56: One Year of Confident Communications: The Best of the Podcast

It was one year ago this week that I launched the Confident Communications Podcast. And here we are one year later and one year wiser. So this week I'm celebrating that year of helping people become better communicators in their roles as leaders, executives, business owners, directors or managers. Anyone who wants to feel confident communicating in the modern age. So this week I'm highlighting the top podcasts of the year and the major takeaway from each. So in other words, why I think that episode clicked. Take a listen. Hey there. Welcome back to the Confident Communications Podcast. I'm your host, Molly McPherson and whoo. What a year. My work was busy, busy. My kids kept me busy, busy. But this podcast has been absolutely amazing. The feedback, the downloads. Hey people. I was shocked by the amount of downloads. I am so happy that I took the leap and decided to start a podcast. One I want to thank Pat Flynn and his team for putting together the PowerUp Podcasting Bootcamp for I attended it last September in San Diego and Pat was a guest on episode 40. Where are your superfans? The easy way to find them. I'm going to name a number of episodes in today's podcast and you will find all of the links in the show notes. So he spoke to me on that podcast episode about his book Super Fans and we also discussed this awesome boot camp that I went to. It helped me launch the podcast was over the course of a weekend and two short months later, here we are with this podcast. I met a amazing people there and some who are dear friends of mine to this day. One year later. So this episode I wanted to highlight the top podcasts of the past year and highlight a valuable takeaway or two or three from each. I'm not going to pick the best takeaway since that's subjective, but instead we'll point out the tips, the advice, the takeaways that elicited the most feedback or response. So whether it was online through Twitter or LinkedIn, or someone reaching out to me via text, or someone in person coming up and talking to me about the podcast, or even a person I might just meet on a plane that just happens to say, hey, I know you. You have that podcast. So when people ask me why I created a podcast, and in fact this came up at lunch just this week, I spoke in Newport, Rhode island, and I spoke at one of the Newport mansions and hands down, it was the nicest venue I have ever spoken at in my entire career. It was the Rose Cliff. It was one of the mansions that also was used as a backdrop in The Great Gatsby, True lies, Amistad, and 27 dresses, they were all filmed there. And, well, there was me. But anyway, after lunch, I was asked why I launched a podcast. And I was sitting with my host from Discover Newport and we had talked about over our salmon salads what the benefit of a podcast was. And it was nice. It was a mix of Gen Xers and Millennials. Millennial podcast, by the way. But the reason why I told them is one, I just, I love to teach. By nature, I'm a teacher. I'm a coach. You know, I'm a media coach. I'm also, you know, I was an adjunct professor. But even more than that, I love to learn. And I did that from so many of my guests. And that's why I just wanted to take those learnings and impart them onto you, the listener. So I'm going to list the top five episodes. All of them are with guests, and those are always the popular ones, naturally, because they're going to listen to them and share them. But my second highest rated episode was not with a guest. It was a solo episode. But. So I'm gonna save that one for last. But I'm gonna start with the top show of season one first. Like what? Why are you starting with number one? Well, because it was one of my special editions. You know, I do special edition episodes that are based off of current events. In the past, I've spoken about Jeffrey Epstein, Elizabeth Holmes, Matt Lauer, Tony Robbins. But this one particular break, the top spot. And it was no surprise because everyone is fascinated by the person who I highlighted in this episode. It wasn't a breaking news story this time, but it was a topical news story. That episode was released on July 16, 2019, 20 years after this event, Friday, July 16, 1999. For many of you, I assume you may not remember what you were doing that night or what you were doing that day, but many of you, I'm sure, remember what you were doing the following day. And the moment you heard that John F. Kennedy Jr. S plane went missing, he took off from Teterboro Airport, New Jersey, on the evening of July 16th with his wife Carolyn and her sister, Lauren Bissette. And when they didn't arrive at Martha's Vineyard that evening, a call was made to the Coast Guard. And by the morning of the 17th, it was an international news story. This week on the podcast, a behind the scenes perspective from the search, recovery and press coverage of the JFK junior Plane crash from insiders who were there. You'll hear from the Person who received word of the call from JFK Jr. S family that his plane was overdue, and a radio reporter who was one of the lone members of the press who was broadcasting live from the waters off the coast of Martha's Vineyard during the search efforts for the Confident Communications podcast. I'm your host, Molly McPherson, and I was that radio reporter. That weekend in Martha's Vineyard left an indelible mark with me. I will never forget what it was like to be on the waters off of Martha's Vineyard that weekend on a Massachusetts environmental police boat, looking for what we knew at the time. But what the public didn't know were the remains of JFK Jr. His wife and his sister in law. I received a lot of feedback from that podcast. People who remembered that weekend, they remember watching the television coverage. People who were working at the Coast Guard Command center with my guest, retired Captain Russ Webster of the U.S. coast Guard. He was the commander of Station Woods Hole in Falmouth, just across the water from Martha's Vineyard. One listener told me that they happened to be vacationing in Martha's Vineyard on Martha's Vineyard the weekend it happened. And he was a reporter with the Indianapolis Star at the time and was filing stories from Martha's Vineyard. Fortuitous timing to be a reporter. So like him, like me, I was a reporter living on Cape Cod and I woke up to the news just like everyone else. But the big difference is that I happen to be living on Cape Cod and it was easy for me to be able to get on a boat and start reporting on a story that turned out to be one of the biggest stories to ever take place in Massachusetts in modern times. Now, onto the list, in no particular order, I'm going to highlight the guests. These were some of the top guests on the show by way of downloads and feedbacks. All the guests I had on the episodes on the podcast, they were close in numbers, definitely, but the reason why I chose these is because I found that they took very valuable tips and shared them with the listeners. And some that were very quick and easy and I received a lot of feedback from it. So that's the reason why I chose them. So I just wanted to remind you all of these great episodes first. And this one was one of my favorites because it was right when I started the podcast. I think she may have even been my first guest or one of my first guests. I learned a tip from this guest that I have used every single time I get in front of a room. It's from episode 18, the Secret to Being a Great Speaker 1 with Gina Raison. Is there any trick where you can almost reset your brain or try to reset to get the calm you back? Like if you're thrown by something, how can you get back on track?

