How Public Speaking Can Transform Your Practice

You're listening to podiatry marketing, conversations on building a successful podiatry practice with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDannald.

Welcome back to podiatry marketing. My name is Tyson Franklin, and with me today is my cohost, Jim McDannald. How are doing this morning, Jim?

Tyson, I'm really good. I'm really good. It's such plain, calm, collected intro. I You were waiting weren't you? I I was like, what's it gonna be this time?

But I appreciate I I like all your intros, so I'm not disappointed, but I did definitely was taking a little bit of a surprise there.

I was looking at your face. I'm thinking you I could just see the look in your face thinking, what am I going to say this morning? So I thought, you know what? I'm gonna say nothing. I'm just gonna introduce you professionally for a change, and I knew that it totally throw throw you, which you did.

Totally. I'm just totally thrown off now.

Okay. That's right. So what are we talking about today? What is on today's menu?

Yeah. So we're gonna talk about something probably every podiatrist and every high school student or college student, anyone that loves to get in front of a crowd. We're gonna talk about public speaking today and why why why why should you consider it? Like, what are some ways to go about thinking about a topic? You know, who should you talk to?

And and why is it an important thing to build a practice or just to gain expert you know, be seen as the expert in your local area or even internationally, for example.

I tell you, I used to pack my decks when it came to public speaking. I hated I managed to get through primary school, high school, and university without ever getting up doing a speech. I was just absolutely terrified. So I must've been the only person I was sports captain, and I didn't turn up for the presentation night because I knew we'd won things. It's just terrible.

Yeah. I was I was that person at podiatry school or even in when I was in practice just like going to conferences, sitting in the audience, and being very glad that I was not the person on stage. But you'll be surprised, though, once you find something that you really enjoy doing or, you know, you you definitely want to be known for, like, how that will sometimes change. Doesn't actually make it any easier or doesn't require any less practice, but at least you have something to kinda get you over that hump potentially.

So I think that's a big thing. It's finding a topic that you're comfortable to talk about. So at high school, primary school, university, they were pretty much forcing me to talk about something that I didn't wanna talk about. I felt there was other people in the room that were more qualified at talking about that subject. So I felt like a bit of a dill actually doing it.

But once and I think what happens is that created this fear of public speaking that I took way into adulthood, into my late twenties, early thirties, that I still was just petrified. And then all of a sudden, I just started doing it and realized that I don't know. I think, like you said, when you find something that you that you wanna talk about, it's a lot easier.

No. For sure. I think for me, it it was like not only find something that I felt knowledgeable about, maybe a little bit differently. Like you said, you know, someone who's been doing surgery for twenty or twenty five years, and then I'm gonna go and talk about a similar procedure on stage. There's a there's a certain amount of anxiety or impostor syndrome maybe to get up on stage Yeah.

Talk about something like that. But, you know, for me, it was when I, you know, kinda got into digital marketing. I saw actually a need for for my colleagues and fellow podiatrists to kind of get the edge on some of these, like, shady marketing agencies. You know, I felt like I was doing a service to that was really helping people. So, like, I almost felt like I was doing a disservice by not talking about it.

So when that whether that's, you know, like, you know, whatever the topic is, once you, like, once that switch is kinda flipped, like, you don't see the world or you don't see speaking in the same way. Is it still, like, am I, like, dying to get in front of, like you know you know, post COVID, it's gonna be interesting to be out actually talking at a a a in real, you know, live events and in front of real people because I've been staring at cameras

Yeah.

You know, talking on Zoom, which is it helps, but it's not the same thing as having that energy of a crowd or those live, you know, questions and answers sessions. But, yeah, I think it's it's once you you kind of like, you go down that rabbit hole or that that switch is flipped, you're like, okay, like, that's something I need to do now, not necessarily that's something I have to do.

I just think it opens so many doors. I I tell people now that if you don't like public speaking, it's it's unfortunate because it opens so many doors that you don't you don't even know need opening. So I used to think I could just hide, never have to do any public speaking. And I remember the first one I ever did, a doctor contacted me and said, oh, we need someone to do this sports medicine subject. Can you do it?

And for some reason, I said yes. I don't know why. But I'm so glad it did because it was the beginning of me getting over this fear. So I did this talk, and I took a forty five minute talk and turned it into four minutes. It was a very rushed rushed version of it.

I reckon I burped. I probably farted. I just it was it was terrible. I walked out of the room and I sat there and just go, oh my god. I was so I was so bad.

