Enjoying the Crown? We love it here at faithfull towers … We spent the turn of the millenium, December 31st 1999 with our good friends, Sam & Phil and their special guest Prince Charles

We played games, ate - watched the fireworks and… My phone did not ring and my pager did not go off

Which was a relief as I was on call for the IT department… The world did not stop at midnight, the computers did not all meltdown, the millenium bug did not strike

For the two years leading up to the millenium, all I did at work was work on fixing old computer programs to solve the millenium bug.  Some of the programs I worked on were as old as me, first written back in the 1970s - yes they did have computers back then… But they were as big as a room!

An estimate from the UN says between 300 and 500 billion dollars was spent solving the millennium bug - or Y2K bug as it was known

Was it real?  

Well it all started in 1988 when a batch of tinned meat was rejected by a supermarket because it appeared to be 80 years passed its sell by date

Four years later Mary Bandar of Minnesota was invited to join the local pre-school because the computer thought she was 4 years old - actually she was 104 and said thank you for the invitation but politely declined.

The first business computer, called Leo, was introduced by Joe Lyon to run his empire of tea rooms in 1951 - that right Lyons Tea rooms- cake was the driving force behind the technical revolution.  Next time you sit playing candy crush on your mobile phone - realise you have battenburg to thank for that….

Anyway, back in 1951 computer memory was really, really - really! - expensive so dates were shortened to save space - 1951 was stored as 51,  1999 would be 99.  And there is the problem, when the year 2000 was stored as 00 the computer got confused - did it mean the year 0 when Jesus was born, the year 1900 or the year 2000 or something else entirely?

When I worked at Lloyds Bank we found a y2K bug in the system that controlled all the ATM cash machines, if we had not fixed it they all would have gone offline just as people were trying to get cash out on just after midnight on new years day to pay for their taxi home

However, almost all the major problems were found and fixed well before the turn of the millenium so no one really noticed any problems - apart from the poor chap in new york who get a bill for $91,000 because his blockbuster DVD was a hundred years overdue

But overall, there was no fuss, not panic and everything worked or minor problems were quickly spotted and fixed

So this gave rise to the conspiracy theory that it was all a hoax because hardly anyone witnessed any evidence of the problem

Well the truth is, no body saw any problems because that was the day that me and all my nerdy friends really saved the world - you didn’t see any y2k problems because we did such a good job!

Your welcome!

Just because you can’t see it, that doesn’t mean its not true

I was thinking about this today as I stood in the high street outside the bakers - cake saves the world again! 

I stood outside the bakers and looked at all the bollards and social distancing signs, and very few people on the streets and wondered about the way people react to COVID

Is it real - is it exaggerated - do we need all these precautions?

I know that I have been blessed and protected this year - I know less than 10 people who have told me they had covid, or think they have had it - it was not until last week that I found out that anyone I knew had died from the disease

Somethings you cant see - until you really see them or their effects

My daughter lives and works in inner city Nottingham in a large school - for her the reality of COVID is very different and very clear to see every day - she sees it - every day

There are some truths that you really don’t see - until the day you see them for yourself and then you can’t un-see it

Our job as speakers and presenters, is to help people see truths that they have otherwise overlooked – or show them something from a different angle, share a different perspective that leaves the audience enlightened, educated and inspired

One of the enduring impacts of lockdown and covid will be a change in the way our businesses operate – with so many people now familiar if not comfortable with online meeting they are here to stay. More efficient with peoples times and cheaper and more environmentally friendly I think we will all be doing less business travel for in person meetings for some time to come.

Which means, in the new disjointed, remote working world – many of your colleagues and this who influence career progression in your business will best know you from online meetings.  Which means the way you present yourself, the way you can influence and inspire through a webcam will be the single most important factor in affecting you career progression and job security in the next 12 months – because this will be the only way many people will get to know you.  And they will judge you based on your ability to sit down and speak to a webcam, your ability to run a zoom meeting and your effectiveness presenting a webinar.

Online communication and presentation skills are the essential survival skills for 2021

I want to help you flourish in 2021, to accelerate your career or your business by really making an impact every time you present or speak on line.  To help you do this I have two courses that will not only teach you everything you need to know in order to master online presenting and speaking, but give you the opportunity to practice and get coaching feedback in a small group and safe and relaxed setting. 

Online Presenting Made Easy is a one day course – an ideal introduction to online presenting and online networking – great to help you boost your confidence and practice how to use the technology

Sit Down and Speak is a three day course – day one is the same as online presenting made easy, then on day two and three we dig deeper, take it further and practice more – so by the time we get to the final afternoon you have written and practiced a 30 minute keynote presentation which you will share

Both of these are live taught courses, you me and a small group on zoom together for one or three days

Booking is now open for both courses for January and February 2021 – you can find out more and book your place at www.malmesburyspeakers.com/presenting

If you prefer a self paced, online video course then I have a great two course bundle bringing together Speak with Confidence by introductory course and Speak with Clarity the intermediate course – they were sold for £197 each – and now you can get both in a bundle for the very special price of just £67 this month.  To find out more and sign up for instant access go to www.malmesburyspeakers.com/confidence

Now before I introduce this week’s podcast episode, I need to close the loop on the Prince Charles New Year celebrations we started with.  I did indeed spend the millennium partying with Prince Charles… well a Prince called Charles.  He is not the Prince of Wales, he was actually a Prince from Zambia – but his name really is Charles.

On Public Speaking and Presenting Made Easy this week we have a stonkingly good show with special guest Charlie Whyman - we start off talking about how to grow your business and then after we finished recording there was another great conversation about how to use Podcasts to grow your business - so I’ve added that on at the end

Listen to the podcast or watch the video recording here

You can subscribe to the podcast for free here

Listen to the podcast or watch the video recording here

You can subscribe to the podcast for free here