Marla Press is the innovative mind behind Speakers on Fire Academy. Marla, a seasoned public speaking coach, delves into the transformative power of effective communication, highlighting how it can dramatically elevate one's influence and presence. She champions the concept that magnetic energy and authenticity are key to resonating with any audience, ensuring your message isn't just heard, but profoundly felt and remembered.
Marla's philosophy centers on the idea that anyone can become a captivating speaker by harnessing their unique energy and embracing genuine connection, transcending the conventional focus on content alone. Through her intuitive coaching, she equips individuals to unlock their potential, transforming their speaking skills into a conduit for genuine connection and impactful leadership. The conversation not only enlightens but also inspires, offering invaluable insights into mastering the art of presence to leave a lasting impression in every interaction.
Want to learn more about Marla Press's work? Check out their website at https://marlapress.com.
Connect with Marla Press on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/marlaapress/.
Key Points with Time Stamps:
- [00:01:20.13 - 00:01:45.25] Introduction of Marla Press, highlighting her background and expertise in public speaking and coaching.
- [00:03:05.07 - 00:03:35.20] Marla shares her intuitive experiences and how they relate to her coaching methodology.
- [00:07:34.18 - 00:07:59.27] Discussion on the transformative impact of mastering one's energy in communication.
- [00:10:18.12 - 00:10:44.00] Emphasis on the significance of speaking and communication in business growth and personal development.
- [00:13:57.05 - 00:14:17.04] Insights into the personalized approach Marla takes in coaching to enhance various aspects of public speaking.
- [00:17:33.10 - 00:17:58.24] Highlighting the importance of body language, energy, and making a genuine connection with the audience.
- [00:24:22.07 - 00:24:43.29] Concluding thoughts on the necessity of connection and experience in effective communication.
Transcript
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;30;20
Craig Andrews
I was in a coma for six weeks while the doctors told my wife I was going to die. When I woke up, she told me the most fantastic story. My team kept running the business without me. Freelancers reached out to my team and said, we will do whatever it takes. As long as Craig's in the hospital. I consider that the greatest accomplishment of my career.
00;00;30;23 - 00;00;51;10
Craig Andrews
My name is Craig Andrews and this is the Leaders and Legacies podcast where we talk to leaders creating an impact beyond themselves. At the end of today's interview, I'll tell you how you can be the next leader featured on the show.
00;00;51;10 - 00;01;20;11
Craig Andrews
Today I want to welcome Mala Press Malas, the founder of Speakers on Fire Academy. She is a public speaking coach, life coach and Art of presence trainer. She coaches you to wow every room so you can magnetically attract more clients and wealth. Marla's mission is to help you speak so people listen. She offers group programs and one on one coaching.
00;01;20;13 - 00;01;45;25
Craig Andrews
Mala malas unique experience. exercise is help beginner and experienced speakers transform immediately. And Mala is an international speaker and author with a degree in psychology. She worked as a practice management consultant in the medical field and an inclusion and diversity consultant. I've had the opportunity to get to know Mala over the last month, and I've been looking forward to this interview.
00;01;45;28 - 00;01;52;16
Craig Andrews
And, so Mala, it's so, so happy to welcome you on Leaders and Legacies.
00;01;52;18 - 00;01;58;09
Marla Press
I'm so glad to be here. This is excellent, and thank you for doing what you do.
00;01;58;11 - 00;02;22;25
Craig Andrews
So yeah, so one of the things, as we're looking forward to the episode, you know, reason people should listen in is one of the things. And we'll get to this later. But one of the things that I remember you told me is anybody can be a great speaker. And that if you have five minutes with them, you can make a big difference.
00;02;22;28 - 00;02;37;07
Craig Andrews
And so in a few minutes, I'm going to want to get into that. But, before we go there, you were telling me that you're very intuitive. you also said you had an out of body experience.
