"I decided to overcome my fear of public speaking. I know this is a common fear but it has held me back and I finally decided to find help. Jennifer is a great coach: she is very personable and relatable, she breaks down the issues quickly, and she has solutions in hand that are simple and easy to use.
During our first session, Jennifer taught me the 'power of three,' which I still use today. Using this powerful tool through role playing, I became more comfortable speaking in public. She has numerous breathing strategies before a presentation that are extremely helpful.
She also helped me navigate working with difficult people and I really liked her strategies on how to respond to difficult situations. We had three sessions and I feel like I am a different person with more confidence.
Presentations are still not something I love to do, but I definitely do not avoid it anymore. I would definitely recommend Jennifer to anyone who needs public speaking coaching or general coaching. She is amazing!"
Vaneeta V., CFO | Venture Fund
“I had never had formal coaching on public speaking, and I get uncomfortable before speaking in large groups, so I wanted tools to help me feel more confident. I gained skills both around how to organize and deliver content, as well as about how to manage feelings and nerves. Jennifer is totally approachable and supportive, and also incredibly helpful with actionable advice and guidance.
She listens so well, and I never once felt like she gave me generic feedback--it was always very specific and something that I could start using right away; and she did it with kindness and joy.
The confidence I gained after my experience with Jennifer is extremely helpful to me as we re-enter the world of in-person presentations and public speaking. I can't recommend her highly enough.”
Arjun R., Head of Product | Fortune 500 company
“I recently became CEO of our organization, after years in a more internal COO role. I know that external communication will be key to both my success professionally, and to our success as an organization.
Before coaching, I had anxiety around public speaking and was worried about my ability to engage and inspire an audience. Now I have an amazing toolkit to support my ongoing growth as a public speaker: frameworks for honing my message, exercises to reduce anxiety, and Jennifer's voice in my head sending reminders about eye contact, body language, and presence.
While I'd recommend Jennifer to anyone, I would especially recommend her to introverts and people who think that the anxiety of public speaking can't be overcome. The fact that Jennifer was willing to share her own struggles with public speaking was particularly empowering for me.”
Laura Boudreau | Nonprofit CEO
“Whether you are terrified of public speaking and need a place to start or are looking to hone your skills, Jennifer is the perfect coach. She spends so much time really understanding what your goals are and tailors your sessions to give a personalized coaching session.
As my scope has increased, public speaking is becoming a bigger part of my role and is not something I want to hold me back from future career opportunities. I saw improvement after one session and Jennifer became an invaluable resource when preparing for big meetings & presentations.
Jennifer helped teach me simple tactics I could utilize for prepping for public speaking and also ones I could utilize while public speaking. She focused on my biggest pain points and really helped me prioritize the tactics I could practice using which have since become second nature.
I could not be happier with my decision to work with Jennifer. I would highly recommend Jennifer's coaching services to any of my colleagues or friends.”
Product Manager | Peloton Interactive
”I consistently get questions related to data, and many of these questions require thinking on my feet. Prior to our engagement, I didn't have a framework to help me work through these difficult, spontaneous questions.
The lessons and 1:1 sessions were invaluable. Your framework has helped me distill complex topics into simple conversations -- a truly invaluable skill for anyone looking to grow into a leadership role.
Applying these frameworks and lessons has given me the confidence to engage with our leadership team. I would absolutely recommend your service, especially to those in data/technology-related fields.”
Data Scientist Manager | Private Technology Company
“Before working with Jennifer, finding excuses why I shouldn't give a presentation was what kept me from succeeding at my job.
Through coaching, I learned how to let go of making my presentation "perfect" and I learned how to relax within myself. Relaxing gives me permission to concentrate on the subject and the audience, not the presentation alone.
Jennifer's relaxed yet professional teaching method can help anyone to get past whatever is preventing them from speaking comfortably in front of an audience.”
Josh Martin | US Representative at ADES
"I had so much anxiety around public speaking that I attempted to avoid it at all costs. Finally the opportunity costs of turning down board placements, committees, and philanthropy roles became too high to ignore.
Jennifer is a wonderful coach! She is professional and down to business, but also made me feel very comfortable even from the first moments of our first session. Jennifer made lots of room for terrible first drafts and she really met me where I was each session. I fall victim to 'overthinking' and she put me back on course each time.
