#49 – Speak With Confidence: How to Overcome Speaking Fears, Craft An Engaging Message, and Master Your Delivery | Empowerment & Career Advice

[00:00:00] Loree Philip: Hi, and welcome to the Daring to Leap podcast. I'm your host, Loree Philip. I am so excited to dive into this week's episode with you. Have you ever wished you could express your ideas more confidently and effectively?

[00:00:18] Loree Philip: Well, today we're talking with our expert guest, Dayna Kneeland, speaking and storytelling coach. She is sharing all of her expert techniques about how we can overcome our fears, craft an engaging message and speak with confidence. Let's dive in.

[00:00:44] Loree Philip: We have a special guest on the show today. Dana Kneeland is here.

[00:00:50] Loree Philip: Dana is a public speaking and storytelling coach, originally a trained stage actor.

[00:00:56] Loree Philip: She fell in love with helping people feel comfortable being in the [00:01:00] spotlight. She helps professionals and entrepreneurs speak confidently so they can grow their careers and inspire their listeners. A passionate educator, she holds her master's degree in adult education and has been teaching for many years.

[00:01:17] Loree Philip: Welcome to the podcast,

[00:01:19] Dayna Kneeland: Dana. Thank you. It's wonderful to be here.

[00:01:23] Loree Philip: Yes, it's so great to have you here. I think I really want to get started with you a bit about

[00:01:29] Loree Philip: Well, where, where did you start out in your career? How has that evolved into what you're doing now?

[00:01:35] Dayna Kneeland: I love answering that question. I have a little short story I can share with you. I, I, it really evolved from being a stage actor and falling in love with helping other people to express themselves confidently and be comfortable being seen being in the spotlight and that real passion that I have to help other people to really just.

[00:01:56] Dayna Kneeland: Share what they're here to share their expertise, their gifts with the world. [00:02:00] And I was a stage actor and I just started to recognize that I wasn't feeling the same passion about it. And one night on stage in front of 300 people, I had this moment that really brought it home for me. I had been cast for the first time as a narrator and I was performing and in this play, and I didn't have my character or my scene partner to hide behind anymore.

[00:02:24] Dayna Kneeland: It was just me speaking directly to the audience. And I was doing a horrible job, a really bad job. And my director was so frustrated with me in the whole process. She kept telling me again and again, Dana stop trying so hard. I want you to just stand there and speak from your heart. And I didn't feel like I could really do it.

[00:02:44] Dayna Kneeland: So opening night came and the show starts and I'm just kind of that feeling of just going through the paces where you're, you're doing it, but you don't feel present. And I was nervous and, and really experiencing that for the first time in my life. And [00:03:00] then I started to, this point came in the play where I was.

[00:03:04] Dayna Kneeland: I was sharing a story about the lived experience of wars, talking about a young man who'd come back from war to connect with his sweetheart and his heart was closed and he couldn't reach her anymore. He couldn't connect. And I look out into the audience and my audience is. It's about three quarters of them are of the generation to have lived through war.

[00:03:24] Dayna Kneeland: And I just had this kind of click that it has nothing to do with me. It's I'm really this vehicle for this message to come through. And it's all about my audience. And something happened. I really clicked into the present moment. And it was my performance suddenly became very powerful. It was like that pin dropping moment.

[00:03:45] Dayna Kneeland: And from that day on, I became very curious about that moment. And I also had this really strong inner drive to help other people too. Really find that that experience of being confident because you're the vehicle for the [00:04:00] message that's meant to come through you. And so I started to to teach theater in different capacities, and I started to take it into adult literacy classrooms, and I was working with people who had a lot of barriers to overcome in their lives.

[00:04:14] Dayna Kneeland: And they, they told me, they said, Hey, we're, did you know what we're really doing here? We're doing public speaking. You're helping me to really share my story and feel confident being seen in front of people. And that was a light bulb moment for me. And I realized, okay, these skills that I have, there's something I can really help people with.

[00:04:32] Dayna Kneeland: Another key part of my journey is that even though I was a very seasoned speaker, because I had this acting background and I could confidently speak in front of people, I, I, I struggled with very extreme anxiety for a lot, a lot of my life and I, but I realized that when I was Speaking publicly and performing that I was really feeling very at ease and very connected and very present.

