Podcasts about speakersu

I'm James Taylor, and you're listening to the SpeakersU podcast, a show for aspiring and professional speakers. This episode is with my co-host, Maria Franzoni. Enjoy the episode. Our guest this week is a pioneer in human-based training and has spoken at over two and a half 1000 mainstage events from Texas to Tasmania. He is also the author of four books and markets his own line of stress Buster products worldwide. He is a speaker who teaches people to be more resilient and resourceful and coaches businesses on how to enhance productivity and employee enthusiasm through the use of humor. Please welcome to This Week in events. Mr. Tim Gard. -Top Humorous Keynote Speakers https://speakersu.com/top-humorous-keynote-speakers-111/

My guest today is SpeakersU member Shola Kaye, a keynote speaker on communication, leadership, diversity, equity and inclusion, and workplace empathy. She's the author of two books and an award-winning speaker. Shola has a degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University, completed scientific research in the field of Neuroscience at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, and spent a number of years working in the United States in financial services. She has also performed on four continents as a professional entertainer, which is why she values creating programs that are both engaging and effective. Shola's writing has appeared in industry publications such as Management Today and HR Zone and she has been featured in Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar, and on the BBC. Her clients include Deloitte, American Express, and The United Nations and in our discussion, we talk about Shola's transition from corporate executive to a singer to top keynote speaker on diversity and inclusion. Enjoy the episode.   https://speakersu.com/top-keynote-speaker-on-diversity-and-inclusion-107  

My guest today is SpeakersU member Joshua Seth, a celebrity voice actor, and world touring magician turned keynote speaker and emcee. He's known to millions as the voice of over 100 animated TV shows and movies. These days he shows sales professionals how to unlock the power of "Your Money Voice". He has presented at over 100 virtual and hybrid events and was a cornerstone keynote speaker at The Global Million Dollar Roundtable. In our discussion, we talk about Joshua's transition to becoming a top virtual emcee and hybrid keynote speaker and setups for virtual conference studios. Enjoy the episode. In this episode: Virtual Emcee Transition From Live To Virtual Stages Hybrid Keynote Speaker How To Become A Top Virtual Emcee And Hybrid Keynote Speaker Setups For Virtual Conference Studios.    https://speakersu.com/how-to-become-a-top-virtual-emcee-and-hybrid-keynote-speaker-106      

The SpeakersU Podcast will teach you how to become a better public speaker and ways to get booked to travel the world as a highly-paid keynote speaker. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/how-to-get-your-message-to-millions-and-make-millions-sl098/

How To Get Your Message To Millions (And Make Millions) James Taylor interviews Ted McGrath and they talked about how to get your message to millions and make millions. In today's episode Ted McGrath talked about How To Get Your Message To Millions (And Make Millions). Ted McGrath is a theater performer, speaker, and best-selling author. He has created 5 household brands and made millions teaching Coaches, Speakers, and service based Business Owners how to turn their life story and life experience into a lucrative business that impacts millions and makes millions. Ted brings a unique approach to coaching, speaking, and information marketing by combining his business strategies and transformational skill set with his talent as a performer. What we cover: Building A Seminar Business Around Your Speaking Making Millions From Your Message Adding Tiers To Your Speaking Business How To Get Your Message To Millions (And Make Millions) Resources: Ted's Website Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/how-to-get-your-message-to-millions-and-make-millions-sl098/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey there, it's James Taylor, and I'm delighted today to be joined by Ted McGrath. Ted McGrath is a theater performance speaker and best selling author. He has created five household brands and made millions teaching coaches, speakers and service based business owners how to turn their life story on life experience into a lucrative business that impacts millions and makes millions. Ted brings a unique approach to coaching speaking and information marketing, by combining his business strategies and transformational skillset with his talent as a performer. It's my great pleasure to have Ted with us today. So welcome, Ted. Ted McGrath Thank you. It's great to be here. James Taylor So share with everyone what's going on in your world just now what projects currently have your focus? Ted McGrath Oh, we're very focused online. So we're doing a lot of online marketing and building our sales team, which is going great. And we have a big launch coming up for our message to millions of brands. James Taylor I've said we have a little chat about that and talk about that as well. How did you get involved in the world of speaking, I mentioned that you were a theatre performer. You came from that world originally, but when did the transition into the professional speaking public speaking style? Ted McGrath Yeah, so I started out when I was in the insurance business around 21 years old. And you know, I got into the business and I had a boss who believed in me, and he's like, you can crack six figures your first year in this business. And for me, it was more about the approval than it was the money. You know, when I was a kid and my parents got divorced, I was about six. And so, you know, I always felt when I was younger, I wasn't loved. And I wasn't good enough. And, and so I was always seeking approval. And I thought if I achieved I would get approval. So my boss was like crack six figures. And I was like, Okay, so my, after 12 months, I cracked six figures. And then I overdosed from drugs and alcohol that night. And I almost died, I had my soul coming out of the top of my head. And miraculously, I was revived the next morning, I was like, well, money didn't do it. So maybe if I you know, get promoted, and I become a partner or leader in this company, my life will change. So six years later, I became the number five partner out of 500 partners for New York Life Insurance, which is the number one and the number one life insurance companies in the world. And upon getting the news, I was like, okay, is this is this really all there is to my life. And so I left and I moved out to California, and I became an entrepreneur. And I was like, I'll start up two businesses, and you know, my life will be great. I start up two businesses. And, you know, I had, you know, I had a good lifestyle, the million dollar condos driving $100,000 car and, and about two years later, I my businesses were failing, my house is in foreclosure. And I was like, what, what do I really want to do with my life. And I just knew, like, deep down inside that I wanted more meaning and purpose, and I knew that I wanted to help other people. And so I started coaching. And, you know, I went out and I started getting some clients. But, you know, quickly, I learned that, you know, the one for one model of coaching wasn't really the best way to go, I was waking up on coaching calls all day and, and there wasn't really happy about it. So I started seminars, and I started doing groups of people together. And I really, really enjoyed that I was really thriving off the, you know, leading seminars and speaking and, and I just things just started to explode. And I really liked the group model of, you know, working in seminars, coaching people in groups, and, and we, you know, we went from, you know, a brand new startup to, you know, seven figure company in a couple of years. And, you know, now I've built a, you know, a multi million dollar company doing what I love. And, you know, the best part of it is it's very lifestyle friendly. So I can run it from Greece, or Hawaii or Japan, from anywhere in the world. And before whereas, you know, 90% of my business used to be through seminars, you know, like 98% of my business is all online now. Which is incredible, and, and it's great. And now I have time for my passions. And actually, the theatre show came in later. So I started theater about three and a half years ago. And so that was like a dream I had from being a kid. But I always suppress that because I never felt good enough. So that's when I got into theater and creating a one man show about three and half years ago. James Taylor That was it was actually the other way around. It was from doing a seminar. So in those early days of moving from coach to seminar leader and speaking in those groups, and then obviously larger groups and larger seminars, who were those early mentors or early role models for people that you look to say well I like the way that they are doing it, they have a model or they have a way about them that I like. Ted McGrath Well, you know, interestingly enough, like, when I got into the space, I didn't know anything about, you know, seminars or anything like I'd seen him or heard of them, I was like, I'll go do a seminar and I didn't, I had like 20 something people my first seminar and I didn't know that you make offers, or you sell. So I really didn't know the industry. But when I kind of first got into it, I was more like, in got into the personal growth side. So like, I was doing meditation, and you know, you did a lot of stuff with Deepak Chopra. And then you know, and so stuff like that was my first exposure to kind of like the seminar space. And then, you know, a guy who's a real close friend of mine today, he was like, one of my first mentors is Alex mandossian. And, and we become, you know, very close friends recently. So, he was somebody that I was inspired by, in terms of the one man show, you know, I saw Bo ees into a one man show, and that inspired me from a mentorship standpoint. So those were some of the things that that like, kind of inspired me. James Taylor So in those early days, you start to build that seminar business. I mean, how did it begin? was it was it free seminars that you were starting with, and then kind of built on to like two day events from there? Talk me talking to you like the transition that how that kind of seminar business built up? Ted McGrath Yeah, well, first, it was like a one on one coaching call, then it went to like a group, you know, group calls, like, I'll get 15 people in a group course. And I was like, wow, like, you can make way more money. It's way more fun, because you have the interaction with a lot of people. And it's just, it's just more joy. It's like, Well, you know, speaking, like I done some speaking when I was in the insurance business, so I was like, I'll go do a seminar. So the first seminar I ever did I charge for it was like, I charge like, you know, 700 bucks or something for the first seminar. And then I had 20 some odd people, but you know, like, 15 of them were friends. So maybe, like, you know, maybe 10 people were paid at $700. And then I realized, well, I didn't make an offer at that event. So like, I was like, I had this great experience, and I lost money as like, wow, this is going to be a business, I should make some type of offer, right? So I then went to I decided to back up, I'm like, Okay, let me put together a real seminar in a real room with a real stage. Let me market this thing for like four or five months hardcore. And I just started traveling around to like, meetup groups, I put my own Meetup group on and speaking of that, I started going to events, local events, and trying to get on stages there. And, and, you know, and then I found my way into, like, you know, the more community of like, you know, experts like, you know, LOral langemeier, Marcia wieder, I developed friendships with them. And so we went from a local seminar business, where I was, you know, had some people flying in, but it was about, like, 80 people at my first real seminar, and the tickets were free. So, and that was a six figure seminar for me. So that was like my second seminar ever. I did six figures in a weekend in sales. And then I realized, okay, I can do this. And so, and then I realized I had a platform, like, when you have a platform, and you have a stage, all of a sudden, you can go talk to other people and go, yeah, you know, I did a six figure seminar and had 80 people. So all of a sudden, I was in the conversation, you know, and I think most people don't take that leap to get in the conversation, like they don't risk going to do a seminar, invite a lot of people. But once you have a stage, like you're a professional, and it doesn't matter whether you had one, and it's different than like a, a, it's kind of different also than, you know, a smaller one, like a smaller one still good. A lot of my clients use smaller ones, and they crush it because of the model we teach them. But like, I also died at 90 people and somebody like you, somebody who's who's a speaker, who's well known what they speak on an 8090 or 100 person stage if they had a relationship with you. So that got me in the game. So once you James Taylor kind of go in there you can building building can bigger and bigger stages. At what point did the the kind of online component come in as well? And so you, you said like 90% of your business is, is kind of online, but is that in terms of the selling part, the marketing parts happening online? Or is actually the the Oh, and all that part of the delivery mechanism is also online? Ted McGrath Yeah, great question. So online emerged after like, three, four years of doing seminars, you know, and it was like, Okay, this is great. And I built a seven figure business, but like, you know, every three, four months, we're filling a seminar and you're running and running, running to fill seminar. And so I was like, This is not a sustainable model. While I love it, it's not a sustainable model. If I'm gonna get continue to do this and do seminars, I want to, you know, do seminars with five 600 1000 1500 people in the room, right. So, so the way the online piece kind of emerged is I actually got invited to to London with my one man theater, show coach, my, you know, my coach for acting, and he's, he's a one man show performer. And so I hired him and he's like, Okay, I'm going, we're going to London, and I'm like, London. He's like, Yeah, and I was like, I had a seminar coming up, like, in like, five, six weeks. So I was like, Alright, well, I I've been doing some webinars, right to get people into my, into my seminars as well like some online webinars that would then sell tickets to the event. And I was like, Okay, well, no better time than now to automate the webinar, you know, to like, automate the presentation. So I automated the presentation, I went over to London. And while I was in London for 11 days of writing my my first show ever, and watching my coach do his show, I made like 41 sales for my message to millions program in like 11 days, and it helped fill the event. And I was like, wow, this, this is like I started to really experience the lifestyle friendly piece of it. James Taylor It's interesting that that that point, wouldn't happen in my businesses as well. That point when you're, you're away doing something else, and you switch on your phone, and you see all the sales come in. It's quite transformative. I mean, and like you, I love being on stages I love I love that thing. I love traveling around the world and speaking on different stages. But this is nice, I would say, to be able to have the sales and marketing part of your overall piece is continuing to run. And also you continue to deliver value as well. Ted McGrath Totally, totally. So then once we started doing the automated piece, we're like, Okay, this is good. But then then I went and did a launch. And so I did a launch probably, oh, I think the launch might have been my first launch was like two years ago. And actually, like 23 months ago to be exact, right? So it was a, I did a seven figure launch. When I did it, I was like, Oh, this is a good cool business model. But when I looked at it, like we, in the launch, who was pretty cool about our launches, we did like $700,000 of our online message to millions program. And in product sales, you know, for the online product. But then we did like another seven, eight is another 700,000 plus in in phone sales to our higher tier coaching programs. Okay. And so, so the launch was, so seven figures, but because of a combination of the two, and so I said to myself, I said, Well, you know, the launch the the online portion that's just like to acquire a customer like you when you sell the low the products, it's like that acquires the customer that the revenue comes in from selling the coaching and the mastermind piece and all that. So I go What, what if I could, what if I could create this launch model every month online, to where I wasn't to where I was, you know, what, people didn't have to come to a seminar for me to sell coaching, because we sold $700,000 of coaching programs over the phone. So what I did was I started to create a model through Facebook, that would run to more like lower tier products. Yeah. And, and so you know, we have a whole system now where we're driving, like, you know, eight to 11,000 leads a month. And, you know, last month, uh, you know, we brought in over just from Facebook, over $300,000 in, in, you know, sales from coaching sales. So now we're so the goal is for us to get up to, you know, to double and then get over a million dollars a month in, in sales from the Facebook machine. And then all of our seminars and our launches and all the other marketing that we do becomes the the icing on James Taylor the cake. And what you're doing there with it with the fact that initially at the top of the funnel of your funnel there is you're kind of liquidating your costs, to a large extent in terms of your Facebook or your your ad rate cost. So every every dollar that you make after that is profit. And also maybe you don't have to have affiliate partners around there as well. But so you're investing and like you mentioned, you know, having to invest in those early days of kind of building your own stages where a lot of people might not have taken that step up to do that. And it was uncomfortable, you know, doing those smaller rooms, you took that step up there to take that risk to the biggest stage. And now with online, you're kind of putting that that taking that risk, although I'm guessing that you know, those numbers so carefully, so detailed, you know, what a lifetime value of potential customers, you can say, Okay, I'm willing to, to just to even lose a little bit here initially bring that person in from Facebook? Ted McGrath Totally. Yeah, yeah. Facebook, we want I want the product sale to basically get us our ad spend back and you know, typically we'll lose a little bit of money on that. But then when we will, what we'll do is we have coaches then upsell to the message to millions training and we make money there. And then we upsell to the, you know, the coaching for people who want more of the handheld program of, you know, helping them with it will upsell to that as well. So that's where we're really bringing in the revenue. So we spent $50,000 in ad spend, you know, we're bringing back almost 50,000 on the load to your products. And then like last month was you know, another, you know, probably 260 or so and sales 250 in sales from just a phone coaching. So you know, we're putting $1 in and when you look at it, we're getting six bucks back. So it's a good system. James Taylor What's really fascinating is in this this world of speaking in that there's such a there's such a broad range of different types of speakers. This one things I was so keen to do on the summit as well is you have people that are just keynote speakers. So they just get paid the 50 K or 40 k wherever the figure is to go and speak on that stage to accompany to an organization. And then also the other side, you have like, the cool different thing like platform speakers or seminar speakers, people who are creating amazing and I people think of also people like the one with a Marie Forleo has an online, so you have a live event component to what she does as well. But no, there's obviously lots of people that, you know, can do that. And it's kind of interesting, because it's not, I've seen people it's not an either, or I've seen people actually be able to, to bridge these two areas and actually have a really great online platform, their events, their own things, and also speak to those, those large corporations as large associations. Sure, Ted McGrath yeah. So like, we're like this, even this year, probably 2018, for me is going back on on the speaking road a little bit to speak a little bit more. And to me, that's like the icing on it. It's like the cherry on top, you know, and, and for me, I just wanted to create a business that would, you know, one is like about consistent income. Yeah, you know, that's the, that's the first piece is like consistent income coming in, provides freedom to like working with clients that I truly I call them dream clients, because I really enjoy working with clients at the higher tier levels, you know, and even even the third piece is working also in groups like with them. So I don't do any one on one coaching my one on one coaching last year, I brought on three or four, one on one clients, $200,000 each. So at that level, people go, Wow, that's like, That's an incredible price point, you know, and you make great money off that and I go, Well, the truth is like, I could either be spending that time with the client one on one, or I can be spending time building out my funnels, I could spending time building out my business on my show, speaking on other stages, like doing things that are more, more geared towards exponential growth, and fulfillment, rather than, you know, one person James Taylor says to you, when you're looking at things is almost you're looking in terms of opportunity costs. And this is obviously because of the stage you're at with your credit, I'm just conscious that everyone is coming into this, obviously, this is not really the best advice if you're just getting started. But when you're in level that you're at is a lot you're making decisions based upon, you know, you want to get your message to millions as well. And like, How can I do that. So you making higher higher level decisions at that point. Ted McGrath Exactly. And, you know, in our people who are just getting started in terms of the speaking piece, like we have a lot of clients that start with, like, they'll come in, and their first thing we tell them to do is like in the first 120 days, like go do a workshop, and some of our best clients, you know, are doing like, you know, one of my clients, Alex masco, you know, he had like, 10 people at his first workshop. And, you know, he's young young guy, but he charged the right price point for it, like he gave him like a 10 week course for $5,000. And attended 10 week group course, he did a workshop on the back of it for like two and a half days. And so, you know, he made $50,000 on his workshop on the on the, you know, the the the first year, for first year and like the group program and then at the workshop, he up sold them for another $71,000 with only 10 people in the room. So you're looking at like a that's a six figure model with somebody who's just doing a 10 person workshop, you see what i'm saying James Taylor is a really fast and and this is why I'm so keen to get you on to talk about so people can just get a bit of even if they're primarily going at their keynoting. And I know that, you know, all the stats are showing that many of the people that used to like the full time that number one income was the keynoting side. And things are changing now, you know, things are changing a really fast pace. And so your people like yourself, you're kind of leading on this as well. I'm interested as in your journey that you've had was there was there a kind of an aha moment insight moment you went, Okay. This this is the direction I want to be going with my business was a key distinction that you made that just made all the difference for your business. I mean, on what level on the speaking level on the mean, maybe on the speaking or the overall business, the business model levels at a time when you went? Okay, this is this is where I want to be going oh, you made a key distinction that you said okay, this is gonna take this is gonna tenex my business. Ted McGrath Yeah, well, I think on the speaking level, initially was like seminars, I remember we did a seminar and I remember, I we had like, 120 people in the room, and we made the offer and we had clocked like, 700,000 in sales that weekend. And it was like, you know, we just crushed it. And I remember going wow, like, this is a really good model, right? Like a This is fun. It's rich. It's it's, it's a very lucrative, so I was like, This is good. And I remember I remember where I was with one of the guys who was working with me at the time, who was his name was actually Alex guy just told you about and that was that was a big thing. Like I want to do seminars and then the change was the distinction was when I when I started to run our Facebook model and I started to see Like, the like, and I started to build out funnels and I started seeing sales coming in, I started doing, you know, 600 new clients a month coming into our business. And I was like, this is a business. Yeah, like, you know, we didn't get 600 clients the whole year prior to that, you know, and and like, we did a launch, maybe we put, you know, 400 new clients, but like, you know, you can't, businesses consistency. And for me, the AHA was tears, like, a lot of times people will talk about they do one thing, but like, we take them from the 37, to the 97, to the 97 a month to the 497, to the 2000, to the 8000, to the 20,000 to the 40,000. Like, that's a business, you know what I'm saying? And there's every every step of the way. For me, that was the AHA that like, there's a step for every person that wants to take it, James Taylor and is kind of coming into this world. Obviously, it can be really confusing, because there's so many different options we hear, okay, what we should be focusing on webinars and other people saying we should be doing this online courses, membership programs. So one of the things that you put together is obviously message to millions, which is, yeah, it is a pretty incredible program. I was I was kind of going through things earlier, we want your team just kind of going through everything, and it's amazing. So Talk Talk to us about you know, what was the festival, the inception of the idea of this particular program? And then I think would be great. Just take us through the top level, what what are some of the things that people will get from a program like this? Ted McGrath Yeah, well, here's the thing, like, the idea of message chameleons is I don't think there's one person on the planet in this space, I really don't, if they were honest with themselves, that wouldn't want to millions of people to see their message if they were confident in it. So I think the aspiration of like, people who really want to impact make an impact, they would love for millions of people to see it if it was possible. So I started with the end in mind of like message to millions is really about spreading a message and really impacting and changing lives all across the world. Like, how amazing would that be? And then you back up and you go, Okay, well, what's the starting point of all of that? And so for me, the starting point of it is like somebody's life story. Now, you know, you look around the marketplace, and you go, there's a lot of people doing different stuff, like we all looked at it Have you when you look at surface level, the message, it looks similar people's messages, right. But underneath it, I think if you tell a story, like a life story, and a lot of times people struggle with like, What is the message that I should be sharing, I always say if you look at your own life story, there was a transformation you went through. And if if you don't, if you don't look at that transformation, and some people are still going through it, but there's a transformation that you've gone through, and that you've accomplished. And, and that's the thing that we feel most called to teach about that we should be teaching is the transformation we've gone through. So story equals transformation. And so without looking at the life story, it's really hard to know the transformation ones go gone through, so that they can actually then teach that transformation somebody else. So story equals transformation. And transformation. Once you're clear on it equals the message you're going to share, right? So when I talk about message to millions, it's all about finding your life story and your message so that ultimately you can attract your dream clients, you know, bring in a consistent stream of income with a lifestyle friendly business and get that message to millions of people. So it's story first, and the story then equals the message. Then when somebody gets the message, like what's the starting point, I think the smartest starting point like to pick one for somebody is is to learn how to then take from that message of like, what am I going to teach? You know, and it's like, once they have the message, like, you know, I help people do this. So they can have that there's in anybody's message, there's probably like four or five bullet points of what they're going to teach, like one of my clients, you know, I helped him he went from a chiropractor to a brand called man on fire. It's like how do you go from chiropractor to man on fire because we changed his branding. And he's like helping men rising into their passion, power and purpose so that they can reach their full potential in their career and relationships, and the brands called magnifier. So if you look at those words, like everything I teach is already in the statement like passion power purpose, so we can teach man on passion like how to get their passion back in relationships, man on power man on finding their purpose man on reaching their potential man on you know, having more passion in relationships, man and having more purpose in in their career. So like, when you have a good statement, and you look at it, like everything you're going to teach is already in the statement. It's like, here's the content I'm going to teach. So I always tell people go story equals message message equals the content you're going to teach, then you've got to structure the program. And I think the most intelligent way to structure the program is to structure it in a group format. You know, I call it a tier one program, like, you know, you can either structure it in a tier one program where like, most of my clients either do a phone course where they're teaching it for like six to eight weeks over the phone, or they do like a two to three day workshop. Right? And it's just like it's it's a starter program. You know, it's like right out of the gate, something simple and they say sell it for like, you know, my clients have gone from 1000 to 7500 bucks for that starter program. And then it's like somebody experiences like that phone group coaching course that you're doing or that group workshop that you're doing for a weekend, they're gonna want a year long program after that. So it's not extra work. It's just taking those current clients, maybe those first 10 people that joined your group phone course. And then it's going, Okay, let me upsell them into a year long group program. And then, you know, you take like, you know, 20,000 in revenue, and you turn it into 100,000 in revenue with the same effort. I think it makes sense. Yeah, I James Taylor mean, that that point there as well. I mean, obviously, upselling. But I think whenever we learn anything new, we can have, we have a higher level of questions then afterwards, because we've kind of built that base of knowledge. And then like, Okay, so I've got that and start implementing that. And it, you then you generate a whole new level set of problems, often better problems, and questions. And so you need an additional, maybe a level of training of coaching or whatever is around there. Ted McGrath Yeah, yeah, exactly. And the cool thing about like, these group programs of like, you know, deciding what you're going to teach, right? And if you have your message, you know, right, so you decide and content you're gonna teach at the workshop or the group phone course. And then it's like, Okay, well, how do you fill it like, Well, you know, the simple strategy is just through basic offline, you know, warm market networking, going to live events, you can anybody can fill a course, so tend to people with people they know, you know, so it's like, it's getting that first win and that victory for people. And you'd be surprised, like, we've run into so many existing business owners who, like they don't have a group model. So they're like, I've have seven figure business owners that come to us. And like, they don't have a group model. So they're like, you know, they're very successful, but they're on the phone all day, they're in the office all day. So that group model starts the baseline of freedom, and it's the foundation of it. And then from there, it's like, okay, go talk to your warm network, go get some people in this first program, and then learn how to enroll them. Yeah, learn how to enroll people, you know, and if people know how to do that, and they know how to enroll, then you have the foundation 90% set to then go online and start driving traffic to that same, James Taylor same same program. And that's obviously part of what you teach your message to millions because that piece as well, the How to enroll people from stage or from an event is, I mean, that's an art form to do that, that's really difficult to do and to do it well. So I know that you, you can recover and all that. So I know what we're going to do here is because we've been talking about in the time we have available just now we can't go through everything on it. So we're going to have a link here. So people just click on that link is going to take them through, you can learn all about message to millions, you know, find out all the details what it covers. It's a really extensive program, it looks pretty amazing program as well. So as we start to just kind of finish up here, I kind of want to maybe ask a slightly more mundane question. Yeah, I'm asking this of all the speakers. What is it that that that speaker bag? What isn't that bag that you carry to all of your seminars, your events, your things when you're out there on the road speaking? What is in that bag that you never leave home without? Ted McGrath Ha ha ha ha like just what I travel with you? Yeah, James Taylor listen that bag. Ted McGrath Oh, well always of course my computer I mean, that's all I need. Right? So it's always just a simple laptop and that's it and some book that I'm reading you know, so that you know that that's it. I always have a book with me and I already always have a bag a laptop and that's it. Of course my golf clubs on the other coast on the other shoulder right? James Taylor Speaking someone here in Scotland, the home of golf, you could have to go You have to bring your movie you're gonna have come after of course the complacently so when you mentioned books as well, what if you could just suggest one book everyone and it can be one of your own but one book that you think people should these speakers everyone that's on this summit just now you think it'd be really powerful for them to read transformational? What would that book be? Ted McGrath Well, if you want like a you mean a business book, or like more of a personal growth book completely open to you? Well, you know, I would say personal growth. So like Dianetics, the modern science of mental health is a pretty amazing book that really talks about what stops people from, you know, reaching and raising rising more into their potential in life. And so for me, like it's all about, you know, as long as my spiritual growth is, you know, bigger than my business growth, I'm always going to be in a good space. So that's, that's my belief. James Taylor And what if that was the one online resource or tool or app you find really useful for yourself as a, as a speaker? As a coach, as an expert? Ted McGrath You should things like an app I use for my business to James Taylor run it, you need something something usually you find is they useful to help you do what you do? You know, I Ted McGrath my stuff's pretty much I don't do much with the technology piece, like my team runs that I would say, like, you know, the one thing that works for us in our business strategically is just like, you know, running a Facebook ad to a strategy session. So you know, when it one of the six piece that I didn't share on message to millions is that when you when you do all the legwork of all those other steps I shared, like the only thing that changes when we went Online is just we have an ad that now runs people to go book a strategy session. And you know, people think a lot of times it's so hard to do this, but like, the most useful thing in our business has been running advertising to the same thing that made us successful when we started coming to online. And if one final question for you, Ted, let's imagine you woke up tomorrow morning, and had to start from scratch, so you have all the skills or the knowledge you have acquired, but you know, no one, James Taylor no one knows you, you have to restart, what would you do? How would you restart? Ted McGrath I would, I would go online, you know, that's exactly where I restart I would go online and I'd you know, get a Facebook ad up. And I'd I'd, you know, I'd set up a basic funnel that starts running to you know, to make some to make some sales and get clients on a strategy session and, and you know, that that's what we would do and it's just like, it's, it's a great model, because it's consistency, you control it. You're not dependent upon all these different relationships. But you can have the joy of being with all these different relationships and strategic partners, because it's like more of like the cherry on top rather than the thing that you primarily rely on. James Taylor Well, Ted, thank you so much for coming on the summit and sharing your your knowledge or wisdom about about speaking and in the seminar business as well. We're gonna have a link here to message to millions people can go on there, learn more about about the program. Thank you so much. I look forward to maybe we'll get a game of golf either in California or Scotland or something. Yeah, man. Ted McGrath Of course. I'll have to tell my girlfriend she's a golfer too, as good catch you soon. Thanks, bye. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

Storytelling, Body Language, and Public Speaking James Taylor interviews Nick Morgan and they talked about, storytelling, body language, and public speaking. In today's episode Nick Morgan talked about Storytelling, Body Language, and Public Speaking. Dr Nick Morgan is one of America's top communication speakers, theorists and coaches. A passionate teacher, he is committed to helping people find clarity in their thinking and ideas – and then delivering them with panache. He has been commissioned by Fortune 50 companies to write for many CEOs and presidents. He has coached people to give Congressional testimony, to appear in the media, and to deliver an unforgettable TED talk. And he has himself spoken, led conferences, and moderated panels at venues around the world. During the last American election cycle, he provided expert commentary on the presidential debates for CNN and Nick's methods, which are well-known for challenging conventional thinking, have been published worldwide. His acclaimed book on public speaking, Give Your Speech, Change the World: How to Move Your Audience to Action., was published by Harvard in 2005. His latest book, Can You Hear Me?, on the perils of virtual communication, is due out from Harvard in October 2018. What we cover: The art and craft of telling great stories Storytelling, Body Language, and Public Speaking How to ensure you don't waste the opening of your speech The three versions of your speech you should prepare Resources: Dr. Morgan's Website Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/storytelling-body-language-and-public-speaking-sl097/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey there, it's James Taylor. I'm delighted today to be joined by Dr. Nick Morgan. Dr. Nick Morgan is one of America's top communication speakers, theorists and coaches. A passionate Teacher He is committed to helping people to find clarity in their thinking and ideas, and then delivering them with panache. He has been commissioned by Fortune 50 companies to write for many CEOs and presidents. He has coached people to give congressional testimony to appear in the media and to deliver an unforgettable TED Talk. And he has himself spoken led conferences and moderated panels at venues around the world. During the last American election cycle, he provided expert commentary on the presidential debates for CNN and Nick methods, which are well known for challenging conventional thinking have been published worldwide. His acclaimed book on public speaking give your speech changed the world how to move your audience to action was published by Harvard in 2005. His latest book, can you hear me on the perils of virtual communication is due out from Harvard in October 2018. It's my great pleasure to have Dr. Nick Morgan, join us today. So welcome. Dr. Nick Morgan Thank you, James. It's great pleasure to be with you. James Taylor So share with everyone what's going on in your world just now. Dr. Nick Morgan Well, I'm just finishing up the book that you referenced the Can you hear me book, which Harvard is now very anxious about, I'm facing a tight deadline. And they're committed now to publishing it on a certain schedule. So they're very anxious that I get it done. And they call me regularly now and ask for after my health and my ability to focus and whether I have enough coffee to drink and that kind of thing. So that's the main thing on my mind that and, and the business goes on taking care of clients, James Taylor I was just reading a book called Hemingway's boat, talking about his Hemingway's writing career. And he had exactly the same thing because Hemingway is building this lovely boat. And, and he would write in order to pay for things on this boat that he was building. And it just is a series of kind of exchanges between him and his editors and his publishers like, when's this gonna be ready? Where's this gonna be ready? So is this is this this next book we are doing just now? Is it any easier than the last book or is it is still difficult every time you have to write a book like this, Dr. Nick Morgan I'd love to write, I'm one of those few people that you're free to hate, because I really do love to write. But that said, This book has been harder than any of the others. You just, it turns out that we don't know enough yet about the virtual world. We're just we're just discovering all its perils, as well as its opportunities. And, and new research comes in all the time, on an almost on a daily basis. In fact, literally just this morning, I was working on a chapter. And I got a Zirin. Online saying there's this new study out about, about virtual communication and how it affects us emotionally. And it's that kind of thing that it's just getting very difficult. I have to keep revising it and changing it to keep up with the time. So this has actually been the most difficult to work to work on because of that fast changing environment. Now you're James Taylor known for working and really helping many corporate CEOs, presidents, politicians, and also some of the world's most high profile professional speakers. I mean, I think of some of the people that we've got on this, like, you know, there's something like Josh Linkner and Sally hogshead. And many of these people are your clients. How did you get into this, this world of working with with people who have to use their voice to kind of make their living or persuade, Dr. Nick Morgan I was teaching at the University of Virginia. I was teaching Shakespeare in public speaking. And I expected to be an academic for the rest of my life and, and just teach increasingly indifferent undergraduates in the arts of Shakespeare and public speaking, which they were very happy to live without. An only took the course, with the greatest reluctance it seemed. And I got a phone call from a friend of mine, who was the State Secretary of Education for Virginia. And he said, Morgan, how would you like to put that academic Bs, that academic stuff into practice, the previous speechwriter has just had a nervous breakdown, and we need a replacement on short notice. And I should have asked why did the previous speech writer have a nervous breakdown but I was so excited about the challenge. That I just said, Sure, let's do it. And then I found out over the course of the next two years why he'd had a nervous breakdown. It was certainly because of overwork. I literally worked seven days a week, for two years, with one day off Christmas Day, one of the years. And I wrote on average, five speeches a day. So it was an incredible experience of just flat out work, every waking hour, exhausting, but also very rewarding. And that was where I really honed the craft of, of speech, writing, and then coaching in the real world. And then I joined a couple of consulting firms to do that for business people, and then started my own business in 1997. Public words, James Taylor how I'm wondering how long it when you're working for that Governor there, because you're working for him all the time. You get to know his cadence, his voice, you know, what he would say, when you're having to work with multiple consulting clients are all coming from slightly different ways and different things? How do you get yourself into the head of that person, because eventually, they're going to be seeing the words that you're going to be creating. And it may be in large part, because of you Well, I Dr. Nick Morgan say to people that what I really do is I listen harder to you, the client, than anybody else in the world will ever listen to you, including your spouse or significant other. And that's exactly what I have to do in order to get that person's voice is I have to listen very, very closely to try to hear that, to hear that uniqueness. What makes them special, what makes them unique. And then also, of course, what we're trying to do is up their game a little bit, so I may take the liberty of trying to make their voice a little better than then they might be just a normal conversation. James Taylor I was recently I attended a an event and the speaker was former US president, President Obama. And I was I was watching it was great, great talk he gave, he used to use, I mean, fake classical oratory, or rhetorical devices, and a lot of pausing much as I was sitting actually almost kind of trying to work out how many words per minute he was using was really quite slow and very, very deliberate, very, very intentional. And it was some real kind of zinger phrases kind of going on there, at Wow, made me able to, like create those phrases. And and I watched a documentary The other day. And it was actually his speechwriter was in this. And I actually watched him creating some of those phrases that I'd heard on that night, because he used them previously. And I kind of felt a little bit led them because I felt kind of I thought that that President had created the written note that stuff. And actually it was some speechwriter that was sitting in the background. So how does it feel? Maybe sitting at the side of the room, or the back of the room, or sitting there watching the TV as your words are being being set out? And what's that sensation, when you when you know, something is really landed? Dr. Nick Morgan Yes, it's, it's the most exciting thing in the world, when it goes well, you just feel enormous pride, and you're part of a team. So you, you may have originally written the words or helped create them, because usually, it's a give and take between you in the in the in the client. But then when the when the speaker gets up, and gives the words, then he or she owns them completely. So all you can do is is bask in the reflected glow. But that's, that's just a very satisfying thing. When it goes well. When it goes badly, and they screw it up, which sometimes happens, then you want to you want to pull the microphone, let's say pull the cord and shut them up. I I've had that experience occasionally too, though, thankfully, not recently to any of you clients who might be listening. James Taylor So as you as you work when you're working with those clients, I'm wondering, I'm guessing many of your clients are already probably pretty good public speakers, whether they're a CEO, the app developer, you know, the the maybe have a strong communication style, they may be professional speakers or politicians who are used to speaking all the time. What they bring you in, is it to just to really kind of create that, to really just make it make it absolutely 100% perfect, or is it something else that they're really wanting you to come in and do that kind of deep listening you described, Dr. Nick Morgan people often don't know the stories that they have, because they've lived them. And they don't know the power of them. They've they've experienced them. chronologically, of course, that's the way we experience our lives. But the best stories are often told, not in chronological fashion, but beginning at the last possible moment, as I often tell people in the story. So you want to begin as Aristotle said in medius race you want to begin right at the latest possible point in the story at the most exciting point. And then if you have to fill in back material then you can do that as you go along. But most of us when we tell stories, we go back to the beginning in our minds, and we tell it in chronological order. And that's not usually the most interesting way to tell the story. But it's very hard for somebody who's lived it that way to break out of that mold and tell it differently. And so one of the things I'm often doing is helping the client find out the best version of their lives or the stories they've experienced. The points they want to make, in a way that's, that becomes memorable. James Taylor Oh, that reminds me a little bit of how TV shows have changed. Now we're like Breaking Bad to a TV show, they'll always have a scene right at the start, which is taken from halfway through to the thing. So whether it's a hero's journey type narrative that's kind of going on, and it just hooks you in right at the start, you want to go, what was that about. And it's, it can be a little bit discombobulating at first, when it starts like that, but it's intrigues you you want you want to you want to go on. And as you're working with those, those speakers, so that you're helping them can maybe understand and pull out those parts, those stories, how much you pulling on some of those classic, you know, we hear like the hero's journey, the Joseph Campbell type of thing, or that we hear that he's only really seven classic plots to his storytelling as well, how much you pulling on your academic and your classical background? Dr. Nick Morgan Well, I was I was trained in rhetoric, and the ancient Greeks and Romans. And so it's shocking how often those stories and rhetorical devices are still the ones that that make for good rhetoric today, we also bring in a lot of neuroscience. So that's, that's very modern, to help with delivery, especially, we now have a better understanding of what's effective in in delivery. But the basic old stories still hold very, very true. And, indeed, they're the powerful ones. One of the great mistakes people make nowadays. And I think TV is partly to blame is in in television, there's this huge fear that you're going to lose the audience. And so they're constantly shocking us. And you mentioned beginning of show in the middle of things, that's a good idea. But often, there's an element of shock there that the hero that we've gotten to know over the period of several episodes is suddenly dead. And then it'll say 18 hours earlier, and it will go back to explain what happened to them. And then it'll turn out actually wasn't dead, there was some trick involved in that kind of, sort of deliberately shocking, but not very well plotted. storyline is to keep our attention. So this is terrible fear, you're going to lose the attention. But actually, what the neuroscience about storytelling shows us is that good storytelling involves fulfilling expectations that the listener has. And so it's not about shocking the listener, it's about fulfilling the expectations that the listener has for how the story is going to go. And so we do use these. When we're writing our best speeches, we use the old storylines, like the quest, you mentioned, the hero's journey. That's best defined by Joseph Campbell, in his book, The hero with 1000 faces, in which as an anthropologist, he went out to many, many cultures, and found that was this common theme of a quest story where the hero goes out on a journey in order to reach a goal. And the longer and the more difficult the journey in the end, the greater the ups and downs, and the harder the journey is, the better we like it. Because the real purpose of that journey is to test the resolve of the hero. And that's what that's what quest stories are really about. And that's still the most common form of story, we all resonate with them. all cultures have quest stories. And so they make great speeches, because you can set a goal in the speech that then the audience wants to join in on and then suddenly, the audience is all in on that quest with you, you can make the audience the hero of that journey, which is far more effective than making yourself to hear the story. And so there's still lots of reasons to use the power of these ancient storytelling modes, versions. And, and the point is that even though we know what the result of a quest is, we still love to hear that particular quest, because that shape of that story has stood the test of time it's baked into us. We love it, and we're familiar with it. And part of the joy of hearing a good story told is that we have the moment just before the end where we go, yeah, I knew that was gonna happen. We have that sense of fulfilling expectations. That's much better than trying to shock your audience by saying it was all a dream or none of this actually happened or the other kind of silly plot tricks that that the back to our example television often uses these days. He used that James Taylor example, you know, making the the audience the hero of the journey. If you think about it, because I made a terrible mistake in early speech I did, where I'd been getting really into all the Joseph Campbell stuff. And there's there's been subsequent books on that type of writing and, and that, you know, theories around that. And so I want to write a hero's journey Titan speech, and I wrote it and making myself the hero of the journey, and I delivered it and it was it was like it was fine and everything wasn't terrible, but it just didn't really kind of resonate, resonate. And then someone said to me, Well, you just said to me just there, I said, You've got it all wrong, you know, you need to make the audience the hero of the journey. And I went, ah, how did how can we subdominant not do that. And I had to kind of go back. So as someone that maybe has heard this, like the hero's journey, how do you make your audience the hero of a journey? Because that sounds quite complex as well. And you speak you speak to maybe 1000 people? How can 1000 people be beat at the hero? Dr. Nick Morgan Now the first question you have to ask yourself is, what is the problem or challenge or fear that the audience has, for which what I want to talk about is the answer. And so let's say you're an IT specialists just to pick something out of the air, and you want to talk about cybersecurity, then you need to start your audience on a quest to finding cybersecurity by talking about their very natural and understandable fears of all the ways in which hackers and and, and state terrorist organizations and all the other bad guys that we think about out there now can can hack their, their credit cards online or their accounts online or whatever. And the point is to get the audience nodding, and thinking, yeah, that is the state of things today. Oh, it is, it's very scary, it is very uncertain, we're, we are indeed worried about that. And that preps them, then for the solution, when you offer it when you're your version of however, you're going to achieve cybersecurity and that so you're taking the audience on that journey from fear and an understanding of what they're going through to ultimately to a goal, which is to find a clever solution for that problem. And so that at a very simple level is how you, how do you make the audience the hero of it, because if you focus on them and their problems, rather than saying, I've figured out cybersecurity, I'm a genius, let me tell you the 12 ways to get there, then that's very off putting for an audience and it doesn't it doesn't enroll them in the in the journey in a way that is compelling. And one James Taylor of the things because you're seeing speakers speak all the time delivering speeches, and now we're just obviously awash with like things like Ted Talks, for example. And so many of your clients have, they come to you because they're giving their first TED talk or giving a TED talk. And it's, and they want to go on that journey and really give them give their best time. But I'm wondering, what are some of those things that really put your hackles up and that really, with a speaker, you just the common like things that they end up falling into that you have to really work with them to try and break out of a, one of those some of those bad habits that we have as speakers, Dr. Nick Morgan the one that infuriates me the most, and there are many, but the one that infuriates me the most is wasting the opening of a, of a speech. So at the beginning of a speech, the audience is most eager to hear from you. And and they're freshest, and they haven't started to object to you one way or the other. It's all it's all good at this point. And and they're asking the question of why, why should I care about this? Why is it important? And and speakers? instead of answering that question, why that's, that's what you should do at the beginning is answer that question, why very clearly and strongly it can be done with a story, it can be done with something as simple as a factoid or a question. But I prefer stories, obviously. But what speakers do often instead is they do one of three things. First, they introduce themselves, they say, let me tell you about me or my company. And the result, the result of that is course is you don't answer the question why and frankly, the audience doesn't care. If especially if you've been introduced, they certainly don't need to hear any more about you. And so that's a classic mistake that that speakers make. The second one is they give an agenda. They say, if I were going to talk to you, in effect, this is what I would say. So they and I believe people need agendas, if you're going to talk to them for a whole day if it's a workshop, but if it's only an hour, we can live without an agenda. In fact, it'd be nice to have a little element of surprise along the way. So don't tell us what you're going to say. Because what happens is if you start saying, okay, here's what I'm going to talk about. What I've noticed the behavior I've noticed in conferences is that people go immediately to their mobile phones. And they think I can get one more text message. And one more email done before this person actually starts talking, because he or she is just is just setting things up not actually beginning. And we've learned to, to wait for the actual start. And then the third thing is, and the worst. And surprisingly, this is the hardest to get speakers not to do is to chat. So the urge for speakers to walk out on stage and say, Oh, it's great to be here. Anybody else here from Singapore? Oh, I see a few hands. Wonderful. How are things back there and synched up or Been a while I've been on the road, and they just they just chatter. And the reason for that is, they're trying to make themselves feel more comfortable. But they inevitably defended as a way of making the audience relax and connecting with the audience. It has nothing to do with that. It's about making themselves feel more comfortable. But what a waste of time. Because the your, the audience, again, is at its freshest and most ready and most eager to hear why am I here? Why is this important? Why should I get excited, and back to your example of TV shows that now start in the middle? Because there, they don't want to waste that opening mental real estate. I always use the example of James Bond movies. And I hope people all around the world have seen that great franchise, which has gone on for 50 years or so. But how does the James Bond movie begin? Back in the in the in the day when it first started 1963, the first James Bond movie came out, it was quite a remarkable thing, because most movies in those days began with the credits. And so you'd get anywhere from five to seven minutes of just saying who's going to be in the movie, who's the director, who's the producer, who wrote the music, who's the cinematographer, on and on and on. And all of that was just set up for the movie, and you learn quickly that you could go and get popcorn or a drink or something, because nothing was going to happen for about seven minutes. Well, James Bond changed all that by beginning with a car chase, or an explosion, or some exciting fight or something like that. And then only after you were hooked with the credits roll. And so if you missed the opening, you missed the most exciting and most expensive part of the movie, typically until the very end. So people learned they had to be in at the beginning. And so I say the same thing to audiences to speakers and audiences everywhere. Don't waste that opening with credits, just get right to the the opening story, hook that audience grab them. And then if you must, if you absolutely must say something about yourself, do it 510 minutes into the speech and just keep it to an absolute minimum. James Taylor And when you're working with speakers you're working on on the script, what they're saying the ideas, the stories within it as well. And, and the crafting of it. Where does the body language part come in? When do you start working with them on that part? Or do you end up having to bring in another because I know there's obviously experts to just deal with body language, especially in the political scene as well? Are you able to kind of deal with all of that with a client? Dr. Nick Morgan Yes, I always divide it into two. Because what I found is that as soon as we start talking about body language, then that's all we can think about. People get self conscious. And they start to worry about how they're standing and what they're doing with their hands and what their face looks like all those things. And, and so we always begin with content. And I like to get the content completed and everybody feeling very confident and happy with the content. And then we'll start on the delivery, we call it the choreography day where we're arranging, how the client is going to walk on stage, how they're going to stand, where they're going to go, and what slides of course they're going to use or anything else they can use video, we've arranged sometimes to have music on stage with the with the speaker, and all sorts of light shows and all kinds of interesting things. So all of that comes later once you've got the content set. And that may come from my background in the acting world where an actor never walks on stage, unless they know what the lines are. And they've had a chance to do what he called blocking, which is to marry the the lines to a specific place and action on stage. Once you do that, then you can start to make it real and make it your own. embody it, literally. And so that's such an extraordinarily important stage in the preparation of a speech that I feel very strongly that people need to get the content down first, and then they can start rehearsing it. And I'm always unhappy when I see a speaker working up to the last minute on on changing the text and that kind of thing. Because usually it's a result of nervousness or fear and they're and they think if I just fix this one phrase, then I'll suddenly won't be nervous anymore. Well, unfortunately, we all get nervous for speeches, and that doesn't go away. And so it's the wrong place to put the put the focus but people do that. James Taylor Yeah. What you described is is very, like an alchemy, I mean, some of the things you just described, you could be in ancient Greece, watching someone, you know, in terms of, you know, they had table reads back then or you know how they would have done it, but you know, blocking and some of those things that that we do now, obviously, memorization comes into that as well. So as we start to finish up here, I'm intrigued to know when you're going on working with with clients, what is in your, your speaker bag, what is in that bag that you take with you to all your, your engagements, when you're working with clients, many of the speakers we've had on this have talked about their clickers and the different things that they take them to their speaking engagement. But I mean, she guessed it, someone like yourself actually works for speakers in that way, what isn't, isn't your speaker bag, Dr. Nick Morgan I always have some form of light, small camera, because there's, there's no better way to learn how a speech went, then, then, of course, to see yourself on video. The other thing I like to do is when I have the technology available, is to bring two cameras, one of which I put on the audience, because the ways in which you learn the most about a speech actually, is to do something which is a little hard for a speaker to do in the moment, which is to watch the audience listening to the speech and seeing how do they react? When do they start to get engaged? When do they get disengaged? Do they get bored? Do they start to twitch and look away and do they surreptitiously go for their mobile phones and that kind of thing. So you can learn an enormous amount by looking at a video of the audience. Now, that's not a video that 90% of the world would want to look at, it gets a bit dull, but, but for somebody like me, it's absolutely fascinating, fascinating way to learn how that speech is going over. So those are key. And then of course, I always bring double extra of everything. So extra clickers, extra copies of the slides, if they're slides extra everything because you never know what's gonna go wrong. And the other thing we do is we there are two key ways in which we always prepare speakers these days. One of them is always come ready with a short version of your speech. And it's just the reality in a conference that often the conference is running late. And so somebody will, will come up to the speaker and say, can you do the speech in 20 minutes, I'm really sorry, you had an hour, but the last speaker ran over over running really late. And thanks to the lunch coming up, we can't, we can't delay too much, or the food will spoil so and that's unbelievably stressful if you don't have a 20 minute version prepared. But if you do, you can smile calmly and say absolutely no problem, I can do that 20 minute version, and off you go. So that's, that's absolutely key is to have that is to have that short version. And then the other thing is to have the no technology version. Because even in this day and age, a projector can fail, sound can go out. And you'd be surprised how many speakers are completely unable to deliver a speech without their slide deck. And that's, that's just extraordinarily important to be able to do that. So it's really having three versions of the talk one, the standard one with all the technology, the second one, the talk with zero technology. And then the third one, the short version. And so that's, that's only metaphorically in the bag that you're talking about. But that's that's what I bring to every talk, those things are incredibly important. James Taylor And if we had more time, I would love to go into the virtual This is the part you're going on to next in terms of virtual presentations is obviously a huge area as well. And some of the challenges around that. But what book would you recommend if someone is interested in this, and we're also gonna have a link to your site? So it can be one of your books, but if there was another book, it could be on storytelling, it could be on presentation or or, or something else you think would be a value to them? What would that book be? you'd recommend? Dr. Nick Morgan Oh, there's so many that I love. Gar Reynolds wrote a classic book presentations in which is all about creating great slides. So if anybody has any questions in their minds about how to create good slides, that's still the best book out there, I believe on the subject. Robert McKee wrote a wonderful book called story, which you no doubt heard of, if if any of your listeners and viewers haven't read that book, and are serious about giving good speeches, they should read that book. The I'm the one I mentioned earlier, Joseph Campbell, a hero with 1000 faces really gets into the deep structure of that particular story, the quest and how it's told and why it resonates so much with people. And so that's a great book to get a good understanding of what you're really doing when you're telling you a quest story. So those are the those are the first three that comes to mind. Yeah, so I'll stop there. James Taylor I mean, these are great. I love I haven't read the presentations and yet, but so many people have recommended that to me. So that's going to be on my list. So I can final question for you Nick. I What do you imagine tomorrow morning, you, you wake up and you have to start from scratch. So you have all the skills that you've acquired over the years. But you know, no one, no one knows you, you have to restart your career and what you do now? How would you restart? What would you do? Dr. Nick Morgan Well, I would start by giving free speeches. And that is the way everybody has to start who wants to get into this business of ultimately paid public speaking. And so I would, I would join Toastmasters because I love that organization. They're, they're worldwide. They're incredibly supportive of each other the most of the individual groups that local groups have, have a theme, so find one that suits you. But that's a great way to get lots of practice. And really, that's the thing that's most important is if you want to become a speaker, then you've got to start speaking you and you've got to practice. And, and you never get enough, you should always be honing your craft. James Taylor And if someone wants to reach out to you, maybe they're working on their first TED Talk, or they're going to be giving a big new keynote, and they could really use some some help work on working with someone, what's the best way for them to connect with you? Dr. Nick Morgan Sure, just go to the website, www dot public words.com. And there's a contact form my email addresses on there, so we're very easy to reach. James Taylor Well, Nick, it's been a pleasure speaking to you today. I hope when next time you're in the United Kingdom, I hope we get a chance to meet in London and we'll go to the Globe Theater together. And we'll go see some great Shakespeare together. Dr. Nick Morgan That'd be a great pleasure. Thank you. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

Body Language Expert James Taylor interviews Mark Bowden and they talked about The body language of inspiring speakers In today's episode Mark Bowden talked about The body language of inspiring speakers. Mark Bowden has been voted the #1 Body Language Professional in the world two years running. He is the founder of the communication training company TRUTHPLANE® and his clients include leading businesspeople, teams, and politicians, presidents and CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and Prime Ministers of G8 powers. He has written three bestsellers about body language and human behavior and spoken at TEDx Toronto. One of the world's foremost authorities on nonverbal communication, he is in high demand giving keynotes worldwide. What we cover: Why understanding body language is critical for speakers How audiences judge speakers The body language of inspiring speakers Resources: Mark's Website Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/body-language-expert-sl096/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey, it's James Taylor, and I'm delighted to be joined by Mark Bowden. Mark Bowden has been voted the number one body language professional in the world two years running. He is the founder of the communication training company truth plain, and his clients include leading business people, teams and politicians, presidents and CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and prime ministers of g8 powers. He has written three bestsellers about body language and human behavior. And spoken at TEDx Toronto, one of the world's foremost authorities on nonverbal communication. He is in high demand giving keynotes worldwide and it's my great pleasure to have him on today. So welcome. Mark Bowden Oh, thanks very much for having me, James. It's great pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me. James Taylor So we've spoken before and and when we started kind of putting this event together, I thought it would be absolutely insane if I didn't have you on this, because you, you are the guy when it comes to body language. And and you know, I've spoke we've spoken about the body language of speakers and what they do, right? So for how did you get involved in this world of understanding body language, and then obviously writing and speaking about it. Mark Bowden So I first got involved because as a kid, I was fascinated with animal behavior. And then human behavior, just fascinated with Why do humans do this? Why do they do that? Why did that occur? Why do we get on with these people and not get on with those people over there. And I wanted to know why. And I wanted tools and techniques to get better at it better at influence and persuasion. So really, I got him through that angle. James Taylor So it's like they can evolutionary side of things. That's how you and it is speaking to you before and reading some of your work. There's such a strong evolutionary side, we it's so subconscious, that when when these things are happening, but they all kind of pause back to that doesn't it all connected, there is a reason for these things in the way that people behave. Mark Bowden Sure. So I would class myself as an evolutionary behavioral psychologist, so obviously, everything is going to get pulled back to evolution. From my point of view, there are other models to look at human behavior from, I just happened to think the evolutionary one is the best, and is the most likely, and seems to make the most sense. And more importantly, it's the most helpful. So it's always been a really helpful way for me to look at behavior. Because in that way, there's no bad behaviors, there's just results that you wanted or didn't want. And I think that's a really important model to use, especially when you're thinking about public speaking, in that there's nothing really bad that you can do, there's just results that you wanted or didn't want. And if you're not getting the results that you want, the important thing is is what behaviors can you do in order to get the results that you want? And that's really the work that I do with speakers is, what behavior would you have to do to get the right result out of your audience. James Taylor So one of the videos I saw on your site, you did a very interesting little experiment where you walk through a door, but you have your hands behind you, and you walk up to the camera, and you start speaking. And then you and it was fascinating, because we're so used to seeing, you know, it just felt weird. It just felt really odd. And I couldn't kind of put my finger on why it was odd at first until you explained it. So what was going on there? Mark Bowden Yeah, so here's one of the ways that our primitive brain that older part of the evolutionary brain, here's how it deals with some data, it says when insufficient data default to a negative. So if you don't have data, that primitive brain is not optimistic, it's pessimistic, better to be safe than sorry. So at the moment, when I'm speaking to you, I'm trying to show you a lot of my gestures and my hands. So you get a lot of sufficient data about what my feeling and intention might be, as I'm speaking to you. But if I actually I'm just going to move this a little bit and step back a little bit so you can see actually more of my body. And actually, what I'm going to do is, is put my hands behind my back, as I talk to you here. Now just think how confident you are about my content for you and my feelings and intentions towards you. And now if I let you see my hands, are you more optimistic and more confident about me and my content? Because there's me and you could listen to me for the next you know, 20 minutes, or there's me and you can listen to me for the next 20 minutes. Yeah, is that one that you immediately prefer as James Taylor well as being able to see the hand and it's not just it's not just the gestures, obviously, there's gestures going on there as well. But there's something it's just like, being able to see the hand it just feels like something's not it's not right. And it's, it's difficult to can put your finger on it, but just I think everyone's gonna see this as the as the watch this just now it's like there's something not right there. Mark Bowden Yeah. So it's it's in it's interesting is that you don't quite know what's right about it, or what's wrong about it is because essentially, it's unconscious, it's in your subconscious is in your primitive brain to want to know, do I have any tools or weapons? Is there anything in my hands that could harm you. And you'd rather know that there's something in my hands than not know, there's something in my hands. So again, look, if I show you these and say, there's nothing here, but then hide them from you. Again, you don't feel as good about me as if you can see my hands. So it's that what we call a heuristic it's so it's a quick way that the brain makes a decision. And it's always saying if insufficient data default to a negative, it's just not an optimist around this. James Taylor Now, the last time I spoken to you, I think I just come back from being an event that former President Barack Obama had been speaking out. And we were having a conversation about his body language on stage. And so and this is, I think it's interesting, when you're talking just now maybe if people can go back and watch some videos of him, you'll quickly see what you're talking about, as well. But someone like that there's a speaker that's known for being a great orator, a great communicator on stages, what are some of the things that you might notice about him that you might that might not necessarily be there in other speakers? Mark Bowden Yeah, so let me give you actually just a couple of things that I think he does particularly well, and again, I'll stand up and go back a bit, so you can see more of me, there, let me just tell this camera up, so you get more of my face in as I move back, one of the things that you'll notice he does is open palm gestures at navel height that are symmetrical. So you won't very often see him start to gesture in asymmetry, as I'm doing for you now, because probably as you and the audience are watching me move in this asymmetry and move the horizontal height, you'll notice it's a little more confusing what I'm saying. I mean, my content for you is very simple at the moment, but my gestures have actually become way too complex for you to really judge my feeling and intention. And if I bring my hands back to open palm gestures at exactly navel height, this is the area that I've called the truth plane, because it's calm and assertive. And you're most likely to trust me when I speak here, and I keep them symmetrical, which means that if you know what one side is doing, you know what the other side is doing as well, it takes less brain capacity to be able to understand me, you get very assured about my content, essentially, you're more likely to feel confident about my content. Now, here's the other thing is that on many of his speeches, he'll speak at around about almost one word a second. And that's really slow. And I want you to notice how much attention you're now paying to every word. I say. Now, it's a little laborious. And you might not be able to cope with a full hour of this. But for moments when I'm speaking, you're probably getting a sense of there's real power, in my words. And my normal speech pattern would be about this kind of speed. And you'll notice the faster I go, sure, it's very energetic, but it doesn't have the power of just a few words a second, and at times, almost one word a second. So I think those are the two things that he's doing which are really important. Not that we have to emulate that completely. Yeah, but I think there's lessons to be had from it. James Taylor And it was obviously in language as well. He's kind of doing he's imitating with his body things are happening his language, he'll often use very long pauses, almost. I mean, it's coming from a sales background, almost like salesman pauses where you'll purposely pause to make it feel almost a little bit uncomfortable if you want to know they're coming with it with a comment and sometimes that says he was doing those but they were doing him very skillfully, so it didn't feel like weird or anything. There's another thing I noticed that politicians do a lot and have obviously been some have been trained or some some haven't, is in the use of their hands. So you were using like different hand gestures and things they will when they're pressing Homecourt. I think this was the first person I possibly saw do with Tony Blair, where he used this gesture here so he was like pressing, you know, he's pressing on the point Other other things that I know you work with politicians as well as speakers are the things that you teach them in terms of what they do with, with the hands themselves. Mark Bowden Yeah, in fact, that's one of the main things that I concentrate on is, is what they do with their hands. Now, this gesture here, which actually I would say, Bill Clinton was probably the best known for Yeah, and, and what this was about was his trainers, trying to stop him pointing, there's nothing wrong with pointing, it just might get you a result that you don't want, it can feel aggressive at times. So what they did was swap it for this. My problem with this is this isn't a gesture that anybody ever uses in real life. If you think about, you know, for those those out there watching and listening, think if you've got kids, When was the first time you saw your kid do this gesture? Well, they don't. Yeah, they might do this one for sure. A fist. Yeah, that's, that's an instinct or instinctual gesture, but this one isn't. So we always look at politicians doing this gesture and kind of go, what do they do? What are they What are they meaning by this, and actually, its meaning has become one of Oh, you're a politician. So I actually guide my clients away from these gestures, and more towards suddenly open hand gestures. You know, rather than point I'd rather they cut like this in, because again, this shows no tools, no weapons, nothing in my hands to harm you. So again, if I just kind of show you, those, those gestures from from back here, you'll be able to see these open palm gestures here probably feel more inclusive, inclusive of you, calmer, more assertive, the moment I change to these fist like gestures, with that pointy thumb, I become a lot more aggressive, naturally. And I don't know whether this is really helping me make contact with you, the audience? So let me just swap back to these gestures here. And my guess is you probably feel me calming down a little bit becoming calmer and assertive, my voice patterns slowing down slightly. So you know, again, I would I would bring my clients back to that idea of the the open palm gestures and, and generally open body language. And what about the use of anchoring when it comes to body language, so James Taylor you'll hear a lot of speakers, they will use phrases, there is a way of anchoring an audience. And I've seen like people that maybe like Tony Robbins would be the first one that comes to mind off the top my head, he has a, he has a certain couple of little gestures, like one was he does this thing here. And there's a couple of gestures. So what any suggestions for maybe the speakers that are watching this just now who they kind of see these things? And they're unsure, you know, should I be using these maybe the the high point of my speech? Should I be adding an anchor? Or is it just not going to work? Is it going to backfire on me, Mark Bowden I would use bigger anchors To be honest, I would anchor yourself to parts of the stage, rather than specific gestures. So let's just do a simple idea here, let's have a good part of the stage and a bad part of the stage make it really binary. Yeah. And the bad part of the stage is all our old behaviors that we used to do. And the good part of the stage is the behaviors that we're going to move towards just and I'm just having the context here, if you're trying to do some kind of behavioral change with the audience, maybe you're trying to get them to change some patterns in their life or sell better or lead better. And we could talk about, so again, we could talk about the old way that we were leading over here somewhere. And then I could maybe anchor these these behaviors, even to some body language, which is a little more in what I call the grotesque plane. So hands down by your side. And look, there was nothing wrong with these behaviors that you were doing in the past, it was maybe just not getting you the results that you wanted, and these old patterns, but are now starting to think about some of the new behaviors we can start to do. And I started thinking about how exciting those could be, you know how they could really move your life forward. So I'd like you to choose these behaviors. Now. Look, there was nothing wrong with these ones over here. But were they really getting you the great results that you needed. Let's think about changing over to these new behaviors more exciting for sure. And certainly, they'll get you the results that you want. So in that I'm just anchoring to to really specific points. And when it comes to question time, for example, and the audience want to ask me questions about this, I might anchor back To those, again, to create the states that I've set up the state of excitement over here, maybe, and the state of, you know, not bad behavior, but just not getting you the results that you want. I think those kind of big stage movements are a lot clearer than going for sometimes quite delicate and specific gestures, which might be harder for some of the audience to see. James Taylor Yeah, I mean, that reminds me that those kind of smaller ones, I saw someone do it recently. And and I think there's actually, I think cults used to do this, which he said something along that I came up with the present said, but he said something along the lines of, so you can do it my way, or you could do it the other way. But whichever way you're going to choose, I know you could do the right direction and vary. And it was like, Oh, it was like really horrible. And I don't know if we were just me noticing it, but it just felt like not right. But I'm wondering as well, when I when I speak on stage, there's one keynote I gave what I actually want, for the first 10 minutes, I actually want it to be a bit confused on purpose, because I'm burning tension in my talk. So how can we use body language to create a little bit of like, we talked about cognitive dissonance, you know, so we can use our body, in addition to what we're saying and creating that confusion. Where's he going with? What's happening with this? Well, you can actually do that with your body as well. Mark Bowden Yeah, for sure. So all you need to do is asymmetrical gestures, especially one that will be around the head. Yeah. And you can circle your hands as well during this in different ways. And the more you start to take the hands away from the head as you're doing that, the more confused people will get. Because they can't quite tell which side you're on. Yeah, so asymmetrical gestures For a start, move the hands around. Yeah, and move them away from the head. And then what you'd want to do is bring the hands symmetrical, as to when you want to make your clear point. Now actually, Donald Trump does this brilliantly. Yeah, he's a real genius, at being able to confuse people. And he'll go, you know what, and they've got this idea. And this idea, it's just not gonna work, it's just not gonna work, because they just don't know what they're doing what they're doing at all. But here's what we're going to do. And then he'll come symmetrical. Yeah. So watch out for for Trump during that you may not agree with his politics. But it's great watching his body language, because there's a great deal that he does absolutely on purpose, in order to get you to feel like what he's saying is delicate and intelligent. And then to be able to confuse you, as well, and then be able to bring you to a point that maybe actually isn't very logical, but you're by it, because the body language is now clear behind it. So I think that's one way of confusing people. And the other the other way is to, is to not, not finish patterns of behavior. So to so to do stuff that that confuses people, because you're, you're alarming them as to something's going on, but you don't quite know what it is. Now, this might disturb them too much, by the way. James Taylor And I think you see actors use that when they're in character for certain things, if they want to get across that sense of being a little bit manic. And they'll do those movements and not complete things. And it's, and it's very jarring, Mark Bowden right? Right, I'll often use it as well, if I want to alert the audience that something is about to happen, I'll often think, Oh, I want to I want to write this down. And I'll look for look for where I've put my pen or something. And then I'll make the statement. And suddenly they get they've locked onto me, because all of these movements triggered them that there might be a predator around. And so their instinctual mind goes, Oh, we better watch what's happening, what's happening, what's happening, what's happening, or something definite is happening now. So incomplete gestures, then going to complete gestures will fulfill an audience, even if your content doesn't fulfill them completely. James Taylor So these these techniques, your your, you teach, and you talk about and you write about, you know, they're very powerful. And I'm guessing they can be used for harm, as well. So, you know, as speakers where we're having to be quite alert to what other speakers are doing, and there's maybe some people, some speakers will go Actually, I'm not going to use that because that doesn't really fit with my, my codes, my way of doing things. I don't want people to feel those sensations or going to those places. So when people make that claim, he says, Listen, I don't think you should be teaching stuff because it feels manipulative in some way. What is your response to that? Mark Bowden Fine, don't use them. It's just nobody will listen to you and you won't get your point across. That's okay. I guess it wasn't important to you. I guess I guess, I guess you didn't actually. Because here's the problem is that other people will accidentally use these techniques and accidentally get their message across better than you. And that's unfortunate, because maybe you have an incredibly positive message. But you're not prepared to put on the behaviors that will get your message across, right, this whole idea of build it and they will come, No, they won't, they'll stay at home, that watch the TV TVs great James Taylor is the default position. Really, as you mentioned, at the start, not to do Mark Bowden right, the default position is I'll just be myself and people will, you know, gravitate towards me? No, they won't. I guarantee it, they won't, you have to have something of an element of charisma, which is focused behavior on purpose. And you can do that nobody's born with charisma, they learn it, they learn it, because they know it has the effect that they want. So I would say you need to use behaviors on purpose in order to influence and persuade people, because as a speaker, it is your job to persuade them, that is your function to influence and persuade other people. Otherwise, they will spend their life how they've always been spending it, which is not with you, not with your content. Now you need to gather more audience around you. And therefore, you must influence and persuade and manipulation is, is part of that MIT manipulation comes from Latin Manny, which just means hands, just means it just means you're molding the world. And we do it unconsciously, all the time. We mold the world with our language. Just listen what I did that. I said, we do that all the time. And my guess is, is everybody's head nodding, going. Yeah, we do that all the time. I don't know, do we I've not tested it. Maybe we don't. But look how I manipulated the world unconsciously there by using the the idea of all the time. James Taylor And I think some of those some of those great speakers will talk about some, like, you know, inspiring people that you find very inspiring speakers and what they're what they're doing. I think many of them maybe they haven't, they haven't learned it in a in a set way in terms of these skills and these techniques, but they've maybe studied under someone, or they've trained or they become, I mean, I think about friends of mine that are great speakers. And they've studied it will be like Martin Luther King. So you'll notice things going on there. Or they'll like a zig ziglar and and maybe in the motivation award and you'll you pick up lots of little things there. Their phrasing is going to be different. But there's things that are going on the body language, because they've obviously been in the room, they've watched that person work the room and subconsciously, something's happened there. Mark Bowden Sure. So it's it's always learned behavior, we just often don't know how they learnt it. And sometimes they don't know how they learnt it. But we can learn it. I mean, I teach it. Yeah, I teach it because it must be liked by anybody wanting to lead, it must be learned. And it must be conscious. Because if it's not conscious, how do you know you can do it tomorrow? How do you a great today? What are you just going to leave it up to luck, that you're good tomorrow, that you're great tomorrow, I don't think it's fair on an audience to leave your level of performance to luck. I think you have to study and train as much as you can, in order to make as much of it as possible. Under your conscious control. James Taylor I think you know, we're talking here about a lot about the audience how the audience perceives you as a speaker. But in terms of those done those body movements and things that you do with your body, is also I think a lot about anchoring you into those positive states that you want to in order to give your best when you go go up there on stage. And obviously sports people they use this all the time, they're very, very good at knowing there's any, they they work through these loops, and they they do certain things before they they go out to the track and see speakers do that. Sometimes it's a little strange quirks and things that they have, they feel that they have to otherwise it's just, it's just a way of being before they go on stage. Mark Bowden So sometimes I don't get why why people are so you know, anti putting on behaviors. Because they don't mind when 100 meter runner does their warm up routine, which is not their innate behavior. They've decided those behaviors in order to get the best performance. And and nobody goes without really inauthentic what they're doing right now why don't they just run, you know, just if they just ran? No, they know you can't just run and win. You have to choose really specific behaviors within the running and really train in those specific areas. In order that when you get to the point of performance when you're up against others, that you stand the best chance of being the best performer, they're nobody on the 100 meter track is doing innate running. They're trained runners, James Taylor and I think they want to win is that that, you know, that word elite gets used, and people are very comfortable about using elite for athletes, maybe elite in music and classical music, for example. But when you talk about elite speakers, or that feels, you know, people kind of get a little bit strange about about that word. Mark Bowden Yeah, I'm with you on that. Because I get a little I get a little bit a little bit worried by people going, Well, I want to be an elite speaker, but I just want to be me. Well, if it was about being you, you'd already be it. You just show up and like a crowd would just form around you, you would have this natural magnetism where you just show up. And so it's not about that, you have to create a set of behaviors, which I believe is about you being way more than you. So not about you being authentic. It's about you choosing your greatest behaviors and amping those up to a level whereby you're irresistible. Yeah, where it costs you, because it's you. But it's the most extra ordinary you. And I think people often go well, to be authentic, I just got to be the ordinary may, I guarantee nobody will show up for the ordinary. Yeah. James Taylor And I think you know, friends of mine, that actually a friend of mine, who was the manager for Taylor Swift, the music artist, and she would have a coach, you'd have multiple should have vocal coach, you'd have a dance, you know, choreography coach, but she also had a performance coach, who would would know in terms of our set, and I think, you know, when I speak with people to hear the speakers as well, or watching or listening to this, your, your, your keynote, your hour long keynote, a 90 minute keynote is a set in that way. And so Taylor's coach there, they would work out the story of this the arc of the of the performance, and he would say, this point here, when you do this, you need to be in this point in the stage, you need to be doing this this movement, you need to be you know, and it was very well, and obviously, for an audience's standpoint, it just feels, you know, it's all about that word authentic. I'll be Will you maybe use that word about something he or she just heard you just heard, right, but huge amount of craft, there's a huge amount of going on backstage and also with our coaches. So when you work with speakers, unported, how do they How do they you end up kind of working with them? What's the usual way that you can operate together? Is it like a Skype coaching sessions? Or do you come together and huddle for a couple of days? Do they send in videos? How does it work? Mark Bowden Yeah, so if it's if it's politicians, for example, I will be part of their team. And I'll be working with strategists, you know, people, pollsters, and strategists. So here's what we're trying to work out. What do we need people to feel in order for them to vote and for that politician to win. And, and, and it's not about what everybody needs to feel, there's only a few people that matter. There's only within the systems, the democratic systems, actually not everybody is equal, some people matter more than others, simply because of the system that's been set up. So you're really interested in who matters most, what do they need from a leader? And therefore, what would your leader have to do in order for them to feel innately that that is the leader for them? Now, here's the thing with politics is, the point is to win. There's no second place. You don't nobody cheers you when you come in second, actually, what happens is, is history forgets you, you won't even remember the name of the person that came in second. So you have to win. And so you will perform whatever you need to perform in order to win. So I'm pretty much there choreographing helping them understand, here's the behavior that will provoke those people to feel like you are the right person for them. Now, let's talk about that in terms of manipulation. Unless you actually turn out to be the right person, they will have what's called buyer's remorse, and they will dislike you intently. So, so you can lie. That's okay. You can put on the behaviors that lie, just lying is for the lazy because you will get found out in the end, maybe not this year, maybe not next year, maybe five years down the line, you'll get found out for lying, and they'll say we're disappointed in you to the extent that will make your life a misery right now, and then they will for sure. So So really, that's the work that I do is is where, you know, just as you were saying with that Taylor Swift idea. We're looking at what do we want the audience to feel? And what what do we have to do in order to For them to feel like that. And then we do that. And we don't just do it once we do it again and again and again and again. And again, it's about the repetition. And we don't try anything else. We don't go, Well, why don't we add a little, you know, nuance of this and a little bit of that we just go, No, we've got one thing that we're doing, and we're just gonna do it repetitively. So that that audience's mind really knows what they're buying into. Does that, does that make some sense to you jokes? James Taylor Yeah, I mean, that. So you have, what's going on there is is that the body version of what cam strategist will do where they'll have a set number of phrases. And they know that it's the only know that is really working as being repeated time and time again, when not only is a strategist and everyone, their team completely fed up with the phrase, the media is completely fed up with a phrase, but only when you start hearing people repeat in the general public repeat that phrase. And so you're doing a similar thing with it with the body language. And I guess we're this relates to speakers is often speakers will have their, their, their story that shortly, depending on the size of your keynote, it could be a short version, it could be elongated version. And I've seen a lot of very good speakers do they will have that story. And it's the same story, which they've been saying for 15 years. Yep. And they will tweak things here and there, but the same one, and, and there's one person I know, in particular, very successful speaker and I said, can't get fed up telling a story. And he said, Well, it's a bit like having your hit as an art, you know, you know, if you go there, and you have to give that you get that hit. Because in that room, there will be people that have never heard that before. And also, some of these people might only get to hear you maybe two or three times. So you want to make sure that wherever they're leaving with it that's like ringing in their ear, they absolutely can say one thing is that that story is that if that's life story, or whatever the pieces that you want, there's a lot of a lot of similarities there with politicians. Mark Bowden I think that's absolutely true. And just just to talk a little bit on that speaker point of, of the speaker coming up with new material, I hear this from many, many speakers that I that I work with, or who are colleagues of mine, and clients will come to you. And they'll say, Oh, you know, can you do a little bit different? We got some ideas for some different content for you. And and what you do is to go Oh, yeah, that's really Oh, yeah, I could do some of that. That's great. Yeah, I'll fit some of that in. And then you go on, and you do the same as you've always done, because they didn't want anything different. They just want it to be heard. But they want like you say they want the hits. The reason they want you back is because they've seen the hit that you've done, and they want that for their audience. I've played the same audiences time and time again. And I do the same stuff. And they come and they go, God was so different this time. And I know it wasn't, I know it was the same. It's just now they've got even more relaxed with me even more used to me, they're seeing the different levels in the speech, they're actually able to pick out more nuance, but I haven't changed anything about it. So I think, you know, when you have got a really great narrative, and you've got a really great performance, and you've got great content, one of the keys then it's just a stick with it. And just to you know, if you ever been to a to a music concert, where, you know, somebody's playing one of their hits, but because they've got bored with it, they've decided to change it in some way. They've changed the tempo. They've got a different you know, they've decided they'll, it's like going to see the police and sting gets like, bored with this stuff. And he decides to do some of his songs, you know, not with a reggae beat and on a lute. It's like, Oh, really? James Taylor Yeah, I Mark Bowden really wanted to the police. I didn't want sting. Singing, you know, so only as a ballad James Taylor on a lute. You feel a bit disappointed by that Mark Bowden disappointed James Taylor so the end of this everyone's gonna get that loot album by sting. album. Like Dominic Miller apology, he's the guitar player of his thing. So hopefully, more people want to reach out to you many of our speakers here because they want to work with someone like you on on the coaching side and just improve what they're doing with their their body language. What's the best way for them to connect with you? Mark Bowden Sure, just go to the truth plain sight. So that's ww truth plain comm tr u th, p L, a n a truth claim calm. You'll see a contact form on one of the pages. Just drop me a line on that. And I'll get back to you really quickly or find me on Facebook or find me on Twitter. Just put in the word truth plain, and you'll get me some way James Taylor somehow. Mark, thank you so much as always, it was a fascinating experience. talking with you. I always learn so much. Thank you so much for coming on the summit. I wish You all the best with your own speaking because you're very busy speaker yourself and I know you're working on your next book at the moment so all the best of that I look forward to seeing you on a stage really soon. Mark Bowden Yeah I hope to be with you on a stage sometime that'll be that'll be great and thanks for thanks for speaking with me and thanks audience for joining in really appreciate it. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

Active Shooter And Threats to Event Safety James Taylor interviewed Carol Cambridge and they talked about Active Shooter And Threats to Event Safety In today's episode Carol Cambridge talked about, Active Shooter And Threats to Event Safety. Carol Cambridge is CEO of The Stay Safe Project, an international conference speaker and workplace violence expert. She is on a mission to help people and organizations stay safe by being prepared and taking action from a place of strength not from a place of fear. Her career began as a communication specialist in emergency services and disaster preparedness with a Canadian Law Enforcement Agency. Today, 25 years later, Carol has taught over a quarter of a million people how to make good decisions. Highly profiled for her expertise, she is constantly sought by media for comments when workplace shootings and tragedies occur. Carol has been interviewed by ABC, NBC, USA Today, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation & News Channel Asia in Singapore. What we cover: Emergency planning for events Active-shooters and terrorism at live events Working with local enforcement Resources: Carol's Website Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/active-shooter-and-threats-to-event-safety-sl095/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey there, it's James Taylor, and I'm delighted today to be joined by Carol Cambridge. Carol Cambridge is CEO of the state safe project and international conference speaker and a workplace violence expert. She is on a mission to help people and organizations stay safe by being prepared and taking action from a place of strength, not a place of fear. Her career began as a communication specialist in emergency services and disaster preparedness with a Canadian law enforcement agency. Today 25 years later, Carol has taught over a quarter and a quarter million people how to make good decisions and credible number highly profiled for our expertise. She is constantly sought after by media for comments when workplace shootings and tragedies occur. Carol has been interviewed by ABC, NBC, USA Today Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and news channel Asia in Singapore. It's my great pleasure to have Carol join us today. So welcome, Carol, Carol Cambridge thank you. My pleasure to join you this morning, James. James Taylor So share with everyone what's going on in your world just now. What are you currently working on at the moment? Carol Cambridge I guess more than anything, the inquiries I get are all around active shooters, workplace violence in general, things that we didn't see years ago, we're starting to see and it's becoming almost commonplace. I hate to actually acknowledge that or to say that, but it is becoming more commonplace, especially with event planners, they're dealing with things in the last year, so that weren't even on their radar five years ago. So across all industries, I would say increase in violence increase in workplace safety, security issues. And active shooter is probably the biggest concern, at least in the United States. And I think globally, people are starting to wake up and think, Hey, we have time now to get prepared to take whatever steps necessary to maybe not be able to eliminate but to reduce the risk of that ever happening. James Taylor Yeah, I know where I'm speaking to you from today, here in the UK, you know, obviously terrorism has been a strong, you know, a big one for many, many years and thinking about and preparing for those as there's incredible work that's gone into around that. But in the US, obviously gun crime is a bigger issue. And we've seen some terrible occurrences recently as well. And you're I know, you're often brought on to like news channels and TV shows to do that. Do you ever feel sometimes I really wish I wasn't having to go back on and do these do these interviews? Because you know, you're having to? I know you're having to do, unfortunately, you have to do a lot of them in a bad sense. Carol Cambridge Absolutely. And, you know, it's very sad. There's a recent study been done out of the University of Alabama, that shows when there is one bad incident like this, that almost always within a two week period following there will be another severe incident, whether that's in the UK, in Europe somewhere, whether that's in the United States, but you know, my phone rings, I have more interviews, I have people that wake up to the possibilities. So the unfortunate part for me is every time there's a terrible incident, anywhere in the world, my phone starts to ring. James Taylor Let's talk about how you came into this industry. I mentioned you worked in law enforcement and helping those kind of agencies as well. When did it when did the more the events side start for you? When did that all begin? Carol Cambridge Well, I moved to the United States from Canada about 24 years ago. And when I started into this business, I just saw that there was a hole, I guess, in both corporate america and then probably just five, six years ago, really in the events industry started to realize that that event planners just weren't prepared. And this is happening more and more. When I get hired to do. I do an active shooter keynote, which I know sounds a little odd to do a keynote on an active shooter, but we actually do a couple of mock drills. And when I get hired to do something like that, I have something that I send out to my client to help the event. planter, from the point of insurance to talking to where the the event is going to be located, whether that's a conference center or a hotel, but really where they can combine forces. And what I realized going through this is that most event planners are just not aware at all of the potential for violence or what their role should be in this, I think the UK and is probably further ahead. In this area, the United States is getting there, but other countries are really far far behind and smaller events, event planners who are maybe running conferences for 150 people or 200. People, they have less knowledge of what preparation that they need to be concerned about James Taylor is one of the reasons I was so keen to get to get you on here, because I just feel it's such a, it's such an important issue at this point as well. We're seeing obviously more and more occurrences of this happening as well. And also with the the nature of this event, we're doing just that as a global event. So I you know, I know that frozen in the US and and also in the UK, they're really at the forefront of some of these things as well. But I wanted to get him get your knowledge to as many people as possible because it could potentially save lives as well, when you were starting in this business of actually talking about these things, especially to meeting professionals, event professionals. Was there any other kind of mentors or any other people you saw during that time that we were doing this work? Or did you have to kind of forge your own path, Carol Cambridge I think it really forged my own path. When I first started doing this, I almost had to twist people's arms. And even now I just spoke with a bureau speaker's bureau this morning, and let her know that I have a last minute booking. And I know she had a couple of people who maybe couldn't afford me. But I thought if I'm there locally, maybe we could work out a deal. And she said, I can't understand why I'm not booking you three or five times a day. She said everybody needs this. But in the event planning industry, there's a little bit of denial going on. I think people there's two reasons I think people are in denial, they're afraid that if they address these issues, or they address them with their audiences that they're going to create fear with the audience. And then I think secondly, they think that this is a negative or a downer, you know, as a professional speaker, and presenter as you are, we know how to work with audiences, I know how to take a traumatic topic, a topic, that could be a real downer, but I make it, I almost hesitate to use the word fun. But it's very experiential. And audiences say they have fun, I'm constantly coming back as one of the highest rated, and it isn't because necessarily what I'm doing. But the way I choose to set up the program, it's extremely experiential, it, there's not a talking head, I'm not the talking head, everybody is involved, and everybody plays a role. And so I think that's what makes it exciting. And, and attendees learn better that way. So I'm starting to see where some event planners are getting more and more calls, even in the last month, from event planners who are more open to let's get our staff trained, let's get our people trained, because if something does go wrong at one of our events, we do have some liability there. James Taylor Now we're gonna get into some more specifics in a minute. But one of the stats that I heard and I came up with you told me or maybe it was one of one of my speaking colleagues was this 10 8010 rule where this, I think they said it was, in the case of an event, basically, 10% of people will actually actively do something to help and to get things happening. 80% will do nothing, unless they're given instructions from either the keynote speaker on stage or someone there. And actually not and 10% will almost actively see the wrong things to do. And actually, you know, get missed, not intentional misdirection, but they're doing things which are not helpful to deal with that situation as well. So when you're first talking to going in and speaking to audiences about that, let's say if you're if you're in a in a room, you're speaking in a room, what are some of the first little things that the you kind of bring their mind to and bring their attention to? Carol Cambridge Well, you're totally right. 80% do nothing and 80% do nothing from the perspective that they don't know what to do. So people aren't freezing out of fear. They're freezing because we haven't trained ourselves. We don't have messages in our brain as to what to do. So when I'm first with an audience, and let's say we're talking about an active shooter incident, I'll actually run a drill probably five to seven minutes, maybe after I start. And I actually watch everybody, there's some warnings that I give to people. Of course, I don't want anybody who might be susceptible to a heart attack or anybody who's dealing with emotional illness or PTSD. I give them warning. So I never surprised an audience with an active shooter drill. But what I do is I allow them to do everything wrong. The meeting players don't even really know what's going to happen. They just know that I'm going to let everybody do what's wrong. And if you think about it, most of us as adults have been trained, for instance, what to do, if there's a fire alarm, what do we do we get up, we orderly leave the room, most participants will leave the room in exactly the same manner that they entered. So they don't bother to look around at the other exits in the room, they don't know what's behind closed doors. So they go out in a very orderly fashion. Well, if it's an orderly fashion, and you're stacked up at a door, and you have an active shooter that you don't know where they are, all of a sudden, that person is going to take out a lot of people, a lot of folks are going to be injured or killed. So then when I bring people back in, we actually have the conversation, and we do a debriefing. And the number one thing that people will say to me is, I just left the room, I didn't even think to look to see if I could find a shooter. I didn't, I didn't know I could have been running right into him. So several things that happen, people go out the doors, because they don't know anywhere else we don't. We're not aware of situational awareness, we don't pay attention to what else is going on around us. Secondly, we follow the crowds. We do what everybody else is doing. Or Thirdly, the people do your third point that that other 10% takes actions that they probably shouldn't. In this example, many people will pull a fire alarm because they think, Oh, I need to I need to be the hero here. I'm going to warn other people, it's done with great intent. Even meeting planners will pull a fire alarm. Well, what do most of us do? If we're in a hotel venue and Conference Center, and you hear a fire alarm? What normally happens, James, we sit back and we wait, don't waste it. James Taylor And as you're saying that one of the things I'm I'm thinking of just now is, you know, that happens. And I'm wondering here, what the role of not just the event planner, let's say before and doing things there. But what is potentially the role of the keynote speaker, maybe the person that's up on stage or has that microphone at that point, because that's that's a pretty powerful position to have to be in when something like that happens. And you could go either way there. Carol Cambridge Absolutely. We saw that in the horrific Las Vegas shooting that just happened within the last month, the band when they realized that there was shots being fired, the band turned off all the lights, well, then there was great controversy. What do we do? Do we shine the lights? Do we turn them on? Does that make people an easier target for that active shooter? Or do we turn the lights towards the active shooter? Well, in that particular incident, it wouldn't have made a difference. But when you're in a controlled environment, like a meeting space, it really is up to the speaker who has control of the mic to give some directions. We often can see better from the platform, we have a better view, we're often on risers, and we can see the room, we can give advice to people. Here's the biggest issue though. Many speakers don't go into the room and see what's behind those closed doors. Are they fire exits are those doors locked? So I think as a part of this, speakers, event planners, vendors, the facility managers themselves, we all need to start working together and create some checklists. And I do have some checklists for your listeners if they want to email me for that, on creating a safer event. And these will be really important for speakers as well. Some of the information on there is not only going to be what, what we do as professionals to help get people out of the room. But what kinds of things can they do up front in preparation for along with, you know, when do they hire executive protection? When do they bring in law enforcement? Do you have them in plain clothes Do you have them in uniform, and there's lots of different reasons that you would want people in to appear differently, and this white paper I have is going to address many of those issues that they need to look at. So that we, as speakers and event planners, we're not getting caught by all of these blind spots that we have. James Taylor So that's interest, you know, in that role in terms of trying to get as much as many things planned upfront as possible. I'm interested to hear also from the speakers, I know, a lot of speakers are attending this, and I've been in situations where I'll be speaking at an event and where I've had a meeting beforehand with one of the team, and there's been certain, I've been taught about certain kind of code words and certain things in the case of emergency that will be said and, and other procedures, but I would say, it's pretty rare, you know, it's a relatively low number that that's ever that's ever happened to me. Most of the time, you know, you're not, you know, you're you have your AV check, and, and your your PowerPoint presentation, and kind of you sit in the greenroom and you go up and do your thing there as well. So, what should you know, because this is a this is a point that other speakers we can take about a leadership stage here as well. What should we be asking those those? Those people are booking us, either on our pre event calls? Or when we get on site itself? What are some of the questions that we should be asking to ensure that we have at least you know, we think about the entirety of our job, this is another part of our job that we need to really have locked down? You know, that's Carol Cambridge a great question. And it sparked some interest in me, I think I need to write an article about exactly what speakers can do. Let me share with you a couple of questions I asked. I want to know if the association I'm speaking to or the event planner, do they know anything? Do they know or anticipate protesters of any kind. Even if it's a corporate event, I've had corporate events where the corporation is launching a new product, and perhaps word has gotten out that there may be something in that product, for instance, that that might cause cancer? Well, an event planner, a speaker, we would never think of asking that question. So we have to think and ask that the event plant planner to check back with a client. Is there anything that would create a protest? Is there anything that would cause problems here? Give me another example. We have we had a 21 year old woman shot dead at was it Hannover, Germany James Taylor at a wedding? I say Carol Cambridge to event planners, if it's a wedding asked do you expect an ex husband and ex boyfriend and ex girlfriend to show up and cause problems? So as speakers, we asked that question as well. Do you anticipate any protesters? Do you expect anything negative to happen as a result of this? I often asked the planner. Have you connected with the hotel with the convention center? Do you have an emergency plan in place? And does that include a plan in terms of active shooter? Most of them will have a plan in place, but they have a plan. If something goes wrong with the AV or somebody gets injured or someone has a heart attack? I want to know Do they have communications? Have they spoken with local law enforcement? If I know that there's the potential for protesters, I take it upon myself to call law enforcement, I will call the police chief in the area that I'm speaking ahead of time and have that conversation with them on a personal level. So I want to know what what they anticipate for problems. James Taylor So you know, just as you as you're saying that, and I'm thinking I mean, one of the things as we start to talk about this area, so many other kind of follow up questions happen as well, because you start you know, you think about, well, what's in this kit, and so it can feel it can feel a little bit overwhelming, because this is another thing that, you know, we have to think about. And we have to develop, you know, if there was if there was someone's has an event, let's say they've got an event coming up very, very soon, ie within the next few weeks, you know, what are the two or three things that you should be absolutely ensuring if they don't have a huge amount of prep time, but they have some prep time that they should be ensuring that they have together? Carol Cambridge Yeah, I want to know where the exits are. I want to know ahead of time very often I actually asked the event planner to send me a copy of the room that I'll be speaking in. And so I actually can see where the exits are. If I have any issues, any problems with that I can find out from the hotel or the conference room. I want to know what safety briefings they are going to give or they expect me to give, usually as a keynoter, it's someone before us that gives that information, but I want to know if they address these issues at all. And I give them guidance. I say to them, if you're going to deliver this deliberate in a matter of fact way, just like the safety briefings on an airplane, we're not terrified when we hear those safety briefings, we shouldn't be terrified. And we shouldn't be terrifying anybody in our audience with a safety briefing. But I do think it's very important these days that we do take the time to ensure that either we or the event plan or whoever's introducing us, gives that information to our audiences. So that's a question I would make sure up, will you be informing people where the emergency exits are and where they should go in the event of a problem? And I also think, if we have, the most important question we can ask is, do they expect protesters? Do they expect tourism? are we speaking in an area that is dangerous? Any of those things, then would lead me to the next question? Will you have executive protection on site in the form of off duty law enforcement? Will they be dressed in suits? Will they have a uniform on, I want to know who I can count on to help me in the event of an emergency. James Taylor So most events will have some kind of event insurance. Our insurance company is really starting to kind of catch up with this and ensuring that when they're there, they have someone that's looking to get cover of some sort of that the ensure that they have some plan in place some in terms of looking at different risks and have some preparedness in place. Or is I'm even insurances companies maybe perhaps coming in to help provide some of that, that that training, because I know there's, this is an area that's relatively on spoken about. Obviously, event security is often more spoken about. But things like this is less spoken about, using insurance companies may be stepping up to the plate, a little bit, Carol Cambridge not a lot, it's new to them, it's a new area, they really just have started in the last year to 18 months addressing workplace violence type issues. But I haven't seen too much in the event planning portion of it, I think we are going to see more and more of that. And I think when we have I spoke earlier about a controlled environment, that's an inside environment like a ballroom, when you have an outdoor event, that's I think, where insurance are much more concerned insurance companies are then stepping up to the plate. Because there's a much higher risk and a much higher vulnerability in any kind of an outdoor event. James Taylor So let's get to this maybe some slightly lighter things now as well. I know you're always speaking your your keynote, speaking all over the place. Just now you're attending events all over the place. Are there any any apps or online tools or resources you find really useful to help you do the work that you do, especially when you're having to travel and speak all these different events? Carol Cambridge You don't none that I can think of? And that gives me a great idea. Maybe that's something I need to invent. But no, I don't know of anything online as a tool at this point, that's going to make that effective. James Taylor And what about I know whenever I go to speak events, there's there's a couple of things that are always in my bag, I never go to any event without having to mobike you know, for me, it's like my clickers. And there's a couple of other things I have other any things that you take to events and bearing in mind, because you understand the safety, the security side a little bit more than most of us, as well as anything that you have maybe have in there that most people probably don't have. And they when they go to an event, Carol Cambridge you know, nothing I take with me. But here's the thing, because I'm familiar with it, I would even know how to lock a door. If you think about it, if you were at an event and you got when that there was an active shooter at the at the conference center, but your people are safe inside there, we need to secure the doors. And most of those event doors, they're just push handles to get quick access. We don't they're not set up so that we can lock those doors from the inside. But very quickly, I would be able to say to people from the platform, who's got a belt, grab your belt, undo them, you can tie them, secure them, lock them, you can put tables up against those doors. Part of it is how do you secure the doors quickly. So I don't think that I actually bring anything with me other than the knowledge of how you could quickly secure yourself and keep the audience safe and attempt to head hide some of those audience members in that secure space. James Taylor If people you know they want to maybe go a little bit further into it maybe to to kind of bring you out to their event or maybe their their their they need some consulting or maybe they they actually apartment Association, it's just really use someone like you coming in where's the best place to go to? To find out about that, Carol Cambridge you can go directly to my website, which is www the stay safe project.com is probably the easiest way I get notified within seconds of somebody sending a message that way, and happy to help happy to offer some consulting to help planners figure out what they need to do and what some of their blind spots may be. James Taylor Well, Carol, it's been an absolute pleasure speaking to you today, I think this is a this area is going to be something that people will be talking about a lot more I know as a speaker, just speaking to you and learning from you is incredibly valuable, because we never know if we're going to be in a situation we may have to use some of this this information as well. So thank you so much for coming on. And also thank you so much for the work that you're doing and helping training event professionals in this area. Carol Cambridge Well, I sure appreciate your time. And thank you for the idea. Now I'm going to go back to work and I'm going to include in that safer or creating a safer event I'm going to write down a list of things that speakers can do to keep people safe so thank you for putting that idea into my head. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

What Speakers Can Learn From Miles Davis James Taylor interviewed Jeff Ponders and they talked about What Speakers Can Learn From Miles Davis In today's episode Jeff Ponders talked about, What Speakers Can Learn From Miles Davis. Jeffery Ponders is a keynote speaker, tech entrepreneur and jazz musician who helps organizations and individuals unlock their best performance. Previously he has led marketing and innovation strategy for leading brands such as Walmart, Campbell', and General Motors. Today, using a mix of live performance, real-world stories, and techniques from jazz masters, he helps teams develop underutilized talents, boldly tackle challenges, and collaborate more effectively to discover their big ideas and achieve results. What we cover: Reaction vs Response What speakers can learn from Miles Davis Phrasing and rhythm Resources: Jeff Ponders's Website Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/what-speakers-can-learn-from-miles-davis-sl094/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey there, it's James Taylor. And I'm delighted today to be joined by Jeff Ponders, Jeff Ponders, is a keynote speaker, tech entrepreneur and jazz musician who helps organizations and individuals unlock their best performance. Previously, he has led marketing and innovation strategy for leading brands such as Walmart, Campbell's and General Motors today using a mixture of live performance, real world stories and techniques from jazz masters. He helps teams develop under utilized talents, boldly tackle challenges, and collaborate more effectively discover their big ideas and achieve results. my great pleasure to have Jeff join us today. So welcome, Jeff. Jeff Ponders Thanks so much, James. It's a pleasure to be here. James Taylor So share with everyone what's going on in your world just now. Oh, wow, Jeff Ponders there's a whole lot going on right now. So wrapping up into really kicking this speaking platform off using jazz to help others unlock performance, which is a ton of fun. For me, it's given that up and playing professionally. I'm kind of I'm not that old, but almost 30 years. James Taylor Early, what's what Jeff Ponders I have here back then I can tell you that about two feet shorter. Um, but so it's been a lot of fun to see the response to you know, bringing a saxophone on stage. And talking about the same concepts become proficient as a musician, not just not just proficient, but really become really good professional, as a musician, and how those same processes apply to the, to the professional world. And legitimately every professional. It's been a lot of fun. So watching that platform has been great. I'm releasing an album in the next two months. And that's been really exciting. So created an album called Spark, which is designed to actually spark creativity and performance, oddly enough. And so it's been an interesting journey. My family has been very supportive, because there have been a lot of late nights. That stated and also, my wife and I are expecting our third kid in a couple months. And so yeah, yeah, yeah, we are out here doing things. So you've got a lot, you've James Taylor got a lot going on just now in your life and your work. And let's take us back. How did you how did a jazz musician end up on stages as a keynote speaker, talk to us about that journey. And I split the interest as well, when you were making that transition into going on stages as a speaker as well, who are those mentors in your life? Jeff Ponders I guess, I think I can do an abbreviated version. So in 2007, I was watching PBS. Cuz you know, that's what guys do. We watch PBS Yep, which is when you're 24 years old. And so I'm watching PBS. And I see this guy playing jazz guitar. And like, just like playing the guitar. He's really good. Man. He went to Berkeley. And then turns out, he's an entrepreneur. He's running an agency and he's on a second startup, exit off the first one. I was like, that guy's amazing. I have to meet this guy. And literally the next week, unbeknownst to me, I end up in a rehearsal with him. And we and so for the last 11 years, we play music together. That guy is Josh Linkner, I think is actually on, on the conference as well. Josh is amazing. Josh is an amazing human being. And so literally, from the moment I met him, Josh has mentored me, through many phases of my life, everything from entrepreneurship to, you know, what does it mean, to be a good speaker wasn't mean to be a speaker who isn't just a professional. I've been an executive and agencies. And that's cool. And I've started companies. But I love music just as much as I love building value in a corporate setting. And what does it mean to bring all of yourself into whatever it is you do, and in finding ways to create value that don't leave you saying I left something on the table. So just been a great mentor. So that's that stated, I kind of went to the corporate world knowing that I wanted to play music, but also knowing that I was entrepreneurial. And so as I navigated the world of starting companies, making some money losing some money, at the same time playing music, it was always How can I find a way to merge my passions? And being a student of business models, and then obviously saying Josh's work and seeing folks like Michael gold, like, Hey, I can really take what I you know, that they're they're processing, there's science behind Music that has actually impacted who I am as a professional, I can even look back two lessons early in my career in marketing, where improvisation was a critical, critical component to being successful, you know, things never go exactly how you want them to go as much as you can plan. And I would never be shaken. Like, I could look at some of my teammates, just like, Oh, my God, this guy is fun. And I started recognizing that those those lessons were translating in ways that I just hadn't had paid attention to. And, you know, one of the things I think is really important is the idea of how do we how do we tackle failure? Because, you know, failure is anything in life that that that can throw us off. It's what happens when things go wrong. And I know as a musician, things may not be perfect, but they never go wrong. Yeah. And so how can I start from that? How can I take that if others do that, too, James Taylor it reminds me of there's a line which says, in jazz, there's no such thing as failure only opportunities is a very, is a very different mindset, because and knowing a lot of being involved, like you and I like being involved in jazz music for a long time as a jazz drummer, and having a father and a grandfather, both jazz musicians, there was there was always that sense of not only you know, did you learn from sleep, but sometimes you would actually put yourself in positions musically put yourself down avenues alleys, you weren't quite sure how you were going to get out of musically. And you were doing it live in front of an audience. So there was a there was a heightened sense of risk when you're Jeff Ponders doing it. Absolutely. Right. It's funny, Miles Davis has a quote, he said, fear no mistakes, there are none. And there's a really good story behind that with him and Herbie Hancock. And I believe that, you know, what we consider mistakes are really opportunities to create magic. I mean, imagine if you were talking about magic in real life, there's no, there's no, without suspense, magic isn't just somebody doing something. But it's that suspense that oh, my God, what's going to happen? On the embracing of risk that makes it real a powerful moment? It's, look, look what happened when we tackle this challenge. And then amazing things happened. James Taylor Now the audience can sense that as well. They can sense that whether you're a speaker, or whether you're a jazz musician, when you're taking those risks, and you're going, and it feels and it obviously is unique to every every performance. But I'm also guessing that you don't go in go into like a, like a speech, let's say you're giving a keynote or something going in there saying, I have no idea what I'm going to be saying today. You you have you have your you have your, your your ABA or your bridges, you have your thing. So tell me, I mean, what other things can speakers learn from how jazz musicians, they have this lightness of foot when they're when they're going into giving a performance? But at the same time, there's huge skill, huge practice behind there as well. And there is a structure even if you don't necessarily see it first. Absolutely right. It's Jeff Ponders funny. You know, I think there's a lot of fun, like white wall, calamity can kind of be seen by the audience, you never really know what's what's happening. I'm example, I did a keynote a couple of weeks ago. And when I started playing, my read crapped out. And so I listened back to the audio, and it sounded fine. But I know that I was handicapped in terms of what I was able to actually execute. But you never know that there were, there were bad things happening. And subsequently, as a musician, jazz musician at that, it was I see what's happening. I'm skilled enough to understand how to navigate these waters. So one of the cool things about improvisation, a lot of folks think that it's random action. And that's, it couldn't be farther from the truth. You can't be a good improviser without having a good basis of skills and techniques. In fact, improvisation is really the application of known skills and techniques and unknown circumstances. And so, you know, if you're an accountant, you you understand life or FIFO, and you understand how to navigate numbers. If you're a marketing person, you understand how to manipulate graphics or words. But what happens when constraints happen, that's effectively what a challenge is, there's a there's a new constraint. And when a constraint happens, you've got to be able to apply your skills, your experience and maturity mean, how you how you make decisions, in order to make the best decision in that moment to get to a better outcome. And in the James Taylor in those moments. Because I think about in terms of music and jazz, you're not really thinking it's it's there's there's difference between or you could be saying, I'm thinking I need to go to this next part. And I think you obviously see that with, with speakers, there's not really a they often are thinking but they're not thinking is a strange kind of, well, they're, they're, they're reacting. I don't know, I mean, what's your take on that? Because that feels like there needs to be this step beyond thinking that you need to get to in order to be able to express yourself. Jeff Ponders Absolutely. I mean, we could talk about muscle memory all day, but that's what I think about is the difference between reaction and response or reaction is, somebody happens to not flinch. Right. But a response that is a measure of thought behind it. You know, I think one of the things with music that's really powerful is this concept of listening. In fact, actually, I have a, I have a segment that I do about listening to the kind of talks about a variety of forms of listening, listen to yourself to understand what's happening with you, in the moment, listening to the folks around you so, so you understand how your team is, how your team what your team is doing. But also listening to the audience and see how they're responding to the product that you're presenting. And honestly, as a musician, listening is the most important skill. And so when you apply listening along with the actual skills that you develop, so what happens now is you're no longer reacting or you're not flinching. But there is thought that happens. It's just really, really fast. And the thought is based in experience, experience, knowledge and maturity, it's, I understand what this chord sounds like, I know, I naturally know because I've rehearsed enough, what types of patterns and scales work on top of that chord. And, you know, on one hand, because it's structure, I know what the chord progression is, I know where the music should be going. But because I'm listening, I know that the piano keyboard player who's actually laying the structure of the sound, he may do something different. And so I'm anticipating one thing, anticipation being thing, I'm, because I'm actively listening, I can hear when something else happens that allows that sparks a different type of idea. And again, because I'm responding, and I've got this, just Well, well founded skill set, I can in turn, go where the music is going to, James Taylor and that that unlike if you're playing in a jazz club with, you'll have a quartet, for example. So you've got other people on stage with you, a speaker is just you, usually, it's just you're on stage, so you're kind of having to use them the audience as, as your fellow band members is, it is a different relationship that goes on now. Jeff Ponders Absolutely. But it's funny, I will even look at it like this, that there's the audience and their meaning for this word, they're your best mirror. But there's also the technology, what happens when, when the slides go out? Right? I mean, you're you're, you're listening to your environment as well, what happens with the audio guy stops paying attention, and you can hear feedback or something like that. There's so many things are happening again, you're listening is just, it's your spatial awareness ultimately. And so you're pulling off of what you should be pulling off a lot of things not to mention me What happens if you're doing a speech and, and it's a huge, it's a huge ballroom and a bird is in there. Yeah. It's really random. But again, environmental, can you take that and make that and turn it into a magic moment? Again, it's not a mistake, but it's something that's happening and listening with your eyes at this point, and turn it into a magic moment for the audience. Because how often does the bird fly in your keynote? James Taylor Yeah, so there's other things I think about, like for speakers and jazz musicians. I mean, we hear you know, for example, I was I was, I think, in America, especially a lot of the great like, the zigzag was of this world of great speakers, I think of a lot of it comes from the frankly, the preaching tradition, the gospel tradition, in jazz obviously comes from gospel as it blues and gospel can have roots as well. So they use a lot of things like cold call and response gets used a lot with and musicians will use that between each other. They'll have little phrases that they'll copy. And then they'll take that phrase, almost like Mozart used to do a theme and variation. So it's not really impressive, but theme and so you can go in on one I've seen, I saw someone who actually was I think it was Oprah saying she did the the big awards ceremony. And she had this amazing speech that she gave, as part of I think it was the Golden Globe Awards. Last year, I saw. And she used a number of devices, which I think they have a lot of resentment to the music. And one of the ones I had it used to in particular, and I thought of one was that she was using 10 tension release. So it says, as musicians, I mean, we talked about how musicians do there's not really speakers. So that was one I heard you like 10. And then there was released. And the other one that uses incredibly well is pause, pausing breath, you know, like Louie Armstrong, for example, is very, very good at that. It's the spaces in between what you do and what you say and what you play is as powerful as actually what you say. So, I really like those two things like what we as speakers can learn from, like tension and release and what we can also learn from from intentional pausing. Jeff Ponders So tension and release is such a powerful tool. You know, if everything is good, you don't recognize how good it is. And so the idea of, again, we mentioned magic earlier, the idea of creating the oh my god moment, whether it's what's going to happen or I feel that pain, and then coming in and offering not just the release of it but truly the comfort and the restoration. One, it allows you to have good motion in your in your talk, but more importantly For the listener, it allows it creates a euphoric moments that make your make your sweets memorable. It's the idea that you made me feel good. And they don't think that it's but chemically, that's what's happening. You're making somebody feel good consistently. It's almost like dating it's, it's the flowers and candy that happened unexpected if you had an argument and then you had a makeup moment if you have and those things are powerful and they make they make things memorable. On the flip side, you don't make it I don't, I don't miss a second point. Essentially release. James Taylor Like pausing like the fall. I mean, I think about someone like something like Louis Armstrong is jazz musician. He used pausing this, it was almost like the space between the notes were more important than the notes themselves as well. So I'd like you know, how does that relate to speak? Yes, Jeff Ponders it's funny, there's Miles Davis had a cold, he said, sometimes the most important note is the note you don't play. And what's powerful about that is the idea that if you hit somebody with a wall of content, how much can they actually retain there's, you know, we talked about the magic number three there, three, you know, in any point in time, we're gonna remember three things from what somebody says to us. If you allow pause, you allow the listener a moment to stop and actually process what just happened, rather than hit them with 45 minutes to an hour worth of words. At that point, you can have the most amazing takeaways ever. But you just gave 25,000 words Yeah. How many can somebody really remember? James Taylor It's like one of the things with AC with with guitarists, which one of the downsides that in why more guitarists, I think should listen to a horn player sax players, and also singers is because as a sax player, you have to breathe. So unfortunately, get to get the guitar players haven't quite learned that. And so the it's just like this flurry of notes they're going on. And we're probably already experienced with speakers as like these, this flurry of information and no point do I get charged as the audience member to go there to breathe, take a pause. And it's great singers are good thing because they have to do this you as a horn player, you have to do this, you have to breathe, and it means you will play certain things. And there's also certain things that you can't do as well. So you have to find ways to kind of compensate for that. Jeff Ponders Oh, man, that was that was really well satisfying. We talked about you mentioned Oprah and using Zig Ziglar. And using, you know, preaching style. Yeah, preaching is part of this delivery style. So I grew up in a church and I'm not good at hooping anymore. there's a there's a technique that preachers use, and it sounds absolutely insane. But it gets audiences incredibly excited. It gives it forces them the it literally forces them to breathe. And after they get done, they have to stop and drink water because it's throat burning. Um, but again, so I referenced that one in terms of pause, but also the idea of recognizing what you do and what you don't do. I don't who, um, and so, as a speaker, I'm naturally excited. I'm easily excited as a human being. I'm high energy, but I'm not gonna I'm not the guy who's gonna yell at you. You got to do it. You can. That's not my style, probably. But even doing that right now. I feel a little tickle in my throat and I might pay for it. Yeah. But I recognize there are other things I can do that can just as effect that can just as effectively get somebody excited and get them to, to really embrace the passion of a moment, whether it's how I use my facial facial expressions, or my body language, or even the fact that I might use a saxophone and scat James Taylor that's one of the understand that doesn't you know, scatting What is scatting? Jeff Ponders So if you've ever heard somebody say DB Abba, Dabba Doo better about it ever. Did you get better, better, better, better, better? Bah, bah, bah. It's almost like it's singing like an instrument. Yeah. It's kind of fun. Everybody can do it. Come on. Yeah. James Taylor And in fact, funnily enough, where I'm speaking from Scotland. We have a tradition that similar to that because a lot of scouting has come from oral fish. India has the same thing like tabla players learn stuff orally, so you have to be able to sing it before you can. You can play it in Scotland, they had to it was an orchard nothing was written down. So you have to do that as well. But actually, it's almost like an art form in itself. Doing scattering. Jeff Ponders Absolutely. Is there are there folks who are masters getting elephants journal? Yeah. Amazing. If you look at Layla Hathaway in terms of modern singers, Laila Hathaway, her father was Donny Hathaway, amazing solo artists, Laila. She's, uh, she's she's like, she can sing chords by herself. It's crazy. But as as a vocalist, she's a better musician than most musicians. It's interesting. You talked about oral tradition and the idea of listening and listening to learn. Even going back to Zig Ziglar. And how how we borrow from folks, again, that that concept of listening as a musician, one of the things that's really important for us when we listen to our stuff, Listen to our bandmates. We listen to the audience, but we also listen to the greats. And as we are listening is education is the idea of not just what it's not what can I steal? But what do I hear? How do I learn the language of the of the art, just like with speakers, you know, if you're watching this, this, this this interview right now, this is you're studying this so you can learn the language of art form of speaking and motivation and inspiration and instruction. And it's how we intentionally apply our listening to folks who come before us or folks who have different perspectives, in order to enhance our skill sets and make ourselves better. James Taylor And sometimes it's not necessarily the thing that they say, you know, there's exactly a certain type of thing. And the spokesperson kind of thing is not literally what I speak about, or you speak about. But you can learn also things that I think about, like phrasing, and articulation, there'll be certain lines that he would say, where it would just, it would be like building upon itself, you'd use a lot of like classic rhetorical devices, in terms of repetition, musicians use all the time, they'll say a phrase, and then they'll repeat the phrase slightly different, and then repeat phrase slightly different as well. So sometimes you can learn from these people, even if they speak in a completely different topic from you, then there's always something there, there's something it could be in the way that they phrase something, the way they build up to something, it could be in their physical gestures, the physicality on stage. And it can also be, I mean, under some visitors, I've seen this, you can watch them with a musician or a speaker. And you say, that's what I don't want to do. Jeff Ponders It's so funny, you see this. So I went to a talk. So Les Brown gave a talk in my hometown a few weeks ago. And so, you know, les is one of the great speakers of our time. And so I went for the sake of I'm studying what he's doing. And so less than an amazing job with pause, he did an amazing job of calling response, how he leveraged his slides, if he wasn't selling on stage, which I'm not a I'm not a selling speaker. But he did a great job of providing really cool, next best action and calls to action for the audience to stay connected with them. That were, they weren't obtrusive, they were just subtle as Hey, sign up here for for free, you know, free daily inspiration, which is a lot in line with what he does. On the flip side, there were other speakers I've seen over the last few weeks, you know, one guy and one of them. And one of my one of my speaking coaches, he reiterates to me make sure you you find your base, and you plant yourself. And again, they don't paste the stage. And so there's a gentleman and the speaker, he paced the stage. And so I grew up with a WWF. We're not it's not a WWE WWF. And the way he paints the stage reminded me of a WWF wrestling, I was like, I get it, I don't want to do that, or is another speaker and he had really amazing content. But his body language, he kept his head down, his chin was buried to his chest. And again, delivery wasn't bad to use vocal inflection, even for his facial expressions. But because his head was down the whole time, it was hard to connect with him. And so listening, at that point, I'm listening to my eyes like you, I don't want to do those things. But I appreciate how you how he, how he leverages inflection to highlight important points. James Taylor And you can do this we had Elizabeth McCormick great speaker. And she, whenever she, her educated, didn't have any mentors around her where she lived at the time when she was becoming a speaker. So she just watched videos, your YouTube videos and other speakers and she had a yellow pad legal pad and she drew a line down the center. And on the left side, you put the things that she liked about a speaker, it could be the style or articulation or presentation where the thing was, but on the right she used to put things that she didn't want to emulate as well. So it can be useful, you know, to look at one thing I often think is, I think great musicians do this might we've mentioned Miles Davis, great speakers do this, their their presentations, their speeches, their music, it almost operates at different levels, you can even get into in different levels. So listening something like sketches of Spain, Miles Davis, you can you can listen to that background music, making dinner, really nice, very chilled, very relaxing, you could listen to another level up, where you could just get really like listening lives like that. And then there's a completely different level you can listen to if you're if you're a musician, especially a jazz musician, because you're listening in slightly different ways. And I think the great speakers, they can they can do this, they can appeal to that person is just new in an organization and speaking conference there. You know, the the new person has just gotten started, they could speak to that, that middle manager who has a different set of challenges and what they're trying to do, and they can speak to the CEO and the C suite. But the speech works, it works all different levels. I think that that requires real mastery to be able to do to do that. Jeff Ponders It's so funny to talk about mastery. I think that's one of the things that I think music teaches you that most professional Tracks don't teach you is the idea of mastery. For example, a part of the framework that I teach is practice rehearsing perform practices, development of individual individual skills. Rehearsal is how you apply those skills with teams. Performance is how you deliver those skills and talents to your marketplace. But the thing with music is that it doesn't stop with performance. There's literally a cycle of practice worse perform, you're consistently feeding your skill set, you're consistently learning how to work better with folks in consistently assessing your performance. So that example betters that go back, there's no such thing as perfect. It's always How can I be better, whereas in day to day, most folks, they go and they do their jobs, and they just do their jobs, and it's not consistent. They're not feeding that skillset, they're not feeding their ability to the capacity to perform better. And for me, that's a big deal. It's a huge part of the idea of peak performance is well, you have to keep feeding it keep beating in order to perform better. But that comes from music, because that's what we have to do. If you talk about the speakers. How we think it's one thing to say let's refresh our content. It's another thing to say, How can I How can I make myself more marketable? How can I reach broader audiences? Meaning How can I take one talk, and within this talk, have concepts that are, that are simple enough for a fifth grader to get it and find value, but have the depth and the depth of content, that if I present this to a CEO, you know, with some nuance, I think part of part of being a musician is also the idea of recognizing who your audience is, and making modifications to your setlist to fit to play the right to play the right stuff at the right gig subsequently, when we you know, as we look at our audiences of speakers, you may have your talk. But how did you talk needs to be tweaked in a way that's, that's natural, who you are and how you deliver to make sure that's appropriate for the audience. Because your sales folks don't need the same talk as your CEO. And it may be the same base talk. But how do you tweak your examples? How do you tweak your body language? Do you put on a blazer now instead of you wear a blazer with no tie instead of wearing the full the full tuxedo? Yeah, nobody was James Taylor nobody was thinking about, you know, that can relate to how you structure your your set, whereas music set or your your 15 minute keynote, or however long it is. And we think about something like Duke Ellington used to do, he would usually start a mid tempo like little dial in or something at that tempo. And then he would take the audience up that that's, you know, how you see he was doing it, because he was doing a lot of concerts. But if you were maybe playing a different type of venue, let's say be more of a, a club or something. You might start like hearing people right between the eyes blinking. Yeah, so that's right reactor. And I think then we also kind of get into like the audience is, is the is like a partner and what you're creating, but actually, I think a lot of times the venue, the place that you're playing in itself, you know that that small room that you're speaking to maybe 100 people is going to, you're going to give a different type of talk probably to the room that you're giving 1000 people like music musicians know this kind of instinctively, when you go and play in a jazz club, you know, certain things will work better than others, because it's a small place, low ceiling, the bass will carry very, very well. But if you're playing, let's say, if you're playing a church, like a big Cathedral type church, doing fast things just doesn't really work in those places, you have to be much longer notes, because you have the reverb in the place as well. So so you can also kind of apply those things about listening to the actual, the place where you're presenting also has an impact as well as the audience Jeff Ponders ask me that. That's a really, really, really good perspective and absolutely true. It's when I think about that, what I what I think about ultimately, as speakers, we're doing more than giving a talk, we're delivering an experience. And it you know, I come from a marketing background and experience design is a big part of what I've done in my life. And as a musician, as a speaker, as an entrepreneur, I think about what's the experience that I'm delivering right now. It's not what's the talking because what's the experience in delivering because it in real life, most folks don't remember most of what we say, but they do remember how we made them feel they remember, aesthetically what happened when they walked in. And it while we don't have control over all these elements, we can think about how can I craft a memorable experience. And that can be everything from for me, the fact that I might have a saxophone on stage is memorable, because most folks can't do that. Yeah, um, if we, if we create a song together, if I create a song with the small group, or I bring up five people and you're going to be the drummer, you're going to be the basis you're gonna play the melody and I'm gonna sit here and conduct you guys or better yet you're going to conduct us that's a memorable experience, whether you're a participant or an observer, and so becomes how can based off of your platform How can you take what you do and make it inclusive of your audience? And that doesn't mean that doesn't mean do what I just talked about in terms of bringing them on stage. But it's how can you create this symbiotic experience, that leaves somebody not only walking away with really, really valuable tangible points, but feeling like, but actually feel like, Hey, that was really good for me, I want to tell somebody what just happened, because that's how we ultimately build sustainable careers as speakers. James Taylor I think in order to do that, and this has me below, like mental thing that maybe some speakers have to go through, you have to essentially treat the audience like everyone in that room is equal, in the sense that everyone has something that they can they can bring in, frankly, if you're speaking to a room of any more than 20 people, there'll be someone in there that knows a lot, maybe a lot more about your subject than maybe you even think you know, so I think it's kind of being humble in that sense. But I think the other thing if you start to do that, and that's maybe not right for all speakers and all events, but you know, we think about someone like me, it's jazz as an example there. So jazz does require that the audience works a little bit harder than if they were going to list a rock concert, because the things are being said, it's like going to a poetry a little bit less of a Leanback is more of a lean end type of experience of going to jazz cake. So if you treat people in the audience, like everyone is my equal in that room. And, and also, I want to, I think there's people, the people in that room, I can make them work a little bit with their brain, too. So I'll give an example of this. Art Tatum, great jazz pianist, one of the amazing things that he used to do was, he made it sound like he was doing a lot more than he was actually playing. And he was able to do that by essentially making you as a listener, the audience member, fill in the blanks, using your imagination, he wasn't actually playing those. So you'd hear a lot of time, he would recall as a jazz musician, implying time, he wasn't playing, like exactly four beats to the bar or anything, he would be implying it by certain things he was he was playing. So you as the audience member, were essentially filling in the blank. So as a speaker, you might be as you're crafting your speech and working with an audience, they may be almost thinking, so you're saying something or, but you're not actually saying it. It's them. They're filling in the blanks, and people that do NLP and stuff of that are masters at this kind of stuff. And this week, I'm actually seeing Tony Robbins, he's gonna be speaking at something. And he's very good at that of essentially having you do workers as the audience member, is there anything like you know, on on that that topic, having the making sure that the audience are not just sitting back, but they're actually leaning into the experience, and actually an active participant in in, in the keynote, there's been given anything that we could be doing better speakers? Jeff Ponders And the answer is always Yes. We can all be doing things better. So this is a no, this is to me, this is really, how do you create engaged audiences? Or how do you stimulate engaged audiences? That that's the question to me. At least, that's the way I that process that and I don't think that there are, there's no cookie cutter for this. I mean, I can talk about jazz techniques for it. But the, you know, the technical that ultimately talked about is, Alright, hey, if you're Charlie Parker, you play fat. versus if you're a Coltrane, who's not in his bass playing state, and is really playing these more spiritually induced sounds. You're doing different things. And so first things first is understanding who you are, what you do, what you do and what you don't do, too. It's funny, I've got a model on my whiteboard over to my right here. I don't want to show it yet. I'm miked up, that I use to help help individuals really build their brand identity, individuals and brands. And so part of that is understanding what your mission is why what's Why are you Why are you here? Why are you talking? In our case? Why are you Why are you speaking to what's your message? And three, it's alright, what do you want somebody to feel? What are those brand attributes you want somebody associated with you? And how do you ultimately craft an experience that does that example for me? My big why's I want people to create lives that worth remembering. And that means when something's worth remembering, you write it down, you take a picture, you do something to record and that says you don't forget what happened. And so the brand attributes I'm hip smart and creative, meaning I'm cool enough that I'm relatable, but hip is like a little bit cooler. And so in a smart, which is, you know, makes sense and creative is, which is more than music is the idea that finding unique ways to do things example jazz to talk about professional performance is a unique spin on that. And so for that it gives me a lot of latitude to figure out how can I create hip smart, creative experiences for audiences. So really kind of digging into what your unique sauces and then outside it is awesome at that point else becomes, okay, I'm doing a talk for 100 people versus 5000 people 5000. audience participation is a little different, is a lot more risk and saying, Hey guys, let's make a song together versus with 50 people where I can say, hey, James, I can see your name tag. Yeah, James, can you help out. And, man, that's not always the right way to do it either. But it's understanding who you are, James Taylor that's important as well, because we can often feel like bigger is better playing the bigger venues is stadiums and things is the way to go. But in doing that, you also lose, you lose some of the intimacy and being able to try and try something. So I think I think every speaker kind of has to find this the I mean, we all probably sense it, this is our, this is my ideal size, this is I love speaking that side, if that is your ideal size, do you have photography on your website that has you speaking to audiences of that size, because that's so cuz you'll get more, you'll probably get more bookings or that kind of size, the kind of places that you want to be be speaking in planning. And I just want to as we kind of start to finish up this this interview as well I'm, I mean, treat what is in your, your speaker bag, what is in that bag you carry with you to all of your speaking engagements. So you obviously, you can have your saxophone, which is kind of an unusual thing to have in a speaker bags. But what else what else is gonna be in there, Jeff Ponders I don't think I have a whole lot honestly, my phone is there. Um, cuz I, I use my phone to take notes, I use my phone to take pictures, I probably get a better camera on my phone. But my phone is kind of like the center of life. And I'll even do website updates and stuff like that. So my phone is a big, big, big, big deal. Um, this is gonna sound crazy, in my speaker bag is space. And so the to take us to take them to take three minutes before talk, and just go and be quiet. And just, you know, hone in I I've ever been performing mind literally my entire life. And it's not butterflies always happen. But that three minutes before before talk is invaluable. Just to settle on, refocus, you know, I know my stuff. But having looked at the room and say, Okay, let me not spend too much time on this one. That that time that space is probably that's probably more valuable than my phone. But it's a big deal. Um, I keep lotion, because my hands get ashy. And I just, you know, that's the thing for me. I like my hands to feel softer. So that doesn't really matter too much of my talk, but it makes me feel James Taylor I think when you're traveling a lot as well, you know, those things are I mean, forget like this. We are an instrument our body is an instrument our voices we are we are our instrument in that sense. So if you see if you take your saxophone player sax to certain places, certain countries climates, ticker guitars, and it's going to react well or not so well in different places. And you need to kind of look at it you need to ensure just keep an eye on it. Same thing with our voice. So like, you know, those motion those look those kind of lotions, water, all that stuff is actually really pretty critically important because Jeff Ponders I'll click it too. I bring that up. Yeah, I do. I've definitely seen experience. It was like, Oh, this isn't gonna work out too well. And I'm the very, very first talk I gave. I try I tried to use one. There's a second one. I tried to use my phone and my phone was distracting. It was. Don't do that. Yeah, it's crazy. It looks so unprofessional. So that was like, Hey, I'm using keynote. I've got keynote on my phone. I'm like really trendy. Now, not it was not the thing to do. So I went and a good buddy of mine, Ryan foland. He made a recommendation for an amazing clicker. And I can't run anymore right now i can i can send it to you. But it's awesome. Just having James Taylor like, in some ways that there's an instrument there as well. So having that thing you feel confident in you know, Jeff Ponders I know it's gonna work, everything else is James Taylor maybe going to hell, but you have a couple of things. What about a book is there one book you would recommend to to maybe an aspiring speaker or professional speaker could be a speaking they can maybe I know your your background. You speak a lot as on marketing creativity as well. Jeff Ponders So there's a is a pastor in Atlanta named Andy Stanley. Andy Stanley's father's Charleston, Andy Stanley's a bad he's a bad dude. He's good. He wrote a book called communicating for change. And he wrote it. I guess it's designed to build sermons. But there's a really good framework there and smart science behind it. And it's a way of capturing attention relating to the audience, pulling them in, helping nail down the key insight and make it memorable, and then giving helping them walk away feeling like something changed. superpower. It was amazing. Wonderful. James Taylor We'll put that link here as well. What about a tool is that you mentioned you've taught your firm before? Is it an online app or like a mobile app or an online tool you find really useful for yourself as a speaker. Jeff Ponders I don't have one I don't have I don't I don't have like a go to tool as a speaker I've done. I've a example, I've used grant Baldwins platform. And that's been that was that was, I think he did a great job putting together a speaker platform form. There a couple of them testing out right now. But nothing was like that's the one you got to have. Though a smart CRM CRM system is a good thing, too, isn't one in particular you would recommend is is the one that a CRM that you tend to use. So I ran, and I'm using nimble. But I've seen powerful things with HubSpot as well. James Taylor Yeah, HubSpot is great, especially on the content, the content marketing side as well. What but I'm gonna kind of just finish up here. If you had to start again, tomorrow, I'm gonna let you imagine, choose whichever city you want to start in, you have to restart your career, you have all the skills you've acquired over the years, but no one knows you. And you know, no one, you have to completely restart. What would you do? How would you restart? Jeff Ponders I think it'll be it'll be, it wouldn't be that crazy for me. Only because I can take a saxophone somewhere and say, Hey, and I can make a kind of fun. So I'd probably pick a city that embraces jazz. So a New Orleans or Chicago, New York is huge. And it's like it'd be warm, but it's huge. And so it's easy to get lost there. But in New Orleans, or Chicago may be a Dallas. And so in Atlanta falling into, so I pick up so I'm a corporate speaker. And so I'd be looking at company areas with lots of corporations and a warm chassis. And I would leverage the musical experience in mind as well as about corporate relationships to, to kind of kickstart things. Um, that's it too. So the other thing that I would do, and it's actually it's, oddly enough, is we didn't talk about this before, but there's a so I'm big. I mentioned creating experiences, right. And so as speakers we we hustle hard to get beautiful relationships and to find relationships with event planners and conference planners to get booked. I've never been a believer in waiting, waiting on an opportunity to find you though. And so, for example, what I've done is I've created a lunch and learns workshop series where, where a company or you know, a client can buy a package that's a two hour experience with that includes launch live performance, and a workshop, a keynote in a workshop that I can take as a product and sell the experience. So part of what I would do is starting over will be outside of making friends and playing music would be develop a product that's easy to that's easy and warmly received and using that to kind of spark the next level James Taylor fantastic. And if people want to reach out to you maybe to refer you for a speaking opportunity or just do it can reach out with a really enjoyed what you've been sharing today. where's the best place for them to go and do that? Jeff Ponders Do you go to Jeff Ponders calm that is the center of my universe right now. If you look on social media, if it's Jeff Ponton, it's probably me. And as partners with an S so je FF er, je FF p o nd ers, you'll find me. Yeah, that would be the best thing. It'd be great. I'm looking forward to hearing feedback from you guys. And hopefully, this conversation has been helpful. James Taylor Well, Jeff has been a pleasure speaking with you today. I look forward to sharing the stage together. I don't know where it's going to be as musicians or whether it's going to be your speakers, but I'm sure will be Jeff Ponders a good idea. James Taylor We can combine them both as well. But thanks so much for coming on today. Jeff Ponders pleasure speaking to you. I wish you all the best with your new member of your family and all your speaking as well. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

Using Your Speaking To Influence James Taylor interviewed Karen Leong and they talked about Using Your Speaking To Influence In today's episode Karen Leong talk about Using Your Speaking To Influence. Karen Leong is a sought-after keynote speaker and Influence thought leader. A TEDx speaker, and the author of the book ‘Win People Over – 75 Simple and Powerful Ways to Influence Anyone', she was featured as one of the ten influential professional speakers in Singapore by the Singapore Business Review. A regular guest contributor on television, radio and print, Karen was on Channel News Asia's panel as an Influence and Body Language expert, where she analysed the last US Presidential Debates “live” in the studio. Karen is the co-founder of Influence Solutions, a leading learning and development organization, headquartered in Singapore with offices in USA, India and Sweden. She has been profiled on Channel U's CEO series and in the media as one of the “10 Fearless Singaporean entrepreneurs who made it happen”. In leading organizational development projects, Karen builds upon her decade-long corporate career specializing in audit, consulting and IPO projects with KPMG in Singapore, Hong Kong and China. What we cover: Productivity, Performance and Profit Using Your Speaking To Influence Words, Voice and Visuals The 2 Pillars of Influence Resources: Karen's Website Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/using-your-speaking-to-influence-sl093/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey, there is James Taylor and I'm delighted today to welcome Karen Leong. Karen is a sought after keynote speaker and influence thought leader, a TEDx speaker and the author of the book win people over 75 simple and powerful ways to influence anyone. She was featured as one of the 10 influential professional speakers in Singapore by the Singapore business review. A regular guest contributor on television, radio and print. Karen was on Channel News Asia's panel as an influence and body language expert where she analyzed the last US presidential debates live in the studio. Karen is the co founder of influence solutions, a leading Learning and Development Organization headquartered in Singapore with offices in the USA, India and Sweden. She has been profiled on Channel us CEO series and in the media as one of the 10 feelers, Singaporean entrepreneurs who made it happen. In leading organizational development projects, Karen builds upon her decade long corporate career, specializing in audit consulting and IPO projects, with KPMG in Singapore, Hong Kong, and China. It's my great pleasure to have Karen join us today. So welcome, Karen. Karen Leong Thank you, James. And it's such a pleasure to be speaking with you and, and really adding value to your amazing platform. James Taylor So share with everyone that's watching right now, what's happening in your world just now know, lots, Karen Leong lots of things are happening. In fact, you know, a lot of companies are seeking to help their people to be more influential. And one of the two most important things that are happening, there's a lot happening in the leadership space, and now especially in change, helping companies to deal with disruption. So life is very exciting. We live in very interesting time. James Taylor Absolutely. And that was a Chinese thing he was he said he was it beware of living in interesting times, because it's a bit of a double edged sword is it has opportunities and threats, as well. Karen Leong No, no, absolutely. And this is also one thing that we always focus on, you know, in every situation, there is a problem, and there is an opportunity. So whichever every, you know, whichever point that you focus on becomes your reality. So the good thing is, you know, again, the more we start to see these interesting times as great opportunities, we are going to be finding them James Taylor tell everyone, how did you get started into this world of speaking? I mean, I mentioned before you work with KPMG, big consulting type projects as well. But when did the person we know us today that can speak at a keynote speaker? When did that part begin? Karen Leong You know, you know, that's, that's a really interesting question, James. And a lot of people always ask, how do you get started in the speaking business? How do you become an entrepreneur because I speak a lot on entrepreneurship as well. So one of the turning points came when I decided that, you know, I had a burnt out when I was working too hard in audit, and consulting. And I decided to take a break. So I took a year long sabbatical in Amsterdam, helping women who are trafficked in the sex industry, and just take stepping out, changing my perspective, really helped me to discover that it's not just success, I'm gunning for but significance. So that's when I started my first business and fashion, and helping people look good. And then I realized that, hey, what I really want is not only to help people to look good, but to feel good, and be at their best. And this is now my second business influence solutions. I co founded it. We've been within business for over seven years now. And it's really exciting. You know, now that we have offices in three other continents, and I think so. So I always tell people, you know, just step out of the comfort zone, try different things and you never, you'll be amazed at the kind of doors of opportunities that opened up. James Taylor And as you started moving into becoming a speaker, who were those early mentors for you who the people that maybe have taken you under their wing have helped support you and can provide advice and mentorship. Karen Leong One interesting tip that I always give aspiring speakers is to surround yourself with people who are very different from you. And I would say that, you know, one of my closest partners and mentors is Mike Harmon, co founder and director. We started the company together. Seven years ago. And the interesting thing is because he had such a different perspective for me, in fact, we still debate and Quarrel a lot. But that, but you know, when you surround yourself with with people who are different, you expand your worldview, you do not get limited by how you see things. So that helped me to see beyond a one dimension perspective of the business, that I not only honed my craft in speaking, but also running a speaking business. And I think for every speakers, you know, how to excel on stage is important. But yet how to excel off stage is equally important, because we often spend more time building the business to preparing to speak on stage, James Taylor essentially, as I've been interviewing all these incredible speakers, one of the things that I've seen, it's not with every speaker, but I would say probably the majority of them, there is a creative peer there there is someone else, they have the help support them in their speaking, it could be spouse, it could be a business manager, and usually that person is the complete opposite of them. So usually, the speaker is a person who obviously very happy getting up on stages, and being that person, and the person is more in the office, it loves all the detail and going to the fight near the fine detail of things and the selling and making stuff happen as well. So it's great that you have in your business, one of those creative pairs, you have someone that can it can act as the opposite. I mean, this is one of the things I was you know, from your time at KPMG that now in organizations, you know, after the last big crash in the US and the worldwide crash, when they looked at it, they said one of the things that they found is those companies that took the biggest crash with the least diverse in terms of their their senior leadership, as well. So in a lot of companies has spent a lot more time on having much more diverse boards in them as well to to have a different different views coming. Karen Leong No, absolutely. And we need to remember one thing you know, as speakers, why clients seek us out is because they're having a problem. And one of the biggest problems that companies all face are the problem with people and performance. And, and so you know that being able to help companies to tap into diversity is always going to be a powerful way of solving real problems, that almost any company with more than a couple of people will face. Because you know, you think about it, you know, if you have a team of 10 people all who are cognitive and intelligent, there is bound to be conflict, there is bound to be different viewpoints. So, for us, like you know, at influence solutions, we have a mandate, where we are focused on helping companies be more profitable by helping people be more productive, and productivity performance. These are the two peas, that companies are all looking for the end of the day. I mean, they might hire us for for being an expert in change in leadership influence. But at the end, it is performance. It is productivity, its profitability that companies are seeking solutions for so and so that's that's one thing that I want to ask people to do. You know, it's like when you become a problem solver, you would always be in demand. James Taylor So you are known as being like present terms of being an influential person yourself and helping others become influential, whether that's as CEOs or speakers or whatever their their role in his life in life. I'm interested like that, that whole thing about insurance, we hear that phrase batted around a lot. But can you actually say, what really is influenced? What does that? What does that mean? And what are the component parts of it of being influential? Karen Leong You know, you hit upon a magic question. Because a lot of times influence is such a broad word, like like, you know, so how do you actually break it down to something simple? If you really think about it, I'm going to ask you to do an experiment, which is to look into your head, when you meet somebody for the first time. What happens? James Taylor Right, so Karen Leong two questions pop up. Let's look at the first question. When you meet someone new, the first question you ask yourself is do I like this person? And this happens in a matter of seconds. So it's not logical? It's an intuitive, it's an emotional answer. So the answer is, No. What happens is that the conversation ends, there is no incentive to really want to know that person. But the answer is yes, I like you, then we are more motivated to start, continue interacting, continue listening to that person. So what does like really mean? It actually the mind is actually asking us do I trust this person's intentions? So that's the really first pillar of influence which is likability, which is to have people trust your intentions. And let's look at the second pillar of influence. When people like you, they will ask a second question, do I respect you? Now what this really means is do I trust your capabilities. So influence is broken down into whether somebody trusts your intentions, and trust your capabilities. And when some, when you're able to help people to like and respect you at the same time, that's when you are in a zone of maximum trust. And so a lot of people tend to veer more towards using like, or more towards using respect, but I want to share with you this magic sentence, like opens the door to influence. And it's respect that keeps the door open. So any, whether you are a speaker, or you're an executive, or just anybody who wants to get buy in from people do remember, number one, the power of helping out letting people know that your intentions are pure. So they trust you, they lead you. And secondly, to showcase your expertise, so that people trust your capability. James Taylor So just thinking about breaking that down and the like, and the respect, and I'm almost thinking that now, when a speaker goes out on stage, isn't that great speakers I've seen rather than start with all the very tactical things, the start is like Simon Sinek, they'll start with why they're why they're in it, which is basically pulling, going to the intention, do I trust this person is what this person is saying? Do I Do I trust that their intention is right there why connects with me as well. And that kind of then helps with that that like part. And then they will then go on? Sometimes it's done beforehand, by the by the person that's announcing them on saying this person is the top of this and has all these awards? And sometimes that speaker maybe they weren't necessarily right at the start. But relatively early on, usually in the first 15 minutes. They'll say something along the lines. So why should you Why should you listen to what I'm saying? And and they're basically kind of laying out the risk, the respect part, they're laying out their qualifications as to why why you should be listening to them on this particular topic, Karen Leong and very well said. So I think the key thing is understanding the sequencing, a lot of speakers who are eager to showcase your expertise, job flying, but a lot of people don't realize the importance of opening the door first. And I like how you talked about the why, you know, when people feel your passion, and they feel that your heart is in the right place, not so much focusing on yourself, but on giving, on helping the audience benefits, perhaps because you have a cause it's bigger than your own. That's when people decide that, hey, I'm going to let you in, I'm going to listen. And only when that happens, can you then have your message Connect really powerfully with them? James Taylor Now one of the things that you've done before is I know in on news channels, analyze the body language, and I'm interested on that on that, like factors especially, are there things that you see from the speakers who are able to connect very, very quickly, and build that likability with the audience very, very quickly, that they all have in common, Karen Leong you know, it's so likeability is one of the simplest way to show likability is when you know, when you are really, you know, when you when you show that you like the other person, so people, so two things happen, people like people who like them. So which means that you know, starting out and just, you know, being real smiling, and just having open gestures tell people that, hey, I'm open, I like you. Well, the second thing is people like people who are like themselves, so which means that, you know, if you're able to connect with people at the same level, as opposed to looking down at people, where people feel that, hey, you know, they can really relate to you. Perhaps even the way you speak the more conversational it is, it feels like they are having a talking to a friend talking to somebody who cares. So the more people feel that they are like you and you are like them, again, that connection becomes a lot closer and they are going to let you in. Because likability is about closing the gap. The same thing, what is rapport, rapport, establishing rapport is from a French word needs to bring back, which means that you're able to close the gap to make people feel that hey, you are actually in sync with them. So body language definitely plays a very, very strong role in communicating the message, not just your words, James Taylor and it's interesting because I remember seeing it there was there was that famous stat years ago and it's probably probably wrong, but it was something along the lines of it's 7% is what you say. 30% is exactly how you say. And the vast majority is like body language you mentioned, like open gestures and things as well. And I'm guessing one thing that you always noticed about speaking in Singapore is, is a very global audience that you speak to them. Because people it's a, it's a meeting point, it's a hub from people all over the world. Obviously, a lot of big companies there. So you might be speaking to a room of 100 people, and there's like 50 different nationalities in that room as well. So you've kind of got you've got to kind of figure out then about how to how to connect with, you know, with with people have got maybe very different backgrounds to you different kind of cultures to use, or is there any any advice that you would give for speakers, when you are speaking to those more global audience is not quite as homogenous, you're speaking people from all over the world, different cultures, different backgrounds? Is there anything you can do to increase that likability factor early on, you know, Karen Leong he, as I speak, you know, in so many different countries across so many different industries, and it's really fascinating how similar people are. Because if you look at that, we all have the same emotions, we all, you know, have the same primary fears, the same primary dreams. So the key thing about likability, you talked about, you know, the three B's that 7%, where, you know, we communicate three ways, using words, using a voice. And also using visual like body language, people like you when they feel that you are congruent. What this means is that your words match up to the tone of your voice, which matches up to your body language. And when people feel that, hey, this person is in sync, that means you're authentic, you're speaking from the heart. That's when people feel that, hey, you are real. So just a really small tip, like, you know, during one of the presidential debates, I wouldn't I wouldn't let I will let you guess who which candidate we were talking about, then? You know, so the person was actually speaking something that was, you know, positive, but suddenly shaking the head. So it's really interesting. Imagine if you're saying something, which is, you know, you're saying that, yes, I said, Yes, but you're shaking your hand. The thing is that we all give out micro expressions. And when we don't believe what we say, when it's not congruent, our body actually speaks louder than our words do. And that's when people go, I'm not really, really sure whether, you know, I really trust you. So here's the tip, when we share something that we're really passionate about, for speakers who want to who want to, you know, to build a brand, the key thing, go back to your passions, because passions, helps us to keep it real. And you can't fake it, people connect to the see passion, people can feel passion, and that's when you are most. James Taylor So though, that it's interesting, you know, you're just talking about that, you know, those micro expressions and I was thinking about the other day there was in sports, they have tells on Poker, they have tails in in betting and things. And I remember listening to something recently, it was a very famous tennis player, I think it was like, maybe Boris Becker or Andrew Andre Agassi or someone, and he consistently would beat this opponent for years and years. And it was always these big matches a lot of tension. And it was all be them. And his opponent could never quite work out how he was beating him every single time. And it was only after I think was accuracy after he retired. They were having dinner together. And he said to me, oh, the guy system, I can never look at how you managed to beat me. I always knew exactly what I was gonna be playing next. And I think was agassi said, well, you have a tail, you have this microexpression that you do every time I know you. And for him it was if he was going to hit into the left corner, let's say he would, he would do something with his lips, or as nice as you can put into the left. And if it was the right it was to the right. And he said all I had to do was just watch your face. And I could tell exactly what you're gonna hit that shot. So I knew and this this I wish it is so obvious or obvious. And and I think that's one of the things that's interesting is I noticed I don't know if you do this, but I do this and it's extremely uncomfortable. I find to watch your videos of after you're presented on something and you see all those little micro expressions, those body language things and you can start to pick up actually, I can hear what I'm saying. But like when I switch the volume when I put the mute off, it just is not marrying up with with what I'm saying. When you when someone's built that respect, they say that they've got the like, they've got the respect How do they How do they leverage that respecting they've built the gone audience the the audience is liking them, the audience now respect them. How'd you How can you then leverage that for something else, Karen Leong you know, I love the story, but talking about legacy and and building upon it to the power of respect. I mean, just just to share with you that, just just take the example, that about how I wanted to build on respect, because, you know, when I wrote the book when people over and that was the book on influence, I, I was not yet an authority on influence. And I wanted to become a thought leader in influence. And that's why I decided to write a book. But the key thing is, a lot of people think that you need to be an authority first, before you become an author, before you get that respect, actually, it's the other way around, you know, when you become an author, you actually become an authority. So So, you know, to deciding that I'm going to write the book to win people over and through interviews, more than 100 interviews, and, and then designing and running my influence 247 programs for executives in 13 countries, and, and having an influence profiling tool, and we had 10s, of 1000s of profiles. See, that whole process actually helped me to hone my expertise, and help me to hone and clarify what exactly a person can do to become effortlessly naturally influence. So what I want to just point out is that, you know, just get started. And writing a book is one of the best credibility, indie caters the best way that you can add value to your audiences. So you're going to ask everyone just start writing, if you haven't had a book, you know, but it's writing on blogs or writing on social media, that process is going to sow the seeds for you to be able to write a book and become that thought leader, and the authority James Taylor and the fact you've influenced, you've interviewed all those, you know, 100 plus people about about influence. So you have all that primary research that you've done as well, was there anything as you were interviewing all these people, and it was something in the book, which maybe sounds a little bit counterintuitive, about an influence you can have shouldn't really work. But you just found time and time again, this is this is a really powerful way to influence anyone, Karen Leong let us show you something, which is interesting. A lot of people think that in order to really influence somebody, I need to put in a lot of effort. But the key thing is, we actually don't need to put a lot of effort in order to be able to win somebody. So just share a really short story. And it came out from what is one part of my book and how you can transform any relationship. So there was a there was a guy in the audience. And, you know, I asked him, I mean, he he actually said that, you know, he had somebody he wanted to influence. But the person so often what's the first word that comes to mind? And this was actually during a keynote? What was the first one that comes to mind when you think of that person? And he said, Well, you know, the person is really selfish. And so I said, Okay, so you could change the word into a neutral word, what would it be? And, you know, the whole audience actually gave him a lot of suggestions, a word that can replace selfish, but that's very similar in meaning that doesn't have a negative connotation. After about easily 20 suggestions, he couldn't find a word until somebody came up with a word, guess what it was? It's a magic word. It's called Word misunderstood. misunderstood? And he said, Yes, I think I think I could replace selfish with this misunderstood, and it didn't have any negative connotation. So you know, I said, Why don't you every time you see this person, you're going to replace that word? And can you let me know how it went? Do you know like, one month later, he actually shared with me that, you know, his relationship with a person changed. He was actually a colleague of his. And, you know, nothing happened in the first few days. But after missing the word misunderstood, he had a deeper conversation with her. And, you know, and then he realized that actually, she is a single mother and bringing up a daughter. And that's when it hit him that she's actually far from selfish because everything she did was for the daughter. So what I wanted it self love. Yeah, so just a really simple tip. We put words on everybody, but it's a client, whether it's a colleague, you know, whether it's a friend or purse or anybody, we slap a word on them. If the word is a negative one, your relationship would tend to be negative. But if the word is if we can change the work to neutral or positive The interesting thing is, we will start to open channels of communication. And, and that would actually allow us to understand the person and we'd be amazed at, you know, again, how people start to view and, and, and view people differently. So, so all of the things that we're all a mixed bag of words. And when you change the word into a positive one, you will have a positive relationship. And that's a simple tip in terms of transforming any relationship you want. James Taylor And as you were going in through your journey in terms of becoming a speaker, and speaking more internationally, was there a key aha moment and insight, light bulb moment you went, Oh, okay, this is maybe the direction I want to go with my speaking or these are the types of clients I want to work with, or you made some kind of key distinction in your speaking work. Karen Leong You know, it's really interesting, you asked that, because I want to look back in my journey, it has been so diverse, you know, the kinds of industries and the kind of countries that I've been in that, in fact, it's, it's my ability to transcend industries, to transcend cultures, and even leadership levels that has allowed me to really hone my expertise and make a big difference. So you know, even right now, I'm working on my next book, which is called the catalyst, micro actions that can spark personal revolutions. And I'm also in the process now of interviewing my next 100 people. And it's fascinating. It's fascinating that, you know, that there is so much actually, so much of the same problems, that people who are so different things. And again, there are so many amazing solutions that can work across situations. So I think, you know, sometimes it's good to go wide, before we go narrow, because when we go wide, and we speak in all kinds of platforms, it actually allows us to find what is the niche that allows us to make the biggest impact, no matter what industry and what country, James Taylor I think it's one of the interesting things about being a being a speaker, because you get to speak at so many different industries and so many different into so many different countries. You after a while, if you're speaking on one particular topic, and you're talking to his clients about how that topic relates to them, you start noticing patterns we've got so obviously the industry is is neither here nor there, it's you start to see the patterns, or whether it's in pharmaceuticals, or whether it's in entertainment, or whether it's in some completely different industry, you're going to get to see those things and then that can really become more like principles, and then you're able to kind of feed that back into your, your speaking as well. So I love that I love the idea of like finding catalysts, and moments of that, you know, those kind of catalyst moments that happen. So I'm looking forward to reading that book as it when it comes out next. And Karen Leong I'll keep you posted. James Taylor I want to see that book. So I was in your your speaker bag was in that bag that you carry with you to all of your various speaking engagements, you never leave home without what's in that bag. You know, it's Karen Leong interesting. I mean, I do have a bag that's kind of packed. And, but but essentially, it's easy. The key thing is that I always, you know, like to travel like so even though I pack it, it's like it's just the same thing, you know, having my clickers having a, you know, the other tech nail down. But the fascinating thing is that, you know, nowadays, I also always bring at least just one copy of my book. Because every, every time I'm being asked, you know if where is it that they can find my book. And I don't sell my books at keynotes. But most I mean, unless the conference organizers package it. But um, but but I realized that you know that that book has really opened the doors, and has really helped to create incredible value, especially, you know, whenever I'm speaking. So it's it's like a very natural calling card. And it's a way for me to at least give immediate value to to someone who has asked the best question. I love I love it when people ask questions, and my keynotes are always so many questions. So I always believe in rewarding in rewarding curiosity. And the more people are curious, you know, that's going to change the game for them. James Taylor And if you were to recommend one tool, one app, mobile app or tool online resource that you find really useful for yourself as a speaker, what would that tool be Karen Leong five letters Asana. I, my team because we're a global team. We live by our sada because you see running a speaking business Just not about speaking, it's about understanding how you run a smooth business that provides immediate value to your clients. So for us, you know, we work also virtually, across so many different time zones, and the ability to hold each other accountable. The ability to ensure that projects are done to expect a quality and to expect it speed. Because we pride ourselves on being fast in responding to clients, and ensuring that our clients are successful. So the only way that we could train companies and teams on how to be better leaders, how to be more productive, how to thrive on change, is if we embed the same principles within the organization. So I highly recommend productivity tools like Asana, so that we are efficient, highly productive, able to deliver massive value in the shortest amount of time. And what about a James Taylor book, if you do recommend just one book, not one of your own books, but maybe a book that is influenced your life, it could be on speaking or it could be on on influence? Or another topic, do you think would be a real value to the attendees here just now? What would that book be, you know, Karen Leong the book that has made the biggest change for me is Victor Frankel's Man's Search for Meaning. I have reread the book a couple of times. Because the thing is, you know, a lot of people want to, you know, embark on a journey to find success. Many people also want to do this to find happiness. But knowing what I know, now, you know, it's really doing something that's meaningful, that will allow us to play the long game, because the speaking business, you know, it's ultimately fulfilling, it can also be a roller coaster of challenges. And so, tying back to really doing that something meaningful, I think it gave me the resilience to go the distance, it gives me the gumption to really continue, and to do my best work. So that's the one book that I might go to, James Taylor I love I love that book as well. Um, I think, Mike, my take on that book is, I don't know, I don't know what your thoughts are better. But the big takeaway I took for it was that sometimes we don't necessarily know that at the point that we're living in an experience, what that meaning is, is only when we look back, it's like, I'm the one who uses it, it's almost like a movie film, when you can look back or make sense at the end of the movie, but when you're in the middle of the movie, or the stuff that maybe doesn't quite make sense to you. But you said, as long as that scene makes sense to you, and that that scene has meaning, then at the end of it, then you can kind of see how they all relate to each other. It's very difficult. You know, someone said, what was the meaning of life? You know, when you're, when you're, when you're in it, it's like, that's almost like to be a question, like, what is the meaning of what I'm doing now and this this part of my life, but that's that I don't know, how you feel. But that's, that was my kind of takeaway from that book, Karen Leong you know, what I've learned is the incredible human spirit. And it is one thing I want to leave people with is what I've, through the work I've done, I realized that everyone is born influential, that everybody has the capability to influence. And there's just two things we need to remember. Number one, just have the purest of intentions. And number two, be generous in giving your expertise and giving your knowledge. And when you focus on these two things, you would naturally activate the influencer with him. And that's also my mission, to help people to tap into that natural influencer. To me, it's not about learning a technique. It's actually about freeing and unleashing what's really inside such that we can do it, you know, so effortlessly. And that's actually also one of my passions. And my my main aim is to empower more natural influences worldwide. James Taylor So I'm going to ask you to finish up Africa. One of my final questions is, I want you to imagine you woke up tomorrow morning, and we say Singapore and Singapore. And you have all the skills that you've acquired over the years, all the knowledge, but no one knows you, and you know, no one, you have to completely restart your career. What would you do? How would you restart things? See, I Karen Leong know James, you like to ask very interesting questions. But it's I like it, you see if I had to completely restart everything. the fascinating thing is, you know, I, I have actually started from zero before. And now that this is my second successful business, I realized that we actually don't need anything But conviction and passion to get started. So imagine is a speaking business the best way to get started because we don't need anything to actually, you know, get up on stage and start sharing value. So I would just continue doing what I'm really passionate about and start giving, you know, giving value speaking to not for profits, helping companies with CSR, and just getting my talent. And the fascinating thing is that, you know, the more we give, the more we see the world as a place of abundance, a world of collaborators, we actually will start building a very supportive, empowering networking community naturally. So I would just simply start speaking. James Taylor So I was just saying that like in terms of giving value, one of the things you're giving value to this audience is you provided a special report which is the key to effortless influence, we're going to have a link here just below this video so people can click on that and go through and access that as well. If people want to just kind of connect with you reach out to you maybe to learn refer you for speaking opportunities or just just to connect where's the best place for them to do that Karen Leong so you know I'm available on Facebook at Karen young Connect I'm also available LinkedIn so and or just drop me an email at Karen at Karen Jones comm I'm always open to see how I could offer value connect people and really just make an impact. So you know, Facebook, LinkedIn, and email These are my three go to places. James Taylor Well, Karen, absolute pleasure speaking with you to get today I'm looking for I know we're probably going to meet up in a few weeks time I'm going to be in Singapore speaking and so we'll get a chance to kind of hang out as well. And thank you so much for coming on the summit today. Karen Leong Thank you so much. It's been such an enlightening and inspiring conversation with you. It's a pleasure to be here. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

How To Use Newsjacking To Build Your Speaking Business James Taylor interviews David Meerman Scott and they talked about How To Use Newsjacking To Build Your Speaking Business In today's episode David Meerman Scott talk about How To Use Newsjacking To Build Your Speaking Business. David Meerman Scott is a keynote speaker and internationally acclaimed strategist, whose books are must-reads for professionals seeking to generate attention and grow their businesses. He is the author of ten books – three of which are international bestsellers. In fact ‘The New Rules of Marketing & PR' is now in its 6th edition, has been translated into 29 languages and is required reading at hundreds of universities and business schools worldwide. Meanwhile, as a speaker, he has delivered keynotes in seven continents and over 40 countries to companies including Cisco, PwC, Ford, Google and Nestle Purina. What we cover: How Newsjacking works Build Your Speaking Business Resources: David's Website Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/how-to-use-newsjacking-to-build-your-speaking-business-sl092/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hi there. It's James Taylor, and I'm delighted today to be joined by David Meerman Scott. David Meerman Scott is a keynote speaker, an internationally acclaimed strategist whose books are must reads for professionals seeking to generate attention and grow their businesses. He is the author of 10 books, three of which are international bestsellers. In fact, the new rules of marketing and PR is now in its sixth edition, and has been translated into 29 languages. And it's required required reading now at hundreds of universities and business schools worldwide. Meanwhile, as a speaker, he has delivered keynotes and seven continents in over 40 countries companies, including Cisco PwC, Ford, Google, Google, and Nestle Purina. It's my great pleasure to have David join us today. So welcome, David Meerman Scott David. Hey, James, great to be here. Thanks for putting this wonderful event together. James Taylor So share with everyone what's going on in your world. Just now, David Meerman Scott I'm getting ready to go to Budapest for a speaking gig in a couple of days. And I'm excited about that, because that'll be the 43rd country that I will have spoken. And I'm a geek, I keep a list. And I've never been I've never been to Budapest before. So I'm looking forward to going to Hungary, James Taylor so to speak, as I speak with they kind of have that target that countries on their hit list that they want to go and speak to. And it may changes over time. So obviously, a lot of people are going to be seeing this from speakers all over the world, or the other. Some countries on the top of that list just now that you haven't spoken and yet Maybe someone's watching this just now and they can invite you to come and speak there. David Meerman Scott That's good. I you know what, I always love the Eastern European countries, the former parts of this of the Soviet Union, I find them to be fascinating places. I like that they're not touristy places. So I am eager to get to any of those countries. If anyone's listening in. I'm surprised you didn't ask me about speaking in Antarctica, which I did. That, that was a pretty fabulous time, I have yet to meet another speaker anywhere on the planet, who has delivered a presentation on the continent of Antarctica. So I think, as far as I know, I'm the only speaker in our circles at least that I've spoken on all seven continents. James Taylor So yeah, so you have to go to the other so that that's kind of insane. Well, at some point, we'll have to have that conversation. I want to know what that was like. But for anyone, you know, when you kind of got into the world of speaking, who How did you get into this strange and interesting world of keynote speaking and with any kind of early mentors that you had, David Meerman Scott I was I was a huge fan still am a huge fan of Seth Godin. And I had a chance to read some of his books early on. And then I had also an opportunity a couple of times before I was doing speaking in a big way to hear him speak. And I was like, Wow, this is so cool. Imagine writing books and giving speeches for a living. How awesome is that? So I said, You know what, I'm gonna try it, see how it works. And I did. Actually the third book, I wrote new rules of marketing and PR, hit it big. And that's the one that has now been driving speaking gigs for me ever since. So. Yes, Seth Godin. Fantastic. I also would like to mention, Dr. Nick Morgan, who is my speaker, coach. And about 12 years ago, I started working with Nick and I, his experience, his guidance, his coaching has helped me to become a much better speaker, which then leads to a tremendous amount of referral business and a tremendous amount of people who have me come back and speak multiple years, I just got invited back to the Microsoft inspire conference, and this will be the, I think, sixth year that I've spoken at that event. So Nick Morgan was also a very important influence on me one of and James Taylor so I mentioned as you as you're building your, your career, people can find out about you as a speaker in different ways. I found out about you through maybe a slightly strange or unusual way, was through watching Tony Robbins, I think it was his Instagram or maybe it might mean periscope when he had periscope is the thing. And it was you up on stage and I just saw it and and you were talking about this really fascinating topic of news jacking which I'd never heard of before. And it got me completely intrigued and and so the Anyone that hasn't heard but news jacking this concept of new jacking which I did a few you invented this this term, but tell people what that's all about. David Meerman Scott Yeah. So actually, let me back up just a second. Because that I speak at all of Tony Robbins business mastery events around the world. And I was speaking, I'm not sure we've done it a couple of times, but either probably it was with a Las Vegas event. And I was talking about news jacking. And we just decided to put it out through one of those live streaming services. And I don't remember either was it Periscope, or, or Facebook Live, I want one of the two. But in any case, that had 150,000 views, that video. And it's just remarkable to me the power of live streaming and what it's able to accomplish, and it led directly to you and I having this conversation here. So newsjacking is the idea of aligning your ideas to a breaking news story. So when there's a news story that's breaking in the marketplace, something that's happening, that is part of your area of expertise, you create a real time blog posts are real time, tweet with a hashtag, a real time video, a real time video stream, but you create some kind of content that puts your ideas around that breaking news story into the marketplace of ideas, so that a few things can possibly happen. One, you might get quoted by members of the media who are always looking for people's ideas to quote in their stories, especially if it's a fast breaking news story. The second thing that might happen as you drive tons of traffic to your site, who is this guy commenting? Or Who is this woman commenting on this breaking news story, I need to know more about them because I need to learn this stuff. Or number three, you can grow business, you can have people who buy products and services and for speakers like us, you can have people book you at events, which is absolutely remarkable. And for the record, I did not coin the word news jacking. It was invented in the 1970s to initially mean people, kids typically he would go and steal newspapers off of people's front doorsteps And out of those newspaper machines and then sell them. They called that news jacking. But I popularized the idea of news jacking as I just described it back in 2011. And it's become so popular since then, that the Oxford English Dictionary listed it last year and also named it as a shortlist to the shortlist of word of the year. So I think it's fascinating that you can I think it's fascinating that you can come up with a term Yes, the term was used before but not in the way I described it. You come up with a term popularize it get people to talk about it, speak about it on stages around the world like Tony Robbins in stage have people share that idea and have it become so popular that it gets listed in the Oxford English Dictionary and I think any one of us can do that. And so it's the opportunity we all have as as people who who talk and speak and write about our ideas James Taylor so a new story as it breaks it kind of has this this kind of wave that happens with it and what stays you know how early is too early on trying to insert yourself in relation to a story I'm in but there was something happened a while back it was a one of the airlines stop stop people bringing their laptops onto planes David Meerman Scott yeah right right right that was that was out of the the American government banned air airplanes from seven different countries most of them in the Middle East Qatar Saudi a few other places from come flying directly in James Taylor so I saw Esther and I said why she that's an interesting one because what else do you do on the table I speak on creativity so actually that's quite interesting way you go that quiet time maybe you don't watch the movies you can be more creative thinking out the ideas but I I put this thing out I created a video put out but it was a maybe a little bit too late to kind of catch catches or so what is the optimum time if story is breaking on something? What how how quick is too quick? And is there is there an optimal time to be kind of putting that story out there. David Meerman Scott No such thing as too quick you've got to get it out extremely fast. So every news story breaks in a typical bell shaped curve. And it breaks it begins to gain momentum as it's beginning to gain momentum. The first people on board are so is social media because they banging out tweets and pushing it out in social media. Then mainstream media, magazines, radio, television, newspaper reporters are all looking for people to quote as that story gains in popularity. For example, perfect example, laptops, no longer Available on check luggage for those flights coming into the United States from those Middle Eastern countries. And so as that's breaking reporters like, Oh my god, what does this mean? How can I find someone who can comment on it, and they do Google search? Right away report, I used to work in the news business. And so I know they they go and do a Google search, and they type in, you know, laptops on no longer on planes, click what comes up, if you had written a blog post, really quickly, Google indexes blog posts instantly, perhaps they would have found your blog post sometimes will even quote you without contacting, you just quote you directly from your blog post. Oh, and James says that we should use that downtime on airplanes more productively, rather than playing with our laptop, we should be drawing picture, you know, whatever your you would say. And they might quote you on that. And so it's about being very, very, very, very quick. So what does that mean is when you see the story, drop everything and start creating content. If that story is in your area of expertise, let me give you an example in my world. So back in 2015, and 2016, I became an incredible geek about the US presidential election, but not from the political perspective. But from the marketing perspective. You know, I'm a marketing guy. So I am I, my hobby became going to political rallies of the different candidates. I happen to live in the Boston area. And the New Hampshire state is state prime is a is the first primary in the united states in the nation to vote, as well, in the general election, New Hampshire was a swing state. So all the candidates spent a lot of time in New Hampshire. And it's about one hour from where I live, it's the neighboring state. So I ended up going to two Donald Trump rallies, three Hillary Clinton rallies, rallies from other candidates like Bernie Sanders and Marco Rubio and, and john Casey and others, because it became a hobby. But more than that, then I would write about it from the marketing perspective, only marketing non politics. And you know, I put a disclaimer on every blog post, this is a this is a marketing discussion, not a political discussion. And people started to follow me because of that, because I was having this content around the marketing aspects of the election. I am back to Tony Robbins, I was edit. I was with Tony in London. at an event in mid 2016, about five or six months away from the general election, he and I did a YouTube video about our thoughts of the election. And at that point, it was just Clinton versus Trump. And we've we've I think there's about 15 minutes, we put it out on YouTube and a few other social places that had tons of views. But interestingly, I met a guy who worked on the Trump campaign who told us that Donald Trump actually saw that so imagine, imagine that you can create something, because it's in the news that can be that can take it that way. But but but let me finish the news jacking aspect of this. When Trump won in November of 2016. The entire world was was was amazed Why did Trump win What happened? And everyone was trying to analyze why he won because Hillary Clinton was supposed to win. Everyone predicted all the polls indicated all the pundits said, there's no way Trump can win. But he did. I wrote a blog post within two hours of the election being called by CNN and the associated press and some of the other news outlets, within two hours of them naming Trump and it was four o'clock in the morning, my time I wrote a blog post, the title of the blog post was the best marketer was elected president. And it was based it was based on all the research I had done over the last year and a half. So I was eminently qualified to write the post. And journalists were following me anyway, journalists could also find that through Google search, and I ended up getting quoted in like last I lost count at 20 different publications. And about a week later, I got an email from the Public Affairs Council in Washington DC inviting me to keynote their conference because they saw that blog post. Wow. So the idea of news jacking can lead directly to speaking business James Taylor and also, it'd be much more positions you as a thought leader in your space that you have thought about these things, thought about them deeply analyze them, and you're coming up with new things into the market? Or is there any topic that you wouldn't go near? I mean, there's there's always in stories, obviously celebrity stories, terrible things, you know, terrible, horrific stuff that happens. Is there any way that you go, actually, there is something in that I can speak to from a marketing, but I'm not going to go, I'm not going to go there. I'm just I'm not going to go there. David Meerman Scott Well, I think what's important for all of us is we have a tremendous up anyone with listening in on this have a tremendous opportunity with news jacking. Because if we're on the speaking circuit, if we are professional speakers, if we're aspiring to be professional speakers, it means we have a very particular expertise that we can talk about, in my case, it's sales and marketing, in your case, it's creativity. And because of that, we are in a unique position to be able to comment on certain stories that are out there. What's important to remember that so you don't screw it up, though, is that you do need to have a direct tie to that story based on your expertise. Don't just find whatever the most popular story is today, and push out a blog post about it, you know, that's not going to work, you have to have a direct tie from the news story that's breaking to your expertise, and then you push out something related to that. So from that perspective, even a story that has negative connotations, or even a story that otherwise you should avoid, you might be able to comment on, I always avoid politics, always, always, always, I never, ever will talk or speak or write about something regarding politics, because chances are that, you know, half of my audience is going to be on one side half is going to be on the other, I don't want to take sides and alienate part of my audience. But I can talk about the marketing aspects of a political campaign, which is what I did. So I think I recommend to my corporate clients never to do news jacking around a story that involves death and destruction. You know, if there's a natural disaster, and people die related to, I don't know, a flood or a hurricane or something like that, avoided at all cost unless you have a skill set in that area. And there may be opportunities that you can. But for the most part, for most of us, the vast majority of people listening in, you're gonna want to find a story that's non controversial, but that you can comment on, and you've got to be quick and push it out right away. James Taylor And I guess the benefit of that is in terms of your your role as a keynote speaker, you have material, there's always very, very current, you're always kind of, I will probably be at those speakers who are telling stories up, you know, which from maybe another era that you think, well, this is it, how often is this person with their research and their expertise. So you're able to pull from all these things that you're you're seeing all the time, and you're relating, and having your particular take on that. So it feels like okay, this, this is really up to date, what this material has given me is really up to date. Can you talk about as you in your keynoting, maybe a key aha moment in your career as a speaker or a label or a time where you went? Okay, this is direction I want to go with my speaking Oh, you made some key distinction that you felt was very important in terms of where you are now with what you do? David Meerman Scott Yeah. So I'll give you two things. So first of all, you hit on something that's very, very important to me. And that is to be very, very timely and current. What I do is the evening before a speaking engagement, I scour the news, as well, that morning before I speak. I'm on Google News. I'm looking on Twitter, I'm looking on the social networks. I'm looking for a breaking news story. That is in the news right now, this second, as I'm about to speak. And I look for an example of somebody whose news jack that story, because that's the story that I'd like one of the stories I would like to talk about when I'm when I'm talking about news jacking and the idea of making my presentations real time and making them as close to right now this is instant as possible. That was transformational. For me with my speaking it was a really, really important aspect of what I do. The other thing that was transformational of for my speaking was something I learned I mentioned him earlier as my speaker coach, Dr. Nick Morgan. And what Nick taught me at one point a couple of years ago, is around the idea of how far people are away from you and how important those concepts are to putting together In effective speech, and the manifestation of that is that I try my best to figure out a way that I can walk into the audience at some point during a presentation. And it's important to me to be able to do that. Because it makes me physically closer to an audience. And that's a skill that I learned from my buddy, Nick. And those two things were important for my, for my speaking, I think in in a way, they gave me confidence, because I was doing things that I didn't see other speakers doing. I'll give you one more example. The other thing is, I am a huge, massive fan of live rock concerts. So I've been to I've been to nearly 700 live shows in my life since the first show I saw when I was 15 years old. And and I always study what are the singers doing what is you know, what is Mick Jagger doing? What are you know, what are these people doing? And I copy some of their things like, I've never seen another speaker jump onto a stage monitor before but I do it because that's what I see rock concert I see singers at rock concerts do. James Taylor And I think that there's a great there's a great point from that as well. A friend of mine would be a Gabriel and this friend of mine drug great drummer called Billy Cobham, a jazz drummer with Miles Davis, and bit and Billy said the first night after he played his big Stadium, and it just, you know, he thought it did really well. But pa came afterward and said, all that really fine, intricate stuff you're working. That's great. That's gonna work great for the first 20 rows. But you have to realize you're playing to a much bigger audience. Now your movements have to be much bigger. You just cannot do that the intricate stuff because it's just not going to carry and after hearing, Billy, tell me a story. It's only made me realize, okay, if I'm going to speak on bigger and bigger stages, and Tony Robbins is a perfect example of this, your physicality becomes that much has to become that much bigger because you're not dealing on a little periscope screen or something anymore. David Meerman Scott Yeah, yeah. And Tony Robbins case, he's, um, he's now doing, he's now playing arenas. You know, he's playing, he's playing 20,000 seat arenas now, which is fabulous. Good for him. So but that's right, it's right, you've got to focus on how to make a presence in those environments. And so I find it really cool to be able to learn from people who have been playing those environments for decades, you know, rock bands. James Taylor So to final question for you, and then we have an amazing resource that you're gonna get, we're gonna give everyone gonna have a link here for everyone's interest in this area of newsjacking. So final two things I want to ask you. One is a particular online tool or app or something you're finding really useful in terms of getting those things out quick. You mentioned in terms of speed, and setting. The second question, is there a particular book, you know, not one of your books, maybe a book on speaking or could be on marketing you would recommend to the viewers here, David Meerman Scott okay, interesting. So yeah, the first thing is on apps, I'm, I'm still a massive fan of Twitter. And it may be obvious, and it's nothing new. But the idea of real time communications, that is my topic when I present and the idea of news jacking and understanding what's going on out there. Twitter is just an amazing tool. So I'm going to go with the old standby of Twitter. And what I do in terms of reading, is I'm always focused on reading books that are interesting, but composed pletely unrelated to what I do. And I'm very much enjoying right now a book on Leonardo da Vinci. And it's interesting to me because he was such a polymath, and he was good at so many different things. I mean, he invented flying machines, they didn't really work very well, but he invented flying machines. He was an artist. He was he was a medical professional, he dissected bodies and understand how muscles work. He was an intricate drawer. He, he was a fascinating character. And by learning from, I like just learning really obscure interesting things, which I think helped my presentations because it allows me to be much more broad than then I think a lot of speakers are which is just focusing on their own effect. What James Taylor didn't you know, that book, I've got a copy of that book. I've seen what I think it is this beautiful, large book, I think was the same book, same author that wrote the one on Benjamin Franklin and Steve Jobs. David Meerman Scott That's exactly right. Yeah, that's exactly right. And it's and it seems, it seems daunting, it's really, it's really heavy. And I'm like, Oh my god, I had a speaking gig in Rome last week, or actually was a week and a half ago. And I figured, okay, what book do I want to read before on the airplane going over to Rome, so I of course, I got it. Read a book about an Italian so I picked up Leonardo da Vinci. And of course it was so big I couldn't finish it not not only on the way to Rome but the way back as well. I'm still I'm still reading it now. I've already been I've been back for almost a week. But it's a great James Taylor see they kindly agreed you you have this amazing can infographic on how to use Jags so people are listening is just that I can see how my skill set my area of expertise how I can use newsjacking to build my authority to get get gigs. Is anything you want to say about that infographic. We're gonna have a link here below so people can click on that and get access to that. David Meerman Scott Yeah, yeah, yeah. So just basically I mentioned this chart, the life of a news story. I have a detailed chart in Vail available in that infographic as well as the steps here's what you do. 123 gives you the basics of how to do news jacking. And then as I said, I think it's one of the best opportunities that we speakers thought leaders writers have to get ourselves notice noticed, not when we're ready. But when the markets ready. James Taylor And if anyone is watching just now maybe they're in Kazakhstan or one of the former Eastern European countries and they want to bring you in to speak they want to recommend you. Where should they go? where's the best place for them to head to find out more about your speaking? David Meerman Scott My My name is David meerman. Scott, I use my middle name because I'm the only David meerman Scott on the entire planet. And there are a lot of David's, David's Scott's out there. So David meerman scott.com. On Twitter, I m d m SC Ott dm, Scott. James Taylor Well, David, thank you so much for coming on today. I wish you all the best with your speaking hope we'll get a chance to speak somewhere in the world at some stage together. But thank you so much for coming on and introducing us to news jacking. David Meerman Scott Thanks, James. I just want to be with you. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