00;02;37;09 - 00;03;05;05
Marla Press
Yeah. So this was when I was a teenager, and I was in a dance company, and we were practicing. And next thing I know, my consciousness is up on the ceiling looking down at me. I was completely out of my body seeing myself, and it only lasted a minute or so, wasn't real long, and it just came up so suddenly.
00;03;05;07 - 00;03;35;20
Marla Press
But, because even before that, I had some other unusual experiences. I didn't freak out too bad, but but it was really unusual. And I think that it's it's partly because I was so intuitive and so used to thinking outside the box. when I was a really young teenager, I was doing tarot cards for people, and they would tell me, how, how did you know that about me?
00;03;35;21 - 00;04;03;24
Marla Press
Because it wasn't just people I was close to. I did it for people that I was just barely acquainted with, and they were really surprised. And I just really tuned in to that person and I connected with their energy. This is this is my belief that I just connected with their energy and informed and came to me. And it was it was really, really valuable for them.
00;04;03;26 - 00;04;28;22
Marla Press
And it got me thinking about, well, how else can I use this? And then later in life, I've had visions of at one point I was camping and I didn't just see in my mind's eye a fire, but I experienced a fire all around me, the flame. I thought it was real. I mean, it was. It lasted for maybe 15 minutes that time.
00;04;28;24 - 00;04;47;28
Marla Press
And I heard the fire. I saw the fire. The whole sky was lit up. It was that really did freak me out a little bit because it was such an experience. And then goes away. And what I found out the next day is a fire did start, not that many miles from where I was camping.
00;04;48;01 - 00;04;48;12
Craig Andrews
Wow.
00;04;48;13 - 00;05;22;11
Marla Press
And yeah, yeah. And then also another one that, you know, people everybody knows of this one. So 911 I don't normally have violent dreams at all. In fact, most of the time I don't even remember my dreams. When I do, it's usually very significant. But I had very, very violent dreams, not just one night before nine over 11, but two nights before 911, where lots and lots and lots of people were murdered.
00;05;22;13 - 00;05;59;05
Marla Press
And it was it was very disturbing. And then 911 happened. And so I think that we all have this intuition that we can tap into, but most of us, we're so in our head, we're so in our, you know, what's happening in our reality that we don't tap into this intuition that we all have, and it can be so beneficial and so many ways, you know, not just to see the future, but to to really just have a sense of what is going on in the world as a whole.
00;05;59;07 - 00;06;30;09
Craig Andrews
Well, that's, you know, that's wild. And one of the things that I was talking to you about, in the green room, was I was in a coma during the, the pull out of Afghanistan. And for some reason, I'd been brought back to the Marine Corps to act as an advisor. and and when I woke up, and I still remember all my dreams from my comment very vividly as as if they were real life.
00;06;30;09 - 00;07;03;26
Craig Andrews
Because for me, that was my real life. Yeah. And, and I hadn't really connected the dots to that particular dream until I was reading my wife's journal one day and saw that on September 11th, 2021, the day that we did the pullout from Afghanistan, where 13 Marines died, I was actually in surgery that day. And I'm guessing, you know, while they were doing surgery, that was the, you know, the conversation going on in the room, because that was the news of the day.
00;07;03;29 - 00;07;07;26
Craig Andrews
Yeah. And, bizarre.
00;07;07;28 - 00;07;34;16
Marla Press
Yeah. It's really amazing. Our dreams are so fascinating. And a lot of people do this, you know, the vivid, lucid dreaming. I mean, there's so much to it. But again, most of us were so buried in what's going on in our life. And this is really helpful for speakers too, because what I help people do, you mentioned in five minutes that that I can change a speaker, and that is by changing your energy.
00;07;34;18 - 00;07;59;27
Marla Press
And when you learn to master your energy, it it not only helps as a speaker, but it helps you in your business and it helps you in every release and ship your your spouse, your partners, everybody, your kids. It helps in all aspects of your life when you get out of this cluttered mind and into your full body, it just like magic happens.
