Thomas Dohmke, CEO, GitHub
Montana is a talented speaker coach who hones in on all the little things to help executives and leaders make a big impact. She was particularly impactful in helping me prepare for my first major keynotes as GitHub CEO.
Jeff Pettiross, Director of UX Design, Tableau Software
If you have ever wanted to gain confidence in front of an audience, tell a gripping story, or generally be amazing on stage, go work with Montana. Montana is both my speaking and acting coach. She helps weave together story craft, stage presence, and vocal performance, and brings it with her years of professional experience along with solid pedagogy and encouragement.
Stephanie Calabrese, Principal Program Manager, Microsoft
I highly encourage everyone to learn everything they can about effective virtual presentations from Montana von Fliss! Montana recently led my team on better engagement, speaking skills, and using the power of storytelling in the virtual format, all with very, very positive feedback. I just got a note today from someone who said it was one of the best trainings in their 17 years as a Microsoft employee. Make sure to hire her - this content could not be more relevant or timely!
Craig Nelson, CVP, Microsoft Security, Azure Red Team, Microsoft
I have been working (as a student) of Montana for 3 years. Prior to receiving Montana's coaching, I delivered average presentations, with average content to audiences that expected an average experience. I received average feedback, and figured that was OK since it's common to see average presentations in the tech world. I first met Montana after being booked for an internal company presentation. Montana quickly inspired me by talking about the impact of good speakers, and that I can be outstanding with the commitment and training. At that moment, I decided that being average was over and worked with Montana for multiple sessions. 3 years later, I'm delivering presentations that receive consistent strong reviews and ratings. During my delivery, I look out and do a survey of the audience -- I see full engagement (and win the fight for audience attention from laptops and phones). Now, when I attend an average presentation, I reach out to the presenter and recommend Montana's services... and have watched those speakers improve too. During C-19, I received Montana's coaching prior to delivering a remote session to a 800+ person audience with a variety of experience & skill sets. This was my first remote session, and I had to adapt my in-person technique to work remotely. The result? I achieved the top scoring session on the first try. Thank you Montana!
Dana Pake, Director, Corporate Events, GitHub
In just under five weeks, GitHub reimagined their annual Satellite event for the virtual world. Montana had a way about her that immediately put speakers at ease. She quickly identified their strong suits helping them double down on these talents, and where she noticed areas for improvement, she had a gentle yet effective way of coaching them through these challenging bits while keeping their confidence intact. Simply put, Montana von Fliss is a critical teammate on your virtual program roster.
Ben Thurgood, Senior Manager Solution Architect, Amazon
I wanted to say thanks again, Montana, for the amazing work you did in helping me to prepare and absolutely smash my biggest stage (~1000 people) at the AWS re:Invent conference. This has set the stage for bigger and better things in my career ever since.
Dinesh Chahlia, Engineering Manager, Google
Montana is a powerful speaking and communications coach. Given enough time, she can even make a stone idol talk, eloquently! Montana has helped me and countless colleagues in delivering engaging presentations for both small and large audiences, in-person and virtually. I can't imagine a better presentation coach than her. Montana is definitely at the top of her field. I am immensely grateful to have worked with her!
Kathleen Winder, Senior Director of Marketing, Microsoft
I want to tell you about how beyond thrilled I am with Montana von Fliss. She has made an amazing impact on my project and has been jaw dropping in her results. She is truly excellent. We have much work to do together in the coming months. I have some bigger plans in the works, and if they come to pass, will keep us all very busy.
Chiedo John, Engineer and Product Manager, GitHub
I can't recommend Montana highly enough! She helped me prepare a presentation on the Metaverse that couldn't have gone more smoothly and helped me make it high impact and highly coveted. Since giving the presentation, I've been asked to give it in 3 other places! Montana is officially my goto for any upcoming speaking events I put on the docket. SHE. IS. AWESOME.
Eva Murray, Lead Evangelist, Snowflake
Montana is the best speaker coach I have ever worked with. Her guidance helped me go from someone who presents to someone who has a presence on stage. If you are regularly on stage (in person or virtually), this is an excellent investment in your skills and you will come to enjoy giving talks that are not just informative but inspiring and memorable.
Chermaine Li, Principal PM, Microsoft
I have had multiple coaching sessions via Microsoft and Montana's coaching has been the most helpful. Montana finds ways to improve my presentation skills that are within my comfort zone that I can naturally incorporate into my presentation. Thank you for making my session a success!
