Speaking Your Brand: Public Speaking Tips and Strategies

We’re back with an on-air coaching call! Webinars are an excellent way to increase awareness of who you are, what you do, and how you help people, plus they’re a lot of fun (at least I think so!). In this episode, I help professional makeup artist Samantha Agostino with the content of her webinar. We review her past webinar and how to improve it to make a stronger connection with her audience and get them interested in her program. We talk about getting clear on your goal as well as the audience’s goal, how to structure your webinar content by focusing on 3 (yes, only 3!) main points and keeping them simple to understand, the power of sharing your personal stories and experiences as well as client examples, tips for engaging attendees, and how many slides to use. About My Guest: Samantha Agostino is a professional makeup artist for high-end bridal and event clients. Samantha’s work has graced numerous covers such as IAN and NJ Bride and been featured by top publications including Grace Ormonde, Carats & Cake and The Knot. A celebrated bridal fashion specialist – she recently collaborated with international luxury wedding planner Jean-Charles Vaneck and Ellie Youseff Couture for The Villa Casa Casuarina in Miami – Samantha also regularly leads beauty teams for NY Fashion Week, where her work has been highlighted on WWD and Vogue Brazil pages. In addition, Samantha mentors and coaches other makeup artists who are building their businesses. Highlights: Getting clear on your goal - and your audience’s goal - for the webinar Understanding the obstacles that are preventing your audience/target market from achieving their goal and how you help them How to structure your webinar content Why you should only have 3 main points and keep them simple, especially on a webinar The power of sharing your personal stories and experiences and client examples Tips for engaging your audience throughout the webinar How many slides you may have for a webinar vs an in-person presentation How much text to include on your slides   Links: Learn more on Samantha’s website Connect with Samantha on Instagram Free PDF of my presentation framework you can use for your webinars Watch my recent webinar or listen to episode 30 which is the audio from the webinar Join the free Speaking Your Brand community at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/join/. Say hi to me on Twitter @CarolMorganCox Subscribe to the podcast and leave a review!

Business can be a vehicle for social impact and positive change. But, oftentimes, entrepreneurs who see themselves as changemakers can get tripped up with money blocks, trusting their idea, and figuring out how to turn their idea into tangible growth. That’s where my guest Geraldine Carter comes in. As co-founder of Climate Ride, she grew the organization from an idea to a seven-figure budget and she now coaches changemaking entrepreneurs. She was even mentioned (by name!) by Seth Godin in one of his TED talks. In this episode, Geraldine and I discuss her background and early adventures traveling the world, the impetus for creating Climate Ride, the struggles she sees changemaking entrepreneurs go through, and much more. About My Guest: Geraldine Carter coaches courageous changemakers who are ready take their business to the next level. From co-founding Climate Ride in 2008 and scaling the socially-conscious company to a seven figure budget, to biking across southeast Asia on her own, to coaching entrepreneurs on how to achieve their own lofty goals, Geraldine loves finding practical, efficient solutions to seemingly complex challenges. After directly experiencing the value of outside perspective and mentorship, Geraldine has been sharing her 10+ years of business experience and mindfulness training, helping clients cut right to the core of any problem to design effective solutions. An ICF accredited Associate Certified Coach, Geraldine takes pride in challenging herself and her clients to reach higher and find bolder ways forward. Highlights: Geraldine’s travels around the world Trusting your idea as a pioneer Needing a map to point you in the right direction for your business The money blocks many socially-minded entrepreneurs face and what to do about it Links: Learn more on Geraldine’s website Free PDF for listeners Connect with Geraldine on Facebook and LinkedIn Seth Godin TED talk “The tribes we lead” Book “The Soul of Money” Join the free Speaking Your Brand community at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/join/. Say hi to me on Twitter @CarolMorganCox Subscribe to the podcast and leave a review!

