Episode 90: My Five Step Pump Up Process for Speaking, Leading Meetings or Giving Next Level Presentations
Are you looking to improve your public speaking skills in the room or in Zoom? Need a guidebook for leading meetings or having a presentation that completely rocks your audiences’ socks?
If so, today's episode is for you. Today, Erin will discuss her five step pump up process for speaking, leading meetings and giving next level presentations. Have a pen, paper and water bottle handy – this is a mental workout!
Enjoy and don’t forget to leave us a review!
Show Links:
Get your hybrid hype handout here!
Send us a voice message here!
Did today’s episode resonate with you? Please leave us a review!
Connect with Erin Diehl:
Erin Diehl is the founder and Chief “Yes, And” officer of improve it! and host of the improve it! Podcast. She’s a performer, facilitator and professional risk-taker who lives by the mantra, “get comfortable with the uncomfortable.” Through a series of unrelated dares, Erin has created improve it!, a unique professional development company that pushes others to laugh, learn and grow. Her work with clients such as United Airlines, PepsiCo, Groupon, Deloitte, Motorola, Walgreens, and The Obama Foundation earned her the 2014 Chicago RedEye Big Idea Award and has nominated her for the 2015-2019 Chicago Innovations Award.
This graduate from Clemson University is a former experiential marketing and recruiting professional as well as a veteran improviser from the top improvisational training programs in Chicago, including The Second City, i.O. Theater, and The Annoyance Theatre.
When she is not playing pretend or facilitating, she enjoys running and beach dates with her husband and son, and their eight-pound toy poodle, BIGG Diehl.
You can follow the failed it! podcast on Instagram @learntoimproveit and facebook, and you can follow Erin personally on Instagram @keepinitrealdiehl here. You can also check out improve it! and how we can help your organization at www.learntoimproveit.com. We can’t wait to connect with you online!
“I love this podcast and I love Erin!!”
If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing this podcast! This helps Erin support more people – just like you – move toward the leader you want to be. Click here, click listen on Apple Podcasts, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with 5 stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let Erin know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven’t done so already, subscribe to the podcast. That way you won’t miss any juicy episodes! Thanks in advance, improve it! Fam :)
Episode 90 Transcription
Erin (00:00):
Improve it family. It has been a moment in time since I have come to you alone. This is me. I am in my podcasting closet, just me, my microphone, my sweatpants. And I'm so excited because today I have got something that I know is gonna benefit your life because it has benefited mine. And so many other people, friends today, we are gonna talk about my five step pump up process for speaking, leading meetings or giving next level presentations prepare. Okay. So real quick, there you are, right. You are about to step into a speaking engagement, whether it's on zoom, whether it's in person, you're nervous. You're about to walk out on that virtual or real stage. And you're gonna talk to one person or two hundreds of people. You've got content. You're sweaty. Okay. I want you to think about sweaty arm pits right now.
Erin (01:08):
I am a sweaty gal. Okay. So you're sweaty because you're so nervous. You think you've got it, but you don't got it. Your nerves and lion limiting belief. That's right. There's a limiting belief. We're gonna call him lion. Limiting belief is there to tell you girl, sit down. Why should they listen to you? Improve it fam today I'm gonna kick lion limiting belief in the face, a hard swift kick, right to the nostril. I'm gonna tell 'em to sit down and quite frankly, shut up. So hold on to your anti per sprints and get ready to wear all the long silky shirts you want today. I'm gonna give you my five step pump-up process for speaking, leading and giving next level presentations. Are you ready? Let's go. Are you a leader or change maker and out of your business organization or corporation, are you looking for new, innovative ways to drive morale through the roof?
Erin (02:12):
Are you looking for fun and exciting icebreakers team building exercises and activities that will foster team growth, friendships, loyalty, and completely transform your organization from the inside out. Have you been searching for a fun and unique way to create change instead of the same old, dry, boring leadership books and nice breakers that aren't actually working? Hi, I'm Aaron Diehl, business improv, entertainer failfluencer. And professional zoombie who is ready to help you improve it. My mission in life is to help you develop teams and leaders through play improv and experiential learning. In this podcast, we will deep dive into professional development team building effective communication, networking, presentation, skills, leadership training, how to think more quickly on your feet and everything in between. We have helped everyone from fortune 500 companies to small mom and pop shops transform their business, their leadership, and their people through play. So grab your chicken hat. We are about to have some fun, welcome to improve it! The podcast!
