For many people the very idea of having to stand up and speak to a room full of people is terrifying. Public speaking ranks as many people's greatest fear. My guest this week Dave Staughton was one of those people. But through a set of circumstances he was forced to step up and speak.

From those initial knee shaking moments Dave started a completely unexpected journey that has seen him build a speaking business, and become as he describes the accidental speaker. Whether you've dismissed using speaking to help grow your business because of fear, or you want to know how to add more speaking to your marketing mix, this episode is packed with great tips, ideas and strategies to help you do it.

00:00:00:02 - 00:02:08:24
Paul: So let me ask you a question. If I had 100 prime prospects for your business and I had them all sitting in one room and I said You okay I've got this group of people and now you have the opportunity to go and speak to them then I'll give you the chance to stand in front of this group of 100 hot prospects for your business to share your story to add some value and to help convert them into clients for your business. How would you feel. Would you be absolutely terrified at the prospect of having to stand up and address 100 people at once. Or would you be exhilarated by the idea of the opportunity to do this. Well I can tell you that speaking is one of the most powerful marketing tools available to any business owner. But most business owners are gripped with fear when it comes to the idea of having to stand in front of a group of people and share their ideas unsure what they would say and very self-conscious about the ability to perform in front of a group of people. Well my guest this week is Dave Staughton and he's gonna share the story really of the accidental speaker. He was someone who was truly gripped by fear when it came to public speaking he didn't want to speak to other people and really didn't enjoy that part of the business. But through a range of circumstances that he'll explain to you shortly. He was sort of forced into having to do it and what happened and the story that he will reveal to you has turned into a remarkable business transformation and a journey that has opened up a whole new world for him. And I know that it can do the same for you. So speaking is this incredible tool that often is dismissed by people because of their own internal fear about having to get up and stand in front of a group of people. So this episode is going to help you develop some strategies to overcome the fear of speaking. If you're somebody that's comfortable with speaking is gonna give you strategies to improve the quality of what you do and create more opportunities to do it. I'm going to suggest to you that adding speaking to your marketing mix is a really smart idea and you're gonna learn all of these strategies from David. But first let's dive into the intro

00:02:19:26 - 00:02:35:03
Warick: Welcome to the marketers club podcast the show all about helping you work smarter earn more and accelerate your success. And now here's your host Paul McCarthy

00:02:38:25 - 00:04:36:25
Paul: So welcome to Episode 18 of the marketers club podcast I am your host Paul McCarthy and I'm here to help you market your talent so you can earn what you're worth and ultimately make more of a difference in the world. Great to have you company again. For this week's episode and we're talking about a subject that's really close to my heart speaking has played such an impactful role in my life. It's been a game changer for my business and it's something that I picked up I guess pretty early that I am off coming off the back of being a musician. I think that the fear of speaking wasn't a big issue for me because I'd really learnt to be a performer as a musician so I'd I'd knock that fear out of me. But I had to learn how to craft presentations and deliver information in a way that was interesting and invited an audience and added value into the whole process. So I dived into that and it has helped to accelerate the growth of my business like nothing else that I know. So it's something that I'm passionate about and I wanted to share it with you. But I wanted to also tackle the reality that for many people speaking is this incredibly frightening idea it's one of the scariest things that they can imagine doing having to stand in front of a group of people. So my guest Dave Staughton is somebody who's had to battle through that who started as a very reluctant speaker and really talked about becoming the accidental speaker is never part of his plan but he's a guy who's really studied the art of it and become somebody who's a real voice of experience and advice within the speaking industry. And I thought there's no one better to get on and talk about their journey and hear some of the tips and strategies that can help you at whatever phase you're at. So whether you're really a reluctant speaker or whether you or someone who is doing speaking and wants to know how to do it a little better and open up more opportunities you're gonna get lots of value from this conversation. So what I want to keep you waiting any longer let's dive into my chat with Dave Staunton

00:04:37:24 - 00:04:43:12
Paul: Dave Staughton welcome to the marketers club podcast. Fantastic to have you on the show. Welcome Mike.

00:04:43:15 - 00:04:45:21
Dave: Thanks very much. Paul thanks for inviting me along.