Okay, so I'm going to quote a fabulous voice teacher who's no longer with us, Dr. Christopher Rosely, who said, salvation has brought a breath away.

Oh, I love that. I can see why you like that quote.

Yeah, it doesn't matter what happened. You can be interrupted by something. I mean, the podium could fall over, I mean, God forbid, but something, things are always going to happen unexpectedly. You know, you could be prepared, look like a million dollars, like just know your content inside and out. But if the guy who broke your heart 10 years ago walks in, you're gonna take a breath.

And someone would say, why? Why did you.

Exactly. Whatever, you might just, you know, be suddenly possessed with the desire to throw a clipboard. But whatever it is, things can derail you at any moment. You have to acknowledge your humanity and just take a breath, collect yourself and move on.

Just take a breath. I do this like I said before, every single talk I give. Gina told us that if you take a visible breath in front of the room, not only does your body react and calm itself, the same effect happens to your audience. You will see them take that breath as well. And I do. And I received so much feedback on this episode and the popularity of it speaks to the statistic that up to 75% of the population has a fear of speaking in public. And that's why you will want to take a listen to this entire episode if you fall into that 75%. Listening to Gina was like a free session on with a speech coach. Another popular episode is one that I received a lot of in person feedback where people told me, hey, I listened to that episode and the numbers were very, very high. And it was with my guest, Lara Curry. She spoke about conflict in the workplace, which I think, you know, no surprise, it was popular. Everybody has it. Her episode, how to handle a difficult conversation, it was jam packed with helpful advice. So many people told me that they used the tips that she offer in this episode. Laura is a speaker and a trainer, so she teaches professionals in high stress, high stakes fields and how they can weather difficult times. And she's also a newsy like me, so we connect on social media a lot. And so when a big news story happens, she's one of the first people I hear from. And her voice, if you listen, is so melodic in this Episode, we explored how to ask yourself the right questions for before responding to someone, before you become too emotional. She offered tips on how to be less emotional, how men and women communicate differently in times of stress, and why we need to retrain ourselves in basic communication techniques. Here she speaks about triggers.

Absolutely. Physical, verbal or emotional or content. Maybe we're talking about a subject matter that I don't want to talk about. I find it very stressful. And the other person just like, no, I'm going to talk about finances or, you know, whatever it is. Some, some people are really triggered right now about politics, even just the thought of politics. And it's just like, oh, here we go.

We learn what they are. Now let's learn about the genders and how triggers affect them.

