Testimonials

We needed someone inspirational, fun with key business messages to open up our breakfast at the Ashford B2B Conference and Exhibition. The paid breakfast was an absolute sell out with a waiting list and the attendees were not disappointed.

Mike carefully tailored his presentation to the audience and it really was a great start to the day. I have worked with Mike before and I knew that he was a ideal choice for our event.

He is the type of speaker that will be remembered as he combines humour with innovative props which is just what a business audience needs very early in the morning.

We had great feedback from the breakfast. I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Michael as a really interesting and entertaining business speaker with substance and key business messages for a conference – and I am sure you will be as delighted as I was with the feedback you will receive.

Carole Black
Kent Invicta Chamber

Mike Ogilvie is an inspirational Professional Speaker!

He clearly stands out from the crowd both as a Profit Coach, a Tax Accountant and indeed as a Coach and Presenter.

He is highly knowledgeable, experienced, innovative, and down to earth when it comes to suggesting how you can maximise profits in your business and plan for optimum success, whether you are a start up or a long established business in need of assistance.

Mike emanates a sense of integrity, creativity and trust and what he so generously shares makes perfect sense from a high level business perspective.

I loved hearing him speak!

Fabienne Alsing
Public Speaker, Gourmet RAW Food Chef & Coach, Natural Health Consultant

Mike opened our Venuemasters Marketing Conference at Warwick University, and made a great impression on our delegates.

With his humour and props intermixed with appropriate content, he got our conference off to a fabulous start.

I highly recommend Michael as a conference speaker.

Natalie Hudson
Marketing Manager, Venuemasters

I am writing to thank you for delivering to our networking group a very entertaining, thought provoking and motivational speech.

We were all gripped with attention during your speech, which is always a great sign, and we all left with a list of action points to take back to implement in our own businesses, which is the most important part.

Seriously, I’ve had such good feedback from it, I even came back and started sorting out our office!! – Emma’s been looking at our website and we’ve all improved our telephone manner! … and that was just from me coming back and reiterating some of what you said to the team – sometimes it all seems so obvious that you just need someone to point it out to you!

I will recommend you highly to anyone looking for an entertaining speaker at their meetings or conferences.

Maxine Reid
Director of Restructuring & Recovery, Reeves & Co LLP

I have just had the feedback analysis back from VisitCornwall, so I thought you would enjoy these direct quotes:

  • an inspirational speaker
  • Presentation was backed up with examples and humour
  • entertaining & knowledgeable
  • particularly inspiring
  • First Class

They are all from the feedback forms.

Robin Barker
Cornwall Tourism Conference

Michael has been speaking for Probiz for the last few years at various conferences across the country ranging from Brighton and Southampton in the south, the Dorchester Ritz and Sheraton in London, through to Leeds and Liverpool in the north of the country. I can recommend Michael for his professionalism and his content, which is always well received by our audience.

Feisal Nahaboo
Founder and CEO, PROBIZ Excellence

Thank you once again for a challenging, provocative and inspirational presentation to our managers, which was just what we needed in these difficult times.

As I mentioned to you when you were leaving, we believe that this was the best business development presentation we have ever had, and I think will prove to have a significant impact on our future profitability.

Push S Patel FCA
CEO, Westgate Healthcare Group

AMAZING IRANIAN CONFERENCE TOUR

It was good meeting you and your team at the Ad forum. I really really enjoyed listening to you and some of your colleagues.

I have now been living in Iran for a year, and really missed having people around me who motivate me and inspire me, which I really need, especially as I just officially started my company only a month ago.

In fact, just to know briefly about me, hopefully the future will get us to know each other better: I am Algerian, lived in a lot of different countries (India, Serbia, Uganda, USA…) but spent 10 years in France, where i worked for 5 years in advertising (as a project manager), and now I am here in Iran for at least a year, as I got married and joined my husband who works here for the moment. Creating my communication company was the only way to continue doing what I love. Being an entrepreneur with only 5 years of experience is challenging, but passion is what drives me, and every day is an occasion to learn more, every client is an opportunity to grow with him.

