Speaking Your Brand: Public Speaking Tips and Strategies

You’ve most likely heard of “imposter syndrome” and perhaps you’ve experienced it yourself. If so, you’re not alone! I hear from women we work with that they sometimes suffer from imposter syndrome, especially as they think about putting themselves out there in a bigger way. You’re going to learn a lot in my conversation with Melody Wilding, who has an impressive background as a best-selling autho...

Do you know that one of the most powerful elements of your presentations is showcasing your own framework? Having your own framework differentiates you from others - you’re building your thought leadership and intellectual property. Having a framework is a tremendous asset for your business - you can use it for sales conversations, on your website and marketing materials, and of course for your pr...

If you already have a framework that you use in your business and presentations, you will get some new ideas in this conversation on ways to use your framework. If you don’t already have your own framework, you’ll be inspired to create one! My guest is Amber De La Garza, the Productivity Specialist. Amber has a unique framework she developed about 4 years ago that has been paying dividends ever si...

You won't want to miss this powerhouse panel of women in STEM sharing how they use their voices to advocate for change and build their thought leadership. Whether you're a woman in a STEM field or not, does it sometimes feel like you struggle to stand out, get your ideas heard, and have a bigger impact with the work you do? You have all the credentials and plenty of ideas, but perhaps you struggle...

Hi, I’m popping into your podcast feed to invite you to a brand new free live training I’m hosting on Wednesday, October 12 all about frameworks. I’m going to share with you How to Create Your Own Framework to Set Yourself Apart as a Speaker & Thought Leader. Go to https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/training and register today. Having a framework is a tremendous asset for your business - you ca...

How do you integrate your story into your talk and message? Which story should you choose? This is one of the main areas we work on with our clients in our Thought Leader Academy. Your personal story is one of the essential ingredients for your thought leadership and for your talks, whether you’re delivering a lead generation presentation, a keynote, or a TEDx talk. Join me and our coaches Diane D...

On the podcast this month, we’re exploring different ways you can channel using your voice and building your thought leadership platform. In this episode, we’re diving into the impact and legacy you can have by writing op-eds. Did you know that most op-eds are only 650-850 words in length? You can do this! My guest is Princella Talley, who is a writer and speaker. In 2020, she was selected as a Pu...

On the podcast this month, we’re exploring different ways you can channel using your voice. Last week, we talked about building your personal brand. Next week, we’re going to focus on the impact you can have by writing op-eds for newspapers and magazines. In this episode, we’re taking a look at creating and leading a community-based non-profit as a way to amplify your thought leadership. My guest...

I hit the “easy” button earlier this year. I say this not as an excuse but as a wake-up call for myself. It was May of this year and we had an incredible group of women join our Thought Leader Academy - and I couldn’t help but notice that almost all of them looked like me (white). This is in no way to discount how much I’ve enjoyed having each of them in the program, seeing their progress, and bei...

We’re continuing our podcast theme for this quarter on “Wealth” with this episode on the true value of your personal brand. You’ve most likely heard about the importance of understanding your personal brand and how you’re perceived by others. Your personal brand stays with you no matter if you change jobs, businesses, careers, or industries. The power of your personal brand is that you *can* shape...

This quarter on the podcast we’re focused on the theme of “Wealth.”  We’ve talked about how to go from commodity speaker to thought leader (last week’s episode 291) to generating more leads from your presentations (on-air coaching call episode 290) to increasing your speaker fees (episode 289) to using our framework to create a signature talk for both impact and income (episode 288). Today we’re f...

If I take a look at your slide deck or presentation outline and I can’t tell that the content is yours (vs. another speaker on your topic), you’re in danger of being a commodity speaker. Commodity speakers are undifferentiated and interchangeable. This means that, as a commodity speaker, it will be harder for you to attract higher-profile speaking engagements, raise your speaking fees, and generat...

