Speak to Sell: How Great Presentations Drive Business Results
With Guest Joel Weldon
How results-driven speaking shifts the focus from "What you say" to "What they do."
The How to Sell More Podcast
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May 7, 2025
What if the difference between closing a deal and watching it walk out the door comes down to a single skill that most people are too scared to master?
That skill is public speaking.
In this episode of How to Sell More, host Mark Drager sits down with Joel Weldon, a Hall of Fame professional speaker, to reveal how your communication skills can multiply your value by 50 percent.
The brutal truth is your audience doesn’t care about you. They care about solving their problems.
Here’s a challenge: reread your last client email and count how many times you said “I,” “me,” “we,” or “our.” Then count how many times you said “you” and “your.”
Which dominates? If it's the former, you're leaving money on the table.
“Speak to your audience about what they need in an organized way they can follow—and get yourself out of the way.” - Joel Weldon
The good news? Shifting your language to focus on your customer isn’t difficult, and Joel offers simple solutions that create results.
The same rule applies to public speaking. The key to a great presentation comes down to one word: results. By embracing your authentic voice and focusing your message on your audience’s needs, you can deliver an actionable presentation that drives immediate, measurable outcomes.
Ready to learn how to master public speaking and communication so you can sell more?
Listen to the full conversation now.
Connect with Joel Weldon
- Connect on LinkedIn
- Learn more about the Ultimate Speaking System for entrepreneurs and business owners
- Learn more about Joel Weldon’s work
More About Today's Guest, Joel Weldon
From fear to fame, Joel Weldon's 50+ year journey as a Hall of Fame professional speaker began at age 28 when he transformed a negative experience into his life's calling.
With over 3,000 speaking engagements worldwide and over 10,000 personally coached speakers, Joel's impact on the communication landscape as a renowned public speaking coach is unmatched. His "Ultimate Speaking System" has become the gold standard for delivering messages with clarity and power.
The speaking industry has showered Joel Weldon with its highest honours—induction into the CPAE Speakers Hall of Fame, the coveted Golden Gavel, the prestigious Communication & Leadership Award, and recognition as a "Legend of the Speaking Profession" in 2006.
"Make your message impossible to be misunderstood" isn't just Joel's philosophy—it's the foundation of his approach to transforming ordinary speakers into extraordinary communicators.
His iconic business card (an 8-ounce can) emblazoned with "Success Comes in Cans, Not in Cannots" perfectly captures his positive, action-oriented mindset.
Beyond the lights of the stage, Joel runs his family-centred seminar business with his two daughters and maintains his commitment to health, spending 60+ days annually enjoying water sports.
A Transcription of The Talk
Mark Drager: So, Joel, you’re widely regarded as one of the highest performing speakers and speaking skill coaches in America. I’m sure you've seen the same costly mistakes happen over and over again, watching business owners leave money on the table simply because of how they communicate.
What is the single most costly communication mistake that people make, and how can we fix it?
Joel Weldon: That's a great question, Mark. And as you're listening, if you just think—like Mark told you—why you're here. So the question is: What could you be saying or doing that leaves money on the table—sales that are unclosed?
If I had to sum it up in just a couple of words, it's the difference between the word "I" and "you." Unfortunately, so many people in communications think it's about them. Here's a basic fact: no one cares about you.
Now, I don't mean that in a sarcastic way, but when you're with a potential client or customer—a prospect that you're dealing with—explaining your product or service, looking to get their business, they don't care anything about you. They just want to know: does that product or service help me solve a problem, meet a need, or overcome a difficulty we have in our business or personally?
And unfortunately, if you were to listen to the recordings of almost every communicator, the most commonly used word in the world is the word "I." How many times have you heard somebody open up a presentation, standing in front of an audience made up of people just like you, and they say, "I'm so happy to be here," and, "I'm so excited to share these ideas"?
Well, I feel like yelling out—which I wouldn't—"No one cares."
So what if the opening of that speaker's presentation began with just three words, the same three words I used when I opened for you: "You're here because..."
You're here because you want to improve your ability to sell your products and services, build your business, and grow customer satisfaction. And whether you're the director of marketing, the director of sales, the CEO of a company, or a professional salesperson, it all goes back to: What's in it for me?
That's what your prospects want to know. And the way to do that is to monitor and become conscious of the words "I" and "you."
So, here's your assignment. Look at the last email you wrote to a prospect or to a client. Look at the first two paragraphs. Circle how many times the word "I" appears and how many times the word "you" is used.
You'll see the ordinary letter starts off with: "I'm so excited to have you as a new customer, and I need to ask you some questions, and there's some information I need." Forget that.
"Congratulations. You made a great investment in XYZ product or service, and you're going to find so much benefit from that. To ensure you get that benefit, a few things are missing that would help us be even greater service to you."
Okay, that's a you message, not an I message.
So to answer your question, Mark, the biggest single mistake that people make that leaves money on the table—sales unclosed—is using the wrong personal pronoun.
Now, there's nothing wrong with "I." There's a lot of benefit with "you." You can still say "I"—you have to sometimes say "I." But if you think of this, Mark, as a metaphor—and as you're listening, the same thing—have you ever played ping pong, Mark?
Mark Drager: I have. Very poorly.
Joel Weldon: Okay, well, let's say you and I get in front of a ping pong table, and our goal is to have fun—not to kill the ball, not to accumulate points—but to just have fun with talking, and we're hitting the ball. So I hit the ball to you. What do you do?
Mark Drager: I will gently bounce it back to you.
Joel Weldon: And then I get it and I gently bounce it back to you, and it goes back and forth.
So what if you did that with your communications?
So if you said something like—maybe the prospect asks you or the client asks you—"How did you ever get started doing what you're doing? How did this product ever start?"
Well, that’s a great question. "I began this company 15 years ago because I saw a problem." Okay, that's an I message.
Then you follow it up: "Have you ever been in a situation where you saw a problem and you sought to solve it?"
And then the listener says, "Well, yeah, that's exactly what I did back in 1974 when we started this business."
Okay, so that's what I call the ping pong effect, which means you use an I, follow it up with a you. If you're telling your personal story—"I was just working with one of our clients on that. I was at a desperate time in my life." He said, "I had no money. I was sleeping in my car, and I didn’t know where my next dollar was going to come from."
And then he went on and on about his story. I said, “But what if you had just said after that, ‘I had no idea where my next dollar was coming from. Have you ever been in a situation like that? Maybe not sleeping in your car, homeless, with no money—but maybe you just didn’t know what direction to go in. What would you have done?’”
“I did probably what you would have done. I went to see a friend that was more successful. His name was Mark, and he had a podcast.”
So your assignment, as you're listening, look at your emails. See how many "I"s did you have?
If you got a lot of "I"s, see if you can rewrite that. And you can go to ChatGPT, copy that email and say, "Rewrite this without changing the meaning, but use you instead of I, your instead of my," and it's amazing how quickly you can develop that habit.
So pay attention on this podcast. Who am I talking to? I'm not talking to Mark. I'm talking to you, as the listener.
Mark Drager: So in 1974, you're 28 years old. You had never spoken before, but you gave your first speech. And what I understand is someone said, “You are terrible at this. You are the worst person in the world.”
Joel Weldon: Actually, it was five years earlier than that. That was my first paid speech in 1974.
But it was on September 4, 1969, in Tempe, Arizona, that I gave my first talk in front of a group at age 28. So, as you're listening, think about the first time you ever got up in front of a group. How effective were you?
Now, you might have been gifted. Maybe in high school, you were on the debating team. Maybe you took a political office as class president, you gave book reports, maybe you went to a school play. I didn’t do any of that.
I couldn’t even lead my Sunday school class in silent prayer—I mean, that's bad. So speaking was certainly not one of my skill sets.
Okay, so there's an example of a personal story where I just involved the listener. You might have been a good speaker in high school. Maybe you were in a school play. Maybe you were an officer in your class. That’s the ping pong effect.
Even though this is a very personal story Mark is asking me to share, you can still use that ping pong idea.
So just imagine, as you're listening, you were one of the 17 people that were in this room at a Holiday Inn in Tempe, Arizona, in 1969, and this young guy—28 years old—is giving his first talk.
And then you leave, and as you're getting ready to head home, you see an older man go back in, and you follow him in. And this older man comes up to me, because I'm left packing up my stuff, and he says these words: “Would you like some feedback on the meeting?”
Now, what would you have said, Mark, if somebody said that the first time?
Mark Drager: Oh, sure. Yeah, no, I’d love to hear it.
Joel Weldon: Well, I knew I wasn’t very good. I wasn’t expecting praise, but I wasn’t expecting what he said next.
So as you're listening to this story unfold, imagine you're an invisible partner in that Holiday Inn room. You see this older guy put his arm on my shoulder—he was taller than I was—and he said:
“Well, this was the worst meeting I have ever attended in my whole life. And you, young man, are the worst speaker I have ever heard in my entire life.”
Now, if somebody had said that to you, Mark—since you're the only one who can give some feedback here—and as you're listening, what would you have said if somebody told you that, Mark? What would have been your response?
Mark Drager: I've had some of those moments. They are crushing. I can already feel the pit of my stomach giving out, and I would go home pretty deflated.
Joel Weldon: Okay, well, I didn’t do that at all. I just started to cry.
And he pushes me and says, “Come on, you’re not a baby. Stop crying. You’re a grown man, and I’m going to fix you.”
I said, “What do you mean you’re going to fix me?”
He said, “Next Tuesday morning, 6:30 in the morning, you’re going to show up at Brad’s Coffee Shop. You're going to come to the Tempe Toastmasters Club, and I’m going to teach you how to speak.”
Well, I’d never heard of Toastmasters, Mark. And of course, now Toastmasters is a well-known organization. There are over a quarter of a million active members right now in 160 countries. We have 150-plus clubs just in the state of Arizona, and I’m still a member.
But I went to that Toastmasters club in 1969, and I could barely say my name in front of a group. I can remember the president said—oh, and this guy never showed up. I never saw him again, but he got me to go to that Toastmasters meeting.
So just imagine if you're sitting in a Toastmasters meeting—and it was only men, because in 1969, women were not allowed in. I think it was in '74 that women were allowed. And they had Toastmistresses and Toastmasters clubs in the '60s. Then equality took over, and they joined forces.
And the president says, “Oh, I see we have a guest.” And he's pointing to me, and I go, he says, “Yeah, tell us who you are.”
And I said, “Joel Weldon. Scottsdale, Arizona. Thank you very much.” And I was terrified.
Little did I know that five years later, after never missing a meeting in those five years for the Tempe Toastmasters, I’d be in front of 2,000 people at the Disneyland Hotel at Toastmasters International’s world final speech contest—one of nine finalists—and placing top three in the world.
And that experience launched my professional speaking career, and it hasn’t stopped since 1974.
Mark Drager: So what’s the difference between the Joel I would have met who was in tears at this negative feedback, and years later, the Joel who was standing on stage competing as a speaker?
Joel Weldon: Well, the difference would be just what you hope to get out of this message, if you're listening—the ability to understand what it takes to improve.
In my case, it was the fact that speaking effectively—which was the goal, to overcome the weakness of being an ineffective speaker—is that it's a learned skill. It's not something you're born with.
And as an example, we use the ping pong example: if you're an adult and you haven't played ping pong in a while, and you pick up a racket and you get in a game with a very skilled ping pong player, you probably won't do very well.
But if you practiced every day, could you get better at it? Certainly you would get better at it.
Now, would you become a world champion? Well, it depends on your natural coordination, your motivation, your eye-hand coordination—all of those things play a factor.
But no matter how bad you are when you start something, if you practice, if you get coaching, if you put time and effort in, if you use your mental ability to focus on it, you're going to improve on it. And that's what speaking is—it's a learned skill.
And the most important thing, as you're listening—if you're not a good speaker—is to be yourself.
It's not acting. Being an effective communicator—whether it’s in a sales situation, in front of an audience, or in a virtual presentation like Mark and I are doing now—it’s being yourself. It’s not acting.
The very definition of a performer or an actor is the ability to pretend you’re somebody you’re not. And since the focus of your podcast, Mark, is built around that word selling, the worst thing a communicator could be is to be phony.
People can pick up on that. So if you’re dull, boring, and monotone, that’s how you should speak in front of a group or on a video. And if you’re high-energy and exciting, then that’s how you should be. But you should be yourself.
And we can anticipate that in the introduction. I just wrote an introduction on Monday for a client who’s dull, boring, and monotone. And in that introduction, we said that Rob is not comfortable speaking in front of a group. He’s stepping way out of his comfort zone today, but he’s built seven businesses. Each he took over ten million, and he sold one for 100 million.
He has great skill at building a business, but he doesn’t have great skill at speaking in front of a group. So he’s going to use some notes so we can stay on track. And please don’t judge him by how he delivers the ideas. Focus on the ideas.
Well, when Rob got an introduction like that, Rob felt so comfortable being himself. And afterwards—which we encourage our clients to do—is get feedback from the audience. The feedback he got consistently was, “I didn’t think he was dull, boring, and monotone. I thought he was fascinating. And what a great story. And I got so many good ideas.”
So you can anticipate something. If you are unnatural, that could be a distraction. If you have an accent and English is your second or third language, we put that in the introduction.
“Mark is from Australia.” And the reason we say that—sometimes, if you're from South Africa or England or Australia or New Zealand—people can't tell the difference. So by just saying, “It’s Australia,” we forget the accent.
So that's, I think, one of the things that could really be helpful as you're listening: just be yourself.
Mark Drager: You know, I was recently speaking with an entrepreneur who makes YouTube videos. And they were telling me that they used to just completely make everything up on the fly, and they had fun with it. But they realized that they weren’t creating the best videos for their audience, simply by winging it.
And so they were working on preparing for their videos in advance… topics, notes, questions… But now, they’re on camera with their notes, and they didn’t know what to do with them.
And I explained that there’s nothing wrong with having notes or having cue cards.. The audience will forgive you for almost anything if you embrace it. But if you try to hide it?
And so what I hear you saying is: if we know at a certain point that our audience will struggle with something we’re saying—maybe how complex our language is, or our speaking style, or the topic-if we prepare our audience for that and provide context for that, then they’ll be pretty forgiving, won’t they?
Joel Weldon: Absolutely. And you’ll be so much more comfortable being who you are.
Because the effort it takes to pretend that you’re confident if you’re not confident, or pretend that you’re outgoing, buoyant, joyful, and enthusiastic if you’re not—instead of putting the effort into the message for the audience, because it’s all about them.
Like we said in the very first question you asked: What’s the biggest mistake people make? They make it about themselves instead of their prospects or their customers or their listeners.
It’s all about you—on this podcast, as the listener. It’s not about Joel Weldon, and it’s not about Mark. It’s about you.
Mark Drager: You shared with me a Warren Buffett quote, and it reads: “You can improve your value by 50% just by learning communication skills and public speaking.”
And so if you’re listening and thinking, “I know speaking skills are holding me back. I know it’s something that I can get better at, that I should invest time into—for my career, for my business, for my growth” — what would you recommend for the next step?
Joel Weldon: Well, if you accept the premise of what Warren Buffett—considered the wisest investor of modern times and one of the richest men in the world—if he says that you could increase your value by 50%, I mean, that's huge. If you became an even better communicator.
And as he said: learning communication and public speaking skills.
So one way to do that is to just speak, and then get feedback from your audience.
And if there’s one thing I learned in that very first Toastmasters meeting—it’s that Toastmasters is built on constructive feedback. When somebody gives a talk in Toastmasters, the audience critiques them.
In my club—which is Monday at noon every Monday—I’m there at the Chats Toastmasters Club in Scottsdale. We have about 40 or 45 members right now. We had almost 30 at the meeting this Monday, and we had three wonderful speakers. But everybody in the room—including the five guests we had—filled out an 8.5 x 11 page critique sheet of what they liked and what they didn’t like, what worked and what didn’t work.
And even a guest knows what makes sense and what doesn’t make sense—even if they don’t know anything about speaking.
Just like you know, Mark, about restaurants—you can tell if the food is good or bad. You don’t have to be a chef. You know that was way too salty, or that was just undercooked, or that was too burnt. You know what food, for you, should taste like.
Speakers need to understand the audience holds the keys to everything.
So if you’re wanting to get experience, go out and speak—and then just use a blank index card and ask people three questions. On a one to ten, how valuable was what you heard today? Whatever you talked about, put a number from one to ten. Anything under a seven—you failed.
Anything over seven is a positive. (But we don’t tell them that.). What was your best takeaway? Of all the things you heard, what was the one idea that was the most valuable for you? Just a couple of words—I’ll know what you mean. What would have made this presentation even better for you?
And I’ve had millions—literally millions—of people fill out a critique sheet on me. Every time I spoke. Because my unique system of getting paid as a speaker for over 3,000 events was: my audience.
My audience would critique me every paying talk. The client would get all the feedback cards, and anything under a seven—I didn’t get paid for.
So if there were 100 people in the room, I would deduct 1/100th for every card under a seven. So if 50 people said it was a six, I deducted half my fee.
Now, that never happened in over 50 years.
So my last 25-year average has been 9.52 on a one to ten scale, and one negative out of every 272 cards.
Now, no matter how ineffective you are, if you asked your audience. “On a scale of 1 to 10, how valuable was what you heard?” What was your best takeaway?” “What could I have done to make this even better for you?” If you looked at that third question, you’d get better really quick. So that’s one thing you can do—get out and speak, make presentations.
Or if you’re doing one-on-one, just ask your client, “How did I do today? You didn’t want to invest in our company’s product or service—what could I have done differently that might have made a difference?”
“Well, your price was too high.”
“Well, let’s say we took price out of it—what else would have made a difference?”
“Well, I just think that your challenge with XYZ really wasn’t going to work for us.”
Well, this is where you’d learn something.
But unfortunately, restaurant owners don’t come up to every person sitting in the restaurant and say, “How was your meal?” And normally, the client or the guest would say, “It was pretty good.”
But what if that owner had said, “If there was one thing I could improve about your dinner tonight, what would have made it even better?”
“Oh, if you had hot rolls—I’d love hot rolls. These rolls were cold.”
Imagine what feedback they’d get.
So you could do the same thing as a leader. Ask for feedback, and then use that to get even better.
That’s one way—get out and speak and just do it on your own.
Another way—you go to Toastmasters. Now, when you join our club—because we have so many members—you might speak three times a year. So that’s not going to give you a lot of experience, but you can learn by watching.
Or you hire a coach. That’s what I do. I work with people who want somebody—a guide at their side—who’s been where they’re going, to look at their presentations and make it even better.
Before our call today, I was on with a doctor up in Portland, Oregon. She specializes in women who gain weight going through menopause, and she’s doing a seminar on the 15th of March with three other doctors. They have 150 people paid.
She’s never spoken in front of a group before. She’s a medical doctor. And her brother is one of my clients who recommended her to me. We’ve been working on this program for the last two months.
And it’s amazing—she’s come up with such great material, and we practice it every week, and now she’s going to get to deliver it. And she’s stepping out of her comfort zone.
And in the introduction I wrote, it says that Leslie is not comfortable speaking. Matter of fact, this is the first time she’s ever done anything like this.
And she said, “Oh, that makes me feel so much more comfortable.”
So that’s how you can get even better. Go to Toastmasters. Go out and do it on your own. Hire a coach and get better at it. Or just figure it out yourself. But never be comfortable where you are.
Mark Drager: I have a friend who is an ex-NFL football player, and it was interesting—I was speaking with him, and he walked me through what a high school athlete has access to versus what a college athlete has access to versus what an NFL player has.
And it’s not only about the support. It’s not only about the coaching. But he told me, “You know what? I was never afraid.” And he was the first person to always watch game tape.
He loved it—even though most players hate watching their game tape—because he said, just culturally, the whole team is there. And they’re going frame by frame, move by move as a group, calling you out, making fun of you, laughing at you. “How could you do that?”
It’s hard. It’s embarrassing. But he said, “Oh, I embraced it. I loved it. Because it was the only thing that was uncomfortable enough that forced me to continually get better and continually train.”
And so I’ve always had, in my mind, this idea of game tape.
I’ve produced a lot of content. I’ve done speeches and events. Frankly, I don’t really want to go back and relive it or rewatch it. It’s uncomfortable. People don’t like the sound of their voice. They don’t like how often they say “um” or “like” or whatever it might be.
But I have found that by recording, by transcribing what we do, by circling everything, by really noticing “Ooh, I kind of rambled there.” “I went off topic.” “I introduced a new idea, but I never circled back to it.” “I never landed the plane.” Whatever it might be.
I found just embracing that discomfort and watching this game tape is one of the greatest things we can do to improve.
Is this something that you do? Is this something you recommend?
Joel Weldon: Absolutely.
And when I work with other professional speakers who say, “Well, I’m a professional. I know what I’m doing.” No, you don’t.
And if you don’t get feedback from your audience, if you don’t record what you do—and now, with our smartphones, you’ve got a camera, you’ve got a microphone—you don’t need any equipment. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
But you should be recording everything that you’re doing and presenting. And then doing just what Mark said—going through it, just like a professional athlete does with game tape—and listening to what you’re doing. And watching, if it’s video. And improving.
Because here’s why: If you’re in front of a group giving a talk and you don’t get feedback—you’re the only one in the room who doesn’t know. Everybody else knows.
Mark Drager: Oh, that’s such a good point. I never even thought of that. It’s obvious to everyone but you.
Joel Weldon: Everyone knows but you. And that’s not where you want to be.
And virtually everything that’s helped me as a professional speaker has come from those feedback cards—what works and what doesn’t work in the audience’s mind.
Or in sales—in the prospect’s mind. And when you make a sale and you get a new client, and you ask that question: “Of all the things you heard today that got you to sign up and become a customer and invest in the XYZ product, what was the one thing that was the most impactful for you?”
“Oh my gosh, when you told that story about the ABC company and what they went through—that’s exactly what we’re going through now. And when I heard that, I just knew—if they could do it, then we could do it. And we’ve got to get this product.”
Now, maybe that wasn’t important to you, but it was sure important to that person.
So now you know the power of stories—to use stories that are relevant to your next prospect or the person that you're talking to.
Mark Drager: I don’t know if you do this, Joel, but the thought just crossed my mind.
What part of what I love about Zoom meetings or Zoom conversations—which, okay, there’s a lot of downsides to all this remote stuff—but one of the upsides is: when you have a recording, you record each person’s face. And if you go back and watch your own performance, that’s one thing.
But I actually go back and watch my guests—or the people I’m presenting to. I watch their eyes. I watch whether they’re engaged, whether they’re leaning in, whether they’re smiling, whether they’re nodding or not.
I wonder if there’s an opportunity for live events—live pitches and things like that—even to capture the audience, and try to overlay as you go through your presentation whether you’re losing them, whether you’re losing interest, or whether they’re actually leaning in more.
Joel Weldon: Well, I mean, isn’t that what they do with YouTube—when they give you the demographics and they can track your entire one-hour presentation and see where the audience left, or see where more people came in?
And then you start to know.
But that would be a good thing—you know, a secret camera behind the speaker, recording the audience.
That I haven’t done—other than standing in front of an audience and looking at them and watching and reading the response.
And that’s where humor comes in. Humor has always been the key. Because when you use humor—when they laugh—you know they’re in it. They’re paying attention to it.
And this Dr. Leslie—we added a lot of humor to her presentation. Remember, she’s never spoken before. So we have a slide that says, “Menopausal women who gain weight live longer than men.” Next slide: “Who talk about their weight.”
There we go.
So that’s... now the fact that you laughed tells me you were paying attention. That’s what I told Dr. Leslie—that when you give this on March 15th and you get to that slide, which is funny—and because it’s in a visual, split up into two slides (because the punchline is the men who mention it)—you don’t want to show that in the beginning, because they can read faster than you can talk.
And when they laugh, you know you’ve got them with you. And so that’s a litmus test that I’ve always used as a speaker—humor tells you if they’re into it. Just like when you laughed—I knew you were paying attention.
Mark Drager: So you and I are both part of Genius Network. It’s a business owners group. And part of the structure is that members get a chance to give a 10-minute talk.
It’s on a topic. It’s not a sales conversation or a sales pitch. But it’s something where we’re all subject matter experts—we’ve spent our lives developing these different skill sets, and we have experiences.
And so it’s a chance for each member to spend 10 minutes sharing a piece of value with the audience.
And you work with all the members to help them craft the best 10-minute talk that they could possibly have.
And so I’ve been in the room where—you know—I turn to someone and they say, “Oh, I’m giving a 10-minute talk in a few minutes.”
I go, “Oh, have you spoken before?”
And they go, “No, I’ve never spoken.”
“Are you nervous?”
And they go, “Oh no, I’ve worked with—I’ve worked with Joel. And he’s helped me so much.”
And then they get up and they give what truthfully is a remarkable 10-minute talk. It’s well crafted. It’s well structured. It’s delivered. It’s on time.
You time people to the second. If they go a second over 10 minutes, you’re up there on stage calling people out on these things.
And so I am curious—if we had to break up what’s required to give a really great presentation—let’s say that one slice of the pie is maybe preparation. Another slice might be the content or the actual flow or the verbiage or the language. Another might be practice. Another might be the actual performance—musicality, tone.
If we had these different components to prepare for a really great talk, what’s most important for us to focus on?
Joel Weldon: That’s a great question. And you know, we’re using the 10-minute talk as an example.
And you mentioned Genius Network. So I’ve been a member 11 years, and I’ve been working with the speakers—probably over 500 10-minute talks in that time.
And what makes a great talk—period—never mind a 10-minute talk—is one word.
So as you’re listening, here’s the answer. If you’re making any presentation, you know what’s going to make it a great presentation? Here’s the word:. Results. What happens after the presentation?
So if you're going to a meeting and the speaker is talking about how to save somebody who’s bleeding or not breathing—and that was one of the talks we had last month that Mark heard—from a guy who has a paramedic school in Texas. He’s trained thousands of people.
And it takes—which I’m sure Mark was shocked at too—it’s a 12-month course. And to become a certified paramedic, it’s another four months beyond that. And this is for firemen and policemen and people like that—first responders.
And he’s going to do it in 600 seconds.
And yet, I would rate that as one of the best talks of the year. Because this speaker, Matt, his name was—talked about two things. How to stop the bleeding if you’re with somebody and there’s no one around to help, by using a tourniquet. And how to get somebody to breathe if they’re not breathing.
And then he recommended a first aid kit that we could order that carried a high-grade tourniquet and body patches and some other things. It turns out it’s like 150 bucks, but it was fairly small—but it had everything you would need to save somebody’s life.
So remember: what makes a great presentation—whether it’s a sales presentation, a team meeting, or a presentation about your company or business—is what will the audience do? The result. When you give the call to action, what happens?
So what Matt asked us to do—“If what you heard made sense, go on Amazon. Order this kit. Keep it with you. If you go on a boat, if you’re on ATVs, if you’re at a ski lodge—have it handy. It’s small, but it has everything you need in it.”
I talked to Mark—probably about 20 people after that meeting—and all but two of them had ordered the kit already.
Mark Drager: I have it sitting in my Amazon box. And actually, two nights ago, I was telling my wife about this whole presentation—how we learned how to pack a wound, how we learned the difference between your chest and your ligaments and all of this stuff.
And she’s kind of like nodding along. And I was super excited that I learned this first aid, first response type stuff.
Joel Weldon: So in answer to your question “what makes a great talk”—as you're listening, I know your biggest problem when it comes to speaking.
And I hope you don’t mind me calling it a problem, but it is your problem. Are you ready for it?
Because it’s the same problem Matt had when he gave this talk based on his experience at a paramedic school.
You know too much. And that’s the challenge. Because whatever your business is—if you’re successful (which you wouldn’t be if you’re on this podcast)—you are successful. You’re running the business. You’re in charge of sales or marketing. You’ve made it because you have a passion. You love what you’re doing. You’re into it. You live it. You breathe it. It’s part of you.
Which means—you know too much. And you’re talking to people who don’t have your perspective.
So when Matt and I started to work on this, his first run-through was about 24 minutes. And he was talking about so many different things.
And I had to keep reminding Matt: “We don’t care. Just tell us how to stop the bleeding and start the breathing. That’s it.”
Because the goal is to get us to buy this kit so we can put a tourniquet on. Show us how to pack a wound.
And now we’re talking to somebody—right now—who’s already talking to his wife about what he learned. Because it was such a great presentation.
So it was focused. So if you want to make a great presentation, focus on a single thing. In 10 minutes, you don’t have a lot of time.
In this case, it was. Here’s how you stop the bleeding with a tourniquet. Here’s how you can get somebody to breathe again. Order this from Amazon, and you’ll have some tools to help you.
That’s it.
But he did it with credibility, because this is his business. I forget how many—maybe 5,000 people—he’s personally trained in these methods.
So we know: wow, this guy knows something about giving first aid.
But he set it up so well. “You’re on a ski trip. You’re on some snowmobiles. It tips over. One of your buddies is hurt. There’s no cell service. You’ve got to act fast, because they could die in the time I’m giving this talk. What do you do?”
So we were all paying attention.
So how do you get your listeners engaged? Make it about them.
He didn’t say, “I was on a snowmobile.” He said, “You were on a snowmobile with your friends.”
The you factor—again. Single focus.
Mark Drager: I’m speaking, of course, with Joel Weldon, who is a renowned public speaker, a coach, a Hall of Fame professional speaker with over five decades of experience.
If you’d like to learn more about Joel, or even check out his Ultimate Speaking System, all of his contact details will be on the website. They’ll be in the episode show notes.
Or you can just Google his name—Joel Weldon—and you will certainly find him.
Now, as we wrap up, I do have one last question for you. If you just gave us your final tip on communication skills—the best thing we can do—what would be your final thoughts for us?
Joel Weldon: If I was to summarize everything that’s taken me all these decades to learn about being an effective communicator and speaker, it comes down to 22 words.
So here are your 22 words:
“Speak to your audience about what they need in an organized way they can follow—and get yourself out of the way.”
