Effective Communication

Hello and welcome to the corner of cyberspace formerly occupied by the language school/training company that was JMJ Training & Development. It has now become the personal website of that organisation’s founder, Georgina Kirk. If you’ve arrived here on purpose because you know me, thank you for looking me up. The main reason for keeping the domain name was so I could keep the email address associated with it (georgie@), so do please get in touch and tell me what you’ve been up to. If you’ve arrived here directed by a search engine, you are equally welcome and I hope you’ll find something here to interest you. No more language-teaching, I’m afraid, but lots in the area of communication (see below).

Coach and consultant in effective communication Georgina KirkEffective communication has always been a passion of mine. I’m interested in language, in foreign languages and in how humans interact with each other. I’m also fascinated by the psychological side of how we express ourselves and relate to others. In the years since I closed JMJ to go travelling, I’ve learnt an enormous amount about myself and the world and my plan is to explore on this website some of the insights and ideas that have come to me, in case anyone reading may find them useful.

Currently, I’m excited about the concept that, to a great extent, fear is fear, regardless of its cause, and thus overcoming it in one area can help reduce it in other areas. What I mean is, if I’m afraid of heights, of the dark and of conflict, tackling one of these can help me with all of them. I’m testing this hypothesis by challenging myself in a variety of ways – and I’ll report back on the results 🙂

What prompted this research was partly having been through a quite severe depression and wanting to identify ways of helping other people whose lives are afflicted by mental illness and anxiety (fear is only one aspect of this but it’s one of the fundamentals). The parallel impetus is that I’m constantly exhorting my clients to push themselves and to face down their demons and I want to deepen my understanding of the mechanics of fear, so as to be able to offer them better and better advice.

I no longer teach languages: the aforementioned clients are being coached in public speaking, lecturing, training, how to make an impact and the right impression at an interview, a business pitch, in a debate or discussion or any other type of meeting. I have other websites to reflect all this:

Put Yourself Across brings together all the interwoven aspects of what I do as a consultant and coach in effective communication.

Public Speaking Skills has grown into a pretty hefty resource for anyone looking for help with making a speech or presentation.

Effective Teaching and Training addresses the teaching, training and lecturing side of what I do. This site needs more work, as and when time allows, but I’m particularly pleased with the ebook I wrote to accompany it, 22 Top Tips for Teachers, Trainers and Lecturers. I put a great deal of thought and care into it and I like to think it’s really useful for anyone who teaches, trains or lectures to adults. (My ebook about public speaking is useful too but I’m in the process of reworking and expanding it into a physical book I’ll be publishing in 2018.)

As well as a coach and consultant, I have become what they call a motivational speaker. I like to refer to my talks as stand-up psychology, but motivational speaking is the term with most currency. Alongside How to Be Perfect… in your own way (to which the above link connects), the other talk I present regularly is Life Lessons from Public Speaking.

Something huge I’ve achieved since closing JMJ is joining The Magic Circle. I’ve always wanted to be a member of that august institution and I could not be more proud and excited that I’ve managed it – though most of the credit must go to Iain Moran, a world-class magician and my great friend and mentor.

I’m developing a talk about The Magic of Communication, which will illustrate points about effective communication through demonstrations of magic, but that won’t be ready for a while.

That’s how things stand at the moment. Life is good 🙂