Unfiltered Sessions

SECRETS to CONFIDENT Communication and CHARISMA with Lenora Edwards

• Philip Sessions • Episode 251

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Unlock the secrets to commanding a room with Lenora Edwards, a board-certified speech-language pathologist with over 15 years of experience. In this episode, Lenora shares expert tips on improving your public speaking skills, from enhancing speech clarity and cognitive sequencing to refining voice quality through posture, breath control, and intentional pauses. You'll discover practical strategies to boost your confidence and communicate more effectively in any setting. 
  
We also dive into vocal health and its impact on your communication. Lenora offers essential tips on caring for your voice, managing pitch, and projecting confidence through tone. Learn how small adjustments can make a big difference in how you're perceived, and pick up actionable advice to make your message more memorable. Whether you're a seasoned speaker or just starting out, this episode delivers valuable insights for elevating your public speaking game. 
 
NOTABLE QUOTES 
"Intentional pausing can be such a beautiful technique because you allow other people to process what you're saying " – Lenora 
"The pressure is a privilege and it's exciting." – Lenora 
"Your voice is your tool." – Lenora 
"It's very important to be able to control your voice and how you end the sentence." – Lenora 
"Go in with the intention to practice." – Lenora 
"Because of the emphasis that you put on the certain word, it actually can change that sentence." – Philip 
"If you want to get better at [speaking], hit that record button, because that will be your best teacher." – Lenora 
"Using your hands and your body to express the words as well will really help the audience be able to understand what you're talking about." – Philip 
"You want to find a way to articulate your message in a way that's relatable, in a way that's engaging." – Lenora 
 
RESOURCES 
Lenora 
Website: https://www.betterspeech.com  
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lenora-edwards-m-s-941b1452  
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LenoraEdwardsDTBHorizons  
 
Philip 
Digital Course: https://www.speakingsessions.com/digital-course 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamphilipsessions/?hl=en 
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@philipsessions 
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-sessions-b2986563/ 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therealphilipsessions 

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Philip Sessions:

Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the Speaking Sessions podcast. I've got Lenora Edwards here. She is a board-certified speech-language pathologist and chief knowledge officer at Better Speech, is a communication expert with over 15 years of experience specializing in adult communication, integrating neuro-linguistics programming also known as nlp and evidence-based techniques. Lenora empowers professionals to master public speaking, refine the interpersonal skills and optimize non-verbal cues, guiding them towards achieving their personal and professional communication goals with clarity and confidence. And today we're going to talk about speech pathology. We're going to talk about how to articulate your words and your message with conciseness and clarity. So I had to make sure that every word that I said did not have popping P's or hissing S's or anything like that, and hopefully I didn't say any ums and ahs in there as well.

Philip Sessions:

You were spectacular, do not worry. But, lenora, welcome to the show. I'm excited to have you here.

Lenora Edwards:

Thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited to be here and your speech was perfect. Do not lie.

Philip Sessions:

All right, there we go. Yeah, it's always good to get critiqued by other professionals on how the speaking goes and everything, but I promise we're not going to be going back and forth critiquing each other here today. But I really want to open up, because you are the first speech pathologist that I've had on the podcast, so I would love for you to open up. I think a lot of us know what that is, but talk to us about that and the things that you do to help your clients get better with your services.

Lenora Edwards:

So, when it comes to the career of a speech language pathologist, we, I love to say, often work from the neck and up, because a lot of the time when people hear, oh you're a speech therapist, how clear is my speech? That's one of the many things that we do. So we see people for swallowing, we see people for their memory, we see people for cognitive sequencing and also we see people for helping them to improve their speaking skills, their public speaking skills. So we're really really wide in that variety. And when it comes to public speaking and working as a speech language pathologist, it is a very niche area, especially, as you know, with your career as a public speaking coach. It's not all created equal. So you really want to learn from lots of different people, and especially from a speech language pathologist, because we get into the crux of it, of the dynamics of how clearly you speak, but also the rhythm and the rate, how you're breathing, how you're standing and also, of course, the most important, the mindset.

Philip Sessions:

And you talking about breathing, I couldn't. I got to ask this question. I think I've been asked this before and I've always just kind of said at the end of a sentence where you can find that, and you'll find a way to be able to pause, not literally every single sentence, but don't try and run out of that air. So talk to us about the importance of breathing when speaking and how I'm going to guess it can damage your vocal cords and stuff like that. You know that better than me, obviously, but talk to us about the jeopardy of not breathing. Well, and then how can we breathe better in a way that doesn't just interrupt every sentence that we do?

