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My husband Tom and I just completed a two-day presentation skills training for seven corporate executives.  It was transformative! 

And the transformation was a pleasure to witness.

Here’s a testimonial from the team leader:

“All I can say is outstanding!  We wanted to have our leadership team go through a Presentation Skills Workshop.  We had a desire to have everyone be a bit more comfortable and confident on stage.  We were all nervous and unsure of what to expect.  Denise and Tom throw you into the deep-end pretty quickly. 

But it is so worth it to truly “see” where you start and where you end up after 2 days of being together.  It is absolutely remarkable!  Now, all our leaders have tricks and tips and much more confidence to speak to groups and answer questions on the fly from an audience.  The time away and the expense associated with this top-notch training is absolutely worth every penny.” 

Laura Schield, Chief Operating Officer
Bank Director | DirectorCorps

So why am I telling you this and how does it pertain to your business? 

It’s been well over a year now of nothing but virtual meetings. I’ve seen at least a couple hundred online presentations. You’ve probably been in more than you can count yourself. And as a business coach and presentation skills coach, I’ve gleaned some important learnings from seeing what works and what doesn’t.

As a life coach and someone who writes a couple of newsletters a month, I stay open to receiving insights and revelations from every imaginable source … insights and revelations I hope will help guide and inspire.

I came to a revelation recently as the result of pondering the lyrics of the song, On My Way To You.

It’s a romantic song about finding love through it all … all the ups and downs … the pain and suffering … the wrong turns … the “mistakes.” But the message relates to life itself … your life … my life.

It can be done! Yes, you’re at home and no, you can’t connect with people in person. But, as a Speaker Coach and Business Coach with a lot of experience presenting online, I want you to know you can connect with your clients and prospects virtually and get it to work.

It can be effective. It’s just a bit more challenging.

The biggest challenge? You aren’t able to interact with people in the same kind of up-close and personal way. You can’t play off the energy of a live audience. And that makes it harder to truly connect.

To make the change-over from “live and in person” to presenting via the magic of streaming video a little easier, I’ve partnered with another virtual expert, Lyn Karnstedt, to present the keys to thriving in the world of online presentations.

As a business coach and speaker coach, I’ve long stressed the importance of just being your genuine, authentic self, But I’ve mostly underscored this in relation to meeting folks before your talk and in terms of how you’re “being” in front of the room during your presentation.

But what about after … when you’re done speaking and you’re interacting with the folks as they leave, especially the ones who hang around to get a little bit of more personal time with you?

The message doesn’t change. You’re the same person … before … during … after … always.

I’m sure that seems pretty self-evident and you probably wouldn’t expect anything different from me in terms of advice, so why do I bring it up?

As a life and business coach, I don’t talk about myself and what’s going on in my world in my coaching sessions … unless somebody asks. And they often do.

At the beginning of our recent call, my client asked me, “What are you up to this week?”

“I’m leaving Friday for a speaking engagement.”

“You must be so excited! I know how much you like speaking!”

“Uh, no … I’m not excited at all.”

You’ve always loved a good story … ever since you were two. And we all really love a classic redemption story. For me, personally and professionally, it goes beyond the basic human interest appeal. As a business coach and a speaker coach, I rely heavily on the redemption story to connect with people … to illustrate … to guide … to inspire.

Last month, in my Life Lessons newsletter, I wrote about Tiger Woods after his improbable victory at the Masters at age 43 … with a fused spine. How he lifted himself from the depths of despair to get his life, his body, and his game back in shape.

I got more feedback on that article than any I’ve ever gotten. (Thanks for your nice comments!)

So, what I want to do now is piggyback off that article and talk to you speakers and wanna-be speakers out there about how a well-chosen redemption story can help establish your credibility and get the audience to like you and really listen to you. And to help you make your essential point in a way only a story can.

One of our specialties is teaching people how to build their businesses by speaking.

Here’s how it works. Contact an organization whose members are in your target market and arrange to speak. Provide real value in your speech. Toward the end of the talk, offer attendees a complimentary coaching session or consultation with you.

Many of the folks who sign up for your complimentary sessions will become clients if you’re able to help them during the session and they see how you can continue to help them.

You typically don’t get paid to speak. You get “paid” on the back end as new clients sign up for your services. I’ve generated 3, 5, 7 … up to 13 new clients from a single presentation!

Denise was pleased to be a guest on the SkillBites show recently. To listen to the interview, click here. What follows are the take-aways from that interview.

Speaking is a great way to get in front of your target market, share your expertise, and gain new clients, but how do you get the speaking engagements, and how do you translate being in front of new people into generating new clients? These questions and more were answered by Denise Hedges, business development coach, speaker coach, and guest on this month’s SkillBites Show.

I’ve spoken at several conferences over the last few months, and when I’m there, I go to hear as many of the other speakers as I can.  I do it so I can benefit from their insights.

But I also can’t help seeing and hearing the things they do as presenters … what works and what doesn’t.