Presentation skills management training leadership communication team building executive coaching

Our people

Our people aren't normal. Thank goodness for that. It's their eclectic backgrounds, skills and qualities that make them stand out.

Tee Dobinson

As well as being a dynamic and inspiring Motivational Speaker, work shop designer and leader, Tee has also created an outstanding mentoring programme for a Tower Hamlets primary school, co-written a best-selling fitness book and for five years was a Nike fitness athlete.

Confidence is the name of the game for Tee - developing it in her courses, motivating it in the people she works with, writing about it. Tee is scrupulous about detail and has created many of the soft skills training programmes we run at Impact Factory, as well as developing large roll-out programmes for many of our clients.

Tee also works in the areas of Change Management, Performance Management, Personal Impact, Team Building, and Leadership.

Graham Bennett

An actor, director and creator of Daylight Players, his own touring company, Graham has worked for the Globe Theatre in their Education Department and last year directed a play for Swedish-speaking actors in Sweden, knowing almost no Swedish himself! And it was a huge success.

Graham is at his best working with groups of people where he can toss away the manual in order to create knock-out programmes that are just what the delegates want and need, where they have a cracking good time and go away ready to put it all into practise.

As well as running our Train the Trainer, Advanced Presentation Skills and Leadership Courses, Graham also created our Building Business Relationships Course.

Bronia Szczygiel

Someone with initials after her name!

Bronia is a mathematician, an engineer, a research scientist, a Scout leader, a Ceilidh caller. She also happens to be an energetic, passionate and impeccable workshop creator and leader and uses her business background in combination with her spontaneity to great effect in all her programmes.

From Leadership Development to Line Management to Project Management, Bronia runs her trainings with style, humour and insight. Bronia has also created our new Writing Winning Tenders Open Course.

Anthony Etherton

A former journalist, a few years in the catering business (not another foodie?!), an actor and creator of his own Role Play company.

Anthony runs many of our Presentation Skills programmes, and specialises in big juicy Corporate Events, creating a bit of havoc in order to arrive at a professional outcome. Anthony is our Forum Theatre expert (including training with Augusto Boal) and has staged intimate as well as massive programmes using this highly effective and unusual training method.

Tina Lamb

Script-writer, Actor, restaurateur. Restaurateur? Yes, Tina established and ran a restaurant in St Thomas in the Caribbean before returning to the UK to 'settle down' as an actor. That combination of experience and risk-taking is what Tina brings to all her programmes.

Although adept at just about every programme we have going, she's particularly skilled at running our Networking and Assertiveness courses primarily because she is one of the best and most fearless networkers we know.

Tom Bruno-Magdich

From running a chain of successful hair salons to training as a psychologist, Tom is another Impact Factory partner who decided to 'settle down' and become an actor.

In the West End, on the telly and in the training room, Tom makes his mark with huge energy, enthusiasm and skill. His personal areas of expertise are Presentation Skills and Creativity and Innovation where delegates not only have a terrific and fun time, they actually go away with a whole staircase of practical steps to bring back to the workplace.

Liz McKechnie

Film and tv actor, writer, teacher, private coach within the film and corporate industries, Liz also ran her own training company for many years.

She designed and ran degree courses for opera students at the Royal College of Music and at Mountview Theatre School and still runs courses for professional actors in screen acting.

From small Presentation Skills workshops to large Corporate Events, Liz tackles everything she does with verve, charm and absolute professionalism. Liz has also created our new Body Language Course.

Trixie Rawlinson

Trixie Rawlinson has a voice you may have heard: a radio presenter of BBC Radio 4's 'You and Yours', BBC World Service's 'Outlook' and 'Everywoman' and countless interviews and documentaries.

Flair and panache are two words to describe Trixie's style of working and she brings her many years of broadcast journalism to the fore in the Media Skills Training she has created for us and many of our clients. Communication Skills and Personal Impact are among other areas of her work with Impact Factory.

Julie Wales

A BBC News and Current Affairs Journalist, an English and Drama Specialist, Arts Faculty Head, Youth Theatre Director, Vintage Clothes Trader, keen Sailor …and regular Singer in a local band.

Julie runs Creative Business Writing, Building Compelling PowerPoint Presentations and a variety of Communications courses from Creativity to Personal Impact. With great empathy for the trials and tribulations people go through when faced with 'White Page Syndrome' Julie has created accessible and enjoyable sell-out Writing Workshops.

Fiona Morrison

Psychotherapist, facilitator for a teenage pregnancy prevention programme, marketeer, copywriter, PR professional, events manager.

