Carol Cox: Want to increase engagement and conversions
at your presentations here.
How to use stories, humor,
and sales seeds by listening to these talks
from our Thought Leader Academy clients on
this episode of the Speaking Your Brand
podcast. More and more women are making an
impact by starting businesses,
running for office, and speaking up for what
matters. With my background as a TV political
analyst, entrepreneur,
and speaker, I interview and coach purpose
driven women to shape their brands,
grow their companies, and become recognized
as influencers in their field.
This is speaking your brand,
your place to learn how to persuasively
communicate your message to your audience.
Hi there and welcome to backstage with
Speaking Your Brand. I'm your host,
Carol Cox. Joining me today is our lead
speaking coach, Diane Diaz.
Hi, Diane. Hello, everyone.
And we also have two of our current thought
Leader Academy clients,
and you all are in for a treat today,
because they are each going to present a ten
minute version of the signature talk they
developed with us during their VIP day,
and they've been refining throughout our
group calls.
And you're going to hear how they have
integrated story, humor,
and planting some key sale seeds so that they
can connect with their audiences to build
trust and relatability,
but also turn their talk into leads and leads
into clients.
So we're going to have each of them deliver
the ten minute version of their talk,
and then we're going to have a round table
discussion about what they learned about
creating these compelling,
engaging talks by working with us,
strategies and suggestions they have for you
as speakers and then what their experience
has been like in the Thought Leader Academy.
First, we're going to have Angela Gillis
start us off. She is the founder of Sorta
Culture Your systems that works with
companies on cyber security and HIPAA
compliance. So yay.
But but here's the thing.
It's because that when you're especially when
you're delivering a topic that's,
you know, a regulatory or that thing,
you really need to make sure that you're
using humor and story to keep your audience
engaged and to make sure then that they want
to hire Angela's company for the work that
she does. Angela, welcome to the stage.
Angela Gillis: Thank you. Carol.
Carol Cox: All right. Let me bring up your slides and
you are ready to go.
Angela Gillis: Okay. Well, Carol, thank you so much for that
introduction. Um, as Carol mentioned,
my name is Angela Gillis,
uh, owner and founder of Horticulture
Systems. And I help actually specifically
independent health practices with HIPAA
compliance. So this is the cybersecurity and
data privacy pieces of healthcare data.
So this presentation is geared towards that
audience. And it's called how a little care
protects a lot of data.
But before we get into that regulatory
component, I want everybody to take a minute
and think, who is a fan of Costco?
So I am a fan of Costco,
and I actually used to work at Costco.
I was the data governance manager in it,
and that experience connects directly to how
medical practices handle data and why culture
matters. But we are going to talk about that
in just a minute. But first of all,
I want you to think about your goals as
healthcare professionals.
So just take a minute to reflect.
What I usually hear is something a little
more on the left. People got into healthcare
to care for their patients.
They want to for our independent healthcare
practitioners. They want to grow their team,
grow their business, and of course,
they want to protect their patient data. What
I hear actually happens is the gentleman on
the right, they are buried up to their neck
in paperwork, bureaucracy,
red tape, and then they have to comply with
things like HIPAA.
So they have to figure out cybersecurity and
privacy on top of that.
Well, thankfully you are not alone with that.
I am here and I am here to help.
It's my job to make this a little more easier
and sustainable because as a healthcare
professional, I know that those kinds of
things are not the reasons you got into
healthcare. So just a little bit about my
background. I live in the Seattle area,
although I work with clients all over the
country, and before I founded my company,
I worked for a lot of the big companies in
the Seattle area. So I worked at Boeing,
I worked at Microsoft,
and then, as I mentioned before, I worked at
Costco. And one of the reasons I was hired at
Costco was to help them get in compliance
with a data privacy law,
and this seemed really simple.
I had a team of engineers,
and what we needed to do was go in and delete
older member data and Costco calls their.
Their customers members.
So we were going to go in and protect their
privacy by deleting that older data.
And the business really um,
they were very hesitant.
And this wasn't um, it wasn't that they
didn't want to comply because they did.
It's because they were so worried about
disrupting the member experience,
um, because they worried if someone returned
something that maybe they had bought,
you know, several years ago,
they wouldn't have the receipt that would go
along with it and it would disrupt that
experience. So we did figure out a solution.
The business did get together a method to
calculate how they can,
um, how members could return something if it
was more than a few years old.
And, um, we deleted the data,
we stayed compliant.
