Program
Keynote Ready
Do your leaders...
- Get through the talk but leave no lasting impression?
- Prepare for hours and still feel underprepared when they step up?
- Lose the room before they reach the point?
- Fear looking incompetent in front of a senior or external audience?
- Speak with authority in the room but struggle to translate that onto a stage?
70%
of professionals say presentation skills are critical to their career success
Harris Poll, 2017
Leaders who can’t hold a room lose authority, trust and opportunity.
Authority
Nothing erodes a leader’s authority faster than appearing underprepared on stage. When they ramble, lose their train of thought or hide behind slides, the audience perceives it as incompetence.
Trust
Audiences can tell when a speaker hasn’t done their homework. When the talk feels generic or self-focused rather than addressing the room’s real concerns, trust drops before the message even lands.
Opportunity
Attention is finite and keynote slots are hard to get. Leaders who can’t make the room feel something leave without the response they wanted. And they rarely get a second chance.
The Keynote Ready Journey: Where are you?
Level | Activity | Focus | Performance |
5 | Executive Presence | Mastery | 100% |
4 | Procficient | Audience | 75% |
3 | Neutral | Context | 50% |
2 | Resistant | Identity | 0% |
1 | Terrified | Awareness | -5% |
The Keynote Ready Journey – Where Are Your Leaders?
Terrified
Leaders avoid presenting or get through it as quickly as possible. Past negative experiences and a lack of process mean they are reactive rather than intentional. The room senses it.
Resistant
Leaders know they need to improve but anxiety blocks the effort. They rely on their content to carry them and hope for the best. Preparation is minimal and delivery is inconsistent.
Neutral
Leaders know what they want to say but have not yet learned to think from their audience’s perspective. The presentation is content-led, not audience-led. People follow along but are rarely moved.
Proficient
Leaders understand their audience’s context and tailor their content accordingly. The message is clear and relevant, but they have not yet mastered the delivery skills to engage and hold a room.
Executive Presence
Leaders command the room from the first word. They structure for influence, deliver with authority, respond to questions without losing ground, and leave the audience ready to act.
Every keynote speaker says they prepare. Almost none prepare for what that specific audience needs.
The Solution: Three Critical Components
Diagnosis
When leaders systematically follow a process to understand their audience, they can consistently and easily craft presentations that influence any room.
Design
Leaders design the flow around the audience’s biggest questions, so every section answers what they are thinking next and attention stays locked in from opening to close.
Delivery
When leaders can flexibly adapt and respond to their audience moment by moment, they get buy-in, respect and recognition.
What Participants Receive
- A repeatable process to build a keynote around what the audience really cares about
- Tools to map priorities and surface the real questions in the room
- A clear structure that holds attention and builds towards a decisive close
- Storycraft techniques to land a theme, earn trust and drive the audience to action
- Delivery tools for presence, authenticity and confident Q&A under pressure
Program Delivery And Inclusions
- Video analysis of "before and after"
- Stakeholder mapping and topic analysis
- Concise communication methodology
- Case study design
- Story development
- Keynote crafting
- Q&A preparation
Who This Program Is Ideal For
- Leaders who speak in high-stakes scenarios and need to influence outcomes, not just inform
- Executives representing the organisation at conferences, investor events, town halls and launches
- Experts who want to be more memorable, persuasive and quoted for the right reasons
- Founders and senior leaders who need to win rooms and create demand
- Teams preparing speakers for conferences, panels, pitches or major internal communications
Who This Program Is Not Ideal For
- Leaders who rarely or never speak in public and have no immediate need for this skill
- Individuals who are already confident and compelling keynote speakers
- Anyone looking for media training or interview preparation rather than keynote development (Please see Executive Coaching)
What participants say
This training was so in depth and insightful. The best session I’ve done across my media career. The skills I learnt will help me succeed and go from strength to strength in my new role. Thank you Arabella, you are incredible.
Thank you so much for facilitating this awesome course for us. I have learnt so much about myself and working with others.
Very accommodating to the different circumstances of all participants. Excellent at making the online course format not feel like an awkward game of Marco Polo.
Arabella was fantastic. Her professionalism, knowledge and passion is infectious and genuine. I would highly recommend her to others.
Arabella is an outstanding communicator. She has taught me how to understand people, the decisions they make and how to influence their thought processes to drive better outcomes.
I thoroughly recommend Arabella's program for anyone who wants to lift their business conversations to the next level.
With 18 years of experience, Arabella has worked globally with CEOs and senior leadership teams including Telstra, AstraZeneca, eBay, LinkedIn, Deloitte and AMEX. She has spoken on over 500 stages locally and internationally on influence, communication, negotiation and leadership.
She co-authored the communication section of Macquarie University's Global Online MBA, with 66,000+ enrolments.