The Art and Business of Speaking - with Toni Caruso

🔷 𝐓𝐨𝐧𝐢 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐨 - 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫, 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐲𝟒𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 🔷

✅ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬: she helps speakers, authors and coaches build their businesses on stage, virtually or live.
✅ 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬: Speakers do not know the "business of speaking." Toni help them understand the back of the house rules to follow so they do not make mistakes, fall afoul of organizers and miss out on opportunities.

✅ QUOTE: "𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒙𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒕, 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒔."

With over 30 years of event production experience Toni has brilliantly managed & successfully organized events small and large for the entertainment, corporate and business-to-business worlds. Toni has taken her skills, experience and behind the scenes event knowledge to professionals so they can help educate, inform and share their genius live on stage.

She operates in the speaking world as she guides, teaches and helps speakers, experts & gifted messengers stand out and monetize their message. The fact is speaking is one of the fastest ways to build your business and showcase your knowledge and expertise. Being an effective speaker is your ticket to breakthrough results. She wants you to stand up, speak up and show up now because there are people waiting to hear your message.

You can connect with Toni at:
www.Academy4Speakers.com
https://www.instagram.com/tonicarusoevents/
https://www.facebook.com/toni.luppino.caruso/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonicaruso/

✅𝑬𝑽𝑬𝑹 𝑾𝑶𝑵𝑫𝑬𝑹 𝑰𝑭 𝑷𝑶𝑫𝑪𝑨𝑺𝑻 𝑮𝑼𝑬𝑺𝑻𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑪𝑶𝑼𝑳𝑫 𝑩𝑼𝑰𝑳𝑫 𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑩𝑹𝑨𝑵𝑫?

🎯𝗣𝗢𝗗𝗖𝗔𝗦𝗧 𝗚𝗨𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗙𝗔𝗦𝗧 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺 - 4 weeks to becoming a successful podcast guest expert to grow your business and your brand
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👉To learn more about becoming a podcast guest for PR, Profit, and Social Proof: 💥 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝟓 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐏𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐆𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 and get started!  https://bit.ly/5StepGuidetoGuesting
𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒅𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔:  https://discoveryofcourse.as.me/LeveragePodcastGuesting

Transcript

September Smith: 0:01

I'm September Smith and this is the She's All That podcast, Season 2. As always, conversations with women doing awesome shirt is the foundation of my podcast. And in this transition season to a post pandemic world. My guests are business owners combining their agile business chops, their expertise and their insight to offer their clients innovative solutions for the post pandemic business reality. Each and every one brings up a fresh edge to business that you'll want to hear about. Welcome to the She's All That video podcast. Thanks for being with me today. And it today is going to be a really interesting show all about speaking from the stage. My guest today is Toni Caruso, who is the founder and the CEO of the academy for speakers. Toni has 30 years of experience as an event producer and organizer. And she's made speaking from the stage at the core of her business, both by being a sought after speaker herself, but also was a teacher, a guide and a mentor, showing speakers, authors and coaches, how to maximize their impact, monetize your message, and build a community of raving fans through speaking. Wow, Toni, that we can do all that just through speaking. How solidly was absolutely. Well, thank you so much for being here today. I can't wait to get into this. And hear all about this now. So you've been doing this for 30 years. And I'm only 12 I time morph man. Yeah, yeah. So I've heard you say, in addition to maximizing someone's impact, and monetizing their message, and building a community, being an effective speaker is your ticket to breakthrough results. I've also heard you say speaking is one of the fastest ways to build your business and showcase your knowledge and expertise. How does this all work in someone's business?

Unknown: 1:49

Well, if you think about it, how do you get in front of a large group of people, you can spend hours doing one on one, and having coffee meetings and having phone calls and zoom meetings, and it's one on one, it takes time out of your day, and it takes energy. And it takes a lot of effort to close a deal, when it'd be nice to get on a stage in front of 2030 4500 people. So it's one to many. And you tell your story and you share your message, and you offer them to come and work with you. It's just faster. And let me tell you the power of the microphone. Like as you know, you've got the microphone, you are in charge when you're up on that stage. You are the expert in your field.

