Speaking Your Brand: Public Speaking Tips and Strategies

Have you ever walked away from a presentation thinking, “That was… fine,” but not truly moved, inspired, or motivated? Here’s the truth: Most presenters mean well - they want to share valuable information - but they miss what truly makes a...

Show Notes

Have you ever walked away from a presentation thinking, “That was… fine,” but not truly moved, inspired, or motivated?

Here’s the truth: Most presenters mean well - they want to share valuable information - but they miss what truly makes a talk stick with the audience.

In this episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on a recent presentation I gave at a local AI meetup that got amazing feedback - not because I taught all the things, but because I did these 3 key things instead.

You’ll learn:

  • What made this AI-focused talk both insightful and inspiring to a room full of people at all levels of tech

  • Why having a clear structure (yes, our Signature Talk Canvas!) is non-negotiable

  • How to go beyond teaching and step into thought leadership by showing your audience what’s possible

  • The powerful “aha” moment a friend shared with me after my talk - and why it matters for your delivery

  • How I use AI workflows and agents in my business, from podcast production to lead nurturing

Whether you're speaking to clients, colleagues, or on a stage, these 3 secrets will help you create the kind of talk that resonates and gets you invited back.

 

Links:

Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/429/

Get my AI presentation slides + my Notion project: speakingyourbrand.com/ai-human

Want to create your own insightful and inspirational signature talk? Book a VIP Day or join our Thought Leader Academy: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/work-with-us/coaching/

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolcox

Related Podcast Episodes:

 


JOIN US: Our in-person Speaking Accelerator Workshop is coming up in Downtown Orlando on October 30, 2025. Create and practice your signature talk in one day using our proven framework, so you can confidently share your message and attract more opportunities. It's a fun, supportive environment where you get personalized feedback, professional photos, and more. Limited to 15 attendees. Get the details and secure your spot at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/orlando/.

What is Speaking Your Brand: Public Speaking Tips and Strategies?

It's time to escape the expert trap and become an in-demand speaker and thought leader through compelling and memorable business presentations, keynotes, workshops, and TEDx talks. If you want to level up your public speaking to get more and better, including paid, speaking engagements, you've come to the right place! Thousands of entrepreneurs and leaders have learned from Speaking Your Brand and now you can too through our episodes that will help you with storytelling, audience engagement, building confidence, handling nerves, pitching to speak, getting paid, and more. Hosted by Carol Cox, entrepreneur, speaker, and TV political analyst. This is your place to learn how to persuasively communicate your message to your audience.

Carol Cox:
How can you make your presentations both

insightful and inspirational?

I'm sharing three secrets you can use for

every talk you give, no matter the topic,

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.

Welcome to the Speaking Your Brand podcast.

I'm your host, Carol Cox.

Today, I'm going to take you behind the

scenes of an hour long presentation that I

recently gave at an AI meetup.

The presentation topic was behind the scenes

of an AI powered business,

workflows that save time and scale impact.

And in that hour long presentation,

I showed specific examples,

real world use cases of how I'm using AI

automations and agents in my podcast

Production Lead Nurturing.

I've even created an assistant that I can use

in slack. It's really,

really cool to do things like send emails and

add meetings to calendars and so on.

This presentation had about 50 to 60 people

in the audience. It was a full house at the

venue where it was at,

and the people. There were all levels of AI

knowledge and expertise,

everyone from people who are very techie in

the machine learning space to people who just

have a curiosity about AI.

I had friends and some speaking your brand

clients in the audience,

so it was so much fun.

How this speaking engagement came about is

because I had attended the prior months

meetup, introduced myself to the event

organizer and casually said to her,

if you're ever looking for any presenters,

I'm happy to do so because I've been

integrating AI into what I'm doing with my

business and podcast.

And she said, oh, as a matter of fact,

we're looking for a speaker for next month

because our speaker can't make it because he

has to go out of town. Would you be

interested? And I said yes on the spot,

because number one, deadlines really do spur

me to action to kind of finish some things

that I was working on and also to put

together the presentation.

And I am very passionate about this topic,

and you'll hear me talk a little bit more

about this as we get into the episode.

What I want to share with you today is how

you can make your presentations both

insightful and inspirational.

Now you may think with a tech focused

presentation like this.

After all, I'm showing video demos and

screenshots of different automation workflows

and different ways that I'm using AI in my

business and podcast.

So yes, it's very practical and it's and is

very tangible, but I also wanted it to be

inspirational. I wanted to make sure that my

thought leadership came through.

Here's what some people who were in the

audience commented on my LinkedIn post about

this, and I'll include a link to that post in

the show notes. They said things like it was

a memorable, insightful,

and engaging presentation.

