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Helen Packham

@helenpackham

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Use Your Words To Change Lives
TEDx Speaker & Event Curator 🎤
Speaker Coach🔈
Podcast Host 🎙️
Thinking Out Loud 🗣️
DJ 🎧
Find out more 👇🏻

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How I landed a TEDx talk with just 24 hours notice after being diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.

I never set out to speak on the TEDx stage and become a curator and speaker coach for TED.

But life has a funny way of laying out the path for you.
Follow for part 2!

Thinking Out Loud 7 by @helenpackham

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3 months ago

How I landed a TEDx talk with 24 hours notice part 2.

Everyone has a TED worthy story inside them! by @helenpackham

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2 months ago

You’ve got to be in it to win it 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻 by @helenpackham

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a day ago

What do brilliant actuaries and top sales directors have in common?

They both need the exact same medicine to hold an audience, that’s what!

Years ago in financial services, I noticed a distinct pattern while coaching some of the sharpest analytical minds in actuarial science.

Through Hogan personality profiling, the data was clear, that these leaders rose to the top on pure technical brilliance. But when it came to commanding a room or bringing a team along on a vision?

It often fell a bit flat.

That’s when my concept of Conditional Extroversion was born. Confidence isn’t a fixed personality trait. It’s dependent on the environment, context and the tool you use.

And the universal tool that worked across the board? Storytelling.

It disarmed the room for the outgoing sales teams, and gave the highly analytical leaders a clear, structured way to connect authentically with their people.

Storytelling is hardwired into our human DNA. Our ancestors used it around fires to build communities and pass down wisdom. (I made a whole podcast season on the topic!)

And we haven’t lost the skill at all we’ve just let it sit dormant (or tried to outsource it.)

IT’S SUMMIT WEEK!

This week, I’m hosting my interactive workshop at the Brighton Summit: Crafting Your Business Origin Story.
I’m sharing my 4 part framework to build an origin story that builds instant trust without feeling fake.

📍 At Brighton Summit? Come say hello and join my session!

Not attending? DM me the word STORY and let’s talk about how we can craft your origin story 1:1.

(P.S. Want to dive deeper into how story is built into our biology? Check out my podcast for a full deep-dive Words That Change Lives wherever you listen.) by @helenpackham

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4 days ago

I know it’s pretty obvious but I just made a correlation 💡😂 by @helenpackham

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8 days ago

Any where near water 🌊
Any where near green hills 🌳
Any where I can mix music 🎧
Any where I can dance in a crowd 💃
Also….. reading a book or watching a sci fi documentary/film 😂

Where can I find you? by @helenpackham

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10 days ago

Something struck me in my spin class 🚲🚲 by @helenpackham

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11 days ago

What is it to be a “thought leader” in the age of intelligence?

Because a lot of leaders share the same measured cadence.

They give sanitised takeaways that no one could possibly disagree with, AND maybe also that no one will ever remember.

Welcome to The Great Homogenisation. 🙌🏻

It’s not just about AI although that isn’t helping when it comes to this particular topic.

There is also a fear of being too loud, too direct, or too specific. I know, I’ve been there 💯.

We’ve traded raw human stuff for a kind of Performative Neutrality, which feels like an attempt to sound so professional that we end up sounding like a sea of beige voices. 🥯

If your message is so rounded off that it can’t offend anyone, it might also be too dull to move anyone.

And if you aren’t into the rage bait tactic (which is a good thing) something else is required.

But fear not! You can start by reclaiming your Artisanal Traits:

Weaving: Synthesising messy, non obvious human realities in real time and not just regurgitating industry consensus.

Conviction: Taking a line in the sand stance that reflects your actual moral spine, values and origin story.

Embodiment: Dropping the performative armour, owning your voice, and speaking unscripted.

Flourishing: Operating out of your raw, organic strengths instead of trying to fit a standardised mold.

I created The Artisanal Voice for leaders, founders, and experts who are sick of sounding like everyone else in their sector.

Together, we run a UHA (Unrepliable Human Assets) Audit, strip away the beige, and sharpen the edge so you get seen and heard in the room on stage, online, and in the boardroom.
Link 👆🏻👆🏻
Book a 30-minute UHA audit here: https://helenpackham.as.me/UHA by @helenpackham

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11 days ago

AI saved my weekend when my daughter’s laptop locked us out.

It helps my mum navigate complex medical health reports.

And it helps me run my business while raising my kids.
I’m sure you can relate too.

I am not anti. It’s here, it’s brilliant, and it lightens the cognitive load.
But as business owners, we need to draw a clear line in the sand between Inward and Outward use:

INWARD (behind the scenes): Use AI to its fullest! Ideation, problem, solving, organising messy thoughts, structuring workflows, and building draft slide decks (I used Canva AI to lay out my workshop slides).

OUTWARD (human touchpoints): Do not outsource your voice. Your origin story, your lived experiences, your stage presence, and your client connections belong entirely to you. All the edges that make you YOU.

When you outsource your human touchpoints to AI, people feel it and the trust drops.

AI helped me organise the outline for my upcoming workshop at Brighton Summit, but the story, the method, and the live coaching are 100% human.

I’d love you to join me on 15th October where I’ll be running a workshop on how to craft your business origin story.

Brighton Summit: Think Differently
15 October | The Corn Exchange at Brighton Dome
Tickets! (https://bit.ly/4pxd9Rt) link in bio

PS: If you want to reclaim your unique, artisanal voice, DM me “VOICE” and I’ll send you something to help. by @helenpackham

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17 days ago

In the words of Linkin Park 🤘🏻 by @helenpackham

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22 days ago

The greyhound is out of the gate when it comes to AI.

When you watch AI pioneers like Dr. Geoffrey Hinton quit Google to warn global news outlets, or researchers leave OpenAI and Anthropic to sound the alarm, it’s easy to feel like the future is being decided without us and we are all doomed!

Focusing on what we can’t control is a recipe for inaction. We don’t run AI labs or write government policy.

What we do control is how we show up, communicate, and lead right now.

It’s no longer about competing at speed and volume but leaning into what code can never simulate, your Unreplicable Human Assets (UHAs):

Weaving: Real time synthesis of ideas, emotional nuance, and context.

Conviction: Standing firmly in your origin story, values, and moral spine.

Embodiment: Showing up with unscripted clarity and visceral presence.

Flourishing: Harnessing your natural human strengths like empathy and relationship building.

Too many brilliant leaders have allowed AI to polish off their rough edges until they sound completely generic.

Now is the time to reclaim your human edge!

That’s why I created The Artisanal Voice. Together, we run a UHA Audit across your 4 pillars to strip away the corporate speak and elevate the exact traits that make your voice irreplaceable on stage, online, and in the boardroom.

DM me RENAISSANCE or book your UHA Audit via the link in my bio or here : helenpackham.as.me/UHA⁠ 🔗 by @helenpackham

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25 days ago

I love the fresh green of spring 🌳 and the hot spice of summer 🌶️🔥

But when the air cools and the evenings draw darker i feel ready for the season to turn 🍁

It’s still warm enough and sunny enough to not have to think about what coat you are going to wear, whilst enjoying something comforting and warm for dinner with a pumpkin gingerbread candle burning on the side.

Sleep is deeper and more delicious and JOMO (joy of missing out) arrives (most of the time) because there’s something deeply nourishing about cocooning after the heady hedonism of the long days and the heat. 😍

What’s your fave month? by @helenpackham

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a month ago