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Master your Story
Master your Stage
Executive communication coaching for founders, entrepreneurs, keynote speakers, and senior executives. Talk to me about what you're walking into and I'll tell you how Stage Intelligence Coaching gets you ready for it.
Founded by Richard Ford — Life is a Speech
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Master your Story
Master your Stage
Communication Coach ◆ Award-Winning Speech Writer ◆ Public Speaking TEDx Advisor.
With 20 years of corporate experience, there is a reason senior leaders at Vodafone, Microsoft, the BBC, and local Governments trust me to craft their story, sharpen delivery, and make it land when the stakes are highest.
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Master your Story
Master your Stage
Communication Coach ◆ Award-Winning Speech Writer ◆ Public Speaking TEDx Advisor.
With 20 years of corporate experience, there is a reason senior leaders at Vodafone, Microsoft, the BBC, and local Governments trust me to craft their story, sharpen delivery, and make it land when the stakes are highest.
Master your Story
Master your Stage
Communication Coach ◆ Award-Winning Speech Writer ◆
Public Speaking TEDx Advisor.
With 20 years of corporate experience, there is a reason senior leaders at Vodafone, Microsoft, the BBC, and local Governments trust me to craft their story, sharpen delivery, and make it land when the stakes are highest.
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TRUSTED BY LEADERS FROM
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You have the substance.
Does the room ever get it?
WHAT WE DO
Every leader I work with is about to be watched - a keynote, a board update, an investor room, a camera. What happens in that short space of time often outlasts it by years. My job is to make sure it holds.
Three parts, one discipline.
Introducing Stage Intelligence Coaching.
who i work with
Craft it. Deliver it. Land it.
Three parts, one discipline. A strong story badly delivered still fails. A great delivery with a weak story is just performance. Work with me and we do all three - together.
01
Craft it.
We find what's actually worth saying - the narrative inside your expertise, your data, your track record.
Then I use my years of speech writing experience and award winning
craft to write it.
02
Deliver it.
Voice, pace, physical presence - trained the way performers train, not with generic tips.
Real tools and techniques so you can make people lean in rather
than switch off.
03
Land it.
The composure to read the room in real time and hold
command regardless.
I make sure you win the room and their hearts and minds. So you leave there with what you set out to do.
For Founders & Entrepreneurs
Shape and Scale your Story with purpose
A founder story written end-to-end, an elevator pitch, a pitch-deck narrative, delivery coaching before the room.
For High-Stakes SPEECHES
One stage. One shot. Make sure it hits
A keynote written from scratch, a TEDx talk shaped and rehearsed, slide design that supports the argument, delivery coaching.
For Executives, SENIOR LEADERS
You're senior, but are you heard?
A board update rebuilt, presence and delivery coaching, ongoing coaching around your calendar of moments.
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about richard
Twenty years in the room.
Both sides of it.
I've spent my career inside the rooms I now coach people to walk into. I started at Autotrader, then led operations at Cable & Wireless before we sold to Vodafone.
I went on to drive supplier investment at Vodafone and Syngenta, and to lead communications at JD Sports. All of it led to founding Life Is A Speech -
A coaching practice built on everything that career taught me.
But I didn't start out able to hold a room. I started out terrified of one -
over-rehearsed, anxious, and certain I'd be found out.
So I went and learned the thing nobody teaches executives.
I trained as a performer. Drama. Stand-up. Scriptwriting. Improv. Rooms with no
slide deck to hide behind, where if you don't hold attention you know immediately
- out loud, in real time. That's where I learned what commanding a room actually
means, rather than just being technically right in it.
That combination is Stage Intelligence Coaching, and it's what every engagement is built on.
The foundations
Boardroom. Stage. Coaching room.
Stage Intelligence Coaching sits where those three worlds meet — the pressure of
corporate rooms, the craft of live performance, and the discipline of coaching
someone through the moment that matters.
◆
Corporate
Built in the Boardroom
Twenty years inside the rooms leaders walk into - ops, investment, and communications at scale.
