7 things I do to speak like a pro on stage

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Hi, docs. Welcome to the Entre MD Podcast, where it's all about helping amazing physicians just like you. Embrace entrepreneurship so you can have the freedom to live life and practice medicine on your terms. I'm your host, Dr. Umna.

Well, hello. Hello my friends. Welcome back to another episode of the entremd podcast. I am super excited to record this episode because I am coming to you from Phoenix, Arizona, and I had spent the last weekend at a conference, the Brave Enough conference, hosted by Dr. Sasha Shilcutt. And I got to speak there on the rise of the physician leader. And it was a really great experience. But as always, I went through my own process of preparing for it and navigating the negative chatter and all of those things. And especially because people say you're a really great speaker. People are like, man, I mean, listening to your podcast is one thing, but experiencing you speaking live is a totally different experience and things like that. I wanted to come and talk about the process, how I prepared for it, how I handled fear, if there was fear, and all of those things. And I do that because I truly want to see physicians own their, you know, their spaces as great speakers. And I find that a lot of us are introverts. And, you know, whether we're introverts or extroverts, there's a lot of fear around public speaking. And I really want to demystify that. Right. And so that's the whole reason I'm coming here, to spill the beans and, you know, to really unpack these things that will help you own your own stages. Okay? So really great experience. And the thing is, maybe some of the people who are at the conference will find this so hilarious or will be shocked about some of the things I'm going to talk about, because what they would have seen was somebody who walked up confidently, owned the stage, killed her talk and all of that. Right? But I also, I want to always make sure that I share the behind the scenes, because that is what empowers you to realize that, you know, whatever it is that is holding you back, that is just part of the human experience. But we can overcome those things, right? And so I spoke at this conference, and, you know, I pulled out seven things that I did so I could own the stage, so I could overcome fear. Now, was there fear? I'll talk about that in a second. There was, but, you know, if you've listened to the podcast for any amount of time, you know what my relationship with fear is, right? I don't try to overcome it. I don't try to get rid of it, because I tried doing that for decades and it didn't work. I just don't let the fear vote anymore. Like, you can stay if you don't want to go away, but you're not going to stop me. All right, so these are seven things. Okay? So the first thing I did is I really owned my zone of genius, right? I owned my zone of genius. And really, the way I want you to think about this, and I'm going to use the story of the conference the entire time so you really get it, is, you know, I walked into, you know, this conference, I looked at who all the speakers were, and they're really great speakers, right? Cy waichman was there. There is, you know, Heather, who was a litigator for 21 years, you know, and now leans into all these things on advocacy. There's Jenny, who was, you know, about leadership and all of these things. Some. Some of them are written New York best time sellers and all of those kind of things. And it's easy to see that and go, like, while everything is covered or, you know, my voice is not needed here or what could I possibly have to say? And, you know, in that moment, I realized that I had leaned into what only who I am. And what that does is it really helps me celebrate other people. It really helps me enjoy, you know, experiencing their zone of genius. But I am very clear that I have My own zone of genius, right? And I lean into it and I leverage it. And so when it comes to speaking, really, when it comes to speaking is things like, I am able to really build a connection with the audience and. Right. And, you know, I'm not. You know, I think it's a lot of it has to do with actually being an introvert, because I lean into who are the people, what are their fears? What are the things that are stopping them, what are the things they're hoping to get out of this talk. I really lean into that. And so it's so much easier for me to connect. And my intention when it comes to connection is to activate people, right? Like, at the end of the day, you should be saying yes to something you used to say no to. You should be deciding to do something you used to be afraid of. Like, that's really that ability to activate. I've recognized it as something that's the zone of genius for me. I've recognized the ability to break down complex concepts, really complex concepts to simple things you can understand. And simple steps, three steps, five steps, and like, boom, let's go. Right? I know that's a zone of Gene. So, you know, I will not do a complicated talk like, that's just never going to happen, because that's not what I do. I've recognized that I understand the technology