Certificate in Executive Voice Coaching and Communication

This opening session explores presence as an embodied, relational and communicative quality rather than a fixed personality trait. Participants will consider how presence is perceived by listeners, how it is shaped by voice, alignment, attention, intention and context. We will discuss practical strategies for how voice coaches can help executive clients develop presence that feels authentic, credible and appropriate to their professional setting.

We will cover:

• Definitions of presence in executive, coaching and performance contexts.
• The relationship between vocal presence, attention, status, authenticity and listener trust.
• How presence is communicated through breath, pace, tone, pause, and physical availability.
• Practical task: observing and describing different kinds of presence.
• Reflection task: identify one client context where presence is central to communication success.

This session examines what voice coaches and executive clients often mean when they describe someone as ‘grounded’. Participants will explore grounding as a practical state of physicality, breath availability, nervous system regulation and attentional steadiness, rather than simply a visual posture or performance style.

We will cover:

• Grounding as a relationship between breath, body, attention, space and intention.
• Breathwork for regulation, readiness and voice in high-pressure communication.
• Somatic practices including body scanning, weight awareness, orientation, alignment and release of unnecessary effort.
• Coaching language that helps clients feel grounded without becoming static, heavy or over-controlled.
• Practical task: trying out some grounding strategies.
• Reflection task: what does grounding mean for you? How does it show up for your clients?

This session focuses on helping speakers move beyond reading or delivering text towards communicating meaning. Participants will explore how clarity, structure, emphasis, pace, pause and vocal colour can bring spoken material to life while maintaining professionalism, accuracy and connection with the audience.

We will cover:

• What makes spoken text clear, engaging and easy to follow.
• Phrasing, emphasis and pause to reveal thought and intention.
• Balancing preparation with spontaneity so the text sounds alive rather than rehearsed.
• Adapting performance-based text work for executive contexts such as presentations, keynote talks, panels and board updates.
• Practical task: mark up a short professional text for sense, emphasis, and vocal colour.
• Reflection task: prepare a short extract to submit as part of your final assessment.

This session brings together the voice, body and text work to consider how speakers communicate confidence, empathy and authority in executive settings. Participants will explore how these qualities can coexist.

We will cover:

• Vocal and physical cues associated with confidence, empathy and authority.
• How pace, pitch range, pause, articulation, volume and tone affect listener perception.
• Coaching clients to adapt their communication style for different audiences, contexts and stakes.
• Practical task: try out some playful vocal strategies.
• Reflection task: reflecting on your own coaching communication style.

This session focuses on planning practical sessions for different kinds of clients and their needs. It considers different kinds of feedback we can offer clients and how to frame feedback supportively and in a way that really embeds learning. We will discuss ideas for goal-setting support, intervention design, and ethical and professional boundaries.

We will cover:

• Building a client profile
• Goal setting
• Session planning according to the needs of the client
• Designing interventions for common challenges
• How to offer feedback to support learning
• Considering ethical and professional boundaries
• Closing reflection: final reflections on the week and what you have learned.