The Practice Room

from Mindful Presenter

A room where you can practise, out loud, in front of people who want you to do well.

One evening a month on Zoom. Six people present for three minutes. Everyone else watches properly, and says one useful thing. Free to anyone who has been through a Mindful Presenter workshop or coaching.

Please read before you sign up: The Practice Room is open only to people who have attended a Mindful Presenter one day public speaking workshop in London, or who have worked with us in one to one coaching.

It is not open to the general public, and it isn't a free taster of our coaching. If we haven't worked together yet and you would like to join, our public speaking courses are the way in, and you would be very welcome.

Why it exists

You left the workshop knowing what to do. Then work started again, and the next time you presented it was in front of the people whose opinion of you matters most. There is very little room to experiment there.

The Practice Room is the step in between. It isn't a class, and nobody is going to hand you a new technique — but you will learn here, mostly from watching other people work at the same things you are. Seeing someone else solve a problem you recognise teaches you faster than being told about it.

It runs on Zoom on purpose. Partly so you can join from your own kitchen table rather than crossing London on a wet Wednesday evening. And partly because speaking to a grid of faces you can barely read is now the most common and least practised version of the job. Hold this room, and the meeting room gets easier.

You can be rusty here. You can try the thing that might not work. That is the entire point of the room.

How an evening runs

How feedback works

Feedback here has a fixed shape. It keeps the room generous, it keeps it useful, and it means nobody sits through three minutes bracing for a verdict.

General criticism is not part of the room, and will be gently stopped.

Dates

The last Wednesday of the month, 7.00pm to 8.30pm UK time. We do not meet in July, August or December. If a date cannot go ahead it is skipped rather than moved.

The house rules

Open to anyone who has attended a Mindful Presenter one day public speaking workshop in London, or one to one coaching.

Nothing is ever recorded. No exceptions, and no notes shared outside the room.

Register for each session in advance. Places are limited and the room only works if the people who book turn up.

Presenting is optional. Come and watch as often as you like, for as long as you like.

Six presenting slots a month, given to whoever asks first when they register. If more people ask than there are slots, anyone who hasn't presented recently goes ahead of anyone who has, so everyone gets a turn. If they have all gone, you are welcome to come and watch, and to ask again next month.

Three minutes is a hard stop. No slides, no props, camera on.

If you have a slot and cannot make it, say so beforehand so somebody else can have it.

Slots left empty on the night are offered to the room, on the spot, to whoever fancies it.

Join the room

Add your name once and you will get the joining link before each session, along with the chance to ask for a presenting slot. Nothing else, and you can stop at any time.

Not sure whether you qualify? Ask us — if you have worked with us, you are almost certainly in.