Unforgettable Speaking Skills

Rachel Cossar: Welcome to another episode in Conversations in the Future of Work. I am your host, Rachel Cossar, and I’m thrilled to have a good friend and total expert in the public speaking space, Bridget McGowan, join us today as our guest. Bridget, over to you. Welcome. Thank you so much, Rachel.

Bridgett McGowen: It’s fantastic to be here with you. I love all things public speaking and presentation skills, so this is going to be a good conversation. Everybody don’t even think about fast forwarding anything. Don’t think about changing the channel, turning that dial. It’s gonna be great. I’m an award winning international professional speaker. I’ve been on stages since 2001, and it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. And I absolutely love what I do. Whenever I am presenting, I am making sure that everybody in the audience feels like they are the most important person in the room. When you listen to one of my presentations, it will be one you will not soon forget. And it’s true, Rachel. I remember one time I don’t know where I was. Somewhere. And this lady was like, I remember you. You presented at this thing at Chandler Regional Hospital. And And it had been, like, 5 or 6 years. And I’m like, well, hi. It’s good to see you. That’s amazing.

Rachel Cossar: I mean, I do I remember our conversations, every one of them. You know? So, really excited to get started today, and to have you on the show. Thank you for having me.

Bridgett McGowen: Awesome.

Rachel Cossar: So to to dive right in, right, I, I know that you do a lot of work helping people unlock some of those unforgettable speaking skills. So what do you find are some of the biggest challenges that your clients are experiencing, you know, today?

Bridgett McGowen: Rachel, it’s the craziest thing, and I think it’ll never change. But one of the biggest challenges is that fear. People I’m telling you, people will tell you in a second. They’d rather be the one who’s in the casket than the one delivering the eulogy. A lot of my clients just struggle with the stage fright or or impostor syndrome, and it really makes them, have a hard time feeling confident, connecting with their audiences. It it that’s the first challenge. And then because of that fear of public speaking, there are so many other challenges that come with it. The the message will start to lack clarity because they’re scared and they’re lacking that confidence. The virtual presentation skills are are rocky. The nonverbal communication. You can see it. The teeth are chattering, the knees are knocking, or they’re just they’re they’re frozen in one spot. Yeah. And then that audience connection. So it’s kinda like 5 challenges I see, but it starts with that first challenge of of of being scared of public speaking. I’m going to tell you right now, free of charge, to get rid of that fear or at least to minimize it is to speak more. But I’m not talking about getting up on stage at Carnegie Hall or or keynoting a conference in front of 10,000 people. No. Not talking about doing that. I’m saying speak more in terms of at meetings, at work, speaking up, offering an answer to a question, sharing an idea. I’m talking about maybe holding smaller webinars or submitting to present at a conference where you can do smaller breakouts. But to get over that fear is just doing it more, and then your message starts to get to be clearer. Do those webinars, the virtual presentation skills become stronger because virtual is not going anywhere. Those hybrid formats, those virtual formats, since 2020 on through, they’re common. They’re they’re not leaving us. The body language and the gestures and the facial expressions are going to become more confident and then your connection with your audience and that that balance between between authenticity and professionalism, it’s going to shine. But speak more. Even something like this, Rachel, where it’s just 2 people, a podcast interview, Speak more, and that fear will start to subside. But that’s that’s the big challenge that I see, Rachel. Yeah. That makes a ton of sense.

Rachel Cossar: As a follow-up to that, I’m curious because I I like that you specified minimize. Right? Because I at least in my experience, I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect to completely never like, the fear is not gonna necessarily disappear entirely. Right? Like, there are or or, like, the nerves. Maybe, like, the fear transitions into nerves, but they’ll always it’s just not it’s not always a bad thing, I don’t think, to have a little bit of, like, okay. Like, here we go. You know, sympathetic nervous system kind of kicking into high gear a little bit. What do you think about about that? The fact that, like, even through a lot of exposure and practice, like, it’s so it it’s there’s a management to the nerves and you know? What do you think about that? You’re spot on.

