Events | Johnbriffa

Keynotes
and Workshops

with

Dr John Briffa

KEYNOTE SESSIONS
Virtual and in-person

Dr Briffa offers group sessions, often as a spread over several weeks. Typically, a session will focus on a discreet topic such as nutrition, physical activity, sleep, breathing, mindfulness, or resilience. The sessions provide key insights and practical, realistic strategies for improvement. Q and A time is allowed, too. Details of example sessions can be found below.

WORKSHOPS
Virtual and in-person

Dr Briffa’s workshops allow more in-depth learning covering a wide range of subject matter for smaller groups. Typically, workshops will cover several topics relevant to wellbeing, performance and sustainability, such as nutrition, physical activity, sleep, breathing, resilience and productivity. Content is punctuated with time for self-reflection, planning and questions.

COACHING CONSULTATIONS
Virtual and in-person

Coaching consultations can be provided in-person or virtually as a workshop element. The 1-2-1 consultations are an opportunity to receive guidance and support in one or more challenge or area of interest. Broadly, these discussions may relate to one or more of the following:

Challenges that are principally emotional or psychological in nature.

Issues relating to work-related stress and feelings of overwhelm, and how to boost personal effectiveness and sustainability.

Medical issues.

Lifestyle-related advice (e.g. nutrition, physical activity and sleep).

No subject is 'off-topic', and the sessions are completely confidential.

Keynote and Webinar Topic Examples

Click down-arrow for session content

Please submit an email to make an enquiry about an in-person or virtual keynote, workshop or other event

SETTING YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS

While most people like to work efficiently and productively, it’s not uncommon for feelings of stress and overwhelm to take over. This session explores the most common reasons for these issues, and how to remedy them using simple, sustainable strategies. The session offers a range of tricks and tools for reducing anxiety and managing workflow more effectively. The strategies explored in the session can be deployed in any setting, whether that be working remotely or in the office. Insights from this session include: • How to set up your immediate workspace to support energy, focus and concentration. • Simple and effective strategies for getting more effective separation between work and home. • Strategies for managing mental distraction and boosting concentration. • The common external factors that disrupt workflow and how to manage them. • An effective tool for reducing work-related anxiety and feelings of overwhelm. • Why working from home or in the office both have pros and cons, and how to make the best of whatever setting you are in.
GETTING THE BEST OUT OF YOUR BRAIN

While our professional lives can be fulfilling and rewarding, stress and issues around work-life balance and lifestyle are common. Many people find the demands of work can erode their energy and wellbeing, and can affect their lives outside work, too. In this session, Dr John Briffa explores the impact of stress (both good and bad) on the body and mind. He reveals a range of strategies for managing stress and supporting mood and mental functioning both at work and in our personal lives. Insights from this session include: • The science of stress – why some stress is good, but too much can derail thinking, judgement, decision-making and self-control. • The physiological basis for burnout, and how to protect against it. • The relationship between breathing and the stress response, and how to use simple exercises to calm the body and mind and boost focus and effectiveness. • Why situations and experiences are not the true cause of stress, and what is. • Mental tools for managing challenging events and enhancing thinking and resourcefulness. • Easily-accessible technology for quantifying stress and managing it more effectively. • A simple daily exercise for boosting mood, life satisfaction and resilience.
SUPER SLEEP

Sleep plays a crucial role in vitality, mental functioning, mood, and even immunity. In this session, Dr John Briffa explores the benefits sleep brings, and show you how to determine if your individual sleep needs are being met. Most importantly, the session offers a range of strategies for optimising both the quantity and quality of sleep. The session reveals how small adjustments here can make a big difference in terms of personal energy, wellbeing, and sustainability. Insights from this session include: • The role sleep has in optimal wellbeing and performance. • The two common factors that can wreck sleep quality, and how to solve them with ease. • The relationship between light and sleep, and how to manage this to optimise sleep quality. • Why sleep needs vary from person-to-person and time-to-time, how to spot ‘sleep debt’. • Why it is possible to ‘catch up on sleep’, and how to do this most effectively. • Why ‘sleep scheduling’ is usually counter-productive, and what works better. • Simple and effective strategies for those struggling to get to sleep or who wake in the night.
PRIME FUEL

While many of us may enjoy eating, food’s primary function is to provide fuel for the body and brain. Diet plays a fundamental role in physical and mental health, too. This session explores the theory and practice of dietary approaches for boosting energy, effectiveness and wellbeing. It includes plenty of practical advice on diverse topics, including what to eat, when to eat, and hydration. Insights from this session include: • Nutritional strategies for ensuring sustained levels of energy throughout the day, with no ‘mid-afternoon slump’. • The critical importance of optimal hydration, and two fundamental principles for ensuring our needs are met here with ease. • An effective approach to combating overeating that does not involve counting calories or elimination of specific foodstuffs. • Key insights into different eating patterns, including snacking, ‘grazing’ and intermittent fasting. • A simple conceptual approach to healthy eating that anyone can easily adapt to their own preferences and tastes.
FUNCTIONAL FITNESS

Most people appreciate the benefits of physical activity and exercise for health and wellbeing, but some of us can still struggle to `fit it in´. Even regular exercisers can sometimes struggle to maintain their normal levels of physical activity as a result of their work schedule or circumstances. This session is dedicated to providing individuals with a range of simple, practical activities and exercise regimes that meet our wellbeing and fitness needs, whatever the setting and even when time is short. Insights from this session include: • Are there any real advantages to using a standing desk? • Simple routines for maintaining flexibility and mobility. • The immediate brain benefits that come from easy exercise such as walking. • A cheap and underrated piece of exercise equipment for boosting fitness and wellbeing. • How to effectively build strength and improve overall muscle tone in only two minutes a day and with no equipment. • How to get the benefits of an hour’s worth of exercise in just 10 minutes. • The under-recognised mental barrier to exercise, and how to surmount this.
BREATHE!

