PRESENTATIONS TESTIMONIALS

Transformed my executive communication with Melanie’s techniques and honest approach

Prior to working with Melanie, I struggled to articulate my passion for our business with clarity, tone and pace, in a way that held my listeners’ attention, and landed my messages. I had difficulty with video presence and revealed nerves, many feel when on camera. By working with Melanie I have transformed my executive communication capability and style by implementing her powerful techniques to create impact, and improved my self-awareness. As a result, I am now a more reflective and self-directed communicator. She continues to push me out of my comfort zone, allowing me to increase my engagement and sharpen my messages so they are more relatable and land where they should with my teams. This has allowed me to give my team more informative updates and action steps, but with less descriptive words. For Leadership, my presentations have helped garner a new level of engagement and support for my team and customers. I absolutely love Melanie’s empathy, and her direct and honest approach.
— JJ Cantrell, President of the South region for UNFI. An EBITDA of $746 million, the largest publicly traded wholesale food distributor in USA

Make a bigger impact with clearer language and strong starts to engage your audience

As a global speaker (from Brazil to Australia), I worked with Melanie to hone my presentation skills and to take my English to a more advanced level with a focus on pronunciation. Together we explored her presentation steps including: communication goal, engaging starts and some powerful linguistic techniques. I immediately began to cascade these newly acquired techniques to my team, and even challenged my colleagues. Now, as result of Melanie’s coaching programme, I am able to make a bigger impact when I speak, with clearer language and an increased feeling of self-confidence!
— Christel Poncin, GLOBAL VP Category & Market Intelligence, Ontex - EUROPE

From nervous to captivating, vital for advancing my oncology research

In presentations before Leadership teams and at European conferences, my approach is now less formal, more at ease. Nervousness remains, yet confidence dominates, allowing freer expression of my views.
Melanie provided clarity into the presentation preparation process and how to approach it, helping me to elevate the quality of my presentations at every level with language, visuals and vocal techniques.
Currently, my speaking style is more captivating, eliciting positive spontaneous feedback. This empowers me to secure essential support and resources, vital for advancing my research projects on an international scale.
— PhD Biomarker oncology scientist for one of top 5 global pharmaceutical companies

Melanie transformed the team’s voices, visuals and messages: easily noticed internationally

At Ayming, our expert management team was strong and aligned. But we decided to take our Public Speaking skills to a new level to bring engaging and impactful messages to sell our ideas, both in Belgium and globally. With Melanie’s support, we learnt how to use our voices and bodies, our visuals and language to deliver clearer messages, and to be more authentic and passionate. And, as for many professionals, it was critical to reduce any stage fright to a more manageable feeling of discomfort by focusing on our content and delivery, and less on ourselves as individuals. The progress was huge and easily noticed at our annual strategy kick off and by our international colleagues during key events.
— Sara Arryn, HR Business Partner Ayming - BENELUX
Portrait of Sara Arryn, smiling woman with bangs and long hair.

Melanie is an expert coach, crucial in my international and intercultural environment

As an energy infrastructure group, Fluxys has rapidly evolved towards an important international player with operations in Europe and developing activities in South America and Southeast Asia.
This growth has had an important impact on my responsibilities as Global Director Human Resources, as effective communication in an international and intercultural environment is crucial.
As a business communication coach, Melanie has guided me and helped me to improve my various communication skills, which I can fully apply within the company and through my national and international contacts.
I highly appreciate Melanie’s expertise in her field and her ability to convey this as a coach.
— GLOBAL Director Human Resources, Fluxys - BELGIUM

