Deborah Shames – Level Up Your Communication Game

Becoming Preferred

SEASON: 4 EPISODE: 26

Episode Overview:

Personal and business success boils down to how effectively you communicate. Anxiety, rambling, or the inability to connect, engage, and deliver a message effectively can hold you back or, even worse, tank your career. Identifying your unique strengths and speaking authentically, supported by a suite of skills, will help you speak confidently so you can be more effective.

To help us understand how we can level up our communication game, is best-selling author, speaker, trainer and coach, Deborah Shames.

Guest Bio:

Deborah is passionate about speaking and training. That’s why she wrote or co-wrote four books on communication and public speaking, including the business best-seller Own the Room.

And because Deborah ran a successful film company in Sausalito, CA. for fourteen years, she knows how difficult it is for women to stand out and succeed. Her latest book is Out Front: How Women Can Become Engaging, Memorable and Fearless Speakers. Deborah won the Author of Influence award for this book from the National Women of Influence organization. She walks the talk by speaking regularly across the country to motivate and inspire professional women.

Deborah has coached and trained thousands of professionals from all industries to communicate more effectively. Her work has supported A-list performers in television and film, CEO’s of major corporations, gold-medal Olympians, and political candidates. Her clients also include professionals in finance, law and insurance.

Deborah ran the successful Calabasas group of a national business organization and was awarded “Consultant of the Year” by the Los Angeles Business Journal.

Deborah uses her experience directing over sixty award-winning films to make her business clients more genuine, effective, and successful. It doesn’t matter whether they are delivering a keynote address, speaking to a Board of Directors, or pitching for new business. Deborah donates her time training MBA candidates in presentation skills at UCLA, Pepperdine, USC and Cal Lutheran, as well as executives of non-profits to increase their fund raising. Her personal goal is to prepare women, from Millennials to seasoned veterans, with the skills they need to be out front.

Resource Links:

• Website: https://eloqui.biz/
• Product Link: https://eloqui.biz/products/

Insight Gold Timestamps:

01:26 One of my favorite early jobs was as the communications specialist on the Menominee Indian Reservation

03:00 You say that everything communicates something

03:59 When people are listening to you, if you don't give them specifics and visual specifics….

05:59 Anxiety is a tool to keep you sharp and focused

07:31 It's a challenge for both because people follow old models

09:33 You've got to hook people with the opening and especially with the close

10:06 You say that intention, when we speak, is essential

11:44 I have 500 active verbs that if your listeners want to email me, I'll send them [e-mail]

13:44 Here's another simple one: You bridge when you have 15 minutes before you go on

15:03 If you've got butterflies, someone told me one time, get them flying in formation

17:26 Work off an outline

18:07 Keep that ability to think on your feet with some anxiety

22:04 Whether it’s virtual or real, never use PowerPoint for your open or your close

22:47 Death by PowerPoint (Don McMillan on AGT)

24:33 Anxiety comes when you're not prepared or you get surprised

26:45 We cannot hear our voice the way it really is

29:58 In our 25 years, we've yet to meet anyone who was born a great speaker

30:58 One of the swimmers from the 1976 Olympics, Wendy Boglioli

31:27 A documentary called The Last Gold

34:12 They did a study when people went to a lecture or attended a conference, and didn't participate….

36:18 24 years we've been putting out a speaker tip, quote, and word, every Sunday morning

37:43 Your latest book, Briefly Speaking

37:50 BrieflySpeaking.biz

Connect Socially:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahshames/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/womenoutfront

Twitter: https://x.com/women_outfront

Email: [e-mail]

Sponsors:

Rainmaker LeadGen Platform Demo: https://bookme.michaelvickers.com/lite/rainmaker-leadgen-platform-demo

Rainmaker Digital Solutions: https://www.rainmakerdigitalsolutions.com/

Resources: https://becomingpreferred-podcast.com/resources/