Benoît Quémar

Truly putting oneself in another's shoes: the simple key to becoming relevant, attractive, effective, fair, and overcoming crises

speaker-picture

By relying on empathy and the experiences felt by others (clients, users, participants, partners, colleagues, collaborators, superiors), Benoît helps companies, associations, foundations, or public services to operate in a flexible, contemporary, and efficient manner, anticipating the changes and transformations necessary for their evolution. In conferences, seminars, or workshops, Benoît improves intergenerational relationships and internal communication; he helps to establish or restore fluid, fair (and not falsely benevolent), virtuous management and operational modes conducive to transformations that are decided rather than endured, defining work organizations that promote both customer experience and employee experience, fostering innovation and collective intelligence. Offering only lively, interactive, and very dynamic conferences, full of humor, Benoît enjoys surprising and unsettling his audience as much as enlightening them by making things simple. Loving the stage, Benoît also intervenes via videoconference to raise awareness among remote teams, in French or in English. Rich in multidisciplinary experience and encountering dozens of different situations each year across all sectors, Benoît provides simple explanations and effective, applicable, and concrete tools.

Prices

  • Conference : 3000 €
  • Animation : 3000 €

Localization

Yerres

Languages

French, English

My conferences

Conference #1

Capture Attention and Become Impactful When You Communicate

If you do not capture the attention of your recipient or audience within a few seconds, it will be difficult to gain their attention to communicate your information or to engage them if, conversely, you need information... How to capture attention orally as well as in writing, over the phone, in meetings, in an amphitheater, or in video conferences, how to be concise or narrative... or both. How to adapt your communication to the stakes of it (business proposal, project presentation, demonstration, announcement, validation...). This conference provides concrete keys to immediately improve your personal, professional, or commercial pitches, presentations, emails, voicemails, memos... This conference also addresses storytelling.

Conference #2

Storytelling for Everyone

You are making efforts in your writing or speaking, whether it is for internal or external communication or marketing, but you feel that your messages are not hitting their target or "not making an impact"? You don't always know how to be concise and you want to engage your audience like a Netflix screenwriter? Do you think storytelling is just a marketing gimmick? Come discover some tips to write or speak quickly, well, and to ensure that your message is both efficient and impactful. The conference is aimed at anyone who speaks in public, gives speeches, prepares promotional campaigns, publishes content on social media or internally, writes newsletters, designs packaging, leads meetings, presents projects, writes reports, emails... so it's for everyone!

Conference #3

The Keys to Good Feedback

Giving feedback to a subordinate, colleague, project team member, intern, supplier, subcontractor... is something that can be learned, in order to avoid any awkwardness, especially between people of different generations or personalities, not to mention divergences that may arise from the nature of the feedback, whether it involves commenting on or reframing a skill or behavior, an approach or method used, a result, an initiative, an attitude, an isolated fact or a set of activities over a given period... Whether it involves addressing a mistake (serious or not, correctable or not corrected...), a fault, a blunder, an omission, a shortcoming, an evolution, a progress... Whether it involves congratulating, thanking, acknowledging... because obviously feedback does not always concern a problem, fortunately! This conference recalls the types of feedback and then covers numerous rules (the sandwich, the 4 or 5Rs, the 3Fs, the 3Ps, the 4Cs, 5Cs, the 5, 7, 10 keys...) and simply provides the foundations of respectful and open feedback but firm if necessary, tailored to each individual and each situation, essential for any manager or project leader but also for anyone tasked with supervising or training someone, helping them progress, serving as a mentor, or a sponsor during an integration process.... Through several concrete examples, it explains how to practice constructive feedback and notably relies at one point on the 4-color personality tests (DISC type) without limiting itself to that, also integrating notions of cultural differences that are sometimes encountered depending on the regions of the world, in order not to surprise or offend anyone. In conclusion, the conference incorporates the DESC sequence as well as good practices for conflict resolution inspired by the best practices of professional negotiators, tasked with transforming any conflicting situation or constructive situation.

