Cally Beaton is a comedian, writer, speaker and business mentor. Of the rising stars on the circuit today, few can boast the journey into comedy that Cally Beaton can.
Cally is a natural storyteller full of intelligent, distinctive and punchline-rich material and her star is fast on the rise. She has held senior management positions at some of the biggest media companies in the world including MTV, UKTV and Viacom. Early in her career she headed an independent television production company that was bought by ITV’s Carlton Television (where a certain David Cameron was on the board). She left to set up a successful creative consultancy company, and went on to do a 10 year stint as Senior Vice President at the US studio giant Viacom. There, Cally oversaw a multi-million dollar budget for channels including Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and Paramount; if you want someone to blame for bringing South Park and SpongeBob SquarePants to the world, you need look no further. She has a Masters in Neuro Linguistic Programming and has worked for many years, alongside her not inconsiderable day jobs, as a sought-after Executive Coach to the great and the good in industry, public life and politics.
It was while working for Comedy Central, on the road with the late, great Joan Rivers, that Cally Beaton was nudged into the sphere of performance. Acting as an unofficial business event warm-up for Ms. Rivers, it was she who told Cally she had what it took to be a stand-up and so, as a 45 year old single parent, Cally first took to the stage. She quickly cemented her position as one of the most exciting and distinctive new stand-ups in the country, with her unflinching, acerbic and intelligent brand of comedy. She has appeared on BBC2’s QI multiple times and as a guest on Radio 4’s Museum Of Curiosity, as well as BBC Radio 6 Music and as a regular contributor on BBC London. In 2019 Cally has appeared as an expert on BBC2’s The Apprentice You’re Fired, as well as a panelist on Radio 4’s The Unbelievable Truth with David Mitchell and BBC’s The Blame Game. Cally also writes for The Guardian.
Her first foray to The Edinburgh Fringe in 2016 was a big success. Her show ‘Cat Call’, a double header with Catherine Bohart, received a Malcolm Hardee Award. She then followed up with her debut solo hour in 2017, ‘Super Cally Fragile Lipstick’. The show was a sell-out hit, receiving multiple 4**** reviews, national press coverage and picked as Best of Edinburgh Fringe by The Arts Desk. Cally built on this success with her hit Edinburgh 2019 show – ‘Invisible’ at The Assembly Rooms, which enjoyed numerous accolades and sell-out rooms. After multiple Finalist credits in competitions in the UK and the US, Cally went on to win the prestigious 2018 Piccadilly Comedy Club New Act of the Year competition, after being tipped as one of the comedians to watch for 2017 by Chortle.
Drawing on her vast experience, eclectic life and unique wit, Cally Beaton is able to strike the perfect balance of smart, insightful, and entertaining. She is a gifted host and MC, with a natural ability to work a room, and gives sharp, inspirational and thought-provoking keynote and after-dinner speeches. Cally has a hard-won skill set few comedians can boast and has worked with – to name a few – Deutsche Bank, Sony Pictures, IMG, Endemol, Channel 4, Hat Trick, ScreenSkills, Women in Film & Television, UCL. PWC, Aviva, Sky Television, L’Oreal, Lloyds, Wella, Capgemini and Disneyland.
No stranger to being creative in the face of adversity, Cally has held senior management positions at some of the biggest media companies in the world – including MTV, ITV and Viacom. Here, Cally shares what she has learnt from her many years at the top of the entertainment industry and looks at how it can help us equip ourselves to thrive in a virtual world. She gets under the skin of what makes a world-famous TV format, the impact of digital services on the television industry, and the relationship between online and broadcast content. Other themes include:
• The evolution of broadcaster media & how we watch/listen/make
• Principles of creativity
• Generating value from bespoke, proprietary assets (audio/visual/social media, etc.)
• Attitude to risk/failure
• Opportunism – being first, not necessarily best
• Notable success stories & failures
• Innovation vs. compromise
In the early 00’s, Cally nearly left her job on the ITV board when she was told she was going to have to present to over 2000 people on the stage of a West End cinema; public speaking was definitely not her thing. Fast forward nearly two decades and she is making a living on stages (and virtual stages) as a broadcaster, awards host, comedian and after-dinner speaker. In this workshop, Cally demonstrates that if she can do it, anyone can do it. Themes include:
• Finding your voice, not imitating someone else’s
• Knowing your audience & how to reach them
• Nerves – why they matter and how not to sh*t yourself
• Making an impact in a virtual world
• Content – creating and editing your message
• Using humour to engage your audience (NB not how to become a stand-up!)
• Maximising timing, body language, and choice of words
• Pauses, silence and doing nothing
• Avoiding death by PowerPoint
In this workshop, Cally helps you explore owning your decisions and the practicalities of your circumstances, with a view to achieving work-life balance – without the guilt. The session will centre on areas such as home- and work-life challenges, isolation, conflicting priorities, compelling outcomes, support networks, appropriate assertiveness, values and beliefs. Themes include:
• Context – mental health statistics
• Isolation – the impact of temporarily losing our social & professional ‘tribes’
• Stress – understanding and managing our reaction to it
• Reframing – turning negatives into positives
• Promotion of professional and personal wellbeing
• Controlling the controllables
• Boundary setting
• Identifying core values
• Committing to meaningful change
In a world where our networks have largely been reduced to faces on screens, Cally explores how we can recapture the energy, affirmation and momentum of serendipitous networking and long-lost water cooler moments. In this workshop, Cally facilitates discussion around your capacity to rebuild and extend your connections, within your working life and without. Themes include:
• Keeping connected & maintaining a support network during remote working
• Networking – how to work your little black book
• Sponsorship – enhancing executive presence and gaining traction within an organisation
• Allies – how to identify & lean into them
• Wellbeing, linked with human connection
• Benefits of mentoring (for companies, mentees & mentors)
• What makes a good mentor
• Difference between mentoring and coaching
No one likes to be underestimated and in this workshop, Cally explores the relationship between change and ambition. With people living longer, economics getting tougher and an invisible virus affecting our daily lives, the need for reinvention and adaptation is relevant to us all. Whatever challenges you are facing and whatever your reason for change, the process doesn’t have to be limiting; it can instead be daring to do things differently and in a way that creates meaningful and positive change. Themes include:
• Change – notches on the dial to radical reinvention
• Perception versus reality
• Limiting beliefs
• The butterfly effect
• Failing better
• Creating compelling outcomes
• Turning ideas into actions
It is Cally’s belief that professional excellence comes from human connection. This practical workshop gives you tools to influence, persuade, listen and connect. The session targets helping you strengthen your relationships and improve your communication style, thereby enhancing your ability to convince others and to get the outcomes you are looking for. Themes include:
• EQ over IQ
• Assertiveness and having difficult conversations
• Increased self-awareness and awareness of others
• Rapport-building
• Filters – the impact of how you and others see the world
• What they want to hear vs. what you want to say
• Effective listening & non-verbal communication
• Overcoming obstacles & closing the deal/conversation
Maya Angelou famously said: “I have written 11 books, but each time I think, ‘Uh oh, they’re going to find out now”. In this workshop, Cally gets under the skin of impostor syndrome. How do we reconcile the different versions of ourselves – what’s going on on the outside vs. what’s happening on the inside? Themes include:
• The truth about, and definition of, impostor syndrome
• Celebration of flaws, fears and f-up’s
• The power of vulnerability
• Accepting and enhancing the different versions of self
• Building evidence for the case again impostor syndrome
• Befriending your inner critic
• Managing your amygdala
• Techniques for overcoming impostor syndrome
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