The Success Principles of Speaking James Taylor interviews Walter Bond and they talked about The Success Principles of Speaking In today's episode Walter Bond talk about The Success Principles of Speaking. Former NBA star Walter Bond is a speaker who motivates people through his life story of trials and triumphs. Growing up in Chicago, he always dreamed of playing in the NBA. Though he lacked the natural athletic gifts of many of his peers, through hard work, parental encouragement, and discipline, he achieved his dream and had an eight-year professional playing career with the Dallas Mavericks, Utah Jazz, and Detroit Pistons. He later applied the same principles he'd used as a pro-basketball player to achieve great success off the court as a speaker, entrepreneur, and financial analyst. A powerful keynote speaker, in 2015 Walter was inducted into the National Speakers Association Speaker Hall of Fame. What we cover: Why every speaker needs a mentor The fundamentals of the speaking business Being an impact player Resources: Walter's Website Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/the-success-principles-of-speaking-sl091/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey there, it's James Taylor and I'm delighted today to be joined by Walter Bond. former NBA star water bond is a speaker who motivates people through his life story of trials and triumphs. Growing up in Chicago you always dreamed of playing in the NBA. Though he like the natural athletic gifts of many of his peers through hard work parental encouragement and discipline. He achieved his dream and had an eight year professional Playing career with the Dallas Mavericks, Utah Jazz and Detroit Pistons. He later applying the same principles he'd use as a pro basketball player to achieve great success off the court as a speaker, entrepreneur and financial analyst, a powerful keynote speaker in 2015, Walter was inducted in the National Speakers Association speaker Hall of Fame. And it's my great pleasure to have Walter join us today. So welcome Walter Walter Bond guys, James and I know you're jealous. You would love my last night. James Taylor I wouldn't you knew, I think I think you need to adopt me you need to speak your wife about adopting me so I can I can get this name change thing happened. So it could be James Bond. Finally, Walter Bond well, my wife loves infants. So if you are willing to put on a diaper, we James Taylor could do that. So share with me what's going on in your world just now. Walter Bond You know nothing just busy. I love speaking you know, I love the lifestyle just got done playing around the golf and I'm a golf tomorrow. And so it's pretty cool to go around the world and motivate people and do coaching and training and consulting and, and also have a balanced life where you can enjoy life. So today I just played golf, you know, and I might play golf tomorrow. I just want to motivate you know, all speakers. You know, I think as you grow your business, this is a $6 billion industry, many people think and I think that if you have a message, that you have a passion for speaking and changing lives and empowering people, you got to get focused, and you got to go forward and you got to build it, because people need to hear from James Taylor us. Now I mentioned earlier you have this background as a as a pro athlete. When did the speaking part of you we always interested in being a speaker? Or was it something you kind of came to later on in life? Walter Bond Absolutely. You know, a lot of people don't know this. When I was young, I knew I was going to speak as a career. I didn't know how though I thought I might be a comedian might be a preacher, Pastor, maybe a politician. And when I played for the Dallas Mavericks, Steve Harvey is very popular here in America, kind of hung out with this. And he had a comedy club in Dallas. And I talked, I talked him into let me go up on his comedy club stage. And I started motivating people in the comedy club. And I knew that although I use humor, now, I don't know if we're gonna get a chance to talk about this today. Because humor is a big part of engaging your audience. It taught me what I wasn't, you know, and I'm not a comedian, but I use humor. And so I want to say a special shout out to Steve Harvey because he helped me figure out what I was, which got me one step closer to my true gifts and who I really was as a as a motivator. James Taylor So in those early days of you, moving from the world of pro sports into speaking and now we do speak full time all around the world. Who are those mentors that you had as a speaker? Well, this particular speakers it can take you under their wing, or whether maybe people you looked at from afar, and you said I want to get to where they are in their speaking career? Walter Bond Well, you know, I think is wise to have mentors. You know, I think that anyone who doesn't have a mentor or a coach is basically an idiot, you know, if you really think about it, because when you have a mentor, that's been where you're trying to go, they can save you time, they can save you money, they can save you anguish and frustration. They collapse timeframes and my mentors, I joined the National Speakers Association, and I had mentors like Keith Harrell, Mr. super fantastic. I had guys like Willie jolly Tony Williamson, not Tony Williamson, but Desi Williamson, Mr. Impact, and I've just had some amazing mentors early on. And the same thing I did in sports. I mean, you kind of looked up to NBA players. You idolize them. You dreamed about being around them. And being a Chicago kid. When I got in high school, I got a chance to start, you know, playing basketball with NBA players and that mentoring landed me in the NBA. So when I joined the National Speakers Association I understood the power of mentorship. I understood I understood the power of confidence, I understood the power of knowing your gift, you know, and I speak in business, a lot of people are playing out of position, you know, what do I mean by that, you know, you can be a keynote speaker in this business, you can be a trainer, you can be a consultant, you can be a facilitator, I think it's so important for speakers to not play out of position. And in order to do that, you have to understand how you're wired, you have to understand what your gifting is. And I learned that in sports, because if you play out a position, you're never going to look your best. And I think in this training and development world, as a speaker, we have to know our position. So we always look our best. James Taylor Now, I know you overcame a lot of adversity as well. I know my family, our family, we either we the guys either end up as boxes, or musicians, that was the two, the two rooms for it, our family, and I ended up going more in the music side and the stage, so but if anyone's watching this just now and they may be listening to it, well, that's all fine with you, you know, your top NBA player must be really easy for you, you know, to kind of because you're hadn't had a profile to transition. What do you say to that person who watching just now that is maybe that 1920 year old kid that's watching this, and thinks I want to kind of be up there, I want to be in that stage. But it was hard for me to be able to do it because it feels so far away. At the moment, Walter Bond we don't want you you have to pay your dues and the play in the league like the NBA. I mean, literally, you're one of the top basketball players in the world. And what I didn't realize at the time, in my pursuit of the NBA, I was learning success principles. You know, I was learning success fundamentals, you know, how to how to be an impact player. Now, think about that, to play an NBA, you must be an impact player. And as a Hall of Fame speaker, every time I get a microphone, I want to be an impact player for my client and my audience. And so understanding the importance of having good habits and good rituals, you know, knowing that success is a team sport, so I have to have a good team around me. You know, my wife is my business partner and my wife has helped me build it. This is not all me, you know, we have tons of vendors and, and people that we have on retainer and, and I might get all the credit, and I might get all the standing ovations. But it's not just me, I have a whole team of people behind me. So just those three keys, for example, I learned in sports, how to be an impact player, the mindset, oh, my goodness, mindset, you know, playing in the NBA, you got to have a mindset. You know, people ask me, wow, you played against Michael Jordan, what was that? Like? I was like, Well, I think Michael Jordan's one of the best best basketball players ever. But I tried to kick his butt when I played against Michael Jordan, and people look at me in amazement, as if, really, how dare you? And I'm like, Look, if I don't think that way, am I qualified to play an NBA. So a lot of people in the speaking business don't even have the right mindset. You know, when you approach this business, you have to have confidence that I do have a message, I do have some content, I do have some information. But I can help you make more money, I can help you grow your business, I can help save your marriage, I can make you a better parent. I can inspire kids, whatever your message is, whatever your heart is, whatever your passion is, it begins with mindset. And in fact, in terms of making money, my mindset was, if I play in the NBA, and worked out four hours a day, and I made x, you know, in terms of money, as a business guy, I can work eight hours a day, so I should make more money in business and I didn't sports. That's simple mindset. James, people looked at me like I was crazy. Like, once you're an NBA player, like no, in three years, I doubled my MBA income mindset. So I tell us, all of my clients that we coach, I try to challenge everyone listening today. Do you ever think about what you think about, you know, it's kind of a deep statement. And until we get to right mindset, you're not going to ever be the best in the world at what you do. And many people destroy and defeat themselves. And it begins and ends with mindset. So when I think about it, I was being prepared to be a Hall of Fame speaker during my basketball career. And when it ended, I sat down and just kind of thought about all of the success principles that I learned directly through successes and through failure. You know, we always hear about failing forward, oh, my goodness, I fell forward in this business. I knew nothing about the speaking business. But I had the courage to try. I got the right mentors. When I make mistakes, I was accountable. That was another lesson I learned in sports, being able to say my fault. My bad, is how you win in sports. I think that's how you win in life. That's how you win in business. What are you good at right now as a speaker, how good is your marketing? How good are you on the platform? I mean, the ability to have an honest self assessment is the genesis for any of us to reach our potential. So sorry to be long winded. But when I think about what sports did for me, and overcoming adversity, my goodness, nothing in my background said I should have made the NBA and I did not have an MBA. pedigree and I made it anyway. So that's the core my message that even if your situation doesn't look like it, you still can make James Taylor one of the things I find that has that relationship between sports and professional speaking is that I know some of my friends are they're involved in sports professionally and they video every single thing they do. And that video is then shared with their coach with their team and their their analyzing after their their work their plays, the things that are done they're really looking at in detail now as speakers when you're when you're going up there guilt delivering even when you were starting, perhaps when you were going up there delivering your kids, will you then kind of doing using that same mindset that you had as a professional looking back at those videos like ah that you know, I should have gone there at that point, you know, I I you know, drop ball at that point I should have been thinking about they are we you able to transition and use some of those same same techniques. Walter Bond Let me tell you something, I knew what it took to be a Hall of Fame speaker before I begin, and here's what I did. First, I asked around, who are the top motivational speakers on the planet. Okay, I didn't want to just hear about the top motivational speakers in America or in my region, I wanted to know who's the best in the world, because that's how I saw the NBA. And so I heard about names, you know, Zig Ziglar, Les Brown, Lou Holtz, Jim Rohn, and I got all their videos, James. And just like I did in basketball, I watch a game finger. Before I began my speaking business, I watch Game film, on the top speakers on the planet, I set my wife down, and I said they were gonna be okay. She says how I said, I've already dissected the two key fundamentals of being a Hall of Fame speaker, and here they are, you have to be very engaging and entertaining. And you have to give your audience great information is that simple. It's that easy. It's that focus. So anyone listening today, if you can become very entertaining and dynamic on that platform, if you can give your audience great information, you too, can become a dynamic speaker going around the globe making big money. Why? Because I studied my industry, my father taught me to pay attention by paying attention. I knew before I begin what it took. And here's what happened. Once I started, I began to watch me speak. And I was very hard on myself, because I saw what a Hall of Fame speaker look like already, but I did my homework and my research. And I saw the gap. You know, when I first started speaking, I saw who I was at the time, but I had the vision of what it meant to be great on the platform. You know, when I grew up playing basketball as a kid, I had a vision of what Michael Jordan look like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, the greatest basketball players in the world. And when I was in high school in college, I had to close the gap until I was good enough to play with them. So when I start the speaking business, I got on the fast track, because one I had mentors to I had the vision of what great speakers look like, I knew the fundamentals of what they actually executed on the platform. And I had an honest self assessment with me, who was I, at that moment when I begin, and every year I get bigger, stronger and faster. Every year, I close the gap. And honestly, when I got inducted into the Hall of Fame, I remember I was sitting there with my tuxedo, my wife and kids are around, and I was called. And people came up to me and Whoa, whoa, aren't you excited? Oh my God, if I were you, I'd be so excited. And I calmly said, You know, I am excited. In fact, I'm thrilled. But I planned on being here the whole time. You know, me being here today was not a surprise to me. I planned on being here the first day I grabbed a microphone. Why? Because I knew what it took to be a great speaker. I was honest with myself in the beginning. And I was hard on myself. And I was able to close the gap and my team through the year. So any speakers out there today, go and find your favorite speaker doesn't have to be me. It could be anyone and go get the vision of what a great speaker looks like. We do it in sports. I mean, we know what a great tennis player looks like, what they do, we know what a great golfer does, why not study the speaking business and forgot what the great speakers do. You find your own favorite, it might not be anyone I've never heard of, but you study them. Okay. And the next time you speak, record yourself, and then study you and figure out the gap and get obsessed with closing the gap. And in no time you'll agree with me that becoming a Hall of Fame speaker in demand is relatively easy, if we know how to be productive, and I learned all that James by being an NBA ballplayer James Taylor and I mean, that's an amazing just gonna break down as you were talking through that having that and use that word vision. That also I wonder then, you know, I know a lot of musicians do this great music stars. I know a lot of great sports people use this being having very strong sense of using visualization to kind of visualize themselves making that play on that stage. You know, doing that thing. Did you use some of those same techniques as well and it terms when it came to your speaking Do you use did you use visualizations to see yourself at that point in your speaking and also to, to embody it to know what that felt like to be be at that level in your in what you were doing in your craft? Walter Bond You know what this is? That's a great question. And I'm sitting there thinking about it in real time, I did that in sports, I visualize myself having a great game, every game before the game started. But to be honest with you, I don't do it as a speaker. And here's the difference. In sports, you have competition, you have people on that court trying to stop you from having these great games. And sometimes they succeeded. If I did not have a great game every time I play. But when I'm on a platform, I'm on that court all by myself. There's no one on that court trying to stop me from being great. And I have such a command of my message, I understand the key to platform skills. And as far as I'm concerned, it's already done this, nobody's gonna stop me and defend me, or make it difficult for me to deliver a great keynote. So to be honest, I don't have to visualize the keynote, because I already know who I am. And one thing I learned about sports is having ultimate confidence. I believe I'm one of the greatest platform speakers in the world. And so when I go on that platform, I'm so focused on just delivering on what I believe about myself. And that goes back to mindset. You know, a lot of times if you struggle with confidence, or if you don't understand how important it is to have, you know, strong self esteem, and understand who you are and how you deliver, you know, why? How could you go on the platform in front of 3000 strangers and be great. And I think that mindset that I have, doesn't require me to visualize that keynote, because I already know. And all I have to do is show up. And when I show up, it's just happens, because that's who I am. It's not a rehearsal. It's not a performance. This is me. And so when they introduced me, ladies and gentlemen, you know, introducing keynote speaker Walter bond, you know, I'm just gonna show up and do me. And so I think that's the kind of confidence in the command that I know I teach my speakers or my speaking program, that you just show up and you be you. Which means if you want to grow a business, here's what you have to do. You have to first grow you, we have to grow internally. My question is, how many books have you read? How many speakers have you studied? How many kilos Have you given? You know, what my first fee? Was this, what you got? I spoke anywhere for any amount of money, anytime. I don't even focus on money in the beginning. Because I knew I was in a liquid lucrative industry. All I had to do was get good. I went anywhere Rotary Clubs, high schools, churches, you know, I spoke to funeral directors before. I just needed touches, I needed stage time. Yeah, I needed the opportunity to work on my gift and my craft, because I knew I had to close this gap. Because I already knew what it meant to be great James Taylor in the sports we often do here like tennis players drills during drills and and that's what they use in order to bridge that gap between where they are now and where they want to go. What are the things that you mentioned, I just stage time as can one of those things kind of one of the things that speakers need to be doing on a daily, weekly basis to be advancing? There's two things you spoke about, which was the improving the entertainment that that part of what they do and being an entertaining keynote speaker, and also having great information because that requires time and effort to kind of put that together as well? Walter Bond Well, there's a lot to witness a whole lot more than I can answer, you know, a 30 minute interview, but the crux of it is you have to focus on becoming a true pro in your industry, which is all encompassing. I mean, to play an NBA you have to be a great basketball player, but you also have to be in great physical shape. You have to have an agent, which is your business partner, you have to be able to find the right opportunities in the right situations. You have to market yourself you have to create your brand. But most importantly, you have to create your niche. You know, a lot of speakers haven't created a niche. Any smart business person creates a niche. So we've come up with a concept called power speaker. Okay, so all bureaus and people in the industry know me as a power speaker. I'm the perfect speaker to open a closure conference. I just spoke in Turkey to a soccer team. And the soccer president hired me after watching some YouTube videos. And he says, You know what, I want to hire the number one motivational speaker in the world to speak to my team. And guess what, when he did his Google search, some of my marketing said I'm the number one motivational speaker in the world. And by him doing a Google search on some texts that I had on our website, he found me and bought into that I'm the number one motivational speaker in the world. whether it's true or not, I don't know who's the judge, but I've been able to learn how to market we call it building your mousetrap. We had to learn how to sell I got on the phone James and I called 25 people a day every single day asking them To buy, if nothing happens in business into something sold business people, let me tell you this, stop seeing yourself as a speaker. If you see yourself as a speaker, you're gonna miss the whole ballgame. You're a business person. That's what we need to see ourselves. And I'm a business person, the product that I sell is motivation, inspiration, content on how to grow your business, but I'm a business person at my core. And so what do business people do? They market, they sell, they build relationships, they get referrals, okay. And if you see yourself as a business person, that alone will change your business as a speaker, most speakers, they see themselves as speakers. So all they think about through today is speaking, how shallow, okay, you got to have a mindset shift, and say, You know what, I'm a business person. So start reading business books. And that'll give you a greater impact. When you go and speak to your audience. Every time you speak, that should lead to your next three gigs. So if I do 100 events a year, okay. And if I'm absolutely amazing on stage, that alone will provide energy for my business. And so a lot of times speakers are looking for their next gig, and not maximizing the gig they're doing today. Yeah, every time you speak, that should lead to your next three events. James Taylor That's it, I was talking to another great speaker the other day, Frederick horn in Singapore. And he was saying that he said, until you're at the point where you're getting out there, and every time you give a speech, you're getting at least two other gigs on the back of it, you still you continue to keep working on that craft, because you're trying to get because that's it, even if you just do that part, and you're just getting out there working every year just builds upon itself. And it's just like, it's like, you know, your financial background. compound. Interest is like compound interest. And that way continually builds. As you went on, you're speaking your journey as a speaker, can you talk about one aha moment, one, maybe definitive point in your career when you went, oh, maybe that's the direction I want to go with, or this is the kind of audience I want to speak to, this is really what I care about. And the message I want to put out into the world and leave a legacy around? Walter Bond Well, you know, the AHA that I've had recently, is really understanding that a lot of speakers chase dates. Okay, and what I mean by that, you know, they just chase dates, and I was guilty of that for a long time. You know, my April looks good. Oh, my may is bad. Oh, my July is jam packed, oh, my God, my August is empty. You know, I did that for a long time, I realized that's a shallow business. That's not a smart business to build. And so I realized that I need to become a business person and build a business. And unless you look at it, that way, you're going to struggle. And so we have a coaching program. Now, we're hiring trainers, we're building scale. And I think smart speakers are focused on building something that they can sell one day, you know, and if you look at it, that way, you have a totally different approach than just looking for gigs. You know, because we know a lot of speakers and some of my mentors are guilty of this. All they did was chase dates, and when they died, their business died. Because you have people that that have, you know, built legacies, you know, Stephen Covey, I mean, his business didn't die with him, okay? You, we can go down the list that if your business dies with you, you didn't build a business, you're just speaking and making transactions, okay. And so for me, that was my aha, I want to leave a legacy. I want to build a company, my wife and I that can live on beyond us that our kids can run one day, and you know, this content is real, it's timeless, you know, how to win friends and influence people, you know, the author of that book that 1954, but people are still buying that book, okay? If you don't know who I'm talking about what I'm talking about, shame on you. And that's the, that's the avatar I'm looking at, you know, I want this business to leave a legacy that's going to be functioning after I die. after I'm dead and gone. I want our company our business to still flourish. So that's my aha. And unfortunately, my mentors, in a large part taught me to chase states, okay, and not to blame them. But that's what I did for a long time. And then I began to read books myself and, and grow them a tour, and always want more. That's one thing about me, I never arrived, I just always want a little bit more. You know, that's after you get into the Hall of Fame. And after you're very confident that you're going to do 80 to 100 events a year. What is more, you know, to me more is a training division where you hire trainers to deliver your content. It's not about Walter bond, it's about the content. And that's my aha for just, ya know, if if you want you to be the star, that's the wrong way to look at it, you know, and that's, that's what a lot of keynote speakers do. The content should be the star and the content is the Star, that's a little bit of a clue for all of us, but how we could build a business that can live on after us. James Taylor So took my content as we start to finish up here some quickfire questions for you water. If there is one book that you were to recommend not one of your own books, a book you would recommend to maybe an aspiring speaker or someone that's just going to getting started in the world of speaking. What would that book be Walter Bond the book I just read. And hopefully this applies to most people, I read a book called traction. Okay, it was written by a guy named Gino wickman. And I believe he's a member of NSA, I'm not sure about this. But I spoke at a conference and a very successful executive came up to me when I was done. And he said, You know what, you ought to go read a book traction. And he says, everything you're saying, is in this book traction. Now, Gino wickman. And his team is running an international consulting firm. And so for me to be a former NBA player, and instinctively just from growing my own business and having exposure to some of the top CEOs in the world, and basically saying the same exact things out of my mouth, that a top consulting firm, you know, is saying and teaching the clients, you know, for me, that was my graduation, and I'm no longer an athlete, okay, now I'm a true Business Resource, and I get it. And I've been able to transform myself into a true Business Resource. That's what I'm telling you about the confidence when you go on a stage, like, Look, I have something for my audience, and I need them to get this so they can go and have more, be more and do more. And if you have that kind of command of your message, and kind of confidence that your audience needs what you're talking about. You don't have to worry about chasing dates, those days are going to start chasing you. But if you're not having impact, okay? All speakers should be impact players. All coaches should be impact players. Okay? If you get paid 5000 and you go out and not make an impact, do you deserve another gig? Do you deserve another day? I mean, we see car accidents. You know, sometimes you see little fender benders, right? People get out the car, a little annoyed, but they look at the car, no damage was done. The other person looks at their car, no damage was done. And they both agree that Hey, no harm, no foul, there was no impact. Now, you realize how many speakers out here, I just have a little fender bender with their audience. And they leave the ballroom and had no impact on people, not to me, You don't deserve more dates. But sometimes on that highway, and we see that collision. And you say to yourself, as you look over, like, wow, I wonder if somebody died in an accident. I want if somebody was killed, look how that car was mangled up. Now imagine if you leave a ballroom. And all of a sudden, 1000 people were so impacted by your message that that old self dies. And all of a sudden a new creation was born that day, because of something you said that was an aha for them that you have such an impact. And they're gonna go back and change their marketing strategy. They're gonna go back and change their culture, they're gonna change their sales strategy. I heard a speaker today, and you know what off, I will never leave the same. I will never coach the same, I will never sell the same. I will never market the same. I mean, just be honest, Tony Robbins is having that kind of impact. That's why he's having his success. So that's my message for all speakers. Are you having a little tiny fender benders with your audience? Are you having a head on collision, and when they leave that ballroom, they are shook, because they realize that man I heard from a man today, and I will never be the same. I heard from a woman today. And based on that message, oh, my goodness, I will never look at leadership again. I'm gonna be a better father, I'm gonna be a better husband, I'm gonna be a better mother, I'm gonna be a better CEO, because I heard a man today in that ballroom. And I want more. And that's the kind of passion and delivery that I think great speakers need to expire to give. And until we're having that kind of impact that head on collision with our audience. I don't think we deserve more dates. But if you look at a speaker's calendar, when it's busy, that means they've had impact on the audience. And so my challenge today, as we wrap up, as you say, is is our speaking industry about having this minor fender bender, our should we have major impact on our audience, and I'm sure we all know the writing. James Taylor Yeah. Well, thank you so much for your time. Today is an absolute pleasure speaking to you. I hope at some point you get a chance to come over here where I'm speaking from you today from Scotland. I have 100 golf courses within an hour's drive. St. Andrew Andrews Carnoustie Gleneagles. They're all there on our doorstep. So I invite you to come over here and join us some time has gone for a game of golf. Now, Walter Bond here's a funny thing the golf community I live in which was afforded through speaking. I mean, we have nine billionaires in our golf community, and it's called St. Andrews. But this is the fake one. It's a big deal in Boca but I would love to get over there where you are and go to the real St Andrews James Taylor comm into all the best great speaking to you today. Walter Bond awesome thank you James. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Keynote Speaking James Taylor interviews Victor Antonio and talked about How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Keynote Speaking In today's episode Victor Antonio talk about How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Keynote Speaking. A poor upbringing in one of the roughest areas of Chicago didn't stop Victor from going onto become of of the world's most successful keynote speakers. After earning a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, an MBA, and becoming President of Global Sales and Marketing for a $420M company, Antonio now writes and speakers about sales and motivation. He has shared the stage with top business speakers: Rudy Giuliani, CEO of Intel Paul and FedEx Kinkos CEO John May. He's the author of 13 books on sales and motivation and recently launched the Sales Mastery Academy learning platform with 300+ videos. He latest book is called "Sales Ex Machina: How Artificial Intelligence is Changing the World of Selling”. What we cover: How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Keynote Speaking Finding your speaking style Generating passive income from online courses Resources: Victor's Website Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/how-artificial-intelligence-is-changing-keynote-speaking-sl090/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey, there is James Taylor and I'm delighted today to welcome in Victor Antonio. Victor Antonio is incredible keynote speaker approved bringing in one of the roughest areas Chicago didn't stop him from going on to become one of the world's most successful keynote speakers. After earning a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering and MBA and becoming president of global sales and marketing for $420 million company, Antonio now writes and speaks about sales and motivation. He shared the stage with top business speakers, Rudy Giuliani, the CEO of Intel, and also the FedEx kinkos CEO, john May. He's the author of 13 books on sales and motivation, and recently launched the sales mastery Academy learning platform which helps people in terms of selling and learning about selling, it's got over 300 videos in there. His latest book is called sales Ex Machina, how artificial intelligence is changing the world of selling. It's my great pleasure to have Victor join us today. So welcome, Victor Victor Antonio James, thank you for having me. My pleasure. James Taylor So share with everyone what's going on in your world just now. Victor Antonio going on in my world right now. Well, right now this month, you know, I did three months of hard traveling. So international wise, we're talking about that before the interview, you know, I did the Philippines and i did was i Jordan. So I got to see the old city of Petra while I was there. So that was very nice. So now I'm we're going into the spring, summer months, so my schedule is slowing down. So this is when I get back to writing and creating more content online. So that's kind of the mode I'm in right now. James Taylor So you've had this very interesting journey. You come from obviously a very strong sales background, large corporates as well. When did the speaking part begin? How did you get into the speaking world and Who were those early mentors for Victor Antonio you? You know, so my upbringing is very unusual. You're my family's originally from Puerto Rico. So you know, my parents, when they moved to the US, you know, didn't speak the language, so had to learn language. So it's Spanish at home English in the streets. And so one of the things that was instilled early on was obviously a work ethic. But more importantly was, my mother was always like, you gotta learn, you gotta learn, you gotta learn. Fast forward, I go get an engineering degree, decide, I don't want to be an engineer, I figured salespeople make more money. Let me go make let's go do some selling. That's when I hit my pace. It was around that time that I got a ticket. I was living in Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, that's when I got this ticket to go see these speakers every month. They bring in new speakers. So it was around 90. I'm dating myself here, but I'm saying 97. Somewhere in there. I saw Zig Ziglar for the first time like onstage. And James. It's that moment people talk about, you know what I mean? You see it you go, that's it. That's what I want to do. But still, you know, I had a new family. So I still had to make money, right? And but I remember having that image in my head being on a platform one day. So I joined Toastmasters. I don't know if you're familiar with the organization. Great organization join. Toastmasters became very good at it was getting a lot of competitions. But it was always back there. You know, I mean, so I'm selling in the b2b world technology equipment. But in the back of my mind, I want to be a speaker, I still have that Zig Ziglar thing in my head. And somewhere around 2001, I just decided to say you know what, it's time to do it. And I tell people, what developed in me was what I call a quiet discontent. And a quiet discontent is that thing and you know what I'm talking about jams, you know that, that's something that says, you know, everything's going well, but I'm just not on purpose. I'm not doing what I want. And it was just sitting there humming for a long time. And I just couldn't ignore the noise and the longer and so may 9 2001 3:48pm, to be exact, you know, I made the call, I quit. I'm gonna go with, you know, write books and become a speaker. I was that naive, I was like, I'm gonna do it, you know, had a little money stored away in the bank. And I'm like, you know, the kids are, you know, they're good, you know, and so I decided to go for it. And so that was the beginning. So 2001 is when I first started getting into the speaking world. And it's been, it's been quite the journey. James Taylor And what was it about seeing seems like I never saw Zig when he was alive. And I never got a chance. But I actually had his audio tapes. It can grow up probably about 1516. So he influenced me just by listening even though I never got a chance to see him because we didn't have like YouTube and things like that, that we have now. But what was it about that that first experience of seeing a real masterful public speaker like that, that really attracted you to think, Okay, this is why I want to do with my life. Victor Antonio I think it was so it's a confluence of things right. The first one was, it was around that time. I was I moved in the sales, I was on this journey of trying to, you know how you know, you go to college, you get the education, you go get the job, you start working at the job. And you say, Please tell me, this is what life is all about sitting in a cubicle for the rest of my life, right? And so I think I was going through some type of I'll say, philosophical crisis at the time, what do I want to do? And sales seemed like a good opportunity to make money, let's move in that direction. Right. But still, there's something like not right, you know what I mean? mentally, you're searching for some deeper answers. And I think so. So for so I was open to listening to other people's messages about, you know, their experiences, and so forth. And then I watching Zig Ziglar, on stage, I think the way he impacted the crowd, is something I said, Man, I love what he's doing. I love that. I love his messaging, but not so and then when you look at the messaging, but beyond that, it was his delivery system. It's just how he did it. And I cut that's just masterful. And so maybe, because I like talking a lot at the time. And I said, Okay, this really combines a lot of what I love, which is, you know, really understanding, I guess, human motivation, but being able to deliver it in such a way that people go, Ah, I get it. And he wasn't beating you over the head with philosophy or lessons. He was just, I mean, just slipping it under the door, if you know what I mean, your mental dorbz is kind of coming in, right under. And if just as a small note, fast forward. I'm gonna say like, 10 years later, loving years later, I spoke with Zig Ziglar on the same stage, got to meet him and his wife the whole bit. It was it was the best thing. It was great, man. It was great. So like, knowing 11 years later, so it was kind of cool. James Taylor So they said, they say you should never meet your heroes. I'm told you never meet your heroes. But But what was it like? Did the the the image that you had in your head and the person you met in real life did? Did he reflect that? Victor Antonio Yeah, I mean, he did he, by the way. So when I met him, I met him before he took the stage. Right? And so I was like, Man, I've never been like Tongue Tied or nervous, you know, just like I've met, you know, stars. But I've, you know, to him, it was like, you know, and I remember I blathered on for like, I don't like what seemed like a minute or two without stopping. And then finally, he says something like, well, you know who I am, but who are you? And so, then he was really, I don't know what I said, we talked and I remember, I looked at him, this is almost embarrassing to admit, but I'm gonna admit it to you. The I said, Can I just hug you? He says, Sure, man. He just gave him a nice talk. And then his wife, who he refers to as read was there. And he's and then after I hug him, he says, He says, you know, my wife, Red's a hugger, too. Oh, my God. And then I, you know, I saw him speak and obviously, because of, you know, time and age, right, he was a little slower. But man, it was still there, man. You know what I mean? The Magic was like, in that you could see it in the eyes was still there. And the delivery was great still. But the part I remember the most was after I did my speech, which was later on in the day, I was back, I went back to the hotel, and him and his wife were in the lobby. And they literally, I mean, at their age Lily came over to me, like little kids, and like Victor how to go, you know, I mean, they were like, genuinely interested in wanting to hug. I'm like, it was surreal. You know, I remember driving home from Mississippi, you can drive like six, seven hour drive. Here to Atlanta, I was just smiling, like a Cheshire Cat mouse, just like I met Zig Ziglar. So I don't know about that thing about you should never meet your heroes. In this case. I'm good with meeting my heroes. I was good. But James Taylor I always remember he said something once someone asked him for what advice do you give, would you give to speakers, and I think it's maybe Rory vaden, who told me this the story and roryd can studied under him and been a protege of Zig as well. And he remember two things he said, one is the mega loss every seven minutes, there is so that we get that in there, that level of interaction. And the other one, he said, always call, call your wife four times a day when you're on the road. And that was his thing. And he used to do this and it was kind of mind blowing, considering he was traveling all over the world speaking. And this is before like Facebook and things Skype and stuff. It was easy. So he was making those calls back to back to the US all time. So as you as you start to kind of develop your speaking you obviously had a bit of an unfair advantage in that part of the the business part of speaking as being a great, great sales. Great, great selling your speaking as well. So when you kind of came into the speaking world, what were some of the things that you took from you your understanding of great sales, being a great, great salesperson and, and building relationships with clients that you then apply to speaking? Victor Antonio You know, it's a great question, James. Here's why because I really think I became a better salesperson after I left corporate America, you know, and it's a very interesting perspective. So what happened was, for those folks listening to this, I did a documentary it's on youtube for free. It's called the motivator, just type in Victor Antonio, the motivator and it tells the story even tells us Zig Ziglar story and some other stuff. But, you know, one day you'll one of the things one of the markets I decided to start in was the college market. The High School in the college market. Because, you know, I came from a very disadvantaged family. So I kind of wanted to reach back into the neighborhood, if you know what I mean and pull people up. And so I remember I was doing the college market James and I wasn't getting booked a lot. I wasn't getting booked a lot. I wasn't, you know, I just wasn't making a lot of money and I wasn't having fun. You know. And I remember that I was driving to Valencia College in Orlando, Florida. And I specifically remember saying, you know, you have those contemplated moments you go, you know, not having fun. It's not what I expected. Not having fun not making money. But then I always go back to the What's it a Stephen Covey's a circle of influence? What can you control? What can you not control right? as well? What can I control, I can't control how much money they're paying me. But I can't control how much fun I have on the stage. And so it was at that time, I decided to almost like not discard this. The thing is, I came from corporate America. So I had that standard presentation, tell them what you're going to tell him, tell them and then tell him what you just told them. Right. And then I just kind of said, screw it. I remember that day was like, there was this quiet panic right before I went on stage. Because I was about to walk into a huge auditorium. And by the way, we recorded that day. So I had the video. But I said, You know what, I'm gonna let it fly my way. I'm just gonna have fun with this thing, you know, let it fly my way, which is why it's interesting. You said that Zig said you should act make them laugh every seven minutes I've ever heard that. But that's kind of the sequencing I use. And I just did it my way. And when I was done, it was like, I felt different. The crowd reaction was totally different. I was having fun, but still delivering great content. The very next day, I had to fly here to Atlanta, we were living in Miami at the time to speak to Bell, South big telephone company at a time. And I said, Okay, now speaking to those college students the day before, but now these are business people, these like strictly b2b people. Do I do it? Do I regress back to my corporate shelf? Should I do the new style, my style, the authentic Victor, right. And there was like this, this back and forth fighting right, just like this back and forth. And in finances, screw it, you know, let's go for it. And so all I remember is I finished that presentation. Standing ovation, never had never had one standing ovation. I just couldn't believe it. Right. And it was at that moment that I found my style. And so, you know, how does this tie back to selling I guess, I learned to be more authentic. Because now I control to see when you're working for a company. You know, there's certain protocols, the unwritten rules, right. You know, we're in business suits, you know, be respectful, do certain things a certain way, you know, you know, ask key questions, you know, building rapport, ask discovery questions, get ready for the presentation, do the demo the dog and pony as tied down questions after that and close the deal. And so I knew that. But in reality, what people want is authenticity. Because I think that's where people connect. You don't I mean, as much as we'd like to think that we're logical beings, which we are to some extent, but there's that there's that part of us that we, you know, we always talked about this, right? If there's no connection, there's no authenticity, people can smell that they can see it. And I wish I could take some of that authenticity back to when I was in corporate America, I think I would have sold even more. And so that's why I said, I think I learned how to sell better afterwards, because I was able to deliver it my style, but great content, and I felt good about it. And my customers, the audience felt better about it. So James Taylor how long in that process of going into being a becoming a speaker leaving corporate america becoming a speaker? What was the gap then between that moment? And then, you know, finding that speaking style? Was it due to years? or months? or How long did it take you Victor Antonio if going going off memory, memory is always, you know, a distorted thing once in a while. But I think it was no more than two years, no more than two years, I put it in that bag. On the outside three years, I think it was no more than two years. And that was because in my first year of speaking, I made like $17,000 like one seven, so just make sure 70 it's one seven, right? And so just to give you a I guess a relative reference point, my base salary on the job I just walked away was 250,000 a year to $300,000 on top of that with commissions plus all kinds of stock options and Benny's, so I went from there all the way down here, you know what I mean? James Taylor On that point, that's I mean, that's a huge drop. So that meeting that you had with your your accountant near the end of the tax year and you can sit and go that is you know, can they look at the numbers that that what Victor Antonio is my accountant, James Taylor your wife, okay, so sitting that moment was a point that you went You know what, I just need to go back to that back to the old deal day job is just it's just not cutting it and obviously you didn't make a decision but on what made you not make that decision and keep going? Victor Antonio No, no. So you you ask a question that I wish more people would ask because that's the reality of the business right? And I don't want anybody walk around with the impression that okay, Victor figured it out. Boom, made it you know, he's 17 years into the game. Boom, be strong, right? No, here's what happened and this is why I think it's a great question and why you bring it up cuz I think People need to hear this. So I make 17,000 the first year, right? I'm like, Oh, damn, that wasn't the word I use, if you know what I mean. So anyway, I said, Oh, damn. And so it was at that moment, James, that I had this, this this awareness slash realization that he right, I have an MBA, I have an engineering degree, I'm a decent smart guy got all this experience. I mean, I grew businesses, you know, I mean, one of the markets, we grew, we took it from 14 to $98 million in two and a half years. And so I had all these skills. But then, when I went into the world of entrepreneurship, solo, I was like, I realized that within corporate America, you focus in on what you're good at, which is selling, but you don't know how to market. You don't I mean, if you don't know how to market, you're screwed in this business. And that's one of the things I realized that's the big nugget, you know, you're I had a guy, his name was Randy gage. I know he's a speaker does a lot of network marketing, speaking. And I remember I went to one of his events one time, we sat down for lunch with a bunch of other people around table. And I remember I was kind of lamenting, you know, the the growth, the lack of growth in my business. He says, Victor would business you in acid? It's not a trick question. He goes down, it's just asking you a question, what business you in? So the speaking business, I guess, he goes, No, I go, the training business. He goes, No. I said, Okay, the motivation business goes down. And I can go on on that. And if I say, Okay, tell me what business I'm in. Dammit. You know, it's like, kind of like that upset. Just tell me what business I'm in. He says, You're in the marketing business first. And that was like, dude, I mean, it's like somebody just says that the right moment. And then I realized how, and I mean this in a kind way to myself, I don't mean to be pejorative, but I realized how inept I was at growing my own business. So I'm good as part of a cog, as a cog, as part of the big machinery. But when it came to me, the individual I didn't know how to do it. I didn't know how to market I didn't know how to, you know, because you got to be the finance guy, you gotta be the marketing guy, you got to be the technology guy, you got to be everybody. And that's when I, first of all, my respect for entrepreneurs just went through the roof, right? Because now I get I get them now. Now, there is no safety net, the only safety net I have is my bank account, which is getting depleted every month, right? Because the expenses are not going away there I can smaller. And so I went through that moment. And here's what happened. Year, 115 $1,000. A year 250 $6,000. Not bad, right? 1756, we're going good. It was in that third year, that an opportunity appeared, I said, You know what, I need to go back to work a little bit, and replenish my funds. So I went to work for this seminar company. And I did a lot of training for them. And I worked for them with them for about a year, maybe a little over a year, stock some money away, and boom, we're back out in the market again, let's do it again. Right. And sure enough, a year went by money's going down. But you know, this, it's picking up though, you know, we're hitting six figures now, wherever you're close to 100,000. Little bit over that, right? But not enough, you know what I mean, for what I wanted, and this opportunity showed up? And I was like, ooh, do I stay on the stay the course? Or do I go back, I took the sissy way out, I went back, right. And I became CEO of a technology company. And that lasted for a year, year and a half, made great money. So I can't complain. And experience was wonderful, because it gave me CEO level experience, which I had not had within a technology company. And so that was 2007. Eight. And then since then, I haven't gone back. And we've been doing exceptionally well, James Taylor I guess like, like going into a CEO role as well. You described it, okay. It was a mistake. And but it was good in terms of financially. But now because you're primarily going and you're speaking to CEOs, that is your that is your decision maker most most the time that you do so many big corporate events. So you have that you can have that conversation of someone that's been in there, you weren't just a cog in the wheel, you know, Vice President of Sales, you were the actual, it was on you everything. You know that pain. Victor Antonio Yep. Yep. I think that was the decision we had to make, you know, so what we're doing well, I think we're on I said, we're finally on track, I think. But then I said how often you get to be CEO of a technology company. And the goal was to basically pump up their sales, and then we're going to sell the company, which is exactly what we did. And so the experience has been great, because now when I meet other CEOs, I'm like, so what I was a co2, you know, it's like this, this, you know, and as you say, the dialogue is different. Now, the conversations are different. And when I'm when I'm when I'm in front of a crowd, spend a large crowd, big b2b crowd, but it's a large technology company or not. As soon as I insert that little piece, CEO with technology company, here's kind of what we did. They're like, Okay, this guy's just not another speaker. Yeah. And so that benefited me in the long run. But I wanted people to know that I had to go back twice to replenish my funds. You know, that not every not it's not a straight line. No, James Taylor no, it's not. It's, it's, you know, the, the, the, the, the graph is gradually is going up, but you have those, it goes down, goes up and down, up and down, up or down. So one of the things I also noticed you, you speak, you write about this idea of how artificial intelligence is changing the world of selling. So this is something we share in common I, I, I speak about artificial intelligence related to creativity and innovation in companies, you speak about in terms of how it's changing selling. I, you know, the things that can be applied to that in terms of us as speakers, maybe as trainers, these things coming down, or maybe already there with artificial intelligence that we can start to use, Victor Antonio I think what's going to happen? I mean, if you look at where let me step back, one of the reasons I started doing what the reason I did a book on artificial intelligence was, is that I spoke for a company, just a two minute digression. And I'll come back, and I think it's important point. And this company, it's a big healthcare company. And what we're doing JJ is fascinating. They have, let's say, 200 people in the call center, right? And they would call out each one made, let's say, 100 calls a day, just using some round numbers here. And let's say they close 20% of those calls, right? selling insurance products over the phone. That means there's 80 left, right. Now you take 80 times 200. That's 16,000 calls. All right. The question is for each of those individuals who didn't close the ad, who do you call back? And what order Do you call back? While they have to go off memory instinct, you know, whatever notes they wrote in, right, it's very, it's true that I'll say that that confirmation bias filter of theirs. And so what this company did was, they would record our conversation, I'm selling you over the phone right there, record our conversation, they would split the audio tracks, they'll take your track your audio track, the listener, the consumer potential buyer, and they could analyze words that you use keywords, keyword phrases, tone velocity, and they could make a determination the machine would make a determination whether you wanted a call back or not, whether there's a high probability of closing or not. So in other words, they were able to prioritize leads for these telemarketers James Taylor based on antigens like mine. Yeah, Victor Antonio yeah. Because you look at intent sentiment the whole bit, right. And so then on my side, they took my track, now I'm calling you, right? Instead of using, you know, little scripts, or posted notes on the side to say certain things, the machine would actually listen to the conversation and would pop up scripts, that was one thing, but it would also analyze my voice and yours together and says, you know, Victor, you need more training, because when James says this, you really should have responded with this, we need you to go back to module number five, and really studying that again. And just sitting there going, are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? And that was like the, I think, when I went to see the company, Gartner came in on if you're familiar with the company, well, Gartner came in, and they started talking about the hype cycle, you know, that this type of you know, artificial intelligence went through it, you know, you know, you know, it's nuclear winter. Now, it's, it's spring again, right? I said, I need to dig into this. And if I dug into it, the more I said, Okay, I can see how this would work. I've given too much thought, how would help speakers, because a lot of what this machine learning does is you will know, it's based on a lot of interactions and patterns, right? So for having a lot of interaction patterns, we can measure something, how speakers could use it, I have to get some more thought James, you know, I got some general ideas of, you know, I was studying one yesterday it was an application actually look at it can look at documents, like RFPs. And using, you know, different types of algorithms, it can actually pluck out all the objects in everything from the tables, the graphs and everything, and then interpret those graphs and tables and so forth. And so I was thinking about, you know, the prospectus, you know, when they, when they issue a 10 K, at the end of the year, large corporation issues, the big prospectus? Well, what they're doing now, and this is Bloomberg, they're running it through an algorithm. And these algorithms basically tell you how they believe the company is doing based on the data table to extract because they can't do it manually. Now, imagine if we have speakers with maybe we can record our conversation, I'm talking to you your perspective, you know, company wants to book me, and it may be based on that conversation, I can actually why figure out transcribe it, right? And all of a sudden, I can figure out whether this is a go or no go, what should I follow up on? In my book, I talk about an application called phrasing. And phrasing, this is something we can use right away, is basically a plug into Google. And as you're writing, it's like an equalizer on the side. It talks about sentiment good, positive negative, like they'll tell you basically, you don't want to send that out, you need to add more positive spin on it. And so it's called phrase phrase with an extra e at the end, check it out. So this will allow at, you know, for speakers, if you're responding to somebody for an inquiry, based on what they've asked, you can type out your response and it will give you a rating and it basically gives you the green light to go ahead and send it James Taylor very cool. Very cool. I was speaking an event recently and I've actually been signed to run my keynotes through IBM Watson. And so what I do is essentially I'll run the order Audience data in terms of like, Twitter accounts and other things, other points. And it gives me a visual representation of the audience. This is this kind of audience and basically basically using personality insights. And then what I can do now is you can basically run your, the text of your keynote through that. And it will then give you the same reference. And you can overlay these two things on each other. And I've been doing it for a number of speeches, it doesn't tell you it doesn't make you didn't teach how to craft your speech. But what it does do is it very quickly goes, Oh, okay, I'm speaking to a b2b marketing says b2b marketers. I'm a little bit off here because these are more analytical type of Barker's and I need to be putting a little bit more detail because that's, that's down on my keynote. So you can start to start to adjust. And actually, as I was at that conference, and there was someone else speaking from a chemical Converse occur, and very good, I didn't have in the book. Oh, great, very interesting, because it's conversational AI. And actually, one of our sponsors here, this called bom, bom, I know is a is a user of that of that service. And so where I saw the opportunity for speakers there is, is warming up the conversation, you know, some of those email conversations that go back and forth between your assistant and the prospective client. So when you as a speaker, if you're doing discovery calls, or getting on those calls to discuss if you're the right fit, or the cause or ending up coming through on that, a much warmer course they're they're much you there's this, you're much further down, and then much more kind of segmented as well. And I was talking to folks from Converse again, and they're getting a 2,000% ROI from the NSA, people are just saying, keep sending me I mean, they're going through 100 1000s of leads every month. Now Victor Antonio think about that, James, that's, that's really interesting. So James Taylor unfortunately, it's not quite as is the pricing point, just now is a little bit more for larger companies. But as we know, with technology, because things are coming down all the time, and I can completely See, in maybe less than 12 months, you'll start seeing AI assistance for speakers that are doing a lot of those things as well. So just keep you keep your eye there. If anyone's watching, maybe, maybe there's someone you're watching just now maybe you've already starting to experiment with this, let us know, right? Victor Antonio I love that. But probably one if I could add one more thing, there's something called x, I think it's x.ai. That it's almost like a you know, conversific a stripped down, but it's conversa. And the calendly applications put together. What it does, if you call me, right, we're trying to set up a meeting. And I'll just say, a James, my assistant, Camille will be following up. So we can set a meeting because maybe we'll have to go back and forth. And it will actually do the back and forth with you. Yeah, it's all automated. It's just it is the coolest thing. And that's another way of actually setting up meetings without having, you know, nobody wants to sometimes just go to a website and just plug something in this way actually have the conversation and post it to your calendar. And I mean, it's really fascinating stuff. James Taylor After a while you kind of start to get into conversation with with these AI and you do have to stop yourself every so often say I am talking to rashidiya this is you can think that Victor Antonio happened to me. James Taylor I go to write this in case I hurt their feelings. This is a machine Victor Antonio emotion with this AI machine. That's amazing. That's cool. That's cool. What do you want to change ebooks? Man, I'd love to read your material. Yeah, James Taylor so one of the other things that you kind of came on. And this is obviously becoming a much bigger part of what speakers are doing now is you added an online learning component online training component to what you do as well. So first of all, what was what was your purpose? What was the reasoning behind doing that? And how's that going for you? Victor Antonio The so I was well the biggest reason was I wanted to generate passive income. I think that's an obvious one, right? generate passive income online. And so before that, I was doing downloads, right if you bought a package, you get the whole thing downloaded. And so then I started looking at and it was because a friend of mine, Grant Cardone know if you know Grant Cardone so Grant Cardone is using a learning management system. We use a platform called lightspeed vt, good company, good people, man. They they're very responsive. And I looked at a lot of there's a lot of different ones out there. I mean, that's just the one we chose, because I think it has the I hate to say it this way, but it has this the sex appeal. It's just graphically it's more just visually appealing. And so one of my goals is, you know, as speakers when we first start out, we talked about this for the interview, you know, we're all excited about traveling, right? We love traveling all over the place, right? It's just great. It's exciting. But when you've done it for at least 20 years minimum, you know, you get to the point where you know, I think I want to slow down, stay home more. And so part of the strategy was wanting to do passive income, but really because I want to stay home more. But second, I also saw that that's where the market is going. Yeah, people don't want to read books. You know what I mean? And so what we're seeing is this whole video market, you know, you look at the millennial generation, they just want it seems like their attention spans getting shorter, and I think so is ours, not just them. I think ours is also and so I see a market where people just want snackable video content So I've been creating videos for the last, I don't know, six, seven years. And it's all snackable content, I call it, which means if I do a full course, or break it down, chunk it down into small court, you know, chunks. And I think people been very receptive to that. So my goal is simply extra revenue. And if I can generate enough revenue, then I'm back my speaking fee. Yeah, yeah, I don't care if I get or not. I mean, that's kind of fun. James Taylor But here's the other point about that is because I heard a stat the other day, which kind of blew my mind, Peter Diamandis was saying that this idea of the raising billions in the next I mean, in here in the West, we think everyone's online, but that's not the case. And in the next, two to three, next 24 months or so, around 3 billion people will be coming online for the very first time. So that's 3 billion people who have never bought, uploaded, uploaded, sold anything online before. So that's a huge market from Asia and South America, and Africa. So that's the markets and they're all going to go online first. Because that's that in terms of terms of learning, so you've got this giant market, and there is no way you can speak on stages to all those people. So if you're passionate about your subject, whatever your topic is, and you want to meet, have that to get to the most number of people, then it makes complete sense that you'd be kind of going online and almost having an online first approach. And I think it's interesting, we're seeing a lot in the newest speakers coming through, because they've come from the digital natives. And that way, they're, they're coming with this idea about video, video video. And thinking in that way, which is probably very different from our Victor Antonio concept is mind blowing down 3 billion people. And yeah, that's amazing. You know, two things. One is I love the fact that you talk about how you know, the new speakers are coming on board, as you say, digital natives were seven, eight years ago when I started doing this people like Why are you giving your content away or putting it online. But the other thing I want to point out is that my 30% of my revenues come from international. And my peak point selling international is around two or three in the morning, Eastern time. That's where we see the peaks. So Tuesdays are always good. And two or three in the morning is even better. You know, it's just the weirdest thing. And I think it's if you can find the right price points because against other countries simply don't have the money like we do here in the US. So I think that's also a tricky part also is finding the right price points James Taylor that he hasn't he's a really nice kicker to this. So in someone's watching this just now maybe a new speaker, thinking Well, that's all very well, Victor, you've got a great profile, you know, people know who you are in the speaking world. These 3 billion people are coming online now. You, me, jack Canfield, Tony Robbins, we're all as equally as unknown to this organs. So it gives you a little bit of confidence to be able to go, Hey, this is a brand new audience. This is this is virgin territory we're talking about. So you can you can really have have a lot of fun with that. So so I'm loving seeing how you're doing and how many other speakers are doing the online side? Victor Antonio Oh, you're making me think because I think I think something has changed in the market. James, I don't know what it is. You know, I, I was talking to a friend of mine this the other day was about a month ago, I met him in California, I'm doing an event he wants to see me speak live, right? And I said, I said watch. I mentioned Zig Ziglar. Nobody knows who he is. and So sure enough, he's in there watching me and I go, by the way, how many folks have heard of Zig Ziglar 200 people in the audience, at least 200 people, maybe three or four raise their hands. And now like, and I looked at I go see what I mean. And that's it. And to your point is that, you know, I think memories are short, I think you know, the days of the icons, I gotta be I think they're gone. I mean, you're gonna have one or two that break through the noise, right, the signal to noise ratio, but the rest of us are going to be in the morass, the noise, but I think what people are looking for is, Who can I relate to Who can I follow? And so if you're a new speaker starting out, you know, you as you say, you can just start from zero and build a basis very quickly, because it isn't so much reputation management anymore, is the content you're delivering. And I think the quality of the content is the greatest equalizer. Yeah, I don't care. You could have been in the business 15 years. But if my content is better, I'm killing you online. And I think that's what they need to keep in mind. James Taylor So let's go to some final quickfire questions here as well. What is in your speaker bag, what is in that bag that you take with you to all of your speaking engagements you never leave home without Victor Antonio never leave home without a extra pair of glasses, to use glasses. My favorite tool is a typical Logitech PowerPoint pointer that has a timer on it. Because I never like to be over my time. And this is the one that you can program it to vibrate like 15 minutes before you're done. And so I always know you know when I'm supposed to end my speech so I always end on time. I always have an extra USB plug with me in case somebody my my computer dies or theirs dies or something weird happens and I have it stored up in the cloud. I've started to use now flip charts. And my remark is and James Taylor this is interesting because I noticed on your your your your A website as well, you make a big play of that which a lot of speakers don't, you know, there, there's usually them in a big room and things but you up, that's obviously a key part of what you're trying to do on stage. I just added Victor Antonio that within the last year and a half, two, and here are the advantages. One, it's a great pattern interrupt, you know that try to make them laugh every five to seven minutes, we'll also try to change the the the medium of what they're what they're seeing, or listening every five to seven minutes. So by going to the chart, I go, now watch this. Let me draw this. It's a pattern interrupt, what's it going to draw? Right. The other thing is that sometimes, you know, as a speaker, sometimes your message isn't vibing. You know what I mean? Yeah, with the audience. And in your brain. If you're a professional speaker, you go, you know what? This is not the right track. Let me You know what, let me go. Let me go to the flip chart. And what I've noticed is that the interaction, the engagement just shot through the roof, man. Yeah, the response has been so much better. It's more organic. And I think I love it more. Because I mean, I know what I have, I think in models. So I always have these models, right? So I wrote a book called sales models, which has, like 50 different business slash sales models. So I can just talk about whatever you want to talk about. You want to talk about entering new markets here, check out this model, check out these numbers. And so that allows me that flexibility to throw something in if I need to hook you back in Yeah, because I'm my slides are losing you. This isn't really what you want to hear right now. So I'm, you know, I didn't have Watson with me, right? It didn't align me it didn't lie. Right. So maybe I'm just like one degree off center, whatever may be. The flip chart allows me to close that gap. Yeah. By inserting something I already know. James Taylor And actually, that's the you know, is that thing where stories make people listen, the visuals make them remember. And I can think of a lot of speakers who I don't really remember too much for the see. But I really remember the visual that they drew, I mean, Simon Sinek is a perfect example of that. We start with y with his his circles, you remember that, you know, you can hold on to it. And actually you mentioned something about AI like happening live. There is actually now I recently ran an event with with speaking the law of events, professionals, then the new tags are now making for people in terms of their wristbands for coming into events instead of the ones here. They're also doing wristbands for them, which is taking biometric data as they're in the room, which is then being fed back to the event organizer, and also to the speaker. So they can see, hey, 18 minutes here, people start like this, this, this connecting. And so that's a little bit. I don't really know if I want that information live. But I think after it would be very useful to have that so you can like tweak and change things. It's Victor Antonio almost like that little you know, that little knob when they're like they're watching a political ad. Yeah. And they can rate them by turning the knob. Exactly. I guess this is more honest. Yeah. Cuz you're not consciously thinking about turning the knob. That's very fascinating. Yeah, yeah, that's cool. James Taylor I don't we have to do this like old school version of if you see lots of faces lighting up because they're on their mobile phones and lights coming up, you know, you probably lose like them. So we get that's the middle stage that we're at the moment. And what about online tools? Or you mentioned a couple of great online tools and resources here already. But is there one tool you find really useful for yourself as a speaker Victor Antonio we're using, we started using Click Funnels. I don't know if you know what Click Funnels is. We James Taylor sat down with Russell Brunson. Great. Victor Antonio Yeah. And so I spoke with Russell Brunson on stage last year, and he just killed it on stage. I mean, just murdered with this application. I mean, just crazy numbers from the stage. But you know, so we've been using Click Funnels, we've tried to find other alternatives, and other alternatives turned out that's out there, that's about a 10th of the price of something called builder all. And but I think this company a year from now is gonna be very good. We tried their product. So as a couple of bugs, but it does everything. Click funnel does even has a few more bells and whistles. But there's a couple of features in terms of the email list and stuff like that there's still need to be worked out. But I'm putting that on your radar for a year from now. It's called builder, all because, as opposed to paying 297 a month, which is what I paid for Click Funnels, it's only like $29 a month, like 30 bucks. So big difference in price. So even though I'm paying 300 bucks a month, we're seeing the return on investment with Click Funnels. I think that's our biggest tool. The simple tool that we use, anybody can use is we use buffer a lot buffers, like almost like Hootsuite to blast out our graphics and everything on social media. I think those are the real those are the main tools I use. I try not to you know, my whole thing is YouTube is my channel, LinkedIn, but YouTube is my channel every time I talk to someone, how did you find me? YouTube? And so if you're a speaker, I think this is key that we live in a visual medium people want to see us speak. great article. Love your book, but can you talk I think YouTube is one of those channels that every speaker should leverage James Taylor and as it is it because it's it uses a different SEO in terms of algorithms. You can often be maybe let's say if you're if your topic if you're a College leadership speak, I'm just gonna make something out college leadership speaker, there's, there's lots of those. And you can it can take a while to get track, you know, get that listing get on that first page on Google, for example. But with YouTube, they use a different algorithm that's going on. And, you know, a little tip here that you can do is if you interview lots of other let's say, college leadership experts, and put those in a video, you could do like this and put that up onto YouTube. Suddenly, as soon as someone types in college leadership expert, you're going to be right, you know, right there at the top. And so it's you know, there's the you can definitely play I think YouTube is an amazing resource for speakers is totally overlooked low design here, here, here's Victor Antonio here's an inside secret, because got to give it we got to give your fans really, I can do that. A lot of people when they record a video, they simply upload their video, right? They put the headline, put a nice description, put some tags, that's okay, all well and good. Keep in mind that searching is just a spider, just an algorithm, it can't see visuals can't see pictures. And so one of the things I do that I think helps with my rankings, is that before you upload the file, rename the file with the keywords, most people don't do that. So in other words, if my video is on sales velocity, and I know people look for sales velocity, I just I don't load up a file that says 593 sv for sales velocity.mo v. Now I got sales underscore velocity dot m o v. And that gives you a couple of extra brownie points. But even better, before you upload the video, after you rename it, if you right click it, you can actually load tags into the actual video. Like which, okay, if you load your keywords, push you up on the search engine. James Taylor So that Yeah, I like that. That is some cool. That's some cool stuff. There some some ninja techniques, if anyone's watching this just now as well. Victor Antonio Yeah, that'd be perfect for them. Okay, which works? James Taylor Well, by going a bit old school again, about a book. Is there one particular book that you'd recommend to our attendees? Victor Antonio For? James Taylor It could be king, it could be on sales more generally, Victor Antonio I think, you know, I just I read a book about I'll say six months ago, it's called unknown, or known rather known, sorry, it's how to become known. I don't know, the guy's you know, I don't remember his name. But it's kind of cool. Just to look for known. It looks like a bunch of Hollywood lights, you know, hitting the word known. It's a, it's a great book. It's one of those books you wish you read. Before you started, you know, years ago, when I first started on social media, everything. This book is just great. I mean, it just, it's like a three day seminar in a book. I mean, it's one of the best books I've written. I've I've read in terms of selling. You know, I still say the the challenger sale is one of the best books out there still, the challenger sale came out in 2012, even though it's got a few years out, and I haven't read anything in sales better than that, in my opinion, is based on research real, you know, experiential data, experimental data, rather. And I think those are two books in philosophy while I'm an iron Rand fan. So if you haven't read it, yeah, you guys read Atlas Shrugged The Fountainhead. So James Taylor those are my recommendations. And a final question, which kind of leads a little bit to what you just said, there. Let's imagine you woke up tomorrow morning, and you had to start from scratch. So you have all the skills that you've acquired over the years, all the tools, but no one knows you, you know, no one you have to restart. What would you do? How would you restart? When I first started out? Victor Antonio I wasn't as focused and narrow as I am today. So when people ask me, What are you talking about? I go sales. I mean, the motivation part kicks in because people want to be motivated when they sell right? But it's really sales. And so years ago, what I didn't do is I didn't start in sales. I did a lot of motive. I emphasize motivation more. The problem with that is that everybody's a motivational speaker. Right? And so motivational speakers are a commodity, right and a few again, will rise above the noise. If If I were to start again today, I would have cut out maybe two or three years on I'm off my path. I'm close to three years I struggled at the beginning. Yeah, I would have been more focused on being a sales dude, which is where I came from. So I think you have to pick a lane and then just you know, to use, you know, you want to dominate that lane. You want to be the best in that lane. You know, when I started my sales thing. The guy that was the king of sales was Jeffrey Gitomer, right Little Red Book of selling Jeffrey Gitomer. And I'm like, I read all Jeffrey Gitomer stuff. And then I held whether Brian Tracy, whoever had a book on selling, I read the book on selling, so I got one of the biggest libraries on selling. And so I try to read everybody on selling. And so if you want to start today, if I do it all over again, I would just focus on it and just commit to be the best at that niche. So simple strategy, you know, but it's funny how it's so simple and easy, but yet we don't do it because we think we we focus in on a niche, we're going to miss out on other opportunities or business where what happens is when you focus in on a niche, you begin to see these these subtleties, these nuances, these pieces permutations within that market that actually have more opportunities. Yeah, and I think that's what people don't get. James Taylor So someone said the analogy of difference between what a general practitioner or an MD will earn as opposed to a top consultant who specializes in this particular thing is, I mean, they both have a large they both had a lot of money, but like a top surgeon in a specialist field will will make a lot more than the general general kind of doctor for example. So that's great. So going down and really focusing and if people want to start reaching out to you maybe it's to learn about your your sales programs that you have that we've been speaking about sales machine Academy, or the book the sales Ex Machina, or just to learn about you as a speaker. where's the best place to go and do that Victor Antonio I'll just one place Victor Antonio, calm. You know, there, you'll see the books, I have written 13 books. You'll also see the sales mastery Academy there. But that's where you'll find the book and just search Victor Antonio, you'll find me online. Well, you know. James Taylor So we'll have all these links here for everyone so they can they can check all these different things when we speak about fixed it's been a pleasure speaking to you today is great. We could have gone on and on. I'm sure we could exchange lots of ideas, Victor Antonio kindred spirits and spirits. Thank you. Well, James Taylor I wish you all the best of your speaking and I look forward to catching up in person soon. Victor Antonio Great. Thank you again. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

Mastering Your Message James Taylor interviews Daniel Gutierrez and they talked about mastering your message In today's episode Daniel Gutierrez they talk about Mastering Your Message. Daniel Gutierrez is an International Business Consultant, Motivational Speaker, Radio Personality and Author of Stepping Into Greatness: Success Is Up To You. Leveraging his experience, his infectious humor, and his deep belief that there is greatness in each of us, he has transformed businesses and individuals all over the world. His appeal breaks the boundaries of profession, culture, and age and as a renowned motivational speaker Daniel has inspired Fortune 500 companies and individuals worldwide to make positive changes that lead to success. What we cover: Knowing your true sense of self Mastering Your Message Speaking in Latin America Hiring a speaker coach Resources: Daniel's Website Contact him here Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/mastering-your-message-sl089/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey, there is James Taylor and I am absolutely delighted today to be joined by Daniel Gutierrez. Daniel Gutierrez is an international business consultant, motivational speaker radio personality and author of stepping into greatness success is up to you. Leveraging his experience His infectious humor and his deep belief that there is greatness in each of us. He has transformed businesses and individuals all over the world. His appeal breaks the boundary of profession, culture and age. And as a renowned motivational speaker, Daniel has inspired fortune 500 companies and individuals worldwide to make positive changes that lead to success. It's my great pleasure to have him join us today. So welcome, Daniel. Daniel Gutierrez Thank you, James. I'm so excited about being here today. James Taylor So share with our attendees what's going on in your world just now. Daniel Gutierrez Oh, gosh, as you know, I've never I don't like grass grow under my feet. I'm constantly moving. Ah, you know, I was just in Denver, Colorado and in LA and, and a couple of weeks, I'll be doing my signature trip to Peru. So I'll be traveling to Peru, where I take people on spiritual journeys up to Machu Picchu. And then on in July, I'll go again. But this time, we'll actually be heading out to the Amazon to work with a gentleman who's never left the Amazon. He's been working in the Amazon since he was five. So I keep telling my clients Be ready cuz there's no electricity, there's no water. It's, it's the drug. James Taylor you've, you've had this amazing journey and life as a speaker. But where did it all begin for you? How did you get into the business of speaking? Daniel Gutierrez You know, this is interesting, because I very seldom talk about this, but I'm gonna tell you a little secret because one time, I was actually being interviewed by a newspaper very early on in my career, and he had heard me speak and he said, what did you learn to speak that way? You didn't just wake up speaking that way. You have to tell me, and I wouldn't say anything. And he kept on and on. Finally, I said, Look, as long as you don't publish this, I'll tell you where I got my start. I said at the age of 17. I was a licensed Baptist minister. And he says that's it, I knew was something right. But that was the really, you know, and of course, you never say to a media person, don't don't put that in the paper, because that's the first thing they do. And the headlines read, Minister turn motivator I said don't say. But that was really kind of got my start at. You know, of course, when I was in high school, I was always seeming to be in front of people I never had fear of public speaking. That's the first hurdle. I think that people have to get past. Because there's, there's an old saying that says that 90% of the people would rather be in the casket than give the eulogy, you know, and it's true, because people are scared. But for me, it was something that came natural. And, and so I gravitated toward it. So going into that field at the age of 17 kind of helped a little bit, define how I used the power of inflection in my voice. But that's kind of where I began speaking, in terms in front of people, right. And then of course, it just kind of developed from there. And I kind of left it for a long, long time. Because I went into corporate America, I had a regular job like everybody else. And then after probably a good 1015 years, I woke up again, and I said I want to be a public speaker. And I had no idea. You know what that meant? And I'm sure the heck didn't know how you got paid. But that's how can I say that James Taylor in those kind of early days for you as a public speaker, who were those early inspirations or those early kind of mentors for you? Daniel Gutierrez Oh, Zig Ziglar and I'm from the Dallas area. So Zig actually taught when he was alive, he taught Bible study at one of the churches. So I would go listen, I'm Anthony Robbins, there's a minister in California called Dr. Robert Schuller at the time when he was alive. He was a powerful orator. I would literally sit in front of him with my laptop in church, and people would get so angry. They say, look at this young guy. Look at it. He's sitting on his computer, they didn't realize I was taking notes. Right? I was I was so I'm just mesmerized by his ability to capture 2000 people at the edge of their seat. And so these are people that I not only did I study I emulated in front of the mirror, image. I mean, Zig Ziglar once said, if you don't go over your in your mind your speech at least 100 times you're doomed to fail. Because once you're up there, as you know, you're up there, there's no time for practicing. You have to have so ingrained in your in your psyche so ingrained in your subconscious, that it's like throwing a football for a pro athlete, he already knows that balls gonna get to the endzone because he's done it so many times. James Taylor There's mud. There's muscle memory happening there. Daniel Gutierrez Yes, yes, muscle memory, right. And I think it's the same thing with speaking, we have to know, as as speakers that you may have been hired, or you may have been asked to speak for 45 minutes, but I don't know how many times this has happened to you. But it's happened to me a lot. Or they said, oh, gosh, Daniel, I know, I know, we hired you to speak in our could you have 10 minutes? Can you do it? You got to know what you're talking about? Or it's gonna be a problem. James Taylor So we you very certain at that point, when you can you're leaving corporate america and starting to speak professionally. Were you very certain what you're taught you wanted your topic to be? Or was it more that you just you just you knew that you just wanted to speak and you would just kind of find you would find a topic? Daniel Gutierrez Yeah, I didn't know. I had no idea what my topic was going to be. As a matter of fact, I remember my first coach, and I got so angry with her because all she would say to me was write the book, write the book, write the book, right? To quit saying that you're driving me nuts. You know, but it really it wasn't until I did write my first book, stepping into greatness many years ago, that I hadn't had a platform to go from. But I think I didn't get into speaking. I mean, as a matter of fact, I didn't even know how you get paid. I remember telling my mother, you know, she was so proud of me. You know, I work for a big company make good money, good insurance, good benefits, everything. I remember toner one day calm said, Mom, guess what? She says what son? I said, I'm gonna be a motivational speaker. She says what blankety blank blank. And then she gets quiet. And she says, Please tell me to quit your job. But yeah, I just kind of winging it. I didn't know. I didn't know how you got paid. I didn't know what a speaker was. I didn't realize it was the mistake that people make. And I did, then I didn't know it was a profession that you read. There's skill involved here. And I had to learn that and so I went about my way about understanding the power of power for public speaking. James Taylor Can you remember that first time when someone gave you that check, as a speaker what that occasion was? Daniel Gutierrez Yeah, because it was 50 bucks. Get me out of bed for that today. But you know, I was like, someone actually paid me to get up do what what I knew was my passion. And what I loved and I remember Zig Ziglar saying something once it says if what you're doing today, you would do for free, you're on the right path. And I trust me did it for free for a lot in the beginning, because I didn't know how to ask. But when I got that $50. To me, it was like this can work. Now $50 didn't mean fill up my car with gas. But it did show me that I had something people valued, they valued what I had to say, what I had to learn was the business. Now mind you that I want to say that that $50 was an incredible day. But so it was the day that I got a check for $25,000 for a one hour presentation. And and that probably was equally as powerful because I finally realized, wow, I get to get up there and have fun, deliver a message, empower people and make more money than most doctors do. James Taylor So there's so many different avenues don't mean different paths for speakers today as well. You know, you and I were spoken about the sense of like, if someone's just getting started on the journey, you've spoken me about, you know, the importance of actually being quite sure about your identity, your self identity, because you when you have so many of these options, and it's very difficult, and now you have, you know, the bright shiny thing syndrome of new things coming along new strategies all the time. Can you talk about that in terms of finding that that core of who you are before you start kind of going out into the world? Daniel Gutierrez You know, I was asked a question very early on, I ended up hiring a coach, right. And I think we all need that. And you want to hire a coach who's done it not one that theoretically is theoretical, right? And my coach happened to be in the code for Dr. Robert Schuller. So I knew she was the best. And she said something to me that stopped me in my tracks. She says to me, Daniel, why should I listen to you? And I don't have an answer. What a powerful question though, to ask somebody who's starting out. Why should I listen to you? What is it about you your story and your life? And what gives you the credibility to stand in front of me and asked me to change my life? That's a tough question. A new speaker, because I didn't have an answer at the time. I just said, because, well, because doesn't get you paid. You had, I had to really think about that. So it's important to know what your message is. And it can't be all things to all people. You have to have something in your life. So I had to dig, I want to dig deep, who am I? Who am I, and what in my life have I experienced, that I can translate into a message that will empower others to do what I did. Now, when I speak, I always tell people, look, I'm going to share with you some things that have changed my life. But my truth is not your truth. And what I have to say may not resonate with you. But if I get you to think for just a moment, then I have provoke thought and you I have done my job. And so so that is where I think we have to begin, who am I? What am I? And why should you listen to me? Because if you can answer those questions, it's going to be a tough road up there. Because there's a lot of speakers in this world. And you have to differentiate yourself by by being true to yourself, James Taylor I think so powerful, because it's so easy to you know, when you start hearing about Okay, becoming a professional speaker, you know, the first thing often people start talking about how to get speaking gigs, so that they can start straight away without doing some of that deeper work that you just mentioned there, which can be quite uncomfortable some of it because I've been in this position with my own my own mentor as well, he guided me in. And he asked me to be similar questions to those and I kind of give my my initial response anyway. No, I don't think that's it, is it? And he actually pushed, you know, it really pushed and I think I'd go in, I think really deeply about as to question things about why we, you know, if, if we're looking to build this career, for the long term, you know, why, you know, why those kind of why what, you know, who's your audience who's it for? They're really quite profound questions. But if you get those right, and as soon as you says, then it makes a lot of the other decisions, you know, a hell of a lot easier. Daniel Gutierrez Well, and I think that one of the other things that I learned very, that was very important, and this is what happens with people that come out of a corporate job, or in a field, they forget who they are. In other words, they come out and say, I come out of a corporate job, and my identity, what people know me for is that business that that job. And unfortunately, what ends up happening over time is that that job or that position, becomes your brand as well. And now you have to separate your brand, from what it is you were doing. However, when you're first starting, if that's where they know you, that's where you have to stay. And so what I came out thinking, well, who do I speak to? What is you know, if I first have to figure out why should you listen to me, and, and what gives me credibility, I need to go to the low hanging fruit. The low hanging fruit is that people knew me in that industry. So it would be natural that I would speak about that, because that's what people know me, and then gravitate. So one of the things that that I found very early on, and I asked myself this question a lot. What's the low hanging fruit? What is something that I can hang my hat on? That is going to be easier than saying I'm a motivational speaker period? Because that's not going to fly. So how am I going to do that? Well, I looked in the mirror and I said, Wait a minute, I'm Brown. Okay, so what's the low hanging fruit around that? Well, I'm Hispanic. I'm a Hispanic in America. There's no motivational speakers. I have an idea. I'm going to become the number one motivational speaker for Hispanics in America. And I remember telling people that they would look at me go, they don't even they're not listening to you. And they say, what are your Toka I had my suit embroidery world's number one Latino motivators, so that I could see it. And people were calling What? What do you mean? I said, I'm just the world's best. And I kept saying that I remember one time in Los Angeles at an event. This girl introduces me and says, I want to give Daniel chairs props for being here and supporting us today. Daniel happen to be the world's number one Latino motor. So I told him, I know eventually somebody would say it. But I had what was the low hanging fruit. If you're a doctor and you want to become a motivational speaker, then you need to speak about medicine until people can gravitate. Now over time, I got to tell you the story. So I would say I was a number one Latino motivator, which really kind of pigeon holed me a little bit, but that's where I had to start. In one day, I was speaking to 400 medical doctors. And when I got done, as always, I asked if anyone had a question. And this doctor in the middle of the group stood up and he says to me I said, What's your question? He says, You are not the number one Latina motivator in the world. And I'm looking at this guy, because he kind of paused. He says, You are the world's number one motivator that happens to be Latino, that should never define you. And that's, that's when I knew I had made the shift to a broader audience, it was the most beautiful thing that could have ever happened to me, because that's what we have to start. So the best advice I could give you after figuring out who you are and what your credibility is, they weren't stable, you're known, stable, you know, you'll get where you want to go. So back then maybe it was just Hispanics. And that's where I was going after. But today, I have a world audience. I have students in 17 countries. So it takes time I've been doing this 23 years, it didn't just happen overnight. So for those of you that are just starting out, don't get discouraged. I used to call myself Meals on Wheels. Because if I got fed, I spoke James Taylor in those early days of you kind of working on your talks, maybe talking about how you kind of structure you're going up and giving your keynotes giving your your kind of presentations, and how that's changed over the years for maybe when you can have first started in the speaking business to kind of what you do today. Daniel Gutierrez You mean in terms of content? James Taylor Yeah, in terms of the structure, because you know, so many different speakers have their, the way that like to break things down even just for their own sense of when they're kind of working on their new keynotes. And, and they have a new so I've we've had so many different guests in it's been fascinating kind of hearing the variance of different ways in terms of how they think, okay, I'm working on this new keynote, how am I going to break it down? How do I structure it? Daniel Gutierrez Okay, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna teach you something that Zig Ziglar taught me. And this is the this is mastering Zig Ziglar, if you've ever listened to him, and as many times as I've heard him speak or read his books, he has never changed his story. It's always been the same, what he changed was who he was delivering it to. And so because of that, he became a master of that story. He became a master of his own keynote. And I thought about that many times, not that I have to become a master of stepping into greatness. And stepping into greatness can be anything, but I have to be a master of the original story. So that when someone, a doctor or a group of MDS or nurses or college, that all I have to do is to change that message. To make sense for that demographic. When you do that, what you're doing is now I know that there's been many times when I've been asked to write a speech that had nothing to do with stepping into greatness. But I always brought it back to that, I always brought it back to that main message. Even if it was a little bit far out, I would always bring because that's where I had my most power and passion. So as I develop now, nowadays, because I get asked to do so many different kinds of keynotes, I do have presentations that I stick with that are different, they're there, you know, because in the beginning, you just need to stick to one, become a master at it, become so master masterful at it, then you can take a one hour presentation and delivered 10 minutes. And it's dissonant, and I'll give you a story once. So once lady, she paid me $10,000 to come up and speak to her organization. And when I got up to speak, she pulled me aside before I went up and says, Daniel, I'm so sorry. We're way behind. And I really mean, I really need the time. Could you do it in 10 minutes? I thought you paid me 10 grand? Sure. Happy to do that. But what I did is that I quickly went through my presentation because I knew it. I got up there. And I write up the climax of my presentation. I said, Ah, I'm out of time, thank you very much, have a great day. cut me off. I left him there. I left him in it. Right, not in a bad way in a way that they said, Wait a minute, this is the most powerful speaker the whole day and you give him 10 minutes, but I still delivered the message. Why? Because I was a master at that message. So if you're new, you want to become a master of your message. become a master Don't be going off and talking about things you don't know anything about it. You can take one message and change it to fit any situation. James Taylor If you'd like it's almost like a golden thread that goes through your career, your different keynotes. You can you're able to kind of bring bring it and bring it back to that or related to that as well. And I suppose that you know that in that those early days of you can think about you know why you know the ways of speaking giggling feigned identity. Was that that kind of message that call to what you did you identify at that point or did it take you those first kind of hundred keynotes also, to really kind of dig that out and can work out what that is. That was and then then from there, then you can move on. Daniel Gutierrez Yes, I, it took a while to figure out. And again, I had a good coat. And she would say, don't do that again. You know, and this is what I talked about in the in the gift that I'm going to give you guys is that if you're not funny, don't be funny. Don't try to be funny. Have you ever seen a speaker who's not funny, and they try to be funny. And you just look at him and you go, oh, gosh, you should end right now. Get up to state just don't do it. Right. And so I there were so many things that that I needed to hone in on this is what I call, really understanding your skill. You really have to understand what you're good at what you're not good at, if you're impromptu if you're not impromptu, how to do all these different things. And that and the actual message, this is the interesting thing about for me, the message is the message. But how I deliver that message, and how I engage my audience and make them feel like I'm one of them is actually just as important as the message. And that's what I call skillful presentation. That's when you can take up 4000 people and and have them in their hearts in your hand and have them saying nothing just floored because they don't even know what to do. I mean, but that takes time. You're right. It takes practice and practice. And I would scratch this up go for that that joke didn't go well, you know, and, and by the way, if you ever tell a joke, and it's not falling, well laugh at yourself, because if you don't, they're gonna eat you. James Taylor So So as you've gone to this journey as a professional speaker, can you really point to any any other real key insights from a lightbulb moment in your life? We went, Oh, okay. This is the direction I want to be going with my speaking with with the work with the message that I have. Can you can you describe any of it maybe one of those kind of gig insights or lightbulb moments? Daniel Gutierrez Yeah, I think that. Yeah, well, there's there were so many of them. I think that, you know, if you're if you're connected to your audience, and you're connected to your message, you should be getting nudges all the time. And if you're watching your audience, you should see that as well. I mean, things that don't go well. A lot of times, I would speak in Spanish. And it didn't dawn on me that there's probably thousands of dialects of Spanish out there. And some words that I say, don't fall over well in another dialect. And I really had to understand in the moment to make sure that I was understanding my audience. And that was probably one of the biggest things that aha that I had was, you know, the same joke to a certain group didn't fall well with another group. And and I really had to learn to shift that on the fly, and be paying attention. But you know, there were moments where the other thing I this is a funny story. This is one of those moments where I went, Oh, so I'm speaking to this group of people. And I mean, I'm getting into it. You know, I'm one of the really, really animated speakers. And I'm getting into it. And I don't know what happened, James. But all of a sudden, there was nothing in my brain. And I'm going, Oh, Lord, what was I saying? What was I saying? And I'm looking at them, and they're looking at me, and I'm looking at them, they're looking at me, and nothing's coming. And then finally, thank goodness, that the message came back into my mind. And I began to speak. And so I finished my presentation. There's a lot of people wanting to talk to me. And this is the the reoccurring thing that people said, Daniel, when you stopped in the middle of your speak to let us catch up that was so powerful. James Taylor So you were doing like the powerful pause. And but you know, the the audience at the felt, because it because I have seen that, obviously, great speakers do that, you know, a lot, they'll stop. And they'll pause because they've said something, and they really want to hammer that home. And rather than seeing more more things about it, they just kind of pull back almost give a pause a slightly uncomfortable, and it helps people just kind of recalibrate. So I love I love the head that that sometimes those things that happen on stage. And I suppose this goes to the craft and the mastery again as well. It's like just having flowing with it sometimes as well. Daniel Gutierrez You got to dance with it. You got to dance with it, because I could have said I'm sorry, I don't know what I'm saying I would have I would have completely lost credibility completely. But I just kind of played with it I just kept staring at they were staring at me. And then it came to me and I went on about about the speech but the and now, I love that I love to be able to just stop and look at them because they're gone. What's he doing? Right and if that's mastery, that you have to be comfortable with that, but that's one of the biggest aha moments I've ever had was Daniel. You're talking too fast. Slow down, stop, look at them, Look them straight in the eyes. Don't be uncomfortable. And you know, and speaking, you're not really looking them straight in the eyes, you're looking over the top of them or you're looking at someone that smiling, but to them, you're looking straight directly into their eyes. And that means you're speaking to them directly. So that's one of the biggest aha moments that I ever had. It was hilarious. I think I wrote about it later, I said, I was so long. James Taylor But I love that powerful pause, whether it's on purpose or not, is great. So what's a couple of things here as well, what's in your speaker bag was in that bag that you carry with you to all your your speaking engagements, you never leave home without Daniel Gutierrez never being too confident. If I get to a place where I'm too confident, ah, I'm in a world of hurt. I still to this day, after 23 years or even longer, if you take the fact that I was speaking at 17. Get I get a knot in my stomach before I speak, and that tells me that I'm grounded. Right. And I even have to tell people, especially if it's a big stage, that I actually have this bad habit of doing this gag reflex. And I'll tell them, I'm not throwing up. It's just it's just, it's just a nervous thing. Don't get all weird and go, no speakers thrown up. But it's being humble. You can never be too humble. You can net you being uncle's important. Confidence is important, but not confidence words, arrogance. And so that's something I always connect to is that as I asked myself, am I overconfident here? Am I believing that I that? I, I know it? Well? Well. It may be from an intellectual standpoint, but from a spiritual standpoint, if you want to move a group, I don't care who they are. I remember once speaking to a group of engineers, and and a guy like me scares them to death, because I'm just way too much energy I'm going to bouncing around. And I remember, not not one smile, nothing. I'm thinking this is horrible. So Fine, I just stopped. And I said, if I look up your butt naked, what I said, I'll be right back, just take a break. And I went back and re redesigned everything. So I redesigned it to fit them. And I started being more linear in the way that I was presenting my presentation. And they loved it. Right? So So in my bag of tricks, it's about being humble, being ready to change on a dime. But you can't do that. If you're not a master of your skill. Yeah, if you're not a master of your presentation, you can't be a jack of all trades and a master of nothing. You have to be known for something, and you and you. And that should always be your default. That's why I say get to know your message. So that your default is something you're passionate about. Doesn't matter what the group is because you know what, the end of the day? They're all human beings. Yeah. Me, I'm hired, you know about a topic, but they're human beings. And if you move the human being in the chair, they don't care what you talked about. And they don't care how long you spoke because they were moved. James Taylor And what about you mentioned that is the psychological bag of tricks that you take with you to two speaking gig ensuring that you have that humbleness about you as well, and you have that lightness of firts? If you need to change things and move things around? What about the physical speaker bag? What is also in that bag? What is in you in terms of technic technology and and things that you always think you know, is always in your suitcase is always in the bag for you, you're in the best possible shape when you get on that stage? Daniel Gutierrez Well, I mean, I think how I'm dressed is always very important. And this is what I always chose speakers. If they're looking at the way you're dressed, because you're either an oddball, or because you just decided to wear something loud and and you thought it was cute. They are not going to listen to your message. They're going to be wondering, what are you wearing? So I always make sure that I'm dressed appropriately. But for me, as I said before, is that and by the way, I asked every single time even today, I asked you what do I need to be dressed like that's just that's, that's a professional courtesy. And it's something that I always do. Because the worst thing you can do is show up dressed and appropriately or overdressed to a bunch of people that are in construction and you're in a suit, they're not gonna listen to you because they're uncomfortable. So how I'm dressed now for me, so that I remember who I am. Like I said, in my custom made jackets, I have custom made for world's number one Latino motivator, because that it's not for them. It's for me to remember who I am and where I've come from, right. Um, I think that that you should always have when it comes to technique if you're using a PowerPoint presentation, you can be redundant enough, if you haven't on a USB, and you leave it in the seat of the airline, you're stuck. So use technology and put it in and Dropbox, put it everywhere you can, so that you don't have that problem and never assume that because you sent it to the person that's going to be introducing you that they haven't. Because I've always found that they don't, or they have the wrong version, because we tend to change things. Now, the question then comes proud PowerPoint presentation or not? That's a big thing for speakers, do I use it? Do I not use it? It just depends on your style. If you're not polished, I would suggest you use a PowerPoint because it keeps you it keeps you kind of on track. And it keeps the audience engaged. When I do a motivational speech versus a What do you call it a more linear speech, then I don't use up a PowerPoint presentation because I know that they're there to be moved from a different space. But again, ask as the person that you're speaking to what what is it, um, other things that I might bring along. One of the biggest things I talk about on the audio that you're going to get is never ever, ever, ever go over your time allotment. Never ever, ever do that. It it, it grinds me to be one of 10 speakers. And somebody decided that because they're so great that they take an hour and a half and the rest of us get cut off. First of all, they they already cut you off, they're not listening to you. You're just loved to hear. And that's what I call arrogant, right? So have a watch with you take it off and put it on the podium. So that you know what time it is if they don't have a clock behind you or have someone down there telling you when to when it comes to everything. If there's somebody below telling you only have five minutes, don't take 50. Right. So pay attention to habit watch with your set it up there. And if you think about it, our phones today are magnificent. They do great things. I mean, nowadays, you don't need anything but an iPhone, and you can do a lot of things, record yourself, record yourself for your purpose, not for them. So that you can listen to how you're delivering your presentation. Because a lot of times you may find that you're you're not delivering what it is that you're looking for. And you can shift and change it. But if you don't do that, then it won't work for you. So those are just some things that I do great to get myself ready. James Taylor And do you have a favorite book, that you often suggest that Nestle be related to speaking but just because you speak about motivate your motivational speaker as well? Is there a book that you've maybe gifted more often to other people? Or do you think that other attendees would really find value in? Daniel Gutierrez There's a lot of books out there as an author, obviously, I love to read, but the one that I probably recommend the most is Napoleon hills thinking grow rich. And I remember the first time I heard of that book, that someone said, Go get the book, Think and Grow Rich. I said I have some Avon books. I am not reaming there's no way there's nothing wrong with thinking Grow Rich, are you kidding me? What's wrong with you. And one day I was down and out. and was like, you know, we read this book. And it changed my life. It changed my life because I realized that the art of speaking, and the power that I present was all delivered up here before it was ever delivered in person. And it goes back to what you were saying earlier, we were talking about muscle memory, that if you stand in front of people and deliver a message, and you can feel the gladness, the change the shift the emotion of that presentation, it's going to go that way. But if you walked in with fear, doubt and disbelief, it's going to be a rough day for you. And you're never going to get to that dollar amount that you feel like you deserve to get paid. Yeah. And speaking of money, you don't start out usually making 10 50,000 I mean, maybe some people do. Because they might be doctors, it might be the Clintons, who knows they get 100,000 be easy on yourself. This is a great industry. And it's a great way to make a living. But there is a skill here just like a doctor has a skill. skill. James Taylor Yeah. It's kind of like playing the long game there as well isn't it is you know, you if this is this is about mastery is what you're going to be in this for, you know, hopefully the rest of your your life if you're really committed to doing this. And so, think about it like that in terms of relationship. I mean, you mentioned that the timing thing. And I just think that as a courtesy to your fellow speakers, how would you want to be near the golden rule? How would you want to be treated? I wouldn't want to have to, you know, really crush my speech because someone else has decided to go on some ego trip before me So, so just kind of like just think about it that way. And it's been quite a comic in that sense as well. Because often, you know, the people that couldn't do those things were like they extend out, you know, in the speaking community that the They're not particularly well thought of I wouldn't imagine so. So let the final question for you here, and we're gonna tell people about this really cool gift you have for everyone. Let's imagine you woke up tomorrow morning and had to start from scratch. So you have all the skills or the knowledge that you've acquired over the years, but you know, no one, no one knows you, you have to start again. What would you do? How would you restart? Daniel Gutierrez Wow, that's a good question. I think I would, I would keep in mind that I am my number one cheerleader. And if I don't believe in myself, nobody does. And what that means is that I would get, send out my information call. I mean, really, really. I mean, the first thing that I would tell myself, young Daniel, is Believe in yourself, and you're going to fall, and it's okay. And don't take no personal cut. It's never about you. And get out there as much as you can. Because out of sight, out of mind, even now, today, I feel like I have a strong brand. But if I take a couple years off, Daniel, who knew people step in, you know, I mean, that's just the business. So I think that knowing what I know, today, I think I would just tell myself, don't take no as personal. Just take it as an opportunity to call someone else. There is a tribe for you out there. There is a group of people that will, my greatest group of that I've ever did a lot of business with was opposite of me. And I didn't go to speakers things to find business. That's a mistake. It Why would you go where there's 100 other speakers that want you, I don't get that, I would go look for things that were opposite. So my greatest source of income over the last 10 years has been accountants. I know it's funny, I even tell them I get to speak. You guys are the wild if people are brought up. And that would have been the last thing I saw. I thought, Oh, you guys are gonna be boring. This is gonna they're not gonna laugh. They were great. But because I was opposite of them. Yeah, I became an expert. And I became the person they came to see every single year. James Taylor It's funny that isn't it? That's almost like this. You know, many of the speakers I've interviewed here as part of the summit, they're in their home territory, that is not their strongest territory, they'll often have a huge success in some of their foreign foreign territories. Because it's that I don't what the expression is, move around, you know, you're you're never appreciate. That's the one Yeah, yeah. So so you're never appreciated often in your own city or your own town. So many the best way if I was speaking to David averin, great speaker, the other than he was saying the same thing. He said, he really speaks in his own city. He said most of the time he's speaking either rescue cross rescue us or more globally as well. So it speaks to that is the is the other You are the other way. You know, you're speaking to accountants, you're the, you know, the power kind of motivational speaker getting everyone riled up. And that's often the opposite of what we think of in accountancy. So I love that that's Daniel Gutierrez absolutely. And here's something else. I can't get paid per se. But if I go to work, I'm like, the master. Yeah, I'm like, I get paid big bucks to go to New York. Yeah. So in New York, I have this big following in LA, that, Daniel, we see him all the time. So but that's okay. I recognize that. And so what I'm getting at is take a risk, make investment, go across the country, go or go to another country. Many people from here go to Australia, because I pray they do. Well, yeah. Right. us. So go to the market that's gonna feed you. Don't be egotistical about it. And if you're not listening, that goes back to what I was saying a minute ago. If you don't believe in yourself, no one's gonna believe in you. Take the risk, and get out there and do something different, like I did going to New York and speaking to accountants, and my career took off and that's all I needed. I just needed that boost, and they will gladly pay me. James Taylor Thank you, Daniel, so much for coming on today. I'm looking forward to his movie speaking on stages together at some point in the future. I know you've got some very exciting things coming up in the future that I'm sure you'll be people get to know about really soon as well. But Daniel, thank you so much for coming on the summit. Daniel Gutierrez It's been absolute pleasure speaking to you today. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

Sales Process for Speakers James Taylor interviews Tom Abbott and they talked about Sales Process for Speakers In today's episode Tom Abbott they talk about Sales Process for Speakers. Tom Abbott is an author and speaker on Sales Optimisation. He has delivered hundreds of motivational sales keynotes, kickoffs, presentations and workshops to audiences of over 10,000 people in over 10 countries throughout Asia-Pacific, UAE, and North America and is an authority in evolving the sales processes of organizations worldwide. Tom is the author of The SOHO Solution: 21 Selling Strategies for Growing Your Small Business and Social Selling: 10 Essential Strategies to Prospect, Position, and Present Using Social Media. Tom is also the President of Asia Professional Speakers Singapore. What we cover: What is a sales process? Common mistakes speakers make in their sales process Sales Process for Speakers Getting to the decision maker Resources: Tom's Website Tom's Free Gift For You Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sales-process-for-speakers-sll088/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey, there's James Taylor, and I'm delighted today to be joined by Tom Abbott. Tom Abbott is an author and speaker on sales optimization. He has delivered hundreds of motivational sales, keynotes, kickoffs, presentations, and workshops to audiences over 10,000 people in over 10 countries throughout Asia Pacific UAE, and North America. And as an authority in evolving the sales processes of organizations worldwide. Tom is the author of the Soho solution 21 selling strategies for growing your small business, and social selling 10 essential strategies to prospect position, and present. So using social media. Tom is also the president of Asia, professional speakers, Singapore, and he is an amazing guy, and I'm so delighted to have him on the summit today. So welcome, Tom. Tom Abbott Hey, James, good to be here, man. James Taylor So share with everyone what's going on in your world just now what projects currently have your focus? Tom Abbott Wow. Well, most of my business is spent in one of two ways. And then we've added a third recently, which is very exciting. So companies engaged me around Asia Pacific, and the Middle East, all over the world, actually, to speak on motivation and sales motivation. So I do a lot of work doing keynotes. We're also very busy with sales training. So companies would engage me to come in and deliver either a one or two or three day sales training program covering any one or several of the stages in the funnel or sales pipeline, which is what we're going to be talking about here today. And then something new and exciting. We're just about to launch in a few short weeks time, our sales Academy, which is our online program, our E learning program, where we're taking everything that we deliver offline, online, so sales teams around the world can improve their sales skills, anywhere, any place anytime. Anyhow, we're super excited about this. James Taylor And tell tell us I mean, how long is that process taken to get what you currently do in the training the live trainings into an online version and only course that you were really happy with? We're getting much How long did that process take for you? Tom Abbott Oh, give or take about 20 years. So I'm half joking. But the you know, the exciting thing, James is this online program, this E learning platform is the culmination of the 20 years that I've been delivering sales training programs. And we just put it all together. So you know, you'll know how it is, you know, you you train, you speak for a number of years, and then you decide, okay, I'm now going to take what I've written, I've done and write a book, or you write a book and say now I'm going to train on this topic. So it's kind of a cat and mouse situation. So we've just taken everything that I've done in terms of the books that I've written, the workshops that I've delivered the keynotes that I've that I've that I've shared, and put it together in an online program. So I mean, it's been 20 years in the making, but it's really been about six months to a year from, you know, ideation to launch. James Taylor Yeah. And now the fun stuff. Now the real fun starts because you get it out, and you can get tweaking and improving and you get feedback, and then looking at marketing channels, and sales channels are very exciting. So how did you get started in the world of professional speaking? Where did it begin for you? Tom Abbott Well, that's a great question, James. I mean, for me, I think as many speakers out there listening right now, you know, I've always felt that I had a message that I needed to share. I always felt that there was a message I need to share. I felt like I knew something that I was passionate about something. And I just wanted the world to know and I wanted to help people. So I've got a background in sales. So I've been in business all my life. I've been in sales all my life. So I've always known what are the challenges of being a sales professional. So you know, for me, I always wanted to learn and improve, how can I be better as a sales professional, and that always that just kind of led me naturally to wanting to to train and to speak on that topic and to really help empower and motivate sales professionals around the world. So it's just kind of a calling for me, I guess. James Taylor And in the early days of becoming a professional speaker, who were those early mentors or role models here? Tom Abbott You know, I'll date myself a little bit here, maybe James, but for me, I remember being, you know, a young pup and, you know, listening to, you know, audio tapes, okay, I don't know if you guys will remember audio tapes, I don't know, you know, depending on who James Taylor I'm with you, I'm an audio tape guy. Tom Abbott depending on who's listening, and what Gen we got going on here, I used to get cassette tapes, and I would have these things from Nightingale Conant and, and, and take out these cassettes and put them in my in my tape player, my radio shack tape player, I'd be listening to Les Brown, I'd be listening to Robert G. Allen, multiple streams of income, I'd be listening to Tony Robbins, obviously, I mean, man, just the giants, the giants. Brian Tracy, I mean, you name it, just the giants of personal professional development. I mean, those were my early mentors, whether they knew James Taylor it or not. So now you're speaking all over the world, in the training of the online course we are getting launched. And a big thing that a lot of speakers aspiring and professional speakers struggle with is the selling bit, many of them find the marketing but relatively comfortable, because it's like an extension of, you know, spreading their message that way. But the selling bit is is challenging for many. So can you talk to us about First of all, what when we talk about selling a salesperson as it relates to speak of what is it? What is this? What is a sales process? Tom Abbott Or that so that? That's a great question, James, because you're asking that question. And this is something that I feel like a lot of speakers, for some reason, they don't talk about it. It's not a sexy topic, what sexy is talking about, you know, what social media platform Are you on, you know, marketing, that that seems to be more comfortable for people than sales, oh, I don't do sales, I'm not a salesperson, well, if you're trying to influence people to take action, you're in sales. So when you run your own business, when you run your own speaking business, you are a salesperson, because you have no one else, especially when you're just starting out, there's no one there to sell on your behalf. So you have to sell. So the sales process, if we just kind of break it down, you have two parts in a business. One is lead generation. And then one is lead conversion. So lead generation would be typically, you know, marketing, and lead conversion would be that conversion, the sales. And a lot of us spend a lot of time on the marketing, which is lead generation, but now that you have a lead, what do you do with it? How do you nurture it? And how do you convert it? James Taylor Because they're very, they're very different things going on there as well. I mean, a lot of people when they talk about, they can a bunch marketing and sales in together. Because obviously, you know, there's isn't there's a natural flow from those things when they feed feed into each other. But but they're different. They're not the same thing. Tom Abbott Lead Generation and lead conversion, they're two very, very different functions. But at the end of the day, they're supposed to lead you down to the same end result. So I like to say that marketing gets people into your store. Sales has them leaving as a paying customer. So let's think about that for a minute. I've seen some great marketers, which basically stimulates interest and desire gets you excited, gets people to come into your shop to look around. But you need that conversion, you need someone to say, so what would you like to do? Now, let me tell you more about this. You know, what do you plan on using this for? How can it help you let me let me share more. So you need someone to actually close the sale, we can't just assume that you build it and they will come. You can't just assume that just because you have a great website. People were gonna buy. James Taylor It reminds me and a lot of time when people talk about sales, you mentioned that the rate the status on a sales person, I don't I don't like the sales thing. And it often makes me think as someone that was spent a lot of time working it in place like Silicon Valley, there was I always sold there was like these different tribes. There was the tribe, the marketing tribe, like the cool kids, let's see, I'm gonna call them the cool kids. And so the cool kids were like, what was the what was the latest thing? What was the latest app? So they were all it was all about marketing, but they actually weren't doing any numbers don't do any selling. There wasn't any there was no money being made. It was just puff. It was just there was nothing there really were going into it. And then the other side, there was all the guys that were talking about buying the latest Lamborghini or the selling and it was and it was just very hard to kind of type of selling. And I never as you know, as a speaker as entrepreneur, I never felt comfortable either of those camps. They always just felt like neither of them had. So I think you know what You do. And I see a lot of the great speakers, you're in this, I mean, a third tribe almost. And I can a middle way of doing it. So you're using great marketing really, you know, in terms of from a branding positioning from, from looking at, there's lots of ways of creating that lead gen that you mentioned. But also you're selling in a very ethical, very natural way that feels a flow from your brand. Tom Abbott Yeah, you know, James, I feel like anyone who doesn't feel comfortable selling, their interpretation of selling is trying to convince someone to do something that they don't want to do. So if that's what you're trying to do, then I'm with you. I don't, I don't like selling either. So you really have to believe in yourself. I mean, as a speaker, you are the product. So you have to believe in yourself, do you believe that you positively impact your market? Your audience? If the answer is yes, then you got to trumpet that and let people know that you're the right choice. And the reasons why. And there's actually you know, sales is not just about personality, a lot of people think sales is about personality. Sales is really about process. And that's something that we'll probably talk about on this interview. James Taylor So let's talk about the the kind of classic, like funnel like sales or sales process, or might you know, him call different things, you know, marketing, sales funnels or processes. You mentioned that the word you said that would read the stock, you said like interest, interest and attention, which can comes like the marketing world. what point does it do? What is stage unless even a typical keynote speaker? what point does it move from Do you feel from being the marketing sales side, in to now we're in very much in a sales process? Tom Abbott Well, so if we use that metaphor that I shared, moments ago about marketing brings people into your store, and then sales has the leaving as a paying customer, then the minute you get someone is on your website, the minute someone's on your website, and they've inquired this, this is now moved from your marketing department, which is you, but it's moved from your marketing hat to your sales hat. So now, there's a sales function. So now your job is to now take that lead, take that inquiry, and now move them through the stages in your sales funnel, so that that becomes an engagement. So your number one job is how do you move from inquiry to engagement? So, you know, you've got some great interviews on here, James, which is awesome. And many speakers will talk about, even when they talk about sales, they're actually just talking about the marketing aspects of sales. Right? So they talk about how do you get leads? How do you get inquiries? Well, so I feel like that's covered. And that's really why I'm on here today. I feel like that's been done. What do you do? And how do you do it once you actually have that inquiry? What's next? So that's what sales is all about. James Taylor So that stage like, I know, for me that in those, I always treat it like a, like a three act play with a with a prologue and epilogue. So the prologue is my research stage, is the act one is my stage of initial outreach, finding out turning someone from a contact into to a lead, you know, expose, and act to is getting them to do an active thing of actually the initial inquiry, you know, in some way, getting on the site doing doing things like that. And that point is that it feels me that switch starts to happen now to the, to the sales, the sales part. And so for me a lot of sales, it kind of feels like it starts at the disk, I caught a discovery call where I do a call with the the event planner, the organizer, CEO, just talking to them to find out whether there's a fit there or not. Right. And so I'm, I'm asking you a series of questions, I'm obviously taking a series of questions around it as well. So that's for me, that's where I feel it starts to flip into the sales part for me, but I got it wrong. Should I be sales from an earlier point? Or is that right? And And if it is, at that stage, what should I be doing to ensure the success of taking assuming that they are the right type of customer? Taking that person to the point of actually selling them on my keynote or my talk? Tom Abbott Yeah, so I think you're on the right track team. So I think for a lot of, you know, people on the call that are listening right now, they're going to be needing to think about their own sales process. And I think one of the biggest mistakes that speakers in particular make because they're great at speaking. But they struggle around the business side, sometimes the enterprise side of running a business run, it could be a great speaker, but you know, struggle with running a speaking business. So that's really what we're focusing on on here right now. So I think the biggest mistake speakers make They actually don't have, they don't have a sales process. Or if they do, it's not consistent. It's one thing to close deals and get bookings if if people are just basically throwing money at you, right, or they heard you speak, and they're like, you know, you're great, I'm going to recommend you to someone else. And then everything is easy, breezy, and you really didn't have to do anything. So sometimes you can close sales by accident, and feel like you're great at it. But how do you then reverse engineer that process, and make sure that it's something that can be replicated time and time again, to make sure that it's something that you could actually outsource that function to someone else, in your absence James Taylor to scale is scalable in that way, it doesn't require just you because you can have the other person doing those natural calls. Tom Abbott That's right. And you can either scale it and outsource it to another person. Or you can scale that in terms of using technology to automate some stages in that sales process for you. But the first key thing is you've got to document what are you doing now? What's working? And then how do we replicate that time and time again? So again, you know, so one of the biggest mistakes speakers make is that they don't have a system. Or it's an inconsistent system, or it's not that effective, and they haven't documented it. So one of the things that they need to do is to start thinking about, you know, zoom out big picture, well, what are the stages in a sales process? And for yourself as a speaker, what James Taylor do you see as those those those classic stages? And what is the goal? What is the start of each of that stage? And then what is the goal at the end of it, so you know, that stage has been completed. And we're now on to the next stage? Tom Abbott Yeah, so if I was listening to this, this interview right now, I'd have a pen and paper out. And I would just be drawing a funnel like this, I'd be drawing a funnel. Sometimes we call it a sales pipeline, sometimes you call it a funnel, basically, name. And I'll just be like very elementary, for those that are kind of new to sales are new to speaking or new to business. It's called a funnel, because it kind of looks like a funnel that you would use to pour oil when you're changing the oil in your car, right. So it basically takes stuff at the top and the funnels wide. And then it gets more narrow and thinner as you get towards the bottom, so that the oil goes where it needs to go. You're trying to get this prospect this lead to go where you want them to go. And where you want them to go is to say, James, you're booked for the 15th of July, right? Full fee engagement, that's where you're trying to get them to. And there are a few steps that you need to help them move through in order to get to that final one. So I'll just share with everyone here, just a few of the basic ones. All funnels are going to have their own little nuances, some subtleties of your industry, your business, your clientele, your market that you deal with, and your approach to sales. But essentially, everyone's going to have the same core group. So the first one at the top of the funnel, we would call that a new opportunity. appropriately named, you get an inquiry. Dear James, or or just, you know, to whom it may concern? Okay. That happens quite a bit, right? Dear sir. That's an you know that they're not looking for you. They're just putting the net out quite wide for anybody who speaks on your topic, even if they're that sophisticated to know that. That's your topic, but you'll get like a dear sir, to whom it may concern. Hello. You know, James, right. And the inquiry, so so that now is a new opportunity. And then within that opportunity, there are some tasks that you need to do in order to move that from a new opportunity to a working opportunity. Working opportunity. And there are predictably there are some tasks that you need to take, we can't just assume that the client is going to just do that right. Sometimes you're lucky and they do it for you. But you need to have that in mind that you need to accomplish those tasks and tick those boxes to move from working to closing. Closing not closed, closing stage. James Taylor So the closed the closing that closing stage, the end goal is Tom Abbott closed or to go too close. James Taylor So we have a little bit of time like so something is missing a little bit so we have the new opportunity to talk with that inquiry comes in. Then moving into working opportunity then Moving to the closing stage of the closing stages. final goal with that would be the closed end. I, the agreement has been completed. Just taking us back up to the top Now, you mentioned some of these tasks that need to be completed in that new opportunity to take someone from new opportunity into that next stage of working opportunity. What what are those tasks? Okay, so Tom Abbott the first task is going to be initial reply. So, you know, look, as I say, this is going to seem super obvious. And yet how many people don't do this consistently. So the first task is the initial reply. So that inquiries come in. You now have to ask yourself, now, what do I do? When do I reply? How do I do that? Is it by phone or email? How quickly do it and what do I say in that reply? Right. So like, this is part of your process. So this is the initial reply. So I've seen some studies that have said that if you reply to an inquiry within four minutes, you increase your chance of closing that deal, you know, like tenfold? Okay. So I don't know whether that's true or not. But I've heard that but I'll tell you something, you don't think that if you reply promptly, you have a better chance of booking a meeting? Absolutely. You don't think you increase your chance of building rapport and establishing a strong relationship with that prospect? Absolutely. So I've seen some people I'll be quite honest with you. I remember I had an engagement. And I was talking about responsiveness and sales. And the sales director kind of chuckled. And I said, What's so funny? He said, You know what? Before we had this training today, I just got a call earlier this today, from one of the people that we reached out to inquiring about sales training, and they finally got back to me with the initial reply. And he just laughed and said, Dude, I'm in a workshop right now. Like, you missed the boat, man. So, I mean, you might just be shocked, that's baffling James, and how slow people can be to respond to people asking, I want to give you some money. James Taylor And I guess as well as and this is moved for those speakers who are or trainers that they're doing that they've got, they're out there, they're traveling, they're doing different things. Sometimes doing that immediate response or a quick response is is more challenging, because you're in a place your days training, or two day training or whatever, and you're having to catch up. So that's when obviously things having having your assist, or maybe an assistant or a team or your virtual assistant around you is very useful. But that only really works if you actually have no written out your process. And I've put some things in place like this is the template or the basic template, you might you're going to use for that that initial reply. Tom Abbott Exactly. So think about this chain. So whether you have staff or not, if you're using a CRM tool, like we use Infusionsoft, for example, if you're using a CRM tool, you can automate that. Yeah, so we have it automated, as soon as soon as someone goes on our website and fills out that form. As soon as someone submits that contact us form, they will immediately I think we do it either immediately or within five minutes, or I don't remember, but they will immediately get a reply from me, that's, you know, hey, thanks so much for contacting us about your engagement. You know, he's kind of a about your engagement. I just attached for your convenience, a brochure that tells you more about our company and all the different programs that we have. It would be great for us to schedule a quick call to talk about your your event or your your session in greater detail. I've got some availability this week, what's the best day and time for us to chat? James Taylor Yeah, it's that responsiveness and also because it just that, that that first interaction that they have with you is, is such a, it just says so much about you know, they're like all event planners, they're looking at risk mitigation. Are you gonna turn up? You know, are you gonna Yeah, am I gonna look good in front of my boss and my my members, my visit Association, so you're always doing that risk mitigate. I know, for us, you know, when one of our speaker pages, we have that inquiry form there is it's actually a it's a two step. So first step is, you know, basic basic name, email, phone number, maybe timezone, and then the next stage it goes through to at that point, they can immediately schedule a time on my, I use a thing called calendly. So I can immediately schedule a time on my schedule for an account, they just choose that. If they don't within the first within that they don't complete that second step. I think that we have a trigger that goes like 30 minutes afterwards, that sends them an email. Which says, Hey, thanks so much for signing up. We're going to be getting I'll be getting back to, you know, he is space similar to what you do as well. And also just looks to ask them, you know, give them another opportunity to schedule that time and for the call. Tom Abbott Yeah, so that's, that's brilliant. And and for me, I wouldn't say whether you no one should or shouldn't, you know, ask for the call now or schedule the call now or wait, the only thing that will prove the effectiveness is what your response rate is to that right, James Taylor exactly. And the great thing is you get when you use Infusionsoft, we use honorable, you can test Kenya as well. It's really interesting. You can see the stats, you can see the flow of Yes, okay, well, these people, we do an immediate call with these people, we put them into the calendly thing. And you can actually see which ones go and complete. And but you can only do that if you have a process and if you have the data there. Tom Abbott Exactly. So I mean, I think any system is better than no system, at least have a system and be consistent with it and measure and track the results and then adjust as necessary. But that initial reply, look like you said, Man, we're so busy, we're traveling, we're in airports, we're on planes, even if you're a newbie, you're busy, and you're still trying to keep your head above water with all the different marketing things you're doing. You know, you end up having this, this challenge of like, Oh, I'm so busy. I've got you know, a few inquiries. How do I get back to them quickly? Well, you've got to get back to people quickly and at least try to get that first call, or that first meeting. So that's always your goal is how do I get that first discovery call? How do I get that first meeting? How do I make sure that my brochure gets gets in front of them? So you know, you may even let's say, you know, some people on the call might say, Well, why don't you just get them to download your your brochure or your one sheet, you know, off your website right away. And that's a great idea, but you want to make sure that they do it. You want to make sure that they've done that that step so that when you talk to them, they're not just saying so what do you do? Right? Like everything you do has to advance the sale? Yeah, and and not be like, Oh, so tell me more about what you do. Look, bro, like, you should already have my brochure you've already been on my website, you've already seen my speaker demo video, what we should be talking about is, am I the right fit for this event? Exactly. And, and when are we going to lock this in? Exactly. That's James Taylor what we're talking about here today, just sending into the one sheet thing is that that kind of goes goes back to the marketing thing again, but you're not the straight, you're not having the conversation about, you know, and this is I suppose this is this is a difference maybe in mindset is thinking not just you know, is, am I right for this particular client? But is this client right? For me? Because these are, these may be higher order problems or challenge and challenges to think about. But you're kind of until you start having those conversations, how can you possibly know, you know, if you know what that client's challenges are? Why the conferences, what the people are going to be attending, what they want the people at the conference to feel at the end of it, you can't have any of those? Tom Abbott Yeah, so that'll come a little bit later. And this is great. So what we're kind of alluding to here, James is kind of qualifying and also disqualifying, right. So that would be next task. So your task number one is the initial reply, boom, you got to get back to people right away. You got to you got to touch them right away. So that's the first the first task. So the next task is the the qualifying. And in my sales training programs, I basically teach the three I call it the three A's of qualifying. It's what's the ask? So what's the client? Ask what are they really looking for? What are they asking for? So what's the ask? Can they afford it? As in? Can they afford me? Can they afford my fees? What's their budget? And who has the authority to make this decision? So I called the three A's. So, you know, on, you know, you need to be able to determine like, what exactly are they looking for? And when will this happen? Is there a confirmed date for this event? Or are they just kind of, you know, you know, putting the feelers out, just kind of updating their HR records, you know, like, who's out there? Because you need to know, you know, with how much energy and intensity and and urgency Do you need to really go after this opportunity? Is it a real opportunity, or is it just an inquiry, right, so what's going on here? So you need to find out what's the ask, are they thinking about doing something? Or do they have a date confirmed with delegates coming for sure. And all they're doing now is deciding on which speaker will present. That's totally different from Well, we might have an internal meeting and we're just kind of playing around with the idea of having someone come in. James Taylor So we still in the in the new opportunity stage at this point as well. We're still there. We haven't even gone The the working opportunity this point. Tom Abbott So that's an important question and answer, James, because so many speakers, what happens is they get that inquiry. And the inquiry says, Please send a list of topics or an outline with a quote. And what do they do is they spend hours on some kind of proposal, and then email it off. And that's their initial reply. And then they never hear from that prospect again. Because either the price was wrong, or the deliverables what they offered was wrong. Like they were just guessing. Right. This is why I hate the word proposal. proposal implies, yeah, James, just propose a few ideas. And we'll see. Right? propose, why propose? We need to co create something, you need to tell me a little bit more about who you are? Who the audience is what you're looking for? why that's important to you? What have you tried before? what's worked? What hasn't worked? How will you know that this was the right solution for you? There's so many things that need to happen in the sales process the sales conversations before you even start talking about proposals. So in the in the in the new opportunity stage, initial reply, qualifying. So you got to ask some questions around their budget. You've got to ask some questions around? How will this decision be made? You've got to find nice ways of finding out are you the decision maker? Or are you just the gatekeeper? James Taylor How do you how do you find that? Because often you'll, you'll have a conversation, maybe it'll say associations, I always find more difficult sometimes on this because there's there's committees and the kind of nebulous thing I'm kind of figuring out who's the real decision maker in this. So how do you go about knowing, you know, if you are having a conversation with a decision maker, or if this dismiss can be looped in at the right stage? Tom Abbott Okay, so a good indication will be the title of the person who made the inquiry, right. So on our forum, we asked people to submit what their title is, number one. If they do great, you've got it. If they don't, then you know, when you do your initial inquiry, and they reply to you, it will likely be in their email signature anyway. Right? So, you know, if you're paying attention, you'll see the clues as to what is that person's role? If it's like an HR admin, staff person or something like that, you know, that they were just someone who was tasked with sourcing, or reaching out to speakers that are not the decision maker. So then why do we try to negotiate with that person? Why do we try to sell to that person? Why are we fighting so hard to try to get them to make a decision when they can say no, but they can't say yes. Right? They can say, Oh, that's that, you know, we don't have the budget for that. But if you were to propose other solutions, or other options, they couldn't say yes. So why do we spend so much time trying to sell to people who can only say no, but can never say yes, so that's one of the bigger biggest speaker foe pause that they make is they're selling to the wrong person. So you need to find out is this person, a decision maker? In the association world, you know, it wouldn't be an admin person or someone, it would likely be someone in, you know, manager events, or the executive director or CEO of that nonprofit, or whatever. But you'd have a better indication as to who LinkedIn is a great tool to find out who really pulls the strings in an association or any organization, asking them, how will this decision be made? simple, yet powerful question. How will this decision be made? Oh, oh, we're gonna look at it. Great. Sorry, I'm a bit unclear. When you say we, who will look at it. Oh, there's a committee who's on that committee. It would be it would be great for me to have an opportunity to actually speak with the people on this committee. So I can hear from their mouth to my ears, what they're looking for, to make sure that everything is going to be in sync. James Taylor So in this this new opportunity, where you're trying to maybe get get that person or get the decision makers on on the phone and have that, let's say initial discovery, just no discovery call. I'm, I'm interested, like, how do you so there's maybe there's an initial reply, and you're starting to kind of try and qualified to get that person for? How do you broach that because you want that person you want that discovery call? I'm guessing, having the decision maker on there. But if you're getting initially reached out by the admin person or the you know someone that's the further down the chain, how do you do that at such an early stage. Tom Abbott So in my case, James, and for every speaker out there, you need to have Your framework, your methodology, your way of doing something, your best practices, right? So what does that mean? When I get an inquiry for sales training or or for a sales keynote? And they say, We need someone to come in and talk about sales? I go, Okay, great. So I don't act like this with customers. But I'm just saying between all of us, I go, Okay, great. So I've written two books on sales. I have a sales methodology that has about 25 different stages in the sales process. Yeah. So which one do you want me to talk about? Right. Like that's, I'm being a bit facetious. But that's basically what we're talking about here. Right. So what I do nicely is I say, Sure, I'm more than happy I can I certainly do. This is within my realm of expertise. That's what I do. What particular stage in the sales process? Is the team struggling with? Okay. Right. Do they need help with lead generation? Or lead conversion? Is it in in qualifying? Is it in scheduling appointments? Is it getting past gatekeepers reaching decision makers? Is it needs assessments? Is it demonstrating value? Is it answering objections? Is it closing either, you know, is it is it trial closes? or hard closes? Is it follow up with customers? Is it managing their pipeline? etc? etc, etc, etc? What I find 90% of the time, the person on the phone or email, cannot answer that question. Right? It's just they don't know, they don't know the answer to that question. So they'll tell me Oh, I'm not quite sure. I said, Oh, of course, totally understandable. Who would know the answer? Oh, that would be the director of sales. Perfect. When can we all meet James Taylor that century, because I've seen this happen a couple of times, where maybe it's not technically the Director of Sales is the person that's organizing the conference. And there's, there's, you know, there's this in charge of the event. And, and I saw this happen, I've seen someone recently, who got out bid, actually, so someone else came in, and they hired another speaker. Because off the top my head, it was, let's say, the fee that he put forward is 15,000. And this other speaker was like 60,000. And the person I know was, was trying to deal with the event organizer, and like, say, 15,000 event organizer was great, you're definitely within our budget. Now the other guy's like 60,000. And then in the end, the guy 60,000 got the job. And the reason that he got the job is because the sales director, I think it was actually took money from their own budget, because they were so convinced that this person and I think they'd obviously had a separate conversation person, I don't know what you did, or didn't have separate conversation. And I suppose I said, I said, What is it exactly this and it was so close. And the sales director said, I'm the VP of sales, and I'm willing to put the extra 40 k in or whatever the figure was, to get this, yeah, this additional person. And that would have never heard him and my friend felt really sore about it. But but he also recognized actually, there's a there's a learning point here. Tom Abbott Well, there absolutely is. And look, at the end of the day there are there's there's the person who's organizing the event. And then there are key stakeholders in that event. So a good sales professional doesn't just sell to the person in front of them, but has a big picture view of the context of this event. Who's coming? You know, who, who has the biggest stake in the success of this event? Who's going to be in the audience? What do they need? Right? So, you know, people think, oh, we just need a speaker. But no, what do you what does your organization really need? Do they need to increase sales? Do they need to increase productivity? Do they need to increase resilience or whatever, but what, what needs to happen at this event, and who knows what needs to happen at this event? All right. So people approached me Because obviously, they need, you know, something around sales. So my number one job, James is to make sure that I have a conversation or at least get input from director of sales, VP sales, you know, sales, you know, whoever initiated this request or whoever has the biggest stake in the success of this event, so that their voice is heard. And to be quite frank, I mean, you know, a gatekeeper would not be doing a good job if they shielded me from That person. And they just said, Hey, boss, hey, DSM, here are three speakers and they're all about the same price range. And they all kind of talk on sales that is actually doing their boss and this event a huge disservice. huge disservice. So I remember there was one situation where I felt like, you know, my, my approach of saying, hey, great, when can we all meet? We need to talk, I need to hear from that person. Where do they want blah, blah, blah? This one guy wasn't having it wasn't happening. He was like, No, no, you can just talk to me, it's okay. But I wasn't getting my questions answered. So my approach, James is, I figure, if I just deal with this guy, I've got about a one in three chance, or one in four chance of winning this deal. Because he's talking to a few other people. And if I can't get him to understand value, that I'm going to lose out to someone who's cheaper than I am. So I figured, hey, if my odds are one in three, or one in four, I'm gonna go around this guy. And I'm gonna find out who his bosses, and I'm talking to his boss. So I just found out who it was I connected directly with his boss on LinkedIn, I said, hey, I've been dealing with your guy, awesome guy. I can tell that you're all very busy. It's critical that you and I have a discussion about this event, to make sure that we include everything you need, and nothing that you don't need. And I say, when is a good time for us to talk? He replied to me right away, we're on the phone immediately. Boom, and I closed the deal. But James Taylor that's that's also quite a high risk strategy, because I could have gone against you as well, with with the see the person that you were dealing with, initially, the event organizer, who could have felt that you've gone over there, I don't know which country this was this event was in as well. But no, in some some places. That's, you know, there's a seniority thing, there's, there's a whole journey, other direction going on there as well. So you obviously knew you basically, if you played you played the odds, you played the odds for the one and four. Tom Abbott Well remember how I practice it, because I felt like I had a 25% chance of winning it, right. So I felt like I had a 75% chance of losing it anyway, okay. So that that's where sales comes in. And having the courage to say, look, the way I win deals, is when I speak to the right person, that is how I win deals. So if this person doesn't get it, I'll do the best that I can to still hold him in a very high esteem with his boss. Hey, been talking to john, he's great. I know, he's super busy. And you're traveling. And so it's been really hard for us to connect. So I thought I would just drop you a quick LinkedIn message and see if we can set something up, just you and me, right? You found a nice way to do it, that doesn't make him look bad. Right. But at the end of the day, you know, everybody has to know, what is their success strategy, what's going to work for them. And I just felt like, this is too big a deal. And I want this bad enough that I'm not leaving the fate of this engagement in the hands of this guy, that's not playing ball. And, you know, the results speak for themselves. So your number one job in the end the new opportunity to film a new opportunity. And, and this James Taylor is, this is this is interesting, because, you know, and we could have gone through the other ones. And we've sat here with the new opportunity. Because it's, it is so much I mean, it's just so critical making these decisions and and all the little nuances within it. And I know you talk about Yeah, 20 other, there's can other stages in his sub stages as well. This is a huge area that you get you get into and Yeah, and I think it is something that's so, so misunderstood in that we are in the business of speaking this is this is what we do this is how we earn our livelihoods. So you have to you know, you obviously develop your platform your master on the stage, but all these things here is kind of what takes it someone from just being a you know, you know, a good having a good speaking business to having a really great speaking race I'm so so glad that you can sharing all these little nuances here because they're so critical. So let just would like to kind of finish up the new opportunity thing and then we're going to have a offer for people because they're all these other stages and we're gonna speak about so your your qualifying you're making sure what is the goal that has to happen in order to move someone from that new opportunity to the working opportunity. Tom Abbott You have moved from a new opportunity to a working opportunity the minute you have confirmation of Meeting with the decision maker. Okay. Boom, once you've locked that in once it's like, oh, yeah, James, great, I've set up a meeting with you and my managing director or whatever, or scheduled a con call, I'll send you the calendar invite. Once that has happened, you have now move this from a new opportunity to a working opportunity. Now this is meaty, it's real, something is gonna happen. You've qualified or disqualified it, right? You've right, so maybe, maybe they're just kind of, you know, fishing around and nothing's really going to happen. So maybe you say, Great, well, this isn't an opportunity, let's, let's drop this one, or put it in a nurture campaign, or we'll follow up with them later, they can get our email. But if you've moved it, if you've qualified it, and they Yes, they've got the budget. Yes, the event is going to happen. It's happening in Munich on the third of July. We're flying in 200 people, and we are going to firm up a speaker. It's between you and three other people. And I'll schedule a meeting with you and the managing director or the event organizer. This is now a working opportunity now. James Taylor Yeah, let's get as we start to finish up here as well. What is in your speaker bag? What is in that bag that you carry with you to all your speaking engagements, you never leave the office or home without the what is in that bag? Tom Abbott Oh my god. That's an awesome question. If I knew you were going to ask that I would actually bring it with me. I just did an engagement and I showed a fellow speaker buddy of mine, I have the coolest gadget bag. So it's a gadget bag. I opened it up. And inside, there's like Velcro and little things that hold everything together. So within that, I've got two chargers so that I never run out of power on my phone. So I've got two of those those USB bank charger, things are in there. I've got a VGA converter and HDMI converter, it's a two in one for plug in my MacBook Pro two, you know the projector that's in there, I got a couple of USB devices in there just for file sharing. I've got my new Logitech spotlight, which is a cool new thing. presenter I've got that in there. I've got two sets of headphones with mics in there always. One is for the apple seven phone with the new thing. And then one is the usual like RCA thing. So I've got those in there. Every gadget you could possibly need I have in my gadget bag. I love James Taylor it. And then what about we've talked about books a little bit earlier as well. But what if you could recommend just one book to everyone? It could be a book on speaking, it could be a book on onset sales and selling what would that book be? Tom Abbott That's another great question. Okay, so I'm not going to do the usual thing, oh, you should get my book social selling or the Soho solution. It's a great book, which they both are great. But I'll tell you something, I learned a lot from million dollar consulting proposals from Alan Weiss good million dollar consulting proposals, I think it's called million dollar consulting or million dollar consulting proposals by Alan Weiss. That is a really, really great book to really help speakers get their mind around how do you sell a service? How do you package and position a service? And how do you come up with what he calls and I also borrow from that I share with people conceptual agreement. So before you even send a proposal, make sure that you have a conceptual agreement on conversations that you've had before or agreements that you had before, to make sure that you're both on the same page before you actually put all this time and effort into writing a proposal. That as I said, at the beginning of this interview, is basically you just pitching your services. Do they like it or not? James Taylor That's kinda, that's an excellent book as long but it will have a link to that here, as well. What about any online resources or tools or apps that you find really useful for yourself as a speaker? Tom Abbott apps and tools as a speaker? Well, I'll tell you, my favorite app that I use all the time is the Infusionsoft app. So as a sales guy I love I love CRM. I love any technology that helps make my life easier. That helps me sell. I'm all over it. So what's cool about Infusionsoft is they actually have an app. So it's not just the desktop, but also mobile. So when I'm on the go, I can not only update contact information in the CRM right away on my phone, I can apply tags immediately, and send people my brochure right away from my phone. I just love it. You're talking about responsiveness. That's how you can beat out on people just by being quick. James Taylor And I think it's great and things like Infusionsoft, like the good CRM, they will have some kind of visual campaign builder that you mentioned. Your sales funnel, the sales process, you can basically map a lot of this stuff out as well. So when you're at that you can be put people into it. And there's a lot of automation that allows you to have it. So you have that. And it's just so powerful. And so sometimes those things we, you think, okay, you'd like to have a team? it, I always think like the CRM, that's like having another, like at least one member of my team, the one that remembers everything at all. Tom Abbott Yeah, at least. James Taylor Okay, let's imagine final question for let's imagine if you woke up tomorrow morning and had to start from scratch. So you have all the tools, your trade, or the skills you've acquired and selling and speaking and training, but no one knows who you are, you know, no one, how would you restart? What would you do? Tom Abbott Wow. That's an awesome question. There's, there's a couple of layers to that question. One is about what I would do differently in terms of choices I've made, another has to also just do with the time period. So I started, I started in the speaking business 20 years ago, when Infusionsoft didn't exist, right. So there are certain things that I wish I had started earlier that I actually couldn't start earlier, because it didn't exist, if that makes any sense at all, James, right. But what I would do is I would form partnerships a lot sooner, I would reach out to people and build alliances, friendships, referral part owners just a lot sooner, I feel like this business more than most is kind of one of lone wolves, where we all kind of do our own thing. And we try to figure it out to the lumps and the bumps and the trials and errors on our own. And it's taken me admittedly, a really long time to say, Man, how much more can we do together? Like, yeah, how can we grow? And how do we build a bigger pie, not just fight over the same piece of the pie? But how do we build a bigger pie? How do we leverage what we're doing, even fellow people in sales speakers, to be able to say, we can work together on certain projects? So I mean, if I were to start over today, which is different? No, if I were to start it over today, I would. So two different lessons. If I, what I would change is I would build relationships a lot sooner and partnerships and alliances a lot sooner. Any advice for other speakers just getting started? I would get online, fast, get digital fast, use technology fast. Move away from I don't know, a lot of old school stuff. really look at, you know, things that we're doing with our online sales training program. Look at what James is doing right now, with this online. Virtual, but it's real, but you know, summit. Instead of trying to get 2000 people in a venue at one day in time, how can you still deliver insane value at the comfort when when people want and where they want it with replays and all this stuff. So if you haven't done it already, sign up for whatever past so you can get lifetime access so that you can enjoy this all the time. That is not I was gonna say the future, it's not the future, it's the present now. So anyone who wants to get going, look at how you consume things. If you're on this, now you're a consumer of this type of thing. So don't have old thinking have new forward thinking. That's what I would advise anybody. James Taylor I mean, it's great events, obviously, like the summit, but also people doing things like apss in Singapore, or they join National Speakers Association or PSA. So you can kind of find you get the hear what other people have done, how other people, you know, doing it. But then you know, I always think that it's quite refreshing if you've got that chance to start again, because we're living in such an amazing time in history, that all these tools are available to us and, and so now it's a lot of the things I love about technology is now they're so good that they frankly disappear. They're not the thing. It's just about using your creativity, as using like things mentioned, like partnerships, relationships. So I think this is a powerful, powerful time for speakers. But I think if speakers can think of themselves not just as speakers, but in terms of the overall transformation that they want to make, which you mentioned like right, the star, you said you're you're brought in not just to speak, you're there to make transformation and it could be training books, online courses, if you widen out there. Yeah, yeah. We are an amazing Amazing, amazing point in history, Tom Abbott there's never been a better time there has never been a better or easier time than now for people to get their message out there. Never before in history was it so easy to do this so we have the leverage on this. James Taylor Well, Tom, thank you so much for coming on. We're gonna have we're gonna have that link to your own site. Thank you for coming on. And I know you do incredible work with with apss with Asia professional speakers in Singapore. And I look forward to catching up with you soon and getting more of your gems on selling. Tom Abbott Awesome, cool. Thanks a lot, James. Pleasure to be here. And if anyone's got any questions, I'm happy to answer them just reach out to me. You can probably see the information below just find me online at SoCal selling, happy to help and all the best to each of you as you grow either start or grow your speaking businesses I know you can do it. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

The Power of Purposeful Storytelling James Taylor interviews Michel Neray and they talk about The Power of Purposeful Storytelling In today's episode Michel Neray they talk about The Power of Purposeful Storytelling. Michel Neray is a global speaker, trainer and consultant. He has helped thousands of individuals craft and perform more effective, ‘purposeful' stories to become more effective leaders, salespeople, coaches, teachers, trainers, speakers, and influencers of all types. He also uses Purposeful Storytelling to more effectively differentiate, position and brand organizations in the market. His is the founder of momondays, a monthly variety show that combines live music, comedy and inspirational storytelling. momondays is now in 14 cities across North America. And when not speaking on stages chances are you'll find him snowboarding down some slopes or canoeing down rapids. What we cover: The Power of Purposeful Storytelling Ways to develop and structure your stories more strategically Using stories to enhance your brand differentiation Why you should strive to be more authentic on stage Resources: Michel's Website Momondays.com Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/the-power-of-purposeful-storytelling-sl087/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey it's James Taylor. And I'm delighted today to have Michel Neray here for our international speakers summit. Michel is a global speaker, trainer and consultant he's helped thousands of individuals craft and perform more effective, purposeful stories to become more effective leaders, salespeople, coaches, teachers, trainers, speakers, and influences of all types. He also uses purposeful storytelling to more effectively differentiate position and brand organizations in the market. He is the founder of Mo Mondays, which is a monthly variety show that combines live music, comedy and inspirational storytelling. And you'll now find Mondays in 14 cities across North America. And then when not speaking on stages, chances are you'll find him maybe snowboarding down some slopes or canoeing down some rapids. So it's my great pleasure to welcome Michel today. So welcome. Michel Neray Hi, James. Happy to be here. James Taylor So share with us what's happening in your world just now with what's going on. Michel Neray Oh my god, it's beautiful. The weather is warming up and it's hot. And I'm getting calls all over the place. So that's good. And it's great. And we're starting a new venue at mo Mondays right here in my hometown. And I'm excited about that. We've got some awesome speakers and stories lined up and yeah, good, good snowball real momentum. James Taylor How did you get into this well to speaking with it all begin from get begin for you. Michel Neray Oh, gee, okay, well, that's taken me back a long, long way. So let's just say that I used to have an ad agency, my agency and me particularly, we had a lot of high tech clients. This is we're going back a long time back in the 90s. Early 90s, I'm I founded and launched a website that was the world's first first of its kind, kind of like Google, but but focused on creative professionals, people in the advertising world. And as part of that, I got asked to speak at a lot of conferences, international conferences. In fact, I became kind of like the evangelist for the company. And I would go touring, graphic design and art schools around North America. And I would talk to associations and this is just all part of because you know, people we go we're going back a long ways here. I remember being in boardrooms convincing members of the board, that the internet and the web was not a flash in the pan. This was here to say so, okay, we're going back a long time. But anyway, as part of this, I get feedback, say, you know, Michelle, your your talks, your keynotes, your presentations, they're very, they're very motivational. And, and I was insulted. What, me a motivational speaker, no, I have serious content. But I kept on getting this feedback to the point where I started looking at it and and saying, well, maybe there is something to what I do and how I do that is different than your average, you know, technology presenter or your marketing presenter. Because basically, I was teaching people how to use the internet, how to harness it for real customer service and marketing and all kinds of things rather than just do a brochure where we're going back a long time. James Taylor Anyway, do you remember what that first experience was? where you were, obviously, that in the early days, you were kind of speaking as a ways of evangelizing about your company and and what was happening with you know, the technology but you remember that time when you you got that first like speaking game, they were booking you and it was your It was your fee? They were they were they were giving you a fee for this? Can you remember what that that time was and what that felt like? Michel Neray Oh, my God, well, um, you know that that happened gradually. I don't remember. But I do remember a time when I was presenting for the company, as the company evangelist, so they weren't they were paying the company that we're trading certain we're doing services for them. And I was on stage And I realize and oh my god, and it was a mistake. It was it was my calendar popped up. I don't use PowerPoint anymore. But it was back in the days when I was using PowerPoint, my computer and my my calendar pop up said, you know, remember to take my son to karate you know that. And of course, the whole audience saw this. And it was a big laugh, but I rolled with it. And I and I had them as totally engaging. And that was the, that was the moment, I realized, you know what, I know what I'm doing. I'm good at this. They like me, they like my content. I'm entertaining them, at the same time that I'm giving them stuff that they could really take back to their homes and their studios and their offices and use it. And I just, I just felt Okay, I got this. That was a that was a good feeling. James Taylor So you'll know and now really as as the kind of the storytelling guy that's gonna purposeful storytelling. You speak about this? Obviously train, you can consult on this as well. When it comes to two speakers specifically, how can storytelling really come? How can storytelling really work not just for them necessarily being on stage or time in terms of how they think about their brand overall. Michel Neray So that's a key thing. So don't forget, when I started, before, I really focused on storytelling. I was known as the you know, Chief differentiation officer, my focus, even in my advertising days, my focus was how do I help my clients stand out be different differentiate themselves in the market. And what I found was that if you dig deep enough, even for larger companies, but if you dig deep enough, at the end, you always find a story, or four or five. And so over time, I started shifting my own focus from the differentiation kind of doorway to get in to the storytelling doorway to get in in the door. What What happened, what interests people, but what really, what really cemented that for me show it showed me personally how important that was, was this time, I was hired by a national real estate company in the US to present at their national conference in New Orleans. And, and I was doing my talk and and and the reason why they hired me was because my focus was differentiation. Who needs it more than real estate agents who on the surface, do and say what they do the same as everybody else. So they were looking to give their real estate agents, some help in differentiating themselves. And by the way, the same holds true for lawyers, accountants, consultants, coaches and speakers for that matter. The list goes on and on. We all a lot of us. Pretty much all of us. on the site, if we just show our business card and and the title of what we do. It's basically the same as everybody else in our field. So that's what I was being hired to do. Now, I showed them strategies on differentiation. I showed them what the large brands do. We show them some old TV commercials, we had a big laugh, I asked them what the key message was of those commercials. But my premise was, so my ulterior motive was. And this is kind of like the repeatable phrase that I use what makes you different as a person, what is what makes you different and better in your business, your career, your life? You're not other words, again, it comes back to at the heart. There's that personal story. That is the reason why in the how you do what you do that sets you apart in the market. And as part of that story, I shared a story about my mother, my mother went through the Holocaust. She spent the year in Auschwitz, I shared some of the stories that she shared with me and how that affected me as a child growing up. So basically, I grew up. You know, in Montreal, I was a little French Jewish kid. My mother was French. I was a little French Jewish kid in an English Protestant school in a French Catholic province. Basically, that's who I was. And it didn't matter what group of kids I hung out with. I was always the odd kid out even amongst my Jewish friends. It said what? Because my father is Persian. She goes like, like you You know, it didn't matter which group of kids I hung out with, like, what, where you come from. But I shared so I shared that I shared how the experience of my mother influenced me and my father influenced me as a child and how, and how I, kind of in hindsight, I connected the dots to my expertise in differentiation. James Taylor So I'm guessing when giving that story was a beacon personal story to your family, a big conference, a big national conference, a lot of speakers will be very, you know, worried about doing that. Well, that's, that's too personal as to, you know, to me, you know, how does that relate? So, what do you say to those people that can say to you Well, you know, have that criticisms, it? Well, why did you share that story? Is that not too personal or something you want to keep tucked away? Rather than like telling people? Michel Neray Well, absolutely, and I, and I felt the same way. I it took me, it took me a year, many years, 10 years of 10 years of being a professional speaker, before I myself had the courage to share that story. And I started sharing it, because, I mean, we're, we're, we're, I started sharing that story, because I was invited to speak at a conference for immigrants. And, and on personal branding again. And, you know, about a week before the conference, I turned to my wife, I said, You know, I, I, I don't know what I'm, I don't know, if I, I don't understand really what their problems are, I don't know, I, you know, like, does the personal branding stuff, the the basic, or the stat, the corporate strategies that I have to offer? Do I understand what they really need? You know, here I am, I'm white, I speak English. I have the full weight of white privilege on my shoulders, you know, like, do and she said, Michelle, share the story of your parents coming to this country. And I did and it and oh, my God, the room change because they can see that, you know, at the core. We're all human. Yeah, but let me let me go back to the New Orleans story. Because here's where it gets interesting. I shared that story. And yeah, everybody was moved, it had exactly the impact and the effect that I wanted it to. But it wasn't until a year later that I realized to how big an impact it was. So a year later, I was invited to speak at a workshop this time, not a keynote, a workshop for speakers on differentiation and branding. And we're just about to start the workshop. And the doors burst open, like probably the last person to get into the workshop. And he runs up to me as I'm preparing all my stuff. And he said, Michel, remember me? And I said, help me. And he said, I was in the audience last year in New Orleans. And you shared the story about your mother. And I thought, Oh, yeah. And it hit me is that he didn't say, I remember the corporate strategies you presented. He didn't say, I applied what you taught us. And my business went up by 550%. He said, I remember the story you shared about your mother. Wow. Wow. Oh, you asked about differentiation and memorability. That's what people remember. Now, since then, that's all been kind of supported and proven by neuroscience, which is still a new field, you know, in the last 15 years. But oh my god, you need any more proof than that? James Taylor Yeah, I can think now, as you're saying this, I can think about some of my favorite speakers I've seen on stage isn't someone that often isn't, it's going to be an unusual choice for a great speaker, I actually think he had a real power to him was a guy called Edward de Bono. And Edward de Bono would set up there, you know, he had this kind of Oxford dawn kind of profess Oriole type of vibe by him. And he was set up there with I think, was acetates. And he would draw these things and his speech was very slow and but as far away as you get from the Aurora motivational site, but as I think about that now, and that had an impact upon me as I think about that. Now, what do I remember? I remember a couple of stories that he said in there. I don't I don't really remember that. You know, the frameworks. I don't remember many of those other things. But those stories then that inhabit you know, that that were kind of the thing and I suppose this goes all the great reasons Understand this as well, this this idea that you're assigned to just prove out something that all the great religions have kind of figured out parables or stories. That's what gets, especially in an oral tradition as we'll get past time and time again. So I'm interested when you kind of gave that. And I think this is, I think this will resonate with a lot of our folks that are on the summit just now. We I think we probably all have that story, that one story, at least one story, probably a lot more. So. But that one story, where you think, should I tell it? You know, should I should I use this? Because it's kind of personal. But at the same time, there's that there's a big teachable thing in that and it relates the thing I do, what would you say? Is there anywhere? Is there any point you would say? Actually, no, you really want to tell that, that that that kind of personal story, you know, or if you just say, Well, you know, the context when you shoot ocean? Michel Neray So the answer is yes. But not Yes, there are times when you shouldn't Sure, and but it may not be what you're thinking of. Because I do this all the time. Now, I have a really keen sense on when someone is ready to tell their story. So have they fully processed it? Have you fully processed your story? Have you come out the other end? and derive the lesson, the insight, the purpose of it? Can you tie it back to your content? Does it make sense within the context of your of your talk, and what I find is that when you can do all of those things that you can actually use your story in a multiple of different ways to make it make sense for the audience for your topic. And for your purpose, what you were hired to do. You know, I'll give you two very quick stories now. And I'd love to tell you a little bit about the neuroscience behind those because I've been studying this now, for for five, six years. It's incredible. But I'll tell you, so I shared that story about my growing up, and what impact it had on me. And link, you know, connecting the dots as an adult to what I what I learned as a child what how my worldview got framed, to what I do today, what I do especially Well, today, you know, what, perhaps, is my my differentiation as a speaker. And I share that, how I connected those dots, I share that in rooms full of CEOs, I share that in all kinds of rooms, I share that. I've shared that in workshops with event planners, and the penny drops for them at some point, the penny drops for them about why I do my job, my role, whatever it is the way I do it. They all walk out of the room with a with a with a sense of why I do how I do what I do. I know that sounds like a mouthful, but it's why I do how I do what I do. You know why I do my CEO role the way I do it, that sets me apart from other CEOs. And it helps me be a better leader about what's important. What I'm looking for from the people who who report to me while I work with my team members doesn't matter whether it's rooms will CEOs or event planners doesn't matter. It's It's It's how it's I get to know my strengths better in a palpable way that I could then lead my team better. James Taylor So that you mentioned the neuroscience part, you're in that you're in that room, you tell that story in New Orleans, that ripples on the other person that has impact upon them that ripples on to other other people as well. What's going on in that very first instant in terms of that in terms of the brain, you mentioned that can the neuroscience, you know, often speakers, we can get up on stage, we do our thing, hopefully it transforms people in the room, you make it you make an impact in that way as well. But some of its and I this is similar to hear music as well, a lot of music as I work with, they kind of don't want to know exactly how that stuff works. They just know it has an impact. Whereas other speakers, and musicians really want to know. And it's great book, how the I think it's the brain on music or how it works with David Byrne. We just said okay, this is actually what's going on the brain when music happens when you experience music. So what's going on in the brain of that audience member when you're you're telling that story? Why Why does it reverberate in that way. Michel Neray So to understand that we have to go back to a few theories about evolution of human beings. So there are some neuroscientists and sociologists, and anthropologists who believe many who believe now, kind of like commonly accepted now, that storytelling is, is one of the key things that allowed us to get to the top of the food chain. Because all of a sudden, we did not have to have a direct experience of being confronted with a tiger or a lion, or whatever it is, we didn't have to have a direct experience of a cause and, and result for survival in order to learn that lesson. So somehow, our physiology kind of evolved to favor those lessons. So I could learn about what to do or not to do, because ultimately we go we go, we even we go to see movies, we read books, to learn how the the main character transformed, so that we can gain from it even if it's a real, unconscious thing that we do. It's a subliminal thing we do. But we want to learn what they learned so that we can apply it to our lives. That's why we do these things. So we evolved that way. And our physiology has evolved that way to make us crave stories, we we need it literally we need it. The oxytocin, that hormone, you know, the love drug, the thing that that create that comes from empathy, and trust, and all of those good things, by the way, all of those good things that we'd like to have a, during a speech, and be during a sales presentation. Those things get fired when we hear a story, a character based story. So, oxytocin, especially and, you know, these, these are things that make us feel good, that make us naturally try the same, you know, the same things that happen when we met when we kiss or hug. Mm hmm. James Taylor And as a speaker, because obviously, I know your you have your background, you also have this background and your Linguistic Programming as well. So you can you come at it from that perspective. In that position of you being up on that stage telling that story. I guess some people would want to use that were with the as they take their story arc in their speech, as they're up at a certain point. You know, in NLP, I think it's called anchoring without, you know, look to anchor that sensation, anchor that feelings, and then you repeat it. So you kind of weaving in that the NLP training that you've had within your role as a speaker? Or do you see them as quite as quite separate things? Michel Neray Oh, no, they're, they're everything. Oh, they go together so perfectly. Uh, let me say that, Oh, my God, this is one of the things that I teach in my workshops, we talk and if you list so, the thing to know about this, is that in every story, there are actually two storylines, at least, but two main storylines, and I call it the outside story, or the inside and the inside story. And you need to be aware of both of them. So the outside story, and every every story movie book, every story is the same. The outside story is the external circumstances of the story itself. So you know, what happens in the town who interacts with who, you know, where I buy my weapon of choice, and you know, who I plot with? And, and is it going to happen? And then my, you know, in the basement, and are the police aware of this or they fought you know, or whatever it is, okay. That's the external story, the outside story. And I didn't make that I thought I made this up. I thought, I thought, I thought oh, my God, this is brilliant. And I'm talking to some real I interviews a real script writers for for Hollywood. So yeah, we call that the inside story. Anyway, so the inside story is what happens to the character, the track the internal tense transformation of the character. And here we find all those common universal themes that we all relate to. So when I teach my groups, how to be different and universal at the same time, it's because of these two themes. These two external in or outside story and internal source. So the internal stories, what character flaw is keeping the back from What do I want to achieve? What are the skepticisms that I have? What are the fears that I have going forward, which, by the way, in a sales situation, are the same fears and skepticisms that have buyers or potential buyers, from getting over that hump? to actually buy, we need to know what those are, if we could share a story in which we ourselves experience those skepticisms fears, we have 80% of the audience saying, Oh, my God, that speaker understands that speaker is reading my mind. This is scary. James Taylor And I mean, you I know you've spoken. I mean, you've spoken in Israel, and you've spoken in Iran, two places you think very different, you know, different kind of worldviews as well. So how does that relate when you're when you're thinking about the internal story and the external story? Well, there's two different audience isn't the same thing. But you're just ensuring that there's universalities, in both internal and external. Michel Neray So I'll tell you, I have a belief, and the belief is that at our core, everyone around the world, we're human. I know that sounds remarkable, right? But we're human, we have the same fears and concerns as everybody else. So those universal themes are called universal themes for a reason. Now, there are cultural differences. There are ways we package it that we need to be sensitive to for sure. But at the core, they are we have the same fears, fears of acceptance, fears of insecurity, fears of Am I good enough, you're getting the imposter syndrome fears, you know, fears of I've seen, you know, in a sales situation before Yeah, yeah, yeah. People have told me all those things before I even people have asked me for money or whatever, or whatever currency that you want. You know, why is it different this time? Why should I do a leap of faith? Why should I believe this person? Not, you know, James Taylor so these are, these are very, like, when I think here of, you know, great filmmakers. And as you're mentioning some of these things, I think, you know, you know, and I, I do this on my keynotes when I'm sitting if I'm working on new keynote, and I send craft out. And I think about very much like, you know, there's that I think, as I booked the seven key plots, or the seven great plots, or something like that, Michel Neray and yes, that's a book that took 35 years for him to write really, I don't agree with everything that he says, but we'll get into James Taylor which is a great I actually, I use the the, you know, the the, the journey, the hero's journey, baby, common one and last speaker is going to use that, you know, the approaching the cave, there's all those kind of things as well. And you see a lot of filmmakers I work every time I'm watching movie, I'm always kind of in my head thinking, wonder which one of those plots and you can you can see it happening Time, time and time again. So when you're kind of going into crafting, because we're moving now away from the, the neuroscience part and the and the psychological part of it to actually the craft, the craftsmanship, or being a great speaker? How much are you going to going in there kind of plotting out like it like you're like a filmmaker, a TV maker plus story, or using other types of tools and other ways to kind of plot things out? Michel Neray So I'll tell you what I do and what I teach people in my workshops. I think it's very dangerous. To jump too quickly to plotting it out strategically. You really have to understand your own journey first. And a lot of speakers don't take enough time understanding that they want to you know that old adage, about it's not about you, it's about the audience. Well, that is the biggest piece of bad advice I've ever heard. I mean, we know of course, it's about the audience. But it's only about the audience, if it's about you first. And if you can understand what that universal theme is that you yourself experienced, I guarantee you, you, there's only a minimal amount of shaping that you have to do after that. James Taylor And if that's very similar, one of the other summit guests we have is Frederick Heron. And he talks about that law, that idea of kind of sitting before you initially going and going and starting sketching things out, sitting a lot longer when he talks about his theme and you talk about some of these kind of universal themes, sitting with it. And he said once you once you connect with that thing, that theme, it you know, it doesn't quite write itself, but it's such a much cleaner, you know, more simplified, just feels a more natural process in terms of getting kind of getting out in the page or have you look to to kind of break out for your keynotes. Michel Neray Yeah, and when you think about it, there aren't that many universal themes. You know, we're talking about fears and skepticisms and roadblocks and hurdles and things that hold us back in life or, you know, you talk about the hero's journey, I, I like to think of something that I learned from Kurt Vonnegut, Jr, one of my favorite authors, he talks about the man in the hole. You know, life is going great. Oh, he fell into a hole. Oh, my God. Now, how is he going to get out of it? Oh, he got out of it. Great. What's different? What did they learn about themselves, as what they need to learn about themselves to get out of the hole doesn't have to be about a man doesn't have to be about a hole. But that idea is, I think, inherent in every story, in every story, and even in all of the other six themes that you that in the in the sort of the seven, the seven types of stories, they're all that that that is a constant. James Taylor So one of the things that man falls in the hole, humor, yeah. So that that's an opportunity for humans. So when when I know when in your trainings and workshops, you talk a lot about the role of humor. And with Mondays, it's, it's a marriage of humor and as an as an inspirational speaker. So talking about what was your take in terms of the role of humor for speakers how, you know, Michel Neray humor, first, physiologically, let's just do this. And this maps back to neuroscience, and NLP and all of those other wonderful things. But just laughing, makes people feel good about themselves. And if they feel good about themselves, they'll feel good about you that builds rapport. If you're able to poke fun, preferably at yourself, not not at the art, but just that humor allows you to broach sensitive subjects. Humor allowed, but but way more than that way my humor provides that entertainment. Even right, we talk about movies and scripts, or even the darkest drama has moments of humor. Yeah, you can't take your audience down the path of a pit and just leave them there. They need literally what's called comic relief. Yeah, they and but humor goes beyond that. Humor humor signals to the audit. Remember, you asked me? Are there times that I would not share a story? Well, yeah, if you can't see the humor in your own story, I'll back guarantee. I was about to say bettan guaranteed marriage together Well, that didn't work. But I was I can guarantee I can guarantee that you're not past your own story. James Taylor You haven't, you haven't come through the other end in order to come through Michel Neray the other end. And so being able to do that signals to the audience, that you're past it so it decreases the burden that they have in watching you and listening to you said oh my god, they're, this feels awful. And this, this, you know, that I, I under You know what, leave, don't leave them there. Let them let them know that it's going to be okay. And and if you lighten it up at the beginning of the story, before you take them down this deep dark hole, it tells them that the ending is going to be okay. There's something for me to learn so James Taylor to this so what about if you know your viewers listeners just now then maybe speaking, coming into the world of speaking something to do the first speaking gig, maybe they'll be speaking for a while. And humor just isn't isn't a part. I mean, I know for myself, I can go into speaking and speaking with my wife, one point said is that we should not don't put jokes because I'm actually not a fan of jokes. But But in that in speeches, but she said you just need to have this needs to be a lightness, more of a lightness, more of a humor. And so I kind of worked on on some on some things on that. So for someone that's listening or watching to this just now, how can they start? If they've got a pre dry talk at the moment? How can they start to add that kind of salt and pepper that spice in there with with humor? Michel Neray Well, it It sounds simple. It's not easy. It? I'll just say that. Unless you're a professional humor writer. We tend to think that Oh, I'm not funny. I don't know how to write jokes, or I may have I mean, I don't know how to tell jokes. And I will challenge everyone who says that. And the challenge is really simple. Have you heard something today? That made you laugh? Smile or grin? Yes, absolutely. Yeah. Okay, so good. We know you have a sense of humor. Thank you. You know, you know what you find funny? Cool. That's a start. Now, have you said something in the last 24 hours that made somebody else smile? grin or laugh? Yes, absolutely. Oh, really? Well, James, we're on a good, we're on a roll here. I mean, oh, no laughing is not allowed. You're not allowed. So this is what I'm talking about. We're not talking like, first tap into your own sense of humor. Note start to become more aware of when you laugh, because of what somebody else said. Or when you make somebody else laugh because something you said, Make a note of when like, and this takes a lot of practice, because you need to be present to your talk on stage, you need to be here a lot. You know, a lot of beginning speakers, they don't have that presence, that confidence on stage, but you get there and start to listen for the audience reaction. And when they laugh. Oh, what did I just say there? Maybe I could try it again. And to actually say it deliberately? Or have you pulled up what I call cultivated humor mindset? Yes, it requires you to be a little bit irreverent, and maybe stick your foot in your mouth every once in a while, but it's worth the risk. You'll learn to ride that edge. Very carefully, you'll learn to ride that edge. But you have to develop a little bit more confident in going there. James Taylor Yeah, I think I think that was for me, that was a big, that was a big change where I got very comfortable with like, when the very first keynotes I worked on. And I was doing I remember doing this one particular keynote 10 times one particular month, or giving this keynote one time, and probably by the time by the sixth time. And it was kind of there wasn't really any kind of humor or anything. And at that point, I kind of went, actually, I now feel comfortable enough in the material. And in terms of the things I kind of want to have the core the pillars of what I want to become. Now I want to start improvising. Now, when I start doing improv, I want to start taking things from the room. I want to those conversations that you have with people before you go up on stage. You know, are they taking those things, too, obviously topical stuff that happens as well. You mentioned that something that happened to you, I think it was where you're speaking and the calendar comes up. Invariably, you know us things will happen using it. And it's having that. And I see obviously great comedians, I see it with great entertainers of any of any sort and great speakers. They had their neck competent, and they're comfortable enough with the material that they're doing, that they they have that slightness suffered that agility, and maybe it's the best is the best word I can think of for it just now as well. And also with with no Michel Neray danger with with memorizing you rely on exactly what you're memorized. First of all, you'll write it probably poorly, because you'll write the way you read not the way you speak. So you have to make some adjustments. And so I show people how to do that. But yeah, you're absolutely right. James Taylor So one of the things I noticed when the very first we go on and on your website, when the very first things I noticed right at the top on the wire you see us I think it's US visa and European citizenship, right? Yes, I thought very, very clear. And that was interesting. I haven't seen too many speakers can do that. And really kind of point out like that. So told me what was the thinking behind that? Well, Michel Neray I like to travel. So I want to make it real clear to event planners and you know people in a position to book me for conferences, that it's not going to be a risk to bring the over. I want to lessen the risk for them. I'm available. That's where my mindset is. And, and, and and it's, yeah, you can book me with confidence, you're not going to be caught up with paperwork. So I think it's very, very important. Like it's, it's any kind of sale, you always want to lessen the risk for the purchaser to make it easy to buy. James Taylor Yeah, I always I always think of in my head, I'm thinking of that event planner. And I'm thinking the job is writing on putting a great event together because they have a boss who you know, and they have their customers. And they want that those people coming up saying, you know, James Taylor was a great choice. You know, Michelle Marais was a great choice that, you know, that's, that's, that's them and they can have that the idea of de risking is a very good thing in their book. So but you by having that, it just I mean, it's quite a small thing, but I think it's actually quite quite a powerful thing as well. Michel Neray Yeah, and it also shows that this is my I'm, I'm a world speaker. Yeah. You know, I don't speak in my local community, once a month. And that's it, you know, that's, this is my perspective. So yeah, and my James Taylor platform. So what can, as we kind of start to kind of round up here, let's talk about some things that that speakers can be doing now to, to really help them with that, that kind of storytelling that you were talking about there, and also really to be speaking more, more globally. And this event is all about speaking internationally speaking globally, taking your message out to all the far flung corners of the of the globe as well, what are some things that people can take away just now. Michel Neray So first of all, I would suggest, I mean, if you're not convinced, to incorporate more storytelling into your presentations, regardless of whether you're a trainer, facilitator, or keynote speaker, so a lot, a lot of times people think that oh, I need to pack my presentation, especially if they come from the training world, I need to pack my presentation with tons and tons of value in content. And I would challenge that, because they're not going to remember when they leave. So if you're not convinced yet, in the power of storytelling, not just any storytelling, but what I call purposeful storytelling, then you can skip this session. Hopefully, you understand that you want to get better at it. But people have a hard time. So stories, it's, it's become a big word. So I say scrap the word story, replace it with the word example. When you have a point, can you give me an example? Can you give me an example of how you came up with that? Can you give me an example of when you saw whatever that point is in action, in your own life, or maybe somebody else who's cool, it's just an example. I use that for testimonials. I use that for case studies. In the end, the structure of a proper case study is the same as a Hollywood movie. James Taylor And on that point on that, you know, this idea of exactly like de can, it's just like, okay, no big story thinking exactly. No examples, it just kind of, like kind of relax into a little bit more. I know that many speakers we've had on here. They're kind of professional story collectors, their antenna is always up for like, oh, like, Oh, that's I'm gonna write that one that, Oh, I'm gonna, you know, Evernote, I'm going to click that one. Oh, that's, you know, that they can have that their mind is always very alert potential stories that they could potentially integrate into keynotes or use one of the things. Michel Neray Yeah, and and so once you start getting into the habit of thinking example, rather than big story, you'll start, it doesn't have to be a big, huge, heavy story all the time. Yeah, it could be a quick exam, it could be a three second example, that really shares us that shares a bit of a story. It's fine. So exactly right. And once you started tuning your mind to example, you'll start to own that's an example of that. That's an example of that, and you'll become a story collector. Absolutely. So that's number one. Number two, is don't be afraid to, to show your vulnerability and authenticity. And I know those are big words that you hear them all the time. I'll just show you a quick story about this. One of the best speakers I've ever heard, and he's a friend of mine. And he came to me on Mondays. He speaks to rooms full of CEOs, like always about the seriousness of sales process, spoke at mo Mondays, and I challenged him I said, Adrian, share a story you've never shared before. And he he said, okay, and to his credit, he dug deep. And he shared a story about how we left home, when and left high school in his teens. First night sleeping under a stairwell, he said, You know, I was always afraid of sharing that story because it's it and then he fell in with the wrong crowd and had trouble making ends meet. But don't worry, there's a good ending, went back to school aced his class and making millions in sales and later, but after he shared that story at mo Monday's he started incorporating it into his professional engagements. And he said, Michelle, if there's one time during my entire keynote, where you can hear a pin drop. It's where I share that story. And I realized now that's the story that gives me the credibility for doing what I'm doing now. so incredibly powerful. So number two, you asked for number two. Yeah, don't be afraid to show your mistakes show where you learned your lesson. And the third thing I just want to live leave people with is not only the fourth thing would be put your, your sights on international and worldview. But the third thing is, is really elevate your your talk from a verbal performance to a whole body performance, forget, technique, forget, you know, gesture comment or gesture point, just forget all of that stuff. But just get into, forget that the audience is there. So forget anybody ever said, it's not about you, it's about the audience. Get into your own headspace. Learn who you are, learn, get in touch with your own state. And you will naturally elevate your performance to what I call a whole body performance. I'll leave it there. James Taylor And it's great. I mean, I think that's what we see some of the great stage act as opposed to film actors do as well, they then have it that that place that they're on. And I think one of the I, I saw it recently with, its with an actor, do something and he made that huge RAM is a big theater, he made it feel like it was just you and him in, you know, relaying this story, this this, this example. And he was doing it with this, not just with the speaking but as you said, with his physicality and and bigger movements, smaller movements in terms of placing and things as well, it was a real crafts, you know, there was a craft in that as well. But as you say, when you get started, just you know, try it and try things don't get overly kind of caught up in the, in the mind too much. Michel Neray Don't get caught up in technique. Yeah, just be aware of who you are, you know, some of the most powerful, for example. And then and then, you know, we can go on all day about this. But for example, we're taught to, you know, lock guys with it with the audience, and, you know, really engage the audience that way. But you know, what the most powerful moments is when I'm not looking at the audience, and I'm looking over here and the audience is engaged in what I'm doing right now. That's the most powerful, so we use them judiciously. Of course, that's where the craft come in, but first know what it feels like. James Taylor So just to finish up in my head, what's in your as you're heading out to your next speaking, speaking gig, what is in your speaker bag, what you carry with you is always with you, you make sure it's in that bag, so you can try it and test it things. Michel Neray Well, are you talking about physically or metaphorically, James Taylor physically, Michel Neray so well, physically as as little as possible? I don't use PowerPoint or Keynote, anything, any of the less technology, the better. I don't want to rely on any of those things I want, I want the audience to be focused on me not the screen that's at the back. Technology, no matter I don't even use, you know, at mo Mondays, we don't typically use even a wireless microphone because the battery batteries could go dead. You know, use a wired microphone, learn how to use it. It takes practice. But I so when you ask me what's in my kitbag as little as possible, I want to know who I'm speaking to. So this is where metaphorically what's in my kit bag. I really want to know who I'm speaking to. What are the key concerns that they have, especially the key concerns that they've never shared with anyone? The key concerns that don't show up in the pre questionnaire. That's what I want to know. James Taylor Well, Michelle has been an absolute pleasure. speaking today. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and knowledge about speaking. And also just tell you know, that those those stories, there's purposeful storytelling, great theme to to be covering today. And what's the best place for people to learn more about you to connect with you to find out where you're speaking? Maybe come see you speak soon as well. Michel Neray So first of all, thank you James, for asking, and thank you for this session. your your your you know what you're doing that you're awesome. Thank you. So what if people want to get in touch with me? There are two ways basically my website, and I've got two so my speaker website and for training, workshops, keynotes, of course, it's my last name.com and eray.com narroway.com. That's the easiest place and there's a Contact Us form list the keynotes and all kinds of stuff there. And if people are interested in more Monday's because kind of like the the personal expression of what I do. corporately, is mow Mondays and people might be interested in attending them on Mondays or seeing seeing if there's one in their neck of the woods or even hosting one of them. Their own. That's also easy. There went the website mo mondays.com mo mondays.com mo mondays.com. That's, that's it. That's the best place. James Taylor Wonderful. Take care and I look forward to seeing you speak on the stage and hopefully next time I'm in your neck of the woods I'll be I'll be coming into one of those more Mondays as well. Michel Neray Careful, I'll get you on stage. Thank you James. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

How To Run A Successful Speaking Business With Your Spouse James Taylor interviews Brenda Bence and they talked about How To Run A Successful Speaking Business With Your Spouse In today's episode Brenda Bence they talk about How To Run A Successful Speaking Business With Your Spouse. A Certified Global Speaking Professional (CSPGlobal), Brenda Bence speaks regularly at conferences, conventions, and corporate gatherings all around the globe. Presenting her eye-opening approach to the combination of leadership and branding, she helps audience members strengthen both their own self-leadership and leadership of others. With an MBA from Harvard Business School and 20 years of experience building mega brands for Fortune 100 companies, Brenda left the corporate world and founded Brand Development Associates International. Her husband, Daniel Jackman, joined the business five years after that. Today - 10 years later – BDA's client list contains dozens of the world's most recognizable corporations and spans six continents. How did they grow such a successful speaking business together – and still stay happily married? Brenda will share important steps that she and Daniel took to make sure that both their business and their marriage would not only survive - but thrive! What we cover: How To Run A Successful Speaking Business With Your Spouse The three most important questions to consider before you and your spouse decide to work together The pilot in command mindset The "Golden Rules" for balancing marriage and jointly running your speaking business Resources: Brenda's Website Brenda's Free Gift For You: Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/how-to-run-a-successful-speaking-business-with-your-spouse-sl086/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey there, it's James Taylor and I'm delighted to be joined by Brenda Bence, a certified global speaking professional CSP global Brenda bent speaks regularly at conferences, conventions and corporate gatherings all over the globe, presenting her eye opening approach to the combination of leadership and branding. She helped audiences and members strengthen both their own self leadership and leadership of others. With an MBA from Harvard Business School and 20 years of experience building mega brands for Fortune 100 companies. Brenda left the corporate world and founded brand development associates International. Her husband, Daniel, Jacqueline joined the business five years after that, today, 10 years later, bdaas client list contains dozens of the world's most recognizable corporations and spans of six continents. How did they grow such as successful speaking business together and still stay happily married, Brenda will share important steps that she and Daniel took to make sure that both their business and America would not only survive, but thrive. It's my great pleasure to have Brenda with us today. So welcome, Brenda. Brenda Bence Oh, thank you, James. It's just a pleasure to be as part of this. James Taylor So before we get out to share with everyone what's going on in your world, just now what book current projects have your focus? Yeah, Brenda Bence well, actually, you reach me here today in Thailand, I'm actually I love to write near water. That's my thing. So I'm writing my next book, and it will be coming out in January of 2018. Very excited about it. And so it's a perfect time to just be by the water and right. James Taylor So that's what I'm doing. Beautiful. And how did you get into this world of speaking in the first place where it all began? For you? Brenda Bence Yeah, well, actually, I left the big corporate world after 20 years, as you mentioned, and I decided I really wanted to find a sweet spot between leadership and branding. And I wanted to be able to deliver that in a multitude of ways, both in executive coaching, as well as in professional speaking through books, etc. online courses. So really, it was kind of natural, then ultimately, I went and listen to someone talk about being a professional speaker. And I thought, Okay, let's do that. So, so I've started that. And it's really been that that simple. And it just took off from there. James Taylor And in those early days of just moving from the corporate world into the professional speaking world, who those early mentors or role models here, Brenda Bence you know, I was one of the things I always recommend to early professional speakers just starting out, get a coach. And I got a couple of coaches early on in my career. The first one was Sandra shrift sound, right? A wonderful woman out of California. And actually then also, I worked with Lou heckler wonderful man, fantastic speaker. And he really helped me shape my my business terms of speaking what I wanted to achieve, know how, what it meant to really be a professional speaker. So there's so many people James, you know, we're, we're always giving back to each other. This is such a wonderful community speakers are, we're always giving back to everybody else. So I did the same, you know, I always say pay it forward, because I felt so mentored and taken care of in my early part of my career. James Taylor And but before we came on, on this, we were discussing how we can make the topic of our conversation today. And we were talking about the importance of our partners and growing up helping grow our businesses and certain supporters. And, and this isn't something I don't really hear or see talked about so much at conventions or event. So I was really keen to talk about this, because we can do this with the summit, we can go on some of those areas that which aren't talked about so much. So when you you mentioned you can start the business and you got going for the first five years on your own. But then there came a point where you decided to bring your spouse side to kind of come into the business together. Tourism, what were those conversations around that time when you were thinking about possibly coming together and working on the business together? Brenda Bence Well, Daniel, my husband, Daniel Jackman was actually CFO of a regional company. He had quite a big job and a 500 person organization. So I was really trying to run the business by myself. And I had a small team of people we were doing fine. But the incremental growth was just that incremental those first five years. It wasn't the kind of growth that I felt we could have. And I realized that I was the bottleneck, James, because I was the one right I was trying to manage all the people working with me finance, accounting and all the various people I suddenly realized all that time that I was spending doing that, which is not that I didn't enjoy it, but it's just I'd rather be on the mic. I could be on the mic or working with clients or connecting, I realized I was the bottleneck. So I was talking to Daniel about it. And I just said, I know that I'm the bottleneck here. And what I really neat, what we really need is a good general manager to help with this business. And that's when the conversation started, because I realized I was married to him. James Taylor So what were those, what were those kind of if someone is listening just now and just for transparency, my wife and I, we we've built our business together since 2001. So So we've kind of gone through that, and and, you know, sent to yourself as well. But if anyone just now this thinking about bringing the husband wife partnering with his significant other and kind of building the business together, what are the questions that they should be asking of themselves to know whether it's a good fit for them? Brenda Bence Well, it's a great question, James. And in many ways, I wish that we had been asked those questions early on to I think this is learning by fire sometimes, you know, people say you work with your husband, how does that work? You know, but here's the point there, I think there's three key questions you really want to think about before you decide to work together. The first one is, what do you want? What do you want to achieve? Really, like? What's the intention of running the business together? Because it's not like a nine to five job working together in this business. It's a lifestyle choice. And so I always ask people, if you're struggling to manage two careers, is it that you're managing vacation schedules gets too complicated? Or is it you want freedom to spend more time with your kids, that is not our situation, we don't have children. But the first two were very real, we did struggle to manage two careers, it's very difficult to find the time off, when one person is busy in one job, then suddenly they move the other person available. And it just was very challenging. And of course, for our situation, the intention was to marriage to marry the talents that we both brought, for which we realize were quite synergistic. So and we need it simply the business needed a good general manager, someone who could manage the put Daniel, post the back office while I did the front office, and it worked really well. So you have to ask yourself, what do you want to achieve? What's the intention? I think that's the first question. The second question, I would say is, are you as compatible in the workplace as you are at home? It's a very important question. You know, the reasons why you fall in love with someone James, and you know, this, and then you marry them may not be the same characteristics you want in a partner in business. So you really have to think about that. And is there a generally good mix of skills between the two of you? If so, fantastic. But if you like to do the same things, well, how's that going to work out? If you both like to do marketing and branding? Well, then who's gonna be doing the finance and accounting? Right? So I think for Daniel night really worked well, because he's finance accounting administration operations, it it's good at that. I'm branding, I'm strategy, I'm marketing, I'm client relationships, product development, it was a beautiful mix, it was a very, very nice mix. But I really don't think it's always right for every couple. So you have to really look at yourself and say, What do we bring? What do we both bring? And are we as compatible in the workplace as we are at home? And then the third question I would ask is, can you manage the risk, you know, especially if your other if your spouse is working at another job already, and he or she is thinking about leaving that job to join you and your speaking business, that means you're doing two things. One, you're putting both of your career eggs in one basket, right in your one business, but also financially, you know, when you're not on the mic, as a speaker, you don't earn income? Well, unless, of course, you have a thriving online business selling associated products and books. But usually, most speakers don't make enough from that to have a full time as a full time job speaking really needs to be your full time job. And when you drop your spouse's immediate salary, can you justify that? You know, can you justify that? So that's a really important question to look at both financially and from a career standpoint, James Taylor you went through that transition of kind of going from working big business big corporates, to to small kind of just building it gradually. And then obviously, Daniel went through that same thing of like, 500 person business into being small. So I've always had an interest in the, you know, the psychological side of that, because that's, that's a big trends, regardless of whether someone moves, it makes me lose a job. That's a transition, but going from, you know, working in those larger organizations to being as much small and building it yourself. That that's the challenge. What was what was in your head and how did you cope with that? How did Daniel cope with that? Brenda Bence Well, that's a great question. You know, you have two were both MBAs. You have two MBAs. Yeah. Running, but we're used to being top dogs in two big businesses. And suddenly, we're in, you know, the room together, how do we manage this? Right? So I'm not gonna lie, it wasn't easy. And I'll share with you some, some hints and tips and some very key things we did once we started working together. But you do have to ask those questions up front, too. You know, Daniel, you know, his, I'm very blessed, he doesn't need to be out in front. He doesn't like to actually be on stage that much, although he does a fine job when he is. But he doesn't really like that. And obviously, that's where my sweet spot is. So that works together well, but we had to have those conversations. And for us, honestly, it just became, it made so much sense, it made sense financially, it made sense from a business perspective. And we just had to recognize that the vision for the business was going to be big, and we have to kind of hang our hat on that and get comfortable that it wasn't going to be a lot of ego up front. And that we were running this business together as partners. And ultimately, it worked out fine. It wasn't easy. I'm not gonna lie. I think at the beginning, it's a bit challenging. And there were some real how tos that we picked up on once we did decide to work together. And we'll James Taylor go through some of those hatches. Just as you're seeing this, there's so many parallels. I know, when I started, my wife and I started our business together. You know, we actually we did a little bit of exercise, we, there was a great company that could incite, who do kind of personality testing and all those, you know, they do all the personality tests. And we actually went to one together because we wanted to make sure because we knew as a couple, we were very well you know, match and everything. But as you say, in business that doesn't always know translate. So we actually went through these, these kind of personality assessments test to look at our different strengths and weaknesses and things. And we were we were pretty fortunate and that we can recognize my I'm most similar to you on being on stage in that way. And speaking and marketing and selling I level that brand branding, whereas my wife, Allison, she is well she's actually adjusting its trade. So she's very used to being on stages in that context. But actually, she's also an attorney, a lawyer. So she is amazing detail or which I hate. So she's so we kind of have that kind of blend. And she's a very good follow up detail type of person. And but even even with us, we also recognize that there was some gaps between both of our skill sets that we needed to fill in. And very early, we had to bring in additional kind of one person, then it became a bit of a team, just to plug those gaps that we just neither of us had, particularly because it was just you just don't have even between just two people, you just don't have those skills. Brenda Bence That's exactly right. No, there was a couple things we could we did similar to you, after about one year of working together. And you know, it was a tough, it was a challenging year, you know, again, we're both going through massive transition, we decided to do take a step further than what you mentioned, we actually hired a coach. You know, I'm a coach, too. So I know the benefits of having a coach. Yeah. And so we decided, let's bring in a coach. So we hired a coach had a beautiful one day off site, just the coach and myself and Daniel, it was a super smart action to take it was a big aha, I think for a lot of a lot of couples that we talked to who are saying they're thinking about doing this, when I say hire a coach, they're like, Ah, ha, ha, that's a good idea. But what that did was a lot of to do a number of things. One was to have an aligned vision. And that was really key. She asked us some powerful questions around what success looks like. And we did it separately, I had my idea of success. He had his idea of success. And what did each person how did each person See it? And then how do we see it together? And through that exercise, James, we had remarkably similar visions. And so whenever I talk to young couples or couples who are thinking about doing this, I'll say, what's your vision? Is that the same as your spouse's, so you need to have that conversation and that we did that. And then secondly, it changed what you just said, understand each other better. We also did individual style assessments with that coach, to help us better understand our work habits and behaviors, and just little things, you know, it's funny now, at the time, the things that used to drive us nuts about each other, now that we kind of go up, I get it, okay, it's fine. For example, Daniels very much a night owl. Well, I happen to be a really a morning person, like a really surfy happy morning person, one of those people that you hate to have around in the morning, probably. But by the time Daniel makes it to the office, in the morning, I've been there three to four hours, I'm ready to rock and roll, let's address some issues. Well, he just needs some coffee, you know, and I get that and similarly at night, when Daniel has all sorts of work to do things that he wants to talk about, because he's, you know, he's a late afternoon kind of guy, I'm tired. So we compromise and we talk about things in the late mornings and early afternoons. So you know, things like that you just have to learn each other's styles, what works and what paths James Taylor work that essentially I mean, I my top is on creativity and, and I speak a lot about like finding that those optimal times view from a creative sense. You know, when you're When you're at your peak there, and I'm just saying, I've never actually thought about that, in terms of, I know my time is probably more similar to yours. I'm more than morning I kind of have a morning thing and then I actually have a kind of nine 9pm till midnight thing and then afternoons I do my calls and do do the things which may be pushing me less in that way. Whereas Allison, is the opposite way. I like even more like do you like your husband like Daniel was and, and it's it's kind of finding those kind of crossover periods when you're, you're both on in that place. Brenda Bence And it's respecting each other, and us respecting each other's nothing's good, nothing's bad, nothing's right, nothing's wrong, it just is. And so you have to learn to expect that. And actually, it works fine. You know, it works fine. We kind of play tag team, when I'm tired at night, I hand it over, and he works on it the morning, I take it back over, so it works fine. So there's another thing that I think is really key that we kind of discovered during that coaching session together. And that was that you're in the business of speaking, you're not a speaker in business. To me, there's a big difference to them, we both really agree on that it is a business. So for us, you know, we are a business people first, and then I'm a speaker, and then he's a partner or whatever. So if you want to succeed, and let's face it, we're the product when we're speakers, the best speakers really understand that we are in the business of speaking. Now, the beauty of that was we had two business leaders that were in the business by two MBAs, you know, really well versed in business. I mean, what a tremendous asset, right? And we wanted to really leverage that to the max. And so our coach really helped us to think about how we could do that. And obviously, the answer is to divide and conquer James and play to your strengths. And think about what each person brings to the table. And I mentioned, Daniel is really good at finance, accounting, IT systems on marketing, branding, plant relationships, etc. And those synergies are fantastic. So how could we leverage them the best? Well, what we decided to do was pull together a system we call pilot in command. And you know, on any plane, you may or may not know this, but there's always two pilots at least. And there's always one that's called the pilot in command. What that means is, the pilots can discuss things back and forth. But ultimately, if there's a crisis, or something has to happen, there's one pilot in command. So what we decided to do is split the business up into the various parts, and each of us would be pilot in command for that particular part. So for example, if it's finance, accounting, contracting, Daniel's very good at legal as well, that type of the keys, pilot and command, another words, we'll discuss it, we'll have a conversation, and we usually agree, but if we can't or cannot ultimately agree, he is the pilot in command for that, and he will take the lead and just make that final decision. Likewise, if it's something related to me, product development, client relationships, marketing, or branding, we'll discuss it always discuss it. But ultimately, if we don't agree, then I will be the pilot in command for that particular topic. And that's how we decide to make decisions. And it works really well. It works really well. James Taylor That doesn't. That's that's an interesting subtlety there. Because, you know, you sometimes hear I've heard that that the analogy of the copilot used before, and I never kind of quite got it in that way. Because the way the way you've described because always felt like with a co pilot, well, there's always one person in charge. And then there was the copilot, there was like two co pilots in that way. So you mentioned that that phrase like pilot in command, that person has ultimately no command of that particular part of the of the business. That's, that's interesting, because that's because often when I think about pilots, I think about commercial pilots. actually don't think about like, for example, we had Rob Waldo Waldman, when your fellow speakers on the summit, and then they'll often have a lot at the front, maybe the pilot, and you'll have a navigator, you'll have a navigator and you'll have a weapon, for example, they they're different, completely different roles that they're fulfilling, but they know each of them who is in command of that thing. So that's for me, actually, what you've just said, there is a subtle batch of a powerful shift in my thinking, All Brenda Bence right, thanks. Yeah, no, it really is about that. Because we are co pilots. In fact, we have a wonderful photo of ourselves. Well, I think for our 15th wedding anniversary, we've got into a pilot's chairs, we sat side by side and took a great photo of us both being co pilots, right, both of us put their hand on the main, you know, the stick the driver, but but the point is, ultimately, when it comes to those decisions, we have to have one pilot in command for each of those areas. And that works great. James Taylor I'm interested in because you obviously, part of the role of being a speaker is you're traveling a lot you're you're going from this conference to this conference. And I'm wondering what kind of what ground rules Did you establish in the early early years as you were going to building what do you do now? So that you can still see each other frankly, cuz you know, I, you know, my wife, Jessie, and she's on the road a lot. And I'll be speaking as when we've, we've kind of worked out our own kind of way of doing it. So, so works for us. But what did you guys work out? Brenda Bence Yeah, well, one of the nice perks, obviously, of working with your spouse is that you actually get to travel together with the business we have where we travel extensively. And so normally, to be honest, normally I travel with an assistant, I always travel with an assistant, but sometimes if it works, he will travel with me. And we usually do it for around three things, there's three different types of situations where we'll have him travel with me, first, if it's a strategic business opportunity, maybe there'll be buyers in the back of a room, he can connect with them while I'm speaking. One of our clients just adores Daniel. And so every time they have me come back to speak at their annual conference, they always say, bring along Daniel bring along Daniel. So you know, he's, he's just really well loved. And so he helps keep that relationship going. So that's an example of when he travel. The other is think and benefit from cost savings, if some reason we decided to, maybe I'm speaking at a conference where it's more for visibility than incomes, give come along, because you can stay in the same hotel room and save money on that front. But then also he can make make some connections and that type of thing. And then thirdly, obviously, to add in a holiday, you know, we want to have some fun. And if it's a place to work, maybe Daniel hasn't been or we haven't been together. Last year, I spoken at a conference, a corporate gathering. And we've never been to the Taj Mahal, either one of us. I've been to India many times, but never the Taj. And so it was in Delhi as a speaking engagement, we said, dun, dun, let's go. So we actually got done, I got done speaking in the afternoon, went right, got up at two in the morning, drove to the three and a half hour drive to Taj and got a photo as with some companies at 530, right in front of cars with another single person near but there was an awesome experience. And that's the kind of thing let's face it, we're in this business for a reason, right? To have the flexibility to have fun to enjoy ourselves and our business together. So it was perfect. James Taylor So you start working together? What advice would you give to people who are now couples are now starting to build their business together to ensure not only the the they have, you know, successful in building their business together, but actually successful, ensuring that their marriage also thrives? Brenda Bence That's a really important question. James. Look, you know, one of the things we early on, we talked about with how do we separate business and personal lives, that's really important, because when you're running this business, let's face it, it's kind of a 24. Seven, situation with any entrepreneurship running a business, small business. So you have to come to an agreement when you will talk about business and when you won't, you know, some couples, you know, for driving to the we have two offices, one downtown one in a home, actually, we have one in our home. So do you drive to your office together? If so, is that work time? Or is that personal time? All right, getting clear on that as a one example, we, when we're working out of our home office, we have a very nice, fully equipped home office, it's on a separate floor from our living quarters. And our we have an assistant that works there with us. And she's actually so she'll have lunch with us every day, she actually asked us not to talk business at lunch. So that's a good reminder, you know, things like that, we have to just be really cautious about that. So finding the separation between business and personal. I think the way to help do that, too, is the second point I have here, James to share with you is give yourself space. You know, I've always said the secret to a successful marriage is separate bathrooms. I agree with you on that. Yeah. And the secret to success of our working together has been separate offices, separate working spaces, you know, some people can do it. We know a couple of very good couple, they've been working together for years, and they sit in the same room every day and work together. I admire that that's not us, we know ourselves and we prefer otherwise. So really thinking about that. So just as a couple of thoughts about how to make sure you really know when it's business and when it's personal, and how to separate in when necessary. James Taylor I mean, that is is so fundamental. I mean, we we actually have a home here in the UK that we have, we actually have a on our property, we have a separate office building, which I'm speaking from today. And we talk business in here. We do all our stuff there. But actually when we go over to the house, with exception we were talking about stuff in the living in the kitchen and having discussions there. We don't really we have quite quite a strong divide. And there's often I'll make a note of something I'll write it down and I'll bring it in when we're actually and and that's just true. You know that that works for us. But that's not to say that that works works for everyone, but I agree there's that there's that sense of ensuring that you have that space in your life. Otherwise, it could just completely absorb you and your marriage, your worksite. Brenda Bence What's so important is so so I think if you had thought that I have, it's not so much about, it's more about respecting and honoring the spouse and the role that the spouse play in this business. You know, one of the things some of the things we've also done, not just for business and for the marriage, but both of us get into mastermind together. speakers have a lot of masterminds speakers have a lot of conferences, we have even this one, right, international speaker summit, we have all these opportunities for self development. But we have to think about us as a pair us as a team, and how are we developing as a team in the business. So we have the mind, when other in the face of people who are similar, like they're working with relatives, working with spouses, that's really important to reach out and have that kind of support. Another thing I say is make sure your spouse is active in the industry to if if he or she wants to, for example, been very active in the industry. He's engaged in our local Asia Pacific Speakers Association. And in fact, funny, everybody is a member. But of course he's not. He's not the first. So he's been asked several times. And he's really good at it. People really enjoy learning a lot from how he manages the back office, but making sure your spouse is active issue. I think that's really key. It's not just about the speaker, that's, that's really fun. James Taylor Well, I mean, this has been so fascinating, just kind of hearing about the relation building your business with your partner, I want to kind of come on to maybe some of the some of the more mundane things. I spoke about travel a little bit earlier. But what is in your speaker bag, what is in that bag that you carry with you to all of your speaking engagements that you never leave home without, there's always packed in and pretty much always ready to go. Brenda Bence Well, I have a one day of 510 days to test ready to go. Okay, so they're ready to go as much as you know why spend all that time? I think so? Well, I think there's a few things. One that makes some people laugh is I always carry a pair of balls. And at the end of the day, I'm standing on your feet, I sit down and roll them underneath my feet look fantastic. It's like homemade foot massage. So I'm not going to take along, I also put along gym clothes, even if you open because you know what it is you open up there in the suitcase, she passes my gym clothes, that's a good reminder, I gotta get up, I've got to get out there and surfing, I've got to get out there, even walk around the block, whatever. And I'll carry super healthy snack to like vegan snack bars, things like that. I try not stare at you careful as I travel so much internationally. But getting caught with and I've gotten caught with an apple going into the United States forgot to get people on the plane and you gotta be careful, even like thrown in the slammer for that. Same with raisins and Australia caught one during Australia into Australia carrying razors they do not take kindly to that they have to be a little cautious. But I like to take my healthy food with me healthy food and a pair of golf balls. and simple. James Taylor But that's I know you and I were to discussion before about like obviously you'll fly in the day before two days before your your speaking engagement. And and and this is not the same for every speaker I speak to but in your case you don't like doing the the meet and greet thing of that often happens the evening before when everyone's kind of getting together. There's drinks with restaurant somewhere that drinks at a bar, you're not keen on that. Brenda Bence I don't I consider it part of my most important instrument is throat care, right? I've got to take care of my voice. That is if I don't have that I'm not earning a living so and now if I don't earn a living that means a lot of people in our company don't are living. So that's really a sense of responsibility I have so I don't join the night before now. I don't drink alcohol the night before. I don't like being loud rooms where you have to yell at some What a beautiful way to destroy your voice the night before speaking engagements. So cops are great about it. I tell them that if you want they want to know that I'm protecting their voice. They're very understanding if there's something night after I'm speaking, let's go out let's have some fun. And there's totally respectful of that. I've never had a problem with it. But I do I've done throughout the night before. Yeah, not turn up for drinks. James Taylor And you you also gave me a great tip which I've started doing now and one is what because whenever I travel, often if my wife's traveling with me She always has a humidifier. Brenda Bence For for the room, either the little small ones that you can get just insured depending on where you're traveling in the world. And I know you and I have spoken about you know the power and you told me a tip you said actually many hotels now we'll have them available and you can just call ahead and ask them to do have it in the room. And Paula had I asked for humidifier Now remember, I'm basing Singapore humid all the time or come to Thailand a lot with little place in Thailand. I'm in hot, humid environments all the time. So for me has humidifier in dry places I knew Denver or Seoul or places like that where it's really dry and winter time. Absolutely co-head, let them know you're welcome humidifier. Actually many hotels, you call up the shop, they'll have a huge amount of problem, letting them know that you need a certain level of humidity. It's good about that. Yeah, James Taylor I used to give me another great tip, which was something you do whenever you check into your hotel room, you basically empty the minibar or have it have the minibar empty before for you in the room. And you go out and you just go out to the liquor store somewhere, or have your system go out and you just stock it with fresh fruit, water, healthy stuff, basically. Brenda Bence I don't even dump it out myself. Usually I call in advance and ask them to have it empty by the time I show up. Because you know, you just come off with long flight that snicker bar looks awfully and do that, right? So no actually call in advance and ask them to clean out the menu bar. I show up and they're still there build they'll come right away and claim it out. Actually, it's not that unusual. I think most people must be doing it. Because when I ask usually they go right away. Okay, no problem, and they clear it out. So James Taylor what about any online resources or tools or apps you find useful for yourself as a speaker, as you're traveling all the time, you're out there marketing and selling and and supporting the many leaders that you work with as well in in business? Are there any online resources or tools apps that you find particularly useful? Do you Brenda Bence know not so much apps, I'm a big fan of Well, I do certain things like offer clones, which is like a scanning technology where I can scan receipts, for example, that I've taken and send them to the accountant right away, it gets taken care of, I can have my expense report ready. By the time I have little things like that I'm very helpful for office when I use a lot. I also am on TripAdvisor, I actually have about 120,000 readers on TripAdvisor. So I'm a lot of going in on that. It's a great way to find out the nearest x the restaurant, the nearest you know, hotel, whatever, that's kind of a nice thing to do. But the other thing that I do is actually I I like to do in exercises. So there's some great, not much app, YouTube videos on how to do real good and room exercises, without needing to have a lot of materials. You know, your use, you get real creative with what you have use your suitcase. It's up and down and do your there's a lot that you can do. And there's literally fun things out there like that. If you know, you know what it is like in the morning, your day have a big difference. You fake it and run into people looking horrible. In the mornings as she went to the gym. Let's face it, right? It's not exactly the image we have a bunch of hurt. So often I'll just do those in romex just grabbing you do with some fun, do some tricep gets on the bathtub, things like that. You'd be surprised what you do when you make shift with it. It's fun for or order trainer, a hotel to the personal trainer, she's going to work. You're working on your James Taylor next book just now as well. And and that's why sometimes if people know sometimes the signal get a little bit constrained and everything because to the power of the web we are you're in Thailand, today I'm speaking to you from Scotland, the Highlands of Scotland. So you sometimes have to kind of bear with these things. But I want to ask you a question about a book, what would what would be the one book that you would recommend to people to read out read and it could be related to speaking. Or it could be related maybe to your topic you speak out which is that the interconnection between branding and leadership? Brenda Bence Well, for stickers like that, I'll just say one of my latest books, called leading new and it's about the power of worship, and to lead ourselves effectively. That said, I have a, you know, an offer I want to offer to the speakers listening with this, that I have a book that I created called smarter brands without breaking the bank chains. And this is when I started out this business, I went from having big pockets millions of dollars to run the about literally a billion dollar business because that's what I did. I was in the corporate world, to suddenly, you know, not empty pockets, but I didn't want to spend all my hard earned cash and savings, building my business. So actually, when I took all those learnings that I've had from all these years, working with big businesses and building big brands, find them to individuals, myself, the leader, help other people do the same for smarter branding without breaking the bank. Super simple, pretty short. It's really packed full of information and all those great learnings How do you lie to ourselves as owners of small businesses? James Taylor I've got a final question for you, Brenda. Let's imagine you woke up tomorrow morning, and you had to start from scratch. So you have all the tools of your trade or the knowledge that you've acquired. You have thankfully, you have your husband with you, as well. So used to the deal to get there. But you know, no one, no one knows you, you have to restart. How would you restart? Brenda Bence First thing I would do is the first thing I did when I started this business, pick a lane, pick a lane. You know, as a speaker, too many people talk on the same topic. And it sounds like there's a lot of overlap. But it doesn't have to be that way. Pick a lane meaning find your positioning in the market that's unique to you and a specific need, both functional and emotional, that you can meet, and then get, just dive into it. You know, live it, breathe it, eat it, that is your specialty, that's your passion, love it and live it. And that kind of shine to clients get it. They sense it, they love it, too. And they'll follow and they'll hire you again and again. James Taylor Well, Brent has been an absolute pleasure speaking to you today. Thank you so much for coming on the summit and sharing your knowledge and your wisdom. It's really been fascinating, just having this this conversation today. And we're going to have all these links here. We'll have a link to your site as well. So we will be able to go on there and find out more about you and and your other products and programs you have obviously have your executive coaching that you do as well. But thank you so much. I'm gonna let you get away. continue writing on your book finish that book. I look forward to reading it when it's released. Brenda Bence Hey, thanks, thanks. It's a great time to talk with you today. I appreciate very much all the best. And James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

