PSA North East October 2025: Building Your Business

Richard is one of the UK’s top experts in advanced presentation skills, especially in commercial business situations.

Richard spent 18 years at Procter & Gamble, in a range of UK-based and global roles in sales, insights, and learning & development.  In addition, he soon became their go-to global expert on advanced presentation skills training – becoming known as the “guru grandfather of presentation skills”.

Since 2016 Richard has shifted this ‘side hustle’ into being is sole focus.  Today he  runs Making Presentations.  He works with large multinationals like Procter & Gamble and Carslberg, UK companies like Channel 4 and TTP, and heroic charities like the Trussell Trust and Yorkshire Cancer Research.   He designs and delivers training courses, leads executive coaching and delivers keynote talks all an array of topics within making presentations – “The science and art of saying things brilliantly”.

Richard is the co-author, with Kirstie Hawkes, of “The Versatile Presenter: Master 12 styles to get the response you need” – a book that tells you how to break-out of your one fixed style of presenting and to embody any of twelve different styles.  It transforms you into a truly versatile business presenter.

A little message from Lawrence:

Sales and sales training is my passion.

After leaving the Royal Air Force there wasn’t much in the ‘working world’ which sparked my interest, however I did find a mentor and an opportunity, working part time with a sales organisation who promised me riches beyond my wildest dreams. If I would learn the skills needed to sell, recruit & train, I would be rich. Call me naïve, but I mastered all of that and still didn’t get rich.

Direct sales came along and really changed my thinking on the world of sales and sales training. I have now been actively selling products and services for over 35 years.

Coaching came along in the early 90’s and I earned two diplomas in business performance coaching and life coaching, I have been a sales & business coach for 20yrs.

The world has changed (a lot) since I began my sales journey. The internet, regulation, cancelation periods etc have made customers much more savvy and they will not simply sign on the dotted line because a pushy salesmen offers them a drop close. Which is only right and proper.

Because of this, sales and sales training has had to change. No one solution is going to fit every sales environment – all my training sessions are bespoke to my clients.