Moderating a panel, or being on one, can be a great way to increase your visibility at an event or conference. People in the audience see you as an expert and you get to know and network with the other panelists. But, as the moderator if you’re not careful, panels can quickly become unruly or go off on tangents or end up with one person dominating the conversation. My guest Natalie Eckdahl has moderated several high-profile panels over the past year, including at Social Media Marketing World and Podcast Movement. Along the way, she’s learned strategies and lessons that she shares in this episode. We also talk about her decision to create her own live event, coming up in mid-October in Southern California, as she saw how much she connected with others at conferences she was attending. About My Guest: Natalie Eckdahl is a Business Strategist and High Performance Coach, who helps high-achieving women entrepreneurs across industries and time zones build, grow, and scale their business while avoiding overwhelm. She’s the Founder of the BizChix Community and Podcast, and has been recognized as “One of the Top Women in Business to Listen to.” She has also been featured in Inc, Fast Company, Huffington Post and Entrepreneur.   Highlights: How Natalie got to be a panel moderator How to select good panelists How to steer the conversation How to get panelists to bond with each other beforehand Checking out the room beforehand and how panelists should sit Introducing panelists Why attending conferences has become key to increasing Natalie's visibility Why host your own live event   Links: Natalie’s website and podcast Biz Chix Biz Chix Live event Connect with Natalie on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter My recent episode on the Biz Chix Podcast #278 High-quality royalty-free music at premiumbeat.com Join the free Speaking Your Brand community at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/join/. Say hi to me on Twitter @CarolMorganCox Subscribe to the podcast and leave a review!

How do you approach selling, whether it’s your product/service or yourself for speaking engagements? Do you schedule time and make it a priority or do you tend to procrastinate on it because you don’t like “sales” and you’re not sure what to do or say? In this mini-training, my guest Nikki Rausch, founder of the Sales Maven, walks us through how to do the sales process, from prospecting to closing, in a way that feels good for both you and the other person and builds a relationship, not a transaction. We talk about what to say so you can get to the next step with a prospect, why you need to take the lead, and why you should offer clients several options for your product or service (you’ll hear why this works so well!). About My Guest: Sales Maven founder and bestselling author, Nikki Rausch, is an award-winning sales executive with 23+ years of sales experience selling to organizations such as Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, Hewlett Packard, Seattle Public Schools, & NASA. By combining her sales experience with her master certification in Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Nikki teaches simple, yet powerful techniques anyone can use. Entrepreneurs hire Nikki to learn how to sell in an authentic way without being pushy so they build relationships and close more deals. Her two books, Six-Word Lessons on Influencing with Grace: 100 Lessons to Genuinely Connect with Colleagues, Friends, Family, and Lovers and Buying Signals, How To Spot The Green Light & Increase Your Sales are both available on Amazon. Highlights: Why many of us don’t like selling A better way of looking at selling Prospecting and setting up the first call Phone vs video vs in-person Getting to the next step with the prospect Ways to close without feeling icky Why you need to take the lead in the sales process   Links: Sign up for Nikki’s newsletter (it’s one of my favorites) at http://yoursalesmaven.com/sales-resources/ Connect with Nikki on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook Join the free Speaking Your Brand community at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/join/. Say hi to me on Twitter @CarolMorganCox Subscribe to the podcast and leave a review!

Ah, interns. The promise of inexpensive (or even free) labor as you’re growing your business, especially when you’re in that hard point between having too much work to do yourself but not having extra revenue to hire someone. But, there’s a catch. Interns come with responsibilities for you as the business owner (as well as legal regulations). My guest Isabella Johnston is known as the “intern whisperer.” She has trained dozens of interns in her company and is now getting ready to release a software program that will make it easier for businesses to find interns and for interns to find opportunities. What should you look for in an intern? What are realistic expectations? What do you as the business owner need to have in place before you’re ready for an intern? Isabella and I talk all about this and more in this podcast episode. About My Guest: Isabella Johnston owns Pivot Business Consulting where she consults in process innovation and improvement, onboarding, and servant leadership. She facilitates workshops and training in leadership, team building and 360 communication. She is called the intern whisperer because of the customized intern programs that help businesses and nonprofits bridge their process gaps.  She is the creator of Intern Pursuit, a software program that is an end-to-end recruitment and management program to help business owners manage the intern process with ease. Highlights: Paid vs unpaid interns What you need to have as a business owner before you bring on an intern What you can realistically expect interns to be able to do Your role as a mentor The differences between an intern and a virtual assistant (VA)   Links: Isabella’s website = https://www.pivotbusinessconsulting.com/ Intern Pursuit software platform = http://www.internpursuit.com Connect with Isabella on LinkedIn and Twitter Isabella’s articles on LinkedIn Join the free Speaking Your Brand community at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/join/. Say hi to me on Twitter @CarolMorganCox Subscribe to the podcast and leave a review!

