O Canada!

OK, full disclosure. This post has nothing to do with public speaking. But hey, it’s my blog, so I get to bend the rules from time to time.

I couldn’t let the day go by without acknowledging the fabulous effort put forth by the Canadian Team at the Vancouver Olympics. With 14 gold medals, we topped the standings for the first time and set a record for the most gold medals won by any nation at any Winter Olympics.

And no gold medal was more anticipated, more desired, more vital than the one earned by our men’s hockey team in its 3-2 victory over the United States.

Canada Hockey
Photo courtesy of Andy Mills

It was one of the most exciting games I have seen – and I have seen many. When Sidney Crosby netted the winner on a great pass from Jarome Iginla at 7:40 of the overtime period, our house erupted. And even though we now live in Switzerland, we could feel the energy reverberating from Canada.

Canada Hockey
Photo courtesy of Christopher Bevacqua

Crosby’s goal will rank up there with Paul Henderson’s goal in the 1972 Summit Series and Mario Lemieux’s goal in the 1987 Canada Cup.
If you are not Canadian, it is difficult to appreciate the significance of the game of hockey for us. Many countries are mad about football (soccer); some are focused on several sports (for example, baseball, basketball and American football in the United States).

In Canada, we might play and follow other sports, but none is on par with hockey. It has no equal in our national heart and mind. Hockey is uniquely woven into the Canadian psyche. It is our game.

Canada Hockey
Photo courtesy of Christopher Bevacqua

Roch Carrier wrote, “Les hivers de mon enfance étaient des saisons longues, longues. Nous vivions en trois lieux: l’école, l’église et la patinoire; mais la vraie vie était sur la patinoire.” (“The winters of my childhood were long, long seasons. We lived in three places – the school, the church and the skating rink – but our real life was on the skating rink.”)

Stephen Leacock said, “Hockey captures the essence of Canadian experience in the New World. In a land so inescapably and inhospitably cold, hockey is the chance of life, and an affirmation that despite the deathly chill of winter we are alive.”

Hockey is a part of what it means to be Canadian. And it was good to get back in touch with that part yesterday.

Canada Hockey
Photo courtesy of Andy Mills

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mannerofspeaking

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  1. And let’s also hear a big hurray for the Canadian Women’s Olympic hockey team — who maintained their status as Olympic gold champions at the 2010 Vancouver games, having handily won gold at Turin in 2006!!! And we could also hear the reverberating blaze of applause for Canadian women at Turin and Vancouver from Geneva, because they just simply ALWAYS rock!!

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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!"

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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!

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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.

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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.

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Director of the Jura Region, BKW Energie AG

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Senior Director and Talent Partner, ADP International