Lenora Edwards:

Completely, and I love that. Especially when it comes to breathing, the first thing that I encourage people to look at is their posture. How are they seated? Are they upright? And also, when you're speaking, a lot of the time you are standing, but how are you standing? Are you standing in a in a comfortable position or your shoulders shrug forward? Are you hiding behind the podium?

Lenora Edwards:

These do come into play because you want to have that breath support, you want to have that lung expansion and also it's really important to have that head positioning. You want to be able to look up and engage with the audience. You're up there, yes, you are the center of attention and you are a leader. At that moment in time, the attention is on you. So we really want to not just focus on getting that breath in you, so we really want to not just focus on getting that breath in, but also where are we breathing and how are we holding our posture. And one thing that I love to share with people is to elongate your vowels and even allow yourself to pause. Intentional pausing can be such a beautiful technique because you allow other people to process what you're saying and a lot of the time, we can start to pick up our speed and speak a lot faster because we don't want to take up time and space. But when we're up there and we're speaking, allow yourself to be fully present and pause and stretch your vowels.

Philip Sessions:

Oh, that's so good. I want to ask you about that. But make a note here that on stage it's important not only just for your voice and everything. But a lot of times when we get on that stage we get nervous and we're like speed up and speed up, speed up. So focusing on slowing down will help you not to have a 30 minute speech that now gets done in 15 because you've talked so fast, 30 minute speech that now gets done in 15 because you've talked so fast.

Philip Sessions:

But tell us more about how slowing it down.

Philip Sessions:

Of course that creates that confidence stuff, but how does that help us with how our voice sounds and and really keeping it? And I asked this kind of from personal experience because sometimes I, especially when I get on these calls all day long, I'm probably starting to slunch and stuff like that too. But I'll notice that my throat starts to get a little sore from that and everything. And maybe it's also because I'm just a loud talker, so I'm just basically trying to scream at everybody for no reason, because that's just how my family was, so my mom was the oldest of 11. We had like 35 people at family functions, so you just had to yell in order to have a conversation. So maybe that's part of that, but I have noticed that sometimes even for me, like my throat will start to get a little sore, especially after back to back calls all day long and everything. So talk to us about how elongating those vowels and slowing down the speech helps us with our throat and then also, I guess, timing on stage.

Lenora Edwards:

Absolutely so, even one thing that I often encourage people to take into consideration and this is what I would put under the umbrella term of the art of knowing how to care for yourself and the art of self-care and the practice of that, because what we really want to do is know our body, know what we're capable of, and not just know our body, know our energy when in even including me when I'm on three energy when in even including me when I'm on three, four podcasts a day. It is not just tiresome for me physically and it's not like I ran a marathon, but, yes, I am using those muscles it's also a cognitive engagement and an emotional engagement. Sometimes we can get really revved up and we can get really, really passionate. We burn through all of our energy and then, by the time we get to the third or the fourth, we're like oh my gosh, I'm out of breath, my posture is going, I need a water, I need a break and really we need to take that pause and I think, at least in our culture.

Lenora Edwards:

Our culture is very hustle, hustle, hustle. Go faster, go longer, be caffeinated and do as hard as you can on four hours of sleep, trying to bust out 24 hours in a day and when we start to really notice, how am I feeling? Is my passion for this starting to waver? Why? Because I really care about this, but what else is going on? Where am I starting to waver?

Lenora Edwards:

And having that ability to look inside yourself and say, oh, I need a break. Oh, not only do I need a break, I need to allow myself. The permission to take that break can be massively huge, and then we get to deliver in a totally different way when it comes to speaking on stage and having that energy going in with the mindset of this is what I'm going to do and understanding people are looking at you. This, this is what you worked for. The pressure is a privilege and it's exciting, and also knowing how to regulate that excitement so that that excitement doesn't rush out your mouth, knowing how to regulate that excitement, how to practice it, how to control it, how to hone it.

Lenora Edwards:

That, when you have all this energy, these eyes on you, people's insights coming at you, how do you handle it? Can you breathe through it? And not only that can you impactfully deliver the message that you are so passionate about. It does all come into it and I think people will look at speakers and go, oh, my God, they did that without a problem. And forgetting there's hours upon hours upon hours upon hours of building. That tolerance of building, that practice of building those neural pathways and those physical pathways that say I can stand here with this attention, I can give you all of my attention and all of my thoughts and I can breathe are so important. So many things go into it.

