How to Create Your Own Framework to Set You Apart as a Speaker & Thought Leader with Carol Cox: Podcast Ep. 300

How to Create Your Own Framework to Set You Apart as a Speaker & Thought Leader with Carol Cox: Podcast Ep. 300 | Speaking Your Brand

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Having a framework is a tremendous asset for your business – you can use it for sales conversations, on your website and marketing materials, and of course for your presentations.

Having your own framework differentiates you from others – you’re building your thought leadership and intellectual property.

A framework helps your audience to remember you and your content – it also helps you to remember your own content!

This applies to lead generation presentations, thought leadership talks, and keynotes.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • What a framework is
  • The process I use when I create new frameworks in SYB
  • How I use frameworks in my presentations and webinars
  • The steps you can take to start creating your own framework
  • Tips on what *not* to do when creating your framework
  • Lots of examples to guide and inspire you 

Join our Thought Leader Academy to create your signature talk and framework: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/academy/ 

This is the audio from a live training we did on Crowdcast. You can watch the video at https://www.crowdcast.io/c/syb-frameworks/.

About Us: The Speaking Your Brand podcast is hosted by Carol Cox. At Speaking Your Brand, we help women entrepreneurs and professionals clarify their brand message and story, create their signature talks, and develop their thought leadership platforms. Our mission is to get more women in positions of influence and power because it’s through women’s stories, voices, and visibility that we challenge the status quo and change existing systems. Check out our coaching programs at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com

 

Links:

Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/300/ 

Join our Thought Leader Academy: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/academy/ 

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolcox

 

Related Podcast Episodes:

300-SYB-Webinar-Frameworks.mp3: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

300-SYB-Webinar-Frameworks.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Speaker1:
Learn how you can create your own framework to set yourself apart as a speaker and thought leader on this episode of The Speaking Your Brand podcast. More and more women are making an impact by starting businesses running for office and speaking up for what matters. With my background as a TV political analyst, entrepreneur and speaker, I interview and coach purpose driven women to shape their brands, grow their companies and become recognized as influencers in their field. This is speaking your brand, your place to learn how to persuasively communicate your message to your audience. Hi there and welcome to our Training All About Frameworks. Today, I'm your host, Carol Cox, founder and CEO of Speaking Your Brand. I'm excited to dive in to this free training today to guide you all on how to create your own framework, whether you're using it for a lead generation presentation, a thought leadership talk, or a keynote. We have lots of examples as we're going to go through today and as we get started. I would love to know in the chat where you are watching from. So let us know what city and state I'm in Orlando, Florida, where we are just tiptoeing into some fall weather. So let us know in the chat. I see some familiar faces here. Hi, Susan. Hi, Leila. Hi. Let's see what we got. Jessie. Hi, Shauna. Hi, sinker. Hi, Diane. So let us know also in the chat what it is that you do.

Speaker1:
So a little bit about either if you're an executive coach or if you are a web designer or a strategist or marketing strategist, let us know in the chat what you do and then we're going to go ahead and start the training. All right. So the first thing I would love to know is if you have taken our speaker archetype quiz already, let us know in the chat which speaker archetype you are. You could have been a stellar scholar, a fabulous facilitator, a spellbinding storyteller, or a provocative performer. So if you've taken our quiz and you know your result, go ahead and put that in the chat. If you haven't yet taken our quiz. It's a lot of fun to do. So as just ten multiple choice questions takes a few minutes and then you'll get your results instantly. You can do that to speaking your brand dot com slash quiz, and when you do that you'll get your results that you can leverage your natural strengths as a speaker, as a communicator, and also get some ideas of how you can add some things to your speaking repertoire along with a podcast playlist. So let us know in the chat. Let's say Hi, Sophia, Nice to see you as well. Diane's a spellbinding storyteller, Lacey says. She's a fabulous facilitator, fun. So I feel like I am all four of them at least. I've been all four of them in different stages of my professional speaking career.

Speaker1:
And I would say right now I'm really embracing the provocative performer speaker archetype. So I feel like we probably have what our natural one is, and my natural one probably is the stellar scholar. Since I love organization and frameworks, as you'll see here today. But I really in embracing the provocative performer, Judean said she's a stellar scholar, too. All right. I also want to know in the chat and as you can tell, this is going to be a very interactive session here today. What comes to mind when you think framework or you see the word framework with words, images, anything that first pops in your mind when you see framework, Lila says a shape. Yes. Any particular shapes come to mind. And Brene says an outline. Cara says a process. Shauna says acronyms. Yes, we've been listening to the podcast. You know, we like acronyms, Susan says. A square shape. Lila says Triangles, of course. Yes, Lacy says a square. Okay, so lots of shapes come to mind when you think of the word framework. So keep that in mind as we continue on. And so hopefully you didn't think of this kind of framework. Anyone know what this video is representing, what this video is showing? Have you heard of this before? I'd love to know if there's any fellow geeks out there who know what this is, this kind of machine. Diane says yes, but she can't think of the name, so I'll give you the name in just a moment.

