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How to Make Speaking Your Superpower, With Joel Weldon

Do you freeze up at the thought of public speaking? Whether it’s on stage, over Zoom, or at a community event, getting your message across clearly and confidently can be one of the most valuable skills a health coach develops. In this episode of Health Coach Talk, Dr. Sandi welcomes Joel Weldon—Hall of Fame professional speaker and creator of the Ultimate Speaking System—to share practical strategies for becoming a more effective communicator, even if you think you’re “not a speaker.”

“If you could get rid of self and realize that you’re speaking to help them—you’re a health professional, sharing things that could help people be healthier and happier—it changes everything. You’re not self-conscious, you’re other-people conscious.”

Joel Weldon

Joel has spoken at over 3,000 events and coached more than 10,000 people—including Dr. Sandi herself. His approach centers around a mindset shift: it’s not about you, it’s about your audience. Joel breaks down what makes a speaker effective, why the fear of public speaking is so common, and how to deliver a presentation with confidence, clarity, and impact. He even walks through how to open and close a talk for maximum engagement, plus share personal stories that resonate instead of ramble.

Joel’s path to speaker success started in 1969 when he joined Toastmasters to overcome his own fear of public speaking. Since then, he’s built a thriving career helping entrepreneurs, health experts, and professionals refine their communication skills. He believes that great speakers aren’t born—they’re made. With a learnable system and the right mindset, even the most hesitant health coach can speak with purpose and power. Today, Joel works alongside his daughters in a family-run coaching business, helping others master the art of public speaking with tools and training that are both practical and empowering.

For health coaches, the ability to speak confidently—whether in one-on-one sessions, webinars, workshops, or local community events—is a game-changer. Joel’s tips for effective visuals, engaging storytelling, and structured delivery offer coaches a clear roadmap to connect with their audiences and clients. His approach helps reframe public speaking from a performance to a service—and reminds us that when we show up to help, we stop thinking about ourselves and start making a difference.

Watch The Episode

Episode Highlights

  • Learn why fear of public speaking is rooted in self-focus—and how to move past it
  • Get Joel’s formula for opening and closing a powerful presentation
  • Understand the “Needs, Fears, Victories” model for audience connection
  • Hear how health coaches can use speaking to grow their impact and connect with more clients

Meet the Guest

Joel Weldon

Joel Weldon’s Ultimate Speaking System


Joel is a Hall of Fame professional speaker and speaking skills coach. He’s the creator of the Ultimate Speaking System, designed to help entrepreneurs, health experts, and business owners speak more effectively by embracing a powerful mindset that sets extraordinary speakers apart from the rest.

If you rated yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 in your ability to speak in front of a group—your ideal audience—what would that number be? Whether you’re a 1 (terrified and avoid speaking at all costs) or a 10 (confident and love the spotlight), Joel’s insights will help you grow into an even stronger speaker, communicator, and health expert.

With more than 3,000 paid speaking engagements and over 10,000 speakers personally coached, Joel is widely recognized as one of the most accomplished speakers and speaking coaches in the country. Get ready to be inspired and equipped to take your speaking skills to the next level.

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Transcript

Dr. Sandi: Would you like to become a more effective public speaker? Perhaps you shy away from speaking because you think you’re not good at it. Well, you are in for a real treat with our special guest today. You know, Warren Buffett said that you could improve your value by 50% just by learning communication skills and public speaking. And that’s why I wanted to bring on “Health Coach Talk,” Joel Weldon. Joel is a speaking skills coach. I’ve worked with him and he’s a Hall of Fame professional speaker. He’s the creator of the Ultimate Speaking System for entrepreneurs, health experts, and business owners to speak even more effectively by following one of the most important mindsets ordinary speakers just don’t have.

