Why are public speaking and presentation skills important for entrepreneurs?
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs Public Speaking Skills: The Key to Connection and Growth
Public speaking is one of the fastest ways to grow your business, build trust with your audience, and position yourself as a thought leader. But stepping onto the stage can feel overwhelming—especially if you’re unsure how to captivate your audience. The good news? You don’t need a perfect PowerPoint or flashy visuals to make an impact. What you need is connection.
Here are three actionable tips to help you step into the spotlight with confidence and authenticity.
1. Lead with Stories, Not Slides
Slides can support your message, but they shouldn’t be the message. Instead, focus on weaving stories into your talk. Stories have a unique way of creating emotional connections, making your message more memorable and impactful.
Actionable Tip: Reflect on a personal challenge you’ve overcome that aligns with your audience’s struggles. Share how you navigated it and what lessons you learned. This creates relatability and trust.
2. Prioritize Connection Over Perfection
Your audience doesn’t need you to be flawless—they need you to be real. Professional public speaking is less about delivering a polished performance and more about fostering a sense of connection. When you’re authentic, you inspire your audience to take action.
Actionable Tip: Before stepping on stage, practice grounding techniques like deep breathing or visualization. Imagine connecting with your audience on a human level, not just as a speaker. This mindset shift can help ease nerves and build rapport.
3. Create an Experience, Not Just a Talk
Think of your speech as an immersive journey for your audience. You’re not just sharing information; you’re guiding them toward transformation. Use your words, tone, and energy to captivate and inspire.
Actionable Tip: Include moments of audience interaction, such as asking reflective questions or inviting them to visualize solutions. This engagement turns a passive audience into active participants in their own transformation.
Ready to Elevate Your Speaking Game?
Becoming a professional public speaker starts with small, intentional steps. Whether you’re sharing your story at a networking event or pitching your business to potential clients, remember that your authenticity is your greatest asset.
Podcast Episode Overview
Think public speaking is all about bar graphs and bullet points? Think again. In this episode of The Flourishing Entrepreneur Podcast, Aleya Harris dives into the transformative power of public speaking for entrepreneurs. Spoiler: It’s not about the slides—it’s about the story. Learn how showing up authentically on stage can grow your business, build trust, and create raving fans ready to take action.
Drawing on personal experiences, Aleya breaks down the difference between presenting and professional public speaking. She shares how embracing your unique voice and connecting with your audience can create life-changing moments—for them and for you.
Key Takeaways:
Public Speaking vs. Presenting: Understand why professional public speaking is about human connection, not just delivering data.
The Power of Storytelling: Learn how sharing your crisis stories makes you relatable, builds trust, and inspires action.
Why You Need to Get on Stage: Discover how public speaking shortens the sales process, builds your brand, and differentiates you in an AI-driven world.
Why Listen:
If you’re an entrepreneur looking to captivate audiences, grow your business, and stand out in a noisy world, this episode is your ultimate guide to becoming a powerful speaker.
Your Next Steps:
Read the Book: Grab your copy of Spark the Stage and learn how to captivate, inspire, and transform audiences through authentic storytelling. https://www.aleyaharris.com/book
Take the First Step: Join my free masterclass, Build Unstoppable Confidence and Book Speaking Gigs Without Feeling Like an Impostor. https://www.aleyaharris.com/masterclass
Join the Program: Ready to master the art of professional public speaking? Enroll in Spark the Stage today! https://www.aleyaharris.com/spark
About Aleya Harris
Aleya Harris is the spark for your spark™. A trailblazer in purpose-driven story crafting, she is a marketing executive and ex-Google Vendor Partner who brings her dynamic experience to her role as the CEO of The Evolution Collective Inc. Aleya is an international award-winning speaker, the founder and lead trainer of Spark the Stage ™, and the host of the award-winning Flourishing Entrepreneur Podcast. She is also the author of the bestselling book Spark the Stage: Master the Art of Professional Speaking and Authentic Storytelling to Captivate, Inspire, and Transform Your Audience. Her unique approach as a Strategic Storytelling Consultant has revolutionized the way businesses communicate, transforming workplace cultures and market positioning. With her dynamic energy and proven methodologies, Aleya guides clients to unlock their potential, articulate their radically authentic stories, and achieve unparalleled success.