It was engaging, informative and incredible

presentation, great content,

and a fully engaged audience.

Thanks for sharing your wisdom and knowledge

with us. Equal parts informative and

inspiring, and this is the kind of feedback

that I aim for.

And you heard the word engaging several

times, and I'm going to talk about that in

secret number three today.

As far as how to make your presentations both

insightful and inspirational.

So engaging is a key word.

Insightful is a key word and wisdom and

knowledge. So you notice it wasn't about

teaching and training.

It's about wisdom.

That's where the insights come from.

But it's also about the inspiration,

walking away with ideas,

thinking about how this can apply to them.

Now, I know if you're listening to this

podcast, you want to deliver a great

presentation, you want to make sure your

audience gets value from it,

and you also want to get leads for your

business and probably more speaking

invitations as well.

Well, as soon as I was done with my

presentation that evening,

I got one speaking invitation.

As soon as someone came up to me right off

the bat. So that's what I want for you as

well. But we have a tendency to want to teach

and train, to show all the things,

to walk people through step by step.

When we're giving a presentation,

say, at a conference session or at a business

luncheon, learn. But that's not really the

appropriate time and place for a teaching and

training. Those are better for YouTube

tutorials, video trainings that you have in

your online program or paid workshop that

you're doing instead.

If you're doing a presentation,

especially for lead generation and that you

want to be seen as the go to person in your

industry, the go to person in your space.

You really want to make sure that you're

incorporating thought leadership and that

inspiration into what you're doing.

So I'm going to share with you here three

secrets to do to make sure every presentation

you deliver, no matter the topic,

no matter the audience,

is both insightful and inspirational.

And I'll share with you what a friend who was

in the audience told me afterwards,

which I was very happy to hear,

but I hadn't ever really thought about it in

that way. If you want to see my presentation

slides, you can get access to those by going

to speaking your comments.

Again, that's. There's a link in the show

notes. You can just click on that link along

with my presentation slides.

You'll also get access to the notion project

that I'm building out that shows how to build

some of these AI workflow automations for

yourself. I'm also in the process of creating

a live online workshop or online program to

help you build these AI automations and

agents for yourself.

So if you sign up at that link speaking your

brand. You'll also get on our email list,

and so you'll know when that workshop or

program launches.

Now let's get on with the show.

Secret number one have a clear flow and

structure to your presentation.

Every great talk needs structure.

This does not mean that you write out word

for word what you're going to say.

Not really possible, especially in an hour

long presentation.

So it's not about being rigid,

but it's about knowing where you're going.

And in this I presentation that I delivered,

I used our signature talk canvas framework,

which I use for every presentation that I

give. No matter if it's a more technically

oriented presentation or a keynote,

and we use it for every single client that we

work with, because it helps you to organize

your ideas into a compelling narrative with a

beginning, a middle, and an end.

So often when I see speakers,

especially at, again, more technically

oriented presentations or conference

sessions, is that they kind of have a

beginning and they talk a bit about

themselves, and then they have,

I guess, what you would call a middle,

because that's like their main content, but

then it kind of just fizzles out.

There's no really clear ending.

The ending doesn't tie back to the beginning.

So that's what our framework does,

is it gives you that clear structure.

I went through the signature Talk Canvas

framework in detail and podcast episode

number 288.

So you can go back and find that one.

As I was creating this I presentation in act

one, I talked about what the audience wants.

So these new opportunities in AI,

they want to learn how it can apply to them,

how they can apply it within their own

business and in their own career.

I talked about some of the obstacles that we

face in thinking about how to apply AI.

It seems overwhelming.

There's new tools every single week.

How do we make sense of it all?

And then I built in my background and

credibility. I was a software developer in

the first part of my career.

I founded and ran two technology companies

and worked with everyone from fortune 500

companies to government agencies to startups.

So I kind of built in my credibility with

that and an audience engagement,

of course, along the way.

Then in act two, that was the main part of my

content. And as I mentioned,

I had these different automation workflows

that I had created. So I wanted to show real

world, practical ways to do this.

So not just, oh, here's a tool and here's a

tool, but here's how I'm actually thinking

about it for my podcast,

for lead nurturing, for operations and so on.

So then in the middle of my talk,

I broke it into three content buckets.

So I talked about using AI in operations,

in marketing and in revenue.

So operations, marketing and revenue and that

I had 2 or 3 examples under each of those

buckets. So instead of just having like a

laundry list like, oh,

here's 8 or 10 different workflows that I'm

using, but no real rhyme or reason as to why

I'm showing one and then the next.

