Testimonials

‘I was recommended to Ashley through a contact who had already completed the iMA training and had found it beneficial within their business.  Ashley completed the training at our annual conference for over 100 of our franchisees and their teams – the training was informative, interactive and professional.  Feedback has only been positive. The training really makes you reflect on your own interactions with colleagues and with customers.    Ashley is clearly passionate about the training and that is reflected in the excellent deliverance.  We will be using Ashley for future iMA training so that we can build on the knowledge gained.’
 

Emily Stephenson
Principal Training and Recruitment Coordinator
WPA Healthcare Practice Plc

Ashley was the perfect choice for our national family team day in Bristol – he perfectly blended his iMA training with wit, humour, charm and managed to put work into making the training specific to our area of expertise to maximise engagement and value. We will all now be able to put the training into practice internally and externally to the benefit of ourselves and our clients; matching them with the most appropriate team members, experts, and counsel, as well as also being armed with techniques and awareness of dealing with differing personalities in all our matters. Thought provoking, fun and worthwhile.

“Ashley was excellent; very engaging and managed to carry the room through the afternoon, post lunch, without missing a beat which is no easy feat! Thank you Ashley, I hope to hear you speak again.”
 
“A really insightful session which helped me get to know the team (and myself) much better. Would definitely recommend.”
 
“I found the IMA training very informative.  Although I struggle with public speaking and was anxious about that element of the presentation, I found the presentation, funny, informative, engaging and interesting.  The presentation was done in such a way that you wanted to know more.  I have found myself thinking of IMA colours when speaking to people more, even amongst my friends.”
 
“very engaging, knowledgeable and useful session.”
 
“The prefect mix of engaging, thought-provoking and humour. Thank you for a wonderful team afternoon Ashley.”
 

I recently had a one-to-one IMA training session with Ashley which was fun and eye opening!

It was great to learn about the different personality types and key traits – it’s shone some light on some of my past interactions with people and is going to be a huge help to me moving forward.

I would strongly recommend this training to everyone – it doesn’t matter what industry you are in, if you work with people, this will be a huge benefit.

Alex Thompson
Senor Supervisor
C&T Restaurants

Ashley delivered an iMA introductory course to leaders from across schools. He delivered the training in a highly engaging manner, using a range of examples with a healthy dose of sense of humour, which brought the content to life. Leaders were highly engaged in the entire session and were able to quickly understand the value in knowing about their own and others IMA colours. Following the training I have heard conversation after conversation referencing people’s colour and how these impacts on their work. I have seen in a short period of time how the knowledge of the colours helps an organisation be more effective simply by individuals being more aware. I can also see that it will be a strong tool in the recruitment of the right individual for the right role ensuring we have a good balance within teams and the right person for the right job. The internal feedback we received following the training was excellent I wouldn’t think twice when recommending Ashley.  

James Franklin-Smith
CEO Oak Learning Partnership.

I have met Ashley several times in his capacity as a coach to Financial Planners. 

In that regard, he has positively influenced my approach to that role and that of coaching and mentoring people myself.

Ashley’s background gives him a strong skill set to help people understand how to communicate compellingly. 

He has helped me understand the art of delivering compelling conference-style speeches that no doubt I would have made a hash of without his wise counsel.

Paul Taylor 
Chartered Financial Planner & Coach

Just wanted to say a quick thank you for the training session you held for my senior management team in July 2024.

From a personal perspective I found the session very insightful and I am confident that this will add value to my business.

The feedback from my team was very positive and has been instrumental in them formulating plans to not only review their approach to communication but also setting and reviewing objectives to maximise a return.

Wellbeing, culture, respect and valuing people, both employees and customers, are important to me and I believe that the session delivered by you will support a firm foundation in achieving these important values.

Regards
Gerald
Gerald Thompson Franchisee
C&T Restaurants Ltd i

Hi Ashley

Following the iMA training you have done with Meridian, I have the pleasure of providing the following testimonial:

Over a period of time several of our teams attended iMA training session facilitated by Ashley Boroda, and I am compelled to share my exceptional experience. Ashley’s approach to training is nothing short of transformative. From the outset, Ashley cultivated an atmosphere of engagement and enthusiasm that made every moment of the training not only educational but genuinely enjoyable.

Ashley’s expertise has helped us to communicate and understand each other far better, whether in an in-person scenario, or on a video call or most significantly in an email. Ashley has also helped us be aware of the iMA colours/styles of all of our clients and candidates and the best way to communicate with them.

His passion for the subject matter is infectious, and he has an innate ability to inspire confidence. Ashley is on a mission to remove all unnecessary communication breakdowns, reduce stress while increasing productivity and workplace satisfaction and dynamism.

In conclusion, Ashley Boroda’s training has helped us develop our communication skills to a very high standard and opened our eyes to the four possible ways people communicate.  I would highly recommend his training.

Best regards

Sarah

We came across Ashely at a networking presentation and were gripped by the idea if iMA. Following that we booked Ashley for a half day training session for our team of 15. Not only was it great fun and interactive but really insightful. As an individual the training gives you the opportunity to look at how you tick and the intricacies of your own personality. As a team it gave us the opportunity to look at our colleagues and how we can best interact with each other, fulfilling our potential. Following the training we have taken the iMA principles into our work to better assist our clients and fellow professionals.

We initially got in touch with Ashley to help us find the right personality fit for a new Managing Director as they would have to integrate with our existing board/shareholders.  Ashley helped us identify the personality needed for a new MD,  we were so impressed with the accuracy and simplicity of IMA.