Anyway, the doctor came out, puts his hand on my shoulder, I thought, he's gonna tell me, Tyson, you weren't as bad as what you thought. Puts his hand on my shoulder, and he says, Tyson, that was the worst presentation I have ever seen in my life. If anyone ever asks you to do public speaking again, please, for everybody else's sake, say no. And he left. Well, if that's as bad as I could get, I can only improve.

So I just kept doing it and hated every minute of it until I figured out the secret was what you said right at the start is speak about what you love doing. Yeah. That's the secret.

As we love love doing it and definitely like, you know you're providing value to other people. Right? Like, I think it's some sometimes you get on stage you see people on stage and for better, for worse, like, they're kind of shilling like a product or they're shilling something that doesn't really feel like it's coming from the heart or from, like, a good place or will develop kind of a win win dynamic with with this with the talk. So I think that stuff is pretty transparent. But, yeah, like, it's just once you you know, you're helping people, you're speaking about what you love, like, then it then it doesn't feel as much like work.

And that know, the the nervousness or the stage fright or am I gonna, you know, totally screw this up? Those feelings, like, will still always kinda be there, but, like, you're willing to confront those feelings or, you know, get past them for that half an hour or forty five minute talk. So, yeah, I think like I said, I it's a thrill, and it's a rush to be up on stage too. There's definitely some

Oh, I love it.

An adrenaline rush you get from having that interaction with people, and I'm super excited to to kind of do some more in the future.

Alright. It's one of those things that I did talk in Liverpool A Couple Of Years back, 02/2019. A thousand people in the crowd. And I got up there, and I'm thinking, wish I had a warm up brown pants today. I was I was like, jeez.

That's a big crowd. So but once I got into it, once you go through the first sixty seconds and you start getting a role going on and I think the last live one I did last year yeah. June, I did one for a dental group. It was about 250 people. Same thing, though.

It's that it's an adrenaline rush. And somebody said to me once, if you're not nervous going up on stage, then it means you don't care. But I reckon the other tip is realizing outside of podiatry, any group that you're talking to about podiatry, you know the subject better than anybody else. So if you're talking to a group of independent retirees, believe me, you know more about podiatry than anybody else in that room. If you're talking to a group of physios, a group of doctors, you know, GP, you know, general practitioners, you know more about whatever it is you're about to talk about than them.

So never feel intimidated. And that's the part. You you know if you're a podiatrist, you know your stuff. So you can share it with with the public quite easily.

No. That's a great point. I definitely agree with that. Like, you you can kinda get past that impostor syndrome, especially if you're not in front of peers. It's when they're sometimes, you know, putting people in front of their peers, that that's probably the most I know.

Don't like doing that. I'd hate that. It just but when it comes to marketing and business, just I yeah. Just give me an invite and I'm there. I absolutely love

it. Perfect.

And I'm sure you're the same.

Yeah. Well, yeah. I definitely need a I'm pretty loose on stage. It's been a little while, but I definitely look forward to jumping back up.

You're a loose cannon, are you?

Not not as loose as you are up there, I'm sure. But in my own ways, it's take it takes me a little bit warmer to get a little bit longer to get warmed up. But when it comes to, I guess, you know, looking for a topic

If people wanna do public speaking, what what are some good topics or how should they approach that?

Yeah. Well, like you talked about. Right? Like, talk about what you know, talk about what you love, talk about what you can help. But some ways of drilling down a little bit further into that is, you know, what you know, if we're talking to a specific audience, like, what's that ideal patient you would be like, you know let's say, like, know, you wanna be the running sports medicine doctor or you wanna take care of soccer or football players.

You know, it it makes a lot of sense to talk on those type of topic topics, you know, like, really have some different sports medicine injury topics. You know? So whatever your wheelhouse is from an ideal patient perspective, that's something you can do. Obviously, as well, like, you know, if you are that, you know, hotshot foot and ankle surgeon who's doing, you know, trauma or maybe just love doing ingrown toenails and you have a new way of doing it, if it's something procedure related or you're doing something kind of cutting edge or new, that's definitely an area you could focus on as well. And then last but not least, you know, there's areas outside of clinical practice.

You know, for example, you and me, we like, you know, podiatry marketing, things like practice management. There's all kinds of topics that people like that aren't necessarily just the clinical side of the practice where there are opportunities to speak. It's a matter of just like we talked about in previous episodes of the show, what kind of patients do you want to treat? What are you good at treating, and what, you know, what is that thing you would want to see all day come into your practice? And that's a great kind of area to start off with the topic of, you know, speaking to different types of of folks, which we'll get into here in a little bit.

