The Play School presenter training business leaders on executive presence

Emma Palmer is well known for her role as a presenter on Play School, but behind the scenes she's the secret weapon helping business leaders inspire their teams.

Emma Palmer knows a thing or two about how to command a room.

The Play School presenter has captivated television audiences with her warmth and storytelling for the past 15 years.

But off the screen, she's also the secret weapon behind some of our leading business executives.

As the Program Director of Melbourne Business School's Executive Presence and Storytelling course, Emma teaches leaders how to become more compelling and confident communicators and use storytelling for influence.

And she says these are skills anyone can learn.

"Sometimes people think of executive presence as a performance or as something fake," Palmer says.

"When in actual fact, true presence is the opposite. It's about you showing up as your whole self, equipped with skills and competencies to be the best possible communicator and leader that you can be."

"Originally piloted in 2023, the two-day short course quickly became a staple offering, developing a loyal following and consistently selling out."

Why leaders need to develop executive presence

Emma says one of the most fundamental things that we must do as leaders is inspire other people.

"And presence is a very real part of that," she says.

"Human beings make decisions about whether to be influenced by you, to do business with you, or to be inspired by you, all of the time."

Often these decisions are not based off your content alone, but also the feeling they get from interacting with you.

"How you match your excellent content and technical knowledge with that is through the way you communicate and behave," Emma says.

"If we're going to be leaders who inspire others, then you have to have the communication skills to be able to do that."

The good news is you don't need to be an extrovert to be a compelling communicator.

Why anyone can become a more compelling communicator

Emma says everyone already has a presence of sorts.

"Presence is not something for extroverts, it's something that everybody has. You either have a strong presence, or you may need to develop a stronger one," she says.

"My view is you should arm yourself with the knowledge and skills to improve so you can have great presence in communication."

Emma says people are often intimidated by the term 'executive presence' because they think that it's something that is performative or that sits outside of their natural ability.

"When in actual fact, it's about enhancing abilities and strengths that people already have."

In addition to sharpening how we show up as a communicator, Emma says storytelling is a crucial skill leaders use to inspire their teams.

We've all got stories to tell (even if we don't think we do)

Despite storytelling being a powerful communication tool, Emma says historically it was an underestimated skill that was hard to peddle in corporate Australia.

"Thankfully in 2026, the sentiment has shifted and people actually understand and see the power of storytelling," she says.

"Now the harder part is to get people to understand how to craft stories, where to source them and why to use them."

She says telling stories that inspire a team is easier than people think.

"People think ‘I'm a technical person, I'm a numbers person, I can't tell stories.’ But actually, all human beings are storytellers. You tell stories all the time."

Emma's job is showing them the mechanics of how storytelling works and getting leaders to apply it in a workplace or a leadership context.

Getting out of your comfort zone

For many people, the course is often the first time people receive direct feedback on how they are showing up and the communication behaviours that might be holding them back.

"The feedback that we get at work is usually specific to the tasks that we're completing rather than the way that we're communicating. People don't often get feedback about their presence and how they show up," Emma says.

Emma gives people this feedback in a specific and direct way to hone in on how participants can improve.

"One of the things I pride myself on is giving candid feedback in a supportive way. I'm not going to beat around the bush. I'll tell you what I see because you can't fix something that you don't know about."

This can be both eye opening and uncomfortable for participants.

"Whilst you may be outside of your comfort zone momentarily across the program, I promise you I will always quickly bring you back somewhere that feels safe," Emma says.

"The biggest learning and the most profound ‘aha’ moments people have sit slightly outside of their comfort zone. You're not going to get better without being brave."

Emma Palmer is the Program Director of Executive Presence and Storytelling at Melbourne Business School. Find out more and register for upcoming sessions here.