Consultations and training in rhetoric and public speaking. Conference interpreting in Polish, French and English.
Good communication is not about making an impression at all costs. What matters is whether we have been understood, whether we have achieved our intended purpose and whether the way we communicate builds trust.
For more than twenty years, I have been looking at communication from different perspectives. As a linguist, I analyse the mechanisms of persuasion and the rhetoric of public discourses. As a teacher and lecturer, I help others speak with greater precision, awareness and, above all, confidence. As a conference interpreter, I interpret other speakers’ messages, and I have also addressed a wide range of audiences myself.
These experiences have shaped the way I think about communication and the way I work at GJMB, where the key principle is the 3E / GJMB model.
Ethos + Effectiveness + Effect
You do not have to be born a speaker, though you certainly can be, to speak well in public. Public speaking is a competence that can be developed, much like many other abilities that may initially make us feel uncertain but become increasingly natural with experience.
At GJMB, we work on how to speak consciously, persuasively and in your own style. It is not about learning a few impressive gestures or trying to create a stage persona. It is about acquiring the tools that allow you to feel secure enough in front of an audience to focus not on yourself, but on the people you are speaking to and on what you want to communicate to them.
Since antiquity, we have known that there is no single way of speaking that is right for every audience and every context. We speak differently at a conference, when chairing a meeting, explaining a difficult problem, negotiating, teaching or giving feedback. And we can, or even sometimes should, communicate differently again in multilingual and cross-cultural settings.
At GJMB, individual attention is very much the order of the day. Group and team sessions are also available, following an initial discussion of the participants’ needs, expectations and goals.
I have been interpreting since my third year at university, working with public institutions, cultural and non-governmental organisations and businesses. My experience includes, among others, assignments for the French Embassy, the media, the government and cultural institutions.
My experience as an interpreter also shapes the way I think about communication. Interpreters listen to a speaker differently from other members of the audience. They immediately feel the consequences of an incoherent structure, an unfinished thought, inappropriate pacing, information overload or insufficient awareness of the audience.
Therefore, I also draw on my interpreting experience while working on communication, rhetoric and public speaking.
Trust first, effectiveness second, effect third.
Credibility is not built through a single outstanding speech. It develops gradually through preparation, consistency, respect for the audience and responsibility for one’s own words.
Communication has a purpose. It may be to convey knowledge, persuade, explain, encourage, inspire action or initiate dialogue. The means we choose should always serve that purpose.
A good metaphor, an anecdote, a sense of humour, conscious use of the voice or a well-designed presentation can give a message greater force. Problems begin when form ceases to serve content and starts replacing it.
years of working with language
working languages
PhDs, University of Warsaw and Université Paris Cité
forms of work on offer
I am far from believing in a one-size-fits-all training programme.
The starting point is always a conversation about what you would like to achieve: preparing for a particular speech, feeling more confident in front of an audience, making stronger arguments, choosing your language more consciously according to the audience, purpose and context, or developing the competences needed for multilingual and cross-cultural communication.
Only then do we decide together on the most appropriate form of work.
Individual consultations, team sessions, conference interpreting.
