Take a Note Like a Pro: Pragmatic Skills to Build Trust and Relationships

If you find feedback hard, you probably find compliments hard too. Both are one skill. ABOUT FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE @ VOYO SPACE The Human Performance Series is nine Friday evenings between September 2026 and June 2027. It is all the things you would expect it to be: networking, professional development, a workshop, a masterclass. Run like a salon rather than a conference. Thirty people, light food, a glass of something, and an evening you take part in rather than sit through. Every evening takes one aspect of how we actually perform as human beings in rooms with other people. Presence, status, feedback, connection. The things that decide how a conversation goes, and that almost nobody is formally taught. Evenings are led by practising professionals rather than speakers. This season includes Marjorie Malpass, Founder and CEO of Nerve Strategic, with her ensemble of working actors, directors and writers. Alongside them, VOYO managing partners Jennifer He and Polaris Zhao, whose work is in brand, marketing, sales and human-centred design. The facilitator for each evening is named on that evening’s listing. We make three promises, every time. • Always have fun. You will play rather than sit through it. • Keep it a psychologically safe place for real connection. • Send you home with learning you can use the next morning. THE QUESTION When did you last believe a compliment? Someone tells you that you handled a difficult meeting well. What do you actually do with it? There are a few standard moves. It was nothing. It was really the team. A quick change of subject, because being seen is uncomfortable. Any of them and the compliment lands nowhere, and the person who offered it quietly learns not to bother again. Acting is a profession built on receiving feedback constantly and using it to become a better version of your professional self. Marjorie has decades of it, and she knows the overlooked craft of taking a note: when to accept criticism, and when what you are being handed is a personal attack wearing the costume of one. Here is the part that surprises people. If you struggle to take a note, you very likely struggle to take a compliment too. They are two sides of one skill, and both are really about how you build relationships. A compliment is more than a nice thing to say. It is an invitation to connect. Reject it, and you risk rejecting the person offering it. Receive it well, and you learn what they value, what you have in common, and where a relationship might actually begin. How you take a note and how you take a compliment are microcosms of how you build every relationship you have, which is why your career tends to rest on them. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN We will work both sides of the same coin: the exhale of giving, and the inhale of receiving. • How to tell a note worth taking from an attack worth refusing, in the moment rather than three days later. • How to receive feedback without flinching, deflecting or collapsing, and still keep your own judgement about whether it is right. • How to give a compliment that means something to the person receiving it, rather than one that is merely polite. • How to hear what a compliment tells you about the person giving it, which is usually more than it tells you about yourself. • Where your own default sits, and what it has been costing you. IS THIS FOR YOU? • Anyone who has deflected a compliment they had earned: You said it was nothing. It was not nothing, and you knew that at the time. • Anyone still carrying a piece of feedback from years ago: You remember the room it happened in. You never settled whether the note was fair. • Leaders who give notes as well as take them: Your team hears your feedback differently from how you think you deliver it. • Anyone who finds praise harder to take than criticism: You are not unusual. It is a skill almost nobody was taught. • Anyone who wants relationships that go past pleasantries: A compliment is an invitation. Most of them get declined by accident. THE SPACE & EVENT FLOW VOYO Space · 1666 Avenue Road, Toronto Doors open before 6:00 PM. Guests are welcome to arrive early and explore VOYO Space's curated selection of everyday fashion and lifestyle goods before the evening begins. 6:00 PM — Arrival 7:30–8:30 PM — Live program 8:30 PM — Conversation + connection Light refreshments and beverages will be provided. Free parking on site. TICKETS General Admission: $50. One seat, one night. Thirty seats only. Season Passes Seven nights remain this season, and a Season Pass lets you choose which ones, plus bring free guests every time you come. • 6-Night Pass — $240 ($40/night, 20% off). Any six nights, plus two free guests each time. A $900 value. • 3-Night Pass — $135 ($45/night, 10% off). Any three nights, plus a free guest each time. A $300 value. Every Pass is transferable, includes tonight, and lets you choose your dates as each theme is revealed. Select your Pass at checkout. Pass holders receive a personalized invitation code shortly after purchase. Your guests use that code to register their free places on any night you are attending. THE SEASON AT A GLANCE Friday Night Live runs nine Friday evenings across the season, with a break in March. Remaining nights: Nov 20 · Dec 11 · Jan 8 · Feb 12 · Apr 9 · May 14 · Jun 11 Themes are revealed one at a time. Each night's topic is announced live at the close of the previous evening, so you can hold the dates now and the subject arrives as a surprise. Guest places require advance registration and are subject to availability. Full terms at https://9d0b10d1-6755-4fa1-8e57-3cc8487699d1.usrfiles.com/ugd/9d0b10_d94f93c67bc94835b43fd3cf166f5084.pdf Come curious. Come on IN. Photography note: The evening may be photographed to capture the room's atmosphere. If you prefer not to be included in any photos, simply let us know on arrival. HOSTS Nerve Strategic An actor-led leadership consultancy whose consultants are working actors, writers, and directors. Nerve teaches professionals how to hold attention, build trust, and lead with presence. VOYO The only strategic growth consultancy that has a physical storefront in Toronto. VOYO hosts the evening at VOYO Space, a curated environment designed for calm attention and meaningful conversation.