Our workshops are useful, relevant, clear, methodical and never dull; using elements such as script-writing, pair-work, peer feedback, smartphone videos, creative materials and mock interview studios.

When you need to communicate with non-specalists

We specialise in working with clients who need to communicate environmental findings to non-specialists such as; policy-makers, communities, media, land managers, planners, funders, investors.

Sometimes these stakeholders may be suspicious, critical or actively oppose your findings, so we use The Schwartz Theory of Basic Human Values, and other social science tools, as a foundation to all our workshops.

Our workshops

Communication Essentials

Participants will learn how to storyboard, script, deliver and edit short videos about their work or research, using their smartphones. Working with award-winning videographer Laurence Hall, there's one-to-one input throughout the day as they learn to film and use B-roll plus learn basic video editing skills, aiming to produce a short video for social media or a research introduction for conferences etc. To empower participants to continue to use their new skills, they use their phones as cameras and their own laptops to edit software - we show how to quickly master key skills and easily produce short, effective videos.
This workshop is in-person only - groups of up to 8.

Press & Media

Crafting narratives and considering social science; this workshop shares five core techniques for effective communication: Story, Values, Language, Facts v Emotions and You. Through the day, each session will teach a new skill, followed by another that builds upon it. By the end, participants will have created their own 5-step, re-usable, communication template. Using creative and AI tools to help participants learn new skills: pen, paper, drawing materials and written tasks, plus smartphone videos to practice learned techniques and monitor our progress in the course of a day.
Can be delivered in person or via Zoom sessions - for cohorts of up to 30.

Policy-makers & Funders

With backgrounds in journalism and podcasting, plus many TV and radio appearances, our team will guide you through the opportunities and pitfalls of dealing with the media. We share: what they want; crafting your story; preparing for interviews; body language; '3 Messages'; soundbites; keeping on topic, bridging; dealing with negative and hostile questions; and avoiding being misquoted. Working with your videographer, or using our own, we run practice interviews in front of the camera, giving each participant more confidence as they learn how to focus on what they want to get across (and what they don't).
This workshop is in-person only - groups of up to 8.

Building upon Communication Essentials, we help you develop clear, fast, effective engagement with policy-makers or potential funders. It includes key elements from Essentials, but has very different narrative arcs and needs. We learn to quickly address the needs of officials and investors: presenting evidence; being remembered; defining expertise; being aware of policy windows and electorate or funders social values; and including a clear 'Ask'. The workshop concludes with a 'real world' policy-maker briefing or funder pitching that hones skills, share feedback and boosts self-belief .
Can be delivered in person or via Zoom sessions - for cohorts of up to 12.

Video Creation

Conferences: they don't happen often and when they do they're costly. We share how to make the most of these events: 1. Speaker Skills: the dos and don'ts of your opportunity in the spotlight (and fielding tricky questions). 2. Better PowerPoints: often badly-used, under-used or overly relied on; but there's a better way. 3. Poster Sessions: effective designs, attracting others to your poster and developing meaningful engagements. 4. Effective Networking: how to get what you actually want and need from those uncomfortable icebreakers, introductions and networking sessions.
Can be delivered in person or via Zoom sessions - for cohorts of up to 30.

Better Conferences
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What do we recommend?

BEST GENERAL COURSE:

Our foundational, most popular and most acclaimed workshop - the principles learnt here really change the way participants think

Communication Essentials

BEST SPECIALISED COURSE:

Press & Media or Policy-makers & Funders

Whether it's keeping 'on message', being clear and concise, or helping ensure that your work gets noticed, these two hit the mark

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  • Communicate with colleagues?

  • Give better presentations?

  • Improve funding bids?

  • Create social media posts?

  • Ensure your work is recognised?

  • Reach diverse public audiences?

  • Convince decision-makers?

  • Engage with the press & media?

Social Science

Our training has 'values' at its foundation. Each of our personal set of values - the underlying motivators that cause us, often unconsciously, to take decisions and make choices - can make it difficult for us to relate, or listen to, people with strongly differing values.

The Theory of Basic Human Values is a theory of cross-cultural psychology and universal values developed by Shalom H. Schwartz, derived by people conducting a self-assessment survey of 57 questions. Participants are each likely to pick a wide range of values that are most important to them, however, in broad terms, their most important values can cluster around certain themes, ideas and words. People's values can change in their lifetime but always form an ordered system of priorities that characterise them as individuals.

We believe that working with this is the key both to communicating, but also to being understood.

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Looking for customised workshops, webinars or courses?

We regularly tailor content, durations, and delivery formats to meet the diverse needs of our clients.