I have some potentially upsetting news to share…

If you want to become a better public speaker, at some point, yes—you’re going to have to speak in public.

I know, I know. It’s tempting to wait until you feel ready before stepping onto a stage, announcing a webinar, or submitting that TEDx application.

And to an extent, I support this! If you have a debilitating fear of public speaking, I wouldn’t recommend applying for a TED Talk today. Getting some foundational techniques under your belt first is a great idea.

However...

More often than not, I see people hiding behind “Not Ready.”

They’ll endlessly put off scheduling their webinar or turn down the opportunity to speak on a panel—not because they lack skills, but because they don’t have experience yet.

And here’s the tricky part…

Skills can be developed in private—experience can only be gained by doing the dang thing.

So how do we solve this conundrum? How do we get from not ready to ready without throwing ourselves into the ...

Hi there, 

This is human person Sara Glancy, here. 

I feel the need to clarify that because, frankly… it seems like every third email I’ve received this week was written by AI. And I’m guessing your inbox might be similarly devoid of humanity at the moment.

Indeed, one of the biggest small business trends of 2024 appears to be outsourcing writing to AI.

And look, I have all sorts of complicated feelings about that—which I will not go into right now.

But it does lead me to make a bold prediction for 2025:

In 2025, the only winning strategy for business owners will be to become MORE human.

You’ll never be able to write a blog faster than ChatGPT—but you can write one with more humanity.

And while I might be biased, I predict public speaking will become an increasingly crucial part of every business owner's marketing plan.

We’re drowning in a sea of AI-generated newsletters, blog articles, and LinkedIn posts.

Who’s going to cut through the noise?

The people who are vulnerable...

As we wrap up 2024, I want to share with you the 3 words that completely shaped my year.

For a little context: around this time last year, I attended a workshop led by one of my all-time favorite coaches, Jen Waldman. The workshop, “Name it to Claim it,” was all about reflecting on the prior year to activate some juicy goals for the year ahead.

(To learn more about Jen’s framework, check out this episode of her fabulous podcast: “The Long and the Short of It.”)

Towards the end of the workshop, we were challenged to activate our goals by distilling them into a quick theme for the upcoming year—something short, snappy, evocative, and, most importantly, tied to our goals and values.

My mantra for 2024 was: Tend the Campfire.

Why? Well, it wasn’t because I was doing a lot of backpacking.

Here’s the deal:

On the most basic level, to build a lasting fire, you need two things:

1. A well-constructed foundation
2. A flame

If you don’t have a solid foundation with the proper mix of large...

Hey there!

Actually, sorry—maybe the exclamation point was too much...

Hey there,

No, that still doesn’t capture my enthusiasm...

Howdy!

Okay, now we’ve gone too folksy.

Tone is tricky, isn’t it?

One of the hardest things to master in both blog writing and public speaking is tone.

Maybe you’ve been on the receiving end of, “I don’t like your tone,” as a teenager.

That’s often our first lesson about tone: whatever we’re doing, it’s wrong.

Many of my public speaking clients wrestle with this. They say things like, “I feel like my personality doesn’t translate to Zoom,” or “I’m not sure if I’m striking the right tone in meetings.”

But I’ve found that 90% of the time, when I ask them to define what “the right tone” is, they can’t answer that question.

When it comes to tone, so many of us are trying to aim at a target we cannot see.

We believe there is such a thing as the right tone—but we haven’t yet put words to what that is.

And this is where things get messy...

I recent...

I’m doing something scary next month…

It’s something I train my clients to do every single day, but as I see it looming on the calendar, I’ve got to admit—it’s still scary.

In one month, I’m taking the stage.

Not as a public speaker delivering a talk…

Not as an actor performing someone else’s piece…

In one month, I’ll be taking the stage as an actor in a show that I wrote. 

And while I’m wildly excited to put the show in front of an audience, I’m not ashamed to admit that every step of the process has been SCARY.

Few things feel as vulnerable as standing up on a stage and sharing a message you’ve written and are passionate about. 

I’ve found myself grappling with many of the same questions I help my clients work through every day.

“What if I have nothing to say?” 

“What if this joke doesn’t land?” 

