Good Speakers Never Let a Good Crisis Go to Waste
Let’s get your story heard
One of my biggest pet peeves is speakers who get up on stage and have nothing to say. In this episode, I am going to be talking to you about improving your craft by using storytelling so that you actually have something to say.
Topics covered:
Crafting compelling stories - the key to captivating audiences and becoming a better speaker
Channeling the power found in crises to connect with an audience
How to align stories with your speaking presentation for maximum impact
How to have professional speaking experiences that make event organizers want to book you more often
If you are a small business owner, entrepreneur, thought leader, author, or speaker who wants to improve their stagecraft and accelerate their career, this episode is for you.
Join us as we discuss the power of intersecting personal stories with the audience's experiences, the importance of relatability, and the role of crises in shaping powerful narratives.
Stay tuned as we also reveal details about Aleya's brand new speaker series, Spark the Stage, designed to help aspiring and experienced speakers become confident in sharing their authentic message.
Get ready to learn, be inspired, and transform into a captivating storyteller.
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Spark the Stage will help you become a GOOD professional speaker through 4 weeks of live-taught, virtual workshops.
By the end of our time together, you will have the tools to be the speaker whose session everyone raves about.
You will be able to confidently share your clear, authentic message from the stage.
Let Aleya show you exactly how she's won Speaker of the Year twice and commands $10,000+ per engagement so you can do it too.
Inside of Spark the Stage, you will
✅ Understand how to communicate your authentic, unique message by using energy healing and storytelling techniques
✅ Develop your signature talk pitch
✅ Develop your signature talk outline and presentation
✅ Build your on-stage confidence
✅ Embrace the performance aspect of professional speaking with guidance on using your voice and movement to increase engagement
✅ Know exactly where to get speaking engagements and how to pitch yourself
✅ Understand how to maximize your ROI from each speaking engagement, whether the organizer pays you or not
The best part? The entire program is only $497. Dude. That is dirt cheap. It is the dirt cheapiest this will ever be (If I even do it again).
Sign up at https://www.aleyaharris.com/spark
Book Aleya Harris as Your Next Speaker
To book Aleya to edutain your audience at your next event, 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.
If you are a Corporate Event Planner, Head of Marketing, Learning & Development Professional, Executive Assistant, Destination Management Company, or Destination Management Organization who is looking for a top-quality, energetic speaker, you should definitely hop on a call with Aleya.
About Aleya Harris
Aleya Harris, CPCE is the spark for your spark (TM). She is a powerhouse StoryBrand Certified Guide, BioEnergetic Business Consultant, empire-building CEO of The Evolution Collective Inc., host of the Radical Rebirth Retreat, LLC, host of the award-winning Flourishing Entrepreneur Podcast, and international award-winning speaker. She’s committed to helping entrepreneurs, executives, leadership teams, and thought leaders differentiate themselves through radically authentic strategy, coaching, and training.
Get Your Recalibration Guide
There is a lot of information in this episode that will help you get into greater energetic alignment to boost your glow and cash flow... but it doesn't even scratch the surface.
To dive in, download the 25+ page Recalibration Guide at www.aleyaharris.com/recalibrate
Connect with Aleya Harris
Speaking & Media: www.aleyaharris.com
The Evolution Collective Inc.: www.evolutioncollective.com
Radical Rebirth Retreat, LLC: www.radicalrebirthretreat.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aleyaharris/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleyaharris/
Links Mentioned on this Podcast
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Aleya Harris [00:00:00]:
One of my biggest pet peeves is speakers who get up on stage and have nothing to say. Sure, they waste 45 minutes of everybody's time with apparent brain gems, with big air quotes all around the brain gems, but there's nothing novel. There's nothing interesting and truthfully. As an award winning international speaker, it is an affront to the craft. In this episode, I am going to be talking to you, thought leader, leader in general, speaker, author, who wants to improve your craft by using storytelling so that you actually have something to say. We're going to talk about how to tell stories, what stories you should be telling from the stage, and how to just be more interesting, have better sessions, be a better speaker. All right, let's go.
Yuliya Patsay [00:01:10]:
Welcome to the flourishing Entrepreneur podcast with Aleya Harris. If you're looking for actionable ways to stand out from the crowd, by standing in your power, you've come to the right place. Each week, we help you and your fellow empire building entrepreneurs become radically authentic and tap into your unique story to attract your ideal clients. Listen in and learn how to use energy alignment techniques and tried and true marketing strategies to transform from a leader to a legend. And now, your host powerhouse story brand certified guide, award winning marketer bioenergetic business coach, and Japanese whiskey lover, aleya Harris.
Aleya Harris [00:02:06]:
Speakers who captivate my attention are ones who don't just get up there to talk all about themselves and how wonderful they are and hope that we glean some type of wisdom from it. And they're also they're not the ones who get up there and just like I'm going to give you this checklist of information that's helpful but dry. There's an art and a science to speaking, and the best speaking is done through stories and storytelling. Our human brains are wired to think in story. It's how we process information in and it's what keeps our attention. However, if the story is just all about you or the story is not relating to my life, then I'm not going to pay attention. You have to intersect your story with my story. Today, I'm going to be talking to you about a couple of tools to be able to build effective stories in your speaking presentations.
Aleya Harris [00:03:06]:
And actually, these tools come from week one of my brand new speaker series, spark the Stage. Yes, last week I came to you like I'm toying with it, but I got a lot of great feedback and encouragement. So we're doing the thing, we're releasing it, we're going out into the world. And actually today is when it's being released. At the time of this recording is when it is being released. And Spark the Stage is all about helping you be a speaker. If you're not a speaker or if you've spoken a couple of times, it's helping you be a better speaker, helping you make your professional speaking dreams a reality. In four weeks, of live taught virtual workshops with yours truly, Aleya Harris.
Aleya Harris [00:03:49]:
The transformational goal here is to help you become confident in sharing your clear, authentic message from the stage. And often people are not confident because they don't know what to say. So we're going to help you do that, figure all of that out in week one of Spark the Stage. If you want to sign up for the beta of Sparkthesage, I encourage you to go to Alayaharris.com Spark, aleyaharris.com Spark to sign up today. Okay, knowing what to say in our very first week of Sparkthege, we are going to talk about some pretty deep things, including a lot of the crises that you have gone through. That's where some of the best stories start, and it's also some of the most relatable content. The pre work as you ask questions to yourself like, why do I want to be a speaker? What is the message I want to tell who needs to hear my message? Things like that. And then we dive into your answers during our time together.
Aleya Harris [00:05:16]:
And I use crises to help you shape those answers and mold them to be even better versions and then know what to say to people when you get on stage. Winston Churchill is famous for his quote of never let a good crisis go to waste. And that is a speaker's hidden weapon, never letting a good crisis go to waste. Because crises are things that you've gone through, you've overcome, and you've learned a lesson because of people can relate to stories about crises, especially if there's a lesson, there's a moral and there's actionable steps to follow. So if you want to be a speaker that captivates attention, you have to first dive deep into yourself and tell yourself, what are the crises that I've gone through? I would encourage you to list them all. List the crises that you've overcome. It could be anything from I stubbed my toe and I've come out on the other side to some of my crises, which are having extreme postpartum depression and going and becoming a mom and having no money coming in because of a failed launch. That was supposed to be my maternity plan.
Aleya Harris [00:06:45]:
That's a crises. Another crises I have that I've shared here on the podcast before is the autoimmune disease that I have and how I had activated so much by stress and burnout that it had me unable to walk fully. Those are crises. You're not telling the crisis because you just want to woe as me or you want people to pity you. You're telling it because you're able to glean the lessons that come on the other side of it. And when you tell a crisis story, it needs to relate to your content. So let's say, for example, I'm on stage talking about burnout. When do I tell that story? Well, depending on the audience, I usually tell the story of me being so burned out that I cause a physical disability towards the beginning of my presentation because it allows people to realize, one, I am a credible expert.
Aleya Harris [00:07:45]:
On burnout because I'm walking jump and hop and skipping now, which means that the tools I'm going to tell you that I've used worked. Two, it also allows you to captivate your audience because they know more about you and they're interested in that story. And three, they're really into it because they don't want to end up like you. They don't want to end up not being able to walk or having a very difficult time walking because burnout, and you're going to help them catch it so they're riveted in their seat. So when you tell the story, it's about what story are you telling? How are you relating it to your content? And when do you tell it in your presentation to be the most effective? Stories capture attention, stories help you relate to your audience. And stories also help you share complicated information and distill it down into things that are much more simple. Once you decide that how you tell the story is also very, very important. I could just be like, hey, I had autoimmune disease and I got stressed out and I couldn't walk.
Aleya Harris [00:08:53]:
I'm going to tell you how I got back to walking. Right. That's interesting. That in and of itself would make me interested. Or I could say, it was a really cold day in December of 2015 and I was going through the livermore outlets on the arm of my mother hobbling because I was having such a hard time walking. I had been so stressed out that I didn't know how I was going to move forward. But it was Christmas time, the time of hope, the time of recovery, the time of joy. And by gum, no matter what was happening to me physically, I was determined to have a piece of joy enter into my heart during Christmas time.
Aleya Harris [00:09:44]:
But I knew that if I wanted to experience Christmases in a full and vibrant way, I had to do something. Something had to change, because I didn't want my mother to feel the weight of her daughter leaning on her as she hobbled through the livermore outlets and then see the pain on her face as she was trying her best to enjoy Christmas. So I made a change. And here in this presentation, I'm going to talk to you about the changes that I made to help you avoid situations that I were in so that all of your Christmases can be full of vibrancy and vitality like mine are today. How you tell the story matters. Right? What did I do just then? I put you there. You saw me walking through the outlets. You saw me leaning on my mom.
Aleya Harris [00:10:33]:
I could have probably told you how much shorter than me she is. I'm 510. She's like, five, four. I could have walked you through that full. I walked you through that full experience. So you were there, it caused an emotional connection. It caused you to feel something, right? That's the power of knowing your crises and knowing how to use them to help and serve, to help and serve others. Once you write down your crises, I want you to write down your successes and celebrate what they are.
Aleya Harris [00:11:07]:
Because your successes, whether they've been when you've overcome your crises or whether you've boosted, whether they've just been great to confidence boosters and random things that you've done, will help you when you get on to that stage, to remember who you are. And then I want you to write a list of the gifts that you have, what have you been born with, or maybe some of the gifts that have come from those crises. And you can turn those gifts into part of your why. Your topics incorporate into your presentation style or use them to add additional stories to your story. All of this topic and this content is what we're going to dive into very deeply into week one of Spark the Stage again, that's my new workshop series that is specifically designed to teach you how to be a professional speaker and not just like a professional speaker that books a gig. Yay. But people are clamoring at your door because you're so good at your craft. I'm not just setting you up to be able to get on the stage.
Aleya Harris [00:12:16]:
I'm setting you up to be able to do a great job once you are there. That is my goal, is for you to excel and for you to be the person that is coveted for booking butts in seats. And you're doing that by telling better stories and by actually knowing the craft of speaking. I have some tough love for you. Just because you're an expert does not mean you belong on the stage. Just because you're an expert does not mean that you know how to translate your expertise effectively via spoken word in front of an audience. But you can learn. And I would love to teach you.
Aleya Harris [00:12:59]:
I certainly would love to teach you because your expertise is something that everybody can benefit from. But we only get to benefit from it if you know how to reach us where we are at. Even the information I am most hungry for, I will not be able to receive. If it's not given in a way that makes me interested or excited about getting it, I'm just going to tune it out. Even if it is like, let me tell you the secret to living a long, happy life with millions of dollars coming in every day. If it is given in a way that I'm turned off by the speaker's presentation or personality or I don't understand it, it's not going to help me. And then your purpose of being a speaker is kind of like not being met, really. We don't speak on the stage and you shouldn't want to become a speaker because, oh, I'm going to get on stage.
Aleya Harris [00:13:52]:
On the first speaking engagement I have, I'm going to make $5 million. No, you want to get on stage because you're looking for another medium to further your message, to further your mission, to further your passion, to further your purpose. That's why you get up on stage. Your crises that you've overcome are most likely part of what has caused you to have your passion and your purpose. Right when I was going through physically debilitating burnout, and I said 2015, and it was actually 2018, so my bad. But part of that was when I was going through that and I was overcoming debilitating burnout, I was like, no one should go through this. No business owner should ever have to deal with this. People should be able to make money with ease.
Aleya Harris [00:14:35]:
They should know how to make money. They should know how to market themselves, and they should be able to be in energetic alignment along the path. So I've always infused energy alignment within the work that I've done, sometimes overtly, sometimes a little more covertly. When people actually get in the room with me or one on one, they're like, oh, that's how the magic is made. Yes, that is how the magic is made. But that crises and of several others are what caused me to be successful because it was coming again from an authentic place. Another thing about crises is that they are unique. No one can take my crises from me and try to say that it is theirs.
Aleya Harris [00:15:14]:
They didn't live through it. One thing about being a speaker is there's lots of us. Like, you can throw a rock and hit a speaker. Now, I don't say you could throw a rock and hit a good speaker, okay? But you can throw a rock and hit a speaker. So what you want to do is to be able to stand out from the crowd, not because you have the flashiest or the showiest, but because you are the most authentic, and your stories are theft proof. Now, when you start listing your crises, I remember the first time I did this. It was heavy. I'm not going to lie.
Aleya Harris [00:15:49]:
I did it with a glass of wine. Actually, no, it wasn't a glass of wine. That was a lie. It was a glass of whiskey because that's more my style. But I did it with a glass of whiskey, and it was like, woof woof. At the end of listing your crises, please do me a favor and celebrate, because you've gotten through them all. And celebrate because now you know all the tools that you need to help other people do the same, whether it's from stage in your normal business lines or just walking down the street in the grocery store. I mean, I kid you not.
Aleya Harris [00:16:22]:
When I did my crisis listing, I was in Trader Joe's, and there was someone who was talking about how she was struggling with burnout and she was tired. And I shared my story with her. It was top of mind, and she said, oh, my gosh, thank you. Thank you so much. I'm going to make some changes. Right? It's amazing how just the simple awareness of what you've been through and calling it forth more readily in your mind makes a big difference. But definitely celebrate, heal, rest afterwards. I'm not going to say drink whiskey while doing it, but it helps a lot.
Aleya Harris [00:16:59]:
Again, we do this and much more over four weeks of rather intense workshop series where you're doing pre work in the in session work for 90 minutes with us and me and your group of your peers. And then there is homework that is mostly video based, sending 92nd 20 minutes videos, et cetera, into a slack channel so that we can give you critiques and follow up. And then you're going to look at themes in your life and you're going to develop a keynote, a signature talk that is so uniquely yours and so helpful. Event organizers will be clamoring to book you, which is the goal for you to be able to use this to make money either directly or by promoting your other service lines. So if you're interested, again, alayaharris.com, Spark. To sign up for Sparkthage, we're going into three sections where we're going to get real, get clear, and get connected, which are the three sections I use for everything that I do. Week one, there's a lot of getting real, there's a lot of development of your story and where is your story coming from. And the we're getting clear, building that story, building your presentation, building your pitch, and the I'm teaching you where to find speaking gigs, what speaking gigs you should be going after, how to get paid by them, or how to make sure that you get paid through them.
Aleya Harris [00:18:24]:
And by being connected with the all of that loveliness is inside of Sparkthestage. Alayaharris.com slash spark. I would also encourage you to download our recalibration guide, because in that recalibration guide, if you're like. I ain't going to do that, Aleya. I just want to download the guide. That's fine. I can't stop you if you don't want me to help you, honey, you got to want it. You got to want it.
Aleya Harris [00:18:50]:
But you can download the recalibration guide and that will help you get real and hopefully come up with some of your stories on your own. You can do that@alayaharris.com recalibrate. Thank you so much for listening to this very short episode where I just wanted to help you understand where to start from to be a speaker. It's not what is my business line. I am a coach that helps women move from six to seven figures, and I'm just going to talk about money and mindset and all that stuff that everyone else has heard of before. It's about really, truly diving deep into solving authentic problems so that you can stand out from the crowd. All right, well, my name is aleya harris. This is the flourishing entrepreneur podcast.
Aleya Harris [00:19:33]:
And until next time, my darling, I wish you lots of love, light, and abundance, and I hope to see you inside of spark the stage. Bye for now.
Yuliya Patsay [00:19:45]:
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. We wish you love, light, and abundance. See you next time.
