Speaking and Communicating Podcast

It comes from those backgrounds, those experiences, as well as being really scared to speak as a child. I changed that so other people can too. And there's so many people, in fact, I don't know if you know the stat of public speaking being one of the biggest fears compared to everything else. It is, it is. And it's interesting, it is universal. Okay, so let's get started. This is going to be very insightful.
00:29
Welcome back to the Speaking and Communicating podcast. I am your host, Roberta and Ndlela. If you are looking to improve your communication skills, both professionally and personally, this is the podcast you should be tuning into. Communication and soft skills are crucial in your career growth and leadership development. Whether you're about to speak in public, make presentations at work,
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pitch to investors or an entrepreneur looking to showcase your innovation to a wider audience, you'd be glad you joined us. By the end of this episode, log on to Apple and Spotify, leave us a rating and a review and what you'd like for us to discuss on this podcast. Let's get communicating.
01:26
My guest today, Bonnie Gross, has a radio and television background. She is an executive leadership coach and a speech pathologist. As you can see, based on her background alone, there's so much that she's going to share with us when it comes to communication skills, and she will give us the necessary tools. And before I go any further, please help me welcome her to the show. Hi, Bonnie. Hi, so nice to be here.
01:55
So nice to be here, thank you. My pleasure, thank you for being on our show. Thank you for reaching out and wanting to be here because when I read your profile, I said, yes, she's like the ultimate avatar for the show. And when I read the profile of you and this podcast, I thought I want to be there. So here we are, it's great. I'm glad you're here. Please tell us a little bit about yourself. Where in the US are you? I'm in Canada. Isn't, isn't?
02:24
technology amazing, right? I'm sorry. However, I am half American from my mother. And that's maybe that influenced me to want to speak out because New Yorkers do speak out and Canadians are more reserved. So I understand that. Oh, for sure. When you said you're Canadian, it reminded me you remember the movie with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, the proposal.
02:54
So she was going to be deported. Me too. She was going to be deported. But at first she was shocked. She was like, I'm from Canada. It's not like I'm an immigrant. Yeah, no, but it's very interesting that, well, my brother lives in LA. And so he said, why would anybody want to live anywhere else? I live in Toronto where it's cold most of the time. But I think that...
03:20
there are significant differences between Americans and Canadians, even though we we come from the same roots. Yeah, we are generally more reserved, but it's nice to be able to let that go. And I think that's important for public speaking, especially for public speaking and those communication skills we'll be talking about. So tell us a little bit of your radio and TV background. I found that very interesting. Well,
03:48
I started radio drama, which I don't think exists anymore, actually, but it's so wonderful. It's like audio books. But there was radio drama. And my parents, I was around eight years old or nine, and they thought I was way too shy and too reserved. And they decided radio drama would be good for me. And so that was the beginning of me in the microphone. Long story short, I felt very comfortable.
04:17
throughout my professional life being interviewed on radio because I was used to the microphone and I wasn't shy anymore. Doing it over and over helps you overcome that in one sense. And then I did some adult radio programs too, mostly interviews, interviewing people, all different people about medicine, about technology, different subjects, I love that. And then I met someone who said,
04:46
Television, I said no. And they said, well, here's my card. And so long story short, I followed it into television, love interviewing people and learned a lot about how to be on camera or in front of an audience if you're not on camera and be engaging and really good. So many things that I teach other people, I've learned from experience. So at the moment, I don't have my own television show. It really does take all your time up, but I...
05:15
do love helping people shine in front of an audience. It's interesting that when you were on radio, you never thought about being on TV. A lot of us like the spotlight. Yes, yes. Why were you not drawn to that? I guess I was drawn to it in some ways because I did call him. Right. And I did get excited and I did start to TV shows and learn and grow in that.
05:44
So I guess I was always drawn to it, but at the time I had two young kids. I already had a career as a speech pathologist and radio. So doing both. And I thought, I just thought it would be too much, but then life changes and you have to go for it. Yes, and you certainly did. What were some of the lessons that you learned in that part of media that have to do with...
