Introducing Roar! Training to level the professional playing field

In the summer of 2018, I was invited to speak at an event in Germany  with Sistrix, and it accidentally changed my life in a way I did not see coming.

This was the speaker photo at the end of the event. Can you spot the odd one out?

YES, I was rocking a badly styled pixie crop, but also I was, not for the first time in my speaking career, the only woman speaking at the event. I had an open discussion with the conference organisers who said they truly wanted to diversify their speakers and have gender parity, though really struggled to get women to submit themselves as speakers.

This sparked me running free presentation training for women to try and address this specific issue that conference organisers often discuss; that women simply submit themselves to events less. Throughout this work I began to hear the same concerns. People feeling like they weren’t good enough, having imposter syndrome, not being able to field questions and managing nerves. I learnt that presentation training (ie how to present) wasn’t enough and began developing confidence workshops (ie why you can present) to level the professional playing field. I also learnt that confidence is not a gender issue and all humans face the same, often limiting, fears and struggles in the workplace.

They worked. People responded incredibly well and over the course of the year I have seen dozens of women (and men now, too) speak at conferences. My workshops have had a significant and tangible impact on the amount of people that now feel able to speak at events, and that’s cool as shit.

I completed a neuroscience based coaching course, that taught me an honestly mind blowing amount about the human brain, cognitive psychology and how this manifests in the workplace. I began devouring research, and conducting my own research, on the topic of confidence and communication and working with academics in the field.

We have now developed three distinct workshops that I believe are hugely powerful both to the businesses that buy them and the individuals that attend them.

Confidence

For those who want to speak at events, be heard in meetings or communicate compellingly. These workshops are aimed at teaching participants why we feel nervous, why we often struggle to put ourselves forward and why nerves can inhibit our performance, in order to mitigate them and push ourselves in the future.

Communication

For those who want to learn how to have positive, constructive communication in the workplace. These workshops provide attendees with a practical framework to manage difficult feedback, be persuasive with selling services or ideas and how to resolve professional conflict effectively. (Those who work with clients often really benefit from this!)

Allies

Throughout my career, I had so many conversations with well meaning men who were struggling to navigate the nuance of how best to champion and support their female coworkers. These evidence and research based workshops provide tangible advice on how, specifically, to be an empowered, considered ally.

We also support businesses through ongoing 1-2-1 coaching programmes, based on the specific pressure points that manifest within the workshops.

Currently, we are at the point where we are looking to expand and take on more coaches to support the delivery of the workshops which is like, mental.

Thank you to all the people who have supported me in stumbling on the thing in life that I am really f**king good at (yet to determine if swearing is within my brand guidelines, probably not) and if you work in a business that needs to have conversations with people sometimes, you may be interested in booking a workshop.