Speak with presence — lead with charisma

The Panda Communications 'Charisma At Work' masterclasses combine transformative drama techniques with hard-headed business know-how. 

Master audience dynamics, learn how to control the energy you project, and boost your charisma at work.

These masterclasses bring the craft of stage and screen into the corporate world — translating tools that actors use into easy techniques that absolutely anyone can use in their professional life. It’s about drawing on the best of professional performance training to help you speak with presence, clarity, and charisma in every setting, whether speaking in a meeting, making a sales pitch, or giving a speech or presentation.

Drawing on 30 years experience as an EU communicator as well as an entrepreneur, I understand the challenges that everyone faces - and have faced most of them myself. The challenges come both from being someone working within an organisation, as well as from being someone trying to project the organisation to the outside world.

On the last Friday afternoon of (almost) every month, I’ll be guiding participants through practical, easy-to-master drama techniques, adapted specifically for business communication. Together we’ll explore how to harness your energy, control your presence, and connect with your audiences in a way that feels both natural and authentic.

Whether you're an EU official trying to communicate your policy, a politician striving to connect with voters, a corporate leader trying to inspire your team, or a teacher trying to inspire a classroom, the ability to communicate with charisma is a game-changer. Charisma is not pre-packaged in your DNA; it is a learnt skill and, if mastered, a powerful asset. And anyone can master it!

The series covers five broad topics and is intended to be a ‘pick-and-mix’ (ie you can sign up for just one, or for a selection of specific topics that are useful to you). Each topic is covered twice in the year:

Explore Your Charisma (in June) – in this masterclass, I cover the essentials of how to be charismatic. It’s about how to translate the power of performance into the boardroom, the conference hall, the client pitch, or the policy meeting. There will also be lots of fun practical exercises that allow you to try it out.

Charismatic Public Speaking – this masterclass will give you a wealth of useful tips and tricks about how to prepare really engaging presentations or speeches and then deliver them with charisma to an audience. 

Charismatic Leadership – this masterclass is for people who already feel pretty confident about presenting and public speaking, but want to polish their delivery with some advanced performance tips and tricks. I also explain how to apply the charismatic techniques in leadership and management roles.

Charismatic Storytelling – in this masterclass I explain how to find and use effective stories that you can use in the workplace. Most people don’t realise that stories actually cause a biochemical response in the whole human body (not just the brain), which is why they are so powerful in all kinds of work-related situations.

Charisma on Camera – this masterclass covers both the essentials of being an effective and powerful media interviewee, as well as how to apply the charismatic speaking techniques to ensure you shine on screen.