3 Resources to Become a Better Speaker
Spoiler alert: I'm not one of the resources.
TL;DR
It’s not unusual for someone writing a book to want to leverage that book into a speaking career. So here’s some people you should follow who give killer speaking advice:
And I’ll tell you exactly why you need to know these three down below.
One of the reasons I write is because I can’t speak.
Okay, physically, yes—I can speak. But anyone who has spent more than 10 minutes engaging me in conversation knows that speaking is not my forte. I’ve been known to stutter, get stuck on words, and flip-flop words around, like Doc from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
(Not to be confused with the live action abomination currently in theaters. Just say no.)
But improving my speaking is something I’m working on intentionally. I’ve always felt more comfortable expressing my thoughts on the page (or screen), but I also recognize that scaling my business means I need to learn how to be a better presenter and teach in front of groups.
Sure, I’ve done this before, but never specifically about writing. Never specifically tied to my quote-unquote brand.
But not many writers out there are super-great at the whole presenting in front of people thing, so I figure if I improve my speaking, I’ll open up new opportunities. (At least, that’s the working chaos theory in my life.) So to beef up my skills, I’ve been learning from people who are better speakers than I am.
And if you’re writing a book as part of a present or future speaking career, then you need to know these three…
#1. Kerry Barrett
Kerry is my favorite recent follow on LinkedIn. She’s an Emmy Award-winning news journalist who now teaches lawyers to be more video-confident. What I love about Kerry’s approach is that she’s working with people who are already trained in presenting complicated legal arguments—and yet it seems like they have the same video struggles that many of us have.
Even if you’re not a lawyer (hi, me neither), she’s worth a follow because the advice is super-transferrable to whatever you do. And while I’m not posting videos every other day (LinkedIn has made it clear that it doesn’t like my face), I know that I’ll have to be more video-confident if I ever want to release a video course (which I do).
#2. Eva Rose Daniel
I’ve been following Eva for a couple years now and seen her meteoric growth on LinkedIn—and talked with her in real life. (By real life, obviously, I mean Zoom.)
She’s the real deal. She started out in radio (speaking is pretty important there), and then for years, she was Dave Ramsey’s speechwriter.
One of my absolute favorite things about Eva’s teaching is how focused she is on storytelling—and many of the skills she teaches work well as writing advice.
Definitely give her a follow.
#3. Devin D. Marks
I originally crossed paths with Devin while still working in my B2B sales job. We hit it off right away because I love myself a good TED Talk and at the time, Devin was marketing himself as “the TED Talk Whisperer.”
One of his former clients had a Top 10 TED Talk for many years. So if you’ve ever felt like you could jump on a TED stage, the first thing you should do is enlist his help and learn the best practices.
He has a new program coming very soon that you should check out here.
While you probably won’t see me on any main stages any time soon, I’m starting to look forward to speaking (what, who am?). Even started doing some research about local high school groups that I might be able to chat with.
So speaking of speaking, here are some speech-related content ideas:
What is your favorite “get psyched” song before a major presentation?
When did you last speak in front of a group? (Doesn’t have to be anything formal.)
What’s the greatest speech you’ve ever heard? And why?
Who would you love to take speech lessons from?
Do you prefer speaking in front of large or small groups?
And if you’re a subscriber, I’ve got bonus content ideas for you down below.
Still looking for content ideas? Visit my Stan Store to Go from Zero to 100+ Content Ideas with 25 Questions.
Until next time, keep changing the world—one story at a time.
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