The result led to a job advert being created to attract a High Red.  Guess what?  it worked, and we have now made an offer to an experienced MD who is a High Red and will fit nicely with our Board/Shareholders.

Ashley trained our board on how to use iMA.  We were not 100% sure what to expect but his session blew us away and as one of our board said “This has changed my life”

We have now extended the sessions for other managers to help us all communicate and understand each other better.  Feedback has been great, it was such a positive step forward for our business.

Joanne Hurst

Headteacher

Ashley presented iMA to the whole school during a Professional Activity Day. The presentation was inspiring, thought provoking, engaging and incredibly powerful in helping to develop effective communications within teams both within school and with other stakeholders. The language of iMA is often heard around school and has had a positive impact on relationships between colleagues in different iMA colours enabling them to work well together, celebrating both their own, and everyone else’s strengths and talents. 

Ashley also provided a series of coaching sessions for two senior leaders. Again, this was incredibly thought provoking and empowering.  The coaching journey with Ashley has been a springboard into developing a whole school coaching culture which is part of our development plan. Exciting times ahead!

Thank you

Ashley worked with us to re-define our ideal sales candidate profile, re-work our recruitment advert, and re-strategize around our interview process. After many months of searching previously, we managed to find the ideal candidate within a couple of weeks, made an offer which was accepted, and is now working out well in our environment. I highly recommend Ashley as he not only uses a very effective methodology, but is also a great communicator and a pleasure to work with.

Ashley Boroda delivered a number of iMA training courses for our practice both Introductory and Advanced.   Knowing about iMA has helped our teams to not only understand themselves better but also and more importantly, it has allowed our people to understand and communicate more effectively with each other and with our clients. In addition, we have seen the benefit of using iMA as a tool for recruitment.

All who attended the courses learnt something and gave positive feedback. They all use the knowledge gained in their day to day lives, both at work and at home.

Ashley’s style of delivery is educational, engaging and entertaining!

Jonathan Brownson

Managing Partner

RPG  

‘The team and I enjoy Ashley’s iMA training sessions, we always end up on a high and it definitely brings the team closer together.  We are learning to understand one another more, communicate more efficiently internally and externally and focus on our own personal development too’

Katy Davies, Practice Manager, Hadlow Edwards Wealth Management. Senior Partner Practice os St James’s Place.

Dear Ashley,

On behalf of the BNI Lancashire Director team, I would like to offer my sincere gratitude for the iMA session you delivered for us.

The session definitely gave my team an understanding that effective communication comes as a result of understanding people’s different iMA colours.  What the session also highlighted was the importance of having the right people in the right roles and I believe the team will now make better decisions when selecting their leaders for specific roles.

The session was energetic, fun, practical and effective….thank you so much.

Kind regards

Mike Holman

BNI Executive Director Lancashire, Greater Manchester East, Kirklees and Calderdale.

Dear Ashley,

On behalf of KYSO’s leadership team and the director’s board, we would like to say thank you.

As our organisation approaches a new milestone of 100 members, I knew effective communication would be the key to our growing success.  The leadership team feel empowered and ready to impart their new knowledge within their peer group and beyond.  I have no doubts this will add value to their CV’s when seeking professional employment.

Following my personal experience participating in your iMA communication training, the way that I communicate with my clients and associates has become more efficient and has resulted in more meaningful and productive connections.

Kind regards

Alex Onalaja

CHAIR OF THE BOARD

Testimonial regarding AML and iMA Training

This is a letter of thanks for your help in organising and running our company’s anti-money laundering update and for you introducing our staff to iMA, both over a single day.

You ran the training/learning day in a very entertaining way so that we had a full team engagement in the Anti Money Laundering part (which would otherwise be a very dry subject) and the staff had great fun in learning what iMA colour they are, what that means for their interaction with other team members, how to identify the iMA colour of someone new they deal with, and how they can adapt their communications with others to best effect.

We will definitely be using iMA in the future in terms of how we engage with clients, and it will now feature prominently in our recruitment process.

Robin Charrot

For and on behalf of Evolve Family Law Ltd

As a firm of accountants, we rely on communication – both between ourselves and when dealing with clients.

After meeting Ashley at a BNI meeting and hearing about his iMA courses, we asked him to come to our offices and deliver one to our team, to help us all understand more about it.

Everybody really enjoyed the session and Ashey was a superb host.  His training was both fun and very informative.  He was also on hand to answer any questions we had.  In fact, Barry, my business partner, and I still speak to Ashley about iMA regularly.

As a client-facing organisation, it has fundamentally changed the way we think about our business.  We are looking to re-structure based on a better understanding of how people communicate – putting the right people with the right tasks. Also, we have been able to segregate our client base to ensure the right people work with the right client to improve the quality of communication and ultimately the service we provide.  This has made a huge positive impact in our business.

I would recommend Ashley to anyone in business – especially anyone who wants to communicate better with the world.

Ashley says he is “probably” the world’s best business coach, we tend to agree.

Mark Goldman

Ashley put on a fantastic introductory session on iMA for me and the team at Realm Recruit. Not only was it a thoroughly enjoyable morning – lots of smiling and laughs – but we all took some fantastic knowledge away with us that I’ve no doubt will make a big difference to us all.

I attended one of his training sessions and it has immensely improved the way I communicate with my clients and associates. I will highly recommend him. I am looking forward to future training from him.