I got cheered up and discovered a new way to express the ideas we share together. To use Shaun Smith’s metaphor: “I did have the bird in my hand, but you showed me some of the directions to release it”…

For that, I would like to thank you and your team. I would love to keep in touch with the men who dared to show in public in Iran his underwear! and when I will able to afford it, I might also need your services.

Amel Derragui

Mozambique – what an incredible result with an amazing group of aspiring entrepreneurs sharing knowledge and experience in the leadership forums – It was fabulous fun

It was a great pleasure to have had the opportunity to organise and participate in the conference and workshops you delivered in Mozambique – I have grown and gained more confidence professionally, but have also felt better for the experience with my personal life as a result of meeting you and the other participants.

Their feedback has been overwhelming especially considering the range of backgrounds and ages present – it has certainly been a visit to remember. Most incredible was the enthusiastic and tight team that rose out of the workshops- a “perfect team” – as one of the participants said.

I have met great people and established important connections from the environment that you fostered in the workshops – thank you and I hope to see you back in Mozambique again soon!

Katya Hassan
Conference Organiser

Thank you Michael for inspiring me – definitely it is one of my dreams to be the one who could influence my country on financial matters – I have written this goal to be achieved by 2015.

Carlos Madeira
Standard Bank Mozambique

My congratulations to the British Council for organising and selecting such an exceptional speaker like Michael. Thank you for the opportunity to attend such a wonderful programme – Michael overtook my expectations and surely I will use his teachings for my day to day life. To all attendees, I wish all the best towards becoming entrepreneurs – the real ones – Mozambique deserves it. I hope you have all started putting down action plans to become millionaires soon.

Special word for the young emerging entrepreneurs in our team – please keep it up and surely with your bright minds you will move towards many $$$$ – I say this from the heart – we do not often see young guys attending workshops like these. To the girls, please become strong and stand up to world adversity and take advantage of the new era.

Fenias Leao
SB Miller Breweries

It was really a great pleasure to meet you all and share our thoughts. I have to agree with Mr fenias when he said that British Council gave us a wonderful programme bringing an exceptional speaker like Michael.

Eunice dos Santos
Rio Tinto

British Council Mauritius

Your contribution to our professional development programme in Mauritius was great.

The corporate sessions you conducted were very well planned and delivered. As you are aware these were attended by directors and managers of some of the top 100 companies in Mauritius, and feedback gathered from the participants was extremely positive.

Your in depth knowledge of the topics you covered coupled with your numerous anecdotes and real life experiences that you shared enables participants to easily understand the concepts you were putting forward.

A lot found your tips and guidance inspiring and easy to implement.

With regards to your speech at the Management Express evening, our audience could not get enough of what you were sharing with us.

You are one of a kind speaker wise! I have never experienced before anyone else so prepared to reply and to send presentation material to your past audience … I am beginning to understand why you are so successful – its all about delighting your customers, isn’t it 🙂

I’ll definitely recommend you to colleagues.

Adilla Diouman
Assistant Director, British Council Mauritius

I have seen many professional speakers so far, but some have unique characteristics.

In my opinion, Mike Ogilvie’s lecture at the World Management Forum was very useful in that it related more closely to the subject, so that it conveys an important message to the audience.

More importantly, he shows understanding when answering questions, which led to reciprocal communication essential for learning.

I am honoured to have attended this great man’s speech.

Arlen Tahmasian
Tehran, World Management Forum

We are delighted you visited us here in Botswana.

You impressed us with your friendly and flexible approach to mould your presentations to suit our two separate audiences.

The feedback we received from the attendees was superb, and I feel you made a big difference to them and their businesses.

Thank you for helping us achieve our goals, and also meet our budgets – I believe we will be seeing you out here in Botswana again in the future.

I will not hesitate to recommend you to any conference organiser wishing to find a great speaker who specialises in talking about finance and profit improvement related matters.

