the firestarter experience

1 2011 Bess Gallanis Inc.

created by bess gallanis inc.

THE FIRESTARTER EXPERIENCE LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION + ADVANCED PRESENTION SKILLS

PRESENTED BY BESS GALLANIS INC.


INTRODUCTION

When the stakes are high, your communication skills can be a game changer or a deal breaker. If you want to make a bigger impact, then The Firestarter Experience is for you.

The Firestarter Experience is an innovative, two-day workshop that focuses on leadership communication and advanced presentation techniques, the most critical skills you need to stay competitive in business today. Over the course of two days, Firestarters develop their unique leadership voice and presence, create a compelling business story and learn a few simple and powerful delivery skills that will enhance their message, their impact and their influence.

Combining small group sessions with private coaching and video feedback, we give Firestarters the tools and coaching support to develop and deliver a three-minute business story. Then it’s up to them to create fire from The Firestarter Experience stage, completely outfitted with lights and mikes, where each participant will present their story in front of a live audience.

Game changing communication skills reflect who you are and what you can do, and these are intricately connected abilities. The Firestarter Experience is designed around three interconnected sets of attitudes and actions: presence, presentation and performance. We have curated the most effective practices in influence, communication and leadership technologies to put you in control of managing what you say and how you are heard.

Our transformational coaching method is modeled on the TED and Ignite conference formats, which value personal authenticity, storytelling and video presentation skills.

Whether you are pitching your idea around a conference room table or from a conference stage, The Firestarter Experience will equip you to communicate with presence, power and persuasion.

[email protected] 312.659.7572


WHO

CORPORATE GROUPS INDIVIDUAL EXECUTIVES BUSINESS OWNERS START UP FOUNDERS

The Firestarter Experience is an advanced communication and presentation skills workshop. This isn’t a training session, but a high caliber, professional development experience that changes attitudes and behavior. We deliver a dynamic, interactive experience that produces results that stick after the workshop lights go dim.

Our starting point is to deliver foundational leadership communication skills and then customize the private coaching sessions to meet your specific needs. The Firestarter Experience is appropriate for:

• Senior executives with high visibility, public speaking opportunities. Emphasis is put on presence, storytelling strategies and high impact presentation and media interviewing skills.

• Entrepreneurs and innovators who are pitching their ideas to a wide range of stakeholders. Emphasis is put on vision and simplifying the complex.

• Professionals and consultants with client-facing responsibilities, in an account- or client relationship management role. Emphasis is put on executive presence and C-suite communication strategies.

• High-potential employees who are effective in the technical part of their jobs and whose impact would increase with improved presentation skills in internal meetings, client and new business presentations. Emphasis is on the foundational skill set.

• Team building, particularly in companies where innovation is a growth driver. The small group sessions stimulate collaboration and peer support. Emphasis is put on knowledge sharing and culture building.


MATCH

THE POWER OF YOUR PRESENCE

This is Part One of a three-part program to expand your leadership communication skills. In this Part One, you will discover how and why leadership communication is a relationship skill. You will learn techniques to connect with any audience and how to demonstrate your trustworthiness, which is a pre-requisite for an effective communication outcome. You also will learn the elements of executive presence, which inspires others to place their trust and confidence in you.

Action learning: Firestarters will learn how to develop more powerful presence through the Reality Distortion Field exercise.

Personal presence generates trust • Don’t talk what, talk why: purpose and intention • The three dimensions of self awareness • Risks, high-stakes, and anxiety: silencing the voice of judgment • So what, who cares, what’s in it for me: empathy and awareness of others Executive presence inspires confidence • Situational awareness: understanding the context • The practice of poise: maintaining your balance • What is charisma: how to mesmerize anyone, anytime


SPARK

THE POWER OF YOUR PRESENTATION This is Part Two of a three-part program to expand your leadership communication skills. In this Part Two, we introduce our core message development process, The SPA Presentation Map. It will equip you with the messaging tools to create effective presentation content, narrative and dialogue. You will discover why storytelling is your most powerful communication tool and why people respond to stories. You will learn how to create effective content by using classic story models.

