Hi everyone, it's Anne Duffy. I'm so glad you're here today for the Just DeW It podcast for all you doers out there. I have a really special guest. She has been one of the first people that I asked to be on our advisory board, and she's been with me since the day I decided to start DeW Life Dental Entrepreneur Woman.
Anne: She's an icon in dentistry, and I'm going to tell you a little bit more about her before we get started. She's the founder and CEO of Lionspeak. Please help me. Introduce you to Katherine Eitel Belt she is an international speaker, author, and performance coach, best known for helping professionals develop courageous, unscripted conversations with patients, clients, co workers, and audiences.
Whether communicating from a treatment room, consulting room, board room, a staff stage audiences love her simple yet powerful formulas for delivering messages for clarity, courage, and inspiration. For 30 years, Katherine has keynoted annual conferences in the U. S., Canada, and the U. K., coached thousands of dental professionals in hundreds of practices, and consulted or presented for the top companies in dentistry.
Katherine is a certified speaking professional, C. S. P. and earned designation of the National Speakers Association achieved by less than 10 percent speakers worldwide. And she is one of only nine dental professionals to hold the certification. She is a spotlight on speaking champion. Which I adore, speaking consulting network, founding member, past president of the Academy of Dental Management Consultants, ADAM, ASCA member, faculty member for the Dental Business Institute and the Dental Speakers Institute, board advisor emeritus for Dental Entrepreneur Woman, DO, and recipient of the Linda Miles Spirit Award.
We could go on and on about you, Katherine. Welcome.
Katherine: Thank you. And Duffy, I absolutely love being with you and the dues very near and dear to my heart. What you've done for uplifting women in dentistry has been nothing short of miraculous. so I'm happy anytime you raise the flag up the flagpole.
I'm happy to respond. I love this group.
Anne: Oh, you are so sweet. Well, you know what? they are our people, aren't they? I mean, It is just amazing. And you did such a beautiful job at our last retreat keynoting, opening up our, do life retreat 2022. And we are getting ready to, host 2023 in October this year. And you'll be a big part of that as well. It's just you always bring something so special. And I was telling you before we got started. So in do we have coffee Tuesday afternoons and Wednesday mornings. And then we're starting one on second Wednesday of every month. At night for all you doers that are working in certain areas and can't get to the morning ones.
Anyway, my point is every coffee chat that we have. Your name comes up. Somebody has worked with you. Somebody wants to work with you. Somebody's got a presentation. They're going to call you. I've had people say well, I spent an hour with her and she totally changed my life.
So, I mean, you know, is really an honor to know you. Well,
Katherine: Thank you for saying that. I feel the same about you and. Isn't that just, at the end of the day, of course, we have businesses that we want to be profitable and, but really the thing that drives us forward is wanting to do good work and leave some legacies as we move through our career.
And so nothing could make me feel prouder than hearing that, people's lives have been bettered. And so that's awesome. Thank you for sharing
Anne: that. Well, you are so welcome. Well, I mean, You started out, obviously a speaker CSP, which is at the top of the speaking, pyramid, you had such a great skill and people kept asking you, how do I get to where you are?
How can I improve my speaking? And so you started this company that is just absolutely taken off. And really I can't even imagine how many people. You have influence through helping somebody share the story from the stage in a more powerful, more authentic way. a lot of our dues are women and men.
I mean, The dental entrepreneurs group as well that want to become full time or part time professional speakers in dental industry. And why is that important?
Katherine: And I think you and I probably know better than most that a lot of people have, talents or gifts or, expertise that they've developed and special skills.
And this is an industry that is in flux and change and they are hungry. For people who've paved the road ahead and or have new fresh ideas about how to do an old thing and bring a new, story, a new flavor, a new perspective to something that someone's struggling with. And so I just think that speaking, whether you're doing it to small study groups in your local area, people that you know, whether you're wanting to be on the bigger stages like you're Be at ADA and ADHA this year, you know, bigger stages in our industry.