06:12
communication skills and the work that you do now, looking back? I learned to be myself in front of an audience. Okay, so what does be myself means? I mean, maybe some people want to be better than themselves in front of an audience or in front of the camera, and that's okay. But most people are nervous and stiff and memorized and not themselves. But with the right preparation,
06:39
You can look at that camera or look at that audience and let the fears go and allow yourself to connect with the audience. It took me a year actually of practicing different techniques but ultimately you can do that. And you learn to trust that you will be fine with the right preparation. Yes, especially if they hadn't done it before and don't know what it's gonna be like.
07:08
Speaking of techniques, here's one thing I think some of us, especially public speaking coaches, the challenge we have is people think that, like you said, be yourself. The technique is more important than applying it, but also being yourself. It's almost like the technique takes over and then they become rigid. They become the very thing you were explaining because they get so
07:36
I think that you make a good point. In traditional presentation skills training, people learn techniques. Okay, so the technique could be use slides and use your body language to refer to the slides. Look at people all around the room with your eyes. Make sure that you tell them the top three subjects you're gonna discuss at the beginning and then have a very good structure
08:06
to your presentation. Those are some of the techniques that people learn. I think that that can make a person rigid. Not that they're bad or wrong. It's just that if you learned techniques, particularly if everybody learns the same techniques, not everybody's needs are the same, but if a person learns techniques and applies them, then you're too busy thinking about, am I applying the techniques?
08:34
while you're actually doing the presentation and that makes you stiff. I do have techniques that I teach people but they're not quite the same as that. And a lot of being free and being yourself and trusting that you can be yourself actually takes a huge amount of preparation on how you relate to the audience. So many people who I work with, business leaders, they say, well, I spent a hundred hours on my slides.
09:02
Or, I haven't finished my slides yet, Bonnie. I need to finish them and send them to you and then we'll work. And I've only got one more day to practice speaking them. And so people become very bogged down on the slides as opposed to the way they deliver a message. Or they might say, I have to write out all my answers to the questions, perhaps for an interview. Or I have to write out my whole script and memorize it. Bonnie, then we'll meet.
09:31
That's a recipe for disaster because all the work, the preparation goes into delivering a strong message and planning that into how do you express it so that it's natural and exciting and you get rid of bad habits and you get into learning good speaking habits and how do you relate to notes in front of you as opposed to memorizing. And when you have all that ready,
09:59
then you make your slides, if you're even gonna use slides. But that's another story. Slides can really contribute to making a person a stiff speaker. Of course, in business, it is expected and important, but the slides that you use can either enhance you as a speaker or the opposite. And I always go through that with my clients as well. The point you're making, I had a guest who said,
10:24
No one in the audience when they hear that, oh, Bonnie is gonna be our keynote speaker today and things. Oh, wow, I can't wait to see her 50 slides. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. That's right, nobody is interested. Although I have seen people use slides well. I once went to a keynote by Marlee Maylum. Do you know who she is? Yes, she was on the TV show, police detective TV show, the deaf actress, I love her.
10:53
Yes, everybody does. She's very engaging. She's amazing. She's gorgeous. Now, it was interesting because you would think that if anybody is going to use slides with words on it, it's going to be her. She did have slides. She also had an interpreter because she used a sign language and it worked out fine. But her slides were visual pictures of her growing up, pictures of her on TV, but different parts of her life. So that while she was talking,
11:23
you could visualize what she was talking about. It was beautiful. That's a really good way to use slides, which most people in business do because it's expected. I'd love to change that expectation, but is they put their whole script on the slides, all the notes, all the graphs. I will out read you and then my brain will go to something else while you're still busy reading your slides. That's right. That's what happens. It really does.