The Changing Role Of The Meeting Planner James Taylor interviews Jessie States and they talked about the changing role of the meeting planner. In today's episode Jessie States they talk about the changing role of the meeting planner. Jessie States, CMM, is the manager of professional development for Meeting Professionals International, where she delivers education in support of MPI's global live event portfolio. Jessie has been a part of the meeting and event community since 2006 when she joined MPI as a storyteller for The Meeting Professional magazine. Since then she has written hundreds of articles and blogs on meetings and events; penned six editions of the International Association of Venue Managers' Business Barometer; and served as primary editor for MPI's research initiatives on strategic meetings management, meeting design, business value of meetings and virtual and hybrid events. In 2017 she was named one of the 25 most influential people in meetings and events by Successful Meetings Magazine. What we cover: The Changing Role Of The Meeting Planner From event tactics to event strategy The rise of Flipped events Inside the mind of the event professional Resources: Resource MPI Planner Resources Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/the-changing-role-of-the-meeting-planner-sl085/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey, there is James Taylor, and I'm delighted today to be joined by Jessie States. Jessie States CMM is the manager of personal development for meeting professionals International, which delivers education in support of mpis Global live event portfolio. Jesse has been part of the meeting and event community since 2006, when she joined MPI as a storyteller for the meeting professional magazine. Since then, she has written hundreds of articles and blogs on meetings and events pinned six editions of the International Association of venue managers business barometer, and serve as primary editor of mpis research initiatives on things like strategic meetings, management, meeting design, business value of meetings, and verge on hybrid events. In 2007, she was named at one of the 25 Most Influential People in meetings and events by successful meetings magazine. It's my great pleasure to have Jesse join us today. So welcome, Jesse. Thank you so much. So share with everyone what's going on in your world just now. Jessie States Well, right now I'm gearing up for the CMP conclave, it's coming up in a few weeks in DC. I'm also working on some of our regional poi events planning to be a gbta in Frankfurt and putting together educational program for next year. Awesome. James Taylor So I mentioned at the start there, you kind of came into the meeting and events industry in about 2006. How did that all kind of began, just tell us that the early journey for you and interesting. I mean, who were those early mentors for you when you first got started? Jessie States Yeah, I think that I've always been a storyteller at heart. And so I took my degree in journalism, and was offered a job here at an industry magazine. And I was able to convert that love of storytelling into selling the stories of meetings and events, and the true behavior change and business drivers that they've become over the past decades, and really taking the opportunity to truly help businesses understand how important meetings are for creating new business for creating new growth for for growing organizations for changing behaviors within organizations. And I converted that as I moved throughout my career into the research initiatives. And again, making sure that those initiatives, not only academically were rigorous and valid, but also had that storytelling to them. So that it wasn't just a series of statistics and data, it was a story that we could share. And then I started to realize, through no fault of our own, but meeting professionals are just a little too busy to read 100 pages of research. So I took that same storytelling strategy and started to create education out of those research initiatives. Because while we can't always take a couple of hours to sit down and try to understand what research is telling us, we can sit and listen and discuss what that research means for the future of meetings. James Taylor So I'm interested as well, I mean, when you first started was Was there someone at MPI that was a key mentor for you. Was it maybe someone in the industry that can take you under their wing? Or did you just kind of have to like gonna build your own way into the business? Jessie States No, I think that there were there were several women who were important parts of my early and mid career, who I could definitely call out now Vicki Howerton, who went on to be the CEO of the venue managers Association, Cindy Diaz, who is now the head of CLIA, the cruise line Industry Association. There were many, many women here at MPI, who were mentors and who took me under their wing and really encouraged me to grow James Taylor in that. I'm just thinking now, I mean, I'm sure that in the course of your work, you're always meeting people are just coming into the industry for the first time. They're just getting started. You know, what's that maybe a key piece of advice that you give them, someone that's just just getting on that note that first year of themselves themselves in some point at some part of the events industry. Jessie States It's funny that you asked me that just earlier today, someone sent me an email and said, Hey, I was a homemaker for a long time. I'm now going back and getting my degree in marketing, and I'm really interested in readings, what should I do? And so I really love the opportunity and cherish the opportunity to to help people who are entering the industry, the The great thing is, is that it's the perfect time to enter meetings and events. The research shows that 30% of organizations are hiring full time employees right now. That's a huge number. US Bureau of Labor Statistics says that industry job growth is going to increase by 10%, between 2016 and 2026. So it's a great time to be in meetings. And absolutely, I think that one of the biggest pieces of advice is to get out there, be part of industry associations, go to networking events, go to educational professional development events, find a mentor, someone who's going to encourage you to grow, and just really put yourself out there, even if you're someone who's not comfortable in these types of situations, set goals for yourself. I'm not the easiest person at networking events, either. It's really, really hard for me to go to people, I don't know. But if I set goals for that networking event, if I know what I'm trying to accomplish while I'm there, if I've set objectives on how I'm going to do it, then I feel much more comfortable stepping out of myself and meeting new people. James Taylor So you mentioned you kind of started in the industry about 2006. I'm interested in, because you're right, you're dealing with people in the industry all the time. How is that? How is the role? I mean, we often will hear that phrase that your event planners, let's say, and I tend not to use it that that that phrase, so my event professionals is the one I tend to use because it's it's a broader category. But how has the role of what we maybe think of as an event planner, or event professional changed since you started to where we are, where we are today, and where perhaps we're going to be going in the future? I think Jessie States that's a pretty loaded? It's a pretty interesting question. Um, when you look at what happened to meetings, when the great recession hit, you look at the way organizations cut them as if it was something that was expendable, as if it was something that wasn't a business necessity. I think that that's when the role would our role in meetings truly started to see as a huge paradigm shift. Before that we had meeting professionals out there who understood the strategy behind meetings, who could articulate their value to organizations who could share how much ROI was being delivered by their meetings. But if we weren't able to, to conceptualize that, if we weren't able to communicate that to our senior leaders, that's where we truly ran into trouble. And that's why our own meetings outlook business barometer, right before the recession hit about six months before it hit, we started to see a huge cut in meetings and events that we couldn't articulate or understand. And about six months later, we realized it was because the recession was coming. And the first thing that businesses were cutting were their meetings and events. And so what we don't want to see is for that to happen again. But we don't want to see as for businesses not to understand the crucial role that meetings play in, in the strategy behind their businesses, and how meetings truly drive change, impact the bottom line, and positively, positively impact the business. And so the better we're able to articulate that as an industry and take our role away from what you described as the logistics of meeting planning and truly describe the value that we're bringing to businesses, we're going to be much better off the next time we had an economic cycle, I guess also applies in terms of in the world of politics and policy, public policy, because the thing I never realized until very recently was was that the events industry is bigger than the automobile industry. I mean, it's just I mean, it's a massive when you take all these different component parts of it as well, but always feels like, you know, there's some other great recession when that happened. You know, there's a lot of automobile companies getting bailed out for the different things. But it felt like the events industry maybe kind of got overlooked. It didn't seem to have a seat so much at the table at that point. Exactly. There was there, there wasn't any kind of a realization, any kind of research out there, really, that was showing the value that meetings but now, we do have research now you have studies now that show that businesses that didn't cut their meetings fared better than the competition that did we didn't have it at that point. So so it's I think it's it's very interesting way for us to look at the way we articulate our value to to these event owners to these business owners. James Taylor Now know one of the things that you and I both really passionate about, and really kind of interested in is how things like artificial intelligence are changing the events industry as well. Can you maybe talk now what you're saying, because because part of your role is really looking at the research and looking at where things are going to in order to help train, you know, meeting professionals to what's what's going to be coming up soon. So what are some of the things that you're starting to see, especially when it comes to AI, perhaps automation and robots I watched, Jessie States I watched a really interesting YouTube yesterday about a product that's just come out into the marketplace. It's an artificial intelligence personal assistant. And this personal assistant will schedule meetings for you. They'll reach out to the other person who you want to hold a meeting with. Find a common time put it into your calendar, if you need to cancel the meeting or reschedule this artificial intelligence service will go and reschedule find a new time where you both can meet sending emails back and forth to this other person. And I started and I've been thinking but but if this video Kind of illustrated what I've been thinking. And that is these logistical roles that meeting professionals do now the ordering of meals, the finding of venues and destinations, all of these things are something that in the near future are going to be very easy to automate, they're going to be very easy for our artificial intelligences to to calculate the different things that we use formulas for now to to book meeting rooms to to do some of the the the tactical elements that make up the meeting profession right now. And so what does that mean for meeting events, when and looking back at some of the industries that have been lost to automation in many ways, is that is that future meetings is the is the meeting profession as we know it going to be gone in 10 years. And if it is, if that is the case, that all of these things will be automated that AI and robots will be taking care of all of these things they'll be doing. But we have algorithms that calculate the perfect number of coffee cups, to put in a room based on your attendees. last 10 years of consumption. If all of that is true, then we need to have a completely different value proposition as an industry, we need to completely change the way we talk about what our roles are, what our jobs are. And the strategy behind what we do, we need to really be move ourselves from a logistical logistical job description to a consulting job description to one that talks about strategy. And and the words that we use as we articulate who we are and the value that we bring to the C suite. And to senior level managers, it's going to be really very important. James Taylor It's funny, I just as you were talking, saying that I'm reminded of the industry, I first came from the music industry where we first saw it where if we think about any kind of industry, where you have the kind of content and then you have the community, you know, around it, or the you know, the the networking side around it. And what we saw was that the content part kind of came back in term stuffing and the value because so much content was very freely available out there in different ways, watch YouTube videos, watch TED Talks. But the the community part actually went up. And if I look at now, live events are absolutely booming, like life festivals. Absolutely. So it's like, so even though we've seen this massive new technology and digitalization, actually the community aspect, and it has gone up, and I don't know how you feel, but I seem to I feel this as a speaker, where that it used to be it was like maybe 5050, it felt often like the the content and you know, the keynotes and the discussions and things. And then the other 50% was was the kind of community net, the networking, it feels, to me a long time where the networking part is actually become more important now, and I guess we're AI, you talk about that, those tools to be able to schedule meetings and find the right connections for you to have that that's going to really start to come into its own now. Jessie States Absolutely. And the reasons that people that people attend meetings, the reasons people come together, they spend money to come together that's changing. And in the past, it has been to to listen to the subject matter expert to hear the panel discussion, to sit back, and, and, and, and receive information. And that's just no longer the case. Actually, people attend meetings to meet each other, and they want to meet each other, they want to learn from each other. And they want to learn from subject matter experts. And they want to learn in their own context as well, because they curate their own educational experiences every day using technology. And when they come on site at a meeting, they have their own unique challenges that they want answered, and they won't get ROI. And they won't feel like they had a good conference unless those specific challenges are answered. So how are we connecting people together? technology is getting there. Technology is getting to the point where we're having Amazon type recommendations based on your profile of who should you should meet while you're on site at an event. But how are we as meeting professionals curating those experiences? How are we bringing people together in new and unique ways? How are we helping them engage by the ways that we design the experience itself? And so it's it's a paradigm shift? Again, it's a big shift in the reasons why people are coming on site to meetings events, if you think about it, our youngest generation one entering conferences right now ages 24. So that's, that's Gen Z already. They're coming. They're here already. They have huge communities, friends, huge community, industry communities, they've never even met in person before. So how powerful is that experience to really meet somebody face to face for the first time. And that's going to be the power of meetings moving forward. James Taylor I guess on that point. Think of it that that Gen Z that's coming through and the millennials, you could argue is that they've been that first generations that have been going through the flipped classrooms at school. So you know, the idea of like, I don't know, maybe you and I are at school, we we kind of go to that and you sit there in a lecture and someone would talk for an hour or 90 minutes or whatever, and then you would make notes and you get up and you go that's compelling. changed in schools, I, you know, all that stuff, you know, all that kind of pure kind of content like lecture style, they're getting online, so that they're actually the time that they are coming together is much more exploratory, much more creative, you could argue as well, because they really, they don't have to do all that stuff. It's, you know, it's there. I love that there's an expression where we're moving from the stage on the stage to the guide on the side. And so you're almost at Utah at the storytelling, like those kind of great event pressures, they're moving almost in that kind of storytelling curation role, rather than just being very logistics, you know, thinking about it. From that perspective, Jessie States I think a couple thoughts on that, we're seeing about half of meeting professionals saying that their audience sizes are going up right now they're going up by about 1%, about the same amount of meeting professionals saying that their virtual events are going up by about 2.5%. And we're finding that meeting professionals are being much more strategic about when they hold an on site Live Meeting. And when they have a virtual event, they're realizing that they can move some of that educational content, some of that hard content, the thing that doesn't require any interaction that can be moved online before an actual event, the very flipped classroom style that you're talking about. So that when people come on site, they are focused in on that personal experience on having conversations about that content on creating solutions around that content on on facing the challenges that they as a group face, and in creating opportunity out of that. So we're seeing a rise in open space, we're seeing a rise in in conferences without agendas. We're seeing a rise in democracies and all kinds of different ways sector grants, all kinds of different ways that people are engaging with each other, and these new kind of learner formats. James Taylor So it's always isn't that what you're talking about there is that, you know, the idea of the meeting professional is moving from being a tactician to being a strategist, that is going up too high. I mean, that's great. You know, if we think about where the future of jobs are going with, you know, ai speak on a lot where, over the next 20 years, 40% of jobs are just going to be gone. They're just being automated, and obviously new jobs will be created. But what that requires is that the people are working to invest in those kind of higher quality skills, like the creativity, innovation, for example, as well. So like, it sounds like the new event pressures, many of them are already kind of they get it they're there they can have they realized that having to rescale for that new new environment. Jessie States Absolutely. So what we're seeing is the rise in strategic conversations. So instead of being a one way conversation, the meeting professional as an order taker, the meeting professional as the consultant, okay, business unit, what are your goals for this particular meeting? And how can my design my strategic design the meeting itself, how can we drive your business? So really being the designer, the mean designer, and saying, okay, you're wanting to increase sales by this much. This is how we're going to just design experience that does that. James Taylor So I know, one of the things is a top of mind of a lot of people I've been speaking to recently has been the the safety and security aspects of events. I guess, and this is something that you're obviously doing a lot of research on, but you do a lot of training around this as well. Can you can you give me some of your thoughts on maybe someone that has, maybe they have their event there, they're running their event, but kind of the safety and security is, you know, they've kind of ticked the box to a certain extent, but they haven't really thought about it in a deep way and built some protocols and practices in there. Jessie States So half of meeting professionals don't have a safety insert security plan for their events. Wow, 50% of meeting professionals don't don't have a plan at all. A lot of many, many others have a plan, but it has to be dusted off the shelf every year, they don't realize that your safety and security plan needs to change it every single different event that they have, that every single destination comes with different risks, that every single event venue comes with different threats, that they're the very content of their event could change the security planning that they have. So analyzing your meetings and events, looking at the different risks that those events face, categorizing those risks in terms of what's communicable. What's an acceptable risk for us? How do we mitigate the risks that we do find access that we do find acceptable? And how do we create plans, with our venues with our destinations with local law enforcement with local emergency management, in order to create safe experiences for our attendees is absolutely something that we as an industry start need to start to have a conversation about. MPI has developed a six hour certificate class in discussing just that. It's the theory of safety and security and how you can apply that not just in terms of the risk that you're planning for but impromptu planning as well. What's that process look like? James Taylor I often wondered this when I see some event professionals Well, if I'm speaking at an event, we'll have some pre using our pre event conversations call we will touch on the safety security aspects and definitely when we're on the site, then we'll we'll go through those things as well. But you shared with me a really interesting kind of percentages as to, if something happens in a room, what people do, and this is going to just this is just like behavioral science really more than anything else. But you told me this, these numbers, I was really fascinated, and it got me thinking about as a speaker, especially if I'm that person, the lights on on the stage, what I need to perhaps do and the way I need to perhaps, you know, think and respond in situations. Jessie States So, this comes from a partner of ours, it's the NCS four group out of the University of Southern Mississippi, that's the national spectator sports Safety and Security Center. So they are they are mega events, they do the safety and security for marathons and, and Super Bowls. But they have, they have a number that they look at it, it's 10 at 10. So 10% of people are going to be very, very active in the case of an incident. In the case of something happening, safety and security wise 10 are going to be very, very active and trying to assure people out and get them to the right place. 80% of people are going to sit there and wait for you to tell them to do something. So if the fire alarm is going off, they're still sitting there, they're waiting for the keynote, the voice of God, whomever it is to come on and tell them what to do. And then you have an additional 10%, who are somewhat obstructionist, they're the ones who aren't getting up even after you've told them to. So James Taylor they're sitting there on their laptops, limited, everything's going on random. Yeah, that 10 at 10. That kind of blew, that blew me away. And and obviously, with the events recently in the news, it kind of got me thinking a lot more about it in terms of speakers as well, what we can do to ensure because if you are in a position where as a speaker, you're up on stage, and 80% of people are not going to do anything. That's a pretty mind blowing number that so thinking about what has to happen there. And I don't know if it was you mentioned, or maybe one of my other guests was talking about an event recently where something did happen. Thankfully, nothing, we were injured or anything but something happened. And the speaker completely froze on stage. And it is required when one of the organizers actually come on stage and pick that baton up and deal with it as well. But you can have lost seconds, you know, maybe even a minute there as well. Jessie States And I think that's part of your crisis planning process is that you have to be able to plan for the fact that at key times, some members of your crisis team are not going to be available. And whether that's because of a medical emergency, whether that's because communication has been cut off, or whether that's because they just froze in the moment. That has to be part of the planning process, too. You have to be able to have Plan A, B, C and D. So what happens if your first line of defense isn't there? Who steps in? And what does that look like, James Taylor you know, as as someone that is putting together events, you know, events can be stressful? You know, I think I saw a stat the other day that that event professionals is like the fifth most stressful job after like fire and you know, police and is like very out there. So what do you do in order to stay sane and stay healthy? Like during events and in the run up to events, when maybe things you know, there's a lot going on, I Jessie States think we as meeting professionals take a lot of care and making sure that our attendees are having really healthy, relaxing experiences that they are in the perfect Zen place to accept learning, you know, we work really, really hard for our attendees, and we just ignore our own health. So we were so bad, those long hours, late hours, not taking care of ourselves, or our teams, just running around being very, very stressed out. So I think that that's something that we as an industry need to look at, to make sure that we're translating those experiences that we're telling our attendees are necessary for them. And making sure that we're we ourselves are being really, really healthy. James Taylor So I know it's through the you have the MPI, the academy there as well, which kind of has a lot of these kind of training in spirit. I know you've got a lot of online site as well as the events. You know, what are you finding just now are people really looking for when it comes to the training piece? Is it still very much the tactical level? Or is it something new that's kind of coming into, you're getting a lot of requests for when it comes to training, Jessie States we're getting a lot of requests for experience design, we people are looking for new and unique ways to create amazing experiences we no longer talk about sometimes some people have even moved away from calling them events anymore, you know, with everything is an experience, people are expecting an experience, not a meeting. So we're seeing a lot of education in that area. We're seeing a lot of push in that safety and security area. We're seeing a lot of engagement. And we're also seeing a lot of investment in time and thought being put into creative creating inclusive experiences. Our audiences are so diverse and so global, that they come from so many different countries and places they come from so many different backgrounds, it making sure that every single person that comes on site feels welcomed and comfortable is gonna really be so important. James Taylor Yeah, I know. You mean, it's like, That's it? Yeah. It's like that it's funny because it's, um, I guess now with with a lot of these technologies, making some things like, you know, in terms of registrations much easier technologies around some of the artificial intelligence, it that time that hopefully is releasing for us to be able to think, Okay, I think more strategically in terms of like, what you actually want to achieve with this event, but then also thinking much more about that experience. And, and, and just, you know, releasing that time to be able to do that. I mean, I think about it a lot. Especially when it comes to AI where, I mean, I actually use AI in my my keynotes, I actually run, I'm running my keynotes now through IBM Watson, because I because they can tell me At what point in my keynotes things are gonna be a little bit flat, and I need to switch things up, you've been to story, you know, this in terms of a story, arc and things. So the way I'm using AI is, I can almost see it, this is great, because it's a tool for me, to allow me to focus on the thing that I'm hopefully good at, which is that you like telling stories, telling stories and crafting things and thinking much more strategically and thinking deeply and being more creative about stuff. And it sounds to me, like what's happening in the events industry more broadly, is that's kind of going on. So I don't have to worry about like, will this person have that vegan meal, because you know, that the systems will be in place, they'll be able to take some of those things. So releasing that time to go like, actually, what kind of experience do we want to create the efficiencies Jessie States that are going to be created by this automation or something that we have to be able to take advantage of? So right now, there's no real job loss because of automation, we're still so kind of early in that process. But as those efficiencies continue, what what does that make more time for for the meeting professional and how can we utilize that time to create even better experiences I think is crucial. James Taylor So let's go to maybe a little bit the more mundane my new whenever I go to any event speaking event I have my bag and there's certain things in my bag I never leave the home or the office without because they have to be my bag isn't that big school is usually things like clickers and all those things but but What's in your bag was in you know, you never leave Ted to an event without ensuring that it's in there Jessie States as a speaker but also as a meeting professional. I'm making sure that that my that I have everything in there that that helps me feel comfortable that helps me feel whole like we were talking a little bit about wellness what is it that you need to bring with you or what is part of your personal brand that's just going to make you feel like you wake up in the morning and you're ready to go and so making sure that you have something that's kind of personal to you in that traveling making you feel grounded and whole I think is really important some lady at some people it might be their you know, their meeting pumps you know, whatever it is that keeps you focused on business I think is something that I that I like to keep in the back I'm not sure that's what you're or James Taylor no actually funny if I was contacted recently by a friend of mine is in the music industry is working with Jennifer Jennifer Lopez and and her thing was candles and like very nice Jerome alone candles and which is a great British brand new Malone candles and and it just like sometimes sense for me I'm bigger than that as well. Like just having this like certain sense kind of makes me feel like home even if I'm in a different hotel room every night and everything. So sometimes for me that's the that's that's what does it. Jessie States So that's that's that's awesome. I love that. I mean now I feel like I'm deficient in some way I need to go find something that I bring James Taylor with me everywhere. We have to have a range of MPI candles. That's the next thing. We need to do the MPI candle rage for exclusively Jessie States marking that right now. James Taylor So what about online resources? Do you are there any kind of online tools or apps you find really useful to yourself? Jessie States Yeah, I think that that? Well, first, I've just wanted to let everyone know about the MPI Academy. We have an online Academy of over 200 hours of resources sessions that you can attend, those are free for our members, but they're pushable purchasable for non members. And you talk about the tactics of meaning profession that's going to go all the way from from your contracting negotiations through to the strategy behind your meetings and events. So all of those things that we've talked about that are really really important for us to start concentrating on above and beyond the kind of booking of rooms and spaces and and making sure that that our that our rooms are setting the capacities are right above and beyond all that what makes a meeting experience great what what drives business for for organizations, when they're looking at their meetings, that education is going to be crucial, and we have that that's available for everyone. We do online webinars every week. We we just want to make sure that the meeting community is having the right conversation is connecting with the right people in a truly global way to make sure that we're not going to be left behind. James Taylor Now you mentioned that you know the global aspects. I know you have these chapters. As you know, all over the, the globe as well. So when almost becomes an MPI member, as well as getting access to the academy into the, to the education side as well, I'm guessing there's a strong, actual live meetup kind of community aspect to what goes on as well, Jessie States absolutely. We've got 16,000 Global meeting professionals who get together every month, in different ways to connect, to learn from each other to talk about those to actually host the experiences that we've been talking about why it's so important for people to meet face to face. So when you're when you're, it's hard for us as meeting professionals to explain what we do to our families and friends. You know, it's always like, Oh, you travel so much, it must be so much fun, you know, oh, you play in parties, you know. And so I think that at some point, you just need a family, you could go to understands who you are, and gets you and you can talk to them about your challenges. And you can create opportunities together. And you could do business together, because Gosh, darn it, you get each other. You know, it's I think that's part of the value too, in having a global community is the fact that, at least we don't have to, you know, give each other the elevator speech. James Taylor I'm just as you mentioned, the party planner, thing I'm reminded of someone I recently spoke to who said, they were at an event, and a very well known speaker was up speaking and, and it was in front of actually primarily event professionals as well. And they use the phrase party planner, like throughout the entire event. And as a result, that speaker obviously got the worst kind of ratings on the thing, the thing as well. So, so yeah, I mean, I think I think there's, you know, obviously, a lot of what the MPAA does, is educating its members as well. But I guess you've got that big role of also educating people more generally, including speakers, including new supply other people within, within the industry, you know, government as well as to the value of what, what meetings are about. Jessie States Absolutely. And that's, and that's what's going to be crucial, because you everyone who's attending this meeting today, or who's getting the this video or this content, you will you all get it. But there are hundreds of thousands of other meeting professionals out there who are just still doing tactics, who are just still being order takers. And and not only reaching them, but reaching business owners and CEOs and government agencies and sharing the value of meetings and the value of this role plays in driving business. Especially when we have people out there who don't know that yet, you know, how are we spreading that message? How are we sharing that story, because if we don't, we will be obsolete, and no one wants that to happen, we all understand the strategy behind meetings. So that's why it's so key and why I'm so thankful for your organization for hosting the summit. Because these are the kinds of conversations that we're going to be able to take back to our organizations, these are the kinds of global conversations that we need to be having, if we don't have them, we won't be here anymore. So not to pump you guys up. ratable what you're doing, and and it may have seemed small in the beginning, and you know, it's growing now, but the importance of what you're doing right now is going to change meetings moving forward. James Taylor And I think this is one of the great things about online, I know you do a lot of webinars as well is that if you know, if you don't live in some of those big cities as big areas, or places as easy to get to, for events to meet with other meeting professionals, it's kind of difficult, you know, finding out and you know, that was one of the reason we want to do this was like, you know, we're probably gonna have people in over 100 countries, you know, on this just now as well. And, and just so they can learn from the best regardless of where they are in the world. They can just learn from some of the best experts in this field. I just want to ask you one question as we start to finish up here as well. I mentioned like apps and things, but is there maybe a book that you would recommend to someone I'm a big, I'm a huge reader. And I know a lot of my friends a huge read is a book that you would recommend around the events industry. Jessie States I wish that I could remember the title of it, my my friend to hear it and Dean. She's a Canadian, and has been in our industry for a very, very long time. She just finished her new book on meeting design. And it's incredible. And unfortunately it's it's it's it's James Taylor escaping my mind right now but look her up Google her name to hear it and D and E n d e a n, it's it's a really deep dive into meeting design meeting curation that I would absolutely recommend. Well, that's what I'm gonna, I'm gonna make sure we're going to put a link here as well for that. So we're gonna have all these links here. So and we'll also going to have a link here for MPI Academy, because we've been talking about this just now and I'm sure that anyone watching this, if you're attending this event, you're obviously you care deeply about, you know, continued professional development as well. So we want to help you kind of continue that, that journey. So we're going to have have a link here, as well. Jesse, it's been an absolute pleasure speaking to you today and learning about the amazing work that the MPI does no amazing what you're doing with MPI As well, is there any any kind of final kind of parting kind of parting words that you would give maybe as someone that's watching this just now listening to this just now just getting started in the in the industry? Is there any kind of final words you would say to them, Jessie States what we do is so important to small businesses, large businesses, government agencies, geopolitics, the economics, tax growth, the number of jobs we touch, the number of jobs we create, the number of businesses that we drive. When we meet, we had MPI, say, when we meet, we change the world. And that's true on even the smallest of scales. Every time you hold a meeting, you're changing lives. What we do, what we do, to drive career growth, to create change in our industry is to bring governments together to to enact laws that help people every time we meet every time you bring people together, you're changing lives. And so just keep that in mind that the child struggles the everyday day to day the things that drive us mad the stress that we put our bodies through, just know how many lives you're touching. And that every time you bring people together, you're helping to James Taylor drive change. Well, Jesse has a beautiful way to leave this, this conversation and this interview. Thank you so much for coming on today. Sharing your brilliance sharing your enthusiasm about this amazing industry that we're all in as well. I wish you all the best I wish you all the best in the future as well. Jessie States Thank you so much for having me. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

Finding Your Voice As A Speaker James Taylor interviews Paul N. Larsen and they talked about Finding Your Voice As A Speaker In today's episode Paul N. Larsen they talk about Finding Your Voice As A Speaker. Paul N. Larsen is an engaging leadership speaker, executive coach and the author of the award-winning book, Find Your VOICE as a Leader. As a former Chief Human Resources officer for a $3BN corporation, Paul has over 30 years of business leadership experience with such organisations as Charles Schwab, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Adobe. A member of the respected Forbes Coaches Council and a proud introvert, Paul currently coaches leaders at such companies as Twitter, Electronic Arts, Cisco, Autodesk, Walmart, and SAP. And he loves to demonstrate his disarming extroversion by speaking on leadership to groups and professional associations in the US and Asia. What we cover: Starting in keynote speaking Finding Your Voice As A Speaker The dangers of going broad Resources: Paul N. Larsen Website Paul's LinkedIn Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/finding-your-voice-as-a-speaker-sl084/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey, there is James Taylor. I'm delighted today to be joined by Paul N. Larsen port and an engaging leadership speaker, executive coach and the author of the award winning book find your voice as a leader. As a former Chief Human Resource Officer for $3 billion Corporation Paul has over 30 years of business leadership experience with such organizations as Charles Schwab Bristol Myers Squibb and Adobe, a member of the respected Forbes coaches Council and a proud introvert Paul currently coaches leaders as such companies such as Twitter, Electronic Arts, Cisco, Autodesk, Walmart and sap. And he loves to demonstrate his disarming extraversion by speaking on leadership to groups and professional organizations in the US and Asia. It's my great pleasure to have Paul join us today. So welcome, Paul. Paul N. Larsen Thank you, James. Thank you, you know, as as you're reading that the introvert amigos, oh my gosh. And then when you say disarming extraversion, which of course I wrote, I'm like, Okay, I'm gonna show that out a little bit more. So just a little bit of where I'm at right now, with that intro. James Taylor Lovely speaking, we're gonna be speaking at an event, a conference in Singapore really soon. So I'm looking forward to getting a chance to hang out there as well. But what have you been asked what projects are currently taking your focus? Paul N. Larsen Ah, you know, James, it's a great, it's been a little bit of everything. So So I like to dabble in a little bit of the speaking. So I do, I have the honor of being able to speak in Southeast Asia quite a bit. So. So working on some of the speeches I'm doing over there, the one that you mentioned in Singapore. And then with a foundation called together, we can change the world, which was founded, actually, by NSA members, Scott Friedman, and Jana Stanfield. So we have a tour coming up where we're going to be touring in Cambodia, Thailand, and Malaysia. Part of that is we go and speak on leadership, disruptive leadership. So I have the honor of being able to, to to speak in those particular cities. I'm primarily a lot of my time back domestically here in the states is focused on executive coaching. So I have the pleasure of working as you as you name some of the companies, but more or less important than the companies are the people that I work with the leaders in these organizations who really want to make a difference, who really want to make an impact, yet, you know, they're kind of like struggling, like so many of us do. How do I do that? What is my brand, and what is my legacy? So those are a little bit of everything else I'm doing. And then I leave tomorrow for I'm going on a just a nice vacation to Japan. So I'm just going to be able to kind of immerse myself in a in a little bit different culture, and enjoy sort of the learning environment that takes when you travel, and you just kind of like not traveling for work, so to speak, but just kind of traveled to say, Hey, I'm in a new place. And let's see what I can learn. James Taylor So the speaking part, you got the executive coaching the speaking the author, part of you, the speaking part of you, how did that get started? When When did you start getting into the keynotes side? Especially? Paul N. Larsen That's a great, that's a great question. Um, it takes me back to my history. I it started back in 2009. And I had, you know, one of my, one of my things is, is is one of my tenants and best practices are always try to coach myself and coach my leaders on is have a vision for yourself to establish that vision and outcome. Well, I didn't do that. I mean, it was like so so I learned from what I needed to do. In 2009, I had a wonderful job at Adobe, it was an incredible job. It had all the perks, wonderful people wonderful company, great climate, I was not engaged, had nothing to do with the organization had everything to do with, I knew I had something inside of me that needed to come out. I wasn't sure what that was. I didn't think it was like an alien thing that had to come out. But I wasn't sure what it was. I knew it was a message. And I was at my father's memorial service who had a wonderful, wonderful life. And I was listening to what they were saying about him as a person and his legacy. And all these people were getting up James and literally just talking about what a wonderful man, he wasn't the difference he made in their lives. And I'm literally sitting there and it was one of those moments we have in our lives. It was just Oh, it was zing. And I said what are they going to say about me? It's that classic story we hear, but it really happened. I'm sitting in the church. I'm sitting there In a hard hardback Pew, and I'm like, what are they going to say about me? My father, my father is a created this brand and legacy for himself. And they touched all these wonderful people. What are they going to say, Oh, he was a great HR leader. He helped people with their compensation plans, he helped the restructuring, he laid off 900 people here, he hired 1000 people here, and I'm thinking, that's not the legacy I want to author. That's not what I wanted to do. So fast forward, what I the decisions I made, James was to leave Adobe, with some planning go out on my own. So it wasn't about going to another company, establishing myself as an executive coach. By doing that. I, I established myself also as an expert in the coaching arena, or the leadership arena, at least according to some of the people that that that provided me feedback, which then led to speaking engagements. So I didn't sit here and think, Oh, I want to be a speaker. I want to speak more. In fact, I got to tell you, I wasn't even as aware of professional speaking as maybe I should have been, I certainly been exposed to speakers and at events and corporate events and conferences. But it wasn't like I had a direct path to that. It was sort of like, by way of my path of finding my expertise. People then said, oh, maybe this is something you could speak about to this group of people. And my first speaking gig was to a, an ecology Physicians Group and, and it ended up like, do you can you speak on leadership for 45 minutes, and I did, and they handed me a check. And I'm like, Oh, you gotta be kidding me. Like, really. And I knew that there's a much more hard work around that if I really wanted to build a business. But that was enough of an enticement for me. But now James Taylor I mentioned to you, you caught your class yourself as an introvert. And so which I think is interesting, because a lot of the guests I've had on here, either with a said on camera, or I because I happen to know them personally, as well. They would also maybe describe myself as an introvert, which is kind of weird when you think about our jobs is kind of getting up on stage in front of thousands of people as well. So you, you work with a lot of people who maybe the job title is not to Nestle to get on the stage, but as leaders, they are, they have to go on stage as part of their part of their role as well. So do you see any patterns? Are there more more speakers, introverts and extroverts? Or is it is it really a bit of a mix, Paul N. Larsen you know, without any statistical evidence, right? And and I'm not going to be one who's going to cite all the empirical data, because I'll be proven wrong, the minute it comes out of my mouth, um, I would say it's probably a good mix. And what it requires is what you just said, a certain self awareness to really understand where you get your energy from, you know, how do you how do you replenish that energy, because that's the difference between introverts and extroverts. introverts can certainly be on stage, they can certainly perform in a Broadway show, as sometimes we do when we're on stage, they can certainly speak as in an expressive manner, as I tend to do, as you see my hands flying around. But when I need to replenish when I need to, to, to really restore my energy, I need to be by myself, I need to set the boundaries of being solo, a solo practitioner, so to speak, in order to do that extroverts need the group energy to kind of restore that energy. So that's the difference between styles. And that's where sometimes I think, to your point, the contradiction does come up, because people will say to me, you're not an introvert, because the conventional wisdom is, introverts don't want to be on stage has nothing to do with that. I enjoy being onstage, I enjoy sharing my message, I enjoy serving the audience. It has to do though, with when I'm the downtime I need in order to restore my capabilities for the next event. And to your point around leadership. That's a really, really great insight that you just gave. And and I would add to that, leaders are always on stage. So leaders always are on stage, no matter if it's a structured stage, or if it's just a stage and of course, in their in their organization. They are always on stage. They're always being watched. And they're always, you know, people are always gauging their performance. When I work with leaders, a lot of them tend to come from the technology arena. So they come up through engineering, they come up through different different avenues, where they're used to kind of being by themselves, and then they realize they've taken on this new role, and they need to figure out okay, how do I take what I have and expand it and become a little bit more expressive in my brand and my presence, and that's where I can help because I understand where they're coming from from an introversion piece. James Taylor That reminds me a little bit of one of my great heroes on this in the speaking world, or actually northward is a guy called Edward de Bono who Greg Creativity, lateral thinking. And I remember seeing years ago seeing him on the stage and just being completely mesmerized, not because he was, it was a very, you know, he's moving around the stage a lot or anything, but his ideas were just so powerful. But then I subsequently spoke to people that know and work with him saying, he has the worst small chat person. He just doesn't like being in large groups of people and doing that he loves being on the stage and teaching because he's the teacher. And he loves having maybe one on one deep one on one conversations with people. But he really, he really enjoys the other stuff, you know, going to the cocktail receptions and some of the things that can come from some things you have to do as a speaker. Paul N. Larsen Right, exactly, no, and I can certainly understand that. And I understand as being a speaker, as speakers, as we all are, that's part of our business as well. So when that does come up is certainly at conferences, I have to be very deliberate with my time. And I have to be very deliberate with my energy so that I show up in a very consistent manner. So that what the way I am on stage, people will also reflect that in terms of my consistency when I'm offstage, because we hear that a lot, right? Oh, that person on stage is different than the person offstage. And even though we might have a different style, when we're on stage versus certainly off, I want to be consistent with the relationships that I develop, knowing that I do that I'm not going to be after I'm on stage, that I'm not going to be able to be there 24 seven, because I'm going to need to go back to the room, and really just be with myself in order to kind of restore that energy. That's a really good point. Now you James Taylor you've spoke about this, to having this voice model to building your brand as a speaker, can we start going going going through that? First of all, I mean, how Where did that come from something that can create a model around building brands is just something you were you trying to figure out yourself? Because it was it was applied to you? Or were you starting to coach? You've mentioned coaching executives, who were maybe transitioning to being speakers as well, when did that begin? Paul N. Larsen All of that? I mean, it was, you want to talk about a gift, right? I mean, it was a gift that was kind of just given to me, and it was absolutely a journey that I took so so upon, upon leaving Adobe upon sort of really discovering what my passion is around coaching. And, and, and the the impact that I can make as a coach and the learning that I can bring into myself as a coach. It really was around Paul, you've got a voice, let's use it. And it was one of my clients that I was with and had a significant organization there. And I kept telling him, we were talking to him. And we as we were coaching, I said, how best can you use your voice? How best can you get out and build your voice as a leader? He looked at me. And he said, that's your brand. Paul, he said, If there's one thing that I connect with you, it's the voice. It's finding your voice as a leader. And James, it was another one of those big zing moments. I have these moments all the time in my life, right, you have to be open for them, you have to learn from them. And I get zinged all the time. And I look at it as a great thing. But it was, it was like, Wow, he just gave me my brand. Um, before that I was just kind of Paulie the coat, right. And then I said, find your voice as a leader. So I played around with that a little bit more certainly used him as a wonderful pilot. And I took the voice, I took the voice, obviously word and made an acronym around it, to say, look, what what's the what's the journey I went through, what's the first thing we do when you build your voice as a leader or find your voice. And it really was around the values, your outcomes, your influence, your courage, and your expression. And it really is sometimes it can be sequentially, and sometimes they might be consecutively. It all depends on the person and where they are. And it applies to a lot of different pieces of our lives, whether it's finding your voice as a leader, finding your voice, as a trainer, finding your voice as a speaker, I've done all of these types of avenues, but it's discovering those values, establishing those outcomes, demonstrating your influence, stepping into your courage, and then crafting your overall expression. And when I put all that together, and I worked through the exercises and activities that I went through, and that I was successful and maybe not as successful in and then I use with my clients. That's how I built the model. James Taylor So one of the kind of dangers I guess by doing an event like this an online summit, there's someone here from all these, you know, over 100 speakers, and it can be a little bit discombobulating because you will hear opposing views on something and so I'm interested you mentioned like values right at the start because this is this is how I personally figure this stuff out is is I will be tend to be attracted to taking or maybe that that particular speakers strategy or model or how they're building something because they have a similar value. with similar values, to me, that's just my way of navigating, is that the way to think about it, because I'm just conscious that this is as we've talking about this just now. And if someone's going through the summit, they're going to get a lot of information, this could be maybe some way of helping them sort and sift what's gonna be relevant to themselves. Paul N. Larsen Yeah, the way and that's an excellent, first of all, it's an excellent call out. And second of all, it's also an excellent sort of action to take. Because when you when you're when you're exposed to all of this great information and great content, how do you filter it, and and the key on this what what my voice model really, really works on is being very deliberate. When I when I work with leaders, when I work with speakers, when I work with any anybody, including myself, we tend to just kind of react and I could imagine going, I know when I've gone through summits like this, and conferences, we can we tend to just kind of react to what we hear sometimes, when in fact, what you want to do is take a step back, what is it that you actually value? What's the purpose of why you're going through this experience? What's the outcome you're looking for? So always tie a purpose to an outcome? What's the deliberate action you want to take from that? And then out of that will cascade your value? So like, if you really think about what are your top three values you have in your life? And for me, when I went through that exercise, it's it's not complex, it's really trying to figure out what are those top three values that that you value that you live your life by? It's your it's kind of like your inner DNA, there's not energy and I guess it's your, it's your inner GPS, right? Um, I do that with leaders. And a lot of times what leaders will tend to do, and I think we do this as humans, they will list off values, they think people want to hear, oh, I value feedback, I value community open communication, I, you know, and all of a sudden, I look up on the wall, and that's the values of the organization, right? It's like, No, no, no, sit with yourself, quietly, list out all the values that guide you, you know, whether there be whether it be, you know, a lot to do with relationships with with financial freedom, what are those values, right that you have, and then that will also then guide you in terms of the decisions you make. And then you're in terms of the outcomes and vision you want to have for yourself, especially as a speaker, I hear a lot of people say, I want to speak, I want to speak more, I want to speak in internet, I want to be a global speaker, I want to speak internationally. That to me doesn't show necessarily a an articulate of articulation of values. It also doesn't show necessarily a vision. What's the endgame? Like? What is it that you want out of that? What is that vision of that? So that's kind of a way that I would kind of navigate some of this. James Taylor Yeah, I mean, I think that's a good point, listen, because it is, I mean, there's a lot of information coming out of them. And so I think just taking a little bit of time, it was a start just many of you will already have done this in your own practice, you'd have set and then you have good sense of your values, maybe it makes sense you haven't really done yet. But I think it's a really valuable thing to do. Because you're going to hear during the course the summit, you're going to hear one person or that person says that thing, that was the things always bear in mind, they're all they're all starting at completely different places, usually in different parts of the world. And they and they have different value values. And if you can try and figure out and then you can continue, ask yourself, so that so we move on to the values as the first point, having a strong sense of your, your outcome. You mentioned like purpose and outcome, you can use those inside different ways. Can you explain that? Paul N. Larsen Absolutely. So So, you know, I always like to say, when I'm working with myself, when I'm working with leaders, what's the purpose of why you're doing what you're doing? What's the purpose of that communication? What's the purpose of that meeting? What's the purpose of that action, you're going to take? In a much grandiose scheme? If you are building your speaking business? What's the purpose? Why are you going into speaking? What's the purpose of that? And then tied to purpose? Are the outcomes? What are the outcomes you are looking for? What's the vision that's tied to that purpose? Many times I hear that I want I want I desire I desire I intend I intend. But what I don't see connecting to that are the outcomes or the actions associated with those intentions, or associated with that purpose. So building your outcomes really is like even if it's just for your vision for next week, for next month, for next year, or for your business, that really is making sure that is tied directly to your overall purpose, because many times they're disconnected. And then people wonder why they don't follow through on certain things. They wonder why there's there's no there's no outcome or any kind of action associated with it because they have haven't actually tied those two together? Yeah, so one of the first things I do is that with coaching is you tie purpose to outcome. And and and you don't have one without the other. And and what it does is it creates a very keen discipline of making sure that you take action associated with any purpose or any intention you have, James Taylor as well good coach does is ensuring there's accountability towards those outcomes. So every week or when you speak, you can do you can have coming back to that, and also kind of reconnecting it with that with that purpose as well. And I think one of the things we've heard time and time again, probably people maybe getting a bit bored by it, but almost every guest is either spoken about the importance of having a mentor in what they were doing in terms of bonus or a coach. And because under this slightly different kind of roles, and to some of them, some of them, it's not honestly even with a mentor, but it's not even a person that the they actually know it's a person. That is because they know so much they read so much of their books, and it's almost like another character is another character, but they can ask themselves and be quite certain of what the answer would be is that wish I go next? And they can do almost asking to that, that fictional character, or that character, this right thing as well? Paul N. Larsen Absolutely no. And that's a really good point, because you absolutely want to use all the resources that are available to you. But you also to your point, you want to do it in a very deliberate fashion. You want to make sure that you are seeking a mentor, or seeking a coach, or seeking a teacher, whatever whatever the role might be. But it's very deliberate. Again, what's the purpose of why you're seeking a coach, I can't tell you how many times sometimes I will be I will be engaged to talk to people around around a coaching partnership. And when I get in there, and I ask, Why are you looking for a coach? Why now? What's the purpose? They don't have any answers to that they just thought it would be a good idea. They haven't necessarily worked through all of the deliberate steps necessary to really think, why do I need a coach? Am I coachable? What would I be? What's the outcome that I'm looking for? The same holds true when we go through summits like these, and when we attend conferences, or anything else, we tend to want to pull like you were saying from things, but do it in a very deliberate fashion. So when you're seeking resources, and you're seeking assistance, make sure it's very deliberate, and it's tied to, okay, this is my purpose. In order to get the outcome I need, I'm going to need a coach or mentor or some type of help to bridge that, yeah, they're in the eyes right there. That's a brilliant algorithm in order for success, because you've got a clear purpose, a clear outcome, and then the coach or mentor can help you within that within fill in that gap. James Taylor And the next part of this is the influence piece in that you're making building relationships, not just with coaches and mentors, also building relationships with people in the industry, you know, as a speaker, whether that's with, you know, other speakers or meeting professionals, or CEOs, decision makers, as well. So, what what the speakers need to be aware of when they're thinking about the influence part of that. Paul N. Larsen So the influences is exactly that. It's building those relationships, but it's building those relationships. You know, it's that old, it's not so much the quantity, James, it's the quality, right? A lot of times, again, when you go into a field, such as speaking, it's around it, get to know as many people as you can build your network, build your network, boost your email list, build your email list, get names, names, names, names, names, and all of a sudden it becomes quantity. And we lose sight of the quality or the qualitative piece. The relationships have to be built on trust and respect, always. And And so again, going back to being very deliberate, what are the relationships, you're going to need to achieve that vision or those outcomes that you've created for yourself? How do you build those relationships? How do you demonstrate that trust and respect and how do you go about doing that? So So again, it sounds common sense. But I think in today's world, especially with social media, which I'm a huge fan of, and I'm all over social media, but I do it also very deliberately. And I try to be very trustworthy and respectful in my social media platform and footprint, as I build those relationships. But I think today, we can just we can we can have connections all over the place. We can have likes all over the place, we can tweet all over the place. We're not necessarily doing it with it with a deliberate fashion of building influential relationships. I see it in organizations. And I think it happens in our industry as well. James Taylor And you mentioned going to Japan is something maybe remember, when I first started working in Japan, it was it was quite interesting to see the difference between in the West will be quite transactional here and our relationships. I'm going to do this for you because I expect this but and it's so it can be very transactional, where I remember in in Japan doing business in Japan, actually, we spent about maybe three to five years just building relationships, building trust, before any Anything was ever, ever done. But the interesting thing that happened by doing that, and just just building trust and being, you know, being a respectable kind of building that trust over time, is that when that trust was eventually solidified, it was it was just like, took off like a rocket, because the nature of this industry is exactly the same. It's one of everyone talks, people are talking, they know that that person is a good person to work with, they know that that person does, as they said, they know that person is going to show up and, and, and give a great performance. But it does take a little bit of time to build that trust and build those relationships. Paul N. Larsen Yeah, it's the you just nailed it, it's the, it's the, you need to spend a little bit of time at the upfront piece, right. And building those relationships takes time. And we're, and you're right, in our society, we're so used to instant gratification. now now now, and that whole transactional piece, so I do think we need to, you really need to take the time to build the trust and the respect, because that's going to then build your brand. And and we see that all the time in any kind of, it doesn't matter what industry you're in, or whatever role you play, that really taking that time upfront will pay off in the long run. But we are in a society where conventional wisdom almost forces us to say no, no, no, no, no, just go go, go, go, go, here's all the ways you need to do it. Here's all the ways you can make money, here's all the ways you can do this. Just go go go go go. And we lose sight of that the discipline of really building that trust, and that respect that other cultures and societies do so well. James Taylor It's almost a little bit. I know that with people like Matt church, and Peter Cook, head on here from Australia talk about this, between a business and a practice. Most speakers, you really have practices, you don't have a business, it's not something you're ever going to naturally sell. It's you if your doctor's practice, or your topic is really you, which means that the trust piece is even more important, because it's you, you know, you have a relationship. So so you're thinking about this thing, much longer term than then a company with Nestle thinking about quarterly results, or I just need to get through this, this one year bump or whatever the thing is, you have to think much more longer term. Paul N. Larsen Absolutely. You know, I'm sure I think there's a book out there now, and I'm probably quoting it, the brand is you, right? It is when you are a speaker or a coach, it is you and even if you're affiliated with another company, or organization or group of folks, you are still representing yourself. That was a that to your point around my journey. That was a very deliberate decision. When I went out on my own, I branded myself with my name, right, which is, again, what most speakers do, most coaches do. Yes, I have a model that I use and a tagline. But it's my name associated with that I had to then make. And I remember having this conscious decision, I do a lot of self coaching, I have a lot of dialogues with myself, that if I was going to do that, I had to make sure that I wore that brand out here. And every behavior I did every action I took every decision I make represent adapt, because I then knew I was putting myself out there. And I had to build the trust, the credibility, the respect, all those things. It wasn't about likability, it was about trust, respect and credibility. But I remember having that decision with myself in that conversation to say, that is what I'm going to have to do versus being within a company where sometimes you can kind of get away with hiding a little bit here hiding a little bit there. No, you're I was all exposed. And that was that took courage for me to in which to do that, which is the next piece and invoice right. It was like stepping out of my comfort zone around that. James Taylor And so on that piece in the courage, the one of the ones I often think about when you mentioned that word courage, I think about how as a speaker or kind of anything, when you're going out and you're in a solopreneur it's very easy to want to just Who do you speak to? I speak anyone? What do you speak about I can think of anything? And so focusing and niching I think that takes great courage, because is willing to say this is this is what I think I'm good at this is this is my thing. And and and I'm going to take that risk on that. So when you were kind of going into your speaking business, did that require a lot of courage for you to really focus on what what you actually want the speaker to speak about? Paul N. Larsen Oh, James, you know, you nailed it with me on that one? That absolutely did it setting boundaries for yourself. It's setting boundaries for your brand, for your market, for your business for your niche, all those things. Absolutely. And I'm a learn, I learned by experiences. So I learned by all the mistakes I made and the successes. I to your point. I was one of those people like I this speaking thing was great. I can speak there, I'll speak for you. I'll do this, I'll do that. And I had a couple of experiences where I was not the best speaker for that particular event. And I showed up that way. Because I did anything wrong personally, or I did anything wrong on stage, it just was not a match based on what they needed. And based on what I could provide, I thought, Oh, yeah, I can do that I can do that I can be the the generalist for that. And then when I got up there, and I realized, Oh, this was not working. So it was a great learning experience for me. In terms of, okay, Paul, you have a certain expertise, you have a certain modality and methodology, you have a certain style, that is not going to be reflected in to every everybody that is going to need a speaker and is going to need, you cannot serve all the audiences. And that that was an experience for me. And I, I had to really be humble around that. And I had to really be humbled with the groups that I that I had a couple of episodes where I learned that, and that's how I had learned it. Right. And, and sort of that feedback. And now that that journey of going through that. And you're absolutely right, that took a lot of courage. And it took it takes a lot of courage to say, I'm not going to be the speaker for everybody, I'm going to be the speaker for this particular domain or this particular pillar. James Taylor And the only way I was able to come for me is to come to peace with that was a stat that Simon t Bay, the great speakers told me and he said in America now there's 1.8 million conferences every year. And I think 1.3 million of them requires seekers and another friend of mine pretty current who's who's working with Big Pharma is speaking to a pharmaceutical company. He said, they have 40,000 speakers every year. And that allows me to go okay, I don't have this is perfect. I could just focus on this. There's so much there's so much work out there, there's so much opportunity out there as well, especially when you get to company and you speak in, you know, in organized companies, which you don't see advertised all their internal meetings, sales, focused meetings, and is is easy to think that all the meetings are happening. And those ones that you see being advertised to the public, exactly. Most events are happening as corporates, you know, it's under the, you know, you don't actually see them, and we'll buy that final piece, the expression piece. So, you know, communicating human to like communicating with your overall expression. What does that mean? Paul N. Larsen Yeah, that's, that is the overall expression is kind of your overall brand. It's your overall legacy. It's your overall impact that you make, and in whatever role that you're playing, how do you know what that impact is? How do you know what that legacy is, um, if you're not authoring that it's been authored for you, because back to everything we just said, if you are not deliberate in how you build your relationships, how you build your vision, how you discover your values, how you take steps out of your comfort zone, if you are not doing that deliberately James, then that legacy of who you are that presence of who you are that your overall expression that's been crafted for you. So I always work when I work with leaders, especially, and many leaders have been in the business for for for many years, I'll say, what's your legacy? What's your leadership legacy? And they look at me and they go, I have no idea. I've never been asked that question, or I've never asked it up myself. And I said, well, then that means it's being created for you. Yeah. Could you have a legacy? So why don't you step into that and start to author that legacy author that expression, and you James Taylor really have to push because as we know, having both in the Silicon Valley world as well, that billions of dollars are being spent in terms of distracting you from maybe doing things with your, with your in your longer term benefit, let's first put it that way, things that distract you to keep scrolling through, you know, like clickbait and things. And there's an entire industry that's around there in terms of psychology that's going so you do have to be very cognizant of that and and be quite as you should use it, use that word deliberate, deliberate about you are making certain decisions and and some things you're going to be saying no to. So as we start to kind of finish up his quickfire questions here. We're just talking about tools and apps, actually, are there any tools online resource app you find really useful for yourself as a speaker, Paul N. Larsen you know, the one that it doesn't necessarily pertain to speaking but it pertains to my my mind space, and it's called headspace. Now, you said it, yeah, it, I use that James, you will find me using that everywhere. I I will go into the I will go into a meditation and I'm not you know, I'm not going to be sitting here saying I'm meditating all the time. But I will go into that headspace app in many different avenues. I'm on the bus. I'm on a plane, I'm walking down the street. I'm waiting for a client and I will all of a sudden just go in there and use it. It has created I think it's really important in today's world, create anchors for yourself and to create a groundedness and that's what it does for me. James Taylor I do wonder because I come a name of the gym. A man whose voice is used the founder of that company has used his voice. I think he's British. But then he now lives in San Francisco, I seem to remember. I do wonder if people when people go to his events, if they automatically start sending out as soon as he starts speaking, because he has a certain type of action, I know, very distinctive Paul N. Larsen is a cert and if you think about it, and you're absolutely right, the tone and the pace and it's just like, Ah, yeah, it's just it's Yeah, it's magical for me because I use it, I am very deliberate in how I use it and very disciplined in how I use it as well. James Taylor And what about in your speaker bag, what is in that bag that you carry with you to all of your speaking engagements that you never leave the home or work without, Paul N. Larsen you know, I use a so so it's really great I use um, I like to have a lot of vibrancy in my speaking engagement. So I bring a lot of what I usually always do, and that the toolkit will vary. But when I go and speak, I will go to some kind of arts and crafts store before I go speaking, and I will go in and find something very local. So if I'm speaking in Chicago, or I'm speaking in Los Angeles, or I'm speaking in Singapore, speaking in Seoul, I will go to a local store, find some local colorful arts and crafts, maybe there could be anything, I will bring that into my speech somehow into my into my topic into my presentation, maybe it's an audience interaction, depending on the size of the audience and so forth. And it is it not only does it engage me with the local flavor and the local community, people love something local for themselves they come in they're like wow, wow, look at what this is all about the Malaysian food that we just had, you know, or Wow, look at what he's doing in vanilla. And it's amazing how that comes alive. And it kind of plants you in that community. So that that toolkit piece for me, varies depending on where I'm at and and and the local audience that I'm serving. James Taylor And what about a book if someone wants to buy one book it could be on the speaking the the crafter speaking on the business speak, or maybe didn't even have to be about speaking of maybe could just be some of the broader things that we've been discussing as well. What would that book be you'd recommend? Paul N. Larsen So I have a book that I recommend to everyone that I that I that I work with, in any capacity, and I have to apologize, I forgot the name of the author. And it's terrible. I'm but I'm one of these people. Like, I know the song. And I love the melody, but I don't know who's singing it. But the book is called the obstacle is the way James Taylor it's at Ryan holidays. That is the old Thank you. Paul N. Larsen Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Oh, see, look at you. You're like you're like you're like you're just such an expert. James Taylor It's a wonderful poem. It's a wonderful book, Paul N. Larsen it is a brilliant book, you look at that you look at historical context is of where obstacles have come up and and how the obstacles actually at the ciliated Thruway for you. Because to your point around distractions, we live in an age of distractions. And distractions can be obstacles, big or small in people's lives and people's journeys. And I just thought the book was just so brilliant. And I use it in many, many rounds around coaching and working with leaders working with teams. And then so certainly for myself, James Taylor so a penultimate question here, if we pull, I want you to imagine, you woke up tomorrow morning, and you have to start from scratch. I'm gonna let you choose any city in the world you can wake up in, but you've got all the skills that you've acquired over the years as a coach, as an author as a speaker, but no one knows you, you know, no one, you have to restart. What would you do? How would you restart, Paul N. Larsen so I would restart. So I would wake up probably in the city that I know of, which is San Francisco, no one love, and so forth. But regardless of the community you wake up in. And by the way, I love this exercise, because I think it's something we should do, we should do anyway, we should look to how we reboot ourselves. But I would start off in being much more deliberate, much more smaller scale in the steps I need to take to build my business. When I went the when I the mistakes I made in the past, was trying to do too much too soon to too many people. And I would now take a reboot and say, I'm going to take one step today, one step tomorrow, build one relationship today, one relationship tomorrow, and create that stepping stone in terms of building sort of the business and brand and create more much more of an end vision for myself then then what I've done, I jumped in sort of to the deep end of the pool, and I came out with with lots of water and all over the place and drank the water and breathed the water. And I survived because I came up with the buoyancy, and I came out of the pool with it with a determination. I don't want to do that again. So the reboot for that question is not doing that again, is doing the opposite which is taking the much smaller Steps taking the longer term investments for a much longer term gratification, not the short term gratification that we are so often are are confronted with. James Taylor Well Paul, it's been a pleasure speaking today if people want to connect with you learn more about you your your coaching your speaking and your writing, where's the best place for them to go and do that Paul N. Larsen so they can certainly go to my website which is Paulin, Larsen LR sem comm they are certainly free to connect with me on LinkedIn I love connecting with LinkedIn all I asked on LinkedIn is connect with me just let me know that you that you you know interacted with me through the summit and so forth but love to connect or even shoot me a direct email at Paul at Paul n Larsen comm I'm very very, very approachable. There's there's there's the the expressive introvert of me comes out and I love to maintain those network and and the connection. So I welcome all of that. And this is this has just been a wonderful opportunity James and the work that you're doing is just incredible for the community. So I applaud it and just you know, I'm so honored to be part of it. James Taylor Well Paul, I look forward to getting a chance to meet up in person and I wish you all the best of the speaking until then. Paul N. Larsen Thank you so much James Have a wonderful weekend and and I welcome anyone's connections as well. So thank you all thank you very much. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

Adding Humor To Your Speaking James Taylor interviews Tami Evans and they talked about adding humor to your speaking In today's episode Tami Evans they talk about Adding Humor To Your Speaking. Tami Evans is a motivational business speaker who believes that laughter is an essential element in the learning process. She is the Past-President of the New York Chapter of the National Speakers Association and her genuine, funny and motivational style gets her booked for keynotes around the world. In addition to her speaking, she has also worked as a professional actor on shows like Sex and the City. What we cover: The transition from acting to keynote speaking Tailoring your talk by getting to know your audience Adding Humor To Your Speaking Resources: Tami Evans Website - http://tamievans.com/ Tami on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamievansspeaker/ Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/adding-humor-to-your-speaking-sl083/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hi, it's James Taylor here. I'm delighted today to be joined by Tami Evans. Tami Evans is a motivational business speaker who believes that laughter is an essential element in the learning process. She is the past president of the New York chapter of the National Speakers Association and a genuine, funny and motivational style gets a book to keep keynotes all over the world. Now, in addition to speaking, she has also worked as a professional actor, and you've probably seen her in TV shows like Sex in the City. But that's another story. So it's my great pleasure to welcome Tami today. So welcome, Tami. Tami Evans Oh, James, I'm delighted to be here. James Taylor Hi, everybody. So share with everyone what's going on in your world just now. Tami Evans Oh, my goodness. Um, so it's spring currently. And it's just a it's just a beautiful time of year to begin, you know, the whole cycle of the speaking industry, right? I mean, we're we're ramping up into a really busy time for conventions. And I'm just always so excited this time of year to just get back on the stage and always be trying new ways to connect with my audience and get my message out James Taylor there. Now, I mentioned you come from the world of the stage, you come from acting? When did the move into speaking begin? And in terms of keynote speaking, how did that transition happen? Tami Evans Yes, I'm a classically trained actress, I have a Master of Fine Arts and performance, and also a broadcasting and communications degree. So basically, I was the news person and on the National Public Radio, and then moved into theater where I worked with Jeff Daniels, the actor to start the purple Rose Theatre Company. And with Jeff's help, I moved to New York City where I got a job on a daytime soap opera, one life to live and a nighttime soap opera, Sex in the City, as you mentioned, and several films out in New York, but it's a it's an interesting world, in theater where you can work as hard as you want, but you're not in control of any of your own career. And more times than not, you end up on the cutting room floor. So at the same time, I was teaching at university I was teaching presentation skills and communication and it all came together. When a mutual friend of mine from undergrad Christine kashin, who is also a she's a world Hall of Fame speaker in the in the industry and amazing human being really just said, you need to be in this industry. And from that day on, kind of guided me through the industry. And I took the teaching that I was doing at university and the performance that I was doing as an actress and combine them for the perfect combination for me of education and entertainment. And I think everything that for most speakers, everything that we do in our lives, it's like that funnel, you put everything in there. And it all adds to this, this business that that we have that we get to share with the world. It's It's incredible. So Christine was the start of my journey, which led me to the National Speakers Association, and so many people, too many people to even name I mean, if there's anything you need as a speaker, you can reach out and there will be someone there who's willing to share their their story and their ideas and it is the most giving generous organization I've ever belonged to. And that has in turn led me to many speakers who are not even in the National Speakers Association. And it's just this this culture of goodness just keeps growing in this industry. And I'm, I'm so proud to be a professional speaker and to know so many people out there who are good and giving and really take their power of the platform and use it for good. James Taylor So one of the things I noticed when when I see actors that make that transition to speaking on stages as speakers, usually they're much better a number of things in the other speakers are coming from other profession. One is that they can use their body much better they understand the how to use presence on stage because they've had that training. They they usually be good I think blocking and unsigned and things like that as well. Voice is usually much better in terms of just having having a presence there as well. So there's a lot of skills I can see that get moved quite nicely on to the speaking on stage. The one I always wanted though, was as an actor, you You're, you're often you're paid to go and speak other other people's lines. So someone else has written those lines for you, and then you go and deliver, interpret those and deliver those on stage. But as a speaker, you have to create your own lines you're making up, you're both the script writer and you and you're the person's up on stage. So how was that process for you, because that requires a slightly different type of creativity. Tami Evans Absolutely. And you bring up a good point that when you're classically trained, it's this whole idea that, you know, there's a fourth wall and the audience is there. And there's the willing suspension of disbelief, and you make your entrance, and you do your, you know, performance of whatever that is, but you don't interact necessarily. And so what I found very quickly, transitioning from the world of performance into the world of speaking, is that you really have to, you really have to engage with the audience and break that wall immediately and connect with people. And it isn't about so much writing a script of, you know, how you're going to preach to these people. It's more about telling the stories from your life. So, you know, in addition to acting and teaching, I was also, you know, is hired to be a pitch coach for major consultancies for their sales pitches around the world. And I was also on the design team for Banana Republic, the major fashion brand. And I found that when I just took my stories from those experiences, and started to tell those stories, and how they were applicable to, you know, all of the organizations and corporations that I speak to, that's when the light went off, because people said, Oh, she, she isn't a performer, she's an actress. She's a business person that happens to have classical training and how to deliver her message, which was like, Oh, the light bulb went off. And I have to tell you, when you do interact with your audiences, at first, I was frightened, because I thought, Oh, I don't, this isn't scripted, I don't know what's going to happen. And I'll tell you what, the funniest, most memorable, most brilliant things happen when you engage with the audience and let them be the star. So now I have several moments in my keynotes where I actually have it, you know, set up where I engage the audience so that they can actually kind of be the star of the show, and it's brilliant, it's the best material that you could ever asked for. James Taylor So that almost sounds a bit more. Rather than being like the when we think of the act of person up on the stage theatre show was all pre written and you deliver in this audience there, that almost sounds more like a like a rock concert in that way that I think about a friend, a friend of mine was managed, managed to Taylor Swift, the music artists, and Taylor Taylor has a voice coach to look after her voice. But she also has a performance coach as well, that it was able to see, okay, this point in the set your song is it this this level here. So we I need you to be at that part of the stage, I need you to be doing this with your body, I need you to be at this stage, I need that high level of interaction with the audience. Because you can do that you can feel the energy in that way when you're doing a rock music concert or rock concerts. And so speaking you you're you're sensing that energy, but you're also giving yourself time and finding ways to have those interactions with the audience whether that's just that one on one thing, they're on a different ways, Tami Evans especially if you can bring levity into James Taylor Well, that's the part so the levity bit that the humor part as well. Now, I am one of those speakers. I do not cast myself as a particularly funny person. My wife on the other hand, she is she's a she comes as a trained actor, and she's very comfortable. She has that very natural. No jokes come very easy to lines companies. For me, it's not it's not so easy. And I speak to a lot of speaking friends of mine, who have made big transitions in the speaking because they went to things like improv comedy sessions to learn some of some of those skills, it made them much better speaker. So for someone like myself, who is let's say, I'm, I'm hesitant about using using humor in my speech, either because I feel that it doesn't come from my natural style. Or I feel I'm talking on a topic like artificial intelligence, like how to voice creativity. How do you get that's so funny? And so what what would you say to anyone that's watching or listening to this? Now who feels a little bit like me that? Yes, they're going to use humor, but it's just not quite sure how to do it. Tami Evans Yeah. So I think, um, you know, one of the things I think to remember is that people like people with a personality, I mean, you're, you're attracted to people because of their personality. And so when you're engaging with your audience, they want to know you they want to know a little bit about you. So I always say when you're going to start with humor or levity, start with yourself start with things about you quirks ideas around you. And I did have the wonderful opportunity to see speak at the National Speakers Association, the winter conference about, you know, kind of setting up summits and things like that. So and I saw you do an AI speech as well. So I actually have a couple ideas for you, based on some things. So we're doing James Taylor all this live, I have no idea what time is gonna say. So she may give me a really hard time here. But like, you're far too serious, you need to be much, much more liberty. So not to be as strict with what what, what we're doing. Where is that? Where's the room for improvement? For example, I'll make sure we put a link here as well, so that they can get some context. Tami Evans Yeah, yeah. So talking about using yourself. So right at the top, you acknowledge that, because you were speaking to a primarily an audience primarily from the United States, you made, you know, already, you called out the fact that you are not from the United States. And that's great. I think anytime that we can stand in front of and just acknowledge what's different or noticeable about us, and find something humorous to say, for instance, you might say, you know, I really enjoy joining you here in the United States, um, you know, you may not realize this, I'm not from this country, and you might find this hard to believe, but I used to have an accent. And the fact that and you, as much of your broke as you could, yeah, because the fact is, that you're saying I used to have an accent. And of course, you know, it's so obvious that you have and the more you can play it up, the better that will get the laughed, it will disarm the audience because they're like, okay, clearly, there's gonna, you know, we understand that that's happening. So that's great that you use that, you know, talking about yourself or the situation. So, so that's something they're not expecting, but you deliver it very straight, because you have a very authoritative persona. And you look very, you know, you look very official and, and like a leader, you know, a very strong leader. So, the more you can deliver the humor straight, the bigger the laugh will be, the bigger the payoff. Um, so you you talked about, in one of your speeches, you tell the story about when you were a young boy, and your parents sent you up into the, into the mountains of Scotland, and, you know, you, you show a facet, fabulous picture of you, and you talk about how they sent you up into the mountains in a kilt. So what you can do in this situation, which is already humorous, so you're already doing humorous things. Now, I'd love to employ an act out, it's called an act out or a go to, and that's where you actually become in the situation. So again, you would employ the the tool of using your, your Scottish accent very well, and I am not good to Scottish accent, but you would be like, you know, alright, so you're gonna go up into the hills now. And and then you become you and say, oh, for how long then? And they'd say, oh, till you get to that top, or whatever, you know what I mean? So you have this little conversation, and then you you show us, you know, so imagine you're walking up this hill, and a kilt. Yeah. You know. And then it's like, oh, that's a bit of wind. And so you actually are in the moment. And and what you can do is just explore all the different funny things that could happen to a young boy hiking up the hills in a kilt. Yeah. And so you take that one moment, and just act it out for us. And let us just, it's delicious for the audience to imagine with you what it was like to be hiking in the hills in a kilt, right? So that's called a full backyard, folks. James Taylor So that's that. So that's when you start you start to use also your your physicality a lot more, you're kind of getting out of just being under here, I'm delivering to this thing. And then the, you're using that stage more you're using your body, you're, you're you're helping people really get into what the story that you're telling. Tami Evans Yeah, like, and if there's a wind that comes it could be, oh, there's a wind, and then you put your hands down, like you're holding your your kilt down. Yeah. Because you don't want it to blow up. And so that, so that's an act out or a go to, and then we move into Oh, so you were just talking about the rock star and I know your background was in music and, and you know, booking speakers and stuff. And so this is a brilliant opportunity to use. And it's self deprecation really, because you like we said, You are very, you're, you know, you're very put together. You're very polished human being. And then you talk about how you were in the music industry. And so to kind of like cut that down, you can say something like, I know you're sitting there thinking, yes, I can totally see him working with rock stars. Right. So then you're going to get a laugh and you wait and you say, as their accountant. Okay. Yeah, because you're playing against tight. Yeah, because, you know, we just we always make these assumptions, right. If someone saw you, they'd be like, they wouldn't. They wouldn't realize that you're like, you can hang with the band right? But if you Put it up in that way. And then you wait and say, you know, give that kind of self deprecating, and then you can all laugh together. And then you can say no, really seriously, here's my experience with rock stars, etc, etc. James Taylor So with that basic, also, what you're doing is you're playing into the audience's preconceived notions of who that person is, or what you look like, who you're about. So if you look like this, then you're automatically going to be this type of thing. So you can, you're kind of having, you're kind of having fun with them. And now you're kind of toying with it with that, and being much more flexible with with what that thing is. Tami Evans And they're like, if he can laugh at himself, then we can laugh with him in my programs. I there's one point where I said, All right, I know some of you Well, I'd say, you know, I know life isn't all you know, it, there's hard times or whatever I say, No, some of you are sitting there saying, All right, chirpy, you have no idea I get huge laughs because there's always a small people, you know, percentage of the people who are like, oh, for real, really Pinky, we got to go with this, you know. So if you can kind of self deprecate and, and, and kind of cut their expectations of what. And then the final, the final tool that I thought for you is that you say, so we've, we've done all those, you say, I'm going to give you the five tools and strategies that will allow you to set this up, right. And the great thing is, you can say, um, you'll be happy to know that one of them does not involve wearing a kilt. And so that's a call back, it's called a call back, where you go and take something that you mentioned earlier in the keynote, and you call back to it. And if you can do that three times, if you could call back three times in your keynote, the power of three, humor is always in the power of three. So anytime you can do something three times it really, it really impacts the power of it, James Taylor that's a little bottle you haven't like on TV shows, I mean, I think about the see, like Monty Python, for example. And I think the first time that they would send me maybe few of watching that initially, when it came out, they would have said something and the first thing they say like a line is like, don't get it. Second time is like, and then the third time, it's like, actually, that's quite funny now, and so and, and they didn't even know all they have to do is just like see that one phrase now is like, it's that bizarre thing of if you've ever spent like, I know you as an actor, you are being on tour with other actors, or as a musician being on tour with other musicians. By the end of the second week, if you try and go into that world from being an outsider, being a civilian is the strangest thing, because they just have to say, they say one word to each other, and the whole boss erupts, they'll coach erupts, because then they've got all these little in jokes. So you don't even have to see the whole thing, you just have to see that one little thing. So So you basically can keep kind of pulling back to that the whole time, you can kind of use that, you know, there's all kind of mini theme kind of resonance themes, right? Well, you're saying Tami Evans Absolutely, it's creating a common language. And that goes to connecting. And, you know, that's my work is all about connection equals culture. So I use humor to connect people and I encourage people to, to use levity and lightness in in all of their their work. Because oftentimes, leaders think that levity and leadership and positivity and professionalism are mutually exclusive, they don't work together. And I think it's the exact opposite, the more you can bring that in. As a speaker, as speakers, we we have these really serious and important messages. But if we don't sprinkle in the the ability to let people breathe, or lighten up, then sometimes our messages, it's just too much that it goes over their head. So I like to say your audiences if if your audiences are laughing, they're listening. And if they're listening, they're learning. So that's kind of the the core that I take back into corporations and organizations, but on the level that works for them. James Taylor You mentioned that with the word culture there when you're, you know, like ourselves, we're going and speaking in different countries, different cultures, they, you know, different norms in those places as well. I'm wondering how what you have to think about when it comes to using humor, because you can go to I've even noticed even just countries like the UK or the UK and the US which on on the outside you can see they're very similar speak the language pretty much the same slight different conveyors, but pretty much same. But in terms of what you have to do with human to feel slightly, it feels slightly different. You can American audiences feel much more open to being able to have fun in that way. British audiences or the changing it's a bit of a generalization, tend to be a little bit more buttoned down. You have to kind of use humaneness in a slightly different way. Tami Evans Yes, definitely. And I'll tell you, James, I spent a lot of time in Liverpool and I'm not sure they are speaking the same language. But James Taylor if anyone Liverpudlians from the UK North of England or the Beatles or from the unknown, they think of themselves as the funniest people in England as well. They use humor and your badge of honor Liverpudlians. Tami Evans Absolutely. And you've got the the mosey and the Ozzy and the blue Canada Ebro in the hall. Yeah, it's definitely. And that's true for anywhere. It's honestly true in different regions of the UK, it's different in different provinces in Canada, it's different in the different states in the United States. And so the the most important part of the work that I do before the conference is to get to know my audience and and what their humor touch points are. And for that, I use what many speakers use, and that is a tailoring, I have a tailoring form that leads to a tailoring conversation, that leads to at least three private conversations with three people in the industry who are going to be attending the event. And what those all lead me to, is to learn their language, it's learning the language of the the culture of the organization, it's learning the language of that industry, the more you can get to know the industry, the more you can learn what it is that makes them you know, what, what makes them you know, kind of anxious, what makes them laugh, what makes them feel proud. Those are the things that will allow you to connect, and humor comes from the personal things that universally affect all of them. So, I, I am addicted to laughter I love to create Laughter But even better than laughter is when people nod, you know, head nodding when they think Oh, yes, absolutely, that. That's, that's absolutely true. And when someone comes up to me afterwards and says, it's like you work with us, how did you know us so well, that is the highest compliment even better than the standing ovation. That is such a high compliment to me, James Taylor because you're speaking their lingo. You're speaking as my friend, as my friend Jeffrey sure would say, you understand their lingo, you're speaking their language, if you feel like, okay, is this such a strong, strong connection with you, you'll feel that you're speaking from the inside inside about, you really understand their problems and their challenges. Absolutely. And it does Tami Evans take you know, a few, several phone calls ahead of time. And here's the other thing that I just think it's really valuable is to come in the day before, honestly, that as early the day before as you can, because I mean, if you're so I usually do opening or closing keynote of the convention. So if I'm opening keynote coming in the day before, I get to be there, when everyone is coming in the energy is high, usually there's a, you know, pre, pre night, cocktail hour, you start talking to people, you get the best material, just by interacting with the attendees. And then if you're the closer coming in early allows you to get, you know, material throughout the convention, yeah, that you can actually pull back on stage. So it's a kind of a convention callback, right? You're using that humor in the closing keynote. So there is so much value in connecting deeply with the organizers and the attendees before the event. And the you know, if you, if you can spend a little extra time on site at the event, before you actually go onto stage, it will pay dividends that are you know, enormous. James Taylor But as you were going through building your own speaking career, can you maybe talk about one particular aha moment, you mentioned arm and resilience, aha moment or insight or where you made a key distinction in maybe the kind of speaking that you wanted to do the kind of stages that you wanted to be on the kind of message that you wanted to put out into the world? Tami Evans Oh, yes. In fact, and so you know, I mentioned my, my dear, dear friend, Christine Cashin, she laughed so hard. It happened when I was in a huge auditorium full of the teachers of the state of Oklahoma. I was brought in to kick off their school year, right? So it was before the students came. It was in August, when the teachers were all preparing to start their year, and it was thousands of teachers and I had my prepared speech and, you know, had been doing it for a couple of years. And, you know, started started speaking and I had a worksheet for them to kind of follow along and take a few notes, like, you know, fill in the blank when you hear the word, you know, all the different tools and techniques that speakers can use. And then just a short time in, I had an interaction with an audience member, where they called something out and I thought, Oh, you know, heckler, or somebody calling something out. And I walked over with the microphone and the teacher and I had a conversation back and forth, where the teacher I asked them a few questions and gave them and they answered very concise and you know, turned out to be funny way. So they became the star of the show for that moment. And I thought that is the power of audience interaction. And I took that sheet of paper that I had. And I said, You know what, put your paper under your chairs, we're just going to have a conversation. And I just I started telling them the stories that I had prepared, but weaving it in with the interaction with them. So that was the aha moment where I thought you don't need to be you don't need to have you know, a worksheet for myself. It's about, it's about crafting, it's about crafting the talk in a way that leaves room that leaves room for the audience to be part of the talk as well James Taylor is, I mean, that is also touching a huge trend. Every time I speak with Speaker bureaus or event professionals meeting meeting planners, this thing coming constantly through now about the levels interactivity, they might call it experience, they might use that word experience a lot. You know, I infamous because I think about in terms of that level of interactivity. And I think it's, it does a number of things. One also, it, it shows that you're comfortable enough in yourself and your topic, nothing that you speak about to know that frankly, if there's 1000 people in the room, there will be people in there that have had maybe better stories on that thing they have, you know, experiences that relate to that thing as well. And just having that confidence to be able to go there, because you kind of have some of the speaking chops, improvisational chops to be able to flow with that. And that's, I wouldn't say I don't say that lightly, because that's something that is not often a natural thing, when you just get started speaking, having that ability to kind of flow with an audience like that. And the other thing it does, is it immediately moves you just to a different type of conversation, you and I've used this before, you know, moving from the sage on the stage to the guide on the side. And first, you know, if we think of the the traditional keynote speaker that gets up there, and, you know, there's this thing to the audience in front of the audience, frankly, anyone that's gone to school in college in the past 10 years, that model is gone, that is gone. If you're speaking to any millennials, Gen x's, the most of them now, they will have some one way lessons are going like that. But they have the flipped classroom now, where they're they're learning a little bit of that, but but most of the stuff that they're doing in the classroom now is much more interactive. So if that's the audience, that's where the things are going, then I see the kind of stuff you're talking about much can have high levels of interaction. I spoke to no speaker. Yes. They said that he always wants to ensure it somehow works. And he wants to get in there with the audience. And he said, if you're very uncomfortable doing that the first few times, he said, but it's been transformational. And it makes it really enjoyable for him. Because if he's speaking on that same maybe that same speech multiple times, it adds that level of a little bit of danger into I guess, Tami Evans yeah. Oh, yeah. Um, so I do a thing, if I'm ever the after lunch speaker, you know, the dreaded after lunch spot? Yeah. where everybody's kind of like a food coma. And you know, they're the days half over. One of the humor things that I've worked in is it worked so well, if they place the dessert first, right. So when people come into the room, the desserts are already on the table, right? So I watch people and I work the room. And again, Christine kashin, I just can't say enough about how much she guided me. She said, Get in there. And she said, Go Go to the north part of the room and, you know, speak to some people make some friends go to the south part of the room go to the east of the West. And so now together, we've we've kind of called it compassing the room, right? And so we combust the room and get to get to meet people. And I watched the way people interact with the desserts. And so then I'll open my keynote talking about personality types, you know, are you are you the kind of person that that sat down and said, Oh, that's not the dessert that I wanted. And you like shifted your seat? Or are you the kind of person that said, I'm not going to sit down until I see the dessert that I want? Or are you the kind of person that sat down and said, Oh, that's not what I want. And you reached over and started, you know, so I talked about, and everyone laughs because that's exactly what people some people take to desserts, and something you know, so it's kind of using what's happening in the room in the moment, putting it back on them and, and it engages in engages the audience. And one very quick story about you know, when I worked in the consultancies and helping these major pitch presentation teams, one of their problems is they give too much information, without any levity. And so, one of the characters I was lucky enough to play was Maggie, the cat and cat On a Hot Tin Roof, and the whole first act of that play is a monologue by Maggie. I mean, it's just blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Right? So a lot of directors, most directors who staged that play will have Maggie, you know, putting on a pair of stockings in the middle of the stage, right? And so she pulls her skirt up. And, you know, it's the old stockings where they had the little clips, right. And so, I show a lot of famous pictures of, you know, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and all these famous people who have played Maggie the cat, and it's always the the shot with her putting her leg up and putting the stocking on right. So my tagline is, you know, if you have a lot of information to give, give them a little leg. Right? So it keeps their interest. Yeah, well, I that I told that story at speaker group of speakers that I was sharing this with in North Texas chapter on the National Speakers Association. When I said when you have a lot of information to give, give them a little leg. From the back of the room. I saw an NSA member called Philip Hatfield, hilarious man who has a prosthetic leg, the back of the just slowly lifted up his prosthetic leg. And all I could do was go, Oh, and I pointed and laughed, and the whole room turned. And it was one of the best audience interaction moments I've ever had. We all died laughing. He was the star. He was so amazing, and generous and funny. And it's one of my favorite audience moments ever. James Taylor But it was a thing of, you know, stories, make people listen to visuals make people remember. Tami Evans I love that. I wrote that. Like, James Taylor I think I would have to give credit. I think it was one of our other guests me that would go on this. I think I'd heard I heard someone say this line. I remember hearing it the first time and going. That's so true. I mean, I think about the number of times I've attended talks by other speakers, and I've frankly forgotten everything they've said. But I do remember that visual graphic named James talks about this contextual models. And there's something that you remember visually, that just not part of the brain doesn't go away. So I'm interested as we start going to finish up here. What What is there an online tool or an app? or some kind of resource that you use find very useful for yourself? as a speaker? Tami Evans Yeah. Oh, he's, uh, you know, I belong to each speaker. And I have the the professional membership on each speaker. So I run my entire business through that tool. And I know they have just aligned with a CRM, and I can't remember off the top of my James Taylor head, but I think it's coma speaker that we're working with our speaker. Yeah, this Yeah, this summer. Yeah, Tami Evans yeah. So I, I'm gonna have to make that switch, because I thought they were gonna link with Insightly. Ah, but, uh, the thing that I think helps everyone to remember is that, when you find that, that tool or that, use it, definitely use it. But always be remembering that things are going to change and things are going to develop and just be be willing to go there. Because when we get stuck down in, in places that, you know, I do it this way, I do it this way. And this goes for for our talks and our tools and our business, then we're gonna get stuck. And I think you talk all the time about where you live in a time of disruption. And so just expect to be disrupted. And then you know, if we do that, and if we can find ways to laugh about that, if we can find ways to say, you know, I was really so comfortable, and then whoops, now we're, you know, doing things differently again, then that's going to allow people to know that you can laugh at yourself and go with the flow as well. And if you can help your audiences to laugh at that, that really helps them and you speak as I know, on that I used PR as well. And it has a syndrome, there's a part in it, which says you could actually write down every time you speak, what the jokes were that you use, yeah, that particular thing, because so you were using, like, James Taylor did I say that to that group or that audience? And so I, I must have been using that. So Tami Evans what about, you know what color pocket square you wore? right? Exactly. James Taylor I also use it for that exactly, little thing, little things like that. It doesn't mean unless they're lucky at the time, but when people can come by see he said that drunk last night? And what about when it comes to books? Is there a particular book that you find really useful for yourself? You know, as you were kind of, maybe as you were getting into speaking professionally, or now as you're building your speaking business? Tami Evans Yes. So I, I try to read whenever someone that I know or respect and my friends come out with a book, I try to I try to read it and what I do is I read it, I read it knowing that something's going to stick and pop out. And so currently on my bedside table, I'm currently sleeping with Andrew tarvin on my bedside table, and so I'm reading his incredible Story of speaking around the United States and he visited every state and he, he just tells a story in each state, and some of them are poignant. And some of them are funny. And some of them are callbacks to something that happened earlier. And I thought, as a speaker, we travel so much, there is so much time in transport in airports and in getting to where we need to go or getting from there. And to remember to use that as material for your life for your book for your speeches, for your conversations with your clients. His book has really like that really set a spark off for me about that. So I highly recommend it. It's called the United States of humor, and it's by Andrew tarvin. James Taylor Oh, put that link there as well. Well, but you mentioned travel, what is in your speaker bag? What is in that bag that you never leave the home or the office for that? It's got all your things? What's in that bag? Tami Evans Oh, my gosh. Well, I travel with my, my Madonna. Mike, you'll, you'll remember from the music industry. So I happen to have a Samson sc 50. And the reason I have that is because before countrymen came out with all the adapters, the Samson had all the adapters. So I'm an AV wannabe. So I travel with my microphone, my slide advancer extra batteries. I travel with all my adapters and cables. And I go early, and I get to know the AV team because I love them. They are usually the most grounded, funny, warm people in the whole room. And I always tell them, you realize you're the most important people in this room because without you we're not seen or heard. And I start that relationship very early. And they always get a kick out of the fact that I travel with my you know, all my gear and all my you know, little tools and stuff like that. So I love that microphone. And you know what I just just while we're on the AV team. The next time you are getting miked up or you're on the podium and you're testing doing your soundcheck, ask the person that you're working with. Ask them, what's their favorite gig they've worked on? It is remarkable, the stories that you hear Yeah. And it's about that connection, you're connecting with them. You end up laughing, of course, because a lot of the stories are really funny. And it's that that connection that creates the culture of the event so that when you are on stage, should something happen? You know, you've got a teammate that you've already connected with. So sorry, you're talking about gig bags? Yeah. James Taylor Nobody, I think that's a great point. Because I mean, having come from the music industry, I've spent a lot of time I've spent a lot of time with those people as well. hearing a lot of stories, you hear some great, very, very funny stories, unfortunately, most of them are completely unprintable. You could never tell us a bit about that. Because some of them relate to maybe other speakers or other people in the business that you can either really want to say, but, but it's great, because it's a nice thing. Also, from from a self serving standpoint, you know, at the end of any conference, they have a, they'll have a post mortem on it. And everyone's feeding in everything's, and I know that speakers event professionals have actually said to me, that all the the AV team, or the people that were running the sand that they said, Hey, you agreed to work with because you've gotten this thing, and you did this, wherever the thing was, as well. So definitely kind of pay 40 we don't get anything in return from it. It's just it's a nice thing to do. It makes everyone's job. I mean, they're doing like cars, they're going into different venues every day and speaking and working in different places every day. It's it's just a nice, a nice human thing to do as well. What about a final question for you, Tammy, I want you to imagine you've woken up tomorrow morning. And you have to start from scratch. So you know, everything you know now, but you have no contacts, no one knows you, you have to completely restart your speaking career. What would you do? How would you restart your speaking career? Tami Evans Ah, you know, here's my glass of Kool Aid. I, the first thing to do is to join the National Speakers Association, or find a local meeting to go to. There are some you know, starting now is it's easier to find community speaking community online and LinkedIn groups, Facebook groups are places. So that's how to connect with the speaking industry community, in order to get myself out there and I tell this to any buddy who would desire to have speaking as a business is to speak, speak, speak, speak, speak, even if it's for free, because you can't shortcut feed on the stage. You have to put in the time in order to get that that confidence and the credibility and the cohesion of your message and the creativity to bring it all together. Those those aspects are just So critical and the only way to do that is to get out and then people are going to see you. And they're going to tell someone and then those people are going to ask you to come and speak. And so that's the actual speaking bit and then the content bit, right. start a blog, write articles do guest spots on, you know, people's LinkedIn pages or Right, right, right. I Someone once told me that writing is the the true path to wealth. And I think it's true in any industry because if you're writing, you're thinking you're you're creating things you're researching, you're, you know, allowing your thoughts to come out. So yeah, right, right. Right, right, right. And then get it up on its feet and just start doing it. James Taylor Well, Tami, thank you so much for coming on today. You've definitely got go I've written so many notes here about how I'm going to hopefully improve my the human liberty of my speaking as well hopefully everyone else they've got some ideas here about you know, actor about the different areas, callbacks, loads of really, really useful stuff. He is also Tami, thank you so much. I'm looking forward to hearing you speak on stage at some point soon as well. And I wish you all the best of your speaking career. Tami Evans Yes, thank you so much, James. It's been my pleasure and anyone can feel free to reach out I'm more than happy to share as we do in the speaker community. So thank you for the opportunity. Best of luck and I can't wait to see you on stage as well again, thank you. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

Corporate Executive To Professional Speaker James Taylor interviews Dr Shirley Davis and they talked about going from Corporate Executive To Professional Speaker In today's episode Dr Shirley Davis they talk about going from Corporate Executive To Professional Speaker Dr Shirley Davis is an accomplished international keynote speaker, corporate executive, President of SDS Global Enterprises and a master of reinvention. She has over 20 years of business experience and has worked at five Fortune 50 and 100 companies in various senior and executive leadership roles. Most recently, she was the Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion and Workplace Strategies for the Society of Human Resource Management, the world's largest HR association. She's been featured and quoted in NBC's The Today Show, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. Shirley is a Board Member of the National Speakers Association and holds a Bachelor's in Pre-Law; a Master's in HR Management; and a PhD in Business and Organization Management. What we cover: Transitioning from a corporate job to full-time professional speaker Diversity at events Positioning as a business strategy Resources: Dr Shirley Davis Dr Shirley Davis LinkedIn Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/corporate-executive-to-professional-speaker-sl082/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey there, it's James Taylor, and I'm delighted today to be joined by Dr. Shirley Davis. Dr. Shirley Davis is an accomplished international keynote speaker, corporate executive president of SDS, global enterprises, and a master of reinvention. She has over 20 years of business experience and has worked at five of Fortune 50 and 100 companies in various senior and executive leadership roles. Most recently, she was the Global Head of diversity and inclusion and workplace strategies for the Society of Human Resource Management as the world's largest HR organization. She's been featured and quoted in NBC, as D show USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, surely is a board member of the National Speakers Association, and holds a bachelor's in pre law, a master's in HR management, and a PhD in business and organization management. And it's my great pleasure to have today. And I feel incredibly under qualified now that I've just got to read all your incredible quote, you're so so share with me show everyone what was going on in your world, just now what's happening Dr. Shirley Davis is a lot happening. As I am mentioning to you, I'm heading out on a six city tour over the next seven days, I'll be there delivering seven speeches, I do have the absolute pleasure to one of those stops will be at the Les Brown speakers Institute. And I will be one of the speakers there. I traveled with les for about five years. He is one of my mentors, my coaches and certainly a friend of mine. And so he's asked me to come in train some other speakers. So that's one of the things going on. Another great opportunity that's happening is my business has really expanded in a way that I wasn't anticipating. But with all of the revelations and a lot of the conversations going on now with me too. And Time's up. My HR background has really catapulted me into an opportunity now to start doing a lot more work with organizations around how to build more harassment free, respectful and inclusive workplaces. So James Taylor that's really taken off. And so we're gonna come into that and a little bit as well, because I really want to start talking about especially as it relates to the world of word of speaking in events. But before I do, how did you get started in this this world of speaking, I mentioned earlier, you have this very strong corporate American America kind of background. How did you end up in the in the world of being a professional speaker, Dr. Shirley Davis professional speaker is one thing, but I actually have been speaking since I was about six years old. My very, very first public speech, was as valedictorian of my kindergarten class and my teachers actually saw something in me early on before I even knew that this is what I was going to be called to do. But professionally, actually, I think it's just it's been a calling for me. I have been working, as you mentioned, corporate America, but in human resources, and much of what I've done in addition to corporate training and development and leadership development, has been speaking on behalf of the company. So I've done everything from media interviews to keynotes to their clients and customers, to just doing training every day for our staff and our leaders and executives. And that's really what prepared me to ultimately then you know, move out on my own and be doing this full time for James Taylor my business. And as you started taking those first steps to moving from from the corporate world to becoming a professional speaker, who were those early mentors or guides for you who the people that maybe you mentioned, les, Les Brown there as well, but with with other people that can take you under their wing to help you can support you in that journey. Dr. Shirley Davis Yeah. Les Brown, obviously, was one that I've been following for years anyway, but I actually had been following early on the zigzag colors. I followed the Jolo stains and the TD Jakes because there they are worldwide ministries, and that's that was important to me. They're great, motivational, inspirational speakers as well. So those have been some of my mentors, obviously, I tracked you know, Del Toro McNeal, he's one of my friends as well as a colleague in this business. Simon T. Bailey is a great example of some of those. And then I just I study a lot of different speakers, Tony Robbins, obviously, always looking at who's the best at the top of their Echelon, and what can I learn from them. James Taylor Now, we have this kind of romantic notion of if you come from the corporate world, and you want to become a speaker of kind of going in there on Monday morning and handing in your notice and say, that's it. I'm going to be an author. I'm going to be a speaker. This is who I am. I'm going to go I'm going to go out there. Is that what it's like in real life. I don't come from the corporate world, but I can have it My imagination like in the movies, that's kind of the speaker's journey going from corporate to there. What was your journey? Did it have anything in resemblance to that? Dr. Shirley Davis No, actually, it was a journey, because I actually, for me, had to work an exit strategy. So it took me three years to get up the courage to actually put the infrastructure in place to really build the kind of business that I wanted to have before I started. So I literally planned for it over a three year period, while I was still working in corporate America, timing for me is everything. So what I knew was time for me was whenever I started getting more and more requests to come into organizations, and to corporations, to do separate speeches from what I was doing, when I was working at the Society for human resource management, I was getting a lot more of those requests. When I went to talk to General Counsel, about you know, is this something I can do with my five weeks of vacation, and you know, do some of this on my own time? And they said, No. So I thought, okay, so I feel like I'm a little bit confined and limited here. And I really can't live my dream because I'm confined by job description. So I literally worked a three year exit strategy. And during that time, I had to reaffirm my what I had to lay out my business plan my three to five year business plan, I had to get my family on board and get all the moral support and build my network, I had to get my finances in order. And then I had to, like I said, build the infrastructure and get the right resources in place. So I plan to succeed, and I plan to be in this thing for a long time. James Taylor So it must have been quite a nerve wracking time as well. I mean, going from having that regular paycheck that's coming in, and health insurance, and all those kind of things that go with that as well, to going into a world of really kind of entrepreneurship, as a speaker. Was was that, you know, was there like a particularly dark time in that period, when you were kind of going through those changes where you felt? I just don't know if I can I can do this, if I've got the stuff to be able to make this happen? Or are we all Have you always been this kind of confident type of person? Dr. Shirley Davis Not at all? Not at all. So that's again, why I said it took me three years, because part of that was building up courage and building up my faith and, and praying and asking, okay, is this really, really what I'm supposed to be doing on my own? And is this the right time. So that's what took me some time to do that. And during that time, is when I was saving up money, I was saving up my bonus checks, I was saving up my vacation of unpaid leave, I was saving up, you know, tax refunds. And so I literally when I left my corporate job, I had a year's worth of salary saved up so that just in case things didn't work out, I had a backup plan to at least pay my bills. So it really was important. And for me, I think having that plan in place. And having thought this through and I talked to so many speakers and business leaders to find out what it was that they did to succeed. But what are the things that they learned in order not to fail, that really helped me but I was very afraid. And that steady paycheck and a six figure income and, and having the benefits and all of that being lost was one of the reasons why I put in place having a backup of having my own one year salary saved up now. James Taylor You get to speak all over the world now. And you and I were going to be speaking in event together in Singapore coming up soon as well. You and You speak to lots of different industries. So what I'm interested in what strikes you about how the global workforce is changing? Because you're talking to lots and lots of different countries across lots of different industries? What are you seeing the trends there? Dr. Shirley Davis Absolutely. That's actually one of the sweet spots. For me, that's where companies called me and as their resident expert, and as a global thought leader on the changing workforce, about the fact that not only today, but in the next 15 years. So by 2020, and I talked about inclusion and workforce 2030 is that the world now has become more global and diverse and virtual and mobile, and hyper connected. And also working in a gig economy where people have their side hustles they got other jobs, they're working full time, but they've got online businesses, they're working Uber or Lyft. And they've got you know, Bed and Breakfast is through a lot of those online, you know, rental property. So it's a lot of those changes that we're saying I call it this era of disruption, and the workforce is being disrupted as well, too. So a lot of my work is helping CEOs of these major fortune 100 and fortune 50 companies to revamp their strategy around how they get great talent, how do they engage that talent? How do you develop and grow that talent? And how do you use that talent to build greater inclusion and innovation and, and be more competitive and stay relevant and build a long term business success? James Taylor You mentioned inclusion, I'm thinking I was actually listening to something today just saying here in the UK, they've been making a lot of changes in terms of having more diverse boards, because there's there was a big study I think was Credit Suisse came out the big study saying those those You know, one of the reasons we went through some, some terrible economic crashes recently was because there was lots of people in the room that look the same had same backgrounds. And so so I can see that's happening within boards, and it's obviously happening within organizations. When it comes to the speaking world, it sometimes feels like that message hasn't quite got through yet, you know, a lot of energy go to. And I mean, I've seen a speaking event recently, and I looked at the number who was speaking. And, frankly, there was a lot of people that looked like me that were there were male and pale. And that was predominantly kind of what it was. So what you see from, from your perspective, in terms of someone that you speak in all these different types of is it changing? Is it? Is it finally starting, that transition is finally starting to happen? Or is it something that we need to be doing just as as speakers and actually speaking up a bit more if we see that lineup in terms of coming through being actually coming forward? A little bit more, we already been booked for it? What can we be doing as speakers? Dr. Shirley Davis Yeah, that's a great point, James. And it's a, it's a business issue. It's a business strategy. And that's a long term sustainability strategy. So when I was in corporate America, even as I was the Global Head of diversity, and inclusion and workforce strategies, I was working a lot with organizations who were dealing exactly with that. But what I was also finding is that companies, even conferences, were saying, we need to get more diversity, even on our big stage, because people who are coming to our conferences look different. They're from different companies, different cultures, different backgrounds, they're different races, different ethnicities, different genders, and they have different needs. And so they're recognizing that they've got to have a message that resonates with their changing clients and customers and members, as well as their staff. So even though the global marketplace and the global workforce is changing, so are our communities that are consumers, and our customers and members. So it is very critical. I see now that a lot more companies are calling on me, not only because I'm an expert at what I do in the global changing workforce, but also because I happen to be a woman of color, who can command the stage and who is a thought leader. So they get sort of the best of all of those worlds. But they are hearing that same feedback as well, is that they need to change up who is on that lineup of keynote speakers, because everyone tends to look the same. And yet, that's not who's in the audience all the time. So they're very important. You know, one of the point I wanted to hit on real quick was we talked about this global changing marketplace and workplace Think about this. Now we have 51% of the global workforce are women, that means consumers to women are consuming the largest amount of our consumer spending. They're the ones that are paying, you know, for products and services, they're the ones that are making most of the financial decisions, both in their homes, as well as in the communities and then you know, as a consumer. So we got to think about that you look at now there's five generations that are in the workforce, but they're also our consumers. And look what's happening with the drive of millennials, Millennials are changing policy. They're changing organizational strategies and structures. They're changing the way that we do business and the way that we work. So we also have to change the way that we service them as well. So we as leaders, have to know that 75% of the workforce by 2025 is going to be millennials. So think about how we need to change our messages and our format and the way that we communicate with them very differently than 20 years ago, and 10 years ago. James Taylor Yeah, I mean, that reminds me, I'm thinking now, I was recently involved in doing a some online summit, primarily for event professionals, meeting planners. And one of the things that came through the I'd never really thought of before, but came through very, very strongly said you have to do we're saying you have to remember now that many of the people that are coming into starting in organizations, and even getting into like that first level of management in the corporate world, they have been educated in different ways. The new you know, I don't I don't know when you were at school cause but when I was at school, college, you know, you had someone that was like in the front of the room, the sage on the stage, and they would blast information at you and hoped you would remember some of it. But now he said, so much of the teaching that goes on in the cloud, in classrooms, colleges and schools, is this flipped classroom where they receive a lot of their information online in other ways. So when the role of the teacher or the person in the classroom is to encourage debate and discussion and questions, and it's much more interactive than then something when I was at school, so if that's what's happening in the schools, that's all that's going to come so suddenly, that that person who's in like they're in their 20s is coming into that event, and then suddenly seeing that speaker that's like just blasting information at them for 60 minutes or 90 minutes. It kind of feels a bit old fashioned now, Dr. Shirley Davis it definitely is very archaic and you're not going to keep people really fully engaged every seven minutes. You really need to be changing up how you're presenting. So my keynotes Not lectures, my keynotes are very interactive, very engaging, very provocative. And I have found over the last seven to 10 years, for me, I've gotten a greater level of response. When I have been, you know, I've now incorporated polling I've incorporated, you know, tweeting, I've incorporated for them to do, you know, conversations with each other, share your experiences, get them more engaged in talking. And as a part of my, you know, my presentation, so you got to keep it changed up, you can't just stay the same and expect that people are going to, you know, and again, as I said, we're in a virtual mobile workforce, but that also means that's who your clients are. And that's probably who your audience participants are. So you've got to be continuously engaging and upgrading. And as a James Taylor woman of color that's going into speak at these different organizations. What what biases do you do you encounter? And how do you how do you deal with those biases, because I think this is a hard thing, you know, to make myself that is kind of difficult for me to get because, you know, I'm, I am who I am. And I'm not a woman. And so and there are there's the when you go in to speak organizations you can talk to in a certain type of way. So when you come across those those biases, I'm sure you definitely come across those biases and organizations, how do you deal with them, especially when you're talking, you know, and have that conversation with that CEO, that decision maker in the organization, Dr. Shirley Davis James, we only have 30 minutes for this. So I can't go into my life story. But that's actually as a woman of color, I absolutely have dealt with that. And so I mean, everything from being marginalized to being devalued to being invisible to being at the table, but being assumed to be the one to take the notes or being excused or letting my ideas be shared only for them to be dismissed, and someone else to share that same idea A few minutes later, and everyone thinks it's the best thing since cornflakes, right. So a lot of those things I've experienced, I also now still today, go into organizations, and you know, I'm waiting to meet with someone. And they don't necessarily know that I am the one that's the keynote speaker, if I'm with a colleague of mine, I've got a team of people, sometimes who will go with me, if they are my white or Caucasian colleagues, they will assume that it's one of them that they must be, you know, coming out to meet and I must be the executive assistant or the support person. So I still get a lot of those, I can come off of a stage even now. And I'll have people come up to me and say, Wow, that was awesome. You're very articulate. But you don't say that to white men, right. So it hidden in that are some biases up, I didn't expect you to be that great, or I didn't expect you to be that articulate, or I didn't expect you to be that intelligent. And so I still deal with those. But I've turned those into teachable moments. And because I work with diversity and inclusion and work with leadership coaching all the time. Those are opportunities for me now to excuse the biases, but use it as an opportunity to teach them how they can certainly be much more respectful and sensitive and culturally aware of sometimes the things that they say and do that can minimize a person's value. And what about James Taylor the hidden biases, because I was thinking the other day about so much of this industry is one of referrals. So I'll get a call from maybe at the conference I spoke at last year, and they'll say this, this the theme of this one is this theme. Who would you recommend? And and so so I'll automatically go. And I'll say Usually, it's probably often the last speaker I had a conversation with on that particular topic. But it has made me think now, when someone I have that conversation with someone that I might I might recommending that person, because they're like me, and that is why I'm recommending that person? And is that just perpetuating something so that that person gets booked for that. And it just happens time and leave? So and bearing in mind we're This is to our community of speakers. What can we be doing as speakers to make changes? Dr. Shirley Davis I think it's it's twofold, right? So part of your role and responsibility is to be more culturally competent and more sensitive that the workforce, the workplace, our society is becoming much more diverse. So make an intentional decision to broaden your network of people of other cultures and backgrounds and races and genders that you don't traditionally relate to. So for someone like me, on the flip side of that my role and responsibility is to also build relationships that are broad, broad reaching, and of course, as a woman of color, I've learned how to do that anyway, because that's one of the ways to get to the top or to be successful is to, you know, partner with and to get to know and build relationships with those who have the power those who have the position. So I have done that. And I have found by doing that, that I've gotten more referrals from some of my white counterparts. I've gotten referrals from people from different cultures and different countries because I have made an intentional decision to broaden my network, but it has to be To fold as well. James Taylor So you are now on the board of the National Speakers Association. And, and I remember going to my first Speakers Association mean, not the National Speakers Association, not another speaker Association. I went I went to I went to one in one country, that's not my home country. And and, and I felt a certain kind of thing. And it was very open and very people. And it was very diverse, actually, the people in the room, and I went to another one. And it felt very, it felt quite male, a lot of a lot of blazers, blue blazer type type vibe, and it felt a bit uncomfortable. Even, you know, for me, and I'm like, is this really the kind of group I want to be kind of part of is this really my values and everything? So I know, this is a subject you're really passionate about, you know, your role now, as a leadership role, the NSA, the NSA, that the organization and the membership can more reflect the world, you know, what's going to what's going to the diversity of in organizations in the world, what some of the things, some of the major projects, the ideas that you have, in terms of changing things there. Dr. Shirley Davis Yeah, actually, I'm one of many on the board. But I really appreciate the fact that that was a priority for last year's board was to make sure that they were being much more reflective and considerate of the fact that their membership is changing, as well as the world around them. And they've got to learn to be more relevant and that they've got to reflect that in their membership and in their products, their programming their services, as well and walk the talk. I'm like it when I first walked in to my first annual conference, and even to chapter meetings, I felt the same way I didn't feel like I belonged. I didn't feel a part of I didn't see a lot of people who look like me, it was very cliquish, sort of that old boy network, right. And so I felt like, okay, now I'm in diversity and inclusion, I understand this. So I can either be a change agent, or I can just walk away. And you know, and go and do something else with my life. But I felt like there was a role that I could play that, you know, with my business experience, and background with my corporate experience, and having worked in a membership Association, I thought, wow, I can really add some value here by helping them helping the leaders to be much more understanding and aware and sensitive of how the workforce is changing, and help them put in some strategy. So everything from making sure that our programming now reflects more diversity of our society, make sure that we're looking at technology in different ways, and multiple channels of how we can deliver to so many people who have different learning styles and thinking styles and ways of communicating to looking at our chapter strategies, and how can we make sure that our chapters are being much more inclusive and appealing and attractive to diverse talent in their communities as well. So those are some of the things that I can do. It's going to take a while, you know, I'm going to be on the board for three years or more. But it will take a while but at least I'm glad to see that we're focusing on that now. James Taylor And in your speaking career, this this journey you've had, was there a key aha moment or lightbulb moment where you went? Okay, this is direction I want to go with my speaking or this is a type of type of organization or type of client, you want to do really speak to Dr. Shirley Davis Yeah, my topic because I'm talking about the global changing workforce? And how do you build an inclusive and high performance, workplace culture? And how do you build the best talent? And how do you, you know, have leaders that are walking the talk and leaders of excellence. So that is a topic that is actually universal? Many people are looking at that, because I can tell you, there's so many more people that work for bad bosses. And they work for toxic cultures or cultures that are static or complacent or rigid, or risk averse. So I'm helping them to shift and make those transitions. So I think for me, I I've had my aha moments as I was going out and doing more training and just seeing people saying, Wow, the way that you present this and position this as a business strategy as a long term, sustainable strategy and business model and the way that you make it practical and relevant, this is something that we need. And so those have been my aha is probably about seven years ago, I realized, gosh, there's a real need for this. And people that look like me aren't out there speaking about it and talking about it in a way that doesn't make people feel offended or insulted or they feel like they've you know, gone through the wringer because of the training. I'm talking to them from the terms of how do you make sure that you are, you know, appealing to an attractive to great talent, loyal customers, great members? And how does this contribute to your bottom line? So positioning it as a business strategy has been a real eye opener and a long term business strategy for me. James Taylor And I think that's probably the reason why, I mean, sometimes, you know, some of these things get put very easily in the breakout session space. And, and you don't do that you are the keynote speaker, you are that person at opening, you know, because it's also setting a tone for an entire organization or an association as well. So I think I really commend you for, for being able to do that because that's a hard thing I think to do to be able to, either it's not just on this topic, there's lots of subjects we can think of which can If not careful, then get ready to get moved to the the breakout session space. Dr. Shirley Davis Yeah. I mean, I'm not afraid to do breakouts. But I found that over the last four or five years, they've wanted me as the keynoter because I appeal to a broad audience. Now, I will tell you that I'm speaking to manufacturing environments, I'm speaking to architects, I'm speaking to engineers, I'm speaking to scientists, and I'm speaking to a majority white male audience, but they resonate with me because I'm talking their language. And because I diffuse a lot of the stereotypes and the myths, and I think I'm able to relate to them in a very personable way, but in a way that's practical, that they can take it back and make a change in a difference, where they haven't walked away feeling like they've been, you know, completely insulted James Taylor to do my practicalities you're about to hit on the road, you've got a big speaking to happening just now. What is in that speaker bag? What isn't that bag that you carry with these two, all of your speaking engagements, you'd never leave home or the office without Dr. Shirley Davis in my speaker bag, I've always got to have my presentations on my USB flash drive. So I always have a USB flash drive, just in case something happens with the computer, it doesn't work technology is broke down. There's always someone that has an extra extra laptop there. And if they don't, I always have my presentation in a hardcopy so that I can refer to it most of the time, I don't need it, I can get up and speak this stuff like that, you know, like I drink water. I also always have backup cords, I have HDMI and I find that some companies I go into their technology is not up to date. So I've always got a backup for making sure that my my chords work with their, their their technology, I always have peanut butter crackers, because when I'm traveling so much I need energy. And I need that fiber and protein to keep me going because there are days where I am like on a plane right after I speak, I don't have time to eat. And so that gives me a little bit more energy to go. And I always have my square because you never know when there's going to be a great opportunity to sell something so James Taylor Oh, awesome. And then what about when it comes to? You mentioned square? That's kind of one an app or two? Are there any other online resources or apps or tools you find really useful for yourself as a speaker? Dr. Shirley Davis Yeah, I do. I mean, obviously, I think all of us use TripAdvisor. That's that's very, very important. I stay a lot on social media. So I'm always kind of looking at what's going on I love are we that we have a CSP link. I'm constantly looking at opportunities there that people are using. But I think for me, I stay mostly in tune to just some of the social media, whether it's YouTube or Vimeo or LinkedIn or Instagram that keeps me up to date on what's going on. And I can find anybody anywhere that way. And then what James Taylor about a book if there was, I want you to imagine maybe there's someone watching this just now that was in that position that you were in a number of years ago. They're working in a corporate job, they maybe really enjoy their job, but it's it's not necessarily fulfilling. They know that there's something more there and they want to make that transition want to make that journey and they want to do it in quite a deliberate way. Is there any books that you would recommend to them to kind of switch their mind to this or even just going to help them get started on that journey? Dr. Shirley Davis Yeah, there's a couple I really love a good friend, my good friend, Delatour McNeil has a great book called caught between a dream and a job. And that's really all about how to make that exit from your full time job that you're getting a paycheck at, but it's not your dream. And so how do you sort of make that shift in that change? I love this great book by Myles Munroe called passing it on. And it's all about why we do what we do in life, having a purpose and making sure that whatever we do that it's adding impact wherever we go. There's a third book I really love by Simon Simon, that called start with y. So always just kind of understanding why you're doing something and ensuring that you're asking those right kinds of questions before you take that leap and jump out and do it. And then certainly I think for any speaker, joining the NSA is a great opportunity and great resources there but paid to speak book, more business all those are great books to get started as well. That's great, some amazing resource, they will put as many of these on the on the show notes here as possible as well. And kind of final question for you. I want you to imagine you woke up tomorrow morning, and we'll let you choose where you wake up which city which country you wake up in, but you've got all the skills you've acquired as a speaker over the years, but no one knows you, you know no one you have to restart. What would you do? How would you restart your career? You know, I would restart it the way that I started this one I would started deliberately, slowly, intentionally and with the strategy, but I will also start like what I did when I jumped out I didn't immediately just quit my job. And then the next day I was open for business. I actually quit my job as I told you over three years and then when I gave them my notice I gave them a six month notice I gave it to them in January and I didn't leave till July. But I also partnered with Les Brown, so I started speaking with him going to speakers training and then traveling with him around the globe. We did five different countries, over a five year period and then certainly all Around the US. So that would be one of the things that I would say do is get with someone else who's already doing this and use them as your mentor, use them as an opportunity to train you and to grow and you know, be able to learn more about what to do, don't just do it by yourself. And don't just start that, you know, just from scratch, you got to be out there and partnering with someone while you're building your business. I think that's such great advice. I mean, of all this, of all the speakers I've been talking with, is that one of the thing that keeps saying out, which is the importance of having some kind of mentorship as well, in the fight, you had Les Brown, like one of the greatest speakers of the world is pretty, pretty amazing as well. So I'm going to be really interested in in the years to come watching you be a mentor, for other speakers that are coming through as well. And I think if this summit still exists in in a few years time, I'm looking forward to interviewing those women, those men who have come through and have you've mentored and helped them as well. So that's, that's, that's something I'm sure we're gonna definitely see. I love that I actually have a mastermind group specifically on helping you launch a profitable consulting and speaking business. And I've got a great number of people learning just like that, how do you do this? And so I'm teaching them so I'd love for you to do that. Well, that's great. So if people want James Taylor to learn about that, and they want to learn more about you and your speaking, maybe the they're getting that call from that, that meeting planner saying Who should we get this year and they want to refer you and where should they go? What's the best place for them to go to Dr. Shirley Davis absolutely go directly to DrShirleydavis.com. Or you can definitely go to my LinkedIn profile. You can also find me on LinkedIn learning I'm an author there launched a new course called inclusive leadership. And you'll hear some of my personal stories about my journey of becoming a speaker as well as a leader. So there's a number of ways that you can find me but Dr. Shirley Davis calm James Taylor Well, she's been a pleasure as always speaking to you I'm really looking forward to getting to meet in person when we're in Singapore at that event together. And I would I wish you all the best on your on your speaking to the you're just about to embark on Dr. Shirley Davis thank you I wish you all the best to thanks again for the opportunity. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

KeyNote Women Speakers James Taylor interviews Su-Yen Wong and they talked about KeyNote Women Speakers In today's episode Su-Yen Wong they talk about KeyNote Women Speakers What we cover: The power of co-authoring a book with your peers KeyNote Women Speakers The speaking business in Asia Resources: Su-Yen Website Su-Yen LinkedIn Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/keynote-women-speakers-sl081/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey, there's James Taylor, and I'm delighted today to welcome Sue Yen Wong. Sue Yen is a professional speaker, board director and entrepreneur who engages audiences globally on the future of work. She is CEO of bronze Phoenix, a premier provider of solutions to help organizations and leaders reinvent themselves. She is also the author of an Amazon best seller and award winning photographer and early in life as a musician, which I never knew. So we're gonna learn all about these different stages of her career. So Su-Yen Wong first of all, welcome to you. Thank you, James. Great to be here. James Taylor So share with us Oh, what's happening in your world just now? Su-Yen Wong Well, at the moment, I'm actually preparing for a couple of meetings next week with one of the large major banks, I've got another session coming up actually, with. It's a governmental setup here, also in Singapore for one of their one of the conferences, juggling a few things. Plus, of course, it's just been board directors season. So it's, it's been pretty full on. James Taylor So take us back to I never knew you had you had the Secret Life of being a musician to to take us through these different steps or stages in your, in your your, your portfolio of Korea, Japan. Su-Yen Wong Right, right. Well, I did start out as a musician, my my mother actually had a music school, she still she still teaches. So at the age of three, I was pumped into the piano, and started to learn piano. And so I actually majored in music in university. But just to make it fun, I did music and computer science. And so there's some recordings out there of me with a couple of orchestras and things like that. And I also earned my living on the side Piano Bar and stuff like that. So that that was sort of the first chapter. But But I never actually aspired to be a professional musician, because I actually think it's a fairly lonely life, certainly as a pianist. So I morphed from there into strategy consulting, then he went on to a leadership role in professional services morphed into taking on a board, Director portfolio, and then in my current incarnation, I'm continuing to do that, but but also with life as a professional speaker and entrepreneur. James Taylor So it shows kind of circuitous Ray, you ended back on stages again, or be in a different gaze. Su-Yen Wong You're quite right. And actually, it's the same, it works exactly the same way, in the sense that you know, that lots of metaphors that I use, from music to leadership to speaking, and I think they actually translate pretty well. James Taylor Now you're based in Singapore, which is a phenomenal hub, to base from if you're speaking across Southeast Asia, as well. You went to you studied music was in the US is where you study. Right? Yeah. And so tell us, what did you after you studied there, and you did also your computer science program as well? Did you immediately move back to Singapore? Or were you traveling around the world for a little bit? Su-Yen Wong Yeah, great question. I started out in the US, I worked in the US for a while then I relocated to Thailand, and then to Hong Kong. And then they spent quite a bit of time in Korea, but of time in China, and then finally landed back in Singapore. So it was a bit of a circuitous route back here. And so part of the reason why I do enjoy speaking globally is because I've actually worked with clients around the world. So you've asked what else I'm working on. So I've got a trip coming up to to Australia, and then to to the US. So Boston, New York, DC. Yeah, and I guess when you live in a particular place, you get a bit more of a cultural affinity, which, at least for me, as a speaker makes it easier to connect the audience. So that that's all come in handy, even though it wasn't planned that way. James Taylor There's something I find really interesting about your obviously your your speakers, you member as well, but something something I find really working and working with you as well is because I end up working with there. There may be speakers, authors, coaches, or speakers, authors, mentors or speakers, trainers or sometimes like speakers, advisors, perhaps, you know, you might have a little bit of that as well, speakers, online marketers, but you actually have this kind of speaker on the board. And, you know, you know, board director board advisory in a person's well, so tell tell me about now because I think that's quite uncommon that in terms of having professional speakers, they have such a depth of experience in the boardroom. Su-Yen Wong Yeah, um, I guess I might my board journey, I guess all of these things are journeys, right, just as you have a speaker's journey, there's a board journey is one, I've probably been in board situations on board since over 10 years. And it started out as a bit of a curiosity, which was you know, as as a as a consultant, you advise clients, and then of course, the clients then take it from there, in terms of what they want to do here advice, be going to board has really allowed me I think, to get a little closer to sort of actually directing action across a portfolio of different companies in different countries. So some of the boards that I work with are in Myanmar and India and Indonesia, the US, Australia, so it's quite a diverse base to work with. And then in concurrently with that in and as part of my role previously, and you know, with multinational companies, I had to do a lot of speaking anyway. So So I suppose you could think of it as I've been paid to speak for quite a number of years, but in under corporate umbrella, and then sort of now blending both the board journey as well as the speakers training, I think it allows me to sort of see the perspective in terms of what companies are going through as they go through transformation, and then translate that into into the messages that I bring when when I put on my other hat, right to sort of different hats for different situations. James Taylor So can you remember that first speaking gig that you got where you it wasn't because you were a board member there, you weren't going for a company, but actually a company or an organization, we're paying to bring you, Sudan to come and speak at their conference or their event? Su-Yen Wong You know, that actually wasn't a very long time ago at all, that was literally about a year and a half ago, because I had just left my corporate gig, sort of in December of 2017. And it came via one of my former clients, which was a large bank, here in Singapore. And they were basically doing their their beginning beginning of year kickoff. And they wanted to get an external perspective around disruption and how they would affect affect work, not just foot foot for their staff, but also how it would affect their clients in turn. So So yeah, that was January of 2018. Not very long ago at all. James Taylor I mean, and it's fantastic. Seeing how your career is really just kind of take off as well. And I was talking, I think, I was talking to a client the other day he was asked me to come and speak at an event. I said, What speakers have you? Have you booked before? And said, Oh, and this quote was actually in the UK, it's, you know, we've just actually booked this disgrace. Because, see and wrong. Who's speaking for isn't Singapore? Fantastic. That's great. It's great to hear that you hear us members, because your members or students or friends of yours again, getting things. And Su-Yen Wong so small world James Taylor is great, it's great. So so you're getting booked on all these, these different stages at the moment, can you tell us about a time when you were you you something just kind of happen, maybe they kind of put you a little bit of balance, maybe or maybe a worst moment you've had so far in your professional speaking career, Su-Yen Wong I can think of one specific incident, which is really unusual. So I had just come off a board meeting in Australia and I had to transfer in Singapore to fly to the Middle East. So I had a small window, and sort of two separate flights. And one of the things that I don't always do, but sometimes I do and since this incident, I've done a lot more was I log on to Wi Fi on the flight because sometimes you're busy doing other stuff. So I log into Wi Fi on the Singapore to Middle East leg. And an email had come in with from the conference organizers as a global conference for for the for the aviation industry. And basically, the conference organizer changed the spec, it was supposed to be a panel discussion, and somehow evolved into a series of individual presentations, and they wanted the four or five of us on the panel to each do an individual presentation. Okay, that's not what I expected. Fortunately, the flight from Singapore to the buoys is fairly long, right? So I was able to sort of, you know, first of all think about First of all, what what the other presenters are gonna be speaking about because of the a series of you, you don't want to be all speaking the same thing. So anticipate that a lot because I obviously couldn't reach them while I was in flight to sort of coordinate think of the key messages designed the slides and then practice and come up and practice the speech all while that air. So yeah, that was a rather unusual experience. James Taylor So thankfully, you have your previous PowerPoint presentations, or you know, your files on your on your laptop. Anyway. So it's a you had a basis from which to start from. Except, Su-Yen Wong yeah, Except that it was on the topic that I don't often speak about. Me, I mean, it's tangentially related, otherwise, they wouldn't have asked me to, to come on and join the conference. But it wasn't something I could sort of, you know, take and repurpose, I actually had to craft an entire thing. It was it was short, and it was like 15 minutes or something like that. So it wasn't, it wasn't a full blown, you know, typical 45 minute keynote. But nevertheless, but more of the story, make sure you have your laptop, your battery charger, on the flight, the images that you need on your laptop. And one of the things that I learned through multiple years in consulting is I'm actually pretty fluent in PowerPoint, and Keynote. So James Taylor you get very good at it. Su-Yen Wong Pretty self sufficient, which is, which is helpful. James Taylor And something else you've also been involved in, and especially in Singapore, Singapore is amazing place because you have so many great speakers there that use it as their hub to go and speak in other parts of the world. And something that you did was work on it on a book, you co authored a book with a number of other women speakers in I'm not sure if they were all in Singapore, or they were from all places. Yes. Su-Yen Wong I mean, MIT, several of us are from Singapore, but but the authors did come from two different countries, actually. James Taylor So tell tell us about the inception of that book. What was the idea from that book? And what did you find writing a co writing a book did for you and your speaking career? Su-Yen Wong Well, I don't take credit for the inception of a book that was actually crafted literally one morning over brunch, they were, you know, half a dozen women who are basically in the loop, the problem statement is this. And we unfortunately, still do see this happen when when you sort of see, you know, conferences that have you know, all a very male slate of speakers or you know, that the mammals as they would call them. And, and so it became an offshoot of an organization called called primetime, which is for for professional women, here locally. So the idea was, well, you know, how do we actually craft a book that can actually inspire as well as help women who need to speak in various situations, either professionally, but also, even if you're in a, in a corporate setting, you need to raise funds for a not for profit, or you need to convince your management team. Now there's a whole spectrum of reasons why one might need to speak. So from there was about curating a group of us there was 16 of us who came together to do this. And I got to say, the the takeaway that I got from that was, when you pull together a project with a common purpose, and you do it together, you can get so much done so quickly. Because we were writing it together, we could divvy up the work. And I think from inception to the time, we actually got the book in our hot little hands was probably around six months. James Taylor Now, I also created a lot of noise because I'm, you know, if someone's in either involved in the space of speaking, or if they're in Singapore, or if they're they're looking at to bring in a woman speaker and to speak at their event, suddenly, you had 12 people all talking about the same book, all these authorities are about the same. But and so I mean, I think it's a great idea. Because it creates this kind of crowding effect, that suddenly you're hearing it from multiple sources. Sometimes, often, when you hear things from like one source, you know that, you know, whatever is interesting, when you're hearing it, hearing a book from multiple sources, then you go, okay, maybe we should look at this a little bit further. it amplifies. Su-Yen Wong And I think in many ways, it's a bit like the virtual summits that you put on as well, right? When you when you bring together a large group of people, there's an amplification effect, which is great. I'm, you know, fairly convinced that none of us on our own would have been able to get something out number one in the time that we did. And number two, we were frankly, a little surprised that it made it so quickly onto the Amazon bestseller list, but again, that was to the power of having a large group behind it. So So yeah, it was good fun. James Taylor I don't know if sitting alongside that, because the other thing that's I've seen you've been involved in is this idea of the is the keynote, which is a women's speaker directory. So it was something that you involved in Section four, or was it something that just you just packed up? Su-Yen Wong So the book actually emanated from keynote. So that's the link between the two. So primetime was the organization that's that that's basically spawned keynote, and out of keynote, keynote supported this book, or the idea for this book came about, and then we brought the women together, to to craft the book. So I've been I've been part of the keynote directory, and as you may have heard, the directory has now gone global, is closed, right? So again, I take her a little credit for other than being an artist supporter. And I think together, we're all trying to make it, you know, as powerful and as compelling as it can be. But I think, you know, it takes a village right to kind of move any of these things. So I think each of us in our own way is trying to try to do that. James Taylor So I remember seeing a statistic A while back and hopefully about a year ago, when he looked about the gender I think it was probably meeting professionals international producers, this poor When he looked at the gender differentials across different types of events, what kind of speakers the higher? And I remember seeing that I think women are the only area that will more women get booked than men for conferences is around fundraising events, there seems to be. So it was like 70% of women and 30% men. But then as you start to look, and they broke it down by type of conference, as you start to look at, for example, financial services, conferences, it was like, I mean, I don't even know if it was on the scale, and it might have been like, 5% maximum. Technology, right. Technology. Exactly. So I mean, obviously, I'm and so I have to say this, I can, I obviously benefit from from this from from speaker from organizers, of conferences, but but it kind of, it kind of blows my mind a little bit as to what was going on. And, and I had a conversation a while back with pickiness Chavarria of power women of NSA, and I was saying no. So for me, I'm like, treat me as a as, as a little bit of an outsider, like, okay, what's going on? Why is that it cannot just be obvious. You know, people just not booking speakers, because they're women speakers, it can just be as simple as simplistic as that. And she says, and, you know, the interesting thing that she said to me is, she said, you know, part of it is a function of who is writing the books, the nonfiction books. And often it's it's a lot of nonfiction books have been in the business world have been written by men. And a lot of the reviewers are men. So that those books that doesn't get talked about in Forbes and fortune and things, so you've got that going on. But she said, The other thing that's going on, on her was that, let's see, if you have a call for speakers for a particular event, you will get 100 guys who all think they're absolutely perfect. And the ideal speaker for this event, you may have 100 women who are equally as perfect for this event, but only 10 of them will come forward and put put their name forward, as well. And, and, again, one of the things that the power of NSA is like trying to just encourage women to put themselves forward, you know, that give, build that confidence. Go for that go for that get you should be on that, on that. mainstage. So, I mean, from what you've seen as someone that's actually living it and having to inhabit this and dealing with every single day. what some of the things that are going on there. What Why are these biases? Why are we seeing it so squinted? Su-Yen Wong You know, I haven't thought about the one about books. But that actually makes a lot of sense to me. But the one that the second point that you made around who puts their hand up, I think is definitely quite prevalent. And, and the analogy that I draw to this is around women in leadership roles. So whether you look at it in terms of women, at C suite, or women in the boardroom, very, very similar symptoms manifest themselves. And and it has to do with, like you said, you know, it's a bit stereotypical, but nevertheless, stereotypes there are there because because there's a little bit of truth to them, which is that, you know, somebody will look at the job description for a particular role. And most, many men will basically say, Well, you know, I fully fulfill seven out of 10, that's pretty good, you know, so I think I'm qualified. And women say, Well, I only fulfill seven out of 10. And so I therefore she put my hand up for it. So So I think it holds true for speaking as well. And part of the reason for getting this book out there effect to unleash your voice was to really encourage more women to to put up their hand and give it a shot. So in fact, last night, four of the women who were co authors of the book, she ran the first masterclass, and I think it was sold out, within a very short period of time, to a group of I think about 60 women to try and again, encourage and build the momentum in the space. So one step at a time. But that's the idea. James Taylor But it can also change pretty quickly in terms of I was at an event recently listening to a professor, Professor Sue black. She's a leading forensic anthropologist, which is not really is a real is a really interesting so she goes into former war zones, and when they have to defend these mass graves and identify these people as mass graves, very interesting job anyway. So what she was saying is, you said lots of areas of science are quite masculine. But the world of forensics, strangely enough, is heavily dominated by by a woman. And I'm not saying in terms of women in Virginia, but the very most senior positions are women. And she thinks that part of that is the role model piece, that if I switch on TV, you know, all these I'm not a big fan of movies, forensic TV shows like cop shows that the forensic scientist is usually a woman on these things, and Su-Yen Wong cultural norm. James Taylor So he said, it's kind of interesting. Just having that having those role models and showing those role models, especially in the media, that it becomes like, Well, yeah, that makes makes absolute sense. So I guess what we need to be doing is just getting more women getting on their stages. So when we look at those, you know, the lineup of speakers, those keynote speakers at that tech conference without financial services conference, you know, that there's there's mobile, which gives more other women encouragement to come and take on those roles. Su-Yen Wong Yeah, you mentioned a really interesting point about scientists. So there's been some research done, where the researchers were asking children to draw a scientist. And when children are sort of remember the specifics around the age of five, in a roughly equal numbers of them drawn a girl or boy sciences, or male or female scientists, but as they get older, that percentage switches, right. And so I think a lot of it is incorporates the point that you're making, which is around how do you see role models out there? And some of the social conditioning that's, that's, that's prevalent. So yeah, let's get more diversity on the stages so that we can break this catch 22. James Taylor Now you speak about the future of work. And which is a big area, obviously, a really hot topic area just now. What's your How do you kind of stand out? Because there's obviously lots of speakers that speak on this topic of future work? What is your unique take to make art, you know, cn is the person that we need to book to kind of speak on this event about the future of work. Su-Yen Wong So I think on one spectrum, from a future of work perspective, there are speakers that talk a lot about the deep technology, let's just call it that, where I come at it from is much more around how does this impact organizations and individuals? So given what's happening in terms of technology, and how that's impacting work? How does that change how the way organizations need to think about either their, their culture, their leadership, their organization structure, the way they think about careers the way to think about people development so forth? Or and or sometimes it happens, both at the same speech. What does it mean for individuals as they think about how to manage their own careers, reinvent themselves, as well as have the right mindset. So it's very much about taking the human dimension into the future of work. James Taylor And how people are learning mostly about your you and your speaking programs, because obviously, you've been so known as a person in the boardroom of organizations, how you can are getting the word out there, and attracting potential clients to book you as a speaker. Su-Yen Wong I would say there probably would break it down into three pillars. The first pillar is I've been fortunate to work with a number of speaker bureaus. So working with speakers connected home, they're working with another speaker Bureau in Europe, and another one in the US out of DC. So sort of three continents, different speaker bureaus and obviously so that's that's one stream through which engagements come through. The second pillar, I would say is previous clients, I've been very fortunate to work with mostly large organizations over the past 20 or so years. And so that's drawing in my network contacts and then and then the third pillar really is a lot of the work that I've been trying to do in terms of you know, I think we talked about how you use social media and LinkedIn and things like that and and I actually have received and I do receive inquiries through some of that activity online as well. So you know, three three different courses I would say James Taylor and is one particular social media platform you find works better for you than than others. LinkedIn, LinkedIn is one Su-Yen Wong for me LinkedIn works works the most effectively. I should say that there was a fourth pillar but I but I, I didn't focus on it because I think relative to the others so far hasn't been a huge source yet is other speakers James Taylor Yeah, it's a funny one really the other speakers because I'm in for example, today and inquiry came in and and i'm not available for this particular date. And I was I was thinking about it and I've seen like, Who's the right speaker for this one is quite well known client and and I've worked with this client and other other their other offices in the world. And you know what, I couldn't think of a particular speak on this area that they were really looking for. And in the end, I just, I'm going to I'll end up giving it to a bureau actually, because they have a much this seeing these speakers all the time and I think me as a speaker, I'm lucky if I get to see Maybe 10 professional speakers a year, you certainly see them up on stage. And I am very reticent about recommending a speaker unless I've, I've actually seen them on stage. Yeah, yeah. Su-Yen Wong So so that one I think doesn't happen quite as often. But I've done it both ways. I've had people recommend me. And I've also recommended speakers when I like, as you just rightly described, not available that particular day. But yeah, it's, it's, sometimes sometimes I think it's just, you just don't know, right? Because it's a topic in your space. Or maybe it's a topic that's completely foreign to the space on that. So I'm not the best person to recommend someone else. But I do think that some of the support, for example, here in Singapore apss, that's a pretty good community. Some of us I think, have, you know, basically say, hey, there's this thing going on, and you know, anybody in that space? So so some speakers actually have put up a couple of opportunities, and sort of shared that around? James Taylor Where in terms of in Southeast Asia, where are you finding that's exciting just now in terms of speaking opportunities? I hear that Singapore is a very mature market for speakers but there's a healing Vietnam, there's a lot of things going on. There's different terror countries that are seem to be really growing fast at the moment. Su-Yen Wong Yeah, I've spoken in Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, I find Vietnam and the Philippines, very receptive. Partly because I think in those particular markets, there's a there's a huge pent up demand for for people who can basically put in whatever, whatever the domain, right, so I do find those two markets at the moment. Like James Taylor I haven't spoken in Philippines yet. But all of our friends probably got lots of mutual friends in the Philippines, other speakers and learners of this world and, and every one of my teams in the Philippines, I shouldn't be speaking in the Philippines. But everyone told me the Philippines audiences have very, you know, exuberant types of audiences when you compare them to other parts of the world. Su-Yen Wong Yes, very warm. So then in Vietnam to but but in a slightly different way. I mean, Vietnam, I think it's just a very entrepreneurial kind of a dynamic. So everyone is really hungry, you know, really keen to absorb, you know, best practices and knowledge learnings around the world. Philippines, I think is just a very, it's a very warm culture. And like you, like you said, you do a session there. And after the session, people will be, you know, coming up to you and mobbing you and in the way that they don't in some other Asian countries, which are much more culturally reserved. James Taylor Now, you're also in addition to going out the speaking being on your boards, you obviously take you this idea of self care, looking after yourself, you know, goes, you know, you're the Mom, you're I think of training for Kilimanjaro, you're training for base camp Everest base camp at the moment. So how do you in your busy schedule? How do you make time to do the training must be a huge amount of hours to go into the training to do those types of expeditions? Su-Yen Wong Well, it's never been on the bucket list. I'm a very normal person as far as physical activity does. But we're doing it for charity. It's to support mental health. And one of the charities here and and part of its really come out of the conviction that in many corporates, there's an increasing focus and attention being being placed on on the need for mental health, stress and corporate pressures, and all that. But at the same time, that mental health, I think, is something that's going to affect you, but it will touch all of us in some way. Right? Whether it's a child with autism, or whether it's a parent with Alzheimer's, or whether it's sort of you know, stress and depression, the entire spectrum. And particularly, I think, in in in Asia and Singapore, it's not as well advanced in terms of awareness. So that's the reason why we're doing it. It's not because I'm any particularly super athletically inclined, in fact, my friends who have found out that I'm doing the best, because if you really Oh, yeah. So as a consequence, it's just really about putting putting the discipline into it. So the combination of runs and lots of climbing of stairs. So yeah, we're up to about 250 floors these days. It's only once a week, but essentially, I think we need to get up to twice to twice a week. James Taylor Amazing. Well, I wish you all the great success with that as well. A couple of final questions start to finish up here. I'd love to know I'm going to put you on a, an imaginary long haul flight. Thankfully, thankfully, a lot of you do a lot of those I know. But thankfully, I'm not gonna make you. I'm not gonna tell you just put you on the flight. You have to go and give a presentation it won't expect to give you when you land. But on this imaginary flight sitting next to you, is any speaker, author, thought leader living or dead. That you could just basically sit and have a conversation with her on that long haul flight. Who would you like to be on that flight with Obama. Su-Yen Wong He is. And I think it's interesting for two reasons. One as a leader, but second as a speaker, and I think he blends both of those dimensions very, very compellingly, regardless of your political extraction, right? I think that when you look at somebody as a speaker as being able to connect, convey, and, you know, as a speaker, when you look at somebody like him delivering, at least I think there are a lot of hours that have gone into that delivery. Right. And I think, you know, speakers, you sort of appreciate how that comes across, and how that comes to be so. So yeah, to two parts of it. One is sort of just I think that'd be a lot of interesting stories from the job perspective, right, you know, the job. But then the second part of it is just as a really compelling speaker, I think he'd be great fun to sit next to. James Taylor Great, so you're going to be on them, we're gonna have your secret service agents, either side of you. So glad you have that conversation? What about what is in your your speaker bag? What isn't that bag that you carry with you to all of your various speaking engagements with your gadgets and bits and pieces that you never leave home without. Su-Yen Wong There's the extended back. And then there's the small kids, the small kids very simple, I carry a multipurpose adapter. That's basically got connectors into USB, HDMI, VGA, just because you never quite know, the venue that going to even if you've got sort of pre agreed the connections that you need, sometimes they don't have them. So I like having that I bring my own clicker. And that's sort of the basic that if I didn't have anything else, those two things I would need to need to have with me. The other thing that I'm just about to pick up is one of those tiny little video DJI DJI video cams about the size. So that's in the acquisition, James Taylor because I'll be looking forward to all these all these videos from your life on the road and then speaking and traveling that you're you're doing. I'm not sure if they're working. I'm not sure if it's gonna work at high altitude ever. So maybe you may have to test to find out, we're gonna find out exactly what but if you were to recommend one book to our audience, it could be a book on the no one of your books about the future work or speaking or topic you think more people should be reading and thinking about just now. What would that book be? Hmm. Su-Yen Wong Well, me, I am finding some of the work by Dorie Clark, very interesting. From the standpoint of reinvention, so I think she's come at it from that perspective. But also think just as someone who has come out and herself reinvented a couple of times, she also speaks she's a she also writes quite extensively, and also has, I think, done a really great job at scaling her own business. So multiple dimensions, check a few things off. So so so let's say one of one of her, one of her pieces would be James Taylor my recommendation. And warband online tool or app or mobile app, for example, would you find very useful for doing the work you do? Su-Yen Wong Gosh, um, well, I work up keynote. So so it's actually pretty simple. I work of all all the all the apple tools. But in addition to that, I, you know, I would say business wise, zero invoice Lee, I run all of them through cloud apps. So yeah, it's sort of a full suite of cloud based apps that I use, also also use some of the collaboration tools like Asana, with my team, as well. James Taylor And I want you to imagine now, that tomorrow morning, you wake up, and you have to start from scratch yet start at the start again, you've got all the skills or the knowledge you've acquired over the years, but no one knows you, you know, no one, what would you do? How would you restart things? Su-Yen Wong So imagine I landed like in Timbuktu, right? James Taylor Anywhere Timbuktu, if you would, you've actually been, I think you're probably the only person who's been Su-Yen Wong to prison, I guess, the first thing I would do is, I would reach out to my network to understand the landscape of the market. Because I do find that you know, wherever you plop yourself down, whether it's, you know, Singapore, New York or London, there is a different dynamic, you know, just the way decisions are made a little bit different. The market context is different. So the first thing we do really get a lay of the land to get an understanding of the landscape, really, really important. But beyond an understanding what the landscape is to further expand my my circle of influence. So I suppose to this day and age, we're all sort of two or three degrees. Separation which is great people did this 50 years ago. But so step one reach out to to my network. Second, I would then work on building social proof either through this network and or through social media. We talked about that earlier I have found that to be quite effective. And then finally just get out there and engage with with potential clients. no substitute for that right just actually getting out there and meeting new people and building from scratch James Taylor and talking about connecting where's the best place people to go to learn more about you your work, your your keynote programs, everything that you've got going on just now. Su-Yen Wong Just check out my website www.suyenwong.com as James Taylor well. So yeah, it's a pleasure speaking to you today. Thank you so much for coming on. sharing with me It's been fantastic just watching your journey as a speaker as a coach as well. It's just great. I love working with speakers like you who you just you able to make things happen you have a real commitment, you've got big you know, big vision, what you want to create in the world. And so I just I'm really looking forward to seeing your career go from strength to strength. Su-Yen Wong And thank you James. It's been wonderful being part of speakers your community so really appreciate that. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

Using SpeakerHub To Get More Speaking Gigs James Taylor interviews Andras Baneth and they talked about Using SpeakerHub To Get More Speaking Gigs In today's episode Andras Baneth they talk about Using SpeakerHub To Get More Speaking Gigs Andras Baneth is a speaker and the founder of SpeakerHub, an online platform that connects speakers with companies and event organizers. What we cover: The speaker marketplace How SpeakerHub can help you get speaking gigs Niching down Resources: Andras Baneth's Website Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/using-speakerhub-to-get-more-speaking-gigs-sl080/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey there, it's James Taylor and I'm delighted today to be joined by Andras Baneth. undress is a speaker and the founder of speaker hub, an online platform that connects speakers with companies and event organizers and I actually use speak hub and the International speaker summit. Speaker was one of our very first partners in wrote when we first had the idea of kind of putting the To get answers with the first guy I called, and we had a conversation about it. So yeah, let's let's do this. This is gonna be lots of fun. So it's my great pleasure to have Angus with us today. So welcome. Andras Baneth Thanks so much. Thanks so much for having your show. Pleasure to be here. I love the whole concept of speaker summit and very nice initiative to share best practices ideas, goalie. James Taylor Yeah, it's been a lot of fun playing here. So um, let's talk about you know, where did it all begin for you so your your, your I mentioned, you're a speaker, you're an entrepreneur, you have kind of serial entrepreneur, you have a number of different businesses as well. When did the speaking part begin? And then how did the transition happen into actually finding speaker hub? Andras Baneth Yeah, I I actually got into speaking pretty say accidentally, as I wasn't aware that I want to be a speaker. I wasn't aware of what it means to be a speaker. And I'm still obviously learning about it, but I started teaching Colleagues, students and doing workshops on different topics mostly by the European Union several years ago. And then I actually it became more more than just a hobby when I started running professional workshops, and giving relatively large scale presentations to audiences of a couple hundred people. So that's when I got the gist of it and say, that's what I got very interested in what it means to be a professional speaker. And then in my current role, not just a speaker, a founder, but in sort of, say, my day job. I have been organizing several dozen conferences each year. And I myself speak at many events and run a lot of workshops. And that's where the idea of speaker hub came from. When I started wondering, is there a platform where I could get more visibility as a speaker or as an emerging speaker and also to find opportunities where I could pitch myself. And then on the other side speaker how being a marketplace not a bureau, I was looking for ways where event betters can source speakers on all levels, whether it's an emerging speaker or someone who's relatively new to speaking, but have a subject matter expertise, or someone who's more established, but may be less visible to event writers in Europe if the person happens to be American or other parts of the world. So I wanted to create a global platform where this is very smooth and easy to have that supply and demand meet. And when James Taylor did you see that they can have gaps in the market? Obviously, there's, there's kind of other obviously last speaker bureaus. There's loser speaker bureaus out there. Some are very good, some are less so. But where did you see the role of speaker hub fitting in that overall marketplace that was going on? Andras Baneth Well, we never looked at us ourselves as bureau because bureaus are actually partners. of ours, not many, but we do have quite a few and various other associations. But we wanted to create a space where we don't have a business model that is built on a commission fee. We want it to empower speakers and, and model it more like LinkedIn than a classic euro or agency model. So we really want to be a very in what is a very broad and welcoming platform to speakers of all levels of expertise, and bureaus as well as organizers. So we welcome the whole range of of professionals and those who are up and coming or the beginning of their career. James Taylor And in those kind of early days as you were starting to research about the challenges, both the speakers and also event organizers. What are those 2am problems that each of them have? There's two different groups, what are the thing that we can wake up worrying about and trying and trying to solve and and how did how did really can speak how Look taken help with those. Andras Baneth It's the first time I hear this nice expression, but I'm probably gonna steal it, then some copyright the 2am problem. It's a really good one. I think the speakers really I think their number one concern is, is really finding their niche or niche if you prefer the American way of where they want to position themselves. And that's obviously number one. But then comes the next point of how can they market themselves? How can they make themselves more visible and interesting to event planners? So we've published over 100, blog posts and articles and best practices and interviews and various content pieces to answer that question, and try to dissect it up to down to the to the most. Let's say the tiniest details to look at presentation techniques all the way to pitching themselves or whether they should speak for free or not. And that's an evergreen question something we can Come back to so we're trying to provide very very good practical pieces of advice to speakers. When it comes to organizers I think the number one question and that's that's associated business problem we're trying to tackle the number one questions organizers have is can I trust this person? And obviously it's a very broad topic of of trust, but trust in the sense Can I trust that this person has the skill the ability and the knowledge to to while an audience and once the answer is yes comes everything else are they easy to work with? Are they flexible? What about their budget? What about their credentials and everything else? So this is the the the question we try to answer by providing all the tools on our platform on speaker specifically, but even beyond speaker of any speaker once to answer these questions when they are applying for an event. So to showcase testimonials or or reviews, they want to showcase a video to prove how they are on stage. They want to provide External links or publications to show that they are subject matter experts. So there are many elements to speaker's credibility. And we're trying to get to that. James Taylor I guess where the power of that is obviously, most speakers like 99% of speakers will have their own website with their own speaker page on their own website and everything. But it does for them, the event planner site does involve going to lots of different places and going here, there and everywhere to find all those. So I guess like like any good marketplaces like Upwork, if you think about, you know, outsourcing, it kind of brings you kind of actors that, that place to allow, you know, the exchange of ideas, information, knowledge, and opportunities as well as kind of going back and forth. One of the things I noticed that I thought was really interesting was and this is from the event planners, I like, do it of organized conferences as well. And, for me, I always found it very challenging the amount of inbound, coming in all the time how to sort and sift, you know, we didn't that's the event and then you'd get so many people kind of coming in. And it was never just an easy way of being able to kind of have this it was coming as emails, it was coming in his facebook messages, there was all kinds of different ways that were coming in, I noticed that you have kind of built some tools there for for the event organizers to help them, you know, better do that whole process of getting those those proposals in from different speakers. Andras Baneth Yeah, that's right. And as you mentioned, I think especially there are two challenges or two problems there. One is managing the sheer volume of applicants to an event so if you've ever organized anything relatively large scale and especially if you put out an open call for speakers, you know that you're going to be inundated with with applicants, which is great, but then comes up. Problem number two is everybody sends in their pitch or links that are profiled in various in various different ways very different packaging. So it's very hard to compare apples apples with apples and you end up having some people sending an Excel sheet and another person just pointing to their LinkedIn profile. So it's hard to really compare them in an efficient manner. So that's the other thing we were trying to do is, is we not only give a platform for speakers to showcase themselves, but event planners can put up a clover speaker on our own platform, so speaker up directly, and they can manage the applicants just like Upwork and many other platforms of that kind. So then they see all the applicants in in a relatively standardized manner, which again, some speakers might challenge that and say, Hey, I'm not a standardized speaker. I'm very different from others, which obviously, is is very much respected. It's about the application. It's a fingerprint of resumes, having a relatively standard format, so it's easy to see who's the best fit. So we're providing that that listing and that those tools where the event planners can truly parse through the applicants do or shortlist reach out to the ones that they want to engage or enter into a dialogue with, and especially we're helping the mouth Federer's find the most relevant speakers. So speakers would have specific keywords on their profile, they would have specific description about what they talk about, and a lot of other pieces of information that the manufacturers can sort of show if the speaker says, Well, I don't speak for anything less than $5,000. Well, that again, and even better, who has that budget could easily find those speakers, but if they put it out better only has a much more limited budget, or maybe no budget at all, they're not going to bother that person by asking them. So it's we're trying to optimize that experience that everybody can find the best fit both of the organizer side and the speaker side as well. James Taylor So this might might be maybe the more controversial aspects of any marketplace. I think about some like Uber for example, it It definitely puts the buyer in the strongest position because they have much more information, usually much more openness of information to be able to make comparisons as well. And I'm wondering I saw this happen within the music industry companies like Sonic bids for example. It created a really great marketplace that allowed bands in that case to create their one pagers and a promotional site and also festivals and events to be able to say hey, we're looking for speakers. And something something quickly happened there. Which was then the the festivals in that case the events said actually, you know, we're going to turn it from just being this is a cost for us to like to try and find these potential speakers to this is a rep potential revenue stream. So the they didn't say okay in order to pitch us to consider you for your for our, our festival, you know, you have to go through the this platform that we use which is Sonic beds, and you have to pay X amount in order to be pitched for the for the for the festival. You Now can you see that happening with obviously with this speaking is such a broad is the the high end keynote is one side. And also you've got things like platforms because people that that will often speak for free in order to sell something on the back of the back end of it as well. But can you see that happening in that in that more transparent type of marketplace? Andras Baneth Right. I think it's a very interesting, interesting comparison. But I think the speaking business is somewhat different. And I'll tell you why I think thing this way and feel free to challenge that. But in my view, obviously, there is one discussion around the format. So you mentioned it could be a keynote, it could be a workshop, it could be an after read or speech. It could be any sort of inspirational talk. It could be a district meeting of an association, there are many, many formats. I think what's more important though, is really the substance. So if you happen to be a technology company that deals with startups are even more narrow, that say startups in Africa and you're putting together an event on. Here's a recent example of her failing forward. And it's a nice concept though, despite failing in the startup unit or long lessons, and perhaps her next venture just succeeds. So for instance, if you're an event planner and putting together an event for startups in Africa about failed initiatives, which eventually succeeded or followed by some success, I think that's much more specific. So finding speakers for that specific topic is is more, let's say, more unique, and then I don't think that speakers would be expected or could be expected or speakers would be happy to pay for a bit. It's at the minimum, they could be granted a platform and to speak for free. But obviously, the more specific their expertise is, the more let's say respected professionals. They are obviously that massively affects their feed. First of all, they can charge a fee. And that is, effectively, I think, most speakers do have the expectation that there's going to be a lot of inbound requests for them to speak. And at least most of the speakers I've worked with or my experience, it's more, it's more an exception than the rule. So this is not about you passively, just sitting around putting up a couple of videos and and hoping for the phone to ring if they need to proactively get that started. And of course, if they give a great speech, and they they, they slowly but surely build up their speaker persona and a profile that it can snowball into, into something like that, and we're trying to help speakers kickstart it and not just those at the beginning of their careers because we had some pretty high profile speakers getting hired through us but still having that discovery when an event that is looking for Someone knew someone they may not have heard of, and not necessarily just a person who has the best search engine optimization or runs the most creative Google ads. So someone that they might just find serendipitously. But really someone they can find the instructor man or someone they may not have heard of, but could be a great addition or brings color to their next event. James Taylor So we've been speaking about Speak up, and why don't we dive in. And because I think it'll all become much clearer to people once they kind of get in there and they see how it works. And if people haven't been on the speaker hub before, I think it's you can kind of open your eyes up to things. Andras Baneth So basically, the idea is is really geared towards the band planners who come to the site first. And we make it very easy for them to search and while as a slogan says, find the perfect speaker and making sure that they understand that we don't charge a commission fee so it's easy for them to find to reach out to and enter in dialogue with speakers. So we have a couple of feature speakers here who have pretty robust profiles or achievements and that's randomly selected from from a pool of speakers. And then we have various organizations for working with or have worked with or have source speakers or have speakers themselves. And then here we here is our sort of knowledge base where we showcase either success stories and a lot of a lot of thought leadership pieces on say stablishing yourself as a credible speaker or topics such as that's a how to use YouTube Canva SlideShare to read market, repurpose your presentation. So there's a lot of useful articles and content pieces that you can find by going back so for speakers, they are listed on this page where on the left side, you can really search by the look at country topics, what they are available for the type of events As they speak, so let's say you're looking for a German speaker, you can just filter according to that someone who's got a fee between 1000 $505,000. And then I have all the speakers listed here. So this is on the organizer side, mostly, but then on the speaker setup, how, because I presume most of the participants in your event are speakers. I think this is the most important part where the speakers can really showcase their best self, and making sure that they look interesting and convincing enough for the event planners, so you can have a nice profile, which is really geared towards your speaker persona. So in that sense, it's different from LinkedIn where well, let me let me take another speaker who's got a even more robust profile. So for instance, a speaker whose whose LinkedIn profile have been fairly generic But on the speaker how they can really talk about what makes them unique as a speaker. So they can provide here all the languages they are available to present in their fee. Obviously, it's not carpet stole so it gives just a rough indication of how much they are going to charge. Then you have a short description of the background. The most important part is truly the media section. The one you see here in the middle, where I am very much encourage and the system also nudges speakers to upload a video, at least one video and they can upload photos, they can upload a one sheet and presentations if they have some to showcase and then the next day is the other very important part of testimonials as third party validation that truly shows that this person is not just claiming to be a rock star, but they actually do a great job and we have our way of verifying these testimonials to make sure ga credentials hold. And then other speakers and organizers can recommend another kind of speaker or add to testimonial that we can then verify. So it's basically the whole concept is what is their topic of expertise? Are they good on stage? That's what the video answers have debuted Endor supported by others, and what makes them unique as a as a speaker representative. And we're very transparent, very, very open. We give all speakers the possibility to point to their website and our social media links. So we're not trying to monopolize their membership in any way because Exactly. Our business model is not to keep a closed loop for the transaction between the speaker and the organizer. It's really about providing more visibility to our speaker community. James Taylor And one of the things I like about this as well the the testimonials part, so I know having done it myself, you You think that the way that works is you enter the testimony and you have to put the email address I think it is of the person that's giving the testimonial. So you you go and check the office and you check to make sure and there's so I think what will be interesting as time goes on, as you build more and more of these is almost going to be like a TripAdvisor for speakers. It's gonna, it's gonna help people kind of see the good now, in any case, you know, that's there's, there's there's dance, I know that the best speakers are always very, very active, trying to get those testimonials, whether it's video written, audio, anything, that's one of the biggest thing that we try and do. Andras Baneth Yeah, I'll show you my my profile. That's something we just rolled out. It's just a tiny little development, but I find it pretty cute, is you can now embed tweets and videos as testimonial or someone else. So here I gave a TEDx talk a couple of weeks ago, or about a month ago. And here you can see that this is an embedded tweet of feedback. About my talk, which I think it's a, it's a nice little feature because again, it's all about third party validation that all the non planners want to know that you are not just claiming to be good, but you actually have been positively reviewed by others. So there could be a tweet and you could even add video testimonial into into that part. So that's that's exactly the direction we're going. So for instance, if I scroll down, okay, it's not displayed right now. But now we added a new section where you can share documents with your audience. So you can share your presentation, or point them to various links as a follow up to your talk or to your workshop. And very soon you and it can be password protected, or it can be public out in the open. And when you share that link with the audience, what you can do is actually ask for a testimonial from the people who download those content pieces. So let's say you give a talk and you share presentation with the audience and you in return so to say you ask for a gospel testimonial from the ones who accept that page. And another thing reading again, helping speaker trying to understand their needs is really too They can even add a lead generation for. So for instance, you've just given a great talk or you are live on stage and you share the document your slides with the audience and say that for them to access it, they need to provide their email and their and their name. So you can follow our build marketing list as a speaker so you can follow up as a result. James Taylor And we'll be fine. All the speakers that have been most successful in using the platform have had the greatest response, what are some of the key things that they do when they're building their platform that you just have to have them if you want a successful profile? Andras Baneth Well, the most important thing is really to have a robust profile. So fill in all the information and make sure that it's as complete as possible, but by far the most important Are is the media section. So if you have photos showing you on stage, you have videos, what are just an intro or your or your showreel or whatever it may be have those those, that's what the organizers will be looking at first and foremost, and then making sure that it's again, it's really robust. And, and a very common mistake that I see for many, many speakers who join speaker out is they're not specific enough about the business value they can deliver to organizers. So they might say, well, I talk about I'm a motivational speaker and I talk about energizing multinational teams. And I think at least in my experience, it might be a little too broad and a little too abstract. So an organizer comes and says, Oh, that's the kind of speech you give. A lot of other people give that to. So what makes you unique and it does require a lot of crafting, and Thinking to be to be put into it, because that's how you will stand up. James Taylor And I think I mean, that's no different from, you know, the because in the world of speaking where you have, so an organizer has so many different choices of speakers, you have to have that USP, you have to have that thing that stands out. And this is just like, this is just the online version of it really, there's gonna be going on, but you always have to be very, very clear about what the value proposition need the USP. I'm looking here just now like as I speak at my eyes are instantly drawn to the organizers tab there. So that shows that how that works. Andras Baneth So basically, perhaps even before the organizer that showed the event, because the events we used to call that call for speakers because that's what it is, but it was just a lot of words. So we we agreed on just calling it events. So these are not simply event listings that you would find on several dozens of other websites, but these are effectively open calls for speakers and We get a lot of organizers who find us and they put their calls on our site. And we also proactively reach out or find call for speakers that we aggregate and put everything in here. So we want to be this one stop shop for speakers to come to and say, Okay, I'm looking for an event, perhaps I'm traveling to say, to Ukraine, or I'm traveling to, to British Columbia, and is there something out there. Or it could be in a way that I'm just looking to scale my speaking business or I'm trying to get more expertise or more platforms where I can speak at So what could be a good fit for my expertise and my availability, and just generally what I'm what I'm looking for, so that's what we put it here. And then you can see the left side are different ways to filter down to parse through that to go through those those different events. Now, admittedly, the vast majority of events we have here are free, and again, it's a whole new discussion and I'm sure many of your guests will be discussing that whether you should speak for free or not. We just have a very active discussion on that on the need to speak for BSP per LinkedIn group of givings just, it's a very vibrant community, our guests a great input so much give great input on the pros and cons are different considerations. So again, just because an event is free, it can bring so much to a speaker depending on where they are in their in their career or what what exactly they are trying to achieve or how they are monetizing their speaking activity, whether there's something in the back or sell books or James Taylor there could be many other ways. I mean, I always think, you know, the, the, I think about it as a it's not an either or, in terms of the free and the paid speaking I'll I will sometimes do free ones for two reasons. One is if I I'm working on a new keynote, and I just want to get out there and try out and improve upon it. And and for me, you know, I do that and and that's a good way for me to kind of test test material out. The other way is if I think that there's potential, either back of the room sales, or if it was an event where I think there's going to be lots of people that will potentially hire me for other keynotes like, like LSA, if it was an association of festival organizers or conference organizers, that's an obvious one, but there's obviously lots of other types as well. I'm interested here so that that free or paid? I think there's Yeah, we could we could go off with a completely other conversation. There's, well, there's so people should go to the to that LinkedIn group because I know that there is a lot of conversation about that side of things as well. One of the things I noticed on the event types, you have conference, you have moderators, workshops, you also have webinars, and for me, it's because we've had in the summit, this has been a huge growth area for them. He Like paid webinars or free webinars where there's an offer at the end of some sort, or any any any plans to to extend next I know a lot of people that run you know, they want to be even like myself like later on today, I'm gonna be running an event with from my audience, my members. And I'm I'm always looking for people to bring in as guests for the webinars and these are my paid community they've already paid. So I'm looking to do that. So do you have any plans to look at extending and an increasing number of online stages that people can speak on? Andras Baneth Absolutely, absolutely. So we're looking at all directions of how to provide more opportunities for speakers to pace themselves and obviously for for organizers, we encourage them and I encourage you and everyone is organizing, putting together a webinar or an online event to use speaker and find speakers. So where we're all about Obviously scaling the platform, but also tying the connections and making the bond between the speakers and the organizer stronger. So absolutely, we're very happy to to look into that as time goes by. And then just going back to your previous question regarding the organizers. So as you see, each of these event would be put on by organizer. And obviously, there are many organizers who put out different events and advertise those on speaker up. And then sometimes the organizer runs the speaker sourcing on our platform. Sometimes they prefer to use their own website or their own special forms. So that's entirely flexible and up to them. But in terms of even finding organizers that you might want to reach out to or connect with, we have here I think, several hundreds of organizers and as I scroll down, I see I'm seeing the letter A and it goes all through the alphabet. So there are really a lot of organizers who come on board. James Taylor And then I noticed you also have the eight agency. So how did it so you're getting more now speak up for speaker bureaus, agencies that represent other speakers. Andras Baneth Yeah, that again, so it's it's various, not necessarily speaker agency, some are indie agencies, some are professional associations or some trade associations. So for instance, the ICS do, it's a, it's a PR trade association, and some others are some various clubs or other other entities. So what happens for them, we look at them as partners, and whether they are speaker bureaus or other type of agency or Association. And what happens is they can list their members who are available for speaking and then they get this dedicated page with their nice logo. And, and we usually work out some sort of a deal because they bring in a lot of speakers. So we give some special discount to upgrading the members or some sort of deal that we work out with them. And it's also possible What we call a white label. And then if someone's running an agency or any sort of association organization, they can have this listing and with the search features plugged into their very own website with their branded colors with their own system under their own domain. So then similar what you and I are doing for for the ISS over to Speaker side of displaying the speakers without the visitors having to go to Speaker hub directly, but it's all happening on their own website James Taylor that's going on. I'm looking at that, you know, I think there's so many ways you could use that even as a speaker I'm thinking if I was if I if my topic was self leadership as an example, you could almost kind of build your own little mini agency many bureau of other you know, because most people in your in your field you know most of your competitors and as people are speaking on that and say, listen, let's bring everyone together hammers on one place. You know, people can see all the different speakers. And we can we can also, you know, because people are gonna be looking for this this field as an easy way for everyone to see who the main speakers in this particular field. So you could almost get very niche. You mean you I can imagine, listen, you know, my wife is vegan. For example, I can imagine, you know, speakers that speak to vegan, there's loads of vegan every weekend, that seems to be some vegan conference vegan event be happening somewhere. And you could actually kind of build your own little community of fellow speakers or speak on your topic. Andras Baneth Yeah, you're just a source of many great ideas. So indeed, we're also exploring how this could be best utilized. You know, the fun thing is that these what we call speaker cards, the one you see here, and these are animated, which for some reason, probably because of the screenshare does want to move but it's a little animated. And all of these can be just plugged just like a YouTube video or a SlideShare like embedded on external websites. So if you're putting together a couple For us or events, you can just grab someone's speaker card and just plug it into your system and showcase them as your as your guest. So there could be many ways that this can be utilized. And even we're going to start working with conference platforms, because we've just developed an API that's Morford important geeks among your listeners. But I know that you're you're very much into into software and things. So you would certainly know how that would work. So basically connecting that to existing platforms where we share data in a structured way. So we wrote about trying to give more visibility to our speakers and put that in front of more event planners and conference organizers as we go along. And James Taylor just I'm looking at this, just now notice, like you have like premium on some of these cards. Yeah, you know, there's another one you had celebrity on one of the cards. Oh, yeah. Well, what are the different levels? How do those work? How do you get those different levels Andras Baneth right now we essentially have three levels. So Anyone can join the platform. It's completely open. We're not doing any prior vetting. That's why we provide so many ways that a speaker could showcase their credibility. So the event planners will do that vetting when they find a speaker's profile, but essentially, there's a free open membership. And then you can choose to upgrade to a premium level or VIP level. And these include different services additional services. So if you're a premium, you can have a more robust speaker profile, because you can upload a limited number of videos and photos and and other content. And you can also have access to some premium content. For instance, a draft speaker contract so when you're hired, then you can download the contract and that's available to the to the pay premium members and the VIP gives access. Among the events, the paying events are are listed are shown to the VIP members. And then you mentioned celebrity and it's something we're sort of experimenting with And we are basically creating a couple of sample profiles for well known global speakers. And I wish they came directly to the platform, but that's not the case. But for instance, you take Richard Branson, Richard Branson, is listed as a celebrity, and we just redirect whoever might find him through us to Deputy Speaker Bureau. So we're not taking anyone's content. But we want to create a couple of interesting lists of let's say, the world's top 50 motivational speakers or the world's top 50 let's say vegan, vegan vegan speakers, if just take sticking to your previous example. So we're trying to have these catered lists and have some celebrity profiles to showcase and it's an experiment you know, we're we're a startup. Still, we've been on the market for a year and a half so not not completely new but still very early in our in our existence. So we're experimenting with different different approaches and different James Taylor waste. I think I noticed early one of the celebrities is Dan Pena, who's actually one of my neighbors. As I was going through speaking earlier, and I know you know, a lot of speakers that are on there as well. And it's great. I mean, it's a community. And I also notice at the top there, you have a thing called skill camp. So Andras Baneth yes, pickup is again, we just put it out there. Here's my photo, as it happens to be. It's basically more than the blog and it's a it's going a little deeper into the how of the speaking profession and this speaking as a business, so we had a webinar series a couple months ago. So we have those included here where you can have the slides, the recording and the full transcript of each of these webinars. And then here's at the bottom you have the speaker contract and we are continuously adding more content to this so that again, it's some are available for everyone, some PCs. are available for the premium and VIP level. So we're trying to build here a almost like a trading pores or knowledge repository that the members can can access. James Taylor I think that's really smart me I think about brands like HubSpot, for example CRM, right? they they they came I'm part of the reason that they grew so fast was because, you know, they they created this great educational content. And it really really, I mean, I, I downloaded loads of their ebooks and read loads, it went on losing their webinars as well, because they just added that additional content. So this is great, because you're putting all this educational content together, putting these some of these webinars together as well. So that's, that's absolutely fantastic. So you've got everything here. So to get started, people can just sign up the if they can sign up for for free here as well and start kind of building building the kind of profiles Yeah, anything else that we should be kind of aware of as a speakers that you know, it'd be It'd be worth pointing out at this stage. Andras Baneth But I think speakers are are realizing how to best position themselves and how to best market themselves in this very, very role speaking industry. So some speakers just focus on specific markets, for instance, if they are more motivational speaking every or they might be just running workshops on project management, and they also speakers of some sort, not necessarily what you would immediately think about as a public speaker, but they are doing speaking as a business. So I think, really finding, just asking those very, very basic fundamental questions of which target audience or which target market what is the key topic or a handful of topics that they want to talk about, and then making that very clear value proposition into their profile to be discoverable and at the same time, being very proactive and finding Gaining activity organizers conferences and events to to be visible. And then there's certainly a lot more depth to it. And many of your guests will who gave give great advice, but much better than I can on how to formulate a speaking proposition or pitch, what is the best way to create your demo video, or how to keep your topics fresh, and that is that the shelf life doesn't kill it after a couple of months or years. So there are just so many sub topics we could talk about creating that very strong value proposition is probably the first half. James Taylor And as I'm looking at, I mean, you mentioned like having those lists, I think, you know, one of the top key keyword phrases as a speaker is going to be something like top leadership speakers, for example, that will be an obvious one. So looking at this as a as a speaker, and also as a marketer. I'm also thinking actually, what I could do is you could, you could put together like a list of the top like a query To the list of 25, the top speakers in your area, you could put it in, put it together or your own your own website. And then each of those have been having them linked to their sport speaker hub profiles. And it actually gives you a really good opportunity to reach out to each of those individual speakers and build relationships with them as well. Yeah, you can have a lot of fun with this or such great, we're gonna have a link here on this page. So people can just click here, and that's going to take you through to the speaker hub site. And you can just get started building that that free a free account and also, you know, for me, I think one of the most useful things when I got started in using speak hub, we're just looking around at the other profiles of some of my my fellow speakers speak in the same area as me and thinking like how can I differentiate myself in that sometimes it's the the video sometimes it's the blurb, the text or the photos or other things that you kind of add on to it. So yeah, absolutely. One of I think you've built an amazing marketplace here and I can really see this is becoming a Growing me it's only a year and a half old. Foster is already has already grown. Anything else. If anyone wants to know anything else about speak Harbaugh, if there are any kind of questions, and if there's any way that they should go or any way they should reach out the best way, Andras Baneth maybe maybe just one word because I know that's a very it's a crucial point when it comes to being on a platform like this. And some speakers might say, Well, I don't want to be where everyone else is, I want to be some someplace else. But the way I look at it is it's it's not speakers are are not really competing with each other. But they are there are just so many other factors that go into a speaker selection, that you you may not be direct competitors with, with 99% of the others because you're talking about expertise is different because they might be looking for someone who has a certain qualification or a background, or they might be looking for someone who's a native speaker or On the contrary, someone is not a native speaker but brings a different perspective. So all these factors come in and if you Compared to, let's say, eBay, it's the, the tennis racket is not very competing with the with, with a coke bottle. And that's not competing with buying a new house. These are all very, very different products, even though they might be the same marketplace. And again, events are looking for that very unique perspective. So this you don't necessarily need to distinguish yourself from the others. As much as you just need to be as a standalone, great speaker who provides a great value proposition. James Taylor That's what you need to do. Listen, well. Thank you so much for kind of coming on today. And also thank you for supporting international speakers. I know you and I had this conversation a few months back and I said, I've got this idea. What do you think about this, you get great feedback on it. And and here we are now. Andras Baneth Yeah, that's very thoughtful. I truly appreciate that. And how you put that together and the speaker lineup and I'm truly honored to be to be part of have such a prestigious speaker lineup and thank you so much for the opportunity I'm really happy to be part of this. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

