Life lessons from the movies
Posted in Attitude, Belief Change, Confidence, Inspiration on February 3, 2011 by Gavin Meikle
The Kings Speech
Every so often I watch a film that proves to be a fantastic source of learning and inspiration as well as entertainment.
Recently I saw the Kings speech and it really moved me. Afterwards I started to wonder what it was that made it so powerful.
The acting was superb and believable. The Prince’s frustration with his inability to speak fluently in public was palpable, and this made a wonderful contrast with the closing sequences where he clearly demonstrated to himself and the world that he had mastered his stammer. The filming was tight and the period references felt accurate and relevant.
For me there were three powerful lessons that came out of this film:
- That even the most intractable things can be changed with a combination of determination and the right support network.
- That a quick fix is rarely the solution and that hard work and effort does pay huge dividends.
- That ones ability to speak clearly and confidently in public can have a huge positive impact on yourself as well as your audience.
Interstingly I then did a search to see what other people had written about this superb film in relation to presenting and I came across this excellent slideshare presentation by Jessedee. I thought you might like it too:
If you have seen it, I’d love to hear what you took from it, so post a comment below.
Gavin Meikle
The Presentation Doctor

Last night I attended a meeting of a new public speaking club called Hamwic Speakers- Southampton. Hamwic have only been going since March but are doing extremely well. At last nights meeting I was entranced by a wonderful speech by a young man called Rich Watts, who talked about “A trip to grandma’s“.
When I was a sales manager I saw a number of potentially great communicators stall despite fantastic subject matter knowledge and great technique. It was no surprise to me that sending them on a skills refresher course didn’t solve the problem as I instinctively knew that the problem lay at the level of identity and believe rather than skill or capability.
Do you ever have the same problem I have? I bet you do. There you are sitting in front of your computer with blank powerpoint or word template in front of you , a deadline looming and your mind is blank!
This post was promopted by a comment made by my wife Lyn after an early morning walk today.