Win the Audience when You Speak On-Stage - Teacher: Tovit Neizer

Hello, useful content creators. I'm just about to head out to a dance rehearsal with my daughter and it's pouring cats and dogs here in Trinidad and Tobago. And of course, as far as priorities go, dance rehearsals trump having fancy intros, so there are no fancy intros today. But what we do have is a discussion about storytelling and how to ace your on stage talk.

We talk about how to sharpen, reorder, and cut the fluff From your own stage talk so you can deliver it very well and that you can win over your audience. Enjoy the podcast today and let's make useful content. 

Hello, and welcome to useful content. And today we have a brand new teacher in our useful content classroom, Toveet Nysa. Hi Toveet,

Hi, Gemma. 

technically, this is the first time we're talking face to face, which is highly unusual for when we're doing podcasts, but this time it worked out really great because I checked you out. I looked at your content and what you do, and I know this is going to be a great conversation. So I'm really excited to, to talk about, um, this public speaking stuff, because I've never had anyone on the podcast like you before, and I know it's going to be very good and helpful for the people who are listening. So glad to get into it. So could you please tell the people what you do and how you help your clients make useful content?

Sure, yeah. So I, um, define myself as a business storyteller. I own a consultancy boutique called Yellow Bricks, where I help companies and executives tell better stories either for their startup tech company, B2B Company, fine tune, what's their offering, what's their unique value proposition, and tell it.

So they would become a brand and for executives, I help build the content for effective talks, conferences, uh, meetups, event, uh, companies, events. People cannot just go on stage. How do You know, they can speak very well, but it doesn't matter. They need to fine tune the content and build it in a way that resonates with the audience, the relevant audience, which differs between events and in a way that it's captivating and memorable.

So why is, storytelling important anyway? I mean, can somebody just go and talk about themselves or their products in any, how they feel like why is storytelling important?

I think the definition is that stories are glue. This is what keeps us as a society. This is what keeps ideas from one generation to the other. I think. Want to look at the broader spectrum and stories are a great way to connect and share ideas. If you talk with someone and you just tell them the specs, this is the, these are the figures, this is the data, all the things that you do so wonderfully and you are very well, um, professionally in this space or whatever you do.

This is boring. And the other thing on the other side, there's so much information. There's so much content around us that you're competing over the one thing that people will never get back in their lives, which is time. So if you want to get that time and be memorable and people will, um, resonate with the idea would resonate with them.

You have to, to play it and deliver it in a way that it's interesting. Or different or personal. There's so many levels and, and different manners that you can do that. But just to give them a list, it's not working. Part of the things that I do, I do consultancy and I also do workshops. And in my storytelling workshop, I always start with something very creative and interactive.

And I just read a list of things. I'll just say, this is a, I don't know, my kid, or this is my teacher who left a voice message, and these are the words. And I read. Twenty words. Then I stop and I ask my participants to tell me the words. What do you, what do you remember? What did you pick up? And they hardly come up with five, maybe five, seven.

The, the, the excelling students do, I don't know, ten. And that is because lists, they, they're just You know, they don't have any glue. They don't stick. They don't go in. They just go through because think of yourself going through a highway. How many billboards do you see? How, how many messages? There's so many, but when you work out a story, that's the next thing that I ask them, write a story, take two minutes, use all the words that you can see on the screen or on the board and make them form them into a story that way our mind could gather that and then.

Get it out. You can put it in, take it out very easily because we work in frameworks. We need a structure, we need frame. And that is the way, I mean, you want to connect, you want people to relate, give them something that touches the point and then it's stored inside and taken out when they need it, 

That's really good at that, that point about, Time being important and people having that precious commodity or this asset that is time and not wanting to, to waste that time, that's very important. And I think that, um, that's a good point. I didn't think of where people have little time when they want to use it the best way.

I mean, I think about it this way sometimes. So I know that, um, you are big on experiences. Um, I have a friend who recently she does events and she did a poll on LinkedIn where she talks about. What are the things that make you remember an event? And she identified the decorations and the food and everybody kind of chose the overall experience.

Uh, for, for example, I know that you, uh, like with your daughters, you tend to lean into experiences for their birthdays and that's important. And that causes them to remember things. Why is having this experience with a story important for business owners when they're trying to communicate what they can do for people?

