Dany Parmentier

Comedian and actor, notably with Airnadette for 15 years (Zénith, Olympia, Rock en Seine, Solidays, Théâtre Marigny, Théâtre du Rond-Point, Trianon… among others). I have also been seen a lot on television, in all the police series of the time, and also for 4 years in Scènes de ménages.

I noticed that personal development was almost absent from the performance scenes, or left to voices that were not always well-intentioned. I therefore decided to bring it to the stage by creating a show where the audience could finally measure the impact of personal development on themselves, without breaking their home savings plan, for the price of a theater ticket. The encounters were decisive, particularly with the Centre des Jeunes Dirigeants, where I made my first forays into the world of networks and business. Very quickly, an obviousness emerged: my show had its rightful place in the professional world, as it directly addressed the challenges faced by companies.

I noticed that personal development was almost absent from the performance scenes, or left to voices that were not always well-intentioned. I therefore decided to bring it to the stage by creating a show where the audience could finally measure the impact of personal development on themselves, without breaking their home savings plan, for the price of a theater ticket. The encounters were decisive, particularly with the Centre des Jeunes Dirigeants, where I made my first forays into the world of networks and business. Very quickly, an obviousness emerged: my show had its rightful place in the professional world, as it directly addressed the challenges faced by companies.

What fascinates me about being a speaker is having stepped out of the artist's bubble. Theater and musicals kept me at a distance from the internal realities of companies for a long time: we create works, but we often remain protected from their deep dynamics. Today, it’s the complete opposite. I enter very different universes, and I become a privileged, transversal witness to what is happening in the organizations that trust me. What nourishes me is being able to speak to both the CEO and the employees, and to create a common language between worlds that, too often, do not meet.

A very simple mission that I have developed with my profession on stage for 30 years, and which Antoine de Saint-Exupéry describes very well: creating connections! Here is one among others: when I see collaborators who do not really know each other, who are not the same age or in the same position, laughing heartily together at the same moment of my show. They exchange afterwards, and the mission is accomplished: this precious little human link has strengthened, the complicity is taking its course, and the company grows...

My interventions are precisely based on belief. Without spoiling the content, I am fully aware that the collaborators are transformed after experiencing the Dany Parmentier experience. Long after the event, people still talk to me about some strong moments, and it is truly a source of pride.

That magical moment when everything became clear: I was supposed to go to Chicago for my national service, selling air and sea freight as part of the VSNE. I had secretly taken an entrance exam for a national theater school, Rue Blanche, and I was accepted (7 boys, 7 girls out of 1400 candidates). I gently closed the door on commerce to enter the world of theater, and it was my best decision at 21.

And then, little by little, the business returned to my life. I have been intervening in seminars for 3 years with this character I invented for the stage: Dany Parmentier. And entrepreneurship has never really left me since I also became a producer.

Well, here I am speaking in the context of business, but I have thousands of stories. Thanks to my profession, I have met Saudi princes, Mimi Mathy, Johnny Hallyday, Jean-Marie Bigard, Matthieu Chedid, Gérard Depardieu (who was already unpleasant)... and so many others.

I was uprooted at the age of 9, during my parents' divorce. I left my hometown, Saint-Étienne, to join a stepfather who was a sub-prefect, then a prefect, and we followed him through various regional transfers, even into ministerial offices: Montbard, Metz, Nice, Orléans, Strasbourg, and then Paris where I have lived for 30 years. I am therefore uprooted, and I have developed a true intellectual complicity with the poetry of Rimbaud, the man with soles of wind.

As a child, I dreamed of orality... My social environment imposed the profession of lawyer on me, I found another: actor.

I bled from my nose. I stopped, someone gave me a tissue, I shoved a lock backstage to cauterize, and I resumed... my heart pounding in my nostril. A mix of chaos, shame, and will: I was 17, the words came out.

At the Rue Blanche theater school. Nada Strancar, a great Vitézian tragedian, not funny but terribly precise, then the following year Pierre Pradinas, director of the CDN of Limoges, a great director (Cluzet, Trintignant, Binoche...), with whom I had my first bursts of laughter... while working, a revelation: laughing while working.

