Friday, 30th September

An interactive, fun, and stimulating session on how the Alexander Technique can help you have a more resonant, resilient, and interesting voice on stage.

Whether you’re an emerging and aspiring speaker or an established keynote speaker, speaking as a guest expert on podcasts is the fastest and easiest way to instantly gain visibility to targeted listeners all over the globe. This session will be led by Jessica Rhodes, the founder of the first-ever, and the world’s leading podcast interview booking agency, Interview Connections.

Jessica will walk you through what you need to know in order to position yourself as an in-demand guest expert for podcast shows in your industry, the strategy for identifying the right podcasts to speak on and how to get booked as a guest, and the proven formula for turning your visibility on podcasts into speaking gigs.

Welcome from the GSF President Martin Laschkolnig and an overview of the worldwide speaking community.

Everyone has a story to tell. In 2002 NSA president Jim Rhode and conference chair Mark LeBlanc invited Tim to do a general session event at the next annual NSA conference. They were convinced Tim’s original style and pee-your-pants hilarious stories needed to be shared with everyone at NSA.

His 30-minute program later that year was a big hit.
More importantly, one story really was especially unique and hilarious, his “Save Me the Middle Seat”. As Tim exited the Main Ballroom, CSP, CPAE Zig Ziglar told him: “You knocked it out of the park, Tim! On the spot, he was offered the main stage opening keynote spot at the next Million Dollar Round Table event and received offers from all over the world to book him or learn from him. He also had several speaker bureaus approach him for representation, and many still book him today.

What is your million-dollar story? Laugh-out- loud and have fun with Tim Gard, CSP, CPAE, as he shares his own million-dollar story and then explains how it helped put him on the path to a million dollars.

Discover why:

* A joke is simple in its elegance, but a story is as long or as short as it should be.

* Discover for yourself how to craft your own story using Tim’s Tips for story success.

* Signature stories and signature styles are so important.

As speakers, consultants, trainers or coaches, we often engage with an audience of culturally diverse views and lived experiences. In order to be able to maintain our relevance and to ensure that our audience feels included, we must adapt our style and content to be reflective of their needs. In this panel, we will discuss and take questions on how we can move from thinking about Diversity and Inclusion and instead think about generating better outcomes and, in turn, better business and audience engagement.

Panel Chair/Host: Joanne Lockwood

Joanne Lockwood is an Inclusion and Belonging Specialist who works with audiences throughout the UK, Europe and elsewhere. Her focus is on promoting Positive People Experiences, be that in Talent Acquisition, Employee or thinking about Customer Experience. She works with “People People” across organisations to promote Psychological Safety, Inclusive Leadership and to challenge organisations on their culture, which in turn allows people to thrive and stay aligned with customer and stakeholder values.

Chairing this panel, she will be engaging with her fellow panellists from around the world of the Global Speaking Federation, Harriet, Neerja and Gijs, to talk about how you can stay relevant and ensure your audience is included and engaged with your content, not your faux pas.

Panellist: Harriet L. Russell

Harriet L. Russell is a cross-cultural strategist and linguist. She works with and speaks for organisations that want their people to work better together, both internally and across borders. Latest book: Doing Business with Ease Overseas: Building Cross-Cultural Relationships That Last.

From this panel, Harriet will help you understand multicultural differences, how to speak English to non-native English speakers, and mindfulness for less stress. Communicate effectively on and off the platform.

Panellist: Neerja Singh

Neerja Singh is the Seenager, a “senior teenager”, a millennial in spirit with the benefit of hindsight. Four generational books, a TEDx talk entitled “The Unaffordable Cost of Generation Gap”, and a lived loss of my millennial daughter to the challenges of generational grief…

Neerja helps employers, leaders, and parents to see, acknowledge and address the radical differences in generational preferences, priorities and prejudices that have become tangible issues today. She is looking forward to presenting her thoughts to you on this and taking your questions.

Panellist: Gijs Hillmann

Gijs (Gus) works primarily with organisations that employ ex-pats, knowledge workers, or migrant workers. Diversity of voices and opinions leads to a healthier and more flourishing workplace. The challenge is how best to develop this diversity when faced with a multitude of languages, world views, and approaches on the work floor.

In this session, Gijs will address how to best engage with a fluid workforce in a complex and dynamic environment and the lessons/tips you can utilise as speakers, trainers and consultants.