“The Four Truths of the Storyteller” is an article by Peter Guber that appeared in the Harvard Business Review. Every businessperson should read it. Guber is a successful businessman who founded the movie company Mandalay Entertainment. That company has produced some big Hollywood movies starring actors such as Al Pacino, Brad
Last year, our small village in Switzerland converted a former telephone booth at the bus stop into a book exchange. It has been a great success. I have dropped off many books and in return have picked up a few gems. One of those was The Night Circus by Erin
Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Francisco Mahfuz on The Story Powers podcast. The show is about the power of stories, the people who tell them, and why you should be doing it too. As longtime readers of this blog know, the importance of stories and
Jim Harvey and I are two of the three founders of Presentation Guru. Given the current state of affairs in the world, we have decided to experiment with webinars. We are creating a series of four webinars for anyone interested in delivering better speeches and presentations. The first webinar covered
This is the fourth post in a series based on the sketches that graphic recorder Linda Saukko-Rauta made during my public speaking workshop in Hämeenlinna, Finland. I was speaking at the 2019 edition of the Summer School of Rhetoric. Today’s sketch is about stories and storytelling, the currency of a great speech. For the
We don’t have to be Superman or Superwoman to have something important to say. I recently had the privilege of moderating the 9th WAVE (Women’s Added Value in the Economy) Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. It’s an annual event organized and run by the dynamic women of the Career Women’s Forum.
I am proud to be one of the co-founders of the website Presentation Guru. This post is part of a series designed to share the great content on Presentation Guru with the Manner of Speaking community. ——— I have written extensively in this blog about the power of storytelling. See, for example, this
Kurt Vonnegut was a master storyteller and storytelling is powerful. Stories resonate with people on a deep, psychological level. Stories are memorable and help support our messages. Hence the speaker’s maxim: Tell a story, make a point. The best stories contain many elements related to plot, character, dialogue, etc. For some insights into
This morning, I was rereading the chapter on storytelling in one of my favourite books, Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Health. (To see the seven-part series that I wrote on the book, you can find all the posts here.) Our brains are wired for stories. Stories add meaning, contain wisdom,
John delivered a keynote address about the importance of public speaking to 80 senior members of Gore’s Medical Device Europe team at an important sales event. He was informative, engaging and inspirational. Everyone was motivated to improve their public speaking skills. Following his keynote, John has led public speaking workshops for Gore in Barcelona and Munich. He is an outstanding speaker who thinks carefully about the needs of his audience well before he steps on stage.
Karsta Goetze
TA Leader, Gore and Associates
I first got in touch with John while preparing to speak at TED Global about my work on ProtonMail. John helped me to sharpen the presentation and get on point faster, making the talk more focused and impactful. My speech was very well received, has since reached almost 1.8 million people and was successful in explaining a complex subject (email encryption) to a general audience.
Andy Yen
CEO, Proton Technologies
John gave the opening keynote on the second day of our unit’s recent offsite in Geneva, addressing an audience of 100+ attendees with a wealth of tips and techniques to deliver powerful, memorable presentations. I applied some of these techniques the very next week in an internal presentation, and I’ve been asked to give that presentation again to senior management, which has NEVER happened before. John is one of the greatest speakers I know and I can recommend his services without reservation.
David Lindelöf
Senior Data Scientist, Expedia Group
After a morning of team building activities using improvisation as the conduit, John came on stage to close the staff event which was organised in Chamonix, France. His energy and presence were immediately felt by all the members of staff. The work put into the preparation of his speech was evident and by sharing some his own stories, he was able to conduct a closing inspirational speech which was relevant, powerful and impactful for all at IRU. The whole team left feeling engaged and motivated to tackle the 2019 objectives ahead. Thank you, John.
Umberto de Pretto
Secretary General, World Road Transport Organization
I was expecting a few speaking tips and tricks and a few fun exercises, but you went above and beyond – and sideways. You taught me to stand tall. You taught me to anchor myself. You taught me to breathe. You taught me to open up. You taught me to look people in the eye. You taught me to tell the truth. You taught me to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. I got more than I bargained for in the best possible way.
Thuy Khoc-Bilon
World Cancer Day Campaign Manager, Union for International Cancer Control
John gave a brilliant presentation on public speaking during the UN EMERGE programme in Geneva (a two days workshop on leadership development for a group of female staff members working in the UN organizations in Geneva). His talk was inspirational and practical, thanks to the many techniques and tips he shared with the audience. His teaching can dramatically change our public speaking performance and enable us as presenters to have a real and powerful impact. Thank you, John, for your great contribution!
Sara Canna
HR Specialist, World Health Organization
John is a genuine communication innovator. His seminars on gamification of public speaking learning and his interactive Rhetoric game at our conference set the tone for change and improvement in our organisation. The quality of his input, the impact he made with his audience and his effortlessly engaging style made it easy to get on board with his core messages and won over some delegates who were extremely skeptical as to the efficacy of games for learning. I simply cannot recommend him highly enough.
Thomas Scott
National Education Director, Association of Speakers Clubs UK
John joined our Global Sales Meeting in Segovia, Spain and we all participated in his "Improv(e) your Work!" session. I say “all” because it really was all interactive, participatory, learning and enjoyable. The session surprised everybody and was a fresh-air activity that brought a lot of self-reflection and insights to improve trust and confidence in each other inside our team. It´s all about communication and a good manner of speaking!"
Jon Lopez
General Manager Europe, Hayward Industries
Thank you very much for the excellent presentation skills session. The feedback I received was very positive. Everyone enjoyed the good mix of listening to your speech, co-developing a concrete take-away and the personal learning experience. We all feel more devoted to the task ahead, more able to succeed and an elevated team spirit. Delivering this in a short time, both in session and in preparation, is outstanding!
Henning Dehler
CFO European Dairy Supply Chain & Operations, Danone
Thanks to John’s excellent workshop, I have learned many important tips and techniques to become an effective public speaker. John is a fantastic speaker and teacher, with extensive knowledge of the field. His workshop was a great experience and has proven extremely useful for me in my professional and personal life.
Eric Thuillard
Senior Sales Manager, Sunrise Communications
John’s presentation skills training was a terrific investment of my time. I increased my skills in this important area and feel more comfortable when speaking to an audience. John provided the right mix between theory and practice.
Diego Brait
Director of the Jura Region, BKW Energie AG
Be BOLD. Those two words got stuck in my head and in the heads of all those ADP leaders and associates that had the privilege to see John on stage. He was our keynote speaker at our annual convention in Barcelona, and his message still remains! John puts his heart in every word. Few speakers are so credible, humble and yet super strong with large audiences!
Guadalupe Garcia
Senior Director and Talent Partner, ADP International
