Straight answers before you join.
A weekly membership built around live, expert coaching. Members bring real communication they're working on — a presentation, pitch, keynote, story, or difficult meeting — and get it coached on the spot. Teaching happens live, inside the coaching, backed by a growing Library of short lessons and a Toolbox of frameworks.
Toastmasters is a peer-feedback model with a structured curriculum and club community — genuinely valuable for building reps and confidence. The Speaker Shed is expert coaching on the specific, real material you're working on right now. The two aren't mutually exclusive — the club community and reps from Toastmasters can work well alongside expert coaching on your specific material here.
The weekly Workbench works best once you have real material to bring — a talk, pitch, or presentation you're actively working on. If you're starting from scratch and want individualized, ground-up coaching first, private coaching is likely the better starting point — and a natural step before joining the weekly membership once you have real material to keep working on.
Live, over Zoom.
Reliable, high-speed internet; a Zoom account (preferred); a good-quality webcam and microphone; and decent lighting. Members are required to be on-camera during sessions.
Every Saturday, 9:00–11:00am Pacific (12–2pm Eastern, 5–7pm UK) — same day and time every week. Full session structure is on the How It Works page.
Every session is recorded and added to the Library, so you can catch up anytime.
A shared sign-up form, first-come-first-served. Details on sign-up, urgency flags, and the no-show policy are on the How It Works page.
No. There's a hard cap of 20 members. That allows for each member to have a spot on the Workbench each month. If there's growing demand, James will consider adding more sessions and/or more expert coaches. If a member needs immediate coaching, they can always book a private session at a discounted price.
Members are notified in advance, and a makeup session is scheduled.
Weekly Shed Sessions and Workbench eligibility, session recordings, the Library and Toolbox, community access, and discounted private coaching. Founding Members also get a 30-minute onboarding call with a personalized speaker assessment. Full comparison on the Pricing page.
Founding Members receive a calendar link to schedule their onboarding and initial personalized speaker assessment call.
All prices are in USD. If you're paying from outside the US, your bank or card provider handles the conversion.
Yes — Stripe and/or your bank or credit card company will provide one.
Founding pricing is capped by sign-up date, not headcount. Join before October 1, 2026 and your $59/month rate is locked in for as long as your membership stays continuous. After that date, the rate is $79/month.
Yes. Your membership continues through the current billing period — cancelling simply stops future renewal. There are no partial refunds, including for a same-day sign-up and cancel, so be sure of the commitment before joining.
No — it's optional, purchased separately at the discounted member rates. Details on the Pricing page.
Yes — handled case-by-case. Contact James directly to discuss.
Please don't bring anything confidential, proprietary, or sensitive to any session — public or private. No NDAs are signed, by members or by James. The same standard applies to anything posted in the community space.
Once you join The Speaker Shed, you'll receive a link after payment to book your private, 30-minute onboarding session with James. During that session you'll receive an invitation to join the private Speaker Shed Membership portal where you'll see the schedule and sign up for Workbench coaching sessions; access videos and other learning tools; send messages to James and interact with the group.
Winging it is expensive. The presenters who consistently make the impact they want treat presenting like a craft — they study it, get coached, and keep sharpening. When you're not landing the way you want to anymore, that's when it's time to take it to the Shed.
Take It to the Shed