Unique speaking platform – A Dietitian’s Guide to Professional Speaking

Spotlight on Dietitian Speaker Denine Rogers

AC: Let’s start out by telling me a little bit about your current speaking focus and how speaking fits into the other work that you do?

DR: Right now, I’ve been hired to do speaking on different subjects, such as dealing with diversity and inclusion, which is good because it’s very much needed. But along with this, I’ve also been doing a little bit more of integrative functional medicine speaking engagements, which is more of my passion. I’ve been trying to combine both – showing the influence of those different cultures within the integrative functional medicine profession. Since my private practice is based on integrative functional medicine, I am trying to look at doing more of those type of speaking engagements, but along with giving a cultural awareness of why this profession is very important and the cultural aspects of it.

AC: Can you tell me a little bit more about the integrative functional medicine aspect?

DR: Yes, integrative functional medicine is sort of new. A lot of people think of it as CAM – complementary alternative medicine – but it’s different. It is evidence-based. We do take inspiration of allopathic medicine, which is the traditional medicine that a lot of us dietitians went to school for. We also focus on learning about the patient as a whole, not as individual parts, meaning if the person has a cold, a lot of times in allopathic medicine, we treat just the cold, but we don’t really treat what causes the cold. In integrative functional medicine, we ask how is the person’s lifestyle affecting the cold or how is the person’s spirituality affecting the cold, or how is the person’s physical health affecting the cold? So that’s the integrative part; it looks at the person as a whole. Then the functional part is dealing with food, how more of a natural approach can help in healing.

AC: That’s awesome. I’ve heard of integrative functional medicine, but not really in-depth. I’m glad that’s coming more to light because I think that could be super beneficial.

DR: Yes. We do have an Integrative Functional Dietitians practice group within the Academy Nutrition and Dietetics. So definitely go on their website because they have lots of information explaining more about the profession. They’re a really great group that I’ve enjoyed being with.

AC: Fabulous! How did you get started speaking and how has it evolved over time?

DR: I started speaking through volunteering at my hospital job many years ago, as part of what they called a health care team. I was the only dietitian there with social workers, physical therapists, doctors, and nurses as part of the team. I was able to speak with different business accounts within my hospital, talking about wellness in general and nutrition. And while I was doing these speaking engagements, I found out that I was really, really not that good at speaking.

When I did my first speech, I was not only scared, I was not prepared. I read off this piece of paper. Nobody was listening to me. I asked for any questions at the end and it was dead silence. Some people were just working on their cell phones and didn’t even lift their heads up. The worst part was the evaluations. People said it was boring and uninteresting and someone went further and said, Why did she bother to show up? So since that time, I have grown. I realized, OK, this was not a good speech.

On top of that, I was always scared. I was fearful. And I was like, “Oh, gosh, you know, sometimes I regret even signing up on doing this.” So, I really needed to learn more about speaking and try to find a way in or to a group that I could be a part of that can help me with that.

My boss and a couple of people at my job noticed I was struggling. One of them told me about the group called Toastmasters, and I didn’t even know that they had it at my job. They would convene and have meetings during lunch time, which was great, because that was really the best time for me to go there, bring my lunch and then learn about what skills that I can acquire and also learn about how to speak correctly and also to captivate an audience. So I went there and it opened up a lot of doors for me in learning about speaking and learning about how to create a speech. It also helped me with channeling my fears of speaking and learning the appropriate way to deliver a speech. I’m still learning and I’m not going to say that I’m a perfect speaker, but I have become much more confident in my delivery of speaking. I also became a lot more confident in my controlling my fears when I do speak. I’m not as fearful or having night sweats the night before anymore as I used to be.

AC: What a great opportunity that Toastmasters was right there at your workplace. And that’s great to be able to look back and see how far you’ve come!

DR: Yeah, it was it was rough at first, but I totally enjoyed the Toastmasters groups. They went through a lot of re-organization and they no longer could have the group anymore. That bummed me out, but I learned so much from it. I was able to complete the first level, too.

AC: Can you explain more about Toastmasters and what the first level is?

DR: I was able complete what they call the “company competency speaker.” That’s the first level. I found another Toastmasters group here where I live in Douglasville and I did theirs for a little bit until I had to work on the weekends. I had to start all over again, and I completed the competency speaker there, too. They have different levels of where you can go up. I haven’t had a chance to do more than level one, but I would like to go back and try to move myself up to more levels and learn more.

Toastmasters is worldwide. They have different groups and leagues and worldwide conferences. They’ve been around since the 1930s. It was started with executives of different corporations, but they realized there were a lot of people who weren’t executives who wanted to learn how to speak and be professional. I think they have over a million members.

You could find one in neighborhoods that you never even knew of. There’s one in Amish country and another one in really, really rural Africa. They call them clubs, and there are different clubs and different organizations within the clubs.

That’s how I was able to learn a lot. Now that we’re talking about it, I’m thinking about going back. I think they’re now doing virtual meetings because of Covid. I think it’s a great opportunity for everybody to do.

You learn a lot and you develop relationships. Not only that, your group listens to your speeches when you do them, and at the end they evaluate you. You really get that hands-on evaluation to learn, okay, what are you doing wrong? What can you perfect? What could you have done better? It’s really good because it allows you to see through the audience’s eyes. They automatically evaluate you right then and there.

Something that really helped me is when I learned about the three P’s; prepare, practice and present. The first thing I learned is I need to prepare my speech. It’s much more impactful that I know what I’m discussing. I didn’t want to be looking at my notes all the time. I wanted to make it more engaging and have more passion in my speech by practicing.

Another thing I noticed is that when people do different reflections of their voices, the audience can get people more engaged with the speech. Changing your voice makes the person realize, oh, okay, this must be a different part of the speech that they’re talking about. If I do a dry run of my presentation, having someone that is physically there is really helpful. They can evaluate my speech and suggest places to reflect my voice differently.

AC: What else keeps your attention when you’re in the audience? What factors did you evaluate highly?

DR: Well they have to be engaging storytellers that show passion about their work. Giving a story helps people of different backgrounds stay tuned in. And if you don’t show any passion, you don’t get the audience involved in your speech. If you don’t have passion in your speech, a lot of people just tune you out. Passionate speakers impact beyond the 60 minutes they’re speaking. People may use something from the speech in their lives, they may tell their friends and family, they may videotape a segment of your speech to show or post if it’s really influenced them.

AC: Thank you for sharing that. Ok now switching gears, tell me your thoughts about dietitians getting paid to speak. Was asking to be paid challenging for you?

DR: Yes, it was challenging. I was able to make that transition when I opened up my private practice while working. I still am working full time and I still have my private practice. Through my private practice, I was able to negotiate fees for my speaking experience on topics that I knew. When I was working just my full-time job, people didn’t see the value of paying me for speaking because they felt like I was doing it through my job. Now I’m in private practice people realize it’s more appropriate to expect to pay. When I did start asking for payment, my problem was to make sure I’m not asking for too low or high of an amount. Negotiating my first speaking engagement was challenging to not feel guilty for what I asked for. I don’t want to lowball because it hurts the other person who comes in behind you. You try to explain about your experience and everything, but they may not see the value of it. It’s important to do research. So many times I see many fellow dietitians request money to speak that’s a lot lower than our competitors, but then those who don’t have the experience get a higher amount just because they request a higher amount.

We sometimes feel that we don’t deserve a higher amount, but we have the education and experience and we should be paid top dollar. I have one friend who is a speaker and she told me that she was paid a thousand or more for speaking engagements and I was like, Wow, that’s a shock you can do that. And she said she found out that a lot of people who are just quote unquote nutritionists with a little three-month degree or certificate saying that they’re a specialist can get paid much more than I am. That’s why it’s so important for us to not settle for less when we get our foot in the door. I’m beginning to realize more and more that I should request top dollar because of my experience, because of my expertise in what I do. And all of us dietitians should because of the schooling and everything we have in our background. We should be expecting more. Our competitors don’t have our knowledge and they’re getting a thousand dollars or more for speaking for one hour or even less. We dietitians need to change our way of thinking when it comes to payment. I’m learning myself, too. Why settle for less? Ask for top dollar and then try to wiggle down to where you really want to be. Ask for the top one that you aspire and then go down if they want to go down, or not if you really feel that it’ll be best that you don’t go down.

AC: Do you have any advice for a dietitian who might be new to speaking and is feeling insecure about expecting to be paid?

DR: I would say to do their homework and research before accepting any type of pay for speaking. I think that having that homework and research and knowledge and background about how much you expect to be paid will help out a lot, because it allows you to negotiate a lot better. These corporations may not know what in the world we do and they may not know how much of a benefit that we can be, particularly speaking to their clients or speaking to their employees. It’s good to learn about the company itself. If you’re able to do research about that company and say, I see that your employees are having issues with certain health concerns, this is what I can discuss, and this is what I usually charge. With Google nowadays, you can research everything. You can really get an idea of who you’re going to be speaking for and you can also get an idea of how much revenue that they have, too.

AC: Interesting point. Thank you. Reflecting back on your speaking experiences, does anything stand out as an important learning experience?

