Ultraspeaking

Last night, I learned 5 life changing lessons to improve about public speaking. Something that used to make me shit myself. I remember jumping on stage for the first time to a room of 500 people. Everyone looked proper serious and I thought they all wanted me to fail. Dad was in the audience and I was shaking when I started. I was choking just like Eminem in 8 mile. I actually skipped 10 minutes of the talk and finished early. Sweat patches everywhere. Of course Dad said he was proud, but even he knew I bottled it. Fast forward 9 years and I've done loads of talks and podcasts since, and now I properly enjoy it. But last night I learned 5 UNREAL speaking lessons during the Ultraspeaking workshop: 1. Have fun with it - when you enjoy it, your speaking becomes natural and carries proper emotion which makes it memorable. 2. Be yourself - people want realness. They wanna see YOU. The person who talks to their mates with conviction. 3. Take the pressure off - your audience wants you to succeed. If you make a mistake, move on. If you go off on one, that's fine too. 4. Strategic pauses work - not just for the audience, but for you to tap into where your mind wants to go. Just a second or two pulls out great stories. 5. Accordion technique - set timer for 2 mins and say your points. Cut to 1 min. Then 30 secs. Gets you to the core message, then expand from there. Speaking skills help in every part of life - meetings, content, podcasts, pitches. It's a meta skill that levels up everything else you do. Buzzing to bring this training to our whole company. Because when you can communicate properly, you can achieve anything. Thank you to the brilliant coaches who helped - Michael, Tristan, Aman, Aliénor and Anne. Who here is on a mission to improving their speaking ability? Let me know your biggest problem below....

I've taught thousands of people HOW TO SPEAK WITHOUT NOTES. Here's the STEP-BY-STEP method: If you’ve ever frozen mid-speech because you forgot your next line, you’ll love this. The Accordion Method helps you internalize your talk so you can deliver it naturally: no scripts, no panic. Here’s how to do it: Step 1 – Find Your Core Message 1️⃣ Start with full time – e.g., 5 minutes. Deliver your entire talk with all the details and examples. 2️⃣ Halve the time – 2.5 minutes. Keep only the most essential points. 3️⃣ Halve again – 1 minute. Focus on key messages and their strongest supports. 4️⃣ Compress to 30 seconds – Distill it down to your North Star: the absolute core message. Step 2 – Expand Like an Accordion 1️⃣ Start from your 30-second version – just the essence. 2️⃣ Expand to 1 minute – add only the most vital supporting details. 3️⃣ Expand to 2 minutes – bring in key stories, examples, and evidence. 4️⃣ Return to 5 minutes – now add richness and color, but only what supports your core. Key Reminders ‼️ 1. Set a timer before each run. 2. Speak out loud. No need to think through ahead of time. 3. Never stop mid-rep, even if you stumble; keep going. 4. Stick to time limits to force clarity and focus. ✅ By the end of your practice, you’ll be able to deliver your content in a way that feels deeply natural and intuitive. You'll look spontaneous but feel prepared. No notes required 😅 🎥 Want to see a video example? I’ll send you a video of me coaching a speaker through every step of the method. Comment 'Example' and I’ll DM it to you!

“What happens if you start believing that your internal experience is not visible to others.” Just one golden nugget from Tristan de Montebello’s speech . How often do we leak our insecurities without realizing it? Apologizing mid-sentence. Explaining away our energy. Shrinking when we want to stand tall. This was one of the most powerful takeaways from Craft & Commerce this year (put on by the brilliant team at Kit). It was my second time attending and I’ve already got my ticket for next year. That’s how good it is. Tristan’s keynote was next level. I’ve never experienced energy like that on a stage. ANYWHERE. EVER. It was like meditation. It was magnetic. It was actual magic.✨ There was this calm that settled over the room. Not silence, not stillness… a presence. You could feel it. It was the kind of calm you could almost touch. And his message? 🔥 👉 Stop leaking your insecurities. 👉 Stop playing small. 👉 Stop trying to impress. Choose to EXPRESS. Later, I attended the workshop with Tristan and his co-founder, Michael Gendler (the two behind Ultraspeaking . It was just as powerful. Watching them coach people live was captivating. You could see the transformation unfold right in front of you. I am now officially calling them the Zen Masters of Public Speaking. (And yes, guys…feel free to steal that 😉) If speaking makes you shrink… if you find yourself spiraling mid-sentence, trying to fix how you’re being perceived… Go check them out. What & how they teach is so powerful for building confidence, clarity, and calm in how you show up and speak.