And I think it's important for people to realize too, if you're in front of two people, you're public speaking. So public speaking doesn't necessarily mean you have to jump up on a stage and be talking to a room full of people. If you're turning up at a doctor's surgery and there's three other doctors there and maybe a physio, is like you said, what do you like doing more of? So therefore, go to them and talk about that particular subject. Don't talk about all the other aspects of podiatry if that's of no interest to you because, one, you were not gonna feel comfortable talking about it.

But if there's something that really interests you, you're probably gonna be more passionate about that, and that will actually come through when you're talking.

No. That that's exactly right. I think that's a that's a huge component of, you know, what we're trying to do when we get up on stage is to, like, have those those topics that really connect with people. Right? We're not just kinda like like I said, we're not just shilling what we're doing.

It's like it's like how do we help move them forward and give them information that's gonna be beneficial to them, they'll get a lot of value from. So

So what what topic groups could should people be talking to?

Yeah. So I think, like, one you know, some different groups that people can be talking to is that, like I said, and you kinda develop that message, your topics, your message, what do you wanna get out there? And then, like you said, like, who are gonna connect that message to? And the way you talk about the topic is gonna really vary between the audience that you're in you're in front of. Right?

So for number one, like, you know, there's there's kind of that local aspect, those local opportunity to speak, in front of folks. So, you know, those are the first level is kind of that that patient level. Right? Maybe you're going to, like you said, like, a senior care facility or a seniors events, or maybe you're at a local running shoe store, or you're doing something where, you know, you're talking to very you know, you're kind of in front of patients, and you're talking about a very specific type of thing that you're kind of the expert in. So that might lead to new patient visits.

That might lead to word-of-mouth referrals. So there's a lot of different things that can happen when you're kind of in front of those those patients. The next step is kind of like let's say it's like related businesses. And I guess I've touched on it real quickly there already, but, like, maybe it's a local shoe store. Maybe it's, you know, like a an AFO or an orthotic, you know, like an like a custom or, you know, AFO or a maker that you know, someone you have a kind of a business relationship with, but maybe they wanna have something, you know, there's a foot drop night, and you can talk about how you treat foot drop or how you're working with that business to improve the lives of people.

So, you know, being kind of a value add to that business will maybe lead to more referrals. And just like I said, spreading your expertise in front of people that may not either know what you do or who you are, but just gaining some general awareness, in the local business community can be a big thing. The next step beyond that is kind of other health care providers. Right? So maybe it's physical therapists or physios or chiropractors or family medicine doctors or just a wide variety of other health care providers where, you know, maybe you're a part of a local hospital conference.

Maybe you're working work with someone at a a marathon medical tent, like a MD or a an orthopedic doctor. You know, he doesn't do feet, but he would like to have, you know, your expertise at a local event and partner with. So there's different ways to kind of, like, spread that network and then build a name for yourself amongst those other local health care providers. So then they're referring patients to you. You're referring patients to them.

It's a real way a great way to network with other local health care providers. And last but not least is having opportunities to speak with other podiatrists locally. Maybe that's your state association. You're kind of showing people within your region or within your state what you do, how you maybe do things a little bit different than them. Maybe you have some niche expertise that they would like to send patients to you if it's not too far away, if you don't live in a huge state.

So that's kind of that first level. It's kind of like, you know, these local talks, whether it be with patients, related businesses, other health care providers, or your podiatry colleagues.

What about on a a bigger scale if you wanted to go, oh, no. I wanna go bigger than that. What what other areas do you think people could actually talk in?

Yeah. So I mean, definitely, there that's kind of the local area. But if you wanna go more regional, national, or international and really be seen as, like, a high level expert, there's definitely ways to go about doing that. I know that there's some of my classmates now that are kind of on a speaking scene with with medical device manufacturers. You know, maybe they do, like, these anatomy labs about how to do a new type of surgical procedure or, you know, they're kind of a spokesperson for these different medical device companies.

Yeah.

Obviously, you wanna be associated with high quality products. You don't want to, like, just like I said, shill without you know, only for the money. You know, you wanna make sure that something does provide true patient value, but that's one way is sometimes if you do see value in a procedure, you know, like, there's a lot of kind of new ways of doing bunions or bunion surgeries or hardware associated with those. Maybe you really like one. You can reach out to those folks.