Philip Sessions:

Yes, and I can't, as you said, that I couldn't help but think about like leading song service at church and the fact is like at the same time, like you, all these things are going to your head. Okay, I need to slow down, I need to put a pause there, I need to take a breath. I need to make sure if I'm walking across stage looking at different people are acting like I am, because the stage lights are so bright and I really can't see anybody but I'm. I'm looking at all these different people, but it makes me think about the times that I've sung at church. And here I am, like you know, waving my hand, trying to like conduct, and I'm trying to read the words on the page, but then I've got a thought in my head as well, as I'm singing, all at the same time and it's just like it's amazing how our bodies can just start to do all these things especially our mind is able to think through all these things while we're literally doing stuff talking, singing, whatever walking around.

Philip Sessions:

Yeah, it is very amazing. But if all these things and it takes time you can't do all that at first. Like you were saying, it just takes time. I know he's blown out his voice. That's why his voice is quote unquote weird now, because he's really blown out his voice box and he's working to make sure he doesn't blow it out more because obviously his voice is something that makes him lots and lots of money.

Lenora Edwards:

And so if he, can't speak.

Philip Sessions:

There's going to be a problem for that. I mean, I think I'll find a way to make it through, but he won't be able to make it from his primary source of making money, which is using his voice. So what are some things that we can do to maybe warm up or be able to keep our voice box ready to go when we have these long speaking engagements? But we're gonna have to speak for a while.

Lenora Edwards:

Yeah, I love that One thing and this always had stuck out with me. Yeah, I love that One thing and this always had stuck out with me. I believe it was Celine Dion. And who? World-renowned singer, amazing, she's got a set of vocal cords and just her ability to carry those notes In between her performances. She would not speak, not a word. She literally gave herself vocal rest. And when we think of vocal rest, we can think of oh well, I slept all night. That's vocal rest, yes, it is.

Lenora Edwards:

And also intentionally taking time to learn what your vocal cords are capable of. Especially and people can blow out their vocal cords at the drop of a hat you get on a roller coaster, you're having a great time and, boom, you really can. Or if you strain your neck, if you strain your neck muscles while you're lifting something, you can do damage and we don't think of it that often because there's so few and far between that. We heard the tale of somebody that happened or that experienced that when we come to think about our voice, and especially as speakers, we want to start to notice it, and you'll hear this in conversation. You're like, oh, your voice is your tool. And then, when you are a speaker. When you're a professional speaker, you go, wow, oh yeah, my voice is my tool, because sometimes we can just take it for granted. When we start to realize the power of our voice, we really want to start taking better care of it. I had laryngitis last year for three weeks and all I kept thinking was oh my god, this is so inconvenient. And I was doing all the techniques that I know how to do and that I teach, and even still I found myself looking for more techniques. How can I keep taking care of my voice? We have things like mists that will help keep our voice hydrated, and not just our voice. So, understanding that it's the muscles, it's the tissues that are there. Also, meditations.

Lenora Edwards:

I absolutely encourage my clients to focus in on their throat and to really especially if you notice that your voice on their throat, and to really especially if you notice that your voice and I see this a lot in my fluency clients they'll say it's narrow, it's tight, and they're quite literally telling me what it feels like for them in there. And this is where we start to get into the world of neuro-linguistics and hypnosis and their somatic address for their voice at that moment in time is often dry, it's narrow, it's collapsed, it's dark. Those are all indicators of your nervous system going. This is how my voice feels right now. We need to address this and that's what I do. I address that space with my clients. Other things that we can do everybody knows to drink water and stay hydrated. Also, limit your caffeine. Notice how you carry your voice. Are you often projecting? And if you are, how do you counteract that? How do you really take care of those muscles? Are they becoming inflamed? We get to do lots of different things and I personally am a huge fan of YouTube university and I tell people all the time, especially when other speech pathologists are out there sharing what they've learned.

Lenora Edwards:

I've had 15 years of experience, for sure. My my collection of people has been very diverse. My caseload has been very diverse. There are people who've only worked with voice clients for 15 years. That's incredible. They are a wealth of knowledge. So always if you have questions, check out what other professionals are doing, and that not just professionals, as in clinicians. What are other speaking coaches teaching, and also what are other speakers doing. Look at all sides, because you really can get beautiful golden nuggets from those types of things.

