Corporate and Team Training Case Studies
Veeva Systems
Veeva is a leading provider of cloud solutions for the global life sciences industry. Veeva’s solutions span CRM, mobile applications, compliance, healthcare data management, and more. Our team was brought in to develop and deliver a 30-day training program for assertiveness and communication skills.
Seventeen consultants participated, divided into three cohorts. Each cohort met as a group twice per week for four straight weeks, for communication strategy, practice activities, role-plays, and goal-setting.
Participants improved critical skills including: concise speaking, jumping in and making valuable contributions during meetings, rapport-building with clients, executive presence, impromptu speaking, assertive body language, and persuasion.
Rutgers University and Express Newark
Express Newark is a multimillion-dollar arts, events and education center created by Rutgers University, located in downtown Newark, New Jersey. The facility is an innovative space that supports artists, filmmakers, and other creators in the local community. It hosts a variety of courses, exhibits and other special programming.
We collaborated with leadership to develop a multi-year training and coaching program comprised of: (1) a series of 90-minute interactive public speaking workshops, and (2) one-on-one public speaking coaching sessions.
This programming has been offered to local residents, Express Newark artists-in-residence, and members of the Rutgers university community.
DraftKings
DraftKings is a leading provider of fantasy sports and online sports betting with over 700 employees and millions of users. The Digital Sportsbook team had regular meetings and presentations to the CEO and other top executives, and wanted to improve their delivery, confidence and presentation structure.
We designed and delivered several workshops for the team. The workshops educated participants on topics including slide deck design, handling unexpected questions from senior executives, and strategies for presenting data, along with foundational verbal and nonverbal techniques.
Each participant practiced their presentation and delivery multiple times and received actionable feedback.
“Justin was a great resource for our team. Justin tailored the session to fit our wants and needs and was able to work with different members of our team who all had different background in public speaking and presenting… Everyone who attended the sessions were able to identify their own strengths and weaknesses and came out of the sessions with more confidence and self awareness.”
-Media Relations Associate, DraftKings Inc.
FEMA – Office of Response and Recovery
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA): “The Office of Response and Recovery (ORR) provides leadership to build, sustain, and improve the coordination and delivery of support to citizens and state, local, tribal, and territorial governments to save lives, reduce suffering, protect property, and recover from all hazards.”
We were approached to develop a workshop for data and analytics professionals in this division of FEMA. Their goals were to present dense and technical information more effectively, speak with more confidence and authority, and improve slide deck and visualization design.
Our workshop took the team through effective verbal and nonverbal communication techniques, data visualization and slide design strategies, tips for presenting to busy senior managers, and how to make their presentations more concise and impactful.
Each participant practiced their presentation and received actionable feedback and resources to improve.
Keller Williams NYC
Keller Williams is a leading national real estate agency. Their New York Headquarters sought a workshop to help new and experienced agents communicate more effectively with clients, overcome nervousness on listing presentations, and present with credibility.
We designed a half-day workshop that educated the agents on confidence-building techniques, networking strategies, and clarifying and communicating their personal brand and specialty. Agents practiced and got feedback on their personal pitch and listing presentation techniques.
Mini-Circuits
Mini-Circuits is a global leader in the design and manufacture of radio frequency and microwave devices for cell phones, aerospace, satellite, medical, military and other industries.
Learning and Development needed to train a dozen high-potential employees in public speaking as part of a long-term upskilling program.
We developed and delivered a six-month public speaking and presentation training program. Participants included professionals in engineering, web development and finance.
The training included instruction on vocal projection, body language, managing stage fright, time management, and slide decks/ visuals.
Practice exercises helped students hone their storytelling skills, speak concisely, and receive actionable feedback. Students received video recordings of their presentations, vocal pitch analysis, speech transcriptions and analysis, personalized reports, and one-on-one coaching.
Two participants presented to 140 guests at the firm’s annual conference over Zoom, and received the second-highest audience feedback score of the event (out of 12 presentations).
“Justin has been working closely with our L&D team over the past several months to help develop the future leadership of our organization. His expertise, commitment, and pragmatic approach to coaching has proven invaluable in maintaining the integrity of the program and ensuring the professional growth of its participants, especially during one of the most challenging times in history.”
-Joanne McDonnell, Head of Learning and Development
New York City Department of Education
The NYC Department of Education manages the largest school system in the United States, with over 1 million students and over 1,800 schools. Top officials in the Department sought personalized coaching on public speaking, presentation skills and internal communications.
These leaders regularly spoke in front of audiences that included superintendents, teachers, and the public. They wanted to speak and present with confidence, clarity and authority, while still being approachable and relatable to their audiences.
We delivered a series of coaching sessions that prepared these leaders for major speaking engagements, including presentations to the Mayor. They learned best practices for connecting new initiatives to a compelling story, smooth and confident delivery, motivational calls to action, slide design, persuasive presentations, impromptu speaking on-the-spot, and more.
Their audiences ranged in size from several dozen administrators to several thousand members of the public.