Ashley came to the office one rainy Friday morning for a training session on presentation skills – I was not particularly excited by the prospect. This was not a reflection on Ashley but more about my apprehension in working on anything relating to the dreaded presentation. I thoroughly enjoyed our training session. Ashley gave me the confidence to bin the slideshow and be open to new ways of engaging the audience. We discussed each section of the presentation and Ashley gave me some great ideas to make sure that what could have been a boring legal lecture was, in fact, a more entertaining and informative session. I would highly recommend Ashley for anyone who fears standing at the front of the room

Ashley is a talented coach who creates change and instigates performance improvement. His delivers with levity and no little talent and I wholeheartedly recommend him. I first met him five years ago and I’m still using his tricks and tips today.

“Ashley worked with me on a coaching session looking at giving a good speech. He made it so simple. My new approach to speeches now includes three key elements which have made me more confident, dynamic and excited!

Thank you!”

Anthony Pontifex, Headteacher

In July 2018 we held our summer get together for our function within KPMG. 40 people across 7 different sites were in attendance at our Leeds office. This get together was very much focussed on team building, opportunities to get together are slim and these sessions are designed to help us build sound working relationships across our sites. Ashley facilitated what was a very successful day. Ashley’s style was energetic and engaging. He taught us all about iMA in a way that really brought it to life for the attendees. We then had the opportunity to use our new found knowledge about each other in the various lock out rooms we had booked.

Post session feedback from our attendees was very positive and Ashley was singled out as a highlight of the day. I would not hesitate in recommending Ashley.

Thanks Ashley, you helped our day be successful!

Antonio Torriero

Management Consultant

KPMG

Ashley has been a great help in explaining with the use of IMA how to identify different types of clients and how to tailor my approach to them.  He has helped me to be more aware of my time and diary management so I can work more efficiently.  His sessions have been really useful in providing time to concentrate on and question how I am working, again this has lead to me working more efficiently.

“I recently asked Ashley to provide staff training (at very short notice) when he came to present iMA. As always, Ashley’s presentation was faultless, engaging, fun and was enjoyed by all involved. The tool is also exceptionally useful for both senior and junior individuals in the firm. I genuinely believe that the training has enhanced the communication skills of my team both with other staff members and clients. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Ashley to other businesses.”

Rob Miller FCA MAE
Director

A focused and highly-experienced coach who advised me brilliantly on business and people issues in order to be more successful. I’d highly recommend Ashley as a refreshing mentor for growing a business and solving day-to-day management issues. His grasp of personality profiles is extraordinary.

We engaged Ashley in our growing business to help us find better ways to communicate with each other to help us drive our business forward. Ashley initially introduced us to iMA which was exceptionally useful in helping us to understand how we should work together to achieve the best outcome. He also gave us lots of ideas to help us devise systems and processes which will certainly help us to work efficiently and together as a cohesive team.

Ashley provides excellent ideas to improve communication and simplify process for which we would highly recommend him.

Dr John Greening, Director – The John Greening Practice Limited.’

Ashley Boroda has worked with NJH Wealth Management throughout the year helping to develop the business and the two Junior advisors in the business over the course of this year.  This help has proved invaluable throughout the year and we have benefited significantly from his expertise. He is a very personable individual and everyone enjoys his company and he has helped all advisors develop their markets which should prove fruitful in the coming year as well as some useful help for the staff.  We look forward to ore of the same in the future and I would be very happy to recommend him

Nigel Holland

“Ashley came and presented iMA to the whole firm at our AGM.  His presentation went down exceptionally well and people were talking about it for weeks afterwards.  It was fun and really useful.”

Mark Briegal
Partner

“I often attend training with an element of scepticism however the iMA training with Ashley was not only thoroughly enjoyable and understandable but will have a real application in how I build relationships with clients and colleagues. In particular understanding what ‘colour’ a client is will allow me to deliver my advice in a more tailored way to suit their traits. I would recommend the course to anyone involved in the delivery of professional services.”

Dear Ashley

Thank you for such a great training session on communicating and IMA.  I received excellent feedback from my colleagues and we have integrated IMA into our everyday language in the office.

In fact, in a staff appraisal last Friday with a Head of Department, he said how pleased he was with his team and added that, “funnily enough I have one of each in the team – one of each IMA high colour!”

I would highly recommend Ashley for effective communication training.

Kindest regards
Emma

Emma Nawaz
Managing Director

Ashley came to one of our partners’ meetings and was the most engaging and informative presenter that I had ever encountered. I therefore knew that we were onto a winner when he came back and spoke to us about speaking confidently, marketing ourselves and the firm and making successful presentations. We all enjoyed the morning, it went in no time and we learnt important but simple lessons that we can all implement. Thank you, Ashley!
Anne Irwin, Partner, Residential Development, Slater Heelis LLP

Ashley gives very entertaining and engaging presentations, in particular about iMA, which is a very useful tool for helping effective communications within teams and more widely with clients and when networking. Having heard him speak at an external event, we have engaged his presentation skills directly within the firm on a couple of occasions already, and the general feedback has been excellent.

Ashley came to our recent team away day and led a very entertaining and engaging day focussed on iMA and understanding and flexing styles for different personalities.

Being an iMA practitioner Ashley is clearly very experienced and able to draw on your  previous media experiences to ensure the day was engaging and entertaining and enlightening.  I think it’s fair to say that everyone, regardless of their colours, learnt something and enjoyed the day.

