“Where can I learn to speak like you?”

The event for realtors was winding down. I’d just sat on a panel where I talked about using AI for content creation.

Specifically, how I use ChatGPT to train my soft skills for better results.

We covered things like:

🎥 uploading videos of yourself to improve nonverbal cues

👩🏻‍💻 and generating buyer questions at different awareness levels to create a content plan

This panel took place last month…yet what stands out now is the number of people at the end who asked:

“Where can I learn to speak like you?”

That brings me to this post.

In a world where AI can write for you, strategize for you, and yes, even clone your voice to speak like you…

How well do you communicate when you meet someone IRL?

Can you find the words to connect?

Do you have presence?

As AI creates more of what we read and hear online…

your ability to communicate IRL is what shapes your relationships, therefore, your reality.

——————

I’ve ghostwritten for execs at Fortune 100s and startups.

✔️Written launch copy that’s generated $5M in a month.

✔️Been a part of webinars that have pulled in 6-figures in 3 hours.

✔️Studied storytelling.

Yet even with that background, I can say that writing in someone else’s voice is not the same as developing and using your own.

You have to train that.

So… where did I learn to speak?

Toastmasters.

—————

Just like you train your hard skills, you train your speech too.

In Toastmasters, you practice impromptu speaking.

It works like this:

The moderator asks you a question from the topic of the day. Maybe it’s national parks or US history.

Then you have 1-2 minutes to answer.

If you don’t have topic knowledge, you still have 2 minutes to speak.

At the same time...another person counts all of your filler words.

(These are your uhs, ums, likes, so, etc.)

Which means you get practice speaking on a topic with confidence, even when you’re not an expert.

This helps you:

develop a POVpause as neededspeak clearly

——————

I can't tell you how much difference a year of Toastmasters has made.

But I can show you.

• my own talking head content

• workshops where I teach marketing

• invitations to speak

At the end of the day, AI can mimic your voice. Maybe even help you find it.

But it can't replace your presence.

Presence is what builds relationships.

And those relationships are what shape your reality.


Annabel

P.S. Want the AI workshop for customer journey mapping? I created this framework to help founders develop their brands. Now I’m using it to develop my own voice.
Reply and I’ll send it your way.