September Smith: 2:37

I guess the very fact that you've been invited to be on that stage and the lights are on you. And everyone's right asked to be quiet and listen to you. Yes, I just imbues you with automatic authority. Exactly. Wow. So you had been doing this for you for 30 years. But you yourself just got into speaking professionally. Was it six years

Unknown: 2:56

ago? Well, to be honest, I have always been in the back of the room. I've always produced things and I'm the organizer. And I'm going through it all. And I'm making sure everything works. And I'm the girl in black in the back of the room. And just recently, I have been asked to step forward. So the more I've stepped forward and gotten on the stage, and shared what I know, more people have said, Oh my gosh, I need to know more. And I found that there is a real niche missing. In the speaking world. Everybody is talking about, Oh, you got to have your message clear. And oh, you got to have your PowerPoints perfect, and oh, what you look like, but they don't teach the business of speaking. And that's where a lot of speakers have make mistakes.

September Smith: 3:46

Ah, so you are uniquely positioned having been on both sides of it?

Unknown: 3:51

Well, and I've seen the mistakes they've made, and I've been there when they've done it. And it's just, it's sad, and you're watching these people fail on stage. And it's really not their fault. They just have not educated themselves as to what they should be doing on the stage and off to maximize their impact. You know, there's so many different ways to do that. And I think that there are a lot of missing links that people just they just don't know what they don't know.

September Smith: 4:22

So what's the problem? It's speaking, most people know how to talk. We all have been talking since we were children. So what's the difference between somebody who just has a story to tell and they want to get their message out there versus somebody who's a really professional speaker?

Unknown: 4:39

Well think about it as a car salesman. And you go in and you go to the dealership and there's always those guys standing in a line. And they're jumping at you like I'm next you know, right, right? And they jump at you like what do you need? What do you want a no and they're constantly on you to buy, buy, buy. It's always the guy that I look for is Standing in the back, and you just kind of go, you know, I need a little help. Could you answer some questions? Absolutely. And you have a conversation. So if you think of it as your stage, as that kind of impact, you don't want to be the car salesman, you want to be the one having the conversation. So if you think about getting on stage and having a conversation with your audience, instead of getting on stage with the ultimate goal of selling something, it's a mindset. It's the way that you step onto that stage, and how the audience sees you. Because if you're that slick car salesman, and you're up there and you're like, offstage, you're like, Hi, I'm Joe, that it up. But onstage like, I'm Joe, and I'm going to be doing, you know, it's a whole personality thing. And I will deal a lot with women, and that'll turn a woman off immediately. So you have to be authentic on the stage, you have to be true to yourself. And you have to have a conversation with the audience. Yeah, yeah.

September Smith: 5:59

Like, put yourself in their shoes. Like is if you're having a conversation face to face. Yeah. So a little bit of human intelligence?

Unknown: 6:05

Well, it's like what we're doing now, it's not like you gave me a list of questions. And I'm going to ask you this, and then you're going to answer that. And it's all staged and scripted, we're having a conversation, we're making it interesting and engaging for the audience. And we're giving them hopefully, what will help them in their business. And if you go onto the stage, with the premise of, I am sharing a message, that there is someone in this audience that really needs me right now. And I am going to talk to that person. And I am going to help them overcome whatever challenge they have. But if you go on there and say up, there's 50 people in the room, I need to close 10%, I'm going to sell my $2,000 program, and I'm going to work walk out of here with 1000s of dollars, if that's your goal and your mindset, you're never going to accomplish anything, because you're going to be selling and not sharing.

September Smith: 7:00

Yeah, now, when you're talking about that person is doing it right. And they're having that conversation, that actually creates a really complex scenario that you as the speaker have to put together, because it's not actually a conversation, you have to have already thought ahead as to what might they want to ask or what do they need to know? So you've had to put yourself in the shoes of your listeners? Exactly. And my mom did that.