So wherever you think about speaking I think there is a place for our voices. There's a lot of people in do or people who listen to this podcast who think, yeah, but I'm not, a speaker. don't have what it takes to get up on the stage or I'm afraid of it, so the world is.
Sort of robbed of their story in their expertise because they don't see themselves as a speaker. So I just want to send out the call that I think there's room. I think there's a need. And I think if you've mastered something that was hard and has become easy. I think it's worth sharing for other people who are still the challenge of it.
And so I just want to encourage people that you can learn to communicate from the stage in a really profound and compelling way. You can learn the skills. I did. I was not a natural speaker. I had great coaches. I had coaching on storytelling, you know, Paul Homily, Mark LeBlanc. I had a lot of coaches Linda Miles that helped me.
Figure out how to be me, but how to be eloquent. From the stage and I'm still learning. I'm still going to classes and learning. So, I just want to say just raise your hand and you know, there's a place for you if you think you have a message to share and most people do. Yes, I love that
Anne: because think it's actually committing to getting help.
Everybody thinks about it. And you know, life is going fast. I'm one of them. I mean, I told you many times, Oh, I'm not a speaker. I'm a talker. But that's because I actually haven't committed to getting that speech, getting it in writing, getting it. Salad because then I put your own flair on it and then you're off to the races, right?
if I don't do that pretty soon, Katherine, and you and I know I better get started, but you've got this new platform now, which is super neat. And we're going to be supporting that, to be able to help people, get off the snide if you will let's just get started.
love that because a lot of people don't have an interest in becoming a professional speaker, but it also can improve just everything in your practice. Everything in your life, being able to communicate well, and you proved that at our retreat when you were speaking about courageous conversations.
do you see the value of that? just in normal day life of learning how to be able to get your message across.
Katherine: Warren Buffett someone asked him, if you had to name one professional that you think was the most important to an accelerated, really solid career for a professional, what would it be?
And he said, hands down, it's the art of public speaking. even if you'd never want to be on a stage and you never are going to be on a stage, if you're listening to this podcast, you have an interest in being a top notch professional at a minimum.
or you wouldn't even be interested in this. If you're a member of do it's because you are on a career path where you really want to make a difference. Now, you may not see yourself on a stage and that not be your path, but there will be times and there have been times already where you have to stand up before your team or before your department or a group of people you're training or onboarding as new employees.
If you're the owner of a practice, it's imperative that owners of businesses make sure there's never where their teams aren't clear about what we're creating and where the priority and focus should be. That's an owner's number one job. And so that requires us taking, I'll call it the front of the room.
Let's not call it the stage. Let's call it the front of the room. So if you take the front of the room at a team meeting. Then you can either be, what Simon Bailey calls an annoying echo of what's been said before, or you can be an original voice. You can be an interesting original voice. And those are simple skills that can be learned.
How do I put my thoughts together coherently? In an outline form that I can deliver conversationally. How can I learn Where to put stories in my presentation and how to tell a story in an interesting way? All of that can be learned and it's simpler than you think.
And so I think if you're a dental professional or any professional executive in a company, if you want to be at the top. Of the list when promotions are being considered one of the ways to get your name at the top of the list is to be known as an excellent communicator of ideas of debates, of holding the front of the room when it's your turn in a really excellent way.
And if you're known as that, your name is likely to be at the top of the list for promotions raises all of those things. Okay. That's how we influence, is by communicating. Right?
Anne: And not necessarily one-on-one too. It's like a, broader audience, you start with your group and then just get bigger and bigger and bigger and you can really share your story.
I actually love that and I hope that especially some of the young women that are listening to us now, there's never a better time
Katherine: We probably both would agree. I wish I would've gotten that. coaching long before I did. I
Anne: agree. The other thing I love that you said is that you're still learning.
