Jason's journey to the TEDx stage, and beyond

Jason Dellatolla enrolled in my presentation class during his PhD at McGill. Since then, he was a finalist on the McGill 3MT stage and given a TEDx talk. He then leveraged his speaking ability and his psychology background to launch a branding agency that specializes working with academics who have ventured beyond academia. As one of those, I've become a client of that agency: a real life full circle moment!

Jason started out nervous about public speaking. He'll tell you he took way longer than his peers just to prep a pretty average presentation.

Jason and I at his TEDxMcGill talk in 2023.

But he wanted his research to have an impact within the university and beyond, and he knew better public speaking skills was key to doing that. When he started his PhD he realized he needed help and signed up for my graduate student presentation course at McGill.

What we worked on

We started with content, and discussed how to structure complex and often very detailed research for a presentation. We also worked on how to create slides that support you, not distract your audience, and how to use voice and body language effectively, to express your authentic self, not sound like a robot.

Throughout the course, Jason learned the importance of engaging his audience.

Presenting better opened new doors

After my course, Jason signed up for McGill's Three Minute Thesis (3MT) program and made it to the finals. Following that success, he was invited to be a student lead and coach other students competing in 3MT.

Jason also did a TEDx talk, where he spoke about his PhD research in front of hundreds of people. He said, "Andy coached me through the entire process. He helped me rewrite the script over and over and over again, practice it so it felt natural. So that when I finally stepped on stage to talk about my research in front of 300 people and some beaming spotlights, I got through it just fine. And it was a big accomplishment for me."

Listen to Jason talk about his journey in his own words rather than mine.

And now Jason is the co-founder of a branding agency. His work regularly puts him in the same room with big decision-makers and important clients. He feels confident speaking to them because of the strong presentation skills he worked so hard to develop.

And as I said up top, I've now worked with Jason to define the brand identity for my own company. It's been amazing to watch him come into his own and unlock his full potential as a public speaker, and as a business owner.

Watch Jason's full TEDx presentation:

Want to learn more about the program? Click here.