Building Confident Communication: Mindset, Presence, and Practical Tools with Meaghan Benjamin

Tim Newman [00:00:00]:
Welcome back to Speaking with Confidence podcast that helps you build the soft skills that lead to real results. Communication, storytelling, public speaking, and showing up with confidence in every conversation that counts. I’m Tim Newman, a recovering college professor turned communication coach. And I’m thrilled to guide you on your journey to become a powerful communicator. Today’s guest is Meaghan Benjamin. Meaghan is an executive communication coach with 20 years of experience in public speaking, storytelling and leadership presence. With a master’s in speech and hearing science and psychology, she brings a neuroscience informed approach to helping leaders connect with clarity and confidence.

Tim Newman [00:00:49]:
Meaghan, welcome to the show. We’ve got so many things I want to talk to you about today.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:00:53]:
Thank you so much, Tim. I’m excited to be here.

Tim Newman [00:00:56]:
You know, I really enjoyed our talk on the pre interview and you know, I say it a lot that, you know, people like you. I could talk for days and you know, when we kind of think along the same lines and we can bounce ideas off each other, it really, to me, it really helps. It definitely helps me in some of the things that I’m doing and hopefully it helps other people as well. You know, just little tips and ideas, but you know, some of the things that you’ve done in your career and that’s really kind of where I want to start because it’s, it’s, it’s really kind of fascinating how you got your start in, in the communication and speaking and coaching context. So with your career journey and who your first clients actually were.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:01:44]:
Oh, wow. Okay, so we’re going back a bit. I’d like to pretend I was a child prodigy, but we’re getting close to 30 years. So. My career actually started after I my master’s degree working as a healthcare provider. And what I focused in on was specifically working with folks that have lose their larynx and or tongue to cancer. So head and neck cancer. And why that’s such a critical part of who I am as a coach is that if you can just imagine for a minute doing your job here today, but with no voice box or with no tongue, you’d look different, you’d sound different.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:02:23]:
And that is so such a massive, life changing event. And so for me, what really helped me develop into a coach was recognizing that my job was not treating the patient. It was helping shift their mindset and understand what they could do with a totally different way of speaking and breathing. And believe it or not, that translates quite well into working with executives and other people who are trying to get up there, own the room, connect with other People influence. We’re all trying to do the same thing. But I think getting started in that very particularly complex and complicated world helped me hone some of those skills with other folks.

Tim Newman [00:03:07]:
Yeah, I think you said it right, right from the get go. It’s a, now keep in context here. It’s a mindset, but when you’ve gone through trauma like that, it’s, it’s a, Again, I don’t, I’m not discounting anybody where they’re at. That to me is, is some major trauma that you have to get over and, and really kind of rebuild your entire thought process, your entire mentality. I mean, like you said, our voice is kind of how people see us and how we come across. So, so what were some of the ways that you. That you found successful in changing mindset in that scenario?

Meaghan Benjamin [00:03:46]:
Sure. And it goes back to fundamentally confidence. Right. It’s this idea of how do you feel confident when you look different and you sound different than the way you did your whole life? So I think it started with just understanding where the person is, what they’re feeling, what they’re nervous about and what is going to work for them. What are the small steps, the small things that they want to do, they’re going to start to build that confidence. And ultimately it’s a journey of reinventing, but also self acceptance. And you can’t rush that. So oftentimes it would be sitting with the patient, but also with family members and coaching them together in this system.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:04:31]:
Help me understanding what were those small steps that they’d like to achieve. First going there and then building upon that and ultimately goal setting was a critical piece of this process because if somebody comes to me and says, I want to go back, I want to be a pilot again, or I want to be, I want to go back and be in sales or I want to go back and be a professor, all real things that have happened, then we have to break it down. What’s it going to take for you to do that? And part of that factor is then the layers of how you’re training on communication. And it’s. I think it’s really interesting because the goals that those folks have is where it starts. And when you talk about speaking with confidence, if you want to get back out there, and that’s where we’re starting, that’s a great place to be.

Tim Newman [00:05:22]:
Right, right. It’s. It really is. And, but again, I think you, you hit on a number of things that’s, that’s really no different than any other thing that we want to go through or get to or accomplish in life anyway. It’s just maybe on a different level, different scale, but it’s, it’s the same processes that we all should be going through.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:05:45]:
It is. And I, and I think communication is so, we know it’s, it’s the fabric of our society. We all need it for everything. Personal relationships, professionally. And it’s funny though because we don’t always learn it. So I love that you’re doing this podcast because, because oftentimes we just expect you’re a great communicator, you’re so confident, you’re great at presenting, but really a lot of people, more people could be good at that if they have the tools and the training.