DR: Yes! Once for an herbal medicine speech I decided to convey the way that herbs impact different people differently by getting everyone to sample some ground ginger. Most dietitians don’t know what an herbalist does, so I thought this is a great way to get the audience involved and give them a physical understanding instead of just talking about it. I had small containers for hot water and ginger and some friends to help pass them around. I expected about 50 people but 175 came. I had to get extra hot water from the hotel and my friends were constantly pouring the water and passing out ginger while I’m speaking. We had enough and everybody had a chance to be a part of the taste experience. But then I asked for people to share their thoughts some people felt the ginger was cooling to their body and some people felt that the ginger was hot to their body. There were so many questions! I ran over time. The whole experience was really stressful. I did not want anyone to have a bad reaction to the ginger, it was hard to manage all those people especially when I wasn’t expecting them… but I did receive a lot of favorable comments and no one sued me for their bad reaction to ginger. It worked out that time, but I wouldn’t do that again.

AC: Wow that sounds overwhelming! Any last advice to share with a newer dietitian speaker?

DR: It’s definitely a learning process. Constantly learning. I’m learning still to this day about different ways of speaking. I look at other speakers and see how they’re able to present their speeches and what they do. I feel like you’d never, ever say that I’ve learned everything. It’s just a constant learning curve. And you will constantly learn more and more about being a better speaker.

AC: Yes, we all keep learning and that makes it exciting. Thank you so much Denine!

To hire Denine for your next speaking engagement, visit her website at www.livinghealthy1.org

Email: [email protected]

Phone Number: 678-741-5338

Follow Denine on social media: Facebook @LivingHealthyMe1, Twitter @LivingHealthyMe, LinkedIn @DenineRogers, and Instagram @livinghealthyme1.

Posted in Presentation Skills, Speaker Spotlight, Uncategorized By Alexandria CaljeanPosted on October 7, 2021October 11, 2021Tagged A Dietitian's Guide to Professional Speaking, Audience Experience, Dietitian, dietitian speaker, Make Money Speaking, nutrition speaker, Personally Speaking, Presentation Skills, professional speaking, public speaking, Speaking Dilemmas, speaking fees, speaking for money, Unique speaking platformNo Comments

Spotlight on Dietitian Speaker Christine Rosenbloom

AC: Looking back, how did you get started speaking as a dietitian, and how has your speaking evolved through your career?

CR: It was in one of my very first jobs. I worked with a preventive cardiology group in a cardiac rehab program in Atlanta. This was back in the 1980s when there weren’t a lot of people doing preventive nutrition. We would do workshops twice a year for other health professionals and physicians in our area, and they became very popular. Those were my first opportunities to speak, and I found not only did I enjoy it, I learned a lot, too.

About that same time, I got into the Academy’s Spokesperson Program. They still have the program, but it’s not quite the same. At that time it was based on geographic area, and I was the spokesperson for the Atlanta area. In their media training, you learn how to deliver your key messages, how to get your points across in a television interview or other kinds of media. I think those skills helped me in my speaking because they translate well into other kinds of presentations.

When I was working at Georgia State University I spoke a lot in the area of sports nutrition. More recently, since I retired from the University, I made a shift into speaking about healthy aging. About three years ago I wrote a book called Food and Fitness After 50. It’s consumer focused and published by the Academy. I enjoy focusing on this area because it’s relevant to me and also to a very wide audience.

AC: That’s fantastic how you’ve made media training and speaking and writing all overlap with each other. What about charging? How has that fit in for you, and do you have any advice for other dietitians who find it challenging?

CR: I think it’s challenging for dietitians in general and particularly for women to ask to be paid and for what we’re worth. As I was coming up in the field, I started to submit proposals to speak at meetings. Whether it was to the ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) Health and Fitness Summit, or Dietary Practice Groups, or state media meetings, and even FNCE… A lot of those pay, but not a lot. But it was good exposure and it really helped to build my resume.

Now when I quote speaking fees, I do it based on the audience… If it’s going to be a keynote versus a breakout session or if it’s going to be a thousand people versus a room full of people… I think it really depends on what your audience is and what that benefit might be to you.

I still do some free presentations, mostly local in my community. But then if I’m doing them for, let’s say, a big corporate sponsor, I’ll ask for higher fee. I think it helps to have an idea of what you want. And one way to get started with that is to have a fee schedule and send it to the folks.

Another thing I always tell younger dietitians is ask them for their budget up front. Don’t be afraid to ask because everybody does it. And if they say they don’t have any budget, then you have to make a decision. Is it worth your while to do it? Like I said, if it’s for a big company or a corporate sponsor and they say they don’t have a budget, I usually say to myself, Well, then I don’t have a speech. Because I think a company that’s making a lot of money on it, they definitely need to pay. You also can phrase it as here’s what your “honorarium” is, that sounds better than “this is how much money I want.”

The thing you’ve got to avoid is when you’ve already done the talk and then you say, “OK, what are you going to pay me for that?” and you find out they weren’t going to pay you. That’s going to leave hard feelings all the way around and some awkwardness.

My best advice is to value your worth and at the same time to have some flexibility. You put in a lot of time to do the presentation and you put in a lot of time in your education. Value your experience. The flexibility comes in when you find other benefits that aren’t money.

Like I said, now I do a lot of talks in my local community and they’re free. But it benefits me because I sometimes can sell my book or I’ll ask them for other things that benefit me in the long run. Would they talk about it in their newsletter and put my website in there? There are things they can do to enhance what you do without necessarily getting paid. Those are the things you have to weigh in your mind. What’s the benefit? Especially if you have a book you’re promoting, ask them, Can I sell my book? You’ll find that if you bring books and you sell them after a talk, people are going to buy them, especially if you take that square with you and you can use credit cards.

When I do some of those free speaking sessions, I treat it as a focus group, and really pay attention to the audience questions. When I get a lot of good questions, there’s a lot of good information and insight I get about my target audience. I can also ask them questions. That free speech focus group can help me improve or come up with other presentations that are paid. It can help me with my blog. It can help me write articles. I’m always trying to think about ways that I can get some benefit from it, even if it’s not monetary.

AC: That’s a great idea to use the Q&A as a launch pad for other ideas. I’m actually working with Jessica on a book of just questions and answers from her presentations. Shifting gears, what do you like to see in a speaker when you’re in the audience? What qualities are memorable to you, or make you think, “This is a great speaker”?

CR: Several main things. One is enthusiasm. When you can tell a speaker enjoys what they’re doing and shows they enjoy what they’re doing.

Having a sense of humor. Sometimes it can be self-deprecating humor where you just tell something funny about yourself or a story about yourself.

That goes into the idea of storytelling. People love anecdotes. I don’t mean to use anecdotes as scientific evidence, but you can use anecdotes to enhance what you’re talking about.

A sense of purpose. One of the biggest challenges is I when you want to tell the audience everything you know, and you can’t. It gets back to what I said about media-type messaging. What are your key messages? What do you really want to get across? You have to edit that down to a realistic point.

And then last is some audience involvement, whether that’s a polling slide or some opportunity for the audience to get a little bit engaged with you. I think that can help a lot to keep them engaged with your presentation.

AC: I feel like listening to you now I can spot your media messaging training. You demonstrated it right there with your concise list of important qualities. Would you share one of your anecdotes with us? A story about a speaking experience that stands out in your memory as either amazingly great or amazingly terrible?

CR: Sure. One amazingly great memory is being invited to Zurich, Switzerland to speak to FIFA, which is like the NFL on steroids. It’s the international football association, but what we call soccer. I was talking about females and youth soccer because I did a lot of work with female soccer. That was really a highlight for me, getting to travel there and engage with a lot of researchers involved in sports science.

Then in terms of amazingly terrible, I was speaking at our local dietetic association meeting and I got the day wrong. So at 12:30 on a Wednesday, my department chair was calling me, saying, “Where are you? You know, we’re here at the conference room and waiting for your talk, you’re not here.” And I said, “Oh, it’s tomorrow.” “Nope. It’s today.” I had it on my calendar for the right day, but my brain somehow said Thursday. So that was pretty bad. I actually missed my presentation. We all do things like that.

AC: I can understand why that goes in the terrible column. Let’s focus on the great. Have you had other opportunities to speak outside the US?

CR: I have. I was invited to speak to the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland. I spoke to that group back in 2016. And I’ve done a few other international presentations. I did one in Budapest. It’s always fun to do presentations outside of your area and learn different things from the audience.

AC: Those sound like really interesting experiences. What about any really pivotal learning experiences for you as a speaker? Any moments where you realized something you wish you had known sooner?

CR: I think the first is less is more when it comes to content. I probably have ten times more information than I’m going to share or that I want to share. It doesn’t go to waste because I might use it for a blog post or I might use it for an article I’m writing. I try to figure out what’s the most important thing to get across that would be best in a presentation versus one of those other formats.

And then also less is more when it comes to your presentation itself. I think we all did “death by PowerPoint” when it first came out. It’s such a cool tool, but we just overdid it. Too many elements on a slide. I still see that today with researchers who have four graphs on a slide. And they’ll start out by saying, “I know you can’t read this,” and I always want to scream, “Then why are you showing it?”.