Philip Sessions:

Good, great advice there. Yes, YouTube university one of the best places to go for education on anything. Uh, yeah, youtube has uh been a credible thing for the world at the end of the day and everything. And so one of the things like you know, voice is obviously an important thing, and I would say I feel like more so for women. There's kind of this stigma that in order to kind of come off as more confident or to like be a better leader, like you, need to have a little bit of that deeper voice.

Philip Sessions:

And even for men there's like this automatic respect that the guy with the really deep voice you notice it a lot more and you tend to respect that guy a lot more just because of that deeper voice. You notice it a lot more and you tend to respect that guy a lot more just because of that deeper voice. Of course there's more, but just from that initial meeting it's like oh wow, that's different. You pay attention to that. So is there a reason behind why people pay attention to that? And I noticed that? I mean, it's not a 100% thing or anything, it's just something that I've personally noticed. It seems like some of the more well-renowned speakers, women-wise, tend to have that deeper voice as well, or even like, or especially those in leadership tend to have a deeper voice. Is that something that's kind of innate in humans to want that deeper voice Like? Can you talk to us about that? I would love to hear more about that.

Lenora Edwards:

There is definitely primal wiring to that. The higher your voice, the more younger you sound and the less competent. To some extent, you can be rattling off tons of information, great content, but if you're really too high, especially if your voice goes up at the end of the sentence, you sound like you're questioning everything. And even when I was working on my TEDx, I had a. I, as a speech language pathologist, also went out and hired a very specific TEDx coach because they bring different things to the table. Even though I have years of experience, I wanted this person's perspective on what I was doing and we even got into the conversation of your head voice, your throat voice and then your chest voice. And as you draw your awareness to where your voice is going, you can really start to notice the variation in your voice. One thing that I do notice and this is a lot with my clients who are working on their confidence it's very important to be able to control your voice and how you end the sentence.

Lenora Edwards:

My name is Lenora Edwards. My name is Lenora Edwards. How are you? How are you? How are you Adding that variation can really practice Noticing. When I said my name is Lenora Edwards, I went up as a question mark. Our vocal flow really indicates where those grammatical components are. I'm not questioning is my name Lenora Edwards? I'm telling you my name is Lenora Edwards. If I said my favorite color is blue, my favorite color is blue, my favorite color is blue. All three. The first one was a head voice, the second was a throat voice, the third was a chest voice. Noticing how your vocal tone really comes down to that period and when you do, you sound more confident and more competent as a speaker when it comes to the deepness of our voice, especially now. I'm thinking of that wonderful actor who was the voice of Darth Vader in Lion King, and his name is slipping me right now, which is terrible.

Philip Sessions:

Morgan Freeman is who I'm coming up with no, no, no, no. Oh gosh, I know it wasn't him, but he's one that I think of, with that iconic deep voice.

Lenora Edwards:

He does have a great deep voice.

Philip Sessions:

Yeah.

Lenora Edwards:

And he knows how to control it. So if you notice, in something like man on fire, he had really a strong, authoritative voice. When he's in an interview you hear a different personality, you hear that warmth and you hear that activation, especially when he's doing a motivational component. So he does have a richness to his voice, but then he gets to play with it because it's a tool. He's using it to communicate his message and that's what we do with speakers.

Philip Sessions:

And so how can we start to control our voice like that, the whole asking a question at the end and stuff like that that makes a little bit of sense, but say, we don't like that, our voice is naturally just a higher pitch. Say we, we don't like that, our voice is naturally just a higher pitch and we want to make it something that's a little bit more deeper? How could we start to make that more of a natural thing for us so we can sound more confident and competent in our speech without just constantly having to think about okay, let me try and be in this octave or lower octave.