Speaker1:
The premise of this is that it's this big contraption, this machine where you one thing starts like dominoes falling, but obviously much more advanced than that. One thing starts, it kicks off something else, it kicks off something else. And then you end up many, many, many steps later and whatever the final outcome is. And so we don't want that kind of framework because this is super complex. But as I was thinking about kind of what what would be an example of a complex framework, I thought of this and then I had to go to my husband and asked him what this was because I cannot think of the name. And we finally remembered it's a Rube Goldberg machine. So Rube Goldberg was an educator and inventor, and he came up with this idea. I have no idea why, but that's what it is called. Yes, Wendy. Got it. Good job. All right. So that is not the kind of framework we want because that is way too complex. Instead, we want to simplify and we want to simplify for our audiences and also for our clients when we think about our frameworks. And that really is the goal with a framework is we want to take all the things that we do, all the things that we know, and we want to simplify them so that our audiences and our clients can easily understand and then do it for themselves or work with it with us.

Speaker1:
And so why do you need a framework in your business and in your. Presentations. It makes it so much easier for your audience and clients to understand what you do and the results that you get for them. It differentiates you from others in the field, including other speakers. It's really setting you up as a thought leader to be seen as a thought leader. You're also developing intellectual property that you can leverage in many, many ways. So of course you can use it in your presentations. You can also use it with clients. You can train others within your company to use the framework. You can create training programs around your framework. You can use it for sales conversations. So many ways you can use frameworks. Frameworks also help your audience to remember your content. But really as a speaker, it helps you to remember your content as well. This is the reason why, no matter what type of presentation I'm doing, I usually will try to think of an acronym or an alliteration really to help me to remember even more so than the audience. So a framework is your process, your methodology, your model, your approach to get results. It's a high level overview. So it's not a Rube Goldberg machine, it's not super complex where there's 15 different steps, it's not internal processes that you follow within your business to say on board a client or to coach a client over a six month period.

Speaker1:
Instead, it's really a high level overview that's that's repeatable, so repeatable that you can use it with client after client after client to get the results and then others can use it as well. So here's what we'll be covering today. What makes a good framework? I'm going to share with you the process I use to create frameworks as well as how I use them in the different types of presentations that I deliver. And then we're going to walk through steps that you can start thinking about today to create your own framework. And we'll look at examples as well. And for being here live, you will get our bonus action guide, which we'll be sending out in an email after this training is done. So thank you so much for being here. So if you're new to speaking your brand, welcome. We're so glad to have you here. I am the founder and CEO, as I mentioned, we're a coaching and training company where we provide group and one on one coaching for our clients and primarily with our program called the Thought Leader Academy. We also have the Speaking Your Brand podcast, which has been airing weekly for five and a half years. We are currently at episode 298. If you had asked me when I started, if I would be going for 300 episodes, I don't know if I would have realized that, but I love doing it.

Speaker1:
We also host in-person events like the one that we're doing in this coming February. Here's a snapshot of the team that is our client facing team. So the team members that our clients work with, we have Diane Diaz, who our leads, our lead speaking coach. She's here in the chat. We have Joey Spencer, who is one of our speaking and storytelling coaches, and we have Selena Roberts, who is our client Concierge. Our mission at speaking your brand is to empower women to find and use our voice in the world to tell the stories that need to be told and to activate ideas for change because we know that as more diverse progressive women are sharing their voices, their stories and their ideas, that more people will benefit as the existing systems change. And I wanted to share this. This is a message that I got just today. I did a presentation yesterday for a group, and this is a message that a woman sent me who attended that presentation. I shared a story. I'm going to share the story here. I've shared it in other webinars and podcast episodes, but this is an example of how powerful our stories are and how powerful it is to be a speaker because of sharing our stories and being vulnerable. With that, we help to inspire others to do the same.

Speaker1:
And it really is like that domino effect, like that Rube Goldberg machine where us doing it helps others to do it as well. So as I mentioned, our primary program is a thought leader academy and I'll talk about that more at the end of the training today. And really what our goal here is as speaking your brand and why we do the trainings like we're doing today is we want you to shift from this idea of being an expert presenter to a thought leader. We really want you to embrace sharing what your big idea is. What is the thing that you want to see changed in your industry or in your community or in your society? And how does your personal story connect to that? And that really is so much of what it means to be a thought leader, along with having the intellectual property of a framework, the kind of framework that you use, the kind of framework that you create and how you use it will depend on the type of presentation that you're doing. So you could be doing a lead generation presentation, you're at an industry conference or a networking group or a business group, and you're there presenting to attract leads and clients. You could be doing a thought leadership talk, which is kind of a hybrid between a lead generation talk and a keynote. Or you could be doing a keynote with whatever type of presentation you're doing.

Speaker1:
You can use a framework within the content if you want to, if it fits, but how you present the framework is going to change a little bit depending on the type of presentation. So I'm going to show you the examples of these different types here today. So let's talk about what makes a good framework, and I'd love to know in the chat, if you think about what makes a good framework, perhaps you've attended presentations before where the speaker has had a framework. What has made it a good one to you as someone who's been in the audience? Yeah. Lee This is not too busy. Chris is easy to remember actionable like that. Susan And Brian says Simple visual clarity. Janice says an acronym that resonates and relates to the goal. Excellent point. Yes, your framework. You really want to make sure that your framework is showing what are the results that people can get by using it? What is the goal that they want to achieve? Oh, this has a fresh perspective. Good. I like these answers. So here are a couple of examples of frameworks that literally built these speakers careers. The woman here on the left hand side of the screen is Mel Robbins. She is most well known for her five second rule that came out of the TED talk that she gave. I think this was in 2012. She now has almost 30 million views on that TED talk.

