Bio:

“Deborah is a linguist at heart, with a lifelong fascination for language, culture and sound. Her interest in the wider world began in her teenage years, when her family regularly hosted international students on English programmes. Growing up in a musical family as a violinist, Deborah developed an early sensitivity to sound — helped in no small part by her father, who drove her weekly to orchestra rehearsals and played recordings of aeroplane engines instead of music. To this day, she can distinguish a Spitfire from a Messerschmitt by sound alone — a reflection of her finely tuned listening skills. After studying Modern Foreign Languages with European Politics and History, she became a secondary school teacher in the UK before moving to Germany to work with both adults and children. During the pandemic, Deborah deepened her focus on phonetics, exploring the musicality of speech — including the “attack, decay, sustain and release” of sounds. This led her into accent training and neurolanguage-based communication work. She is currently training in the Richard D. Lewis Method for intercultural communication and is delighted to contribute a lively and thought-provoking perspective to this year’s event.”

Session Synopsis:

Negotiation Is Not What You Say — It’s How You Sound

– Understand how cultural communication styles (Richard D. Lewis) are expressed not only through words, but through melody, rhythm, pacing, and stress
– Recognise why negotiations succeed or fail due to misaligned prosody, even when language is “correct”
– Learn how SmartMotion principles (embodied sound, rhythm, and flow) can increase:
perceived credibility, trust, authority, and emotional alignment in negotiations
– Be able to adjust their vocal melody and rhythm to better match different cultural negotiation styles (linear-active, multi-active, reactive)