Speaking Your Brand: Public Speaking Tips and Strategies

When my guest said this during our conversation, we both stopped to write it down because it was so good: “You can’t attract the like-minded to you if you don’t speak your mind.”   Boom. Mic drop.   This is an incredible conversation, one you’re likely to listen to more than once. Why do some brands resonate more than others? How can you connect with your audience in a deeper way? How do you find...

This is not your typical conversation or approach to negotiations. I came across my guest, Alexandra (Alex) Carter, on another podcast where she was talking about her new book called “Ask for More: Ten Questions to Negotiate Anything.” Alex is a Director of the Mediation Clinic at Columbia Law School, where she is also an award-winning professor, and a world-renowned negotiation trainer for the Un...

We’ve been hearing and seeing a lot over the past few weeks about anti-racism education and the need for white people (like me) to learn about how deep systemic racism is embedded throughout our society and the actions we can take to combat racism and anti-Blackness. This is a very different conversation about racism. My guest is April Harter, who is a therapist and licensed clinical social worker...

We’re all feeling a lot of emotions and seeing reactions and triggers in ourselves and others. Whether we’re having one-on-one conversations with family and friends, interacting on social media, watching the news, or even speaking to audiences, how can we better understand how to recognize triggers in ourselves and others and handle them better? My guest is Lara Currie, who specializes in helping...

This is a conversation for white women about our role and privilege in a racist and white supremacist society and the work *we* need to do. As Kamala Harris said in a recent tweet: “The deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor are not isolated incidents. They are the result of systematic racism that has existed for generations.” I’ve seen on social media from white women that they...

Have you thought about hosting your own virtual summit? We've talked quite a bit for the past few months about the power of hosting webinars, which are typically just you talking to your audience (perhaps with a co-host). Virtual summits, on the other hand, typically bring together a group of speakers on a topic, with you as the host pre-recording the interviews with each speaker and then deliveri...

What happens when your entire business is in person, from meeting with clients to speaking, and the pandemic hits and that’s no longer possible? My guest is Dr. Bibi Pirayesh, who is an educational therapist in the Los Angeles area. Bibi faced this in mid-March when California closed the schools and issued their stay-at-home order. Bibi was in our Master Your Speaking program and went through our...

Get ready to be inspired to get past perfection and throw out the script you may *think* (consciously or unconsciously) you should be using in your career, business, and life. My guest is Joy Spencer, who works as an organizational development consultant and is a certified professional coach. Joy and I worked together earlier this year on her signature talk called “Beyond Your Dream Job: A Reframe...

Do you have a strategy for your webinars? Do you know whether you should make a direct sales pitch on your webinar - or use it to build brand awareness and visibility? What's the difference between presenting to your own audience vs. someone else's? Can you get paid to do webinars? Knowing why you're doing a webinar and what to expect from it can provide clarity around the content to present, give...

Have you been wanting to add a new offering to your business but haven’t had a chance to yet? As my guest Amanda J. Hill says in our conversation, the current crisis has accelerated her action, from *thinking* for the past year about adding a new offering to *doing* it. This episode is a case study and on-air coaching call on how to quickly pivot and take action to be of service to your clients.  ...

A question I get asked a lot is: How can I get paid to speak? One of the best ways is to speak and present for free. (This goes for both in-person and online presentations and trainings.) Why speak for free? You build relationships with event organizers who can then recommend you or pay you to speak at future events. You get to know other speakers who recommend you for paid events. You can get vid...

How do your values show up in your work, whether it’s interacting with clients or employees, presenting to an audience, appearing on a podcast, or creating marketing materials? My guest today is Patti Perez, the founder of a consulting firm that’s dedicated to teaching leaders and teams how to create and sustain healthy, inclusive and profitable workplace cultures. Patti has a fascinating backgrou...