Unknown: 7:24

I come from the audience, because I have been in the audience for so long. I come from the audience side. So I look at it as are you engaging with the audience? Are you asking them questions? Are you keeping them interested? Are you just putting slide after slide after slide, and you know, you have a 45 minute speech, and the first 15 minutes is all about you, and your background and how amazing you are, you know, we don't care about you. Exactly. If we know about you,

September Smith: 7:55

we mount later once we get to know you Mikey, then we might want to know something about you. But you

Unknown: 7:59

know, get up there and entertain and engage and be authentic and share with us. And then you know, if you throw in Well, you know, a story. And I know the story because this happened to me. That's fine. But it's you know, they go up there and it's all about them. And in and they will fail every time. It's all about the audience.

September Smith: 8:22

I really think that if somebody does that every time there wouldn't be too many opportunities for failure because nobody's gonna have you back.

Unknown: 8:28

Okay, what's really crazy about that is I've seen speakers over and over again, they paid to be on stage, and there are a lot of event people who are looking for those pay to play. So if you're willing to pay the money to get on the stage, and there are people I've seen people that have been that salesy guy, and they close people, there are their ideal clients could be in the room, and they might make a couple of sales, so they feel it was worth their time. But if you're trying to build your business, and grow that speaking business and get on bigger stages, without having to pay the 1000s of dollars to do it, then you have to really hone your skills. Yeah, you've got to be a little more strategic than just like today's view wins versus a burgeoning career. Right?

September Smith: 9:15

So with somebody that works with people who want to either be speakers or become better speakers, if they've got that mindset of, I'm gonna get up there and I'm just gonna sell can can you work with that? Like, have you been successful in going okay, let's slow down, and you've been able to change their mind.

Unknown: 9:33

Well, it's not you don't change their mind as to selling you change their message and you say, Hey, listen, you know, what's your story? Let's sit down and and what's your story and and why? What's your Why? Why did you get into it? So if you go down to somebody is why, why they're speaking on stage that tells you a little more of who they are as a person. And if you can get them to share their stories that makes them more personal. A Novel more authentic, more real, more approachable. And then you work from there on their signature talk.

September Smith: 10:08

Yes, I was going to say, cuz I've seen some of the stuff in your material about magnify you. Your goal is to help clients magnify the power of their story to elevate themselves to business in their audience. And yeah, I so agree whether it's the stage on camera or behind the mic, its story. But it's not just any story, as you say, get your authentic voice happening. But then you got to find the brand story, right for you. How do you do that with clients? Do you work with them individually? Or do you just tell them how to do it?

Unknown: 10:42

Well, a lot of times we go through a process of what are the 10 things that your clients want? Now, how are you uniquely qualified to handle those things? Because a lot of times, even for me, when I was doing my program, I went out and I did research. And I asked speakers, what is your biggest challenge? What's your biggest obstacle? And they told me, and to be honest, things that I had on my list weren't even on their list. They gave me some other things. So you have to ask your ideal clients, what is it about me that you like working with me? You know, tell me what it is about my personality and the way I I work? And then also tell me, what are your biggest pains? If I had a magic wand, and I wove it, what would you like? And then will you know what your clients want? Then you figure out, can you give that to them?

September Smith: 11:41

And from that any story,

Unknown: 11:43

you build a story, because if you don't know what they want, you're going to be up there all the time, just pretending like oh, you know, there's so many people and you've seen them. I mean, you've worked with them. And they're out there, and they're like you give their 62nd. And their 62nd introduction is, I'm going to take you from this to this, and we're going to 10k your business. It's like, you don't know me, you don't know anything about me. Tell me about you. I started out as an entrepreneur five years ago, and I was you know, happy making$1,000 a month. Well, today, I'm making$10,000 a month. And I've learned from my mistakes, and and I want to help other people go through that process without falling in those holes. I did. Isn't that a better way than say? I contend k your business? You know? Yes. Yeah. It's, it's a little more authentic, unique, and you kind of you want people to lean in and go, Oh, I want to know more. Yeah.

September Smith: 12:37

So for somebody like yourself, who as you say, you're with a woman at the back of the room, you know, making everything run like a Swiss watch. But you also have the experience of being on the stage. You found it surprising when you ask people like what are the things you had the biggest challenges with, which I think is the lesson to all of us never assumed? What were some of the things that you found that they were reporting, they have the biggest problems with?

