Richard Torrenzano has spoken at hundreds of board, management, industry and training events worldwide. His focus is news related topics about leadership, crisis and high-stakes issues management, building and protecting corporate reputations, enhancing shareholder value, capital formation, and critical new dangers for organizations and individuals in our evolving digital world.

Following is the list of his speaking topics for 2012/2013

1. Impact of Social Media

   • Digital Assassination: Protecting Your Reputation, Brand, or Business Against Online Attacks
   • Character Assassination: Digital Slander, Falsehood, Manipulation, and Harmful Mischief
   • How to Protect Your Reputation and Brand
   • 7 Mistakes Companies Make in Their Digital Strategy
   • New Media, New Access: There's No Hiding Anymore!

2. Crisis  

   • History Doesn't Have to Repeat Itself: What Companies Can Learn from Toyota, BP & Goldman
   • Meltdown 101: Managing a Corporate Crisis
   • Seven Sins of Crisis Mis-Management
   • Corporate Crisis Predictability: You Had to Have Seen This Coming
   • This Isn't the Time for a Manager: How to Be A Leader During a Crisis
   • Seven Mistakes Not to Make During a Crisis

3. Socratic Dialogue: A Conference Game Changer 

   Overall, the Socratic Dialogue is an intellectual and humorous exercise. Everyone learns a great deal and gains a better understanding of the various roles that exist and decisions made within an industry, company or organization. Overall, it is a very entertaining and informative experience with interactive dialogue with an audience from 50 to 500.

   The dialogue consists of a panel of eight to ten preselected participants who play specific roles in various situations, problems, or crises. The combination of a diverse panel and audience accurately depicts the impact that any situation could potentially have on a company or organization. Panelists can include CEOs, CFOs, independent directors, general counsels, other corporate divisional officers, and local officials as needed.

   More on Socratic Panels

   Over the years, Richard Torrenzano has structured and moderated numerous Socratic Panels for leading corporations, institutions, and publications on major crises, management, leadership, policy, and political issues.

   Typically, the Socratic Panel format starts with a lively panel discussion ranging from sixty to ninety minutes, with the last half hour devoted to audience discussion. The panel is seated at tables arranged in an open semi-circle formation, with the audience seated in front of the open semi-circle.

   A role is assigned to each panelist before the start of the session. Richard leads the discussion by describing a relevant and broadly based issue, providing examples of events and facts, and engaging the panel to explain the action plans they would develop in response to the issue. Additionally, audience members are involved as important constituencies in the scene

   Topics, usually related to news events, are randomly selected in order to guarantee spontaneous and authentic responses from the panel. Leading the panel's interaction creates a domino effect and without a doubt the collective experiences of and interaction among the panelists results in a successful discussion.

   As the scenario unfolds, Richards alters the playing-field conditions based on case-history examples and professional experience.

   The session concludes with the panelist's assessment of their own actions, those of their peers, and the audience's judgment on how effectively panelists dealt with given situations.

   The unique quality of this overall process is that it allows the audience to observe the different roles that exist within various issues, and encourages them to interact by commenting on or questioning the issues themselves and/or the responses and action plans that the panelists propose.

4. Media

   • You're in the News; Actually You Are the News...Now What?
   • Don't Get Mad...Get Smart: Fielding Flack and Pushing Back

5. Leadership

   • Seven Reasons Why Really Good People Fail
   • Eight Proven Values of Corporate Success
   • Leadership and Management: Antonyms or Synonyms?
   • Top Management: Necessary Skills and Values
   • You Incorporated: How to Develop and Manage a Top Career and Life Plan
   • From Cubical to Corner Office: Eight Surefire Steps

6. Wall Street & Global Financial Markets

   • Under Attack: The New Threat to American Corporations
   • Wall Street Runaway Bonuses: Will they stop?
   • CEOs & CFOs Beware: Three Problems You Will Face
   • Wall Street's Dirty Little Secrets
   • US Class Warfare: Wall Street vs. Main Street
   • Not Just Numbers - The New Paradigm Driving Stock Prices
   • Five Wall Street Secrets Companies Need to Know