Testimonials
Without hesitation, I can say that Benjamin is a gifted speaker. We invited Benjamin to be the guest speaker for the annual evening for Gifted and Talented students at St.Luke’s College, to an audience comprising over 350 students, parents and staff.
In previous years, we have been honoured to welcome other illustrious guests such as Paralympic Champion Liz Johnson and explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, (widely recognised as one of the best speakers in the world), so the expectations were high. Benjamin did not disappoint.
Benjamin spoke with humour and passion and had every single person gripped throughout. He had clearly worked hard to tailor his speech to our needs and exceeded my expectations for connecting with such a diverse audience. He has a uniquely dramatic story to tell, (one that Hollywood have now recognised), but the real skill was in bringing out the universal themes of ambition, adversity, risk and ultimately triumph.
Every member of the audience connected with the message and it was one of the most inspiring talks I have ever heard. This was backed up by the deafening applause, the fact that the boxes of Benjamin’s book were woefully inadequate for the demand and in the numerous messages I received afterwards, congratulating me on my choice of speaker. It would be impossible not to be inspired by Benjamin’s story, but he is also a born storyteller with a dry wit, a writer’s flair for the dramatic and effortless charisma.
His impact was such that we now present the annual ‘Benjamin Mee Award for Outstanding Contribution to English and Media’ and he continues to be an inspiration.
What’s so refreshing about Benjamin is how completely raw and honest he is. He doesn’t sugarcoat the struggle, and that sincerity is exactly why he’s so captivating. He doesn’t just talk about the animals; he’s clearly very passionate about inclusivity and supporting people with Special Educational Needs, which is close to my heart.
He’s a naturally gifted storyteller, deeply moving and witty. He had the whole group, including the kids, absolutely hanging on his every word. It’s rare to find someone who can keep everyone that focused while being so genuine about the ups and downs of his journey.
It wasn’t just a tour; it was a proper look at what human grit looks like. If you ever get the chance to hear him speak or take a tour with him, grab it. He’s a total inspiration and a lovely person too.
I was also lucky enough to hear him interviewed as he imparted his pearls of wisdom on running a business. It is clear he has a wealth of highly applicable and useful experience that any business owner would benefit from hearing. As a business owner myself, I have benefited from his advice.
My personal highlight of the zoo tour was by the lion enclosure. Benjamin had been trying to communicate with the female lion by ‘speaking’ like one of them. It was impressive to hear such a deep, bellowing sound come out of Benjamin’s mouth, but I hadn’t heard the sound he was trying to recreate…until a few moments later. Whilst we had turned our attention from the lion enclosure to each other, the female lion started making the same sound. To be fair to Benjamin, it sounded very similar, but the lion’s attempt was significantly more resonant and powerful…it was mesmerising, I was in awe!
Thanks again to Benjamin for a fantastic day and I’d love the opportunity to work with him again in some capacity.
Benjamin Mee has a wonderfully unique story to tell. An uplifting and inspiring story that resonates with everyone; the need to carry on despite adversity, to persevere against the odds, and to create a home for one’s family. Combined with Ben’s unwavering resolve and clear focus the learning that he weaves into his fascinating anecdotes of wolves and “big cats” can be readily applied to the corporate world of today. Ben is a charismatic and compelling storyteller and a genuine pleasure to listen to.
Just to say thank you again for today. It went down really well with everyone. Your story is very fitting to ours – strange that insurance and zoo-keeping are linked at all but in the end it is all about human struggles.
Please pass on my sincere thanks to Ben for speaking yesterday. He was honestly the best speaker of the day, and everyone really enjoyed his inspirational and exceptional story.
Benjamin spoke to an audience of over 300 retail professionals with the utmost passion and enthusiasm about his story of buying a Zoo. His empathetic approach engaged the audience and they continued to listen to his every word. Benjamin has a natural ability to inject humour into his speech whilst at the same time delivering some very serious points on this amazing risk taking project. This is a unique story with many important business messages and one which the audience will remember for a long time to come. We look forward to working with Benjamin again in the near future.
We asked Benjamin Mee to be a speaker at our Annual Event for 100 clients which is held at the BAFTA headquarters in Piccadilly. The theme of our Event was Adaptive, Responsive and Courageous Leadership. Benjamin’s story is both powerful and inspirational and he tells it with integrity, humility and humour. Benjamin spoke for 45 minutes and throughout this time the audience was captivated by the story of how he found himself to be the proud owner of a zoo with all that this brings. Benjamin has a natural storytelling style and speaks eloquently and from the heart. If you ever get a chance to hear him speak I would thoroughly recommend that you seize it with both hands, you won’t be disappointed.
Benjamin gave a fantastic speaking appearance at our zoo society’s fundraiser. He was entertaining and motivating, the audience was captivated by his performance. When he finished speaking guests were more likely to up their pocket books to support our cause, they all wanted his book and a photo with him. Our zoo staff felt empowered by his challenging story and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to meet him. Not only did his visit help to get media attention and raise much needed funds; this visit also raised our staff morale and for me that was the most important part. It can be hard to keep working towards something when you feel like you can never get ahead, but meeting Benjamin and seeing how positive he is after facing so many challenges gives you the much needed energy to keep your head up and continue on.
We were delighted when Ben was available to be our key guest speaker at our National Operations Conference in Crewe. Ben immediately captured the 120 delegates with his sincere and engaging personality; the conference room was filled with a range of reactions from complete silence as they listened intently to minutes later raptures of laughter. Ben weighted his talk exactly right for the audience, and the feedback forms post-conference were all indicating that he was one of the highlights. Ben kindly stayed after his presentation and signed copies of his book which again was a lovely touch—we would definitely love to work with Ben again in the future and would recommend him highly.
Benjamin was truly inspirational, a story told from the heart and very different to the usual motivational speakers. It was the first time I have seen delegates queue to shake a speaker’s hand.