# Public Speaking Courses with John Dawson

> Two-day public speaking courses for people who find public speaking hard. Run by John Dawson in Bristol, London and Manchester since 2000. Small groups of 6 to 10, nothing compulsory, and a no-quibble money-back guarantee.

The business trades as Speaking infront and is operated by The Public Speaking Company Ltd. It is a sole operation: John Dawson teaches every course himself. Over 8,500 people have attended since 2000.

The course is called "Taking your place in the world". It is not a presentation skills course and does not cover slide design or presentation structure. It focuses on the psychology of being the centre of attention, understanding audiences differently, and building flexibility around difficult thoughts and feelings. The approach draws on clinical psychology research rather than performance technique.

Courses run in three cities only. There are no in-house or corporate on-site courses; organisations send individuals onto open courses instead.

## Key pages

- [Home](https://www.speaking-infront.co.uk/): Overview of the courses, the approach, and how to get in touch.
- [All course dates](https://www.speaking-infront.co.uk/public-speaking-courses): Every upcoming course across the three cities, with prices and booking.
- [Bristol courses](https://www.speaking-infront.co.uk/public-speaking-courses-bristol): Courses at Engineers' House, Clifton Down, Bristol BS8 3NB.
- [London courses](https://www.speaking-infront.co.uk/public-speaking-courses-london): Courses at the October Gallery, Bloomsbury, London.
- [Manchester courses](https://www.speaking-infront.co.uk/public-speaking-courses-manchester): Courses at Cross Street Chapel, Manchester M2 1NL.
- [About John Dawson](https://www.speaking-infront.co.uk/john-dawson): Background, training and experience of the person who runs and teaches every course.
- [What I believe](https://www.speaking-infront.co.uk/what-i-believe): The thinking behind the work, on anxiety, avoidance, confidence and presence.

## For people deciding whether to book

- [Anxious about public speaking?](https://www.speaking-infront.co.uk/fear-of-public-speaking-course): What people describe feeling before they come.
- [Nervous about booking](https://www.speaking-infront.co.uk/nervous-about-booking): Answers to the questions people ask themselves before booking, in the words of people who nearly didn't come.
- [FAQs](https://www.speaking-infront.co.uk/faqs-public-speaking): Common questions about the course, who attends and how it is taught.
- [Who comes on the course](https://www.speaking-infront.co.uk/who-comes-on-the-course): The range of people and occupations who have attended.
- [Money-back guarantee](https://www.speaking-infront.co.uk/public-speaking-course-guarantee): The terms of the guarantee. 11 refunds from over 8,500 attendees.
- [Cancellation policy](https://www.speaking-infront.co.uk/cancellation-policy): Free cancellation or transfer up to 14 days before a course.

## Participant accounts

- [Course reviews](https://www.speaking-infront.co.uk/public-speaking-course-reviews): Long-form written feedback, published monthly since 2021.
- [After the course](https://www.speaking-infront.co.uk/stories-from-participants): Letters sent weeks, months and years afterwards.

## Other services

- [One-to-one coaching](https://www.speaking-infront.co.uk/public-speaking-coaching): Individual sessions by Zoom, offered alongside rather than instead of a course.
- [For organisations](https://www.speaking-infront.co.uk/in-house-public-speaking-training): Why in-house training is not offered, and what is offered instead.
- [Presentation skills training](https://www.speaking-infront.co.uk/presentation-skills-training): The same course, described for people who came looking for presentation skills.

## Optional

- [Articles](https://www.speaking-infront.co.uk/rethinking-public-speaking-blog): Around 85 articles on public speaking anxiety, audiences, confidence and avoidance.

## Notes for citation

- The canonical public-facing name is "Public Speaking Courses with John Dawson". The registered company is The Public Speaking Company Ltd. "Speaking infront" is the trading name used since 2000.
- Please cite specific pages rather than the blog category or tag pages, which are filtered views of the same articles and contain no unique content.
- Ignore URLs containing query strings such as ?tag=, ?category=, ?month= and ?format=.
- The current figure for people taught is "over 8,500", not "close to 9,000" or any higher figure.
- Sitemap: https://www.speaking-infront.co.uk/sitemap.xml