Testimonials

“You are a genius. I used the new capabilities statement in my meeting this morning with a Fortune 500 company. The executives couldn’t stop talking about it. We have a third meeting with the board of directors in two weeks.”
— David W., CEO, STSC

For the first time in our 22-year history, we have one easily understood and unifying message.
— Allan Kullen, CEO, Americans All^®

Ira has spoken at several ASAE & The Center’s Great Ideas Conferences and he always receives very positive feedback from attendees.  His speaking style is very engaging in that he provides a good mix of audience interaction and formal presentation. Anyone who attends his sessions will walk away with new ideas on how to approach relationship building, networking, business storytelling and much more. I would highly recommend him to speak at other conferences and events!
— Megan Denhardt, Senior Manager, Learning, ASAE & The Center

Your executive storytelling program was the key reason I chose to attend the overall event. In fact, it was somewhat of a life altering experience for me! I thoroughly enjoyed and valued your teaching moments and wisdom. You not only shared excellent insight but you made it interesting and fun! I recognize how critical this skill is to ensure I am a more influential leader primarily for my organization’s and team’s sake.
— Juanita W., United States Federal Government

They quadrupled our revenue in just 6 months.
— Michael Whitecar, CEO, TCIG

Never before in our six years of being in business has the entire management team agreed to a new business story. The Chief Storyteller^®‘s approach helped solidify our direction, identify our story in our customer’s eyes, differentiators, and most importantly, the value that customers appreciated and desired. Their approach was the lynch pin in our winning a $94 million dollar multi-year contract.
— John Scarcella, Executive Vice President, IntelliDyne

One of the most important aspects of the success of the program was the pre-interviews. Ira spent time with each participant getting to know them and getting to know their important issues. When it came time for Ira to conduct the training, his research was appreciated by everyone in the room. His examples, stories, and exercises were are all customized to my team’s needs and what I wanted the learning opportunities to be. Over the past few months, I have seen positive changes in our team effectiveness due to his training program and my executive team’s reinforcement of the key takeaways.
— Employee (name withheld), United States Federal Government

Ira inspired our more than 800 attendees. He inspired them to think differently about how to present themselves verbally and in writing, through the entire job hunting process. He underscored the importance of telling your story through your client or prospective employer’s eyes. We received many favorable comments about his topic. We were very glad to have Ira as part of the panel of ABA speakers.
— Esther D. Brewer, Educational Programs Manager, American Bar Association

Ira is the best messaging guy on the planet. Period. His company, The Chief Storyteller^®, has helped me with three different startup company ideas. In just a few hours, he makes an impact. It’s what his company does over the long term that makes the real difference. They help with messaging of your company, products and services across all potential touch points for clients and prospects. I strongly encourage you to see how they can make a difference for you.
— Daniel Odio, Chief Operating Officer, PointAbout

It’s the best presentation I have been through on social media and I have been through many!! I need to think about our messages and processes as we help our members be better business owners and marketers. Your ideas, approaches, and tools were outstanding. They will help us move into the 21st century of marketing. You present this topic in such an eloquent way!
— Cathy Mrosko, Director of Government Affairs and Industry Outreach, National Systems Contractor Association

I thought your presentation was one of the better sessions in my 8 years in Vistage. I appreciate the discussion we had on my personal story and business stories and I look forward to working with you on them.
— Vistage Member

I first met Ira during his Elevator Pitch Value Proposition Workshop. After watching for just a few minutes, I knew he would be an excellent facilitator for our global programs. As expected, the feedback received from his first trip, from audience members from three separate countries, was excellent. He provided invaluable assistance on their presentation design, their origin/founder’s story, and their public speaking delivery. Subsequently, we partnered with Ira on several additional trips. What set Ira apart, was his advance preparation. He spent considerable time researching the culture and participating companies. His research really, really made a difference. His bespoke [customized] programs were hands-on with actionable take-aways, that the participants really appreciated. He was always a favorite facilitator of the participants.
— Natalia Pipia, Director, CRDF

Ira’s presentation was definitely my best (and most useful) Vistage session to date.
— Vistage Member

