' Reps can help you improve your ability to speak, and you can be the person creating those reps.'

If you're seeking success as a speaker, what does that mean to you? Perfectly polished delivery, Big, flashy stages?

Alex Merry sees his job as helping founders unlock the true potential of their ideas, and as part of that he brings speakers at all stages of the journey into community in MicDrop. He has a more intentional, strategic approach to defining success as a speaker. In fact, turns out some of the most commercially powerful speaking opportunities happen in very ordinary rooms, with a relatively small number of exactly the right people.

We talk about the beautiful overlap between books and speaking, why the two work together so synergistically, and how being in community with the right people can supercharge success in both. We also talk about the importance of doing all of this in public, testing your ideas, learning to communicate the same message in a million different ways.

A practical and energising conversation about speaking, writing, business development, community, and why success might be different to - and so much achievable than - your assumptions.

'Now that we have AI to give us all the answers, who needs books, right?'

It's a question that everyone who writes, publishes or sells nonfiction books has to face up to in 2026. The decline of reading and the threat posed by AI are unarguable, yet there are also signs of resilience and reasons for hope, alongside some useful lessons for anyone writing or publishing business or self-development books.

Practical Inspiration's fabulous sales and marketing assistant Lauren Moseley became a roving reporter between meetings at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair, capturing five perspectives from across the industry.

Hear from:

• NielsenIQ Book Data's Belle Edelman on nonfiction trends, how readers discover books, and the value of writers' work in an AI world

• Durnell Marketing's Siobhan Humphries and Paula Moreno on how authors can support book sales, and why credibility and human connection matter

• Rights experts Clare Hodder and Kris Kliemann on international opportunities, shorter books, and offering something readers can't get from an AI query

• Liverpool University Press's Anna Champion on streamlining publishing work while preserving the relationships at its heart

• The Independent Publishers Guild's Tom Holman on copyright challenges, opportunities for smaller publishers, and taking a thoughtful approach to AI adoption.

If you couldn't make it to Frankfurt, here's a taste of the conversations shaping the future of books - and what they might mean for yours.

' You can continually be choosing optimistic behavior even when you're not feeling optimistic.'

Michelle Gielan is a positive psychology researcher married to a happiness researcher - wouldn't you love to be at that dinner table?

In her latest book Resilient Optimism: The science of sustaining a positive mindset in tough times, she explores why optimism that lasts when reality hits is not based on an emotion, but on behaviour, and more particularly on the belief that our behaviour matters.

She also discovered that your behaviour matters way beyond your own mood and your own outcomes. Becoming a 'positive deviant' - actively expressing optimism, celebrating progress, spreading 'positive gossip' - can transform the outcomes of everyone around you.

We also talk about writing as sense-making, experimenting with 'power leads', and how to think of a book as a collection of beautifully connected two-minute stories.

A hopeful, practical conversation about agency, courage, writing, and resilience.