Speaking at Work

By every metric available businesses, communities and countries are better off under female leadership.  Yet, the pipeline into senior leadership for women is still very leaky - but why women don't lack talent and they certainly don't lack ambition.  What often keeps them out of the c-suite and without seats at boards is the lack of perceived credibility.  Perceived credibility (PC) is simply how competent you are perceived to be based on how confident and credible you are when you speak.  The better your PC the more memorable and visible you are and the more likely new opportunities will come your way!

Dynamic, engaging and practical - Emma commands the stage and walks her talk.  She talks on all things communication and female leadership from the Three things that are keeping women out of the C-suite to How to run powerful meetings.

She is comfortable to deliver virtually or live to a few or many.  She has delivered on International stages and in comfortable with or without AV.

If you are interested in hiring Emma for your next event - please book a call using the link below.

Previous Clients and talks include:
Presence - how to look like an expert when newly qualified - RIBA - London
The Three things keeping Women out of the C-Suite - 6th Annual Global Leadership Summit - Amsterdam
How not to F'up conversations about Womens Health - Pharma 2022 - Nice
Executive Presence: What it is and How to access it - Chartered Institute of Procurement - London

International Speaker

Do you feel you're not living up to your true potential, which is causing you to be unfulfilled in your career, and enthusiasm and energy is ebbing away?

Do you feel exhausted and frustrated at being unheard or invisible in meetings where you need to have influence?

Do you know you have valuable ideas to contribute, but these are either dismissed by others or by yourself, limiting your ability to bring your full self to work?

If this sounds like you then are not alone.

Research shows that women disproportionately experience these situations in the workplace.

You don't have to accept it. You can change your situation with guidance and personalised support.

And much faster than you might expect!

By using the Flow Framework my clients access their authentic, powerful voice in just six months, enabling them to build strong work relationships and get the results they desire.

What opportunities are you looking to uncover for your future?

Let's talk about how you'd like to be more credible and more visible and what's stopping you.

https://calendly.com/speakingatwork/get-visible-call

"I don’t think that the benefits of her training are restricted purely to my business, they will help in all areas of my life. I could not recommend her highly enough…”

Want to know more about the programme?

Influential Leadership for Women - Executive Voice Coaching Programme

I have been working with TEDx Speakers for over five years and I have heard all these reasons and more as to why you should or shouldn’t do a TED style talk. Every time these thoughts and fears disappear as we begin to work and tap into your area of expertise and insight to understand why your lived experience gives originality to your idea and why the world really should hear about it from you!

There is one thing I know for sure; everyone has lived an experience that can become their piece of thought leadership, their big idea that is worth sharing with others. If, when you stand up to speak you make a difference to one listener, helping them feel seen and heard then you have done a good job and your idea was worth sharing.  

And with the right coaching and support you can impact way more than one person!

TEDx Speaker Coach

City Academy

As an expert voice coach, I was able to create bespoke programmes to solve client communication problems across sectors and levels from intern to CEO;

Introduction to Presentation Skills
This was an open course for those who were beginning their journey into more public use of their voice, through executive Voice Coaching

Conflict Resolution 
This was a new course I designed using theatre techniques to enable delegates to understand how conflict starts in the mind and is intensified or de-escalated through the use of the voice and body. Voice coaching enabled the participants to avoid and de-escalate without damage to themselves, the problem or the relationship.

Virtual Communications – how to create rapport
In response to a corporate client I designed a course which ran for 40 delegates over two months to enabled them to develop their ability to create rapport with clients over the phone, through voice coaching.   Using theatre and voice techniques to enhance posture, breath and vocal connection, and intonation along with influencing skills combined with role play resulted in a highly interactive and practical course.    

Voice Skills for Business
This was a course for those who needed to develop some better voice techniques to enable clearer communication strategies.

Voice Coach and Personal Impact Coach

Fourth Monkey Actor Training Company

As part of a multi-practitioner team, I am responsible for two elements of first-year development on a two-year Rep the first of which is technical voice, focussing on breath & connection and support for 40 students.  The second module I designed to complement the devising module that the students are currently undertaking which is entitled, “How to pitch yourself and your ideas”.   The module is designed to develop vocal influencing skills beyond the theatre space.