[00:04:59] Dayna Kneeland: And so I [00:05:00] went down this very deep path of studying mindfulness techniques to, and I got really interested in how the nervous system works and I. Kind of brought all that together in order to create the role that I have to be a public speaking and storytelling coach. And the final little piece to my story is that I grew up with a storytelling dad.

[00:05:18] Dayna Kneeland: So he was just a renowned storyteller and I watched him use storytelling to really transform rooms, build community. Really motivate people and get whatever he wanted, anywhere he went all my life. And that's struck that particular passion that I have for storytelling and how that can help us to really share our messages with our, with our audience, whether we're on a stage or whether we're just in the workplace and really building those connections we want to with our teams and with our listeners.

[00:05:50] Dayna Kneeland: Yeah,

[00:05:51] Loree Philip: there's so much there. I thank you for sharing that story. I think it's. It's great that you opened up with the story given that you're, [00:06:00] you're niches in storytelling and, and. I, I completely agree with the power of storytelling and it's something that I've just have become to notice more and more, especially talking with people, having an audience and realizing how a person's story, especially as you mentioned, if it came from the heart, if it's real, if it's true, if it's authentic, has so much power to connect with somebody else.

[00:06:31] Loree Philip: Very quickly more so than just having a bunch of information or really polished presentation and saying all the right things. But I think that vulnerability and, and being able to, to, to speak truth. From that place can be so powerful. So I am so excited to have you here today, cause I have so many questions about this topic and so, as we [00:07:00] spoke about before most of my listeners, listeners to this show.

[00:07:05] Loree Philip: Are women in their careers and as you move up in your career speaking, whether it's publicly in the workplace or out doing presentations becomes more and more important is in your role. And one of the things that you mentioned earlier, and I feel like maybe we can break this up is this kind of.

[00:07:33] Loree Philip: Fear of being seen, being uncomfortable, being in the spotlight, and once you're in that spotlight, confidently presenting in such a way, whether it's through storytelling or other techniques to get your message heard, um, can we start with a bit about this fear of being seen and being in the spotlight?

[00:07:59] Loree Philip: What, [00:08:00] what have you seen? With your clients with yourself on some approaches people can take if okay, I'm not even there. I'm not ready to confidently speak. I'm just kind of uncomfortable being in the spotlight and I've been there so I can understand where most where this fear is coming from.

[00:08:21] Dayna Kneeland: Yes, well, I think one of the things that helps us so much in moving, taking that next step forward is really gaining a better understanding of what's happening inside of us in our nervous system and how natural and normal it is.

[00:08:38] Dayna Kneeland: We tend to feel like we're the only one, even though we know that public speaking is such a common challenge for people. I mean, it's a top rated fear worldwide for adults. And so really understanding that it's very common and that what we're dealing with is a nervous system response. We're dealing with a rush of adrenaline that's, [00:09:00] that comes through our body.

[00:09:01] Dayna Kneeland: And there's lots of science that can help us to understand why that occurs. And that. And that our natural inclination is to shut down when that happens because it's an uncomfortable feeling and we don't have a society that tells us that it's, oh, please, please be seen having feelings in front of other people, but yet that's what's happening.

[00:09:24] Dayna Kneeland: So we tend to clamp down. And that causes all kinds of problems because we stop breathing and it actually our nervous system and all of the functions in our body get out of whack. So it's like shifting to understand that we need to learn how to ride that wave of adrenaline versus. Overcome it. I always think of it like surfing, first time I went surfing and I'm out there with my, with my board and this huge wave is coming and I'm trying to fight against it.

[00:09:52] Dayna Kneeland: I'm just getting tousled and pummeled under that wave until I learned how to really work with that energy. So I, there's kind [00:10:00] of three key areas of tools that I use to help people to do that. And one is our breathing when we really can find those, understand how to use different ways of breathing to calm down our nervous system and the type of breathing that we need in order to just speak effectively.

[00:10:18] Dayna Kneeland: Another is. It's our, it's visualization. So using different images to help us to really connect. One that I, I really love to use that I use often is just really to help to connect to my listener is this idea of really a gift is coming from me to land and be received by them. I started doing that when I was a auditioning and it was such a negative experience that I needed an image to help me get past that.