Speaker1:
And I remember reading a story about her or about on a podcast. So she said that this idea, the five second rule, was almost an afterthought. She was trying to figure out what to include for a certain part of our talk or how to end her talk. I think someone recommended this to her and she included it, and that's what she became famous for. Simon Sinek, of course, start with why that talk has over 60 million views on it, and that was the framework of the Golden Circle with Y being in the middle, then the how and then the what as those concentric circles. So literally these frameworks built their careers from that. That's how powerful it is. So some of you mentioned this. Here are the three elements that I think are incredibly important for your framework. It should be clear, like this lovely beach, which I would love to be on sometime soon, so clear. It should be memorable and it should be actionable. The reason I selected the slide projector for that middle image on Memorable is because my husband and I have this long running joke about the episode of Mad Men were Don Draper is showing the wheel, the new Kodak slide projector and he's doing the pitch for it to the Kodak executives. You may if you've seen Mad Men. It's an iconic episode, an iconic scene, and you may remember that.

Speaker1:
And that is really a marketing pitch at its finest. And why? Because Don Draper really gets into the emotional heart of his story when he shares that. So I and that is so that scene is so memorable to me. And we really want your framework to be memorable as well. And we want it to be actionable. So clear, memorable and actionable. So the types of frameworks you all have mentioned these in the chat, they can be visual shapes, they can be acronyms, or they could be alliteration. So I want to do a little quiz here. I want you to name the shape. It's kind of like we're on a game show. If I say Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, what shape comes to mind? Pyramid Triangle or triangle, right. Everyone knows. And almost if you even think of the phrase Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a triangle probably pops up in your mind. You can't help help it. They're they're so associated with each other. What if I say sales funnel? Yes. That's an upside down triangle. Exactly. So we have a regular shaped triangle for the Maslow's hierarchy of needs. And a sales funnel is the opposite, because with the sales funnel, you're starting off really broad and then you're narrowing down as you go. So those are examples of triangles or inverted triangles. There's also circles. So you can do a circle that is iterative. So if your framework is one that keeps getting repeated over and over again, then a circle could be a good option for that.

Speaker1:
Lean Startup is a methodology that I know well with my background in technology startups and teaching entrepreneurs. Ownership. And with Lean Startup, the idea is that you keep building something and you keep measuring it and you keep learning from your users rather than waiting to put things out into the marketplace. So that's an iterative process. So if your framework is one where people keep going around and around, then a circle could be good. A regular shape triangle is good. If you need a foundation and then you're building upon the foundation as people stair step up through your framework. The inverted triangle is good if you're starting off broad and then you're narrowing down. So these are going to give you some ideas of what types of shapes could be good. Another type of shape you could use would be a Venn diagram. So this is kind of a pretty detailed Venn diagram of our visibility framework. So we have the core message, your core messages in the middle, and then how you relate. Your core message will change slightly depending on if it's a lead generation, talk, a keynote, your framework and the different ways that you can use it. So that's an example of a visibility framework. Now, I could have put those words just in a straight bulleted point list, but it's probably not going to be as impactful as using it within a Venn diagram.

Speaker1:
So that's the power of having a shape along with words. Here's another example of a visual shape. This rectangular shape is known as a business model canvas, and this is something that has become an industry standard with startups, especially technology startups. And the idea behind a canvas is literally one page where you can see everything on the page. So it used to be business plans were tens, if not 100 pages long. You have to kind of dig through to figure out the different aspects of a business plan. Who were the target customer segments, what were the revenue streams and so on. Well, these entrepreneurs came up with this business model canvas where it's literally on one page, and I've been using this for the past 12 years now since they came out with it. And this was the inspiration for our own signature talk canvas here at Speaking Your Brand, which is literally the poster board with the Post-it notes that we use when we work with clients on to create their signature talk. So this idea of having it on one page so you can see it, you can move things around, you can map it out. That's where that came from with this idea of a canvas and our signature talk canvas framework. The reason why I work so well with client after client is that it reflects our methodology and it's a repeatable process.

Speaker1:
Plus it's very visual. So it's helpful for us as we're working on talks and it's helpful for the client on the other end to see it. I know we have some clients here in the chat, so you can let us know how helpful was to kind of see it laid out visually on the Post-it notes versus a just in an outline in a Google doc. So now I want to know in the chat here is that do you already have a framework that has a visual shape in it? So if you already have a framework as a visual shape, let us know in the chat what that shape is. Tell us a little bit about it. And if you don't already have a framework, do you have a visual shape in mind that could be a possibility for your framework? Susan says she doesn't have one yet a shape, but she's inspired to get one. So anyone have a triangle, a circle, a rectangle, anything that they're currently using in their business or in their presentations or that they could use. Susan says she thinks the circle. I think that could be a good one for you because it is iterative. Shauna says she doesn't have one, but maybe a circle. Fans of circles. Cara says Venn diagram. Yes. Okay, good. And Carolyn says, The pyramid. Okay, good. So I'm glad you are. Start thinking about these shapes.