Now I have more confidence than ever when addressing a room. I am embracing that public speaking is not an inherent strength of mine, but it's something I can work on and no longer some huge immovable boulder in the way of my goals. I have already told anyone who will listen about Jennifer Hennings.
Jennifer's coaching gave me the confidence to start accepting speaking opportunities that I would have otherwise avoided. This is something I have wanted for a very long time, and working with Jennifer has already helped me start saying 'yes' to the next chapter of my personal and professional life."
Director | Investment Firm
“In this virtual environment we have all been thrown into, our membership was asking for a professional development event on how to improve your virtual speaking skills. Jennifer delivered just that!
She connected well with the audience and provided practical tips that were easy to implement. We received excellent feedback from our attendees, who said:
“She really modeled the behavior she was teaching us”
“The topic was very timely and presented in an engaging manner”
“It was very informative, respectful of the viewers, and had good pacing on questions”
I highly recommend Jennifer to anyone seeking to hone their virtual presentation skills.”
Susan Mazzetti, VP of Programs | Financial Women of San Francisco
“Before working with Jennifer, I didn't have a clear planning process for presentations and was not comfortable speaking off the cuff.
Now the planning process is much easier, which frees up more time to focus on presenting and trying to weave in stories. The audience analysis and Power of Three frameworks have also been very helpful, and I would recommend Jennifer's coaching to other instructional designers and facilitators.”
Founder | Educational Consulting Company
"On a scale of 1 to 10, working with Jennifer was an 11. We needed to create a sales presentation for our enterprise reps, which required strategic thinking, concise messaging, hitting the key points with great graphics and fewer words.
Working with our executive leadership and marketing teams, Jennifer was instrumental in the design and flow of the messaging. She helped us work together as a team to come up with just the right key points (power of 3!), then did a group session including all of our sales and pre-sales organization.
She followed up with 1:1 coaching for about a dozen people, including myself, our CEO, and VP of sales. Myself and my team of about a dozen all give Jennifer a thumbs up! This is not easy to do and rarely happens. All of us got a lot out of this.
Jennifer has helped me beyond simply presentation skills. I would say that this is a life skill, so I would recommend her to all individuals and organizations interested in improving their skills. She has helped me think about the audience and the messaging from a far more strategic perspective."
Ric Urrutia, Founder and Executive Chairman | Taos
"Working with Jennifer has been a game changer for me. Before our coaching, I would be paralyzed with fear going into any meeting where I knew I had to speak. I would think about it the night before and the morning of. During the meeting I would be crippled with fear to the point that I couldn't even follow what was happening in the meeting because I was so scared about it being my turn to speak.
I was scared I’d say something that wasn’t good enough and it would impact my career. And then the fear just started to build because every time I would be nervous in a meeting, I would just get more and more in my head the next time.
I decided to work with Jennifer because it was at the point where I felt like my fear was holding me back in my career and I didn’t want this to be the thing that held me back.
The tips Jennifer gave me were ones I was able to put into place right away. Our work had an immediate impact. Now with each meeting that goes by where I need to speak or present, I have more and more confidence.
My speech anxiety is no longer holding me back. It isn’t a barrier anymore.
Jennifer is amazing to work with. I think everyone can improve in this space and I would really recommend her to anyone who wants to get better in any aspect of their public speaking."
Kristi, Director | Fortune 500 company
“My work with Jennifer has allowed me to approach public presentations as positive opportunities to be more effective at my job and at communicating my ideas.
Each session had a positive and cumulative impact on my confidence. I now have the tools to speak in front of any audience with confidence and clarity.
Jennifer is the first person I’ll turn to to prepare for my next big presentation — both for help organizing my message and for coaching through my delivery. I would recommend Jennifer to anyone who is struggling with anxiety about presenting or public speaking, or anyone who wants to get better at clearly delivering a message verbally.”
Senior Executive | Technology Company
“I used to be nervous about judgment from other people, which led me to ramble and sound uncertain. In this workshop, recognizing my own tendency to up-speak was huge. I didn’t realize how much it was undercutting my authority.