If you rated yourself using a scale of 1 to 10 on your ability to speak in front of a group made up of your ideal audience members, what would that number be right now? It can be anywhere from 1, which would mean I’m terrified to speak and I hate it, to 10, which would be I love to speak and I’m amazing at it. Wherever you are on that scale, the mindset that Joel is going to share with you can help you be an even better speaker, communicator, and health expert. Joel has been paid to speak at over 3,000 events and has personally coached well over 10,000 speakers. He is considered one of the highest performing speakers and speaking skills coaches in America. I know that you are going to get a lot out of this episode. It is great to see you, Joel.

Joel: Well, great to be with you, Sandi, and especially your members and listeners.

Dr. Sandi: Thank you. Well, this is going to be a wonderful talk because it’s about a subject that I think most people fear or need guidance or support, feel unsure about, and that is speaking. How do you communicate your message? How do you give a talk? So, I thought we’d start out by just dealing with that emotional reaction because I will often talk to students and graduates about spreading the word, health coaching, opportunities to speak, whether that is to give talks in your local community, to do media appearances, and many people shy away because they feel like they’re not good speakers or they had a bad experience or they’re afraid of speaking. So, I just wondered if we could start there with this fear of speaking.

Joel: Well, you know that there’s a book of fears, and usually in the top 10 is the fear of public speaking. And in many years when they put that list out, it exceeds dying in a fire. So, imagine somebody would rather burn to death than speak in front of a group. And Jerry Seinfeld, that wonderful comedian, had a great line. He said, on a funeral, the person giving the eulogy would rather be in the casket. Death is better than speaking. And those are the stereotypes that circulate, and people feel self-conscious. That’s mainly the thing. Does it go over? Will they get what I’m saying? Will they like me? Or will I say the right thing? Or what if I forget something?

So, here’s a great metaphor, especially since you’re watching and listening to this, because you have an interest in health. So, let’s just say that you’re a certified paramedic, and you’re going to work, and you’re wearing a white outfit, and you’re driving in a remote area and there’s a car accident ahead, and you see somebody lying on the ground. The car’s a wreck. They’re still alive. Would you stop to help them or would you just call 911? Well, I think you’d stop to help them. And as you go over to this person, you see they’re bleeding profusely from a leg wound. And as a paramedic, you’ve got to stop the blood flow. You know how to do that. Or would you be thinking, “I’ve got this brand new white outfit on. I might get blood on it”? Now, Sandi, you answer for our listener. Would you be thinking about your clothes as you rush over to this person lying there injured and bleeding profusely?

Dr. Sandi: Absolutely not. You are not thinking about your clothing. You are thinking about that individual who needs your help.

Joel: That’s right. They need your help, and you’re capable of doing that. There would be no thought for your clothes or being late for work or anything like that. Your full mental and physical attention would be saving this person and stopping that blood because it’s not about you. And if you had that same mindset when you would be speaking to a group, whether it’s virtual or live, it’s not about you. And one of the reasons people are uncomfortable speaking is because they are self-conscious. If you could get rid of self and realize that you’re speaking to help them, you’re a health professional, things that could help people be healthier and happier. And that’s why you’re sharing. It’s not about you. Even if you use personal examples, the only reason for that example is to help them.

So, that’s one suggestion that might be helpful for you. Just thinking about that accident scene, as Sandi said, there would be no thought for yourself. You’re out of the picture and when you’re not thinking of yourself, you can’t be self-conscious. You’re other-people conscious. So, that’s a suggestion that might help you get out in front of more groups and speak effectively.

Dr. Sandi: That is very valuable and I have used that personally. And I’ve also used that, so what if they don’t like the speech? Will I remember this in 10 years? How about in 20 years? What is the ultimate impact? And the idea that’s like judging a movie or a work of art. Some people are going to like it. Other people are going to walk away saying, “It wasn’t for me.”

You’ve had so much experience as a public speaker and you have been a guide and a teacher and a mentor to so many people who are preparing to give speeches. What are some of the experiences or an experience that you have learned from where perhaps you lost the audience and you then got it back or you were able to recover, or can you give any examples of speeches you’ve given that have gone over well or the opposite?

