Speaking is an unfair advantage. You are face-to-face with your audience. You have a chance to connect like no other form of marketing. When you are in the room with a great speaker, you feel it in your bones. Tamsen Webster is our guest today. She is amazing at helping speakers find “the Red Thread.” If you don’t know what that is, you really must listen to this show.

In this episode we’ll cover:

• Bring who you authentically are to the STAGE
• Why the word “SHOULD” is dangerous & lethal!
• Why you’ve got to talk about what truly moves you to your core
• Why narrowing your niche broadens your reach
• Creating a burden of proof around your ideas

Target Audience: Tamsen runs a company called Strategic Speaking. She helps businesses and entrepreneurs find the “Red Thread” the through line of their products or service. In other words, she helps them to find their real value in their proposition.

Bringing Who We are to the Stage

We each have a unique way of how we make sense of the world. And we can all find that thing that really sets us each apart. It’s hard but it is always there, even though we are often blind to our own gifts.

The audience needs to feel *it* from you. The excitement your connection to your message and the passion you have for it. You have to believe what you say to your very core. Tamsen’s expert advice is to talk about the things you want to talk about and not about the things you think you “should” talk about.

So Many Bad Decisions Are Made in the Name of Should

We start out thinking, what should we talk about? This is a MEGA DON’T. Why? Because it automatically implies external judgement of your intent and motivation. Should is dangerous.

The only thing that you “should” Speak about is that one thing you canNOT speak about.

Trial & Error

Many beginner speakers don’t own what they speak about. They give external credit too often (obviously, always give credit where it is due).

However, you as a beginning speaker could integrate what you know and have the courage to say- this is how I SEE IT. You must be willing to do that if you want to be a Speaker.

Back Up Your Claims

Create a “Burden of Proof” around your ideas. That means: doing the work of finding all the research that supports your idea. Commission new research that backs up what you are trying to do. It must survive the “burden of proof.”

Narrowing Your Niche (there it is again!)

The narrower you focus the audience you are trying to reach and the message to them, the stronger and the more broadly it will travel. Focus on who you are really FOR and WHO the message is really for.

The clarity you get from that level of focus enables that message and the action you are looking for to cut through all the other crap that is out there.

Practical and Actionable

Find your Red Thread.com – here’s the worksheet to download.

Here’s Tamsen’s Question to answer before you fill out the worksheet: WHO are you for and WHO is this for?

Determine the way people you serve see the world. Fill out the blanks here:

I am for (category of people) who want X value Y but struggle with Z. What is the “thing” that they really struggle with? Hint: It could be a result of the first 2.