HRchat Podcast
Listen to the HRchat Podcast by HR Gazette to get insights and tips from HR leaders, influencers and tech experts. Topics covered include HR Tech, HR, AI, Leadership, Talent, Recruitment, Employee Engagement, Recognition, Wellness, DEI, and Company Culture.
Hosted by Bill Banham, Pauline James, and other HR enthusiasts, the HRchat show publishes interviews with influencers, leaders, analysts, and those in the HR trenches 2-4 times each week.
The show is approaching 1000 episodes and past guests are from organizations including ADP, SAP, Ceridian, IBM, UPS, Deloitte Consulting LLP, Simon Sinek Inc, NASA, Gartner, SHRM, Government of Canada, Hacking HR, McLean & Company, UPS, Microsoft, Shopify, DisruptHR, McKinsey and Co, Virgin Pulse, Salesforce, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and Coca-Cola Beverages Company.
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Podcast Music Credit"Funky One"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
HRchat Podcast
Speak Up, Stand Out: From LinkedIn to TEDx with Bobby Umar
What makes a leader truly memorable? According to Bobby Umar, one of Inc Magazine's top 100 leadership speakers globally, it's the courage to tell authentic stories that showcase vulnerability and build genuine human connections.
Bobby joins the HRchat Show to share his expertise on storytelling as a leadership superpower that transforms personal brands and organizational cultures. Drawing from his experience delivering thousands of keynotes across four continents and as a five-times TEDx speaker, Bobby reveals why so many leaders remain trapped in outdated communication approaches that limit their impact.
"There are lost, stuck or unfulfilled leaders everywhere," Bobby explains, highlighting his mission to help professionals escape career stagnation. The conversation explores the striking disconnect between what we know about effective communication and what leaders actually practice – while LinkedIn boasts over a billion users, only 7-8% actively create content, with an even smaller fraction sharing vulnerable stories that truly connect.
The episode dives deep into practical strategies for optimizing your digital presence, from crafting a compelling LinkedIn profile to navigating content creation across multiple platforms. Bobby offers his 80/20 rule for balancing professional expertise with personal authenticity, while providing tactical advice for handling online trolls and leveraging feedback to continuously improve your messaging.
Perhaps most valuable is Bobby's insider perspective on why TEDx talks represent the ultimate thought leadership opportunity. With just 20-30 hours of preparation spanning 3-6 months, a well-crafted TEDx talk can amplify your professional brand more effectively than strategies requiring significantly more time and resources.
Whether you're an HR professional looking to elevate your personal brand, a leader seeking to communicate more authentically, or simply someone who wants to create more meaningful connections in your professional life, this conversation offers invaluable insights into the transformative power of storytelling. Follow Bobby on LinkedIn to learn more about his speaking engagements, TEDx coaching, and personal branding support.
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Speaker 2:Welcome to another episode of the HR Chat Show. Hello listeners, this is your host today, Bill Badham, and joining me back on the show after far too long is the amazing, superb Bobby Umar. Bobby is an inspirational speaker and storyteller who has delivered 1,000 plus maybe 2,000 plus keynotes and workshops across four continents over the past couple of decades. Inc Magazine has previously named Bobby one of the top 100 leadership speakers, alongside such noteworthy giants as Sir Dickie Branson, Breen Brown and John Maxwell. Bobby is also a five-times TEDx speaker and one of the top digital influencers in the world, with hundreds of thousands of global followers. I've known Bobby now for quite a while. He's a good man and it's my pleasure, Bobby, to welcome you back to the show. How are you doing?
Speaker 3:Good, thank you. And I didn't know you'd call him Dickie Branson. That's hilarious.
Speaker 2:I met him one time. Very cool, did you really? Oh, wow, I did. I did At a wellness conference in New Orleans, of all places.
Speaker 3:Okay, so that's a story for another time. Instead, why don't you did a good job, Bobby Omar? Speaker, TEDx coach, helping entrepreneurs, small business owners. But you know most of the stuff I talk about leadership, development, thought leadership, personal branding, culture, community connection. These are the storytelling. These are things that I care about, but also I'm really big with the social media piece because I'm a LinkedIn top voice and I was originally a blue verified Twitter checkmark guy and I content create all the time, so that's a big part of what I do too.
