Carol Cox: We're taking you behind the scenes of the
recent Ted style talks we've delivered,
and what we surprisingly learn about
ourselves as speakers 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 the Speaking Your
Brand podcast. I'm your host,
Carol Cox, joined by Diane Diaz,
our lead speaking coach and personal brand
strategist. Hi, Diane.
Hi, Carol. It is great to have you here
because today we're going to talk about the
Ted style talks that we recently created and
delivered. It was a lot of fun because it's
always a challenge to put together an eight
minute talk, because you feel like it's not a
lot of time to get a message out,
which is not. But then when you have to that
really memorize it. But we'll talk about how
we didn't memorize, but what we did instead,
because we wanted to make sure we adhere to
that eight minute time. But then when you
have to start practicing it, you start
realizing that eight minutes is actually
longer than you think. Absolutely.
Okay. So this was for an event called LX.
It's put on by a group called the L
collective that supports women entrepreneurs,
is through one of our local colleges here in
the Central Florida area where Diane and I
live. And we Diane, actually,
you originally found out about this event on
LinkedIn because the woman who runs the group
had posted about it.
So can you tell us a little bit about what
intrigued you about it and why we why we
decided to apply and then what that
application process was like.
Diane Diaz: Yes. Yeah. You're right. I heard about it on
LinkedIn or saw it on LinkedIn. And I had
been sort of loosely following L collective
for a while, but their events and things like
never lined up with my calendar.
And then I just happened to jump on LinkedIn
to just, you know, look through my newsfeed.
And there it was. And I was like, oh, this
looks like something we would want to do.
So I immediately sent it to you and said we
should apply for this.
And we did.
The application process was interesting.
We applied and then had to kind of give the
concept for the talk.
Then once we did that,
we got notified.
Both of us got notified that they wanted us
to audition, which I had never auditioned for
a talk before.
I've never auditioned for anything, but
definitely not for a talk.
So that was new. But the audition was our
talk, so we found out one week that we got
chosen for the audition, and the audition was
the following week.
So we literally had one week to put together
the entire talk, know it enough to audition
in front of a group. I think there was
probably like 5 or 6 women that we auditioned
in front of the group running this event,
and we individually auditioned on the same
day, actually one right after the other,
and then from that, they then reached out to
us to let us know that we,
both of us, were chosen to be part of this
inaugural group delivering their LL talks on
the stage. So it was it was very different
than what you and I normally do for speaking,
which was fine, but it was it was a new
experience for both of us.
Carol Cox: Yes. And as we get into this conversation
today, I actually want to talk a little bit
about these different types of speaking
engagements that there are and,
and how I liken it to being an athlete or a
musician. And we'll get to that.
So remind me as, as we get more into the
conversation. But yeah, so we put together
our application and we.
The theme for the event was about
collaboration. So basically,
like women can rise together when we
collaborate. So we want obviously they wanted
the talks to relate to the theme of the
event. So we knew we kind of had to take
whatever our idea was and our and,
you know, this kind of story driven, personal
story driven and get it into that idea of
rising together and collaboration.
And I really wanted to talk about I so I
really had to like, stretch the theme of
like, yeah, we can collaborate with AI,
but we're going to be more human. I was like,
whatever, it's it's fine.
And then Diana, I'll have you talk about the
topic for your talk. But we did the
application, which were standard application
questions. What is your topic about,
you know, who are you, why do you want to do
this topic? That kind of stuff. And we had to
do like a little one minute video for it.
But then when we got notified that we had to
audition and literally it was one week later
and we were so busy because we're running the
Thought Leader Academy,
we had panels that we were moderating for the
university where we teach because they had
their big annual event that was also that
same next week. So I think the audition was
on a Wednesday, literally on Sunday,
the day before, I sat down to actually script
out the eight minute talk because all I had
was a paragraph, and then I had to script it
out, and then I had to memorize it enough for
the audition on Wednesday.
And I literally just like as I was driving
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday around town, I
would just say the talk over and over again
in the car is that is that what you did?
Diane Diaz: Pretty much what I did,
yes. So I, I did script it out very quickly
and sort of refined it a little bit.
And then I think I only started I'll do air
quotes, memorizing it probably a few days
before, before we had to deliver the audition
because there really was no time.
And I, I was repeating it to myself as I was
on my long walks.
And so I know that somebody might be coming
my way. And I'd stop because I thought
they're they're going to realize I'm not on
the phone because of what I am saying,
and they're going to think I'm losing my
mind. So I wouldn't.