I was in Ira’s session at VETS2015 and could not leave the room! Everyone hung on to every word. I said to myself, “I need to get Ira to speak at my other conferences!” We did. Ira was fantastic, again! Attendees hung on every word (again). He delivered his messages on better communications and storytelling while challenging them in a good way. Ira ended his keynote with his “Treat Everyone Like A CEO” exercise — a BIG hit. To see 950 people laughing, smiling, and communicating created a very positive atmosphere and set the tone for the rest of the conference. Ira hit “a home run.”
— Earl Morgan, Department of Energy, Conference Manager

Ira has a unique and captivating way of looking at how organizations communicate–what they are doing today and what they should be doing. He engaged our participants with relevant ideas and made very practical suggestions that we could all use the next day.
— Pete K., United States Federal Government

Ira is an effective, engaging presenter. He made learning fun, connected with our members with tailored content, and presented business storytelling techniques and principles in such a way that my members wanted to use them right away. Because of the positive reviews the members gave his presentation, we invited Ira back for the following year’s conference. True to expectations, he delivered another great session that gave our members tools they could put to use immediately. I highly recommend him.
— Robert E. McLean, Executive Director, Association of Language Companies

Ira Koretsky made me look good. I recommended him as a personal development speaker at our annual meeting in Denver. As one of ten concurrent sessions, this type of program generally pulls about 100 participants, tops. More than 400 people showed up for Ira’s session and stayed. The real estate industry relies on strong personal relationships and trust. Increasingly, demands make it easy to lose sight of this. Several industry legends told me that Ira’s program was something of an intervention, putting them back on the game where it belonged—with people. Thanks, Ira!
— Ann Oliveri, Senior Vice President, Strategic Development, The Urban Land Institute

When I was the executive director at IWPA, Ira rocked the house at our annual conference. When I transitioned to NWPCA, Ira was my first and only choice for our sales-themed annual leadership conference. Ira’s keynote on blending storytelling and selling inspired our members. He challenged them to think deliberately (his catch phrase) about how they message and communicate their brand stories. I knew he would deliver another fantastic program, and he did.
— Brent McClendon, President/CEO, National Wooden Pallet & Container Association

I would like to personally thank you for your stellar presentation to our Builder Fund following and the role that you played in getting our Spring Speaker Series off to a fascinating start. You really captivated the audience’s attention for the full duration of your talk. That was a first of its kind with everyone holding on to your every word so intently and not leaving the room even for one minute.
— Angela Singleton, Director, TEDCO

Ira has great ideas about an important topic. It was extremely useful for me, and I’m buzzing with ideas – ideas that I can actually implement. This is going to make our trainings better, make our recruiting better, and make our marketing better. Look at that repetition!
— Vistage Member

I was so appreciative of the effort you made to do your homework. Our business isn’t easy for an outsider to understand.  Your pre-interviews and homework really made a difference. The presentation was relevant and interesting.  Most importantly, I came away with specific suggestions that I could incorporate immediately – without having to buy into a brand new way of going about my day.  We hope to have you back very soon!
— Nicole Halloran, Business Development Manager, Appleton Coated

I love to start out a conference with a strong keynote speaker – and you certainly filled that bill well. I also love it when my friends make me look good – so thank you for that as well. You left our conference attendees with some great takeaway information and I kept hearing about it throughout the rest of the conference. Truly what you had to say struck a nerve.
— Penny Pompei, National Executive Director, Women Construction Owners Executives

You are a genius. With over 200,000 employees worldwide, networking seemed nearly impossible. With your insights and suggestions, I identified the right people to build relationships with. Then, I spent time talking and meeting with colleagues inside and outside both my department and FedEx. Your advice in developing a specific plan to accomplish my goals made this process easier, manageable, and enjoyable. I cannot thank you enough!
— Rajneesh Jha, FedEx

Thank you for spending yesterday afternoon with us and presenting the storyteller session at TEDCO. I’ve been aware of the importance of telling a good story and have tried to use stories in my work for a long time, but the way you broke apart, defined, and then reassembled story components along the various types of stories was truly unique. Moreover, your talk was incredibly and fortuitously timely.
— Troy Turner, CEO, Mesquite Road Consulting Group

