The consistent feedback is: people were still talking about it the next day.
Anna speaks from inside the material, not in front of it. She has a gift for reading a room and adjusting in real time. The vulnerability is what makes it work, she does not pretend to have all the answers, she shares what she has learned from inside the experience.
What that actually means on the day
Reading a room is not a performance skill. It is noticing what is in front of you and changing what you were going to do about it.
A room after lunch is a different room from one at 9 in the morning. A team that has just had difficult news is not available for the thing you prepared. A room of 40 people who do not know each other needs something different from 12 who work together every day.
So the material stays the same and the route through it changes. That is the whole of it, and it is why I will ask you more questions about your audience than about your audiovisual set up.
Speaking from inside the material means I am not reporting on something I read. I am talking about work I do every week, with the parts that are still difficult left in.
Why people are still talking about it the next day
Because nobody was asked to perform anything.
The talks that get forgotten by Thursday are usually the ones that asked the audience to be inspired. Being inspired is a lovely 40 minutes and it does not survive a train journey.
What lasts is recognition. Somebody hears a description of their own Tuesday evening, accurately, with nothing dressed up, and something in them goes quiet for a second.
That is the moment worth building a talk around. It is not a big moment and it does not photograph well. It is also the only thing people repeat to a colleague the next morning.
The other reason is that there is always something to do with it. A talk that leaves people moved and empty handed has done half a job.
What makes an event work, and what makes it hard
The things that help are mostly unglamorous. A room where people can see each other rather than only the front. Somewhere to put a cup down. Chairs that can be moved if they need to be.
A clear sense of why these people are in this room today, which the organiser always knows and does not always say out loud.
And permission from the top of the organisation, if it is a workplace. A session about what the body does under pressure lands very differently when the person who sets the pace is sitting in it too.
What makes it hard is a slot squeezed between 2 unrelated items with no breath either side, and a brief that has been agreed by people who will not be in the room.
None of that is a deal breaker. It is just worth saying before the day rather than discovering it at 10 to 2.
What to think about before you book anybody
Ask what you actually want to be different at 5 o'clock. Not the theme. The difference.
There is a real distinction between wanting people to understand something, wanting them to feel something, and wanting them to leave with something they will use. Those are 3 different sessions.
Ask whether your audience wants to be talked to or talked with. A keynote and a workshop are not the same job and a room can usually only do one of them well.
Ask how long you have really got, including the bit where people arrive late and the bit where somebody has to leave for a train.
And ask yourself who in the room is dreading it. Every event has somebody who did not choose to be there. A session that works for that person works for everybody.
What is on offer
Available for keynotes, panels, Q&As, fireside chats, and interactive workshops. Happy to tailor content to your event theme. Best for audiences who want depth, honesty, and practical takeaways rather than motivation without substance.
Based in Hampton, London. Travels nationally. Online welcome.
The subjects I know from the inside are what the body does under pressure, why coping well has a cost, rebuilding after something hard, and the practical mechanics of noticing your own signals before they become a problem.
Tell me who is in the room and what the day is for, and I will tell you honestly whether I am the right person for it. Sometimes I am not, and it is better to say so in an email than on a stage.
More like this
Why the talks that terrify me are the ones worth giving. https://www.annalouwellness.com/reset-stories/why-the-talks-that-terrify-me-are-the-ones-worth-giving
Visibility anxiety, why you're not showing up and what to do about it. https://www.annalouwellness.com/work-and-money/visibility-anxiety-why-you-re-not-showing-up-and-what-to-do-about-it
The Heart-Led Business Day, what a full day on the houseboat actually looks like. https://www.annalouwellness.com/work-and-money/the-heart-led-business-day-what-a-full-day-on-the-houseboat-actually-looks-like
To talk about a date, email me at anna@annalouoflondon.com or message me on WhatsApp at https://wa.me/447738470156.