If you follow this blog, you’ll know that I recently coached an entire cohort of TEDx speakers appearing at the inaugural TEDx Royal Roads U.

Normally, taking on that many speakers would be next to impossible. I did it with the help of SpeechDIY,  a virtual course Your Ultimate Speech is launching to the world this Fall.

And the result? It’s time for you to decide! The films are now finished, and ready for viewing. Here are just a few for you to enjoy.

Taylor Conroy – Reinventing Rock Bottom

In the midst of his most challenging failure, Taylor Conroy found three steps to turn ‘rock bottom’ into a place of growth and opportunity. He shares what he learned going bankrupt, losing his social-change company and learning what was truly important in life.

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Taylor had rehearsed this speech dozens of times. But when he took to the stage, he was overcome with emotion and actually had to stop. As much as these completely unscripted pauses made me sweat, he regained his composure and electrified the room. Practice makes perfect – and helps you in those moments when the unexpected takes over!

Nikki Lineham – Busting Math Myths

Nikki loves math. And she’s made it her life mission to reveal its beauty to the rest of us math-phobics. In this highly engaging talk, she pulls off the lesson with humour, fire and aplomb. Nikki is a teacher, a math coach, co-founder of Educating Now and a highly sought after presenter and professional development facilitator.  Through Educating Now, Nikki helps parents and teachers move away from solely teaching math procedurally (the way most of us were taught) to teaching for understanding.

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Nikki is truly an awesome presenter. And yes, she could’ve pulled off this talk without SpeechDIY. But she was also one of my hardest working SpeechDIY students, booking more personal coaching sessions than virtually any other speaker. She’s driven to get better, and it truly paid off.

Jeff Ward – Indigenous Innovation

Indigenous Peoples are the original inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs on the lands now known to settlers as Canada. They provided (and continue to provide) unique solutions and perspectives to problems we all face. As a proud Ojibwe, and Founder of Animikii, a digital agency empowering Indigenous-focused organizations to leverage technology for cultural, economic and social impact, Jeff wanted to reveal the hidden truths of Indigenous innovation. And he nailed it, with a mixture of self-effacing humour, spirituality, and raw emotion.

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Jeff was not an experienced speaker coming into this. He was nervous, and uncertain about how to bring his material together. What he did have was an incredible story, and a quiet determination to bring that story to life. Jeff worked, and worked, and worked more. He truly sweat bullets. And despite being nervous right up to the event, his hard work paid off. He brought in a beautiful show, with his authenticity and love for the audience showing through.

Next Time

I didn’t want to inundate you with great talks. So instead, I’m going to let you enjoy them over the course of a few posts.

Rest assured, there are plenty more great talks to come, along with some behind the scenes interviews and day-of-event interviews. Stay tuned.

By the way, if you’d like to know more about SpeechDIY and how to implement this methodology into your next event, grab a time in my calendar and let’s chat.

As a brand strategy expert, successful entrepreneur, founder of Your Ultimate Speech, and award-winning author, Marc Stoiber uses simplicity and creativity to help people discover what’s awesome about their business… then helps them tell the world. For more on creating an effective speech for your company, connect with Marc and Your Ultimate Speech on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and sign up to his monthly newsletter.