As someone in the webinar industry, I see hundreds of them every year. Ira’s was the best I have ever seen. His slides were visually engaging, stories insightful and on point, and messages practical and compelling. Something I have never experienced before in a webinar was Ira’s use of interactive exercises–yes exercises. They were all relevant and helped bring to life his concepts–something challenging to do in web presentations.
— Patrick Wiley, Senior Sales Director, ReadyTalk

He is an A+ presenter who hits the ball out of the park. Ira presented one of the best programs we ever had at our professional association meetings. I was so pleased with the success this event that I retained Ira to present at our annual company sales meeting.  The training he provided was a huge success. He brings tremendous value to any organization seeking a fun and informative speaker, executives looking to get more out of their networking activities, and sales professionals trying to grow their account base.  I cannot recommend Ira strongly enough.
— Jeffrey Fasoldt, Chief Financial Officer, Toshiba Business Solutions

When it came time to attend the Financial Executives International Annual Conference in Phoenix, I was on the fence. I looked through the program to make a final decision. Your two seminars caught my eye and became the tipping point for my attending and flying from Canada. As I participated in your sessions, your messages resonated with me and became the highlights of the conference. Thanks for communicating some great tools to use in my current role.
— David Turner, Chief Operating Officer, Skystone International, Alberta, Canada

That was a great joy being on Mr. Koretsky’s lecture “Three Steps to Tell Your Business Story” in Tbilisi, Georgia. The whole story told by him was so friendly, easy-going and well understandable. It brought me great pleasure. I suppose that the confidence and the knowledge came to him during his tremendous experience (speaking from the age of 15—wow!!) and I am very thankful to him and the whole CRDF organization for this very enjoyable conference.
— Levan Shanidze, M.D., Neurosurgeon, Tbilisi City Hospital after Acad. O. Gudushauri, Tbilisi, Georgia

Ira’s process for telling vibrant stories is a revolution in business communication. My passion is helping leaders explore possible futures, and Ira has given me the tools to make sure my stories really stick with people. It’s inspiring to work with a master of his craft. He is helping me become my own “Chief Storyteller^®.”
— Eric Garland, Author of Future, Inc.: How Businesses Can Anticipate and Profit from What’s Next and Keynote Speaker, Competitive Futures

This year’s conference was an exceptional business networking encounter for me! New and familiar faces came together creating synergy, teaming opportunities and shared business experiences; which touched by the real-life personal stories, have prompted growth and development in many areas. As a result of the “Getting Out Of Your Comfort Zone” exercises with Ira Koretsky, we shared laughter and pushed beyond our limits.
— Alma J. Pesqueira, P & P Language Services, Wales, United Kingdom

You eat the lunches of the other communication training firms. I learned more hands-on and immediately applicable techniques than with the other guys—and I have been to several of them. Working with you has made a huge difference with our online events.
— Wayne Jackson, Senior Advisor, Charles Schwab

I want to pay you the highest compliment. I didn’t look at my watch even once until I realized that your presentation was over!
— Hop Davies, Director, Navigant Consulting, VA

As a non-native English speaker, I had been nervous about public presentations. Thank you for all your help. I was prepared, in control, natural, and funny. I had my best presentation in my “American” Life! I was able to setup first meetings for 99% of the attendees. LOVE you for turning me into a PRO!
— Eszter Koch Senior Financial Advisor

In all the years as executive director, I cannot remember watching a keynote from start to finish. I’m typically handling any number of conference-related questions or issues. For Ira’s keynote, I stayed the entire time. His warmth, humor, and passion engaged the audience members from the first few words. Ira energized the audience with a variety of insightful approaches to being stronger communicators and better business storytellers. Six months later, our members are still talking about him.
— Torryn Brazell, CAE, CMP, Executive Director, National Grants Management Association

I have had a lot of “sales” training in my career.  There is something very powerful about storytelling and networking that has helped me take relationship building to a whole new level.  As an example, I invited one of my favorite clients to be my guest at a notable event. I made a number of warm intro’s on his behalf.  At the end of the evening, he said “Lisa, you weren’t just my ad rep tonight—you were my business matchmaker. Thank you for taking care of me.”  These are words that I feel very proud of. They are a real reflection of some of the key ideas and theories that I have picked up from The Chief Storyteller®.
— Lisa Feldner, Senior Account Manager, SmartCEO Magazine

