If posts have been sparse in recent months, it’s because I’ve been involved in launching a brand new venture! I’ve been working with Dr. Rachel Hannam, a talented psychologist and corporate consultant, to develop Brisbane Workplace Mediations. Our website went live two days ago, and we’re extremely excited about the opportunities it presents. We’ve given ourselves a simple mission: to bring a sense of humanity back to the workplace. How will we achieve this? By showing our clients how to communicate with compassion and understanding in all circumstances, not just when resolving conflicts. This will take the full suite of communication skills that I’ve developed over the last thirty years, and then some! We’re assembling a crack team of professional mediators, and look forward to helping our clients build productive, positive workplaces, in Brisbane and beyond. To find our more, check out our website today.
Author Archives: Ian Demack
Something Brave and Rare
As a Toastmaster of many years’ experience, it surprises me when my fellow Toastmasters tell me they’re having difficulty finding a speech topic. Why does this surprise me? Because we join Toastmasters to improve our public speaking skills. And why would we wish to speak in public, unless we had something to say? The same… Continue Reading
Four Hundred and Twenty-Five Elephants
If you write fiction, especially fantasy or magical realism, and you want your work to be more believable, here’s a tip from Gabriel García Márquez: “…if you say that there are elephants flying in the sky, people are not going to believe you. But if you say there are four hundred and twenty-five elephants in… Continue Reading
Rogue apostrophes and more
Q1 is a triumph. The Skypoint café on Level 77 is 230 metres above sea level, offering panoramic views up and down the coast, and over the hinterland. There’s also a display celebrating the history of the Gold Coast, and advising tourists of some of the more spectacular places to visit in the mountains. If… Continue Reading
The use and misuse of the Oxford comma
I met with a prospective client the other day. It proved to be, shall we say, most interesting. She insisted that and should never be preceded by a comma, and could not be dissuaded from her view. She was referring, of course, to the Oxford comma. It precedes the and in a list of three… Continue Reading