How to use your talks to get more clients (and not feel like vomiting)
This is NOT a video about how much money you’re leaving on the table (yucky marketing talk) if you don’t use your talks to sell. This IS a video about how many more people you can help with all the goodness you have to offer, if you can find a way to speak that feels natural and comfortable for you and your audiences. This applies to EVERYONE who speaks, by the way, even if you think you’re not trying to sell anything (you’re wrong). Oh, and this is also a video about one of the biggest mistakes I’ve made that guarantees I lose power and connection with my audiences. I bet you do this too.
How to use speaking to build – or even start – your business
I’ve been reflecting on my first year in business, when I felt like I didn’t really know what I was doing most of the time because everything was brand new. I’d come from the media and then a corporate job, and had never had a business before. One of my strategies was simply to get known by as many people as possible. I knew I needed to put myself out there. I went to lots of networking events and had coffee meetings with all sorts of people. And I did lots of FREE speaking engagements. I did nearly 50 speaking engagements in my first year of business, gained clients from 95% of those talks, and achieved a six-figure income.
How to make your audiences care (and get results)
One of the big problems I see for so many speakers is they don’t know how to make their audiences care about what they’re saying. If they organise the speaking event themselves, they go to enormous effort to get bums on seats. They carefully craft their signature talk, do all the marketing – usually for weeks and weeks, and then, when it comes to the speaking part, they deliver their talk in such a way that it doesn’t pack a punch, build trust, or get new clients.
30 things nobody tells you about powerful speaking
There’s all sorts of advice in books, online, and being espoused in public speaking courses everywhere about what you absolutely must know to stand up on a stage and own it. I’ve been speaking publicly since I first sat behind the microphone at 5AD, the radio station that offered me my first journalist and newsreader gig at the ripe old age of 20. I want to share with you what I’ve learned during my 25 years in the game so you can focus on what’s genuinely necessary to become a truly powerful speaker, and ditch everything else.
What you don’t want to talk about (and why powerful speakers do)
The most powerful speakers understand that strength without vulnerability depletes their power. They also get that vulnerability is a strength. So they do what it takes to stay connected with their truth and they speak it. And they keep speaking, holding firm to the message that matters to them, regardless of other people’s opinions, judgements or agendas. Because the message is too important to buy into that. Far out, that message is no less than what gives them their sense of purpose on this planet.
They’re clapping for you! Feel the love
In my powerful speaking programs, something happens every single time that causes me to raise my voice and say, “No, no, no!” And then, “Go back and do it again!” It’s this: After delivering a brilliant talk, directly and powerfully straight from the heart, that leaves audience members marvelling and longing to clap loudly to show their appreciation, each woman walks away. I’m calling this for the big pile of poo it is. You diminish your power and presence when you do that. Stop.
The art of staying connected and powerful
Staying connected is what grounds you when you speak, especially when you find yourself in a confronting situation – on a stage, or in a conversation in which you’re speaking about something that truly matters. Staying connected is what stops you from buying in to other people’s ideas, beliefs, reactions, or distractions. Ultimately, staying connected is what allows you to do life your way, aligned with your truth. Then, when you stand up to speak, it’s what informs every word you say – or don’t say – and the way you say it. Staying connected is what stops you from buying in to other people’s ideas, beliefs, reactions, or distractions.
Stilettos and ugg boots: what it takes to speak powerfully
Every story of powerlessness and every insecurity you’ve ever known will get up next to you to clutch your hand every single time you stand up to speak. Before you craft a talk, let alone share it out loud, you need to start with your stories. Public speaking will become so much easier. And you’ll be far more powerful, perhaps even commanding the stage like a rock star.
I have such admiration for these women… for you
In a moment of reflection, and as my focus shifts to visioning and plans for a new year, my mind turns to the women I’ve been privileged to work with and support this year… The woman who’s a partner in a law firm – one of just a couple of women in a team of […]
From dread to excitement: public speaking made fun and powerful
Call me strange, but I love speaking in front of an audience. I genuinely look forward to it. I can’t wait to get up on that stage. I love it when people are so engaged that they hang off my words. I love making people laugh and then saying something that makes them deadly silent […]