Martin Portnoy | Partner | Tax

EY (Ernst and Young)

“We engaged Ashley to deliver a series of presentation coaching workshops to complement our growing programme of events. The feedback we have had from those taking part has been excellent. Interactive sessions can be intimidating for some, but Ashley’s approach was a real breath of fresh air, pushing our team of lawyers out of their comfort zone, while encouraging them to stay true to their own unique style. We would highly recommend Ashley’s workshops.”
Sarah Evans, Marketing Manager, Kuits Solicitors

HURST Accountants are proud to be the number one business advisor for entrepreneurial businesses in the £5m – £50m T/O range. We do this by employing and training the very best. Ashley has been working with us for over 5 years helping us develop and fine tune how we interact with each other and our clients. He has also supported a number of clients and contacts. We cant recommend him highly enough.

Simon Brownbill
Practice Development Partner at HURST

I thought I’d just drop to an e-mail to say thanks for all the coaching and the tips that gave me my best year ever. Definitely found the ideas and tips very useful, from the regular contacting of clients,  to the agendas to simply asking ‘how’s it going with you ‘ as my opening question, they have all helped me over the year and will continue to do so going forward as long as I keep doing them !!!

Really enjoyed our sessions together, long live the high yellows eh !

Kind regards

Peter

Peter R Bedwell
DipFA MIFS
Bright Wealth Management

I have worked with Ashley for over 12 months, and work with him on the following areas.
-Situational coaching
-Business Strategy
-Understanding different communication styles to fit with client personalities, and how to identify them.

Many more individual discussions on a varied amount of topics for advice and a sounding board for reassurance.

I would recommend you speak with Ashley as I’m sure his communication skills and knowledge will help your business grow like mine.

Associate Partner & Practitioner at i2i; Associate Trainer at The White Room; Owner of Big Knows
Had the great fortune to meet Ashley at a Budget Review meeting of all places in 2015 – St Patrick’s Day I recall. Soon became apparent that whilst we were of course interested in understanding the numbers, our real purpose was to meet new and invigorating people. Little did I realise at the time that once we were introduced, a strong bond would form between us.

Ashley is one of life’s great conversationalists. It’s food and drink to him a room full of strangers so we quickly hit it off! We also shared a passion for personality profiling so many’s the time we have spent ‘reading’ those around us. Ashley is usually spot on in his assessments too – a rare gift indeed.

But for me, what I want to shout most loudly about are the lessons he has taught me when it comes to presenting to a crowd. His mantra of “no slides” can create havoc in some but I listened, determined to prove that with practice, I too could begin to reduce the volume of slides used. And pleased to report my reliance on a slide deck is massively reduced especially when delivering a keynote. Audience interaction is so much more alive I’ve found.

Staying central to your audience when presenting whilst common sense to some, I’d always leaned either stage left or right. Not any more. Again, audience reaction has intensified since this simple fix.

Learning to believe in your own talents is at the heart of what Ashley preaches. I’ve since partnered with him on several occasions and each time, I have always been impressed with his dedication to the cause. Happy to throw in the occasional flashpoint, he does however care passionately about his delivery and how it’s received by his audiences.

Oh and a bonus for me? Discovering he used to write for Fantasy Football – Baddiel & Skinner – a TV show which will always have a special place in my heart. less

“Our advisers have benefitted greatly from working with Ashley and have variously credited him with improvements in a number of areas such as: effective client questioning, obtaining introductions and developing professional connections. The work he has done with our team has certainly been worthwhile.”

My team and I recieved a coaching session from Ashley to improve and refined our skills in delivering business pitches and presentation. The workshop was very useful, challenged many of our practices and made us question our ways of communicating commercial information. I think we got a lot from it and we will make use of what we learned in the future. It was also very entertaining which no doubt helped with the learning

Arnaud Garcon
Team leader New Projects at University of Manchester Intellectual Property 

I work for The Appointment Group delivering Event Management solutions and continually searching for fresh and engaging activities for our corporate clients. I have known Ashley for some time and when recently asked by a client to provide a “communication” based workshop I needed go no further. Our client brief was for us to recommend a fun group activity but to seriously assist in a growing need to improve departmental communication within their business. Through Ashley’s unique skill combining humour and engaging delivery the group quickly became animated and resourceful to help each other improve their group communication skills through the power of humour. The three hour session literally flew by and the group continued to laugh, joke and share their new found confidence and comic delivery long into an enjoyable evening. I have no hesitation in recommending Ashley, to the extent that even I am looking forward to the next comic master class. less
March 4, 2016, John was Ashley’s client

Ashley delivered an in-house workshop for a group of our fee earners, demystifying and empowering in the art of selling.

The workshop was both informative and relevant, but also entertaining and challenging, and everyone who attended took away tricks, tips and enhanced confidence to take into situations where they might be expected to sell, or even simply to present themselves in the most engaging and memorable way.

Ashley was also committed to not simply treating the workshop as a freestanding service, and was keen to follow up with us to ensure that we were putting into practice the lessons learned and that we were using them to achieve results.

For all these reasons, Ashley’s approach and service were unique and a breath of fresh air.

“Ashley has recently provided a number of sessions for us around presentation skills. He showed himself to be personally invested in the improvement in the team confidence, with very astute and subtle management of the different weaknesses. He has stripped away the uncertainties and worries around presenting and there was quite a marked change to positive enjoyment and clear employment of his tips in the final team presentations. “

Ashley brings a very refreshing approach to communicating, using storytelling in a really powerful way. Great to work with, and he made some very effective techniques extremely easy to use.