Joel: Well, I don’t mean to say this in a bragging way, but since the very beginning, which started in 1969 when I joined Toastmasters to overcome a fear of speaking. And one of the things people don’t understand is that public speaking is a learned skill. So, since you’re here, Sandi, were you born knowing how to type?

Dr. Sandi: Absolutely not.

Joel: You’ve never seen a keyboard because… No, you learned on an old-fashioned typewriter, and then a computer to keyboard. So, if you know how to type, you learned how to type. Any sport that you play or activity, riding a bicycle. You weren’t born knowing how to ride a bike. You learned it. Speaking is a learned skill. It is not something that you’re born with. Sure, some people are more outgoing and more gregarious, more enthusiastic. They want to be the center of attention, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to be effective speakers. Some of the best speakers are introverts. They’re shy. They’re quiet, but they have such great wisdom to share, and they know it’s about helping others, not themselves.

So, that’s the first premise, that speaking effectively is a learned skill. And if you learn how to do it, you’re not going to make a lot of mistakes. And if you do, they’re small. They’re not big mistakes. So, in my speaking career as a professional, I didn’t have tragedies. I didn’t have major faux pas because I learned from the very beginning that there’s a system. There’s a way to open. There’s a way to talk in the middle. There’s a way to end it. And if you follow that, you’re going to get good results. Now, they might not be great results every time. Things happen. The sound system could be off. The room could be hot or cold. There could be some undercurrent that’s happening in the world around you, a tragedy that’s occurred. All of those things can affect it. But your ability to speak, if you have a system and I’m going to give you some tools to have a system, you won’t have bad experiences.

So, all the things Sandi’s asking about, what experiences have I learned from where things didn’t go right but the goal was, “Okay, how do we make sure that doesn’t happen again?” And if you figure out a solution to that, just like in healthcare, when you start to realize that the patient isn’t responding, if you’re a doctor, let’s say, well, you don’t keep doing the same things. If you’re getting bad results, you do something different. What did you learn from that?

So, let’s get to some specific things. The first thing to think about is, how do you open? And if you think, as you’re listening, of a speaker that you heard and you’ve been to many different kinds of meetings, normally this is the kind of statement you will hear from a speaker. Let’s just use this this podcast, “Sandi, I’ve been thinking about this podcast all weekend over Easter weekend, and now it’s Tuesday. I’m just so excited to be here. Or, I just have so many great ideas to share with you, and I’m just so interested and excited in getting these across to you as people that are health coaches, are going to be health coaches, or just interested in your health. I just love this subject.”

No. Everything I just said is all about me. So, here’s a basic fact. No one cares. No one cares you’re excited. No one cares you’re happy to be sharing these ideas. No one cares how much… And then we add the word “unless it’s a benefit to them.” So, here’s a great way. Three words. If you open any kind of talk, even if it’s one-on-one, even if it’s on a video, even if it’s on a podcast or on a stage, you’re here because you’re interested in health, whether you’re a student of Sandi’s or a graduate. But you have an interest in health, your health and other people’s health.

When you open with, “You’re here because…” you can’t get trapped into the I message. And the word “I” is the most used word in the English language. But no one cares about you. They care about themselves. What do you know that can help me? Like this podcast, you don’t care anything about Joel Weldon. Nothing. Except, does this guy know something that can help me make a better presentation, overcome my fear of speaking, get more exposure to what I’m doing as a health coach, be able to do a video, to do something on a podcast, to give a virtual presentation, to be in front of a live audience? You’ve got something like that, I’m listening. So, there’s your first strategy idea. Make your opening always about your audience, not about you.

Second thing, how do you end any message? So, let’s go right to the end. Well, one thing, if you’ve studied at all speaking, there needs to be a call to action. And, Sandi, so many times people hear that word, call to action, they think, “Well, I’m not selling anything.” A call to action doesn’t mean that you’re selling something. A call to action is what should the audience or the listener do based on what you said. And that can be an action. Think about this. That could be a call to action, or it could be a feeling. So, hopefully next time you get this, you would feel this way. It’s something, instead of a call to action, you call it a plan of action, or it could be, “Here’s what you can do.”