00:04:45:23 - 00:05:37:17
Paul: That was my pleasure. And you're keen to have a chat with you. You're a man who has a great depth of knowledge and wisdom. You're a real student which I've always admired about you and I know that you've got some great wisdom to share with the listeners and it's a conversation that obviously is close to both of our hearts as people who use speaking as a big part of our business models. Let's talk about speaking and the impact that it can have on people's businesses and the ways they can use it but before we kind of dive into that let's maybe give people some understanding of your journey how speaking has played a role in your growth as a as an entrepreneur and how you've used it over the time. So for those people who aren't familiar with Dave Staughton give us a little bit of the thumbnail about your story where it all started and how speaking became a part of your life.

00:05:37:19 - 00:06:35:28
Dave: Well I'm for many many years I was petrified of speaking and didn't like it much at all. And I was in hospitality when I was in the first of all I was in the geology business and I worked with some big mining companies. And then one day I left and then my dad and I bought a derelict rundown restaurant up in the Dandenong Ranges and the partnership with my dad was basically he would do the front of house stuff and I would do the back of house stuff but sadly after about 12 days the partnership founded and he left and I was there on my own. So I had to literally pick up the script and with an absolutely petrified microphone walk out the front and get all the guests to come in and sit down and effectively be the MC And from that over many years it became a little bit of comfort with it so that I could literally stand in front of people and invite them in and effectively do the few words that are needed at a wedding to make it run smoothly and that was sort of my in my introduction to speaking I suppose back in about 1997.

00:06:36:00 - 00:07:25:03
Paul: So you're there you're thrust into the limelight somewhat reluctantly having to find the words and manage your way through shaking quivering red face to whatever the circumstances were and I can certainly relate to that. Not so much in the speaking space but certainly in the music space. When I was a musician and learning my way that my great fears and the nervousness that used to hit me would be when I was first becoming a muso and having to perform in front of audiences and I can remember you know early performances with legs shaking uncontrollably and in all these sorts of things to get through that so I developed a lot of the stagecraft or the fear of speaking was removed a little bit by being a musician. But where did your journey go from there. So you've working in the rec you know the reception business

00:07:25:15 - 00:09:25:09
Dave: Yes the reception centre. And then I had to give sort of little one talks to my staff so I'd be speaking in front of 10 of my staff and of course you can't say the same thing over and over again. So you'd have to say new things all the time. And then from there one day a local school said can you come and give a talk about your industry to our class. So that was a bit of a scary thing but I strung together 15 20 minutes on the hospitality industry and then from there I was in a small group of CEOs at the CEO Institute and because I'd heard about 250 young staff every time dealing with young staff came up I would sort of give them my two cents worth on how you could do better with younger staff. And one day they just said listen stop interjecting all the time why don't you just get up and give us a presentation on what you know about dealing with young staff. And so I did that to one CEO group and my group that I'd known for many years and then from there that went to do it. Every other CEO group on little talk on dealing with young staff and Gen Y. And then one day the guy said to me in one of those groups he said Will you come and give that talk to our conference. The Aged Care Association and I said Look I don't give keynote talks. That's not my thing. Get this other guy to do it. I'm gonna call Mark McCrindle and they rang me up two days before and said we've made a terrible mistake. We booked him on the wrong day of the conference. What would it be okay if you'd come and do the talk. And would it be alright if you'd accept the fee that he was getting which was several thousands of dollars for 40 minutes. And I was dumbstruck and so I went out and bought a new suit. My talk took it up on stage and presented it in front of 200 people and afterwards I really liked it and they said well you come and do that at the National Conference and within a few talks I was giving my little talk on how to deal with young staff and deal with Gen Y in front of thousands of people at the National Aged Care Conference at the convention center. That's how I rapidly and horroridly made my way out. Well not so structured organised way. I was just literally make it up as you go along which some people do.

00:09:25:11 - 00:10:05:11
Paul: The accidental journey into speaking has led to many new opportunities and rewards for you and new pathways new growth opportunities new learning opportunities so take us from there. So now you've stumbled in the accidental speaker you've put together a place of education based on something you knew intimately from a real world experience not something you'd read in a book but something that you had been living and sharing those practical strategies things that have been working for you it turned it into a speech and now being handsomely paid for sharing it with people. So where do you go from there Dave.