How To Get Speaking Gigs In New Countries James Taylor interviews Mike Handcock and they talk about How To Get Speaking Gigs In New Countries In today's episode Mike Handcock they talk about on How To Get Speaking Gigs In New Countries. Mike Handcock is an international award winning speaker who has worked in over 100 cities and 46 countries with 250,000 people. He was the 2011, 2014 & 2017 NZ Speaker of the Year and one of just 28 people globally to be awarded the speaking designation CSP Global. Mike has written thirteen books on business and personal development including international best sellers and an Amazon #3. Mike is a musician with eleven albums to his credit and has produced and written for Radio & TV plus has directed a Feature Film (Dreamcatchers). He has been mentioned by President Bill Clinton for his philanthropic work and is a seeker of ancient wisdom who when not speaking on stages can be found climbing through dusty pyramids or researching the secrets of the past diligently. What we cover: Niching down as a speaker How To Get Speaking Gigs In New Countries The power brokers in the speaking business Resources: Mike's Website Mike's Free Gift For You Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/how-to-get-speaking-gigs-in-new-countries-sl079/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey, there's James Taylor. I'm delighted today to be joined by Mike Hancock. Mike Hancock is an international award winning speaker has worked in over 100 cities in 46 countries with 250,000 people. He was a 2011 2014 and 2017 Museum speaker of the year and one of just 28 people globally to be awarded this designation CSP global. Mike has written 13 books on business and personal development, including international bestsellers and Amazon number three bestseller. Mike is a musician like myself with 11 albums, to his credit has produced and written for radio and TV plus has directed a feature film called dream catchers. He's been mentored by President Bill Clinton for his philanthropic work, as a seeker of ancient wisdom, who were not speaking on stages can often be found claiming through dusty pyramids, or researching the secrets of the past and diligently and it's my great pleasure to have Mike with us today. So welcome, Mike. Mike Hancock Hi, James. long intro isn't James Taylor it? It's great. I mean, it's such a it's so varied, which is awesome. I mean, from the, obviously the speaking side. One of the things I didn't even mention that you got names, we went to top 10 coaches in Asia as well. So there's the coaching side, I know you run a lot of retreats and a lot of events all over the globe. So a lot of things going on, does this feel kind of overwhelming because you have a lot of different things on the go, just now. Mike Hancock Occasionally, to be honest. But I took eight months off in 2015. So, so that was good. But up until then, the 10 years before that were pretty hectic. That's for sure. James Taylor So what's happening just now what's got your focus at the moment? Mike Hancock The really the number one thing that's got my focus at the moment is building a movement called the conscious leadership movement. And it's something that we've literally just started as this is going to hear, where we're in in ducting our founding members now there's 43 of them, initial ones like the Congress, and then there's going to be 432 founding members, which is a sacred number, and then it's going to grow from there. And the concept behind it is to invoke change in the way businesses done, and also were making a difference is as important as making a profit. James Taylor So in terms of the ways in which you're kind of getting that message, are they building that move? So you're, you're finding those initial members to help kind of build that movement together? What what are the vehicles for it? Is it going to be primarily events kind of you've run a lot of events before is it going to be you out on the road speaking and putting things together there and talking to people about it or online courses or something completely different? Mike Hancock Actually, it's going to be probably all of the above James, to be honest, we've got we've got our inaugural event coming up for it, which is a global summit that's going to be in Livingston in Victoria Falls in Zambia in 2018. Beautiful, so we're sort of packaging people together for that. But then there's going to be a lot of online forums, discussions, webinars, because people are going to be at all parts of the globe. And then as we tour we're going to be talking about it as well. So it's certainly creating a lot of traction. And I literally launched it 72 hours ago, so it's fresh off the press. It's been it's been two years in the making. James Taylor When it comes to Speaking so obviously, you're known as at your CSP global spoken all over the world. And what was the introduction for you into into the world of professional speaking? When did it start for you? Mike Hancock Ah, it was 2002, I think or might have been 2003 or 2002. So a long time ago now, and I was in corporate at that stage General Manager sales and marketing for the largest financial institution in New Zealand, which is where I was living at the time and where I still live part of the time. And in that role, you get invited to do a lot of talks and things like that. And, you know, I knew I was pretty good at it when I heard some of the others speak from other companies and things like that. And I got invited to speak at a very large conference in Asia. So I trotted along to Asia, Singapore, and I didn't really ask too much about the conference, which is probably a good thing, because when I got there, there was 18,000 attendees. And, and there, I was, sort of doing my first really prepared Paid speaking gig mainstage with 18,000 people, so, so that was fantastic. James Taylor Wow, I can't even imagine going from zero to 18,000 people. that's a that's a big, you know, communicating in that in that way. I'm wondering your background as a musician, obviously, you're used to being on stages that's kind of familiar to that can help prepare, what were the things that you took along from across from that? Mike Hancock Yeah, absolutely. And as you know, being a musician, James, sometimes you play to four people, and sometimes you're playing with thousands of people, and it doesn't matter who you are. everybody's done it. That's the shore. So this was just one of those lucky breaks. And that sort of gave me work for the next three years came out of that and but the work wasn't in New Zealand, it was in Asia. So it really helped me launch my career. But I learned a lot about speaking from that from that exact moment then, because when I got there, and I started to understand the complexity of this thing, because I thought it was going to be Big but when I was thinking big I thought maybe seven 800 900 people 1000 people, I wasn't thinking, you know, 20 times that basically. And I was looking forward to seeing one of the big American names and I remember very clearly that when he came on, I just wasn't getting his message. And it's all heartfelt and sob story, but I wasn't getting it. And then at one point, he broke into tears. And I thought, I'm just not getting this and I, I turned around to look behind me at the masses of people in the stadium at Singapore Convention Center, and across the balcony was the biggest autocue I've ever seen. That said, cry now in brackets. No, he was reading the whole damn thing. So at that stage, I'd been taught to write little cheat notes on little cards, like these business cards, and have those in my hand and at that point there I threw those away. And ever since then, I've spoken from the heart, which is why when we came into this as well, I thought, we're just See where this went, rather than me putting too much structure around it, which means it's not going to have a natural flow James Taylor yet, folks, you're watching this listening, there's no auto cue going on, just now is is that is very much improvised here as well. So in those, you mentioned that that speaker who was not obviously a great example, but who were the who were the early inspirations for you as a speaker, who was maybe some of the early mentors for you. Mike Hancock I really didn't have any so my mentors were probably more musicians than than speakers. My mentors were people like Paul Stanley from kiss somebody who could grab an audience and take that audience on a journey. My mentors would Bono from you to you know, somebody who could basically bring that emotion out of their audience. I didn't really have a zig ziglar or anybody like that, that I had. as a as a as a mentor from a speaking perspective, and these days, even now My mentors around the world aren't necessarily coming from the industries in which they, they've been, you know, in. So if I look at entrepreneurship, for instance, and I'm looking at leadership, some of the toughest leaders in time have been some of the most brutal like Kublai Khan, for instance. So I've studied all of what he did. And he was a tremendous leader, although totally brutal in the way he led. So, I tend to look at different mentors that way and I tend to go the other way. So if I gave you the names of my mentors, you'd go I've never heard of them. And that's because nobody has because they're ordinary people who did amazing things. James Taylor Yeah, I I sometimes do this this little thing where you mentioned people from history and like, like, this may be similar to you, you know, where I was kind of brought up was relatively remote. You know, we did not have we were not the center of the earth in terms of the official speaking business. But I'm so I'm a great reader, you know, reader of history, like yourself. Love all To Barclays, I always imagined having my own little mastermind of people from history. And I kind of thought, Well, what would you know? What advice would this person give? And I almost kind of imagined because I got so familiar with their writing and, and their way of looking at the world that there was going to provide my early mentors and you mentioned something there about, you know, going to often other industries and other other fields to get inspiration. I know that a previous guest I've had on my podcast, Eric, wow, who's who's not a visual artist in great keynote speaker as well. And when I speak to him say, who yearns for him, he said, Bono, that was it. He said, I want my shows I want my speaking I want it to feel like it's a real gig I want there's a warm up music, there's the energy into the way that it's done with productions done. And that's obviously not right for everyone at all. But it's just that you can kind of take ideas from other places and kind of relate them to, to what you're doing. And you've you've obviously built this this great career. I'm guessing that the travel you You definitely have the travel bug you enjoy being in different parts of world and experience. So how does the How does speaking allow allow you to kind of indulge in your love of travel? Mike Hancock I'll look at any kid who ever wanted to be a rock star. If you can't make it in music just become a speaker. It's the same thing to be quite honest with you. Look, the beautiful thing about speaking is that you can speak anywhere in the world. Now remember, I was speaking to a group of up and coming speakers A number of years ago things about 2007. And this one guy in the audience said, Mike, how do I become an international speaker? And I said to him, his name was Kevin, I said, Kevin, basically, you get on a plane and you go and speak internationally. Anyway, hahaha. And he said, Well, who's gonna? Who's gonna listen to me? I said, Well, immigration for stop, they have to write. And he's like, Nah, that's very funny. And I said, Well, that's what you do. And About three months after that, he said to me, I'm going to take your advice. And he was in New Zealand. So I thought for him international would be Australia. So what are you doing? He said, I'm going to go to India. Now strangely enough, I've done trek 20 speaking trips to India. And I know the Indian market very well. I was just there a couple of weeks ago. And, but he never asked me for any leads or anything like that. I just went, congratulations, good on you. Let's see what happens. That guy built a business that got into and influence 10,000 educational institutions in India over the next four years, it was amazing the amount of product he sold and what he did there, so just phenomenal. So I think the key there is that speaking gives you the ability to go where you've always wanted to go and build a business around that. And I'm all for building a business around your life, not a life around your business, which I think some mistake that a lot of people make and you might be interested in Number one mentor is quite vigorous. James Taylor Pi sagaris. I will never. So what what is the linkage between pi sagaris and speaking Mike Hancock he was a philosopher and he definitely was a speaker as well. Yeah, he ran the Python gorean Academy. And basically he coached and mentored two groups of people, the acoustic air in the Mathematica the mathematical way I should say they studied mass the acoustic has studied music, and music and philosophy was a lot more what Pythagoras was about, then then mass, most people just knowing for mass, but actually, he invented all the modern scales of music and brought out some very, very interesting philosophies on the music of the spheres which science has since proved to be correct. Even got the notes of the planets correct and how he did that so totally for another phone call. So James Taylor So as you're going out there, speak How did you kind of start building you mentioned that first 18,000 And you've got speaking gigs from there. But once none of that happened, what what were some of the things that you started kind of putting in place, especially to start breaking into some of these new territories that you wanted to go to? Mike Hancock Okay, well, let me tell you exactly how we do it. So let's say we wanted to do do some talks in Ireland, because we want to go and drink some Guinness, for instance. Okay. So therefore, what I will do is I'll look at who already has my audience, because somebody already got my audience. Now, it might be another speaker, but it's more likely to be sitting in association. And I work a lot with entrepreneurs. So I work in the personal development space. I work in the entrepreneur space, and I work in the ancient wisdom space. So Ireland, for instance, has a really, really vibrant entrepreneur, printer community. So we get our researchers to research all those people, make connections, build lots of associations. through LinkedIn, etc, etc, build story and credibility through means a couple of months before we about to launch our Ireland campaign. Then we launch it, we bring all of these people in, we give them some special deals to shake the tree, firstly, and we just jump on a plane and go and there we are in Ireland, and we've got events and it just works out that way. And then you meet people and then people want you to do this and that and then one thing leads to another as it always does in life and, and in some of those countries like India, you end up going back 20 times and in others, you've had a nice holiday and made some money along the way. James Taylor So let's talk about the breakdown. There's two parts to the pre launch part before you actually start running the island campaign. So the initial prospecting and reaching out what is what is that? Those first kind of LinkedIn communications all those first communications look like? Mike Hancock I'm doing one now actually, because I'm going to be in the US soon so and I've been invited to Denver to do a talk Just a small talk. So I thought let's run a public event there at the moment. So we've been listed, I think, at the moment, we build a list of about 800 entrepreneurs in the Denver area. And we just have a LinkedIn message that goes out from me saying, Hey, I hear Denver is one of the best places in the US to live. Is that right? And people are coming back and communicating and telling me that I love the Rockies and this and that, and Mama's apple pie and everything like that. And so then I just find a way to communicate with them all very nice. And then just say, Hey, listen, if you're an entrepreneur, here's a free copy of my book. I don't need anything back from me. I just thought I'd offer this because you know, we're chatting. And people say, Gee, thanks. And then just leave them alone for a bit and then pop them a note back to three weeks later. You know, have you had a look at the book, maybe you could give me a testimonial if you wanted to, or tell me what you thought or something like that. But by that stage, then there's some engagement. So it's just been On that engagement and James Taylor of those people, you're reaching out to LinkedIn, are they primarily, you know, in your case on the entrepreneur side, or the entrepreneurs themselves? Or the or the associations representing entrepreneurs? Who are they Mike Hancock both? Both? Both? Yeah, so we'll, we'll go for anybody who's might be running an incubator or a startup setup or something like that. There's many of those around the world. We will be going for any entrepreneur associations, any sort of private equity companies, those sort of things, and to the entrepreneurs, directly anybody with the word founder, CEO, entrepreneur or something like that in their title, and just using something as simple as Sales Navigator on LinkedIn to to make the connections initially. So it's not rocket science. There's a little bit of work involved in it, but that work can be outsourced as well. So, you know, I just start with two or three standard, very simple approaches like hey, James, I've been looking at the weather in Scotland today, and I'm glad I'm not there. That type of modules probably lovely isn't enough. It's nice in Cape Town as well. So, so yeah, so that's, that's sort of the starting point for the approach and, and then it just goes from there and then just give give them some sort of give something of value. You know, I've got a lot of international best selling books and so one of those that's relevant to I'll normally give to somebody, just the the Kindle version or whatever and, and people tend to like that they really appreciate it, especially if you don't put put a hook in place straightaway. And it could be four weeks or six weeks before they get an invite to some James Taylor so you use that you know, the classic thing of obviously reciprocity there of giving, giving value giving value first, and then when you actually start to come into the launch campaign proper, what what kind of happens and how do you start shifting gears? Mike Hancock We just shift gears with an email say, Hey, listen, you know, we've we've been we've hearing so much about Denver, we're actually we've put it on our itinerary for next us towards the first time we've come, maybe you guys can help us maybe you want to show up, this is what it's about, here's the link for different people, you could be an affiliate for it. For other people who might be centers of influence, he's a really nice thing to do, hey, the tickets are worth this. But listen, if you're prepared to tweet, it will give you a ticket for nothing. James Taylor So and that that event, so this is a public, a public event that you put on when you when you're not actually based there in Denver. So you have to do this from where you are in the world. Are there any kind of good tips of confining those locations to run these initial events just to that market entry to get those kind of venues? Mike Hancock Yeah, I think what you've got to do is that what works really, really well around the world now is is sort of the the micro events or the mini events, that's not trying to put you know, 400 people in a room. It's trying to get 30 to 40 great people in a room and from those people And listing their engagement to take it to the next level. We've actually found recently, we've been limiting some of our rooms in some areas to just 10 people for a really short, smart session. And in fact, we've made more money in those areas and having 100 or 200 people in the room. James Taylor So these are they more workshop styles that you tend to go into or master class style, rather than like speaking from the stage in that way. Mike Hancock Yep, absolutely. That that comes later. Yeah, yep. James Taylor So the more workshop so that people have coming in there you getting like 1030, maybe 50 really good quality, you can have folks in that room, you're delivering great value at that event. We as next what's the next kind of call to action Next, please see the next part of the journey for them. Mike Hancock And this comes to the next question that if anybody's in speaking, they've got to pay attention to it. And that's product ization. And you have to have products at all levels of you know, value from free to three to maybe 100 200. $300,000 So, you know, because some people want to have that go on that journey with you. I mean, we've got clients that have been with us and bought amazing products year in year out for over 10 years now. So I mean, we love them, they're a friends, they turn up to everything and you know, and they just, they they actually say to us, can you guys develop a new product so that we can buy it off you? James Taylor It's pretty funny. ask people what they want and then make Yeah, so it sounds like you don't have like a really hard and fast differentiation between between kind of keynote speaking like the kind of thing you're getting up front, there's 18,000 people being paid to go out there. And also putting together your own events, especially in terms of thinking about market entry and potentially having products and what some people might call as like Platform Style selling or seminar style selling. It sounds like you're you can you can move between those two different places. Mike Hancock Yeah, I very much can I guess it's because I started as a Doing keynote, so I'm very familiar with that space. And I did very well at it. But these days, you know, it's so much more fun and so much more financially viable to do free keynotes. So it was really came from when the global financial crisis happened, James, particularly in New Zealand, all my friends were speakers saying, Man, the fees are getting driven down. And we're asking, being asked to have our price and all of that sort of stuff. And, and that sort of thing. And I thought about I thought, I'm going to try something. So I just went back to a few of the people that are I'd worked with before and said, you know, obviously, you need a speaker and you're struggling to get good speakers for what you can pay because of the GFC. And they said, Yes, that's true. And I said, Well, you can have me for free. Just pay my expenses. They said, what's the catch? And I said, Well, I have to make some money somehow. So can I pitch your audience something? Let's ensure James Taylor so that that what you just described there? I can I can I can almost hear the in taking a breath by baby some keynote speakers out there going. That's no, that's terrible. No, they can destroying our business, our business model as well. So from from the perspective of actually, rather than just from the perspective of the event planner or the organizer, talk to me about talk to us about what that actually gives you as a speaker. Because the numbers do they're very different that there's an because my understanding is that the many people that do the keynote speaking just the keynote speaking where they get the 10,000 or 15,000, it can often top out in terms of their earning potential, a certain amount that what you're talking about, has it worked in a very different way financially. Mike Hancock Absolutely. Firstly, I'm not a threat to any of those guys, because these days 98% of my business is direct to the public and people pay to come and see us so I don't really have time in my schedule, nor am I really Please, well, I'm not marketing myself as a keynote speaker for corporations. These days, I do keynotes as part of big events and things like that, but not necessarily for corporations. Secondly is, you know, if you're speaking to a room of 100 people, and your your speakers fee is 10,000, that's $100 a head that you've got to get out of that room. So, I mean, if you can learn some basics, sales skills, and if you're confident at it, you can definitely make some money in that in that room. So as I said, I wasn't doing it for any other reason than the market had tightened up. All of my friends was suddenly getting paid half of what they used to get paid six months before that. I didn't want to go through the whole I have to pitch myself and then go into an introduction with you and go into negotiation. Oh, no, I can only pay you half what I used to. So I said, Well, why don't you help me for free just pay my expenses. But the catch is that I have to pitch something The first James Taylor time I did that I doubled my feet. And so when you when you're on that pitching, you're maybe doing your 45 minutes of your style keynote, and then you're pivoting to like the last 15 minutes. Actually, this and if you want to take journey further, you know, this is this is where you go is information to back the room or, you know, have you do it from there as well. And I'm wondering if that approach also works very well, because your audience you mentioned can entrepreneurship personal development audience, where you know, many in that in those audiences, it's, it's then they're paying for their additional training themselves and their own credit card. Unlike more on the corporate side, where I've had a number of bureaus actually say to me before, actually, we don't like speaking about the entrepreneurship thing, because we're kind of worried in case the client thinks all of his stuff, his or her staff are going to go and start building building businesses. And I think that's changing. I was just booked to one bureau the other day, who said actually want more people talk about entrepreneurship in these big organizations because they want to, it's more that mindset thing, rather than The job description. So is that Do you think that's part of the secret of your success is because you've niching down within that kind of entrepreneurship, we have another couple of niches, that that style of printing and speaking and advance works very well for that audience. Mike Hancock Definitely, but I was doing with culprits, too, but you just you pick the flavor. And you say, you know, it could be sales training, for instance. And if somebody and the way you would pitch it is, you know, hands up, who here earns a bonus on the number of sales they make? Right? So then you ask us, how much bonus did you make last year? How much did you make last year? Would you like to double it this year? Right? For your investment of X amount of dollars, you can double up, right? You just have to go through this and this and this. And I'm personally going to coach your trainee or whatever. That's not my pitch, that can be a pitch for somebody who's listening. One of the other things that I know you've talked about before is this idea of brokers or power brokers within the industry. So the people that have maybe didn't know that term or haven't really At 10 described as relates to speaking, the speaking business, what does that mean? Um, well, very simply, in the speaking business, you've got people who have massive influence. Some of them are in the internet marketing space, I mean, you would probably be considered one of those people, you have a large reach. I mean, you're putting on a summit at the moment. So you've got reached to all of the speakers like me, who were in there. So you definitely are a person of influence. So therefore, those type of people are located everywhere in every city around the world. And they are the best people to get to know because even if what you're offering is not for them, they generally can push you in the direction of who may be interested if they believe in you. James Taylor So RM, r them. Let me think about speak of yours. A speaker Bureau is just a type of broker when we think about the online market will have lists, email lists, or social media lists as well. So, Brooke, Speaker bureaus are just another type of broker but I'm because my as you know, my background, especially with online marketing, one of the things I love about online is how trackable everything is. Yeah. And, and we're both working in the space of the music where you have agents and, and I love agents as well. But you know, it's not trackable, it's not in that same way that online you know, if I put an X amount of effort, this amount of dollars in ad spend or whatever the thing is, I will get back this this in return. So, when we think about those brokers, who are the others you mentioned, like influences when people with lists, we spoke with bureaus, who may be the other key influence the key brokers in this space. Mike Hancock One of the main ones is other speakers. So, you know, you look at some great speakers that you may know if you're speaking on leadership, and they're speaking on sales, you're two different things, but their companies are going to be looking for a sales speaker at some stage in your company is going to be looking for a leadership speaker at some stage. Yeah, awesome. So they great brokers for you if you can do those deals and, and I've probably done more of those deals for other people than then I've done for myself as well. Other ones I would say, definitely heads of associations. Anybody who's running an association is a really, really, the movers and shakers and I might not have much money, but they've got reach. So if you can imagine the retailer's association or the accountants Association, or even the Manufacturers Association, depending on what you're speaking about, they have some massive reach those people and they're in semi government and all sorts of things so and they're connected, and the other one is Chambers of Commerce. And I've never looked past chambers of commerce as well because they tend the guys or girls who are hitting those up tend to get involved in lots of different things. But the one that's sitting right in front of most of us, and a buddy of mine in Australia, who's a very well known speaker, they use Is this one all the time, he a puts a note on his Facebook saying, I've got some availability in October this year. As you know, I normally pay my speaking Agent 30% happy to give any of you who can get me a speaking gig, the same 30% refer me into your companies or refer me to a friend of yours who works for a big company. And if I get the deal and money's yours, and he feels a lot, James Taylor sorry, just through that. That's because I mean that that friends, and I know one of the other speakers we've had on here, and he speaks a lot of different countries and he'll often isn't, I really want to go to Azerbaijan, and he will just put our thing on his social media saying, I'm planning on speaking as about China looking to speak in Asbury, who has contacted Azerbaijan. And he said, I'm always always amazed at the response. He gets, oh, well, my brother is running the insurance company and this thing year and then this, and he said just by kind of asking the world, one of our previous guests, I had it on a podcast with Amanda Palmer into the pack. Power of asking. And sometimes you, you kind of have to ask, you have to kind of put it out there. This is what I'm looking for. I'm interested on the on the referral side of the friends and family. And I've referred a lot of speaking gigs to other speakers. Because if, like you said, if you get booked to speak in one year, then often the event planner will come back to you say, they're unlikely to book you again for next year. So they'll see, you know, who's good to speak on leadership or, etc, whatever, sorry. And I'll say, Well, she has an amazing year, check her out or check him out. I've always done that on just I've never taken like a commission or anything. I've just said, No, just go to this. But I do know that many speakers do take a commission on that. So what's your take on Have you heard, you know, is there is a kind of norm happening in the business in terms of referral fees from other speakers? Mike Hancock No, there's no there's no norm James in that I'm aware of. I've never taken a commission on any of those things either. Some of my friends do. Take commissions. others don't. But the smart ones formalize it. So they'll go and meet with five or six speakers. And they'll say, the minute you've got off stage and the minute you've got your check, just say to the first the organizer, hey, listen, by the way, I know you really enjoyed me, can I recommend somebody for you for next year? And at that point, they have the connections made. And that can work really, really well. And I agree with you. I mean, I've spoken in 46 countries, and some of them are because I've reached out on Facebook or LinkedIn and said, Hey, I'm heading to Norway. Does anybody know anybody there that I could connect with etc, etc. and born something goes to something goes to something. James Taylor So talking about connections, an event that you're putting together next year is a very cool event. So tell for all this audiences on here today for this summit. Tell them about this because I think this is going to be of huge interest and I When you told me about it, I'm like, Okay, I need to get on the next flight, the flight to this, I need to book that flight. So tell us about it. Mike Hancock You definitely should be there. And so should many of the listeners and And the beautiful thing about this is this is voluntary. I'm not even making any income out of this or anything but through the associations around the world, which is the global speakers Federation, in 2005, they started the global speakers summit. And this summit has been on every couple of years, although it hasn't run for five years. And the reason it hasn't run for five years is because it's incredibly difficult to put on takes a lot of work and big teams involved etc. and myself and a couple of others been really rallying New Zealand to to put in a bid to see if they could get the summit. Well, the minute we sort of shocked the tree, two or three other countries wanted to put in a bid as well. So we had a bidding war and it's a bit like the Olympics. I think the New Zealand document was 53 pages put together by Auckland tourism And the New Zealand conventions Bureau and the New Zealand speaking Association and New Zealand one. So from the 23rd to the 26th of February next year, we have the global speakers summit in Auckland in New Zealand, a fantastic venue sky city, iconic place in Auckland. We have great room rights there. On our pre pre launch, we sold nearly 50% of the tickets. So it was just amazing. So we're really on track day one of the four days is actually a corporate day. So you can apply to speak anybody who's listening can apply to speak there. You should come along it's very reasonable in terms of international money as well. It's around the thousand dollars Kiwi which is under 700 bucks us to come along and be part of it. And the website is je s s for global speakers summit 2018 dot com. So genius fest 20 eighteen.com. up the top right hand corner of the site, you'll see a little button there where you can apply to speak. And there are many, many topics that you can speak on. And I was given the job of chairing the summit, which is putting the whole thing together, probably because I put over 1500 events together at different places around the world as a fairly natural choice and, and we have an amazing series of events lined up over those days very different to any other of the speaker summits that's being put on, because most of them have asked for speakers to apply chains with their topic. And then like selected topics, we haven't done that I've written the whole program from front to back, and we're looking for the right speakers to slot into the right spots, so that we have the best of the best practice from around the world. So we've already got speakers coming from from Canada and from India and from parts of Asia, South Africa. The UK, even Sweden. So it's going to be amazing. You know, who's there. And I can tell you when I went to the first one of these in 2005, in Singapore, and then the follow up one in 2007 in Dubai, that definitely really helped me launch my international speaking business through the connections that I made there. And I've done many collaborations with people that I've met through those events. So it's a really fantastic event for people to get involved in je ss 20 eighteen.com great. I'll put that link here as well. It looks like a really cool event. So I'm looking forward to getting there bringing my wife along and and also seeing New Zealand be a country I haven't spoken in before. And everyone tells me it's a beautiful place. So that's, and I think, I mean, you're probably talking about what a 300 plus of the world's best speakers are going to be there. So even someone just just watching this just now who are just getting started in the journey as a speaker. James Taylor This is like going to be a supercharged where of connecting, and also getting inspired and hearing from some of the world's best speakers. So highly, highly recommended. And we'll put that link there as well. And I'm interested to know as well. What is in your speaker bag? What is it that thing that you carry to all your speaking gigs that you can never leave home without? Mike Hancock Lots of frickin wires? I'll tell you. I always carry a projector. Yep, I always carry one. I can't tell you how many venues I've been to where the project is a crapple or don't really work properly, or don't integrate well with the Mac and really try to reconfigure it, particularly when you start speaking in in countries like India and China and those places there. You know, you're probably not going to have it happen in San Francisco or London. But in those places, you're definitely going to be up against it. So I do carry a projector. I always have hard disks. You know, I've been arrested as a spy in Cuba. So for all the amount of hard disks and things that I had with me. So with different, you know, backups of different things on there in the cloud, but I keep hard copies as well. And the other thing I probably always have in my speaker bag, which is never far from me, and not even far from me right here, is I always have my latest journal, as well. So I'm a big journaler you get a lot of ideas on the road. And this is where you build products. This is where you come up with your best ideas. So that baby's in my bag. And there's nothing really weird in there except for good topics, because I often get invited to play when I'm going somewhere. So carrying a few of your own guitar picks is really useful. James Taylor I'm wondering now is is there a Is there a global speaker Federation band or a global speaker sir is there I was gonna I was gonna ask that because if there is, they will be live on stage on the last night of the summer. So there you go. If any of our speakers out there maybe also musicians and interested in kind of getting involved in that there might be a potential chance to sit in there with the band at the summit? A final kind of cover cover questions do you have any online resources or tools? Or absolutely, they're really you find invaluable to yourself as a speaker. Mike Hancock The ones that I'm really enjoying at the moment is I'm enjoying capsule we use capsule for our for inner circle of members. And so there are clients that we deal the most with and that I like that because it's it's basically free and you can program it to it's a CRM package that you can program. I wouldn't use it for thousands of people but to keep tabs on you know, when you're bumping into somebody and you want to know what the latest thing they've done is that's that's fantastic. In terms of apps, probably I'm everybody's using WhatsApp these days. I don't tend to use a lot or I don't use my phone. My phone is a camera disguised as a phone so I don't take phone calls. So that would be something even though it's here but it's been on the whole time that I was here let me have a look and tell you one other one that I live here I've got my all my rental car apps and my booking.com apps and and things like that is probably definitely the ones that are used. And the other one that I'm really liking at the moment is well there's two actually I'll tell you this one. This is all I want to tell you this one this is a no no because it's a great app to actually get rid of people you don't like so I tell you that case anybody gets rid of your eye, but the one I actually like is I like scanner for me. Because when you're on the road a lot you you know you got to sign a lot of documents and everything like that. This allows you to do it all I can have it sent to my PC, I can scan the doc off my PC with the scanner app, I can add my signature to it and send it back. So I don't need printers and, you know, trying to get printers in hotels at work and things like that is a real pain so I really like that app but I try and keep it pretty lean. So that Netflix is the other app that I use quite a lot what not to travel James Taylor and what about if you could recommend just one book and also one record one album to our listeners a slightly unusual choice but I think is very apt for yourself as a as a musician as well. What would that book and what would that record be? Mike Hancock Um, the book would probably be probably be the alchemist Paulo Coelho. It's a phenomenal book that that will inspire people. And the album, I think is probably going to be wishy washy here, Pink Floyd. Right. Because it's cross generational. You can chill out to it on a plane but you can also really get into it as well. So so that would be it. Although I use All sorts of different music from, you know, hardcore Drum and Bass to country in western in what I do. And a final question for you, Mike, let's imagine you woke up tomorrow morning in South Africa or New Zealand or wherever you are, James Taylor wherever you'd like to be, and you have no contacts. No one knows who you are. You don't know anyone, but you have all the skills and you have all the the chops and experience you've acquired as a speaker, but you have to restart, what would you do? How would you restart things? Mike Hancock I think it'd be in some ways, fantastic. I mean, the beautiful thing is you have all your experience. So all of those products and books and things that you created that you think are really my start date that so you don't have that problem anymore. So you'd start what I would do is I would sit down number one, and refocus on my values. What are my values? Number two is I'd look at the areas of my real passion, that map matched my values, and then I would super micro niche in an area my real passion, and I build a platform and I do one or two pre prop free products, then I build a couple of funnels for those. And I'd start some stimulation going, and then I'd start conversing with some of those people. And I'd take medium term view on that, to build the type of business that I really wanted to build. I think so many speakers end up speaking about topics that they really aren't that interested in. And it's because they, you know, maybe they were a sales and marketing manager in their job, so to speak on sales and marketing, but it actually doesn't interest them. So I James Taylor go right back to my values. That's where I'd start. And you very kindly offered all of our attendees here at the summit, our free report that you've put together and I was just reading before we came on earlier, it's great report. It's called the 11 secrets to being a successful speaker. And we've kind of we've just kind of covered a little bit of one like two of them the bridges of productizing and the powerbrokers bit, goes over all the others and goes much more in depth as well. So we're going to have a link here on this page to that so people will be able to Get that as well. We'll also have a link here for the the global speakers summit in New Zealand so people can book their tickets and maybe put forward for them to themselves to speak at that event as well. What other ways that people, good places for people to connect with you, Mike and to learn more about all your different products and programs you have happening? Mike Hancock The best place James is our website, which is dub dub dub dot rock your life, our o ck your y o u our life.net in at? Ok awesome.com has been owned by a rock shop somewhere in Colorado. The last thing is got it before me but dotnet rocky life dotnet and everything's on there and you can connect with me there and see where we are and everything like that and hopefully bump into some of the people on this call at some stage. It'd be lovely. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

The Entrepreneurial Speaker James Taylor interviews Gil Petersil and they talk about The Entrepreneurial Speaker. In today's episode Gil Petersil they talk about The Entrepreneurial Speaker. Gil Petersil, Communication & Strategic Networking Expert. Over 20 years of business experience as a serial entrepreneur and a business coach for 200+ companies spanning across diverse business industries around the world. More information about Gil's activities: Leading Strategic Networking expert in Europe, Middle East and Asia. Invited professor and business coach in the top business schools Serial entrepreneur of 15 businesses across Europe Trainer on Strategic Networking for leading global corporations Lived and developed businesses in Israel, Canada, USA, England, Russia and Singapore Shared the stage with such world-class speakers as Brian Tracy, Michael Roach, Keith Ferrazzi, Allan Pease, David Allan, Robert Cialdini and Jordan Belfort (The Wolf of Wall Street) * Speaker in 200+ events for over 35,000 people all over the world. What we cover: Why Gil set up a speakers bureau The Entrepreneurial Speaker Partnering with Tony Robbins Resources: Gil Petersil Website Gil's free gift for you Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/the-entrepreneurial-speaker-sl78/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey, it's James Taylor and I'm delighted today to be joined by my good friend and an incredible speaker Gil Petersil. Gil is a speaker communication and strategic networking expert and is the leading networking specialist in Russia and cis. He is the founder and co owner of 15 businesses visiting professor at skolkovo startup Academy. a business coach, and a consultant for over 200 startups in different fields. After gaining extensive experience of living, studying and working in Israel, Canada, Great Britain, USA, Singapore and Russia, Gil uses his vast knowledge in the sphere of effective communication to raise entrepreneurs and companies to new heights by using the art of strategic networking. He is the exclusive partner for Tony Robbins in Russia, and this year became the number one promoter for Tony Robbins in the world. Amazing. In addition to his work with Tony Gil has appeared on stages with such legends as Brian Tracy Alan Pease, Keith Razi, Robert Cialdini, David Allen, Michael wrote and Wolf of Wall Street's own Jordan Belfort and Gil and I hung out at the start of the year in Singapore, and he's an incredible entrepreneur, credible speaker so I'm really happy to have him on the summit today. So welcome. Gil Petersil Hello, hello. Happy to be here. James. Thank you for inviting me. James Taylor So here are the attendees what's going on in your world? What have you been up to recently? Gil Petersil Well, you know, it's been a really big beginning of the year because last During the summer I was blessed with a beautiful baby daughter. And which really transformed a lot of my life. A lot of people said, Oh, you know, your life is gonna change and some people said Your life is not gonna change. But that that step in our life to becoming parents really helped me understand a lot more than I need to become a much better business owner and have a lot less operational activities. And as a speaker, I decided that I want to have a lot more freedom, and I wanted to be able to travel more but travel with my family. And because of our businesses that have been flourishing in England and in Russia for the last few years, we decided to come to Singapore and lived here for a little while with the weather is better and much better environment for kids and babies. And it's been an incredible beginning of the year so far being completely welcomed by the Singapore community, joining the professionals association of Singapore as well and just you know, giving back to the community James Taylor is amazing in Singapore. I it was only the start this year that I was over there. apss Asia professional speaker Singapore and we met up with Fredrik hire, and Andrew, Brian, some incredible speakers, many of them are on the summit here as well. And the thing that struck me about the association there is how collaborative it is. Not to see that the other ones aren't collaborative, but it's just really strongly of people are there helping each other, you know, giving, you know, suggestions of things. It's just it's a, it's a, it's very unique, I would say in terms of the speaking world. Gil Petersil I completely agree. And I think it's because that Singapore is very much a melting pot of people that have come in from different parts of the world. And they ended up in this tiny little country that surrounded by big giants around it. And this tiny little country they used to be just the city has flourished so much, and these speakers that have been coming in from all over the world, they've learned that the best way to succeed and flourish and grow their own business to achieve really, you know, financial freedom, prosperity is the to collaborate is to refer each other to the clients is to support each other by sharing experience, because at the end of the day, if you have an abundance mindset, so much more work comes towards you. And I've learned this as a business owner, the more we've given out, the more we've shared with our competitors, we've managed to not be able to even, you know, take in all the business that's come in, which is really how we became the number one promoter for Tony Robbins this year just, we just gave out a lot of his books, and we gave out a lot of support to people who couldn't afford it. And this year, we brought 1200 PEOPLE TO HIS EVENT without really putting that much effort into it. James Taylor 1200 people and these were Russians from all over the all over the globe that came to London. Gil Petersil These were Russian speaking people from 27 different countries around the world that came into this event with us somehow magnetically attracting all of them. And James Taylor because of that, obviously, you're the number one promoter for for Tony Roma's Because of that as well, but you know, so you have that part of your business and but you also now have the speaking side have mentioned you've spoken on stages you've done a lot of kind of global speaking you're speaking here there and everywhere just now I'm interested in this point in your in your life, because we are we're kind of similar ages young family, you know, what, what was the thing about speaking at this point in your life? And really, because you'd be obviously speaking before that, but you've obviously decided to Okay, take take things up a level. Gil Petersil Yeah. So it was really about three and a half years ago when I when I needed to make some big life decisions because our business was just like starting to make some money. And, you know, my wife and I were real like, hands on entrepreneurs in the office every single day struggling with recruiting struggling with what do we do and I've always had this passion for motivating others. I've always had this need for mentoring and coaching and it's something I've always dabbled into. But three and a half years ago, we went to a training seminar again by the famous Miss Tony. And it was a business one specifically where we learned a lot about the key tools that we have to use it to become business owners. And the reason I chose to do that, because I realized that speaking is what woke me up in the morning, speaking is what got me up would energize getting in front of the audience, not having to think about money, I didn't need to charge everyone just sharing my own life experience sharing my successful failures. I've failed a lot in business and I love being able to share with people that and I realized that the ability that I have in this passion that I have had to step up, but in order to do that, I had to bring in my business skills up as well. So first, I'm an entrepreneur and then I'm a speaker so for me speaking is not about I need to speak to make money for me speaking is my businesses are making money. And if I speak, I could generate more leads my business. When I speak, I get energized I can give that to my clients know my employees. When I speak, I can just share the message with people that are somehow potentially going to trickle down to one of my companies, you know, speaking for me, became very natural at a later stage of my life. Because at an early stage, I was very much of an introvert, not being comfortable with people not knowing how to network or connect with others. But speaking became very much and kind of second nature to me, because I traveled so much in my life. And I've lived in so many countries, and I've been through the struggles of not knowing how to talk to people or having to get up and do a presentation in front of my team. And I've done it so many times that, you know, everyone says, practice makes perfect, that really, really does. And I got to a point today where I can come to a new country like Singapore, use my networking abilities to connect with the right people, the right leaders, and very quickly get on the right stages, to build the right relationships to build a brand for myself in a completely new country. James Taylor So that that ability To network is something that you're known for I've seen it in person, you train about it, you speak about it, you teach about it as well. You've obviously been in lots of rooms lots of conferences, events, where there's been other speakers there was some of the maybe the things that you see them not doing that you think just you know, a couple of just add these couple of things, these couple of ingredients to your to your recipe for for meeting people for networking, and you're gonna see, you know, real exponential results, maybe just give us maybe one or two here, just Sure, Gil Petersil sure. So for me as speaker is a freelancer, he's an entrepreneur, as Speaker for me is someone who is selling his time, his selling his knowledge, his experience, which is just like a consultant or a coach. Now, there are some speakers that can get up in front of keynote and do an amazing job in front of 10,000 people in the corporation just pays them a big chunk of money and they could do it twice a month and they're very happy. But the average speaker in the world must be a proper entrepreneur. They must hustle. They know Get the leads, they must build a CRM system, they must follow up with the leads, and they must get clients regularly in order to have a good life in order to become famous in order to achieve any of their goals. What I see happens with a lot of speakers, they lose that entrepreneurship spirit, they, they maybe feel some time, maybe it's an ego boost. Maybe it's a, you know, they've had a couple of really big clients and they paid them a lot of money. So now they expect all clients to pay them a lot of money. Or maybe they had a couple of amazing months, where clients were coming in from everywhere and the like, whoa, whoa, this is great. And suddenly, they stopped calling leads, and they stopped following up with people and they got a good business card from someone but they said, You know what? He should follow up with me. Why should I follow up with him? I'm the speaker, he should follow up with me. If he wants me he should pay me money. And suddenly, it became I'm not an entrepreneur. I'm a celebrity that's always in demand. Which is not true. Even celebrity Have either an entrepreneurial spirit or they have an agent working for them, you know, and you have kind of you get to play either one or both sides of the coin and all times. You know, for myself personally, when I started off my speaking career in Russia, I understood very quickly that in order to become a speaker, you've got to hustle. You got to put yourself out there. But culturally in Russia, if you push yourself as a speaker, for example, your rate cannot be that high, because psychologically means maybe you're not in enough demand. Maybe you need business. What I did, I said, I set up a speaker's bureau, I set up my own company, my own agency that basically was able to sell me and sell other speakers at the same time, which was awesome, because when they sold me, I made money. And when they sold someone else, I still made money. So it was a win, win win all around. So I think as speakers you pick Got the business card, you hustle and connect with people, you see people all around you build relationships with them, don't try to sell yourself, try to understand what the opportunity is what kind of, you know, weak points they might have in the company where you are maybe one of the other speakers, you know, could fulfill that pain. Currently the company has. So I think isn't a speaker, be an entrepreneur, and don't think as one but think as many because you have a community of other speakers around you. James Taylor But that was such a smart move, setting up that speaking speaker bureau as well. Because as you were kind of going there building, building that business, obviously there was people coming in for you looking to book you as a speaker. But you know, so many times people come in, and frankly, you're not right for them, you know, it's not the right match. And, you know, what most speakers will do is they'll say, Oh, you know, speak to sue or Joe and I think they would be a good match for you. So it's an informal relationship in that way. But what you are able to do by setting up a bureau is you can form Realize that at the same time, you provide a great service for the the event planner, the organizer, you also provide a great service for, for the speakers as well, because, you know, many of them, you mentioned that those two roles there, you know, the, the speaker and in the person that the manager, I personally found, where my background being in the music industry, the most successful music artists, I've found. The they actually have that entrepreneurial thing within them. Yeah, yeah. And that's kind of got them to that first step. And then once they've been at that step where they've been brought in a manager or an agent, then they can handle a lot of those rains. But that never leaves them. They've got that in their mind, they're always thinking that and is important, because then they can have those conversations with other managers, the other people in the business with a bit more of a turned on. So I think there's a danger sometimes if we think even as speakers that, Oh, well, I'll just leave that. You know, I'll just kind of mentally park that to someone else. When actually this is kind of this is part of what your job is. Yeah. You're doing So, so who were those who those in those early days for you, as you were kind of starting to build up your career as a speaker in Russia, and also during kind of globally? Who were those key mentors for you apart from obviously, Tony, Gil Petersil you know, so it's interesting because when I was starting off what I didn't want to do, I looked at people like Tony and Brian Tracy and Blair singer, I look at all these guys that have been following for a while Les Brown. I've listened to him so many mornings, you know, and what I didn't want to do. I didn't want to climb the slow way. I didn't want to slowly slowly slowly climbed like most other speakers do. I didn't want to be a struggling speaker because again, I had my entrepreneurial mind hat on, and I had the hat of, Okay, if I'm already building an agency, what I'm actually doing is I'm building a persona I'm creating, I'm creating a perception in customer's eyes that they don't call me they call My agency you know, they call a team that represents me. So very quickly I was able to go into the tear beat of speakers and and charge a lot more than most of the other speakers around me that have been talking for 1015 years. Very quickly. I jumped at that level one. I was a foreigner I was a businessman. Many maybe I had a competitive edge as well, but I started looking at speakers who were business people so you know someone like Brian Tracy I've been a huge fan of his for so many years but what I've learned with some of them that you know, I'm not losing respect to any of them of course, but when they don't speak they don't really make that much money. Yeah, and what I started looking at for as mentors I start looking for mentors who are making money when they don't speak and I looked started looking at people who are you know, first business people and then speakers and I've noticed that you know, you you you brought in a few people that I've recommended Ted McGrath you know, a good friend, right? also brought into the the summit. I think that's very, very smart. And then waldschmidt, you know, someone again, I highly, highly recommend people to check out. Both of these guys, I see them as business people, especially Dan, who's built a very successful consulting businesses and a lifestyle business as well. And then suddenly decided to be a speaker. And he went directly to that to a of a speaker. So for me, my mentor is continuously changed. But to be honest, my mentors have always been business people. And then mentors have been people who I just looked up to as speakers. It's more about, you know, what can I learn from them to do but it's more about what can I learn from not to do? You know, I don't want to mention the names of speakers where there's a lot of speakers in the world that have made ridiculous amounts of money. And today, they're completely broke the speakers in the world that had been preaching one thing for their whole life, and suddenly today, they're talking about something completely difference. So, there's a lot of, you know, unauthentic sort of communication out there. So I, for me, I almost took, what not to do, where were the bumps on the roads are how it shouldn't be me on stage making money. It should be me offstage sleeping, making money. So I had to think about how to reverse engineer the whole thing, James Taylor that idea of kind of velocity as well as something that people use Sergei Brin, obviously from Google talks about where to okay rather have a five five year plan, how can you do it in six months? You know, and it makes you think in a very different way, because it's not the conventional way of doing things you know, there's there's set ways of doing things you go and do this then you do this and then that and I'm like you I'm always thinking well, you know, why should we go the conventional way all the time. Let's let's have some fun. There's not I mean, there are there are rules, but rules are there to be broken and and to have you know, have fun a bit and to be flexible with as well. And I definitely saw What you said about this idea of building productizing and building other revenue streams yourself is very important when I can go into the speaking so because I saw it happen so much in the music industry where many I worked with some of them many can be successful rock bands or touring artists, they could only make money when they were on the road when they were up there on in speaking or performing in front of audiences. And when that was going, it was great. But if something happened, maybe an album and the speaker's kit book didn't work quite as well, or they just kind of fell out of favor or they got sick. For example, it was over you know, it was a real problem and so I was I kept buying into all the arts I represent we need to have multiple streams of income, we need to have subscription, you know, recurring renewal subscription, we need to have other events, our own stages, our own events. So when I came to speaking, just like you, I went, Okay, the speaking is the tip of the iceberg is a bit that often people see but with this is intact. There's all these other things going on. Dan is obviously great for that in the consulting Ted, he has his events as well. Who are some the other people, the other speakers that you're seeing around just now that you're going? They've got it. And maybe speakers are coming onto the scene relatively recently as well. Gil Petersil So, you know, these days because I have made this transition to Singapore, I'm following a lot of the local guys. You know, you've mentioned Frederick Heron and Tom Abbott, you know, who's the president now, the apss and Andrew Bryan, people like that, you know, Jerome Joseph, an incredible guy. I like following these guys, because I see what they've built here locally. And because they've moved countries so many times in my lives, and whenever I've moved the country, I've had to learn how to set up a business and that culture and my mindset when I network, it's always a How can I help you mindset I love serving communities. I love serving people. What I do for a living right now is because I know I got it. I want to share it and because I'm sharing it, I know I'm learning more Because I'm still a student today. So by looking at some of these leaders of the apss here, I see guys that I could learn so much from but when I see what I can learn from them first, I see what I could teach them. I see what added value I can offer them. Why would someone agreed to teach me unless I can continuously add value to them? Why can I expect for someone to sit for lunch with me to share some insight knowledge to make a recommendation to me to give me some tips on how can I expedite my growth and in this country being completely new to the culture, if I don't certainly know how I can add tremendous value to them right now. And when I go into meetings with some of these speakers, the same thing like Tony, Tony is one of the top speakers in the world in my opinion, if not the number one speaker and when I meet him now, it's different. You know, when I met him a couple of years ago was completely nervous, not understanding how can I add value to this person, but then when I started promoting isn't And teaching people around, you know, the Russian speaking countries who Tony is and what his message is. I understood that by just taking this action by building a business around it, I was adding value to him. And I would not fully understand until something like two weeks ago Why now he wants to add value to me why he wants to spend time with me why he wants to mentor me. And I think it's the best way to really build relation with these speakers is look for other speakers around the world that you can collaborate with, maybe do a joint venture with maybe do have a strategic partnership with share a stage with speakers is something that I've taken on board is a very serious strategy in order to grow quickly. You know, I looked for someone like Brian Tracy, who I've loved for almost 20 years of my life and when I made those decisions to become a top speaker in Russia, I had to find the biggest speakers that are respected by Russians were international and try to get on their stages as well. James Taylor So very smart. And what you're talking about here is also very strategic. At the same time, you know, this is not, oh, I need to send this one sheet to someone I need to know for you, there's a there's a lot of thought that's gone into this a lot of kind of planning is very strategic at that level. And I'm wondering, now, as you start going to building out all this, you know, we often hear this this distinction between the keynote speakers people that just going to get that 10 K to go or 15 k whatever the figure is to go and speak at that event. And what we sometimes call platform speakers, of course, like a Tony Robbins Is that who, yes, he will occasionally go and speak for a big organization, but most of time, it's his, his his stages that he's doing. And you're you're dealing with both of these types of speakers through your, your, your Bureau, and you know, many of these types of speakers. It sounds to me like you're very much kind of thinking for you as you build your speakers on the platform side. For anyone that is kind of relatively new to this distinction between the keynote just go straight forward keynote Speaker and a platform speaker, you know, where's the money? You know, for someone is just thinking, What's going to give me the biggest opportunity to to grow, you know, as quickly because I know some people just there's that laser like focus of just focusing on keynotes and people can do really well, and doing that. But then there's this other thing which milken entrepreneurial speaker you're talking about. Gil Petersil Yeah. So I really think it comes down to what do you want out of life and what kind of priorities you have if you got four kids at home, and you can necessarily depend on the one ad hoc, you know, keynote speaking here and there, then you build a business around then you sell as a keynote and then you have a back end that maybe it's a three day training seminar inside of a company. It really depends if what people actually want for themselves. I know some speakers who like working approximately three months out of every year and then they go and they relax and they sit in another home. They sit in one of the islands they they have a great time they spend time with their family in a little Love that. But personally, myself, I love working. I don't really call it work. Last weekend I was in Vietnam and next week I'm traveling again. And for me, I love combining business and pleasure I currently I'm, you know, I feel blessed that I have a wife that loves traveling with me, because she's a part of the business, of course, and she runs two of our companies, and I have a young daughter who's very easy to travel with, I think in, you know, 510 years, I'll be in a different position with many kids and being just a keynote might be something I would want to do at that stage of my life, because I'd have more freedom to spend time with my kids and go pick them up from school and I can't necessarily commit to five days in China and three days in India, because I know speakers like that and they're away from home 80% of the year, and I don't want to do that. And that's for me my personal lifestyle choice because I've been there and done that. I've been traveling on the road a lot and back then I didn't have a family. So I did that. But now that I have a family, I wouldn't want to do that. Now. Money is in both To be honest, as a keynote, you can make two to $5,000. You can make 10 to 30. You can make 100 Plus I know speakers will make 100 Plus, but it's not enough to them. They want to charge a lot more. Ilan Musk, like didn't accept a speech a speaking opportunity for 500,000. I know guys like Steven Seagal once 120 Okay, what is he going to talk about? I'm not sure, but that's what he wants, because he doesn't have a back end where you can actually train in a structured manner. Some other speakers that I've met here, the keynote that they do is not as good as a one day in the office group coaching, proper training, you know, everyone has their gifts. So I think it's really being open with yourself maybe speaking some of your mentors and understanding what is my gift and do I want to do that? 20 minutes, one hour motivation, really a lot of detail information, or do I want to actually prolong it over a one day period work with people do I love people that much? James Taylor I think that's what's been fun about At the summit all the different guests yourself and Minaj and Jerome and some Tom Piller who you mentioned, there's such a variance of the kind of, and it really, some of them, it takes them a while to kind of find what their thing is, and where some people more like doing the keynoting or the platform building businesses, others it just like it's just instinctually I know, this is kind of where I want to be. But what was nice about it is this, you know, just choose your lane, choose your path and and just go for it and find a great mentor, you know, in that path, serve as a platform, reach out and be some like Gil or, or, you know, someone like Dan for example, and and kind of form those connections because because they they have a game plan for that they've built their strategies around that. And I'm interested in your work. You've been on stages and you've worked alongside you've also represented through the through the Bureau, so many great speakers, but what's the best piece of advice that you've ever received about speaking? Gil Petersil I think when I there was really I could look at him two different sides. were nice Started one of the advisor mentor gave me said Listen, you want to speak, stop talking about it go and speak. And this is something I'm now giving the exact same advice of a mastermind for speakers in Russia treaty training people how to get on stages and I'm that's exactly what I'm telling. Don't wait for only the paying gigs if you're just starting off right now or if you're, you know, getting things going, don't wait for someone to come to you go to universities, go to charity organization, go to different Chamber of Commerce's, you know, go to old people homes and just talk. You know, practice makes perfect. And for me, I got to say it when that advice came to me, I didn't think it was something but I actually went to high schools. In a one stage, I became a coach for the director of the high school and actually paid me good money, but just offering myself to speak in front of the students was energizing. It was fun. I had to prepare, I got my content to be better. So that's one practice truly makes perfect and the more you speak The more you kind of refine the content that you truly want to speak about, and on the other side where I am today, it's more making sure that you have authentic stories behind your content. So today, I don't just speak about my content, I live it. I don't speak about strategic networking. I am a strategic networker. It's how I do my business. Every business I have runs on it today, my corporate clients, when I come into them, like guys, I'm not going to train you how to do something hypothetical, I'm going to walk you through step by step on how to use the what I call the new code of networking, to get what you want to achieve your goals, to get more clients to have more freedom, whatever it is that you want. It's all basically a co creation that we have with others. And today, that's what I tell. The best advice I give to speakers is don't be a loner, connect with strangers. partner up with the speakers. Don't see competitors in anyone else. around you. Because if you thinking competition, you don't think there's enough clients to go around. So think about abundance and just see every single person you meet, not as a potential client, but as a potential future friend who might recommend me to someone one day, so treat people with respect, give them free content, and just enjoy your life. James Taylor COMM my question for you, first of all, what is what is that that mobile app or that online resource of that tool that you don't think you could now probably live without as a speaker? Gil Petersil I would save that for me today. LinkedIn is really it. You know, having LinkedIn is really helped me transform my speaking career. But really, again, I'm looking at it from an entrepreneurial point of view. It's helped me transform the way I I run businesses, the way I recruit the way I attract customers. Today, I actually have a full time girl in my office, just helping me manage my LinkedIn account because there's so many requests and so many new business cards that I pick up and when I tell speakers You meet people always enter that business card into some sort of a database. What I do today, I enter you into into LinkedIn and I connect with you and I send you a little message. And also I enter you my CRM, and today, everyone's got a mobile phone, it doesn't really matter what you have, make sure that your CRM system is backed up connected to your computer connected to some sort of an in the cloud system. And there's so many out there and make sure that you you have a way to just follow up with people, whether it's weekly or monthly, just have a way that you can reconnect and reconnect. And for me, LinkedIn is number one, not just social network. It's a tool that I use to maintain these connections. James Taylor And I think I've got an app on my phone. I can't remember what it's called now Munch card Munch or something, where you can just take the take a photo of the card, and it automatically do the connection within LinkedIn is connect to your LinkedIn account. So there's I know there's a couple of cool apps. Gil Petersil There's a lot there's a lot of apps out there. I didn't know there was one that automatically connects you with the LinkedIn Want to know that by what the recommendation I would give you be careful what a lot of these apps because the connection that they send people is a template connection. And I think that's a mistake that a lot of people do because you're just sending them Hello, I would like to add into my professional network. Don't do that. If you're connecting with people, especially as a speaker, what you want to do is you want to personalize it a little bit. Now, you can keep it as a semi template, but it could be, you know, hello, James, it was really great to meet you at the apss event last week, I really, you know, enjoyed our conversation to see synergies and potential future discussions. Just to remind you, this is the sort of topics I love speaking about. If there's anything I can ever do to help you out, please reach out to me But either way, I love to stay in touch. So I'll follow up with you in the next few weeks. You know, awesome, that sort of follow up that's personalized, that's telling them where you met. It's telling them what you do, and it's telling them that you come in peace. James Taylor What about what is in your speaker bag, what is in that bag that you take to all You're speaking gigs that you never leave home without, you know, you have all your your gadgets and your things what was in that bag? Gil Petersil That's a funny one. So I'm gonna say the obvious ones that I think most speakers have. It's the clicker. It's I have my own headset microphone. I always go to events with it because I don't do events where I do a handheld and you know, my microphone is good at suits me. I have my USB stick just in case they lost my presentation. It's always good to come with it. I have my it's funny, but I have a little bell with some of my events. Because when you want to interact with the audience, depending on the time you have, you need to get them to stop talking, I have a little bell actually gets people's attention. It's amazing. And one extra thing that I always have is actually have little mint boxes, little Tic Tac boxes, not the big ones, the little ones, which I give people who are openly engaging with me. One I give it to them as a reward for openly engaging with me a partner in an audience. And two, it's a really good you know, networking. little tool. People need mints in their pockets and the network's they just fit with a lot of the topics that I cover. James Taylor Awesome, great. And we'll put we'll put some links here as well. I'll find out what clicker you use and things and we'll we can add some of those here as well. Let's if you can only recommend one book in relation to speaking, or actually just relation to, you know, entrepreneurship. So because you have these, you blend on the speaker and the entrepreneurship thing. What would that book be? What would the book recommendation be? Gil Petersil Why not? Can I give three quick ones? James Taylor We open we have some time. Let's go for it. Give me give us those three. Gil Petersil I'll give three quick ones. I'm not going to go into details. So not in any specific order. But again, we spoke about Tony so awaken the giant within by Tony, I believe that every single speaker out there is a celebrity that's waiting to launch themselves. Every celebrity is a star. And every speaker has the opportunity to be that star. They just need to awaken that person within them. Number two, I would say is karmic. management by gesha Michael Roach really awesome men new mentor in my life, someone who I've had the, the, you know the honor to share the stage with multiple times, karmic management's just something that I think every person on earth needs to know. But as a speaker, you need to understand what's going on. Because when you're sharing that much with so many people, karma does work. So think about what you're sharing, think about what you're giving them and think about what you're expecting back. And the third one, I would say, is a little bit on the spiritual side, but it's also something quite important to me. It's the Power of Now by Eckhart Tolly. And again, from a business point of view, from a networking point of view, the power of now is just being able to be in the present moment. And when I network with someone when I'm on stage with people, I'm here with you, I'm here with you as an audience. I'm not anywhere else. I'm not thinking about my business. I'm nothing but my wife. I'm not thinking about my my phone. What I need to do next, I'm not thinking about money. I'm thinking about delivering an amazing right now show a content for you, whatever it is, my objective is, I'm right here now with you. And Eckhart totally redid that for me. He taught me a lot about the power of now. And again, I've had the honor to meet him a few times and even more blessed. He's accepted my invitation to come to Russia this September 1 time ever in Russia. He's accepted an invitation is going to be in Russia when we are hosting his event. So I'll get to share the stage with one more of my heroes. James Taylor One incredibly influential writer and an speaker as well. Yes. One I know a couple of people have spoken on this stage as well. Incredible, incredible person. So we'll put those links there as well. And a final question. If you woke up tomorrow morning and had to start from scratch, what would you do if you had to wake up tomorrow morning, you had no contacts, no one knew who you were. But you've had all the tools of your trade and all the knowledge you've acquired as a speaker as an entrepreneur. What would you do? How would you restart things? Gil Petersil So you know, I'm gonna speak from real practical, you know, advice right here. I came to Singapore, I didn't know anyone, I had to start from scratch. So I'm talking as someone who's moved countries about every 10 years, I came here not knowing anyone. First thing I did is I looked up what events are happening and who the speakers are. And I started reaching out to the event organizers, I started trying to reach out to the speakers to see if I can just meet up with them. I looked at different networking events to try to understand from the local community, the strengths and weaknesses of the local community, what are people missing? What are people needing, I wasn't selling myself, I wasn't talking too much about who I am. It was more about asking them, who they are, what they're doing, where the pain is, and the local society where you are. And that really helped me to build relationship with it. The event organizer got me on a couple of stages when people say you know what, wow, like we don't need a speaker right now. But we Do I need a host and I became a host last week, there was a massive event here called Green is the New Black, which is all about lifestyle and organic industry and being a being a having a, you know, a kind of a healthy life and which is an industry that I love. And, you know, coincidentally actually used to be in that business itself. But they said, We don't need to speak about it. But if you want to host the whole event, you could. And I'm not a host, but why not? Because in between every speaker, I was able to engage the audience, get them to network, and basically build a brand for myself. And I did that for free one, because I didn't have anything else to do that weekend. It was a fun event, too. I managed to represent myself in front of 2000 people three, why not? It's a great way to give back and connect with the right people. James Taylor Gil, thank you so much for coming on. Today's been an absolute pleasure. And Kira speaking to you today and hopefully we'll get a chance to hang out in Singapore or London or somewhere in the world. Once again. Thank you. It's always a pleasure speaking to you. I always get learned So many things and I look forward to catching up with you soon. Gil Petersil Thank you very much James guys connect with Love Live with passion and enjoy speaking with others. Take care bye bye. Today's episode James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

Silencing Your Inner Critic In this episode James Taylor interviews Denise Jacobs and they talked about silencing your inner critic, dealing with imposter syndrome and Denise's journey from college teacher to speaker. In today's episode Denis Jacobs talks about silencing your inner critic, dealing with imposter syndrome and Denise's journey from college teacher to speaker. Denise Jacobs is a Speaker, Author and Creativity Evangelist who speaks at conferences and consults with companies worldwide. As the Founder and CEO of The Creative Dose, she promotes techniques to unlock creativity and spark innovation in people, teams, and workplaces, particularly those in the tech world. Denise is the author of Banish Your Inner Critic, the premier handbook on silencing fears to unleash creativity. She is also the founder of Rawk The Web and the Head Instigator of The Creativity (R)Evolution. What we cover: Silencing Your Inner Critic How Denise dealt with imposter syndrome Denise's journey from college teacher to keynote speaker Resources: Denise's Website Denise's Free Gift to you. Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/silencing-your-inner-critic-sl077/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey James Taylor here and I'm delighted today to be joined by my good friend Denise Jacobs. Denise is a speaker, author and creativity evangelist who speaks at conferences and consults with companies worldwide. As the founder and CEO of the creative dose she promotes techniques to unlock creativity and spark innovation and people teams and workplaces. Particularly those in the tech world. Denise is the author of banish your inner critic, the premier handbook on silencing fears to unleash your creativity which has just come out as well. She is also the founder of rock the web and the head instigator of the creativity revolution as my great pleasure to have her join us today. So welcome, Denise. Denise Jacobs Thank you so much for having me, James. It's such a pleasure and an honor. James Taylor So something happened for you this week, which I know the speakers is like, it's always a big deal. Your your new book came out and you would you did your book launch event as well. So how was that first of all? Denise Jacobs phenomenal so the book came out last last yesterday and it was wonderful because I was waking up in the morning with text messages from friends that are like, I got the Kindle. I got it dropped. I got it, which was really really nice. One friend sent me sent me a picture of the of the Kindle announcement, and then he sent a little gift that said, Hey, boo. And then I was getting like text messages and calls from friends that are just like I'm so proud of you this is great. But all of that I get I won't say his overshadow but I will have to say was even more enhanced by the book launch event that I had at my favorite local independent bookstore called books and books here in Miami, Florida, phenomenal bookstore. And it was great, you know, on Facebook, I think, like 74 people said they were going to attend in 259 people said that they were interested, which I was like, that's not that doesn't suck, right. So and then a friend of mine was like, well, it's Miami so you can count on like half the people who said that they're interested, you know who were going to come coming, but it doesn't matter. It was standing room only for the most part. All the chairs were filled. They didn't have enough chairs. Everybody We started on time, which is also uncharacteristic for Miami. Everybody was there by seven. And I had a panel. So it wasn't just me doing a standard reading. I had a panel of four friends of mine who were also like do amazing work in the community here. One friend is an author and a professor of creative writing at the University of Miami. And she does a lot of work activism with the Filipino community worldwide. And also with writers of color like mentoring and teaching writers of color for a program a fellowship program over the summer. Another friend started it was a co founder of a company that gives news and events and everything for local communities. There's one in Miami and they just launched one in Seattle, and then they're launching them all over the country. But she also does like entrepreneurship training and mentoring and stuff for the LGBTQ Another one started a startup here that has become incredibly successful doing face recognition. And then he also mentors, other entrepreneurs, young entrepreneurs pitching printers of color. And then finally, the last guy is a professional musician. He started an organization that helps keep at risk youth off of the street by teaching them music and giving them the ability to learn music and to become musicians and to perform phenomenal people. Right and but there are these phenomenal people who all deal with the inner critic, and I'll deal with self doubt. So we had this fantastic conversation based on the structure of the book about the ways that they experienced self judgment, high self criticism, compare themselves to others, denied you know, their creativity, and then how they've overcome all of that to contribute to the world meaningfully with their talents and gifts. It was insane. It was so good. James Taylor I didn't know that that whole process was speaking to you as you were going through a writing a book, very solitary process. And I know you're really excited now to kind of get on the road be keynoting about it, be speaking about it do book events about it as well. So before we kind of go into some of the things around the book and how it specifically how it relates to to authors, take us back. How did you get into the world of speaking? How did you start your career as a keynoter? Denise Jacobs So, I have a bit of a story, but the short version of it is, is that a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I started making soap, herbal handmade soaps and people started asking me what's in the soap. And I said, it's super easy. I can teach you how to make it come over to my house. I'll show you how to make it. So I did that a couple times had like five, four or five, six people each time and I thought to myself, if I had like 20 people, that would be like, outstanding, and at the time, it wasn't making much money. So I was like, I could make like $800 in a day. When that becomes Back in the late 90s, and so I started teaching the soap making class. And so there were a couple of things that happened. The first one was that I had this very strong sense that it was going to be very popular. But the place that was going to be putting the class on said, you know, it's better instead of having like two sessions of the class, it's better to have one than have it be mostly filled then have two that are half filled or not much filled at all. And I was like, thinking to myself, but you don't understand this is gonna, like totally take off and I was like, Okay, okay, we can do that. So, three weeks after their fire had gone out into the mail, and it's like, you know, distribution of like, 30,000 units all over Seattle, where I used to live and everything. The director calls me up and she's like, hey, Denise, it's Tiffany. I was like, what's up tip? She says, your class is full headspace for 22 people who said it's full. And there's a waiting list of 16 people. Did you want to open up another session? And I was like, Yes. So when I did the class, I hadn't slept the whole night. I had worked so hard on the handout, I got to the venue probably 15 minutes before the class started, I was exhausted. I pulled boxes up three flights of stairs. I mean, it should have been an awful experience. It was one of the best experiences of my entire life up to that point. I was walking on air afterwards, I had an audience I had people who wanted to learn I, I talked for three hours, I led you know, the exercises and everything. And I got to crack jokes and I got to be informative, and I got to share you. It was just it was such a wonderful experience. And after that, I was I was hooked. I kept wanting to do the workshop and then, you know, I was also working in the web industry. And it finally occurred to me after being in a meeting where my man was a project manager, which is the worst thing for me to do ever in the history of ever on the planet. My manager had, like, totally dressed me down in front of like everybody on the team and the team meeting and I was in the room crying, just despondent and everything and I kind of picked myself up, it's okay. I have a, I have a soap making class tomorrow, it's all going to be okay. And that soap making class it was as normal. Amazing, right? Fantastic. But then at the end, you know, I just had the experience the day before of being completely and utterly criticized for my work, even though I was working my butt off, right. Then this day, this class, it's like, it's enjoyable. Everybody's enjoying it like everybody's having a good time. I'm having a good time. I love doing it. So in the class, everybody got to make a box. So, like they actually got to make it by hand, scented by hand and everything poured into a mold and then they take that home. So this woman has the boxes. So she has a handout, and she has her check, because I haven't pay at the end of the thing and she's standing there with everything in her hand and she comes up to me. As she's leaving. She was like, Oh my god, that was so much fun. That was such a great class. You are such a great teacher here and she gives me the check and she kind of flounces off. And I watched her go by and something in my brain said, this is how it's supposed to feel. This is what it's supposed to be like, you're supposed to be happy. You're supposed to enjoy it. And people are supposed to renumeration you for your skill and your talents and your gifts. And from that moment on, I thought maybe I should teach. I started teaching web design and web development classes at Seattle Central Community College. I did that for five years. Then after that, I went to my first conference. And I went to my first conference, after having taught the classes and loving teaching the classes, best job I ever had as a job job, right, like if somebody else paying me, I went to this conference and my mind was blown because the woman who I saw I went to the conference to see this woman I had been teaching from her books. I admired her tremendously. Her name's Molly coach leg, actually, she's like the fairy godmother of the web industry. Or she was because now she's decided to stop doing web stuff. But at the time, she was like, a huge name in the web industry. I went to the conference to see Molly speak. And I sat in the front like the geek that I am, and I was watching her and as I was watching her, basically I saw myself on the stage, she and I were so similar. We had similar content. We had similar deliveries. We made the same kind of jokes. And instead of me looking at her and thinking, that's something I could never do, I was like, that is totally accessible for me. Like the only difference between me and her is that she gets to go to all of these conferences all the time and stay in fancy hotels and get flown places, and I'm in a classroom. That's the only difference. I want to do that. And that's, that laid the whole foundation for me deciding to become a speaker. James Taylor So you you speak about what you speak about now well, if he will know you for is this idea of the inner critic and how dealing with the inner critic. So I'm, I'm wondering, you know, a lot of people go to those conferences and sit there and they see that person up on stage and they think, yeah, I could, you know, I want to do that. I love that and they can see the impact is having on others. It's how people are learning. They're being impacted on it. Then is a big jump from that point to the point of actually doing the work then to kind of even making that mental decision that I am going to do the work to do that and be that person on stage and, and and change the world in that way. So did you have any? Any doubts at that point? Or were you like, okay, now I'm just gonna do this? Denise Jacobs No. So I knew inside, I knew that that's what I wanted to do. I had absolutely no idea how I was going to do it, which was the big point of departure. Right? Like, I was like, what how do you? What do you do? How do you become a speaker? What I mean, like, what's the mechanism? And so, you know, I had started like telling people I wanted to speak, but it still wasn't really quite going anywhere. Like I still didn't know how to kind of crack the speaking code. And then I was at South by Southwest in 2009. And I was sharing a hotel room with a friend. And I was lamenting to her about how I really wanted to speak. And I was like, What do I have to do to become a speaker? Like I don't, is like, do you have to sell your soul to the devil like firstborn blood? What is it like, I, I just want to be a speaker. And she says to her, she says to me in her infinite amount of wisdom, well, the other people I know who have done it have written a book. And I was like, Girl, I was like, the only book that I feel qualified to write is a book on HTML. And Lord knows that the world doesn't need another book on HTML. There's plenty of them. Like how many more ways can you can't slice this up any other way? She's like, all I'm saying is, this is my observation. This is what I've seen. Take it or leave it and I was like, Okay. Long story short, couple of days later, I'm at a party and run into a friend who's there with his editor. She works for a technical publishing house. She says, We're Always looking for authors. And I had this idea about a book on troubleshooting CSS, I'm looking for somebody to write it. And I'm like, I could write it me right here. I used to teach that stuff for five years at a community college. And so let's talk. We talked, like, submitted a proposal, she pitched it, I got a book deal. And so I wrote the book. And when the book came out, all of a sudden, this, this thing that had been in my head as a barrier was gone. This thing of like, how do I establish myself as an expert? How do I get people to actually be interested in like, having me come and talk about something like all of a sudden, I that was not all of a sudden after nine months of writing, that was gone. And so then I started, like, I, I had this kind of self confidence and self assuredness that I hadn't had before I had this expert status. from having written a book behind me. And so I just started reaching out to people, I started reaching out to conferences, the frary first conference that I reached out to, to see if they would have me as a speaker. I saw that they had an announcement for this talk that I had just written my book on. And it said speaker to be determined. And I saw that and my stomach like, James, I'm telling you, my stomach flipped. You know, how your stomach flips when you Yeah, like almost butterflies or just kind of flips when you get excited about so my stomach went. And I was like, and so I actually talked to the conference organizer, the owner of a guy who ran the company that went to conferences like the year before, and they were like, We don't have enough female speakers. We don't have enough diversity, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, I want to speak at your conference. And he was like, what do you what are you talking about? And I was like, I'm, so I wrote him back. And then I also wrote the conference organizers said, Hey, I just wrote this book, it's about this thing that you've got on your website, I would love to do a talk on it. You know? Would you like me to come out and do that? And they were like, We would love that. And then it was like, from there on it was just on. Like after that like that just and that was a conference in London. You know, I'm based in Miami. I was like, what not only is it like my first bit by me after my book comes out my first speaking engagement, but internatia know what's James Taylor so funny that you say you see that? It's like it was the first gig I ever got was International. It wasn't in my home country. And I speak to so many speakers, they say that the biggest places that the speaking are not their home territory, you're I keep forgetting that phrase. And that phrase we say you never recognize in your own place, you know where we're from, isn't it and sometimes they could be your own cities and your own country as well. So you started getting on on the road of going and speaking speaking at conferences, but I'm guessing there's a there's quite a big jump from going from the person who's going in Speaking maybe in those kind of those rooms talking about something like, like CSS or HTML, more kind of almost like training going into speaking. And then the person that's up on there that's getting paid to be a keynote speaker, you know, either opening or closing. So talks about, where did that journey go? How did you kind of go get up to the point of actually going and being the person there, you know, you know, opening or closing or kind of keynote on the mainstage? Denise Jacobs Well, here's the thing. here's, here's what, at least this is the story that I tell myself and it's a good story, so I'm sticking with it. Um, so part of the story that I tell myself, I've been telling myself or what I've observed, is, when I first started speaking, even though I was talking about HTML, or CSS or whatever, usually CSS, I always told it within the context of a story or within the context of a theme, right? And then when I started going towards other like, you No other topics, but within still within kind of a technical realm, I still had this kind of tendency to do kind of have this like, kind of go through this journey and have like this home full note. When I started talking about creativity, that was even more pronounced that it was within the context of, you know, there was there was this contextualization, this kind of story, this kind of like, here's the problem. Here's the solution. Here's what we can do. Here's the new hope, as Nancy Duarte talks about in her book resonate, right when she talks about, I don't know if you've read this No. So this book by Nancy Duarte is called resonate, and it's about how to resonate with audiences. And she has this structure that she's talked about with speaking called a sparkline. And the sparkline basically looks a lot like basically if you start off kind of at a baseline and then you go up and she calls this kind of like that. area called the new home. And she goes, she actually tracked the most popular talks, the most moving and influential talks of all times, it'd be to perone Martin Luther King, you know, Kennedy, etc. And he said they all have the same structure start off with, here's the problem. Here's the issue. Here's the new hope. Here's the problem. Here's the issue. Here's the new hope. Here's the problem. Here's the issue, here's my hope. And then at the end, you go up kind of a higher level. Here's like, the whole brand new way kind of paradigm shift, paradigm shift, and boom, the end. I didn't realize it but that I was actually structuring my talks like that James Taylor even when you were talking about C CSS something which people think is a really like, quite, you know, very technical type of thing. You were still you you still had that kind of some you've got a story arc but you had that way, Denise Jacobs a bit. But when I started talking about creativity, like I was saying, it became even more pronounced. And so at the end it like ends up with this whole like kind of new paradigm new worldview. If you make these changes, you can get to this new, better higher place. So, interestingly enough, I spent probably two years talking about creativity. Am I in the inner critic within that and, you know, your brain hacking the creative brain and things like that. When I started doing keynotes. I was basically doing the same talks. And I realized, and this is, again, this is the story that I told myself, but what I realized is, is that I had always been doing keynotes. I just had been doing keynotes in a keynote venue, right, that my speaking style and my way of presenting information and my way of storytelling and everything and what I'm trying to achieve with my talks, right with my teachings with the lessons, is basically a keynote. Right that there that there is this whole thing About Okay, here's the issue, here's what we can do, here's some information to support it. The story are and here's what we can do to make it better we can create a better New World, like a new paradigm. So that's it's been how I how I spoke. James Taylor So going on to start speaking on those biggest stages as the keynote speaker, talk about your own inner critic. So you you that's your your subject, the book is around the inner critic as well. Did you was the inner critic there and what was it kind of going for you on? Is it was it going on copy your content? Was it good was it was it was attacking you? Denise Jacobs So when I very first started, especially when I was doing the technical stuff, my inner critic was really strong about imposter syndrome. And part of it had to do not. Part of it was I don't want to say circumstantial, I think part of it. I don't know if I want to say cultural I'm not quite sure what word to use to Describe it, but part of it was, because in the tech industry, as you probably are well aware, the tech industry is predominantly male and predominantly white. And I am neither of those things, right. And so, you growing up being a woman and being an African American woman, I've always been keenly aware of people's biases, and having to work to undermine and change those biases, even though they may be subconscious. They're there. I've had so many people say, oh, Mike, you're so articulate, oh my God, you're so well spoken. It's a joke in the black community that when somebody says to you, you're articulate and well spoken, it is actually really a jab, because the saying what they what they're saying is, I wasn't expecting you to be smart. I wasn't expecting you to be capable. I wasn't expecting you expecting you to be you know, An expert or have expertise, right? It's, it's like I said, it's like it's a joke. It's in movies and everything. But it's like, that's where it comes from. And so, I'm going into a situation I'm going into an industry where I know people can deny it backwards and forwards. But I know that that bias exists. For some people, it's stronger than others, but I know it's there. So I came in the door feeling like I had to prove that I was not I was not those things. And I also had to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that my work and that might the things that I was presenting were solid, that I it wasn't that I wasn't smart enough to figure it out. It wasn't that I wasn't I couldn't do the research and stuff like that. I was like, Oh, no, you I, I probably done more research than everybody else, because I don't want anybody to try to, like, contest like, you know, challenged me on it. Yeah. And so my inner critic worked, I was really hard I worked really hard at trying like double checking and triple checking and trying to kept keep up with the most up to date accurate information because I didn't, I was terrified of somebody trying to challenging me. And, and saying, you know, basically saying, oh, you're not good enough and see this is this is this is what black people are, this is what women do, you know, women aren't as good at Tech, or people of color aren't as good as tech. And you know, and I was like, Nope, I'm not going to be the poster child for that I'm going to be the poster child for excellence. So my inner critic you work really really hard on that it actually burned me out. So you James Taylor can't you are constantly kind of like double you were you can double checking so often and all these things all the time and I don't know what that feels like. Less so from from the speaking side more. So when I create online courses, for example. I'm almost I'm almost thinking like I'll create them once like for myself. Because I thought if I don't like my course then no words are like very cool. So I create first myself. Then I created for my audience, my ad or reader, my angel person. And then I go back round again. And I read a check for my haters. figures, I know they're gonna be there so and as she was my wife is great at that she's very good at detail. She's my wife is a former lawyer is a lawyer and so she's she's the one that goes up. No, no. And I remember one of the first keynote she had asked me to do, she said, I've got you this booking. And I think you should do it. And she said, it's for some of the top judges and lawyers and advocates in Scotland where I'm from. So these are people that are paid very well. And a very, very gifted speaking and very gifted at my breaking someone down. And, and yeah, so it's like, okay, and I come from I don't come from a particularly, I come from pretty kind of humble background and there wasn't much money. I found everything so, so that's kind of there's there's also a class thing that gets going on there as well. And so I'm constantly thinking I'm double checking and double J. And then she said to me, at one point, she said, You got to remember the, you know, the, the people in the room, they're going to have those biases against you, they're going to say, He's too young to be saying this, he's gonna be saying, you didn't get to rate school. So these are the biases that I'm getting. And I'm, you know, that's from my side. So you kind of thinking through those things as well. But then at some point, you just have to go, listen, I know my stuff. Denise Jacobs You know, and I'm here to like, in a lot of ways, it's like, I'm here to serve, you know, like, I'm here to teach, I'm here to share this information. Like, I have a joy and especially, you know, when I got to the point of not doing the technical stuff anymore, and doing the, you know, really talking about creativity and productivity and the inner critic, and you know how to, like, you know, tweak your brain so that it gets into a creative state more easily and stuff like that. It was like I have, first of all, one of the things I liked about that I was like, nobody can challenge this. I mean, you can challenge this but like, all the research is out there, this is evergreen information, this is not going to change with a new trend or some new technology, like this is the information that's going to be here like all the time. So there's less kind of like, you know, people like checking in like, Well, you know, if you bring in neuroscience, maybe but it's like, you know, less of a place of being challenged. But then I also really was in a place of like, this is my joy, like, it's my joy to share this with you like this. And I'm, I'm like a kid in a candy store with this, like, I'm so excited. And I just can't wait to share with you all the things that I found because I think this is really going to help you you know, and getting to that place so so there was there's definitely there was definitely that element to it. But like I said at the beginning the inner critic imposter syndrome was really was really strong, comparing myself to Other people was really strong, feeling like I wasn't good enough I have for the longest time. So we're talking about humble beginnings and not a lot of money. I made like a major. It was a major learning, like, major learning event for me. But for the first two years, I didn't charge for my speaking. As a matter of fact, for the first three years, I didn't charge for my speaking because I had this unreasonable belief that I never challenged or checked with anybody that getting paid was kind of based on this merit system. That getting paid was based on if people thought you were good enough, then they would start to offer you money. I know it's silly, right? Because I didn't have anybody like mentoring me or anything to be like, Girl, you know, you need to ask to get paid, like quit playing like, you do something. And I actually did finally have a friend who was like, wait a minute, wait a minute. timeout, you're doing all of these speaking engagements and you're not getting paid. And I was like, No, cuz I thought and she was like, no, that's not how it works. You ask for money, they pay you, or they don't. But you always ask for money. So what James Taylor do you have, you can send to go get over that guy, Kevin pasta syndrome that was kind of one of the first kind of humps you had to kind of get over. And then you were kind of getting over the thing of not knowing enough and then starting to can, you know, maybe compare yourself to others are kind of getting over there. And then you're going another humps, like, I can charge for this and she's really starting to charge properly. You know, what, what you were you were worth as well, I'm right, I'm wondering, you know, what was what was the kind of language in your head? What were you able to say to yourself in those moments? You know, so you're you had some new mentors as well, but what was going on in your head? The things that you able to kind of say to yourself to say no, I am worth this and and and really, you take that next step up your speaking career. Denise Jacobs Well, part of it was you The numbers were kind of in my favor, in a lot of respects. So I, I kind of obsessively keep track of every single speaking engagement I've had, and I have it on my, on my speaking calendar, I have like, back from 2008 all the way to the present, right. And so unlike in 2008, there was one event and in 2009, there were two events. And in 2010, there were 15 events in 2011. There were 18 events, you know, and it's like, every year it gets more so by the time I got to 2015, and I was like, wow, you know, in 2010 I did, what 10 1215 events or something like that. And then in 2012, I did 20 Obviously, I'm doing something like, you know, like I'm doing something right. People are coming to me and asking me to come and speak. Obviously I have value and obviously then that means that I can I can ask for money. Now the funny thing is, is that my first amount of money was very low. And I found that out by my very first keynote talk, or actually, technically, it was the second. I had been booked for a talk in August. But then organization came to me, like at the end of May, and said, We want you to come and speak in July. And I was like, okay, so I had had this number in my head, and I, you know, tried it out with a few people, and they were like, Oh, we can't afford that. And I was just like, Okay, so this obviously is a number that's, quote, high unquote. So when I spoke to this thing, and they were like, we're so excited. We want you to PT No, we can't wait. We've got this other person for the opening. We want you to be closing, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, Okay, great. And they were like, Okay, so let's talk compensation. And then they're like, we can give you a pass and we can we'll do the hotel and just and I'm thinking to myself, Oh my God, oh, Okay, here we go. They don't have much budget that's like the way they're talking. And so then she was like, so I was like, so then I tried to play it cool. Well, for something like this, what I typically charge is this amount. And I'm telling you, James, it was like I said the number and then it was like, beat. Beat. Beat. Okay, well, great. So, listen to the stuff and we'll do this and we're so excited about and as soon as she responded, I was like, daggone it to level there. Yeah. They were like, quoting the breads, like, it's gonna be like, $20,000 Oh, my God, it's gonna be so expensive. And then I come down with this, like, cute little number. And they were, they were like, probably like, Oh, my God, Christmas came early this year. Right. James Taylor But it's so hard. I mean, it's especially when you get so you're going up, you're going up in different steps. I mean, there's, so we hear these different steps. You know, there's the 1500 and then there's the two 500 to 5000 7000 510,000 and 15,000 and 20,000 and 30,000 in your goes up from there. So you hear all these numbers all the time. But no one really tells you like what that like the the differences between and actually this we had one of our other guests named James who was great was just talking about the difference often from the someone that earns the seven and a half to cert and earns the 15,000. And a lot of that is because they have some intellectual property. They're really bringing some contextual models that they're bringing. So like the Stephen Covey that you know, the seven habits and the quadrants and things like that. So they're adding something more than just the speaking is really hard to nose early. I'm the advice I yeah, the advice I got was I got this my first inquiries, and I reached out to to speak a friend and I said, I have no idea what's charged here and it was it was in Middle East. No idea what's charged. What do you what do you suggest? I said, easiest way, just say to them, what do you charge? Listen, I usually charge this, but just pay me whatever you paid last year's keynoter. Anyway, anyway, so I said that anyway, okay, and that's fine. And then the fee was it was a very good fee. And it's like, that's, that's fine. I'll I'll do it until you get a bit of a feel about, you know, where things are sitting. Denise Jacobs Hmm. And I might try that. I'm just afraid that the last year's keener there was like, and like, James Taylor thankfully, I knew enough about last night's key. He knows that go is fine. I'm sure I think I'll be okay. Yeah. Denise Jacobs Yeah. Okay. So. So, after that, after that experience, I was lamenting to a friend of mine who was a very popular keynote and it has done a lot of work speaking and I was just like, Donna, this happened. And she was like, Okay, first of all, this is the amount that you should be charging for what you do. And I was like, that's a much better number and she was like, Okay, and then over the course of the hour, conversation that we had. She basically kind of subliminally coached me. And she kept like, we talked about something. And then she stopped. And she said, so if I were an event, an organization that wanted you have to have you come and keynote, what would you What would you charge? And I was like, that number you just said, and she was like, Okay, and then should we talk some more? And then she said, so I'm an organization, I'm having an internal event. I want you to come and like do a keynote and then maybe, like, do a training afterwards or something like that, you know, but so what's your day rate? And I was like, that number? And she was like, Okay, great. And then by the end of the conversation, she was like, so if I want you to do this, how much would it cost? And I was like, James Taylor it was just a repetition. It's like it like any sales thing. It's it's being able to be confident in the build to stand behind the number. And but balter, have said it enough times that you don't do that, and it's theirs. And I think kind of want to quickly say something in order to fill up the space. Denise Jacobs Right? It's like to say the number and then just be silent. Yeah, right. And I still I still have to practice that. So interestingly enough, the next place that I talked to, I said that number and they didn't blink. They're like, okay, ba ba, ba, ba, ba, ba. And I was like, Well, wait, that was too easy. Damn it. So it's been it's been interesting. And then every time I've kind of jumped up a number, interestingly enough, it's like, you know, I'll find like, I'll have like somebody who's like, Oh, great. That's exactly what we had budget for. And I'm like, Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. Okay, I'm not, I'm not fighting it. Yeah, you know, so, I've had good luck, but I you know, I think it's really good like you said to have, it's super important like, having my friend My having my friend Donna. Coach me through that was invaluable. Having somebody who knows better or knows more Or has a better idea of your value than you do is huge. So one thing that I, I warn people that I that I coach speaking with and stuff is that their information is only as good as their experience. Right? So there, there may be a point where they're doing that based on what they would charge. But as soon as you get to a point where you're on par with what they charge or beyond what they charge, then they're not going to be able to give you advice anymore, right? Like if you if you need to uplevel then you need to talk to people who are at a higher level than they can train you. Okay, great. You've got to this part, you know, this Echelon, you want to move up to the higher one. These are the things that you need, like your friend saying, okay, you know, the difference between 70 515,000 is intellectual property, the difference between 15,000 and 20,000 is so and so the difference between 20,020 5000 whatever and it It's always nice to like, be able to identify and connect with and talk to those people who can mentor you to help kind of pull you up to the next level if that's what you want to do. James Taylor So, when you you kind of getting into the world of keynoting we always be sure about your, your voice and your style. I mean, sounds like you kind of knew that the keynoting not the start, but you can quickly figured out that actually, I am a keynote I am that's that's that's the best platform for me to do. But as you start to do that was Did you feel you had to do a lot in terms of your your style, the craft or the you know all the things or did it just feel great? It was just been natural. You just happy being up there on stage and it just kind of flowed? Denise Jacobs For me. It was the ladder for sure. I felt like Like I said, I felt like I realized that when I had that first keynote. It was for that one was a little cute little keynote fee and stuff like that, but it was a fantastic experience. And it was the first time that I had, first of all keynoted. And it was actually the first time that I also had done a closing keynote. And I didn't realize at the time that what I was doing was, I won't say completely unusual. But I've heard from even speakers. I'm working with a speaker's bureau. And the woman that I worked with said, Yeah, like, not everybody does that even for closing keynote, that for closing keynote, I will go to the opening keynote, any other keynotes before me, I'll try to go to individual sessions and stuff like that. And I will take notes like a, like the geek that I am, I will take really copious notes. I'll take pictures of the slides and stuff like that. And then I will take that and I will incorporate that into my talk to connect with the points that are the similar points and stuff like that. So I've had people say a lot of times, like, not only was the talk itself good, but it also you know, or was it like really, like amazing but it also was like this kind of retrospective of the whole conference. And so it made me remember these different points of the conference that I had forgotten about and made me feel more connected to the event itself by the end. James Taylor That's not I mean, that's that that's a huge I mean, that is not common. I mean, obviously you get those keynotes are very good at kind of the end of getting the energy up, especially when people you know, had a couple of days of something and those kind of folks but to be able to do what you do there, which is going to bring all these different strands together and help help just kind of slowly solidify them so when people are leaving that room, it just kind of it brings a little bit together these different different strands, that that's great. That's a great skill to have. And and that is definitely not that not every keynote, including keynotes does, but I think that's great that you're able to do that because that's that's a real talent to do that. Denise Jacobs I love and I love doing it. Like for me it's it's um, you know, I study I have studied improv, I've done improv and for me, it is It's kind of like this active. No, really, first of all, it's like active listening. Like, I could go to a keynote, I could just sit there and hang out, but I'm really, really paying attention and really listening. And so it puts me into the conference, it puts me into the mind frame of a conference attendee. Right. And then it helps me deliver something that's really unique, and really valuable that other people don't do. And so I also feel like then I give the conference organizers something that they that is like, above and beyond what they even expected. And then, you know, hopefully then that will endear me to them, and you know, make them feel like wow, that was really something very special. Like I didn't even think it was going to be like that. And that was amazing. James Taylor As you start to finish up here, what is in your speaker bag, what is in that bag that you carry with you to all of your speaking engagements that you never leave home without? Denise Jacobs Wow, well, one of the things that I learned very early on is to always have the adapters for I have a Mac. And to always have an adapter and to not only have the adapter but make sure you like a kid with tags and your clothes for camp. Make sure that you personalize the adapter. I always have my my name and my address my phone number and my email on there so that if I lose it, people can find me and get it back to me. But I did a talk at South by Southwest. This was before I did the adapter thing. I did a talk at South by Southwest and I didn't have an adapter and I had to ask the audience if somebody had an adapter they didn't have one was in a small room and ask the audience if they had an adapter so I could connect my computer to the screen to the to the projector and I was like okay, I'm never doing that again. So I have one for an HDMI connection and I also have one for VGA connection and the other thing that I always come with that I know never rely on the conference for is a presenter. Here I have my own clicker that I really like I like the way it fits in my hand. It's a Kensington presenter, it's the one that's kind of shaped like a like an eight like a figure eight. It fits in your hand really well it's got really nice ergonomics and and it also comes with if you get the like higher end one It comes with a USB like thing that you can actually store on. So if you need to put your presentation on a USB and give it to the, the organizer of the conference, you can do that. So I feel like just having those kind of those little bits of those little gadgets just makes things a little bit a bit easier. And I think it also makes you look like you really know what you're doing. You're like I do this all the time. I got all my own gadgetry. If you if you guys have stuff that you want to use, that's fine, but I've got my own things you don't have to worry about it. James Taylor So do me a favor. Final question for you. Let's imagine you woke up tomorrow morning. And you had to start from scratch as a speaker. So you have all the skills or the knowledge or the information you have acquired over the years as a speaker as an expert in your field, but no one knows you, you know, no one. What would you How would you restart things? Denise Jacobs One of the things so this actually goes back to my the inner critic thing, which I didn't talk about before, but I want to mention really fast. One of the things that one of the ways my inner critic kind of held me back and a lot of ways is that I didn't ask for help. When I needed it, that I, I was so busy trying to look like I knew what I was doing, that I stumbled through things in ignorance, when I could have asked for help or I could have asked for guidance or mentorship. So if I were starting over again, I would suck it up and not try to look like I was super smart. And I would ask as many people for help and I would ask as many people for guidance and you know for help for how to structure things, how to structure my business, how to do outreach, all of that stuff the things that I I you know like I said I got lucky I chance happened chanced upon and all that stuff I would ask for help James Taylor desperate I mean it's a mental mentors are so important in this business aren't they? Because so, so much of this you can't go to college for this you can't go to there's not a course for obviously, doing things like this summit is going to we want to bring as many people together to people and get different ideas and things but there's not I think anything really beats having that mentor that person you can pick up a phone or Skype or you know, connect with in some way have a have a coffee with you can just ask all those those those unspoken questions about the speaking business. So yeah, Denise Jacobs and no judgement, you know, and that that person is genuinely interested and, you know, interested in potentially invested in helping you succeed and again, like helping you learn, you know, Avoid the hard things that they went had to go through so that you know that you can potentially go and that you can shine as well. I don't know if you've heard of this but a friend of mine last night in the panel was talking about shine theory and shine theory being that you know, when you're around other people and they're succeeding and stuff like that and they're shining, then that actually shines a positive light on you and it helps you shine as well. James Taylor I think today in his comments as you've had you have shine you shine your light on a lot of people and I think for many people are starting off in the speaking business. Just having that human comes on like yourself who is very successful as a keynote speaker and as an author as well, telling your story that you know, the imposter syndrome all those things, all those things that went through your head so thank you so much for coming on. Thank you for just making it okay for people to realize that there is this inner critic and and some giving some strategies and tactics or ways of dealing with it. Denise Jacobs Excellent. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

How To Become A Successful Speaker James Taylor interviews Jack Canfield and they talked about How To Become A Successful Speaker In today's episode Jack Canfield talks about How To Become A Successful Speaker. You probably know Jack Canfield as the co-creator and co-author of the New York Times #1 best-selling Chicken Soup for the Soul book series which currently has 225 titles in the series and more than 500 million copies in print in 47 languages. He is also the founder and President of the Canfield Training Institute, which trains people in how to accelerate the achievement of their personal, professional and financial goals. Jack is a dynamic speaker and was inducted into the National Speakers Association's Speakers Hall of Fame. Over the past 50 years he has trained over a million people across 47 countries at his live seminars. He has appeared on more than 1000 radio and television shows including Oprah, Montel, Larry King Live, the Today Show, and two hour-long PBS Specials devoted exclusively to his work. Jack is also one of the teachers featured in the hit movie The Secret. Brian Tracy calls Jack Canfield “one of the most insightful speakers and teachers in the world today” while Anthony Robbins says that the results you'll achieve because of Jack's teachings “will be be extraordinary”. It's my great pleasure to welcome Jack Canfield. What we cover: Jack's story of becoming one of the top speakers Creating a keynote experience Motivational speakers vs Inspirational speakers Resources: Jack's Website Train the Trainer Advanced Certification Training Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/how-to-become-a-successful-speaker-sl076/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hi, James Taylor and I am absolutely honored today to be joined by Jack Canfield. You probably know Jack Canfield as the CO creator and co author of The New York Times number one best selling Chicken Soup for the Soul book series, which currently has 225 titles in the series are more than 500 million copies and printed 47 languages. He is also the founder and president of the Canfield Training Institute which trains people and how to accelerate the achievement of their personal, professional and financial goals. Jack is a dynamic speaker and was inducted into the National Speakers Association speaker Hall of Fame. Over the past 50 years he has trained over a million people across 47 countries at his live seminars. He's appeared on more than 1000 radio and television shows including Oprah Montel Larry King Live as today's show, the two hour long PBS specials devoted exclusively to his work. jack is also one of the teachers featured in the hit movie The secret. Brian Tracy calls jack Canfield, one of the most insightful speakers and teachers in the world today. Well, Anthony Robbins says that the results you achieved because of Jack's teachings will be extraordinary. It's my great pleasure to welcome Jack Canfield. So welcome, Jack. Jack Canfield My pleasure. Thank you. James Taylor Thank you for inviting me to James. I appreciate it. So share with everyone what's going on in your world just now. What are the projects that have your focus at the moment Jack Canfield The main thing we're working on right now we have two online programs we've developed one is called train the trainer online. And the other is a breakthrough to success online. That'll be available in about a month training trainers been out for about two years, we've trained over 2000 people in 91 countries to teach experientially as opposed to just talking head. In other words, you're not just standing up on a stage, but you're breaking people into small groups and having them do breakthrough exercises that really transform their awareness. So they have aha experiences rather than just taking notes. And that's, that's my most exciting project. We set a goal by 2030 to have 1 million people teaching this work, the success principles work, in schools, in corporations from the stage and public seminars online, etc. So that's our goal. And we know that by 2030, we'll have eight mil 8 billion people on the planet. If every trainer trains 1000 people for eight years, we'll reach a billion people. So that's our goal. That's our big, big project at the moment. James Taylor You piece I remember reading a few years ago, which adds a huge impact on me, it was called your hundred and one lifetime goals. And I was great with that, you know, and I will put a link here as well, they included keynoting at the NSA conference giving a talk to an audience of over 10,000 people getting paid $10,000 for a single talk. And obviously, you've gone way, way past that, you know, over the years as well. So this new goal you're saying is that you train a million trainers. Why is that go so important to you personally? Jack Canfield Well, I'm 73 years old, we 73 in a month, and I just wanted to leave a legacy of transformation in the world. everywhere I've gone I've spoken in over 50 countries, is that doesn't matter if I'm in Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Iran in the Middle East, or if in Africa, if I'm in Asia. When we do these seminars, people actually transform me and people literally do amazing things that become multimillionaires. They start magazines. They start businesses that are successful, they become, you know, world class magicians, whatever it is. I know the principles work and I see so many people suffering not having the life they want. And so the reality is when you apply these principles, life always works always say it's a system. And a system produces a predictable result every time. And so basically, it's it's, it's sad to me that so many kids go to school, they never learn how to set a goal. They learn how to visualize, they don't learn how to build a team, they don't know how to communicate effectively, they don't learn how to get in and out of relationships effectively. And so you know, nobody got divorced because they didn't memorize what your the war the roses took place. They get divorced because they don't know how to communicate, they don't know how to, you know, work together toward common goals in a relationship. They don't have to talk about their fears and their concerns and, and forgive each other. And there's so many things that are powerful tools, that when you use them create Uber success in life, and that's what I want to contribute to the world. James Taylor So if we go back a little bit when you first started on this journey of a as a speaker, and also running seminars as well, who those those early meant who those people that you can have looked up to? And you went, Oh, that's kind of guys kind of where, where I'd like to go with with my life. My work. Jack Canfield Well, the first speaker that blew me away was a man named Jesse Jackson, who was a civil rights leader in United States. He worked with Martin Luther King. And I ended up going to his church for a few years in Chicago when I was going to graduate school there. And he could just mesmerizing room I thought I want to grow up and be able to do that, you know. So then when I got into the professional speaking career myself, people like Zig Ziglar, and Brian Tracy people, the old, you know, the old icons of the speaking world, I would go to the National Speakers Association meeting, watch them speak and just go, I want to be able to take the stage with 10,000 20,000 people and be able to achieve the same results. James Taylor And then you you really interesting as as someone who says such a thought leader. Not only do you have the speaking side you have the seminars you have the books that you write as well and the coaching, but you do them all an incredibly high level and on a huge scale as well. I'm wondering when when you, how do you think of yourself? Do you think of yourself as an author first and the speaker? Or do you just kind of you just kind of get really passionate about one thing and then move on to the other? Or where do these things fit together for you? Jack Canfield Well, I think of myself as a transformational change agent, my job My goal is to transform the world to make it better. So as one of my co author in a Chicken Soup for the Soul books, Martin Luther Martin, gosh, I can't even he was a mark, Victor Hansen said, he said, You're an information utility, meaning you have many delivery systems for your message. So whether it's speaking, writing, doing blogs, podcasts like this teleseminars whatever it is, you have to think of yourself as you've got a body of information of content that you want to get out there. And whether you're doing it in newsletters or coaching groups or whatever. The more skill sets you can develop, the more you can get that information and that transformational experiences in the hands of people. So I've spoken to 20,000 dentists, I spoken to 8000 Herbalife distributors from Three days in India, you know, it's like it doesn't matter. Because what happens for me whether it's on a page or whether it's one on one on an airplane ride or whether it's talking to you right now that goes out to thousands of people, it's the same message. So one has to just learn how to use each medium as appropriately and as effectively as possible. James Taylor So you have the different mediums but in terms of different audiences, you've also been incredibly successful you know, that that we some people are very good at dealing with the building a strong reputation following in the kind of b2c amongst individual people that buy their books, seminars, other people are very good at in the b2b side and being great keynote speakers, you have managed to, to bring in both of these worlds. That's a very hard thing to do. So any of anyone that's watching or listening or speakers, authors, trainers just now watching this at the moment, are there any tips that you would give them in being able to bridge that and and be able to speak to both of those very different audiences? Jack Canfield It depends on what you're teaching. I'm teaching University principles of human development that applies to a CEO in a boardroom or a salesman in a, you know, multilevel marketing company or someone who is a teacher in a school, or a housewife who wants to, you know, get back into the business world. If you're if you're teaching strategic planning, then you're going to be working in the b2b world, because that's where they care about that. If you're teaching sales, motivation, then you're going to be working with salespeople. But if you're teaching principles of success that apply to athletes apply to losing weight, apply to selling more apply to being a great leader, then you have a more universal message. So I always say work with principles are more powerful than strategies because principles apply in every area of your life. strategies are useful. You want to have strategies that articulate and manifest those principles. But the more core, think of it as a triangle like this. If you're working up here with core principles, they radiate down to hold the whole pyramid. But if you're down here, working with only one dimension, it only radiates to that much in the made, you have a much smaller niche market. However, you know, smaller niche market like CEO CEOs are willing to pay lots of money. I mean, we do luxury retreats in places like Florence and Bali and Hawaii and Santa Barbara and, and so forth where, you know, people pay $15,000 to come work with me for four days. I have coaching clients who pay me 25,000 a day just to be with me for a day. So but that's a rarefied group of people. But at the same time, I can go out and do a program for 10,000 people who all pay, you know, $60 to be there for the day and raise half a million dollars. So really depends on what your message is, and how core it is to the essence of you know, human success. James Taylor And when it comes to the crowds that you've developed as a as a speaker, as a keynote speaker, when you were kind of first learn, you mentioned this early inspiration for you, the executives of this world as well. What are some of the things that you saw and you kind of took from them and added your own take and your own spin on it that you you can still use Today as a speaker when you're up there on stages, Jack Canfield well, there's a difference between content and stage craft. So stage craft is you know, you got to study study good rock singers, they use the whole stage, they move around, they make connections with people, they reach out to people, Zig Ziglar used to get down on one knee and point to the person in the first row, you know, and, and I've learned from Garth Brooks, when you're talking to a large group, Garth Brooks, a country singer, he would go up and sit in the last seat in the nosebleed section of an arena and the stage is that how do I reach this guy? If you ever see guard to a concert, you'll see him at some point go like that. And he's pointing right to that seat. So the people in the far in that arena go while he's talking right to marry senior right? To me. Humor is really critical if you want to be a great keynote speaker. Having really powerful, empathic, emotionally moving stories is really critical learning how to tell that story with detail, so that people can really get involved in knowing how to move that story into a point. So people remember the point of the story, otherwise you're just an entertainer, and I want To be an educator where I educate in entertained at the same time learning how as I mentioned, to integrate interactive process the simple thing and a lot of people have seen it just you know, what's one of the things that keeps us from being successful is we don't we're afraid to get out of our comfort zone. I have everyone go like this, fold your hands which thumbs on top. Great. Now move your thumb and move your finger. So the other times on top How's that feel uncomfortable? What is your body want to do wants to go back to that? Well, right there, ladies and gentlemen, is why most people never achieve their goals. They're not willing to be uncomfortable. Everything you want is outside your comfort zone. So when you can start to integrate those kind of little experiences all the way through breaking people into pairs for maybe a three minute exercise your back. So I do what I call a keynote experience, not just a keynote speech, and it's very, very profound and very effective. James Taylor So you see the keynote experience as how would that how would we see that? How do we experienced that that being different from someone that just kind of comes up and and does their keynote delivers their keynote Jack Canfield well Come up and you can be very inspired, you know, by Tony Robbins, who's jumping all over the stage is very bombastic, or you know, any of the speakers are out there that have that style. But at the end, you go, Wow, that guy's amazing. What you really want the audience to do is walk away going, I'm amazing, meaning you the audience, not me, the speaker. And so for example, I'll get people into pairs, we'll talk about the power of the your, your mind, and you have to be positive, and you have to give up certain languaging of victimhood. And one of those words just can't. So we always say don't say can't anymore. Don't say try, well, that's nice. It goes in one year and comes out the other lands on your shoulder, a lot of people think is dandruff. I say it's information that leaked out of your head from the speech you heard two days ago because it never really velcroed in there. The truth is, though, I get people and I haven't gotten into pairs, and I say go back and forth starting sentences with the words I can't. Things you can't do. I can't find time to answer my mail. I can't find time to exercise. I can't get up the courage to ask my boss for a raise. Then after they do that for a minute going back and forth like that, I'll say now what I want you to do is to say to us senses saying I won't, I won't find time to exercise, I won't take time to, you know, do my emails, I won't spend time with my grandchildren, whatever it is. And then I say, did you notice a difference? And they say, yeah, and the second time I felt more true, it felt real, it felt authentic, I felt more powerful. So now they have an experience of letting go of candy as opposed to just someone telling them they should. And so you know, people tell you, you should eat better stop smoking, exercise more. How many people actually do that? Not many. But if you go to the gym and you work out and you experience the dynamic feeling you feel when you come out of that gym and you sleep better that night. Now, you know, it's better for you so we can provide those experiences in the audience like that little what I call mini exercises. And that's what we trained in our train the trainer program, is all the things we've just been talking about. James Taylor So part of that train the trainer program as well I know is because you want to reach as many people globally as possible. You mentioned you know that those stats in terms of the new people that are going to be coming online for the first time, but new people are just gonna be born in over the next few years. Well, we're at a really amazing inflection point. And I'm wondering when you're speaking to all these different audiences in very different parts of the world? How do you ensure that you're that you're adapting to different kind of cultural plate, you know, considerations of those places? What are you trying to do in terms of knowing that when you land there, and you even before you get onto the stage, when you can override, that you're in the best possible shape in terms of understanding what the audience wants, what the event planner wants, and how to give the best possible, you know, talk itself? Jack Canfield Well, three things. Number one, we do something called a PDQ. It's a pre programmed questionnaire, which we give to the program person who's hired me. And there's a series of questions about you know, what, what, why did you hire me? Well, you know, you've read my book, you've heard me speak. Is there a certain message you want me to deliver to your audience? What's the outcome you want people to have? Are there any things I should stay away from, like, Don't mention politics, don't mention religion. You know, half our staff was fired last year. So don't bring that up or do bring that up, you know, whatever. And then I have anywhere from a half hour to an hour long phone call with them in advance. When we talk about cultural norms. You have to be careful with cultural norms. Culture is just a set of agreements that people have. So, in the Middle East, you know, you don't hug women because they're Muslim, you're not supposed to let you mean you're not married to. At the same time, there are things like our people don't hug. Well, you know, I've been to places where they say don't hug and I get them hugging, or people don't laugh at jokes I get them laughing at jokes are people don't like to get involved in spirit in exercises. Well, if you're really creative, you can move people very slowly into exercises. In Russia, you tell a joke. You know, or you say something funny or you say let's do something, you say Raise your hands up like that, and they go like this. And I'll say well raise the other one up a little higher. Can that one go higher than that? How many of you have a broken arm, raise your hand. If your arms broken and you can't raise your arm, raise your arm really, you know, just play with people and people love to be played with and so It's a matter of like, respecting, but also not letting it constrict you because a lot of norms, you know, clitter rectum, ease of women in Africa, I don't think that's a great norm. And so we have to, like, you know, push against that, but with respect, James Taylor and you mentioned that third thing as well, she had the pre program questionnaire, you have the pre event phone calls, making sure everyone's on the same page, just checking to those things was the third thing was before you gotta say, what's the key thing that has to happen for you to feel that you're in the best place to deliver, you know, a great event? Jack Canfield Well, number one, I don't drink the night before I speak. And number two, I try to get the really good night's sleep at least eight hours. I'm well prepared with my slides in advance. And I customize them for every talk I do. I meditate in the morning I eat really well I'm you know, I don't need a lot of negative food like sugar and white flour, stuff like that. And then I meditate right before I go on stage. I close my eyes. And I visualize the room filled with light taking all the negativity out of the room. I think Visualize getting a standing ovation I asked. I asked, I call God something called higher power source energy, whatever. I say, please help me only say and do that, which is for the highest good of all concerned, let me help people transform and reach their goals. And thank you for this opportunity to make a difference, you know, something like that the words will change, but so I'm ready to go. Yeah, I'm excited and pumped up and, James Taylor and you're and you're off, you're off and away. And I'm interested as maybe talks about an occasion where you did all this. Everything was going, you kind of prepared you when the space but something happened, it just, you know, didn't end up like necessarily you'd hoped you'd intended. And more importantly, what are the lessons that you took from that experience? Jack Canfield Well, one of the things I said my worst speaking experience was at a high school in Southern California, was a very wealthy neighborhood. The parents all drop their kids off. There was supposed to be a lot of teachers there there weren't. So it was kind of unsupervised thought. And children running around this big gymnasium. And the person that preceded me was a comedian radio announcer who got the kids all riled up. And then they said, Here's jack Canfield. My message that night was fairly serious. It was about drug drug, drug prevention, and self esteem. And so I had a hard time getting that group settled down what I learned from that. And I wouldn't have the same problem today is you have to start where they are, which was all pumped up and jumping up and down, and actually have them do it even more, so that you're getting them to go the direction you want to go. And then slowly begin to move them into activities that are a little more salt, you know, a little more peaceful, a little more peaceful little appeal, but it's kind of like kind of Aikido which is a Japanese martial art. If I swing at you, in karate, we block that swing. in Aikido, we take that swing and simply redirect it, but it was don't block it. We blend with it and redirect it. And so what happens is I didn't understand at that point, my crush younger I was in my 30s that I needed to take that energy instead of saying Calm down, calm down, say, okay, really excited to be here. Let's all stand up on the kind of three, let's say yay Crimson or whatever. They're cool, cool, color wise, and then slowly move them in a direction where now I'm leading them, as opposed to opposing them. James Taylor So yeah, you say you you can using that energy that's in the room and kind of taking it and diverting and putting it back in a positive place. Can you just talk about in this amazing journey you've had as an author, as a trainer as a speaker, maybe a seminal moment or an aha lightbulb moment in your life when you went, Oh, okay. This is the direction I want to be going with my work. This is this is a maybe a new distinction that you made for yourself. That was really critical. Jack Canfield I think that when I started putting experiences into the, into the, into the seminars and into the speaking and into the world, I really noticed that people once they had an experience, they were much more likely to do what I asked them to do and it was a feedback. I would get later the valuations are much more powerful, much more profound. The other thing was humor. I was pretty serious when I started. And I had a friend who used a lot of overheads that were cartoons. So I started doing that. I mean, I learned how to tell jokes. I didn't know how to do that very well them. I think you need to have a lot of humor throughout your, your talk. So I have a lot of cartoons on my overheads, my slides now that that really work that that as I lead into a new topic, I might have three or four cartoons. Like I have this guy and I totally ridiculous plaid suit with like five different colors of plaid on and the guy at the desk is saying, we're looking for a really aggressive intonation salesperson like the for instance to when it sold you that suit. And everybody laughs You know, because it's funny. And that leads into a section on asking for what you want, and how to be a better asker or as those cards cartoon of a woman who says I'm going to order the broads And let's chicken breast but I want you to bring me lasagna and garlic bread by mistake, you know. And so, again, people laugh and then they're ready to let something new come in and Velcro into the system. So he's a lot of humor. And I've developed a lot of like little skits and things I do. And when I first did that, and saw the audience laughing and just being more, getting better evaluations, I really realized that was critical. We, we say at the National Speakers Association, you don't have to use humor in your talks, unless you'd really like to get paid well James Taylor as a great line as well. Um, you mentioned earlier that the train the trainer program, this is this is your way to be able to really kind of somebody I suppose it sounds to me is Part Part legacy ball. So just ensuring that everything you've learned in this this life, you're able to kind of pass on to next generations in the next generations, as well. So can you talk a little bit about the trainer trainer program, how At work, who's who's the right kind of individual that would be good to come on on a program like this? Jack Canfield Well, it's, it's amazing for people that are new speakers, people that are coaches that want to expand out of their coaching practice into speaking, speaking as a great lead gen for for coaching, because you're getting a lot of people out there. And then you can say, oh, by the way, I do coaching. It's a great program for anyone that's currently speaking, because it's going to give them a lot more powerful tools, both in terms of how they speak, how they tell stories, how they relate those stories to their their important topic points. It'll give them an understanding of a model of how to move people from where they are to where they want to be very powerfully. And also, it'll teach people I don't know the number, but I'm going to say in the 50s or 60s, have actually discrete exercises that you can integrate into your work that help people have the aha moment that allow you to put on really powerful trainings and in a one, two or three day training, everyone's prepared to do that level of training when they leave. Whether you can be a teacher, if you're a manager of a company, if you're someone that's managing a downline and a multi level marketing company, instead of just motivating people, you can actually transform them. Motivation is like a shower Zig Ziglar used to say this motivation is like a shower. You know, you have showers were off, you know, you go two or three days on a shower, your wife or somebody saying you need a shower. But once you're once you're transformed, then you don't need the you don't need motivation anymore, because your transformer inspired from the inside out. I was on a TV show once with Deepak Chopra. And the host said, Do you find jack Canfield books motivational? And he goes, No, I do not find them motivational and I thought, Oh my God, he's gonna diss me on national television. And he said on the contrary, I find them inspirational. And he said, when you're motivated, you need someone to keep doing it to you. It's like a light that goes out every night that needs to be released in the morning when you're inspired. From inside, then that light is always shining. You don't need external motivation anymore. No one needs to motivate Tony Robbins. No one needs to motivate me. No one needs to motivate Brian Tracy, or Lisa Nichols. And we go down that list. The Dalai Lama does not need a motivational speaker, because they're inspired by the essence of who they are. They cannot teach what they have to teach. James Taylor So you teach you cover this within the train the trainer program, just all those skills, all the strategies as well. You have many things you have kind of two parts to that the program, you have the there's an online version, and then there's the live version as well. And so both of them I think it's like a 10 month program is a very it's quite an intensive program, then. Jack Canfield Yeah, the the online program can be done at your own pace. Some people finish it in a couple of months. Some people take a year to do it, because it's all available 24 seven for the rest of your life. You can look at the videos. If you're about to do an exercise. You get a script for the exercise, you get PowerPoint or keynote slides either one, we have both of them in there. And you have the demo of me teaching it so you can see again how it's done. And that's forever. And so then then you then there's a test and you have to submit a video of you teaching. The live program includes the online video program, plus two weeks of live training, where in the morning, on the first week, I am teaching these exercises in a much more powerful way, because you're experiencing it, not just watching it. And secondly, in the afternoon, then you practice those in small groups and then come back and I'll have two or three to come on stage. And also practice in front of the whole group. So you're you're practicing with feedback from me and my senior trainers. And then on the second week, the whole week is basically some more instruction, teaching people how to process people who are stuck, people who are having emotional breakthroughs or breakdowns. People we teach EFT tapping, which is really a critical breakthrough process for people to let go of fears and limiting beliefs and then in the afternoon, Again, we have people presenting in small groups and getting feedback. So it's just really powerful one on one feedback so that you're and when you get the feedback, you actually re practice it immediately incorporating that feedback because the research shows the best way for any learning is to incorporate the feedback immediately when you learn it so that it logs in to the system James Taylor but we're gonna have we're gonna have a link here as well so for people that want they're interested in coming on the program is live online as well. It looks it looks amazing, and I was chatting to one of your team members before about it, it looks incredible and I think I actually have we have one of your your Martin lash Skolnick, who I believe has been through some of your programs as well who just kind of singing the praises of this as well. Let's start gonna finish and finish up here. I'm interested I'm asking this question of all our speakers. What is in your speaker bag what is in that bag that you take with you to all your your speaking engagements or seminars or keynotes that bag that you never leave home without? Jack Canfield Well, first of all by computer and I got it I also have my presentation on a memory stick. So if my computer screws up, I've got all the connections I would need to connect into anything dongles because I use apple. I've got you know, what is an HDMI or a you know, it doesn't really matter. I'm ready to go. I've got my own clicker with a backup clicker. I have backup batteries, which I put on the stage. I have my stopwatch as well as my iPhone for timing things. I have lozenges for if I should get a coffee or my throat goes out. I have little tiny Listerine sticks from my, what do you call it breath. I have a toothbrush. I have a calm I have an extra set of underwear and socks. In case my luggage doesn't get there. I can work clean underwear. I have a book that I want to read. I usually have a copy of my own book that I can hold up and give away as a prize. I always have enough money in the local currency. So when I get there, I can tip people and so forth. I have my passport. I have my driver's license. I have a Xerox of my passport, my driver's license in case that get stolen. What else do I have in there? I have an expense envelope so I can record my expenses I have a pad of paper I have an iPad as well as my computer and then you went you went you mentioned one of the things in there is is a book so if someone is watching or listening to this just now will be the one recommendation for a book and and you can't recommend it on your own books cuz we're gonna have links there as well but won't be that recommendation of a book that you you may be found really powerful yourself or you just think maybe should more people should read. Well thinking Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill for sure. The one thing by Gary Keller so wonderful book about if you could just change one thing in your business your life, what would it be that would change everything. The compound effect by Darren Hardy, the idea that if you just change what if you just add a little bit of something to your day every day, there was if you did 20 extra push ups every day, at the end of the year you have done 6000 push ups, the end of 10 years you've done 60,000 push ups if you are basically Player just hit 20 extra bats, you know, in the batting cage, at the end of the year, you would have hit 6000 extra hits, which would increase your batting average. So just little things like I like, I like books that don't try to teach you 59 things at once, but teach you a couple of key points that if you apply them over the next month, radically change your life. So those are a couple examples of things. If you want to go deep, there's a book called The genie in your genes. To forget forgetting the author, right, I'll Dawson church. That's a really good deep book about how our DNA works and how our memory works and how our whole belief systems work. He teaches EFT Emotional Freedom Technique. He's a brilliant, brilliant guy. James Taylor We're gonna have all these links here as well. Final question for you, jack. Let's imagine you woke up tomorrow morning and you had to start from scratch. So you have all the skills that you've acquired over the years. But you know, no one, no one knows you. You have to restart. What would you do? How would you restart? Jack Canfield I would do two things. Number one, I'd write a Book immediately because you have to have a book as a credential. You know, if you want to be an international speaker, you got to have a book people will never know you exist. Number two, I would do free seminars for as many corporations and organizations as possible, and gather testimonials and endorsement letters, and also referrals. So that people would know I exist. And you know that that's the thing. I think a lot of speakers don't realize my career started by doing a lot of either free or 25 or hundred dollar speeches. Now I get $60,000 when I go overseas 35 in the US and Canada. And the reality is people don't know about you unless they can see you. I would also videotape all that. I would put that on the internet so people could see me doing what I do. And I could refer people there. I would instantly build a very vibrant website. And I would start doing video blogs. One of my students mikkola latunski from the Ukraine went from having 60 people in his seminars to 1000 people into seminars, simply by putting out a three minute video blog. Every Day, wherever he is, today, I'm standing here and I'm doing this and you ought to do this. And by the way, I'll be in Kiev, doing a workshop on this day, let your friends know. And he did that every single day for the last, I don't know, five years. And now he's the number one Russian speaking speaker in the world. Amazing. James Taylor Just as you before we finished it, I'm going to have all the links to the training training programs people can get on there. I did notice one goal that you haven't accomplished yet on that list. 101. And it was to, I think, was learned to play six song or six or 12 songs on guitar. So do you have any any plans on getting that said, and I speak here as a, as a fellow musician Originally, we run we run music retreats all around the world. And I'm wondering, do you have that? Is that one of your goals for 2017 that you plan on working on? Jack Canfield Yes, in fact, I have three guitars in my office. You can see over there at the moment and a bunch of song books from a guy named James Taylor. James Taylor My name I'm going to be seeing and next month actually Jack Canfield very good though. I saw him in live concert. Last year, it was amazing. But yeah, I am learning songs. I'm mostly learning some children's songs. I have a four year old grandson. So I'm learning to entertain him. But I also I used to I used guitar to backup some chants I would do in my trainings that I learned from when I was in a yoga class that help people meditate more deeply. But basically now I want to learn songs. I can be more entertaining. Yes, I do have that on my goal. Absolutely. James Taylor Well, jack, thank you so much for coming on the summer. It's been an absolute pleasure speaking to you huge fan of your work and I think what you're doing with the train the trainer, and training that that next million, I think is incredible, incredible stuff. So thank you so much for coming on. My pleasure, Jack Canfield James. Thanks for inviting me. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more.

Collaborate To Accelerate James Taylor interviews Mia Liljeberg and they talked about how to Collaborate To Accelerate In today's episode Mia Liljeberg talks about how to Collaborate To Accelerate. Mia Liljeberg is a trusted adviser and speaker but could be best described as a change catalyst. Based in Sweden, she travels the world helping leaders and their organizations to upgrade to the next level through small calibrations. To date, Mia has visited over 100 countries, worked in 20 countries, and lived in 10 of those on 5 continents. As a TEDx speaker and Certified professional facilitator, she gives her customers unique experiences. Her 20 years of managing change in different industries and countries have given her the tools and insights to ignite, accelerate, and guide her customers with great results. What we cover: Moving from a competition to a collaboration mindset Going from consumer to contributor Results from surveying 8,000 speakers Resources: Mia Liljeberg Website Mia LinkedIn Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/collaborate-to-accelerate-sl075/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey there, it's James Taylor and I'm delighted today to be joined by Mia Liljeberg. Mia is a trusted advisor and speaker but could be best described as a Change Catalyst. Based in Sweden. She travels the world helping leaders and their organizations to upgrade to the next level through small calibrations. Today, Mia has visited over 100 countries works In 20 countries and lived in 10 of those on five continents. As a TEDx speaker and Certified Professional facilitator, she gives her customers unique experiences. Her 20 years of managing change in different industries and countries have given her the tools and insights to ignite, accelerate, and guide her customers with great results. And it's my great pleasure to have Mia join us today. So welcome, Mia. Thank you. So share with everyone what's going on in your world just now. Mia Liljeberg Currently, I'm on around the world trip for 18 weeks. I'm currently in Lima, Peru, after been to Europe, Asia and Oceania. Wow. So now we have four weeks left before we are heading back to Sweden. James Taylor So you I think you you traveled to New Zealand as well for the global speaker summits you'd been there. So you're making a big trip as part as part of the speaking or is it a mixture of speaking vacationing or how's it working for you? Mia Liljeberg Yeah, that makes I go for the mix. So it's both mix. So speaking facilitation, writing on the next book, And a lot of vacation as well. So how did you get started as a James Taylor speaker? Where did it all begin for you? Mia Liljeberg I started off as a consultant management consultant helping a lot of large companies with change. And then I wrote a book five years ago about communicating with the images, how it really can cross makes it so much easier to cross cultural boundaries and language boundaries. So that's how I got into speaking. So before I was just a consultant, doing facilitation workshop, advising, and then I got into the whole speaking business. James Taylor And when you started making that transition from the consulting world, who were those early mentors, and who do you find it Who are some of your mentors today that could have helped you? Mia Liljeberg Five years ago, I didn't have any mentors. So it was very tough. And then 2014 we started the National Speakers Association in Sweden, and that's when it was then that's when the whole world opened up for me with the mentors both in Sweden and all around the world. James Taylor And whether any particular names there was was there any any speakers that kind of took you under their wing? Or was it more than the fact that there were speakers that you you'd seen on stage? And you can you thought, actually, that's kind of where I want to, I want to get to I want to get there with my my speaker business. I want to get there in terms of that level of craft and speaking. Mia Liljeberg Yeah. So it's like, five years ago, when I started, it was like, I saw this huge gap between me and everyone else. And then when we start the association, and we start connected, like, you saw that they were all like you. So I mean, for the Karen, who is the initiator of the Swedish speaker Association. I mean, he and his twin brother to her and those are the ones who, who came up with the idea about what do you think about collaborating instead of competing is like, haven't thought about that? So that was a big mind shift, August 2014. James Taylor And then you're originally an engineer before you got into Nigeria. You're an engineer by trade, I understand. So with without any skills, you able to have tried to move across from the world of, of engineering into the world of speaking. Mia Liljeberg Yes, as I've been working as in five different continents with a lot of both logistics and management projects. I mean, the whole planning the management and the thing about working internationally about dealing with different cultures and communicating across barriers, that has been really, really helpful. And also like, I love to travel. So it's like, I love to, to see new cultures meet new people and, and I think that's part of my strange brain. I, I wasn't on the TV show for the smallest in Sweden. And my husband's done with that one. And that's, that's part of my engineering brain is like, I see so many connections, I see the patterns and I see when there is a pattern and I can connect patterns where people can't see patterns, but I also see With a patent is missing. And that is so valuable within change management to really see you don't have to do lot of big changes. You just have to find the small things to calibrate. And that's when you get exponential growth. James Taylor So I'm interested, you're traveling, you're in Peru and in Lima today as well. Because we have so many attendees on this. Previous we've had 6000 attendees on this summit and for all 120 countries. Are there any other any countries on your hit list? Any countries Maybe someone's watching this just now they're a speaker, and there's maybe country or country you haven't yet spoken and you haven't traveled to? The maybe if you were to mention just now you might have someone here saying Actually, I'm basically I could I can help bring you over. Mia Liljeberg And that is so fun, because as I've been to over 100 countries, and I've worked in so many countries like Canada. I still haven't been to Canada. It's like, how come I haven't into Canada. James Taylor And one of the things that I noticed that you've done which I thought was really Interesting you'd like a survey together, you'd serve it over 8000 speakers, specifically about collaboration? What What did you learn from that? Well, first of all, what what was it the thinking behind creating that, that that survey in the first place? What was your your purpose in doing that? And what were some of the key results that you found from that, Mia Liljeberg as I mentioned about how we started the Swedish Association to do the mind shift going from speakers or competing to speakers could collaborate, to share the pie. And that is, as I mentioned, I was speaking at the global speaker summit in Auckland, New Zealand in February, and I was the Swedish representative there. That was my topic was really about collaboration because that is what I've seen from being a member and also being one of the founding board members of an association is really that people join an association and they want the referrals. So okay. I'm a member with With my referrals, but it doesn't work that way, you know that? Will not. So it's like, but there's like, there should be a method, there should be a pattern. What is it? And that's when that's when I thought, well, the best way I think I have grasped a pattern, a method. But why don't I just ask everyone else. So that's when I went out with a survey to all the speaker associations in the world that are connected to the global speaker Federation to make sure that we got the views from everyone. And they really confirmed all that I thought from the beginning. So there are 8000 preferred speakers around the world that are members of associations. And out of those, not everyone. That's how it is. But the ones who answered us gave really good input, for example, that just by being a member and being able to collaborate, they've gained a lot of value, like some made over 50,000 you US dollar just from collaboration. And that is that is quite interesting considering that we think that speaking business is quite alone some business that you are not collaborating, you're competing. But if you're really collaborating, you're really helping each other. And so OSI seed is, it's a, I see this mount, as I see in pictures, I see it as a mountain, the mountain of value of collaboration. So it's like, at the bottom, everyone, like being everyone who's listening to this, to this summit is the consumer. Anyone who becomes a member of an association is the consumer. They are there to get information. And that's the easy pass away. But that's not how you really get the real value out of it. You get a lot of value. From this summit, you get tons of value. But in order to get even more value, and get the things that people say and people say, Oh, we I want the reverse. I want the referrals, how I get the referrals. Well then the next step is connecting, you have to take this first step out first active step. And that is about Connecting, Connecting with other speakers being open and interested in other speakers being being generally interested in other people. And that is a good step. But there's a lot of people who have connected with me and that I have connected with, but I wouldn't refer them. That is not good enough. Because the next thing is, we have so many connections, but what we really want is the contributors, the people who are really contributing, because when you're contributing, you get visibility, and you get credibility. And that's how you become top of mind. For other speakers to really refer you because there's so many speakers out there. It's a tough market. James Taylor Yeah, it reminds me a little bit I remember when having company Chemistry and we're actually twice Swedish, just like Spotify, for example, there was a funny stage before Spotify, where we had Napster and a lot of peer to peer things going on. Yeah. And if any, if anyone ever used any of those things to be able to illegally to get music, so imagine and one of the things you always had you had the, you had the kind of the exact terminology you had the people that would put things up when they were the ones that were very active to contribute. And then you had this other group and they were actually called the leeches if I think you remember that was a term that with leeches, so they never contributed anything. It was always about taking something from it as well. And I thought it was an interesting, interesting, I mean, you you told me this, this idea of going from really going from being a consumer of it to actually getting from collaboration. And it feels that this is one of those industries where, for historical reasons or whatever reasons. There's a lot of lone wolves in this in this in this business and maybe because of how it's you know, it's started maybe that that's, Mia Liljeberg I definitely James Taylor see a trend changing especially the younger speakers coming up who I'm thinking people wonder like Frederick I've collaborated with Frederick on things, Gil Peter sale, you know from Russia as well as now in Singapore. And all that content is all about collaboration, how can we help, you know grow the pie? How can we collaborate on each with each other as well? What example Have you seen recently of a really interesting ways that speakers have collaborated with each other to create something new and novel that's very interesting and adds value in the market? Mia Liljeberg I mean, I would say like, what are you putting on now with international speaker summit? That is fabulous way to collaborate, and also what the Gil and Frederick Heron was doing when they did, she had keynote. So I mean, to be able to invite other speakers you have to lose in your fare. Your state presence. And I think that that's the core of it, like the speakers who are confident in themselves are the ones that are willing to let go of that fear and to trust other people. So I mean, I've seen so many different ways of I mean, it's I mean, you have collaboration where people are collaborating and going to towards a common target market. That is really good way to see that okay, we can complement each other, we can make a bigger offer. And then you have the ones where people are standing in for each other when they are, if they're sick, or if they are and a transportation issues you have where we are really contributing to each other to really make each other better on stage. That is also one I mean, that there's so many different dimensions. So it's like when people get into To this speaking business, they, they believe that okay, I want I want to get my, I want to get it for referrals I want to get on stage, I want to get the high fees, but it's like, that is just the quantitative measurements that you are looking for. Yeah, behind that one. That's the top of the iceberg. underneath. It's all of these different connections that you can see that well, when I spoke and connected to that person over there. That one, I was invited. I did a guest blog post on that one. Someone saw that one and they they thought I should be on stage there when I was on stage there that I mean, it's a snowball. Yeah, I mean, when I'm, when I'm trying to track back how I got, how I got the referrals. It always started with a smooth, smooth, smooth connection and contribution. And someone saw it. James Taylor I think one of the ways I think about collaboration is I'm a obviously this summit is you said is a perfect is an example of collaboration. This is kind of what we're doing. I'm collaborating with Lots of other speakers have been creating something that wouldn't have existed without all of us coming together. You know, it's I could not I could not create a summit with just me because it would be boring. So, you know, I have to bring all these great minds together and, and it doesn't. I feel that we're all able to learn from each show. And I think the other ways I've seen that in the speaking world worked very well. And sometimes it's talked about and sometimes it's, I think it's quite under the surface is mastermind, you know, I, I know a number I'm involved in to masterminds, and with others with other kind of speakers and groups, and one of those masterminds. We all speak some actually two of us speak on the same, pretty much the same topic. And the other ones to speak on a different topic. But the thing that all links us together, is we sat down, there's eight of us and we sat down and said we could essentially be eight years worth of keynotes for a conference, let's say a marketing conference because we all that's one of the things we all share in common. As we will come from different marketing backgrounds in one way or the other, so we just kind of sat down together. And we're like really diverse from different parts of the world. But we but we, we share we come together and different things. And also, it's not just referring work, okay, that's, you know, I do it this year, then sometimes I'll refer someone in the group. But I find the really interesting thing is then when you say, what can we create the hasn't even existed before together. So I know, I know, the seven strengths that I have in his weaknesses I have, and in one of my other members of my mastermind, she's an amazing workshop person. She is like, the best workshops I've ever seen. And that's not probably one of my key strengths. So we've we've started working on things like how can we collaborate, you know, because she's so good at that site, I'm, I'm a little bit better, especially some of the online things as well. And that's, I find that really creative because you can and you don't have to be saying well, I can only have that type of thing. Relationship with That person you can, you can do it internationally. And I've seen this happen, especially for the music industry again, we used to call them swaps. So you would you would bring a foreign artists in to your country. And you would do a tour together essentially you would do maybe six shows or 10 shows together. I've just a good friend of mine, his great guitar Swedish guitarist, kudos for Kenyans who work with Oscar Peterson. And so I would, you know, my peers, I bring him to work with a British artist, and he would go on tour and together around the UK and a really nice tour, and then offered organize a tour in Sweden, and then that as we go over there, and you can have so many of those different relationships, and it always is quite a good way to enter into a market because that speak in that place has real strength in that market has the connections already, but you have your strengths and where you are. So you can kind of do those those swaps as well. Mia Liljeberg Yeah, because what it comes down to is that there is already trust in that market from that person. Yes, it's like you get so so what's next I'm starting to realize that in order to collaborate efficiently, there needs to be a lot of trust. I mean, the trust, and that's why I'm talking about that there's a lot of consumers, that's where how everybody's starting consuming because there's so much to consume. But then you have to start to do the connections, and one study the connections, you can start to contribute. And when you start to contribute to each other, that is like a saying that I can help you polish on those skills. And you can help me polish on these these skills. We're not competing, we're just making each other better, stronger in all markets, or we could go together to a market so he's like, just contributing can be contribution can be done in so many different ways, especially just this fine tuning, calibrating the scales, so we become better on stage or in our whole business management. Because some people don't need referrals. I mean, some people just need to be able To say no to the low paid gigs, sharpen the skills to raise the fee to get less gigs. So it's all about making those movements. And James Taylor I guess one of the slight dangers of collaborations is they can, at times it can feel quite tactical. So you can have lots of different things kind of going on. And they're not necessarily particularly joined up or there's not an overarching strategy. You're not doing them in a, in a quiet, thoughtful way. And so is there any suggestions, any kind of guys to how, how to make that create a plan around that collaboration? And I think maybe more from a strategic level rather than just individual tactical relationships. Mia Liljeberg Yeah. And, of course, I mean, because I mean, we are humans and we are connecting to each other. So it's like we are connecting hands we are doing it but as you say, we do it without a plan. But if we have a plan for our speaking business, that is how we can start to collaborate with a purpose. Which means that when I go back to this value mountain, it's like consuming we are consuming but let's face it, as long as you are consuming, you're not contributing. So, it is it is a waste of money it is a waste of money and time, a lot of times because if it if it hinders you from contributing, well you will stay a consumer. So, it's more about connecting make thoughtful connection and honest connections with people but also contribute really be How can I contribute because I made a lot of speakers saying, Well, I don't have anything to contribute because my niche is so so special. So yeah, but thing is, you always have something to contribute. You can share your mistakes you can share to spare, share your mistakes, nobody has to do it like, like what I did, with my altitude sickness, never fly in from sea level to LA pass Bolivia. That is a very bad idea. Yeah, that I'm sharing to spam. But also it's like, what if, like, our business is so diverse? It's like, What? What are you really, really good at, but maybe someone is really good at Facebook ads and can share that one, although they have a topic that is very, very niche, or someone is very good at proposals, or someone is very good at just stage presence, like, we have those little hacks that we can really give away. But it's all about wanting to give away to really believe in collaboration and not believe in the competition. James Taylor And I think that I mean, if anyone's watching this just now I think that's the masterminds that could be really powerful or in speakers associations are the same as well, when you can, and I know in a lot of Speakers Association, they'll have kind of subgroups within the speaker's associations are focused on particular areas. And I think they could be incredibly powerful because We all have these different skills. I think sometimes that the hardest thing is to is to recognize the skills that you have, you mentioned that they like to recognize those skills that you have that you can contribute to the group and to other people. Because it, it feels so natural to you to do this, it feels natural to these Facebook ads, like okay, that's fine. Here's the natural to create, like a great trainers guide leaders guide for a workshop with me that would be like, Okay, how does that how does that work? You know? So So I think it's, as you can start to get into this world of collaboration. It's like having a mirror there people reflecting back to you saying, actually, I don't think you can decide I think it's like Frederick is brilliant at this, being that mirror and reflecting back to people saying, okay, you think this is the thing that you can actually but it's, it's actually this thing, that's where your that's where your genius that's where your your great contribution can go as well. And I'm guessing that's one of the benefits of being a member of our speakers Association because you have that ability to have that connection with The people that can reflect. And it's, it's difficult sometimes when you're in the world outside of that, if you're just in speaking to friends and family members, and they're going, what is it? You do? Like, how did what do you do again? Mia Liljeberg Yeah, they don't share the challenges and experiences. No. But it's like, would you say that it's like, doing those Facebook ads, it's like it can feel so natural to you. And it's like, and that's exactly what Frederick is about with his inner theme. And that is exactly why you speaker is so good on stage because like, because it's so natural to you. But that is what makes you unique. So it's like, what is unique to us? We don't see it. And that's what people don't think that oh, I don't have anything to contribute. It's like, but seriously, you're you're the best on this topic. It's like you can really give give me your nugget, can I pick your brain can you just share, share, to spare share to care. James Taylor So in your journey as a speaker as you made this, this move And then what you were doing in a consultancy, and then you know, becoming a speaker that you are doing traveling the world as a speaker? Was there a key insight moment, an aha moment a time when you went, Oh, okay. This is the direction I want to go with my speaking or this is who I want to serve with my speaking. Can you maybe talk to an aha moment like that? Mia Liljeberg When the first aha moment was the, the, when we founded this Swedish speaker Association? Because I really remember when I, when I went to, to that meeting at at TI or south, and I was like, talking to my friend Leanna. Another speaker in the car is like, what is going to happen? We're going to be 30 speakers over a week. And it's like, what is the what? And then afterwards was just pure love? It's like, wow, yeah, yeah, we so it was it was this mind shift. And as you say, that is probably what a lot of speakers outside associations cannot see. But once you're in an association, you can see that is the mind shift. But still still within associations. There's a lot of consumers And that is fine, because I mean, they pay their membership fees, and they get a ton of value. But if you really want to climb the mountain, can the mountain value, then you have to start to connect. And as you say, with the most amount, most of mine is a beautiful, deep connection, James Taylor I think, you know, one of the hacks I have, I've learned this in other other industries, other professions, and one of the things I was really keen to do early on in my speaking just as someone that were just kind of getting started was to find those those mentors, and yeah, because it's one of the quickest ways to transfer knowledge and to learn and also to provide value. And yeah, and I'm, I don't know, you're probably the same, really fortunate to have mentors that can support you. And it's, it's not like a it's like a where you're just consuming stuff with it with a mental relationship you're creating, how can I How can I be contributing to this this relationship as well, it's a bit is is a two and it's a real I, someone said to me the other day, he said, You should always have two mentors, you should have a mentor that's older than you to who has wisdom and a mentor this younger than you to basically be kicking up the backside to say, okay, you know, I've got this older generation that's coming up, they're coming up fast. Yes, they stay on top, stay on, stay on it. Mia Liljeberg Yeah, that's beautiful. Because, like you're saying, with mentors, in order to have a mentor. You have to really be able to ask for a mentor. You really have to be able to ask for advice. And that is I think, what can go against people when they are so in their mask and role of speaker because I am a speaker I am the confident the expert is like, but you're also a person who is on your journey to grow the business. So it's like to really be honest and vulnerable to to be available for feedback. Yeah, I mean, we have a in Sweden we have something that we call colleague listening wishes. Anyone can anyone ask? A member can invite the other members to watch them while they speak. And also ask for feedback. And say, I would like to have feedback. And you can be very specific, specific on it, like, I have just tried this new thing. So could you just give a feedback on that. And like, it's, it's beautiful. Because it's like, if you get really honest feedback from the person is like, and as with feedback, you can, you can take it as you want. And as there is no format for the feedback, it's very honest. And some people can go into length about really, really detailed feedback. I saw this and it's like, when you connect with this one, and you could really, you can really open the loop here and you could really prolong that one. And here, you really get the audience attention, but you will too fast is like that type of feedback you normally get when you hire a speaker coach, but you can never get it from the client. Because the client will always look at the content and the experience more more than the process and Then, and they craft something that is a really good way to grow as a speaker. James Taylor Yeah, I sometimes when when when I'm writing keynotes and working on keynotes, I, I'm almost writing them on three different levels, I'm breaking them. First of all, for the general the widest audience knows to one levels, I need to understand anyone that's maybe they're just starting an organization and have no knowledge of this topic that they're going to get. And I'm going to connect with them. And then I write to someone who is who really gets understands this maybe a senior leader in an organization. So it needs to work at that level. And then I also write it for my mic. Almost my colleagues and the speaker Well, yeah, because I know that if I if I'm going to put this on, I send my stuff by some videos which way you should film your things. I've, I send my videos to my speaker friends, and they'll come back with like real detailed notes and things. So I know if I'm going to do this, it's going to be it's going to be it has to work on all those three levels. Because if I just if I just couldn't go purely for the craft Then I feel like cuz sometimes like the, the emotional part to it and like the board, but then but at the same time, if I just go right to the broadest level and just purely speak to that, then Mia Liljeberg then you're not challenging yourself. You James Taylor don't challenge yourself and also you're not challenging the audience as well. Yeah. And it's like speaking down. I don't want to be speaking down to the audience. I'm treating trying to treat everyone in the audience. Like they're smart people that you know that they're in that room, they're in that room to learn and that's kind of part of my part, my job. What about you're on the road just now you're traveling from one country to the other? What is in your speaker bag, what is in that bag that you carry with you to all of your speaking engagements, cables, a lot of cables. Mia Liljeberg A lot of cables. What else? As I as I'm a facilitator, as well. I always bring a lot of things like a whiteboard markers and large prostitutes and tissue belts. I have the Hey Mike. Hey, Mick. Yeah, microphones? Yeah. Yes. Yeah. And selfie sticks. Yeah, that is in the small bag. But as I say, as I'm a workshop facilitate I have quite a huge workshop back. James Taylor You have to Morel. And then what about you mentioned like the haymakers that's one type of app. Is there any other apps or online tools or mobile apps, for example, that you find really useful for yourself as a speaker? Mia Liljeberg Well, yeah, that's that would be the CRM system to always have a CRM system, and I use Evernote a lot. James Taylor And what do you use for you? What do you use for your CRM system? Mia Liljeberg Currently, I'm using agile, agile CRM. James Taylor And then what about a book if you were to recommend one book to our audience? What would that book be? Mia Liljeberg This might sound a bit funny because it's a very old book, but it was one of the last one I read. It says Friedman's book about humor in speaking. And now I can't remember the name of it. James Taylor I'll find the link for and we've had Scott here is yes, I'm gonna find a link for that as well. And we're gonna, because I Mia Liljeberg met, I met Scott. We talked about it at the global speakers on it, and then I read it directly after it was like, and it was it was good. And then I offered I saw how old it was. But it is good. You see what James Taylor I think that's what every author wants to be able to read classic this read, you know, years and years in advance as well. Yeah. And I want to kind of give you a final and ultimate question here. Let's imagine you woke up tomorrow morning, I'm gonna let you choose any city in the world to wake up in. You have all the skills that you've acquired over the years, but you know, no one no one knows you. So you have to restart your speaking career. What would you do? How would you restart? Mia Liljeberg It would be too easy if there was a city with an association in it because then I would just to go to the association to stop make connection but otherwise it would probably be just to stop Connecting networking. Yeah, I would just start networking as I as I've been living in so many countries. I mean, I've been doing this several times, going to a new country, new cities like, okay, I don't know anyone here. I'm here to do my job. Okay. Yeah. And you get it. So it's, yeah. And it's so different from city to city country to countries like, yeah, in some countries, people are very open and you can talk to each other just when you're crossing the street. And in some countries, people don't talk to each other. So then you have to be James Taylor a bit more active. Any any kind of final things. Maybe there's was it was a one of your favorite ways to collaborate that you discussed in that in that guy that we're going to have a link to, Mia Liljeberg I would say, it's all about the mind shift to really go from competing to collaborating to really, really open up because it is about opening up and Trusting other people. And so I mean, once you start do that and start to give to give, because it will be quite obvious if you're just giving to get that is not really getting in exponential growth. But as soon as you start to give to give, there will be even if I said that collaborate with a purpose, this funny thing that happened is that, even if you're collaborating with purpose, things will come to you that you could never imagine. And you would never be able to see them before. But it's like, that's the snowball effect. It's, you're in for a surprise. James Taylor And if people want to connect with you, maybe they maybe they have an idea for a project to collaborate on. Or maybe there's, they want to invite you to meet with someone that's watching or listening to this in Canada just now. They want to bring you over to how we bring into Canada. where's the best place for them to go to to connect with you, and there will be in my whole year on LinkedIn. There's only three of us. So I'm the Swedish mealybug or at my homepage, me at my homepage. nillable calm Or just to connect with email at me@mealybug.com help me I feel pleasure speaking to you today I hope you get well soon because I know you've had these big variations in terms of where you've been traveling to as well. And I look forward to getting a chance to meet in person as well. Mia Liljeberg Yeah, great. Same to you. Thank you. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

Public Speaking for Techie's James Taylor interviews Poornima Vijayashanker and they talked about Public Speaking for Techie's In today's episode Poornima Vijayashanker talks about Public Speaking for Techie's. Poornima Vijayashanker is an entrepreneur, engineer, author, and speaker who has made her mark in the tech world. A graduate of Duke University, Poornima was the founding engineer at Mint where she helped build, launch, and scale the product until it was acquired by Intuit. Following the acquisition, Poornima went on to launch Femgineer, an education company for tech professionals and entrepreneurs who want to learn how to build software products and companies. She regularly speaks at industry events around the world and has authored the book, How to Transform Your Ideas into Software Products, as well as co-authoring Present! A Techie's Guide to Public Speaking with Karen Catlin. Having served as the Entrepreneur in Residence at 500 Startups, Poornima has also lectured at her alma mater's Pratt School of Engineering. What we cover: Why speaking is a multivitamin Public speaking for techie's and the curse of knowledge Lack of diversity in keynotes and panels Resources: Poornima Vijayashanker Website Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/public-speaking-for-techies-sl074/  James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hi there. It's James Taylor. I'm delighted today to be joined by Poornima Vijayashanker. She is an entrepreneur, engineer, author and speaker who has made her mark on the tech world, a graduate of Duke University. Poornima was the founding engineer at mint where she helped build, launch and scale the product until it was acquired by Intuit following acquisition Poornima went on to launch with femme Junya, which is an education company for tech professionals and entrepreneurs who want to learn how to build software products and companies. Now, she regularly speaks at industry events around the world and she has authored the book how to transform your ideas into software products, as well as co authoring present a techies guide to public speaking with Karen Karen Caitlin, having served as an entrepreneur in residence at 500 startups. Poornima has also lectured at our alma mater, which is Pratt School of Engineering. It's my great pleasure to have her join us today. So welcome Poornima Poornima Vijayashanker thanks for having me today. James Taylor So share with everyone what's going on in your world just now. Poornima Vijayashanker Well, we have started our six week online competent communicator course. And we're in the middle of it. It's great to see so many first time people who have been speaking for a while, learn a new approach and apply that and I know this is where a lot of people realize, wow, this course is tough or this is getting hard. So it's great to see that there's still Sticking with the program that they're getting through it, that they're at least diving in to try our new approach. And that is my sort of day for today is focused on giving them feedback on that new approach. James Taylor I mentioned. You know, obviously, you had this basic set, you've been very successful career in tech. When did the speaking part of you get started? When did you find you develop this love of speaking and speaking to, especially at conferences that you speak today? Poornima Vijayashanker Yeah, well, actually, I have been speaking for a very long time I in my youth was a very shy kid, and I figured around middle school that life was going to be hard if I didn't do something to change that. So I joined my middle school in high school Speech and Debate Team, and I was really glad that I did you know, it helped me Ace my college interview, and then go on to ace my first job interview, and then do more complicated things here in Silicon Valley, like, evangelize the companies into the startups that I started, help recruit and pitch investors. For me. public speaking is definitely a multivitamin and it's Something that Karen Catlin, my co author and I really evangelize it's, you know, it's a thing that people don't recognize. And it's definitely hard to get started in, especially if you have a fear of it, you're not sure if you're an expert, not sure where to speak. But once you get going, you start to see a number of benefits, as well as the people on the receiving end who hear your message. And so I have been applying public speaking any way I can. And I found that I benefit from it in terms of a business and building a personal brand. But the people who are listening also get a chance to connect with me, James Taylor and who are those? Do you have a kind of any early mentors and you're speaking over the particular speakers that you look towards? These are all I like, I like what they do in terms of how they present or how they think, Poornima Vijayashanker you know, I didn't because I didn't know any better. So when I started to speak, I, this was back in 2008. There weren't a lot of resources out there for technical Speaking there were four general public speaking. And I had learned them again in high school. And in college, I had a great debate coach who helped me not only with debate but do things like extemporaneous speaking, and improv improvisation. So I had a great coach in that capacity. But when I transitioned into industry, I noticed that one there weren't a lot of technical folks speaking in general, or the styles is not quite developed. And two, there weren't a lot of women or other folks that I could look up to. So I just honestly started to develop my own style. And then periodically I would come across great resources. You know, Scott birkins, got a good book. There is Reynolds who's got that great book on, on doing slide design. And so I started to pick up elements here and there, but quite frankly, it wasn't until I was pretty deep in that I realized, Oh, I have kind of cultivated my own framework from best and worst things that I've experienced. So I didn't really have somebody that I looked up to initially or had as a mentor. It was a lot of it was just audience feedback, and getting a sense of what was working and what wasn't. James Taylor I mean, you think of, I think of some of the best keynotes I've ever seen. And some of them are actually product keynotes. So I think, you know, the classic Steve Jobs at the Moscone Center near where you you're speaking from today, you know, he's a classic, you know, there's that that but often feels like in, in the kind of tech world in that kind of Silicon Valley world, that a lot of the speakers are in the either the marketing the sales or the biz, biz dev world, they're kind of getting more natural speakers. Are you starting to see that change now, within the more engineering community, you know, the people are actually building the stuff and creating these incredible products actually, you know, coming bit more To the fool there. Poornima Vijayashanker Yeah, it's in the last couple years, just as there's been an explosion in terms of conferences worldwide for marketing and for sales and for product. There has definitely been a interest to do more technical conferences. technical courses have been going on forever, I think. And in my early career, like around 2004 2005, I would go to some of these. But there were pretty big gating factors, you know, you had to really take the time to submit a proposal, there were a couple major conferences happening at Moscone Center around the world. And now you're seeing there's a lot of unconferences. There are smaller regional conferences. There are conferences that have started to add a technical component. And so it's been great that there's more and more interest, but as a result, we need more speakers. And you start to see more technical folks saying, oh, maybe it's time that I branch out, and I do More public speaking to recruit to do product demos, or just to showcase the technical work that I have done in my team has done or my company's done. So you're starting to see more and more of that. But I would say, Yeah, for the last 10 years, it's definitely been on the rise. And I anticipate more technical conferences coming out, just like there are other conferences in verticals. James Taylor So this is the whole Silicon Valley tech sector has also come into the spotlight a lot recently, in terms of lack of diversity as conferences I saw, I saw one the other day and I think it was like 40 speakers at this event and there was not a single woman, you get this. So that's the first kind of like, okay, so I'm getting because you're coming from an engineering what and there's obviously there's that there's a strong sense in the engineering side and take that there needs to be a big rebound in terms of creating greater diversity, more inclusion there as well. What's happening when it comes to the more technical conferences and those kind of events are they Really now having to basically take a look at what they're doing and completely kind of rethink in terms of how they're appealing to speakers how they're bringing in speakers how they're potentially betting speakers. Poornima Vijayashanker Yeah, well, I will say this, there's really no excuse because Grace Hopper celebration, which is the largest technical conference for women, has over 10,000 attendees and grows every year by probably 20 or more percent. And they don't have a problem getting women to do technical talks at every level, whether it's entry all the way up to senior level executive positions and sea level suites, right. So if they can, if they can manage to scrape at you know, that many attendees as well as speakers and turn people away, then I think that there is a big market for getting speakers into some of these other events. So I push back a little bit in terms of how aware people are how much of a priority it is for them. For my personal experience, what I have noticed is there is definitely an interest. You know, women certainly want to get out and speak. They're certainly full of doing it. They have to they're either far enough along in their career or there is even early folks who are like, there's I have something to share, right. And what I've noticed the last couple years, is there are conferences that are adopting a code of conduct in terms of diversity of speakers, diversity across not only genders, but you know, people of color, etc. And so the conferences who are more, I would say aware and with it are adopting these policies, not only to recruit speakers, but also how they conduct the conference itself. And I think it's getting getting with the times and recognizing this because the ones that do end up attracting more attendees, attracting the type of attendees that they want And it ends up being a more vibrant conference that lasts for many, many years. So this is something I think that people have to start to invest in if they are going to consider doing this conference again, having it be successful and having it be profitable because at the end of the day of conference as a business, right, James Taylor the other thing I often think about is a speaker's when we speak at a conference, we keynote a conference, We're often asked by that, that meeting planner, that event conference organizer to recommend a speaker for the next year. And I, I was thinking about it a lot, you know, you and I were in a mastermind group has actually predominantly female as well in that particular group. And, and I was thinking about as well as okay, because this question comes in so often from event planners, like who would you recommend? And I, I used to, I used to be okay, well, I'd recommend this guy because he was very similar to me be spoken with a different subject from me. And so it was, it was I was going into a default position and without without giving any thought, and it was just like it was thoughtless. Okay, this person, I know him, I like him, I think he would do a good job for the client. And it's what it's made me do as a speaker. And in terms of, you know, my continual development is having to rethink, okay, I need to have a much broader sense of who's out there, who's, who's doing like, Great stuff. And so this is a training for me. I don't know if you'll find finding this in terms of, because it's so much business is referral based, you know, for other speakers. Poornima Vijayashanker Definitely. And I mean, you have a sense of who the best speakers are. So, one of the excuses I hear from a lot of folks says, Oh, well, everyone was just too busy. Like, literally all the women who know how to speak. We're just too busy. James Taylor That day, they were Poornima Vijayashanker like, oh, what was it International Women's Day, like, what what was the reason right? And I think what it means is that a they don't think about it early on enough because they're waiting until the last minute, right? It's not Maybe a month or maybe two months out, or sometimes even two weeks, I've heard so many requests from people, sometimes even two days before saying, Oh, can you get me some money, nobody's gonna drop work or even get the time off to come and speak at your event with that much lead time, right? You've got to start thinking earlier, three months, six months, if you want to get on people's calendars, if you want to be taken seriously and be known as a professional, you know, organizations, so start to do it earlier on and make that a priority. And then of course, if you have situations where people say, Oh, I can't do this, or you know, I just happen to have a conflict, then having them suggest somebody else, but but the other place is to have your own watering holes. So for example, earlier this year, my sponsor actually tasked me with putting on a panel. And, you know, the sponsor said, Well, here's a panel for you, please moderate it. And I took one look at that panel, and it was me and I think there was one other woman and the For guys, and I was like, I can't do this panel, you know, and I pushed back. And of course, my sponsor and I have been working together for four years. So I had that ability to speak up and he is a great ally, had he not, I probably would have just said, like, sorry, I'm too busy can't make it right. Or you probably wouldn't be my sponsor. So I took the time and I said, Look, this panel is just not attractive for these reasons. And if you want me to moderate this, here's what I want to see. I need you to cut out at least two spots, and I want to replace them. And I'm happy to bring you people but what I don't want to see is four guys and one woman and then me as the moderator, that's not a very balanced panel. So he kind of tasked cast me with Okay, fine, go find the people make sure that they can speak here's kind of the background. And I already had a couple watering holes. You know, I am part of a couple slack communities. Obviously I have my own network. I have students that I train, so I have a lot of places that I can pull from. I still found it a little challenging. I won't say that people just trickled into me But within a couple days, I was able to get people to say I'm interested. And then from there, I went through their profiles to see that they had spoken. They had either a YouTube video or they had spoken somewhere before that could vouch for them. And I ended up actually, surprisingly, getting to women. And then what ended up happening was one of the guys who was on the panel, I couldn't make it. And so he gave up his spot to a female colleague, and the panel ended up being five women or was like four women and one guy, which is kind of coincidence. We didn't really planned it to be that way. But I gotta say, what ended up happening was, there was a awesome audience turnout, we were pretty much sold out. The people that came out said, Oh, somebody really put a lot of thought into this panel. And a lot of women came out saying, Oh, I looked at the roster. I saw that it was a great representation of women who are doing pretty advanced stuff. I mean, We had somebody who was doing augmented and virtual reality, we had someone who was a product manager for the last 1015 years. So these were not like, oh, let's just find somebody who's a recent grad or flexibly up the street, these were experienced individuals, right? Taking the time to think through who needs to be there, why and how that's going to reflect the audience and how they perceive this panel was important. So you've got to have somebody that's going to push back a little, as well as pluck the folks and say, these are the people that need to be on this. This is how it's going to operate. And that, of course, takes time, I understand. But if you don't put in that effort, then you know, people are gonna be like, Oh, this is just like any OLED panel. You know, why bother? And you're not going to get the response that you want to see. James Taylor Yeah, I mean, I think I was I heard from a speaker in Singapore the other day, saying, Yes, it is. I'm actually getting home our speaker together, we're going to refuse to be on all matters. panels we get things like this normal panels to be basically declined now, and we say okay, we think and we get it sometimes it's it's just, they haven't thought they're just not. It's just like it's like as you say it's last minute, I'll just, you know, they're not really thinking in any kind of way in terms of what potentially is going to be in the best interest of the audience in terms of having diversity of ideas and those people diversity of ideas as well. I'm wondering, so my wife is a an engineer. She's a mechanical engineer by trade. So I often test out my keynotes and her because her brain is very different to mine. She thinks much more analytically, you know, she's into the detail and stuff like that as well. So I'm very lucky I've kind of got that person that I've got that techie person to test out things on. For someone that doesn't have that. How should they be if they're working out their keynote and then knowing they know they're going to be speaking to more technical audience does have to be engineers, maybe scientists are more technical audience anyway. How should they be thinking about preparing If they're not necessarily a technical person themselves, Poornima Vijayashanker so I read a really interesting book recently by Angie Panzer, and it's all about writing for the workplace. And I thought that the takeaways apply to speaking as well. And the one thing that she mentioned in her book was how a lot of times when we write, if the writing is very dense, if it's convoluted, then the reader looks at the writer and says, Oh, this person, just, you know, isn't a very good writer, and isn't a very polished person or professional person, because of the cognitive load they put on the reader. Now, if the writer instead uses simple language, despite what level the reader may be at, right, the reader immediately gets it they kind of flow through the book, and they're thinking wow, I totally understand all these concepts. I was able to finish the book you know, cover to cover and they feel empowered, right. Same same rules apply to being a Speaker, it doesn't matter whether you are going in front of a technical audience or a lay person audience, you have to take the time to say, I'm presenting this information, there may be jargon, there may be concepts that are or things that, you know, I discovered that other people may not know, right, the curse of knowledge. So how can I best convey it in a way that's easily digestible? Not patronizing, you know, so that's the tone depends, and depends on how you how you phrase it and how you deliver it in your tone. But if you can incorporate that, then audiences are going to feel like wow, this was a very polished speaker, a professional speaker, a knowledgeable speaker, because you've done all the work for them. So regardless of who your audience is, whether it's technical or non technical, I always encourage people to do that. And it does work. That's the thing like once you start to do it, you're like, wow, I felt like I had stripped a lot of the content out I made the message simpler. I had a smaller table. takeaways are fewer takeaways. And people were thankful, you know, nobody said it was too watered down. And nobody said it was too dense. It was just right. And that takes a level of practice. But I would encourage your people in your audience to think about that, how can I take my message, regardless of the audience, and make sure that it's simple, because the people on the receiving end are going to are going to judge the quality of the speaker based on how simple you make it. James Taylor It's really that that line, which someone said, Kevin, which famous author said, it's Sorry, I'm having to write you a long letter, I didn't have time to write your shorter letter, because the writing the shorter takes so much more work. And you have to really think, you know, much, much more intensely about how do I want to distill this down. I'm also wondering, now you're saying this, I'm reflecting on some of the some of the speakers I really like and they often speak as three different levels so that there's so even if I'm not attending, I go and listen to them speak. I understand cuz they're speaking of the usual most consistent and things like that. So, you know, they'll relate it to maybe foods or things I get as a non technical person. But then there's another level up, which is maybe the more executive level and that executive executive level to certain using certain concepts there. And then there's another level again, when they using whether it's in terms of certain jargon, or they're giving clues. They're giving a sense at this point. I know what I'm talking about here. But I'm also having to create a create a talk and I think that's, that's must be a fine balance to be able to, to get a get a message across in that way. Poornima Vijayashanker Sure. Well think about this way, even your executive who has a million things going on in their head, they, they've got thousands of people pitching them, they've got emails coming in, they have their own decisions to make, right even if you were to take the time and put something into a simple analogy, or contexts that they're going to get in the first you know, 30 seconds or three minutes. You have just now saved them from having to do that load, right that that cognitive load. And so even for the folks who are like that, I find that it's very, very helpful to make the jargon of the company to demonstrate that you know what they're talking about, right? So if you say something like, Oh, yes, I understand that this company you guys use, okay, ours okrs mean, blah. Here's how I think you know, what I'm talking about relates to that. So you can you can kind of get your foot in the door and demonstrate credibility. But again, think about what that person on the receiving end goes through on a day to day and really take the time to say, How can I present this information? Because my sense is you're going to want to get something out of that relationship later on. You may want to go on to do consulting, you may want to get hired on again, as a keynote speaker, you may want a referral, right? And so when you've done that heavy lifting for them, Then all of a sudden, they're like, Oh, this person was fantastic, right? And it, it becomes this thing that people, like, I can't put my finger on it. But that's essentially what they're doing. And, and storytelling is one format to do that in analogies or another. But you've really got to think about that cognitive load on your audience member. James Taylor I'm thinking that's sometimes the benefit of being the closing keynote speaker, as opposed to opening is if you can get in a few days early to the event, and you can spend time and then you quickly get to hear the language of, of the delegates, what the toys but if it's an industry you don't know about, there's downsides, obviously, to be in a closing keynote, a lot of people thinking about leaving, where am I going to go? Like, I've got to catch my flight, but there's definitely some, some benefits there. So you're, I know you have this this, this course, which is really helping, the more more techies, you know, speak whether that's because they have to go and present product launches or whether they have to present to the teams or selling an idea, maybe to a client as well. What when when you start getting you know, working with those people When people say kind of going through that course, what is the what is the aha moment? Do you see from them where they suddenly go? Oh, okay. Oh, this this concept is just opened up his knees changed my paradigm on how to speak what was the thing that you tend to find there? Poornima Vijayashanker Well, I think the first is because so many of these folks don't tend to be presenters on a day to day basis, like a salesperson or a marketer would be their first resistance is Oh, I'm just not a natural speaker. Right? And, and getting them over that initial hump of you're going to be nervous. Everybody's nervous nerves are okay, here's how to manage that nervousness is the first hurdle. And so we do that through some pretty simple exercises that have nothing to do with anything technical, right? We just, we make it really, really easy. One of the first exercises I do is describe to me your favorite dessert, and that's something anybody can do. Right? And then they see Oh, that was it was kind of challenging to do, but I did it and it works. makes them realize that they can achieve something. The next phase is, I'm not an expert, right? Because even though people may be technical, they may think that they are not as big as the next person. Or maybe they're not far enough along in their career, or they don't have something novel and earth shattering to share. So the second thing that we help them do is really extract their expertise by looking at what they've already done, and realizing that there are people out there who may be less experienced or less knowledgeable than them. And those are the folks that want to learn. And so that's kind of the second breakthrough moment they have. And then the third is explaining to them just like building a product, no writing software or hardware or whatever they're working on has a process, there is a process to creating a talk. Once they get over that, then they're like, Oh, well, now I know like how to put this together, but up until then, they feel like it's a mystery and that you have to be really good. charismatic and you have to be leading like, a billion dollar company like jobs in order to do it. So. So once we get to walk them through these three phases, they immediately have a sense of I can do this going forward. And yes, I'm still going to be nervous. Yes, there's going to be moments where I'm going to need to break down abstract concepts, I'm going to need to practice my talk, right? But those I would say, are like the three pillars that we build on, so that by the end, everybody in our course, is doing at least a five minute lightning talk. And it's, it's pretty transformative, you know, recording them throughout. And then at the end, sometimes they say, Oh, you know, I was really nervous. I don't know how I did. So we make them go back and watch it. And the next day, they're like, Oh, my gosh, I didn't recognize myself. It's like what the majority of students say. So it's fantastic to be part of that process. And to see how awakened they become and to see that they can, they can do it and they just, they just needed somebody to kind of guide them along and to help hold them accountable through each of those steps. James Taylor Now you're in the land of tech. So I want to make a couple of quick fire questions here. What is that app that you're using just now the or the online tool? Do you find really useful for yourself? Especially for the speaking part of you it could be in terms of how you prepare or it could be in terms of how you get your speaking gigs or deliver on your on your speaking What? Are there any tools you really enjoy using? Poornima Vijayashanker Yeah, unfortunately, I don't have a lot of tools that I use to get engagements I find that most of my engagements I have to just do sort of the general sales process of cold calling or cold outreach to people through email following up. I will say that what has helped a lot this year in particular, is my YouTube channel. So having and that I've been building for the last four years. So it's kind of funny that it was only recently that I'm starting to get more and more interest. And the thing about my youtube channel is I have a variety in In terms of the content that I produce, I have some short videos that are about a minute to five minutes long. I have longer videos that are interviews that I do for my monthly or weekly web. And then I have ones that are probably 15 or so minutes. I also take any previous talks that I've done, and I put them up there so that people can see. And that ends up being one a really great source of interest and to credibility, because at the end of the day, if somebody is paying me to come and speak at their conference, they want to know, okay, can this person actually deliver? Yeah, and having that video, no matter how long or short it is, can get your foot in the door and also help close the deal, versus a lot of people I know, don't have a video, and it doesn't have to be something highly produced. You know, one of the earliest videos I did was just me standing in front of a camera speaking to people talking to them about what Fungineer was. I was about three minutes. Long as if you can create a simple explainer video, you can use that in so many places, certainly on YouTube, but in your email signature, you know, as people request a sample, and I feel like that is really, really critical having that piece of video, and if you can emulate a audience setting, because I have a couple where I'm speaking to people, getting those audience reactions can be valuable, because a lot of a lot of organizers want to see how the audience reacts to what you're saying. So I also have my like TEDx talk in there. And that's very helpful. James Taylor No, that's gramming I think YouTube is such a powerful place. Because, you know, when I talk to meeting planners, it's like the number one if they're looking for, let's say, a speaker on innovation, that that they go to YouTube first is that it's the place to go. And then the other interesting when they'll if they're looking at speakers, because of the way that the the, the recommendation engine works on YouTube. If you've got your tagging, right, and your titles and a bunch of other things right, then you can actually get seen by the people who have Wherever you whoever you know that there will be a guru in your topic, you could get seen, you know, after that video, you know the recommended videos as well. So I think that's great. I think that's it. That's a great suggestion. What about books you mentioned Scott Burke and his book was a great book on on speaking, it was another book. It doesn't have to be on speaking, but maybe it could be on. It could be on, you know, the world of tech. It could be some of it some of the topics that you talk on. Poornima Vijayashanker Yeah, well, actually, right now I'm diving into a Patsy rodenburg book on presence, the second circle book, and I did that because I understand how to be present with my audience. I've been doing this for so long, but I need to be able to convey that it to my students, and I need to have a resource to do that. So I've actually found her book really helpful, because she very clearly explains why some people kind of get stuck in their own head or their maybe two outward, you know, it's sort of the overly salesy person or the old Really bubbly person? And how do you kind of rein that in and present with your audience? And again, that's where you develop the connection with your audience. And so for me, I'm, I'm currently reading that, and I think it's I think it's a great read. So I would recommend it for people who have maybe started speaking, but they feel stilted, or maybe they don't feel as connected with audiences, or if they're just looking to say, hey, how can I move better in my own body? How can I be a little bit more dynamic of a speaker? I think it's a great read for them to get started on. James Taylor Great. We'll put a link here as well. What about if you were to let's make you wake up tomorrow morning. You have to start from scratch. No one knows who you are. You've never been booked to speak before. You have your LinkedIn profile is being wiped clean. So what would you do? How would you restart especially the speaking part of your business in your career? Poornima Vijayashanker I honestly say I would go back to basics and basics for me. We're doing some in house training with my team. So when I was at mint, one of the things I did early on was train all the employees because I was literally the first engineer there, right? So I had to sit down with them and explain, here's the architecture, here's how you get started. So and that's a very kind audience. It's your peers, you can't really mess up and they're not going to grade you if you're doing a lot of thumbs up verbal tics, etc. So I started there. And then from that point, I thought, okay, I wonder if I can go out and take this information and spread it to other people. So I actually approached unconferences first, because the thing about unconferences is there's no I mean, they have standards, but there's no high barrier. You don't have to sit down and spend hours and hours crafting your proposal talking to a bunch of organizers. You literally come up with a topic, you throw something up there and then now people have started voting on what they would like to see but still It's pretty simple, and it's very casual. So you can then get an audience of about 510 or 15 people to come to your talk, and start, start there, maybe get a few testimonials from the folks who attended so that they have a sense so that you have them to then go out and get more speaking engagements. But but that's how I would start, I think I would just go back to what I had originally done, because for me, I think that that's a very organic way to do it. And it's also a way where you're improving as you go along. Right? You're kind of starting in a place where you feel safe. Because a lot of people, you know, they're like, Oh, I want to speak at a conference and then all of a sudden they get really nervous, right? So start where you feel safe. go from there, there's no there's nothing wrong and doing baby steps. And then once you get to a level where you're like, Oh, I could give the same talk again and again, I could do it at conferences, etc. Then start reaching out to people But I would, I would kind of follow a bad approach. The key thing though, is setting a milestone setting a goal and saying, I'm going to do at least one talk quarter talk of sense for your schedule. I think consistency is really the key. And like anything else, it's that consistent practice getting out there and doing the speaking. And you'll find that as you start to do it, it has a snowball effect, more people want to reach out to you more people are aware of you. And you then get to be in a position where you decide, you know, what are the things that I want to invest my time in? Where do I want to speak? Who do I want to reach out to James Taylor pretty we could speak about loads of other things related to this topic, especially in terms of being an evangelist and influence so within your industry and within your, with your company, because there's so many different ways to go, where would be the best place if people want to kind of learn more? Where should they be going now, if you want to learn more about you and the work that you're doing, and maybe we can take those next steps, Poornima Vijayashanker feel free to reach out to me on Twitter. I'm @Poornima James Taylor Well, I love that we're going to have that link here. And I'm actually going to be reading that book as well because I want to pick up all these, especially when you're talking about process as well. And I love I love when we can start breaking things down into process. So pretty much thank you so much. It's been a I love just when we have we have our conversations as well. And I think you're doing amazing, amazing things. I look forward to actually catching you on stage at some point really soon as well. And I wish you all the best is engineering creases. Thank you. Poornima Vijayashanker Thanks for having me. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

How To Sell Your Speaking On The Phone James Taylor interviews Mark Hunter and they talked about how to sell your speaking on the phone. In today's episode Mark Hunter talks about how to sell your speaking on the phone. How To Sell YouMark Hunter, AKA "The Sales Hunter”, is a speaker and author who helps individuals and companies identify better prospects, close more sales, and profitably build long-term customer relationships. As a speaker Mark has shared the stage with such greats as Seth Godin, Tony Robbins, Arianna Huffington and Simon Sinek. Salesforce, Lenovo, Mattel and Kawasaki are just some of the companies that brought him in to help transform their people. What we cover: The dangers of going broad How to sell your speaking on cold calls How to sell your speaking to associations and corporations Resources: Mark Hunter Website Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/how-to-sell-your-speaking-on-the-phone-sl073/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey there, it's James Taylor. And I'm delighted today to be joined by Mark Hunter. I just met Mark Hunter, a National Speakers Association event and I said, I have got to get you on the summit because we had a really fascinating conversation. So if you don't know Mark, Mark Hunter, aka the Sales Hunter is a speaker and author who helps individuals and companies identify better prospects. more sales and properly build long term customer relationships. As a speaker Marcus share the stage with such greats as Seth Godin, Tony Robbins, Arianna Huffington and Simon Sinek, Salesforce, Lenovo, Mattel, and Kawasaki are just some of the companies that have brought him in to help transform their people. And it's my great pleasure to have Mark joining us today. So welcome, Mark. Mark Hunter Thank you for having me. I'm looking forward to our conversation. So share with everyone what's going on in your world just now. Well, what's going on my world just as we were talking beforehand, next week, at this time, I'll be in Bogota, Colombia, speaking there to it to an audience and then I'll return to the States, Kwik Trip to Florida and then it's off to Malaysia, where I'll be doing another program in beautiful Kuala Lumpur and both those cities have got great restaurants. So yeah, I do probably about 25% of my work outside the US. And what's fascinating is business does travel James Taylor globally. And I believe I mean you're you're on the road now about 200 days a year. You know, kind of roughly so so you're you have, you've got some serious air miles that you've accumulated over the years I'm guessing as a speaker, Mark Hunter right? Wrong or indifferent? Yes, I do. I have more miles than I'll ever use in my life. But, but you know what? It's all about connecting with people and the experiences that you pick up, which in turn, make every keynote you do. Every keynote I do is really a culmination of what I learned in the previous keynote. There's always something new there's always a new person you meet a new experience a new story to tell James Taylor when it will begin for you. Where did the you know the keynote speaking the professional speaking style for you? Mark Hunter Well, it began I was in court. I was in a corporate job for 18 year 18. Wow. 18 years. Yeah. And I just got simply tired of working for the corporation. And in that role, I had been kind of a corporate spokesperson. For my company, it was a large we are doing about $16 billion a year in sales US dollars. And I was doing a lot of this speaking at conferences and so forth, so I just I just quit, I literally just walked out the door and begin began doing a lot of consulting initially. And then began morphing into more and more training and speaking, see, really the keynote speaking drives everything else I do. Now, that's probably about 60% of my revenue. But it drives a lot of the other consulting opportunities I have the online activities I do some of the training I do, etc, etc. James Taylor So if you had to strip it all back is the speaking the one thing that you would ensure that you always wanted to do you or do you actually is a speaking just a vehicle in order for you to do consulting as a consulting where your heart really lies? Mark Hunter No, my heart is not in consulting. My heart's really on the stage. I love being on the stage. I third, I thoroughly enjoy being on the stage. But the nice thing about consulting is it provides you with the experiences it provides you with the insight it provides you with so to speak the behind the scenes Look, if all we do is keynote, I think we become kind of shallow because we see people at meetings and it's a very superficial type relationship when you have a chance to dig into companies and really understand them. And I think that's what clients who hire me today, that's what they like, because they said Marquis, you bring in the experiences because you've pretty much have have worked in every industry, and so many countries globally, that you bring a freshness, an outside perspective to an insight. James Taylor I'm going to talk about that kind of international the global piece in a minute, but I'm wondering when you got started as Speaker Who were those early mentors for you who the people that they can maybe take you under their wing or provided support or advice or mentorship. Mark Hunter Well, maybe that's why I started so slowly because I didn't have anybody who took me under the wing. You know, maybe that's, you know what I watched people like Tom Peters, I watched I watch, who are the thought leaders Tom Deming Who are the thought leaders out there in the business world? jack welch became a real mentor of mine. He doesn't know it. I don't even know him. But I mean, you know, watching him. So really, it kind of learned from just watching people from a macro perspective. Then I got involved in NSA and NSA was a terrific asset to me and it was able to really create a lot of very strong relationships. And then you just kind of keep going down the journey you keep you keep going down the road. And when you can get started in the speaking world, we were very clear that sales specifically as a topic you wanted to speak on or were you abroad a speaker at the start? And then you can, you can start to hone in on actually, the sales is the thing I'm really passionate about Angel Android can can sharing helping transform people in that way? Well, I made the mistake so many people did you have a check? I have a speech for you. You know, we all kind of so many people started off that way. And it was only after a few years that I really came into this You know, my background is sales. And when you have the last name of Hunter, it really works pretty well. So that's how I became the sales Hunter. And you know, it took me a few years to kind of morph into that. But when I did that, then I found my legs truly as a sales speaker. Now, that gives me the opportunity, I can run off and do some other things in terms of sales, leadership in some areas, but it really comes down to sales, which really is what business is all about. James Taylor So I know whenever I serve a speakers, people that maybe attend these summits, and I asked them what their biggest challenges are the sales, the getting the gigs part is like, probably the number one maybe, you know, maybe branding and other positioning. And I think privacy, maybe sales is, especially as people kind of get more into the business. So for someone that's watching this just now who is maybe like you, maybe they're coming from a corporate background, they're starting to move into really wanting to believe that this is something they really want to do. How should they be thinking about the sales piece What they do? Mark Hunter Well, you got to understand that you're going to spend 90% of your time in sales and 10% in the delivery of it. And I'll tell you what it's all about the telephone. I mean, if you can't pick up the telephone and make those calls to people who are not expecting your calls, guess what, you're probably not going to be very busy. We can write all the posts we want, put them out on the internet, we can do all the social media stuff and all and that's all good stuff. But I'll tell you what, my bank does not take clicks and likes. My bank takes dollars. So at the end of the day, I've got to be picking up the phone and I love making phone calls. That's what it's about. You have to remember, what are we doing when we deliver a speech? We're creating changed behavior. And what does that mean? That means it's got to start off with really the prospect who is the person I'm reaching out to? And I got to create a level of trust, a level of relationship with them, and only after that point, will they hire me? I mean, even today, I mean, I've been doing this for almost 20 years. I'm on the phone all the time making calls are they to cold calls? No, not really. But boy their calls and you know what, I love making them because that's where it all starts. You get the engagement because the phone call you made so James Taylor I'm wanting I'm thinking as a sales is a lot of people have got maybe a negative connotation about what sales is and what sale how to sell and, you know, think about this as it Glengarry Glen Ross You know, there's movies were always be closing and, and all those you know, there's things you hear all the time as well. I do remember one thing though from from that which was one of the other things we're in a kind of by the by in terms of the quality of your leads, and you know, you know, lead sales come from from leads. So I'm wondering, you know, at that early stage before you even get on those conversations, how are you thinking about the leads part of finding leads lead generation? Mark Hunter Well, yeah, that's huge. I always say inbound leads have depreciating value. outbound leads have appreciated value. Let me give you a quick 32nd overview of inbound leads. Somebody inquires on your. You can't, you can't on fast enough to call them back. I had a gentleman who filled out an online form on my website and it goes to my staff and it comes to me, I happen to be sitting in an airport, I got it, it would have been easy to sit there and say, I'll just let my staff handle it. There is a guy's phone number. I picked him up. I picked up the phone. I called him and he said, Wow, that's fast. I wasn't expecting you to call. I was expecting somebody reach out to me for a couple days. And I joke with him. I said, Well, I am the sales Hunter. And I do believe in prospecting. And he laughed. And within five minutes, we took that deal all the way from Well, I think I want you to have Have you come in and Keynote for my sales kickoff meeting to you are going to come in, I just have to get the approval for the funds. And you inbound leads have depreciate you got you got it you got to read you can't reach out to them fast enough and don't reach out to them. by way of an email pick up the phone and call I I can't stress this is a personal business this is a relationship business. And so I grabbed that now the outbound lead, I'm gonna you know, I may be calling you and I've got trade associations I want to do work with I may call them and they don't know who I am. But you know what I know if I leave a message they're going to go to my website, they're going to go out and Google me See that's where that that that that web presence that internet presence that you've created begins to take hold. And guess what I'm going to follow the the number one sales every morning in the shower. We are we are faced with the key word in sales. People don't don't realize this, but it's on the bottle of shampoo. It says repeat, repeat. You have to be willing to repeat, James Taylor repeat. I don't want you on the outbound piece. Any of the best salespeople I've ever met, they that they know their numbers. They're very, very clear. I need to be doing this number of calls and They're very, very clear on the numbers. So I'm wondering, you know, somewhat yourself, what are the numbers are important to you that you're always tracking? You're always wanting to be sure that you're kind of you're hitting those, obviously, apart from booking of keynotes. But what what are those kind of those lag? The lag or the, you know, in sales number? Yeah. Mark Hunter I always want to have three meaningful conversations every day. If I can't have three meaningful conversations, I haven't hit my number. And it's interesting, but I look at that come the end of the week. And I want to know, and this is one of the wishes. One of the things I've had many, many times when come Friday afternoon, I may be in my office and I'm tired. It's been a long week been traveling and I want to shut down but I go, you know what, I haven't made my number. And I pick up the phone and I make it and I make those calls back does funny but the last three Fridays I happen to have been in my office kind of unusual. And every week has been and yet every week, the last couple hours of the day winds up being incredibly productive because I start making calls calls start coming in momentum. Tim creates momentum. This business we have unfortunately too many wonderful speakers very talented, very gifted speakers who don't make it because they don't. They can't get the platform. Yeah, because they can't sell. You've got to be able to sell pick up the phone make the call. James Taylor I remember talking with david admin about this and he said a lot of the speakers they forget they forget that this the job is not speaking the job is getting the speaking gig or something or something along those lines. Mark Hunter All it is is to completely separate. Yes, yeah. James Taylor So I'm wondering now, for someone that maybe they just haven't had a lot of experience in sales haven't come from maybe a kind of sales background, but they realize, okay, this is important. I need to be developing these skills. I'm just wondering, just the first kind of question I'm wondering is like, when, in terms of the time of the interview usually suggest to get get on those causes early, getting them out of the way as quick as possible in your day, or are you thinking in terms of using time zones, because you're speaking a lot of different places, there's different time zones, and I'm also wondering when you're on the road When you think you know, your airports, you're traveling or you dinner wherever you are. How do you ensure that you can hit those numbers? Well, yeah, Mark Hunter it is. A I use time zones all the time. I 11. I live in the central part of the United States, but I'm using the East in the West and Asia and Europe. Yes, very much. So here's all key thing. I want to start off the day making my calls. That's very important. Why because it actually get, I get excited, I get jazzed making telephone calls. And other freaking out over this, but I get jazmyne that actually actually pumps me up. Now you may be afraid to make calls. So here's a tip that I suggest for you. The first call you make today, make it to somebody you know, maybe it's the next client, maybe it's somebody who you know, reach out to them. Just getting your lips move and just getting your conversation going. And here's the thing when you're calling somebody. And for instance, I break my business into into two parts associations and corporations, associations, I know have to book speakers because they've got meetings. So my conversation is going to be more along the line. What are you looking for when you bring in speakers? What are some of the challenges you have in getting people there? Now? It's not my content. No, it's it's what are you doing to get people there? What are you doing to get people engaged in your association? If I'm calling your corporation, my conversation is more around, you know, the challenges the corporation is facing new products are rolling out competitors, different conversations, you've got to it's not about selling a speech. It's about selling an outcome. It's helping them achieve their objective. James Taylor That's great advice. I mean, and that, that someone said to me recently, we just said, you know, they will look at you my site was just going through a renewal just now. And they said you know, the one your soul looks great and everything but you're you're not focusing on the outcome. Why do these people want to be so so that kind of goes down to the sales piece as well having those conversations, thinking about, you know, thinking the outcome first, and I'm wondering so you dealt with like one part about dealing with rejection. Getting those first calls getting them in early having that first one was maybe someone you know, but it may be when you get to how do you deal with the inevitable state that you will get rejected on courses that you have people will say no, for whatever reason. Is there anything in terms of how to, you know, build that resilience and yourself as a speaker as Sally is speaking? Mark Hunter Yeah. First of all, no is never permanent. It's only a moment in time you got it, you got to always remember it, no, is only a moment in time. And I know I'm not going to get every engagement. That's fine. I know. But all all I want to do is be able to keep the real, my objective of every phone call is to earn the right, the privilege, honor and respect to be able to reach out to that person again. So they may say, no, we're not interested. I said, Great. Hey, I want to really wish you the best in achieving your goals. And let's just keep in touch, and I'm going to reach back out to them. I might reach out to them again in a couple months. It might be six months it might be but I'm going to reach out them again. Nobody ever falls off my radar screen completely. James Taylor And as you start to build your career off, see now you speak globally speaking 25% of the time, you're speaking internationally as well. I'm wondering, was there a key, a key insight, a key maybe an aha moment, as you were developing your speaking career you went, Ah, okay. This is maybe why I need to be focusing on maybe in my the content of what I do or in terms of how I sell myself or perhaps something else in terms of how you're building your authority or your overall business. Mark Hunter Yeah, it's really, I'd say it's three things. One, it's being yourself, you have to allow your personality to come through and be who you are integrity in this business is the only sustaining value we're going to have. And if you are not off the stage, as soon as you are on the stage, you are dead. Now I'm in sales. This is interesting. So it's very interesting is when I'm on stage, I'm talking about sales. Guess what those practices I used to sell myself and better be the same had better be the same thing. So That's one Be yourself let your personality to it's about creating concepts and ideas that your audience can relate to and travel with them. I've written a couple books high profit pricing, assuming high profit selling high profit prospecting, and what is it around high profit you see that that that's kind of a focus of where I'm at, I'm helping you achieve profit and with that, then I've got very key talking points and so forth. The third piece is really creating your image and a big enough of a platform you know, really is a strange I, the expression has been made many many times but you become who you associate with, you know, you become most like who you hang out with. And it's very important that that Who are you hanging because that's who you get associated with. So I work to really create that brand and that brand image is as much me as it is the sales hunter and I'm proud of the brand, the sales hunter There are people who say, oh, you're in sales. I'm going to go, you know what my objective in sales is to help you see and achieve what you didn't think was possible. Yeah. Now think about that. That James Taylor makes that makes me feel pretty good. I love that. And it's actually it was interesting after that, where we met, and I had like a big stack of cards that usually when you leave an event, and I was I was thinking, I just on the flight back, I was thinking, who do I remember? And why do Why do I remember those people? I remember yourself and there's like three other speakers I you know, in terms of having conversation with people as they were speaking on stage, but just having conversations, and they had some, there was something in them in terms of the hook. In your case, I think it's the clarity of, of your of your message and what you're about. So it's really kind of straightforward and positioning. And for other people. It was just it was they had a way about them. It was something else but there was something there that can hook that made you want to say, tell me more, you know, tell me more and you can happen to find that. Mark Hunter Yeah. That brings up a good point. Because from an international standpoint, if you think about, you gotta have clarity of message. If the message is not clear, and there's not clarity in the message, it's not going to translate well. And I think this is what's allowed me to do, I'm making probably my sixth or seventh trip this next week to Colombia. Why? Because it's a clarity. And remember, they speak Spanish there. I don't speak Spanish very well, I don't speak I don't. The only language I speak is the language of business. And, and but it's the clarity of the message. You know, in a couple weeks I'm in Malaysia, I mean, I, as I clarity has to be there. James Taylor So as you were starting to kind of develop your speaking business you mentioned but moving into more speaking more globally as well. Is there any advice maybe someone new that's watching this just now they're already speaking, they've already got pretty good speaking business in whichever country at the end they're in with US or UK or Australia. But they really want now to start stretching their their wings a little bit and what about Would you give them was it is it best to maybe choose a couple of key territories? Or is it may be looking, you know, is it? Where do they begin in terms of thinking about those other territories? Mark Hunter Yeah, I've never chosen a territory and maybe because I'm the world's lousiest tourist. I mean, I've traveled all over the world and I can't tell you what's outside that hotel. I mean, I just, I'm a lousy tourist. I have done two things to really build my global business I've allowed by and you've spoken globally, there's somehow you've got, you've got the passport, you know, check. And so I've had companies. I've had Samsung, I've had Coca Cola I've had, I've had a number of companies Heineken, I've had a number of companies that have trap that I've allowed to have that have taken me globally to help them with their message. The other piece that I do is is there are local associations or local entities that I will turn Right to reach out to, you know, and that's a way for a new speaker, you know, you may be saying, Hey, I'm in this country here, how do I reach out to some organizations in that country? This is again, what NSA and the global speakers, you know, all wonderful opportunities that you say maybe I'm going to try to speak at one of those events, and then you build out your brand from there. The other thing that I've done is I've got clients that aren't even in the United States. I'm going in May, I will go to India. And this is with a Japanese company. They don't have any operations in the US but a couple years ago, they brought me to the Philippines. Now they're bringing me to India. How did they find me? They found me because of my global work with other companies. They it just it just begins snowballing, James Taylor isn't it? I know I was speaking to Frederick hiren. The other day, a great speaker from Singapore. And he was saying he made a very, very clear thing when you want to speak more globally, he said, he said I'm going to try and pitch myself primarily to speak The global conferences of those companies or those associations. And so he really went and made a beeline for speaking at the global because he knows if I speak for, you know, let's say Toyota might speak at their global conference, then all the leaders of all the other local, national, you know, versions of the company going to be there as well. And he said, he said, if you're any good, and this is the this is the really hard part isn't you've got to ensure that you're good. Otherwise, you said if you're not going and speaking, you're not going to have the bookings straightaway from that speaking, then you probably need to be looking at your, your craft, and whether you're speaking. Mark Hunter Yeah, that's a key point because I'll tell you what every speech has got to create another speech. And if you don't, I'm going to Malaysia here in a cup. I haven't even I haven't even been at this conference. I'm going to speak at Malaysia and I already got another lead off of it this morning from somebody who's going to be at the conference. So it's like, Okay, this is great. You know, something about speaking internationally to you have to be willing to fit in to their customs. Just go with it. I mean, I really try to be low maintenance, nothing, I'm speaking in India, and all of a sudden the power goes out and the room is dark and I just kept talking. Because I know that you know what the power goes out. And you know, in 20 seconds the generators will kick in and I did and the generators came back on and I know that you know what in another bit, they're gonna flick again as a generous go off and go back online. And it was amazing at lunch, the client came you said, Oh, thank you. You were excellent. You how many times you know, you really know us here in India because you know, our power goes out and because I just rolled with it, you just roll nothing fazes. James Taylor So there's a couple of quickfire questions that as we start to finish up, wasn't your speaker bag. What is it that bag that you carry with you to all your speaking engagements that the bits and pieces that you have there? What do you never leave home without? Mark Hunter What do I never leave home without my American Airlines? You know what I mean? Really, it's just my laptop, my iPad and my phone, you know, and I've got that I've got that universal charger, that universal connection code and you know, so forth. But I rely on Skype, I use at&t, I have a newer phone so I can I can make phone calls anywhere in the world, as long as I connect to Wi Fi. So I don't allow that's a key piece. I love making phone calls to other clients or the potential clients when I'm going in. Hey, I'm in Malaysia today, but I wanted to reach out to you and talk about Wow, that's cool. make phone calls when you're in other countries and just Hey, I happen to be in Colombia. I happen to me. Yeah, those are gold. So really, there's no tricks to the trade other than I'm always can. I'm always connected with my laptop, I'm always there. James Taylor Well, but when it comes to the sales pitch, I mean, obviously mentioned Skype as a tool that you use for that. Are there other tools that you use online tools, apps in order to ensure that you're always following up you're you have some way of being able to track all of this? Mark Hunter Yeah, I I'm really in between CRM. Systems right now. So my CRM system really right now is a notepad and an Excel spreadsheet. were evaluating some new CRM systems. But I haven't migrated to that. I had been using Zoho for a long time, but we're my work, we're going to migrate off it. The other thing I was gonna say, um, well, one of the best tools that I use to keep in touch LinkedIn, I'm all over LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a global business to business communication tool. I use that far more than Facebook. Facebook to me has got a very small slice. I know within the speaking community, a lot of people are on it. But LinkedIn is where I'm at. And along with that means that's beans. It's YouTube. That means it's James Taylor Twitter. And what about in terms of a book I think I love a book recommendation from you. It could be a book on can be one of your own books about book it could be on speaking it could be on the sales part or something in terms of mindset for speakers. Mark Hunter Yes. Well, I don't have a wall. Yeah, I buy the book right now that I absolutely. I can't reach you right now. It's on the floor principles by Ray Dalio. Ray Dalio. He is the CEO of Bridgewater group, I believe it is that is a huge, huge investment hedge fund. And terrific book, another book that I keep going back to, and he is an NSA member. Wonderful, wonderful Gentlemen, I have probably sold hundreds of I've given away hundreds of his books, Vern harnish. And the book scaling up, scaling up is a tremendous business book. And I almost universally whenever I'm with a medium sized company, somebody around 100 $200 million in sales, or even 20 or 30 million, and I meet the CEO, I always say, Hey, you know what, I'm going to send you a copy of this book. It's not my book, but I recommend it. And I get more comments back on that James Taylor one phone footage on the show is here as well. Mark Hunter Yeah, suggest other books. I'll tell you what, you want to become endeared to thought leaders. Send them copies of other people's books. Yeah. James Taylor That's huge. Yeah, absolutely. Actually, we I was I was talking to someone the other day about it. And I said, you know what we should do? Just get together, you know, a couple of thought leaders speakers, and almost put together a bundle that we sent to like co books of the month thing and we just cross, you know, collaborate with other speakers because I know a lot of speakers are doing it themselves for their own individual books, but wouldn't be cool if we had some kind of way that we could just club together. And we could just send out those books. Mark Hunter And we need to because we're in a very high margin business. I mean, our cost of goods Think About It is very, very low. Nobody invest in our business the way we should. So don't go say, Oh, it's a $30 book. It's a $20 book, get over it, send it send it, it's well worth it. Because if you get that full fee engagement, hey, that's pretty good margin. James Taylor Now, final question for you. I want you to imagine you woke up tomorrow morning, and you have to start from scratch. So you have all the skills, the sales skills, the speaking skills you've acquired over the years, all the knowledge, but no one knows you, you know, no one, your LinkedIn profile has been wiped clean. Your CRM has been wiped clean. What would you do? How would you restart? Mark Hunter Well, I would I would Google first Association And I would start with associations, I'd get a list. And I would start reaching out to 10 associations every day. And know that don't make 100 calls. Because the key and making those calls is the art of following up, you're going to call 10. Today, you're gonna call the next day. And you know what, a week or so later, you're probably gonna have to call those same 10. Again, you're gonna have to call again, I would start with associations, because you know, they have to book speakers, be flexible, be variable, and just get out there and make it happen. This is a wonderful, this is a wonderful business and I'm going to tell you something very interesting. It's easier to break into the business today than it's ever been. It's easier to create a name for yourself today because this little thing called the internet, I think it's gonna stick around I think it's gonna make it allows us to create a pretty big global footprint pretty quickly. And that's why I love I love I love speaking. And I love speaking globally because every opportunity creates another opportunity. James Taylor Now where should people go if they want to learn more about you, I know you have obviously you've defined a resource manager some of the books as well, but where's the best place for them to go to kind of learn more? Mark Hunter Well, the best place is the website, the saleshunter.com that's my website, the saleshunter.com. And hey, it's full of resources. tons. There's tons of free things, but you can sign up receive my weekly email, I send out a video every week I we put a lot of content out there because we believe you got to share. James Taylor Yeah, share to help other people. Mark. It's been an absolute pleasure speaking with you today. I'm so delighted, you know, we got a chance to meet at the NSA event when we had this conversation. So I really want you on this summit as well. So thank you so much for taking the time today and sharing your your wisdom and your knowledge, especially around the sales thing. I look forward to getting a chance to actually hear you speak on stage at some point soon. Mark Hunter Great. And thank you for all you do to help the speaking community. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