Speaker 2:Why do you do what you do, Bobby?
Speaker 3:Well, I mean, I think that my why statement is there are lost, stuck or unfulfilled leaders everywhere. What that means is, everywhere I go, I meet people who feel lost in their jobs, stuck in their careers or unfulfilled at their work. And so why is that? And so, doing the work to try to help people figure that out, get clarity in their brand, to help them elevate where they're trying to go whether they're in individuals or whether it's teams or organizations to me, helping them become better, because become better, you know, because a better you is a better everything else. So for me, that you know that to me is an absolute win-win. And also, having been in the corporate space, I remember what it was like for me feeling lost, stuck and unfulfilled, and so I don't want anyone to feel that way anymore, and so I want to help people get out of that and create that life story and legacy of impact that they really want.
Speaker 4:Thanks for listening to this episode of the HR Chat Podcast. If you enjoy the audio content we produce, you'll love our articles on the HR Gazette. Learn more at hrgazettecom. And now back to the show.
Speaker 2:What role does storytelling play in building a personal corporate brand and, as part of the answer, how can leaders get better at it?
Speaker 3:yeah, I think storytelling is obviously something we've been doing for thousands of years, right, and it's a way to communicate our values, our beliefs.
Speaker 3:It's a way to persuade people to take action. It's a way for people to believe in a cause or idea, whether it's personal or work related, and so, for me, that's an important piece. It creates more specific connection and humanity and relatability and trust. It's a way to break through the clutter of all that stuff out there of people you know throwing all these messages at you, and so I think that you know, whether you're an individual or an organization, you know being able to tell stories about your employees, about the people you serve, your customers, about the teams, about the products, about everything. This is a way for you to show the human side and make, build that connection and then, further to storytelling, vulnerable. Storytelling is a way for leaders to be more authentic, to be more genuine, to be more accessible, and that's the stuff that really drives trust and memorability and impact, and so if you're able to do that, it can be a really powerful way for you to stand out, be memorable and have the impact you want for you and your organization.
Speaker 2:Do you see that a lot then, bobby? So you'll get successful leaders and they get up to a certain level within an organization, but they're just not very good communicators. And if they're not very good communicators they can't then express the company culture, they can't express the direction uh, leadership is trying to take the company. Do you see that?
Speaker 3:quite a lot well, I see two. I see two levels. One is the people who, let's say, are struggling to be effective communicators right, and so, with them, obviously, learning to be better communicators, to be better active listeners to you know, be able to start telling stories. I think that that's important. And then you have other people who are very good communicators like they're very good, but they haven't adopted the strategy of either storytelling or being vulnerable. Uh, because they want to be the authority, they don't want to show weakness, they don't want to talk about failure, and so I think they also you this, you know need or need to like, really connect with people to show look, I'm a normal person, I'm a human, I have issues, I have challenges, and so being able to do that will go a long way to separating myself and connect with my employees. So, for me, those are the two different levels of people that I'm seeing.
Speaker 2:But surely that's the thing of the past, isn't it? Surely the pandemic taught everyone that it's okay to be vulnerable, it's okay to be authentic? Are you saying that there are still a lot of leaders who are stuck in their ways, that they find it very hard to put themselves out there to show vulnerability?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I mean the number of people in the, let's say, the corporate space and even the entrepreneur space, you know, the number of people who tell stories is low. I mean, look, let's look at some certain stats here, like on LinkedIn, there are a billion plus users right, and how many people are active content creators right and sharing stuff? It's seven to 8% Of those people. How many people are actually sharing stories? Much, much lower percent Of those people. How many people are actually sharing stories? Much, much lower percent Of those people. How many people are sharing vulnerable stories? Much, much lower percent.
Speaker 3:So you know, that reflects just the professional workspace, online in the workplace. I mean, how many times you see people do that? It's very rare. So I think that for the most part, I think storytelling is a rare thing that is not done. That's also why people bring me in to you know, teach storytelling, because even sales teams, you know, need storytelling tactics to help them with that. And then you know. So I think that I think for sure, and then you know it's this thing you have to educate people.
