Damien Gauthier coaching a speaker for a high-stakes presentation

International NGO · 2-day workshop + online refresher

ATscale advocacy speaking

ATscale is the Global Partnership for Assistive Technology. Hosted by UNOPS, in Geneva. Their program managers speak to ministers, governments and the UN General Assembly. So we trained six of them to do it well, inside a register that does not forgive a wrong word.

Example of Workshops & Masterclasses

For Experts & Founders Leaders & Managers

6 Program managers trained

2 Days in person

CEO individual Coaching

High-Stakes Speaking environment

The context

ATscale speaks to governments, NGOs, and the UN on behalf of those who can't access basic assistive technology.

ATscale works on a problem most of us never think about. Hearing aids. Wheelchairs. Glasses. Prostheses. Assistive devices that are normal in some parts of the world and impossible to access in others. Their program managers spend a lot of their time in front of decision-makers who can move budgets and policies: ministers, government delegations, UN bodies and NGOs such as ICRC and Doctors Without Borders. They also advocate in front ot the UN General Assembly itself. Ten minutes there can change the life of hundreds of millions of people who depend on the work. The mandate came straight from the CEO, Pascal Bijleveld, after his own TEDx coaching the year before. He had seen what the method did for him, and he wanted it for his team.

Damien Gauthier facilitating an advocacy speaking workshop

Here is the trap of advocacy speaking: the TEDx tools you would use to move a public audience (personal stories, conversational delivery, emotional arcs) are exactly the ones that get you flagged as informal in a diplomatic setting. You step over a line, and you lose credibility. But the other extreme is no better: reading numbers at a minister will not get you a second meeting. The training had to find the narrow path between the two: rigorous enough to belong in the room, alive enough to actually persuade.

Be persuasive without putting on a show or giving an inspirational TED-style speech.
Build credibility, connection and a logical case at the same time
Pick the two or three points that actually move a specific audience
Stay practical across a multi-cultural team working in very different political contexts

Day 1

Build the case

Conclusion-first pyramid structure. Narrative build-up. Storytelling adapted for formal settings. Audience analysis for diplomatic stages. Ethos, pathos and logos applied to international advocacy. Structuring their points to actually move a diplomatic delegation.

Day 2

Practice delivery

Pacing, presence, the use of silence. Staying formal without going flat. Engage without putting on a show. Each participant presented on a real advocacy topic and received live feedback. Going out of their comfort zone, in a safe environment.

Follow-up

Refresh after the field

An online session after the team had used the frameworks in real settings. They came back with their own examples. Including the speech that had just been called the most powerful of a high-level government event. Learning from each other's experience and anchoring the skills.

“I rethought my way of presenting. It was the first time I had ever received that kind of recognition at the end of a speech.”

ATscale program manager, reporting back in the online refresher

6 Program managers trained

2 Weeks From kick off to first real use

#1 Most powerful speech of a government event

One participant delivered a speech to government officials that was singled out as the most powerful of the event. He told us it was the first time he had received that kind of recognition.
The frameworks were applied in the field, not parked after the workshop.
The team reported visible improvement in formal settings, with the same factual rigour their audience expects.
ATscale is a clear example of how coaching one leader can benefit the whole team: the CEO experienced the method firsthand during his own TEDx preparation, and brought his program managers into the work the following year.

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Immersive group training for focused upskill. Half-day or full-day formats filled with activities and live practice, covering structure, delivery, and presence. The fastest way to shift team communication as a whole.

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ATscale advocacy speaking

ATscale speaks to governments, NGOs, and the UN on behalf of those who can't access basic assistive technology.

In diplomatic settings, personal storytelling loses you credibility. But data alone does not persuade anyone to commit.