Confident Engaging Speaking Course – 5 week small group live in a room in Melbourne
Are you afraid of, or uncomfortable about, public speaking?
Do you worry that you’re not engaging, or lose your audience too easily?
Discover how to positively impact your public speaking or presentations in the Confident Engaging Speaking course.
This ‘fundamentals’ 5-week series will equip you with different, proven tools to overcome speaking fears
and master every basic of great speaking and presenting.
Learn how to engage your audience
Combat anxiety, discomfort or nerves
Build confidence and comfort that lasts
Gain a competitive professional edge
Who it’s for
This course is perfect if you need to:
- Speak up at work, as employee or employer
- Give a speech at a social event like a wedding
- Be heard in meetings – or run them
- Give presentations, talks or speeches
- Be interviewed on podcasts or make videos
- Conduct interviews effectively
And you’re reluctant, or just not as engaging and confident as you’d like.
Is English your second language? You’re very welcome to join the course. Contact me if you’d like to discuss before booking.
What you’ll learn
The 3 main focus areas in the Confident Engaging Speaking Course:
Focus 1
Overcome fear and become more confident and comfortable
- The 9 main causes of public speaking fear, and what to do about them.
- Specific physical tools to gain mind and body calmness and control
- What to focus on to be competent and coherent ‘in the spotlight’
- New ways of thinking to control any fear (it’s not ‘positive’ thinking)
- How to practise – the best ways to build your confidence
Focus 2
Create and organise your content quickly and easily
- Time-saving structure templates to take away and use in future
- Create clear messages and talks FAST. Really cut down prep time
- ‘Alive’ content which engages
- Using humour effectively, even if you’re not naturally funny!
- Strong openings and closings
- Create strong visuals/slide decks
Focus 3
Deliver with high audience engagement
- Conversational, authentic ways to deliver
- Impromptu and prepared speaking opportunity each week, with tailored feedback
- How to keep your audience interested, and re-engaged if you lose them!
- Using vocal variety (including ideas you probably haven’t heard before)
- The two vital E’s of good presenting
- Should you tell a story? It depends. Find out why
Ready to go?
The details:
- Fridays starting 31 Jan 2025.
- Saturdays starting 1 Feb 2025.
- Sundays starting 2 Feb 2025
- Duration: 9.30am – 12 noon.
- Sessions: 5
- Venue: Quest Apartments, 741 Whitehorse Rd Mont Albert (near Box Hill) Melbourne
- Number of participants: 5 – 9
- Bonus 1: Online ‘Mind the Blanks’ course FREE (usually $97): 14 short, digestible videos on how to avoid or deal with mind blanks or brain freeze.
- Bonus 2: Suite of ‘Done for You’ templates and resources to make creating confident, engaging presentations or talks easy.
- Investment:
$1,800$1,360 plus GST until 19 January.Instalment plans available.
4 months x
$450$340 plus GST early bird.
Book with 100% confidence
- Money back guarantee in 1st session if it’s not for you (very unlikely!).
- If you can’t make a session date, join another group that week.
- I’ll also make sure you’re caught-up if you miss a week.
- My goal: you get what you need from the program.
5 Week Confident Engaging Speaking Course
Learn a solid system to become a confident, engaging and clear communicator.
What my clients say
There are one hundred different reasons for doing this course and Sarah seems to know them all and kindly deal with them. The way she builds self-confidence in everyone is fantastic. Plus being able to think and structure in a clear way
Anne Skinner
Paralympian and Woman of Steel, ABC TV’s Australian Story
I really recommend Sarah’s course for aspiring speakers. It was both informative and practical – Sarah provides a wealth of tips backed by research for you to pick and choose from, and offers targeted feedback based on your in-class performance. I found it really useful to practice impromptu talks in front of strangers. Sarah’s approach is kind, generous, encouraging and flexible. She is delightful and puts a lot of effort into the program. I really enjoyed working with her.
Rachel Kaye
Strategic Analyst, Defence
I have attended many workshops and courses throughout my career, and this was without a doubt the most valuable. If you suffer from speaking anxiety, I can’t recommend this course enough. Sarah is welcoming, approachable and fosters a great learning environment to develop public speaking skills.
I found learning how to structure my speech, listen, be assertive, use body language and voice, very useful. And getting to practise everything we learned straight away and then implement in our lives definitely solidifies the process. Thanks Sarah!
Sarah Van Rensburg
Senior Strategist at The Lumery
I highly recommend Sarah’s course to anyone who wants to improve their communication techniques. The course provided me with a range of tools for structuring, presenting and dealing with nerves and anxiety associated with public speaking. The safe and supportive environment was perfect for practicing and refining my communication and presentation skills.
Karen Conradi
System and Technology Project Manager - Bureau of Meteorology
I presented to 150+ people 6 times: previously I would have been a nervous wreck in the weeks prior, let alone during the presentation itself.
And we had C level members out from the U.S., just to add stress and anxiety.
Thanks to you, not only were the presentations received well but I received praise from the C level execs too.
The biggest turning point however was during a presentation when I had the revelation, I was actually enjoying being on stage and interacting with the audience – which prior to your course would be an achievement beyond my comprehension.
Adrian Curnow
Software Engineer - MicroSports
Sarah’s course was absolutely brilliant, she is a totally engaging communicator and speaker and I thoroughly enjoyed her classes. Would highly recommend to anyone whether looking to improve your overall speaking style or simply to overcome nerves. The classes are small, safe spaces and very positive.
Martin Blackledge
My story
I struggled hugely when I started speaking in public and was truly awful. Self- conscious, shaky, sometimes incoherent…with mind-blanks. (More on my story here).
So I decided to learn what works – to overcome my anxiety, and ultimately to speak with authority and presence.
And I’m not special: I just learned the right tools and practised. You can do this too.
Course Uniqueness
- Running for 15 years
- Continually updated for current best practice results
- Consistently 5⭐️ feedback
- An accelerated shortcut to excellence.
- Learn through spaced repetition, how we learn best.
- I’m with you all the way, totally committed to your success.
You can become a more confident, clear, connected and engaging speaker. Book now for the Confident Engaging Speaking Course.
I look forward to working with you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Friday mornings 31 Jan – 28 Feb
OR
Saturday mornings 1 Feb – 1 March
OR
Sunday mornings 2 Feb – 2 March
~~~~~~~~~~~
Friday mornings 2 – 30 May
OR
Saturday mornings 3 – 31 May
5 weeks.
At the Quest Apartments conference room in Mont Albert, Melbourne Eastern suburbs (near Box Hill): 741 Whitehorse Road.
Early bird: $1,397 inc. GST in one upfront payment.
OR pay 4 monthly instalments of $350 inc. GST. (It doesn’t cost you any more to pay instalments.) And yes, you pay over 4 months for a 5 week course!
Regular fee once early bird expired: $1,980 inc. GST
Or 4 monthly instalments of $495 inc. GST
No problem. If you miss a week, you’ve got two options:
- You can join the other class running that week OR
- Have a private 20 minute catch-up session with me online to discuss what was covered, and practise a talk for my feedback.
You can book with 100% confidence: I offer a full refund, or transfer to the next course. Your choice.
The group is usually anything from 4 – 9 people.
Many participants in this course are not native English speakers, and are from all over the world: you’re welcome to join the course. If you’d like to discuss with Sarah first, contact her here.
The course runs every quarter: so, four times a year.
Yes. You’ll be videotaped giving your talk each week, and the link sent to you privately. You don’t have to watch these – they can be great coaching tools. If unsure, ask me whether to watch them or not.
Yes, please ask if you’d like a certificate and a printable one will be sent to you.