You want to get started with your signature speech, but you don’t know where to begin. You know you have a story that will leave your audience both laughing and crying (hopefully not from boredom) but you can’t figure out how to get the perfect balance of feelings, wisdom, tears, and joy into it. If this is you, you are in the right place!

We are the sum of all the experiences we have lived. No one on earth has lived the same experiences the way you have. This makes you uniquely qualified to share your story and the wisdom contained within. If you are ready to craft your captivating and inspiring story, here are 5 tips to help you get started!

1.  Reflect on Your Life Experiences

First things first, take a stroll down memory lane. If you are a journaler, revisit your old journals (if not, now would be a great time to take up journaling). Think about those moments in life that made you laugh, cry, or contemplate moving to a deserted island. We are talking about the...

Greetings and Happy 2024! Today I am discussing something that is close to my heart and is the whole reason I created my business – stepping onto the stage and becoming a speaker. If you have been wondering, even a little bit, if becoming a speaker is something YOU could do, 2024 is the perfect year to make it happen!

I know you are a woman with a lifetime’s worth of wisdom, experiences, and stories burning inside you, ready to be shared with the world. And you might be wondering if any of that wisdom could be used to inspire others. The answer is unequivocally YES! Each of us has a story to tell and a lesson to share. The only thing holding us back from sharing is the fear that we are not good enough to be on a stage, microphone in hand, telling people about our life’s journey and what they can learn from it.

Maybe you're already in a role where public speaking is part of the gig, but those nagging feelings of inadequacy are holding you back. I hear you, and I'm...

Today I want to discuss the power of vulnerability in public speaking. Sharing personal stories can feel scary and you might wonder if your audience will think of you in a certain way based on the experiences you share. In fact, your audience will likely connect with you on a much deeper level when you share relevant personal experiences in your speech!

In this article, we will cover 7 ways that sharing your personal stories and experiences help you create a speech that will impact your audience and allow them to reflect, connect, and engage with you!

Let’s dive in!

1. The Power of Vulnerability: Vulnerability is not a weakness; it is your superpower. When you share personal stories, you're not just speaking to people; you are inviting them to think of a relatable experience of their own and to connect with you through that shared similar memory. This connection is better than any hook you could ever use to earn audience engagement. While it is scary to think about sharing...

You’ve done it. You have decided to apply for that speaking engagement or join that speaking group and you have committed to stepping on to the stage to share your story, your knowledge, and your expertise with an audience. 

Once the excitement dwindles and you start working on your words, you might realize that you’ve never been on a stage, you don’t know how to present a captivating story, or you might get so nervous about it that you want to back out. 

I want you to know that these are completely normal thoughts, but you are not alone in feeling anxious or not good enough to be on the stage. Most of us have those thoughts at some point in our speaking journey, even if we are experienced speakers. The good news is that you can learn how to be a great storyteller, you can learn to manage nerves, and you can learn how to command the stage so you can enjoy the experience from start to finish! (All of these are addressed when you work with me )

You will...

For today’s article, I am sharing my best tips for confident public speaking. Since the title sums up exactly what we are discussing today, let’s get into it!

My philosophy on speaking is simple: Everyone has a story to tell and the ability to tell it. They just don’t know where to begin. With these tips, and some expert guidance (from a coach like yours truly) you can get started on your path to the stage where you can share your story with the masses! 

1. Begin with the End in Mind: Every conversation, every speech, has a purpose. Start by identifying this purpose. What do you want to achieve with your words? What impact or what lesson do you want to leave your audience with at the end. How do you want them to feel? Knowing the answer to these questions will guide you in your preparation, helping you craft a message that resonates with the audience and achieves its purpose.
2. Craft Your Message with Precision: Once your goal is clear, your message should follow...

Let’s talk about silence, the awkward pause, crickets…

Silence is a powerful tool. As a musician, I was taught that silence is just as important as sound. It should be allowed to sing just as loudly as the notes we played. I teach the same concept in public speaking!

Silence, or the strategic pause, is a powerful rhetorical tool that, when used correctly, can significantly enhance the impact of your speech. It also provides a chance for your audience to process your words, reflect on their own experiences that might be triggered by your words, and prepare themselves for what comes next. 

You’re probably thinking, “how long does the silence have to be to do all that?” 

The good news is that a few seconds of silence is more than enough most of the time! Silence also allows you as the speaker to process, reflect, and prepare to move forward. 

Silence gets a bad wrap these days. Awkward pauses can feel tense, but they don’t have to....

The butterflies in your stomach, the racing heart, the sweaty palms – pre-speech anxiety is a common challenge many of us face in our journey to the stage. Whether it is your first time, or your fiftieth, managing nerves is a crucial skill for delivering a powerful and impactful presentation. In today’s article, we will explore some practical tips to help you navigate these anxious moments.

1. Accept and Reframe Your Nervous Energy: Nervousness is not your enemy; it is a natural response to a perceived challenge. It is also a sign that you care about your performance, and you want to deliver a high-quality impactful speech. Instead of trying to eliminate your nerves, focus on reframing their energy as excitement and enthusiasm. Remember, the body doesn’t know the difference between nervous energy and excited energy, it just knows the energy! When you change how you perceive that energy, you can transform your performance anxiety into a powerful tool for enhancing...

I recently had the chance to speak at a virtual event. I enjoy public speaking but prefer to do it in person. However, this was a completely virtual stage, so I had to get out of my comfort zone to be on video. It was a great opportunity to share my knowledge and push myself to do something I may not otherwise do.

I had a short notice to prepare for this event so I didn’t waste any time pulling together some content to present. That short notice got me thinking about the process I use to get ready for speaking events. This week I am going to share the 3-step version of that process to help you get ready for any event that may require you to speak to a group!

1. Preparation. The first step in getting ready for a public speaking event is to prepare. In this step you determine your topic, pull together your content, create a rough draft, edit, then draft the final version. In the preparation phase you should also get familiar with the venue in which you will be speaking and...

For the better part of my life, I have been a musician. For all its complexities, music has always come easily and felt so natural to me. So much so that at the ripe old age of 29, I enlisted in the military as a musician! I could talk all day about how amazing Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto is, or how Beethoven’s 5th Symphony is one of the greatest works ever written, or how Barber’s Adagio for Strings can make even the strongest of us tear up with its intensity…but I won’t. I will save those conversations for my fellow music friends!

Being a musician has taught me many things over the years. Not the least of which is that music is a form of communication. Like music, communication (more specifically, conversation) is made up of many moving parts. These include phrases, ideas, themes, emotions, and silence. All of these components are parts of any musical piece and any conversation.

Phrasing and emotion are inherent in our ability to communicate. The...

Every day we have to do things that make us uncomfortable…it’s called living. I try to live by the notion that without discomfort, there is no growth. Today, I took the opportunity to get uncomfortable and I spoke on stage…a virtual stage.

I’m one of those weird people that actually enjoys being on a real stage, speaking to and with others, but being on video is a whole other ball game. However, I couldn’t pass up the chance to speak at this event and since it was all virtual, I had to reach out of my comfort zone to make it happen!

Every coach, mentor, and teacher in the world says we should “get out of our comfort zone” in order to grow. I’d like to challenge that idea and instead think that we should expand our comfort zones in order to grow.

If you think about it, stepping out of your comfort zone implies you are leaving it behind. However, you need some level of comfort in order to feel confident moving forward and trying...