Conference #4

Creating the Conditions for Motivation

It is impossible to motivate someone; we can only create the favorable conditions for that person to motivate themselves. Come discover how to create these conditions in order to increase the involvement and commitment of everyone within your teams. The conference first details how motivation factors and work aspirations have changed over the years or differ from one person to another, while addressing intrinsic or extrinsic sources of motivation. After some statistics on motivation levels in France and abroad as well as on the costs of disengagement or the gains of motivation, the conference discusses non-violent communication, which promotes internal dialogue and provides good practices and management and relational tools that also foster motivation. A final segment broadens the topic to the employee experience, modeled on the customer experience: this employee experience defines a rewarding work environment where everyone will be eager to get involved, reducing turnover, disengagement, or silent resignation.

Conference #5

Inspire and Influence Without Authority: The Keys to Cross-Functional Management and Leadership

As a manager of a team or a project, you do not have hierarchical authority over others, yet you want them to follow your recommendations, engage in your project, and accept any constraints related to the project... As a hierarchical manager, you do not want to use your authority but rather inspire others. In both cases, come discover how to inspire and influence others so that they commit and decide to invest themselves with you or in your group. The future is about fruitful and virtuous collaboration, everyone motivated and no one obliged!

Conference #6

From Manager to Inspiring Leader: Managerial Innovations to Improve Your Posture and Inspire Your Team to Work with You

Martin Luther King rightly said, “I have a dream” and not… “I have a plan.” Come discover the true difference between a good manager who is merely a good administrator and the inspiring leader who can multiply performance. In an era of disruptions and continuous change, leave with about fifteen managerial innovations and practical tools to promote leadership, initiative, and empowerment at all levels of your organization, all without losing authority or sacrificing your procedures. Other versions: • These managerial innovations that enhance employee experience • Being a manager today: role, posture & communication

Conference #7

Stop being kind, be just instead!

Like everyone else, you want to be a kind manager but you don’t want to lose authority or appear too nice? Come discover that the essential thing is to be just rather than kind, which allows for respect, tolerance, fairness, trust, fosters collaboration, and enables you to both praise and correct your team while being open to the appreciation of others, in a 360° feedback or in any situation.

Conference #8

Provide a Good Employee Experience to Your Teams

Do you think the term 'experience' is overused and only applies to customers? Come discover what a true customer experience is, how it is measured, and especially how it can – and must today – also apply to employees, so that they go home wanting to return to work the next day and talk to all their friends about the unique experience of working in your company, service, team, department, association... Always positive and practical, the conference allows anyone to improve the experience they offer to their colleagues.

Conference #9

Enhance Your Employer Brand and Attractiveness

Are you struggling to recruit or have you noticed that the image you project to candidates is not or no longer in line with either your reality or the expectations of these candidates? Come discover how to present yourself in your true and best light, in a modern and dynamic way, both in the real world (forums, panels, screen printing, interviews, open days…) and in the digital world (website, social media, job postings, video conferences…). Bonus: the conference also addresses the experience you offer to your candidates and hires during the first contacts and onboarding days.

Conference #10

Enhance the experience you offer to your clients or prospects

In 2024, customer experience represented the only growth factor in the luxury sector, and this trend is confirmed for all other sectors, for businesses of all sizes. Only a true customer experience will set you apart from the competition and allow you to advance your business, whether in B2C or B2B. Beyond customer journeys, the definition of your products or services, come discover what a client or prospect feels and how to offer them a truly enriching and engaging human experience in order to increase your conversion rates and build a real relationship with your clients, especially in the age of AI where only a human added value will allow you to stand out from the others.

Conference #11

The Unseen Virtues of Design Thinking

Do you know about design thinking? No? Not sure? Yes, but you think it’s a method reserved for designers or for the design of products and services during "creation sprints"? Come discover that, on the contrary, it is a flexible and above all very simple approach, not a method, and that it is practiced daily with immediate results! Just as M. Jourdain was doing prose without realizing it, come learn to do design thinking without thinking about it and thus transform your entire organization and ways of doing things. It applies to communication, marketing, advertising, management, production… Bonus: design thinking promotes collaboration and innovation through collective intelligence.

