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The Cutting Edge
In-person communication trainings for organizational leaders
For experienced leaders looking to refine their communication skills, define their organization’s voice and navigate complex communication challenges
In-person trainings to hone your skills
These two-day intensive quarterly training series cover different topics at each location, with peer group learning and one-on-one coaching sessions tailored to each area.
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01
Ongoing communication coaching and support
Our training doesn’t stop when the session ends. Spitfire pairs you with a dedicated coach to ensure you get personalized guidance during the program. After the session, participants continue working with their coach through a follow-up bank of hours, reinforcing and expanding on what they’ve learned.
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02
Join a cohort of peer leaders
Seasoned leaders from across the country attend the sessions to hone their skills while also sharing their expertise and experience with the cohort so we tackle our challenges together.
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03
Flexibility in participation
It’s your learning, so you should be able to choose what best fits you and your journey. Choose the skill, timing and location that suits your schedule and greatest need but be sure to pack your thinking cap – we’ve got work to do.
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Learn it, use it, assess it and improve it model
The Spitfire model focuses on applied learning. For each session, participants will commit to applying what they’ve learned and work with a Spitfire coach to experiment with the learning, debrief on how it is going and curate ways to improve based on feedback.
New York City
Messaging Beyond this Moment
May 2025
For over two decades, Spitfire has identified and effectively disrupted oppositional co-opting and weaponization of multiple movements. We’ve helped clients embrace plain language and ditch jargon and brought fields together to shore up their existing messaging or, where needed, develop new approaches that persuade and not alienate. Our team reflected on these lessons and past message testing and aligned groups’ research on our current challenge. At this training we will bring together leaders to share considerations and guidance related to today’s environment, and to facilitate insights from your peers. Our goal is to equip you with the insights you need to determine your organization’s positioning and messaging for this moment.
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Develop and focus on your affirmative message
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Learn the narratives driving today’s discourse
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Consider shifting external messaging
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Evaluate this moment in the context of our history
San Francisco
Strengthen Your Voice, Break Through the Noise
June 17-18, 2025
Your nonprofit already communicates often – with people in the community, board members, funders and other stakeholders. Are you breaking through the noise? Are you persuading their audiences to act? The sheer volume of voices across traditional and social media can drown you out without a strategy rooted in the approaches that are most effective in this current environment.
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Hone your voice and message with stories that stick
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Create messaging that expands your base
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Leverage digital tools better to through the noise
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Neutralize incorrect information about your issue
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Collaborate with influencers to reach stakeholders
New York City
Sticky and tricky communication
Sept. 17-18, 2025
Learn how you can prevent the opposition from derailing your message to strategies for combating disinformation in this two-day Sticky and Tricky Communications.
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Understand and overcome mis- and disinformation by learning techniques and rhetorical strategies used in social and news media
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Learn from Spitfire’s Just Truth™ guide how to create messaging that builds your base, prevents disinformation, tackles opposition pushback and bridges the gap to those not yet in your movement
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Get ahead of a polarized media ecosystem to foster deeper conversations, not dangerous escalations
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Learn how to shift to asset framing in your messaging, tell hope-based stories and engage content creators to amplify your issues
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Learn the key questions to ask yourself before deciding whether to use artificial intelligence to create content
Interested in a training?
Contact us to join!