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.
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 […]
Why most public speaking courses are a waste of time and money
My career has been focused on speaking exceptionally well – as a TV and radio presenter, voice artist, and public speaker – and training others to do the same. As a corporate communications adviser, part of my role was to train leaders to be better presenters and speakers. I used to video tape them, give […]
How to penetrate a lack of attention from your audience
Speaking at a lunch is tricky. With waiters clearing plates and topping up wine glasses, people trying not to speak but whispering anyway because they haven’t finished with their calamari and want to say so before their plate’s whisked away, a guy reaching down to pick up his napkin, and the woman at the end […]
Not everyone will like you. Speak anyway.
Not everyone will like you. You know that. Your mind comprehends it. So why does the fear or rejection stretch all the way to the moon when you have to stand up in front of an audience? A few months back I spoke at a paper bag lunch. I’d been invited by a consultant to […]
Why and how powerful speakers tell people what to do
My daughter doesn’t like being told what to do. In fact, in our household of three rather strong characters, no-one likes being told what to do. My darling girl’s usual response to a directive (more so to one of her dad’s than mine) is: You’re not the boss of me! Just for the record, she […]
12 talks + my take: TEDx Adelaide
At the weekend I attended my first live TEDx event. There was such care and commitment from all the volunteers who created the event, and they crafted something very special. Close to the stage, lying back on a bright orange bean bag, with my note book and pen at the ready, I was excited to […]
Eye Contact: Look at me please!
This is my daughter playing a mini green giant in a kids’ performance of Ella Enchanted last week. Shows like these warm the cockles of my heart. I love watching my girl on stage, even though she forgets half the words in the songs and lots of the dance steps. Which is why, she told […]
