Masterclasses with Simon in 2024
For the past 16+ years, Simon has delivered practical, interactive and transformative Masterclasses for clients all over the world.
Format is tailored to suit your needs - small group, large group, 1-2hrs, half-day, full day or multi-day programmes.
Typical desired outcomes include the ability to...
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Project confidence and "gravitas", even if you don't feel confident
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Get your message across more clearly, concisely and impactfully
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Pitch an idea, product or service in a way that truly engages the attention of the listener
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Save significant time in the preparation - too much time is wasted on ineffective rehearsal
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Bring ideas and/or dry content to life through storytelling
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Cut the rambling
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Master the art of handling the Q&A session
What clients & participants say....
"Simon led a number of workshops for me and my colleagues within the Master of Public Policy programme at the University of Oxford. His advice on all aspects of public speaking, from speech-writing to engaging the audience, proved to be extremely practical and directly applicable during my speech at the Blavatnik School of Government TED talk on navigating uncertainty of life in Ukraine."
Erik Kucherenko, IMF Project Officer, MPP from Oxford - June 2024
"In over 20 years of working in international politics and training candidates, I have never seen a more remarkable improvement in speaking abilities in such a short amount of time."
Ian Marquardt, Director of "The Alliance Of Her", Association of Liberals & Democrats in Europe
"THANK YOU so much for your recent session in Germany. It gave me so much and I've already had the opportunity to use what I have learnt. I'm so looking forward to learning more when we next meet, in Brussels!"
Camilla Wilkman, "Alliance Of Her" Masterclass participant, Potsdam, Germany
"Thank you for a wonderful session. Feedback is frighteningly good!"
Joseph Wilkes, Associate Director Careers, Executive MBA & MBA, Hult International Business School, London
"Thank you for your incredible contribution to the Chivas Venture 2018 - from the initial inspiration during the Accelerator Programme in Oxford, all the way through to the Final Stage in Amsterdam.
I was blown away by how the Top 5 Chivas Venture finalists stepped up in front of 2,500+ people, following their work with you."
Laurence Mainaud, Global Brand Manager, Chivas Venture - May 2018
"I had the great pleasure of following Simon Bucknall's public speaking training at University of Oxford recently. What a pleasure to see such a professional in action. I have followed public speaking trainings before, including for when I was running for a seat in parliament.
But Simon is in a class of his own. We left the training empowered and we can't wait to put his lessons into practice."
Gerhard Mulder, 2017 Executive MBA Candidate, Said Business School, University of Oxford
"I first worked with Simon to create a personal impact programme that has been so successful that we are now running the event for a sixth time."
Kathryn Stubley, Event Executive, The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)
"I just wanted to put on record our warmest thanks for the fabulously informative and spirit-uplifting session today. One bit of feedback already in: "I looooooooved that!" So the oomph point hit home with someone! It really was just what I was hoping for."
Dr Catherine Paxton, Divisional Registrar, Social Sciences Division, University of Oxford
"The best course I have ever attended. I definitely recommend it."
Rashid Salem Al Saedi, Chief Administrative Officer, Ministry of Presidential Affairs, United Arab Emirates
"In the last 10 years I have never devoted so much time to a course as this one.
This is due to the quality of the presenter, Simon, who was extremely impressive as a speaker and also very personable, genuinely interested in helping participants, which made the experience enjoyable."
Nadeem Masud, Head of Corporate & Investment Banking MENA, Deutsche Bank
"THANK YOU again for last week's sessions. What I've appreciated most has been the increased thought the team has been putting into how they come across and what they say.
Colleagues in other teams have already commented on the improvement in both skills and confidence."
Emma Truswell, Deputy Head of Services, Open Data Institute (ODI)
High Impact Storytelling at The Chivas Venture Accelerator Week for finalists hosted by Said Business School Oxford - March 2018
27 people seeking to change the world - Finalists from hundreds of global social entrepreneur applicants on Accelerator Week, The Chivas Venture, Said Business School, University of Oxford - March 2018
"The Blavatnik School of Government [University of Oxford] is dedicated to a world better led, served and governed. These aspirations depend on a deep ability to communicate and connect and we are incredibly fortunate to have Simon guiding us on a range of techniques and skills.
His experience, counsel and passion are all hugely appreciated by decision makers from across 70 different countries."
