Insights from

Maia Beatty & Associates

Perspective & Practice

March 2016

Have you ever found yourself doing whatever you could to escape an unexpected speaking engagement? For most of us, being asked to speak in public automatically elicits our fight or flight response--so much so that Jerry Seinfeld once quipped, "Most people would rather be in the coffin than speak the eulogy." What makes public speaking so frightening, when none of us have any trouble speaking--extemporaneously!--to our family and friends?

Throw Out Everything You've Learned About Public Speaking

An internationally famous CEO was recently quoted as saying that "a person's skill in public speaking--[whether it's] in front of a crowd of 1,000 strangers or a meeting with five close associates--is more essential than ever. You are what you say; your communication approach is your fingerprint."

If your communication approach is your fingerprint, then it makes sense that your skill at speaking in public has just become an important measure of your professional success. So what if you've already "tried" speaking in public and discovered that it was such a disagreeable experience that Hades would have to freeze over before you'd ever attempt it again? You might even believe that "great speakers are born, not made," so perhaps you'll get lucky in your next lifetime ...

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What's Maia Been Up To?

Women's Leadership Institute Graduation

Maia presented a new program entitled, "Packaging Yourself: Clarify Your Personal Brand." to the joint session of all three levels of graduates of the YWCA Greater Cleveland Women's Leadership Institute. The all-day course gave the graduates skills to ensure their ability to lead effectively and authentically, using focused strategies from Move Into Your Power. This new class received rave reviews and is being developed into our next online course.

CBC Magazine Connector's Choice Awards 2016

For the third time, Maia was selected as a finalist for the "Best Corporate Speaker" award. Maia and Chuck, along with alum and colleague, Paula Jones, had a great time networking with friends old and new and enjoying the ceremony.

Women's Leadership Institute 2016

The YWCA Women's Leadership Institute began their first session of 2016 last week. Maia got an amazing group of women off to a great start with an exciting all-day presentation of "Leading Self: Communicate with Confidence and Credibility." She will present her communications skills training to each of the leadership tracks over the next few weeks.

Practice: Consider a New Way of Seeing Your Speaking

This month's practice is to consider that your current experience of speaking is only one of three distinct perspectives. If speaking has been a challenge for you up to now, here is a simple shift you can make to increase your confidence: shift your perspective.

Let's take those three perspectives one at a time.

Consider how your speaking feels to you. No matter how public speaking currently feels to you, because it's your personal experience, it feels like the truth. If it's unpleasant, it's very easy to believe that it could never be any different. Ask yourself, "What if it could be?" That one question will help you to see yourself in a different light--and that's your first step toward accessing your natural speaking ability.
Consider what you admire in others whose speaking has affected you in a powerful way. If you've ever been in the audience of a speaker who's had a powerful impact on you (like Teresa had on me) you know how transformational it can be. Ask yourself, "What did this speaker do to have such an impact on me?" When you get past your personal experience of speaking and consider it as a natural behavior that can be observed and learned, you will discover how simple it can be to shift.
Consider what your increased skill in speaking will do for your career. Think about what you could achieve within your organization--or your business--when you can speak confidently and skillfully in any situation. Ask yourself, "How would my increased speaking skill impact my ability to accomplish my business goals?" When you can imagine what's possible for you, you've already begun to shift.

Let me know what kind of shifts you are able to make with this practice.

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I hope you'll continue to join me here each month and see how these strategies will serve you. If you know of someone else who would benefit, go ahead and forward this newsletter to them with the easy link below!

You'll find more conversation about how to Move Into Your Power on my blog and in the archives of my newsletters.

Until next time --

Keep Your Power On!

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