Actually, I am seeing the glare from my lights, so I'll remove the glasses.
and I'll also I'll send you the recording afterwards so you can have a listen back
and.
do that because I will also do the same, you know, extract snippets linked to your
full version of the recording, you know, when it goes live.
Okay, cool.
Yeah, sounds good.
Okay.
So tell me, are you going to do the intro right now?
Do you normally record that after?
Like, how do you normally do that?
Can you cue me up?
Okay.
a little intro and drop it in.
And then, yeah.
So I guess best place to start is to just ask you to introduce yourself, please.
Okay, okay.
My name is Loretta Tarazaita.
I'm a marketing communications consultant and executive coach on camera, on stage
presence, and on media, for media.
So I've been in the industry cumulatively for about 20 years.
Started as a news anchor back in Lithuania in my home country, also was a news
reporter for a while.
and then converted that business when we moved to the United States into first
video storytelling, then broader communication consultancy business.
Okay, and how did you sort of get into the executive coaching side of things?
It all comes from the background of being a news anchor myself.
When I moved here and when I started my video business, I realized at that time
when I started working with smaller business owners first, how really...
Difficult it is for them, or it was for them, to communicate via video as a
medium.
And that was way back when in 2010, when YouTube was just up and coming and video
was such a new medium for a lot of people.
And I just happened to realize that, hey, I have all this background.
I was a news anchor on TV.
Nobody officially taught me how to be a good news anchor.
There were no coaches in Lithuania where I grew up in that environment.
but I kind of self -taught and I knew the cues and I know how to work the camera.
So I ended up realizing that, hey, I'm coaching all these business people and
they're taking the advice and they're getting better and better.
And then when I worked in corporate environment, again, with executive
leaders, C -suite and VPs and director level people,
I also realized that they don't have that hand holding for them where somebody
literally tells them how to crystallize the message, how to be clear, concise, and
how to improve their presence, even what clothing to wear on camera.
This is still a big question even right now that people are like, well, what
should I wear?
So that's how I started.
To summarize, it comes from my news anchor background and through the experience of
being a video producer and director and
interviewer, you know, I was coaching business leaders, executives, you know,
and corporations and, and, and help them get better in using video as a medium.
that's it.
So were you kind of producing corporate videos at one point?
I was a producer.
Yes, I was producing corporate videos for a long, long time, for about, I don't
know, about seven years.
I still do.
You know, this is the medium that I love.
So I still do when I have an opportunity to produce, you know, produce videos and I
do the interviews.
That's where my strength is.
You know, I don't necessarily run the camera.
I kind of hone in on the story.
I try to understand what the story is and help, you know, people that I interview.
get that story out clearer.
So I help them with communication as well as how they communicate on camera.
How do they come across convincing or authentic as themselves and not be fearful
when they see the red dot turn on.
Yeah, I mean, it's amazing.
I hate it being in front of the camera, like having been the other side of it a
long time and, you know, done that interviewing thing and trying to make
people feel at ease and getting them to use the question in the answer and all
that kind of stuff.
And then someone points camera at me and I'm like, but like what?
Yeah, I was gonna, I was gonna ask like, what do you, so if you're doing an
interview with a C -suite executive, do you kind of do a little session with them
beforehand or?
Or how do you kind of run that?
no, it depends on the time restrictions, right?
Sometimes executives have the time to do a little bit of upfront coaching.
And usually we do upfront coaching when, let's say there's a big event and we know
that there's going to be media exposure, right?
So we do a little bit of that coaching in advance, but let's see if it's, executive
communication within executive communications programs, right?
normally they just come into the studio, they show up on the, on set and that's
where you do the coaching.
And I've had all levels of executives be really good, really hone in on the tips
that I give them.
And some of them just never go through it and they never wanna be on camera anymore.
So I've had all levels, and it takes time to get good on camera.
Like you just said yourself, you're good at interviewing, but the moment the camera
turns on you, you're like, what am I doing?
It is a medium, you know, even though I do understand sometimes I'm also like, you
know, I'm going to be interviewed on camera.
That's why I asked, is it a camera interview or is it an audio?
Right.
Sometimes, you know, that voice is in my head as well, but I just happen to know
the medium and I know how to work it.
And with executives, again, going back to your question, in corporate world, when
executives climbed the career ladder,
the higher they are in the food chain, the more coaching they receive, right?
