How the Power of AI Can Turn You Into an Influential Speaker
Jan 27, 2023As a strategic leadership and communication coach, I strive to give my clients the best advantage to influence and inspire with their words. So when I heard that AI can help business leaders communicate better, I had to know more.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock (no judgment on rock dwellers) you’ve likely heard about how generative AI, the common name for OpenAI’s ChatGPT, is taking the world by storm — especially in the world of business.
From articles on Forbes to in-depth interviews on NPR, the media is telling us that AI is the golden child of 2023 business strategy. In fact, 72% of business leaders report that AI is a “business advantage”, according to research by Trulist.
But did you know that you can use AI to give you a personal advantage? Not only can AI help businesses increase their bottom line, it can help you become a more influential speaker and presenter.
Can Generative AI Actually Make You a Better Speaker?
To be honest, when I first heard that can AI improving communication through a program called Yoodli, I scoffed. I thought, isn’t AI for kids who want to cheat on their english essays or for those awful online “conversations” with customer service when you’re trying to return that impulse buy from a late night IG scroll?
I wondered, how could AI help me or my clients with soft skills like speaking, presenting, and communication? Surely, you need a human coach for that.
But now, I happily eat my words.
Generative AI Works Can Improve Your Public Speaking
I was introduced to Yoodli in its infancy, when it only had a few bells and whistles. I was honored, as a communication coach, that the founders, Varun Puri and Esha Joshi, invited me to help build it into the powerhouse it is today.
Even back then, it only took one session on Yoodli to realize that it could make a profound difference in helping my clients speak more eloquently, more succinctly, and with more influence.
Over a year has gone by since that first introduction, and since then the company has made countless advances. Today, with the availability of Generative AI from ChatGPT, the power that Yoodli offers is unparalleled when it comes to advancing your speaking skills.
Yoodli starts by helping my clients decrease filler words, lets them know if they are pausing enough, tells them if they are pacing well, gives them tips on making eye contact, and provides them with a place to advance their speaking skills without the pressure of an audience…
But that’s just the beginning.
What if becoming an influential speaker was as easy as pressing a button?
With Yoodli’s new technology, it can even help you write your talk or presentation. And I’m not referring to the oh-this-is-obvioulsy-writen-by-a-bot type of help.
Yoodli’s AI coach will take your presentation or talk and enhance the structure to make it more concrete and succinct. It gives you suggestions on how to word your ideas to make them clear and engaging. It breaks down the key points of your talk so you can easily write a description for your marketing.
And it even lets you know exactly which words to change to increase your executive leadership presence.
Yoodli is smart. But instead of taking over the world, it’s here to help you own the stage and the front of the room.
And the best part? All that intelligence is available instantly with the touch of a virtual button.
How Generative AI Can Increase Effective Communication
The tools that Yoodli has built into the AI technology are vast.
Here are a few of my favorite features that will skyrocket your influence and skill as a leader when you speak and present.
Yoodli can observe and give you feedback every time you speak virtually — even on Zoom
Yoodli has the capability to join every Zoom meeting you attend, pick you out from the other speakers in the meeting, and analyze your performance.
It will let you know where you are crushing it and where you can improve in your presentations, high pressure meetings, client sessions, investor pitches, sales calls, and job interviews.
You’ll discover your personalized insights, including:
- How often you speak and how often you listen
- What questions you asked over the course of the meeting
- A transcript broken down by each speaker
- Your eye contact and smiles
- Changes you can make to speak more assertively
- And all the basic analytics of filler words, word choice, pacing, and more
Yoodli gives you a place to practice without the pressure of an audience.
One of the founders of Yoodli, Varun Puri, shared with me, “I started Yoodli to give kids in India a place to practice their public speaking without the pressure of an audience. I want to give them every advantage I can.”
Kids in India, the executive who wants to make a powerful impact at the stakeholder meeting, and the entrepreneur who is growing her Youtube channel all need a place to practice and grow their speaking skills without worrying about messing up publicly.
Yoodli is the perfect place for that kind of practice. As they say at Yoodli, when you come here you will get so much more feedback that you get from your bathroom mirror.
(Believe me, I’ve beta tested the bathroom mirror, and Yoodli is much more responsive.)
AI that goes beyond analytics.
One of my TEDx clients shared with me that he now uses Yoodli as a sounding board when he is crafting any presentation.
He’ll log in, brainstorm out loud while Yoodli records, then use the (impressively accurate) transcript to clarify and hone his ideas. Then he goes back to Yoodli to record the new version, and repeats the process until he has a strong, articulate speech ready to present.
He said it cuts his prep time in half.
A corporate speaking client of mine shared that she used the games on Yoodli to practice her impromptu speaking skills that she learned in our sessions. With weekly practice, she said she felt more confident speaking up in meetings with her leadership team.
And her leadership team gave her the feedback that she was more clear and succinct in her communication.
My clients tell me they love that they can record their presentations directly in Yoodli, or upload a pre-recorded video, and share the recording with me or others from whom they want feedback. That way, they have all their feedback time stamped and organized within Yoodli.
This helps them create more powerful speeches and presentations.
Yoodli Helps you Develop a Growth Mindset
When I first show Yoodli’s capabilities to my clients, they sometimes respond with uncertainty. “I don’t want anyone to count my filler words, that’s such a cringe fest”, one client told me.
While it can be intimidating to have a machine give you analytics that are this granular, one of my favorite side benefits is that it will help you shift into a growth mindset. You become desensitized and even excited about getting deep insights on your speaking abilities.
Best of all, there’s no human there to criticize you. Yoodli doesn’t judge.
This helps shift you out of perfectionism and into a growth mindset. Gone are the days of getting stuck or frozen thinking you have to be a perfect speaker. Instead, you can work with Yoodli to get a little better every time you practice.
The Dream Team: Generative AI and Human Coach Together at Last
Nothing is more powerful than the combination of a human coach and an AI coach. It’s the dream team.
What makes this dream team so powerful is that Yoodli can do things that I can’t and vice versa.
As a human coach, I help my clients get incredible results, from landing TEDx talks to speaking with clarity and confidence in meetings, to crafting and delivering the most powerful presentations of their lives.
I help my clients understand speaking structure, increase their emotional connection to their words, and help them find and tell the best stories.
As an AI coach, Yoodli can do things that a human speaking coach could never do.
It will find every filler word, track your eye contact and smiles, keep you from making a faux pas by using derogatory language, even track the modulation of your voice.
It uses machine learning to help you craft more succinct presentations, instantly give you a list of bullet points, offer you fun games to improve your speaking abilities, provide a transcript, and even join your zoom meetings and break down analytics for each speaker.
Yoodli is available 24/7. A human coach like me, on the other hand, does require sleep.
How You Get Access to this AI Powerhouse and Instantly Increase Your Influence
Yoodli is now available to the public, so jump in and start using this tool today. Why not harness the power of AI and let it turn you into a powerful and influential speaker?
I can tell you that I will never craft another speech or presentation without the help of Yoodli. It’s too valuable not to use.
Sign up for Yoodli here, or connect with me to discover how you can get the coaching dream team of human and AI coaching together.
About Carissa:
As a strategic leadership coach and licensed psychotherapist, I offer customized programs to advance your leadership presence, develop your speaking and communication skills, and increase your confidence as a leader.
In the Leadership Accelerator Program you will get the unique combination of powerful leadership strategies, research-backed psychology, and the power of AI to help you become a strong, influential leader who gets results.
Book a call to learn more.