Whether you’re presenting online or in person, to any size audience, creating a sense of belonging with your audience builds trust and contributes to their learning experience. My guest Traci Baxley, Ed. D. calls herself a “belonging advocate” and she walks her talk. In this episode, Traci and I talk about: Specific belonging practices you can use for in-person and online Why your own vulnerabilit...

We've been hosting virtual office hours on Zoom for our clients and it's been so good to chat, commiserate about the situation we're all in, and talk about strategies for our businesses. One of the women remarked that she appreciated coming on because none of us was in a state of fear.  Instead, we're focused on how we can meet our clients and audiences where they're at and innovate around our bus...

Have you attended a boring or poorly done webinar?  Tune into this episode to hear webinar audience engagement in action! This episode is the audio from a live webinar we did last week.  If you’d like to see the video recording with the slides, register at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/webinar/ .  With many of us having speaking engagements and in-person workshops postponed or canceled because...

I don’t know about you, but for the past week, I’ve been checking the NYT website and my Twitter feed WAY too many times a day, as we all struggle to understand what the impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus) will have on us, our families, our businesses, and our communities. My friend Puja Madan, who is an expert on mindful leadership for entrepreneurs and business executives, has been sharing really h...

As I’ve worked with nearly 200 women over the past few years, I’ve seen how the same things trip us up, as well as what liberates us as women - our voices and our stories.  Have you ever attended an event, heard a speaker, and thought, “I could give just as good as, if not a better, presentation. Why am I not up there?” Have you ever shied away from submitting to speak at a conference or pitching...

I was listening to a well-known, very popular male podcaster a few months ago and he put me over the edge when he said something like this (I'm paraphrasing): "Some people tell me I should have more diverse guests - women and people of color - but I don't think that should be a criteria for who I invite. I want the best person on a given topic no matter their gender or race." And at that moment, I...

Join me for an insightful conversation with my guest Latesha Byrd, a speaker, podcaster, and the founder of Byrd Career Consulting, a consulting agency that provides professional and executive career coaching.  Latesha and I talk about: Figuring out what you want to be known for The identity shift that Latesha went through when she left one career to go into an entirely different field Why and how...

How would you like a bucket of leads at your business doorstep every day? Sounds great, right? Well, maybe not. This conversation with sales expert Reena Philpot is going to revolutionize the way you look at sales. I’ve gotten to know Reena over the past 2 years, and we worked together a few months ago to create her signature talk. The sales insights and approaches she shared with me while we crea...

How do you know when you’re ready for the next big thing, to make a change? Do you feel that you need to learn more, become more of an expert? Or are you the type of person who’s willing to learn while leaping? I’m joined by my friend and incredible coach Stephanie Harter, who’s made a few leaps herself over the years. We talk about what prompted her career changes, whether she felt ready, and wha...

Public speaking can certainly bring about nerves and uncertainty, whether you’re a new speaker or you’ve been speaking a while and want to try something new on stage or with a larger audience. In this episode, Diane Diaz and I talk about: The improv class we’re taking and what we’ve learned so far that can help you Our own personal experiences of feeling uncertain about new experiences How Diane i...

I’m sharing 7 books and 4 podcast series that have impacted me personally and professionally because they’ve made me think about being a speaker (and an entrepreneur) in a different way. You won’t find these books or podcasts in the business or marketing section. They’re also not about public speaking tips. Instead, they can add depth and dimension to you as a speaker, so you’re more captivating,...

What does “being visible” mean? It means being seen and being in public view.  As entrepreneurs, we want to be seen, so people know what we do and how we can help them. Visibility strategies, including being a panelist and speaker, posting on LinkedIn, and writing for publications, is what my guest Janice Gassam has successfully done over the past few years (even as an introvert - and we talk abou...

Public speaking has undoubtedly been one of the key factors in building 3 different businesses over the last 18 years. You’ll hear the lessons and mistakes I learned, so you can use speaking effectively and strategically as part of your overall marketing strategy, whether you’re newer in your business or years in. Why does public speaking work so well as an entrepreneur? Being a speaker gives you...