◆ Head of Supplier & Comms
JD Sports Fashion plc
◆ Senior Global Strategist
Syngenta Group
◆ Director of Communications
Positive Start Ltd
◆ Global Supplier Manager
Vodafone
◆ Green Belt Lean Six Sigma
100% Effective Ltd
Creative
Shaped on Stage
◆ BA Degree in Communication
Lancaster University
◆ BA Degree in Drama
Lancaster University
◆ Improvisation Training
Improv North & ImprovQuo
◆ Stand-up comedy
Performed clubs across the UK
◆ Award-winning writer
BCG Pro, Screen to Seen
Coaching
Proven in Practice
◆ ILM Level 7 Coaching
Institute of Leadership
◆ CPD Accredited Coach
CPD
◆ Coaching consultant
Baldur Talking Therapies
◆ Founder
Life is a Speech Ltd
◆ Training & Development Coach
Unity Leadership Solutions
◆
THE case study
From Fear to TEDx Stage.
Lucy was invisible in her own company. She'd rebuilt a failing £50M division from the ground up, pivoted the entire strategy, kept the team intact through chaos, and landed three contracts nobody thought were possible.
But in front of the board, she didn't have a story. They saw a nervous executive reading slides. They had no idea what she'd actually done and she struggled to explain her work and
land her points either in meetings or in the boardroom.
The Discovery
Lucy didn't have a confidence problem. She had a story problem.
The turnaround was in there.
She just wasn't telling it as one.
We worked through
Stage Intelligence Coaching in sequence. We found the narrative inside her results. Voice, pace, and physical presence, rehearsed the way performers rehearse.
Finally reading the room in real time, holding composure when a question comes in sideways, and staying in command when the plan changes.
The Transformation
"Richard didn't just give me tools. He helped me see the story underneath my own results, and gave me the confidence to own it in the room.
Listening really helped, and trying this out in a safe environment meant I went from feeling scattered to speaking with authority."
The Results
Eighteen months later, she stood on a TEDx stage and told that story to 2,000 people.
She got the promotion she'd already earned. The work never changed. What changed was whether the room could see it.
She started taking the first slot in the meeting instead of the last. When the hard question came, she answered it rather than deferring to someone more senior in the room.
How I HelP
Three ways to work together.
Choose the engagement that matches your moment.
Let's craft it, deliver it and land it
◆
FOR FOUNDERS & ENTREPRENEURs
A vision. A mission. A story to sell.
Where does your story actually live? Not in one place. It's on the pitch deck, the website, LinkedIn, the investor update - and it has to hold up in all of them without sounding like five different people wrote it. And if you've already had AI draft your bio or your pitch, you know the feeling - technically fine, forgettable within a minute.
Most founders solve this by hiring three different people: a copywriter, a PR agency, a personal brand consultant. But each one only solves a third of the problem.
A founder story rebuilt from the ground up, not polished on the surface. Delivery rehearsed until it holds up under a real investor's question, not just a friendly run-through. One message that works on the deck, the site, and LinkedIn - without sounding like it was written three separate times.
I use the same method with every client - Stage Intelligence Coaching - applied here in three moves: the story sharpened so it survives real scrutiny, the authority to be believed rather than just heard, and the presence to make it live in the room, not just on the page.
Every engagement starts with a conversation.
◆
FOR KEYNOTES & HIGH-STAKES speeches
You need to wow the room.
A keynote has one performance and no second take. There's a date in your calendar, a room that's already been sold on you, and no version of the day where you get to try again. Most people prepare for it by writing more. And if you've already had AI draft something, you've probably felt the gap - leaving you with "ok-ish" when you want "outstanding."
I've crafted the words, conquered the delivery, and created the deck for hundreds of keynotes and TEDx talks. Using the same method regardless of the room: Stage Intelligence Coaching.
Three moves:
The speech - We sharpen your strategy. Understand what you want the room to walk away believing, then strip everything that doesn't serve.
Dynamics - Amplify your authority. Your voice, pace, body language, physical presence, trained the way performers train.
The slides - Project your presence. Build them to support the argument rather than carry it.
By the time you're on stage, the words, the body language, and the deck are one thing, not three separately assembled parts - and nothing about the moment should feel like the first time.
Every engagement starts with a conversation.