But something must result. And if you would ask me what makes a great speaker, one word, results. What will your audience or listener do based on what you said? So, if you’re a health coach and you’re working with one of your patients and you recommend some things, well, think about this. And why are you doing that? And you ask the great questions and you get them thinking, that’s a great result.

So, here’s a way that you can end it with one word. You don’t end with a call to action or a plan of action or, “Here’s what you can do.” That’s near the end. But the ending should begin with one word. And that’s why it’s easy for you to remember. Imagine. So, that’s how I’m going to end this message for you. Now, I don’t know where we’re going to be at that point, but when Sandi’s going to say, “Do you have any final thoughts?” I’m going to say the word imagine, and then I’m going to leave you with 22 words after that.

So, what could you say if you’re talking about what you do as a health coach? And you’ve said, “So, here are some things you can do. Call me for a free consultation, or look at my website.” That could be a call to action. But then if you said something like, “Imagine it’s 30 days from today. You followed some of the things we talked about in this interview, and you feel so much better. You now have a plan of action. You know what’s really motivating you. You can’t wait to get started with the next step because you’ve already taken three or four steps already in just those first 30 days. And your body is feeling better, and you have even more energy, and your mindset is so much more positive. That’s what can happen when you do those three things we just talked about. Now go out and make it a great day.”

Dr. Sandi: I love that. Yeah. And I got that from you. That is always your sign off, which I love. It’s not have a good day, but make it a good day. That is actually a coach approach. A coach is not telling you to have a good day. It’s you have the power to make it a good day. And that really sums it up. But those are wonderful tips because I think getting out of that it’s about starting with I but focusing on you. And then at the end, the same thing. And you’re asking them to imagine a better future. Imagine, and then giving some specifics. I think that’s great.

I want to talk about slides. When I was giving a presentation, you really changed everything for me in how I approached slides, and as we’ve talked about it and you’ve said many times, it’s a visual. You have to be able to see it. And slides get in the way. Have you seen examples where people get too hung up on their slides? And what are some of the top tips for having good slides?

Joel: Well, one of the things to think of when it comes to slides is, okay, now what are you thinking of right now, Sandi?

Dr. Sandi: I was thinking, “Well, you got the record so…”

Joel: A record? I’m not talking about a record. Why did you say record?

Dr. Sandi: Well, you’ve held up a record.

Joel: You saw a record?

Dr. Sandi: Yeah.

Joel: Okay. So, here’s the basic premise about visuals. Whatever your eyes see, your mind thinks of. So, I pulled out just something that happened to be here on my desk, a record, which happens to be Earl Nightingale’s Strangest Secret record. But when Sandi saw that, she goes, “What is he doing with that record?” You can’t stop your brain from thinking what your eyes see. And that’s why most people’s slides work against them, because they put so much information on a slide. When you make a slide deck, they’re free. You don’t pay for slides. Even if you’re paying for somebody, you pay for their time.

So, one of the things I’ve noticed in the healthcare industry is they’re so medical. And if you look at a doctor—and I work with a lot of doctors, holistic doctors, chiropractors, dentists—they have so much information on a slide. You need one thing, because if you accept that premise, what your eyes see, your mind thinks of. So, if you have, let’s say, somebody is showing these five people that I work with, and they have five people on the screen. So, look at the first one on the left. Well, where could the listener be looking? They could be looking right. They could be looking in the middle. They could be looking at the fourth one. He looks like my brother-in-law. Well, that looks like a guy I went to high school with. You’re showing them too much.