Lenora Edwards:

Definitely and I think going in this is what I share with a lot of my clients go in with the intention to practice. If we're just practicing on the fly, it's a little different when we go in with the intention to practice and what I often do and I don't have something quite out here to read, despite the bunches of books out here. So we'll go with this one. So this is just the cover. When you go in to read, when you go into practice, knowing okay, my intention is to focus on deepening my voice, my intention is to add that richness. What does that look like for me? So you want to get an idea of what else that looks like for you. Or, if there is a specific speaker that you really like, notice their characteristics, notice. Are they talking really fast, are they talking really slow? Are they adding emphasis where there needs to be emphasis? So you want to start to study people and notice, especially if you're thinking I want to improve upon my speaking skills. Study who you like, pick three people, notice what you like about them. Then also pick what you want to target that day. The reason reading is so beneficial is because you don't have to overthink or spitball about a conversation, and how am I going to tell this random story that I'm pulling out of the air? When I practice, you get to read. Also, when you do this, set your camera up, whether it's on your phone, whether it's on your tablet. Set your camera up because this is going to give you a baseline and then you can go in and practice reading.

Lenora Edwards:

Take action now. No more waiting. That was the first one. Take action now. No more waiting. How are you adding that richness? What are you doing when you get curious about how you speak and where you want to go? Those are great things to do Notice where you are, then notice where you want to go, and then practice and notice when you're practicing. Are we focused on the rate? Are we focused on how I'm breathing, or are we going to focus on the deepness? Choose one thing at a time, don't try to get the whole elephant in one bite. When you choose one thing at a time and you master that, great, then go back for more.

Philip Sessions:

Great advice there. It's something else that I thought about was like emphasizing key words within that too, which would be something different, but I couldn't help but think of. Alex Ramosi has used an example, I think a few times. I've heard him. It's been a while since he talked about it and I think the example is like I didn't say he hit his wife.

Philip Sessions:

And then he emphasizes different parts of that sentence and because of the word he emphasizes, that makes it come across as a completely different sentence. Like I didn't say he hit his wife, it's like, oh so he hit somebody else's wife. Or I didn't say he hit his wife, so it's like, okay, he didn't hit her, but he did something to her.

Philip Sessions:

Like yeah because of the emphasis that you put on the certain word, it actually can change that sentence a little bit. But yeah, like you said, with your voice it can change that and create that confidence or, like we've been talking about, it creates a question at the end or it creates a statement based on how you're doing that.

Philip Sessions:

And then you probably noticed my head kind of nod down too, so it's like almost like I'm kind of well. I kind of like literally was like trying to make my voice drop, but I dropped my head too.

Lenora Edwards:

So hopefully you're not doing that. It's definitely not a good thing, to do?

Lenora Edwards:

Definitely to keep practicing it, and I love it especially, like if you're having a conversation with somebody and so it's you, you're a speaking coach, and so then you get to practice with your clients and see how they're doing, and that's a great thing and you have the ability to give that perspective of hey, notice, you're dropping your voice. Okay, here's what we're going to try next and going through those scenarios. There are a lot of people that want to, for example, even going to BNI meetings. So BNI is a business networking international group and each week they meet and they give a 60 second pitch. For some people, and at one point, for me, that was really nerve wracking.

Lenora Edwards:

I was not always a speaker. I hated speaking in college and I had two friends that sat at the back of the classroom with signs Once it's low, the other signs are down because I hated speaking in public. When I started to get curious, when I started to really work with coaches to help me improve my speaking skills as a speech language pathologist, then I got stronger. Then I was able to go out and teach other people what I learned about public speaking. So even a 60 second speech can be really nerve wracking for people. But it's phenomenal practice and you get real world practice and then you get more practice and you get better at it and the better you get, the better it gets.

Philip Sessions:

Speaking about language there. Yeah, practice really makes us better and of course, practice makes perfect, as they always say. But you have to continue to practice it, to get better and everything. And I want to go back to the thing pointing myself out again when I talk about dropping your voice and how I drop my head when you're doing the videos, like you said. That's why that's part of why you said record yourself. So of course, you can go back and watch and or at least just listen maybe not watch, but watch as well, because maybe you're doing that oh, I'm trying to drop my voice and you're like let me drop my whole body, I guess, at the same time. That's kind of weird. Okay, if you're doing it at first, that's one thing, but let's try not to drop your head or your whole body as you do that as well.

Philip Sessions:

So I love the idea of recording yourself.

Lenora Edwards:

Yeah, there is a great speaker. His name is Vin, I want to say Vin Young V I N H, and last name is G I N G H. I believe he's a phenomenal speaker. He's all over.

Philip Sessions:

He's an Asian guy, right? Yes, yeah, okay, yeah, I couldn't tell you how to say his name either. He's a teaching guy, right? Yes, yeah, okay, yeah, I couldn't tell you how to say his name either.

