Speaker Coaches Behind
Vanessa Cuddeford
Speaker Coach
Vanessa runs her own consultancy, Present, Perform, Persuade, helping professional, high-achieving people overcome public speaking fears and become confident presenters in 8–12 weeks. Her method combines mindset, messaging, and delivery, guiding clients step by step to lasting confidence.
With over 20 years’ experience as a news anchor, reporter, and producer with BBC, ITV, and NBC News, Vanessa draws on her high-pressure, on-air experience alongside her expertise as a strategic communications adviser and performance coach. She helps clients speak with clarity, authenticity, and authority.
Vanessa has coached TEDx speakers, keynote presenters, and clients preparing for the United Nations, supporting over 1,200 people to advance their careers and personal influence. She also advises corporate clients on presentations, strategic messaging, and media appearances. Previously a Director at Havas Just, she led UK corporate communications strategy for Bristol Myers Squibb, combining corporate insight with broadcast expertise.
Duncan Hardy
Duncan helps individuals and teams communicate with impact, manage pressure, and perform confidently in high-stakes situations.
He spent two decades as a Royal Marines Officer, leading in some of the world’s toughest environments. During this time, he ran the Royal Navy Press Office, taught strategic leadership at the UK Defence Academy, and advised the UN, NATO, MOD, and Foreign Office, gaining unmatched experience in delivering critical messages clearly and calmly under pressure.
After the forces, Duncan spent ten years as a school leader, designing and delivering leadership programmes that strengthened confidence, resilience, and public presence. He now runs corporate and residential leadership programmes in the UK and internationally, helping speakers and teams find their voice, stay composed, and communicate with authority, exactly the skills that make stage presentations memorable.
Speaker Coach
Guidelines
TEDxChichester talks must be:
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Evidence-based
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Experience-led
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Free from sales pitches
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Free from political advocacy
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Free from religious proselytising
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Free from pseudoscience or unverified claims
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Free from content that could cause harm or discrimination
TEDx is a platform for ideas - not marketing, ideology, or personal agendas
YOUR TALK MUST align with the theme
TEDxChichester will centre on the theme, “Courage and Curiosity to Create”, exploring what happens when bravery and imagination come together. Creation is rarely straightforward. It requires risk, experimentation and the willingness to begin again.
The theme invites speakers to share ideas that challenge assumptions, reveal new perspectives, or offer bold ways of seeing the world.
Talks may explore reinvention, leadership, community, science, storytelling, or the quiet acts of courage that shape everyday life. Speakers can come from any background, but each talk must focus on one clear idea worth spreading.
To help guide submissions, talks could explore:
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Reinvention and resilience: personal transformation and overcoming barriers
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Community and leadership: social change or creating impact against the odds
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Risk and creativity: creative or personal risks that led to unexpected outcomes
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Science and ideas: science, creativity, or surprising intersections of thought
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Story and meaning: personal stories that illuminate a bigger idea
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Everyday courage: the quiet acts of bravery that shape a life.
The theme is deeply rooted in Chichester’s own story. From the Roman city builders to the bold designers of Chichester Festival Theatre’s stage and the Cathedral’s spire. Chichester’s creative legacy is built by those who dared to imagine something new.