“Nowadays we have 7 seconds to get the audience’s attention. It used to be 5 minutes. With the advent of social media, with all the swiping, our attention span has gone down to 7 seconds. If you don’t get your audience’s attention in 7 seconds, that’s it, they’re gone.” Elia Nichols
Join me for the first part of my informative and lively chat with my charming guest, Elia Nichols, actress, public speaking and communication coach, TEDx speaker, and fellow US expat in Florence. We begin with Elia’s story about what led her to Florence in the first place, talk about her successful acting career in Italy in theater and film, her leading role in an incredibly popular Italian TV teen sitcom, how she ultimately pivoted, and where she is right now. Throughout our conversation Elia draws on professional and personal experiences and her savoir-faire to explain the cultural nuances of communication and shares with us her keen insights on the power of our bodies and voices and provides us with practical tools we can all use in our daily lives to be more dynamic, charismatic, and effective communicators. Finally, we speak honestly and openly, mom to mom, about the challenges of finding balance while juggling family and business, and the importance of always feeding your soul.
Elia Nichols Biography & Links
Elia Nichols is an American-born, Italian-based Public Speaking and Communication coach, TEDx Speaker, a 2x TEDx Speaking coach, and a film and TV actress. Her mindful, yet fun teaching techniques have helped thousands of people master the skill of charisma and break communication barriers. Elia teaches speakers and professionals in strategic business and leadership roles effective ways to perfect their presence and speaking skills onstage, in the courtroom, classroom, boardroom and onscreen. Her techniques incorporate elements of theatre, improvisation and comedy into teachings as she has found that this type of mindful and fun experiential learning leads to the most effective, transformational changes in her clients.
Elia believes that charisma is a skill that can be learned and which, once mastered, has the potential to motivate, persuade, inspire, and advance business and personal interests. She has held high-level jobs in Public and External Relations as well as Learning and Development, which has given her insight into both the academic and business environments. In addition, she has been a professor of Public Speaking and Communication at renowned academic institutions such as the European University Institute, Syracuse University, the European School of Economics, Istituto Lorenzo de’Medici and the University of Texas at Austin.
She has been a professional actress for 15 years and is best known for her starring role as Professor Tucker in the comedic TV series Maggie & Bianca Fashion Friends that airs nightly on the RAI Gulp channel in Italy and in 180 countries across the globe on Netflix. She also co-founded F.E.S.T.A. Theatre Company and produced and acted in many of its productions. Elia received her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from Tulane University and her Masters of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Texas at Austin.
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/elianichols
- https://www.facebook.com/elianicholspublicspeaking
- https://www.facebook.com/elia.nichols
- https://www.facebook.com/EliaNicholsActress
- https://www.instagram.com/elianichols
- https://www.instagram.com/nicholselia/
- https://www.maggieandbianca.com/en
Recorded at Musikalmente Firenze
Podcast Editor: Andrew Niklas Curtis
Production Intern: Ava Lees