Voice Coach

The Questors Theatre

I am responsible for designing and delivering the voice element of the two-year drama foundation course which runs as Questors Theatre in Ealing, for about 40 students.  This requires the development of technical voice and voice into text over the two years. The students are working towards two public, 10-day shows in the latter half of the second year.

Head of Voice

😖 Are you an accomplished and driven woman who feels like your expertise is overlooked and undervalued and been told you are not leadership material?

😖 Are you sick of meticulously perfecting your presentations for fear of getting it wrong and looking foolish?

😖 Do you find yourself being spoken over or having your ideas dismissed, only to be repeated by someone else 5 minutes later? 

If these experiences resonate with you, know that you're not alone, and there is a way to transform this experience through HOW you COMMUNICATE. 

I understand the frustration of being in a leadership role, achieving remarkable results, yet not being acknowledged or rewarded accordingly. It's disheartening to hear that you're not perceived as "senior leadership material" or "lack presence" when you know you possess the qualities of a true leader.

Here's the truth: it's NOT about working harder or doing more. 

It's about BECOMING a woman who fully embraces her expertise and communicates it effortlessly. When you radiate self-assurance, the world respond's accordingly, respecting and valuing your contributions.


To achieve this, you need to start by embracing your inherent worth and becoming your own champion. 

Why?  

Because everything you think about yourself, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly, will leak out into your body, your breath, your voice, and the words you choose. If you don’t believe in you, your communication will let the cat out of the bag and your audience won’t believe in you either. 

I'm Emma, and I specialise in working with successful female professionals like yourself, who are ready to amplify their speaking skills and be recognised for their brilliance. I have empowered women from diverse backgrounds, guiding them to elevate their leadership communication and increase their credibility. 

If you aspire to BE the kind of woman who has:

⭐️ LEADERSHIP PRESENCE  to CAPTIVATE your audience and command attention,

⭐️ the CONFIDENCE to speak OFF-THE-CUFF about your expertise with little preparation,

⭐️ the ability to deliver IMPACTFUL presentations that leave a lasting impression,

⭐️ and uses her AUTHENTIC voice and so speaks with unwavering confidence CONSISTENTLY,

⭐️ AGENCY over her career and life...

If you're ready to transform your leadership communication and unlock new opportunities, I'd love to invite you to call...

Book yours here:

https://calendly.com/speakingatwork/get-visible-call

It's time to stop doing and start BEING the incredible, impactful leader you know you really are.

No reason for this post other than to share a beautiful sunrise this morning
 
Hope it makes you smile as much as I did!

Emma Wainer  MA

For women who want speaking confidence and credibility on every stage

Does anyone else have this entertaining problem?
 
My youngest thinks it's highly entertaining to take a gabillion pictures of herself pulling daft faces!
 
It drives me mad and melts my heart all at once 💖

What’s the point if you can’t apply it?
 
 
It drives me mad when you learn things that are too theoretical to be applied.
Really, what’s the point?
 
Especially if you are learning something to improve your life, your job, or your business. It’s a waste of time, energy and, of course, money.
 
My clients and I talk a lot during speaker coaching. I like to give a bit of theory or scientific explanation of the voice so people can understand what’s happening in their body.
 
AND then I tell them to forget the theory.
It doesn’t matter.
 
What matters is the feeling that the understanding and the speaking practice combined give you in your body.
 
The feeling is the bit we want to replicate and build on. The feeling is the bit we can call on in an instant when we need it, not the theory.
 
Which is why I love it when clients come back to me with the feelings they are taking into their talks.
 
One client recently said:
▪️ Grounded-ness
▪️ An edge
▪️ Breathe and move
 
She knows what this feels like in her body, and when she does this, she feels like herself in her best speaking mode. She knows she will speak well, connect with her audience, and do her content justice. She’ll feel good afterwards,s too.
 
Good speaking is a practice of the mind and body.
 
What’s the feeling you take into your presentations and talks?

It's looked pretty much dead...for four years
 
Four years ago, my lovely friend Emma gave me this orchid for my birthday. It flowered beautifully for months and then died, as they do. Then nothing. Nada. Zilch. For four years!!
 
I left it in the sun, fed it banana water, warm water and made sure it feet were never wet (apparently, very sensibly in my opinion, orchids hate wet feet!)
 
And this week - ta-dah!! Flowers, beautiful flowers!
 
Worth the wait.
 
