Carol Cox: Here how you can repurpose one signature talk
into multiple presentations for different
topics and audiences.
No need to start from scratch with my guest,
Eloisa Marquez Gonzalez,
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,
Eloisa.
Eloisa Marquez-Gonzalez: Hi, Carol. Thank you for having me.
Carol Cox: Well, it is great to have you back on the
podcast because you were on in May of 2024.
So about a year and a half ago was episode
394, where you and another one of our thought
leader Academy graduates share,
Tim and versions of the signature talks that
you worked on with us in our Thought Leader
Academy. So we're going to talk about that.
You had gone through our Thought Leader
Academy program in the first part of 2024.
So I'm excited to get a update like,
where are you now?
Updates. Since it's been about a year and a
half, because I know you've been getting
really good momentum on your speaking
engagements. I also know that you have some
changes that you've been making within your
business, a podcast that you've launched,
and a lot more.
So let's go back first to that LinkedIn live
that you did with us, that ten minute version
of the signature talk that you worked on with
us in a VIP day.
So that signature talk ends up being about 35
to 45 minutes long.
And then we have all of our grads like you
deliver a ten minute version on our LinkedIn
live YouTube live show,
because we want you to get it out into the
world, you know, to actually deliver it live
to an audience.
And so tell us about how that felt to
actually deliver that for the first time,
that version of it. And then we'll talk about
your experience in the Thought Leader
Academy.
Eloisa Marquez-Gonzalez: Yeah. So those first ten minutes,
ten minutes were, uh, were great.
It's the it was a springboard for pretty much
everything that came after in the past year
and a half. Uh, so at first it was when I was
first developing the, uh,
the talk, it was, uh, eye opening to go
through the process that you and Diane,
uh, walk us through and to help us distill
our own framework.
I had been I had been in business for,
uh, at that time for about four years.
And I had been, uh, kind of,
uh, firming up my methodology,
but I couldn't really get there.
And when I went into the,
um, the academy, you help us really firm it
down, bring it to life.
And that does that makes such a big
difference. So I was, um,
enthusiastic, I was excited,
um, a little bit nervous.
It's that's that's, uh,
normal. Um, but I was very excited to
actually be showing to the world the shape
that my methodology actually took and how I
was able to communicate it in a more,
uh, in a more clear and even dynamic way.
Carol Cox: So and what I really liked about your talk,
Eloisa, is that even though it's been a year
and a half since I saw you deliver it,
is that I still remember a lot of your talk
and your slides.
So definitely, for those of you listening,
I'm gonna include a link in the show notes.
You can listen to the audio version, but
definitely check out the video version
because you'll see Eloisa in her slides,
which are great because you talked about the
story of when you went ziplining.
I believe it was in Costa Rica and how that
ended up birthing, like basically being the
genesis of what you were doing.
So can you tell us a little bit about that?
Eloisa Marquez-Gonzalez: Yes. Uh, in talks, I have been giving talks
throughout my career. Uh,
however, I always struggle on like the start
in the beginning. And even when I was giving
talks, um, it was always to audiences that
knew my topic.
It was not like I was talking to complete.
Uh, um, how can we call it,
uh, like newbies?
Carol Cox: Like, like newbies to it?
Eloisa Marquez-Gonzalez: Yes. Correct.
No newbies. They kind of had a sense of what
I was going to talk about.
So the, uh, when I was doing my talk,
when I was designing the talk with Diane,
um, she helped me define the story in the
beginning of the talk and taking the essence
of how I came up with the name of my
organization, A Walking tree,
and embedded into that and give it life,
because any show exactly what we do as an
organization, all these different things
really were able to come together.
And it just about the design of the of the
talk. It's so important.
And it also I, I was so excited and surprised
to see how much designing your talk mirrors
the work that I actually do for my own
clients. When I do operational optimization,
it's it's about that design.
Um, many times we think that just having
initial bullet points for your talk,
it will come. The talk will come out
organically and it's about the design.
The intentional design of what I'm trying to
to convey to the audience.
How I'm going to convey,
how I'm going to express it in a way that
they understand it.
