Speaking Your Brand: Public Speaking Tips and Strategies

We’re continuing our new podcast series on Executive Speaking! This episode is full of inspiration and practical insights if you’re looking to enhance your leadership skills, embrace transformation, and make meaningful connections.  Dr. Lesia Crumpton-Young's journey is a testament to the power of perseverance, innovation, and the importance of showing up. Whether you're a seasoned leader or just...

We’re continuing our new podcast series around Executive Speaking! Today we’re diving into storytelling for leaders, especially in a business, corporate, or academic environment. We’ve been led to believe that stories aren’t appropriate in “professional” business or academic environments. But, that’s when stories can be the most impactful! This episode is truly value-packed with actionable insight...

Have you ever been captivated by a speaker who seems to effortlessly command the room, inspiring everyone with their words and presence?  That’s the magic of executive presence combined with powerful public speaking. Whether you're leading a team or an organization or a workshop, whether you're presenting to 20, 200, or 2000 people, your ability to communicate your ideas clearly, get buy-in from y...

Are you ready to elevate your speaking game and attract lucrative speaking engagements? Diane Diaz, our lead speaking coach, sits down with one of our clients, Cherlette McCullough, a licensed marriage and family therapist, to delve into the keys to crafting a compelling signature talk that not only resonates with audiences but also leads to paid speaking opportunities. Key Highlights: Cherlette’s...

Sharing personal stories are essential for memorable and impactful presentations.  How specific should your stories be? How do you connect your story to your overall message and framework? This is exactly what we work on with our Thought Leader Academy clients in their VIP Day to create their signature talk. You’ll hear two of our recent grads, Cindy Ojczyk and Amy Bear, deliver a 10-minute versio...

The essence of persuasive communication is about getting your audience on board with your ideas.  But, it's not about throwing out facts or making logical points; it requires connecting with your audience on an emotional level, understanding their needs and concerns, and addressing them effectively.  By sharing personal stories, using relatable examples, and demonstrating genuine passion and authe...

We’re finishing up our new podcast series called Speak with Confidence . When you speak at conferences and events, you want to do a great job, get great feedback from the audience, and get referrals and invitations to other speaking gigs. This is how I’ve gotten so many speaking invitations over the years - event organizers are oftentimes in the audience at events and they refer speakers to each o...

My goal with this current podcast series called “Speak with Confidence” is to boost your confidence by getting you to think differently about speaking, whether it’s getting comfortable with impromptu speaking (episode 390) or claiming your identity as a speaker (episode 391). I know you want to be an impactful speaker, to share your important message with your audiences, and attract clients for yo...

There have been so many times I’ve heard clients tell me, “I’m not a speaker.” Yet they’ve delivered keynotes and been paid thousands of dollars to do so. They’re invited to speak at conferences. They’ve taught classes and workshops for years. They give presentations at work. What’s going on? Why do they resist calling themselves a speaker? Why do we hesitate to claim the identity as a speaker and...

Are you the kind of speaker who loves to have everything prepared in advance? Perhaps you even have your entire presentation scripted out nearly word for word and you have detailed notes for every slide that you rely on? Well, I have a challenge for you: getting more comfortable with impromptu speaking. As a speaker and as a leader, both impromptu and prepared speaking skills are a must. Have you...

We're continuing the series we've been doing this month all around inspiring you to use your voice, no matter what your topic or your industry. If you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you know that I've been really excited about artificial intelligence and ChatGPT and all of the ways AI can help us both personally and professionally. For this episode, I had the pleasure of sitting do...

Many conferences get hundreds of speaker submissions. How can you make yours stand out so it gets selected? Then, once you do get selected, how do you make sure you deliver an engaging presentation at the conference? That’s what I talk about with my guest Cathy McPhillips, who is Chief Growth Officer at the Marketing AI Institute. Along with the virtual events they host year-round, they also host...

I talk quite a bit on this podcast about "the expert trap" and how so many of us get stuck teaching and training and don't step into thought leadership. This applies not only to those of us who are entrepreneurs, but of course to all the academics out there as well (hand raised!). This episode is a treasure trove of insights for anyone passionate about making a difference through their work, parti...

