Find Your Voice

What sorts of things can we cover?

• How to be a better work writer
• How stories work
• How to design a slide presentation
• How to write reports people actually read
• How leaders use language
• How to be more creative
• How to speak to different audiences.

Workshops are a great way to get a group quickly applying ideas and learning from each other, as well as from expert feedback. For a pitch team they can be brilliant for forming a group ethos and to create a set of shared skills to build on.

Over the course of a few hours we can weave theory and practice together and create a space for honest feedback (the most useful kind) -- and that's not something that happens very often, as office politics (and normal human reticence) gets in the way. 

Workshops that involve honest criticism are often best facilitated by an outsider -- it creates a more fluid dynamic where boundaries are much more visible and easier to guard or challenge.

How to be a better writer

I’ve run thousands of workshops for all levels and always get great results, and great feedback. (Full disclosure, I was once told I swear too much.)

One-to-one coaching can help you make lasting changes with proven methods for building healthy communication habits.

Presenting is a really personal thing, and it can bring up a lot of psychological and emotional challenges. Bad experiences often deliver a double whammy of existential dread and physical trauma (who the hell am I, why me, and please get me out of here.) After all, finding your voice has a strong metaphorical meaning, as well as the literal one. 

Many of us are haunted by early educational or career experiences that taught us who we are, and a set of response or habits to deal with the ordeal of being on public show. Unpacking these vulnerabilities is really useful, and can really help challenge and change our approach to communication, and especially to presenting.

 I give honest feedback on all aspects of presentation -- looking at what you're saying, the structures and techniques that you'r falling back on, as well as how you use your voice and physical presence. 

You can use me as a rehearsal room, a sounding board, a director or literally as a coach — taking you through the basics, then pushing you to take more risks. 

And guess what? After many years of helping people I can say confidently that you can always go farther than you think. And that you learn more than how to deliver better presentations at work.

The most popular sessions I run are:

• How to write brilliantly at work
• How to write like a human (even when you're a lawyer)
• How to present with pizazz
• How to use stories to influence and persuade (or just sell). 
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I’ve run these as 45-, 60- and 90-minute sessions for large global audiences, as well as for small, integrated teams.  Modern working life means that (somewhat absurdly) we often can't find a time to get everybody in a room for a few hours, let alone for a day, but we can find time for an hour or two online. 

Since Covid-enforced lockdowns we've all become more adept at managing the online virtual space (and using it to avoid meaningful interaction). So we all know it's not the best . . . but it's often a reasonable gateway. 

I’ve become a huge fan of using the webinar as way to introduce ideas and get people thinking and feeling differently about the daily business of communication: email, reports, social posts, newsletters, updates. 

It gives me a chance to practise what I preach -- people often say that my presentations are a lot more engaging than they expected, and that's by design -- not the magical force of my personality.