Fiona seems to have done it all. And she meditates. Maybe that's the secret of Fiona's motivation, moving from one career to another and taking all her skills with her to use to high effect.

Fiona brings her calm and collected wisdom into the training room and her empathetic style particularly suits our Assertiveness Training and Customer Service programmes.

Jeremy Todd

West End actor, corporate entertainer, audience warmer-upper, Jeremy brings a welcoming and engaging presence to his work with Impact Factory.

He's often put in charge of 'energising' the training room, making sure that our workshops stay lively and active.

Jeremy's multi-faceted skills are put to excellent use in our Presentation Skills, Personal Impact and Communication Courses as well as our extensive Customer Service work.

Katherine Grice

From the Royal Shakespeare Company to the British Embassy in Hong Kong to Pentonville Prison, actor Katherine has performed and taught her way around the globe (no, not the theatre).

She's run her own theatre company and created workshops for actors, and now brings her liveliness, delightful personality and professional insight into the work she does with us.

Katherine's skills are particularly relevant for Presentation Skills, Personal Impact and Influencing Training.

Joe Britto

Novelist, forest fire-fighter, PR company owner, recording engineer, life coach, radio broadcaster, Joe fits in perfectly with Impact Factory's diverse and unusual group of associates.

Change comes easy to Joe (well, as easy as it's going to come to anyone), which is why his friendly and insightful style make him not just a perfect life coach, but someone who can lead others through changes.

Whether it's how to give a more impactful Presentation or to how to become a more Effective Leader Joe is your man.

Sara Jordan

Sara loves to watch things grow and develop whether that be her son, plants in the garden, herself or other people. It was this interest in personal development which led her into training, her aim is not only to help people see the great assets they already have but to help them blossom further. Her work with Impact Factory is the perfect partner to her other interests as it allows her to use the skills she acquired as an actress with her deep fascination for people.

Although involved in the full range of Impact Factory courses, the programmes for which she has a natural flair are Networking and Body Language amongst others.

Doug Osborne

Chemist, Record producer, clinical hypnotherapist and shamanic practitioner are but a few of Doug’s career strands that neatly mesh to make him a dynamic member of our associate team.

Doug brings his own warm, intuitive yet analytical style to our work – his areas of expertise include personal impact, assertiveness and conflict management. He is a self proclaimed course-a-holic in his personal time. Doug has been unable to resist bringing this passion to developing our stress management open course.

Christopher Heimann

Christopher teaches improvisation at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London where he is also a member of the audition panel, a testing and sensitive job needing all his excellent people skills. His work as a theatre director and writer includes the stage plays “100” and “Food” both of which won the prestigious Fringe First award at the Edinburgh Festival and toured extensively in the UK and internationally.

He has directed productions at leading British theatres including the Young Vic Theatre and Soho Theatre in London, and the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh.

Christopher’s work in business draws on his background in theatre to create events that are interactive, challenging and fun. Through Impact Factory, he has worked on numerous Open Courses, including Line Management, Advanced Presentation Skills and Conflict Management.

Dannie Carr

Actor, college lecturer, voice-over artist, writer, events coordinator. The list of Dannie’s skills is extensive and a natural fit for Impact Factory’s eclectic array of Associates.

Her work as an actor has included theatre roles from Shakespeare to Brecht and her TV and Radio work has often ended up in the sci-fi world, including the featured role of Morli in two audio series of the Doctor Who spin off, Dalek Wars. Her distinctive voice (and accent!) can be heard on TV and radio adverts and trailers. Among a variety of theatrical institutions she has also worked at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts as a Visiting Director and a key tutor of the Meisner Technique.

Her background, natural flair and people person skills make her a sure fit for our Communication, Assertiveness and Customer Service

Robin Chandler

Superb trainer of our trainers; magnificent optimiser of our website; keen holder of the big picture, Robin is one half of the duo that created and propelled Impact factory to the success it is today.

Robin is a solution-finder, a problem-unraveller. He has developed the internal training programme that has produced the terrific group of Partners and Associates who are the backbone of the company.

Fred Grzyb

We are privileged to have Fred Grzyb as our regular 'Guest Artist' for a Style Makeover, and we imagine that no other company has anyone who can quite boast his credentials.

If it has to do with clothes, then Fred's your man. He has spent well over 40 years costuming operas, ballets, musicals, movies, television and individuals seeking after his keen eye and sympathetic approach.

He started his career with the New York City Ballet, getting his grounding at best costume house in the country - Karinska's - and working with a succession of the best designers around: Eugene Berman, Irene Sharafff, Patricia Ziprodt. He then became Costume Supervisor of the New York City Opera, and worked there for nearly 40 years (yipes!). With the opera he has worked with Carl Toms and Zandra Rhodes among many others.