Every time somebody would approach me, I
would just know more.
So. So I practiced it on my long walks and I
it was nerve wracking because I would
ordinarily like more than a week to try to
memorize more than three days, to try to
memorize something, but.
Carol Cox: Not only memorize it. We had to create the
entire talk, create it.
It wasn't created when we submitted the
application initially.
Diane Diaz: Write, create it, memorize it. And also not
just that, but the delivery of it.
Of course, my delivery in the audition wasn't
as powerful as my delivery on stage,
but it still needs to be good because I need
to get selected. So I needed to put some
emphasis on some things right. So that has to
be you have to think that through and
practice that as you as you practice.
Carol Cox: Yeah. So I mean, obviously we've done a lot
of public speaking over the years and,
that kind of putting the reps in definitely
helps for this.
And then what we did for the audition was
that we brought our phones and our phone
tripods. And so we asked,
is it okay if I record we record our audition
for us. So I set up the little tripod on the
table. They were also recording it for
themselves so that they could go back during
the selection process and have that.
But I am so glad I recorded my talk,
because then the actual event wasn't until
two months after the audition.
And honestly, I, I mean,
of course I had my outline,
but I didn't remember what I actually said
during the audition, so I'm glad I had the
video and I ran a transcript of it.
And then so that way I was like, oh yes,
like, this is indeed what I meant to talk
about. So now I can refine it and practice it
from there.
Diane Diaz: Yeah, it was the same for me when it came
time to start memorizing for the actual
delivery of it, I thought,
oh, I don't even really remember what I said.
Like, I knew the general idea,
but I don't remember the words.
I'm like, oh boy, good thing I had the
recording and my script.
Carol Cox: This is why we always tell all of our
clients, no matter what speaking engagement
you're doing, whether it's an audition like
this, or you're at a conference breakout
session or a lunch and learn,
get a phone tripod to set your phone up.
Nobody. Nobody minds.
Just use it for yourself.
You don't. I mean, obviously create video
clips for social media.
That would be great too, but mostly for
yourself. So you have it so you can go back.
And I know we don't like to watch ourselves,
I get it, but it is helpful to have it even
just to run a transcript of what you said,
much less to actually watch the video.
Diane Diaz: Absolutely, absolutely.
Carol Cox: So, Diane, tell us about your topic for your
talk.
Diane Diaz: Yes. So my topic again,
the theme was collaboration over competition.
And I used a personal story of when I got
wrangled into agreeing to do my very first
triathlon without knowing how to swim.
And so I told the story of the process of
going through, you know,
agreeing to that and then going through
learning how to swim and just the support of
other women all along the way,
which was the collaboration that allowed me
to do something that I didn't know how to do
when I first started doing it.
And so it allowed me to complete an Ironman
triathlon. And so it was almost like a story
within a story. It was the larger story was
this idea of all the collaboration that I,
that I had from all these other women.
But within that, I was telling the story of
my noticing this girl three miles from the
finish, who was crying and how I,
you know, I could have either just continued
on my way or I could say something to her,
and I did. And how other people saw us
talking and me trying to pep her up and other
people from the sidelines.
Other athletes came over and started pepping
her up too. So that story within a story all
went right to what the theme was.
So that was the the gist of my talk.
Carol Cox: And Diane, it was excellent.
I mean, and I'm not just saying that.
It really like you were the first speaker.
Diane Diaz: I was.
Carol Cox: And I think they picked you for a reason from
the audition. Because you like your story.
I mean, obviously, we practice this so much,
and we we teach this to our clients.
But your storytelling,
not only the content, but your delivery.
Like, you know, you use the stage and you act
it out and you use your body and,
you know, like you're leaning over and you're
doing the movements.
And it just added so much dynamism,
dynamism to your talk.
Diane Diaz: Thank you. Yeah. I you know,
I took the approach because I think for one
reason I did this is that I took the approach
of almost approaching it,
like the comedy set that I did way back when
was like a year ago, which was five minutes.
And the approach that I took for this,
I think because it was such a tight
turnaround for the audition,
I decided to make it funny because also
that's just who I am. And I if I feel like if
I can get them laughing,
then I've got them.
So I thought, you know what, I'm going to
take that approach because I will feel more
comfortable giving the talk if I feel like I
am able to be me, which is being funny.
So I tried to make the movements part of
that. Right? So I tried to make,
you know, sort of act things out and facial
expressions and body language and just like
leaning over. And so I tried to do that to
create interest, but also to make it fun for
me, because if it's fun for me,
that's going to translate to the audience.