◆
FOR EXECUTIVES, SENIOR LEADERS AND C-SUITE
Amplify your Authority.
It was never the material. You know the numbers, the strategy, the answer to the hard question. What changes at this level is the room - the scrutiny, the stakes, how fast a bad ninety seconds undoes months of good work. You need someone who understands the overall package.
I've worked inside FTSE boardrooms and coached leaders with hundreds of high-stakes moments, using the same method regardless of the room: Stage Intelligence Coaching.
Three things we sharpen:
Not your strategy - you already have that. We sharpen how it survives contact with any conflict.
Not your title - you already have that too. What we build is the authority the room actually grants you, in real time.
What we project is the presence to hold a room that's already decided to be difficult
.
This isn't a one-off media training refresher. This is ongoing work, matched to your calendar of moments - not a single fix.
Every engagement starts with a conversation.
◆
Choose your room
FOUNDERS & ENTREPRENEURS
The Launch Room
We shape the story. Your mixed messages live on the decks, the website, and LinkedIn. We build your and then rehearse it live
before it counts.
✓ A founding story that holds up under real scrutiny.
✓ The ability to flex your message across any room.
✓ Refining your vision, elevator pitch, your mission statement.
✓ Training on voice, body language and wording before it counts.
KEYNOTES & HIGH-STAKES SPEECHES
The Performance Room
We project your presence. The direction, the delivery, the deck. Deliver you talk - designed to win the room, and walk out with the commitment you came for.
✓ Speech written and structured from scratch.
✓ Delivery coached - voice, pace, body language.
✓ Slide design, structure and visual support.
✓ Tools and techniques on how to deliver success and influence people.
EXECUTIVES, SENIOR LEADERS
The Command Room
We amplify your authority. How you're read, how you deliver, and then hold the room. So you leave the room with the respect and results you need.
✓ How you're currently read, assessed honestly.
✓ Delivery coached - voice, pace, body language, composure.
✓ Board and stakeholder communication, sharpened.
✓ Ongoing coaching, built around your actual calendar.
our engagemenT
How we work.
Choose the engagement that matches your moment.
Let's craft it, deliver it and land it.
01
discovery
We talk about your situation
A paid 30-minute consultation to understand the moment, what's at stake, when you need to deliver and where the story is getting stuck.
02
development
We sharpen the story
I find the narrative inside what you already know - your track record, your data, your theme - and build it so it wins minds and holds up to scrutiny.
03
dynamics
We project your presence
Voice, pace, physical presence, rehearsed the way performers rehearse, until it's not a performance anymore. It becomes second nature.
04
delivery
We land the result
You walk in with the story, the delivery, and the composure to hold it when the moment doesn't go to plan. Crafted, delivered and landed for you.
◆
Outcomes.
You end up with a story that leads with what's hardest to argue with, and a
delivery that holds up when the room pushes back. The goal isn't a better script.
It's a room that believes you.
◆
Common Questions.
◆ How much does this cost?
It depends on the shape of the engagement - a single keynote, a founder story, or ongoing coaching are three different scopes. We agree the exact fee in the first consultation.
The 30-minute consultation itself is $125.
◆ Do you write the material, or just coach the delivery?
Both, as one job. Most people come to me because the story isn't landing, not just the delivery -
so I build the narrative and coach the performance together, not separately.
◆ How long does an engagement take?
A single keynote or founder story is usually shaped over a few weeks. Ongoing executive coaching runs to your calendar of moments, not a fixed end date. We agree the timeline on the first call.
◆ Can you work with something I've already written?
Yes. Plenty of people come with a draft, a deck, or a speech that isn't landing - rebuilding from
what you have is often faster than starting from nothing.
Every engagement starts with a conversation.
for organisations
Equip your leadership team to communicate at the level the moment demands.
Bespoke workshops, keynotes and facilitation for organisations investing in the communication capability of their senior leaders.
Keynote Speaking Coaching
High-impact keynotes on executive communication, presence, and leading through high-stakes moments. Delivered for boards, conferences & leadership worldwide.
BEST FOR
◆ Annual leadership conferences
◆ Board retreats
◆ Industry summit feedback
Leadership Team Workshops
Half-day or full-day intensives for senior leadership teams.