First of all, people buy from people. It's not the tech that's better. It's not the color. It's not the price. You don't want to compete over price. That's not, not a positive thing. So you want the, the personal connection. And if you give a talk in a way that's revealing or something personal, Then people can connect to you and they know you're the person to deliver.

Even if it's tech, even if it's AI, hands on, you know, the newest buzzword, you still have someone who's accountable or not. So you want to feel connected. You want to feel that this is someone with my values. Or that I can relate to their values. That's why when we build a story, an effective story for a company or a startup, we think of what are the values and the mission, what is the lighthouse that they're walking towards?

What is leading them? What is, you know, um, prompting them to do what they're doing. So stories are an encapsulation of all these, of all your values and the mission and the vision and anything that makes you tick and get up and do it. In the morning and do what you do. If you want to help people bring that spark, but you do have to be mindful of the time and then put it in a way that's memorable, that's short, that's concise, that's clear and consistent wherever you go, be it your digital assets, unlinking, uh, the content that you share, the interviews be very, very repetitive of that.

So it would be clear.

Excellent. And so we're going to dive into onstage talks and, you know, of course, in order to give a compelling onstage talk, the, the way you look at it is that you have to be able to tell this compelling story. Um, and we're going to specifically look in, we're going to specifically look at how to ace that.

Now, when you say ace your onstage talk, I'm assuming you mean do it well, but could you explain what So the people, what do you mean by a senior on stage talk? And then how do you measure that? You've done it well.

First of all, you need to understand your KPIs. What are your pre, uh, key performance indicators? What do you want to achieve from that, uh, talk? From your lecture or, um, the talk and the pitch that you give. The way that it is, it's not the number of applause that you will get. The number of people who would, you know, shout or throw tomatoes at you if thinking of us, of stand up, which is something that I do on the side.

And, um, it has to do with your goals. So let's say you want to learn, uh, you know, to. To work on your branding or you want to show the world something new or you want to land new businesses and new contracts. So the number of things that would convert into that would be success. Let's say you, you showcasing your new feature, your new update, uh, after product, the number of people who would visit later, your side, knock on your door, call you up.

Get up, you know, reach out to you after that session would be an indicator. Another indicator would be how many people really understood what you're saying. That would be an indicator of how well your talk was, right? Because if you're not clear, they would not come because they would not know it's for them or it's interesting.

But if they would come and ask very different questions than, Like not aligned with what you're talking about. You would understand that you need to revise or fine tune your messaging and clarify what you're saying. Um, what else? So you were talking, you asked me about acing, acing meaning that all the things are aligned.

There's the audience, there's the goal, and then there's you. If they're all aligned in one beautiful triangle, That means you aced it. It means that you were very clear with your message and your goal towards the right audience. The right meaning the ones that you're meeting at that talk, the audience of that conference, let's say.

Invited to do, a talk, like based on your expertise, you get asked to come to this place, come to our business, come to our conference and do a talk. Like what specific feedback should you really be looking for if people were to come up to you afterwards and they were to talk to you?

What kind of feedback from people at the venue or maybe thereafter that will indicate that, or this actually, uh, Hit home or this is doing the thing I wanted to do because I know many people come up and say things general things like Oh, this was so lovely it touched me or whatever it might be But then what kind of markers are you looking for as a somebody who just gave that talk that would tell you?

Okay good. This is going well

So we need to know, and you have to find, to find your goals just before, let's say you do want to come, uh, come through as, um, you know, that sensitive person and you want people to be moved. If that's your goal and people afterwards knock on your door touch your shoulder and say you move me this was touching I had the same experience.

So that's a home run. That's great. But you really need to align those goals before I guess business owners, the executives would, and usually have a different goal. Either something which is accumulated, something which, uh, it's an ongoing process of building their brand as thought leaders, as the professionals.

So if people come up to them and ask them, On on the spot. Uh, related question. Could you please share more? Can you give me more from your experience? It means they find me as a thought leader as a professional person. So that's one thing, but that's an accumulative effect. It doesn't happen after one call.

It happens after a long time of you sharing the same content of different plot. Another thing would be probably, um, Lending deals. So if someone comes up to you very simply and ask, can we have a full on call? Can we have a full on meeting? I heard you talk now, your product slash service or whatever you do sounds great.