of speaking, right? Speaking for transformation. Not speaking for a standing ovation, which, that is good, and I've had those. But speaking for transformation, where a year later, somebody walks up to you and says, you know, you spoke last year. You said this and I did this, and this is what happened in my life. And I get that all the time, whether that's from the podcast or speaking on stage. In fact, at this, brave enough. I had spoken last year, and there are a number of people who saw me, and they're like, oh, my goodness, your talk last year, this is what I did. That is what I did. This is the breakthrough I had because of it, right? And so I understand that I have that. So I leverage that technology, you know, And a lot of times people ask me, like, okay, so where can I go learn to do that? And like, okay, I come join us in on trendy business school. This is part of what we do. But I own my zone of genius. And so. And if you. If you didn't listen to the episode, if you feel you're not good enough, it is such a wonderful episode, you should go. You should go listen to that right after this. But in that episode, I Talked about a thought. A thought. I am one of the best, right? And so when you own your zone of genius, you're saying, these people are amazing. They're all the best, and I am one of the best, right? And that was a thought that, you know, it served me. Even this last weekend, it served me as well. It's just, I am one of the best. I own my zone of genius. I can celebrate your zone of genius, but I own mine, right? So that's the first thing. The second thing is I prepare for the negative chatter. I prepare for it, and the reason is because, I mean, part of it is experience, right? I know that the closer I get to doing something that's either big or I haven't done before or any of those kind of things. I know the closer I get to it, the louder my inner critic will be, the louder the negative chatter will be. And so, you know, I'm going to Arizona. It's like, well, you know, what's your talk going to be like? Do you even talk about leadership? Which is so crazy because I am a leader and I raise leaders, right? And all of this stuff. But it wasn't really loud. It wasn't really loud because I've learned to drown out my inner critic quite a bit. But the closer I got to the talk, the more it was like, oh, well, with the way that you're dressed, or, oh, well, what if your talk doesn't go well? Oh, well, you know, people are so excited about your talk last year. What if this year they're like, wow, she was really good last year, but she kind of sucked this year, right? And as the speaker started going up, it's like, look at that one. She has a New York Times bestseller, and she's really killing it. What are you. You have to follow that. Like, how. What. What a letdown, right? Like, people are going to go from that high to your. Your talk. And the chatter just went on. And it. It helps that I've recognized that as separate from me, I'm very aware. I'm not criticizing myself. I'm very aware that this is just separate, right? This is separate from me. And I've learned to prepare for it. And so when that chatter starts coming, I smile and I'm like, I am so happy that these ladies are killing it on stage. I'm actually totally engaged in their talks. Like, right? Like engaged in their talks, listening to it, getting so much out of it, admiring the change they bring to the world. That's literally what I was doing while these women Were speaking knowing that I can celebrate them. And when I go on, I'm going to kill it because I'm one of the best, right? And so my thing was, wow, they are amazing. They are the best. And I am one of the best. And so I knew that it was coming and I prepared for it. And so the things I needed to tell myself, I had them. And really this time I think I did something I've never really done before, which is for the most part, I ignored it. Right? Like, I was like, yeah, there you go again, right. In a way. And I think that comes from a lot of experience, but I'm like, I'm one of the best. This is going to be so amazing. And it was amazing. So that's the second thing. Like, prepare for the negative chatter. And, and if you're at this, at this standpoint where it still affects you so much and you know, you feel like I'm going to go up there and do a poor job, I'm going to go up there and sabotage myself. If they're mantras or affirmations or things that you would do to handle that in the moment, because this was happening, there were three speakers before me, right? And I think it was two speakers and a break, a 15 minute break and then the third speaker. And so there's no time to go do some big thing, right? You need to be able to coach yourself on the spot. And, and so what are you going to tell yourself? What are you going to choose to think? What are the things you visualized about your talk, right? Have you visualized the audience loving your talk? The audience being so engaged in your talk? Have you visualized yourself showing up confidently? And all of that, you prepare, prepare for the negative chatter. So that's number two. Number three is focus less on yourself. If you can get this one point, it changes your