Erin (03:35):
Improve it fam oh my goodness. We are here. We are back at 2022, we are doing this thing before we get into these five amazing steps, pump up process, whatever you wanna call it, got some quick housekeeping items. So number one, this is a product of an ask that one of our improve it! Family members asked me for and we had a come and she said, I am just scared. Every time I present, how do you do this week after week? I said, hold on. I'm gonna create content around this. Let's go. We have something called speak pipe. It's in the show notes. It's a link that literally you can send me a voice recording note. I don't have to air it on the episode, but I can also use your and your question to spark content and create episodes for you. So if there is something that you really want an answer to use, that link hit record, you can do it from your iPhone.
Erin (04:33):
You don't have to have a fancy Nancy microphone just hit record. And it'll send me a question directly to my inbox. And I will use that at question to create an episode for you. It's so easy, so easy. I would love to create more of what you want. Okay. Second, our hybrid hype handout is still there right now. When I'm recording this, we are in the midst of another COVID surge. Omnicron is omnipresent ever. You know, it's, it's here. Not sure if that was the best pun, but what so most people right now are doing hybrid or mostly work from home. If you are struggling to create connection in this virtual world, click on the link in the show notes that says hybrid hype, it will take you directly to our website. You will download it directly to your computer or whatever device you're using.
Erin (05:20):
This is for you. There are so many steps in there for you to help your team work. All right? And I will leave it at that, but it is such a great PDF. We've gotten some really great feedback on it. So download it. It's free for you directly from the, the show notes. Now, second of all, if you have left a review for this show, I wanna say thank you so much. If you have not, I would ask you to please leave us a review. It means so much to us. It's how we get such amazing guests on this show. And that's how people know that the show is successful is through the review. So click on iTunes, hit five stars. And if I get a review from this show and the next week, the next review I get, I'm going to give a free book from one of our previous guests, Andy, it's called own your career own your life.
Erin (06:20):
So if you do do leave us a review, take a screenshot of it, send me a email at info@learntoimproveit or a DM at keepinitrealdiehl also in the show notes. And just let me know that was you. And I will send you a book from Andy Storch, which is such a great read. I'm in the process of reading it now. And he gave me an extra book to give to our audience members. So leave us review, send a screenshot, get your hybrid hype, download, leave us a little message on speak pipe that would be clap in, oh, let's get into improve it so, as I mentioned today, we were talking all out a pump up process for you for speaking, for leading meetings or giving those next level con or presentations or conversations. And I'm gonna tell you, I have not been great at this.
Erin (07:08):
I have not. I mean, there have been many times in my past that I have sucked just straight up, sucked at presenting at speak and having general conversations. That's a lie. I was born with a gift of gab, but this has not always been easy for me. And I'm gonna give you some, I was thinking about this. I was putting together some notes for the show. I was like, well, let's think back. And it's kind of like they say, after you've had a baby, you forget what pregnancy is like, that's why you have more children. It's kind of like, I forgot what those times looked like. And, and they were rough in those moments and we've just moved past them. So I was thinking through all the times that I really just stunk it up at presenting or having to audition or do something that required me to be in the moment, be present and speak to an audience.
Erin (07:56):
And I remember the very first time I auditioned for a talent agency in Chicago, and that was a big part of my, my past life. I was an actor and I was auditioning all the time for different things. And I remember going to this one agency and we had to do a monologue, a two minute monologue, which is if you're an actor, you know, you have to have a monologue halfway through my monologue. I'm giving it to the agency agents who owned the agency and literally blank. I forgot everything in my monologue. So I just started making stuff up, literally making stuff up. I have no idea what I said. It was just completely out the window, what I was supposed to say, and things just came into my body. And apparently I stuck with a character choice that the monologue had and somehow got through it, cuz they did hire me to be a part of the agency, which was a shock to everyone.
