Clients
“Once again, you knocked it out of the park! Thank you for leading the business development workshop and sharing your expertise with our members. I hope we can schedule again soon.”
Mary Barnes, SMPS Seattle Director at Large: Membership
“Scott has provided invaluable support to our company with training that builds individual skills around general communication, interviews and presentations. He also provides very clear and impactful tips on how to develop unique messaging and make presentations and interviews meaningful and authentic. Highly recommend!”
Becky Bicknell, Client Relationship Manager
“We operate in a hyper-competitive environment, and the margin between winning and placing second is usually very small. To gain the edge and win more work, we’ve enlisted Scott to help our project teams propose with more confidence and purpose.”
John Messick, Project Director
“Scott recently helped us prepare for an interview for a large-scale City of Seattle proposal/project for which our team included 14 subconsultants. We didn’t give Scott much lead time to get familiar with our team and our proposal, yet he jumped right into it in leading our interview team to highlight our best qualities, to collaborate effectively and with the right blend of visual aids in a virtual interview format with the client, and to get concise input from many others on our team who were not attending the interview with our client.
Scott is easy to take coaching from as he applies proven techniques to use to our advantage while deferring to the consultant team he’s working with to factor in what we know and believe to be important ingredients for success. He helped us to be at our best in a high-stakes interview as a true team player. We are thrilled to be awarded this project!”
Mark Ewbank, Principal Engineer, VP
“Your training was instrumental in elevating the presentation ability of our leaders to improve their communication skills in both live and virtual interview scenarios with our clients. The tools you shared are simple, yet insightful, and really helped narrow our focus during a procurement effort to identify our objectives and clearly articulate them throughout the process.”
Ryan Piper, Operations Manager
“We view Scott as a trusted partner. His thoughtful and balanced approach has been effective with our teams. Scott has honed our ability to communicate a more clear and impactful message to potential clients on important projects.”
Dave Flynn, President
“Scott has become a valuable resource to our process over the last couple years. He is professional, knowledgeable, and engaging. We have had him train individual teams for large complex jobs in addition to large group trainings. We consistently receive positive feedback from our teams and clients after working with Scott!”
Cris Nielsen, CEO
“Trans-informative” is the best word to describe the information you taught and the suggestions you made to improve my presentation content, as well as the content of others. Yes, that is a new word I made up to convey a positive transformation by way of new and meaningful information.”
Tyler Tonkin, Senior Project Manager, GLY Construction
“In this business there is always an emergency and it’s easy to get wrapped up every day in the doing without taking time to think about how you are doing. Johnston Training Group helped us stop and look at how we were doing what we do. They offered concrete ways to make our internal and external communication clear and our work more efficient.”
Andy Klemmer, Founder, Paratus Group
“Scott changed not only how we present and interact with selection panels, he changed how we prepare for and pursue projects. We learned how to build and share content that will have clients (and potential clients) leaning forward, asking questions, and getting excited. We also got individual solutions to eliminate the ‘umms,’ tentative language, nervousness, and other delivery challenges we knew we had—and some we didn’t.”
Gary Bernardo | Principal, Bernardo|Wills Architects
“Working with Scott was very insightful. We not only learned a lot about our own presentations skills; we also learned to communicate our firm’s experience in a more rounded and focused manner.”
Jennifer Cox, Principal Business Manager | MMEC Architecture & Interiors
“We first encountered Scott Johnston when he hosted an AIA workshop titled Smart Answers to Tough Questions (the workshop addressed managing Q&A, interactive exercises, and group dynamics during project interviews). We were impressed by his industry insights and experience with selection committees. We invited Scott to come facilitate interview training presentation skills with Patano Studio Architecture’s leadership staff. Scott based the training agenda directly on our concerns and didn’t waste our time with any “canned” content. Concrete and obvious improvements were made on our interview skills over the course of the training – we saw immediate improvements. We look forward to working with Johnston Training Group on future pursuits.”