Jo Ellen Grzyb

Jo Ellen is a nurturer of our people, our ethos and our values. She is one half of the pair that made Impact Factory possible. It is her style - free-flowing, jargon-free, fun and accessible - that forms the main body of our written work, which in turn reflects the free-flowing, jargon-free, fun and accessible style of our training.

Jo Ellen is passionate, pragmatic (yes, the two can live happily side by side), allowing and encouraging; she usually knows just the right thing to say to support each person who is part of the great Impact Factory team.

Advanced Presentation Skills Course

This Advanced Presentation Skills Course provides a practical opportunity to enhance current presentation skills and add finesse to the delivery of presentations. It looks at how to make a presentation persuasive, even for audiences where there are different levels of communication and understanding.

Appraisal Training and Performance Management Course

This one day Public Appraisal Training and Performance Management Course looks at the people side of performance management and appraisals. It addresses the difficult, more confrontational issues that are bound to arise if the process is anything more than a 'tick the box' exercise.

Assertiveness Training Course

This One Day Public Assertiveness Skills Course is designed to help people feel better about who they are and to recognise the store of resources they already have at their disposal. It's not a course about teaching the 'right' way to behave, more about opening up increased communication choices and possibilities.

Body Language Course

This One Day Public Body Language Course is designed to help delegates make the impact they want through awareness of their non verbal communication, to feel more in control in a meeting or presentation situation, and to feel more confident and in charge of situations and working relationships.

Building Business Relationships Course

Gaining clients' confidence and trust in you, your company or your project is key to developing good business relationships. Too often, consultants, sales people or other company representatives go into meetings in one way communication mode, deluging clients (or potential clients) with too much information and barely drawing breath.

Business Networking Course

Impact Factory doesn't profess to have a right way or a wrong way to network. In this Public Business Networking Course we aim to find what will work best for you in any given situation. Individuals will be encouraged to discuss, interact, role play, practise communication and challenge themselves – it's meant to be fun!

Business Selling and Pitching Course

This one-day Public Pitching for Business Course will look at versatility and influencing to enable participants to transform 'selling situations' into opportunities for relationship building. In particular, we will expand the range of communication techniques used to deliver information and raise awareness of personal style. A winning combination for your next big pitch!

Change Management Course

This one-day Public Change Management course will explore the impact of change on individuals and teams, helping people to become more aware of how to approach uncertainty in their work environments. We feel it is important to acknowledge the difficulties that arise before being able to create a shift in attitude and get the buy in needed, to make periods of change an opportunity for growth.

Coaching and Mentoring Course

This one-day Public Coaching and Mentoring Course will explore and define the role of the coach/mentor. Tools and techniques will be provided to create best practice for effective mentoring relationships. Participants will be assisted in defining a coaching/mentoring template and action plan they can immediately employ in the workplace.

Communication Skills Course

This one-day Public Communication Skills Course provides participants with the skills, tools and insight to make a substantial difference to the way communication happens around them, and to improve communication within their work environment.

Conflict Management Course

This Public Conflict Management Course is for individuals who want to deal more effectively with difficult situations and people. Following the course Conflict should become something to choose rather than avoid.

Creative Business Writing Course

Our Public Creative Business Writing Course is open to -

All those who suffer from WPS (White Page Syndrome - a serious condition whereby blank pages induce blank minds
Anyone for whom a deadline for the annual report or project may mean procrastination, sick days, fear and loathing... even spitting
Everyone who simply lacks the confidence to string an interesting sentence or two together

We'll gear the day to whatever your personal writing pitfalls are - and we all have them! We'll share all we know about ways to unblock and unleash your writing potential. There'll be armfuls of practical writing tips and techniques on offer for you to translate your communication strengths into fluent and readable writing that makes an impact.

Creativity and Innovation Course

A day-long Public Creativity and Innovation Course is a journey into not whether you're creative, but how you're creative. Based on our 'Five Windows' model you'll will be encouraged to abandon your 'Doing it right' head and replace it with a head that enjoys the journey without concern for a destination. Unleashing your creativity without a safety net is sometimes an unsettling process. However, this structured creativity and innovation workshop will guarantee a challenging day, by the end of which you will have discovered just how creative you can be. Since creativity by its very nature can be messy, the final part of the day looks at how we channel that creativity into practical innovation. And by the way ...it's a lot of fun!