Live practice, real materials, immediate application. Bespoke to your organisation's challenges.
BEST FOR
◆ C-suite teams
◆ Board directors
◆ Senior partner groups
Facilitation &
Advisory
Strategic facilitation for senior offsites, board meetings, town halls and transformation moments. I help your leaders communicate when the stakes are highest.
BEST FOR
◆ Town halls and AGMs
◆ M&A and change comms
◆ Crisis communications
Trusted by Microsoft, NHS, BBC, JDRF, Vodafone and more.
THe evidence
Two independent studies. One consistent finding.
-
Poor communication costs UK businesses £28.5 billion a year.
-
Almost none of it is a content problem.
Inefficient communication costs UK businesses an average of £7,675 per employee every year - more than a third of the average UK office worker's salary.
The failure is almost never the argument. It's the ninety seconds before anyone hears it.
Sources: Mitel/Vanson Bourne UK workplace productivity study; ACAS
MY track record
1700+
People
Coached
670+
Testimonials
Earned
40+
Countries
Worldwide
MY TESTIMONIALS
Trusted by people who can't afford to be forgettable.
With 20 years of corporate expertise, there is a reason senior leaders at Vodafone, Microsoft, and the BBC trust me to eliminate
communication anxiety, build high-stakes executive presence, and drive measurable business success.
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“I'm so glad I hired Richard for my Executive Coaching.”
Dr. Sandra Handlbauer-Zrust
CEO and Founder at Aspirant
My Berlin keynote on menopause was built on years of clinical practice, research and lived experience. Richard helped me find the sharpest, most human way to say what I already knew.
He understood, then helped me strip away everything that stood me and the audience. The keynote landed.
If you want to actually move people, work with Richard.
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“Promoted & recognised in just a couple of months."
Andreas M
Financial Director at Microsoft
Richard has completely changed the way I speak and approach things now.
From the moment we started working together, he made me feel at ease, and gave the tools to command the room.
I've been promoted and feel a large chunk of this is down to Richard.
Now, I can tackle more than spreadsheets!
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"His impact is always nothing short of incredible."
Sharon Underwood
Presenter and Entrepreneur
Not just great, fantastic! Richard was absolutely amazing in crafting our stories. He really got an understanding of what our vibe was.
His delivery helped the nerves and the speech was insightful a great balance of serious, fun, love and engaging.
We can not recommend Richard enough, and recommend him for speeches.
01
The boardroom feels different
Every word is scrutinised. Every pause is read. The communication skills that got you here aren't the ones that move the room now.
02
Your message gets diluted
You have the strategy. You have the data. But somehow it lands flat, your audience drifts, and the moment slips past.
03
The stakes keep rising
Investor pitches. Board updates. Town halls. Media interviews. The cost of getting it wrong has never been higher.
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the questions
Frequently Asked Questions.
Our standard premium timeline is 2 to 3 weeks, which allows for deep psychological audience mapping and narrative iteration. However, for urgent corporate scenarios, we offer a high-priority 72-hour turnaround service subject to availability.
We treat content and delivery as inseparable. Every speechwriting engagement includes targeted, psychology-led coaching designed to reduce performance anxiety, establish executive presence, and anchor your physical delivery.
High-impact storytelling is universal. We work extensively across technology, finance, venture capital, and creative industries, helping technical founders and senior executives translate complex data into compelling narrative hooks.
Absolutely. We maintain absolute discretion for all corporate leaders, political figures, and public speakers. Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are signed prior to any briefing or strategic discovery session.
Instead of relying on generic presentation templates, we engineer scripts based on cognitive load management and audience status dynamics. We structure your speech so that the room retains your core message within the first 5 seconds.
Yes. We conduct a detailed vocal rhythm analysis during our initial intake session. This ensures the cadence, idioms, and structural pacing feel natural to your personal speaking style rather than sounding overly scripted.
ready to begin?
Your next high-stakes moment
deserves more than the words
you've used before.
Every engagement starts with a 30-minute consultation. $125. No pitch,
no pressure - just a conversation about how you'll get results.