A trigger is just an automatic and visceral response that you are unaware of. So it usually will show up in someone's face or it's just a shift in tone or an increase in speed in the way that someone's talking. It's an automatic sh. That's coming from a visceral place that's bringing up an emotional reaction. So most triggered reactions are around something like a word or the way that someone says something. As a woman, I think that we all have a couple of triggering words where someone will say, you know, honey or sweetie or, you know, that kind of the diminutive words that trigger us.

Automatically and of course how they feel.

So it's always a visceral reaction and if it's happening to me, it's going to be physical. It always shows up somewhere. It's a tightening in your chest or, you know, a heaviness on your shoulders or, you know, stomach. Exactly, exactly. It shows up physically and all of a sudden you are defensive. Yes. Why are you defensive? Where's that coming from? That's first of all, right away, how you know you've been triggered.

Laura shared with us what to do when these triggers happen. So you can listen to the full episode for a more in depth explanation. But in short, you want to slow down. Calming yourself can squelch any, any trigger moment that you see on the horizon. My next guest. Man, I love this guy. Brad Phillips. He is Mr. Media Training, but now he is known as the head of the throughline group. And his episode was how to nail your next media interview and it was released in May of 2019. Brad Phillips is an author and a media trainer and he is someone that I have followed for years on Twitter. And the knowledge that he has spans decades. So he worked in journalism. He worked at ABC, worked for Nightline, CNN's Reliable Sources and others. And his book is the one that I consider the Media Training Bible, and it's called the Media Training Bible 101. Things you absolutely, positively need to know before your next interview. I've included a link in the show notes, a few highlights from Brad, and the first, what he sees from people out there who want to learn more about media training. What's the key?

You know, one of the things that we see a lot when people come into our sessions is somebody who is very compelling, very engaging when they sit down at the table and start talking with us. And one of the things I like to do when somebody first comes into the training room is just chat with them, because ultimately what I want to do is get a sense of what their baseline is. Just when they're not trying to do something on camera, when they're not on a stage giving a speech, how do they present? What qualities do they lead with that are engaging and that might be very engaging to an audience?

Let me ask you a question right here. I have to interject because you just said that most of the people in your training are engaging and compelling. Most of the people in my training, I find, lack it, and they know they need it. So are you getting savvy communicators right off the bat, or are you identifying something that's compelling or engaging in them that might come off on camera?

Well, that's a. Thank you for clarifying that. I think what I'm seeing is in their natural. If somebody is in some way inhibited the moment they're on a stage or the moment that a camera, a camera's light turns red, that record light comes on often. I saw a more engaging version of them when they were just at the table chatting with me. Where are you from? Where have you worked? So whether somebody might objectively call that person engaging and charismatic or not, there is often a different version of the person that I'm seeing when they're in their natural state, when they're just talking.

So Brad offers remedies for how to be charismatic on camera, how to be the person that you are off camera. You want to try and tap into your authentic you. It's not easy, but it's powerful when it can be captured on video. Now, the next tip was my favorite because, full disclosure, I swiped it from them as soon as I heard it because it resonated with me so much. It's pretty quick, but it packs a powerful punch.

And if anything happens that was not in their mental script coming in. They're going to be completely thrown and the audience will see it. People, very few of us, and I include myself in that group, are, are gifted at being able to memorize a script and give it to our audience in a connected way that doesn't feel like it's memorized. And that just crushes any connection you could have with the audience. So I guess the, the first thing I would say, the first tip is strive for connection, not perfection.

I love that line. It is all about the connection. Thank you. Brad Phillips from the Throughline group. That was an amazing episode. Next, someone who is a part of the mutual admiration society made up of Brad Phillips and myself. It was with Jean Mazur. And Jean is a familiar face on television news. So she was an anchor and correspondent for CNN and ABC News. A winner of two Emmy Awards, two CNN Peabody Awards and the Edward R. Murrow Award. She is no slouch when it comes to news. And on our chat, it was episode 27 6. We spoke about how to be a great spokesperson, A reporter's perspective from Jean Mve. Now, Jean has a very unique perspective on how to be a great spokesperson because for one, she's a great reporter. As I mentioned in the episode, when I worked for Fema in Washington D.C. she was the homeland correspondent for CNN. I knew her socially and I discussed an event where we were at the Canadian embassy and we were just talking about things, you know, life, whatever, as people do over drinks. And then we'd led into fema and the next thing I knew, Jean was wearing her reporter's hat. I could tell I was in the middle of an interview. She is that good. So we dove into the state of the media as it is today. And some of it still resonates now as what we talked about in May. But she also spoke about how to take the fear out of talking to the person. Press through preparation and for being very, very proactive. So showing us how to get ahead of the story and why that's always a better tactic than preparing a canned response. Gene is an expert at sussing out spokespeople who do not offer the whole story. Take a listen. How do you know what is the flag that's telling you? This is just a standard talking point that I want to get beyond. When do you know you can push to get to that real answer? Sometimes it's because you have other information. You have done your reporting. You have a broader context. You're not just relying on what that.