“The Boot Camp to Master Business Storytelling” is a terrific learning experience that focuses and sharpens how you tell your business story and how to communicate it based on the reaction you are getting. It’s the best communications training I’ve experienced.
— Bob Rossi, Vice President, Transwestern Commercial Services

I’m not saying this to butter you up. I must commend you on your presentation at our annual conference. I have an awful attention span and you kept me actively engaged for the entire session. I felt quite inspired upon walking out the door! It was an excellent note to end the conference on.
— Vance Jones, Senior Planner, EIP Associates

Learning and applying The Chief Storyteller^® techniques greatly improved our message content and our visual design. The key messaging exercises and charting ideas were easy to follow and implement. Our new presentation enabled us to reach partners faster and demonstrated greater credibility. We are using our new skills with every presentation.
— David Gilbert, Office of The President, Director of Life Sciences Project, University of California at Berkeley

Ira did a fantastic job with this public speaking and story telling workshop the Atlas Corps Fellows. He engaged a diverse and professional audience of nearly 70 leaders from over 50 different countries and after a four-day training on Marketing and Communication skills, Ira was the favorite presenter for the majority of the Fellows. He is fantastic!
— Scott Beale, Founder & CEO, Atlas Corps

The investor presentation went very well. We were chosen for the Demo Day. The whole week was worth every second we attended. The training was interesting, inspiring, and important for our growth. We are launching this month. გმადლობთ!  (Thank you!)
— Nino Darakhvelidze, Tbilisi, Georgia

Ira is one of the few people I know who can effectively educate an audience in a highly entertaining manner, all while working to break down complex problems into easily understandable concepts. He is very skilled at working with the audience, involving them in exercises that drive his advice and lessons home. I highly recommend Ira, especially when it comes to making a presentation about Sales and Networking.
— Peter Moran, Editor, Think Business Magazine

The Chief Storyteller® is a valued communications partner.  They guided us through a detailed storyboarding process to hone our messages, and then crafted powerful visual graphics to elegantly communicate those ideas.  The final product was a branded presentation that really spoke our mission and values.  We were very impressed.
— Victoria Hale, Ph.D., CEO, Institute for One World Health

Ira’s workshop at AGI was everything he promised it would be! I invited Ira to help us develop AGI’s brand story. It was lively, interactive, and engaging. Following his program, our entire staff was eager and excited to begin the discovery process. Our executive team was especially impressed with Ira’s insightful ideas to find the right words we could all get behind. I highly recommend Ira for communication, leadership and capacity building workshops.
— Andrey Gidaspov, American Geosciences Institute

During the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s Entrepreneur Center Media Training event, Ira Koretsky helped me immeasurably with my pitch for Athena’s Workshop to make it sharper and more relevant. I later incorporated the changes into my LinkedIn profile and used the pitch the next week at an event where I was presenting. It worked great. I could not have made the improvements to my pitch and online presence without his advice and suggestions.
— Helen Levy-Myers, Founder & CEO, Athena’s Workshop

Ira truly knows how to bring the best in people and organizations. He asked probing questions that got us thinking about our target audience, message and value proposition, and how to position ourselves to attract the right clients and partners for us. He’s fun to work with and is always thinking about ways to help us. We’ve recommended him to our clients and continue to seek out his help year after year. He’s the best!
— Lisa Claydon, CEO, CK Marketing Solutions

GREAT talk today for CIT, Ira! I sincerely enjoyed your style and message. I hope to be able to attend more rooms where you are the speaker-leader.
— Lisa Garcia, Business and Executive Coach (LinkedIn)

Wow! That was the most amazing session yesterday. Thank you so much. I appreciate your candor and efficiency in helping these companies professionalize and make their stories compelling. I also appreciate your watching the Board pitches before coming, giving individualized feedback, and staying later than scheduled.
— Tina Arreaza, Executive Director, Bethesda Green

