Welcome to Six Figure Business Mastery Podcast, where expert Diane DiResta of DiResta Communications unveils the secrets of dynamic public speaking. In this episode, she emphasizes the pervasive nature of public speaking in our lives and shares insights on becoming an expert in front of any audience.

Embracing the Power of Public Speaking:

- Diane highlights the universal nature of public speaking and its impact on personal and professional growth.

Diane's Journey and Passion for Coaching:

- From speech pathologist to virtual coaching, Diane shares her transformative journey and the evolving landscape of communication.

Overcoming Fear and Playing It Safe:

- Diane addresses common challenges, urging listeners to overcome barriers and achieve confidence and clarity.

Unleashing Your Unique Presentation Style:

- Tips from Diane on breaking away from predictability and adapting presentation styles for different audiences.

Elevating Executive Presence:

- The importance of reinvention and adapting to diverse audiences, illustrated by real-life examples.

The Role of Stories and Authenticity:

- Diane advocates for authenticity and storytelling, emphasizing the genuine connection they bring to presentations.

Crafting a Breakout Presentation:

- Practical tips from Diane on creating impactful presentations that break free from complacency.

As we conclude, Diane encourages listeners to "stop playing it safe in front of the room." Whether you're an entrepreneur or professional, honing the art of public speaking opens doors to opportunities. For more insights, explore Diane's book, "Knockout Presentations."

Helpful Links:

Diane Diresta Website

The Marketing VA Advantage 

Six Figure Business Coaching 

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Welcome to the six figure business mastery podcast, where every week

Kirsten and Jeannie dive into the essential topics to fuel your business

growth, from copywriting to course creation, mindset to video marketing.

They've got you covered.

Tune in for expert guest interviews on all things, marketing and

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Everyone is a public speaker and everything is public speaking.

Think about that.

And our guest today is going to talk to us about how to make sense of that

and how to embrace that and how to make you the expert in front of the room.

Hello everyone and welcome to our podcast.

We are grateful you chose to spend a little time with us today.

And I'm so excited to introduce you to our amazing guest.

Her name is Diane DiResta and her company is DiResta Communications

and she works with leaders.

To speak with confidence, clarity, and influence.

And so today we're going to talk a little bit about the fact that sometimes

we play a little bit safe in front of the room and how to stop doing that.

Welcome, Diane.

We're thrilled to have you here today.

Thank you.

Great to be here.

You have been teaching people how to get on the stage and speak with

confidence and deliver presentations that actually have a great ROI.

They actually get people to take action and to come up and meet you or to buy

your book or to choose to work with you.

What got you into coaching?

What made you so passionate about public speaking and helping

people with their presentations?

I started as a speech pathologist in the schools, in the New York City

schools, and made a career change.

I always liked teaching and helping people and mentoring people.

And then I went to make a career change and I started doing public

speaking training in a company.

Then went to Salomon Brothers and Drexel Burnham doing other standup

training and realized I really liked it.

Started my own business.

When I first started, it was all.

Stand up training in person, and then around 2001, the market changed.

I started getting requests for coaching one on one today.

I am 99 percent virtual doing speaking, coaching and training on a screen.

And sometimes I show up in person.

Wow, that's amazing.

So today you're going to tell our listeners things that they can do or

things that they should really consider in order to get up on that stage and to

make an impact and make a difference.

So the people that they want to empower with their message.

You have to be visible.

People want to hear about from you because you are the brand and the other way

that they play it safe as they default to what they've already known and they

don't try anything different and it becomes very routine and predictable.

So what people need to do is they need to first of all

unleash the barriers to their.

Presentation brilliance and start to understand what that

is, how you do that mindset.

I work on two levels mindset and skill set.

Once you identify your limiting beliefs, which we do when we do the

coaching, you can then reframe them.

And I've seen people.

Transform because they now are not believing these stories that they

made up that are not even true.

So really important to stop playing it safe.

So you feel like the barriers are actually the lies that we tell ourselves.

So we are the ones that have built those barriers and we're the ones

that refuse to cross through them.

That's interesting.

That's so interesting.

Yeah.

And I had somebody who came to me and she had bombed and what she said in her

testimonial, it wasn't just bombing.

It was epic bombing.

And so she knew in this new job, she had to get help right away.