[00:10:46] Dayna Kneeland: So I started to pretend when I was auditioning that it was Christmas morning and I'm giving them all a Christmas present. And as I'm there in front of a panel of five people staring at me blankly where I get no feedback instead of just feeling all [00:11:00] frozen. I would, I would literally build up this energy, this feeling inside of myself of Merry Christmas.

[00:11:06] Dayna Kneeland: I hope you like your present, right? I pretend they were all teenagers, by the way, because, because I didn't expect anything in return. I was like, Oh, they might just roll their eyes, but I don't know if they like it or not. But. I got, I connected to a feeling of helping of giving, of being of service by using that image, right?

[00:11:25] Dayna Kneeland: So it helped me. And then, and then another is our thought processes, right? We have this really uncomfortable thing happening in our body when we're. When we're in the spotlight and it's normal, it happens. We've got this, our heart rate changes, we've got blood temperature changes happening in our body.

[00:11:44] Dayna Kneeland: And and then the mind, it's so smart. It wants to make sense of that experience. And so it's oh, this feels awful. Therefore, I must be awful. We go down this. big negative thinking parade where it's not actually accurate [00:12:00] and it's not certainly not helpful. So really getting conscious about that and making some conscious choices to shift and create some inner dialogue that we can anchor to and come back to that's.

[00:12:13] Dayna Kneeland: That's accurate. That's going to connect us to being of service, to offering our expertise, to helping people. Most of us enjoy helping but when those nerves come, it, it gets all about us. And we want to find ways to get out of the huge focus on us and back into the focus of our listener. Oh, who is that person?

[00:12:35] Dayna Kneeland: I'm genuinely curious about them. How what's their experience of of learning right here in this moment? We're always learning together. We're always building community. We're always learning. And so what's their experience of that? And what might they need? And how can I. Adjust my delivery to really support that process rather than how can I just my delivery to come across as perfect, [00:13:00] professional and good enough and as good as so and so, it helped those techniques that help us to come back into that authentic connection.

[00:13:09] Loree Philip: Yeah, those are, I have not heard some of those techniques and I really like how it's holistic in the sense of like mind, body and sort of your energy and so you're, you're tapping into all of the senses in a sense and, does it definitely seems more useful than imagining your audience to be without clothes on or some of the other stereotypical Techniques for public speaking

[00:13:38] Dayna Kneeland: No, I don't recommend that image.

[00:13:41] Dayna Kneeland: It's not gonna create the kind of connection that you want,

[00:13:44] Loree Philip: right? Right? That's a different vibe altogether Yeah

[00:13:48] Dayna Kneeland: It's a good joke, though. Yeah,

[00:13:50] Loree Philip: it definitely is so If we, if we start from a place of, okay, [00:14:00] I get into the situation, I'm in the spotlight and I have all of these feelings, emotions come up and now I have these tools I can use in the moment.

[00:14:09] Loree Philip: Is there some practice that, people can do in advance of being in the moment, to kind of self prepare before you even step out into that spotlight situation? Absolutely.

[00:14:26] Dayna Kneeland: I mean, to talk about preparation, I want to talk about kind of two, two facets of public speaking, just to break it down and make it really clear for us.

[00:14:34] Dayna Kneeland: And, and this, this goes for communication, all communication that we're sharing with others, not just public speaking on a big stage. There's the, the delivery and then there's the message. So preparing and really. Really having the tools and the clarity to create a really clear and compelling message and the things that will really help that message to really resonate for your specific listeners is going to [00:15:00] really help you to feel more confident and Then in terms of the delivery, which is what we've been talking about the experience of actually sharing your message and being in your body That preparation, I want to kind of differentiate between that part of communication that is our presence that is, doesn't have to do with what we're saying, but how we show up and how our body.

[00:15:22] Dayna Kneeland: is aligned with the way we want things to come across and what we say and how we say it are aligned and and then there's also our voice itself, the quality of our voice and how that comes across and so some broad areas that can help us with that. I think to get into that kind of presence doing things that are going to help stretch and warm up your whole physical body.

[00:15:46] Dayna Kneeland: Think about our voice of being just this throat, but it's not true. We have these lungs, we have all parts of our body, we have the alignment. And so things that will help you to really come into a nice [00:16:00] alignment and feel relaxed in your body will be really helpful. And with our voice, things that can actually actually help you to warm up your voice.

