Hi, I'm Kat, marketer turned brand storyteller. And I'm Candice, educator turned entrepreneur. And you're listening to Not Nice, Clever. As CEOs and leaders, it's your job to always have the answers. But sometimes you need a little help, leverage, if you will. We get it. This is the place for you. So wherever you're listening, 5 .30 a club at the gym, on your way to your next meeting or putting out today's fire, let's get into it. In today's mini episode of Not Nice, Clever, we are sharing public speaking tips for introverts. This also applies to extroverts too. You can totally take it and run with it. And when we say public speaking, we don't just mean on stage in front of a thousand people because while Candice and I have done that, honestly, public speaking can literally apply to just talking to one other person because you're speaking to another human being that's not in your head. That's a form of public speaking. Or it can be speaking up in a team meeting or literally at the grocery store talking to your cashier.
unless they have self -checkout. public speaking tips, Candace. So the first thing is you want to be prepared. Sometimes people think that they could just wing it. And I do not recommend that at all. I like to know exactly who I'm going to be talking to. Who is this audience? What do they already believe? Why are they here?
Understanding why they're there and who they are, whether they know you or don't know you, what their background knowledge is on the material you're bringing to them will help you to have a better presentation. So for example, if I am going to speak at a brokerage and I'm talking about personal branding and they've never had experience with any training about branding before,
and there may be more of a traditional brokerage, then I know that there's some high level things that I'm going to have to make little baby steps for them to access. But if I also, if I'm walking into a room with a bunch of people who are going to a branding conference, I know that they're already bought into branding. I know that they already like this topic. They've probably already done some of their own research on the speakers. And so now I'm talking to them at a different level and it's going to make for a better
conversation, which is also something I think that you should be thinking about as you are speaking in public is stop thinking about you just speaking and thinking about how can I make this feel more like a conversation. So important to know your audience because if you know who you're talking to, it's a lot easier to have a conversation and
one of my favorite things to do, and this is going to depend on the venue or the format or your comfort level, but I love to share personal stories in my talks, in my webinars, in workshops that you and I do, Candice, because when you are recounting a story, you already kind of naturally let your personality shine through, and it's a great way to warm up the audience.
really all it takes, it doesn't matter if you're speaking to a room of five people or 50 or 500, you really only need like one person to crack a smile or one person to chuckle. And then that one person, just like that energy kind of like sifts and absorbs into the rest of the room and then you've got them. And using personal stories, obviously not going to overboard with it, but finding something that's relevant to what you're talking about.
In your example, Candice, if you're speaking on personal branding, you might share, we might share how it was really odd the first time that we showed up to a conference after having had a podcast for a year and people we had no idea who they were were coming up to us and saying how much they loved our podcast. Yeah. And we're like, okay, the personal brand is working. Also, Candice, do know who that person is? No, I was going to you. don't. Okay, let me quickly Instagram, like stalk this person, see if we can figure it out because she knows our name and I feel really bad. Stories are fun. Stories are fun.
There's one exercise that I did in a workshop one time that I love to kind of help me understand who's in the seats. And I make the audience stand up and I ask a series of questions. of course I do. Movement really helps. I highly recommend using movement if it makes sense for what you're doing. So just having everyone stand up and then I ask a series of questions so I can a sense of where they are on the topic. So I talk obviously a lot about content.
So I would say, okay, if you're able to, please everyone stand up. And if you made a reel in the last month, please sit down. If you've done this in the last, this time, please sit down and kind of, they just get progressively more challenging, right? And then I see how many people have sat and I know in my mind, got it, know who's in this room now. I can make small adjustments in the type of stories that I share and in the tips that I give based on that visual of where people are.
I love that. Yeah, anytime you can incorporate movement, you said, Kiness, getting the people involved. Public speaking is not you delivering a speech. It's you having a conversation where you might be doing the majority of the talking, but the involvement is like throughout and getting people like actually to involve their bodies in the whole experiences. The energy matters for sure. And being able to be a manager of the energy in the room.
