I love nothing more than throwing together a few slides and sharing my passion for brain science with a big audience in a manner that is relevant, revealing and genuinely useful. The Brain Coach talks I do in schools for pupils about to go into GCSE’s and/or A-levels are particularly rewarding, but the feedback I get after speaking at conferences suggests that business people also find these insights to be helpful and inspiring. It seems an understanding of the nuts and bolts of neuroplasticity genuinely motivates people to work harder, faster and wiser.

All audiences get the 10 B.O.P.’s – that is my 10 Brain Optimisation Principles that help everybody get a little bit more out of their brains each and every day. The last time I gave a talk one audience member asked if I actually practice what I preach. Happily I was able to provide details of how I’d used each and every BOP during the previous 24 hrs. Although these tips were cherry picked over the course of my 16 year exploration of the latest neuroscience literature – I genuinely do find them useful to this day. They involve very simple, straightforward advice on how to give your brain what it needs in terms of raw materials, sunlight, exercise and rest, plus memory tricks, imagination-enhancing techniques and various natural ways to manipulate mood. Ultimately this enables people to exert greater control over their own brain function.

Schools seem to love it when pupils’ exam results improve. GCSE and A-level students take considerable extra confidence into their exams as a direct result of the clear understanding my Brain Coach talk give them regarding the physical remodeling that occurs in their brain as a direct result of extensive time spent revising (or practicing any new skill for that matter).

“Dr Jack’s presentation was thought-provoking and engaging. With great clarity he reviewed the core functions of the brain and the implications for us as professional in terms of motivating student to learn…. Dr Jack also ran a brilliant workshop for students who took on board the messages he gave them about how to learn, revise and generally get ready for their GCSEs in the most effective way. Feedback from students collecting their examination results in the summer highlighted the impact he had had on their attitudes to learning and their preparation. Indeed, a number said that they had gone into the exams feeling much more confident about how to show what they knew. They were certainly inspired!”

Pat Hollinghurst, former Head Teacher of Chilton Technology College, Somerset

Business audiences are invariably keen to learn about what neuroeconomics has discovered about how we humans make decisions and what factors impact upon them most powerfully. This helps business professionals from all walks of life make better strategic decisions themselves and understand how best to influence the decisions of others in negotiations, communications and/or advertising. There also seems to be a real hunger to understand how the intensive consumption of digital technologies is changing modern brains. Whilst neuroscience and psychology are only just starting to address such questions experimentally, the evidence that has accumulated so far provides many a thought-provoking clue about what changes we are likely to see in the near future when combined with extrapolation based on our current knowledge of lifelong neuroplasticity.

If your school, conference or business would be interested in inviting me to give a talk on any brain-related subject matter please don’t hesitate to get in touch. I am very keen to do more speaking engagements than ever in 2013. Neuroscience research is producing some fascinating results at an astonishing pace and I am extremely enthusiastic when it comes to finding the best bits and sharing them in order to improve the public understanding of neuroscience in the context of live events as well as print, radio and television.

If you would like to catch my daily updates about the latest discoveries in neuroscience, then please consider following me on Twitter.