Does it ever feel like your brain and mouth are out-of-sync? You know what you want to say but your mouth just doesn’t play along?

That’s exactly the experience that’s been described by a regular listener, and they’ve asked me for some tips:

“You know, as much as I prepare myself to aid my confidence, it always feels like the right words won’t come out when presenting. Of course I am nervous, probably more than most but I know that presenting clearly is so important ( perhaps this thinking makes it worse?)

Anyway, I’ll do what I can to calm my nerves and tell myself to relax but what my brain thinks versus what comes out are just not in sync!

I end up constantly correcting what I said which completely destroys the message.

Either I’m losing my mind or I just need some advice or skills to almost switch into gear before presenting”

This is SUCH a common challenge!

Listen in to hear:

• The biggest mistake we make when this happens, and what to do instead

• Why it’s actually not about the words

• How to shift your focus to what your audience needs and wants from you, rather than obsessing over the perfect words

• Why you don’t want to ‘correct’ yourself, instead, focus on connection (don’t correct, connect)

• Why you can trust that you know your stuff

If you’d like me to answer your question on a future episode, chat with me on instagram.

Get my weekly newsletter here.

And if you’re listening before 12.30pm AEST on Thursday 25 September, register for my Elevator Pitch Practise Session here.

Ever been in the audience at a conference, asked a question of one of the speakers, and got completely tangled up in giving context?

Well, that’s EXACTLY what I’m addressing today - how to ask questions FROM the audience in a way that elevates you, gets the answer you want and doesn’t get you all tangled up.

This is in response to a listener question who said

Many times I hear questions in presentations be asked with a lead-in that links some of the themes of the talk to the question about to be asked. However each time I try to do this I really seem to make a mess of the lead-in and then by the time I get around to asking a question the speaker is so confused about what I’m asking so we just have this awkward exchange where I repeat the lead in and question but get super nervous which makes things seemingly worse.

Listen in to my (slightly rambly) answer to learn:

• How to frame a question in your mind, first

• How to connect it to what the speaker was saying

• Why it’s easy to over-think our questions, and how I do it too

• The difference between a general question that will benefit everyone in the audience, vs an advice question that relates to you

• How asking these kinds of questions is a powerful networking and profile building strategy

Register for my Elevator Pitch Practise Session here.

If you’d like me to answer your question on a future episode, chat with me on instagram.

Get my weekly newsletter here.

“Is it realistic to do a 20 minute speech without notes?”, that’s the question I’m asking in this week’s Speaking with Confidence podcast.

It’s a myth that we need to memorise our speeches, and it’s also a risk to take a stage with a script or highly detailed notes. The more details in our notes the more we’re looking at the lectern, instead of connecting with our audience.

Regular listeners will be familiar with my ‘post-it note’ method, where I encourage the use of a handful of post-its to keep you on track and on message, while giving you space to flow with your presentation.

Listen in to hear my answer to Sharon’s question, including:

• Why saying LESS really is more

• How to use your time in a 20 minute presentation

• Why what you say at the end of your presentation is actually more important than what you say in the middle

• Why it’s actually a mistake to focus on your content, and what you want to focus on instead

• How to craft a presentation that connects with your audience, delivers your key messages well and keeps it all focused for maximum impact

Register for my Elevator Pitch Practise Session here.

If you’d like me to answer your question on a future episode, chat with me on instagram.

Get my weekly newsletter here.

To learn more about my post-it note method, listen to episode 74 - The Powerful Frame Your Thinking Method.

And to learn more about the power of ‘cropping’ your message, listen to episode 85 - Cropping for Focus and Impact.

I was recently asked this question:

“How to engage the audience? I love watching speakers who engage the crowd but don't put people on the spot?’

Putting people on the spot is NOT an engagement technique and it can often have negative impacts on the audience.

So, in this week’s episode I’m sharing my top tips for engaging your audience without singling people out, or putting them on the spot.

