Exploring What Separates Experts from Accidental Speakers

" The Power of Vocal Dynamics For Executives"

Host Sheena Walker explores the critical distinction between expert speakers and accidental speakers, emphasizing that professional credibility hinges on intentional

Key takeaways

Sheena Walker distinguishes expert speakers who 'design their talk' from accidental speakers who 'wing it,' stressing that preparation dictates commercial viability.
A rugby player speaker at an Edinburgh round table dropped his unclipped, multi-colored highlighted notes on stage, demonstrating how poor practice dents professional credibility.

Main topics

Expert vs. accidental speaking
Stage presence and professional credibility

Notable quotes

"Experts design their talk. Accidental speakers wing it."

Conclusion

The episode delivers a clear roadmap for executives to transition from unprepared presenters to

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:02) She never. I don't know that. Why are you telling me that? I've been a speaker for 20 years. And nobody has shared that. I'm Sheena Walker, your host, and today I'm going to be sharing with you or looking at some of the differences between expert speakers and accidental speakers. We could also apply that phrase to being accidental in business. or being an expert in business. Is there a difference? Yes, there's a huge difference when you can take that one idea, that one system. aiming for that one result. Speaker 1 (0:57) that makes you commercially viable. Speaker 1 (1:01) And when we think about... being commercially viable. It isn't just one thing, is it? It is about the product that you have. It's about the service. I saw something when I was swimming last night, a new swim jacket for a baby to put on. I hadn't seen it before. It almost, well, it did look like a little padded jacket that you could wear for a walk in the park and in your buggy. Speaker 1 (1:36) But it was an innovative product. It wasn't too expensive. Speaker 1 (1:42) But that person I looked to see, who made this? When did it come out to the market? When I asked these questions at reception, they didn't know. It was just a product that somebody had thought, in the swimming pool, it might be a good idea. Speaker 1 (2:02) Is that accidental? Well, the idea is brilliant. Speaker 1 (2:08) The result that a wee one under two could get by having a slightly padded jacket gives them confidence in the water. Speaker 1 (2:20) But is the company denting their credibility by not positioning themselves with this product? And I found myself when I came out last night looking at the small print which I may add I could hardly read. And I was thinking, who made this? Was it made in Scotland? Was it made in England? Was it made in China? Was it made, where was it made? Who is the person that's got this brilliant product? Because I would have given them feedback and said, I saw this. It's amazing. It's brilliant. But I never got that opportunity. Why? because there was a dent in their marketing, a dent in their PR. That's just a small example of how something could be brilliant but not followed through to get a successful result. How many times in your business do you not get a successful result because you've missed out one of the steps? Perhaps two of the steps? And there is a myth that when someone is an expert, in a given field. that they will be able just to go and speak on that. Now some people manage to do that, okay? Speaker 1 (3:53) because they've got quite a nice voice. But for many, and I'll use the World Cup. Speaker 1 (4:01) They had many football presenters on different channels, on different panels. Speaker 1 (4:09) And I could find myself screwing up my face and shrugging my shoulders. I remember a friend saying to me, I always know when you're not pleased about something, Sheena, because you screw up your face. Do I? Yes, you do that quite often. Oh dear. So quite often means I'm listening to people being accidental. I'm listening to people who are experts that have not been trained in a skill. speaking Speaker 1 (4:49) Now, someone that's been a fantastic footballer would not necessarily make a great presenter. It's a different set of skills. Someone commentating on Wimbledon that's been a world-class tennis player. Although they're slightly better than the football. Speaker 1 (5:09) The speaking is a different set of skills in how you can portray a tool, a tip, a technique who coaches someone when it's appropriate to use the content that you have in your head and how you can share that with us, the listeners. Speaker 1 (5:31) So that leads me to thinking. I'm going to share two short case studies with you today. Speaker 1 (5:42) and show you examples of poor practice and why that could have been better. I've already given you a sneak peek and a flavour. But what really does separate people? Do we see it? In fact, I remember saying to a colleague, she said, oh, you're too particular, Sheena. It doesn't really matter. Yes, it does. If you're going into a company. a corporate company that has a brand and they want it positioned really well. Now they're not waiting to look at how their staff will perform, they're actually recruiting people to perform immediately. Someone that can come in and take that brand identity and be brilliant. So some people can walk on the stage. I can remember someone I knew quite well a couple of years ago walked onto the stage and he's quite prominent in Scotland and he stood at the corner of the curtain. So if you were in the audience you'd be looking at him at the right hand side of the stage. Now what he should have done was walked on with confidence. came to the middle of the stage and said what he was going to say. Whether that was a question, a stat, something in the business world that he was now going to share. Instead he stood. Speaker 1 (7:21) For most of the time at the right hand side almost knocking the curtain in Speaker 1 (7:28) Was that accidental? Was it poor practice? It was a bit of both. Did it dent his credibility? Yes, it did. because nobody had ever said to him. that there is a better way to make an entrance onto the stage. I remember being in Edinburgh sharing a round table with a group of fairly prominent people and one of them was one of the keynote speakers too and he was a rugby player. Speaker 1 (8:05) and I had to internally smile. He had a pile of papers. He wasn't on till the afternoon. So we had speakers and different exercises. It was all in all, I was looking forward to quite a good day. But when it came for him to speak, he had this pile of notes, which when I'd seen it earlier, I thought, oh, he's taken some notes from the speakers before or what's he got notes on? Now, I reckon he nearly had a notebook of notes. They weren't attached with a clip. They weren't attached in what I use like a