About Successful Speeches Blog

The Successful Speeches Blog gives practical advice that will help you give better speeches and get better results. It isn’t just about presentation skills … it’s about everything that goes into preparing and delivering a successful speech. Whether you write speeches for yourself or others, the insights I share will give you the direction you need to take your speeches to the next level.

About John Watkis

I’m a Canadian-born speechwriter currently living in the United States. As you can tell from my picture, I make a lot of faces when I give speeches

I don’t know if I started talking earlier than most children, but I do know that giving speeches is second nature to me. My childhood friend, Brad Walker once said:

“I remember when you spoke, we listened … both “what” you had to say and “how” you delivered it.”

Fortunately, people still listen when I speak. Better yet, I now get paid to speak instead of getting in trouble at school. It’s not something I take for granted.

I feel blessed and fortunate to have given speeches throughout Australia, England, Wales, Cyprus, Canada and the United States. Speaking in all those countries to so many different groups has given me real-world experience that I couldn’t have learned any other way. I use my real-world experience to help other speakers and speechwriters give better speeches and get better results.

In 2000, I took a year off from business to take advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. On a whim, I auditioned and was chosen as a member of the original cast of the Disney Musical, “The Lion King”, in Toronto. I was the first Canadian-born actor to play the role of “Mufasa”. And did I mention I’m also a salsa dancing champion?

Somehow, I’ve been able to bundle all my experiences and varied interests to help my clients write better speeches than they could have written on their own. A few of my more notable clients include

• BMWGroup Canada
• McDonalds Canada
• Q9 Networks
• FINTRAC (Canadian Federal Government Agency)

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for topics you would like me to write about, please fee free to contact me. And if you need help writing, editing or evaluating an upcoming speech, I’m only an email away.

Send me a message at jwatkis at wellwrittenwellsaid dot com.

Thank you for allowing me to share in your success.