[00:16:10] Dayna Kneeland: So you have a more fuller expressive range and increase your breath capacity over time. That's going to really help as well because when we get nervous, it's like we're kind of working with the big wave. We're in, we're in the, we're with the, in the big surf. And so the more that we practice these tools ahead of time, the more we can access them when the waves get really big and choppy.

[00:16:33] Dayna Kneeland: And so that regularity of practice, I know I've been a bit broad about the types of techniques there, but I wanted to just sort of lay that that kind of bird's eye overview in terms of thinking about preparation. Yeah, no, that

[00:16:48] Loree Philip: is really helpful. I like this idea of separating out the message from the delivery.

[00:16:54] Loree Philip: I haven't, when you said it, it makes so much sense, but sometimes we just get caught [00:17:00] up in this idea that I'm going to give a presentation, or I'm going to give a speech, or I'm going to, and it's all kind of pulled together into 1 idea. 1 of the things that. That came through in your bio and our conversations previously is around this idea of being heard.

[00:17:21] Loree Philip: So, so a lot of the times we can say we have a message, we go give a presentation or we speak up in a particular meeting. And for whatever reason or another, our message doesn't feel like it lands or is heard or is communicated. In such a way that is effective, what kinds of things could we do to help either with our messaging or delivery and, helping our, our message be heard?

[00:17:57] Dayna Kneeland: I'll talk about the message itself first and just [00:18:00] give what I'll give one for each. That's just so much I could share. And so for the message, knowing how to hook the immediate attention of your listeners. is really helpful. And so there's a few different things we can do. Storytelling is a great way to do that.

[00:18:16] Dayna Kneeland: Not only does it capture the immediate attention of your listener, but it relaxes them. If you're coming in and you start out with a, with a short story, it puts their mind into a different place. where they don't have to be paying attention to a more logically driven message. And storytelling actually activates all of the parts of the brain that would activate if you're living the experience.

[00:18:40] Dayna Kneeland: So if you start to describe something and you're describing some action or something you see or something you hear in a story, for your listener, the part of their brain that gets activated if they were actually hearing it or doing it or seeing it starts to spark up. So we have a much more activated brain when we're [00:19:00] hearing a story than just facts alone.

[00:19:02] Dayna Kneeland: And that's one of the big reasons as to why they're so engaging for us. Stories also help us to come, they help people to come to their own conclusions. Because we can make a point without saying, you should do this. We share the story and people can see themselves in a story. And they're like, I should do this.

[00:19:22] Dayna Kneeland: So that's why they can be so powerful, but there's simpler ways to do things as well. Like simply starting off with a, with a question, and it could be a question. You want an answer to if you're in that kind of setting, or it could be just a rhetorical question, but as soon as there's a question asked rather than a statement made.

[00:19:39] Dayna Kneeland: It starts to get the wheels turning in your listener's mind. and so first of all, people will become more engaged. And then another thing happens to them as well. They're like, ah, this person knows what they're doing. I can relax and really it's like if you're going on a road trip, they're like, Oh yeah, I'll get in the car and go with you on that trip.

[00:19:59] Dayna Kneeland: I kind of know that [00:20:00] where you're going, right? I kind of know that it's going to be interesting and you'll stop along the way and show me some interesting sites. I don't when, when we start speaking, people aren't sure they want to follow we need to give them some clues that we, we know how to structure our message, we know how to hook their attention.

[00:20:19] Dayna Kneeland: So that, that's kind of one thing I'll say about the message that we can do to be heard. And in terms of our delivery, there's. We really want to understand that language has meaning and to take time to sink into the meaning of your message. And I know it sounds very simple, but it's a, it's kind of a tool and a technique that we're refining all of our lives.

[00:20:47] Dayna Kneeland: It's about making that emotional connection to what we're saying. And so many times we're just kind of driving ahead with our message. We might have certain vocal patterns about it. And when you take time to [00:21:00] prepare ahead of time and go through your message really slowly and think about the meaning and practice speaking out loud, connecting to the meaning of what you're really talking about, then you're going to have a really different relationship with that message, and the meaning is what, what is, is, is the meaning that comes through you as the because it's your lived body that is coming through, but also the meaning that it holds for your listeners if I'm talking about a baby, I could be talking about my baby niece that I held in my arms for the first time.

