Together 2026 Speaker Article: Part 6 with Oleg Semerikov

What if the biggest opportunities in your career are already around you, hidden in conversations you haven’t had yet? And what if the only thing standing between you and those opportunities is how you prepare, how you show up, and how you tell your story?

Hear from Oleg Semerikov, one of our ELIA Together 2026 speakers, on his event experience and highlights:

Earlier, my presentations usually finished when the last slide disappeared. But this one was different.

After delivering my presentation at ELIA Together, I realised something important. Something that is already shaping how I think about my future career, my work, and the kind of impact I want to create.

I will come back to that later. But let me start with my why.

As an introvert, walking into a room full of strangers and starting conversations used to feel overwhelming. But over the years, through practice, conversations, and my growing interest in the psychology of communication, I started to build more confidence.

That is why I chose strategic networking as my topic. I wanted to share this confidence with my colleagues and deliver something practical, memorable, and human.

The topic also fitted beautifully with the theme of the event. There were so many insightful talks about human communication, mutual respect, and the move from service provider to trusted partner. Talk after talk, the message became clearer: our industry needs to adapt not only to emerging technologies, but also to a new way of building relationships.

I presented my FLOW framework for building more meaningful professional relationships. To make the framework more memorable, I used a magic box. I revealed objects connected to each part of FLOW using Harry Potter spells. It felt risky for a professional conference, and I was almost expecting tomatoes instead of applause. But later, many participants said this simple prop made the framework more memorable and fun.

Then came the story.

During the presentation, I shared a childhood memory about learning English through Michael Jackson’s music. I was listening to songs, trying to understand lyrics, and slowly finding my way into the world of languages and, later, the translation industry.

After the session, two participants told me they had also learned English through music. It reminded me that personal stories help people recognise something from their own experience. Facts explain the idea, but stories make people feel it.

And then something happened that I could never have planned.

During the presentation, I mentioned the moonwalk as part of my story. Later, at the gala dinner, Billie Jean started playing. People encouraged me to dance. So I did. And the story came back to life.

It proved the point: when we share something real, people remember the feeling around it. That moment closed the story in a way no slide ever could.

Before my talk, imposter syndrome was nudging me with uncomfortable questions. Am I good enough to speak so boldly about this topic? Will these stories be valuable? Will I look ridiculous doing magic, role-playing, singing, and dancing?

The feedback answered those doubts. Participants mentioned the clarity of the structure, the energy of the delivery, the practical value of the ideas, and how the session helped them feel more confident about networking. That last part mattered most. I wanted to share confidence, and people told me they felt it.

This is what I realised after the presentation: it started as a conference topic, but now I see it as part of a bigger path into communication, trust, confidence, and human connection.

ELIA Together gave me more confidence as a speaker and a stronger sense of responsibility. Building confidence in myself helped me understand how powerful it is to share it with others.

Now I will share this work more widely, helping more people communicate with confidence and helping businesses build more trust.

To explore more of my work, connect with me on LinkedIn and check out my newsletters there: Networking guide,  Marketing for LSPs, and 1% a day.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to Oleg to continue the conversation, share your thoughts on this topic here on LinkedIn, and follow this series to read all speaker articles from Together 2026.