Unknown: 13:02

Well, most speakers have the biggest problems with their biggest thing is I want to get on more stages. I want more gigs. You know, that's number one. And some people are like, I have a real fear of public speaking. I know that I have to do it. But I'm afraid to do it. I don't think that I come across Well, you know, so you have to tell them, you know, it's just practice. No one was perfect the first time. And I always tell people, don't aim for that big stage, when you're just beginning. Because you don't want to make a mistake on a big stage. Make your mistakes on little stages, learn from those. And make sure you get videotape. So you can watch it over again and go, ooh, that joke didn't work, or Yeah, I wasn't really good there. And then hone it so that when those bigger stages come available, you can step on, and you've made all those mistakes, and you can knock it out of the park.

September Smith: 13:58

That's excellent advice.

Unknown: 14:00

Yes. And I truly believe right now, in this virtual world, everyone should be having their own stages, they should be doing webinars, they should be doing virtual events, they should be hosting small, little happy hours, whatever it is, they can do it and practice their stick, or their story, or their messaging with different people in a very safe little environment with 10 or 12 people I was doing when we first got locked down. I was doing happy hours every night and bringing in an expert, we're having a great time talking and learning and just you know getting people comfortable talking virtually, you know, so you've just got to

September Smith: 14:41

practice. Now, what is I mean, speaking has been your world and events. And as you say, during the pandemic, we Oh, we're suddenly shifted, thrust forward into this whole world of virtual communications. We're not going back to what it was. But what is happening now in business, that there's so much more need for this for people, as you say, to be getting on doing webinars and doing trainings and doing groups? What do you from your vantage point see happening in this post pandemic world that this is now more necessary than ever?

Unknown: 15:18

Well, we're never going back to all live, we're never going back please, to all virtual, um, I have just attended, I just drove to Reno and went to a live event last week. And it was just so nice to be in the room. But what we're doing, I'm doing a lot events in the fall, some of them live, and some of them are going to be hybrid, we're going to be live streaming. So they're all going to be those people that we're going to be able to reach out to nationwide that weren't available to attend the events that we normally had. And they'll be able to do it live streaming. And we'll have different people interacting and engaging with them virtually because you have to keep them involved in the room, and then also have the live aspect as well. So I think you're going to be seeing a lot of hybrid, I don't think the zoom meetings and the virtual events are going anywhere, anytime soon. Because there are people that have found this to be a comfortable way for them to do business. And they feel safe, and they feel good in their home, whatever. God bless them. And that's what they want to continue doing. So you're not going to have that 100% show up at your live event, you're going to have a little bit of everything.

September Smith: 16:36

So as somebody who's also an event producer, that has just added this whole layer of complexity to what you do, yeah, the opportunities there. No, you can reach so many more people, full participants and speakers.

Unknown: 16:52

Absolutely. But you have to learn how to engage the audience, you can't just open it up, put a mic up and start talking to them. They're zoomed out. And in the beginning, people were doing these zoom events that were 810 hour days. And it was like, Oh my god, I can't sit here anymore. I got neck spasms because I was sitting on my desk for too long. And so now I have two short spurts. Do smaller events, do maybe a couple of days in there half days. But make sure it's engaging. I always have like a VIP cocktail hour, happy hour the night before. And then I have a coffee networking before the event in the morning. And then I always do breakout rooms throughout the day so people can interact. And I've had yoga instructors come in breathing instructors come in. I've had dance parties come in, you've got to keep that audience involved and energize and keep their energy up. Because I mean, how many times have you been on an event and I'm know a lot of you right now might be watching this, and you're on your computer, typing in and doing work. I mean, everybody is what they call multitasking. So they're not listening and giving 100% to everything. So you have to really work hard. And as a speaker, you have to have more energy, you have to be more up and you've got to you know, really do that because you'll say a joke. You don't hear any laughter. You know, they might be laughing, you don't hear it. So you have to be able to keep that energy up and keep going and keep them engaged and entertained throughout your talk so that you know, when you get to your clothes and you do your offer. They're still listening.

September Smith: 18:35

Mm hmm. Now when it comes to even just like the old traditional speaking from the stage, a lot of people aren't naturally prepared to come up with the with the animation and the energy that you need to do that. Right. Is that something that you work with? I mean, not not even just how you do it virtually. But even just like within yourself, when you're telling your story when you're giving your speech or your talk? Do you work personally with people to help them achieve that level of go that extra 10% that they need?