Tim Newman [00:06:14]:
Yeah. And, and just because, I would say just because this is what we do doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re always good at it or that we’re good at, you know, because we’re people too and we have those, we fall into traps and we, we get into our own heads and, and old habits, just like anybody else does.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:06:33]:
Yeah, it’s true. And then you have to be able to say, okay, that happened and what am I going to do next? Because fun fact that you probably know, but about 55% of our communication is non verbal. And ultimately we’ve heard all sorts of numbers thrown out there. Right. Like people remember 7%, they remember three things, they four chunks of visual memory. But ultimately people remember how you made them feel.

Tim Newman [00:07:02]:
Exactly.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:07:03]:
And that is where you could come in. Even if you forget something or mess up, if you’re making someone else feel connected and excited and engaged, then all that other stuff, it’s going to be okay.

Tim Newman [00:07:15]:
Yeah. And again, I love that you said that because there was a, I’m in a back and forth communication on LinkedIn right now where somebody had said, had mentioned an email communication that was AI written and how disrespected they felt from that. And that’s not even the spoken word, that’s something that’s typed out. But, but it’s perception. And well, if you’re not, even if I’m not even worth you typing this out or considering this response yourself, you have to get AI to do it. That’s an even different level of that communication piece, 100%.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:07:54]:
And one thing that you’re touching on there that I find so interesting when we get into the science side of things, is when you hear a sound, you’re just perceiving a sound. But as those words and tone and all those things come through, or you Read them. They are getting filtered through your lens. Your lens is different than my lens. And that’s been developed over time based on experience and exposure and the last interaction you might have had with that person or the tone of the messaging going back and forth. So I always tell people, remember that somebody else’s lens is different from yours. So you have to provide context. And you might have to set it up differently in writing than you could do in person because you don’t get all the other cues.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:08:39]:
And it’s a really critical piece because we spend so much time texting, writing now to make sure that we’re setting the right tone, because it takes a different approach than just how we might show up together in person.

Tim Newman [00:08:52]:
Yeah. So let me ask a question that you may or may not be able to answer. I think I’m weird in the sense in that when I read an email or I read a text message, I’m reading it in that person’s voice. Like, I actually hear that person’s voice. Is that. Is that normal? Do normal people do that? Or is that just so let me.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:09:13]:
Tell you something, bell curve. It’s all normal. There’s just one level of normal. But I think that many people do that. They hear the other person’s voice. Other folks are reading it through their own voice in their head. And if they tend to be. This is a sensitive subject.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:09:29]:
If they’re riled up, then that’s going to influence how they interpret your tone and your voice. And that’s why I always encourage anybody that I’m working with. I’m like, if they say, should I email this or should I call? And I’ll say, well, I can’t answer that for you. But if you’re going to email because you think somebody needs time to process before you have the call, say that. Don’t just send an email. Because, you know, we’ve all heard that where you shoot off and write all these things, but you’d never say it. Say, I wanted to send an email ahead, give you time to process, and then I’d like to get on a call. If you get on the call first, you have to be prepared to set a good neutral tone if something’s tense is happening.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:10:11]:
Right. Just so that people say, okay. Say, I know there’s a lot of stress happening, wanted to jump on a call, and then I could follow up with an email. And that way we’re all feeling like we’re connected and trying to get to the same outcome.

Tim Newman [00:10:25]:
Yeah. I read a statistic just the other day that when we’re texting now, the average response time is 10 seconds. And that doesn’t even give our brain enough time to emotionally process the information that we received. And so that’s one of the reasons why, especially in text messages, that the emotion is never truly understood because we’re not even processing ourselves and we’re just firing something off.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:10:58]:
That is such an interesting statistic. And it’s, it’s also interesting because when you’re texting, you might be. You’re in. People feel like you’re in conversation, but actually you might be in conversation with me. Someone texted you, you didn’t get back to them. Then three other people texted you missed it. But that person might feel like you’re blowing them off, you didn’t acknowledge them. And it becomes.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:11:22]:
It’s a constant competition for attention and attention and communication. I mean, it’s so critical. And I say our scarcest commodity and most valuable one of them is attention. And so that 10 seconds expecting a response, that becomes a very difficult thing to keep up. When you’re in a system of trying to connect with people.