Customer Service Course

This Public Customer Service Training Course is centred on what you might call 'the human moment' - when businesses actually have personal interaction with their customers rather than communicating via technology to get their message across. This one day open customer care course provides participants with the capacity to deliver good customer care even in the most difficult circumstances. It will also enable them to deal with potentially difficult customers.

Facilitation and Better Meetings Course

This one-day Public Facilitation and Better Meetings Course will transform the way that managing meetings is viewed, prepared for, attended, participated in and most importantly, how long they take. Effective facilitation techniques including; communication skills, listening skills, rapport building, assertiveness, team building and an enhanced understanding of group dynamics which will provide you with a tool-kit to tackle any meeting scenario.

Influencing and Negotiating Skills Course

This one-day Public Influencing and Negotiating Skills Course looks at Influencing and Negotiation as skills that work differently for each individual. Participants get the opportunity to practise a variety of Influencing and Negotiating tools and techniques to see what works for them and what best suits their personal style. Altogether an injection of energy, understanding and communication skills that will help you become an excellent influencer and negotiator.

Interview Skills Training Course

Interviews are tough for everyone. An interview is a challenge to present yourself at your very best. What the people interviewing you want to see is the person that means we can all stop doing this difficult process and get on with appointing someone. This Public Interview Skills Course will enable you to communicate so as to show yourself off to your very best and maximise the chances of getting the job.

Leadership Development Course

Think of a Leader you admire? What constitutes a good leader?
Over a two-day Public Leadership Development Course we explore ways to Inspire and Motivate your team, department, company, club or even your family. The essence of good leadership is a leader with good communication skills, excellent team building capacity and the ability to bring the best out of everybody. Our approach is both challenging and insightful and our aim is to develop each individual's leadership style.

Line Management Course

This Two Day Public Line Management Course is designed for people who are getting to grips with managing people for the first time. It will quickly help marshal each individual's present communication resources and give them a development plan to go forward with.

Media Skills Training Course

Dealing with the media offers fantastic opportunities for raising and managing your company's profile with a wide audience. This one day Public Media Skills Training Course will help you prepare and deliver your communication so that the message that gets through is the one you want to put across.

Negotiation Skills Course

Negotiation is an everyday part of life - we're always negotiating, with varying degrees of success. This one day Public Negotiation Skills Course highlights the skills and qualities we already use, introduces some new ones and hones them all for more effective use in lots of different negotiation scenarios.

Personal Impact Course

This Public one-day Personal Impact Course is a day devoted to understanding how all of us impact on others. Starting generally on how 'making an impact' works, we then take a detailed look at how you can improve your ability to influence others. First we examine the whole area of verbal and non-verbal communication and get an appreciation of the conventions and boundaries unconsciously observed by everyone. Then we move into an exploration of each person's ability to 'work' their environment.

PowerPoint Presentation Training Course

This Public PowerPoint Presentation Training Course is for all those who work with PowerPoint and would like to create compelling, polished, impactful PowerPoint Presentations. We will take you from scratch to polish in two practical and intensive days.

Presentation Skills Course

This one day Public Effective Presentation Skills Course is open to anyone who has decided they really want to Develop as a Presenter. It doesn't so much deal with the "right way" to present, rather it looks at understanding how the environment in which we have to present works, and how individual presenters can "Work That Environment" in a way which best suits their presentation style.

Presentation Skills Training Course - Two Day Intermediate

This two day Public Intermediate Presentation Training Course is open to anyone who wants to do some in depth work on their ability as a Presenter. It covers all the material from the one day course with a good deal more time devoted to practice. You will work on perfecting your presentation style and preparing for all presentation eventualities.

Project Management Course

This Public Project Management Training Course is an opportunity for individuals to look at the way they handle and manage their projects. A practical look at creating productive teams, communication skills, diffusing conflict, getting quick buy-in, team building and effective delegation to move projects forward. A fun way to approach an often dull process.

Public Speaking Course

Public Speaking Course - Conquering the Fear. Did you know that public speaking tops the list of phobias for most people? Not spiders or heights - public speaking - speech in public! In fact research has revealed that in general people fear speaking in public more than death itself.

Stress Management Course

This one day Stress Management Courses looks at the causes, indicators, symptoms and impact of pressure and stress for you and those around you. The course will also give you techniques to manage stress and pressure in yourself and in others.

Train The Trainer Course

Train The Trainer Course - A Two Day Public Train The Trainer programme for anyone who has to train others in any capacity.

Writing Winning Tenders Course

Writing Winning Tenders Course - Getting inside the customer's head is a great place to start. If you understand how they see the world and why they are tendering this can help to shape the way you communicate the proposal. But then you need to write a proposal that will really knock their socks off; you need to write to win.

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