Clients ask about this regularly, and understandably so. The format question feels like a practical decision with a right answer: which one actually works better?
The honest answer is that for this kind of work, the format difference is real but smaller than most people assume, and it's dwarfed by variables that have nothing to do with where the session happens.
What Format Differences Are Real
In-person sessions have some genuine advantages. The full physical channel is available, posture, presence, the quality of physical stillness or movement that contributes to perceived authority. When the work involves presentations or formal contexts where physical presence matters, working in person allows you to address those elements directly.
There's also something about shared physical space that can make certain kinds of candour easier. Being in the same room, with someone who can see you in full, tends to sharpen self-awareness. Some clients find that easier to access than the mediated distance of a screen.
Video sessions have their own genuine advantages. The screen removes some of the ambient social pressure that can make self-consciousness worse. Many clients actually perform more openly, with less inhibition, in a video session than they would sitting across a table. There's less physical theatre to manage.
Video sessions also more closely replicate the conditions of a significant portion of actual high-stakes work. Investor calls, board meetings with remote members, cross-border negotiations, for many professionals, the majority of their highest-stakes English situations happen on a screen. Practising in that format has direct transfer.
What Doesn't Change
The core of the work doesn't change with format.
The diagnostic process, understanding the situation, identifying what's actually preventing effectiveness, is conducted through conversation and works identically in both formats.
The feedback mechanism, identifying the specific gap between what you're doing and what would be more effective, is similarly format-independent.
The rehearsal work, which is where the most value comes from, is if anything more replicable in video sessions, where the candidate practices the same environment they'll be performing in.
What Actually Determines Quality
Format is a single variable among several. The variables that determine whether the work produces results are:
The specificity of the objective. Clients who arrive with a real situation, an investor call next month, a partnership negotiation that's been stalling, a board presentation in six weeks, make more progress than clients who arrive with a general improvement goal. The clarity of purpose focuses everything that follows.
The quality of the practitioner. This is the most significant variable and the one most obscured by the format debate. Coaching quality depends on the coach's ability to see quickly what's actually happening and to provide feedback that is precise, actionable, and directionally correct. These capacities are not format-dependent.
Your engagement in the session. Strategic conversation work requires genuine candour. The practitioner needs to see your actual communication, how you perform under real conditions, not a polished version you've prepared for the assessment. Clients who are willing to work with real material, including material where they're uncertain or underperforming, progress faster.
Continuity and timing. A single session produces something. Ongoing work, especially work that spans a real professional challenge, preparation, performance, and retrospective, produces substantially more. The timing also matters: work anchored to an actual upcoming situation is more effective than work done in the abstract.
The Format Question That Actually Matters
The format question worth asking isn't "online or in-person?" It's "what are the actual conditions of the high-stakes communication I'm preparing for?"
If you're preparing for an in-person board presentation where you'll be standing, physically present, and visible in the full sense, working in person, at some point, on the physical elements of presence and authority makes sense.
If you're preparing for an investor call, a pitch to a European partner, a negotiation with a counterpart in a different time zone, working on video is not only fine, it's arguably optimal. You're practising in the format you'll be performing in.
For most professionals, the answer is some version of both, not as a compromise, but because their high-stakes communication happens in both environments.
A Practical Note on Geography
For clients based in or visiting Phuket, in-person sessions are available. For clients based elsewhere, working internationally, travelling frequently, or simply preferring the flexibility of remote work, video sessions are equally substantive.
The work adapts to the context. The conversation that produces real change is the same regardless of where it happens.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are in-person sessions more expensive than video?
Pricing is the same for both formats. The value of the session is determined by the quality of the work, not the channel through which it's delivered.
What setup do I need for a video session?
A stable internet connection, a quiet space, and a camera that shows your face clearly. Ideally, a setup that approximates how you appear on professional calls, not a phone propped against a coffee cup. The more closely the setup matches your real working conditions, the more directly the practice transfers.
What if I'm not based near Phuket but want an in-person session?
A number of clients travel to Phuket for intensive work. For founders and executives who find it useful to combine location flexibility with structured communication work, this can be an efficient use of a working week, particularly if the upcoming challenge is significant enough to warrant dedicated preparation time.
I've had mixed results with online learning in the past. Is this different?
Almost certainly. The mixed results in online learning typically come from format, asynchronous video courses, automated exercises, self-paced modules, not from the online medium itself. A live, responsive, context-specific session is a completely different experience from an online course, regardless of whether it happens on a screen or in person.
If any of this resonates, I run weekly sessions with founders and senior professionals on exactly this kind of thing. Free 10 minute fit call to see if it's a fit. Book here.