Tim Newman [00:11:49]:
It doesn’t really. It doesn’t allow for connection. It doesn’t allow for true connection, let’s just put it that way.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:11:53]:
Yeah.

Tim Newman [00:11:54]:
And that’s, you know, I think that’s, that’s where we really have problems and should probably make some other adjustments from that perspective.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:12:03]:
But Tim, I’d love to. What is your perspective? If we think about this, because we have an entire couple of generations now that are digitally native, I think of myself as digitally evolved. But this is a mode of communication and it is going to continue to grow. And it, it does add that layer that you’re not getting that same connection that we get even when we see each other and talk. What are your thoughts like? Do you think we’re just going to have to evolve with it or we’ll go back to trying to seek out more humanity and how we connect and talk?

Tim Newman [00:12:39]:
Well, I, I don’t think we’re ever going to go back to, to what you and I grew up with. I mean, those days are, are long gone.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:12:47]:
Yeah.

Tim Newman [00:12:48]:
Just for, for any number of reasons, you know, just, just time as a, as a, as a one major factor. But I do think that we’re going to, we’re going to evolve. And I, it’s my hope. I don’t. I think this, and I hope, but I more hope it, that what we’re going to find is that we are losing that, that human touching connection, which is it’s critical to our survival as a, as a species. Right. And that we, that we will kind of evolve and, and drop back a little bit. You know, I look at, you know, I’ve got grandkids now and I look at how my, my, my daughters and sons are, are raising those kids in, in that now they’re still young, so the oldest one just turned five, but they’ve already cut down on screen time.

Tim Newman [00:13:35]:
I mean, screen time is, is, is restricted and it’s, and it’s monitored. And I, I’m kind of hoping that as, as they get older and get a cell phone when they’re 15. Okay. That. Because there’s really, I mean, I wouldn’t say there’s no need. I don’t want to go that far. I want, I don’t want to be my parents there. But you know what, what’s the real need for them to have, have one outside of calling the parents in case of emergency or need to be picked up or forgot somewhere, what have you? It’s the idea that we have to communicate with somebody who’s sitting right next to us by texting them.

Tim Newman [00:14:20]:
That to me, has to be reined in. And I do think that that eventually will, it’ll never go away, but hopefully it will recede a little bit.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:14:29]:
Yeah, I agree. And it’s interesting because when we think about how children develop their, each of us, all of us develop our communication skills that are part of that lens of how we interpret information. It’s called implicit or incidental learning. And that’s not because you’re always in conversation. It’s because you’re surrounded by people and you’re observing and starting to pick up on all those little nuances. Eye contact, tone, navigating, difficult conversations. And I think it’s going to be critical for these young people as they’re moving into jobs and into opportunities, that they need that same exposure to be able to develop those skills. And that requires having difficult conversations face to face, thinking about the other person.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:15:17]:
But if you don’t get the exposure and the opportunity, then it’s obviously going to be very difficult to expect that someone can do that. It’s going to be much easier to shoot off a text, shoot off an email, not have to deal with it in person. Because we’re social animals and that can make us uncomfortable.

Tim Newman [00:15:37]:
Yeah. And I think it’s the uncomfortable piece that is the hurdle. And being uncomfortable, it’s good. That shows emotion. You need to actually deal with that and figure out why you’re uncomfortable with it. And get over it and deal with whatever that piece is. And that’s where I think the growth actually occurs when you have that uncomfortable conversation and you see that either sometimes, you know, what it wasn’t, was no need for that uncomfortableness, or you know what, it’s good that you had it. It’s good that it’s.

Tim Newman [00:16:17]:
Now that’s out in the open, and now whatever that issue is is either dealt with or you’re going to grow from.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:16:23]:
Yeah, I love that. And I think, you know, I have four kids, and I’m constantly telling them to get comfortable being uncomfortable. And because you can imagine the nightmare of having a mom as a communication coach and scientist, they’ll try to go text someone. When they tell me something, I’ll say, you have to have a phone call with that person because you’re going to get comfortable writing that you’re going to get into a thing. But I think as a result, they, as they’re growing, they’re now 17 to 23. They can have difficult conversations. They don’t mind if someone rejects them or doesn’t agree with them. They.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:17:00]:
They’re comfortable debating. But that came from many years of being forced to do it.