So she called me up.

We started working.

Long story short, she told me her boss, And her boss's boss

noticed an improved difference.

Usually it's just your immediate supervisor.

So it was being known outside the company by higher level people.

And when you talked earlier about an ROI, there you have it.

Because she saved her job and now she's respected in this company.

It's so amazing.

And for entrepreneurs, we have to put ourselves out there, don't we, Jeannie?

Like getting out in front of people.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's funny because I think sometimes you don't think that you're going to

be out in front of people, but even if it's something just on zoom and

you're presenting something, even to a couple people, or in our case now

a podcast, you've got to be able to.

Show yourself.

You know what I mean?

And feel comfortable.

Everything is public speaking, and that's the myth.

People will say, oh, I thought Diane was a good speaker, but

I don't do public speaking.

Yes, you do!

Do you leave a voicemail?

That's public speaking.

Do you have to give a meeting update?

Do you have to meet with a client?

That's public speaking.

And people think it's standing on a stage.

No.

All of these events Our public speaking and especially now in the digital age,

you're out there on video on podcast.

So we have to be able to do that.

And one of the things that we can do is elevate our executive presence.

So that means a little bit of reinvention coming in differently.

And that's what I do.

I help people.

will show up differently.

And I'll give you a quick example.

This was not an entrepreneur.

This was a woman who was a corporate leader.

She had six promotions in nine years, a real rockstar, but now

she was a CEO of a spinoff company and she had to deal with the board.

So her audience changed and her effusive warm embracing style was not playing well.

So here's a smart person.

She didn't need a makeover.

She just needed to know how to show up differently.

We did.

And her boss came to me and said, three or four people after the meeting said

she did a 180 in her presentation.

So it's all about the mindset and the skillset.

And once those two come together, you're off to the races.

You're going to be depending on who your audience is, you're going to show

up a little bit differently, right?

Absolutely.

And so that's the misconception.

People think I'm not, I don't need remedial help.

No, you don't, but you do need to show up differently because things have

changed and you need to change with them.

And if you don't, that means that you're playing it safe in front of the room

and that is not going to serve you.

You need to step up your game.

I'm happy to tell you already changed my life.

With two simple sentences, you said, everyone is a public speaker because

everything is public speaking.

And I will admit that I am famous for saying that I hate public

speaking because, like you said, when I think of public speaking,

I think of being on a stage.

And Janine and I have done that a lot.

We've done that many times.

And she loves it, and I will do it, but my knees are knocking.

But it's really interesting to think about the fact that Especially as business

owners, whether you're giving a 30 second at a networking event, or you're walking

around and networking and just talking to people, every single encounter is

you showing up as a public speaker and delivering a public speech in some ways

about our presentation about who you are, what you do and how you can help people.

So you have those sentences changed my life.

You're brilliant at those.

You're brilliant at networking.

You're brilliant in small group coaching calls.

You're brilliant one on one.

It's your barrier is you to many.

It's not lack of talent.

It's what Diane said is probably the mindset.

Kristen's already a public speaker and she didn't know it.

So now you can't speak in public speaking because you're good at it's

just that you have different situations.

And again, that's a mindset skill set thing, you reframe your mindset,

and then you learn the skills of one too many versus one to one, it's not.

that different and anybody can do it.

I really believe gifted speakers are born, effective speakers are made.

It's about the skill set.

And the last thing that people need to know so that they're not playing it safe

in front of the room is how to create their breakout, knockout presentation.

And the key word is breakout.

You need to break out of what's complacent.

You need to create a sense of urgency so that you step up

and you play a bigger game.

And that's So if we were talking about Kristen B, okay,

let's get you out on a stage.

Your knees are knocking, wear a long skirt or wear pants.

Your knees are knocking, start with the panel so they can't see under the table.

There's so many different ways to show up on a stage.

Sometimes people will say, oh, the CEO is so boring, but he has to speak.

No, not in that kind of venue.

You could.

Do a fireside chat.

Why does he have to be up at the podium and the only speaker?

And then you get all the rich information, his personality or her personality

comes out and you've achieved your objective, letting the CEO speak.

So there are so many ways to show up.

I help people show up differently so they can have their brilliance.

