Mike Southon

Mike Southon will inspire, entertain and inform your audience

“Mike Southon is more than Quite Interesting.
He spreads insight and cheerfulness in equal measure, like an ambidextrous chef
icing two cakes at once.”
John Lloyd, producer of
Blackadder, Spitting Image,
Not The Nine O’Clock News and QI

Contact Mike Southon:
UK: 08450 574 022

Outside UK: +44 8450 574 022

Mike is one of the world’s top business speakers, a Fellow of The Professional Speakers Association.

He is a very experienced conference facilitator and moderator, having interviewed over 100 top business people, now featured every Saturday in his Financial Times column, “My Business”.

Mike is co-author of several best-selling business books, including The Beermat Entrepreneur and Sales on a Beermat. He is a Visiting Fellow in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at London South Bank University and has made frequent appearances on television and radio.

Mike built and sold his own company in the 80s and workedon seventeen different start-ups in the 90s (two later went public, three went broke!). Mike Southon is now the UK’s leading entrepreneur mentor, and delivers over 100 presentations every year, all over the world.

Speaking topics

Mike’s keynote presentation will be specifically designed and tailored for your audience, but two common themes are:

Helping people to be more creative and entrepreneurial in both small and large organisations
Helping people to be more effective at sales, especially non-salespeople

Above all, Mike explains that business should be fun. Everyone should enjoy their work, and feel they have a real sense of purpose.

Some example keynotes:

Something About The Beatles

Everyone has a great business idea, whether they are looking to set up their own company or would like to be more creative in their corporate environment.

Mike Southon uses The Beatles as an example of how to be creative and entrepreneurial, and explains how to overcome the challenges you will face along the way. Something About The Beatles is highly inspiring, entertaining and informative keynote presentation suitable for everyone: schools, universities, entrepreneurs, small businesses and large companies.

The presentationis packed with great music and practical learning points from Mike’s own twin careers as a highly successful serial entrepreneur and professional musician, all delivered with energy, style and humour.

Sales on a Beermat (Sales for Non-Salespeople)

We would all like to increase the revenue of our companies, but not all of us are experienced salespeople.

Small businesses have to generate revenue but often do not have a purpose-built salesperson. Larger organisations have many people involved in the sales process who do not have much formal sales training, such as consultants, engineers, lawyers and accountants.

Mike Southon shows how everybody can sell, featuring material from UK best-seller Sales on a Beermat.

Mike’s presentation explains the simple steps any company can take to double their sales immediately without spending money on expensive marketing campaigns. It also shows how everyone, especially non-salespeople can be involved in the sales process without feeling sleazy or uncomfortable.

Sales on a Beermat is packed with practical tips and real life examples from Mike’s many years as a highly successful salesman, all delivered with energy, style and humour.

Mike Southon - Speaker Showreel:

Recent Customers:

Coutts, Goldman Sachs, Cisco Systems, IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, Accenture, the Entrepreneur Business School (Bali), MIT Forum (USA), The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (UK), The European Commission, the East of England Development Agency, The Institute of Directors, Rolls-Royce and GlaxoSmithKline.
Full list >

Client Case Studies:

Symbian (PDF 91kb)
Timber Trade Federation (PDF 113kb)

“This is a sales book for everyone, written with clarity and wit.”
Stephen Fry, author, producer and performer, foreword to Sales on a Beermat

“Mike's presentation did exactly what it claims – it helped us double our sales in three months.”
Stefan Foster, Managing Director, The National Computing Centre

“Wisdom without jargon: practical, practicable advice for the would-be entrepreneur”
Karan Bilimoria, founder, Cobra Beer

“97% of delegates said they were inspired by Mike’ Southon’s presentation. Comments included: ‘absolutely brilliant’, ‘motivating’, ‘practical, concise tips’, ‘thought-provoking’ and ‘informative’.”
Julie Readman, Chief Executive, Business Link for South Yorkshire

Resources for event organisers

Mike Southon’s ambition is to be one of the easiest speakers on the circuit to deal with.

Below, you’ll find everything you need: pictures, biographies, pictures and instructions on how to book Mike.

Pictures

Click here for pictures of Mike Southon

Biographies

Download Mike's speaker biography (PDF - 87kb)
Download Mike's technical biography for computer and telecommunications events (PDF - 184kb)
Download a plain text document with Mike's testimonials and 50, 100 and 200 word biographies (DOC - 38kb)

How to Book Mike

The process is simple:

1. Agree Date and Speaker Budget

This is done via e-mail or over the phone.

2. Agree Content

Mike will discuss the content of the presentation with the Event Sponsor, ideally face-to-face.

Please note Mike is a very experienced event planner, so can provide detailed advice on venue and content, including other potential speakers, most of whom he knows personally.

3. Contact and Invoice

Mike’s office will send a simple contract and invoice.

4. Expenses

These will be included in the invoice.

Wherever possible, Mike will arrange his own accommodation and travel, using budget airlines such as EasyJet (if available).

5. At The Event

Mike requires only an audience and (if the room requires it) amplification.

For the Something About The Beatles presentation Mike needs access to a laptop which can play music, plus a couple of flip charts. He will bring a memory stick and CD-R containing the PowerPoint presentation

For all other presentations, Mike only needs a couple of flips charts – no PowerPoint required!

If you would like to include a title slide, the only information required is:
Mike Southon
mike@beermat.biz
www.beermat.biz
www.ft.com/mikesouthon

You can also add this FT logo:

6. How to Introduce Mike

Mike is happy just be introduced as “Mike Southon, The Beermat Entrepreneur’ - he’ll fill in any other biographical details in the presentation.

7. Length of Presentation

Mike will keep strictly to your time schedule, but can, if required, speak for any length of time with no advance warning. So if other speakers or the moderator are delayed, Mike will be happy to fill in!

8. After The Event

Mike can provide books (which involve an additional cost) and is happy to provide Beermat content (for example, articles and Beermat Radio podcasts) for your internal and external communications.

Contact Mike Southon: UK: 08450 574 022 Outside UK: +44 8450 574 022

Sales on a Beermat workshop outline
Pictures of Mike Southon
Read Mike's life story

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