Speaking & workshops

A journalist wants a response by lunchtime. Your team disagrees about whether to apologise. Someone has shared an internal message, and it sounds considerably worse without the conversation around it.

What would your business actually do?

I help teams work through situations like these, alongside the everyday decisions that shape a reputation long before anything goes wrong. How you introduce your business, prepare for an interview, announce a change or respond to criticism all influence what people think of you.

You can book me to speak, lead a discussion or put your team inside a fictional scenario where they have to decide what happens next. Sessions can be practical, thought-provoking and, where the subject allows, surprisingly entertaining. People tend to have quite strong opinions about an apology until they have to write one themselves.

A talk, a workshop or something for your next away day

A talk that gets people talking

For conferences, company events, leadership meetings and team learning sessions.

I use public stories to explore how reputations are built, why certain responses provoke a backlash and what businesses can learn from the decisions behind the headlines. We can focus on your industry, a particular issue or a broader theme, with time for questions and discussion.

A useful choice when you want to give people a fresh perspective and something they will keep discussing afterwards.

An interactive workshop

For teams who want to apply the ideas to their own work.

We might practise an interview, review a proposed announcement, compare different responses to criticism or work through the reputational risks around a launch. I guide the discussion, challenge assumptions and help the group turn its conclusions into practical next steps.

You do not need to work in PR. These sessions can bring together leadership, HR, marketing, customer service and anyone whose decisions affect how the business is understood.

A crisis simulation for your team

Your business is facing a fictional problem. You have some facts, several unanswered questions and a deadline.

Working together or in smaller groups, you decide what to say, who should say it and what needs to happen first. As the exercise develops, I introduce new information. A journalist follows up. A screenshot appears. Your first response attracts an unexpected reaction.

We finish by looking at what worked, where decisions became difficult and what your organisation could prepare in advance.

A company away day with a purpose

A shared challenge can reveal a lot about how people work together.

Who asks the question everybody else has missed? Who wants to act immediately? What happens when two departments see the same problem completely differently?

I can build a session around those dynamics, using fictional PR scenarios to encourage discussion, collaboration and decisions across teams. It gives colleagues a chance to understand each other’s perspectives while developing skills they can use back at work.

Book a session within your existing away day, or discuss a half-day or full-day programme combining a talk, group exercises and a practical debrief.

A private online session

For remote teams, international colleagues or businesses that want a focused conversation without organising a full event.

A Zoom session might cover an upcoming announcement, interview preparation, a public case study or a particular communications challenge. It can be a talk with questions, a facilitated discussion or a smaller interactive workshop.

Some things we could work through

Your company is being cancelled. Your team cannot agree why.

Some colleagues think the criticism is justified. Others feel the business is being deliberately misrepresented. Employees want answers, customers are asking questions and the proposed statement keeps getting rewritten.

We explore how to establish the facts, make space for disagreement and reach a responsible decision about what the business should do and say.

Useful for leadership, HR and communications teams navigating competing perspectives.

The screenshot that leaves the group chat

An internal message becomes public. The people who wrote it say it has been taken out of context. The people reading it are not interested in that explanation.

What needs investigating? What do you tell staff? How do you respond without making claims you cannot support?

A practical exercise in internal communication, judgement and the gap between what was intended and what was understood.

Would you publish that?

Teams review fictional social posts, campaign ideas, founder statements and customer replies. They decide what they would publish, change or stop, then discuss why.

We look at how humour travels, where context disappears and why something that seems obvious inside a business can land very differently outside it.

An accessible workshop for mixed teams, particularly those involved in marketing, sales, social media or customer service.

You have a good business. Why is nobody interested?

A session about proactive PR: finding the story, understanding the audience and explaining why anyone should care.

We work through what makes your business interesting, which claims need evidence and how to turn internal enthusiasm into something useful to a journalist, customer or potential partner.

Useful for founders, growing businesses and teams preparing a launch.

Your spokesperson is about to be asked the question they hoped to avoid

We practise answering difficult questions clearly, handling follow-ups and recognising when a rehearsed answer stops sounding like an answer at all.

The focus is on being prepared, credible and human, particularly when the subject is uncomfortable.

Useful for founders, senior leaders and anyone representing the organisation publicly.

Should your business say something?

A public controversy is dominating the conversation. Employees have different views. Customers are asking where you stand.

We explore when an issue is relevant to your business, what a statement would commit you to and whether your actions support the position you are considering.

Useful for organisations thinking through values, public expectations and the pressure to respond.

The apology that makes everything worse

Teams compare possible responses to the same fictional mistake, then write their own.

We discuss accountability, defensive language, premature promises and what needs to change beyond the wording. It is a useful way to examine how an organisation responds when it has got something wrong.

What your business takes away

Depending on the session, your team can leave with a clearer understanding of:

• How its communications might be interpreted outside the organisation.

• Who needs to be involved in sensitive decisions.

• How to handle disagreement without letting a response drift.

• What makes a story, announcement or interview credible.

• Which gaps in preparation deserve attention.

• What to do differently in its day-to-day work.

For practical workshops, we can agree a written debrief or recommendations as part of the booking, so the discussion has a useful life beyond the session.

Why book me?

I’m Lauren Beeching, founder of Honest London and an international crisis PR and reputation adviser with over a decade of experience working with businesses, public figures and the media.

My work spans B2B and B2C brands, founders, politicians and people whose lives play out in public, including actors, singers and reality television personalities. I advise across local, national and international contexts, where different audiences, political environments and cultural expectations can change how the same story is received.

I work directly with journalists, editors, producers and broadcasters, both representing clients and contributing my own analysis. I understand the conversations happening on either side of a press enquiry: what a journalist needs to establish, what a business is worried about and where a rushed response can create another problem.

Alongside my advisory work, I regularly co-host BBC Radio 4’s When It Hits the Fan and contribute commentary to BBC News and Sky News. My speaking and teaching engagements have included Littler’s European Executive Employer Conference, UCL, Bayes Business School and Soho House.

That range matters in a room full of people with different responsibilities. I can connect the pressures facing a founder with the concerns of their marketing team, the questions coming from employees and the version of events an outside audience is likely to hear.

When you book me, you get someone who has had to help people make difficult decisions while the story is still developing. I bring that experience into sessions that challenge assumptions, get people talking and give your team something practical to use afterwards.

I lead every session personally. My advisory work remains confidential, so we explore public cases and carefully developed fictional scenarios without exposing private client situations.

How we plan your session

Tell me who is attending, what the occasion is and what you would like people to get out of it. You might have a detailed brief, or simply be looking for something useful and engaging for your next company day.

I will suggest a subject and format, then agree the preparation, timings, fee and any follow-up with you before booking.

Sessions are available in person or online. For international events, we can discuss travel or a remote format. Talks, workshops and away-day sessions can all be booked independently of ongoing PR support.

Tell me what you have in mind

A conference, a team away day, an upcoming launch or a room full of people who could benefit from understanding each other’s decisions a little better.

Share your preferred date, location or online format, approximate audience size and budget if you have one. You do not need to have chosen a topic. We can work that out together.