Carol Cox: Yes. Yeah. And I think it definitely did.
And we're hopefully we're getting videos of
our talks because since it was out of
college, they had their media students there
with a really nice camera equipment recording
it. So we don't have the videos as of the
time that we're recording this, but we'll
include the video links in the show notes. So
whenever you happen to be listening to this
in the future, hopefully the videos will be
there and you can go check them out.
So yeah. So Diane kicked it off and there
were 11 speakers total.
I was second to the last.
So I was in the the second half of the group
after the break. And all the speakers were
really, really good variety of topics.
But they I mean, the content was good,
their stories were good,
their, their stage presence was really good.
I was very impressed.
Diane Diaz: I was extremely impressed because I think
some of the women do speak,
but not all of them necessarily speak that
much, but they all sort of had their own
individual style, which was nice because
everybody's style was different. The stories
were different. Some of them were.
One lady was particularly hilarious,
and I think she, if I remember correctly,
is an attorney.
But she was she was hilarious in the way she
was telling stories, and I think she also
adlibbed a little bit,
it felt like. But that made it funnier how
she would just pick up on the audience
laughing, and then she would add a little bit
more to that, and it just made it even
funnier. Everybody did so great.
Carol Cox: And. And so here here's my there's takeaways
that I, we want to share with with you all so
that you can think about this. Whether you're
doing a formal Ted talk or a Ted style talk
or any type of speaking, engagement is the
first thing is amplify who you naturally are
as a person, as a speaker,
and as a communicator.
Diane is naturally funny like that.
You know, when we hang out, like she and even
in our text messages and things like that,
like that's just who she is.
So I when it came out in her talk,
that's what made her talk so excellent was
because it channeled who she naturally is.
Same with that other woman who's an attorney
who is also funny but funny in a different
way than you are, Diane.
But it worked for her because that's who she
is. And so she kind of channeled that.
So I am much more academic,
like I brought in history to mine.
I have my tech background. I talked about AI,
so it was definitely a different approach
than what you do, Diane. But if I tried to do
what you do, it wouldn't.
It would feel weird to me?
Diane Diaz: Absolutely. I think that is one thing that
most people probably make the mistake of is
trying to be a certain way.
Maybe the expectation is like,
oh, I need to be academic or I need to be,
you know, very, you know,
emotional or whatever the case may be.
And then we try to fit that.
And then I think it shows up in the delivery
because it doesn't feel congruent with who we
are. Right.
And I know my delivery of my talk would be
impacted by if I felt like it didn't quite
align with me. Right.
So I have to have it be who I am.
So I try to put humor in all my talks because
it is who I am. But also your talk being
academic, first of all,
it made sense for the topic that you were
talking about. And also,
I think it made a lot of impact on the
audience because of the facts you were
sharing and the points you were making being
backed up by historical context and different
things like that. It really I mean,
I was looking around the room and I could see
people with like, oh my God,
really? I didn't know, like I could see the
looks on their faces. So it really hit.
Yeah.
Carol Cox: Yeah. So my talk was about how with AI,
we need to make sure women are in leadership
positions helping to make decisions because
AI is going to impact everything that we do.
And so even no matter who you are,
you don't have to be the on the board of a
big AI company to make a difference.
You can have these conversations about AI in
your workplace and your schools,
communities and so on. So that's what I was
talking about, which is important to me.
But again, like and I try to add little bits
of humor intentionally,
like as I'm going through my script and I did
I did ask ChatGPT to help me with that fail
like it is not. It is.
Diane Diaz: Good.
Carol Cox: Humor, humor. I was like,
it was so corny and so bad.
I was like, forget it, I'm just gonna have to
find my own.
Diane Diaz: Yes. Yeah, well, I do remember when you
shared a point about the amount of VC funding
that goes to women and that it's actually
gotten worse. And I was looking around the
room and I think people were stunned by buy
that?
Carol Cox: Yeah. Yeah. It's been around 3%,
3 to 5% over the past 20 years.
And it's going in the negative direction.
Diane Diaz: Not right. And people were I could see on
their faces they were like oh my God.
So I think it was impactful in a much
different way. Right. So that's the thing
about it. Using your own natural style.
Carol Cox: Yes. So now that leads me to what I mentioned
earlier about this idea of thinking about
your speaking as a musician,
a musician or an athlete would do.
Because here's what made me think about this.
