The School of Practical Skills (SoPS) is a modern-day school for professionals from all walks of life. We help you learn new skills and/or sharpen your existing ones. Our flagship program is called Performative Speaking. This program will help you think better, speak better and strengthen your unique personal brand.
This program empowers you to achieve personal and professional goals by enhancing your communication skills. In this program, you’ll learn the fundamental techniques of speaking effectively with authority, logic and emotion, i.e. Ethos, Logos and Pathos.
This is useful for company spokespeople. Typical trainee profiles are CXOs, Departmental Heads and Corp Comm Heads. We have successfully trained dozens of spokespeople across industries like BFSI, Technology, Entertainment and Media. If you’d like to see what our trainees say about us, here are some testimonials. The names of trainees are confidential, though.
Have a big speech or a presentation coming up? We’ll help you identify how exactly to design, structure and deliver your speech or presentation for maximum impact. We’ll help you speak with charisma, chutzpah and confidence.
If you need to prepare yourself for a big interview or participate in a panel discussion, then this module is just right for you. We’ll teach you the basics of how to answer questions using logic, emotion and authority, i.e. Logos, Pathos and Ethos. We’ll also show you how to handle tough questions and hostile interviews.
Do you need to moderate a discussion or interview a big-shot personality? We have experienced moderators who have moderated panels, interviews and group discussions for leading media houses. We’ll teach you the tricks of how to moderate a panel or interview somebody with style and grace.
How many times have you sat in the audience during a slide presentation and silently cursed your fate? That's probably how people feel while you present. Our Presentation Training module will help you fix that. You'll learn the counter-intuitive art of saying less, showing fewer slides and achieving more impact.
Are you a working professional and want to improve your pitching, presenting and speaking skills? But your company won’t foot the bill for your training? Or you don’t work for a company at all? Fear not, we have you covered. Our self-improvement programs are a cost-effective way for you to improve your skills. And yes, we’ll help you overcome stage fright.
We also create customized training programs for corporates and individuals. Get in touch with us at erica@praxschool.com and we’ll design a program just for you.
The School of Practical Skills (SoPS) is comprised of experienced journalists, anchors, theatre and media personalities with a combined experience of over 100 years. If you’re looking for somebody to train and mentor you, to level up your performative presence, look no further. We use innovative teaching methods to help you discover your personal brand, speaking style, and unique strengths. Through a series of fun exercises, we’ll help you unlock your potential as an effective communicator.
We’ve worked with some great companies
Suresh’s proficiency truly stands out in crafting a thorough, personalized program. Covering aspects from discovering your stage persona to mastering storytelling, voice modulation, and delivery, this comprehensive course is a catalyst for professional transformation.
— Jay Dutta
Design Leader and Founder, DesignUp Conference
For more than a decade, Suresh Venkat has been a valuable ally in my practice as a content strategist and producer. Over the past year, he and his team have successfully trained teams with which I work on how to hold their own in hosting, presenting, pitching, moderating events and managing discussions – on stage and in virtual events. I like the way Suresh customizes each training module to a participant’s personal challenges and aspirations within the framework of broader goals – a granularity in approach that differentiates this programme from others.
— Merle Almeida
Consulting Editor & Content Strategist; Executive Director – Content, Axis Capital
The Media trainings conducted by Suresh Venkat has immensely helped the senior leadership as well as spokespersons across business verticals at Kotak Mahindra Bank. The sessions are in-depth interactions and are customized by Suresh to address specific needs of the spokesperson alongside guiding them on articulation, messaging, facing tough questions, and more.
— Biswajit Dash
VP Group Corporate Communications, Kotak Mahindra Bank
We’ve worked with Suresh Venkat for media training for some of our clients. They were MDs & CEOs of large organizations as well as start-ups. While we did this exercise at the beginning of our PR activities with them, we realized that this training helped them face media better and were well equipped to field media questions and interact with journalists. Suresh is on top of our list for any leadership team media training. The way he articulates each session, depending on the spokesperson, puts them at ease. He makes them very comfortable, and that helps with feedback and deeper learning.
— Diana Fernandes
Founder & CEO, Bloomingdale Public Relations
Suresh is a seasoned media trainer. We worked together in my former organisation where he trained several of our key leaders. His training modules are simple, straight-forward and comprehensive. The best thing about his training pattern is that he makes the leader comfortable and devises a customised module, as per their requirements. Active exercises and practice patterns of his module equip the leader with practical wisdom to face the media.
— Sakshi Denis
Deputy Vice President, HDFC Bank
I’ve engaged with Suresh and the School of Practical Skills both as a participant and a process custodian for our Research Analyst’s Corporate Conference training workshop. One aspect that truly impressed me was their tailor-made approach to the training. They covered a wide range of topics, from body language and vocal tone to spatial projection with command and confidence. The mock interview sessions were invaluable, providing a safe space to practice and receive constructive feedback.
— Gisele Castelino
Head - Corporate Access & Corporate Communications, Axis Capital
We have a group of highly qualified trainers led by our chief trainer, Suresh Venkat. Our trainers are experienced business journalists, podcasters, voice artists, theatre actors and radio professionals. Our trainers are all practitioners of their crafts.
We have trained dozens of high-level CXOs across large, medium and small companies. For reasons of confidentiality, we cannot reveal the names of individual trainees, but here are a few testimonials from leaders we’ve trained.
A constant reminder on what to do and what not to do helped. It helps you to reflect and go back in case required. Being prepared, stressing key points, not be just a narrator, bringing humour, all this was covered. Suresh made it a point not only to make it fun but stressed on the point that our speech should also have some humour and smile.
I have had 23 years of formal education and you have been one of the best teachers I have had. Your emphasis on small details is infectious.
At the School of Practical Skills, we use a unique teaching method to help you identify your personal brand, your speaking style and your secret sauce. Once we help you identify those things, we’ll put you through a series of fun exercises that will help you uncover the effective communicator that’s hiding inside you.
Most of our training programs are 6-8 hours long. And each training session is 1 hour long. You will undergo two sessions per week over a 3-4 week period. Some programs are much shorter though, i.e. 2-3 hours long over a single day. We also do half-day and full-day workshops for teams.
At SoPS we have a group of highly qualified trainers led by our chief trainer, Suresh Venkat. Our trainers are experienced business journalists, voice artists, theatre actors and radio professionals. Our trainers are regular practitioners of their individual crafts. Here are their profiles.
Short answer – Not too much!
Long answer – Performative Speaking is a set of bespoke programs designed to suit the unique needs of you and/or your organization. After a preliminary get-to-understand-your-needs meeting, we will get back to you with a commercial package that aligns with your budgetary expectations.
We work both with the L&D, HR, PR and Corporate Communication teams of organizations as well as with individuals looking to improve their performative speaking skills. If you're an individual, then go through the Self-Improvement section on our website and get in touch with us. If you represent a company, write to us at erica@praxschool.com
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