Listen in to hear:

• How to build rapport and engagement in your opening statements

• My technique for asking questions that your audience WANTS to respond to

• Important body language and hand gestures that invite responses (for both stage and online conversations)

• How to phrase your questions to elicit audience responses

• How to build engagement momentum

Curious about my Impact Club, the collective for humble leaders? See if it’s for you, here.

Have a question you’d like to ask me? Chat with me here on Instagram.

That episode about your opening 2 questions? Episode 163 - How to make my audience relax (it’s the episode immediately before this one!)

In this episode of Speaking with Confidence with Cat Matson I’m answering another community question: “How can I make my audience relax, and maybe even laugh 😅?”

This is such an insightful question … if your audience isn’t relaxed they’re not going to be open to what you have to say.

Listen in to hear:

• My simple technique that you can use in your opening 2 lines to build rapport with your audience and therefore put their minds at ease

• Why some simple housekeeping announcements can be really powerful when it comes to putting your audience at ease

• My tips for making your audience laugh (and no, it’s not bad dad jokes)

• Why you need to relax, yourself, if you want your audience to relax

Want to join my FREE SpeakEASY elevator pitch practise session? Register here.

Can’t make this one but want to know about the next one? Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, here.

Have a question you’d like me to answer? Ask me here.

“How do you quickly prepare when you’re put on the spot?”, that’s the question I’m answering in today’s episode of Speaking with Confidence with Cat Matson.

I was recently asked,

“How to prep in 2 minutes - I went to a networking event recently and once I got there the host said "ok, we're going around the room and everyone will come up to the front and introduce yourself, your business, and why you're here today"

-- pro: I didn't have days to agonise over messing it up, like I would if I knew ahead of time

-- con: I was there more to socialise and was totally unprepared to promote my self/business

How do you not garble it all up?”

Such an AWESOME question!

Listen in to hear:

• How to quickly understand the ‘What’s In It For Them’ (WIIFT) of the attendees at the particular function … and how to introduce yourself in a way that’s relevant to them

• Why you then want to check in with your WIFFM - your’s ‘What’s In It For Me’ in this particular context

• How to use your elevator pitch, or your ‘I Am … ‘ story to connect their WIFFT with your WIFFM

• Why a rigid elevator pitch is NOT the way to go

• Why you ALWAYS want to be ready to talk about yourself and your business … and how you can do that with ease

My SpeakEASY Elevator Pitch Practise Session is happening Friday 29 August. Register now.

Can’t make this one but want to know about the next one? Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, here.

It’s my birthday … it’s a big milestone birthday … as such, this episode is a little bit different to normal episodes.

As I reflect on my career, my business, and my work, the themes of imposter syndrome, humility and authenticity have been percolating … and I wanted to share some of those thoughts today.

Listen in to hear:

• My own ‘I’m not good enough’, ‘who am I to be teaching this’ thoughts
• How the suggestion to write a book has me bumping into all my ‘imposter syndrome stuff’
• How Jacinda Ardern’s memoir has reminded me of the importance of modelling authenticity, and how we NEVER know how the impact we make on others
• Ardern’s beautiful reframe of imposter syndrome

FREE SpeakEASY Elevator Pitch Practise Session - Friday 29 August - register here.

The Impact Club - where humble leaders are supported to make their dent in the universe, in their way.

“How To MC an Event” is the question I’m answering in this week’s episode of Speaking with Confidence … a question asked by Louise in my community.

MCing is my favourite speaking format … so I LOVED answering this question!

Listen in to hear:

• What is the role of an MC (and what many people get wrong)

• How to do an Acknowledgement of Country that is meaningful and DOESN’T sound tokenistic

• Why as MC you want to make the experience enjoyable for the audience, and how to do that

• What to do with those extra long speaker bios

• How you can leverage the opportunity to build your profile while you’re MCing

To join me for the upcoming SpeakEASY Elevator Pitch Practise Session, click here.

If you have a question you’d like me to answer on this podcast, do so over on Instagram.