So, the idea on slides that I’ve given Sandi years ago, if you have five photos, five slides. It takes you no longer to go through five slides than to go through one slide with five pictures, if you’re describing or talking about each of the five pictures. Same thing with graphs and charts. So, many times, people put a graph or chart up, like on weight loss or something like that, and then they say these magic words, “I know you can’t see this,” then it’s not a visual. So, one thing you could do is, if you use a laptop, your arm is usually about three feet. So, if you back up six feet from your screen, that’s what somebody will see if you’re in a live audience. Now, obviously, if you’re doing a virtual call, they’ll see what you see on your laptop without backing up. But most people use way too small a print.

So, bigger print, less information, and no sentences unless it’s a quote. Because if you put a sentence… Let’s just say the headline is weight loss, and then it says on the slide, “If you want to lose even more weight, the first thing you have to think about is the food going into your mouth.” Let’s say you put that on there. All right. The reason you don’t want to use a sentence is then you’re going to be reading to your listener. So, one of the suggestions would be weight loss and a bullet point, food intake. That’s all it says. But you would know to say, “So, what that means is it’s based on the food that you’re eating.” And you would put it into a sentence so the slides become your notes, which are great, but it just has a short piece of information. You provide the longer, except if it’s a quotation. And if it’s a quotation, then you put it all in a sentence.

However, and this is just a little aside, whenever you have a quotation, you’re using it for impact. So, I’ll use one that Sandi saw two years ago at a Genius Network meeting. Gary Sanchez talked about the concept of finding out your why. Why do you do what you do? And one of the key statements was a quote from Mark Twain, the writer and philosopher. And on the screen it said, the two most important days of your life are number one, the day you were born, and number two, the day you find out why. Oh, it’s such a great quote, but he put it on one slide. So, when he put that on the screen, the audience could read faster than you can talk. They already read the whole statement before you got to the end, and it didn’t have any impact. Now he uses three slides. First is a picture of Mark Twain. It shows his name, author, philosopher, great thinker. Click. Next slide. The two most important days of your life are the day you were born. Dot, dot, dot. Third slide. And the day you find out why. And when he gets to that third slide, he doesn’t trigger it until he says, and the day you, and as he says you, he advances it, and then in front of the audience, you find out why. Bam, that’s impact.

Dr. Sandi: A lot of difference.

Joel: And that’s what you do. So, don’t give too much information away. Sandi, there’s a quote from Walt Disney I use in my presentations. It’s one sentence, seven slides, because there are seven impacting things in that sentence. And if you put it all at once, there’s no impact at all. So, think about that with visuals. Whatever they see, they’re going to think about. Make it big enough, keep it simple, one thought per slide. They cost you nothing.

Dr. Sandi: I love that.

Joel: So, is that helpful?

Dr. Sandi: That is so helpful, and that has helped me so much. And it also is so much easier because then you’re not reading the slide and as the speaker, you’re not overwhelmed by all the information that’s on the slide. So, I think it’s a great point, and people tune out as well. And you said something else that’s really been helpful, and that is people will try to take notes from a slide, or they’ll try to take a screenshot of the slide to remind them there’s a handout, or when we do Ask the Experts, we do talks, I always say you’ll get a copy of the presentation. You’ll get these slides so that they don’t have to be madly taking notes and distracted.

Joel: Well, there’s two philosophies on notes. I just heard this recently. Hey, if you write something down, it’s going to really rivet in your mind. I don’t believe that. I think if you’re listening to this podcast, you can remember what you heard somebody say. Maybe your mother, maybe your father, maybe a sibling, maybe an aunt or an uncle, maybe a coach, maybe a teacher. You can go back decades and remember something you heard because it made an impact. My feeling is people remember what makes an impact on them. And when you have them write a lot of things down, they are not listening. So, if you’re still writing down, okay, one thought on the slide, break up a quotation, you’re not even hearing what we’re talking now. So, that’s why a handout would be so valuable where you could summarize your key ideas. Just write down what you’re going to do as a result of what you’re hearing, but what you’re hearing from me is going to be in a handout afterwards. And that’s a way of giving you contact information, your phone number, email, all of that would be on your handout.

