The Speaking Club: Mastering the Art of Public Speaking

Many of us have big goals and dreams, but usually achieving our ambitions means taking action outside our comfort zone, overcoming fear and uncertainty, and putting ourselves 'at risk' in some way...even if it's just our 'ego' that's in danger.  My guest on this show is Mark Visser, and he had a dream so big and dangerous that many people told him it wasn't possible to achieve. But he continued an...

As a coach the measure of your success is student and client results. That's why I'm always reviewing my systems, processes and tools to ensure that they lead people down the simplest and quickest path to success by delivering the right teaching and coaching at the right time.  Whilst each person I work with has their own personal goals, ultimately, I believe your success as a speaker comes down t...

As you know...there is one thing you can be sure of as a speaker, (whatever platform you're using) and that is… ...if you make your audience snooze, you lose! There are some more obvious places like the beginning and end of your talks where you probably know that you need to grab people's attention, but there are traps all the way through your talk that you can fall into and lose engagement. Durin...

Tamara Glick has spent almost 20 years helping people express their personal brands through their wardrobes and their words. It's an important aspect of your message, especially when you're trying to get people to buy your stuff, (whether that's an idea, change, cause, product or service), because they need to know, like and trust you first. Yet so many of us don't have a clue where to start, or d...

If you follow me you will know that I want you to be provocative with your audience. I want you to shock them and challenge them so that they pay attention and continue to be engaged with your message.  When you speak you achieve that both with what you say and how you're  delivering it. How you use your voice, expressions, energy, body, video or props to convey the purpose and emotion of your mes...

Lynn Ruth Miller has had a tumultuous life!  She's survived a challenging childhood, numerous personal disappointments, and many near death experiences and now she's 86 and going strong! Over the past nine decades she has been a teacher, writer, and TV presenter, but despite three degrees including one in journalism from Stanford she never managed to get her dream job as a journalist...but in the...

Whatever kind of speaker you are, platform, motivational, corporate leader, podcast host, online entrepreneur or influencer...there are two attributes that will have a big impact on your success. These two things are admired by audiences when they are present, and most commented on when they're not.  They are also two of the things that are most desired by experienced and novice speakers alike and...

I truly believe that speaking is marketing, because no matter whether it's a project, change, idea or a product or service...you've got to sell it to get people buying in or buying your stuff. As speakers we have to be great copywriters too… because the words that we speak have to be relatable and compelling. Combined with storytelling, humour and performance skills, these words have to inspire an...

You can have a great idea, product, or service, and be a great speaker, but if you don't have clarity around who you're serving, their story and your mission message, then your business is built on sand. Yet so many of us miss this critical piece of the speaking and marketing puzzle. In this show, I'm going to cover why these things are so important, the thinking that stops people from creating th...

Patti Dobrowolski poured her heart and soul into her dream, and then watched it fall apart. She was so embarrassed by her failure that she decided she had to skip town and reinvent herself.  As a performance artist in New York, a throwaway question from a friend got stuck in her head and was the spark that ignited her true calling. To help people harness the power of visual goal setting to bring t...

Many people have felt like the rug has been pulled away from underneath them with what has happened in 2020, but from adversity can come new opportunities that had never been on our radar before.  I want to talk to you today about one of those opportunities, and a strategy you may not have actively considered before for sharing your message. That is podcast interviews. Many people have seen the po...

It was while Vicky and Debbie were working for a large event management company when they realised there was a gap in the market for an agency that would deliver inspiring events to help clients achieve their goals...so they decided to start ZiaBia. That was in 2012 and they are still going strong, despite the current challenges. They and their team have delivered a range of events internationally...

Positive reviews of your product or service are worth their weight in gold…and that's why it's so critical to know how to get them, what should be in them and how to present them to maximise their impact.  In my experience though many of us are losing out on the power and benefits of testimonials for a number of reasons: We miss opportunities to get them. We're so grateful if someone says they wil...

Devora Zack has carved out a reputation as a networking guru, and what she has to share is valid whether it's networking online or eyeball to eyeball.  She's been featured in many publications and media such as the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, USA Today, Women's Health and Fast Company - to name but a few! She's also won numerous awards and written many books, including her best-selling 'Networkin...

The online space is becoming more crowded than ever as more entrepreneurs make the switch to save their business.  This means that standing out and building a tribe who want to buy your stuff is going to be more challenging than ever before.  So, what should you do if you're having these sorts of thoughts and feelings:  "I can't get people to easily understand what I do" "I don't know where to sta...

Fredrik Haren is an international speaker on creativity and change and the author of ten books, including 'The Idea Book' which was included in 'The 100 Best Business Books of All Time'.  For the last 2 decades Fredrik has been travelling the world to learn as much as he can about creativity from people who are out there doing fascinating things. He has been praised for his "unusually effective sp...

The online space is becoming more crowded than ever as more entrepreneurs make the switch to save their business.    This means that standing out and building a tribe who want to buy your stuff is going to be more challenging than ever before.    So, what should you do if you're having these sorts of thoughts and feelings:  "I can't get people to easily understand what I do" "I don't know where to...

Jade Jeffers left the city to slow down and fight a progressive illness. After she moved to the coast, she not only rekindled her love of art, but she found contentment in her life.   She is now a beachcombing artist and sells her work all over the world. In transitioning to be an artist, Jade also had to become an entrepreneur realising that in order to share her work she would need to speak to s...

Whilst social distancing means everyone has more room in real life, Covid-19 has resulted in the online space becoming more crowded than ever as more entrepreneurs make the switch to save their business.  This means that standing out and building a tribe who want to buy your stuff is going to be more challenging than ever before.  So, what should you do if you're having these sorts of thoughts and...

Michael Arterberry took sanctuary in sports to distract from the fear and hardship he faced at home growing up. As an adult, he recognised that his ability to stay resilient, keep perspective and positive during the trials of his childhood was not something everyone facing the same challenges was able to do. That epiphany led to a life dedicated to helping others find their way through the challen...

Over 51% of the US population has listened to a podcast, 37% in Canada and one in eight people in the UK regularly listen to them. The stats show that the numbers of podcast listeners are growing across the globe...I can vouch for this as The Speaking Club is now listened to in 159 countries! As well as the audience growing, so are the numbers of podcasts with 192,000 new ones launched just last y...

Covid-19 has affected all our lives, forcing us to make dramatic changes to the way we live and work to adapt to a new reality. Life will revert to some form of 'normal', but this experience will result in some lasting behavioural shifts...and more remote working and online communication are likely to be two big ones.  The bottom line is that not only do we need to get comfortable presenting onlin...

Professor Monder Ram OBE is an expert on small businesses and ethnic minority entrepreneurship research. He has published many papers, consults with small businesses, is a global keynote speaker and a government advisor too. I am also very proud to say he is one of my star students too. In this episode not only do we discuss some of the findings of Monder's many years of research into small busine...

Content flow relates to the composition of your talk and how you get your audience from 'a' to 'b'. This is relevant whether you're doing a 15 second Tik Tok, three minute facebook live, blog or or a 45 minute keynote. You need to consider some often overlooked factors relating to 'content flow' that will affect the experience people have on their journey with you... whatever medium it's on, or ho...

Viv Conway and Tash Meys originally had companies on the side whilst they were friends at college. They focused on Instagram as the platform to grow their businesses, and eventually had so much success with it that they decided to ditch their side hustles and open up their own Instagram agency called Ace The Gram.  Not only have they mastered Instagram to move their personal profiles to over 200K...