Speaker 3:I've been educating companies, organizations for decades on personal branding. I've been educating people for decades on storytelling right, because in the old days, you know, they understood storytelling, understood personal branding. But you know, now it's evolved to oh well, how do I do it? And it's hard to implement, it's hard to be consistent, it takes time to do it. So, yeah, I would say there's, I would say the majority of people are still not doing it effectively or properly. But you know, that's something we're all learning, whether we're content creators, whether we're, you know, organizational leads or even part of a team.
Speaker 2:How does one tailor content across different platforms to maintain a sense of being authentic while maximizing impact? What are some of your tips there?
Speaker 3:So content? Well, I mean at the end of the day, like the question becomes what's your objective for putting content out there right? Where's your target audience? Who are you trying to talk to? And then after that then come up with the strategy. Most people they just start shooting stuff out there, which I'm not saying is a bad thing.
Speaker 3:You should definitely start, but then listen to what people are saying and evolving kind of your strategy. But having a clear brand in terms of and target of what you're trying to do, I think goes a long way and I think for most people I would suggest, if you're trying to put content out there, like the objective usually primarily the objective of social media content is to build awareness, right, and then after that it's about showcasing our expertize, it's about starting conversations, it's about building relationships and trust, and so when you have those objectives right, then you figure out what's your primary platform. Let's say, for argument's sake, is LinkedIn. So for me, linkedin is my primary platform and then I take the content and then I repurpose that across other platforms where I also have presence Twitter, instagram, youtube, tiktok, whatever that might be.
Speaker 3:But not everybody can do all those things. I say start with three, you know, have one primary build work on the other two as well from a repurpose perspective, and that's kind of how you do it in terms of being authentic. I mean to me, being authentic is having a genuine desire to help people. Uh, and about being honest about who you are and what you're trying to do, and uh and and being open to feedback, like asking for feedback, doing polls and getting people trying to start those really honest conversations. I think that goes a long way. People really appreciate that. They appreciate the honesty if you put it out there, especially in an age of disinformation, misinformation and just toxicity out there on social media. If you're able to be more honest about stuff, it definitely breaks through.
Speaker 2:So I've attended a bunch of your events. You and I have done events together. You and I have done interviews together in the past as well. How do you collect feedback? What are your mechanisms? So in-person events through digital means, or what do you do to collect feedback and then how do you act upon it afterwards?
Speaker 3:I'm very good at so whenever I do a speech, a keynote or a training or workshop, the first thing I ask is is there a feedback mechanism in place? And if there isn't, even before, I'll ask the organizer hey, what's the feedback mechanism? Let's get that feedback form set up. So that's the first thing when I do a speech and people come up. Bob, that was amazing, great. Thank you so much. What did you like about it and what would you like to improve? Like what was missing for you? I've been doing that for a long, long time. I think that's really incredibly important and from a social media perspective, you know, starting conversations, asking for feedback, doing polls.
Speaker 3:Polls are a great thing, you know, like I did a poll the other day although it was an April Fool's joke I did a poll where I said, hey, I'm looking for new speaker topics and I came up with three ridiculous topics and some people were voting that nicely, that, oh, that's interesting, I'd like to see that. And I was like, well, they're total jokes. But you know, people responded Now I can do the same thing for you know, tedx talk, titles for new speeches, new keynotes, new workshops, new topics, and people will, you know, will tell me. So you know, one of the things that happened for me this year is that now two new topics I'm talking about is learning to love LinkedIn and also vulnerable storytelling. Those are two things that came through the feedback process by asking people. And then I do it on calls. When I get on calls with people, I'll say, hey, what do you think of this, what do you think of this, what do you think of this? But you have to be really actively searching for this stuff.
Speaker 5:We'll be right back to this episode, but first, did you know that the Neocase Digital HR Platform includes collaborative case management, business process automation, document management, onboarding, transitioning workflows and analytics? Neocase integrates with core HR platforms, including Workday, SAP, Oracle and other third-party applications, to achieve seamless user experience and automation, and we are proud to be a supporter of this HR Chat episode. Learn more at neocasesoftwarecom.
Speaker 2:What mistakes, Bobby, do you often see when companies try to position their executives or their brand as thought leaders?
