Thank you for being curious! I’m Carol Carter, author of the forthcoming book “Before She Speaks”.
My quest with this page is to see more women succeed in the world of speaking.
Why?
I watch far too many women struggle to be heard. These women have great ideas to offer the workplace and the world, yet few of their speeches or ideas really land and stick.
I know this struggle well. It’s my own. In my quest to overcome this invisible wall between good enough and memorable, I stumbled across many tips and insights. There is an art to speaking to be heard and remembered. It’s these lessons and skills I hope to share with great women all over the world.
I would love to bring you along on this journey!
No matter what your gender, if you want your ideas to be heard and remembered, this site will bring you thought provoking articles and career building inspiration.
Not out to conquer the world stage?This site will help you to be heard and remembered in all your circles of influence.
The back story of “Before She Speaks” – the forthcoming book
In 2008 I made up my mind to become a workshop facilitator. I hoped to help managers and workers gain key skills to make their workplaces great places to work. I brought together the best of the best material I’d gathered for the past 20 years, combined with insights into current practices and world events. Designing the workshops was no problem. Delivering them … that was a challenge.
My speaking skills … well … were sad. Hearing the words come out of my mouth, I would think “Carol! Seriously! Would YOU want to listen to you?”
While studying and developing greater skills to serve my clients, I joined Toastmasters in 2010. Competing in their speech contests was a brilliant way to fast track the growth process. In 2012 I was honoured to represent all of British Columbia, Canada in the World Championship of Public Speaking for Toastmasters International.
Out of over 30,000 speakers from 122 countries, only 86 top speakers from around the planet gathered in Orlando Florida for the Semi-Finals. This formerly pathetic, shaky, sweaty, stammering, brain blanking, boring speaker placed 2nd in the Semi-Final round, making me one of the top 18 speakers in the World for 2012!
On the way to Florida, I looked at the list of 86 Semi-Finalists. SURPRISE, almost half of us were women! Only a handful of women have EVER placed in the top 3 for the finals. Only 2 have ever won. I thought the odds looked excellent for women this year.
My semi-finals group – note that half of us are women!
I came 2nd in my Semi-Finals round to a very worthy woman. I thought “Better her than me.” (She had shared with me earlier “My finals speech is THE speech. If I make it to the finals, I have this one nailed.”)
I watched other Semi-Finals rounds in horror as woman after woman delivered speeches that never had a chance to begin with. At the end of the day, 9 finalists had emerged…
… 8 men and 1 woman.
Remember, Diane told me she had “THE speech”? At the finals, two days later, I watched in shock as Diane made at least 5 of the fatal mistakes women make on stage and in their content. She did NOT have THE speech.
The sad and scary thing is, she had no idea.
On the plane back to Canada, I had a lot of time to think (It’s a very long flight to the Northwest coast of this continent). Why are so many women good speakers; but rarely can you find a woman who is truly a GREAT speaker
Women have brilliant things to say and important ideas to share. Until we learn how to overcome our natural barriers to success on stage (or in the boardroom), we’ll continue to struggle be heard, or even remembered. ~ Carol Carter [Click to tweet this!]
Subscribe to join me on this journey of research and discovery as I put together the best of the best ideas for the December 2022 release of “Before She Speaks” . This book is full of tips to create and deliver your GREATEST speech every time…