I want to learn more. I want to work together. I want to collaborate. Let's find time. That's a home run. I mean, no one would rush, probably no one who rushed towards you with their open wallet or, um, checkbook. But if they would want to continue, that's a good thing because business is all about people and all about relationship.

It doesn't happen immediately. If it's B2C and you're selling something, the KPI of the success would be someone, you know, downloading that, someone paying, someone in the cashier, checking out, that's great. But as a B2B conference, at the B2B talk, this is something that takes time. So you need to be consistent and you need with time to see that people either ask for more of your time or follow you more and then you build that relationship with them.

The confident that you are the person to deliver whatever you're talking about, whatever you're speaking.

Yeah. Yeah. So there are two things that stood out to me in what you just said. Uh, the first thing is that it does take time. Um, so you know, shouldn't expect that after your very first talk that you get flooded with, uh, requests or what by people and, and it's, it's not an instant thing, right? That's the first thing.

But connected to that, the thing that you said that stood out to me is the idea of having to say the same thing over and over again. And I know many people think That That is not exciting, or they don't want to do that. Why is it important to say the same thing over and over again and refine your talk?

We don't have a lot of memory spend. We don't have a lot of attention spend. Well, you know, there's the goldfish who has nine seconds, humans have eight and it's deteriorating with time. And I guess our children and grandchildren would just go out to the street, see something, suck up everything.

And then AI would explode and whatever. But now we don't have a lot of that, and we go out, we drive our cars, we go to the office, up and down the elevator, and we see a lot of messaging, and we have the mobile that, you know, just attacks us with a lot. If someone comes up with the same concise and con and distinct, very, very limited, you know, seven words, nine words, but the same, it's not only short, it's not only clear, it's repetitive.

So it's just, you know, hitting the same brick wall until it falls, until water comes out. It's just the same. We, we tend to think that humans are very sophisticated and consider ourselves as such, but it's very basic. In the end, if you keep nagging someone with the same thing, if it's relevant for them, and if you come across as someone interesting and someone that they want to work with, It would happen.

And just to tap on to what you said, you said that it won't happen in a second. Relationships take time, but if your call, if your talk is very, very relevant to me. And you deliver it in a way that's very, very captivating or aligns with what I'm looking for. I might just rush after you in that talk or just log on to your LinkedIn, shoot you a DM and say, This is interesting.

Let's talk. It might happen. It should happen. A concise talk is always about the audience and how to convey your relevant message and aim to them.

That's good. repetition is good. All right. 

Yeah,

don't be afraid of that. Repetition, clarity, and not over complication. I have to share something. I went to this conference. Uh, it was very well thought, well, well sought off and many, many thought leaders were speaking there. The moderator of the whole event, the one who initiated, the one who's like the number one celeb in that industry went to be the opening speaker.

He started at conference in that morning. And he was standing half of the stage. The second half was his avatar. I don't know why he chose that, but it was him real life, him on, on camera. And they were discoursing. They had this conversation, but technology sometimes. Yeah. I see your face. That was my expression.

And I think most of the audience were like, what's going on there. And why do we need that? That person is so charismatic, so. Funny, so nice, so interesting. Why do we need another one? The same person, but techie, virtual, and then tech kind of failed on him. And they had these problems of communication. So he was asking a question and his own persona, you know, his avatar was.

Not responding on time or at all. And it stopped and it crashed. It was so embarrassing. And you know what? There was no need in that. That person could have just talked and say something even not rehearsed. You know what, for him, I would even say not clear enough, whatever. But he, he comes across as this nice guy who helps everyone and he put on this amazing conference.

But the opening notes. were so uber complicated and complex and techie that just, you know, that was a real failure. And sometimes we don't need that. We just need to be simple. That's it. Simple. Genuine.

Okay, great. Let's get a little deeper into the storytelling part. And, uh, I know you believe that everyone has great stories up with, people just need some, help with, the ordering and sharpening and, Cutting off and focusing and, let's talk about how you can do that and how you can help people make stories that are more compelling and dig deeper into the audience, preferences, and all those different things.

Let's talk about that. So when someone comes to you and you talk with them about. crafting their stories, what is one of the first things that you do? Let's just suppose they have something that they may be thinking of. How do you start them off in that process of crafting this very specific story for them?