Tim Newman [00:17:06]:
But, but, you know, and this is one, one area I really wanted to go with you. And from an educational perspective, we don’t deal with this at all. You know, whether it’s public education, private school, homeschool, whatever it is, unless you’re. You’re somebody who’s a communication coach like you, or somebody who values good communication, those things are never addressed. They’re never talked about. We don’t even want to think about bringing it up. And I think this is one of the reasons why we’re in this position.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:17:39]:
I agree. And I know you’re, would you say, recovering college professor, but I’ve taught at the graduate level. I actually coach at University of Chicago in the Polsky center for Entrepreneurship. On pitching and, you know, navigating the Q and A, what I can say is if we could incorporate some of these fundamental opportunities at a very young age as part of the curriculum, because part of that, I think there’s something there that could be really interesting for people and for kids and for adults, I mean, it’s partly inviting a child to come and push back against what you’re saying in a respectful way, ask questions, those types of things that we can set up in a structured way in the classroom. But I cannot stress enough the value and importance of children and young adults and adults navigating without being told what to do. So making the mistakes, having the conversations on the playground, getting into the back and forth with peers where you don’t agree, you might get into a tussle. But having to do it in practice person, right. Not go away and put it out on Snapchat, because that’s the problem.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:18:55]:
That’s the layer that’s non human that creates so much conflict. So I think we have to look at the schools and make sure that we’re not over programming in a way that these kids don’t have space to learn some of these things because they learn it from experiencing it.

Tim Newman [00:19:13]:
Right.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:19:13]:
And people constantly like, don’t say that, don’t do that. You can’t. Suddenly it’s, it becomes engineered in such a way that we’re taking away the things that they need to be successful adults.

Tim Newman [00:19:24]:
You’re, you’re absolutely correct, 100% correct. And, and you know, that was. I been doing this for so long. You know what my, when my kids were in school, my wife was, is also a, she’s a retired teacher now, but she taught in high school. And I told the kids, I said, you know, if you have this is in first grade, you have a problem with your teacher or something great. And assignment, don’t come to me, you go deal with the teacher. And my wife got really upset. I said, no, we know we have to start teaching them now to advocate for themselves, advocate for their education.

Tim Newman [00:19:58]:
Now if they don’t feel like they’ve been treated fairly, and I’m not talking about they change the grade, I’m talking about they don’t feel they’ve been treated fairly, then let us know and then we step in. But that is, that is such a, a big hurdle for students to go and just have the conversation and say whatever it is with a person in a position of authority. And like you said, do it respectfully, do it respectfully.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:20:25]:
And that’s where frameworks can come in. That’s where you can actually provide a structure. So one of the frameworks that we love to teach is the no feel do. And it works great, great. Especially when you’re going to have a difficult conversation because instead of going in and being like, oh my gosh, I’ve got to talk to, I’m upset, he’s going to be upset. And I’m going through this whole story in my head. I can say, okay, here’s the problem, here’s the impact. Now let me think about how do I want Tim to feel when I talk to him and what actions am I hoping he’s going to take.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:20:59]:
And if I can align on that, I can then just. That will inform how I approach you.

Tim Newman [00:21:04]:
Right.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:21:05]:
What I say and how I say it. And when we start to lean with how. Lead with how you’re feeling and the action I need from you, that’s going to shift my tone. And you can teach children this. You really can. And then you could say, I, you know, if you want the teacher to listen in and to pause and to say, you know, you’re right, you have to. You can’t come in, bam, bam, bam. You have to come in and say, hey, this happened.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:21:31]:
I felt like this. And your objective is for them to feel empathy and then shift behavior. Right, Right. And you can teach that at different levels, but it works everywhere, personally, professionally. So I highly recommend it. But when you’re about to go into something to say, how do I want them to feel? What do I want them to do? And that’s going to inform what you tell them and the tone that you take.

Tim Newman [00:21:52]:
Yeah, yeah. And again, it worked for somebody in first grade. So it’s, It’s. And then, you know, that builds that. That builds confidence one way or the other. Right. Whether they got what they wanted or didn’t give what they want, but didn’t get what they thought they were going to get either.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:22:10]:
Right, Exactly. And say, oh, wow, teachers and people and leaders also approach everything like that.

Tim Newman [00:22:17]:
Right.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:22:17]:
Then you could see how we’re in this system of communication back and forth is happening because we’re both thinking about the other person and the actions we need, and we’re thinking about how we’re approaching them. Everything’s going to go better. And you can imagine, you know, it doesn’t mean agreement always.

Tim Newman [00:22:33]:
Right?

