Artistes of the Month

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Frances Edmonds

Frances Edmonds is a truly international expert in the business of communication. Her latest book, "Winning The Game of Life" suggests tools for personal success and motivation and embraces techniques employed by many of Britain's foremost captains of industry and top sportsmen and women.

Frances's unique skill-set makes her a highly effective and much sought after moderator.

Her strong academic background (Frances holds a masters degree from Cambridge University) combined with her training as an international conference interpreter and her extensive experience as a broadcaster ensure swift mastery of even the most complicated brief and a capacity to "think on her feet."

Fifteen years of negotiating at the highest level (UN, EU, World Economic Summits) has taught her invaluable lessons in the art of cross-cultural communication and consensus creation. She uses these insights, together with her creative talents as a linguist, writer, broadcaster and keynote speaker to help crystallise and communicate your corporate message with warmth, wit and intelligence.

As an interviewer, she is adept at asking probing questions while simultaneously working to put her interviewees at ease and imbue them with e confidence to respond cogently and comprehensively.

Her strong inter-personal skills allow her to establish an excellent rapport with client, audience and keynote speakers/interviewees alike. Clients are impressed by her strong desire to function as an integral part of the event team and her understanding that the moderator must not only display excellent platform skills herself, but must also strive to ensure that those around her are inspired to shine.

Best-Selling Author...
In 1986, her first book, Another Bloody Tour (an outrageously funny and highly controversial account of the England cricket team's tour of the West Indies) became an overnight international No 1 best-seller and shook England's male-dominated sporting establishments to their foundations.

In 1987, she covered the Ashes series in Australia and wrote another No 1 best-seller, Cricket XXXX Cricket , which again created uproar. Whilst in Australia, she covered the America's Cup for The Times and hosted Good Morning Australia, the country's most popular breakfast TV show.

Further books, Members Only ( an irreverent search for signs of independent intelligent life in Westminster- she found few) Samson & Delilah, Star of Heaven and Games all met with critical acclaim. Her latest work, Winning The Game of Life, is based on three years of research and interviews and suggests tools for personal and business success and embraces techniques employed by many of the UK's foremost captains of industry and top sportsmen and women.

A Talented & Entertaining Speaker...
Her understanding of business issues, gleaned from her own experience in helping creating a specialised construction company, led to her election as an Honorary Fellow of the British Association of Women Entrepreneurs. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Founder member and Fellow of the Professional Speakers Association.

Frances contributes to a wide range of publications, including The Times and The Evening Standard, and appears regularly on radio and television, frequently as a news reviewer for BBC's TV's "Breakfast with Frost." She is currently working on a book about mothers and daughters. She spends her time between her homes in Notting Hill, London, and Biarritz, France.

Click here to view France's video showreel

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Jeff Grout

His accumulated expertise in all aspects of recruitment means that he is often in demand as a commentator, columnist and speaker. He has appeared on television and has participated in numerous radio programmes. Jeff collaborated with the BBC in producing an interview training video and has run seminars for a number of leading companies, including Marks & Spencer, Lloyds Bank, British Airways, Merrill Lynch, Guinness and Lever Brothers.

He is co-author of the book The Adventure Capitalists, which is based on public interviews with 12 leading entrepreneurs and aims to offer an insight into the ingredients of business success. The sequel entitled My Brilliant Career features the subjects of subsequent public interviews with high achievers from the fields of business, sport and the media. He has written the complete insider's guide to the job market entitled Kickstart your Career, which was published in February 2002 and a book on the strategies and tactics for successful recruitment entitled Recruiting Excellence published in May 2002. He is currently conducting research for his next book on the psychology of peak performance entitled Mind Games: The Making of Champions.

Jeff is now an independent business consultant focussing on people management, team building, peak performance, recruitment and retention issues. He holds a number of corporate advisory and executive coaching appointments and also runs various management training workshops on effective selection and client relationship marketing. Jeff is also Business Manager for the former England Rugby Coach, Sir Clive Woodward.

Jeff has spoken to audiences in the UK, USA, Australia, Ireland, Belgium, France, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, Denmark, Portugal and the Netherlands.

His keynote speeches include:

• Building High Performance Teams
• The Characteristics of Success
• The Adventure Capitalists
• Recruiting Excellence
• Creating the Right Work/Lifestyle Balance
• Making the Selection Interview More Effective
• The Changing Workplace
• Building the Recruitment - Retention Bridge
• The Making of Champions

"I really was impressed - a very thought-provoking and challenging presentation. Within a couple of hours of returning to my desk I'd already used a couple of Jeff's ideas."
Arthur Tanner, HR Director, Random House Group

"Jeff's talk hit the spot….and benefited from the preparation done understanding our business and current issues".
Rory Mitchell, Finance Director, Balfour Beatty Rail Projects
Click here to view Jeff's video showreel

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Jimmy Carr

One of the most original and distinctive stars on television, radio, stage and now the big screen, Jimmy has shown his talents to widespread acclaim in recent years. Jimmy has hosted two hit Channel 4 series: The Friday Night Project and 8 out of 10 Cats which gained an audience of 5 million viewers for its last show.
He has appeared on many other hit shows such as the Royal Variety Show (twice), BBC1's Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, BBC2's Top Gear, QI, Have I Got News For Your (panellist and guest hosting) and hosted several Specials such as C4's The Big Fat End of Year Quiz and Comedian's Comedian. Other UK television guest appearances include Des O'Connor Comedy Tonight (ITV, Aug 03) Have I Got News For You (as panellist, BBC2, May 03), The Royal Variety Show (BBC1, Dec 02 & 04) and Peter Cook: A Posthumourous Tribute (BBC2, Dec 02).
Jimmy is also fast becoming a face on US TV: He has performed a remarkable three times on NBC's Tonight With Jay Leno, and twice on NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and return visits to both these shows are in the pipeline.
Jimmy's C4 hit series of Distraction (2 series on C4) gained it's 2nd series on Comedy Central in America and Jimmy also filmed 14 episodes as host of this cutting edge game show which transmitted in 2006. He has also made a half hour special for Comedy Central which still transmits on the network.
Although Jimmy's profile is more as a television personality he started out and continues to be a very talented stand up comedian. Jimmy's first live show - Bare Faced Ambition - gained Jimmy a Perrier Nomination in 2002. National sell-out tours quickly followed with Charm Offensive in 2003 and Public Display of Affection in 2004, Off The Telly in 2005 and 2006.
Jimmy's DVD's have now sold well over 250,000 copies and he has completed three films: Confetti, Alien Autopsy, and Storm Breaker, all released in 2006.
Jimmy can be heard on London's 104.9 XFM every Sunday morning where he presents the breakfast show from 10.00am to 12.00. He is also a regular guest and interviewer on Loose Ends (Radio 4) and The Fred McCauley Show (BBC Radio Scotland).
As would be expected of a comedian with a soaring international profile, Jimmy also performs at all the international comedy festivals, and was one of very few top British comedians selected to appear at the world's two top Comedy Festivals; in Montreal for the "Just for Laughs" Festival and in Aspen at the International Comedy Arts Festival.
In the corporate market, Jimmy is as popular either as an after dinner speaker or awards host. Recent clients have included Haymarket, Abbey National and Centaur Publishing.

Further Information

For further information or for a copy of our latest speaker booklet please phone one of our consultants whose expert advice will find you the right personality for your event.