Harriet blends transferable strategies from refreshingly diverse arenas - elite sport, comedy, neuroscience, performance psychology – to help you up your game. It’s the unique mix of skills which makes Harriet so popular. She combines deep business experience (20+ years), provocative thinking (Will It Make The Boat Go Faster? author), academic rigour (Neuroscience and Psychology MSc), with warmth and inspirational delivery (TEDx speaker, BBC Radio 4 & Edinburgh Fringe comic).
Harriet began her career as a management consultant at Ernst and Young, where she worked with organisations to solve complex strategic and operational challenges. Since then, she’s specialised as a performance coach, helping individuals, teams and organisations to unlock their potential and achieve extraordinary results whilst also thriving.
An exceptional keynote speaker, Harriet has the unique ability to weave together science, storytelling and humour. She delivers sessions that are thought-provoking, energising and full of practical value. Her talks consistently resonate with audiences, leaving them motivated to take action, work smarter and focus on what truly drives performance.
Books
Will It Make The Boat Go Faster?
Harriet Beveridge's official speaker topics are listed below:
Will It Make The Boat Go Faster? Olympic-winning strategies for everyday success
This talk brings to life the most powerful strategies from Harriet’s bestselling book (100,000 copies sold). The tone of Harriet’s talk is peer-to-peer rather than guru-on-a-mountaintop: she started from the point of view of a huge sceptic (she is NOT sporty!) who’s been won over by hard evidence. Learn how the GB men’s rowing eight went from disaster in 1998 to Olympic Gold just two years later. You’ll walk away being able to use the self-same strategies to build a high performing organisation which is aligned around a bold ambition. You’ll be equipped with simple methods for building belief, bouncing back from setback and continuous improvement.
Laughable: achieving absurdly great results in ridiculously challenging times
Harriet shares lessons from the world of comedy and humour for achieving serious results in business and life. Audiences will leave the session equipped with practical strategies to navigate uncertainty. This is not a keynote about how to ‘be funny’, this is a masterclass in the transferable strategies: how to think radically differently to spot opportunities where others see only obstacles, how to feel resourceful in the most uncomfortable of situations, how to connect with others to bring them with you.
Harriet shares laugh-out-loud stories from her experience vanquishing hecklers as an Edinburgh Fringe comic. She underpins her practical tips with scientific rigour – her Neuroscience and Psychology MSC dissertation explored humour as a stress-coping mechanism. You’ll walk away buzzing with energy and with a toolkit of fresh approaches to achieve exceptional results in the face of change and challenge.
Stand Up and Thrive: how to build the resilience for sustainable performance under pressure
This laugh-out-loud, thought-provoking talk is a refreshingly left-field look at wellbeing and resilience. Harriet uses her standup comedy skills (Funny Women Award semi-finalist, Edinburgh Fringe regular) to deliver a uniquely engaging guide to achieving exceptional results whilst also thriving.
Harriet draws on her experience as a mental health practitioner (e.g. Mental Health First Aider, ex Samaritan Befriender), her expertise as a corporate coach helping professionals achieve excellent results, and her neuroscience studies (MSc with distinction). She explode the myth that we have to choose between either peak performance or sustainable mental health and shares the practical strategies for attaining both.
Delegates will walk away feeling connected and supported, with a renewed spring in their step, tools in their mental health toolkit and a fresh ambition to smash their targets out of the park.