Erin (08:46):
But it was really embarrassing. I remember walking away just being like what just happened and then to get really personal on this show and you know, I feel like we're there. And if you're a leader who doesn't wanna get real, don't listen to this show because sometimes it happens. I remember auditioning for the conservatory at second city in Chicago and I auditioned for this multiple times, by the way, cause I did not get in and every time I would have massive diarrhea and I, I know that is a lot for this show. This is a professional podcast. Okay. Yes. I said diarrhea, but I did. And it was terrifying. I would get so nervous and it was because I was so afraid of what was about to happen. I thought that I didn't deserve to be in the room. I thought I didn't deserve a spot.
Erin (09:37):
So I mean, I really walked in there not feeling great about the situation. And then I even remember, and this is again getting really personal when I started improving. And this was early 2014 and this is so gross, but I'm just gonna say, cuz now it sounds disgusting. I had so much stress that I picked up an old habit that I had in college when I was really stressed, which was smoking cigarettes, which is like, Ew, you know, in 20, 22. But yeah, I, I would like work a lot and then be like, oh, cigarette. And then just freak out. And the whole cycle would just perpetuate itself because it gave me anxiety and then smoking gave me anxiety cuz I didn't want anybody to know. So it was this vicious cycle of anxiety. And that was because I was putting myself out there. I was speaking in front of people.
Erin (10:27):
This is before we've launched improve it. And I remember we did this big soft launch in Chicago, but I wanna tell you these stories because number one, you know, I it's, it's important for you to know that I don't just get on this microphone now and feel like it comes easily. I don't stand on stage in front of hundreds of people or give keynotes or virtual keynotes to people across the world without getting a T of nerves. I have gotten better because I have done multiple, multiple, multiple repetitions. It's like you're working out right? You lift weights, you build the muscle by doing the reps. So I have put in hours and hours of repetition of doing this. It did not come as the, to me at first it was something I had to work on and craft over time. Now the other thing that has helped me get better and to do this for a living is this five step plan that's gonna make you wanna jump on stage or on zoom and present to anyone and everyone.
Erin (11:36):
So let's get into it. Here are the five steps. It's my five step pump up process. That's gonna help you become a better speaker. It's gonna help you lead meetings in a more succinct and impactful way and it's gonna help you give next level presentation. So number one, before you ever even walk out the door out of your bedroom, wherever it is that you're going, because either we're giving presentations on zoom or in person, you have got to do this number one dress to impress. So whatever this may means to you now, this can mean for women listening to the show, maybe you put on a heel. I used to wear a dress, a te dress and a heel. Every time I present it to groups and I'll tell you that has evolved over time. I don't feel great in heels anymore. I feel like I'm gonna fall over.
Erin (12:31):
It's not who I am because I spent the past two and a half years with sweatpants. OK. No, but I actually, if I'm going to do a presentation, a keynote on zoom, I will put on some black pants. I will put on some fun earrings, a fun top. If I'm going to go out into the world and present, I now have a different style versus the dresses, the cute sea little dresses that I wore and that's okay. You can evolve. The only thing that matters is that you're dressing to impress, not the audience. This is not for them. This is for you. You gotta act like you care. You gotta act like you give a poop. I'm talking about poop and armpits in this episode. But what dressing in a way that makes you feel confident does is it sends signals to your brain that you are in control.
Erin (13:25):
You are ready. You can, and you will rock this. Now I am, I will say this. I'm a little glammy at times. I prefer to have long eyelashes. I get my eyelashes done. That is a choice. Do I need them? Absolutely not. Does it make me as a human being me feel better? Yes. I don't do this for Susie. I don't do it for Susie or Sam. I do this for me. I paint my nails because that makes me feel like I am more put together. I talk with my hands a lot. So that to me are two things that I also do that make me impress my number one me. Cause if I don't feel good, I'm not gonna make you feel good. And if you don't feel good, you're not gonna make your team. You're not gonna make your audience. You are not gonna make anyone who you are speaking to feel good because we feel those vibes, right?
Erin (14:19):
So you've gotta radiate. You've got a vibe. And that starts with getting yourself in a mindset to put yourself in a place where you feel good. Now, some people like girls on my team, Cristy first and foremost, when I was wearing a dress in heels, she was like, I'm not wearing a dress and heels. And I said, don't, I don't want you to. I want you to feel comfortable. And she feels so confident in what she wears Cristy, our director of talent. I used to have the guys on our team, sorry, guys wear suits. And we would all wear suits with ties. And after a while people said, one of the guys said, Erin, I feel like people think I'm gonna fire them cuz I'm in this suit. So we changed it up and we said, wear what makes you feel comfortable? Wear what you feel confident in as long as it's snappy casual and you are, you are dressing like you give a poop, that's all care about.