So a couple weeks after this TEDx style event
that we did, I had two speaking engagements
on the same day. Don't really recommend
because it is a lot, but it just turned out
that way. Totally different events. So the
first one in the afternoon,
I spoke at a higher education conference
about the work that I'm doing with AI,
with the students that I teach in our
business and marketing classes.
I spoke at this conference last summer as
well. So that was that was fine.
So that was in the afternoon. And then in the
evening on that same day,
I did an hour long presentation at an AI
meetup, which was about how I'm integrating
AI into speaking your brand into kind of back
end operations, podcast production,
and so on. So that was a lot of fun.
And I had probably about 60 slides.
I love slides like, you know,
give me presentation topic and I'm going to
create a bunch of slides for it. So and
here's the thing though I didn't practice at
all for the hour long presentation,
I didn't have time. Like again,
my schedule is back to back.
I had I had to get the slides done,
but I knew I would be 100% okay.
Yes, because I follow the framework that we
use all the time.
I had the slides to cue me.
I know my content, I know my stories.
And this and I talked about this on the prior
episode, and I really did treat it as a
conversation with the audience.
And it was so effective,
and I was probably my most enjoyable speaking
engagement I have had,
at least in recent memory.
Because, number one, I like the topic. It's
like a fresh new topic for me,
and I really felt like I it felt very in
alignment with my speaking style.
So here's what I feel like.
I actually do not like the Ted style talks.
Diane Diaz: Oh.
Carol Cox: I have decided.
I did not like it because like Diane,
you just applied for a TedX event.
Diane Diaz: Now I understand why.
Carol Cox: You told me you're like Carol, you should
apply to. And I'm like, nope.
And I was like, I couldn't piece it together
at the time. And I was just like,
you know what I appreciate?
Like, I have so much reverence for our
clients who do Ted talks and do amazing.
Diane, you do amazing.
But I'm glad I did it because,
again, if I was a musician and I only played
piano and I never tried guitar and I never
tried a wind instrument,
or I never tried song writing or singing,
I would be limiting myself in my skill set.
Same thing as an athlete like you need to do
different things because you're going to
figure out number one, what you like the
best. But also you need to also know,
like you need to work those other muscles.
I have worked this eight minute Ted style
muscle now a couple of times,
and it just just does not suit me and what I
like to do. I like the meandering,
conversational 30 45 minute talks.
Diane Diaz: Yes. No, I, I can see your point.
I, I, I do love those,
but I think after having done that comedy set
that I feel like the eight minute Ted style
talks, they're more performance versus,
I don't know, talk like presentation.
Right.
Carol Cox: They're like more.
Diane Diaz: More.
Carol Cox: Conversational.
Diane Diaz: Yes. They're more performance versus
conversation. And I kind of like them both.
But I've sort of now gotten bitten by that
performance element from having done the five
minute comedy set and then now having done
this one, both of which I made funny because
the first one had to be. But then this one I
wanted it to be. And so I even approached my
submission to this Ted Ted that I applied to.
I approached that with humor because that's
the only way I want to do it. If it's going
to be, you know, just dry.
I mean, I'm just not going to do it because
I'm not going to have fun and I want to have
fun doing it. But I think because I do make
it fun, I, I never was a performer when I was
young and in high school or college,
but this element of sort of being on the
stage and being like that center of attention
and then getting a laugh,
it's the getting a laugh, I think that's got
me. If I can get a laugh like,
yeah, I love it. And so okay,
so if I'm doing the eight minute thing and I
can get 1 or 2 laughs,
then I feel good about that,
that style.
Carol Cox: Yeah. Well see. And this is why,
for those of you listening, try all these
different types of speaking engagements
either. If it's not a formal TEDx event.
Find these TEDx style events because they pop
up here and there and it is good practice.
Even if you feel like,
oh, I don't know if that's my thing or I feel
intimidated by it, you should do it because
you may end up loving it and not realizing
it, or you're going to learn.
You know what? Like, I can see the benefits
and I'm glad I stretched myself,
but I really prefer this other type of
speaking and I really want to hone that
instead.
Diane Diaz: Yes. Yeah, it's kind of like improv versus
standup, right? We did improv.
I don't like it. I never like it.
Anytime that I do it, I do it.
I understand the benefit of having done it,
and I take the benefits and I know what I've
learned from it.
I would not want to do it on a continual
basis because I just don't enjoy it.
What I do like is the is the stand up set,
because I'm in control of all of that and I
can tee up the laughs and get the laughs
right, whereas I don't have to rely on it
coming in the moment, which it never does.
Right?
Carol Cox: Yes. All right. So I'm glad.
