Hi Reader! If you're like me, you're probably sitting through dozens of "average" presentations, podcasts and meetings every single week. The speakers aren't terrible but neither are they note-worthy. Very often, you just want them to get it over with. Now ask yourself: what if your audience thinks the same way about you the next time you present, do a sales call or guest on a podcast? I've analyzed hundreds of "average" presenters and speakers [no seriously, I analyze and give feedback on...
10 months ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader! A New Year’s resolution that I’ve been hearing a lot is: “Nausheen, I want to do a TEDx talk. How do I get started?” The goal doesn't surprise me. Adding the revered “TEDx speaker” title to your bio and your LinkedIn is attractive. It lends you credibility. It shows your expertise. It proves you’re damn serious about what you’re doing. I know because I've done three TEDx talks and it's opened countless doors for me. But how to actually go about it is a black box for many. So I’m...
11 months ago • 4 min read
Hi Reader! When I started growing on LinkedIn last year, I was approached by a number of influencers from the LinkedIn community to coach them. These were strong personal brands like Lara Acosta, Ruben Hassid, Mando Sallavanti III, Nigel Thomas and Nicolas Boucher. They all had these 2 things in common: They were already "good" speakers - confident and competent. But they weren't "exceptional" (yet). They wanted to extend their influence beyond LinkedIn and speak on global stages. So we...
11 months ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader! Hope 2024 is off to a fantastic start for you. Last week on LinkedIn, I talked about 5 poor speaking habits to eliminate in 2024 and reached more than 200,000 people. So this week, I'm bringing you, rockstar newsletter subscriber, the deluxe edition. In this email, you'll learn the exact framework I teach my clients to eliminate the 5 most common poor speaking habits. Eliminating these habits will not just help you speak better in public. They'll help you speak better in every...
11 months ago • 3 min read
Speak as a Leader #27 How to speak to build authority I have a confession to make. When I was growing up, I never had any authority. I know what you're thinking. Most kids don't have any authority. But as the youngest child in an extended family of teenagers and adults, I was often left out of my cousin's games and "private" conversations. My opinions and thoughts never mattered. This of course made me hungry to build authority. So I dedicated my 20s and 30s to studying, observing, analyzing...
almost 2 years ago • 1 min read
Speak as a Leader #26 One weird trick to increase confidence on-camera I was trained as a filmmaker. So I always thought the most normal thing to do was to look straight into the camera. Then Zoom calls happened. And I couldn't figure out where to look! ❓If I looked at the other person, I wasn't looking at the camera. ❓If I looked at the camera, I couldn't focus on the other person. ❓And of course, what I REALLY kept doing was looking at myself. But what's the big deal? Why make an effort to...
almost 2 years ago • 1 min read
Speak as a Leader #25 5 Easy Steps to go from Zero to Video I started thinking about creating videos for my business back in 2015. At the time, I was the co-founder of a commercial video production company. So it seemed fitting that we would create our own behind-the-scenes videos to show how we worked. The problem? I started off without a plan. I had a videographer follow us around on our shoots and then an editor put something together that I wasn't too happy with. And I gave up after a few...
almost 2 years ago • 1 min read
Speak as a Leader #24 5 video prompts that WORK You're convinced you need to be creating more videos. They make you visible. Clients feel like they know you before that first Zoom meeting. You're on your way to thought leadership... Except not all video ideas work. I've tested 70+ video ideas for you so that you can benefit from the best ones that have resulted in 91,000+ impressions and dozens of leads: 🔥 Take a side in a popular debate related to your industry. Take a common debate that...
almost 2 years ago • 1 min read
TSpeak as a Leader #22 3 Surprising Ways to Hack Your Confidence When you're pitching to a client, getting interviewed for a job or delivering an important presentation - the one thing people will see, feel and remember is your confidence. But watch out: it's weirdly easy to overdo or undersell confidence. And as I pointed out yesterday on LinkedIn, both are problematic: ❌ Being overconfident turns people off. ❌ Showing a lack of confidence doesn't inspire trust. So how can you get that...
almost 2 years ago • 1 min read