Speakeasy
Speaking stories, tips and insights
Practical advice on public speaking, media interviews and presence — from people who do this for a living.
Elliott Gotkine · 8 July 2024
Will the real You please stand up
Justin Bieber wants you to love yourself. Eminem would prefer you lose yourself. But when it comes to public speaking or media interviews, what matters most is being yourself. Being authentic; the…
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Elliott Gotkine · 22 January 2024
On empathy – and why you need to show it
“Is Argentina a safe country?” I asked innocently. “Yes, Argentina is a safe country,” replied President Nestor Kirchner, before listing all the things his government had done to improve the security…
Elliott Gotkine · 2 October 2023
On background: why what’s behind you matters
“I’m here live. I’m not a cat!” And with these words – and his uncannily cat-like features – Texas attorney Rod Ponton became an Internet sensation. For this, of course, we can blame Zoom (or perhaps…
Elliott Gotkine · 12 July 2023
Let there be (good) light
To get good lighting, God just had to use words. For mere mortals, it requires a bit more effort. Yet despite years of Zooms, webinars and video interviews, many people still don’t get it right. This…
Mike Sergeant · 4 July 2023
Dealing with the Past: Reframing Negative Beliefs
We all carry baggage from the past. Things happen to us in childhood and as young adults. These events trigger feelings that shape beliefs. And these beliefs lead to negative patterns of behaviour.…
Deborah Danan · 6 June 2023
How brain chemicals can make you a better speaker
In 2015, public speaking guru David JP Phillips gave a wildly popular TED Talk on an apparently self-serving subject: inducing dopamine and oxytocin in audiences. But what about the role these…
Elliott Gotkine · 1 May 2023
Body matters
You’ve probably seen the chart. You know, the one that shows that what you say – your verbal communication – only accounts for 7% of what the people you’re talking to take in. The rest is accounted…
Elliott Gotkine · 30 April 2023
The Secret to Speaking Success
In his bestselling book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell introduced us to the so-called “10,000 hour rule”. Most people took this to mean that if they spent 10,000 hours’ practising something, they’d…
Elliott Gotkine · 2 May 2022
Welcome
This is going to hurt). That’s what I was watching when inspiration came calling. In the episode that evening, the doctors in the maternity ward of a British hospital were holding a clinic. The…