Official Feedback From In-Person & Virtual Events
Harriet delivered a fantastic keynote speech … took the time to fully understand our event, our goals and the challenges our industry faces … brilliantly wove these messages into her speech. She brought energy, humour and insight, getting the audience on their feet and fully engaged from the very start. We were really impressed. - Steph Czaplinska, Wolters Kluwer. Client Event for 200 guests
“This is the second time we have used Harriet Beveridge as a keynote speaker, and yet again she was brilliant. She is engaging, funny and can connect with any audience.”- Flo McAleese, NEXT, Conference for the Warehouse & Distribution team
“Harriet was great to work with and a breath of fresh air as a speaker. She left our teams feeling inspired and full of ideas on how to improve culture and performance” - Johnathan Wall, Director, BBC Sounds
“Her presentation could not have been received more positively, leaving 1000 audience members inspired, energised and with key tools to support them for the rest of their lives!” - Ed Rusling, CEO, Woundcare Today
“Harriet has an incredible way of blending together humour, inspiration and knowledge-sharing in her speech. When you can remember the key points that a speaker has made well after the event, this shows how much her words can make a positive impact. I can’t recommend Harriet highly enough.” - UK Research organisation
Harriet's presentation was excellent and very much enjoyed by everybody. The real value of the presentation is that people keep using phrases (like ‘will it make the boot go faster?’ ) - It is having real take away value. - Werner Knoblich, Chier Revenue Officer. Global Sales Kick-Off for 850 staff
“Harriet is engaging, inspiring and funny - her talks are always thought-provoking as well as providing useful and practical advice which you can start to use immediately to help to improve yourself personally and also your business.” - Financial Sector Client (NDA signed), all company event.
“Harriet was fantastic from start to finish, from engaging and scoping ahead of the event, making sure we were in sync, to the delivery on the day. Wouldn't hesitate to have her back!” - Mike Woolfrey, CEO, Vixio, all company event.
“Thanks so much for an incredible session. There was a real buzz, and I heard so many positive comments about how you came across, very funny, so personable and super engaging. Safe to say it went down well with the crowd.” - Global Software Company. UK conference (NDA signed).
“10 out of 10! Delighted to recommend.” - Nick Bray, Chief Financial Officer, Travelport, global conference for the Finance Team.
“A very inspiring and entertaining keynote that inspired action. We enjoyed the evening with Harriet very much.” - Janina Geiger, Marketing, Mercedes-Benz Switzerland, client event.
"Thank you for your session yesterday. The energy in the room was fantastic, and the content really complemented the themes of the day. And most importantly, we've also had so much positive feedback from the group. Hurrah!" - Janine, Head of Marketing, BBC Online
"Full of praise for the energy and inspiration that you injected" - Mars
"Her sense of humour shone through, she is a wonderful personality and applied her content to fit our audience so it was highly relatable" - Castleton
- 2025: MSc in Neuroscience and Psychology of Mental Health with distinction
- 2022: Fourth Edinburgh Fringe show: ‘Neuroscience with lashings of laughs’
- 2021: Winner of ‘inspirational person of the year’ at Bath Creative Awards
- 2020: Second edition of ‘Will It Make The Boat Go Faster?’ published
- 2019: BBC Radio 4 Pick of the Week for ‘Taking Humour Seriously’
- 2019: TEDx: ‘Make ‘em Laugh’ performance
- 2018: Third Edinburgh Fringe show: ‘Oestrogen Armageddon’
- 2016: Second Edinburgh Fringe show: ‘Hello from the other side’
- 2015 First Edinburgh Fringe show: ‘Mummy’s gone a bit parental’
- 2015: published spoof nanny advice book, ‘Turnip-Led Weaning’
- 2015 Executive Director, Talking Talent
- 2011: published ‘Will It Make The Boat Go Faster?’
- 2011: Institute of Leadership and Management coaching accreditation
- 2011: Funny Women Award UK semi-finalist
- 2008: Principal, RogenSi
- 2003: First standup gig at the legendary Kings Head
- 2001: Performance Coach, SI Group
- 1999: Samaritan Befriender
- 1995: Management Consultant, EY
How to hire Harriet Beveridge
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Harriet Beveridge for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
** We do NOT accept requests for autographs, signed merchandise, fan mail, birthday messages or any other non-commercial contact with the speakers or acts. Each speaker on the website may not have necessarily worked with Champions in the past but are known to perform such engagements within the industry.
