Penny Haslam

Penny Haslam is an award-winning motivational speaker who specialises in communication and confidence at work. In 2025, she was named the Professional Speaking Association Speaker of Excellence. This speaker hall-of-fame-style award is granted to just one speaker each year.

She is also the Managing Director and Founder of Bit Famous, a training and coaching business that empowers leaders and teams to drive growth and engagement through confidence and communication skills. Her programmes, training and executive coaching help people become more visible, influential, and impactful at work.

Before becoming a speaker, Penny enjoyed a twenty-year career as a BBC business journalist and regular presenter on national television and radio. Her broadcast credits include BBC Breakfast, the BBC News Channel, Panorama, The One Show, Radio 4 and Radio 5 Live.

She is the author of Make Yourself a Little Bit Famous and Panel Discussions - The Ultimate Guide (Finalist, Small Business Book of the Year 2023) . Her third book, Workplace Confidence, will be published by Wiley in 2027. Books by Penny Haslam.

Penny Haslam speaks about confidence, communication and visibility, so people at work can help move their organisations forward.

Her keynotes are practical, highly entertaining and packed with take-home advice. They challenge and inspire audiences to speak up, share ideas, build stronger relationships and take action.

Her keynote topics include:

• Make Yourself a Little Bit Famous. Shows audiences how they could and why they should power up their profile, get known for what they do and communicate with more impact.
• Building Workplace Confidence. Enables individuals, teams and organisations to grow and harness self-belief for greater success.
•  The Power of Hello. Explores how everyday behaviours such as saying hello, using someone’s name and listening properly can build happier, more inclusive and ultimately more successful organisations.
•  Make It Land. For leaders and managers, transforming the way they put together their messaging - so it’s easier to act upon, more memorable and inspirational.
•  Make Your Ideas Count. For teams, helping them understand why they hold back and how they could share ideas more readily so they can collaborate, innovate and be more productive.

Penny speaks to a broad range of businesses and organisations that want to drive change, move forward and take action on their goals.

Her talks work well for colleagues at every level of an organisation, from senior leaders and managers to wider teams and employees. Clients range from FTSE 100 businesses to public-sector and third-sector organisations.

Her keynotes are ideal for conferences, leadership events, HR and L&D events, employee networks, professional associations, internal company events and team away days.

Penny helps organisations tackle the confidence, communication and visibility issues that can slow growth, weaken engagement and hold people back from taking action.

This might mean that people are not speaking up, or progressing their careers. It could also be that leaders need to be more visible, teams could be communicating with greater impact, or the organisation wants to inspire people to move forward with greater confidence during times of change.

Her keynotes give audiences practical ideas they can use straight away, so the energy from the event turns into clearer communication, stronger relationships and positive action back at work.

This can support broader organisational goals too, from strengthening talent pipelines and employee engagement to improving colleague communication, building visible role models, supporting wellbeing and helping people develop the confidence to contribute fully.

Penny brings together the energy of a top-level standout motivational speaker with the depth of a business communicator, executive coach and former BBC journalist.

Her talks are funny, engaging and full of personality, but they are never just entertainment. Penny’s content is grounded in years of helping leaders, teams and organisations communicate with more confidence, visibility and impact.

And because of her broadcasting background, she is completely at home with live audiences, virtual events, interviews, panels, and moments that require quick thinking, warmth and control.

Yes. Penny tailors her talks for each event. On briefing calls with clients, she takes the time to understand your audience and your organisation. Crucially, she gets under the skin of what you want colleagues to do differently afterwards, so the keynote feels relevant, useful, and made for the room.

As a former journalist, she is exceptional at weaving your theme into her talk. Beforehand, she may ask to speak with colleagues in your organisation, research your sector and use examples that feel current and recognisable to the people in the room.

That means the keynote can connect directly to what your audience is dealing with, whether that is growth, change, confidence, communication, leadership visibility, inclusion, engagement or getting people to take action.

The aim is simple: your audience should feel Penny understands their world and their challenges.

Yes. Penny can deliver keynote talks, interactive sessions, workshops, lunch-and-learns and virtual sessions, either in person or online.

The format and timing can be shaped around your event, audience and goals. You might want a high-energy conference keynote, a practical session for a leadership away day, a shorter lunch-and-learn or an interactive workshop that gives people time to reflect, discuss and apply the ideas.

Penny is also excellent on camera. Her background in live broadcasting means she is comfortable delivering to virtual and hybrid audiences, keeping people engaged through the screen rather than simply talking at them.

If your organisation needs deeper training or coaching, Penny also works with leaders and teams through Bit Famous on workplace confidence, communication skills, presentation skills and leadership visibility.

Yes. Penny Haslam is also a professional event host, moderator and panel chair.

Her background in live broadcasting means she is confident with conferences, business interviews, panel discussions, fireside chats, leadership conversations, awards events, virtual events and hybrid formats.

She knows how to keep an event moving, bring warmth and energy to the room, ask useful questions and help speakers, panellists and guests feel at ease while still keeping the audience engaged.

Penny is also the author of Panel Discussions - The Ultimate Guide (Finalist, Small Business Book of the Year 2023), so if your event includes a panel, interview or discussion format, you are in very experienced hands.

Yes, where useful and appropriate. Penny can help create energy around your event before, during and after the day.

That might include recording a short video to introduce the session, sharing suitable social media content, joining briefing calls, attending rehearsals or tech checks, or helping you shape the session so it lands properly with your audience.

She is not a show-and-go kind of speaker. Penny is clear, responsive and easy to work with, and she understands that a successful event is about more than the time on stage. 10 reasons why Penny Haslam is a great choice for your event.

Almost certainly. Penny works with a broad range of businesses and organisations, from FTSE 100 companies to the public sector, professional services, associations, and third-sector organisations.

Through her speaking, coaching, and training work, Penny and Bit Famous have supported clients across finance, policing, healthcare, technology, construction, property, professional services, and the public sector.

The common thread is not the sector. It is the need for people to communicate with more confidence, clarity and impact, whether that means inspiring leaders, supporting teams through change, building visibility or helping people take action on the organisation’s goals.

Yes. You can watch videos, clips, showreels and full keynote examples on Penny’s video page.

It is the best way to get a feel for her style before you enquire: warm, funny, practical, high-energy and very comfortable with an audience.

You can see clips from her confidence and visibility keynotes, full-length talks, showreels, online delivery and examples from her BBC broadcasting career.

Penny is also the host of three podcasts: The Penny Haslam Podcast, Workplace Confidence Podcast and My Garden Podcast.

The cost depends on the event, format, length, location, preparation needed and the level of support you would like before or after the session.

The best next step is to check availability or book a no-obligation discovery call.

A member of the team will get back to you the same day to arrange a phone call, Teams or Zoom chat at a time that’s convenient to you. No salesperson will call, and you won’t be added to a mailing list.

We’ll listen to what you’d like to achieve and create a no-obligation proposal and investment cost for you to consider.

If you have a date in mind, use the contact form to message us about your event.

It helps to include the event date, location, audience, format and what you would like to achieve.

From there, we can let you know whether Penny is available and arrange a no-obligation conversation.

If the date is free, we can usually pencil it in for two weeks while you decide.