But we go through them and I ask them to present it, present it in a way that they're now on stage just in

front of no. Oh no. That's so hard. Go ahead.

it's amazing to see how people relate to kind of speaking on stage. But you know, it's not, it's not frightening. I'm very nice. I don't buy it. It's, it's nice. It's a good atmosphere. So they start and then they talk and then we stop and put that aside. And I asked them a few questions. Like, what's the aim?

Why are you going on stage? What's the aim of this event? Tell me about the event. Like, no strings attached, no, no pressure. Um, what do you want to gain out of that? What is your end goal? Do you want them to like you? Do you want them to understand what you're doing? Do you want them to just, you know, do you want to build relationship with these people?

Uh, are these potential customers, potential buyers, collaborators? Uh, stakeholders, whatever. So to understand what is the event, what is the purpose, what is the premise? And then we talk about the most important thing, the audience, who is coming to this event, who is coming to this gathering? What do you know about them?

What is the common demoni, demonitator, denominator, thank you, sorry. Um, what is the commonality there? What do all fear? What do all want? What, uh, what's the refim? What's in it for me? Think in their shoes. Put yourself in their shoes. And then you start to understand what's the right thing to do. Language to speak with them.

What's the lingo? What's the phrasing? What are the wordings that you should use? What are the buzzwords you should avoid or not? How would you talk with them? Would it be uber techie? Would it be very simple? Would it be with slides? Would it be just like stand up or? interactive. Now you have the format.

Now you have a sense of how to address that. Now we go back to the slides and I try to locate something that makes sense in that they're delivering this story. Why is why are you on the stage and not your boss or not your colleague or not your employee? What's in it about you? Why now? Maybe something happened recently.

That has to do with the tech, but you were leading, uh, I don't know, a transition, you were leading a shift in that organization. So we need to, after, uh, understanding who's the audience, we need to understand what's in it about you. That's related to them. So we connect all these again, that triangle again, repetition, very simple.

There's the audience, there's the goal or the venue or the event. And then there's you. And now we dive deeper to see maybe there's something in your history, in your career, maybe not even what you're doing now, maybe used to be, I don't know, a food critic, and that has something to do with what you're talking now, bringing something very different from a remote place, but tying it up because it's memorable, there are characters, we build up a story.

We try to see if there is a possible story, maybe personal. Thinking of a Brené Brown, uh, psychologist talking about vulnerability. If you put yourself out there, if you, uh, experienced a failure, professional, personal failure, and that has to do with your audience and that can make a connection with them together with that message, that would be a great opening to start with.

So we, we think of. Having to, once we know all these triangle and spots, we think of a good opening. It could be personal, it could be, uh, figures from the world and data that's related, something that they would learn from. And then we go through the slides. We try to think of something like a thread, common thread that goes through them, goes through the stories.

Every now and then we touch back, touch back to something we talked about, and then we conclude. We send them off with something, um, uh, something that they learn, something that we asked them, uh, some revelation, something we call back and ask them to do afterwards. And that's it. That's a story. Yeah,

I'm thinking that. It seems like there is core part of your story. Like you have, so you set your goals, right? You have those things that you know you want to accomplish with this, uh, particular on stage talk that has built into it. A story, uh, and maybe to sell more products and maybe to move the audience and maybe to build a relationship, whatever those goals are.

I mean, there may be multiple, um, is there a, a time ever when you have to adjust to that story, not just based on maybe new goals. or maybe based on the audience and the type of people that you're talking to, because I can see a scenario where, for example, earlier in a conversation, you use the term home run. so that is that home, that's very North American, that term home run, uh, for people who are maybe in the UK or in Europe, uh, they, depending on where you go, they might, have a similar game where you know the game cricket and they might, they might say, well, okay, instead of a home run, it'll be hit this ball for six, right?

For six runs. And so contextually, it makes more sense for the person who's speaking to reference that depending on where they are. And that's just one example, but is it a possible, or is it, are there times when you have this core story, but the examples you use, and maybe the references and the metaphors have to change based on the context.

that's a great question. And a great point. Yes. And it seems like you listen. So, so I'm flattered the audience comes first. So you, um, address them and their fears. They're different lingos, different, um, phrases. Um, you avoid things. That are not good in different cultures, right? You think you adapted to the culture, to the age, age appropriate, um, to the style, to, uh, You know, the, the title, if there are executives or if there are juniors, if there are, I don't know, young people, if they're retired.

