Speaking Your Brand: A Public Speaking Podcast

How do you know when you’re ready for the next big thing, to make a change? Do you feel that you need to learn more, become more of an expert? Or are you the type of person who’s willing to learn while leaping? I’m joined by an incredible coach Stephanie Harter, who’s made a few leaps herself over the years. We talk about what prompted her career changes, whether she felt ready, and what mindset strategies helped her and could help you. Stephanie has great energy, so get ready to be inspired!

Public speaking can certainly bring about nerves and uncertainty, whether you’re a new speaker or you’ve been speaking a while and want to try something new on stage or with a larger audience. Listen in for how Diane Diaz and I handle uncertainty, whether it's taking an improv class, hiking the Appalachian Trail, or writing a book.

I’m sharing 7 books and 4 podcast series that have impacted me personally and professionally because they’ve made me think about being a speaker (and an entrepreneur) in a different way. You won’t find these books or podcasts in the business or marketing section. They’re also not about public speaking tips. Instead, they can add depth and dimension to you as a speaker, so you’re more captivating, engaging, and memorable. To hear what I’ve learned from them as a speaker, listen in.

From graduating with her Ph.D. in Applied Organizational Psychology to becoming a sought-after speaker and a Senior Contributing Writer to Forbes, my guest Janice Gassam has quickly elevated her visibility over the pat few years. Janice works with companies on diversity, inclusion, and equity, so we talk about this important topic too. 

Public speaking has undoubtedly been one of the key factors in building 3 different businesses over the last 18 years. You’ll hear the lessons and mistakes I learned, so you can use speaking effectively and strategically as part of your overall marketing strategy, whether you’re newer in your business or years in. If you’d like to make speaking and visibility a focus this year, we’d love to work with you in our Master Your Speaking program.

What trends are on the horizon that you can capitalize on to get better speaking engagements and to get better results from them? How can you improve your presentations so the audience raves about you and you get invited to do more (including paid gigs)? How can you be memorable as a speaker? As speakers and leaders, our talks have more of an impact if our audiences can see the bigger picture of what’s affecting them and the world around them. Curious what these 3 big trends are? Listen in!

Do you feel like you have too much content in your presentations? Too many things you can share with your audiences and you’re not sure how to select what to include? Most of us feel this way - and it’s our job as speakers to identify the most essential elements and convey them in a way the audience can understand and apply. One way to do this is to thread a story throughout your talk. In this on-air coaching call, my guest Amber Hawley and I do exactly this as we go through her signature talk.

This is a secret bonus episode - my podcast editor doesn’t know about it, neither does my assistant (shhh!). I had originally planned to do a “year in review” episode, but as the holidays were upon us, I got busy and decided to skip it. But, I’ve found myself enjoying listening to other podcasters talk about their year and what worked for them. So, here’s my review of what worked this past year, what didn’t, and what’s coming in 2020, including 3 big lessons.

Remember the VH1 series from the late 1990s called “Where are they now?” The show would look back at artists, bands, and actors and see what happened to them. My guests today, Teresa McCloy and Anne Torrez, aren’t 80s pop stars and they're not famous (yet!), but they have been on this podcast previously in on-air coaching calls. We'll catch up with them to see what they’ve been doing since we last heard from them and what goals they have for the new year.

What stage do you dream to be standing on, looking out at the audience, sharing your message? What kind of speaker do you want to be? This month on the podcast, we’re talking about goals and planning, so I thought it would be fun to bring on some women entrepreneurs and have them share with us what their big speaking dreams are. Hopefully, they will inspire you as much as they’ve inspired me.

Do you have being a guest on podcasts as one of your goals for 2020? It’s a fantastic way to reach new audiences, build relationships with podcast hosts, and hone your message. But, there’s definitely a *right* way and a *wrong* way to pitch podcast hosts. As a podcaster, I get email pitches every day. And I delete 99% of them. The few I’ve kept have been from my guest on this episode, Angie Trueblood.

Before you ask yourself *what* goals you want to achieve as a speaker, ask yourself *who* do you want to *be* as a speaker and then what do you need to do to become that? Taking on that identity is what will make the goals real to you. In this episode, Diane Diaz and I talk about a different way of setting goals, including a handy acronym S.E.A.M. we came up with.

Ideas that come from innovation and creativity seem like they come out of nowhere. But in business, innovation and creativity can - and should - be harnessed regularly to understand your customers, create new products, and find new market opportunities. My guest is Sura Al-Naimi, who is a former Disney Global Innovation Officer. In her workshops and consulting, Sura helps teams get out of silos and risk-averse behavior to find a common language. And she does so using a framework.

We’re continuing our series on Frameworks with a deep dive into how my guest and her business partner created their framework, from idea to testing with clients to writing a book. My guest is Danya Shea, who is the co-founder of FervorWorks, a think tank that helps companies achieve exponential growth and scalability. How do they help companies do this? With what they call Radical Customer Empathy.

In last week’s episode, you learned why having a framework in your business and for your presentations and workshops. Today's episode is an on-air coaching call where I help my guest, Cha’Lea Stafford, find her framework. Cha’Lea’s been facilitating workshops for her clients using her leadership development approach, but hadn’t yet codified it into a framework. What do we end up with for her framework? Listen in to find out!