George Bernard Shaw is credited with this phrase and Churchill once said that “The United States of America and the United Kingdom are two great nations divided by a common language”. As the son of a wealthy New York heiress and as an international statesman he should know.
I have seen many cruise speakers who make no concessions at all to this difference. An English academic who talks in Oxford code or a New Jersey life coach who makes no concessions to his international audience will get poorer ratings than the speakers who find out the nationality split of the passengers and talks to them rather than beyond them.
Many cruise directors give an idea of the nationality split at the welcome on board show – even if you don’t attend the show it’s worth watching the relevant bit of the stateroom TV showing to find out.
And always use words and phrases that the whole audience will understand. Remember that a part of your audience will be the dozens of nationalities of crew, who get the chance to watch the TV re-runs on their cabin TV service when they finish work – often in th
e early hours.
Oh – and watch what you do with your hands! While Governor Schwarzenegger’s cheery “thumbs up” might seem innocent enough, in some parts of the world this is just plain offensive! Whatever you don’t give this sign to a traffic cop in Rio!!!
And if you are not already cruising free with Daniel Hall and SpeakersCruiseFree.com click here now!
Happy cruising free!
Andrew
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