So that's how Diane was able to show,
show me the steps in the light of how to
bring in my ziplining story,
connected to what we do and make it
interesting. Actually,
I have used that start and ending of my talk
so many times, and people lean forward
because it's they don't expect my picture of
ziplining to show up first.
So, um, it is a very engaging way of,
um, of starting your talk.
Carol Cox: And it's memorable. Like I said, I remember
it. And I'm sure a lot of people in your
audience remembers it as well.
And then hopefully they'll think when they
need something like that,
you offer in your business that they'll think
of you and then come to you.
So actually, let's segue way into that.
Tell us about what you do in your business.
And then we're going to talk about why you
decided to join the Thought Leader Academy.
Like what was going on? Where were you
looking to do? So first tell us about your
business.
Eloisa Marquez-Gonzalez: So I am a collaboration strategist and we do
partnership optimization.
So we help organizations that are coming
together alliances, collaboratives.
They are coming together to provide a value
that they couldn't do it on their own.
We help them work together,
create that structure so they can deliver the
value that that they are looking to to
provide. I like to think of us as the
conductor of the orchestra,
where every organization and every
multidisciplinary team brings their own
instrument, their own discipline,
their own culture, and we help them play in
harmony. So that's.
That's what we are doing right now.
That's what we specialize and we do it in the
clean energy space and social impact,
uh, spaces.
So.
Carol Cox: So then, Eloisa, thinking back to the first
part of 2024 and deciding to join the Thought
Leader Academy, I think you came from
listening to this podcast,
the Speaking Your Brand podcast.
And then what? Why was that the right time
for you? What what was going on with you and
your business? And why did you decide that
the Thought Leader Academy and doing more
with speaking was the direction you wanted to
go in?
Eloisa Marquez-Gonzalez: So I as I mentioned, I had been speaking for
many years, for 20 years in my career.
Um, however, I was never confident enough on
just going for audiences that were not
familiar, uh, with my topic.
And how do I create a an engaging
Presentation.
And there's so many, uh,
examples out there that could be better.
And it will make me nervous just to come out
there and say, I'm going to give a
presentation where I'm like,
am I engaging them?
I had all these questions because I,
I felt that the audience is giving me their
time and their attention,
and I owe it to them to to deliver something
useful, practical, valuable,
entertaining, make it worth their while.
And that's where I had always been,
um, in the back of my head where I wanted to
speak more in public.
However, I wasn't completely sure how to go
about it, and I was lucky enough that I found
your podcast. And then I started following
you, and, uh, and the third Academy.
I came along and I said,
like, well, let's just do it, because if I'm
not going to do it now when there's never a
good time. So let's just do it.
So that's where I register.
And, um, and it was a fantastic experience.
Carol Cox: And, and I know that I hear this quite a bit
from women where they ask me like,
you know, I don't know if this is the right
time. I don't know if I have enough time to
dedicate to it.
I don't know how many hours per week is it
going to take. So thinking back to your
experience, and I know it's been a little
while, did the time commitment seem
manageable and about how.
And so it was.
It was an eight week program.
When you went through it, about how much time
were you spending each week?
Eloisa Marquez-Gonzalez: The time was manageable.
It was very manageable.
Um, maybe I was spending,
um, 2 or 3 hours, including the including the
meetings. Uh, I could have spent more time.
I wanted to spend more time,
but life happens.
Um, and and as you know,
there were times where I was scheduled to be
at the session, but then I had to be
somewhere else, so I don't know if you
remember. Sometimes I would join the call
from the park and I would like try to find.
It was, uh, one of those,
uh, hot days I remember.
So it was a really bright,
uh, but you were very flexible.
The group was very flexible on the fact that
we're just we're doing our best,
and we show up and we show up with the best
intention and the best,
um, uh, with our willingness to learn.
So it's what I would say to folks that are on
the fence is just do it.
It's there's never going to be a good time
better than today. So just just get in there,
start learning, and then we get access.
Um, at least back then we had access to the
materials afterwards.
So I kept going back even this year.
Almost a year after, I was still going back
into the, uh, the library and looking at the
videos, etc.
so it's completely worth it.
It's totally worth it. And having your
support in Diane's guidance is just
invaluable.
