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The only communications workshop you need

Transform your communication and unlock your full potential with the Art of Epic Communication workshop. Join us for an intensive one-day experience designed to conquer challenges, enhance your personal brand, and boost business profits.

Master the coveted skill of confident, concise, and coherent communication to forge strong connections and win over any audience, big or small.

Gain the ability to shine on camera and become a persuasive, compelling communicator. Elevate your leadership presence, personal brand, and marketing potential with this transformative workshop.

Your team will learn how to:

  • Strategic Scripting: Develop compelling narratives and storylines
  • Dynamcic Delivery: Harness stage presence and technical finesse
  • Memorable Messaging: Craft messages that resonate deeply
  • Engagement Mastery: Capture and influence your audience effectively
  • Core Message Discovery: Unearth the essence of your message
  • Confident Composure: Cultivate comfort and confidence
  • Clarity of Expression: Speak with precision and clarity

What are people saying about The Art of Epic Communication workshop?

Matthew Evetts
Matthew Evetts
Director Connectivity & Security at Datacom

This was a great day – highly recommended! Michael and Astella were amazing!

Rohit Rajagopal
Rohit Rajagopal
Senior ICT Applications Support Analyst | ChristchurchNZ

Had an incredible experience during this EPIC workshop, where we delved into the art of charismatic leadership and effective communication. An invaluable day of learning and growth! 🌟🎙️

Chris Wilcock
Chris Wilcock
Public Relations Manager | ChristchurchNZ

Highly recommend this course in improving presentation and speaking skills! Thanks for sharing your brilliance Michael!

Karena Finnie
Karena Finnie
Head of Major Events | ChristchurchNZ

Such a great day, learnt so much 💪 thanks guys….. and I’m remembering to smile when I present 😂

Nic Kennedy
Nic Kennedy
CEO Flux Federation

It was indeed epic! Lots of learning, belly laughs and the odd doh moment. Thank you for leading like a boss Michael Philpott

Angela Lei
Angela Lei
PwC Global ESG Reporting & Assurance | Senior Associate

Loved it 💯%! Thank you Michael for sharing your tips and creating a comfortable environment to grow my confidence! I had so much fun!!!

Laura Mallon
Laura Mallon
Operations & Customer Success Manager at Yabble

Thoroughly enjoyed this workshop, even though it was one of the more uncomfortable ones. Thanks!

Aisha Ross
Aisha Ross
Hillfarrance VC I Ngā Ruahine I Taranaki I Te Atiawa

Ka nui te mihi e hoa, your an amazing Jedi! Thanks for an awesome learning journey into the art of Epic communication - pitch, presso, and purpose.

Eben Vorster
Eben Vorster
Learning & Education Manager at PwC New Zealand

Absolutely loved the day 🎉 being equipped by a Master of the Communication Craft 💪🏻 . Anyone can talk, but it takes a fine chisel to craft EPIC communication! Thanks Michael Philpott for helping to develop our craft and encouraging us to keep chiseling away to remain epic!

Nathan Wylie
Nathan Wylie
Partner at PwC New Zealand

It was great to work with someone who cared about the participants and left each person with something special to take away. A very tailored approach focussed on helping people unleash what is special and unique about them. Thank you Michael!

Frayne Cooke
Frayne Cooke
Building platform for primary care providers to start, run & grow digital clinics

You're a rockstar Michael! Massive thanks to you and the Hillfarrance Venture Capital team for putting this on. NPS response 10. Looking forward to more sessions in future 💯

Who should attend?

This workshop is tailor-made for individuals seeking to enhance their public speaking, pitching, and presenting prowess. It's ideal for those who inform, persuade, or captivate audiences – whether within the organisation, external partners, in-person interactions, or on camera. 

From CEOs presenting at senior leadership forums to employees pitching products to potential clients, this workshop is your gateway to transforming communication dynamics.

The Art of Epic Communication Workbook

Why it matters.

In the dynamic world of business, the ability to communicate effectively is your ultimate superpower. Whether you're pitching, presenting, or public speaking – speaking with impact is the linchpin of success. Sadly, many struggle with effective communication, resulting in unclear messages and uninspired teams.

Our workshop bridges this gap. It caters to novices eager to conquer nerves and self-doubt, as well as seasoned speakers aimingto refine their skills. Empower yourself with tools and techniques that catalyze your growth and empower you to deliver extraordinary performances.

The Art of Epic Communication Workbook

What's the schedule?

The workshop is a one-day interactive session from 8.30am to 5.00pm including breaks. We have broken the workshop into three sections. It is designed for 12 people.