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take away from a person's power as a speaker. And when you're speaking, the purpose of you speaking is to really get the audience excited about what you're talking about as opposed to reading information. Because it's so acceptable in business to prepare that way, it's difficult to help people free up from that, but they do. And then they just feel so good because they can feel that the audience is with them.
12:22
You can transition from writing out the whole novel on a slide to being like actress Marlee Martlin and just have pictures. That un-picture of the being you, you were talking about earlier, can come out. Right, that's absolutely right. If you feel that you have to read the slides, or if you feel, here's another one that I hear all the time, I might forget something. I say, what are you afraid of? What is the big fear, right?
12:52
Okay, so I might forget something. Okay, first of all, everybody's got the slides right in front of them, so. But the truth is, if a person forgets something, no one will know and no one will care, and it doesn't matter. It's my little secret. That's right, that's right. But let's say it's a business meeting and it is important. So then it matters. Okay, it doesn't matter if you forget something, it matters how you handle it. If you handle it with confident voice,
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Oh, here's something important that I want to bring up as opposed to, oh my God, I just forgot something, nervous, talking fast, worried, just handle it well. Actually it enhances a person as a leader, I think. And speaking of forgetting, like you said, let's say it's your seniors and you are presenting, if you forget that you forgot, and one of them reminds you and say, Bonnie, what about such and such?
13:50
How do you handle that in that same confident manner? Well, I'd say that's really important. Let me tell you what I think about that. Yeah, oh, thank you for bringing that up. Not, oh my God, I forgot. Thank you for bringing that up. I'm going to just describe it now. So by planning how you're going to handle that situation and by practicing those phrases that I just use out loud at home, then you're ready for that.
14:19
So the fear of forgetting something, like you know what you're gonna do if you forget something. You've heard yourself, you've tried out that line. Good point, thank you for bringing that up. Or another way of handling is, oh, that's an important question. I don't have the answer right now, but I will have it to you by the end of the day. No problem. It's okay to not know the answer, but how you handle it. And if you handle it that way, then you feel better internally as well.
14:48
because it's okay to say, I'll have that answer for you. I wanna give that some thought. That makes you look good. And maybe your mind has gone blank and you've forgotten something, but they don't have to know that. They just have to know that you're confident and you will have the answer by the end of the day. You are not expected to know everything. If you do, that's great, but don't feel that pressure to then deter you or lessen your confidence, as you say. Yes, yes.
15:16
Fixing a mistake with confident voice and tone and words really makes a huge difference. Huge, in terms of the way people perceive you as a leader and in your own confidence. So people really worry about that, or they worry about my mind will go blank. I will forget everything. I think that that doesn't happen or rarely happens, but it might happen for a split second. That is a legitimate fear.
15:46
Whatever a person is worried about, the key is to be prepared for it, how you're gonna handle it. I learned this from my career in television, right? You can't know everything, but if you have a script in front of you, what I mean by script is points that you wanna make sure that you cover. Yes. One of the things that I learned was firstly, to always have notes in front of me in case I wanted to look at them, because you can't remember everything.
16:16
and there's certain points you want to make. And so if you have them in front of you written in a big font, I don't know if you can see this. I have this in front of me now actually, but I was just going over some things and I think you can't see it, you know. Okay, well, basically four points that I want to remember for you and I to talk about. That I'm gonna write it on paper or you can put it on a tablet printed, not in handwriting and not little big font.
16:45
in front of you, like you can put here's my paper, I could take it and put it up against the screen, you can't see it, but I can. Or if it's live, it can be on a podium and just minimal sentences, minimal words, and then when you're talking, if you look down at it, like I just did, doesn't matter. It's a split second glance, yes. It's okay to look down. Yeah, yeah. I think that's much better than reading slides.