Say you've done 50 procedures with them, and maybe they they see value in adding you to their speaker roster. It's a way of, like, some earning some additional income, but also kind of, like, broadcasting your expertise amongst your colleagues is is one way of seeing it.

And I do think when you're starting out in public speaking, if you're not very comfortable with it, you start small. I mean, local. Could be an extra neighbor. But just start really small and gradually just build up over a period of time and pick really safe subjects to begin with, then start expanding upon the the topics that you're going to talk about. I think sometimes they people have this fear that they've gotta jump in front of a hundred people straight away, and I don't think you should do that.

You I couldn't. But also, there was there's a lot of free opportunities. And if you get good at it, then eventually, could be some paid opportunities. There was a guy that I was listening to on a podcast, and he said he did over 200 free talks before he ever got paid. He said that once he got paid, he got paid big bucks, which I which I thought was funny.

And I think the other tip I would give people is practice, practice, and practice some more. And when you think you've got it nailed, practice. Constantly be practicing what you're gonna say, the time you're gonna say things. And for every half hour talk you wanna do, have a twenty minute version, have a ten minute version. And they said, because sometimes you are planning on, oh, I'm gonna do a twenty minute talk.

And they go, oh, yes. You've got half an hour. And you're like, what the I thought I only had twenty minutes. I gotta talk for an extra ten? So and or other times, you're planning for a thirty minute talk, and you get this oh, just let you know, the other speaker's been running late.

Can you do it in twenty? And you've gotta be able to cut it back because if they're trying to save time and you can adapt to them really easily, you'll get invited back. If they tell you it's twenty minutes and you go forty five minutes, it's a quick way to get uninvited to future to future events as well.

That's a good point. I think, you know, I was when I was talking about local, was talking probably more of your locals, you know, your local state association, but

Yeah.

You know, especially in The US. Right? Like, there's there's 50 states. So, like, you you know, I think I I I was not like that guy. I did not do 200 talks before I did my first one.

I think I got paid on my my first talk, and then I just jumped around to a bunch of states to do some talks online back in 2020. But Yeah. But there's there's no right or wrong way about doing it. And there there's lots of opportunities out there for people that I think you know, like I said, like, if you went to podiatry school in The US, even can like, in Canada, you know, they're always looking for speakers. Like, you know, it's and, you know, if you have a good topic and, you know, you're you're relatively you know, you do the best job that you can, you know, I think that, you know, it just takes practice to kind of get sharpened up to a level that you feel comfortable, and then they're happy that you you spoke as well.

So I think that's a great opportunity there. Beyond the medical companies, I will say that, you know you know, as you kinda connect, like, obviously, you can connect with your podiatry colleagues. We can also connect with these, know, if there's a a sports medicine physio or a physical therapist that, you know, after you've done some other stuff with physical therapist, you think you like this person's work, you can reach out to them. It just kinda, like, you know, form kind of a professional's, you know, relationship with with other people kind of nationally or internationally. And as that kind of organic relationship where you're writing research papers or you're doing stuff with other people, like, all these kinds of opportunities will kind of open up.

So, you know, whether it's speaking at a national sports medicine conference or maybe it's like, you're talking about, like, diabetes. I know, like, David Armstrong is a big guy within podiatry in The US to talk about about diabetes, and he's kinda, like, speaking at all kinds of different conferences that aren't just like the APMA or Act Fast. So there are ways to get on different, like, speaking circuits based on what you're providing. And then also, like, there's also the different types of podiatry meetings, whether it's US based podiatry meetings, you know, going down to Australia, going to Canada, Europe. There's there's lots of opportunities internationally as well.

So it is sometimes to get those gigs, you do have to, like, kinda be a domain expert, or you have to offer something that's a little bit different. But, you know, with time, effort, and, like I said, kinda knowing what you wanna talk about and really nailing your message and, you know, providing, you know, great care or whatever topic or becoming an expert in whatever topic you wanna talk about, you'll kinda separate yourself from other people over time.

Yeah. And one thing I'll add to that too is if you wanna speak somewhere, sometimes you gotta put the effort in. You can't expect everyone to come to you. You've got to

Yep.

Go to these different organizations and say, hey, I wanna speak. I was spoke in British Columbia in in Power River of all places, and I was going there to visit some friends. So I thought, I'm gonna go there. Wouldn't be great if I could do a a speaking gig at the same time. So I wrote to their chamber of commerce, and I said, look.

