Presentation Skills Coaching with Dr. Theresa Skaar: Episode 7

Mic Drop Mindset introduces a new episode format featuring live, on-camera coaching, welcoming Dr. Theresa B. Skaar (Dr. T), a social psychologist and mindfulness-based workplace facilitator who helps high-stress, helping professionals reduce burnout and improve communication. 

Dr. T delivers a brief talk on mindful listening, defining mindfulness as paying attention on purpose in the present moment, nonjudgmentally, and leads a simple breath practice plus an everyday-activity exercise (like handwashing) to build active attention before bringing it into conversations. 

Jenn then coaches Dr. T on strengths and improvements, praising her growing comfort, relatability, clear references, humor, and vivid language, while suggesting she deepen standout moments, show rather than tell with physical demonstration, add pauses, and use space more intentionally to avoid rocking.

Resources mentioned: 

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About Theresa:

Dr. Theresa B. Skaar, also known as Dr. T, is a social psychologist, mindfulness-based speaker, and workplace facilitator who helps organizations reduce burnout and improve communication at work.

With a PhD in social psychology and certification in Mind-Body Medicine, she brings research-backed tools into high-stress, real-world environments. Drawing from 35+ years across healthcare, corporate, and academia, she teaches practical strategies for mindful communication, self-awareness, and navigating grief, change, and emotionally charged conversations.

Known for her humor, warmth, and no-nonsense approach, Dr. T helps leaders and teams move from reactive to intentional. Audiences leave with tools they can use immediately to listen better, speak more clearly, and build healthier workplace cultures.

Based in Minnesota, she works with healthcare teams, associations, and mission-driven organizations across the country.

Website: https://ccwithdrt.com/

Have a question or suggestion for a future episode topic? Email me jenn@jennspingo.com.

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Looking to book a speaker for your corporate or association event on topics including leadership and communication? View my programs at www.jennspingo.com

Transcript

Show Format Update

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to Mic Drop Mindset. Now, these episodes are going a different direction. Not just solo episodes, but also allowing clients, coaches, volunteers who want to be coached live on camera on their talk. Now, I'll have a combination of people who want to do a segment of their presentation. And then I'll have people who want me to coach them on specific ways to get more results from their next presentation. But today we're welcoming to the studio. Teresa, welcome.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me here. I'm excited.

Meet Dr T

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Me too. You know, I know you go by Dr. Teresa B. Scar. Score. I score. I married my husband. I feel I should have asked you that off camera. How embarrassing. This is perfect. I feel like I want to call you a doctor. Do people call you Dr. D? How do you feel about that? Some people call me Dr. T.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Dr. T. Yeah. That's usually my casual one. Okay. Well, go with Teresa's fine too.

Who This Talk Serves

SPEAKER_02 0:53

Dr. T or Teresa. Yeah. I want to give you a proper introduction before we discuss what your talk is today. So Dr. Teresa B. Score is also known as Dr. T, and she's a social psychologist, mindfulness-based speaker, and workplace facilitator. I love people who facilitate because that is a skill set I feel like I need to grow in. For real. She helps organizations reduce burnout and improve communication at work. With a PhD in social psychology and certification in mind-body medicine, she brings research back tools into high-stress real-world environments, drawing from 35 plus years across healthcare, corporate, and academia. She teaches practical strategies for mindful communication, self-awareness, and navigating grief. Not to mention emotionally charged conversations. We're not going to have one of those today. I'm ready for it if we are. She's ready, she got her tools at. Okay, so known for her humor, her warmth, and her no-nonsense approach, which we've heard a little bit of so far. Dr. T helps leaders and teams move from reactive to intentional. Audiences leave with tools they can use immediately to listen better, speak more clearly, and build healthier workplace culture. So Teresa, Dr. T, tell me, who is this talk for?

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Well, I mean, uh generally everyone, um, but realistically, I tend to gravitate towards fields that are helping people. So they're in high stress, you know, high challenge they might be client-facing. So this could be organizations, corporate. Um, I've worked with people in HR, I've worked with social workers, I've, you know, so healthcare, um, hospice type things. So people who are already kind of maybe not taking care of themselves because they're so busy taking care of so many other people, then um that's where I come in to help support them.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

Wonderful. Yeah. Well, I can say that there's more high stress environments than low stress environments. Unfortunately, that's a broad umbrella of people you speak to. Do you see yourself as a keynote speaker, as a breakout speaker, as a facilitator? How do you resonate?

