Ian Keeling
About ian
For more than three decades, I’ve helped people become more confident communicators, collaborators, and leaders.
My approach draws on an unusual mix of experiential learning, performing arts, applied psychology, and research. I began my career as an actor, science-fiction author, and professional improvisor before bringing that experience into my work as a speaker, executive-level consultant, and coach.
Today, I help professionals and organizations rethink how they communicate, collaborate, and see themselves—whether that means becoming more present and adaptable, giving presentations that actually connect with an audience, developing a more authentic executive presence, or approaching difficult conversations with greater empathy.
A large part of my work also focuses on what gets in the way: perfectionism, impostor syndrome, Zero-or-Ten thinking, limiting beliefs, and the other mindsets that can make capable people doubt themselves or struggle to communicate at their best.
My perspective is personal as well as professional. I spent the first fifty years of my life with undiagnosed ADHD and PTSD (along with a number of other excellent D’s), and the past decade as a dedicated partner to someone living with extreme physical pain and trauma. Those experiences have deepened my empathy for people trying to navigate the increasingly blurry boundaries between our professional and personal lives. While I’m particularly passionate about helping people overcome the fears and mindsets that make speaking stressful, because impostor syndrome doesn’t care about your title, experience, or expertise—my work covers the full spectrum of effective communication, from storytelling, content, and preparation to voice, body language, presence, and connection.
Speaking Engagements
Ian’s talks give leaders a practical way to address the human challenges that affect performance every day—from poor communication and difficult team dynamics to resistance to change, perfectionism, and low confidence. Engaging, thoughtful, and highly practical, each talk gives people a shared language and new ways of thinking they can take back to their teams—helping organizations build stronger communicators, more adaptable collaborators, and healthier, more effective ways of working together.
Why Perception Is Everything
Confident communication and collaboration start with better perception.
Before we reach for new tools, techniques, or solutions, we need to examine the mindsets and perceptions shaping how we see ourselves and one another. This talk explores how better perception can help teams build shared language, reduce judgment, navigate complexity, and work together more effectively—and more humanely.
The Problem with Zero or Ten
How perfectionism gets in the way of excellence.
We’re taught to pursue perfection—but what does that actually cost us? This talk examines the roots of perfectionism, the toll it takes on individuals and organizations, the rare situations where it’s genuinely necessary, and how learning to embrace imperfection can lead to better work, greater adaptability, and real excellence.
Louder Is Wrong
Rethinking everything we’ve been taught about public speaking.
Speaking to a group has somehow become one of humanity’s most common fears—and one of our most misunderstood skills. This talk explores the misconceptions, misguided priorities, and undervalued skills that got us here, and offers a more human and effective way to think about speaking, presence, and connecting with an audience.
We’ll Have to Improvise
Why adaptability may be the most important skill of the 21st century.
Improvisation is much more than making things up onstage. Drawing on the principles of one of the world’s most misunderstood art forms, this talk explores how improvisational thinking can help us listen better, respond to change, collaborate more effectively, and navigate a world in which the script rarely survives contact with reality.
Behind the Behaviour
A more human approach to mental health, trauma, and difficult behaviour.
Behaviour that seems irrational often makes more sense when we understand what sits behind it. This talk explores how a better understanding of mental health and trauma can help us navigate seemingly impossible situations—with greater empathy, less judgment, and practical strategies for functioning more effectively at work, at home, and in society.
In-Person Workshops
Interactive, experience-driven workshops that turn insight into practice. Teams work through the real mindsets, communication habits, and dynamics that affect how they function together—building practical skills, shared language, and greater confidence to communicate clearly, navigate challenges, adapt to change, and collaborate more effectively.Interactive, experience-driven workshops that turn insight into practice. Teams work through the real mindsets, communication habits, and dynamics that affect how they function together—building practical skills, shared language, and greater confidence to communicate clearly, navigate challenges, adapt to change, and collaborate more effectively.
The Team Reframe Workshop
Better communication starts with seeing things differently.
An interactive team experience focused on the perceptions, assumptions, and habits that shape how people work together. Teams develop a shared language, strengthen communication, and learn practical ways to collaborate more effectively—even when circumstances are complex or changing.
Conflict to Collaboration
A more productive way through difficult conversations.
Designed for teams dealing with tension, avoidance, assumptions, or recurring communication breakdowns. Participants learn to understand what’s happening beneath conflict, communicate with greater empathy and clarity, and move from defensiveness toward genuine collaboration.
Confidence, Self-Perception & Communication
Communicate with greater confidence—and more trust in yourself.
For groups who want to speak, listen, contribute, and participate with greater confidence. This workshop explores how self-perception, perfectionism, impostor syndrome, and other limiting mindsets affect the way we communicate—and how changing those patterns can help people show up more authentically and effectively.
Reframing Spoken Presentations
A better way to think about speaking to other people.
A practical deep dive into the full spectrum of spoken presentations—from public speaking and sales pitches to team meetings and presentations to executives. Participants rethink common assumptions about what makes a “good speaker” while developing practical skills in preparation, storytelling, content, voice, body language, presence, and audience connection.