Lenora Edwards:

He's so good, and one of the things that he shares is record yourself. Record, then watch yourself without audio. Listen to yourself without watching yourself. Then go back and just so you want to listen to yourself. I think there's three ways to do it. Then listen to the message, so it's just watch your behavior.

Philip Sessions:

I think it's with both and then just one of each. Video only audio only, and then both video and audio.

Lenora Edwards:

Okay, thank you. Thank you for clearing that up. Thank you, got a little tongue tied there, but I think that's a great technique and that's where I learned it and I went back and I shared it with other people because it's phenomenal and the nice thing about it is, when you consider it a practice or an art, you get to get better at this and it's really only for you. It's not to say, oh, let me post this on social media. You don't have to show it to a coach or anybody. This really is for you and if you want to get better at it, hit that record button, because that will be your best teacher.

Philip Sessions:

Yeah, completely agree there. And you'll start to see like obvious things where a lot of times, if I'm talking to you, I'll point at, in this case, the camera, but I'd point out the audience. But if I'm like, yeah, I'm talking to you, but I'm pointing at me, like that doesn't make sense and I would think most people wouldn't do that per se. But again, going back to where I made the mistake of dropping my voice and my head at the same time in order to somehow drop my voice because that somehow helped me You'll start to see those little things like that, like that didn't really make sense. Why did you make those movements?

Philip Sessions:

And I actually had somebody. This has been a year and a half ago at least. I had them on the podcast and they were a big salesperson and they weren't like a NLP type person, but I think they had done some study on that and everything. They weren't like coaching on it, but that's one of the things that his mentor and sales talked about. Like watching yourself, so going and recording, and are you able to articulate using your hands. Like watching, can you tell roughly what you're actually saying? And, of course, listening, how are you emphasizing those words and everything like that? So that was an interesting concept to me that. How are you presenting that as well?

Philip Sessions:

And as an example like, hey, I flew over, you know, from you know east to west or whatever, and and I don't know that the camera's mirrored here so I can't tell you if it's looking left, right there or not, but you know you can talk about flying and literally just using your hand. Talking about flying would be a good thing. Or you know well, I was going to say another one, like a shooting or something, but I don't want to get banned on YouTube for doing that one, but you could do the hand gesture for that. Or I waved, just putting your hand up, literally saying you waved. So then you could see in the video like oh, waving, okay, oh, I remember that and as part of my speech I talked about how I waved, or whatever.

Philip Sessions:

I said hello to the neighbor or something like that, and so by using your hands and your body to express the words as well will really help the audience be able to understand what you're talking about. It seems kind of silly, but it really helps out. Plus, it's more interesting to look at somebody doing some kind of movements rather than simply just standing still and looking like a statue that happens to talk.

Lenora Edwards:

Very much so. I could not agree more, and you said that so beautifully.

Philip Sessions:

Yeah. So talk to us about your company a little bit. I think people would be really interested in the company that you work for. So talk to us about exactly what y'all do outside of speech pathology.

Lenora Edwards:

So, when it comes to better speech, I'm actually the ambassador and the chief knowledge officer with this company, so I don't own it, but it is a great company and what I love about it is that they provide online speech therapy services all across the world and, as a speech language pathologist, we get to work with this company.

Lenora Edwards:

And then when people go online and they say, oh, speech therapy near me, or online speech therapy services, or better speech speech therapy services, we get to be the ones that are connected with those clients.

Lenora Edwards:

And one of the best things about you know there's absolutely good things and bad things when it comes to technology and how we use it and what else is going on In this case, being able to provide therapy services from the comfort of your home, being able to receive speech therapy services in the place that you or your child are most comfortable in, is a huge change in the quality of life. So, for example, if my client, if I'm working on public speaking, they have the opportunity to work with me on their lunch hour, if that was flexible for them rather than leaving work early, driving to an outpatient clinic, then getting in the door, getting processed of working with a speech pathologist and having that two hour disruption in your day. Boom, we're right there on the Zoom screen and we are able to provide those quality therapy services and those quality techniques right from wherever they want to be, and I think that is something so wonderful and I love being a part of this group.

Philip Sessions:

That's awesome and definitely something I think, especially with COVID, we've been able to really catapult many industries forward into the 21st century by doing things like that, and I've definitely done some telehealth type visits and some of those I'm like some are nice, but some are really annoying as well.

