WE HELP PEOPLE BECOME CONFIDENT, CAPTIVATING, COMPELLING COMMUNICATORS
We see it and, more importantly, our clients see it — the wide-ranging benefits that permeate an organization when the individuals within it communicate in a confident, captivating and compelling way. This type of transformation can happen quicker than you’d think.
Our immersive training, based on neuroscience, psychology, and the performing arts, creates immediate and sustained change that starts paying big dividends as soon as your first team completes one of our workshops.
“The way people speak and write nowadays makes my head hurt.”
— Act I, Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
Our Founder, Niki Flacks
The story behind The Bergerac Group is really the story of our founder, Niki Flacks, an award-winning television and stage actor, accomplished psychologist, and avid student of brain research. The Bergerac Group exists because Niki was able to identify insights and connections between those three worlds: acting, psychology, and neuroscience.
Niki didn’t sit down one day and decide to create a presentation skills class for business executives. Instead, she was living her life, helping others, noticing things that most people would miss, and making organic connections that have changed the lives of tens of thousands of business professionals.
The early 1980s were an interesting time to be a professional actor because businesses were spending a lot of money on the arts. Corporations were sponsoring actors to go into organizations where no one would otherwise meet a live performer, and Niki’s sponsor was the Sears Roebuck Foundation. She met with the top people from the Foundation and had many great conversations, so when one of them asked Niki to stick around to see a big presentation he was about to give, she agreed.
Niki was horrified.
The executive turned into a stiff, awkward person who was hardly recognizable compared to the delightful man Niki had just been talking to. Afterward, she shared with him techniques she’d learned as an actor, to which he responded, “This stuff is magical.” Niki was sharing knowledge that felt like a secret, even though people have acted and performed for thousands of years.
Sometime later, Niki was shooting a commercial. While there, she realized the emotional and psychological tactics used in advertising and how those tactics could effectively layer into the acting approach she’d devised for verbal business presentations.
The final cog in Niki’s public speaking machine became apparent when she befriended a neurosurgeon and began learning the many ways the brain influences both the speaker and the audience during a presentation. This empowered Niki further.
With her compilation of know-how from acting, psychology, and neuroscience, Niki’s first course, PowerTalk, was born, and she began her mission to transform everyone into effective, compelling, and memorable speakers. Her methodology has stood the test of time and not just because it makes sense in theory—people are making fundamental, sustainable transformations through the Bergerac workshops.
The Bergerac Group Today
Her enthusiastic successors have carried on the legacy of Niki’s thought leadership. Without these remarkable women's extraordinary vision, talent, contributions, and dedication, The Bergerac Group wouldn’t be what it is today. Over its three generations of strong women in ownership, The Bergerac Group has remained passionate about effective public speaking and all the doors it can open.
Today, Blair Jackson, Shari Guilfoile, and Charla Montgomery lead the charge to grow The Bergerac Group into a new era. Their vision is to develop and scale The Bergerac Group and become internationally recognized, available to every type of person and organization, and the go-to authority on the practice of public speaking. Energized by the opportunity to improve lives, all three generations of leaders stay involved, and their vision for The Bergerac Group is a communication revolution. The leadership team prides itself on tempering a scrappy business sense with humility and a ceaseless desire to learn, recalibrate, and improve. The team carries The Bergerac Group’s torch with pride, passion, and excitement for future leaders and speakers everywhere.
OUR MISSION
Empowering Voices. Inspiring Confidence. Transforming Communication.
We unlock people's potential to become extraordinary communicators and transform their lives. By integrating insights from the performing arts, psychology, and brain research, we equip our clients with the confidence and strategies they need to command any room, be it a virtual meeting room, a conference room, a boardroom, or the dinner table.
OUR CORE VALUES
EMPOWERMENT
Our primary goal is to empower individuals to become more effective communicators. We believe helping people unlock their potential and engage their audiences not only changes companies but literally changes peoples lives.
INTEGRITY
We put principle over profit. We’re sincere in our mission and uphold high ethical standards in our business practices.
STEWARDSHIP
We honor the legacies of the incredible people who’ve come before us by preserving and building upon their contributions. As The Bergerac Group grows, we remain committed to our roots and pivoting quickly in an ever-changing business landscape.
SCRAPPY
We always find a solution no matter who we’re working with, whether they’re experienced or not. There isn’t any communication problem we can’t solve. We value creative and agile problem-solving and a gritty “get it done” attitude.
PASSION
We have a deep-rooted passion for helping individuals become extraordinary communicators. Our enthusiasm and energy are evident in every workshop we teach.