Because you can't have really an executive at the C -suite level not know how to talk
to media, not know how to be presentable on stage, using virtual and cameras on
set.
So they go through that coaching.
But people in middle level, the director kind of level, aspiring to be VP or...
or advance in their careers, that's where that gap is.
They don't really get that personalized coaching.
And especially in the tech field and the engineering, where technologists are
really struggling and communicate the story better, and elevate their presence,
be visible inside the organization and outside.
So that's where the biggest value at, I guess, for those types of people, where I
come in and where I can help.
to help them understand how to gain more visibility by using more visible mediums.
Yes.
Okay.
So that I think that's the really interesting thing that I'd like to ask you
about, because I'm sort of from agency world.
And I, you know, interact with a lot of agency owners, a lot of the time.
And I think, yeah, it'd be interesting to talk about, like, you know, a lot of
people are kind of listening to this podcast, thinking about preparing their
business for a sale.
But this sort of idea of visibility, and, you know, the difference between
the sort of agency brand and then the kind of personal brand of the owner is a kind
of interesting interaction.
I think that's changed a lot with LinkedIn as well.
Like there's a lot of people out on LinkedIn, you know, kind of promoting
themselves and then their brand is kind of secondary to that.
But yeah, I'm kind of interested in that aspect of the sort of personal branding
space.
mm -hmm, personal branding.
Yes.
So as you pointed out, LinkedIn is huge when it comes to personal branding.
And I believe video is still massively underutilized when it comes to LinkedIn.
Yes, there's more in there and more, but still it's very heavy on written posts,
on, you know, carousels, on downloads of some sorts, a bulleted post, a quote and
an image.
But video, because people...
are shy in using it, they're still not using it enough, in my opinion, even on
LinkedIn.
Obviously platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, they're more video
focused, but the professional world, where if you're an agency owner and you're
trying to sell your organization, the first place that people will go seek you
out will be LinkedIn.
At least that's what I do.
I go to LinkedIn, am I going, who's this person that I'm going to be talking to?
What do they do?
What is, what do their posts look like?
What kind of content are they publishing?
What does a career track look like?
Everybody in a professional world.
Okay.
I shouldn't say everybody majority in the professional world, go to LinkedIn first
to assess, you know, the level of, of that presence.
And if you're not visible there, or if your profile is,
is skinny, so to say, and not interesting, then it gives a certain perspective about
you.
Unfortunately, it's a negative perspective sometimes.
What could be a positive if your profile is well -polished?
So it is very important, no matter which part of your career you're in or what
field you're in, that personal branding these days is crucial.
to that visibility, to that authority building, and to actually building the
trust with those who actually want to do the business with you or who want to buy
your company.
So, yes, go ahead.
Sorry, no, I carry on.
Yeah, yeah.
And so I always advise, no matter which path you take, which platform you choose,
try to use video.
Because that's the face, the body language you see, I use my hands.
So it builds a little bit of that rapport about you as the business owner, as the
leader.
And when people meet you, they feel like they already know you.
So it's a very...
kind of logical thing and to be aware of, but a lot of people still don't think this
way, unfortunately.
It's really interesting actually, because I'm from a video production background and
a lot of people in my network are video production company owners.
And I can't think of many of them that are actually using video of themselves on
LinkedIn.
You know, it's a real sort of blind spot.
But like, what do you think sort of good looks like?
Like if, what kind of video content do you think people should be putting out?
And I guess what are some sort of tips and tricks for...
for how they can present themselves well on those videos.
Yeah, you know, if we talk about the creative agency, you know, and exit plans
for creative agency, that's the podcast, right?
The exit plan.
The creative is already in the word creative agency, right?
I think there are so many opportunities for agency owners to show what they do.
Again, I'm not saying it's easy.
A lot of times why people do not do it because it requires time, it requires
commitment.
And same, let's say even with your podcast, it is your time, it is your
commitment to add value to your audience.
And it is difficult to sustain for some because the motivation gets lost.
Right.
And, and you get overwhelmed by seeing others doing so much and you're doing bare
minimum.
And then you start comparing and it becomes, it's like, you know, who even
cares what I have to say.
And honestly, when I made a commitment to myself about two years ago, I was also in
the same shoes like you.
I'm like, okay, well I come from video.
I should be doing more video on my, on my LinkedIn.
You know, I should be elevating my own presence.