00:10:06:03 - 00:11:00:28
Dave: Well what happened then was that I said I'll go and talk to a speakers bureau. So I went and hit up a Carson from one of the speakers bureaus and he just said go away. And he was correct at that point. And it's interesting now lots of new speakers approach the bureaus and they're perhaps a little bit green and too early. But to his credit he hooked me up with a couple of association meeting and I gave my little talk there and then that flipped into two big associations and that looked into lots and lots of work. So really the trick with that was to as you said Paul give a talk about something you know about which is earned the right and obviously improve it as you go along and then you're giving away your best stuff your practical tips. It's not it wasn't stuff that I read in the book. It was literally all the things that had worked for me. And I told my personal stories and my personal experiences and that people seem to resonate with because they've got the same challenges and they just want to know how to how some other people have dealt with it successfully. That's pretty much what.

00:11:01:00 - 00:12:24:24
Paul: They want the entrepreneurs listening to this program. There will be some that speaking is a part of their mix some that perhaps think they want to make speaking the main part of what they do. And many who have never really considered the idea of even using speaking as a marketing tool. Now I know that it has been a tremendous tool in the growth of my business over 15 years or so of doing the work that I do. I know that HubSpot did a huge research project where they looked at how people chose service providers and when they did that study they found that unsurprisingly word of mouth in terms of a direct referral from a trusted source or from another service provider were the two most popular ways that service providers got opportunities that they had third brand awareness in a marketplace. They'd been around and built a reputation that drew people to them. But the the fourth most likely way for someone to choose a service provider through their study was they saw them speak at a seminar or an event. So in terms of your experience and what you do in terms of the work you do now let's talk a little bit about for people who are have dismissed the idea of speaking and and the power of it. So why would you recommend to somebody to add speaking and to make it a part of their marketing mix.

00:12:24:26 - 00:14:21:09
Dave: My perception nowadays is that exactly. So if I'm going to buy you as a professional service provider or even just deal with your business now I want to deal with you and this is the age of celebrity. So want to deal with somebody who they get to know one of the fastest ways to get you know to know you is that you give them a little talk or you'd make a video or you write articles depending on what method you're going to get your message out. That would be my thought. So you want to name a lot of people want to deal with a celebrity and even you know the fact that you've given one and talk when you're up on stage makes you effectively a little mini celebrity and then preferably if you produce some content which is either gonna be videos or writing or or podcasts or whatever method you're going to use. I think that's been the number one thing now to learn. Now I go back to I was absolutely petrified when I started much the same as most people who are too scared to speak now or too scared to right or too scared to to make a video. You have to make the first 10 and probably get rid of them and then make another and do another bunch after that and it gets better. The first 10 and the first one hundred and then know after more than a thousand and then you can learn along the way. So it is absolutely a fantastic technique to get your message out just to just a quick example of that. There was a a speaker at a caravan conference who was an accountant and he'd spoken over and over and over and over again about finances. And so I had a quick look at his content and we rearranged it to rather than just be a very dry update on finances for caravan parks about what he'd done for the caravan parks that he'd worked with and how he'd made some changes. And lo and behold at the end of it there was an enormous queue of people waiting to book in to be become his clients. So it's not about perhaps giving just a talk that's just full of information. It's actually talk about benefits and proof and what you can do for people and telling the success stories it's not telling your you know gee I'm great story it's actually telling the story of the success stories you've had with your customers would be my thought.

00:14:21:13 - 00:15:08:07
Paul: And I think that's such an important part Dave for marketers in general and certainly for speakers is to remember that you are there to serve them that you are. It's not about you and it's not just about you telling them what you do and how you do it and the way you do it you're there to educate you there to entertain you there to shine a light on how they can enjoy better success in whatever it is that they are doing that you're there to speak about. So what are some of the mechanics that you see that people can do to improve the quality say using your account an example. What are some of the mechanics that you use to help shape a better conversation so that the result was that people were queuing up at the end to talk to him.

00:15:08:11 - 00:15:54:20
Dave: Well a couple of things you just mentioned there. It's not all about the speaker on stage it's not an ego show and you can see some speakers will try and dominate the audience you need to do this. You have to do this you've got to do this. And I sit in the audience thinking that I have to do anything and if you try and beat them up they're not going to do it. So you can invite them you can ask them you can talk about topics that they're really interested in but what they're really looking for is give me some proof and preferably other people's proof. And then of course the big one might be a call to action which is what's the next step because truly a lot of talks just go. Let me tell you the seven steps to doing thing One two three four five six seven. Thanks for coming. Hi my name Dave. And then they go Well why didn't I sell anything and you go Well the answer was You educated them but you didn't give them any reason to contact you or go further.