Conference #12

Endure, manage or drive change - The keys to act

Change: An unavoidable constraint to endure while limiting the damage? A factor to manage like any other? Or a vast theme to drive and anticipate in order not to endure it? Come discover during the interactive conference "Endure, manage or drive change - The keys to act" all aspects of the changes that companies, associations, foundations or public services must, can or could implement, transforming to remain relevant and always create value despite difficult contexts and major technological disruptions. Through concrete examples, some theoretical elements, and always a lot of practical tools, participants leave better equipped, inspired, and creative in the face of changes and transformations. The conference also addresses the integration of predictive analysis and artificial intelligence in change management. Very popular, this conference, like all others, is constantly updated and obviously incorporates artificial intelligence.

What concrete problem I can help your audience solve

Employee turnover, lack of attractiveness, difficulty in recruiting Ineffective and directive management Ineffective internal or external communication

Why book me rather than another speaker?

For my dynamism, my stage presence, my knowledge of the business world (any sector, any size), the public sector, and the associative world as well

My specialty in one sentence

Knowing how to explain anything to someone in 30 seconds, thus having hyper-clear and engaging conferences, with strong synthesis and relevance

Topics I don't cover

none

My unique angle

Always putting oneself in the other's shoes, which is not necessarily unique but rarely treated as well

The field experience behind my message

Employee for 12 years, including 3 as a manager, entrepreneur in three countries, professional speaker for 12 years, over thirty years of French and international experience since 1989

My speaking style in one or two sentences

Ultra dynamic, impactful, and elegant at the same time

Which audiences get the most from my sessions

Leaders, managers (all levels, from frontline to C-level) but also salespeople, technicians, agents...

Which types of organizations I'm the best fit for

Absolutely all companies, from small businesses to large international groups

Concrete outcomes your audience can expect after I speak

Immediate gains in attractiveness, talent retention, and in driving transformations

The method, framework, or philosophy I stand for

No, but I sometimes mention design thinking, which is an approach and not a method anyway

Career highlights I want to emphasize

International and multidisciplinary background (trainee chartered accountant, journalist, executive, entrepreneur, speaker, trainer)

Clients and sectors that have trusted me

Public services: France Travail, several departmental directorates of public finances, Normandy Region, SDIS13, Union of Mayors of Essonne, Museum of Confluences, Île-de-France Mobilités, Technopole Brest-Iroise, Caisse des Français de l’étranger, CCI Vendée, GHRMSA (hospitals of Mulhouse and Sud Alsace), Hôpital Nord Franche-Comté, City Hall of Paris, municipalities (Ville d’Avray, Arpajon, Clamart…), CPAM 49 Education, research, culture: Cland (AgroParisTech, CEA), University Paris VII/IPSL, Swiss National Fund, Jacques Rougerie Foundation – Institute of France, thecamp, Campus of Trades and Crafts of Indre-et-Loire, Rural Family Houses of Vendée Hospitality, catering, tourism: Clariane/Korian, Jardins d’Arcadie, Restalliance, Club Med, VVF, API Restauration, Passion Froid (Pomona group), Ethic Etapes Energy, recycling, environment, construction, real estate: EDF, Enedis, GRDF, Engie, Orano, Vermilion Energy, Colas, Drouet Bâtiment, Séché Environnement, Daniel Moquet, Unep, Groupe Charpentier Commerce, distribution: E. Leclerc, Carrefour, Cora, Nature & Découvertes, Nhood (Mulliez group) Industry, defense, transport: SNCF, Volvo, Forvia, DPDgroup, Poma, ATR Aircraft, MBDA, Safran Aircraft Engines, Safran Engineering Services, JAS Worldwide, Nexter, Groupe Atlantic, ATSE Bordes, Sumitomo Chemical, Unither Pharmaceuticals, Aubert Duval, Constellium Banking, finance, insurance, health, accounting expertise, law: Banque de France, Cetelem, BNP Paribas, CIC, Société Générale, Crédit Mutuel, Amex, Amundi Asset Management, White Star Capital, Groupe VYV, Harmonie Mutuelle, French Mutuality, Axa, Allianz Trade, Helvetia, Covéa, MGEN, Prevaly, Alliance Health Care, Cytiva, Wagner & Associés, France Défi, Paris Notaries' Chamber, Oratio Avocats Telecommunications, communication, advertising: Orange, La Poste, Kantar, Publicis, Unifrance, Qui Plus Est, Fortiche Production Social economy & solidarity: Léo Lagrange, SESSAD, IFAC, Regional Association of Local Missions, Adapei Papillons Blancs, Apogei 94, Akaza Services Unions & business clubs or collectives: Medef/UDE, UIMM, CAPEB57, Sablons Enterprises, Club of Enterprises of the Fléchois region, CFTC, CFDT, CFE-CGC, CJD

