Keynote speaker and workshops for Communications and PR leaders
25 years leading comms.
Now I say the quiet part out loud
(for a profession that rarely does)
“We first booked Louise to speak at our Richmond L&D and Communications Directors Forums in Autumn 2025. Her sessions went down so well that we invited her back to our 2026 Richmond Marketing Forum. Louise is a genuine pleasure to work with and lands extremely well with a senior room.”
David Clark, Richmond Events
"Louise brings insight, compassion and curiosity.
Her deep understanding of the communications profession and what makes us comms pros tick is
invaluable, and pretty rare."
Michelle Smith,
Director of Communications & Engagement,
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
I've worked with...
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I speak about the reality & the potential for Communications leaders
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My first day as an NHS Director of Communications started at 8.30am with someone telling me I was already late. Late for an urgent meeting about a beds crisis that nobody had told me existed. I hadn’t found my desk yet or met my team.
So I did what I always did in these situations. I got stuck in. I worked harder than anyone else to "prove" myself. Give me the impossible deadline, or the crisis statement that had to be right first time, and I’d deliver it. It was what I was proud of. It was also what was holding me back.
No one told me that being good at comms just wasn’t enough to be an effective comms leader.
I’ve since coached more than 100 comms leaders across health, tech, retail, FMCG and financial services, in the UK, the US and globally. Communications leaders and organisations come to me for coaching, workshops and keynotes because I understand their world intimately.
Book me to speak on:
The future of communications leadership (in an uncertain world)
What do we need from the comms profession in a world where AI is making our jobs easier yet harder, organisational trust is declining and change is the only constant? I explore the human leadership skills and behaviours that effective comms leaders need, now and next, in a career that demands more from us than ever before.
From doing to leading (the hardest shift for comms leaders)
You may have been promoted for being a brilliant comms technician, but that's not what makes you a credible leader. In fact, it's the bare minimum. I share the habits, beliefs and structural barriers that can hold us back as leaders and offer a blueprint for change, shaped by 25 years of communications expertise.
Leadership communication for comms leaders (yes, really)
Comms leaders are often the ones who need the most help communicating as leaders. I know I did. The irony is real, and so is the leadership challenge. I speak and give workshops on executive communication and presence for comms leaders.
The hidden rules holding back senior women in comms
Even in organisations that describe themselves as progressive, senior women in comms are still judged by rules and gendered assumptions that can harm our careers. Drawing from my own experience and those of the senior women I coach, I share the patterns and themes that affect women in comms, and offer valuable and challenging perspective on what we can do about them.
Keynotes for Comms & PR audiences
The Perfect Storm: why being good at comms won't save your job
We have a new operating context as comms leaders - perma crisis, AI and constant change are now status quo - and burying our heads in the sand won’t change that. AI is already raising difficult questions about what the Communications function is for, and we often find ourselves leading (and announcing) change that we ourselves are affected by. It's a tough time and many brilliant comms professionals are struggling with the shift.
So what do organisations really need from comms leaders now, and in the future? Clue: it’s not your ability to draft a press release.
It’s the human leadership skills we too often neglect in our own professional development (and the comms profession at large has neglected for far too long): good judgement, constructive challenge, empathy, horizon scanning, to name just a few.
Combine those skills with real commercial and organisational understanding (in my coaching, it’s the gap I see most often), and you become the comms leader your organisation can’t do without. Spoiler alert, being a busy, helpful pair of hands won’t get you there.
This keynote challenges the communications profession to rethink how we show up as organisational leaders, in a world that demands more of us.
For comms and PR conferences, professional bodies and in-house comms teams. Built on 25 years leading comms, and more than 100 comms leaders coached globally since.
Previous keynotes include CommConnect 2025, ContactMonkey’s virtual conference for comms leaders worldwide.
Workshops for comms teams
Each workshop runs on its own or as a tailored programme for your team.
From Doing to Leading (Escaping the Busy Trap)
Being busy and helpful feels safe, so we keep saying yes to the wrong things until overwhelm hits, yet no-one turns to us for strategic counsel. Not so safe after all. Your team will leave with a plan to step back from the work that keeps them busy, towards the work that sees them valued.
Strategic Counsel
Too many comms teams are handed a decision once it’s made, and asked to make it sound good. We work on what trusted advisers do differently: framing advice in the language of the business, and making a clear recommendation (including the one leaders don’t want to hear.)
Leadership Communication for Communications Leaders
We spend our days helping other leaders communicate with clarity and impact, then rarely give our own leadership communication the same attention. (The cobbler’s children, if you like.) This workshop ensures your team (and you) are heard as leaders in their own right, on paper and in the room.
Leading Change
Change succeeds or fails on how people experience it, and comms often sees that more clearly than anyone else in the room. Yet we’re too often brought in late, to announce decisions we could have helped shape. This workshop helps your team claim their essential role in guiding leaders and the organisation through ambiguity, resistance and risk, even as the world turns around us.
Why organisations book me
I’ve spent 25 years in comms, agency side and in-house, from Silicon Valley to NHS boards. I know what it takes to be heard by a leadership team, whether you’re advising it or sitting on it. I now coach comms leaders in the UK, the US and beyond, so I see every week which leadership skills they need, and where the gaps are.
In the room, I bring honest challenge, and the self-reflection comms teams rarely make time for. My work also draws on my own research with senior women in comms and PR, and on the Leadership in Communication Mastermind I designed for Strategic magazine.
Organisers invite me back because it lands with a senior room. Organisations get more from the comms leaders they already have, and better counsel before decisions are made.
Client Testimonials
Planning a conference, a team
offsite, or an event?
Let's talk.
Interested in booking me to speak? This is a 15–20 minute conversation to explore whether I'm a good fit for your event or programme. Before the call, I'll ask you a few questions about your audience, brief, and what you're hoping the session delivers. That means we can use our time well.