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Review: Executive Speaking Success | HotWax Systems

Written by Sanjay Yadav | May 11, 2016 6:00:00 AM

Recently, John Bates (@ExecSpeaking), world-renowned speaking coach and founder of Executive Speaking Success, travelled to our Indore office to deliver professional communications training to our team. His “Speak Like a Leader” training was definitely the best executive training I have experienced during my 10-year IT career. John really connected with us, and was inspiring, authentic and genuine.

Before John’s visit to Indore, John shared access to the online version of his “Speak Like a Leader” training. The video segments featuring John engaged and motivated me, and a few days later I was excited to have the wonderful opportunity of learning from him face-to-face.

Before the  training I did not feel comfortable or confident about delivering speeches or presentations. Fear was my greatest personal obstacle. John gave us several simple and effective techniques that helped me largely overcome my fear.

After the training, my fear of public speaking was gone. Instead of feeling afraid, I  felt  like a leader. More importantly, I started thinking like a leader. I am now planning to use John’s techniques in both my professional and personal life.

Some techniques that I found particularly useful included:

  • Don’t be nervous, be at your audience’s service.
  • Connect with the audience with an authentic piece of yourself.
  • Never tell a story without a point, and never make a point without a story.
  • The most engaging people are the ones who are most engaged.     
  • Prepare yourself to just be honest.

I have also noticed positive changes in my teammates that I believe are directly related to the training. People who were previously nervous and hesitant about public speaking now seem to be ready to take on public speaking challenges. Some of them are now actively participating in project demos and meetings, stepping up and making their points like true leaders.

John says it is important to “find a great coach and be coachable”. He is definitely a great coach, and the positive effects of his communications training have already made a noticeable difference to our team. I highly recommend his training.