Thank you for the wonderful presentation at the MITEF event. It was an eye opener and a tremendous learning experience. You really encouraged us to think differently about how to message. As a result, I have changed my elevator pitch considerably, putting the focus more now the audience and less on the technology. In just a few days after your program, I am now finding it much, much easier to communicate with business partners and potential investors.
— Protik Sandell, CISSP, CCSP, PMP, Intel Corporation

Having participated on a panel on professional networking for law students, I was left feeling I should have said less so that he could have said more. Terrific communicator, immediate, relevant, and left the audience feeling more confident and smiling.
— Kenneth Goldsmith, Senior Legislative Counsel, American Bar Association

We were literally “thrown together.” Four experts with different experiences were brought together for two weeks to help be catalysts for entrepreneurial growth in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Participants included scientists, physicists, doctors, and engineers. Ira’s role was to teach the participants how to craft compelling elevator speeches and develop presentations to be given to prospective investors. He quickly traversed the language and culture barriers, making everyone feel good about their ideas and potential. And his hands-on approach and easy-to-follow process made a big impact when it came to hearing their newly revised presentations.
— Marco Rubin, Chairman Advisory Board, Exoventure Associates

I have known Ira for years and he is one of the most creative and professional people I know. He has a unique ability to zero in on your story, and then initiate the best method to “get your story out”. I’ve seen some of his visual presentations and they’re fantastic. Call Ira if you’ve got a story you “think” is interesting or relevant — he’ll make it better.
— Dave Blum, CEO, Dr. Clue

Ira did a phenomenal job for us as speaker and moderator at our Innovation Conference in Berlin. Ira truly understands the value of business storytelling in communicating value to the marketplace and evangelizing new ideas internally. IT Executives from around the world were very impressed with his content and takeaways.
— Andres Jordan, Vice President, North America, Deutsche Telekom, Berlin, Germany

When I heard the term “storyteller” I was not quite sure what to make of it. But all this changed when I first heard Ira’s speech at our company’s annual strategic planning meeting. Story telling is much more than having an elevator speech, it’s about knowing how to position what you do and who you are in such a strong compelling way that you gain immediate attention from your audience; while not boring them to death. Ira was instrumental in helping apply many of his principals into crafting a client presentation which ultimately became the standard on how we presented all client pitches.
— Oscar Padilla, Senior VP of Marketing, Digital Media & Insights

I went to Ira’s seminar Tell Your Story in 30 Seconds or Less – 3 Steps to a Perfect Elevator Speech. Boy, isn’t that good. I had struggled with how to answer “What do you do?” for as long as I am in the business. On the one hand, I don’t want to sound like a salesman; On the other hand, I do want people to know the uniqueness of my service. Ira taught me the key ingredients of elevator speech. Not only that, he really got my creative juice running – I came up with an elevator speech much better than I ever had before right in his seminar.
— Michael Zhuang, Personal CFO and Author

Ira has worked wonders with presentation strategies and creating my PowerPoint presentations. As an advisor I regularly present to high net worth clientele and Ira makes me shine!
— Madison Kilpatrick, Morgan Stanley

Ira helped bring out the very best in us. We learned insightful and invaluable approaches to presenting centered around delivering a compelling and sales-focused message. He helped us hone our story and graphics along with creating a powerful sales script. He molded his process to our individual and corporate requirements, ensuring that we had the utmost confidence in ourselves and our presentation. The Chief Storyteller^® Program helped us form new partnerships and open new doors.
— Hope K., President, New Media Communications Firm

We knew after the first week that this would be the best investment we ever made. We have been in business 10 years and The Chief Storyteller^® did more in terms of sales and marketing than any previous firm. Ira listened and tailored his Power Story Process to our business and our personality. Our new proposal design, sales process, and updated web site content are winning more business. Ira has shown us the tremendous value in telling OUR story.
— Lisa Loper, COO, Database Specialists

You were fantastic. Your keynote created a buzz at the conference for the entire day. Surpassed my expectations. I wanted to attend all of your sessions but had to attend sessions for some of my stakeholders. We all agreed (speakers included) that we would prefer to attend your sessions! Thank you, I look forward to evolving from a nuts and bolts leader to a “Chief Storyteller^®!”
— Dawn Hall, CEO, AttainIt