Speaker1:
So here's what I do a lot of times is that I will grab a blank piece of paper and a pen or a Sharpie, and I'll start kind of drawing different shapes and doing like a triangle and kind of fit my the words in there or fit the steps in there and figure out what a triangle makes sense for this. Or I'll I'll draw a circle and see where the circle makes sense for this or a rectangle with building blocks. So I'll try different shapes on a piece of paper to see which one seems to reflect the framework the best. Oh, hi Tori. She has four circles overlapping, so it sounds a little bit like a Venn diagram. Right? Great. So keep keep this in mind. We're going to come back to an activity towards the end where I'm going to have you brainstorm a little bit more on your framework. Next question for the chat. Does anyone know what SCUBA stands for, like when you go scuba diving or am I geekdom is really coming out in this presentation. Okay. Gale. Got it. Yes. I think this from a TV show like self contained underwater breathing apparatus. I've always remembered that since I heard this little jingle about it. Yeah, Wendy got it, too. Oh, it was from Family Ties. Oh, that's great. So, yeah, so SCUBA is actually an acronym. I think most of us don't know that or didn't know that until Family Ties.

Speaker1:
What about FOMO? What does FOMO stand for? Yeah, seasons got Girl's got a fear of missing out. Exactly. I'm bringing. Yeah. Okay. So we've heard of that one again. Another acronym, the opposite of FOMO that I have heard is Jomo Joy of Missing Out. I really like that one. And then how about Smart? Does anyone here set smart goals? And do you know that smart? Stands for Something That's Smart is an acronym as well. Yes. I don't remember all. I think there are specific I don't know what the M is. Meaningful, actionable, something like that. So Smart is also an acronym. And that. Measurable. Okay. Thank you. Oh, Shauna's got it. Specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and time bound. Oh, you all are so good. This is the power of crowdsourcing information. So these are all acronyms, and they make it so much easier for us to remember what they stand for. So. So just like with any type of framework, your acronym should be clear, memorable and actionable. Here are some examples from some of our clients. So Christy Rocha. Her podcast is called SAS says SAS is kind of like her nickname is SAS. And so when she went through the Thought Leader Academy, she decided to come up with a framework that she did a podcast series on using the letters. Sas. In this case it was first stop, assess, simplify and share. So those are all action verbs.

Speaker1:
Toronto Wilkinson was also in our Thought Leader Academy. She's a D consultant and then her framework was Act, Act and then Monica Young, she was on the podcast not too long ago in August. She also went through our Thought Leader Academy this summer, and her framework is called Do Less, Accomplish More and Less Less. Is an acronym. And I'm going to tell you a little bit about Monica in just a moment and how she adjusted, how she shared her framework in her presentations and the results that she got by doing that. So those are some examples of acronyms. Joy Spencer, one of our speaking coaches here, we actually worked together back in 2020 on her signature talk, and she came to me already having her framework. It's called Create the Create. So each letter stands for something and she and because of that framework and the work that we did together on her signature talk, she ended up launching a podcast called Reframe to Create, and she uses this idea of her create framework in her podcast episodes as well. So this is the long lasting ROI and the many ways that you can use your framework in speaking of long lasting ROI of your own framework, this is Amber de la Garza. It's really a case study in all the ways you can leverage your own framework. This screenshot here on the right hand side of the screen is her board that we worked on back in July of 2019.

Speaker1:
So over three years ago we were in person at the same conference, so we decided she wanted to do a VIP day together and we created her signature talk. Her acronym was originally most most. She came with that, so we were creating her talk around that. She ended up changing the acronym to Stop, Stop, but still four letters and still all the content apply. She just decided to change what the letters were because it made more sense. The stop letters were able to fit better with what she wanted to do. So now, over three years later, she uses her framework not only in her presentations, but also with her one on one coaching clients in her membership program, on her podcast, and in her sales consultation calls as well. And that is how long your framework can last and how much you can do with it. Here's an example of one of our frameworks. So we have lots of frameworks that speaking your brand, because this again helps us to remember our content and remember what it is that we teach. So these are our ideal story ingredients. I did a podcast episode on this in episode 137 and so ideal is that when you tell a story, you want to include these elements in your story imagery, dialogue, emotion, action and lesson. So here's the process that I went through to create this, and this is kind of how my mind works, which may help you when you're thinking about your own frameworks.

Speaker1:
So I create the presentation, or in this case, the podcast episode that I want to share. And so I started thinking about, okay, so what are these ingredients that we should include in storytelling? So I know things are like dropping people into the scene, making sure you have dialogue, you want to share how you were feeling, you want to share what happens. So a good story has to have some of action in it to get from point A to point B, you need you want to share some type of lesson with the audience. That's not just a story for the sake of a story. So I started thinking about all these ingredients, and then I start thinking of, is there a word that has three, four or five letters, six letters, maximum three, four or five letters is the sweet spot, though, that would fit this idea. So of course I think of the word story store. Why? Because that's five letters. But I couldn't get the words to fit because Y is kind of a hard word, so I couldn't get the the words to fit in story. So I started thinking more of different types of words that could fit. And somehow I came up with this word ideal, and I started thinking, How could I place what I wanted to describe into these letters? And that's where I came up with the imagery, dialogue, emotion, action and lesson.