How To Be A Distinctive Speaker James Taylor interviews Scott McKain and they talked about how to be a Distinctive Speaker In today's episode Scott McKain talks about How To Be A Distinctive Speaker. Scott McKain is an acclaimed keynote speaker, best-selling author and globally recognized authority on how organizations and professionals create distinction to attract and retain customers — and stand out in a hyper-competitive marketplace. His client list includes some of the world's most distinctive companies – including Apple, SAP, Merrill Lynch, BMW, Cisco, and John Deere. Scott was inducted, along with Zig Ziglar, Seth Godin and Dale Carnegie, into the “Sales and Marketing Hall of Fame”. And after thousands of presentations in all 50 states and 23 countries, he was also honoured with membership in the “Professional Speakers Hall of Fame”. What we cover: How to be distinctive in a hyper-competitive marketplace Why every speaker needs to pay their dues The one question every speaker needs to ask themselves Resources: Scott Mckain Website Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/how-to-be-a-distinctive-speaker-sl072/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey there, it's James Taylor and I'm delighted today to be joined by Scott McKain. Scott McKain is an acclaimed keynote speaker best selling author and globally recognized authority on how organizations and professionals create distinction to attract and retain customers and stand out in a hyper competitive marketplace. His client list includes some of the world's most distinctive companies, including Apple SAP, Merrill Lynch, BMW, Cisco and john deere. Scott was inducted along with Zig Ziglar Seth Godin and Dale Carnegie into the sales and marketing Hall of Fame. And after thousands of presentations over 50 states and 23 countries, he was also honored with membership into professional speakers Hall of Fame. And it's my great pleasure to have Scott join us today. So welcome, Scott. Scott McKain Yes, what a privilege. Gosh, I, I can hardly wait to hear what I have to say after that. That was extraordinary. I'm grateful. And thank you for allowing me to be a part of this. James Taylor So share with everyone what's going on in your world just now. Scott McKain Gosh, it's a busy time. I'm working on my next book, which will be we just signed the contract for it, in fact yesterday, and it'll be released at the end of this year. And the title of the book is iconic. How organizations and leaders attain lose and regain the ultimate level of distinction. So I'm really excited about that. I'm we're going back and forth and polishing the manuscript before publication, but really excited Time for that. And then I'm also out there speak it. I just got back from Australia and got the hit Oh, just traveling all the time doing what we do is speakers. So it's a, I'm very blessed. It's a very fortunate, fortunate set of circumstances for me. James Taylor So how did a young man from Indiana end up as one of the most top keynote speakers, but tell talk a little bit about what their journey was like? You Scott McKain know, it's funny, I was thinking last night, I was anticipating you might ask that question. And I was thinking last night on on, I'm 14 years old. I'm a freshman in high school. I'm part of a trip to a convention at Purdue University. And I'm literally on the back row of the first level of this auditorium. And they introduced an outside speaker. And I was moved not only by the message, I set there at 14 years old, and I still remember thinking that's the coolest thing in the world. It was the first time that I'd ever heard a professional speaker and I remember thinking not Not only was I moved by his message and impacted by what he had to say, but I also remember thinking, that would just be the coolest, coolest job in the world. But I'm a freshman High School, right? So I don't remember, other than other than prom and and then commencement. I don't remember a single night that went by, that I didn't take this little tape recorder and stand in my bedroom for all four years of high school and do two things. One is I would give a prepared speech and record it. And then I would stand and I would try to pick out something in my bedroom. And I would make myself give a two minute speech on something that I saw in the bedroom. In other words, could I give a two minute speech on a coat hanger? Could I give a two minute speech on a doorknob? Could I and it I wanted to practice being able to think of my feet to be able to stand and communicate and keep it going For that, for that period of time. Interestingly enough, the first speech contest I won was based on I looked down and saw a key ring and I made myself give a, a two minute speech on a key ring. And then I got the idea that leadership is not about being the biggest key. It's about being the ring that ties all of those unique keys together in a meaningful poll. And that was the first that was the topic of the of the first speech contest that I wanted when I was in high school. I got an opportunity to in high school when I was 14, the little local radio station offered me a job and people say, Oh, you've got a radio voice. That's why they did it. Well, no, I was 14. My you know, is you know what, when you're a guy and you're 14, your voice is all over the play, you know that but my dad owned the local grocery store and they thought if they hired his son, then dad would buy more commercials on the radio station rather than ads in the newspaper but, but I think it helped me train my voice because I was always trying to sound Unlike an adult, I was always as my voice was changed was always trying to drive my voice lower. And then with radio people say, Well Did that really helps you for speaking. The only thing that helps you speaking is when you click the mic on, you'd better have something to say. And so it helped me on my, but there's there was little in that that helped them in terms of speaking. I got involved in a student organization. In the United States, it's called FFA. At that time it stood for Future Farmers of America. It was an agriculturally related organization, not just for farmers, but for anyone involved in the industry of agribusiness. Today's just known as FFA, because it's not it's moved from production agriculture to the entire the entire field. But the crazy thing was, it's really a leadership development organization. And it It got me, you know, inspired by speaking contests and it got me speaking and I was elected State President, Indiana and then later a national Officer of FFA. So I took two years out of college to fulfill those responsibilities, which basically was traveling and speaking By the time I was 21, I had given a speech to the board of directors in general motors in the boardroom at the GM headquarters. I had met with the President of the United States in the Oval Office, I had spoken in front of 25,000 people, I had had those opportunities, but the time I was 21 but the other thing that happened was, is I would speak at these rural meetings in the United States. You know, somebody mom might be the local bank president or somebody dad might be involved with another civic organization. I'm speaking to the students, but the parents happen to be in the in the room and so somebody would come up and say, Hey, you know, our bank tellers need to hear that speech. Could you come into the bank and, and give that speech? And that's how I pay boy through college, was traveling all over the Midwest, you know, given given those speeches, and it was it the other thing was, it was it was the greatest learning laboratory you can imagine. Because when people say, Well, what does somebody 2223 years old have to say to business people, older adults. Well, what I did was kind of make a report of what I've learned from other business people. You know, here's, here's what I learned when we visited General Motors. And here's what if you're sincere people love to help. So what would happen is I'd give a speech at some small community and one of the entrepreneurs and say, hey, I've got an idea for you first, you know, so I'd write that down. Next speech, I'd relate their idea. Well, one of two things would happen James, either they'd write down the idea, the audience would write it down, oh, that's a good idea and write it up, or somebody would come up and say, I've got a better idea. Well, that so for the next decade, I'm I'm doing that, and it was the greatest learning laboratory you can imagine it didn't pay much James Taylor that what that what you just described is you and I were talking earlier about we're both drummers and that sounds very similar to I think a lot of my musician, friends and family members who paid their Jews. You know, you go and play all those club gigs. You know, there's like, three men and dug in there, and you're you're working on your craft and you're continually but you have, you have such a love, you know, passion for what you do that's taking you through all the time, you're continually working with people that are better than you, you're kind of learning from those and adding those new distinctions. Scott McKain So true. I gave 1003 speeches through through the student organization. But I mean, literally standing up at a banquet or standing up at a luncheon or doing a high school assembly you're doing, I gave 1000 free speeches before ever got paid. Now, I'm not encouraging anybody to go and do 1000 free speeches, but to support what you're saying, James enthusiastically. It is about paying your dues. And I think unfortunately, I have seen really good people try to move that process too quickly. And so they get booked for speeches before they're really ready. And this is a referral business to a great degree. It's certainly a reputation business and so they they intentionally damage the future of their career. Because they put themselves through great marketing. And through all of these other things we learned how to do as speakers. They put themselves in a position for which they're not ready. It's like, you know, if you're just learning the game of basketball, you don't want to be on an NBA court yet. Yeah, right. If I'm just learning the game of football, I shouldn't be on a premier league field yet. Because my skills not only are my skills not that proficient, it'll also really make me look bad. And with such a reputation business, you can't afford that. James Taylor And you want that kind of sustainability. I suppose. It's a little bit like a TV show like American Idol, for example, where you see young, really talented people, you know, they've got they've got that that core part of town and they get pushed onto these big stages. And very early on maybe before they've, they haven't Nestle, paid the dues, they haven't done all those little kind of club gigs to work up things. And the first time they're actually getting in front of people, it's in front of, like 20,000 people. And they're doing five nights in a row. And then there's something their voice goes because they haven't learned to look after the tone of their voice and things like that. Yeah. So so in this time you were kind of going through those those early stages and doing those first thousand talks. Were there any mentors that you had as a speaker, people that took you up under their wing, even maybe people you knew or maybe people you looked at from afar and you said, I want to be like that I can see that's who I I look to to train to attain that level of mastery. Scott McKain I want to share a couple quick stories. If I could. James, I was speaking at for the student organization FFA. I'll never forget in Illinois at the Fieldhouse for the University of Illinois, about 3000 students in the audience. And on the afternoon keynote, the keynote that night was a man named Grady Nutt and he was a humorous but yet a very serious in terms of he had a he had a great message you He his tumor as a vehicle for him. So he wasn't just a comedian. And I'd read about him and I wanted to see him. And he was speaking that night. So I speak that afternoon goes great. I hear him that night. And it was just the most amazing speech. In terms of audience, he blew the roof off the place. It was so incredible. And I walked up afterwards just to shake his hand and he sees me and he says, you need to be doing this for a living. And I, I was so enthralled with him. I do want familiar with it. He said, No, he said, I walked in this afternoon just to get a feel for the arena and the field for the crowd. And and I just walked in, nobody knew who I was, and they just introduced you. So I sat down in the back row, and I listened to your speech and he said, You ought to be doing this for a living. And then he said, and I will help. And as as Grady's career continued to grow, and audiences certain of his older audiences couldn't afford to have him back. Great. He would say, I've got this young guy, he's just getting started in speaking. But But He's really good. You ought to, you ought to book him. And so that's how part of my career got started was just the little audiences that couldn't afford radio more because he paid his dues, and he's working his way up and I'm, you know, I'm here. Tragically, Grady was killed in a plane crash coming home from a speech in 1982. But he was a great influence on my life. The other one that really inspired me. They brought me back to speak at this FFA convention 10 years after I had been a national officer, and my wife and I are checking in the hotel and the other speaker and there's 25,000 students in the audience for this event. And they just bring me back because I'm an alumnus, right. I'm a I've been at the been a part part of the program. So I'm checking it out and the other speaker is gonna be Zig Ziglar. And I can't wait to hear because I'd never heard Zig Ziglar person had every book at every everything and at the front desk, There was a note and it said, please call Mr. Ziegler's room had his room number, when you arrive he wants to see if you would like to go to dinner. And I joke I feel like a shortstop playing Little League that Derek Jeter wants to know if I want to go get a coke or something. I, I remember trembling when I when I called and he answered the phone and I said, you know, we'd love to my wife sweet, so, so just the three of us went to dinner zig and my late wife and I, and Zig sat there and he said, Scott, you know, I looked before the convention and he said, I didn't see your book. Where's your book? And I said, was a guy I've never written a book. And he said, Yeah, I haven't either. My wife and I kind of like look at each other because we've got, we got like, 10 on the shelf, right? We've got every Zig Ziglar book. He said, But you know what? Every morning I get up and and I write three pages. And after about six months, they tell me I've got a book. And then he just sat back and smiled and it was like the lightning Whatever top my head. And he said, I think that he said, I've looked and learned and I know your message. And he said, it's a really a good one. And he said, it needs to be in a book. He says, I bet your problem is is the problem I had, which is to write a book seems so challenging. It seems so overwhelming. Don't write a book, but write three pages and do that every day. And the next morning, I got up, I wrote three pages. And it's the first three pages of my first book all businesses show business and he James Taylor had so many great little I remember early and probably about 14 married about that time, going and driving to though heading to different places. And listening to his audio tapes. I'm going to give me a bunch of audio tapes. And he had that real he had that he had a certain kind of voice. And I'm guessing being from the UK, I'm guessing was very informed by the, the, you know, the church, that kind of pastors speaking there was a sudden lilt in a certain way that it can when you hear great, great preachers for example, it has That kind of feel to it. I just remember all these little things. I remember one of the ones he said, you know, get them laughing every seven minutes. You know, there was there's things like that. And there was there's lots of ways I think, Rory vaden, who we had as a guest on this as well, I know, was kind of in the same way that Grady took you under his his wing. I think that Rory was one of those people who went on to Zig under many I know there's many of people like that. And I was recently speaking with Dr. Shirley Davis and Les Brown was that person that took her under his wing. So that's that's it just we hear the story time and time again, you're the mentor and mentee and just kind of passing on to the onto the next generation. As you were going into this world was any advice you got? I mean, you speak about this idea of having distinction and we are in a super crowded world now it feels like with with speakers and speakers coming in all the time from different areas. How did you learn to To stand out what was your How did you in this kind of hyper competitive marketplace of speaking? How did you find a way to be distinct? Scott McKain It's a great question. It's, it's a, for the, for the first major part of my career. When someone said, What do you speak about? I'd usually say well, about an hour. What What do you want me to speak about time management? All right, I'll be so stressed to get that speech done. I'll have to learn it, you know, to give it I would go anywhere to talk about whatever you wanted. And what you got was based on my experience of giving a lot of speeches, you know, I, I was, I was a serviceable speaker with a very, very generic presentation. Which was good enough to get me booked and good enough to book a lot of speeches at an OK fee. And then I had to really pull back. Saturday, my first wife, Sherry, developed ovarian cancer. And we didn't have any kids and I'm a sole caregiver. And it was a very trying time. And after Sherry passed, I had to reboot my business. And this is a hard business to get into. It's a really hard business to get back into. It's it's difficult to position it's even more difficult to reposition, right? If I'm new in the market, then all I have to do is to get you to understand the best about me, and I'm positioned to reposition I've got to get you to forget what you knew and get you to start thinking something different so it's always more difficult to reposition. So I started calling the speakers bureaus that had booked me and I asked them, okay, when you recommend me to a client, what do you say? Which I think is what I look back now. stumbled onto that question, but I think it's one of the most critical questions that we can ask when you refer me. What What do you say about me? And the number one overwhelming answer was a really good speaker and a really nice guy. Well, don't get me wrong, I want to be, I want to be a really good speaker. I work really hard at being a really good speaker. I choose to be I want to be a nice guy. But there I can't picture the Vice President of Ford. When they're talking about the sales meeting coming up. I can't imagine that person saying, you know what we need this year. We need a really nice guy, though they say we want someone who will teach us about. So as silly as it sounds, James, I started saying I gotta figure out how to stand out and I started researching how did companies that were distinctive in the marketplace, what did they do, and executives that that had risen to the top as leaders as managers. What did they do? And were there any common threads that and all I was trying to do was to take my business to that level. And and as silly as this sounds I look back now. But I'm midway into my research and it was the blinding flash of the obvious that wait a minute if I really need this, how many other companies and managers and leaders and salespeople are out there that need the same thing? And so that was the genesis of the whole thing that created with distinction was and I realized along the way, too, it's not differentiation. I don't think different is better. Different is just different. If I slap every client in the face, I'm different. It doesn't mean they'll ever book me again. But they'll go and he's really different. Right? So it seemed to me that there was a level of sameness, which many speakers are what I was right in other words, I'm I'm just out there doing a good job. There's a lot of folks will do a good job. I hope you pick me. It also those are the ones that they're always saying, well, could you do it for a little bit less? Could you do it for, you know, we're having to negotiate fee, then you go to the next level, which is differentiation, there's something about them that's a little bit different, a little bit unique makes them stand out. But the higher level then becomes distinction. And distinction is where you are known for something to such a degree, that you are attracting business. Even as you pursue bookings, you're also attracting it. Because people are saying, oh, if we want to know about how to create distinction, this is the guy yeah, this is the person that owns that. And and that's the highest level. So that's where that all came from James, I was just trying to save my speaking business, and then realized if I needed this in my business, what were the what was the likelihood that other business professionals were looking for the same answer James Taylor that's almost like you think of you two iconic, iconic brands. Think of like Volvo safety owns a word and it is not it doesn't own four by four it doesn't own SUV owns he owns a feeling or or an emotion I think it's like Sally hogshead and fascinate sure she comedians that that word. So you were actually building up the ownership almost ownership or distinction. So as that word got talked about more and more and more because of you, and maybe not because of you, it was you were you were there. You thought you were kind of able to kind of go on that tide the whole time. ride the wave. Yeah, Scott McKain exactly. Exactly. And and so then what happens? And it's kind of interesting, because it's part of what I wrote about in the first book on distinction when there wasn't anything out there on it really is that then the next wave becomes copycat competition. And now you go online and you see everybody talking about how to stand out and it's hard to stand out. What you're talking about is how to stand Right. But the other thing and that and that's where the new book is leading, is that people would come up and they go, Okay, so people really done once you talk about so now, Samsung than in the original book was part of that sameness now has risen up to the point of differentiation, maybe distinction. So if if Samsung is distinctive, whereas apple. So there had to be something beyond distinction. And that's where the new book is going with iconic, is that distinctive means you're at the top in your particular market segment. But iconic brands are ones that are talked about, you know, if we're talking about how you run a retail store, we're going to be talking about Apple regardless of the way it goes beyond their specific industry. You know what I mean, if they become cultural icons, not just the predominant provider, in their respective industry? Yeah. James Taylor And I'm thinking that, I guess also that helps on the referral party. You mentioned earlier because it makes the referral bit so much easier. Because you're not you're not in a world of just like lots of other things if if someone mentions that I need a someone talk about come and talk about distinction, or I need I'm thinking about someone like how to be a remarkable brand I think like Seth Godin like remarkable you know, the certain kind of words that that you can you can think of other other things that we can be doing as speakers to realize that, you know, this is this is an industry of referrals from other speakers from bureaus from people that hear you and see you on stage is anything that we can be doing to to kind of help that process that we are being that person is preferred. Scott McKain One thing that we've learned and we've we've used fortunately very successfully, James is really, really important question. And it's, it's drilling deeper with the clients that you already have. And in the fundamental question that you ask yourself is this who is my clients customer How can I help my clients serve their customers? I'll give you an example. I'm speaking for Bridgestone tires, big meeting for Bridgestone tires. And it went great, great crowd, great group. And so I basically asked myself, our office and our team asked the question, so who's their customer? Well, our first response obviously would be Oh, it's anybody that buys tires, but that's not really it, because it's the dealers that sell the Bridgestone tires to their customers and the dealers that have bridgestones and michelins and good years and Yokohama has and all of those Okay, so how does Bridgestone gain greater mindshare with those dealers that are their customers. So we went to them and made a proposal and we said, just as you had this meeting, every one of the dealers that are selling your tires have a meeting. What if You've sponsored me to be the keynote speaker for that meeting, you could get up and introduce me get your time in front of all the sales people. Look, they're going to ask you to sponsor a cocktail reception or something anyway, so it's in your budget, but sponsor me as the keynote speaker for all of those events. And we booked 15 more full fee dates with them as a result of just that question, and then I did all of those, well, then all of those dealers then have a need for training programs, they have a need for some kind of follow up. So with with several of them, I've done additional work then for those dealers that they paid for, because they didn't want to be beholden to just one company. So it probably ended up being 23 to 25 programs at a significant fee. Just from that, and I can give you several other examples. We did that with Cisco. We did that with Juniper Networks. We've done that with SAP You know, with with other companies with Apple, James Taylor so that's almost like going going, you know, we often are taught to think of what is the transformation that you want to have in the organization you're going to speak for. But this is actually going one step further. This is saying what is the transformation that you want to have in the lives and the organization's of the other customers of your of the people that you're going to speak? So going that level? And I guess, because then you speak your topics around is brand marketing as well. That's the kind of thing that is to em problem for every Vice President of Marketing Director, man, they're continually thinking that question is that continually thinking of the customers challenges that is, that is their life. And so if you're coming along, saying, actually, I have something that's not only going to help elevate your brand amongst those those customers, but it's going to help them solve some of the deeper challenges in their organizations and you know that that's a total Win, win win Scott McKain in See, I think many times and we'd Seek referrals, right? That's just part of the process. Regardless of where you are in your career, you still want people to refer you so we try to be easily referral. I'll talk more about that in a second. But, but what I realized was if I asked the CEO of Bridgestone to refer me, first of all, who's going to refer me to that, that might be limited, he's sure not gonna refer me to his competitors. He's certainly not going to refer me to so he might have referred me to some of these other tire dealers, but to formalize the process means now instead of maybe booking one or two or three that he had referred me to, now, all of a sudden, I've got 20 you know, programs. Yeah. And, and I'm, and I've also now I'm a resource for them, because when they get great feedback from their customers, what do they want to do? So they booked me two or three more times. I didn't include that number, right. Hey, Scott's done such a good job in it. You know, A lot of times to the referrals that we can get our internal within the organization, we tend to think of external, but but with a with an insurance company, for example, if I do all the agents, why don't they refer me to the internal meetings that they have of their wholesalers? Yeah. So we referrals can be. The best referrals to me are drilling deeper within the clients that we already have, and finding additional ways to serve them, rather than thinking and that's, that's part of what you know, I preached in the speeches as well, is that we've got to find ways to transcend transaction. And many times as speakers were looking for a booking of that speech, and I've noticed the more that I try to help clients the more speeches I end up booking the more that for example, Bridgestone It was about how do you leverage your budget. You're already being asked to buy the cocktail hour or sponsor one of the meals. You're going to spend the money anyway. This is a more memorable way for you to take that investment of your budget and really make an impact. So those are the things that when we start looking for how to be of help. One of the things in my early early days of speaking a guy named Joe Charbonneau, the late Joe Charbonneau at Dallas, Texas, had so many things he did the two things that Joe said, he said, Get a legal pad, put it on the phone, draw a line, divide it in half. Every time somebody calls about a speech, put a checkmark every time somebody calls about help put a checkmark in the other column. When you have more checkmarks of people calling you for help than calling to book a speech. That's when you know you have viability in this business. Because they look at you as a resource, rather than as a vendor. Yeah. And I love that James Taylor I guess I guess that's that's that's obviously we're busy, you know, corporates going in general as it used to supplier relationships is not transactional systems it's building those relationships and you almost I mean I think some of the best products and almost kind of don't know where one company starts and the other one and it's these close relationship and as we're going to start to move I want to get to some real quick fire questions here we Scott is there a what's in your speaker bag? well isn't that a bag that you carry with you to all of your your speaking gigs you never leave the home in your office without Scott McKain I was with my wife Tammy was here to hear that because she's like he has more junk it is bad. I am a muck what I call this the I love technology. I carry my laptop. I carry an iPad, I carry a Kindle. I carry all of the dongles the attachments. I bought a let me about a roll over here and get it I bought the this is the slide clicker. I carry with me everywhere. With me This is the best slide advancer that you can that you can possibly get it a lot of speakers they'll handle this at the event of perfect cue when you carry your own and and the AV crew sees that you carry your own even if you don't use it they know they're dealing with a pro yeah and and it no matter the circumstance no matter the situation that is in and you can find that online at and I'm I'm not a compensated endorser, I just think it's the best thing going just all of that I carry all the you know the I carry I carry a multiple outlet you know plug so because so many times hotel rooms don't have enough outlets for everything. And so that's everything is on my Kindle. I carry a cannon on that one on the James Taylor on the power of having the extension. If you want to like make friends very quickly airports be that person that has Scott McKain Idea point. Oh yeah, cuz now we're by plugin that I carry this camera. It's a Canon g7 x. And I carry this with me everywhere because it's just absolutely fantastic to do a video blog or, or whatever. So I will get a little selfie stick and this camera. And after the event I'll just shoot a little video saying, Hi, Scott, it was great to be with you at the XYZ Corporation event, I'm just leaving the hotel or I might be in the cab, I'm in the cab. But man, I'm still on a high from what a great experience that we had. So let me remind you, of these three points. We talked about your event, ABC. So then we send that to the client afterwards and say how would you you know if you'd like would you like to distribute this. So then they send that as a post event follow up to remind everybody which then keeps me front of mine. One of the things I've written about in every book is my belief that mind share proceeds market share. Every business that I work with wants to grow their market share, it's the wrong place to start as a speaker, it's the wrong place to start. People aren't booking you if they're not thinking about you. So your key is how do you create innovative ways to stay front of mind for them and, and so anything that you can do to shoot a video that says thanks that they distribute is is critical and and, and we'll do that. So I carry a bunch of stuff. I carry a digital recorder with me as well just to make certain the sound is perfect. The other thing is, and this is a great one, it's a zoom f1 field recorder. And so I can pin the lapel mic on one on one lapel as they pin the other one for the speech. And now I have a perfect digital copy of my speech. I do that for two reasons. One is to edit to us on things that we might be, you know doing in the future. But the other thing is to get it transcribed. Because if you want to scare yourself to death, get a transcription of your speech and the imprecision of the language that we use on the platform. And so part of what I'm trying to do is to get better with my language, get better with my descriptions and be more precise, because every word matters when we're on the platform. So James Taylor long answer that question, but I was I was talking to guests recently that on that precision point, I was thinking I was talking to one of our other guests who works with helpings because with this speech, especially non native speakers, and should we have to remember now is 95% of business conversations are happening in English, are between at least one of those people is not a native English speaker. So most business conversations are going on and not with native English speakers. So you have to be clear, there has to be a real sense of clarity in what you're seeing that makes total sense to be able to kind of go through those as well. Scott McKain Oh, and you bring up some Important point, James. Because as your career grows, and you start doing more international programs, you know, the easiest, the quickest example is I tell a story about a taxi driver. And when I'm telling the story in the States, he, he gets my luggage and puts it in the trunk of the car. Well, if I'm speaking where you are, it's, it's the boot. And so you don't get in line you get in the queue. Part of what we have to do as speakers is to make certain that we're using the terminology. Even the slang I know, many times those of us in the States, you know, we'll talk about knocking it out of the park. Well, there's a lot of parts of the world that have no idea that that's a baseball term, you know, hitting a home run, well, that speech was a home run. Well, that may not be the most appropriate expression in other places. So there's so many if you can put a fine point on that the the audience, almost subconscious picks up yeah, that you're using their terminology not your own. James Taylor And what about book is the one book that you would recommend that people check out could be on the crafter speaking it could be on the on the business side of speaking or something that just more generally is going to help them understand this this this, this took us home in terms of distinction. Scott McKain So many of my friends have written so many great books, it's it's it's hard to know, you know which which ones to recommend, but let me share two with you real quickly. One is my buddy Joe Callaway. And his book is be the best at what matters most. And I think many times as speakers there are so many things that we can be doing that we end up chasing a lot of different opportunities. What really the client is looking for is us to be the best to what really matters most. And it's just brilliantly done. And then Phil Jones has a book called exactly what to say. And we've been working on this and applying this and it is absolute Li fascinating how just changing a few words could dramatically improve your ability to, to communicate. For example, one of the things that a quick one he says is, you should say, Now I want you to be open minded. And the reason that you say that is because no one wants to be perceived as closed minded. Right? So you have by saying that you've predisposed the listener to agree with what you're saying, because the subliminal message almost is, if you object to it, it's not because it's wrong. It's because you are close minded. Right? James Taylor I think Phil did a good job with that distinction there. Because actually, the shape and the size of that book and the way that book is branded is I think it's a very good example of distinction standing out I can, I can see that book. I've had that book, and I can have it sitting in the cross in the room and I know it's his book because it also released his website and it's got visiting Tegrity Dan is going on? Scott McKain Absolutely, absolutely. And that's you mentioned a hugely important word, James, that the integrity with all of your materials, and the congruency so that the website looks like the book looks like the visuals looks like. So there's that. And that's, that's branding 101. But yet again, we as speakers, that's part of what's so hard about this business is that, you know, we want to get to a high level, you're dealing with high level companies, but yet you you don't have the resources that they have in terms of design and branding, and, and just number of people. I've got to go give a speech on Sunday, plus, I got to finish the book, plus, I got to look at website proposals plus i got, you know, and we're always juggling. And many times when that happens, it removes the consistency and the congruency. And it's unintentional, we don't even realize it. It's happening. James Taylor And is there an online tool that you find really useful for yourself as a speaker or an app that you find you using all the time as a speaker? Scott McKain Well, I need to find some more I keep I keep looking for, you know, for something better. But one of the ones that we use all the time is called close clo z. And it's an app on the iPhone and an app online. It's a relationship management app. But part of what I like about it, is it how you can also do email through it. It's calendar, it's scheduling, but it also does email and it will notify you when someone has read the email that you sent. So part of what I love about that is if if I send an email to somebody, and I know that they've read it, from a timing standpoint, I might wait 15 or 20 minutes, and then I call them yeah, and typically the response is, oh my gosh, I was just thinking about you. No kidding. Wow, great. Well, that's it. So it's clo z great. I want to use it our office in like the whole lot James Taylor and kind of final question for I want you to Imagine you woke up tomorrow morning and you had to start from scratch. So I'm gonna let you position yourself any way you want in the world of Las Vegas, any city you'd like. But you have all the skills you've acquired over the years, but you know, no one, no one knows you. What would you do? How would you restart your speaking, Scott McKain I'd write the book. The biggest mistake I've made in my speaking career was I was a speaker for 1012 years and didn't write a book. And so when books came into the market, matter of fact, there was one book that came into the market. It was somebody I know was in one of my speeches, and we'll talk about how and then he wrote a book about what I haven't been talking about that particular time. And I know that they were on a similar track, so I'm not saying it, but, but had I written the book and got it out. When I first started talking about this, it would have predated that book by by yours, but I gave the speech I didn't write the book and to several things that when you write the book, the book is key to success. publishing your authority in the marketplace on that subject matter. Secondly is the book is the best business card you could ever possibly have. With third and the unintended consequences, it improves the precision of your thinking. If I'm standing in front of a group, I can read their eyes if I'm coming, if they're getting what I'm talking about or not. If I since they're not getting it, I can do another story. I can use another example or I can pull questions from the audience. The book, I don't get a second chance. And so the language in your thinking, has to be more precise, has to be sharper. And writing the book was such a great mental exercise to get my content better. That for all of those reasons, the first thing I would do, because part of your your, your question evolved, I still have the knowledge of the subject matter. The first thing I would do is write the book. James Taylor Well, Scott, it's been an absolute pleasure speaking to you today. Thank you so much for coming on. We could have talked to talk because you just so wealth of knowledge in this you and you have certainly paid your dues in this business. So Scott, thank you so much for coming on. I look forward to hearing you speak on stage soon. Scott McKain James I look forward to it. It's been a real privilege and pleasure See you again soon. Thanks. Today's episode James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

Public Speaking Tips from The Feisty, Focused And Fearless Speaker Public Speaking Tips: James Taylor interviews Pegine Echevarria; The Feisty, Focused And Fearless Speaker In today's episode Pegine Echvarria talks about Public Speaking Tips from The Feisty, Focused And Fearless Speaker. Be powerful! Be You! Make a positive impact! These are Pegine's calls to action. She goes by her first name, Pegine. Hey, if first names are good enough for Oprah, Beyoncé and Shakira it's good enough for her. Pegine is the only Latina and one of only eight women inducted into the 60-member Motivational Speaker Hall of Fame, others include Anthony Robbins and Jack Canfield. Her training company received the extremely rare US Department of Defence rating of EXCELLENT for quality, service and success for contracts over a million dollars. A former Bronx gang member kicked out of her first high school, she is a true American success story. Her life story and wisdom is featured in over 15 books on success including "The American Dream Revisited" by Gary Sirak and Powerful Self-Confidence: Developing Unshakeable Confidence (Made for Success) with Zig Ziglar. She's been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Forbes among others and is the author of 'Sometimes You Need to Kick Your Own Butt', Days' and 'I've Got the Power To Lead & Think Big' among others. What we cover: Seminal moments in a speakers career Power Women of NSA Chants, Mantras and Theme Songs Resources: Pegine's Website Tamsen's Free Gift For You: The Affirmation Book for PowerPlayers - Lead and Think Big Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/public-speaking-tips-from-the-feisty-focused-and-fearless-speaker-sl071/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey there it's James Taylor and I'm delighted today to welcome Pegine Echevarria. Be powerful be you make a positive impact. These are Perkins calls to action. She goes by our first name Peggy. Hey, it first things a good enough Oprah for Beyonce for Shakira, then it's good enough. patina is the only Latina One of only eight women inducted into the 16 member motivational speaker Hall of Fame including Tony Robbins, Jack Canfield, some incredible names. They're part of that grouping. Her training company received extremely rare US Department of Defense rating of excellent for quality, service and success for contracts over a million dollars. A former Bronx gang member kicked out of our first High School, she's a true American success story. Her life story and wisdom is featured in over 15 books on success, including the American Dream revisited by Gary sirak and powerful self confidence developing unshakable confidence that made for success by Zig Ziglar. She's been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Forbes, among others and is the author of sometimes you need to kick your own butt days. And I've got the parrot to lead and think big amongst others. And it's my great pleasure to have begin joining us today. So welcome, Pegine. Pegine Echevarria I'm so excited to be with you. This is antastic I love it. People like you that take the spirit and say we're going to show it to the world and expand. So thank you for making an impact. This is fantastic. James Taylor So share with everyone what's happening in your world just now Pegine Echevarria just happening right now in my world. So yesterday I got to speak to a group of military buyers, federal government buyers, international buyers for large groups, plus small businesses that want to sell to them. And having been in that world, being able to get them to know something really important. So you and I are going to talk about chance. So the message yesterday was add his side and add of mine, I'll make sure you remember mine count off one, two. So imagine hundreds of people singing that because that's what we do is make it memorable. So that's been great in putting writing some books and doing coaching and opening a new membership site that just started for professional women's speakers. So I'm very excited. James Taylor So tell me how how did a Bronx gang member end up as probably one of the top keynote speakers in the world? What was take me through that journey? how you ended up, you know, getting on stage? Pegine Echevarria Well, I will tell you what, the one thing that got me on stage, not live this life. And I'll tell you a little bit about that. But really the the moment was I had been on Montel Williams, which is a famous talk show host had a big talk show on regular TV went all over the world. And I, he had heard about my life, and he had heard about my work. And I was on his show for 32 times. And one day he took me into the green room. And I was always on right. He took me in the green room and said, girl, why aren't you out there speaking? And I said, I don't know what you're talking about. You know, he could get really into your face and that's what he was like radios. You should be out there speaking nobody talks away. You talk you got to be out there. And I said, Montel, I don't know what you're talking about. And what it turns out is Montel had been a professional speaker in the youth market for years and years and years. And that is how he got his TV show. Before that he had been in the military and doing rallies, but for the military, but he didn't know that there was professional speaking until he left. So now he's passing it on to me, and you are passing it on to everybody else. Now, James, is somebody said, you can do this. And you've got to learn. And that day, he did two things for me. One, he signed me up. He paid for my union membership in the afternoon, which is the TV union to be on TV, talk TV, so I got paid, rather than doing it for free. And then the second thing that he did was tell me about the National Speakers Association. And that's really the beginning story of how I got into professional speaking mind you I had been president of direct sales company. I had been a national sales manager. I'm going backwards, right? I had been a Director of Operations for a company. I had sold two businesses in Spain. By the time I was 23, I had been a gang member, I had left the states to get out of the game. But in all those processes of my life, it never dawned on me that there was this that people would pay you to speak. And I did love to speak. You know, my, my BA is in children's theater, and theater and an improvisational theater, basically, because it was the easiest ba to get, you know, college degree. But all of those techniques that I learned then now I use my work, so I guess it was divine, that I was supposed to be doing this and it's actually James Taylor quite strange. I didn't realize the Montel Williams can But there's another connection that you and I have, because I'm very good friends with a gentleman who served with Montel, in the US Naval Academy in Annapolis. And so if I was with him last month and and we would actually, we were actually having a conversation because I just been speaking in Baltimore, and I was chatting to my friend who'd run the US Naval Academy band. And he said, Pegine Echevarria Oh, yeah, I said years ago that there was a guy that was here, James Taylor you know, and, you know, he was getting into speaking through the, through the military, he was going out and training and speaking in terms of promoting the work of the military and schools and colleges. And then he said one day, you know, I think I'm gonna do this more and it's a TV show. Nothing was his name is his name is Montel Williams. So you and I have that that little circuitous connection there as well. And that's because I've presented Pegine Echevarria at the Naval Academy several times they want me in to, to educate them to be you, right? I mean, uniquely you and to that the military is a diverse component of all people. And that's worldwide. Right? So it's so that's so funny. So that connection. So I love that. Exactly James Taylor as you were starting to build your, your, your speaking career your speaking business, who were those other key mentors for you people that maybe took you under their wing really can help support support you taught you the tricks of the trade and things to maybe to avoid and things to focus on? Pegine Echevarria Well, I mean, that's those are all awesome questions. And it was a combination. So I am very involved in the in it net National Speakers Association, which we call NSA, which is not the National Security Agency, but National Speakers Association. And there were a combination of courses that I took from two perspectives because I think that what happens with speaking industry is everybody thinks the business is the speaking That is true. But there is a larger part of the business than 90% of the business to get you on the stage, which is the business. So for me it was taking courses on entrepreneur ism, taking courses on sales, taking courses, even though I had a national salesperson, it is a little bit different to sell a something than it is to sell yourself. Because sometimes you don't realize how magnificent you are. Most times that's what I find from speakers. Most times they don't realize their true brilliance and what they bring to the stage and what they bring to to be able to make a difference in people, businesses and people. They love to speak but they don't love to sell. And honestly if you want to get paid for speaking you have to love to sell and learn to love To sell yourself, you know only and that's really an important piece. I think that for me, that's what I had to do is learn how to run the business. Right? Learn how to do the financials, learn how to do the sales, learn how to do the packaging, learn how to do the social media, and all of it is joyful. If it's not joyful, make a joyful because you live this stuff, you are a living brand, and I talk about that a lot. James Taylor So can you remember a time as you were building your speaking career? When things finally started to click, you know, they start you suddenly can Okay, this is it feels like it's happening now. A number of things are starting to come together was it was kind of seminal moment like that in your speaking career. Pegine Echevarria They're always seminal moments. Because what happens in the world of speaking, is you you start at what you have a level right and then suddenly go, Oh, look at that. I'm getting that level. It feels amazing. You know, that when I started going to libraries, and somebody was gonna pay me five hundred dollars to speak on the topic I was speaking was like, Oh, right. And I didn't realize what Montel was talking about was a whole different number. Right? And so then I was moved that I moved to the next level. And I realized that first time that I hit the five figures for a 30 minute speech. And that moment that I was like, Okay, what, here's a check what so amazing. So that was the firt. One of the seminal moments. A huge moment for me, of course, was when we closed million dollar deal, and I was able to bring it to my mother. And I had a copy of the check. And I bought her the copy and I framed it for her and that was like, a huge deal. A huge I don't mean what was a huge deal, but I mean, a huge amount. To say, Mom, this kid from the Bronx, this is what I was just paid for this event that we were doing, which is pretty extraordinary, right? But in through that I when I want to mean is I don't want people to think that it's always like that because it's not it's levels. So you have a seminal moment when you reach this level of fee, which was, every time I do it, it's extraordinary. When you raise up, there's a seminal moment in terms of the products that you produce. So your first book, your first membership, your first time that you're on a stage and and it's all lit up, and it's huge. And you're on the iMac, that's a seminal moment in the speaker's life. There's a seminal moment when you're amongst your peers. And they This is a seminal moment. This is a seminal moment for me, because here I am with you, and we're talking about the hundred speakers and it's like, I'm just doing My job doing what I was placed on this earth to be and to be amongst my friends, this is a seminal moment. The challenge if I can talk about the challenge, the challenge for a lot of speakers is sometimes we are growing and expanding and we don't realize that we are. So it's like if you get you were a little kid and you got a sneaker, and you started growing out of your sneaker and your mom buys you a slightly bigger sneaker so your foot can grow into it. And those first couple of days the sneaker is flopping around because it's too big. And then suddenly, one day you don't even notice that now the sneaker is too small for you and you have to expand. And sometimes we get professional speakers get stuck because we're wearing too small sneakers. It's time for us to expand. And we don't have a mom to tell us that it's more we need friends like you to say you need To change your sneakers, it's time to make it big. So James Taylor one of those groupings of obviously you can have coach coaches that can help you with that journey. But one of the things that you started was a grouping a community within a community for the National Speakers Association, which was the power woman of NSA, which is people have told me about this before and I have been limited. I didn't know too much about it. But some of my some of my friends who are members of it at Sydney got huge value from being in this group. And so first of all, tell us what was the reason for starting this group within a group? And then what does it really do for the members? And how does, how does it help those women? Say, tell them maybe one woman tell another woman Okay, you need to go into some bigger sneakers here. Pegine Echevarria Great question. So the reason I started the group was that there are issues that women's speakers don't get to talk about in the larger thing in when we're with men and women. A guy can go on and this is a Perfect example a guy go on camera in the morning, after he's worked out rain, the sweat is there, he's coming, he puts on a T shirt, he's just boom, he's on no problem. A woman doesn't get to do that. Because the moment that she does it, then somebody will say, you know, could have gotten your hair done could have had this stuff. That's just it's just different. It's just different. It's a perspective that goes on. So there's a little bit more things or things that we can talk about that we have to talk about that are not the kind of things you would want to talk about mixed company. James Taylor Tell me Give me an example then to that Pegine Echevarria Ross draws and where to put your, your lavell ear mic, for instance. Yeah, uh, being on a huge, huge camera and that day wearing a white bra but you're wearing a black shirt and there you just have two big white circles on this huge I'm egg It's, it's really deep. I mean, it sounds silly. No, I tell you that. James Taylor As you're saying this, it also reminds me of my days in the music industry when I used to manage bands and one band, well known band that took Platinum sellers, 6 million albums. And it was a it was a male and a female from people from persons. And I always felt bad concern for that for for her, because she felt like she had to deal with a lot more stuff. When we were kind of doing these shows, and it was you Yes, big screens, and it was a whole bunch of other things as well. So I, I can understand that. And also, my wife is a jazz singer. So as someone who is she's up on stage all the time. I also know I can get to see that behind the scenes stuff as well and her saying exactly the kind of things you were saying brahs and things of that Pegine Echevarria level. So So here's a great here's another example. So a lavalier mic, right that you clip on. Yeah. is made for men. Yeah. It's made for men. It's supposed to be on your tie to hit your Lauren. It's not So even it wasn't even made to be on your lapel it was made to put on your tie to capture your lonex well guess what we wear jewelry. We wear our our materials are more flimsy. So we have to wear headsets or other things because when we move around, you're hearing the jingle. That's a women's issue. The other piece that's fascinating is to create some vulnerability. We have some we have 800 890 women, experts, authorities, speakers, Olympians, New York Times bestselling authors, all of that. And so we look at how can we support them as females to be on the grander stage. There tends to be more men on the grand stage than women. Why is that? So I am. I help reporters. We have a dear friend who's a reporter from the Forbes man And he found out that while he wanted lots of women, he thought he had lots of women at being interviewed. When he really looked at the numbers, he only had 25% of his interviewees were women. And he was conscious, right? So we had a whole talk. And we found out that women need to be asked more. James Taylor So what so explain that because actually, this is a point of even doing this summit the very first time I ran this summit, and I just went out to people when people recommended other people, and then I looked at by the time we finalize the this would be I think, 60 in the first year. And I think I figured out it was like 30 or 35% women, and the rest were men and it was one of things I wanted to change. So it was more it was it was more even and I did kind of question is, I might do I have an unconscious bias that's kind of going on here. And as I start to drill into it, for me that felt like there was a number of reasons why I ended up not 5050 and we can go into can go into those Meet event organizer. I'd be interested to know from your perspective, why do you think that so many of these events panels and things ends up being is not? I'm not saying just male and female, but let's say it's not diverse. Pegine Echevarria Absolutely. I mean, heck, hey, as a Hispanic woman, I'm like one of the rare out there and part so I've learned a long time I can change people places, things or situations. I can only change myself in that and and educate people about what the changes that I've had to do to be more of a player to be more there and to be more bold and I think that's a speaker bureau the other day said something really interesting. She said, You're one of three women that I know that boldly promote themselves boldly put themselves out there, you know, and I think that's one of the the bigger pieces. So you here you had this international summit, I would guarantee that you got lots of guys emailing you put me on put me on. I'm a great speaker to write. I would guarantee that if you looked at all the people that asked that weren't even big speakers weren't even, you would see, you would see tons of guys saying, Pick me Pick me Pick me, I want to be here. I want to be here and you would see very few women doing that. That's very few women saying, me, me, me, Pick me Pick me. And this is part of something that we've learned, you know, you go to school, remember the guys in class? That would be I know the answer. I know the answer. I know the answer. And you rarely and sometimes you got a girl doing that. I got the answer. And everybody who thought thought she was a nerd, right? Because she knew the answer, but she wasn't held in high esteem about it, right? That kind of taught we we think about that. I don't want to be too pushy. I don't want to be too brash. I don't want to be too bold. I want to know, you know, if I'm good enough, you will notice me. And that is not how it happens in this world of both speaking and sales right? There is no guardian angel that's gonna go you're not going to James, you're going to not have the time and effort for yourself to go and keep on asking the same people over and over. It really takes a lot of effort to say, I want women. All right, who knows woman? Nope. Don't want you guy. But can you recommend me women? Nope. Don't want you but recommend a woman. And so from a network perspective, do the people that you ask have a network of strong women? That's one of the reasons that I did pw NSA. So people like you and everything? No, these are vetted women who are professional speakers who get paid to speak, live by ethics, and call us up because we have somebody to fit your need. So an easy way for people to reach out to us. We're not a speaker's bureau. We don't get any commission boundaries. We're just helping out right. The second thing is to educate women to pitch your proposals, so If, if anybody's out there and they're looking for women to be interviewed, we will. I will post in our group saying here's some people that are looking for women to be interviewed. And I become a little bit of a mosquito and an egg. I do I do to my group, you know, did you submit Did you submit right now for NSA there's this thing submit two minutes of your best tip well I know that there's been tons of guys has not been to tons of women so I become a nag I'm holding you up. Come on, girls. You've just submitted don't start complaining. You've got to submit two minutes. You are brilliant. You are smart. You all have you run magnificent business. Share your two minutes. It's got to be now so that is what does James Taylor that mean? That's great. I mean, one of the cuz I have no in some way. I have no vested interest creating this. This summit is not affiliated with any particular Speakers Association, or CPP or anything. So one of the things I I can do in this business is I can sometimes ask uncomfortable questions of things because I don't have to, to align something. So one of the ones I was thinking like, one of the questions that no one is asking about this industry. And for me coming in as an outsider, I can quite happily asked what seemed as a dumb questions because I'm a newbie, you know, new person kind of coming into it. So I can ask those questions, because these are questions I want to know. But one of the ones I've been thinking about a lot recently, and I don't if it's gonna be a dirty little secret in this business, but if I look, let's say the music industry, I come from all the entertainment industry, the film industry, there's been big seismic changes in the past two years, in terms of pay for men and women actors, it could be on the same film, the woman could be actually the face the star of the movie, but the guy ends up getting paid more than that. Now thinking about the speaking business. The speaking business is also one of those industries which is not transparent when it comes to what people earn what people make on To speak of fees. So is there any way of being able to kind of like drill down? Because I do wonder if I look at if I'm speaking at a conference, and I'm the closing keynote speaker, and there's a woman, that's the opening speaker of how it is? Am I getting paid less? assuming we're on the same level in terms of speaking careers? Am I getting paid the same as that person? I mean, is she getting paid the same as me? And is any way of drilling into that? Pegine Echevarria So here's a really great, the best way I can say so I have referred. I'll get asked my clients, you know, my clients by our very large companies, right? And they'll ask me, you know, you have people that you could recommend, and they'll ask me for a fee range. So, you know, I can find low fee speakers, right, and I'm trying the under 2000. Then I'll have my five to seven k speaker, and I'm talking about women, right? And I could get a robust group of that. Then I go to that. 11 to 15 15,000 becomes much shorter. But then we go to the 15 to 35 for 35. professional speaker not celebrity, okay, there's a distinction there. So these are professionals, people, it is a, it is a handful, right. And the reason for that is for a couple of reasons. bodacious pneus being able to say I'm worth it, here's my fee, and to being in the network of other men who are in that figure who said, you're better than me, be at that fee. Or now it's becoming a thing, which is kind of cool. For me. I'm happy about it word guys. Want to show I support women, so they will tell. So let's say you're doing this speaking job, and you'll look at Add the list and go, Oh man, you need some diversity. You want to look like a superstar. Like I get this, I know this and say to the planner, listen, I have a couple of people that I want to recommend that have you need some more women you need some more color here you need some something else, let me recommend them. So you create a roster of people that you can refer to right, that makes you elevated and me seen as a player in a different new world because the world is changing. Definitely. And it goes also back to what's happening in entertainment and you haven't been an agent and been involved in the entertainment ages. You know, you you I know that you saw some of the difference of what a guy was saying, this is all I'm going to be. This is what I'm going to charge I don't take anything less. And a woman be more prone to say, Well, you know better than me, you ask. You know what I could get you ask. And now Being as determined to get the higher fee, right and you as the agent are going to go back and you're going to do it but it comes back to confidence. Can you? Does the person confidently say, I am worth this? I'm absolutely worthless. I'm at as good or I'm not even compared. I don't even compare myself to anybody because I'm so uniquely me. And I'm so valuable that you have to buy me Take me bring me at my feet, that you don't hear that languaging I'm sure you've heard more than people that that languaging is oftentimes not from a female's voice, James Taylor but I think is good to listen to see listen in team world actors like Jennifer Lawrence. Now saying, actually, you know, she, you know, puppets shame on me because I need to be pushing much further now in terms I know. I'm worth this And but what what what just wasn't shown before was just the huge disparity. And now in corporate boards, they have to show the difference only here in the UK, they have to show the difference between what male executives are as pros, female executives are making, for example. So I guess then we're going to start seeing that more generally in society. Pegine Echevarria Well, I will tell you having worked in that field for a while, is knowing that other countries are leading far ahead than the US in terms and so the some of the rules regulations, being able to say, Hey, here's transparency, here's what I'm earning. Here's what I'm earning and having that going up. Certainly having some international stars be more vocal about their demand. India, some of the Bollywood stars, they realize that they are the stars, they are carrying those movies so they're demanding more and that is influencing their peers in this state. Being able to say, wait a minute, I could actually talk about this. I can actually speak up about this. Uh, certainly in the world of speaking there's now these, you know, white male panel websites where they're putting pictures on my James Taylor sequel, someone said to me the code manuals now. Pegine Echevarria Nanos Oh my god, it's becoming it's becoming a huge issue. And it's becoming a huge issue for two reasons. Right now they're having women facilitators, which they're getting backlash because stop making me a facilitator. I'm an expert. I know this stuff I could, I could crush these other guys. You know, you have to be there and make you a keynote. I'm fine with that. Hey, you want to bring me in because you suddenly realized, oops, bring me in. Let me close it down. And I'll show you what a powerful woman on stage can do. That's the most important message that's going on and so power women of NSA is Definitely to, to recruit women who are leaders, experts, authorities, speakers, who are ready to play a bigger game and want to, to to create a safe space where we can have some some of the real conversations like asking for money, like, promoting yourself like brahs. Like managing, you know, we're, we have issues about caregiving, you know, leaving your sick mom when you got to go do a speech and that killed OCE can really affect them, things like that, as well as this depth. Oh my gosh, of, hey, I've got this contract and I'm trying to work through it. Can you help me through it? We have real vulnerable conversations about business. I'm trying to promote my book and I'm getting slammed by the publisher. What do I do those kinds of? I think the biggest piece about pw NSA is we are willing to be vulnerable and share Our truth in that it sucks when we get turned down from a speaking engagement, and we can write that and everybody else will say, been there done that know that so you're never alone. This is a hard strong amazing James Taylor business well it's great i mean i'm so it's such an amazing thing that you've created. I know it's not just you there's other other in terms of team members now that they're responsible for making them so I commend you for having done this is I just hear amazing things about about what you do there. So if anyone's watching this just now you should and you're not a member of you know, power and of NSA, you should definitely be checking this out. Pegine Echevarria Yeah. And I started a separate group called feisty, fearless females and biz, a speaker's group for women who will never join NSA or aren't can't meet the requirements but want to speak. So it's called feisty, fearless females in biz, and they could go to feisty females.com to hear information. I'll share that with you later on. But the other thing I just want to share, yes, it starts With me, but then Gina card, Karen Jacobson, Liz green came later together and said we got to do this. We have listened to this 120 volunteers that do work just for pw NSA. James Taylor That's it was actually interesting. I was I was interviewing Mary Lou Peck as part of this new CEO of the NSA. And we were actually having this discussion we said, you know, we're probably all in our in our careers will be members of different associations, trade bodies, associations or in our industries. But but the NSA is one of those ones, where you definitely get a sense is a very strong sense of engagement in it amongst their members of kind of supporting each other, which is not necessarily the case in all associations. If we're, if we're truthful, we speak to associations as well, it's not always the case. So that's great you have and I know the NSA itself is very engaged, but then you have this additional level, which is very engaged as well. And let's start to move on because one of the things that you and I were speaking about, which just kind of blew my mind, and I I've been telling loads of people about it was, you know, we hear that it's important to have mantras in our in when we're speaking though, you know the the phrase that pays things that people will remember they'll go out that room they remember the weeks and the months afterwards, you took it kind of one step further in terms of the music, the walk on music view do so, first of all, tell us the the story of if anyone goes and sees you on stage, that they're going to be before you kind of actually come onto the stage, they're going to hear something. Pegine Echevarria Tell us that story. You know, you go on stage and he and everybody chooses songs, you know what song you talk to the AV guy and they do it. And for me, it was like, that is so wrong on so many races for me because if I'm going to be a professional speaker, if I'm going to be the celebrity, create that experience, and I should have my own song and most importantly, the song serves to protect One is, obviously to bed in people's mind, Who is this woman pegging? Power pegging power, you know, we have this whole song. And to, to help them understand who I am three to make them dance in the aisles. And for for me to hear it, because I gotta tell you, when I am backstage or in the aisles, I'm going to come down, and you start hearing your own song that you made a commitment to, this is who you are, this is the line in the sand. As you're walking up, you start motivating, inspiring yourself about the work that you do. And it becomes a really ying yang kind of experience. And I told you that I have people now that have my song as their ringtone. So, it's a continual message of be feisty, be fearless, be focused, have fun. It's a whole other attitude about who you are. And so I believe that every single speaker should have a song to not have one just means you're being a personally, you're taking it for granted that people get you. And having a song allows you to replicate yourself going out. I mean, people go to my YouTube on YouTube and they go, the motor piggies motivational song. And they, you know, we added a new stance, so if people could choose themselves, it's my power. But it makes it important to the experience of speaking before, during and after. It also is I pulled out or I had the producer pull out just the instrumentals so that when I'm doing a video, it's my song that's playing subliminally, underneath. I want people to recognize the tune the rhythm, the message. So when they hear they go, I know that song, I know that song. I know that song because, you know, branding is critical in this business. James Taylor And actually, so if anyone that's watching is just beginning that sounds great, but that sounds really expensive to have to have your music. They have your own theme tune. I mean, we must be doing like thousands of high musicians and know people to write it and produce it and all these kind of things. What was your experience? Pegine Echevarria So when I first started going down this path? I did ask somebody how much it was going to cost and they gave me some, like, big number was like, yeah, that's not gonna happen. And then then I went to a local university and I found some college kids that were musicians. And here's what I did. I wrote a poem of my message. So my stance is be feisty. Be fearless. be focused on pegging power piggie power. This is when Say when I'm walking down the street, I got the power, you got the power, we got the power, you know this whole thing. So first you write a poem. What is it the message and what is the chant or stanza that's repeated. Then I gave it to a local group of musicians that cost me 50 bucks. And they interpreted through music what I was saying, I got singers, and I use that for about a year. But what was missing was, I wanted some more of a beat. So I love the song Happy by Pharrell Williams. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I love the beat. I loved what they did. So then I went on to my favorite one of my favorite places, which is fiber. And I found first a producer, music producer, electronic and I said, and I talked to him before and I said, This is what I want. I love this music. I'm making my own song. Can you create a background but it's got to be it's got to get give me a little bit of flavor. It's got to get me moving kind of like this. And And so he did an a cost me about $150. Right for that bottom line, right? Then he's when they told me he says, Okay, now you need to go to a singer who will riff with the music of this, the sound who says all you have to do is listen to the sound and kind of you sing sort of what you want. I am not a singer, right. But I sort of knew what I what I wanted. So then through fiber, I found a phenomenal female singer. And she then ripped and sang the song, and they went back to the produce and we put it all together the whole thing cost me $300 even theme, but that $300 song has made such a huge difference to me personally, when I've gotten down when I've gotten in that mode because we all get there. I listen to I'm like, Oh, yes. Bigger, you know I am. Oh, yeah. And then number two is my audiences, dance to it, relate to it, play with it. And then three those there are I have set almost 1000 people that I know of who use the song as their ringtone or their daily mantra. What more could I ever ask right to to that gift and it was $300. So there is no excuse. James Taylor And actually, I, as you told you told me this the story and one other thing, and you may not have thought about this yet, but if you were, if you were doing let's say a lot of if you're based in Europe, and you were doing mostly public talks, workshops, as opposed to more corporate ones. The way that it works in Europe is that any event organizer has to pay 3% if they're using music in the background, background, music and other things they have to pay 3% of the ticket price into this font. And if yours is the music that's being used on that, that money will end up coming out of that money will end up coming back to you. So and the reason I know this is because I'm ready to go fishing and I mean, this sounds like really strange. This is my kind of previous life I guess. But so I I own the company, I was the publishing for the theme music for a number of children's TV shows, all and other incidental music. And one point in that tour of that TV show decided to go on tour and go and do like thousand seater been venues around Europe. And so if you imagine you have thousand people spending $25 and you're doing they're doing 100 shows a year, and you as the as your music is being used on that, then that's 3% of that, it can actually become quite a profitable thing for you to do as well. So it's only only really works if it's public. If it's a If it's people are paying to come to that particular event, it doesn't really work. It was a corporate type event. Slightly different rules are kind of going on there. But but that's just I just I thought I'd mentioned that because who knows you might have a nice nice big check if you've been doing a lot of European work Pegine Echevarria well, I love that and and here in the States, right? planners have to have a license to play music similar to what you're saying. And that was one of the things that was for me is I I was getting with my contract people saying, you know, are you going to be music? We can't do this. Do you own the music? It makes it so much easier for me I own the song. I wrote the song I produced the song It is my song. And it's my property that makes it so much easier for planners because it fills their need and, and honestly, just like you feel part of your unique selling part is I have my own song. Yeah, it was written for me. Oh, you have a home so I don't need to tell them that I wrote it. But the fact that somebody wrote a song for me, I must be a celebrity. James Taylor I know so you so you use use theme tunes, you use theme music there as well. I know, mantras are very big part of what you do. I mean, you work a lot with the military. So mantras are used all the time in the military is something is very well established. How do you use mantras in terms of your your events, Pegine Echevarria so I use mantras and every baby so every group that I speak to women's groups, men's groups, business groups, and I do it a couple of ways. One is I have certain mantras that goes to my, my, my speeches, so so why would I do big women's groups? Right? I have one that's be feisty. Be fearless, be focused, have fun. Or remember, imagine thousands of women all standing on. Be feisty, be fearless, be focused, have fun, and I incorporated throughout so they're saying it was fascinating when they walk out and in the car and he A year later, they can repeat it back to me. I have another one then goes, know it, own it, share it. Uh huh. That when I do business groups, you know, know what you're talking about, own what you're talking about and then share it to the world. But what happens is a lot of times, we as speakers do great, fantastic, emotional, magnificent job of educating inspiring people. But six months down the line, they might not remember what you said. They might remember the emotion that you have, but they might not learn. Learn your key points for me and your children's theater, children's jingles. The whole world of commercials and children's jingles is to have it replicated and embedded like it. Like in your mind. You can't get it out of your mind. My job is to make it so they can't get Add their their mind. So I use mantras and chance to get it stuck. So I was invited to speak to a very large organization, there was over 4000 people in this particular group, many of them couldn't attend. But they wanted to institutionalize this sense of everybody's together one, so they asked me to write a chain and was one do law. One, one do law. I said it, I'm in it. I'm here to represent it. Well, that's now taught, and every one of their business meetings and their customer service because they wanted it embedded. And that's what the power of of mantras and chance to it. It's embedded and they remember it. And really, I learned it from watching children's TV commercials, watching Sesame Street. Which Sesame Street has tons of them watching every jingle, that if you watch TV, I bet you I could go to an English audience and say, sing me a song from a commercial and everybody would know that commercial. James Taylor It just is embedded it kind of and it's it's working on a deeper level with people I think when you have mantras when you have musical things as well, kind of going on there because, you know, when the what without same as patients with dementia patients, and often they, sadly, in the later stages of their lives, they can't remember a lot of things, but play them that theme tune, play that music and then immediately they go back to that moment. So it's working a very, very deep level that we have as human beings Pegine Echevarria it is and I like love the word resonance. Because what happens in audience when as speakers we're supposed to be creating an experience for them. And oftentimes he experiences us we're talking they're feeling it. But we're not being memorable when they walk away from it. And the only way they can feel it is if they're physically involved in some way to create resonance. So if I have them doing the call back, if I have them doing know it, own it, share it. It's their voice, such rumbling, it's their words are coming. It's their energy that's being that experience is being memorized within. And my job is, as I see, my job is to provide the tools for people that when they're in those tough situations, in those moments, that they're searching for their toolbox, that that will rise up for them, and they can use it immediately. And, and it's so important to me, because I think that what we are given and what we're blessed with is the art of speaking and being professional but what our job is, is to give people the tools to be effective. sessile in their lives as leaders or salespeople or just individuals growing great moms, great dads. But if we don't give them the tools in a way that they can use it when the baby's crying, and they can't remember that to do if you had a mantra, that would make a difference for them, you know, and I think that's important James Taylor and that's what they do in the military obviously they they get those so when you're under the in those moments of high stress, that these things that they just they just come it almost feels instinct, it feels instinctive or you do you remember those those things? And because you're operating at a much deeper level, you're not not necessarily thinking when the intellectual or this is why I should do I should use this model. Pegine Echevarria The thing is, you're looking at different level. So yesterday, for instance, at my speech, 10% of the audience were military and former military 90% were corporations, small business and all that. But I came on say this was fascinating. I was set it aside and add a mine. I'll make sure you remember Mine can't count out and the audience on one two, k does count 12341234 I decided and Adam I, and it was by the time you know, when I did my speech, but they walked out as our group saying it Yeah. Which I didn't make them do. It was infected. It was embedded in their minds and how cool is that? Right? vary the meeting planner to feel it. I can I just I know we're in town, but I can share something with you and I would relate to you in terms of how people I think should be looking at their speeches. James Taylor I love that. I'm Pegine Echevarria too often lately. So I think that people are not looking at speeches and the way that people are receiving the speeches in today's world. Music, rock shows people will spend a lot of money to go to those entertainment experiences right of hearing music. And it's because they they take them on a trip of emotions and feelings and thoughts. And too often as speakers, we are not creating a rock and roll experience. And what I mean by that is a rock star when they're setting up their set, they're really only singing for about an hour, right? They're setting up their set into three to five minutes segments. What is the song? What will the lighting look like? What will staging look like? Where will I be to have this ballad? And then Okay, we need to move them up to some joyous experience. And so what's gonna happen in those three minutes we how are we going to change the lighting? How are we going to move and we move so far in an hour, there's really three minute segments to take the audience. This role in speaking we become lazy. We're not doing what they want, James Taylor because we're coming often from from listening and speaking from like, almost a teaching perspective where a teacher is giving one hour, let's say, a presentation to an audience, which is a different form. It's a very valid form in a classroom environment. But maybe doesn't work when you're talking about dinner, that type of audience. Pegine Echevarria So So our audiences now our audiences that have been grown have grown technologically. A lot of our audiences, if they're under the age of 40, have been very accustomed to social media. They've been very accustomed to fast pace. They were raised on Sesame Street. Three Minute transitions are the norm for them. It's how they learned why they going in they get distracted. You're boring me, okay, I'm going to go here, but if you created it, most people that go to a rock concert or any kind of concert aren't on their phones, texting They're on their phones taking pictures. They're on the phones sharing that. And I think as speaking professionals, we have to take ownership of the experience we're creating. So I say, you break up your speech to look at what's happening in these three minutes. How are they feeling? What am what's happening these three minutes? am I bringing them up? What's happening? Three minutes going down? If I were going to be putting music and lights, what would that look like? Of course, we don't get the funding to do that, like you might get an Iraq show, but we certainly can do it from our own speaking ability. So what is your three minute transition? What is the How are you setting up your song set, so that those in the audience are connected, feel memorable, learn something, and that you've spent the time and energy to really tap into their emotional state. I'm passionate about that. James Taylor No, I think that's a great I mean, I that's actually one of the How I can build my speeches. Because I always think in terms of in that way, I think in terms of an opening, I think of a closing. And then I'll often the way a musician thinks there's usually two or three songs that work very well together. You know, the, so that's like 15 minutes, let's say you're 10 minutes. And so I'll kind of be thinking, well, that's the kind of relate to that type of feeling that type of emotion, that type of thing, as you start to play with it, and I played with it on cue cards, and I can assess it and move it around on cue cards, and I'm looking and seeing that, okay, well, that bit there. Well, that's a bridge. Well, I know that emotionally, we're going to be at that point, oh, I'm missing this thing here. And you can you can really start to play Pegine Echevarria with it. And, and it's James Taylor not to see if you study musicians or comedians act like that as well and look at how they do it. And you'll notice that they use different forms, they're doing it so if you know, Duke Ellington, always started with a mid tempo, do like that kind of tempo and then this Come on in would be like race right up to the top where other people rocks more rock stars will do like right from the start, they'll hit you right between the eyeballs, and then they'll bring you down, both completely valid, because they knew who their audiences were. They knew what the audience wanted. So they would they would play with that Pegine Echevarria total and that's the thing is, you know, this world that we're in a professional speaking you know, I go back to being powerful, be you. It is where you uniquely shine of who you are. And how do you express yourself at the highest best level so that you're memorable and so that the audience resonates with what you're saying. And I think that every speaker everyone that's watching your your show right now, this experience a summit is benefiting from the diversity of thought perspective idea. This is a never This is not a one size fits all. experience. It's it's Long Term business. It's one of the few businesses that you could keep on doing until you're 100. until you die, literally, you know, you can be speaking and getting paid for it. But it's also one that requires an investment of you in the process. Yeah. And you. Yeah. James Taylor So this we start to finish up here. A couple of quick fire questions for you. First of all, what is that speaker bag what is in your bag that you carry with you to all of your speaking engagements you never leave home without Pegine Echevarria never will leave home. So funny. I was gonna have it next to me and I just went to the speech right? It's there. So I always bring my own headset, I have my own headset that I bring with me. And in that headset kit. I have six different adapters so that it doesn't matter what the pack is that people have where I'm speaking, I can adapt in them and if I go to Europe, I can adapt into it. So my what my headset has those adapters The second thing that I always have is cherry chapstick. Because Terry chapstick I could put on even before I go on stage or on stage, and my lips will still stay red but it won't look like I just was a clown painted on. I recommend it. I definitely recommend cherry chapstick for men because they tend not to make their lips bright and that will that will make it bright without looking like lipstick. I always always always carry black eyeliner in my bag. Because on iMac you need to see so I have in there. I always always, always, always call carry throat coat tea bags, and it's specifically called throat coat. And I have a throat code before I speak because it soothes my throat. It keeps it very moist and doesn't irritate it and I think every speaker should always have throat coat with them. I also put in my my kid, aspirins big time safety pins. safety pins will save you in ways you can't imagine because it happens just before you go out. So you always bring that I always carry duct tape, black duct tape. Pegine Echevarria Go ahead ask me why, James Taylor why and I as someone who's worked on the road a lot, I know. But tell me why. Pegine Echevarria So I use it for a bunch of reasons. One, if I'm on stage and the staging isn't fitting together, yeah. I'm not going to wait for a roadie to come. I'm going to stage because my heels can get stuck in that stage. I put it there. I use black tape because I often wear black. And if they if the wire stuck, we could stick black tape they'll never see it going on. I use black pay for everything. The other thing that so that's always on my kit, always, always always my clickers. And I like Sally I saw her she said to I carry clickers and I always get them I always lose them. I put my name on everything. I always, always always carry a hard drive. And this one doesn't have it. I have a bunch of them with my name, address and phone number. Because I give this to the AV department for your video making punchy so they immediately capture the video and I don't have to wait to ask them. I always always always for the AV department I in my kit are a little gifts. So it's I think I go into mom world I give them candy and things that they'll like they love rich Twizzlers. I put rich Twizzlers in it on the each get one because the bottom line your ad is the one that makes you look good. And if they love you, they will work with you. If they hate you all mg, you got a problem. So that's what's in my speaker kit. Is there anything else in there? There's a couple of other things that I just put in there. You know, I put powder for my feet. I bring flat shoes. I have been known to wear really high shoes and the middle this middle of a presentation my feet kill me. So I'll say do you all like the shoes? I say yes. You're Love the shoes. Yes. So good. Now you take them off. And James Taylor then what about if you do recommend one on maybe a tool or an app that you find really useful for yourself as a speaker and also a book that you find really useful for the speakers maybe to read? What would those be? Pegine Echevarria Oh, my gosh. Well, the newest book that hold on a minute, I have it right here. Oh, the newest book that I'm reading, which I love. It's small. It's called the book ability factor. Yeah. It is by Elizabeth McCormick, who right now is killing it in the speaking world. But she wrote it with these very simple, like chips. So it's easy, easy, easy. I love the power. The book by NSA. I love the two books that they do, they've done. I always love Lewis Kramer stuff but more business always follows Her stuff. I also read a lot of Do you know Vicky Sullivan? No. Oh my gosh. So Vicki Sullivan is a high end speakers coach. Vicki Solomon is a mistress of marketing high end. And so she works with very high end speakers to look at the marketing perspective. So I love getting her blogs. I love reading her stuff. I've hired her a couple of times and she's kicked my butt James Taylor great. We'll put those links here as well about tool is an online app or online resource you find very useful. Pegine Echevarria So we live by and I've lived on bi for 20 years more for speakers. I can't imagine not working with speakers. And I use that to to upgraded a lot so so I am always mark. So the speakers piece comes up from a social media piece break everybody thinks about it just from a calendar perspective, but also, they show up in SEO for me. So I make sure that everything is up to date. I go in and update and upgraded You know, it also helps that they will do marketing for you like your other 5050 top speakers over the world and I grab that graphic I'm taking the other piece that I won't can't live. Oh God now you're making me go crazy canva.com you cannot really live without Canva I'm on there all the time. I cannot live with promo calm, which is videos, promo videos. So I had that membership. I've been loving working, just doing little things with them. And I do Hootsuite now everybody else's the Hootsuite the high rise is my CRM. That's great. James Taylor What we'll do is we'll put a link to all these here as well picking a final question for you. I want you to imagine that you woke up tomorrow morning and you have to start from scratch. So you All the skills that you've acquired over the years, but no one knows you, you know no one you have to restart things. What would you do? How would you restart Craig Pegine Echevarria Christian, if I weren't going to restart I would have recognized how, how experienced and skilled I was in what I knew that I'm not a beginner. I bring expertise that nobody else has had. And I would have really market that, like crazy. The second thing that I would have done was really listen to the high end pros that you connect with, and not listen to people who are not there yet. It was one of my biggest mistakes in the speaking world. I was blessed with meeting jack Canfield was my first person I ever met at NSA. The second person was Zig Ziglar and augmentee. Know and they gave me amazing advice. was already on TV I had all the stuff right but then I quickly got in to connect with people who were not really big time speakers and where you can charge that you can do that and I wasted time so stay with the winners right that's the biggest thing is really stay with the winners I'm picking thank James Taylor you so much for coming on today it's been absolute pleasure connecting with you and speaking learning about your journey as a speaker as soon as I finished this I'm going to start working on my theme theme song that's what I like to do now on my to do list as well but thank you so much for also for all the incredible work you do with power woman of NSA. Pegine Echevarria Thank you so much. This was so fabulous you I'm taking you bringing you much love yeah James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

The 3 Steps To Launching A Speaking Career James Taylor interviews Jane Atkinson and they talk about The 3 Steps To Launching A Speaking Career. In today's episode Jane Atkinson talks about The 3 Steps To Launching A Speaking Career. Jane Atkinson has been helping speakers catapult their speaking careers for nearly 30 years. She is the author of The Wealthy Speaker 2.0 and The Epic Keynote. Prior to coaching, she worked as an agent for several speakers whose careers skyrocketed. Jane also served as Vice President of a Speakers Bureau here in Dallas where she represented several celebrities, best-selling authors, and business experts. Jane's Wealthy Speaker University offers online and private coaching programs for speakers at all levels helping speakers position to gain those almighty HIGHER FEES. What we cover: The umbrella model for launching a speaking career. Picking your lane as a speaker Mistakes speakers make when launching their speaking careers. Resources: Jane's SpeakerLauncher Website Speaker Launcher LinkedIn Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/the-3-steps-to-launching-a-speaking-career-sl070/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey, there's James Taylor. I'm delighted today to be joined by Jane Atkinson. Jane Atkinson has been helping speakers catapult their careers for nearly 30 years. She is the author of the wealthy speaker 2.0 and the epic keynote. Prior to coaching she worked as an agent for several speakers whose careers have skyrocketed. Jane also served as vice president of a speaker's We're in Dallas, Texas, where she represented several celebrities and best selling authors and business experts. Jane's wealthy speaker University offers online and private coaching programs for speakers at all levels, helping speakers positioned to gain those all mighty higher fees. It's my great pleasure to have Jane with us today. So welcome, Jane. Jane Atkinson Thank you, James. I'm thrilled to be here. James Taylor So share with us what's going on in your world just now. Jane Atkinson Oh, boy. Well, we're rolling into summer of course. And so for us, that means cottage every weekend, we have a massive renovation underway, we're trying to turn a will let's just say it's a fixer upper. So that's what we've been busy doing and all kinds of exciting things on the on the business front as well. So it's pretty busy time, actually. James Taylor So how did you get into this interesting, crazy world of the speaking business Jane Atkinson speaking? Well, I think I'm like almost Everybody else who just kind of fell into it haphazardly, I mean, I don't think anybody comes out of school and says, you know, that's it. I'm going to go into the speaking business. It's kind of a, an odd thing how people do it. But I was actually just kind of figuring out what I wanted to do when I was 25 years old. And I saw Les Brown on PBS doing his live your dreams presentation, which I recorded and watched over and over again on VHS tape, by the way, which kind of dates me and so that made me realize, oh, wow, this is a thing, motivational speaker. And so I actually decided right then, I was going to go to work for a motivational speaker, which I did, and kind of got myself into a great situation as an agent, which then took me from, you know, the first job, straight commission basement office, you know, three years kind of a sink or swim situation and Then I got recruited out to work with kind of a bigger speaker who was more famous and went to from the basement office to the corner office. And then I got recruited down to Dallas and worked under the roof of the speaker's bureau for many years. And it just, it just all came together so beautifully all these steps, so I had to pay my dues at the beginning, but it's been worth it. James Taylor I was really enjoying your book I was listening to on the drive to actually I was giving a keynote somewhere I'm gonna listen to it was kind of a long drive. I thought let's let's listen to this. And there was so many gems. This is the wealthy speaker. This is the new version, the 2.0 version. There are so many gems in it. And actually, there was one story that I thought was really great were you asked to go and I think you were leaving your previous business you're involved in to go and work directly with the top speaker. And you can came in to start working with him. And quickly realized that there was there wasn't the deal flow or the plan there that you'd first envisioned and having to kind of just sit down with him and basically set out, you know, I think there's a three year or five year plan. And what was great about that is, and this was someone who was, I think it was coming from another industry as well, if you're coming from another area, and basically building it, kind of you had a little bit of things happening in to really kind of build it. But what was lovely about that, that section, the book was you really kind of broke down a bit of a game plan for how someone can can build their speaking career. Jane Atkinson And it really took us three years, you know, that was a situation this was Vince Pesenti, who I think you're referencing, and he was an Olympic athlete, actually. And so he had gone down to Dallas. He was a speed skater and so there wasn't a big call for Olympic speed scares in Dallas, Texas at that time. However, he was Good speaker. And so he went to work on actually being a great speaker. And I went to work on the marketing for him. And back in those days, it was really this old fashioned call sign call process where you'd call somebody up, do you have a need? Great, we'll send you some materials, and then you'd follow up. So we do that all via technology today. But it was just persistent. Head down seed planting. And it took three years, and that was for two people. So I think that that's a really nice eye opener for people who thinks it might happen really quickly for them. So James Taylor this is actually a line in the book as well. He said, you know, in your early days of representing speakers, you discovered it took an average of 40 to 50 calls per day, five days per week to make a goal of 80 bookings per year. So obviously, you seem like with technology is changing and in email and LinkedIn and other things. Did it still require that same number of, you know, outbound or inbound calls? Or you know how things changed in that way? Jane Atkinson Well, first what's changed James is I've learned that 80 engagements a year is incredible. You have to imagine that you're going to be gone for three days. For every one of those. You have no life and 80 engagements a year. I know there are people who talk about doing numbers in the hundreds, and I just think, oh, oh, that's, that's really not all that desirable. So my goal now with my clients is to get them up to 25, you know, 20 or $25,000 per speech, and maybe just doing for a month. I think that that's a really reasonable amount. So that's something that's certainly evolved from my perspective. So I'd go for a lower amount. And I would say that the seed planting still has to be done in terms of numbers. I have one client, who I think might actually end up being on your side. Samak Kendra, and she is she put out 600 emails, that was her kind of big start was 600 emails, 600 seeds being planted, which actually got her career rolling quite swimmingly. And she'll continue to, you know, plant in the field, you know, she didn't just stop at that. So it's kind of an ongoing numbers game for her. So think of it like a big blank farmer's field. And you just have to start, you know, planting. And then of course, we want to go back and fertilize for relationships that we're building in aren't quite there yet. James Taylor Now, one of the other things that the model you described in the book is this umbrella model years. So can you talk us through through that model because I think that also relates to this idea of not necessarily having to be speaking at you know, times a year and having a more diverse kind of portfolio. All obviously blinking to topic but Suki talked about what that that model is Jane Atkinson Well, the business model the umbrella, the umbrella is the business model. And the idea is that at the top of the business model, you're saying, here's what I'm known for. And ideally, it could be one word like leadership or team building or something like that. You want to be known for one thing, and we'll circle back to picking a lane here shortly. But then in the middle of the umbrella, we write down the topics that we speak on. And then what comes off of the umbrella kind of like raindrops falling off the sides is your revenue streams. And there's often one or two rainmakers that will allow those revenue streams to occur for me in my, in my world, all roads lead to the book, and then the book leads to the other revenue streams. And so you might have keynote speaking, you might have workshops, you might do day or two day long seminars. You might bring people to you and do public events. You might have consulting, coaching, webinars, I mean, the list goes on and on of the things that you could do to drive revenue. And every one of those streams, though, is like kind of starting up a new business, let's say you sit, you put on your business model, I would like to write a book or develop, you know, a whole product line. Well, that's like starting a whole business. If you've written a book, you'll know that it takes a lot of energy and focus. So the goal is that we're not trying to develop and launch all of the revenue stream is at the same time, but we kind of do one at a time. So for me, I started as a coach. So I got my coaching revenue stream going quite well. And then I added a book and then I added other books and then I added, you know, online courses and other things like that. James Taylor So I'm guessing when one of the good things about but I think By the umbrella mode, having these different revenue, she's been gradually kind of building them up improves kind of resilience. Obviously, we're relatively good time in the economy just now but it's always gonna be like that. Jane Atkinson We don't know when something's gonna happen and, you know, we don't want to go back to. But back in 911 there were a lot of people who had their calendars wiped out. I was very fortunate. I worked at the speaker's bureau at the time, and all of the bookings that I had, and I was able to rebook them, but some people lost an entire book of business in one day, and it was tragic on so many fronts, but that business level took it took it really deep for a lot of people. So we want to try to balance out our revenue streams and not have everything in the speaking basket if we can avoid that. James Taylor So what you'll learn for it, especially on the on the training, and the coaching side is I mean, you've had incredible kind of clients profile clients, but you're also really known as helping people launch their speaking career. So whether they've come from the corporate world and launching that way, or they have a book or whatever, they're whatever, they're kind of coming into it. So can you talk us about through what what are some of the keys to actually launching yourself as a speaker where someone that's listening, watching this just now, who's just getting kind of started in their career as a speaker? What should they be having in their heads? Jane Atkinson Well, so I have this process that maps is mapped out in the wealthy speaker 2.0 it's called Ready, aim fire. And in the ready stage, we want to get crystal clear on what we're selling. This is where we want need to pick a lane. In some situations, some people will wait a few years to pick a lane and that's okay too. And we developed some language that really allows the buyer to understand what it is the value that we bring to the table that's called a promise statement. So that's in the ready stage, and we can check that box and then We move over to aim and that's where we want to make sure that the marketing materials IE website, reflect that clarity so that when I come to your website, I'm going to understand immediately how you're going to help me and solve my problems. And then and only then do we fire it out to our target markets. So fire is kind of the ongoing roll out. So I would have some clients who have been in fire for five years but they're circling back to ready to reinvent and go through the process again. And I think it really helps people just understanding Oh, well wait a second. I shouldn't be calling picking up the phone and calling clients yet because I'm still in ready I'm still trying to figure it out. If I do pick up the call the phone prematurely, then I may be confusing my my prospects. James Taylor So one of the things you mentioned that read the ready stage was this pick your lane was What do you mean when you say pick your lane Jane Atkinson So when I say pick a lane, this is a term that I got from Joe Callaway, he gave it to me for the wealthy speaker. I really mean topic. Okay, so some people will narrow it down to industry as well. But I'm not really suggesting that right out of the chute. The goal is and a great question to ask yourself is what do I want to be known for five years from now. And if you have four or five different topic lanes, then really you're a training company. And it's difficult for us to get you to that expertise level, a training company, the reason why we may not want to stick with that, and this is what some people will discover is that they will start to hit their head on the ceiling in terms of fees. They can get up to maybe 5000 or 7500 with the training dollars, but if they offer too many topics, they'll be kind of seen more as a commodity. Then in it as an expert, and we want to elevate people up to experts, so that the expert can charge whatever the expert wants to charge. And that's what I've seen a lot of my speakers who have gone from zero to a million very, very quickly. They're great, great on the platform, and they've picked a lane and people kind of know them for one thing. James Taylor And when you're kind of getting stuck, so you pick your lane, you pick your topic, you start to work out what those kind of themes are, the things you're gonna be speaking about are as well. It also feels like like today, there's so many options, so many different opportunities you mentioned, you know, obviously keynoting workshops, coaching, webinars, everything books, on courses, online membership programs, any advice that you give to someone starting out so they have these, I want to speak on leadership as an example. I want to speak on leadership. This is my unique thing I want to have about leadership. I have this Background and this is I want to pull in this background and delete it to some businesses can understand how they can use that in terms of their own leadership. But I've not i'm not sure which of these options to go for. Right? What advice would you give to them? Jane Atkinson Oh boy, and it can be so confusing James all the shoulds in our industry, oh, you should do this, oh, you should do that. I just want people to understand that they don't have to do it all today, you know, just really perfect kind of one area of it before you move into the next area. So let's say that you do decide that it's leadership, I would say okay, well, what's your brand of leadership? What are the specific outcomes? Maybe you go a little deeper and say, okay, it's leadership communication, and this is the outcome that I provide. So now we have that clarity. Once you go and really perfect that on the platform, then You might, it might be time to start to branch into other ways of delivering it. And the best way to know if your platform is there is when you're getting on average, two to three spin off engagements from each engagement. So you go out into an audience, you if let's say it's an association audience, which is amazing, then you might have 50 different buyers from 50 different companies in that audience. If you get several spin off from that, then you'll know that the presentation is there that you're really really nailing it. And my goal is that people are not reinventing the wheel every time they go out and speak that they have kind of some core elements that they can take into every speech and that's those are the pieces that will start to make it epic. James Taylor Yeah, that that two or three referral part, I think that's so powerful. I know we had Frederick haar and one of the other speakers on this from Singapore and he said he Did you know this happening, you know is happening for us to speak in terms of quality rental? When at the end of that talk, at least two people come up to you and say to you, can I can I book you for this thing? And I remember when it happening for me, I was like you're trying things that's not working and every late nights and you're going and speaking to different groups and things. And I remember that feeling. I remember actually messaging when it happens, it feels like it started to happen now. But it yes, it took, you know, it took a physical while just finding that can knowing your topic, there's a bit of knowing your topic, and kind of knowing what units they want to speak about and all the other stuff until you can find what is what resonates with an audience and what sells well, Jane Atkinson that's a huge Flashpoint when all the pieces of the puzzle come together for the presentation and then you start to get those spin offs. That's really your number one form of marketing which I think we promised in the outline of this. Your number One form your best form of marketing is a great presentation. It's, that's, that's the best thing that you can do for yourself. And that's why we don't want to reinvent the wheel every time because if you do one, that's epic, you want to say, Okay, well, what did I do there? And if you can record everything, then you're able to say, Oh, now I see why they responded to that the way that they did. And I've had clients who have even gone so far as to change their jokes in very subtle ways. Because that joke lands one way with an audience of 100. And this way with an audience of 1000. And so you start to understand even the little nuances and that's what crafting a presentation and getting it to that point is all about is the subtle little differences that you've learned along the way. James Taylor What you mentioned like this thing, and I think I found this initially when I got started of being from a marketing background spanning five years previously. Building online courses online programs and that was my channel first and then coming into keynote so I kind of took it the other way around. And my friend said and I and it's that thing you miss that you choose your thing and and you know for me books wasn't a particularly strong I didn't have a feeling wasn't something I just felt I actually had to do. You know, and for me online programs I love online. I love online membership courses and membership programs. And I love keynoting and speaking, but the books thing wasn't as strong for me. However, I did find it I made that one of those classic mistakes you made. You said the way you said that sometimes speakers when they get started, they try and move into the aim part too quickly in the process, and I think I was a mistake I definitely made say I was trying to get and I had to kind of stop and kind of go back to the ready stage. Jane Atkinson Even when even when you're going to write a book James, you have to follow the three parts. Because if you don't know what that book wants to be when it grows up, you're in trouble in terms of writing the book. So I'm kind of trying to get my fourth book off the ground right now. And I'm still processing what this book needs to look like. And until it gets clear, I cannot even begin. Yeah. And so that any one of those revenue streams will be exactly the same. You have to really understand and I love that you went about it in a completely different way. I said backwards, but really, anyway goes because there is no one way to do any of this ever. Everything I tell you, there's gonna be an opposite way to do it, and it's gonna be effective to so this is just one way. James Taylor Yeah, absolutely. I think it's just a gut feeling that sensation that you feel like does this feel right to you? And, and kind of going with that because i think i think there is one danger that I see and I speak everything as a marketer as well saying this, but as marketers, we're terrible at doing the bright shiny thing. Putting the brakes on anything in front of people. And and it's a feeling of an industry that I come from. And as a result, we confuse people by saying to me and I think what's great about you know, coaches like you any great coach or mentor or guide, one of the things they tell you is okay, there's all these things, but this is what you should be focusing on. Ignore that just now that will come. It's not at this stage, you know, eautiful. Yeah. And it's going to getting rid of a lot of that noise I find really powerful, having, you know, coaching mentors myself. Jane Atkinson Yeah. And if you try to listen to all of the noise, you just end up getting really, really confused. It's very nice. I have a coach that I go to, because that helps me clear out that noise of what I should be doing. And you know, they've been with me for five years. And so I know what our path is. And the strategy is and it's great to have somebody in your ear saying, wait, wait, wait, that's not a part of our strategy. Let's let's stick to the plan, shall we? And you know, you You just don't know sometimes when you're in the middle of it, James Taylor so what you finding now is really work. You mentioned the calls, outbound calls, research that you had to do when you got started. What are you finding is really working now in terms of identifying opportunities. And in terms of the whole process of it, the initial kind of reach out and and building those relationships? Jane Atkinson Well, I think what takes the most time is that kind of list building aspect. And so I'll have people identify two or three industries that they would like to become known in. And that gives you some focus. So you might choose health care, because you know that your messages risk that healthcare is really responsive to it, that they have the money that they can pay for it, etc. And so if all of your outbound efforts go into health care associations for interest, for instance, Then that will help you move into more corporate work on the other end. Now, that doesn't mean that what comes to you if it's outside of healthcare that you won't take it, that's a decision you may make someday to just only do your business in one market. But most of us, we'll take whatever comes in, but have a very, very strategic approach going out. So that's kind of one of the things that that's really working. I think in terms of other ideas, so call send call. I don't think that's working anymore. I've heard meeting planners say that they just don't even answer the phone. everything just goes into voicemail, and you'd have to be pretty compelling and in the right time in the right place, in order to get a call back. However, maybe you leave after hours, voicemails, and say, Hey, I know you're busy. I just want to let you know hear my voice and I'm This is the topic that I speak on, I'm calling about this specific event. And the reason why I think I'm a good fit for it is this, I'll shoot you an email. And then you would do kind of a one two punch. I think that's very effective. We really just have to understand that the people who book meetings are inundated, the decision makers are inundated with people coming in and trying to sell to them. So we have to be creative about how we go about it. If you have a book or something, I think it's very, very helpful to send the the leader or the decision maker, a copy of the book that says, hey, you know, I think this might be a good read for you. Here's why I think it would be great fit and so on. But the more specific we can be about what we know about those clients, the better it will be in a lot of times now I'm seeing relationships starting on LinkedIn, or Twitter, and then they're crossing over into email. Other ways and the goal is ultimately to get the client on the phone but just know that nowadays that might be tricky on the on the front end. James Taylor And essentially I booked a speaking gig the other day in the Middle East. And I going back and forth it was all done by email and we actually had a campaign some of it was automated and some of it was was wasn't automated. And the final thing we also looking to get someone's get them on the phone to do to do the pre you know, event talk about right fit and everything. And it was interesting kind of going through that process and it was actually a lot of email communication happening beforehand. And when I eventually got on the call with the the event organizer, it was I mean, I'm kind of on the edge I'm just after the millennial sign was that Gen X or something so yes, so my I think my generation were still like pretty fine by doing phone calls and stuff like that. You know, we're kind of used to that. But I'm definitely find a lot of people I work with in millennials will do anything. Can't avoid going on Jane Atkinson avoid the phone. They text. You could have a whole conversation on text for you to have a phone call. James Taylor I've had bookings from WhatsApp invite. I spoke to someone the other day and we would vacation for booking. You or we were using WhatsApp for it. So yeah, isn't it? So you're speaking to brokers, are you finding is this going going on for you as well, you see this. Jane Atkinson So actually, my job is really coaching clients and coaching speakers. So I don't have those. The information that I get about decision makers and what they're doing all comes from my clients. So well, this happened and this happened and this happened. But guess what, I booked this and it was all based on this so so I don't have that kind of main thing myself because I don't do outbound sales calls or anything like that. It's just marketing and it comes in. But I do believe that things are really changing and they're only going to change more As it goes on, a lot of my clients would love to have my cell number and text me questions. But I set up boundaries, very clear boundaries, and it's just not something that I want to do. But it may be something that I have to do as more and more of my clients, who are millennials come in. I really think though hearing the voice at the other end of the line, there's something to that. And in ensuring that you have a conversation about their needs, and especially James, if I was traveling overseas, I would want to do way more research than I normally would have and make sure that this is all legitimate because yeah, we take a few more precautions on those fronts. James Taylor Yeah, I think my conversation on that particular call was actually talking not just making sure that it was it was the right fit in between what I was, I speak about and, and the event and the conference itself. But then also once you I quickly got to Are you this is definitely the right fit. It was kind of moving into some of the more details things about getting an idea, like who was in the room, the, you know, different decision makers that were in the room, you know, their back, you know, background of this was in the Middle East. So there was some cultural things, you have to be a little bit more conscious of as well. Yes, there was some things that I knew that I couldn't use in the presentation that I would normally use if I were speaking in North America or Europe as well. Yes, one of the things that you also work with is you in addition to new speakers, you also work with maybe those those speakers have been speaking for a while, who just kind of need a bit of a restart or refresh they, they are fine in the business. Maybe they've got a nice speaking and consulting thing happening or coaching thing happening. But it's not where they should be. It's not where they where they want to be. So for those speakers, where do you tend to kind of start the conversation. Jane Atkinson The refresh is always going back To the ready stage, and we will decide if it's the same lane, then we'll be moving right into what is the brand going to be and what is the promise going to be. And sometimes that gets people really, really excited. I'm often helping people narrow and start to let go of some of the low paycheck items so that they can get to this higher, higher place. And letting go is really hard for somebody who's been doing it for 10 or 20 years. It's very difficult, but Well, I've had that client for so long. But guess what they don't pay, they pay you one third of the other things. And so I often have to map it out for them on paper to show them that if they'd free up their calendar for the high paycheck items, then they would actually not be so harried in their lives. So you know, carving out the time To build the next version of your empire, and starting to really take those hard looks at where all your revenue is coming from, and what do you need to let go of this is an old Joe Callaway phrase, what do you need to let go of in order to go to that next level, you're going to lose some clients when you raise your fees, but you're going to gain some better clients at the top and there is some anxiousness and some fear that goes along with that. But I really encourage people to do it. James Taylor No, I mean, when I when I was an agent and manager within the music industry, we would do that on a pretty regular basis with our artist we would record you know, editing your clients. And you would, you would just kind of go through and you said like do like an 8020 rule finding out where where things were coming from. Just looking ahead during that five year going back to that kind of ready and looking to you know, to kind of reinvent from there as well. One of the things you when you're coaching clients, I hear these different phrases all time you hear Obviously speak of agents and you've come from that world as an as an agent often within bureaus and then I hear this more and more of speaker managers. So what are the difference? Because I know from music entry level agent magic, very different roles. And in fact one is, is very heavily governed in terms of what you can do and the other one less right. So when it comes to speaking business, what others do when you hear this speaker, agent, Speaker manager, well, there's two different roles. Jane Atkinson Really, I think speaker agencies and and speaker management companies are often the same in our world. A lot of people would like to solve the problem of not getting enough bookings by hiring an agent or hiring a business manager. And it's the toughest hire. You'll have read in the last part of the wealthy speaker 2.0 We put a lot down about hiring and staff and who needs to be on your team. Probably the reason why the relationship doesn't always work is because if the speaker is new to the industry and doesn't actually know how to get the bookings, then they're handing it off to somebody else who maybe doesn't have any experience and it's the blind leading the blind. So you end up having two people who don't actually know exactly what to do. And it's hard to find somebody who has experience but there are management companies, they typically will take on more than one speaker. And then there are individuals who basically were kind of like I was to Vince and to Peter leg and to Betsy, who was my first speaker, I was their agent really, or their marketing director or whatever you want to call it. It's a tough hire, but it's something that can be done if you're able to really train them on how you do business. And the goal is that they will grow with you as your business grows and it's something I have actually some of my clients, they'll bring their team on with me on the line and we'll walk through systems and processes and things that are going to allow them to have a well oiled machine have a better running business and and and keep that path open so that they can focus more of their time on sales. James Taylor Awesome. I noticed that in the book. One thing that you didn't you don't seem to be a big fan of maybe it'd be nice to know your reasoning is the speaker one sheet so you hear all times speaker one sheets is like everyone's speak on cheese. What is the thing with Speaker one cheese? Why do you not believe in them? Jane Atkinson I think we need to save the trees James. First of all, paper, you know anything that you can say on a speaker one sheet you can say on your website. So why do we need this if this is just one of these, we We've always done it this way things. And the paradigm shifted several years ago actually, I've asked bureaus on several occasions Do you guys ever use one sheets anymore? No, we do not. And so I think that we just need to get with the program and realize that this whole thing, if you had something available for people on a PDF, that if they were going to a meeting, they might want to have a piece of paper in their hand, fine. But really, everything should be on your website that you need to have there. And if you're going to do something that's printed, have a really specific purpose for it. You know, really know how you're going to use that. And I will say that there are some industries who are still using one sheets, but yeah, I've been Pooh poohing them for a long time. James Taylor Sorry about No, no, it's good. It's great. Because I've, I have speaker one sheets, but that might be a very much for the actual keynote and individual keynote. I don't have Like a really broad over into the website is for that. And I tend to find what I do often with the key I have that the printed thing or actually don't print them my PDFs or find a printing thing is I actually put it on its side and I'll do a series of videos breaking down each of the component parts of that in terms of just thinking from from from a marketing campaign, because I'm just always conscious that people get so much you know, you're trying to people can only kind of focus on one thing at a time. And I'm trying to build up because often, you know, someone might not book you in that first occasion, the chances the vast transit, obviously they're not going to book you on that that first thing, but least they want to have build up the relationship, maybe the second or the third or the fourth opportunity that they're in there. So I I kind of agree with you under speaker one sheet and I think that's, that's the direction of travel. Jane Atkinson Good, good. Okay, we're on the same page. James Taylor So I just wanna say, Jane, the book if people anyone who does I have the book already the wealthy speaker 2.0 You must get it doesn't matter if you're, you know, new to speaking or you've been speaking for, for a while. Jane Atkinson And let's just say for international buyers, there was an E book out there on most of the Amazon's that they can pick it up from a Kindle book or an E book. We we don't ship a lot to overseas, but yeah, I think that's probably the best way to go. Yeah, James Taylor I actually like the audiobook personally. Yeah, that's me. I listen to the book. Is there anywhere else that people should go you think to if they you know, they're at the point where they said, yes, you know, Jane, I need your services. We're on the way should they go? Jane Atkinson Sure. Just reach out to me at speaker launcher.com. If you're a new speaker, we have a first steps audit that will kind of give you a pathway. And if you've been around for a while, just drop me an email from there. We'll be good to go. James Taylor Awesome. Well, Jane, thank you so much. I look forward to meeting up with you at some event somewhere in the world. And thanks so much for coming on to the summit. Jane Atkinson Thank you. My pleasure. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakerslife

How To Get Video Testimonials From Clients and Audience Members James Taylor interviews Jill Schiefelbein and they talk about exactly How To Get Video Testimonials From Clients and Audience Members. In today's episode Jill Schiefelbein talks about Exactly How To Get Video Testimonials From Clients and Audience Members. What we cover: Why you should join a Speakers Association How to ask for video testimonials Keynote speakers vs breakout speakers Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl068-public-speaking-career-tip-how-to-get-video-testimonials-from-clients-and-audience-members/ James Taylor   Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode.   Hey there, it's James Taylor, and I'm delighted today to be joined by Jill Schiefelbein. Jill is an award winning entrepreneur, dynamic keynote speaker best selling author and recovering academic before venturing into entrepreneurship. She taught Business Communication at Arizona State University for 11 years. Today, her business the dynamic communicator helps organization's navigate the digital communication space to track customers, increase sales and retain clients. Her latest book is called dynamic communication 27 strategies to grow, lead and manage your business. And she was also the co chair of the next influence conference which the National Speakers associations premiere event for professional speakers. my great pleasure to have Jayla join us today. So welcome, Jill.   Jill Schiefelbein   Thank you so much for having James. I'm excited to share.   James Taylor   Fantastic. So tell us what's what's going on in your world just now.   Jill Schiefelbein  There's a lot going on in my world, but a lot of what's been going on lately has actually been doing with virtual training, different virtual offerings, different, you know, annual programs, but they're dealing with, you know, a quarterly training program that now supplements things that I'm doing in person at conferences, so speaking not just on the stage, but to the screen as well. So how   James Taylor   does that that's quite a different medium in terms of being able to speak you know, you're so used to be on the stage of the biggest stage or your body movements that can be quite different as well, when you're in this little box, how do you have to change your communication style?   Jill Schiefelbein  You know, you do a lot. And what happens is most of the time, I find that speakers who are amazing onstage if they assume that they're just going to meet amazing in an online environment they tank, and it's because navigating the virtual communication space is very different than presenting on a stage. And it's not just about the eloquence in the execution, right? Yes, of course, those things are important. But one of the biggest problems that a lot of speakers have when going into the virtual space is that they're not eyeballs looking back at them. There's not body language that they can read, there's not energy that they can feed off of. And in essence, you have to manufacture all of that for yourself or find ways in the virtual environment to actually create that level of interaction and feedback that you seek in the face to face environments.   James Taylor   So what was if someone may the speakers out there that who primarily their their speaking and and or training To live audiences, if they want to get their toe in the water of learning how to use the media and also having to create their own online courses or online training, but just want to start getting getting used to what that medium could be and how they have to maybe present in a slightly different way, what's a good way for them to start   Jill Schiefelbein  the very first way is do your presentation alone in a room looking at a computer screen and record it via audio, just audio, and listen back to it. And if you're bored in certain parts, then you can expect your audience to be doubly bored in those parts. And it's really important not just to have you know, your energy coming through the enthusiasm, the para language, the ups and the downs of your voice. All of those things are important. But just understanding how people are listening through technology, by listening to yourself in those recordings is important because when you're listening to yourself, listen from the learner perspective that you're trying to actually learn information. So that's number one. Number two is test the platforms if you're doing doing it for a client, if you're doing in a corporation or an organization, and you're not the one choosing the software, you need to actually take time to practice in it and learn what tools you have available, for whatever reason, and it's infuriating to me on one hand, and on the other hand, it's great because I get way more business because the average webinar is kind of, at best. Yeah. And the average webinar is I'm going to speak and there's maybe going to be some PowerPoint slides, and we're going to have some q&a. And that's the norm. Well, if that's the norm, then what I do is way above that, so it's really easy to impress, but why would you as a speaker, why is anyone for that matter? Why would you want to settle for the norm? Figure out what tools are at your disposal and what tools for engagement and interactivity within the webinar or within the Virtual Training are open to you to use and then practice with those tools, get a test audience and practice   James Taylor   now. How did you get mentioned to you, you came from the world of academia and first at Arizona State University but where did The speaking the keynote speaking professional speaking site Have you begin? How did you all get started?   Jill Schiefelbein   Very funny story. It actually began when I was young when I was in high school in a small town in Kansas. My parents had told me at an early age, if I ever wanted to leave Kansas, I had to get what was called a full ride scholarship. And the nerd that I was I went and looked up what that meant in the library. And then everything I did from that day on was geared towards getting a full ride scholarship somewhere, which is how I ended up at Arizona State. And in doing so, I had the great fortune to be elected to some pretty visible leadership positions for community service and for like Student Government type leadership, and I traveled not only around the state of Kansas, but actually around the country, speaking to other students, and then adult organizations, about community service and about leadership and about engagement and I didn't realize it then. But that's when I fell in love with the power of words because, I mean, you're imagining this as a teenager, I'm standing here, I'm talking and then people are doing things. That's power. And I didn't know what it meant at the time. But when I went to college, my goal was to be and I still laugh and this is no joke. 18 year old Jill, I'm going to be a motivational speaker and Leadership Conference facilitator in Spanish speaking third world countries for you.   James Taylor   Well, you you had it done you were you there. That was I think, I think what I think when I was 18, I was just thinking about what nightclubs to go to so, so you were like, way ahead of way ahead of me.   Jill Schiefelbein  It was that focus that I went to ASU and they actually had very good communication department. So that's what I started to study. But as it turns out, two things happen. Number one, four years of high school Spanish that I got a pluses in you know, or A's and a pluses in Kansas does not even equal one real world year of Spanish in Arizona. So okay, so I wasn't as good at that is I thought I was and then number two, I took an organizational theory course. fell in love with the business side of communication. So when I went to grad school, that's what I focused in. That's what I taught. And then really turned it into Oh, so I can teach this. That's great. I fell in love with teaching, but I can also teach it through a corporate environment, which is quite impactful. And that's really where the business idea came about.   James Taylor   Now, there's lots of, obviously academics that try and make the move from lecture leaner than a traditional lecturing academic style, moving on to being more of keynote speakers on the stage. And some of them are successful at it, but a lot of them aren't quite as good because it's a definite different style going on there as well. I'm wondering for you, when you were making that transition, whether any mentors that you had around you that you could, you could get feedback on your speaking and you could get feedback on your keynote, your presentations, you know,   Jill Schiefelbein   I really didn't seek any of that. And maybe that's because I thought I was good enough to go as it was, for whatever reason my ego carried me through or it was just because I was so focused on like the business In the side and understanding all the business aspects that I didn't focus on the other, and I think that's really more of the truth. So I joined. Immediately I joined the Chamber of Commerce and I went into small business like group coaching programs. And I went in and just saw out any information that was available to me along business ownership around growing a business and went that way. So it was really through a collective effort of being active in my local Chamber of Commerce, which was at Gilbert, Arizona at the time, that I learned a lot and made many mistakes along the way. But that was my first step. My second step then once I decided that speaking, was going to be a big part of the business, not just coaching and training was I joined the National Speakers Association, which you mentioned earlier. I'm the volunteer co chair of their biggest event this coming summer. And that community really just it changed everything the community as a whole and then meeting certain people who then not really intentionally took me under their wing, but I could come to with questions question It was   James Taylor   a really powerful organization, have it have a good fortune we met recently in the winter conference. And my understanding is that, that that, that sharing that openness and wanting to share with with your, your tribe with your, your, your peers that kind of came about from the, from the founder from calvet, you know, the founder of the NSA and he was very strong, ready to start saying, you know, we, it's about growing a bigger pie. It's about giving back to your community. Once you once you're kind of on there, and you're starting to learn and you're starting to develop in your speaking career. You have to share and you have to help the people are coming up coming behind you as well. And I'm wondering as you were kind of going in that because one of the things I noticed was this really cool subgroups of of NSA, which I knew nothing about. So, my friend, mutual friend, Erin, Gargan, you know, she said Oh, he This is really cool group. It's called the the, the power woman of NSA and which I'd never heard. She was talking took me about this. And then I spoke to another friend of mine, Denise Jacobs. And she said, Well, actually there's even a sub sub group. There's the, the tall woman of NSA, which I think was at the influence influence conference as well. So, I mean, it's a big organization. So I'm imagining for you kind of just coming into how do you feel as a newbie member just kind of coming into the NSA, when there's obviously some very, very experienced speakers in that group.   Jill Schiefelbein  You know, it's really interesting. There's some very experienced speakers, but there's also a lot of very experienced speakers who have done maybe, let's say, keynoting for their business the entire time and are looking to learn the Virtual Training who are looking to learn these other skills. And so what's fascinating to me is when I hired someone, actually one this person at an auction who's one of the most arguably successful business consultants in the world, and we're sitting there during the day I hired him for and I needed a break and he said, but you know, do you mind if I ask you a question? And I was just like, Whoa, this person who I think is a mentor, who is I hired to work with me who whatever, asked me a question about some digital communication expertise that I have that he doesn't. And it was just a very clear moment for me that no matter where you're at, you will have something to learn, and you will have something to give. And it's just biding your time and waiting until it's the right time to input on either one of those things. And for me, it's been I've learned so much from so many different people, the spirit of Cabot, the spirit of giving, like, Listen, we don't need to compete with each other for gigs, there's a huge market out there. So let's all just be better together, which increases our fees, which increases our value, which is increases the credibility. It's just a win win win situation. And that mentality has really gotten me to devote a lot of a lot of time to serve the organization, but it's finding whatever communities within a bigger organization really fit you in it and like Aaron mentioned, you know, there's other communities to and I'm a part of a couple of other communities within NSA and it's finding your big tribe like the people that get it right like yes, they get what it's like to be in the green room and have the stress with the AV before you're going on or not know if you did well enough or you're traveling and you're a road warrior, not all people can empathize with that so it's nice to have that community and then it's nicer to even dig down deeper and find that circle of people that you just really connect with.   James Taylor   So I noticed that one of the things that you've talked and talked about before which is an area that regardless of where you are, as a speaker is pretty powerful to learn about which is idea of using video, especially when it comes to the testimonials so we've already probably all got you know those kind of written testimonials you get from clients or people that attend your events. But I know a lot of speakers myself included, I do a lot of video. I'm kind of a little bit rather than like okay, getting video at the end of my talk, someone comes up to me and says I really enjoyed this thing and and and I always think Good to myself, I should got video I should have, you know, but I'm never quite sure the best way of doing it. So what advice would you give to someone to ensuring that they getting video from those people that are coming up and having conversations with them maybe at the end or during the break? Or maybe after they've actually given their talk?   Jill Schiefelbein  Yeah, video, I mean, videos just keep we if you've been around marketing for the past, you know, month to year to five years, you know, that video is where it's at. and it converts better than almost anything else right now. But it's video done well. And so when it comes to asking for testimonials, number one, it's pretty awkward to do it yourself. This is where having a staff member and assistant would volunteer or maybe a meeting planner, you know, maybe an intern that they have, they're asking them and of course arranging it in advance that say, Hey, I would really like to capture footage so you make it a partnership effort, right? Especially if you don't have your own staff. Is there someone they can spare make it a partnership so that you give them three different questions that say can you describe the presentation that you just heard by James What's one thing that sticks out most in your mind? See, notice that you're not asking for Did you like James, what would you write this presentation or anything that quite frankly, doesn't matter? What matters is whether they liked you or not that they were actually able to learn something from what you said. Now, our egos want the five star reviews. But what really matters to me when I talk, I don't care if people write me a one star or a five star if they learned something that they can make their life better with. And so when you take your ego out of that equation, and really just focus on what what did you learn, and ask questions around that it's a little different. So you can ask for example, what did you learn from this presentation? What's your favorite takeaway? What's one thing that you can really imagine putting into action right away? And then I love the one words, can you describe James's presentation in one word, because what's great for that is imagine putting 20 of those together, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, times 20. Right, and you have a great, great piece of video that you can use as Mark You can put it at the beginning of your demo reel. And then if you really want to make meaning cleaner, happy, add one or two questions in there about the event as a whole. And then give that to them as a gift in your post editing. You want to make an impression on a meeting planner, give them that gift afterwards.   James Taylor   Those are Grameen those are really fantastic and actionable things. That I mean, anyone that's watching this just now can kind of go into that. I'm wondering, I know a lot in some of the written testimonials, like one of the best testimonials you can get is when a client is able to say, we put into practice what Jill said and it increased our revenues by x or improved retention by y. How can you use video to get those because often you won't necessarily have that, that feedback until a little bit later on. Or maybe they'll write to you or you'll reach out to them say, Hey, how are you getting on with that? And they'll they'll email back Oh, getting with a sales rep by this amount. How can you then ask that potential client or that previous client to give you something in return? Video form.   Jill Schiefelbein  You know what's really interesting about that is if you got video of them initially right, and then you were following up with them after the fact, then you just add that as a text layer annotation on top of the video, right? So it's still coming from the person, you have the right to say it. You can, of course, ask them if they're willing to record a video interview testimonial, but that's hard. Like that's really, really difficult. But what you can do is if you can mutually come with them and do an interview, much like we're doing now, right, where you actually interview them about how your stuff is working in their context. Of course, that's not how you frame it. Right? Like, so let's say your topic is leadership. Right? So James, I would like to, you know, interview you about strategies for high impact leaders. Right, and then you ask them questions that you know, they learned from you, and you're getting that stuff back in the interview, and then it serves two purposes, right. It's a testimony to your work, but it's also great value that you can add to your community.   James Taylor   That's great. That's a really useful thing. I think people are really Pay attention to that, because that's something you can start using straightaway as well. So let's kind of switch a little bit more to you. I mean, you're built up this this career as a speaker. I'm wondering when it comes to let's talk about the craft part first. And whether when you were starting to develop was there was a particular lightbulb moment for you as a speaker where you can thought, Okay, this is what this is how I need to be thinking about the crafting of my keynotes, or is this something you maybe heard from another speaker and you went, Oh, okay, I understand now I need to really implement this in in how I design my keynotes and present my keynotes.   Jill Schiefelbein So when I think of myself as a speaker, I do I would say more breakouts than keynotes what may be different about me than others and some people are following this models. I don't care what type of speak speech I'm doing. It's the same price like I have a half day right and I have a full day rate you get me there and I will rock anything out of the park. Whether you want me to do a keynote and a breakout, or a keynote and three breakouts. I don't really care if it's 100 They are full day. It's one rate on there and I deliver that value. I end up doing a lot more breakouts and keynotes and I'm okay with that. Because I do not feel that my strength is in the huge, eloquent storytelling.   James Taylor   There's differences. Someone who hasn't made me this was new to speaking. And they've heard keynote, they haven't really heard that breakout. What's the difference between those two types of ways of speaking,   Jill Schiefelbein  a keynote is typically mainstage. You're in front of being higher conference and your keynote delivers one key note, right, like one key idea, one key experience for the attendees, whereas a breakout, maybe the workshops, right that people go into, they break out into different rooms afterward. And depending on the conference, I mean, I've had breakouts that have been 1000 people which are bigger than a lot of conferences, keynotes are right, it just depends at the conference. But you typically in a breakout or a workshop, you expect a lot more content and you expect a little more entertainment out of a keynote. And that's that's general now this is evolving. There are no hard and fast rules. And when people ask me to do a keynote, I am very clear like, I am a content. Heavy speaker. I think I add humor. I think I add stories. But I am not going to entertain and your audience isn't going to be rolling, laughing. They won't walk away, like inspire necessarily either. But they will walk away with things that they can put into action immediately that will make tangible results in their business. And if that's what you're looking for, I'm very clear on the value that I bring. And I have those conversations with people. That's not everyone's style, right? But that's where I know I can shine. The other thing is for me, once I embraced that I didn't have to follow any certain keynote format that I could create my own and it worked for me. It was so much better, because you try to model after what people have done that successful right? But I am never going to be a comedian. As much as I like to think my humor is great. It's kind of sarcastic and dry and not ever One always gets it. So I just need to own what I'm good at. So if I go up, and I set the audience's expectation, and that's the second thing I've learned is not to fall into anyone else's mold be my own. But then to set the audience expectations, expectations for listening, that the beginning of a keynote, I say, you know, today, I am here to make sure that you walk away with a single idea that is going to change how you fundamentally communicate with your customers in a way that will get them to refer you more business, or in a way that will have them using your product more frequently, or whatever the end goal may be that the meeting planner, and I agree on, if I am crystal clear with that at the beginning, and I'll accept back and say, well, in fact, I hope I leave you with many more than one. But all I'm asking you for is this. If you sit with me for the next 30 minutes and you walk away with one thing that you promised to implement, I can guarantee you that this will be an incredibly valuable use of your time, right. So you set the stage for what you want them to do. Because if they're just sitting there trying to scratch down notes, they're not going to implement anything. But the whole time that they can listen to me and know one thing that they're going to take away, then that's going to be more valuable for them in the end. And what's great as a speaker is, then once they implement that, and it's successful, they're going to realize, Wow, we need to follow up with her, maybe bring her in to talk about some of those other things because that one we focused on really wrong. And   James Taylor   I think it's an interesting thing about you know, because we talk about these different types, keynotes breakout, what I've seen is the keynote ones bringing many more the elements of what you would think of as a breakout. I think what I'm good friend of mine is a great speaker on similar topic, I speak on creativity and she speaks on creativity as well. And she is an amazing she comes from the world of training. So initially, she you know, you would have thought that she would the natural place vertigo would be a bit more of a breakout speaker but she said Actually, no, because I because I have big ideas but the same time the way I'm going to deliver them is very actionable thing. I want to be very interactive with the audience. And if you're like that The good news is that's the way that events are going. Because, you know, I think, vast majority that even the keynotes I do now I when I'm asking like what kind of blend you want between entertainment, you know, and the kind of content heavy and all we want lots of interaction, we want to and that was never traditionally the way for for keynote. And so I think if you are that person that you really like to do more of the kind of almost a little bit more of the training the you think about more than the kind of breakout style. That's not assuming that that's not going to work for keynotes because it seems to be that's where the that's where the direction of movement is kind of going for a lot of keynotes, obviously, you still get the celebrity stars and, and all those kind of people and you still get those incredibly inspiring people that you just come away with that one idea and it's a really powerful idea. But maybe that's not necessarily the the majority I would say well what's now being asked to as a keynote speaker now   Jill Schiefelbein  Yeah, I think the beauty of it is is now that we are expected So many different types of speakers and speeches and outcomes. meeting planners are looking for diversity in their attendees experiences, right? I mean, if you had motivational speaker after motivational speaker after motivational speaker, it's like, I'm motivated already Now give me something to do with it. I, I can only sit there and be like, Yay for so long and, and I'm not making fun of those speakers or speeches whatsoever because they all serve a purpose that I am not capable of serving in an audience like we all blend together. But I think the real thing is, is if I had advice to anyone, whether you want to be the traditional keynote, the motivational, inspirational, the content, heavy, whatever it is, really, really get clear on your area of expertise and obsess over it. I know too many people starting out and I did this starting out. Hey, Gil, we trust you with this. Can you also speak on leadership? No, I'm not a leadership expert. Now. Am I an expert in how leaders can communicate for this type of result? Yes. But instead I would say sure I can speak on leadership and then try to spend all this time crap. To talk around something where, you know what I can't quote studies, statistics research, I can't quote a lot of things. You know, and I can't say it from my personal experience. So really focus in on that area and just own it as much as you can and know when it's best to say, you know what, no, I can't speak on that. Here's what I could speak on in that realm. Or I can refer you to someone who can.   James Taylor   And that last bit the referring I mean, that seems to be the largest part of a lot of people speakers have their business comes into them as being referred either by someone that attended the event or by buying other speakers. Well, so I guess that then gives you an opportunity if I mean, I get asked to speak a lot about innovation. I'm not really an innovation speaker. I speak about creativity, but I know amazing innovation speakers, I usually can say if you want more of an innovation, this is the person here to to kind of go with as well. And I'm guessing then by having that, I mean quite defined as to what you speak about and putting out to your fellow speakers what you speak about as well. There's there's more options for for kind of reform. referrals as well, which kind of brings me to the, the business side. So you've, you've built up this business. I mean, there's so much opportunity out there especially you mentioned the, you know that they kind of break out say every conference you go to, they'll have maybe they'll have opening and closing keynote, maybe the keynote by the CEO. And then you'll have 20 plus maybe breakout sessions. There's lots of opportunity. How do you decide what to pursue? How do you kind of like put some way of if you're just getting into that world of speaking, you say, I want to be that kind of speaker to speak and the more they can a breakout session? How do you start to narrow down the target clients? Do you want to speak focuses? It's gonna sofa whelming?   Jill Schiefelbein  It is. I mean, the question is, who can you serve? Best? Right, who can you serve best? One of the things that I rallied against when I started my business, because I came from the academic space, because I didn't want to work in that space, because I left it right. But in reality, because I was in it. My unique perspectives of being in it were very different than anyone who would come in from it not having experienced it like, Well, yeah, that may work, but they don't understand what it's like here. Well, no, I actually do understand what it's like, there I lived it. And so a lot of times we escape one job or profession and run away from it, when in essence, that could actually be the best audience that we serve. So don't count that out immediately. Don't make the mistake I did I actually do more, not more now than I used to that because that's an obvious statement. But I do, I would say maybe 15 to 20% of my business every year comes from higher ed in some way, shape, or form. Wow. And that's, to me, that's really interesting. And it's now it's manifested in different ways. Because once you get I was online education and helping faculty be more innovative, and then it turned into talking to administrators about how to retain people like me who have left and it became fascinating now it's not like I have this huge market in this. I don't advertise it. That's All word of mouth but it was a case in point that that's where my network was built up already. So why did I not first look in my existing network? And it's because I was trying to run away from it so unless you really hate the space that you're in before you start don't make the same mistake I did you know look internally first your existing connections   James Taylor   that's great advice. What about in your you're heading out to your next speaking engagement what is in your speaker bag? What is in that bag of things you never leave the office or home without to take with you to your next speaking engagement? Well,   Jill Schiefelbein  you know, my laptop the adapters for projectors, power cords, all of that stuff. And for me, it's two different things. And I actually have show and tell because show and tell is fun. I love live streaming on the live stream hosts for Entrepreneur Magazine, in the US and globally. And I you know, that's one of the fun things I get to do in my random world of events, but I always look for opportunity for video. If I'm going to look for opportunities for video, I don't want to have acid, I want it to actually be decent quality. It doesn't mean the production value has to be high. But there are two things and video aside from the content, obviously, that are important. People will forgive poor lighting, they will not forgive poor audio. Yeah. And so you really need to focus on the audio, then make sure the lighting is good. And then of course, rock the content, right. But if your content is amazing, and your audio is crap, people are not going to listen. So you really need to focus on it. So I travel with two things. This handheld mic. It's an iRig HD, and it's actually for iPhone, it goes straight into the lightning port out of there. It's amazing. So if I'm going to do interviews, that's my favorite one because it transitions back and forth really nicely. I mean, I've done interviews with this on top of Time Square where the giant ball is right before New Year's when it's really windy. And this worked beautifully, no audio issues whatsoever. The other one that I do if I'm doing either just one person interviews or I want to do commentary This is the best investment I ever made. And at first you're like $200 for a mic, why would you spend that sit best? The sun Sennheiser and it's a clip on lavalier mic again for iPhone, it goes right to the lightning port. If anyone wants to see my whole list of tools, if you go to bi t.ly forward slash my video tools, you can actually see a whole list with pictures and links and a video of me describing each and every tool that I bring. And then I also bring a mini tripod with me everywhere because there is no excuse for holding up and doing video like this. And unless it's one of those split second I have to do this now and capture at moments or it will never exist again. If you have 30 seconds to spare. You have time to set up a tripod and make it stable and I'm talking a mini one that fits in your pocket.   James Taylor   I'm just lost Mike you've got where that can be really powerful for is. I've made a mistake in early videoing of me on stage and then you can put a fixed camera at the back you know little camcorder or something and the video looks absolutely Fine, but it's using the audio from that camera, which is the opposite end of the room and I'm like, oh, how can I How can I get the audio for where I'm actually that and I started going to take my iPhone and and stick it close the front of the stage and all these kind of things and that wasn't very good. So that's then you can just put that on, on your, on your lapel, whatever. And just put that into your into your pocket it can be recording that really good audio which you can sync up with the with the video   Jill Schiefelbein  it could and if you are a person who just heard all that and it's like, well that's a lot of work and I don't have the money to hire someone because I'm early on in this game. What you can do is invest in this. I'm just full of cool tools is called the Hey Mike. It is the world's first Bluetooth mic. And you open it up and it's this little clip on thing right here and you can also make it with a magnet. It's really cool. And it clips on and I think it has a range of like 50 feets you could actually have your phone back. It has an app so you have to record through the app. But then you have the audio and video synced in one So you have no editing to do afterwards. And this is also on the link I gave him bi t.ly slash my videos.   James Taylor   Very cool. And I actually think on this summit we're going to have Julie Holmes is one of our speakers who is the founders event. She is a speaker. And I think she would you know, scratch your own itch sometimes when you create a product and and she was one of the CO creators of that product, I believe as well. And I haven't got it myself. I've heard amazing things from those speakers about it.   Jill Schiefelbein   Yeah, for me, and I mean, unbridled review here, if I'm just going to be in an enclosed environment or in a place where I can reach with my lavalier mic, the quality will be so much superior with the lavalier mic, and even though there's a cord attached, but if you're in a place where you need audio from a distance, there is no better alternative out there.   James Taylor   And what about other online resources or mobile apps or tools? Are there any that you find very useful for yourself as a speaker   Jill Schiefelbein Oh, for for quick video editing. If I want to do some very quick video editing in a form that could be used for Instagram or social media I use in shot it's ap IN sH o t, I really like it. It's simple. It's easy to use, it's very cheap. And it just makes editing things simple because sometimes you may be in a place or I may be in an event where I shoot a video, or maybe I uploaded, uploaded, Facebook Live, then I take that video and I can parse out whatever chunk I want and then put it into Instagram, do it all on my phone. And it makes it incredibly easy. It's good for when you're at the airports or on the shuttles or anything like that.   James Taylor   I've seen a lot of those Instagram videos, they show videos, I was wondering what people were using to be able to because they're really really good. I like that look as well. What about a book if you do recommend one book, it could be on speaking or it could be on on communication more broadly as well. What would that book be?   Jill Schiefelbein  In all seriousness, one of the best books I've read that helped change the game for me was by Alan Weiss, and it's called million dollar proposals. And he also has a book million dollar consulting if you want to get in this space, but million dollar proposals was so huge for me because I would no longer quote just as keynote, or just, you know, a one byte tip, I will always give a proposal that has multiple options, unless they are very clear, like, Hey, this is all we need you for it, right? So that will be it. But it really taught me how to frame proposals, how to look at them, and how to get way more money out of a single engagement. And it's worked. It's it's really worked. So if you're serious about doing this, and you want to find ways to extend your expertise from beyond the stage, you gotta get it.   James Taylor   That's a great recommendation. I think. I think I've read his consulting his consulting Bible, which is a fantastic book, and I know that he's be the guest speaker as well. So a final question for you. Let's imagine you had to start again, you woke up tomorrow morning, you've suddenly lost you don't have any context. No one knows you as a speaker, you know, no one, you have to restart. What would you do? How would you restart things?   Jill Schiefelbein  Number one, I would not stress about my brand at all, because a lot of people when they start like oh, I need a good business name and a slogan and all that No, no. You need a good product, and you need to hit the ground and get it out there. So free speech is free speech is free speech, whatever it is, but targeted right? Be smart about the audience's that you pick. Don't focus so much about the country more, if you will, of what's going on around your business, focus on your craft and your expertise. The rest of it, you can figure out or you can hire someone, once you figure it out the expertise, get clear on that. Number two is really get focused in on who you want to serve. And don't waste time doing social media blasts and random posts and everything if you're not clear on who you want to serve. Doing that makes us feel like we're doing something but it's really not strategic at all. It's really not. And if you get focused in on who you want to serve, you're going to be better off targeting and spending time calling them writing them reaching out to them on social now there's a way to use it right? Not just standard posts, but get really clear on that early on. And then number three is really know that there's not one right way to do this business. I guess there are legal things you have to do. But they're like, oh, you're a speaker and you don't have a book? Well, I know seven figure speakers who don't have a book, don't care to have a book. And that's never part of their game plan. I also know speakers who can't get booked who have 20 books. So it's really not about that it's really about what's going to work for you. But if you start with your expertise first and your craft, the rest will follow. Wonderful. I'm   James Taylor   interested to how does it feel we were together the the winter conference was a great conference, and Sylvie did used to and Ben will put that together. But I could see at the end, the sheer exhaustion or their faces are at the end. So I'm wondering for someone that has to being a speaker, so you used to speak on them, but then when going from the other side and actually putting on a big event and it's the biggest event probably in the speaker calendar, the professional speakers calendar. How is it How are you approaching it, how you feeling about It   Jill Schiefelbein  it's overwhelming. I mean, the sheer amount of work and volunteer hours that go into it, it's insane. But I know that for me in 2013, when I attended my first one of these events is influence. as cliche as it sounds, it's 100% true, it literally changed my life, I would not be in the position I'm in, I want to be living in New York City, having my own studio in midtown Manhattan, like, this would not be my life, if it weren't for the people I've met along the way, and what I've learned at that organization, so if you're just getting into this, come, it is worth the investment. You'll spend about $3,000, after travel hotel and the registration, but if you if you're a person who actually follows through and takes action on things, which I hope you are, if you are that person, you will make that back within your first month after attending influence. I mean, and if you don't make it back in the year, at least 10 to 20 fold, then you're I mean, in my opinion, you're not implementing enough because it's it's it's just so overwhelmingly amazing and then you meet cool people And what   James Taylor   if someone is listening to this just now watching this and there may be a speaker and the they're getting asked Oh, we're looking for the speakers I think Joshi be a great speaker, what's the best way for them to connect with you find out more about the kind of programs that you offer.   Jill Schiefelbein Oh, well, thanks for that. I'm everyone on social at dynamic Jill My last name is a pain in the butt. So just dynamic Jill to keep it simple, but you can also visit my website at the dynamic communicator.com and I'm Jill at the dynamic communicator.com and I'd be happy to answer any questions.   James Taylor   Well Joe, thank you so much for coming on today. I'm I'm definitely gonna be filming my testimonial videos totally definitely. Now after speaking to us thank you for for sharing that and I wish you all the best in creating influence is going to be an amazing event. I know so many of my friends are going to go so. So I wish you all the best for that event.   Jill Schiefelbein  Thank you so much for having me, James. I'm happy to be a part of your event here.   James Taylor  Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. Website: The Dynamic Communicator More of Jill Schiefelbein Learn More About SpeakersU

Exactly What To Say - Building Your Public Speaking Business James Taylor interviews Phil M. Jones and they talk about exactly what to say to build your public speaking business. In today's episode Phil M. Jones talks about Building Your Public Speaking Business. What we cover: Building the base of your public speaking business The 6/6/6 rule The one phrase you need to sell yourself as a public speaker Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl067-exactly-what-to-say-building-your-public-speaking-business/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey, there's James Taylor. I'm delighted today to be joined by Phil M. Jones. Phil Jones has made it his life's work to demystify the sales process reframe what it means to sell, and help his audience to learn new skills and power, confidence, overcome fears, and instantaneously impact bottom line results. Author of six international best selling books and the youngest ever winner of coveted British excellence in sales and marketing award. Phil is currently one of the most in demand speakers and advisors to companies worldwide. It's my great pleasure to have Phil join us today. So welcome Phil. Phil M. Jones Great to be here. James. Thanks for inviting me on. James Taylor So share with everyone what's going on in your world just now. Phil M. Jones Oh, what's going on in my world? Like always, my world is chaotic and busy in an organized mess of travel quandaries and, and client demands and different types of audiences in different ways. So I'm forever putting my hat on saying what group of people is it that I'm serving today? So I've just just come off the run of of six weeks worth of an abundance of different types of events across the world in different ways. So what's happening for me right now, today Here's the first day I get to breathe in a little while. So I'm kind of excited about that. James Taylor Now, I'd love to know your journey into speaking because I was looking very early on in your life. You've also had a very strong, entrepreneurial, bent to what you do as well, I think I saw that you by the age of 15, you're actually earning more than your teachers school, because you hear out some friends now. So tell us that that journey from from budding entrepreneur at school into what you do today is really known as a keynote, keynote speaker and author and trainer. Phil M. Jones Yeah, I mean, I started in business from a very young age. So I wanted to make some extra money to better get some of the things that my parents decided they didn't want to buy for me. So I started a little cleaning business at the age of 14, like we realized there by the age of 15. I was kind of not going to school as often as I should. And I remember getting invited in by my school teachers questioning my attendance. And I responded to those guys with the questions like how much money are you making, and they refused to tell me at the time but I was making more money. than most of my school teachers by my 15th birthday. And I continued like on an entrepreneurial journey through my teens still built studies around my businesses. So I still took school pretty seriously. But I viewed them as quizzes and puzzles that was a was a fun thing for me is that I had to kind of get these these puzzles dealt with in the most efficient period of time. And at the age of 18, I had a dilemma, big university opportunity in front of me to go to one of the best schools back in the UK. I didn't want to go and I became the youngest ever sales manager for business called Debenhams department stores that you'll know from the UK. And I guess even from my early kind of corporate days, I had a speaking inspired background even though I didn't know that's what it was at the time. So I did a lot of store openings, a lot of trainings towards store openings in those retail world. So I guess my first gigs was me at 18 years of age stop stood at the top of escalators in a new department store environment, addressing an audience full of employees, getting them inspired about what we're going to go on and achieve over the next six weeks and then keeping that updated. So that got me very, very comfortable. But also going through that environment of being a very aspirational employee in a leadership role is we'd have a lot of leadership conferences, we'd have a lot of guest speakers coming together to talk to our audiences and I thought one day I'd love to be able to do that. Now I continue through a number of a number of kind of things with my career where I became a store manager sales training consultant for DFS furniture group, went from there to become head of retail at Birmingham City Football Club. And from there to do the same at Leicester City Football Club with Mila Mandarin, then I built a big property business, property business was were quite a lot of our clients through seminars. So again, that always had me stood in front of rooms full of people and in fact, every one of my entrepreneurial career choices or corporate lead career choices always have me speaking to a roomful of people. My property, business and a bump in 2008 I'm sure some people might look to be able to have some memory towards that too. And we had a great business on a Monday. By Friday, we had a product we couldn't give away. So wondering what I was going to do next, I was being invited by business networking groups to say, can you come and help some of these local business owners? through some of these recessionary times by delivering back some sales skills, I was at quite a strong voice in those small business environments, of offering advice and guidance. And I was delivering those education slots for free didn't think about it being a speaking career. And then I thought, well, there were just so many people in this world are good at a thing, but don't know how to acquire customers or grow that business so they can get to really be good at the thing. So I wrote a one day sales training course. And I started to invite people from that small business environment to my one day program. And that was, yeah, back into 2008. So almost 10 years ago, and six people became 12 people became 20 people became 30 people became Can you come deliver this to my team became me then speaking externally to sell places on my workshops. So I'd speak at larger events for without fee to be able to drive people towards my workshop that then became a coaching business, then became a consulting business. Then I wrote my first book in 2012. And then I went on the road internationally delivering more of what we would now call speeches. But my business here today is I deliver somewhere in the region of 100 paid presentations a year takes me all around the world, written six best selling books. And I do anything from a from a 12 minute keynote up to a three day program with audiences and then have somewhere like 30 different revenue streams in my business around that to the that have now become remarkably fun, but it's been a it's been a beautifully organic journey driven by ambition, aspiration, and a simple belief that if somebody else can do it, can somebody else be me? James Taylor Well, I've always looked at what a great journey well, fascinating journey through all those everything. Obviously, sales is Been that has been the kind of golden thread that's kind of gone through a lot of that as well. And I'm wondering, like, as you were kind of going, you mentioned, almost 10 different types of presenting. So there was the more kind of workshop training style, then there was more platform selling style, where you're giving a talk for free in order to get people to come to your workshop or consulting. And then there's more keynote speaking. So which I can know you for for today, who are your mentors, because they're all slightly different flavors. And and they require slightly different skills I would imagine. Phil M. Jones Yeah, it is hard to define specific mentors if I if I'm to look, early days, I was always hugely inspired by Guy new call Peter Lee and Peter Lee was somebody I collaborated with and work with and was taught by when I was part of a management training program back in, in the furniture days, maybe 1520 years ago, and he was the first guy who bought the Dale Carnegie programs to the UK. So I got to study Dale Carnegie's work quite in depth for that and I loved the way that Peter would engage Ah, and would facilitate within an audience and had both the gravitas of a powerful speaker, but also had the charm of, you know, the guy in the pub that would be able to have a conversation. And quite often when you say these audience didn't matter how many people were in it, you felt like he was talking just to you. So I love that. There's also a guy in the UK called Richard Denny. Richard Denny is kind of like the godfather of professional speaking when it comes to UK background. And I remember being in a conference that Richard delivered and I may have been 17 years of age at the time, and I thought that guy's cool. And I got to know Richard quite well through the years and got to learn a little from him. And then on the marketing side of the business, and we might link into this shortly is is a guy called Peter Thompson. So Peter Thompson is somebody who's been around a long, long time. When we then look towards role models outside of of those three, there's two other categories I would consider. One is is the people that have mentored me from a distance, so I might not have had personal conversation with them but I've studied and and and then model their behavior. So that could be as much as as a Jim Rowan. And but it could also be the fact that I'd stick myself in the audience as often as I possibly can about the people performing to say, what would I like about that? What worked well? Where can I get some role modeling from other people's efforts, and then also stand up comedians. So I've got like an abundance of stand up comedians, because I think in the world of professional speaking, stand up comedy is about as tough as it gets. So to look towards that, to to push the envelope was huge. And then the flip side of all of this role model stuff is all the negative role models. James Taylor So you basically look at them and say, This is not why I want to become not the kind of Correct, Phil M. Jones correct and I think this is important to look towards those groups of people as it is towards those that you have aspiration towards. Because there are hundreds of ways you can build a business as a professional speaker hundreds, and it's very easy, particularly in today's marketplace where information is so easily and readily available. That what you do is that you think you have to be all things to all people that you that you think, well, if somebody else is successful, I need to be more like that. And we end up then seeing copycat speakers. And the trouble with that is you can't be what you're not. It's like an impossibility. You can take influence from other people. But if you're trying to be what you're not, then what happens is one that you get found out or you feel bad, because you don't feel like you're being you and what it is you're doing, but you've built a reputation for being something you're not and you can't break out of that shell. So a level of authenticity is important, but you need to discover that through looking at what it is that other people do. I'll take a piece of that. I'll try it on for a while. And I view it like, like, if you went out shopping for a day, you might have an idea of what you would like but until you put something on, and you take it for a walk or you look at yourself back in the mirror with it. You don't decide whether it's something you like or not. So, people early on in their career, I think they should they should just soak themselves up. In the world, and learn it, learn the different business models. And the business models are as important as the as the presentations themselves. Because without a business model that supports your ability to get to speak regularly, then the game gets over real quick. James Taylor What do you use? I mean, on this summit, we've got there was a thing I was a little bit concerned about when I'm interviewing so many different speakers and they have such different role, different business models and what they're doing. Yeah, was that for the for the someone that's watching this, just now they can feel a bit discombobulated, and they can feel that, oh, that's what I want to do. Any advice that you would give in terms of helping the speaker that's watching this, or the aspiring speaker that's watching this, to have some kind of compass to kind of help them guide themselves so they can know? Those things are not, you know, they're interesting, but I don't necessarily want to want to do Phil M. Jones in order to be able to successfully speak you need a number of audiences and then clients that would pay to put you in front of those audiences. What often people don't do is put themselves in one singular box. When it comes to winning business, you can't aim at just one thing any one period of time because what you need is you need some business that will feed your family on Friday. You need some business that can sustain you to be able to live for a year and then you need something to be able to chase. I'm a big believer that the in the world of sales, you cannot manage any more than 18 prospects at any one period of time. And having trained over 2 million people, I've still found that same thing to be true 18 prospects is the most that you could ever have. So if you can get yourself laser focused on 18 prospects, you can become what I call devilishly productive. And the reason I call it devilishly productive is because we split that magic a team into groups of six, six and six. My advice would be at any given period of time when you're looking at what kind of speaking business you want to build is give yourself three different categories of types of events or types of things that you might want to do. So say for example, it might be where the low hanging fruit is at that bottom end. Is this is what I have within arm's reach right now this is where I have some wind at my back. This might be the industry that you've grown out of this might be the geographic location of where you based it might be something you deliver online because you've already built an audience, low hanging fruit, which was when with easy reach that you can get a yes to relatively quickly put some money on the table for Friday. For me at the early stage of my business, that was my one day sales workshop. always working six prospects towards my one day sales workshop. What did I really want to do? Well, when I first started, I wanted corporate training events that could give me 40 5060 people in the room, pay me a handsome fee to be able to deliver a half day or a full day workshop. What that would then be is a slightly longer pipeline but always be working six prospects there. And then my dream gigs at that point in time when I was first starting was i'd love the keynote the main stage, the 45 minute keynote the 60 minute the 90 minute the big fee, everybody like loves you. You love them. You sell a load of books every Things beautiful then you disappear again for the next day. So always be working six prospects in those camps. What then happened though was is as your career progresses, is what was then my low hanging fruit now becomes something we don't do anymore things then start to be able to shift through that moment. So always what you're looking for is to say, what is going to feed my family right now? What is going to give me some sustenance to mean that I can have peace of mind and reassurance and then what am I shooting at big time. So we're playing three different business models that potentially feed each other at the same time. And then try those three on if you then find something that doesn't work, switch one out, play with something else but three target markets, three different types of businesses progressive step two business model, and you'll find what you love. This is the most the best job in the world and the worst job in the world. If you're not with your people, if you're not serving audiences that serve you back, if you are putting yourself into a situation Where your travel schedule is overwhelming your life, then it takes over your ability to better enjoy what you do on the platform. James Taylor So wondering that terms as you as you have been building that, and now where you are in your own career, thinking about the kind of the sustainability. So moving out of the, I just need to get speaking gigs, where it was workshops, public workshops, corporate, you're now at a stage in your career, where you're making different types of decisions. And wondering the weather. Let's think like the recurring type of models start to come into that. So going up and keynotes is amazing. But it's like a little bit like being the kind of rock star going to a gig and you're doing those shows, and that's great, or being that comedian going doing that live tour. But when you're not on the road, there's maybe nothing happening. So how do you start to think about like building in sustainability and things that those revenue streams that could be coming in when you don't necessarily have to be on the road? Phil M. Jones Yeah, and I think that's what you're always looking at in that middle group of six people that you're working with. different things for different people. And if I gave a child a cupcake, what is the only part of the cupcake but they would like to eat James Taylor that nice cherry sitting on the top there. Phil M. Jones They want the cherry on the top of the frosting and sprinkles but they don't want the cake itself. They want all the stuff that's on top of the cake. Now most speakers are the same. What they want is they want the cherry they want the frosting, they want the sprinkles on all the good stuff. Trouble is you can't live on that sweet tooth piece alone, we needed some substitutes. So I encourage anybody looking to build a speaking business to go build the base of the cupcake first. The way I look to do that is firstly understand what your what your livelihood personal expenses are, whether it's 3000 a month, 5000 a month, 10,000 a month, 15,000 a month, whatever it might be, build a sustainable business model in that place that says my bills are covered, I can live my life. from that position. You can have a down sell and upsell from that position. So for me right now my author business sustains my life. I make it recurring revenue based revenue from my books and the work we've done to mean that I can pay for everything we have in our life. And it doesn't leave me a comfy comfy life. But I don't have to worry about paying a single bill based on the author business that we built. Historically, that used to be a coaching business. Historically, that used to be a retained number of training events like a 20 gig contract with one client that the paid me out. And it's also been recurring revenues off online coaching programs too. But I've always had something in that space that says, I've got something working here that pays for everything, and I focus on that but it's not sexy. What that means though, is then when I get a hifi speaking gig come in. It feels like it should feel it feels like Rockstar money because it's on top of what I need if I had to take that Rockstar money and then use it to pay my bills this month. I don't feel like the rock star should feel like it feels a little incongruent with that rock star. So it's worth building the base to give you the feeling of saying that the good stuff is the good stuff. Now the down sell there also could then be the good stuff. So then means you could start to look at it and say well when I do these workshops or these training events, what can I do to get extras? I was at an event yesterday in Rochester, New York, it was a small group full of people it was like 35 people. My down sell for fun was that we did a book for everybody in the room. Like 35 $15 now I don't care and the fact that I get big six figure fees and things on occasions for contracts, I still love walking out with 500 bucks extra on the back of an event. I still love it. It's like a buzz. But we can then look at say how do we commercial be commercial? As we build a business but getting your speaking business right means that you should try on different models but always be working three always work the base of the cupcake then you enjoy the sprinkles love that love James Taylor that analogy. And what's your cause your background, you have such a strong background in the sales piece. I wonder what advice you would give To the speakers out there when it comes to, I mean, actually, I see sales. But one of the things I've noticed about you is actually how brilliant your branding is. And so that's kind of going but I didn't, I class can, like marketing moving into sales in this kind of place in between. But I can look at your book, I can look at your website from standing at a distance. And I know it's you. Right? And because there's a look at some feel it pulled, some people may not appeal to others, but I'm guessing for your target audiences. It's this the thing that connects and it's very it's kind of a classy kind of thing. Does it have a black background with orange writing, it's kind of feels like New York Times there's a there's a substitute like a substantive there. So I'm interested to know a little bit the branding piece of what you do, how much you kind of thinking about that for what you do, but also how the the any advice you would give to speak as in terms of the sales especially as they starting to just be speaking more and they're getting more and more band coming in and how to do those inquiries? Phil M. Jones Well, let's do the two things is is to develop the piece of the brand. It takes forever of trial and error like like you. I mean in this game 10 years right now we are on website iteration number 23. We, you know, I rewrite my copy. I have a recurring piece in my schedule every six weeks or a story look at things seasonal needs to tweak what needs to change and if your career is doing this, your BIOS out a day every three months. Right and so things need to continue to look to change. What you do want to look at though in terms of setting your stall out is the biggest thing that a potential buyer is thinking when they're looking towards booking somebody it's not Will you be brilliant? It's Will you not suck if this risk mitigation, correct is is what they're looking at is to saying you know, if I'm putting my reputation on the line, is my reputation potentially going to be tarnished by this not is my reputation going be amplified by this. So what they want is anything that can give them some confidence that you've done this before and people like them have had a pleasant experience in the past. This means getting real authentic testimonials. This means getting great photography. One of the reasons that my branding materials look so good is that we've been photographing and recording every event since I first started and I've been putting my own people in to be able to do that most of the time. video content is key. So don't think you have to have all of these things in the first instance But no, it's your quest to get them and continually be on the quest of being able to make it better. And model off somebody if you need to write is find somebody that you quite like this stuff and you draw influence from it and say how do I make my stuff at the same but the brand is key and build it out on everything you know, business card, email signature, your thank you cards that then follow up towards other people. If you're running your own events, what do your banners look like in the room? What are the pens look like that your your delegates Using what are the pads look like that they're working on? We see we control that entire process. And I have done since my very first workshop to create an experience that says, This guy looks like he's done this 100 times before even my first workshop, we look like a giant organization. But what did I spend? I spent a few hundred pounds on making you look like we've done that before. That's the goal of most of your branding. James Taylor And then when it goes like when I think about something like Debenhams, for example, they've always been very good at that the aim of a certain type of customer My wife is probably like the type of customer and and everything you go in has a certain kind of feel as a certain quote, you know, certain kind of quality. You can see it trends and it has obviously changed over the years. You can see it being replicated in their print their TV as they're online, you can stand a distance you can go into the store, there's all those little triggers that you get to see that it relates to that brand. Phil M. Jones Now when it comes to the sales piece, there's two things that I want everybody to think about is First things first, there are two questions that you need to know the answers to before you Entering into this world of professional speaking. And I think many people forget this because what they want to do is want to be a speaker, they can speak on anything to anybody about like almost any subject. That's where they think often. Two questions that people should know the answers to ahead of time is number one, who are the people that they serve. And the narrower that position is, the easier is to start going out hunting and looking for opportunities. And the second lowest questions is which problems do you solve for them? I'll share this super quick with an analogy is if you are looking to open a tin of beans, what would you be looking for to better help you on that quest? You know, not a Swiss Army knife. Yeah. I might. I might do a few in a pretty desperate thing. You take a Swiss Army knife. Yeah. But first thought is I want to open a tin of beans. I need a tin opener on open a can of beans. I want to count out right. That's what you're looking for. And the same thing is true when it comes to people looking for a speaker. So if you're a leadership speaker, well, there's 1000 leadership speakers in the world. If you're a leadership speaker that helps independent retailers and you're an independent retailer, it now becomes easy for me to pick you if you are a you know an innovation speaker, but you're an innovation speaker for the accountancy profession they can't see professional looking and so you get me what an audience is looking for to get the show me that you know me type vibe. So the more that you can say these are my people, the easier it becomes to find business and I know that's kind of counterintuitive, but when you're aiming everybody you're not the right fit for them and they're not the right fit for you. When you say I'm aiming here, we can find a perfect match a little bit easier. James Taylor Can you mention those those two the six six and six years so can would you advise the someone who's maybe just getting started to fitting say people that are already up and running with the speaking of those those those three buckets? would you advise that maybe it's the same same kind of problem that they're solving, but maybe do you choose different audiences or should you go that's that's maybe the way to do it. Phil M. Jones Yeah, yeah, the the problem that you solve is is, is really kind of straightforward. And the problem is, for example, the problem that I solve for my audiences, and I help them make more of their conversations count. But that's what I do for people. And I help them understand how the importance of the right words at the right time can drive the right kind of actions. Now, as my reputation is growing, that means that the breadth of audience can start to get wider because I get bookings, because I'm Phil Jones, not because of the problem that I solved. But it's taken 10 years to get to that point in time. I started saying I helped small independent business owners that didn't understand the sales process to understand how they could sell more effectively to try to have a recession. So that was the problem that I helped solve. That was a group of people, small, independent business owners that were looking to trade our recession. Well, I'm a small independent business owner, I'm looking to trade our recession, this guy could probably help but positioned myself as a sales trainer that think they didn't need it. sales training was what I delivered. But the people I helped in the program myself are two completely different things and see I changed the conversation. James Taylor Yeah. As my friend said, recently, you had something you have to hide the broccoli in the cake. So, so that I'm interested as you were kind of going your own journey, because I think this is one that maybe maybe platform speakers can struggle with when they can start to move out into the corporate world. So you were even that small business owner. It's It feels like more of a b2c type of relationship because they don't have the credit card. Phil M. Jones their money. James Taylor Yeah. How do you when you started moving, so you develop that market? And as you started moving into the more the corporate world, which is more of a b2b relationship, so it's in on invoice, let's say, and yeah, how did you did you? What did you have to change to make that make that move? Phil M. Jones The biggest commonality is more apparent than the differences. The commonality is, is you're in the people business. What starts to happen though, is that Firstly, you realize you're spending other people's money so instead of them investing money with you to mean that they might be able to send the kids on vacation this year. You're they're spending money with you to help And get that promotion. So so what happens is the motivation in the individual that's responsible for making the purchase changes, that's the only thing that changes, you're still helping people. The other difference is, you've got to be aware that the procurement process is sometimes different that you're going to wait 90 days on invoice or that you have to then have more rigid procedures in your place when it comes to having things like your insurances, your contracts, your just your procedures in place to say that I'm going to play your game when it comes to getting paid in terms of doing the work, what doesn't change that much, just how you pay gets James. James Taylor So you talking about this moving into the sales piece, as those speakers once they can identify, you know, who do they serve? What problems they're solving for people as well. Where does it need to go? Where does it need to go next on that Phil M. Jones we're going to find yourself in conversations with people and what we must firstly understand is what selling really is and selling is earning the right to make a recommendation. What selling isn't is is isn't embellishing a product or service with features or benefits hoping something's going to stick. The mistake here is what people do is that they were looking for is we're looking to get validation that the problem that we believe that they have is a problem that is true to them, and then find credibility towards the fact that we might be the people to fix it. Take for example, a typical inbound inquiry for speaker, typically inbound inquiry for speaker. Isn't the phone ringing. It's a web contact form or an email coming in. And that email typically asked the same two questions. Number one is are you available number two is what you see. That's the typical kind of doesn't matter how it's flowered out. That's the typical inquiry that comes in. We're going to know the answers to those questions. And Firstly, we don't actually know the need to know the answers to those questions. Because who's the person who's in control of every conversation? James Taylor It should be you as the as the because you don't have almost no have enough information at that point? Phil M. Jones Yeah, the person who's in control of every conversation is the person who's asking the questions. So what happens is when you get questions asked of you, if you want to gain control of that conversation, it isn't an answer that you need. What it is that you need is a question. Yeah. So the answer to the question isn't an answer at all is the question to the question. That's what we should be looking to better think about. Okay. So inquiry comes in and says, Are you available? What's your fee? What the typical response is, is yes, hell yes. I'm definitely available and what's your budget? That's what many people come back with, which is the worst thing we could do. Something every speaker needs to know for certain is their fee. What is your fee? Now I don't care what that number is. But you need to know that you have a thing or not, you're prepared to accept whatever you can get. What is it you place a value of your time in now you might get paid different numbers to that fee, but you've got to know at every given period of time, what your fears. I also don't want you necessarily to disclose this at this point in time inquiry. He comes in, what I would like to do is to respond to that inquiry using a different means of communication to the one in which the inquiry came in. So if the inquiry comes in via an email, my first response would be via telephone, I'd be calling them myself, because I want to be seen as demonstrably different to every other person that they have put a an application out towards. So I would respond, my words would be something along the lines of it's just a quick call. Why would I say it's just a quick call, because I don't want to get into the meat of the discussion right now. Thank you so much for your inquiry coming in. I've checked my schedule. And as I can see, right now, I do have some availability on that date. I'm happy to be able to place it on hold for you. But answer me this Just tell me what is it about me in my work that makes you think that I might be the right fit for this kind of event? James Taylor So I responded with a question what do they now do that providing more information to you as well and you're getting more nuance? Phil M. Jones Yeah, and I'm getting the whole backstory more often than not, they do my job for me. James Taylor So they start to almost tell you the things and you're sitting there, able to able to speak that but actually to speak This is what any good salesperson is doing. It kind of goes back to Dale Carnegie's, seek first to understand then be understood, Phil M. Jones same difference. And what we're doing is we're getting, we're getting some backstory on it. So I think it's remarkably important that we ask those kinds of questions of people. We can then go on to ask kind of ongoing questions. We can ask things like, so what's your experience of working with a paid professional speaker? James Taylor That's an interesting one, because that's, that's. And that's a very interesting one, because you're basically pulling it you mentioned earlier, they're just speaker's negative role models as well. So you're in their head, you're getting all the things that they really really dislike about working with speakers, Phil M. Jones I'm getting the whole thing but also just like the new ones, and I'm one of the world's leading experts when it comes to writing intelligent questions to avoid objections. It's like the thing that i doing any of my consulting work and I love it for fun. But that question there is what's your experience of working with pay professional speakers does a few things. Number one, it positions you as a paid professional speaker Yeah. The other thing is is you find out where you've been out with things in the past so they say things like well last year we booked someone so and we've had this person in the past etc, etc, etc. They want to have a conversation with you about money so you say well what have you paid your previous speakers? Now I get some form of benchmark if they choose to be able to tell me I haven't said what's your budget I've said What did you pay your previous speakers? What I can now say is I can say things while you're looking for this your speaker to be better or worse. They could say things well, hopefully better you could say well, would it be fair to say that you want it better than you've had before that it would make sense that you might need to pay a little more James Taylor you're having a very very different conversation there and and, and obviously, it was important that you switched modalities got switched mediums in terms of going from someone on email to going on the phone. I wonder about that question or that part there. Where you know, we hear more and more, maybe less on the CEOs but maybe on the on the event planners, maybe younger, they might you know, phone is not such a Big things. How do they feel when they get that call from you? Phil M. Jones More often than not, they feel great. I mean, I had one yesterday, right? So yesterday inquiry comes in via referral for a multi gig event across the US. Join email goes in, somebody might want to consider for the event is Phil Jones, response comes back. Thank you for the introduction. Phil, can you let us know some times that we might need to get together to have a conversation? What do I do? I pick up the phone. So I don't respond saying hey, sometimes meet my meet my assistant, Bonnie, I'll get something set up for you, etc. I respond with a phone call. Hey, Leah, it's Phil whenever an email dialog right now. I got 45 minutes before I go on stage in a second. And I thought I'd try and catch you right now without clogging up some future time. She says Well, that's great. Thanks for jumping on this. I wish more speakers would do this. Where am I in this negotiation. Now, James Taylor you're in a very strong position because you're set yourself apart once again, from all the other speakers that probably would just done an email response. Or unfortunately, we hear a lot of speakers that don't even respond as well. So you're, you're instantly at that top of that, that that line now, Phil M. Jones and I want the listeners in to understand something really important right now is there's nothing that I'm sharing today that will work with all of the people all the time. So it's not like oh, feel free to call and I try to call them and they didn't pick up or they didn't like it. That's a load of rubbish. It's this is stuff that works with more of the people more of the time, should you choose to apply it. So it's not for everybody. But what would happen if I didn't get to connect on that phone call? Well, I might shoot a quick email, I might do it deliberately from my phone. So it says sent from my iPhone on the bottom as opposed to with my six email signature. My response might be, hey, received your inquiry, just try to reach on the phone. Just so you know, I'm free between four and six this evening. And I'm going to be traveling to the airport on my way back from a gig it might be a great time for us to be able to connect, shoot me know if we can make that time work. So I'm moving out of that. Corporate piece and out of that scheduled formality rigidness and moving it towards a more friendly conversation and showing that I'm in on this too. And that they're going to have a conversation with the person as opposed to be pushed through the process. James Taylor And on that call, sometimes, if that email has come initially from let's say, not the final decision maker, let's say it's come from the persons organizing the conference. So you're calling back the person that has organized the conference, not as a decision maker, how are you? Are you are you trying to get onto that, get that decision maker then on the call after that, so that you can do that or you just happy to go with just the the person who is contacting you initially? Phil M. Jones Well, what you generally find in the speaking world is the decision maker is the person who's going to sign off on it, but that decision maker takes 95% of the influence over that decision from the person that you're speaking to. Okay, so, you know, they might not be signing off the purchase order or the check, etc. The event planner or the initial inquiry person is somebody who actually carries a huge amount of influence in that The minute I try to disregard the level of influence of that first person has and go over their head, I actually lose their support. So what I want to do is I want to train this person to have an effective conversation internally to mean that I'm the only choice. James Taylor So how do you do that? And when you're having one of the things that you want to ensure this person understands, and all that they're going to when they have that conversation with with their boss, then they can ensure that they're helping you in doing your job? Phil M. Jones Well, the things that I want to understand from them is not what they need to understand about me is I want to get them to have the confidence that I understand what they need. So what I'm looking at is, those series of questions again, is tell me what's your experience of working with a paid professional speaker in the past? So how many people you've got coming to the event? Is this the first time that you've done an event of this nature? What is the theme or the outcome that you're looking for? Tell me if somebody was also what could they deliver in this session for you right now that would mean that you would go away feeling them and Be proud of you choice. No, I'm asking series of questions that they get this other person to say, I understand your problem as well, if not better than you do. So there's no Let me tell you how freaking awesome I am. What there is, is let me discover and understand what it is you're looking for and see if that see if these fit is right. Now sometimes I go through this round of discovery with the client, and I'm like, I don't think I'm the right guy. Sounds to me, what you're looking for is somebody that's more like this. Would this be fair? Well, yeah, that's kind of what I'm looking for. All right, somebody you need to speak to is, yeah, would you welcome an introduction to somebody like that? Because I think they might be able to deliver your brief slightly better than I can. James Taylor So it's almost like what you're doing there is instead of going, this is me, I'm brilliant. Here's the problem. here's, here's, here's how I solve your problem. Here's how I deliver the solution. And then finally, you this your problem. You have basically flipped around the other side, you're focusing on one Your challenges, what's your problem? Finding out from then? Like, how has the waste of solute, solve that problem? Maybe not just the keynote, maybe there's other things that you can also be doing in terms of training and other stuff. And then finally, you're coming to yourself. Phil M. Jones It's got it's kind of flipped. And very rarely do I need to tell somebody about my ability to be able to train and deliver from the stage because they already knew that that's why they reached out to me in the first place. Yeah, that's we think about the way the world is right now. It's rare that somebody jumps into a conversation or reaches out to somebody or finds themselves considering a conversation with you, without them, having a look across your website, checking out your LinkedIn profile, watching a video or two. They understand that you've got something about you. What they're looking for is, is Do you understand the problem that we have? And do you feel that you've got the ability within your toolkit to go out and be able to do over deliver in this environment? Is that something you feel confident about? And I've learned to walk away from more opportunities recently. Then Then try and force myself into something that isn't right. And the busier you get, you start to learn so I probably have room in my schedule for around 50 keynotes a year that limitation is fun because it means what I could do is I could be on stage in the wrong gig delivering the wrong message to the wrong audience. And okay Am I got paid and they might have been like a solid performance or I could have took that same day that same moment and made a real difference with people that really have a need and a requirement for the problem I solve and I could have had a blast, the day would have passed regardless so James Taylor one of the things that helps you do that is kind of going back to what we spoke at right at the start is your belt that base so that you can you're having those conversations from a position of of confidence of strength and feeling you can you can walk away You don't have to be taking this if you're not the race speaker, they don't say I'm already speaking you may suggest someone else for example, but your if you didn't have that base, it might feel you might feel okay, just Yes. Phil M. Jones You have to Yeah, and I've been there too in the past but and that's what taught me the importance of the bass. So I you know, every year I want to start every year saying my bills are covered. And and you know, I do 20 gigs a year with the same client year in year out, that isn't my dream work. It isn't like me doing the thing that I love. I just quite like it. Like I quite like it. I'm really good at it and it delivers a result. It isn't me living my dream. But it is me getting a regular recurring revenue coming in every month teaching teaching, teaching teaching, which allows me the freedom to go find the things that make my heart sing to make those decisions. James Taylor So when when you when we don't have too much time this because I'm conscious of your time just now as well. And when we start to you get on the gig itself and you get there to the to the place other other things that you're looking to do, when you're actually there to ensure that you really over deliver on outside of just that the keynote, there are other things that you're enjoying that you want to try and do there, Phil M. Jones there's a few things that I do is number one is I always like to get to my venue the day before the event. Like it's not always possible. And I want to see the room before I close my eyes. sounds stupid. But if I've seen the space that I'm going to work in, then what I've got is I've got some familiarity to how I'm going to use that room, how I'm going to work that room, what potential constraints could exist to me, I want to get there early, I want to shake the hands of the AV crew. I also do something that almost no speakers do. But I think for me is absolutely essential. And every time I do it, I get further positive reinforcement. That's the right thing to do. It doesn't matter what time I'm speaking, whatever that audience have heard that day. Ahead of my speech is imperative to me. So if I'm on at 4pm, I'm in that room from 9am fly on the wall at the back listening to everything was delivered before me. Because my job is to serve that audience not to deliver my speech. The mistake could happen is that if I deliver something out of context, but don't tie it back to something That was said by somebody else earlier, don't link those examples. I could be in conflict when in fact, so I'm actually saying the same thing from a slightly different angle. Yeah. And that is disservice to my audience. So I do that without fail ahead of time. I also plan how I'm going to utilize the stage. What am I doing in terms of props, I come on and off the stage, you know that I kind of actively work in audio. That James Taylor was one of the things I really enjoyed about your I mean, there's last thing I enjoyed about hearing you and seeing you speak before but one of the things that I thought made a really big impact in the room was that you were you were moving around, you were having that and it feel much more interactive. And you you were going and spending time with an individual person in the room having that conversation. The whole room was then transfixed on you having that that conversation with that person. Phil M. Jones Yeah, so that requires prep, too. So what I might need to do is I might need to find the types of personalities in that room that if I'm going to pick on somebody individually, how do I get the right Love energy or vibe? Or do I see somebody as a as a strong influencer, particularly in a smaller room that I think will if I can sway that person and get engagement from them then I'll change the energy in the whole room. How am I going to map if I'm going to work through a set of tables or down some some rows and alleys etc? Where is my safe places to walk? Have I tested the microphone towards any potential feedback spots with speaker systems etc? What am I doing to be other than get back onto the stage because that could be Crikey embarrassing, like I jump off the stage, realizes no steps, and I've got to get back on elegantly in some way. And I I live in this fear of rip in the back of my trousers or pants, and that being the thing that I get remembered for so I I try and mitigate any any kind of risks there. And what I'm looking at is a really simple principle is that I always want to control my controllables there's so much stuff that you're at sea with so much stuff that you rely on your experience you rely on being able to be in the moment. And the more that you control your controllables in your performance, the more you can actually find freedom and enjoyment in the delivery of your performance. Because what you've done is you've anchored down everything you possibly could do to allow you to be able to bring your true brilliance in the moment. James Taylor So on that control your controllables wasn't your speaker bag, what is in that bag that you carry with you to all of your speaking engagements that you'd never, never leave home without, Phil M. Jones um, I have three slide clickers. Because I'm always fearful of one guy and wrong. Replacement batteries. I have two versions of every adapter that I could possibly ever need. If I need my slides to go on. I have photographs of my passport in case I ever lose it. I have multiple thumb drives with presentation decks on them as well as the things that I've sent across. I carry throat coat tea. I carry entertain the secret to be able to lubricate my throat sometimes if I'm struggling a little bit on the road I carry airborne or Baraka, you know like the vitamin things in order to be able to take care of my health when I travel what else is in my bag and extra extra charges I got this great little charger In fact I was gonna show it to you where it's like a portable pack that has multiple USBs in it as well and replaces the need to be able to put an outlet in the wall. So anything I can that I'm kind of gadget like, like mad it can save me save me time. In fact, I got this little thing as well I bought the other day this is kind of super cool. So this is like an outlet and then it's multiple USBs and things so if I want to work on a plane, instead of having like something plugged in somewhere I can plug this little thing in that doesn't fall out that then allows me to better plug multiple things in on my desk when I'm traveling and compression socks to make sure that I don't like lots of stuff to be able to make sure I'm still healthy on the road. Yeah, more Other than delivering the performance, thank you cards. And then I have a bag full of thank you cards, because there's always people I meet on the road. And I want to say thank you to. And I carry stamps for both of us in the UK with me at all given times to if I want to mail something to somebody. James Taylor And what about apps? Is there any particular apps, online tools, online resources, you find really useful for yourself as a speaker, Phil M. Jones I guess probably the biggest resource for me as a speaker outside of all the ones that you're going to hear from everybody else is I use an app called I talk. And I talk is a voice recording app that directly syncs up with Dropbox. And sometimes if I'm working on a new bit, or I'm playing with the idea of a new opening, or perhaps even that I want to take a recording of my own speech, then sometimes what I do is I I run I talk recording in my in my pocket, or I talk into ahead of time, and then what I've got is it is an audio file of my speech. Some of the things I can then do with that is if I deliver something that I really liked, but I didn't know what he was I've got the audio track to better go back to I'll then push that through rev calm. Yeah. And rev.com is a transcription service. There's lots of others out there. And I'll rip out the the transcription word dot play with that, dial it up. Now sometimes I'll get blog articles from there. Sometimes it's just for my own reference. And you'll know what it's like as a speaker. Sometimes you do something in the moment, and it's brilliant. But you can't remember what you did. James Taylor Yeah, yeah. Or there may be as a camera sitting up up there, fixed up to the back of the room. And the audio is lousy, because you don't have anything near you to be able to pick that up. Phil M. Jones Yeah. So so so the ability to be able to do that. And equally, you know, I'm often just dropping ideas into a talk for me just and I might have my headphones on while I'm walking through an airport and it's recording in the background. And I'm, I'm talking to myself about, you know, planning in a new opening. I do a lot of customized openings events, particularly given that I've listened to the whole session in the morning on the closing keynote. I'll read Work my opening, in order to be able to bring contrast or something has happened towards the rest of the event. And it kills because they realize this isn't a canned presentation yet, even though so much of it is structured, the ability for me to be able to create a level of tailoring in is is something that event organizers really enjoy. James Taylor What that book is there one particular book, you would recommend not one of your own books as Yeah, I've got your book. And it's I'm actually starting to go through your book just now. And I would say of this summit, if there was a one book that was recommended more than any other book, it's actually been your book this year. speakers, which is a great testament to you. So that's exactly exactly what to say Phil M. Jones or exactly how to sell James Taylor exactly what to say. Yeah, exactly what to say. So if it was one book, we're gonna have links to your book here as well. If there's one other book you would recommend to speakers or aspiring speakers, what would that book be? Phil M. Jones I think there's a book that everybody should read. And it's a book called the coaching habit by Michael bungay stanier. Yeah. And it's a really short and easy read. It's meant with the purpose of helping busy managers, so Have more effective coaching, coaching conversations. But the brilliance in that book is just about having more effective meaningful conversations there is there is links towards sales language in that that it was never intended to be. But often what we're looking to do with our clients is to coach them into doing what it is that we would like to be able to do or to coach them into seeing that we're the right choice not to tell them and Michael's book there, I think it opens up, maybe the ability to look at something that you've previously seen as something you might deliver to your clients, but learn to how you can use it to have more effective conversations to get more of what you want. That would be maybe a random but useful recommendation. This James Taylor is a great book. I had Michael on the on the podcast A while ago. And actually, if anyone is thinking about releasing a book and be as an author, his description of how he launched that book is fascinating because he didn't go the traditional route, especially in the marketing so it's worth just checking out but we'll put a link in here but guys a great book. So a final question. For you, let's imagine you woke up tomorrow morning. And you have to start from scratch. So you have all the skills, all the tools that you've acquired over the years. But no one knows you, you know, no one, what would you do? How would you restart Phil M. Jones a self hosted event that that fixes the problem I know that exists within my locality. And, and I would charge for that event. So I take the skill that I'm good at, I find groups of people who can make quick decisions. And I'd go back to where I very first started. And when it comes to being able to host a live event, then what you do is you take the problem that exists. So let me talk you through the exact language pattern here. So I wrote a sales training workshop that helps independent business owners to get a train out of a recession. I'd ask a series of questions to people like me, and I'd network like crazy to better filters. First question would be How's business? Everybody says business, you know, yeah, that's good. So So I follow up with another question. It's not really a question. I just phrased it as a question. The question I'd ask is the word really And I said, Well, you know, what things could you know, things could always be better? I'd say, Well, what kind of things are you doing right now in order to be either improve or grow your business? And you know, they'd say, No, no law. I'd say how open minded would you be to running through a program and spending a day together for us to better learn some new skills you could put into practice that might help you improve your business from where it is right now? Let's say Yeah, sounds good. That say, well, when is it? I'd say, What do you free the 24th of April? that say, Well, I'm not so sure yet. I'd say what are you free on all? This? Oh, no, I could probably be free. I'd say great. Well, I'm running a one day workshop. And these are the details. Let me get your pencil in and out, go out and have those conversations. And the thing that everybody needs to remember is that questions, create conversations, conversations, build relationships, relationships, create opportunities and opportunities lead to sales. Everybody goes looking for sales, what we should be looking to do. Where can we ask questions of the type of people that we'd like to help? So the same thing that happens here, right is that say, for example, that you know who it is that you want to serve back to the point that we made earlier on? How can you get into a position where you're asking questions of those people? Because those questions were great conversations will build relationships as relationships, great opportunities and opportunities will lead to sales. could be as simple as a workshop could be as simple as something like what you're doing here where you're interviewing experts, that you could start asking questions of the experts that you'd like to be able to serve. And chances are, then that will result in you having some conversations, building some relationships, create some opportunities, and making some sales James Taylor asking better questions. I love that. I love that idea. And where should people go if they want to learn more about you? We've spoken about some of the books here as well, where's the best place? Where's your central hub for all that? Phil M. Jones I'm PhilJones.com is my website. That's the site that you talked about earlier on. And from there, you can find all of my social channels you can link out to any of the other stuff that we do and and I love to hear people when they put things into action, so come find me on LinkedIn or Twitter or my Facebook page, any of those things. Tell me what you'd like. Tell me what you put into practice. Tell me what's worked. And I'll answer your questions. If your questions relate to something you've tried, and you want to learn how to do it better. If you're asking questions about something you haven't had to go out yet, have it go in at first, then I'll give you some time. James Taylor Awesome. Well, first of all, a pleasure speaking to you again, I love the work that you do. I think you do. You're doing some amazing, amazing, cool things just now. I look forward to getting a chance to hear you again on stage really soon and catching up. So thanks so much for coming on today. Phil M. Jones You're welcome, James. Thanks, everybody for listening. Real pleasure. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more Website: www.philmjones.com More of Phil M. Jones Learn More About SpeakersU #speakerslife #speakersU