Carol Cox: Well, and that and that leads me to the next
thing, which is that I know that you sent me
and Diane a lovely email.
It was in early February of this year.
So again, maybe like eight months,
8 or 9 months after you had actually gone
through the program and you were sharing with
us your excitement about this,
the speaking momentum that you were getting
and the speaking engagements that you were
doing, and I and so this is I think,
an important thing is that when,
you know, whatever coaching program someone
decides to do, as long as what you're
learning is evergreen,
right, in the sense that, like the
fundamentals of how to how to make a great
talk and how to present really well don't
really change, right?
I mean, you can change your cultural
references and things that are more current,
right? Like that kind of stuff. But what
you're learning and what you're building is,
is those like fundamental skills and then
being able to repurpose what you're,
what you built with your talk.
So tell us about how did these speaking
engagements come about that you started,
that you started getting at the end of last
year and the beginning of this year? Tell us
a little bit about kind of what the events
were like, what the audiences were like,
what your goals were going into those
speaking engagements, and then what you got
out of them.
Eloisa Marquez-Gonzalez: Yeah. So I as we said,
life happens. So there was a little bit of a
pause on my momentum last late 2024.
However, um, starting I think it was December
when, um, I got a call for a,
um, for a panel and I said,
like, yes, let's I'll do that panel.
And then I'm also an advisor in a couple of
groups for entrepreneurs.
And they asked me if if I knew AI.
And I say, yes, I do know AI.
So okay, would you do a would you do a talk
and would you be part of a panel first?
I'm like, yes. And then from there evolved.
And they said, okay, well now I need you to
be the keynote speaker.
I'm like, okay, well, I'll do that.
And at the same time, in parallel with
someone else, uh, reached out and asked me to
do a talk on, uh, operational excellence,
so I did. I also put that into the roster,
um, into my schedule.
And from having those conversations,
someone said like, hey, we need someone in
sustainability to talk about sustainability
or sustainable operations.
Do you know anything about that? I'm like,
yes, that's exactly what I do.
So I got into that conversation,
and from those three first three
conversations, what happened was that as I
was preparing for that conversation,
for the talks, and I was having conversations
with the with the organizers,
they, um, they first of all,
they told me that my questions were before
the talk were very insightful because I asked
from demographics like,
I need to know who what are the ages exactly,
for example, for AI or even for
sustainability? Everyone cares something
about something different.
So, um, I asked about the room,
uh, about the technology.
So I asked all these questions and they were
like, these are so insightful.
Some things they have not even thought about.
Um, so I had not even given talks yet When
the organizers recommended me for other
talks, it recommended me to other people
because of how my questions,
um, they like the preparation that I was
putting into the talk.
It wasn't just like, oh yeah, I'll go and say
something, you know?
It was very obvious that I was preparing
myself, that I had a structure.
I talked about objectives for their audience,
objectives for the organization,
if they wanted to promote something.
Um, so I, I was looking at all stakeholders,
um, that were going to be in the event that
that day. So from there,
uh, they recommended me to other,
uh, organizations, some to private companies
to give, uh, talks inside the company.
Um, so that's how my momentum started.
I ended up giving, uh,
six talks in five weeks,
which SH it I.
It was, uh.
It was crazy. It was very,
uh. It was. I had never given so many talks
in such a short period of time.
So it was a very different,
uh, experience.
Carol Cox: And were these in-person,
virtual accommodation?
Eloisa Marquez-Gonzalez: It was a combination.
Um, I had three in-person.
There were actually 50, 53 in-person and
three remote, so.
Carol Cox: Well, I'd love to hear. I love hearing that
the event organizers were so impressed with
your preparation, with the questions that you
were asking, that they went ahead and
referred you to other speaking opportunities
even before they heard you speak. Because
like to your point, it shows that you cared.
You cared. You wanted to make sure that the
event in the audience had a good experience
with you. And so one thing that we do in the
Thought Leader Academy, for those of you
listening, is that we have a checklist of
questions to ask the event organizer ahead of
time, whether it's about the AV,
the audience, what the room looks like,
what to expect.
So that way you, as the speaker,
can prepare, you know,
in your mind visually what it looks like and
you know you have everything.