Meaghan Benjamin [00:22:34]:
It doesn’t. You can have conflict in this position and you can disagree, but you’re doing it in a way that’s still civil and respectful and oftentimes doesn’t break the relationship, even if you can’t align on that particular issue.

Tim Newman [00:22:48]:
Exactly. And you know, that. That I don’t want to go down this road. But, you know, from, from my approach is almost everybody I deal with, we agree on about 80% of life. Right. Why. Why would I want to alienate you? Because we don’t agree on 20% of whatever it is, whether it’s. Whether it’s a homeowner association, whether it’s academics, whether it’s our jobs, whether it’s.

Tim Newman [00:23:15]:
Whatever it is. Right. I mean, we agree on 80%, and I believe that is across the board with everybody so find the commonality.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:23:28]:
Yeah, work on that, Work on that. And ultimately what you’re describing though, is if even if you disagree the other 20%, if each person or multiple people feel respected, heard, then, then, then you can agree or disagree, but you’re not going to alienate. And I think that takes patience, that takes attention, that takes intention. And I think because things have become so reactive in this day and age, even with the texting, the comment you made earlier, like 10 seconds and did you respond? We’re missing out on that opportunity to be intentional, spend some time thinking about that. And, and when you do that, I mean, it has a ripple effect in your business and how people see you as a leader, how they follow you, but also right down to the child level.

Tim Newman [00:24:16]:
Yeah, exactly. So how did your pitch competition go? We talked about it before on our call. How’d that end up?

Meaghan Benjamin [00:24:24]:
Well, that went really well. So that was. I was out in Europe for Law Without Walls, which is an amazing program founded by Michelle DiStefano, who’s a Miami law professor, but what is recovering advertising executive. And then she went to law school and she realized that in the legal system there’s this opportunity to help people think about how they’re looking at problems using design thinking and then communicating, you know, what that solution might be. So this was really great because it’s industry folks, it’s their legal partners. Right. And then it’s trainees, so students of law. And we come together and you solve a problem and you come up with a solution and then you have to pitch it and ours.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:25:15]:
It was great. It was so much fun. I was partnered with the team at Disney, which was awesome, and with Denton’s. And while we did not win the pitch competition, we solved a really. We took a stab at solving something that they brought back to the leadership to see if they could bring into fruition. And so that’s the beauty of attending these types of events is that it just gets. People say, oh, okay, I’m gonna go back and try that. And maybe it’s one piece of that, but I love that kind of.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:25:48]:
And that all start. That all happened from us spending three days together, really enmeshed and communicating a lot.

Tim Newman [00:25:56]:
That’s awesome. And you know, I love those. Like you, I love those types of things because not only is. Are those connections, but the ideas that are going back and forth and the thinking that takes place and, and some of the. Maybe some change thinking, maybe some changed way of doing things really does come about.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:26:16]:
Yeah. And what I’ll say To, I always say to people that they say, come to me, they’re coming, they’re up and coming in their career and they say, what’s your biggest piece of advice? And I say, find a mentor because they’re going to help you learn and get this type of learning exposure. But also my latest, biggest piece of advice is seek in person opportunities whenever you can. Even if they feel uncomfortable. Go to that event, go sign up for that thing, show up in the office, because that’s where you’re going to get that connection and get that exposure that has the ripple effect. And so that, yeah, go do that.

Tim Newman [00:26:59]:
Please, I’m begging you. And that’s, it’s funny because, you know, when we, when I was teaching, one of my assignments in every class ever taught was you had to go do informational interviews. And you know, for a time because of COVID they could do them on Zoom, they could do them over the phone, you could. An email interview is not an interview. So they either had to be iPhone or Zoom or something like that. But when we got back to being somewhat normal, I said, you have to actually go and interview them in person like we did before. And for whatever reason it was, oh my God, we’re not doing that.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:27:37]:
Yeah, it’s hard.

Tim Newman [00:27:38]:
Well, that’s what you have to do. Yeah.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:27:41]:
There’s a team I’m working with at the University of Chicago, their startup team out of the booth school, but they’ve actually developed a tool to practice behavioral and technical interviews. It’s called the Dev Difference. Why it’s so interesting is that they’re, they’re targeting that they are the demographic that they’re targeting. The co founders graduated from Dartmouth and are out there interviewing. You know, you have to go through 300 interviews to get to the one offer. And the idea was if you can help people be confident and prepped, then they’re going to be, they’re going to do better and it’s going to make the whole process better. So to your point, I think just everybody get out there and even if you don’t get the job, you’re getting that exposure and that learning. It’s just going to make you better.