Erin (15:11):
But think about what makes you feel good. Put that on. If it's a special necklace or piece of jewelry or if it's a special ring that my, I have my grandmother's ring, which I wear a lot to just helps me stand in my power. Something meaningful to you and just know that when you feel good, you're gonna make audience feel good. All right. So here's number two. All right. I want you to arrive or log early. So that means if you are in person, you are arriving to the venue at least 30 to 45 minutes early. If you are logging in to zoom or a platform that you're gonna be on virtually, you need to log on 30 to 45 minutes early. When you think that you've got this and you've done whatever you're doing a hundred times. If you're leading another team meeting and it's a big one, but you're like, oh, I've done this before.
Erin (16:04):
Don't I need you to think differently. Technology is a blessing and a curse. So this extra time you to get your technology in order go through your slides. If you have them visualize and allow yourself to see you doing well in this space. So checking out the breakout rooms, if you're on zoom, making sure you've got the survey link pulled up. If you have a survey at the end, making somebody a cohost on zoom. So you don't lose the meeting. If you're in person, making sure you've checked with whoever is running the slides to make sure your presentation is up and ready to go. Making sure that you've visualized yourself in that space, walking around the room, Hey, this is where we'll do this activity. This is where I'll have people go for this. This is how I want people to feel. So you can actually see it in that space.
Erin (16:55):
But I really want you to think about arriving early or logging in early cuz half of my worries, half of this anxiety that I mentioned before was about technology. And when you alleviate those worries and give yourself that extra time, you allow time to it out. And if you think about it like this, this is always what I tell clients and people who are in who aren't in our industry. If you think about our actual workshop time. So in person we have two hour workshops and virtually our workshops are an hour and a half. We will always arrive 30 to 45 minutes early, no matter what, if I'm traveling, if I'm going somewhere flying and I've never been to the space before, I'm usually getting there the night ahead of time. And I'm gonna go in the night before, see the space, do a tech check, make sure I can visualize what we want to see in that space.
Erin (17:50):
So it's never just the time that you're doing the actual presentation. It's the time in the prep beforehand, too. That matters as a speaker. So if you're a leader listening to this and you're like, I don't do keynote speaking for a living, I totally get it. But this applies to you in so many ways. It's not just the meeting that you're giving. It's the prep that you're doing beforehand. It's arriving early to make sure you're the first one there before your team. It's making sure that you have pen and paper and you have the materials needed for them to be successful in the meeting. So thinking through all of these things is just Uber important. So number one, you dressed and press number two, arrive or log in early. All right. So number three is practice. All right. I want you to practice your lines forwards and backwards.
Erin (18:43):
I want you to know the outlined of the script or whatever it is that you're presenting or talk talking about because I want you to go off script. I want you to practice it, doing it, just like you want the performance to go. So this goes for hard conversations. This goes for any type of one-on-ones. This goes for any type of interview that you might be nervous about. This. Those for presentations, the list goes on and on, and I want you to practice with a person or a video camera. So let me just back up here a minute. My husband good old John has been so many things for me. He has been a client. So he'll act as a client and I myself, and will do a conversation and we'll practice. It he'll act as a team member. If I have a hard conversation with a team member, he'll act as a scene partner for me, if I'm doing something that has a script in lines, he'll act as an audience member and give me feedback, practice in front of anybody who will listen.
Erin (19:45):
And usually these are the people closest to us. So ask a parent, I ask a friend, ask a roommate, ask anybody because doing it in front of a person is so D different, so different. Hello, Erin. So different than doing it just with off the cuff, without having an audience. So really, really practice. And see if you can ask a friend, a family member or some to be there for you to really help give you that real life feeling. Now, if you don't have a person in front of you, tape yourself, tape yourself, and then here's the kicker. Watch it. We do something with video. I'm not gonna spoil it in our present skills workshop and improve it. And I'll tell you what it has been an eye opener for so many people, because we really don't take the time to see ourselves the way our audience sees us.