Unknown: 19:08

Well, absolutely. And we talk about you know, if there's a podium, don't even look at it. It's not there. It's do not stand behind a podium, do not stand behind anything that's a wall between you in the audience. If you can always have a wireless mic, or one of the little Janet Jackson, I call them mics so that you can walk around and move. Use your hands, use your body walk around, if you're standing still, non verbally, you're telling your audience that you're not interesting and you're bored and it's your nonverbal communication because remember, 93% of everything that we give to an audience is nonverbal. Only three only 7% is what we're saying. So if they're only listening 7% What are you telling them by the way you're dressed? We have a stylist that works with you. How are you presenting yourself on board And what are your PowerPoint presentations look like a lot of people and I've seen this, you know, talking about mistakes, where you put too much information on a PowerPoint, and everyone's reading it, and you're actually reading it. I had a luncheon once and my speaker was reading off her PowerPoint. She actually said to the audience, I don't my glasses on what does that last line say? Oh,

September Smith: 20:23

my God. Yeah.

Unknown: 20:27

If you were just gonna read the PowerPoint, you might as well just given them the pieces of paper and walked away. And they could just read it later. Yes, even Yeah, having to the venue should be one thought for a PowerPoint, it should just be like a line and saying hello. And then you go, Hey, my name is you know, whatever it is. Don't give them all the information.

September Smith: 20:45

Yeah. So okay, thank you just kind of hit on what is usually the juiciest part of the interview, which is what was the worst, most egregious mistakes? You've seen people committee? So one of them is this whole PowerPoint presentation, just reading it verbatim? What are some of the other

Unknown: 21:00

I had to share? I had a young lady, and I don't think she'd ever spoken on a stage before. And I, it was a three day event. And I think she had like five minutes on the last day. And so the first day I see her over talking to my AV team. And so I walk over there and I say, Can I help you? Because they're all getting ready. Just Well, I want to talk about my microphone and everything I go, I'll take care of your microphone, you're just fine. You know, 15 minutes before you're going to be on stage. Come on back here. We'll get you miked up, okay. So then, you know, a couple hours later, I sear. And the young gentleman who does our videos is eating lunch. And he she's over with him having this animated conversation. And so I go up and I say, Excuse me, can I help you? She goes, Well, I'm telling him when he supposed to zoom in on me and and I'm like, he's eating lunch right now, once you come over here ago, by the way, you'll get the raw footage. And you can then zoom in on it, you can do whatever it is, and you can edit it. But he is just sitting back here doing a one shot. He's not going to follow you for five minutes. Yeah. So then it was the break before she was on later. And I look up at the stage and she's on the stage and she's walking around going. She's practicing. I have to go up there. And I said, Excuse me, you can't be on the stage. You know, if you want to practice, you have a hotel room? Are there other rooms you go into? And it really wasn't her fault. She didn't know the business of speaking. So as a big red flag to me in the beginning, like, oh, my goodness, you got to know what questions to ask. There are a series of questions. Every speaker needs to ask the event team before they get to the event. So they know like who's introducing me. How am I entering the stage? Mike coming straight up the aisle? Are I coming from backstage? Am I going to be miked? Or is there a mic on stage a hand mic that I mean, there are so many questions. And if you don't know to ask them, you're going to be lost when you get there. And so then, to close it out, we had a really big stage speaker on stage. And here's the same woman and she's in the back of the room with her camera, and she's videotaping. And I walked over and I go, Oh, you cannot videotape him. You know, it's not allowed. Oh, I didn't know. And I said, Can I see your camera? And I had to delete it, you know? And it wasn't her fault. No, she didn't know. So that's why I say it's important to understand the business of speaking. So that because I went to the hostess said, Yeah, she's not on your stage again. So she's never going to speak on that stage. Because it just was too much of a hassle.

September Smith: 23:53

Yeah, yeah. Not only was she not presenting herself, she was just being a royal pain for everybody involved.

Unknown: 23:59

And it's taking my time. My time I you know, yeah, she didn't know.