I’ve really pared down my presentations. Sometimes it’s just a picture or a couple of words, because if people are reading your slides, they’re not listening to you. I really try hard to pare it down now, whether it’s doing webinars, which we’ve been doing a lot of in the pandemic, or even a regular presentation.

It’s hard because you do want to put so much on, but I always try to tell myself, “Remember, you can also give handouts.” You can give a set of slides to the audience in a handout without needing to show all those elements on the screen. I think that’s one of the things that I really learned and I’m still learning and continuing to work on.

Another thing in terms of lessons is it’s OK to be nervous. I still get nervous when I do a presentation. I think that shows that you’re invested in it and you have some real interest in it. It’s OK to be nervous. I think public speaking is the number one fear that people have. But so many people in our field have so much to offer. I get frustrated when I go to FNCE and it’s the same speakers over and over again. I want to hear more young people get involved and share their experiences and their expertise.

Another thing that I’ve learned is it’s OK to over-prepare. It doesn’t hurt to over-prepare. I think that gives you a lot more confidence when you go into a presentation. The more you’ve investigated the deeper questions why something happens or why did the researchers find something, the more prepared you are when it comes time for the Q&A.

The other thing I’d say is that if you don’t know the answer to the question at the end, just say so. It’s fine to say, “I don’t know the answer to that question, but I’ll find out and I’ll get you an answer.” A lot of times if it’s a huge presentation, you’re not going to know all the participants, so I will say, “Before you leave, come up and give me your card and I’ll get back to you with that information.” I was a professor for 30 years and I always found that students who tried to fake it got themselves into a lot of trouble. It’s better to just to say you don’t know, but you’ll find out.

AC: That’s a worry I think a lot of speakers have, not being able to answer every question. It’s good to know that being honest is the way to go.

CR: It sure is. Recently I was attending a webinar and somebody said, “What is all of this hygiene that we’ve been practicing with hand sanitizer, washing down our countertops… What’s that going to do to the bacteria in our gut microbiome?” And I thought, good question, but we don’t know the answer to that. This is all so new. So it’s OK. Sometimes I will say that to an audience member. Something like, “That’s a really good question, but there’s just no research on that. So let’s keep an eye out for it.” That’s the best we can do.

AC: Thank you Chris for such great advice and for spending your time with us.

To hire Chris for your next speaking engagement visit her site at chrisrosenbloom.com

Follow Chris on social media: Facebook @ChristineRosenbloom, Twitter @chrisrosenbloom, Instagram @chrisrosenbloom, and LinkedIn @ChristineRosenbloom.

Posted in Presentation Skills, Speaker Spotlight, Uncategorized By Alexandria CaljeanPosted on October 4, 2021Tagged Dietitian, dietitian speaker, Make Money Speaking, nutrition speaker, Presentation Skills, professional speaking, public speaking, Speaking Dilemmas, sports dietitian, sports nutrition, Unique speaking platform, virtual presentationNo Comments

Spotlight on Dietitian Speaker Toni Toledo

AC: Let’s start with how you got started speaking and how speaking fits into your career now.

TT: This is a fun question to think about, because how often do you stop and say to yourself, “Where did this begin?” So, thank you.

I feel like I’ve been speaking in front of people forever. I think it all started in my early years as a dietitian. I was teaching groups, and then the groups got bigger, and then in grad school, it was presenting research and presenting at conferences and teaching in guest lectures and things like that.

Your question also makes me realize how things weave together that sometimes seem like disparate parts. My day-to-day job is direct service teaching classes, so I’m always in front of people speaking. As of the last five or so years, it’s become its own animal and morphed into different forms.

I have a couple of other ways I speak; one big chunk of my work is training dietitians with the CDR Adult Weight Management Program. That’s stepping in front of hundreds of people and speaking and training and a combination of podium-type stuff and one-on-one small group projects. Then lately because my fun passion project is my podcast, The Path Pod, I’ve been speaking at length in front of all kinds of people about podcasting.

So one part is very much in the field and driven by all the tenets of nutrition, behavior change and all those little things that light my fire as a dietitian. Then the other part of the time I flip the hat around and I’m talking about the logistics of podcasting, trying to inspire other dietitians to get their voices out there and begin podcasting. It’s an interesting combination.

The ball started rolling and with these bigger side projects that have now become their own entities, it leveled up time and time again. Now that I have the luxury of looking back, it’s like these little pieces started being put together as a younger career person, as a younger woman and dietitian. And now, I just spoke last week in front of probably five hundred and thirty people virtually. It’s been this creeping growth process that has changed not only who I’m in front of, which is one thing, but who I am as that person in front of all those people. My skills and confidence and all of that have slowly been growing on that journey to the quote unquote, larger audience.

AC: How did The Path Pod get started?

TT: So it was my 50^th birthday, some friends had flown in from out of town, one of them being my bestie, who’s a dietitian who lives in Columbus. We were lamenting that we just couldn’t get enough positive messages out there about health, we felt like you hear all the doom and gloom, and how hard it is to be healthy. We thought, Well, why not us? Why don’t we put our voices out there and be a conduit of all these great things that are going on that are positive things that people are doing for health. We could be the people that spotlight what’s out there.

It began as sort of this virtual little road trip to say, Hey, this information or resources are siloed in this state or in this country and other people don’t know about it. Let’s shine a light on it and make sure people know that these things exist so they themselves could be healthier, and maybe their families or their communities, like building a huge toolbox. It has grown over time into this little engine that could and just keeps growing and connecting and has a little life of its own now.

AC: That’s awesome! I think the podcast platforms been growing a lot over the past couple of years, so it’s a good time to be there.

TT: Oh, man, one hundred percent. It’s ironic because I had no intentions of podcasting. I mean, I love to listen to podcasts. I’m happy to have them in my ears and grow and learn from them, but I never had it on a bucket list. I was kind of reluctant to podcast because I don’t like my own voice, so why would other people want to hear it? And now, fast forward, yesterday we uploaded our seventy-ninth episode. It’s awesome, this complete joy in my career that never was on the radar!

AC: I can hear the excitement in your voice, it’s inspiring. Let’s switch gears now and talk about making money. Did you have a transition from speaking for free to asking to be paid? And was it challenging for you?

TT: Yes, it was, and I think that being in this field, we care, and we want to help and that always seems to show up first. Sometimes it’s just a wonderful, generous thing and sometimes it can be a hindrance because we maybe don’t see ourselves as business people or understand the value of what we have. I would just want to share and shout from the rooftops what I knew and how could this help other people?

I didn’t think about the money side of things, and what it took – and this is a little embarrassing – it took somebody offering to pay me first. Then I said to myself, Wait a second. I should be expecting this. I mean, not in a demanding way, but this has a value, and I’m worth it. After that passive form of payment, when someone offered me a stipend or an honorarium, the light bulb went off and I realized getting paid is rational and reasonable. So between that and then working with the CDR weight management team, my brain started to shift to think, We’re getting paid and paid fairly and we are giving a great product. It was at times a slightly uncomfortable component, but that’s the muscle I’m building and I think I’m getting there.

AC: I can imagine that change is a little scary at first. Do you have any advice for a dietitian who’s feeling insecure about expecting to be paid to speak and just starting out?

TT: Yeah, I think at the end of the day, a little soul searching is always a good idea.

For example, I think about what we put into this degree and the rigor of becoming a dietitian. And I think sometimes we forget our worth and we forget that we are experts. I think we tend to have a little imposter syndrome sometimes and think, Oh, I’m not sure I’m worthy.

We have to remember that we have this amazing, sound foundation of skills and knowledge, and that it can be tricky, but to tolerate that uncomfortable feeling initially and have the conversation. Knowing sometimes someone’s going to say, Yeah, I wish I could pay you, but I can’t. And maybe look to the other benefits that you would get. Having that sometimes uncomfortable conversation where you show up to the table and you ask the question and you see what the funds are and what the budget is and get familiar with the terminology so that those conversations become more natural and viable. Being able to tolerate the discomfort of initially going into that payment world.

Also, I have to say, Jessica’s book [A Dietitian’s Guide to Professional Speaking] is a great resource to help you think through value and payment and the vast spectrum of what benefits are there to speaking, whether it’s monetary or otherwise, and get to that point where you’re saying, I would like to be paid X amount of money for this service.

AC: Great points. I’m glad you mentioned imposter syndrome as well, because that’s something that I hear about often, especially within this field, which can affect asking to be paid for speaking as well.

TT: I feel like imposter syndrome during the pandemic has become something we’re more comfortable talking about. I think being isolated, has exacerbated the issues around imposter syndrome. We need to step back and say, hold on a minute, why are these feelings here? What can I do about them? And then those practical tools for contending with imposter syndrome and thinking about the community of nutrition professionals and how we can help each other overcome it by providing perspective and cheering each other on. Those things can make a gigantic difference for someone at one point and then they may turn around and help you someday.

AC: I love the idea of supporting each other as a community. That’s really what DietitianSpeakers.com is all about, so thank you for being part of that movement to cheer each other on. Now tell us what qualities you admire in an excellent speaker when you’re in the audience.

TT: OK, so sitting there, the thing I love is when I’m first drawn in… I’m a huge story junkie, so give me some story. Whether it’s a question at the beginning or some sort of hook to bring us into the same space, I love it when someone is just real and shows their true colors and they disarm you, where you feel part of it and comfortable.

