When my friend, Sabyasachi (Saby) Sengupta stepped off stage as the 2025 Toastmasters World Champion of Public Speaking in Philadelphia, I couldn’t have been happier. But I also realized something: our two-month coaching journey had taught me as much as it taught him. Through our written exchanges and live sessions
My fellow public speaker, business partner and good friend Florian Mueck and I are proud to announce that Toastmasters International has published an article about Rhetoric – The Public Speaking Game™ in the October 2017 edition of its Toastmasters Magazine. Readers of this blog will have seen posts about RHETORIC in
While skimming through my Twitter feed the other day, a Tweet caught my eye. It contained the link to a post on Entrepreneur by Jonathan Li entitled 10 Mistakes Successful Speakers Never Make Again. I was intrigued. I thought, I make mistakes; I should read it. So I did. Most of what I
The 85th Annual Toastmasters International Convention will be held in Washington, D.C. this August. The International Convention is the highlight of the Toastmasters year and I am delighted to have been chosen as one of ten speakers who will present there.I will be speaking about improv, a special form of theatre
Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of meeting locations. Headquartered in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, the organization’s membership exceeds 332,000 in more than 15,400 clubs in 135 countries. Since 1924, Toastmasters International has helped people of all backgrounds become more confident
Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of meeting locations. Headquartered in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, the organization’s membership exceeds 313,000 in more than 14,650 clubs in 126 countries. Since 1924, Toastmasters International has helped people of all backgrounds become
It has been a little more than two months since my last post. During that period my free time was focused almost exclusively on preparing for the Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking that was held in Cincinnati, Ohio from 21-24 August 2013. I wrote about qualifying for the World
One week ago, I achieved a goal that had been several years in the making. In Antwerp, Belgium, I won the Toastmasters International Speech Contest for District 59, which comprises 18 countries in Continental Europe. I now move on to the World Championship Semi-Finals, which will be held in Cincinnati,
The past several weeks found me very busy preparing for the Toastmasters District 59 International Speech Contest. The final was held in Poznań, Poland and I was one of the eleven finalists. It was a terrific event with great educational sessions, exciting contests and terrific people. It is wonderful to
Karsta Goetze
TA Leader, Gore and Associates
Andy Yen
CEO, Proton Technologies
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
