ACE - Association for Conferences and Events

Promising an even headier mix of eclectic guest speakers and bustling delegate numbers, the Conference and Events Industry Get-together kicked off the first Meet Up of 2010, in the splendid and spacious surroundings of the Kensington & Chelsea Conference & Events Centre.

We were especially privileged to be ushered into the „Mayor‟s Parlour‟ - adorned with mace and other ceremonial silverware, silently watched over by benign images of past civic dignitaries - the working office of the borough‟s incumbent Mayor, Councillor Tim Coleridge.

ACE Chairman, Michael Sharp warmly welcomed the Meet Up members, handing over for a short introduction by Centre Manager, David Scott, followed by ACE membership manager, John Thompson, who announced that another seven events were planned for 2010, before introducing the evening‟s guest speaker, Richard Newman, Director of BodyTalk UK.

A Business Body Language Expert for 15 years, Richard has worked with FTSE 100 companies, pharmaceuticals, parliamentary members, advertising executives and university lecturers and over 12,000 other organisations in 45 countries around the world including Europe, USA and the Middle East.

Keen that all attending would take away key valuable insights into the subject of reading body gestures and how they may reinforce or contradict our verbal utterances, Richard quickly had everyone up on their feet, arms outstretched and fingers flexing.

In the first example of a series of „interactive‟ audience participation pieces, which at the same time would delight and confound everyone‟s expectations, we were taught mysterious, strange-sounding „Nepali‟ words – from a language used by Tibetan monks – by Richard silently pointing and „naming‟ actions, only to be told later that the few simple words of „learnt‟ language were incorrect and did not actually describe the actions at all!

It was a most telling example of that commonly found phenomenon in our everyday lives of „how what we say‟ is not necessarily the „real‟ meaning, as often reinforced by conflicting body language.

In another example, Richard quickly pointed to his elbow and asked the audience to touch their shoulder, which instantly provided some amusing yet revealing responses. It was explained that anything we „see‟ is transmitted to the brain via the optic nerve, which being considerably larger than the cranial nerve, transmits anything we „hear‟ and thus, as the dominant messenger, can give rise to the brain‟s contradictory interpretation!

In another participation piece, the entire room was shown graphic displays of „complex‟ handshakes, single, double and reinforced back and shoulder touching, then invited to interact around the room and report back with the response to the different approaches.

Reinforcing the evening‟s theme, Richard concluded by posing the question, “Would you rather have a stranger read from a Shakespeare play or a well-known actor recite from a cookery book?” The show of hands was overwhelming; we all would rather hear a „compelling delivery‟ stimulate and engage our attention despite the subject matter, than the reverse scenario!

The message was clear, our person to person networking and negotiating skills, are dependent on being aware and understanding our everyday small gestures and how powerfully they influence all who we come into contact with.
Finally, Richard announced his new book was to be published in two weeks and all present could receive a free copy!

The applause told the story. A lively, informative and entertaining masterclass of an opener to what truly promises to be a great season ahead of Conference and Events Industry get-togethers!