00:15:54:22 - 00:16:35:23
Paul: Well I think it's important that we are moving people emotionally not just logically. We have got to touch the heart of people as well as their their mind. And so we're sharing information but also how to move towards an outcome that we're looking for for people that are doing more speaking or adding it to the suite of services that they offer. What are some of the strategies that you would recommend that will help them to create speaking opportunity for themselves if they have the aspiration to speak obviously they need an audience. How does one go about finding an audience. What was your pathway or what's the pathway you recommend.

00:16:35:25 - 00:18:10:22
Dave: Well as I said I was invited by a school and then I was invited by a business group and then the really the big one as we mentioned before was at the end of your talk. Do people come up to you going Wow. Can you come and give that talk to my people. That's really with the ultimate goal. So give a talk that they want to hear not the talk that you want to give. So I've sort of turned around quite a few speakers by going stop preaching to them and let's see if you can engage them a bit more. So again in your time in entertainment would be quite useful. My original journey was was exactly that and went from speaking at for a school to business groups doing lots of free talks. We had a fantastic advisor called Winston Marsh marketing guru who said if you want to speak more speak more and said if you are sitting at home on the couch wanting to be a speaker well go and find a group of which there are many and go and speak to them. You can do Toastmasters rostrum meetup. You can do Rotary clubs you could do BNI. You can do small meetings of you know direct selling groups like Anway or something. There's lots of little associations you can walk into practically any big business and tell them that you will do a presentation at the weekly meeting if you really wanted to. Most people would if your talk is reasonable. They're happy to have some entertainment that's possibly not even just the boss talking at them. So there's a couple of things that you can start. I certainly am a big fan of doing lots and lots of Rotary Club talks because it really practices your material practices your stories practices your jokes practices your call to action and you can you can learn to be a good speaker at Rotary.

00:18:10:24 - 00:19:38:16
Paul: A big part of it is obviously being willing to put yourself out there and speak is like any pursuit in life. You only get good at something if you're willing to do the work at it. You're willing to practice and practice practice practice. I remember watching a comedy education session I was one of the comedians Dujan was with three up and coming comedians and I was sitting just riffing about comedy and and making their way on the circuit. And he said the first thing you have to stay aware of is that you're going to be terrible at this for the first three years so be willing to do the work before you get good. I've been to a few comedy nights as I'm sure many listeners have and if you've been to more suburban Comedy Nights where they've got the up and coming speakers comedians there you can see the difference between the polished comedian and the developing comedian. Just as you can with someone who's learning the craft of speaking as a as a business tool and I think it is a hugely powerful tool that gets missed by many people. But I think even when you get the opportunity we have to be careful that we don't burn the opportunity by making the conversation about the wrong thing. So is there a strategy or a process that you use though to create a presentation. Is there a formula that you follow or that you take when you are helping developing speakers to think about the way they structure a presentation.

00:19:38:18 - 00:20:32:11
Dave: Well the lesson has always been sort of give an opening and then give three key points and then and then give us some sort of close and the three key points should be really a point and demonstrated with the story or something and then a bit more of the point again. So the bottom line is that it's not just an information Fest which is sadly many of my talks have got too much information in them and over the years now I've been reducing that most people can only take one or two or three points away from someone's presentation. So to make them really really clear. And then obviously to move people to action with some emotional stories and the connection to the audience. So that would be it open 1-3 points and then close and that can be a 10 minute presentation or can be a 60 minute presentation. The other one I'm finding is that if you can have some really pithy things that really pithy things that work work for you you put your phrases or your tweetable moments and things like that that's the things that the audience remembers.

00:20:57:17 - 00:21:40:29
Paul: We know that David for people that speak with some regularity. One of the expression If you want to get paid as a speaker be funny have humour as part of what you do. Now being you know I'm not a comedian you're not a comedian but we endeavour to bring some humour to our presentations. Tell me a little bit about your pathway of how you've crafted or developed your ability to bring more humour as you say you've always delivered information rich presentations and over the journey of learnt to craft them a little differently. What words what is the journey towards comedy or humour in your presentations been like for you.