The PREP framework was also super useful, since on-the-spot questions are the ones that make me the most nervous.
Your warm attitude made it easier to be vulnerable while learning these new skills in front of my coworkers. Though the changes won’t happen overnight, I am excited to practice the techniques we learned in the course and improve my communication with my team."
Carolyn S., R&D Engineer | Medical Device Company
“Before I worked with Jennifer, I was speaking too fast and having difficulty establishing rapport in the beginning of calls and meetings. I felt that correcting these pain points would allow me to sound and feel more “senior” when presenting.
Now, in addition to immediate short term results, I have several customizable strategies I can employ in a variety of situations to communicate my points with authority. My career is built on communicating to and influencing others -- mastering the art of verbal information transfer is a significant advantage.
I'd recommend Jennifer to anyone looking to up-level their communication, including people who are naturally strong communicators but are looking to refine and adapt their natural style to multiple audiences.”
Principal | Search Firm
"Before opting in to public speaking coaching, I was always the last person who would be willing to present even to a group of less than 10 people who I worked with closely. I had major anxiety when it came to public speaking. It was so bad that it would affect me all week if I had to present at the end of the week; I would obsess over it, making my anxiety worse.
So when I signed up with Jennifer, I was pretty skeptical. I wasn't sure if coaching would help me since I thought I was too far gone.
After a few sessions, Jennifer has equipped me with the tools that have helped me manage my anxiety; a variety of tools and tactics that I can pick from and feel the most natural to practice in my day to day. She has also taught me to be more conscious of how I present, my audience, and the content I choose to present with.
It sounds too good to be true, but she definitely made a huge positive impact on me in a short amount of time. While I still have reluctance when it comes to presenting, it definitely isn't to the same degree of reluctance before I did this coaching.
The tools and advice I received in the coaching makes me push myself at times to present so that I can practice them! I would recommend Jennifer to all my coworkers who want public speaking coaching."
Bernadette Le, Senior Android Engineer | Slack
“Before this workshop, I constantly stumbled along with my words and would lose my train of thought and string together sentences that did not get my main point across.
Now I know the importance of practicing ahead of time what you want to say and knowing your audience. It's easier to sound prepared when you are actually prepared.
I would definitely recommend your services! You provided a lot of great tools and helpful experiences to prepare for the future.”
R&D Engineer | Imperative Care
"Often we have so much we want to share with our audience that it becomes so hard to distill our message into something that's focused and impactful. Jennifer just cuts straight to the most compelling, incisive, and powerful ideas and helps me shape them into something that truly speaks to my audience. I know this from the long lines I get after talks I give with folks interested in learning more or curious about a moment or topic I covered.
Jennifer is the most enjoyable part of this journey. She has a remarkable gift and I can't imagine my path without her. I have consulted with Jennifer on three separate packages over the course of almost two years, and I intend on continuing this partnership indefinitely. That's how much I gain from working with Jennifer.
I feel my growth (and it's not easy!) but Jennifer is the best coach to get me to where I want to be. Truly."
Yvonne G., Senior UX Writer | Google
"It was a pleasure to work with Jennifer, who crafted a custom training for my team focused on the areas most appropriate to our needs. I got a lot of great feedback and appreciation from the attendees; I think it was a great investment in their personal and professional growth and I hope to work with Jennifer more in the future!"
Karl Mosgofian, CIO | Harmonic
"Your personal, caring approach had a big impact. It was meaningful that you took the time to get to know me and thoroughly understand me and my goals. You were able to provide insight and easy-to-understand practical tools to provide guidance in all three of my pain points: organizing and delivering a well-throughout message in my style and naturally.
I would proudly recommend you and your services to anyone who speaks in front of people and wants to improve the experience in the messages they are delivering, regardless of their experience level. You made the entire experience meaningful. You are warm and caring and have incredible insight and the ability to kindly deliver area of improvement. You are a great coach!"
Don Clauson, CEO | Strat Property Management, Inc.
"My biggest pain points before I started working with Jennifer were speaking up in meetings, navigating personal dynamics at work, and giving concise presentations. Jennifer worked with me to practice a few different ways to make impromptu speaking easier, workshopped next steps for difficult situations, and also gave me amazing feedback for a key presentation.