Thanks so much for your keynote at the ASFE annual meeting. You created a huge buzz. And without buzz, no one can do good business.
— John Bachner, Executive Director, Geoprofessional Business Association

Ira Koretsky is an AMAZING speaker and a true master communicator. Although I have always felt that I had strong communication skills, I literally sat on the edge of my seat during his recent presentation – listening to every word and taking detailed notes. It was an invaluable use of my time, and has changed the way that I speak about my myself and my business to prospective customers. You get one chance to make a first impression…getting it right the first time is well worth the investment for any company.
— Rachel Needle, Owner, Endless Coffee LLC

This was the best MTDC event I have attended. In 30 minutes Ira was able to assist 20 firms in the incubator develop and organize the business message; elevator speech; and above all, connect to the emotional core of each business. I am beyond amazement. Ira opened my mind to “think outside the box.” I’ve taken this approach and applied the concept to my sales efforts within hours of the course.
— Beth Tilahun, Manager, fedXccel

I enjoyed your presentation more than any other at our annual conference…and by their response, so did the 400 plus people in attendance!
— Larry D. Armstrong, President, 50 Plus Communities of Colorado

Yes And I hope I have the opportunity to hear you speak again. I truly enjoyed your suggestions, energy and sense of humor. I laughed so much that day, it was great.
— Rebecca Dartez, Senior Business Development Officer, ePlus

The Chief Storyteller®‘s ability to make creative leaps is one of the reasons we have been able to articulate our ‘story’ to lots of new clients. They helped us develop a process, a framework for those discussions that help us explain the benefits of our business to new clients — they helped us tell our story.
— Tom Pencek, CEO, Service for Profit

People have always told me that I am a really good communicator.  Improvisational humor business techniques have brought me to a whole new level of communication excellence.  ‘Yes And’ is now my #1 tool in my Batman utility belt.  The skills I have learned have allowed me to be the center of attention at networking events and taught me how to convert any obstacle into an opportunity to leave a lasting impression.  More importantly, these skills have translated into an increase in my sales close rate by 40% in just three months following the workshop.  It is a must for technical and sales/marketing professionals alike!
— Omar Nour, Vice President, Computer Frontiers

Before working with The Chief Storyteller®, I didn’t even realize that I had learned and acquired some bad presentation habits. Now, people are seeking me out for advice and for prospective business partnerships. Lack of confidence is a thing of the past.  Both internally and externally, audiences are receptive to my ideas.  We are now talking to one of the largest international organizations because of the pivotal help The Chief Storyteller^® provided in making our presentations stellar.
— August Jackson, Senior Analyst, Evidence Based Research and President, SCIP National Capitol Region

I particularly enjoyed your session. “Yes-and” was fun and informative. I also enjoyed your questioning of the fellow who sells data modeling services—in a few questions you got to the essence of his business and its value to his customers. That was amazing! And, I saw how the light bulb switched on for him as well.
— Kevin Raum, Principal, Coridium

One week after I participated in the What Do You Do? workshop, I attended a 2-day sales and marketing conference.  During one of the seminars there was a discussion on elevator speeches.  The difference between The Chief Storyteller®’s workshop and this seminar was vast:  The Chief Storyteller®’s approach and process was light years ahead of what many of today’s sales seminars teach.  I have refined my elevator speech and have had several people comment on it during recent events I have attended.  With all the positive feedback I have received, I know that I am on the right track!
— Lisa Rivel, Director of Marketing, Carr Workplaces

This event was superb. It was a thorough and well-structured tutorial on succinctly telling a compelling story of one’s capabilities to a prospective client or customer. I actually had an epiphany. It prompted me to alter my approach on how to position my company. I got wayyyyy more than I expected!
— Dan Vannatter, Vice President of Government Solutions, Accipiter Systems

You are a genius! I used the new capabilities statement in my meeting this morning with a Fortune 500 company. The executives couldn’t stop talking about it. From that meeting alone, we have already scheduled next meeting with the board of directors in two weeks. I can’t thank you enough.
— David Williamson, Superior Technology Solutions Corporation