Philip Sessions:

So it depends on what they are and then also the other user on the other end or I guess both users really how competent they are with that technology, whether it makes it good or not. I'm sure y'all do plenty of education on that. So that's awesome that y'all are able to offer that, because I would think, yeah, that would be a great way, a lot more comfortable, and the nice thing as well is you could easily record it and send it to them. Hey, take a look at this review, what we talked about. And now they don't have to hopefully write it down.

Philip Sessions:

Or maybe you happen to have a camera kind of off to the side, but now they're not getting their full face like from the front, they're kind of getting from the side and they can't see all those things. Now they're able to see that and even then, like with us on the podcast, we're looking more at our camera versus us looking at you on the screen. But I could literally look at myself on the screen and see what I look like the whole time then too. So I'm getting that automatic feedback and seeing how I look, and I can work on that there in that call as well. So that sounds like a great opportunity for those that need that help, and I love that y'all are national with that also.

Lenora Edwards:

Thank you, thank you, and I thank you for pointing out the recording component, because I did forget it and I do absolutely send all the recordings to my clients, so thank you for remembering that.

Philip Sessions:

Yeah, of course I figured, if y'all didn't do it, that probably that's something that y'all offer at a minimum. So that's awesome that y'all already do that and everything but let's talk. I know we teased at the beginning about talking how to articulate your words and your message better, so let's dive into that a little bit. What are some techniques that we can do as speakers and presenters to start to articulate our words better?

Lenora Edwards:

One thing that I love to share is that, when it comes to articulating your words better, especially when you're on stage, what are you wanting people to remember? What's that takeaway message? And then also being able to keep it in the language of your audience. Sometimes, if we speak too clinically, if we speak too high, then it's going over their head and, yes, you might have a great speech, but if it doesn't land for them, it wasn't articulated at the way that you wanted or as impactfully as you wanted. Articulated at the way that you wanted or as impactfully as you wanted.

Lenora Edwards:

And that can really change if you get another speaking gig, or it can really change how memorable or not memorable you are. So you really want to find a way to articulate your message in a way that's relatable, in a way that's engaging. That way, when you come on stage, people understand immediately and they go oh, no, like and trust factor. It's right there, they're warming, they're engaging and I'm drawn into them. When we articulate that message, are we sharing it in a story format? Are we sharing it in a way that they can have that reflective insight? Are we asking those key questions that will give them that reflective insight? In that moment that goes oh, that's something to remember, oh, wow, that's a golden nugget. That is truly where the art of speaking comes in, and having those memorable speeches and offering those impactful messages come into play.

Philip Sessions:

Okay, let's dive into that. So, creating great message, that's great, but really making it memorable In my mind I'm thinking like soundbites. What are some like soundbites that you can do, some little quick things that will be memorable, that the audience can take away. What things could we do within that to create that memorability within our speech?

Lenora Edwards:

It would be oftentimes a phrase. Using phrases and using them in repetition can be really impactful. So even you have a great message on your shirt and it says free speech. So if you're sharing with your audience, what does free speech look like to you? What does free speech sound like to you? Do you feel free when you speak, using keywords and really helping them? Not only have that reflective insight that goes huh, what does it look like? Oh, am I doing that at all in my life? That can be really helpful and really move people on that emotional level.

Lenora Edwards:

When we're speaking, when we're sharing, when we're talking all about emotions, can we move people in the direction that our message is wanting to come, especially when it's you know, we're good people, we have a good message. We're wanting to share that. Are they able to share that? Are they able to receive that emotion? Are you having that transfer? Are your words carrying it? But your words are really the last thing that carries it. We have 70 plus percent of our communication that's nonverbal, which means we're communicating with our eyes, we're communicating with our energy, with our tone, which is why our voice is so important. We're communicating with our hands, and then the last thing is our words. So we really want to be able to engage them on all their senses to bring home that message, not just to bring it home in that moment, but so that they take it home and they carry it with them and they go wow, that was great speech. Wow, I really remember that person.

Philip Sessions:

You're so right about that, the fact that most people want to focus in on the words themselves. And, yes, you want to make sure it's factual information, you want to make sure it's something that people can understand, but then you need to start focusing in on that nonverbal language and nonverbal speaking, like you said, because and I always I bring up this story a lot of times where I was in college and I had a friend that did our whole project we were supposed to present on this electronic stethoscope that we made, or well, he made, he made the presentation, everything, and he came probably about 30 minutes to an hour for the presentation with me and my our partner in this presentation was like okay, here's what it is, here's how it works. Uh, here's the presentation. You know, you could talk about this, you can talk about this. Literally gave us the whole game plan and then he goes in there and he was nervous, as can be, and because of the nervousness he had, it almost came off, as he didn't really know what he was talking about.