00:21:41:01 - 00:22:48:20
Dave: Well I started off using silly props and was a proper speaker so I'd have a funny hat and I'd have some some some some fish and different things because I was doing a talk on fishing for customers and it was basically prop humour. And of course that would get a cheap laugh and then I moved on from that to just showing some funny pictures up on the screen and that would get a funny laugh as well. And then I moved on then to people I'd be presenting something and some bloke up the back would heckle out something and I'm going to you that was really funny. So then I would that the next talks go. And when I showed this last time I bloke said blah blah blah. And I would use his heckle line and then I would incorporate that in. So that was how I got started on just making it a little bit funnier. I used proper humour. I used some visual humour. You can even show you a visual funny video if it's appropriate. And then I started to incorporate some some heckling and then I'd start to do some self depreciating humour and that started we worked rather well and have a bit of fun with the audience and once you get them laughing they're having a much much better time. You don't have to be funny to be a speaker. Only if you want to get paid seems to be the job.

00:22:49:13 - 00:22:50:17
Paul: That's what they say.

00:22:51:03 - 00:23:30:27
Dave: Yeah. Favourite line that was it. I did do some stuff with Doug Stevenson was a speaker from America and he's got some fabulous stuff that in a C.D. that's in these are a nineteen different ways that you set up things to be funny. So you know small small large or something like that. There was there a little ways that you can rewrite your material to make it funnier. There are a few funny workshops there's the book make them more more funny more money with Marty Wilson. There's there's a couple of different comedy workshops floating around now. Some people go into a bit of standup to make themselves a bit funnier give themselves a bit more confidence. So again comes with practice. Paul would be my thought.

00:23:31:07 - 00:24:22:10
Paul: As it all does. So we've talked a little bit about the people who perhaps haven't considered speaking that may start thinking okay there's maybe some ways to use this tool. We've talked a little bit about some of the things we could do from a stage craft thinking about structures adding humour developing that let's let's talk a little bit about that next phase if I if I really want to make speaking a larger part of the work that I do and more featured part of my my overall offering. What's the pathway to more professional speaking to create that. Obviously you mentioned earlier about people going to early to a bureau for example for people who don't know maybe we can just start there and explain exactly what a speaking bureau is. So maybe you can just give us a quick overview of what that looks like and what that means.

00:24:22:12 - 00:27:06:00
Dave: Sure. There's about 20 odd bureaus in Australia and a speakers bureau has much of the talent that people use for professional conferences. So this would be people that you would hire and they're either going to be famous and therefore that person will bring a crowd to your conference. Wow where you got this person speaking. I have to go to that conference or event because that person who's famous is speaking or alternatively once they've got there they they'd put the speaker on who was not famous but they were absolutely fantastic they were real really awesome speaker in which case they really enjoyed the event because that Speaker was awesome. So mostly they have a combination of sort of awesome content speakers that are not famous and famous celebrities some of which can speak but mostly they're there for the people who are organising conferences imagine what would get to put on a conference every three months or a conference once a year and you needed 10 or 20 great speakers. Well usually you're right for the first couple of events but then after that you you really struggle in finding fantastic speakers and although there is probably ten thousand speakers in Australia the thing is if you're organising a conference you're paid one hundred two million one hundred thousand or million dollars to get everybody there and they're all expecting a fantastic speaker on stage either a fantastic one or a famous one. And some there's a real stack of pressure on either the CEO of the organisation or the conference organiser or the person who's booking the speakers to select really really good speakers that are going to hit it out of the park rather than be known for the one that brought along someone who really bombed on stage. That's what speakers bureaus do. They have thousands of speakers and they write lots and lots of contracts and they're always looking for people who are hot and new and fantastic. Sadly lots of people think they're hot new and fantastic. And I was one of those back in 2000 and whenever it was seven I think it was I thought I was hot new and fantastic. But in hindsight you know the only person that thinks you're great is your mum. You need to do a bit more work. So I say to a lot of speakers no one loves your topic as much as you and what you have to do sometimes is tone it down on how much information you're giving and give us a bit more entertainment. And the real the real criteria is did you get at the end of your talk more cards with dates on them with prices on them for people that will come and ask you to speak somewhere else. Was your talk so amazing that other people said wow you have to come and give that to my husband's business or my wife's business or somebody else in every room they will all know. Lots of other people organising events and conferences either themselves or their friends and relatives and they will you know will they rave about you when do you get more work. Did they come back and did they tell others. That's the real criteria for a great speaker.

