A huge part of my work is in training doctoral candidates, either in groups or one-to-one. I also have experience, supporting post docs who are preparing their habilitation defense. The support consists of training candidates in more effective rhetorical skills, reviewing, examining and strengthening their thesis structure to prepare them for potential, critical questions during the Q&A period. In other words, to ensure that possible weaknesses in their argumentation are identified early. In addition, the support is designed reduce anxiety prior to the event and to ensure that the individual candidate’s motivation and confidence levels are robust and positive.
“Dear Steve, after our session on Monday, I attended an academic workshop and gave a presentation on Wednesday. I used the opening we crafted together, with the metaphor of placing trash bins in an apartment, and cut down some content to allow myself to speak at a slower pace. The organizers held a small competition, and I was awarded the Best Presentation Award among 34 presenters! I was pleasantly surprised and truly believe that your workshop has already paid off. I couldn’t wait to share this good news with you and thank you for such a helpful workshop! Improving presentation and communication skills is a lifelong endeavor, and this experience has encouraged me even more to keep working on them.”
Doctoral Candidate at the University of Zurich (Training in October 2026)
“Letter for Recommendation” from Max Planck Institute
“Dear Steve, yesterday we gave our presentations. Thanks to you, it went really well and we received a lot of positive feedback! The audience was really interested, they had questions afterwards and thanked us for the presentation. So thank you again for your efforts. The impact you had on us was really huge.”
Kei Udagawa Team Leader at the International Affairs and Bundes Institut für Risikobewertung in October 2025
“I am very happy to let you know that I successfully defended my PhD. I learned a great deal from your course and from our session together. I consciously applied your advice during the defense, particularly in handling questions. The chair of the committee even commented on how impressed she was with the way I communicated with the audience, which meant a lot to me.”
From a doctoral candidate at the Zenter for Agricultural and Landscape Research (ZALF)
“Dear Steve, Thanks again for the wonderful coaching and for sharing so many useful tools and insights with us! I think we all took away a lot from the session, and I’m already excited to try out some of the things we learned. Thanks again for everything – it was a really great experience!”
Laura Brunner, Department of Business Administration University of Zurich, Switzerland (October 2026)
“Dear Steve…Interestingly, your name was actually mentioned during this symposium. That was a panel discussion of the alumni on the topic what would they recommend to the current PhD students in the institute. Someone recommended us to take part in workshops, and explicitly mentioned your name, so I believe he has really benefited from it!”
Fritz Haber, Institute of the Max Planck Society, September 2026
“Hallo Steve, ich wollte berichten, dass die Disputation gut lief! Ich war nur wenig nervös, habe hinterher viel gutes Feedback bekommen, dass der Vortrag toll war und auf den Punkt und ich sehr souverän wirkte. William sagt, es gab genügend Pausen, Blickkontakt und Fragen 😅 Und ich konnte die Momente, in denen ich ganz bewusst ins Publikum geschaut habe, richtig genießen. Und war sehr berührt in all die wohlwollenden und stolzen Gesichter zu blicken. Ich bin richtig dankbar für das Timing, dass ich mit dir üben konnte und du mir so viele Tipps noch gegeben hast! Danke, wirklich! Achso, es ist alles zusammen ein Magna cum Laude 🙂 “
Fritz Haber, Institute of the Max Planck Society, September 2026
Translation: “Hi Steve, I wanted to report that the doctoral defense went well! I was little nervous, got a lot of good feedback afterwards that the lecture was great was and to the point and I seemed very confident. William said there were enough breaks, eye contact and questions 😅 And I could enjoy the moments, in which I deliberately looked at the audience, really enjoyed it. And was very touched by looking into all the benevolent and proud faces. I am really grateful for the timing that I was able to practice with you and You gave me so many more tips! Thank you, really! In all, I received a Magna cum Laude. 🙂”
Fritz Haber, Institute of the Max Planck Society, September 2026