I refer to the question: "What story do you tell most often outside of your conferences?"

Taking the time to share moments with those I love. Taking care of my children. Doing sports, reading.

There is no norm regarding me. You will mostly find me behind my computer: writing a text, a column, a post, preparing a date with a client, creating a tour for next year, writing my next book while being careful to step off the beaten path, shooting videos to feed the insatiable and sacred algorithm.

I have a passion that has accompanied me for 25 years: golf. I try to play at least once a week and, if my tour schedule allows, I take a small travel bag and go play golf between two dates. It’s a wonderful way to disconnect. It’s a nature sport, where you have to take it into account for it to let you pass, a bit like mountaineering or sailing, but much less dangerous ;-) It’s also a way to discover a region.

I am someone who is generally passionate. So I have a passion for golf, but also for cooking. I cook whenever I can. Most often for my family, my friends, but I also sometimes take orders, one evening, from a friend's restaurant on a closing day, to prepare a predefined menu for between 40 and 120 people. We called it 'La Popote des potes', then: 'He was cooking at the stove standing up' I found emotions from my early days in theater there: the room fills up, you hear the buzz, the laughter, you feel like you’re never going to make it, and then it’s the rush, you have to send out the dishes...

The difference in energy between the character of Dany Parmentier on stage, and the comedian Nicolas Guillot off stage.

Sometimes, when I come out of the dressing rooms in different clothes, people don't even recognize me even though they just saw me for 55 minutes.

the book "Life" by Keith Richards, the guitarist of the Rolling Stones.

"try, try, and you'll see, at worst you'll mess up and fail completely, so what??" .... To hear the rest, you need to see my show! -)

Hurry up! Do it now!

I weigh 68 kg, 68 kg of doubt

I have an abyssal lack of self-confidence which is totally paradoxical with the profession I have!!

I have undoubtedly been working for years, taming it and accepting it.

Of my daughters

The word chapter is perfectly chosen in your question… because right now, I am literally in the process of writing the next one. I am going to propose a book idea to publishers. Self-help manuals flood the bookstores. Paradoxically, the general public has never read so little.

At a time when writing one's book is practically a mandatory step for speakers, I will find the secret sauce to talk about personal development. I would love for the reader to turn more than 5 pages!

Maybe a picture book, I don't know... This is what intrigues and questions me right now in terms of new chapters...

Morbidity, lack of enthusiasm, fear of the future, Doubt, lack of intergenerational cohesion, mental health. The polarization of thought.

For two years now, I have received enough positive feedback and responses to say without false modesty: I am the only one offering what I do. This energy that I have cultivated for 15 years with Airnadette, I put it at the service of your collaborators. It is unique, rare, and completely extraordinary. It carries you away in a totally exhilarating collective enthusiasm.

High-impact humorous speaker, specialist in self-confidence and letting go.

I can speak on any topic but never in a technical or scientific way. I shed light on them with a candid perspective, I question them humorously.

An angle that no mathematician will ever calculate: The sidestep ;-)

30 years on stage continuously from the smallest to Rock en scène (30,000 people) including Olympia, Trianon Marigny, the Théâtre de Paris, etc...

3 years in the corporate world and already great brands: Microsoft, La Poste, Crédit Agricole, Coopérative U, Enedis, Suez, Nestenn, iAD, Cohortis, Domithys, Matawan (French tech), CJD, club Réussir...

Slightly disruptive, totally funny, resolutely exciting, absolutely unforgettable.

I have tested this show in all possible configurations. One of the themes addressed is intergenerational cohesion: it therefore works for the largest number. But it really becomes crazy when I address franchisees, salespeople, independents, leaders. Collaborators who are asked a lot, in a rapidly changing environment that they must adapt to. Professionals who statistically face many failures before achieving successes. These people need to let go and have tools that allow them to bounce back.

Large franchise networks, independent agents, companies with many salespeople, cooperatives, networks of leaders... Tertiary / B2B companies. All possibilities are conceivable.

