MBR Public Speaking - Great Talks Put The Audience First

Public speaking gets labeled as “stage work,” but for most of us it shows up in conference rooms, staff meetings, budget reviews, project updates, and the moments when a leader has to be clear under pressure. John Wandolowski and Greg Powell dig into a different way to think about presentation skills: it is not a performance, it is an engagement. When we stop trying to sound impressive and start trying to serve the listener, we become calmer, clearer, and more credible. 

We apply the MBR mindset to executive communication and leadership development, where responsibility means owning not just what we said, but how it lands. If the room is confused or checked out, something in the communication broke and it is on us to fix it. We talk about what great speakers do differently, why strategic speaking must connect to what matters, and how nerves can spike when you start measuring yourself against experts. The fix is practical: return your focus to the audience and build familiarity through practice. 

You will leave with four disciplines you can use immediately apply in workplace presentations: (1) protect audience engagement by reading the room, (2)cut jargon so your first sentence lands, (3) practice until you sound prepared (not memorized), and (4) focus on one central idea so people remember what matters. We also point to resources like Toastmasters-International as a resource for practicing your skills. If you want your next talk to earn trust and move decisions forward, listen, share this with a teammate, and leave a review with your best public speaking tip.

Transcript

Welcome And Leadership Growth

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Well, hello, and welcome to our podcast, Success, Secrets, and Stories. I'm your host, John Wondolowski, and I'm here with my co-host and friend, Greg Powell. Greg? Hey everybody. And when we put together this podcast, we wanted to put out a helping hand and help that next generation and help answer the question of what does it mean to be a leader? Today we want to talk about a subject that I think supports that concept.

Engagement Over Performance

SPEAKER_01 0:46

The concept of public speaking. Here's an important kind of approach. It's not a performance, it's an engagement with an audience. And welcome back to Success Secrets and Stories. I wanted to revisit this topic, Greg, and I've touched on this before. But this time I want to narrow our focus and make it practical. We're talking about public speaking through the lens of MBR. And right away I want to make a distinction. Public speaking, and that title is not just a performance. It's not about sounding impressive, looking polished, or trying to dominate the room. At its best, public speaking is an engagement. It is a deliberate effort to connect with people, transfer an idea clearly, and create a value for the audience.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

And John, that's an important distinction because a lot of people hear the words public speaking and immediately think of, right? Stage lights, keynote speakers, or somebody with perfect posture and a perfect voice. But for most professionals, public speaking shows up in everyday moments. It happens in staff meetings, budget reviews, project updates, interviews, board presentations, and even difficult one-on-one conversations. So when we talk about becoming a better speaker, we're really talking about becoming a better communicator when the stakes are high. Exactly.

MBR Ownership Builds Audience Trust

SPEAKER_01 2:16

And MBR says that you are responsible for your reactions, for your preparation, for the effect of your communication. In a speaking situation, it means that you simply can't say, well, I delivered the information, so my job is done. If people are confused, disengaged, or unconvinced, then something in terms of that communication process is broken. It asks, did you understand your audience? Did you explain the idea with a language or the terminologies that they could follow? Did you deliver it in a way that invited trust? This is why MBR public speaking begins with the responsibility to the audience, not the responsibility to your ego.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

You know, that connects with a lot of the best public speaking advice that's out there. When I looked at outside resources, I kept seeing the same message repeated in different ways. Great speakers are not trying to show the audience how smart they are. Great speakers are trying to make one worthwhile idea clear, useful, and memorable. In essence, they are telling a story. It sounds simple, but it's actually disciplined work. It requires planning, empathy, restraint, and of course, practice.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Practice. Definitely. And if I had to reduce the MBR approach to public speaking to a few practical principles, I would put it this way. First, take ownership of your message. And how is it likely to be received? Not just how you intended it. Second, manage the fear of public speaking and focus on the service that you are actually trying to give to others and make that a very self-conscious approach. Third, stay authentic and useful. Audiences do not need a performance because that simply sounds artificial. They need clarity, they need relevance, they need a reason to listen. And that's where the responsibility comes in as being a communicator.