[00:21:37] Dayna Kneeland: And that's the baby that I'm talking about there. It's a very different baby than that baby that cried for. Four hours on the red eye. Right. . And it's like totally different baby. Yeah, but I'm just saying, oh yeah, that baby that cried for four hours on the red eye or that my baby niece that I held for the first time, I'm not connected to it.

[00:21:56] Dayna Kneeland: to do that, we need to slow down. [00:22:00] We need to, so we can feel more. And really think about how it's going to land for our listeners and and then, and then we have, we're building a relationship with that message and then we can get up and just share in the moment the relationship that we have with, with that message.

[00:22:16] Loree Philip: Yeah. So the connecting to the motions make so much sense to me. And it's not something that I would have typically thought about in giving a presentation in the workplace unless that presentation was sensitive or, had a major impact. But I could see where we're. Where the motion could be subtle enough where it's still different from we've all been in the situation as a listener to a presentation or a message that's kind of, this bland kind of just facts and data.[00:23:00]

[00:23:01] Loree Philip: Message in its delivery where maybe those same exact words when somebody else spoke them with more conviction and connection could be completely different. Yeah, so I was just thinking about that because, it feels more obvious when you're thinking about speaking about something personal or on a big stage, like a keynote speak, like presentation where you're trying to convey a very inspiring message.

[00:23:32] Loree Philip: But, do you see, you see it as applicable as well in, in, in the workplace. I really do. I

[00:23:40] Dayna Kneeland: really do. But, but there is that distinction to make. So we're connecting to emotions in a way that will be appropriate for each professional context that we're in. But when we connect, when we make an emotional connection to the meaning in our message, it's an intuitive [00:24:00] approach to creating a more varied delivery in terms of the qualities of our voice.

[00:24:06] Dayna Kneeland: So, as you connect to the meaning, you're naturally going to enunciate and really let the sounds be heard. You're naturally going to emphasize your key points. You'll find those instinctual places for pauses. You'll start to build in ascending and descending melodies in your voice and vary the pitch and the pace and the rhythm of how you're speaking.

[00:24:28] Dayna Kneeland: All of those kinds of skills are things. I also work with clients in a very technical way to help them break certain patterns they might have so they have more range and their voice than they have a more engaging and impactful voice to sh to share. But when we actually slow down and, and connect to the meaning that's personal for us.

[00:24:48] Dayna Kneeland: It's just an intuitive way to start to have all of that happen, all of that natural variance in a voice that's going to make it more engaging versus a dry or robotic or [00:25:00] monotonous or a particular vocal pattern that gets really habitual. And we tend to say, do this. And we always go down at the end of the sentence.

[00:25:07] Dayna Kneeland: And then the next sentence goes up and then it goes down and that's fine, but it's not going to help our listeners to really learn and absorb the information the same way it will if we have more variance. And we pause and give them time to reflect so they know it's a really important point or we emphasize key points.

[00:25:27] Dayna Kneeland: So we have that. That prosody and that comes into our voice. Yeah,

[00:25:36] Loree Philip: the technical aspect of it is, is super interesting, but I like this idea that you don't have to focus on it so much if you are connecting to that, deeper meaning or connection to what you're saying, and it just automatically comes through and, And it's almost like a shortcut in a sense.

[00:25:56] Loree Philip: I'm sure there's still probably room for practicing and [00:26:00] learning the techniques. But we're all about shortcuts around here and our busy, our busy lives. So. If we've, we've kind of done this structure of the message and you, you mentioned earlier, piquing your listeners interest so that they start to engage into at the beginning of your presentation and

[00:26:23] Loree Philip: Actually, listening to what you have to say, and then you sort of keep their interest. With your delivery and your connection to the message are there any other things that we're missing here? in

[00:26:39] Dayna Kneeland: terms of the message itself.

[00:26:42] Loree Philip: Yeah. And the message.

[00:26:43] Dayna Kneeland: Yeah. I mean, going back to that analogy, analogy of a road trip, and you're the driver and having people follow you and want to get in the car. Another thing that is really helpful is to. Is to have some structure to your [00:27:00] message. The mind loves rule of three chunks of five really letting people know what's coming next.