But that experience really stuck with me
because the same thing happens in healthcare
protecting, uh, data.
It's not just about compliance.
It's about like how you care for people.
So first let's talk a little bit about why
health data is so valuable.
Um, it's very different.
It's much more valuable than a lot of the
other data that's out there.
Um, and there's a lot of different research
and statistics. Excuse me?
Statistics about, um, like,
just how much it's worth,
but it can be anywhere from 60 to $1000 for a
medical record. And when you compare that to
something like a credit card,
um, number, that's going to be like 2 to $5.
And when these criminals get these medical
records, the things they're using them for,
things like identity theft,
fake fake prescriptions is really high.
False insurance claims.
Um, and the reason is because you can cancel
that credit card number.
You can't cancel your medical history.
So it's really just this goldmine of data.
And that's why we need to really have this
strong culture around healthcare data about
protecting it. And oh,
it looks like this is sharing a little goofy,
but you will get the point.
And so that's why I developed this care
framework for through my work with healthcare
practitioners.
It is really simple.
It's really practical.
It works. And it actually works in um,
really around any kind of company with any
kind of compliance data.
But this is specific for healthcare.
Uh, the first thing I do is I complete an
assessment. So for healthcare,
you know, I'm looking at all the places that
have protected health information.
So all that health data,
where is that? Everywhere in the company.
Um, you know, I had a client recently where,
you know, when I'm doing the mapping this out
and one of their employees was actually
downloading word documents from their
electronic health record system.
And when I asked, well, what are you doing?
Because I was worried this document is going
to be sitting on her laptop and could be a
data breach risk.
She said, oh, well, we can't edit the
document, so I'm going to download it and
then, you know, edit it or,
you know, I'm going to download it, edit it
and then re-upload it.
So sometimes just being aware that that risk
is there is what's really important.
We did reach out to the vendor and asked them
to put in a feature request that they could
make an edit. So, you know,
once you see those risks,
it's really easy to actually address them.
So I would ask you to ask yourself,
do you know where all the protected health
information is in your organization?
Because then, like I said,
once you see these risks,
you can start addressing these gaps,
which is the next step.
Um, and actually a, the next step is that I
would like to talk about is actually multi
factor authentication.
This is something that I see time and time
again. And I know it's a pain and no one
likes to have to do multi factor
authentication.
But it prevents so many data breaches.
And usually what I find is that I go into a
clinic and they have it turned on in like
almost every system, but there is always one
where it's missing. So this is a really small
step that can really help protect your
patient data. And so I want you to ask
yourself, is there maybe one system in your
practice where you're not 100% sure that MFA
is enabled? Next, you want to recommend I
recommend improvements because you want to
create improvements that last um,
I'm right now writing an incident response
plan for a client of mine,
and this is really like a grab and go
playbook. Um, if you wait for something to
happen like it's too late because when you're
in crisis mode, no one thinks clearly.
And so this could be for something like a
data breach. It could be for a natural
disaster. You know, you have something that
you can grab and you know exactly what to do.
So I want you to ask yourself,
like, if one of your employees came to you
and said, I think we accidentally sent
protected health information to the wrong
person. Would you know what to do in the
first ten minutes?
Would you know what to do in that first day?
And then finally, education keeps everything
working. This is actually my favorite piece.
Um, threats evolve constantly,
so we used to have a lot of email phishing.
We still get a lot of it, but we're a lot
better at recognizing it now.
So now what I'm seeing a lot of is text based
phishing, a lot of AI generated phishing
attempts, and they look so believable.
So, um, you know, a recent client,
they had great onboarding training,
but then nothing after that.
So if a team member had been with them for
many years, they were not getting the most up
to date training. So, you know,
quick win for them was to get them started on
annual training that addressed the most
recent cybersecurity issues.
Um, once your your staff knows what's to look
for, they'll be on the front line spotting
all the risks. So I want you to ask yourself,
when was your last staff training on
cybersecurity and did it include all the
recent threats? So I want you to imagine if
you could reach your goals in your in your
practice, your personal goals by creating a
care culture. What would that feel like?
And imagine if you took just one step this
week. So it might be reviewing where all
your, um, personal health information is,
or it might be checking to make sure.
Multi-factor authentication is enabled.
And then if you have even more bandwidth,
you could start shifting your mindset and
applying the care framework.
And that's really a move from reactive to
proactive. So if you think back to that story
from Costco, it wasn't a technical issue.
It was a cultural one.