Dr. Sandi: Yeah, that’s such great advice. Now I’m thinking back, there’s a talk that I did, this was way, way back. Many years ago, I was doing a grand rounds presentation to leadership, the medical doctors at a hospital, and it was at 7 a.m. And this was the days, it was early 1980s, and I had the slides were a carousel, which I brought and I had all of them in the order. And I get to the place, I always like to get there early, and I get into the room. There’s no screen and there’s no slide projector, but it was the AV. It was supposed to be there, but it’s 7 a.m. So, now this is big hospital, I’m like running through the halls trying to find some AV. Nobody. I couldn’t find anybody. The doctors start to come in, they’re all ready for the talk. I have no slides, and this was going to be an hour presentation. And it turned out to be the best talk I ever gave. I just spoke from the heart and turned it into a Q&A. They were very interested, they asked lots of questions, and it was so much better than if I had all those slides. So, sometimes mishaps, calamities can work in your favor.

Joel: And it really is the content. Content is the key. It helps if you have a good delivery of them, but that’s not the main thing. You’ve heard great speakers in your life. They have energy and humor and a great voice, but you don’t remember anything they said because it wasn’t relevant. So, once you know how to open and end a message, we didn’t talk about what’s inside a message. So, if you’re talking about what you do as a health coach, because people don’t know what a health coach is. And if that’s what your presentation is, the challenge you have is you’re not going to hear six words ever. If you’re going to use speaking to grow your practice, you’re never going to hear these six words. Sandi, you will never hear these words. And here they are. Talk as long as you want. No one will say that to you. Because Sandi, if I said that to you, talk as long as you want. What do you know about being a healthcare professional, being a coach, the medical profession? Tell us. Start now. Well, if you started now, I’m sure in a week, you would still be going and not repeat anything. And maybe you’d have to work after that first week. Too much. And that’s one of your challenges when you’ve been given 45 minutes or 15 minutes or 10 minutes or 5 minutes. What do you say? So, here’s a system to help you know always what to say. Would that be helpful, Sandi?

Dr. Sandi: Absolutely.

Joel: Three words. The words are needs, fears, victories. Now just think about that. If you knew whatever audience you’re talking to, what do they need to know about what a health coach does? They don’t know anything maybe. Well, so what do they need to know? Well, they need to know exactly what we do. We’re not doctors. How we act as advisors, how we’re going to… All of those things that you know, maybe that’s what they need to know.

Fears are not terrified, but what worries or concerns them about what you’re going to talk about? So, in this case, well, if they’re not doctors, are they going to give me advice or what if it doesn’t work? Those are concerns or worries. So, if you came up with that, and if you don’t know, you ask somebody. Like if Sandi invited you to talk, you’d ask her, “What are those needs, fears?”

And then the victories are the positive things. One of the things that they’re already doing, well, they sought you out as a health coach. That’s positive. They’re motivated to see what’s available to help them be healthier and happier. So that’s a positive. So, if you thought about those three things before you ever gave a presentation, what does this audience need to know about the subject I’m talking about? What are they afraid of, concerned about, or worried about, keeping them up at night on this subject? Or, number three, what are their victories, their achievements, their successes that I could reinforce?

And then you’ll know what to talk about, because so many times, Sandi, and you’ve heard this, “This is my favorite subject.” I feel like yelling out, “I don’t care. What should be my favorite subject?” Or, I love telling this story. I just love this story. No. You’re going to really love this story because it’s going to show you how you can… All right, that’s making it about them. It’s not about you.

And if you get anything out of this message, remember that opening story about that person who needs help. You would have no concern for yourself. Get yourself out of the way. It’s not about you. You already know these things. That’s why you’re speaking. But it’s about them. So, does that make sense, Sandi?

Dr. Sandi: That makes so much sense. And I’m thinking that even if you tell a personal story in your talk, it’s still always directed towards helping them, a lesson they will learn from it, for example, or a reaction they will have.