Watch the Free Masterclass
Join Aleya's free masterclass "Build Unstoppable Confidence and Book Speaking Gigs Without Feeling Like an Impostor." Discover the proven framework to own your story, captivate audiences, and land speaking gigs—even if you’ve doubted your worth or have no experience on stage.
Register at https://www.aleyaharris.com/masterclass
Buy the Book
Aleya's bestselling book will help you become a more confident and authentic professional public speaker. Buy Spark the Stage: Master the Art of Professional Speaking and Authentic Storytelling to Captivate, Inspire & Transform Your Audience on Amazon or anywhere books are sold.
Buy the Book: https://a.co/d/1T4EoJ7
Sign Up for Spark the Stage™
Spark the Stage™ is an online course and 12-month group coaching program that helps entrepreneurs and executives become radically authentic professional public speakers who can confidently deliver a compelling Radical Spark Signature Talk™ from the stage.
Enroll at https://www.aleyaharris.com/spark
Work with Aleya to Craft a Better Story
An unclear strategy, confusing brand, or undefined workplace culture will repel ideal clients, visibility opportunities, and career-making connections. The Evolution Collective Inc. transforms disconnected teams and overwhelmed leaders into thriving, inclusive cultures through Radically Authentic Strategic Storytelling.
Schedule a call at https://www.evolutioncollective.com/
Book Aleya to Speak
To book Aleya to edutain your audience at your next event as a keynote speaker, please visit www.aleyaharris.com/speaking to check out her speaking topics, reels, and why. Click "Schedule a Call" to secure the speaker with "that something new" you've been looking for.
Connect with Aleya Harris
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aleyaharris/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleyaharris/
Links Mentioned on this Podcast
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[00:02] Aleya Harris: Public speaking, PowerPoint, Canva and Bar graphs are often connected, but they actually don't really have anything to do with one another. They're more like in a situationship than a relationship. Like people like, oh, I see them out together like public speakers.
[00:22] I always have a PowerPoint and they're cute, cute, cute. But I don't see no ring on that PowerPoint thing. Singer it's like that people get confused thinking that public speaking means creating and delivering a really good PowerPoint or that a good PowerPoint needs to have bar graphs and a bunch of data or bullet points.
[00:43] And none of that, what I just said is true.
[00:47] So today we're going to talk about public speaking and presentation skills, why they're important for entrepreneurs, what the difference is between them and how you can be better at them.
[01:04] All right, let's go.
[01:09] Yuliya Patsay: Welcome to the Flourishing Entrepreneur podcast with Alayah Harris.
[01:15] If you're looking for actionable ways to overcome communication and differentiation challenges by sharing radically authentic stories, you are in the right place. Listen in and learn how to stand in the power of your unique narrative to transform your personal life, business and workplace culture.
[01:36] And now, your host, award winning international speaker, strategic storytelling consultant and Japanese whiskey lover, Ruby Coral's mom, Alaya Harris.
[01:58] Aleya Harris: I remember like it was yesterday how good my PowerPoint skills used to be. I mean, I'm sure they're probably pretty good now, but I use Canva a lot. But my PowerPoint skills, I mean, like, I'm not trying to brag or anything, but like my PowerPoint skills probably rival like the finest graphic design intern out there.
[02:23] I used to be super good at it, but I remember the moment when I realized none of that mattered and it was a win. I had to stand up in front of a room of the brightest minds in the food industry to talk about.
[02:39] Aleya Harris: Behavior change and communicating the current challenges.
[02:43] Aleya Harris: Within our food system. It was at the Google Food Lab of which I had the opportunity to help organized when I was a Google vendor partner. And I now I feel like I was a baby.