Rasina Winfred Rasina
British Council Botswana

I am glad that, had the opportunity attended the conference at which you presented in Tehran and I liked what I heard so much that I asked you to come and talk with the management team in my company, where your presentation was inspirational and extremely well received.

Since then I have kept in touch with you, and I wanted you to know how much I have appreciated your friendliness and helpful constructive advice.

Javad Varzidehkar
Chairman & CEO, Golnaz Veg. Oil Company, Tehran-Iran

Southsea

Great speed pitched just right for me.

Tracy Harris
My Virtual Concierge

Focused and relevant information, well worth it and I would be happy to attend more by Michael

Sandra Richardson
The Whitfield Richardson Partnership

Looking forward for the next event.

Hudham Seif Al-Said
Who Else’s Design

Excellent ideas lots of thoughts and prompts for action.

Lynn Timms
Breastfeeding Matters

Ryde

Great ideas, simple speed.

Fran Cooper
Freedom Children

Inspirational, motivating, encouraging, educational.

Sandie Duncan
Beanfeast Events

Informative and fun. Thank you!

Karen Prescott
TIF This is Fitness

I can certainly take some ideas away.

Julia Bridgeman
Chocolatier

Basingstoke

Very interesting to listen to.

Diane Bailey
LG Motion Ltd

Best presentation I’ve seen in a long time. Thank you!

Andrew Rowley
Langcommlive

Very worthwhile.

Graham Bird
TAC Europe

Certainly makes you think.

Bill Brown
Armorica

Got more interesting as it progressed some really good and useful messages.

Liz Johnston
True Potential Coaching

I found Michael Ogilvie’s presentation terrific and well presented.

Cherry Barney
Pure & Simple

Excellent, could be longer!

Maggie Howell
Natal Hypnotherapy

I enjoyed it so much I came again and will do so again.

Angelo Guttoriello
Maxon Motor UK Ltd

I’ve heard Michael Ogilvie speak before he is so inspiring that I wanted to bring
some of my staff to hear him.

Louise Hallett
Hallett Independent

Thought provoking.

Sue Lloyd

Southampton

Always pick up interesting points, tips from your events.

Elaine Taylor
Seadown Veterinary Group

This was an amazing presentation and I am in the 20% gang!

Shazia Mahmood
Shazia Mahmood Paintings

Very motivational and interesting.

Debbie Sawyer
DLS Consulting (UK) Ltd

Very inspirational talk with realistic points that can be put into action.

Fiona Moir
Gophysio Ltd

Fun, fast, thought provoking.

Jayne Dyke
Yellow Dot

A great insight in how to succeed in business.

Chris Davies
Westbourne Southern Ltd

Have gone away with some goals to set and a better understanding of pricing. A very profitable evening, looking forward to the future.

Mandy Manning
Amews Falconry

Very interesting and entertaining. Excellent presentation.

Rhiannan Lloyd
West Quay

Thank you Michael and Business Link, a very interesting seminar and great networking opportunity.

Eleanor Bateman
The Bateman Freer Partnership

Great ideas, thought provoking and motivational.

Lorna Jackson
HWB Chartered Accountants

It was indeed a pleasure and an honour for me to have known you and to accompany you and indeed to get to know your ideas and opinions on different issues which were all enlightening.

You certainly added values to our conferences.

YOU not only through your humble character but also through your professional performance made us take advantage of our time and opened new horizons ahead of us.

I will be more than happy if you accept our invitation to speak in another conference of us here in Tehran.

Majid Nekoodast
Chairman, Hamayesh Farazan Co. Tehran-Iran

Michael, I have heard you speak often and you get better every time.

Your recent speech at the care home conference at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff challenged and entertained the audience so much, I know they will want you back for more.

Avnish Goyal
Managing Director, Hallmark Healthcare Group

I am writing to let you know that you were a massive success for us, as we have never had such a high rate of satisfaction among our audience.

You were so motivational, leaving our delegates so energized at the end with lots of content and practical tips; you not only let the audience take advantage of your 3 wonderful speeches, but also you helped bring us profit by extending your stay to give profit consultation to some large Iranian firms.