An irresistible desire to take action by implementing the new tools of my secret method that they learned while laughing.

Yes, absolutely. Without spoiling the content, I will talk about the philosophical movement developed 2400 years ago by Zeno of Citium and brought back to life by Seneca or Marcus Aurelius, among others: Stoicism.

An actor for 25 years, I have performed on the biggest stages in France.

Here is the exhaustive list of my 3 years of achievements, in all modesty of course:

The heavyweights: Microsoft, La Poste, Crédit Agricole, Coopérative U, Suez, Yves Rocher, Vivalya. Viven Paille.

Real estate and construction: Nestenn, iAD, La Capeb, CDC Habitat Grand Ouest,

The companies that rhyme: Kriss Enedis Cofidis, Cohortis, Domithys,

The networks: the CJD (15 events), club Réussir, the Simones, Confluence network, Sphère Magazine,

But also: La DICA, Paie&rh, la CODAF, Coesio, TOTUM (pharmacy), RAVE group, SRA group, Acto, CLIM group, Héliopark Matawan (French tech).

Here is a comment on LinkedIn from the CEO of Coopérative U, Dominique Schelcher:

"Thank you, Dany! It's not easy to shake us up, but you managed to do it with immense talent and a lot of humor. Bravo!"

And here is a recommendation on my LinkedIn page that summarizes well the feedback I can receive:

"... Dany Parmentier's intervention in the second part clearly gave another dimension to the event. Between humor, interaction, and impactful messages, Dany managed to make the audience laugh, think, and engage in a crazy and positive atmosphere. A dynamic, unifying, and memorable moment that many will remember for a long time. Thank you, Dany, this is exactly how I imagined approaching this delicate subject, mission accomplished."

I obviously have many testimonials and feedback in a document called "customer satisfaction" that I would be happy to share with you.

My show works in all cases. I have successfully performed in front of 28 multimodal transport engineers in a 60 m² seminar room without light, without a stage, with a karaoke microphone (true story). In front of 1000 employees of the Nestenn group at the Pyramids of Port-Marly… on the stage of the CDN in Toulouse with a high-quality light show in front of 700 young leaders. I can perform for 15 minutes or 1 hour and 20 minutes, but the ideal format is between 35 and 55 minutes. The only case where I recommend a different format or another speaker is when I feel it will be "too much" for the employees. Sometimes, the client wants to pack too many things into their seminar day. Pre-meetings allow me to defuse these misunderstandings. Imposing a show at 6:00 PM on employees after a day of meetings with delays (there are always delays), when they only want to: have a drink, chat, network… is not good for me or for the company. In this case, I suggest intervening after lunch, or even as a warm-up for the day.

energetic, engaging, mobilizing, funny, empathetic

Exactly everything that is in parentheses in the question: He participates (collectively... I don't bring anyone on stage.) he laughs, and he is caught in a rhythm that he himself fuels with his energy...

Yes, the interventions are visual: we enjoy watching the character move. If given the opportunity, I can project keywords and performance cues on a screen or a digital panel... And yes, I use personal stories, but they are Dany Parmentier's personal stories...

My show is written word for word, with a precise direction so that a stage manager, or a dedicated person, can send some sound cues as well as some visual cues...

The meeting with the client allows me to understand their expectations and respond by injecting into my text elements of language and answers to my client's challenges.

My show evolves on a fine line between reality and fiction. What strikes the audience is that they never know if what I’m saying is true, or if I’m frankly exaggerating or manipulating... This emotion is unique and rarely seen in a corporate setting. Amidst all this, laughter erupts, which helps anchor the messages.

I do not wish to spoil my presentation. I find that, detached from the context, it is always delicate to talk about something artistic. But the audience is invited to experience a transcendental and totally wacky experience, which ends in collective liberation and marrying oneself. There you go, with that, I think I have teased enough… I won’t go further ;-)

My interventions in companies are emotional roller coasters: there is always something left behind... I operate on the principle that once I have performed my show, it no longer belongs to me. It is the audience that illuminates my show, I trust their intelligence. It is not what I wish to leave with the audience that is important. What is important is what the audience has come to draw from my show and that travels with them for a long time. I love this word: "journey"...