Bridgett McGowen: Every time I get ready to deliver a presentation, and I’ve been doing this for more than 2 decades, I get nervous. Yep. I was nervous about this conversation today, although it’s just you and me. And although it’s virtual and it’s just a conversation, I’m not delivering any slides. That nervousness is a good thing. There’s a difference between fear and anxiety and and and then the nervousness. The nervousness suggests that you are intent on doing a good job. Yeah. And you want to make sure that you are giving your audience value. So, yes, you want to have some some, you know, butterflies, if you will. But you don’t want it to get to the point where you are just completely in shambles and cannot deliver. You know, having a little bit of nervousness actually shows that you care and that you’re interested in doing a great job and giving your audience something of value. Yeah.

Rachel Cossar: I it it’s helpful to hear you say that because I feel the exact same way as a, you know, former professional ballet dancer the number of times I’ve been on stage in front of thousands of people. Like, I can’t even count. But I I will get the little butterflies in the stomach. And it’s funny because sometimes I don’t. And when I don’t, I’m like, why? What’s what’s going on? Am I like and then I almost try to, like, rev myself up because I feel like now I need that, like, extra jolt of energy to feel more present, more alert, you know, more more on the on my ball. It’s it’s just it’s so interesting.

Bridgett McGowen: And, you know, sometimes when you have delivered a presentation, especially people who are trainers or who work in HR, who work in learning and development l and d, Sometimes you will deliver some of the same content over and over again. And a lot of times, it will be to people you have seen a million times. They’re your colleagues throughout the company. And so sometimes you can get a little less nervous. Sometimes you feel like, I’ve got this. You know, that’s that’s kinda different. You know? You still don’t want to just dial it in or wing it. You still want to do an incredible job because you want people feeling like this was time well spent. But, you know, sometimes you’ll have those comfort levels, but there are a lot of factors involved. You delivered this exact same content 2,000,000,000 times. You’ve seen Yeah. This exact audience make up, you know, at least a half a 1000000000 times. So, you know, sometimes you can feel a little little bit more comfortable, but, yeah, you want those nerves there because it means yeah. Yeah. You you consciously wanna make sure you do a great job. Yeah. Totally. That makes a ton of sense.

Rachel Cossar: How do you see technology and AI in particular influencing public speaking?

Bridgett McGowen: Well, there’s the good and the bad, and I’m focusing only on the good. One of the things I see with AI, and I was talking to a girlfriend about this just yesterday. I think it was yesterday. At any rate, one of the great things I see with AI is there’s so many different platforms that can support you with practicing, can support you with giving you that feedback, You know, how’s your your tone, your pacing, your your intonation, word choice. I know that’s one of the things I love, and that’s what I was talking with my girlfriend about where I said it is insane how I can type out my script. I can pull together my major points. These are pieces of content I’ve delivered a 1000000000 times, and I could just kinda plug it into AI and just say, you know, make this sound more impactful. And then all of a sudden, in 2.3 seconds, Rachel, I have something that sounds far more eloquent Mhmm. Than I could have ever put it. And it’s you think to yourself, these aren’t SAT words or anything like that. It’s not this crazy vocabulary, but AI can support speakers with really polishing their messages and putting together content that has a real impact on their audiences. So content creation and structure, where you’re you can use, some speech outline generators. You can use keyword and topic research options in AI or just that writing assistance that I was talking about. Every so often, I’ll just kinda have something where I’m like, it just feels like it needs some zhuzh. Yeah. And then I shared earlier there are some platforms where it can support you with tone and style optimization. Mhmm. Tools like Grammarly Yep. Really do a fantastic job. Rachel, I need you to guess. Speaking of Grammarly, I need you to guess how many words your friend, Bridget McGowan, typed between July 7th December 31, 2024. I posed the same question to my husband and my son the other day, and they were totally wrong, totally off with the number. Oh my god. How many words do you think Grammarly analyzed, I should say, for me in those 6 ish months? Oh my god. 6 months? 6 months.

