This is going to hurt. That’s what I was watching when inspiration came calling.

In the episode that evening, the doctors in the maternity ward of a British hospital were holding a clinic. The patients sat in the dreary waiting room. When they were called into the doctor’s surgery, they told her their problems. She’d ask some questions, tell them what to do, or what medicine to take, and off they went. “Next!” 

The doctor was overworked and overwhelmed. But that’s not what struck me about the scene. Rather, it dawned on me how many patients she was able to see over the course of a day. And how she was able to use her expertise to help all sorts of people with all sorts of problems. Then it hit me, and I hit pause: what if I could create a clinic for speaking training? What if, instead of half-day training sessions or weekend retreats (which are great!), I offered 1-2hr training sessions with a specific, imminent public speaking event in mind? Founders, executives, conference speakers, podcast interviewees – pretty much anyone – would be able to book online. I’d be able to see “patients” from all over the world, and help that many more people up their speaking game.  

So, for example, if a CFO came to me to prepare for an earnings call on Monday, I could go over their presentation and work on improving it (the words), the delivery (how they speak, how they look, how they’re framed etc), and rehearse the Q&A (including any tough questions that may arise). That way, when it came to the crunch, they’d be firing on all cylinders.

The same, I reasoned, would apply to people and founders pitching their ideas to win funding, or to persuade colleagues of the merits of their proposals. Executives holding town halls could better prepare before speaking to their employees, or doing media interviews. Anyone with an upcoming speaking opportunity on stage – be it a keynote speech, or participating or moderating a panel discussion – would benefit. As would people going on podcasts. 

Moreover, the speaking training – provided by myself, and experts with decades of experience in broadcasting and communications – would become that much more accessible, in terms of costs and time (you try finding a half-day slot in a CEO’s schedule!).

So I put my head together with my friend and communications wiz, Deborah Danan. We played around with ideas for what to call it: Speaking Surgery was one gem that was swiftly binned for sounding too medical. Speakeasy was clever, but the play on words might have been lost on many people, and the .com was anyway already taken. Speakingof was another option that ended up on the cutting room floor. In the end, we settled on The Speaking Trainer because, as a famed British advert for Ronseal wood stainer goes, it does exactly what it says on the tin. 

And thus, The Speaking Trainer was born. 

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