Roxanne Beaver, Senior PM, Partner and Customer Engagement, Microsoft
Thank you so much for coming out to Microsoft and providing two of the team members with individual speaker training. Both PMs felt that the speaker training was very useful. Tim and Todd both mentioned that they will take the lessons that they learned today and apply them not only to their video sessions but also to other areas when speaking in front of a group.
Jill Hostetter, Director of Product Management, Zonar Systems
Montana’s Public Speaking Workshop exceeded my expectations! Originally scheduled for the full day in-person group workshop, the COVID-19 stay-at-home order led us to split it into 4 virtual group sessions. I was extremely impressed with Montana’s effectiveness at engaging the team in this forum. She provided meaningful instruction and feedback such that everyone walked away with valuable, practical learnings that we were able to apply immediately. I highly recommend working with Montana!
David Pires, Director, Analytics Platform and Products, Expedia
Having met Montana a couple years ago she has changed the way I present and approach presentations. She has an uncanny ability to bring out your ideas, develop your confidence and help you deliver the best presentation of your career. Her techniques are effective via webex as well as face-to-face. If you are looking for a speaking coach I can't recommend Montana enough.
Simon Lee, Developer Platform Evangelism, Microsoft​
​Montana made me feel WAY more comfortable and confident than I would have felt. I rehearsed her comments and suggestions over and over again.
Alec Matias, CEO, Pawzii
Montana is perhaps the most effective coaching professional I've had the pleasure of working with. Within minutes she was providing actionable advice that was improving the quality of our messaging and the effectiveness of my delivery. I've worked with many trainers and coaches like Montana and there are many unique qualities that put her above the rest; she never misses an opportunity to improve, catching the smallest of details that when tweaked can make the largest of impact, and has no hesitation in giving you the hard, constructive feedback that is sorely needed. Without a doubt, I'll be coming back to Montana for every one of our critical communication needs.
Kelly Suter, Program Lead, TEDxBellevueWomen
Montana is just a superstar! We were lucky to have her as a speaker coach for our TEDx event. TEDx talk formats can be daunting, if not downright intimidating. Montana is the perfect cocktail of technical advice, wisdom, passion and lightheartedness. She is an expert in demystifying and de-stressing the process. Plus, she is just a wonderful person all the way around! Our speakers (and our entire team) were so impressed with her approach and dedication – she is a fantastic coach!
Mike Garrison, Technical Lead, Infrastructure Engineering, Toyota
As someone who rarely speaks in front of large audience, I was very nervous about presenting at the Amazon AWS Re:Invent conference. Montana listened to part of my presentation, asked what my concerns were, and then gave me some great advice to help calm my nerves, make me feel more confident, and make my presentation be more authentic. I took her advice to heart and it made for two successful presentations in which I received positive feedback from attendees. Montana is excellent and I highly recommend speaker coaching from her!
Radu Buta, SVP, Global Enterprise Sales, GitHub
Your feedback on the script and help on delivery were spot on and gave me the confidence I needed to deliver in an authentic and passionate manner.
Rosa Markarian, Interrim CCO, Visoon
Coachings with Montana are a wonderful, unique experience. I think her acting background makes a difference to a lot of other presentation trainings that I joined. Montana gave me great practical tips, but moreover we also worked on my mindset towards presenting / interviewing which was a game changer. On top Montana knows also about cultural differences when presenting, which was helpful as I’m from Germany. I highly recommend Montana’s group trainings as well as individual coaching sessions. Great sessions and long lasting effect that I’m very thankful for.
Katherine A Pohlman, Director of Research, Parker University
Wow - In the brief sessions that I had the pleasure to work with Montana, she was able to identify some little, yet powerful modifications that my presentation needed to be as impactful as possible. Thank you for your talent and expertise. Looking forward to working with you again.
Udii Carsley, Strategic Operator, AI Business Infrastructure, Microsoft
Your feedback on the script and help on delivery were spot on and gave me the confidence I needed to deliver in an authentic and passionate manner.
David Talby, CTO, Atigeo Software​
Montana is an excellent trainer.
Joe Sack, Principal Program Manager, Microsoft
Montana provided coaching for speakers at an upcoming technical conference. I was one of her students, and in less than an hour Montana provided quite a bit of actionable advice and insight that will go beyond just helping with my upcoming session, but will be useful for future speaking engagements as well. Excellent work!
Lou Carbone, Global Lead Solution Architect, Microsoft
I had the opportunity to get coaching from Montana on delivering a technical session for folks taking a certification exam. Her guidance helped me focus on the task at hand. I've received great feedback from the attendees of the session.​