20 Mic Drops in 20 Minutes
20 speakers. 60 seconds of advice. Infinite insight.
GUESTS + KEY INSIGHTS:
[2:41] - Suneel Gupta
Inner wellbeing & outer performance
“In order for people to feel something, you have to feel something. You have to be emotionally connected to your content. So don't just talk about topics that you know, talk about topics that truly make you come alive, and then let that aliveness, let that conviction shine through in every part of your speech.”
Suneel's Website
[3:25] - Alison Levine
Leading teams in extreme environments
“When you come off stage, where do you go? You go stand next to the most important person in the room on the client side so that they can hear all the audience members coming up to you telling you how much they enjoyed your speech.”
Alison's Website
[4:22] Rich Diviney
High-performing teams from a Navy SEAL’s perspective
“Think about those stories— personal, professional— those things that have happened to you, and think about how to effectively describe them…because people will immediately pay attention. They'll put down their phones, they'll listen up, and they'll be really engaged.”
Rich's Website
[5:23] - John Livesay
Tell stories, win sales
“When your client says they're going to record your upcoming keynote, ask them who else they like to work with and see if you can hire a second camera person to film closeups and audience reactions.”
John's Website
[6:02] - Paul Epstein
The power of playing offense
“Does your head think it's a good idea? Does your heart feel it's a good idea? If both are on board, green light, proceed with action. If only one is on board, yellow light, solve for the gap. If neither is on board, red light, no action.”
Paul's Website
[7:13] - Nina Sossamon-Pogue
Resilience speaker & performance expert
“When doing a virtual gig, you want to be able to have a tight enough shot where they can see your eyes and you can connect, but you want to also be able to bring the energy like you're standing on a stage. Instead of sitting down where you can lose some energy or standing up, where you may move around too much and lose that tight shot, plant one butt cheek on that stool and plant that opposite foot firmly on the ground.”
Nina's Website
[8:12] - John “Gucci” Foley
Becoming the Blue Angels of your industry
“What is the key message? More importantly, what's the story and the connection back to the audience? And that's where I spend most of my time, making the connection back to every single audience.”
John's Website
[9:07] - Urs Koenig
The five then-to-now leadership shifts
“The speaking business really is three distinct businesses. It's number one, being a promoter, number two, a thought leader, and number three, being a performer on stage. This very simple three-way framework helps me to structure my time and my energy. Everything I do, I ask myself, which one of these three businesses am I pushing?”
Urs' Website
[10:06] - Erik Qualman
Digital leadership in focus
“My top tip is to end early. Sounds very simple, but it certainly is not easy. You always want to end early. Do not go over your time. And you have to plan for this. If you're given 45 minutes, there's going to be time that's cut. So plan on that being 35 minutes.”
Erik's Website
[10:43] - Gabe Karp
Embracing healthy conflict to fuel success
“Nothing turns a client or potential client off like the word no. And sometimes we may be asked something we feel might be too much of an imposition, but building your brand as a speaker is more than just your topic. It's also about what it's like to do business with you. So if a client says, "Hey, can you modify your keynote to cover a current issue we're having in our organization?" The answer is, ‘Absolutely. What would you like me to cover?’”
Gabe's Website
[13:03] - April Hansen
Hypergrowth in business
“If you're navigating the same dance that I am, really breaking your personal brand away from your corporate brand, leverage the two together and define those synergies. Take advantage of as many stages as your corporate role or your day job gives you.”
April's Website
[14:01] - Greg Scheinman
Personal transformation
“To be truly successful as a speaker, you must differentiate yourself through authenticity, so you need to break the framework and really develop your speech in your own voice. Then you've got to make the framework by putting your message back into the proven model so that it's received in a way that works for bureaus and clients, and so that you can get yourself hired, get on stage, generate fees, and live your message.”
Greg's Website
[15:05] - Ben Nemtin
Making the impossible possible
“The most important tool as a speaker is to invest in your speaker reel. That is the ultimate sales tool for you. Anytime you get on a stage that is high production value, invest in a videographer that can capture it, get the footage from the client if you can, and just collect this footage as much as you can over time so that you can build up your reel, because the reel is the first thing that the clients are going to look at and it's the entry point into the conversation of booking you.”
Ben's Website
[16:27] - Erin Stafford
How leaders prevent and overcome burnout
“Be radically transparent and vulnerable. I think we can all get embarrassed and feel ashamed and feel like imposters so we don't want to be totally transparent, but the more vulnerable and more transparent you are, the more people can really connect to your message and feel seen and heard and understood.”
Erin's Website
[17:04] - Jim Davidson
Resilience speaker
“If your presentation includes using a laptop with video files or audio files, you need an AV emergency kit. Now we often have AV professionals that we can rely upon to make this work for us, but if you speak long enough, you'll wind up in a remote location, small hotel, or internal meeting where your laptop will just not connect to the house sound system. That's when you pull out your emergency kit.”
Jim's Website
[17:59] - Shep Hyken
Customer service and customer experience
“The job isn't doing the speech, it's getting the speech. He told me that writing my speech, practicing my speech, researching for my speech, that can all be done in the evening and on weekends. And if I were to spend 40 hours a week working on marketing and sales, at getting business, then I would probably be very successful. That's 40 hours, not two hours or three hours a day, but that's a full-out investment, and the effort of getting the speech, not doing the speech.”
