BEFORE YOU JUMP, YOU’RE PROBABLY WONDERING…

ABOUT THE WORK

  • More than a decade ago, sitting at my kitchen table in the middle of a very hard season, I read a book — A Simple Act of Gratitude by John Kralik — about how daily thank-you notes changed a man's life. Something in me said: I want that. So I set a goal — not one note a day, but 10,000 handwritten thank-you notes over the rest of my life. What started as survival became a practice. What started as private became a whole new way of seeing. More than 13,000 notes later, I'm still writing. Not because I'm exceptionally generous, but because witnessing what matters keeps me buoyant.

  • Loneliness has more than doubled in the past two decades. People report feeling less connected than ever — even when sitting right next to each other. We're moving faster, scrolling more, and holding more than ever: fear, pressure, disconnection. And underneath all of it? The same ancient human need — to be seen, to matter, to belong. That need doesn't go away. It just goes unmet. This work is about meeting it.

  • Because they're not actually small — they just look that way from the outside. Research from HeartMath® Institute shows that emotions have measurable physiological rhythms that radiate outward and affect the people around us. A moment of genuine appreciation doesn't stay inside you. It changes the room. One note, one glance, one "I see you" — these aren't gestures. They're ripples. And ripples don't stop where you can see them.

  • It's a question most of us have never been asked directly. And when we pause long enough to let it land, something shifts. Not in a vague, aspirational way — in the body. The breath softens. The shoulders drop. A quiet smile comes without effort. That feeling is information. It's your heart telling you what's aligned, what matters, what's worth returning to. The question matters because most of us are living from our heads — reacting, performing, managing. This question is a way back to yourself.

  • Here's the thing people miss: you've been aging since the day you were born. Which means this was never about getting old — it's about staying conscious. Buoyant aging is a practice of attention, available at any age. It means refusing to let decline be the only story — and choosing instead to return, again and again, to what lights you up, what connects you, what reminds you that you're alive and it matters. It's not a phase of life. It's a way of moving through all of them.

ABOUT THE KEYNOTE

  • Definitely not a lecture. This keynote is designed to be experienced, not just heard. Audiences move through guided heart practices, paired exchanges, and collective moments that make the content visceral rather than theoretical. People don't just learn about connection — they feel it, in real time, with the strangers sitting next to them. Most audiences leave a little surprised by how much happened in the room.

  • It's a fair question — and the answer surprises people every time. What looks small from the outside turns out to be quietly radical in practice. There is something that happens when a room full of people — different ages, different backgrounds, different life experiences — all pause together to notice what genuinely lights them up. The walls come down. The performance stops. What's left is something remarkably universal: the human need to be seen, to matter, and to feel connected.

    That's why this work lands as powerfully in a mixed corporate retreat as it does in a senior living community or a college auditorium. Goodness, it turns out, doesn't sort by demographic.

  • Something they can use the same afternoon. Every participant leaves with at least one micro-practice they can carry forward — whether that's a daily heart-focused breath, a single note written to someone they've been meaning to thank, or the simple habit of looking someone in the eye and meaning it.

    But here's what surprises people most: this isn't a one-way street. Witnessing others and allowing yourself to be witnessed — that's the full circle. What lights your heart up isn't just about what you give. It's also about learning to receive — to let someone see you, and to let that land. That exchange, it turns out, is where the real shift happens.

    They leave having felt both sides of it. That tends to stay with people.

WILL OUR AUDIENCE BE OKAY?

  • Not at all — and that's intentional. Participation is warmly invited and gently encouraged, but no one is ever put on the spot or made to feel that opting out means opting out of the room. The invitation is always open; the choice is always yours. What's been true, again and again, is that even the most reluctant participants often find themselves quietly joining in. But there is never any shame in simply witnessing.

  • They are especially welcome here. This keynote was born in a hard season — and it has never pretended otherwise. Joy and grief are not opposites; they coexist, and this work honors that. Whatever someone is carrying when they walk in — loss, fear, exhaustion, uncertainty — there is room for it. No one is asked to perform happiness or set their pain aside. In fact, some of the most profound moments in these talks have happened precisely because someone brought their whole, unedited self into the room.

  • Not even a little. The heart practices in this keynote are grounded in the research of HeartMath® Institute, which has spent decades documenting how emotions create measurable, physiological rhythms — and how those rhythms radiate outward and impact the people around us. What feels like magic (a room that suddenly softens, a stranger who makes you feel less alone) turns out to be science. We're just not used to talking about it that way.

  • I'm not a comedian — and I'll be upfront about that. But here's what I've noticed: the more an audience moves out of their heads and into their hearts, the more ease and lightness naturally follow. The heart runs on kindness, joy, and appreciation. There's an inherent playfulness in that — a warmth that tends to make people laugh in the best possible way. Not at anything. Just at how good it feels to be human together.

WHY ELLEN?

  • Since 2009, I've been studying and practicing the science of heart connection — and since 2014, I've been on a focused mission: noticing the good and great in people, and writing it down. More than 13,000 times now. What I bring to a stage isn't theory. It's a practice I live daily, a body of research I know deeply, and more than a decade of stories about what happens when people feel genuinely seen. I'm also a keen observer of the human heart — and I have tools to help your audience become one too.

  • Both are woven into the keynote rather than presented as standalone modules. HeartMath® Institute is a research organization that has spent decades studying the relationship between the heart, emotions, and human performance — documenting how feelings like appreciation and compassion create measurable physiological shifts, and how those shifts ripple outward to affect the people around us. The Connection Practice informs how I guide audiences into moments of genuine self-awareness and recognition of others. Neither requires prior knowledge — participants experience them without necessarily knowing the names.

LOGISTICS

  • From a 15-minute introduction to a full 50-minute keynote — the content scales to fit your program without losing its heart. If you're not sure what length works best for your event, that's a great conversation to have early in the planning process.

  • Yes. Two-hour workshops are available for groups of up to 50 people. The workshop format takes the keynote material deeper — what participants experience in the talk becomes what they practice in the room. It's a natural next step for organizations that want the content to stick.

  • At this time, Ellen is doing live, in-person events only. The experiential nature of this work — the guided practices, the paired exchanges, the collective moments — is most powerful when people are genuinely in the room together.

  • Four to eight months is ideal — it allows time to understand your audience, customize the content, and build in proper travel. That said, if your timeline is shorter, it's always worth reaching out. When I'm available, I make it work.

  • With sufficient lead time and reasonable travel buffers built in, most anywhere. Home base is the New York metro area, so the Northeast is easy — but I've spoken across the country and would welcome the conversation wherever you are. Other continents considered — let's talk.

  • Speaking fees are available upon request. Please reach out through the contact page — I'd love to learn more about your event.