Readiness & Audits
For top management and their support teams: structured preparation, strategic guidance and independent audits. Made entirely tailored for CEOs, MT members, executive assistants and junior communication professionals."
"Let’s sharpen your positioning, story, core messages and ensure that you enter your next conversation with confidence.
My ultimate reward is to help you to be successful in dealing with clients, the media and investors".
Media & Interview Readiness
Intensive, discreet preparation for media moments.
A media appearance or a high-profile interview demands sharp focus, composure, and a flawless command of the situation. Working closely with you, the CEO, or a member of the executive team, I tailor an intensive session to your specific requirements. We dissect the entire interview process and focus on the aspects where you feel least comfortable. The goal: to ensure you direct every future media appearance with absolute calm and maximum confidence.
We unravel the mechanics of journalism and provide you with the techniques required to maintain control of the conversation. We focus on:
- The complete interview process: Strategic oversight from the very first interview request or pitch, right through to monitoring the coverage and handling the crucial follow-up.
- Audience-centric storytelling: Techniques to precisely align your corporate narrative with the specific target audience of the media outlet, and to translate complex subject matter into clear, compelling storylines.
- Interview techniques under pressure: Practical tools, such as Bridging, to effectively handle critical questions, stay 'on message' and in control.
Flexible Formats
Depending on your objectives and schedule, we tailor the structure and length of the session:
- Half-day session: An intensive, strategic session at your offices, focused on core interview techniques.
- Half-day practical exercise: Practising skills and techniques on-camera in a professional studio, including direct video playback analysis of your performance.
The outcome
You face the media with absolute composure, sharpness, and self-belief. You master the techniques to firmly retain control during an interview and smoothly stay 'on message', regardless of the journalist's critical angle. From the initial media request to the post-interview follow-up, you direct the process proactively, ensuring your corporate narrative is always conveyed accurately and with maximum impact.
Messaging & Storybuilding
Structured 'Message House' building.
As a CEO and/or member of the executive team, refining your narrative and the way you deliver your message to investors and the media is paramount. This intensive session is entirely dedicated to conveying your strategic corporate story flawlessly and accurately. Acting as an independent advisor with a deep understanding of how the capital markets and financial media listen to your narrative and observe your non-verbal communication, Véronique Schyns guides you in developing your messaging from a critical, external perspective.
Keeping your narrative sharp, credible, and compliant
We challenge the status quo of your current presentation, clarify complex or overly broad messages and substantiate your strategic positions with rock-solid evidence.
The focus lies on:
- Building the Message House: Establishing your core messaging, supporting arguments, and proof points. If your organization does not yet have a Message House, we will construct it during this session.
- Managing sensitive information: How do you balance your narrative effectively and compliantly within the strict boundaries of price-sensitive and commercially sensitive information?
- Non-verbal impact: Analyzing and optimizing your body language and non-verbal communication—both critical success factors during high-stakes presentations and earnings calls.
Flexible Formats
Depending on your objectives and schedule, we tailor the structure of the session:
- Half-day session: An intensive, strategic session at your offices, working on one or more Message Houses around your core themes.
- Half-day session: Delivering your Message House on-camera in a professional studio, including direct video playback analysis of your performance.
The outcome
You gain a crystal-clear understanding of how to optimally prepare for crucial, future encounters with journalists and investors. Your messaging becomes rock-solid and your argumentation airtight.
Investor Relations Audit
Independent review of the communication towards the investor community.
Investors and analysts operate with a fundamentally different mindset and dynamic than the media. Whether you are seeking external financing, preparing for an Initial Public Offering (IPO), or looking to sharpen your investor relations, in this audit, I evaluate what is functioning effectively, what should be optimized, and what is currently missing. We determine if the internal and external strategic processes required to build sustainable relationships with the investment community are firmly in place.
During this audit, we thoroughly examine the most critical and highly sensitive challenges within your investor relations framework, focusing on:
- The Investment Case & Outlook: Consistently formulating, aligning, and communicating your core strategic messaging and future perspectives to the market.
- Managing non-public information: Navigating the fine line between financial transparency, addressing market inquiries, and carefully protecting commercially sensitive data.
- Analyst and Investor Relations: Structuring your IR processes effectively and managing market expectations (consensus management).
Compact session
This session is compact, lasting from between a half-day to a full day, and is fully tailored to the current situation and specific challenges of your organization. The audit is led by an experienced investor relations expert.
The outcome
You gain a clear compass and structure to enter the next phase of your enterprise with absolute confidence. You will know exactly whether your organization is on the right track and which areas require immediate optimization.
Marketing Audit
Strategic check on current marketing efforts to see where value opportunities lie.
From analysis to execution: The Three Phases
Phase 1: The Audit (Analysis)
We thoroughly review and evaluate your current marketing and communications output. We assess what is functioning effectively, what can be optimized, and what is currently missing. We analyze your core values, mission, vision, and Unique Selling Proposition (USP) for your target audience(s) across your existing communication channels. We then establish high-level priorities for improvement and present these directly to you.
Phase 2: Strategy
We translate the findings into a concrete, immediately applicable communication strategy. We identify which target audiences, narratives, core messaging, and proof points will best strengthen your market position. This does not result in a thick advisory report that sits in a drawer, but a crystal-clear action plan providing a tangible roadmap for both the short and long term.
Phase 3: Immediate execution
Advice only holds value when it is put into action. Depending on your organization's specific requirements, I can remain directly involved post-audit to implement the first wave of improvements immediately. This can include structuring marketing workflows, setting up the right communication channels, or driving the operational launch of the new strategy.
Flexible formats
While this audit is designed as an intensive, one-week project culminating in a strategic action plan, the trajectory can be flexibly adapted to suit the specific needs of your organization.
The outcome at the end of the week
You gain a clear compass and structure to enter your company's next growth phase with absolute confidence. You will know exactly whether your organization is on the right track and which areas require immediate optimization.
Professional Talent Mentorship
Intensive 1-on-1 counselling to quickly take the skills of the assistant or junior communication professional to the next level.
As an Executive Assistant to the CEO or a junior communications professional, you regularly interface with journalists or will do so in the near future. You may also be responsible for drafting the annual report and navigating complex communication challenges. To optimally support your CEO and the wider organization, it is essential to invest in understanding the journalist’s mindset (the do's and don'ts), mastering the foundational skills of a spokesperson, and learning how to effectively manage a PR agency or other external vendors.
Personal guidance by an expert
Depending on your current experience and fully tailored to your specific requirements, I help you fulfill your role with maximum confidence and comfort. We can elevate your skills to a more professional level as part of a structured mentorship programme, or focus highly targeted attention on your immediate challenges.
At your own pace, you will learn from an experienced and passionate head spokesperson and communications expert. I share my hands-on experience with you and guide you through crucial phases, including:
- The Foundations: Strategic thinking and effective stakeholder management.
- Storytelling & Messaging: The importance of clearly and convincingly articulating the corporate or brand narrative.
- Issues & Crisis: Proactively preparing for sensitive files and effectively preventing crisis situations.
Flexible format
Depending on the specific challenges and your schedule, we can arrange regular sessions on-site, online, or in a hybrid format.
The outcome
The CEO’s assistant or junior professional operates with maximum confidence and composure in their daily practice. The participant masters the core principles of media relations, understands how journalists think and act, and is capable of managing external PR agencies with a focus on results. Depending on the agreed objectives, complex communication tasks, such as the production of the annual report, are executed independently and at a high professional standard.