I mean, I have background in, in, in TV.
So.
I know what to do.
I know how to talk about everything.
I know how I can present the marketing and communication messages through video.
And then I committed only to one post per week in general by saying post, I mean
written or visual per week and only one video per month.
Because I knew that if I wanted to do more, I will be demotivated if I said,
Every video every week I post a video or every two days I post a video that just
was so unsustainable in my head that I just made a commitment to myself at least
once per month.
I'll do a video.
I don't know what it's going to look like.
I don't know if it will be the recording or if I'll find something online and I
will share that video format.
Right.
And I got into the habit of doing that one video per month.
It became a.
a routine where I'm like, okay, I have some ideas.
I'll just sit down, record them all at once, and then release them every month.
So this gives me time to limit on the editing, have I needed to clean anything
up, you know, or package it however way I wanted to package it.
And again, I didn't do any major work on the editing for that same reason that I
did not want to spend hours and hours editing and perfecting because that would
have demotivated me.
So...
Currently LinkedIn and any other platform is very forgiving, you know, because you
can just record a video on your phone as long as you have good lighting, as long as
you have good audio, you can record a video on your phone and get it out.
People are forgiving these days if you have good content to share.
Now, I know I didn't answer the question about how creative agencies could do that,
right?
You know, if you are, again, let's define the...
the stage of where the agency owner wants to sell the organization, why it is
important to elevate the brand presence online.
Well, first and foremost, like I said earlier, you're more visible, you become
more authoritative and you build that trust.
deeper when somebody is searching about you.
And again, you can choose as a creative agency depending where your audience
resides or who those investors might be.
It could be Instagram platform for one type of content.
It could be LinkedIn platform for your personal branding.
The two could intersect nicely as well.
One key advice I give to anybody who really wants to last.
long on social media is to not post anything that I could be embarrassed down
the road about.
This is a rule of thumb that people should be aware of.
Some people don't care about it, some people do.
But it's a simple common sense.
Don't disclose anything that might hurt your brand, might hurt you down the road.
What sounds cool and awesome right now could be really looked down upon down the
road two years from now.
And it's hard to assess that balance sometimes because we all want to come
across authentic.
We all want to be perceived as leaders who connect on a certain level with our
audiences, but there's still a fine line to walk.
And again, those who understand media dynamics, media is always looking for
opportunities to say something bad about you and uncover certain stories or even
for the investors.
They will always look for these.
red flags in what you have said or what you have done.
So that would be one tip, you know, do not post anything that would hurt your brand,
you know, you, your personal brand or your company brand by extension and waste.
Yeah.
yeah, just a comment on that is, I sort of get the requirement to think about what
you're posting.
But in another sense, I think a lot of people don't post stuff because they're
scared about what people are going to think about them, or they're scared about
putting themselves out there.
So there's this real sort of hesitation.
And if you then sort of introduce a like, but don't make yourself look stupid
element as well, then that can hold people back even more.
So it's hard to get that balance right.
Yes, 100%.
And what I advise normally, and I know we're kind of honing in on video as the
way to go, but it doesn't have to be just video.
I'm a fan of video.
I always will promote, you know, face human connection through video.
But 100 % what you just said, the fear factor is very, very big.
It's dominating.
That's why a lot of people don't even do it because it's that historical element of
stereotypical thinking that whatever we've seen on TV,
It's real, right?
So you can't erase it.
It's real.
Anybody can go back into the history.
But, you can prescript yourself of what you want to see, right?
Sometimes I, you know, you probably too, sometimes I walk, you know, around the
neighborhood and I'm like, I think about something, actually, this could be a good
video.
So I make note of myself or write it down for myself.
I'm like, I will record a video down the road about it, right?
Where I will create a post about it.
So you get those ideas are always in your head.
It's a matter of just.
just nudging yourself to put them out there on your behalf, right?
Because that positions you as a leader, that positions you as somebody who knows
what you're talking about.
So if you're a creative agency owner, you know, how do you promote your work?
Obviously, there's customer testimonials, there's client work, and, you know, visual
aspect of that client work.
But at the same time, show a little bit of that behind the scenes, a little bit of
your thought process, you know, how this project came to fruition.
You know, how did your team come together to make it happen?
Right?
Why was it a successful process?
You know, so that whoever is looking at you, they understand the layers that go
into the thinking to make things happen, into the creativity, into your work ethics
even, right?
