Whether you are at a formal function or an informal gathering you will be called upon to make conversation with others. Mastering this skill - either one-on-one or conversations in small groups - is thus an important life skill as it will give you the confidence you need to handle both business and social events.

This practical course covers the fundamentals of conversation such as how to start a conversation with someone you don’t know; effective introductions to ease the way for others; how to be interesting rather than boring and how to include everyone in the conversation. We also touch on non-verbal (body) language.

It seems that there really is more than a little truth in the old adage 'laughter is the best medicine'. Scientific studies around the world are continuing to prove that, apart from making us feel good, laughing actually does us good as well – and can actually significantly increase our life span. Pre-school children laugh or smile between 300 and 400 times a day. By the age of 35, this drops to about 18 times. Why have we lost our sense of humour, and what can we do to put more laughter into our lives?

Article as it appeared in Woman's Value magazine. By Lee Curry

Confident people find the working situation easier, and experience greater success. If you want to enjoy the benefits of being confident at work, then this is a useful article to read.

Practical, do-able advice which anyone can apply to their own life – with positive, tangible results.

Understanding that you have the right to ask for what you want is the key to becoming a more assertive person. Assertiveness helps you feel better about yourself and your self-control in everyday situations, and increases your chances of having honest relationships. But, how can we be assertive without being selfish – and what is the difference between the two?

Learning to identify the different communication styles - and recognising which one we use most often in our daily interactions with friends, family and colleagues - is essential if we want to develop effective, assertive communication skills. But how can we tell the difference between the styles, and is there a time and place for each one in certain situations?

Even with the ever-growing dominance of computers and social networking sites, and the popularity of e-mail and text messaging, the telephone continues to be the tool of choice for most business communication. It is very important, therefore, to establish good telephone manners in order to convey a polished professional image. Poor telephone technique, sloppy cell phone savvy and missing mobile manners all detract from the impression you make when you make a call.

Here are some practical guidelines to help you foster fabulous phone finesse, ensuring you are heard even when you’re not seen!

Criticism is often seen as a negative thing – look it up in any Thesaurus and you'll find it right there alongside such choice words as condemnation, disapproval, nit-picking and fault-finding. This is solely down to the fact that most people only ever criticise in a negative way. And we only ever refer to criticism as criticism when it's negative – positive criticism becomes 'approval' or 'praise'.

The truth is, criticism, when given in an appropriate way at an appropriate time, can have many positive effects – both for the giver and the recipient. The trick is to learn how to criticise in a positive and constructive manner, and to watch out for the pitfalls of negative criticism.

At social events where we may not know many people, it is easy to feel out of our depth. We may struggle to start a conversation with strangers, and end up feeling uncomfortable instead of confident. How can we change this scenario? What skills can we learn to ensure we enjoy ourselves - and leave a good impression on others?

How often have you wished you could really help someone in crisis, instead of offering well-meant, but ultimately useless advice? With a little basic training, you can learn to listen, provide support and offer real guidance to people in need.

Whether you apply the skills learnt in your home community, at work, through your church or simply within your social circle, you can offer a valuable, supportive service that makes a positive contribution towards helping individuals overcome emotional hardship and issues.

This course will equip you with the skills you need to help make a difference in people’s lives.

Presence is that enigmatic, “can’t-quite-put-my-finger-on-it” quality that some people simply have. They walk into a room and immediately command attention – without saying anything!

Presence is made up of a number of things – the most important of which is confidence. The funny thing about confidence is that, even if you don’t feel it, you can pretend to feel it, and by pretending to feel confident, you actually start to feel confident. I call this “fake it ‘til you make it!” And the best way to fake it is with your non-verbal behaviour - how you use your voice and your body language.

Anyone can learn to use both their verbal and non-verbal language to cultivate presence and appear confident. This course will show you how.