Stephanie Tavitian-Guthrie, Wealth Learning Director, BMO Wealth Management
Open Line has been providing training and coaching to our organisation since 2008. Their programs consistently receive high ratings and generate excellent feedback from participants. Open Line’s ability to seamlessly customize and update content makes the learning continually relevant to our diverse audiences. Their team of facilitators and coaches push learners to stretch themselves, while always providing clear feedback and supportive coaching. The sessions are highly interactive and grounded in practice; participants leave with the confidence to apply the new behaviours learned immediately. Our collaboration with Open Line has been a key component to the success of our curriculum.
Lori Loewen, Regional Vice President Financial Planning, BMO Financial Group
In a position to change the training program for our Financial Planning sales force I looked no further than Open Line Communications. This team, led by Sarah Neville, is an extraordinary engaged and talented team of professionals who push their clients to new heights. I was able to observe a few of their workshops and was astounded at the engagement they were able to pull from the participants and the growth in their capabilities by the end of the session. I would not hesitate to recommend this team to any organization looking to upskill their employees in whatever their line of business.
Julie Dimitri, Senior Manager, Practice Management, TD Wealth
The one-day training delivered by Open Line was focused on enhancing our presentation skills. My team and I had a wonderful, impactful experience and everyone shared how valuable the day was for their development. Open Line does great work in that space, as well as in effective business development, networking, and value proposition to name a few. I was thoroughly impressed with the improvement I observed after only one day of training.
Sabina Michael, Rotman School of Management
Open Line make the training highly relatable to different business contexts and, through their roleplays, provide immediate feedback on how to get a message across effectively. This training creates a huge impact for our business.
National Council – Canadian Actors’ Equity Association
Sarah’s work in facilitating a complex brainstorming session with our Board and tailoring the session to our organizational context was terrific. It was just the kick-start we were looking for.
Susie Shin – Associate Director, Practice Management, BMO Wealth Distribution
The session was an eye opener for our leaders to think about how they can communicate differently and more effectively. It’s a great testament to their work when I hear our leaders referencing the key words/phrases they learned from the Open Line session.
Elizabeth Lim – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Manager, Indigo
The senior leaders in our organization had completed training on the fundamentals of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, but many still expressed
discomfort in engaging in the difficult conversations needed to address microaggressions and unconscious bias with employees. We wanted to
empower leaders to step into these sensitive and difficult conversations. Open Line’s practice-based session offered the perfect forum to build these skills in a safe environment, based on real-world challenges. The coaches’ sensitivity and insightful coaching provided a safe but effective opportunity to build skill and confidence needed for these conversations. We’ve received positive feedback from leaders on the lasting impact of this program. I would highly recommend it!
Chanel Grenaway, Director of Economic Development, Canadian Women’s Foundation
Whenever I need an interactive facilitator and dynamic speaker, I think of Sarah Neville. The Canadian Women’s Foundation has hired Sarah on several occasions to provide workshop facilitation during our conferences and events. Participants leave her sessions feeling acknowledged, better connected to each other and gain valuable knowledge. She creates a positive learning atmosphere and recognizes the importance of participant engagement and the diversity of learning and communication styles. Sarah is an effective and compelling presenter, and makes our job easier while helping us to achieve our goals.
Claude Soulodre, Senior Manager, MaRS Media, MaRS Discovery District
Our startup clients were coming to us with varying levels of presentation abilities, which made it challenging to produce a consistent pitch video product for them. We called in Sarah to assist with their on-camera presentation skills and following her one-day workshops, we noticed a distinct jump in the quality of their presentations – generally more self-aware with better body language, more casual and comfortable flow in their speech, better use of the camera and overall, better pitching to the camera. I’d definitely recommend Sarah as a corporate presentation coach for both on-camera and live scenarios.
Delegate, Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario Conference
Sarah was fabulous and her session was informative, empowering and practical. It went beyond my expectations. Sarah walks her talk and you can see she practices what she teaches. She leads by example, and it’s evident that it’s effective.
Alejandra Bravo, Manager of Leadership & Learning, Maytree Foundation
Sarah Neville is a skilled communications professional able to design and deliver training that responds to the learning needs of a diverse audience. I have had the privilege of working with Sarah a number of times and have been happy to rely on her guidance and wisdom. She listens, she’s warm, and she’s very effective.
Conference Delegate, Canadian Administrative Professionals Conference
The best session of the conference.
Scott Leduc, Senior Learning Consultant, BMO Wealth Management
Open Line always delivers extremely useful and interactive sessions for our participants. They make the information highly relatable, and through their roleplays – provide immediate feedback. Participants are often surprised at what they’ve said or how their message came across. This creates a huge impact for our business.
Heather Smart, P.Eng Program Coordinator, MCWESTT Conference
Sarah Neville was not only an excellent keynote speaker for our conference, but also made good use of the time slot, allowing for questions while sticking to time and keeping the conference on schedule. The interactive exercises – bravely executed – kept the audience engaged and led to some interesting conversations post-conference. The content was current, engaging and thought provoking. Given the topic was ‘presence’ Sarah’s own presence was under scrutiny and definitely held up; using her own voice to illustrate points, pausing during conversation, demonstrating confidence in language, projection and physical presentation. I was impressed!
Josh Greenhut & Associates
With a super-human sensitivity to interpersonal dynamics and differences, Sarah is an extraordinary mentor when it comes to trying to make yourself heard. She sees through complicated issues quickly, understands what you’re trying to achieve and where you might be stuck, and helps you put yourself in the other person’s shoes – all with humor, graciousness, and warm-hearted pragmatism. To her workshops, she brings a special kind of energy that opens everyone up to a different way of relating to each other and to the world.
Customer Care Manager at a Canadian Retail Bank
An amazing experience! I have to say that my coach really stood out! His feedback was so specific, and constructive that it opened my eyes to acute things I could work on when I have to present to and motivate my team.
Conference Delegate, Ontario Skills Institute Conference, Canadian Women’s Foundation
Extremely useful session, her energy created a giant buzz in the room… great passion, knowledgeable, constructive and welcoming. Every segment led to learning new ideas, meeting new people, encouraging passion.