First of all, you can learn it you have to have a good teacher. Right? So I know that, you know how to teach this because you've been doing it forever and people love it. But that you're still learning and you're still growing. And I think people would be shocked if they would hear, Oh my God, Katherine Itell is, still learning and growing in her speaking career.
I mean, she has obtained everything, but I think that is being very humble humility is probably one of the best things to have, as a leader in our industry.
Katherine: do think I've accomplished a lot, but I don't think I've accomplished everything. I mean, there are speakers on the NSA stage.
Think of the, Anthony Robbins and the Mel Robbins Brene Brown. I mean, there are people who hold audiences, whether that's a TED talk or whether it's a, large stadium audience and they hold their attention for days.
That's crazy, or keynote speakers that can get. 000 for their one hour speech. I'm definitely not at that level. So it's a journey, it's a journey for, starting out as a professional and saying, I want to have this skill in my toolbox so that I'm really influential in my company.
And in my career, and then if you're interested, then there is this broader audience, certainly within dentistry, that is hungry for new ideas, new perspectives, new ways of solving things and new ways of being inspired. And I say, the invitation is a wide open door to anybody who's excited about that.
And then it goes, if you're interested beyond dentistry. I've spoken at some conferences that have been outside of dentistry. So, there's just no end to the possibilities, but this is an essential basic skill, like good writing skills and good.
Conflict resolution skills. Those are just essential business skills for a professional.
Anne: speaking is a little different though when you think about writing because write something and then we have a copywriters that kind of clean it up for you.
But when you're speaking, that's a whole nother beast. And how do you, like, I know people, that's the number one fear right, that people have is getting up in front of a room and speaking. How do you mitigate that fear? What advice would you have for some of us that are a little bit nervous taking that first step?
Katherine: Yeah, I mean, it is one of the top fears still today when they take surveys. Public speaking is still one of the top fears. And I think it comes down to, fight or flight response. you know, When I got coaching in long ago, early on in my career, I remember saying, well, how do I handle these nerves?
And my coach said how do they show up for you? And I said well, my, heart is racing really fast. And I notice a delayed response that then my hands start to shake and sometimes my voice will even shake. My mouth goes dry, like I literally can't peel my tongue off my, the roof of my mouth, and all kinds of different things.
And so, He said, well, take some deep breaths down like a yoga breath, and think about doing some jumping jacks before you go, you know, take the stairs instead of the elevator, get some of that energy out and all of that helped but it did not take it away.
so fast forward several decades of speaking. And I think We never stop getting nervous because all that really happens is the marker gets moved. So I used to get nervous getting in front of a small team of 10 people. I used to be up in the night and, couldn't eat that morning.
And, you know, that used to just terrify me. And then I pushed through that. now I could do that in my sleep. Then it was the audience of a hundred and then it was the audience of 500. And then it was the audience of a thousand. And now I've been asked to do a really big keynote for a big opening conference.
And I don't have any nervousness in these other areas, but now I think about that keynote and I feel it again. So I think we get comfortable with certain things So here's my best advice. And this has been transformative for me. And I think for the people that we've coached, it has been, and that is to not worry so much about dealing with the symptoms, shaky hands and.
fast beating hearts and knocking knees and dry mouth. Those are symptoms. that are caused by something. so I think we're better to treat the cause. And then we don't have to worry about the symptoms. The cause is that and this happens for people without even knowing it. We think of the audience.
We imagine the audience and our amygdala in our brain that keeps us safe. That primitive part of the brain, that fight or flight. It goes, Oh, this is not safe for us. This is a body of judgment. This is a body of people who are going to judge whether we're smart, whether our ideas have merit, whether we're articulate, whether we're professional if we mess up, they're going to judge us harshly.
Are they going to laugh at my jokes? Are they going to like me? Do they like my shoes? Do they like my shoes? It feels like heavy, heavy judgment. And our amygdala in our brain is hardwired through the millennia to keep us safe, and it views that as not a safe environment. So it says, get out of here, flee, or fight it.