Love the AI speech coaching app. Perfect course, perfect timing for my career

Portrait of Davide Ziveri, smiling man with glasses and beard in denim shirt.
What an amazing course! It’s clear and well structured. Before the course, I lacked assertiveness and energy, crucial when you want to make a global impact on such a crucial topic as climate change. But I now feel more confident, confirmed when I did an in person presentation with 30 people and I didn’t feel any anxiety or an online one with 80 participants from 20 countries and I loved to meet them. I also love the AI app which I’ve used about 20 times, recording in private and reviewing the AI analytics: my top key words and delivery. I believe my messages and slides are now stronger and clearer. And after just six weeks, participants began to remark on the power of my content and how this touched them. And I have been invited to participate in more external meetings to share my innovative ideas. Of course, it’s a process - I’m still learning, practising and enjoying! This was a perfect course for me: I already worked hard on my expertise in this complex content, but without effective sharing, I missed too many opportunities for my career. Perfect timing.
— Dr Davide Ziveri, Global Environmental Specialist and Planetary Health passionate advocate, Humanity & Inclusion - GLOBAL NGO

Mastering Visual Storytelling: My Journey with ‘Think Visually’

Before taking the ‘Think Visually’ course, I struggled to simplify complex slides and create smooth transitions that captured my audience’s attention without feeling gimmicky. Now, thanks to Melanie’s ‘Top 10 Starter Tips,’ my verbal messages translate effortlessly into impactful visual presentations. The feedback I received at a recent conference highlighted improved memory recall of my key points.
I’m especially excited to get more creative with colour coding from TIP 4 - ‘Creating Continuity & Coherence’ for my upcoming presentation, “Who Decides What We Eat, When We Eat, and Why?”
The ‘Think Visually: Top 10 Starter Tips’ course has made me more articulate, concise, and confident in enjoying the creative process.
Just imagine what it could do for you!
— Belinda Fettke, Nutrition Researcher, Tasmania, Australia

Improved worldwide training with a stronger voice and clearer messages

I provide CRM training worldwide and after just five sessions with Melanie, I believe I already convey my messages better. As a result my learners have more trust in the new tool, rapidly improving our change management goal. And on a personal level I feel more confident, my voice is no longer strained and I am able to contribute more to my organisation. Thank you for all the great tips you shared with me. I so valued the time we spent together.
— Emeline Picard, Training Consultant, Cream Consulting - BELGIUM
Portrait of Emiline Picard, smiling woman with long hair, in circular frame.

Engaging slides to help convey my messages. Stress has gone!

Portrait of Meriem Afif, smiling woman with long hair, resting on hand.
Melanie’s coaching used to be the highlight of my week! Great work on my voice and body, language etc. And she transformed my slides to be more engaging to help convey the messages I want to share. After only our third session, I felt at ease for the first time presenting in front of a larger group. The stress had gone and I was even able to improvise. It felt really good. And as a result I am now asked to give more and more presentations. What honesty! What passion! And what valuable advice! Thank you so much.
— Meriem Afif, Inside Channel Manager, Milestone - BENELUX

 Improved the delivery of my company presentation to potential clients

As a solo entrepreneur, I worked with Melanie to improve my presentation delivery of my own company to potential European and American clients. We focused on powerful language, slide content and record and review techniques to push my skills to another level. She is a must have coach that loves to assist you in improving your presentation skills. And as a result, I feel that I am more confident in my presentations. Definitely a very talented and experienced person. Thank you Melanie. This was greatly appreciated.
— Solo entrepeneur, Istanbul - TURKEY

Key enabler to successfully present digital European brain research infrastructure

Ebrains logo with green circle and white lines through it.
Melanie helped a small team of neuroscientists to present our digital pan-European research infrastructure at a very important meeting by working on each individual’s persuasive language and voice. EBRAINS’ mission is to be a major enabler to advance brain research covering different areas such as neuroscience, brain health and brain-inspired technology. EBRAINS also aims to contribute to significant scientific progress and innovation for the benefit of patients, industry and society as whole. Melanie’s contribution to the amazing presentation performance was of great essence and we are very grateful.
— France Nivelle, Chief Communications Office, EBRAINS - EUROPE


FOUR IMPACTFUL WORKSHOPS

 

1a. THINK VISUALLY: SLIDE DESIGN - TOP 10 STARTER TIPS


 

Return on Investment from Day One

Mindset shift for many colleagues understanding that the visual support is equally as important as the pitch preparation.
Learnt key tips & tricks to convey compelling messages with a valuable checklist as a reminder.
— HR Partner & Marketing Manager, Colliers, Belgium
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Boom! Make an impact!