But oftentimes even organizers are very
impressed because not that many speakers ask
them those things, and then they feel
relieved that, you know,
you know, at least you have your part covered
and they don't have to worry about you then.
Eloisa Marquez-Gonzalez: Correct. And there was one of those talks
that, uh, was for a Hispanic audience.
And, uh, so I, we talked about doing it in
English. So. Okay.
And if someone has a question in Spanish,
I'm happy to switch to English or Spanish.
And it was uh, it was funny because when I
first got there, one of the other organizers
said, oh, so you're giving the talk in
Spanish? And I was like,
wait, what? Like.
And I said, like, I prepare for English,
but I can just run it in Spanish.
That's no like, I will do it.
That's no problem.
But I ended up delivering it in English.
Um, and uh, but yes, it is one of those where
you have to think on your feet and hey,
if it happens, I'm ready.
I'll just, uh, maybe I'll pause a little bit
longer than in some occasions.
Um, but it can be done,
so.
Carol Cox: Okay. Hold on. I gotta ask you about this
now. This is fascinating to me, Eloisa.
So Spanish is your.
Is the language you learn first,
right? When you were growing up.
Eloisa Marquez-Gonzalez: Correct?
Carol Cox: Correct. So obviously you speak fluently in
English as well. So is it the case that if
you are preparing for a talk that is supposed
to be in English, that switching at the last
minute to presenting it in Spanish would
feel, I mean, obviously you could do it
because you know, Spanish fluently,
but would it? But does it feel different,
like weird not to have prepared for it in
Spanish originally?
Eloisa Marquez-Gonzalez: Uh, yes, a little bit because of the cadence.
Um, we also our sentences are much longer in
Spanish, so I had not timed myself up to the
set amount of time that I had for the talk,
so then maybe I had to cut some things.
And also the punchlines.
There's always like a delivery,
something that you wanted to make it
memorable. Um, those punchlines.
I had not prepared them in Spanish so I could
deliver the message, but I'm not sure if they
would remember it with such an emotion.
I guess if I would, if I would hit their
emotions as I wanted to do so.
Carol Cox: Oh, that is so fascinating.
All right. I just I just had to ask you that
because I, I mean, I studied French for eight
years because I studied French history,
but I definitely was not I could not speak it
fluently at all.
So I just, I just I just find that
fascinating. Okay, so tangent aside,
we'll come back to that conversation.
Eloisa Marquez-Gonzalez: Conversation.
Carol Cox: Okay, so you gave these six talks in five
weeks, which is great because talk about
building your speaking muscles, right. Like
continuing to do it now since they were all
on somewhat different topics.
I mean, they were they're all related to the
work that you do, but every topic was a
little bit different.
So obviously you had your signature talk from
the VIP day that you did in the Thought
Leader Academy.
So I assume that you probably took bits and
pieces from that, like maybe the opening
story with the zipline or something like
that, but then I know you probably had to
then put new content in as well.
So how did you approach creating these
different presentations?
Eloisa Marquez-Gonzalez: So the, uh, so this is the beauty of the,
of the framework that,
uh, and it has really and this,
uh, I'll tell a story later on related to my
niche. But they all these talks are actually
related because to be Sustainable.
You need to have good operations,
you have to have good processes.
And then the technology enables that
operation and enables that sustainability.
So there are all linked.
What I did is I took the um the Optima
framework, which you, you all help me name,
and I just gave it the lens of
sustainability.
So and I took that lens also from the
organisation.
So I was talking to a university.
So how I made all the examples very much
relevant to, to the university.
I talked to an engineering group.
I made those examples very,
um, relatable for the engineers.
I changed the language actually.
That was a very interesting experience
because most of my talks are for,
um, the business in general.
And here I was talking to an Engineering
group. So I my background is in industrial
engineering. So I pull all my lingo.
I pull the punches like no,
no, I put everything in engineering.
So that was part of, um,
them knowing that I was the real deal,
that I knew what I was talking about.
So I purposely changed my lingo,
changed the way that I spoke to cater to that
audience.
