Trust goesbeyond words
We often decide whether to trust someone before they have had time to explain their main idea.
An original corporate format
Who controls the conversation?
An interactive corporate theatre game on charm, the power of speech and manipulation
Through theatrical scenes, team rounds, humour and live discussion with professional actors, guests discover how manipulation, charisma, speech and other less obvious tools of communication work.
The key question in each round
Who is leading?
Who is losing status?
A team game
Live analysis
Professional actors
What happens before the main point?
A conversation begins before the first important words are spoken
Why do we trust some people immediately, while others make even a brilliant idea sound doubtful?
How does a smile become a tool of influence? Where is the line between charm and manipulation?
And who really controls the scene: the person who talks the most, or the one who knows how to listen?
A smilealso influences
Charm can build rapport and reduce resistance, or quietly become a form of pressure.
More wordsdo not mean more power
The person speaking longest and loudest is not always the one leading the conversation.
The listenercan lead too
A precise question, a glance or a well-timed pause can change the whole scene.
How the programme works
A performance in which spectators become players
Actors perform familiar situations from offices, negotiations, sales, meetings, public speaking, family conversations and everyday life.
Guests play in teams, vote and place bets, answering the key question in every round: who is leading the conversation, who is manipulating, who is losing status, and who can command the room with a single sentence?
After each scene, the host breaks down the techniques of influence and shows how they work when being heard matters.
Watch
Actors perform a short scene from an office, a negotiation or everyday life.
Discuss
Guests debate within their teams and try to work out who is in control.
Vote
Teams bet on a character, a technique or the likely outcome of the conversation.
Explore
The host shows where the frame shifted and which technique worked.
Try
Participants relate the tools to situations from their own working and personal lives.
Familiar conversations
Scenes in which guests recognise themselves and their colleagues
A meeting
One person talks for ten minutes; another changes the whole room's decision with a single sentence.
An urgent task
A small favour quietly becomes someone else's workload and a deadline of tomorrow.
A sale
Care for the customer becomes mixed with pressure, flattery and manufactured urgency.
Public speaking
A good idea loses its impact through fidgeting, uncertain intonation or fear of a pause.
A difficult refusal
Someone tries to say no, but once again agrees to something they did not want.
A family conversation
Arguments run out, giving way to guilt, resentment, concern and old family roles.
What's inside
Theatre becomesa clear, practical skill
Game rounds
Guests watch short scenes, debate within their teams and vote for the person controlling the situation.
Manipulation under the microscope
False choices, urgency pressure, compliments that create obligations and other hidden tactics.
The power of speech and voice
How to speak more calmly, hold a pause, finish a phrase with conviction and maintain your status.
Charm and acting techniques
Presence, a genuine smile, eye contact and physical ease, without pretence or tension.
Negotiation strategies
Gentle disagreement, precise questions, reframing a conversation and knowing how to say no.
Manipulation under the microscope
Familiar tacticsget a precise name
A false choice
You are offered two options, although you could reject the premise altogether.
Urgency pressure
There is supposedly no time to think, so the decision has to be made immediately.
The loaded compliment
Praise creates a sense of obligation, making it awkward to refuse what follows.
The guilt game
Instead of offering reasons, someone makes you feel bad or ungrateful.
Changing the subject
The conversation moves away from an uncomfortable question towards something more convenient for the other person.
Subtle dismissal
An idea is not openly rejected, but is made to seem naive or badly timed.
What guests gain
First, funThen, something useful
Guests have fun, play, laugh and recognise themselves and their colleagues in familiar situations, while gaining tools they can use straight away.
Spot manipulation
Notice pressure, flattery and false choices before they begin to control the decision.
Sound more persuasive
Speak with greater calm, precision and authority, without rushing or unnecessary justification.
Hold a pause
Resist the urge to fill every silence and keep the room's attention.
Say no
Decline without conflict, aggression or the feeling that you have to justify yourself.
Use your charm
Work with a smile, eye contact and your voice, without pretence or forced enthusiasm.
Read the room
Recognise roles, moods, resistance and unspoken decisions more quickly.
Speak with confidence
Feel more at ease on stage, in a meeting or at the centre of attention.
Bring it into everyday life
Use the tools in your work, sales and relationships.
Additional modules
The programme can be tailored to your audience and objectives
We can include more humour, negotiation practice, acting, film analysis or corporate satire.
For managers and sales teams, we can focus more on workplace situations and practical analysis.
Nunchi: reading the room
A way of quickly understanding moods, unspoken signals and roles in a group.
Exploring iconic film scenes
How characters control attention, status, pauses and the other person's decisions.
Speech practice
More exercises in voice, pauses, intonation and confident responses.
Corporate satire
Scenes can reflect a company's recognisable habits, roles and situations.
More performance
The format can feature more theatrical scenes, humour and expressive interaction with the audience.
More negotiation
More practice, workplace scenarios and analysis of difficult conversations.
Formats
A dynamic game Bespoke versions for your company
The format suits New Year corporate parties, team building, HR events, business clubs, conferences, client evenings, sales teams, managers and other groups.
90 minutes
A complete interactive theatre game with rounds, voting and discussion of the techniques.
2 hours
More practice, film analysis, additional scenes and deeper guest involvement.
Bespoke projects
Tailored to your company, event theme and audience, with the right balance of performance and practice.
The lasting effect
After this programme, guests begin to hear conversations differently
First, they laugh
They recognise familiar tactics, workplace roles and their own habits of speech.
Then, they notice
The same techniques appear at work, in negotiations, films, family life and their own words.
Then, they speak differently
Their speech becomes more precise, their pauses calmer and their position clearer and more persuasive.
Who Controls the Conversation? is an interactive corporate theatre game in which theatre becomes a skill, humour brings insight and an ordinary conversation becomes a scene you can play with greater confidence.
Discuss the programme
Let's find the right format for your team
More humour, negotiation practice, theatrical performance, film analysis or corporate satire.