Speaker1:
And now, no matter if I go on a podcast interview or if I'm doing a presentation or a training, if I want to share the ingredients that you should include in stories, all I have to remember is the word ideal and. Instantly know what those five words are versus trying to have to remember something that doesn't have anything that I can relate to. It's kind of like a mnemonic or almost like a jingle or a song, so it really helps. So that's what I do. And I'll just again, I'll grab a blank piece of paper. I tend to like to do this, handwrite handwriting it versus on a computer. There's something about handwriting that kind of unlocks a different part of my brain, and you may find this too. So I'll just get a blank piece of paper and start writing out different words, different letters, and seeing what I can make match. So I would like to know in the chat now, do you have a framework that you use right now that has an acronym in it and let us know what the acronym is or if you don't yet have a framework with an acronym, what words come to mind that you could consider using for your acronym? So words that would be meaningful to the work that you do, meaningful to your audience that would kind of match your framework? Anything come to mind? Wendy has three.

Speaker1:
That's a good one, Denise says her. Ooh, honest, empowered results. I like that. Lyla says, Slow to slow down. I like that too. Yeah. So for those of you who have the word grab that piece of paper, write the word down, and then see what words come off of each of those letters. Shauna says, Rise. Rise is a great one. Susan says here, Oh, that's a good one for you. And I like having whatever the acronym is. The word is have it be positive. So a lot of times we'll we'll think of something that is maybe the opposite of we want what we want the audience to do. Don't do it like a negative word. Make the word positive, because you're really going to want to make sure people have a positive association with your framework. Let's say Torrey says grow without the grind. Ooh, fun. Next gameshow question I would like to know in the chat, what are three nouns that you can think of that start with the letter C or three verbs that start with the letter P anything. So nouns with C or verbs with P Oh, Valerie says Tell stories with heart. Oh, I like the word heart. Oc Cara has some nouns with C clarity, connection, community. Let's see, Susan has cookie cake and candy. Okay, good.

Speaker1:
Halloween's coming up. So we're thinking of candy. Let's see. Shauna says cat cow cake. All right, Good Collaboration is a good C word. How about verbs? I start with P persist, persevere, plan, practice, pray, process, plan. Yeah. So the reason I chose these letters C and P is because there are a lot of words that start with c, p, r, s t, So if you're going to do an alliteration, start with those letters because those would be the ones that give you probably the widest range of choices for your alliteration. The other thing is that when you're doing either an acronym or an alliteration, you want to make sure that the the words that are coming off of that match. So they should be either all nouns or all verbs don't mix them up. So if you're doing three CS, make sure that all the CS are nouns or all the CS are verbs. Don't mix nouns and verbs together in your alliteration or your acronym because it gets really confusing to your audience. Here's an example of an alliteration. So this is from a previous webinar that I had done, and so I was sharing three elements that you need as a speaker for greater impact and income. So I knew the three key points that I wanted to share in that webinar. And so then I thought, okay, well let me do an alliteration again to help me remember the content as much as for the audience.

Speaker1:
So those became three S's structure, storytelling and selling, but you notice that all three of them are there. They kind of match together. They're not kind of different things that would feel weird putting them together in in a group of threes for alliteration. So I want to know how in the chat do you have a framework that has an alliteration? And if you do, let us know what it is or if you would like to use an alliteration for your framework, what words or even what letter comes to mind, Cara says Recognize, reclaim, reframe. Nice. They're all good verbs. I always feel like alterations are my backup. If I really can't think of an acronym or I can't think of a visual shape for something that I can usually find, something that can be an alliteration. So let me talk a little bit more about the process I use when I think about creating frameworks. So here's an example of our signature talk canvas framework. You can see on the right hand side of the picture what the board looked like with the Post-it notes. This is from Tammie Lally. We worked together on her TED talk back in early 2017, and her TED Talk now has over 2 million views. That's how powerful it was. And she was the first client that I used the signature Talk Canvas framework on the very first beta version of the framework.

Speaker1:
We work together in person. At the time, she lived in Orlando where I live. So we met together and I had this idea of using the post. Read more with the Post notes again from the business Model Canvas, but also from filmmaking. In filmmaking, what they used to do, they probably still do that is they would take index cards with the different scenes, the different storyboards, and they would put them tape them on a wall and then move the scenes around based on how they were developing the script. It's called the Walter Murch Method. So I kind of combine these into the signature Talk canvas framework. So I went with with Tammy. She would she told me all these different stories, all the different pieces that she thought would be good for her talk. And so I would write them down on a Post-it notes and put them within the three X. But at the time, the different colored Post-it notes didn't mean anything. I was just grabbing different colors based on what stack was closest to me. And then after we did this iteration of her board, I realized, Oh, the colors could be helpful. Let me use that as part of the framework. So we have four colors that are based on audience engagement, storytelling and client examples, key points and supporting points. So the idea that you have a balanced board with all four colors throughout your entire canvas, so that was how the framework was born.