Action learning: Firestarters will develop a three-minute high-impact story to present at the end of the workshop. The best story wins • Storytelling: the language of leadership • Effective communication structure: the SPA equation • Emotional hooks, meaning and memorability • Simplifying the complex • Five business stories you must know how to tell The SPA presentation map process • Transitioning from the written to the spoken word • SOCO: focused and concise messaging • Structuring your message to reach multiple audiences in the same room • Story enablers that enhance memorability and audience retention


COMBUSTION

THE POWER OF YOUR PERFORMANCE This is Part Three of a three-part program to expand your leadership communication skills. In this Part Three, you will be equipped with presentation tools that enhance your message and its impact. You will learn about non-verbal communication, and why and how people respond to these signals. It will develop your ability to connect and to interact with your audience through the skillful use of body language, vocal vitality and pacing. Through Presentation Yoga you will learn to ‘step into your story’.

Action learning: Firestarters will rehearse their presentation and delivery techniques, guided by peer and private coaching and video feedback.

The first and last impression • Communication readiness: the 30-second game changer • Graceful entrances and exits • How to connect with everyone in the room Presentation yoga • Poise and presence under pressure • Presenting naked: no PowerPoint, no script • The all-in-one, all-you-will-ever-need three-part delivery technique Scaling your skills • From conference room to conference stage • Lights, camera, action: presenting a polished and professional image on video


ACTIVE LEARNING

THE POWER OF ACCELERATED LEARNING

The Firestarter Experience accelerates skills development by going deep and making it sticky. We keep the content short and relevant to the group.

The workshop leads to a novel, challenging and peer-supported exercise: The Firestarter Experience. We stage the Experience with lights, a professional camera crew and an event MC. Firestarters are recorded delivering their three-minute story in front of a live audience.

The workshop techniques and active learning exercises include:

• Pre-work: workshop manual and self-directed pre-work o videos from the public domain that illustrate best practices o a self-awareness exercise

• Workshop – Day One o three multi-media content presentations, discussion and exercise instruction o peer feedback guidelines o small group story development brainstorm, coach facilitated o private time for reflection, creative thinking and self-directed story development

• Rehearsal/Active Learning o small-group rehearsal, guided by coaches and video feedback o private coaching with Bess Gallanis o practicing presence through breathing, stretching, channeling energy

• The Firestarter Experience – Day Two o stage presentations, mikes, lights, video recorded o peer support through feedback: ‘what I learned from you’ o written assessment and follow up from coaching team


“ . . . insightful, results-oriented, and takes the corporate-wide view.”

“. . . her creative energy shines through in everything she does.”

“. . . she took the time to get to know me.”

For more than 20 years, public, private and family-owned companies have turned to me for expertise in strategic, financial and crisis communications. I bring my clients the counsel of an experienced and confident communications advisor, high caliber writing and presentation development, and communication-focused professional development and coaching.

I draw from my deep professional background as an executive and business communicator. I have worked as a business journalist for national magazines, as a financial public relations agency advisor with extensive Wall Street and media experience, and as a corporate executive in a Fortune 500 media company.

Today, I am a communications and media strategist and coach senior executives in presentation skills, media interviewing skills, relationship development with key stakeholders and expanding their personal impact through best practices in leadership communications. I have prepared my clients for major business media including Fortune, Forbes, Business Week, CNN, CNBC, IPO roadshows, investor conferences, TEDx, keynote speeches, consultative sales, critical board meetings and sensitive conversations.

The author of “Yoga Chick” (Warner Books, 2006), I write and speak about the intersection of communication, leadership and human potential on my blog, ‘Speaking with Power and Persuasion,’ on The Huffington Post, OPEN Forum by American Express and Indezine.

A student of mindfulness, I draw heavily from the universal wisdom of yoga and insight meditation as a model for well-being, professional and personal growth and high performance in all the areas of my life. My daily meditation practice is a powerful training ground as I strive to become a high-impact, low-ego executive.


REGISTRATION CONTACT BESS GALLANIS [email protected] 312.659.7572


THE FIRESTARTER EXPERIENCE

BESS GALLANIS INC. Bess Gallanis, Firestarter in Chief

[email protected] talk/text: 001.312.659.7572 geolocation: chicago, il us

www.bessgallanisinc.com