Confidence plays a role, when the person standing up there feels good about what they’re talking about and owns it… not in a snooty, “I’m the best” way, but an “I’m safe in my skin and here’s what I must share.” Passion is a big win for me in a speaker. Sense of humor is huge, too, to add in some levity to this collective experience we’re having together. Those are biggies for me, especially passion, involvement and a clear message. All those things are high on my list.

AC: Transformative qualities for a speaker to bring to the audience. Yes. Have you ever been involved in a presentation as a speaker where it all came together like that?

TT: Oh, wow. Yeah, I just had a really incredible experience with three other podcast women dietitians that I have a lot of respect for. I mean, women that I’ve looked to for a long time, who I see as sort of the OG of podcasting, and I was invited to speak as part of a panel with them. Here we were scattered across the world… one was in Australia and the rest of us were peppered across the U.S. The planning process for it was intense, trying to organize all this information, material and structure. It was so collaborative and there were no egos involved at all. Everyone pulled together. I called it the dream team because it was just pure collaboration and unity. We spoke virtually, of course, again, from all of our homes across the world, but I felt like I was in the room with them. I felt like we symbolically had our arms locked. It was just this incredible connection. Everyone showed up and appreciated and respected each other, and the feedback we got from the virtual audience was so reinforcing and it just made me realize that anything’s possible even in this kooky virtual world. We can do something like this that is impactful and powerful and collaborative. And, you know, it’s something that two years ago would never have existed.

AC: Although it has been as hard as it has been, it seems there have been some silver linings from this past year for the virtual speaking community. What about glitches? People love to read about when things go wrong and how you get through it as a speaker.

TT: So I’ll share a little kooky story that could have been a complete disaster and yet served as an interesting pivot point in my life as a speaker. It was during one of the adult weight management certificate training sessions. We had a huge group of people, maybe two hundred and fifty people, and a few of us were taking turns speaking on the panel when suddenly there was a fire alarm and everyone had to evacuate. No one really knew what was going on and you could imagine it was chaos and a bit of mayhem and there were some fears and whatnot, but it was incredible that everyone kept their cool. For the most part, we all got shunted outside to safety.

The cool part is that during that 20 minutes or so where we were all displaced, it went from a room of two hundred plus attendees and trainers into a very human moment where everyone sort of melded together and we all chatted and touched base. I remember standing outside thinking I was nervous about my time to talk coming up, and I had my little butterflies, and I remember thinking, this is humanity!

It really shifted my perspective from feeling like I needed to do it all perfectly and button up everything, to wait a minute, we just had a human moment together. At the end of the day, that’s who we are, humans. It gave me this interesting shift in my brain, which was very valuable. At the end of the day, I’m looking out at people who are looking back at me as a person, and that connection forged and it’s helped me in other speaking engagements when I hearken back to that moment.

AC: Amazing. Can you elaborate on how reflecting on that moment helps you now?

TT: Sure. I use it as something I keep on a shelf in my brain, and I try to access that memory when I do get nervous and start to feel a little wound up, almost like a little coaching moment for myself. It’s a tool now. I think I will forever have my little jitters and whatnot but this takes the edge off.

AC: Any other personal growth or speaker growth lessons you wish you had known sooner?

TT: Yes. If I could go back in a time machine and talk to Toni at 20, I would tell her, Toss your hat in the ring sooner! Don’t wait to be fully formed, so to speak. Allow yourself to get in the ring and work with people and have these opportunities that do make you a little nervous, those out-of-your-comfort-zone moments. Collaborate with people and partner with people and volunteer more and all of those things that give you these opportunities to speak.

What I’ve learned overall is that only I have my take on this material and this field, and what I bring to the table is unique. So ultimately, you have to be yourself and also be ready to absorb and learn and adapt and challenge yourself early on. I think I waited for the sign to go off that I was ready… like a little bell that never rang. I realize now I could have had even more of these awesome experiences had I allowed myself to go out there sooner.

AC: Wow, thank you for sharing that. Anything else you’d like to add?

TT: Just that this has been so fun to step back and think about this area of my life and how it has been an evolution. It gets me excited about where I’m heading. It’s such a learning experience to be a speaker, and it’s a privilege. I’ll keep counting my blessings and keep on going because it’s all part of my lifelong journey of learning and growing and actualizing. Sometimes I forget that journey has an impact on people around me – aside from information I’m sharing, but also the act of standing there in front and being that speaker may encourage someone else to say, I can do that, too.

AC: Thank you Toni for sharing that. I’m glad this helped you look back and say, hey, this is how far I’ve come. And I can assure you that it definitely will help someone reading this with their confidence, too.

Listen to Toni’s podcast at thepathpod.com

Follow Toni on social media: LinkedIn @ToniToledo and Instagram @thepathpod.

Posted in Dietitian Speaker, Presentation Skills, Pro Tips, Speaker Spotlight, Uncategorized By Alexandria CaljeanPosted on October 1, 2021October 3, 2021Tagged A Dietitian's Guide to Professional Speaking, dietitian speaker, Make Money Speaking, nutrition speaker, Presentation Skills, Speaking Dilemmas, speaking fees, speaking for money, Talks, Unique speaking platform, virtual presentationNo Comments

Spotlight on Dietitian Speaker Yaffi Lvova

Yaffi Lvova’s mission is creating more joy, connection and tolerance – with both food and other people. Read on for her take on all the feelings of the past 18 months, how she feels about asking for $$, and the ups and downs of her speaking experience.

Dietitian Speaker Yaffi Lvova leans on her kitchen counter wearing a long-sleeved orange top and a pretty head covering. She's smiling at her audience and ready to teach cooking.

AC: Tell us about your evolution as a dietitian speaker. How did you get started presenting?

YL: I started speaking first in elementary school, in 5^th grade, and it really helped shape me even at that young age as a speaker – I got interested in how to communicate topics in a way that resonates with people.

As a dietitian, I started out speaking mainly on pediatric and family nutrition around your basic concepts like selective eating and focusing on how families can increase joy at the table. Scientific facts don’t necessarily resonate with the public unless they’re delivered in a way that’s digestible, pun totally intended. I like to take that science and shift it into vernacular speech, into easy words that the public can not only understand but will enjoy understanding. That’s the way to make it stick the most and to have the greatest effect. And I really appreciate that angle.

Scientific facts don’t necessarily resonate with the public unless they’re delivered in a way that’s digestible, pun totally intended.

I’ve written a number of books regarding food introduction for babies, as well as ways to make food more fun at the table. And that’s why I support that with my speaking, and I support my speaking with my writing, and they just go hand in hand. Prior to the pandemic, one big part of my business was teaching a toddler cooking class called Toddler Test Kitchen, and that’s an in-person class.

AC: I’ve never heard of a toddler cooking class! That’s really, really cool. I think that’s a great way to get kids introduced to cooking.

YL: Yeah, we have a lot of fun with it. The class is for kids ages two to six and it’s very, very focused, unlike a lot of other cooking classes for the same age range which focus more on cakes and cupcakes. I mean, those recipes are much less expensive to make, and the mess can be a little bit easier to control because you have these prepackaged cake mixes, and you don’t have a million different ingredients. But I like to take it the other way – we do spaghetti squash as well as baking cookies and we have a lot of fun with it.

I shifted to online when the pandemic hit. I didn’t want to risk being a location where people got each other sick. So that class has been shut down for just over a year. I did try to take it into an online space but trying to parent from home and cook and manage all the technological complexities that came along with everyone shifting to online space just was too much. I shifted a lot more to public speaking and writing where I wasn’t doing quite as much stuff all at the same time.

My focus has been shifting with world events. As the world situation has shifted, I brought a lot more social justice angles into my repertoire. I have a webinar called Supporting Your Religious Client, which I did with me representing the Jewish side and Dua Aldasouqi representing the Muslim side. We compared and contrasted kosher and halal and gave dietitians tools to help support their religious clients when they themselves might not be coming from the same perspective. To help give them that additional compassion that will increase the quality of what they’re giving their patients or clients.

I’ve also been doing “Ask a Jew,” where I just try to answer questions people might have. This has been pretty successful. I think people are really looking for quality information as opposed to short snippets that they might find on social media.

This has been a whole lot of fun for me during COVID with that aspect being able to have much more opportunities to speak with the public. It’s been really great. That’s been a great silver lining for this time period.

People are really looking for quality information as opposed to short snippets they find on social media.

AC: That’s great that you were able to shift gears like that. Did you ever have to shift from speaking for free to asking to be paid? And do you have any advice for someone who’s nervous about it?

YL: That’s a really difficult question, because I get a lot of feelings when someone contacts me to speak. First, I feel honored that they thought of me, and because of that, my gut instinct is to do everything for free. Then pair that with imposter syndrome, and I feel like I shouldn’t be charging people. Then maybe it’s a nonprofit so they don’t have a lot of money coming in… all these things make it difficult to set my price. I just had to fake it till I made it. I had to rely on the advice of people who have been doing public speaking longer than I have as far as calculating what my price point should be and sending it out there. And even now when companies contact me or organizations contact me to speak, I am so much more nervous sending that quote than I am getting up on stage or turning on the zoom. That moment is probably the most nerve-wracking that I’ve experienced in speaking.