I really loved working with Jennifer: she is incredibly kind and warm, and her feedback was always spot-on and immediately actionable. I loved how I would come out of our meetings with concrete tools and improvements. I would recommend her coaching to anyone who wants to improve their communication skills, both for prepared and impromptu speaking."
Jean C., Product Manager | Google
"I was experiencing extreme nervousness while speaking in certain settings -- not good for a senior executive. This started suddenly and with more frequency, and I was concerned that the company was losing faith in my leadership abilities.
Jennifer immediately disarmed my fear of even talking about the issues, as it was embarrassing for someone as senior as me to be having this problem. She enthusiastically listened to my issues and began immediately to break down the patterns that were the root cause of the nervousness.
After just one session, I began feeling more confident and started putting the teachings into practice. The more I applied the teachings, the more confidence developed. Jennifer was outstanding!
Jennifer would tailor make the session to prepare me for an upcoming speech or event -- it was perfect to practice with her before I got in front of a large audience. Jennifer reminded me about some very basic but insightful facts that are life lessons about who we are and what our roles as leaders are in our companies. I've re-learned how not to take myself so seriously -- and have fun!
I definitely would recommend Jennifer for anyone, student to senior executive, who needs a breakthrough in public speaking. I've never seen such an impactful outcome in such a small amount of time -- this may not be the case for everyone, but for me, it was just what I needed, when I needed it, to move on and be the person I was meant to be."
Senior Executive | Medical Device Company
"When I was invited to give a talk at Google, I knew I needed someone smart and capable to help me.
Jennifer fit the bill perfectly. She helped me map out my talk, work on my presentation style, focus on the most important things I had to say, and leave out the stuff that is interesting but irrelevant.
And we had great fun doing it. I highly recommend her!"
Winifred Reilly, Couples Therapist | Author of It Takes One to Tango
"Before we started working together, one of my biggest insecurities was with public speaking and presentations. I was starting in a new job where being the spokesperson for my team was a critical part of the role. Jennifer helped me develop a framework for tackling presentations (both big and small) to think about the audience and message I wanted to convey. She also helped me tactically with practice runs and specific suggestions on how I could improve.
Jennifer was always so positive and supportive while still giving constructive feedback along the way. As a result, my presentation skills improved drastically and now it's something that leaders and peers on my team see as one of my top strengths.
I really appreciated that Jennifer didn't try to give cookie-cutter solutions to my problems. Instead, she really listened to the situation I was going through and pushed me to self-reflect on how I could overcome each challenge, offering suggestions that were customized to my situation and my working style.
Jennifer was also amazing at follow-through: I really appreciated how she would summarize the key takeaways from each of our meetings and follow up at the next meeting on how our action plan had worked in practice.
I'd 1000% recommend Jennifer to any professional looking to push themselves to grow to the next level."
Janvi S., Product Manager | Google
"Jennifer is empathetic and really tries to understand a situation or a problem before diving in to help solve it. Rather than providing answers, she and I would work together to come to a solution together, and often times she'd just ask questions to help me find the right answer.
I joke that Jennifer was my “work therapist,” but in many ways, she acted like one, in that she was non-judgmental, thoughtful, a great listener, and empowered me to be my best self.
As someone who feels emotions quite strongly, having conversations where at least one of the parties is highly emotional has always been difficult for me. With Jennifer's help, I learned to be more empathetic, imagining the ways conversations could go well or poorly, so I could prepare myself and ensure that I felt heard, but also ensuring that I created space for the other parties to feel heard.
Jennifer helped me learn how to craft stories, both for formal presentations as well as during day-to-day conversations. She provided tools for me to structure my thoughts, and she was a sounding board with whom I could practice. Jennifer not only helped me find confidence, but she also helped me find a way to express that confidence in a way that felt genuine to me.
I've gained confidence in my communication skills in particular. Regardless of the context, I feel like I have a toolbox to figure out how to communicate my message in the best way possible.
I also feel like I've learned the power of vulnerability and honesty from Jennifer. When we first started working together, I think I tried to present myself as always competent and “perfect,” both to her and the outside world. Over time, I learned from working with Jennifer that saying "I don't know" and asking questions can sometimes be a better way to lead.