00:27:06:02 - 00:27:56:27
Paul: So from a bureau point of view if I'm an aspiring speaker and that's something I've been doing for a little while I've been getting out and practiced I've developed a presentation. You mentioned people going to early to bureaus then they're not ready always reminds me of the music business record companies not really being that interested in breaking the band. They want the band to have gone out and done some work and got some following and produce some days and things already they're not looking for somebody to go from dead cold starts and bureaus are much the same. They want to see some runs on the board and that you have some of the things in place. So what are some other things I'm going to need to have to be more bureau ready and get their interest. If if that's one of my aspirations.

00:27:56:29 - 00:28:58:22
Dave: Sure. A couple of things one of them is some that you've got some video of you on a stage. So a lot of people I've seen videos that they just sort of speaking to a few roundtables in a room and that's really not speaking on a stage that's speaking to a little board room or a little flat floor. So those videos on stage would be really popular. And then we've got testimonials from the organiser who paid you. Not testimonials from somebody in the audience who loved you because nearly anybody can give a talk where one person in the audience will say you changed my life. That was fantastic. So that's cool. But what I'm looking for is that the person who paid you the money lots of money. That was the person who you really impressed and even the ones that have written you the testimonials and they're preferably from a brand name company. If you can. That would be useful too. So testimonials. And then the third one I'm looking for is that they're starting to get paid speaking inquiries and the paid price is moving towards three four five thousand dollars per talk. And that means you're just about ready to be a bureau speaker not too many bureaus will work with free speakers or speakers charging one or two thousand dollars would be my thought.

00:28:58:24 - 00:29:35:19
Paul: Already been getting paid getting paid reasonably well for the presentations that you're doing that you've got evidence of the presentation on a stage. You've got testimonials from the people who've booked you to back up the fact that you did a great job you filled their brief. And we have ticked all of the boxes. Now we're going to start to potentially be of some interest and of course there are always topics within speaking that you know it's a moving feast so you know topics that were popular 20 years ago may not even be on the radar anymore.

00:30:03:16 - 00:32:03:07
Dave: Well it's basically what the buyers which is many business people corporates a lot of buyers government whoever's got the zeitgeist whatever words they're using at the moment and whatever the topic starts to be being popular. And usually they've come possibly from America and then they made their way into things like smart company or BRW or it's just starting to be talked about. And it's really starting to get traction it's like picking number one songs or number one videos or number one movies. You just get a bit of an inkling for what's coming. And then sometimes there's a real demand for it and then it goes disappears really quickly. So just after the Royal Commission there was a real demand for speakers on trust that lasted for about three weeks and then it's kind of gone now and we've moved on to other things like character and ethics and integrity. But the interesting ones do something you didn't mention their topics age and in the old days they used to be speakers on I'm a time management speaker. Well we haven't seen those ones for quite some time now. Not my favourite jugglers always you know. I'm sure there's still a few speakers that are experts on the millennium bug and other thing that we had in the year 2000. Yeah that topic is well and truly dead mate. So so this topics that I'm not doing as well when there's some that are really red hot and you see them starting to pop up. So things like we've had a bunch of speakers coming in recently on mindfulness wellness wellbeing. We had a lot of diversity inclusion psychological safety in the workplace has been popular. Then there's a whole lot of breakout ones that are just coming out of nowhere. What's going to happen to me in the future. So forever skills infinity skills also depending on the economy being a bit of a tougher time recently I've had some requests for leading in tough times surviving a recession you know do you have any people that have lived through the previous recessions. What else. There's a little bit on the edge of the meditation spirituality Hollistacism. I'm changing the world and then there's a few obviously moving and shaking in sustainability waste clean tech plastics that sort of stuff as well. So one of the best ways is to put up three topics or for new speakers perhaps five topics and see which ones get bought.

00:32:03:09 - 00:32:17:16
Dave: So every year I used to do a bunch of different topics for the different CEO groups and that would tell me a bit of a hint as to what people were really interested in. We've moved on a bit from futurists and we now into disruption and now we're into even embracing changes and other possible topics.

