Frequently asked questions

Need an answer without the wait? Find answers to commonly-asked questions here.

Common questions

Awesome! We’re honored you’d want to join us. Check out our open positions to see if there’s one that’s a perfect fit for you.
No, we do not, and here’s why: One of our core principles is to “astonish with value.” So, we put tons of energy, creativity, and innovation into developing and delivering high-quality training products that deliver incredible impact for our customers. Based on the thousands who have completed our training, we promise you’ll have a great learning experience. Most of all, you and your team will enjoy lasting value from the insights learned and capabilities developed.
To plan a successful learning journey, start with the end in mind. What outcomes does the training need to achieve for your organization? And where is your team now in their storytelling, presentation development, and delivery know-how? Each of our courses is designed to help you attain a certain set of learning objectives, which you’ll find in each course overview on our site. No matter where your team may be, we’d love to help you take their capabilities to the next level. To get you started, schedule a call with us!

Communication consulting

Storytelling is the heart of all great communications — and it’s the core of our work at Duarte for the world’s top-performing brands. Whether you’re looking for help with your company’s messaging, or for advice on a high-stakes speech, contact us to find out if our Agency team has capacity to work with you on it. For immediate support, consider one of our short, facilitator-guided co-creation sessions, called Accelerator Lab™. Accelerator Lab™ uses our proven Duarte Method™ to help you develop a powerful narrative for your presentation. We also offer a slew of support through our training and workshops, books, blog, and in our resource library to help you to master the art of storytelling.
Our Agency is committed to partnering closely with a handful of brands, so our resources are frequently already set aside to support those clients exclusively. That means we may not always have the capacity to take on a quick-turn project out of the blue. So, in those situations we can provide other solutions to help. For starters, we offer short, facilitator-guided co-creation sessions, called Accelerator Lab™, to help you get you started or unstuck in building your presentation. Or if you’re looking to ramp up your team’s presentation development skills, you can explore individual and team training. We’ve also got an entire resource library packed full of quick reads and helpful tools designed to increase the impact of the presentations you and your team deliver.
Our Agency works with some of the world’s largest brands to craft strategic communications that inspire action. Our core offerings include:
  • Strategic planning
  • Message strategy
  • Speechwriting
  • Presentation development
  • Content consulting
  • Speaker coaching
  • Offsites and experiences
  • Accelerator Lab™
Learn more about our communication consulting.

Presentations

Presentations are in our bones, and we’d love to help you with yours! We offer many services. Which one’s right for you?
  • If you need support from all angles, like writing and designing the presentation or prepping your event speakers, our creative services teams are the experts who can help from start to finish.
  • If you need help getting beyond the blank page — or need to create greater alignment around your existing narrative — our Accelerator Lab™ is perfect to get you started.
  • To build your speakers’ presentation skills before the event, our Executive Speaker Coaches can get you or your team prepared to put on a great performance. Or, for a more a la carte option, check out our one month, three month, or six month Speaker Coaching packages.
If you’re still not sure where to start, send us a note. We can point you in the right direction!
We’ve transformed thousands of speakers, and we’d love to help you up-level your performance, too. If you’ve got a chunk of time to invest in developing foundational skills (whether that’s a day, a week or more), explore our Speaker Coaching packages and our training workshops. But if you’re pressed for time and looking for a quick tip or two, check out our Speaker Coaching resources where you’ll find many articles, guides and tools, and more communication resources to assist you. If you want to hear directly from our Executive Speaker Coaches and other Duarte communication experts, our YouTube channel is packed with videos on public speaking techniques for all levels of speakers. No matter where you’re starting, we’re here to help and cheer you on!
We’ve got you. From our free presentation templates to our blog and tips on our YouTube channel, Duarte offers numerous paths to help you develop your presentation. To learn how to build crowd-pleasing presentations from beginning to end, take one of our workshops or online courses. Or if you want to work closely with one of our presentation experts, our Accelerator Lab™ might be the best place to start. Still unsure where to begin? We’d be happy to help. Send us a message, so we can guide you to the right solution for your needs.
We’ve built lots of resources to help you and your team sharpen the impact of your next presentation, including: Or if you’re looking to systemize communications and build a shared presentation language across your entire organization, then a presentation system might be what you’re looking for. We’re happy to get you started!