You are one of the best speakers we have hosted for our events which include famous speakers such as Brian Tracy. We hope you will accept our invitation to speak at one of our future events.

Sepehr Tarverdian
Managing Director, Hamayeshfarazan Co. Iran-Tehran

Mike’s presentation to our business networking group was informative and lively.

The audience took away a number of practical tips that are easy to understand and simple to implement and we’d be delighted to hear more from him about how to make our businesses more profitable.

Laura Morgan
Artist and Web Designer, Organiser of “Ecademy Success in Sussex” business meeting

I met Mike recently at one of his “Why should I buy from you” workshops. He is an accomplished speaker who delivers a thought provoking session to business owners.

He has the impressive credentials of being a qualified accountant and a skilled coach. Thank you Mike there are things I will be doing differently having engaged with you.

Richard Shelley
Performance Coach

Thank you for an excellent presentation on Thursday evening in Lindfield.

It inspired me to consider my marketing tactics and what would make my business different to any other.

Juliet Yates
Quality Customers

We organise more than 50 business events per year, a lot of them with the world’s best speakers like Brian Tracy and Chet Holmes.

Michael’s seminar was one of the best we have hosted to date. It was straightforward, energizing and it left the audience wanting more.

I highly recommend Michael as he gives more than you expect. We can hardly wait for another seminar with him.

Robert Rolih
CEO Akademija Panta Rei, Slovenia

I would also like to thank you for such a fantastic session, I also came away feeling very positive about myself, something which I really need at the moment as I am planning to get more involved in marketing Pentlow Training.

Angela
Pentlow Care Training Centre

I’ve been attending Michael Ogilvie’s Business Builder Forum which I have found very interesting and informative. I have learnt a lot about running and improving business and profit.

I have been personally inspired to attempt to meet a personal goal.

Marcus Klugman
HSBC Bank

Breakfast Meeting at The Grand I just wanted to say thank you for this morning’s session. It was excellent. I can see how it will change my life dramatically.

Towards greater success!

David Brading
Sales Executive, ApexIS Ltd

Thank you for speaking at the Crawley Business Club at Ashdown Park.

On the evaluation forms that we collected after the event last week there were no specific comments regarding your presentation but all our delegates scored you at 4 or 5 (5 being totally satisfied), which indicates that that they found the presentation enjoyable and informative.

I hope to see you at other Sussex Enterprise events in the future.

Charlotte Hopes
Events Executive, Sussex Enterprise

Learning at Work Day “ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING” with Michael Ogilvie

When I walked into the Pentlow Dining Room at the end of a busy afternoon, I had no idea that within the next hour my old pattern of negative thinking would be challenged and totally turned upside down.

I have attended many “self-help” workshops in the past and wasn’t expecting to learn anything new by this brief (30 minute) workshop. However, Michael was an entertaining and enthusiastic speaker. He asked us to look at someone successful, who we admire, and list their qualities (confidence, self believe etc.) We then talked about what got in the way of us reaching our goals (i.e. fear of failure, criticism.)

When Michael asked for a volunteer of break a piece of wood, 2 cm thick, with nothing more than the force of a bare hand I knew I had to do it. First of all, Jeanette our Pentlow Training Manager demonstrated how it should be done. Michael asked me to write my goal on the wood, as a positive affirmation that by breaking the wood I can break through my challenge to success. However, as I went to the front of the room my old habits came flooding back – “I can’t do it, I’m looking stupid, everyone’s going to laugh at me”. After two attempts I nearly bottled out completely but Michael was calm and encouraging. I knew he’d seen many people do it and he knew that I could. “You just need a bit more zip!” he said. I squeezed Jeanette’s hand for support, had a drink of water, closed my eyes, took three deep breaths and 1, 2, 3, whack, crack and I’d done it!

I was rather overcome, not only because I broke through the wood but because I had so publicly committed myself to a new course of action to make my goal a reality. I know that by making such a bold statement I am already halfway to making it happen and can remember that if I start to go off track. When the old “I can’t do it” thoughts come up I have my piece of wood as evidence that I CAN!

