Who has Gigi coached recently?

Here’s a partial list:

• A team of insurance executives on how to present online with vitality and presence to 3000 employees at their Town Hall Meeting

• 150 attorneys in a company-wide training on how to look and sound your best online

• A team of design leads on how to pitch clients with confidence and ease

• A cybersecurity specialist on how to tell a gripping story

• A tech start-up founder on how to speak off-the-cuff during high-stakes interviews

• A biotech engineer on how to deliver his start-up’s origin story with drama

• 20 research scientists on how to create and deliver an 8-minute TED-style talk

• A software CEO on how to refine and enliven a speech for a high-stakes virtual presentation

• A human resources executive on how to hone her skills as an on-air interviewer

• A cohort of medical professionals on how to speak “to” rather than “at” the audience

• An international trade expert on how to prepare a TED-x style talk

Which one are you?

1-The Overwhelmed/Recently-Promoted Bigwig

Miguel is 52 and has just been promoted to CEO of a national, publicly-traded company. He’s a numbers guy most comfortable with a spread sheet which is a disaster when the board needs the 30,000-foot view. To make matters worse, when he’s caught in the bright lights on a big stage or at the end of an interviewer’s microphone, he speaks too fast, running his sentences together, and confusing his big picture message. He needs executive presence STAT.

2-This SECOND-IN-COMMAND needs a last-minute level-up

Andi is 38, trilingual, and enjoys being second in command, at a London law firm. She’s never liked the limelight and thankfully her boss doesn’t mind being the mouthpiece. In two weeks, he’s scheduled to deliver a keynote in Paris but he’s just tested positive for COVID so he needs Andi to take his place at the podium. She’s shaking even thinking about it. She needs to recraft his speech so it sounds like her and rehearse so she can walk up on that stage without dying. Does she need to memorize her talk? Can she use notes? What if her voice wavers? What if her knees buckle? Andi needs the last-minute level up.

3-The Anxious Rising Star

Marguerite is 25 and a “big personality in the making” but “I’m still hiding in the closet, under the coats.” Yet, that voice inside her is urging her to reach for bigger challenges and a promotion and she knows she needs to learn how to speak without sounding like she’s 25. She still puts a question mark on the end of every sentence. Because she’s a night owl who must be at work at 8 am, she’s often exhausted and has not exercised since she graduated from college three years ago. Marguerite knows that this year employers are planning to hire more college grads and she wants to be ahead of that new wave of hires.

4-The Panicky Boomer

Phyllis, 62, has managed to avoid public speaking for the past 37 years of her professional life. In four weeks, she’s being honored with a lifetime achievement award and, darnit anyway, she wants to walk to the podium with her head held high and deliver a poised acceptance speech that ends with a toast where she looks the audience in the eye and enjoys her 15 minutes of fame. But she’s already having heart palpitations, just thinking about it. The few times she's had to speak in public, she has over prepared, spending 30 hours on a 5-minute update. “I’m too old for this,” she exclaims. “I need help!”

5-The Introverted Start-up Founder

Alex hasn’t had on real pants in three years. The former physics major is one of 26,000 founders currently employed in the U.S. After working for 12 years as a software engineer, Alex is seeking financing for his start-up. An introvert, he’s rusty presenting in-person. But now, a guy who has toiled away at his kitchen table in sweatpants needs to meet with investors. On top of that, he tends to speak in a monotone and is more at home with big ideas than swimming with sharks. Alex has big plans and a promising start-up and he’s ready to clarify his message and raise money to fund his dreams.  

SEE GIGI’S CLIENT LIST WITH THE COMPANIES

SHE’S WORKED WITH SINCE DAY ONE.

Banner photo by Christian Columbres