Strategic Speaking For Real Results

SPEAKER_00 4:43

So one of the strongest examples of that mindset comes from the way great, short-form TED talks. That's how they're structured, right? The strong speaker usually starts with one central idea, gives the audience a reason to care, builds from familiar concepts, and then they lead listeners toward a useful insight. That pattern matters because audiences do not absorb a presentation all at once. They understand it step by step. And if a speaker jumps ahead, overloads a room with too many ideas, or uses language that sounds more impressive than understandable, the audience stops traveling with that speaker.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

And that reminds me of one of the other resources that had a real impact on me. We once had a podcast that highlighted Elizabeth Bachman and her work as emphasizing strategic speaking. And as she puts it, strategic speaking for results. One of the most useful ideas that presentations often fall into whenever they're struggling, is a predictable reason. It has to be relevant to the audience. The problem is when it goes off the rails, they spend too much time explaining the work rather than why the work really matters. They come across flat, generic, and overly forceful. What I appreciated by what she was talking about was the framework that forces you to think about content. You have to think about that connection, how it's useful and how it's being delivered.

Nerves Fade When You Practice

SPEAKER_00 6:16

You know, John, I remember that episode very clearly. I think it's worth talking about because it was honest. You were a little bit rattled, right? But not because you lacked preparation. You were definitely prepared, but because you respected her expertise so much you started measuring yourself against her in real time. That happens to a lot of people. They walk into a room with a senior executive or a subject matter expert or a difficult audience, and suddenly their attention shifts away from the message onto their own personal anxiety. The voice tightens, their pace speeds up, and they start thinking about how they sound instead of what the audience needs.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Oh, there's a flashback. I'm revisiting it again. That's exactly what happened. And I was too aware of myself and not aware enough of our conversation that I was trying to facilitate. What happened to me was realizing that confidence, well, it isn't really a substitute for nerves. Confidence is a willingness to return to the attention and find the value in what you're trying to provide and what we were trying to talk about with Elizabeth. Once I stopped worrying about whether I sounded polish enough, I started to focus on her and her questions, and the conversation inevitably improved. That experience stayed with me because I've made public speaking mistakes in the past. And it does remind me that communication is a skill. And the one thing that Elizabeth pointed out is I need to practice.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

And that is why this subject matters so much in leadership development. People often think career growth is only about technical ability, results, or just years of experience. And yes, those things matter, but if you cannot explain an idea clearly or persuade others to support a course of action or calmly represent your thinking in front of decision makers, your influence stays very, very limited. Public speaking is about visible leadership. It's about being able to transfer understanding from your mind to someone else's mind in a way that earns their trust.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

So let's let's kind of pull this together. And let's look through the MBR lens. We have to look at strong public speaking guidance, and we have to reflect on real experiences that we've done through our careers. What common elements come across them all? I think there are four.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

So let's take them one at a time, because this is where the practical advice really begins. So, John, what's number one? Yeah.

Four Disciplines For Workplace Talks

SPEAKER_01 9:01

First one the audience engagement. Man, you don't want to lose your audience. And the audience is not with you, the presentation's not going to work. Engagement does not always mean excitement or laughter. Sometimes it simply means that you have the attention, the recognition, and the trust of your audience. The essence of it is read the room. Are people following? Are they confused? Are they leaning in or are they checking their phone? A responsible public speaker pays attention to those signals and adjusts. Maybe you slow down. Maybe you simplify your example. Maybe you stop and you restate the core point. Engagement is not accidental. And it is something that you create and that you protect.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

So I like that because it works even in routine settings. Suppose you are presenting a budget review on paper that sounds dry. But even there, engagement matters. Instead of dumping numbers on a screen, you can frame the meaning of those numbers. What change? Why does it even matter? What decisions does the audience need to make? Suddenly, the presentation is not a wall of data, it is a guided interpretation, and that's far more useful.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

And second is the language the audience can absorb quickly. You don't want it to make it a word test. Public speaking is not dumbed-down speaking, it's a disciplined approach to speaking. If I say the public speaking terminology facilitates the transmission of an idea between speaker and audience, that is technically correct. But it's heavier than it needs to be. But if I were to say, if your words should help people understand your message, well, that's cleaner, it's faster, and it's more useful. Want a good test? Try this. Would your audience understand the first sentence that they hear? If not, rewrite it. The spoken language, especially the first sentence, has to land immediately.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

And jargon creates distance. Two of my former employers in particular, I tried to help information technology leaders avoid going down the IT tech jargon rabbit hole, right? In reality, it often made them sound less considerate. The audience should not need a dictionary to follow their point. If they're spending their energy decoding your wording, they are not engaging in your idea. No.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

And third is practice matters more than people want to admit. Many speakers hope that they can think their way through confidence within the moment. Sometimes that works, but for the most part, confidence is built through repetition. Practice helps you find those awkward phrases, improves transitions, regulates pace. A little pause. There you go. And become familiar enough with the material so that you can stay in the present with the audience. Practice also improves your demeanor. You do not have to sound like you've memorized it. You have to sound like you prepared for the presentation.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