I'm coming into town. I said, I've written a book, and I wanna do a marketing talk. Would you be interested? So they wrote back to me. I said, that'd be fantastic.

They said, don't have a lunch on that week that you're here, but we'll put one on. I went, oh, okay. That's that's good. So next thing, then my friend rings me up about two weeks later. I'll bet two weeks before I get there.

He sends me an email. Says, you're in the paper today. I said, do you mean? I said, he says, international speaker from Australia is gonna be at the chamber of commerce lunch talking about the six pillars of marketing. Oh, okay.

A week out, no. I'm in the paper again the following because I only had paper once a week. I was in the paper again about international speaker and author turning up in Power Rule. So I said, how many people are normally at your meetings? I said, oh, we usually get twelve, fifteen.

It's not not big. We're only a small little mill town. I rock up. 50 people have booked. The mayor of the town was there to meet me because I was this international speaker that had come in, And it was an unbelievable it was probably one of the most fun I've ever had doing a talk because there's a live group that having lunch at the same time.

And I actually took that recording, and I released it as a podcast episode on It's No Secret with Doctor T that was live in Power River. So going back to what I was originally saying was sometimes you've gotta make the first move, make contact with people, tell them the topic, and they may say no the first time, but just keep nurturing that relationship and keep putting the fillers out. Because the more work you put out there, then eventually the the work will come back.

No. A %. I think that's that's a great point. And honestly, that's how I got my first few speaking gigs. People didn't track me down.

Right? I there are certain places I wanted to go speak at, and, yeah, I was really kind of doing that legwork will go a long way.

Yeah. Have you ever had the mayor of the town meet you at one of your speeches to do a meet and greet? Otherwise, was gonna get to cut a ribbon or something.

I have not had that. I was I was excited to go to, I think was it Wichita, Kansas to go see some of my classmates who who actually practice in the state. But Yeah. You know, that was that was during my 2020 Zoom tour. So, like, I'm looking forward to maybe meeting a a mayor of a town one of these days.

I just thought it was what what I've really loved about public speaking, and this is what it goes back to when I said right at the beginning, you don't know what doors public speaking is going to open for you until you actually go through that first door. And like I said, I was terrified for the first thirty years of my life, and I look at all the opportunities I probably missed out on because of that fear of just not getting up there and doing it. But then for some reason, I realized if if I wanted to be successful in my podiatry clinic, and I had no plans on that, I was gonna be speaking in front of a thousand people down the track. You just gotta get over that fear and you gotta learn how to do it. And I just think it it's practice, practice, and more practice like I said before.

Yeah. It's practice and finding that topic that you actually will get you over the hump. Right? I think until you know what you wanna talk about and and what what is worthy of being practiced. Like, it it doesn't always click for people.

Sometimes there's gonna be people sitting in the audience forever, and that's okay. Yeah. But if once you do find that thing, like you said, practice, get better at it, and then do the legwork, and you'll be surprised. All the all the doors that open up when you really make an effort with public speaking.

Yeah. And just weird opportunities. I did a a great debate a couple of years ago where it was a it's a mock great debate. We get dressed up in costumes, and it's to raise money for charity, and you had to I had to do a a six minute monologue of me just getting up there. If someone had told me that when I was 30 that I would have done that, no way.

But it's one of those things you just gradually build up. And another tip, I think, for people that are gonna do public speaking is have visual prompts. Is have things that remind you of what because one of my fears was I wouldn't remember what to say and then I'd be standing there looking stupid. And a friend said to me, you know, one of easiest things to do is have freaking notes in your hand. Have palm cards to to keep you on track of what you're gonna do or have a sheet of paper and just say to them, I've just got this in front of me because I don't want you to miss out on anything.

And use these prompt I use PowerPoint presentations a lot purely to keep my brain in check of what I'm supposed to be talking about.

Those are all helpful things for sure.

So, Jim, if got anything else you you wanna add to this before we wrap up?

Like I said, like, I was a very reluctant speaker, but I'm very happy that I've kinda taken the plunge. So I definitely encourage anyone that has a slight inkling to find that topic, find a place to you know, to definitely practice, but then jump up on stage and see and and kinda give it a give it a turn and see what you think of it.

Yeah. Make sure you wear brown pants. That's my my final tip. Okay, Jim. I'll talk to you next week.

Sounds great, Tyson. Okay. Bye. Thanks for listening to Podiatry Marketing with Tyson Franklin and Jim Mcdonald. Subscribe and learn more at Podiatry Marketing.

That's the website address, podiatry.marketing.