The co-founders of SpeakHaus and I have something in common.
We’re not great at pronouncing French expressions like Je ne sais quoi.
The phrase comes up because we’re talking about public speaking—those who aren’t good at it, and those that are great at it. You know, those people that have that je ne sais quoi.
But according to experts, the former is more common. A whopping 77% of the population struggles with public speaking.
While some people can avoid it more than others, entrepreneurs don’t have that luxury. Public speaking is just a part of the business.
If you’re an entrepreneur that struggles with public speaking, Sherhara Downing and Christa Clarke the co-founders of SpeakHaus, say not to worry. With a business focused on coaching public speaking, they know from experience this is a skill that can be learned.
Sherhara is a seasoned expert in public speaking with more than 16 years of coaching and corporate training experience. Over her career, she has elevated the speaking skills of leaders from companies like Under Armour, Capital One, Toyota, AT&T, and more.
Christa is a former client of Sherhara’s.
Since working with Sherhara, Christa has learned to manage negative self-talk that previously affected her public speaking and has gone on to successfully book her first paid speaking engagements, crush an interview on the local news, and even win several pitch competitions!
Christa believes so much in Sherhara’s methods that she joined forces with her to create SpeakHaus which launched in October 2021.
“You think that some people are just able to show up and be captivating and have this beautiful personality. But you have that too,” Christa says. She explains that it’s just a matter of learning to let it out.
One thing that I love about SpeakHaus, and part of what makes them unique in the world of communication training is that the founders are female and black.
“There are different ways that black people communicate, and that women communicate. Oftentimes, in most public speaking classes, they’re teaching you to speak ‘professional’, and that ‘professional’ is measured by the guise of whiteness. And that’s the reason why we oftentimes don’t feel like we’re speaking authentically because we’re not, we’re being taught to sound like somebody else,” Sherhara says.
SpeakHaus training keeps cultural nuances in focus and allows people to feel like they can show up as themselves.
Another aspect of their coaching that is unique is that they teach Connection Source public speaking. A public speaking philosophy they coined themselves.
“There are different types of public speaking,” Sherhara explains. “You have declarative, informative, persuasive. Those frameworks have not changed over the years.”
Sherhara and Christa found that these older forms of public speaking are no longer the most effective in a time when audiences are really just looking to make a connection.
“People want to feel felt. That’s it,” Sherhara says.
Getting speakers to create a connection with their audience where both parties feel seen is the goal of Connection Source public speaking.
The co-founders explain that this is the type of speaking that moves people to say: ‘Hey, let me get your contact info’.
“Creating a connection produces a connection,” Christa summarizes.
As entrepreneurs, we know the value of that.
During our interview, I asked Christa and Sherhara to share some tips that can help business owners improve their public speaking right now.
They happily dished out the gems below:
1) Plan ahead
When you don’t prepare ahead of time, gibberish or something flat tends to come out of your mouth. To avoid this, the co-founders suggest thinking about what you want to say before you’re in a situation where you have to speak. Plan it out. Then write it out.
This process will help you organize your thoughts and nail your message when it’s time to deliver.
A common scenario you can use this tip for is introductions. Instead of falling back on ‘Hi, my name is…, I am an entrepreneur, prepare an introduction that highlights why you’re interesting and how being connected to you might benefit the person you’re speaking with.
Once you’ve written your initial introduction out, play around with it until it’s organized in a way that feels good to you. When you’re finished, practice saying it out loud.
And don’t forget to use what you’ve practiced!
2) Practice Public Speaking Everywhere
We often think of public speaking as something that happens in formal settings, but the co-founders of SpeakHaus say public speaking happens everywhere.
“Public speaking is anytime you open up your mouth and words fall out and other people are listening,” Sherhara says.
Keeping that in mind, the co-founders suggest using lower steaks scenarios like when you meet random people at a social event or the gym as opportunities to practice for formal occasions that may feel more intimidating.
The co-founders say that if you do this, when it’s time to speak in a more formal setting, it won’t feel as awkward because you’ve already mastered some of these uncomfortable moments.
3) Reflect Often
Our experiences are great content for public speaking.
The only problem is that sometimes we forget about these experiences because we don’t reflect on them often.
Christa says journaling can help.
“I wrote a weekly newsletter for about a year and a half. In that newsletter, I was constantly reflecting on my experiences and the lessons I learned from them. Now, when I think about preparing my first keynote, I’m going to go back to my newsletters, which was really just my open diary. I’m going to start there to develop my keynotes.”
Things Christa suggests entrepreneurs journal about: key things that are happening with you and your business—critical moments, questions that you’re asking yourself, your goals, emotions, and feelings.
4) Sit With Your Fears
Fear of public speaking often stems from the fear of being judged by others, and lots of entrepreneurs fear being judged – hello, imposter syndrome.
To gain more confidence when public speaking, Sherhara says to practice getting comfortable with the things you’re afraid to reveal to others.
“I’ve said to many of my clients, be vulnerable, be willing to face your fears, your doubts, your apprehensions. What are you afraid of? What are you ashamed of? What do you want to hide? What do you want to conceal?
It doesn’t mean that you have to tell everybody the tea of your life, but when you find comfort in the unsavory aspects of who you are, it makes talking in front of people much easier because you’ve already dealt with it for yourself.”
She says this act takes the power away from worrying about how other people are judging you and allows you to just show up and not feel like you’re hiding something or concealing something.
5) Practice Making Yourself Proud
When you have something to say but choose not to speak up because you’re afraid to share, you’re not honoring yourself and you’re not living up to your potential.
If you know exactly what you want to say but your problem with public speaking is you’re tight-lipped, the co-founders say to use the following mindset trick – ask yourself, am I proud of myself for inaction? Am I proud to be silent when I know I would rather share? Am I making myself proud today?
Asking yourself these questions can bring a new perspective to the moment and help motivate you to speak up.
Final Words
The co-founders of SpeakHaus know from experience that when you’re trying to show up and grow your business, there are a lot of things that are going to get in your way like sexism and racism.
But the one thing they say should not be getting in your way is being able to communicate effectively.
“This is something that you have control over,” Sherhara says.
And they would love to support you.
If you need help with public speaking, get in touch with SpeakHaus. They offer monthly group coaching workshops and also have a newsletter that regularly delivers practical tips for improving your communication.
With their help, they are confident that in no time, people will be connecting with you and noticing you for your very own je ne sais quoi.