Tim Newman [00:28:30]:
Yes, it will. And it’s repetition and, and don’t let the, don’t let the, either the nose or the not hearing back, you know, get you down. I know it sucks. I don’t get me wrong, I know it sucks. And, and it’s bothersome, but eventually it’s going to happen. Eventually it’s going to happen. And you have to do it over and over again, do it over and over again until maybe you find the right spot. And if you don’t get whatever job it is, whatever you’re pitching, whatever, that’s fine.

Tim Newman [00:29:03]:
It probably wasn’t right anyway. Just keep doing it, keep practicing.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:29:06]:
But that’s the learning. I think that’s what we keep going back to. Communication. And confidence gets better. When you can get comfortable being uncomfortable, you build that resilience and you get the exposure. And that is what helps you start to develop these habits that allow you to show up in high stakes situations and say, I can do this, I’ve got this. Because you’ve done all the other pieces. It’s really hard to do that if you’ve not left your kitchen.

Tim Newman [00:29:35]:
Exactly. You just have. It makes me laugh, but you’re absolutely right. You really are. In your business, you have come up with something that you call agile communication. What is that and how does it help everyday interaction?

Meaghan Benjamin [00:29:57]:
So our methodology, my business partners, Phyllis Steeley, who comes from a brand strategy, advertising background, I’ve got the science background. And so we, we realized when we’re working with companies and with teams, it’s not just about presenting. Public speaking. People say, oh, public speaking, that’s, that’s, I have to learn how to do that. And it’s not just about leading a meeting. So really we go back to this idea that communication is a series of habits that you develop over time. So if we, what agile communication is, is breaking down the habits that are really critical. Verbal, nonverbal, how you set tone, how you listen, what are the levels of listening, how you read other people verbally and non verbally.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:30:44]:
So there’s this way of being spontaneous and proactive and receptive and we give people real tools on that and then we help. So we call it the science of communication and the art of showing up. And so the art of showing up is what scenario are you showing up in? Are you showing up in a presentation? Are you showing up in a meeting? Are you showing up in a Q and A and a panel discussion? So you could take these frameworks and things that we’ve done and then help develop out your own approach. And so the agility is that communication isn’t different between presenting and having a conversation. It’s just that there’s certain things that you’re going to shift if you’re in front of an audience of a thousand people versus a one on one. But fundamentally it’s about, am I connecting with you, am I listening to you? How are we bridging this together and it’s really unscripted. And so I think that’s what the fundamental aspect of agile communication is. The science piece and then the art piece, and then you can develop it into whatever is going to make you the best communicator possible.

Tim Newman [00:31:57]:
Right, but so, so, so where does, where does preparation fit into that? I mean, for this to work, you, you really have to, to, to prepare and know what you’re walking into though. Right? I mean, that’s, that’s the only way it’s going to work.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:32:09]:
So I like to call it, there’s. Preparation is critical. We know that if you’re an athlete or anything, you’re never going to deliver without preparing. But 90% of your day is unscripted. Yes, you’re walking into a meeting, but you have the context of the meeting, who’s going to be there, what you think is going to go down in that meeting. So you, your preparation is what, how do, how do I want people to feel, what do I want them to do? How am I going to show up in that meeting to do it? I, which is if you’re asked to give a keynote or to go present a new idea to the CEO, you’re going to prepare, but it still goes fundamentally back to how much time do I have, what do I think he cares about or she cares about or what they want to take away? And then how am I going to show up? And so what I tell people is every interaction you have is an opportunity to tone your communication skills. And then when you’ve got a higher stakes planned or unplanned meeting, you’re able to apply what you’ve been honing. Yes, the preparation is always critical, but 90% of the time you know what your meetings are, what do I need to do to show up, to connect, to deliver, to influence, and then that’s what you’re going to do, which is different than presenting with the deck.

Tim Newman [00:33:28]:
Absolutely. And that makes so much sense because, and you know, the, the meeting that you’re walking to, the preparation is you already had it because you already know the people, you already know, you’ve seen the agenda, you already know what you’re supposed to talk about or what so and so is going to talk about. And so that, that’s, that’s preparation, but it’s done different, That’s a different type of preparation.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:33:53]:
Exactly. And what’s really important is that let’s say somebody wants you to come in and talk about the earnings statement. You can give somebody a spreadsheet right. And say, here’s the earnings and here’s what’s working, what’s not. You can also share two insights that you picked up or things that you think are watch outs or need to pay attention to. That’s the, that’s the communication that you’re preparing for, that you’re like, hey, this is the opportunity to demonstrate your value.