Speaker1:
It really came about because of working with clients and figuring out what is what is it that I'm asking of them. Every time that we work together on our presentation, what's the information I keep wanting to get from them and how am I structuring it at the time, which is in a Google doc and an outline? And then I realized having it on the Post-it notes would just make the process so much easier because we can move things around. So that was how the signature Talk canvas framework was born. So now let's talk about how I created this acronym for Voice. Back in the summer of 2020, I did a podcast episode number 184 called Why Some Speakers Become Thought Leaders. I really became interested in this idea of thought leadership. It was the first summer of the pandemic. I took a lot of walks, a lot of very long walks because I didn't have much else to do. So I did a lot of thinking and was very productive. So I really started thinking about thought leaders Simon Sinek, Rachel Rogers and others. So I kind of analyzed what they did and why they were successful and in that original podcast episode, I didn't have an acronym for the elements that I identified. I just kind of talked about each of them and what it is that I found that made them successful.

Speaker1:
It wasn't until several months later when we launched the Thought Leader Academy that I was putting together a training related to this, and I thought, Oh, I could probably take these elements that I identify and turn it into an acronym. And of course I use the word voice because we're such proponents of women using their voices. So I thought of the acronym Voice and then found these different phrases to use for the acronym. So that's the other thing with acronyms. They don't have to be just a single word for each letter. It can be a phrase. Instead, they're for voice. It stands for for viewpoint, for your topic, area, open, bold and direct communication. An individual story that you universalize a container for your message and being emotive, real and vulnerable, and your content and your delivery. So sometimes when you're creating presentations, when you're creating content, an acronym or visual shape may not come to you right away. That's okay. Just put it out there, keep talking about it, keep working through it, and eventually a shape or an acronym or an alliteration could come from that. But here again is the beauty of having this voice, that leadership model, having this framework. Now, I recently did a podcast interview and I wasn't sure what we were going to be talking about. I knew we were going to be talking about thought leadership, but I wasn't sure of the exact questions. And then the host asked me about what are some of the common elements of thought leadership? And instead of my mind going blank, I instantly remembered, of course, I have this voice acronym.

Speaker1:
Let me pull out those elements again, making it so much easier for me to remember. So let's talk about some important do's and don'ts when you think about creating your framework. So here's an example from a 2019 presentation that I gave on Epic content. And again, of course, I'm going to make an acronym out of it. So EPIC stands for emotion, purpose, innovation and collaboration. You can actually see down at the bottom there's kind of a pillar looking graphic. This presentation is so old, it has our old speaking your brand logo and branding on it. And this pillar graphic is definitely needs some graphic design work, but I kind of created that to show the audience like these are the pillars of creating really great, memorable content. You want it to have emotion in it. It has to be purposeful, some type of innovation or something new and different that you're doing and ideally have it be collaborative so other people can share it. So that was the idea behind Epic content. And so what you want to do with your framework is if you do have an acronym, make sure again to use all nouns or all verbs. Keep that consistent. You can also combine an acronym with a visual shape if you want to, because that can reinforce the message.

Speaker1:
Here's an example from Diane Diaz, our lead speaking coach. She gave a talk back in 2019 as well, and she used the acronym Brag Brag, and that stood for Boost Your Confidence, Confidence Resist comparison act. As if and grow your brand. So this was to a group of women professionals and entrepreneurs. And you notice with Bragg, they're all verbs. So again, be consistent with the nouns or with the verbs. But now I'm sure if you ask Diane about the Bragg acronym, she could probably remember what it is. And really then B helped her to frame the talk that she was giving versus just one. Okay, I want to talk to women about making sure that they are showing showcasing what they've accomplished, because so often we don't we don't tend to do that. We kind of tend to be more humble or be more quiet about our accomplishments and said we need to brag about them and to showcase them. So hence that's where the framework was born. So when you're thinking about putting together your presentations, your framework goes and Act two of our signature Talk Canvas framework. I did a podcast episode in August all about our signature talk canvas frameworks. If you want to go back and listen to that, then you could hear me describe what goes into the three different acts. Your framework goes and Act two, which is your main content and Act one.

Speaker1:
You're setting up the situation for the audience. Act two is your content, your main content. Then Act three is what comes next after they implement your framework or implement your strategies or your recommendations and your lessons. And so here's the thing. As I mentioned, as far as the differences between lead generation presentations, thought leadership talks and keynotes, if you're doing a lead generation presentation, you can be much more explicit about your framework because your framework should represent how you work with your clients and how you get results for them. So in that case, you really want your framework to be front and center and your lead generation presentation. If you have a long framework or a framework that say has five or six letters in it, or maybe as a visual shape, but there's five or six components to it and your lead generation presentation, just pull out two or three of those key elements of your framework. Give the audience the overview of your entire framework, but then say based on the time we have together today, I'm going to pull out these two or these three elements and go a little deeper into those. But when we work together, we work through all different aspects of the framework to get you the results that you want. So that's how you position your framework for a lead generation presentation. Now, if you're doing a thought leadership talk, you can also use your framework.

