Speeches Workshops

A communications campaign offers four critical opportunities to connect with a target audience. Fail to connect at any one of these four points and you may lose your audience entirely.

The Unique Power of Compelling Stories

Learn how the singular tool of storytelling can motivate your audiences and advance your cause. Learn also the elements of good story -- whether in a Hollywood screenplay or a one-to-one conversation, and how to build a storytelling culture within your organization. Finally, develop your ability to tell the compelling human stories that bring data, values and policies to life.

Why Bad Presentations Happen To Good Causes

This presentation draws on Andy Goodman’s unique survey of over 2500 full-time staff at non-profits, foundations and public agencies. Although generally geared to the needs of public interest presenters, this speech offers valuable tools and lessons for anyone who makes presentations on any subject to any audience of any size.

II. WORKSHOPS

These can be customized or expanded to meet specialized client needs.

Workshop: Storytelling as Best Practice (3 hours +)

Participants come prepared with 2-3 stories they could use to help accomplish a work goal. During the first hour, I make the case for storytelling and share the elements of a good story. Then the real fun begins! Participants spend the second hour writing their own stories, while I offer non-stop, one-on-one coaching and share highlights with the group. In the third hour, volunteers share their stories with the group and receive feedback from me and from their peers.

Workshop: Why Bad Presentations Happen To Good Causes (3 hours +)

Participants are invited to submit a few minutes of a PowerPoint presentation. After sharing Why Bad Presentations Happen To Good Causes, I offer personalized feedback on individual submissions. Participants spend the second hour redesigning and rewriting their presentations, while I offer non-stop, one-on-one coaching and sharing highlights with the group. In the third hour, volunteers share their presentations with the group, and receive feedback from their peers and from me. Coaching can emphasize particular aspects of successful presentations, such as design and structure, and successful use of PowerPoint, or performance and delivery.

Workshop: Dramatically Better Meetings (90 minutes)

What is the quickest way to increase your organization’s effectiveness? Improve your meetings! Dramatically Better Meetings is an interactive, hands-on workshop that uses humor to change the way people think about meetings. It has already helped public interest groups, businesses, and schools get more out of every meeting.

Workshop: Message and Media Mastery (choose the length)

This interactive workshop offers information and exercises to help you: 1) figure out, clarify and express what you, your department, or your company/organization really want and need to say, 2) communicate effectively in a variety of situations and media, including print, radio, and television.

III. Specialized Consulting: Writing, Editing, Messaging, etc.

I am open to consider a range of ways to work together. If you have any questions about your vision, your mission, your message, your core stories, etc. or how to best express or deliver any of these – let’s talk. We can create together an approach to my consulting or collaborating that will work for your particular needs and resources.

Here are a few possibilities.

Some clients send me stories after the workshop for additional feedback and improvement. Others have realized that, in addition to building their staff skills, they could benefit from my assistance in producing a specific communications tool or product. In such cases, I might work with them to “perfect” one or a few of their stories; going beyond feedback to editing or even doing the actual writing for the client.

Others realize that the single most important communications task before them is to craft their essential message. I can work with key staff to develop your message, your overall narrative, as well as a number of stories with which to express it.

If you wish to pull together a number of stories that represent your values and history, as well as individual client and staff successes, I can work with

you as an editor.

SPEAKING & TRAINING RECOMMENDATIONS

Terrence is both erudite and entertaining, savvy and approachable. His enthusiasm as a first-rate story teller is infectious, elevating the most ordinary tales to extraordinary compositions. Terry’s workshop inspires hope and optimism for social change agents, and learning to tell your story well is the bedrock of moving an organization to the next level of public recognition. Practical, upbeat and supportive with a sense of fun. Terry is a master of his craft.

-- Judith Stavisky, Friends of the Children; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Terrence McNally's "Becoming A Better Storyteller" workshop was spectacular! Storytelling is a critical skill that every activist should hone and become comfortable doing, and this workshop helps you uncover your inner storyteller, understand why it is important, and most importantly how to do it effectively. Terrence's wealth of knowledge, sense of humor and wonderful presentation style made this one of the most popular sessions in the history of our annual conference.

-- Curt Coffing, State Environmental Leadership Program

Terrence is dynamite. As a speaker he is in a class by himself. He is the consummate professional presenter. He worked diligently and creatively with the session planner, spending hours in background preparation - researching both by interview and lit review for our workshop. He made examples and comments about story telling relevant to our audience of 5 A Day coordinators and public health nutritionists. He received the highest speaker's rating and our session was referred to throughout the rest of the conference. I would work with him again in a minute and highly recommend him.

