Chris Fenning – Speaker Bio
Chris Fenning is a communication expert, corporate trainer, and award-winning author who helps professionals communicate clearly, concisely, and effectively in today’s fast-paced business environment.
With more than 20 years of experience in project management, IT, and leadership roles, Chris has worked inside global organizations where he saw firsthand how poor communication slows decisions, creates confusion, and impacts performance. He now helps teams eliminate that friction by teaching simple, practical frameworks that improve how people communicate every day.
Chris is the author of the award-winning books The First Minute and Effective Emails, which provide actionable strategies for structuring messages, leading meetings, and delivering information in a way that gets results. His work focuses on helping professionals quickly get to the point, ensure their message is understood, and drive better outcomes across teams.
He has trained and spoken for organizations around the world, helping leaders, technical experts, and cross-functional teams communicate more effectively—whether in meetings, presentations, or written communication.
Chris’s sessions are known for being highly practical, engaging, and immediately applicable, giving audiences tools they can use the same day to improve clarity, alignment, and productivity.
- Communication Training
- Get The First Minute Right (and get to the point!)
- Shorter Smarter Status Updates
- Expert to Non-Expert Communication
- 39 Ways to Make Training Stick
- What to do after trainees leave the room
- Make Training Stick: How to Ensure Learning Lasts.
Get The First Minute Right
This workshop teaches participants how to start conversations in a concise and organized way. Whether you
are asking for help, giving an update, or explaining an idea, getting to the point quickly is important. Above all
we need to avoid our audience thinking: “What are you talking about?” “Why are you telling me this?” And
“What is your point?” (This workshop is based on the multi-award-winning book, The First Minute.)
Keep Meetings on Track
How to spot when a meeting is going off topic and get it back on track. Whether it’s your own meeting or one
you are attending, going off track usually means a waste of time for everyone. This talk provides two methods
to set up a meeting for success and then keep it on the right track no matter what happens. (Based on the
book, Effective Meetings – Great Results, Less Pain, Every Time.)
Smart Status Updates
Executives, clients, and stakeholders all want concise, relevant updates. This interactive workshop shows
how to give short, valuable, and future-focused status updates on topics the audience need and want to
hear. Participants leave with a framework to create and deliver short, valuable status updates to audiences
from intern to the CEO.
Speak Their Language (Also Bridging the Tech to Business Divide)
Too often we communicate using our own expert language and it causes confusion, mistakes, and lost
business opportunities. But if we can speak in the language of our audience, we dramatically increase the
chances of being understood. This workshop teaches participants how to create relevant and jargon-free
messages the audience will definitely understand.
NOTE: This topic has options for different levels of depth from 90-minutes up to full day training.
95% Gave 5-star scores after attending
a workshop
98% Said the program was a valuable
use of their time.
97% Said they left with tools and
techniques they can actually apply.