‘Use colour to keep the attention’ ‘Make it simpler and easier for your audience to understand your message’ ‘Think before you start.’ ‘Bigger is better’ ‘A new way to create presentations with an impact on the audience by highlighting
— Colliers Commercial Real Estate Belgium
 

1b. THINK VISUALLY: SLIDE DESIGN - 7 STEPS with an ‘INCLUDE STEP’ for reaching a diverse audience


Elevated the teams’ slides with message-driven titles for stronger impact

Portrait of Tifanie Alves, smiling woman with cityscape background in blue jacket.
Our ‘Think visually: 7 Steps’ workshop with Melanie was designed to include Bongo’s core values and brand identity. Useful and impactful for the whole team. My personal key takeaway was the power of changing the slide title to one that is message driven. Quick and simple, yet highly effective.
— Tifanie Alves - Marketing Manager, Bongo - BENELUX
 

Inspiring workshop! Learnt how to make my message land and captivate our audience!

A slide deck is like a film with acts and characters. Thrilling! Take your time and experiment. Get creative. Present concepts, not only data. Not your average workshop where you learn to add a picture. Fun! Very well presented. Very emotional. Like Melanie’s passionate way of storytelling. Learnt how to make messages land. Very interesting. Planning, planning, planning. I liked the storytelling part. Captivating and that is what we want to give our audience. Theory mixed with short, interesting exercises. Dynamic and inspiring!
— Smartbox management team - BENELUX
 

Impactful messages and engaging Visual Storytelling

 
 
Green and white Bongo logo.
After Melanie’s ‘Think Visually’ workshop, our European Development Director remarked, “WOW! There’s a notable improvement in your visuals. Your messages are now much clearer”. Later in our individual coaching session, I learnt how to effectively connect messages with my team’s story and accomplishments, how to emphasise data for clarity and cohesion, how to be more deliberate with colour selection (it’s not just about pretty slides!) and how to create engaging presentations using animation. It was a revelation moment! Now, whenever I design a slide, I ask myself “Does this truly convey my message? How can I enhance the impact with this visual?
— Maria Salinas Sanchez - Country Partner Account Development manager, Bongo - BENELUX & SWITZERLAND

2. POWERFUL COMMUNICATION USING THE VOICE & BODY

 
 

3. STRONG STARTS & POWERFUL ENDS AT EXECUTIVE LEVEL

 

How to keep audiences engaged & inspired

 
3 hours of powerful content & activities at our online Leadership Conference from Mexico to Malaysia.
Simple & effective tools to improve our communication & keep audiences engaged and inspired.
Insightful!
— Cristina Burduniuc, Director Group Finance, Hyva, NETHERLANDS
 

4. TAILOR-MADE LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION TO SUIT ORGANISATION’S NEEDS

 
Group outdoors photo of participants who attended a public speaking workshop.
 

Team Retreat

Strengthen team bonds and improve communication with hands-on, interactive training that makes a lasting impact.

Insurance company at the Radisson Blu, Golden Sands, MALTA

 
Melanie, executive communication coach, leading persuasive presentation workshop.

BUSINESS ENGLISH TESTIMONIALS

From hesitant to confident when negotiating across borders

I took a communication programme with Melanie to refine my Business English and help me to feel more self-confident, and improve my accent. First, we worked on advanced word stress, paying attention to business vocabulary, tricky silent letters and the uh, Schwa sound. Next, we celebrated my clear consonant and vowel sounds (great for a French speaker!) and the myths of needing a ‘perfect accent’. During these sessions, I discovered the importance of good articulation and slowing down to provide more clarity and engagement, especially with Partners from other countries. I also learnt fun ways to improve my professional networking vocabulary with useful tools, apps and books for continuous, autonomous learning, and powerful linguistic techniques to make simple language do great things. After only a few sessions, I had the impression that my English was already improving which was really nice and very motivating. Melanie’s flexibility and willingness to adapt to my needs were highly appreciated. As a result of our work together, my pronunciation is clearer and my listening skills have improved due to my vocabulary work. This is important when negotiating with clients across borders. And lastly, I’m feeling more comfortable and excited about my additional communication techniques.
— Partner, British international law firm, Brussels - BELGIUM

