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Lessons from the TEDx stage

January 7th, 2019

What an honor it was to speak on the TEDx stage! For a long time I couldn’t even imagine it. Then I considered the possibility that ONE DAY I would have the opportunity, but it was a long way off. Then it started to feel a little closer, when suddenly BOOM, there I was standing…

How to keep from freaking out when preparing a talk

December 13th, 2018

A client came to me this morning saying “I’m horrible at memorizing. I can’t do it. I’ll never be able to be a speaker because I just can’t remember what to say! I rehearse and rehearse and still my mind comes up blank and then I freak out cuz I’m never gonna learn this talk.”…

How to be authentically YOU on stage AND grow as a speaker

December 6th, 2018

“But it doesn’t feel natural! It doesn’t feel like me. It feels awkward, inauthentic, yucky. NOT ME!!” I hear that all the time from my clients. When I ask them to do something that they haven’t done before, or try something different with their arms, or their focus, or their body language, or their voice….

Kill your darlings: Tips for editing your talk

November 29th, 2018

It was either Winston Churchill or Mark Twain who said “I didn’t have time to write you a short letter so I wrote you a long one.” As is the epic journey of creating and editing your TEDx talk with a pretty rigorous time limit. Which is part of the journey I’m on right now. The…

Creativity is where it’s at

September 17th, 2018

I often say creativity is not just reserved for artists. It’s a birthright. Simply by being alive and human we are creative beings. Some people hone it more than others. Some people’s creativity gets squashed, but we’ve all got access to it all the time. That’s what I talked about with Melissa Dinwiddie on her…

What’s the power of your story?

September 17th, 2018

Do you know the power of your own story? That’s what I talked about last week with Kelly Covert, the host of the podcast In Her Voice. In the interview, we chat about: How you can take the power away from the voice that tells you “I don’t matter” Why a powerful story doesn’t have…

You ARE being judged

August 20th, 2018

One of the most common concerns I hear from people who are on the path to speaking is “I’m afraid I’m being judged!” I hear it all the time. The same fear comes in all shapes and sizes. They’ll say I’m not an expert. They’ll roll their eyes. They’ll ridicule me. They’ll be bored. If…

How to become a sought-after speaker

August 14th, 2018

I was recently asked by a potential client “Will you be able to get me to the point of becoming a sought-after speaker?” Part of me wanted to jump and say “Absolutely! Work with me and I promise you’ll become a sought-after speaker! I can show you the pot of gold at the end of…

What to do when you go [BLANK] on stage

July 20th, 2018

A few weeks ago I wrote about different ways to use a pause when speaking. One of the best pauses to get friendly with is the “I’ve gone totally blank and can’t remember what the heck I was gonna say next” pause. In Tuesday’s Speaker’s Playground, that got us talking about that exact moment… The “I can’t remember what…

What should I do with my freakin hands?!?!

July 5th, 2018

When I got rolling on my newsletter habit this spring, I made a list of questions people often ask me. One question on the list was “What should I do with my hands?” So I sat down to write the newsletter and wrote this whole intro about how people ask me that question all the…