So every time you put yourself in the shoes and you ask yourself, where, where are there physically in this culture, North America, this is what they speak of, et cetera, this is their lingo. And also where mentally. Um, you know, uh, before a challenge in their career before leaving their career to retire before stepping up in the ladder.

So where is a mental and physical question when you think of the audience ask that and then it would really help you understand all the things that you need to tick and see that they're aligned. See that you're okay before going on stage, many things to adapt, many things to change, but it's not, I don't want to scare anyone.

This is something that you can really easily perform and do. Uh, I think the best way to think is, uh, finding a core, a personal core to lean onto. When I mentioned before, let's see if you have a personal story that we can relate, that would be, that would be really, really helpful because it's easier to tap on and memorize something and take it out when it's yours, when it's a story, instead of this is the flow of the story and there are so many details and dry facts, stories are easier for others to remember, but also for the person who is delivering it on stage.

Yeah.

agree with that. I think, uh, like if you own the story, if it's yours, uh, you don't have to think too hard about it. You may have to amplify certain details. Um, based on the audience or based upon how you want to convey the story, but yeah, if it's yours, then you own it. You do have to try to remember it.

You, of course, there's a way you tell it that you have to practice, obviously, and you have to be able to tell it in a specific order with a specific cadence and, and deliver it so that people will love it. It's just like the art of standup. There's a way to deliver. Uh, your, your stuff. Um, but yeah, if it's personal, then it's, you really own it and you could tell it.

So I agree with that a hundred percent. I know we spoke a little about the audience and that's one of the things that you, you know, is very important that you've. Set is very important. Let's talk a bit about, um, more about the personal part of it. And we kind of touched on it just before and being vulnerable, um, on stage.

And, and that enables you to connect with your audience even better. Why does being vulnerable enable you to connect with your audience even better?

I think once you take off that armor, that you're that invincible person on stage and you're just that mega rock star, then people can relate to you. I know you're, um, 200 centimeters. So that's in feet. You said six, seven, whatever. That's amazing.

Yes. I would six, seven, just about.

That's amazing. It's on five almost.

You're almost just like zero zero point zero zero zero one less than five feet, So,

so here, my point here is that if you sort of put on a pedestal on that stage and we're in the audience, you feel at times you might feel very remote and very distant. So I went through that personal experience, like saying you play basketball, but you don't anymore, maybe because of an injury, maybe because of something that we can all relate to.

In a second, it's not that you're lower and you're shorter or something, but in a second, you're more, um, attainable. This is something that I can relate. I can never relate to playing basketball. I mean, this is so way up, but I can really relate to someone who had this vocation and then he went through this.

accident or, you know, unfortunate event that stopped him from doing that. You see, so this is a character and then you have a voyage and then something happened and then there's a villain, which is the accident or the driver or whatever, and then there's the result. But if you want to send me off with a fine, you know, um, uh, good experience, you maybe say that now you found something else.

Now you're doing, I don't know, podcasting. And that gave you the same sense of meaning that you had back then. And every now and then, you think of the basketball, and you think of shooting hoops, and, I don't know, you have a great interview with someone, and you feel the same as you used to when you were 14.

And that's a great experience. Whatever, so you can play on that. It has to, of course, be relevant to the audience, And to the aim what you want to achieve but a personal story is something that I can remember And something I might relate to or something that at least I can relate to you It doesn't have to touch a spot with me But then I see all the humane traits and characteristics that connect people, but I have to stress here I was asked by someone recently.

What if I don't have a story? Okay, so I do think everyone has but the story we don't want to force it And sometimes just using a personal story because this is the way, there's no catalog of how to do a perfect talk. There are some characteristics, some principles, but we can always play with them and adjust.

We don't want to force that just because we need a personal story. We need to find the right story that plays well with the audience and cause and with you. If we can find one that fits with all, we would use something else. Sometimes we would use another person's story and allude to that. Someone from the industry.

Or some incognito person that we kind of invented, but he's a manifestation of different personas that are relevant to what we're talking about. I'll tell you a story. Um, a few years ago, I managed the business development and marketing of a hardware startup. And I had no personal stories of that. I'm not an engineer in background, et cetera, but I felt that all my audience are very similar engineers at a similar age, similar nationality.