Speaker 3:Well, I think the biggest thing that I see that they often do is they just make announcements. So, you know, philip, here is now the new vice president, congrats to him. Or hey, you know Joanne is speaking at this conference. Great Congrats to her. They make these announcements about the things they're doing, which is fine, but to me, the way to build a credibility and thought leadership on who you are is have them share the insight, share the story, share you know what's that thing that they're trying to teach people? Because, look, all of us have so many insights and knowledge, and so are they sharing that insight and knowledge to their followers or their network.
Speaker 3:To me, that's where it really stands out. So there's a storytelling piece, which is one thing, but the other one is, you know, the value added, insight or learning that comes from them personally. That's where it makes more interesting. So, for example, if we're talking about Phyllis at the conference, I would say, hey, Phyllis spoke at this conference. Here's a picture of her. Here are the three things she said. What do you think about that? And now we start a conversation. That makes it a little bit more interesting to me.
Speaker 2:Do you think that's harder in a workplace environment? So imagine that you've been training a C-suite leader, so you're working internally with a company, and then there's a feedback process and the employees are supposed to offer feedback. Is that a bit more tricky?
Speaker 3:because they don't want to say the wrong things yeah, I think a lot of employees are fearful of retribution and things like that, but that's also why you should have some sort of anonymous way of giving feedback. I think that that's incredibly important. And then you ask them if they're you know, if they're open to you know, and and then provide both provide a place where they can give their name if they want, or provide an anonymity. I think that that would go a long way to get really honest feedback, because and you know, here's the thing most leaders are chicken to get the uh, the honest feedback. But that's what you want, like, you want to have a little bit of that.
Speaker 3:And look, I mean, look, we all have haters, we all have people who troll us. Like, I remember I had one of those rate my professor, things right, and there was one guy who just didn't like me and said all this stuff about me. Oh, he's okay, he's a nice guy, but you know, whatever Everyone else you know, and it looks like a taint on my great rate my professor rating.
Speaker 2:But, look, I mean, that's fine and I'm glad he did it and you know you can learn from even the people who give you the really negative feedback. How do you handle trolls? Okay, so imagine it's on linkedin and you've shared a post and you've got a couple of trolls and they're saying mean things about you. Um, what, what is the best way to approach that? Is it to ignore the comment? Is it to delete that comment? Is it to reply to that comment? Is, and then, if they get into some sort of uh back and forth with you, do you keep that? Do you keep that commentary going? What do you recommend?
Speaker 3:well, it depends on what they say and you know how what they're doing. So but I mean, the general idea is to ignore the comment, right. But the truth is, if they say something detrimental to you or your brand, your company, you need to address it. The most common way is to delete it. The most common way is to block it, report it, do all those things. That's fine. Sometimes you reply right and that's fine.
Speaker 3:Usually the common reply would be an all-encompassing statement to say, hey, this type of comment is inappropriate and unprofessional and not really applicable to this platform. I suggest you, I kind of suggest you, delete that comment, and Particularly well, that's really important when it comes to being an ally for other people. So if you're like, if you're an organization and someone you know says something sexist to one of your women leaders, you should, you should comment, reply. Don't expect her to do it. You go do it and say, hey, this is inappropriate, because that has far more Impact than that person needing to respond to it and deal with the emotional weight of that kind of stuff. But I'm more of a replier, to be honest, and it also depends on the topic. Like you know, I did a post that was more what's called social cause, social justice. But I specifically said you know, I'm going to take the emotional weight and I'm going to respond to something.
Speaker 3:Now, some I deleted right away because they were absolutely either offensive or there's no way I'm going to be able to do something. And then other times I responded with my categorical statement. Other ones I left alone. And then other ones I said hey, may I ask you a question? You know? So go with curiosity. And what's great about that is, you know, I got people to respond back, say you know what, I appreciate what you said and you treated me with respect and you're right, I was wrong about what I said. I'm going to delete that post. And that happened. I mean, listen, I'm not, I'm not changing the world, but honestly, when two people do that, it's something. So that's something I would do. But again, you have to be able to have the time and the emotional energy to deal with that kind of stuff. Most people just delete block report, and that's fine too if you want to do that.