Rachel Cossar: And this, of course, is just in general, like, across emails and across, like Texts, papers, presentations. I don’t know. Like, client work. 2,000,000? More than 4,400,000 words. My god. Closer to them. Yeah. I don’t believe it either.

Bridgett McGowen: I got taught too much in elementary school on all the report cards. Let’s add types too much. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my god. That’s amazing.

Rachel Cossar: But, no, how how incredible, right, that, you know, we do a lot of this work at virtual Sapiens with our communication coaching platform. But the scale and the on demand quality of AI to use as an assistant, as, you know, that extra set of eyes that you know, it’s it’s like, yes, you can always send something to a friend or a peer, but in this way, you can do it and immediately get that response, and so your workflow doesn’t have to be as interrupted. Right? Exactly. It’s such a time saver. Yeah. You know, you can use it to provide you with delivery feedback.

Bridgett McGowen: There are all kinds of text speech to text analysis tools, AI transcription tools like Otter dotai or Rev. I was introduced to Rev a 1000000000 years ago before AI was Right. Taking over the world.

Rachel Cossar: But we can transcribe either one can transcribe your practice sessions and really give you that opportunity to refine your phrasing. There are other tools that can support you with your pacing and your rhythm. There are some tools that can even even detect filler words. Yep.

Bridgett McGowen: So all kinds of tools out there. If you know there’s some area that you struggle in and you’d love to improve in with your public speaking, there’s an app for that. Just a little search. But I see AI influencing public speaking in such a positive way. As long as you remain authentic. Right? Start with your own heart, your own message, your own words. Start there. Don’t go to AI to try to create something for you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s what people want to hear, and then use AI as a tool to enhance what you’re already a rock star at. Right.

Rachel Cossar: And that’s also where, you know, the the role of the human coach can really come in handy to help the individual really tap into that authenticity and ensure that, you know, they’re they’re communicating and showing up from a values based perspective, right, instead of because I do think that there might be a temptation for some people to just be like, oh, great. Like, AI will just do so much of this for me. I don’t have to think anymore. How convenient. And you can do that.

Bridgett McGowen: And I promise you, if you get on a stage and you deliver that, your audience is going to check out, be bored, and they will forget you before you even get off the stage. So choice is yours. Totally. Totally.

Rachel Cossar: Absolutely. So I I was actually curious. This kind of ties into some of what you were sharing in the first question. Was there, like, a turning point in your public speaking career, or perhaps there was a turning point in your life before going into public speaking, like a big transition moment. I always think it’s interesting for our listeners to hear, you know, some of those pivotal moments in in our guests’ lives. Sure, Rachel.