September Smith: 24:04

Yeah. So how would somebody that has this little knowledge of what's involved with speaking at an event? How would she have even gotten on the roster? Is this another one of those pay to play things?

Unknown: 24:16

Exactly. She went onto the website, there were opportunities to get five minutes on stage, you paid a certain amount of money, and she paid it. Now I went to the host, because he's a good friend of mine and a client. And I said, You know what, before we do our October event, let's look at all the people that paid. Let's figure out which ones had been on your stage before, which ones haven't? And can we reach out to them and do a quick little webinar on the things they need to know so they don't cause the problem. So you know, I'm, I'm thinking forward now for that, but it's not everybody's going to do that and you're really going to mess up if you're on a if you've paid $5,000 or $10,000 to speak on a big stage and you cause those kind of problems. I mean, they're never gonna let you speak again. And it could be the perfect audience for you.

September Smith: 25:07

Yeah, yeah. And yeah, if you're that awkward, you're probably not doing any kind of sales from the stage.

Unknown: 25:15

And I always say, if you don't know, no question is the wrong question. Just ask the event team. What do I need to know? You know? And and they'll tell you because they want to make their your life easier.

September Smith: 25:26

You know, speaking of you had mentioned that she was a younger woman, do you find that with the new generation coming up that is spent the bulk of their adult lives with access to social media and a camera, which kind of gives them a platform, a stage for Public Speaking of sorts? Are they any better prepared for professional speaking from the stage? Or are they differently prepared? Or is it a benefit, or,

Unknown: 25:52

you know, I don't, I don't work with a lot of younger like 20 somethings. Because they're not really on my stages, my stages are more geared for entrepreneurs over 50 4050, you know. But what I have found is a lot of people who speak on your tik tok or Facebook Lives, or Instagram reels are doing everything quick, and, and psychotic, you know, because everything, you only have so much time. And when you're on stage, you have to take the time. And you can't talk that fast, because the audience can't take it in that fast. But then on the other hand, you find this people that are speakers are so afraid of Facebook Lives, and Instagram reels, because it's not a structure that they're comfortable with. And I think that that is a they're doing a disservice to themselves, they really need to do those little Facebook Lives, and Instagram reels and snapchats I don't think their audiences there. But if that's what they do, just to show their personality and who they are, don't get on there and do your, your stick and try and sell your products. Get on there and talk about who you are, what your life, you know, because that's how people get to know you. Because people of course, want to know, like, and trust you, right. And so if you can get them to know and like you before you step on that stage, they're going to trust you a lot faster, and then buy into your products

September Smith: 27:22

and services. So in some ways that sounds like people who are veteran speakers almost have to not unlearn the skills that they've learned, you've got to keep that but you have to kind of relax into this whole other way of speaking

Unknown: 27:37

well, and be be authentic, and be themselves and show themselves playing with their dogs are walking on the beach, or just having a conversation, you know, show their lives because everybody is we're all into everybody else's lives right now. So show who you are at home. And, you know, if you're a mom of three kids, and I'm a mom of three kids, and I see you on stage, I know that you can relate to my pain and everything I'm going through. Yeah.

September Smith: 28:04

And so in fact it the new technology, not surprisingly, does afford us a whole other opportunity. Yes, wasn't there 1020 years ago.

Unknown: 28:13

And if you're a speaker, and you're wanting to get on stages, let me tell you, as you're filling out all those forums to get on a stage, they ask you, how many Instagram followers do you have? How many friends on Facebook, because if you don't have a social media presence, they don't feel like you're going to be able to promote them. And you don't have a following and a community. So it's important to have those things in your toolbox, so that you can get on the bigger stages.

September Smith: 28:42

Now, just kind of parallel to that story. I happen to be speaking to somebody yesterday about the whole issue of buying followers on social media, everything from you know, Instagram not and I was surprised to find out that it's a big thing on LinkedIn as well. I don't know why I naively thought that it might not be. But so is that something now that event coordinators are going to have to start taking into consideration because what kind of Instagram follower following do you have? While it might be like 99% fake?

