The Speaking Club: Mastering the Art of Public Speaking

Dr Sherril Kennedy has spent many years helping organisations be more effective. First as an academic researching social psychology in relation to marketing, with organisations such as Bradford University, Cranfield School of Management, and as a founding member of the International Management Centre, the first action learning post-graduate school to be established in Europe. Then latterly via her...

My aim is that by the end of this show you'll get clear on what might be impacting your speaking success, so that you don't squander the golden opportunities that speaking gigs present. I'll be walking you through the top five mistakes that I believe can stop you from making the most of the speaking opportunities you get.  And for each of these mistakes I've identified what I think is the underpin...

As you know I believe that speaking is marketing, it's an opportunity to influence and inspire an audience to make a change.  But getting anyone to shift perspective and do something differently is as challenging as getting a river to alter its course.  For most of us the status quo is more comfortable and subconsciously feels 'safer', even if it isn't leading us to where we say we want to go. So...

Do you have what it takes to become a successful speaker? There are a lot of people who want it, who dream of holding the audience in the palm of their hand and getting all the rewards that come with it… but so often they never progress from dreaming to doing. So what makes the difference between the many and the few? In this show, I'm going to share the cold, hard, simple truth with you, so that...

Have you got a framework that pulls your IP together and makes your idea, product or service more memorable?  I believe if you haven't - you should! Recently, something happened with one of my mastermind members that brought the content of this episode to mind.  She had been stuck with her messaging and content - yes, she was moving forward but it felt like she was wading through treacle, rather t...

A lot of people have ideas that they think would make things better, but few progress beyond the daydream of what if?  My guest in this show had an idea that she just couldn't shake, and after enrolling her sister, they set off on an adventure to make it real.  Today, ​​Ruth Anslow is a social entrepreneur and a keen advocate of doing business for social benefit, beyond just making profit. In 2010...

One of the things that is critical to success in business and speaking is building your brand.  And a big trap that many people fall into, is failing to share how they add value in a way that makes their brand and message memorable.  The problem is that if you're not memorable then you won't be recommended or referred, and if people forget who you are they can't look you up. That's why a great 'si...

If you can get your audience to believe what you believe then there is a strong chance that they'll buy into your idea, product, service or movement.  There is an art and a science to achieving this and a big part of this relates to the language you use with your audience. That's why I've invited language expert Paul Ross onto the show. Paul is on a mission to teach entrepreneurs and sales people...

For many the choice between swimming in shark infested waters or going live on social media is a tough one. But because it can play such a powerful role in building your brand, authority and following more and more people are, (often reluctantly), going live. The trouble is that whilst there is absolutely merit in going live regularly to get through the fear and build your confidence, the content...

This episode was originally released a couple of years ago, and it absolutely meets my 'best of' criteria.  Ryan Hildebrandt is an engineer, entrepreneur and marketer who is a TEDx expert and works with people who want to get their first TEDx talk.  As a founder of one of the most successful TEDx events in the UK, he knows what it takes to get selected, and what you need to do to get your message...

Gareth Lock has been involved in high-risk work since he left school in 1989. He spent 25 years in the RAF in a variety of front-line operational, research and development and systems engineering roles which has given him a unique perspective.  In 2005 he fell in love with diving, started his training and is now an advanced diver. As he was learning and diving, Gareth couldn't help but notice issu...

In my experience, the impact of the fear of forgetting what you want to say manifests itself in three big ways: First there are the group of people who put off, or give up on their dream of speaking and sharing their message… and this can lead to negative self-talk, low self-worth, and the anger and frustration of comparisonitis. Then there are the people who compensate for this fear of forgetting...

Avish Parashar is one of those rare examples of someone who made his passion his business.  So many of us settle for less than what makes our heart sing.  In love with performance growing up, when he started college he resigned himself to following a traditional and more secure career path to please his family.  Then one day he saw improv comedy and everything changed. In this show, Avish shares h...

You can powerfully shift perspectives and inspire people to take action whether you're doing a three minute talk or a two hour workshop, but not without developing customer intimacy.  I'm not just talking about understanding your audience, I'm talking about focusing your message so that it speaks to people within that audience that have the specific problem that you can help resolve. In this show...

Tim Box is a Remedial Hypnotist and Mind Coach specialising in helping clients get control of their anxiety response. He has run a full time therapeutic practice in the UK for more than 10 years.   Although Tim experienced anxiety when he was younger, and the impact it can have on your choices and freedom, it took him a few years to discover his calling in this field.  When he did though, he began...

If you're an expert that wants to make a difference, you'll probably already know that to inspire change, to grow your audience and your income, you have to become someone who can influence the narrative, someone who is a 'Thought Leader'.  Unfortunately, most of the experts, authors and entrepreneurs that set out on the journey to thought leadership make the same costly mistake. In this show, I'm...

Graham Hill has always been a pioneer. Early on, he created and sold one of the first internet companies, which gave him the opportunity to shift his focus. Since then he has created more companies, all with a focus on influencing the narrative around sustainability, which have been featured by the New York Times, Dwell, Discovery Channel, and "The Minimalists" documentary. Today, he is a leading...

Iain Cahill is a qualified accountant, with over 30 years' experience creating and investing in businesses as well as providing financial mentoring to other Business owners and he's on a mission! In the early 90's Iain Cahill started a company in the catering industry with his sister, a while later he took a break to take his accountancy exams. When he returned the company had run into financial t...

I was asked to do a session for Catherine Gladwyn's membership on 'How to Nail Public Speaking'... I didn't chose that title… I can certainly get you a long way forward, but even I can't teach you to nail public speaking in an hour!  In order to deliver the most value to this group of entrepreneurs and business owners, I asked Catherine to ask them a couple of questions…      What problems / fears...

I was asked to do a session for Catherine Gladwyn's membership on 'How to Nail Public Speaking'... I didn't choose that title…she did… now I can certainly get you a long way forward, but even I can't teach you to nail public speaking in an hour!  In order to deliver the most value to this group of entrepreneurs and business owners, I asked Catherine to ask them a couple of questions…      What pro...

Lexa Wokersien has had a career in marketing and communications for 17 years, and during that time, in addition to juggling the demands of her job, she has been keeping a big secret. Worried about what it would mean for her career should it come out, she has struggled alone to find workarounds and tools that will enable her to fulfil her potential despite being at a significant disadvantage to her...

There are some areas of my own life and business where I've not been getting the results I want. No matter what I've tried I just can't seem to get it to work, and it's been frustrating and upsetting and a few times I've wanted to throw in the towel.  But recently, I discovered that I might be making the same mistake that countless numbers of us do, a mistake that leads us down the path of sufferi...

This episode was originally released a couple of years ago, and it definitely meets my 'best of' criteria.  Richard Wiseman is a powerhouse in many different worlds from entertainment to academia. He's a multiple best-selling author, renowned academic, global speaker, and youtube influencer, which really doesn't even scratch the surface of what he does!  Suffice to say he's a man of many talents…h...

So many people worry about using umms and ahhs when they speak ... and some speaking organisations and coaches make the elimination of filler words a big focus. But do they matter? In this show I want to share why we use them, and to make the case for and against focusing on getting rid of filler words. We're also going to look at the psychological trick we play against ourselves that contributes...

This episode was originally released in early 2018 and it has so much gold in it for making your stories more powerful and growing your audience and business, that I wanted to bring it to the top of the pile.  It's like you're attending a mini-masterclass from a Hollywood expert. Michael Hauge has been involved with creating compelling stories for years. Mention Michael's name at any exclusive Hol...