So I just told the story of one of them. That I invented, but that's an encapsulation of all the personas that I know are in the audience. And I know that I want as my potential customers. And I started with his day to day, um, tasks and challenges. And I showed how our technology solves this person's problem.

And you saw all the light work, uh, all the light bulbs went up in the state, in the, in the audience. People were like. I know that person. This is me. Okay, that's my colleague. I feel the same and that's a way to connect Stories are good glue A very effective one.

That's a good point. That's a very, very good point. Uh, so there's sometimes you have your personal story and you can build, uh, your personal story into generally what you want to communicate. And there's sometimes. You don't really have one that relates to the people you're talking to, but you can borrow a story from someone else and tell that story.

And I've seen people do that already where they talk about someone and they acknowledge that this is this person, but they are so good at communicating what this person went through. The people are still engrossed and they still are compelled by the delivery of this particular story, 

in this example, the speaker is not the main character, but he's the narrator. He's the third person I read her talking about someone else and let's relate. Let's just look at that person. Please don't bring an avatar, but it's just an imaginary fictional person that we using words to describe and then trust your audience.

They can still imagine things. They don't have to see them. If you use good words and descriptions and metaphors. But then it could be a real third person or it could be an imaginary encapsulation of all the people that you heard. It could also be someone like a different name for a real customer that you want to discuss their problem and how you solve their problem.

When I start out, when I meet for the first time, a person, an executive to work on their talk, We think, and we go through all the stories that they've met, not theirs, but what did others ask them? What did, uh, customers tell them? What are the testimonials that they have on their site? What did they get in the email?

Thank you so much. You saved my life. Thank you so much. You saved time. Thank you so much. Da, da, da. Then also when I do storytelling, strategic storytelling for companies, when we want to understand what's their story, we ask others to To tell that when you want to know, how's your brand depicted? You would ask others.

What do you think of him? What do you think of this podcast? What do you think of his services? What do people tell? What do people say about you when you're not in the room? That's your brand. He's amazing. He has done so much. He's, uh, the new epitome of whatever. That's your brand. So let others talk. And if you're on the stage.

Quote others. It's not me saying my brand is amazing. People who use me, people who use my services, said this and that. That changed their life. Okay, amazing. Let's use their words. It's not me, um, you know, showing off. It's very genuine. Again, the audience. The audience, your users, anyone who's been, uh, um, Interacting with your services.

Right. That's good. That's excellent. That's excellent. All right. Great. So, so we've gone through the process of focusing on the audience. We go through the process of being vulnerable and being able to tell your story from that perspective to connect. Let's now kind of come into the end of it all by talking about the fact that when you're on stage delivering this, this talk.

And you're acing this talk that if you forget something, what should you do? And I know you talk about the scripting and all those different things. What should happen if for some reason you go, you practice, practice, practice, you're going through and then you forget something. What should you do?

Let's say you forget a line, right? And I see you for the first time on stage. What do I think? What do you think that I think in the audience? Put yourself in my shoes, right? You're stuck. That's what you feel. What do I feel?

Uh, you don't know. You just, you, you just kind of like,

Exactly, because it's the first time I hear you. If it was the third time, the second time, the tenth time, I come and watch your talk every week, I'm thinking, oh my god, he just lost it. But no, for the first time or the second time, who knows, maybe you changed something. Maybe this is a very long intentional pause.

That's okay. As long as you keep your composure, as long as you keep yourself Very relaxed and assured because they don't know the script. It's not behind you. These are not lines that they're reading together with you. It's not a karaoke night that we all have all the script and lyrics. No. The same here, they don't know the beginning, they don't know the end, they don't know what's going through in the middle, they don't know what slide is coming, if at all, they don't know if there's an avatar coming, they don't know.

Everything is a surprise, so you can actually use it as a good thing. You have the mic. You have them for, I don't know, three minutes, maybe nine seconds. The attention span is very, very hard. It's very harsh and short, but you have the ability to take them and lead them through your story. And that's an amazing accomplishment.

Use that, embrace that and feel okay. Because they don't know you lose something. You forget something beat. Okay. Just smile, be relaxed, be happy that you have them with you and find the positive essence of that thing. Before, let's say you have this anxiety of speaking in front of the public, you go on stage and you think, Oh my God, this is something that I don't do very often.