And I really learned there that the data
habits come from culture,
not from tools.
And the tools absolutely matter.
But if we don't have the right culture,
the tools don't stick.
And then in healthcare,
the same principle applies because if you
build care into how you lead,
you protect your patients,
you protect your reputation,
and you protect the quality of the care you
deliver. So thank you so much for joining
today. Um, if you would like a security
assessment or need help enabling multifactor
authentication, please book a short call.
I would be happy to talk with you and how I
might be able to help you.
Carol Cox: All right. Fantastic.
Angela. I'll leave this slide up here for
just a moment so everyone can connect with
you. So connect with Angela on LinkedIn.
Also, check out her website which is at
Culture Systems. Com and the links for this
will be on the page so that you can access
them there as well.
All right. Let me take the slides off and
let's bring you back up Angela.
So how how did that feel?
You did a fantastic job.
Angela Gillis: It was. Yeah. Thanks.
Carol Cox: How was that?
Angela Gillis: You know, it was hard.
Like I think I'd mentioned before. It was
hard to get it in in such a compressed time
frame. Um, and it feels really good,
but it is, it's it's very different than the
kind of the kind of presentation that I've
done in the past, which would be very
technical driven and would have a lot of
technical content. So I'm definitely still,
you know, still getting that ease with
presenting that more humorous content.
Um, but I will say, I noticed this weekend
when I was doing something completely
different on my laptop.
Now, when I'm starting to see like memes and
gifs and things like that and think, oh, I'm
going to save that because I know,
I know a story, I can use that for down the
road. So it's definitely.
Yep.
Diane Diaz: That's awesome. Yes.
Yeah.
Carol Cox: Yeah, I love you really got into the memes.
And we'll talk about.
That here in just a moment.
So that's. Great. I want to say hi to Carolyn
Kolstad who's. In the chat.
Thank you for joining us live.
I think you can't thank Angela.
You know Carolyn.
Angela Gillis: Yes. Carolyn is, uh, is one of my very good
business friends. Yes.
Diane Diaz: Oh, well, great.
Carol Cox: Well, so, so nice that she came here to
support you. All right, so hang tight,
Angela, we're going to come back to you in
the roundtable. But next,
let me bring up Cristal.
De Cristal is a book coach.
She's also has a publishing company that has
published over 400.
Yes, 400 authors.
Amazing. She herself has written 11 books.
I'm still on my first.
I don't know how she has written 11 and she's
an incredible speaker and inspiring speaker.
We work together on her keynote address,
and she's going to share with us now a ten
minute version of that crystal.
Take it away.
Crystal Daye: Hi everyone.
So only 3% finish.
What separates dreamers from doers?
Did you know that 80% of people say they want
to write a book? Only 7% actually start.
But here's even more shocking.
Only 3% of those who start actually finish
and publish. So let me ask you something.
Have you ever thought I want to write a book?
Maybe people around you have said your story
is so powerful you should write a book.
You're not alone.
But here's the real question what separates
that 3% from everyone else?
And it's not what you think.
As mentioned, I'm Crystal Lee named a top
book coach according to Yahoo Finance,
and I've helped over 400 authors to write and
publish their books in the last eight years.
I run the number one faith based publishing
company in the Caribbean,
and I am a 11 times author,
international speaker,
and I've helped hundreds of authors land on
the Amazon bestseller list.
So I'm telling you this not to impress you at
all, but to impress upon you that I know what
it takes to finish.
And I know why most people don't.
So let me ask you, which one of these can you
relate to? I do have time.
I do have money, I keep procrastinating,
I feel like I lack discipline.
Am I good enough to write a book?
Am I the right person who will buy my book?
Here's the truth. Yes,
all of those may be legitimate Checkmate
obstacles, and they will always be there
until your desire and your why becomes big
enough. But here's something else.
And this is what most people miss.
We think it's about desire and discipline,
but that's incomplete because there's a gap,
a missing piece that separates 3% who finish
from the 90% who don't.
Here's the truth it's desire,
discomfort, and discipline.
That middle element discomfort is what
changes everything.
It's easy to want something,
and sometimes it's easier to have the
discipline when some when things are
comfortable. But it's hard to make yourself
uncomfortable.
And that's exactly where your breakthroughs
lies. So what separates those who do from
those who only dream?
Let me show you one.
Clarify your message because clarity creates
momentum. You can finish what you haven't
defined. So you hear most people say,
I want to write a book someday or I just want
to impact people.
But clarity gives direction,
and direction fuels discipline.
