How To: Academy Reviews 

Listening to Isabel Allende was simply magical. It shall remain as an unforgettable night in my heart. My Sister in Law and I wore matching green suede shoes and had been looking forward to the event for weeks. We held on to Isabel’s every word as she spoke of her life. Thank you for making this such an important event in our lives.

Love the venue and the staff! Isabel Allende is a legend and inspirational female.

Thank You!! My wife and I had a terrific time participating in a very insightful and entertaining interview. Sam did a great job of keeping it light, flowing, and educational. He made the interview style work. The knowledge and life experiences shared by the author, Isabel Allende were touching, moving, motivating, and helpful. This evening was a perfect 10! I even enjoyed sharing the men's room with the ladies before the show started as the audience was 90% female and the line was long. Everyone was gracious and respectful and pro-feminist so it all worked out. Many THANKS y Much LOVE!!

A glorious, touching and thoroughly delightful evening.
Thanks so much!

Max Hastings has lived a life - very interesting individual with some amazing stories and great knowledge of World War 2 as reflected in his excellent books. Praise too for Mark Urban in the questioning role, letting Max answer Questions in full. Great evening out!

An excellent evening listening to the peerless Max Hastings recounting some fascinating WWII tales as part of his promoting his new book. Expertly moderated by Mark Urban. Loved it!

Max Hastings was great . However the venue seating was dreadful . We should have been advised when booking that balcony seats offer absolutely no view .
The bar staff were shocking . Continue to serve everyone right until the talk starting and only when at the front do they tell you that you can’t take your drink in . Nice person did offer to put in the fridge to be collected at the end … only for someone else to say this wasn’t possible .
So sadly a superb talk badly let down by the organisation

This is not the first time I have had the pleasure of listening to Max Hastings. As usual he did not disappoint. Words that come to mind include very Interesting , Educational , Insightful all embellished by magnificent anecdotes. Surely one of the great public speakers in the land.

Accompanied by my daughter to the Max Hastings talk end of Second World War. Really fascinating, punctuated by amusing anecdotes. Excellent interviewer who kept the conversation lively and wide ranging. Really enjoyed the audience question session which expanded into further topics including discussion around best generals. Inspired by Max to read more about Rommel and George Macdonald Fraser books. Thought provoking and educational and highly recommended. Ended too quickly!

I loved the evening with Max Hastings - what an incredible man - so articulate and intelligent and outshines his 80 years on this planet. Factually fascinating and enlightening about the realities that hits humankind when a war is classed as over. I wish my father was still alive as he fought in Burma and am sure would have known and thus related stories about Max’ s favourite commander Bill Slim. A great event - thank you

An evening of brilliant discussion and learning. It could not have been better.

Very inspiring, enlightening and instructive talk from Acemoğlu and Wolf, two who clearly know are experts in their mutual fields.

I really enjoyed the conversation which enables me to think and want to learn more about our future in democracy and social economics. Thank you . Talia YAHYA

Attended the Daron Acemoglu/Martin Wolf talk with my daughter, who is an economics undergraduate. A thought provoking and enlightening discussion between two prominent thinkers in the realm of economics and political economy.

The talk by Ben McIntyre was utterly brilliant

I was enthralled, and so compelling

Attending the venue for the first time, beautiful setting , also a bar available. The venue was full but I arrived in good time and did not have a problem getting a good seat with view.
Ben MacIntyre was an excellent speaker , setting the back story for this new book Redwood (we were able to preorder a signed book ). The initial guest speaker unfortunately had to withdraw but we were all surprised by the replacement which was the daughter of the double agent code named Redwood.

Fascinating talk about a true story. Ben is a great storyteller in front of a live audience as well as in print.

I ordered tickets to see Colin Kaepernick in Chicago. 4 days later, I noticed in my Apple calendar that the show was canceled. But when I went to check the venue website, I discovered the event hadn’t been canceled, How To Academy sold my tickets to a resale site. Never again!

I attended Richard Dawkins – Genes and the Meaning of Life at the Barbican, promoted by How To Academy and apparently produced in association with Fane. I booked to hear Dawkins discuss science, evolution and the themes of the event, but felt the host, Nihal Arthanayake, repeatedly pulled the conversation into overtly political territory, including references to Brexit, Trump, Thatcherism and Reform’s local election gains.

That may suit a political event, but it felt misplaced here and distracted from the advertised subject. Disappointing hosting for what should have been a fascinating evening.

I’ve attended a number of these events and, while the speakers are consistently excellent, the overall experience doesn’t match the calibre of the guests.

The format feels quite transactional and tightly controlled, with very limited opportunity for any meaningful interaction. As a result, the events can feel impersonal rather than something you come away from remembering.

In all honesty, it leaves me feeling that the production doesn’t quite do justice to the quality of speakers being hosted. Based on that, I would probably choose to attend similar talks with other organisers in future, even if it meant waiting longer.