The Speaking Club: Mastering the Art of Public Speaking

What it Takes to Win Hearts, Minds, and Speaking Awards with Adele Bates - 324

Oct 11, 2025

Adele Bates, an education specialist and acclaimed storyteller, shares her two-decade journey through the challenges of teaching in diverse environments. She discusses how traumatic classroom experiences fueled her mission to understand challenging behavior. Adele explores international educational models and critiques the disconnect between policy and classroom realities. Her award-winning storytelling skills, rooted in her opera background, emphasize the power of connection. With insights on resilience and leadership, she inspires changemakers to engage authentically.

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ANECDOTE

Teaching In Extreme Classrooms

Adele describes teaching in alternative provision where students threw skateboards and poured juice over her head.
She uses those experiences to explain her purpose: build bridges so unheard young people get platforms.

INSIGHT

Look Outside To See System Flaws

Adele spotted an 'island mindset' in UK education and looked abroad for better models.
She found Finland's 1970s overhaul produced systems more fit for today's learners.

ADVICE

Co-Create Policies With Practitioners

Involve the people who will use a policy when you design it so it actually works day-to-day.
Turn dusty policy documents into practical tools that support classroom practice and organisational values.

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I first came across Adele Bates when I was judging the Storytelling category at the Speaker Awards—and her talk really stood out and grabbed my attention.

It was powerful, authentic, challenging and captivating.

She didn’t just tell the story. She performed it. Her talk built drama and connected emotionally to the audience, leading you to see a new perspective.

Based on that performance and the fact that she went on to win the award for best storyteller, I knew I had to get her on the show.

Not only did I want her to unpack the craft behind that talk, but I also wanted to dig into the powerful work she’s doing at the intersection of education, leadership, and human behaviour.

Adele has over 20 years’ experience working in some of the most challenging educational environments—mainstream, special, and alternative provision. Her journey has taken her from classrooms where she’s had juice poured over her head and skateboards hurled at her… to research trips across the globe… to keynote stages and international recognition.

She is the author of “Miss, I Don’t Give A Sh*t: Engaging with Challenging Behaviour in Schools. And today she and her team also work with organisations and leaders to tackle challenging dynamics in the workplace.

Whether you’re a speaker, leader, educator or changemaker, Adele’s stories and insights will challenge your thinking, stir your empathy, and give you practical tools for connection and communication.

What You’ll Discover:

What triggered Adele to set off on a quest to discover a different way of approaching dealing with challenging behaviour.
The key values that guide Adele’s work with both students and corporate leaders.
How to hold high expectations and compassion without burning out.
The real disconnect between behaviour policies and lived experience in schools.
The surprise career Adele had before she became a teacher and how she made the transition from educator to paid keynote speaker.
The big mistake she made with a speaking client that she would never make again.
Why it doesn’t matter if you are introverted or extroverted to be successful as a speaker.
How she developed the award-winning storytelling section of her talk.
The single piece of feedback that transformed her speaking presence.

All things Adele:

Website: adelebateseducation.co.uk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adele-bates-03b566208/

Books & Resources*:

Wild Power by Alexandra Pope and Sjanie Hugo Wurlitzer

Speaking Resources:

Grab Your From Blank Page to Stage Guide and Nail the Topic for a Client Winning Talk

Want to get better at finding and sharing your stories then check out our FREE Five Day Snackable Story Challenge

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