Speaker 2:You mentioned earlier, you're strongest and most active on LinkedIn, although you're doing lots of things on lots of other channels. You also mentioned in your previous answer that it's not okay to be unprofessional is the word you used on LinkedIn. So the best performing post that I had last year on my LinkedIn was when I shared a picture of me and my newborn or they couldn't really see her face. That's the kind of thing that I usually try and avoid doing on LinkedIn because I tried to focus on business stuff, professional stuff. My question for you is is it okay to share your personal life photos of your family, whatever it might be, on linkedin, or are there better places to do that?
Speaker 3:no, you totally can. I mean, look, there's a couple reasons. One, when you think of resumes, uh, you know, when I had, when I had my resume, I had all my you know professional work experience, voluntary experience. But then at the bottom, there's interests and I say things like, you know, social dancing, board games, movies, like it's a way to create a personal connection, and people like that. I remember one time I had a job interview and she went to the the bottom of the second page and said, oh my god, tell me more about the jive dancing, the rock and roll. Oh, okay, like you know, it got her attention at the bottom of the second page. So, similar with linkedin.
Speaker 3:I mean, look, the editor-in-chief of LinkedIn, daniel Ross, said we're looking also for more personal stories and the general of personal stories do better because we're all human. So you know, when I went to work and you know I talked about infertility problems and my boss, my manager, said I have infertility problems too and we're talking about this in his office. That's powerful stuff, right, we go to work, we talk about that restaurant, we talk about that movie oh my God, severance. You know it's a Severance finale. Like we're talking about personal things. And so you know I think to me, personal things is a way to connect with folks.
Speaker 3:So for me, you know, my general rule is like 80, 20,. 8% of your content should be direct on target, to provide the value and all that kind of what you're trying to do, but 20% should be experimental or personal and just share updates of your life. I certainly will share my parents' anniversaries in a couple of weeks. Will I talk about them? Of course I will. I mean, one thing you can do is turn it into a post about something professional, right.
Speaker 3:Having a newborn. What does that mean To me? Having a kid is leadership. Parenting is leadership. Having parents right, gratitude for my parents, the values they taught me, and how do I apply that to my work? There's tons of ways to take any sort of personal post and turn it into something that is, you know, professional. For that platform, this idea that you know and look every single platform out there, you know has personal content and storytelling, because it does break through the clutter and it does create trust and relatability. So you know you definitely should use it, but do it in a way that makes sense for you.
Speaker 2:So, being a now two times dad, it's the best job in the world, by none. It's by far the best they're teenagers best. Uh, teenagers probably not sure about this, but mine is four and uh and only eight months, so I've got all this to come um.
Speaker 2:Another word to use around being a parent, maybe in addition to leadership, is servitude sometimes yeah, yeah, leadership um, just on the linkedin piece for a bit, if you don't mind me continuing on that for a moment. For those HR pros, for those leaders listening to the show, and they're grappling with ways to optimize their LinkedIn profiles, to maximize their reach, to maximize their connections there. Maybe they're current HRDs but they're looking maybe to become consultants in the next few years, for example. Any tangible takeaways, any top tips that you can offer them to help them optimize their LinkedIn profiles?
Speaker 3:Position yourself as a thought leader, an expert in your field, around the stuff you're passionate about. Because, even though you work for an organization, someday you may not, someday you have to go to another organization or someday you may go on your own. So you need to be building the thought that there's a brand of you. The person right your company organization are part of is part of your brand, but it's not all you. So that's the first thing I would say. Uh. Number two you know, most people don't optimize the biggest things they have on their platform, which is the banner on their linkedin, which has so much real estate, the headline, which has way more words than you realize. Don't just tell us your position. Tell us what you're passionate about, tell us which problems you solve. So, for me, mine says I help you land a tech stock guaranteed to elevate your personal brand and build up leadership. That's what I say, and it says that on my banner, it says on my header. So use that stuff, make sure the photo is really good, and then you have the featured section, the about section, that really tells your story.
Speaker 3:This is, to me, the big five of the things you need to do to make sure your profile really stands out. And so, even though you work for an organization, you're coming with HR solutions or you're working on certain things you're passionate about share those things and make sure it's clear on your profile to optimize that. And as you're getting out there, you got to build your network, you got to put content out there. All these things are building the brand of you so that if you leave the organization in five or 10 years you have this entire database of people who follow you and love what you're doing.