I'm so glad we've had these speaking
engagements. And this is also the reason why
I like to do more speaking engagements,
because you're going to figure out what you
like and what you don't like,
which which types of audiences you like,
what size audiences you like,
what types of venues you like,
what types of topics you like.
This is how you become a better speaker.
The more you do it video yourself.
I haven't really watched my videos yet,
but I need to do it.
I will do, I'll do it,
but I have it. It will happen.
So Diane, any other like lessons or takeaways
from either this specific Ted style talk that
you you did or kind of just our conversation
around finding what suits you the best.
Diane Diaz: Well, I would just say just a tip for people,
because I know that it is often overwhelming,
like you can create this great talk and then
you're like, well, how am I going to remember
it? Right? So I have a trick that I used for
the five minute comedy set, and I used it
here as well, and it worked.
It was worked both times and I will use it
again. And so I share this as a way to do
this. I would suggest chunking out your talk
and giving yourself keywords for the
different chunks. So my talk was eight
minutes. I think I came up with,
um, maybe it was six six sections and so six
keywords. And I just remembered those words
in order, just the words.
Or it might have been like a two words,
right? Like a two word phrase.
I, I started there, that's where I started
with memorizing it. And so I just would
repeat the words, repeat the words in order,
in order. And then I would put it away for
the day and see, can I remember these
tomorrow? And then the next day, okay,
then I've got those words down. And then I
would start to practice the content around
those words.
You know, what goes. And then that's the
order of my talk. The words,
the words in order is the order of the and
the flow of my talk. So if nothing else,
I've remembered the order. I don't have to
remember every word I'm going to say. I just
need to remember the order of the words and
then talk around it.
And then once I did that,
then I could identify little bits where I'd
get stuck, like, oh, I got to say this thing
because that's like the hook in that portion.
Well, I can't remember that. So then I would
practice that part over and over again,
but it helped me identify where I would get
stuck without having to.
I didn't look at it as memorizing a whole
talk. I looked at it as memorizing just words
at first, and then just chunks at first and
then, okay, now here's the places I'm getting
stuck. That's all I have to worry about.
And it worked.
Carol Cox: Yes. And I did the same thing,
especially for the audition, because it was
such a fast turnaround.
And that really helped a lot.
And I know from once I finished the audition,
I was like, oh, I switched two places around
like two. Like, I call them paragraphs,
like sections around, but I'm like,
but it worked, okay. And guess what? Nobody
knows. Nobody knows. Right?
This is the thing we say. Like nobody has a
script in front of them that's like,
oh, she said this sentence instead of this
sentence, and she put this before this.
Diane Diaz: Nobody knows exactly, exactly.
Carol Cox: So just just go with it and have and have fun
with it. Like, that's the thing I think we're
trying to tell so many of the women we work
with. Like, yes, you're going to feel like a
little nervous, especially if it's the first
time you're giving this particular talk that
you haven't given that one before.
But ultimately, try to find a way to have fun
with it, enjoy it, you know,
get to know the audience,
interact with them beforehand.
So you kind of have warm faces that,
you know, friendly faces that are smiling
back at you. Try these different types of
speaking engagements as well,
because that is going to help you to kind of
flex your muscles and see what it is that you
like and don't like. And if you want to kind
of if you want to figure out what your
speaker archetype is, there's four archetypes
we've identified the stellar scholar,
fabulous facilitator, spellbinding
storyteller, and the provocative performer.
Diane Diaz: Diane, that might be me.
Carol Cox: Maybe moving into the provocative.
Diane Diaz: I think I am.
Carol Cox: So if you want to hear figure out which is
yours, go to speaking your brand.
Quiz again. The quiz?
It's free. It's just ten multiple choice
questions. It's a lot of fun.
You'll get your archetype right away,
and then you'll get recommendations for how
to lean into it more, because we want you to
do more with what you're naturally good at,
but then also recommendations for how to kind
of add things to it so that you're amplifying
what your natural strengths are. So I know so
many women have taken that quiz and have
really enjoyed getting their results,
and there is no bad archetype like there are.
All of them have their strengths.
Lean into which one is yours.
Like, I'm the stellar scholar,
but I know that I intentionally have to bring
in the performance aspects and the
storytelling aspects.
So now I'm very mindful of that when I'm
creating my talks.
Diane Diaz: Yes, yes, I love that.
Carol Cox: All right, Diane, thank you so much for
joining me today on the podcast.
Diane Diaz: I loved it. Thank you.
Carol Cox: Until next time. Thanks for listening.