Your Hosts

Richard Newman Dip W.D.A.D.A., T.E.F.L.

Leadership Communication Specialist

Richard has been working with advanced communication since 1995, as a presenter and coach. He specialises in showing leaders how to speak with greater influence and impact, allowing them to make ideas happen.

Recently Richard's team coached one client to win over £1.2billion in new business, by improving their communication techniques, winning 100% of the work they bid for.

Richard’s work has recently been featured on BBC Radio discussing recent elections, in Forbes Magazine, on Heart FM, SKY TV, Channel 5 News, as well as being featured in the Daily Telegraph.

He was also chosen by 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers to help them promote two TV shows based on body language, in media interviews across the UK.

In 2014 he won the Cicero Award, the most coveted award in the world for speechwriting. Professional speechwriters from around the world enter, across 36 categories. The award is decided by a panel of 8 judges based in Washington DC. Richard won the overall Grand Jury Prize for his speech.

Richard began by ‘Teaching English as a Foreign Language’, living in a Tibetan monastery in India for six months, teaching the monks English. He then studied professional acting in London for three years. He worked as an actor on stage and screen, while continuing to study communication skills.

Richard founded Body Talk Training in 2000 and began by working with the McLaren Formula 1 Team for five years, hosting over 1000 presentations and VIP meetings.

His team have worked with 40,000 clients from 45 countries around the world including work in Chicago, Vienna, Geneva, Dubai, Orlando, Paris, Delhi, Cincinnati, Madrid, Dublin, Milan, Atlanta and across the UK.

Simeon Courtie

Specialist Areas – Presenting, Pitching and Media Skills

Simeon has been a BBC radio and television presenter for over 25 years, learning his broadcasting skills in BBC local radio before presenting a multitude of live and recorded TV programmes on BBC1 and ITV. He continues to be a regular presenter on the national All England show networked across all BBC local radio stations in the evening.

As well as presenting, he’s produced and directed television series and written several successful TV formats. Prior to his broadcasting career, Simeon qualified as a mechanical engineer, to which he credits his ability to communicate complex information in an engaging, easy to understand way. His experience communicating as a broadcaster was a great asset when pitching television formats to senior global clients, which he did for Ludus Entertainment winning commissions from Channel 4, Mentorn and Endemol.

His live network television experience and ability to remain cool under pressure make him a popular event host, his biggest success being as sole stage compère for UB40’s concert at Bowood House, Wiltshire, keeping 20,000 people entertained and engaged throughout the day.

Simeon has been a successful writer since 2008, as a team writer on the BBC1 show Have I Got News For You, winning a New York Festival award for his sketches on the forces station BFBS, and more recently as the author of the humorous travel book The Long and Whining Road, which won 5 international book awards.

To have such a level of expertise in these three areas - broadcasting, pitching and writing - makes Simeon a rare asset to those wishing to improve their communication skills. His warm, friendly nature and enthusiasm for sharing knowledge will put you completely at ease, while arming you with practical tools and tips learned through decades of working in the communication industry.