A pragmatic approach tailored to HR in a world-class pharma environment

Portrait of Virginie Verhulst, smiling woman with short hair in striped shirt and blazer.
Melanie is very helpful & enthusiastic. She gradually helped me to build back my confidence to speak English again. She adopts a very pragmatic approach, starting with understanding my job and therefore identified my real needs to perform my Human Resources job in an English speaking environment in a world class pharmaceutical company. She then designed practical exercises like interviews, and appraisals so I could focus on my core HR competencies. I endorse her professional way of teaching.
— Virginie Verhulst, Senior HR Consultant, Verhulst Consulting - FRANCE
 

Feel extremely confident to share my valuable work with corporates

Melanie assessed and helped me to celebrate my current English language level, C2 Mastery: able to communicate with the fluency and sophistication of a highly competent English speaker. She then ‘allowed’ me to be proud of my pronunciation/my accent and gave me tips to help my audience with my voice, the clarity of my message and how to record and review autonomously. As a result, I now feel extremely confident about my ability to Coach and share my valuable work with individuals and corporates without hesitation. Melanie’s listening skills are exceptional and she has the ability to identify your communication needs quickly and suggest improvements and new techniques in the most honest way.
— Ashrefunisa Shaik, EMCC coaching and Educational Specialist, Tournai - BELGIUM
Portrait of Ashrefusina Shaik, woman with curly hair and red earrings.
 

Highly recommend: Melanie’s adaptability for group coaching is unparalleled 

Melanie is really a passionate teacher. She succeeded in identifying the different levels of the group and adapted accordingly. We all learned a lot during this intensive, but fun week. I highly recommend Melanie.
— Matthieu Costes, Microsoft Software Consultant, GSK - BELGIUM
 

Melanie is always full of empowering moments

Melanie is a very special teacher. She can be innocent and curious like a child, deeply happy like a dog on a walk in the woods, giddy like an explorer who has found hidden treasure, or content and complete like a grandma sitting in her rocking chair recounting stories of her remarkable life. Melanie is an amazing person. She is very clear during her teaching and always full of empowerment! She loves her job and it was a great pleasure to be her ‘student’.
— Catherine Poissonnier, Owner, Improve Coaching & Training, Gent - BELGIUM
 

Keep your audience awake and hooked

Portrait of Vianney, Ogilvy employee, smiling with arms crossed in white shirt.
Melanie is very focused on your professional activity & improvement axes, especially for business presentations / conferences / public speaking. Not only from a language perspective, but also the way you structure your speech, and tons of tips to keep your audience awake and hooked. Was really helpful! An excellent coach and a lovely person.
— Vianney Poncelet, Social Media Strategist, Ogilvy & Social Lab - BELGIUM
 

Melanie’s course: the pinnacle of efficient learning

I had a 30 hour course with Melanie. Besides being an excellent and top class teacher, Melanie is a very motivated and flexible person. I highly recommend her if you wish to improve your English very efficiently in a short period of time.
— Bastien De Spiegelaere, Manager, Sibelga - BELGIUM
Portrait of Bastien de Spiegelaere, smiling man in suit and tie.
 

Celebrated my German accent! Able to communicate with more finesse and convey my true personality

As a private equity professional, I worked with Melanie to take my English to a more advanced level. Since I communicate with investors, entrepreneurs and businesses across Europe and America, I requested a special focus on pronunciation. She immediately assessed my different language competencies and I discovered that I spoke clear and intelligible English, so we celebrated my German accent! Indeed, part of my background, culture, and identity. As a result of Melanie’s coaching programme, I feel more comfortable and confident when speaking, with an improvement in my fluency. I am also equipped with tools to continue my journey of broadening my vocabulary and expressions in order to communicate with more finesse and convey my true personality.
— Private Equity professional, Frankfurt - GERMANY