[00:27:06] Dayna Kneeland: We also love to know things like how long we'll be listening. We love to know the objective right off the bat. So once you've hooked their attention, you can let them know what they can expect. Out of, out of this time with you, maybe let them know how long it'll be if you're speaking for a long time and you're you're facilitating a whole workshop when they'll get a break all of those little things help to build some trust if, if I come in and I'm, and I capture your attention right away with my story and then I say, I'm going to go through three key points and you're going to walk away knowing X, Y, and Z they we'll be together for 12 minutes.

[00:27:42] Dayna Kneeland: Then they, they, My listeners know that I know what I'm doing and they're like, okay, I'll get in the car with you. Let's go for the ride rather than if I come in and start a long story and I don't know how to link that story to a key point and it's just going off here. [00:28:00] And then I start to go into this point and that point and all over the place, they might be interested in some pieces of what I'm saying, but they're, they're already going, whoa, I don't know how long this.

[00:28:10] Dayna Kneeland: Road trip is going to last. I don't know if we're going to have any fun on it. I don't know if I'm going to get a bathroom break all of those kinds of things. And so, yeah, when we can demonstrate those things that will help a lot for capturing your, your listeners attention.

[00:28:25] Loree Philip: I love that. Can you just, for listeners that may not be familiar with rule of three and chunks of five, can you just briefly, explain what that means?

[00:28:37] Dayna Kneeland: Sure. Our brain just loves to chunk things into groups of three or five. We're really wired for it. And so that's why it's so common to talk about three tips or five tips and, and so when, when it. Especially three. We just love that. And so if there's three, then [00:29:00] we know, okay, we've heard one.

[00:29:01] Dayna Kneeland: That's kind of interesting. Number two, if we start to get a little tired. Oh, there's only one more to come, right? So it just helps to kind of break things down. And then we're in category one talking about those things. And you could talk about three things that have to do with that. We can always break it down further if we need to to organize.

[00:29:18] Dayna Kneeland: But it's just such a simple way to organize your message is to break it down into groups of three or five. For each point you want to make. On each topic.

[00:29:28] Loree Philip: Yeah, that's great. I was, I was tracking on rule of three, but I wasn't sure about five, but it's together. It's just three or five. It's the same. Yes.

[00:29:37] Loree Philip: Yeah. It's the same thing. Interesting. So one of the things that we talk quite a bit about on this podcast especially with. women leaders and women professionals is this idea of imposter syndrome and kind of showing up and feeling like [00:30:00] you're just, maybe you're not an expert yet in the particular topic, or you're not as confident in your ability to deliver the message.

[00:30:13] Loree Philip: Do you have any advice for women? To sort of help them with that confidence before they go in and and present.

[00:30:23] Dayna Kneeland: Yeah, we have so many strengths and often we just don't take the time to really identify them. And also sometimes we're not aware of them and we might need a little bit of help drawing that out and getting really clear about that.

[00:30:37] Dayna Kneeland: And anytime that we have a real challenge, there's also a strength on the other side of that so it might be a way that we learn and, and we need a little bit more time to process our information before we talk. And so it's challenging to, to do that. Or we. speak really quickly and it's hard to slow down and really, really organize things.

[00:30:55] Dayna Kneeland: So getting, like spending some time to really assess your strengths and [00:31:00] really recognize what those are. We, we come with education, we come with experience, we come with skills, qualities we possess, and we come with passion. We come with things that we're really passionate about and an intention. We can always bring an intention into a room, even if we don't have a lot of experience yet.

[00:31:18] Dayna Kneeland: That passion and that intention to, to be contributing can go a long way. And so, yeah, really taking some time. Sometimes I'll ask my clients to do that, do a little strengths inventory and to do it like like they're kind of open up their cupboard and see what's there. It's I've got four cans of chickpeas and two of kidney beans and just really go, okay, I have so much more experience than I think it might.

[00:31:44] Dayna Kneeland: And there's always going to be. Room to grow. We're on this evolutionary path. So there's all we're never going to land and arrive and perfection doesn't exist but the opportunity to connect is always available. And the opportunity to [00:32:00] learn is always available and. I'm seeing this a lot these days where I'm connecting with women in male dominated environments or people that are going through a career change and, and there's this we haven't figured out how to translate all of those strengths into that new environment.

[00:32:22] Dayna Kneeland: Or we're feeling a little bit uncomfortable because there's a different culture and we're not quite used to it yet. We haven't figured out sort of how to. How to really shine in that particular culture, or we have a different way of, of, of, of communicating and connecting, but I'm just really passionate about people really understanding and women understanding that.

[00:32:47] Dayna Kneeland: Your speaking strengths are really valuable and really needed and they don't have to be the same as a male counterpoint You know, we as women we have this incredible Ability to [00:33:00] communicate to build relationship, right? And typically I mean all women are different and and it's not just That's not just for women.

[00:33:08] Dayna Kneeland: It's for any for it for anyone who identifies To connecting with a more feminine way of communicating and, and that ability to build relationship. We have we have particular nuance and, and qualities to the tone of our voice. And yet we might be speaking in an environment or suddenly in a new environment that really drives communication forward with a particular kind of energy.

[00:33:35] Dayna Kneeland: It doesn't mean that we are not as capable. We actually have strengths that our counterparts might not have. It's just different and it's about kind of really honing the strengths we have and then expanding the range so that I know how to really drive a point home and communicate without assertiveness and command authority when I want to by lowering my [00:34:00] pitch and bringing in a particular intention and a particular energy when I speak.

[00:34:04] Dayna Kneeland: But I, I'm not losing that ability to communicate with more compassion or nuance or more melody in my, in my voice. And so, yeah, so just really recognizing that we're always bringing a lot to the table. And sometimes we are part of, well, actually always these days we're part of a culture shift. And we're part of shifting what is effective communication, how we perceive what effective communication is in, in, in the professional sphere and helping workplaces to recognize that it's not just being able to drive a point forward with a competitive angle to get your agenda met that's needed, but also the way our, our facial expression is, the tone of our voice.

[00:34:54] Dayna Kneeland: Impacts our listeners nervous systems and and we're that skill of being able [00:35:00] to create connection is really needed. It's just might not the environment we're speaking in might not be fully aware of that yet and us gaining the strength to speak confidently with a full expressive range helps to make that culture shift happen.

[00:35:16] Loree Philip: Yes, I'm so glad you brought that up, Dana. We talk a lot about role modeling and being that, leader that you you wish you had. And so part of this is when we own our strengths and we come from that place of leveraging it, whether it's in communication or in other areas. We have opportunity to show what's possible and the benefits of it in a given situation so that others feel like they can also, communicate in a similar way.

[00:35:51] Loree Philip: And then the culture changes. I mean, it's slow, but it, it, you can be part of it for sure. And we can all, we can all do our own part [00:36:00] in making that shift. Well, I, I would like to start to wrap up here, Dana.

[00:36:04] Loree Philip: Can you share with our listeners where they can learn more about you, connect with you, hear about your work?

[00:36:12] Dayna Kneeland: Yes. Yes. Great. So you can, you can find me through Dana Neeland and I spell it with a Y and the, my last name is like the body part, like a knee and land.

[00:36:23] Dayna Kneeland: You can find my website there on all of my socials through Dana Neeland. And I'll also share that I, I have a new, a free offer where I offer a 45 minute free speak with confidence assessment. where I sit down one on one with people and we go through a process to help people identify what some of their strengths might be and where their growing edges are by looking at 10 different public speaking areas.

[00:36:50] Dayna Kneeland: and you kind of walk away with a really fun, easy visual picture so you can take that with you and really know what some next steps might [00:37:00] be for you. So I'm really enjoying offering that and you can find that on my social sites as well.

[00:37:06] Loree Philip: Okay, great. We'd love to share that with our audience for sure.

[00:37:10] Loree Philip: Thank you. Well, I really appreciate your time and your insights Thank you so much. Dana.

[00:37:16] Dayna Kneeland: Thank you.

[00:37:17] Loree Philip: Thank you so much for listening to this episode. If you've enjoyed it, I would love for you to subscribe. If you're already a subscriber, don't forget to share the podcast with a friend.

[00:37:29] Loree Philip: Make sure to tune in next week. Our amazing guest, Laura Livingston, is going to be here to help us start thinking about 2024 goals. And make sure we set up our New Year's goals and resolutions up for success.

[00:37:45] Loree Philip: I hope you have an amazing week. It's your time to shine. Bye.