business, it changes the way you show up on stages, changes all of that focus less on yourself. Your talk is never about you. Your talk is not about you delivering a good talk. Your talk is about helping somebody, right? And so focus less on yourself and more on your audience. It is not about you. So in that moment, the question is, can I help somebody? Right? Can I help somebody with my story? Can I help somebody with my framework? Can I help somebody? And the answer, of course, is yes, right? And so when you stand up there, help somebody, the more you think about you and you know, how do I look? And I'm not saying don't look good, right? Do your part to look good, but that's not going to stop your inner critic just from saying, oh, well, do you think this is appropriate? Some nonsense, but it's not. It's not about you. It is about the person who's listening to you. It is about the fact that they can go out and change their lives forever. It is about the fact that one thing you can say to them can help them get unstuck and stay in medicine. It is about all of that. And, and so for me, I leaned in on these are 300amazing women physicians. And for some reason, physicians have been sold this lie that you're not leaders, you're not entrepreneurs, your voices should not be heard, stay in your lane, all of these kind of things. And I was like, imagine, imagine these women being free to go on and become the leaders they are wired to be, they have developed themselves to be. And all of that. I was so zoned in on that. And the ripple effect it will create throughout the physician community. And not on myself, not on myself at all. Okay. And so you want to focus less on yourself. Think about the things that will make you nervous. How I look, how I sound, what people are going to think about me, what people tell me afterwards. All of those things are distractions. They are pure distractions. Your goal is to focus less on yourself and more on your audience, more on giving them a win. That's, that's what your, your goal is. Number four is, you know, talk to the attendees before your talk. And in talking to your attendees before your talk, you can, you can lean into your audience even more. You can make your talk even more relevant. It doesn't mean you change your talk and change your slides, but in the stories you use or the things you appeal to or the examples you give, you're able to make it even more relevant because you know who you're talk, talking to. It's hard to serve an audience you don't know at all. Now, let me put this out here, because maybe you're going for a conference and you're going to be the first speaker, and you arrive the night before and you don't really get a chance to talk to the audience. If you can't talk to the audience, really spend time talking to the organizers, right? Like, what are the challenges your audience is facing? What are, what are the problems they're having at work? Where are they getting stuck? What do they want? And the more you know your, your audience, the better your talk will be. With the same slides, with the same concepts and all of that, but you're just able to tilt it and direct it where it hits them on their heart, right? And so I had the opportunity. I got there the night, the day before, so I had the opportunity to talk to a number of doctors, and some of them told me, you know, stories about how the last talk impacted them and what resonated with them. Some of them share the challenges. I could hear the stories of the challenges they were having and things like that. And so it. It made me show up even more confidently with my talk, and it made me even adapt it, so it was even better at hitting home for them. So talk to the attendees, right? And you might be saying, but I'm an introvert, and so am I, right? I am your evidence that you can do all these things as a. As an introvert. Okay? So that is number four. Number five is know your talk in and out, okay? Know your talk in and out. You don't want to lean on your slides in any kind of way. You want to know your talk. And this is important because technology is technology, right? And you don't want to put yourself in a position where, you know, if it freezes, right? If the screen freezes or the computer freezes or something happens or they loaded the wrong slides or whatever. The. Then your talk is done, right? So you want to walk around with your talk. You want to be. You want your slideshow to be on the inside of you, and so that. That way you can deliver your talk without skipping a beat. And so for this conference, my. The screen, I think the computer froze at some point, and even though it was for a few minutes or so, but I knew my talk. I knew what slide follows what slide and all of those things. And so once I found that it was frozen, I just went on to the next slide in my brain and kept talking till the slide started, till the computer started working again. And, you know, if I didn't know that maybe would have destabilized me. I would have had to look for a new story, make up a new thing, and all of those things. But it didn't matter at all because I knew my talk inside and out. All right, Number six, network afterwards, okay? This is a