-- Kathy Cobb, National 5aDay Coordinators /NIH/NCI

Terrence McNally's Storytelling workshop made an excellent contribution to our conference. He did his homework, learning a great deal about our project well in advance of the workshop. He then worked with us to create a learning experience tailored to our needs -- even doing preparation work with our audience. His extra efforts enabled us to make the best use of our time and produced a session unique to our group.

-- Betta Owens, Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment

The storytelling workshop was one of the best sessions I have attended at any environmental conference. As a result, one or two staff at MCEA are writing and reading a story at our weekly staff meetings and we are putting them in our story bank. It has been a great way to learn about each other's work and some interesting history.

-- Martha Brand, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy

CONSULTING RECOMMENDATIONS

Terrence handled a complex institutional issue – one with both internal and external elements – with sensitivity, optimism, and creativity, and he did so in a manner that ultimately generated the support and buy-in of everyone involved. He demonstrated an extraordinary ability as a facilitator – energetic, articulate, humorous, and supportive – and led two days of exhaustive and exhausting meetings that resulted in an action plan that was promptly approved and funded by NRDC management. The plan has since been implemented successfully, resulting already in significant benefits to NRDC and potential ultimately even to exceed our original goals.

-- Joel Reynolds, Senior Director, Natural Resources Defense Council

Since the Retreat the Board members and the new Executive Director are more fired up, more committed and more determined to achieve our goals than at any other time since I’ve been involved in the organization. I credit the experience Terrence created for us as being the reason why.

-- Robert Israel, Board Director, A Place Called Home

We now have a powerhouse Board that is working with us for more positive results. I’m not sure how this retreat would have gone without your initiative, guidance, perception, vision and follow-through. But, I do know that with you, my dream of an interactive Board of Directors came true!

-- Thyonne Gordon, Executive Director, A Place Called Home

Terrence demonstrates particular excellence as a facilitator – articulate, fair, flexible, confident, intuitive and humorous. His personal energy and stamina is remarkable. He is able to command attention and participation, keep the group focused, and continually clarify communication and understanding. By the end of every meeting, he is able to generate action plans and assign responsibilities. He has a unique capacity to ignite a lot of energy and push others relentlessly to perform, without ever sacrificing a contagious feeling of good humor and enthusiasm.

The Southern California office of Business for Social Responsibility retained Terrence to facilitate a number of our most important and difficult steering committee meetings. In this work he demonstrated similar skills and gifts as in his work with Rhino. Because the steering committee was an ad hoc group of individual heads of companies, his contributions in terms of direction, focus, and ‘management’ in these meetings was particularly crucial. He also demonstrated a keen ability to elicit what needed to be said to bring underlying conflicts to the surface and the wisdom to resolve these with sensitivity, clarity and creativity. That he could do so owed to his ability to inspire trust from all concerned.

-- Richard Foos, CEO, Shout Factory; former CEO, Rhino Entertainment

CONSULTING

My mission:

to strengthen the capacity of an organization and its individuals to be successful

through

clearer directions and shared objectives,

stronger internal and external communications,

more effective meetings,

more successful working teams,

clear, concrete, implementable action plans,

and a greater sense of engagement and ownership by all involved.

My products:

1.

Based on in-depth collaborative review and assessment,

I lead strongly facilitated meetings, workshops and retreats,

in which we clarify visions, issues and objectives,

and through lively and challenging creative dialogue,

develop strategic plans, communications plans and/or action plans

to achieve desired outcomes.

In the process, we build healthy relationships and teams,

and a culture of engagement, learning, and mutual respect.

2.

“SWOT audit” – This is a two or three step process, and can be employed to deal with general organizational capacity or with specific issues or questions.

(1) I interview key players in an organization’s internal and external environments to benchmark and scan for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

(2) I then produce a summary report including findings and recommendations.

(2a) I can also produce condensed interview transcripts, if desired.

(3) Ideally -- I then facilitate a retreat in which we grapple with the information, agree on objectives, and develop an actionable implementation plan.

3.

I consult and coach personal presentation at all levels – to strengthen both internal and external communications, from one-on-one and internal meetings, to public speaking, radio and television.

Clients include American Heart Association, Bank of America, City & County of Los Angeles, EPA, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Greenpeace, Intel, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Herman Miller, NASA, NRDC, Non Profit Finance Fund, American Public Media, Rhino Entertainment, Union Of Concerned Scientists, Volunteers Of America....and more.

As demand expands and resources shrink in the public service sector, communications and advocacy

must cut through layers of fear and uncertainty. Funders support those who can tell their stories.

In the corporate world, investors and customers seek allies, brands, and products they can trust.

Stories build credibility with new audiences and engagement with those already on board.

How can I contribute to your ability to fulfill your mission? Consulting, speaking, training, coaching, or writing... in groups or one-on-one, in-person or online, via phone or email.

Let’s design something that fills an immediate need through which we can build a long term relationship.