Networking and Audience-Facing Masterclass - 24 October 2025

I can't keep watching the news and seeing the world get bombed to hell, and not do something about it. So, I'm doing what I have power over - and I'm asking you to help me.

Over the next 10 months, I'll be visiting 10 different cities across the UK - hosting coffee networking sessions for small business owners, and pop-up workshops to help you build your audience-facing skills.

As AI and tech creep into our lives more and more, you might be feeling the need for more and more human connection. I don't blame you. The lack of human connection is becoming overwhelming.

To counter it, I decided at the beginning of 2025 to go to as many in-person events as I could. So, I did. And the connections I've made have been fantastic.

So now, as I go on tour with Fawlty Towers, I'd like to keep this alive.

As a performer and a business owner, I am so excited to be travelling around the UK in 2025/26 - and meeting YOU! People of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

I'm a South African who made London her home in 2019. I moved there to make my dream of performing in the West End come true. And that happened in June 2025. I was cast in Fawlty Towers in the West End.

As we hit the road from October, I will be hosting a series of coffee networking events, walk and talks and pop-up workshops. You'll meet new people, make new connections, and learn about audience-facing techniques that theatre performers use to be more confident and charismatic onstage.

Here's what you'll get:

1 hour 45 mins to network with small business owners (who are serious about networking)

Introduce yourself and your business to the group (30-60 seconds)

Refer business

Hand out business cards

A digital vocal care pack

A digital document exploring how to prepare for audience-facing experiences

THIS EVENT - 24 OCTOBER

IMPORTANT INFO 1:

Our networking coffee event kicks off at 11.45 am.

Drink coffee, chat with other business owners, refer work and hand out business cards.

Each person will also get 30-60 seconds to tell everyone a bit about them and what they do - but NO pressure. You don't have to if you don't want to.

IMPORTANT INFO 2:

You have the option to DONATE more money to Choose Love, if you would like to. This is entirely personal and not expected, but obviously the more £££s raised, the more children clothed and given water and reunited with families.

IMPORTANT INFO 3:

You will ALSO be able to purchase an ADD-ON. This will give you a ticket to a pop-up audience-facing workshop at The New Wimbledon Theatre where I wil be performing in Fawlty Towers. You'll learn theatre techniques, in a real theatre, to help you root your voice, project, own the stage and lock into your confidence - without losing ANY of your YOUness.

All the proceeds from these experiences will go to a charity called Choose Love:

At Choose Love we've supported over 7,000,000 displaced people across 50 countries, responding to crises, keeping children in schools and reuniting families after years apart.

Now, with more than 120 million people displaced from their homes around the world, our work has never been more important.

We provide essential humanitarian support to refugees and displaced communities globally, from hot meals to emergency search and rescue, and so much more.

Together, we build bridges, not walls. We know that love is radical, and every day we use love to make the world a better place. Choosing Love is a choice we can all make.

Info: If you do any audience-facing work, this is for you. You'll spend two hours learning what makes an audience tick, how to get them on your side before you even start speaking to them, and how to take them on a journey - whether you're delivering a talk, hosting a workshop, talking on zoom, selling to them, or networking at an event. We'll be working in the studio at the New Wimledon Theatre so you'll have access to an actual stage, and we'll throw ourselves into safe, low-risk, fun exercies that will help you grow and boost your confidence. ✅️ Breathing techniques for maximising your presence onstage
✅️ Articulation exercises to prepare your mouth for speaking at any time of the day without the fluffs
✅️ Theatre routines and practices that take away that feeling of "I'm not good enough"
✅️ To pause, collect your thoughts, and speak with confidence, instead of blurting out an immediate incoherent response
✅️ To slow down, instead of speed up and move too fast

Info: Spend two hours with fellow small business owners - sharing stories, talking about what you do, handing out business cards. Everyone will get 30 seconds to one minute to talk about what they do so that everyone sees and hears everyone else. It's SUCH a good way to build up new business, make new connections, and refer business to other people.

Host or Publisher Ashleigh Harvey