Unknown: 29:13

Yeah, but we're not going to spend the time to try and get to know that. But if we look like when I was first starting on Facebook, somebody told me to boost a post and do it on and pay for it and use it to the Philippines. So I boosted this post on the Philippines. And I got 1000s of followers to the Philippines because they basically that's what they do is they just follow each other whatever. And it was on my business page. And it totally put a red flag on my business page. Now this was years ago. Yeah, um, and I don't really pay a lot of attention to my business page because nobody wants to be friends with me on business. They want to be friends with me personally. So I Almost a 5000 followers on Facebook and but it's been authentic and it's been generic. And it's been you know, and it's the same with Instagram, I, you know, you see the young girls that are like sexy and cute or whatever, and they've got 1000s of followers. I don't have those followers. But you know, I have a very strong following and a very engaged following. But I too, didn't know that you could buy LinkedIn followers. That was, that's new information to me. But I would never do that. Because I would rather be who I am, and authentically and show up. Because if you say you have 10,000 here and 5000 here, and your reach is so big, and then you go out there and they get nothing in return. Then they're gonna say, Oh, she Yeah, she lied, you know? Yeah, yeah. But what I do want to say is, if you are a speaker, and you do not have a reel of us speaking on YouTube, who better get one? That's where we go. event planners, will Google your name in YouTube ad to find out, can she walk and talk and chew gum? You know, we want to see you speak. Yeah. And if you don't have one, in this virtual world, great opportunity, open up your zoom, and pretend you're giving a speech and go, Hey, put in the chat. If you're with me. Oh, great. Yeah, you're with me, oh Sue's with me, - and just pretend. I said at least then we have the opportunity to see that you can talk, you have a good message, you have a good energy, you know, and you can relate to your audience, that kind of thing. But if you have nothing, then it shows that you're not speaking on stages.

September Smith: 31:43

Yeah, well, shouldn't anybody who's actually putting in application to speak have a speaker reel of some size,

Unknown: 31:51

but some speaker reels like I have a friend who was the head of a networking group. So she was in front of the networking group speaking every month. So she had all these pictures of her in different outfits or whatever, speaking at different angles, but they're all at the same networking group. And she did a voiceover and added some music. She'd never spoken on big stages. So you kind of go oh, you know. So I would rather have it a four minute signature talk of just you, because I'm more interested in the message, not the audience, you know, I want to know who you are on stage, I, I tend to go for a certain energy when I have people speak on my stage. So people come to my events, they know it's high energy, the speakers are outgoing and engaging, you know, it's not Whoo. And, you know, it's not that kind of feel. That's just not who I am. Yeah. And so that's what I'm looking for. So I see that when I see you speak, I'm not gonna see that with cuts to different things. True. True. True.

September Smith: 32:56

So is that something you can actually train people when people are working with you? Because you you have a number of different programs and ways that people can work with you to learn all that stuff? Can you actually train them up to that energy? Or is it just like, no, you're meant for this kind of stage?

Unknown: 33:12

Or what exactly and if that's what you're meant, that's fine. Like I'm training a guy right now, who's in cybersecurity, he s not going to go up there with a bunch o energy, like, he's going to be working with bunch of companies and corporations, abou cybersecurity, he needs to know his stuff And he needs to use the right verbiage. An he needs to have the right stories in there So it depends on what your message is, an who your audience is, it changes. You know if you're talking corporate, it's gonna be whole different energy than if you'r talking, you know, young millennials, it' different. So you train for the audience tha you're going to be speaking to, I don't jus train for high energy, that's who I look for But if that's not who you are, if you're mor woowoo, you absolutely, you should be mor woowoo. And you need to have that energy because that's how the audience is going t be. Have you ever stepped in front of someon who's like really mild and in control? Lik me, you know, they're very, and then I jum in there. Hi, I'm Toni. And I scare the hel out of them. Because I have too much energy you know

September Smith: 34:17

or vice versa, you're looking for some kind of energy and then you get somebody that's just kind of comparatively lackluster. Yeah.

Unknown: 34:24

So for me, I always go for the audience, what is the Who's your ideal audience? We need to get your message to that audience.