[02:55] But when I did it, I never thought that I would be speaking. But because I was in marketing and communication at the time, they're like, oh, you can teach us about communicating.
[03:05] And they offered me this amazing and beautiful platform and I don't think I've ever been so nervous in my life. These were like the smartest people ever. What was I going to teach them?
[03:16] And obtw, I couldn't use slides. So I, in all of my PowerPoint greatness, had nothing to rely on. I wasn't a subject matter expert. I couldn't use slides and I couldn't, like, rely on my natural charm and wit because I was talking about, like, how to communicate that, like, people would be starving because of the lack of food in our supply system in the next 10 years.
[03:40] Like, that's not a funny topic. Like, it was not time for me to whip out my. My greatest standup routine, right?
[03:48] So I thought about how was I going to do this? Because up until that time, I really was just reading PowerPoints and calling myself a presenter. Like, and this is way before I started my professional public speaking career.
[04:01] So I naturally gravitated to first listening and connecting.
[04:07] I knew my resources were in that audience. They were some of the brightest and smartest people. So I listened. I about what challenges were they having communicating and marketing their ideas and getting people to hear them.
[04:20] And so I told stories around marketing and I told some of their stories and I told some of my own.
[04:26] Aleya Harris: And then I found my space in.
[04:29] Aleya Harris: That room of the world's greatest, brightest people in this area as a connector, as a through line, as the storyteller. Not a subject matter expert, but someone who could craft and weave stories together.
[04:45] You know what? My presentation went really well because of the stories, because I listened, because I connected, because I knew my role. I received actual gifts. I received praise. They wanted to hear more.
[04:57] They wanted to take me aside and learn about my ideas on connecting and communicating. I was blown away.
[05:04] And even if I had used the greatest PowerPoint presentation in the world, it would not have done that. I had to be a presenter, not rely on a presentation.
[05:17] Because there is a difference between professional public speaking and presenting. Presenting is you have clear communication. You're able to articulate an idea.
[05:26] That's the baseline. The next level is professional public speaking, which in the last episode you heard me talk about. A professional public speaker is a performance artist who makes money by clearly communicating helpful ideas from the stage.
[05:39] I had to draw people in. I had to make them feel something.
[05:44] When you're a professional public speaker and not just a presenter, you rely on human connection as the currency for your ideas.
[05:53] Aleya Harris: You understand that in order for me.
[05:56] Aleya Harris: To get you to move in your best interest, you have to not only feel connected to me, you have to feel connected to the problem I'm trying to get you to solve, to the solution and.
[06:08] And to the emotion that motivates you to solve that problem. That human connection starts usually with the speaker telling their own crisis story. It usually starts with them being relatable.
[06:22] Aleya Harris: Drawing People in showcasing to them that there's a through line between their human.
[06:28] Aleya Harris: Experience and the audience's human experience.
[06:31] The other thing about why you should be a speaker and not just a presenter is that when you show up, you make money. When. When you are able to, like, be in front of a crowd, it's important.
[06:45] Aleya Harris: To do because when you show your.
[06:47] Aleya Harris: Face when you're making that human connection, it's the fastest way to make sales. It shortens the sales process.
[06:54] Humans and are really just waiting to feel that they can trust someone before they give them their money. And you can spend months or even years emailing people. I've had people on my email list be on there for years before they buy from me.
[07:10] Or you can show up in front of their face, have a conversation, lead them through an experience from the stage, and watch them buy from you in the room. That's the difference.
[07:19] That's why you show up as a public speaker. It also builds your brand. It allows people to have something more than just those really cute photos of you on a couch, barefoot, laughing at the camera in a fake way.
[07:33] Yeah, you.
[07:34] Aleya Harris: I see you.
[07:34] Aleya Harris: I've seen your website. That's what it looks like, isn't it?
[07:38] It's okay. Mine looks the same.
[07:42] It's okay. It's okay. But if I just have that and nothing else, then people wouldn't really be able to connect with me because it looks the same. You're going to connect with me as a human.
[07:54] You're listening to my voice right now. You know that I am way more than just the cute pictures of me on my website. The thing I also really like about public speaking is that, at least for now, AI can't do it.
[08:08] No one has built the robot version of you that can stand up on the stage with your personality and deliver and make that human connection.
[08:15] Aleya Harris: At least not yet.
[08:16] Aleya Harris: I feel like we're really far away from that. Right? So you will be able to carve.
[08:22] Aleya Harris: Your niche out by getting more and more authentic.
[08:25] Aleya Harris: I don't know about you, but it's getting harder and harder for me to.
[08:28] Aleya Harris: Really understand what's real and what's not.
[08:31] Aleya Harris: On the Internet these days. Um, I mean, obviously you don't believe everything you see on the Internet. That's always been like a mantra. But like, nowadays, it's like really, like you can't even believe your eyes, you can't even believe your ears.
[08:43] But you can believe at least more, not a hundred percent, but more, that at least the person standing in front of you is real. They're authentic. And if they're trying to make the.
[08:52] Aleya Harris: Connection with you, people are going to.
[08:54] Aleya Harris: Crave that connection more and more and more. Above all, no one can tell your story like you. So you get on that stage because.
[09:03] Aleya Harris: You need to use the power of your own voice to tell your own.
[09:08] Aleya Harris: Story because someone needs to hear it from you. That's how you make money. That's how you shorten the sales process. That's how you build your brand. That's how you make human connection.
[09:16] That's how you separate yourself from AI designed content.
[09:20] You get up on that stage, you show up, and you do something that.
[09:25] Aleya Harris: Only you can do.
[09:27] Aleya Harris: People will book you because you are you. People book Aleyah Harris. Oh my God. I'm talking to third person. How nasty is that? People book me, Alay Harris, because I am the only one who can do what I do.
[09:40] There is no one like me in the entire world. And the same is true about you.
[09:47] Right now, I'm going to lead you.
[09:48] Aleya Harris: Through a visualization to get you to.
[09:50] Aleya Harris: Feel some of this so that you if your why it's a little weak and you're just like, why would I even get on this stage in the first place? Why is it important for me to have these skills as an entrepreneur?
[10:03] I'm going to guide you through a visualization that will hopefully help you understand your why.
[10:08] So if you're able to take a deep breath in, exhale.
[10:15] Aleya Harris: Close your eyes.
[10:16] Aleya Harris: And get a little comfortable.
[10:20] Aleya Harris: I want you to visualize yourself standing on the stage.
[10:26] Doesn't really matter how many people are in the audience or not, and I want you to feel a spotlight warm on your face.
[10:36] You have a microphone in your hand.
[10:40] Your feet are firmly planted on the wooden stage and it's black and smooth.
[10:48] Aleya Harris: You're wearing an outfit that makes you.
[10:50] Aleya Harris: Feel pretty darn spiffy. And you're feeling a sense of ease and confidence because you know you have something important to say.
[11:07] Aleya Harris: You open your mouth and let stories fall out that help people see their.
[11:14] Aleya Harris: Problems in a new light, understand how to solve them with novel concepts, unique.
[11:21] Aleya Harris: Ideas, while they build the connection between.
[11:25] Aleya Harris: You and them, between them and them, between them and the rest of the.
[11:29] Aleya Harris: Audience and between them and a better.
[11:32] Aleya Harris: Version of the future they are choosing in this moment to design for themselves because of the experience you are guiding them through. From the stage, you feel a warmth in your chest as you see yourself walk back and forth and hear the laughter of the audience.
[11:55] Applause from the audience.
[11:57] Aleya Harris: Dead silence as you can feel them.
[12:02] Aleya Harris: Soaking in every single word you are saying.
[12:06] Aleya Harris: It is magical.
[12:08] Aleya Harris: And you are the magician, conjuring up new beliefs, new paradigms, new perspectives, so that when each and every individual leaves that room, they are better for hearing you speak.
[12:24] Aleya Harris: You feel that warm spotlight on your.
[12:27] Aleya Harris: Face reminding you that you are, in fact, connected. You're channeling the words from spirit, from the universe out into the audience. Feeling light.
[12:37] There's no pressure here. There's no fear here. Why would there be?
[12:44] You know that whatever you say is exactly what they need to hear. So you take your time.
[12:55] You allow for breath.
[12:57] Aleya Harris: You allow for excitement. You allow for engagement. You allow for the experience to be.
[13:03] Aleya Harris: Exactly what it needs to be. As you hear your feet cross the.
[13:08] Aleya Harris: Stage, as you feel your hands in.
[13:12] Aleya Harris: The air, because you know the excitement is real in the room.
[13:20] Aleya Harris: As you close both hands around the.
[13:23] Aleya Harris: Microphone and you hear yourself say the words thank you.
[13:29] You also hear the thunderous applause that comes afterwards because you have just created an entire room of raving fans.
[13:40] Aleya Harris: An entire room of people who can't.
[13:43] Aleya Harris: Wait for their next interaction with you.
[13:45] Aleya Harris: An entire room of people who are.
[13:47] Aleya Harris: Fingering their credit cards in their pockets because they can't wait to buy whatever you are selling because you are captivating.
[13:57] You have taught them something about themselves and about their world that they would have never learned if they had not sat in front of you. And they know it, and you know.
[14:09] Aleya Harris: It, and everyone in that room knows.
[14:12] Aleya Harris: That the magic that you just created is only because of who you are, what you have done, and what you decided to offer to that audience today.
[14:26] You are a successful professional public speaker who catalyzes change and growth for everyone in front of you.
[14:39] I invite you now to wiggle your.
[14:41] Aleya Harris: Fingers, wiggle your toes and flutter your eyelids open.
[14:47] Aleya Harris: And join me here right back on the Flourishing Entrepreneur podcast.
[14:52] Aleya Harris: Your next step right now is to gather your stories.
[14:56] Aleya Harris: Think about how each story could help people.
[14:58] Aleya Harris: Think about the through line between each.
[15:01] Aleya Harris: Story and how you and you alone can tell those stories and captivate an audience.
[15:09] Aleya Harris: To understand how to step on stage as a professional public speaker and a.
[15:13] Aleya Harris: Performance audience, you first have to understand.
[15:16] Aleya Harris: Yourself and understand that public speaking works.
[15:19] Aleya Harris: It works to grow businesses, it works.
[15:21] Aleya Harris: To grow brands, and is something that.
[15:24] Aleya Harris: You uniquely can do to build your.
[15:27] Aleya Harris: Own brand, to get a jumpstart and dive more in depth into the world of becoming a professional public speaker. Purchase my book, Spark the Stage, Master the Art of Professional Speaking and Authentic Storytelling to captivate, inspire and transform your audience on Amazon or@aleyaharris.com
[15:44] book if you're ready to get started with your journey to becoming a professional public speaker, getting hands on feedback directly from me and a group of fellow budding professional public speakers, sign up for Spark the stage@alayaharris.com
[15:58] Spark your Spark steps. Your homework, should you choose to accept it, is first to answer in your journal.
[16:05] Aleya Harris: Why do I want to be on the stage? What benefits will it provide me?
[16:10] Aleya Harris: Really think this through, get specific and then I encourage you to listen to my Free yes, you heard me say it. Free 399masterclass to have me walk you through your first steps of getting on stage.
[16:22] Stage in the master class called Build Unstoppable Confidence and book speaking Gigs without feeling like an imposter. You can watch that@aleyaharris.com Masterclass thank you for joining me here today on the Flourishing Entrepreneur Podcast.
[16:39] My name is Aleya Harris and as always I wish you lots and lots and lots and lots of love, light and abundance. Bye for now.
[16:50] Yuliya Patsay: Thank you for listening to this episode of the Flourishing Entrepreneur Podcast with Aleya Harris. Vibing with what you hear. Leave a five star review to spread the love and be sure to click subscribe.
[17:03] We wish you love, light and abundance. See you next time.
