If you speak for a living
Pitches, lectures, presentations, the Monday meeting. People hear how you say something before they weigh what you said. You’ll work on breath, pace and the pause, so the way you speak carries what you mean.
Taught by Caro Derkx | Actress, theatre-maker and writer
Master Your Voice
Four Sunday afternoons in Amsterdam on voice, rhythm, pause and presence, using the methods actors rely on. For people whose work depends on being heard or anyone wanting to sound more confident.
- Nov 8, 15, 22, 29 (Sundays)
- 15:00–18:00
- €279 for the entire course (4 sessions)
- 10 people max
Four Sundays
November 8, 15, 22 and 29, 15:00–18:00. Each session builds on the last, so the four are booked as one course.
€279 for the entire course (4 sessions)
Twelve hours with Caro in a group of ten, VAT included. You can split the payment with Klarna at checkout.
Ten people at most
No experience needed. With ten people, everyone works in front of the room every Sunday and gets direct notes from Caro. Groups are mostly international.
Three reasons people come
If you live in a second language
Most of the group speaks English as a second or third language. What holds people back is usually pace, breath and nerve rather than accent, and all three improve with practice.
If you want it for yourself
Nothing at work depends on it. You’d like to tell a story at dinner without losing the table, give the toast at a friend’s wedding, or speak up in a group without rehearsing every sentence first.
What people bring to the first session
Questions people arrive with. Caro answers some on video, and the rest you work through in the room.
Cards with a play button open Caro’s answer.
Who’s in the room
Caro’s past groups have included a heart surgeon, a Rijksmuseum tour guide, a software engineer, a bank manager, artists, and people from a dozen countries who live and work in Amsterdam. Some came because of their work, others because they wanted to speak better everywhere else.
Nobody needs experience. From the first hour you are on your feet: speaking, moving, listening, and by the third Sunday reading a text of your own to the group.
Four Sundays, three hours each
Open each session to see what you’ll work on.
- SundayNov 8
Speech and language
How you speak, and how small changes in articulation, rhythm and word choice change what people hear.
- Articulation and breath support
- Rhythm, tone and melody: what makes a sentence easy to follow
- How the words you choose change what the listener hears
- Telling a short story so a room keeps listening
By the end of the first session, you will have a short voice warm-up you can do on your own, before a meeting, a lecture or a phone call you’ve been dreading.
- SundayNov 15
Body and voice
Posture, breath and movement, and how each of them changes the sound of your voice.
- Posture, gesture and facial expression
- Stillness, and when to move
- Projection and range: filling a room without pushing
- Reading a room and responding to it
By the end of the afternoon, what your body is doing should agree with what you are saying.
- SundayNov 22
Your own text on stage
You write short personal texts, starting from a letter, and perform them for the group.
- Writing a short text from a letter exercise
- Hearing the difference between how you write and how you speak
- How performers use personal material without overexposing themselves
- Pacing, emphasis and the pause before a line
By six o’clock you will have performed something you wrote in front of nine other people.
- SundayNov 29
Into work and life
Taking the work into the rooms you go back to: meetings, lectures, presentations, auditions, difficult conversations.
- Using what you’ve practised in professional and social settings
- Speaking without rehearsing every sentence in your head first
- What to do with nerves in the last five minutes before you speak
- Staying responsive when the plan falls apart
The session is built around situations the group brings in, so it is different every time.
Every Sunday 15:00–18:00, Cliffordstraat 38, Amsterdam.
Caro Derkx
Actress, theatre-maker and writer, Amsterdam.
Caro studied at the Toneelacademie Maastricht. Her graduation solo, Me, Myself and Sir Roger Scruton, won both the Henriëtte Hustinxprijs and Het Debuut in 2019. She went on to make work at Frascati Producties, Amsterdam’s house for new theatre-makers, including Emma Watson – The Play, which de Volkskrant said got “frighteningly far under Watson’s skin”. She wrote and performed Haar in de Wind with Wilfried de Jong, played the lead in the horror film Vleesdag, and published her first novel with Atlas Contact in May 2026.
- Theatre
- Emma Watson – The Play (Frascati Producties, 2022), A Portrait of the Artist in Red, Yellow and Blue (Frascati Producties, 2020), Haar in de Wind, with Wilfried de Jong (2024)
- Screen
- Vleesdag / Meat Kills (lead, 2025), Santos, Rundfunk
- Writing
- Mijn onwaarschijnlijke vriendschap met Emma Watson (Atlas Contact, 2026)
- Audio
- Co-host of the feminist podcast Wolf
From past groups
Quote from a past participant. Two or three sentences about one specific moment in the course or what changed afterwards.
Second quote. Ideally from someone who presents in English as a second language.
Third quote. Ideally from someone who came for themselves, not for work.
If something comes up
You’re ill on one of the Sundays
Let us know before the session. Caro sends you what the group worked on, and you rejoin the following week. Single sessions aren’t refunded.
You can’t start the course
Write to us before November 8 and we’ll move your place to the next group, or you can give your ticket to someone else.
We cancel the course
You get a full refund.
Questions
Do I need any experience?
No. The course is built for people who haven’t done voice or stage work before, and everyone starts from where they are.
Will I be put on the spot?
Not before you’re ready. Each session starts with the whole group working together, and you speak alone in front of the room only after everyone has warmed up. Caro’s notes are short and specific, and the group is ten people who are all doing the same thing.
English isn’t my first language. Is that a problem?
No. Most participants are international, and working English is enough. Speaking in a second language is one of the things people come to work on.
Is €279 per session?
No. €279 covers all four Sundays, twelve hours in total, VAT included.
Can I pay in instalments?
Yes. Choose Klarna at checkout. If the payment doesn’t go through, message us and we’ll sort it out.
Can my employer pay?
Yes. Write to us with your company’s details and we’ll send an invoice. If several people from your team want to do this together, we also run it for companies through Decades Business.
What should I bring?
Nothing. Just wear comfortable clothes you can move in easily.
Is there an online version?
No. The course only happens in the room.
Didn’t find your question?
Ask us here. Anton, who runs Decades, replies the same day.
Caro’s next course starts November 8.
Four afternoons with Caro Derkx and nine other people.
- Starts Sunday Nov 8
- €279 for the entire course
- 10 people max
Can’t make these Sundays?
Leave your email and we’ll tell you about Caro’s next group before it’s announced.