Keynote talks and workshops
The book | What I talk about | Testimonials
I could pretend I don’t like talking in public, and come over all awkward. But that would be false, because I do.
I’ve addressed audiences of as many as 5,000 people at once, on four continents, and run workshops for thousands of people.

In fact I find the business of speaking so fascinating that I wrote a book about it.
The book
The book contains principles and methods I learned as a journalist (Financial Times, Sunday Times), as the author of fiction and non-fiction, and as a theatrical improviser.
Like anybody else, I was extremely nervous when I started speaking. I still am, usually, before giving a talk. And I think that’s good, because you shouldn’t be too relaxed.
A lot of people don’t realise that. So they don’t speak. I wrote the book to help such people find a voice.
This was the first review to appear on Amazon (I didn’t write it!):
What I talk about
I also actually deliver talks. Sometimes talks about talks – about better communication, sharing ideas, working things out together.
Plus, I talk about:
- How To Change The World (the title of another book I wrote)
- Creativity generally, including improvisation
- Storytelling
As often as not, the talks are interactive. Here’s one I gave in South Korea:
I have also delivered a number of talks about my stay in psychiatric hospital after a breakdown, and my subsequent recovery. These tend to be less interactive (!) though I love being asked questions.
Testimonials
Here’s feedback from a talk at a City of London law firm, which I delivered in person:
And on the same subject, delivered via Zoom to 200 people in a large company:
Also: not corporate
And if you’re still here – oh, I see that you are! – here’s some feedback from a rather different occasion: a talk with interaction at a prison in Scotland.
“To tell you the truth, I only went to see this guy to get the afternoon off work… so I was really surprised that I enjoyed it.”
“There are few occasions when you can genuinely forget that you are ‘inside’ when you are a guest of Her Majesty, but this was surely one of them, and it lasted for a whole afternoon.”
Work with me
If you’d like me to talk to your company, group, organisation (or inmates), please get in touch.
And / or if you’d like to learn to have similar effect in your own talks and presentations, well, the book is widely available. And I do run the occasional workshop / mentor individuals.
I’l be happy to hear from you.
John-Paul
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