Christopher Patano, Studio Director | Patano Studio Architecture
“I have a highly skilled team of engineering and administrative staff who aspired to build upon their skillsets with great presentation skills. Scott provided an in-house workshop, where our staff had the opportunity to learn from his expertise. Along with a streamlined curriculum that provides clear-cut presentation guidelines, Scott got to know each individual and assisted them in overcoming their unique presentation challenges. It has been gratifying to see my team’s confidence grow along with their skills.”
Tarelle Osborn, President | Osborn Consulting
“Teaching presentation skills to contractors is no easy task. Scott custom built workshops where we modeled real presentations, giving our managers new tools and skills that will result in FORMA acquiring work in developing markets. Scott’s style and experience allows him to provide the necessary feedback, making the sessions efficient and very valuable.”
Drew Philips, VP | FORMA Construction
“Scott assisted our team with preparation for an interview for a complex multi-year project. We had several obstacles to address including team members who were unfamiliar with each other and the fact that our PM was a new member to our firm. Scott was a quick study of the project’s details and was able to bring clarity to the team’s individual messages to align with our key overriding message to the interview panel.
Scott did a great job bringing new team members together and helping the individual team members hone their presentation skills. His coaching across the spectrum of the big picture all the way down to the most subtle details helped get our team ready and our interview preparation was instrumental in winning the project. Well done Scott.”
Greg Hill, Former Principal | Stantec
“Working with JTG has been a positive experience for our team. Scott’s coaching was instrumental in securing a key project for our company. He arrived at our coaching sessions well organized and did a great job keeping us focused. During the interview preparation he helped us to identify and articulate the main points and edit out the “noise” that had the potential to dilute the message. Some members of our team had little or no interview experience. Scott’s training helped them manage their nerves so they were confident in delivering their remarks.”
Jeremy Carroll, VP Construction, Pacific Northwest | Dawson Construction
“We’ve been using JTG for eight years. DLR Group’s culture has become more professional when it comes to presentations. Everyone who has had the opportunity to work with JTG has a better and healthier approach to giving presentations.”
Lori Coppenrath, Principal | DLR Group
“Scott did a fantastic job working with our team at Andersen Construction. They were very prepared and took each minute seriously, from the initial planning to follow up questionnaires with respect to continuous improvement. As contractors, we build buildings and relationships through the building process. Through the teachings and guidance of JTG, we are much better prepared to present logically with impactful messages. I recommend them in the highest regard to any company that needs to prepare their staff to present and speak.”
Joel Rohrs, Vice President-Washington | Andersen Construction
“Scott has provided outstanding support for our most critical pursuits. His thoughtful guidance on strategy, writing skills and interview prep make all the difference.”
Dan Chandler, Principal | OAC
Partial Client List
Andersen Construction
Ankrom Moisan Architects
Arup
Ashbaugh Beal
Aspect Consulting
Associated General Contractors of Washington
Bayley Construction
Bernardo|Wills Architects
BNBuilders
Bouten Construction
CallisonRTKL
CH2M
Clark Construction Group
Cordogan Clark
Cornerstone General Contractors
Danard Electric
Dawson Construction
DCI Engineers
DLR Group
Dykeman
FORMA Construction
Fouchée
FSi Consulting Engineers
Gateway Construction
Glumac
GLY Construction
Graham Construction
Hensel Phelps
Herrera
Hill International
HNTB
Integrus Architecture
KBA, Inc.
Malcolm International
Maveron LLC
McKinley Architecture & Engineering
Miller Hull Partnership
Mithun
MMEC Architecture & Interiors
Moffatt & Nichol
Moore Ruble Yudell
OAC
Osborn Consulting
Paratus Group
Perkins+Will
Port of Seattle International Seaport & Airport
PRIME Electric
RS&H
SCB
Schacht | Aslani
Schuchart Corporation
Sequoyah Electric
Shannon & Wilson
Skanska
Society for Marketing Professional Services
Stantec
Strum
Sundt Construction
Titan Electric
Turner
Walsh Construction Company
WSP