News & Press Releases

How to Charm the Charmless

It is not just turkeys that are nervous at Christmas, its events organisers too but here is the Corporate Flirt's guide to surviving the busiest time of the year.

History lesson
History tells me that after 11 months of organising conferences, meeting and events, the Christmas party is the one that everyone looks forward to and remembers for years to come (for all the right and wrong reasons!). So while you are an experienced events organiser, you will have probably spent the last few weeks, drinking too much, eating too many canapes and dancing the night away. But here you are with very little blood in your alcohol system and having to put on the biggest show of the year. Corporate Flirt has a few tips and techniques to help get you through this with success and ease.

Dr - Dr!
So your feet might hurt, your shoulders are sagging from all that lugging about of equipment - which others had said they would move - and you feel like you haven't slept in a week. The very first thing you need to do, is to take a deep breath and stand up straight. Good posture breeds good attitude! It sends happy messages to your brain and you will immediately feel better and start to feel that you have been resurrected from the dead!

Next please
Next place both feet firmly on the ground. Now start to walk and imagine that you have a crown placed on your head. This has the immediate effect of bringing your body higher off the ground and with luck you will feel like a super model too!

Great communicator?
You already know that you are a great communicator or you wouldn't be in this job. But at the end of a busy year, the people you are dreading talking to the most are the ones that are just too much like hard work. However, they could easily be the next CEO. Or even the person who signs the cheques! So while you probably know this instinctively, here are some more tips to get people to open up to you, so it seems less like hard work.

Body language
Your body language here needs to be gentle, not threatening, even though people may be a bit tipsy right now. You must keep your arms below your waist-level and not above, where it is seen as being threatening. No-one goes to events to talk to Mike Tyson, do they? We talked about eye contact in last months column. Focus on their left eye, which is much less intimidating that focusing on their whole face. It gives time for others to look away and feel more comfortable.

Don't Knock People Out.... with Assorted Odours!
One thing people often forget about is personal hygiene after a long hard week of partying. Just to remind you that eating lots of different types of food and taking more alcoholic lubrication than usual, plays havoc on your breath! Girls, make sure your handbag can accommodate mints and toothpaste, Guys, how about you have one of those travel packs where the toothbrush already has the paste on it? And, while we are talking about hygiene, another quick tip - not too much perfume or after-shave as it can overpower and overwhelm others, whether it is Brut or Channel No5.

Now that You have your Victim's Attention...
.. you will need to keep your eyes and ears open to see and hear what they are doing. When in direct conversation you need only look at that person for 70% of the time. So, with you arms down, your feet in place and your eye contact established you are now ready to start the conversation. Not everyone is as good at talking as you are, so its up to you to break the ice. Remember to start with open questions; What, Where, When, Who, How and Why. Otherwise your conversation is going to be very short and very boring! Remember too, not to ask too many personal questions and restrict the use of Why - it can be too challenging - rather ask about everyday events and what they think of on who on earth advised the Spice Girls/Boyzone to get back together!

And finaly...
My final tip, the hardest of them all is please don't drink too much. You don't have to be completely abstemious but you will want to remember how your event went, who you talked to and you definitely don't want to be this years fodder for gossip in the new year!

You can't worry about the event now, so stop, enjoy and have fun! All the best for everything in 2008

More information
For more information on talks, training and executive behaviour development either generally or for your next event, please contact Carole Railton via www.lifeafterbranding.com or at carole@lifeafterbranding.com, quoting LondonMICE. You can also reach her on +44 (0)7866 531 400.