Erin (20:44):
So I really wanna encourage you to practice in front of a person or tape yourself. And then the, the third piece of that is if you're doing something virtually, you can easily just go onto zoom, put your view on self mode and watch yourself giving the presentation because you'll be able to see how you look to your audio. And just to kind of further that I always present with my self you on, because I wanna know how my audience sees me if I'm in a virtual space. So that's number three, practice, practice, practice. All right, here is number four. How I pump my self up I routine is a must a must go back. Episode 10 of the, what was the improvement podcast or what was the failed at podcast? Now the improve it! Podcast. And I want you to really focus on doing something in the morning that gets your mind and your body moving.
Erin (21:46):
So exercise. Even if it's walking up and down the street, 30 minutes, walking on a treadmill, whatever it may be walking back and forth in your hallway. If it's too cold, all right, walking, doing something that moves your body for 30 minutes, you can go on YouTube and get free workouts. So that's something you can literally do for free, but moving your body up your brain. I'm a huge fan of meditation. Even if you can give yourself five minutes, a day, exercise meditation, and then eating something that fuels your brain. So this isn't a bagel. This isn't a crepe. This is not a pancake with tons of whipped cream. Although I love them and just fed my toddler one this morning. This is something that gives you energy. So it could be Greek yogurt. It could be a banana with peanut butter. It could be a smoothie.
Erin (22:39):
It could be something that just makes you know that you're putting something good in your body. Again, it goes back to you're taking care of you here so you can take care of that conversation or your, since you're going to be working with later in the day. Now here is another huge piece of this. This is huge. This is what I really want you to pay attention. I want you to get crazy while you're getting ready. So if you're showering, if you do your hair and makeup play music that motivates you, especially the day of the big performance. I have created a motivational playlist for myself in the morning. So it's called morning motivation. There's people like CIA Lizzo, Dupa Tora call Beyonce, all of my favorites and I play them as I'm getting ready. And as you're getting ready, you're generally looking in the mirror.
Erin (23:33):
So one of, one of my favorite favorite things to do, and I got this from Mel Robbins, she has a book out called high five habits is to give myself a high five in the mirror in the morning. And by doing that, you are telling yourself, and this book is filled with science about why this is actually impactful when you do that, your brain starts to recognize, okay, I'm in control. I see you. You've got this and you just start to feel differently. So starting off your day with a morning routine is so important. All right? So you've got you're dressing to impress. All right? So that might happen after your morning routine, then you're arriving early. You've already practiced. And now you're going to power pose right before go on stage. And what is a power pose? If you've not seen the Ted talk by Amy Cutty, all about power posing, give it a giggle, check it out.
Erin (24:34):
It is so important. And so impactful power posing is standing in a position that gives you power, could be your arms white out in a where you're open, willing to receive. It could be your arm up in the air, like superwoman your hands on your hips. Like Superman. It could be, you are just standing there receiving with your arms just wide out at the, at like a low V if you're a cheerleader, you know what I'm talking about? Lova, okay. You're standing in this position for two minutes before I do a workshop before my team and I do a workshop or we go on stage, we stand in a power pose. And what that does is it sends signals to your brain that you are open, you are ready, you are going to receive and you are going to give, and you're telling yourself that you are powerful and in control in that moment, when I am facilitating, I do this.
Erin (25:35):
And now it's sort of second nature. It's almost as if a different force jumps in my body. And I know this sounds crazy. So you're like, okay, hippity Dippity did Woohoo girl, listen, this works for me. I stand in this power pose. And what happens is, while I'm standing in that pose, I'm opening myself up. And I literally say, let me say what you need me to say today. Now I'm a spiritual human being. I believe in universal love. I truly believe that we are all here on this planet for a reason. And I know my purpose. So when I stand with my power pose and that power, I am allowing that energy to come into my body. So somebody in that room that I'm about to walk into needs to hear it. And I need the vessel to walk through me, to guide me to say what needs to be said and to give the energy that somebody in that room needs to feel.
