What do you need to truly succeed?

more than

Customers served! 50 Keynotes & Workshops

Over

Customers served! 50  years of experience in messaging and copywriting

Year of trademark application

2003

for The Essential Message

Many, many 1,000’s of people positively impacted!

Core Messaging Category Design + Storytelling

It would be disingenuous to suggest we offer everything you need to succeed.

The truth is there are always multiple factors that drive the growth and success of any business... Strong vision and leadership. Products and services worth raving about. Competent teams. Luck.

And, oh yes, communications.

Strong, compelling communications shine a light on a symptomatic pain point in the market; differentiate you and your company from all the other players in your space; position your solution as the ‘no-brainer’ answer to the problem the market has; motivate customers to break free from the biggest and most dangerous of all competitors…. the ‘do nothing’ state of inertia.

That’s what we do.


We developed the Essential Message D.I.G. Methodology to help you dig deeper – to strengthen your differentiation and brand position, and become leaders in your category through category design. And then use storytelling to reach deeper into your customers’ hearts and minds.

From the beginning of time, stories are how we have passed on our values, made sense of the world and affected change. Humans are literally wired to respond to stories.

But what we do isn’t ordinary storytelling…

Inside-out Storytelling is a unique approach that aligns the message you want to 'deliver' with the message that gets through to the hearts and minds of your listeners.

Whether you want to lead better, sell more, or differentiate more powerfully — and whether you're pitching to investors, speaking at a major conference, or motivating a team — it’s the combination of message, category design, and storytelling that ensures you are more impactful, more memorable, and more effective.

That’s what we help you do.

Essential Message D.I.G. Methodology | Michel Neray

At each stage of the process, the D.I.G. Methodology is driven by counter-intuitive processes and exercises designed to achieve a deeper level of understanding, and genuinely fresh insights.

“I have used this approach to help start-ups get funded and acquired; and company presidents and executive directors lead their organizations powerfully, sales professionals and consultants attract clients; trainers and speakers get booked and engage audiences; and financial advisors build their book… this really works.“

Michel NERAY

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Michel, the message of your keynote was right in line with the objectives of the event. And, the more we work with our marketing company, the more we realize that the message of your keynote is also right in line with the objectives of our company. Thank you!

DAVE ROOSEVELT - CEO, Centric Consulting

I was immediately impressed by Michel's quick grasp of the potential impact of my message and his keen insight into how I could have my message resonate more deeply with my audience.

ADRIAN DAVIS - Value Selling Expert, Professional Speaker, Author, and Strategic Consultant

I was skeptical that a keynote about storytelling could deliver anything new to an audience made up of top salespeople. But, Michel did a great job, and I was doubly impressed at another event that evening when one of the attendees shared a very powerful and moving story that he had been inspired to share as a result of Michel’s presentation. I can see why these techniques are so effective in sales, leadership, and in the work we do in advocating and grassroots lobbying.

JON PAONE - Vice President, Government Affairs, New York Life

Michel, your Storytelling coaching helped me land a great client, which gave me a 30x, or 3,000% return on my investment!! Now I am conscious of storytelling as I never was before. Thank you!

ALICE WHEATON - Extreme Sales Results

The messaging that Michel developed with our team provided clear differentiation and a distinct value proposition for our company. It also provided a key focus for our sales and marketing efforts, which helped us grow our business by 60% per year and become the #1 vendor in our space.

RAM METSER - CEO, Guardium, an IBM Company

As a professional speaker and singer-songwriter already successful at making a living through storytelling, I was hoping to deepen my knowledge of the craft. I was, however, a bit skeptical that I’d learn anything new. That skepticism quickly evaporated… I loved all the different methodologies and approaches to distilling the essence of your story. And the whole design of the workshop was aligned with the creative process, in that it was designed to turn off your brain, get yourself out of your own way, and put you into flow through the great prompts and the pace of it all. The time absolutely flew by and I felt like I had learned so much when I emerged on the other side. I will be back for more!

PETER KATZ - Juno Award and Canadian Screen Award nominated Singer-Songwriter and Speaker

Michel's speaking classes and pointers go straight to the heart of transformation… and they’re informative and fun. They've been a key factor in helping me effectively build my coaching practice and my community.

LINDA BABULIC - Personal Business Strategist at ZEST Your Life

We loved the sessions and our team definitely is energized about the power of story, how we can use it in our business, and beginning an effort to master its dynamics. We are on our way!

SCOTT LENET - Touchdown Ventures

Michel's presentation was true magic. He was able to craft a message for the audience that combined his expertise with their immediate needs. His delivery was exemplary. By combining humor, examples, and an informal but focused presentation, he demonstrated his command of storytelling principles and gave the audience immediate useful takeaways. True learning took place - Michel left the audience left feeling excited and motivated.

MARIE LA VIE - Managing Director, Eastern Prince Edward Island Chamber of Commerce

Michel is a stunningly good speaker. Full of energy. Full of humor. Full of insight. He completely captivated the room, and though he delivered a ton of valuable information and inspiration, he also left everyone wanting more.

TIM HURSON - Founding Partner: ThinkX Intellectual Capital

It’s always a challenge to keep people engaged in virtual presentations, but your name consistently came up as one of the favorite speakers of the conference — people were truly engaged by your stories and delivery. As an event planner, I’d also say that you were easy to work with. Plus, you went over and above in your preparedness, especially with the technology, which gave us confidence leading up to the conference. Thank you!