So I want you to ask yourself these three
questions. Who specifically needs to hear my
message? What problem am I solving and what
solution am I providing from my story?
When I wrote my first book,
Living a Royal Reality,
I loved writing in journals and diaries,
but I wouldn't say I'm a strong writer.
Actually, I did better in accounting and math
than language based subjects,
but I had a burning desire.
God wanted me to share my story of growing up
in poverty, being molested,
having an abortion, and how I turn my pain
into purpose. I wrote this book out of
obedience. I knew I was writing to help women
see their worth in Christ and walk in their
identity. Once I got clear on why I was
writing, the whole came naturally.
Trolley because when you get clear on your
message, you create momentum.
Clarity turns ideas into assignments and
assignments into impact.
So I want you to take 60s right now to answer
this question. Who specifically needs to hear
your message?
What transformation will they experience
after reading your book?
Um, let's do a countdown.
Yes, I want you to answer that question
because when you get that clear,
you are moving closer to the 3%.
Let's jump into number two.
Embrace discomfort because growth begins
where comfort ends.
Everyone wants the blessing.
Few are willing to face the becoming.
But your next level will always come with
discomfort. And here's what something
critical. Your message message lives in your
mess. What I've learned from hundreds of
authors the chapters they don't want to write
all the chapters the readers need most the
parts you want to skip,
such as your failures,
the embarrassing moment,
your dark seasons, the uncomfortable truth.
Those are exactly what will make your book a
bestseller. Why?
Because readers don't connect with
perfection. They connect with the progress
and perfect process.
So let me tell you about my client,
Beverly. I met Beverly at a book launch.
She heard my story and told me she wanted to
write a book about being molested in her.
In our coaching session,
I realized a lot of what she was writing was
surface level and actually from an unhealed
place. I had to coach her through forgiveness
and teach her how to write from an empowered
place. And guess what?
Her book, destined for purpose,
became a bestseller in three categories,
and she also launched her speaking career,
helping women to find courage after
hardships. The story you are most reluctant
to tell is probably the most important
message you need to write,
so I want you to think about it.
Don't overthink it.
The first thing that came to mind when you
felt afraid that is your your goal.
Remember, your breakthrough doesn't live in
comfort. It's buried in the part of the story
you are afraid to tell.
Then number three get accountability because
purpose cannot thrive in isolation.
Dreamers wait for motivation,
but doers create structure.
And the the truth is, you can't do purpose
alone. Accountability is what turns intention
into impact.
In my publishing company,
I've seen it over and over again.
The authors who finish are the ones who don't
try to do it alone.
They join coaching programs,
writing sprint communities.
They invite people into their process.
So let me tell you about another client,
Miss Laverne. At age 19,
I started working at a government
organization where I met Miss Laverne,
our trading card training coordinator.
She was such a lovely woman.
Fast forward 16 years later when I started my
publishing company, miss Laverne,
at age 62, enrolled in my coaching program.
She shared that she has been writing a book
since 1984.
Yes, that is before I was born.
But in 90 days of working together,
she completed her manuscript From Failure to
Flourishing. So when you get accountability,
you get traction, because isolation breeds
insecurity.
But accountability fuels consistency,
and consistency creates a legacy.
So here's the thing.
Your legacy is waiting.
Let me ask you something.
What do you see your legacy looking like?
Many of the people I coach and publish their
books as a part of their legacy.
They think about it in three ways.
Financial legacy a book that generates income
and opportunity.
Spiritual legacy, a message that outlives
you, and personal legacy a story that
inspires lives for generation.
So don't allow insecurities to stop you.
Your dream. They've certainly tried to stop
me and of course, many of my clients.
But where do you need to get uncomfortable?
Who will you become on the other side of that
discomfort? Are you ready to be a part of the
3%? Because that's where dreamers become
doers. That's where aspiring authors become
best sellers. So if you're serious about
writing a book, not someday,
but today or this year at least,
I want to give you something that will help
you to get started now.
I've created a free Best-seller cheat sheet
specifically, specifically for people who are
non dreaming and ready to do.
This cheat sheet breaks down exact steps my
best selling authors used to go from idea to
published book, so you can download it now
at. Bestseller sheet.
Yes, it's easy to remember bit.ly Bestseller
Sheet because this is not just a theory.
This is a proven process that has helped
hundreds of authors land on Amazon bestseller
list. I've worked with authors through book
coaching and publishing.