I find it really difficult – to send someone a bill saying, I want you to give me twelve hundred dollars for one hour of my time – because it just seems so unbelievably egotistical. What I have to remember as a dietitian, a speaker and in general is that people are not paying us for the hour that I’m on stage. They’re paying for that, but they’re also paying for all the experience, for the internship, for the schooling, for any life experience that aided my knowledge of subject matter and my ability to communicate with their audience in an effective and entertaining way. That’s what they’re paying for. They’re not paying for the one hour.

If I think of it as that much money for one hour, it feels really awful. I mean, just as awful as it feels good when they say yes. But to get to that point, you really have to value yourself and value your own knowledge and value your ability to get your knowledge from inside your head and from the textbooks out to the audience and for use in a practical way in a short amount of time. It’s a lot to ask, but we can get there with practice. I think it’s fake it till you make it and then practice.

AC: Thank you for being so authentic about that. Do you have any advice for a dietitian who’s still in the stage of considering speaking for the first time?

YL: I think it’s great to do some small group events starting out, but it depends – some people would be more comfortable with people they know, and other people would be more comfortable with strangers. Starting out, I would say first consider that and then try to create an event for yourself that has a comfortable audience in it, whether that means strangers or whether that means familiar faces. That’s a good place to start and starting online is also great because we have that that disconnect from the audience. At this point in my career, I don’t like that disconnect. Perhaps for someone starting out, the fact that they’re sitting at their computer with no one directly looking at them could feel more safe and could be a vehicle to increase their confidence. That’s something that they can use until they’re more comfortable, until the world opens up a little bit more and there are more in-person opportunities.

AC: Yeah, I think that’s a great point, just getting your feet wet at first. What would you say makes an excellent speaker in your point of view as an audience member?

YL: An excellent speaker is engaging. The audience does not have to try to pay attention. The audience member doesn’t find themselves checking their phone every five minutes or five seconds. The speaker can get difficult, complex information to their audience in a way that the audience can understand it and put it into practice right away and feel confident with it. Sometimes the audience member is going to have a question that comes up when they try to put this information into practice. The idea is for the audience member to feel engaged throughout the presentation and leave feeling more confident than when they came in. Maybe they’re going to enact this practical information right away, or maybe they’re going to let it marinate for a little bit first. But they leave feeling like they have a little bit more confidence with that subject matter and they know where they’re going to go with it.

AC: So dialing it down from the scientific to what you actually need to know.

YL: That’s exactly it, and I like how you said dialing it down rather than dumbing it down, because if we see our audience as a dumb that doesn’t help us with our speaking skills either. It’s the idea that they’re not at a lower level, but rather they have different interests. We as dietitians are interested in nutrition and so we know big biochemical words and can communicate with each other on that level. But when we’re speaking to an audience, particularly a public audience, they have lots of different varying interests. Their intellect is in different places. And that’s why we need to shift our language to be more open and to be more accessible so that people who are scientists and people who own a knitting shop, you know, whatever interests our audience, they can tune into what we’re saying and understand it. That’s so important because we can have the best knowledge in the world but if we can’t communicate it in a way that our audience will understand and appreciate, it doesn’t matter how much knowledge we have, we’re not getting it across effectively.

If we can’t communicate in a way our audience will understand and appreciate, it doesn’t matter how much knowledge we have.

AC: Exactly, that’s a great point to make. Anything that you’ve had to learn the hard way that you wish you had known earlier?

YL: When I was first speaking, I spoke for a group of familiar people, and this is why I say that it’s important for the person who is a beginner speaker to understand what’s comfortable for them. I had a friend in the audience who is actually a good friend who grilled me and it was just a circular argument, and I did not know how to get out of it, and it was in front of an audience and we were just going in circles and it probably lasted 45 minutes. I swear I could still hear the other audience members rolling their eyes, you know. It was terrible and I didn’t expect it because it was from a friend. I thought this would be more of a supportive environment and it wasn’t. It was really trial by fire and left me feeling very inadequate and vulnerable and frankly, quite stupid. After that, I signed up for some speaking lessons and learned how to get out of those situations.

AC: That sounds painful. Let’s switch to the good moments. What are the positive moments that stand out in your mind and keep you wanting to do this despite the tough parts?

YL: Well in that speaking class I mentioned, we ended the class with everyone giving their own talk that they had developed over the course of the class and certain members of the public were invited to it, including a guy who was very involved in National Speakers of America. I gave my talk and at the end of the class, he came up to me and just said, “You are money.”

That felt amazing, just to have a validation from someone who is an expert in this field tell me that my speaking skills were great, that felt really, really good. When I give a talk and I get calls or texts or emails from people in the audience afterward expressing their appreciation or what they liked about the talk, that feels really good. It goes so far to boost my confidence as a speaker.

When I’m with an audience that’s particularly engaged, asking questions and having conversations back and forth, that feels amazing as well, because I feel like I’m really connecting with people. That’s what I want to do. I want to connect with people in a way that helps them increase their food enjoyment and pass that onto their kids. This is a multigenerational concept. It’s a multigenerational goal. And just to be part of that food enjoyment in this generation and for generations to come is it’s such a happy goal for me. I’m so happy to be living that reality.

I just feel like I’m going to get better and better with more of those positive interactions. I would start every morning with a talk. I would speak at 7:00 a.m. every morning instead of having a cup of coffee and I will be adequately wired the rest of the day just off of the joy of that.

It happens at my toddler test kitchen classes, where at the end of the class, a parent will always come up to me and say, my child would never have tried a carrot. Well, now they’re eating carrots. And my child never tried this before and now they’re trying it. Or the best, I brought my child to your class because we’re weaning her off of tube feeding and trying to introduce her to her appetite and this went really well and I’m glad that we came. When that mother told me that I just felt so honored to be a part of that child’s food journey and food enjoyment journey. That was really wonderful.

AC: That’s awesome. Those are really cool experiences to have. Hopefully you can get back to cooking in the kitchen soon with the kids!

YL: I hope so. I hope that things are calming down. I have a great venue, but I live in Arizona and the venue’s outside. In the summer we get cooked in Arizona rather than cooking. I’ll start again in the fall and I’m optimistic that it will be safe enough to do so.

AC: Would you say you have any final words of advice for aspiring dietitian speakers?

YL: If you love it, do it. Make sure that you respect yourself along the way and keep your boundaries clear, but if you love it, do it. The audience will know that you love it and they will appreciate you and love you for it.

AC: Passion definitely goes a very long way in terms of presence on stage. When someone is speaking with passion, you can feel it.

YL: Especially when you’re passionate about food. It’s everything. Food is culture. It’s connection. Food is joy. When we can find joy in food and we can find connection in food, especially after 2020, it’s everything. I’m just happy to be along for the ride.

To hire Yaffi for your next speaking engagement visit her website babybloomnutrition.com.

Follow Yaffi on social media: Facebook @babybloomnutrition, Twitter @babybloomnutrit, Instagram @toddler.testkitchen, Pinterest @Yaffi, Youtube @NapTimeNutritionByBabyBloomNutrition, and LinkedIn @YaffiLvova.

Posted in Dietitian Speaker, Speaker Spotlight By Alexandria CaljeanPosted on July 29, 2021August 2, 2021Tagged All Posts, Audience Experience, cooking, cooking class, Dietitian, dietitian speaker, Make Money Speaking, Personally Speaking, Presentation, Presentation Skills, professional speaking, public speaking, speaking fees, speaking for money, toddler cooking, Unique speaking platform, virtual presentationNo Comments

Spotlight on Dietitian Speaker Dalia Kinsey

Even if you’ve only been a dietitian for two minutes, Dietitian Speaker Dalia Kinsey wants you to know your worth. Read on as she shares how she learned to normalize asking to be paid – even when it’s hard – and how focusing on transformation is the key to success.

Dietitian Speaker Dalia Kinsey is ready to present, in a green shirt with black jacket, glasses, and a big smile.

AC: Tell us about your evolution as a speaker and how it blends with your career as a dietitian.

DK: I feel like speaking is something that constantly came up for me as a kid. Whether I was volunteering, or in different settings including religious settings, cultural settings, public speaking was a norm or a skill everyone was expected to build.

When I first entered public health, I worked for the Department of Public Health. That was where I first started working after I completed my degree. Because I wasn’t afraid of public speaking, I was always being asked to do it whenever another organization would reach out to the Department. That could be a school system. It could be a nonprofit that served families. That first job was awesome.

Right now, the focus of my public speaking is on helping providers create more inclusive practices. My overall mission is essentially to eliminate health disparities for LGBTIQA+ BIPOC people. My work focuses on the individual consumer and making wellness more intuitive for them. But then also I center the providers when it comes to creating more welcoming environments.

AC: Did you ever have to make the transition from speaking for free to asking to be paid? And was it challenging for you?

DK: I spoke without charging a speaking fee for years, not really realizing the value and that this could be a stand-alone service, because it was something that was intuitive to me, and I kept being asked to do it in the context of another job.

