Phlegmatic

Can anyone suggest some examples of women who are probably quite introverted (or at least quiet), who have good presentation skills?

(Ideally, supply links to YouTube clips!)


Context: I gave a presentation skills course yesterday, and used some examples of different styles of presentation, and - and this hadn't occurred to me before a female participant pointed it out - all my examples were male. This particular participant self-desctribed herself as an introvert, so I'd like to find some good presentation models for her. The best we could come up with on the day were Hilary Clinton, Fiona Bruce and Teresa May.

Does Portugal have the right idea when it comes to drug use and the law?

Kansas outlaws the practice of evolution

Rupert Murdoch "is a Voldemort substitute for overgrown Harry Potter fans who need a daily fix of infantile moralism", says one of his competitors.

Charles Kennedy says he still hopes Britain will join the Euro. (And people have to ask me why I don't drink...)

Hilarious. Scousescum footballer denied entry to the US for Newcastle United's preseason tour.

Schools should suit working parents (and private sector nurseries provide a better service - what a surprise...)

What genuine government spending cuts could like that

Khal Drogo to run as Republican presidential candidate

The Tiltshift Effect. Very odd optical illusion. This video was produced by one of our 'You're Hired!' finalists.

Day 1 of this year's 'You're Hired!' final is on Thursday, with day 2 the following Tuesday. I'll post about these next week or the week after if I get the chance. (For the third straight year I have managed to combine the YH final with my absolute busiest time of the work year.)

Before the final, we're having another YH event. When we did the heat at one of Plymouth's...shall we say, weaker...schools, something that was very apparent was that the pupils were almost all terrible at presenting to an audience. This was an extreme case, but my gut feeling is that about half the schools involved in the competition give pupils experience in speaking in front of an audience and presenting themselves properly, while the other half don't. And I'm afraid that, just as in life, if you don't make a good impact, especially when speaking in front of an audience, you're going to be at a massive disadvantage in 'You're Hired!'.

So...

( Read more )

At work this week we received a letter from a year 11 student at one of the local grammar schools who was interested in the JOLF 'We'll-pay-your-university-fees' scheme and wanted to know if doing the international baccalaureate instead of A-levels would affect her chances.

As it happens, it wouldn't.

However, one thing that students who are deciding which A-levels would do well to consult is this list of A-levels on the website of Trinity College, Cambridge.

This ties in to my recent social mobility posts. At the schools I visit for "You're Hired!", the range of available A-level courses varies from school to school. Want to do Economics? Then you have to go to the independent school or two of the three grammar schools. The others don't even offer it. At the school I went to last week (in a poorer area of the city), almost no subjects were offered that Trinity would have considered A1 or A2 calibre A-levels. I didn't say anything to the teacher there who proudly explained how most of his students were now taking A-level "Travel & Tourism", and how a BTEC was "worth four GCSEs", but I probably should have.

Expect at some point to see some negative press coverage of Cambridge colleges discriminating against comprehensive school pupils. But it's not their fault if those schools don't allow their pupils to study proper subjects.


As an aside, it's nice to see both History and Classical Civilisation in the A2 ("Generally suitable Arts A-levels") list. At my state sixth-form, they tried to persuade me to change from A-level Greek & Roman History because "it wouldn't look good if I applied to Oxbridge". Luckily I was clever enough to work out that Oxford probably wouldn't object to a classical education, and knowing that subject helped me enormously in my Philosophy interview.

(Well, the short version anyway. YouTube only allows 10 minute videos. There is a longer 30 minute version which we intend to distribute to schools and interested employers.