Because a book is more than words on a page,
it's a tool. A tool for impact,
income, and legacy.
So again, remember to go and grab your cheat
sheet and let's turn your dream into reality.
Now I want to remind you,
having desire is great.
Discipline is our most.
But paying the discomfort price to finish
your book is what moves you from dreamer to
duo, from aspiring author to bestseller.
So let me repeat the formula.
It's desire, discomfort,
discipline. Let's get clear on your message.
Push through the discomfort.
Walk with accountability until your book,
your business, your dream is done.
Stop thinking about yourself and start
thinking about the people waiting on your
message. That's the identity shift that
changes everything.
Because greatness isn't about where you
start. It's about what you finish.
The 3% who finish aren't luckier or more
talented. They are just willing to be
uncomfortable long enough to become who they
are called to be. So let me ask you,
which one are you, a dreamer or a doer?
Thank you.
Carol Cox: All right. Crystal, that was amazing.
I am inspired, I really am,
like I. You always inspire me to write.
Who's ready to. Who's ready to write a book?
Right.
Diane Diaz: I'm ready. I'm going to download that cheat
sheet. Right.
Yeah.
Carol Cox: Exactly. How did that feel?
Crystal Daye: Uh, it was good.
Um, I mean, like you said,
you know, I've been speaking for a while, but
I've always struggled with the call to action
part. Like, you know, should I just tell
people about what I do?
So I think especially being in thought
leadership has showed me how to genuinely,
uh, include how I serve people,
uh, in a way that doesn't feel salesy,
but also feels like it's providing a solution
to the problem. And that has been my biggest,
biggest takeaway. How to incorporate that?
Um, how I serve people,
um, in my business, in my brand,
in my talk.
Diane Diaz: That's your discomfort,
you might say?
Carol Cox: That's definitely mic drop on that.
Yes. Totally. Yes.
That is it. Well, you did that beautifully.
You shared. Examples.
Of your clients.
And here's the thing. Listening to that, I
was like, yeah, I want to write a book.
And if you had never said that this is what
you helped people with, I would have been
like, well, where do I do now? I'm excited,
but I don't know where to go. So obviously
now, you know, people want to go to you.
Diane Diaz: Yeah. It makes me feel like I could. Oh, I
could do that. Oh, I could do that.
Right. Yeah. Yeah.
Crystal Daye: I was trying to find like in my mind I'm
like, okay, how do I find humor?
But I was hoping that the best part could
come up with is, you know,
Laverne and she, you know,
she writing a book before I was born,
but that was.
Diane Diaz: That was great.
Crystal Daye: I was like, okay, how do I find something
numerous to include?
Diane Diaz: It was very natural to when you did it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Carol Cox: That was funny. That laugh, that also
crystal, like, you are so expressive.
And you smile when you speak,
like you come across so warm and inviting.
So I feel like that even though it's not
quote unquote humor, it's still it's like
joy. It's joy that comes through.
Crystal Daye: Thank you.
Carol Cox: Yeah. Yes. And I want to say hi to Kiana
Walters who's in the chat.
So say hi to her.
Thank you for joining us live. All right.
Let's have a roundtable discussion.
Diane, since you worked directly with Angela
and her VIP day, why don't you,
the two of you chat a little bit about what
that was like to come up with her talk that
she now has repurposed for a webinar
recently, as well as for today's,
uh, ten minute version.
Diane Diaz: Yes. Well, I one of the things I do remember
is when we talked about and you touched on
this when we talked about that,
this is a different style of speaking for
you. Right. Because you're used to more of
the what we could call maybe corporate style
where it's here's information, information
information. So maybe you can share a little
bit about what what was your maybe your
expectation of what it might be to shift the
style. And then what was the reality of
shifting the style?
Angela Gillis: Um, you know, I don't I don't know if I knew
what the expectation was.
I knew I knew the way that I could do a
presentation for a corporate client that I
worked for was different,
and I knew it wasn't landing when I would do
webinars or speak with clients.
So I didn't know what the expectation my
expectation was. I knew it was going to be
different. I knew there was something
missing. And then, um,
I did not expect it honestly to be things
like, uh, using more humor and things like
that. I thought, no, we're talking about very
serious regulatory topics.
This isn't a place, you know,
I think if you had said that to me at the
beginning, I would have thought like, this
isn't a place for humor.
Um, so that's really been a shift for me,
uh, to realize, actually,
that is a place for humor.
And that does help keep everyone engaged.