Speaker 3:Or when you switch companies, same thing because they're following you. They're not following the company, although you know it's obviously they're interrelated, but so your brand out there is good for the company too. So have a good. You know it's obviously they're interrelated, but so your brand out there is good for the company too. So have a good brand because it's good for the company. But if you do leave or if you do shift, then they're going to follow you I like that.
Speaker 2:It's a little bit like, uh, having a pension fund you got to keep chipping into that so it pays off later on, okay. So, uh, you mentioned a little while ago that you help folks uh gigs for speaking at TED events, tedx events specifically. Why is that brand so powerful? There's so many different conference brands out there. Why is TED or TEDx? Why is that the gold standard?
Speaker 3:So most people I talk to, whether they're in corporate or whether they're not, they want to elevate their thought leadership. They want to build their brand, they want to be known, memorable, get promotions, get opportunities, get business, whatever it might be. There are seven ways to build thought leadership right. The most common way is building your network right, so having a Rolodex or your CRM, your database, online or in-person connections. You know that's one way. The other way is content strategy to share knowledge. Another way is to you know, run a program right and get clients and get testimonials. Another way is to launch, like a book, a book or an e-book or whatever that might be. You know write journals, write articles. A book or an e-book or whatever that might be. You know write journals, write articles.
Speaker 3:Another way is to do paid advertising, right? Hey, you know, buy Coca-Cola, buy Pepsi, whatever that might be. And then one of the best ways is speaking. So if you speak on media, like, let's say, on a TV show, or if you speak on, let's say, at a conference, on a panel or do a keynote, speaking is the best way to get noticed. They see your personality, they you know, and it's it's far more convincing than anything else you would do. And that's also why people are speaking, you know, on their phones, and they're doing video content and they're putting out there and they're doing verbal storytelling and all that.
Speaker 3:So that and so for me, tedx is the best one because it culminates speaking, storytelling, content strategy, personal branding, thought leadership and, from what I've seen, experience, if you think about a book or you think about a content strategy, you're playing a long game. Tedx has the least amount of time invested about 20 to 30 hours of time and the shortest timeline three to six months for the greatest amplification of your thought leadership. And that's why, to me, tedx is the best flagship to build your thought leadership and the work you do to do. A TEDx talk will actually help you with your content strategy, will help you with launching a book later, will help you with doing more paid speaking, if you want. So for me. That's why I've been investing in helping people, tedxtalks as the primary flagship to elevate the brand quickly.
Speaker 2:So powerful brand that reinforces any other opportunities people are pursuing in the future. What about website traffic? Any ideas what the website traffic is for the TED website?
Speaker 3:Well, I mean TEDxTalks again usually typically go more viral than anything else because whether you share a small snippet or whether you share the TEDx talk, as soon as you mention it people get excited. They're going to go check it out wherever it is, versus go to this thing and buy my book for $30. It's much harder to do that. Go to this program and buy my course and then give me a testimonial. That's a lot right. Tedx way more amplification because people are excited about it. They know. Tedx oh, you just sure I'll take a look at it. Yeah, like it's way way easier and that's why it amplifies better, including website traffic so I'm guessing what that looks like.
Speaker 3:Hundreds of thousands, millions of visitors per month well, it depends how you do it I mean look, I mean, there's people who launch books and launch tedx talks and launch programs and they don't put any fanfare behind. They don't take them along the journey. The best thing you can do. Like you know, I'm meeting with a client tonight and she has a tedx talk in may, at like next month, and I'm like look, um, you need to start talking about this thing and take people on the journey.
Speaker 3:Get people to vote on your title, vote on a slide. Uh, get them share a snippet. Same with a book launch, same with any sort of launch. Take them along the journey so that when it finally comes, people are like, oh my God, yeah, you've been talking about this for months, I can't wait. Oh my God. So if you amplify it right, it's going to do much better than if you just oh, by the way, I do the that's not good enough. So, yeah, you can amplify it and get, yes, thousands and thousands of impressions if you do a good job of it.