At the end of the session I was surprised to hear Michael was an Accountant. His “Attitude for Success” is catching – I think he should be working in the field of teaching others how to overcome their fears and reach for the stars. With his support and a positive attitude then anything is possible.

Sally
Home Carer, Pentlow Community Care Services

Thank you for your impressive demonstration, convincing people that they can do anything if they’ve got attitude!

As I said, you should invite the people who attend the breakfast meetings to do the same. The girl you worked with, really went through a complete learning process and came in today, to say how much you have helped her.

Jeanette
Pentlow Training Centre Ltd

P.S. Maybe I should try a thicker bit of wood – or even walk on hot coals. I have always learned when attending your sessions.

I just wanted to write and thank you personally for taking the time to come and speak at the CIMA Members in Practice Conference last weekend. I trust that you enjoyed the event and everything was as you expected.

The feedback we had from delegates, speakers and exhibitors has all been very positive, with many comments about the high quality of speakers. Your input to that is very much appreciated by the entire committee. I will circulate copies of the delegate feedback as soon as I receive it, and if you do not receive this, or if you have any other comments or thoughts please email me on [email protected].

Once again, many thanks for your time, and I hope we may be able to call on you again at some point in the future.

Julia McDaid
Conference Chairman, The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants

Just a quick note to thank you once again for your superb contribution to our sales conference dinner. Your use of props has certainly made a memorable impact – at least on the male elements attending on the night! I just hope that the message behind it is also remembered.

As discussed please find enclosed the SSTW disk. We did review it at one of our team meetings and found it quite interesting and useful and have already developed some fresh ideas from some of the results that came of it.

Jim Fletcher
Commercial Director, Marshall Tufflex Limited

Great to see you on Saturday. Enjoyed your session very much. Had me thinking about my branding and pricing policies.

Please could you send me a copy of the mind map, it will help me remember.

Mo Shapiro
Emotional Fitness Specialist, NLP Master Practitioner & Coach
www.inform-global.com

Mike Ogilvie spoke at the London Chapter of the Professional Speakers Assn – last Saturday.

He was excellent holding the audience captured by his powerful style of storytelling and the critical message that you have to brand yourself properly.

An excellent business and personal development speaker I would recommend to anyone.

Derek Arden
UK Specialist Speaker on negotiation skills

As promised I enclose the speaker feedback from the attendees at our recent annual conference at Heythrop Park.

The feedback we have had from delegates, speakers and exhibitors has all been very positive, with many comments about the high quality of speakers. I am sure you will be delighted to see that you were voted top speaker overall by our delegates with a score of 84.9%.

On behalf of the conference committee, I would like to thank you again for doing the final keynotes presentation and for sending our members off in such a positive and enthusiastic frame of mind.

I hope we may call on you again to speak for us in the near future.

Julia McDaid
Conference Chairman, The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants

Just a short note to say how much I enjoyed your presentation at the CIMA members in practice conference. This was my first attendance having only been self employed for eighteen month.

The whole conference was extremely informative and interesting. However, I would have to say that both your debate and also the Gordon Gilchrist presentation proved for me personally, to be the most inspiring – so thank you for this.

I came away with lots of new ideas and I found it very useful to talk to other members in practice and hear about their own personal experiences.

So once again thanks very much – I hope you will be available to provide further support to this conference in the future.

Mrs D J Morris
DJM Financial Services

Firstly, you will recall we met recently at the Henry Stewart Conference when we were fellow presenters (I am with Bank of Ireland).

I have been meaning to write to you for some time to express my gratitude to you for one of the best and most inspirational talks that I have heard for many years.

Richard Thomas

Just a quick line to thank you very much for the excellent talk you gave to the Eastbourne Business Club on Thursday at the Hydro Hotel.

It was an excellent occasion, with nearly 100 people there. Your speech was excellent, and very topical.

Congratulations on what you have achieved, in both your roles, and I look forward to seeing you again before long.

Ian Lucas
Eastbourne Business Club