Working from Home is Here to Stay
Matt Lucas as Boris - The Great British Bake Off - Channel 4
Life imitates art far more than art imitates life, said Oscar Wilde. And we saw the truth of this played out in another great British cultural icon – the Great British Bake-off when the opening skit for the new season saw Matt Lucas playing Boris Johnson telling the nation to stay in, go out – return to work, stay at home… And true to form, less than a month after telling the nation to return to work, Boris was telling the nation to work from home if they can as the second wave gathered momentum.
Whether we like it or loath it – for those who can – working from home is here to stay.
In a speech this month Andy Haldane, Chief Economist at the Bank of England said:
If you asked me if I am happier working from home, I genuinely would not know. I do not miss the commute. But I feel acutely the loss of working relationships and external stimuli – the chance conversations, listening to very different people with very different lived experiences, the exposure to new ideas and experiences. These losses will grow with time. At some point, they will offset the benefits of avoiding South-West trains.
He's a funny man, for a banker.
Before COVID, about 5% of the UK’s workforce was working from home regularly – this rose to 50% during the peak of lockdown and is creeping back up to those levels. Business leaders have learned that productivity does not drop when people work remotely, and they could save a ton of cash on office space if they don’t need to have everyone in the office at the same time.
But for those people working from home, turning kitchen tables into workspaces, trying to hold project updates on Zoom with CBeebies blaring in the next room – it can be hard to focus, and feel effective and professional while working online.
We’re used to meeting face to face, reading body language and looking at the people who are speaking while we are all in the same room. In a virtual meeting, on Zoom or Teams or whatever you are using – in a virtual meeting you need a whole new set of skills to present clearly and persuasively, and to listen and participate.
My new course: Sit Down and Speak is designed to help you master the art and science of presenting in virtual meetings. Over three days you will learn how to
Master the meeting technology with confidence
Create a comfortable and professional virtual home office
Be less Stressed before and during online meetings
Structure your presentation so it is persuasive and enjoyable to watch
Sway people’s opinions and influence them to take action
Designed to fit in with the home working, Sit Down and Speak is run over three days – in the morning we learn in live teaching session, in the afternoon you work on practical exercises with one-to-one support from me and at the end of each afternoon we come back together to practice presenting.
By the end of the three days you will have created and delivered a 10-15 minute online presentation, with slides, on a topic of your choice.
Sit Down and Speak is based on our acclaimed three-day classroom course: Speakers Masterclass with additional modules on online presenting and working from home.
Bookings are now open for the courses in December and January – you can find out more and book your place here: www.malmesburyspeakers.com/sit
Early bird pricing is available until the end of October – so act quickly.
This Weeks Podcast Guest
This week’s guest on Public Speaking and Presenting Made Easy is personal branding and style consultant Jo Baldwin-Trott. You can see the full interview with Jo here and she shares some great advice on how to succeed as a keynote speaker and develop your personal brand.
Subscribe to the Public Speaking and Presenting Made Easy podcast here