Speaker1:
It could be the same framework as for lead generation talk, it could be a different one. Just depends on what your message is and what the goal is for that talk and who the audience is. If you're using a framework for a thought leadership talk, it should be even more high level than how you describe it in your lead generation Talk because for thought leadership, you really are helping your audience to think about things in a different way, having to having them change their perspective about something. And so the framework should help them to to do that, to think differently, not necessarily a framework that is something for them, like homework for them to do. Now with a keynote, you can also use a framework and a keynote a keynote is much more performance driven. It's much more what I call edutainment, more inspirational, more motivational than a thought leadership talk. Definitely more so than a lead generation talk. For me, when I do keynotes, I'm giving a keynote next week. I'm using a framework, but the framework really is for me to remember the content more so than it is for the audience. In this case, I'm using $0.03 So I'm describing these three different stages that women go through when we put ourselves out there publicly and use our voices. So I started thinking about these three different stages that we go through.

Speaker1:
So I decided to use P the letter P for the three different stages. I could have just used different words. They didn't all have to be with the letter. P But for me it's so much more helpful for me to remember the content if I put it together in alliteration or an acronym. Now, when I share this keynote with the audience, I'm not going to teach them the three P's. I'm not going to say, okay, write down P, number one and etc. I'm not teaching them the framework. Instead, the framework really is, for me, less so for explicitly for the audience. So those are some different ways that to think about how prominent your framework is within your presentations. And if you have questions, let me know in the chat about that. And this is the work that we do with you and the Thought Leader Academy is you're working on your signature talk, your framework, but then also understanding how to adapt your talk based on the goal of the talk, the format of the talk and the audience. So I mentioned earlier Monica Young. She went through our Thought Leader Academy we did on our coaching call on the podcast in August. It was really good. If you haven't listened to it, go back and do so because we walk through her presentation and she was feeling stuck because she wasn't getting the leads from her presentations that she had hoped.

Speaker1:
So we made some adjustments to her framework and what we talked about on that, on our coaching call was really understanding who her audience was and and therefore who her ideal clients. Or who her buyers were. And then figuring out what is it that they needed to understand about her framework and and that they actually didn't need to learn her framework to implement for themselves because they're busy executives. They're busy CEOs. Instead, they needed to understand the principle behind her framework and really the thought leadership behind it, less so the doing or the implementation of the framework. So she made those adjustments based on our on air coaching call. And literally right the week after that you did a lead generation presentation and she got three well qualified leads from that just from making those those slight adjustments and how to present the framework based on who your audience is. So let's talk about now creating your own framework based on what you've learned here today. If you're creating a framework that represents the work that you do with clients, first grab that piece of paper and think about all the common questions you ask your client. So when your first working with your clients to get them from point A to point B or from point A to point G or Z, what are those questions that you ask clients? What are those things that you work with your clients on time after time? So write those down.

Speaker1:
Think about the steps that you take to get the end results for the clients that you work with. So what are those things that you keep doing with them? And then what do you do that's different from others in your field, from other service providers in your field? So think about those things as you start developing your framework that represents the work that you do with your clients. And then if you want to use an acronym or an alliteration, think of that three, four or five letter word related to what you do and see if your framework can fit into those letters for an alliteration. Think about if you can think of nouns or verbs that start with letters like C, d, p, r, s, and T. Again, those are really common ones that have a lot of words to choose from. I know one thing that Diane, or at least speaking coach talks about is that she'll google things like nouns to start with the letter C or verbs that start with the letter R, and then there's list out there that you can go to. The other thing is that I'll go to Dictionary.com or Thesaurus.com and I'll look up a word and see if I can find a similar word that has the letter that I'm looking for that to start with. You can also look for a shape for your framework and see if a shape would fit your framework.

Speaker1:
So if your process is linear, you can think about that triangle as people stair step up. If it's progressive, you can also think about, well, if it's progressive would be the triangle. If it's linear, it could be like a rectangle. If it's iterative, it could be a circle and it can grab that piece of paper and start playing around with these different shapes and see what could fit. All right. So now I want you in the chat to brainstorm your own framework. So I want you to write out here in the chat what are some key components of your either your thought leadership idea or your process, or the approach that you take to working with your clients and think of a metaphor or an image or word or words that encapsulate what's important to you or what's what's relevant to the work that you do. So good words that can be used as acronyms or things like Action Act, plan, voice, idea shift. We saw some other ones here in the chat that people put in Thrive Grow. So those are all good words that you could play with and then think about an alliteration or visual shape or an acronym related to the words or the images that come to mind. All right. I know it's hard to do this on the fly, so take a picture of this slide so you have this and then come back to it later.

Speaker1:
All right. So I wanted to let you all know about our Thought Leader Academy. Our next enrollment is coming up on November 1st. This will be our last enrollment for the year. So if you want to get started before the end of the year, this is your opportunity to do so. And our Thought Leader Academy, we really are helping you make that shift from expert presenter to thought leader. So we work with you on your big idea and your story, creating your signature talk using that signature talk canvas framework of ours. So your signature talk and your framework and fitting that in and what makes the most sense for your talk, your visibility strategy, like your speaking proposals and pitches you're speaking fee. So how to monetize your speaking, what to charge for speaking? We find so often that the women we work with are are dramatically under charging for their speaking and the workshops that they're offering. So we we tell you what going rates are for speaking fees and then encourage you to raise yours. And then we also talk about delivering your presentations both in person and virtually we have weekly group Zoom calls that are a mix of trainings, coaching and hot seats. So you get plenty of time from myself and from Diane and the rest of our team members to really help you to pinpoint your idea, your story and to work on your talk and then work on all the different elements of your speaking.