Part 1 icon
8:30 - 10:00

Part 1: You

- Introduction to the StorySelling model
- Record to camera
- Review

Morning Tea icon
10:00 - 10:20

Morning Tea

Part 2 icon
10:20 – 12:30

Part 2: The Caveman Test

- Business Brand model
- Record to camera
- Review

Lunch icon
12:30 – 1:30

Lunch

Part 3 icon
1:30 – 3:30

Part 3: Your Business Vision

- Vision model
- Present on stage and recorded to camera
- Review

Afternoon Tea icon
3:30 – 3:50

Afternoon Tea

Finale icon
3:50 – 5:00

The Finalé

- Record to camera
- Review
- Lessons learned
- Final / Close

Michael Philpott leaning on a white box

Your guide: Michael Philpott

Business Storytelling Expert. Keynote Speaker. Executive Speaker Coach. Professor of Practice at the University of Canterbury, Communications & Training Specialist.

Having spent over two and half decades working within leadership development, Michael is the sought after high-performance coach to thousands of executives and leaders.

He’s the secret weapon to organisations and individuals including CEOs, celebrities, sales executives, tech giants, best-selling authors, professors, PhDs, and start-up founders around the world.

An expert in storytelling, stage craft, charismatic leadership, and business storyselling. He is renowned for helping people achieve powerful results from their keynotes, sales pitches, capital raises, and formal presentations.

Michael has a resolute belief that mastery of ourselves is forged in the fiery crucible of practical application, self-analysis, self-discovery, and self-management.

No other coach offers his credentials, experience, and singleness of purpose.

Astella Philpott smiling and leaning on her hand

Astella Philpott

A seasoned communicator and change enthusiast whose journey began during her Business Transformation and Change studies in Christchurch. Back then, Change Management wasn't a buzzword, but Astella recognized the crucial role of communication in driving transformation.

As the TEDx Christchurch Speaker Care, she mastered the art of ensuring national and international speakers felt at ease, orchestrating seamless logistics, and contributing to the annual speaker selection process. Astella quickly grasped the pivotal connection between a speaker's preparation and the success of their message delivery.

Venturing into the corporate realm, Astella pioneered and managed the Change Management practice in a prominent government organization. With over 40 projects concurrently in motion, she witnessed firsthand the impact of effective communication on change adoption. Astella became the linchpin for multimillion-dollar project rollouts, managing diverse teams ranging from 200 to over 2500 staff.

Today, Astella channels her wealth of experience into co-facilitating workshops, focusing on change leadership and the art of effective communication. She passionately believes that a leader's ability to communicate and inspire buy-in plays a pivotal role in the success of any transformative journey.

Beyond her professional pursuits, Astella finds joy in riding, diving, and skiing alongside her partner Michael. With a career rooted in understanding the power of words, she continues to be a driving force in shaping impactful narratives and fostering meaningful connections in the world of global events.

FAQ

What is charismatic leadership?
Open and Close FAQ

Until recently it was believed that charisma was a “gift” a god given talent reserved only for the few, something that people were born with.

Whenever it was spoken about it was esoteric in nature and vague, Socrates eluded to a part of it, he referred to it as Ethos, Pathos, Logos and Kairos.

In ancient Egypt it was regarded as magic, and ancient Egyptians believed in the power of words.

They believed that the manipulation of written words, images, and ritual could influence the world through a divinely created force known as Heqa.

Fortunately for leaders research and study into the “gift” of charisma demonstrates charisma as a set of skills that can be taught. The results from becoming more charismatic is that people will be drawn to another, to like another, to trust another and to respect another.

We know that the neuroscience indicates that neurotransmitters release neurochemicals that either make us feel good about someone and their intentions; to be moved towards them, or not good about someone and their intentions; to be repelled from them.

We also know that these are snap decisions made by our reptilian brain, and we know that once someone has made that unconscious decision it can be difficult to win back their trust, especially when we are either speaking to people we don’t know or speaking via a channel that puts distance between us.

In our training workshops we learn charismatic leadership skills that give us the ability to recognise firstly what repels people, and then what moves them towards us.

And then focus on developing the foundations that allow a person to build messaging that resonates at a deep level with their audiences and deliver them in a way that magnifies that resonance for lasting impact.

What research is The Art of Epic Communication training workshop based on?
Open and Close FAQ

The Art of Epic Communication workshop is designed from research undertaken by John Antonakis, Marika Fenley, and Sue Liechti at The University of Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland.

In one study, 41 MBA students were asked to record a three to four minute video presentation. They were then trained in the 12 Charismatic Leadership Tactics (CLTs) over six weeks, averaging 80 - 90 hours of work and preparation.

They redelivered their presentations to camera, with the addition of the 12 CLTs, the videos were reviewed and compared by 135 independent assessors.

On average, they measured a 60% increase in individuals leadership scores.

We’ve incorporated the following techniques and tools into our training workshop:

  • The 12 CLTs
  • Accelerated adult brain based learning techniques from extensive training in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and USA with Dr Rich Allen
  • Neurolinguistic Programming techniques and principles from practitioner level training with Dr Richard Bolstad; and
  • Marketing principles and practice from internationally renowned marketing expert Donald Miller
How much growth can I expect to see in a day?
Open and Close FAQ

The growth each individual will experience is relative to the degree that they are willing to push themselves to try new things and get way outside their comfort zone.