00;07;59;29 - 00;08;24;25
Marla Press
And it's it's it's a process. You can't sort of just will it to happen or or, you know, intellectually make it happen. You have to really know how to go through this experience to master the energy. But, you know, I don't know about you, but my opinion is that the world's a bit crazy. There's there's so much anxiety and there's so much change happening in the world.
00;08;24;25 - 00;08;59;05
Marla Press
And when we can get into this space, which I call your home space, where it's really the essence of who you are, where you're truly home when you get into this place, you communicate differently and it's more authentic. It's more calm, it's more resourceful. It's so, so helpful in all aspects of your life. And that's what I hope people do, is it's one of the many things that I work on with speakers.
00;08;59;11 - 00;09;02;14
Marla Press
But it's a big, powerful one.
00;09;02;17 - 00;09;20;28
Craig Andrews
Yeah. And, you know, we for different business owners that are listening to this, I would imagine a number of people are thinking, well, look, I don't get up on stage and speak this. You know what, why should I care? How would you respond to them?
00;09;21;01 - 00;09;47;17
Marla Press
Yeah. You're always on stage. It doesn't have to be. And not everybody I work with wants to be on a big in-person stage. Some people just want to be better one on one with potential clients. Some people just want to be one on one because they're on on a team, and they just want to be able to communicate better and advocate for themselves or communicate better about their company that they may not own.
00;09;47;20 - 00;10;18;10
Marla Press
So it doesn't have to be. You're on a big stage, but communication is the most important skill. And you know, it used to be when you apply for jobs, for example, you you'd want you. The credentials were the most important thing. That's no longer true. Yeah, your credentials are still important and your experience is still important. But when you have the skill of communication, that will open a lot of doors for you.
00;10;18;12 - 00;10;44;00
Marla Press
And then if you do own a business, it is the biggest. The most powerful, the fastest, the simplest way to grow your business is through speaking. And that doesn't have to be on a big stage. It could be in a networking group, it could be and Facebook Live or LinkedIn live. It doesn't have to be, you know, everybody's different.
00;10;44;03 - 00;11;08;24
Marla Press
You know, I don't try to make everybody the same. I look at, you know, what are your goals? What are you know, what are your desires? What do you want to have happen? And then how can we make that happen? But there's always a speaking opportunity no matter what that looks like. It's important that you become a powerful communicator, that you become more authentic, that you become.
00;11;08;27 - 00;11;29;16
Marla Press
You know, I say speak so people listen because a lot of us are not listening to to, you know, people get lost in the crowd. If you're in a networking group, everybody sounds and they kind of all sound the same after a while. So how can you stand out from the crowd no matter what that crowd is?
00;11;29;18 - 00;11;58;01
Craig Andrews
Yeah. You know, it's it's interesting. I was I was remembering the Super Bowl commercial with Christopher Walken where there was all these people imitating the way Christopher Walken talks and, and so when you talk about standing out in a crowd, do you have to have that Christopher Walken method of talking that is attention grabbing or what what what makes you stand out?
00;11;58;04 - 00;12;22;09
Marla Press
Yeah, there's a lot of things that can make you stand out. Certainly if you know how to grab attention and keep attention. So you have to have a little bit of entertainment factor. Right. So but, but a misnomer is that everybody has to be way up there in their energy. You don't have to have super high energy. You have it's it's not high or low necessarily.
00;12;22;11 - 00;12;55;05
Marla Press
It's the quality of your energy. It's having this magnetic energy that draws people in. So if you know, depending on what stage I'm on, if I'm on a commercial or I'm on a big stage, I'm going to have a little bit higher energy than if I'm in a networking group or in a small group. So it kind of depends on the circumstance, but you kind of have some entertainment factor, some it factor, something that's, interesting, but you also want to vary that.
