Sabyasachi Sengupta

Does public speaking scare you?

Public speaking is often regarded as one of the biggest fears we have. The whole idea of being on a stage with all eyes staring at you, is extremely daunting. Almost everyone wants to run away from that moment. Do you feel this too? Do you get sweaty palms, nervousness in your body, dry throat? There are only 2 kinds of speakers, one is nervous and the other is lying. We all get nervous. After doing public speaking for over 12 years, each time I have to be on a stage, I am nervous. Here are some truths and myths about public speaking that I learned in these years.

-There is no substitute for preparation. The more you prepare the better you get.

-There isn’t a magic pill that will make you master public speaking. You can read books, watch videos, but unless you put yourself infront of an audience, you will not know.

-You will still get nervous after years of practice. This is a good sign, this means you care about the content and the impact you want to create. If you aren’t nervous that means you don’t care enough about the topic.

– “I like to be spontaneous” is the biggest trap in public speaking. When you prepare a speech well it looks prepared, but when you prepare very well it looks like you are speaking from the heart and spontaneously. But the truth is it is the next level of preparation to look spontaneous although you have prepared a lot.
If you are interested to know more about public speaking or improve your public speaking, please get in touch. Let us craft your speech together.

Speaking with Saby

Why i love public speaking

“Until my mid 20’s I was a very skinny boy, with big brown eyes, messy hair and clothes 2 size bigger than mine. I was one of those people who could easily go unnoticed in a social context and even at work. At 21, when I started my 1st job, I found myself even a little intimidated by all the alpha men and women with killer personalities and loud mouths. These were the people who were the favorites when it came to promotion, or client visits or being the face of the department. In 2010 when I first tried public speaking, as nerve wrecking it may have been back then, I felt I got a tool to shield myself from these self doubts and imposter. I found my voice, and then I found the right words to express my opinion, and eventually found my confidence to stand tall to these alphas and make them hear me, my argument and my opinions. Public speaking also taught me the power and impact I can create through proper body language and voice. Today I can say it is like my muscle memory, in tough situations or even in social context (like a birthday speech etc) I feel very comfortable to stand and express. Today I have the confidence that I can inspire, persuade and even make people laugh. And that is the magic and power of public speaking.”

Saby has been a two time European Champion of public speaking at Toastmasters. He is also a 2 times speaker at the prestigious TEDx stage. In 2020, he wrote his first book “What’s your Plan B?” that was featured in a leading Dutch newspaper. Saby also works as a Business Developer at ABN AMRO Bank. Saby is also a leading keynote speaker on the topic of Change and Innovation and has delivered his speeches in over 9 countries.

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CLIENTS

EVENT TIMELINE

This is the timeline of my journey.

2022 am

Cobra Conundrum

TEDx VU

Sharing my thought how organisations can embrace change and innovation by 1st understanding the root cause of a problem

2021 am

What Next?

ABN AMRO Bank

This was my 1st speech at my own company. Sharing thoughts and ideas from my book "What's your Plan B?" how to find the next step in one's career.

2021 am

Opportunities to Turn Around

Elsevier

My bespoke talk on how to handle uncertain change and crisis in your team and organisation. Best part was to see the participants able to recognise what goes wrong in their organisation and how they can improve.

2021 am

Innovation in Internal Communication

GLOBAL EXECUTIVE EVENTS

How the communication world will look post the Covid-19 era? A candid chat with the Head of Internal communication at Facebook. We both unanimously stressed on empathy as a key ingredients to a successful communication.

2021 am

Change Management Summit

GLOBAL EXECUTIVE EVENTS

An interactive panel discussion with change managers and understanding where will the next disruption be coming from.

2021 am

Business Pitch Workshop

University of Amsterdam

3 hours of an interactive workshop with MBA students from UvA on how to make the perfect business pitch.

2020 pm

Opportunities to Turnaround

Capgemini - Malaysia

An early morning talk with the leaders from CapGemini Malaysia on how they can turn around any failures or roadblock.

2020 pm

Life is a Party

London, UK

Inspiring talk at the online graduation ceremony of students at the University of Amsterdam in Business and Economics.

2020 pm

Win Back-20

Vilnius, Lithuania

A talk for senior members of the Government of Lithuania office on how to face the unprecedented disruption because of the lockdown and make a turnaround

2020 am

Mindset to Change

London, UK

A powerful talk on how to be ready for change and disruption in your sector by using stories from the book “What’s your Plan B” at the Sofa event.

2019 am

"What's your Plan B"

Zurich- Switzerland

Keynote speech at the Socials at Zurich about the upcoming book on Plan B.

2020 am

You need a Plan B

Prague- Czech Republic

Just before the lockdowns, last in-person keynote speech in Prague telling a room full of people the need to have a Plan B

2020 am

Skills for Future

Mumbai- India

A keynote speech at PMI India sharing the skills that will remain relevant and why we need to reskill every time to stay employable.

MEDIA

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RECOMMENDATIONS

Sabyasachi, the author of “What’s Your Plan B”, distances himself from the self-help herd by establishing his book not as an universal recipe, but rather as a companion for everyday actions and decisions. He has no ambition to lecture you on what makes a good professional as much as provide you with real-life examples of how others, including the author himself, have navigated adversity and anxiety without losing sight of their individual targets, whatever those may be. Though I believe the author hadn’t planned his book to take on a Covid-19 theme, one can’t help but see in his hands-on approach important lessons to struggle through a pandemic that has put on hold so many of our plans. Most of us could use a bit more resilience – and a Plan B – so we don’t lose focus on what gives meaning to our lives.”

Pedro Miguel SilvaAssociate Partner, Deloitte

“This book is a very useful guide of how to not only survive but thrive when adversity strikes. The examples make the reading vivid and the notions really comprehensible, while the tips make the guidance really applicable.

My key takeaway: All we need is to not be taken by surprise. That means to look intentionally for the red flags of individual adversity and be ready like scouts for universal black swans.”

Anastasia SideriDirector of Communication, Coca Cola Company

PM Congress Key Note raises the bar

Sabyasachi Sengupta gave the PM Congress 2019 attendees the gold standard of how to start a key note and followed with insights on adversarial management that caused a buzz between both business and academics in the coffee lounge following his remarks

His 12 April 2019 presentation on the 3 key components of adversarial conditions he expects to drive future challenges were exampled with specifics and mitigation ideas. Giving all of us food for thought and actions to take back at the workplace.

Are you ready for the future? Are you watching the right trends? Do you know what the indicators mean? The presentation was backed with documented and antidotal insights. A suggestion for the next time to see that Saby is presenting — don’t miss it!

Liz HectorOrganiser PMI chapter Netherlands

Saby gave a 3-day training to my company over Sales Pitch. Everyone was impressed on the way he managed to make an impact, we caught ourselves “correcting” each other based on the comments Saby made during the training from the very first day. He managed to provide a high level training using intelligent stories taken from daily activities and keep our attention the whole time. During the training, everyone had the opportunity to practice and realize what the strong points are and what needs to be improved and most important how to improve. Saby is a talented speaker who love what he does and we are grateful we took the opportunity to leverage from him “

Maria MastrogiannopoulouCommunity Lead- MSG Global

“An excellent approach to the art of networking, Sabyasachi gets to the essence of the importance of seeing yourself the way you want others to see you and provides you with a practical framework that can help you create a network that goes far beyond your activity on Linkedin and gets to the heart of what it is to build and sustain relationships.”