“What if I crack on the high note?!?”

(Okay, that last one isn’t usually a concern for my clients, but to be fair, they don’t typically have to sing during their TED Talks. 😉)

I...

I have a confession to make…I’m tired of repeating myself. 

This past year, I’ve realized that there are certain concepts that I teach to every single client that I work with. 

And with good reason! There are certain technique fundamentals that are prerequisites for becoming a world class public speaker. 

When people don’t have access to those foundational ideas, they can waste a tremendous amount of effort and money. 

• They’ll spend weeks laboring over their TEDTalk application without knowing the basic storytelling mechanics that would make them stand out
  
  
• They’ll spend thousands of dollars on a Speaker Reel, without learning the on-camera techniques that will make that a worthwhile investment
  
  
• They’ll practice their upcoming presentation to within an inch of its life, but be unable to quiet their nervous system enough to deliver on it 

It kills me to see this.

I’m tired of watching people build their houses on sand. 

That’s why I am so excited to announce the launch of Spe...

"I'd love to learn how to become a more effective public speaker, but I just don't have time."

This is a sentiment I hear a lot as a public speaking coach, especially this time of year, as the weather gets nice and the siren song of the beach starts calling.

And look, I get it.

Skill-building sounds hard and time-consuming, and frankly, I'd rather go to a barbecue.

But here's the rub: investing time in honing a skill set is far more efficient than investing in honing a speech.

Paradoxically, I’ve found the people who claim they don’t have time to master the skill of public speaking are also the people who spend the most time preparing for individual presentations.

They'll spend weeks revising a pitch deck to within an inch of its life, only to show up at the big meeting and realize they don't have the right adapter to connect the projector.

They'll spend days memorizing a speech, only to end up sounding so robotic in their recitation that the whole room zones out immediately.

T...

Have you ever been gliding effortlessly through a presentation only to fumble at the very end? You're not alone.  As I learned in the video above...endings are tricky. ;) 

But here's the thing...

The two parts of your presentation an audience is most likely to remember are: 

1. The Emotional Peak
2. The Ending

Which means, if you are in a time-crunch while preparing a presentation, those are the two moments I advice you focus on.

And while I'm not a big fan of memorization in general, I do think there's an argument to be made for memorizing the very last sentence you intend to say. 

Otherwise, you may find yourself nailing a 90min presentation only to end things with,

"So, um, yeah, that's my presentation. Thank you. Um. Yeah, Thanks!"

Pay attention to those closers so you can end with a bang, not a whimper! 

Here's a hard pill to swallow: Sometimes an audience doesn't want to hear what you have to say. 

Sure, public speaking can be fun when you're delivering a wedding toast about how much you love your college bestie. 

But what about when you're tasked with being the bearer of bad news? 

• It's less fun to give a presentation to your work colleagues about why their last project flopped. 
• Or giving a speech to your constituents about why they all need to take shorter showers in the midst of a drought.  
• Or leading a training about how to identify unconscious biases when hiring. 

Any time you tell an audience that they should change their behavior, you risk dealing with any speaker's nightmare: A defensive audience.

Looking into the crowd of frowning faces, you can almost hear their thoughts:  

• Who is she to tell me how to live my life? 
• I don't have to sit here getting judged by this person. What does she know?
• Okay, I get it. But does she have to be so preachy? 

Oof. I'm s...

I have bad news...

Most audiences aren't going to let you know if you've lost them.

• Even if at the beginning of your presentation you say, "Please feel free to interrupt me when you have questions." 
• Even if midway through your presentation you ask, "Is that all clear? Anyone have any questions?"
• Even if at the end of your presentation you say, "Now let's open things up to Q&A. Who has questions?"

It doesn't matter how many opportunities you give folks to get back on the path--most people simply won't let you know they're lost.

It breaks my heart, but it's the truth. Audience members are often reluctant to admit when they don't understand what a presenter is saying because they're afraid of looking stupid. 

And the truly wild thing? Often the reason the audience is confused is because the presenter is afraid of the very same thing.  

I've seen so many presenters completely lose their audience because they were so concerned with "sounding like an expert" that they spoke excl...