great way of getting. Of getting feedback. Network afterwards. And so after the talk, I think there was another talk after mine. And after that was a break, and I hung around. Now, you guys know I'm an introvert, right? And so I had socialized the night before. I had had this, you know, morning I had spoken and all of that stuff. And my natural bands would have been to go to my room, right, and go be with myself. But I did network, and, you know, a lot of people walked up to me and they're like, oh, my goodness, I cried. I cried during your talk. They were happy tears, but I cried. And, you know, it just dawned on me that I'm not stuck, that I can rise. I've been hiding as a. As a leader. I even have a leadership role, but I've been hiding. And now I know what to do to show up, right? And there are many people who came up and said things like that. But is it for an ego rub? It's not for that. It's for you to find out what resonated with people. And I listened to a lot of stories, but the next time, I'll ask more questions, too. Like, you know, what about it? What are you going to do differently, right? And just what it does is it gives you a feel for what resonates. Because the principle is this. You do more of what works, right? You do more of what works. And the theme that came up again and again and again, I'll tell you, right? This could be a whole podcast episode, but I'll give it to you for free, okay? But I gave an analogy because, again, this is that thing of paying attention to the audience. This was not part of my talk, right? What I'm about to tell you was not part of my talk at all. But when people talk about owning their value, then this thing will come up like, but we should be humble. We should be humble. We should be humble. And I had this analogy that I thought about, and I'm like, what we call humility is really not humility at all, right? And so I want you to think about this. Think about there being three modes of transportation, right? So you have. You have a Honda Civic, you have a Rolls Royce, and you have a Falcon Jet, okay? And if you think about them, the Honda Civic is the cheapest, and the Rolls Royce and the Falcon Jet. And I liken physicians to Rolls Royce, right? And so I'm like, okay, you're a Rolls Royce. Let's say you're a Rolls Royce, okay? If you're a Rolls Royce and you show up as a Honda Civic, that is not humility. That is you diminishing yourself. That is you saying that you're less than who you are, right? That is. That is. That is not humility at all. That is debasing yourself. That is showing up as less than what you're worth. And of course, it's just a mess, okay? If you are a Rolls Royce and you show up as a Falcon Jet, then that's pride, right? That means you have an overestimation of yourself, okay? Overestimation of yourself. You're not a Jet, you're a Rolls Royce. Humility is being a Rolls Royce, owning the fact that you're a Rolls Royce and still being nice to everybody else. Right? It doesn't make you mean, it doesn't make you look down on people. It doesn't make you do any of that. But you know that your Rolls Royce should know that it's a Rolls Royce. And in the same way as physicians, we should own who we are. We should own that we're physicians. We should own that it's not an easy field to get into or even complete training in. We should own our expertise. We should own our board certified, everything, like triple board certified, everything, like, own all of that. Own your expertise. Own the certifications, the experience, the expertise that you've developed beyond that. Own all of it. And so I noticed that this whole humility thing kept coming up. And so somewhere in my talk, I stood, stopped, and I. I painted this picture and I'm like, be humble. But being humble means you're a Rolls Royce. And you know you're a Rolls Royce. You own that you're a Rolls Royce. And a lot of people, I want to say 65, 70% of the people who came up to me were like, oh, my goodness, I'm a Rolls Royce. I have totally been showing up as a Honda Civic. I've been diminishing myself, and I'm not doing that anymore. Right? And so that gives me a feeling for encouraging people to show up as who they. Who they are, Owning the expertise, not being afraid to do that, not feeling like they're prideful if they show up as who they are, that. That's something that's really important. And I may have other stories, I may have other ways of maybe incorporating my talks and all of that, but because I stopped to network afterwards, I found that out. And also because I stopped to network, there are many people like, will you come speak at my institution? Could you come on my podcast? Could we work together? So many opportunities came, but if I didn't at work, I would have just, you know, walked away, and that would have been that. Right? Okay. And then the last thing. And the introverts will love this. The last thing, especially if you're an introvert, after you're done with your talk and after you're done with the networking and after you're done with all of that. Honor who you are and take the time and go and recharge, right? And so after that was done and I did lunch and all of those things, I went to my room, spent a few