At Essential Communications Ltd. we focus on helping people and organizations create tangible results through training, facilitation, coaching, motivational speaking and consulting. At Essential, it's all about communication.
We say this – because everything we do in life and in work involves communication. Clear, engaged, focused – energized communication is the key.
In our communication courses we discuss how researchers have concluded that 55% of the impact of human communication is attributed to the body, 38% to the use of voice, and only 8% words. In our training, facilitation and key note presentations we are aware of this – we use this – we are strong communicators. No one is ever bored during one of our sessions. Don’t get us wrong it is not that the words – the content – isn’t important, it is and we have excellence in this area as well. However, if the content isn’t well presented then it didn’t matter how sound the research behind it might have been.
A central focus of our training programs is how we facilitate the process. We always create and inclusive environment and two way learning relationship. We use relevant, realistic case studies, and have often heard from participants who usually don’t enjoy role plays – that our enjoyed the opportunity to practice using the skills they’ve learned.
Founded by C.E.O. Ian Kennedy in 1992, Essential Communications, incorporated in 1997, has focused on creativity, self-expression and careers since its inception.
Professional and personal development has been at the core of Essential’s training from day one. In the early years, Essential aligned with The New York Actor’s Institute (TAI Resources) in offering The Mastery of Creativity and Self-Expression and simultaneously ran successful career directed initiatives such as, the twelve-day career transition program "Presenting Yourself For Employment", and "Consulting as a Career Option" a five week program assisting professionals in marketing themselves as Independent Professionals.
From the late nineties forward Essential has been providing business development courses to new and existing business.
As a consultant, Mr. Kennedy worked with Seneca College in developing the Richmond Hill Business Centre, and associated Business Incubator and in developing their Self-Employment Assistance Program. In 2003, Essential Communications was awarded the contract to provide the Self-Employment Benefit program in the Durham Region. In 2005 Essential launched two new programs “Full Expression – The Ultimate Career Management Program” and “Wake Up – It’s Time to Retire” a program for individuals facing retirement, yet still wanting to work. Throughout its history, Essential has assisted more than 10,000 individuals with their career transitions, helping them move forward with focus, vision and passion.
Since 2004, Essential has been a major supplier of Business Development, Communication and Personal Development Workshops to the City of Toronto’s Corporate Learning Centre. Essential remains a vendor of record with both the City of Toronto, and the Province of Ontario.
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Why Essential?Our Recent Clients Include:City of Toronto- Corporate Training and Learning - Parks and Recreation - Toronto Public Health - City of Toronto Water Province of Ontario - OPS Learning & Development/Gov’t Services - Ministry of Transportation - Ministry of Training Colleges & Universities - Public Health Service Canada City of Brampton City of Guelph Toronto Public Library Canadian Payroll Association Seneca College Uniglobe Travel Prophix Software Town of Milton Testimonials:In multiple offerings of our Personal Effectiveness workshops, Essential Facilitators scored 4.71 out of 5 – which equates to a 94% rating - not perfect but pretty darn close. Here are some participant comments - some from unsigned program evaluations, others from signed testimonials:“I was fortunate to have the opportunity to participate with a small group of my colleagues, in one-day session conducted by Ian Kennedy called ‘Engaged and Energized Presentations’. I began the day with some trepidation … speaking in front of my colleagues is definitely more challenging to me than speaking to strangers. I also wondered just how much could be accomplished in one day! “Throughout the day, Ian encouraged us to stretch and grow in the areas we had said were key to our becoming better presenters. Using fun, creative and engaging activities, Ian helped each of us demonstrate to ourselves that we can be more effective. Each participant came away with the heightened confidence that comes from successfully practicing strategies that addressed the unique challenges we identified at the outset. “It was Ian's focus on making gains in our personal style that had the most impact. I also really liked that Ian modeled what he taught: he provided us with a very clear example of what an effective presenter does (while maintaining his role as coach and supporter). Without hesitation, I would recommend Ian's talents and his workshop to those who want a valuable opportunity to deliver ‘engaged and energized’ presentations.” Susan Horne, Chair Faculty of Continuing Education and Training Seneca College "Over the past 15 years, I have had the pleasure of participating in workshops facilitated by Essential Communications. Most recently, they coached me on my presentation skills. Each time I work with Essential, it feels refreshing and new. The sessions always remind me of who I am and the possibilities of all I can be - something I can easily forget as I get caught up in day to day activities. I always left sessions feeling exhilarated and creative!" Leslie Lorette, Vice President, Retail - Goway Travel "Ian taught me to relate to my audience on a professional and dialectic level, to develop a two-way relationship with them; to have a conversation with the, not to lecture at them. Ian helped me to unlearn a great many previously taught "communications techniques" and to focus on developing my own person style. Equally important over our sessions together, he taught me now to refine (read: clarify and minimize) the message in my PowerPoint slides so that the audience could focus on my presence and my key message." Steven Davis-Mendelow, Ph.D, Manager, Markets & Airline Analysis, Bombardier Aerospace "Instructor's genuine passion and experience was clearly evident. Her ability to communicate the material in a thought-provoking and safe environment facilitated the understanding of the concepts. It was a pleasure." "Working for the same employer for 19 years, this was the first training where I enjoyed the content. The trainer was excellent. I wasn't bored, not even one second. Great job." Course EvaluationStatistically speaking, here are highlights of the performance evaluations we have received. With one of our key accounts, over a twelve month period (2007), Essential outperformed the average score of all other providers in every evaluation category. See below:
|  | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
