Speaking

Presenting & speaking

We love speaking, whether it’s a conference, workshop or smaller event. Our Executive Producer and CEO, Laura Milke Garner, is an experienced presenter and MC, creating the kind of atmosphere that gets people talking.

We’ll share our experience and expertise

We’ve spent more than 20 years producing all kinds of shows including theatre, comedy and cabaret. We also teach producing skills through our courses and mentor independent artists and producers.

Our experience makes us a preferred choice for councils, arts organisations and venues, as well as festivals with an artist development component.

Here are just a few of the people we’ve worked with as a presenter and speaker:

Adelaide Fringe Festival
Country Arts SA
Equity Foundation
Knox City Council
Moreland City Council
Melbourne Fringe Festival
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Performing Arts Exchange (PAC Australia)
Regional Arts Victoria
Showcase Victoria
Victorian Performing Arts Centre (VAPAC)

Ready to get everyone talking about your next event?

workshops by milke

We’ll tailor our topics to your audience.

Laura connects with your audience using real-life examples and case studies from her career as a professional producer. Our favourite topics are aimed at artists, producers and venue programmers and focus on producing, marketing, social media and pitching skills.

Topics we love:

Producing basics or advanced skills
Taking your work to the next level
How to pitch your work
Grassroots marketing
Social media marketing
Creating a sustainable arts business
Marketing basics + advanced
How to tour your work and engage with venues
How to take your work digital

We’re happy to chat about the topics your audience is most interested in and develop a workshop or presentation to suit.

Oh, and we’re based in Melbourne but happy to travel. We’ve delivered in-person, online and a hybrid of both.

Testimonials

Katherine Connor

Australian Performing Arts Exchange (APAX)

Laura Milke Garner is a natural facilitator. Laura recently delivered a professional development workshop at our Performing Arts Exchange for emerging and independent producers, illuminating the pathways to take their work to the next level. Events like the Performing Arts Exchange, much like national touring itself, can be daunting from the outside particularly for those who are still building a network and Laura delivered a session that built the knowledge, confidence and therefore capacity of those in attendance. Laura also facilitated our breakout session What A Presenter Wants, interviewing three seasoned Australian presenters and asking the questions Australian producers really want answered about how to engage with presenters.

Gemma Robertson

Showcase Victoria

Laura is a generous and engaging speaker who has the gift of being able to share her extensive knowledge of performing arts touring and producing without being patronising. Her presentation was professional and relevant and featured real-life experiences and case studies to which attendees obviously related. I say obviously because I’ve never had so many people request further details about a speaker in the 15 years I’ve been facilitating such events!