So that's a good thing. That's a good experience. Let's enjoy it. Let's embrace it. Let's feel very comfortable now knowing that we have these few minutes of special time together in which they are here to listen to me. That's amazing. How many times do we really beg for people's attention? Now we have it.

We have the mic, we have the stage, we have their eyes on us. So who cares? You forgot one sentence. If it's really important, it will come back to you. But be, like, don't let that rule your Composed Europe and rule your, you know, well being. Just be very confident and relaxed, knowing that your story is interesting and you have them with you to spend a few precious minutes.

Hmm. So it's more, I would say what I get from that is not so much what happens during the talk, but it's just more of your response to whatever goes on and your ability to keep on pressing through until the finish. Exactly,

exactly. I don't say that something bad is going to happen, but if it does, It's bad only to a sense of how you define it, right? It could be an opportunity. Someone very, very positive could just look at it as an opportunity to maybe pause for a second to maybe wait to see how the audience is responding.

There are many things to do here as opposed to stop and say, Oh my God, I forgot my line, and that would be strange because they didn't know you forgot it and they don't know your lines. So who cares, right? It's, there's a lot of voice going on in our head. A lot of voices that are, um, managing us, like in life, same in stage.

Don't let them manage you. Just take hold of that, uh, few minutes of talk on stage. Make the most of them.

Hmm. Excellent. So Toveet, let's wrap everything up are there any final things you'd like to share about, cause the conversation has been growing really great so far. And, um, somebody might want to get any final tips as to what, Uh, they can do overall to prepare for their talk, or are there, is there anything that you, you think you may want to add with everything else you've already said, any final tips that someone might want to know when acing their onstage talk.

Yeah. Okay. So first of all, don't fall in love with your stories. See and make sure that the audience comes first. I know that you have something to say, but think if it's relevant to them, to the audience, know very well, who's the audience that you're going to talk with. Um, see that it's relevant for them, that it's relevant to what your aim, clarify your aim, what do you want them to do afterwards?

What would be a success? The KPIs that you refer to. So that's another thing. Uh, look for personal stories. Look for stories that are relevant in general, could be personal, it could be someone from the industry, it could be your customers, talk about them, talk about their pain, just like the audience, because hopefully they're the same.

Um, try to think if there's a sense, there's a reason to incorporate something interactive. Sometimes having the audience respond and being active makes it more memorable, more meaningful, and even more fun. It's not always, uh, needed. It's not always right, but try and think of that. Um, what else? Anything can go wrong.

I think the best thing is to know, even make a list. I might fall, I might forget some lines, the mic might not work very properly, the lighting might be very, very bad. Someone might start coughing in the audience. All these are things that happen, right? Knowing them, preparing for them could just take, take away all the pressure and think that this is a wonderful opportunity.

To share your company story, build your brand, build yourself as a thought leader and enjoy it, embrace it. It's not like you're on stage every day. You're not Rihanna, you're not Tyler Swift, not yet. So just, you know, be very happy that you have the audience's eyes and ears on you. Make the most of it. Work on a connection.

So then afterwards they won't only come and say that was really nice because that means nothing. They would say, you know what, can we have another five minutes afterwards? I want to dive deeper into what you were talking about. That's a good, that's a good sign. That's a very good sign. Aim for that.

Well, that's excellent stuff. And thank you so much, Toveet, for sharing all of this stuff with us. Um, I really, I really think after this, people might be prepared to go out and share their stories on stage. And, uh, if they want to find out more from you, where can the people find you online?

So yellowbricks. net, that's the website. You can reach out there. Or LinkedIn to Wiknizer, DiEM25. And we'll talk about your talk, make it better, make it effective, or make your, uh, brand, the story of your brand, work for your best.

Excellent. Excellent. Excellent. It was so good to have you on today. Thank you students for joining us on the useful content podcast, useful content classroom dismissed. And we're clear that always gets a laugh out of people for some reason that always gets a laugh out of people. Oh, that's good stuff. That's good stuff. Oh my goodness. My, my back is hurting so much.

You what?

My back.

Oh, wow. So you should stretch because you're so tall.

Yes. That's what you see. That's one of the drawbacks of being this tall. There's much more of me to hurt. So, you know,

That's a good way to look at it. Yeah. So that was fun. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for the time.

You're most welcome. Let me just stop the recording here now.