What do you look for in a Speaker?

A speaker’s job is to communicate with a purpose. To provoke, inform, entertain or challenge – or even better a combination of these. As a Storytelling and Speaker Coach I have been helping speakers communicate with intent for over 20 years. In that time I have trained and coached hundreds of people working for businesses small and large including some of the biggest and most well known names. I have also worked with hundreds of politicians and almost all of my work is now 1-2-1 coaching.

I love doing this and I have been very lucky to have worked with some phenomenal speakers from business and politics, including writing for and coaching a Prime Minister, being a Speaker Coach at TEDMED and introducing a bitingly funny Prince Andrew at a Queen’s Award ceremony. I have also been incredibly fortunate to have coached/spoken in amazing and iconic places like the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC, the United Nations in New York and the UK and the European Parliaments.

“Peter Botting is a force of nature. The guy has an uncanny ability when he speaks, to hold a room in the palm of his hand and to have people hang on his every word… My students love him. He is consistently among our highest ranked and most popular speakers… He’s quite simply the best in the business, bar none.” Donal Blaney, Chief Executive of the Young Britons’ Foundation

Speaker Coach becomes a Speaker

Over the last few years, I have been increasingly asked to speak to and/or train groups of activists at a number of events, often alongside Government Ministers, around aspects of Storytelling focusing on politics, campaigning, communications, public speaking, presentations and interview preparation.

“Peter was invited to present to 25 of the Prime Minister’s Big Society Award winners on how to communicate more effectively…. Peter proved to be a highly engaging and hugely charismatic speaker and generated universally positive feedback.” Steve Moore, Chief Executive, Big Society Network

It is fun, and often very challenging, writing and delivering your own speeches – being the Speaker instead of the Speaker Coach. Audiences understandably expect more from a Speechwriter and Speaker Coach. But I strictly follow my own advice and I only speak about what I care about and where I think I may be able to contribute. I find this focus particularly useful for the probing Q & A sessions that usually follow!

“Thank you for your sparkling contribution to the conference.” Brian Jenner. Winner of the Vital Speeches of the Day Cicero Speechwriting Award 2010 and Founder of the UK Speechwriters Guild

EuropeanSpeechwriters

Keynoting at the European Speechwriter Network at the Institute for Government, London

“You are the favourite trainer of our event!” Edita Maslauskaite, Vice-President, Lithuanian Free Market Institute and Program Manager, European Academy for Intellectual Entrepreneurs

BigSocietyAwards

Speaking at the Big Society Awards at HM Treasury – “How to Pitch to a Prime Minister”

‘The most interesting, and the most honest, speaker we’ve had.” Georgina Stockley, Chair, University of Warwick Conservative Association​

BPP

Speaking at the London CF Conference at BPP University

“Peter introduced a lively element to our conference in a way that went above and beyond what was expected. In addition to making everyone present stop and think about how they presented themselves in various situations, he generated a good amount of interest on social media as people shared their thoughts on what he had to say (it was all positive!). Having seen training delivered before, I can safely say Peter exceeds what is delivered by many other trainers and passes on lessons that are highly valuable for interviews.” Luke Springthorpe, Vice Chairman London CF

EYC

Speaking at the European Young Conservatives conference

“​Incredibly insightful, engaging and interesting evening! One of my favourite speaker events of the year.” Alex Shaw, Events Sec of University of Warwick Conservative Association​

If you have an event coming up that would benefit from a Storytelling and Speaker Coach please email me at speaker@peterbotting.com or call me on + 44 777 550 4299 to discuss how I can help.

Speaker events booked for 2015

This year I am booked to speak at:

  • Liberty League Freedom Forum 2015 – London
  • European Law Students’ Association (ELSA) – Leicester
  • Atlas/Lithuanian Free Market Institute – Vilnius, Lithuania
  • YBF12 – Cambridge

Peter Botting – Speaking CV

Here are some of the events where I have spoken:

  • My Best Man’s speech at Mount Vernon at the wedding of my friend Matthew Elliott of the Taxpayers’s Alliance to the wonderful Sarah Smith – with an audience that included a number of prominent people more accustomed to giving rather than hearing  speeches, including a very senior member of the US Government. No pressure! This was without doubt the most important and the toughest speech I have ever given.
  • Essex University Conservative Association 2014 – Christmas Dinner
  • Liberty League – London – 2014 – “Public Speaking and Networking”
  • Atlas/Lithuanian Free Market Institute – Aix-en-Provence, France – 2014 – “Storytelling in Media, Public Speaking and Sound-bites on TV”
  • London Conservative Future Conference, BPP University – 2014 – “Public Speaking”
  • Warwickshire University Conservative Association – 2014 – “Campaigning and Communications”
  • Oxford University Conservative Association – 2014 – “The 2015 Election”
  • Youth Conference at Mulberry School for Girls, Tower Hamlets, London – 2014 – ‘The Power of the Voice’
  • YBFX 2013 – Churchill College, Cambridge – “Personal Branding and Message Development”
  • Essex University Conservative Association 2013 – Christmas Dinner
  • Big Society Awards – HM Treasury, Whitehall, London – 2013 – “How to Pitch to a Prime Minister”
  • Liberty League – London – 2013 – “Getting Your Message Across”
  • European Young Conservatives 2013 – Churchill College, Cambridge – “MessageCraft”
  • Opening Keynote at “International Speechwriting” – a conference organised by the UK Speechwriters’ Guild in conjunction with the European Speechwriter Network, chaired by Phil Collins at the Institute for Government – London, 2013 – “A Speech Should be a Campaign”
  • Speaker at European Young Conservatives Inaugural Freedom Summit 2012 – St Hugh’s College Oxford University – “Message Crafting”
  • Speaker at Sheffield University Political Society 2012 – “No2AV – How We Won”
  • Speaker at YBF9 2012 – Churchill College, Cambridge – “Campaign Communications”
  • Speaker at YBF8 2011 – St Anne’s College, Oxford – “Getting Your Message Across”
  • Speaker at YBF7 2010 – Oxford University – “Print and Broadcast Media Boot Camp”
  • Speaker at YBF6 2009 – Wellington College, Berkshire – “Effective Communication Techniques”
  • Speaker at YBF5 2008 – Oxford University – “Effective Communication
  • Speaker at YBF3 2006 – “Getting Selected as a Parliamentary Candidate”
  • Speaker at YBF2 2004 – “Communication Wins Elections”
  • At an election rally to several thousand people in NkhotaKhota, Malawi, for my friend the Rt Hon Henry Chimunthu Banda, then Malawi’s Deputy Foreign Minister, later the Malawian Speaker of the House

At school I was a finalist in the National Public Speaking Competition… little did I know then I would make a career of helping other people speak!

Speaker References:

  • “Peter was invited to present to 25 of the Prime Minister’s Big Society Award winners on how to communicate more effectively. He provided original and lucid insights on how to present ideas in a compelling, fresh way to a diverse range of audiences. Peter proved to be a highly engaging and hugely charismatic speaker and generated universally positive feedback.”  Steve Moore, Chief Executive, Big Society Network
  • “Peter is an outstanding speaker, with a wealth of experience and insight. Our conference attendees were delighted to learn from someone at the very top of their field.”  Anton Howes, Director – Liberty League
  • Peter was the inaugural speaker of our roundtable programme, and his penetrative insights into the world of political communications were fascinating. He deftly commanded the room, moving from witty anecdotes to engaging debating points, meaning all who attended left feeling both entertained and educated. All in all, he has set the bar very high!  Adam Hawksbee, PolSoc Political Events Sec, Sheffield University
  • “Peter Botting is a force of nature. The guy has an uncanny ability when he speaks to hold a room in the palm of his hand and to have people hang on his every word.When you screw up, he tells you and he tells you straight. But he tells you in such a constructive way that you want to hug him with thanks after he’s given you a metaphorical clip round the ear. My students love him. He is consistently among our highest ranked and most popular speakers. And once my students have moved on from YBF, they readily engage Peter on their own account. He’s quite simply the best in the business, bar none.”  Donal Blaney, Chief Executive of the Young Britons’ Foundation
  • “Thank you for your sparkling contribution to the conference.” Brian Jenner. Winner of the Vital Speeches of the Day Cicero Speechwriting Award 2010 and Founder of the UK Speechwriters Guild
  • “Peter’s dynamic experience of campaigning, PR and communications and current politics shone through in his talk with our University Conservative Association. Crafting your own message is of growing importance in an age of multimedia, public scrutiny and electoral competition – as an effective political operative it is clear we can gain from Peter’s superb professional insight.”  Jack McCann, Deputy Chairman of University of Warwick Conservative Association​
  • “​Incredibly insightful, engaging and interesting evening! One of my favourite speaker events of the year.”  Alex Shaw, Events Sec of University of Warwick Conservative Association​
  • “You are the favourite trainer of our event!”  Edita Maslauskaite, Vice-President, Lithuanian Free Market Institute and Program Manager, European Academy for Intellectual Entrepreneurs
  • ‘The most interesting, and the most honest, speaker we’ve had.’ Georgina Stockley, Chair, University of Warwick Conservative Association​
  • “Peter introduced a lively element to our conference in a way that went above and beyond what was expected. In addition to making everyone present stop and think about how they presented themselves in various situations, he generated a good amount of interest on social media as people shared their thoughts on what he had to say (it was all positive!). Having seen training delivered before, I can safely say Peter exceeds what is delivered by many other trainers and passes on lessons that are highly valuable for interviews.”  Luke Springthorpe, Vice Chairman London CF
  • Peter has a unique style and is able to make his speeches refreshingly authentic playing to the audience and making everyone – even the shy guests feel welcome in a homely atmosphere” Alex Evelyn, President, Essex University Conservative Association