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Um, strongly in the like I love facilitating conversations and where people can walk away with tools. Um, that's not to say that that can't happen in a keynote or breakout. I think I would lean more breakout facilitation.

Talk Title And Titles

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Okay, and I know you generally take an experiential approach, is that correct? We'll be doing a little bit of that today. Using some of those tools that she's gonna help folks with. So tell me, what is the title of your talk?

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Let's just briefly say mindful communication. I really do customize for individuals and teams, even though the gist of the talk is the same. I really meet with people and try to understand what their culture and clients need. You know, it could be stress and burnout, it could be mindful communication, whatever they're working on.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

Well, thank you for sharing that because that reminds me of something I love titles. I think in titles, sometimes when some one of my clients is talking to me, I'll say, Oh, do you mean this? And out will pop a title. So I don't question it. It's just one of the strengths I have. Um, so if you're curious about some of the processes I use around titles, I'm happy to do a podcast episode on that because sometimes we overly customize and then don't know what we're talking about. So I don't want anyone to go into that situation. So if you feel you're not particularly strong on titles or you're using your AI tool where they create the title for you, I would say it's good to have some sort of title to lean on because if you're having a conversation with an event organizer and you don't have a title, then they may be like, well, has she ever delivered this before? I'm not quite sure what I'm expecting from this person. This is not a critique in any way, shape, or form.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

But this is coaching. Come on, let's do it.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

It's like, but titles are important. And if you'd like me to do a podcast episode, I'm happy to do that. I love talking about titles. I can geek out on it, but I want to make sure it's good for you listeners. So definitely let me know if that's something you'd like more information on. Shoot me up in the comments down there. But this is all about Dr. T.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

So are you ready to deliver your presentation for us?

Mindful Listening Basics

Quick Breath Practice

From Reacting To Connecting

Everyday Mindfulness Habit

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Let's do it. Let's go. All right. So, as you can see by the show of hands, most of us think we're good listeners. In reality, we might not actually be that great. We might find ourselves simply waiting our turn. We might be daydreaming, judging, planning what we'll say next, thinking of the advice we want to give, or even mentally organizing our grocery list. This isn't because we're selfish, it's because we haven't trained the mind. We don't practice presence, we don't practice mindful listening. And what is mindful listening? I'm gonna start with the definition of mindfulness, which is paying attention on purpose in the present moment. This comes from John Cabot Zinn, creator of mindfulness-based stress reduction. There's a lot to unpack with that simple statement. Paying attention on purpose in the present moment is just inviting your attention to here and now. It's saying, what is here and can I meet that with curiosity and attention and presence? But it is a practice. Non-judgmentally, well, there's a lot there too, because we're often judging ourselves, judging others, judging a situation. I don't think that's just me, but it is a common thing that we have to look at. And so, how can we bring our attention to the present moment non-judgmentally? It is a practice. So mindfulness isn't about emptying the mind or becoming serene. Although that can be a beautiful byproduct, it's also not about sitting crisscross applesauce on top of a mountain, as lovely as that sounds. It's really about noticing what is here, what's happening inside you before you respond. That one skill can shift so much about how we communicate. I would love to try a practice with you if you are willing. All I'm going to do is ask you to pay attention to your breath, just paying attention to the direct felt sensation of the body breathing. So taking one mindful breath in and release. What are you noticing in the body? Is there tension? Is there tightness? Is there holding? This is all very common. And did your mind wander? That's what the mind does. It's not a problem. Welcome to this practice of observing the mind. I have been teaching and training in meditation and mindfulness for over 10 years now, and my mind still wanders. Often I'll say that it's a street fight in my mind. And what do I do then? Then I just acknowledge that non-judgmentally. I don't try to say that it should be different. You might hear people saying clear the mind, and it's not about clearing the mind. So just we'll just set that aside here. But why does this matter? Well, when we don't notice what's happening inside us, we bring it straight into our conversations. We might interrupt, we might be tending to want to fix or get defensive, we might even shut down. Then we wonder why communication and connection can feel so exhausting. So when we start noticing these things, we can start noticing what's happening inside ourselves, and then we can move to connecting with others. In my work with teams, burnout just isn't about workload. It's often about the emotional charge that we carry into our interactions. And so, how are we engaging with folks in that way? Uh mindful communication actually starts before we open our mouths. It starts with noticing, and that doesn't happen without practice. But here's the exciting part we can practice this. What I'd like for you to do is to pick one thing, one activity that you do on the regular. So this could be a daily activity, making coffee, washing your hands, brushing your teeth, folding the laundry. You can bring your attention to the present moment, going back to that definition, paying attention on purpose in the present moment, non-judgmentally, and bring that to that activity. So then you can watch while you are uh, let's say washing your hands. You can feel the water, you can notice the temperature, look at the suds on the hands, and really feeling the towel. And your mind will wander. And then you bring your attention back to the moment of feeling those sensations. So what you are doing is you're practicing active attention with yourself and the things that you're doing, and then you can start broadening that out to other folks. And these are often things that we just kind of blip through, and that's okay. In a world that feels reactive and loud, arriving might be the most radical thing you can do.

