Executive Presence and Public Speaking Techniques for In-House Counsel and Summer Social

Megan Grano, Comedian, Writer, Public Speaking & Media Training Coach

I am a comedian, writer, and public speaking coach based in Los Angeles. When I was 14, I auditioned for my high school's comedy troop. Luckily (*unluckily if you're my parents), I got in. From there, my love of improv and sketch comedy grew. I majored in Journalism at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to hone my writing skills. In my free time, I founded an improv/sketch comedy group called Chapel Hill Players, or CHiPs. The group continues to be a campus favorite to this day.

After college, I formally began studying comedy in Chicago. Yes, that's something you can do, and yes, people take the study of comedy quite seriously! My comedy education took me three years. While enrolled in the conservatory, I performed hundreds of shows in bars, cabarets, small theaters, large theaters, schools, and even inside a food court at a mall. It paid off because the famed Second City Comedy Theater hired me as a resident cast member. After doing my dream job on stage in Chicago, I moved to Los Angeles. Like many people in the entertainment industry, my career path has followed a zigzag line. I've written for Jimmy Kimmel Live, toured with Jim Belushi and the Board of Comedy, written original content for Snapchat, written for FCB Ad Agency, written for American Greetings, performed on TV shows like Veep, Parks and Rec, and Love, co-created a popular web series called The BreakWomb, and even got to be in a few movies.

Along the way, I was referred to a C-suite exec who wanted help adding humor to speeches and presentations. From there, I was referred to other execs, and before I knew it… over a decade had gone by, and I had a business helping people with all things public speaking/media-related. I've worked with people giving graduation speeches, technologists and thought leaders appearing on The Today Show, Good Morning America and CBS This Morning, witnesses testifying in major trials, and entrepreneurs out pitching venture capitalists and seeking millions of dollars in investments. It's all public speaking – and I'm here to help!