I did a talk for KPMG last week and just had a note back from them which I thought that I might share.

“I just wanted to let you know how well yesterday went and ask you to pass on once again our thanks to Jake. Although I had high expectations, Jake exceeded them.  We really appreciated how he linked his experience to ours in what came across as a very natural way and the story he had to tell was such a fascinating one that no-one could fail to be enthralled.  Feedback from the group has been extremely positive.”

The title of the talk was 'Making it happen', and I spoke to 210 people from the Indirect Tax department. The talk went really well (from my point of view) and I gave them a few pointers about how to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary, and therefore how to achieve big things in the future. They were a really great audience and I stayed for an hour or so afterwards chatting to them. Although I find speaking pretty straight-forward now, it still always makes a massive difference when I'm warmly received and the audience are really responsive to what I have to say. Regardless of whether they are class of school children or the executive management board of a major company, a warm and welcoming audience make speaking an absolute pleasure, and very enjoyable from my point of view. To everyone at KPMG, an extra special thank you!