119: Deconstructing a Keynote: Writing, Preparation, and Delivery with Carol Cox and Diane Diaz

In the last episode, I talked about pushing past your speaking plateau - what happens when we get to a certain point in our skillset, it’s a comfortable place, but we’re no longer progressing or challenging ourselves, and I shared some ways you can get past your plateau.

That’s where my guest today, Diane Diaz, was in her speaking journey.

You may recognize Diane - she’s been on the podcast a couple times this year and she’s one of the speaking coaches here at Speaking Your Brand.

Diane does quite a bit of speaking for her business, The Brand Teacher - about once a month for the past few years, mostly to build brand awareness and for lead generation.

She’s gotten really good at - audiences love her presentations and she gets clients from them.

And then Diane was asked to give the luncheon keynote at a women’s conference here in Orlando where we both live.

Like most of us would be, she was both excited and nervous about it - and she knew saying yes was going to help propel her to the next level in her speaking journey, which is what we talk about in today’s episode.

You’ll hear how we decided on the content for her keynote, how she practiced and prepared for it, including handling the roller coaster of emotions leading up to it, and how it went.

Pushing past your speaking plateau and going after bigger opportunities and bigger stages, like keynotes, is why I created our new Master Your Speaking online group coaching program.

The program starts May 16, 2019, and applications are currently open.

The program combines 1:1 coaching and expert guidance from both me and Diane, group calls, peer feedback and support, and accountability.

We will challenge you and gently push you out of your comfort zone so you can become a Master Speaker.

You’ll work on creating or refining your signature talk and adding layers to it - emotion, humor, video and audio clips, audience experience, and stories with visual scenes and dialogue.

You’ll create your speaker promotional materials so you can position and market yourself as a speaker to get those bigger opportunities, including paid ones.

You can get all the details and apply online today at www.speakingyourbrand.com/mastery.

Diane’s speaking highlights: https://youtu.be/hASGMpco62A

About My Guest: Diane Diaz is founder of The Brand Teacher. As a personal brand strategist, LinkedIn strategist, CultureTalk Certified Partner in using Archetypes in personal

branding, and a Certified Speaking Coach with Speaking Your Brand, she uses her two

decades of combined branding, marketing, and teaching experience to teach

professionals and entrepreneurs how to define and build personal brands that attract

their dream jobs or clients so they can build careers or businesses they love. Diane also leads workshops with companies and organizations on personal brand strategy, Archetypes in personal branding, and LinkedIn strategy for building personal and business brands that stand out and get noticed.

About Us: The Speaking Your Brand podcast is hosted by Carol Cox. At Speaking Your Brand, we help women entrepreneurs and professionals create their signature talks and gain more visibility to achieve their goals. Our mission is to get more women in positions of influence and power: on stages, in businesses, on boards, in the media, in politics, and in our communities. Check out our coaching and training programs at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com.

Links:

Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/119

Join the free Speaking Your Brand community at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/join/ or text the word SPEAKING to 444-999.

Apply for our new “Master Your Speaking” online group program at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/mastery.

Ready to create your signature talk and framework? Email me at carol@speakingyourbrand.com or click here to schedule a call.

Say hi to me on Instagram and Twitter: @CarolMorganCox.

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts and leave a review!

Related Podcast Episodes:

• Episode 55: Should You Give an Instructional or an Inspirational Talk
• Episode 66: Mastering Your Speaking Style and Stage Presence
• Episode 81: Be a Better Speaker – Top Takeaways from Watching Presenters at Podcast Movement
• Episode 106: Get More Speaking Opportunities with a Powerful Personal Brand with Diane Diaz
• Episode 118: Push Past Your Speaking Plateau

Become Bookable Live Online Workshop - April 15, 2026
If you want to speak more but you’re not sure where to start or your efforts haven’t produced the results you want, I’m hosting a live online workshop called “Become Bookable: How to Get Speaking Invitations” on Wednesday, April 15th.

A lot of brilliant women assume they just need to pitch themselves more. But the real reason speakers get invited isn’t because they pitch harder — it’s because they’re positioned as bookable.

In this 3-hour interactive workshop live on Zoom, I’ll show you how speakers actually get invited — and help you clarify the positioning that makes event organizers say yes.

As a podcast listener, use the coupon code “Podcast100” to save $100 on your registration.

Learn more and register at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/bookable