“Humans are born to speak. You already have everything you need to be a natural communicator.“ I got to watch my co-founder Tristan de Montebello absolutely shine at the Kit Craft + Commerce conference. He embodied all the Ultraspeaking principles: - Prepare but don’t memorize - Lead with energy, not words - Choose express mode over impress mode My favorite thing I heard someone say: “Tristan is like a Xanax in human form. His entire talk put me at ease.” When you feel at ease on stage, everyone around you does too. Thats what I think makes Tristan an exceptional speaker. He doesn’t just share ideas. He embodies them.

I don't normally do this, but I just finished one of the best online course experiences I've ever had. I've taken a lot of online cohort-based courses, and none have compared to Ultraspeaking. I felt a fundamental shift in how I approach speaking, both impromptu/social/work speaking, and planned speaking. If you've been thinking about public speaking or improving your communication in general, please please go take this course. https://lnkd.in/em2CZVMa

🎤 ALWAYS END STRONG 🦾 This week we had fab Aliénor Hunter at the eBay Deutschland campus ❤️💙💛💚 for an intense and eye-opening Ultraspeaking storytelling and presentation masterclass that left us inspired and equipped with powerful communication tools! In today's fast-paced world, the ability to tell compelling stories and present ideas effectively is more crucial than ever. What made this session truly unique was the playful approach to learning, breaking away from old-fashioned methods and ensuring we improved quickly and effectively. Here are some key takeaways from our sessions that can elevate your presentations: 🎣 The Hook: Start with a captivating hook that grabs attention and sets the tone for your story. Whether it's a surprising fact, a personal anecdote, or a thought-provoking question, make sure it's engaging! 🎭 Stay in character: Consistency is key. Whether you're presenting as a storyteller, a leader, or an expert, maintain your character throughout to build trust and credibility. ⏸️ Breathe: Strategic pauses can be as impactful as the words themselves. Use pauses to emphasize key points, allow your audience to absorb information, your brain to adapt and create a rhythm that enhances your delivery. 💥 Always end strong: The conclusion is your final chance to leave a lasting impression. Summarize your key points and deliver a powerful closing 🥥 statement that resonates with your audience. A huge thank you to everybody joining, sharing and being open to the rapid learning apporach. Special kudos to Steven empowering the team👏 to implement these strategies and continue to refine our storytelling skills at eBay. Want to give the tools a try yourself - link in the comments. #Storytelling #PresentationSkills #eBayInside #UltraSpeaking #Communication

The Ultraspeaking workshop: one of the most engaging, compelling workshops I’ve taken to date. Why: Workshop lead Aliénor Hunter put people on the spot, asked great questions, and encouraged people to put themselves out there and truly practice speaking in a safe, inviting way. Here are my three top takeaways I’ll practice from a huge amount of learning we experienced yesterday: 😟 Problem: Feeling stressed, before you talk. 💡 Solution: Take the pressure off. Play a "rapid fire analogies” game to shake off the stress and practice getting into the “flow” of speaking. 🌬️ Problem: You stumbled when speaking or lost your train of thought. 💡 Solution: pause and take a deep breath. It helps you reset, collect your thoughts, and it grabs the audience’s attention 🎬 Problem: You “break character.”  💡 Solution: You’re better than you think - stay in character. Remember the beliefs you have about yourself aren’t necessarily true. We saw that again and again during the day when someone thought they weren’t great at speaking English (they are excellent at it), someone thought they were very loud (they came across very calm), and someone warned us they had a cold (they spoke eloquently and clearly). You might have let one past experience create a belief like “I’m not a good public speaker” or “I'm too high-energy,” even though that's not actually how others see you.  🩷 One of the big takeaways I keep learning is the power of confidence. Pretending like you’ve got this helps you believe that you actually do. 🌟 Ali left us with this message: You are likely a better public speaker than you think you are. Take more risks, speak more, and act like you’re doing a good job - because you are. 🚀 Thank you again sincerely to Angela Hountalas, Jo Ngan and Lewis Merdler and any other team member at Apply Digital for organizing this workshop and to workshop leader Ali for teaching our 100+ crew so much about public speaking!