I would recommend Jennifer to anyone! As a young woman in a leadership position, I felt like we clicked easily, and she helped me grow significantly as a leader."
Nisha, Product Manager | Google
"I wanted to deconstruct the hype and fear around public speaking and see if there was a method to the madness and a way to learn the skills. Jennifer’s program was extremely effective because it was built around my examples and my experiences. This made it focused and personalized.
I received the frameworks to structure my thoughts as well as my content. Jennifer was promptly available throughout the program to coach and address my concerns. The practice sessions to help me absorb the skills (as well as hold myself accountable to the program) were hands down the best part."
S.K., Senior Director | Leading Tech Company
"We made progress on really uncomfortable and unpleasant topics -- like public speaking and high-pressure Q&A -- without it feeling like a stressful environment. I developed a lot of really great strategies to improve myself, and I could see them working in the time we spent together. It was amazing to be able to talk about it, put it in action, and then see the improvements at our next meeting.
It sounds insane when I say it, but we played a game where you’d ask me about something you know and I don't and I'd have to come up with an answer. Great practice at forming good answers for any question on the fly, and super funny at the same time!
I would recommend you to anyone who feels overwhelmed, underprepared, or just needs to build some basic skills such as public speaking."
Product Manager | Google
"Jennifer is an outstanding coach who provided me with expertise and guidance that distinguishes Stanford and my experience at the GSB. She provided me with immediate tactical improvements for any situation in which I needed help, whether a formal speech, impromptu contributions, or job interviews.
She went above and beyond in ensuring I had key takeaways that I would remember beyond our sessions.
But what was most special about working with Jennifer is the foundation and confidence she gave me for elevating my presence and message across any situation. Her relentless encouragement and her practical advice is truly exceptional.
Thank you!"
Carolina Perez, MBA Candidate | Stanford Graduate School of Business
"Jennifer has managed to combine two priceless talents: the ability to give clear, forthright feedback and the patience to pay as much attention to quality on the first go-around as on the 30th. As my communication coach, she worked with me for hours to improve a public speaking engagement.
She was proactive and generous about setting apart time to work with me, and managed to always have a new piece of valuable feedback to help make the speech better. What a fantastic coach! I would recommend her to anyone who is trying to put together a high-impact presentation."
Derek Turner, Managing Partner | Chaparral Capital
"I was truly lucky to have Jennifer as my communications coach. She went above and beyond her job to help me craft a talk that was not only engaging and meaningful, but also authentic to my communication style.
I applaud Jennifer for her patience & dedication to students. I am thankful to have her at Stanford Graduate School of Business."
Ashley Edwards, Co-Founder and CEO | MindRight
"Jennifer gave me a game plan to prepare for public speaking engagements. Before that, I was lost. Now I have a routine that helps me feel better going into high stakes public speaking situations.
The nice thing about Jennifer is that she tailors her program for you. It feels customized. She understands that not every technique works for everyone. She tries to figure out what works for you and is a great listener. I'd recommend Jennifer to the next person I meet with public speaking anxiety."
Private Equity Firm Executive
"Jennifer went above and beyond in supporting me with communications practice in my first quarter at Stanford GSB. She is a joy to work with - incredibly warm and welcoming - and has a knack for giving great feedback. I highly recommend working with her."
Lauren Dunford, MBA Candidate | Stanford Graduate School of Business
"My biggest pain points were: lack of confidence in speaking to a scrutinizing group, lack of comfort in my topic, added pressure of high-stakes circumstances, inability to be verbally concise, and a general fear of choking. You helped me solve these by digging into my project with me and making extremely concrete suggestions.
You added value to my speaking project in so many ways. The most important aspect was that you got your own mind deeply into my project as though it were your own. This fundamental aspect meant that for a project in which I'd otherwise would be working alone, I instead partnered with you and as a team, we tackled the toughest issues.
There are so many things, both large and small, that I did not realize and would not discover but for your raising them to my attention (e.g., big things like where I seemed to make the same point multiple times and small things like the audience's perception when it cannot see my hands). Thanks for everything!"
Associate Professor | San Francisco Bay Area university