When I started a class, a professional speaking class with speaker and communications coach Dawn J. Fraser, that was the shift. I was working with someone who brought in professional agents who could give all of the students an idea of what the market norm is for certain services.

That was a game changer for me, because in dietetics in general, the business side is super weak, maybe not in all programs, but it definitely was in mine. I know in general that is the consensus. Dietitians are kind of primed to undervalue themselves and if we get this information from the field itself, sometimes we’re still going to be way under-pricing.

So actually working with a coach that specifically works with professional speakers from business was really helpful, rather than just working with someone who focuses on health care or health promotion. That was the game changer for me and I would still say, even though I feel clear on what industry averages are in a lot of areas, it still feels uncomfortable sometimes because I just haven’t had enough experience putting a price on what I do.

I think this is a big issue for dietitians and also for anybody assigned female at birth and socialized to be. It’s very uncomfortable to assert that you need to be compensated for doing something, especially if it’s part of a helping profession. The assumption is we just want to work for free or keep getting that 70 cents on the dollar. It has been a challenge from that perspective of just getting out of my own way.

Once someone clearly said, “This is normal, you’re not asking for anything out of the ordinary,” it was helpful, but it’s been hard getting used to the idea of being comfortable with the person saying, “No, I don’t want to pay that, I’m going to find someone who wants to come volunteer.” But I’m getting there.

AC: I think we have a lot of readers who are still overcoming those barriers as well, feeling like they shouldn’t be asking for money for whatever reasons. Do you have any advice for a dietitian who may be new and is feeling insecure about the whole idea of charging?

DK: It might be helpful to remember that it isn’t even just about you. So it feels awkward, like, “Oh, who am I to ask for this amount of money? I’m too inexperienced.” Remember that you’re not just doing it for you, you’re doing it for every other dietitian who is also going to be asked to accept unacceptable wages. It moves the entire field forward when people start to understand dietitians don’t work for free.

It moves the entire field forward when people start to understand dietitians don’t work for free.

Dietitians are experienced in really unique ways because it’s a field where your on-the-job experience creates your expertise and the way in which we continue to learn with our professional development portfolio. The person who wants to work with you might think they could find an equivalent for free, but there’s literally no such thing. In particular, the way we have to intentionally look at our professional development and say, Where do I specialize? – that is unique to us. We really need to be compensated for it, and not just for ourselves, for everyone else in the field.

AC: That’s something we don’t hear about much, that because dietitians have so much specialization, two people with the RD credentials could be completely different in their knowledge base. Thank you for that point. Switching gears, tell us what makes an excellent speaker from your point of view as an audience member?

DK: When someone has created their presentation thinking about what the audience will walk away with. What is the audience going to get out of it? Because I’ve been to talks where I’ve seen the same speaker in different settings where one presentation was so powerful and then I saw them again and at first it was hard to pinpoint why it was so boring, but it was because it didn’t have anything to do with me.

While it sounds so self-serving, that’s how everybody is. That’s how adult learners are. If you don’t tell them why they should care, I promise you they don’t care. If you can’t verbalize it, then you haven’t communicated it. Maybe somebody will still resonate with you because they just love your personality, love you as a person, but for everybody to get something out of it, you had to know as you were writing your speech what the transformation was that people were going to experience after they listened to it.

Also authenticity is important. I saw a presentation at a national conference for school nutrition that was really not good because it was not authentic to the presenter. Maybe someone else had helped them plan the presentation because it seemed like it didn’t feel natural to them. There was a point where they stood up and they sang and they danced. They are not a singer. They are not a dancer. They looked like they were uncomfortable. It really felt like someone else told them this will be engaging and the presentation was not their own. It might have worked great for someone else but wasn’t working for them.

And finally, engagement and storytelling. I went to a virtual in the early days of the pandemic. It was for a professional association here in the state of Georgia for school nutrition that had to cancel their face-to-face conference. This speaker was a master of using the chat and asking people to share their personal response to what they were saying.

They started out with their personal story and then it went straight to How does that relate to your life? They found a way to tie it into professional development and then closed with How does this relate to your whole life? So it had multiple levels of personal application, it was also really strong from a storytelling perspective, and most people seemed to be really moved by it. Because of the story element, everyone I know that was there still remembers that presentation, even though it’s been a year.

I went to a presentation last week, I couldn’t tell you what it was about. There was no story. There was no hook and it’s just hard to retain when there’s no story.

I went to a presentation last week, I couldn’t tell you what it was about. There was no story.

AC: All of these are such good components. You’ve obviously learned a lot from observing others. Any other important lessons you can share with our readers?

DK: I really think the most helpful thing that came out of my professional speaker training was starting with the transformation and making sure every element of my presentation is a necessary part of that transformation. Also understanding that your client, when you’re hired, is the meeting organizer or the person who hired you, not really the audience. So, is the person who hired you really interested in that transformation? That’s probably what you advertise.

Especially with audience participation in real life, sometimes I would be derailed by things that were good questions or were related to something I’m also very interested in but weren’t going to help me get to the transformation. I lost too much time serving the needs of one person in the audience instead of staying on focus with the whole purpose of the presentation. You can’t let a good question derail you and that’s been one of my biggest lessons.

AC: So do you focus less on the questions that are being asked in the audience or do you still tune into those If they are important?

DK: I tune into them if they’re important and part of the overall focus. You know, sometimes when people get access to a dietitian, they just have a bunch of questions. They just maybe want free time with a dietitian, they’re excited about an opportunity to ask questions about things they’ve been seeing maybe in the media lately or something about a fad diet… If it happens to be something you’re also interested in, it’s really easy to say, Oh, I actually want you to know the truth about that, so let’s go down the rabbit hole… But if it’s not related to my mission of the day, I will save it for later and say I’m available for questions afterwards. And if it was just turning into a full-blown consultation, if that’s what they’re trying to do, I would just let them know how they could work with me one-on-one.

It feels a little awkward because in most situations, the person in front of you is the person you serve, but in this case, that person is not the one who hired you. That person might not even be in your line of sight, so just really remembering who hired you and who’s objectives are the most crucial.

AC: Any other words of advice for new dietitian speakers out there?

DK: Really just that you’re probably more ready than you think you are. If you have completed your training to become a dietitian, you shouldn’t be afraid. I don’t care if you’ve been a dietitian for two days. There’s plenty of training to be charging someone for, and there are other people charging with a whole lot less training. You have to start somewhere and you’re ready.

AC: I could not agree more with that. Thank you, Dalia for sharing your advice and your time.

To hire Dalia for your next speaking engagement visit her website daliakinsey.com.

Follow Dalia on social media: Facebook @decolonizingwellness, Instagram @daliakinseyrd, LinkedIn @DaliaKinsey, and YouTube @DaliaKinsey.

Posted in Dietitian Speaker, Presentation Skills, Speaker Spotlight By Alexandria CaljeanPosted on July 29, 2021August 11, 2021Tagged All Posts, Dietitian, dietitian speaker, health disparities, Make Money Speaking, nutrition speaker, Personally Speaking, Presentation, professional speaking, public speaking, Speaking Dilemmas, speaking fees, Unique speaking platform, virtual presentationNo Comments

Speaker Spotlight on Dietitian Speaker Nancy Clark

Superstar alert! Dietitian Speaker Nancy Clark is the Jesse Owens of sports dietitians, breaking ground for the field since before it had a name. If nutrition were the Olympics, she’d have medaled in multiple events. She’s even been pictured on a Wheaties box! Lucky for us, she took the time to share some tips for speaking success from her long career at the top.

DSG: You’re well-known in our profession as the original sports nutrition dietitian. How does professional speaking play a part in your career?

NC: My job is to teach people. Speaking is a wonderful way to reach a large audience.

I started by going to running clubs and bike clubs, asking if they wanted me to give a nutrition talk. I started local and then moved to professional groups – RDs, sports medicine MDs, athletic trainers, etc. Now, I speak internationally (much easier with Zoom!), and people seek me out.

DSG: What’s your stance on speaking for free versus charging? Any advice for a dietitian unsure about how to charge?

NC: I have always charged unless no money was available. In which case I traded the free talk for the opportunity to sell my Sports Nutrition Guidebook to the audience at the end of the talk.

We dietitians have valuable info to offer. The audience wants our info. If you’re unsure if you’re worth it, offer a low price range you feel comfortable with, such as $100 to $400.

DSG: What qualities do you see as the marks of an excellent speaker?

NC: Three things: an excellent speaker speaks clearly, in an organized manner, and teaches by telling stories.

DSG: Our readers love to hear about glitches so they know they’re not alone. Any terrible snafus that you managed to survive? Or amazing speaking experiences that stand out in your mind?

NC: Several situations stand out in my mind, all for different reasons.

Amazingly nerve-wrecking: Speaking to a room filled with professional baseball players for a mandatory nutrition talk.

Amazingly great: The day-and-a-half workshops I presented for years with an exercise physiologist. The audience was primarily RDs and personal trainers, inspiring them to get involved with sports nutrition and partner with each other.

Amazingly terrible: An afternoon talk I gave to hungry high school students. I had asked for them to have a snack before my talk, but the athletic director insisted they wait for the snack until after the talk. Talking to hungry athletes is a total waste of time!

