Zero to Keynote Workshop
You arrive with an idea. You leave with a talk.
From Idea to Talk, in a Day
One day in Winchester. Eight people. One talk each.
Upcoming Sessions
SOLD OUT - Tue 27th Oct 2026
9am – 5:30pm
Where
Central Winchester, TBC
The room
Eight people
One talk each
Founding cohort price
£300
Includes lunch, all materials and a printed copy of Zero to Keynote.
Most workshops end with a worksheet. This one ends with a talk.
It isn't a presentation skills course. It isn't a room full of people listening to me talk about the art of presenting. It's a production day.
You bring an idea for a talk. It might be for a conference, a meeting, or an event you've been asked to speak in, or it might be the one you've always meant to give. If you don't yet have a talk, no problem, we'll help you find one.
By the end of the afternoon you'll have built it, connected the thread, weaved in your point of view, expanded the talking points, run through it, rewritten it and given an early version of it.
It won't be a polished talk, and that's almost beside the point. It will be a complete, well-formed first version.
That's the hardest one to make, and the one most people never get to.
A day of making, not a day of listening
You'll learn plenty along the way. But learning isn't the deliverable. Your talk is.
My first conference talk was a mess. I bounced around the stage, lost the room and watched myself go wrong in real time. The next day I signed up to give another one. A year and eight talks later, I gave my first keynote, and I've spent the twenty years since speaking all over the world and teaching other people to do the same.
What got me there wasn't a course.
It was making talks, giving them, hearing where they didn't land, and making them again. So that's what the day is: learn, make, get feedback, improve, ship.
Eight people, one room, eight talk. And lots of fun.
Index cards, not laptops
The whole day is analogue: index cards and pens. There are no laptops and no slides. We're not building a PowerPoint deck. We're building the thing a deck is supposed to serve.
If an idea works on a handful of cards, it'll work on a stage. If it doesn't, no amount of slide design will rescue it. That's the one rule that runs through the whole day: don't decorate an idea that doesn't work.
Note: Here's an essay on using index cards to create talks.
The day
Arrive
Coffee, introductions, the rules for the day and your copy of the book. Everyone starts with the same question: what do I want to say?
The idea
Generate, narrow down and share. We look for the thing underneath your subject, and then you write it down.
The shape
Beginnings, endings, stories, arguments, examples, rhythm, tension and surprise. Then you make the first version.
First edit
Your structure goes onto index cards. I walk the room, ask questions, move things around, cut what isn't working and help you find the good bit.
Lunch
Good food and, inevitably, conversation about talks. Or, as is usual with these, conversations about ideas. And stationery.
Elements of communication
Ten elements of effective communication, held up against your own cards.
Build the talk
The next layer down: talking points, stories, examples, demonstrations, and ideas for images and slides. Whatever the talk needs.
Rehearsal
You give your talk in a group of four and get honest, specific feedback on what landed and what didn't.
Rewrite
Back to the desk to make the changes.
Ship
Everyone gives their talk to the whole room. It might not be perfect, but it exists.
What next
How this first version becomes the longer talk.
Feedback that's actually useful
Feedback in the room isn't "I loved it."
It sounds more like this:
This was the bit I remembered. I got lost here. I wanted to know more about this. This sentence is the talk.
That's honest, specific and generous: the kind of feedback that makes the next version better. You'll get it from me throughout the day, and from the other people in the room when you rehearse.
What you leave with
You leave with a title and a clear central idea. You'll have a beginning, a structure and the actual content, plus ideas for slides and visuals if the talk needs them. You'll have a version you've rehearsed, feedback from other people, and a plan for turning it into the longer talk.
You'll also take home a printed copy of Zero to Keynote, the book the day is built on, so you can keep going when you get home.
Who it's for
It's for anyone with an idea they'd like to turn into a talk.
You might have been asked to speak at a conference and not know where to start. You might run a business and need to explain what you do in a way that sticks. Or you might have a talk you've been meaning to write for years.
You don't need any experience, just an idea or the start of one. If you're not sure it's good enough, bring it anyway. Finding the thing underneath your subject is the first job of the day.
The room will be deliberately mixed: different work, different ideas, different reasons for being there. That's part of what makes the feedback useful. Nobody hears your talk through the jargon of your industry, so you find out quickly whether it makes sense to anyone else.
Why eight people
Eight is enough for a real audience and a good range of ideas.
It's also small enough that I can spend proper time with every talk. It's just me in the room, and I want to have read every card.
Booking a place
The day runs from 9am to 5:30pm in central Winchester, a short walk from the station (about an hour from London Waterloo). Venue details are sent when you book.
It's £320 per person. That includes lunch, coffee, all the materials and your printed copy of the book.
When you book, I'll encourage you to come prepared with answers to three things:
- What idea you'd like to turn into a talk.
- Who you'd like to give it to
- What would make the day worthwhile for you.
The answers help me shape the day around the people in it. If you don't have an answer to the first one yet, just say so.
COMING SOON.
Terms and Conditions: confirmed two weeks before if six places are booked. If the event does not happen, a full refund will be issued - and I will post your book out to you.
About Rob Lambert
I'm Rob. I've been giving talks for twenty years: on conference stages around the world, in boardrooms, and in front of the teams I've led as VP of Engineering, VP of HR and Head of Communication.
I started out in journalism and Media Science, and whatever the job title, the skill I kept coming back to was the same one: helping an idea land with the people it's meant for.
I've taught hundreds of people to speak, run days like this one before, and wrote the book it's built on.
What I care about isn't polish. It's the moment someone finds the thing they actually want to say and can find the thread that allows it to land for others.
For teams and organisations
Zero to Keynote also runs in-house for teams who need to speak well: at conferences, to customers, or to the rest of the business. It's the same day and the same method, built around your people and the talks they need to give.
Start a conversation
The best next step is usually a short call — twenty minutes to talk through what your team is doing, your interesting ideas and whether I can help. No pitch, no pressure. If the fit is right, we'll explore together. If it isn't, I'll say so, and point you somewhere better suited.
Get in touch → Or email directly: info@cultivatednotes.comUsually responds within 24 hours.