David Curtis COO Wakelet

Ashley is a complete business professional that understands the value of personal communication, relationships and the psychology behind business. He delivers results with passion and a great sense of humour. I have had the pleasure of being coached by him, and would recommend anyone to spend an hour with Ashley to improve their presentation skills and pitch delivery.
Lee Ali
Entrepreneur, Tradeshow Professional, Business Owner, Sales and Marketing Specialist, MD ExpoStars Ltd

Ashley coached us in a pitching workshop for an upcoming funding competition. He showed us how to give an engaging, personable presentation that wasn’t just an endless series of Powerpoint slides. We completely changed the nature of our pitch with his guidance and it definitely paid off, as we were prize-winners – we were even congratulated for a passionate pitch which wasn’t just a “boring set of slides”. We’d definitely recommend Ashley for anyone looking to improve their presentation skills, confidence and how to approach an important meeting.

Ashley’s workshop gave our key personnel the opportunity to think differently about how they present the company and our product(s)/service, it was an informative and entertaining day!

Ashley provided a great environment for our team to consider how we can perform presentations with greater impact.
It was hugely enjoyable, we all came out of our comfort zones, and many nuggets of wisdom were taken away.

Ashley was referred to help prepare us for an interview at the final stage of an important bid.  This part of the tender is too often overlooked when it is arguably the most key.   Ashley’s innovative approach was different from anything myself or my colleagues had experienced previously.  His aim was to make us stand-out when we went to interview and that is exactly what happened.  The simple techniques helped us with keeping to time, keeping on track and made us feel relaxed and confident when presenting.  Ashley’s tools to use humour skilfully in an interaction led us to be natural and to be ourselves when we were pitching. This assisted in breaking the tension and helped to humanise the process.  He also encouraged us to break from the norm and use various kinds of vision aids to illustrate our proposal, however there was not a power-point slide in sight, not one!  This seemed to come as a welcome relief to the interview panel.

Having said all that the most important thing is to win the bid, which we did.  I can honestly say that the training and preparation with Ashley was one of the best things I’ve done!

Ashley recently managed to show me how to present the most boring legislation in the stature books to a room of 40 lawyers who were only there for the breakfast. The resulting positive feedback was such that I thought they had provided feedback for the wrong seminar. I think they were laughing with me, rather than at me and all credit to Ashley’s straightforward help – some of which he should patent.

I originally met with Ashley via my accountants Hurst where he did a brief presentation on pitching skills. Earlier this year I had a really important pitch to do in order to win a large client, I spent 2 sessions with Ashley where he covered a range of skills from basic body language when pitching through to the need to 
sell our service via the use of case studies and limited slides to make the presentation more engaging. It also generally boosted my confidence. As a result we won the pitch so a great result!

Ashley’s approach to presentational skills coaching is refreshing and creative. He encourages and enables the appropriate and effective use of humour with fresh, alternative content to the run-of-the-mill professional PP slide deck. Shared encyclopaedic knowledge of TV comedy classics made our sessions a lot of fu

I met Ashley at a seminar and subsequently asked him to assist me in developing my presentation skills and confidence in public speaking. I would highly recommend Ashley if you are looking for that all important extra something to make your presentations stand out from the crowd.

I like to think I know a thing or two about presenting, however you can always learn from a professional. Ashley Boroda’s talk at Network Cheshire today was as entertaining as it was enlightening. If you have not trained with him yet… perhaps you should?

Ashley has been a breath of fresh air! We hired him to help us find the best way to present to our clients on a one to one basis and his advice and coaching have been a revelation. His straightforward, common sense approach has given me the confidence to develop and try out new skills in both my business and personal life…who knows, I might even have a go at stand up!

Ashley Boroda transforms peoples presentations skills. He’ll take your presentation game up a few notches so that you leave your audience feeling engaged, enthused and enlightened. Ashley oozes character and personality and he will show you how to do the same.

Ashley worked with our business incubation team to help with their pitching performance. It proved such a success we invited Ashley back to share some of these tips with our high-tech entrepreneurs. Highly entertaining and provided us with some sound advice!

“Ashley is a great coach with a passion for making things better. He specialises in helping individuals and organisations more effective at communicating and connecting with their clients and colleagues. His approach is based on sound psychological research, delivers results as well as being memorable and fun! 

He is highly effective both 1:1 and with groups small and large. He is highly thought of at Acuity, he gets fantastic feedback and can always be relied on to make a difference.

Having seen Ashley speak at another event we booked him for a bespoke training session at our Manchester office for a national team training event. He was very engaging and encouraged us to step out of our comfort zone and to rethink how we present ourselves not just to the internal market at Weightmans but to clients and prospective clients.

A very enjoyable and useful session. We would be happy to recommend him.

“I’d just like to say a massive thank you for your unique, fun training style on engaging with the audience. Your 1 day course really prepared me for my Social Enterprise pitch and being brave enough to not use power point as a key tool definitely helped me. I’d recommend this course to everyone!”

Our team at Brainbox often needs to present complicated information clients in ways that are interesting and easy to understand. I saw Ashley speak at a business event in Leeds and it struck me that his approach was a good match for our team and our business brand.

I asked Ashley to help us improve how we present. As we are a small team, we also decided to open up the one-day event to some of our clients. Ashley gave a relaxed and informative day’s training which gave us plenty to think about and work on. Each Brainbox team member has used some aspect of it since the event and the feedback from our clients was overwhelmingly positive.