17:13
you've got the points, you speak to the points, you look at the audience, not like turning around, oh, here's the slide, look at the audience. And I actually have some techniques for what if you need to see the slides, but you always need to relate to the audience. So by going back to the script, which is basically the key points you want to make, if you just have that and you glance at it, you don't have to worry about forgetting. Right. And also when you know your material so well,
17:43
Let's say you were assigned to speak for 45 minutes and suddenly they say, oh, we're running behind time, make it 20. From those key points, the keynotes you've just told us about, you will just know what are the things to just pick and focus on if it's not gonna be a big thing. Yes, and you make a very good point because many people say to me, I planned it for 45 and I've only got 20 and the person before me went on too long or whatever the reason is.
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and they try to get all of it into 20 minutes. And that's a disaster. Yeah, yeah, you're right. You have to pick and choose. And you can say to people, there are several more points that I wanna make. All of them are in the handout. Feel free to look at it and call me anytime and we can talk about it or something like that. So the point is not to feel the pressure of going through everything because it'll be too fast, too wordy and lose people.
18:39
And the point of being a good public speaker is to never lose people. That's the bottom line. And how did you transition from your career into now what you do, which is executive leadership coaching? Good question. I have to think about it. I think that I realized at some point, maybe 15 years ago, that people who would call me for
19:08
traditional speech pathology issues. My voice doesn't project. Can you help me? I know how to do that from speech pathology or English is not my first language. People don't understand me. Pronunciation. I absolutely know how to help that with speech pathology techniques. But then people need to project their voice for a reason. I just got promoted. I have to do presentations.
19:36
Or they say, you know, I can't get promoted because the person whose pronunciation is too difficult to understand. It could be that they know they can rise professionally because they need to be clearer. Actually, that reminds me of one client who I had where English was the first language, but he had a very heavy Scottish accent. I mean, I'm from Toronto. It's hard to understand.
20:05
And so he just said, you know, I don't want to lose my accent. I just want people, I want to be clear. And we worked on that. Okay. Back to your question, which was, how did I transition? So people need to change these things for a reason. And the reason is usually professional or could be social. When I go to a party, people don't hear me or they don't understand me or they, I lose people's interest, whatever the reason is.
20:32
And then I realized that from all those years of radio and television and speaking to the camera, speaking to an audience, losing your fear, all those things that I learned, I could pass on to other people. So essentially I combine them, depending on what the person wants and needs as they contact me, I create a program for that person, but it's always a combination of those experiences and techniques that I've had.
21:01
Right. And they come to you because as we say on this podcast, they've been promoted. And now they're going to lead people, which means you really need to be clear with your communication when you lead a team. That's a no brainer. Yes. You need to be better than clear. You need to be convincing, relaxed and exciting. I think people who are the most memorable people are people who have, who go beyond just good presentation skills or
21:32
clear speaking skills. They become exciting and persuasive and natural. Like Marlee Maitland, who doesn't speak, interestingly enough. But she is all of those things. Like Obama, people always when I say, who's your favorite speaker, I'd say 99% of people would say Obama. And he is- Because of how he connects with the audience and convincing, as you said. Yes.
22:00
Yes, he does, he connects with what people want. He might memorize, but we don't know it, but he uses short sentences, he pauses, all those things that many people and many speakers are afraid to do. What about the pause is so important? Two things, it gives people a chance to digest what you're saying. It gives people, even if it's just a second, people will think about what you just said.
22:29
And that pause allows the audience to do that. The other good thing about pausing is it underlines your remark. So if I said to you, team, it is possible for us to do this and it's possible for us to do this well. Let's say I said, team, it's possible for us to do this and it's possible to do it well, so let's just get to it. Okay, I said that so fast.
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like it's so difficult to get to it. Okay, team, it is possible for us to do this pause and pause is possible for us to do it well. So let's get to it. There it is without pauses and with pauses. You get the message. But people are afraid to pause. They're afraid to pause. Or very often someone will say to me, I just want to get it over with. I mean,
23:26
The audience doesn't care. They want you to be inspiring. But if the person is thinking, I'm just going to get it over with, then it won't be good. It'll be a disaster. But part of losing that is being confident in the techniques that you do have. And that's what I help people do, give them the right techniques. Right. You can actually feel the energy of somebody who doesn't want to be there. Yes, they're reading.