Person in front of you is saying.

So that sometimes is what informs you. Other times it's something about their demeanor.

Particularly in the eyes.

Reporters are expert at reading body language. Tell me what you're looking for in the eyes. Tell me. Eyes that shift, eyes that glaze. They're covering or they're holding or they're reciting something that they've memorized. Oh, interesting, Interesting. Is there a. Okay, so in the eyes, what other gesture are you looking for when you know they're. They're hiding something or withholding information? So I took a course once on micro expressions. I'm not going to be able to.

Dredge out of my memory bank the name of the guy in California who developed this methodology. But his thesis was that there were.

Tiny little things that people did, little blinks or head motions that would clue.

You in to when people were telling a lie.

Oh, isn't that good? So, speaking of, my number one podcast episode of the year, excluding the JFK Junior podcast, was released in February of this year. Episode 16, how to spot a Liar. In that episode, I shared all the common reasons why people lie. Which gender is more likely to lie, the lies that each gender will tell, and what the gestures are. Which ones can we spot that can be misconstrued as lying, and which ones are the dead giveaways for lies. So why being a lie detector? A human lie detector can come in handy. I got so much feedback on this episode, but of course it wasn't from people telling me that they wanted to learn about spotting a liar. It's really about how to learn not to be one or how to get away. Being a liar gave away all the tells. I also got a lot of feedback online when people were listening about the aspect of gender and which gender lies more. Now, numerous research papers contend that women become more comfortable telling lies than men do. However, when they tell more serious lies, women describe themselves as as having more guilt and more anxiety and being more fearful about it than men. So are men bigger liars than women because they tell bigger lies? The real answer is this. It really depends on the destructive effect of the lie being told. I also spent time discussing the tells, the indicators for how to spot a liar like this. Now, next is the timing. A true emotional indication is when an expression is simultaneous. So in other words, when someone who is pretending to be outraged, they may cross their arms first and then they'll scowl. Whereas if someone were to be truthfully angry, the two would happen simultaneously. Right? And this. And here's the reason why liars tend to rehearse their words, but not their gestures. Oh, did you hear that? Think about it. So when someone is lying and they're telling you a story, it could be even a whopper of a story. They're going to spend all their prep time on the story and the words, but they're never going to think about the gestures that accompany the words, right? Gestures. Who knew? I'll tell you who knew. My listeners, that's who. If you listened, you found out that information. And I have kept this information ever since then. Then one of the easiest way to spot a liars, you can look them in the eye, but also look at their hands, see what they're doing. This was such a popular episode that I've decided to bring it back for season two with more tips on how to spot a liar. Liar 2.0, I guess. Liars, people love to spot them, I guess. Or they want to know how to do it. I want to thank all of my guests for joining me in season one of the Confident Communications podcast. I learned so, so much from them and I hope you did as well. And I know many of you did because many of you told me, or many of you tweeted me or reached out on LinkedIn. If there was a particular episode that spoke to you or stood out, please let me know. You can find me on LinkedIn, on Twitter, on Instagram, and on Facebook. Look for the Confident Communications Podcast Facebook page Next season, more guests, more valuable tips, and more insight for becoming a modern age communicator. That's all for this week. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Confident Communications Podcast and for all the episodes you listened to this past year. Thank you for your feedback, thank you for your tweets, your comments on LinkedIn, and thank you for your reviews like this one that I received on Apple Podcasts. It's from adoring Alice. Wonderful podcast. Molly is who I want to be when I grow up. Smiley face. Every episode I learn something new in order to be a better communicator. I love how she integrates current events with effective communicating, whether it was done correctly or a horrible flop. I love that review. Thank you so much, Alice. And if you would like to leave a review, you can head on over to the show. Notes for directions. I'll leave instructions for you there. I would love to get your feedback on the podcast. I want to help everyone become confident in how they communicate online, on the air and in person, especially in today's modern age of social media. Because remember folks, everything is pr Bye for now.