Philip Sessions:

So the lack of competence there, because of the lack of competence, and he actually got the worst grade and it was really. I mean, he got a 90. So it wasn't like it was like a failing grade, but still he got. He got a 90, I got a hundred and the other guy got 105. And so just like, but because of him having that lack of confidence and I'm sure he probably had his hands in his pockets and and all these things, just saying I don't know what I'm doing here, I'm not comfortable up here talking right now but he literally did everything PowerPoint, everything and yet because of that poor body language and the poor vocal language lack of confidence, it came off as if he wasn't as good. And that was on the presentation side. Overall we got the same grade as far as the actual work, but we also had the presentation grade. So he got a lower grade because of that the actual work, but we also had the presentation grade. So he got a lower grade because of that, even though he knew everything, he did it all. Just myself and the other teammates on the presentation did better because we had that confidence in speaking. And at that time I was not very comfortable with speaking. This was like a decade ago and I was not near as comfortable with speaking as I am now speaking. This was like a decade ago and I was not near as comfortable with speaking as I am now, but even then, like still, I was able to do a little bit better than this guy because of how much he lacked that confidence.

Philip Sessions:

And so you talking about this body language yes, it's so important. Because of that, it can really jeopardize that. And even going into sales calls where we're talking about business and stuff like that too, when you don't have that confidence in your voice, you could be selling $20 bills for $10 and somebody's going to question it like are you sure about that? Like yeah, yeah, it's a real $20 bill. All I'm asking is $10 for this. You say it like that. It's like, okay, that might be good. Like yeah, yeah, man, like $20 bill. Like oh, okay, cool, I'll think about it. Let me think about it. Yeah, you're not going to get the same reaction that you want. So that body language and the voice and how it sounds so important.

Lenora Edwards:

For sure, I love that. That's such a great example.

Philip Sessions:

Yeah, and so any other tips that you can share with us to really help us articulate better?

Lenora Edwards:

The one that I was going to also mention, there was something that you had shared. When you're speaking, especially if you're nervous, if you think, let's say, for example, you make the best chocolate chip cookies. Oh my gosh, your ability to make chocolate chip cookies is so phenomenal. Everybody loves them, and every time you hear somebody talk about your chocolate chip cookies, you are so excited and you're so humbled and, ah, thank goodness, I make the best ones. When you share, when you're speaking, you want to carry that same goodness, so as inviting as you are when you know you have the best chocolate chip cookies and they're right here on the tray and you want to share them with people because you know they're so good. That's how you want to convey your message. You want it to be impactful and think of it as sharing, and you're inviting people to try your incredible chocolate chip cookies because you know how much joy they bring people. You know how delicious they are.

Lenora Edwards:

When we start to talk about sales, when we start to talk about sharing our message, whatever it is, carry that same component of wanting to share. We can often get so wrapped up in. People are judging me. People are judging me. Oh my gosh, what am I going to do Verse? What if I'm just sharing an idea with you? What if it's the best idea you've ever heard and it can change your life? That changes how impactful your message is.

Philip Sessions:

I like that. And if you're not, yeah, if you're not sharing a message. That is the way that your mama loves you and how great she thinks you are, no matter what you do, if you're not sharing it that same way, that love and passion she has for you. You need to work on that because you're right, the more you can share like that. I love the cookie analogy as well. It makes me want to go get a batch of chocolate chip cookies. But sharing it that way and really thinking with that thought in mind will help us be able to be more relaxed and really think about articulating that way. Great, great piece of advice there. Lenora, I appreciate the time. This was so much fun Kind of diving into the speech pathology and everything, like I said first person on to be able to talk about that. So definitely a pleasure. Love the energy as well. If people want to follow you, get to know more about you, be able to ask questions, as they have, those come up. Where can they go to do that?

Lenora Edwards:

The best way to reach out to us is at betterspeechcom, and it was absolutely lovely spending time with you and talking with you and sharing all these stories with you. So thank you for your time and to your listeners.

Philip Sessions:

Yeah, of course, of course. Thank you.

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