Rachael West
I believe that every time we speak we have an opportunity.
“Rachael is firmly entrenched as my go-to person when I have a speech to give.”
Megan McCracken, Arc Infrastructure Leadership team.
“Rachael’s one-on-one sessions took my speech to an entirely new level.”
Jayne Finch, Senior Under Ground Engineer, Newmont
The spark to become a speaker coach came to me 20 years ago. I was working as an engineer in Perth, Western Australia. The organisation was doing incredible work but I saw idea after idea lost in presentations that didn’t grab the audience.
I convinced my colleagues to join a workshop I called, “Improv for Technical People”. Drawing on my background in performance, I designed it to help them put themselves in the shoes of their audience and create engaging, meaningful presentations. The workshop was fun, filled with laughter and profoundly changed their approach to speaking. So I kept running it!
My initial one-on-one speaker coaching clients were engineers, scientists and other technical professionals. This has grown to people from all professions and walks of life.
I have always loved asking questions and it’s a dream to have this become so central to my work. I want to draw you out, to help you know what you are about, and to help you bring your idea to life, on stage and in the world
Alongside speaker coaching, I have worked in social innovation, public infrastructure and policy. I co-founded a social enterprise that became nationally recognised for improving the lives of people with chronic pain. As well as my degree in civil engineering, I am an accredited coach with two public health degrees – and a circus qualification.
My portfolio of offerings now includes executive coaching, movement education and strategic coaching.
My work is profoundly influenced by decades of training in physical theatre, movement and contemplative ethics. I believe the body is a crucial part of communicating with impact and integrity. I have a daily yoga and meditation practice, dance 2-5 times per week and regularly train in clown, Butoh and Bouffon. My movement qualifications include a University Diploma in Yogic Education in Lille (France), Circus in Performance with Greentop Circus in Sheffield (UK) and I am in the second year of the four-year BodyMindCentering Practitioner Training.
Some of the organisations I’ve worked with:
- Women in Mining WA (yearly speaker coaching for their annual summit)
- Perth Airport (How to run great meetings)
- Engineers Australia (Perth Airport (How to run great meetings)
- Challenger Institute of Technology (Communication and teaching skills workshop for engineering lecturers)
- TEDx Perth (speaker coaching)
- Momentum Partners (speaker coaching)
- Department of Water (presentation skills for engineers and scientists)
- Pollinators, Geraldton (Social enterprise training)
- Scitech (Clowning for Facilitators workshop)
- ROADS Foundation (Strategic planning session)
- Primary Care WA (Co-design brainstorm on the future of primary health care in WA)
- Western Power (Strategic planning session for the sustainability team)
- Australian Experiential Learning Centre (AELC) for AusAID (leadership exercises for international scholars)
- Social Innovation in Western Australia (SiiWA) (Strategic planning session)
- Bendigo Bank Fremantle (Strategic planning session)
- Meanwhile Space CIC London (Meanwhile Space Mediation Handbook)
- Social Enterprise London (Strategic planning session)
- Public Transport Authority of Western Australia (process mapping)
STRATEGIC SPEAKER COACH RACHAEL WEST 