23:56
You can just tell they want to get it over with. So you help strengthen the capacity of leaders to communicate and influence. How do they do that? Or how do you help them do that? Okay, good question. The first step is for me to get to know each person and what concerns them. Are they concerned that they'll lose the audience? Are they, do they get up there
24:26
suddenly say, oh my God, I'm being judged. I can't stand it. I want to get it over with. Or, oh my goodness, I speak English as a second language. But actually, as I gave you the example of the Scottish person, or people always ask me to repeat myself and how I'm worried about it. I want to get this over with. The first step is I need to understand what is the person worried about, number one, so we can work on that or create
24:55
techniques that overcome that, I have to understand what their role is. Let's say if it's corporate, what is their role? What kind of speaking do they do? What do they need to communicate? The more I know about the person and their role and their fears, the more I can help them. So one size doesn't fit all. It isn't, isn't like, oh, here's Bonnie's public speaking course. And so everybody's gonna fit into it.
25:24
There are elements that are the same. If you have two different leaders in two different organizations, our fears, our most urgent thing to attend to, those are different. They are different. And so once I watch somebody do a presentation and I interview them, so I understand what's important to them and what do they see as their stumbling blocks, then when I watch them,
25:53
I'm gonna know what are their stumbling blocks? What are the problems? What are the areas they need to change in order to be that wonderful speaker that they want to be? So that's where I start. It's with an open mind about each person. Then I will help the person. Being a good speaker starts before you speak. It starts before you speak. It starts with how you think about your purpose. Okay, once I've done that analysis. So.
26:23
Often I'll say to someone, what's your purpose in your presentations? Is it to inform people? Is it to persuade people? Or is it a motivational speech? Where you know, like, yes, you can do it, we can do it and that's the end of the speech. Of course, all good presentations or speeches have all three, but if you have to pick one, what would it be? I would say 90% of the time, maybe more, people will say, well, to inform.
26:51
but I don't think that's the purpose of a presentation. I think that that is an important element, maybe one of the most important, of course you're going to inform people. But if you are going to inform people in businesses, you can send them a handout and an email and they can read it and that's it, right? The purpose is to persuade. And when you change your mindset about your purpose,
27:20
everything good comes from there. But the conversation starts before you speak, it starts with how you think. And that's where I start with people. And we have a lot of discussion about that. And we craft a presentation based on that and also understanding the audience and what they want. It's the same information, it's just presented in a more exciting way. Then it frees them up.
27:48
You understand how they think. I've never heard of that perspective when it comes to public speaking preparation. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? You have to do that. What the client feels is their purpose. Is it to inform, persuade, or motivate? You have to pick one. And usually someone will say it's to inform.
28:13
And that's not wrong. It's just not exciting. And it's not the end goal. It's not the all encompassing reason we are here. No, no, it's not. So if you think about Obama and if he got up in front of people and gave a whole list of, let's say, okay, we're gonna change the law on- Education. And he got up and he spoke the law. He said, here's the law.
28:40
as we have a change and he read every single piece of the law with all that lawyer talk. You know, I'll be legal. Yeah, he'll be A sub one B. Right, right. Okay, after one minute, nobody's listening. But Obama would get up and say something like, our students are our future and this is how we're gonna achieve it. That's all you have to hear to be on his side in a way. You know. And he grabs your attention.
29:08
And you want to hear more how he's going to do that, because that's something that you would want to hopefully see happen as well. Yes, yes. Now, of course, in a business setting, information is key. I don't want to downplay that, but that's not the only key. And I don't believe that's the main purpose of a person standing in front of an audience, even in a business setting, because if it's just information, they can read it. But you're there to inspire.
29:38
to convince, to make a point with your words and your tone and your eyes and your body. And anybody can do that, anybody. They just have to get rid of old habits and learn new ones. And when you learn the new ones and you see the audience respond, then they don't need me anymore. And you bring your you into that. That's what makes it different. Cause information, we can all have the same information, but bringing yourself.