Joel: Well, let’s give another little system to telling a personal story. So, let’s say you’re telling a personal story. And you said… And I’m just making this up because as you’re listening, I don’t know your story, “But I grew up in a very dysfunctional home. My father was an alcoholic and my mother was a drug addict.” Okay, that’s all an I message. So, here’s my response. No one cares unless it’s relevant to them. So, what if you then said, “My father’s an alcoholic. My mother’s a drug addict. It was a terrible environment. How did you grow up? What kind of environment were you in? Were you in a dysfunctional environment like I just described or were you in a happy, wonderful home with supportive parents?” Well, no matter where you were brought up, you still had challenges growing up as a kid. You had to learn things in school that you weren’t familiar with. You probably got a failing grade maybe on one of your tests because you didn’t study hard. You’ve had setbacks.

Okay, so I call that the ping-pong effect. So, since Sandi is sitting here with me, let’s just say, Sandi, you and I wanted to play ping pong, but we wanted to use it as, because you’re such an exercise person, we don’t want to kill it. We want to have a rally and see how long we can keep the ball going. So, I hit it to you. What do you do? You hit it back to me. Now I hit it back to you. Then you hit it back to me. Then I hit it to you. That’s how you tell your personal story, “I did this and I was so afraid. Have you ever been afraid? Have you ever been in a situation where you didn’t know what to do? Well, that’s where I was when I left home and I had no idea where I was going to be going. And then I met this wise man who taught me one thing. Have you ever had somebody in your life that just appeared at the right time, maybe a man or maybe a woman, that said or did something that changed the course of your life? Well, that’s exactly what happened to me sitting at a bus stop in Des Moines, Iowa. And the man said to me, X, Y, Z. And at that moment, I just had a light bulb go off. That was the answer I was looking for. Have you ever had a light bulb moment where that bulb just lit up and now you have a direction?” Okay, that’s the ping-pong. “I just love this way about losing weight. Have you ever read things about weight loss and been confused? Well, maybe this idea will help you.” Add to that personal story.

Dr. Sandi: That is so, so fabulous. Yeah, because when I told my personal story about the slides, I was giving a talk, I could have said, “And if you had experiences where things went wrong at the beginning and you thought it was a disaster,” and so leading into that. As we’re wrapping up, you had promised us that there would be some words that you could leave us with, and I would love for you to share those.

Joel: Well, I will share those words, and then I’m going to end with, what’s that one word did we say? Imagine. Now, if you don’t like the word imagine, you could use the word picture yourself, but the goal is put your audience in a position in the future that they have done what you just talked about.

So, here are the 22 words that will sum up everything it’s taken me over 50 years as a professional speaker to learn and see if these will be helpful for you. Speak to your audience about what they need in an organized way they can follow and get yourself out of the way. Now, imagine that you did that. You know what’s going to happen the next time you stand up to speak virtually or in person? You’re going to be so calm and confident because you know it’s not about you. You’re not going to be self-conscious. You’re going to be audience-focused. You’re going to know exactly how to open, “You’re here because…” You know how to make the message relevant because you’re going to talk about what they need to know, overcoming their fears, reinforcing their victories, and then you’re going to have a call to action that’s going to give them something positive and wonderful they can do, and then you’re going to end it with imagining that they did it. Now, go out and make it a great day.

Dr. Sandi: That is absolutely wonderful. And I have one more question, Joel. Where can people find you?

Joel: Well, you can go to ultimatespeaker.com is our website, ultimatespeaker.com, and there’s lots of tools that we have available, and we also have a group coaching program. My daughter’s my partner. She’s a professional speaker as well, a humorous speaker.

Dr. Sandi: Yes, she’s wonderful.

Joel: So, she works with me on everything, and my other daughter runs our business. So, it’s a family affair, and hopefully you got one good idea that you can use.

Dr. Sandi: Thank you. Thank you so much, and you make it a good day, Joel.

Joel: Make it a great day.