Diane Diaz: Yeah. No. It's great. And you did an
excellent job. As Carol pointed out,
excellent job with the memes.
And I like memes because they don't force you
to come up with something funny.
They sort of do the heavy lifting for you,
which.
Angela Gillis: Yeah.
Diane Diaz: Which is great. Whatever works.
And they're universally relatable.
Yeah, people can see it.
And then you're speaking about what you're
speaking about.
So and you touched on a little bit of how you
now you see memes and you're like, oh, I'm
going to save that.
How did you go about finding some of the
memes that you used in your talk?
Angela Gillis: Um, I did everything from,
uh, you know, so usually I'm working on HIPAA
compliance. So I did things like searching
for HIPAA compliance, searching on Reddit.
But then I also started to,
you know, besides just using those kind of
more technical terms, started trying to
search for what is the emotion that I want to
garner when someone looks at that slide?
And it took a while.
It took a while to like,
well, what if I pop in this keyword?
What is that going to bring me back? Because
a lot of it was duds.
It was not what I but I started to kind of
hit upon, okay, if I search for these things,
I'm going to find, you know,
these certain kind of memes.
And then one of them, I just had to make up
myself because I couldn't find one that
matched. So yeah.
Diane Diaz: Great. You did a great job.
And I love that idea of just searching based
on keywords. And then, like you said, some of
them might be duds, but then you move on and
you keep digging, digging, and then you find
the one and then you're like, oh, This type
could work, right?
Angela Gillis: Right, right.
Diane Diaz: Yeah. And you had cultural references in
there too, right?
You had the Costco one,
which was, I think South Park and.
Yeah.
Angela Gillis: Yes, yes yes I did.
Yeah. Yeah yeah I had yeah I thought so in
the longer one. Yeah. There's even more
cultural references which I actually had a
lot of fun with.
Diane Diaz: But yeah. And I think I love that Costco one,
the South Park one, because it's sort of
universally relatable idea that you go to
Costco for your 2500 count aspirin and you
come back with a kayak,
right. Or whatever you yes,
you went there for you come back for a sofa
or something.
Angela Gillis: Yes, yes. No. I think that is very universal,
that yes, you're going to go there just to
get your groceries and then you are going to
come out with just some crazy stuff.
Diane Diaz: Yeah. And I think that also it builds rapport
between you and the audience right off the
bat because they're like,
oh.
Angela Gillis: Because it's relatable.
Diane Diaz: Yeah, yeah yeah yeah.
Well done.
Angela Gillis: Thank you.
Carol Cox: Yeah. Angela, what I like about your care
framework is that it's accessible for the
audience. You know, it's an acronym. It's
something that they can understand. It's not
too technical, right?
Because you're not teaching them.
Here's how to go set up multi-factor
authentication for all your different
systems, like they need to hire you to make
sure of that for the webinar or for a
conference session.
They really need to understand what the what
is possible, what they need to do,
and why you're the person to help them.
But with the framework,
I like it because it shows the audience,
the potential clients.
Oh, this is what Angela's company is going to
help me to do.
So like your framework is a sales seed in and
of itself.
Angela Gillis: Yes it is. And yeah, in what you mentioned
before about yes, I would have,
I think in the past tried to lean much more
heavily on how you do these kinds of things
and, and much less on probably not at all on,
you know, let me show you examples of what
that looks like when you work with me.
Carol Cox: Yes, exactly. All right.
Well, well done. So yeah.
Hang tight, Angela, we're going to come back
to you. Diane, did you have one more thing?
Diane Diaz: I just wanted to add that I think when you do
that, you actually encourage.
They're more likely the audience is more
likely to reach out to you, because now
they're inspired to want to do what you said
versus if you tell them how to do it,
they're like, oh, I could never do that. And
then maybe they'll reach out to you,
maybe they won't. But now you've sort of
inspired them to want to reach out to you.
Angela Gillis: Yes. I have almost information.
Uh, I've given them too much information.
Almost, I think like. Yes.
Yeah. Yeah.
Carol Cox: Yes. Yeah. Exactly.
Yeah. Great. All right. Well, well done
Angela. Hang tight. We're going to come back
to you here in the roundtable. I want to give
a shout out hello to Leslie Batson,
who is also watching us live.
Thank you for being here, Leslie.
We're going to see you in just a few days at
our in-person workshop in Orlando.
So excited to see you there.
All right, Crystal, let's bring you back in.
So you just delivered a ten minute.