Erin (26:38):
Now, let's say this. My amazing, amazing, amazing, improved family. Not everyone in that room is going to like what you have to say. And they may not even like you, let me just say that they might not even like you. And what we have to do is realize that we are here for a purpose and a reason. And we are the leaders that we are supposed to be. We are in that room for a reason. And if you can feel the confidence through your body, the people on the receiving end will feel that confidence too. And they might not like you or what you have to say, but they are going to feel what you need them to feel. That's been a really hard realization for me is I was Patty people, pleaser. I want everybody to like me growing up, but I've started to realize I'm an acquire taste. And if you don't like the flavor, that's okay, but I've got something to teach you and my improve it fam you have so much to teach your, you have so much to teach the people that you lead. You have so much to give to the world because you're listening to the show because you care cuz you want to be your best self.
Erin (27:57):
So when you stand in that position of power, that power pose, I want you to feel it. And I don't want you to, if anybody in the room thinks about you, I just want you to walk in that room and know that you're there for your reason. You're there for your assignment. And you will feel so much confidence, rise through your body. It's such an amazing feeling. And in the moment you step on stage, you walk in the conference room, you jump on the zoom. That confidence will be there and you'll know why you're there. You don't have to worry about what anybody else thinks, because guess what? They're not there to really care about anybody. Else's feelings. They care about themselves too. You're there to care about the way that you care yourself and the message that you're going to deliver. So I want you to give yourself some love.
Erin (28:49):
I want you to save this episode. If there were parts of this episode that resonated with you, I want you to come back to it, send it to a friend who might need to hear it. But I want you to save this conversation that I'm having with you today because I'm talking to you. I can't see you, but I know you because I am you and I have been so scared walking into rooms and I've done it time and time again so much. So when I finally realized it wasn't about me, it was about making the audience feel and just allowing my to come through and what I was teaching. But remembering that it's about the people in that room. It's about invoking a spirit and a vibe and allowing the people on the other side to walk out better than they walked in. So that's what I want you to think about.
Erin (29:45):
This is your pump up. The five set pump up process works, but it's also all about dressing to impress, arriving early, practicing your morning routine, power posing. All of that will not work. If you don't believe to the core of who you are, that you have got this, and you have got a message to deliver that you are a coach. You are a mentor, you are a leader. You are a human being put on this earth for a reason greater than you even know. And so the moment you step into that power is the moment that your life is going to change. And I want you to know that it takes time. It's not gonna be super easy the first time, but the more you do it, the easier it's gonna get. And the more you believe in that in you, the better you will become and the better you will make the lives of the people around you.
Erin (30:37):
So again, I'm telling you this, because this works for me and we teach on presentation skills here at improve it. Our overarching message. There is positivity. Plus preparation equals a productive presentation. And some of the things I pulled out of today's episode are involved in that workshop. So if you have a team who is struggling with presenting and they have to present or have conversations, maybe they're a sales team, maybe they're a internal team and they just need help doing presentations to internal members. Maybe they work with a lot of data and they struggle with telling a story in a compelling way. That workshop is really great for building that confidence. And it's really, really, especially for the people who, you know, on your team, who struggle with lion, limiting belief, remember lion. He got a swift kick to the face. I'll tell you that lion bye be gone.
Erin (31:34):
So my friends that improve it, my improve it family. Thank you so much for listening today. If you feel it in your heart, leave a review. I would greatly appreciate it. We have so many amazing guests coming up on this show and we wanna keep bringing you amazing content. So that review just means a lot and it takes 30 seconds of your time on iTunes. So again, thank you so much for being here for being you let these five pump up hacks help you be the best speaker, help you lead your team and give next level presentations like the boss that you are improve it. Keep failing, keep learning, keep improving because you know this, the world needs that special. It that only you, that's why you can bring, I'll see you next week. Bye. Hey friends, thanks for tuning in to improve it. I am so happy you were along for the ride.
Erin (32:35):
If you enjoyed this show, head on over to iTunes to leave us a five star review and subscribe to the show. So you never miss an episode. New episodes drop every Wednesday. Now, if you're really feeling today's show and you've improved it even just a little bit, please take a screenshot and tag me at keeping it real deal on Instagram and share it in your stories. I'll see you next week, but I wanna leave you with this thought, what did you improve today and how will that help your future successful self? Think about it. I am rooting for you and the world needs that special. It that only you can bring see you next time.