In this episode we talk to Professor Arlene Holmes-Henderson, Professor of Classics Education and Public Policy at Durham University, about her fierce belief in the enduring relevance of classical rhetoric to today’s world, and why its value in helping disadvantaged children find their voice in a more engaging way is fundamental to how schools need to develop oracy, alongside literacy and numeracy. And at the end, she gives a 10-minute masterclass in classical rhetoric that we can all use to make a speech more interesting. 

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Arlene's books Forward with Classics  and Expanding Classics 

The ‘Shy bairns get nowt’ project https://www.durham.ac.uk/news-events/latest-news/2023/05/shy-bairns-get-nowt/

Arlene's work in The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/jun/04/brucey-and-caesar-can-help-children-improve-oracy-says-classic-professor

Connect with Adam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-morgan-3a473a/

Follow eatbigfish on Linkedin and Instagram

See what’s coming up on the podcast at The Challenger Project

With thanks to our editor Ruth and producer Ross.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a podcast for people who can’t afford to bore their audience. And in this episode we talk to Gemma Parkinson, a Global Marketing and Business Director at Moet Hennessy, about how to elevate a presentation into an irresistible performance when you really need to carry an audience with you. A fresh, energetic and charismatic thinker, Gemma shares her advice about how to elevate the interest when it really matters.

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Connect with Adam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-morgan-3a473a/

Follow eatbigfish on Linkedin and Instagram

See what’s coming up on the podcast at The Challenger Project

With thanks to our editor Ruth and producer Ross.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How can we be interesting enough to stick in our audiences’ long-term memory? In this episode, Adam speaks to Addison Brown, the science teacher who was the star of a recent Department for Education recruitment film. They discuss the four key principles that underpin success in every lesson – from cognitive load to dual coding – and how shorter pupil attention spans and higher expectations have driven a ‘blossoming of imagination within teaching'.

'Every Lesson Shapes a Life': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGd_Rrs-qNY

Brian Cox asks 'what more do you want?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uqa2TMzag4

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Connect with Adam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-morgan-3a473a/

Follow eatbigfish on Linkedin and Instagram

See what’s coming up on the podcast at The Challenger Project

With thanks to our editor Ruth and producer Ross.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Adam talks with Norman Stiles, for 20 years the Head Writer on Sesame Street, about the pioneering pairing of entertainers and educators that changed the educational life of a generation. And how success lay in a very simple ambition that has fascinating implications for us all. Sesame Street made something possible that people thought couldn’t be done. What can it teach us about the audiences we want to really engage?

Watch the classic Sesame Street scenes that Norman refers to during the conversation:

• Grover really wants us to learn near and far
• Ernie answers the Count's telephone
• Telly tries to help Elmo get over his fear of clowns
• Big Bird learns about 'just because' and says goodbye to Mr Hooper

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Connect with Adam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-morgan-3a473a/

Follow eatbigfish on Linkedin and Instagram

See what’s coming up on the podcast at The Challenger Project

With thanks to our editor Ruth and producer Ross.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Adam talks to national radio presenter Ross Buchanan (Absolute Radio, Radio X) about what it takes to be interesting for four hours with an audience you never actually see. How much is it about being more interesting in what you say and do, and how much is it about what you share of yourself? And why shouldn’t you talk about biscuits?

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Connect with Adam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-morgan-3a473a/

Follow eatbigfish on Linkedin and Instagram

See what’s coming up on the podcast at The Challenger Project

With thanks to our editor Ruth and producer Ross.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Adam speaks to reality TV producer Maz Farrelly. Maz has made some of the biggest shows on 3 continents, including Britain’s Got Talent, Dancing with the Stars, Big Brother and Celebrity Apprentice – interviewing 12,000 hopefuls along the way. She now works with businesses to help them make themselves more interesting. 

Maz shares her learnings on what it takes to really engage an audience, the three secrets of great content, and how to be interesting enough to get cast in one of her shows. Along the way, we discuss:

• Why, if you’re ambitious, you have to see everything as a ‘production’
• How your dog produces you to get what it wants
• What ‘white noise’ is, and why it matters
• How to interview well enough to get into the Big Brother house 
• Why many of us have become lazy producers, particularly in big companies
• When ‘fine’ isn’t good enough if you want to be the Number 1 Show
• Asking the questions to discover the interesting story in everyone (and how to make a dull person interesting for a TV audience)
• Why you can only last for a week before you ‘leak’
• The power of subverting expectations as a producer
• The recipe for great content on television (and how to play Susan Boyle Bingo)
• The importance of really ‘scratching’ to get to what’s interesting
• Three bits of advice on how to be a great producer and be more interesting
• How to apply this to our business and personal life

Maz is as fascinating as she is funny. We hope you enjoy this wonderfully stimulating conversation with someone who makes everything she does a little more interesting. 

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Find out about Maz's work here: https://www.mazspeaks.com/ 

Follow Maz on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maz-speaks/

Connect with Adam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-morgan-3a473a/

Follow eatbigfish on Linkedin and Instagram

See what’s coming up on the podcast at The Challenger Project

With thanks to our editor Ruth and producer Ross.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this opening episode, Adam discusses a new analysis that reveals the real financial cost to a business of being dull with Marketing Effectiveness expert Peter Field. Exactly how much more expensive is it to run dull communications than engaging ones? And what can we learn from people who can’t afford to bore their audiences? 

Adam and Peter's conversation explores: 

• Why we should be much more intolerant of dull external and internal communication than we are
• A simple test: ‘The six slide rule’
• How we can make dull itself more interesting to those we need to change - by putting a concrete cost on it
• Peter’s new analysis, and what it reveals
• So why is it that so many well-intentioned, smart people are choosing to be dull?
• A look ahead to the future guests on the podcast: people whose job it is to make dull subjects interesting, and the two kinds of things we’ll learn from them
• 3 things you can do tomorrow

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Download Peter's slides on The Cost of Dull here: https://thechallengerproject.com/blog/the-cost-of-dull-with-peter-field

Follow Peter's work here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-field-20110120/

Connect with Adam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-morgan-3a473a/

Follow eatbigfish on Linkedin and Instagram

See what’s coming up on the podcast at The Challenger Project

With thanks to our editor Ruth and producer Ross.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

** EPISODES 1 & 2 - TUESDAY 26TH SEPTEMBER **

Do you have moments in your business or personal life when you simply can’t afford to bore your audience? What can we do to hold their undivided attention when it really matters? To find out, Adam Morgan, founder of eatbigfish, speaks to fascinating people who excel at engaging their audience – be they distracted social scrollers, bored schoolchildren or cynical CEOs – and learns from them how we can all be much more interesting.

See what's coming up at: https://thechallengerproject.com/lets-make-this-more-interesting

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.