30:06
into the inspiring and the convincing is what makes the difference. Yes, for sure. Please tell us about the Speech Science Academy. Well, I thought of the name Speech Science because, as I said before, but because I bring to each client or each group, not only public speaking techniques, getting rid of fear techniques relating to the camera, which
30:34
during the pandemic, suddenly that's a really important thing. You know, it wasn't a big deal before, but speech science is about great speaking techniques, but also the science part comes from speech pathology. And so what I do and any of my associates do is combine those techniques. As I said, the speech pathology is how do you pronounce correctly? How do you project your voice?
31:02
How do you have a great voice? How do you use your resonance? All of those techniques come from speech pathology. And so I combine the two and that's what we do in terms of technique. The academy, I like that word, is we help people. Usually it's business leaders or groups. Sometimes it's corporate groups to improve their
31:30
speaking techniques, whatever they need. So it's usually public speaking and presentation, but it may also be networking and conversation. Right. And we help people shine in those areas that they need to shine in when it comes to communication. As I said before, I have several courses, Executive Speaking Skills for Women, Preparing for an Interview, Fearless Public Speaking.
31:59
accent modification, I do have those courses, but I always start with understanding what does the client need, what does that person want, what is their timeline, and then I'll take from those courses and customize it to each person or to each group. And I think that's really important. I think you just can't always give the same course to everybody, you can, it's just not as effective. So it's very customizable.
32:29
So I've got to spend a lot of time finding out about the person or the group or the company and what they want and need first. Women in executive positions, one of the things that have been highlighted is women still struggle to have the level of confidence that men have, especially as they go up in the ladder and they reach the C-suite. Knowing that confidence plays a big role when you present in public speaking. What...
32:59
some of the experiences you have with women clients, for instance, in that, how have you helped them with confidence and knowing they belong just as much as their counterparts? So it's interesting that you use the word confidence. I went to a lunch yesterday. I never have time to go to lunches in the middle of the day, but I did, and I'm so glad I did, because this was the topic. It's all women and...
33:26
It wasn't a presentation, it was just people talking to me about that. OK, I think that women in executive positions or women who who want to be and are capable and they know it in executive positions, I don't think they lack confidence. I think they have confidence and they know that they have the experience and the knowledge. But very often, the way some women
33:56
present their ideas or even themselves undermines that confidence. So I think they do have confidence. So what do I mean by it's old habits? So what's interesting, let's take for example, I have a client who is a woman and she is absolutely ready to be president of this company and has the background and the experience. She said to me,
34:26
People just can't hear me. I have a very soft voice. I have a soft voice and I think I have some habits. Like I say, good morning. My name is Bonnie. How are you? That's called uptone. Or sometimes that woman may not even realize what their issues are. They might just say, I keep getting passed over. I think it's the way I communicate. Very often.
34:53
Women have specific habits of communication that start in childhood, usually start in childhood, and then they sound like they're not confident. That's the problem. And these things, for example, how many women do you know who learn don't speak unless spoken to?
35:16
It's not polite. That was my generation. It's different now with my... It is different now. Or it could be that never talk to strangers. Never talk to strangers. What do you do when you get up and give a keynote? You're talking to strangers. Talking to strangers. Or be polite. Nobody should really interrupt, but keep your voice down. Okay, as women, we learn that. It's not a bad thing. It's just that we learn. We learn it. Sometimes we're told those things. Sometimes...
35:45
Society tells us those things, sometimes our culture. That's why I said, I'm half American, then the half, that's why I speak loud. But I still grew up with those messages. And those habits stick. Another thing that happens is, maybe we aren't even given those messages, but all of us learn to speak initially by copying a parent or a caregiver.
