Body language and rapport at Petbarn's national conference

Petbarn brought me to the Gold Coast to deliver a keynote on body language, rapport and communication at their national conference. It is the kind of room I enjoy most: hundreds of people who genuinely care about what they do, gathered for a session engineered specifically for them.

Built for the room, not off the shelf

The most important work on a keynote happens before anyone walks on stage. Every session has to be shaped around the people in the room, the points tuned to their day-to-day, the message aligned with what they actually value. A keynote that could be delivered to any company is a keynote that lands with none of them.

For Petbarn, the brief was refreshingly clear about what it was not: it was not a sales session. The focus was connection, between employees, between staff and customers, and around the animals those customers walk in with. That emphasis on communication and empathy is what made this one special to design.

What the session covered

• Building rapport - establishing trust and creating genuine connection quickly.
• Body language - reading non-verbal cues, and being aware of your own.
• Empathy in communication - recognising and responding to what the other person is feeling, not just what they are saying.
• Reading the room - assessing the energy and dynamics of a group and adjusting to it.
• Remembering names - a small skill with an outsized effect on rapport.
• Leading conversations - guiding an interaction with confidence and care so the customer gets what they came for.

It says something about a company when it invests conference time in how its people connect, not just what they sell. The response in the room backed that decision, and demonstrating these skills live, on the audience themselves, is exactly why the material sticks.

"Thank you so much, this is EXACTLY what we were after!"

The session itself: what Body Language & Rapport covers, how it runs and who it is for.