The primary function of breathing is to supply the body with oxygen. What is less well recognised is that specific breathing patterns can have a direct effect on our brain functioning, including our response to stress, thinking, decision-making and problem-solving. It is not uncommon for individuals to develop dysfunctional breathing patterns that jeopardise mental and physical wellbeing, including the oxygenation of the system. This session explores the science behind how breathing influences physical and mental wellbeing. It provides practical guidance on how to identify issues here, and how to use specific breathing exercises and ‘breathing hacks’ to support overall performance. Insights from this session include: • How to use specific breathing exercises to dampen the stress response and support thinking, judgement, decision-making and resourcefulness. • A specific breathing exercise for inducing a state of `calm alertness´. • The problem with `over-breathing´, and how to identify it and correct it with specific breath practices. • How to use breathing strategies to boost fitness and athletic performance. • The critical differences between ‘nose-breathing’ and ‘mouth-breathing’. • The hazards of disordered breathing at night, and simple strategies for managing snoring, sleep apnoea to boost sleep quality and overnight recovery.
MAKING WORKING FROM HOME WORK FOR YOU

For many people, working from home has been a boon in terms of things like reduced travel time and some flexibility around schedule. However, working from home has brought challenges too, including distraction, a tendency for the days to lengthen, and for there to be less separation between our working and personal lives. This session explores strategies for success when working from home, including how to optimise wellbeing, effectiveness and productivity. Many of the strategies can be applied in an office setting, too. Insights from this session include: • How to set up a desk with optimal ergonomics and productivity in mind. Things to have on the desk (and things to avoid) for boosting wellbeing and focus. • How to optimise the immediate environment, including sound, light and air quality. • How to use the science of ‘psychoacoustics’ to boost focus and productivity. • Strategies for combating ‘Zoom Fatigue’. • How to create more effective separation between ‘work’ and ‘home’.

TESTIMONIALS

Dominic Magee
Director, Bridgepoint

"John delivered a fantastic and original presentation on effectiveness, nutrition and exercise at one of our regular UK employee lunches. It was one of the best-attended sessions we have held, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. His style is amusing and engaging, whilst he challenges many of the 'usual' opinions around healthy eating and living. I would strongly recommend his talks to anyone who has the chance to book or attend one. The presentations would work well on company off-sites, team days or additions to board meetings and we are looking at all of these forums to let others hear his important messages."

Andi Britt
Partner, IBM Global Business Services

"Dr Briffa delivered an outstanding session to a senior team of over 150 IBM management consultants at our annual vision and strategy event. He more than lived up to his reputation for delivering insightful, thought-provoking and lifestyle-changing health and nutrition advice to senior corporate staff. His rapid, lucid delivery, combined with his deeply-researched insights, made his session the most popular elective session of the day, with many participants talking long after the event about the impact it had made on their lifestyle."

David Adams
Global Head of Finance & Capital Markets Clifford Chance

“Dr Briffa spoke at our conference in Berlin. Against all odds he kept a mixed and demanding audience of around 120 people totally engaged: his energetic and humorous delivery style demands attention. Even more impressively, our delegates walked away buzzing with new ideas about how to improve their health and still refer to the session over a year later – a highly memorable morning.”

Matthew Gwyther
Editor, Management Today

"John Briffa is a total one off. A quite short, dark doctor with an interesting Professor Brainstorm haircut who goes on stage at our conferences and then knocks them dead with his unique blend of science, common sense and humour. He scores right at the top on speaker feedback, and senior businessmen have been known to act on and benefit from his advice long after hearing him."

Ian Bolger
Bolgers

"In an industry populated with individuals with 'brochure knowledge' of health and nutrition, Dr John Briffa was a breath of fresh air in giving us an insight into how to improve our health, wellness and vitality."

ATTENDEE AND DELEGATE FEEDBACK

"A session given by somebody with impeccable qualifications in the subject. The session was very relevant in relation to our role moving forward both personally and commercially".

"Dr John's experience and knowledge are fabulous in all kinds of fields: healthy eating, sports, sleep, psychological matters and his advice is awesome. Thank you, John!"

"Entertaining with the right mix of evidence-based explanation and simple advice and messages."

"I found it a really interesting and enjoyable session. Dr Briffa made it clear that a few simple changes could make a big impact, and I was inspired to follow his suggestions."

"The mix of scientifically-based explanations and practical, everyday advice worked perfectly for me. I started with diet and sleep strategies right away."

"I liked the provocative challenge on generally accepted 'truths', and the fact that we can achieve a better quality of life with some changes in behaviour."

"Absolutely hit the mark and was delivered in a very engaging manner."

"Something fresh, an energy-packed delivery which made us think about things from a new perspective."

"John's preparedness to challenge conventional wisdom with good arguments was a highlight for me."

"Frank and honest about the realities of everyday life."

"Practical and efficient in delivery of information and gave me lots of easy to digest advice that is easy to apply."

"The speed of presentation was great – listened to every word."

"I wish I'd been exposed to this information a decade ago!"

"This programme really reminds you of how important wellbeing is and shows how it impacts productivity and performance."

"Besides scientific explanations, which always work for me, the tips that we got were practical and connected to our reality and lifestyle."

"The coaching session far exceeded my expectations."

"I was amazed at how much ground we covered in the coaching session, and I found the explanations and advice hugely helpful."

"The one-to-one session allowed me to address concerns, thoughts and ideas that might be more difficult to address with someone in the firm."

Keynotes and Workshops

KEYNOTE SESSIONS Virtual and in-person

WORKSHOPS Virtual and in-person

COACHING CONSULTATIONS Virtual and in-person