Add Humor And Go Deeper

SPEAKER_02 9:42

Well, now that we've had a better understanding of Teresa and her mindful communication presentation, here's where we get into the coaching piece of it. And again, with coaching, I always strive to not say what would Jen do, instead, what can Teresa do better? So this is the goal we're having here. First of all, I just want to say, Teresa, I noticed you took several takes, which is absolutely okay. And it's what we all need to do sometimes. But I noticed by the third take, you were more comfortable. You held yourself a little bit differently, you were relaxed in the pocket, I guess is what I would say with that. So you got to a place where you were just so excited about what you were talking about, and I could see that passion showing through. And sometimes with speaking, we feel nervous before we get on stage, but once we're five minutes in, 10 minutes in, we're like, I got this. This is awesome. And so the passion that we have for our topic just shines through. And that was certainly the case with you. So I do want to point that out as something awesome that you do and you bring to this talk here. Another thing I'm noticing is you were very relatable in what you were sharing. And by relatable, I mean you said, think of an activity that you do every day. You listed the hand washing example. We all wash our hands. We do it every day. We'll be like, yes, I know what she's yakking about. Yes, there's a process I follow for that. It's something we all do, and it's something that I can do right after this talk. So the recency of that is really, I think, important that you bring out there. This is information that I share on my feedback form with all of my coaching clients. This is just a small segment of what I might provide feedback on in the course of a five-minute presentation. Um, and I love when you talked about your definitions. This is a book by this author. I think it's helpful. I'm a person who loves information, and your audiences might be too in the healthcare profession, being clear on who your references are. Some people like to use quotes. You listed a book and the name of the person who developed that book. So I think that's always a good practice so that you show your expertise. And there was one point, I don't know if you noticed it, but it was in the very beginning when you shared one of your messages and then you laughed. Oh, do you did you did you feel that? Yeah, I noticed it right away because your face lit up. Okay. And so I would love to see more ideas. Like I'm my best. I mean, we're speakers, right? We have a great time on stage. We have a great time sharing our passions and sharing with new people. And so that came through. Oh, great. So are there opportunities for you to do that more? It's what I'd be curious about. Are there opportunities for you to pause within yourself and take that moment, have that mindful moment as a speaker on stage?

SPEAKER_00 12:19

Yeah, absolutely. And and it is something where I say I try to practice what I teach, and that I forget to use my tools.

SPEAKER_02 12:28

100%.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

But yes, but being more present with that, I like that idea. Yeah.

unknown 12:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:34

Sometimes we teach the things that we need to do as well. Like, maybe we should do it this way. So just a suggestion, because it it changed your entire feeling. And it changed how I received you as an audience member as well. After you left, everything kind of relaxed a little bit. So that's why I was wondering if you felt it while it was happening.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

I kind of blank out, I think, when I talk sometimes. People will say, Oh, you said this thing, and I'll be like, Oh, did I? All right, cool.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

What she should be hired for is she brings perspective, but she also brings it in the way that only you can bring it. So I hope you're aware of that. It was very apparent to me and to the studio audience here today. Thank you. I noticed especially beautiful language, like you mentioned, beautiful phrasing. You said, and I don't remember what it was in regards to beautiful byproduct.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

Oh, being serene.

SPEAKER_02 13:20

Being serene is a beautiful byproduct. You said crisscross applesauce, and that's something that brought us back to childhood, you know. Um, you said street fight in your mind. Oh, yeah. So it's like moments like that are boom. So can you extend that impact? Like you said it, and I was like, yeah, that's cool. Is there a way to extend that feeling?

