Angus Kennedy captured, with ease, the attention of our Year 7 pupils when he spoke about the publication of his new book BitterSweet, which is to be published in America in the coming weeks. As Angus navigated his own childhood and related the experiences that had shaped his own future, he hooked the pupils with his honesty and humour.

The story of his 32 year journey from an unpublished writer to an acknowledged author was both inspiring and challenging. With the promise of chocolate, coupled with his own expert knowledge of chocolate and his role as a professional chocolate taster, Angus’s popularity was ensured! The question and answer session to conclude the talk, provided an opportunity for our pupils to explore some of the themes relating to the writing process and becoming an author. The pupils clearly enjoyed the session and one pupil stated that he was now really inspired to write!

``Just a short note to say thank you Angus for coming to speak for us today. On entering my classroom for an Upper 5th lesson straight after your talk, I was BOMBARDED with requests for you to return to speak again - one pupil said they could have listened to you for an entire 24 hours and another demanded that you have a two-hour slot next time! They were really motivated and inspired. THANK YOU!

Angus gave a stimulating and insightful talk to our A-level students on the ever changing and complex model of the chocolate industry. From marketing of new health trend bars to ethical dilemmas facing the industry stemming from child labour, the students left the talk amused, inspired and more knowledgeable.

Angus clearly commands the respect of any large crowd and is a fantastic motivational speaker. When I first listened to Angus he immediately struck me as a very interesting and incredibly knowledgeable person. He also exists at the centre of the UK chocolate industry, connected to everyone who works with chocolate or chocolate production technologies.

Angus was fantastically helpful in allowing my students to gain insight and understanding into the world of entrepreneurship – as well as the world of chocolate. He was able to relate through stories and examples complex ideas about customers, production, marketing, and industry evolution and structure. He was able to compellingly tell his life’s story as it related to chocolate, publishing/media and entrepreneurship.

My students greatly appreciated Angus’ presence and insights – many emailing me to tell me so! He fully lived up to the hope I had for his presentation – and fully delivered. I would be more than happy to recommend Angus to any professional audience, and hope very much he will return to California to speak to my future classes and events. His depth of knowledge about publishing/media, chocolate, and business is excellent, and his ability to convey that knowledge in meaningful and accessible ways is fantastic. He is a truly great motivator to have speaking at any event.

Angus is a passionate speaker about the chocolate industry with lots of insights covering a broad range of production and ethical issues. He makes students think more deeply about this industry and we got very positive feedback from our students about his talk.

Dear Angus, thank you for coming to our school and giving a talk for our upper 5ths. The feedback has been extremely positive. Our pupils really enjoyed your talk, finding inspiration in your journey and how you have turned failure into success. They felt that you were high energy and they felt really invigorated by your approach. They also really enjoyed the chocolate! Thank you.

What a wonderful morning St Paul's Cray primary school had on Tuesday 11th December.
Firstly, all of Key Stage 1 and 2 were sitting patiently in the hall at 9am and there was Angus standing there resplendent in his purple coat . He told the school his life journey and how, despite many set backs, he never gave up on his dream. He told us you should always live with hope and to keep on going even when the going gets tough. He showed the school slides of the interior of a chocolate factory and how few people were needed to run the machinery. It was fascinating. Then came the magic! He told all the children to close their eyes and then the magic would happen. When they opened them, there were gasps of surprise from everyone, 300 chocolate Kinder eggs had appeared!Thank you Mr Kennedy and Mr Ferrero. The children really enjoyed them, it was Christmas come early!
Then he came upstairs to year 6 and talked about how the Victorians loved chocolate. He spoke about Mr Cadbury and how he really cared for the workers in his factory in Birmingham which was unusual in those days as many workers including children were cruelly exploited. Also did you know there were so many brands of chocolate and sweets invented in Victorian times including Tunnocks tea cakes?
I would personally recommend Angus presenting a talk to any school. He is factual, informative and fun.
To quote a year 2 child, `` I love that sort of magic where everyone gets a present. I have never tasted one of these eggs before and they are scrummy. Thank you ``