Speaker1:
And the other thing is that you get that VIP day to create your signature talk and framework. You also get on demand video lessons. So we have a whole bunch of trainings that are available to you that you can watch at your own pace whenever you want to. On speaking proposals on using our framework. You create your talk on how to prepare for your speaking engagements checklist to prepare for your speaking engagements, how to create sales webinars, how to optimize your LinkedIn profile so that you can get inbound speaking requests, all of those things. You also get on demand in our video library in addition to being able to talk about it during the live group calls. Let me tell you about Shanta Wilkinson. I mentioned her earlier in the framework that she created. So when she joined the Thought Leader Academy in 2021, she was starting her DEI consulting business and she knew that she needed to stand out from all the other consultants that were out there. And so that's why she joined the Thought Leader Academy. What she didn't realize at the time was how integral understanding her personal story and including her personal story in her presentations and in the pay trainings that she does, how important that would be to her audiences. So she learned how to do that. Storytelling in the Thought Leader Academy developed her framework, integrated her framework and her stories into her signature talk.

Speaker1:
And her audiences absolutely love it. And they and the organizations that she works with keep hiring her to come back to train more and more of their employees because of her framework and her personal stories. Here are a couple of other women who went through the Thought Leader Academy, Usha Harari and Mary Beth Simone, and both of them saw how much they gained not only from the one on one work that they did with us as their coaches, but really from the community of women who were in there. The group size is anywhere from 10 to 20 women, so it's small enough that you get lots of hands on support that large enough that you really are building this network of incredible women. And what I love the most is that to this day now, they started the Thought Leader Academy two years ago, and to this day I still see women who went through the Thought Leader Academy collaborating with each other, going on each other's podcast on LinkedIn lives, nominating each other's for awards, visiting each other in person when they're in each other's cities. And so I love this really deep rooted community that you've created here speaking in your brand and how much the women grow to not only support each other but really become friends for life. And so if you've been thinking about Thought Leader Academy, but you're not sure if you should do it now or wait until 2023, of course, the option, the choice is always yours.

Speaker1:
But let me tell you this. I will say that events are booking their speakers now for next year. So we are currently in October events, especially events that are looking for keynote speakers and paying their speakers and even conferences where you're submitting speaking proposals to be selected, they're putting out their call for speakers are looking for speakers now for next year. So the sooner you get all of your assets in place, the better. Also, it's never too soon to differentiate yourself and your business. Your thought leadership really sets you apart and having that clear framework can do so as well. And also don't leave money on the table. As I mentioned, so many of the women we work with are under charging for their speaking and for the training. So we really want to help you to know what to charge for your speaking fees. I'll say one more thing about why. Think and consider enrolling now versus waiting. I'm sure you have seen this. There is a huge content saturation all over the Internet. It happened during the pandemic and it's only increasing. There are so many more people online. There are so many more people creating content. The algorithms are making it harder and harder for the people who follow us to see our content, whether it's on Instagram or it's on LinkedIn or whatever social media platform that you primarily use, our content is getting fewer and fewer eyeballs.

Speaker1:
It's because of the algorithms and also because people are distracted. There are more. Everyone has a podcast now as the joke goes, everyone is creating content on these social media platforms, so your followers, your potential clients are distracted and they may not even be seeing your content like they were a year ago, much less two or three years ago. Being a speaker, whether it's in person or virtually, you have a captive and engaged audience who was there for you. You also have built in credibility and authority as the person who's been selected to stand on that stage. There is nothing that beats being a speaker in front of an audience. And so I encourage you, whether you enroll in the Thought Leader Academy or not, to really set aside as much time as you're spending on social media, set that time aside to also be working on your speaking, whether it's optimizing your LinkedIn profile, finding conferences to speak at building relationships with event organizers, putting together your speaking proposals, working on the speaking page on your website, really make sure that you're spending that time doing that. Because if you're trying if you want to build your business and you obviously need to do marketing to do so, using speaking as a marketing strategy is going to pay off a lot more and a lot quicker than spending more and more time trying to figure out and feed the algorithms on social media.

Speaker1:
All right. That's my soapbox on social media. Not a fan, if you can tell. All right. So, again, I would invite you to check out the. All your academy, you can get the information at speaking your brand dot com slash academy. All the information is on there, including we have three different tiers that you can choose from based on your needs and your budget. And if you are interested in finding out more about the Thought Leader Academy. Academy submit the application. There's questions to fill out. Just answering the questions. We'll give you a lot of clarity around your speaking goals and what you hope to do. So submit the application and then we schedule a 30 minute Zoom call with you to talk about your goals, answer your questions about the Academy, and make sure it's the right fit for you. I would love to see your application come through. So again, go to speaking your Bandcamp academy to do so. And I want to thank you all so much for taking the time to be here today. If you have any questions before we wrap up, please let me know in the chat. All right. Thank you all so much for being here. I appreciate it. Have a great rest of your day.

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