One of the best reasons to be a speaker is to increase brand awareness for your business and to generate leads and clients. Especially as social media gets noisier and the algorithms make it harder for our content to be seen, being a speaker standing in front of an audience (whether in person or virtually), with the built-in credibility and authority and attention that comes from that, is an incre...

We have a new free LIVE training happening on Tuesday, August 16! Register today for free at   https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/training/ . If I take a look at your slide deck or presentation outline and I can’t tell that the content is yours (vs. another speaker on your topic), you’re in danger of being a commodity speaker. Commodity speakers are undifferentiated and interchangeable. It will be...

If you’ve been getting speaking requests, but they’re free or low paid, or you’ve been charging the same amount for a while and aren’t sure if (and how) to raise your speaker fees, tune in to this episode. I share 3 reasons you *should* increase your speaking fee and how to confidently do so. I also go through specific dollar amounts of what you could be charging based on where you’re at in your s...

Do you sometimes sit down to create a new presentation and stare at a blank document or slide deck, not sure where to start or you feel like you have so many ideas you don’t know which to include? Or perhaps you’ve been delivering your presentations for a while and they’re not quite as effective as they could be for lead generation? Or perhaps you want to put more of your thought leadership and pe...

What can you expect when you work with a speaking coach? What are the outcomes and results you get? In last week’s episode, we talked about what a public speaking coach does and when you need one. In this episode, I talk with one of our Thought Leader Academy grads, Dianna Deeney, on why she decided to invest in a speaking coach, including: What attracted her to thought leadership for her business...

What exactly do we do as speaking coaches when we work with our clients? When is the right time for you to work with a speaking coach? In this episode, Diane Diaz, our lead speaking coach, and I talk about: Different types of business and speciality coaches When and why we’ve hired coaches ourselves The purpose of hiring a coach What we do as speaking coaches Some trigger points for when you could...

What kind of speaker are you? How would you describe your style? I’ve always told our clients that we don’t want to fit you into some type of “speaker mold” that doesn’t feel natural to you. Instead, I encourage you to take your natural speaking strengths and amplify them. This also means adding to your speaking toolkit by taking some of the elements that other speaking styles have and making them...

Have you ever felt like you have a bunch of ideas and you’re not sure how they’re connected and how to get them into one message? You are not alone! Most of us struggle with this because we’re too close to our own ideas, expertise, and stories. Our guest, Cindy Rowe, owns a marketing agency that works with small businesses. Cindy also has a passion for speaking and for spreading her message around...

If you’re going to be speaking at an in-person conference, this episode has some excellent tips on how you can exceed expectations as a speaker to make it a win-win-win for you, the audience, and the event organizer. Our guest is Jill Janecke, who is a mental health counselor and has opened and operates 15 offices in South Dakota. Last year, Jill decided to host a conference for women around menta...

Do you sometimes wonder how BOLD you want to be with your thought leadership message? You know you have something important and impactful to say, but you’re a bit uncertain on how it will be received and if there will be any backlash. I have definitely experienced this - and the benefits have far outweighed any negativity. My guest is Jodi Flynn, who is the founder of Women Taking the Lead, which...

How should you open and close your talk? When we work with our clients on their signature talks using our framework, we always make sure to have a strong opening and closing. In the beginning, you want to make a good impression and set the right tone. You may also be nervous, so feeling confident about how you’re going to open your talk can make you feel better. At the end of your talk, you want t...

Last year on this podcast, I did several episodes about the distinction between being an expert and a thought leader. As speakers, we often get stuck in what I call “the expert trap.” We get comfortable training and teaching in our area of expertise and we think that’s the only way to provide value to our audiences. The way out of this is to incorporate more of your personal journey and storytelli...

Do you have an experience that happened to you that you’re reluctant to share with your audience? What would happen if you did? So often we feel like our stories are too uncommon or unrelatable or not interesting enough to include in our talks. What I see happen is that speakers generalize their stories - and by doing so they remove what makes a great story. It may seem counterintuitive, but it’s...