Speaker 2:Okay, just playing devil's advocate here before we wrap up with our final question what if it goes wrong? What if you've built it all up? You're getting feedback from people who are helping you shape a slide, helping you shape your title. You're telling people about it for months and then you get up on stage and you freeze, or it just flounders in some way or other, and then that's being recorded. I'm guessing you don't get an opportunity to have that edited or prove it before it goes live. Have you ever worked with someone and that's happened to them and what have they done to tackle the fact that what they hoped would be an amazing talk actually was a disaster?
Speaker 3:so this happens all the time to us and I'll tell you a little story. On my fifth tedx talk, I came out on stage and I was very excited about this one because it was a topic I really want to get into. I've been playing it for years and I was ready. I got on stage and the slides weren't working and I just I just stood there and I was was like slides please. And a minute went by, nothing happened and I stopped, I stopped the text, I said I'm sorry, we need to stop, and I stopped it.
Speaker 3:And they had a lot of tech issues and what was interesting about that was, you know, I was like, look, I came all this way and I prepared this thing and I want to go well, and your slides aren't working. Like, I can't deliver this thing without the slides. And what ended up happening was because I'm a professional speaker. You know, several people went before me with the technical difficulty and they're like Bobby, I'm glad you did this, because I I was like well, of course I did. I'm a speaker, I wanna, I'm here because side, but I still decided to go for it, because I still wanted to do it, and I made the adjustment. And then, of course, how do you navigate that? You own it. You talk about it right.
Speaker 3:So I talked about the tech fail, what happens when this happens, and I told the story. I got vulnerable, I shared what happened and that's what you would do. You would talk about that because that's going to. People will get it. They understand vulnerable storytelling. They understand when something goes wrong and shift happens right. So talk about that, own it and do it several times. That's probably what I would advise you to do. I did the exact same thing and you know what? The end result was that that Biff TEDx talk finally got on the TEDcom site, which is exactly what I wanted. So you know, yeah, I think that you can own it and you can position a way where it still supports you and is a great insight or value for everybody else.
Speaker 2:I love that answer. That's great. The Disrupt HR events that I'm involved with, mainly in the UK, also one in the US. We always preface those talks by saying you know, this is a unique challenge. It's five minutes, 20 slides, 15 seconds per slide. Uh, it ain't about getting it perfect, it's about stepping up to the plate. It's about, it's about the challenge, you know, um, and it's about giving people on stage the love that they deserve for, for being vulnerable, for taking that risk. Anyway, before we wrap things up for today, sir, how can our listeners connect with you? So LinkedIn and all the other social medias you might want to share, and anything else you want to share with our audience today, yeah, so I mean, look, you can follow me on LinkedIn.
Speaker 3:You can follow me on all my other platforms Twitter, instagram, TikTok, youtube, all different platforms. I'm everywhere. And you can go to my website, rayallencom. And if you are looking to hire a speaker to help transform your organization or your teams for with normal storytelling or learning to love LinkedIn and land leads and leverage it, or if you want to learn about personal branding, thought leadership and all that kind of stuff or culture community, send me a message and go to my website. Or if you want to learn Atlanta TEDxx talk, you can check out all my free materials as a starting point, like webinars and all that kind of stuff, and then I can you can book a call with me.
Speaker 3:But that's basically what I do and how I do it, and I'm happy to support anybody that wants my way. In terms of last words, like look the way your, your brand is something you have to own because it's based on the, the memorability and expectation of people, how they experience you. So either they experience you in a good way or a bad way. You want to know what that is. You want to manage that in the best way possible and the best way to do a good job of it is to own that brand. Make sure you're clear on what you're trying to do and start speaking. Put in conduct, build relationships, start conversations. Being a thought leader drives conversations and doesn't follow conversations, and so that's kind of how you stand out. And I tell you, if you do that work, it's going to benefit you, it's going to benefit your organization, it's going to benefit everybody.
Speaker 2:Love it. Well, that just leaves me to say for today, bobby, it's been great having you back on the show. When I'm back in Tirana, I will tap you up and we'll go for a coffee, sir, but for now, thank you very much for being my guest.
Speaker 3:Awesome.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much and listeners as always, until next time happy working.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to the HR Chat Show. If you enjoyed this episode, why not subscribe and listen to some of the hundreds of episodes published by HR Gazette and remember for what's new in the world of work. Subscribe to the show, follow us on social media and visit hrgazettecom.