Depending how, like where you take your stories.
This is very, very valuable, you know, information for those who need to build
trust in you as agency owner.
So how much do you think people on LinkedIn, particularly, should be posting
about, it's kind of partly tone and partly subject matter.
So, you know, getting that balance of like, you're talking about your work and
how you do it.
And I guess sometimes those posts can be quite dry and not get a lot of engagement.
And then on the other side, you get kind of people treating it more like...
Instagram or TikTok, or just kind of posting like really quite personal stuff.
And often that stuff gets a lot, way more engagement.
And I know I personally get a lot of like, you know, my friends just taking the mick
out of me for the stuff that I post on LinkedIn, you know, cause, but it's, it's
almost like the algorithm kind of drives you to sort of, for it to be more and more
like Instagram like or Facebook like, and yeah, it's kind of trying to find like,
Yeah, the balance between being yourself and an individual, but then sometimes you
post stuff that's nothing to do with work at all.
I don't know.
There's not really a question.
It's just a sort of thought.
social media expert or an algorithm expert, you know, per se.
But I do agree, you know, sometimes you would look at the post and you would be
surprised how much engagement it would get.
But a lot of times visual posts get a lot of engagement, too, even if it's not
related to your work.
If you share something that's cool.
or inspirational that you came across.
Right now, obviously, every platform, and especially LinkedIn, I'm noticing is very
dominated by AI content, AI -generated images, or AI -generated videos.
So by default, these get a lot of engagement because it's something new,
it's something cool, it's something mesmerizing.
Sometimes I see these types of posts as chasing the...
Hmm.
kind of posts, you know?
There's no meat around them.
There's no really story one can tell, but it's just that they're cool to watch.
They're cool to look at, right?
And kind of think about, I wonder how that made, how was made?
You know, I wonder what, that's at least the thought process that goes through my
mind, you know?
What prompts I wonder they put in, you know, to generate that.
But to your point about finding that balance, I can share from my experience
how I do it.
I was never a very open person when it comes to sharing personal things.
So I personally drew the line.
I will never talk about my family, about where I travel, what I do.
It's almost a personal commitment or decision that you make.
If I see, for example, OK, I attended a conference, well, that ties somewhat to a
professional environment.
And whatever learnings I got out of that professional environment,
I say, hey, I just attended the conference.
It says travel related, but it's not leisure travel.
So it's again, my personal boundary, you know?
And that's why, for example, when I post things on Instagram and Facebook and X,
it's like those platforms are not necessarily for me because they need to be
a little bit more warm and a little bit more, you know, they're different.
They're different than LinkedIn, right?
That's why I personally chose LinkedIn because I thought, okay,
I'm not going to talk about anything personal.
LinkedIn is the only professional, and that's where I will hang out.
And there's nothing wrong in sharing personal stories if they resonate.
And I think a lot of times, through the personal stories, also people can gauge on
the values that person has as a business person.
It all depends how you tell that story, obviously.
But to be honest, I don't know.
A lot of times if it's structured well, right?
If it ties back to you, how you do your business, it shows the value, the values
that you abide by, you know, in your life, which by default, the connection comes to
business as well.
Right.
Because how we run our businesses stems from our internal value system too.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay.
So, when it comes to, okay, so sort of, you know, thinking about creative agency
owner, listening to this going, right, I must do more video.
So where, where, where do you think, you know, yeah, you've kind of suggested like
coming up with a few ideas, but have you got any kind of practical, like tips for
how to kind of get better at it?
Or like how to start doing it?
Yeah.
How do you sort of go about, getting, getting that set up?
Yeah.
If we, if we think about choosing video as a medium, right.
And for somebody, let's imagine somebody has never posted anything in their life.
I would never advise them to start with video because, this will be that much more
difficult for, for them to get used to.
And it will continue building that fear of even doing something on LinkedIn or
whichever platform of choice.
Right.
So I never advised to just jumping straight into video.
And for several reasons as well.
It's a little bit more technical media, right?
You have to understand certain rules, how to place the camera, what to put it, if
you're doing on the phone, do you need to get a good quality webcam like what I'm
using, you know, or the lighting.
A lot of things go into semi good quality video.
That's still not, you know, requiring professional production, but good enough
for social.
So basic things, you know, that I suggest people do.
If you go on a walk, walking your dog or with whoever you're hiking, one way of
sort of getting used to that medium is just record yourself.