SPEAKER_00 13:41

If I had longer, I would talk a little bit about what that's like because the people and folks that I work with, and especially ones that are dealing with trauma or ADHD, they're like, I cannot focus. So then I'll talk about my own practice. And even though I have all this training, that it will often be, yeah, a street fight in my mind. And then I have to use other tools to work with that it's not a problem.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

Yeah, wonderful. I feel like sometimes as speakers, we want to get wide with our information, as many examples as we can. And sometimes going deep is gonna serve our audience better. Following the phrasing and expanding upon it in a deeper way might be a connection point for some people in the audience. Like definitely those phrases stood out to me. So it could have been a further connection point for me as an audience member. So as you're looking at your presentation, are there ways you can extend that feeling? Sure. And I don't want to say be dramatic because it's not being dramatic, it's continuing on with that, that particular thought. Like diving a little deeper. Exactly. Okay, I like that. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

Yeah, thank you.

unknown 14:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:43

Then also again, further on the breath, you mentioned about the hand washing. And I knew because I looked at your notes. Behind the scenes here, I can see what notes she's using. Don't feel like you have to memorize everything. That's certainly not what we're here to do. We're here to rehearse. So she has a volunteer to rehearse on camera. But what I noticed was your notes and hand washing, and you kind of described the hand washing. You described like the setup, what you do. Is there an opportunity for you to show us instead of telling us?

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Oh, like like actually like miming it, I guess. Oh, interesting. I've never thought about that, but I could play with that. Yeah, yeah. What might that look like? Um, well, I guess I'm like, how do you wash your hands? I don't know. Turn on the water, feel the water, soap, sudsy, turn off the or rinse, rinse, turn off the salt, right? I have to play with that. That's interesting. Yeah. I talk with my hands a lot, but I've never specifically tried.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

Yes. So there's an opportunity for you to extend that in terms of doing the motions, and you don't necessarily have to describe what you're doing as you're doing it. So that might be an opportunity to add some pausing. Yeah. I'm a big fan of pausing. And I know sometimes when we have so much content, we're afraid to have those mindful pauses, which you are an expert in mindfulness and presence. So I am confident you will find opportunities within your content to include some of those moments so that we can catch up to you. Really, it's an opportunity for our audience members to catch up. I like thinking of it that way.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

Yeah, thanks. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:17

Recommended next steps, which is one of the sections I include on this sheet here because everyone has room for improvement.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

100%.

SPEAKER_02 16:23

Myself included. One thing that I would recommend is when you had your spot here, and I know this is not a proper stage. This is not a expand and enjoy your space. This is a small frame that we're using right now. But I noticed you did the one foot forward, one foot back, and you were rocking.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Oh, did I? Okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:41

It's the rocking horse kind of situation. And it was slow, so it wasn't distracting necessarily. But it was definitely a shifting from one place to another. And I used to do this when I had younger kids. I would do the rocking as if you had a baby in your arms, that sort of thing. You do a version of that. Okay. So are there opportunities for you to use your space more mindfully? So you're not rocking, right? But maybe when you have your next point, can you move to this place? Yes. And then next point move to this place.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

Yeah, I like that. Yeah, it's so interesting. I've done so many virtual, so I'm usually stationary. That's that's a good note.

unknown 17:17

Yeah.

Wrap Up And Next Steps

SPEAKER_02 17:18

And I I agree with you. I've done so many virtual presentations. I love virtual presentations, um, but you're in the box, yeah, right. So how do you get yourself out of the box? And this is part of speaker coaching as well, is you we're not aware of our patterns until somebody points it out to us. So I can help you get outside your box, but I have to see what you're doing first. 100% because we're not always aware on you know the level of, oh, did I do that? Yeah. And this is part of why rehearsing is important and why looking at your video footage is very important. So I know you're gonna have video footage to look at. Thank you so much for being in the studio today, Dr. T Teresa. It's been a pleasure. Yeah, I look forward to you bringing mindful communication to so many different audiences. Thank you, Jen. Definitely check out her website, which will be listed in the show notes here. And meanwhile, connect with her and discover your own mic drop moments on stage and beyond. I'll see you on stage.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Thank you for tuning in to Mic Drop Mindset. If you enjoyed today's episode, please take a moment to leave a review on Spotify, Apple, or share a comment over on YouTube. Subscribe to discover your own unique mic drop moments. In the meanwhile, don't forget to visit my website, Jen with2Ns, spingo.com