What organizers and audiences tell me most often

Eloquent, relevant, impressive synthesis ability - people have never seen this, ultra dynamic, pedagogical, original

Where I shine most — and when I point you to another option

I love the stage in front of 50, 100, 500+ people but I also excel in video or in small groups

What I spotlight beyond my profile (book, certifications, proof, etc.)

not yet a book but hundreds of cases encountered - I have never encountered a situation for which I do not have a solution

My energy on stage

immense, exceptional

How audiences experience my sessions (participation, humor, pace)

he loves it

Visuals and personal stories: what to expect from me

a lot of storytelling, personal and especially drawn from cases and situations encountered, from people who told me I changed their lives (for the better)

Inspirational keynote vs hands-on workshop; improvisation vs tight structure — how I work

both, depending on the format and the audience. I improvise a lot but I know exactly where I'm going and I rely on a few slides that form a guide

How I customize content and how much I tailor to you

Of course, starting from a base, everything is always personalized after one or two framing meetings and the examples are always very relevant for the audience, the sector, etc.

What makes my sessions memorable

my "character" always impresses due to my energy, my exceptional ease, and my ability to face any unforeseen event or question Three times, a security guard outside the room, but who had heard the conference, came to congratulate and thank me - he had just finally understood how to talk to his child, boss, colleague, neighbor...

The strongest moments and insights I create for audiences

Ultra-simple explanations that I have developed for things that are often abstract, my ability to make everything simple and understandable. At each conference, I am told: - I didn't see the time pass - I drank in your words - it's the first time I understand everything - it's incredible, it seems like you know... my son, my collaborator, my manager, my client, my co-director... I have notably created ultra-simple schematic and oral explanations that leave a mark on the audience about: - the notions of purpose, mission, vision, objectives, values, strategy... - DISC personality tests with the 4 colors - motivation, engagement, the meaning of work, ikigai - supporting employees according to their level of experience and motivation These diagrams and explanations are ultra-clear and have an effect of "finally I understood!"

The emotion or mindset I want people to leave with

strong emotion about the feelings evoked by the mentioned characters The audience is: - impressed by the form (dynamism, humor, repartee...) - delighted to have understood everything on the subject - happy to have concrete tools that can be used immediately - amazed to have discovered an opening, an extension, to go even further

The main takeaways participants leave with

concrete tools simple understanding of complex concepts

What your audience can apply the very next day

the entire toolbox mentioned in the conference

Tools, methods, and exercises I provide

dozens, which I could list separately - I will do it if you want

Myths and common mistakes I debunk

authoritarian, vertical management believing that leadership is reserved for great political or economic leaders when it is accessible to all inept processes reverse communication (talking about oneself first and then about the other), whereas one must first be interested in the other

