Designing, Shaping and Staging Your Speech for Maximum Impact
Every unforgettable speech has a hidden craft.
The directorial choices - about structure, rhythm, silence, and timing - are what transform information into impact. Most speakers leave them to chance. A director never does.
In The Director's Cut, multi-award-winning theatre director, producer, actor and
international keynote speaker Simone de Haas pulls back the curtain on how to design, shape, and stage your speech into an ovation-worthy production, using one of the most dramatically powerful scores ever written as your guide.
Les Misérables doesn't just tell a story. It composes one.
And so can you.
Through the lens of a theatre director, and one of the greatest stories ever staged, you'll explore how to:
- Identify the catalyst, conflict, and climax that give your message dramatic power;
- Apply the principles of narrative arc to shape content that lands with emotional precision;
- Craft impactful beginnings that arrest your audience before a single argument is made;
- Build to climactic moments that are felt, not just heard;
- Apply Staging Intelligence™ - mastering your use of space, silence, and movement on any stage.
Whether you're an emerging voice or a seasoned professional, this session will change the way you craft and deliver your speeches. You'll walk away with new eyes on your craft, and the directorial tools to match.
ABOUT SIMONE DE HAAS
Simone de Haas approaches speaking the way a theatre director approaches a live stage: with attention to energy, relationship, and what the room is telling you in real time.
A multi-award-winning theatre director, performer and speaker strategist, Simone is the creator of Staging Intelligence™, an embodied approach to communication that reveals how voice, body, space, and relationship actively shape meaning as it unfolds. Her work is drawn from more than four decades of theatre direction, performance psychology, and narrative craft, and is designed for speakers who want their message to land, not just be delivered.
This applied work sits within Simone’s broader body of work including Ensemble Intelligence™ and the Theatre of Leadership®, which explore how trust, attention, and collective intelligence emerge in groups and leadership contexts.
Whether working with a keynote speaker, executive team, or leadership cohort, Simone is deeply interested in what becomes possible when individuals attune not only to their message, but to the intelligence of the room itself.
Her academic background includes lecturing at Queensland Conservatorium and QUT in Acting and Performance Studies, reflecting a long-standing commitment to the craft of performance and the transmission of embodied knowledge. She continues to mentor emerging and established voices worldwide, bringing a theatre-trained eye to the evolving demands of leadership, influence, and public speaking today.
The Program:
6:00pm Boardwalk Bistro for Optional Pre-event Dinner (at your own cost)
7:00pm The Riveria Room for the event
9:00pm The Birdcage Bar for post event networking (optional, and at your own cost)
*Free parking available
PSA’s Values in Action Policy applies to this Event
Please view Cancellation and Refund Policy