It was a lead generation talk because clearly
it was about your book coaching and the
publishing business that you run.
And I remember when we were together in our
one on one VIP day that we kind of started
the session thinking lead generation for your
talk. And then we and then we decided to go
the keynote route instead.
And so we did that.
And that's where we came up with the desire
and the discipline.
But then that gap in the middle is the
discomforts, right. Like that's your thought
leadership. Is that discomfort piece in the
middle. But what I have really enjoyed seeing
you develop over these past couple of months
with us is taking what was very much a
keynote, but turning, taking those concepts
and turning it into a lead generation talk as
well. So Crystal, tell us a little bit about
what your experience was like in the VIP day
and thinking about these two different talks
you have now, both keynote and lead Gen.
How do you see them as similar and as and as
different going forward?
Crystal Daye: Okay, I love the question.
So I think so.
One I felt like in the VIP,
I was like, oh my God, I'm talking so much.
I don't know if she's getting if this makes
sense. So to be honest, I was like,
nervous, like, can this make sense?
Because I'm a talker and I'm just sharing
many, many things. And like you said,
we started as a legion,
but I, I kind of I didn't feel like I wanted
to just focus on Legion.
So I was glad that we we instead focus on
creating the keynote, because now from the
keynote, it allowed me to understand how to
create a legion.
And for me, what I think is,
is it was kind of different between Legion.
I know that there are speaking because,
you know, I live in Jamaica.
So I thought about, you know,
if I want to get on the international stage,
I don't know how many like how easy it would
be to just get on stage just to talk about,
uh, just books and stuff.
So how could I make it more general?
So even if I don't include books,
it's still impactful enough to help me to be
remembered as a speaker.
But then also, again, you know,
part of why I speak is to get people to know
more about the business.
So I was able to know,
you know, narrow down the same keynote to an
extent, but use different stories and like
client stories. So the difference for me is
in the keynote, I share more examples around
my story, more personal stories of,
you know, going through different discomforts
and choosing discomfort versus in the in the
Legion, I talk more.
So I did mention one of my stories,
but the other two were about my clients,
which show my my expertise in the area so
that for me was the difference.
I, I like, know, even know like any other
talk that I'm now creating,
I'm now looking at, okay,
how can I think about this idea?
Like, how can I show my thought leadership
and not just teach points,
but what do I want them to really take away
as the thought leadership?
And that is something I've definitely learned
in the program.
Carol Cox: Yeah, very well said, Crystal,
about the thinking about for the keynote.
You did want it to be able to appeal to a
broader audience, not just people who were
interested in writing books.
And that's what's so great about this desire,
discomfort, discipline,
thought leadership message is that it really
can apply to anything.
Whether it's books.
It could be for sports,
it could be for kids, you know,
in high school who are thinking about what
they want to do, you know, for college or for
their careers. It can be for entrepreneurs
like you. Just like you said,
switch out the stories in the examples and
you have it ready to go for a variety of
audiences.
Crystal Daye: Yeah, and I don't think,
to be honest, like, I don't think I would
have been able to just get that formula by
myself, to be honest.
Like it really came from your suggestion to
say. Mm. I hear you saying something
repeatedly. Let's dig even deeper in that I
was like, mm. I didn't realize that all this
time I was talking about,
you know, the discomfort piece.
Um, so I really thought that you brilliantly
took out all the things that I was saying to
just say, oh, this is it.
Um, and it it was definitely very powerful
for me.
Carol Cox: Yeah, well, this is why I like to think of
the work that we do. We are thought partners
with you. So, yes, we're going to take things
you tell us and like we write it.
I have your board here, Crystal,
that we worked on together in the VIP day.
So I take what you're saying and I write it
on the post-it notes because I want it to be
your words. Right? So that you're comfortable
and familiar with what the content is.
But at the same time, I am listening for that
nugget like, oh, what is what is different
about what Crystal does that I haven't heard
a lot about? So I'm only jotting down
different words that you say,
and then I'll look at it all and I'll start
to think, okay, where where's the thought
leadership message in here? And that's where
this idea of the discomfort being what people
are, don't want to do to get their results
came from. So yeah, it is a fun process.
And I know, Diane, you do the same thing and
your VIP days thinking about,
like sitting in the seat of the audience.
What is something that we haven't heard all
the time? You know, we've done now these
talks. We've worked with hundreds of clients
over the years. So we've heard a lot.
So we're sitting there thinking like, what is
different, what is unique,
what is something that the audiences are
going to hear, even though it's a topic,
quote unquote topic they may have heard
before, but what is going to stand out for
them?