Do most of your clients end up with like two or three different presentations

that they do or, for example, if you have a book coming out or if you're a coach

or a consultant, what are those clients usually looking for from you as far as?

Obviously the mindset, but when it comes to the skill set, are you really

helping them write presentations?

Yeah.

So here's the deal.

The number one reason people contact me is for confidence.

The number two reason is clarity.

And so regardless of the venue or situation, I'm helping them with that.

And again, it's mindset and skillset coming together.

But if someone has a book launch and they're going to be talking.

I can work with that.

They're doing an elevator pitch.

That's a big one.

I have some partners and law firms that are having coaching sessions with me and

we're working on their elevator pitch.

If you're an entrepreneur, that's essential.

How many times have you been at a networking meeting and either

the pitches are boring or you say to yourself, What do they do?

They're just not clear.

You laugh.

It's true.

So that whether someone is attracted to come up and ask more questions

depends on how you present yourself, your message, and your value.

And that's what I do.

I love that.

I feel like that it's the same with video marketing because

we're helping our clients.

Show up the video and people are so afraid of videos being on camera

and for me like I was like I was thinking in my mind earlier with this

conversation in front of a camera.

It can be edited when you're on stage.

If you pass out, they know it, but you know what the editing, you

know what the editing is on stage.

It's your recovery strategies.

And so I teach people that let's imagine your worst nightmare.

And then let's go for it.

So one woman said, what if I trip when I go up on stage?

And I said, what if you did, what could you say or do?

So I said, how about if you said, I want you to know I've been

practicing that entrance for weeks or.

Never let it be said, I don't know how to make an entrance.

People will laugh because you're breaking the tension and

you're showing up powerfully.

Okay, I goofed.

This even happened to Oprah.

She was walking across the stage, she had very high heels and she

fell and she landed on her butt.

And what she said was, wrong shoes.

People laugh.

These things happen.

We can't stop playing it safe.

And we have to stop playing it safe in front of the room.

Otherwise, we don't have these opportunities.

Yeah.

And I think what you say is so appropriate because people want to laugh.

Like you said, they're anxious to see you speak and you're nervous.

So by doing something unexpectedly and just turning it into something everyone

can laugh at, it just changes the.

The atmosphere doesn't, it just calms everybody down a little bit.

Absolutely.

And when you're speaking, you're in a leadership role.

And so if you don't get upset, they don't get upset.

That's what I call poise under pressure.

And we can all have that.

It's just learning the skills and not beating yourself up.

That's the mindset.

Try it again.

Next time.

What did you learn?

What did you do well this time?

That's where your focus needs to be.

And then.

Yeah.

Each time you get better and better because it's like anything, it's

a skill and it takes practice.

Yeah, I don't mind being up in front of people as long as I've got a PowerPoint

to help me not forget what I want to say.

And I love it when Kirsten is with me because she fills in the interesting

stories and brings it round better.

When we present together, it makes me feel a thousand times better.

And that's so important, the ability to tell stories.

People love stories.

And, uh, I can tell you that these skills really work and you can see that the

results there's one man who I worked with.

He was an entrepreneur.

This was earlier in my career, and he had a transformation in two hours.

He said that his partner didn't want him speaking anymore

because he did a lousy job of it.

And I said, No, you're a partner.

You need to be out there.

So he worked with me, went off.

Did his presentation, then all of a sudden I got this fax at the time.

It was, he was really excited and he said, I did really well

and they gave me the first eval.

They had been withholding the evaluation because it wasn't good.

So on a scale of one to five, five being the highest, the first time he was a 2.

0 with comments like poor speaker, confusing, not clear.

The second time after the 4.

0 out of five interesting entertainment, good information.

So It can be done.

You don't have to be born with a speaking gene.

So, I encourage everyone, just do it.

Do something.

Take one small step and stop playing it safe in front of the room.

So, what would you recommend for someone, because Jeannie, she loves

her PowerPoints, and I hate PowerPoints because I'm terrible on a script, right?

So, do you have people that speak completely without a PowerPoint, but

also without the need to memorize like every word they're going to say?

Yes, and that's where stories come in, and by having a structure in your head,

it helps you stay where you need to be, and I'm not a big fan of scripts.

There are some people who can handle them.

I was working with someone from the NBA National Basketball Association, and they

asked me to coach their, these were not players, these were the managers, and this

one man was struggling, and I literally ripped the paper out of his hand.

