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Webinar on Storytelling

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 some of the secrets of storytelling. We designed it to help you connect with your audiences. We discussed what stories are, why they are effective, the elements of a good story and how to find your own stories.

Our thanks to everyone who attended. We had 100 people from all over the world. You can watch the recording of the webinar on storytelling below. In it, we share highlights from the broadcast and links to further reading and information to help you add impact to your speeches and presentations.

In the second webinar, we’ll look at how to add power to your words. We will do so through the use of nine rhetorical tools that have existed for centuries. Don’t let their antiquity fool you. They are as powerful and relevant today as they have ever been.

In the third webinar, we will draw on the wisdom of world-class communicators from Apple to the BBC about visual aids. We will discuss how slides, when used properly, can help you connect with an audience.

In the final webinar of this series, we will share some techniques of charismatic speakers. How do they grab their audience’s attention? How do they keep people engaged from start to finish?

Unfortunately, places are limited and we cannot accommodate everyone who wants to attend the live events. But I will post all the recordings on Manner of Speaking so you can watch them any time. Please be sure leave us your comments, either here or below the videos on YouTube.

You can also subscribe to Presentation Guru for our free monthly newsletter full of long-form articles about designing and delivering outstanding presentations. And, of course, you can subscribe to receive posts from Manner of Speaking at the bottom of every page on this site.

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johnzimmer

  1. Hi John,

    We last spoke on the 31 March 2020 in the night session with Florian.

    About your Webinar on Storytelling:

    Superb,excellent structure,enjoyable.

    I sent you an e-mail on 22 April with a request to give consideration to giving pointers to Speaking under pressure eg. ‘Mind freeze’, little or no time to think, use of the ‘Pause’,Silence’,Teflecting Questions etc.

    Yes! Iwould be interested in attending future Webinairs.

    Reply

    1. Thanks, John. I believe that they are all sold out. We have a 100-person limit. But if you can’t get in, I will post all of the videos here.

      Reply

  4. Oh darn! Had this tab saved to listen to it later, and apparently I missed the window. Is it still possible to access it somewhere?

    Reply

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Testimonials

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