Top Qualities: Personable, Expert, Creative

I and my co-director, Nick Lloyd, attended a training day with Ashley on 9th August, which we were told was all about ‘introducing humour into presentations’. As a new business start-up and having to deliver presentations to Local Authority Commissioners, we thought this would be a worthwhile day away from the office even with the trek up to Bradford.

Well, we were certainly not disappointed and probably had the best day ever out of the office, coming back with a bucket full of ideas, which actually completely turned our current thinking and approach on its head. Ashley is an amazing guy, clearly a professional in his field of effective and engaging communication. As well as being given some golden nuggets about how to engage with people through dialogue and when and how to inject the right amount of humour, we learned what constituted a good presentation and how to avoid falling into the trap of ‘death by PowerPoint’.

If you have a need to communicate with people, either one to one, with small or large groups or need some valuable hints on how to engage effectively with any audience, Ashley is your man.

Thank you Ashley for a fun, inspiring and very worthwhile day, your training will serve us well and has already made a difference on how we go about our business.

I want to say a big THANK YOU for yesterday’s training event. I can’t ever recall having so much fun while learning. It really was a hugely enjoyable and informative day, from which Andy and I took a great deal.

If only all work-focused training was as enjoyable :o) I just wish that more training could be in yesterday’s format, as opposed to e-learning (ugh!)

Ashley presented a session at our AGM called “Standing out from the Crowd”. It went down a treat and everyone was fully engaged and learnt many tips and techniques to improve the way they come across to others in the context of developing business relationships. Ashley is refreshingly different in style and because he involves the audience it is both worthwhile and memorable.

Ashley recently performed at one our legendary Cosatto company bashes and was superb. His relaxed and humorous style had everyone at ease very quickly. His message was very good; our staff responded well and gave great feedback after the event. I would certainly recommend him for a punchy, relaxed and funny session but with a serious and useful message.

Top Qualities: Great Results, Personable, Expert

I asked Ashley to join our quarterly divisional meeting at our Chester campus, following a recommendation from the charity we support as a division.

Ashley brought the meeting to life and was completely engaging with associates from different work environments. The feedback received has been that his talk was light hearted but useful, with many people taking away positive thoughts and ideas for self improvement.

Ashley spent a day with us honing our presentation skills. A day worth spending and I think it helped us as a team, not just with our presentation training.

I was sceptical about using a comedian for this but I would recommend him and will be using him again for some other staff.

Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, Good Value

Ashley delivered a fun and energising session whilst effectively getting his message across. Unanimous positive feedback received following the event reflected its resounding success.

From the moment we were in touch with Ashley Boroda regarding him running our Comedy Course as a fundraiser, he put us at ease by his professionalism and also his caring manner. Ashley understood our concerns and our needs for the charity.

From the moment we started the training Ashley also understood that many people were very nervous and he made us feel very comfortable, his attention to detail was fantastic, which showed on the night of the end of course gala show – his choice of compare made the night very professional and people are still commenting about the night having not expected such a professional event.

I took part myself and he knew how nervous I was through it all. Ashley made me believe in myself, that I could do this and he was right – I did it!

We will definitely be using Ashley again to run another Charity Comedy Course and Gala Night; people are already interested in the next comedy course which will begin in January 2013.

Meridian Business Support got over 200 members of staff together in Stratford upon Avon on a Saturday afternoon. As a precursor to a glittering awards event in the evening the afternoon session, informing staff of past year results and future strategy has often been difficult to pitch at the right level. With a variety of job functions and experience levels the audience has often had to endure an afternoon of graphs, bullet points and PowerPoint. This year, to get some important company messages across and to engage and develop staff skills we tried something different; no projector, no PowerPoint and no microphone.

We enjoyed a developmental session delivered by Ashley Boroda who helped us to identify our stand-out and stand-up skills. Ashley’s unique style and competent, engaging delivery had the audience of 200 discovering new skills and techniques. The session absolutely flew by with many people feeling sorry that the session had to end as more and more wanted to leap up in front of the daunting audience and pitch their piece. A number of our staff found their voice and could grace any comedy club stage (another couple could appear but it would have to be well after the watershed!)

I thoroughly recommend Ashley to help get complex messages over to a broad audience.

Ashley ran a 2 hour session on public speaking for me as part of a series of technical conferences in 2011. What started as a light-hearted session grew by word of mouth to being one of the most engaging and interesting session throughout the two days. Ashley’s session was motivational, interesting and topical and certainly got delegates talking long into the night about the topics that they had chosen. His energy and enthusiasm made for an engaging and enjoyable session so much so that we invited him back to run more sessions. I would have no hesitation in recommending Ashley. He is fun to work with and he keeps everything clear, simple and entertaining.

We asked Ashley to deliver his ‘Humour Secret weapon of Business’ session to the senior executive team in Manchester. Coming in after a long day of strategy formulation his audience was tired, but within minutes of him starting the energy and enthusiasm levels in the room rocketed. His delivery style is fluent and engaging and the simple truth is that learning takes place without effort, whilst having a huge amount of fun. Team bonding, personal interaction and confidence are all built quickly and effortlessly – the sober, important truths are still delivered, but are delivered so they are understood, remembered and used. Very worthwhile.