Shep's Website
[18:47] - Trish Hunt
From stuck to unstoppable
“Make sure you do all the logistical pre-work that makes you feel as calm as you can prior to hitting the stage. Know your audience and engage them during your speech. And an easy way to remember this is through the acronym WIIFM, what's in it for me? So pay attention to that and you'll be sure to keep them coming back.”
Trish's Website
[19:38] - Eric Termuende
The future of work
“Show and don't tell. Anytime you have a chance to tell a story, make sure that you're putting yourself in the story, telling that story in a present tense. So you're not telling somebody what happened, but you're almost making it live, sharing that story as if they're with you experiencing that story for the first time.”
Eric's Website
[20:37] - Ann Sheu
Mindset shifts for a radically intentional life
“Do you want to be a $50K speaker with four engagements a month or a $25K speaker with one engagement a month? What does your target market client and audience look like? What is your ideal audience size? What types of events do you want to be speaking at? When you have clarity around your ideal life as a speaker and what it looks like, then you can grow your speaking business within your parameters, and that makes it easier to stay true to yourself and cultivate a life filled with time, purpose, and financial freedom.”
Ann's Website
[21:32] - Bob Marsh
Simple shifts to maximize growth and stay relevant
“First, don't overthink the possibilities, because there are so many in this world of being an expert. You can do writing, you can do keynote speaking, you could do breakout sessions, you could be an MC, you could do training workshops. Pick one thing that really gets you excited and build something truly great. Second, find an expert and a coach who's going to have a process and a plan to walk you through.”
Bob's Website
Follow Josh Linkner:
ABOUT MIC DROP:
Brought to you by eSpeakers, hear from the world’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing tipping point moments, strategies, and approaches that led to their speaking career success. Throughout each episode, host Josh Linkner, #1 Innovation keynote speaker in the world, deconstructs guests’ Mic Drop moments and provides tactical tools and takeaways that can be applied to any speaking business, no matter it’s starting point. You'll enjoy hearing from some of the top keynote speakers in the industry including: Ryan Estis, Alison Levine, Peter Sheahan, Seth Mattison, Cassandra Worthy, and many more. Mic Drop is produced and presented by eSpeakers; sponsored by 3 Ring Circus.
Learn more at: MicDropPodcast.com
ABOUT THE HOST:
Josh Linkner is a Creative Troublemaker. He believes passionately that all human beings have incredible creative capacity, and he’s on a mission to unlock inventive thinking and creative problem solving to help leaders, individuals, and communities soar.
Josh has been the founder and CEO of five tech companies, which sold for a combined value of over $200 million and is the author of four books including the New York Times Bestsellers, Disciplined Dreaming and The Road to Reinvention. He has invested in and/or mentored over 100 startups and is the Founding Partner of Detroit Venture Partners.
Today, Josh serves as Chairman and Co-founder of Platypus Labs, an innovation research, training, and consulting firm. He has twice been named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and is the recipient of the United States Presidential Champion of Change Award.
Josh is also a passionate Detroiter, the father of four, is a professional-level jazz guitarist, and has a slightly odd obsession with greasy pizza.
Learn more about Josh: JoshLinkner.com
ABOUT eSPEAKERS:
When the perfect speaker is in front of the right audience, a kind of magic happens where organizations and individuals improve in substantial, long-term ways. eSpeakers exists to make this happen more often.
eSpeakers is where the speaking industry does business on the web. Speakers, speaker managers, associations, and bureaus use our tools to organize, promote and grow successful businesses. Event organizers think of eSpeakers first when they want to hire speakers for their meetings or events.
The eSpeakers Marketplace technology lets us and our partner directories help meeting professionals all over the world connect directly with speakers for great engagements.
Thousands of successful speakers, trainers, and coaches use eSpeakers to build their businesses and manage their calendars. Thousands of event organizers use our directories every day to find and hire speakers. Our tools are built for speakers, by speakers, to do things that only purpose-built systems can.
Learn more at: eSpeakers.com
SPONSORED BY 3 RING CIRCUS:
From refining your keynote speaking skills to writing marketing copy, from connecting you with bureaus to boosting your fees, to developing high-quality websites, producing head-turning demo reels, 3 Ring Circus offers a comprehensive and powerful set of services to help speakers land more gigs at higher fees.
Learn more at: 3RingCircus.com
PRODUCED BY DETROIT PODCAST STUDIOS:
In Detroit, history was made when Barry Gordy opened Motown Records back in 1960. More than just discovering great talent, Gordy built a systematic approach to launching superstars. His rigorous processes, technology, and development methods were the secret sauce behind legendary acts such as The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and Michael Jackson.
As a nod to the past, Detroit Podcast Studios leverages modern versions of Motown’s processes to launch today’s most compelling podcasts. What Motown was to musical artists, Detroit Podcast Studios is to podcast artists today. With over 75 combined years of experience in content development, audio production, music scoring, storytelling, and digital marketing, Detroit Podcast Studios provides full-service development, training, and production capabilities to take podcasts from messy ideas to finely tuned hits.
Here’s to making (podcast) history together.
Learn more at: DetroitPodcastStudios.com
SHOW CREDITS:
