“And we said that it would be kind of cool to have a message to remind people that you don’t have to necessarily go through the deepest valleys or the highest mountains to truly evaluate and appreciate your life.”
Matt Matkovich & Phil Januszewski are a speaker duo who joined Brittany Richmond on the podcast to chat about how they got into speaking together, what it’s like to balance full-time careers and speak, some of the best (and worse) memories they have about speaking, and more!
Here are the top 3 takeaways from their conversation:
It’s ok to say no!
Not only are Matt and Phil speaking, but they are also working full-time in their local school system. So, they have to work around the school calendar when it comes to leveraging time off to speak.
They said it was very rare for them to use personal days to speak since their time off was limited. However, through speaking and saying no, they have had the opportunity to work with some conferences and some schools to bring them in to speak around their own calendars.
Together, they’ve agreed that they don’t want to leave their full-time jobs. Instead, they focus on maximizing the time they do have. Usually they get to speak 20-30 times a year even with tight schedules.
The audience can tell when you’re not being authentic.
Matt and Phil shared a story about an experience they had a few years ago. An event had approached them about speaking on a specific topic (not what they usually speak on). They built a new keynote around the topic, and it flopped!
They got off stage knowing they didn’t truly connect with or create a transformation for the audience because they weren’t invested in the material.
Phil truly believes in the Rory Vaden quote about being perfectly positioned to speak to the person you once were. If you’re trying to speak to other people, you’ll have a hard time getting heard!
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Sometimes, the best solution is to become part of the team.
When it comes to solving tech issues regarding the AV team and your content, the easiest way to fix the problem is to step into the team.
While Matt’s favorite way to fix tech issues is to holler for Phil, Phil says the best way to handle them is to come prepared and have patience. Phil recommends having a PDF and PowerPoint version of your slides saved to a Google Drive. This way, they can be downloaded anywhere. Also, bring a personal laptop that you would be okay leaving in the tech booth if needed.
Ready to hear more? Check out Episode 479 of The Speaker Lab podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts.