00;12;55;07 - 00;13;17;29
Marla Press
And at some point you have to connect to people, you know, that is a little different energy. A lot of people will have one or the other. There are good entertainer and performer or they're really, you know, big hearted and have this wonderful warm energy. But you really have to have both, and you have to know how to draw people in.
00;13;18;01 - 00;13;26;08
Marla Press
And this authentic energy is really, really magnetizing.
00;13;26;10 - 00;13;37;18
Craig Andrews
What if somebody says, look, I don't have both. I'm either not that entertaining or, you know, I lack that warmth. What did they do? Or they screwed?
00;13;37;20 - 00;13;57;03
Marla Press
No, of course not. So. So that's you know, it's funny. People would just say, well, how can I have more confidence as a speaker? How can I get better as a speaker? And some of the some people will tell you, we'll just keep practicing, but you have to practice the right things. So it's, it's it's partly practicing, but it's partly learning the skills.
00;13;57;05 - 00;14;17;04
Marla Press
So having a speaker coach is really, really important so that you do learn the best skills. And again some some people will come to me and they will be performers but they don't have the connection factor. And so I teach that some people are the warm people and they they're just not real interesting. So I help them with that.
00;14;17;09 - 00;14;45;20
Marla Press
And some people have neither. And we can always, always improve. So knowing these skills and what I don't do because people don't learn by just saying, okay, here's the five steps to become a better speaker. Now go implement them. That's that's not that helpful. What I do is I take you through experiences. So you mentioned in my bio about exercises, which doesn't sound so sexy.
00;14;45;20 - 00;15;19;04
Marla Press
Hey, let's do some exercises. But but going through an experience of how to have different energy and how to attract people and how to bring people in and how to connect. I take you through these exercises another big is receiving the audience. And most of us think of give, give, give. We're going to, you know, we got all this great information we're giving it, but you have to receive the audience, even if you can't see them.
00;15;19;07 - 00;15;45;21
Marla Press
I always imagine so I on podcasts, I can't see people that are listening right now. But I feel you I imagine you, I have the intention of connecting with you and that makes a big difference versus just I have to give all this information. So there's a lot of techniques that are probably a little different than the average public speaking coach.
00;15;45;21 - 00;16;08;27
Marla Press
And what I teach, I don't just teach, you know, cell from stage. And this is how you can, you know, do these ten steps and have this formula. I don't like formulas, but I do give people experiences. So they really get how to have this communication that is really, really going to draw people into you.
00;16;08;29 - 00;16;13;14
Craig Andrews
And what would be an example of a formula?
00;16;13;16 - 00;16;32;13
Marla Press
A formula would be okay. So you're going to you're going to start with the hook, then you're going to have your three teaching points, and then you're going to, you know, tell them what you're going to tell them. Then tell them, then tell them what you told them. And you know, and then you're going to bring up your your offer.
00;16;32;15 - 00;17;02;19
Marla Press
And this is how you do your offer. ABC so things like that would be a formula. and I think, you know, probably Toastmasters has their own formula. So those are formulas. And it's not that you don't want to do any of that. Some of that is helpful. Right. But it's it's it's you know, when you can you know, one of the biggest mistakes speakers make is they memorize their speech.
00;17;02;22 - 00;17;33;07
Marla Press
And then it sounds like you memorized. And, you know, speakers worry so much about forgetting their words, but communication is only 10% the words you say. That's it. It's actually 7%. But I say 10%, and it's 20% in your tone of voice, and it's a whopping 70% your energy, which is your body language, your passion and your confidence.
00;17;33;10 - 00;17;58;24
Marla Press
That's what people pick up on the most. It's not that they're going to remember everything you say. They're going to remember how you made them feel, and they're going to get get a sense of you from your energy, your body language, your facial expressions and zoom facial expressions are so important on stage. It's your whole body. It's you know, what your feet are doing.