So for example, you're taking a walk, you just record yourself and describe the
scenery that you're seeing.
Right.
And then listen back to this because the biggest, how to say, sometimes people do
not pursue the video route because they don't like seeing or hearing themselves.
They sound odd, they sound weird, they look weird to themselves, right?
So it takes time for them to just first get used to seeing and hearing themselves
on camera, you know?
And that comes only with practice, re -watching, just randomly talking, babbling
things, you know?
You cook something, you kind of talk through the cooking process.
What am I doing?
What am I taking right now?
I'm putting this ingredient into the pot.
It's just literally just that basic thing.
to get accustomed to yourself on camera.
Core basic.
Then, of course, when you are ready to pull the trigger and when you're saying,
OK, I think I'm good enough.
I'm ready to post something on LinkedIn or wherever, that is a video.
Try to obviously select the topic that comes easily for you to talk about,
something that you can talk about day and night.
Somebody wakes you up in the middle of the night and you know exactly you're talking
points.
Right.
So choose the topic.
That's very easy.
Comes naturally to you.
You don't need a script.
You don't need a story flow for app for that.
Just something that that is in you.
You know, the the the five points that you want to make and just record that.
Obviously, there's technical aspects of things like, you know, Barnaby coming from
that same background, right?
Lighting, audio, make sure you at least invest a little bit into into, you know,
if you're using the phone hand hold, you know,
stick, right, a selfie stick of some sorts.
So that's at least somewhat stable, right?
If you're using the computer, do not use a laptop camera.
Invest into a web camera.
Choose the room that's well lit with windows or artificial lighting, ring
lighting that you can put on the computer.
And obviously audio.
Sometimes we use earbuds.
Like today I'm using earbuds just for hearing you, but I have a microphone, same
like you, right, for actual audio.
So you don't need to go that advanced in the beginning.
But having those basics in mind, good lighting, no noisy environment, good
enough audio, just do that little snippet and see how you sound, see how you feel.
And if you're brave enough, then you're a publish.
If you still feel it's not good enough, the video will never feel good enough for
us.
But sometimes we just have to make that pull and push and say, OK, I think I'm
ready.
Another way, obviously, to assess your video quality would be to share it with
somebody in your network.
Not with family because family will always be nice, but somebody in a professional
network, you know, somebody who you trust will give you an honest opinion and ask
for that opinion.
Hey, I'm thinking about posting this.
What do you think?
What kind of improvements do you think I would make?
Do you think I will be, do you think it's good enough to go right now?
Do you think I should record it?
Just get that honest feedback and we'll, we'll build that confidence in you as
well.
Okay, yeah.
I had another question and now I can't remember.
What was it?
Yeah.
Yes, yeah, yeah.
visuals, visuals of creative, right?
And a little bit of description.
Why this visual is impactful?
How did it help your client to achieve whatever goals they had while they worked
with you?
So, visuals of your work are really powerful as well.
And that's where you can do a little bit of that write -up of the background.
you know, the how, how you made it happen, to give meaning to that visual things
like, you know, inspirational quotes, something again, that aligns with you,
with your values as a, as a person, you know, also gives insight into, into how
you think, you know, what feels right to you.
These, these, you know, inspirational quotes are a good idea too.
Again, like you said, algorithm will do its own thing.
And your posts will not always garner millions and millions of views.
But it's more about that visibility and presence online for those who seek
information about you, who want to know more about you.
It's not everything is just about the likes and being out there.
It's also about just being present there and stand out among your competition
differently.
So what kind of success stories have you seen from like people who've worked with
you, they've kind of improved their skills, they've kind of posted more video
and kind of what results has that had for people?
Yeah, so it's always a challenge to persuade to do a video, right?
But when they start doing the video and when they start getting more engagement
through video, then it becomes, I really want to do more video now.
So it kind of reverses the psychology a tiny bit because there's always a struggle
to to jump over that.
What do you call what's the what's the terminology jump over the?
HURDLE?
Yep.
So it's always difficult to make that leap to do anything online, to become more
visible.
And people, especially people who have never done anything, for them even one
post seems a lot.
They start thinking, now everybody is going to think I want attention.
I want like people are going to question why all of a sudden I'm so present online.
Right?
There's all these thoughts always go through the mind, especially for those who
are very, as I said, skinny, so to say, in their content or none at all when it comes
to online presence.
