Keep Hitting the Piñata

Last week I attended seminars, watched replays of great talks and read emails by great writers, teachers, speakers and trainers. In this post I will share some of the greatest lessons that are relevant to learning to speak more confidently and doing public speaking.

First learning: Facebook served up a fantastic communications coach called Cole Jennette. He has a course on communications and it’s relevant for both native and non-native speakers (you can find more on his website www.colejennettecoaching.com). What I noticed was that he has the perfect balance between giving great communication tips and helping you cope better with not being perfect.

So I’ve included some recorded content with the kinds of questions he recommends asking, and you can use them to help you make conversation… so you don’t feel awkward.

The video is below!

The second learning: A teacher wrote such a wonderful email this week. Her name is Olga Kowolska and her focus is on training teachers to improve their marketing and sales. But what I really appreciated about her communication was her honesty. In one email she was so honest about how she feels about being ghosted by customers. I found it surprising, relatable and I respected her for talking about such a huge pain-point for freelance teachers.

What I learned from her is that to be a leader in your field, you need to speak about things that other people keep as dark, dirty secrets. By bringing light to the subject, we can relieve people’s pain. And yes, probably make better sales too.

The third learning: Then I watched a live talk by Ed Mylett. If you don’t know Ed Mylett, he is a big, famous North American public speaker. I only found him this year via a personal development group I’m in, but he is well known as a speaker. What caught my attention this week was that he talked about communication and public speaking skills.

What I learned and want to share with you is this: use stories. But when you use a story, make sure to relate that story to the audience. The story might be about you, but how is that relevant to the audience? For example, he spoke about a kids party but what was relevant to me: “keep hitting the piñata”. Never quit. I loved it. I remembered the story and now I really like Ed too.

You might struggle with speaking and telling your stories in English?

So my fourth learning was Brendon Burchard telling us live about his first experience in public speaking. I can tell you now, there is no easy way to learn the skill, there is no talk that doesn’t make you stretch your ability. But you will never get there if you don’t DO something. I watched Brendon, my guru, my role-model, tell us all of his first show… And I realised just how human he is and how hard he worked and how he didn’t quit.

What can you do to improve your speaking and get better influence and leadership?

How about this week practice telling your stories?

Write them out. Then shorten your sentences so that you can breathe properly when you speak. Chunk up the phrases. Highlight the most important words and phrases. Practice. Practice and practice.

And I know that sounds like a lot of hard work. But if you want to be one of the top people in your field, that’s how successful people get there. They “keep hitting the piñata”.

Keep going friends.