HOW WE WORK
Our Approach
A Performance-Based Approach to Public Speaking & Executive Presence Training
Vox Vera's performance-based training develops the human capacities beneath compelling speech — voice, presence, language, listening, and adaptability — so communication stays clear, credible, and responsive when conditions change.
We don't just train you for the predictable. We train you for the situations you can't predict.
Live speech is a different medium from writing, and it does different work.
If precise and detailed information transfer were all that mattered, much of what we say could be sent in a document. We speak because communication also has to meet a moment: to build connection, respond to other people, make meaning, establish trust, and move something forward.
An earnings call isn't just about reporting the numbers — those are in the release. It's about building investor confidence. An oral argument isn't just about restating the brief — it's about answering the tough questions and earning judicial trust. A technical presentation isn't just about the data — that's in the paper. It's about making that data matter to this specific audience, right now.
Speech is active. It happens between people, under changing conditions.
Yet much conventional public speaking training still concentrates on increasing what a speaker consciously manages: structure, scripts, gestures, vocal choices, and other surface-level cues. Those tools can be enough to get someone through a prepared speech. But when the goal is to persuade, connect, and lead under pressure, they can leave the speaker self-monitoring their performance rather than trusting their expertise and meeting the room.
We train the capacity underneath the cues, so leaders and advocates can meet any moment — not just the ones they expect.
Why Vox Vera
The only performance-skills consultancy integrating BigLaw litigation, Fortune 50 executive leadership, world-class performance craft, the applied humanities, and elite university teaching.
Vox Vera combines time-tested performance craft, the applied humanities, and modern communication science with real-world experience at the highest levels of business, law, academia, and the performing arts.
Founder & CEO Paul Marchegiani brings:
• BigLaw litigation at Orrick and Morrison & Foerster
• Over a decade of senior in-house leadership and dealmaking at Amazon, Warner Bros., Miramax, and NBCUniversal
• Teaching appointments at Stanford Law School, Berkeley Law, and University of Chicago Law School
• Professional performance with LA Opera, San Francisco Symphony, and Ensemble Shakespeare Company
• Patsy Rodenburg Associate (PRA) certification — the only U.S. lawyer and Fortune 50 executive certified in Rodenburg's methods
• A J.D. from U.C. Berkeley School of Law and a B.Mus. in Voice & Opera and B.A. in History from Northwestern University
All Vox Vera coaches are PRA-certified and selected for their ability to hold space in any room with seasoned professionals — whether in the courtroom, boardroom, or on stage.
Why This Is Different
Conscious management while speaking has a cost: it competes for the same finite attention the moment demands — and the room feels it.
We train the opposite: the embodied capacity — breath, voice, physical alignment, spoken language, and listening — that reduces the need for self-monitoring and allows you to truly connect. The work is physical and repeatable, so presence holds precisely when the stakes rise: in trial, in the boardroom, in the negotiation, on the record.
The result still reads as what the market calls executive presence and gravitas. The difference is that our approach is built to last.
"Paul helped me find my voice, build confidence, and communicate with real impact. His advice continues to guide me in every high-stakes moment." — Senior International Licensing Attorney, Technology Sector
Performance Theory & Movement
Physical alignment, spatial awareness, clear intention, connection to words, and breath support drawn from theatre, dance, athletics, Alexander Technique, martial arts, and performance science ground our work. Clients learn to inhabit space and speak with steadiness and ease — not as posture training or elocution, but as functional presence under pressure.
Patsy Rodenburg Technique
Free, supported breath. Direct connection with listeners. Language delivered with clarity and impact. This work is one of several core disciplines integrated into Vox Vera’s training approach.
Patsy Rodenburg has served as Head of Voice at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre, training generations of leading actors and public figures. Vox Vera brings this lineage into sustained professional leadership training through PRA-certified instruction adapted for legal, executive, and public-facing environments.
Vocal Presence & Endurance
Most professionals have never been taught how their voice actually works. They compensate by pushing, tightening, or flattening their delivery — often without realizing it — until the voice loses color, authority, or endurance. For law firm partners trying multi-week trials, executives leading multi-hour meetings, or public figures facing sustained political campaign scrutiny, vocal reliability becomes infrastructure: the ability to speak clearly, audibly, and expressively whenever it matters, without strain.
With a foundation in classical voice, music, theatre, and professional performance at LA Opera, San Francisco Symphony, the Chicago Symphony Chorus, and Ensemble Shakespeare Company, we train healthy vocal production, resonance, dynamic range, and authority under pressure.
"Paul is not only a corporate lawyer he is also an opera singer and actively engaged in the improv scene. Thus, he can offer . . . more rounded teaching experiences in the field of oral advocacy and public speaking." — Law Student, The University of Chicago
Applied Improvisation
Improvisation trains real-time presence: multi-dimensional listening, adapting under pressure, and staying responsive when conditions shift.
Traditional corporate improv programs teach generalized exercises or ice breakers, but don't fully integrate them into practical, applied situations. Vox Vera teaches improvisation differently. Not only have we trained with top improvisation ensembles (e.g., The Groundlings, Second City, UCB) and prominent jazz musicians, we've negotiated high-level deals, argued matters in federal court, led executive teams, and taught at the nation's top law schools. We understand corporate dynamics and the real-world pressures you face from the inside.
We translate improvisation into practical capacity: redirecting disruption, handling challenge, rebuilding rapport, finding the next move when scripts fall away.
“Since we met I’ve had a board meeting and moderated a panel. In both instances I put into practice what you shared. A colleague came up afterward and commented that I seemed especially clear and relaxed… this panel was probably the most confident I’ve ever felt on a stage.” — CEO, Nonprofit Foundation
Applied Humanities & Linguistics
Rhetoric, poetic language, literature, and linguistic science shape how meaning moves through speech — rhythm, emphasis, imagery, structure, silence, and emotional impact.
We draw on classic and contemporary literature, linguistics, rhetoric, and cross-cultural study to help clients hear what language is doing beneath the literal message — so they can speak with greater precision, texture, presence, and weight.
This is the applied work the humanities were always meant to do: trained perception, trained expression, and trained judgment about how a message lands. Professionals rarely encounter it after college. We restore it as a practical discipline for the AI Era.
Proprietary Assessment Tools
The Performance Ladder™ and The Presence Ladder™ combine with judicious use of video feedback and science-backed diagnostic tools to provide clear maps for targeted improvement and accelerated progress — so that observation happens in training, not in the moment of performance.
Our thought leadership has appeared in Law.com/ALM, The Daily Journal, the NALP Bulletin, ATD Blog, and ABA Syllabus, and we adapt these exclusive frameworks for your organization, giving participants a rational, practical pathway to understand and implement tools for voice, presence, language, listening, and embodied communication.
Real World Experience
We've worked inside the environments our clients face, and understand their pressures and roles:
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Senior executive leadership in Fortune-50 companies facing earnings pressures
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BigLaw litigation in state and federal courts
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High-stakes negotiations and dealmaking
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Teaching over-enrolled courses at top law schools
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Professional performance in 3,000-seat concert halls
Engagements
Work begins with a conversation to understand context, goals, and constraints. Engagements are confidential by default, designed for leaders operating in high-trust, high-visibility environments.
Engagements may include:
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Team workshops, Performance Labs™, and retreats
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One-on-one executive and partner coaching
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Trial, mock-trial, and oral argument preparation
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Law firm professional development programs
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Pitch and speech preparation
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Keynotes and leadership intensives
Sessions are practical, interactive, and immediately applicable, with measurable progression over time.
