Why do People Pay Attention When a Quietly Confident Woman speaks? Presentation Review 14: Diana Dimitrova

Do you struggle with fear, doubt and worry in your public speaking? Do you find it difficult to connect with your audience and deliver presentations that leave a lasting, positive, unforgettable impact? If yes, then let's dive in the world of public speaking and presentation skills with your host, Eric Edmeads. Welcome to the Unforgettable podcast with guest host David Wood.

My name is David T.S. wood with my co host and great friend, Eric Edmead. Eric, how's the weather?

Oh, I find it so cold here at the moment in Toronto. But, you know. And how did you get here today?

Well, you know, I came anyway. This is going to be a great deal. We're actually doing a speaker review and this subject, you know, sometimes, you know, when you're in front of a room or you're telling a story, sometimes it's educational and sometimes you hear a story that makes you want to be a better human being. And I think this is one of those stories, right?

Yeah. So our little humor about how we got here in the weather has to do with the topic of small talk. And the fact is, is that like, small talk is about the worst use of oxygen or carbon dioxide you could imagine. And in this talk, we're going to get a perspective on small talk and the depth of real communication. And delivered really beautifully.

Beautifully. We'll talk about that afterwards. And you know, just understanding again, if you haven't traveled much, listen for the cultural nuances. I love that in that culture where small talk isn't tolerated. I love it. Let's roll it.

Thank you. Thank you, Eric, for the joke I learned this week. We need to be prepared always and always for something unexpected. I think I would deliver now something unexpected for Eric. Eric. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Diana. I'm very glad to be here today to talk to you in the next 60 minutes about the 60 most important concepts in economics I learned in my education. If you manage to survive the next 60 minutes. Well, we'll see then 60 minutes later. Oh, I think not. Everyone is dead by PowerPoint. Great. Okay, then you deserve to hear something else. I will do something easier than economics. Let's do small talk. You know small talk, right? Have you had today some nice small talk? Show me. Yeah. Some of you? Yeah, everyone had some nice small talk. Great. Well, 20 years ago, I made my first experience with small talk. I was a Bulgarian student visiting Germany. During my first job experience, I started in one of the biggest German corporations. And I had this very important German boss. He came one day to me and said, nyala you need to learn to do small talk. Small talk? What is small talk? What, you don't know small talk? When you go in the lift with some important person, you need to do small talk. Oh, I've never heard of that. Well, then go and educate yourself. Okay, yes, I will go. I will go. And then I didn't know what to do because I had no money, I had no coach, I had no trainings. And I thought, let's go to the library. It's for free. And I went to the library. In the library, I had this big bag, and I put every single book on small talk there. And I dragged it home with me, put everything on my table, and diligent as I was, I started studying carefully. Book number 1, 2, 10, 20. And then I learned what it means smarter. You talk with someone, you don't say much, and in the end, you're both very happy. That's a strange concept. It sounds like magic. You talk, you don't say much, and you're both happy. I never learned of this in my home country of Bulgaria. It's strange. When we met people, we talk about our passions, our hurts, our families, what bothered us at home or what we wanted to become one day and what we wanted to visit and how we wanted to grow. We never talked about the weather or the next holiday on Mallorca. We talked on other things. So that was very interesting to me, this magic concept of small talk. And I spent many years learning. I learned and I learned, and sometimes I failed. But then I learned again, and I grew. I became, at some point, leader myself. I had several scholarships. I had all these things that the guy from my past had. And then I realized some things. And if today I look back to the small girl 20 years ago, what would I tell her? Diana, do not do small talk. Do big talk. Do important talk. Create impact. Do not make yourself small. Make yourself big. That's what counts in life. Do not make yourself small.

Deanna, I love your topic, but more so, I love how present you were, because to be able to come up here like that and then to throw in something special for Eric was probably not rehearsed. And so I think that was really great. To show how present you are in the moment. Yeah.

On every level. There's just. You communicate with so many things, you know, so many parts. It's. It's a. It's a wonderful communication. But I want to move to Bulgaria. You know, it's kind of like your message is one that I think resonates around the world and the way you talk about it, and it's such a. A gorgeous delivery. I don't know how to say it to you, but it's just very special. I was entranced. I. It may be. Really think about when was the last time I did small talk? I don't want to do it again. I want to go back and talk to myself. So when that message lands like that and I'm already thinking about, all right, make sure I don't do that anymore. Right. But thank you.

Yes. Very, very well done. In fact, after you did it this morning, it was funny. I just bumped into a few people, and every time I heard a little bit of small talk, I'm like, oh, they need to hear your talk. Like, it's. It's. It's there. It's really well done. I think there's a book deal in here, there's a little documentary, and you go, you got to make it happen. This was really excellent. You chose again, just as I said last, the style from everything, you know, fractals, every part of you, the way you chose to look today, the way you chose to walk, the way you chose to speak, it was all on brand. It was really excellent. And also, kind of further to Sherry's point, when you find that authenticity and you find that trust of yourself where you don't have to remember the words, then that means you can go up there and ad lib and throw in fun and play like that, and that. That sense of mirth. Wonderful. Well done. Thank you.

Did you like my 60 slides?

I loved your 60 slides. I remember all of them. Thank you so much.

There's so much to like about Diana's presentation there. But, you know, and she communicated in so many different ways. Right. So much range.

Yeah, she uses a very wide range of vocal range. Like, we talk a lot about that, that deep feeling, kinesthetic moments, but she goes into these very colorful and visual expressions of volume and her physicality moving around and. And showing all that stuff. She's done a great job of making the whole thing very Eng.

Yeah. And I think what's important to remember, you know, at Speaking Academy, this is five days. I mean, you and I both love telling jokes, and I think how many times and how we practice and how things get better and stories do, too. Stories I've listened to, stories you've told, and you kind of listening for those cues from the audience, and you make these adjustments. Talk about the evolution of a story quickly, just for those people listening right now.

Well, this story is a really great case of that is that when you tell a story in the traditional speaking world, and the way it's often spoken in or the way it's often taught in sort of the traditional world is that you write the story out and then you memorize it and then you go deliver it and you perfect it. And all that, in my opinion, does is create this sort of plastic layer of inauthenticity. It doesn't really work. What really does work and what you could see with Diana here and what you're seeing the result of is that she told that story, and then she got audience impression, she got audience reaction, and she got directed, conscious feedback. And each step of the way, this story starts to improve. At no point is she trying to memorize it. There's no point is she writing out a script because she's sharing a life experience. She's just finding more engaging ways to share it. And it just gets slightly funnier and slightly more engaging with that practice. As long as there's great feedback.

Yeah. And that leads us to this idea that, you know, the speaker nation philosophy, you know, your story really is what you just said. It's about your life experience and every single person listening. Your life experience has so much wisdom, so much gold, and so much that can impact or affect other people. We like to call it the Rembrandt in the. In the attic. And I truly. And we truly can't wait to hear yours come to life.

So that's it for today's episode of Unforgettable. Head on over to itunes or wherever you listen and subscribe to the show. One lucky listener every single week who posts a review on itunes will win a chance in the grand prize drawing to win a private $25,000 VIP day with Eric Edmeads himself. Be sure to head on over to unforgettable show and pick up a free copy of Eric's gift and join us on the next episode.

It.