Real-world examples that best illustrate my message

Dozens of lived or observed examples

Beliefs or ideas in the audience I aim to shift

authoritarian, vertical, directive management lack of empathy narrow-mindedness

The “aha moment” I aim for your audience

a lot, especially when explaining the differences and the articulation between: purpose, mission, vision, objectives, values, strategy... Same for the difference between management and leadership Same for what empathy really is and how it is magical everywhere

On-site, remote, or hybrid: what I accept and prefer

I prefer the stage but I like everything and I excel remotely

How I handle a difficult or low-energy audience

I always engage and involve them with interactions (via QR code or by hand) humor somewhat provocative examples to provoke a reaction

If tech fails: how I respond

has often happened to me, no problem: - I can do everything from memory without any support - I can reproduce a diagram on a board in 2 minutes (happened to me in front of 150 managers with chalk at St Cyr because the projector failed)

How I handle tough questions and running over time

since I know how to synthesize each point addressed (generally 10-20 points depending on the conferences) in 30 seconds each, I have never had a problem with too little time if there are too many questions or others, I quickly synthesize an answer to several questions, I refer them to the support they will have afterward if necessary, etc. Once, I did a 90-minute conference in 45 minutes for the heads of a Medef group, they loved it and found it fluid

What can derail a session, in my view — and how I prevent it

never encountered, but a colleague of mine dealt with an obnoxious client who was working on his PC in the front row and making calls he was bothered but had to gently remind him with open and "calibrated" questions (cf. Chris Voss) cleverly I would do the same

What technical setup I need on site

wired or wireless connection for projector microphone wifi or good 4G for interactions via QR code

My tech rider or logistics document

no need for the few points mentioned above

How early I usually arrive before the event

minimum 30 minutes if the client does not want me before, otherwise 1h, 2h or more if it's a seminar (we attend the sessions before the conference to absorb the atmosphere and the topics discussed), sometimes the day before if there's dinner in the seminar, it has happened to me to modify my slides 10 minutes before to integrate a verbatim just heard - the client was amazed And of course, the day before if significant travel to avoid any risk of breakdown or accident just before the conference

Whether I travel internationally and if I need an interpreter

of course, I have already spoken in the UK for MBDA, in Turkey, Dubai, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia... I am going to Barcelona next month I am bilingual in English never needed an interpreter

My slides, filming, and reusing recordings

It all depends on the request Generally, the price includes a "booklet" that summarizes the conference with 2 or 6 slides per A4 page in PDF and the client agrees not to distribute it beyond the conference guests For online conferences, if the client wants to record them to rebroadcast to others - not present that day - then I negotiate a premium, for example, a doubled rate for: - video conference for 200 people - rebroadcast to a maximum of 800 people - within a year max (afterward, the client agrees to delete it from their intranet) and of course, nothing on the Internet)

My availability before/after, networking, meet & greet

oh yes! it's essential to take the temperature beforehand and answer questions afterward, I do it extensively

Why organizers like working with me

personalization excellent understanding of their needs I bring much more than they had in mind hyper flexible "never surprised, never bothered, never disappointed" (my motto) hyper reliable Funny and never taking myself too seriously

What still excites me about this work

human contact, the energy of the stage, constant compliments, the feeling of being useful, changing people's lives

The mission I'm carrying today

long to detail, an average of one conference per week in the first semester and more between September and December

The personal thread that led me to this profession

since I was little I explain to others in 30 seconds what they had never understood eloquence and exceptional ease informal trainer (resource person) became professional trainer and then speaker

A story that often shows up in my sessions

difficult management situations conflicts misunderstandings at work and at home the absurdity of certain client or collaborator relationships based on transaction or contract and not on empathy and experience

A failure or turning point that shaped me

never known failures but my path is unique: - trainee chartered accountant (I gave up after 3 years of internship, not validating the thesis or the final exam) - journalist - entrepreneur - executive journalist - trainer - speaker all in France, Canada, the United Kingdom

The belief or message I want to leave for the long term

It is the human relationship that will save us, not technology

Themes of my conferences

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