Tim Newman [00:34:21]:
Right, right. And, and again, you know what, to take that a step further, the way I look at it would be, is, you know, if I’m, if I’m doing that with this group over here and I know they just want chunks, okay, here are the bullet points. If you want more information, let me know, I’ll get with you on that. If I’m talking to this person over here, you know, I want, I want more detail. Okay, here’s, we’re going into some detail. If you don’t want that detail, let me know and I’ll just shoot you some bullet points over here. So that’s so important.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:34:54]:
Yeah. And then when you give a present, one of the hardest things for young professionals is this idea of pivoting in the moment so they get an unexpected question, maybe they’re on a zoom call and they don’t know exactly the answer, so they get really nervous. They maybe don’t answer the question. They give too many details, that sort of thing. So what I’ll say is be confident in what you know, be confident in what you don’t know. And you, if there’s certain things you should be prepared for, be prepared for it.

Tim Newman [00:35:26]:
Right.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:35:26]:
But if you don’t know, you could say, that’s a great question. And I’m going to need to take a little bit of time, get with the team, and then I can get you an answer. Or you can punt it over and say, hey, Tim, do you have any insight on that? And you might say, you know what, Meaghan, I can share these two things, but to your point, we should get with the team and come back with a more comprehensive answer. That’s very different than if I say, oh, no, I, I don’t know that, Tim, I. Tim, exactly. And then you’re like, megan, okay, we’re going to do this. So that’s the small nuances and you will always get curveballs. So it’s not that you have to have the exact answer, it’s just that you can pause, say, be confident what you know, confident what you don’t, and then be able to answer in a succinct way.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:36:14]:
That’s the other big power move. Give the gist and let them ask for more.

Tim Newman [00:36:20]:
Right. And. And. And you. You come out like you said, you cut. You come off so much better if you. If. If that’s how you.

Tim Newman [00:36:26]:
If that’s what, you know, what you don’t know, right? Yeah, because.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:36:29]:
Yeah, and that’s tone. That’s just tone and words. So.

Tim Newman [00:36:33]:
Yeah, so. So. So what are some other, you know, subtle communication tips or habits that can affect credibility and presence that can be put into place? Like right now. So somebody that’s listening right now saying, oh, man, that’s great. I’m gonna start working on that. Give them something else that they can start to think about and put in right now.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:36:57]:
Okay, so one, if you’re on Zoom, this is the zone of influence. You see, you see my head, you see the top of my body. I can use my gestures. And that is really critical because 55% of our communication is picked up non verbally, and it’s an important thing to think about. So when you’re on your next call, make sure you’re in the zone of influence. That’s one. Number two, your vocal presence is completely connected to your nonverbals. So it’s really hard for me to sound excited if I’m sitting on my hand.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:37:35]:
It’s hard for me to write. So. But the minute I use gestures, my facial expression comes out, my essence comes out, and that’s what I want to encourage people. I am not doing jazz hands. I don’t need to smile all the time. But if you want to demonstrate engagement, confidence, passion, you need to use your full body and your full voice.

Tim Newman [00:37:59]:
And that is such great advice. Such great advice. And. And, you know, when we went. When the pandemic hit, we went to Zoom and everything’s online. And I’ve been teaching online for forever, but doing it full time, I struggled because I’m somebody that I’m. I use my hands, I use my arms to talk and move. And so now.

Tim Newman [00:38:21]:
Now I’m stuck in a little tiny box. And, you know, it’s hard, but it takes getting used to. But once. Once you just relax and start being yourself and. And don’t think of it other than what it is, just be yourself and then it comes through.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:38:38]:
It’s so true, and it’s so important because that’s how you keep attention.

Tim Newman [00:38:42]:
Exactly. Exactly. So, Meaghan, tell us about what you’re doing with Studio Re Invent and all the good things that you guys are doing.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:38:53]:
Okay, so big picture, we basically have two focuses for our business. One is communication. Training and consulting, where we come in and we work with leadership and we work with teams and we build programs based on that Agile communication. So for example, in private equity or financial services, we have several companies where we’ve built out a program that starts with the analysts, then moves up. So you get into the, the principals, the executive directors, and then the managing directors. So it becomes the building blocks. So that it starts with just your own presence and then one to one, how you’re influencing, how you’re pitching, how you’re storytelling. And then you start to get into talking about, you know, trying to win business, et cetera.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:39:45]:
So, so that is, that’s our training arm and we have a number of workshops that people plug into Pitch Camp and Story Lab. But ultimately it’s called pitch craft training because I like to use the word pitch because it feels high stakes. But we’re pitching every day, even our conversation.

