Public speaking coach Georgina KirkMy name is Georgina Kirk and I’m a freelance public speaking coach, based in Manchester (UK). I love this job and have been doing it – alongside other, related activities – for around a quarter of a century.

I’m fascinated by human communication, from both the linguistic and the psychological points of view, and have made it my mission in life to help people to express themselves and understand each other as successfully as possible.

I have a BA (Hons) degree in Italian & Russian and an MSc in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations, both from Manchester University. As an undergraduate, I was active in politics and cut my public-speaking teeth during heated debates at the students’ union.

After university, I worked in London, training corporate clients in the use of mainframe computer systems and, later, training up in-house trainers to take over from me. I then moved to Milan and spent a couple of happy years teaching English and presentation skills there.

To learn about psychology, I spent four years (part time) studying Transactional Analysis at the Manchester Institute for Psychotherapy. This began a transformation of my life and has given me no end of insights that I can pass on to my clients.

Another of my enthusiasms is magic. Over the past ten or fifteen years I’ve been performing more and more of it, both close-up and cabaret, and in June 2016, I’m proud to say, I became a member of The Magic Circle. The psychology behind creating impressions and illusions is amazingly transferable to public speaking.

A firm believer in both self-development and practising what I preach, I regularly push the boundaries of my comfort zone. I found training as a TV and radio presenter pretty nerve-racking (though it stood me in good stead when I was interviewed live on Sky News in the run-up to the 2015 general election) but my biggest challenges lie in the great outdoors. I’ve attended several courses in bushcraft and survival and have started wild-camping in Scotland as often and for as long as weather, stamina and other commitments permit.

As well as public speaking, I coach clients in other aspects of communication – business pitches, lecturing, training, interviews, meetings, debates, discussions. For more detail about this, please see my website Put Yourself Across.

Alongside coaching and training, I am a public speaker myself and a member of the Professional Speaking Association. For many years, this was about giving little talks and speeches here and there, and compèring magic shows, but more recently I have become what they call a motivational speaker. I currently have two motivational talks – Life Lessons from Public Speaking and How to Be Perfect… in your own way – which clients book me to deliver and which I also present to public audiences from time to time.

For help with your public speaking (or any of the above), contact me and let’s get you to where you want to be!