Bridgett McGowen: It happened in 2,000 16. Yes. 2016. I got laid off. Mhmm. That was my significant turning point. Now I’ve been a professional speaker since 2,001. So by 2016, I, you know, had been, you know, a decade and a half in the game. However, I was not speaking for myself. The speaking that I was doing was for employers. I was employed for an educational technology company. I’ve taught at 3 different institutions, And, you know, believe it or not, teachers and professors at the front of that room, that’s public speaking that you’re doing. So my significant turning point was when I got laid off and I made the shift from delivering presentations for organizations that are education based. I was traveling the country doing all kinds of workshops and conferences, and then also doing webinars for, 4 year, 2 year, career schools, proprietary schools. It came from delivering those kinds of presentations to becoming my own independent professional speaker and author. It’s really crazy, Rachel. I didn’t become an author until 2019. I’m nearly 20 years in the game before I became an author, and this leap really required me to create a brand. I hadn’t had a brand. I’d worked for other brands, and I embodied them. I mean, you couldn’t tell me that I wasn’t the a one employee. You know? I was the brand ambassador where I went. Right. It it it require and and this is a real mindset shift that a lot of people have to make because you’ve always worked for x y z company. And oftentimes, you’ll ask people, what do you do? And they’ll tell you they work for somebody. No. No. No. No. What do you do? Who are you? So it required me to create a brand and develop, really hone that expertise in public speaking and and personal and professional development and expand my reach beyond traditional audiences. So writing and publishing books, one of them is show up and show out. I love that book. It’s, oh, it’s a great one to start a new year. It’s gonna be 2 tips to make you unforgettable in the communication space. One tip a week, you know, and just go through it every year. So writing books, publishing books really cemented myself and my credibility and open doors to new opportunities, including, you know, all kinds of keynote presentations, conferences, corporate events. And then another moment was, and I’m still working through this, but another moment was recognizing that my adversity is really my advantage. And that is something that I want listeners to think about. I don’t want you to see something like a layoff, like a a change of career, like a reduction in hours, a reduction in force, whatever. I don’t want you to see that change as a negative, but see it as, okay. This is an opportunity to open up and do something different, something that is going to challenge me, something that I was always made to do. So that was another turning point for me, was recognizing that the layoff wasn’t a bad thing. You know? Sometimes a rejection is a redirection. Yeah. Totally. No. I I I love that.

Rachel Cossar: I it really resonates with me because when I left my career as a dancer, you know, I had I was, like, devastated because I had I had just you know, I was like, I’m gonna dance until I’m, like, 40 or whatever, which in ballet years is, like, very old. But, but, yeah, certainly now in retrospect, I’m like, yeah, it would have been amazing to get to continue to dance. It would have been awesome. But I’ve done so much more, and I’ve also learned so much more about myself and the world around me than when I was living in, like, a pretty serious bubble as a dancer. And so I think you’re right that this adversity and adversity can come in so many shapes and sizes, but to have the mindset that, okay, I’m being challenged, This is gonna make me stronger. There’s a way I can move through this to become a better person. Right?

Bridgett McGowen: Rachel, I tell you, I am not only a speaker and an an award winning speaker and an award winning author, but I’m also an award winning publisher. If someone had told me that I would become a publisher, like, If someone had told me I would be an author, that was a maybe. You know? Yeah. So, you know, I’ve I’ve written 12 books of my own now and I think 5 or 6 of them have won awards. But it was because of the layoff when I’m like, okay, and got a decent severance package. So I had a little time to just kind of figure out, okay, what are you gonna do now? Yeah, that’s nice. And in 2016, let me be very clear, what I’m doing now and how things look and the branding and everything. I mean, even the company name has changed since 2016. So don’t feel like you have to have it perfect. Yeah. Don’t feel like you have to have everything figured out and ironed out. You know, so my company name has changed. You know, I’ve added on the publishing, just a number of things. Right? But just keep evolving and keep keep the right people in your network. Don’t stop learning. Keep you know, learn something new. You know, it’ll be great if you do it every day, but, you know, at a minimum every week. Learn something new and just push yourself out of your comfort zone. You’re worth it. Yeah. I love that. No.

Rachel Cossar: I think and then what a beautiful message to share as we, like, start the new year too. You know? It’s, I I think it’s always helpful to get the reminder that, like, it doesn’t have to be perfect out of the gates and that you always have the opportunity to evolve and change and, you know, reinvent. Right? And work with those work with those, professionals and those experts that you mentioned earlier.

Bridgett McGowen: Yeah. AI is great, but coupled with a human expert in the field of professional speaking, oh, you’re unstoppable. Yes. And so the same thing goes for when you’re trying to create your brand. Find brand experts who know what they’re doing and who understand how to develop your brand story and understand marketing. You know, find those experts who understand what it means to create a logo and and what’s on and popping and what’s what works well for you and what aligns with you. Find those experts, find those professionals, vet them, ask for references. I could go on down the line. Don’t feel like you’ve gotta do it alone. Yeah. Totally.