But when they get a taste of it, when they see people commenting, when they see
people reaching out and texting them directly saying, hey, I'd really like to
oppose that you did.
We should reconnect and have coffee again.
You know, they start feeling more connected and they start understanding.
the power and impact that being present online gives to their business and to them
as a leader.
So when it comes to using video post or social posts, that actually plays a
similar role.
Even if you're doing a post, the bare minimum post, written post, and you gain
that visibility, it builds that confidence in you, which then you can start adding
layers through video.
And video always will bring the most engagement.
I know that LinkedIn actually recently changed their algorithm, how they measure
engagement.
So a lot of people who were using video have actually seen the drop, including me.
So I have not had time to analyze the backend of what exactly is being
influenced, but algorithms always change.
So we should not be doing things for algorithms.
We should be doing this for, like I said earlier, to elevate yourselves, to bring
value to those who are...
you know, seeking information from you or who want to understand what you do and
assess if they want to work with you.
So a lot of times, you know, just to kind of summarize this is when they make that
leap, it takes a little bit of time for them to see the results.
But when they start seeing the results of being present online, take them to more
visibility and more authority, then they want to do more.
Then, you know, the leaders are like, OK, hey, Loretta, I saw that post on a
competitor.
How can we replicate something like that?
I want something similar.
You know how what should I do?
Right.
And again, I'm not a social media expert.
I look at everything more from.
How do we elevate you as an executive from the personal branding perspective?
But there are social media experts who know, you know, if you can strategize and
design the whole content strategy around your value pillars, and I can chime in on
a communication standpoint, saying, OK, now how do we communicate all of that
clearly?
How do we package everything nicely?
Is it a blog, maybe?
Is it a newsletter?
Or is it a video post?
Or is it a regular post?
So yeah.
Yeah, I think that's a very valid point actually, and just kind of thinking about
my own experience on LinkedIn, it's actually a very supportive community.
I think it's very, very rare to get, you know, people kind of making nasty
comments.
I've not had that myself, you know, most of the time, actually put content out
there, people are really positive.
And there's actually a really nice community of people that are on LinkedIn
quite a lot, and you sort of start to get to know people.
who you don't necessarily know in real life and then you end up kind of meeting
them and yeah, there are lots of kind of positives that come from it.
Yeah, definitely there is a difference if you post something on Twitter and you have
a huge following, for example, you know, you can get a variety of different, you
know, comments and opinions, right?
Whereas LinkedIn, you pointed out precisely, it's a very welcoming
community.
Yes, there's some odd ducks in the crowd where they would post something, you know,
that would be so controversial and garner a lot of opinions on it, but they're rare.
They're rare.
A lot of time, people are supportive and especially in your network.
I mean, you surround yourself with people who support you anyway.
And one thing actually that I noticed personally and that others noticed as well
is the more visible you become, the more people you will attract that are not in
your audience, but who find you.
who resonate with your content, who follow you, want to connect with you.
So you have to be selective, obviously.
You don't need to connect with everybody who comes to you because I've noticed I,
in the beginning, was just accepting everything.
I'm like, OK, great.
I'm expanding my network.
There's the resource maybe that I will use down the road.
And then you get a lot of sales pitches.
So you have to be careful if you want to protect the integrity of your network.
But that also comes with more visibility.
I definitely have seen personally and in others, the increase of requests to
connect or offers of different services.
And it just becomes a very active inbox to manage on LinkedIn that comes with more of
that visibility too.
have to ignore, I mean, you just have to ignore it most of it, don't you?
Yeah, I, it's the ratio is probably one message from a person to 20 sort of sales
messages.
Yeah.
And also, you will notice as well on LinkedIn, I can recognize the patterns
already, what are automated AI responses.
So there's all strategies when it comes, as you might know, to how to build that
engagement on LinkedIn.
And there's tools that can automate those answers for you, that can post on your
behalf.
And.
It all depends on different persons level of acceptance of that automated
engagement.
But I know to me, it's always a repellent.
It's like, hmm, a lazy way of building the relationship.
You know, it's, I really don't feel like.
Yeah.
find myself like wanting to comment something on someone's post and then
thinking that I sound like an AI.
So I sort of like have to find a way to like make it sound a bit more like
personal, which is probably quite a good thing.
You know, you've actually got a sort of, well, sometimes you just want to
congratulate someone.