Carol Cox: So okay, so you took your your main
framework, Optima, which you had created with
us and, you know, you had already had it, but
kind of streamlining and naming all that.
So you kept that. And I love this,
but you gave it a different lens or a
different emphasis depending on whatever the
main topic was or whoever the audience was at
the time. And so I think that's something
also for for those of you listening to think
about is that you could you could have your
core intellectual property.
It could be a framework.
It could be a methodology.
It could be just something that you do and
think about how it the same framework or IP
can apply to many different types of
audiences and many different types of events
and even topics.
But you still bring in your intellectual
property because that's your thought
leadership. That's what sets you apart from
other speakers who are also talk about
sustainability or operations or AI or
whatever it happens to be.
But you're bringing your unique thought
leadership and intellectual property into
your talk so that then they remember not only
that, but then remember your stories as well.
How you know how connecting your stories to
the overall thought leadership message that
you're sharing.
Eloisa Marquez-Gonzalez: Absolutely.
Carol Cox: All right. Eloisa, so you mentioned to me
when we were scheduling this podcast
conversation that you decided to niche down
in your business, which I know from having
been in business for over 20 years.
It is something that everyone says to do,
right? Niche down. Niche down. Niche down.
But it also feels really hard to do because,
you know, you think about, well, but I but
there's clients over here who I can serve.
And you know, I don't want to exclude them.
Right. So it's kind of like this tension that
all entrepreneurs walk between,
you know, figuring out how far should we
niche down or which niche niches should we
focus on. So tell me about that experience
for you.
Eloisa Marquez-Gonzalez: Yeah. So as you said, it's it's scary.
It let's start with that.
Uh, we're not we're not going to say it's
not. Um, however, it's,
it's about defining what you're going to say
no to at the end of the day.
How are you going to just as you said before,
I had so many different topics I was talking
about. And while they are related,
I had to be Switching contacts.
So that is. It's tiring.
Um, but it's doable.
So, uh. Uh, so what happened here was,
uh, in January of 2025,
there were two main events.
The first 1st January 15th.
We all know what, uh.
What happened? We have a new administration.
And for the dear listener,
uh, my organization focuses on on the clean
energy industry, social impact.
And we help we have other clients that do
good to the world medtech,
but ed tech and biotech.
So all those industries got a hit.
Um, and then the second,
uh, the second event that happened was I was
having a conversation with a young
professional. And when I mentioned I my
organization does sustainability,
operational excellence and technology.
Her reaction was like,
whoa, those are such a different,
um, different topics.
And that made me pause,
because from the expert side,
I see everything is interrelated.
Everything plays with each other,
and you have to have a balance around those
areas. However, from my audience perspective,
those are disjointed.
So I took the moment to to think through how
I could best service, how can my organization
best service, the industries and the
customers that I want to serve?
How can we keep moving the needle on the good
work that all these organizations in the
clean energy space and the social impact
space are doing?
And that's where after,
um, doing some analysis of all the projects,
the work that we had been doing,
I came to realize that we really excel on,
uh, on helping optimize the work of
multidisciplinary teams.
So organizations, either organizations that
are bringing very different,
uh, disciplines together,
sometimes you have engineering with editors
or creatives and with financials,
and they are just their conversations are
just going, uh, not, not,
uh, coming together as they should.
Um, or we have a coalition of companies that
are bringing in their own,
their own vision, their own culture,
their own ways of working,
their own ways of using technology.
And AI is one of them.
And they are trying to create value that they
couldn't create on their own.
But it is difficult when they don't when when
In the this coalition of organizations is
these partnerships are um,
they come in with with the strategy of hope
thinking that the processes in the way of
working will organically happen.
And in reality, you have to design it,
you have to design how you're going to work,
how you're going to, uh,
govern the the work that is being done,
the value that is being created.
Um, I can go on and on.
But this is how I decided to move the
organization and and focus on the partnership
optimization and the clean energy space and
social impact. So that is where I niched
down. And that's that's the focus that we are
having right now.
We are, um, starting to give more talks about
it and, and also optimal Methodology.
The framework is being carried over.
Now we have an optima for partnerships.
So it is it is the same work.
We are just deciding where we focus,
where we put our energy so we can help the
industry move forward.
