When the stakes are high, your communication skill can be a game changer or a deal breaker. The Firestarter Experience is an advanced communication skills intensive for senior executives, business owners and start up founders.

1. THE FIRESTARTER EXPERIENCE
LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION + ADVANCED PRESENTION SKILLS
created by bess gallanis inc.
PRESENTED BY BESS GALLANIS INC.
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2011
Bess
Gallanis
Inc.
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2. When the stakes are high, your communication skills can be a game changer or a
INTRODUCTION deal breaker. If you want to make a bigger impact, then The Firestarter Experience is
for you.
The Firestarter Experience is an innovative, two-day workshop that focuses on
leadership communication and advanced presentation techniques, the most critical
skills you need to stay competitive in business today. Over the course of two days,
Firestarters develop their unique leadership voice and presence, create a compelling
bess@bessgallanisinc.com business story and learn a few simple and powerful delivery skills that will enhance
their message, their impact and their influence.
312.659.7572
Combining small group sessions with private coaching and video feedback, we give
Firestarters the tools and coaching support to develop and deliver a three-minute
business story. Then it’s up to them to create fire from The Firestarter Experience
stage, completely outfitted with lights and mikes, where each participant will present
their story in front of a live audience.
Game changing communication skills reflect who you are and what you can do, and
these are intricately connected abilities. The Firestarter Experience is designed
around three interconnected sets of attitudes and actions: presence, presentation and
performance. We have curated the most effective practices in influence,
communication and leadership technologies to put you in control of managing what
you say and how you are heard.
Our transformational coaching method is modeled on the TED and Ignite conference
formats, which value personal authenticity, storytelling and video presentation skills.
Whether you are pitching your idea around a conference room table or from a
conference stage, The Firestarter Experience will equip you to communicate with
presence, power and persuasion.
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2011
Bess
Gallanis
Inc.
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3. The Firestarter Experience is an advanced communication and presentation skills
WHO workshop. This isn’t a training session, but a high caliber, professional development
experience that changes attitudes and behavior. We deliver a dynamic, interactive
experience that produces results that stick after the workshop lights go dim.
CORPORATE GROUPS
Our starting point is to deliver foundational leadership communication skills and then
INDIVIDUAL EXECUTIVES customize the private coaching sessions to meet your specific needs. The Firestarter
BUSINESS OWNERS Experience is appropriate for:
START UP FOUNDERS
• Senior executives with high visibility, public speaking opportunities. Emphasis is
put on presence, storytelling strategies and high impact presentation and media
interviewing skills.
• Entrepreneurs and innovators who are pitching their ideas to a wide range of
stakeholders. Emphasis is put on vision and simplifying the complex.
• Professionals and consultants with client-facing responsibilities, in an account- or
client relationship management role. Emphasis is put on executive presence and
C-suite communication strategies.
• High-potential employees who are effective in the technical part of their jobs and
whose impact would increase with improved presentation skills in internal
meetings, client and new business presentations. Emphasis is on the foundational
skill set.
• Team building, particularly in companies where innovation is a growth driver. The
small group sessions stimulate collaboration and peer support. Emphasis is put on
knowledge sharing and culture building.
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2011
Bess
Gallanis
Inc.
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4. THE POWER OF YOUR PRESENCE
MATCH
This is Part One of a three-part program to expand your leadership communication
skills. In this Part One, you will discover how and why leadership communication is a
relationship skill. You will learn techniques to connect with any audience and how to
demonstrate your trustworthiness, which is a pre-requisite for an effective
communication outcome. You also will learn the elements of executive presence,
which inspires others to place their trust and confidence in you.
Action learning: Firestarters will learn how to develop more powerful presence through
the Reality Distortion Field exercise.
Personal presence generates trust
• Don’t talk what, talk why: purpose and intention
• The three dimensions of self awareness
• Risks, high-stakes, and anxiety: silencing the voice of judgment
• So what, who cares, what’s in it for me: empathy and awareness of others
Executive presence inspires confidence
• Situational awareness: understanding the context
• The practice of poise: maintaining your balance
• What is charisma: how to mesmerize anyone, anytime
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2011
Bess
Gallanis
Inc.
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5. THE POWER OF YOUR PRESENTATION
SPARK
This is Part Two of a three-part program to expand your leadership communication
skills. In this Part Two, we introduce our core message development process, The
SPA Presentation Map. It will equip you with the messaging tools to create effective
presentation content, narrative and dialogue. You will discover why storytelling is your
most powerful communication tool and why people respond to stories. You will learn
how to create effective content by using classic story models.
Action learning: Firestarters will develop a three-minute high-impact story to present at
the end of the workshop.
The best story wins
• Storytelling: the language of leadership
• Effective communication structure: the SPA equation
• Emotional hooks, meaning and memorability
• Simplifying the complex
• Five business stories you must know how to tell
The SPA presentation map process
• Transitioning from the written to the spoken word
• SOCO: focused and concise messaging
• Structuring your message to reach multiple audiences in the same room
• Story enablers that enhance memorability and audience retention

2011
Bess
Gallanis
Inc.
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6. THE POWER OF YOUR PERFORMANCE
COMBUSTION
This is Part Three of a three-part program to expand your leadership communication
skills. In this Part Three, you will be equipped with presentation tools that enhance
your message and its impact. You will learn about non-verbal communication, and
why and how people respond to these signals. It will develop your ability to connect
and to interact with your audience through the skillful use of body language, vocal
vitality and pacing. Through Presentation Yoga you will learn to ‘step into your story’.
Action learning: Firestarters will rehearse their presentation and delivery techniques,
guided by peer and private coaching and video feedback.
The first and last impression
• Communication readiness: the 30-second game changer
• Graceful entrances and exits
• How to connect with everyone in the room
Presentation yoga
• Poise and presence under pressure
• Presenting naked: no PowerPoint, no script
• The all-in-one, all-you-will-ever-need three-part delivery technique
Scaling your skills
• From conference room to conference stage
• Lights, camera, action: presenting a polished and professional image on video

2011
Bess
Gallanis
Inc.
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7. THE POWER OF ACCELERATED LEARNING
ACTIVE LEARNING
The Firestarter Experience accelerates skills development by going deep and making
it sticky. We keep the content short and relevant to the group.
The workshop leads to a novel, challenging and peer-supported exercise: The
Firestarter Experience. We stage the Experience with lights, a professional camera
crew and an event MC. Firestarters are recorded delivering their three-minute story in
front of a live audience.
The workshop techniques and active learning exercises include:
• Pre-work: workshop manual and self-directed pre-work
o videos from the public domain that illustrate best practices
o a self-awareness exercise
• Workshop – Day One
o three multi-media content presentations, discussion and exercise instruction
o peer feedback guidelines
o small group story development brainstorm, coach facilitated
o private time for reflection, creative thinking and self-directed story development
• Rehearsal/Active Learning
o small-group rehearsal, guided by coaches and video feedback
o private coaching with Bess Gallanis
o practicing presence through breathing, stretching, channeling energy
• The Firestarter Experience – Day Two
o stage presentations, mikes, lights, video recorded
o peer support through feedback: ‘what I learned from you’
o written assessment and follow up from coaching team
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2011
Bess
Gallanis
Inc.
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8. For more than 20 years, public, private and family-owned companies have turned to
me for expertise in strategic, financial and crisis communications. I bring my clients
the counsel of an experienced and confident communications advisor, high caliber
writing and presentation development, and communication-focused professional
development and coaching.
I draw from my deep professional background as an executive and business
communicator. I have worked as a business journalist for national magazines, as a
financial public relations agency advisor with extensive Wall Street and media
experience, and as a corporate executive in a Fortune 500 media company.
“ . . . insightful, results-oriented, and takes the
Today, I am a communications and media strategist and coach senior executives in
corporate-wide view.”
presentation skills, media interviewing skills, relationship development with key
“. . . her creative energy shines through in stakeholders and expanding their personal impact through best practices in leadership
everything she does.” communications. I have prepared my clients for major business media including
Fortune, Forbes, Business Week, CNN, CNBC, IPO roadshows, investor conferences,
“. . . she took the time to get to know me.” TEDx, keynote speeches, consultative sales, critical board meetings and sensitive
conversations.
The author of “Yoga Chick” (Warner Books, 2006), I write and speak about the
intersection of communication, leadership and human potential on my blog, ‘Speaking
with Power and Persuasion,’ on The Huffington Post, OPEN Forum by American
Express and Indezine.
A student of mindfulness, I draw heavily from the universal wisdom of yoga and
insight meditation as a model for well-being, professional and personal growth and
high performance in all the areas of my life. My daily meditation practice is a powerful
training ground as I strive to become a high-impact, low-ego executive.
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2011
Bess
Gallanis
Inc.
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9. REGISTRATION
CONTACT BESS GALLANIS
bess@bessgallanisinc.com
312.659.7572

2011
Bess
Gallanis
Inc.
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10. THE FIRESTARTER EXPERIENCE
BESS GALLANIS INC.
Bess Gallanis, Firestarter in Chief
bess@bessgallanisinc.com
talk/text: 001.312.659.7572
geolocation: chicago, il us
www.bessgallanisinc.com

2011
Bess
Gallanis
Inc.
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