Oliver Blake, Director and Co-Founder, Blake Evans & Co
"I just wanted to say thank you for a truly amazing workshop at London Business School. During my eight years at different universities, we received several presentation and communication trainings but this was by far the best and most useful one."
PhD student, London Business School
"Massively improved my public speaking...It has helped develop my communication skills in ways that go far beyond addressing audiences. Even four years on, it remains the most useful training I have ever had at work - the impact on my career has been huge."
Joe Halloran, Computing Teaching and Learning Consultant, London
"Simon has run presentation classes at New College of the Humanities for four years. His seminars are consistently amongst the most popular and useful parts of the student experience at NCH. Simon's counsel on the development of this model has been invaluable. He is a good friend of the college."
Matthew Batstone, former Dean of Careers, New College of the Humanities, London
"I attended Simon's public speaking coaching sessions at the Said Business School, University of Oxford. Simon led by example and provided clear tips on structure, inserting words, leading with stories and stance.
Now I can sense the distinct uptick in engagement in a room of diverse nationalities and backgrounds. I can also prepare far more comfortably around my key messages and theme.
Tarun Varma, Pershing Square Scholar, University of Oxford, 1+1 MBA, MSc Child Development and Education Fellow 2011, Teach for India
Onstage answering questions from audience members at 'Business Storm', an event held in Sofia, Bulgaria.
"Extremely helpful. Helped me identify flaws in my delivery which I never thought existed."
Nauman Ahmed, Senior Manager, Unilever
"Personally speaking, very few trainers that I've come across have impressed me.
Simon Bucknall's sessions not only impress but also bring that change in a personality that you always thought was lacking... he is a guaranteed booster to your confidence."
Rizwan Ali, Media Manager, Engro Foods Limited, Pakistan
"Amazing masterclass that allowed me to improve my communications skills and raise self-confidence while public speaking. Great thank you to Simon and KA Group."
Strategic Insight Manager, JTI, Ukraine
With the 'Business Storm' event team in Sofia, Bulgaria - 2017
"Simon, you have this amazing ability to captivate the audience that makes your sessions such a pleasure to attend!
I thoroughly enjoyed the session and picked up some very useful tips to improve my presentation skills; the feedback from my colleagues has been extremely positive as well."
Harijot Chauhan, Director, Human Resources, Atlantis The Palm, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
For Further Information Contact Simon | +44 (0)7834 083500 or complete ENQUIRY FORM
Testimonials
"I just wanted to put on record our warmest thanks for the fabulously informative and spirit-uplifting session today.
One bit of feedback already in: "I looooooooved that!" So the oomph point hit home with someone! It really was just what I was hoping for. Best wishes."
Dr Catherine Paxton, Divisional Registrar, Social Sciences Division, University of Oxford - March 2020
"One of the best investments in personal development I had at BP was to engage Simon Bucknall as a personal public speaking coach.
He was phenomonal and key to my moving from being a very nervous public speaker to a strong and confident one.
Simon is now the world number 2 at public speaking and has a masterclass in London at the end of this month.
I thoroughly recommend this to all my friends."
Joe Little, Self-employed, Former CTO - Senior Technology Consultant at BP - January 2020
"Dear Simon.
Thank you for gracing us today with your presentation!
I've never been so engaged for 10 minutes let alone 3 hours. Thank you for also sharing your story and bringing us confidence and lowering fear levels about such a necessary item as public speaking.
Imperial College hit a grand slam by working with you."
Yanni Melissas, Business Development/Entrepreneur, The Weekend MBA Class of 2019-2020, Imperial College Business School, London, UK
"Packed full of insights into the power of communication and advice on how to maximise the impact and increase the engagement of a presentation."
Katie Butcher, Consultant at Vendigital, Young MCA Masterclass in Communication - June 2019
"During his sessions in both Brussels and Potsdam, Simon quickly established a stong connection with all of the EWA participants. In addition to providing technical guidance, Simon enabled the EWA participants to discover their own unique motivation and courage to speak more confidently, powerfully and effectively.
In over 20 years of working in international politics and training candidates, I have never seen a more remarkable improvement in speaking abilities in such a short amount of time."
Ian Marquardt, Director of the European Women's Academy, ALDE
"I'd just like to let you know how well received your recent session was. We've had extremely positive feedback from the MBAs."
Emma Cooper, Careers Consultant, Imperial College London
"I just wanted to say thank you for a truly amazing workshop last Wednesday at LBS [London Business School]. During my eight years at different universities, we received several presentation and communication trainings but this was by far the best and most useful one."