I said, you know this, just talk.

Fast forward in 2017.

So that was like 1999 2017.

He's now the president of one of the franchises.

He called me in to work with some of his VPs and he said, I will never forget

what you did for me taking the script away was the best thing because then

his presentation brilliance came forth.

Some people can't.

I don't have a great memory.

So I do need some prompts.

So I do like a few visuals.

But most importantly, it's Fast Be who you are.

Kristen, you don't like PowerPoint?

Don't use it.

Gene, you like it?

Use it.

It's whatever works for you.

That's simple but smart advice.

The kind of advice we often overlook, right?

Yeah, it's most important for you to be authentic and to be who you really are

because that's who people relate to.

Do you?

Don't try to be something that you're not, but with that said, keep working,

get, getting to higher and higher levels of being you, and you'll have much more

success in all of your presentations.

Yeah, I love the pulling the script away because that's you know, I can understand

why he wanted it But I can also he if you know what you're talking about Then just

speak from the heart and sometimes that's a crutch because it's like oh, I didn't

say that sentence or oh That's not the way I wanted to say it but does it really

matter if you got the point across and it's Still, you still sound intelligent.

What I say to people is don't memorize familiarize.

So if you have your key message points, then you can say it a number of ways.

You can say it differently each time and the audience doesn't know.

So don't get yourself upset about that, that you didn't say it perfectly.

They don't know.

And recently I've been coaching someone for local New York politics

and he's running for a town supervisor role and they have him

scripted and he was so frustrated.

He calls me his therapist and I said, throw it away.

And he was saying, what the And I said, let go of it.

First of all, reboot, go for a walk in the woods, come back and

just talk from your knowledge.

When you talk from your heart, you're so passionate.

So he needed permission to do that and I heard he did really well in the debate.

So again, it's whatever works for you.

Now, how would you say, I would love to hear this.

What is the best way to end a presentation?

Cause back in the day, they used to say, tell people what

you're going to tell them, then tell them, then tell them again.

Um, but that's changed a lot.

I feel like with video, we've got to keep people interested throughout the

whole thing and by repeating yourself.

you're going to lose them.

So what do you tell your people about wrapping up strong and leaving

something strong in their mind?

First of all, many people don't have a conclusion.

It's amazing.

They just end on their last sentence.

No, you've got to bring it back for them because every presentation is a beginning,

middle and end, just like every story.

I would say leave with a call to action or food for thought, which

could be a quote, a statistic or.

Very importantly, a story.

If you can end with something that has some emotional impact, a short

story, people will remember that.

So that is what I recommend when you have that opportunity.

But don't lose the opportunity, especially the entrepreneurs and business

owners who are listening to this.

What's the next step?

What do you want them to do next?

Maybe go visit your website or come up and sign something or have a conversation with

something so that they have a next step.

Or it could be go buy a book or go practice with somebody.

But there needs to be a next step because what happens is people

get really excited in the moment.

They leave the room and then they're off to their everyday operations.

I know I've experienced it myself.

So stories.

Food for thought, which could be a quote, an action, or a call to action.

Perfect.

So speaking of that, what is your call to action for our audience today?

First, people need to know that I have a signature book that's in its third

edition, which is Knockout Presentations.

So I would recommend that you go to Amazon.

Get a copy of that because that's a great starting point for anybody.

It's everything from soup to nuts, and I wrote it like a seminar in a

book so that it has all the exercises and checklists, do's and don'ts.

It's been used as a college text and it's been read by the C-suite.

The other call to action would be to visit my website, dear esta.com,

D-I-R-E-S-T a.com, and visit me there.

There are lots of, there's lots of information there, and you can

contact me directly through duresta.

com.

Perfect.

This has been absolutely amazing.

Thank you so much.

We really, I am a public speaker, so I can no longer say I'm

terrified of public speaking.

I am a public speaker.

Thank you so much.

And I want to remind everyone, stop playing it safe in front of the room.

Thanks for listening to the six figure business mastery podcast.

If you enjoyed listening to this episode and you are ready to leverage video

marketing on all online platforms, or maybe even start your own video

podcast, then you need to check out the done for you and done with you

program at the marketing VA advantage.

com and take your business to the next level.