So, John, I've seen that repeatedly with executives. A person can be highly capable in conversation and still struggle at a podium. You put them in front of 35 people who are waiting for every word, and suddenly the pressure feels very different. That is why structured practice is valuable. Organizations that let people give prepared talks, answer impromptu questions, and receive feedback create a safe place to build speaking strength before the high stakes moment finally arrives. But practice does not eliminate nerves, it gives you something stronger than nerves, it gives you familiarity. Now, I can tell you a little bit about one service that I thought was really good over time. That's called Toastmasters, an incredible club. I remember when I had several of my HR managers recommend one of our mid-level leaders to practice public speaking skills at Toastmasters International. This local speakers club is a widely used organization for developing speakers and leadership skills. It gives them confidence, provides a network and a community for folks as well to talk about public speaking. Your HR department can be a very useful asset to help you develop your staff and may have other helpful courses like this to help develop people within your organization. The key here is to know that you've got resources and engage with them.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

And it's ways to grow within your career. But okay, back to our list. Fourth, focus on the central idea. This is probably the hardest discipline of all. A lot of weak presentations are not weak because the presentation or the speaker lacks the knowledge. It's weak because the speaker tries to say too much. Seven ideas in 45 minutes rarely become memorable. Take the other part of that. One strong idea, developed clearly, supported with examples, has a much better chance of staying with the audience. Focus is the gift to the listener. It tells them where to pay attention.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

And to be fair, John, that was part of the challenge with this particular episode. You had pages and pages of good notes, but you still had a lot of notes, right? And at some point the question becomes what is the audience actually supposed to remember?

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

That is a useful editing question for any speaker. If listeners remember only one thing from the talk, what should it be? And once you know that, the rest of the structure becomes easy.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

You know, that's fair. And think about editing as part of that responsible communication, too. More content does not create more value. Sometimes more content is just clutter. A disciplined speaker will ask, what belongs in this talk and what can wait for another day? That is especially true for leaders. When an audience needs direction, clarity is more helpful than comprehensiveness.

One Idea Checklist And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 15:34

So if we were going to make a practical list for the listeners, we might say something like this Before your next presentation, ask these four questions. Number one, what is my one main idea? Number two, why should the audience even care? Number three, what language will make this easiest to understand? And number four, where do I need to practice so I can sound calm, clear, and credible? These four questions alone would improve a huge percentage of workplace presentations.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

I agree. And I would add one more thought. Public speaking becomes less intimidating when you stop treating it as if it's a self-display and start treating it as a service. Under the format of MBR, that shift matters. Your job is not to impress people on how much you know. Your job is to help them see something clearly, understand its importance, and feel equipped to act. That mindset changes your energy. That makes you more thoughtful, more audience-centered, and ultimately more effective.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

As for anyone listening who still feels nervous about public speaking, that's normal. Fear does not mean you're not meant to be a public speaker, though. It usually means you care about doing it well. So start smaller if you need to. Practice in low-risk situations. Ask for feedback, because as we like to say, feedback is a gift. Record yourself, simplify your message, keep improving. Most strong speakers are not fearless people, they are practiced people.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

So true. And you know that's a great place to end. Public speaking, whether it's in a conference room or on a stage or in a podcast, it is one of the clearest ways we have to demonstrate leadership. When you take responsibility, like we take responsibility for our message, we respect the audience, we focus on our ideas, and we practice with intention. And in the process, we've become better podcast presenters. We've become better communicators because people trust us. And that's why we've seen some growth in our podcast. Thanks for being with us today. You know, Greg, this was an appropriate conversation. And thanks for everyone who's listening. I hope these were practical ways to help you with the public speaking challenge and to understand the performance pressures, that it's a responsibility of engagement that you serve others. And if you look at it that way, it might make the presentation process a little bit easier. So if you like what you've heard, I've written a book called Building Your Leadership Toolbox, and we talk about tools like this. And it's available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and other sites. The podcast is what you've been listening to. Thank you so much. It's also available on Apple, Google, and Spotify. A lot of what we talk about is with Dr. Durst in his MBR program. If you'd like to know more about Dr. Durst, you can find out on SuccessGrowthAcademy.com. And if you'd like to contact us, please send me a line. That's wando seventy-five periodjw at gmail.com. And the music has been brought to you by my grandson. So we want to hear from you. Drop me a line. Tell me what's going on, what you like, and what you would like to hear about. And it's always helped us to create content. Thanks, Greg. This was fun.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Thanks, John. As always. Next time.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Yeah.