DAN SIMS - Director, Business Development, Investments, Beneva Insurance

I loved the virtual format! It ran smoothly, allowed us to meet and easily work with new people, plus everyone had a chance to be heard and participate. It may have even helped us to be more focused and present than an 'in-person' experience.

LISA RICKETT - Life & Leadership Coach

One of the best storytelling programs, if not the best, I have ever seen. Remarkable in its clarity.

DAVE LIEBER - Keynote speaker; Humorist; Columnist for Dallas Morning News

You did an excellent job of demonstrating the value of storytelling to enhance leadership and improve outcomes. The session also gave us new insights and appreciation for our colleagues. And while I was initially concerned about how people would take to a session on storytelling, it was gratifying to see how participants left the workshop with specific tools to help them be more structured and deliberate in their communications.

ROXANN LINTON - Chief Executive Officer, First Heritage Co-operative Credit Union (FHC)

Michel was able to deliver a flawless and engaging workshop online. The content was timely and practical.

DELORES WURTZ - TEC Canada Chair

The messaging that Michel worked on with us not only helped us establish our brand differentiation and leadership position with customers, strategic partners and analysts, it helped keep us focused internally on our core strategy. And it was absolutely a factor in our growth and success.

OMER SCHNEIDER - Co-founder and CEO, CyberX (acquired by MSFT)

Michel has, for over Ten (10) years, been associated, with the Jamaica Employers’ Federation’s Annual Business & Workplace Convention, as either, its Opening or Closing Keynote Speaker and Presenter.

His storytelling and musical skills, coupled with his expertise and competence in delivery, have always engaged, motivated, and inspired our hundreds of leaders and practitioners from diverse business and professional disciplines.

We are always happy to welcome Michel and our Convention deliverables, will not be complete without his input.

YVONNE DAVIS - Jamaica Employers Federation

Excellent! Outstanding! Amazing! Michel is one of the most excellent communicators I have ever had the pleasure to hear speak. He is also entertaining yet so relatable. Highly recommend him for the next event you host and need a speaker to entertain and educate your audience.

KAREN FOX - Market Domination Strategist, Speaker

He is a great motivator, funny and experienced and he delivers true value to the audience. No one can be indifferent after hearing what he has to say.

SHACHAR PERLMAN - Owner of Be Happy

Your speech on the virtual stage was spellbinding as we received plenty of positive reviews from our advisors afterward. The musical performance at the end was a nice way to cap off the roadshow.

MATTHEW TO - Director, Business Development - Investments Beneva Insurance

What I loved most about the workshop is the innovative ways of how to deliver presentations in the most powerful ways. Michel's techniques will take any public speaker to the next level.

MARIOLA CZARNIAK - Founder of Maximum Results Academy

I was fortunate that TATA arranged Michel to train us on 'The Art of Business Story Telling'. I never knew I needed this, I have imbibed as much as I could in the 8 hours we got with him. I am sure it is going to help me immensely in my career as I see it giving results in just a week.

PAWANKUMAR CILLANKI - Senior Software Engineer/TCS, Bengaluru

Storytelling proved to be a great keynote topic. The ability to present our results, and the pertinent details, while keeping on point, and delivering the true message is critical and Michel provided many approaches that can be adopted, and help in successful communications. The keynote was well worth it.

MICHAEL FLINT - Project Management Consultant

Members indicated that you transformed their thinking for better problem solving, relationship building, and ultimately satisfying customer sales… a great program!

JOAN TEZAK - Exec. Director, Colorado Society Association Executives (CSAE)

Michel is a great speaker and one who knows his stuff. He makes you think deeply about the message you're sending and what it is that you do, so that you can send that message with integrity.

GARTH SCHMALENBERG - HBI Leadership

LeanWerks recently completed a week-long deep dive on our essential qualities, cultural foundation, and competitive positioning facilitated by Michel Neray. It was the best work on this front that I have experienced – at this company and at any other company I have been in. More than an exercise in branding and positioning, I now see how powerful the Essential Message concept is for our people and how it impacts our culture – that was unexpected.

REID LELAND - Owner/President, LeanWerks

Michel Neray's Storytelling training has not only helped internal staff be more effective in their respective roles, but it also helped us access new sources of revenue. In addition, our front-line staff reported they were more effective in the field. We would definitely hire Michel again, and in fact, we did!

NANCY HEINRICHS - Executive Director, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority

Michel, we knew there would be some challenges in presenting a keynote on storytelling to our group, but you gently helped us take several steps on that journey by demonstrating how to use stories to enhance the impact of the research… and you did it with ‘aplomb’. You also left us with a wonderful reminder that we are all indeed human. On a professional — and personal — note, I want to tell you how much we appreciated your openness and flexibility leading up to the event, in tailoring the content to meet our objectives. Merci.

ISABELLE PLESZCZYNSKA - Healthcare Communications Mgr, Major Dep Disorder Lundbeck Canada Inc.

Michel Neray was pivotal in impacting my speaking career and workshop facilitation. His workshop taught me to craft my humorous talks with a core message that changed my speaking business profoundly. His easy style and compassionate manner allowed me to open up and take my business to a new level.

LENNY RAVICH - Author, Keynote Speaker, Gestalt & Humor Master, Optimism & Mindfulness Guru

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