Machteld Kooij sees at least three or four people she has trained pass by every night on the news or the big talk shows. She calls herself The Secret Weapon of Hilversum and now there is also a book: The Monster with the Golden Eyes.
We all have to deal with it from time to time: stage fright. And Machteld Kooij has excellent tips for dealing with it. Even now that we mainly speak to our viewers online, via the blocky connections of Skype or Zoom. Or in podcasts like this one.
We talk to Machteld herself and to Monique Lindzen, director-publisher at Van Duuren Management and Anderz, who will publish the book later this year. She had no qualms about publishing a book on something as unrelated to reading as 'presenting': 'I once started at the LOI and there the motto was that we could teach people to swim in writing too.'
And then, of course, there is the speech of speeches: Mark Rutte, addressing the people to emphasise the seriousness of the Corona crisis. He garnered admiration with his calm presentation. Machteld did have something to say about the way he kept his hands still on the table: 'It is always the biggest challenge for people speaking in public: where do I leave my hands. Silent on the table is not the solution. I always tell people to imagine a box. That's where their hands are, and they are allowed to move within that box. That works.'
So from now on, pay attention on TV when you see people moving their hands inside a virtual box. These have all been trained by Machteld Kooij.
Good to know
'The monster with the golden eyes' by Machteld Kooij is available from 20 May through your local bookshop. And via Managementbook:
(ISBN 978 94 6296 143 2 - Price: 20 euros)
English (UK) 
Nederlands 
Français 
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