And we can't do either on the stage. We can't run from the stage and we can't fight the audience. So what happens is our bodies pumping adrenaline. Get out of there. Get out of there and we don't do anything. And so it shows up in these shaky hands rapid heart. There's nowhere for it to go.
So instead of taking deep breaths for that, I recommend practice way ahead of time. Reframing the audience. So I bless the nerves. Like when I feel the butterflies, I say, oh, thank you for the notice that I am viewing this audience as a threat. Let me now reframe my audience to a body of need.
When you think of them as they're frustrated with something. There's something they don't know that could make their life better, easier, happier, more financially secure, lower their stress, whatever your message would give them. let's just assume that your message is important or has the potential to be important for this audience, that it's going to make their life better. And so if you think about What is their pain? like when you speak at ADHA and you have that big audience, whatever your topic is, that audience is in that room because they're hoping against all hope that whatever Anne Duffy says is going to be the thing that finally makes the difference for them.
And so when I think about that, then the focus moves from the amygdala to the prefrontal cortex in the prefrontal cortex of the brain is where empathy resides. It's where executive function and decision making resides. And so what's interesting is in the amygdala that's looking for a threat.
It pumps the hormones of cortisol and adrenaline and all the things that make us anxious and, you know, our heart rates speed up. But when we move it to where we need empathy for their need, empathy for their frustration and pain, when we move to the prefrontal cortex, it actually starts releasing serotonin, dopamine, uh, all of these chemicals that actually calm us, settle us, make us, feel relaxed.
And so you can't do it the morning of what you can, but it's easier to do it the morning of your speech. when you've been practicing your speech, you've been training your brain to go. Oh, there's the butterflies. Let me see their pain. Let me see. Where is that wound my speech can.
Be a bandage for or an ointment for right. It can be a soothing for them. And if I focus on that, I automatically feel that the right chemicals start pumping through my body. I calm down naturally someone will be introducing me and I will literally look out at the audience and imagine their discomfort and pain relating to my subject.
And I just say to myself, I'm here to help whoever I can. I'm here to deliver a couple of nuggets that they'll take away that will make their life better. That's my only job. My job is not to perform today. My job is to serve. I'm here in service. And when I do that. It just recontextualizes that audience.
And I find that I do much better. So I think treat the cause, which is the frame. And then the symptoms sort of take care of themselves. So
Anne: I love that so much because It's about them. Yeah. when you were speaking and I, you were going through the amygdala my blood pressure went down. I'm not kidding. I started breathing. Oh, it's like a lot calmer. And it just, it does make sense when you actually pull the empathy out of your heart.
And you just, you're there, to serve. I, I, that is a beautiful thing to think about and prepare for when we're looking at an opportunity, because I think a lot of the, women and men that are listening to this, they have a talk, they're ready to speak. And they want just a couple of nuggets, like three things that you would recommend that you could focus on to improve what they've already, developed.
What would you say to that? Because our DEW members have spoken in front of 10 people. Sure,
Katherine: They
Anne: all want more. They're all growing. They're all moving. They're entrepreneurial in nature. And there's, no stop, just keep going.
So. Give us a couple of takeaways that you could recommend to focus on, to improve the presentations that we've already got.
Katherine: Okay. I would say three things. One is organize your talk well, and I recommend something called the bookshelf method. And the quick overview of that is if you just imagined you had a shelf and some brackets, and a bunch of books and a couple of bookends and a big pile on the floor.
And your goal was to make a beautiful bookshelf on the wall. What of those things would you need to put on the wall first? Of course, it's a rhetorical question. It'd have to be the shelf first and then the books and then the bookends. that's the formula that we use at line speak to take all of these random thoughts in your head, all these things you want to say, and we say, okay, but what is the shelf?