Any tips on shortening the next flowering cycle??

Applause is lovely.
 
But as a business owner, there’s no doubt that opportunity is better.
 
A good talk gets compliments.
An influential talk gets follow-up conversations, referrals, and new clients.
 
Most people measure success by:
🔹 Claps.
🔹 Smiles.
🔹 “That was brilliant.”

And of course, that feels good.
But the real measure is this:
 
What happens after you finish talking, and when you leave the room?
Do people rethink something?
Do they introduce you to someone?
Do they take the next step?
 
Influential talks don’t just inform your audience. They change behaviour.
 
If speaking is part of your business strategy, it should create movement, not just compliments.
And that doesn’t happen by accident.
 
If you’ve got a commercially important talk coming up this autumn, it deserves to be built for opportunity, not just applause.

I can only work with you if you are called Sarah (with an H)
 
I know buses are meant to come in threes, but it seems clients do too!
At the moment, I have three clients named Sarah (with an H)
 
They all have the same name, and they all want the same thing - to look, sound and feel like the experts they are when they speak to their respective audiences.
 
They all know they are experts, right up until that moment they stand up to speak to their people, when their belief has a little wobble. When there is a moment of doubt, a moment of 'do I really know my stuff', or "is this as perfect as it could be?"
 
And because they know that wobble will come. They spend time and energy with me to make sure that their content is water-tight, that their mindset is on side, and their delivery is warm, credible and confident. Which means the moment they take the floor, they are ready and confident.
 
The more they trust themselves to do a good job, the faster they build trust with their audiences and everything, relationships, revenue, projects and decisions move at the speed of trust.
 
 
 
P.S
Fancy feeling like my Sarah's. I have 2 spaces opening up in February in my Authority Talk Intensive. DM me ATI for more details, but only if your name is Sarah!

Keep it brief.
Keep it clear.
Repeat yourself.
 
Stand-up comics or comedians do this all the time.
 
They introduce an idea, move on, then come back to it.
And when they do, it lands.
Because the audience has heard it before, it feels familiar.
 
Most presenters say something once and assume it’s landed.
I promise you - it hasn’t.
Say it once, and it’s information.
Say it again, and it becomes familiar.
Say it one more time and it's repeatable.
 
Keep it brief.
Keep it clear.
Repeat yourself.
 
This is why callbacks work so well in talks, pitches, and presentations. They make ideas sticky without adding more content.
 
Next time you present, give this a go:
Choose one phrase or idea that really matters.
Repeat it three times (see what I did there?!) and each time build on it - just a little bit.
 
Remember:
Keep it brief.
Keep it clear.
Repeat yourself.
 
Then sit down!

My family has its own language.
 
A flannel is a luppy.
Medicine is mooti.
We say “dimpsy” when it’s just starting to get dark.
And “chillywilly molditz” when it’s really cold.
We say “laters gaiters” instead of “see you later.”
And a cow? Well, … it’s a haystack with legs (too long to explain!)
Totally nonsensical.
 
Except completely meaningful...to us.
 
Which got me thinking…
How often do we do this in our talks, presentations and speeches?
How often do we use shorthand, acronyms, function-specific phrases, or storytelling metaphors that make perfect sense in our world… but leave others completely in the dark?
This isn’t just about jargon.

It’s about making sure your audience isn’t excluded by accident.
So if you’re presenting, pitching, or selling outside your usual bubble?
▪️ Check your language is going to work for this audience.
▪️ Avoid in-jokes - unless you know everyone is going to get it.
▪️ Build the bridge from your audience's understanding to your own.
 
Because clarity is kind.
And nothing builds trust faster than helping someone feel like they’re in on it, too.

I was trying to have a sensible conversation...
 
My cat had other ideas.
 
He kept popping up from under the table and batting at me with his paw and the most serious expression (how he was hanging there - I've no idea!)
 
First time he did I nearly dropped the phone and squeaked in a ridiculously girly way!
 
Anyone else's pets trying to sabotage your credibility?!

I am no good at languages!
 
Never have been, never will be. My French teacher used to sigh when I mangled my verbs. My returned homework was more red pen than anything else. And to top it off, my best friend, at the time, was some kind of linguistic genius! French lessons sucked.
 