How To Develop Your Personal Branding As A Public Speaker James Taylor interviews Branding keynote speaker Sylvie di Giusto and they talk about how to develop your personal branding as a public speaker. In today's episode Sylvie Di Giusto talks about How To Develop Your Personal Branding As A Public Speaker. What we cover: Common mistakes in crafting your image as a public speaker Which kinds of public speaker videos to create The world's best public speaker bag? Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl066-how-to-develop-your-personal-branding-as-a-public-speaker/ Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey, there is James Taylor and I'm very very delighted to have the wonderful Sylvie di Giusto with me today. Now people packaging is what I do so Sylvie Did you still who helps individuals and organizations to explore how people make up their minds very quickly about them, the leadership potential or their company and either open the door or slam it shut. As a professional keynote speaker, corporate trainer and image consultant Sylvie uses her multicultural background to work with leaders from around the world who place great importance on themselves and their reputation. She was recently the co chair of the National Speakers Association winter conference, which is one of the best four speakers events I've ever spoken out or attended. Austrian by birth, French and a heart Italian and a kitchen German in our work ethic and American by choice. It's my great pleasure to be joined today by Sylvie di Giusto. Welcome. Sylvie, Sylvie di Giusto thank you very much for having me. I'm so thrilled to be with you and thank you for your kind note about winter conference. But it's you know, a conference is only as good as the speakers who are there and you have been one of them. And we were super thrilled to have you there. James Taylor It was an amazing event. And it was it was it was lovely. Just, I mean, I always enjoy just being around our tribe of fellow speakers and learning from other speakers and just all the conversations as well as hearing them speak on stage. But I'm wondering, what must it be like to organize a conference like that of I mean, how many speakers you have, like 50 plus speakers that you had there as well? What? How was that experience? Sylvie di Giusto Oh my god, it was one of the biggest learning curves I have ever had in my entire career. It is so fascinating. And if there is one recommendation I can just give right at the beginning of this interview. If you ever have the opportunity to see the other side of our profession, please do it. I have learned more than I have ever thought about our industry in general, about the requirements of our clients about speakers and their behaviors. about organizing an event about leadership about volunteering. There have been so many lessons involved and I wouldn't want to miss one of them. James Taylor Now, one of the one of the things I thought was very interesting about the event you did is you really, we the whole theme was the future of speaking. And you try to you dread lots of different types of formats, different ways of presenting. You definitely got I would imagine pretty much all the speakers out of their comfort zone in terms of what they used to doing. You. I mean, the ones you had it you did like a fake kind of I think, was it five minutes, super short ones. You had people speaking in the center of a room with the audience round about them. You had a room with three stages on it, and kind of going around with like a rock festival or something as well. What was the feedback that you got from the attendees? First of all, what what did the attendees really enjoy about about the event, and actually, what was the thing that was most enjoyable for the speakers? Sylvie di Giusto So we had kind of a theme behind The future of speaking the future of speaking was our official theme of the conference. Our inner future theme was that we always said that we watch the audience feel and think like, Oh, we didn't see that coming. So surprise them constantly with something new. And the new things were that we didn't use just an Emirates stage like in every conference at the front of the room, we put them in the middle the next day, we split them up in three the next day we split them up into because people didn't see that coming. We didn't give them the canned presentations. We asked all speakers including you to present in very specific formats that are not average anymore that are not, not can't because if there is one thing we have to learn from all the people we spoke to about the future of speaking is average is not good enough anymore. Can't is not good enough anymore. You must be prepared. To present in new formats, with new times with new methods, and the beautiful thing was pushing people like you and your colleagues into areas that were out of their comfort zone. I mean made beautiful things happen. I will always remember your presentation I will always remember a presentation we heard from a colleague about disabilities and how we handle our finances in the future. We are one out of five has a disability and we made it dark right now I'm in the moment dark and Libra, those who couldn't see what she saw, or when we had time in speaking to a robot back and forth. So those are all things that constantly pushed us out of our comfort zone and pushed the audience out of the comfort zone. And that was just some matching magic but what about the speakers the person I probably felt obviously sorriest four but the one oh my heart was going to going out to like, that's a hard gig James Taylor was the speakers that Had to speak in the round. Because I was constantly if I was a speaker, you have to really you've got people behind you and people aside, you're wanting to ensure that you're you're connecting with an audience, but they're Sylvie di Giusto everywhere. James Taylor And I'm interested in what was what was the kind of response you get from the speakers, I had to do the kind of speaking in the round. Sylvie di Giusto But first of all, one thing that is just amazing as a host is you have the option one time in your life to speak if you host a conference, to invite those people who you really trust. So we only ask people where we knew they can handle those challenges and actually, they gonna enjoy it because they are adventurous. They want to try it, they are creative, they that's gonna come back with us with a cookie cutter approach and say no, I only will present in the front and I only can do a 60 minute and not a 15 minute presentation. So if there is more beautiful thing about that it's as a host, you can invite people whom you trust and we know that Enjoy those challenges. And it is a challenge. It's a challenge that you have to map out your stage, which you also should do with a stage at the front anyway, but the mapping is just different. So everybody was kind of the first moment Oh, I didn't see that coming much. I have to present the route or after present have worn out of you were one of the brave ones who presented on water out of three stages with two speakers on the stage is already standing there and waiting for for their presentation. So honestly, the speakers we had there, I think they enjoyed the adventures. We took them on as much as we did, but it was very easy to do it because all of them repeatedly trusted. James Taylor And it was good. I know that many of the things that you did, they're going to get taken into the the influence the NSS main conference, I was chatting to Brian, a couple of people that say, Oh, we lost how that works. We're going to see we're going to steal that one. We're going to take that one we are going to use that idea. And so let's Come back to you though. I mean, how did you get started in this? This world is peculiar world of speaking, and who was your early kind of mentors. Sylvie di Giusto So I come from a corporate background and I actually was on the other side, I was a buyer. I hired speakers for many, many years. So for me, it was fascinating then to switch sides and go on the other side of becoming speak about myself. It honestly happened more or less accidentally, so I'm not one of those speakers who woke up with five years older that I want to become a professional speaker. I moved to the United States. I always wanted to live here. And then this we tried a career change. And then I just switched not science and became a speaker, myself. And one of the very, very beginning I struggled it. Two things happened. And I think those were major points or, you know, changing point in my career. The first one is I always Thought as somebody who is obviously his language is not first language is not English, it's gonna be very, very tough for me to be successful as a speaker, because the instruments that we play in our boys are the words that we, you know, four out on stage. So that was a little bit concerned about my accent, a little bit concerned about not being 100% per month, you know, free of mistakes. And then something very fascinating happens to me after two years, I got invited on a TV show all of a sudden to comment on the public image of some politicians here in the New York and New Jersey area. And they invited me again and again and again and again. And it was a torture for myself. It was a torture for myself to watch myself on TV. There are all those experts around me that had such an eloquent reverse that were so well spoken and it sounded so perfectly that was me, but in the middle and said something and I thought oh my god, it sounds terrible. So one day at a holiday party, they invited me to the holiday party islands to the produce and said, You know what, I actually have no idea why you invite me again and again and again. Because all those experts sound so eloquent around me. And then I have this expert. And he says, to me, that's executive reason why we invite you. Because you say things simpler. And those experts and every single person in the audience understands what you're saying. And second, you sound like an international expert. And I mean, always remember that. I mean, I'm so grateful for that confidence boost, right? That changed everything. I realized, oh my god, maybe maybe it is actually my my advantage. So since you're hosting so many summits in viewing an international summit, if there is a lot speak out there who would think that his or her language his or her accent, or the fact that English or whatever language is not the first language could hold them back. I encourage you know, even change your mindset. And actually think how that could be your your advantage, you know your advantage in front of audiences. So that's changed everything. And second, what's changed professional and business wise everything was that I got in touch with the NSA and I have everything, everything related to my speaking business. From then many, many mentors I found within NSA, some of them I'm going to turn around. Look, those are both remind us here. Many people from NSA, every conference, I go home and if it's just one sentence that sticks with me, I put it here as a reminder, and I'm just lucky to be surrounded by many great people. That's great. It was James Taylor a you've got you've got I mean, you're very stylish. So you have these lovely stylish things. I have them as stickies post it notes on my computer in front of me, and I would say what they are But there's some kind of like things that are obvious to you. But I think what you said there about if being being a speaker, when if you're an international speaker, when English has been the language of international business, where English is not your first language, it's not your mother tongue that can be that residence. And I, I think it's really powerful to think about that because most of the people that are probably watching this just now and listening to us, English is not their first language, but they're looking they're becoming entered one become international speakers. And then my friend, Frederick Heron, who's actually one of my favorite speakers, and he's Swedish. And he speaks with a very strong Swedish accent when he speaks at first you think, oh, that's and it's really endearing and it makes him him and it's kind of your it's memorable in that way. But I remember him saying to me that you have to remember that now in business, especially if you think globally, you don't think just in America or the US or the UK. When you think globally. Most people if they're having conversations about business, most of those conversation Have between people that in even if they speak English or English isn't their main language is it in their mother tongue? It's, it's you know, we hear differently. I know there's different expressions, different phrases that you use for that when English in your first big you're talking this language and you're able to answer so what you said there by if you you think first that will that's a disadvantage having not having English as your first language but you also have two advantages you have one is you have the alien advantage. It's always much more interesting if if it's if it's the other and if my friend manifested a van You know, when the best public speakers in the world when the Toastmasters public speaking award last year, he says he says alien advantage. He gets booked most places where he's not the country that he's from. He's from India. He gets booked all over the world because He's different. He's unusual. But the second thing is what you just said there. If English isn't your first language, you have to really be much more cognizant and thinking about the clarity because you don't have as you You know, as English we can kind of play around if your English, German language and play around language, you have to be much more focused and you can move. And and there's a real clarity to that. And it just gets through all the a lot of the nonsense and a lot of the, the terminology, and it just gets straight to the truth Sylvie di Giusto straight to the point exactly. And I will I will always remember the moment I think that the TV producer even doesn't have an idea what he did to me, but it gave me such a confidence booster, I can actually do that, I can actually do that. And it's similar to what you just said it's a linear advantage. I live in New York City. So you might think that's the perfect place for me to work. I have to tell you, that least of my clients actually come from New York City. Most of the time, I get hired somewhere outside but I'm the one that brings in the international that global kind of flair to the conference. So I encourage each of you who don't have a perfect sounding English like chains has to just step back for a moment and look at this, from this point of view, it can be applied all the time to James Taylor now you're known as being the kind of the people packager, you're very, very skilled of being an image consultant and, and really helping, whether it's executives or other people, speakers or people in media, very quickly get their image get their message, right. So I'm wondering when you approach the world of speaking and note, now you were the product was that harder because you're kind of, I don't know how you feel, but it's but I also feel it's very difficult to give myself advice. I'm very giving advice sometimes to other people, when it's me, like taking my own advice. I struggle at it. So how did you approach your own brand and think about how you want to represent your own brand. Sylvie di Giusto I mean, it's funny that when you look into our industry, usually we speak about topics where we had issues ourselves flat. So those who speak about health and then look into the history they had a very unhealthy life before. Right are those who speak about confidence actually have some issues with their confidence before it's the same with me. I remember myself, being always somebody who was, I call myself a second row God, I always wasn't very good in the sec in the second row, helping a seal to shine, helping my boss to shine, helping others to shine on I was only that great mouse in the background and every single promotion walked by what I just didn't stand out. And the same was for the people I when I was in HR training and development and leadership development. Somebody young, ambitious people in their organizations I've worked for, they didn't step down as potential leadership material. And so, on that journey, I was lucky enough to to create coaching programs that included image consultants that worked with our executives and that saw the transformation. And I knew I needed to it's my own issue too. So I saw that transformation. Myself and then became so obsessed by this topic that I went back to school and wanted to learn the instruments and tools. But first and foremost for myself, and if you compare me myself and I know with the person I was 20 years before you would see a very different woman there. And for speakers, the way they present themselves in the first impression they make is tremendously important, first and foremost for themselves, right. So how they feel about themselves before they walk on such a stage that has an impact on how big presented how big craft or art out there. But second, not only for the audience, it actually begins much earlier. Third, when a meeting planet explores you somewhere, for example, in a digital way on the internet, with your website with your video, somewhere where you implement something in their brain that is either positive or negative. And from that point, confirmation bias will work for you. Why? James Taylor Because we make decisions so quickly. I mean, it's part of that thing of, it's just our evolution, the way that as human beings, we have to kind of try and reduce the calorie burn of the brain. So we look for very simple patterns, and we just can recognize and very, very simply as well, what were some of the mistakes that you see for the speakers make? I mean, you've been in this position of, of selecting speakers, whether in the corporate world or in an NSA event as well. What are some of the mistakes that you see the speakers make, when it comes to thinking about their, their their image and in terms of how the event planner the meeting planner is going to be looking at. Sylvie di Giusto So the first mistake I would say is not taking into consideration that the first impression that you make, I would say nine out of 10 cases usually happens online. The chances that you meet a meeting planner in a room that somebody sees you and refers you from them. meeting planners perspective. But most of the time, they are going to explore you online. So you have to think about the image the picture that you draw online with all the elements that you have out there with written words with videos with pictures with every single element, and they're gonna judge you based on three elements. I call them the ABC or many people call them C and the ACI parents and you might know now immediately think about your clothing. Yes, that's part of it. But that's just one of many visual hints you sent them so when they look at your pictures on the day not only look at what you wear, they look at how you stand that's a visual information to the audience that background how many people are there what kind of conferences that what is the atmosphere? Those are all, you know, details that we can send information in, in a very simple visual way. And then they look how do you behave? How do you behave on social media? How do you behave in your video? How do you pay And you're speaking to them and what is your body language? How do you act? The second information? And then at what point of obviously, we are going to say something, right? How do you communicate? And the second mistake is, I do think that sometimes we forget that all of those three elements are important. I mean, you can have visually, a perfect website as visually appealing pictures, you can mirror the best suit you have in your wardrobe. If you don't follow up with your behavior and your communication and deliver them what they want to see. It's not been for you. James Taylor So essentially, it has to have integrity across everything that goes to the entire thing of the customer journey has to it has to just feel, yeah, this this feels like it all fits together. You know, from what I see on the site, that the language the email communication, having that discovery, call that phone call with the client has to just all fit together. Sylvie di Giusto And, you know, you're I mean, we are in the business of speaking when in the end, we want to attract people who give us money in exchange for what we deliver. So now I said, if you want to be a $10,000 speaker, you have to appear and behave and communicate like a $20,000. Speaker. Right? So you have to even uplevel the game. Because when they go onto your website and make the decision, is that a good fit or not, they also think in terms of their budget and their audience what they want to deliver. So you have to be one step ahead and then have the chance that that hits your feet level in your life. James Taylor And I have to put my hand up at this point and say, every single thing that Sylvie just mentioned all those mistakes I have made every single one of those and, and thankfully, I've had people around me who have said, and whether it's, you know, so my mentor like the ROB Waldo Waldman of this world, Aaron Gargan, Frederick, har and great speakers who have said to me, there's a disconnect there between the person we know who you are and what you deliver on stage. And what I see in that first five to 10 seconds on your website or on your communication, that you need to kind of get that gap down. And so I've changed loads of things, you know, over the years, you know, doing this, because people have said, Well, I mean, that, that that's a lovely photo you've got on the top of your site, but it doesn't tell me anything about the fact that you're a speaker being upset. I want to see you up on stage speaking. I want to see you the kind of audiences features of 30 people in a room. Is it 1000 people? What is that I need to know that that language kind of fits together? And it's all these little things that I think is so hard. This is obviously the benefit of having some kind of coach or mentor or being part of a speaker Association, is you can get feedback on those things from from people that may be looking at it on the outside that can look at it maybe a little bit more dispassionately. Sylvie di Giusto Yes, yes. So to come back to the conference, we both have attended A few months ago, when we talked to meeting planners about the future of speaking and their requirements, they always came back to the point how important video has become for them. Right? And we always hear that in theory, right? We always hear that and somehow know that but it was so obvious. It was so obvious when he talks to them that they, I mean, they even don't go on on our websites anymore when they find us first is via some video and I thought, why until I realized, well, it is technology wise, the first time that they now get all three components, the appearance, the behavior, the communication together, they said package, you know, they see the package of all three components while on our websites. There are words that sound amazing or they have some pictures, or they don't see us in this video, they just get the entire picture and immediately decide, is that a good fit or a fit or not? And then go to our website and I tell you, every single person we talked about the future Speaking there is such a focus on video. So I'm guilty there too. And I realized oh, well I have a mind game I have to produce more content. James Taylor So to my video me as a big area. And so when those meeting plans are going on there, what are they looking for? Are they looking for the very short kind of the sizzle? reel? Just give me a quick taste in very quickly what this person is, are they looking for longer actual see the full keynote to see okay, can this person deliver on stage? What kind of vibe this person have onstage? Or are they looking for thought leadership like lots of short like vignettes like five minute things, which can give a sense of that this person really knows the area Sylvie di Giusto I think and it's just my opinion, they're looking for all of this and you should be able to deliver all of this. And there are you know, there are a lot of theories out there for example about your speaker demo video. Some Some say it must be five minutes, it must be 10 minutes, it must be eight minutes, something it has to include this as a producer, that say there is no one size fits all for if your video is boring the first minute, it doesn't matter if it's three minutes or 10 minutes, or if it's, if it's the very beginning if you don't allow them. It doesn't really matter how long it is. And it doesn't really matter if you have a one hour keynote, there took a 10 second snippet or whatsoever, you have to, you have to realize that you need some kind of bow to deliver to them to stick with you and want to explore more, James Taylor because I think it's hard as well, as speakers. We're used to being up on a stage a larger stage, our body language usually fits that we're usually more physical, but when you're on camera, especially if you're doing like shorter videos, you're on this kind of size. So you have to kind of get a lot more into into that that space as well. I've noticed some of the videos I enjoy most like I think Tamsin Webster does a great job of this. She's obviously pulling ideas from I were watching The Good Wife on TV just now on Netflix. There's a Great TV series American TV series and they always start with a it's like a minute or two minutes of just a scene just to get you interested and then they go to the to the intro credits and then they go into the thing itself and so I've noticed that what she does she does something similar with her she almost has got something get get me hooked in that first kind of 30 seconds. Show me that the the the theme or the overall image about that, that person that that maybe 510 minutes, and then take me into the individual story as well. So I guess you can start to pull on a lot of storytelling devices that are used in TV and film it doesn't have to just come from watching other speaker speakers videos. Sylvie di Giusto No, no, no, no, no. And you know, there is so there are so many videos out there so many material they can pick from if you think that just a walking, talking head in front of a camera is enough nowadays. Then I want you to step back and be really truthful to yourself and say when did you enjoy that Last time to watch and listen to a walking head for more than five minutes. All right. So I think you are you are terrific example home I see how much work you invest into delivering videos that are engaging that are high quality that people actually want to watch. But the same is true with Facebook Live if you think that nowadays picking up the phone and just doing a facebook live and what made two words into your phone out the audience. And this is we don't know it's not that was exciting two years ago when we all realized oh my god, we can go live. But nowadays you must stand out and you You must feed your audience with something that is around that average. James Taylor And I think if anyone's watching this just down they come from the training more the online training world or the online marketing world. It also works the opposite way random online training online marketers were usually very good at video and This kind of style, but we're when it comes to going on to the stage, our body language and our physicality in our speech and our energy has to become bigger has to just become bigger. And we kind of go into a slightly different thing. I think that's what we can really learn. I learned at that particular conference, people like Phil M. Jones, I saw there as well incredible example of someone who's really, really skilled on stage and being able to move being able to interact with an audience as well. So I think it's good because I, I love being able to I come from the other part of the world, I come from the part of the world of the online world and then moving into the speaking world. But then I know a lot of my friends were coming from the other direction, being credible, live on stage, and then they're trying to move into the online and it's that they can have different slightly different skill sets as well. What about in your career as a speaker? Sorry, you're gonna say there, yeah, but I had a really practical tip for Sylvie di Giusto your audience, something that I have learned the hard way to do. So at every single presentation, I do every single participation. I have A little Canon camera and I put it in the back of the room, a little kind of nobody sees it. It is not high quality video, it is not high quality sound, but I record myself on every single flight because I go through two very painful steps. The first step is and watch myself without sound, so that I can focus on what my body did on stage and it's terrible and you have no idea. I have no idea what I'm doing there, you're gonna see things that you are you saw in the moment that you are not aware of and that you have to change because they look weird. Then I go through the second step that I put away the visuals and that listen to myself even worse, you have no idea what you're sometimes saying and do you feel that pain when you stumble along because you couldn't find the next route. And now I'm going to hit the third level, courtesy of Bilstein a really temporary fix speaker who does something that is even more painful, he says, Now take that audio and send it to somebody who wasn't in the room. To give you feedback, because you still feel the emotions the atmosphere the room, you just saw that they'll send it to somebody who wasn't in the room. And that's that's personally James Taylor Yeah, that's some great advice there. I do the site there's in my film and is, is the most painful thing of my weekly I'd have to do is have to watch some of that footage is like, Sylvie di Giusto Oh, I can't, James Taylor why did I say why did I move like that? That was terrible. But it gets better because then when you go on stage next time, you know, any of those little verbal tics that you have, or physical things, you know, okay, on this tool, I just want to work on this one thing I want to improve this one thing that when I when I give this if I give my talk, and ever really improved that one that 1% on it, if I keep doing this every single week, I'm gonna get better and better and better. What about in your journey as a speaker? Can you talk about one light bulb moment one aha moment in your speaking where you went? Oh, okay. You made a really powerful decision. You came to be important discovery for yourself as to what you want to do with your speaking. Sylvie di Giusto So I had those light bulb moments again and again and again and again, it's a constant reminder of how lucky we are and how respectful it must be for our audiences. I think there are two types of speakers out there one type of speaker for any reason they want to become speaker but they don't feel confident in speaking in front of the group, but then they get coaching or restart unveiled in Toastmasters. I don't know because I never had this problem. But I walked on stage and I just won't make my words out. Until I saw the real master somebody never forget when I was the first time in a keynote of Mark Sherbrooke. I realized, oh my god, it's an art. It's like playing an instrument. It's an art and I have to learn it. I cannot just go up there and do what I think is it's good, good, good is not good enough that when you learn from those papers and realize how much time they invest in actually practicing the art, the performance on stage, especially when you come from a trainer hub, like I already just you wanna cover 2000 to 476 topics worth of traction. And then you realize, oh my god, that's actually not enough. You're not there because you are an expert. You're there because you're an expert and an artist. So whenever I see those artists like Mark Sherman, or Conan, Mike report is another example of and I do see him, coaching others to express their words with that art that is behind. I have to realize and that light bulb comes up. It's not just sharing knowledge. It's Not just that we are experts up there, it's actually an art and to better practice and to train about, James Taylor I think what we're also seeing, and this is because of YouTube because of video as well. If you look at any of the music schools now, but Berklee School of Music, Julia Peabody, wherever you go, if you speak to any of the teachers, now, they say the quality of technical quality of the students is much better now than it's ever been. And one of the reasons is because they all have access to YouTube to watch those great masters, those great artists and to learn from them. So when they're coming in, maybe in previous generations, they had to listen to like a vinyl record and go back and play. Or if you were a speaker, you had to try and get those old Zig Ziglar tapes or something like that. Today, we go online, we go to TED Talks, we go and see in videos. So as a result, it means that the whole standard has to go up. And it's a global you're, you're competing in a global marketplace with this as well, because everyone's watching these, and everyone's seeing these and everyone's thinking, How can I improve that? How can I take that idea? Do that that speakers just done and move in? No, I love how that that person's crafted this particular line or how they move their body or the physicality of the way they speak, and then integrating into the room. So, so everyone's the levels going up, which is good. I think it's good. It's certainly for good for the audience as well. Sylvie di Giusto And which is the all the points that will differentiate us in the future from robots doing our job? Yeah. But the only thing that will differentiate us is to bring that art and that creativity to the table because even if you now might think this is just something that is 20 5100 years away, I encourage you, especially after hosting that conference, to change your mindset because it's closer than you think that one day. The knowledge that we have in our heads is so exchangeable by robots that they send out they can grow from it today, I want you to speak about this topic 70%, humor, 30% content or whatsoever in that language. You are and when you are a man, you have this accent so they can, they can draw from all of this. But what they will never be able to do is that piece of art that creativity that we bring to the table. And so I encourage you to think about that. James Taylor Exactly. So now we're talking about like the atomic get into a little bit of technology start to finish up here. I'm intrigued. I'm treating what is in your speaker bag. What is in that bag that you carry with you to all your speaking engagements that you never leave home in the office without? Sylvie di Giusto Oh my god, it's it's big. It's huge. It's chickens. James Taylor I would love to see your picture. Sylvie di Giusto I'm gonna show you a picture of peanuts. Want to show you James Taylor so we're gonna we're gonna have a look at Sylvia's setup that she has. Sylvie di Giusto Yes. And this I have to that's not the technology back. That's only the beauty back okay. You take this. Wow. Now, everything I carry with me to make sure that matters. I'd go at least my first impression is simply cryptic. What do you see? What do you want to know chance I'm intrigued James Taylor by everything on that because most of the things I have no I can see. I can see I can see a diff slicer, which is very useful for the if you're close I can I can see that as well. What we'll do is we'll we'll take a screenshot and we're going to put that up here as well. Sylvie di Giusto Okay, and you get the picture and you find everything from hairspray to the left wing club to the flapper to lipstick to stain removers, to bend it to stick it to shoe polish, to makeup sprays to powder, to coffee, to headache, medicine, to coconut on to means to spray for your voice, a toothbrush is everything. So this is James Taylor only the beauty part. Now this is the beauty part. So that's just what you carry for them for the beauty section of your Your speaker kit. What about the technology part of your speaker kit? What's in there? Sylvie di Giusto This is the first thing. It's a mic. Yeah, I never I never without my own mic. Have Nots. That's the Heartless James Taylor Do you use a a lapel mic or an over ear? Or what's your what's your property? Toby? Sylvie di Giusto I prefer over a year. Since this is the tech, James Taylor well, what we'll do is we'll get we'll get a photo of that as well. And we'll actually have some, I think we actually should make this into an infographic Unknown Speaker house. Sylvie di Giusto The only thing that is important for me is that Sally gets the key. James Taylor Okay, we're gonna we're gonna send Sally home set this photo afterwards, so they will now be a competition on who has the most detailed speaker. So what about what about online resources or tools or mobile apps? Are there any that you find really useful for your users? As a speaker, Sylvie di Giusto well, there are many that I find really useful. Usually they are somehow related to traveling, right. So I'm sure that many of our speaker colleagues know tripit. And if they don't know it, they have to know tripit because it helps you organize every single single of your trips. In my case, there are many related to how because I find it very, very difficult to stay healthy and rodent, to not forget about my workout routine and sometimes even do something quickly in the hotel, which is seven, seven, an app that helps him to stay healthy, on roll into my record. And then there are actually a lot of a lot of social media apps that helped me to organize my social media, Wherever I am, and those are just usually ones that you probably also use. One of my favorites at the moment is club nollie, which helps me to make my Instagram account a little Be more creative and outstanding than the average Instagram account wonderful and we'll put we'll put links to all these here in the show notes as well. What about going to kind of say older school now? What's that book What about a book is a particular book that you found very useful for yourself it could be on the art of speak on the business speaking or it could be something more on your area the area that you speak on so there is of course my book the metro leadership trust to black that which helps you to understand what your first impression says about yourself and how you can improve your first impression for the I'm gonna plot all kind of share with you Phil Jones, Jones book, exactly what to say because I just find this book so fascinating from a lot of different perspectives as a speaker. First of all, I have been such an easy way to exactly what to say. And I also note that you don't have to have to write a 60,000 word book to have a best seller. What he did is what we just discussed in the beginning, he didn't stop that topic so narrowed so easily that it's a 40 minute read. And all fluff that we usually put in our books is just he eliminated that I've come straight to the point and gives you so much value in a tiny book. And I was besides reading it, and I was holding this book, it was such a learning lesson for me, we do not always have to bother our audiences with all the fluff in between comes to it to the point even if you're right, James Taylor and I think one of the one of the things I'm being a bit of a geek about this kind of thing as well. One of the things I really like to getting the book and all the attendees of that the the event in the NSA event got a copy of that book as well which is amazing. But if you look at it from a brand from his branding standpoint, I find it really fascinating because you I could I could be standing five feet away. Whether I'm looking his book or his website, or is any other material he has, I know immediately it's him because he uses black background with a with a kind of orange kind of font and orange text a little bit kind of New York Times can a style as well. And so I think that's a real, a real good example of very integrated branding and how everything feels like this all fits together as well. And I've been asked you a kind of final question. Yes. I'll be less imagine. Tomorrow morning. You wake up. I'm gonna imagine you wake up in New York. But you know, no one, no one knows you. You have to restart your speaking Korea. What would you do? How would you restart? Sylvie di Giusto I want to do it exactly the way again, I did it. I don't want to miss any of the lessons I have learned by doing things wrong or by doing things right. There is nothing I would change about the journey. And what I would always try to do again and again and again. Is to surround myself with great people. Because my journey has been so incredible beautiful because I have people like them, teaching me things. I have people like you joining me at conferences, I have people just got people. You know, when I remember to come back to that conference, at the very beginning of the planning phase, the president of NSA asked us which kind of speakers do you want to bring in and all people you know, give you advices you should bring in this one or that one or that one, and it has to be a big name and that must be some title or I must be awkward, I must be whatsoever and the only thing we said, the people wants stage there must be good people. People have a good heart. Let's just put humans and then included you that included film that includes many more and so if I were to do it again, the first thing I would do Again is to surround myself with people like you. James Taylor Well that's very very kinda it was an absolute pleasure speaking to if anyone's watching this they've never attended a National Speakers Association event please do is a life changing experience as well. So final question for you. So let's, let's, I want you to tell everyone if people want to connect with you to learn more about your, your speaking maybe if someone's watching this just now and they think, Oh, I think Sylvie be perfect come and speak at this event. Where is the best place for them to go? And perhaps if they also want to learn more about this, this idea about their own kind of their own branding, and where should they go to find out more about you, Sylvie di Giusto so you can go to my website, visit Sylvie digital store.com. If you hit that after three times, running it wrong, you you are on the good side. And if you want to learn more about your own first impression, there is an online course called how you impress.com where you can access a free demo of the course and then decide if that's something for you or not otherwise If you're a speaker, I encourage you to check out NSA which is NSA speaker.org and somehow become involved in that organization. And if you are me, city then make sure we know here in New York City you are coming NSA New York City that chapter but welcome you with op amps James Taylor well Silvia is a as always an absolute pleasure speaking to you learning about your journey as a speaker all the amazing things that you're doing thanks so much for coming on this event and I look forward to hearing you speak on stage soon. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. Website: https://sylviedigiusto.com/ More of Sylvie Di Giusto Learn More About SpeakersU #speakerslife #speakersU

How To Grow Your Speaker Brand On Instagram In today's episode Darius Tan talks about How To Grow Your Speaker Brand On Instagram. Darius Tan is an author, speaker and expert in social media community growth and conversion. His team, LegacyIgnite, now helps elite speakers to become the go-to influencer on their topic while 10x'ing their impact in the world. Darius says he is passionate about three things; social media, peak performance, and travelling around Southeast Asia to coach and inspire others to achieve an extraordinary life. Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl065-how-to-grow-your-speaker-brand-on-instagram-with-darius-tan/ James Taylor Hey there, it's James Taylor and I'm delighted today to have on the show, Darius tan. Darius Tan is an author, speaker and expert in social media community growth and conversion. His team legacy ignite now helps elite speakers to become the go to influencer on their topic while connecting their impact in the world. Darren says he is passionate about three things social media, peak performance, and traveling around Southeast Asia to coach and inspire others to achieve an extraordinary life. It is my great pleasure to have Darius with us today. So welcome Darius. Darius Tan Thank you for having me on this podcast zooms. James Taylor Now it tells what's happening in your world at the moment. Darius Tan So while there's quite a lot of things because of the COVID, and right now, a lot of things I want to do I want to do live training and things like that, but clearly, everything's put on a hole. So currently, I've been working on a book. The title hasn't been confirmed, but basically it's gonna be all about how you can grow your Instagram brand to over 100,200 thousand followers, so how many followers you want on your personal brand, especially for speakers, and anyone that does speaking and training. So that's one of the projects I'm working on, which is a book. Second has been really on content creation. That's a second thing. I realized that right now, there are a lot of different variations of content on Instagram. So right now my team and I are learning more and more every day is a new learning experience. That is learning something new, right? Because we talked about COVID, where I was on lockdown, so why not learn something new? So I've been exploring onto LinkedIn, all the more just to help speakers to get within more corporate deals. So what we're focusing on is basically b2b deals occurring on LinkedIn. So that's something that we've been looking to conquer. And that's pretty much about it, these three things. James Taylor Fantastic. And you came to me, you came to my attention through an interesting way, and I love what you did, and I've actually mentioned it to a couple of other people. As well, I also have this idea of delivering value in advance. And what you did is the way and I know you can have reached out to me was you felt a little quick video. And you said you hate me, James. Me check out your work, love what you do, here's how I think you can make even better. And then you kind of went through some very kind of tactical things and real awesome stuff. And obviously, you could you were displaying you really knew your topic, your was what was helping you also going to showing, hey, this is where you can get to in a period of time as well. And and you were providing that value in advance and obviously then you had a call to action as well. So, so tell us about that that process because I just I think that that that one thing about just providing value in advance and then if you'd like to know more, here's what we can do next. I think that's such a simple and powerful type of funnel for speakers. Darius Tan That funnel is kind of used for my agency, but to Within the context of speakers, this is where I will go to. So in agencies, what worked really well is audits, right? I just work very well because people understand why there are blind spots, right? For most, for most speakers, for example, they don't really know what the blind spots on their Instagram on the Twitter basically as social media profiles. So what we do is we add value to them by pointing out these blind spots that they themselves don't know. Right? And you can you know that in the video, I went through our technical stuff. So this is where we come in with expertise and point out things that the other person can see. So in the context of speaking, I think was really good, right? If I've seen speakers that have done this really very well is when speakers end with a call to action, right? In Jessica, maybe a short one hour would be 190 minutes to 60 minutes to 90 minutes, right? The end of a call to action like Hey guys, I spoke about this topic. Let's say the topic is social media. If you want to learn more, right, so this is more towards targeting B to C corpse. What they do is Hey guys, if Want to learn more about social media go to this link and basically give you a 10 day challenge, right? You can do like a like a 10 day challenge on growing your Instagram account. Or maybe it's like a whole checklist on what I've just said and how you can implement whatever I just said, I put into action step list, but it was very important for speakers to know in terms of adding value. Maybe in terms of what I did, I did was an audit, right? So it's better for agencies, but for speakers, I think what works really well are things like blueprints, frameworks, checklists, right audience are pretty good opt in pages that people should be using. Not only just on your social media profiles, I believe that you just need to create this one really, really, really great opt in. And once that opt in converts very well, you can use it anywhere, but you can use it on your Instagram page, your Twitter page, your Facebook page, you can use it when after your hot website towards the end of the training. So that's how I really thought of value value is really understanding What your client needs? And once? I think a lot of times people don't people understand the meaning of value, right? They always say, oh, and value means basically to help out your target audience. But I think the best way to help our audience is by understanding what are the problems? That's the first thing, and then understanding why their pins, okay? Because some of them have problems, right things like, maybe they aren't able to grow their Instagram account. But here's the thing. They might have that problem, but do they feel the pain? Right? Some people, they're like, Oh, I can't grow my Instagram account. That's a problem. But it's not a very info thing to me. Like, it doesn't make me go like, oh, man, I need to, I need to do something about this now, right? So you're always you're I'm sure that you're talking about when it comes to sales. It's always been a problem a bit. So same. Same thing goes when you're adding value. You always want to add value to the people who are basically in pain in the most painful way, right? I mean, it sounds like Well, I'm exploiting them by by exploiting them, what I'm doing is simply just helping them. Right. If people are in pain, that's the best position for you to be helping them rather than going in a position that, hey, let me just add more value to you by giving you something else that you desire. I think the ones that really add the most value is when the person goes like, wow, this is exactly what I wanted and what I need, but the key word is really what I need, right? So when you are able to know exactly what are the pain points of your target audience, and when you deliver that value that aligns with that pain point, then you deliver the greatest value compared to something that they want, the value won't be as high as solving a problem and pain for them. So that's how I oppose giving value so to speak, James Taylor but I think that's great. I know when I when I coach speakers as well, when they're a little bit unsure who their audience is going to be around their topic and what their chapter you mentioned that you know, the problems and the pain points. And I said one of the easiest ways to find that out is go onto Amazon, and just look at the The reviews I get, let's say if someone's a speaker, let's say on, I don't know, let's just topic on leadership, just find the top 50 books on leadership. This was a Ryan Levesque classic and Ryan Levesque type of Yeah, he does go through, find out all those things where they say things like, I bought this book because, and then that's kind of, that's the problems. And the thing I always then look for is after, you know, after reading this book, this was what I was able to do. And they kind of talked about what success looks like for them as well and you, the more you can get him. That's the one way of obviously in the kind of finding your topic as well. But what you're talking about is then translating that into the types of maybe free offers or kind of value that you can give people in to kind of bring them into your world so you can have that kind of conversation with them. Darius Tan Yes, exactly. I totally agree with you on the whole Amazon thing because that's what I honestly do. You always want to search like the five star reviews and then those are the ones that you want. went really well less than a one star saw them this they do they hit for like no reason sometimes but that's that. I mean Amazon is one of it I think trustpilot is another great place to go to Quora is a good place to go to as well because you really understand what the questions that they asked the most like, there was this whole week where I literally want to call went on to Reddit onto Amazon onto YouTube as well and you go to YouTube is also another way you go through the comment section so you start realizing that there are some questions that people keep on asking over and over and over and over again so we just have to do is to answer those questions right if everyone's asking it now bomb to ask us well, so yeah, James Taylor yeah. So you're Where did you kind of develop this this love this passion for social media and I know you're a big Instagram, Twitter to big platforms you spend a lot of time thinking about but where did this all kind of come from for you? Darius Tan Okay, this is pretty funny because when it comes to Social media where shutout form was really Twitter, right? And I struck Saturday when back when I was doing my national service for Singapore right but to do compulsory army enlistment so back then I was just thinking like, you know what I want to I want to be a speaker, I want to be a trainer, right? And I want to motivate people, but currently I'm stuck in army 10. So what can I do right? Then I started going on to Twitter and just posting quotes, right, those pseudo quotes that you see everywhere, which doesn't exactly help people that much, but maybe give them a bit of inspiration. I think the value in terms of Twitter if you just give quotes, there is a very viable strategy. But what I did was simply just I just read quotes, and I just read quotes and I just did like three to four hashtags. And then because I just I was just I think on Twitter, I did not know that you know, I was gonna go big on social media. If you told me like, years ago like you know, you're going to grow a following to over 200 K and because strategy, our followers I would believe it because Cuz I was just on Twitter for fun. It was really just for fun. And I think that happens to everyone as well. It's when we explore when we start to explore new skills, that's when you realize, hey, we are actually really good at this. So, crypto was kind of like a lucky moment for me, in a sense, because I went to it, but the reason why I say lucky, probably is the reason why I stopped on social media, you know, I wouldn't have been able to reach here. So Twitter, I was just within like, why Gary Vee said, honestly, I think Gary Vee was one of the inspirations as well, like, just want to put onto onto social media, I just execute. So I thought, Okay, you know what I'm going to execute. So I was like, basically, usually the training is until like, basically a week at 6pm in the army, and you go until like, night, and so I was like, you know, from 10 to 11 to 10 to 11. around that, that one hour, right? I'm just waiting like, Man, I'm just literally going to every single Twitter profile and then just answering them. So that was back in the army then on the weekends what I'll usually do is all the way from like, I did something similar to Gary, I think Jay is a bit more hardcore, but he does it from 10pm to 3am. I did it for I think 8pm to 12am I think roughly around the same hours my dad did mala so what I did was I simply just started within people literally and I wasn't like a social media expert so that doesn't like I did not go to others and say hey, this is how you go your your Twitter account this I got the cup? No simply because I was very into like, motivational inspiration and what was peak performance things like Tony Robbins, Brendon Burchard. So literally, like I just go to different weights. And then like I see the problems that people have, and he's just participating. And if you want to know how you can find all this, it's literally just type in onto the search profile, whatever keywords that people usually search for, right so let's say if I'm looking to inspire people looking to motivate people, by usually people win The hashtag of inspiration, motivation, hashtag, maybe they'll they'll say hashtag problem by hashtag feeling down, right. So if you know where, where the problems are, where their pain points are, where they hang out, I think that's something that really developed, which is understanding where they really hang out at, and you know where they hang out, then that's where you should be. Right? That's where you should be. And back then, the funny thing about starting this whole thing, I did not know how to monetize it or so. So literally, I was I wasn't earning anything like I did not see something that hey, I'm gonna monetize. For me, it was just the passion of really helping people at the same time was realizing that he I mean, I'm doing pretty well on Twitter, right? So I might as well continue to grow. And I think in the third or fourth month that I didn't, I didn't have my thing fourth or fifth month, then that is when I started growing organically about three K to four k flows per month, which almost hour I'd even track the analytics right. I just started writing here. getting quite some traction or to this. So I went on to Twitter, right? So that's without Twitter. I kind of conquered it in a sense, right? Because I was like, wow, okay, I look pretty bad with thought. I went to Instagram. And the funny thing about Instagram is I totally flopped on it. So here's one lesson what James Taylor why did why did you go to Instagram next as opposed to maybe going to Facebook or tik tok? Or maybe other platforms? Darius Tan Okay, that's actually a very interesting question. Okay, back then. I think Tick Tock still was on obviously Tick Tock was the app was already there. But no one was put no one was using it and no one was pushing it out. So that was in 2019. The start of 2019. Yeah, start 2019 around there. So that is when I went on to Instagram, or actually no, sorry, not 2019 And towards the end of 2018, because I flopped really badly on Instagram. But the reason why I went to Instagram is because it was because Gary Vee again Oh, man. So, Gary Vee said He has this rule called the Sunday night when he won I think that was around the time a publisher first came out with this rule saying that when you when you say focus on the platforms, there are two wing the best and creates the most out of it for you. I mean back then to me, I didn't know what what in the world I was okay, maybe I knew I was but I think we need to monetize on so any difference for me, but I just knew that you know what, since he said that Instagram and Facebook is going to be the Saturday night. I'm going to go onto Instagram first then go onto Facebook because obviously, you want to nail down on that one thing. Instead of diversify your seven spread ourselves too thin. So I decided to nail down Instagram next then moving on to Facebook, and Facebook which which is a pretty funny story. I'll get that. I'll get back to that later on. Instagram, so I went to Instagram because yes, so one of the he honestly 91 is probably the second biggest social media platform, and literally the b2c market that is freakin freakin freakin huge. For every speaker out there, especially if you are promoting books, right? Most of your customers are going to come from Instagram, or if not with that, I think it doesn't spy on book sales. But Instagram does brilliantly well with webinars because it's just proven to work on Instagram that you can get a lot more of your target audience on there rather than Twitter. So back then I didn't know much about marketing so I just went on to Instagram because highest ROI and I flopped really badly in it. I've looked really value in it because I went in and I thought you know what, it's so good to be a senior speaker. So this is a second lesson that people should learn is that oh, wait yes in first lesson yet. Okay. But basically a lesson is always understand that content is king, but context is everything. The context is really everything. So why, why I tried to do was I think the Twitter quotes and now just opposing the course author, Instagram, they tell you my idea was just opposing quotes, quotes, quotes. Coronavirus I realized that you know what, there's some Instagram pages that does quotes as well. Like, why can I do quotes as well? Right so I just decided quotes and quotes and quotes and quotes right now realize that now was when I finally realized that you know, of course I don't really add much value to people I was posting here's the thing you know, they always say content is king, right? So I literally follow the advice that I was putting, I was posting three to four times of content but they are spending about three to four hours or more than that every single day just on Instagram. And in I think the first month I was really happy because he find your followers are like, Whoa, the first one I'm like, wow, I'm like, Okay, back then was a numbers game. But if you really think about it, numbers, the number of followers don't really correlate to how much you earn if you do even offline your social media profile, then you don't earn anything so back then I wasn't earning anything but there was this trade off just like you know, I got a I got a goal. I mean, I don't really know the monetize yet, but let's just go and enjoy You got along the way. So I went in onto it. I think I spent five hours and then one of the first models green tea as second and third and fourth. That's when you went to absolute like, bubbles. Bubbles. Yeah, really, because I started posting for Singapore, Singapore, Singapore, right, the only thing that was happening was a decrease in followers and engagement. Literally, no one wanted to engage with my post. And then I was losing followers or city weight, but the content is king. Right? So I thought, Is it because of like my hashtags or whatever it is, by other strategy? That's a ton and ton of strategies about Instagram as well. So I was thinking like, well, where did I go wrong? And that was when I realized that I wasn't adding value to the people on Instagram. That's why I say context is everything because on Twitter, yeah, maybe you can do quotes. You can share those kinds of big small pictures and inspirational motivation. He does well on Twitter, on Instagram. It doesn't do well because why people Do you want to see this thing called a quiet? Not just a quiet you Everyone calls it edutainment. Like people want to see a demo on Sunday that educates them entertain them at the same time. So things that work really well Instagram I mean, for the speakers are listening, these are some things that you can definitely work on first is always have a variation in terms of your content. So I realized that quotes and just only the one Instagram right after that three months is over. Okay, that's not any quotes. There's a lot more there are infographics did there are videos like videos, which can be filmed by you, or you can also do like, basically purchase motivational, inspirational videos on Fiverr things I really added on Fiverr and proven to go viral. You can just take it and use it as well. So those are those are low cost options, but what really did well for me, and what became the turning point was really infographics. I think infographics was something that back then he was he had a lot more hype than now we must now more and more people doing infographics but you still had a cup still has a good engagement. on it. So if we've got infographics is really agitating at the data then why because infographic is simply just a few pictures, and then just a few words by let's say five or maybe six ways you can get $10,000 per month right first way affiliate marketing second way this right so it says this thing now this few things by educates audience so I was aiming for the entrepreneur entrepreneurship niche. So another thing you have to understand is that you need to know what who exactly is your audience, you definitely don't want to be. Let's say if I'm teaching people social media, you don't really want to talk about things like oh, health, muscular development, I mean, it's good that people see that hey, I into personal development, things like that. But you don't want to do infographics on persona development, because you really want to be targeted to that one target audience yourself. Because once you start posting many different topics, maybe things like personal development, pick performance less when your audience starts to get confused. Because you'll be thinking with some going on to this profile, what exactly do I learn by back then I was doing quotes and then say infographics, then quotes, and then videos. And I was posting everything, everything everywhere. So I didn't really know, a format to pause. I didn't know how to vary my posts. And basically, I just made my whole follower base super confused. And because people are very sick of me posting the same thing, imagine every day you wake up, and then you go onto your phone, and then you're scrolling like, oh, wow, this guy's posting course again, every day. And as someone you I post, like four quotes a day, imagine your whole Instagram pages flutter course. So right now if there are any speakers or speakers listening to this, and they're posting quotes every day, please change it. It's like always use this analogy that it's like literally asking someone to eat a cheeseburger for every single meal. He made him for breakfast with a cheeseburger for lunch to eat a cheeseburger you didn't hear cheeseburger for me eat cheese a cheeseburger. Yeah. So if you're posting With videos every single day, right, just using that same content, people are gonna get very sick of it. Yeah. James Taylor When we've been experimenting with the team, I remember kind of going back. This is probably two years ago, and we would do quite a lot of quote, cards, but we would do them on Facebook, and they seem to work pretty, pretty well on Facebook, we didn't really do much stuff on Twitter and Instagram was really, really just kind of starting at that point. And then I remember getting really frustrated because we were trying to create lots of different content. And I would spend hours on creating nice, like really big blog posts with lots of likes, like real like long, two and a half thousand words, blog post, and the little infographic that we created, which took us 10 minutes, would get more shares more likes on on different things as well. And so is that kind of thing I would just constantly kind of see, as you said, choosing the choosing the platforms and then working, figuring out what works for that platform. And I know that When we've been doing all tests recently, and I know you and I have spoken about this, where previously on Instagram, we were basically just doing the kind of same thing that we were doing on Twitter, for example. And then we start experimenting what to do like more than a short video, one minute style videos, and those started kind of working, but they just had like wrong hashtags and wrong call to action and all that stuff as well. And then more recently, kind of starting to move into the igtv. So it feels like what you said there, you kind of just have to kind of go really deep on each of these platforms because they work so differently. Yes. Just just from a workflow. One thing we've always kind of we've kind of gone through different variations of this. I remember years ago, we used to do like things like Hootsuite, we used to use Hootsuite that was all kind of tool time. And then we kind of moved and we were creating so much content, we actually moved and we were using a tool called Meet Edgar which was doing more kind of ever Green style content. And then we actually moved the game to just doing everything natively in each of the tools. So we would just if we were just doing stuff on Instagram, we'd just be using Instagram tool, or, or Facebook or Twitter or whatever, they just do it natively. And more recently, we've kind of gone back and starting to look at tools again. So when you're managing all this for yourself and your client, what are your workflow look like each morning when you're thinking, Okay, I've got to create, I'm creating these different types of content. I'm thinking about infographics, I think about video, I'm thinking about cars, I'm thinking about photos. I'm thinking about long form content. And then how did you the syndication piece, what does your workflow look like? Okay, that's that's a really great question. Darius Tan So I think the question is really more towards how I kind of basically systemize my content so that I'm able to create content that is unique for each platform and don't overwhelm myself. This also goes back to how I do every single cause content distribution system. So essentially what we do is we understand that there are things right there walks around with and Instagram and Facebook that works well on Archie platforms that actually treat types of content. We figured out why these courts cause a delay really do well on all three platforms actually on Instagram and salvia. So Deus Val is just how you design it. Okay, so, second one, I'll dive more into it for each of its segments, infographics, infographics work well on Instagram and Facebook, on Twitter is a lot harder because people don't exactly press on to the picture. So that's a second. That is really videos, videos, and I'm looking at videos not about one minute. I'm always looking at videos one minute or below because why people are disagreement with the attention span. So once it's quote your video and see like why it's over one minute usually they won't watch it a bit as well because nobody will watch over a one minute video, Facebook. You will have times where To form in this video work better, but why many video associate works on Facebook. So these three are things that can be used for all three different platforms. So what I did was I realized that you know what, what I can do is literally just pick up the posts on Twitter by since I've been posting quotes on Twitter over and over and over again, again, because this posts and then I just design it into an Instagram post here. So that's the repurposing of hot generated can a second thing is I can take my post on Instagram, or one week later, what I'll do is I'll post it on Facebook. So there's a time delay. I'm not posting the same content on the same platform at the same time, right. So you want to have a time delay. Usually I'll say what we like basically our Instagram, I'll post that then one week later, I'll post on Facebook, and people usually don't really realize the differences as well. So for infographics, you can use your Instagram and then you can use it on Facebook SRL both works really well for infographics. That is videos videos can be used on a cheap laptop So you realize that when I hit one content, technically I'm hitting all cheery. So I'm hitting Archie platform, it's just that when it comes to when it comes to the captions, that is when it's different. So what we, what we use, I honestly think it doesn't really have to do much with like tools and automation. I think a lot of people always think like, Oh, I'm gonna have the best tool is all about the best automation and things like that. But I feel that if you don't get your fundamentals right, of knowing what content works, right, and knowing basically knowing how to design a content, I think that's really the main struggle, but uh, you know, that okay, infographics work, but why does my infographic not work? Right? There are a lot of elements within that, that within that content itself. So I think what people really need to do is to understand the fundamentals of content, which is really no going back to the same fundamentals of knowing what your audience wants to know more about or are in pain. All right, so let's say for mine, what I can be doing right in order to help speakers is I can see how to go you're Instagram account from zero to hundred, sorry, zero to zero to 10 k in one month by now I can do an infographic. I can do an infographic on the steps, right and then you'll be a carousel post. Basically, you can swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe there, you'll see 123 step one, step two, step three, step four. So it really goes back down to the fundamentals of knowing exactly what your customer wants, also your audience wants and then serving it to them. So we will ask your question of how do we really churn out so many content and churning out I think about the content a day, I think about 30 content a day. So what we do is actually we have a content calendar, we do have a content calendar, okay, we're gonna post this on this day or this day on this. So every single day, for three months straight, we do three to six or even one year as well, but three to six months, we already have a content that we know we're gonna post every single day. And basically this should be just be done on Excel sheet because this is literally what we do. We pull an Excel sheet okay. On this first date, we post this, this, this this this and then once you put everything on the Excel sheet and then the next thing you got to do is just pop out like maybe two to three days so let's say right now I'm doing content creation right usually I take two days and I'll take four posts and basically at the end everything in that two days out I'll just set myself to this in the hole man right in order to prepare for three months worth of debt and that's why we do James Taylor and that's me batching your content creation process Darius Tan really better off and then creation process if I don't want pink June does it in another level, pink June use to pink June news to do like three days used to better cheat days and it's one whole year worth of videos. Yeah, so batching really works very well because you don't want to keep coming back and Oh man. James Taylor I remember I remember early on doing that where like every I think it was coming every Monday and I would do it the video for that week like a lot. It would be longer. 10 minutes and Just checking. I did it for like how many months during that? I thought this is, you know, sent you have to kind of set up. And I don't know what you feel like there's a big switching cost going from that creation mode or even actually creation mode to filming mode, which is I can look them as different different stages in same thing, and then going taking a distribution syndication. They're kind of those switching costs when you haven't going to go back and forth. So I love the idea of batching. Darius Tan Yeah, it really affects productivity. That's why I think I realized because once we start going into something, then our mood is so pretty like down because I Oh, man, it's Monday, I gotta do this again. Right. So if you just bet for three months or six months, I mean, yeah, we'd like to do six months, six months, but we bet six months, then the next six months a year then pretty much you wouldn't have much to worry. Right? James Taylor I think I think I was I was watching something. Yeah. Then it was Tim Ferriss was talking about this where he does. He does a week, every three months, where he batches a lot of his content from His team to us and he just kind of gets that week and it just could be course content or wherever the thing is. The thing is as well. One thing I was gonna ask is, and I'm sure a lot of speakers as they're listening, they're just going, Okay, Daria, this is great like Instagram and very b2c focus. But my audience is senior executives and I don't know how much time I guess they're spending on Instagram. Are they not really spending more time on podcasts or LinkedIn or YouTube or somewhere else? What because you you as an agency part, you also work with clients whose audience is primarily b2b. So what what do you tend to advise for them? Darius Tan Okay, so actually, that's a very good question period before before, like just only recently about few months ago, that's where we started catering more towards b2b because we are specialized in b2c, right things like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and if you are doing b2b speaking your corporate speakers are looking for deals with HR business partners. I know what you're looking for talent development managers, HR business as partners and these, where you want to really be, where you really want to be, is be at places where they're hanging out. I always use the same word, right? Which mr. speaker that comes up to me or push me. Okay, where do I get more clients? Where do I get more customers? You just you answer this one question for me, where are you all just hanging out? If you don't know where all this is hanging out at on internet on the internet itself, then you really need to understand your audience a lot more. So let's say for my audience, I know that my audience Hangouts on podcast, right, I know that my audience don't just hang out in facebook, facebook community, they hang up to Comic Con and clickfunnels because a lot of them are speaker so you realize that in terms of my contacts, my audience is hanging out and those kind of like normal social media platforms like oh, with on LinkedIn antics, so it's very important to understand where your audience is, for b2b speakers. By way your audience probably is on LinkedIn. That's, that's really the highest ROI where you want to be spending. It. So if you are b2b and you're going on to it onto Instagram, it's not really a worldwide thing unless you're a b2c, because Instagram really kills like they would be to see usually one, if you really ask yourself, do you think that HR business partners, C level executives are hanging out at Instagram? They weren't, they won't be spending another Instagram, right. So most of them will be on LinkedIn, because what you saw is a professional network. These are where people talk to each other about business. So we really want to be on is on LinkedIn for basically b2b speakers. And that's where you want to get to, James Taylor to find as interesting you know, that the LinkedIn Instagram thing, I tend to for most of my C suite clients, they tend to if they're going to be on anything that's going to be on LinkedIn. They actually prefer longer form content podcasts, for example, longer books, you know, things like that the the lake longer form. However, if I'm another kind of audience, and most speakers, b2b speakers do it. Well, which are the event planners, the meeting planners? Now for many of them, I actually find their big Instagram uses a lot of the event profs spaces on Instagram a little bit on on LinkedIn groups as well, but a lot on Instagram so so I think you can't you can, I guess what I'm saying is don't completely discount Instagram, if you're speaking to a b2b audience because sections of your community will be hanging up under the roof and they're looking for a different thing. Darius Tan I think what's really important is for people who, especially people who are starting out, so I'm not sure if the people who are listening are starting out, it'll be good if you focus on LinkedIn. Rather than I realized that if you really start to dive in to do more than one platform at one time, you could have a lot higher ROI by focusing on one platform we lost. That was a mistake I made. The reason why I flop really well your Instagram is valid because I was using a lot of time on Twitter as well. So I didn't really have that balance between these two so I think what would be good is if you're starting out then yeah go out Jeff go LinkedIn then after a while you you want to go on Instagram going to Instagram. If you have the resources obviously this you've got the resources you should be going everywhere going on. You should be going on the fall of forming social media platforms, right Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook and I really love LinkedIn as well because LinkedIn is also very easy for me v purpose content because LinkedIn whatever content I'm creating right now my lady contact can be used as my Instagram long caption in my LinkedIn also can be used as my Facebook post. I mean, right now I'm banned on on Facebook for like 10 times already but if I have Facebook I will be using our be reposted repurposing that on Facebook as well. James Taylor So when it comes to LinkedIn, I know we've been experimenting a lot with video but not one minute video slightly longer. videos will be fine. I know that they're doing like LinkedIn live video. I'm seeing some of my friends doing a lot of that what what are you finding is working particularly well for your, your b2b kind of speakers when it comes to LinkedIn. Darius Tan Okay, when it comes to LinkedIn, I think what's very important is not really just the connections, I know a lot of people are going into, like, Oh, I'm gonna connect everyone Connect, connect, connect, connect, connect, right? I've seen, I've seen people know, I've seen people who use the hashtag social networking. And then basically, the whole hashtag was flooded with people like, Oh, hey, guys, I got a create connections, please connect more with me. And that's honestly, I think the last thing that you ever want to do unless you're like a network marketer or something like that. Why? Because once you start connecting with people outside of your target audience, the whole algorithm is gonna screw up for you, yourself, whoever they are targeting LinkedIn one understand where you're going to be targetable. So it's not really about number of connections is the same thing for Instagram. And same thing about it's not about the number of followers. Obviously, these two things is always about the target. followers, and it's all about whether they're engaged. Why? Because you have unlimited followers, but they don't engage your content, no one's gonna push you to get to speak for the organization. Right? You also can have really engaged followers, but none of them are ever gonna buy from you. Because they're not I get that, too. So I've seen those people who, like, have a lot of connections. And while they have a lot of comments, right, I wish when I see to the comments, I'm like, wow, these people are definitely not in your, you know, the Bible. They're not in your niche at all. So there's at any point, I feel like too many people are chasing the numbers game of, Oh, I want to get more connections. I want to get more followers. So one thing is to stop at that level, once you start thinking that oh, I need more connections. I need more followers. Yes, you need more of that. You need more data. You need more engaged followers, not a massive amount. So when it comes to LinkedIn, I think what really, really works well enough on LinkedIn is trading basically. I think I will classify it, okay, I'm not sure how many numbers I'm gonna come up with. So first one, I think what really works well in LinkedIn content are those long form. Here's the thing. You don't need to be long form and chunky. Well, one thing that was very well learned this form, comment before it I think Justin if I'm not wrong, I know from Justin. He what he did was he does this one liner. Yes, this one line one line, one line one line. So you want to have like a long form capture by sucker be one line, you'd want to have, James Taylor like great writing, you just want the correct the whole point in the sentence is to get you to read on to the next sentence. Darius Tan Correct. So I always say always hope. Second is a story. And then if you have a call to action, this what I tell my team every single day in terms of Instagram is on Facebook. In terms of LinkedIn, I mean, they can't do it because it's too short. But you always want a hook. Yeah, realize one thing is people always think big like old man bias like clickbait right. What a clickbait No, I feel. Honestly, if you think that what you do just value to your audience, or the more you need them to read your content. I feel like too many people like go like oh man Want to clickbait clickbait but know why you're doing this if what you are doing is adding value or the more you should get people to read your content and by getting them to read the content, you need them to get hooked on to what you're doing first. So you always want a new start with a hook, right? Are people acquire clickbait clickbait title? Like, Oh, how I generated 200 k followers in less than two years that people are okay, I want to know, or my five step checklist to creating content in just five minutes, or my five step checklist to create 50 content ideas in 10 minutes. That's it? Why do so. There are many times where you always want to find hope and go with a story of a story with your struggles. I found my mom who wrote the book about the seven levels of intimacy, he realized that those families that works the best Okay, so in terms of this long form captions of stories or what's the best and the ones where you are sharing your vulnerability and mistakes and it's because so often shared vulnerabilities and mistakes. So where you where you want to be doing is also doing that on your social media, social media. platforms as well. Because when you start saying your vulnerabilities and sharing your mistakes, there's a look there's the plus level that you can connect with someone immediately. Yeah, so first one is really that long form the long form caption but you got to do in that one line and then you gotta space it and enter that one bar and then live in one line, one line, one line chunkier. or second one that does very well, videos, video, such variable, but one thing you have to understand my videos make sure that you have captions or subtitles that people can hear. People can see sorry, because most of times I see people that don't have subtitles, that's one thing. One of the mistakes really, second is people that have subtitles, but they can't really be read, then what's the point of having the subtitles there. So the subtitles are like really small, they can't really see. But something else is very, very, very, very, very important in when it comes to LinkedIn when it comes to Instagram, Facebook, why we lost the following on Instagram, I think I can't remember what's the percentage by no avail high percentage of people watch his videos without turning on the audio. And actually I find myself doing that as well. So yeah, whenever I screw on the video, I don't use our mouse I start seeing the subtitles. I don't really on the video, I'm not sure why I stop I just see the subtitles and see. So on LinkedIn, you want to keep your content not too long as well, simply because why if he wants to professional, they don't want to spend 10 minutes on your content. They don't have time to go to like the whole 10 minutes of I gonna do is on YouTube. Okay, so I'll link anyway or do short videos, I think one minute two minutes. That's really great. And then we can do is to take that content and repurpose your other platforms as well. James Taylor Yeah, that's it because if you do the one minute and if it's if it's if it works, you there's the possibility you obviously use it for Instagram and other things, but we actually found that the on Instagram the sweet spot for us was like two to three minutes so not quite a minute but you know, it's a little bit longer, as well as can what we found had the highest levels of engagement and interesting we just did one the other day. I did 10 One minute videos for a client which they are using on Instagram on on LinkedIn just now and I'm actually watching their stats going up and this is quite a well known large company and so there's my video which is one minute and there's actually another video for another speaker who was a former president of our country so like super famous person and and I'm getting more numbers stats than this this person more views and things and actually more comments and and i and i assuming it's like not the content now what we're actually saying but in terms of just the kind of length I'm interested in to see how that can affect it as well because we're kind of covering some of the same areas but with the big changes we're just doing slightly different lengths and his content is very long for video. Darius Tan Yeah, I think that's pretty that's very good. Whatever they are doing I think to my will be always be good on social media is always variable. content you don't want to come to a point where the audience know why they're gonna post next when the audience know what you're gonna post next then that's when that trail off social media dies. I mean, the reason why people are so hooked on those social media why because they go onto the platform they see different things every time so if every single day are doing that one same thing, like the whole cheeseburger they did right. So make sure that if you're doing two to three minute video sometimes rated with one minute video as well then you'll do a lot better because it was people start saying that to me, it's always gonna be two minutes again again again, or when you start to pop up something different it becomes a pattern interrupt as well because we were like, wait a minute, I think usually post two minutes right now is doing is doing one minute so that the current content that does very well as well on LinkedIn is basically a post that has a picture and usually this picture has to do with something with you. Okay, well, what always added a few pictures Okay, I realized one is posting a picture specs here but you don't want the steps to be to complete that you want it to be a very simple graphs that people can understand immediately when looking at it. So another one that works very well is basically posting something personal like a personal photo you don't want it to be. You don't want to be a photo of like, or actually, you know what, I feel that any personal photo as long as it's personal to you, and you have a story behind it. Other millenia story, I want to post a photo of your family and go like, oh, talk about social media don't James Taylor really relate to your topic. Yes, Darius Tan I think because there was this one post I did was I literally just posted a photo of check mark. And then I just asked, Do you agree with this? And that was like my highest view of everything. Like what? I spent so much time talking about five step checklist on how to create content and everything then, but James Taylor again, you're always experimenting, and I think that's interesting. I was having a conversation with a speaker the other day, who basically she's based in Singapore, and he he did this very long, really well thought article, which is great, really great, long form article And he got okay okay views, but then he actually was at airport This was before lockdown he was an airport, someone he took a photo of something at this airport, because it and any related obviously to his topic, how it relate to this topic and that one and it was it was a low grade you know it was it was it was a high quality photo was taken on an iPhone, it looked a bit squint, you know, there was not it wasn't well composed as a photo. But it spoke to people. And it was that little pattern interrupt that you were kind of talking about earlier. What was more people were expecting and it got ridiculous, you know, hundreds and thousands of views as well. Darius Tan That's why it's always good to vary your content, your content, instead of sticking to Okay, you know what to do, I'm going to do long form and then know what to do. I'm going to post video today I'm going to post infographic and once you start creating, you'll start to realize that Well, there's this huge spike, right because people will start to follow you because they're like, Oh wait, what are you going to post next? But if I didn't know that every single day you're gonna post the same day now what support me follow you, but I thought I follow him because I want that something new and you see gonna come up. But sometimes he says only certain if you share, like, Oh, how I hit 1,000,001 million impressions just by one post, right? So you always want to vary your content when it comes to all three different platforms. James Taylor Yeah. And finally, just to finish off with a little discussion about the LinkedIn site, when it comes to call to action. Now, you know, you and I spoke before in terms of how you do kind of call to action within let's say, Instagram, where you have the kind of but with the usual section with the bio would be because you can put links inside. But when it comes to LinkedIn, I heard a while back, someone was saying don't put the link in the post, put it in the comments, and then someone told me No, that's not true. doesn't work like that anymore. You get better if you put so what do you find work is works well, in terms of that call to action? And can is that is the LinkedIn algorithm smart enough to know if you're sending people to an opt in Darius Tan Gee, okay, so 10 through that question, yes, LinkedIn algorithm is smart enough to understand because why they are one thing that everyone So understand is where it comes from social media platform. And I do read read up the actual like, concerns. And basically like, I know Instagram always goes about, say, like, Oh, you know, this is a new algorithm for this year. So I was just reading about one last week about Instagram, or LinkedIn. And for any social media platform, except for maybe I think physical physical is not that it's quite open to that. But when it comes to LinkedIn, they don't want you to have their platform. So once you put a link that gets you off their platform, they don't like you, especially if you're putting every content that you write it, because why LinkedIn wants you to, once their audience to spend more time on LinkedIn. If your post is always having a link and getting people to get on LinkedIn. Why will my will LinkedIn like your post? Yeah, I mean, so it's a lot harder. It's a lot harder for you to reach out to more people because in a way, LinkedIn algorithm doesn't really allow you to push out their price because they're constantly using links. So what I found out works really well. I mean, it works is the same thing as Instagram as well. When you can do it. basically have a call to action and say, the link is inside my, my bio. Right, the link is in my on my profile page, the link is now the link is on my profile page. That's all we see. So you want it to have one link and that one link is always at the same place. Because why when you are always repeating the same thing in every post, people would naturally click on your profile, and then they'll click on the link. And in fact, it's even better if people click on your profile. Why because they discover more about you by instead of every single post to spoon feed them like hey, click on this link and then the algorithm doesn't really help you in that because they don't want you to spend more time on LinkedIn. So we always want to do is to just be a call to action and say you know what, click on click onto my bio as I click on my profile, and then in my about my about me section that you can click on that link. Right So you always want to put your link in your bio because that will help you a lot more in terms of getting the result and I think that's not at all because what I did was quite funny thing experimented with this two things, I posted the exact same content, but in one month of bad, so I don't think people actually remember it. So I posted a content one month apart. I mean, obviously, they thought I deleted it because I said people feel like what was it? So I did it one month apart one head, I think treating site one, do they have this insight? And back then I wasn't really active on LinkedIn. So I think the followers maybe like, two, three more, and so they're much less Oh, to two more followers, the one that did not have the link that I think about 1.3 1.5 times better than the one that didn't have the apple side and same exact same time on the exact same D. Yeah. So James Taylor you can run these little mini experiments as well. But Darius Tan yeah, I mean, sometimes it's a bit taxing for people. So what I do is, I always like to experiment to myself. That's why I got banned on Facebook 10 times. That's why I got banned on Instagram a few times as well before I started before I started growing a lot. So I think I mean, obviously you don't want to go Both hardcore like me to exploring and testing the boundaries but it's always good to explore some areas to understand what does better rather than just listening to people actually when implemented, I realize sometimes people always feed us information that might not actually be true. So even while I'm saying now don't take the word for what right you should well actually implement the trust and then trust Yes, right when actually implement it. That was how I really learned a lot because when I was going on to Instagram I paid like a crip toddler I think five finger some learning from different Instagram experts and have them all sit on the sit quietly quite similar things, but I've never I have very different opinions. So what did I do? I went to test the law and that's why because I got banned this question, you know, this, they're like the experts out there. They're telling you things, but they can actually get you banned. Right. So be careful. Yeah. So you really got to be careful. I mean, it's all about experimenting, exploring. Obviously, the reason why I got that is because not really I would say it's not Follow the Instagram explains because I decided to put about three Yeah, so when when you push the boundary I obviously gonna get you know obviously gonna get punished by the algorithm. So that's it I think it's very important for you to implement end of the day. I think when it comes like let's say infographic calls video there's so many other kind of things that goes into Instagram and Twitter and LinkedIn and how like his sex work and everything else. But what really what you really need to understand is to really implement I think, honestly people who implement rather than when learn all this knowledge, right and they learn it, learn it, absorb it like a sponge, what are they compared to people execute the one execute usually that's better because when you start executing, you start to realize that even making this mistake is tricky. And then you go on and you go on and you go, it's like the same thing, right? You always want to meet that minimum viable product and then you go on and go on and go on. So it's just absorbing things like a sponge like when and hearing or two different YouTubers like or what to avoid. So of course, that's why I did I literally went through every YouTube channel that I can find on YouTube on Instagram back then. Learn everything about retail, go Instagram, go LinkedIn book, buy courses and everything like that. But what I really learned the most from and I do credit the fact that yes, because I have this huge information powder I bought from these people, but the one strike caught the most pick, choose one or the one that best buy you some testing, and you start varying things. That's when you realize, Hey, this is my ally. And it works. It works differently for different speakers. James Taylor So tell us as we start to finish up here, some quick quickfire questions, what would be one book you'd recommend to our listeners, and it doesn't have to be a book on social media and Instagram. It could be a book that you've just found more powerful than any other book or you've gifted more than any other book. Darius Tan Okay, I think, Wow. I when I was preparing for this interview, I mean, I saw that question. I was thinking, Well, what is one book there's so many books that I like to talk about, but I didn't one book that really changed my life is expert secrets by Russell Brand. So there is something that really made a shift We didn't meet and say like, you know what, actually, there is a way to put the message out in the market. And Russell Brunson is a genius at it. I mean, that's the reason why Click Funnels grew, I feel like how much was there? $400 million in five years. Right. So that book was something that really changed my mind off. Hey, you know what, there's a message that you can bring up to the crowd, but it matters. But the message that you bring out the court matters. But if you come up with just a message, like, Oh, I want to impact more people, or I want to change the life of others, then that would differentiate you from people. So I think expert sequence does that very well. And James Taylor I love the little diagrams that he does as well. Yes. quite nice. It's quite nice way of taking quite what could be quite a complex subject and simplifying it. What about if you were to recommend one online resource or tool or mobile app that you find particularly useful? What would that be? That'd be Canva. Darius Tan I would like to I'd like to thank the creators of Canva. That does the job. So say I'm in business because it's on social media, right? So one tool that I really, really love is Canva. Canva does everything for me. It's not just social media posts. It's actually logos. I do logos on Canva. I do. Oh, I do my lead magnets on Canva as well. Right. So a lot of things go from Kevin Canvas, like really lordship subscription programs. I know my James Taylor mind is amazing, is an amazing tool. And finally, let's imagine that you wake up tomorrow morning. You're there in Singapore, you wake up, but you have to start from scratch. So you've got all the knowledge, all the skills that you've acquired over the years, but no one knows you. You have no social media profiles, nothing no one knows. But you as a speaker, as an author, as a social media expert. What would you do? How would you restart things? Darius Tan Okay, so for seven days, I didn't What? What would be good is because I would probably lose all my social media following and like I say, I don't have anything I can remember what I would probably did, because I asked Microsoft that question. I think I yield back as well was because I think someone asked me the similar question was on day one, my first thing I'll do is, I'll start building my social media following it. I'll do it over again, what I'll do is I'll start on Instagram and Facebook immediately, I wouldn't really care that much about Twitter. I'll care about Instagram and Facebook immediately. So firstly, I will be creating content for Instagram or Facebook. Second, first day or so while Bobby do is to start creating lead magnet, I think that's the first thing I'll get off the trade out of the market. Second thing what I'll do is okay, basically the seven days I'm gonna be doing affiliate marketing, because that's the easiest, honestly, I think that's the easiest when it comes to. You have no knowledge and the only thing you have is to build an email list and that's it. Right and then just push out affiliate offers. So what I'll do is day one, I'll start creating content. Start up, pushing up, creating my lead magnet that's the most important thing. Second thing is start using influencer marketing. Stop buying, stop buying influencers posts from different different social media platforms to grow their following to grow my email email list as well. But the data is when our start creating my affiliate speech, right and things like that. So start creating emails and things like that they for the industry, I stopped pushing out the offer to people, right? I mean, okay, you don't want to push that offer. So soon? Well, what we do is do value based emails. Now we send value value value. So I only have articles that basically they can reach out more on a blueprints or frameworks and things like that. And then they find a value again, the six add value again, this is where I stopped pushing out that the whole email, the whole email, email campaign, and then probably what I'll be known for is probably being an affiliate marketer. So but as I said, if I start off with you, James Taylor so Darius, thank you so much for coming up to the where's the best place, you've given so much knowledge and so much information on this presentation and I'm sure a lot of people want to kind of Maybe reach out to you get more training where we what were your agency as well learn more about you? where's the best place for people to go Darius Tan to the best place for people go to legacyignite.com that's our etc. there are tons of articles right there, right? Even creating more on basically four speakers I knew on how to grow Instagram. That's why we're calorie creeping on us. Okay, get a free audit on your Instagram profile on that page. If you'd like to correct me on my socials, on Instagram, I'll be working a lot on Instagram and your polyjet some social media tips as well, if you follow me on Instagram or on LinkedIn, I mean, Colin on Facebook, so there'll be various th w that's my initial ch W. So you can find me at David Hughes w en Autry or any platform, you'll probably find me there. James Taylor That's great. We'll put all those links Doris, thank you so much for coming on today and taking some time out of your calendar just now. I wish you all the best and posts in your social media business and your your kind of what you're doing there but also as a speaker, and hopefully we'll be be sharing a stage somewhere maybe in Singapore or somewhere in the world at some point in the future. Thanks so much. More of Darius Tan Learn More About SpeakersU #speakerslife #speakersU

Use LinkedIn To Get More Speaking Gigs In today's episode Jamil Qureshi talks about How To Use LinkedIn To Get More Speaking Gigs. Would you like to learn how how to use LinkedIn to get more speaking gigs? In today's interview James Taylor interviews speaker Jamil Qureshi about: LinkedIn marketing tips for speakers Stories vs Learning Points The power of using flipcharts on stage Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl064-how-to-use-linkedin-to-get-more-speaking-gigs-with-jamil-qureshi/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey there, it's James Taylor and I'm delighted today to be joined by my good friend Jamil Qureshi. Jamil is a performance coach and psychologist and has what were some of the best sports and business teams in the world. He has helped six sports people obtain a number one status and as a result, he's one of the most in demand speakers in the world today, as we've been a Find out. It's my great pleasure to have Jamil with us today. So welcome Jamil. Jamil Qureshi Hello, James, how are you? James Taylor Very well, Bill. So tell us all what's happening in your world at the moment. Jamil Qureshi What you don't want is conference season as you well know. So it's all kicked off, isn't it? So nice period at home throughout August and now September, October, November. It's, it's speaking almost every day. So I've got busy I've been quite fortunate this week because all my work has been in the UK. So I've really been doing the motorways more so than you know, waiting around airports. James Taylor So take us back. How did you first get into the into this world of professional speaking because you come from the sports side? How did you then start to transition into more professional speaking and as you were starting to build your speaking career? Were there any mentors that you had or Were there any speakers that you can have looked at me to that's gonna Speaker I want to be able to have a speaking business I want to build Jamil Qureshi but you know what I mean, mine's an odd one. It's definitely a road less traveled. I fell into speaking. Now I didn't, I didn't go to university to become a guest speaker. You know, I, my degree was business and marketing I, I then fell into psychology because I have such a passion for such an energy for psychology. And it was something that I really wanted to explore further. And then I have a lot of good fortune and shoot through sheer good fortune I met a professional sports person ended up working with them doing psychology within performance coaching, they did very well. And from that I got the back pages of newspapers and, and professional sport is such a small world, James that other other sports people at a very high level found out about me very quickly. And so I was just very, very lucky. And then what happened was that sports people, very high level no business people at a very high level. So why would be somewhere like the BMW open in Munich, the golf tournament and a sales director from BMW would say to me, Look, if you're working with the best golfers around, can you come and work with my sales team? Can you Coming to talk to my sales guys and tell them what it's like to perform at the highest level. So I fell into speaking. And I think the more talks you do, the more talks you get, you know if your content and delivery is good, so I turned around one day and realized I was a guest speaker, my diary was, you know, busy with speaking engagements. And in fact, I found out I was almost speaking more than speaking more about my job than actually doing my job. You know, that's really how it came about. So in regards to that, following speakers or known speakers, I didn't at the time, you know, I just did my own thing. And for some reason, it sort of worked and went along and I guess learnt it as I was doing it, it's only it's only now that you know, I'm part of the speaking industry and understanding can contextualize what I do for a living, you know, that I've come to, you know, my speakers like yourself at home, you know, and and learn from, you know, people like you and others who are operating on a global level. And, you know, there's great content and great style. James Taylor So I want to trigger a job like the you've, you've come from in the world of, of dealing with working with people coaching them. They're working a very, very high level, and they're under huge stresses from the work that they're having to do. They're under the spotlight and very short period of time of high intensity. And when you get brought to travel sometimes with these, you know, these top sports people, and you're you're sitting with them in the green room or the backstage of the dressing room. backstage, I've never been in that situation to be able to sit in a room like that, when that's kind of going on. What is the conversation give me a give me a preview of some context of what's happening in that room, just before they get a starting line or before they go to their swing or that first tennis Yeah. Jamil Qureshi It's a it's a really good question. And I haven't really thought about it really before and people have their routines, you know, and I say that consistent See if mind gives you consistency of play. And that's the same to being a speaker to, you know, to whatever routine you have beforehand, whatever consistency you can get in your, in your thinking before you go out on stage. And no matter how you're blindsided by, you know, maybe some of the technical requirements not being what you think they're going to be very similar setup is not what you expected. But if your routine is the same, then I would think there would be consistency in the way in which you can perform. So many sports people will go through some sort of ritual, some say some way of being, which will allow them a way of doing you know, it's interesting when I went to the Ryder Cup team, European Ryder Cup team, you know, and you know, that's a dressing room full of people who compete against each other on a weekly basis, and then for one week of the year come together to play as a team, you know, and you'll be amazed about the energy, camaraderie, the team dynamic, you know, they the way in which you would almost think they spent a year together. So I think that You know, as people, you know, we're all individual, we're all different and the environment affects what we do and how we perform as much as our own thoughts. And I think it's really important to, I guess, understand which environment you're in and how you need to be and what you need to do to perform optimum levels whether it's going to do a talk whether it's going to win a golf tournament or player ship football match. James Taylor I guess that's interesting know that that Raider team, that red cup team, they're within all been competing with each other throughout the course of a year then they get together for that. You know, for the Ryder Cup. That's a little bit similar when we're when we're as we're kind of a speakers, especially not so much in in general conferences, but sometimes I find if I'm going to speak in a conference, which is around a particular area that I speak a lot then around creativity or innovation or AI. And I'm often in the in the green room with other speakers who we know each other really well because they've been pitched for the same gigs as me and often in the shortlist. We We can get into the room and I think there's that, you know, your eyes meet from across the green room and there's a kindred spirit there because you know what the other person goes through to be in that room and, and the challenges they have to go through and the things that they have to sometimes give up in their life and not be able to do in order to be traveling and do the speaking and, and do the kind of what they have to do. Jamil Qureshi Yeah, do you know what I mean? It's funny because I, you know, in a way, we're the lucky ones, aren't we? Because people go to great lengths to organize a conference. It's a huge amount of responsibility by the events, organizers, the the, the events, managers, the people who put these things on and we turn up do our our, you know, and, you know, that's our, that's our bit of performance. So I think there's a there's a huge amount that goes on behind it. And it is important to be respectful of all the people who are involved in making this thing happen via the other speakers, and some of which aren't professional. These are people that are CFOs or CEOs or marketing though. Because you have to stand up in a day, and at least you and I have the good fortune of being practiced. You know, I have people say to me often that, you know, I couldn't do what you do. I couldn't speak and tell me in front of a crowd. And but you know, when I started speaking, I was absolutely awful. I was dreadful, I was nervous, I can tell you I'm nervous. I was, after so many times, I thought I literally can't go out. But you know, thinking about pulling out as minutes before I was getting ready to go onto stage. But if you do something every day, and you practice it, you almost feel the fear diminish. So, so we're lucky, we've practiced and we're lucky because you know, we've done it last. And I always feel sorry for the people who stand up twice a year because you know, it's the time in their business when they have stand up a sales director, you know, and deliver something I probably have more empathy for those people. Because I think people like yourself a professional stand up and do it. James Taylor But so you I mean, you are one of the busiest Busy speakers in the UK, and you probably weren't busiest speakers in the world. You're saying to me earlier that I think in the month of one particular month, you've got coming up, you're speaking every single day, in that in that particular month. So, how did you go from that? You know, what do you do, especially around the, the, I guess, the marketing piece or, or how you ensure that when you gave a speech, that it resulted in other speeches and other ongoing bookings? How did you get to being able to speak every day? Jamil Qureshi I think you're I think you're telling me off of this, and it's not what you'd want to hear. But, but you know, my marketing is particularly poor. So, any help you can give me I'm James Taylor definitely doing something right. If you're speaking everyday, you're definitely doing something. Marketing. Jamil Qureshi Yep. I had a website that hadn't changed in seven years. And then I went back on Twitter and LinkedIn. And LinkedIn is fabulous. To me. I use LinkedIn. I've got 26,000 people on LinkedIn. It's really my my day. To base. And so I use that for promotion and publicity more than anything else. But, but I'm a firm believer and someone once said it to me said that, you know, the more you speak, the more speaking engagements you will get. And so I'm really keen to do lots of engagements. And I thought about I've been advised to increase my fees before, but I don't really want to increase my fees because I don't want to I don't want to diminish the amount of speaking engagements I have, but every time I do a speaking engagement, it feels like a bit of a, you know, and take this the right way a bit of a paid sales pitch. You know, it's a bit of a, it's a, it's an hour's advertising for you know, what you can deliver and what you can do and I'm just hoping that someone in the audience has got a partner who works at another company who booked speakers or need someone to come in. And that's really what I've done is I've tried to, I've tried to work on my content and make it content. Rich, make it practical. Thanks was enough takeaway. I've worked on my style and tone, you know, trying to you have an energy of humor, a way in which I presented the way in which I do things, which I hope is attractive to people, I hope people like it. And I hope that they will go away and talk about it to others, because it's almost the best advertising that I can have is that level of word of mouth. So So for me, I use a bit of promotion and publicity on LinkedIn, I do a little bit on Twitter. And really, what I've tried to do is work on my content and presentation to make sure that, you know, I create a buzz, you know, I want people to go away. And so that was really, really good. If people can rewind said that was good. I was alright, I liked it. And I would be disappointed. And I think it was Mark fain, who was talking about writing at the time, and he said, a difference between the right word and the best possible word is the difference between a firefly and a flash of lightning. And in a way, it's the same with doing the talk. I mean, you know, we can all do great talks, and it's the one where people say it's the best thing have ever seen, you know, and when we can deliver that, you know, then we know that these people will go and tell others. I believe people know like minded people, you know, we know each other from being speakers, sales directors will know sales sales directors, CEOs will know CEOs, professional footballers, no professional professional footballers. And I think that I work on a premise that someone in the audience will know someone else will book speakers so I work as hard as I can each talk to deliver the best performance I can. James Taylor So the I mean, we just said there it might be a lot of what sounds like a Frederick Heron would say the best marketing is to give a great speech. Because if you can give a great speech and then two people come up to you and as exactly and I know you might not call it marketing by recall, I would call that marketing giving a great speech is for me is marketing is because it's, it's baked into the product as they were saying, and Silicon Valley, the marketing is baked into the product. And it gives you are you are the product so, so you've obviously that's a really strong driver for you being able to get those those emotions LinkedIn as well, how in particular, are you using LinkedIn as it primarily in terms of publishing? content? Are you actually doing outreach in LinkedIn? And what what are you doing with LinkedIn? Jamil Qureshi Yeah, generally what I tend to do with LinkedIn is that, you know, I, I don't really publish much content, if anything, I want the reasons why is that I'm just not very good at writing. You know, I don't, I find it quite difficult to, I've only ever if you told me now to stand up and talk to an audience for three hours, you know, I had to do it immediately, you know, I'd be able to do it without hesitation repetition, deviation, they're probably not forever. You asked me to write a page on something, which is my subject matter. I really struggle that the why that's the case I just always have done. So I tend not to write blogs or anything. All I do is on LinkedIn, if I go and do a talk, you know, for a company, I'll make sure that I find the Find the stakeholders online and LinkedIn and I sent him a message and join them and say thank you so much. That's what I do. And again, You know, LinkedIn is all about peer communication and networking. So I'm hoping that you know, when I joined the CEO of some company who employed me to speak yesterday, and I'm just hoping that that connection and when I post something next will be liked by this person, you will then be seen by his peers. So are published, some of my quotes are published as some of my, some of my thoughts, and no more than that not read necessarily articles. And I do that once every couple of weeks, I'll post something on LinkedIn. I will often post where I'm speaking in terms of I'll say, I'm delighted to be speaking today for you. No, shell in Hamburg. Thank you for having me. I'm just hoping that people will see that who booked speakers and think this guy's working for Shell, and we're in the same industry or sector will check out his website. So I don't know what that's, you know, hugely proactive. But I feel so it's quite relevant. And I'm much more You know, I'm much more into the rifle shotgun, the shotgun technique. You know, I like to join people and connect with people who have seen me speak to who have booked me, you know, and I'm just hoping that they are networked with other people who do the same as them. And I think if I can just keep up some regularity of contacts and connection, and I'm just hoping that people will see that and you know, you you're in the front of mind when it comes to then making a decision about booking a speaker. James Taylor And on that outreach, I mean, how much of your business now comes from bureaus? How much comes comes directly, in other words is coming directly and how much is that where you're doing very proactive outreach to prospective clients and how much it is someone seen you before or they've seen someone that seen you or spoken to on that senior? Jamil Qureshi Yeah, I mean, I, I haven't worked it out, but I think it's probably I probably get about 40% word of mouth now and then 60% through agents and Booker's. So I would say that's probably the case. And the interest on our passport this out over the next six months, but you know, but James Taylor that's a good number with with with with them with bureaus and Booker's because Jamil Qureshi you know what's funny because I don't really, I don't really use many Booker's, you don't really use many agents for three agents who I worked through. And if you, if you google me, I'm probably on lots of books or several books. But a lot of those agents I've never even spoken to before. So there's probably strict, there's probably three agents who put me out a lot. And so I do a lot of work through these three agents. And I get all of them. I get a lot of repeat business. I think what I'm going to try and quite lucky with James, and this is not good business thinking, this is just pure luck, is that I don't really talk about, I don't really tell stories. So what I do is I talk in learning points. So I say, Here's three learning points, or here's five things which I think are useful to you. So I do these learning points. And I think that people I get repeat business because people Say, have you got any more points? Have you got any more principles? Well, I say I like these three principles. These are really good, can you come back and deep dive one of them. So I get lots of repeat business, I feel because of the way in which I structure my content. So I think when someone's got a story, there's some speakers will come and tell their story or tell a story. And you've almost feel as though when people have heard that story, they've heard the story. But if you're, you're a psychologist with 30 principles, 30 ideas on how to improve performance, team performance, whatever it might be. And people hear three that day and they really like it. And you know, they're engaged, they're happy with the way in which you've presented it. And the feedbacks, great. And I'll often get called back and say, you know, you got your three more that you can talk to this audience about, James Taylor but that's interesting, because Also, I've seen other speakers do it in the past and, and I've I've actually started doing it more because there's other times where I might have 1010 key presses. Like you say, like principles around a particular thing, but I'm only there for give me a 30 minute talk. And so I have to be okay. I can probably use three at the most. So I yeah, there's and I just used to say, you know, here are three principles, it was actually another speaker just actually like yourself, we're just saying. He said, what you should do at the start is you said, Listen, I have these I have these 10 principles I share but the time that we have available today, I'm just gonna share three, I think, agree most valuable to you. Because then you're also previewing the fact Oh, you did this more. So that makes it that makes a huge amount of sense. Just it's a little bit of you know, quite Celtic. No, there's not quite that's that's that expression really. So say was it you sell the sizzle? Not the steak. Europe, you are actually giving some steak you're giving some some stuff there for people. But you're also saying that there's a there's a deeper background. And as you mentioned, like Jamil Qureshi we're just want to point j thing that you know, it's a really I think it's a really it's a really interesting point because I think that speak, is give away too much content. So I think it's a common mistake. And you must have seen it as some speakers and I used to do it all the time. So I used to speak and I say, like, here's seven or eight things that you need to know. And I would cram this hour full of content, because I'm desperate for someone to like one part of my talk. So I think the more I fit in, the more I put in, the more value I am. And actually, you know, what, I would skim over seven or eight points, and it would be disjointed, you know, not necessarily connected in a way in which it should be not have a narrative or golden thread, I would just be throwing a lot of things out there and I hope that someone likes some of it. And, and I think that as speakers, I think that you know, a good tip, you know, is is, is don't give too much away, don't use all your content. You know, I think that you know, hold that bit back and you know, you can use allows you to come back again, it allows you to talk outside of your speech about other principles and ideas, you know, thoughts about You're useful to the audience when you're engaging in a coffee afterwards. James Taylor It reminds me there's a, I can't remember the name of the writer now, he wrote a book called The Omnivore's Dilemma. And the first book was he's either he's a professor from Berkeley in California, I think. And the first book was quite a thick book. But it was really well researched really deep, and it was phenomenal. It was very, very well. But then everyone was coming out and saying, you know, it, could you could you let me do a shorter version, I want to give it to my son, daughter, grandparent. So we ended up writing a slightly shorter version. And then someone had to think he was doing he was being asked to do events and someone said, Can you could you trade like a little thin book just with the rules? And you know, the principles so he ended up writing the third version, which is just it's a smaller and smaller and smaller. I think like when your speech, you're giving that really small that real like this is not that you're filling with loads and loads of stuff. But you're making power but but you know, and and the way I do it, the way I like to do is, is if I'm giving an hour I do 45 minute speech 15 minutes q&a, because then you could find out those things. What do people want to go deeper on? Yes, sometimes you can do with great, the greatest pre event call in the world, you can think you really know when you get there early. But sometimes you actually find Oh, it's actually that that's the one that principle that's the thing that they're really, really interested in just now. Jamil Qureshi Yeah. Yeah. And I think that you know, the q&a always is the speaker gives you more chance to get more content in so you know, sometimes, you know, obvious the question about very specific about someone's golf handicap. You know, there's a, there's a, it's a 500 people, which majority don't play golf. So how do I improve my golf handicap? So then what I do is I then, you know, then I'll say, well, it's really interesting because you know, the way in which you learn anything better is and I will always turn the question into more content. So, so you can almost Ask me anything. And so you know, and, you know, I'm almost prepared to make sure that 500 people in the audience get something from it. And I get a chance to get more content, Elbert. So, it sounds like you're doing something very similar when you just cue in a bit. And it's a brilliant opportunity, you know, for you to be more valuable, because you're not just answering some questions, you're actually delivering some more practicalities and more takeaways, you know, some more provocation or challenge. And because sometimes you'll say that, you know, the best way to learn something is this, although many people can't do that, you know, how would you learn a new skill? You know, I've seen people do it in this particular way. So you get a chance to chat, you know, in a more general form, and a specific question you've been asked James Taylor that that there's a structure that they often use in media training, and ABC, your son asked you a question you accept you, Bridgette, and then two things you really won't be able to then share and then you comment, and write or you hear all the time. I see, you've probably done your fair share of local media, local radio interviews. And usually local media interviews, the person that's interviewing you doesn't really know too much about the topic or doesn't really know that. So, so you're always thinking, Okay, how can I give value like you're saying, not just that person sitting across from me there, but to the, to the listeners, and so the ABC except Bridget, so are you? That's, that's, you know, that's really you know, Internet's a really common question. I get around that. And one of the reasons is because and then you're bridging and then you're actually seeing the real thing we think is going to impact on that topic. So So yeah, that's it. That's a great great point about taking that and I don't ever think that I don't think I'm ever gonna ask the question about how to improve my my golf handicap. Jamil Qureshi So fair, I get it rarely. James Taylor So tell me um, as you've been building your speaking business, was there a key moment will you meet a an opponent distinction in terms of what you want to do with your speaking or you made an important distinction about the kind of speaking business you want to do and what you want to leave people with leave audiences with today Jamil Qureshi because two ways to answer that is that I decided that you don't have to do psychology on a post it. And what I mean by that is that I want people to sit in the audience with a pen and paper. So I tend not to do after dinner or something like that most during the day. And I want people to sit there with a piece of paper, write down a takeaway, and be able to stick it on their computer and go away and use it. So I've kind of really practical psychology. I'm quite irreverent when I speak. It's quite high energy. There's lots of takeaways, you know, I want people to write down one thing, go and do it at home, go and don't use it. So I think lots of private sector psychology isn't particularly practical. It's lots of stuff which is hard to get our heads around hearts. Implement how to you know, try and do you know, in our lives, I find make it really easy for people to make change. So I think that I decided two things very early on regard to content, make it really practical, make sure people can get hold of it, internalize it, interprets it, translate it into their world. And then the second bit is that I only ever use a flip chart. So this is more about style and presentation. So everyone, you know, was complaining about PowerPoint at the time, and, you know, and talking about how these presentations can be quite static. They're really talking about the internal presentations that they have. And I just thought, you know what I'm just gonna use, I'm gonna use a flip chart. So no matter how big my audience is, the largest audience I've spoken to is three and a half thousand people. My average audience is probably two 300 people. And I always use a flip chart. It's a traditional flip chart with a black pen and has a camera feed on it to the big screen behind At the sides as part of my brand, but you know two things content wise, it's very practical psychology on a poster, and presentation style. You know, I'll scribble on a flip chart, and the scribbling on the flip chart for me is really about creating more energy into performance more so than anything interesting on the flip chart. What I do on a flip chart is actually write the notes that I would take if I was in the audience. And that's what I do. And, and, you know, although I didn't position it with the audience in that way, but that's almost what I do. And if one it just helps my thinking. So I know what I'm talking about when I'm writing when I'm scribbling it on, I'm drawing a diagram. And it's not there's no detail on it, I'll literally just draw a triangle or draw a letter A or something like that. But I found that it adds more energy to my performance. It's a different dynamic. When you use a flip chart, you know, I can, I can add live better and different, which means I get more rapport and more personality. You know, I've seen I've seen Presentations before using technology which almost take people's personality away, they're concentrating so much on the clicker, you know, or they're beholden to a slide deck, you know, whereas now, you know, using a flip chart, if people are nodding their heads and writing things down, I think, you know what, I'll do another two minutes on this because it's obviously they're responding to is relevant. You don't have MIDI, James Taylor you're not having to go with the slides, you're not having to move in that topic. Jamil Qureshi So there's that opportunity for more agility and open mindedness and the way in which I present so you know, I quite freewheeling I tend to be I like to make it up as they go along. You know, and that way I work with the audience more because you know, you are literally working with that energy in regard to what people are liking and what they're nodding their head to and what they're writing down in regard to notes, and just allows you to expand on those points more. James Taylor But I think that's that's also great. I see that reminds me of someone I remember seeing years ago, one of my favorite Speakers not because the speaker was particularly dynamic on stage or moving around because he wasn't he was a professor, he was a professor university professor from Oxford. But he used to use an IF remember these acetates you know, the overhead projectors and used to draw the little diagrams. And it definitely I remember thinking back then I was really young, I was younger my team's thinking, you know, stories make people listen. But images make people remember. And, and I just thought, okay, you remember those stories, but I can I can close my eyes. Now I can see exactly that image. That No, that's not right. For everyone in the audience. Some people are more kinesthetic, and we have different learning styles. By doing what you do there. You're obviously telling you are telling some stories, you're telling these learning outcomes, but you're giving it a visual anchor to for people to hold on to latch on to and then they write that on their little post it note, they take that back, they stick on their computer screen and the office when they get home and it's just a little reminder when They buy this I love that. I think that's fantastic. And I'm gonna put you on an imaginary long haul flight now. And on that long haul flight, good to have you sitting next to any speaker, author, thought leader living or dead. So you can be sitting next to him on this flight and having a long conversation with them. Who would you love to be sitting next to? Jamil Qureshi Oh, yeah. Oh, that's a really good question, isn't it? Should I live in all dead? Today, in a way I'll miss want to be more interested in them? I'm going to say, but I am. But I think that I would like to sit next to Martin Luther King or Malcolm X, someone like that. And the reason why we've got a thought leader and also to speak is to I guess that really when you look at, you know, their performances, speakers, I was actually thinking as a thought leader. You know, my thing is all about cultural change. I think it's all about people and performance. How do we get people to act differently? I seem to be any act differently when we think differently. So all of mine, my content, and my work is trying to get people to understand new perspectives, which allow them to optimize their potential differently. And I guess that people like that, you know, literally mobilize, you know, mobilize the nation. So I think that anyone who can affect that level of cultural change, anyone who has a vision and can put that into place with an energy, enthusiasm and passion in a way in which people like that did, I think would be fascinating to talk to, absolutely fascinating to talk to. I think there are so many, there are so many people for me, I think that's part of the problem is that, you know, I, one of the things we try and do and people ask me for book recommendations, and, and I don't really think in terms of business books, I, you know, I read also I love music, you know, so I read music, and biographies and autobiographies. You know, I love politics. So You know, I find out about politicians and, you know, and figures in politics I, you know, I, I try and draw experience and stimuli from, you know, the world around us, you know, so, so unfortunately, I don't really spend much time with speakers, you know, I try and sort of spend my time with, you know, people outside of the industry, because I think there's something which is, which is something which is going to give me a inkling or clue into how I can perform better, which is not necessarily based upon the mental tram lines that we all operate and when we do a particular job, James Taylor so on that note on the on the book, Sykes, I'm gonna ask that question. So it may not give you a book on speaking. But if there was a book, it makes like that, you know, the biography piece as well. And is there any, anybody who's you read recently of perhaps some musicians or even or even states people that you think actually this is something that more speakers should just so they can make To open their mind up a little bit more or think about how to take risk or how to you know, this is a book you've read recently you, you're particularly inspired by Yeah. Jamil Qureshi I mean, the thing I do you know, it's funny actually because I'm, you know, you know that I love music. And so I'm a huge Johnny Marr fan from the Smiths. So the Smiths are the best band ever. I'm obsessed by them, all my friends. Just know that. And so I read set the boy free, which is the Johnny Marr autobiography. And for me, he's a groundbreaking guitarist, he's a creative, you know, he's a, you know, fabulous musician. But actually, you know, read it not just as a fan and as a music fan, it was just really interesting to see someone's journey from, you know, poverty in Manchester to you know, multi million rocks, your world class rock star. And the thing that comes through and books like that for me is pen Energy drive self expression, I always say to be a good to be a good speaker, you know, to be a good leader is not about seeking to impress. It's about seeking to express to be ourselves in the context of our work. And I think musicians can do that brilliantly. I learned so much from comedians and musicians. And because they genuinely do it for the love of what they do, yeah, they find this innate reason for being and express themselves through their creative platform. So, so I think, for me, set the boy free is the book that I would recommend, not just because I'm a huge fan, and but, but I actually quite learn quite a lot about myself by looking at someone else's circumstances and the decisions that they made and the investment they made in regard to learning growing and developing towards success in a field that they were passionate about. James Taylor Actually, as you're seeing that, it also reminds me there jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, he just retired suddenly. And his retirement do it was it was a stadium this retirement do. And he actually came out on stage in like almost like a punk outfit with a guitar and he got up on stage and he is out leaving the company with him on stage rocking out doing that thing. So there's definitely a lot of similarities I think in the connections between sports, music and and business as well. What about in your speaker bag, you're traveling all the time, you're going from one speaking gig to the next, what is in that bag or that little box of tricks you carry around with you to your various speaking engagements. Jamil Qureshi And do you know I try and take a couple of books because it's my opportunity to read. I will take my laptop, I will take some sunglasses to stick on and rest when I need just rest my eyes. I tend not to do too much talking. So try and stay off the phones and things when I'm trying nifiga long haul. And apart from that, I don't really, I've got some months of vocal losses, which, and you know what it's probably more superstitious than anything else. I've got. I've got these vocals, don't ever I mean, they're probably out of date by about four years. But you know, I always keep them in there. I make sure I've got them. I've never used them in my life to keep them. And I think that i think i'm not particularly superstitious, and I probably, I probably don't take as good care of myself. As, as you do when you travel. I've seen you travel. I probably go overboard. This is why you look so good. This is why I probably go over 15 years younger than me, you actually take care of yourself. And then whereas you know what I do? I do you know what? two things one I travel really light. So I travel extremely light. That's part of my travel plan is a travel really light. And then and then I just take this retake essentials with me. I think that, you know, I'm quite uncomplicated, you know, I probably should do more people say to me that, you know, have your vocal coach, I say no, I would actually recommend getting a vocal coach, even though I don't know because, you know, it is our business, you know, our throats and our voices and we do need to take more care of it. And I think cobblers children have the worst worn shoes. So although I would probably advocate taking a lot more in my travel bag, and I would probably suggest for the speakers they do, I'm not particularly good at it. So I try and travel in a simple and uncomplicated way. This is James Taylor a because you come from the world of sports, where you have those different coaches, you may have multiple coaches around someone. And and I've actually now spoken to a number of speaker speakers, I'm not going to say who they are, but very, very successful speakers. And when I talk to them, and they'll talk the they will see publicize this, but behind them, the they might have a vocal coach those might have Performance coach. So if you look at Taylor Swift will have a vocal coach and she will also have a performance coach too. They're doing two different tasks. They'll have someone that raised their jokes I was shocked when I found this out that they that you can actually get someone to write your jokes for you but some of these some of those Jamil Qureshi have exactly what I need James Taylor some of the speeds I know I'm I probably need the same thing when we need to, we need to find something but and and then also if you have someone that's more on the business side or helping them with their their speaking business as well, but they don't really necessarily say that out in a public which I think isn't might change. Because in the world of sports, you look at someone like an Andy Murray or and they're always said, I've got this coach here but then it's very isn't an assumed thing that you have different coaches. I think in the speaking business where it seems a little bit more of a lone wolf type of profession is not so common at the moment but that that that may change I think Jamil Qureshi I think you're right. I think, you know, it's funny because people think that success happens in isolation. You know, things like Formula One drivers, you know, golfers, tennis players, these are individual sports, and they're just not there's huge teams around them. You're absolutely right, massive teams around them. And, and I think that, you know, it may be seen as a sign of weakness if you have people supporting you, you know, but it's really not and I also like to think of speakers. It's almost like two types of speakers. There's no there's, there's, there's people who want to be a speaker, and they and they, and they dress themselves as speakers, their website, you know, how they present themselves. And I guess there's other people who are experts in their field who end up speaking, you know, these people who are good at something and they end up being a speaker. And I guess it probably depends upon your background and how you were you were, how you got there and where you wish to go on how much you will use that support or you believe you need that Support. But I agree with you, I think that any any support any network is not a sign of weakness. You know, in fact, quite the opposite. You know, I genuinely believe that, you know, we are more successful when we we have a community, we're more successful we work together. I think there is. There's almost too much. I'm thinking that, you know, we need to go it alone. I mean, I can make myself successful. I totally understand that when it comes to ownership, accountability, greater levels of responsibility for our careers, our businesses, I get that. But you know, I think the best people that I've ever worked with, you know, are great at driving personal responsibility, but they're also great at developing good people around them, you know, to help them on their journey to success. So if there's any James Taylor speaker management companies watching this just now and you know, you want to know how to stand out, build a little team, you know, around that speaker management company that if you bring a speaker into your business, you could perhaps, you know, give them immediate access to that team as well. It can be quite a useful resource about tools. Are there any, any online tools or apps that you find particularly useful for yourself, you're traveling all the time, obviously, and, and your gigs or any of that you find useful. Jamil Qureshi And all I do, all I do is I say, I stay really close to LinkedIn, really close to LinkedIn. And the reason why is that, to me, it's business news, you know, I will often see that there's an event going on somewhere, or, you know, someone will say, you know, thank you to x, y, and Zed for booking me. And I think, obviously, people who booked speakers there, and, you know, and if I've got a contact or a connection with them or spoken for that company before, you know, I'm, I will connect with them. You know, I will, you know, send them a short note. So, and so I use it in an interactive manner, LinkedIn. And although I don't use that, in regard to the speaking industry or events industry, you know, because so Many of my contacts on LinkedIn are to do with the industry in some way. Most of my feed is to do with as a real relevancy. So if there's something I see going on, someone's at an event today, or someone is planning an event or looking out for I'll often engage and interact with LinkedIn. So you know, that's probably, although that's not in my bag, it's on my laptop. If I'm at an airport or sitting on a plane wasting on summer, you know, I'll often be on LinkedIn and you know, engaging and interacting and looking out for so I think that my research and understanding of stakeholders who by speakers, organizations that use speakers, how they use them all sort of events here, my research actually is probably better than I give myself credit for, but I don't actually necessarily make time for it. I almost narrow my channels. So instead of being available through lots of channels, and having access to And the industry through lots of channels. You know, LinkedIn is almost enough for me. Maybe you know what, maybe, maybe I'm missing out, maybe I should do more. James Taylor But no, I mean, it's work, you know. And I think if, if, because you're primarily speaking to corporations to associations, that makes absolute sense, I think so we had Jeffrey Hayslett on talking as the C suite network in the state of New York. And he very much that yourself is b2b. And to LinkedIn is where where he lives if it was a speaker, who's more a b2c type of speaker like Brendon Burchard, or someone like that. Facebook, Instagram, that makes you obviously have a much more sense of spending time and resources there. But I think the more you're doing or focusing on that I actually, you know, really, for someone in the b2b space, I would actually say probably LinkedIn, YouTube. You've seen that now LinkedIn videos becoming much better as well but you know, those two things and yeah, i think i think that's that's pretty much all we need to so final question for you, if you will, I'm going to have you imagine you woke up tomorrow morning and you have to start from scratch. So you've got all the skills, all the knowledge you've learned over the years, but no one knows you, you know, no one, what would you do? How would you restart things? Jamil Qureshi Yes, okay. I didn't realize this interview would be so difficult. Okay, today, I think what I would do is that I would probably working on the premise if I if I believe what I'm saying. And I say that in, the more gigs you do, the more gigs you get, and I would have real confidence in my content and presentation style. So therefore, I would just go and get some gigs. And I, I've been quite fortunate that you know, I have a set fee for UK, Europe and you know, further afield, and I really haven't compromised much on that. And I think that you know, I've tried to work on value, not online. Price. And this is why people have said to me, maybe you should put your price up. But you know, I would consider even doing gigs for free. You know, and if I was starting out, starting out, not necessarily to gain the experience, but to gain exposure to more people that I would speak to, and the more I would sure I would be able to get a paid speaking gig from it. So, you know, I would then spend that money on some food and water. But um, but I'd be quite happy to do the free gigs until I couldn't do them anymore because you know, the few paid ones. And maybe there's any James Taylor money left over, you could you could renew your supply of vocal throat suites as well. If Jamil Qureshi I drill where's the best place that people want, check out the ones that went out. And James Taylor if people want to reach out to you, maybe to suggest you for a gig or something else, where's the best place for them to go and I haven't had this conversation. You probably already know where you're going to want us to send people to but we're going to go Jamil Qureshi Would you know, my website is Jamil Qureshi calm? And I'm obviously on LinkedIn. And my Twitter is Jamil underscore Kureishi. So, you know, anywhere through there, you know, is great. So most people will contact me through one of those three things. And then and that's really, you know, the, the channels that I engage with. So, some of your pleasure to hear from anyone James Taylor who wrote email, thank you so much for coming on today, sharing about your story. I think it's also very inspirational for people just to see how there's different ways of building speaking businesses as well in the way you have exemplified that. And you may not call it marketing, but I would probably call it marketing is just give a great speech and speak a lot. So it's been an absolute pleasure speaking with you, and hopefully we'll be sharing a stage together in the not too distant future. That would Jamil Qureshi be great. You'd show me out but that's the problem. And thank you ever so much indeed. And Thomas Real pleasure speaking to James like that as well. And yeah, hopefully speak soon. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. More of Jamil Qureshi Learn More About SpeakersU #speakerslife #speakersU

Stand Out In The Speaker Marketplace In today's episode Steve Lowell talks about How To Stand Out In The Speaker Marketplace. Would you like to learn how to stand out in the speaker marketplace? In today's interview James Taylor interviews speaker Steve Lowell about: How to generate revenue from the stage How to stand out as a speaker A mess, a moment, a mission Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl063-how-to-stand-out-in-the-speaker-marketplace-with-steve-lowell/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey, there's James Taylor, and I'm delighted to welcome Steve Lowe. Steve is a sought after speaker and mentor and one of only 15% of professional speakers worldwide holding the distinguished, certified speaking professional designation. In addition to this, he is the 2018, national president of the Canadian Association of speaking professionals and on the board of the global speakers Federation, we're gonna learn a bit more about that later, with a worldwide reputation for excellence and training, steeped coaches, executives, speakers and entrepreneurs in the art of winning over audiences using interactive educational and inspiring approaches, and as a result, exponentially increasing the influence and growing their businesses. And it's my great pleasure to have Steve with us today. So welcome, Steve. Steve Lowell Wow, thanks for having me here. I'm so excited about about this summit. And congratulations to you, James, for all the amazing work that you're doing and bringing all these incredible resources together for your clients. James Taylor And you're you've been traveling around the world because you, you about to become the president of the global speakers Federation. Is that correct? Steve Lowell Right. So I was the national president for the Canadian Association of Professional speakers in 2018. As you said, I'm now the immediate past president and I am now the vice president of the global speaker's Federation. So I'll be the incoming president in about a year or so. James Taylor So if anyone that doesn't know about the global speakers Federation, and what it does, Tell, tell us about what the GSM is. Steve Lowell Sure. So there are 16 countries around the world, each of whom have a speaking Association like they do in the UK and in the USA. And in Canada. There's 16 of these countries around the world that have associations for professional speakers. So there's a central hub organization called the Global speakers Federation. And these associations from all these different countries, they belong to the Federation. Now the Federation is like this central body by which these associations can share best practices and, and collaborate and it's just like a central hub where everybody can come together to make every Association stronger across the entire world. And so as the incoming president of the global speakers Federation, I'll have a lot of opportunity to work with the boards of directors of all of the different speakers associations around the world. And this is how we sort of bring the internet National speaking world together. James Taylor And in addition to all the different national associations having their own conferences, global speaker Federation also has a conference it is every every two years, I believe. Steve Lowell Yeah, it used to be every four years. But we made a decision, I think last year to run it every two years is called the Global speaker summit. And the next one is actually in February 2020. And it's happening in Namibia, in Africa. And we're so excited about that. And we're expecting, I don't know, somewhere around 200, maybe 300 people, something like that. And, and this is a really great opportunity for speakers around the world who are either international speakers, or people who aspire to be international speakers to come together and meet some of the top global speakers on the planet and just and shake hands and ask questions and learn, share, grow and belong together. And we're just so excited about it. James Taylor And everyone tells me Namibia is one of the most beautiful countries on the planet. So it was just just go into the movie. Everyone's telling me the radio About as a country to visit. So let's let's take a step back. How did you get into this strange, unusual world of professional speech? We'll begin. Steve Lowell Well, you know, actually, it all began for me at the age of six years old. So when I was six years old, I was a musician, you know, and a bit of a ham. And so I love to play my guitar and ham it up on the stage. And then that turned into a professional music career for most of my early adult life. And then I guess that was in my mid 20s or so. And I stumbled across a zig ziglar video, and I thought it was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. I want that job. Because, you know, he's got no equipment, he doesn't have to haul stuff around. You know, he speaks for 40 minutes and he goes home and in the music business, you know, we had trucks and vans that we traveled on the road and we play all night long and then you do it again the next night and it was awesome, but it was just you know, it was it was time for change for me and, and so I got into the world. of speaking and then I started training speakers very early in my career. And I just seem to have a knack or skill for that. And then over the years, over the last 3035 years, I've been honing that skill, developing that craft and coming up with a lot of very unique content specifically for speakers to help them in different areas, not just stagecraft, and message construction, but really going deep into their expertise and into their experience and their wisdom and their creativity, and pulling out that profound piece of messaging that only they can claim ownership of. And so that's kind of where it's all wound up. And that's what takes us around the world now. James Taylor And you mentioned Zig has been one of those early inspirations as you were kind of getting into the world of speaking. Who were the you know, the mentors that you had or Who were those speakers that you looked at? And you said, I like their how they built their speaking business because there's so many different models for building a speaking business. But was there any that you went? That's the kind of speakers I want to be able to speak in business I want to have. Steve Lowell Yeah, so I would say that the Zig was my primary sort of virtual mentor. I never really had any personal mentors to guide me through because I was always, how can I put that I was always a bit of a rebel. And I was one of those guys that needed to figure things out the hard way, you know, so I need to get in and do it wrong and screw it up and do it wrong and screw it up and then figure it out. It's just my nature. But the, but the speakers that I that really motivated me, were speakers that probably your audience wouldn't know, because these were speakers who were not out there on the public stage. But I would go in I would watch these speakers at at conventions and a corporate things and, and what I got really fascinated with was how they would be able to generate revenue from the stage so they would speak and then at the end, people would walk up and sometimes run to the back table to sign up to their to their stuff. And I was fascinated with how that works. And of course, there's the other side of the speaking business where people speak for a speaking fee, and at I did that. And I did. I worked in the corporate space and all that. But there was something about those speakers that that really captivated me. And this is long before, you know, the Brendon Burchard. And the ones that are popular today, this was years before them. And so I really started to try and study their craft. And I'll tell you, James, I never got it. I mean, I tried and tried and tried and tried and tried. And it never really happened for me until until fairly, but it's a real skill to do. Oh, James Taylor cool, pretty new kind of keynote. Steve Lowell Oh, yeah. It's it's totally different. But I was fascinated by the process. And so I just really spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was going on. I even studied neuroscience to try and figure it out, and a whole bunch of things. And so I mean, we we have a system now that works for it. And I can talk a little bit about that if you like but those were the people that really motivated me the most the ones that could get on the stage. And and it wasn't really for me about how amazing they were on the stage or how slick they were. Although Didn't notice those things, but was really impressive to me was how were they guiding the audience to respond the way they want the audience to respond. And I was fascinated by that process. So that's kind of where I focused all of my, my, you know, training. James Taylor And you remember point where, you know, in the early days, you were kind of trying to figure out that figuring out that blend of the obviously the psychology, the stage skills, finding your message where you were, was there a defining event or speech that you gave, we just kind of all seem to click into place and it seemed to work? Steve Lowell Yeah, well, there were many of those until it didn't work the next time. Alright, so the frustrating part of it, James, you know, I, I worked something out and I would say, okay, it works. I did it. And then all I got to do is do that again. And then I go to the next gig and I do the exact same thing and it wouldn't work, you know, and there's like years of this trying to try to figure this out. So was there a defining moment I don't think there was a day defining moment as because I think what happened for me was I had so many of these so called defining moments that I just sort of stopped looking for them. And what I started focusing on was, you know, building the the patterns of success over time. So there was no snap of the finger where it came to my awareness that now it's working. And yesterday, it wasn't, it was more of a process of learning and getting momentum and fine tuning. And now we kind of have it down to a bit of a science but you know, that there was no snap of a finger, you know, earth shattering, jaw dropping, life changing moment that made it happen, I thought there were you know, before that, but they turned out not to be James Taylor so talked about and in. No one thinks I often speak have a conversation with speakers about is around kind of positioning. Yeah. It's, you know, one of the good things now is we have this just so many speakers coming onto the onto the market, all different topics. Obviously, we're in trouble. Local marketplace now as well. And that's fantastic, because there's all these voices, new voices coming onto the stage. But the challenge that the flipside of the challenge is, how do you stand out? How do you find your own place in this marketplace? So I know when you are in sync, we were in Singapore recently in event together, and you were kind of talking about this idea of thinking about positioning and how you can stand out in a crowded marketplace. Steve Lowell Yeah, and there's, there's a lot of different angles around that, you know, there's the social media angle, and there's the website angle, and there's the branding angle, and, and there's all these different things you can do. And I tried to do all of those, and I wasn't really very successful at any of those things. So that when I when I look at standing out being noticed, and we talk about positioning, I talk about it this way. And you're an excellent example of this James and it's, it's like this is what do people attach your name to? What do they associate your name with? And so James, you know, you've done some magnetic If isn't work with this summit over the years, and so people now associate your name to the international speaker summit. And you've got that. And that's, that's a big piece now, of what positions you and it's a big piece of what what attracts people to you, in addition to everything else that you do. And so, you know, for me positioning is about what do people actually attach your name to. And so for Jane, and I and my wife, Jane and I, over the past five or six years, people have been attaching My name to what I call my rescue meter, and anybody who's seen it, they know what it is. And and so that is the positioning thing for me. So I'm becoming known as you know, I'm becoming known as the rep meter guy. And I'm, you know, I'm very much in demand as a mentor for professional speakers around the world because of that rep meter model system that that piece that I do, which I can talk to you about. So positioning as a speaker, I don't think that there's any one specific answer to it, but a answer like an answer. That works really well is when you have something that is so profoundly unique, or at least that you express it in a way that is unique that people can attach your name to it. And it's interesting because, you know, we hear a lot about differentiation, right? The marketing, people will talk about differentiate, and you have to be different. And what I've learned is James, you don't actually have to be different from anybody else who does what you do, you only have to appear to be different. And so and so what I found is the way you appear to be different starts by changing the language that you use when you speak about yourself or your business. And then and the ultimate goal here is to change the language that the world uses when they speak about you. That's the goal. And so you want to train the world to speak about you a certain way. And that starts by changing the way you speak about yourself. And then the other component to it is that your messaging isn't it's not enough that people understand Your message, they need to be able to repeat it, which means they need to be able to take your message, whatever it is, and apply it to their lives somehow. And then when they walk out the door, they need to be able to recognize opportunities in which your message resonates with them. And so that's sort of the process. And so there's an understanding, first of all, I don't actually have to be profoundly different, I just have to appear to be profoundly different. How am I going to do that, I'm going to start by changing the language that I use in my messaging and about myself, and the way I speak about myself so that I can train the world to speak about me a certain way, and then make that message repeatable so that they're speaking about me out there to other people. And so that's sort of the positioning trajectory that we've developed and, and that we're working on and, and that's kind of what we what we bring to the table when we work with speakers and coaches and trainers and authors and all the nice people who do what we do. James Taylor So it's a little bit like a new assistant, like Seth Godin talks about in terms of printing Our product, it has to be remarkable it has to be something that people remarked others about. Yeah, in order to kind of spread that viral nature, something something you mentioned in terms of positioning and creating those kind of statements, those those words, that you know, eventually you can have, you put them out into the world and they might be nothing people, but gradually over time, that means something in you, you connect you own that that phrase in the in the mind of the, of an audience member. One thing I often wonder about that is, you know, in part when I used to be involved in politics, we often message discipline, so disciplined with your message over and over again, to the point that people can repeat it, like, they get almost Confederate because they can just repeat it or that Oh, that's such and such. But, and I find, you know, I think I think for as a speaker sometimes as we were interested in often so many different things, is how to how to have that that discipline Plan of continually, can you repeating that message? I mean, have you any thoughts about that? Because that could be a, you know, if your mind kind of jumps around for different topics, I could speak about this, I could speak but I'm really interested in this topic just now. How do you give yourself enough discipline to be able to focus on that word? Steve Lowell Yeah. And I love this conversation. Because, you know, I hear this all the time, as do you, I'm sure you know, you know, I never met her microphone I didn't love and I can speak on anything like that. And, you know, I think that that philosophy can absolutely kill you as a professional speaker, because as you said, you want to have something that people can eventually, you know, attribute to you. So the discipline, I think, for me, the discipline was this, because I'm kind of like that, you know, I've got a lot of different things that I would love to talk on. But I had to make a conscious decision and I'm gonna, I'm gonna filter all this out, I'm gonna, you know, choose this particular lane. Now, that doesn't mean a particular necessarily particular audience. But here's what it meant meant for me is, once I had that, that piece of messaging that you Talking about I call it expert insights. By the way, that's the word that a word that I picked up out of a book somewhere. And I call it my expert insights. And this is what we teach people to do is develop their own unique expert insights. But once you have your expert insights, it's not about speaking, adjust about that, as much as it is being able to take that concept and apply it to different audiences. So for example, I can take this concept called the revenue meter and my expert insights, and I can speak to speakers, and I can spin it a certain way. A couple of weeks ago, I spoke at a convention for real estate investors, which which are not my audience at all, but I use the exact same content and I just take speaker out and put real estate investor in and you know, fine tune a few things and targeted to them. And then I do it with executives. So you know, I take this do the same content, I just pull the keywords out and change it so that it's relevant to the audience. So now what you're doing is you're taking your one message your one expertise or your two expertise. or whatever. And and instead of repeating the same thing over and over and over, which does happen, by the way, but there are opportunities for you often to take those expert insights, take that messaging, and just with some minor tweaking, you can make it available to a lot of different audiences. So it opens up the opportunities for the speaker and it makes it a little bit more interesting, you know, but I'll tell you something, though, with the discipline side, you know, for years, as I mentioned, I was in I was in the music business and you know, we would play in bars, James, we played in bars, and sometimes six nights a week on the road for years we did this and so you know, I can't tell you how many times I had to stand in front of an audience and play the song Brown Eyed girl right? And and if there's any musicians listening to this, you know, Brown Eyed girl is a beautiful song. It's a great song, but it's got like three chords and then one little extra chord, and it takes almost zero musical talent to play Brown Eyed girl, but the audience has loved it right and so every night well Hey, we're gonna play Brown Eyed girl. But here's the discipline. You know, I'm picking up my guitar and I'm ready to play and sing Brown Eyed girl and in my mind, I'm going I just I just don't want to do this song again. It's the third time tonight is the hundredth time this week, done it a million times. Like that's what's going on in my mind. But here's the discipline to that audience. It may be the very first time they're ever hearing us do it. And so every time we do it that audience every single time, they deserve 100% or more, I mean, they deserve every ounce of anything that I can muster to make it feel like it's the very first time I've ever played it. And to me speaking is exactly the same thing. And it's the same with any other you know, skill or discipline. We need to be able to show up for that audience regardless of who they are every single time without fail regardless of how we're feeling you know, I've spoken with the with the flu, as I'm sure you have. I spoke with, you know, with fractured ribs when I crashed my motorcycle I broke I've spoken broken legs come in you and you give 100% every single time period. So to me, that's just the basic discipline of being a speaker. And it's part of what we do. And it's part of what we're expected to do, even if it means that we're repeating same message over and over and over and over again, it's part of the business. James Taylor And you mentioned they just, obviously, you work with a lot of speakers and just kind of help them and coach them and around that positioning and the messaging and the business. I'm always intrigued, but, you know, you because you mentioned the music side, obviously, you know, like a music industry originally, as well. And I remember giving one of my very first speeches, I filmed it, and I sent it to a mutual friend, Frederic Heron from Singapore is a great speaker. And he and Frederic said, he said, because he knew I was a chameleon, and he said, you're basically being a cover band. Yeah. Okay, you need to pull your own songs now. Okay. Yeah. And it was fine because it's the way that We learned that we learn an instrument because we cover other people's stuff. And then gradually over time, it gives the basic skill set. And then they say, Okay, what do I want to say? What was my my thing? And I remember another mutual friend we have with Ron Kaufman. And I remember speaking, I've run I've got this idea. And, you know, it's about two things. I'm really passionate about technology and, and creativity. And it's this idea, like bringing these two things together. And I said, you know, this idea of the center, like this half human half machine thing that can it comes together and he and and you can only get this from someone that's experiencing the business and understand speaking internationally. And he said, center, yeah, as very European. So Oh, okay. And is that and so we started playing around and I came back and like, what about if we did like super creative, super creative? like super is like the augmented part and with technology and creative as the, the creativity part, and then Ron, and something you mentioned, like the small tweaks sometimes, and Ron said to me He said, make it a verb. So then that is a super creative you make it super creativity. And so super creativity is that word is now building and you're building you mentioned, like having a word or something you build on, which means nothing, the outside world. Some mostly there's no word at the moment. But gradually you look to develop it, but is it a little kind of steps in stage, like you're chiseling away at this thing until you can hopefully you have your Michelangelo's David or just an elephant or something. And so when you're working, you work with so many speakers in terms of helping them develop that find that that that position, that speaker thing that's underneath there. What are some of the good rules of thumb that you would suggest in order to start being able to really probe and find out what that is if someone could speak on anything, but what is that thing that's unique to them? Steve Lowell Yeah, and that's a big, big question because it's different for for everybody. So, you know, some people I find have, let me put it this way. Most speakers that we do And you'll recognize this I'm sure, most speakers, coaches, trainers, authors, entrepreneurs, people who use the spoken word to drive business. What we found is most of them are motivated by one of three or more of the three primary motivators. And the first one is what I call a mess. Which means some of us have, you know, a big massive story that we've overcome in our lives that have molded part of who we are. And I don't have a mess. I don't know if you have a mess. But I have a lot of it'll know a lot of speakers who do have a mess. A mess is you know, where they've had the illness or the accident or something major in their life. And some of us don't have a mess. But some of us have what I call a moment, a moment in time where we realize that we have a gift or a purpose. Like it's that moment or a series of moments in time, James, you know, where you go, this is it. This is why I'm here, right? And I have one of those, but a lot of people don't have one of those. And if they don't have a mess, and if they don't have a moment, then generally they have what I call a mission, which means they have a bigger purpose in life, right. There's a footprint they're trying to leave a legacy. See, they're trying to leave, there's a change. They're trying to evangelize or something. And so typically when we, when we, you know, talk to speakers, we typically find they fall somewhere in there in terms of their primary motivation. And then that motivation sort of nests upon upon which they base their messaging and everything else that they do. So for me, one of the rules of thumb is first determine what is your primary motivation, I mean, what really actually drives you to be in this business, and it could be as superficial as money, and it could be as profound as changing the world and it could be anywhere in between there and and both of those extremes are okay. But once you know what your primary motivator is, then that would that sort of helps you guide towards what really should you be spending your time looking for because ideally, you want something that stirs you at an emotional spiritual soul level almost other than something that just drives your intellect because there's something drives you're in intellect, that's a finite thing, typically, which means once you are intellectually satisfied with this piece, you move on to something else. And that's why people tend to jump around from from one thing to the other, but the soul or the spirit, or that thing that comes from inside. That is that is usually not a finite thing. That's usually something that's more, you know, it's almost infinite and a lot of people, that's what I think we need to find, because finding that piece, you know, the piece you're talking about, you know, what I call expert insights, or that one piece that is unique to you finding that can take an enormous amount of effort and time and, and introspection and, you know, a lot of years to try it and get it wrong and figure it out. I mean, it can be a really big process. And so this is why I think so many speakers never really find that piece. You know, James is because they're operating at the intellectual level. They become either intellectually exhausted and they give up or the exact opposite they become intellectually satisfied in Then they have to move on. So the answer isn't up here the answer, the answer is here. And that's where we have to look. And just and you know this from your music background, you know, James, the music doesn't come from the head, it doesn't come from the page. And it doesn't even come from the instrument. The music comes from the heart, it comes from the soul, and everything else are just vehicles in order to create the music. And I believe that speaking is exactly the same thing. And so many speakers speak from their head. And certainly when we first started as a speaker, you know, we're cover bands, we're all cover bands, right? I was a zig ziglar cover band, you know, for so many years, because I was in my head, just trying to get my you know, find my own stage. But then once we find the stage, once we find that place that comes from here, it gives us the drive. I mean, you know, I know how much work it is for you to do this summit. And you've been doing it for several years now. And you don't do this because it's a good idea. You do this because you're driven for this right. And this part of it's not part of what you do anymore. It's part of who you are. So that's the the angle we need to come from as a speaker. So to answer your question about best practices, I don't think there are any best know, best practices matter until you get that. And once once you've got that, then it's time to really start digging, but to just to start finding something because you're looking for something and you're and you're in your head doesn't isn't really gonna work. I don't know if that makes sense. No, James Taylor it makes total sense. And I think it's that it's that finding that that Wellspring? Oh, yeah. And it's a difficult thing to explain, you know, something which energy you might make might constitute an energy or all, you know, is going to that place and that does require a lot of work often requires a lot of inner, you know, inner work as well to find that thing to chip away at that and that's where I think mentors can be great, you know, and have that have or being part of a community is that I think the one thing about the danger the community is that That may be that need to feel to conform or to go along with what other people are doing in this. And when you're in Canada, you're at, you're in a country of great songwriters. So the journey mixers of this world, they've always kind of chosen their own path. And it's like, it's trying to find that. So using the community to be able to learn to contribute to, but at the same time, figuring out what your own thing is, as you said, your you know, that idea. And so as you were going, you mentioned this, this coming to that stage where that light bulb did go on for you. And it was like, this is it. This is what I want to devote my life to what what was it for you? Steve Lowell So that particular moment happened? I'm going to guess I'm in my late 20s. By that time, and I had, I saw the zig ziglar thing I became very attracted to the professional speaker thing. And so I thought, Well, where do I go to learn that and so I started working with a training company called the Dale Carnegie training organization, and, and I went through all of their courses and I was working for them. Am I in my mind, I was training to be an instructor, but I started in sales and all of that. So what happened was, I would go to all of the Dale Carnegie courses, and I'd be sitting at the back of the room as an assistant. And I'm watching the instructors, and I'm thinking, I'm trying to coach in my head. And sometimes the instructors would do things I'd say, Oh, I didn't like the way he did that. Oh, I like the way he did that. And I would have done it differently. And I'm really kind of in my mind evaluating the instructors, right. And then one time, the instructor came up to me and he said, Hey, Steve, would you like to try coaching somebody, which was like totally irregular, that would never happen, but it happened in this day? And I said, Yes, Yes, I would. So I stood up. And there were I think, 30 people in the class and this one guy, the student, he gets up to speak, and he is the one person in the class that absolutely did not want to be there. He was just he was his boss sent him there because he had no personality. He had no social skills like us is what he did not want to be there. And it was I think we Seven have a 13 week course. Anyway, he got up on the stage and he kind of had that, okay, I go ahead and press me kind of attitude, you know, and I and it within two minutes, man, I had that guy wide open. And he was like he was loving being in front of the room, and he never went back. And from there, he just soared. And it was in that moment, I thought, I can do this, this is what I can do. I can take people in front of an audience and I can find magic in them they never knew existed. And I did it in less than two minutes. And I had one of those earth shattering, jaw dropping life changing moments, then, and that's when I realized I can do this. But I also realized that I was in the wrong place. Because I didn't agree with a lot of the philosophies that were being taught at that time in that organization. And so ultimately, I left and started my own business, and I've been sort of doing it ever since. But that was the defining moment for me in terms of why I'm here. But there was actually another defining moment in In terms of my current content, and this was one of those things that happened and I don't know if you've seen the whole revenue meter thing but I have some videos for you and your and your guests that describe it but what was happening in my business is I had just met my wife Jane, we're going back maybe six years ago and my business was doing okay you know, but when Jane came into my life it just it really started to soar And I remember thinking you know, what, what has changed because I'm not doing anything differently just everything's working today that wasn't working before and and I was trying to figure out what changed for me in the business because I wanted that content. I wanted to see if there's something there I could bring into my you know, content. And I had one of those two o'clock in the morning straight out of bed ideas ever had one of those jams I just got to pop you right out of bed in the middle of the night. You get those right, yeah, the trick is always do you write them then you write it you write it down. So I've had many of those over the years but this one I was from dead sleep to Wow. And then I went and got my iPad and I wrote it all down. And that's become the foundation of what we do now. So those are the two pivotal moments, I think in terms of getting us to where we've been. Now, your earlier question, it sounds like I'm contradicting myself, because your earlier question was, you know, did you have a pivotal moment where you figured out how to be, you know, be productive from the stage. I never had a moment from that. But I did have that moment where I figured out why I'm here figure out what my gift was way back at age 2527, whatever it was, and I had this moment about five years ago, that drives the content we're using now. So you got to listen to those moments, because I think we all get them and like you said, we get them and then we don't write it down. And then you know, then it's gone. But I wrote that one down. So thank goodness I did, James Taylor obviously so and this rescue meter, this is a way of being able to benchmark yourself and then be able to track your progress and develop as a speaker. Steve Lowell Yeah, exactly. I'll give you a quick snapshot of it. It's basically like the What we've found in working with speakers all over the world is that there there are basically four states to a speaker's reputation as it relates to how people talk about you. I'm not talking about your reputation online, and although all that comes into play, but what is it that people actually say about you. And the first state is a state that I call obscurity. And obscurity means that people aren't really talking about you at all. Nobody really knows who you are or what you do. And so many people stay in that state for a long time. And if they stay there long enough, they end up getting out of the business. But if they do a few things, right, the next state is a state that I call competitive at the competitive state. What that kind of means James is, generally people know who you are, and they know what you do, but there's nothing really that separates you from everybody else who does what you do. And so people look at you as a something or an something and you're kind of in this category of many, and it's really difficult to operate in that state. And I would say about 95% of us And our business operate in that state, you know, for their entire careers. But then if a few things change, if you start changing the way you speak about yourself, and you start guiding the way the that the world speaks about you, then you can get to this stage that I call branded. Now, what the branded stage, this is where things really start to change in terms of your reputation out there at the branded stage. This is where people kind of look at you and they know what you do. They know who you are, and there's something different about you, even if they can't quite put their finger on it. Like your name doesn't necessarily rise to the top, but it kind of it's kind of, you know, escalating up there and you're getting some attention, eyebrows are raising the phone is starting to ring a little more people are not noticing you and you're in that stage. And that's a really good stage to be and that's the stage at which momentum starts to begin. And then the fourth stage, which is the ultimate stage is what I call the one. This is where you are the only logical choice in your field. This is where you pick and choose the gigs. You're going to take you Set your price people pay it, you choose how hard you're going to work, who you're going to work with. And now at this stage, you're kind of thinking more about legacy because your business has kind of taken care of itself. And interestingly enough, it has very little to do with tenure, it has very little to do with how long you've been in the business, and more to do with how you have trained the world to talk about you. And that's why these these unique pieces that I've been talking about, you know, I call it expert insights. And, you know, people they're different people call it different things, but that little package of of wisdom that only you can claim ownership of, that's what drives that conversation that takes a person from obscurity to competitive to branded to v one. So the rep you meter is really just a visual representation of those four states and then the discussion in terms of how you get from one to the next. James Taylor I think you're talking about that. So the first one was up was unknown. I'm talking about the first of a first security obscurity. So it's interesting because as you're saying, I'm also thinking about you know, what enquiries come in to speaking engagements, the level of conversation you have with someone depending on where they're coming in. So, you know, if you're in obscurity frankly you're not getting any inbound leads anyway there's nothing nothing coming you're just wondering you're having to go and fight every single fight. The second one is your in your in the competition you're in the running but you're not differentiated. I'm guessing in any major way. No, I heard and I see the emails that come in, which are around Oh, we've seen your we've seen your work around create my kissing on creativity, we really like it, we think it could work well for this particular event or this particular client. So you start to move up a little bit more branded because they like your, like you or they like your message like the way that you see it your unique take. But then there's a final one, which is the one I love when I get those emails in. And we're looking to book bring a speaker in to talk about this idea of super creativity. Which word is like that I'm not competing with anyone. You got Steve Lowell it. And so that's exactly right. So for you, it's super creativity, your name gets attached to that. And so now you become the one. So you nailed it. That's exactly the process. Yeah. James Taylor So and it's great, because I think as you start to do that, I mean, also, you can think of this in terms of a pricing perspective as well. I think all those people who are, you know, as you say, the one they own something, you know, start with why Simon Sinek Yeah, sure. I mean, I don't know what Simon's fee is at the moment, but it will be pretty significant he owns it owns something in the mind of the customer, though, so is an awesome, very different conversations that are going on there as well. So I love that so obscurity to competitor to brand new to the one and you have this video series, which we're gonna have a link here below. So people can can go through and obviously go much more in depth into how each of these work, how you develop each of these, these stages as well. And so we're going to have a link here. People just click on that link, and anything else that we need to, you want to kind of say just at the stages, as people kind of thinking now kind of getting their head around this idea of, of the one and what it takes to be the one? Steve Lowell Sure. Here's, I think, the most important premise to start with, and that is, get your head out of your solution. Because here's the thing, you know, we go, we go to many conferences around the world, as do you, and we see many speakers as to you. And, you know, we go to these conferences, and there may be, you know, 5060 speakers over three, four days. And, and even if all of them are outstanding on the platform, they got great stories, they got great show and slides, and they make you laugh, and they make you think, and they make you cry, and they do all the things speakers are supposed to do. And at the end of the three, four days or whatever it is, you walk out of there and usually there's only one or two that actually stick in your mind. Right? And and so there's a reason why only one or two actually stick in your mind and generally the reason is this, because most of the speakers are focusing on their solution. There. Five Pillars to this, there are six secrets to that there are three models to this, there's a platform for this. And it's not that that's a bad thing. I mean, that's an okay thing they get on the stage, they tell their stories, and then they present their solution in the context of those stories. And then, you know, and that's their positioning. But the problem with that is, that's what 98% of the speakers do. And so what, what I recommend is get your head out of your solution. And don't even talk about your solution, help the audience understand that they have a very specific problem first, and if you can help them understand that they have a problem, help them and it's usually a problem they were never awareness aware of. So you bring to their awareness, a problem they never knew they had, then you help them understand the cost of having that problem. And then you present to them here's why that problem exists. And only then are they really at all interested in your solution. And so reverse the order of your presentation, get the solution out, leave it to the very end, help them understand their condition better help them understand the cost of their condition. help them understand why they're in that condition and then bring your solution to the stage. Because here's what will happen, people will walk out the door, and they're not going to remember your solution at all, what they know is they need you. That's what they know. And they're not going to be able to remember your four secrets to this, your four pillars to that or your six strategies, or whatever. What they aren't going to remember is that James is that guy for Super creativity, that's him, or whatever that thing is, he calls it, that's the guy I need. That's what you want them to remember when they walk out. And even if even if you're not selling, coaching, training, consulting, whatever, that's what you want them talking about when they go to the next convention, or when they put their feedback form in or where it's time for their organization to hire a speaker. All they're going to know is that guy understands or that lady understands our world better than we do. And we need them in front of us. And so that would be sort of the starting point. James Taylor Great. So we're gonna have that link. Yes, you can get that video series. As you start to finish up. I'd love to know, if you're traveling a lot just now in your role. Go Speakers Federation, if you had a long haul flight, and you could choose any speaker or author or thought leader to be sitting next to you on that long haul flight, living the living all that. So you can have a really good conversation with them. Who would that speaker author or thought leader be? Oh, boy. Well, I would you know what, I would have to go with Zig, right. I had the opportunity to meet him a couple of times. And I do have time for like, 30 seconds story. Absolutely. I guess I use sigma stories. Steve Lowell Okay, so I, you know, I had written a couple of letters to Zig over the years and all the time, he always hand wrote me back, which I thought was cool. But he didn't really know who I was. We could have just a guy, right. So he was speaking in Montreal, which is about two hours away from where I live in Ottawa, Canada. And so I went to see him speak because I hadn't seen him live before. So I get to the hall where he's speaking it's a big conference room hotel room, and I opened the doors because I wanted to try and go get a front front row seat and there was nobody in the place. So I thought I'm going to run up to the front, I'm gonna put my book because I had one of his books, I put it on the front chair, and I'm gonna reserve my seat. And as I look up on the stage, there he is. He's on the stage. And at that time, he was using overhead slides. Remember what the overhead projector was that he was using overhead slides? So I took my book, and I said, Mr. Ziegler, would you signed my book for me, and he signed and it was just him and I in the whole place. So we spent maybe five minutes chatting, then he excused himself because he had to get ready and people were starting to come in. So that's that was my entire experience with him at that time. Now, it was over a year later, and he was speaking in Ottawa, my own town. So I thought to myself, you know what, it worked once it auto work again, right? So I showed up to the place an hour early and I cracked the door and I can get in and no one's there and I walk up to the front. And there he is on the stage. And now Mr. Ziegler would travel like how many people what he needs in a year, right millions of people he would meet in a year. This was over a year later. He looked down at me and he said, Hi, Steve. Yeah. And that that's what I did. And so to me, that was the essence of a quality being. And so that's one of the reasons why, you know, other than his speaking and all that that was probably what solidified him in my mind as somebody I wanted to aspire to be. Now, sadly enough, I don't remember my own name, and I have your name across the screen so I can remember it. I'm teasing. I'm kidding. But I'm not very good at remembering names, but but the level of integrity that he displayed every time I saw him was very inspiring to me. So I think if I could choose anybody to sit beside me on the airplane, it would probably be Zig James Taylor fantastic, great, great, great potential passenger to be beyond that long haul flight with together and what about in your speaker bag, what is in that bag with you that you carry with you to all of your various speaking engagements. Steve Lowell Man, there's, there's a whole bunch of them but there's there's two that that are really old that I always go back to And one of them is the science of getting rich by Wallace D wattles. And there's just something comforting about about that message. And I listened to it on audio books. And the other is called the master key. And the master key is even older, it was written in, I don't know, 1812 verse or something. And it's very old colonial sort of English, it's hard to follow. But it's, there's something about those books, they're, they're not tactical, they're, it's more about belief systems, and it's more about that type of thing. And I've got all kinds of books on strategy, you know, Blue Ocean Strategy and never split the difference. And, you know, all of the Robert Cialdini stuff and all of those and they're all awesome, and I read them all and I listen to them all and I love them all. But when I'm feeling just like I need, you know, I just need something other than intellect. I usually go to those to the science of getting rich, or the master key and I listened to those because they just get to the core of The beliefs that that drive, you know, my ability to stay with it when when sometimes because, you know, we all get the doubts, right? And, and that's though I think those are my two go to books. And then Zig Ziglar, his first book, see you at the top used to be my go to book. But what would happen James is I would buy it and then I'd lend it to somebody and never come back. So I buy another one, I must have given out 300 copies of See you at the top. So I just sort of memorize the whole thing. And so even I don't buy it anymore. But those are the ones that are sort of most valuable to me. James Taylor And what about mobile apps? Are there any apps online tools you find very useful for yourself as a speaker? Steve Lowell Yeah, there's one that I just got. I can't show it to you now. But yeah, there's a lot of apps but there's one that I just picked up at NSA influence convention last week, and it's called savvy card as a VVY card. And what it is is like an online business card, so it's meant to replace paper business cards. But what's cool about it is you know, you meet somebody in the hall and they say, hey, do you have a business card? And I say, yeah, just give me your number. I'll send it to you, boom, boom, boom, I send it to them. And now, they're in sort of a, like a database. But the other thing is that I have their phone number, and I and I get to see what kind of activity they use with my card. And because it's an online card, it's got my videos there. It's got all my contact information in there. It's got all my websites there, everything is there, and I can watch their interaction with it. And I can follow up with them on it. In addition to that, it's not really an app. It's actually a website that looks like an app. So every time somebody looks at my card, it elevates the ranking on Google. And so it's actually got this practical application behind it. It's called savvy card sa ve ve y card. I saw them at NSA influence. I went down, talk to them signed up and I absolutely love it. James Taylor Fantastic. I'll put a link to that here as well. And finally, Steve, let's imagine you woke up tomorrow morning and you have to start from scratch. So you have all the skills or the knowledge you've acquired over the years. But no one knows you you know no one will would you do? How would you restart things? Steve Lowell The very first thing I would do James is that assemble the right team. Because I spent all my life trying to do it myself. And and it was, it is not good. And then when I met my wife, Jane, you know, she comes from a very successful business background. So she understands business at a level that I just don't. And what I had to come to the realization with is, you know, James, I'm only good at a small subset of things. And that's my speaking of training it like my content like that. But when I try and run the business, I'm not good at most of that stuff. And I had to come to that realization, but what I know now that I wish I knew then or I wish I was smart enough to be aware of them was getting the right people in the right space doing the right things, people you know, people will there are people who will play at the things that you have to work at. So what we need to do is find those people who play at the things that I have to work at. Jane is a master at that she knows exactly what she can play at What she has to work at, and she farms everything out. So when that element came into my life, it just it changed everything about my business. And so she and I run our business together. But that would be I think the main thing is get the team in place. And there's a number of things, of course, but that is definitely the biggest mistake that I made. And if I had to do it again, that's what I would do. James Taylor build a team. And if you want to learn more about you, your speaking programs, the other things, you've got your training and connect with you. where's the best place to go and do that? Steve Lowell Yeah, go to my website. Steve law. COMM it's all there. James Taylor Yeah. Well, Steve, I know we're gonna meet each other somewhere. It might be Namibia, it might be some conference somewhere. Who knows? Who knows. But thank you so much. And thank you for bringing the all your knowledge and I know how much you serve. Also the community of speakers as well. We didn't even get a chance to talk about that side of things, but you put a huge amount of service into helping other speakers be the best and get their message out into the world and You know, take their mission and take it further. So thank you so much for the work that you do and I look forward to sharing a stage somewhere in the in the near future together. Steve Lowell Well thank you for the opportunity and I look forward to it as well. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. More of Steve Lowell Learn More About SpeakersU #speakerslife #speakersU

First Principles Of Speaking In today's episode Jim Cathcart talks about The First Principles Of Speaking. Ever wanted to know what the first principles of speaking are? You know, the timeless strategies for building a successful speaking business? In today's interview James Taylor interviews speaker Jim Cathcart about: The giants of professional speaking What really matters in the speaking business Creating a body of work Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl062-the-first-principles-of-speaking-with-jim-cathcart/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey there, it's James Taylor and I'm delighted today to welcome Jim Cathcart. Jim Cathcart CSP. CPA is one of the most award winning professional speakers on planet Earth. His TEDx video is in the top 1% or 130 130,000 videos. And in addition to this, Jim is in the speaker Hall of Fame. Say And Monty Hall of Fame and has written 20 books. He speaks several weeks a year all across China and his entrepreneur in residence for the School of Management at California Lutheran University. And if this wasn't enough, he's also a professional guitarist, Mountain Trail runner, and motorcyclist. And it's my great pleasure to have Jim with us today. So welcome, Jim. Jim Cathcart It's wonderful to be with you, James. Thank you. James Taylor So share with everyone what's happening in your world just now. Jim Cathcart Oh, war. Wow. Let's see. Well, the mountain trail running. I did that yesterday morning. And then I've been planning my next trip to China, which is August 26. And I'll be doing two or three cities over there speaking to thousands of people at a time with a translator standing at my elbow. So I do one paragraph, another paragraph. All day long. That's a little awkward at first, but you get the rhythm down after a while and I've got seven books in the works. I've been written and published 20 books. Let's see. I'm looking for co authors. So if there's someone in my field who knows me and my works, and they're interested in collaborating with me, then I'd be interested in hearing from them and I'm playing rock and roll spent a couple hours doing that with colleagues yesterday and God's great beers delicious. James Taylor So life is good. So I mentioned you are a CPA, he became Hall of Fame. So for people that don't haven't heard of CPA, what is it and the history Jim Cathcart it comes from an organization called the National Speakers Association, which is a US based but now worldwide, as well. association of people who speak for a living you know, speakers and trainers and keynote speakers. And consultants and entertainers and all kinds of people from all walks of life. They're about 5004 or 5000 members in the US, and several thousand more around the world. And I'm a past national president of that group. I joined back before the invention of dirt. I joined in 1976. I was 30 years old. I'll save you the math. I'm 72. And I joined in 76, when we had about 200 members and then many years later became their national president. They bestow an order of honor each year called the speaker Hall of Fame Award and its designation is CP a II Council of beers award for excellence. And then CSP is certified speaking professional which is an earned designation rather than an award. And you get that through years of study and practice and success. And that little fella over in the corner you can see over my shoulder, there's a statute. That's Cabot Robert. He's the founder of the National Speakers Association. He passed away about age 97, several years ago, but he started it all. And that's an award they give each year to sort of a lifetime achievement award to the person that feel as behave most like our founder in supporting and encouraging others. James Taylor So I was I was in India last week. And while I was there, I was speaking for some other conferences and events and clients about why I was there, I managed to go and hang out with some of the members of the professional Speakers Association of India, which is wonderful member of the global speakers Federation just started. We were just talking about our speakers we admired as you can look for, and I mentioned a couple of other, the older names from the I guess from the world of speaking and Match some of these names in a second. And they hadn't heard. So I thought one thing I'd love to do on this call because because you have this this kind of deep history with the speaker's community, and with the National Speakers Association, who take us back a little bit for those who are some of those kind of early speakers that maybe are not with us anymore, that any speaker that's watching this just now, they should go find those YouTube videos, find those audio audio tapes, if there's only tapes, mp3, they should go and check them out, because that maybe we've kind of forgotten what the what the game is about speaking, Jim Cathcart right? Yeah. By the way, last week in Denver, Colorado, I was at the global speakers Federation meeting. I was I was making a presentation on behalf of the new China Speakers Association that I'm co founding with, with people there. When I joined the NSA National Speakers Association, there were, as I mentioned about 200 members. Well, all my heroes were among those 200 members. And my speaker heroes were the Great's of the day. You know, people like Zig Ziglar, who was new at the time, and Zig passed away now but he became a good friend of mine over time. Og, man Dino, oh gee, man Dino. His real name was Augustine men Dino and he was the author of many, many million million dollar books, the best known of which is the greatest salesman in the world. Gosh, W Clement stone was the owner of combined insurance company of North America and it made well it actually became the sort of the bill gates of his day was the richest man in America for a while, and I got to know him and work with him briefly. Earl Nightingale was my personal mentor, the main one that inspired me he was on radio more than on stages, but enormously influential, you should look up Earl Nightingale comma the Strangest Secret And there were YouTubes of these folks. You can see them, you know, gosh, Dr. Kenneth McFarland, he seldom mentioned but he was one of the people that inspired all those other people I just mentioned, and I had a chance to briefly know him. Have it, Robert, the not Roberts. But Robert, like a first name. That's his last name Cabot, Robert. He was the founder of the National Speakers Association. There's one more guy who was the one who invited me in. And that's bill go g o v. And Bill was the first president of NSA. And just funny as could be, he was a sales motivator. And all of those people, I was standing around looking up to them, you know, and thinking, gosh, could I touch the hem of your garment? And I went to my first convention, and I was I'm a rosy cheeks, 30 year old newbie, right? And I'm there around all these people that I've known about how Heard recordings off. And I just, I was just amazed to be there and a little odd. And so I went to all of the meetings of the convention that I could. But there was one meeting that I couldn't afford it was $40 extra. Whoa, in 1977 $40 extra was a lot of money. And so I went across the street and bought a hot dog from a street vendor. And I came back and I stood outside the meeting room for the $40 banquet. And as the door would open, people would come and go, I would listen to the speakers speaking. And I remember when people would come out, I would hold the door for them for a moment and let it close more slowly so I could hear a little bit more, because as soon as it was closed out, closed out again, you know, so long since finished my hot dog but thinking back on that now I've been the the president of NSA received the golden gavel award from Toastmasters International, I've been celebrated all over the world as a successful speaker in one way or another, you got 20 books and 3200 paid speeches to my credit now. And reflecting back on that. I still feel a little bit like that guy inside, you know, the one that was standing in the hallway. I still feel like what an amazing privilege to be in this and to be getting away with being considered an insider. James Taylor But But it's interesting because you obviously have this interest like I do in music. And often they have these documentaries where they look at the the musical, the tree, the musical tree, oh, bang. And, and I often wonder, I don't know if someone's done this in terms of the speakers because there's oftentimes I'll hear a speaker who's a new speaker, rather the new speaker I'll hear them say a line. But I'll be having a conversation with them. And they'll say, I really like what you did. Then he said, Oh, I got that from this person. Right? It actually it didn't come originally came from like Zig Ziglar, or it came from somewhere else is kind Jim Cathcart of Zig got it from, you know, Norman Vincent Peale, or Dr. Peale. Got it from Napoleon Hill who wrote thinking grow rich or whatever, you know, it goes all the way back. For others. We've been able to trace these things back is to the late 1800s, early 1900s, a man named Samuel smiles. And he was one of the early early success gurus in America. And another one that came along that was a huge influence. Elbert Hubbard Hubbard died of when they sunk the Lusitania ages ago, back the beginning of World War One, that timeframe. Yeah, it's just an amazing legacy. James Taylor So now you're going out to you in China a lot. You're helping set up the China's Speakers Association, and which is, obviously, there's a whole new flourishing of new countries bringing new Speakers Association, lots of new speakers coming up. What are some of the what are the big differences that you notice a new speaker starting now as opposed to when you when you were first getting started? And also what some of the the opportunities, some things that you didn't you didn't have that the speaker today has? Jim Cathcart well consider that when I started. I had been a trainer, I was teaching other people's courses and I thought this is fun. I like this. I don't want to be a teacher in a school system. But I but I love teaching and I love helping people succeed. But there was no internet at all. There was no there were no cell phones. Everything was home phones, you know dial phones, or pay phones. We put in the coins which to a lot of people Today is a foreign concept phone books. What what's a phone book, you know, this was before fax machines. So there was no email. People if you wanted to communicate it with snail mail only you write a letter or you take a document, you put it now envelope, lick it, stamp it, take it to the post office or give it to your post man. And, and they were all men at the time. And then, you know, you wait. So the time gap between wanting or intending something, and achieving or receiving it was huge compared to today. I mean, this morning I i've been online I've communicated with probably 25 or 30 different people direct one to one communication, not real time, because they'll probably read it later today or maybe even tomorrow. But they were able to send me a message and I got back to them. Like that. Plus, if I needed information before responding, I went on line. Siri, hey, what's James Taylor's middle name? And what's his jacket size right now and and she probably knows that she's searching for that as we speak. By the way, I know Siri. honest truth. I know personally no Siri, the lady that made voices in Zurich. Her name's Karen Jacobson. She lives in New York and she is the Australian accented voice of Siri. She's also the GPS girl who's in a billion. Let that sink in GPS systems around the world. She's the one that says recalculating. Yep. So what's the difference today and then then it was slower then. You had to go to the library to do research. physically go to the library. Today, you can find answers instantly while you're sitting at the dinner table, which is rude. But possible, and that Wow, what a different world. Now you say okay, yeah, but there's so much more competition today. Granted, there is when I became a professional speaker, motivational speakers we're not even known Have you would tell someone, I'm a motivational speaker and trainer, what's that? Well, I deliver speeches and you know, teach people success methods that help them do better. Really, people pay for that? You know, I mean, honestly, it was a there was no file in people's head for that data. And today, everybody says, you may like Tony Robbins, you know, yeah. And who I know, by the way, you know, I've done a firewalk with him. I've had lunch with him and been around him a half dozen times. And he's probably the best known because he kind of a rock star in my field. But today, the opportunity is just enormous because people already believe at all that you is a good idea. I had to sell that idea. Because people say no and I graduated school. I'm done learning I'm going to work now. And companies would say no, we don't bring in outside trainers, you're not in our field. What could you teach us? Well, I could teach you sales techniques. I could teach you effective listening how to be a better leader, how to not know. You don't know our business. And so today, heck, you can know somebody's business fairly well in an hour. Just doing web searches, you know, we know it well enough to at least talk intelligently about it and ask the right questions. So today, I think it's easier but there's so many others out there you've got to you got to really be the real deal and stand out and do your homework and, and be outcome oriented for your client. You got to honestly want to help Zig Ziglar had a famous quote, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Well, I've altered that just a little bit. To make it more directly applicable, people don't care what you know, until they know that you care. So if you sincerely care about helping other people, today, there are more ways to do it more easily and more rapidly than there ever have been in all recorded history. James Taylor So we now have obviously a lot more speed as the velocity is a lot faster, which obviously increases competition because yourself and you know, the even the speakers before you the the Auckland dinos and Zig Ziglar as they kind of laid the groundwork, they were the path founders there as well. But I'm also wondering, what you know, people will like scientists will often talk about first principles, things don't really change or someone like Charlie Munger, who's Warren Buffett's business partner, right? Well, he says, always look at what the first principles, you know, what's the what's the things that remain? So what are some of those first principles that regardless of whether you are a speaker in 1960, or you were the speaker and now in 2020, that don't really change Jim Cathcart that. That's a great question. By the way, whenever I'm doing speaker schools and I do that pretty frequently teach other speakers how to do their, what they do. Um, the first thing I start with is I tell them, Look, let's talk about what matters. The speaker doesn't matter. The audience doesn't matter. The message doesn't matter. And they go away, wait, wait, hold it, there's nothing left to wait for it. What matters or at least matters most all those things matter. But what matters most is what the audience can do with the message from that speaker. So that's a first principle, the only thing that really justifies all these people coming together. And you being in front of them with a message is whether they can benefit from the message or not. Because if you're just there to tell stories and put on a show, then bill yourself as an entertainer and get a smaller fee, or become a big, big celebrity and get a large fee. But if you're there as a speaker, professional speaker, your job is not to make sounds is to have an impact on the listeners to make a difference for them. So someone says, Jim, you're a motivational speaker, motivate me? And I tell them no, and they say what? So motives aren't something you give people, there's something you stimulate that live within people. If If I come to you and I put a gun to your head and ask for your money, if you don't want to continue to live, the guns not a stimulus, it's not motivating you. So you're just saying Take your best shot, right? But if you want to stay alive, you'll probably give me your money. Now, I didn't motivate you. The desire to live is what motivated you. And the gun was just a stimulus that threatened the desire to live. Right? So how do you motivate employees find out what they want, find out what they care about, find out how they'd like to be treated, find out what makes them go home at the end of the day, saying, Man, that was a good day. I'm so glad I work here. Or wait till I tell you what I was able to do for a customer today. You know, when you find those motives inside your people, then you can stimulate those motives with the right kind of actions, right kind of rewards, right kind of incentives, things like that, and the right kind of human treatment. You know, most people don't leave when they leave a company when they quit. They don't leave the company, they leave a person. They leave somebody they don't want to work with anymore. And look at it that way, it makes things a whole lot simpler and easier to understand. Oh, here's another first principle. Customer Service should be given, not pursued. Customer Loyalty should be given, not pursued. So when you say we want to increase customer loyalty, I'd say great. How are you going to be more loyal to your customers? And they say to me No, no, no, you don't get it. We want the customers to be more loyal test. Okay, got to start somewhere. How are you going to be more loyal to them? Like when on the days when they're not buying? What are you going to do that makes them know that you care? No, Jim, you don't get it. We just want them to buy from us again next time. Yeah, yeah, that's called greed and selfishness. Right. Let's talk about customer loyalty. What would make somebody say I am so glad I do business with this person or this company. The way they're treated and the way you honor your word. James Taylor And sometimes these, the unexpected. I mean, I think some of the actually, even some of the bureaus that I work with is bureaus. the good ones that are you know, that there's some things that they're just, they'll see something and they'll just, they'll send some something to me, they email me something. And it's nothing about it's not transactional in any way. But they know I'm interested in that or they know that my partner is interested in something just now and it's and it can help grow up it can help grow our business. So it's just about showing Ron Kaufman the speaker, he talks about he talks about careology which I love. Yeah. Jim Cathcart Very, very dear friend of mine. Yes. He James Taylor talks about his idea of moving away. We can just be in customer service, but actually what his customers have you break it all down is Caring is really a very, very deep level. Jim Cathcart One of the books that I'm best known for is this one, relationship selling. And the whole idea of relationship selling is not just being nice to people, that would be courteous selling, I guess, relationship selling is based on the idea that business is about serving people and gaining profit by doing so. So business is all about making the world a better place and being rewarded for having done that. So relationship selling assumes a relationship is an asset or it could be a liability. But if you look at all your connections with with all your customers and would be customers, as the beginning of an enduring, long term relationship, then yes, you can intelligently cultivate each of those connections to where there's an acquaintance And then from an acquaintance to an affinity or you know, you like each other, trust each other a little bit. And then over time you get to where you rely on each other. And then you don't ever want to lose each other, you know, so you can take it from just I see you, I'm not a threat to you, you're not a threat. To me, that's the basic beginning of a possible relationship to I do until death do us part, you know, and between those two extremes, there's a whole lot of trust building. And you don't build trust from the outside you earn it and it's given from the inside so the other person always controls whether there's trust being bestowed or not. James Taylor And has as the the whole the area of selling in selling your speaking programs wherever they may be. Has that changed significantly over the years or are we still Is it still pretty much a very similar type of thing you the individual techniques and may have to But fundamentally, the strategy is the same. Jim Cathcart Well, fundamentally, the strategy is the same, but the steps required are so vastly different. Like I used to make, I don't know how many phone calls a day, but I was in a typical year delivering about 120 speeches in different cities around the country. And I was mostly domestic us back then. But I was constantly on the telephone. And I would call a company, you know, just completely out of the blue, I would call someone for the first time ever and say, Excuse me, do you hold conventions for your company or your industry? Well, yes, we do. Well, which department handles that? Oh, that comes from the executive department. Okay. Would you please transfer me to them? So I get transferred to the executive department and I've got my own little checklist of the questions I need to ask not a script, but a guide, you know, kind of like speech notes, but not a speech script. I would I would talk about meetings and I would ask them, Do they ever use outside speakers? And what is the purpose of the of the meeting typically? And how do people respond? And what do you consider, you know, the most successful recent meeting you help? So I would have to interview people quite a bit just to find out, is there a possibility they're going to book an outside speaker, and most of them didn't. And I had about five sales to make sell them on the concept of using an outside speaker on the the belief that teaching soft skills like human human relations skills, and such would be a useful thing. Instead of teaching the latest engineering technology, I had to persuade them that having an outsider who was beginning to understand their business could still benefit them because he's teaching universal principles, and then teach them or convince them that a keynote speech could lead to a seminar could lead to a group Discussion could lead to everybody reading a book and discussing the book and applying it in there that about you know, so I had all these things to convince them off and I was selling audio cassettes and they had reel to reel they had record players and they had eight tracks. And so I had to sell them not only the recordings, but the idea that listening to a recording could teach you something because that was not considered a given. And then I have a kick to sell them a cassette player and batteries. I honestly did. I had to sell a cassette player and batteries so they could consume my product. James Taylor As I'm hearing you talk about this chip, I'm just thinking, Wow, we have it so easy now online courses, online memberships. We I could think of an idea this morning. I could film it this afternoon and have it being sold later this evening directly to the car. Jim Cathcart You could be sitting there saying okay, I want to sell to IBM Corp. gration or Apple or somebody, you know that some huge enterprise, that's okay I want to sell to Amazon what, you know what are the principles? And you're asking Siri what are the principles of enterprise selling? And she comes back with a whole bunch of websites and you click on there and there's articles on when selling to a huge enterprise. This is what's different from selling one to one to a small business. And then you say, Okay, well how do I find the headquarters office of Apple corporate and you know, Apple computers, and who's in charge of their training department thing, and it's there. Wow. James Taylor But regardless of whether you're doing it back then, or whether you're, you're doing, you know, kind of selling now as I'm looking through in terms of strategy, you know, you got moving things from suspects to qualifying to prospects to come estimate to reflect customer and referral. So some other things stay the same. So there's an there's an intent, it has to be you say like an intentionality. To this there has to have to have a system. Jim Cathcart That comes back to my earlier statement you asked about first principles in speaking. And I said, it's about what the audience can do with your message. In other words, it's about serving people. Well, the same thing is true in selling. If you are there as a partner in problem solving, if you are looking for people to help instead of people to persuade, then you will be welcomed more often than rejected. But the key to it is your mindset. You've got to in your heart and mind, honestly want to be a value to someone else. And be willing to find a creative way to do that so that you can get compensated. And so if you go in as a partner in problem solving, you can talk to anybody whether you have a sale in mind or not. generate some pretty amazing conversations. I was once on the plane next to Kenny Ortega. Kenny Ortega was the man who produced the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He's also the guy who designed the orchestration of the fountains in Las Vegas in front of Bellagio hotel, and produced the movie. This is it with Michael Jackson. And he was he's an amazing guy. So I'm sitting on a plane flying from LA to Las Vegas. And he sits down next to me and we just start chatting. And I said, so what's what's your field? He said, Well, I, I create things. So really, what kind of things and he told me those things. And I thought for a minute and I said, the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics. Wow. I said I would think That the biggest challenge was keeping the flame alive inside each of the people. In other words, keeping the spirit of the Olympics, foremost in their minds and hearts, through all the 10s of thousands of people from all the countries all over the world, keeping that one central focus in everybody was probably your biggest challenge. And he looked at me and his mouth dropped open. He said, Nobody notices that. He said, that's exactly what the job was. He said, my biggest challenge was keeping everybody engaged like that. Wow. He said, Here's my card. If I'd never be helpful, give me a call. Well, okay. Now imagine If, on the other hand, I said Hi, I'm Jim Cathcart. I'm a professional motivational speaker motivation is a very valuable thing in our society. Wouldn't you agree? How do you motivate the people in your organization? I mean, just that, right? Instead, I'm just talking with a guy and looking for something to admire and compliment. And as I heard it, I thought about it, and I thought deeper what's the first principle? And then I commented on that, and it blew his mind. And he offered me his card. I never didn't even have it in mind to ask for it. James Taylor That reminds me if I think Stephen Covey, I think he was a CPA as well as people of faith Jim Cathcart No, but he was definitely a major influence in my field. I knew him he hired me a couple times to present on programs appeals, and I shared the platform with him. amazing guy, James Taylor so he had that phrase, seek first to understand then be understood. Jim Cathcart Right goes that, James Taylor you know, rather than the, the selling as well and actually say something I'm thinking about something like Stephen Covey, and I'm thinking about some of those other names that We'd mentioned earlier. And I think some of those names that we did you know, the ones that you just said right towards the end like the Samuel smiles, for example. Yeah. And I'm guessing and I haven't seen it, but I don't know if Samuel smiles has a book, you know, what, whether there is or does Jim Cathcart not. In fact, I think the title of it was access. Okay, so it was a long time ago before anyone knew what that word meant. James Taylor So that leads me to my next thing, which is about what is the role of creating a body of work, and something that is going to go live live beyond you? that people can look back and actually, you know, 100 years 200 years time, there's some universal principles, evergreen principles that you can say, right? Wow, that feels like that was written yesterday, just like today, you know, I that's so interesting. You you've written 20 books. And I think, I often think our speaking is an amazing thing, but it's quite an effect. All, like going to live concerts like you experience this thing and it's fantastic. And then there's a way for them. Yeah. But then his music is gone is gone. And we think about all those great music artists over the years who we were taught with fantastic life, but we have nothing to remember them by or to think. So. Where do you see where you are in your career just now and looking at looking back and thinking, what advice you can give to other generations? The role of work in today where maybe the person is the book? Jim Cathcart Yeah, you know, the famous, the secret the movie that came out. Rhonda Byrne did that a few years ago and, and it was focused on a principle from a book in 1910 called the science of getting rich by a man with the unfortunate name of Wallace wattles. It's like, you know, john Thompson or something more Mainstream Wallace wattles but Wallace wattles had a very profound impact on on people's thinking. His book, The Science of Getting Rich talked about the law of attraction, and how in in science or whatever in philosophy as well, that when a desire or a focused idea is is created, the energy from that draws to it other things. It's like when you get a new car, and let's say you get a blue Toyota, well, the minute you go on the road with your blue Toyota, you will start noticing blue Toyotas everywhere. Now, they were there already, but you never noticed them before. But now your attention is different. And so you're seeing those opportunities where you never saw them before. Same things true in business when you focus on a goal. When you say I will become a professional speaker, full time professional Speaker and earn my living by sharing truths and motivating audiences. Well, that's a big goal. But once you actually commit to doing that, you'll start seeing opportunities to do it. So how do you write a best selling book, you say I'm going to become a best selling author? Well, there's a difference between writing a best selling book and becoming a best selling author. Let me explain that difference that I have many friends who are best selling authors, and many of them have best selling books. But some of them don't. Here's the difference, a best selling book, if you put it in a bookstore or online at Amazon or Barnes and Noble or whatever, it'll sell. Because it's a best seller. It's got a popular title. People love it, and they're interested in it and they do. internet searches to find it. Okay, it's a best selling book. a best selling author is let's say it's you and so you decide to Write a series of books you write your first one. And it pretty much captures your your life philosophy and your business strategy and your main story. And you go out and tell people about this book and you do the practices that would lead to selling many, many books. Well, it may never hit a bestseller list, but you'll be ordering thousands of them to deliver to your audiences and to fulfill through your website and to sell in your own ways. It's kind of like being a best selling act, you know, perform musical act. You can sell out houses and sell tons and tons and tons of merchandise from your concert, but never hit the main charts. And you can think back over the years there have been really noteworthy musical performers that have been that type. They never really were a chart topping performers But they made a fortune. James Taylor Yeah, that's that's interesting distinction I think about a good friend of mine who is not he's not. He's not known as a as a best selling author. Yet his last book sold 250,000 copies Jim Cathcart or beyond best selling. Yes, James Taylor it's and because he was looking for a different thing he was looking for impact rather than maybe some of the bells and bells and whistles or making a New York Times bestseller. And because that book has been so it's it's a worldwide book. It's not focused on just a particular one particular market. I think he said the other day he said one in 10 people in Iceland have got a copy of his book, which Jim Cathcart you've got that my friend Alan peace out of Australia is like that. Yeah, he's got a book called why men don't listen and women can't read maps. James Taylor Yeah. I've ever seen him. I think it was hit with a him and his wife. We used to go out Jim Cathcart together. They still do. And I just got an email from him this morning. And his book is the number one bestseller in France right now. And he didn't even know that it was selling in France, James Taylor is that difference between writing a best selling book and being a best selling author? Interesting. That's an interesting kind of distinction there as well. Jim Cathcart Because if you're a best selling author, then you're cultivating in you the qualities, the skills, the strategies, the business practices that will constantly sell whatever it is you're selling. If you're selling coffee mugs, it'll still sell well, because you're the kind of person that knows how to do that, and has the work ethic and all the things that are needed to do it. So you'll be a best seller. But your book won't necessarily make you famous. Like mine. I've sold hundreds of thousands of books and recordings. Over the years, I've delivered all those thousands of speeches and received all these big awards. But if you were to ask a person on the street, in a business community or just in the social community Who's Jim Cathcart? They would say, No clue. Because I'm not famous in a public sense. You know, I don't appear in newspapers and magazines and television shows on mainstream media like, like, some people do like a Tony Robbins, for example. But I got a hell of a life going, you know, this has been great. And my colleagues admire and respect me and I love them and and respect them. And, you know, this just ain't a bad deal. Oh, and I did a TED talk. I was asked to do a short TED talk and I did an eight and a half minute TED talk in Delray Beach, Florida TEDx, the independently organized TED event, and it went viral. It I've had 1,700,000 views of my little eight minute TED Talk which netted me zero dollars, much credibility and so many Any referrals that have made, you know, 10s of thousands off of it. And it's just a little eight and a half minute thing called How to believe in yourself, James Taylor you can finally say you become an overnight success now, Jim, definitely 42 years. So let's get some final questions, some quick fire questions. I'd love to know. I want you to imagine you're on a long haul flight, maybe go in nature next flight to China and you can choose on that you're seeing a business class or first class flight and you sit next, any speaker living or dead, you could be sitting next to them for the duration of that flight and they could be sharing with you you could be having a conversation. Who would that speaker be? Jim Cathcart Wow. Ah, another way I've done that with many of my heroes, you know, had long flights sitting seated next to them and just capturing the pearls of wisdom. I would think it has to be Zig Ziglar because he's so much fun. You know, if I wanted to be inspired, I would go with Dr. Kenneth McFarland wonders most people today have never heard up, because he's just so profound and he's so absolutely meticulously skilled at delivering a idea or a message. I knew not to Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and had a chance to work with him a little bit, and he would certainly touch your heart and inspire your mind. augmon Dino was a man. So easy to love and admire. But I think Zig would be the most fun so the flight would go fast. We would have a great time. He would appreciate my stories from the southern United States and I would certainly appreciate his because we both grew up in neighboring states, Arkansas and Mississippi. He was from Mississippi. James Taylor So I want you to tell us what's in that in your speaker bag. What's in that bag that you carry with you to all of your various speaking engagements. You're You're never leave home without Jim Cathcart actually Well, I never leave home without Is my notes to myself, I have a lot of thinking time, you know, I always have I, that's how I started my career. Earl Nightingale said spend one hour extra every day studying your chosen path. Five years from now you'll be a leading authority in that path. And sure enough, that worked for me. And I continue to do that to this day. And so I'll take a blank sheet of paper. And I'll just start thinking of all the projects and all the activities and all the goals and all the primary relationships in my life. And I'll just list them all like crazy. And get them on there, maybe two or three pages worth. And then I'll go back and look over that. And I'll circle the ones that are truly like a killer app in a computer, you know, the ones that or that one drives so many of these others that I really have to achieve that one or nurture that one around. Whatever. And then I'll look at the connections between all of them and do sort of like a big bizarre Mind Map, drawing lines and connectors. And then I'll just keep that paper, I always date every every note page, so that I know when it took place, and I go back many times, 20 3040 times over a few years, and look at that same page and make other notes, and then create a new page that's simpler and more organized, so that I can focus on that things on that new page. And that's just been a great, great practice for me over the years. And I consume magazines, I don't read them. When when I get it, I get several magazines monthly. And when I get the magazines, I immediately meaning that day, sit down with the magazine and start scanning it to see what's of interest to me. And I try to read some of the things that aren't of interest to me just to keep my mind better exposed to new ideas. And then, as soon as I'm done with that magazine, you know, I may tear out one article that I haven't gotten to yet, but I toss the magazine and go on. So my wife has a whole bunch of women's magazines that she'll keep them to go back to the articles and so she's got a stack this tall of her collection. I have a stack this tall of mine. And I get more information than she does. It was about and then talking about reading material. If you were to recommend one book, and one of your own books or a book to our audience, it could be a book on speaking or book on mindset or topics that you speak on. What would that one book be? You mentioned Stephen Covey. You know, his book that he's best known for is the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. And that's an exceptionally good book. We talked about augmon Dino, the greatest salesman in the world or any of his subsequent books, but I would start with the greatest salesman he I asked him one time what's your favorite of all your books? Which one had the biggest impact on your career? He said, Well, you've read all my books. Jim, what would you say? I said, Well, my favorite of all your books is the choice. And no, no, excuse me, my favorite of all your books is the Christ commission, which is a story about a guy that didn't believe what the Bible was saying. And and then he had an experience it was yanked back in time to Biblical days. And he went around and interviewed all the people that knew Jesus. What an amazing concept. Right? So this guy was an investigative reporter, and a non believer and somebody in in you know, the ethers grabbed him and took him back in time and said, Okay, here, talk to Paul talk to Mary Magdalene and talk to this guy. He was at the when the stone was rolled away, you know, talk to this guy, he was healed by him. So I said that was my favorite book, but the one that had the biggest impact on me was your first book, greatest salesman in the world. I said, Sony Now what what's your answer? He said same as yours. He said the one I enjoyed the most was the Christ commission the one I that had the biggest impact on my life was the greatest salesman in the world. James Taylor different books different books and as Jim Cathcart you mentioned having neither one of them requires that you be Christian. Yeah, yeah. But first principle James Taylor was open the road the the was the book about Babylon that the no that was Jim Cathcart a place in George claisen who co wrote a book called The Richest Man in Babylon which was a similar parable to the greatest salesman in the world in that it was set back in biblical times with you know, a guy following the the camels on a merchant train that kind of stuff. Yeah, I'm James Taylor gonna I'm gonna have to go and download the Oakland Deena book now as well just to trap myself. So you talk about Siri earlier. What is is there isn't a particular app or tool or A mobile tool, an app that you find particularly useful for doing the work that you do. Jim Cathcart It comes and goes, You know, I look at the apps that I use from year to year. And it it it's not the same each year. So I don't know, I just rely on the fundamentals, you know, just email and photos and, and Facebook and LinkedIn and things like that, that that's pretty much me. You know, of course, I've got lots of videos on YouTube and, and that sort of thing, but I try not to get lured into becoming an Instagram Rockstar, or making Twitter which you have to feed all the time like a hungry little animal. You know, making that my main. No, James Taylor that is a big difference, obviously, from going back times. The old man, dinos and Zig Ziglar says, Wait, they would be thinking about these ideas all the time, they'd be speaking but then they're there. Waiting output it was either in the form of a speech or maybe a radio series or maybe a book that was there that was there was Jim Cathcart an article or a newspaper article magazine article, that sort of thing. So and there were there were films, but there were actual films, you know, reel to reel movies, and they would film a speech or whatever, and then they would rent it to companies to go and show at their company meetings. James Taylor Okay, okay. So I guess big difference now because I can also see what a lot of speakers it whether it's an a Twitter or Instagram, I can almost see them working on their ideas, as they're doing them and especially on Twitter and slow form, I can see all that that's things linking to that. And then, you know, a few months later, you see them speak up, okay. It makes sense now, because but they're actually they're kind of rehearsing in public or public. Jim Cathcart That That reminds me without Vimeo, And YouTube, I would feel severely handicapped. Because I have so many videos that I've either created or that have been done of something live that I was doing. They are a vital part of what I do now. You know, I've created online courses and video training and such. There's a publisher mentor.com mentor ed.com that publishes one of my series here in the US. And those are just super important podcasts and, and online shows like this. That's that's the cassettes today, you know, those are the records those are the, those are the pamphlets or the books or the magazines of today. And and so you just hop on the train, or plane, you know, and you've got this little guy when I say train, I'm thinking of the bullet trains in China, as opposed to Amtrak going across America cuz people don't do it as much here. But that's that's your whole suite of services right there. James Taylor Love that. Basically I think I think all these tools that we now have at our fingertips new online courses, including memberships and podcasts and video series and an online summit, like like this, this one, for example. And it wouldn't have been possible, unless people yourself and the zig ziglar is an earl Nightingale's had to first push that through. So people today know that they have a problem know that there's something to be worked on where previously the university didn't even know that they had a problem. And yeah, that was the first step is going to say Actually, Jim Cathcart that's the thing today, the big decision is not whether we should train our people. It's which training should we do next? And who should we go to? Jim Cathcart Yeah, is it there is a different level of fees, just just make yourself the best choice and then they'll say Well, yeah, now of course we need it. So let's go with you. So a final quick, James Taylor final question for you, Jim, I want you to imagine that you woke up tomorrow morning. And you have to start from scratch. So no one knows who you are. But you've got all the skills you've acquired over the years, but no one knows who you are, you know, no one you have to completely restart. Perfect. Would you do? How would you restart things? Well, first off, I'd be excited, not depressed. Jim Cathcart I would when we moved from La Jolla, San Diego to Thousand Oaks back in 2001. We didn't know anybody but we moved here so that we wouldn't have Los Angeles between us and our grandkids. And we wanted to be able to make that commute more easily. So we moved up here, and I said to my wife the first day I said, you know what I like about this. The uncertainty. I don't know anybody yet. Yet being the operative word, right. And now I know people all over the community and they know me back. What I would do if I started praying Tomorrow with my skill set, and nobody knew me, and I had no business assets other than what's in my mind and heart is I would immediately start going out and interviewing people about their problems, their challenges their issues. Because I know I would uncover some of those that I could I had a solution for. And then I wouldn't try to sell something, I would look for a way to become their solution and get compensated for it. So that's the thing if you're a problem solver, you'll never be out of work ever. I gave my my grandson who's now 18 business cards when he was 10 years old. And I gave him a box full of business cards. That said, Jason Cathcart problem solver. I'm looking for one right now. I know I've got one here, nearby. Now I haven't found it and I'm not going to do Take up your time with that. But anyway, I gave him a box of business cards. And he said, what's, what are these? That's their business cards. He said, What's a business card? And I explained it. And he said, Well, what's Cathcart Institute? I said, That's grandpa's company. What's a company? And I explained it, and what's jason@cathcart.com? So that's your email address for real. He said, I've got an email address. I said, Yeah. And he said, Well, it says, problem solver. What does that mean? I said, Jason, you're a thoughtful guy. When you look at something, you don't just dive into it and start doing things with it. You kind of observe it and study it. And then you get involved and you seem to be a natural problem solver, and said, The world needs those. And that's how people get paid. If you're a problem solver, you'll always be able to find work. He's super cool. And I said we'll have a nice birthday and then I went on my way this was at his screen. In the morning on his 10th birthday, and his mother's a teacher at that school. And so I called later that night and I said, Sonia, what happened after I left? She said, Oh my gosh, every kid in the schools got one of Jason's business cards. What do you think Whitney James think about this 10 year old kid gets a box of business cards for his birthday has no clue what that is. But it's a novelty and it's got his name on it. So he starts showing it to the other kids. every other kid says, What's a business card? He explains it. What's Cathcart Institute? He explains it. What's Jason at Cafe? He explains it. What's problem solver? He must have explained that 30 or 40 times that day. Now, how deep is that impression in his mind? At age 10, which happens to be one of the strongest imprint periods of your entire life. Yeah. Yeah, James Taylor that's it as an amazing, amazing story. Well, Jim, thank you so much for coming on today. If people want to learn more about you learn more about Cathcart, cute and all the other things you've got going on just now where's the best place to go and do that? Jim Cathcart I would say, Cathcart comm is the easiest start because it's just my name. And if you type in Jim Cathcart comm, it'll get you there too. But I own the domain for family name. And LinkedIn is another good one. Because on LinkedIn, I have a very robust profile. And it has videos that they can watch for free, and all kinds of other items in it like that. And I'd love to be helpful also that, you know, I'm so omnipresent on the web. You know, you can find me on YouTube, Vimeo, wherever, and watch videos and you hear me playing guitar and singing and all kinds of other things James Taylor they have. That conversation is just anyone watching this and listening to this just now especially if you're just getting into the world of speaking You are part of a lineage a part of a heritage the good way is right. or other speakers who, just like us, we've used our, our voices, our bodies, our ideas on stage to be able to transform audiences. So you are not alone. You're part of a great lineage. And so Jim, thank you for being part of that. That story and sharing that with everyone and I really look forward to us sharing a stage together in the future. Jim Cathcart Me too. Thank you so much. It's been an honor. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. More of Jim Cathcart Learn More About SpeakersU #speakerslife #speakersU  

The Secrets To Go From An Amateur Speaker To A Pro Keynote Speaker Today's guest is James Taylor, the Dean of SpeakersU.com, who has helped over 20,000 speakers hone their speaking skills. You Will Learn: What makes a great speaker Greatest values and beliefs a speaker can have  Struggles that nobody sees as a speaker  1 advice he has for starting speakers 