Speaker coaching

Coaching sessions are customized to meet the speaker’s needs, but a session usually has one of two goals:  
1. Rehearse or prepare for a specific presentation, pitch, or interaction
These types of sessions may include coaching on the following:
  • Stand-and-deliver practice to learn the content and polish delivery
  • Adding story into prepared or spontaneous remarks
  • Making datapoints more interesting
  • Revising notes/scripts into the speaker’s authentic voice
  • Identifying places to cut content/save time
  • Mock Q&A
  • How to interact with your slides/technology, etc.
2. Develop speaking skills over time
These types of session may include coaching on the following:
  • Increasing confidence
  • Elevating presence
  • How to build a story file
  • Becoming more concise
  • Using meaningful gestures and body movements
  • Adding energy
  • Reducing verbal fillers (ie: ums and uhs)
  • Improving off-the-cuff/spontaneous speaking, etc.
Absolutely. You can’t go wrong with any of our Duarte Speaker Coaches, but we also know you may be looking for the right fit for yourself, your leader, or your team members. Our Solution Architect will share our available coaches’ bios with you, and you can schedule a 15-minute call with a coach prior to completing your purchase. We’re also happy to pick the coach based on calendar availability/time zones.
Most speakers either need to rehearse/prepare for a high-stakes moment or want to develop their skill over time. The following two packages are the most common but can be customized as needed:  
2 session rehearsal coaching
  • 15-min kickoff call with a Duarte Speaker Coach
  • (2) 50-minute virtual speaker coaching sessions
  • (2) written summaries following each coaching session
  • Recordings of each coaching session
5 session development coaching
  • 15-min kickoff call with a Duarte Speaker Coach
  • (1) development plan outlining session goals and exercises
  • (5) 50-minute virtual speaker coaching sessions
  • (5) written summaries following each coaching session
  • Recordings of each coaching session
If the speaker is influenced by what their peers are up to, share this list of coaching clients above who have benefitted from Duarte Speaker Coaching or point them to our testimonials and case studies.
Of course! Many team and department leaders work with our Solution Architect to build a customized coaching program to prepare a group of speakers for a big events, uplevel speaking skills across a group, or to reinforce the learnings from our Duarte training. When purchasing coaching for a group, leaders often include our onboarding and reporting services to ensure the coaching program’s success. Our Solution Architects can help build the right package for any team.
Packages expire 6 months after purchase.
No. Duarte Speaker Coaches will coach you through creating and improving your content and visuals. They’ll even brainstorm ideas with you and offer their expert critique. But they won’t do the work for you — that’s not coaching. The good news: Duarte does have an agency that offers those services and many more!
Yes. If there’s a group delivering different parts of a presentation or speaking together on a panel, it’s a great idea to bring that group together for a coaching session. Another way group coaching works is if you want a group of learners who attended Duarte training to come together for additional Q&A on the material. We do recommend, however, that there aren’t any “silent observers” during a 1-on-1 coaching session.
How do you think world-class speakers got that way?! They were good speakers who invested time in becoming great speakers. In fact, many of the executives and leaders who work with Duarte Speaker Coaches are already good speakers. We might be biased, but we think everyone can benefit from speaker coaching — but everyone doesn’t need to invest the same about of time or work on the same areas. It’s why the personalization that comes from 1-on-1 coaching is so important.

Training and workshops

Absolutely. Team training is our sweet spot. In fact, we’ve seen the Duarte Method™ have a huge impact in enterprise training initiatives that align entire functions — such as sales and marketing — around a common way of working that improves collaboration, increases productivity, and speeds time to results. We’ll work with you to create a learning plan that fits your unique organizational needs. Send us a note to get started!
Our workshops vary in length depending on the learning objectives they’re designed to achieve. The most popular workshops are our full-day in-person or two-day live online offerings that bring learners along an interactive and immersive learning journey that leaves them transformed in the end. To start building power skills, explore these workshops to see which will work best for you or your team. Can’t commit to a full day of training? Let us know — we can talk you through our other offerings that will better fit what your team needs to learn in the time they have.
Yes. Both our public and corporate workshops have the same curriculum, but our corporate workshops can be adapted to your organization’s specific learning goals. When you purchase a corporate workshop, a Duarte facilitator will host a pre-consultation call to better understand your team’s working dynamics and learning needs and answer your questions. This will help our facilitator better prepare for your session and give you a better sense of what you can expect from the experience. Public workshops are purchased on an individual basis and have learners attending from many different companies. Those sessions are based on our standard curriculum, with no customization. Still have questions? Schedule a meeting and we can talk further about how Duarte can support your team’s transformational learning journey.
Our offerings are built to transform the way people communicate, and we want every learner to receive that benefit. So, we devote significant time, resources, and internal education to make our Academy offerings inclusive and equitable, including moving toward adherence to WCAG 2.1 A and AA standards. You can read our current accessibility statement here. Creating accessible learning is a commitment we take seriously to ensure all learners get the best experience possible. If you or your team requires accessible accommodations, please contact our Training Concierge for assistance.
We don’t offer cancellations or refunds after you’ve purchased an on-demand course. If you have concerns about the course or questions once you’ve accessed the content, you can send a message to our Training Concierge to get the process started.
We get it — schedules change. We don’t offer cancellations if you’ve purchased a seat in a public workshop. But we’re happy to extend a one-time transfer of your purchase to a different workshop in the same calendar year. Or you can transfer your current seat to a new participant. Reach out to a Training Concierge to get the process started.
You bet! We accept credit card payment for seats in any public workshop or on-demand course purchased from our website. Was there a particular training you had in mind? Explore our product catalog to find the training that’s right for you.
Yes. But we primarily offer in-person training to teams and organizations who have purchased a corporate workshop. Those private corporate workshops are typically hosted at the customer’s location to create a more intimate learning environment that builds skills while bonding the team together. We currently have limited in-person public workshops. Most of our workshops (whether corporate or public) take place in a live online, instructor-led format via an online collaboration platform, such as Zoom, WebEx, Teams, etc. But they’re not your average online meeting – they’re way more engaging, interactive, and fun! In fact, learners are blown away by how fast the time flies and how much they enjoy our live online training. We also offer some of our best-selling courses in a self-paced on-demand learning format that’s equally engaging and effective. Please contact us with your in-person training requests. Our facilitators would love to work with your team!