Speaking Your Brand: Public Speaking Tips and Strategies

Imagine you've just delivered a keynote. People in the audience come up to you and say, “I learned a lot” or “I was taking so many notes that I don't even know where to start.” That's exactly the *wrong* kind of feedback you want to get after a keynote. As a keynote speaker, you're there on the stage to provide an experience for the audience and to help them see something differently about themselves or their industry or their community or their world, and to have them believe that they can do it. What you want is the audience to come up to you afterwards and say, “You got me to think differently. “ In this episode, I'm taking you behind the scenes of a recent keynote I delivered at a leadership retreat for the Space Coast Chamber of Commerce. The organizers wanted to bring together leaders from different sectors to address challenges in their community. I'll share how I prepared, where I got stuck creating the talk (yes, this happens to me too), and what helped me pull it together. You'll hear how a conference I attended years ago became my opening story, how I built substantial audience participation into the two-hour session, and why attending the entire retreat gave me something I couldn't have gotten from my preparation calls alone. These are strategies you can adapt to your own keynotes, conference presentations, and signature talks. In This Episode: The difference between teaching a workshop and creating a keynote experience. The questions I asked the event organizers and why I interviewed local leaders. How to customize a signature talk without starting over. Why I got stuck working on my outline in a Google Doc and how using our Signature Talk Canvas® framework made all the difference. The opening story that connected space travel to breaking down community silos. How I planned audience activities, table roles, and timing for a two-hour session. What I added to my slides after listening to the retreat's other speakers. About Us: The Speaking Your Brand podcast is hosted by Carol Cox. At Speaking Your Brand, we help women entrepreneurs and professionals clarify their brand message and story, create their signature talks, and develop their thought leadership platforms. Our mission is to get more women in positions of influence and power because it's through women's stories, voices, and visibility that we challenge the status quo and change existing systems. Check out our coaching programs at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com. Links: Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/497/ Discover your Speaker Archetype by taking our free quiz at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/quiz/ Enroll in our online Thought Leader Academy: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/academy/ Attend our in-person speaking retreat in Orlando: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/live/ Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolcox Related Podcast Episodes: Episode 483: How an I.D.E.A., Not a Topic, Makes You Easier to Refer, Pitch, and Book Episode 445: 3 Must-Haves for an Unforgettable Keynote Episode 422: How to Create a 10-Out-of-10 Keynote that Leaves Your Audience in Awe Episode 458: Same Message, Different Medium: Why Your Talk Isn’t Landing (and How to Fix It)

Have you ever worried that showing your nerves or admitting something went wrong would make an audience question your credibility? I’ve felt that, especially as a speaking coach who put a lot of pressure on herself to deliver the perfect talk. My guest, trial lawyer and communication educator Jennifer Gardner, has spent decades speaking in courtrooms - and she still gets nervous. In our conversation, Jennifer shares how she prepares herself before speaking and why being honest about our human experience can help us build trust with an audience. I also share what happened when I told podcast listeners about a speaking engagement I completely bombed. I worried people would wonder why they should hire me. The responses I received helped me understand vulnerability in a way I hadn’t before. In this episode, we talk about: Why even experienced speakers feel nervous and how Jennifer prepares before stepping in front of an audience The role of emotion and storytelling in helping people connect with your message How trying to appear perfect can make it harder to build rapport Why being an introvert doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy public speaking What my own speaking mishap taught me about trust and relatability A courtroom story that offers a reminder: your audience wants you to succeed About Our Guest: Jennifer B. Gardner is a Los Angeles-based trial lawyer, a speaker on the topic of persuasive communications, and serves as an administrative law judge for the County of Los Angeles. Jennifer began her litigation career in the entertainment industry and has operated her own litigation law firm for 32 years in Los Angeles. There, she litigates complex business, real estate, and criminal matters through trial. Jennifer has honed her communication skills through studying Somatic Experiencing, the Sanford Meisner Acting Method, and interspecies communications with Rupert Sheldrake at the Esalen Institute. When she's not lawyering or learning, Jennifer educates high-performing leaders on how to grow their executive presence and persuasive skills through programs offered through her company, The Edge Education About Us: The Speaking Your Brand podcast is hosted by Carol Cox. At Speaking Your Brand, we help women entrepreneurs and professionals clarify their brand message and story, create their signature talks, and develop their thought leadership platforms. Our mission is to get more women in positions of influence and power because it's through women's stories, voices, and visibility that we challenge the status quo and change existing systems. Check out our coaching programs at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com. Links: Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/496/ Jennifer’s websites: https://theedge.education/ and https://jenniferbgardner.com/ Discover your Speaker Archetype by taking our free quiz at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/quiz/ Enroll in our Thought Leader Academy: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/academy/ Connect on LinkedIn: Carol Cox = https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolcox Jennifer Gardner (guest) = https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferbgardner/ Related Podcast Episodes: Episode 92: Deconstructing My TEDx Talk: Why We’re Uncomfortable with Women in Power Episode 487: The Confidence Advice Women Get Backward About Public Speaking