PhD student, London Business School
"Thank you for your incredible contribution to the Chivas Venture 2018 - from the initial inspiration during the Accelerator Programme in Oxford, all the way through to the Final Stage in Amsterdam.
I was blown away by how the Top 5 Chivas Venture finalists stepped up in front of 2,500+ people, following their work with you.
You tailored your advice to meet each entrepreneur's needs and your coaching made a real difference to this year's Final event."
Laurence Mainaud, Global Brand Manager, Chivas Venture
"An extraordinary night ... Simon taught us how to divide segments of your communication goals and deliver in a brilliant way. In addition he gave us several tips about how to start a sentence when giving a speech to achieve the impact on people.
The "REP" structure he gave us is very helpful and easy to implement in our daily speakings.
He also made the workshop lively by inviting several attendees to interact with him on the stage and point out the key things for communication we've to notice.
The workshop was fully booked 2 days before the event and we had very high attendance."
Liang T Li, President, MLP London Bridge Speakers
"I had the great pleasure of following Simon Bucknall's public speaking training at University of Oxford recently. What a pleasure to see such a professional in action. I have followed public speaking trainings before, including for when I was running for a seat in parliament.
But Simon is a class of his own. He is public speaking.
We left the training empowered and we can't wait to put his lessons into practice."
Gerhard Mulder, 2017 Executive MBA Candidate, Said Business School, University of Oxford
"Simon has run presentation classes at New College of the Humanities for four years. His seminars are consistently amongst the most popular and useful parts of the student experience at NCH.
The NCH model is very unusual for a university in that it blends a conventional academic programme with development of the capabilities that will be required by students on graduation.
Simon's counsel on the development of this model has been invaluable. He is a good friend of the College."
Matthew Batstone, Dean of Careers, New College of the Humanities, London
"Your training at Rosendale [school staff] was excellent and massively improved my public speaking. It has helped develop my communication skills in ways that go far beyond addressing audiences.
The training equipped me to speak, both publicly and privately, with greater assurance and poise. Simon's approach has helped me structure and express my ideas in a concise and clear way.
Even four years on, it remains the most useful training I have ever had at work - the impact on my career has been huge."
Joe Halloran, Computing Teaching and Learning Consultant (delivered retrospectively on Staff Training, Rosendale Primary School, West Dulwich, London)
"If there's one man who can make public speaking sound easy, it's Simon Bucknall."
The Chivas Venture
"Incredible advice from Simon Bucknall on how to get our pitch perfect."
I-Drop Water, Finalist at Chivas Venture, Accelerator Week, Said Business School
"Simon delivered an outstanding event on how to prepare an Elevator Pitch in a concise and memorable way. The event was engaging and our membership loved it!
We had 100% success rate and people rated the event as the best ever. Many comments highlighted the virtues of Simon as a speaker. We had requests from other areas to replicate this event elsewhere as they felt inspired and energized by Simon.
We look forward to having Simon back again in the future!"
Carolina Castilla, Loyalty Solutions Expert/Business Development
"I attended Simon's public speaking coaching sessions at the Said Business School, University of Oxford. Simon led by example and provided clear tips on structure, inserting words, leading with stories and stance.
Now I can sense the distinct uptick in engagement in a room of diverse nationalities and backgrounds. I can also prepare far more comfortably around my key messages and theme. I hope to keep practicing and coming back for more sessions to continue progressing."
Tarun Varma, Pershing Square Scholar, University of Oxford, 1+1 MBA, MSc Child Development and Education Fellow 2011, Teach for India
"THANK YOU again for last week's sessions. What I've appreciated most has been the increased thought the team has been putting into how they came across and what they say.
Colleagues in other teams have already commented on the improvement in both skills and confidence."
Emma Truswell, Deputy Head of Services, Open Data Institute (ODI)
"In the last 10 years I have never devoted so much time to a course as this one.
This is due to the quality of the presenter, Simon, who was extremely impressive as a speaker and also very personable, genuinely interested in helping participants which made the experience enjoyable."
Nadeem Masud, Head of Corporate & Investment Banking for Middle East & North Africa, Deutsche Bank
"People in leadership positions have to take this course."
Mahmoud Jamjoom, Joint MD, Jamjoom Pharmaceuticals, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
"I would say that Simon has changed something in my life. His course is one I have been waiting for a long time."