Diane Diaz: Yes. And we're looking at it from almost from
the standpoint of a layperson, if you will,
because we've worked with clients in
industries that we don't know that much
about, for example, nuclear engineering,
which I don't know much about.
But when you look at it,
when you hear the topic and you hear the
client speak about it and they're sharing all
these things and you're you're looking at it
from, as I say, like not having the curse of
knowledge. Right. You're able. I think us as
coaches are able to listen for things like,
oh, I think their audience is going to key in
on that because they need to hear that point.
Now tell me a story around that.
And that's where we dig deeper once we pick
those little pieces out.
Carol Cox: Yeah. All right, Angela,
let's come back to you. So I know that you
did a webinar recently.
That was the first time that you were able to
present kind of a version of this.
So tell us about your approach to preparing.
It was for a lead generation webinar,
your approach for preparing that.
And then tell us how it went.
Angela Gillis: Uh, it went really well.
Um, and um, I well, so outside of the
presentation, actually,
I think the way that we approached the
content, I was able to,
you know, utilize a piece of that in my
marketing for it.
I think, um, I think it was probably three
times as many signups that I got versus other
webinars I've done in the past,
which, um, I was very impressed by.
And so I think just having that kind of shift
in the focus really, really helped.
And, um, I really I got some great feedback
on the content.
I got feedback that people said like, oh,
and actually someone left me a Google review
that said that, um, you know,
she understands how I care about my patients.
Something along those lines. But I was like,
oh my gosh, like, that message really landed,
um, which was so impressive.
And I was so I was so,
um, glad that that really came through.
Um, I think the biggest piece was,
you know, I have spoken at conferences before
in the past and I've, you know,
spoken to large groups of employees.
I've spoken to large company events.
I think doing that webinar was probably the
most nervous that I had ever been and all of
those things, and it was because it was such
a change for me and I wasn't,
you know, I wasn't 100% confident yet like
that. I can do this.
And I still had my notes handy and all that.
But I also know, like,
I have to you just have to practice.
And they just like, it's not going to be
perfect and I just need to do it.
So I was really happy with it.
Um, and I've been applying to speak at more
conferences, so I'm excited to do it more.
Carol Cox: All right. Well, fantastic.
So glad to hear that, Crystal.
What is next for you?
You're going to be wrapping up our Thought
Leader Academy program in December.
And so what do you what do you have in mind?
As far as I know? I think you're working on
another book, right.
Besides that, what are your speaking goals
for 2026?
Crystal Daye: Uh, so one, I definitely would love to tap
more into the international market,
especially US based speaking engagement.
So I've done a few, but I'm really looking
forward to learning the business side and
more about understanding how to pitch,
how to find speaking engagements
internationally. Because here in Jamaica,
you know, I'm pretty known and I do get
booked a lot. Um, also,
I'm looking to kind of tap into like
different markets. So I started a lot in
faith based church space.
So I want to look at, you know,
more, Expound on what that could look like
more outside of the faith based space.
So I'm looking to do that.
I think next for 2026,
definitely my top goal is to become a TEDx
speaker. So, um, that's one of the things
that we had worked on,
um, on on how to even include,
you know, this framework,
this thought leadership, if um,
in our on our Ted stage.
So and then narrow that into like 15 minutes.
So um, definitely looking at that and ideally
I set goals very like direct and ideally,
if I could get at least five paid speaking
engagements, I would say at least $1,000,
then I know that, okay,
I'm I'm making it.
I'm making it.
Carol Cox: All right. I know you can do it,
Crystal. And I'm very excited for you and for
everyone who's listening,
either live or on the replay.
If you need a fantastic speaker and an
inspirational speaker for your event,
Definitely connect with Crystal and if you
are a health care provider and you need help
with the new HIPAA regulations and other type
of cybersecurity compliance,
definitely reach out to Angela.
And so I want to thank both Crystal and
Angela for coming on to backstage with
Speaking your brand on our live show and
presenting their signature talks in this
environment for the first time.
Give them a round of applause for doing so.
Did a fantastic job.
Diane Diaz: Well done.
Carol Cox: Yeah, so so happy with that.
And for the rest of you,
if you would like to work with us and join us
in our Thought Leader Academy, you can get
all the details and apply at Speaking Your
Brand Academy.
Again, that's speaking your brand. And let me
cue up our ending video.
So until next time, thanks for watching.