00:32:41:26 - 00:34:25:14
Paul: If you're a business owner that's getting it done. If you're making things happen if you've been a founder of something and you've started to build something that's really building some momentum something you're going to have real pride in there is an opportunity to start speaking about it. And of course as I say that the topics are about and it's much like getting yourself into the media if you want to win some free media you've got to make the conversation really powerful and punchy for the audience that consumes that medium so that it has to be relevant to them and and be providing some value to them straight off the bat and not just simply about you and what you do and I think you can craft those conversations you can find your way to these opportunities and it is a learning process you're not going to probably go from cold first talk to being some sort of superstar on the stage but that's okay if you are willing to put in the time and I'd certainly encourage people to consider it seriously as part of their marketing mix. It's a very powerful tool and I've seen so many clients be able to enjoy so much more success by adding speaking to the mix of what they do. So something to really keep in mind there. David you are a brilliant learner you're a you love education you love learning you know through the speakers association the the font of knowledge that many people go to for advice about where they can get more information. Some of the books perhaps that you've read or would recommend for people who want to pursue developing their speaking growing their business. What are some of the things that you've read watched followed that you think would be worthwhile to put on other people's radars.

00:34:25:16 - 00:35:34:10
Dave: Well I've been doing a lot of talks for the other speakers Association's Paul so I got off my behind the other day and put up about a dozen blogs on my website with all of the different resources that people were looking for depending on whether they were a new speaker and they just wanted a place to speak or whether they wanted speaker development and things I just put them all up there because I rather just sort of printing them out and sending them out. I thought I'd just update them and if anybody's got me feedback on how they should be updated come back to me as well so on my website there's a whole stack of resources and the best books depending on where people are in their journey some people are learning how to speak and that was things like Toastmasters and rostrum and things and then other people are learning how to move from free which is always doing free talks and getting really well paid for it. There are some fabulous ones on I'm speaking from the stage to get paid. So this is from people who literally are I'm giving a talk but I'm really trying to sell either my services and there's some really nifty techniques about how to do that. Now I'm very very subtly not in a horrible way but I'm I've got lots and lots and lots of resources and tips and things like that on the best books. And depending on where people are in their journey.

00:35:34:26 - 00:35:50:17
Paul: We'll be sure to connect to those and put those in the show notes so people can get straight over. So just in terms of your website what is the website and where can people find out more about you and be able to access some of these ideas and research. But we will add it to the show notes as well.

00:35:50:28 - 00:38:03:08
Dave: Sure it's just davidstaughton.com.au So my brand is my Web site and its davidstaughton.com.au/blog and you'll see that in the blogs in there are probably about a dozen of the best articles that I could give to all of the speakers at various stages of the speaking journey. I deal with lots of people who want to be listed with the bureau I deal with people who've never spoken before and they will just given their first talk at a school and then I deal with some speakers and a million dollar speakers and looking for how to leverage themselves so. But speaking is a fantastic business. I'm truly a believer that speaking as one of the best ways to build a professional services business. If you can get in front of clients in association groups that you specialise in and tell them some of the stories that you've done it's an absolutely phenomenal way to get more business. The real trick though is to not overwhelm them. I have a couple of wonderful quotes Alan Weiss had one the other day called "don't tell them everything you know tell them what they need to know". That was a fabulous quote. I've got another one the other day is a bit of feedback this is parts of your talk are good and parts are original but the original parts are not good and the good parts are not original. So you know that was that was what we best. You know your talk was both good and original but the parts that are original not good and the parts that are good and not original so my speakers will assemble there are talks out of other things that they've heard and the more you can make it your own. Talk with your own phrases your own things your own quotes that you say to yourself all of your lessons. That's what people want to hear. They they they want to know how you did it how you overcame the same issues that they had which was you know possibly lack of confidence doubt disasters challenges all the things that that people have they want to know how to how to be sped up by by learning a skill you're not you know show me how to make knives and that's your business teach me some skills. One of the great things anybody could do for their business would make some videos on how to use their products and put those up on YouTube. That would be a phenomenal thing. I did some work once with the guys from the tackle world in my hand in there a guy called Paul Westerling who was from IFish and he turned to tackle stores into a phenomenal TV show all about fishing and there's a classic example of somebody who's got a fabulous Franklin Willie's fishing show and it's got a back end with two fantastic tackle world stores