Othman Khalid Al Otaibi, Lawyer, Laws2U, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
"The best course I have ever attended. I definitely recommend it."
Rashid Salem Al Saedi, Chief Administrative Officer, Ministry of Presidential Affairs, United Arab Emirates
"Great experience."
Peter Osterman, Director, Global Hub, GAC, United Arab Emirates
"Empowering. Enjoyable. Valuable. Brilliant course... my public speaking has improved, but general communication improved even more.
I would be much more comfortable standing up and presenting either formally or informally, both in terms of personal presence and how I would structure what I am going to say for maximum impact."
Richard Potts, DC Manager, GAC Logistics, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
"Simon, you have this amazing ability to captivate the audience that makes your sessions such a pleasure to attend!
I thoroughly enjoyed the session and picked up some very useful tips to improve my presentation skills; the feedback from my colleagues has been extremely positive as well."
Harijot Chauhan, Director, Human Resources, Atlantic The Palm, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
"Personally speaking, very few trainers that I've come across have impressed me.
Simon Bucknall's sessions not only impress but also bring that change in a personality that you always thought was lacking... he is a guaranteed booster to your confidence."
Rizwan Ali, Media Manager, Engro Foods Limited, Pakistan
"Excellent! Simon managed to balance everyone's needs.
By making it highly interactive, he made everyone really practice and improve."
Abdul Munin Sheikh, Engro Fertilisers Limited, Pakistan
"Extremely helpful. Helped me identify flaws in my delivery which I never thought existed."
Nauman Ahmed, Senior Manager, Unilever
"Very interactive - the tone you set meant audience members were really engaged. I can understand why you get such great feedback for these sessions!"
Pauline Isherwood, Learning & Development Manager, Shell plc
"Simon's workshop on Creating Impactful Communications generated great feedback and a strong level of engagement with the audience. It was clear that he understands just how to tackle a number of the communication issues that senior executives face throughout their careers.
He offered valuable insight and some clear messages that a broad range of participants could assimilate and easily apply to improve performance in their own particular business environment.
Thank you."
Helen Stevens, President, INSEAD Alumni Association (UK)
"Fantastic, inspirational and spot-on stuff we need to improve our communication."
Mary Lou Masko, Course Director, Laing O'Rourke Centre for Construction Engineering and Technology, University of Cambridge
"Excellent trainer, the content was relevant and engaging. I will take a number of tools and frameworks to use. Highly recommended."
"Worth attending, very useful. Will definitely make a difference to my future presentations. Thanks very much."
"I think this course will dramatically change my approach to preparing talks and influence my prior reluctance to take on any talks/teaching."
NHS Hospital Consultants and other Senior Healthcare Professionals, UK
"It was very useful and everything is applicable. I learned a lot of useful things and heard excellent stories."
Ms Tetiana Sakach, HR Manager, CredEx, Kiev, Ukraine ('Leaders as Storytellers; high impact business communication' with Simon Bucknall at MIM Kyiv courtesy of KA Group)
"All the tips were easy and ready to apply in everyday life from the very next day. Thank you very much. I found answers to all my questions, practiced my executive presence and know exactly the points of improvement."
Sr. Manager, Business Integration, AVON, Ukraine
"Amazing masterclass that allowed me to improve my communication skills and raise self-confidence while public speaking. Great thank you to Simon and KA Group."
Strategic Insight Manager, JTI, Ukraine
"The sessions were of great value. I am confident that I will apply the knowledge and skills learned not only in making formal presentations but during staff meetings and one-to-one conversations.
Understanding that the audience must see value to THEM early during my presentation is of the greatest importance."
Mickey Mullay, Chief of Party, FHI 360, Ukraine
"Thank you for a wonderful session. Feedback is frighteningly good!"
Joseph Wilkes, Associate Director Careers, Executive MBA & MBA, Hult International Business School, London
"Simon's masterclass on pitching and effective communication attracted over 60 MBAs and other post-graduate students from across Oxford during the exam period.
I would recommend it to anyone, especially mid-career professionals, looking to enhance their ability to communicate their ideas with conviction."
Soushiant Zangenehpour, Manager, Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, Said Business School, University of Oxford
"The school is at the start of an ambitious journey. You have helped us set the standard for the remainder of the year and further ahead.
I hope you will return to the School in the future and inspire subsequent cohorts of MPP students."
Professor Peter Kemp, Associate Director, The Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford
