How to Go From Expert to Icon as a Speaker

Being an expert gets you invited. Being an icon gets you remembered.

In this episode, I break down the difference between being an expert in your field and becoming an iconic speaker. Too many speakers focus on perfecting their content while ignoring the identity shift required to truly command the room. This conversation is about embodiment, presence, and deciding who you are before the stage confirms it.

You’ll learn:

• The difference between expertise and iconic presence
• Why knowledge alone doesn’t create impact on stage
• How speaker identity shapes confidence, delivery, and connection
• Why copying other speakers keeps you forgettable
• How to start thinking, moving, and speaking like the speaker you want to become

This episode is for speakers, coaches, and leaders who are ready to stop waiting for confidence and start leading with intention. Becoming iconic isn’t about becoming someone else — it’s about fully stepping into the speaker you already are.

I also share how we build speaker identity and stage leadership inside Standing O, and how speakers embody this work through live practice inside SpeakEazy.

You don’t become iconic on stage.
 You arrive that way.

Transcript

0:00

Welcome back to the Public Speaking Icon podcast. I'm your host Coco Gunn, also known as the Voice Architect, and today we are deep diving into why identity actually comes before hitting the stage. The difference between being an expert and an icon. And listen, all of us, if you, if you wanna, if you open a business or you own a business, or you're an entrepreneur. There is something in your wheelhouse that makes you the expert, right? But I want you guys to think about this for just a moment. Expertise usually gets you invited to the table, right? But creating an identity and this icon persona is what gets you actually remembered. Because experts, let me tell you something, they know their stuff. We all know, I know a ton about public speaking pageants, stage presence. But in order for me to get myself on the level of being remembered, I have to create an identity that is strong enough to say, ah, not only is she the expert, but what she said, it made me feel some kind of way, it made me wanna move and take action and maybe being on more stages. And I want you to think about this as what I call the Beyonce effect. All of us know who Beyonce is, but when she hits the stage, she becomes Sasha. Sasha Fierce, right? It's this diva with this attitude and this body movement that she's created now over time. So with Beyonce, she created this persona that she now ended up embodying because this is who people know her as. And to be honest, I think she's always had that, but she started to create the icon that she wanted to be, and it started embodying her as she was creating her. And it takes skill. But I want you guys to think about this, right? You, you wanna be this incredible speaker, but you're just sitting on the expert level giving tips and tricks and, and, and facts about your niche. But you're not, you don't have an icon that stands behind that, that embodies this persona that you wanna create to get remembered and to get rebooked for stages and. When you, you know, when I think about the identity piece, right? Why is the identity piece missing? Why is it a missing piece for you? When it comes to being a speaker on stage, it's because you're waiting to feel ready, and when you wait to feel ready, that delays the visibility. We always use that as an excuse. I'm waiting until I'm ready and I'm not ready yet. I gotta work on it. No, start embodying it now. Start doing it now. Because here's the deal. When you, when you decide on what kind of icon you wanna be and what this persona looks like and what this identity is, the confidence will follow because now you have a path that you created. It's not the other way around. So maybe you may think, well, I have to have confidence in order for me to be a great speaker. It's created by experience. It's created by crafting, it's created by doing. When you start becoming and doing this, this identity shift, the con, the confidence is gonna come because now you're gonna start to see the results. And the thing is, is that before you even step on stage or even apply to be on a stage, you have to decide on who that is. You have to decide on who you are on stage, who do you want that to be before you even hit that stage. Because outside of having to do your speech and having to rehearse, you don't wanna be worried about the body movement, the presence, the confidence. You try to be working on that right now. So we're gonna talk really quickly about how to create the speaker identity. Shift. Right? The first thing that I want you to do is I want you to think like a booked speaker. What do book speakers do? They're reaching out. They're following up, they're rehearsing. They're may be hiring a speaking coach. They may be in communities where they can practice. They're actively being the speaker that they want to be. Okay. Decision making changes. They're, they're, they're, they're constantly just saying, okay, how can I be this speaker? How can I, you know, I see so and so's on tons of stages. What is she doing? What is she? What is he or she doing? Right? I want you to move like a book speaker, like you already have the experience. How you, how you move across the stage, how you move in a room, start doing those things now, speak like a booked speaker, and you're probably thinking to yourself, what does that mean? Clear, grounded, and intentional book speakers are very clear on their message. They know exactly what it is they wanna say. They know exactly what action they want their audience to take. You cannot be confused about those things because again, it's gonna be a distraction and you're gonna be rambling and you don't have any structure. You're not even gonna be remembered or even a thought for the audience. And lastly is prepare like a booked speaker. It's like that phrase that we always say, if you stay ready, you don't have to get ready. So if you are already thinking like a book speaker, moving, like a book speaker speaking, like a book speaker and preparing like a book speaker, you're creating this identity. So when the opportunity presents itself, you don't have to say, oh, well let me get ready and here's some common mistakes that keep speakers in this small space. The shrinking space, copying other speakers they admire. I get it. Everybody has inspirations and me too. But you're not them. What works for them is not gonna work for you. Take the inspiration and make it your own. That's what these speakers do. Listen, I don't wanna see a cookie cutter version of Mel Robbins on stage. I just don't, because one, to get to be on her level, you gotta be real good. But now that's gonna be the comparison for you. Another common mistake over scripting and reading. This is huge for me. Huge, huge, huge. I wanna hear your story. If I wanted to read off a slide deck, you could have just sent that in the mail to me. If you have a script teleprompter, the best way to work at being good at reading a teleprompter is to read out loud in fiction books. Not autobiographies because that's just, that's just kind of a news article in a sense. But you read fiction books, scary, happy, sad, romantic, and, and, and incorporate the emotion of the words on the page. It's gonna help you be better at reading a teleprompter. But over scripting, guys, we can tell when it's over scripted.'cause it doesn't even sound like you sounding polished but disconnected. Okay? And this happens a lot because speakers will memorize their speech. I'm telling you right now, those days are over. Stop memorizing your speech because the mistake, if you make one small mistake, if you get distracted on one simple moment. You're derailed because you're used to this flow that you've memorized. Create the structure beginning, middle, and end. Have your three or four bullet points have your subtopics that's gonna guide you through your speech. You don't have to memorize or over script to make yourself sound more polished. You actually sound boring to be honest. And lastly is playing it safe. Instead of being memorable, guys, listen, you can highlight the little nuances that make you who you are. In one episode, I talked about one of my clients that told me, Hey Coco, I have RBF face, you know, RBF face, RBF, RB face. And I think you guys know what I mean. And she's like, I know you're gonna tell me, you're gonna tell me to smile. And I'm like, no, actually I want you to embody that with your audience. Tell them guys, listen. Y'all may think that I'm upset up here, but I'm not. I just have RBF and there's something I can do about it. I tried and it just didn't feel natural, so I'm, it's gonna be me. So if I'm looking at you weird, don't take it personal. An audience will appreciate that more than you trying to adjust and fix your face to make sure that they're, that they're happy or that, that, that they're, that they're welcoming or that, uh, what's the word I'm looking for? My brain. I just had a brain fart. You guys, uh, stop. Stop trying to fit into a box that you're not meant to fit into.'cause the audience won't understand that and we can tell. Embrace the, embrace the small things that you do that you may think are flaws. You know, even you share those things, the audience is like, oh my gosh, now I know. And now there's that relatability piece. You've acknowledged an elephant in the room and now the audience lowers their guard and is like, oh, actually we're having a real, a real person talk to us on stage. We love that. So, proof, concept. Concept, and I wanna give you this, this, this, this story because I think it's important for you guys to understand that this, this is how it works. So I had a client, her name is Steph, and she came to me. Two and a half years ago, and she wanted to be a speaker, she wanted to be on stage and something was off, you know, her energy wasn't there. And I was like, you know what, before we even start working on this, let's do some personal development and find out what's, what's causing this energy shift? What's causing you to have this energy drain? Because if you wanna get on stage, you gotta figure out how to hold the room. And we had to go back to the drawing board. There was a thing that she was missing and that was a decision to let go of, of, of a. A traumatic, an event that happened in her life and forgive herself in order to take this speaking career to the next level and build the confidence. And once she made that decision, once she recognized name the trauma. You slowly start to see the confidence go up. When she chose to forgive herself, you slowly start to see her confidence come up. And when her confidence started to increase, then she started working on her message and her clarity and she just blossomed. I literally, it was like watching a rose bloom, to be honest with you. And we had to, but we had to do the work first. And I knew that as a coach, I'm not gonna put you on stage if you're not ready because one, that's a reputation of you and of me. Yeah, but ultimately I want you to be sure and confident and clear on your messaging. So when you get on stage, there's no question in your mind that you can't get a standing ovation, but you have to sometimes do the personal development to get there. So Steph was struggling with that. We had to work on some personal development. We had to work on building and, and improving her confidence level so that way getting on stage wasn't so outside of her reach. Once we started working on that and once we built that confidence in her speaker identity. She spoke for the very first time on a stage, and she got a standing ovation and she closed her talk. She pitched at her talk and she closed 30 K on that stage. Why? Because we worked and crafted a speaker identity that she wanted, not a cookie cutter version of someone she was inspired by. We talked about the speakers that she liked and what she liked about them, and how she can shift that over into her speaker identity and create something that is, that is her and not. And it's, it is something not someone else because it's, it wasn't gonna work for her. So identity, when you craft this identity, it's going to create results. This is not something that you just do out of luck, and I want you guys to really, really, really, really think about that. If you wanna be this speaker, if you wanna be booked, if you wanna be, if you wanna have this persona, you have to create a speaker identity. You have to create this person that you wanna become on stage. And it takes work, it takes time. But if you get it. That is what's gonna get you remembered, which is then what's gonna make you an icon. And if you wanna learn more about this and you wanna work on your speaker identity, I encourage you to join Standing O, which is my speaker community. It is a community full of speakers, podcasters, event hosts that are choosing to show up to calls every single month to work on their speaking skills and to get feedback from me. So I have two, four calls, sorry, four calls that I do a month. Every other Wednesday is what I call public speaking maintenance calls, and these are the calls where we work on your public speaking skills. Then I have hot seat coaching calls where you get on on the call with me and we go through your keynote speech. We give you feedback as well as other members in the community are also being able to encourage you and give you feedback as well. Also, if you are in the local area and you're listening to this episode, I'm actually doing this in person at my first speaker Lab of 2026. Speakeasy Orlando, that's gonna be held on March 12th at Binks in downtown Orlando from seven to nine. Both the links will be listed in the show notes. Listen, I'm gonna leave you with this. You don't, by you don't become iconic on stage, okay? You arrive that way. It starts with making a decision to create the speaker identity that you want to become the stage. Well, it just confirms it. See you guys in the next episode. Ciao.