Becoming aware of the present moment

Learning to let go

Being able to hear the word "LOVE"

Defining the notion of the mind and its impact on us

Learning to change perspective

Increasing self-confidence

Anchoring the fact of loving and respecting oneself.

Everything I just mentioned above: Becoming aware of the present moment Learning to let go Being able to hear the word "LOVE" Defining the notion of the mind and its impact on us Learning to change perspective Increasing self-confidence Anchoring the fact of loving and respecting oneself.

anchoring method: the keystone Understanding that we are EXTRAORDINARY Stoicism as a new... secular religion! -) The marriage with oneself

I dismantle the myth of the life coach absurdly: Who are these people who come to exploit the ideological and existential flaws of leaders, collaborators, to take their money?

The mistake of not controlling one's mind.

A driver in his car. The light is red, there is a car in front of him. The light turns green, the car in front does not move... then chaos settles in the mind.

If there is a sensitive topic that my client wants to address, I handle it humorously and with a homeopathic touch...

How nice it is to have a real show that shakes things up at a seminar or a corporate convention.

I play three-cushion billiards, while programming my show, the employee will find that their hierarchy, which approved my presence, is cool because they have never seen anything like this before.

If I understand the question correctly, for me… ahah that’s a miss!! I’m more in the hahahahaha!!! And the text is written so that there are regularly, and for all types of humor.

I prefer in-person.

I take it head-on and lead it towards the firmamie (it's like the firmament, but more mature...)

I'm having an organ failure! No, obviously I'm joking, I've experienced almost every failure imaginable, all the improvisations with the most inebriated audiences. I am the 4x4 of entertainment. Nothing can touch me anymore... However, upstream, I work efficiently to ensure that this never happens.

These are two different things. I manage difficult questions. However, going over time is THE issue with corporate events.

The poor management of time by the client who wants to include too many things in their convention or plenary, and who has not called upon a specialized event agency...

Recently, I experienced something I hope never to relive. I was supposed to speak in the late afternoon after a two-hour plenary that was one hour late. The employees were locked in, they couldn't even step out for a technical break because the restrooms were very far away, and I arrived in a degraded atmosphere. I did what I could, it worked, the client gave me very positive feedback, but it took a lot of energy!

I even thought that it might be necessary to contractually stipulate that if the plenary is more than half an hour late, I will cancel my intervention. This is a way to put pressure on the client in advance to meet deadlines.

We do not take employees hostage: they are there to enjoy. A good convention is one that ends on time.

At the very minimum: nothing!

At a minimum, a sound console with a compressor and a reverb. As for lighting, if there are technical capabilities at the venue (lighting equipment), I would be very happy to use and enhance them. I have a technical director who contacts the venue in advance to ensure that the technical setup is as precise as possible. We will then need to plan for at least two hours of rehearsal, either on the same day or the day before.

It should be noted that the presence of my stage manager, as well as a rehearsal the day before, may incur additional costs that will be quoted.

Each case is unique, and it is also my job to propose the best possible version based on the technique without incurring technical costs or equipment rental for my client.

Absolutely, I have the technical sheet for the show under ideal lighting conditions. But if the venue is not suitable, if it's a classic seminar room without lighting, it's not worth adapting to the technical sheet.

In this case, we look at what we can do to get as close as possible to something that can have a Wow effect depending on the rehearsal time we can have.

It depends on the schedule, if I come with my Stage Manager (extra cost) if there are rehearsals, I can arrive the day before to rehearse (extra cost)

I accept international travel, as long as I speak English very well, I do not need an interpreter.

If there is a means of projection, I will indeed come with my slides, we can film, capture my presentation, but only as part of a teaser or an internal promotional film, or information on a media channel. Under no circumstances should my presentation be broadcast or reused.

I am available for exchanges before or after, networking, meet & greet

The feedback I have received about working with me:

Fine understanding of the company's issues Friendliness/empathy during the connection video call Adaptation to the location and format of the seminar Reliability of exchanges and outcomes Availability Responsiveness