Adapting to Changes In today's episode Jeffrey Hayzlett talks about How To Adapt To A Changing Speaking Industry. Jeffrey Hayzlett is a CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame inductee and now primetime television host of C-Suite with Jeffrey Hayzlett and Executive Perspectives on C-Suite TV. He is the author of four best-selling business books including his most recent with Entrepreneur Press: The Hero Factor: How Great Leaders Transform Organizations and Create Winning Cultures. Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl061-how-to-adapt-to-a-changing-speaking-industry-with-jeffrey-hayzlett/ James Taylor Hey, there's James Taylor and I'm delighted today to have on the show Jeffrey Hayzlett. Jeffrey Jeffrey Hayzlett is a CPA speaker Hall of Fame Inductee, and now primetime television host of C-Suite with Jeffrey Hayzlett and executive perspectives on C-Suite TV. He is the author of four best selling business books, including his most recent with entrepreneur press, the hero factor, how great leaders transform organizations and create winning cultures. Our frequent television business commentator, you might see him telling it like is on networks, including MSNBC, Fox Business, Bloomberg and CNN. You might even recognize him from his numerous appearances as a judge on NBC as Celebrity Apprentice shares my great pleasure to have Jeffrey with us today. So welcome, Jeffrey Hayzlett guys, thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it. This is awesome. James Taylor So share with us what's happening in your world at the moment. Jeffrey Hayzlett Right now um, you know, we I leave the C suite network which is the world's largest trusted network for executives and we're building out our C suite radio which are Podcast Network, we're building out C suite, TV C suite Academy, you name it anything with C suite, we just launched C suite loans. We're about to launch C suite supplies, we got c Suite Marketplace coming down the pike. I'm in the middle of three acquisitions. So you know, it's been a pretty busy time for me. James Taylor So take us back a little bit, because you have that you've had this entire other career, which a lot of people in the speaking industry don't necessarily know about, which was your role in a CMO of a very well known business. So take us through the transition, because I know there's a lot of people that listen, watch this, who are maybe in the corporate world and I've always gotten interested in maybe in making that that transition into what a professional speaking Jeffrey Hayzlett Well, I was actually a speaker before I went into the corporate world, you know, I was an entrepreneur and then became a speaker. I joined the National Speakers Association back when I was 26 years old, you know, sitting around the table with Zig Ziglar. And oh, gosh, Brian Tracy, and, you know, some of the greatest speakers in the world I got a chance to sit side by side niba need an E with over the years and then went into the corporate world I bought and sold over 250 businesses about 25 billion in transaction became the chief marketing officer of a fortune 100 company served in a number of capacities in in the C suite mostly always as a chief sales or Chief Marketing Officer, but also CEO of my own companies and now of course chairman of a number of companies serve on about 14 boards today. Three of them are have been publicly traded companies so a little bit of everything you know, you've moved so I mean treats. This always blows my mind for a lot of speakers are just kind of coming into it. They haven't heard name necessarily like Zig Ziglar Brian Tracy, some of the some of the names that you mentioned, get out, get out more often they should be the greatest speakers of all time, right. James Taylor I remember I remember interviewing a while back guy, Jim Kiska, we were just talking about some of these needs. But years ago kind of being introduced some of these but one I'd never really checked out before this was going back to Betamax or VHS. I guess I could never get them was augmon Dino and through the power of YouTube now I went on a complete augmon Dino binge Of what? Jeffrey Hayzlett Well, you should as well you should I mean, the author the book, the salesman, probably one of the greatest all time motivational books of all time. love to read it Have I have a signed copy of it? leather bound edition right here in my, in my office, you know, the same thing like with Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich, Aye. Aye. I'm reading chapter 10 of that book right now, because of our mastermind work that we do in the C suite network. We have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of members in various groups that are what we call councils or masterminds in the C suite network. And of course, Napoleon Hill was the the, you know, the originator of the mastermind, of course, now I think it's been bastardized by a bunch of people. People don't know what they're doing. But nonetheless, you know, it's a great way and the right way to do it. But yeah, there are some of those names skip Ross. You know, augmentee know, Bill Brooks, who's now past former coach at Syracuse, and, you know, used to lead the fighting padres. I laugh about that, because he was a football coach of the fighting padres things. I mean, imagine what do you I mean, would you really get pumped up? What do you do? Just take a knee and pray, I guess is what you do. But, you know, he was, but I used to sit with those folks. You know, when I was 26 years old, as a member of that Association, and there used to be like, 200 people as part of NSA back then it wasn't a lot of people. You know, it would go to a convention and you'd be in the room with those people. Right? And I say those people meaning some of the greatest speakers of all time now in the Hall of Fame, but you know, yeah, go just go look at some of the greats you should be googling those people you should be understanding and learning and going to the archives to listen to to Norman Vincent Peale. You No power positive thinking, you know, I, when I'm in New York and my home in New York, I live across the street from his church, you know, marble church, and of course, Michael Brown has been the pastor there since Dr. Peale passed. And then Michael Brown took over and has been the pastor there for 30 some years and, you know, one of the greatest oranges of our time, but you'll never hear about that name, of course, but he learned in the shadow of Norman Vincent Peale. You know, my daughter sings at that church, you know, in New York, so it's just, yeah, it's amazing when you but you know, but there's older folks who haven't heard some of the young names, right. Yeah. So I guess it goes both ways. But if you're good at what you do, okay, and especially the speaker, you should be looking at what other speakers do good and bad. So you can say, Yep, I like to learn that I can learn from that, you know, you know, to take apart some of the great masters of today like Mark Sean Brock, who's a Polish famer, you know to watch him do his craft. Now what he does isn't what I do, but to see him pick apart and how he meticulously does his craft. I love that to watch a good preacher. And then watch what they do to watch a good politician. Watch what they do to watch a good actor or a good comedian. I love to watch you know different things or even listen to old records, you know, or if your tapes or shows like Jerry clower mouth of the South, which you will never even you've never heard of James I'm sure no. James Taylor You would just mentioned this to my wife the other night, my wife's a jazz singer. And, and I remember coming coming to Florida speaking obviously, was watching all these great videos from some of these incredible speakers. But then also watching people like Frank Sinatra and seeing about how they use their body, their posture, how they could command the stage and tell a story. And and there's a lot of people like that I remember kind of looking at it. I'd love to be able to take that, that string down Power on stage and there's a playfulness on stage and translate that into the world of speaking as well. So we can learn, Jeffrey Hayzlett How do you take? How do you take something that's, you know, 8000 people you might be performing to or speaking to, and then pause in such a way that 8000 people become so silent, that you can hear a cough in the back of the room, you know, to and then what's the technique that you would learn from you know how to do that what to do or when to stand so close to the stage that you're almost falling off that everyone's in unison, right. Or that I can tell you there's a moment of when I used to take a video camera and show it on stage and and throw it in a pitcher of water with it live and people would scream because I thought I just ruined the video camera when it's a waterproof video camera, and then proceed to then take it out and pour a glass you know the entire pitcher of water. water on it on stage making this mess, you know, and think, you know, just doing different things like that. The techniques that you learn so some of those things I quite frankly, just do, you know, and just try, right. I don't think of them ahead of time James Taylor when we're now obviously in a time the whole idea of doing virtual presentations, obviously really accelerated. Lots of organizations have talked about it for years. Lots of universities have talked about going online for years. And finally, overnight, they've had to do they've had to make that transition very quickly. What are some as your I know, you obviously with things like C suite network, and your your online, kind of presentations that you do as well, you can relatively early into this. Yeah, for those maybe those speakers are watching this just now. And I'm going to say not just younger speakers or new into but maybe the speakers who are very, very comfortable going up there and speaking on stage in front of 500 people or 5000 people, but now I have this screen screen to what we're communicating in with this slightly to medium, what advice would you give them on how to create that same energy? Same kind of power that same transformation audience online? Jeffrey Hayzlett Well quit quit Quit whining. So Quit whining that you you can't do it like you used to do it and start to say, what how can I do it? How can I make that square? so interesting that they only want to look at me? What background Can I put in? What graphics Can I add? What animation must I do? That will get garner the attention of one of you know, 120 screens or so filled with 1215 people on each screen or whatever the number is? how can how can you be that person that's so intriguing that they don't want to leave their desktop, right? And so it's really about it's doing the same thing you were doing before, but just in a different tiny size point a thumbnail, right? And that's the difference that I think it's a mindset of saying, look, look, I can't help right now with what's going on with COVID I can't I'm not a doctor. I'm not a nurse, I can't even sew a frickin mask right? But what I am is a business first responder. So what I am is someone who can help I can motivate I can inspire I can educate, I can show empathy I can do I can give you a kick in the ass I can I can bring you through when you can't do it. I will calm you down when you need to be calm down. That's my job. My job. All right, my, my mission is to do that. So rather than sit there and say, Well, my I used to do it this way. Do it this way. Change, adapt or die. Go. That's it, folks. That's your choice. So rather than sitting around as a speaker, bemoaning the fact that you're not your your, your gigs are canceling got it. Okay, while your gigs are canceling. I'm doing five a day. And I have never been busier. You hear my voice right now cracking because I literally am so tired from speaking all day every day. And I'm making money with it without question. Okay. More than I have made in lots of years, okay? Because I'm adapting to a new norm. And, and so I'm not sitting back complaining, I'm not gonna make my one K, forget the one K, I'm looking to buy my own jet now. All right. I'm not saying I will. But my point is or bigger, a bigger computer screen and better mics at board graphics for animation, right? Because I'm doing what I'm doing and I don't have to wear pants. You know, if that's the case, right? You know, but unless you want to stand up and you want to get that experience, which you certainly can do, you figure out the things that make it more interesting. Even as you and I are talking, we're talking over a visual medium, right in the background. There's my logo for TV. There's my green screen with the beautiful background got proper lighting, looks like I'm sitting in a studio, right? So there's ways in which you can start to do it in different make it making exciting, that's our job. James Taylor And one of the words you mentioned was this what adoptability there was a there was a natural kind of history program on TV. Last night here in the UK on the BBC, when there's going to Attenborough type programs, and it was all about primates, like baboons, monkeys, chimpanzees, and the narrator said something interesting. He said adaptability and resilience are the hallmarks of primates is of us of what we you know, kind of what we're about. So you can have that that first part is the adaptability piece you were talking about when it comes to because you've obviously you've had this life on the stage as a presenter of ideas and inspiring people. But you've also spent a lot of time doing that kind of small screen as well. Now, in the same way, we say I was watching a Michael Caine masterclass, and he's talking about difference between acting on stage as opposed to acting on screen. There's different ways you use your eyes, your physicality. What did you learn from all those years of whether it's a CNN in front of camera or being up there doing one of your C suite network? of recordings as well, that you think something you may want to pass on to other speakers but how they communicate in this medium? Jeffrey Hayzlett Well, their performances. First of all, thanks for thinking me with primates. That was great. It was a great absolutely we're all come from the same same genre jeans have. But the and by the way, relentless is one of my keywords just being relentless. You know, I don't always do it, right. But I will be relentless in getting there. You know, and I will make a lot of mistakes, you know, people talk about fail, fail, you know, fail fast, bullshit, win fast. That's what I want to do. I don't want to fail fast. I want to win fan, I'm going to fail. Trust me, I will fail. But I'd much rather win fast. But yeah. So when you talk about performance, talk about those screens in the different genres and what how would you? How do you act? How do you present? Well, it's a performance. So whether it's performance on stage or performance in on screen or a one to one performance, don't you want to be prepared, don't you want to be ready and I I've actually found that on television, you have to anticipate, how do you grab? How do you grab the mic? You know? Who was it? Diana Ross once told Michael Jackson when they give you the mic, never let go, right. And I've learned, you know, those are some of the things you want to be able to do understand the cadence of that discussion on TV, that it's a give and take, and you have to give them a chance, you know, just like in a podcast, and you have to give them a chance to ask you the right kind of question because you're here as a guest, but I'm here to perform. I'm here to help you get that message across and be the best so people can say, Oh my gosh, did you hear Oh, James had on the show, right? And so what you want to do is anticipate those questions and understand and have responses ready. And especially if you're doing it for small screen, they have to be memorable kinds of responses because what you want to do is have those clips those quotes, those those things that they'll pull out those little tiny nuggets, were in the small screen, especially for you know, like an interview or for television interviews or for that type of presentation, you only have those short burst, you can't tell the story, you don't have the luxury of the story as if you are on stage and you can act it out and you can be sometimes more animated. So you have to be animated with the oral, okay. And the face, okay, as opposed to the body leaning in leaning out pausing. If you pause in television, they will jump in with another question, right? So you have to you have to learn how to do those kinds of things and understand that that cadence, that energy that you have in each of those genres is different. James Taylor And how do you use humor? Because I always find this is, this is hard. I was I was speaking, doing an event last week and it was for a client, the client was in India was a telecoms company. And so there's obviously the cultural thing you can thinking about because primarily the audience was in India, but then I'm also thinking about how I want to use humor on some of it because I know What might work on stage when I can roll up jokes in line? I don't have the ability sometimes to do. So how do you kind of find using humor on these different media, Jeffrey Hayzlett I find that with humor, it has to be directed at you when it's on that small screen. It has to be about you can't be about them because they don't have a way to fight back or give it back. In an audience setting of a group. I can not only be self deprecating, but I can make fun of the audience. I can say when they don't laugh, I can say Oh, come on. That was frickin funny, you know? Do you you know, like or when no one laughs Come on. People don't have cable TV. I mean, come on, you get out more often. You can have fun with the group because you can build it up. You can't do that one to one. It's much more personal because they don't see the other people they just see you and them. And so there is that connection as opposed to that group kind of occurred in the crowd. Where they can they can kind of, you know, feel safer. You can't feel a safe When you're one to one, you get more and more, it's more much more emotional This way, you would think it's less emotion because it's so detached. Oh, but there's more, you know, watch chat rooms. I've watched people who've gone on, you know, on these do events. And there's people carrying on an entire chat about other things not related to the speaker at all. Like, can you believe they don't have more women speaking? Bah, bah, bah, bah, bah. I was. That was one of the other you know, things I was watching about somebody the other day they were, I was waiting in the wings. Right. And, and then I'm watching the chat going on. And, and yet the speaker didn't address it at all. It just kept going. And I thought, ooh, so I addressed that when I got there. And now, you know, I might so they were talking about not having enough women. I said, I can't believe you out your heart. You got this big white guy, you know, to come and speak to you, I guess, you know, and so I just had some fun with that right? Boom. To pull them in right away. James Taylor You've got the interactivity happening, which you can it's almost like you know, looking at the eye of the audience, you can pick up certain things that's your your eyes, you're kind of looking at that, Jeffrey Hayzlett Well, you have to so so I always have a staff person or to who's in the audience and watching that stuff and then over to the right or left, they're feeding me that information. In real time, Jeff, watch out, this is being said this, this, this, and I can address it right there. And that shows that I'm paying attention. Now normally, if I were on TV, I've got IBF right here in my ear, and I got a producer talking to me, and you know, give me countdowns times. key questions, key points that I can bring up about you. The fact that you broke your leg when you were 13 Baba, whatever it might be that you know that she knows or he knows, I don't have so in this in a stage you don't do that in the stage, right. You're, you're presenting, it's you it's that it's the it's live, it's gritty, but in the TV and or online, I can get those kinds of pieces and it's interactive and I think that's a better way of doing it these days. I mean, I like that I hey, you just ask a question. I think this is a great time to take a pause. And let me get to that question because I've it's very important. And I think it's very relevant to the point that I just talked about, you know, that shows I'm paying attention to them, James Taylor you know, so you've been told by obviously, some speakers are still like deers in the headlights just now. You can like figure out what about when it comes to the bureau side, when you're having conversation with your bureau partners? Where are they at? Are they still Jeffrey Hayzlett They've been stopped, they've been down, they've been stopped and they have they're still they're still working on the old model. And I think some of them are starting to get the new model. I just got another booking, you know, for half my fee, but I don't care. It's half my fee and I got the time I'm taking it right. That you know, because it's inventory, your time is inventory folks as a speaker so if you're not using the inventory, okay, then your inventory gets discounted. That's what happens. Okay. So way business works. And so, but I'm filling it up and I'm taking it. But if it's an interactive presentation online, I can't remember how many people but yeah, we're we're doing a lot more of those. But so some viewers are getting the new model. And this is going to be a new model. But let's be clear, it's going to be a new model. Doing this isn't going to go away. James Taylor And then when it comes, I mean thing always fascinated me about but what you do is you, you have that kind of public persona with the, you know, the keynote speaker that the speaker world knows you about. There's a persona that you have, which is very much for the consumer when you're on CNN and things like that. And then you have this whole C suite network. And I find that really fascinating because so many speakers would maybe just go down the route of let's say, maybe online courses or maybe some training thing they they have some certification, for example, but you went in a slightly different way. So because I think Jeffrey Hayzlett this is actually an evolution so so where you're what you were talking about with the traditional model is most speakers are what we call one two or three trick pony. So you have your speak, then you might have a product. And then you might have a service or subscription. I've just taken the subscription on steroids and I just haven't had 350,000. And then on top of it, I have 170 podcast shows which other authors and speakers and thought leaders are part of. I have other television shows that other speakers authors, so I'm monetizing that and then monetizing the community and monetizing the content. So all I did was take what my my audience my tribe was, increase it and say who else is relevant in this tribe that would like to come and play? So the C suite network is very much like a giant sequoia tree, you know, big Redwood. And if you've ever been in a redwood forest or a big forest with these massive old trees, well, there's a canopy and underneath the canopy is this very lush ecosystem? That's the C suite network. Well, who else has done that? Facebook LinkedIn, Salesforce, Amazon. And so what we're doing is building a platform. And so I started early on, I said, Look, I can have fame or I can have fortune, I'd rather have fortune. And if I'm really good at what I do, I'll get the fame for free. And if not, I can afford to pay for it, if that's what I want, right? So what we're doing is building a platform for people to operate underneath that canopy of the C suite in that environment of a trusted ecosystem. And then how can we all help each other, but because if we learn, you know, together, if we share we learn, then we cheer. And then of course, we care. And so for me, it's always about you know, the, the really the relevancy of us together, what's relevant. So that's the C suite, the business community, then it's about our reach, combining my reach which is big, huge, I admit that and then the, then your reach, you know, might be a little bit less but together with you and all of these thousands or hundreds of other thoughts. leaders, it's massive. And then it becomes about reciprocity, and how do I help you and you help me. And if we can get that that's a win win. And that's what that's what I'm about. James Taylor You're always reminding me now of your lady Oprah of the of the C suite, because it's not about just your brand, or your what you're one of brands. But I always thought what Oprah was amazing at doing with Harper and her business was kind of building other brands, whereas Dr. Phil, or you know, the other brands around her as well. And when you start working with maybe some of those other brands, thought leaders, experts, and when you help them understand that C suite, that subscriber to your C suite network, what are some of the key things you try to impart upon them to really help them understand that mindset or that the how Jeffrey Hayzlett how to leverage that IP and then how to build their own community. So I'm teaching them we have a slide that I call the thought value chain and it teaches them all along The 2030 points of products and services and things that you could, you know, give time for and giving time for you can get get more revenue for. And most of us are way down in the lower left hand portion of that of that value chain. And we only speak or we only have a book or we only have a podcast, or we only have a course or training. Well, what about the alumni group? What about the courses? What about the academy? What about your council? Your mastermind? What about a supergroup? What about me? I can keep going of what about enablement, tools? All the things that you can do that you're missing out on as a result of just saying I'm a speaker, right, rather than a real thought leader? And then what does that thought leadership mean? And then with that, how do you then operate inside or under that in that ecosystem or under that canopy? And by doing so we can add zeros, we add zeros to what they do. And we have hundreds of these folks that are part of this network that are doing that every day. Now You know, I, I promote myself and my brand well, because that's what I got. Right. But I'd much rather promote hundreds of others because I can get a lot bigger, you know, James Taylor that almost reminds me of the way an investor like Ray Dalio would go and build a would build investment. He has the all weather fund, where it has 40% are in low risk bonds, which is like subscriptions, essentially all memberships, but 30% are in stocks, high risk stocks, which is kind of at the keynote side, you know, it's when the economy is really good, it's really good when it's not good. And then he has like the, you know, the consulting and then and so, it is almost like regardless of where the economy goes, he's winning in that as well on the Jeffrey Hayzlett the on stage James the onstage model only is a dying model, you know, you know, post post Corona, those people who will make it will be a very low in the very high end What I mean by that, so those willing to basically do it for free. And then those who get paid a lot of money for like myself another who are very professional, but they have to be a, they have to be a professional athlete, a celebrity, they're going to have to be a subject matter expert, or they're going to have to be an unbelievable entertainer. Right. And some of us are a little bit of all that, right. And, and so those folks are going to continue to thrive in what we're doing. Those that just follow them the marketplace of I'm a keynote speaker, I'm just a speaker, right? It's going to be very tough as events go away, right? As they do things in different ways, but those at the low end will make it because they do it for free. Right. So they'll continue to do the TED talks and the you know, the free stuff and the little stuff that really doesn't matter. And you know, or you know what I'm talking about in terms of your pocket book. They'll still do it, they'll still do it. But if you unless you're a subject matter matter experts and entertainer you know a notable a well known and really good at what you do it's going to be a tough so you should be building a community you should be looking at the value chain and how you want to increase it and do it differently and you should be joining every damn group you can get your hands in you know get into and put your feet first and and just and don't always look for what's in it for me look at what can I do to enhance this group and get something out of it? That's the way to think about it. You know if you're going in with a servant mentality it's awesome if you go into it with well what am I going to get? Well then when I hear people come to our C suite network and they asked me Well, what am I going to get? I say you know this isn't for you. This isn't for you. I think we're talking about the wrong thing so they go No no no I want to be know if you're if your primary reasons just to come in here and to rape and pillage so to speak, then and just sell sell sell. Nope, not interested. Don't don't, I don't want that. If you want to come and say, Tell me what you can give how you can add more value to this community, then you'll get the more you give, the more you get. And that's the way that's the new this new economy. That's the way to look at it. James Taylor So what role then does the bureau have in this new economy? Because you think, well, if what you're kind of talking about in terms of those, essentially the superstar thought leaders, which that lends itself very well to I already company entertainment industry, so like a Live Nation model, 360 degree model wraps around the speaker, they do the merchandise, the live the publishing everything. They're like the CEO, the concealing Aires of those thought leaders, businesses, so I want to I can see that in the speaker management companies. But then what role does the bureaus have now? Jeffrey Hayzlett Well, that's so they'll start changing the model has to change for them. The bureau I love bureaus, I mean, we do about 35% of our business to bureaus and I And I love bureaus we have great relationship with bureaus, but bureaus don't work for me. bureaus work for the client. So bureaus are representing their amalgamating. They're there, they're consolidating, they're looking at all the things that are available and then present that up to their client, their client being the person that's hiring the speaker, not the speaker. There is no bureau that works for the speaker. Now, I know we work in a partnership. And I don't want to say but if you really look at what bureaus, do, they they're working for the client, and they're helping to be a demand aggregator of what they need and how they need it, and then deliver that experience and pick the best person and saying, well, we need all this stuff out and do that, but they're working for the client. So yeah, if they're going to look at different models, and by the way, I don't know that even the speaker management model is going to work unless you get some big speakers with some big fees, right? Yeah. Because it's just gonna be you know, it's just going to be a little bit different. So, you know, a lot of people say, Well, I want somebody to manage me, well, you got nothing to manage. You're paying somebody James Taylor 00 Yeah, exactly. So yeah, Jeffrey Hayzlett you know, there's lots of things to look at it, but I, you know, there, there will always be, I mean, for really great businesses, and there are some bureaus that are really great at what they do. Well, that's what you're gonna see they're gonna survive, they're gonna be they're the ones that that aren't as good. You know, that don't have that value that don't have the, the servant mentality that don't have the client base and the relationships because it's always about relationships. That's what's going to carry them through. And so they're going to have some difficult. James Taylor So as we start to finish up here, just a couple of final kind of quick questions for you. We were talking about the augmon dinos and Brian Tracy's earlier on as well. If you were to recommend one book to our audience, maybe it could be a book about how to adapt now to this new age, this new time that we're in or it could be an absolute classic. We just had these essential principles and Neil, you know, time doesn't really change them. What would the book be that you'd recommend? Jeffrey Hayzlett The easiest book I can suggest How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, I read it every single year, it's still tested, it still passes the test of time, you know, just no different than the Bible, no different than certain types of books there. I'm not saying they're comparatively the same. But my point is, there are certain books that are grounded in what we do. You know, I would also, you know, give a self plug but to push my hero factor book about how to set your how to how to build a company that puts people but prophets, and how do you build hero cultures? And I think we're at we're at some turning points. Right now in our, in our society, I think this isn't going to make us friendlier. It's just going to make us more human. And, and I this entire experience is going to really lay us out a little bit for a while. And I think it's been a good pause a good you know, permission to pause for us to say, what's what's important, and that's so now we're taking the time to look at sunsets now. We're taking the time to fly you know, To bake a little bit more, cook a little bit more, to be with family a little bit more to have, like, you know, have kids across from you at the desk going to school that you're helping with school, when you should have been doing that anyway. Right? That, you know, I got my brother in law living with me, you think that I want that I want that. Well, now it's turning out to be a really nice thing. So those are the things that you want to look at, I think and say, yeah, these are the right things to do. James Taylor And actually, essentially, you mentioned that book, How to Win Friends and Influence People I was looking at the other day, because I was looking at old books had been written during the Great Depression. And that was actually one of the books had been written during a depression and and you would think it was very dark time. But there was actually a lot of amazing businesses that were started a lot of amazing books are written a lot of amazing films that were created by Marx Brothers fan, what the great Marx Brothers movies were created during that time as well. So there's gonna be a lot of very good things. They're going to come out this time. Jeffrey Hayzlett Well, there's going to be great businesses. Look at the last, the last the last recession. Bond, Arab Airbnb spawned Uber, go back even further and look during other downturns, some of the greatest business, you know, there's a saying don't waste a good crisis. Don't waste a good crisis. So the question for each speaker that's sitting here listening right now is, what are you doing to make sure that you don't waste the time? And I think that's a key question for you. What are you doing that you could then up your game and change it exponentially to be something bigger and better to take the message that you have and exponentially? You know, make it more relevant for today and make it greater in terms of its reach? That's, that's a good question for people. I'm doing my best. I've never worked harder. I have absolutely never worked harder during this entire time. This this last seven weeks that we're into this already as part of this thing. Not to not make this evergreen but I don't care whenever it is, what do you don't let a day go by without saying I'm going to make a difference or doing a different way? I wouldn't Do that. James Taylor Now one question, kind of final question I asked all my guests is, imagine if you woke up tomorrow morning, and you had to start from scratch. It's an interesting question. This time we're living in just now as well. So, Jeffrey, I want you to imagine tomorrow morning, you wake up, you have to start from scratch, you've got all the knowledge, you've acquired all the expertise, but no one knows you. And you know, no one, what would you do? How would you resolve things? Jeffrey Hayzlett I, first of all, I would do it faster. And I would do it with greater intensity, I wouldn't care so much about what other people think. That's the first thing. So and and I think by the way, the closer you get to who you really are in your intensity of that authenticity, the better it is. So that's what I would do it and by the way, I gain it and do it one fan at a time, one friend at a time. And then by and I did that's what I would do. I wouldn't change much more than that. And I would do it every single day just like that. You know, listen, if you grow 1010 people on your LinkedIn a day at the end of the year, you got to 3650 new people you never knew before. If you if you did you know, 10 of this, or 10 of this are just simple things that builds it up and it's real. It's not fake. It's not bullshit. It's real. And I built my entire career on just doing that. And I'm going to continue to do that because you know why? Because I can and that's why I want to do it though. James Taylor Well, Jeffrey, thank you for continuing to do that and cutting coming on shows and sharing your knowledge in this way as well where especially for people to go to learn more about your speaking bolts or to learn things about C suite that would be Yeah, Jeffrey Hayzlett just go to Hayzlett.com. H A Y Z L E T T .com or go check me out on C-Suite, look up anything with C-Suite, C-Suite network or C-Suite, TV C-Suite, radio C-Suite, book club, C-Suite TV, that we own them all, and you can come find us. James Taylor Well, Jeff, thanks so much for coming out today. I wish you and your family all the best. Stay safe, stay healthy, and I'm sure that you are going to use this time you're going to create some amazing things. Jeffrey Hayzlett We're going to have some fun and thanks so much James. Oh, It's a pleasure to be on your show. Thank you More of Jeffrey Hayzlett Learn More About SpeakersU #speakerslife #speakersU

Serving Not Selling In today's episode Andrea T. Edwards talks about Serving Not Selling During Coronavirus. Andrea T Edwards, CSP, (AKA The Digital Conversationalist), challenges organisations to think differently about integrity in the digital age. To think differently about the positive potential of social media. And she challenges business leaders to understand that, the tool of business transformation today, is through the powerful voices of employees as social leaders. Because it is employees who are the champions and true influencers for businesses in the digital age. Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl060-serving-not-selling-during-coronavirus-andrea-t-edwards/ James Taylor Hey, there's James Taylor and I'm delighted today to have on the show Andrea Edwards, Andrea T. Edwards CSP, aka the digital conversationalist challenges organizations to think differently about integrity in the digital age, to think differently about the positive potential of social media. And she challenges business leaders to understand that the tool of business transformation today is through the powerful voices of employees as social leaders, because its employees who are the champions and true influences for businesses in the digital age. It's my great pleasure to have Andrea with us today. So welcome, Andrea. Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here. So share with us Oh, what's happening in your world at the moment? Andrea Edwards Well, we've been on lockdown now I call it six legs plus two because I had a self quarantine came back from Melbourne to Thailand. And because I went to Singapore for an hour and a half, I had to self quarantine at home. So we've been in we've been in quite a quite a long time and I think the first couple of rates for pretty rough, just from just all settling down getting the kids set or getting them working for school. But you know where we are. I mean, we couldn't be in a better place. We've got a big pool. We're swimming as a family everyday doing lap. So it's a crazy time. But I think we're in one of the best parts of the world to be going through such a crazy time. James Taylor Now for people that don't know your your kind of background, the kind of work you do today. I mean, you work with some pretty phenomenal clients, but you work with you, you speak events, but actually, you kind of consult and you train. So just give a little bit of background about the kind of interactions that you're usually having and the kind of clients that you would work with. Andrea Edwards Yeah, so I've been in the communication space for more than 20 years, and I've lived and worked all over the world. So originally, I started out pure purely in public relations from the defense, aerospace industry. Then I moved into the technology industry when it really took off. I moved to London in the mid 90s work for Microsoft. And then I went The content marketing revolution sort of started to quietly happen. I realized I was actually already in content marketing. It just wasn't caught that then. And so I was one of the early sort of evangelists for content marketing in Asia. And I was attending a lot of industry events. And I was listening to a lot of people speak about content marketing, and I was constantly frustrated by what I was hearing. And that was the moment when I said, Well, if I don't like what I'm hearing, get up on stage and share my own point of view, right. So I, I'm not in the speaking game, because I have a desire to speak. In fact, I'd rather do anything but speak. But I'm here because I've got a message and a message that I really believe in. And so I was working with Microsoft at the beginning of the last decade. And I was looking at the content marketing that was going on in the company at the time, and it's a beautiful work being done. But it wasn't succeeding, the employees weren't helping the content to succeed. And then I'm going to work for a Content Agency. And now we're creating this amazing content. And again, the content wasn't succeeding. So I sort of, you know, sort of put it all together. And I came up with this philosophy, which I call social leadership. And it's about empowering employees to go out there, and their voices on social media channels, and become the best advocates that a company can have. Because if you work for any company, especially the big companies, the people will love these companies, but you've got to empower the people to go out there and speak. And it's not about the business, it's got to be from a point of view that they care about, and it's got to be a point of view of passion. And then I can talk about the company as well. So I just bought I brought all these different pieces together and, and came up with the digital compensation lens concept. Because I love social media. I loved it from the beginning. I've lived all over the world. I stay connected to all my friends, I've been blogging for more than a decade. I share a personal blog as well as a professional blog and I just, for me, the whole social media. Revelation while I fully recognize all the negative aspects of it, the positive aspects of it are so amazing. And I work really hard with the big companies that I work for to get them to understand what those positive benefits are and to get their employees really engaged and really powerful on social media. And you know, I've got it on that's published another case study, but I've got this amazing proof where from a financial perspective, willing customers pipeline building, it's incredible what employees can do, but as well as other other benefits that I care about, like they believe in themselves, they they're proud of themselves, they create their careers start shooting in different directions up higher. So yeah, it's been a, it's been an interesting journey, but at the center of it all, is a real passion for communication and passion for connection. I suppose they're my two, the two bits that bring it all together. James Taylor And one of your clients is IBM. And you did obviously your speakers you remember everyone you can accommodate speakers, you Maybe you shared with me a piece of work that you've done with one of your clients, IBM, and it was phenomenal. I've shared it with so many different people in different organizations over time. I mentioned your name to so many of them, because I thought it really it was it was it was evidence based for start, which is nice. It's always fun. But it actually kind of showed, you know, when I talk to a lot of C suite executives or even like all direct or middle management level, and some of them are really worried, they kind of know that they go online and they might be doing stuff in a personal capacity, which they kind of hide away somewhere, but they're worried about causing any brand risk, or saying anything that's wrong as well. So could you like for those that haven't and we'll obviously put a link is good your site and check that work out? What were some of the key findings that you found about how to share an authentic voice about building that doesn't feel like it's corporate it but is genuinely adding value to people's lives? Andrea Edwards Yeah, so um, you know, when I say So it's been, it's been nearly four years that I've been working with IBM, and I'm about to launch another case study, which shows even even more progress. And my message has always been quite different. Right? I see a lot of people on social media and I see a lot of advice on social media. And it's a broadcast, you know, look at me, look at me, it's very egotistical, right. And when I started sitting down with the senior executives, the leadership teams, not just with IBM, but other big companies, they were telling me how turned off they are by that sort of approach. And, and I completely understood where they're coming from, right. So I always talk to them about, you've got to find your voice. You know, like, if you're, if you're an executive in a business, you know, what is appropriate, what's not appropriate. And, you know, there's very specific things that are especially a leader can and cannot do, right. I'll always remember when I worked with one of the heads of communication for ga Like if I put an article out where I talk about trains and then a week later, GE buys a train business, that that could be interpreted as insider trading. Right. So there's very specific challenges that simulators have to face, right. So I talked to them about what they can talk about. So some of the some of the executives I've worked with, and one of them his biggest passion is work life balance. He's a senior executive, his biggest priorities getting home for the weekend to spend time with his kids. I took it took him two years to be convinced to publish a personal blog talking about his children and that as a priority, and before that, it was always technology. Right? And I have never seen a blog get more engagement and more gratitude, because people just really appreciated hearing a leader talking from such a human perspective, right, everyone, everyone talks about authentic leadership. But not many, not many people are good at it, but at the same time A lot of the ladies are actually quite scared to do it because they don't know how it's going to be seen. So I talked a lot about that, you know, like being authentic, find your voice, what's your focus what's what's your passion, some leaders want to talk to their employees through social media channels. Some leaders want to talk to then want to influence the next generation someone to talk to the country issues if they're a leader of that country for the business that they work for. So it's about really getting them focused on what they want to talk about. And then they share that they shared content aligned to that focus their own the companies and other content. So a great hate HBr article, Harvard Business Review article on leadership that really sort of inspires, and so it's about getting them focused. It's not about talking about the company. Anyone here is a valuable employee. They don't want to be a megaphone for business. They want to they want to go out there and stand there in their own right. So what I do is I help them work out what that message should be. For them based on who they are, and what their priorities are. So it's a different sort of, it's a different spin. The other thing that I insist on is that they have to do it themselves. They can get help. But I, I advise anyone who wants to succeed as a social leader, you've got to do it yourself. You can't outsource your voice. It's got to be you. It's got to be you're engaging. It's got to be you're expressing yourself. Because if you outsource that you will never understand the true potential of social media. It's the engagement of the on social media that really brings its power to the fore. James Taylor What might you say like reflecting your your personality on social media, something I often wonder about is my mic and humor home is quite dark, you know? And it's pretty, I mean, obviously, there's a there's a Britishness and it's quite dark and it can be maybe slightly cynical at times as well, where generally when when I'm I'm doing most of my my social media and most of really kind of definitely who I am More Republic context, I can think of myself trying to be optimistic. So I don't really want to see something that's snarky and negative, even though some of that humor. I really, personally I quite it makes me chocolate makes me laugh. What I think what I want to be thinking about in term, whether you're a speaker, or executive, in terms of thinking about how to use humor, how to kind of reflect your your own humor or not, when you're on your social media. Andrea Edwards Well, I definitely think you've got to let your personality come through. And you know, like, I'm Australian, right? We, I think, you know, being Australians also we get away with all sorts of stuff. It's true, right? But, you know, the way I participate professionally, is, is different to the way I participate. Personally, my humor, like my hip, my personality is still the same. And I, as the years have gone on, I've definitely put more of my humor into into my professional presence. But you know, you should we've got to be very You're aware of cultural differences. I, I I operate all over the world I I've lived all over the world. I think all of the world I think it's a, the people that I've worked with in India versus the Philippines versus Australia, New Zealand, London, you know, like Chima doesn't always translate, right? So what might be hilarious in America might be incredibly offensive in Singapore. So I think there's a place for humor definitely on social media. And I think if you're a funny person, and that humor translates, if you've got you've got to have high cultural intelligence, right? And humor translates you should definitely embrace it The world needs, it needs its entertainers. But if you have a sense of humor that could be divisive. It's you know, just keep it to your personal Facebook page. You don't have to be, you know, it's about being appropriate for the audience where you are right and I'm not the same everywhere. No, my Instagram is very different to my LinkedIn presence, which is different to my Facebook. activity in my Twitter activity. So we've all got to be thinking about who the audience is. And it's very easy to be misconstrued on social media, right? So from a professional perspective, wherever you are, professionally, you know, it's not about changing who you are, it's just not you just don't need to, you don't need to put everything on the table. James Taylor And what about in terms of kind of modes, I guess? Some people love watching short videos, you know, can a short kind of almost like Tick Tock style videos, Instagram videos, IGTV of people watching love can spend a lot of time on YouTube, other people spending more long form articles, who like, you know, quote, cars, or all these different kind of ways that we take in information and we like to be on social media? How does that really relate to let's say if you're, whether you're a speaker or an executive now thinking, Okay, this is a plethora of different platforms and a plethora of different ways that you can share your thoughts and your ideas. What's that kind of what should we be thinking about in terms of making sense of all this? Andrea Edwards Well, I think the first thing is the rules have changed and the change very quickly, the idea that you've only got a couple, you know, you've got a short attention span, I think that's changed. People are looking for knowledge on the current situation, and they're going to go to the sources that provide that knowledge. I've always found that senior executives read and they read long form content. Not all of them. Of course, if you're if you're a senior executive in the consumer business, then you might it might be appropriate for you to participate on a platform like tik tok or Snapchat, I can't stand them. My kids are on them. I try. I try. But I it's just doesn't work for me, right? So you've got to be appropriate to the audience on the platform, and you've got to be appropriate to the customer. So it's two things right? And they're very different behaviors, but it's just about making that real conscious connection between where am I and who am I trying to talk to everything. Everything is about your audience. Who is your audience? What do you want to make them feel? What do you want to make them think? You know, my motto is always to make people laugh, or cry. And I that that covers all of my social media platforms, but I'm very different on all my different platforms. You know, you know, like, I've got a professional profile, which is LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. And, and, and I'm consistent across those three, but then I've got another Facebook platform and another Twitter handle and you know, so it's multiple, multiple platforms with different things. And some people get overwhelmed by the amount of platforms that are out there. The best place to start is to start from where you're comfortable. So if Tick Tock appeals to you then going can become superstar on Tick Tock. If LinkedIn appeals to you be a superstar there. So you've got to choose your platform based on where your customer is but also where you feel comfortable, because if you're not comfortable, it's never going to come across. Well, anyway. James Taylor I thought speaker that's perhaps you know, think okay. I really want to Wondering on social media I really want to share, be sharing a lot more and taking partners can have conversations online. do you advise them to just kind of start with one and go really deep for a while with that? Or should they maybe think about three and then kind of look kind of to develop them and work along with them alongside as time goes on? What would you suggest? Andrea Edwards If they're just starting out now on social media? I think they've already missed an opportunity. Up until a couple of months ago, you know, for years now, I've been saying to people, speakers, as well as professionals, get on social media, build your voice it's going to get, it's getting busier and busier and busier. Okay. A couple of months ago, everyone got on social media, because that is how everyone in the world is communicating today. So the biggest challenge anyone's gonna face on social media is being heard. Because everyone's talking, that's where we're talking now. Right. So that's the biggest challenge. The second thing is, it's not where you are. It's about being intentional about this. message that you want to get across and the audience that you want to reach and set your intention, who do you want to reach? So if your target is consumers, where are they, you know, like, I can't tell you which platform to be on, you know where your customers are, or you should. And if you don't ask your customers, you know, where do they engage. But you can only work out the platforms by doing it yourself. Like, I couldn't explain to someone how to use Instagram if I hadn't been on Instagram for a number of years and really liked it. You know, but as a professional, if you are a professional, you should definitely be on LinkedIn as a priority. That I mean, to me, that is always the number one platform for speakers and for business executives. Everyone has to be on LinkedIn and build a voice there are like I said, it's gotten very, very noisy very, very quickly. James Taylor And essentially, I find now when I you know, I've been doing social media for a long time. There's certain platforms I find I naturally gravitate more to than others and I enjoy spending time there. My wife has an almost a completely different set of social media that she spent space over. So I'm always like, Why Why is she loves Twitter and then I'm kind of more of a kind of I love YouTube and Instagram. But and for years I remember kind of doing it and doing it to a certain extent of this is interesting. This is fun. This isn't this is another way to share ideas and peep conversations, but not really thinking so much of an ROI, or return on that time and just going like oh, this is this is interesting. But then I've been thinking more recently and I think about some of the things I've just bought like today just I just purchased and it just arrived today, a coffee grinder, a burnt coffee grinder and so I went to you know, finally I've got a really nice old style Garcia coffee machine. I've had about 10 years but it's great. It's built like a tank and I thought I really need to probably upgrade my my grade I have like a nicer grinder to make nicer coffee. Now, when I started go online to learn about which one I should be getting my default was to go to YouTube. And for I basically lost an entire evening, getting totally geeky watching these people who are super passionate about coffee and coffee grinders. And, and because some of them mentioning certain types, certain brands of coffee machines, I thought, that's the brand I'm going to buy. And so it kind of really came back to me to thought, well, that is a position of influence, whether we like it or not, whether we're just kind of going online putting stuff out because we're passionate about a topic. But after a while, you think, well, I am creating some impact, some kind of influence, whether that's someone buying some things or making a decision about where to go not on that next holiday, because I've been an environmental side of things as well. So how do you perceive How do you think of yourself in terms of influence? I know it's a term I don't particularly like influence. But a lot of people talk about influencing and being in a social media influence. What's your take on that? Andrea Edwards Oh, you know, I mean, I think the influences are getting a bit of a bit of a bad rap at the moment. You know, they're being pushed down because the people who should be the heroes of the moment the nurses, the doctors, the frontline workers are being a being held up. And I've never been a real fan of the influencer space, especially in the consumer side of things. It's just, it's not, it's not the way it's not the person I am, you know, from the Kardashians on right? But people are really caught up, they love it, they think it's great, they find it entertaining, or they find it uncomfortable and interesting. You know, and I think there's, there's something for everyone out there. But if you were going to position yourself on on YouTube right now, and that was going to be your number one channel. It is one of the top social media platforms in India. But if say let's say you were trying to target a business executive today that was a parent. They are at home teaching hungry killing their children trying to do their job. And one of the hardest things for them to do is to sit down and find time to watch videos. So I think we've all got to be very conscious of how we communicate at this time, again, based but especially based on what our customers looking like. So I get 70 people are sending my private social media channels are as busy as my public ones, right? And everyone sending me all these videos, but I can never watch any of them. Because usually, if they're sending them to me privately, they're rude. Which means I can't watch in front of my kids and I don't like putting headphones on because they hurt my ears. So it's, it's all about balance, right? I'm not a huge fan of the influencer thing. I remember somebody called me one month and I was like, Whoa, um, but, you know, I don't do what I do to be positioned as an influencer or anything else. I do what I do because I really believe in my message. And when I'm out there on my social media platforms, that's why I'm sharing I'm not so I'm not ego driven. I'm not I'm not You know, I don't want sometimes I'll walk in and people will run up to me and give me a hug and go, Oh my god, Andrew Edwards. And I'm like, Well, you know, I'm a girl from a country town in Australia, but I just, I love I love what I do. And and I really believe in the power of social media that we can change the world. And I believe in its positive possibilities with a well understanding its negatives. So I think if you want to, don't focus on being, don't be focused on being an influencer, focus on delivering real value to a community that you care about, and you want to make their lives better. And to me, that's a much more impactful thing to do. And the people who do that, who live in that space, it's not, they're not necessarily hundreds or millions, hundreds of thousands and millions of followers, but they're very loyal followers, even if they're a smaller community, and I think actually a lot more powerful. James Taylor And on that note, obviously, we'll go as we're recording this today, we're going through COVID-19 the world's gonna We're all experiencing this this together this moment in history. What What advice would you give to because there's many speakers out there who are obviously floundering, they're kind of wondering what to do or they're the calendar is completely gone has completely disappeared. And many of them are in a kind of reactionary type of mode, about just trying to Okay, I need to make up this income I need to do other things. And they're putting themselves out there in a certain type of way. So you're I know you're, you've always put your finger on the pulse about what you're seeing other speakers doing social media and things that you think are good things that you do, and also good for their brands and for the business in general. What what are you seeing what piece of advice would you be giving just now? Andrea Edwards Yeah, so I'm just recently I set up a whole bunch of group calls with members of across Asia, the professional speakers associations across Asia, because I was actually quite good. I was actually getting quite disturbed by what I was saying. And I understand why people are doing what they do. Doing but it was like overnight, everyone was pivoting, online selling, sharing successes. Look at me look at me, I've won something, webinars and now free and all that sort of good stuff. But to me, I reached out to the speakers associations in Asia and I offered to run sessions where I talked to people about their message for these time. And the first question I said to them, put your hand up if you need to earn money right now. And of course, the majority of people put their hands up, right. And I said, right, we're on the same boat. That the industry is turned upside down. I've been reading you know, because the other thing I do is I read a lot about a lot of different stuff. So I'm monitoring social media, I'm reading like everything. I cover every, every aspect of anything that I'm interested in that and I just found that the way that the speakers were behaving was really jarring with the reality of what our customers and ourselves are feeling right now. So for me personally, these first few weeks when you know, because I'm in Thailand, the very first case of cobit, outside of China was in Thailand. And we had the Chinese New Year, we'll hand direct flight straight into Paquette. So we've been living with this crisis for longer and observing, being careful being cautious, you know, we've been monitoring it for longer, right. But basically, what, I just find that the way a lot of the speakers are participating, and it really isn't a criticism because I understand I really do. It's not in alignment with how our customers are feeling. You know, our brains aren't working quite well, at the moment. People are, you know, in order to have a business article that that's very normal. It's part of the fight or flight response where, you know, you wake up some days and you feel on top of the world and you can conquer the world and then the next day you wake up and you're, you're so down because you've noticed you read a story about how the the Viruses impacting the refugees is having a miserable life across Europe. Right? So then I started asking customers, I started asking colleagues, peers, friends, how are you feeling? How you feeling? And it's probably the question I've asked the most. And, you know, it went from anywhere from How the hell do I teach my kids? How do I how do I get through this time? I'm depressed. I don't know how to do this. I'm struggling with leaders. How do I how do I help my employees work through these time? How do I be a good leader at this time? And so what, what what I what I really wanted to say to all of the speakers around the world is we have to be of service now. There is business and it will come. But I think if we behave in the wrong way, now it will hurt. It will hurt our careers in the long term. You know, anywhere between 12 months and three years, we could potentially be in this situation, right? So it's a long time. Time coming. So get your training online, get your speaking online, do your videos, but just don't be pushing, pushing, pushing, because people aren't ready for it. You know, JK Rowling came out and she she blasted the productivity experts, right just said they didn't have the right to do that. And, and I think she's right because people are going through such emotional turmoil. And we need to be sensitive to where the world community is right now. You know, you look at a country like India, the diversity of people in country, you know, from the day workers who were living under a bridge in Delhi with nothing to wait all the way through to the people living in skyscrapers and their family owned the whole building writes very different experiences. But there's, there's an anxiety there's a fear, you know, we don't know enough about the virus yet. We don't know enough about its impact. The politicians around the world aren't helping. There's not a global approach to this which is making it worse which is going to make it longer. So We need to step into a role if we want to be relevant of service, and we need to talk about the stuff that's going to help our community prosper. You know, and if we don't do that, I think we'll, I think we'll lose out in the long term. And I, I don't think if we get it wrong, I don't think we'll be on a stage. When when the world opens back up, I really don't think we're going to be very sensitive, have high emotional intelligence, and just really be no, try not to operate from a place of fear for our own self, and try and just go into a place of service for our community. If you've got a topic that's relevant right now to your community, you know, health and wellness, right? It's skyrocketing. Because people are at home, they're looking, they're going online to do yoga sessions, bloody sessions. People are baking, they're cooking, they're doing all these things, right? So if you can, if you can feed into that space and stand out in that space, go for it, you know, but is your productivity Pitch really what people need to hear right now. And if it's not, it doesn't mean it won't be again. But maybe you need to pivot for the time being, and be really in tune with your audience. We've got to be in tune with you. We always need to be in tune with your audience. Right? But on social media, we've got to be very intentional again, right? James Taylor And what I mean, you're you said, you're kind of always you're looking around, you're seeing examples what other people are doing. Are you seeing examples there of your perhaps your more kind of classic kind of motivational style expert speaker, obviously, I realized, when I'm saying the word motivation, I guess I'm thinking of a as a flavor because I thought, sometimes I feel you can still be a great speaker and you don't have to be like a motivational style of speaker. I think there's great speakers I've seen who aren't motivational, but they move me in some way or they say something in some way that that I think is really, really valuable. Have there been any of those comments? traditional kind of personal development motivational speakers out there that you feel have got that type of emotional intelligence. And they're putting out something there in some way. Whether it's to, you know, to keep people's morale up to help them kind of get through each of their days to deal with stress. What are you seeing out there? Andrea Edwards Yeah, I think, you know, some some of the people that I that I've been speaking to their positivity experts, right. And positivity is a challenging thing to talk about right now. Because not everyone's feeling very positive. Right. So how do you talk about positivity, in the context of a world full of fear, and and it isn't. positivity in its in its essence, isn't actually the absence of fear. It's about you know, it's sort of it digs into resilience, it digs into, you know, the deeper things I mean, I'm saying some people who were talking about like Natalie Turner published a blog recently, which was really, really inspirational and it was talking about the future we can create because we've got an opportunity to create it right now. Based on Yeah, the environment. You know, one of my topics that I don't talk about, that I write a lot about, and I share a lot about is the climate catastrophe that's coming our way. And, you know, people aren't really connecting the dots, but we are, this is part of the climate catastrophe. I'm saying the world blaming China for this, I mean, we're all responsible for what's going on. If, if we didn't like what China was doing in their in their markets, then we shouldn't have been doing business with them. And and now then, of course, we're facing the fact that the supply chain is 100% reliant on reliance on China and all the safety equipment that we need has to come from one place and, you know, so it's quite remarkable, but we're all responsible for where we are as a world, right? So for me, I suppose it's, it's the futurists with big hearts that are standing out to me. You know, the people who are who are trying to get people to come together and stay positive. You know, there's a lot of negativity. There's a lot of word, you know, conspiracy theories. And I don't think any of that helps, right? So it's just gonna keep us together, share the good news, shout out, shout out beautiful mankind is, you know, what is his name Captain Tom in the UK raising all their money for the NHS, you know, we got to share love, got to share beauty, you know, New York Times article that social media has become a more positive place, which is just so fantastic to see that. And I think we're all saying that we're also seeing a lot more people come onto social media, who don't have a lot of expertise because they haven't been participating. And they're coming there, because that's where we're talking now. Right. And so I think, you know, we've got an opportunity to really turn a lot of things around and to create a new future. And I think as speakers if we can take this take this time, and so, where are people now? How are they feeling? And how can we bring them forward? Towards the world that we will want to create together that's going to be better for everyone. And, you know, it sounds like very optimistic. You said earlier, you're a bit of a cynic. I think we're going to put cynicism aside. For a while. The world was getting far too cynical. And some of the really smart people I know. We're getting far too cynical. And I, I can be cynical with the best of them. But I refuse to let cynicism overtake me. No. So I think we've gotten up, we've got an opportunity, but it's got to be about we've got a guide, we've got to, we've got to help. We've got to we've got a we've got to be a bomb for society if we want to be relevant right now. And and that can be a big step away from what we might have been doing even a couple of months ago. When you look at things like you know, the top skills of the future, about you know, you talk about creativity. I think creativity is still very, very relevant. But how do you talk about it right now in this situation? Have you been? Have you? James Taylor Yeah, actually? Yeah, it was. It was actually interesting. I was talking with a client this morning about about this, who was a, it's a foreign government, a government in the Middle East, who's actually asked me to come and do a series of videos and which are going to be social media video. So a short one minute is that I do a lot of these little one minute videos, these kind of, I call them snackable, stackable content. So it's just something very actionable, that I have a framework that I can do. And we were just having a discussion. Obviously, they brought me in because they want someone who's going to talk about creativity, but the spin the angle that we're really taking about is really about remote creativity. When you're stuck in my head. I'm kind of imagining I'm that person who's sitting in a one bedroom apartment, maybe with two kids partner, two kids can't go out just now. So it's easy thing like creativity feels very, you know, lightweight. It doesn't really so how does As it relates to them and, and we're just gonna, we were just talking this morning about different ideas like on my topic for someone creativity, how that applies. So for example, things like the actual the physical space in which you work in having a creative little creative exercise, especially if you're working with you're spending time a lot of time with kids or younger people as well. How you get, you know, we were talking about getting creative with finances, your finances, you're having to think about things I know, we're certainly very creative. And I think this is a big change. I think that will probably happen, I would say definitely here in the UK, where I'm speaking from just now. But people like Richard Africa talk about what's the single thing you can do to deal with environmental crisis crisis. And he said, Don't waste don't waste don't waste. And so we're seeing in terms of how our cooking patterns have changed, and we're actually getting very creative now we think, oh, let's try what we did that thing. What if we did that with that and and so on. I'm actually seeing from this, from my perspective, I'm seeing an outpouring of creativity in terms of how we're doing things. And also that doesn't, doesn't even include in terms of what's going on in the world of medicine, and, you know, medical devices. The things are being built at incredible speeds and huge ingenuity and innovation as well. But just on the personal side, I definitely feel you need to you need to adapt your message for what is in people's hearts and in their heads just now. Andrea Edwards Yeah, I think you always do. But it's never been more important because your looks or your scans or your Facebook page or LinkedIn fades and, you know, sometimes you people still so many people, it's like business as usual on LinkedIn. And you see the marketing campaigns from businesses and they obviously haven't switched them off. Like how can you not be in tune and, and of course, the mistakes are coming out, you know, there was To an insurance company in India, that to absolutely ridiculous campaign around death, just at the beginning of, you know, just as a pandemic was really starting to take hold, and, you know, so we've, you know, it's always important to be in tune with your customer, whoever, whoever that is for you. And whatever you do whatever you speak about pivoting to where people are being really authentic, being really heart driven. The other thing that I think is really important is if you're not an emotionally intelligent person naturally go and read up about emotional intelligence, understand it, because that's what's gonna help you succeed at this time. James Taylor Now, let's talk about some more prosaic things as well. Are there other any kind of online resources or tools or apps that you find I kind of getting you know, you've found you've always going to be using but you find them even more useful. Now. I think that maybe you've discovered now that you think after two years time, perhaps you still think it's gonna be giving value to your life and your work. Andrea Edwards Well, I have to tell you a secret. I recently discovered iMovie and iMovie on my phone. And so I realized I can do little bits of video and put them together. So I'm feeling very clever. Because I'm, it's just one of those things I write, I like to write. And so my blogs are long, you know, two to two and a half thousand words. And I've always liked to write and it but I know that people like video as well. So I'm trying to do a bit more of a mix. And I'm going to be doing a lot more mimics I'm going to do my next book was going to be the social leadership Manifesto, which is my sort of philosophy on social media. And I've decided I'm going to do it as a series of videos on YouTube. Because I think it's a really important message for this time. It's not going to be short form. I don't do anything short. But apps wise, I've got to tell you, I'm very I'm very young. I'm very loyal to the app. I use I can't tell you how many I've subscribed to, I can't tell you how many I pay for. And my husband has asked me to go and look at all the apps that I paid for and start, stop paying for the ones that I haven't used. Because you know, that's the first thing you do. So I'm, I'm, I'm pretty basic. And I always have been pretty basic because it's not about the fashion the show. For me, it's about the message. I think the probably the size I value the most is Shutterstock Shutterstock. Not just for the quality of the image images that they've got, but also for the editing that they use. They're going to edit this page, but i'm, i'm not i'm not a heavy up user. I never have been. So I'm sorry. I'm what is because I'm inspirational to share that. James Taylor I know a lot of people that I've kind of gone back and forth with use tools in the past which have things like Hootsuite, for example, which helped manage all of our social media. And we've actually found out ourselves to go completely back the other way. We can do pretty much everything natively now instead, yeah. What do you what do you do to manage all these different social channels, social listening and also posting? Andrea Edwards Well, I used to be very active with Hootsuite. And I know it's probably been about 18 months now. And I, that's one of the probably one of the accounts I need to cancel. But I'm just interacting as I as I interact, so it's real. I don't I'm not doing as much as I used to do a long time ago. I'm doing less anyway. So. But yeah, so I'm interacting in real time. All the time. I think the automation platforms are great. But I don't feel that I mean, I'm, I'm across multiple social media platforms, but I feel that I'm in control of all of them. I'm not overwhelmed by them. And I'm not just there to be there. I'm there for a reason. So yeah, sorry. Yeah. So I'm what I'm less inclined towards Oh, Sort of bats these days. James Taylor And more about, you know, my emotional intelligence. Are there any books you'd recommend for someone that listening to just now really wants to kind of Read more about this think more about this so that any good kind of books or places to go to this think about more about emotional intelligence. Andrea Edwards I was reading an article it was on on ink, and I don't read a lot of stuff on ink the other day, which was about emotional talent, intelligence. So Daniel was a Daniel Goleman, who wrote the original book on it. Does that sound right? James Taylor Yeah, can't remember actually. Yeah, we can have a link to it here as well. Andrea Edwards Yeah. I kind of liked the book. It was a bit academic for me. But this other article was talking to leaders about being emotionally intelligent at this time. And it was like five tips. And it was like, well, I find it really hard. I find that I don't need to learn about emotional intelligence because I am. Right so you don't need to give me a tip on how to be emotionally intelligent. I know. I can tell that somebody is feeling uncomfortable. I can tell that someone's excited you know, I've got I I just an in tune with other people. So I've never gone and read a book on it because I don't need to be Because I am, you know, domain, but there are a lot there's a lot of information out there these days for emotional intelligence and, and I think if you don't naturally have that skill, I definitely think it's one you should be looking to master anyway. But at this time in particular, you know, we were hearing stories of managers who are making their employees seen on video, video all day, so that they know that the employees are working, but that the employee still has to homeschool their children. You know, in Asia, there's often three generations of whole community living together in a house. You know, it's, we've got to be a lot more in tune with what we're asking about people, but also the emotional sort of toll that this situation is having on people. We can't expect them to be the same as if they're in the office, because it's not the same night and you know, if someone's reading up about what's going on at the moment, they're really interested in what's going on there. They're investing deeply on what's going on in mind is going to be in a million different pieces trying to bring it all together. So expecting them to deliver an eight hour day with with the complexity that exists around them in their home life is just ridiculous. And this is happening all over the world at the moment, these expectations that, you know, my husband works with an American company, and it was all a big joke until a couple of weeks ago. You know, they're laughing about it, and then all of a sudden, they started to understand that this is a little bit more serious. And then then they started to go into a little bit more awareness, I suppose of the situation that they didn't give Steve that credit when he was going through it. So that was that was that was pretty interesting watching that evolve. And I think we're all very, very different stages. A lot of people haven't even accepted it. James Taylor A lot of people don't agree with what what governments are doing right. Depending depending on where you're where you're listening to this from just now you're in your you're perhaps in Different stage of this process and also, you know, we went about, you know, the, the stages of you of grieving you know, you first you deny and then you need to finally come through to acceptance. So we're on that on different trajectories as well. And a final thing, Andrew if people want to kind of thank you so much for coming on today I know this is your You are so passionate about this, about this topic about, about communication and, and communicating in an authentic kind of way. And I know you kind of live this, you breed this as well. where's the best place for people to go to learn more about you, your writing your different social play is a one ticket place that they can go they can go find all the different places you're on. Andrea Edwards So Andrea T Edwards is my professional name. So that's my website, as well as my Twitter handle LinkedIn, Facebook, and I've got some other profiles but they're not my professional one. So if you want to come and join me there, I'm, um that's where more of me comes to the for the But you know, I am really passionate about it. I think we need to evolve as a species, we need to lift up human consciousness, human consciousness needs to rise up, we have an opportunity to do it. And the climate crisis was always gonna cause an economic catastrophe. So it were in that. So we get to rebuild now, and we get to rebuild before before it's too late. And I think so I think we're beginning a really massive opportunity, that to the speaking community, it's a time to act with great integrity, to be really, really connected to the feelings that are ricocheting all around the world, right. People are really really scared. They're frightened. People like me on on, I'm excited about what we can create. But we've got a long way to go before we can get there, right and we have to be in shape. with what's going on, and, and be relevant to this time, and even if people just say, for the next three months, I'm just gonna, I'm just going to be of service to my community and do what I can do to help them. And that will set you up for the long term. But if you get it wrong right now, if your message is really jarring to the point of it and being offensive to people in your community, I think it will be hard to come back from that. And that's, that's that's what I really wanted to get across today. And thanks so much, James, for giving me the opportunity. Because we can do this and let's support each other through it. It's really hard time for entire community. But we can come through this but it is a chance for us to stand up and operate at a different level. And I'm excited to see that James Taylor well Andrea, thank you so much for coming on today. Sharing me we can hear in your voice your passion for this as well and thank you for the sharing and and kind of just really Telling the community speak community out there. Some of those wise words as well and I wish you all the best and stay healthy and stay safe. Thank you so much for coming on the Speakers Life today. Andrea Edwards Thanks for having me. More of Andrea T Edwards Learn More About SpeakersU #speakerslife #speakersU

Stress Management In today's episode Kathy Gruver talks about Stress Management For Professional Speakers. The outbreak of COVID-19 (coronavirus), and its profound impact on the speaking business, means the topic of stress management for professional speakers has never been more timely. In this episode of The Speakers Life we hear from stress and communication expert Kathy Gruver on what we can do to survive and thrive. Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl059-stress-management-for-professional-speakers-with-kathy-gruver/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hi, it's James Taylor. He a keynote speaker on creativity and artificial intelligence and the founder of International Speakers Summit. Today I speak with Kathy Gruver. And we talked about how to take the stress out of your speaking different ways to improve your presence on stage and developing resilience in the face of rejection. Enjoy this session. Hey, there is James Taylor. And I'm delighted today to be joined by Kathy Gruver. Kathy Gruver PhD has graced stages on three continents to cruise ships and a handful of islands including TEDx. She hosts a TV show based on her first book The alternative medicine cabinet and has earned her PhD in natural health. Kathy, is the 12 time award winning author of seven books including conquer your stress, workplace wellness, conquer your stress at work and journey of healing. She has studied Mind Body medicine at the famed Boston Henry Institute for Mind Body mess and Harvard, and has been featured as an expert in numerous publications including glamour, time and Dr. Oz is the good life as well as appearing on over 250 radio and TV shows, including lifetime NPR, CBS Radio and Sky News London in 2015. She had the privilege of creating a stress reduction program for the US military and worked to help stop the underground sex trade in her community. For fun and stress relief. Kathy does hip hop and flying trapeze, not something you normally associate speakers as well. So it's my great pleasure to have Kathy joining us today. So welcome, Kathy. Kathy Gruver Oh, thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it. James Taylor So share with everyone what's going on in your world just now. Kathy Gruver Yeah, you know, it's conference season. So I've got a lot of travel coming up a lot of really great talks coming up a lot of trapeze coming up with Yeah, it's, it's unusual. I just planned my own retreat, a woman's empowerment retreat. So it's an experiment. We'll see how that goes. I think it's a really good outlet for what I do. So we're going to do everything from meditation, mindfulness, yoga, dance, trapeze, organic food in an eco resort. So I'm really excited about that. So fingers crossed that it goes the way I expect it to, so James Taylor How did you will begin to how did you get involved in the world of speaking specifically? Kathy Gruver Yeah, you know, I have a background as an actor. I was a theater major. So being on stage for me was totally natural. And when I moved cross country, I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and when I moved cross country to Hollywood, and then after about 10 years, that quote, didn't work. So many people were like, Oh, what a waste. And that's such a shame. And I'm like, but I don't think anything's a waste. So I ended up falling back on that massage thing. I've been doing massage for 28 years. I don't know how that's possible because I'm only 35. So, but you know, I started doing this healing work. And I started working with stress work, and it just sort of built into then I started writing articles. Then I wrote a book and then somebody, I know what it was, I was at one of my first conferences, just as an attendee, and I saw these people up on stage. And I found in my notebook, I would take notes on the right hand page about their content, and notes on the left hand page about them as a speaker, because as a performer, you know, I mean, we're a little critical, but I was constantly going, Oh, that doesn't work. And oh, that's really cool. They're really funny, and oh, I wouldn't do that. And I set the goal of I'm going to be on that stage. And it was a natural path conference and they didn't pay and, you know, but three years later, I found myself on that stage. And that sort of when I realized the blending of the healing and the performing is perfect. So here I am James Taylor amazing. And so I'm interested when you were making that transition into from being a being an actor and then into into speaking as well. There's obviously there's a lot of things. There's a lot of similarities on on stage in terms of certain performance things use the body voice blocking and, and stuff like that as well. But what were some of the, the kind of superpowers you managed to have from your your time as an actor that that felt very natural to be able to kind of move in and maybe was something you didn't necessarily see in other speakers? Kathy Gruver Yeah, I think part of it is that storytelling ability, some people specifically based themselves as a storyteller, and I kind of am except that I use the story as the lesson and I realized the more speaking I did, the more people were interested in those stories. And you know, we all have personal stories, we all have a journey, and mine all seem to lead to this really specific conclusion and this nugget of a lesson or a personal Failure which lead to something. And so I found that I just have this ease of storytelling. And because I'm used to acting and using my voice and using my body emojis, I'll even throw funny voices on if I'm, you know, pretending to be somebody else. So I think that's one of the things and I think that sense of humor too. I also have I get total I have an ease on stage. Because to me, it's just I'm just I'm very conversational. I'm very, very down to earth in my in my performance, but you know, in my presentations style, so it's what did someone say the other day? I'm a West Coast mentality with all the meditation and stuff. And then East Coast delivery. It's very direct, but it's very, you know, so that's my new kind of thing. Don't anybody take that West Coast mentality with the East Coast delivery? That's my new that's my new thing. James Taylor So you're somewhere in the middle of the country Kathy Gruver The flyover states. James Taylor Yeah. I mean, it's interesting that because, like you I mean, I come from the deck of the world. I come from World of music and being a drummer and to being very intimidating and sometimes I think sometimes the least stressful part of my job is actually the being on the stage bit. That is the other bits that are more stressful in terms of like getting there. I do all the marketing and blahdy blah and all that stuff as well. And stress. I know a lot of speakers that deal with stress in different kind of ways. But obviously, this is a this is a recurring thing, pretty much every speaker I know of either they have something that they've just developed themselves in order to get them in, you know, a place where they can, they can do their best work on stage, or they've learned techniques from someone or they're just almost crippled by it and somehow they just managed to push themselves to the stage and just just gonna get there but they don't really necessarily enjoy enjoy the process. And so what advice would you give in terms of other speakers how we can better think about stress and maybe manage stress is the idea of managing stress. That's completely wrong. Should we not even be thinking about managing is we think about something else? Kathy Gruver Oh, that's a really good question. Okay, so we can manage stress to the extent that we can. But the thing is stress is this uncontrollable thing that's outside of ourselves. If we could handle it, it wouldn't be stress, it would just be that thing we have to do. So the fact that stress is external to ourselves, and it's not controllable, we can't control the flight delay. We can't control the traffic, we can't control that the speaker before us went 20 minutes over. And now we get two minutes of our half hour talk to do. You know, we can't control any of those things. So you can manage stuff, you can get to the airport early, you can have a back up plan, but that's not going to stop those external things. So to me, the key to stress is really understanding that it's not the problem because we can't control it, and then controlling our thoughts about it and our responses to it. And so often, we have a reaction to stress. We have this knee jerk reaction. I did it yesterday morning. I had this sudden panic, that a talk that I'm giving in a couple of weeks. I wasn't getting any emails on that I didn't have the template for the PowerPoint that I didn't have the registration as I just suddenly had this. Oh, and I had this reaction. So what did I do? I emailed the the organizer, and I went, Oh my god, I'm not getting any of that. And I sent it off, and then about 10 minutes later found it all, and went. And I wrote back and I said, I'm so sorry, I'm juggling. I've got six conferences in two weeks, please forgive me, and I'm sure I kind of look like a spouse to her. And I don't normally do that. I normally have the ability to take that pause and respond. And I jumped the gun. I sent her a frantic email. I look like an idiot. I felt stupid. But it was that reminder to me of take a breath. Hang on, go see if what you think is true is true. And then form a response from there and I didn't I reacted. And we all do that. We all have that reaction, whether it's something our husband says or it's the guy on on the freeway, or you know, but that's what's in our control is how we respond to these external events. And so much of our stress is in our minds, it's these things we're thinking about it's the past we're remembering the future we're ruminating on those what ifs that keep us up at two o'clock in the morning. So that's the key is recognizing that most of the stress is actually in our in our control internally, but we can't change that external stuff. James Taylor So that little in the internal dialogue I mean, the one the one I was always told was if you're feeling stressed they're gonna say I'm feeling stressed saying just say to yourself I'm feeling excited, you know, just I just a little pattern interrupt a thing as well. But what if you're, you're you're know you're maybe you're coming up your week or two weeks before your speech and you're getting really quite anxious about it and you know, you're kind of having they're not able to sleep and maybe you're you're you're having this early morning Oh, you know, what if I blank What if I can't remember my lines? What if, what if something happened? What's the light the power goes out? What if What if What if What kind of self talk can we can we be doing with ourselves to just come down and and just enjoy enjoy the process more? Kathy Gruver Well, here's my first comment on that and I hope this doesn't come across as rude but if you're freaking out that much about speaking, maybe this isn't the perfection for you. Okay, just throwing that out there I mean because you cuz I mean serious but if but if it's like if it's that nerve racking for you. Now I know that fears and phobias come over time I'm working with I do hypnosis as well. And I'm working with a client right now who used to be very comfortable on stage. And over time, he has started to have fears about it, which is really interesting. So we're gonna we're gonna go really deep inside and figure that out but but if speakings what you do and you do have that what if thing but if you look at those what ifs James, where are those? Those are in the future. What if the lights go out? What if I blank on my speech? What if I get cut short? What if no one likes it? What if that joke doesn't land? What if I offend somebody? What that's all someplace else. That's someplace else isn't here yet. What do we have right here is you and me sitting in our prospective offices talking, respective offices talking. So it's a matter of staying present. And we can do that a couple ways we can meditate. We can do mindfulness practices, we can do breath work. And like you said, basically doing that pattern interrupt of affirmations, I am calm, I am comfortable, I am in control. All of my speaking gigs go smoothly. I am hilarious. And people laugh at every joke that, you know, it's that anticipatory stress, that actually talking about what stress does, it messes with our memory. It disturbs our cognitive function, so we're not as on it deals with our immune system. So if we're so worried about getting sick on the flight, you worried about getting sick on the flight is actually depleting your immune system and you're gonna be more apt to get sick on the flight. So stress has all these negative things to it. So if we can control that stress, which is basically just staying present Everything's those things that we're afraid to get are gonna happen have less of a chance of happening. James Taylor And then when we get in so I'm thinking about something I did. When I kind of got started speaking, when I start to feel maybe a little bit nervous about something usually was about the content. For me that was a bit nervous about the particularly the new type of content that I was going to be doing. And I just went full on stoicism Cicero and I said, What is the worst is going to have Okay, I'm gonna imagine the very, very worst that's going to happen if I totally screw this up. And it was so ridiculous, as I imagined like this is happening and like, really, if that's the worst that's gonna happen, then. That's okay. Yeah, I can recover from that. And it actually, it took away a lot of that stress because I basically I played out of my head the worst it was gonna happen. It really wasn't that bad. So I can admit, okay, that's fine. I can come back to it. But then I find a slightly different challenge is this idea about, especially the first few times being up on stage being present on stage. And it just feels I know there's first time anyone's spoken will probably feel this like some of these first bit cover speeches you do. It just goes like like that it's gone. Like what what did I say? I can't remember anything about that. And so and then it took me some time I'm still working on it now is like being really more present and and really have feeling the energy of the audience and playing with that and, and doing that doing that sort of thing. But how do we start to kind of get the how do we start to develop our presence? Actually, when when we're on stage? Kathy Gruver I think breathing is fabulous. I mean, that sounds ridiculous, right? We have to brave but there is no. People are really afraid of silence. They don't want to pause. And what I just do, I not pretended. But I took that moment to formulate my words that actually sucks people in because if I wait then people suddenly go Wait, What's she gonna say now? You look panicked if you that's a very different look. That's six people in a different way. That's Oh, crap, she forgot what she was doing. And you're flipping through notes and you're looking at you know, that's, that's chaos, that's adding stress to it. But it's totally okay to pause for a minute and have that silence. Because, you know, you played music, what makes the music music is those spaces in between notes. And it's totally okay to vary your tempo, to slow down to speed up and get really excited and then drop it back down. And that's where that actor thing comes in. And on stage, I think about that, I think, where am I going to speed up? Where am I going to get louder? Where am I going to get a little and then where can I drop that back down. And in that slowing myself down, I have the ability to reconnect with the audience, because they slow down and they kind of lean in and you can see their expression change when you vary your tone, your temper your speed. All of that stuff. So I think that connecting with the audience is really about just being aware of how you're saying what you're saying. And being comfortable just stepping back for a second and taking that pause. And I remember years ago, we have something here in Santa Barbara called mind, super mind. And these are thought leaders and people who would come and they would do an evening I think they did like three or four a year. And I can't remember who it was. It was somebody like Christiane Northrup, or someone who was, was a very powerful Female Speaker until like female empowerment and health and spirituality and stuff like that. And she walked out on stage, and everybody clapped and she sat on the chair. And she must have sat there for three minutes. Just sitting there, and we were all so like, sucked into what is she? What is she gonna say, you know, and you could see like 150 people leaning in simultaneously to see that commanded so much power. And I think so many people are so afraid to be silent on Stage because it's really scary. It's really naked. It's very vulnerable. Just try it and see what happens. It's a really interesting technique. It's a really interesting technique and it sucks you back in with them. And I also I'm, I'm all about meeting people's eyes when I'm speaking. And you can tell who in the audience is up for that and who's not because they'll turn away or they'll keep meeting your eyes, I tend to go back to that person to get it again. So by the end, I'm like, I'm sorry, I'm picking on you. So, you know, but it's like and if you're not comfortable meeting their eyes then kind of look over their heads. That's the trick without from the acting thing. But um, but yeah, it really is about just taking that pause and consciously reconnecting with them. And then yeah, the talks gonna fly by and later, you're gonna watch the video and go, I was fabulous. James Taylor And essentially, I mean, I was I was watching two talks recently, actually, I went to one attended one i was i was a guest at an event and it was your former president, President present Obama. That was the keynote speaker at it. And the thing that Putting politics aside, the thing that was very interesting for me, for him as an orator is his use of pacing and pausing, you know, quite deliberate, you know, and if I probably if I worked out how many words per minute it would be quite low. And so I experimented with that just in my own speaking at certain stages, if I wanted to add more like power, more weight to something, I almost couldn't have thought of that timing. And then I listened to another speech recently, Oprah Winfrey's one that she did for the Golden Globe Awards, amazing speech, and especially towards the opening of that speech. And also towards the end of the speech, she uses some certain gift devices and certain ways in terms of rhythm and timbre and everything I thought, I really liked that I really like how, how she's kind of used, and I get kind of like stuff, experimenting with some of those things couldn't be mine. And I think this is where you start to once you know your your material, your content material. This is the things that act as like a really, really good app is being able to then That fine tuning being able to just get all the nuances really pull everything out of that that story to help help your brain so you mentioned going quiet going into the audience you know you losing as well one of the things I'm most fascinated with if I go and see theater is how it always feels that actors are much better the use of their bodies on stages than than speakers speakers and I put my I kept myself but you kind of end up going into these kind of like quite static more like no kind of things powered by their power poses or whatever the term is for them. But you can you have you can set things and I will see what like the great actors I see on stage are great performers musicians as well. There's there's a there's a fluidity this additional real naturalness as well. That must be trained that must be not something you can you immediately can come out of the box with Kathy Gruver That's a tough one for me to comment on because I shot out of the womb and my mother strapped ballet shoes to my feet. So and my dad had handed me a football so I was a very confused child. You know, I've been using my bodies since I was three or four, because I grew up as a dancer, so I'm very comfortable on stage. I'm very comfortable in my movements. There's also just some people who are comfortable in their body. And then there's those who aren't who are constantly tripping bumping into things, knocking things over. They, like their limbs aren't like that baby fall, the cult that tries to walk for the first time, they just sort of fall over. I mean, that's just some people just aren't kinetic, they're just not connected in their body. So that is something that can be trained. But yeah, I mean, one of the things that, you know, I was a theater major, and our choice was we either had to take downs, or we had to take movement, movement classes, and whether that was stage combat, or blocking or using our bodies in a certain way. But yeah, totally I have, you know, I'm very animated when I talk. And so someone could take 300 pictures of me and I'm always kind of like going, like I'm always looking for headlines because I'm always making these weird faces. But it's so funny because I tend to do this a lot. And so I have all these pictures will be Doing this and it's like, I kind of stopped doing that, because it's like, My face looks fine. But I'm, I don't know what I'm measuring, but I'm parallely measuring something. So you're right. I mean, we do get kind of locked into these physical things. And that can be really distracting because I watched an amazing keynote at a conference. And she kept and I can't demonstrate because I'm sitting down, but she kept kind of like, hitting her hips like this. And I'm thinking, why did she keep doing that, and then she kind of let her hands bounce up, and I'm like, it was just distracting. So I don't know if someone blocked that for her, or if that was a natural movement for her. But I was very aware of going, whoo, that's jarring to me. You know, she's talking about this very emotional thing of, I'm not gonna, you know, I'm not gonna mention any of that. But it's like, she was telling this emotional thing, but she kept doing these violent movements. And when I coach other speakers, I work with the pacing, but I also work with when is the time to gesture, you know, because if you mute somebody, and they've done with this with politicians and they've had body language Experts analyze their gestures and their hand movements and their facial expressions. And it's fascinating to see unconsciously how we look at those movements and what they communicate to us. Yeah. So yeah, I'm gonna stop measuring things. And I want this woman to stop banging on her hips like she's trying to mate. I don't know what she was doing. James Taylor The one we had Mark Bowden is a great body language expert here on the summit, and he was a lot of politicians as well. He's great speaker. We also watch a lot of politicians. And one of the ones he said to me was, he said, one thing is some speakers can do is they can do the pointing thing a lot with, you know, pointing in the audience. And he said, what they've The reason, actually Bill Clinton and Bill Clinton's speaker training or for speeches that he got, he was he had this terrible habit of pointing and pointing at people and putting on your speaking it could be quite an aggressive kind of move. Like I'm telling you this kind of wagging your finger. And so he was told, do this. And now this this thing here that you see all the time. But I speak by every port if you watch CNN, a TV show, if you'll see politicians using this a lot, and that comes back to the body in language expert that trained Clinton and Clinton started doing this rather than the finger is also we start seeing all these things happening all the time. I'm one of the things that you I know you've spoken about before is I can move to like future pacing or or how you can use your incredible imagination, your visualization abilities that we have as human beings with the brain that we've got to really help you achieve your goals, your goals as a speaker. Can you talk a little bit about that? Kathy Gruver Yeah, absolutely. I think one of the first things is we have to be clear on what we want. And we can't just say I want success. Because what does that mean? I mean, Success to me might mean something very different than to you than to everybody else. So I think it's really important to pinpoint those goals. And numbers are very symbolic. our subconscious totally understands numbers. So put a number on it. I want to do 30 paid talks this year. Or I will do you want to put it in the present tense? I do. I am hired for 30 paid talks this year. Okay, what is paid mean? Just paid me they give you a chicken sandwich for lunch does paid me and you get 10 grand does paid mean, you know, really make it specific and then then ask for it. Now, as my husband said the other night, you can sit around and visualize till you're blue in the face, you still have to work at it. So you still have to be good at what you do. You still have to put it out there. You know, you can't sit at home and visualize the perfect spouse and then hope it's the UPS guy because you never leave the house. You know, you actually have to go out and do the work. But I think oftentimes we get so vague in these that I want success. I want to be a speaker. Okay, what does that mean? And I remember during my acting days, I was doing this manifestation thing and this visualization these affirmations of I want to be a paid actor. I want to be a paid actor. I'm gonna be a paid actor. I am a paid actor. I was doing this whole thing. And I got a gig. I got a touring children's company and I was so excited. It paid $7 an hour, James Taylor you did a bit more specificity. Kathy Gruver Okay, that's not what I was going for. I want to be a six, you know, but it's like, but I got what I wanted. Yeah, I got what I wanted. You know if your horoscope in the morning paper says you will get in prosperity today and you find a penny on the street, it was kind of right. So you know, the more specific you are. And here's the cool thing about our brain, we can't tell the difference between what we're thinking about and imagining, and what is actually happening. So this is why when we're having those negative fantasies about the future when we're dwelling in the past and remembering that awful thing, when we're telling that story again and again and again about the jerk that cut us off on the freeway, what we're doing is actually completely re triggering that fight or flight response, which we don't need. It's really detrimental to our health to our memory to our like I said cognitive function, all this stuff. So when we're fantasizing about the future, make it positive. Because if not, let's say you're going for a A job interview or speaker interview, you're about to have this interview on the phone with this fabulous meeting player, you want this so bad. And this is your inner dialogue. Oh, man, you know, I don't know if I'm actually qualified for this. And they're probably not going to have enough money to pay me. And you know, they probably want a guy because they wanted a sports figure, and I'm not really a sports figure, I'm just a trapeze person, what the heck do I know and I don't really look like my picture. And maybe I'm not as funny. And I'm probably gonna have a bad hair day cuz it's raining. And, you know, if that's how you're going into that phone call, just hang up, because you're probably not going to get it. I mean, just because you're worked yourself up into this negative space, where you're going to get on the phone with her expecting to hear no, and you're going to in some very subconscious way, or sometimes conscious way. Create that for yourself. Whereas if you think ahead of time, oh my gosh, this is gonna be the best phone conversation and she's gonna love me, and I'm gonna have the best hair day ever. And we're going to have this great rapport and we're going to have a fun conversation and she's going to be so excited to hire me. She might even give me more money than I asked for. And you know, if you build that up, if nothing else, you go in with such enthusiasm with such excitement with such presence of mind, the interview is going to turn out better. But here's the other thing, even if you don't get it, you're going to be better equipped to handle the not getting it. You know, if you're already so stressed, you're at an eight and upset and they say no, and you shoot off the church to a 12. And now they're never gonna hire you again, because you reacted like a giant baby. If you go in at a stress level of two, and you start to react and maybe you go to a four, that's still manageable, that's still like, Oh, I'm so disappointed. You know, maybe, maybe in the future, we can work together again, as opposed to Oh, okay, well, great. You know, it's like, it's gonna change how you react and respond to these things. So going into a situation fantasizing about the most positive outcome is going to present you better. Same thing on stage, you're going to present so much better if you go in thinking this is gonna be the best speech ever. James Taylor And he said that on the visualization. I you As well, if I bizarrely I found, I have lost a little post it notes around my goals and things that I'm wanting to do. And my usual approach to these things is, I will write, think about them. If I want to write them down, this is something I want to do. But then I will figure out a way of not becoming overly attached to the thing. So I'll give you an example. One of the ones was to speak NSA, I actually have a note I found areas of my board, which is speak at NSA convention. And this year, you and I, we both spoke at the NSA winter winter conference, which was great. But here's what I what I did is I use my imagination for thinking about that. But I don't get overly attached to that as being the outcome. Instead, what I get really, really attached to and not really attached, but really think about is, well, what are the rituals and the daily things I need to be doing each day in my practice and in my work, in order that that will be it'll just be it'll be a natural repercussion of doing that. So for me, it was Working on my keynote for me, it was having conversations other great speakers. For me, it was outreach to meeting planners every day. So those are actually extremely structured. In my week, I've got really focused on trying to do those things by doing get, particularly if again, after the speech happens, it's fine. The other one I was told, which has made life a hell of a lot easier is visualize what it would look like if it was easy. And it was an interesting one, because then it made me think it was and building a business or speaking, like, Okay, what would that look like? What if being a like a wizard, international keynote speaker, whatever your thing is? What if it was easy? What if it was easy, and I'm thinking about it just now and it actually very quickly creates a very quick through line to what you're trying to achieve and, and district distresses as well. So those are just some of the things I just heard from my experience of how I use. I've used visualization and use kind of goal setting in that way. as well. So I'm guessing your, your journey through speaking and you've had ups and downs and different things as you built your speaking career. Can you talk about maybe a key insight or a lightbulb moment where you went, Okay, this is the direction I want to go with my speaking or this is who I want to serve with my speaking or you just made a very important discovery yourself and your work as a speaker. Kathy Gruver You know, it's tough because I'm still traveling this journey. I mean, I am in no way an established speaker yet. I mean, I've done tons of gigs. And like I said, I got to speak at NSA, which was such a huge honor. That was gigantic. I got to do a TEDx, which was huge. I've gotten to travel all over the place, but I'm not where I want to be with my rights. I'm not where I want to be with who I'm speaking to yet. And I think it's a constant exploration of Who are you? And who is your audience? Because you don't stress Oh, my God, I can talk to anybody. I can talk to school kids. I can talk to teachers. I could talk to parents. I could talk to nurses. I could talk to you know Like, my audience really is endless. And I remember when I was writing my dissertation, my advisor said, narrow, and I went, Oh, but it's already so narrow. She goes, No, no narrow. And I said, but now it's too narrow. She's like up three more narrows. By the time I had this teeny little thing, and I thought I'll never be able to find enough research on this 165 pages later, you know, and there is that fear, though in Oh, but if I only speak to 911 dispatchers, what happens when I run out of 911 dispatcher? You know, we we do have that fear of limiting ourselves. But if you look at TV, I mean, if you're a Seinfeld fan, you know, we all know who George Costanza is, and no matter what role he does now, he's George Costanza. I mean, that's just that's all we see. But that's okay. Because he was a damn good George Costanza, you know? But they know that getting that typecast thing. We're so afraid of that but that is how so many successful people made their living. You know, if you look at really big well known speakers, they're not going out and just doing anything for anybody. Yeah, they do have that laser focus. So that's one of the things I'm working on right now is honing down. I'm ripping apart my website. Again, I'm you know, I'm redoing all my material. And I'm really trying to figure out what are the words I want to use? Because stress kind of isn't doing it anymore. Three years ago, everybody wanted stress. Now everybody wants mindset, corporate culture, emotional intelligence. So it's like I'm having to change. It's not really changing my talk, but it's changing the way I'm phrasing it, so that people go, Oh, we want her. And I think the biggest one of the biggest lessons I've learned, and I actually mentioned this in my little five minute talk for NSA is, yeah, we're all on this path. And occasionally we look over and we see somebody else go other speaker to Oh, thank God, I can totally commiserate with them. But we get really jealous of other people's paths, we get really judgy of other people. paths. And I have a dear friend of mine who he put a book on Amazon. It wasn't even available yet. It was just literally the thumbnail. And a giant corporation saw the book called him and said we'd like to give you $20,000 to do our keynote. He's never been on stage before. And he calls me and says, I don't know what to do. And I'm thinking, geez, I kind of don't know what to do. I mean, like, I've not gotten $20,000 working. I haven't, you know, I'm not there yet. And so I helped him with a contract. I helped them with the negotiations thinking, I haven't even done this for myself yet. He got three more spin offs from that gag at 20,000 apiece. And this morning, I'm talking to him and he goes, Oh, yeah, I just got a call from a bureau to send them my stuff. And I'm thinking, ah, because I've been working so hard at that, and him seemingly with complete ease, just got it and I was so happy for him. But there was also that sort of petty jealous childish frustration of why am I not getting that? You know, and I sat back and went, Okay, let's pause. And let's think about this. I don't know what his path is. I don't know what his journey is. I don't know what the end game for him is, frankly, I don't even know what it is for me. But I can't compare myself to his journey. I can't compare myself to his success and or failures. Because I also know his entire life has not been a walk in the park. Nobody else has. But it was just this clear thing to me of crap. I thought I was over all that you know, I thought I was over that that little hurt kid thing that happened when you were rejected so much as an actor. So it really it bubbled that like pain body back up for me and I went, What a great experience. Now I can deal with this in a different way. And what can I learn from him that helps skyrocket my career a little bit more. So it was it was frustrating, but it was really interesting and I'm really glad I I'm, I'm glad I felt that because to me if a negative thing comes up. What is the last I learned from that I don't want to hang on to it. And you're probably the only person I'll tell that to you and I'm done with that story. But what can I get out of that? What positive Can I pull out of that emotion that I was having? James Taylor So you mentioned a word there rejection. Now actors of any profession actors probably have the highest levels of rejection because you know, and it's it's it's just part of the of the industry part of the trade of doing that job as well. Did that help you when it came to when you're, you're speaking with meeting plans, event professionals for the conference, and you don't get to win every every gig. Did that help? Having had rejections as an actor so you've kind of built in some kind of resilience in yourself? Kathy Gruver Yeah. Massively, you know, I mean, it's still never feels good. No One No one has ever like Yea, they said, No. Sometimes I question why they've said No, and I do a lot of submissions through things like you know, speakers and speaker magic where you don't really get to have that one on one contact with them. And it'll just To say, declined, and I'm like, ah, why? Because I want to, I want to be better. And if it was, maybe they didn't like my video. Maybe they didn't like maybe I look like their cousin who they hate. Maybe they booked it already. Maybe they change the theme. You know, you never know why. And even if someone says you, you really suck, we're not hiring you. If you're confident in what you do, if they say you suck, you kind of go alright. I don't think I do. Most people don't think I do. But I'll take that and, or you follow that up with but what about it sucked? Oh, well, the way you phrased that in your proposal. Ah, okay. So I don't suck. That thing I wrote sucked, you know. So it's like, I think if you can have feedback from people, I mean, it's fabulous. Sometimes it hurts. It'll I hate it. I hate ripping apart my videos and get it you know, because you do want to think everything you do is fabulous. And I know it's not and I've directed theater, where I have had to actually shred actors a part to get them to give me what I need in that role, and I've had it done to me That's the process of getting better, if everybody just thinks you're perfect, and you know, they won't give you any negative feedback, then you're not going to grow as, as a speaker as a performer, as a marketer, as a wife as a, you know any of that. So that's where that constructive criticism comes in. And you have to learn to take that. And because we are wired as humans, to respond to negative things faster than positive things. So if you're about to cross the street, and I go, No, you're our brain picks it up quickly and responds because it's for your safety. So we're actually wired to respond to negative things more than positive things. So if I tell you 30 things that were great about your talk, and then I end with Well, I mean, that one joke kind of fell short. What are you going to hear? That's what I'm gonna focus on. Because one, you know, it just we think we're fabulous, which we are, but you know, we hear that one negative thing in our brain goes, Danger, danger, danger. Something's Didn't you know, we're actually wired that way? That was one of the studies I found in my dissertation. So that's the problem is shutting that part of the brain off and going, hang on? Why did it not work? And you have to be confident enough and have the balls enough to ask someone. Okay, I'm going to take office, tell me why, you know? James Taylor Yeah. The way I've always, not always, but more recently done this, especially with my team. So I have a team that does a lot of the outreach for potential speaking gigs, is, you know, when they were starting to feel like they were getting rejection on certain things when hiring or they were only closing a certain amount of our, our business. And I said, well, let's just why don't we just focus on on the numbers. And so we know our numbers really clearly how many people that we need to get to watch that video that speak of video. And then of those people, how many people we need to get on it on a call and all those calls, how many we need to convert and then and you can you can go on from there. And I said, let's just let's just get to like geeky. Let's get up Like that you would be going if you're sitting playing a computer game or something, and you're just trying, how can I get that number up? And so what that does is and this only I appreciate this only work for some people that like think this way, but for us ended up becoming more of a game. So we knew that we like had, we had to do a certain number that we wanted to do every week or every month. And we knew and we kind of just got like, Well why is it that why are we only converting on that when that campaign where we could be so we approach it more like almost like scientists were experimenting with stuff and knowing it was gonna fail, but that's fine. And but we were just trying to find the things then as quickly as possible kill the things that definitely weren't working and won't bring it anywhere. So what about your circle in your you're kind of speaking now, and I'm interested in are there any kind of tools or apps or online resources that you find really useful for yourself as a speaker, Kathy Gruver you know, I'm going to open up an actual appointment book girl and just write it down. I can tell you my new frustration with technology is people are now forcing you to adopt certain technologies which kind of drives me crazy because I don't want to. So like right now I'm, we're I'm in speaking at five different conferences where their main way of communicating is Facebook Messenger. I don't want to be on Facebook all day and the problem with that is you know, you send 30 put 30 people on that link. And every time somebody comments boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, it propagates more messages. So I literally spent like seven minutes the other day scrolling through gifts and funny comments and people doing before I found out that they needed my bio. Just email me and tell me, Kathy, I need your bio. Like, I don't want I don't have time for that. I still have a full time job as well as all the speaking stuff. So. So it's like, forcing people into adapting technology. And we talked about this at the power women at the NSA. We broke up into little groups during our morning session and talked about that and that was one of the things we all kind of went I don't Want to use your scheduling program or I don't want to use your new video programmer, I don't want to, you know, and so many people now are kind of forcing you into that. And I've been doing tons of video interviews where you have to use a certain, not only a certain program, but it has to be through a certain browser, and I don't have that one and my laptop's full and, you know, so this is actually to me, one of the downsides of technology is there's so much happening so quickly, that I personally can't keep up. And I am definitely not technical. I'm not technologically challenged. I love technology. I am excited about technology, but so much of it is being thrown at us at once. And there's so many different things are being thrown at us at once. That I think it's overwhelming for a lot of people. Yeah, even people younger than me who grew up with us, you James Taylor know, I'm in this camp as well. I'm thinking about I'm doing one booking just now with people in Singapore. And it's we're using what's the community primarily communicating by WhatsApp. I'm doing something else in Russia, and they're using telegram, which I never use. My British clients and American clients, they've used them messenger and they're using email and they're using all other slack. I'm doing one thing, I'm to beat using slack for it. And I know you could feel overwhelmed a little bit you know, and sometimes that frankly, is old school getting on a phone, a phone, and you can get I've got a call later on today. And it was all these threads were going and finally I just had to say, Can we just do a call? Can we just like do this one call or we could just get get all this stuff done? And I don't have to see all these gifts of cat pictures as much as I love cats, but I'd love to see anybody get cabbages. Kathy Gruver Exactly. That's that's my point. You know, because Yeah, I don't want to have to dig through all that. And frankly, I don't want to be on Facebook all the time. Because one, it's a time sock. And two, I get into what's happening with my government right now. And then I start to lose my mind. And then you know, so I don't want to have to have Facebook on all the time. But now I feel like I do. Because I turn it on. I've got 30 notifications, but now I can't tell what is my friends lunch? What is my friends sharing her friends, friends lunch? What is actual business that I have to do? And so I'm now forced to adopt some of these things. And that would be fine if I wasn't forced to adopt 30 things. Yeah, but yeah, I got Twitter and I got LinkedIn, I got fat and I you know, it's like, ah, someone just texted me Do we still do that? James Taylor You know, but what if we go to like 17th century technology that's what books What is your favorite favorite book that that you've really made me go a lot from it could be on speaking could be on we'll be talking about a lot today which is presence and, and think about stress as well. What would that be you'd recommend? Kathy Gruver Yeah, you know, I love Eckhart Tolle. Work. I've not only read his books, I've listened. I'm in some of his audio programs right now. I really did like Brendon Burchard stuff, too, is the idea of the funnels. And you know, that was kind of the first. I was always resistant to this. I'm not, I shouldn't say I'm not a good salesperson, because I mean, we all have to be, but that selling from the stage thing, I always really shied away from that to the point where I'd get to the end of my talk, and I'd see my husband in the back holding up my book and going tell them you have our book. I mean, it was like I was so into giving information. I forgot I was there to actually sell books, you know, so I had to remind myself of that, and somehow I got connected with Brendon Burchard stuff, and it was it triggered enough in me that I went, Okay, let's take this to the next step. So I think from a business perspective, you know, I'm reading a bunch of stuff now. Because I want to learn from other speakers who have had that me To me, it's like I want to learn constantly. I would be back in school if I could. So I love deck artola stuff. Carolyn mace was one of my people back in the day and Louise Hay that kind of stuff but but i think i think there has to be a spiritual. I don't mean religious, but there has to be some sort of connectivity base under all this business that we do. And I think that's one of the reasons why presence is so important. And 2016 was the year of mindfulness, and a lot of people on what the heck's that and I don't want to meditate, and you know, they're to type A, they're too driven. They're too whatever it is, and it's like, but I now see a benefit to that. Because I'm very type A and I'm very driven, and I'm very East Coast, and I'm very, but I found that through that presence, through that mindfulness, it has allowed me to be so much more successful, and handle it's so much better when I don't find a success. So it's just it's it's all around all around a good thing. And James Taylor there's two examples you gave of a car and Brendan, totally different types of speakers. The the violence age is completely different. And Brendan is an absolute master. It comes from selling from the stage and especially online programming. He's brilliant at that stuff as well. A car is really much more about can Unity comes after obviously the Louise Hay Hay House kind of model as well, but they're both brilliant. They've kind of chosen their thing. And and they've committed to it, you know, 100% as well, which I love about the both. What about a final question for let's imagine you woke up tomorrow morning and you have to start from scratch. So you've got all the knowledge you've acquired over the years, you're I think you're speaking, but no one knows you. You know, no one you have to restart. What would you do? How would you restart things? Kathy Gruver Oh, go back to bed now. Um, you know, I think the first thing is, to quote Michelle villa-lobos, you've got to have your back end in order. And you know, I didn't do that. At the time. I just launched in I went, I'm a speaker and I had a couple books, but especially when you're starting out and you are doing free speaking, selling the $15 book, at that point was a $10 book, the back of the room isn't going to sustain you financially. I think I would have my website better when I started, I would have my online programs together. I'm a little behind the eight ball on that because I was so resistant to, I don't want to sell. And now as I've gone through this journey over the last two or three years, I've realized, you kind of have to, you know, I'm seeing less and less. And this could just be me in my field, but I'm seeing less and less well paid speaking engagements. I'm seeing more people that want to give you a really low rate, but we'll let you sell from the stage at the Angela let you make that offer. And I never had an offer to make. And I think had I started with a stronger offer had I started with my online course if I had that stuff in line. When I was doing all those magazine and radio interviews, I told a publicist I was working with I said, I want to be on the Today Show. It'll be on Good Morning, America, I want to be on and he looked at me, he said, Why? And I said, Well, why wouldn't I want to be on the show? And he goes, do you remember anybody that wasn't famous that you ever saw on Good Morning America? And I said, No, he goes, Okay, so let's say you're on Good Morning America and you have your $10 book, and people love you and they go to your website, they buy your $10 book. Now what I want now what, what I wasn't getting what he was saying. He said, You need to not only have the $10 book, you need to have the $30 module with tapes, and then you need the $160. And then you need the $10,000. He said, What is the point of wasting that opportunity to get in front of millions of Americans? If you have no reason? They're going to stick with you over the years. And I went, Oh, you know, it suddenly struck me and I meet so many people who are like, I want to do radio and TV to which I now say, Why, yes, it helps your credibility. I mean, I've done hundreds of radio and TV shows hundreds of magazine interviews, and that has absolutely helped my credibility as an international expert. But I think had I had more to offer on the back end ahead of time, I think it would have been an easier journey. So now I feel like I'm kind of going back to square one and how To start again, it's a little frustrating James Taylor and if people want to like learn more about you connect with you maybe they're speaking or something and they they know there's a spot there and they want to bring in someone that speaks about the topics that you speak about as well especially around presence and what's the best way for them to to connect with you? Kathy Gruver Yeah, you know, I'm on all the social media because I have to be and Kathy groover calm is the best and there's all my books and my topics and all my stuff there so that's probably the best Kathy groover calm and there's a contact me there form as well. James Taylor Well, Kathy's been a pleasure speaking to you today and learning a little bit more I feel I should still be distressed actually after this call. I've got a surprising feeling pretty chilled now. Thanks so much for coming on. I wish you all the best with your speaking Kathy Gruver thanks so much. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you're serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I'll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. More of Kathy Gruver Learn More About SpeakersU #speakerslife #speakersU

The Happy Speaker In today's episode Dr Suresh Devnani talks about The Happy Speaker. Dr Suresh Devnani is a Motivational Keynote Speaker, TEDx Speaker, Researcher, Best-Selling Author, and a global thinker on the topics of Happiness, Wellbeing, Happiness at Work and Productivity. Commonly known as the Happy Doctor, he connects and empowers his audience through his key message of building a sustainable future, one based on higher levels of consciousness and happier being. Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl058-the-happy-speaker-with-dr-suresh-devnani/ James Taylor Hey there, it's James Taylor and I'm delighted today to have on the show Dr. Suresh Devnani. Dr Suresh Devnani is a motivational keynote speaker TEDx speaker, researcher, best selling author and a global thinker on the topics of happiness well being happiness at work and productivity, commonly known as the happy doctor. He connects in Paris, his audience to his key message of building a sustainable future, one based on higher levels of consciousness and happier beings. my great pleasure to have Suresh with us today. So welcome, Suresh. Dr Suresh Devnani Thank you, James. So, share with us all what's happening in your life at the moment. Ah, we are currently on day one of our lockdown in Singapore and trying to accept the fact that all of my family members are in one space at the same time trying to work. So everybody is trying to work on their computers or laptops or whatever we have, is not an easy task because even though we have fast internet, but space is limited. James Taylor So that so now you're really getting to explore those those values like patience and Tolerance just now when everyone's so close in such close proximity to each other. Dr Suresh Devnani Yeah, absolutely. And it shows our true affection. And do we really care for the people that are with us all the time. James Taylor So you're, you're speaking on, as mentioned on happiness, happiness and well being. And I was just thinking before we came on today, you know, it seems to me it's quite easy to be happy when things are going well in our lives or in our work. But times like this when it's we're having some more challenges and what's kind of going on? Do we have to go to a different place do we have to come dig in a little bit deeper to find that level of happiness or as always, already, there is just really uncovering it. Dr Suresh Devnani See, in most cases, people who are only dependent on materialistic happiness will definitely find it hard right now, for those who are already practicing some kind of mindfulness or practicing meditation should not find it too difficult at the present moment. In fact, him I find this the best time for them to go even deeper, and connect to a more deeper sense of compassion and joy that they were always seeking. So in fact, this is a good time for those people who are already on the path to connect with an unconditional happiness. James Taylor And I know in medicine, meditation practices that obviously between the East and the West east, there's often a meditation practice in Buddhism where they say, you know, essentially to to meditate on your own transience in life. You know, the, everything is changing, whether the nails on your fingers there that cells are dying, and they're being born and they've been created. And in the world of a more Western philosophy. We have things like Seneca and the great stoics of Greek philosophy, who talked about every year you should spend a few days in your year, sitting wearing the most simple of clothes on they say, like sleeping in a low bed, eating the most basic of food and asking yourself the question is this one Fear is this what, you know, this is the worst it can get. Is this all we have? So maybe if there's people that that have been living a maybe a more materialistic life, and getting used to, you know, going first class flights, maybe a speaker and all those kind of things, what can we can can we do to perhaps reconnect with a deeper part of ourselves? Dr Suresh Devnani You know, in most cases, if, if you try to remember when was the last time you were truly happy, without the things that surround you, and you go back to your early childhood, or maybe when you were a teen, but in most cases, even the most successful people that I know, and I work with the SMR missing that happiness that he felt we had in the past which they don't have it anymore. So success jet generally doesn't lead us to more happiness. But going back to the time when we were the most simplest more most flexible personality, so I believe agility is a crucial element here to have agile are we? And are we willing to accept our current circumstances, a process of learning? Because what is happiness to people who are more towards mindful or towards those who are meditating is very different than those who are going through a period of what we call growth or success, because success doesn't always lead you to more happiness. Sometimes they lead you to even misery. James Taylor And, in the case of us as speakers, obviously, there's we're going through a challenging time, just now some of those things that we might have been assigned as being success, whether that's I have spoken 100 times a year or I have, you know, achieved this fee level or any of those things. There are some things that we can we think we pursue, but is happiness itself? Is that something to be pursued? Should we be trying to pursue happiness? Or is that the wrong way of looking at it? Dr Suresh Devnani I don't think Happiness can be presented. If you try to pursue happiness, what will happen is you'll end up coming to a dead end, a wall that will lead you to think, again, whatever I was doing was not leading me to this happiness. It is more of a way of thinking. And that way of thinking changes as our needs change. So it might require some people actually go up that success letter and come to a realization that they need to do something more than just try to grow in life in that sense, but actually go into words, going a deeper sense and trying to connect with a deeper core of themselves. But then this requires a moment of misery or difficulty or challenges. And I think this is the best time for many, because many speakers in our profession are going through challenges. Those who used to speak maybe 50 times 100 times a year and in substantial fees for being keynotes and flying first class or business class and staying in five star hotels in suites and everything. So they are actually going to have a time of self realization or awakening for those to come down and realize that maybe that was not meant for them for the long run and now go for it or deepen in inner self and find out why this is come to them and why this difficult period is coming to them to realize to go deeper. James Taylor So perhaps that ladder that some people have been climbing up has been leaning against the wrong wall as we may be. Dr Suresh Devnani Yeah, it's like play that snakes a ladder. Eventually, sometimes you will fall back down and you have to realize your climb back up the letter. James Taylor So when did you decide that you wanted to become a speaker? When did the thing we know you for today in terms of being a motivational keynote speaker when did that begin? Dr Suresh Devnani I that happened when I went through my own period of challenges. Even though I was a successful businessman for many years, I felt there was a missing link in my life. And then I fell into trouble. I was trying to kill myself a couple times, even though I was married, a very successful businessman, multimillion dollar business going on for myself. But somehow I felt my family was against me. So these kind of periods Actually, I call them the aha moment for many. And I went through my aha moment to find myself. And then it took about another couple of years before I came to the understanding that whatever process I've gone through to find myself, why not share this with as many people as possible. And this started about 20 years back for me. James Taylor And then when in those that that 20 years ago when you were first kind of starting that journey of becoming a speaker, who were your early role models or mentors, Dr Suresh Devnani I initially, my first role models was my father. But then that changed and I met some gurus that I met who taught me some new ideas and they told me that you're Journey is not about you sharing with whatever experiences you've gone. But then of course, for speaker wise, you know, I started following Neale Donald Walsch. Then also Dr. Brian Weiss, because these people were doing so much work on this conscious leadership. James Taylor And this seems to be an there is that I think it's called the Transformational Leadership Council. And there's lots of there's so many great speakers now that are talking about this, it almost feels that some of the topics you talked about, they're getting very comfortable about these topics being talked about in the boardrooms. Certainly in the West, I never felt they were particularly talked about things like mindfulness, so sometimes a meditation practice or happiness. It feels like it's really only been in the last 10 years that you start hearing like some of the top hedge fund managers or top people in business or politics saying, Yes, I have a daily meditation practice and maybe you know this measuring our success by our our Revenues or income is not not the smartest way of doing things. Dr Suresh Devnani You know what is changed right now is there's a lot of science to validate whatever is being spoken about. What was happening is 20 years ago when Maslow started talking maybe a little longer than 20 years, 30 years ago when Metro started talking about this hierarchy of needs and everything. So people are not yet you know, they thought that this was more of a placebo or whatever effects, but now with the proven sciences and great research going on in consciousness transformational or even looking at seven leadership models that people come to realize that we could do so much more if we change into a different mindset that is more optimistic. More giving is more of a positive psychology based. James Taylor So take us back to when you first started to make that pivot starting to get up on stages. Can you tell us about that very first paid speaking engagement, what was the circumstances? How did it come about? How'd you feel kind of going up on on this stage for the first time? Dr Suresh Devnani For sure, I think every first time speaker feels a little anxiety, and will I be good enough for my audience because they are willing to listen to me. This is crucial I feel for any first time speaker is what value am I adding for my audience from the people are listening to me. And that's the process I went through. Was that good enough for them. And that's a key thing. We have to share that there is a lot of self leadership issues or self esteem issues up here that we need to practice on you. Even though great, successful leaders sometimes do have these problems. And they have to face their peers and share ideas or concerns. James Taylor And when you work when you go and speak with audiences as well, you sometimes we think of going into conferences and everyone's kind of sitting back sometimes you can have people sitting there not particularly engaged maybe that they're they have their their arms folded How do you help them perhaps reconnect with you mentioned like in a childlike wonder that happiness how you know, some of the baby, very cynical people that we somethings have in the audience say, Oh, this is this isn't really for me, how do you how do you connect with them? Dr Suresh Devnani In a really my approach is slightly more comfortable in the sense that I really like to know who they are as a person before I even approach them. So generally, all the speaking arrangements that I do speaking exactly, I try to know my audience as much as possible and look at a vulnerable spot. Because most people are free to talk about wonderful spots, but actually, they want somebody to listen to them, and try to help them through it. So that's how I do it. So there is a what we call a hook or a connecting point to the audience before I start helping them out and listening to them because most people actually want somebody not to talk to them, but more to listen to them. So I use the counseling which is James Taylor so how does that work? interviewing people, rather than the more traditional model, which is someone can get up there on stage and speak for 60 minutes to the audience. How does your model work in terms of like YouTube, where that kind of connecting point or almost like having more of a conversation with an audience, Dr Suresh Devnani what I try to do is, I really don't like the traditional keynote model as much. What happens is, most people or what people I work with, they prefer a hybrid model, where we have about a 1520 minute keynote style talk, then you will have a workshop model going at the same time in a q&a. And the q&a generally is the longest part of my talks, where actually the audience is able to ask questions and learn from James Taylor that, because I've also noticed a number of other speakers who are not necessarily on your same topic, but I think about people like Gary Vaynerchuk, for example, who is a very, New York quite a brash style of, of speaker but when he goes and gives a 16 minute keynote now, I think it's only about 15 minutes over at the start is that, as you mentioned, is that traditional keynote style? is heavy, heavy q&a with the audience, then he comes back, you know, as a as a closing piece as well. How do you I'm always intrigued with kind of using that model. How do you help people feel comfortable in asking questions in a public setting like that when there's so many people surrounding them? Dr Suresh Devnani Generally, what we do is the first few questions that I ask me, I start with the questions from the audience. So make them and also what I do is in that 15 or 20 minutes on my keynote, I explained and share about my abilities and my experiences my journey. So they realize that I'm as human as them, and they are able to ask me questions about marriage, about work about, you know, self esteem or anything that keeps them thinking, How do I improve myself? So I believe is just providing yourself And opening up yourself enough to them that they realize you are just a human. And you're here to help them in any way possible. James Taylor And what is that overriding emotion or that? That resonance? So you want people to feel after they've left hearing you you speak what do you want that thing for them to remember about about going in and seeing you give a give a presentation? Dr Suresh Devnani Generally, I want them to feel that they are more than sufficient, you know, they are already the best they can be. And of course, they can improve some more. Why not? Because a lot of people I've worked with I feel self esteem is a big thing nowadays. Because we are judged by all social media experiences that we have with people around us even though people we have never met. We expecting that life or connection or a thought or a little message saying we have done something good. And this is what's causing vulnerability, even among even the senior management that I work with. is we expect people to praise us so much that it hurts us more than it is helping us. James Taylor So is that Do you think there's a generational difference? Or is it just this is the time that we're going through just now? Dr Suresh Devnani I guess it's the technology that's with us. Now, I don't think it's a generational thing anymore. Everybody's seeking attention. Everybody wants to be listened to. That's why we are so active on social media and I have not seen even a whole person not on Instagram, on Facebook, they are being on every platform possible because they want also people realize that they're and look at even other professional speakers that we are out there aren't any more on social media today than we were 10 years ago, 15 years ago. It was how do we get found? How do people even know about it? So the same thing is the same thing happening with the people that we work with, or we speak to, they are seeking the same amount of attention as we are. James Taylor So you're almost talking there about having that extra It can evaluation I guess if other people are saying yes you know, your thumbs up like and that obviously creates a little shot of dopamine in the brain. And then we like that and we kind of go in you know, almost like a little mice that they have in these little places where they you give them the dopamine and the the bring the bell and things we're kind of getting into that loop in a beacon of extrinsic type of way. Dr Suresh Devnani If you look back at Facebook, what was it 10 years back when they only had the like icon, they added the other emotion icon said you could add on to and then now you have all these other graphics that often pop out. Same thing has transformed in LinkedIn. LinkedIn was a professional site. Guess what now we are more people talking about themselves on LinkedIn then actually doing work. James Taylor And can you tell us about a time in your your own careers as a speaker where you, you, you went to go and give a presentation of speech. You gave it your heart and your soul before For whatever reason, it didn't work out like you'd hoped, perhaps and more often, what was the lesson that you took from experience? Dr Suresh Devnani The experience that I took from that even as a professional speaker, we're not always perfect. It depends on emotions. And this happened to me when I had just found out that my mother allies passed away and I had to make a judgment call. Do I still go on the stage with the emotion I'm going through? Or do I tell the organizer sorry, I don't think I can be doing this today. But I still have to do it. Because you know, I had a signed contract and an audience filled seat. What do I do? I still go out there and try my best. Of course, when I came out at the end, I didn't realize I didn't feel I did my best. James Taylor But did you feel it was was a cathartic experience doing that or were you just really a little bit more on kind of autopilot where you just you were kind of going through it, but You didn't feel you able to be present with it? Dr Suresh Devnani Yeah, I was on autopilot for sure. Because the subject matter I was speaking about is something I do regularly. But I didn't I feel like connected with the audience even though I spoke about all these great things, but somehow I did not give them that full value that I generally like to give to. James Taylor And then we can talk about that idea of presence of something you talk about happiness, as well. Is there any tips you found for for speakers who maybe struggle with when they get up there on stage not being able to be present and for it to feel kind of so overwhelming and almost feel that the past don't even enjoy the experience? Because they just it's been happening, so they can't really be there be in that moment? Is there any advice you'd give to any speakers like that? Dr Suresh Devnani Hi, Jenny, like to suggest to all speakers speak on topics you understand and appreciate because in today's world Every speaker wants to be an expert in every topic that's out there, avoid doing that. Because if you're going to do that, what will happen is the value or the topics essence will not be revealed, and somehow hurt you more than the audience. Because whenever you feel you're not good enough or not presenting the best value to the audience, you feel a little lack, lacking you feel you're missing that, that spirit. So I believe that every speaker should speak from a deeper sense, and actually have experience wherever they're speaking about. So instead of sharing a story shared about a moment that has taken place in your life, you just share a story that you might have read in the book. James Taylor So make it personal, make it you know, link that that personal experience you have had with experiences you think other members have said Oh, it's gonna be universal in that sense. These are other experiences other people are going to feel at some point in time. Dr Suresh Devnani We all human beings, okay. I don't think everybody in the audience might connect with you. Let's see if we connected with even 25 30% of audience with a certain story, would that be more powerful than coming up making up a story that you don't even feel that has helped you or support you uplifted your spirits? James Taylor And what about in your your success now as a speaker, as an author as a thought leader on on the topic of happiness, Israel is a personal habit that you can have have you think that contributes to that success, how we how we wish to define success. Dr Suresh Devnani Now, for me, the habit that I take place every day every morning for me is I meditate starting at 530 for an hour, then I go for a morning walk in nature because this uplifts my spirit for the day. Because what happened is we need some form of grounding every morning to build up the strength, the agility of the resilience and people keep talking about so we can actually sail through the day in the most positive form. And that is actually With joy that we all keep seeking for, but somehow we don't start the foundation right in the morning. Like if you had a fight with your wife in the morning, do you think your day will actually end up good? By the end of the day? Or if you had a poor transport ride on a train or on a bus, that you end up at work? Would you be actually having a good day at work? That's the thing. James Taylor And then obviously, your speakers remember as well, when something always fascinated his fellow speakers, his gear and the size equipment and things that make little bits of technology we sometimes used to make our life easier or make more of an impact with an audience. Why isn't your speaker bag what is it that that bag that you carry with you to all of your various speaking engagements? Dr Suresh Devnani I believe every speaker should be equipped with a good laptop. And also if possible, have a backup laptop if not a thumb drive with you. So I carry two extra thumb drives which has Same slide presentation, besides a laptop that I'm carrying, bring your own presenter because most presenters that organizes provider sometimes don't work or they're out of battery. And possible is if, let's say even the presentation could not take place. How are you going to entertain your audience? Maybe you should have a game with you to just to keep them while they fix the problem. James Taylor So if all else fails, if the slides don't show and the projector goes down and like lighting, how can you still interact with that audience and deliver value to them? Dr Suresh Devnani Okay. I what I believe is if even be went to this kind of state is best to form a circle, place yourself in the middle and do the presentation. Because what they have come to do is listen to you not the slides they're not going to use tonight. Yeah. James Taylor And what about resources online resource resources or tools I know was failing. Popular has a lot of kind of meditation apps and different apps and things. What tools do you find very useful for yourself in the work you do or as a speaker? Dr Suresh Devnani The tools out there, honestly, I believe the best thing for anybody to learn is to learn how to use PowerPoint. Because the slideshows that we can actually make on PowerPoint are much more powerful than the one that's available on pages. I know people find pages much easier. But what you can do on PowerPoint is so much different. If you feel you've seen these awesome slides at some speakers use in most cases, they use PowerPoint to me, James Taylor yeah. I was actually recently at a speaking event in South America and there was an artist who was awesome. He was presenting just before me. And it was probably the finest presentation visual presentation I've ever seen. And we were using PowerPoint as a tool. But it was how he was sharing art and it was that it was the levels of creativity in what he was doing. Just Kind of completely blew me away because we think often no PowerPoints, we've all been in those presentations, like lots of bullet points really small, small writing. And it's and they feel that there's no connection with it. You could have watched it online in some way. So, so you're obviously a big proponent of using PowerPoint, really getting to understand it and think about how you can use it in a creative way as well. Dr Suresh Devnani Yeah, because he, a lot of people don't understand, actually, in PowerPoint, you can layer different graphics on to each other. So one slide could actually have 50 or 70 to 80 components. So one slide can take you a couple of hours to make. That's what I do when I make my presentation. Sometimes one slide is 80 sequences, just to get that whole message across. So if I didn't speak a word, people could look at the slideshow and learn everything they needed. James Taylor Wow, fantastic. And if you were to recommend one book to our listeners, not one of your own books or book by another author on either topic of speaking or some of the other things that we'll be covering today about happiness and and mind fulness being present, what would that book be? Dr Suresh Devnani The book I would like to recommend all those who are seeking a deeper sense of happiness would be to read The Autobiography of a Yogi, which is by Yogananda. James Taylor I think it was I was actually given that once in I think, I think I met a group, they were actually in the street, and they were giving out copies of this book that had been sponsored by guca. Amanda. Yes, that's right. And I got a copy. It's a wonderful book. Dr Suresh Devnani Yeah. If you're not ready, take the time since we have time now, to do some good reading. Exactly. James Taylor And I want you to imagine Suresh that you wake up tomorrow morning, and you have to start from scratch. You've got all the tools, your trade, all the knowledge you've acquired over the years, but no one knows you and you know, no one what would you do? How would you restart things? Dr Suresh Devnani In fact, the best way is to start asking people on Facebook or LinkedIn, what problems do they want solved because a lot of speakers If you create content before they even targeted the audience, I would suggest the reverse is find the audience, ask them what content they want, and then help them solve problems. James Taylor One for and I'm also gonna have a little mention for you here as well, because the last time we met each other, I think we were two speakers you meet up in Singapore. And there was another event, Jim Cathcart, great speaker was doing an event. And we met up and we were having a conversation, and you kindly gave me a really lovely little interesting packet. So obviously, people give business cards all the time. But that's kind of you know, that's quite normal. But you gave me this lovely little package. And in fact, describe what it is and describe your thinking behind creating it because it actually most business cards we get, we can put them in our wallet or purse and we don't really think about it anymore, but actually yours has a little bit of a kind of resonance with me after. After a while I still think about I've got it here, sitting in front of me just now. Dr Suresh Devnani The idea that behind the The main card that you got from me was that I want you to connect with me from all senses of yourself. So from the sense of smell, taste, sight. So that's what you got a card that has a great presentation for myself and things that I do for people. And then it comes with a bag of tea that you can actually touch. You can smell, you can drink so you can taste it. So there's playing around with all the senses. So we are actually now connected in a deeper form. Then, otherwise, normally, if somebody just gave you a card, and it's lovely, it's a really nice Pac Man, we will put up a little photo of it here as well. James Taylor Suresh, thank you so much. where's the best place for after this conversation? I'm actually going to go and have that cup of tea with you gave me well I'm just enjoy that and think about our conversation we've just had, but where is the best place for people to go to learn more about you, your keynote programs, your writing and the other things you've got going on. Dr Suresh Devnani I'm available on all social media like LinkedIn, Twitter, book in my website is cost Suresh the money calm which is su RHD Evie Na Na Komm one videos out there on YouTube as well so you can subscribe to my channel if you want content. But I would love to meet all of you. Well Suresh, thank you James Taylor so much for coming on today bringing a little bit of happiness into, to my life into I know many of our fellow speakers, you members and into anyone that's listening to this just now. I wish you all the best in the future. Dr Suresh Devnani Thank you, James. #speakerslife #speakersU

Hybrid Publishing In today's episode Laura Gassner Otting talks about Hybrid Publishing For Professional Speakers. Want to know about the difference between traditional publishing vs hybrid publishing for speakers? In today's interview James Taylor interviews speaker Laura Gassner Otting about: Hybrid publishing and great book pre-launch campaigns Getting momentum in your speaking career The three things you can maximize Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl057-hybrid-publishing-for-professional-speakers-with-laura-gassner-otting/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey, there is James Taylor here and I'm delighted today to welcome onto the show Laura Gassner orting. Laura is a keynote speaker and author who helps audiences change agents, entrepreneurs, investors, leaders and donors get past their doubts and in decisions that consign the great ideas to limbo. she delivers strategic thinking well honed wisdom catalystic perspective and for my decades of navigating change across startups, nonprofits, political as well as the philanthropic landscapes, and it's my great pleasure to have her join us today. So welcome, Laura. Laura Gassner Otting Hey, James, it is great to be here. James Taylor So first of all share with us what's happening in your world at the moment. Why has your focus just now? Laura Gassner Otting My focus just now is that I have a book that came out in April, so six months ago from wherever anybody's watching this it was came out about five months ago, and I have spent the previous five months just basically, in an all out book launch promotional campaign. So what's got my focus is podcasts, media speaking, anything that I can do to get the book and the message in front of people. James Taylor Now, I was looking earlier, this is a speaker the challenge a lot of speakers have to think about is do they go the independent route or do the Self Publishers say or do they go with a big traditional publishers that we love penguins and random houses? Or do they do a kind of a high Britt type of solution and people like yourself. And I think like Phil Jones, for example, you've kind of found this really interesting hybrid space, which is like it's really worked for you. So tell us, you know, that's a big decision to make make you in deciding you could have, you could have gone with one of the penguins or big publishers, but you decided to do things in this kind of hybrid fashion. So why did you make that decision? Laura Gassner Otting So this is actually my second book. The first book I wrote was a book called mission driven. And it's about going from profit to purpose, how to go from corporate work to nonprofit work. So I spent my previous 20 years before getting into speaking as an executive recruiter for nonprofit organizations. And I was approached about 12 years into that to write this book. And I was approached by Kaplan publishing, which is like a big, you know, big, big house, but mostly textbooks. And that experience was sub optimal, I would say and it was sub optimal because the truth is, I was a nobody This is they were sort of pre cell into their, into their expense. So, you know, they pre printed 20,000 books, they sold them all out before the book was even written. I mean, that was sort of how they did it. And when it came time to write the book that I wanted to write, you know, batches of sort of your voice and confidence and, and living a full life, I decided that I was still a nobody. And, you know, I'm not Michelle Obama, I'm not Bernie Brown. If I go with a wily or Random House or any of these people, I'm not going to get their 18 right, like, I'm not going to get the best marketers, I'm not going to get the best cover designers I'm not going to get the best editors I'm not going to get the best advanced I'm not going to do and so I'm already gonna have to spend my money to, to to purchase outside of their process people to market the book and a publicist and designers and an editor and and so if I you know, you don't want to play with the B team, you want to play with the a team. So if I'm going to do this, I'm gonna do with the ATF to hire my own people. So I figured I'm gonna have to do that. Then I might as well keep the you know, massive part To the royalty. So with my book with Kaplan, I think I make 17 cents a book with the book limitless that I did through idea press, I, you know, I get, you know, $15 a book. So I spent money on the front end because I knew that I could move a good number of books. And I knew that the only way that I could move a good number of books as if I had the a team, if I had a great editor if I had a great cover design if I had a great publicist. And so, for me, the decision really came down to do I need the credibility from getting the stamp of approval of a Wiley or a Random House or whoever. And, and then the second question is, if I if I don't need that, then do how am I gonna? How am I going to move the books and you know, what's the sort of outside team that I'm gonna need to be able to do that? So for me, it was pretty obvious decision. James Taylor But it's worked out really well for me. I see. I see the book everywhere. I've seen it in a number of places and everything. I've been to airports. I've seen the book as well. And I think I think it's a really brave decision that you took as well. Because I've been to a number of speakers as the keynote speakers, especially, that have had the same experience with you maybe going through a traditional publisher, and as you've seen wasn't quite sub optimal. And you're thinking like, Do I go that way? Or should I just stick with the way that we know this kind of tried and tested routes? And so I commend you for taking that because it's really paid off for your your speaking business. And obviously, your as an author? Laura Gassner Otting Yeah, well, and if it is, it was an especially brave decision, because when I sold my executive search firm to the team that helped me build it, I also sold the mailing list of 50,000 people that the database, right, so I literally launched this book on day one with a mailing list of zero people. So how James Taylor did you build that list? I mean, that's worrying because I could you know, for something for most of those people that do this, that the hybrid model that you've done, they they have a they have a date many years ago in a big list and they're able to and that they're speaking to conferences, they can buy 1000 2000 copies of the book. So how did you go from Zero, building that list back up. Laura Gassner Otting So, um, you know, it's funny because I hired a publicist and the publicist said, We have never seen a pre launch campaign as successful as yours. How did you do it? Like, tell us a joke, because every one of our other authors, every one of our other publicists in our house, needs to know how to do it. And I said, honestly, I think I think I just showed up for people for the last 48 years of my life. And when I asked them to show up for me, they did and they did in a really big way. And so I, you know, I think we hear a lot about how we have to have all these, like, pre launch, you know, bonus buys and things like that. And, and, you know, I had a conversation with clay bear who I know, you know, and, you know, what he said to me is, look, nobody's going to go to your website and say, Well, I was going to buy one book, but now that I see that I could get this and then the other all by 100, right. That's pre launch bonuses don't really work that well. What worked was me calling people up and saying, Listen, I need you to buy this book, right? Like I put together a video, where it took me like 50 times to try to like do the video that was like, hey, today is the launch of the pre launch campaign and I need you to buy this book, because it's really hard for me to ask for something that I need. But finally, you know, the camera guy who I worked with on a number of other stuff was like, Okay, listen, let me just be super goofy. Let's take one take with you just being like a total goofball, get it out of your system, and then we'll do a real one. So he presses record and I start singing happy birthday to myself, because the pre launch day is February 15, six weeks before the book comes out on April 2, which is, you know, six weeks, right? Like that's exactly so what this thing is going to drop on my birthday. So I do this thing where I'm like Happy birthday to me and I start singing. I'm like, here's what I want for my birthday. Please preorder the book and here's why pre ordering the book matters. And I explained to people not just I want you to do this, but actually, pre ordering a book helps an author because it shows all the bookstores that this book can move which tells them that they should buy it and they should put it in a good place and people can Under, stay on that. And so when I did that super goofy thing, and then he hits, you know, he hits you know, turn to the camera like, please tell me you got that and he's like I did and then he starts packing up his camera and I was like, wait, like we have to do the serious one. He's like, No, no, no, that's the one Trust me. So I think what happened is I went out and I put it on social media and I talked to everybody I knew and I was just me. I wasn't Hi, I'm Laura Gassner Adi and I'm the author of limitless I was just like, Okay, this is ridiculous. I need you to do this one thing for me, please. People did. So I think being yourself I think asking for what you need. I think explaining why it actually matters. It's not just about book sales. It's about book sales in this pre sale moment, right, like people got it and they understood the logic behind it and then they felt like they could be part of the success like people want to be on on the boat with you. They don't want to just celebrate with you after be like, Oh, great. I'm waving to you. You know from the side while you're on the parade like they Want to be on the float with you? They want to feel like they're part of the growth and the victory and the success. And I think I allowed people to see all the behind the scenes in a way that made them feel part of it. But you James Taylor said two things. They're so powerful one was the why coming into the white piece, you know, obviously, like Simon Sinek start with why you can have coming in with that, why, why now, why why is this important? The second point, was that you, you're talking about campaigns, and I guess this is where you have a little bit of a superpower here, because you have come from the world of understanding or being more political camp, like political campaigns and donor campaigns, fundraising campaigns. And it's something I see a lot from me some speakers but definitely from a lot of authors who are maybe not listing speakers is they think in terms of promotions, not in terms of campaigning and over a longer period of time and how things stack and how you build up like like any good campaign will do. So. Did you have if I think I've been avoiding a couple political campaigns in the past and I Go into those offices campaign offices and they have a big board where they have that this is the message board. This is the thing that this this what we do today that witness that. So did you for your campaign for your book and trying to get this message out? Did you run it? Did you use experience you've had from politics and fundraising to kind of map out a campaign? Laura Gassner Otting Yeah, it's sort of interesting. You asked that because right, as we were getting on this call, I was literally just texting a friend of mine who's running for congress in the United States. My Local congressperson, Joe Kennedy is going to announce in two days that he's running for Senate, right. So there are as you might imagine, lots of people scrambling around in my district to run for Congress. So I have like five friends that are running for Congress. And one of them I talked to like a month ago and I already told her I was like on her campaign. I'm on her finance committee, whatever she needs. So yesterday, she texts me She's like, okay, it's starting I need to raise $100,000 today like on day one because that shows all the other people get out of the race cuz I got this right like you have to, there is something about that strong. On show of support early on, that places you in position where people say, Oh, I want to be part of that, because this is this is the winner like everybody wants to join the winner. So I it was important to me to think in that mentality that it's not just like a slow burn, like it's got to come out. And it's got to be something because like I said in the beginning, I'm a nobody, like people don't know me. So like my book, debuts at number two on the Washington Post bestseller list right behind Michelle Obama, but I'm like 9 million books behind her. But the fact that I get introduced now on stage as key and it's not just number two in the Washington Post bestseller list, it's number two on the Washington coast bestseller list, right behind Michelle Obama, right. Like I get introduced that way everybody in the audience is like, Oh, she's awesome before I even speak, right. So there's something about having, you know, like, you know, those speakers that get on stage and they're like, they tell a joke, and then the joke doesn't quite land or like, Come on, guys. That was funny, right? Like, you could like smell the desperation and it's terrible. The same way you can like feel the momentum of a winner, right and everybody wants to be part of that circle. They want to James Taylor feel like the big the big mo the big momentum. Laura Gassner Otting Exactly. And so I knew that if I was either I was going to either I was going to do this book and then I was going to like huffing around and create some cells in the back of the room. Or I was going to our I was going to have it launched in a way that the conferences wanted to be in the bookstore, right? And they're like, and after the speech, you get a book signing with Laura or the first 50 people get her book, like I wanted it to be a hot commodity. I wanted to be something that people felt special that they had. And so I wanted to make sure that I launched it in a way where it's sort of you know, you get one opportunity to launch Well, I guess you have to because you have the paperback but if you're a paperback author, then you get one. So I knew that I had one shot to just drive this as much as I could. And what I realized in that process was that it's it's, it's this moment that I'm calling wonder Hill, right? Like it's amazing that anybody wants to spend even five minutes thinking Talking about a really interesting that I wrote. And also, I've never been so exhausted in all my life like and I've had two babies and run three marathons, right? Like, it is wonderful and it's hell, it's wonderful. But wonder hell is that place where the burden of potential comes and like unpacks itself right smack in the middle of your ego and it's like, here I am. Serve me. And your burden of potential is only as big as your ego. And what I realized is that conference planners and and media people, and and, and publishers and anybody, they like somebody that doesn't say, oh, would you please maybe think about putting on your stage, they like people that are like, I'm awesome. I'm gonna rock it. I'm gonna come and I'm gonna transform your audience. You should be lucky to have me. I mean, obviously, I don't say to that. James Taylor Because they're there, especially in the event planner side that always trying to de risk things for them. They're usually quite risk, there's a risk averseness because they don't wanna get fired if they're booking a speaker. So they think like, As many proof points, as you have you mentioned, like the Wall Street Journal, being on that list just before Michelle Obama, and all those things that you're placing there, and they feel that this this momentum is this movement behind you. That's so it makes it you know, when they're comparing you with maybe two other speakers like, well, we need to go with Laura because it feels it just feels that this has to it. This one has the momentum. Laura Gassner Otting Right when I started my executive search firm, I had left a big, a big fancy brick and mortar, very traditional search firm. And I stole basically the next generation of leadership from all the other traditional search firm. So we were basically super awesome high brand search firm, but like a whole lot cheaper, right? Because I figured out a way to do it differently. I we were a virtual firm, I was paying my people differently. I was charging my clients differently. I left because I knew that I could do the work better and faster with more integrity and more profit than these big bloated you know, bureaucratic organizations. And for a while we were only getting like 50% of the searches that we pitched him I couldn't figure out why we weren't getting all of them. It was so logical to me. Like you either hire this group and you pay a premium or you hire us, which are the same people who did the work there. And you do it for a lot less. Why aren't you hiring us? And what I realized is that nobody ever got fired for hiring IBM, right? Like, you hire IBM, and they screwed up and you go, I don't know, we hired the big guys, and they couldn't do it. But if you hire like the little local, whatever, and it doesn't work, it's like, oh, well, clearly, you took a chance, and you made a wrong decision. And so I had to figure out a way to have a show up, as, you know, this sort of super impressive, there's no risk involved, we're going to do the work and we're going to be amazing. And I think that's sort of the same. That's sort of the same mindset that I'm bringing to the to the writing and the speaking is the like, I got you, right, like I understand you, I understand your audience. And not only is there no risk, it's actually going to be better than, you know, the traditional stuff that you've had before because that's really boring. So that means that I need To have the kind of publicist that was going to get me on the Today show when Good morning American profiled in real simple and Forbes and Harvard Business Review and all the like, you know, we live in this pedigree centric society where everyone's like, oh, okay, checkbox, checkbox checkbox, right? Like, you know, the reason that I'm able to walk into certain rooms because I was a presidential appointee in the White House checkbox, right. I didn't go to Harvard, but I have that, like, you have to have there. There are these. There are these like shortcuts that people have in their minds? And I think it's really important that you figure out who is my target audience? Who do I want to sell to? And what are the credibility markers that they're looking for. And once you know, those, then you can sort of build, then you can build towards having those and you don't have to have all of them, you just have to have the ones that your audience wants. So taking James Taylor almost a reverse approach to that. If someone's watching this just now, and they're they're looking at this, whether it's you're you're into what you're saying just now or any of the other guests we've had on summit, and it's 150 Have them in there. And they're kind of feeling overwhelmed, frankly, because, well, Laura, she got his publicist and she had this thing, this thing. And it feels, it can feel quite overwhelming, especially if you're just getting started. Maybe you're in that executive job just now and you're wanting to make that place and become that speaker. where someone is watching that is that is what's in their gut. That's what they're feeling just now. Where do they start? Where should they go? Laura Gassner Otting So the very first talk I ever gave, was a TEDx talk. So I was I I sold my company to my team. And then I had this like, super crisis of identity, like Who am I when I'm no longer Laura Gassner wedding CEO. Here's my business card. And so I just started writing a blog and I was just writing about stuff that you know, I was passionate about, and Tamsin Webster who has been one of the guests on this on the show. She is the executive producer of TEDx Cambridge. And she called me up one day. And I was driving in my car. And I had been I had been coaching her about how to leave her company and start her own thing. And so I saw the phone ring, and I knew she was in the throes of this. And I was like, Oh, no, I got to pick up the call, even though I'm driving, because she might be having an emergency. So I pick up the phone, my kids in the in the passenger seat. So I entered on speakerphone. And she's like, Hey, I saw this latest blog that you wrote, would you consider doing a TEDx talk on it? And I was like, No way. No way. No, how I have no interest in speaking that scares the hell out of me. I know. Thank you Goodbye, and hang up the phone. Of course, my kids in the passenger seat. And he turns to me, he's 15 years old at the time, and he's like, so Mom, don't you always tell me I have to do things that scare me. James Taylor She was shamed by your child, Laura Gassner Otting always telling me that life starts on the other side of the fear. Don't you always tell me if it doesn't challenge me? It doesn't change me. It's like so come on, mom. What gives? So six weeks later, I'm standing on the TEDx stage. No notes. No net theatre lights 2600 people go. So you don't have to start with like big money, big publicist, big whatever. I didn't have a speech already. I had a blog post. And it was interesting and it turned into something. So all of a sudden, I had this TEDx talk, which had really great footage really great. You know, it's a beautiful film. And then that got a little bit of attention. And then I got asked to give the keynote talk for the nonprofit symposium conference in Boise, Idaho, the Idaho nonprofit Center's annual like their statewide gathering, and they offered me 1500 dollars and an airline ticket and I thought, I've never been to Boise before. Why not? So I went and then after that, I got offered another gig and another gig and another gig and they came with more and more and more money. And that was the point where I was like, wait, this is a job. People do this. Tell me more about this job right get on stage. I talk about things about which I'm passionate and you pay me for them. That sounds awesome. But what I did is in each one of those, I invested a little bit of money to hire somebody to film them. You can get a pretty cheap film crew in Boise, Idaho to come film you speak for 45 minutes. And so I was able to take footage from this ragtag bunch of like four or five very early, very early speaking gigs, where they filmed me and got some audience reaction B roll, and I put it together in a speaker reel. And then all of a sudden, I was like the Wizard of Oz, right? Like, don't look at the man behind the curtain. She's only been speaking for like 14 seconds. But in this in the speaker, I look, I've been doing it for 10 years. Right? So that was sort of one flank of the Armada of trying to figure it out. And then the other one was, if I'm going to get paid to do this, like a professional, I should probably get trained to do this, like a professional. Right, so I invested more with Tamsin Webster to help me build out a team keynote I invested with Michael and Amy port to help me figure out how to develop you know, on stage presence and improv and performing, you know, all of this stuff. And so and then, you know, I got involved in speaking spill. And you know, and I and I just got to know, I started going to NSA conferences, and I just got to know other people and I got to study them and watch what they did. So on the one hand, I didn't wait till I was legit before I started filming myself as legit. Here's the secret. If you're giving a 45 minute or a 30 minute or a 20 minute talk, you don't have to have 20 great minutes, you need like three different one minute bits that are really good that you can then move into different things I gave a talk in, in Las Vegas where they wanted me to do the more junior people in the morning and the more senior people in the afternoon. So rather than go to lunch and sit and eat rubber chicken, I went back to my room I changed into a different outfit, and then I went back into the second one. So I have because I was in two different rooms with two different backdrops so suddenly I have two more speaking gigs. catch up on my speaker reel that make me look real. So these are the things you can do. You can do your dress rehearsal in one outfit and then your you know the soundcheck in one outfit and have somebody film it, and then do the actual gig and a second outfit, and then suddenly you have more gigs and more stages. So it's really a matter of like, make yourself look legit before you feel like you're really legit. You just need like three or four or five different bits. You don't need to nail three or four or five different keynotes, and at the same time work on figuring out how to nail a 45 minute keynote. So you have to do both at the same time. It's not it's not waiting and I think most people wait until they've perfected it before they hire the film crew. James Taylor So once once you were kind of getting out there you're now speaking you're traveling all over the place and doing your speeches. And the often comes a point with with speakers where the the start to then decide what kind of business model that they want to have in their speaking because there's so many, there's so many different flavors that you could so when you were kind of starting Decide, okay, this is fun. I'm enjoying this, I feel like I have a I have ability to be able to do some do some really high level. Now, what is the model, the overall business model? whether other speakers that you saw out there you said, I liked the way that they've built their business or there's particular parts or what what was the decision you made in terms of your kind of revenue streams how you wanted to what you want to speaking to do for you. Laura Gassner Otting So that's been a little bit of a moving target. Because I've you know, I've only been doing it, as I mentioned for a couple years, so I'm really still pretty new in this in this world. In fact, I, in fact, I gave that a bit three years now. So I gave that TEDx talk in September of 2016. So it's, I'm, yeah, you're I am three year anniversary of being a speaker. And I'm like, you know, making money now. It's like, so it takes a little time. In the beginning. I really thought that it would it would be like what I be speaking, I would sell from stage I get hired to coach, you know, I would do some writing. And I really wasn't expecting to write a book. And then I realized, the people who are there, there are several miles of people there people who just get on stage two, three times a week, every week, and they speak. And that's all they do. And that's, I think that's a really good business model for some people. I think I would go crazy if I did that, because I, I, I don't know how to bring the energy two to three times a week. You know, in the same way for that, I think that's kind of exhausting. I also have 15 and 17 year old at home. And so they're at that age where they don't really need me. But when they need me, I better be around. So I do want to be home a little bit, you know, a little bit more than I'm gone right now. Then I also realize that I'm not scalable. So, you know, when I ran my professional services company, I there was there was a lot of work that I could do, but we could only grow so much until I hired other people to sort of be proxy versions. Me, and if what you're selling from stage is you, that's kind of hard to do that, you know, unless you get big enough that you're like licensing how you do the work and I, I've already built that business, I don't want to build another business in that way. What I really realized that I that I like to do is I actually, I actually love media. I love those moments of the two things I love most I love doing live national TV, right? Good morning, America, today's show, etc. like asking questions of people on TV and having them raise your hand or not raise your hand and not tirely knowing what they're going to say but being pretty sure. And I love live coaching onstage bringing somebody up handing them the mic and being like, Here's 60 seconds, tell us your problem. And we're going to solve it together in front of like 5000 people, those without a net moments, yeah, where you have personal individual connection to real people, or where I thrive, like I come alive more in the QA and and in those live coaching moments that I would doing, you know, two, three For gigs a week in front of 100 people, talking to 10,000 people is so much easier than talking to 100 people. For me. James Taylor It is great that you you've kept going back to that. Who am I? Yeah, what what gives me joy? What gives me passion? Yeah, you talk about living a limitless life. Yeah, like how to live a limitless life with limited hours, I guess. And so you're thinking, Okay, I can do I mean as a speaker, where you are in your career just now. You can go so many different directions and do so many different things with your, your speaking business, your brand as a whole, but it's great that you are taking that time to be reflective and thinking, Okay, I love that. I love that life coaching thing. how can how do we build something around this and scale as well? Laura Gassner Otting Yeah, so for me, you know, I feel like you can do you can do three things. You can either maximize profitability, you can maximize impact or you can maximize your personal flexibility and I have always in Every job I've ever had, whether it was working in the White House or you know, working in a search firm or running my own or writing or speaking or any of it, I have found that if I maximize impact the things that I care about doing good work with good people, right? And if I maximize my own personal flexibility, so I have lots of choices, every time you walk into a door or room, there's like additional doors, then maximizing profitability comes but sometimes you have to make future money, right? And I think that's the same thing you can go with go back to your first question, you can go with a traditional publisher who's going to give you an advance and you can maximize profitability there or you can go with a hybrid and know that you are if you can, you can actually make more money later than you know if you if you try to get all the money upfront, I think future money is always bigger than than then then now money. So I try to maximize impact and try to maximize flexibility and everything that I do. And I think the way that I've modeled my speaking business is sort of the same. You know, you don't get paid money to do lots of media unless you're, you know, like an anchor on you. major TV, but what it does is it gives you social media following social media follow. And and people who are signing up to your list give you an opportunity, they give you an audience and then you can sell stuff to them. So if I create a course then I've got, you know, the reason James clear, had a best selling book immediately is that he spent seven years writing and building up an audience and he had 100,000 people on his email newsletter list who listened to him every single week and got great value from him. So when he went out and he's like, here's my pre sale my launch before my book, of course, he likes sold 20,000 books the day that he sent out the email saying my books coming out in six weeks, please buy it, he sold 20,000 books. That's incredible, right? I'd like to get to a point where I have that kind of leverage with what I'm doing. And you don't often get that by maximizing profitability and trying to squeeze every dollar out of every gig. I'd rather say you know, my, my speaking fees range from x to y, y is full fee. X is like not full fee, but it's full. It's some fee plus some amount of book sales or some amount of fun. lineups are some amount of whatever. Because you know, there's lots of ways where you can define value like my price is x, but my value I can get value from lots of different things. So it might come from, you know, a five cameras shoot it might come from, they're gonna bulk buy 500 books it might come from, I'm on an agenda, you know, on a schedule with Robin Roberts, who is the speaker right after me, who then sees me and invites me onto the Good Morning America. Right. So like, there are lots of ways to derive value from your speaking gig, which don't always come in cash. Yeah, James Taylor that's, yeah, that's and you can make those decisions if profitability, is it your number one goal, because you're right, Laura Gassner Otting I mean, longer term, Laura Gassner Otting right? There's like you need to make like, there's two different numbers, right. There's like the need to make number and the wants to make number and the need to make numbers, table stakes, like we pay our mortgage, you got to put food on the table. But beyond that, you know, are you going to get your ego in a bunch because they're paying you $5,000 and not $10,000 or $15,000, about $20,000 or whatever your fees may be or 1000. Maybe they're just flying you out there. But you know, the gig where I got introduced to Robin Roberts, who then put me on national TV, which then brought my book to number 121 of all of Amazon that day, right? I didn't get paid for that gig. They brought they flew me out there, you know, first class great, wonderful. They bought 500 books. I had those 500 books purchased through Barnes and Noble on Fifth Avenue in New York. I didn't make any money from those book sales, right? Because I could have made a lot of money from those book sales. I didn't make any money from those book sales. But if you spend 500, if you buy 500 500 books, through Barnes and Noble, they'll put you in their window for two weeks. So all of a sudden, I'm not getting paid at all for this for this gig. But I go out. Robin Roberts gets my book. she invites me on national TV I do it through Barnes and Noble Barnes noble puts me in their window on Fifth Avenue for two weeks and suddenly I look like I'm the shit right? I look like I'm everywhere. I didn't get paid for that gig. So people who are in the early part of the career they're not entirely sure what to do and they feel like maybe they're not getting where they need to get to because They're not getting paid yet. I want them to remember that there are so many ways to get paid, paid for a gig. And they should think about what are all the ways that I could derive value from it? Who else am I going to meet? Who's going to hear from me? What kind of logo Am I going to have behind me on that beautiful film that I'm going to get that I can put into a real? Are there corporate sponsors that that have other events is this the, you know, regional event for, you know, a conference that they have nationally, and I can get into the, you know, into the deal flow? There's so many different ways when you're getting started to get to get paid for gigs. James Taylor And I think once again, that goes back to it feels all the time, kind of going back to your all those times you've spent as in campaigning, understanding campaigns, that's a classic kind of thinking how campaigning, you're thinking is like chess moves, how does that thing then relate to that thing? And how can I get it? And so you're always thinking in that way, you're not thinking, oh, I've got something out. I need to just do a quick tweet on it. There's a tactical way you're not you're not you're not going that way. So I love that way. So there's some final questions. We start to finish up here. You talk about traveling and flying, I'm going to put you on an imaginary long haul flight. And on that flight, you could be sitting next to any speaker, author, thought leader living or dead. You could be sitting next to and having a conversation on this long haul flight. Who would you like to be sitting next to? Laura Gassner Otting Oh, that's such a great question. Um, I would say Richard Branson, and probably for a couple reasons. First, you know that he's gonna fly really well. Right? He owns the airline. But also He's like, they call him doctor. Yes. Right. Like he, I believe that there's always a way to say yes to somebody. And if you have to say no, about one thing you can like say no, but I can introduce you to somebody who might be able to help there's always a way to get to yes. And I'm, I'm I am an unbridled optimist. And so I sort of I love his energy. I love what he's done. I think he would like if he I think he would love my book limitless because I think it really is. If you if you Richard. James Taylor Yeah, nice to meet Richard any virgin? You need to know you need to be bringing to Necker Island soon. Laura Gassner Otting Absolutely. I mean, look, I mean, my book is called limitless how to ignore everybody carve your own path and live your best life who has done that better than Richard Branson. So I just I just feel like I could learn a ton from him. And I think we would just have a we just have a gangbusters time. James Taylor Fantastic. And what if you do recommend one but not one of your own books by book by another author? Do you think any of our speakers watching just now you think it'd be a very impactful book for them to to read? What book? Laura Gassner Otting Do people really recommend their own books? Some people do James Taylor something, believe me, some people do. Laura Gassner Otting Okay, well, I hope the person who does is Michael Port because I'm gonna recommend his book, which is steal the show, I think, and here's why. There is the difference between giving a workshop which most people have done before they get into speaking is there's workshops or didactic They're earnest. You're teaching and and and and keynotes are performing, right, they're motivating, they're inspiring and the difference is playing big and I think what I learned from reading that book is a there is a difference and be how to actually onboard that difference so that I could go from like I need to tell you this information to ah, right it's just it's a it's a it's a huge difference and I think that's that would be I think the book I would recommend steal the show by Michael Porter. James Taylor I wasn't your speaker bag wasn't that bag you carry with you to all of your various speaking engagements you never never leave home without James Taylor a cover up. Laura Gassner Otting Pick up Laura Gassner Otting um, no I really I'm deodorant. I'm vain. You know I have liked I really don't have I really don't. I'm pretty I'm pretty easy. I just get on stage and I'm and I'm me. membership. Yeah, there's there's usually not any. There's beyond beyond like vanity. I don't I don't bring anything, because I don't. I don't have like super technical stuff. James Taylor Yeah, it was funny. I was just I was speaking earlier this week I was speaking in Rome in Italy. And the speaker was talking before me. She's really she was very good. But she was using some very interactive type of app technology at the same time. And she was getting the audience to do it as well. And when that stuff works is great. It's fine. But when it doesn't, when it doesn't work, and my heart was reaching out, oh, no, because it was just and it wasn't it really wasn't our fault. It was the internet connection in the hotel venue was being held. And so sometimes, yeah, simple can be Laura Gassner Otting so easy. I've only really started using slides in the last six months, like the big keynote I get from this talk, and my slides are like big, beautiful photos. They're not like lots of words and there's no bullet points. There's none of that because I'm not a teacher. I'm a, you know, motivator. And but I gave this the very first time I gave this talk. I gave it in Switzerland at St. John's University in Switzerland. And I was sort of like my trial to see if I could do it. And I'm literally three slides into the talk. And it's like, everything breaks like the battery's dead. I don't know. It's just not working. So I'm on stage. And I'm trying it. And I'm trying it. I'm trying and finally I just went, and I curtsied Hello, I, I actually, I went away. And I walked over to the to the stool, and I put the little slide remote down and I did a little curtsy. And then I went, and I kept going. And somebody came up to me afterwards. And he was like, That was amazing. I've never seen anybody so fluidly handle a technology problem. And you gave the talk so well without your slides. That was incredible. And I didn't have the heart to tell him. I actually don't normally use slides. It was easier for me but James Taylor most speakers will use the slides as their crutch they and they and once if it goes for whatever reason, they've got their last and then You'd like Michael talks about this a lot about really just knowing your what you do back and forth thinking about the blocking, like in like an actor would when you're doing and so so that was a great suggestion on the book as well. Laura Gassner Otting Well though I used to actually I'll tell you one thing I used to actually keep breath mints in my bag because I would vomit before I gave any talk ever. But to Michael's point, like I went from I need to teach you this information to this is the thing that I know in my soul and I believe so deeply that you have to understand it. And that was the difference. I don't get nervous before I speak anymore, because I'm actually speaking from my soul from my core rather than speaking from just my my brain. James Taylor Yeah, well, but any apps or online tools you find any particularly useful you're traveling a lot obviously as well but and you're doing a lot of social media. Are there any ones that you find particularly useful? Laura Gassner Otting Um, I mostly I use notion a lot and notion is just sort of like it's it's basically the way that I communicate with my assistant who lives you know, in a different state who I I've only met once. It's really just sort of like the board that we have. So every every speaking gig gets its own little you know, each column of like, you know, what dates are held and what's what's there. And it's a place to just put all this stuff so that I get everything out of my email box. And I don't miss, I don't miss the details. Um, so I use that that also has like a beautiful little social media calendar. So I can like put the posts that I want to have up and I can write them while I'm, you know, sitting on an airplane, and then the people who do the social media posts can go in and link to that and see it. And so it's just, it's, we just need one place where every would sort of come together. It's like the staff meeting sight. It's the big whiteboard in the conference room that we don't have, because we're a virtual company. So that's really the one that I can't live without James Taylor motion. And then let's imagine you woke up tomorrow morning, Laura, and you have to start from scratch. You have all the skills or the knowledge you've acquired over the years, but no one knows you, you know, no one, what would you do? How would you restart things. Laura Gassner Otting So I would probably restart things exactly how I restarted how I started them when I was 21 years old and ended up in the White House, which is take the Salt Lake, the smallest job you can possibly take in the biggest office, you can get to, like, we have this idea that we have to walk in as like the highest paid speaker and the top line person in the head of the agenda. And the truth is, you just need to be in the green room, you just need to be in the door, right? So like, if you're there, and you can, you know, you're like doing a workshop and you're not getting paid for but you can be in the same green room as Richard Branson, who was keynoting, you have an opportunity to talk to them, but even more you have an opportunity to listen to them, to observe them to hear from them to actually get to see how they do what they do. And you can learn and so I think I think that's why what I would do, I would just try to get my I would I would, you know, get coffee, just to be in the room where things happen. Laura, James Taylor thank you so much for coming out today. It's been fascinating. Watching your journey which feels like it's happening in a really short compressed period of time. I know. You've all the things you've done in your past which have helped you get to this point where the That experience and that knowledge of campaigning, but what you're sharing today about how you launch your book about getting the big the big momentum in your in your career, and also about the idea of moving from just being a teacher to being a motivator and it will be a huge value for everyone watching So thank you, Laura, thank you so much. And I'm looking forward to us hopefully sharing a stage and and maybe chatting over that cup of coffee in a green room together somewhere in the world. Laura Gassner Otting And that would be fantastic. Thank you so much. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers. And if you're serious about your speaking career, then you can join us because you membership program, or speakers, you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training, content, and access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakerslife #speakersU

How to Write a TED Talk  Want to know how to write a TED Talk? In today's interview James Taylor interviews speaker and former TEDxCambridge Executive Producer Tamsen Webster about: Discovering your ‘red thread' Why great ideas are built, not found How to craft a TEDTalk Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl055-how-to-write-a-ted-talk-with-tamsen-webster/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey, there is James Taylor, business creativity keynote speaker and founder of the International Speakers Summit. Today, I talk with Tamsen Webster, and she talks to me about how to craft a great TED Talk, discovering your red thread and why great ideas are built, not found. Enjoy the session. Hey, it's James Taylor. delighted today to be joined by Tamsen Webster. Park idea whisper part message strategist and pop recovering marketer. Tamsen Webster helps people and organizations like Verizon, HP bank, Ericsson, Johnson and Johnson and Disney find and communicate the power of their ideas. She is the executive producer of TEDx Cambridge, one of the oldest and largest locally organized TEDx talk events in the world, and a sought after presentation consultant, and former lives. She worked in both agencies and nonprofits heading up brand marketing and fundraising communication strategy, along with a brief but enduring turn as a change management consultant. She was a reluctant marathon marathoner twice, is a winning ballroom dancer in her mind, and everything she knows about people speaking and change she learned at Weight Watchers. That's a true story. So welcome, Tamsin, to the side. Tamsen Webster Well, thank you so much delighted to be here. James Taylor So Shula, our attendees, what's going on in your world just now. Tamsen Webster In my world right now. is there's a very interesting strange summer conference season going on. I just finished an event that I host to help people figure out their big idea for their next talk and then about to head and attend to different conferences. So the US is a National Speakers Association Conference influence and then another event after that. James Taylor Wonderful and then how do you mention your journey? You've been a consultant on different things and you you're kind of known as the burn ideas whisperer. helping people find, find it. The thing is, as a keynote speaker, how did you get into that work specifically, Tamsen Webster that work specifically came out of the work that I do with TEDx Cambridge. So as the TEDx Cambridge executive producer, one of my big roles there is to help finalize the slate of speakers and then I coach each of those speakers to the stage and that's typically a 10 to 12 week process. And there's the thing that I figured out as we were talking to potential speakers and working with those speakers themselves was it people have an idea of about their topic, they have an idea about their message. But the idea itself is often a very difficult thing to articulate and to clarify. But without that, it's impossible to put together a short three to 18 minute talk like you do with Ted. So I started working on figuring out how to make it easier for people to pull out their great ideas and figured out a process for that, and eventually was able to test it through Ted and other places realized it worked, and then realize that that's a struggle that not just Ted and TEDx speakers have. It's a struggle that most speakers have to really figure out what's at the core of their idea and how to make it even better. James Taylor Is there anything when it comes to TEDx is Ted or TEDx is specifically this very unique and different to Maybe someone's just giving a regular one hour keynote, for example, Tamsen Webster a number of things. The first thing I would say that's really different about a TED style or TEDx talk is the The barrier for entry is high. And not just because there's application and all of that, but because there's an expectation that the ideas have a couple really key things. One is that it's fully within the speaker's domain of authority is how I like to refer to it, that when you hold up the speaker and the idea, those two make sense, absolute sense together, that that speaker is utterly defensible as being an expert or an authority on that topic. Now, a lot of speakers can hit that even in a keynote, but from a TEDx, it gets attitude because there's other expectation. The second thing that they need is what I would call burden of proof. They need to be able to show how they have put that idea to work or how it is put to work or how research backs it up or the research that they've done. And that is the thing that starts to take it into a different perspective. So it's a difference for instance, between someone who has an incredibly powerful story about being diagnosed and overcoming or living with the disease. And that would be, which would be a great keynote topic, versus someone who has had that same thing. And then went on to interview 3050 100 other people with that same disease, created a documentary around it, debuted at Sundance, etc. And that's that right there is one of those key differences are you did you put in an extra work? The third thing is that it has to be totally new. It has to be something that people haven't heard before, and that it's not readily available. In fact, there's a lot of TEDx is that openly say that TEDx that excuse me that speakers who are life coaches, or business coaches, or professional keynote speakers are going to have to do even more to prove that their idea is different in some way. James Taylor I guess that's because as a keynote speaker, you're so used to working up your one or your two speeches and just going over and tweaking, improving all the time, to a certain kind of audience and so if you have to compress To an 18 minute, you know, I'm guessing that that's maybe not right anyway for that for that type of thing. And you said, You know, I was talking to a guest I had my podcast recently would get Bregman who just did the TED, the main Ted, Ted, Ted, yes, rinse and repeat with a camera, the name of Rutgers coach they had for it as well. But he said, You know, there's an example of someone who has real domain expertise. He's very knowledgeable what he does, he also has done huge levels of research and have a successful book out on it as well. But he said, it was like having to do a completely different new thing again, to take that knowledge that was there in that life and the life of him as a writer and a researcher and a story and, and put it into some kind of format and it was very, very challenging. It is He speaks a lot as well. So it's not like he doesn't speak he speaks a lot but he said that format is a very difficult one to get right. Tamsen Webster It is because and you hit on one aspect of it, which is that to get to the timeframe, which is three to 18 minutes, you can't just take a bigger talk and squish it down. If they're there, you have to do one of two things either take it way up and give it a much more overarching view, like a chronological view, this is how I came up with this idea. And here's the impact that it had. Or you have to go much, much deeper to some core concepts that the book may represent. But it isn't, or a talk may represent. But isn't that main piece. The second real flip in the format itself is that it they don't work when they are what I would refer to as the academic style of presentation. So an academic style. I don't even mean that, you know, oh, it's a professor reading notes from an actor. And I think a lot of keynote speakers end up doing this, which is we give the answer to the problem right out of the gate. We say we have this problem, here's the solution. And then the rest of the talk is either justification for that solution or examples of that. So solution or exercises based off of that solution? And those can be incredibly interesting, incredibly engaging talks. Absolutely. But they, they don't feel like a story to people, James Taylor it feels like someone that's been a trainer or a consultant. So they think their mindset is in that way of problem solution. Like, you know, speed explanation. Yeah, exactly. You're talking about his his storytelling, which is a different storytelling. Tamsen Webster And it's important to understand is that it isn't just slapping stories on to do an idea or a talk because there are even videos on Ted calm where somebody tells a story at the beginning. And it's completely unrelated to the talk that they end up giving. And then you as the audience member, you go like, Well, it wasn't a story, but why did you tell that when I'm talking about is is structuring the information around any idea. And I would say training and consulting even works just as well, if not better when it's framed this way as well, where it takes people through an emotional journey. Up and down, back backwards and forwards through a discovery of information. So that you may introduce a problem up front, but that you don't give the actual solution to it until later in in the talk. In fact, we have to make sure that we've made the case for the solution before you give the solution. And that does two things. One, it means that you as a speaker ends up building this beautiful suspense and kind of emotional feeling to the talk, even if it's not an emotional talk. And the second thing is that by the time you get to the conclusion, by the time you get to that thing that you want people to do differently. They feel like Oh, of course, and then there's no defensiveness on their part. Whereas an academic piece or an academic structure, think of it that way. Once you've once you've said to someone, here's the problem, here's my solution to it, then you're really in a position of defending that idea for the rest of the talk. And then you hope at the end of it that you've convinced that Everyone that you've made it. But I'd much prefer to get little bits of agreement all the way along so that when you get to that solution, when you get to that big idea, the audience goes, Oh, that's, Oh, of course. And so that you know that you get that reveal built in and you get that you get that wonder that the audience comes away feeling Not only that, that that you were smart, and this was a great idea, but they end up feeling smarter. And that, to me is a huge goal of any speaker. James Taylor The ones I remember very strongly are of different types. You like Ken Robinson's talk, which is quite more more professor, I would say. Proof premise, premise proof. Sorry. There's there's a lot of kind of standard things of good speakers, keynote speakers would do. And then I speak think of there was a doctor, a doctor Taylor Taylor's name namesake, who went through having a stroke and she had a neuroscientist so she was talking through That was very narrative LED, and you felt you were going on a journey. And it was almost a little bit, Tarantino esque where you're getting these snippets of things. And it didn't make sense, but you knew it was going somewhere, but you couldn't work out where it was going. And then the kind of reveal starts to happen at the end, which I think is really difficult to do for an hour to hold people in those kind of suspend to not give, you know, give them that that kind of, Okay, this is the key takeaways. But within that nine minute or 18 minute segment, it's actually really powerful to do because you can play in a different way and, and can take people in little journeys and have stories going alongside each other. And you can have a lot more, a lot more creativity, even though you've compressed it in a short period of time. Tamsen Webster Well, the way I like to think about is that any any any great talk that moves an audience from point A to point z by the by the beginning to the end, follows a basic structure and that structure is the same and what's interesting is that it functions In the same way in an 18 minute talk as it can, in a 90 minute keynote, the flesh around it can look very different, just like you and I share skeletons that are going to look very much alike. But everything that we do, how we move, what we do with it, how we look in the outside, is very, very different. And so what's fascinating, I know that talk to polti, Taylor's talk called my stroke of insight is that she does all sorts of fascinating things with with that talk. And if you think about, and one of the most interesting thing is that she that she does kind of hold back on what the big idea is of that talk until quite close to the end. But here's what's interesting is that that structure I'm talking about, can actually be replicated in a much longer keynote. But what you're doing is you need to treat the sections of the talk almost as little versions of TED Talks. And what I mean by that is, you know, getting someone introducing them to a problem. You know, from an initial goal that the audience might want introducing them to a problem is something that probably could or should take you about 10 to 15 minutes. But you can structure that piece to feel like a TED talk where the big reveal is the problem I see. And then you and then you can extend it by saying, Okay, well, now the next thing is, you know, where the next 10 to 20 minutes is a big reveal to get to not a solution. And this is one place where I get feisty about it is actually to a deeper understanding something I refer to as the core idea of a talk that can get there. And then the next piece is this, you know, 510 15 minutes to get you to what change now what does that mean? What's the big shift and approach? Or what's the big solution that we have to get to? And then you've got the last 1520 minutes to talk about what does that look like in action so that you come back to that original goal of the talk. So really, that structure exists, whether it's in three minutes, which I've seen it done, you can look at Derek Severs talk TED talk on how to start a movement all the way through Through 1690 minute keynotes, it's just about how how much time you spent in between those kind of bones that need to be there. James Taylor So I was a talk on Friday. It was it was a den I was invited. It was former President Barack Obama, he was speaking and got a chance to speak to him for an hour she had, I had to ask him any advice he had for freshers speakers or public speakers because he's doing a such a great orator, and we can meet conflate of things. And to my humor use of humor. In a talk, I noticed something he did right at the start, which is kind of similar to like the second Robinson's one is he started using humor, actually, he kind of broke broke the ice there. And then he made a statement of something which you could get like 99% of people in the room, got, you know, would agree on, and then that foundation, he then kind of moved on to things as well. So I'm just wondering like that, that use of humor, especially very early in when where does it go from being candid? Have an entertaining style or entertaining talk to an effective talk? Tamsen Webster Well, when it comes to humor, I would say from the use of humor, the difference between entertaining and effective is whether or not that humor is related to the point that you're trying to land. Or are you just saying something funny to be funny, and funny to be funding is great, it opens, it opens the door for some speakers that helps them feel more relaxed, it gets the audience to feel more relaxed, you get all those endorphins going in the audience. And that's great. I think there's another bar that you can get to though, and I think that you can be just as funny and it can land a point that you're trying to land. And what's interesting even about Kevin Ken Robinson's talk, the one that you refer to is that the humor he's using in the beginning is if you go back and look at it actually is absolutely tied to the points that he's trying to make in the talk. And that is when you move from just entertaining too effective. When the stories that you tell when the humor that you use is drives for the point In some way, that's I think that's a bar where I'd love to see more speakers go and cross James Taylor what one of the things you're known for is this idea of the the red thread. So you've spoken about this before, and I i was i was watching brock obama speak, I was actually thinking about his red thread for it. And I sense that his was and we talked about what red thread is and confining your own your own red thread as well. But my sense was his voice change. You know, he spoke in presidential elections before change was a huge part of it. And I was listening to what he was speaking about on stage and this time, he's talking about automation and machine learning and artificial intelligence, how that's going to change the nature of work and what we do and how we have to rescale and retrain people think so that that you know, and it may be whether he kind of reflects on it or not, but that from an audience perspective member, I kind of felt that that's the thing that was kind of tying all of his work together. So what is that? What is a red thread? Because I think it's quite important, especially in an early stage and speakers career, that they think about that because it's very natural just want to get booking gigs and booking speaking engagements without maybe taking a little bit a step back and thinking about well, what what is that? That thread there? Tamsen Webster Sure. So the red thread itself is is a concept that I first learned from some Swedish clients of mine. It's a phrase that Scandinavians use and they use it to talk about or in the context of asking, what is the thing that makes this make sense? And so if they're looking for the message or the through line of something, they say, what is the red thread? And from a from I think we all have that need, don't wait it to understand when we're listening to something, particularly to a talk that we want to be able to quickly and easily answer. If somebody says, Well, what was the talk about to be able to have a crisp, clean, effective answer to that, and if we're a speaker, then we Wouldn't it be great? Wouldn't it be wonderful that we could use that as a test? If we walk into giving a talk saying, This is what this talk is about? Even if you never told that to the audience, you could test the audience by afterwards going after so and say, Well, what did you think the talk was about? And if you hear back that answer yet, like that red thread, then you know, you've succeeded at it. The challenge, of course, is well, how do you get to that quick answer? And this is where this is where a lot of what I learned in the years that I've now worked with TEDx speakers came into play, because a lot of times we try to work backwards from a red thread. We try to work backwards from Well, here's the here's my big idea. Here's my, here's my message. But I believe very strongly that ideas aren't found. They're built. They are built out of a couple different key components that have to be there. Before you can really effectively answer that question. What is the talk about? So for instance, a lot of people if you're familiar with the TED Talk, Like Amy Cuddy's TED talk on power posing. You know, you could say, well, what's the talk about? Well, some people might say, well, it's about body language or it's about imposter syndrome. It's about power posing. But I would argue that, like the the Crispus answer to that is that that that talk is about the red thread of that talk is about how to use body language to overcome and power pop, excuse me how to use body language to overcome imposter syndrome. But you see, we have to understand a couple things before we can get there. That's where this this process that I came up with, with the TED speakers turned into a method that I now call the red thread. And it goes back to that idea that we were talking about before about the bones of a talk that have to be there. And you mentioned one already, which is you said that Barack Obama started with a statement that really early on, everyone could say yes to and I refer to that as the goal. That is that the audience needs to hear something fairly early on in a presentation that answers For them, what will I get if I listen to this? And so, Amy Cuddy's talk, for instance, starts off by talking about imposter syndrome. And so this is a this is an example of what's the audience's goals. I want to overcome imposter syndrome. Now, a goal is really only interesting and a story is really interesting if it's if there's a problem and it's way. And so the next big bone that has to be the next big piece of the red thread that has to be present in any any talk is a problem. And not just a problem that the audience could readily see. Is there not a known barrier? Not like, Oh, well, it feels uncomfortable to be out front of people if we're talking about Amy Cuddy's talk, but some deeper underlying problem that you as the as the speaker can identify. Then the next piece is is actually something very, very important. I mentioned it earlier. It's that there is an idea that explains both why the problem is such a problem and why the change They're the solution, you're going to recommend as the only one that can be there. It's something that people can't unhear it is something that describes the world in a wholly new way. And if people could understand and agree with it, then they would understand and agree with the change they're going to recommend. So we've got gold problem idea, then and only then in my mind, should you introduce the change that you're asking people to make? Because in order for a red thread to make to have meaning for people, and meaning, in fact, is this kind of Trojan horse of change, it has to make sense. And so you really need that problem, idea change. And then the last piece, not always there, and Ted Talks, almost always there in a longer talk, his actions, the actions that make that change happen. So I put all those together. And if you go back and look at some of these great talks, they have those elements in that order. And when a talk doesn't work, it's usually missing an element or the elements are out of order. James Taylor So I'm thinking of that just now. And And then what the one that springs to mind is the Simon Sinek start with why so his the the start with one is a visual representation of it as well. So that the idea that you can't was it can't unhear Yes, that's that that's that thing when he does that and you go Oh, okay. Okay, I get it now and then obviously then kind of goes into the the change and talking about what's required or to get to that point as well and and I can't remember off the top my head of his actions at the end I can't remember off the top Tamsen Webster I really aren't in his Yeah, his is a great example of the talk actually starts right out of the gate with with the goal statement. He asks a question right up front about what why is it that some companies succeed where others don't? Why is it that some companies are able to stand out where others and then gives an example with apple? And I would argue that the idea that's at the core of that talk is the moment where he says people don't buy what you do. They buy why you buy Do it. Yeah. So it's that moment where people go, Oh, yeah. And then everything Ah, and then and then it goes and then explains it in reverse at this is, this is why we have to go figure it out. So what he's doing up until that point is showing that, that you know how people currently explain what they do, showing that there are companies that that have a deeper explanation for it then uses that to say, people don't buy what you do they buy, why you do it. And then the second half of the talk basically is about illustrating that golden circle, how it works and how it applies. And you're right, there really isn't an action to that talk. But that talk is about getting people to that new idea, and then showing them how that idea applies to their world. James Taylor And I'm gonna have to go watch that now. I'll make sure we have the link here because I think it's interesting because that start with why phrase is used all the time. I hear again, use all the time, and I'd be interested find out how often they use that phrase in in the actual talk where they kind of echoed it back. You know, like, like a great jazz trumpeter would would kind of play that theme every so often and kind of and they would go in variations on a theme or something. So be interested in, how he's doing it. What one of the other things that you can train on when you're working and you coach on when you're working with clients, is about the pacing site, and the the kind of physicality and the pace and that's one of the things I always put away from the hearing Barack Obama talk is his masterful use of pacing and the pause and the and the breath. And so when you first start working with some of the kind of common things you find that your prospective Ted talkers do that you have to kind of like work on at a relatively early stage with them when it comes to pacing and and how they present themselves in that way. Tamsen Webster I think the best way to sum up the thing that most people fall in a trap of is that they deliver everything thing kind of in the same way. And Michael Porter, who I know is also on your list of speakers for this, spends a lot of time in his book steal the show on this on that idea of contrast. And I think that's the biggest thing for people to understand that it's it. The reason why pauses work, the reason why some speaker seems so effective is because they've managed to create contrast. So why is the contrast so important and that the contrast is so important because it's, it helps direct attention, that helps direct the audience's attention to there are certain things that I need to pay more attention to, are there certain things that I don't have to be fully tuned in with. But think of it this way, if somebody is just talking the same way all the time, then you get to a point where you can start to tune them out. It's when they stop talking. Or when something starts to be really different about how they talk that you start to really listen. So the the, you know, there are people who do much much more work on delivery than I do, but what I what I found is a couple hacks, you know, kind of easy ways to flip people into better delivery really quickly. And the chief hack that I use is something I call the traffic light system or the signal system. It's red light, yellow light, green light, since most of us have those colors when it comes to traffic systems. And here's the way to think about it. The vast majority of any presentation should be delivered as on a green light, like you can go Go quickly. And in fact, you should go quickly you should be talking at what is your normal conversational speed, even if that's fairly fast, so I don't believe in people talking too fast. I do believe in people talking too fast for too long. Because that becomes difficult for people to pull out what the big ideas are. James Taylor So like a Tony Robbins is a classic example someone who speaks very fast or or Gary Vaynerchuk speaks very fast. But they're still known as great speakers because we'll go into your point, Tamsen Webster because there's going to be those moments where if I'm speaking fast, and I'm getting that there's gonna be This moment where I reach up point where everything changes. And when that happens, the audience is going to like, stop, listen. And so what I find about great speakers is they have at the opposite end of the green light content is what I call red light content, where you want to stop, you want to pause, you're going to be going in terms of your normal pace probably quite slowly. But when you do that people have this clear idea of when I need to lean in when I need to lean out it's a technique though I put that traffic signal signal thing I learned this technique I learned at a company I used to work for called called or rotti of or a ti M. And they had this very much this this idea of how do you think through these different pacings and I think the the red light yellow light, green light is a really effective way to do that. So green light, most of your talk or presentation. The red light should be your key concepts and the Guess what those key concepts are? They are the goal, the problem, the idea, the change, and those actions so that somebody listening through can go, all right, telling a story telling a story. But here's the point. Why is it that certain kids are creative beyond childhood and other ones aren't. And then I'm back to a story, it's back to a story back to a story. So there's one more color in there. And that's the yellow light content. And what I described the yellow light content is it use it as you're supposed to use a yellow light, which is to slow down not to speed up and go through, but it's a place where you want to make sure that you're careful with how you're speaking about something. So you're not going to be in your full slow, here's a big point moment. But you do need to slow it down because this is a concept that maybe they haven't heard before. So if I'm going along and talking and you know, telling the story about the red thread, for instance, I want to stop and say well, the red thread is a phrase that comes For Swedish, that means really what is this thing about what is the thing that makes things make sense, and the way it came from us debt and I can go back. So yellow light is for those moments of explanation, those moments for new concepts, and the moments where you're introducing a phrase or a word that people may not know. But then once you're there, you're going to either want to go straight into something that's red light, or probably more likely back to green light. And most people I think would benefit from speeding up the basic pace of their presentation, but slowing down just on those chemo adding that contrast and as you as James Taylor you were saying, as well you know, Ted we think a TED an idea worth spreading is the is the phrase that's used for that all the time. What takes an idea from being interesting every day but you know can interesting to being knocked out extraordinary new agent Derek Severs friend and he due to how ideas spread and how movements are created, you know, that's I thought that was extremely, very short, but extraordinary as well. Yeah. So what is it that takes that idea from just being the everyday hum? to extraordinary? Tamsen Webster Well, the, the thing that I found about it is that it's about figuring out how to make each piece of it as unique and as different as possible. And so what I mean by that is, is, you know, when I first start working with folks on finding the red thread of something, and one of those first questions is, well, what, what problem does this solve? And, for instance, one of the most common answers I get, as well as fear people are afraid. And fear could be a great base problem for a keynote, it is not going to be enough usually to make an idea stand out amazing, because it's the people who've done the work of figuring out one layer deeper. What's his fear blind you to? What does it keep you from doing what's causing the fear? And can you describe that in a way that others Haven't heard before, or that people haven't heard before. That's one of the first places to set your idea apart. One of the things to remember about a great problem statement in my mind is that it's, it's it represents tension between tension between one way of seeing the world that the audience is doing right now and a way that you're going to introduce them to. And if you think about it, just from that standpoint, that's why fear isn't enough, because it's not fear between two things. Fear is a statement, you can't unfit be unafraid, suddenly, from people, you can't talk someone out of a feeling, but you can help them understand if that that fear is for instance, blinding them to seeing, like the big picture of something, you know, it's the fear is getting them to focus and seeing only the details, and now that's something that they can fix. And you can say, Okay, yeah, fears there. We all know that fear exists. But here's in this case, what it's helping you to do. If you do that same kind of thinking kind of all the way through and say okay, well what's what's more interesting different way to say the idea what's a different change that I can put out there, then you get this mathematical ability to make an idea. unique and really strong at the same time. James Taylor So that almost sounds like that. The first level of fear being I mean, I think I talked about automation and the future of work. So the first step was everyone kind of knows that things are changing, you know, in a big way with automation machine learning. So that kind of like that's that level one, really. But you have to kind of go a level then below that, in order to find something that's unique that's memorable that actually people can can use it has some kind of transform transformative effect on them. So after they leave that room after 18 minutes, they go, Okay, I can't remember. Tamsen Webster Exactly, well, Tamsen Webster exactly. It's about going that narrow, next layer deeper, and I'd say the other the equivalent of fear, and so I is that, you know, on the other side, so the most common change that I see people recommend is The equivalent of baby steps will just take small steps. So if you're afraid of something, just take small steps. And and so fear and baby steps is what I call it. It's what I call it what I see it as something that isn't, you know, I described a talk that way, if it's like, oh, that's a fear of baby steps. Meaning it's a talk, it's basically an idea I've heard before in one way or another because the problem is fear and solutions, baby steps. But if you start to think differently about how you get to a problem, so let's say that the problem with automation isn't just fear, that's but that's a good place to start because it gets the audience on page and you can acknowledge that, you know, you understand that where they're coming from. If you want to get to a point, for instance, where I'm working with a couple of speakers for our next TED event, right now TEDx event right now, where, for instance, here, but we've got this tension between the pace of development the pace of evolution of technology is in fact at odds with the pace of evolution of humans where technology is evolving faster than humans can keep up. Well, now you've got a new Now you've got a real problem to a explain why the fear is valid, but B, now you've got something that you can dig into in a really meaty way. James Taylor There's a tension there, there's a tension. So there's a tension going on that that quest there's that there's a tension there. Tamsen Webster But you have to figure out what that is. And fear is an effort it fears a signal that tension exists. That's your clue. You're like you've you've identified that fear is present. Great. Now you have to figure out why, like, either what's causing the fear or what is the fear keeping you from doing and once you've got that tension, now you've got something that you can create a much more interesting change is the result. Because if you've got to change, for instance, so I'm going to use a talk from a different event that we had where we had a speaker who was talking about big data, so similar in a lot of ways to AI, and and she was talking about the problem, you know, the root problem that she came down to was that big data doesn't create just create more knowledge, it creates more unknowns. So That, you know, if we're talking about an organization or a business that wants to reduce their risk and their businesses you're making, and they're using big data to do it, she's validating the fact that is creating more knowledge. But she's also introducing a bigger problem, which is it creates more unknowns. And so before just saying, Okay, so, you know, make sure you've got better big data, which would be a very simple, not very interesting change, she introduces the idea, which is that the greatest business risk comes from the unknown. So now all of a sudden, there's a new idea that you're like, ah, of course, which now indicates why big data on its own is such a problem. I've got more unknowns, thanks to my big data. And that's where the risk is, therefore, that sets up a change, if not just ease into ease into big data with baby steps, but she's saying, No, we need to, we need to counterbalance big data with something that this is a woman named Trisha Wong, that we counterbalance with something called the thick data so that it's not big and fast. And surface and whatever, but it's thick and it gets to the insights and it gets people's engagement going. When you have a better problem, it makes that core idea easier to find and more powerful. And it sets up a more interesting change that allows you to have ownership of it. And it's that ability to own the idea that I think really takes it to a different level. And so this is the standard. I think that coming back to that question of entertaining versus effectiveness that we have to have, which is that is it clear? Can people in a moment in a sentence in, in in a tweet be able to tell you or tell someone else? More importantly, what is the talk about? So is it clear, the second, is it defensible? Does it make sense that you're speaking about it? Have you made the case for it? Is it Have you thought through what the objections are Have you have you actually deconstructed them in the course of the talk? And then finally, is it differentiated? Have you been able to take that clarity and that defensibility Create something that's different. And here's the thing, I believe that everybody has that clear, defensible, differentiated idea within them. I know that not everybody is willing to put the work in to find it, or necessarily to, to do the work to put it on a TEDx stage. But even if more speakers who are just keynote speakers, professional speakers, even if we just moved everything forward to that level of of saying, Let's make effectiveness circle, I think we would find that would help us satisfy even more what meeting organizers and meeting planners are looking for. Because they are looking for something more than just entertainment. They have to defend these fees. They have to defend why they're pulling together, hundreds or thousands of people from their company and putting somebody else up in front of them. They need to see true changes and thinking and behavior that come afterwards. And not just little tactical things that those are important. They need to see that shift. In order to get that shift. We have to work on our ideas. James Taylor And I guess that's the difference. To take someone from being a side room speaker speaking on one of the master class or something actually be speaking on on the big stage. Yes. And, you know, it's interesting as you talk about that, you know, that that that red thread as well, I would, I would imagine, it is difficult, perhaps impossible to find that on your own. Because you're, especially if you're a subject matter expert, you are so deep in, in what your your subject is, regardless, you know, especially if you come from the academic side as well, you're so in it the whole time to be able to, you know, have someone else, you know, look and have those other sets of eyes and going to go actually, you think it's this actually, this is where it where it's at. So that's obviously one of the things that you do, and I know we've got mutual friends you've done helped them with finding their red thread, and it's been transformative for them. In fact, they've I know one person in particular who's basically was inspired Writing one book and we're doing one speech and change. And it's creating a completely different book and a different speech. And it's a much stronger book and speech, I think for it as well. So yes, talk to us about the red thread worksheet. Tamsen Webster Absolutely. So the red thread worksheet is your first step to being able to find the red thread on your own because it is possible. I don't want I wouldn't put something out there and say like, No, actually, you just have to hire me to get it. Because but what it is we'll walk you through the the five questions that I ask people when I'm working with them, to find their red thread or the red thread of their talk or their platform. And it's going to it's going to be an opportunity for you to start pulling through those concepts for yourself. So I'm going to ask you, what is the audience's goal? What is the thing they would readily say yes to that thing, like Barack Obama that everyone is like, Yeah, okay. We're Yes, this would be great. I want to know a talk that I want to hear a talk that's about this. ask you questions about the problem so that you can think through where does that tension come from what we've just talked about before ask you what is the idea that explains that problem and justifies the change of the solution they're going to make asks you for your change then asked you to list out those actions. So it is a place to get started. And what you can do is that the, the best way to do it, if you want to do it on your own, is to talk it through with some someone else, because you're right, we are so close to our own ideas that it's often very difficult for us to see them I like to describe it this way is that, you know, when you're operating on a computer, whether it's a Mac or PC, and you're moving, you know, you're dragging and dropping a folder around your desktop, for instance, that feels super easy to it's it's second nature to us now. And what we don't realize and we don't even consciously think about is that that's all the product of code that's written underneath it that we don't see. And when we live our lives when we produce these ideas, it's very much the same way that the work that you've done so far the talks that you've done so far, the books that you've written so far The life that you've led so far is the same thing as the desktop on your computer. It's the manifestation of this underlying code. And what I found with these five questions is that that they won't always be easy to answer, but they are the best way I found so far to start to surface that code out to show you what are some of those baseline assumptions, beliefs, values that you have that explain why you care so much about what you do or why certain topics are so interesting to you or why a talk that you gave five years ago is related to the one that you're working on now. Because it all comes from the same code. I think I often say to my clients as you cannot keep a good red thread down it will show up again and again and again in everything you do. So this worksheet is really help designed to help you start to surface that code and start to see the pieces for yourself. James Taylor I think also we have many people on this summit who are attending who are professional speakers may be seen for a long time, but maybe they a point where it's maybe time for a little bit of reinvention in terms of the what they speak about. And I think something like this will be incredibly useful for them as well, as they take a step back, because it's so easy. I know, for professionals, keynote speakers, you got to start getting books and starts getting busy, then you start adding other products on other things. And before, you know, it's like, what, what happened, what am I surrounded with? And so it was kind of difficult to then make make that switch. Is it challenging, I would say and it would be brave to have to make that switch, you know, it's time is there to do that. So I think the red thread the you know, the worksheet is also a value. Even if you're not getting started you maybe you've been in Korea for a while just to go through that process and maybe reevaluate what what that what that threat is for you. Tamsen Webster You're right, people get busy, which is why a couple times a year I pull together people over the course of a weekend to work on this intensively because if with busy keynote speakers, I've heard exactly that from folks that have been Through that weekend where they've said, I wouldn't have worked on this this way if I hadn't had if I didn't have to spend a day and a half working on it. And what's fascinating about every single one of them is that they come away with a new and refresh perspective and an excitement about a talk. Maybe they've been giving for years because they say, oh, which is little tiny shifts, I can see how to make this talk that's already been very good, very profitable for me. Great. And now even in certain cases, they can start to see where the next one comes from. Where's the next one? And how do you start to create a system around your talks, a series of talks so that a client that loves one talk that you give, then you can say well, if you love that one, then here's a great follow on to that one. And it all comes back to that red thread James Taylor and I know you're also speaking you speak at Michael ports, who wrote public speaking live events as well. So people are checking any of those they can I know you, you can have your there and you're the ideas whisperer helping people find their red threads, which is absolutely awesome. is a very very valuable service. So thank you very much for helping all those new and professional very experienced speakers can reconnect with with their red thread anywhere else if anyone wants to maybe connect with you follow up with you isn't where's the best placement to go for that? Tamsen Webster Everything that you would want to know I think you can find centralised on Tamsin webster.com but also feel free to connect on LinkedIn and Facebook brand page which is facebook.com slash Tamsin Webster and on Twitter at at Tamra dear ta ma de AR James Taylor wonderful Thompson, thank you so much for coming on. I look forward to meeting up with you soon. Tamsen Webster All right, thanks so much. Today's episode James Taylor was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers. And if you're serious about your speaking career, then you can join us because you membership program. Our speakers you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training, content and access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and experts. So just head over to speakers u.com to learn more. More of Tamsen Webster Learn More About SpeakersU #speakersU #speakersLife

