Public speaking can strike fear in the hearts of even the bravest souls. We are getting down to the nuts and bolts of connecting with your audience, sharing your big idea, and effecting change in the world. You’ll hear practical tips and techniques that will highlight your passion and authenticity as a speaker. If public speaking has been your nemesis, then today’s show might be exactly what you need to turn the tables and impact your audience in positive ways.
Tricia Brouk has a passion for storytelling that has shaped her career and her work in film, television, and theater for over two decades. Tricia is committed to producing and directing stories that inspire, entertain, uplift, and foster an exchange of ideas. As the executive producer of Speakers Who Dare and former executive producer at TEDxLincolnSquare, Tricia curates the top speakers in the country. Her production company, The Big Talk Productions, shoots documentary shorts on the thought leaders making a huge impact in the world today. She’s worked closely with actors and actresses like Kate Winslet, Susan Sarandon, Steve Buscemi, and her dear and late friend, James Gandolfini.
In this episode, Tricia explains how to craft your big talk even when you are starting from zero, the art and craft of becoming a fearless speaker, how to bring your audience into an emotion, and why your big talk is not about the business of public speaking but about making a difference and having the impact you want in the world.
How to say what you are thinking
It takes a risk to speak out about our opinions and our truth. When you say daring things, the risk is greater because you will be judged and criticized. Tricia wants speakers on the stage to think hard about what’s going on, what’s right, and what we should be doing. She shares personal examples of how her daring nature is lived out in her speaking and directing. Her TV show, The Big Talk Over Dinner, purposely brings together people with different opinions to teach others what conversations are possible around topics like leadership, politics, race, immigration, marriage, gender, and arts and entertainment.
Being an authentic communicator
Tricia believes that the world is a better place when people can formulate their ideas and articulate them creatively, lovingly, and respectfully. People will listen, but they will stop listening if you scream and shout. It’s important not to confuse passion and anger when you speak. Tricia’s mission is to develop heart-centered, mission-driven, authentic communicators.
What makes a great talk?
Being able to speak publicly is a gifted way to share your ideas. You are asking the audience to adopt those ideas as their own, so they can go out and make changes in the world. A great talk will not be about you, the speaker, but about what the audience can come away with as a result. Tricia points out that a keynote speech is different than an idea-driven talk.
Keeping an audience engaged
The trick is to speak with your audience and not to them. A speaker has to understand communication styles, body language, eye contact, and the techniques of objective and action. Knowing what you want from your audience is your objective, and how you get it is by using action. Your actions can include inspiration, motivation, education, and illumination. These are the elements that will connect you to your audience.
A daring presentation
Tricia says to bring theatrical elements to your talk and to push beyond your comfort level in what’s possible on a stage. She directs her speakers to use props, sound effects, and music and dance moves in their talks. She teaches speakers to push the boundaries of what’s possible in what she calls “theatrical academia.” Tricia’s goal is to create a safe space in which her speakers can perform.
Discovering your big idea
Speaking can cause paralysis if you have no big idea or a million ideas. Ask yourself what you love doing, what you hate doing, and identify the things you do well, and not so well. These questions will generate, define, and refine your big idea. The questions are revealing about you and your passion. When you hone in on your big idea, present it in a different way. That’s the key to inspire, motivate, educate, and illuminate your audience.
Developing speaking techniques
Your speaking techniques should become so much your second nature that they don’t appear to be techniques at all. Tricia teaches a rehearsal process so intense that you move to the other side of sounding rehearsed, although she cautions against over rehearsal. It should be as if you step onto the stage and simply channel your talk. If you aren’t clear on what you want from your audience, they will start picking apart your talk.
Structure and emotion
Emotion happens organically when you are practicing objective and action. You, the speaker, understand your intention, but when expressing emotion, you should let your audience form and feel their own emotions. The speaker can have the emotion and feel the emotion without actually displaying the emotion. Tricia teaches speakers to use a hook to get your audience engaged from the beginning.
Getting over your anxiousness
Do you want to conquer your anxiousness about public speaking? Tricia says it just takes one thing: practice. She teaches speakers to do their talk under mild stress at first, which would be in front of family or friends. The next step is to increase the stress with a larger group of people whom you don’t know well. No matter how much you practice, your body will behave like you’re under stress, but you have to master not being affected by the stress responses of your body that are perfectly natural and uncontrollable.
Handling a heckler
If you encounter a heckler while speaking, Tricia says to thank them for the insight, offer to talk to them after, and keep going. Never get angry on stage because that behavior will never leave you. Showing your anger causes an immediate break between you and your audience, and you will lose their trust.
The big talk or a book?
If you have a book, then a companion talk will serve the book. The companion talk shouldn’t be just reading the book but should highlight points from the book that give enough information so that the audience will buy it. Tricia explains how a keynote talk can easily be expanded into a book.
What you want from your audience
Know who your audience is. Do your research. Understanding who you are speaking to allows the exchange of energy. Tricia crafts audiences with high – profile people who are looking to book her speakers. That means the speaker has to come at the top of their game and speak the language that relates to the audience.
How to get paid for speaking gigs
Tricia’s best tip for getting paid speaking gigs is to ask to be paid. Just ask! Negotiate the fee. If there is absolutely no money in the budget, never say that they don’t have to pay you, but offer to waive your fees if they will recommend you for other speaking engagements.
How to pitch your pitch
In bringing your pitch, know that you are offering something that will serve the audience. Make it clear what you are bringing to the table. When writing a pitch paragraph, make that pitch the first sentence of your paragraph, and don’t bury your pitch at the end.
Highlights of this episode:
- 3:17 – How to say what you think
- 6:54 – Teaching daring speakers
- 7:56 – Components of a great talk
- 9:30 – Tricks to keep an audience engaged
- 12:03 – Elements of a daring presentation
- 14:25 – Discovering your big idea
- 18:15 – Speaking techniques
- 21:15 – Structure and emotion
- 24:53 – Coaching people past their anxiousness
- 29:02 – Handling a heckler
- 35:24 – The big talk or a book?
- 37:57 – What you want from an audience
- 40:42 – Insider tips for getting paid speaking gigs
- 42:18 – Crafting a pitch
- 44:50 – Fem Five
Resources Mentioned:
- www.triciabrouk.com Text “Tricia” to 44222 for a free download of Tricia’s Seven-Step Formula for Fearless Speaking
- How Rich People Think by Steve Siebold
The Fem Five:
1. Favorite book to recommend for women?
- How Rich People Think by Steve Siebold
2. Favorite self-care hack?
- “I always say that it’s my policy to not go out on school nights when I’m asked to attend events.”
3. Best piece of advice and who gave it to you?
- “A best friend from 1991 told me to keep the story moving.”
4. Female CEO or thought leader you’re into right now?
5. One piece of advice you’d give your five years younger self?
- “It’s all worth it.”
Last Time on The NextFem Podcast
Navigating the Ups and Downs of 21st-Century Female Friendships with Lauren Mechling
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