Since then, I've carried around the story that I'm not good at languages. When I got my dyslexia diagnosis at 42, I thought, well, that it explains it then - that's why I am no good at languages.
 
Then my best friend, Lola, persuaded me to join her in learning Spanish on Duolingo. I can not understate my reluctance.
 
But almost a year on...I am going to have to rewrite that narrative. I can learn languages. Not only can I do it, but I can enjoy it too!
 
Although, as @James Newell recently pointed out, I am not 100% certain I am going to be able to learn all of the sentences I am learning;
 
"Yo tengo dos casas en Nueva York!" - I wish!!

There’s a difference between being prepared and being over-prepared.
Prepared is calm.

You’ve done all your thinking, you know your message, and you trust yourself to allow your talk to unfold.

Over-prepared is tight.
It’s when you’re trying to control everything… the exact wording, the reactions, the outcome. 

You can convince yourself it's diligence, but it's really fear in a smarter outfit.

This message landed in my inbox after a client’s event:

“Thank you for your coaching, Emma. It was impactful, and I believe contributed to my confidence and polish for the event. I felt very comfortable and prepared.”

That “comfortable and prepared” is the goal.

Not perfection… presence.


P.S. If you’re a woman business owner who wants a talk you can rely on (without clinging to a script), The Authority Talk Intensive is where we build it; a clear, repeatable, revenue-aligned talk you can use on stages, panels, podcasts, or client events. If you’d like details, reply “Authority Talk”, and I’ll send them.

You are not a PDF.

If your audience needs to read your slides, you are redundant.

I know that sounds obvious, but sometimes it bears repeating.

Recently, I’ve seen some fabulous slide decks… and some, well, less good ones.

Here are five simple rules for creating great slides that support you, your content, and your audience.

You are not a PDF

Did you know there is a right way and a wrong way to peel a sticky note?
 
Me neither until recently.
I have always been irritated by sticky notes standing up in the air once you've written on them, but I just thought that was part of using sticky notes, the constant smoothing down of curled-up coloured paper.
 
Oh no - smooth no longer dear Post-it user...
Simply peel from left to right rather than from down to up.
Bloomin' obvs once you know
But oh, what joy it brings me now.
 
Go forth and spread the joyous news to your stationary-loving colleagues!!
 
___________________
P.S
Pic: me using my Authority Talk Intensive process when planning out a talk I need to deliver next week. It's not just a pretty formula or framework that looks good in a sales doc. It's an everyday tool that works and elevates a good talk to a great one.

You pull off the gingham cover to reveal…
 
Food. A lot of beautiful, brightly coloured, nutritious ingredients. It all looks and smells amazing.
And the clock is ticking.
 
You know you’re meant to do something with this food, for someone, and you only have a short time to do it. You love food. You’re not a bad cook.
 
But you don’t know what they like.
Sweet?
Savoury?
Snack?
Seven-course tasting menu!!!
 
Aghh!!!
So what do you do?
 
If no one is watching, probably nothing.
 
That’s how the brain works. Without clear instructions and a defined goal, we tend to freeze or default to inaction, especially when something is new, unfamiliar, or a bit challenging.
 
This is exactly what happens when business owners speak to influence an audience.
They bring ALL the ingredients: Smart ideas, useful information, interesting examples
 
But they don’t tell the audience what to do with them.
 
The result is overwhelm (or sometimes mild panic!)
Even motivated listeners walk away unsure how to use what they’ve just heard. So what happens after the talk?
Generally, not much.
 
If you’re trying to influence an audience, more is not more. It’s overwhelming and unhelpful.
You are not giving more value by giving more information.
 
Genuine value comes from giving insight.
 
That means choosing one or two useful ingredients and taking your time with them. Explaining why they matter, where to find them, what happens when they’re used well (and badly), and how something genuinely useful can be created from a simple starting point.
 
When you do that, you’re not just sharing knowledge. You’re showing expertise and giving your audience something they can actually act on when you finish speaking.
 
 
____________

When we went through The Authority Talk Intensive with S, we realised - she was bringing an entire supermarket of food. We stripped it back to the best ingredients and gave the audience a clear course of action - the result? No lunch after her talk because the queue of people wanting to speak with her was so long!
https://lnkd.in/gJh65i_4

“If giving more value worked, your audience would already be enquiring.”
 
This might sound counterintuitive, but giving more isn’t usually what helps a talk land.
 