Your signature talk needs to be useful, interesting, and relatable to your audience - and it needs to be original and uniquely yours. In this on-air coaching call, my client Adrienne Borgersen and I discuss how we found her angle for her signature talk topic and we go over key parts of her presentation storyboard. We also talk the groups Adrienne should reach out to for speaking engagements based on who her target clients are. Adrienne shares fantastic style and shopping tips and the importance of making conscious choices when we buy. About My Guest: Adrienne Borgersen is a 25 year veteran of the music industry, a Fashion Institute of Technology certified Image Consultant and a Main Street Vegan Academy Master Certified Vegan Lifestyle Coach & Educator. Wanting to help people thrive no matter what their lifestyle, Adrienne uses her vast experience in marketing A-list recording artists around the world, along with her FIT training, to coach and educate clients on creating their personal style and personal brand. As a vegan, she wanted to find a way to incorporate her awareness of the plight of animals in the fashion industry, into her work. She began to speak and write about the issues and the solutions, to encourage people to consider compassionate and cruelty-free choices. She is also the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the online magazine La Fashionista Compassionista. Highlights: What an image consultant does Why Adrienne decided to create a magazine Finding your signature talk topic and angle or hook Integrating your personal story and experience into your presentation How your image ties to your identity and authenticity Adrienne’s style and shopping tips Making conscious choices about what we buy The groups Adrienne should reach out to for speaking engagements based on who her target clients are   Links: Adrienne’s website = http://itfactorimage.nyc/ La Fashionista Compassionista magazine = http://lafcnyc.com/ Connect with Adrienne on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter Join the free Speaking Your Brand community at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/join/. Say hi to me on Twitter @CarolMorganCox Subscribe to the podcast and leave a review!

Creating your signature talk can lead to clarity and better results not only for your presentations but for your business model, product offers, marketing messaging, and speaking strategy. In this on-air coaching call, I talk with my client C S Wurzberger about how our work together to create her signature talk (using my storyboard method) helped her narrow her niche, design her business model, and align her product offerings with what she is most passionate about: empowering kids who love animals to create real-world projects that make a difference and teach them valuable skills. About My Guest: C S Wurzberger, The Green Up Girl is a Podcaster, Green Movement Marketing Advisor, Sustainability Consultant with 25 years of experience and extensive training in helping animal/nature organizations showcase their green initiatives and conservation efforts for the world to see, experience, and unite. C S focuses on today’s strategies and tools to help youth map out a smart, actionable plan for saving species and improving our world. Her specialty is to help youth take charge of the “overwhelm” and manage effective campaigns. Plus, she provides organizations with engaging sessions that keep attendees coming back for more.   Highlights: How your signature talk and business model are connected Narrowing your niche and product offer Using your signature talk outline for email sequences and sales conversations Creating your dream list of where you want to speak Strategies for connecting with event and conference organizers   Links: Connect with C S on her website at http://thegreenupgirl.com/ Learn about the Green Up Kids Academy at http://www.greenupkids.org Join the free Speaking Your Brand community at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/join/. Say hi to me on Twitter @CarolMorganCox Subscribe to the podcast and leave a review!

Here’s the problem I see with many of the presentations and workshops I attend: Too much impersonal information and data, not enough personal stories and connection. Or, to put it even more simply: Too much Wikipedia, not enough people. In this episode, I share examples of how you can create presentations that are personal and memorable for your audience and how, by having a signature talk, you create consistency with your message. I pulled the audio from the online training I recently did because I got such great feedback from the women who attended. I talk about the 3 C’s of Stand-Out Speaking: Consistency: Having a signature message and talk that you become known for Connection: Making your talk personal and memorable for your audience Context: Using story structure and the hero's journey so your presentation is relevant and relatable Use the examples and strategies I share to make your presentations more impactful and get the results you're looking for.   Links: Join the free Speaking Your Brand community at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/join/. Ready to create your signature talk? Get the details on my online group program at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/signature-talk-group-program/ Replay of my online training: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/stand-out-speaker My episode on the Biz Chix episode #278: http://www.bizchix.com/278 Say hi to me on Twitter @CarolMorganCox Subscribe to the podcast and leave a review!