Carol Cox: Mhm. I love that Eloisa.
And that really does I think,
reflect so much of what you care about your
mission and helping because partner
collaborations and partnerships are going to
make both entities stronger going forward.
And so, you know, taking your skill set and
your expertise and your background as an
engineer and everything that the work that
you've done and then focusing on that,
like you said, to make the message clear to
the people on the other side, because I'm
with you, I do the same thing.
Like, I can see how everything is
interrelated to what my interests are or what
I do is it's it's, you know,
crystal clear to me. But I can see from
someone on the other side who clearly does
not live in my, my mind to them.
They're like, okay, how do all these things
fit together? And I think as individual
humans, it makes us interesting.
But as businesses, we have to make sure that
our messaging is really clear so that our
prospective clients figure out,
okay, yes. Like they're the they're the
business for me because they understand my
problem and how they and how they can solve
it for me.
Eloisa Marquez-Gonzalez: Correct. Absolutely.
And I have been doing part of my niching
down. I have been doing a listening tour.
So I'm having conversations with many
companies. And when I explain what we do,
the focus that we have,
I'm getting so many reactions of,
oh, I didn't know someone did this type of
work. I needed your help.
Three months ago, I needed your help six
months ago. And so it's it's now it's
becoming, um, memorable.
So.
Carol Cox: So, so keeping these things in mind,
the direction that you're going with your
business, what is next for you?
What types of speaking engagements are you
looking for? And any projects that you're
working on?
Eloisa Marquez-Gonzalez: So, uh, I am looking to do more talks on on
partnership optimization,
just in partnership in general.
Um, and we have, uh, one going on in the
works for a webinar.
Uh, and I also have a couple other podcast
appearances that will be happening.
So I am trying to, uh,
gain regain that momentum with this new topic
and, uh, streamline my own speaking
engagements to by focusing niching down on
also what I'm speaking about.
Um, yes. And as we move into the end of the
of the year, the second half of the year,
I'm looking to have more of those
conversations to start supporting those,
um, more partnerships because they are being
built, especially here in Massachusetts.
There's a lot of partnerships happening,
and we want to make sure that they are strong
so they can deliver the value that they want
to and that they will need as a society.
So it's um, yeah, it is.
It is about moving forward,
uh, and having those conversations.
So if anyone has questions about partnership
optimization or how does that work?
Because it's I'm also working with,
uh, having conversations with the lawyers,
um, because they look at the legal
perspective.
But if the organizations don't have that
structure, that system,
then the legal agreement cannot hold.
They cannot actually comply with that legal
agreement. So it's about having that balance
between your legal agreements are very
important, but also your structure,
your system on how all organizations are
going to work together. It's very important.
So, um, if if anyone has questions about how
does that work?
Like just give me a call.
Carol Cox: So okay. Great.
And we'll have links in the show notes to
your website and to your LinkedIn profile so
that listeners can connect with you there.
Eloisa. Well, thank you so much for the
important work that you're doing and the
clean energy space around and around climate
change. We certainly know that we need to
keep moving forward on that,
regardless of other factors that are going
on. The climate doesn't care.
It's going to keep doing what it wants to
doing. And and also, like,
I want my energy prices to go down and wind
and solar and other forms of renewable energy
are going to help make,
uh, make energy more, more cost effective for
all of us. So thank you for that work.
And thank you so much for being part of the
speaking your brand community for being a
graduate of our Thought Leader Academy and
for coming back on the podcast,
I so appreciate it.
Eloisa Marquez-Gonzalez: Thank you Carol, thank you for having me and
for all your support, because I keep going
back to my notes, keep going back to the
videos, and it has been so helpful.
Um, I highly recommend,
uh, the Academy for anyone who wants to,
um, have a speaking career or just have a
clearer thought on how they impact their
organization, how they impact the world.
Uh, you help us bring clarity to our
thinking. So thank you.
Carol Cox: Oh, well, thank you so much.
And if you're listening and would like to
learn more about our Thought Leader Academy,
you can get all of the details at Speaking
Academy. Again, that's speaking your brand
academy. Until next time.
Thanks for listening.