A couple of months ago, I attended an event to honor non-profits. What was really cool was that each non-profit had 2-½ minutes to share their story.  When my guest Theresa Smith-Levin, founder of Central Florida Vocal Arts, shared her story, I was instantly inspired and I knew I had to have her on the podcast. Our conversation is a testament to the power of storytelling, vulnerability, and commun...

You know how powerful storytelling is in your presentations and talks. How can you go about integrating your stories in a way that truly connects you to your audiences? There is no *one way* to integrate stories into your talks. Your story can be central to your talk or it can be a supporting element. You can play with the timeline of the story - start in the middle and then come back to the begin...

If you’ve ever felt like your topic or message may be overwhelming to your audience or the issue you want to address is a really big one and you’re not sure how your audience is going to relate to it or know how to take action, you’re going to appreciate this conversation. My guest is Dr. Neha Pathak, a physician and lead medical editor at WebMD, who graduated from our Thought Leader Academy last...

You heard half of our latest Thought Leader Academy grads deliver a 10-minute section of their signature talk last week on episode 381, now you get to hear the other three. In this episode, our lead speaking coach Diane Diaz hosts Maria Flynn, Karen Williams, and Brigette Serfaty, PharmD. You’ll hear how they’ve incorporated their thought leadership message, storytelling, humor, and their framewor...

I know you want to grow your business and brand and have a bigger impact as a thought leader. But, as high-achieving women, there are beliefs we have that get us stuck in the expert trap. We believe that we need to teach/train to provide value; that training content is what our audience wants; and our identity is tied to seeing ourselves as the expert. These beliefs are what can hold you back from...

Want to know what it’s like to create a signature talk with us? There’s no better way than to hear our Thought Leader Academy grads deliver a 10-minute section of their talks! You’ll hear how they’ve incorporated storytelling and their frameworks into their talks. We’ll also have a roundtable discussion about what they’ve learned from being in the Thought Leader Academy and what’s next for them as...

The power of women’s voices doesn’t just relate to women who own and run their own businesses; it’s also for women who work in corporate spaces.  Building your personal brand and speaker brand separate from your corporate identity can give you a voice and mission that has a greater impact beyond the day-to-day work you do in your job.  In this episode, our lead speaking coach Diane Diaz talks with...

We held our in-person speaking intensive last week in Orlando and it was so much fun! Over three days, the women who attended worked on their speaking segments, practiced them on our stage with our coaching and feedback, and then had their segments professionally filmed on the final day. Oh, and there were dance parties and improv exercises throughout! I’ve invited three of our clients who were th...

What’s an early memory of using your voice? That's the question we kicked off our recent 3-day in-person client retreat with - and the women’s answers were incredibly powerful. March is Women’s History Month and March 8th is International Women’s Day (#IWD2024), so this episode is about the power of women’s voices and stories to change the world. From young women activists like Malala Yousafzai an...

This week is the 7-year anniversary of the Speaking Your Brand podcast! Thank you for being a listener, for sending me emails when an episode particularly resonates with you, and for sharing the podcast with others.  Podcasting every week for the past seven years has taught me a lot. I'm incredibly grateful to all the women who’ve been guests for sharing their stories and wisdom with all of us. Po...

Integrating humor into your talks can seem daunting or even unimportant, but it's an essential element to use to connect with your audience. Recently, Diane Diaz, our lead speaking coach, delivered a 5-minute stand-up comedy set live on stage (!). You don’t have to add jokes or stand-up routines to your presentations.  But, you can learn from the secrets of comedy to improve your storytelling and...

Get ready for a fun and energizing conversation!  Have you ever thought of using AI tools like ChatGPT to *amplify* what you’re already good at? How about having ChatGPT coach you on how to prepare to show up in *any* room?  These case studies are just two of the ones that my guest Stacey Hines and I talk about. Like me, Stacey has a background in IT, so we are both passionate about how technology...