Rachel Cossar: So you just you just rattled off, like, so many amazing things that you do. One of the things that I think a lot of business owners or entrepreneurs struggle with is, like, is staying focused, continuing to get things done, not being distracted, especially by, like, what other people are doing. So what are some of your techniques or strategies to help you do that?

Bridgett McGowen: Six things, prioritization, time management, outsourcing and delegation, daily motivation, continuous learning, self care. With prioritization, I make sure I focus my time on what needs to have my hands on it, which really supports me with number 2 in time management. I’m going to use my calendars. I’m going to use my task management systems. I’m going to use the project management platforms to stay on top of commitments and make sure I don’t get overwhelmed, which leads to number 3. Numbers 1 and 2 lead to 3, outsourcing and delegating. Let me tell you something. One of my favorite books that someone hipped me to is entitled who, not how. Don’t try to figure it out yourself. Find the expert who knows how to do it because listen, it’s a win win. You’re partnering with somebody who already knows how to do this thing and loves to do this thing and is going to do it well and probably do it faster than it’ll take you to research, figure it out, revamp it, so on and so forth. Outsourcing and delegating. I lean on my team for support with tasks outside of my core expertise. 4, daily motivation. I read Matthew 6 every day. Daily motivation. I sit and I think about what is important, and a lot of things we focus on is not important. Yeah. This helps me also stay connected to my why. And then 5, learning all the time, whether it’s books, whether it’s podcasts, whether it’s networking conferences. I’m investing in growth. And then finally self care self care. Whether it’s trying to get my 10,000 steps in in the day, whether it’s going for a bike walk, a bike walk, a bike ride, whether it’s spending time with my my husband and son, whether it’s whether it’s playing a football with them. Yeah. You all got I always now. Right? It’s that self care, that self balance, and, you know, just really spending time with those who are most important to me. My best friend, Simone, how could I leave her out? But those are the 6 wings Yeah.

Rachel Cossar: That really get me through each day. That’s awesome. I we’re we’re gonna summarize that for our audience because I think the the thing that stands out for me the most there is the daily practice of it. Right? I think oftentimes people get caught in the well, certainly, now that we’re in this, like, new year. Right? It’s like, okay. The beginning of the year, I’m gonna do all these things and blah blah. And it’s like, no. If you don’t have, like, a daily structure that that is part of your, you know, part of the way that you think about going through any given day, it’s really hard it’s so easy to get kind of stampeded by all of the other things that are grabbing for our attention. It is. It is. You know, remember what’s important.

Bridgett McGowen: A lot of times, you know, we get on social media and we feel like we’re falling so short. Yeah. And and that is not the case because we’ll see this person is presenting here, and this person released this book, and this person is going here, and this for, and we feel like we need to do all these things that these 12 people we just those are 12 individual people. Do you. Yes. Don’t get overwhelmed. Don’t get sucked into the noise. Find your lane. And I’m not gonna say stay in it, but know your lane. And if you wanna, you know, exit and check out something, that’s cool. But get back in your lane and don’t stress out about what everybody else got going on because you’re a rock star. Yeah. Awesome. Well, listen, Bridget.

Rachel Cossar: Let’s let’s, let’s cap it off there because that’s such a beautiful message. But thank you so much for coming on the show, taking the time, sharing your insights and experience with our audience. Is there anything else that you wanted to share with our audience? And and in particular, where is the best way for people to get in touch with you directly and follow you? Yes. Great question.

Bridgett McGowen: The best way to connect with me is to go to connect with b.com. Connect with be.com. My podcasts are there on the microphone and convos on confidence. Links to my books are there. Links to social media are there. So connect with be.com is the best way. And then whatever is your jam, grab a book, send a friend connection, whatever speaks to you, I’m there for it. Awesome. Great.

Rachel Cossar: Thank you so much, Bridget, and thanks as always to our audience and community for joining us. We’ll see you next time.