36:13
If your mother had that kind of a voice, you're gonna, or your father, we just copy it. And that's how human beings learn to speak. It's not a bad thing, but women are given different messages from the cradle than men. How many men do you know who have learned don't speak unless spoken to? No way. No. Yeah, okay. So we do grow up with different messaging. Now, suddenly we're in a generation where women can be anything.
36:43
But what happens is, and that's acceptable, it's acceptable to be president. But if we don't sound confident, even if we are, if we defer to other people, don't speak unless spoken to. If we do that as a matter of training from age one year old, we don't know what's getting in the way. When you start to think about it, and I do work with people at the beginning
37:14
Think about it. Where's this coming from? Where is why is there such a disconnect between the way you speak and your capabilities? And so I think that that's very valuable to think about it. Most people say, well, that's just my voice scratchy and high pitched with up to an I don't think so. You know, every person, every person is born with the ability to have a strong resonant voice.
37:41
That's another topic. Our vocal mechanism is made to be caring and to be strong, but we get into habits. Okay, once we think about that, then it's easier to make the changes that a person needs to make to be heard. Now, when I say changes, I don't mean that a person should not be themselves or that you talk like somebody else, but everybody is born with a perfect voice.
38:11
Some people just aren't using it. And my job is to help them use it, both from the physical point of view, that's the speech pathologist in me. Oh, let it go and be yourself. And all the men around the table, like keeping quiet until somebody else speaks. Yeah, they do have to go out of their comfort level, but that's different for each person too. And that's why I like working one-on-one with people. As it's a good environment to practice and
38:39
When I'm working with anybody, man or woman, I often record them and let them hear it because they think they sound phony and they just sound fantastic. You record a voice note and you play it, then you're like, ooh, that sounds weird. I don't want that. I know. I have a client just before I spoke to you today and I said, you know, you've just got to slow down. You've got to slow down because
39:08
is so fast, no one's going to follow you. And she is a leader. I mean, she is a future leader, and she wants to sound like one. But anyway, when I asked her to speak at a normal pace, she said, I did it, Bonnie, but it was killing me. It was killing me. And I thought I was talking underwater and I couldn't stand it. Okay, but when she heard herself back, sounded so good. So.
39:36
It's a psychological thing that every person, you just have to get used to it. But about hearing yourself back and getting compliments from other people, that's the best. Hmm. That is so interesting. It meant so much to her to speak fast. It felt excruciating to slow down. Yeah, it often is. And I also try to avoid the word slow because it has a doesn't have the right meaning. I say just like speak at a normal pace.
40:04
That's a better word, I think. Mama pays much better for sure. Bonnie, is there something I didn't ask you today you were hoping to share with our audience? I think you asked me a lot of good questions, some that I didn't expect, which is great. I think everybody can learn to be a better speaker and communicator. For some people, it's a complete makeover, but for most people, it's just one or two changes that make a big difference in the impact.
40:33
you have on other people. So I guess my point about that is don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to try. Don't be afraid indeed. Words of wisdom from Bonnie Gross, the executive leadership coach, speech pathologist and public speaking coach who has a radio and television background. Thank you so much. And grandmother. Sorry. You do not look like a grandmother. Good.
41:03
Before you go, please tell us where we can find you online so that if we need your help and assistance, we can contact you. Thank you. Best place is my website, is speechscience.com. And on there is my phone number and there's a form to fill out for a free consultation. The best is to meet face to face.
41:29
on Zoom or Zoom. Sure, and to just see if there's a way that I can help each person and allow that person to tell me what they want to improve. And so that's the best. So speechscience.com. Yes, or email me. It's bonnie at speechscience.com and I'll answer.
41:53
Excellent stuff. I will put that in the show notes. Thank you so much for being on our show today. I've had a really great time chatting with you. Me too. Me too. I've enjoyed it and I hope I'll see you again sometime. For sure. And you can come back. People do return. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Bonnie. Thank you for joining the Speaking and Communicating podcast once again. If you have a guest that you think would be a great fit for the show, please email me and my contact details are on the show notes.
42:23
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