In a basement in central Edinburgh, The Firm gathered together four unsuspecting lawyer volunteers, one expert trainer and a hidden camera to see what can be learned of the art of public speaking by taking a closer look at ourselves at our relaxed, unguarded best.

O would some power, the gift to gie’ us. To see ourselves as other see us.”

It took 200 years, give or take, for the literal manifestation of Robert Burns’ power to be given to us, in the form of a common video camera, and the utility of seeing ourselves as others see us can have a startling transformative effect, especially when applied to productive use. So the Firm’s volunteers, gathered from some of Scotland’s most successful law firms, were delivered into the care of Maryanne Johnstone, a specialist in public speaking training techniques, who uses tactfully deployed secret filming to positive effect as a tool to show how communication skills can be improved by ensuring we remain ourselves, as others see us.

Maryanne works on the simple premise that successful lawyers are already excellent communicators, whether they are confident platform speakers or not. What is essential in improving public speaking skills is retaining their authentic natural qualities.

“All these people have got into their roles because of who they are. I start on the premise that my clients are already very effective communicators, because they wouldn’t be doing their jobs if they weren’t,” she says.

“It is already proven that you are good. It is just that there are certain circumstances where things can go wrong, and it is those times that you need to learn how to handle. You see Gordon Brown when he is relaxed, and then you see him on a podium, and it is like Jekyll and Hyde. Then you start to distrust what is going on. It is a performance to a degree, but only as long as you are not becoming someone you are not.”

Which is where the secret filming comes in. Our volunteers, Stephen Chan and Richard Leslie of Tods Murray, Jane Robertson of Dundas and Wilson and Katy Erskine of HBJ Gateley Wareing all knew they would be attending a training session being covered by the Firm, and that filming would be involved. But that was all. Maryanne’s premise builds on the principles of conversation, and argues that in natural social interaction with friends, effective communication comes easily. Something is lost in the effort of formal speaking, as natural rhythms and confidence give way to tension and stilted delivery. Filming the unguarded interactions of our professionals as they got to know each other before the formal session began, and contrasting that with a later, formal simulated delivery of a previously unseen pre-written speech shows the extent to which the natural communication gifts can be lost, when they were always there to begin with. One reason, Maryanne argues, is that in conversation, you are always given affirmation and feedback from your listener, assuring you they are with you, understand you, and want you to continue, qualities that are lost when addressing a large audience.

“The point I’ve learned is that when you talk to a big audience you don’t get much feedback. So you just don’t know how you have done,” Richard said after the session.

“You think it was great because nobody booed you at the end. You sit down but no one is going to say you were too quick or they couldn’t follow you in the middle,”

Jane Robertson agreed. “It is difficult when you are communicating in a high pressure environment, for instance a presentation, where you have done a lot of preparation and the pressure is on. You don’t use the natural skills that you have in a conversation with your friends, when you would be more effective in communicating than you would be standing up and giving a presentation,” she said.

“It is strange because it is at that time when you want your most effective communication skills to come across, and you want to build up a relationship with everyone in the room, which is very difficult. It is more effective just to use your ordinary skills, and the way that you would normally speak to people in a presentation. I was at a presentation yesterday, and it was clearly an act, and I didn’t listen to much of it at all because I was distracted by the fact that it was clearly a written speech being delivered. I didn’t get into the content and couldn’t build up a relationship with that person speaking, even though he was quite charismatic. It didn’t feel individual for us. I just dismissed it.”

The failure of authenticity is very hard to define, but instantly recognisable. Gordon Brown was much mocked for his clunky efforts to appear more upbeat and jolly than his natural demeanour permits. The Firm once attended an address by Bob Geldof, who spoke without notes in truly inspirational terms before a thousand professionals for 45 minutes, at no time appearing anything less than sincere, authentic and above all, himself. It appears to come easily for some in a public forum, but it is essentially easy for most people, especially professionals, in a relaxed, social setting. Harnessing that natural skill is what Maryanne’s method is designed to do.