is going to make you a better public speaker. Another thing that I want to share, and I'll be like super real with the clever crew about this because public speaking in that I am going up on stage or doing a breakout or with a mic in my hand, like that type of public speaking is relatively new for me. I think it's been newer in the last like two years. So like in my whole career, it's like new and I'm growing and I'm learning a lot. When I first started
like doing speaking like that, I was surrounded by a lot of very charismatic and energetic speakers, people that were very bombastic, people that would modulate their voices and they would use their hands and they would pace back and forth like a lion on stage. I remember telling Candace one time, because you and I presented what were you about to say something? No, no, I'm just picturing all these things happening on stage. Thank you. It was a very colorful time. But like the thing that happened was
It's so funny. I started comparing myself and how I would speak. I would not pace back and forth. I'm not a natural type of speaker to do that. And my voice usually stays very steady. I'm often told that I could do like voice, like audio books because of my voice. I think Dom even said the same thing about when our podcast for Saunchie's like, you and Kakatoi. It's like the both of you guys. So I started comparing myself and thinking and getting in my head that their speaking style
I needed to copy it. And I remember I shared this like comparison -itis like moment with you, Candice, and you were like, you were like, just go up there, tell the people what they need to hear, not what they want to hear, and just like, just do it, just be you. And now I was recently watching back like some short clips that my editor had put together from a recent keynote I did. And then I just shared with you right before we hopped on here, I was like, I have stage RPF, man. But like it worked.
The speech was well received and there were great moments, but you just have to figure out your speaking style. I think that's really important because like my speaking style is very different than Kat's on stage. Like I can look like I'm yelling, look like I'm scolding. Like I can be just really in it and I will have not even RBF. was like more, it's a more active bitch face. Not arresting. It activated. Yeah.
Yeah. You'll have ABF. Right. So I'm not smiling on stage much either. And if you watch any of my clips from stage and Instagram, you can see that. But like my tone is very direct. And even sometimes when I watch back, like, I'm like literally yelling. I don't know that I'm doing it at the moment, but that's just how I speak. And maybe it's going back to being an eighth grade teacher. You got to raise your voice or no one's going to pay attention. I don't know.
But it works for me. And if I tried to be softer and sweeter and more caring, people be able to sniff that out really quick and be like, that doesn't, something's not right there. Something feels a little bit off because it is, because it's not who I am. Yeah. I would, another like follow -up tip to this is it will probably take like six to seven speaking engagements, whether it's literally like doing a lunch and learn at your,
your team office or doing a webinar or, you know, being a part of a panel or whatever it is, it'll take several times for you to start to understand how you show up on stage. Because it's not like you're a completely different person, but you do kind of take on this different persona that's still authentic to you. It's just larger. It's you times 100. That's it. Because just like going back to the idea, you know, how people put on plays.
and their makeup has to be more exaggerated and their movements have to be more exaggerated. Like when you're on stage, you just have to amplify everything because it is going to come across as smaller than what you think. So just something to consider. I have actually a tip that I want to give to people who might be starting out because if you're just starting out, lots of times people start out maybe on a panel.
little bit less intimidating. Someone's asking you a question. You don't have to have a full plan. You're sitting side by side. Right. You're side by side. Exactly. Feel a little bit more comfortable. Well, I didn't know when I was first starting that a panel is really an opportunity for you to showcase yourself and your brand and how you can help the people in the audience. And it doesn't always have to be exactly what the moderator thinks it should be. And I remember
people asking me questions that I was like, this is not a question that's really gonna make me shine right now. This question is kind of like meh, middle of the road. And I used to just answer their question. I don't know why. I just thought that was the polite thing to do. Yeah, exactly. I want it to be nice, but this podcast is not nice, clever. Exactly. So I have a new approach. So now I want to be clever about the opportunity. I'm gonna be clever about the opportunity. So what I'm gonna do instead is
Prior to the panel, I'm gonna write down three things that I want the audience to walk away thinking about me. And then no matter what question comes at me, I'm gonna politely answer the question. And in addition, I'm gonna make sure that I tell an anecdote or a story or something that's also gonna get me to those three things that I want the audience to remember about who I am and why they need me. And I used to be too polite to get that across.
I love that pro tip for those starting out for those growing learning. We hope that these tips have been helpful. They are literally taken from our very own experience. And if there's a speaking opportunity that you've been kind of on the fence about and you need some ABF from Candace or some RBF from Kat to convince you to say yes to that opportunity, slide into our DMs, permission granted at notniceclever on Instagram and we will catch you on the next episode. Thanks for joining us on Not Nice.
Remember to follow Not Nice Clever wherever you listen to audio. And if you haven't already, drop that five -star review. Share your takeaways. Tell us your story. We love to hear it. Signing off, you're not so nice, but so clever besties that mean business. See you soon.
