as a leader
Speaker coaching
CEOs, directors, community leaders, politicians, academics... telling your story clearly and compellingly is a core skill for almost every leadership role.
At The Goat Farm we offer executive speaker coaching that focuses on your strengths and objectives and will leave you with a set of tools you can use throughout your professional and personal life.
Your coach
Vaughn Davis is an advertising creative director and owner of The Goat Farm. He’s also a professional public speaker and MC, author, and a regular guest and commentator in all forms of media. As a speaker coach he has worked with around 100 speakers at TEDxAuckland to develop their stories and storytelling and has since coached even more than that number with New Zealand businesses, with participants ranging from emerging leaders to corporate CEOs.
Our method
This is not a syllabus-based approach and there is no workbook!
Instead, you’ll be coached as you work towards the delivery of a real talk (either one you have scheduled, or one that you want to have “in your back pocket”). That way, the coaching focus will be on your strengths and what you need to develop, rather than a set of one-size-fits-all bullet points.
Each rehearsal-based coaching session will be an opportunity to focus on aspects of storytelling, including movement, audience engagement, pacing and projection and more.
Story plus storytelling
As a professional storyteller, Vaughn has a deep interest in how stories are put together as well as how they’re told. So your coaching experience will focus on both the structure of your story and how you deliver it.
You can also expect strong opinions on your PowerPoint (if you choose to use it).
Individual or group coaching
Depending on your needs, your speaker coaching can be entirely 1:1, or with a group of up to six participants. We’ve found that as well as elevating presentation skills, the group approach serves as an enjoyable and effective teambuilding exercise and can be a good way to connect a new leadership team.
Structure
Whether for an individual or a group, we recommend three in-person coaching sessions, with email and Teams support in between. Typically, these three sessions will each be a week apart. Coaching can be via Teams but will usually be more effective in person.
Investment and resources
Each speaker coaching project is quoted based on client needs. We coach on site at your premises, so will require a suitable large meeting room for each session, including a TV screen if you need to use PowerPoint. (Spoiler: you probably don’t!)