Keynote & half-day training · new for 2027

The Ghost at the Table. Influence and negotiation in the age of AI.

There is someone at every table now who was not there two years ago. They read faster than anyone in the room, they never tire, and they have no idea who is sitting opposite you. Your people most likely have one in the next tab. So does the buyer.

The proposals are glossier and the research is faster, yet the deals still stall where they always did: on fear of loss, on pride, on a buyer who needs a win to take upstairs, and on trust. This is the session that shows your team what to hand the machine, and what to keep for themselves.

Plan a session → Formats and fees

Two voices

The boy who might never speak again.

As a small boy, David Watts fell with a plastic tube in his mouth. It tore through his soft palate, and the surgeon told his mother there was a very real possibility he might never speak again. He did speak, and he has spent thirty years studying how words move people.

Now a machine can copy a voice. Near the end of the session the room hears a real voice beside a machine copy, and votes on which is which. If the room cannot tell, neither can a procurement officer taking a call from a supplier’s MD.

That is the question underneath the whole session: at your next negotiation, which voice is the ghost?

Formats and fees

A keynote for the room. A half-day for the people who carry the number.

  1. KeynoteFrom R35,000

    45 minutes, plus questionsFive movements for the whole room: where the machine belongs in a negotiation, and where it never will.

  2. Half-day trainingR30,000

    3.5 hours · best with 12 to 16, up to 20Each person works a real deal of their own, anonymised, and leaves with a verified negotiation pack.

  3. Keynote + half-dayR60,000

    The keynote, then the half-day for up to 20 leaders, the same dayThe room hears the idea; the people who carry the number practise it that afternoon.

  4. VirtualFee on enquiry

    Two 90-minute sessions, a week apartThe half-day’s content in two live online sessions, with a live deal worked between them.

All prices exclude VAT. Invoiced by Watts Digital (Pty) Ltd. Four to six weeks’ lead time.

For sales and client-facing teams

What changes for your people

For key-account managers, procurement and category buyers, and the leaders who carry the number. Anyone who sells, buys or renews for a living and now has AI in the next tab.

  1. No invented “facts” at the table: three sources, opened by you, and anything unverified marked UNCONFIRMED.

  2. No client names, personal details or confidential figures pasted into public AI tools.

  3. Proposals framed as protection rather than threat, and every frame tested against one question from the book.

  4. The human work kept human: reading the room, naming what the other side must protect, holding your nerve.

  5. A simple, low-tech way to check a voice, a video or an instruction you did not see made.

The test every frame must pass · Chapter 1

“Would the person you’re influencing thank you for it afterwards, if they knew exactly what you’d done?”

Built on the book

Three frameworks from Cracking The Influence Code

  1. Define Potential Losses
  2. Explain the Scenario
  3. Assist with Solutions
  4. Legitimise with Evidence

Frame the proposal as protection, never as threat. Chapter 19.

  1. Perceive Underlying Dynamics
  2. Acknowledge Interests & Identity
  3. Transform the Frame
  4. Hold Your Centre

What happens in the room, where no machine is. Chapter 20.

  1. Authenticate
  2. Differentiate
  3. Apply
  4. Personalise
  5. Transparently

Five habits for an AI-powered world. Chapter 29, “The Digital Ghost”.

The half-day, minute by minute

Let the ghost do the reading. You do the room.

Delegates bring a laptop or phone with the AI tool their company approves (the prompts are written for ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude and Gemini) and one live deal, anonymised. Each leaves with a workbook, a prompt card and a 30-day plan.

Plainly: the programme is new for 2027, so there are no results to quote yet. David will walk you through the full run of show before you book.

  1. Two voices
    David’s story, and the question the afternoon answers.

  2. The table hasn’t changed
    Losses, anchors and identity, and the D.E.A.L. and P.A.T.H. frameworks.

  3. The ghost prepares
    A counterpart brief and interest map on a live deal, verified, and a hunt for the line the AI invented.

  4. Protection, not threat
    A D.E.A.L. frame drafted, attacked by an AI “finance director”, and checked by a colleague.

  5. The room
    Rehearse objections with the AI, then put it away for a live, observed P.A.T.H. role-play.

  6. Trust in a world of ghosts
    Cloned voices, deepfakes, A.D.A.P.T. and six house rules for your team.

  7. Your thirty days
    One live deal, four weeks, one partner from the room.

Year-end offer · book by 15 December

Book the first quarter now. Keep this year’s fee.

The year is winding down, next year’s diary is opening, and the first three months tend to set a team’s tone — with clients, with each other, across the negotiating table. As you look ahead, you can probably already see the conversation your people will most need to get right.

Book a keynote or workshop for delivery from January to March 2027, pay a 50% deposit by Tuesday 15 December, and two things come with it.

  1. This year’s rate, held

    Your booking keeps the 2026 fee. Rates for 2027 are under review.

  2. The book, for every delegate

    Each person in the room receives the e-book of Cracking The Influence Code, so the framework stays in their hands long after the session ends.

This is not a discount. The deposit secures your date, and the offer closes on Tuesday 15 December.

Which will open your year: a keynote for the whole room, or a workshop where your people practise? Tell David, and he will reply personally within 24 hours.

Hold a date →

Plan The Ghost at the Table

Tell David your date, who will be in the room and the negotiation that matters most to your team this year. He replies personally within 24 hours.

David personally responds within 24 hours.