Most experts I work with have these incredibly rich, detailed maps in their heads.
Everything connects. Everything makes sense. You can see ten steps ahead.
 
Your audience can’t.
They’re often trying to hold onto the first idea while you’re already on number six.
 
So when you do what feels generous, share more, explain more, add context, throw in another framework, it doesn’t feel helpful to them.
It feels overwhelming.
And overwhelmed people don’t take action.
 
They don’t think, “Wow, she knows her stuff, I should work with her.”
They think, “I don’t even know where I’d start with all of this.”
 
Here’s the shift most speakers miss:
It’s not your job to tell people everything you know.
It’s your job to help them understand the one or two things that actually matter right now.
 
That’s usually less information, not more.
And a lot more intention behind it.
 
P.S. This is one of the biggest things we work on inside The Authority Talk: helping you stop overwhelming people and start moving them.
https://lnkd.in/gJh65i_4

I didn’t create The Authority Talk because business owners lacked confidence.
 
Most of the people I work with are actually pretty comfortable speaking.
They’re not terrified. They’re not freezing. They’re not beginners.
 
I created it because speaking is one of the highest-leverage opportunities in business, and most people aren’t using it that way.
 
Getting in front of a room of people is rare.
Whether it’s 20 people or 200, you’re essentially having a one-to-many conversation in real time.
That’s a huge opportunity to build trust, credibility, and relevance all at once.
 
But what I kept seeing were really capable business owners doing good talks…and then nothing happened afterwards.
 
No real shift in how they were seen.
No meaningful conversations.
No momentum.
 
Not because they weren’t confident.
Not because the content was bad.
 
It was because the talk wasn’t designed to do anything.
 
Here’s the bit most people giving talks miss:
Talks that work aren’t built on one thing.
Not confidence.
Not content.
Not slides.
Not storytelling on its own.
 
They work because a lot of small things are done intentionally, and they add up.
A trust-building, commercially relevant talk is more like the internal structure of a house.
No single beam holds it together.
It’s how everything fits.
 
Next time you’re working on a talk, it’s worth noticing this:
How much of it is about what you want to say…versus what the people in the room actually need in order to trust you, trust your solution, and feel ready to take the next step.
 
That’s usually where the difference in impact is.
 
P.S. This is why The Authority Talk, this isn’t public speaking training.
It’s strategic speaking for business owners who want their talks to actually work.
https://lnkd.in/gFx2_7SK

It shows up as overwhelm, and it costs them the attention of the room.
 
After reviewing hundreds of decks from founders, consultants and senior leaders preparing for board meetings, funding rounds, conferences and TEDx talks, the pattern is consistent:
 
They try to say everything.
 
All the data.
All the case studies.
All the research.
Every result.
Every intelligent thought they’ve had about the topic.
 
Not because they’re unfocused.
 
Because they’re afraid.
 
Afraid that if they don’t say everything, someone (maybe everyone) in the room won’t take them seriously.
 
Afraid that a simple but sound idea isn’t enough to justify the fee, the ask or the audience’s time.
 
So they massively overdeliver.
 
And that damages their impact.
 
It feels logical:
“Show them everything I know, and they’ll see how smart and capable I am.”
 
But you’ve been trained by academic and corporate environments where more proof equals more credibility.
 
On stage, that logic fails.
 
Overwhelm kills attention.
And when attention drops, retention runs for the hills!
 
Nothing sticks.
No clear decision gets made.
No sales happen.
 
You get applause, which feels good.
 
But nothing moves, which doesn’t.
 
Clarity and connection, supported by the right amount of proof, drive agreement.
 
Here’s one of the filters we use:
 
What is the single biggest decision you want this audience to make?
What is the one core concept they need to understand to make that decision obvious?
If it doesn’t support the decision or the core concept, cut it.
 
 
One decision.
One core concept.
Remove everything else.
 
The hardest part isn’t creating content.
 
It’s cutting good ideas that don’t move the decision forward.
 
If you do a good job, they’ll clap.
 
If you do a great job, they’ll book the follow-up call, increase the budget and say yes to your idea.
 
If your next talk has six “main points”, or you say, “We’ve got a lot to cover”, you don’t have a main point.
 
Audit your deck.
Define the decision.
Build the talk around it.
Cut the rest.

taplio

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