That's going to hold everything. What is the, we call it the 1 line bottom line in 1 sentence, or maybe 2. What is the point you want it? The main point you want to get across? What is that? and actually, Anne, that's the hardest part of the whole bookshelf. clarity. why you
Anne: need
Katherine: somebody to help you with it, I remember having a coach saying, if you can't put it in one or two sentences, you don't know it well enough. And if you don't know it well enough, you will confuse your audience. it's boiling it down to. For this speech, it's not everything I could talk about, but for this speech, what is the bottom line that I want to get across?
That's the foundation. Then you add the books. You can have up to five books in our formula. Less is more. Best speech I ever heard had one book on the shelf for 45 minutes. But you've got these books and they become the containers for your thoughts, for your concepts, for your information.
But they organize it. So the books aren't all the same size. The books might have chapters or subchapters depending on how long you have to speak. But they are the containers for your content and they organize it. And they give sort of a system or a process that the audience can go, Oh, I get you know, so lots of different ways you can organize it.
one of the frame. We use is problem, solution and recommendations or mindset, skill set, tool set. Those are books on the shelf so they're the organizing vehicle. And then you put a really strong opening, which is the bookend and a really strong closing. And that holds that content together.
so I would say, if you want to deliver a great presentation, the first thing you have to do is organize your thoughts, organize your content. And I think that bookshelf formula is a really easy and great way. if you get good at it, you can even do it extemporaneously. I was asked not too long ago, And I wasn't expecting to speak at an event, and someone said, could you jump up and, deliver 15 minutes and I had maybe, 10 minutes to get my thoughts together.
And I thought, okay, let me just. Put the bookshelf together. what is the main thing I want to say? What are a couple of supporting concepts? What's a story that I could kick it off with? And how could I close with some hope and some inspiration, right? And that's the, boom, I'm able to do it.
And when you've got those systems, you can do it quickly. And of course, if you have time to prepare, you can do it really well. So one would be organize your thoughts really well. Learn how to do that. The second would be. Learn the art of storytelling We think in stories, we think in color. We've been using stories as a vehicle to communicate since early man.
So it's something most audiences will resonate with. I've had lots of people say, I don't have all the great stories. You have Katherine and I say. if you have children, if you have parents, if you have a spouse, if you have a career, if you drive on the freeway, if you have a dog, you have stories.
The best stories are the simplest things in life. And they are an analogy to what it is you really want to say to the audience. They're just a way of storifying, if that's a word What you want to say so that they can go. Oh, it is like that. It is like training my dog or it is like dealing with my mother in law or it is like, you know, whatever.
so I have my story radar on all the time and I think, oh, I'll have an experience in a restaurant or I'll, something will happen at home and I'll think, that's an example of this that I teach, so learn how to get your story radar on and think about, How could I incorporate a few stories?
I always think of it as adding color to the black and white of the logic on the bookshelf. the stories and the metaphors and the little activities they put the color on that black and white, and that's so important.
And then the third thing would be just learn how to move with confidence. How to be physically on the stage with a confident, not arrogant, but a competent posture and demeanor. What that requires is a little practice on what you do with your feet, what you do with your eyes. And what you do with your smile.
I think those are the three things. People say, what should I do with my hands? I say well, unless you're doing something really weird, don't worry about your hands. That's what I think. worry more about your feet because what we don't want is someone who's working that adrenaline out by pacing.
what that communicates to your audience, whether that's your team or, on the stage is that you're nervous and you're not comfortable and you're not confident and you really don't like this. So learning how to plant your feet and stand for a while and speak from there and then move on purpose somewhere else on the stage, plant your feet be there for a while that ballet of that movement is important.
And focusing on the human beings in that audience that day is super important so I think those three things learn how to organize your thoughts really well. Learn how to tell stories, where to find them, where to put them, how to tell them in an interesting way, and how to move and be, with confidence at the front of the room.
Those three things would make any speech better.
Anne: Oh my gosh, thank you for those beautiful takeaways. I am actually excited about speaking.
I never thought I
Katherine: should be. We need more of Anne Duffy. We need more of Anne Duffy. Oh my
Anne: gosh. Well, I need to get organized I need some help.