Are you spending time going to networking events and not feeling like you’re getting enough out of them? There’s a way to approach networking that can get you better results and save you time. In this on-air coaching episode, my guest Dr. Carmen Landrau and I strategize ways she can network more effectively, from which groups to attend to who to say yes to for coffee or lunch (and how to politely get out of the ones you don’t want to say yes to!). We also talk about Carmen’s background as a medical doctor and how she learned to navigate a very male-dominated industry and now speaks to professional women to help them know their worth and ask for what they want. About My Guest: Carmen W. Landrau, MD is a board certified physician who specializes in cardiology and is a professional keynote speaker who uses her experience navigating a male-dominated and hierarchical career to empower other women to obtain better life balance by sharing techniques that help them understand how to best use their skills, get support and manage their time efficiently.  Dr. Landrau completed her medical training at Ponce School of Medicine in Puerto Rico, followed by a residency in internal medicine and fellowship in cardiology at The University of Texas Medical School in Houston. Dr. Landrau has been featured in H Texas Magazine, recognized among Houston's Top Doctors, and is a contributor to online journals. Highlights: The challenges women who grow up in patriarchal cultures face The importance of strong female role models Networking strategies to save time and find speaking opportunities Creating your own local group for women business owners Finding conferences to speak at and tips for speaking proposals And much more! Links: Carmen’s website = http://www.drlandrau.com Connect with Carmen on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter Puja Madan’s Spark event series for women business leaders Episode 7 with Puja Madan on time and productivity Join the free Speaking Your Brand community at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/join/. Ready to create your signature talk? Get the details on my online group program at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/signature-talk-group-program/ Say hi to me on Twitter @CarolMorganCox Subscribe to the podcast and leave a review!

As mission-driven entrepreneurs, we’re passionate and certain about the changes we’d like to see to make the world a better place. But, what happens if the people you want to reach aren’t as convinced as you are? You have a couple of options: You can work really hard to educate your market, to convince them that what you’re offering is what they need, to get them to change their behavior in favor of what you’re proposing. (Spoiler: this rarely works and you’ll spend a lot of time and money on it.) Or, you can give them what they want and shift your mission to align with that. This is the point my guest Bruce Friedrich arrived at a few years ago, which we talk about in this episode. This is also the point I see some of my clients at, as they struggle with communicating their message in a way that appeals to their potential customers where they’re at in their journey. In this episode, Bruce and I also talk about the current state of food tech, what entices investors to invest in companies (market opportunity vs. values), the importance of in-person speaking and connections to reach your audience, and what happened to Bruce at age 12 that set him on his career path. About my guest: Bruce Friedrich is Executive Director of the Good Food Institute, which works with scientists, investors, and entrepreneurs to make groundbreaking good food (clean meat and plant-based meat) a reality. Bruce graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown Law and Phi Beta Kappa from Grinnell College and also holds degrees from Johns Hopkins University and the London School of Economics. Bruce is a popular speaker on college campuses and has delivered presentations on food innovation at most of the nation's top universities, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and MIT. Bruce has co-authored two books, including the forthcoming Clean Protein: The Revolution That Will Reshape Your Body, Boost Your Energy - and Save Our Planet with New York Times bestselling author Kathy Freston, contributed chapters to five books, and authored seven law review articles.   Highlights: Educating the market (demand-side) vs. giving your customers what they want (supply-side) The current state of food tech (“nerds over cattle,” as Eric Schmidt of Google/Alphabet says) What moves investors to invest (finances/market opportunity vs. values/impact) What Good Food Institute does and how quickly it’s growing The importance of in-person speaking and connections to reach your audience What happened to Bruce at age 12 that set him on his career path The risks and rewards of standing for something   Links: Good Food Institute = http://www.gfi.org/ Follow Bruce on Twitter @BruceGFriedrich Connect with Bruce on LinkedIn Good Food Institute on Facebook and Twitter Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods Cowspiracy documentary UN Report: Livestock’s Long Shadow Influence book by Robert Cialdini Clean Protein: The Revolution that Will Reshape Your Body, Boost Your Energy?and Save Our Planet book by Bruce Friedrich and Kathy Freston Join the free Speaking Your Brand community at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/join/. Ready to create your signature talk? Sign up to get notified when my online group program opens at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/signature-talk-group-program/ Say hi to me on Twitter @CarolMorganCox Subscribe to the podcast and leave a review!