Talking to hungry athletes is a total waste of time!

DSG: Love that important lesson! Don’t speak to hungry athletes. Any other advice for dietitian speakers starting out?

NC: When giving a new talk, it’s important to practice it – particularly if you will be doing this talk on television! Those reporters are pros – but even they practice behind the scenes.

DSG: Thanks Nancy for the wise words.

To hire Nancy for your next peaking event visit her website nancyclarkrd.com.

Follow Nancy on social media: Twitter @nclarkrd, and LinkedIn @NancyClark.

Posted in Dietitian Speaker, Presentation Skills, Speaker Spotlight, Sports By Alexandria CaljeanPosted on July 29, 2021August 3, 2021Tagged All Posts, Audience Experience, Dietitian, dietitian speaker, nutrition speaker, Presentation Skills, professional speaking, Speaking Dilemmas, speaking fees, speaking for money, sports dietitian, sports nutrition, Unique speaking platformNo Comments

Spotlight on Dietitian Speaker Lauren Swann

Lauren Swann is a pioneer in our field, presenting to national audiences for more than three decades. Read on as she shares her experiences and what she’s learned.

DS: How did you get started speaking and how has your speaking evolved over time?

LS: When I established my consulting business in 1990, public speaking was a highly recommended means of marketing specialty and expert advisory services. I’m a B2B [business to business] consultant and my clients come primarily from the food industry, so I identified the local food industry groups with members who were also prospects and either joined or attended their events, eventually getting to know board members by working with them on committees or suggesting relevant topics for meetings, seminars, workshops, conferences, etc.

My public speaking tends to be about what I specialize in as a consultant – it was primarily related to food labeling up until last year when I started getting more requests for another specialty – cultural foodways.“Cultural Foodways” are about the food customs, culinary practices and dietary habits relating to or influenced by cultural heritage, family legacy, nationality, history, traditions, and ethnic ancestry.

DS: We love to talk about the amazing highs and lows of being a dietitian speaker. Do you have a memorable speaking experience?

LS: Perhaps a peak public speaking accomplishment for me happened early in my career – I was a keynote presenter at the first public forum to discuss the Nutrition Labeling & Education Act of 1990 after the proposed graphic format regulations published in the Federal Register. At the time, that gathering (that had been in the works before knowing when the proposed regs would publish) drew lots of industry attention. I’ve also presented at major mega industry conferences like the Food Marketing Institute. Online advancements have changed so much of how we connect and share info now that such annual association gatherings are no longer as meaningful as they once were, but at the time, this was big!

DS: Amazing! You’re a pioneer of dietitian speakers. What was it like transitioning from free speaking to paid events?

LS: I actually accepted very few (if any) free speaking events when starting out; several of my first offers came with a fee or honorarium and although some were modest, I was also often asked up front what my fee was and came to expect some compensation – even if it was only free registration for the remainder of the conference or event and complementary meal/reception attendance where mingling and networking happens; if travel was involved I expected reimbursement outside of a local radius. I’ve actually come to evaluate pro-bono requests differently now that I’m established – I consider the organization, their mission, purpose of the presentation, audience and reason for not having a speakers’ budget.

DS: That’s an interesting evolution we haven’t talked about on this page before – going from paid speaking to free, once you have more flexibility to evaluate those opportunities. Have you noticed other changes in the way you look at things now that you’re more established?

LS: I once belonged to the National Speakers Association which has some steep membership requirements – I had a good momentum of public speaking credits and their annual conference was taking place locally that year. I attended but discovered I’d really rather keep public speaking as one of the services I offer and a means of publicizing my consulting specialties. I observed that there is a whole different energy and effort that goes into professional public speaking as a core and primary income-generator.

DS: I’m sure you’ve sat through a million presentations. What do you like to see in a speaker when you’re in the audience?

LS: An excellent speaker is engaging, grabs your interest from the start, makes good use of visuals, stays on topic and truly covers whatever the description said, especially the promotional description about the session used to get registrants – an excellent speaker delivers and leaves the audience feeling empowered with information, insight and perspective.

DS: Wow. That’s a great summary. “An excellent speaker delivers and leaves the audience feeling empowered with information insight and perspective.” Love it. Thank you.

If you’d like to hear more about Lauren, visit her website at foodsfactswork.com

Follow her on social media: LinkedIn @LaurenSwann, Twitter @LaurenSwann, and Facebook @ConceptNutrition.

Posted in Speaker Spotlight By Alexandria CaljeanPosted on April 3, 2021July 28, 2021Tagged All Posts, dietitian speaker, nutrition speaker, public speaking, speaking for money, Unique speaking platformNo Comments

Spotlight on Dietitian Speaker Leslie Bonci

Leslie Bonci has a signature style that’s easy to spot: she hits home-runs with her puns and rhymes at the right times. Read on as she shares her favorite speaking topics and tips with DietitianSpeakingGuide.com.

DSG: Your way with words is one of a kind. When did you realize you were going to be a speaker?

LB: In graduate school we had to present as part of the course requirements. I found that I just loved being in front of an audience. I am all about performing and providing the edutainment. My goal is to get people engaged and be entertained while informed.

Communication is an art. Not just what we say, but how we say it. I spend a lot of time with athletes and it’s all about communication with demonstration for optimal application. I find speaking to be a natural extension of that one-on-one work: identifying a problem, brainstorming solutions and resonating with relevance.

DSG: You’re excellent at blending engagement with your info. I bet that makes you a tough critic. What gets your attention when you’re in the audience?

LB: The things I find engaging are humor and authenticity, and a speaker who creatively uses props, soundbites and their voice to tell a compelling story.

DSG: What have you been speaking about recently?

LB: Some of my recent favorite sports nutrition talks have been Feed the Need, Fuels of Engagement, Sideline Guidelines (fueling during the pandemic), Fake News/Real Views, and then for RDs, Bites of Insight.

DSG: You never disappoint with your titles! How did COVID-19 change things for you?

LB: I love to present in person, but 2020 was different. Luckily speaking can be done virtually – the key is to inform no matter the platform! But as a speaker, I thrive on eye contact and heads nodding. It’s impossible to gauge interest – or disinterest – virtually, so I have to find the way to keep myself engaged, inspired and excited when presenting on a virtual platform.

DSG: What are your thoughts on speaking for money versus as a volunteer? Any advice for someone who’s trying to make the transition?

LB: I think we all have done and need to continue to do pro bono work, but we also need to be remunerated for the services we provide. Doing presentations for free is a great way to practice, get some experience and also exposure, but typically it is a one and done for an organization. I won’t do free more than once to the same organization. Ask if the organization is willing to pay before you accept. Do ask other RDs what they would charge for similar types of presentations. It is also ok to say no.

DSG: You seem like such a positive person. Does anything about speaking get you down?

LB: It’s important to realize that not everyone is going to love you all the time. I did a talk for the sports medicine staff of the Ironman in Kona. Even though it was engaging and informative about nutrition for recovery, there were several members of the audience who called me a shill because it was sponsored by MilkPep for chocolate milk. Not cool. I focus on the victories – getting a standing ovation, the time someone came up after a presentation to invite me to speak in South Africa.

DSG: You’ve spoken around the world and had amazing experiences. Will you share some advice with aspiring speakers who want to emulate your career?

LB: When I was in grad school, one of my advisors told me don’t be funny – people will never take you seriously. Happy to say that I ignored that advice, because I do think humor has served me well in procuring and securing speaking engagements. Perseverance and patience are admirable traits. If you’re rejected the first time, ask why and try again. Constantly evaluate and make it better. Don’t give the same talk over and over again. It will show in your presentation style. If it’s not fun for you, it won’t be for the audience either. It’s all about the sell in your speak and tell!

DSG: Said in classic Leslie Bonci style! Thank you for these great ideas.

For more about Leslie and where and when she’ll be speaking next, visit…

Website ActiveEatingAdvice , Instagram @bncilj , Twitter @lesliebonci, and Facebook @LeslieBonci.

Posted in Dietitian Speaker, Presentation Skills, Pro Tips, Speaker Spotlight By Alexandria CaljeanPosted on February 26, 2021July 28, 2021Tagged A Dietitian's Guide to Professional Speaking, All Posts, Audience Experience, dietitian speaker, Presentation Skills, professional speaking, public speaking, Unique speaking platformNo Comments

Spotlight on Dietitian Speaker Tori Schmitt

Dietitian speaker Tori Schmitt surfs a wave of positivity encouraging clients to say YES! to nutrition. So when does this Queen of YES! strategically say NO WAY? Read on to find out…

DS: How did you develop your Unique Speaking Platform?

TS: A lot of the conversation around food and nutrition has to do with the word “no” or “don’t eat this.” I aspired to help people live more healthy, balanced lives with a more inclusive approach – focusing on the positive, and promoting the foods, strategies and behaviors to say “YES!” to more often.

In 2014, I began YES! Nutrition, my nutrition communications and counseling company in Ohio. YES! Includes one-on-one nutrition counseling, partnering with food companies to develop online content, and dynamic speaking engagements. The YES! message stuck as my platform because it’s simple and direct. It resonates with patients as well as every kind of audience, from corporate wellness to conferences, high school students and health fairs.