The more a person pushes themselves the more growth they will see.

My team all speak a lot, either via online presentations, town halls, or at conferences - will they benefit from doing this training?
Open and Close FAQ

The Charismatic Leadership Tactics taught in the workshop are the foundation of every great speaker. However, even most of the paid public speakers in New Zealand are not skilled in them. We know this because we have coached many to go from good to great,  and it’s often been that they possess one or two of the foundational skills and we teach them the others in private speaker coaching.

That’s how we guarantee growth for everyone on the workshop.

Michael has coached both nervous novices and seasoned CEO’s and they’ve all learned something valuable they didn’t know that changed their perception of public speaking.

Your teams will come away with new knowledge and transferable skills to apply across a wide range of situations.

How scary is the day for someone who is shit scared of public speaking?
Open and Close FAQ

The most scared people tend to gain the most out of the training as they are at the beginning of their journey. There is abundance of learning opportunities without the burden of pre made negative habits - essentially starting out as a blank canvas, and that’s a wonderful thing.

We’ve taken extra care with the design of the workshop, ensuring that every step in the process is achievable and incremental.

We start off in pairs with a delivery to camera and then learn skills that help with confidence and then move up to a group of four to deliver the same message multiple times to gain practice and more confidence.

As there are 12 people on the workshop, there are three groups of four people delivering at the same time, so there is a feeling of comfort from being with a small group and there is ambient noise that allows everyone to feel like they are not a single person on a big stage all alone.

There is one presentation that is delivered one to many, however by the time we reach that part of the day the group has become well bonded and supportive and encouraging of each other.

Everyone, seasoned professional or new beginner, has nerves at the start of the day for their own reasons and in every workshop we’ve run, each person has achieved their desired outcome.

We believe and support “challenge by choice” and will not push anyone to do anything they are not comfortable with. A participant is more than welcome to sit out something that is overwhelming.

Do I need to do any prep work before the workshop?
Open and Close FAQ

Not at all, the essence of the training workshop is for everyone to develop their talks together at the same pace and learn from each other through open dialog that we facilitate.

The only preparation needed is to bring the essential items that you will need on the day such as headphones to listen to your video recordings privately.

Why do I need to bring headphones?
Open and Close FAQ

The room is usually vibrant and full of ambient noise when you’re delivering most of your presentations to camera, so the best way to hear your video presentation when you review it is through headphones. That way, you can have it as loud as you desire without disturbing others who will be listening to their recordings.

How are the videos captured and reviewed?
Open and Close FAQ

All your videos are captured on your own smartphones, that way you can be confident knowing they are safely stored on your device, and you can review them again after the workshop.

Also, it makes sense to practice on the equipment that you will most likely be using in the future to create your own marketing content.

The quality of cameras on most people’s phones are capable of HD or 4K and beyond, and if it’s set up to record on “cinematic” mode it produces quality more than adequate for releasing to the public, on social platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and others.

Why is the training life changing?
Open and Close FAQ

Having ran this training a lot we are starting to notice a common theme. Each person soon discovers they have at least one limiting belief that they’ve formed that is holding them back from being truly authentic in their self-expression.

Once a limiting belief has been discovered that person is now able to practice freeing themselves from the behaviour that will be holding them back, often this belief when changed will have life changing effects for that person, both personally and professionally.

What level of experience do I need to come on this training?
Open and Close FAQ

There is no required level of experience needed to come on the workshop.

However, it is good to have a goal in mind for where you want to use the skills you will learn and put them into practice as soon as possible.

Public speaking is a perishable skill, and confidence wanes for even the most seasoned speakers if they have not been in front of a camera or on stage for a while.

So, having something that you’re working towards will help ensure you keep up all the good work you will have achieved on the workshop. This is where you will see the most benefit from the long term gains.

Are you creating more training?
Open and Close FAQ

Most definitely yes!!!

At the end of the majority of the workshops either in-house or public, we are being asked “what’s next, what more can I learn?”

So we are currently in the process of building “Unleash Limitless Leadership Potential”, this will be the second day of a two-day immersive training workshop.

It’s focused on honing the skills learnt in day one with the first six charismatic leadership tactics and adding three more that focus on building leaders who can influence more through their storytelling, metaphors, similes and analogies, rhetorical questions, and reflections of the group’s sentiment.

And we are working towards the design of our ultimate speaking offering, Unleash Limitless Executive Leadership Potential, a 4 day executive retreat that will weave together the final three charismatic leadership tactics; expressions of moral conviction, the setting of high goals, and conveying they can be achieved. Giving any CEO or Executive the full array of skills to move mountains.

Let's get you booked in!

Get in touch

$10,200 + GST

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