individuals and groups, and voicebusiness has a few fantastic new options to help. Of course our public Stand and Deliver! sessions will be available, and we will advise of the dates shortly.

Keeping up with all our news is easy! Follow our blog, or our Tweets on Twitter (@DillyTalk), or do contact us if you wish to be included in our email list.

Until then, from everyone at voicebusiness, have a relaxing festive season and we look forward to welcoming friends old and new come 2010.

Frankie Comes To Scotland!

Frankie Armstrong, world renowned vocalist, is returning to Scotland in October and November with, among other events, her workshop - Singing With The Whole Self. It takes place at Saint John's Church Hall, corner of Lothian Road and Prince's Street in Edinburgh on Saturday 14th November, from 10am until 5pm.

Frankie has been singing professionally since 1964, and started the pioneering Voice workshops in 1975. The workshops are specifically designed to be for everyone - regardless of previous singing experience. Energetic, creative and fun - don't miss out!

You can find more information about Frankie and her visit to the Capital here

September 2009

Have you see our new Blog yet?

Those of you who have received our latest leaflet will be aware of the newest addition to voicebusiness - our blog! Talk About Speaking is the perfect place to find all sorts of hints, tips and techniques for perfect public speaking. Do let us know what your thoughts are on it! You'll find it here

August 2009

Here's wishing you . . .

. . . a very happy and prosperous 2009

If 'prosperous' seems a slightly unlikely prospect in these demanding times, there are still many steps businesses can take to ensure their survival and growth. Not least, to capitalise on their greatest asset, their people. We don't need to tell you how well and effectively your people communicate with each other, with stakeholders or the pubic, is fundamental to how well your organisation operates.

If you'd like to find out how we can help you keep your cutting edge, don't hesitate to contact us. We've even frozen our prices to make things a little bit easier.

If you'd like to receive our hard copy mailout, with its 'at a glance' summary of our bespoke and public training and coaching options, please email us on info@voicebusinesstraining.co.uk or call us on 0141 333 9331.

And for those asking about the cartoon on the leaflet, it is, of course, by the famous and talented Kate Charlesworth, the same person responsible for our postcards and the images on this website. You can find out more about Kate Charlesworth by clicking on this link

Stand and Deliver!

The dates for our Public Stand and Deliver courses of 2009 are now confirmed. They are:

Wednesday 18th March, in the fabulous Edinburgh Festival Theatre

and

Tuesday 22nd September at the excellent CCA, Glasgow

More details will very shortly be on our website, but please do contact the office to reserve your place on this popular and fun course - we would love to hear from you.

Merry Christmas . . .

. . . and a huge 'Thank You' to all our voicebusiness clients. We have welcomed back lots of old friends this year, and have been lucky enough to meet new people from businesses such as NHS Lanarkshire and the Student Loans Company.

It's been such a varied, interesting and fun year for us, having been involved in anything from bespoke personal training sessions, to shorter lite bites for groups. Our Public Stand and Deliver sessions were hugely successful, and we are continuing to offer this lively course in 2009 - see more details below.

We are very much looking forward to meeting you in the New Year!

More changes...

We are also now waving at least a partial goodbye to Audrey Marshall, our popular office administrator. Audrey will still be popping in occasionally, but is off to undertake a Masters in Librarianship this autumn. We wish her all the very best with this!

This year has seen a few changes at voicebusiness. As well as welcoming back many old friends, we would particularly like to thank new clients who have booked training with us these past few months, including: Falkirk Council, Graduate School at the Faculty of Law, Business & Social Sciences @ Glasgow University, The Royal Yacht Britannia, RSP Consulting Engineers and Scottish Ballet.

Goodbye...

This month we say farewell to Isabell Chalmers, our Office Manager for the past six years.

Isabell has made an outstanding contribution to voicebusiness and we wish her every happiness and success in the future.

Hello...

and welcome to our new Office Manager, Linda Mundell. When you hear a new voice answering our phone, that'll be Linda! We are delighted she is joining the team and we all look forward to working with her.

Job Vacancy at voicebusiness

The below vacancy has passed it's closing date. We have been overwhelemed by the response with almost 200 applicants ! Thank you to all who have taken the time to apply.

We are looking for an experienced administrator to work in our busy central Glasgow office. We want a miracle worker FT Sept - May and PT Jun- Aug. Some flexibility in hours and pay averaged over the year if preferred. You can download a job description here.


If interested, please write enclosing a CV and citing 2 referees to :
The Director, voicebusiness, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3JD.

Closing date 28th March 2008

Happy New Year!

We hope that you had an excellent break and are looking forward to the challenges 2008 will bring. We are certainly looking forward to meeting you for the first time or renewing our acquaintance with you.

We are fortunate at voicebusiness in having the opportunity to fashion training for all types of people and organisations, so our work is forever interesting to us. This year we are paying particular attention to the bespoke training and coaching which has become such a big part of what we do and concentrating less on delivering public courses. Stand & Deliver is still available as a public course and we can run this and any of our options for your organisation. We also love to speak and run workshops at your own events - see our Events page. Don't delay, get in touch today. We would love to hear from you.

Another year another Christmas…another New Year!

Don't waste a second - if you want to improve your communication techniques beyond your highest expectations don't wait around for another year to pass - call us now!

Article in the Sunday Herald on 3rd June 2007

To see the latest newspaper article about voicebusiness - The Water Cooler Debate - which has appeared in the Sunday Herald, please click here

Article in the Sunday Times on 6th May 2007

To see the latest newspaper article about voicebusiness, which has appeared in the Sunday Times, please click here

Article in the Herald on 2nd March 2007

To see the latest Herald article about voicebusiness, please click here

Public Course dates of 2008 are confirmed.
Please click the BOOK HERE button or contact us for a hard copy.

We look forward to meeting you over the course of the year.

Speaking at Events

To check where we are speaking at conferences, running seminars or workshops and generally getting out and about, click here:

Grant Availability

Many of Scotland's local authorities offer grants which can cover part of the cost of voicebusiness courses. Check with your local council.

Kate Charlesworth

Images on this site were created by one of Britain's foremost cartoonists and illustrators, Kate Charlesworth.