00:38:03:20 - 00:39:00:04
Paul: And that's great advice David it's about how we build a business model and that we're using that speaking as a part of the marketing mix it's drawing people in it's building the trust that's building the relationship and then providing the opportunity for them to be able to go deeper with you and I think that if people do that respectfully they provide lots of good value. And as you say tell people what they need not everything you know but what they need then we are on the right path to be able to use this tool really effectively to grow a great service business so as we come to time Dave any other last thoughts ideas to the wrap up for anybody at any phase of that journey whether they're never spoken before now contemplating the idea of how they could add up people that are dabbled in it and want to get better at it or people that are really gonna make it a serious part of their their business mix and something they're going to focus on any other thoughts that we want to leave people with.

00:39:00:06 - 00:40:06:07
Dave: I made quite a few mistakes in my I'm probably 15 years of speaking professionally one of which was that I spoke to lots of lots of audiences but I didn't put all the information in a really good CRM system dividing up the buyers and the audience members. If I had captured more information I could have built a much much bigger database. I probably should have followed up and got more testimonials. I should have also produced some written content because once they were all excited about your onstage presentation they usually want some more material nowadays that would be a very skinny book that positions you. It's basically an extension of what you'd just been speaking about. The other thing I probably made a big mistake on was that early on I didn't videotape myself enough and watch those videos on although it's kind of painful. You really need to watch those videos and possibly get somebody else to give you a bit of idea of how you could have interacted with the audience a bit better or just watching your own videos is literally like going to the gym. It's what you need to do. Collect them get it on your phone get it on on a little GoPro but watch yourself every single time you present put it on the video and then it's practicing and doing the work. Sometimes it's just knowing when to shut up now.

00:40:06:09 - 00:40:48:03
Paul: Great advice and I really encourage people. This is one of those areas that you need to start before you're ready. We've got to avoid the perfection trap and worrying about investing all the time in preparation. It's not going to become Olympic class swimmer by standing on the edge of the pool you got to dive in and you're not gonna become a great speaker or you speaking efficiently as a business tool. If you never open your mouth they just gotta start to deliver them in some shape or format and just begin that process and work your way through to come out the other end. Dave a great pleasure as always talking to you my friend. Always a font of knowledge and lots of insights about doing that so people can again find you at davidstaughton.com.au is that right?

00:40:50:21 - 00:40:54:05
Dave: davidstaughton.com.au S T A U G H T O N davidstaughton.com.

00:40:56:17 - 00:41:05:22
Paul: Good on you mate. Thanks again for sharing your wisdom and so generously as you always do and wish you great success mate as you continue to move forward with your business and speaking journey.

00:41:05:28 - 00:41:07:03
Dave: Thanks very much Paul and have a great day.

00:41:08:07 - 00:43:13:19
Paul: So I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Dave Staughton in that it's given you some ideas some strategies that might help you take away the fear that you may have been feeling about speaking to other people speaking is such a powerful marketing tool for your business and one that if you can fight through that fear and create the opportunities to get in front of groups of people you open up the opportunity to really have the one to many conversation it's been a game changer in my business and I've watched it change and transformed so many of my clients businesses when I've developed the skill and the ability to speak in front of a group of people and really all we're doing is taking some of your story showing empathy to an audience sharing some of what you know with other people to help them move from where they are to where they want to be. It's a tremendous gift to be able to get out and share your ideas and strategies with other people who really need to hear from you. They need to hear your message. So if you can push past the fear and really do that or if you're somebody that's already step into speaking a little bit and that you will now take it to the next level you'll start to get out and start to really work on that craft and really keep improving what it is that you do. It can be a real game changer for you for your business savvy and it can encourage you to keep looking at how you can do that. But for now it is the end of this episode for another week and I look forward to joining you again next week with another episode I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who's been providing feedback he's been listening to the show and for taking the time to share it with other people in their network and invite them to become followers. We are picking up new followers every single week which is really fantastic and we're just thrilled to be able to put this together and I'm just gonna keep working as hard as I can to provide you with this great information and great guests to keep sharing insights that can help you to accelerate the growth of your business. But until we speak again next week I want to wish you all the very very best of luck with your businesses. But much more importantly with your lives take care. Bye for now.