We have been working with Ashley on both impactful presentations to a large number of people and also on how to present our products to one or two people at a time. His knowledge and insight, along with his unusual approach of using humour, have helped focus and simplify our approach to both meetings and presentations, the results of which are bearing fruit. We couldn’t recommend Ashley highly enough and look forward to continuing to work with him in the future.

We had great fun at a recent firm wide training day when we asked Ashley to come along and help us. He brought alive what would otherwise have been a dull start to the first day and gave us all something very different to think about. We are now looking at working with Ashley again. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him.

Ashley gave a very entertaining and motivational talk at Stockport Breakfast Club showing us how he uses comedy in order to help business people to become more distinctive and memorable in their presentation of themselves. We all had great fun and he brought the room to life by getting everyone in the room involved (which isn’t always easy so early on a cold and dark winter morning!) I hope to work with Ashley again soon and would definitely recommend him.

Ashley delivered a fantastic, inspirational session on Presentation Skills to our students to help prepare them for pitching and presenting their businesses at the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy in Manchester. The session was full of great tips, increased students confidence and most of all made us laugh very much! I would highly recommend Ashley for his distinctive way of delivery through using humour as a tool as his workshop gives skills which are useful in business and throughout life. Thanks Ashley!

Ashley has a deceptively relaxed style which puts everyone at ease and draws them into his presentations. He ably demonstrates that humour can and should be integrated into management performance and presentations to make them memorable for the right reasons!

He did an excellent job of presenting this message to a group of MBA graduates and had everyone participating, being funny and becoming visibly more confident. The feedback was universally positive. I’d have no hesitation in recommending him a keynote speaker, MC or event host.

Ashley has an entertaining and light-hearted style that delivers a strong business message. Within a short session he works on developing confidence through comedy, supporting his audience in discovering skills that they may not have realised they possessed before the start of his presentation. As a trainer myself, this was joy to watch and invigorating to participate in.

Ashley brings a different dimension to the art of presentation. As a law firm we rely heavily on our people to provide informative and interesting seminars and workshops to other organisations. We brought in Ashley to train our staff and partners in how to deliver successful presentations. His unique and humorous training methods have transformed the way we present to others. This in turn has had a really beneficial effect on our business and has set us apart from our competitors. I would have no hesitation in recommending Ashley. He is fun to work with and he keeps everything so simple. July 24, 2011

Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, Good Value

Ashley delivered a seminar ‘A Funny Way to be Serious’ aimed at enhancing presentation skills through the medium of stand-up comedy. He certainly did that! All the delegates had a great time with Ashley judging the audience and hitting the right spot, delivering the seminar brilliantly. I have no hesitation in recommending Ashley – go on, try something refreshingly different! May 27, 2011

Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, Creative

Ashley ‘kindly’ told me I was rubbish in front of the camera. I agreed and asked him to make me better. He did and I am delighted to share this with his network April 5, 2011

Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, Good Value

Ashley came and gave us a course on presentation skills prior to a major client seminar which the firm was hosting. This was without doubt one of the most refreshing and effective “soft skills” courses I have ever attended. Unlike other “bog-standard” course providers, Ashley utilises the skills and techniques he has picked up on the comedy circuit to get his message across in a unique and effective way. His energy, experience and enthusiasm make for an extremely enjoyable and worthwhile course. October 13, 2010

Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, Creative

The workshops that Ashley runs are a great way to develop public speaking skills. The idea of using comedy routine techniques to help deliver better professional presentations on legal issues is, at first glance, a concept that you would not realise could work but it has been very effective at improving my public speaking. A really interesting learning experience. October 6, 2010

Top qualities: Personable, Expert, Creative

When I was looking to study stand-up I was unanimously and enthusiastically pointed in the direction of Ashley Boroda, I was not disappointed, his knowledge of comedy in all it’s forms is something remarkable and not only that but studying with him was some of the best fun I have ever had. In the world of comedy he has worn more hats than Tommy Cooper; Performer, writer, funny- bone philosopher, teacher, agent but to me he is quite simply the supreme guru of giggle and guffaw.

I highly recommend Ashley Boroda’s comedy workshop. In our profession we are expected to present complex information to large groups of potential clients and other lawyers. To present in a way that is clear, confident and entertaining is an invaluable business and life skill. From those of us who dread the thought of presenting to the more confident amongst us who have the weight of heavy expectation on their shoulders, it is a daunting task. Ashley’s workshops are a new way of dealing with both preparation and practice of presenting. His anecdotes are both entertaining and useful – his tips and practical exercises simply work. The sessions are enjoyable and challenging. Ashley’s method of disguised learning is that the participants prepare to do a 10 minute stand up comedy routine. If you can do that, 40 minutes on Boundary Disputes will be simple.  I wish that I had known Ashley’s methods years ago. I can’t recommend it highly enough. This is totally different from the marketing workshops of yesteryear. This is bang on what you need to make a better impression as individuals and as a firm.

Ashley delivers an excellent programme of comedy workshops.  His sessions are supportive and fun and bring out the very best in those attending.  I would have no problem recommending his company.  His 12-week Comedy Course and showcase finale was one of the best projects we commissioned last year – participants are still writing in to the local press about how good it was 6 months down the line

From the start Ashley was a real pleasure to work with. He was extremely professional, yet approachable and was really passionate about developing comedy projects which benefited local communities. The comedy course was a key element in the success of the East Manchester Arts and Culture Regeneration Programme and played a pivotal role in not only providing a course which enhanced the lives of participants by developing their self confidence and self esteem but it also helped to raise the profile of the arts and cultural work taking place in East Manchester with features in the Guardian, BBC Radio Manchester, BBC Radio 4 and the Manchester Evening News.