When someone hires you to speak, what are they actually buying? Your expertise is part of it. But the person planning the event also needs your talk to accomplish something for the people in the room. How clearly can you explain what that something is? In this final episode of our Bookable Speaker series, I’m talking about what makes your talk worth the investment I take you behind the scenes of a presentation I gave at MAICON, where I had plenty of useful AI examples and a slide deck that still felt flat. I also share how my client Danielle Hayden found the idea underneath her bookkeeping expertise and changed the focus of her talk. Thought leadership can help you make a stronger case for your speaking fee. It takes a perspective you’ve developed through your work, stories that help people understand it, and a way for the audience to apply it. In this episode, you’ll learn: 4 things event organizers buy when they hire a speaker Why celebrity speaking fees aren’t a useful comparison for most of us How I caught myself in the expert trap while preparing my MAICON presentation What changed when Danielle built her talk around an observation from her client work How one signature talk can support keynotes, workshops, and lead generation Questions to ask an organizer about the people attending your session A sentence to finish before you add another slide About Us: The Speaking Your Brand podcast is hosted by Carol Cox. At Speaking Your Brand, we help women entrepreneurs and professionals clarify their brand message and story, create their signature talks, and develop their thought leadership platforms. Our mission is to get more women in positions of influence and power because it's through women's stories, voices, and visibility that we challenge the status quo and change existing systems. Check out our coaching programs at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com. Links: Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/495/ Discover your Speaker Archetype by taking our free quiz at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/quiz/ Enroll in our online Thought Leader Academy: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/academy/ Attend our in-person speaking retreat in Orlando: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/live/ Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolcox “Speaker Industrial Complex” Report: https://gatheringarchitecture.com/papers/speaker-industrial-complex Related Podcast Episodes: Episode 342: I Almost Got Stuck in the Expert Trap: How I Created My Recent Successful Conference Presentation Episode 362: Integrating Thought Leadership and Lead Generation in Your Signature Talk with Danielle Hayden Episode 486: Stop Creating Every Presentation from Scratch: Build One Talk You Can Adapt for Any Audience

How would it feel to get an inquiry from someone who wants to pay you $5,000, $10,000, or even $20,000 for a speaking engagement or workshop? And even better, they found you through an AI chatbot. It’s happened to me, and it’s happened to our clients. Here at Speaking Your Brand, about half of our leads now come from AI chatbots and Google. On consultation calls, people tell me, “Claude told me you were the best,” or “ChatGPT said you were the top recommendation for what I needed.” These are high-quality leads who come into the conversation already trusting the recommendation. In this episode of our Bookable Speaker series, I’m sharing how to help AI chatbots understand you, your brand, and your topics so they can recommend you. Earlier this year, I created an entire course on AI SEO for the university where I teach. I did a lot of research and experimenting (the former software developer in me loved this), and I’m giving you the practical highlights. We’ll cover three things you can work on: assessing where you are now, becoming the answer to the questions your potential clients and event organizers are asking, and publishing content that supports what you want to be known for. In this episode, you’ll learn: How to find out whether AI chatbots are already sending people your way. Why a clear, consistent message matters for getting recommended. What to include on your speaker page. How a conversational audit can reveal questions your website needs to answer. The role of your signature framework and what makes your work distinctive. Ways to turn newsletters, articles, and podcast transcripts into website content. About Us: The Speaking Your Brand podcast is hosted by Carol Cox. At Speaking Your Brand, we help women entrepreneurs and professionals clarify their brand message and story, create their signature talks, and develop their thought leadership platforms. Our mission is to get more women in positions of influence and power because it's through women's stories, voices, and visibility that we challenge the status quo and change existing systems. Check out our coaching programs at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com. Links: Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/494/ Discover your Speaker Archetype by taking our free quiz at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/quiz/ Enroll in our online Thought Leader Academy: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/academy/ Attend our in-person speaking retreat in Orlando: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/live/ Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolcox Tool to query chatbots: AnswerThePublic.com My speaker page: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/about/carol-cox/speaking/ Example blog post formatted for AI SEO: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/what-is-a-signature-talk-framework/ Related Podcast Episodes: Episode 492: How to Get Your Next Speaking Engagements: The Bookable Speaker Checklist Episode 493: Social Media for Speakers - What We Do and Advice We Ignore Booked Without Burnout series

Get ready for some real opinions on how effective (or not) social media is for you as a speaker. After all, if a post gets thousands of views but none of the right people see what you speak about, what did those views do for your speaking business? I'm joined by Speaking Your Brand coaches Diane Diaz and Erin Mark for a conversation about social media for speakers, as part of our Bookable Speaker series. We have very different relationships with it. Erin enjoys making Instagram Reels. Diane and I spend most of our social media time on LinkedIn, and I stopped posting on Instagram years ago. Yet we agree on the question worth asking: Can an event organizer find you, understand your message, and picture you speaking to their audience? We talk about the LinkedIn profile details that matter, why Erin doesn't send a sales pitch with a connection request, and what happened when an organizer contacted me through my mostly dormant Instagram account. We also get honest about posting frequency and the temptation to chase views. You’ll hear: Why follower counts and viral views can be misleading measures for speakers What to put in your LinkedIn headline and About section How Erin starts conversations with potential partners and buyers Why photos from actual speaking engagements are useful content How to choose a posting rhythm you can maintain and check whether it's helping About Us: The Speaking Your Brand podcast is hosted by Carol Cox. At Speaking Your Brand, we help women entrepreneurs and professionals clarify their brand message and story, create their signature talks, and develop their thought leadership platforms. Our mission is to get more women in positions of influence and power because it's through women's stories, voices, and visibility that we challenge the status quo and change existing systems. Check out our coaching programs at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com. Links: Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/493/ Discover your Speaker Archetype by taking our free quiz at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/quiz/ Enroll in our online Thought Leader Academy: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/academy/ Attend our in-person speaking retreat in Orlando: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/live/ Connect on LinkedIn: Carol Cox = https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolcox Diane Diaz = https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianediaz/ Erin Mark = https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinmark/ Related Podcast Episodes: Episode 492: How to Get Your Next Speaking Engagements: The Bookable Speaker Checklist Booked Without Burnout series