Launched New Podcast About Professional Speakers and Storytelling

In addition to running Convince & Convert, I am a professional speaker and give many presentations each year on marketing and customer experience. I’m even in the professional speaking Hall of Fame (alas, no bronze bust included).

As a speaker, I have discovered that one of the elements that differentiate a good on-stage performance from a great one is the stories: how relevant are they to that audience, and how richly are they told.

Why are some stories better than others, and why are some storytellers better as well?

This week, I launched STANDING OVATION to find out.

Where Professional Speakers Tell the Stories of Their Stories

Each episode of my new podcast, Standing Ovation, works like this: I introduce the episode, and then the audience listens to an actual signature story, told on-stage by a professional speaker. When the story concludes, I interview that speaker about how the story was found, developed, polished, and perfected.

The tagline of the show is “where professional speakers tell the stories of their stories” because it is precisely that: a deep and detailed discussion about the professional speaking and the art of storytelling within.

I learn something new about the art of speaking in every episode. I can truthfully state that I am a demonstrably better speaker just by recording the first few episodes of Standing Ovation, and I am THRILLED to bring this show to you.

Insights from Standing Ovation

A few tips I’ve already discovered recording the first few Standing Ovation episodes:

• There are huge differences in how speakers find stories. Many just “happen” to the speaker, and she or he eventually decides to use them on stage.
• Even the best speakers consistently invest in professional coaching.
• Speakers’ perfect stories vary widely: some try new things in front of an audience each time, while others polish on paper or in rehearsals.
• The best speakers make themselves relatable to the audience by telling a personal, humanizing story early in the presentation.

One of the other interesting elements of this show is that we only hear the story, we don’t see it. Thus, you can really lock into the tale and “feel” how it works, without being able to watch the speaker act out the story or their slides (although most of these stories are performed without many, if any, slides).

The guests on the program are leading lights among professional speakers. Here are the first three episodes (all available now):

New episodes are released every Monday, so binge them all.

If you are a speaker, hire speakers, would like to be a speaker, or simply want to become a better communicator and storyteller, this is the podcast for you.

You can find Standing Ovation here, or wherever you get podcasts. I’d love you to give it a listen.

p.s. – Speaking of audio, if you have Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant devices, enable the “Holiday Hit History” skill/app for a special surprise from me and Convince & Convert! Go to HolidayHitHistory.com if you need instructions.

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