Sometimes you're just like, that's looks like a really great project.
Congrats.
Okay.
Yes.
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay.
I, okay.
I understand where you're coming from.
I, I can tell you what I normally do because yes, LinkedIn offers kind of like
tips, which were to use, right?
I always add something personal.
Yeah.
So that doesn't sound like a AI generated single word that I just picked from the
selection that was given to me.
So think about it, LinkedIn as a community.
I know it's all about LinkedIn right now in video.
Hopefully this resonates with your audience.
But LinkedIn as a community, I lost my thought when I read that comment.
What did I want to say here?
We might need to edit this out because I forgot what I wanted to say here.
yeah, so it's all about that quality relationship building, right?
And when I started seeing recently a little bit of that automation, a little
bit of that coldness that's seeping through, to me, it's not as favorable of
environment, not environment, I should say, but not as favorable of a direction
that they're adopting or allowing, you know, because it's all about building
relationship,
expanding your network and that network before any social media happened was all
in person, right?
You would build those connections in person and online media just helped you
reach more people.
Social media helped you reach more people.
So when I see a little bit of that AI seeping through, I think it's losing
authenticity a bit and realness to it, which to me, you know,
my method of how I, how I work with businesses in a, in a corporate marketing
communications functions, as well as actually when I work with executives is
real relating lens.
So I have a six step process and real and relating.
You know, to me is always going to take priority over AI, you know, and, and, I am
trying to be authentic and truthful to my own world.
but I do understand that technology advances.
There's no way we will avoid AI in the future.
There's just no way.
But how do we use it and still humanize it?
That's where I think is going to be the biggest challenge.
Right now, there's a lot of content that's pure AI content.
And you can tell that it's AI.
So you have to think, what value does that add to somebody who's reading or listening
to your content?
Yeah.
Do you do kind of presentation skills as well?
So if someone's got a keynote to deliver or a presentation to make.
Yeah.
Okay.
that I also go through in every step.
I go through the sixth, you know, step process, kind of auditing what they look
like, understanding where the goals are, aligning on those goals and then sort of
hitting on the plan and then implementing and then assessing the impact of it all.
Right.
So so, yes, when when I coach executives or leaders, I help them with on camera
presence as well as stage presence, because those are two completely different
things.
And a lot of people.
think that if they're good on camera, they're gonna be great on stage or vice
versa.
If they're great on stage, they're gonna be perfect on camera.
And it's just wrong.
It's not the same.
And I can tell it from myself.
I am much more comfortable on camera than I am on stage.
I know how to be on stage, but it's always like, my God, so many people, who do I
even talk to?
Who do I look at?
And it's just a different medium.
You have to fill in the stage with your presence.
You have to have...
Slides that are not crowded with words, they're more impactful, they're almost
like just a small cheat sheet for your storytelling versus a script of what you
have to deliver.
So yeah, so on stage presence is vastly different than camera presence.
And I do help executives with both.
Again, that goes visual presence as well as communications and that body presence
almost.
Great.
So where do people, where do people find you if someone needs your help?
Where, where do they go to?
thank you.
Thank you for asking, Barnaby.
On my website, loretta .today, Loretta is spelled with one T, loretta .today, you
can go to my website.
You will find LinkedIn link to connect with me on LinkedIn if you wish to.
You can also actually download a presence checklist.
It's a very valuable document where you can take a bunch of questions.
It will give you the score at the end.
It's an interactive PDF.
So when you download it, you can just take the...
fill in the answers and automatically calculate your score and then see where
you fit within those scores for company presence or executive presence or both
depending what's important to you.
And then see where the gaps reside.
And if there's any gaps that you feel you need to be filled, then feel free to reach
out to me.
If you are not there yet, then just keep that for your own knowledge.
And it's always exciting to see where people...
score high, but can still realize, hey, but I'm still not perfect.
I really would like to fill in these little gaps, even though I scored quite
high.
And obviously those who score very low, sometimes they get discouraged.
So we take step by step in how we tackle the plan.
We don't just solve all the problems.
We say, what's the priority right now?
What do you think you're missing out the most in your company or in your executive
presence?
And let's fix those small problems before we tackle big ones.
That's great.
I might might do that myself.
Yeah.
Well, this has been a great conversation.
Thank you very much for your time.
And thanks for thanks for coming on.
Thank you so much, Marnami.