I’ve made YES! my brand and include it in every presentation title. “YES! You Energize Smartly: Getting the Most Energy Out of Your Day with Enhanced Nutrition” and “YES! You Encounter Struggles: Navigating the Hardest Parts about Eating Well” are just two examples.

DS: Your enthusiasm is contagious, Tori. I’m already feeling like I need more YES! in my life. Say more about how you apply this positive attitude when presenting.

TS: The YES! message is more than just the word. My philosophy of presenting is that the audience isn’t just a stationary presence to talk to, they’re a group of interactive participants who are there to speak with you. Sometimes a speaker can get so focused on what they’re planning to say that they forget about the audience as individuals and what they want when it comes to nutrition.

For example, after I gave an open-to-the-public presentation on sports nutrition tips, one evaluation said it was very basic information and another one said, “I would have preferred a more basic explanation.” I realized that to accommodate the wide audience I had made the presentation too general to meet anyone’s specific needs. I used it as a learning experience and decided to host events with more specific topics to a more targeted audience in the future.

Before I agree to speak, I ask the organizer all about the audience. If it’s a company lunch-and-learn, I’ll ask about trends for employee lunches, what food is available on-site, are there vending machines? And I want to know the top nutrition needs of the employees, whether that’s healthier snacks at breaks, microwavable meals for lunch, high energy foods to support their physical labor, etc. Understanding the audience helps me make the most use of my time with them.

DS: An enthusiastic YES! to customization. A generic lecture is just not going to keep anyone’s attention in the smart phone era. What makes you say YES! to a presentation when you’re in the audience?

TC: I like Maya Angelou’s quote that “People may not remember exactly what you did, or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel.” Dietitians have important and useful facts and ideas to share, and to make those details unforgettable we need to package them in a way that also delivers a feeling.

For instance, someone who comes to a lunch-and-learn presentation might forget the fact that protein and fiber can help keep them fuller for longer. But they might remember that I praised their chickpea salad as a super satiety solution during my presentation. Perhaps they can relate to the feeling of afternoon hunger pangs on the occasion they didn’t have any protein or fiber earlier in the day, or maybe they’ll laugh at the story of what happened when I didn’t include protein or fiber in my lunchtime meal. Feelings from compliments, stories and humor make facts more memorable.

DS: This is such a good reminder to newer speakers that it’s okay to be real and interact, crack a joke here and there, respond to your audience. But it’s hard when you’re nervous about being perfect. Do you have any advice to a dietitian speaker who’s just getting started and is stressing about doing it “right”?

TS: YES! I encourage patients and audiences that the healthy way doesn’t have to mean the “perfect” way, that “mistakes” are merely learning opportunities, and that small changes make a big difference. I think the same goes for speaking, too. Just get out there and say “YES!” You’ve got this!

But – and I know I am all about YES!, but hear me out – there are times it’s important to say no. Say no to opportunities that don’t value you or aren’t the right fit for your skillset or preference, say no to the audience person who is challenging you on nutrition philosophies, and say no to the person who wants to use your proprietary slides.

DS: The Queen of YES! says it’s okay to say no?

TS: Well, when you say no to those things, you’re actually saying YES! to the work that values you, to the opportunities that are the right fit, and to the protection of your integrity and intellectual property.

DS: Enthusiastic YES! to the right kind of NO! Love it!

Have you heard Tori present? We’d love to read your comments below.

Want to contact Tori for your next speaking engagement? Connect with her through her website, YES! Nutrition

Tori would love to stay connected on Facebook @yesnutritionllc, Instagram @torischmittrdn, Twitter @ToriSchmittRDN, Pinterest @ToriSchmittRDN, and Youtube @YES!Nutrition.

Posted in Speaker Spotlight By Alexandria CaljeanPosted on February 2, 2021July 28, 2021Tagged A Dietitian's Guide to Professional Speaking, All Posts, dietitian speaker, nutrition speaker, Presentation Skills, professional speaking, public speaking, speaking for money, Unique speaking platformNo Comments

Making Dollars and Sense of Nutrition News: Spotlight on Dietitian Speaker Neva Cochran

Dietitian Speaker Neva Cochran says Being paid has become more the norm than the exception.

Combatting nutrition misinformation is dietitian speaker Neva Cochran’s cup of tea. Read on as she shares with DietitianSpeakingGuide how she infuses media communications experience into her presentations.

DSG: You’re such an experienced speaker, it’s hard to picture you starting out. Tell us your origin story.

NC: I was the first dietitian in a new hospital where the staff were excited to have a nutrition expert devoted to patients. They invited me to speak to the Breathe Easy Club for chronic pulmonary disease patients, then cardiac rehab and diabetes groups, Internal Medicine staff, an ICU nurses training workshop, a cardiovascular nurses’ seminar, and others. As I became known in the area, I was invited to present to students at the two neighboring universities and to a variety of community groups.

DSG: How did you settle on your Unique Speaking Platform?

NC: It depended on the work I was doing and interests I had at the time. I became a state media representative for the Texas Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics, and that led to my first professional presentation to colleagues, “Moving Your Media Message” at the 1986 Texas Academy Conference. That created more opportunities to speak about dietitians working with media which continued after I became a national Academy spokesperson. Combatting nutrition misinformation is a topic I’ve been passionate about over the years, so I keep updating it. I’ve had three distinct presentations: Nutrition: Sense and Nonsense; Nutrition News You Can Use: What’s Hot, What’s Not; and Eating Beyond the Headlines: Sorting Evidence from Emotion.

DSG: How did you transition from volunteer to paid speaker?

NC: The first presentation I recall being paid for was about 10 years into my career at another state Academy’s conference. I don’t recall the amount, but they offered it to me as the standard rate they paid speakers, and I accepted. That set the stage for being paid for presentations to state Academy groups, but I still presented without compensation for local dietitian and other community groups. Over the past 10 years, being paid has become more the norm than the exception. Once I began consulting with food, nutrition and agricultural organizations, they were willing to sponsor me to speak before professional audiences. Now I’m comfortable asking to be paid because I have a track record of success and am well-known as a good speaker.

DSG: Do you have any advice about charging for a dietitian who hasn’t gotten the hang of it yet?

NC: My go-to colleague for pricing advice shared his thoughts with me about getting paid adequately for speaking. When he’s offered an honorarium or fee less than he believes is appropriate, he tells the meeting planner, “That’s the fee for an entry-level dietitian. I’ll help you find one.” If they really want HIM and not just any dietitian, they will rethink their fee. My advice to new dietitian speakers (and I just had this conversation with one last week!), is to remind them that the organization is not just paying for them to regurgitate facts and information. They are paying for your knowledge, reputation and ability to inspire an audience in their field of expertise. They have to think beyond just an hourly rate to the value their presence on the program brings – things like drawing in attendees and lending credibility to the organization putting on the conference.

DSG: Yes! There’s much more than just the time on stage. The other side of the coin is delivering the value to back up that fee. When you’re in the audience, what differentiates the excellent speakers from the so-so?

Dietitian Speaker Neva Cochran films a cooking demo in her kitchen.

NC: The ability of the presenter to capture the attention of, engage with and keep the audience’s attention. Might I even add, entertain them! Telling stories about your own experiences and those of other RDNs or clients (of course, observing HIPAA regulations!) helps bring a topic and concepts to life. In addition, really knowing your topic and being able to deliver it in a confident and relatable way is essential. Finally, fielding questions well is crucial.

DSG: That’s a great subject right there – how do you handle questions from the audience when you don’t know in advance what they’ll ask?

NC: I make sure I know my topic really well so that I can answer most any question about it, and my media training helps me define the most important information and distill it down to the key messages.

DSG: You seem to be ready for anything. How do you handle when things go wrong?

NC: Travel delays even within the state can be an issue. I’ve become adept at walking in right at presentation time and getting started. Audiovisual problems are the most common – audio from another session coming through the speakers, projector incompatibility, video won’t play, there’s no screen to project onto. Once in a restaurant I took a painting down and projected onto the white brick wall. I just persevere and make it through.

DSG: What has been your most memorable speaking engagement?

Professional Dietitian Speaker Neva Cochran presents to the Texas Woman's University commencent

NC: I was so honored to be invited to be the commencement speaker for the Texas Woman’s University College of Health Sciences in May 2016. My topic was “Make Opportunities, Take Opportunities, Walk through Fear.”

DSG: Wow, a true career highlight, and what an inspiring title. Thank you for sharing your path with us.

Have you heard Neva Cochran speak? We’d love to read your comments below.

To learn more about Neva, visit www.NevaCochranRD.com.

Follow Neva on Twitter @NevaRDLD, Facebook @NevaRDLD, Instagram @nevardld, LinkedIn @NevaCochran, and YouTube @NevaCochran.

Posted in Dietitian Speaker, Presentation Skills, Speaker Spotlight By Jessica Setnick, MS, RD, CEDRD-SPosted on January 1, 2021July 28, 2021Tagged A Dietitian's Guide to Professional Speaking, All Posts, dietitian speaker, Make Money Speaking, Neva Cochran, nutrition speaker, professional speaking, public speaking, Unique speaking platformNo Comments