Whenever I bump into people who took part on one of the courses, which ran over three years, I am never ceased to be amazed at how much their confidence has grown and how the course has given them the confidence to try new things. for many the course has helped them to take those tentative steps to become a professional comedian whilst for others it has given them the push to go for that job which has been out of reach for so long.

About twelve months ago, I agreed to be a guest speaker to the Manchester Aviation Society, not realising what it entailed. I can honestly say that if I had not attended the course, there is no way I could have stood in front of seventy five “Plane Spotters” and delivered more than thirty minutes of speech. When the event came, I basically ended up doing two, forty five minute stand up routines based on my aviation career and some of our celebrity customers. If ever I need advice or want to run an idea past someone, Ashley is always available and always honest in what advice he gives.

I have a good career in TV, presented the Big breakfast, Richard and Judy appeared on Shameless, The Office Xmas Special to name a few. That said nothing compares to the fun I had on the stand up comedy course run by Ashley Boroda. I use to do stand up comedy magic years and years ago so I decided to put my self on the course, for a couple of reasons my confidence had gone and comedy had changed over the years and I wanted to get back into stand up.

I had attended a course in London earlier on in the year and never bothered completing it as I thought the teacher was more concerned about him self being funny than helping the rest of the class.

However with Ashley you have someone who wants nothing more than seeing you up on stage and making people laugh, in fact Ashley is probably one of the best audiences you could ever wish for.

Thanks to Ashley I have got my confidence back and every thing I learned was put into good use.

I needed to get some of our senior lawyers trained on presentation skills and wanted them to get away from the normal approach of typical legal presentations.  Without question I knew Ashley Boroda would fit our requirements.

Ashley Boroda’s relaxed approach and true comedy talent enabled our lawyers to loosen up their inhibitions on presenting to audiences and came away with great tips and fundamentals that simply hasn’t been achieved by any other source in the past.  This session was so successful, the lawyers came away wanting to know more and we are all looking forward to our advanced session next month!

If you ever want to learn presentation skills with a difference, Ashley Boroda is definitely the one you want!

If ever there was a way to help individuals increase their confidence and develop their public speaking skills, then “Public Speaking through Comedy” is the way to go!!

Enrolling on the course was one of the best decisions I have ever made as I am now a much more confident individual and am now more prepared to leave the safety of my comfort zone. I would strongly recommend this course to any aspiring future business and community leaders who wish to confront their fear of public speaking in a safe and supportive environment, whilst having a few laughs along the way!

I’m a full time speaker and trainer. I decided to sign up for Ashley’s course as part of my own personal development and I was very pleased with the results – The course was great fun and has proved very useful to me in my professional capacity. In addition it provided some fascinating insights to world of Comedy and how comedians go about preparing their acts. I highly recommend it!!

I approached Ashley for a fresh pair of eyes on an important presentation I had to give and was so glad I did. He helped sharpen and shorten, focus and finesse and deepen the delivery so I totally aced it on the day. The rehearsal gave me confidence and his feedback was invaluable.

October 28, 2010

Top qualities: Personable, Expert, Creative

I took the course mainly to gain confidence and had very little thought of performing stand up, the course was wonderful showing us how to project our voice, breathing techniques and how to present ourselves. As I manage a busy Resource Centre for Manchester Social Services I needed to be able to do presentations and training packages to my team, This course has helped me present training in a fun way which has helped engage my team more and training now is fun and more interactive, Presentations are more interesting and I can hold the interest of all I n a large room The course has given me an interest in comedy and I have performed my stand up at the Town Hall a few times, I run a Giggle Group at the Centre, launched our own Radio Station at the Centre (Smile Time Radio) been on TV, Radio Manchester and all of this because of this wonderful course. Ashley Boroda made all of this happen for me and my team, the course is so much more than comedy it is about confidence, belief, trust, making things happen looking at things in a positive way and yes embracing fun as delivering things with smile is so much more interesting. Would I do it again yes in a flash but I think this course should be shared by as many as possible as it is so much better than any prescription I have heard of. When I finished the course I thanked Ashley for his wisdom but I know every time I present training, presentations and stand up it is because he gave me the confidence to, so in many ways the course is almost organic and grows daily within in us giving confidence and motivation to get things done.

Ashley has been a guest facilitator at several Speakeasy sessions and I must say he’s been a pleasure to work with. His insights, drawn from the world of performing arts/comedy, have added real value to the meetings, helping business people to connect with their audience on a more engaging and emotional level. Recently he has been taking some of the concepts of professional comedy and helping business professionals with everything from personal impact to persuasive presentation skills. Ashley has a motivational effect on people, unleashing their potential by enhancing their communication skills and all-round confidence. I would strongly recommend you speak to him if you’re looking for better results from yourself and/or your workforce.” July 19, 2010

Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, Creative

Ashley’s course finally gave me the confidence to eventually have a go at stand-up, something I had been thinking about for a few years.

I learnt how to construct a set, turn my ideas into usable material, get gigs and got a great insight into how the comedy industry works.
I now perform regularly and get paid work. I have also branched out in my writing and now write sketches, short film scripts and short stories all of which I hope to eventually try and do professionally.

I found the course invaluable in helping me identify my strength in writing comedy and it really gave me the enthusiasm and confidence I needed to try it out and continue performing.