00;17;58;24 - 00;18;31;14
Marla Press
People pace back and forth or they shift their weight a lot. So those all those things communicate so much, much more than the words. And then if you're memorizing your speech, even if you're good at memorization, it still sounds a little robotic. And if somebody throws you off with a question or something else happens. I was doing this talk and this fly kept buzzing around my head, and so I made a joke about it instead of, you know, oh my God, now I'm going to forget what I'm going to say because I'm focusing on this fly.
00;18;31;21 - 00;18;53;11
Marla Press
Just, you know, you just have to go with the moment. And that just made me human because, you know, I was I was, you know, made a significant joke about the fly. So it's it's really about, this, you know, it all boils down to this energy. And I try to make energy really practical, too. It's not real.
00;18;53;11 - 00;19;00;10
Marla Press
Woo woo. A little bit of it's woo woo, but it's it's, it's it's also very practical.
00;19;00;13 - 00;19;33;10
Craig Andrews
Yeah. You know, it's as you were talking, I was thinking about a, I tested a new keynote talk that I was trotting out to a small group of people, and, and it's, kind of an interactive where there's some workshops and it and the there was a couple of really interesting pieces of feedback that I got. And one of them was, they said, Craig, you're really, really good at the workshop part.
00;19;33;12 - 00;19;54;08
Craig Andrews
it's like you just have that nailed. And and as you were talking about that, it made me wonder. It made me reflect back, say, okay, in terms of energy, was my energy different when I was presenting versus dynamically responding to the audience?
00;19;54;10 - 00;20;02;01
Craig Andrews
I'm interested in your take on that. I mean, obviously you weren't there, but, you know, based on your expertise, how would you interpret that?
00;20;02;03 - 00;20;26;08
Marla Press
Yeah. So when you were presenting, you may have been in presenting mode, and when you were doing the workshop and being dynamic, you were in conversation mode. You were in two way communication, more than one way communication. And so here's another big thing I work on with speakers that, is not so typical for speaking coaches. It's your personality.
00;20;26;11 - 00;20;50;13
Marla Press
And what I find a lot of speakers do when they go to speak is they're not themselves. They want to be the expert. They want to look competent. They want to look, you know, like they know what they're doing. So they're almost stoic. They're, you know, they're they're almost taking on this persona of just being the authority. And some of that is good.
00;20;50;13 - 00;21;28;25
Marla Press
Some people don't have enough authority. So when I work with speakers, everybody's different. What people need to add to their persona is different, and it's not be someone else. In fact, a lot of speaking coaches say, oh, emulate, you know, this great speaker or that great speaker, try and be like them. I don't do that. What I do instead is say, you know, when you're with your friends, you're probably a little bit more, you know, relaxed and joking or you're probably, you know, maybe you're more confident or maybe you're, you know, maybe you're more bossy, you know, but, you know, like I said, some people need to be more enthusiastic.
00;21;28;25 - 00;21;52;27
Marla Press
Some people need to be more warm. Other people need to be more authoritative and directive. It's a lot of different things that that people might need to do to be fully expressed. And I think, you know, you may have been, you know, maybe not fully, but maybe a little bit in presenter mode and being, you know, competent and the authority and you, you came off different.
00;21;52;29 - 00;22;19;12
Craig Andrews
Yeah. You know, what was interesting was the other piece of feedback was they said you should do a workshop earlier in your presentation. I was like, we did the first workshop ten minutes in. And as a matter of fact, at the very beginning of the talk, it started with me asking them questions and listening, you know, listening to their questions, and then within ten minutes we were actually in a workshop.
00;22;19;12 - 00;22;36;13
Craig Andrews
But it was it was interesting because obviously there's something in the way in my body language and in the way I'm communicating. That was much more magnetic in the workshop than the presentation.
00;22;36;16 - 00;23;01;20
Marla Press
Yeah, well, it's interesting too, because, a lot of speakers will start out asking a lot of questions, and that used to be the way to do it. That was old school. Now people are a little tired of being asked a lot of questions. What they never tire of is having an experience. And that's a lot of what I teach, too.
