Public Speaking Training.
Bespoke training built around one event, one team, or one weakness.
The work
Where the public speaking course follows a set eight-week arc, this is training shaped entirely around what’s in front of you. Sometimes that’s one keynote in three weeks. Sometimes it’s a leadership team who each present competently but sound like they work at different companies. Sometimes it’s a single stubborn habit: the upward inflection, the filler words, the apology at the start of every talk.
Formats I run
Single intensive sessions before a fixed event. Short blocks of three to five sessions targeting one specific weakness. Half-day and full-day workshops for leadership teams, sales teams and graduate cohorts. Ongoing retainer coaching for executives who speak publicly most weeks.
For organisations
Team training runs online in groups of four to twelve. Every participant presents, is recorded, and gets individual written feedback afterwards. This is not a lecture about the rule of three. I agree the outcomes with you before we start and report against them at the end. Corporate work is quoted per programme.
How I prepare
Before a bespoke engagement I ask for two things: a recording of you (or the team) presenting as you currently do, and a clear statement of what “better” looks like. Everything after that is built backwards from the second one.
The habits this usually comes down to
People book bespoke training for an event, and about half the time the event turns out not to be the problem. One habit is, and it has been there for years.
The four most common, in the order I meet them:
Rushing. Nearly every client I record is speaking faster than they believe, and almost nobody accepts it before the playback. Slowing down is not quite the fix either; change of pace matters more than average pace.
No pauses. Filler words are usually a pause someone was too uncomfortable to take. There are three distinct kinds and most speakers only ever use the first.
Rising inflection on statements. The habit that turns a recommendation into a request for permission. It is more expensive than a low voice is valuable, and it is almost always unconscious.
Running out of air. Starting a sentence strong and losing the end of it, which is where the point normally lives. That is breath rather than conviction.
All four sit on the four dials: power, pause, pace and pitch. Everything about a voice that can be changed while you are speaking is one of those four, which is why the list is short enough to work with under pressure.
When the event is the problem
If there is a fixed date and a specific room, the work is usually structural before it is vocal.
Five structures cover almost everything, and picking the right one is a twenty-second decision that decides how the talk goes. A board needs the shape that survives interruption. A pitch needs problem, agitate, solution. An all-hands delivering something difficult needs a different approach again.
How it is delivered
One to one, online over video, sixty-minute sessions. Every session recorded and sent to you. Team sessions run the same way in groups of four to twelve.
Everything is online, including for London clients, because the recording is the method and close-mic audio is far more diagnostic than a room.
What changes
For individuals: a specific, named habit gone, and a delivery that holds under pressure. For teams: a shared standard, so the audience hears one organisation instead of nine personalities.
Not sure which you need?
The free thirty minutes is recorded and ends with a written list of what is actually in the way, whether or not you book anything. If the answer is the eight-week course rather than bespoke training, I will say so. If the answer is that people hear you fine but ask you to repeat yourself, that is elocution and a different page.
Common questions
What is the difference between public speaking training and a course?
The course is a set eight-week arc that teaches the whole method. Training is shaped around one event, one team or one habit, and can be a single session. Choose training when there is a specific date or a specific problem and no appetite for a curriculum.
How much does public speaking training cost?
£140 an hour one to one, falling to £120 an hour on longer blocks. The first thirty minutes are free. Team and corporate programmes are quoted per engagement rather than per hour, because the shape varies.
Do you run team or corporate training?
Yes, online, in groups of four to twelve. Every participant presents, is recorded, and gets individual written feedback. Outcomes are agreed before it starts and reported against at the end.
Can you help if my talk is in two weeks?
Yes, and it is the most common way people arrive. In a fortnight the structure can be fixed, the talk rehearsed properly, and pause and pace worked. Range and resonance take longer, so those get left.