hours by myself. It's been a few hours by myself. Recognizing that that is. It's not draining. Like, I feel bad when I do it. I love being on stage, actually. I love speaking at this point, which is so strange for an introvert. Then I love networking. I love talking with people. I love seeing the light bulbs go off. I love seeing the hope, and I love seeing that they're like, okay, I'm going to do 1, 2, 3, right? Once I get back to work on Monday. I love seeing all of that. But I also honor the fact that takes from me. It's not energizing for me. And so I go restore my energy. When I was kind of showing up on stage, these are the things I did. And I chose to use this to kind of make it really practical. But these are the things that I do to prepare so that every time that I show up on stage, I can dominate on stage, right? I can. I can give the value that I come there to give. And those are the seven things. So on your zone of genius, prepare for the negative chatter. Focus less on yourself and more on the audience. Talk to the attendees, know your talk in and out, network afterwards. And if you're an introvert, go recharge, okay? And so what I want you to do is I want you to realize, right? Like, fear can still show up, Negative chatter can still show up, but you can still dominate, right? And I want you to say yes. Like, there, maybe there are speaking opportunities you said no to. Not because you don't have the bandwidth for it, or it's not relevant to your brand or to your business, but because you're afraid. And I want you to practice saying yes, okay? I want you to say yes. I want you to start getting that mileage. You are a physician. Your stories are so important. You. Your expertise being spread out is so important. Your message is so important, and people have things to say, but your voice is still needed. That's why you're here, right? Like, that's why you're here. And so, for instance, even at a Brave Enough conference, the speaker who went right before me spoke on leadership, right? And we even had the same definition of leadership, right? We use the same one from John Maxwell, that leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. But we had two completely different perspectives. And so guess what? Her Perspective is so valid and it's so needed. But my perspective is so valued and is so needed. Your voice is needed. So say yes. Say yes. I would love to see a space where as physicians, when I look at business conferences, leadership conferences, tech conferences, all of that, we're owning our voices in all of those spaces because our voices need to be there, right? So say yes. And if you decide, man, I really want to get really good at speaking, and I want to learn how to use speaking to grow my business or grow my brand. I want to get comfortable. I want the accountability so I do it long enough so I get comfortable doing it and all of that. Then come check out the on trendy business school. Okay? Because that is. It is the number one way to grow a business. We talk about it a lot. We talk about how to do your own masterclasses, events, how to be guests, how to nail your talk, all of those things. The signature talk framework, the rock, the stage formula, all of those things. And so come check it out. Okay. Entremd.com forward/business. That's entremd.com forward/business. And we would love to have you. We have actually, there was a conference and someone posted this in the private group for the entrepreneur Business School. There's a conference where is for physicians. I want to say it was physicians, coaches, and five of the speakers, Five of the speakers were students from the ontremd business school. We're like, whoa, that is so crazy. So fun, but so crazy, right? And so come check it out. Okay. There is a space for you, and I'm just so excited for where we're heading as physicians. I'm so excited for the change that we're bringing. And I am looking forward to seeing you on stage, hearing about how your talk created so much transformation and created opportunities for you and growth in your business and all of that. Like, I'm really looking forward to it. So thank you so much for listening. I believe this is such a powerful episode that I. I do want you to take a snapshot of this, a screenshot of it, and I want you to post it on social media and tell people, hey, this is an amazing talk on how to, you know, get ready to give a talk and all of that. I want you to go take a listen to it. Okay. All right. So thank you so much. Thank you for being a part of the Entre MD movement. Together we are changing the dynamic for the physician community, and we are going to build these lives where we get to practice medicine and live lives on our terms. And and I'll see you, my friend, on the next episode of the ontremd podcast.

Hey, if you love listening to the ontreamd podcast, I want to invite you to join Entre MD On Demand. It is my signature subscription program that gives you access to a library of business courses designed to help you do one thing as a physician entrepreneur, and that is to thrive. Just head out to entre md.com on demand and I love to have you join us.

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