September Smith: 34:31

Now with that said, in that there are all these different ways you have to kind of categorize people. Can you work with people in groups or do you have to just how do you work with people who decided I want to make speaking from the stage, something that helps me grow my business,

Unknown: 34:48

my programs, a group program, I like groups because then you get the feedback from other people, and it's a different energy and the one on one, it's great for some people. I I like the energy of a room. So I have six to 10 people in my groups. So it's small enough to where they get their questions answered. And they get they get what they need, but it's large enough to where they can get feedback from other types of individuals and personalities. Because, you know, not everything I know is perfect, you know, and someone will say something like, Well, no, I took that this way. And I'm like, really? And I'm like, Okay, let's look at that. You know? Yeah, yeah.

September Smith: 35:25

Yeah, I suppose. Yeah. Lots of input. Yeah. So how long would somebody be in a program with you are these like, how long does it take?

Unknown: 35:33

It's a, it's a 90 day intensive I do. I'm not one that wants you to go for a year. I just want you to get what you need. And then I want you to fly, I want you to just go in and start booking gigs.

September Smith: 35:46

Nice, nice. So once they've done all their work with you, they can do that.

Unknown: 35:50

Yes. And I bring in I've experts. You're one of my experts, you're going to be sharing with podcasting. I have a woman who talks about captivating the crowd. Another woman talks about branding, I bring in those experts. You know, I'm the first one to tell you, I don't know everything. I know the business of speaking. And then they're going to teach you messaging and styling. You know, I bring in all those experts so that you get a 360 view of everything about the speaking world. That sounds just so just a fun, if nothing else, but like

September Smith: 36:26

yeah, so it's educational, fun and like what an amazing thing to to be developing. Yeah, it's exciting. So what have you got coming up is one of these programs starting soon?

Unknown: 36:39

Yeah, I have a kickoff date for my 90 day intensive, which is June the 22nd. I have six people that are in that I have another couple of openings that we can add in there. And then I'm doing a masterclass July 21, which is maximizing your impact on stage. It's an hour and a half. It's a free masterclass. So that's available as well.

September Smith: 37:04

Is that something that you run? Often?

Unknown: 37:07

Well, I've just started those because of COVID. Yeah, so I'm going to be doing them once a quarter.

September Smith: 37:13

Because I think I caught your last one. Yeah, it was amazing. Thank you. It was so informative, engaging, entertaining. I just came to check you out. I wasn't like thinking of. But by the end of it, I was thinking maybe I should consider speaking on stage. It's a great event you put on? Oh, and by the way, you should consider speaking from the stage, you'd be amazing. I bet you say that all the girls,

Unknown: 37:39

no, I don't know why. I'm an honest kind of girl. No, you'd be great.

September Smith: 37:44

So Toni, if anybody like myself is at the end of this conversation, kind of having thoughts about Hmm, maybe I should be thinking about it. What last words would you want to leave people with?

Unknown: 37:57

I would just say that if you're in business, and you want to hit the most people, and you have a great, great message to share, then you need to get on stage to do it. Because there is someone out there waiting for you and your message because it's going to relate to them and they're going to go, oh my god, I need to work with them. And just wouldn't it be great to step on that stage and feel that power because there's a power in handing into handing that microphone and talking and getting the energy of the audience. It's it's very special. And if that's where your life is leading you and you want to get out there and get your message to more people, then stop thinking about it. Stop wait until it's perfect. Just start doing it.

September Smith: 38:44

I love it. Thank you so much for being here and telling me all about this and all the links for everything that you're sharing your any way to get in touch with you and upcoming events will be in the notes below both in the podcast and in the video. I highly recommend if you are thinking about it, Toni is the person; get in touch with her. Thank you so much for being with me today, Toni. I so appreciate it. Thank you. Talk to you soon. Bye. Did you know the podcast guesting being the featured guest interviewed on podcasts is one of the hottest 2021 ways to build brand audience and your business to get your unique message and personality out there to those who need to hear it. As a podcaster. Myself and a business consultant. I help turn entrepreneurs into business people who can proficiently and profitably use podcast casting as a powerful part of their marketing plan. Want to know more, you can download the five step guide below in the notes or if you really want to get moving on it, book a call and let's map out how we could make it part of your marketing plan.