Speaking & Workshops
Finding Purpose. Expressing Our Gifts. Living Fully.
What engages us in our lives and work? What holds us back from contributing what we have to give? How can we experience greater joy, fulfilment and freedom through our everyday participation?
These questions shape my books, writing and speaking. Drawing on my background in medicine and my experience as an author, publisher and workshop presenter, I connect ideas about calling, self-awareness and personal effectiveness with experiences people recognise in their own lives.
Talks and workshops are available for organisations, conferences, community groups and writing events.
Finding and Living Your Calling
Our calling can become recognisable through the interests we return to, the abilities we enjoy using, and the contribution we feel drawn to make. Exploring these connections can help us understand what gives meaning to our lives and where we want to direct our attention.
Drawing on my own experience of medicine and writing, this talk explores how we recognise our calling and give it expression. Audiences are encouraged to consider their gifts, what matters to them, and the opportunities to participate with greater purpose in their work and everyday lives.
The central theme is the relationship between calling and our natural state of being; how expressing who we are can reveal joy, fulfilment and freedom.
The Flea Circus: Break Free from Limiting Beliefs and Habits
Familiar ways of thinking can influence our choices long after we have stopped questioning them. We may dismiss an opportunity, avoid a conversation, or put aside an idea because of assumptions about what is possible for us.
Based on my book The Flea Circus, this presentation explores how beliefs and habits shape personal and professional effectiveness. Participants examine the patterns influencing their actions and consider practical ways to respond with greater awareness and purpose.
This topic can be developed into a workshop with reflection, discussion and exercises relevant to the audience.
Awaken the Zombie: Discover What Keeps Life on Repeat
Days can become so familiar that we move through them with little awareness of how we are participating. The same thoughts return, the same reactions follow, and we begin to wonder what happened to the fun, fulfilment and freedom we wanted from life.
Drawing on my developing book Awaken the Zombie, this talk explores how repeated thoughts and beliefs can shape an image of ourselves through which we interpret our experience. Recognising these patterns gives us an opportunity to respond more consciously and participate more fully.
Audiences are encouraged to recognise repetition in ordinary life and explore where a different response becomes possible.
Personal and Professional Effectiveness
How we manage our attention, energy and actions influences both our experience of work and our ability to contribute. Understanding the beliefs and habits behind our behaviour can help us make more considered choices about where our efforts go.
My work in this area includes designing and presenting Increasing Your Professional and Personal Effectiveness through the University of Adelaide’s professional and continuing education programme, beginning in 2018.
Topics can include self-awareness, self-management, limiting beliefs, effective goal-setting, and the relationship between personal purpose and professional contribution.
Writing, Publishing and the Creative Life
Writing begins with an idea, but bringing that idea to readers involves sustained creative work and a series of practical decisions. My experience as an author and the founder of DoctorZed Publishing provides the basis for talks about developing a writing practice, completing manuscripts and understanding the publishing process.
These sessions are suited to writing groups, libraries, festivals and organisations supporting authors. Topics can be shaped around the audience’s interests and stage of experience.
Feedback from Previous Talks and Workshops
“[Scott] has given me clarity and insight into my personality, motivation, and ways of dealing with stress.”
Helen Ivich, Executive Producer, Roadman Pictures
“Scott has a wealth of knowledge… I feel re-energised and refocused on where I want to head this year.”
Catherine Middleton, author of Time to Think Big!
“I became aware of something really beneficial: your thoughts create your experience… I must say, you are a good teacher.”
Sumita Wahi, SA education
Read more reviews of past talks and workshops →
Watch workshop video testimonials →
About Scott
Dr Scott Zarcinas is an Adelaide-based author, speaker and publisher with a background in medicine. He graduated from the University of Adelaide in 1993, founded DoctorZed Publishing in 2006, and has presented talks, seminars and workshops since 2008.
His fiction and non-fiction explore identity, purpose, freedom and the experience of living fully. His speaking brings these themes into conversation with everyday life, creativity and personal and professional effectiveness.
Discuss Your Event
To enquire about a talk or workshop, please share your event date, location, audience, preferred session length and the themes you would like to explore. If you have a budget in mind, include that too, so I can respond with a relevant proposal.