00;23;01;22 - 00;23;25;26
Marla Press
It's, you know, you have you have to either be a phenomenal storyteller or give people an experience. You can't just give people information. We're bombarded with information. Our heads are so full of information these days, and we can get information almost anywhere we can get it. You know, you know, YouTube and Google and ChatGPT and all these places.
00;23;26;02 - 00;23;49;11
Marla Press
So what we want, what we crave, is a connection and an experience. And so people love that. And a lot of speakers, you know, and oh my gosh, with the power and that's, you know, there is such a thing is just by PowerPoint, you have to have a really fabulous PowerPoint for that to be effective anymore. People don't really want that.
00;23;49;11 - 00;24;13;05
Marla Press
They want a connection and an experience. And so and I don't know what your questions were. So maybe they were very engaging and it was the right way to go. And the other thing too is, you know, always take in feedback, but different people are going to give you different feedback. So don't take it as gospel. It's, you know, but always but but don't say, oh, that's not true.
00;24;13;09 - 00;24;22;05
Marla Press
Evaluate it yourself. And it's good to get feedback from different sources and different people because you're going to get different opinions.
00;24;22;07 - 00;24;43;29
Craig Andrews
Well, I like what you just said. And it's it's this is probably the most powerful place that we could end today. Is it? People need connection and an experience. And then the other taking from earlier in our conversation, anybody can deliver both.
00;24;44;02 - 00;24;48;20
Marla Press
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
00;24;48;22 - 00;24;57;10
Craig Andrews
Well, Marla, this has been fascinating. And obviously there's a lot of people that would benefit from what you do. How how did people reach you?
00;24;57;13 - 00;25;32;07
Marla Press
Yes. So my website is Marla Prescott. I'm just my name. So super easy and set up an appointment with me is just, better call marla.com so you can get on my calendar. And here's what I offer. It's not. Oh, let me tell you about my programs. I really want to be of service. And I mean that I my if you set up a call with me, here's what I want to do for you is bring any part of your speech.
00;25;32;10 - 00;25;51;15
Marla Press
It could be your marketing message, it could be your story. So we can make it more compelling. It could be any part of your message. Or if you don't know what your message is yet, then we'll craft a message to that. You come away from this call with a message that will immediately get you more clients, and that will make you feel better.
00;25;51;15 - 00;26;13;25
Marla Press
I call it a hot or not evil and my my my company's Speakers on Fire Academy. So everything's about being sizzling and being hotter and and hot topics and you know, just firing yourself up. So you're passionate about what you do and firing up your audience. So they're excited to work with you.
00;26;13;28 - 00;26;20;23
Craig Andrews
Well, Marla, this has been great. I do hope people will reach out to you. Thank you for being on Leaders and Legacies.
00;26;20;25 - 00;26;31;25
Marla Press
Thank you so much, Craig. This has been wonderful. I could talk for hours more with you. You're you're fantastic and I appreciate you so much.
00;26;31;25 - 00;27;00;23
Craig Andrews
This is Craig Andrews. I want to thank you for listening to the Leaders and Legacies podcast. We're looking for leaders to share how they're making the impact beyond themselves. If that's you, please go to Alize for me.com/guest and sign up there. If you got something out of this interview, we would love you to share this episode on social media.
00;27;00;25 - 00;27;24;05
Craig Andrews
Just do a quick screenshot with your phone and text it to a friend, or posted on the socials. If you know someone who would be a great guest, tag them on social media and let them know about the show, including the hashtag leaders and legacies. I love seeing your posts and suggestions. We are regularly putting out new episodes and content to make sure you don't miss anything.
00;27;24;07 - 00;29;34;21
Craig Andrews
Please go ahead and subscribe your thumbs up! Ratings and reviews go a long way to help promote the show. It means a lot to me. It means a lot to my team. If you want to know more, please go to Alize for me.com. or follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.
