amandamillar&co

You should not be reading this! It's Christmas Day. But if you're here to escape the excitement, the tension or the carbohydrate coma with a bit of a digital check in, we get it. Here's am&co's survival guide: 🫁 Breathe. Take an inhale in through the nose, then exhale. Repeat x5 🎄 If you're all talked out, try listening. Don't fill the silences. 🤶 If there's no one to listen to, reflect on your last conversation. Were you being the best you, the real you? 🎅 If you need to move on from a conversation, smile, then excuse yourself to help with the dishes/loading the car/finding batteries. 🦃 If it's all turned turkey; take a breath, acknowledge your difference of ideas and move it to positive or common ground. We expect zero engagement with this post. You're secret scrolling is safe with us. Merry Christmas.

There are lots of jobs that don’t stop for the stats. Our emergency services and nurses and doctors keep working. Journalists, news crews and technicians also work through. It’s a weird time in newsrooms. You’re desperate for news (a busy journo is a happy journo) but not much is happening (has anyone called the zoo to see what the animals are getting?). The news story that always happens though is the road toll. It will be someone’s job to keep an eye on how many people die this holiday road period and also how many people drown. We are a team of former journalists who have all spent our Christmas “holidays” working. It’s often juniors who take these quieter shifts. Let’s give those newsrooms more space for cheer over carnage in their bulletins. Stay safe everyone. Swim between the flags Drive sober Drive safely Know your limits

You have lit up our year. Every person we've had in an am&co training room has vanquished the gloom that's hung over 2024 and gifted the tinsel-like sparkle that fuels us. CEO Amanda Millar wants you to know how much we all appreciate your support and the trust you put in us. We're hitting the 'out of office,' but will be back to support all your talking, listening and leading on Jan 13th.

Grab onto someone tight. It’s time for the am&co 'Best in Co' awards. Each year our core trainers look back on who’s left a lasting impression on us and shown true transformation in their dedication to being a great communicator. It’s not enough to have nailed one interview,  presentation or hard conversation. The 10 stars of the class of ‘24 have done all that but they’ve also changed their attitudes, put themselves in situations that would have usually made them vomit, been open to opportunities and created opportunities for themselves to put am&co's training into action. That's made them stand outs for the te(am&co)ngratulations have been sent. [NB: Everyone we work with is a star just for turning up. Especially those of you who were volun-told to show up. Our training is challenging. And very rewarding.]

Does it feel like December is on fast forward for anyone else? The am&co core team had a lot of debate about whether candy canes are meant to be hung as a J or a walking stick. The North Islanders say walking stick, the Southerners argued it’s not Christmas without the red and white J. 🤷🏼♀️

You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to say every word perfectly. You don’t have to say everything you planned. We’re certainly not perfect when we communicate and it’s our job! Showing your audience who you are by being yourself, using your language and your mannerisms shows you’re comfortable being yourself. Your imperfect self. Just like the rest of us. Being prepared is essential, being perfect is not. Tennessee Mansford and Charlotte Shipman set themselves up in the perfectly wrong spot for this one.

It’s a lot. Organisations are up against a lot; budgets, priorities, morale. Any investment you make in upskilling your people has to be valuable. If you need to get a lot out of a short amount of time for a lot of people am&co’s StartUP delivers the lot. It’s a short, sharp injection on how to prepare and present under pressure. StartUP covers the 101 of media or presentation and as with all our training, we keep the fun in fundamentals. Get in touch if this is professional development that you need to get off your to-do list.

The moment you realise you’ve come to Australia to work but you haven’t factored in the time zone. The good news is we’ve gained an extra half hour on top of the extra two hours we gained yesterday. Lucky the training we give is timeless. 😉

Death by PowerPoint anyone? If we could, we'd give slides the slip but we appreciate they have their place. Here's how to use them well.