And that's a beautiful part about what we have in our industry here. We have people like you that we can. Reach out to you can help. You've got a new tell us a little bit because we're going to be this on the do site. Everybody's getting a discount gracious discount from Katherine. I tell if you're a do tell us a little bit about what you've created.
You and Kelly came up with this and I just love it. I'm so excited about this for all of our members.
Katherine: We are too. You know, I've been doing individual coaching virtually and in person for a long time, but what I was finding is, people would buy maybe three virtual sessions or something with me, and I would spend almost the entire time teaching them those things, teaching them the bookshelf, teaching them the movement, teaching them the story.
Telling process, and then we would run out of time to actually work on their practice and their speech. So what we decided was to develop a on demand video program, that is on a learning management system. So, when you purchase it, you have 12 months access to these videos and they're short modules.
The whole thing together is. Around three hours, but the modules are around 10 minutes each. So it's easy to get through them. it's me delivering the same kind of education around the bookshelf and not just storytelling, but also story selling. you know, if you are trying to promote a business or you are trying to promote an initiative, how do you do that with story rather than a hard sell.
But also how do you get the audience engaged? What are some tools for that? How do you work in humor? how do you practice well? all of that is included in this video series. So you watch it, it's super affordable. You watch it at your own pace. And then when you're done, you're either going to be able to do it yourself, which is our hope.
Or if then you want some coaching well, you'll already have your bookshelf together. You'll have all that. And then if you want to, get a couple sessions with a coach, then we can move straight into. your speech, your practice. So we're so excited to make this available to everyone in dentistry, but particularly for the men and women in your organization, because I think they are the cream of the crop.
They are the people who say, there's something important for me to do here, we're anxious to get this information to do so they can get out there and spread their message. Oh, I
Anne: love it. It's simple. It's easy. You just can get started. Get off this night as we say, get going when you're speaking career change the world Do it with grace represent. Our industry, the way that we all know it deserves and that's been being our very best and we need help doing it. So thank you for that. This is gonna be on our side. Everybody. We're going to be having a little push out here for this coming up after the summit and it'll be before the retreat and all of you that are coming to the do life retreat in Charlotte, North Carolina in October 25th to 27th, you'll be able to see Katherine, live and in real person.
And you know, just a delight to have you here today, Katherine. I just can't stop smiling because I think of all the women that are listening to this, that are, just really, saying, okay, can hone my skills and I love the idea that you can give them the nuts and the bolts.
And then you can shine them up a little bit. You can shine them up and together, we will change the
Katherine: world. So we will change the world. That's right. I mean, I think a lot of us that are speakers are, I'm in my sixties. I know Debra Inglehart Nash and Dennis Hurley, a lot of us are on that, final third of our career.
And we see. These young, bright minds that they need to be on the stage. They need to take their place because they're going to be the next generation or two that are going to own this industry and help it to move forward. And so, yeah, let's get them up there and let's get at the front of the room.
Anne: I love it with your help, your sage advice and your expertise. That's so lovely. So thank you, Katherine. So I guess, how do we get in touch with you? It'll be in the show notes, but. So tell us
Katherine: a little bit. going to give a special link. So if you're a do member, you're listening to this You're certainly welcome to go to our website, but encourage you if you're interested in purchasing the video product, use the link that Anne's going to provide. It's a special link for do members. It'll give you a special discount. And so do that. And I know you'll include that in the show notes, but if you want to check out line speak, our website is lion speak.
net not. com. And. There are basically coaching programs for, verbal skills with patients, verbal skills with your team, and verbal skills with audiences, oh,
Anne: that's so fantastic. Oh, we're so lucky to have you in our, uh, lion's den, if you will. Yes, there you go. Have you in our tribe, Katherine, I tell. So thank you so much. Come back and see us. We'll be seeing you on the road, I'm sure. And everyone that's listening today, remember to keep doing you. Thank you, Katherine.
Katherine: Welcome. Thank you.