Similarities of the Best Keynote Speakers  Ever wondered what the best keynote speakers have in common? In today's interview James Taylor talks with speaking industry legend Scott Friedman about: Characteristics of the best global speakers Universal storytelling tips Determining your perfect 365 days Resources: Bookd: http://insidersecretsofinternationalspeaking.com/ Tools: FlightTracker App Website: http://www.scottfriedman.net/ Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl054-what-the-best-keynote-speakers-have-in-common-with-scott-friedman/ James Taylor Hey there's James Taylor he a business creativity keynote speaker and founder of International Speakers Summit. Today I speak with Scott Friedman about building a global speaking model, determining your perfect 365 days and universal storytelling tips. Enjoy this session. Hey there, it's James Taylor and I'm delighted today to be joined by Scott Friedman. Scott Friedman, certified speaking professional founder of the Global Speaker Summit and former president of the National Speakers Association, is the author of celebrate lessons learn from the world's most admired organizations Happily Ever Laughter using humor for change, and a celebration a day 365 ways to a happier, healthier workplace. For over 30 years, Scott has traveled the globe speaking on employee innovation, customer experience and using humor and celebration as a strategic tool. schoolfriend together we can change the world a nonprofit organization serving orphans and less fortunate women in Southeast Asia and it's my great pleasure to have him join us today. So welcome, Scott. Scott Friedman Thanks, James. Great to be with with you. James Taylor So share with everyone what's going on in your world just now what currently has your focus. Scott Friedman Let's see what's happening. Just finished a celebration a day 365 ways to a happier, healthier workplace. now working on another in the celebrate series called turn, celebrate turn on your GPS, which has gratitude plans surprise, and always working on a new project with together we can change the world. So all good in my world. James Taylor And you've just been I think you've just finished a series of speaking engagements. Scott Friedman Yes, just came off about seven weeks on the road in Southeast Asia and a few assorted spots in the US and one of our together we can change your world tours, where we brought 15 Global speakers with us to Southeast Asia to speak and to serve as well. Amazing. So share with everyone James Taylor how did you get started in speaking professionally? Where did it all begin for you? Scott Friedman Started in 1984. When I ran into cabinet Robert told me I had a unique style and I should be a professional speaker and at the time I didn't realize he said that Everybody, by Tom I figured it out. It was too late. I was a professional speaker. So quit the, with the family business. I was president at the time have a side organization called sales professionals, and basically created a career when I was 2425 years old. I'm Kevin, obviously the founder of National Speakers Association as well. Yes, he became my he was my first mentor and was a was a wonderful role model and I learned the business really from cabinet. So the perfect, the perfect model. James Taylor I was gonna say the, the perfect mentor to have it and in those early days, as you got started as a professional speaker, who were those, those early mentors apart from Cavett and also who were the who were the people you maybe aspire to, or you kind of looked up to as speakers and you you can listen to a lot too and you can have studied their work. Scott Friedman I remember I was early on in my career, I was looking for a job. And I wrote down five names that I wanted to learn from. And Mark Sanborn, Terry Paulson, Lou heckler, Jim Cathcart, and Joe Calloway, were the five that I really wanted to learn from. And Lou became, after Kevin became my first mentor and coach me, but I have great respect for all those guys. James Taylor And what was it in particular from Lou that you you learned most Scott Friedman really more about values than anything else that did just that your career is really a tool to create whatever lifestyle you want a chance to hang out with the people that you love, and a chance to make a difference in whatever unique way you want to make a difference in the world. So it really is about living life on your terms instead of on your career terms. And then of course, storytelling, lose one of the best storytellers in the world and help me with my storyteller James Taylor and when did the humor Come such a strong part of your keynotes is one of the things you're known for is the human side. When did that, when did that really kind of come out and you're speaking Scott Friedman well, early on the market defined me as a motivational humorist. And then as the years went by, and there was a lot of funny guys that came on, that came along, I realized if I was going to try to sell humor, I was in big trouble. So I had to find another angle. So early on really was more more so than it is today. And now it's really my unique niches, how celebration impacts productivity and team performance in the workplace. James Taylor And so you can go go started, you were speaking, more and more. Can you remember like maybe a key inflection point in your speaking career where you've definitely felt that things have taken a step up or you had some an aha moment or an insight in your speaking career and you went, Okay, this is the direction I want to be going with it. Scott Friedman You know, I'm waiting for that moment now. No, no. There's along the way. There's been some there Some, some turning points are good moments. But I actually was in Malaysia on the way to a field trip to Petra nos Learning Center where I was chatting with the time a form of colleague, who was also serving on the board of a company in Malaysia, that put me through a process that realized my unique way of looking to the world was through the eyes of celebration. And that became my unique look at employee engagement and customer experience. So that was one of the big moments, which was a really 25 years into my career, maybe longer or more than that. James Taylor And, you know, no, this is one of the founders of global speakers summit, as well. And you know, obviously speaking globally, what characteristics Have you noticed from the from the really the great and then also the successful global speakers out there? Scott Friedman Uh, the best speakers, let's see, well, I in 2005, my big project for the year when I was printing And I'm going to say was the global speakers summit. Very excited to see it coming back this year to Auckland, New Zealand, Mike Hancock, I know is on your program, wonderful speaker and he's the chair of that. But I think in all the five global speakers summits that we've had so far, and as well as just observing speakers, I think they exhibit three qualities, the best speakers, if you want to speak globally, humility, Authenticity, and vulnerability, those three those three qualities and if, you know, so many times I, I see speakers speak on on others turf, in other words, you know, globally so that they're not speaking in their home country and, and they need to prove themselves so they, in some cases, they'll come from a place of arrogance and instead of humility, and I think that gets them in a lot of trouble. So if you just, if you come in Say, I don't I'm not here to control my audience. But I'm, I'm here to see what we have in common. And it's it's really just a relationship like you and me and my audience are just talking in the living room. And it's, it's, it's a very informal conversation yet. At the same time, I want to share who I am I want to be authentic with you. I want to be vulnerable. I want to I want to share my experiences when things didn't work. So well. That's where I learned the lesson. And, and I want to be, I'm going to be humble. That's most important. Can you give me an example of that maybe from from one of your fellow speakers who you you've seen? I know it's difficult sometimes as a speaker, you're up there speaking and you don't get a chance to hear some some of the other speakers who are speaking at an event but is there an example of or someone that was strong in your mind, you saw speaking a global event and you felt that they embodied these characteristics and how they did That now just the first one that comes up comes to my mind because the AP SS Asia professional speakers of Singapore just had their conference. You know, Jerome Joseph and I have had this conversation for many years. And it was so nice to see Jerome, he sharing it's such a deeper level today to start it off the AP SS conference with a story of his dad and, and a very touching story and, you know, brought tears to the eyes of the audience. And so I think Jerome has really learned the lesson over the years where I used to say, drom, you can't you know, you can't come from that place of arrogance. And now he really does come from that place of humility, vulnerability and authenticity. That would be one good example right there that comes to mind. James Taylor And so you mentioned the, like, the idea of, of it not not being Nestle about the beer, I can think of that there are those fish those bloated fish that you know, they kind of expand like three times their size? I don't think so. There's so there's maybe certain speakers that they they kind of they do that it's Like, it's I don't know, if it's a self preservation mechanism of some sort. And, and I actually I think about some of those, those speakers I remember. And they don't have that they have an authenticity I find is is, is a difficult word sometimes. Because it's actually quite a complex word I find, because it's used in different ways. And I find the humility bit is I see that many speakers I hold really dear, that there was there was a humility about them the way that they they communicated with the audience. You didn't feel like it was them just proclaiming from the stage then down to you in the audience. You felt you you were part it was part of a company knows you're saying it's kind of part of a conversation. Scott Friedman Yeah, I think today we're we're more facilitators of learning. And we we are Anything else? Yeah. Used to be the old saying of a sage on the stage. Yeah, but now we're the guy down the street. I'd like to say to my audience, there's a lot more wisdom in front of me than there is in front of you. So we need to tap into that wisdom in the room and it takes a certain amount of vulnerability to to say hey I'm open to the ideas and open to the wisdom that hey, there's probably a lot more wisdom in front of me my case it's real easy but for others who have a little bit of an ego and make a lot of stuff you could be in trouble but so it's it's being able to let go and being able to really be open to what the situation brain so that you truly can tap into the wisdom in the room. James Taylor And you see any when it comes to storytelling, as you mentioned, Jerome they are telling a very honest and authentic story in his when he is presentation a PSS, but are they? Are they any kind of universals. When it comes to storytelling when you especially when you're speaking to global audiences, you're you're speaking in tongues. Maybe one day and you're speaking in Australia than United States. So wherever else are the things that we can all learn in terms of the art of storytelling? Scott Friedman Sure. The first of all, I mean, stories transcend, transcend cultures. So storytelling really is the best way to connect with your audience. So universal truths where they will understand what that truth is all over the world. And a big key is the ivers you ratio. So many times I when I, when I tell Well, when people tell stories, it's III, as opposed to your it's, it's you're involved in this story. Let's Let's, you know, through my story, you should be able to see your life. This story is not just about me, it's about you, who is a wonderful storyteller. He's got a great story to tell about, you know, how he's been through these two horrendous accidents and he starts his speech off by saying, Have you ever been in prison? This wheelchair used to be a prison to me. So he immediately, you know, talks about what your prison is what what holds you back. So from the very beginning of his story, you're relating to what it is for you that may that may be your pain in your life. And that's our goal as storytellers is, you know, how can I take you on a journey with me? So it's through my story, it's, it's our story, and we see your life in our story. James Taylor I guess that when you you hear those comments and move all your members, we've got great speakers and they say things like, I felt you were talking to me. I felt that was that was that was that was, you're talking in the making, as you said, you know, in the in that one he was talking about, you know, his his wheelchair and being confined to that and his prison, but we all have that in some way or the other. We have those kind of prisons, those mental boxes that we kind of put ourselves into Well I love that story because it's just it's that it's the universality of that as well and the idea you say stories they they transcend coaches because so often we get caught up in thinking about Oh, I know I do is especially as a as a relatively new speaker thinking all camps that I'm speaking to this audience in this place now there's maybe some cultural things any think about them and and stuff like that, where maybe I need to be just kind of pulling back to the, the humanity of things and the stories as well. Scott Friedman Exactly. One other tip that is very helpful. We play this game in our mastermind group called half the words. So you take your story, you would write it out, and then say, okay, that's nice. Now, tell the same story in half the words. So it really makes you take a look at your story and and find out what really is essential in that story to be effective. And if it doesn't help develop the the theme of the story If it's not a comedic aside, then chances are you're telling too much of the story. As speakers or even just lay storytellers, we tend to provide way too many details. And in storytelling, less is more, the payoff for the punch line or the moral of the story has to be bigger than the build up of the story. So try that. Try that with your own stories, half the words and see. So James Taylor I love that and it's it might sound quite a choose relation, but I think people like Tatum did the great jazz pianist. And whenever we played, he always you felt there was a there was a lot more going on than it actually was going on. He was implying things he was implied when it was time he was implying tempo. He was implying harmonics that you know that that weren't there. But what was actually really doing as you as the audience member, you are filling in the blanks. You do a lot that you do. The heavy lifting for him. So he allows it to be a little more sparse. I think that's great that so I've definitely the half half the words as well. You mentioned kind of earlier on about talking about the sense of, of your lifestyle, the lifestyle of a speaker, as well. And how can we think about that for in terms of how because there seems to be as I spoke to all these different speakers, there's so many avenues so many options for speakers today. Do you have any tips for people just to help them decide? I know we had Jean Atkins is talking about your choosing your lane, as we're just going to part a part of that. But do you have any tips about choosing helping someone figure out because they're gonna hear all these amazing stories and all these different ways that speakers have built their business, but how they can think about them for themselves to know which which options are going to be best for them? Scott Friedman I think it starts with we all have 365 days in a year. So it's how do you in a perfect world? What Would that 365 days? What would the makeup look like? How much training how much speaking How much do you want to be home? How much international travel Do you want to do? So that that's where it starts, you know, you big picture blank canvas. What does that look like? And then, you know, why not? I mean, the great thing about the speaking business today is, like you said, there's so many different models so many different ways to make money from blended learning to, to keynote speaking used to be keynote speaking was number one revenue source for professional speakers globally. Now it's closer to five or six on the list. So how do you want to live your life? I mean, you you see a high divorce rate in speakers. I've never been divorced. Guess you have to be married first. But um, but really that so it's defining your values. People say well, geez, how do you you know, why do you How did you get speaking in Southeast Asia. I made a decision. I I love Southeast Asia, I want to I want to do more in Southeast Asia than I wanted to serve in Southeast Asia. So I know that I'm going to be there 100 days a year, and I'm going to figure out what I need to do to spin 100 days a year between together we can change the world in my my speaking business. So then, then then I know that my strategy is going to be based on exactly where I want to be during the year, summertime in Colorado, where I am now it's beautiful out. I love Colorado in the summertime, I want to be here as much as possible in the summertime. So the 100 days a year I spent in Colorado, most of that time will be during the summer. So it's you know, it's I mean, it's nice to believe that we can have that but we as long as we start there, we may have to make a few sacrifices along the way. But I believe that knowing that and then getting strategic and partnering with other speakers and coming from that place of abundance James Taylor We know the affiliate market marketing strategies work today. You know, why not tap into the collaboration of our, of our good buddies colleagues and, and figure out a way to make our perfect world work? I guess that helped you kind of cut out some of the noise I mean is C's is a, there's always that danger, the bright shiny thing syndrome, something comes along, oh, we need webinars, I need to be there. But then you can kind of go back to that that vision those 365 days like, well, how does that fit? does that fit in terms of what what I'm looking to do? I know a big part of what you're about. Now, you can have built this this great kind of speaking career. But you're looking to go beyond that in terms of service in other ways as well. Once you know for many of our speakers here that they're at that point in their lives, they're built, they're busy, they're doing all speak good. They got the training, they've got their online course their products, but they feel there's something kind of lacking there. That feels It's just as for the SBI, instead of the wider and so this doesn't really relate to speaking, I guess is the broader point. And any tips because you've obviously been at that place of kind of wanting to then serve in a bigger way. Any advice would you be you would give to people that maybe that's where their their mindset currently is. Scott Friedman I think is we all at some point, hopefully want to move from success to significance. So for me, I, it's been wonderful because it's a way I figured out a way to involve my colleagues, my, my tribe, my my community speakers, with making a difference to him in a place that makes such a big difference to me, which is Southeast Asia. So, you know, I would say, Well, you know, what, really, we've all been touched in some way by different causes. So it's finding out what causes most important to you and then figuring out a way to give back to that area, and there's so many ways to go To creative around it, but I, I think first is, you know, figuring out what that cause is. And then being intentional about, you know, and maybe it you know, maybe you can, like we've started a speaker's bureau for together, we can change the world, good. We want to partner with speakers who also want to give back to the community. And we're just getting that up and running here been around about a year now. But so, you know, maybe you can figure out a way then to involve that giving back either to book sales or so you can tap into the market that also supports what you support. That way, it's a win win, not only do you get back, but you also develop a community or a tribe that that wants to get back along with you. James Taylor And it's been interesting, you know, for someone that's relatively new into the into the speaking business, it feel is a very, very strong sense. And obviously the National Speakers Association APS s and it's not all industries like that. But a very strong sense of people wanting to support each other in their growth. I felt like when I first met you in Singapore and I was obviously speaking over there, and I was sitting in that in that room after I'd given it and listening to it was kind of quiet it was talking and I was just kind of sitting back and I was just looking at I think there's not many industries of people at that level you know, that will be top of what they do that are so willing to share this is what's working this is what's not the here you here's a potential lead is a suggestion for you as well giving, giving honest and feedback in a in an appropriate way in a supportive way as well. Now you've been involved in all these different associations. Is it is it like this for all of them? Or is it just I was just lucky to like when I saw a in a PSS, that there was something really special happening now. Scott Friedman Well, I think it all starts with Cabot Robert, Kevin Roberts said you give away your trade secrets come from a place of abundance and what will happen As all professional speakers will get better, we will rise the tide of all boats, we will increase the size of the pie so that there will be more pie for everyone. And I think that that's We were founded on that principle. And so now what are their 14 associations within the global speakers Federation? I think they've all found that that works. And it all leaders through those 14 associations, whether it whether it be Steph dupa z in South Africa, or Lindsey atoms in Australia or Politico, plethora of folks in Singapore, I mean, we we've been taught Well, we know that that principle works. And that really is what makes the global speakers Federation. So abundantly successful, is that you know, it's it's a place that you can feel is home and you can get the learning and and learn about The business model that you want for your future James Taylor and it's interesting going speed is being at the Singapore one and just hearing and getting a sense of the different the different models that were at play in some of these in some of the territories in Asia and and what what maybe what would work particularly well in one place that would work for other if someone is thinking about entering it maybe they're speaking in their own home territory just now but they're looking to make that first move into into a new territory a new a new country, what advice would you give them in terms of making that kind of market entry there? Scott Friedman I think you need to make a commitment to the area you know, we bring a lot of folks over from around the world for the HR summit for instance in in Singapore and many things boy that you know, and it's you know, it's it's it's rich in in, in companies that could possibly hire you. But what I A lot of times are all here afterwards is Geez, that didn't really work out for me. It's because they haven't made a commitment to the area in the Middle East and in Asia, it's the relationship that really needs to be nurtured over time. So if I want to if I want to say that hey, Dubai and maybe Qatar and and Kuwait and Bahrain that, well, I want to make that my market, I need to commit to spending some time there. So I need to, I need to go on to LinkedIn and and look at the the areas that I speak in, for me would be hospitality and in healthcare, get my get an engagement somehow, and work for a hospital work for a hotel over there, and then just start making phone calls and try to build other business along with it. But I need to make a commitment to that area. And then I want to get involved in the local Association, the local Speakers Association there, because I want to know how the game is played. I want to make friends I want to give, help others become successful, share what I've learned, and then that law of reciprocity kick that into To play, but but I really think it does come down to a commitment and being willing to give before we James Taylor get. So you can always have, you kind of have a little bit of embedding, you have to do a bit of go just go there and embedded and just get a guess, feel of the flavor kind of doing your market intelligence and really kind of committing to that, that place. I suppose that that also because it also appears that there's so much opportunity out there in terms of countries and, and things that can also be quite useful in terms of restricting you know, you mentioned that that that phrase there half the words so like receiving quite half the world but you can you think about those those territories you think I'm going to how could I, you know, hospitality or health care? How can I really develop that particular territory a particular country over time because as you say, That's always been my experience in Japan. You know, it took me five years to get into business there. We were just kind of going back every time building and releasing Then once it started, actually it was a lot of lot of things, they just kind of kind of came after a while. So so that that sense of again, building into this territory, I'm interesting, maybe on the more prosaic side of things, but what is in your speaker bag what is in that bag that you you take with you You never leave home without is it's always got your things in it that you need for your speaking opportunities. What's in that speaker bag? Scott Friedman That speaker bag would include a good sense of humor number one sense of gratitude. Patience. That's I think that's probably the most important is, is I have a rule that if I'm not going to miss a speech, I don't allow myself to get worked up. Because it's a, you know, the travel the travel is probably the most difficult part of this job. But yet it's it's a, it's not that bad. It's compared to what we could be doing. It's still it's still pretty, you know, pretty darn appealing even that part of it. So Well, I start there. And let's see, what else do I bring along with me? You know, if I have a laptop and I can work from anywhere, I'm, I'm pretty much good to go, of course, then a remote as well that I'm familiar with it. travel with that. But sense of humor, that's got to be the James Taylor number one tool. I think I was I was talking to someone the other day. And he was he was quoting a client a fee for something and he said what the fee was and, and the client said, Wow, that that that's a really high fee. You know, it's a really high fee for you know, just being on that stage for the hour. And he said, Oh, no, no, I speak for free. I charged that to do all the traveling and Scott Friedman all the other stuff. All the hassle, hassle, James Taylor all the hassle vida, James Taylor what about any online resources or tools or mobile apps that you really enjoy using the font you find useful for yourself as a speaker, Scott Friedman flight tracker, so I usually they Seems to be more updated than the the sights of the airlines themselves, tells you what gate you're at and what plane you're going to be on that kind of thing. And then of course, United Airlines, I fly probably more than the other airlines. So I have their app and I'm trying to think of what other apps I travel apps would be the most useful. But those two would be very useful to me. James Taylor And what used to suggest just one book to everyone that you think they should check out you think would be really useful for them? It could be on speaking, they could also maybe be on the topics that you speak on what would that book be? Scott Friedman Because that's a loaded question I have to go with Happily Ever Laughter. I do engage audience, which is my book. James Taylor I should have I should have prefaced that by saying I can't be one of your books. Scott Friedman Actually. I also I think, Tom Morel and Debbie Allen wrote a great book called international speaking, which I think has some, some wonderful, wonderful tools and tips for this particular audience that we're appealing to here. That's it. James Taylor And a final question for you, Scott, let us imagine tomorrow morning, you woke up with it. I'm going to shoot this in Colorado, you wake up and you have all the tools of your trade, all the knowledge, the skills you've acquired, but you have to start from scratch. You know, no one, no one knows you. You have to stop the beginning. But you can choose how to start. What would you do? How would you restart? Scott Friedman Well, the Dale Carnegie said the difference between a good speaker and a great speaker is 1000 speeches. So the mistake people make in this business is they start worrying about marketing and all the different business models before they really good, good. So I would, I would say get good on the platform number one, and then build a tribe. You know, I started in a day before it really the internet. So, you know, I was a lot of different things to different audiences. But now because of the internet, it's important to be known for something. So I would build a definable, distinct online brand, and then I would market the heck out of it once and at the same point in most importantly first really is to get good is to continue to practice, hone the craft, you know, really look into the eyes of the audience, tape, every speech that you give So you make sure that you're, you're offering relevant value and continue to grow in the area of your expertise. James Taylor Well, Scott, it's been great speaking to you today. Thank you so much for coming on this and sharing your your knowledge and your wisdom as well. I've got so many notes here. I'm sure everyone else listening is gonna have all these notes of things that they can be doing next. I look forward to catching up with you soon. Maybe in Singapore, maybe something some stage somewhere in the world. But thank you so much for coming on today. Scott Friedman Fantastic. Thanks so much, James. Learn more of SpearkersU #speakersU #speakersLife

Maximizing Speaker Fee How To 10X Your Speaker Fee In 12 Months – with Sally Hogshead Want to know how to 10X your speaker fee in 12 months or less? In today's interview James Taylor talks with keynote speaker Sally Hogshead about The four types of speakers that get booked How to 10x your speaker fee in 12 months Ways to insanely overdeliver Resources: Sally's website: Sally Hogshead LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hogshead Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl053-how-to-10x…h-sally-hogshead/ James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey, there is James Taylor here business creativity keynote speaker and founder of international speakers summit. Today, I'm delighted to be joined by Sally hogshead. And she's talking to me about how to fascinate, persuade, and captivate. Enjoy the session. Hey there, it's James Taylor, and I'm delighted today to be joined by Sally Hogshead. Sally Hogshead is an internet keynote speaker two times New York Times bestselling author and member of the CPA speaker Hall of Fame, the speaking industry's highest award for professional excellence. She's the creator of the fascination advantage assessment the first communication assessment that measures your personal brand. Sally began her branding careers one of advertisings most highly awarded copywriters, and after researching 1 million participants, our algorithm can pinpoint your most valuable differentiating traits. Using his science based fascinated system, she teaches audiences how to instantly persuade and captivate. When you fascinate your listener, they're more likely to remember you respect you, admire you and take action. From the moment she steps on stage. Sally captivates her audience studies and stories outlines startling new perspectives on how our human brain are hardwired to be influenced. She reveals why we buy certain brands but not others. Why we follow specific types of leaders and even why we fall in love with certain people and it's my great pleasure. To welcome Sally today. So welcome, Sally. Sally Hogshead Thank you, James. I'm super excited to be able to be here with you. James Taylor And I'm sure of all the guests that we've got. Every time I tell people about like, I've got this different guests and say, Oh, you've got Sally. Awesome. I'm so excited. You go, Sally. So, so first of all, thanks so much for coming on. Sally Hogshead Thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm, you know, I'm super psyched because I love speaking so much, but I don't get to speak about speaking. So this is really fun for me. James Taylor So share with me, what's your focus just now what projects you currently focused on? Sally Hogshead Well, I measure this measure what makes somebody fascinating and one of the things I've learned in my research with a million people is people think they're less fascinating than the average person. In other words, people aren't confident in their own ability to fascinate. And I couldn't understand why. And finally, what we learned from our studies is people aren't confident in their message. They don't feel like they have something significant to add to the conversation. And so they imagine if you're a speaker on stage, If you're asking for people's attention, it's crucial that not only do you have a message, but that you're responsible for making sure that message is heard, remembered that it makes a difference that people aren't just inspired. But that people know how to take action differently that they can connect differently. But if we don't think that we're fascinating, our message will fail. And so right now I'm working on a new book named you are fascinating. And it is about being able to identify your most fascinating traits so that you can build your message around that and make a bigger difference. James Taylor I'm a huge fan of I got this one early on, well, before we ever met, how the world sees you, and I think this is like required reading of speakers. Because it feels like in a world where there's so many, so many speakers out there that event planners and organizers can choose from, is that differentiation piece, that's really really, what a lot of speakers struggle with your show. Sally Hogshead Yes, yeah, we can get into that today. I mean, that was a that was a big part of what I studied that I had to, I had to not just do it for my clients in the past when I worked in advertising. But then the sudden realization, oh, I need to contain myself. James Taylor I mentioned earlier you You came from the world of copywriting from advertising. And then you obviously move into speaking you're one of the most successful speakers I'm going to speak a Hall of Fame. But in those early years of you kind of moving into being a professional speaking and speaking, is your main thing. Who those early mentors and people that can have inspired you. Sally Hogshead There are a lot of people within NSA that that they didn't just inspire me, but I found that I it by watching them, I could see what a true professional speaker does. A lot of times people think if you know how to write in other words, if you know the language that you can then become an author. They also think if you know how to speak and you can command a crowd that you can then be a speaker, but being a speaker, and mastering the speaking business, the business end of it are completely different. And so I started by looking at great speakers like Michael Port Rene Brown, You know, a lot of the people that are actually going to be part of our summit. But then I took a step back and I started looking at business models to understand people behind the scenes, like people like Michael Hyatt, Marie Forleo. How do they build a tribe because being able to surround yourself with people who are passionately devoted to your message is a key part of being a speaker, because the message is more important than the delivery. James Taylor And with you so you can start you can start getting out in the road going speaking, but I don't know Well, no, well, but like all of us, we all start somewhere in those in those early days, you know, you were up quickly though, you started to kind of build over speaking but they got a point where you hit a little bit of a plateau. On the on the on the fee side, you were kind of getting near you out. You were getting the calls and everything but it was like weird, and now you're in the stratosphere as a speaker. So what happened around that time? Sally Hogshead It was it was actually a really difficult A difficult transition for me because I had come from advertising where I felt complete confidence. And I felt like it was I was very much in the flow of that side of my career. And when I wanted to transition into becoming a speaker, it was very easy to get from, from zero to thousands really easy, from 1000 to two or 3000 is pretty easy. But then all of a sudden, my speaking fee plateaued at around 4000, which is not nothing. But the problem is, if I'm going to be traveling and leaving town, I need to be able to make it worthwhile so that when I'm away from my kids, that I can still have a growing, thriving business. And so I took a step back and I started looking at the speaking industry about what drives the engine of how is one speakers decided over another. And I started looking at this as though I was looking through the lens of branding. And what I saw was the traditional criteria to have a speaker succeed. It goes through a laborious process that takes decades. For example, it's you, you master your speaking skill, the actual delivery of the speaking skill, and then you you contact with a beer. Rose, and then you write a book and you write another book and you read another book, and then you schmooze clients and you build your social media following and it's like, God, it was like that, you know that they're just there's got to be a better way. There's got to be a shortcut. And so I started looking, analyzing it. The the research behind why one speaker is chosen, and another one isn't one speaker can raise their feet and another one can't. And I found that every time you are being considered for a speech, you're essentially being considered with four other types of speakers. The first type of speaker is one who's a the Absolute Owner of a certain specialized niche of information like, you know, the the health care providers Association spokesperson. The second type is one who's just flat out more famous than you, the Malcom Gladwell or Seth Godin. The third type is cheaper than you so they're just gonna undercut you on price. And the fourth one is what I call the pet. The pet is the one that's like, oh, everybody loves Bob. We've had him every year for 10 years or my brother in law's getting into speaking Why don't we hire him? So I began to take a step back and say, Well, what do I have? That's, that's different than those and I realized there's a moment when somebody who's considering you for a speech very first sees your materials. If they've never heard of you, something's going to happen in their brain they're either going to say no or maybe no or maybe and I realized that all I had to do was stay in the maybe pile and not get thrown into the no pile. And so the first few moments that people look at this is so important that the police cars or James Taylor what's happening here is the the speaker police are coming to get you But yeah, you're telling me the secrets you sharing the secrets you that's why they come to get you. Sally Hogshead So I said to myself, what I'm going to do is make I'm going to present myself introduce myself to these these bureaus, these meeting planners, event planners, clients, in a way that they may not like my speech, they may not like my style, but they will not forget me. And so I put together a package in which I reached out to the hundred clients that I most wanted to work with. And I wrote I wrote them a letter They didn't talk about me at all. It said, Here's why I think you're fascinating. And for each one of those hundred clients, I went on look at their social media profile, look at their Facebook page, I researched them, I looked at articles they've written or been featured in. And I put together what my perception was of their personal brand. And then at the bottom, I simply said, if you'd like to talk more about your brand, and how it might be able to support you, in your work, give me a call. Well, long story short, within, within just a couple of weeks, I had basically filled up the next six months of my speaking and it was it was a huge transformational leap. It showed me, you don't need to just fascinate the decision maker. You need to understand how the decision making process goes through the system. And one thing I learned was the person who's going to be making the final approval, which speaker they use there but it's totally on the line. So they have to have something that allows them to validate their decision, especially if you're new or you're very expensive that they need to be To go to their board of directors or to their the meeting planner need to be able to go to their client, or the speaking agent needs to be able to go to the meeting planner and explain exactly why they chose you instead of somebody else. And so it's your job as a speaker, to give them everything they need to arm them with all the tools so they can do in advertising what's called selling up. Promise too often, we simply talk about ourselves and we don't necessarily arm the person with, with understanding the tangible, lasting benefits. A good keynote speaker can hold an audience's attention. A great keynote speaker can inspire and motivate them, maybe give them a few actionable takeaways. But it's really extraordinary keynote speaker can build a relationship not just between themselves and the audience, but between the audience members and the person who's paying for the speech. So if people are still talking about your keynote years later, and they use it, almost like as a, that that lightning bolt moment, when they like, Hey, remember when so taught us such and such. That's when you've really done your job because you've embedded yourself into the way that Think James Taylor a little bit. I mean, you're because you come from that, obviously understanding branding at a deep level. So I think I think about the great brands I think about, you know, the Volvo, for example owns the owner word they own involves because they Sally Hogshead say that let's say the word on the kind of three because I bet we both know what it is. Okay. James Taylor & Sally Hogshead 123 James Taylor & Sally Hogshead safety. Yes. James Taylor Safety. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And, you know, we think about something like BMW, and they own that kind of engineering and almost own, you know, their own feelings almost. You own fascinate that word. I'm sure that when people leave that conference hall, when they're having those discussions in the offices around you, you own that. So was that a very conscious decision? An early stage was to go find that that word that you wanted to own you wanted to put your stake in the ground said, This is me the only remember one other thing they know. That's the fascinating person. Sally Hogshead Yeah, yes, of course. I love that question. Originally, I had been studying branding and then I was studying Why we pay attention to certain people and not others? And then finally I saw in a medical journal I saw a passage that said the one of the oldest words in written language in ancient Latin is the word fastener a fastener a means to be which or hold captive. So your listener is powerless to resist. I thought man that that is cool to be which are held captive so your listeners powerless to resist and the more I began looking at it, I saw there was this open space, this this unclaimed territory conceptually not just as a word, but as a rich history in a science and a context that I could that I could dig very, very deeply into. And I think that's one of the things that's so important is a speaker, you have to be able to have a topic not not just like a word, but you have to be able to speak about something that if you took your name off the speaking description, that nobody else could put their name in there because if you're talking about say, time management or customer experience, you've got to be able to deliver something else. Otherwise, you're just a commodity. Otherwise, you'll never be able to become truly perceived as the expert, because somebody else can come in and just deliver your content and do it. To speak more specifically about that, I want to make sure that I cover one of the things that we're talking about which is having a word. BMW is one of the first clients I ever had, in advertising the ultimate driving machine. Later, I worked on the United States launch of Mini Cooper mini Coopers owned by BMW but it's not at all about ultimate driving machine. It's about participation and, and the experience in the same way as BMW Mini Cooper differentiated that's part of what my research showed me is how do you identify exactly how somebody differentiates themselves and that's where I created the fascination advantage, the that assessment that we were talking about, that measures how other people see you, and so that I can give you those words the words that define how you can Make sure that you're not a commodity you can rise above the competition. And we'll be talking about that later, right? James Taylor Absolutely, I'm going to be we have a very cool thing for everyone here as well, we're going to tell them about, I heard an interview with you recently, and so much of what you do and you talk about on stage, it looks extremely effortless, and you're kind of shine you're fascinating, you're staging here, but there's, there's a, there's a science as a background, this there's things going on there. And the and I remember hearing you talk about, you looked into you read very deep into the science of, you know, neuroscience and all kinds of different different areas of science. And one of the things you talked about was us as humans, I think we like only one 1% difference in terms of our DNA from from chimpanzees, and you know, other things. So it's like so when I come to think about differentiation, I've got like a 1% differentiator, and then we think about us as human beings and what attracts me to my wife, for example, she has a differentiation in that that that one person You know, can go and going down as well pray. So when you kind of did that, with Where did that kind of lead you in terms of the way that you can study that in the science. And then where did that take you in terms of the kind of information you can share with your audiences. Now, Sally Hogshead it's crucial for you, especially if you are an aspiring speaker, or a less established speaker, it's really important for you to be able to say something that nobody has ever said before, in a way in which nobody has ever said it. Every time you communicate, you're doing one of two things, you're either adding value, or you're taking up space. The problem is too often speakers speak to speak, all they're trying to do is book an engagement, they, they don't actually have a transformation they're trying to create for the audience. As a result, it's very hard for many speakers to raise their feet. And that's the problem that I was having. I was saying in 2010 when I could, I couldn't even I couldn't seem to break through that barrier. And I had that plateau and I was so frustrated and I was traveling all the time trying to make ends meet and support my family. What I saw was, I was trying to mimic other speakers. I was trying to outdo other speakers at what other speakers were doing. And I was trying to be like, you know, the the most authoritative or the most polished? Well, you know what, that's not me. I can't out Michael Port Michael Port. Right. And, and so I took a step back and I began to see that if I can identify in what way is not just me, but the experience that I'm delivering completely different. Not only does it make it more fun and energizing and confident creating to be on stage, but it helps with bookings tremendously, because remember, if you think about it, giving a speech is easy compared to getting the speech. If you have a message that matters, though, it's not just about speaking for the sake of speaking, if you if you can't get in front of the audiences, if you can't get in front of audiences that can take action and spread your message and become evangelists for what you have to say, then you've done a disservice If you have a message that matters, you almost have a duty to make sure that people are fascinated by that. And it's not just audience members, it's the decision maker before the process even begins. And so so that's why I spent so much time looking into this How is that decision made? One of the things that I saw, I couldn't even believe this. I looked at on speaking websites on bureau websites, you know, how do they have that drop down menu, you know, what I'm talking about where you pick the category leadership, entrepreneurial ism psychology, etc. And I started comparing those topics to the fee that the speaker charge and I I started looking at what is the relationship why it how much more can a social media person charge than a marketing person? I found with creativity and innovation, innovation speakers, on average charge $5,000 more than creativity speakers. And the reason is because innovation has a perceived outcome. Innovation is seen as a bet as an ROI person who's writing the check. Whereas we all know it creativity, innovation, they're like, you know, siblings. But creativity seems like a process that's an end in itself. So that's why it's so crucial for you to understand what does your end decision maker need? That's going to be the change. And that's why every time I do a free speech briefing call, first question I always ask is, what is the biggest problem that's going on in your company right now? In other words, what is stressing out your employees or what's causing conflict on the team? And the answers will be something along the lines of people are totally overwhelmed, or our prices are falling, or our competitor has come out with technology that's better than ours. Or we were not getting enough new leaves with the transition to millennials, etc. And once I have that piece of information, I can plug my topic into solving the need. So if the need is commoditization, well, then the solution is you have to be fascinating and differentiated. If the problem is that there's bad community Then I can structure my entire piece of content is just slightly shifting my topic to say, in order to have better communication, you have to understand the hidden patterns within the person sitting across the table so that you can create resonance. And that's that, it's things like that, that helps speakers get booked more quickly. So by the time the, my goal is that by the time they finished the briefing call that I have just delivered, I have just delivered the experience of what it's like for me to be on stage. In other words, what the experience that an audience has, when I'm on stage for a huge keynote. I want my client to have just had that on the call that aha epiphany. And one of the reasons that is so great having you on this summit, especially at the start of the summit, something I was very conscious I was doing all these interviews, speak with these great speakers is I was quite conscious that if you just kind of came into you know, just James Taylor not having a sense of who you are and knowing know, knowing thyself, right, it'd be really easy to get confused. Because, you know, Michael Port will give you an example of that. This is what I suggest here, someone else might give another to someone else might give another suggestion. And one of the great things about you and we have with a fascination advantage, and we'd like to kind of just talk about that. And how that works just now is it kind of goes back to that sense of like, what are your strengths? What is that thing that fascinates you? Yeah. And I think once people want speakers know, that piece is actually so much easier, then to the side, it's like knowing your customer avatar, once you know your customer avatar who your ideal customer, a lot of the noise just goes away, you could just focus well, would sue read that would know would Bob read that? If not, it's not looking to focus on Right, right. And to the fascination advantage, and we're gonna we're going to talk again, we'll have some links. We're gonna discuss that in a second as well. And how does how does it work? What's it all was all about? We talked about, you know, we're the precursor to coming to it, but But what is the fascination advantage? Sally Hogshead fascination is an intense focus. So remember a moment ago, we learned that the It's one of the most ancient words and written language from the last infest era to be which are hold captive. So your listener is powerless to resist. When you're speaking to an audience, when that audience is fascinated, their brain is just focused on you. They're not thinking about their iPhone and thinking about their next meeting. Sometimes, from a body language perspective, their job becomes slack. And they put their hands they unfold their hands and put them on the armrests because they're, they're completely in the zone with you. And it's during these times when your audience is fascinated. They're more likely to listen to you and remember you. But more importantly, you become embedded in their conversation the way that they think. So when you fascinate somebody, what our studies show is that you can charge far more for your prices, you can, they're more likely to refer you to respect you. Let me give you a quick example. I did a study in which I gave women two pairs of sunglasses that were exactly the same. On one pair, I put a Chanel logo and I said to people How much would you be willing to pay for these two pairs of sunglasses? They were willing to pay 400% more for the pair with the Chanel logo, even though they were exactly the same glasses exactly the same. So I thought to myself, well, what they're saying they're buying is a pair of sunglasses, but what they're really paying for it is the logo, the difference but the the value of branding is that if here's a commodity, but people are willing to pay this much, this right here is the value of that brand. And the same is true for speakers. There are two he could have two speakers who have the same quality network, the same type of content or the same level of experience or credentials. But if one speaker can brand themselves as being very clearly associated with it with certain certain traits, certain ways that they add value, and most importantly, certain ways that they differentiate themselves from the pack. Those speakers can rise far more quickly within within the world and the key here is not just being able to charge more money. mean, you know, that's nice, but that's not really the point. The key is that you can get in front of the audiences that you most want to speak to, so that your message can resonate. So there's this ripple effect, so that you speak to the people who are most likely to become your advocates. And those people will spread your message further. And if you believe that your message matters, then, like I said before, it's your responsibility to fascinate the audience so that you can get the best engagements that you want with for some for me, I want big, big audiences to thousand or more high level decision makers who can go back and change their culture based on what they learned with me. Other people have different types of audiences they want, but the, the more that you you're differentiated, you become irreplaceable. And that, imagine it like this. If, if, if somebody really wants the concept of, of how to be fascinating how to avoid commoditization, and overcome through differentiation, there aren't a lot of other speakers that you can just be plugged in there, whereas, if my topic was basic psychology or basic branding, well, you know, we've got 10 different speakers we can look at. And that that, that takes away your power as a speaker and as a business owner, James Taylor and how much you think your your successes because also due to the fact that you have created intellectual property that is really you know, it's very powerful that the the assessments very powerful. There's all the other things around that as well. But this is something you had to really work and put together that you own Sally Hogshead and invest in, invest dramatically, right, even during the period of time. When I wasn't, I wasn't, it wasn't like I was I it wasn't like I was being able to command a high fee in speaking. So therefore I did research it said I did the research first. One of the things that I learned is especially for women speakers, of the audience of the pool of authors, only 10% of business authors are women and Only 10% of those women business authors are speakers. So that's why it's so easy to see why it's very rare to see a woman keynote speaker during the opening session or the closing session and why it's so important for me to empower women speakers, one of the one of the one of the worst mistakes that women make is they brand themselves as a woman rather than brand themselves as a as the content. So what ends up happening is imagine we're looking at it on the axis. If you have high quality content, low quality content, highly entertaining, dry, dusty academic, most women, either they don't have great content, honestly, most speakers most because either they don't have great content or they don't have great delivery. But if you can live in the upper quadrant, we have great content, meaning you have proprietary research you have you have great concepts that nobody's ever heard before that people can actively implementing get excited about and you have great delivery, then it makes it the audiences fall in love. Because you're irreplaceable and meeting planners seek you out. James Taylor And when you mentioned those, those 100 organizers that you contacted with that, that I have, I love that. Here's why I think you're fascinating. You can go into them in that way. It's just like, no, like no one else does that. So I think it's absolutely amazing that you did. Sally Hogshead Can I give you an example? Yeah, I get what I when I get really excited, I like I love this conversation, because all this is happening in the back end in my business, but I never actually get to talk about it. Anybody could do this. If you if, you know, pick a topic, any topic What if you don't make it about you? What if you start applying it to the person that you're talking to if somebody studies finances, if you could say not like, Hey, I study finance, but instead of it could be hey, here's the three trends that are going on in your industry right now that you should know about maybe a handwritten letter and just have your phone number on there or your website. If you're in real estate, say hey, I sent a private investigator to stalk you. I'm kidding. If you could say in I noticed you lived in New York, here's three things that are happening in real estate right now in New York, that that that would be helpful for you. Because remember, every time you communicate, adding value taking up space, if you take up space in front of a meeting planners mind, they're just gonna ignore you the next time you try to reach out but if you add value, then they personally become invested in you being their chosen speaker. James Taylor And how did you kind of slice and dice when you when you have those hundred? And obviously, there's so many conferences, so many events happening? How did you target in on you mentioned, like the two those two sides 2000 plus type events, but where did you go for any particular industry or any particular niche or? Yeah, absolutely. What How did that work Sally Hogshead there? It's very important to think of your content to think who has the biggest problem you can possibly find for which your content will solve that problem. For me, people who are sitting in the audience if they don't think they have a problem with disruption, if they don't think they have a problem with competition and distraction and commoditization, I'm really not the right speaker for them. So there's certain industries like I've learned, for example, agriculture. When I speak to agriculture audiences, there isn't a sense, among the ones I've spoken with, where they have an urgency that, wow, my industry is totally getting disrupted, and I want change. And I personally have a vested interest in listening to what Sally saying, because my butt is on the line. On the other hand, salespeople, creative professionals, real estate agents that those people understand, man, the world is changing, and I've got about a year because the way what has served me up until now is not going to continue to serve me. So they're really hungry for the message and they value it and they take it very seriously because they, they want to go back and apply it immediately. So that's why organizations where I have the decision maker sitting in the room, they're very creative. They are they're not change adverse. They're brand safe. They, they don't just want to be entertained, they don't just want to inspiration, they actually want to think or do something differently when they walk out of the room. And then they want to go share it with their teams. That's my ideal client. James Taylor And was interesting as from my perspective, having just having you on as a guest. And so we're talking about you could go showing the back office stuff and, you know, opening the kimono and type of thing and the level of detail both you and your team have put into this event that we're doing together just now. has been, you know, it's been exemplary. Sally Hogshead Thank you. I try to say my team totally rock. Kate Beth, rich. Emily, everybody. Great. Can I show you a geek? James Taylor Yeah, give me a geek get off. Oh, Sally Hogshead when I okay. So I am not a detail oriented person. And so this is what Beth and Kate put together. For me. This is my AV kit. And when you open it, here's everything that I need. But the so I have three clicker. Everything is marked. With my name. And so one thing is when I show up to do a speech and the AV guys, like, you know, this is called wireless love, I can I just silently unroll, you know where it has my mints It has everything that I could possibly want. It allows me to come in with complete credibility immediately. And that allows me to be confident. Another thing that I do, it's like that hyper detail oriented thing that my that we have learned is really helpful is before the keynote. But before the keynote, I take a screen grab of my slides, I send that screengrab to myself. So that before I walk on stage and that like awkward moment where you're kind of pacing and keeping your energy contained, I can be looking over my slides visually. I think those a certain degree of micromanagement really helps be walking on stage and being completely confident in that moment. And I thank my team for helping Do that. But James Taylor as an event organizer, it just gives you so much confidence that that that happens Sally Hogshead in this Speaker James Taylor year a competent speaker employ you for you on the stage. And, and especially in that last week, before something happens, like the when everyone's going, Oh, is this gonna is going to work? Are they gonna turn off? They're gonna catch your flight, you know all these things. And I know that I'm sure that when you do your live events, your team, if anything like this event, and this is obviously an online event, but if it's anything like that, then it's just that that that attention to detail makes a huge, huge difference. Sally Hogshead I haven't my AV writer is a full page long, and it's not like I want green m&ms. It's just anything that could potentially be a problem. I'm just letting them know. When example is. When I if there's iMac, I let them know, say here's my clicker. I like to have my computer on the stage. And I say to the person who's doing the iMac, you know whether it's image magnification where it's a huge billboard size thing either behind you around the room, if I'm holding the clicker Show the slide, Don't show me show the slide on the screen. When I put the clicker down, show me. So it'll be like, I'm going to give you three points. 123 showing them on the slide. And then I put the clicker down, I say, now I'm going to tell you a story about those three points. And it's, it's thinking through all the things that are going to help the audience connect with you and make the meeting planner feel confident, that make all the difference in the world. James Taylor And for those people that are just coming into the world of of speaking, and I guess we kind of think about that, that being being a disadvantage because you have all these great speakers and they get the stages. But someone like myself has come in relatively recently in this kind of is of the of the scrappy, like, Okay, well, that's interesting how the wave has been done, but like, I'd like to change things a little bit. I like like rock things off and make some not necessarily go from the typical A to Zed. What tips would you give for those people that that maybe there's things that they can do that actually They're an advantage because they are just getting started. Sally Hogshead Yes. Listen, less experienced speakers or speaker speakers who see isn't as high as it could be. I'm speaking of details, I made a little made a little list. There's certain things that speakers can do that I did that, that I really recommend because it comes straight from the textbook of branding. First one is, find one way that you can insanely over deliver for the decision maker, something that you don't have to be great at every aspect of speaking but you do need to be extraordinary in one area of content and one area of service. And as an example, we give huge level of service to the event planner, sometimes we even send if we are if we are not booked, but the agent has inquired, sometimes we'll send a thank you gift or a note saying thank you for considering us. So what happens is we build a relationship. We for clients who booked me in Orlando in my hometown, we give them a MacBook Air. Because we want to be booked more in Orlando MacBook Airs are a great incentive. And, and over deliver in your in terms of your content find one way that you can just blow the face off every other speaker for me, that's proprietary research, measuring a million people and being able to serve that, that content to my clients. So when I do the speech on, I can show them all the analytics of their organization in their group. High, highly paid speakers also have certain disadvantages that are important. As soon as you hit about 10,000. and above. What I noticed is speakers, they're less likely to experiment because they feel like oh, I've I've got it handled. And so what they, they, they, they're kind of doing it from memorization. And the problem with that is then when somebody sees your keynote, they don't see how they could continue to bring you back. Because it's like they don't want to hear the same stories again. They get in, they're less willing to customize, being able to customize what the client is not reinvention of your material. But it's it's crucial that the person sitting in the audience feels as though although you're not an expert at their content, that you know their language and you're not calling them, like say with salespeople, they either have customers or clients, it's really important for you to know, does the audience refer to them as customers? Or do they refer to them as clients, or maybe even consumers? Because if you say clients and their customers, then you lose credibility. One thing that I do is I always go online before a speech, I look at their mission statement. And I look at the About Us page and I deconstruct the tonality. Are they using words like, we create an empowering workplace in which we want our employees to rise to the highest level? Or is it more like we've been we've, like, say an at&t or a GE, we figured it out 100 years ago that excellence is the most important thing. Well, that they're going to interact differently in in the audience in the keynote situation then the empowered Wellspring on James Taylor And so you as you're kind of researching them, I'm guessing because you you know, so much with it, you know that you've done a million of these assessments. So that was great data brings great power. And I am wondering if could that Oh, would you be able to use that information? If you under if you know, like that event conference organized, you've done something in the past and that you kind of have you had the DNA, you have that code of Oh, almost at that person? would you use that and you definitely have the code for an organization in terms of Yes, there's more than this type of archetypal, this type of archetype. Sally Hogshead Yes, when when I speak to a specific industry, like let's say it's multi level marketing or insurance. We compare that group to our average population of of people that we've measured within that same industry, so I can I can say to a group, okay, the average within the insurance industry, according to our research is a pie chart or a graph that looks like this. You New York life look like this. And then that's really meaningful data because it's already telling them how their organization can differentiate themselves. Doing data like that, though doing, doing some kind of like heavy number crunching requires an algorithm a team, huge investment. But he doesn't have to take that it you can also get that information through briefing calls, online research, interviews, and knowledge. Not only is knowledge power, but knowledge is the ability to differentiate yourself by bringing something new to the conversation. And within the fascination advantage. You have these 49 different archetypes that you taught, you kind of cover James Taylor and I'm wondering when you go like, for example, the National Speakers Association, is there one type of archetype, that archetype that really dominates overall, but also is One, you're you're in that elite group of speaker Hall of Fame inductees. And I don't know how many, you know, Speaker Hall of Fame that still are just now out speaking by some very small number is to those people have a different archetype from from the the, the general generality of National Speakers Association members? Sally Hogshead I love that question. And just so people understand what I'm talking about, here's the book that we just looked at. And then this is what this is the matrix. So when, when people take the fascination advantage assessment, we what we're measuring are, what we're measuring is how other people perceive them. In other words, if you're a speaker, how does your audience perceive you? It's not like disc or Myers Briggs or Colby, which is how do you see the world based on psychology? This is turning it around based on branding. And when we go in and we measure groups like National Speakers organization, MCI, even speaking bureaus, what we find is they tend to score very high On the power advantage, which is about confidence and focus and goal orientation, they tend to score very high on prestige, which is excellence and improving results. They tend to score very low on alert, which is detail orientation, and they tend to score very low on Mystique. Mystique is standing back listening, thinking before speaking, asking questions rather than talking. Now there's nothing wrong with that every industry from people in technology score 30% higher than the average population and Mystique, whereas speakers we haven't measured, we haven't measured the percentages, they score way lower. And so what that means is, if you when you take the fascination advantage, if you score the same way, you're going to have to work harder to differentiate yourself. You don't want to model yourself after top speakers. You want to be identify how you're most likely to add value. You don't have to change who you are. You have to become more of who you are, and then do it on purpose. James Taylor But I'm also guessing that in those industries where maybe that's the power prestige isn't that high you will stand out in terms of going it let's say if you're targeting an industry that you want to go and speak out specifically and I'm so I'm trying to think of what the opposite of this would be detail accountancy conferences, I'm just bragging right there the thing. So, you would if you can have your strength that you have them build upon your strength, but also be understand understanding very well, that the needs the demands of that audience and what their 2am right problems all, then you can stand out, maybe more so than other speakers they might have. Yes, Sally Hogshead your goal is not to mirror your audience because first of all, that's going to be inauthentic. You're not going to feel confident you're going to be trying to you're not going to be able to come out and, and and communicate your message in the most authentic way. But it is so I'll give you an example. I speak to a lot of Financial Services groups who tend to not be the whoo lose, you know. And so at first I would, I would kind of dumb myself down, water myself down, it would be inhibited. And I would try to do it the right way. And then what I realized was, I'm not having fun, they're not getting the message. And so I score on the fascination advantage, I score very high on passion, very high on innovation. So before I go on stage, I need to say to myself, right now, I may feel less confident that I'm going to be able to bond with this audience over the course of the next 60 minutes. But it is my responsibility to make sure that I do not dumb down my passion and my innovation. So that means I'm going to come out I'm going to engage quickly. I have big body language, I love to be able to tell them stories that make them feel emotionally engaged with the content so that then when I give them data and research, they feel like there's an emotional context for it. I'm not just throwing up slides, and to be able to be creative. You know, I like to push it a little bit. I love to go into the audience and and talk to people about their result of the fascination advantage, which is a, that's a competitive advantage of mine ad libbing is actually easier for me than going off script. Whereas for a lot of people that's not the case if there's something that that you as a speaker if there's some area of speaking that you know that you can excel in that becomes almost like your secret weapon then by all means, put that in the speech give yourself license to totally break the mold of what a speaker traditionally does. James Taylor Yeah, my background being originally a jazz musician, the the improvisation thing is kind of hardwired hardwired in dance, I'm struggling to do the exactly the same speech every single time. So let's start to kind of finish up here I want to come because we're gonna have we're gonna have a link here just under this video where people can click on that and get good you know, go through that assessment and find out what their own archetype is before any other kind of parting words of wisdom for for speakers, anything they should be thinking of, to really you know, maybe that the speaking already and you're doing that the one k two k three k in that level. But they know that there's so much more this possible for them any advice there, Sally Hogshead I'll just give a give a couple of quick things. When when you have a conference call with a client, find their picture, learn as much as you can about them so that you immediately come to the call with a sense of connection. In the same way that it's hard to give a speech if you can't see the audience's faces. neurologically, when you look at another human face, you feel more connected to them that the next thing is make sure that you micromanage every detail before the speech that is most important to you. So for me, for example, it's really important that I don't have to make decisions within 24 hours of giving a major keynote, so my whole team knows decisions create Stress, Stress creates uncertainty. I don't want any uncertainty coming anywhere near me when I'm getting ready for a major presentation. So we just block off time to make all those decisions in advance. And then finally, you need to find the aspect of your content that makes You passionately care. The world isn't changed by people who sort of cares, or speakers who sort of care or clients who sort of care. So it's your job to make the audience passionately care no matter what your topic is, even if your your topic may seem dry and dusty, but not only should your delivery emphasize how crucial your topic is, but to also make them feel the urgency of applying it, and the epiphany of what it's like when they understand it. James Taylor I yeah, I mean, we're in that space now, aren't we, where the medium the middle just doesn't read. It just doesn't resonate. You have to be Sally Hogshead frankly, nothing below the top 5% resonates you know, it's like it's it becomes spam. And as a speaker, you don't want to be human spam. James Taylor But what I love about what you do is it's not about it's not about being inauthentic or being something else. It's just like, like supercharging what you already are, and just you know, getting the best of what you already own. So Sally Hogshead being more of who you are There's something really liberating about James Taylor that. Absolutely, absolutely. So let's, let's finish up here. And you showed us your lovely speaker bag, which is absolutely is a work of art. So congratulations. You're Sally Hogshead directed to Kate and Beth and Stephanie who puts it together every time we go out the door, we actually have two of them so that if I missing something, we just trade out to the other speaker. But James Taylor is there anything of a particular note in there that you absolutely really couldn't do without Sally Hogshead I travel with backups for me if I have any increment of stress, and if there's anything that throws me off kilter, in the moments while I'm doing the AV check it, it's like it infects my confidence. And if I don't feel confident, my keynote isn't going to be as good because I'm going to be mentally trying to think through the concepts of you know, kind of trying to say the right thing, kind of like I am right now, instead of it just flowing because I'm in the zone. So I always travel wearing the exact same type of uniform so there's no ambiguity I travel with three different outfits. So that if Whether changes or if the level of, of dressing this changes, I carry three of everything, VGA, HDMI, Thunderbolt, three clickers. After the speech, I always talk to the AV guys, I usually bring the AV guys a gift, like donuts in the morning. And then I give them a thumb drive. And I say, Can I download my presentation right now, because it's always really hard to get it afterwards. In our contract, it says that the client has to send it to us, I think it's within like 30 days. But it's really hard. You don't want after the after the event, you don't want to be going back to the client, like, Hey, remember me? Because then that becomes, you don't wanna leave that taste in their mouth. You want to keep the happy bubble. So manage all of those details in advance so that you can be in their happy bubble and you keep your client happy. James Taylor I think at that point, you mentioned the start there, where you're talking about having reducing decisions to so on that went on game day. You have that Sally Hogshead reduced decision. James Taylor Yeah, I met I had a good opportunity. Meet your When the former President Barack Obama there, I asked him a question about speaking. And then and then I know that he does exactly the same thing. He was the same suit. Every board has the same breakfast every single morning. He said, I've got enough decisions to make in my day, right? Yeah, I'd most Sally Hogshead I don't know if it's an urban myth, but I've heard that athletes like Tiger Woods will replicate their living room no matter where they travel. And so I think, you know, obviously, that's, that's a bit much but stress reduction is as important as confidence maximization James Taylor another any online resources or tools or apps you find particularly useful for yourself as a speaker. Sally Hogshead Well, I'm building a new version of SallyHogshead.com right now and I love being able to look at websites that are not speaking websites. I like looking at branding agencies, photographers, even New York Magazine, things that things that kind of break that mold. You don't want to look and sound and smell like a speaker. You want to look like a thought leader or somebody with a with a very clearly differentiated brand throughout your entire experience. So in going online I try to match in what way does that online brand match the experience of the product or service itself so that I can learn and apply that James Taylor and I think people that you mentioned the start like Marie Forleo that was poor guy, Paul Jarvis, who's a web designer, yours does Chris Carr as well. is great because it looks like no other website for other kind of people in that space. But it matches so perfectly with her audience in terms of the quality the style is you know, this is kind of cosmopolitan, you know, as a website so as I actually get I'm, you're singing to the choir on that one. What about if you to recommend just one book and it can't be your own book as amazing as amazing as this book is? If you recommend just one book about it could be about speaking it could be about branding or something you you think would be very useful for the all the speakers out there to be reading Sally Hogshead National Speakers Association has a line of books I think it's um get the I think the one that I like best is get paid to speak really great thought provoking articles on on launching a speaking career. Non speaking books I love Made to Stick In fact I love anything by Chip and Dan Heath because it's all about how do you take concepts and make them make them sticky make them meaningful, but term coined by Malcolm Gladwell, but using that in terms of not just your your content during the speech, but the marketing ahead of the speech, James Taylor and final question for you, and then we're going to just have that link here for everyone so they can get go through that assessment, find out their their archetype find out what makes them fascinating to others. Let's imagine tomorrow morning, you woke up and you have to restart. You have to start again. You have all the skills, all the tools of your trade, all the knowledge you have acquired over the years, but no one knows who Sally Hogshead is. You don't know one you have to restart. What would you do? How would you restart? I would Sally Hogshead pick one way when one form of media, one message, one key benefit that I deliver that is that is extremely valuable to the person to whom I'm trying to reach. And then I would be extraordinary in that way. Look, clients don't hire you because you're balanced, they hire you because you're extraordinary. You don't have to be perfect. You're not perfect, you'll never be perfect, but you do have to be perfectly excellent in one particular way. So you don't need to be associated with everything, you know, the smartest, the, the the cheapest, you know, you don't you don't want to be associated with a bunch of things. You want to be associated with specific traits. Because if clients can't remember you, they can't refer you. They have to be able to describe you so that people can talk about they can they can explain why other people should hire you. Can I give you an example? Yes, James Taylor absolutely. Okay. Sally Hogshead This is an example of one I speak this is what my business card looks like. And you can see what Yeah, there you go. So you can see at the top it says, How do you fascinate? And then we have the seven different ways that people fascinate. So when I go to a speech, and I meet somebody, I say after I after speaking with them, I'm not talking about me, I'm talking about them. So I'll say, Oh, I think you I think you think creatively. There, I think you think creatively. And I think you connect, I think you connect with emotion. So when I give this to them, sorry, I'm, our webcam is like backwards. So I think you think creatively, and connect with emotion. And then I peel it off, and I give it to them. Then they have this amazing souvenir of the speech, but then they want to go and be like, wow, here are the two ways that I can differentiate myself. Well, on the back, it's my business card. So then it tells them how to how to be able to get it to be able to get in touch with me. So by giving them something that they don't want to shove in their pocket, or worse shove in the trash. My business card doesn't get caught up and all of those like so networking business cards, I think it's really great to be able to give your audience something something of value that is so intrinsically branded with with you and who you are in your message that they never want to get rid of it in fact they want to put it on their desk and display it because that's the best talk value there is James Taylor absolutely today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers. And if you're serious about your speaking career, then you can join us because you membership program. Our speakers, you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training, content, and access to a global community. They help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more. #speakersU #speakersLife

Speaker Bureau Ready Ever wanted to know how to become speaker bureau ready? In today's episode of The Speakers Life, James Taylor interviews Josh Linkner about: Being An Innovation Keynote Speaker Becoming Speaker Bureau Ready The eight attributes of top speakers Reinventing your speaking career Josh Linkner has been the founder and CEO of five tech companies, which sold for a combined value of over $200 million. He is the author of four books including the New York Times Bestsellers, Disciplined Dreaming and The Road to Reinvention, as well as his latest book, Hacking Innovation. He has invested in and/or mentored over 100 startups, and is the Founding Partner of Detroit Venture Partners. Today, Josh serves as Chairman and co-founder of The Institute for Applied Creativity. He has twice been named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and is a President Barack Obama Champion of Change award recipient. He is a regular columnist for Forbes, The Detroit Free Press, and Inc. Magazine. Josh is also a passionate Detroiter, the father of four, and is a professional-level jazz guitarist. Resources: Josh's website https://joshlinkner.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshlinkner/ Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl052-how-to-bec…ith-josh-linkner/ James Taylor Hi is James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right. 150 of the world's top speakers are sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to international speakers summit.com but not before you listen to today's episode. Hey, there is James Taylor, your keynote speaker on creativity and artificial intelligence and your host for international speakers summit. Today I speak with Josh Linkner, and we talk about building a successful speaking business and the art of reinvention. Enjoy this session. Hey, there is James Taylor and I'm delighted today to be joined by Josh Lincoln. keynote speaker Josh Linkner has been the founder and CEO of five tech companies, which sold for combined value of over $200 million. He is the author of four books including the New York Times bestsellers, disciplined dreaming and the road to reinvention as well as his latest book hacking innovation. He has invested in and or mentored over 100 startups and as a founding partner of Detroit Venture Partners today, Josh serves as chairman and co founder of the Institute of Applied creativity. He has twice been named the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year and as and as a President Barack Obama Champion of Change award recipient, a regular columnist for Forbes, the Detroit Free Press and ink magazine. Josh is also a passionate Detroit, the father of four and a pro level guitarist as we're going to find out. So given it's been gives me great pleasure today to welcome Josh onto the summit. So welcome, Josh. Josh Linkner Thank you so much. Great to be here and contribute James Taylor So share with everyone what's going on in your world just now. Josh Linkner Well, it's it's wonderful. It's it's an amazing gift to be able to share ideas with people all over the world. Last year, I did 163 pages. No, it's so it's been, it's been quite the ride. And to be able to get make a difference. I mean, obviously that meeting cool people is great that the performing arts element is great learning about companies is great. But the real juice to me anyway is being able to get those nodes six months later of someone saying this changed our company or changed our lives. And that is a deeply rewarding thing and a gift that we're able to share. James Taylor So you have this really fascinating background from entrepreneurship and business VC investing jazz guitar. happen, where did the the speaking part of you that we know know your view today about the keynote speaker, when did that begin? And as you were kind of getting into into the world of speaking, who are your mentors and people that can be to you under their wing or help guide you in those early days? Josh Linkner Yeah, so I know my background is I'm an entrepreneur. So I've started building sold five companies, I launched a venture capital fund, but I loved always getting the chance to share ideas. And I would speak often as the CEO of my company, and I felt like I was in the zone and people would often give me compliments, like, Hey, you were better than the keynote speaker. But I realized that I was an amateur to be clear. So I knew I had to go at least from a bad amateur from a good amateur to a bad professional does that I work with one of the folks you interviewed actually for Dr. Nick organ, who is an incredible mentor and trainer, he helped me develop my speaking style and helped me bring my voice out and work on the technical aspects. And I kind of learned the ropes from him. And and from there, we really spent the next decade or so studying the craft and studying the business of speaking. And so I got really deep and analytical on how decisions are made. And how does one speaker get hired for, compared to a different one and, and how, why is one cause 50 grand and others 10 grand. And so today, it's really in a very good read. We're getting about five to 15 inbound inquiries a day. And again, as I mentioned, I had the chance to deliver 163 engagements last year. James Taylor So as you as you were kind of going on building your your speaking career. One of the interesting things you did is you took that entrepreneurial mindset that innovators mindset and applied it to the world of speaking. So I'm wondering, initially from as an outsider, although you were speaking as part You're, you know, the the VC world and entrepreneur world, as you were kind of coming into speaking kind of full time, what were the things that you noticed that that you wanted to apply your innovation brain to you went like, why does this need to be this way? Why? Why is this? Like, what were some of the things that can niggled you about the industry you maybe wants to change? Josh Linkner Well, really so many things. And I, we could spend hours talking about this. I'm so passionate about it. But one thing is that if you're going to be a professional, like a high level, let's say a professional sports athlete, you'd have to train and sacrifice and really work on your craft, or a Broadway actor or a software engineer. But I feel that unfortunately, in speaking the bars a bit too low, I mean, sort of anyone who says, Oh, I gave a toast to my aunt's wedding, I'm sure I could be a speaker, you know, and, and I it bothers me that people don't take the craft as seriously as they ought to studying not only the delivery of a story and in the mechanics of speaking, but also really running it like a real business. In our case, from the business standpoint, I took the same rigor that we had as I build a 500 person software company. and applied it to speaking. And so we look very carefully, like how do buyers interact with speakers? How does what does the bureau channel and how does that all work? And, and what are the attributes under which a decision is made. And so we took this very sort of scientific approach to it. And it took me a while. I mean, it took several years to really figure it out. But now that we did, it's, it's been it's been magical. So I think what I would say to someone who's in the ramp up process, number one, treat it seriously, you know, treat it like a real profession. And I know it sounds kind of goofy to say that but a lot of people don't they just say I can mail it in and they have junky slides, and they have pixely headshots and, you know, but but if you were a Broadway performer, would you would meticulously work on every aspect of your craft and the business, you should do the same as a speaker. The other thing though, I would say is that from a business standpoint, one thing that I learned is that if we're really looking at this business business of speaking, you're not really in the business of giving speeches. You're in the business of selling speeches. And that was kind of like this mind blowing thing that hit me a few years back So if that's really the business that you're in, it shifts, I mean, you have to be great on stage to be clear, again, caring for the craft, but most people don't put as much thought and energy into the meeting before the meeting. In other words, not the audience in front of you from stage, but the eight person committee meeting that's going to decide which speaker they select. And when you shift your perspective like that the part of your job, if not the part of your job, is selling speeches that just giving speeches, I really allows you to go deep and understand the parameters which will fuel your your your business forward. James Taylor So that I'm just thinking now I was using the chatting with Eric Reese, find that they can lean startup methodology. So he talks a lot about minimum viable product and iterating. You know, failing, failing fast, all those kind of things that we hear now as part of the startup world. Do you apply some of those same things? What was like the what was the minimum viable product version of you because we see you today now, hundred and 63 speeches like and you're traveling all around the world. What was movers the the beta version of you like the 1.0 version of you, and and what what were some of the key learnings at that stage? Josh Linkner Well, one thing is I think you're I, by the way, you know, I've studied the Lean Startup methodology since it came out, but they I agree with you. I mean, I think you got to get out there as a speaker, and you got to get out there and, and and when I look back at video, two years ago, let alone 10 years ago, it's painful to watch because, like anything, you get better and you develop your skills and all but I think so much of it is getting out there. There's a saying that the more you speak, the more you speak. In other words, if you're out there in front of hundreds of thousands of people and planting seeds, sometimes those seeds will take a little while to sprout. But you're sort of to a degree marketing yourself over the years. I think you just there's there's something that just comes from experience. You can't it's like you can't learn guitar and I know your dad's a basic jazz guitarist that I just adored. And I play music but you can't learn a guitar by reading a book about guitar at some point you got to pick the thing up and actually you know, get some blisters. And same is the same is true with speaking of The only caveat that I would say is that when you look at the bureau Channel, the bureau channel is so critically important if you want to speak at high volume and high fees. If your goal is to speak for, you know, five grand, you're in there at the local community center, perhaps this doesn't apply as much. But if you want to achieve, you know, 2530 $50,000 speeches, a huge chunk of that that business is is overseen by the speaker bureau world. And in that case, my only comment is that you only have the chance to make a first impression once. And so if you go out too early to, you know, some of the largest bureaus in the world it with it with not the greatest video or your marketing materials aren't so polished, I think you could actually do yourself some harm. So Well, I think it's important to do the minimum viable, viable product as you get out there and practice your craft, I would be thoughtful about your approach to engaging with your channel partners, just because if they see something that's not up to stuff, they may quickly dismiss it and maybe even harder for you to get back in for a second one. James Taylor So what stage Do you need to be using as a speaker in both your craft and also in the business in terms of the level of gigs that you're doing every year that can affect level to really make it make sense for you then to start having conversations with viewers. Josh Linkner I wouldn't I would? Well, I'm going to dissect that a little bit. I think that first of all, you need to be what I would call bureau ready. And to be bureau ready, there are a handful of things that really are important. Like you have to have a good video, you know, ideally great video, but at least a good video that is professionally shot. It can't be on someone's iPhone, like it's got to be, you know, high quality, high quality professional headshots again, can be taken from an iPhone to be taken seriously, a really thoughtful, well developed site that looks like it's professionally built, not just slapped together. There's gotta you gotta have a great bio and speaking competence, and hopefully a couple references and a few other things. So I wouldn't say Don't even think about going to a bureau unless you at least have that kind of locked out. also thinking about what your lane is, and we talked about this often in the industry, and I speak on innovation. I the way I've raised hundreds of millions of dollars of venture capital, so I could probably speak on finance also, but I dumped in other words, so many smart people want to speak they say I could talk on customer service and leadership and And this and that in the other. I think as a speaker one, one suggestion is take the one thing that you're going to share, be the expert in one thing and go really deep, go go go mile deep and an inch wide instead of the opposite. Anyway, once you have all that, I think it would be what I would call bureau ready, but doesn't mean that all bureaus are the same. So when I think about the bureau world, I kind of stratified stratified into into three categories, call them a BNC. And by the way, doesn't mean better the center quality judgment, it's more of a size and scope judging. So there are some smaller bureaus call them a sea level Bureau. Again, not it's not a quality judgment at all wonderful, talented people. But those people may be more open to working with a new speaker and giving someone a chance. Then you have the next level of speaker bureaus that sort of middle tier and and that small tier might be a one or 2% shop and middle tier might be five or six agents. Again, I would start with the lower one, get some gigs get get some experience before you go to the middle tier at that point. Now they're gonna say, well, who have you worked with and you can reference some other girl work you've kind of sharpen your craft a bit but but then only after you've done that for a little while as well before before you then go to the a level group and the a level group of the names that we know Washington speaker's bureau at premier speakers and Kepler and speak Inc and big speak and leading authorities but the problem go in there too fast as if you call it bleeding authorities and say hey, I'm a brand new speaker I I've done you know, two speeches, none of them paid, but I really want to get into this industry. You could be a wonderful amazing person I don't mean to be disparaging at all, but they're, they're not kind of geared up for that they're geared up to working with somebody who already has momentum, it's harder for them to take you from a dead stop that perhaps some of those smaller bureaus So that would be my recommendation number one, get your ready. Number two sequentially go against the market started with the smaller ones and working your way up to the most prestigious ones. James Taylor Now when it when I think about you, I think I think of like the innovation guy that is kind of going to Brock and we we can send extense we we people got confused like creativity and innovation and this difference is reversed Going on this this interview, but I can think of like you really have that you've chosen that lane around innovation. That's that's kind of way where you are. But I wonder then when you mean even innovation is a big area, it's a big. So I wonder when as you started to build your business, your speaker business, I'm thinking now something like Tesla, for example, where we think of them their electric car companies when we're thinking about them, but they went into like the high end sports, electric car first and then they gradually built out and like trucks and all kinds of things. What was the first market the do you identify yourself as a speaker to kind of put that flag in the ground? And then how did you gradually build that out and maybe move into other verticals? Or the countries? Where did you where'd you go from there? Josh Linkner Yeah. So I don't know that I did it smart way, by the way, but what I did is I just sort of went out there and said, I have this message about innovation that I could share with any size company in any industry. And I don't know that I'd recommend that if I were to do it again. I like what you're just saying there with Tesla, where you take a smaller focus and get good at it. So maybe, for example, I could have been the innovation guy, I'm sticking this on healthcare. And so you start in one industry about innovation or maybe you're you know, innovation for for, for hyper growth companies that are mid sized companies trying to become bigger. So I think you're actually better off honing your skills in a smaller aperture and then expanding over time, it's a tricky thing picking your lane because you don't want to pick a lane that is so narrow that no one wants to hire you. So if you like for example, if I said I'm a speaker, only for left handed guitarist that happened to live in Detroit that have been venture capitalists and, and also I have four kids like that would be a market of one which speak. On the other hand, if I take a topic, so broad, like customer service, it's very hard to compete in such a broad industry. So my suggestion would be pick a broad macro topic, so that you there's enough work for you, but then inside that macro topic to begin anyway, narrow your focus and then as you get momentum, you can expand your focus outward inside that same category. Great. James Taylor That makes a lot of sense because it is then as it is then you it's more like a sequencing question. You're asking yourself you think I want to speak in this industry Listen, but then it's thinking about which is the first then how are you going to grow from there so so I understand that. So that's, that's a really great way of thinking about that. Because picking your lane can sometimes feel it can be a little bit constricting at first and it doesn't quite fit. Sometimes it feels like I guess a good phrase. But then the same time it just it doesn't quite cover all the bases. What other lessons that did you take from your your real deep understanding of innovation that you then applied into the mode of speaking? Josh Linkner Well, one thing that we did was pretty fun, is that I don't know if you ever played video games or not. I'm not a huge gamer, myself. But inside a video game, if you're a player in a video game, imagine there are some attributes that allow you to perform better. So in other words, attribute might be strength, or speed or agility. And based on your score in those attributes that determines how well you play the video game. So we started this About Wait, is there a way that we could have said the same approach for a speaker? In other words, are there actual attributes that determine whether a speaker is going to get hired over speaker B, or speaker is going to get more fee than speaker B. And so we did a ton of research on again, this is that sort of innovation lens you're asking about. And I talked to speakers and bureaus and everybody and actually narrowed the field down to eight. There's eight core attributes that determine one success as a speaker. And if you work on those eight, that it actually gives you a lot of focus. And you know what, Georgia, so I'm actually going to just pull this up what we're talking about it as the folks listening actually may want to check it out. Let me see if I can grab this one. Sorry about that. I wasn't prepared to grab it. I could find it real quick. There we go. So here's my I'm gonna hold it up to the screen. I know if you can see it or not, but I'll explain it. So this is my speaker card, and I did this with actual scores for myself. So you can see there's eight attributes, and this is my overall score. I'll just go through them real quick. If anyone's curious. One of them is fame. So I could be a terrible speaker. But if I was on Shark Tank, I might get hired versus someone who's a great speaker who nobody knows. So famous one attribute and how well known are you? your speaking skills? Obviously sounds kind of obvious but but not always the case, you know how, you know, a strong Are you from from the craft, that third one is message. So if you have a message that is very generic and not unique and not compelling, versus someone who's really got a twist and an interesting perspective on things, and that's what its credibility. So if I speak about startups, I have the credibility because I've spent 28 years as a startup CEO and I raised hundreds of millions of dollars and created almost 10,000 high tech jobs. And someone just said, Hey, dude, I want to speak about startups, they would lack that credibility. So credibility is a factor. That's what real quickly is visual flair. And this doesn't only apply to your slides it applies to everything that an audience consumes even a meeting planner consumes. So that is your, your, you know, what you're wearing on stage and how do you use visuals and audio and how do you engage with the audience? So what's the visual representation when speaking the that's when entertainment value. So if I have great content, but I'm boring as watching toast, again, that's a problem. And audiences at planners that I want that intersection they want high impact, but they also wanted entertainment. So are you using humor? are you engaging? Is it a? Is it a fun lean forward presentation? Or does it feel like a boring college lecture? The next one is impact. And by impact I mean, not only do people have a feel good moment, but do you leave something that lasts that it doors for the months and years to come? Are you really changing the audience? Are you transforming the people that hear your message from from one state to another, and then finally, marketing Polish if you came to my website and I had pixelated photos, and it was all sloppy typos and it was it looked like a template of design, you know, that would give you one message of my brand. On the other hand, if you came and it was beautifully crafted and it would look like a piece of art that would give you a totally different message. So again, we've added these eight attributes aggressively with speakers, bureaus, etc. And for emerging speakers listening today. Those are eight attributes, the more you can work Are those even if you raise your score one point in any of those, it will drive the two things that matter most to us from a from the business of speaking fee and volume. James Taylor And then on that that's the seventh one, the impact. I'm wondering how do you go in terms of measuring that impact? Because we think of, you know, in another company, the thinking about ROI of innovation projects that say, you can track that and you're looking to see what that how that reflects the bottom line, it comes like 3am have a certain percentage, they want to ensure that a percentage of their revenue every year of profit is coming from products, which hadn't been invented so many years ago. How did you do that? When it comes to working with clients? How are you to track the impact that your speech has had on that client? Josh Linkner Sometimes? Yes, and sometimes No. So if the if there's a clear directive, you know, because because you're going to keynote is typically like 60 minutes, you know? And so in one case, I did a keynote with a breakout with a client and they wanted to use some innovation technology approaches to solving a cost problem, and we came up with new ideas that they never considered and six months later they called said hey, we just a four and a half million dollars. So that was a good ROI for that client. You know, like, you know, it was high, but one of the four and a half million dollars, so they enjoyed some results. But But often it's not as clear cut as that, frankly. Because if you speak on, you know, you and I creativity and innovation, the way I measure it is less scientific generally. It's more about when I talked to people later, and do they reference back to it. So here's a good example I was I gave a keynote to a client three or four years ago, and I just spoke to them last week. And they said, you know, there's not a day that goes by where we don't use one of your terms. And we're like, one of the things I talked about is something called a judo flip, which is flipping a tradition upside down. He's like, I can't tell you how many times we're in a meeting and we're trying to figure something out and we say, hey, let's Judo flip it. So for me anyway, I know what people are using sort of my language and they're referencing back to the keynote. And they're, they're embracing techniques that I've shared. I feel at least that's creating that enduring impact that we're that we're seeking. James Taylor And it'll be interesting because some of those people that you you speak to them, they may be at that point in their career, maybe they're that mid level and they're in the management of that organization, and you're going to meet them in 10 years time. And they're going to be using some of those same techniques that they learned from you. And now that the vice president of the CEO of that organization, you're going to be able to tell you completely different stories about how that's impacted upon upon their, their company. So I love that just thinking. Because it's hard. It's one of the hard ones I find in this area of innovation and creativity, but how you the measurable is the ROI of that one, you can see it I was speaking about an employee retention is an easy number to to be able to pick up on and say, we decreased, you know, the employee turnover by this percentage. So that's great. I love that how it's just you can do those things that you do flips. Now you hear those time and time again. Now, Josh Linkner one thing I'll just share real quickly, though, is that as speakers, we got to we all got to realize is that, you know, assuming you have a positive message, you're sort of like spreading positive energy out into the world. And sometimes it'll come back to you sometimes you'll get a call or someone to bump into you. It's like, Oh my god, I can't believe I'm in an elevator with you. I saw you five years ago. And let me tell you the difference that this made to me and my family So those are those like deeply rewarding moments, but there's a lot of things the impact that you've created that you'll never hear that. And so I think we have to be confident that kind of makes up for the flight blades and the bad hotel rooms and such, but that you're spreading good ideas and positive energy into the world. And you know that it will manifest and somebody will your back. But some you won't be missed, you know that you're making a difference in the world. And that's there couldn't be something more intrinsically rewarding than that. James Taylor Now, I know something you are very passionate about is the place that you are based. You're in, in Detroit, an incredible city that's been going through a renaissance in it over the past few years. And it kind of got me thinking, Oh, you've written a book about this in terms of the road reinvention. I know a lot of speakers have been attending this summit, or maybe that stage in their career. They've been speaking for maybe 10 plus years. And they're known in that topic, but they want to reinvent their brand as time you know, the thing that they were speaking about before, just doesn't really cut it anymore. They want to just have that that reinvention. Are there any lessons that that we as speakers can learn? Maybe if we're at the stage about Korea will be that time we really want to reinvent our brands that we can learn from somewhere like Detroit that did so well. Josh Linkner Thank you In Detroit's a fascinating tale, by the way, you know hundred years ago Detroit ram today is that was the Silicon Valley of the United States. But then we lost our way and for many years, we just became so clinging to the past, hoping then to turn around and that was a terrible strategy. But now our city is rising from the ashes. It's an amazing time in Detroit, and it's one of rebirth and reinvention. It speakers a couple thoughts, you know, real tangibly, if you are fairly successful and known in the industry and through bureaus and you speak on a particular topic, I'd be very, very cautious dump the whole topic, go into some downward if you're known as a sale or and then all of a sudden, you want to reinvent yourself as a, as a health care, Doctor, patient care speaker or something. It's a big leap and it's kind of an uphill battle. I would say if you are passionate enough in the past to be a sales speaker, I would suggest if you can reinvent yourself in the same light. Now you can be a more modern sales speaker of course. There's lots of Different things happening in the world. And you could scrap all your content which I throw away everything I do at least once a year, by the way, I'm always reinventing myself. But I generally stay in the in the lane of innovation, creativity, because it's hard to retrain the market into a totally different category. And I've actually seen speakers fail at this, if someone starts out as a relationships guy, and then the next thing they come out with a Book Two years later, and obviously on the salesperson sales speaker, and that's, oh, no, I'm a customer service speaker. And the market doesn't respond really well to that you tend to I've seen speakers who are doing 80 days a year ago, down to 20 days a year. So my broad suggestion is, unless you're not passionate about it anymore, if you can find a modern interpretation of what worked in the past, same lane, new take on it, for sure. That actually creates less friction for you. James Taylor And what about Are there any other things that we could be learning from someone like like Detroit, because I mean, one of the things that I noticed, though, is it had this reputation as a place and obviously there was things going on internally in the city that we're changing as well, but it was also how it projected itself out into The world obviously did a number of things. And so people started, they kind of are they are they kind of started asking this question. Oh, yeah, it's like, it was like telling me it was it became like a Tell me more. Tell me more about that place. And I've seen it. Here in the UK. I'm in the US being from you in the UK today. There's the cities near near Ryan. They're just going through that same Renaissance as well as it's become that Oh, tell me more. That's not what I was expecting. Is there anything else in terms of almost like communication strategy, that marketing strategy of a place that you would you think could be applied? Josh Linkner Yeah, great question. And the answer is Yes, for sure. So one thing that made Detroit's Renaissance, very palpable for people to enjoy, is that we are it we're still true to who we are. So when you think about Detroit, which has suffered greatly, but there's this sort of, we make stuff with our hands and it's gritty, and it's, you know, kind of hustling and you know, kind of street. And so we're not trying and I've said this many times, we we don't want to be the Silicon Valley of the Midwest. We want to be like the Detroit of Detroit. So my point to a speaker is instead of trying to copy somebody else's Something that you're not, I think you double down on what makes you different. And if you have weaknesses, like in our case we suffered, we made some bad choices as a community, maybe play the, you seem to flip that upside down and find an inherent strength in that. So ours is that, you know, we're again, the street fighters, and there's something kind of romantic that we can all relate to where the underdog rising back up. And so I think, again, if you're, if you're a speaker, instead of ditching everything that made you special in the past and copying the next person, I would say, really examine yourself and see what makes you different, what makes you unique and compelling. And double down on that, because that authenticity really carries forward, people tend to have a very well developed bs detector. And so if you just try to, you know, pretend that you're something that you're not that I think that could backfire. But on the other hand, if you have suffered and there's been a problem, maybe double down on why you had that problem in the first place, that can be a very compelling thing. People love a great turnaround story. James Taylor So some quickfire questions as we start to finish up here. Josh, what is in your speaker bag? I know you're just about to hit the road. You just told me what your schedule is going to be as insane schedule that you have over the next few days. Why isn't that bank that speaker bag that you never leave home without it has all your bits and pieces what's in that bag? Josh Linkner Well certainly you know laptop and audio flash drives that kind of stuff headphones noise cancelling headphones. But I'll tell you one thing that that may be helpful to the folks. I always keep a an eye mask and earplugs. Because time zones are all real goofy like I'm going to be. I go from here Detroit today go to New Orleans, New Jersey and an end up at Boston tomorrow night doubleheader tomorrow. Then I go from there to Honolulu to Holly I don't get to my hotel room to 6:30am East Coast time. So then I have to perform the next day and then I have a red eye to San Francisco to get to Austin. So the reason I'm bringing this up is that it's crazy flight times in your in your body clock gets messed up. So when I tried to do is if any way possible I tried to keep East Coast us time. And so if I'm on an airplane and it's not the middle of the night that I'm asking with earplugs and make a huge difference because I can try to you know, keep my sleep schedule regulated. I also make sure I get noise cancelling headphones is one and then also healthy snacks. I know it sounds kind of like obvious but no airports are not always the best. place that I'd rather keep a Clif Bars and some nuts or something. So you're not you know, in a, in a frantic moment eating, eating terrible. James Taylor And what about book is there one particular book that you would recommend to speakers it could be on the art or the craft of speaking or actually may not be necessary on speaking, but it has lessons that you think apply to the world of speaking. Josh Linkner Yeah. Well, I'm speaking Dr. Nick borga, who I know you've interviewed wrote a great book called give your speech change the world, which is wonderful. By the way, if you're not using the platform to change the world, you shouldn't be a speaker in the first place. I don't say the negative way. It says, we have that privilege every time we take the stage to be able to make a difference and make the world better. So hopefully people treat that, you know, what would they do respect that it deserves. I always loved the book, the monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma. It's not directly about speaking but there's so many wonderful tips and tools about living well and making an impact. I think it's also great recommendation. James Taylor And what about a tool? Is there one particular tool or mobile app you find really useful for your work as a speaker, Josh Linkner why use Prezi? I feel that if we want to stand out why would We want to use something as as traditional as PowerPoint. The only thing with PowerPoint and Keynote is that they are linear. Slide one, slide two, slide three Prezi. For those that don't know it is you basically have a big blank canvas and you put different elements all over the canvas, it could be an image, it could be a piece of text, it could be a video clip, and then you kind of map the way that camera goes across this canvas to the audience. So I think it creates first of all a more dynamic presentation, and helps you stand out versus looking like everybody else's PowerPoint, but also the, it's better to create it, I just find that much better in terms of nonlinear approaches. And also by the way, it allows the speaker to communicate the interrelationship between one item and another. So if something is a bigger point than another one, you can go from big and then zoom into the little one that shows the corresponding relationship. So I know the President PR James Taylor one phone will put all these links here that we're speaking about on the show notes here as well for everyone to check those out. And if you had to start again, I'm going to let you choose any any city in the world where you can start again but I'm guessing you're probably choose to try your your your You're home city. But you know, no one, no one knows you, and you have to restart. What would you do? How would you restart? Josh Linkner If I was restarting in the speaking world, James Taylor if you restart to speak, I'm going to assume that you have all the skills that you have today. It's just you don't know anyone and no one knows you. Josh Linkner I would, I would take a fairly thoughtful approach about who would be able to help me and I would reach out to add value to them. Instead of asking for help, I would say how can I help you? So if there was a conference that was looking for a speaker, I would reach out and say, Hey, let me show what I can provide to help you or maybe start doing some of them for free. So I guess it would take zooming out, I would give it a take a service approach. It's not about what you could get. It's more about what you can give. And certainly with bureaus, by the way, I see speakers call up bureaus and say, like me, me, me, booked me booked me. I think you should call it the Bureau, you want to say, Hey, what's going on for you? How can I help you? Yeah, they do have some expertise that you could offer to serve, serve them. So I think I would just take a an approach of service and that tends to replicate itself very well. The other thing is, I think, especially today with so many brands, Messages, I think we need to do something to stand out. So it gets back to that point, what really makes you different as a speaker? You know, for me, there are others that speak on innovation, not too many others that are also the traders and venture capitalists and startup, guys and jazz guitarists. So I think you try to kind of weave together something that is compelling and unique about you something that nobody else can represent and double down on that. James Taylor Now I know you have it, you have a great program. We've had a couple of guests on this to gone through your three ring, three ring circus boot camp. And so we're going to have a link here below. I'd love to have you just just start to finish up here. tell folks about what there is to know has had a huge impact on a number of the speakers I've spoken with who have kind of gone that they've gone through that program. And I know we have a special offer for anyone that wants to learn more about that and attend that particular boot camps and tell us a little bit about it. Josh Linkner Sure. So as I mentioned when I started speaking, there was wonderful people to help me with what to do onstage mentioned Dr. Nick Morgan, but the stuff that was offstage speaker business training was pretty cheesy. It's like I can't stand it when people spell the word success with dollar signs just rubs me the wrong way. And there's you know like the zillionaires speaker and the mega rich speaker and it just didn't feel right. And so I figured this out myself and I, but if someone sat me down today, like what I know now, I would say four years ramping up. So my partners and I decided, let's do that to give back to the speaker community. We do once a quarter a very small and intimate bootcamp in Detroit. It's only 25 speakers backs. So it's very small and intimate. We have many girlfriends come to the boot camp. So our bureau partners include Washington speaker's bureau, the Harry Walker agency, premiere speakers, ww SG and speaking, among others, and so actual bureaus calm and we have this intimate, full monty exposure, total transparency of what works and what doesn't, in the spirit of building your speaking business. And so again, it's a training program, not around what to say onstage, all the stuff you have to do offstage so that you get on stage and we also provide some ongoing trading, training and support. They call it a three ring Circus by the way, Learning to be a bit playful and in a bit sort of mocking the whole silliness of the industry and realizing at the same time, it's a bit of a performance out there. It's like you're juggling a lot of things all at once. But this is something that we share from the heart. It's designed to help people scale their speaking business, get more gigs at higher fee, and they're welcome to check it out just three ring circus.com the numeral three, and for anyone listening today, if you buy a $500 off the bootcamp just use the discount code summit 500. And again, we are pleasure to have you in any way that we can be helpful. James Taylor Amazing. That's it. That's a great offer for everyone. So is a firing dose of summit 500 is this code I'm going to have a button here so you can going to go through and learn learn about how it works as well and a great opportunity it if you haven't visited Detroit. Good, good reason to go to Detroit as well. And Georgia, thank you so much for coming on today. I know you're about to be heading off to be catching a plane at some point very soon as well. It's been an absolute pleasure speaking to you I've I've really studied from what you do from afar. I just think you want to an exemplary exemplary example of a great speaker this doing some very, very cool thing. So thank you so much for coming on today. Josh Linkner Well, thank you my friend By the way, thank you for doing this. I know this takes a lot of energy and time and the fact that you're giving back to the speaker community and helping raise others up is is really is notable. I mean, we have such a privilege to help others take the great message and help them get out there and share with the world and so I have a lot of respect for the great work you're doing here. James Taylor Today's episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers, and if you're serious about your speaking career, then you can join us because you membership program. Our speakers, you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training, content, and access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around the speaking message and expertise. So just head over to speakers u.com to learn more. #SpeakersLife #ProfessionalSpeaking

The Life of A Dubai Expo Keynote Speaker Ever wondered what the life of a keynote speaker is really like? In today's episode of The Speakers Life I take you behind the scenes of 24hrs in the life of a Dubai Expo Keynote Speaker. Ever wondered what the life of a keynote speaker is really like? In today's episode of The Speakers Life I take you behind the scenes of 24hrs in the life of a Dubai Expo Keynote Speaker. This week I was booked to give a keynote speech in Dubai for a banking client on the topic of customer experience, innovation and artificial intelligence. An interesting aspect of speaking in the UAE is each year the government announces a new theme for the year. In 2019 the theme was 'Tolerance' and this year it is '2020: Towards the next 50'. Also each month has it's own theme and February's was 'Innovation'. As a result many of the companies and government ministries hosted events on the topic of 'innovation' and I was approached to speak at a number of these in my role as a creativity and innovation keynote speaker. Meanwhile myself and lots of international keynote speakers have been receiving enquiries to speak at events during the Dubai Expo. Expo 2020 Dubai runs for 179 days and during that time millions of people will travel to the city to see exhibitions and attend conferences and events around the Expo theme of 'Connecting Minds, Creating The Future'. As a keynote speaker it's well worth researching speaking opportunities in Dubai during Expo 2020. Many event organisers and conferences will be looking for both local and international speakers. Enjoy the video. Website: Dubai Expo Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.comsl051-24-hours-in-the-life-of-a-dubai-expo-keynote-speaker/ One of the things I was doing yesterday when I was here in Dubai is I'm asked to take some time out to talk with some one of the speaker bureaus I work with here. I think he's actually one of the benefits of when you travel and speak in different places in the world to try and if you have a bureau that you work within a particular country trying to meet with them, and I can use it for a number of reasons. One is I want to build rapport, especially with the sales agents, not just the owner of the Bureau, but also the people that are on the front line, making those recommendations to their client. I want to really build a good relationship with them so they can understand why speak about what value I add to clients. But the other good reason to always kind of meet in person with bureaus is to take the temperature of what is hot just now in the market, what their clients are asking for more. So for example, here in the UAE each year has a different theme last year, the world Around tolerance. So if I be a speaker, he is one speaker, he would probably be looking to maybe tweak my speech to think about how that relates to tolerance as a topic. Also here, this particular every in the UAE, every month has its own theme as well something that the government decide. And this month in the month of February is I'm filling in this is innovation. Now, if you're an innovation speaker, this is fantastic. You surely been speaking lots in Dubai, because February is the month of innovation, all companies will looking to bring in speakers, coaches consultants around and train is around innovation. So this is publicly available, go online, find out what the themes are, over the next few months in maybe a country like the UAE and then think about how you could pitch clients or bureaus related to your top topic and that particular thing. But one of the things that they were saying yesterday, my conversation with, with the Bureau's is something that getting asked a lot more for is topics around wellbeing and happiness. This is something that getting asked more and more about. And that's written for a number of reasons really. One of them is because as a market becomes, this isn't really a fight to the best people in a company, and they want to make your employees as happy as possible. So, thinking about well being and the quality of well being is very important. The other reason is, I was having a conversation yesterday, my podcast with a guest who coaches some of the world's top leaders from the biggest companies in the world. And I was asking what were the differences in the challenges between maybe previous generations and the generations of the new leaders coming through today? And I think Bill was and then this person I was speaking to and Bill was telling me that a big change is previous generations. leaders, they kind of segmented up their life and they can made the deal with themselves that they would work really hard. And that might mean not spending as much time with their families. So they will not be relegated their families but they put work very much at the forefront of their lives. Today's leaders, young leaders coming in, don't think in quite that same way. They really want that kind of quality of life. They value things like their well being their the ability to spend time with their their families to get that kind of balance in their life as well. So that Think about that. How does that relate to the topic that you speak on? Is there some way that you can maybe tweak your presentation to be able to pitch with certain types of audiences to go and speak to move this new generation of leaders coming through, talking about how well being how happiness relates to your topic, so these are just a few ideas is one of these. I love to Traveling as you get to pick up new thoughts and I'm on the flight going home will be thinking about that for myself my own speaking career. #SpeakersLife #ProfessionalSpeaking

In today's episode of The Speakers Life I share insights into the six elements that all great speaker websites should have. The Right Domain Name The Right Video The Right Button The Right Photography The Right Speech The Right Testimonials Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl049-great-speaker-websites-the-six-elements/ #SpeakersLife #ProfessionalSpeaking Artificial Intelligence Generated Transcript Below is a machine-generated transcript and therefore the transcript may contain errors. This is James Taylor and you're listening to the Speaker's Life. In today's episode, I thought I would talk about the six elements of a great speaker website, those elements that you always want to have on your speaker website. Now, this is an area that's fraught with difficulty different speakers have different perspectives on what you should be putting on your website. This is my perspective, from having worked with hundreds of different speakers coaching different speakers. And also having looked at hundreds of speaker websites and finding it some of those common components and some of those things that really make a speaker website stand out. Because when we have new members that come in to speak as you who are just starting on their journey of speakers, one of the first questions they asked about is James, what should we be putting on on the speaker website? Which components do we need to have? What domain name should it be on? So here's how I tend to think about websites more generally, and then we'll get into speaker websites specifically. So someone like Donald Miller, who wrote a great book called The story brand, talked about something called the grunt test. And this kind of goes back to our human brains, the brain uses use a huge amount of energy, it uses about 1500 calories a day, just to keep walking. So it's a huge energy suck that the brain. Now one of the things that our brain and our body's always looking to do is to try and find ways to reduce that energy reduce that calorific burn of our brain. And one way does that is when it spots patterns, it goes up. That's what that is. This is why I need to do it. So when it spots a snake that's going to coming out through the grass immediately knows what to do, it doesn't have to think too difficult. And this reduces the burn rate of the calories in our brain. So we call this when it comes to websites that we call it the grunt test, being able to make decisions very quickly because you recognize where pattern is showing up previously. So when it comes to looking at websites, someone will make a decision on your website, what it means and what they should do, if or whether they should just go away with seconds. And sometimes it's even milliseconds. So it really is important that you have a couple of things in place right from the get go. So even when I look at your website from two meters away, I can almost know instinctively, this is the button that you want me to press. This is what you do, this is what you're about. So these are the six elements that I believe that every speaker website should have. The first one, let's talk about the actual domain name itself. Now you can, if it's available, get your name.com that's you could argue is the ideal. In my case, James Taylor, James taylor.com wasn't available. There's another James Taylor out there, musician. So I was able to get James taylor.me I could have always got James taylor.org. So that's fine. Now there's a there's some downsides to this. If you have a very common name, which like mine, James Taylor in the West is very quite common name, or if your name is difficult to pronounce if I was to shout your name across a crowded bar with the other person. I'm shouting it to believe We have to understand why said and be able to write it down with the correct spelling. If not, then you might want to think about not using your name for your domain, you may want to use the topic that you're known for, for example, that are innovation speaker if you were a.com if you're a speaker, but innovation, or your key phrase, your keyword phrase that you built and you build everything around. So we think of someone like Simon Sinek I don't think Simon Sinek has Simon site.com you might have Simon settings, but actually all the traffic in he builds around his start with y.com start with why that's the phrase that most people know that phrase start with why and they probably know the name Simon Sinek even though it's his phrase, the phrase that he made popular, so he bought, start with y.com and that has all the information on that website, all the best speaking and his training and his other programs he has likewise with a good friend of mine wrote boulder Wardman, who's a former fighter pilot. Now he he speaks a lot about being a wingman. Man to your team and in a corporate setting. So actually made a lot of sense for his domain name to be your wingman.com very memorable, because even though he's a fighter pilot, former fighter pilot and people, there's lots of speakers out there who have maybe served in the military on the Navy or the Army or the Air Force in one way. It's like you sometimes think, Oh, yeah, what was that person that I remember that they were in the army and they came up and get gave a speech, but you know that they kind of blur into one another. So by really pushing forward, not so much his individual name, but this idea of your wingman being your wingman, having a wingman and making that his domain name is a very easy thing for people to start to remember. So that's number one. And should I suggest is either a domain name should either be your name, or your topic that you're known for, you know, such as such speaker.com or the phrase that you're want to be known for. Next is the video. And actually before I came on this today, I actually picked up the phone To a bunch of different speaker bureaus and I asked them you know, what you like from when you go on a speaker's website to see their, in their video show real. And I had a whole bunch of different answers to that. Some like very short two to three minute videos kind of almost like what we call a sizzle reel, which was just kind of real top highlights, they want to see a bit of you on stage something about the challenge of the problem that you solve. And ideally, maybe even a testimonial from someone I think was probably more common is on speaker websites is having a video which is six to 10 minutes in length and something that has some time of you really speaking on stage sharing a message. Now, there's different people have different perspectives on whether you should have lots of video of your audience in there. I'm personally I'm not that keen on having lots of audience shots in there. That's just me, but other people may may say other things, but my general preference for your main video showreel is a video that's three to five minutes in length. You have a really strong, start to grip people to, you know, bring them into what the problem is that you're there to solve. And ideally, you want to have you like on camera as early as possible in that as well on stage if you can, or doing a direct to camera. And then throughout that, you kind of want to be kind of calling out to different challenges your audience may have and talking about how you can solve them, or the trends that you speak about if you're more of a futurist, for example. And then I would say peppered within that is maybe two to three real strong pieces of you speaking on stage different stages. Sharing one idea one concept in one of them can be a real strong thought, you know, thought provoking type of piece. Another one is something we should look at more humor in your character as well. But you can basically build that little sizzle reel that show real three to five minutes in length. Now, ideally, you're gonna want to have lots of other videos of you speaking on stage longer videos, but that's a really good one to have. There. And you can kind of put those together relatively quickly. The third one is to have an enquiry form or button with contact information. Now, you'd be surprised if I go on to a lot of speakers websites. And I look at those those homepages or those speaker websites, I can actually see, you know, what you actually want me to do. And one of the things you probably want people to do is either to watch the video because the number one thing they can sell you, and then from there somewhere on the page pretty much at all times you want to have a book. JOHN, if your name is Charlie or, you know, inquire about dates, or check availability or something that has that kind of call to action, which is going to take people onto an inquiry form and click on a button. Now, I would say on the inquiry form, I would normally suggest have have an actual proper form. If you can, you can tie that into your CRM if you have a CRM or you can just send you an email to let you know someone's completed that form. It means that your look it looks more professional and it also shows that you asked the potential client for analyze information. And essentially, you can see almost from the information that kind of comes in on that form, how much of is completed, whether this is a serious inquiry. And so I'm usually looking for things like they actually have a specific date in mind with a specific city and information that they're providing. They're giving some indication that they are a type of client that I would probably work with usually a corporate in my case doesn't have to be could be an association, for example. And the magic words I'm always looking for is we loved what we saw on your website, we would like to see about booking you to speak at our event. If I see other little phrases on those inquiry forms coming in, like we would like to invite you that is priced a little bit of a red flag to me because then you can start to get into was this really a paid speaking inquiry or they just looking for more of a free speaker now that's number three, then creating that inquiry form on your website or button. And the other thing to have on that page is have your contact information someone actually messaged me yesterday, saying one things I liked about your booking form is you actually put the enquiry form. But you also had a telephone number and a direct email address for both myself and my assistant. And actually, we had different codes, we have a UK number and American number as well. And they actually really appreciated that that you could just reach out to me if they want to, they can call me actually the most people just send in an email or send to a form. But is there a little bit of peace of mind as well, but I know some speakers actually suggest putting that telephone number if you're in America, like an eight, an 800 number right at the top of the navigation, which is another way to do it. In my case, I speak more globally and 800 is very American sales number. So because I speak more globally, that doesn't make quite as much sense to me. Next is having some great photography and really spend some time spend a little bit of money working with a really good photographer who's going to get some great shots. Now there's different types of shots that you'll need. You'll need photos that really nice headshots, strong headshots, and I also just You have some action shots of you speaking on stage, those kind of things. And if you can try and get some shots where you've got lots of empty space to your left your right, even have I even have some shots of me pointing at the empty space. And what they're useful for is a conference is putting together a program, they might put, if you're the keynote speaker, put that picture of you there and use the empty white space to put the title of the event or the logo of the particular event. So you're just kind of helping that and the more the better the photography that you have, the more likely that you're going to get on to those front covers of the magazines or front covers on in brochures for particular events, or you're going to get used on their social media as they're promoting the event. It's all about the quality of the photography their fifth is having a page with actually information about your speech. So you want to have their what is the title of the speech. In my case, my title is super creativity. That's the title of my Speech and people can get a, I'm always talking about this idea of super creativity. That's what people gonna know me for. But then I have the subtitle, which actually provides a little bit more information. The kind of title is really that to go, Oh, that's interesting. Tell me more. And then subtitle was going to start to fill in the blanks. So in my case, the subtitle is augmenting human creativity in the age of artificial intelligence. So this is says, Okay, this guy is about human, the human creativity, piece creativity, but it's always got this AI thing is going to kind of futurist type of stuff. So that's kind of a nice blend. So I like blending a subtitle, which has a mixture of the very human soft, soft skills, and the more kind of harder side or you might call out to the challenge that your client has. For example, you say, you know, adapting to using x y Zed to adapt to change, and that's why I said might be the topic that you speak on. Then you have the description. And in the description, I usually like to kind of call out what the challenge or the problem is that people have. Maybe a very simple stat Some sought to show what that challenges a real challenge. And then talk about how you solve that problem in your speech and kind of giving people a sense of like what the experiences of that whether you're you have a lot of humor in your speech, or you do a lot of interaction or things are really tailored for each individual client. That's what you'd have on a description. And then I also like to put some learning outcomes, or out or kept takeaways, you might call them as well, this in the world of HR, they tend to talk a lot about learning outcomes, I see that less if you're dealing with someone in the C suite. For example, if you're dealing with someone that's HR come from a training perspective, they'll really appreciate the fact that you have these outcomes, you say, the audience will learn the five ways to Bloody Bloody blah. That just kind of shows there's some real kind of good content in there. And that has some kind of basis in and also actually allows you to, if you do have training that you offer in addition to your speaking it allows you to kind of open up that kind of conversation as well because you can actually take One of those pizzas as you put it into a full day's training if you wanted to, and then finally, testimonials always be trying to collect testimonials written testimonial spoken testimonials, video testimonials any way you can get testimonial. Try and get testimonial there in this training in this particular episode, I won't get into what to try and having those testimonials but I just want to say you know really try your best every time you go and speak at an event try and think about how you could be capturing testimonials there. So those are the six different elements of a speaker website. So you want to have thinking about your your the actual domain name, which should be your own name or your topic or the phrase that you're known for. Number two is the video show real? Number three is an inquiry form or button with contact information so people can send that inquiry to book you. Number four is great photography. Number five is that speech title, subtitle description outcomes, what is it you're actually selling? And then number six is the testimonials as well. In fact, a speaker website can just be one page. If you think about it, if you just had one page with all those elements, you're ready to go to market as well. So my name is James Taylor. This is the Speaker's Life. Thanks so much for listening today.

Today I'm in Orlando, Florida and reminded why international speakers should tell international stories. Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher Resources Mentioned: Creating an 'international' keynote speech Looking for global and local stories Taking the audience on a journey CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl043-why-international-speakers-should-tell-international-stories/ Hey there, it's James Taylor, keynote speaker and founder of SpeakersU. I've just come off stage speaking to about 2000 IT professionals, the closing keynote speaker at a conference. And I'm on my way now to go and speak in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. But I wanted to film this quick video just to remind you why it's so important to use international examples and stories and case studies and also case studies from different industries in your speech, if you can, so the speech I just gave 2000 IT professionals that always keen to use different stories, different industries in different countries. I use a number of different ones there. And as I came offstage at 30 minutes after I'm offstage, I'm still meeting and talking with different attendees are coming up to me. One group of attendees came up to me, and they said, Hey, we're from a company in the Netherlands. We're headquartered in the Netherlands, a global company. And you mentioned a particular story there from the Netherlands. And so we've got us thinking, would you be interested in coming and keynoting conference next October. And then about 15 minutes after that. Another lady came up to me and she said, one of the examples that you use for us from our industry from the banking and finance industry, and it kind of got me thinking, your message and your your, your background, your experience ties really well into what we do. And this is our industry as well. Would you be interested in coming and speaking to an event we have for some of our senior leadership that we're running in a few months time. So always try and use different countries and different industry examples in your presentations. And the only caveat I would say to this is that it has to serve the audience. So for today, I wouldn't use those examples if it didn't serve the audience and didn't serve the story that I'm trying to tell. But if you are going to be telling stories, you have diversity in them have diversity in the countries and the industries and it will really serve you well. It's about planting seeds all along the way. So when people hear you up on stage and say ah, he or she is They've mentioned my industry, they're talking about my country. Maybe the speaker would be a great choice to come and speak our next event. My name is James Taylor. Thanks for watching. #SpeakersLife #ProfessionalSpeaking

Today I'm in Dubai, UAE and while here I was reminded why you should 'mind your speaking business'. Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher Resources Mentioned: What we can learn from restaurant owners Speaking in Dubai Mind your business Knowing your numbers CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl042-why-you-should-mind-your-speaking-business/ Hey is James Taylor, a keynote speaker and founder of SpeakersU. This morning I'm in Dubai. I was here speaking yesterday for a global tax conference. And there was a phrase someone said to me yesterday, which was a great phrase in our in Arabic phrase, and it's really this idea of always keep focused on your numbers and your business. You know, mind your businesses is a phrase we sometimes hear. So the phrase was about restaurants. The best restaurant owner or manager is one with a broken leg. Because with a restaurant manager with a broken leg, yes, he she or she has to sit there, and they watch and they talk to their customers. And they observe and they give feedback. And and so many times, you know, in restaurants, people start really well. And then they can get bored and they go and focus on other things and maybe don't turn up quite as much. And you start to see the restaurant business go down. So it just kind of reminded me for myself. I've been on the road here for a couple of weeks. The week I was in Amman, Jordan here in Dubai. And it just reminded me to always just keep focused on the numbers be continued talking to clients talking to my team, really minding my business, and keeping an eye on the business and helping it grow. So my name is James Taylor. Thanks for watching. #SpeakersLife #ProfessionalSpeaking

In today's episode of The Speakers Life I'm delighted to announce the launch of Season 3 of International Speakers Summit, an online event on How To Stay Health As A Travelling Speaker Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher Resources Mentioned: Dealing with long-haul flights and jetlag The 777 rules Hydration Sleep Exercise CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl033-how-to-stay-health-as-a-travelling-speaker/ Hi there, James Taylor, keynote speaker and founder of the SpeakersU. Today I want to talk to you about how to stay healthy on the road. As a professional speaker, your professional speaking one of the things that we have to do with professional speaking is we're doing a lot of long haul flights. That's resulting sometimes in jet lag. And often the food options that we have on planes and at hotels and venues is not that good for a lot of fried food. So how do we ensure that we stay healthy, and we can have a very long term sustainable career as a speaker, I asked this question the other day to Dr. Joyce Carols. She is a speaker who works with a lot of high performance athletes, for example, and she shared with me her triple seven rule. And it stands for this first of all, try and get seven glasses of water per day into your system. When you're traveling, especially long haul flights, it can be very dehydrating on your system. And as a result, when you get there up on stage, you find yourself a bit dry a little bit croaky also is not good for your skin and your general health. So if you do have enough walk in the system. So try and hydrate all the time we would travel around with a bottle that you're filling up all the time and try and get the seven glasses of water per day. Secondly, you want to try and ensure you get seven hours of sleep per day. This can be challenging when you're doing maybe multiple flights and stopovers and you're there's danger of getting jet lag as part of that as well. So something you can do here is when you get on a plane if you especially if you're going for a long haul flight, you might decide to maybe Miss meals on and just tell the stewardess stewardess, hey, I'm a good I want to sleep on this flight. Just please don't interrupt me on this flight. And that allows you to get some better sleep over the course of the flight. Obviously, don't drink caffeine, alcohol on flights as well that will help you often sleep at the same time. There's other tools we can use things like smart watches, which tell us how many hours of sleep but the quality of our sleep that we're getting. And there's there's apps for our phone we can get like time shifter, which allow us to get ready especially for the long haul flights, but always be very good at being able to steal sleep. So if you've got an opportunity there for to get 30 minutes sleep or an hour sleep, train take especially when you're on the road. And then the final seven is ensuring that you do seven minutes of intense exercise every day for seven minutes doesn't sound like a lot. But that's the intensity that's really important and is great tools being able to do there's lots of online apps you for your phone, which do like seven minutes, workout style apps, and they can just take you through some very simple exercise. You don't need any weights or anything complicated to be able to do even do it in your hotel room. And a useful rule of thumb here is it when you go and check into your hotel. Immediately you drop your bags, put on your workout stuff, go and do that seven minutes either in your hotel room, in the gym at the hotel even go out for a run. That triple seven rule is a really good way of remembering how to keep yourself healthy, and how to build a sustainable career as a speaker. My name is James Taylor. Thanks for watching. #SpeakersLife #ProfessionalSpeaking

In today's episode of The Speakers Life I'm delighted to announce the launch of Season 3 of International Speakers Summit, an online event where, you'll Going Deep Not Wide As A Speaker Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher Resources Mentioned: The paradox of choice Marilyn Sherman - Hospitality industry speaker Choosing three industries to focus on Which industries book your topic Which industry do you have an unfair advantage in as a speaker CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl032-going-deep-not-wide-as-a-speaker/ Hi, there is James Taylor, keynote speaker and founder of SpeakersU. Today, I want to talk to you about the value of going deep, not wide in your speaking business, one of the challenges that we can sometimes find is even after you've identified that topic that you want to become known for as a speaker, is that it can sometimes feel so overwhelming or the opportunities out there, we can get hit with what we call a Paradox of Choice. So something I learned from speakers like Marilyn Sherman, and Bill Cate's was not only did they choose their topic, but they chose an industry or few industries that they were really going to go deep on. So let me tell you how this can work for you. The first thing I would suggest is have a look at your topic and think about what is that first industry that you're going to go to with it could be an industry, you know a lot about perhaps your work in this particular industry, you already know the associations, you know, the companies, you know what the challenges are going on in that industry, that's an obvious first one to go for. So really stop pitching yourself to companies and associations in the industry around your top. But then I'd like to choose two other industries, one or the industry, have a look at your competitors. and see which industries they're speaking to what you might find from that is this is this an industry that has a real need for your child, your your topic at this stage right now. But a third industry you might want to look at is an industry that you think is going to have a real need for your topic and your expertise in a period of one to three years. So it's not like an immediate, it's not the thing that they're looking for right now. But you sense that it's going to just the flow of things, you're going to need your expertise speakers coming in on your topic to speak about. So once you identify those three industries, it's about going deep, you're going to research the associations, you're going to research the companies, and you're going to start pitching yourself to them. Now one of the benefits from doing this by going very deep in a small number of industries, is you become known as the go to Speaker not just on your topic, but on your topic and how it relates to that industry. This will put you in a class above many other speakers. So that's my topic for today. Go deep, not wide, and you're speaking. My name is James Taylor. Thanks for watching. #SpeakersLife #ProfessionalSpeaking

In today's episode of The Speakers Life I'm delighted to announce the launch of Season 3 of International Speakers Summit, an online event where you'll learn how to book more speaking gigs in 2020. Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher Resources Mentioned: International Speakers Summit 2019 New guests for this summit Topics we'll be covering Register today at https://internationalspeakerssummit.com/ CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl031-how-to-book-more-speaking-gigs-in-2020/ #SpeakersLife #ProfessionalSpeaking Hi, this is James Taylor here keynote speaker and founder of SpeakersU. Today I'm delighted to announce that we have just opened registrations for International Speakers Summit 2019. This is season three of International Speakers Summit and it's going to be our biggest and best yet. Last year we had over 20,000 aspiring and professional speakers that attended this year. We hope to beat that. So it's going to be our biggest and best and we have a phenomenal lineup already announced some of the speakers that you're going to find when you register for this free online summit include Jason Hewlett, Colette Carlson, Chad Hymas and Jeffrey Hayzlett, Laura Gassner Otting, Bob Hooey, Jim Cathcart, Kate O'Neill and many, many more in total. When you register for this event, which happens on the third of October, you are going to be able to access interviews and sessions from 150, yeah that's 150 of the world's best speakers, Speaker trainers and best of all, you're going to be able to access it for free on that day. So what are you waiting for? Go and click on the button below or go to internationalspeakerssummit.com and let's make 2020 the biggest year for your speaking business. Thanks for watching.

In today's episode of The Speakers Life I talk with Pravin Shekar, Using Virtual Summits To Get More Speaking Gigs. Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher Resources Mentioned: Growing your speaking business with virtual summits Global Referral Summit 100 Day Summit LinkedIn Marketing Summit Creating multiple streams of income PSA India Tool: Evernote http://pravinshekar.com/ CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl030-using-virtual-summits-to-get-more-speaking-gigs/ #SpeakersLife #ProfessionalSpeaking Hey, there is James Taylor and I'm delighted to have here today Pravin Shekar. Pravin is a startup specialist and parallel entrepreneur and speaker on agile entrepreneurship, guerrilla marketing, and business networking. He has KREA, which is India's leading Healthcare Research panel, and is an angel and social invested in entities like INS eight, which is agile research, candy, which is a BPO. By and for the physically challenged, and KSE, which is a fresh cheese making entity and what I'm going to learn about this, he's the recipient of the emerging leader in market research, the 440 Award from the American Marketing Association, and as president of the Market Research Society of India, and a trustee of the Japan stem cell research center. He described speaking as his alternative career, but one has taken him so far to four continents. Outside of speaking he is a keen photographer and images have been published in National Geographic traveler, and Lonely Planet. India's my great pleasure have been with us today. So welcome, Pravin. Thank you very much, James, I look forward to it. So it's fantastic having you here. I know you and I've been working there. But your speakers you remember, and I've been kind of coaching you. But But before we kind of get into I think you're doing really cool things when it comes to online summits. Before we get into that. Tell me how did you get started in this world of speaking with the begin for you. I've been speaking quite a bit. But on stage internationally, it was 2006 in Rome, when I did my first biggest speaking. And this was based on synopsis and ideas that you have to send across the dimensions before. None of this was paid until 2009. But I had my point of inflection, the talk that I gave in Switzerland catapulted me to another league. And that was possible, due to couple of mentors that I had. But that was when it started my speaking career, not the professional speaking. But the speaking part of it internationally started in 2006. Who, as you were getting started as a speaker, who were those early role models for you who are the speakers that you looked at. And so I like to be either have that type of career speaker, or you just really admired the craft. And now the way they spoke. I've been inspired by a lot of people. So I can't name one role model. But I can name a couple of mentors. Now in the business sector, I have a business mentor called the G Krishna. When I was the beginning of my speaking career, he was there in all the talks. There was another gentleman Ray pointer, who was also instrumental in my 2009 talk. And these are people who might admired the way they captivated the audience. None of these are professional speakers, but they are speakers and entrepreneurs in their own right. So those are the two really big ones that I can name. But other than that, James, I love listening to talks and getting inspired because you never know these small bits that spark. Something has a little bit that grows on you. Absolutely. And united spent a lot of time together in Singapore, and also the the professional Speakers Association India that you're heavily involved in as well. And you're obviously a speakers you member and one of the things I was really impressed with what you did is one of the things we teach our speakers you about creating online summits or virtual summits. And and so a number of our members have created their own virtual summits. But you took it a few steps further. So first of all, tell us what what was it that interested you about the idea of doing virtual online summits? I'm a crazy networker, James, I love meeting people, but then you meet with a purpose, the connections from them. So last year at the APSS Singapore summit, you did a pre convention workshop, and you blew our minds away from what a virtual summit is. That caught on, we then started the coaching part of it and us so free and giving the information I decided to continue on when I launched my first summit for the global reference summit, because as speakers as an entrepreneur, bulk of the business comes through word of mouth, and that's the most economical way to grow your business, but there's no strategy around it. So that was how the global reference summit came about. Because there is a need and not too many people know about the need. We followed your guidelines to the tee. But what we decided is, can we do a summit to raise awareness about blood cancer, that it is curable, that there is a particular need for people to be aware, because also in movies and TV serials here in India, James, if you've got blood cancer, you're dead. But in specific cases, there is a possibility to reverse it. And that is why we tied up with G one, which is a nonprofit, to raise awareness that there is a cost like this that goes ahead and and does. So that was our first step, which is the global reference summit, 30 Global referral and word of mouth experts that was launched a couple of months ago, phenomenal success, and that's setting the stage for the further science. So what what did you learn about doing that very first time because often when, when I coach people on virtual summits, the first one I always tell is the most difficult because your learning curve is going to be the fastest. And you have you're doing all these things in the technology and in this interviews, marketing, and what were some of the key learning points, you sent me some of the things that you really struggled with it first, yet to really develop learning on and what were those things that you found, actually, I really enjoy doing when creating a summit. So I'm an entrepreneur. And the first thing that comes to me is I have to do it myself. And I tried doing it myself in between my other professional speaking gigs. And a month after month after month, suddenly I had committed a summit because you have to 100 day challenge and hundred today and there was no summit inside. So first thing I did is form a team around. And I had a couple of really good guys. One guy is a rock star KP for the party, my colleague who became the Falcon. And once the team got set, James it was that much more easier for me to focus on strategy while the team took care of scheduling, the pre interviews the actual interview and taking care of the entire studio setup and having everything ready. The first three, four interviews, we made sure we brought in some big guns, we got celebrities, I had Bob bird, Ivan Meisner, and it was also that the HPC, Singapore, and that set the stage for the other speakers, because the first question that came up was is there. And the minute they heard these names, they said, Yes, I am legit, the conference is legit. Therefore we can go ahead and do. But for me, the biggest learning is former team. And it was the team, now you are watching me, but through me the team is getting pushed by you. Because we all have to read and have the standards of the template. And now as a thank you to the team, each one is running their own summit, which is going to be launched in August, November and early next year. So that's from a company perspective, a thank you to each of them that I'm going to do the support role. And each one of them is going to host them on summit, one on remote sales slash inside sales, and other one on LinkedIn marketing. And we are also assisting a couple of other Indian speakers, the members of the professional Speakers Association of India to launch their own songs. I love that model, what you've what you've done there. And and this is one of the things I was I think I mentioned it probably at that event in Singapore, I think the second or third summit I ever created. I did it with I mean, I've already got a team. But then I also brought in a co host, as well. And suddenly, when you have when you have a team, the two interesting things always happen, I think, first of all, is you have accountability instantly, because it's asking, you know what's happening, what stage is at. The other thing I think is very interesting from doing that is it brings in a diversity of ideas and views. And it allows you to just you almost like market testing in a very small way with a group of six people on a concept. There's a danger, sometimes if you just do all try and do it all on your own, that you can do something and people when you launch, it wouldn't work. And someone might say, Well, you know, think about doing this, if I don't need so. So I love that model that you've done now. So you're doing all these other summits and I love this and the LinkedIn summit, I'm definitely sign up for that one as well. And what So you mentioned this idea about networking with a with a person carpets. For you Where do you see these summits? Is it is it primarily around just word of mouth about raising your profile and the profile of the other people you're working? Or is it generating leads? Or is it about bringing in sponsorship or something else? I could have said all three before the summit, but having run the summit, James, my biggest advantage of the summit is learning I get to speak and learn from 30 experts forget the 2400 subscribers who came in, I have to prepare for the meeting. And then during the discussion, they throw nuggets that I probably wouldn't have considered. So to me, the number one reason why I'm going to be involved in all these summits is learning. Yeah, networking, of course will happen. Because if you and I don't know, but we've spent half an hour talking that is spatial recognition that is top of mind and the minute you say outlier marketing, my name comes in the virtual summits are total than James Taylor comes in through. And that is my main reason is that I learned my subscribers and my followers will learn automatically. Yeah. And to, if I may, yes, what we have to guess from the 30 interviews, we have picked up eight to 10 points per speech, and are launching the key learning ebook from the 30 speakers. As a thank you a delight, thank you. But then every week, there is a gift that goes out to the deli and each of the speakers as a book as a program has something that they would like to offer. And that's obby to thank you and also stay in touch with all the subscribers. That's fantastic. I love that idea. I remember seeing when mutual friend of ours, Shelly Taylor, who's also a speakers, you remember when she did her summit, because she comes from being an author, primarily, it would be natural for her to create that book and a nine, I've never done with any of my summit shit. So I applaud you for doing I think it's such a natural thing when you've taken in all that information. And and some people, frankly, they don't have the time to go watch all the videos. And they just said, Can I just buy and some people like to read that's how they they like learning. And if you're able to create that piece of content for them, that provides it, you know, great value for them. So now, so now you're starting to build, obviously, you're speaking what what are some of your goals for the next year or so when it comes to the speaker part of proving right, just to take it to the next stage, which is why I signed up for this because you and your coaching James, I started my speaking career in 2006. But the professional speaking happened really about three to four years ago. And every stage is an inflection point. Now I'm at a particular stage. And one of the things that I learned from the business, Singapore this time is can I create multiple streams of revenue for me as a speaker? And to can my speaking business run without me actually speaking? Yeah. So if you ask my key goals, that is what I'm working towards. And that also means increasing my team expanding and investing a little bit more on creating IDs. And that's where my thought processes headed towards right now. Because you've had this experience, obviously, coming from the business community and entrepreneurial community, you're, you're you're thinking about those multiple streams of income. And I encourage you, any speaker, to have those different, you don't have to have lots but just to have those different forms of income, because we don't know what happens. Sometimes you might get sick, or maybe the market the economy crashes in the country, you speak a lot in and there's no law, the word dries up there. And to have these different income streams just gives you more options. But I'm intrigued when you said that idea, the idea of building a speaking business where it doesn't actually require for all the time for you to be speaking on stage, what is your thinking about that? Book books, online training programs that go on consulting, as a protein shake a brand, a whole lot of my colleagues coming into the play, because my horizontal is marketing and my vertical is outbound marketing, which is non traditional marketing, especially when people are stuck doing traditional work, but they still want to grow, you've got to do different things to get on. And that is the area that for me Chico's a brand as a speaker, and trying to be able to work towards. It's an it's an exercise I always do with, with companies on creativity, I do creativity training with different organizations, and it's called the out exercise outrageous ideas. So for example, outrageous law firms have no lawyers, or what I actually use all the time I've mentioned people is mutual friend of ours, Frederick Heron, outrageous books have no words, he actually created a book which didn't really have any words in it, which is so very, very well, a quarter million copies or something. But that's actually quite useful thought experiment to do, outrageous speakers who don't speak. And there was one I was talking about a conversation with someone the other day, who's building a business, based upon initially that idea outrageous speakers that don't speak. And what he's been doing is he's say his fee level is this amount. But he gets a lot of inquiries where clients, they can't necessarily pay that. And in the past, what he's done is he's either given it to another speaker that he knows all or he's given it to a speaker Bureau, for example. But what he's doing now is he's building in training, two other speakers, one that will be a little bit lower than him when it's a lot price lower than him. That means now, when the client comes in and say, you know, we'd love your topic, we love the fact you speak on, you know, influencer marketing, for example, I would love to have you speak our event. But it turns out, they don't have the budget, then it gives it will I tell you what, I can speak at it. But I've had this other speaker, who's you actually can give my speech, I've had to give my speech on influencer marketing, and you can bring her in, and it's for X X amount as well. So this idea, this idea of speakers who don't speak using it as a thought experiment can be quite useful thing. I'm an experiment, James, I'm an entrepreneur, experimenter. And all it takes is just a spark for me to try things out. And you never know that it goes exactly as you try it out. Now, for example, the first virtual summit for me is a video setup in the professional setup, using the tools and tricks that you mentioned. Now that the setup is there, I have started a new video interview series called em fail, where I talked to speakers, leaders, entrepreneurs, on their marketing failures, because nobody wants to talk about failures. everybody's ready to talk about successes. But nobody talks about failures. And when I said this is going to be a weekly interview series, a lot of the entrepreneurs said, hey, I've got a story. Because my view as an entrepreneur, James, and you will relate to it as a coach is I would rather Learn from your mistakes and repeat that I can go and make new mistakes and share them with you. So I'm currently compiling a bunch of stories on marketing failures, which will become my stump speech in 2020. So So on that note, then I'm going to ask you the question of all the speaking, you've been doing, like speaking more professionals in 2009. Can you tell us about some a time when you worked on something, maybe a speech where you going and doing an event? And you gave it your all but something didn't quite work out like you'd hoped? And what did you learn from that experience? You all have that don't be my first talk in Jakarta. I was invited, flown over. Everything was because the the convention had had heard me speak in Berlin. And I had to go and repeat the same job markets adopted was my shtick for that year. And I went there, there was just zero audience participation. The faces were just playing. It was one of my first in that country. I was like, you're almost halfway through as to what is happening is the audience even understanding, I slowed down my English, the only person nodding was the convention head, and one colleague of hers was when he speak, I went through the motion, finished the talk, got the claps, but I still had the confusion didn't work. Until the I had to confront the organizer. At the end of the summit, she took me out to drink some popi lock, which is the most expensive, what did you get out there? And I asked her look, I have this nagging feeling that the audience just did not read, I did not relate to the audience. And I'd like to hear the feedback. They said, that's how it is here that people have, do not show emotion. When I asked them to be interactive, they will not be interactive. So that was a talk, that was a personal failure for me, because I had not prepared I had not spoken, I have not studied that country or the people out there. So the next time when I have to give a talk in Japan, I work with the organizers a couple of months in advance, I sent them my speech, or written speech for them to translate. And then they also had a simultaneous translator, who I spent some time with the previous evening, to work things out. And I had to mix everything up and that I had a far better response than the one I had in Chicago. So if you ask me for one of our my personal talks that I did not get a resonance, that would be the talks that I would refer to just fantastic. There's different color, those cultural differences you find in different places. And I remember I haven't spoken yet, but Lloyd Luna, who we both know, he said, he said, You've got to come to the Philippines, because the Philippines audiences are the most ecstatic, most exciting audiences. So and and you know your words that you go to some countries where the audience is, they're enjoying the speech that you mentioned there. But they might be sitting with their, their hands. And you think i think i'm is this working is what is what's going on here. And it's only at the end, and they go fantastic and getting people coming up to you after but in the moment, it feels like it's not working. So I guess it's getting to learn those different, different cultures. And so you're obviously based you're in, in southern India, and China July, you're highly involved in the professional Speakers Association of India, which is a great Association just had your, your conference, your annual concert few months ago in July, What's your feeling about the Indian speaking market specifically, because this is obviously a country has been on the rise for many, many years, I was just reading a book yesterday about the rise economic rise of of India, how you feeling just now but the Indian speaking market is evolving James for ears. There was no concept of being speakers at best LPA, the airfare and then you come over, I'll take you out for a drink kind of mentality. But that is changing. But it's a big ship, turning it is going to take time, which is where the professional Speakers Association is also evangelizing and educating the market market that you go watch a movie you pay for it. It's a three hour movie. Here, it's not just my one hour of talk, but the hours of preparation, the lead up to the talk. So I can add value to your organization or to your convention. So we are in the process of evangelizing it, you're very confident it will work through. But as I said, it's a big ship, it's going to turn slowly, but on it will see so that movement from going from Brianna and other countries have gone through that same same challenge. And they've kind of come out now. And this year starts people who stopped paying a small amount and then gradually over time it comes out. And then inevitably, in any field, you're going to obviously see it will see this in India as well, you have this superstar speakers there as well, who you know, will get the get the big bucks, but behind them, they bring a new generation of speakers that are coming through. So I'm hugely optimistic about India, as a country for, for speaking. And I say this, especially anyone who's watching or listening to this just now, the thing excites me a lot of India is because you have a large English speaking population. Obviously, there's lots of languages spoken across India. But it's one of those countries where you can go into business the same everywhere. Where if you're a native English speaker, you can you know that there are already audiences. And obviously, you have a massive middle class and growing middle class. And other challenge in front of us is our members. Most of them are very good speakers, but they don't know that they are delivering a value and they can actually go ahead and charge plans for it. So that's a bit of training. And that's a book that I'm writing. James, I reached out to you earlier for that, which came out of lunch conversation with the members of the better local chapter of the PCI, except for me, and I've been speaking for five years. But how can I go ahead and charge? How did you get your first speaking gig? So it was a wonderful two hour lunch. And I promised you write a note. And the note became longer longer. It's now a 50 page ebook really quick, 25 minute read. But then I said that's for our members. And I'm going to pass it across three, with comments from you, Frederick and a bunch of others as to how you got your first paid speaking gig, and how they can go ahead and charge how much to charge, how to ask without being sheepish is a note that that's my wiki work. It came out in a couple of weeks. And that's something that I'm sitting across. Fascinating and, and actually I just saying that I was also thinking terms of going the other way, one of the best speakers in the world Minaj, my Sudan. And my knowledge is the Toastmasters. I think he's the he's won it twice, best speaker in the world. And I remember him and I having a conversation once about something he calls the alien advantage, where he always felt that in his home country, he was never, he wasn't he was never given the fees appreciated as much as when he goes abroad. And he speaks abroad. So he and I find this as well. So I'm obviously from the UK. By really speaking my home country, most of the time, I'm speaking in Asia, Middle East, like South America as well. And it's a funny thing. So I actually wanted to whether we're the the Indian speaker superstars that are going to be coming through, they will become superstars not in India, but actually in other places as well. And who knows, let's see, let's see what happens. I mean, we think it I mean, I think just that the not a football fan, but there was a big match here recently. And it was the the, the Egyptian footballer for Liverpool. And you know, he's probably one of the most famous, you know, if you want to go and give a speech, you give a speech on anything in in the UK just now as well. But how much you would get paid? If you give it an easier I'm also Sure. So as I think there's a very interesting kind of inflection point at the moment and anyone that's watching this or listening to this now highly encourage you try and get to the PSA. Professional Speakers Association of India is one of their annual conferences, I believe the next one's happening in, in New Delhi. In Delhi, the first and second effect, fantastic dancer and we'll put some links here to that as well. So just switching things up a little bit. I as a question, I always ask them any speakers that I interview is, what is in your speaker bag? What is it that bag that you carry with you to all of your various speaking engagements, whether you're speaking in Japan or Jakarta, or in Jaipur zoom recording Because bookmarks and my books, and you mentioned your books, so how, because this is something I often think about for speakers you're traveling, I do normally have them shipped in advance to the place that you're speaking in? Or do you try and get the client to buy a certain number of books in advance, or you just you just have a big box that you take with you. I've done drop shipping, my publisher takes care of that. And then certain cases I carry them through with me when it's just a sampler. My experiment with getting the clients to buy it has not been too much of a success. And I don't want to push that that much. And my is a hit. They buy the books themselves on Amazon. So that kind of works out. And do you have an online resource or an app or a tool that you use, you find very important for the work that you do. I love Evernote. And I fell in love with it three years ago was writing my first book. And that's you never know when inspiration will strike your James so it could be for me. I love watching movies and TV series and I have an Evernote called dialogue diaries. So you never know when a dialogue inspires. And I quickly posit write that down. And at least two or three instances, I've had an entire speech come out of that one dialogue because it despise you so much. Fantastic. So just capturing when the idea idea comes to you. And let's imagine proving you have to start again, you have to start from scratch. This time. No one knows who you are, you've you, you have no connections, but you haven't the knowledge that you've acquired over the years of speakers, author and entrepreneur, what would you do? How would you start things, invest in a team invest in automation significantly to build the brand and give value before I sell myself as a speaker? Okay. So that is what I will do it the first thing? Well, I mean, it's been an absolute pleasure speaking with you today. Thanks so much for coming on. I think what you're doing just now with virtual summits, online summits now you're building them and training other people and and I think it's amazing. I really looking forward to seeing the success of these. And especially I know you're doing a lot of them for nonprofits as well, which I see is a big area, that's a lot of opportunity there. What's the best place for people to go to learn more about you, maybe they want to refer you for a speaking opportunity, or they want to learn about your online summits, would be my personal website, pravinshekar.com. Fantastic. I'm going to put those links here as well, proving thank you so much today. I wish you all the best with all the summit's you're doing you're speaking, and I'm looking forward to sharing a stage together at some point in the future. Oh, and thanks a lot James for seeding and sparking the creativity through speakers you it's been a phenomenal learning the last one year, as I said, not just for me, but for my team as well. So heartfelt thanks for all of us here to you, James. keep rocking. How would you like to get paid to travel the world to share your message and expertise? How did it feel to get paid 5000 10,000 $25,000 to travel first class and stay in five star hotels in exotic locations. What I've just described is the lifestyle of international keynote speakers. And you can join me and over 100 of the world's best keynote speakers, and speaker trainers as they reveal their secrets to becoming a better speaker and getting booked to travel the world as a professional keynote speaker and Bestival. As it's an online summit You don't even have to leave home plus it's not going to cost you a single dollar euro pound ruble peso or yen. If you sign up for the free pass at International Speakers Summit calm you're going to receive access to never seen before video interviews over 40 of the world's best keynote speakers. In addition to this, you'll get access to archived interviews from some of last year's summit guests. So in total, you'll be able to watch in depth interviews with over 100 incredible speakers and speaker trainers. You'll have to find a theme for your keynote presentation how to craft your talk how to get booked as a speaker, how much to charge and ways to get paid to speak on stages all over the world. So what are you waiting for? Head over to internationalspeakerssummit.com now

In today's episode of The Speakers Life I talk with Moustafa Hamwi, speaker on passionpreneurship. Please SUBSCRIBE ►http://bit.ly/JTme-ytsub ♥️ Your Support Appreciated! If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on YouTube, iTunes or Stitcher and write a brief review. That would really help get the word out and raise the visibility of the Creative Life show. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW Apple: http://bit.ly/TSL-apple Libsyn: http://bit.ly/TSL-libsyn Spotify: http://bit.ly/TSL-spotify Android: http://bit.ly/TSL-android Stitcher: http://bit.ly/TSL-stitcher Resources Mentioned: Freeing yourself of location and time Buying a one-way ticket to India Seeking your purpose as a speaker Living a life to die for Launching an online talk show Marie Forleo Dr Marshall Goldsmith Doing 30 interviews in one day Co-authoring a book with Brian Tracey Speaker coaching in a taxi to Abu Dhabi You can't have a party on your own Collaboration Co-opetition Creating a culture of service Book: Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, Getting Things Done by David Allen Tools: Omnifocus, Outlook, Calendly, Active Collab https://moustafa.com/ CTA link: https://speakersu.com/the-speakers-life/ FOLLOW ME: Website: https://speakersu.com LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/JTme-linkedin Instagram: http://bit.ly/JTme-ig Twitter: http://bit.ly/JTme-twitter Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/IS-fbgroup Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl029-how-to-launch-your-speaking-career-using-online-interviews/ Hey, there is James Taylor and I'm delighted today to be joined by Moustafa Hamwi. Moustafa Hamwi is considered as one of the world's top experts on the use of passion to spark creativity entice innovation and awaken the entrepreneurial spirit of a true leader. He has been ranked as one of the top 100 leaders of the future by the world's number one executive coach, Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, as well as that he received the nickname as Mr. Passion by the great Tony Busan, who's inventor of mind mapping. It's my great pleasure to have Mr. Phone join us today. So welcome, Moustafa. James, and Hello, all the passionate listeners speakers out there. So share with everyone what's happening in your world today. Where are you in the world today? I am in Uzbekistan, in Tashkent, that's in the Central Asian Central Asian country. And currently doing some work with the government here on acceleration startup acceleration. Part of it is speaking part of it is coaching part of is actually me accelerating my own startup. And we're very close to closing a funding round on a on an epic startup. Amazing. So you've lived in different parts of the world, you were in Dubai, no for a long time as well, you know, as it is Pakistan, as a speaker who could pretty much live anywhere you wanted to why did you choose as Pakistan to use as your as your home base? Well, I mean, it has two sides with first side of it is my wife is was Vic, so that was a no brainer. He just come here, it's easy. But also what I realized for a global lifestyle, and and I talked about this in my book, Lyft, passionately, my upcoming book, you really need to know what's really important for you. So it's easy to say no to what's not important for you. And this way, your dollar gives you a lot more mileage also. So I know what I care for, I know what I don't care about, and everything else in between doesn't really matter. It's all customizable. So being somewhere where you're running expenses are very low. Where you You are not having to pay so much as the main major cities, I realized a big advantage because when I need to go somewhere, I get on a plane and go otherwise, most of my expenses are taken care of a lot lower costs. So that gives you options is that get a sense of freedom. You've seen you talk about passion. And I know a lot of something that that ties a lot of entrepreneurs and speakers is this sense of freedom having this kind of personal freedom is autonomy over how they spend their days and their lives. Well, if you want to be free, you have to free yourself from two things location and time. So as long as you can choose your location and time, the amount of money you need is not a lot. It's just about being smart on how to manage your dollars, which means what an entrepreneur that money goes into business. And then slowly, all personal expenses are becoming business expenses, and kind of you have a merge lifestyle. Of course, that's not for everybody. This is for somebody who truly knows their passion and really wants to live a what I call a lifetime die for you really well, because you got to really know what's important and what's not. That applies for personal life that applies to business. But when you apply to both, and you have clear decision making criteria, even yes or no or negotiations for business deal totally different. Now something we share, we actually share a number of things in common. The first is we both kind of came from the world events, live events. For me it was working with music industry and different password. I know you worked a lot in terms of nightclubs events in Dubai and and didn't pass to the Middle East. And then we made a both made transitions in our careers in terms of being speakers and we both did it pretty fast in terms of getting that first stage up. And something that you did very early on I know that can really help you get known in your field and amongst other speakers and experts was you interviewed 160 leaders, top leaders. First of all, tell me about that, that transition and making that decision to going through something as intense as interviewing all these top leaders. So let me rewind a little bit. I mean, you said I used to run one of the biggest event agencies in Dubai around up until about the crisis 2008 to 2010 and did some consulting and then bought a one way ticket to India on my soul search journey. Meta Swami did the whole kind of a you know, Eat Pray Love monk Who Sold His Ferrari journey without getting into the details. But that journey basically made me come back and seek purpose and seek something more meaningful in my life. Because in my previous life, it was all about the business. And it's great. And you know, events are great, but there's an emptiness at the end of every event. I finished the event and I feel really empty. I'm like all the fun and happiness is gone. And I realized what was missing for me is the impact that the events were leaving. I was in entertainment, I was product launches. I was doing nightlife events, and I was missing purpose. And when I came back, I did one talk called Cavalli to Minnelli about my journey of buying one way ticket leaving on my lifestyle going to India and coming back. And few months later, and that talk was just like one of those TEDx type events. And a few months later, random guy sees me in a hotel walks up to me goes, Hey, you're that speaker guy? I said, Yeah, he goes, you did your talk about India. I said, Yeah, he goes, You changed my life. And I was like, wow, that's what I want to be doing. And and from there on, I'm like, okay, I cancelled all the contracts that I had with me. I'm like, this is what I'm going to be doing full time I start speaking about passion about my journey, I realized companies didn't want to pay me to come and talk about how I bought a one way ticket to India. should have thought about that before I quit. Again, product market fit you you quickly found out that the thing you initially went out with it didn't fit wasn't as good for the market. So then you can have figured out what was good what the market like I mean, listen. Yeah. But here's the thing is I was driven by passion. Eventually I became Mr. Passion. So yeah, on a short term, on a short term, it was not a very good decision. But what it taught me is I was sink or swim situation. So I really had to figure out a solution. So it was a double or nothing, I was either either going to get screwed, go back to what I was doing, which I was not willing to do. I bought a one way ticket to India, I do skydiving for fun. So when you jump out of planes for fun, you pretty much got a couple of screw loose screws loose in your head, and you can really make some crazy decisions sometimes. So I decided I'm like, Listen, I'm I'm in it to win it. I'm not quitting on this, even if it costs me What's the worst that gonna happen? I'm going to die. Guess what I want. I want this is where the whole kind of my motto of life to die for came up where I'm like, Listen, I was fed up with my life one way ticket to India, I don't want to end up in the same situation again, I really want my life to be worth dying for. And if it's going to mean I'm going to die, not succeeding in this, I'm still not quitting on it. This was pretty much my goal. And I had to figure out what the heck am I missing? I'm working hard. My story is genuine. I know I'm here to serve people. I was driven by a guy who said you changed my life when I was a successful business died before but I'm unable to get this business off the ground. What am I doing wrong? And and then within a span of it. So there's a lot that contributed to that. And the first thing is I basically launched an online talk show, because when I started my speaking career, I was just emceeing for for as an opener it was it was a coincidence with with our friend Gautam Galanti right selection, and he had Marshall Goldsmith coming into the event. He was speaking at an event and the MC full class minutes. And he calls me and I said, Okay, you know what, I would love to do it. You know, he goes, Well, listen, we you know, this is pretty much type of the kind of brat co branding work or barter work. So if you want to do it, we're not paying because really an MC is not necessary. For us. It's a luxury event is already a free event. So we really don't accumulate costs and it doesn't need a professional MC. I said, So who's speaking he goes Marshall Goldsmith. I'm like, okay, but I have one condition. You give me five minutes to speak my own speech. So I'm not just the mouthpiece was saying welcome. Hello, everybody. I just want to add value for five minutes. You give me five minutes on the clock. It says fine. Five minutes is ok. I prepared for a full week for those five minutes. Like I've been a full week in not exaggeration as a for a full week. Well, I didn't have much to do remember at the beginning, I was struggling getting jobs also because my story wasn't resonating. And I wasn't really an MC. So I'm not. I'm not an MC, but I'm not a father speaker. And I'm like, boom, this happens. So this was I'm gonna blow this out of the house. There's nothing gonna stop me. One week of preparation, I made an opening that when Dr. Marshall Goldsmith came in, it was like probably the best best intro opening that ever happened in the room. And it was an instant kind of clicked phenomenal. We clicked and we flowed. He was I love the guy. I admire him. He's just a phenomenal thought leader. And that was my break into the speaking because what happened is people were like, Oh, we like this guy. So then then got done with call me the next time and he says, Listen, dude, people like you. Do you want to do this next event? Who's speaking? Oh, Ron Kaufman. Oh, next event who's speaking and with every event, my condition became I want 10 minutes. I want 15 minutes. So you see, I'm I gave my credibility because remember, you're talking to one of the top, you know, Speaker bureaus around represent the listener. So they've got to be really protective of their brands. So So I did all what I could do to make sure every time I'm getting more mileage with the audience and with the Bureau and with the speakers. So on the next but something was still not kicking in because only the people would see me in the room would figure out like, Okay, this guy's great. But I'm not getting that big media exposure around that you post on social media. This, I'm like, you know what, I'm a media guy. Originally, I'm a PR guy and events guy, I want to meet the idea. I'm like, you know what, I was looking ready for your Lewis house, all of them have, you know, interview shows, and so on. But actually Murray folio particularly, I like to be on camera. I know how to handle camera. And I'm like, I was standing there defense. I'm like, I've got Dr. Marshall. I can see camera guys in the back of the room that are already part of the whole Barker of the of the event. So it's kind of everybody's chipped in into the part of the event. I'm like Dr. Marshall, do you mind if I interview you on my show? He's like, Yeah, sure. What are we talking about? I said, passion. It was literally like this because I had transitioned from talking about purpose by buying my one way ticket to India, because that was too heavy for corporates, and I realized fashion is a little bit sexier. People like that a little bit more. So I started speaking about passion. And I'm like, Okay, well, passion is purpose for me. So that's part of my whole definition of fashion. Fashion is purpose so fine. You want to you want to call it passion, let's call it passion, but its purpose for me. And the interview was very unprepared. If you go do it now and watch it with this brief you would see it was literally Hey guys, I'm excited here to have we have Dr. Marshall Goldsmith number of goals number one executive coach and I just rolled on with it literally five minutes on the camera woman that was my first and I'm like, you know what I love this speakers are here. Everybody wants to transit Dubai, it's giving me a flow to put myself out there. And I insisted on my interviews being face to face. Because unlike the podcast, everybody's doing podcast, but not everybody's getting face time with these people. So this is going to be my unique point which is going to put me a notch everybody else was doing podcasts. I'm great on camera, they're loving it, boom, you know, immediate niche area. And then I started getting better and better at it to an extent where I started even traveling around the world to film and interview some of those and that I did to the APS SS Asia professional speaker summit. I flew there and I managed to figure out a way and I to eat interview 30 people in one go in one day. That's heavy duty. Someone is this done those types of things before 30 in one day isn't pretty intense experience if you're the if you're the host you're doing it doing the interviewing, here's the thing I thought I want to challenge myself I'm like maybe I got lucky I had too much coffee that they they were great speakers. And, and and the APS serve me in another way because I delivered the talk there. And and the speakers loved it. And a few of those speakers were on the committee that was running the global speakers summit next year in Oakland. So I get invited to deliver a talk over there also, for two reasons. One of them when I was at the APSS people are like, how long have you been speaking for him? You know, we've got Marshall Goldsmith, calling you world's number of you know, top hundred coaches and Mr. And Tony was on calling. I mean, a lot of those happened during my interviews, you know, my interviews gave me access to become close friends. And I'm NT of Marshall Goldsmith. I co authored the book with Brian Tracy, I got nicknamed mr. cash by Professor Tony bizarre, you know, the amount of of what I got out of those interviews, because I was truly passionate about them. It was not just another interview, I was coughing cash out of my pocket to travel and meet people face to face. So I end up on the global speaker summit. I'm like, I want to see if I can do that again. Can I hit my number again, I did. Again, I did 32 interviews in Australia, not to the global speaker summit. But at the Australia speaker summit. I did 32 interviews, again, which some of them became even my business partners and affiliates. And it was just a system. And this was my event site because I learned that one day as an event, from the minute to the registration, you know how you automate a lot of what we did? Well, I took that to the next level because there's physical interaction. reminders, SMS is guidance and the hotel directional signage is waiting area outside the room, having to having two computers with two chips, while the camera guy finishes with one interview me disconnects it so he doesn't run out of battery and other chips. So I basically spent a little bit more the needed on some costs, but that gave me 200% mileage. So I just know I do this, I can like go for a year worth of interview in 48 hours. And anyone watching or listening to this just now the point we want to get across is imagine if you did want to start with it in your area near you. In every area of topic. There's usually a couple of big conferences a year. What if you did a deal with that conference? And listen, I will be the messenger, I'll be Yeah, I'll be the consultant as part of this. And I'm going to do all these interviews and we'll give you you can do low bashing, even getting space. And we'll give a little bit of content that you can use for social media. And then we take the main the main content, and we can use that as well. So just really quick. And I guess this goes to your entrepreneurial nature. You're very kind of entrepreneurial thing that and I'll give you I'll give the folks are watching this. Another little hint into was DARPA's entrepreneurial nature. I was speaking in Dubai recently. And I was actually one night I was in Dubai one day, Dubai next day, I was in Abu Dhabi. And and you came along, we got a chance to meet and you're obviously your speakers, you remember as well above our speakers, you trade. And we were we were talking about Dubai, but you know, it's like events, they're really busy and like how can we how can we spend some proper time together and focus time together? I knew quickly I said, let's let's share cars together, head back to Abu Dhabi, which is about you know, 75 minutes drive or something. And so basically, together, we talked, we brainstorm for that 75 minutes, I think that's, that's that mindset of being open to being creative, to be innovative, to be open to trying different things and being can improvise ation, I think you're you're someone is very good at that. But something also I've noticed that you're quite different from a lot of other speakers out there. Most of the speakers out there are lone Wolf's me, you might call them. But you've always been pretty good at building teams around what you do to kind of support you and one of those is, yo yo yo speaking you have another part of your business as well, which is all around the publishing side. So describe to people you know that that publishing piece, what that's about and how that can support what you do and how you build a team around that. So we basically I mean, first or to your point about collaboration, I one thing I learned from being in the nightlife, you cannot have a party on your own. You know, it is unfortunate a lot of a lot of the speaking industry is changing. But there is a lot of it, as you said that everybody is in that lone wolf space, and they feel lonelier and lonelier. And they don't like it, but they don't know the solution. And the solution is just understand that the pie is big enough for everybody. The business is evolving. You don't know who's going to help you. And I like to call that competition. You know, yeah, we kind of compete, but it's a sport at the end of the day. I don't hate the person who's racing with me in the race. He's got a you know, good luck to the best Professor may the best women If not, it's a sport, you know, I win some you win some, there's enough for everybody. And we grow an industry, that's always been my thinking. And I come from that space. So in the in the journey of getting myself acknowledged, yes, the interviews are great for me. And the more I did, the better I did. And by the way, another use of all of this interviews is now we have a system where we distill those into books. So my upcoming book live passionately, is pretty much a distillation of those hundred and 60 interviews. Some people I actually interviewed twice, once one was about like Dr. Marshall I interviewed twice, one was about passion. The second interview, I actually did a spin off version, which I haven't released to the market yet, but 30 episodes around the world the secrets of the world's most passionate speakers, because I want to know how fashion contributes to making you a better speaker. So it's just that, you know, I already have in the pipeline. So many books out of these interviews, so much social media content, so much like it's been almost a year, I haven't added new content, because I have so much content that I can recycle and cut and chop and play. And with. It's an asset base, and I made some amazing contacts. So I'm like, one thing is missing. A lot of people have I mean, I have a differentiating factor on the video and the personal and the quality and all of this. But here's the thing. Still, everybody's got online content. Everybody's got videos, everyone's got podcast. So you you would it gives me an aha, when somebody sees this, these numbers and they see me next to them. But until they do your drowned in the crowd of internet of everybody interviewing everybody to be everybody, I'm like, I need something else to step up my game. So in one year, I became one of the acknowledged as one of the top hundred coaches in the world. Second year, I speak at the global speakers summit as always great. But there's something else that needs to set me apart. Because as you said, I got in there, I found the industry, not generally but you know, some people, some people not necessarily collaborative. And I'm like, Well, I'm used to working with people. So I don't know what to do, I need to stand out a little bit from the rest. And I realized all those major speakers were authors. And I had seen that Brian Tracy co authored books. So when I interviewed him, I'm like, perfect opportunity. I'm like, Brian, I love you know, I'm a fan of yours. We've been working, I've done a couple of times with him when he came with became very close friends. And I said, How can I co authored a book with you? And then he offered me a solution. So we worked on that collaborative book. And then I became an author. And that immediately took me from just a speaker, because yes, there CSP and all of that. But until you do it, anybody can call themselves a speaker. And I'm like, how can I take that a level up. And the book made me an author, and an author really requires you to produce a book, it's not as simple as calling yourself a speaker, although not all speakers are made equal. But an author gave me that step up above the rest of the speakers that were around. So it made it easier for a client to say, you know, what, if they haven't seen me live before, they would say, well, this guy's an author, he's a, I always say author equals authority. So then a lot of people started coming to me and saying, What's the for? How did you do your book, you know, and then we came up with ways of helping people. And next thing I found myself is producing those books for a lot of the speakers and experts and entrepreneurs that I worked around. And we have multiple solutions, where one of them we could take the interviews, if we structured and coach on how to run these interviews, pre planned, all of those get converted and become a book. And other solution that I collaborate with, with with another partner of mine who I met on one of my interviews where we do a recording system. So as a speaker can come to us give us a we work with them on creating a template, and a blueprint of the book. And then all they do is just record it using their iPhone. And guess what all we need is about five hours, that's not too much for a speaker, five hours of speaking would give you a 200 page book, if done in structured well. And this is something that we've mastered now by producing a lot of books using that analogy, and we do it turnkey. I'm like listen, if somebody is wanting to nickel and dime, they're not my client, I don't want to deal with them, I came up with a mentality of Listen, just put money in invest, if it's an investment, spending a few hundred dollars, or $1,000 more is not going to break the bank. You make money by being on stage, you make money by being an entrepreneur. So really don't haggle. Let us do our job. So I can pay everybody very well around me in the teams that I'm dealing with. So they can give you an internet service. You come to us, you work with us on an idea. Six months later, you have a book printed and delivered to your doorstep wherever you are in the world. And we set up an author page for you. And we set up videos and we do the whole shebang. So thank you solution. So this is really the two things that differentiate us is the fact that we can take your words and convert them into a book in a systemized process. And we do it very cost efficiently, very fast and end to end. So you don't have to worry about the little details. I think something else that you pointed out there. I mean, I love the idea of this competition. And I am a huge believer in that as well. Not just in the speaking but from other business I've been involved in as well. I'm a big there's, there's, there's more than enough business out there followers. And it's about how we build a UC boat, you know, increases the size of the pie. But in doing that you also wreck it you're recognizing who your kind of ideal customers were you said, I want to be what we saw in this nickel and dimed. I remember talking to you before, obviously, there's there's lots of solutions out there for people go to work with a publisher to publish whatever it is, yeah, I mean, there's all there's services out there. But you've picked up something which I think is is definitely strong in the in the Middle East, like places like UAE, and also in number of other countries as well. And when you're working with more C suite people as well, they want a service, they don't want to be going in there setting up their Amazon KDP accounts or you know, all these kind of things that you have to do. They just say, I just want to hire the best, I want to be able to work with that. So you've identified your, your place in the market, your ideal type of customer there as well. And yeah, there's other people out there that let the competition have have them I that's not the customer that I'm I'm trying to go for as well. I'm just pulling back a little bit to your your speaking side, though. So you've been building all these things, the video side during that branding that way, you've been, obviously, publishing pieces, going back to the actual the core of the speaker and getting up onto those stages can tell us about a time when you, you you out there, you're giving a speech, you're working on something, and you put everything into it, for some reason didn't work out like you'd hoped. And more importantly, what was the lesson you took from that experience. So you're talking about every single event know you're living in a dream world of everything goes according to plan. But I've been doing events in different angles, whether on stage or off stage for about 20 years, another single time it goes according to plan. I mean, it goes perfect to plan and something else goes wrong somewhere else, you know, some odd guy opens the door and walks through halfway through the presentations. There it is, is something that's the fun. But I had I had a couple of of good learnings to say on my journey being being a perfectionist, and being so passionate and wanting to always stand out. And what I do, I kind of complicated my life a little bit with the quality of the presentations that I deliver from a fact that they're a little bit more complex that require everything to be theatrically organized. So everything has to be exactly where it's meant to be because I put so much energy and passion to it. And it's more like kind of a show on fire I'm putting it in. So I need a pretty much full production team for something like this. And this is something at this scale, when you go up is what Tony Robbins does. He's got a he's got a front of house team, you know, maybe 2030 people in the back room. It's a rock rock concert type of production. So because of that my presentation runs in an order where I speak in a certain way. So I need my computer in a certain position and I need certain connections. So yeah, talk about being a prima donna in a way. But that definitely makes a huge impact on my business. And at the beginning, I first year, always still but first year, I had almost zero error margin on everything had to be perfect to the point. And guess where the biggest mess up always happens is not relating to you relating somebody else. So you know, somebody from the technical team thought they knew better. Although I asked for something, they provide something else and, and I have a they're like, oh, I'll give me your presentation. I'm like I'm running on a keynote on a Mac, you're running off a PC on PowerPoint, you're talking to me about two days worth of work of redoing a full presentation to give it to you with the animations and everything. It's not going to happen now. I lost my temper and kind of a bit, you know, started kind of yelling at the AV guys and everything. Because it was a big project for me. And they kind of screwed up royally because I was going to go on stage and be below average to see my presentation is not functioning, the the transitions, the fonts, the colors, everything was out. And I had spent a lot of time and money on this. So in a way, that was not really good because it also caused a bit of tension and friction around and of course, the client came and interviewed and he was apologizing. But it brought a lot of unnecessary tension and friction. So I kept on trying to develop a detailed technical writer, then I realized the guys never read it, then I started adding up on the bottom you have to sign I want to know who's the actual person and get their number. So I can call them in on that density or myself. But the end of the day, I'm like, well still messed up. So eventually I'm like, you know what, I started transforming a lot of the things that I started carrying my own stuff, you don't have an HDMI cable, I have a 10 meter HDMI cable wherever I go, you don't have clicker, I have four or five clickers, I have all the adapters, I have all the card readers, I pretty much carry a very heavy bag when I go but I'm like at the expense of losing the energy and the flow. And I made it now something that's a KPI for me that the experience for everybody involved in the event is great. So so and that that became apparent on when a few clients recently the Pfizer didn't invent for Pfizer and buckle in as our vision. And they send me an email. And that was for me like, yes, it took me a couple of years. I'm like, what, what is it that you enjoyed, he says, we got amazing feedback from everybody that was available not only about your talk, the experience of your you being with us in the event from beginning to end, you You came before you stayed after for lunch, you talk to people, the whole experience. And that was a big aha, because you know, evolving from being just about the speaking were fine. I mastered my craft of, you know, putting myself as one of the top in the world in what I do and what I deliver. But then I started moving horizontally as a business and saying, What's my customer experience? And this is something I've benefited when I interviewed Ron Kaufman, you see the value of these interviews is not only about media, when you're doing it with old heart, you're learning you're sitting with the world's best of the best looking them in the eye and asking straight questions. Those hundred and 60 interviews made me a different person. And I evolved from being just a speaker just thinking of myself as a business. And I'm like, what's my customer experience from the beginning? They want to book me to the, to the minute they finished everything. And yes, sometimes the technicals are not going to go perfect, but I've made up for it in so many ways, my speaking is already above average, I'm happy there, let's not complicate it and use the energy in other areas. And essentially, I mean, that that you're absolutely like creating that entire experience. So when the teams after the event when they all do their debriefs as well, and so you know, the speakers Mustapha, yeah, fantastic, you know, really delivered, and also great, because he came in before, and he was speaking to the sponsors, and all that kind of that actually all adds up to a huge amount. And I think when it comes to technology, I'm the same as you I'm, I'm a bit of a perfectionist and a lot of things. And so I carry my pad with me, my bag goes with me all the speaking gigs, even though it adds all the weight to the luggage we carry. And I 100, I had to kind of make a decision because I was getting more and more levels of complexity in the types of presentations I wanted to give, and you get certain places I'm in Saudi Arabia speaking recently. And it just that AV team just going to happen. No, it would affect so I've actually moved completely back the other way. And simple, you know, very simple fonts as well, because that's, you know, especially if you're moving back and forth between Macs and things, I can get screwed up sometimes. And I've actually been going a little bit more more minimalist and then trying to then in terms of presentation, the visual presentation is more minimalist. So I can then amp up the actual me the me bit on stage and interaction with the audience. And so yeah, so it's a it's funny, that blend about what's right for you, because sometimes you can go to those events. I spoke at one last week. And abt were awesome. Like, they were just component like, everything was like we knew it before we needed it. But then that's no. But remember, early on I, I didn't know what I didn't know. And the only but I was playing was as a speaker. So really, my goal, you know, I had a certain goal. I'm like, I am going to be one of the best in what I do. Not only because I'm you know, I believe I'm a good natural born speaker, but also their skill you see in passion mastery I talked about you know, there's there's talent, there's knowledge and their skill. A lot of people depend on talent and talents is not not enough. Talent can make you hustle, but you don't play top. You don't play top sports. And you know what I learned this, I did an interview with Tasha Denver's she's a two time Olympian, US Olympian team. So on one of my interviews, she said, she said, she said, you know, in Olympics, everybody's good. You know, it's like, Who do you think you are, you're competing for a split second. So really, it's a it's about a lot more than just how good of a runner you are, there's so many other things around it. And, and being a great international speaker is a lot more than just being a great speaker. It's how you I've seen it, you know, I this is why I love we flipped. Well, it's like, the system ization and how you conduct business as a business not just as a speaker, and funny coming from an events guy and a serial entrepreneur. But at that time, I wanted to build my skill set as the talent as the speaker, and I got it to somewhere my learning is to the other speakers is that try to look at what else represents you as a business person. And what other touch points because it's not only about speaking, it is about you delivering an experience end to end with your speaking because you're brought in to be an inspire a trigger, a provocative thought leader. So really, it's not just about what you say, or how you say it. And it's not just about what happens on stage. What are you giving away, for example, I started throwing in a lot of freebies, online courses, book stuff. So really think about how do you engage to develop fans while you're speaking not just while you're on stage. So a couple of final questions for me. First of all, what if you do recommend one book, your author yourself, but not one of your books, a book that could help any speakers watching this on your developing their craft on the business or mindset? What would that one book be? Very good question. Well, aside from my books, obviously. But if you see, I believe that the Bible of personal development for me is Think and Grow Rich, you can you can never, you know, you can never go wrong with that. It's you study it, you read it, you think about it, because everything that's there makes you a better leader in your own life in every aspect. And when you're at that level, the same thing, when you go to a level where you're playing International, it's not how good of a speaker you are, when you go to a global speakers summit, and you're mingling with all the great speakers, you think, okay, I'm better than this. And this, but this is better than me and this guy that this and this guy did that. So really, you have to find the totality of you are and be so congruent as an inspirational figure, not as an inspirational speaker. Because it's not just about delivering the message, it's about your energy, when you come into the room, what energy do you bring in when you arrive? I'm like, I'm buzzing all the time with this passion that what I'm coming in is the fashion not because of a video or not because of I made it my niche. I'm living it with everything that I'm doing. And I'm so passionate about. So if somebody wants to make themselves Mr. or Mrs. Organization, they very freakin organized in every aspect from the minute you touch every email with them up until after that. And this is where the biggest gap, I believe happens. And this is not going to come from reading a single book about skill set. This is going to come from reading things that create you as a greater person. There's a lot of books that I can recommend. But I'd say anything that you feel enhances you. Productivity wise, I would definitely suggest getting things done by David Allen because you cannot run a successful business. If you don't know how to manage your time solo printers and entrepreneurs or speaker printers, small organizations efficiency is a make or break deal for you. And am I getting things done? When it comes to tools? Are there any tools that you use apps online tools? Do you find very useful for the work? You do? Yeah, I do. I mean, basically, in conjunction with getting things done, by the way, because these tools mean nothing's like a knife if I give you a knife, but you don't know how to fight with a knife. So so the tools that I use is I use only focus as a to do list system and I use Outlook for my emails and folders. Whichever calendar whether Microsoft Outlook or icon, I can leave this is mainly how I manage everything and it has to sit somewhere. It's the way that I make these things work together is where the magic is the connections as well as the way when we set up a system with everything gallantly Of course you can go wrong, you know, Kalonji? absolutely lovely, how much time without what other recommend is active cola. Yeah, active cola was a very simple was base camp is very similar to base camp, depending, but use one of them. One thing a lot of speakers don't do is actually they don't build it as a project business. And at the end of the day, this business model is pure time. And the more time you waste per project, the more messy things happen, your business falling apart. That's great. Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for coming on today on to the show. If people want to connect with you learn more about you as a speaker, but also maybe learn about the publishing side, the passion printing and publishing and maybe working together on a book. where's the best place to go to find out about all of that, so everything they can divert to everything by coming to my website, monster for.com. That's mousdafa.com talk about personal branding. I went for my name.com that was a that was a six month negotiation. So what's the dot com and then from there, they can either go to the services and look up for fashion printer publishing or just go to fashion printer publishing.com and they will learn more about the books but if they want just email me fellow speakers, I'll take care of you personally. So email me directly. My email is Mr. Mr. Father's concerts drop me a line and I would love to support anybody that comes speakers, you will make sure they get a phenomenal deal on the on their publishing packages. Number one, because they came through you for sure not and fellow speaker you members, but also because of the competition concept that I say, you know, you need more you need bigger, bigger, bigger, more professional speakers that have the business card that that that make themselves stand out from the rest of the speakers is the same as a CSP. You know, CSP stands out from other speakers and an author would stand out from other speakers. So I want to create more of those. Welcome, Stephen, thank you so much for making that offer to everyone that's watching just now. Thank you so much for coming on the show. I wish you all the success. We are speaking I'm looking forward to it will be sharing a stage I'm sure at some point in the future somewhere in the world. And have a wonderful, wonderful week. Thank you very much. The thanks to you and to all speakers, you fellow members. How would you like to get paid to travel the world to share your message and expertise? How did it feel to get paid 5000 10,000 $25,000 to travel first class and stay in five star hotels in exotic locations. What I've just described is the lifestyle of international keynote speakers. And you can join me and over 100 of the world's best keynote speakers, and speaker trainers as they reveal their secrets to becoming a better speaker and getting booked to travel the world as a professional keynote speaker and Bestival. As it's an online summit You don't even have to leave home plus it's not going to cost you a single dollar euro pound ruble peso or yen. If you sign up for the free pass at International Speakers Summit calm you're going to receive access to never seen before video interviews over 40 of the world's best keynote speakers. In addition to this, you'll get access to archived interviews from some of last year's summit guests. So in total, you'll be able to watch in depth interviews with over 100 incredible speakers and speaker trainers. You'll have to find a theme for your keynote presentation how to craft your talk how to get booked as a speaker, how much to charge and ways to get paid to speak on stages all over the world. So what are you waiting for? Head over to internationalspeakerssummit.com now. #SpeakersLife #ProfessionalSpeaking

In today's episode of The Speakers Life I share a powerful tip on how to stand out as a speaker. Josh Linkner Phil M. Jones Being hyper-responsive SOP's Speaker bureaus   Artificial Intelligence Generated Transcript Below is a machine-generated transcript and therefore the transcript may contain errors. Is James Taylor he a keynote speaker and founder of SpeakersU. Today I want to give you a little tip on how to stand out in a crowded marketplace of other speakers. So something I learned from Josh Linkner and Phil M. Jones was this idea of being hyper responsive and changing modalities. So let me explain what I mean by that. You'd be amazed a number of speakers that lose speaking gigs, because they're not quick enough to respond to that inquiry that comes in. So last night, for example, I had an inquiry that came in via email into my inbox about an inquiry about speaking somewhere in South America, I immediately jumped on a call, I call the number that was on there that they'd left and starts having a conversation with that client about their event, a client was blown away by how hyper responsive I was. And also, it just should, I was respectful and valued their time and their inquiry. So here's how to ensure that you're always hyper responsive, and you can stand out because you'd be amazed at number of speakers, it might take a day, two days or a week to respond to that inquiry. The first thing is, if you have some type of alert that maybe has on your phone and SMS, or some type of ping, that kind of goes on your phone, every time you get an inquiry, and I would immediately try and jump on a phone call with that client. If you can do that, let's imagine this the middle of night for you. And if you have a team, create a standard operating procedure, an ESOP, a checklist and some standard email responses that your team can then send to that client so they can get back straightaway. And sometimes while even do is if I'm about to jump on a long haul flight, I'll respond immediately to the to the client to the inquiry. And in that, I'll say, Hey, thank you so much for inquiring me about speaking at your event. I am available for this that date, but what I'd like to do is introduce you to x from this speaker Bureau, who can discuss fees, etc, and move things forward. So what you're doing there is you're helping to move the conversation forward. And even while you're on that flight a while you're speaking someone could be booking that speaking gig for you. So that's my tip for today. Hello, stand out is to be hyper responsive. This episode of the Speakers Life is sponsored by Espeakers. The innovative platform that connects speakers will event organizers and associations. Espeakers provides cutting edge tools that will elevate your online presence. streamline your speaking business and maximize your exposure in the Speaking industry with over 15 years in the business 10,000 speakers in their community and over 20,000 events managed annually each Espeakers is the preferred choice for top speakers. You can create your own profile on a Espeakers today by going to speakersu.com/Espeakers.

In today's episode of The Speakers Life, filmed in Stockholm, I show you how to collaborate with other professional speakers to grow your speaking business. Building a bigger pie Fredrik Haren Referrals Recommendations Content collaboration Co-authored books Online Summits To learn about more ways to sell your speaking programs join the SpeakersU waitlist at https://speakersu.com/s-sum/ Artificial Intelligence Generated Transcript Below is a machine-generated transcript and therefore the transcript may contain errors. Hey, there is James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today I'm in Stockholm in Sweden talk to you about the power of collaboration. This week, I've been hanging out with my good friend Frederik Haren. And it was a global keynote speaker on creativity. And he also owns his own personal island not far from here. So we're having a fun few days just hanging out, you know, food together, sharing speakers stories, and also talking about collaboration, different ways to collaborate. Now, where I am just now I'm actually speaking to you from the Grand Hotel. in Stockholm. It's a really famous hotels where the Nobel Prize winners state when they receive a Nobel Prize, and lots of really famous people, you know, presidents and prime ministers and movie stars have stayed here, over the years wonderful hotel. But yesterday, I was at the Nobel Prize Museum, as I was walking around, I noticed how many of these Prize winners were winning them, you know, maybe two people were winning them together, they were they were collaboration, they were winning them as collaborators together, I have something that's an area that we don't really do enough office speakers how we can collaborate. So we can together we can create something pretty amazing. So have a think about that just now as a speaker, ways you could potentially collaborate with people you may consider just now to be your competitors, who others other speakers are speaking the same topic as you that you could reach out and discuss ideas on how to collaborate. And there are a number of different ways you can collaborate together as speakers. And one of the simplest is, let's say if you get inquiries that come in, and sometimes you can't do an inquiry, because you're not available to do that. What about just referring that to your competitor, the speaker, and they could do the same for you very simple. Another way you could do it is, let's say you could you work out a deal where maybe the other speaker, two months after they give a speech at a particular conference, they can reach out to that conference organizers and say, Thanks so much, again, for having me speaking your event. up probably already starting to plan your next event, I'd like to suggest a speaker to you let me introduce such and such that that's because especially if you're a keynote speaker, it's very rare that you're going to get asked to come back to the same conference The next year, or even the year after that. So there's an opportunity here for you to refer someone actually to help out that conference organizer. Now, sometimes I know some speakers, what they'll do is they'll actually do commissions on that. And they'll receive a commission for referring someone. In my case, the way I usually think about it is I'm happy to to refer someone and maybe they'll come back and good karma. And they might refer me for something as well, doesn't matter. You can have commissions, you don't have to commissions, there's no particular way that you have to do it. But nothing is a nice practice to do to be able to refer someone if you really truly believe in them that they would be the best person best speaker for that job. And another area is around content, about critical creating content together. So many of your competitors are speaking the same area, they might speaking the same topic as you but they come at it from a completely different perspective. So what about co authoring a book together? What about co creating an online summit together? What about producing a report of some sort together? What you're doing there? as Robert Cabot said it from NSA is about you growing the pie? How you let's see if your if your topic is on self leadership, if you get a number of self leadership leaders and the speakers together, to write and talk together and collaborate together in order to grow the topic of self leadership, it's not self serving, it's serving the group is growing that pie. And that's what I was thinking as I watched, where trend this Nobel Prize museum and so all of these incredible inventions that have come up, these ideas have been generated because of collaboration. My name is James Taylor. Thanks for watching. This episode of the Speakers Life is sponsored by Espeakers. The innovative platform that connects speakers will event organizers and associations. Espeakers provides cutting edge tools that will elevate your online presence. streamline your speaking business and maximize your exposure in the Speaking industry with over 15 years in the business 10,000 speakers in their community and over 20,000 events managed annually each Espeakers is the preferred choice for top speakers. You can create your own profile on a Espeakers today by going to speakersu.com/Espeakers.

In today's episode of The Speakers Life I show you how to help speaker bureaus sell your speaking programs. Training speaker bureaus to sell-up Example of German speaking enquiry Discovery call Dealing with objections Artificial Intelligence Generated Transcript Below is a machine-generated transcript and therefore the transcript may contain errors. Hey guys, James Taylor here, founder of the SpeakersU. Today I want to share with you a piece of advice on how to help speaker bureaus to sell you. A speaker bureaus are an amazing resource. But as a speaker's, I heard a statistic the other day, which said that 75% of speaking gigs at pay over $15,000 are being booked by speaker bureaus. So if you want to be in one of those kind of highly paid speakers, you're going to be doing a lot of work with Speaker bureaus. So one of the things we have to think about is when working with a speaker Bureau, we need to be able to give them the tools and the words to use in order to best sellers, it's called selling up to give that that speak up, you're the agent of that Bureau, all everything that they need in order to help sell you to their prospective client. And I want to give you a little story, and this happened to me last week, and it was something I actually never done before, but actually is going to something I'm going to do a lot more with some of the speak of yours, and you speak of yours I work with. So I received an email came in from a perspective, a client, they were a company, a global company, and they were doing an event in northern Germany. And they contacted me because they were said, Hey, James, we would love to have you come and speak at our event in Germany. And we think you're the perfect speaker, because you speak on this topic. And I noticed you've spoken to some of our competitive companies in the past as well. Great. Now I could easily have just jumped on a call with that client and look to close the deal that way. In fact, you are always or nearly always your best salesperson, you know, your topic really well. You know, your presentation really well. You know what the problems often of that particular client on how that can relate to what you can deliver the value that you can provide. However, in order to scale, we need to take what's in your head, and help put that into the mind of a speaker appear that speak of your agent. So I received this email from this client in Germany. And instead of just merely jumping on a call with that client, I did something slightly different. So I responded to it. And I said, Hi there. Thanks so much for inquire me inquiring about me speaking at your event, I am available on that particular date. In order to move things ahead. I'd like to set up a call with me, you. And this person from this speaker's bureau is a new speaker beer that had worked with before we just started building a relationship together. They hadn't actually sent any work my way as yet. No problem. The client comes back. Yeah, that'd be great. Let's do it. We do it two o'clock tomorrow. So I contacted the speaker's bureau, we set up a time we did a group conference call was a three way call with me, the prospective client and agent from the speaker's bureau. And the way that we ran that call was very similar to the way that I would run almost any discovery call, the only thing I did slightly different is when it came to talking about pricing, I actually let the speaker's bureau speak on my behalf. So this is how the call went, we started the call, all three of us are on the call. I asked the client about their event, what the theme was for their event, what the length about previous speakers, they booked in the past that kind of common things that we teach our speakers you on how to do a discovery call. And as I'm speaking them and saying, okay, that's great, here's how I think I can help that event. And I actually go into how I structure my presentations, the value that my presentation gives, what the key takeaways, actionable. Those are how the people are going to feel when you hear me speak on the stage. As I'm speaking to that prospective client, the speaker's bureau is listening in to the entire conversation. Now he's been hearing from me, how I like to sell myself, what the what the often the words and the phrases that I'm using, when when that prospective client comes back and ask well, what about this, we have a particular challenge around this, how can your speech help on that? Then the Bureau's hearing me talk about that, how I can help in that way how I can tailor my talk to really serve this particular client. And then we can go through all the questions I asked I share with them the value that I can bring as a speaker why they should be booking me as a speaker for their event. And then when it gets the thing about Now, can we should we talk about fees, we should have our pricing? And the client says yes, let's talk about fees. And I say, let me hand you over to the speaker of your agent who can talk to you about that sort of thing. He handles all that and the contracts and everything. And now he on the call starts talking to the client, about me as a speaking why charge and, and all the various things there. Now, this point, the client starts to push back a little bit, they say well, that's, that's a lot of money for, for, you know, this 45 minute speech, for example. But then the bureau really starts coming in and adding the value that they can add. So well. Think about it, you know, you've had previous speakers in the past who haven't worked out so well for you, and you've, and maybe you paid them a little bit less, but they haven't really delivered your event. And then that reflects badly on you as the person is organizing that conference. So I'm standing back, I'm not saying a word at this point. And the the Bureau and the client are talking to each other. And the other thing I'm able to do here is I'm also able to listen to the Bureau and hear how they handle objections when it comes to fees. Very, very useful to be able to just listen in, what the words they using, how the strategy, the way that the the the deal with the client when the client has certain objections. So we do that, that's all great. You get the end of the call, and it will spin up fantastic call, you know, when you're in a position now to confirm the date, or do you need to, you know, confer with some of your colleagues and said, I'm actually going to confer with some of my colleagues, no problem, when when can we set up the next call. And then what ended up doing is actually the Bureau and the client did client scheduled a call for later that day, as well. So I can now stand out the picture a little bit, and let the two of them just kind of go through some negotiation side of things. And the reason I want to share with you the number of important things happened here. The first important thing is that it goodwill to Bureau to a new bureau I had worked with before, by essentially giving them a cake giving them a piece of work which they can take a commission on. The second thing that happened is the Bureau is able to hear how I like to sell myself what value I add, as I speak, I speak on creativity, innovation, artificial intelligence. These are different areas. So you really got to understand what my presentations all about the value that adds. And the third thing I got to understand was how to deal with objections from a pro This is a speak of your agent who's been in the business for 25 plus years, has had lots of discovery calls with prospective clients, and is very good at dealing with objections, especially objections around pricing. So I'm using this as a learning opportunity. So think about this next time you get an inquiry in instead of immediately jumping on the phone and doing that call that discovery call with that client. What about if you invited a bureau to join on that call? And okay, you you give the bureau that piece of work. But it's a real win win win, because you're learning lots, the Bureau is learning lots. And also, the the client is going to get great service because it's not just us also about the Bureau's able to come in and add value from their side as well. So that's my piece of advice is essentially helping a bureau to sell you to sell up. My name is James Taylor. Thanks for watching. This episode of the Speakers Life is sponsored by Espeakers. The innovative platform that connects speakers will event organizers and associations. Espeakers provides cutting edge tools that will elevate your online presence. streamline your speaking business and maximize your exposure in the Speaking industry with over 15 years in the business 10,000 speakers in their community and over 20,000 events managed annually each Espeakers is the preferred choice for top speakers. You can create your own profile on a Espeakers today by going to speakersu.com/Espeakers.

In today's episode of The Speakers Life I talk about how to achieve mastery in your professional speaking by using the ancient Japanese concept of Takumi. How to go from good to great as a professional speaker The concept of Takumi (60,000hrs) Learning your craft Finding your purpose Leaving your mark In harmony with the future Why you should get a coach or mentor SpeakersU membership Artificial Intelligence Generated Transcript Below is a machine-generated transcript and therefore the transcript may contain errors. This is James Taylor here keynote speaker and founder of SpeakersU. How do you go from good to great as a professional speaker? How do you achieve mastery in your professional speaking, there's a wonderful phrase that they have in Japan is called tech Kumi. Now you've probably already heard of Malcolm Gladwell, his concept of the 10,000 hour rule to become skilled and expert in something you need to do 10,000 hours. Well, in Japan, they go a step further, they have this concept of tech who me people who achieved 60,000 hours in their chosen profession, or their craft 10,000 to 60,000. Once you get the 60,000 you have achieved real mastery, whether that's as a chef or as a professional speaker. So let's talk about what happened has to happen. Each of those big milestones within that 60,000 the first 10,000 hours in what you do, is about learning your craft. So in the case of professional speaking, is about developing your stage skills is about how to use your voice how to use your body on stage is about how to create that almost perfect speech is about learning your craft. You know, sometimes people come to me on my own coaching when I coach with them and they asked James What should I be should be trying to find my my big idea first or should I be just going to get out the starting to develop my skills I always say start with the craft first. As you go through developing your craft the ideas about what you really want to speak about what your core topic what your niches your USP will start to develop because that's the next 20,000 hours or 20,000 hours you find your purpose. So craft and then discovering your purpose at 20,000 hours. A 20,000 hours you'll have done enough speaking to have you know the basics have been very good on the stage. And also to find what you like and what you don't like what topics you enjoy speaking about what reverberates with you and also an audience, what kind of audience sizes you like speaking to what type of audiences he likes been wearing the world you like speaking all this helps you discover your purpose, so 10,000 hours learning your craft 20,000 hours is finding your purpose than a 40,000 hours, it's really about leaving your mark. So really, you've learned your craft, you found the purpose, what you want to speak about. But then you need to leave your mark. It's about creating something which is uniquely you, you're going to lead to the world you could argue is your legacy. For example, you know, I think about some of the great speakers in the world, people that have left their mark, people like Ziegler, for example, or who like Sally hawks are talking about fascination. They've done all those thousands 10s of thousands of hours, and then now left their mark on the world of professional speaking, but other people to learn from them and leaving their mark on the world. So you got 10,000 20,000 40,000 and then we go to our 60,000 hours, 60,000 hours in speaking imagine how long how many hours and the level of commitment and mastery you have a 65 Average, when you get the 60,000 hours, but academies is all about having harmony with the future is about really understanding what your place is being in the world. So you've left your legacy. And it's about being open. It's almost like having that beginner's mind be open to new ways, new ideas, new ways of taking things. In my case, I speak about creativity and artificial intelligence, very ancient concept of creativity and a very new concept of artificial intelligence, I look to bring those things together and an idea I called Super creativity. So for me, I'm always thinking of how to get harmony with the future, how my ideas can work 50 years ahead, hundred years ahead. So that's the concept of being at the Academy. Now, the other thing that's very important without the roomies is having this master and apprentice type of relationship, someone that you can look to a mentor that you can look to that can help take you through These different thousands of hours as you develop your craft and your your skills as a speaker and find your purpose, you know, there was a great movie I remember watching as a kid, The Karate Kid, with Mr. Miyagi, you know, wash on, wash off a year, watch that movie. And I often think about that. And I think how important is to have a mentor someone who is not just saying, this is the way to go, you know, this is how to do it. There's also someone that can say, actually, don't go down this path just now. Someone who has the scars of having done it themselves. And this is what I do in my speakers. You program. I work with speakers all around the world, who are different levels of their speaking someone just getting started. They haven't done their first thousand hours and speaking others who are really developing the craft, the 10,000 others who announced are finding their purpose what they want to speak about the USP there. Then there's a mother who and now they've got very experienced speakers, it's about leaving their mark. Maybe they're transitioning the changing what they think speak about. And then there's a few number of speakers I work with, who are at that 60,000 hours they are the keys of the professional speaking world. And for them, it's about this idea of bringing harmony with the future. So I hope you find that useful. This idea of mastery going from good to excellent. My name is James Taylor. Thanks for watching. This episode of the Speakers Life is sponsored by Espeakers. The innovative platform that connects speakers will event organizers and associations. Espeakers provides cutting edge tools that will elevate your online presence. streamline your speaking business and maximize your exposure in the Speaking industry with over 15 years in the business 10,000 speakers in their community and over 20,000 events managed annually each Espeakers is the preferred choice for top speakers. You can create your own profile on a Espeakers today by going to speakersu.com/Espeakers.

Learning and growth as a professional speaker The privilege of speaking Inside track Multiple industries, multiple perspectives Artificial Intelligence Generated Transcript Below is a machine-generated transcript and therefore the transcript may contain errors. Hey there James Taylor here keynote speaker and founder of SpeakersU. Today I'm on my way to Singapore to Asia professional speakers convention. Before I go, I thought I would share with you something I've found really impactful for myself as a speaker, my learning and growth. And I think it's, we don't talk enough about this, this is as a privilege that we get to do as a speakers. And that's the ability when we go and speak in organizations, we kind of get a bit of an inside track on how that organization works, we also get to learn a lot about an industry in a pretty short period of time. So for example, I do about 50 keynotes a year to all different types of conferences, all types of different organizations. And and so normally what happens is I arrive in the before. And I'll be sitting in the room for a lot of internal meetings, that organizations having maps, listening to some of the other speakers or the guest speakers that they bring in talk about the specific topics of that conference, not always related to what I speak on innovation and creativity and AI, but they may be speaking about political changes are going on how that affects finance. And we'll be talking about technological things, big geopolitical, economic changes are going on. So imagine that every year, if you speak 50 times a year, you get to go in and, and learn from 50 completely different types of organizations and associations and conferences. So you know, this week alone, I've just been in Bogota, Colombia. And I had a fantastic time with the team there from invest in Bogota, learning all about BP, oh, outsourcing and Nia sourcing, and how that's all developing in Latin America, just before that I was in Beirut, Lebanon, speaking there. After that I was learning all around the challenges that Chief Information Officers have talked about some of the political things that are going on in that part of the region as well. And then before that, I was in Istanbul, talking with HR professionals and sitting in sessions, learning from some of the best HR people in the world. And then before that I was in Dubai, with some incredible lawyers learning about some big economic changes are going and going on technological changes how that's affecting the law. And then before I was in Brazil, and Ecuador, was because metrics companies and banks, I got a chance to sit down with the chairman of Qatar National Bank, finance bank in Istanbul. And we talk about 30 minutes. And we talk about some really big things I can have going on in the world of big trends. So I think this is a hugely undervalued part of what we get to do as speakers and also the insights that we get to bring in to organizations because we're having all these conversations all the time, we're learning across multiple industries, usually from very senior people in those organizations. So we're always at the front of what's going on. So I think this is hugely valuable in terms of your own learning and personal development and growth, as a speaker, as a person as a human. But it also, it gives you this great thing to be able to go into when you work with organizers, you have this ability to see things from multiple perspectives to see how the work you do making speaking creativity, innovation, how it's affecting multiple different industries. So you can speak to multiple industries about it. And you can also see what some of the connections are, and the patterns are. So I thought I'd just kind of film this little quick video today. Just to say, this is one of the benefits of speaking if you're thinking about becoming a professional speaker, is one of the fantastic things you get to do as a speaker, you get to learn every single week from some of the best people in the businesses at events that you're very privileged to be able to kind of sit in the room and hear some of these top experts. So from me James Taylor Have a wonderful week and all the best we're speaking. How would you like to get paid to travel the world to share your message and expertise? How did it feel to get paid 5000 10,000 $25,000 to travel first class and stay in five star hotels in exotic locations. What I've just described is the lifestyle of international keynote speakers. And you can join me and over 100 of the world's best keynote speakers, and speaker trainers as they reveal their secrets to becoming a better speaker and getting booked to travel the world as a professional keynote speaker and Bestival. As it's an online summit You don't even have to leave home plus it's not going to cost you a single dollar euro pound ruble peso or yen. If you sign up for the free pass at International Speakers Summit calm you're going to receive access to never seen before video interviews over 40 of the world's best keynote speakers. In addition to this, you'll get access to archived interviews from some of last year's summit guests. So in total, you'll be able to watch in depth interviews with over 100 incredible speakers and speaker trainers. You'll have to find a theme for your keynote presentation how to craft your Talk how to get booked as a speaker, how much to charge and ways to get paid to speak on stages all over the world. So what are you waiting for? Head over to internationalspeakerssummit.com now

 Getting the most business from speaking in a country. Manoj Vasudevan Location Maximization LinkedIn Marketing for Speakers Artificial Intelligence Generated Transcript Below is a machine-generated transcript and therefore the transcript may contain errors. Hi, it's James Taylor here, founder of SpeakersU and keynote speaker on creativity, innovation and artificial intelligence. Today I am in Dubai. And I want to talk to you about the power of location optimization. You know, on this tour that I'm currently on, which is about a two month tour of part of my super creativity speaking tour. I've just come from speaking in Brazil and in Ecuador. And then before that, I was back here in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. And then before that, I was in Toronto and Zurich. So traveling to a lot of different places, but something that was told to me by two people, one was Brenda Benz, great speaker and another one Minaj for Superman, one for both and wonderful speakers. They told me about this idea of location maximisation. You see as international keynote speakers, were traveling all around the world. We're going from one country to another, sharing our message inspiring audiences. So something that's gonna be a really powerful tool. technique to be able to use is when you get booked to go in and give a speech somewhere, start to build relationships with other companies, and maybe even other bureaus, for example, to be able to book you in other places while you're in that city. So a friend of mine, Josh Linkner, it is not uncommon uncommon for him to give three speeches in one day if he's speaking in somewhere like Las Vegas where they have lots of events. So for example, last week, I was in South America, and I was in Ecuador, country of Ecuador for about five days. And over the course of those five days, I think I may begin, actually seven different presentations, seven different speeches. So we really were able to kind of crowd thing and we got one core date initially, and then we put lots of other things around it. Another example is after today, I'm going on to speak in Istanbul and Turkey. And for that event, I was already booked to give the closing keynote at a big conference. Big HR and digital Leadership Conference, I had conversations with with the client that was brought me and said that this is great. I'm really glad to be able to do this. I'd like to see how much more value I can add. Do you have any other clients that you work with? that it might be a good opportunity for while I'm here to be able to go in and speak for that audience. And so what they were able to do is I'm going to spend about thousand or 1500 people in Istanbul. And on the same day, a few hours earlier, I'll be going in and giving a speech pretty much is it a similar speech to around hundreds, senior leaders, one of the leading banks in that country. So for me, this is fantastic because I get to spread my message to new audiences. Obviously, there's a financial benefit to this as well if you're going and giving multiple speeches in the same day or in the same city, when you will there. So it's really optimizing the place optimizing the location when you're in. Now another thing you can sometimes do is even if you're doing multiple speeches in one city, let's say if you've been booked to go and speak in a city, why would be doing is I'd be looking in your LinkedIn account and seeing who do I know in that city, or who is maybe a second connection is someone I could connect with via someone else. To build a new relationship with the inner city, it could be an event organizer, it could be the CEO of an organization or the head of HR of an organization, just go say this, I'm going to be speaking in your, in your city. It's a public event you're speaking at, you can even offer to relate to come along and see me speak at this particular event. If not, just go meet them for a cup of tea or a cup of coffee, sit down with them learn about the challenges in their businesses, and then hopefully, there's some value that you can add there to come back again, maybe a few months later, and go and speak for their organization. So that is location optimization. Really, a lot of the hard work is getting booked initially to go and speak in that city or that country. Once you're in there. That you should be looking to see how many other speaking opportunities that you can get and how you can really optimize your time in that country. My name is James Taylor. Thanks for watching. This episode of the Speakers Life is sponsored by Espeakers. The innovative platform that connects speakers will event organizers and associations. Espeakers provides cutting edge tools that will elevate your online presence. streamline your speaking business and maximize your exposure in the Speaking industry with over 15 years in the business 10,000 speakers in their community and over 20,000 events managed annually each Espeakers is the preferred choice for top speakers. You can create your own profile on a Espeakers today by going to speakersu.com/Espeakers.