Tim Newman [00:40:05]:
Right, right.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:40:06]:
And then on the other side, we actually embed with companies and help them run their pitch. So if you’re an advertising agency or a very large CPG company, you, you have marketing ideas, you have creative ideas, you’ve got a brief. What we do is we come in, we do discovery, we apply our agile communication frameworks to actual helping companies win businesses. And that’s our pitch, craft consulting. And it’s really fun. It’s very rewarding. We are industry agnostic because communication is industry agnostic. And the last thing I’ll tell you is that we now have our own AI coach that people can use that helps them get code.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:40:55]:
It counts filler words, it counts weak words, it lets you know, conciseness and then it provides coaching on applying some of these frameworks. The what the, so what the no field do is storytelling. And that has been a game changer because you see people go from here to here in confidence, but also in developing some of those habits.

Tim Newman [00:41:18]:
Wow.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:41:18]:
So that was, that’s a little bit about Studio Re Invent. And we, we love what we do and we love new clients.

Tim Newman [00:41:26]:
Well, you know, I’m really glad you mentioned, you know, your, your new AI thing because I saw it on your website. I’m saying this sounds really, really interesting.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:41:34]:
Called Sage.

Tim Newman [00:41:35]:
Sage. That is, it’s, you know, it’s amazing what, what can be done and, and, and just how it can move people forward and, and if, if we don’t rely on it to do everything for us right in, in, in, in writing scripts and writing emails and those things that we talk about before but, but help us be more human and help Help us get over some, learn new things. It’s just amazing what it can do.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:42:06]:
It’s amazing. And I will just say one thing about it and you could go in on our website and see. But what’s really important is how many times has someone gotten feedback? Be better at storytelling.

Tim Newman [00:42:21]:
Yes.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:42:22]:
Have more energy. You have a lot of up speak. You use too many filler words and then you’re sitting there thinking, well, when I’m in the moment communicating, I’m not counting that and looking at that. How do I do that? That’s where this comes in. So it is not writing the script. You can upload your presentation. You could do role play with skeptical people if you have a hard time dealing with conflict. But it’s ultimately giving you a safe judgment free zone to practice so that you can develop those skills so that you can show up better with your fellow humans.

Tim Newman [00:42:57]:
Yeah. And again, you bring up such good points. One of the things that really changed how I approach things was when I was a younger professional, I kept telling my students, just quit the Ozzy Dumbs. Just stop. Just stop. And at one point, one of my best students came to me very upset. And she said, you keep telling us to do this, but you don’t tell us how. And I was like, whoa, whoa, you killed me.

Tim Newman [00:43:23]:
But that’s something that kind of changed my whole philosophy, the whole ways that went about doing things. Because she was absolutely right.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:43:33]:
Yeah. And communication is reps. This is reps. You got to do it to be able to get better at it.

Tim Newman [00:43:40]:
Yeah. Well, Meaghan, thanks so much for spending some time with us. What’s the website address and where else can people find you?

Meaghan Benjamin [00:43:48]:
Oh, my gosh. So thank you, Tim, for inviting me on. This has been a great conversation. The website is studioreinvent.com and people can find us there. They can find us on LinkedIn and we tend to put some helpful videos and things on LinkedIn as well. And as a. As I’m digitally evolving, we are starting on Instagram from a company standpoint. So find us and we would love for you to reach out.

Tim Newman [00:44:21]:
Awesome. Thank you so much. I’ll put those, those links in the show notes for everybody. But Meaghan, again, thank you so much. I mean, I could go on for hours and hours and hours, but. But maybe we do a follow up here in a few months.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:44:33]:
That’d be great. Thanks, Tim.

Tim Newman [00:44:35]:
You take care.

Meaghan Benjamin [00:44:36]:
You too.

Tim Newman [00:44:38]:
Be sure to visit speakingwithconfidencepodcast.com to get your free eBook, Top 21 Challenges for Public Speakers. And how to overcome them. You can also register for the forming for public speaking course. Always remember, your voice has the power to change the world. We’ll talk to you next time. Take care.