I put them into these three buckets.

So as you think about for your talks,

how can you organize that act?

Two that kind of middle main part of your

talk into three buckets or three segments.

So the things that are related to each other

go together. And doing this creates natural

transitions. That also gives your audience a

mental map to follow as you're going along.

And it helps you stay focused and helps the

audience stay focused as you're going through

your talk. So that was secret number one is

have a clear structure and flow and use our

signature Talk Canvas framework to make it

easy for you to do that.

Secret number two is incorporate thought

leadership. No matter what your topic,

no matter the audience,

no matter if you really are doing teaching

and training, and if you have to show how to

do certain things, you should always,

always include why this matters,

why this matters to you,

and why this matters to your audience.

You need to give them the bigger picture.

In this case, with my presentation,

in addition to showing these very practical

automation workflows, I talked about how AI

and these new AI agents are transforming,

how we think about the work that we do.

They're changing how we need to work.

So now we're going to be doing a lot more

guidance and management and leadership and

less of the doing.

And all of this requires not only a different

mindset, but really us developing those

management and leadership qualities.

So that was a thought leadership I integrated

because your audience doesn't just want the

how. They also want the why now?

So why does this matter to me now?

What difference is it going to make and how

can I be a part of it?

So ask yourself what trend shift or insight

can you shine a light on?

What's the transformation you want your

audience to believe is possible for them?

This is what elevates your presentation from

a helpful talk to a thought provoking one.

So that was secret. Number two is always

integrate thought leadership.

That bigger picture that bigger.

Why that insight or that shift that you see.

Secret number three is all about your

delivery. Yes, your content is important.

You want to have nice looking slides.

You want to make sure that you're taking your

audience on that journey with a clear

beginning, middle and end.

But your delivery is ultimately what's going

to make your presentation engaging and

memorable. After my presentation was over,

a friend who I invited to attend came up to

me and said, wow, Carol,

you are the same person up there as you are

when I'm just talking to you at our dinner

table. And that means so much to me because

he said it was so conversational.

It was like you were having a conversation

with the 60 of us who were in the audience.

And I must say that that has not always been

the case with the presentations that I've

delivered, but I feel like all of the work

I've been doing, especially for the past five

years, over 400 podcast episodes,

the many, many, many speaking engagements

I've done, both in person and virtually,

I've been able to let go of like that

presenter mode, which I often found myself in

and instead just show up,

just show up as me, as I literally as I'm

having a conversation with someone over the

table. And so it helps that I'm genuinely

excited about the topic of AI and what it's

going to mean for us, but it's also the

result of a lot of practice and about

choosing connection over perfection.

This is why we always say,

do not memorize your talks.

Do not try to memorize your talks because

you're going to lose that natural,

authentic way that we talk to people.

When you're trying to remember that perfect

turn of phrase that you wrote down,

which is probably not the turn of phrase you

would ever use in a normal conversation with

someone when you're up there on stage,

or even on zoom.

Think about having a conversation with your

audience. Let them feel your passion.

Share stories with them.

Share funny memes, funny video clips.

Add humor. Let them see your humanness.

After all, that's what our advantage is over

the AI. And that's especially the case if

you're talking about something that's

technical or maybe a little bit more

abstract. And again, you can see how I

integrated video clips and humor and funny

memes in my presentation slides.

You can get them as speaking your brand.

Now, you don't need to be a professional

speaker or a content machine to create a

powerful presentation.

You just need to incorporate these three

secrets. A clear structure and flow.

A big picture lens of your thought

leadership, and a delivery style that is

rooted in conversation and authenticity.

Whether you're speaking to clients,

to conference audiences,

or to colleagues, these three elements will

help you to deliver talks that inspire action

and get results for you,

including leads for your business,

more opportunities, and more speaking

invitations. Now, if you would like to work

with us to create your signature talk using

our framework, we do this one on one in a VIP

day that clients call magical.

We take all of those ideas,

all of those content pieces,

all of your stories and client examples that

are running around in your head.

And we put them into the structure and flow

using our unique and proven framework.

You can do a standalone VIP day,

or you can do a VIP day as part of our

Thought Leader Academy.

You can get all of those details about the

standalone VIP day and our Thought Leader

Academy, including pricing on our website as

speaking your brand. Again,

that's speaking your brand. And then please

schedule a call with us.

We always love to talk with podcast

listeners. We'd like to hear what your goals

are, what you feel like you need the most

help with, and then we'll talk about which of

our programs is the best fit for you,

to help you achieve your goals and become the

kind of speaker and thought leader you want

to be. Until next time,

thanks for listening.