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Since 2015 we have trained teams who have to convince a board, a specialist audience or the press. Half-day, full-day or across several dates, a maximum of 8 participants, in English or German.
We are booked by L&D and team leads in companies, by graduate programmes at universities and research institutions, and by accelerator programmes preparing a cohort for demo day.
The seminar works best when there is a real occasion behind it. A board presentation next month, a conference talk, a press conference, a pitch to investors. We then work on that appearance and not on a sample case from a folder.
The group stays small, a maximum of 8 participants per trainer. The reason is simple: with eight people, everyone comes to the front several times in a day and gets feedback each time. With twenty, most of them spend the day sitting down.
There is little theory. Participants spend most of the time standing at the front themselves.
The exercises come from presentation practice and from improvisational theatre. After each round, feedback: first from the group, then from us.
Every seminar is built around the team's goals. The content comes from these five areas:
On top of that come the topics that show up in almost every group: nerves, handling critical questions, thinking on your feet in a discussion, and how to cut a presentation short when the time in the room suddenly runs out.
Looking for public speaking training for yourself rather than for a team? Then individual training is the better fit. Open seminars with a fixed date are listed further down this page.
Structure, delivery and confidence are connected. People who feel secure speak more clearly, and people who speak clearly feel more secure. That is why we work on all three in the same seminar.
Formats: half-day, full-day, ongoing
The seminar comes in three formats. Which one fits depends mostly on how much time there is before the appearance.
Half-day: 4 hours including breaks. Useful for a team that already presents regularly and wants to work on one specific thing.
Full day: 8 hours including breaks. The most common format.
Ongoing: Several dates across weeks or months, usually group days plus one-to-one sessions. For cohorts and for teams with a fixed date at the end.
Participants: a maximum of 8 per trainer. Larger groups we split, bringing in additional trainers.
Languages: English or German, both at native level. Mixed groups are not a problem.
We come to you, using your rooms and your equipment. Outside Berlin or online on request. We quote on request, since the price depends on format, duration and group size.
Tell us briefly who is presenting, to whom and when. We will get back to you by phone.
Upcoming open seminars
Seminar
Develop Your Public Speaking Confidence
Our group seminar to develop a strong public speaking mindset
November 2nd in Berlin
8 hours
4-6 participants, 2 trainers
Previous projects
Bayer
For global press conferences we wrote the speeches and prepared the speakers for the stage, from researchers to the management of partner companies.
Delivery Hero
Training for whole teams, plus more than 120 employees in one-to-one sessions. It was about internal presentations, presence in meetings, and holding a position when senior people are in the room.
Falling Walls Foundation
Every year 20 science communicators come to Berlin to present their projects to an international audience. Since 2018 we have been preparing them for that appearance.
How a seminar day runs
Before the seminar we spend 30 minutes on the phone, free of charge. We want to know who is presenting, to whom, when, and where you think it currently goes wrong.
The day itself alternates between short inputs and exercises. After each exercise, feedback: first from the group, then from us. The order is deliberate. Having to name what worked yourself changes how you hear the trainer's feedback.
We film exercises so participants can see their own effect. Those recordings go to the person filmed and to nobody else.
If a specific appearance is still ahead after the seminar, we keep working in one-to-one sessions. That is the part clients come back for.
Body language, voice and presence
Your own effect on a room is the thing participants judge least well themselves. That is why the camera runs in this part.
We look at stance and weight, at eye contact, at movement in the room, and at what the hands do when nobody gives them a job.
With the voice it is pace, volume and pauses. Under pressure most people speak faster and more quietly, and notice none of it.
Half a day starts a change that lasts. Participants see for the first time how they come across, and leave with two or three concrete things they will do differently from the next meeting on. Across several dates that turns into habit.
Public speaking training for leaders
For leaders the problem is rarely the presentation. It is what comes afterwards: the critical question from the board, the objection from their own team, the discussion where someone wants something else.
So conversation situations are at the centre here. Role plays using real cases from participants' own work, question rounds under pressure, and dealing with the moment when you do not have an answer. This runs as group training just as well as one-to-one.
