Marla Cormier Of Emerging Leader Training On 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Greet people at the door. When I delivered my first large keynote to an audience of a few thousand, I got a little nervous. It was a large group, in a large room, and it started to feel overwhelming. I decided to treat it like any other training class so before my session, I stationed myself at the door and shook hands and welcomed as many people as I could. That short, personal connection helped me get my bearings and turn my nerves into excitement. Each person I met was friendly and smiled back. Some even said they were looking forward to my presentation. All of a sudden the situation changed from overwhelming to exciting.

At some point in our lives, many of us will have to give a talk to a large group of people. What does it take to be a highly effective public speaker? How can you improve your public speaking skills? How can you overcome a fear of speaking in public? What does it take to give a very interesting and engaging public talk? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker” we are talking to successful and effective public speakers to share insights and stories from their experience. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Marla Cormier.

Bringing over 20 years of experience in Learning & Development, Marla Cormier has developed leadership training and emerging leader programs for some of the most recognizable names on The Las Vegas Strip including The Venetian and Palazzo, MGM Grand, and Mandalay Bay, small, high-tech internet startups, and long-time, global industry leaders like Caterpillar. Today, Marla is the President and founder of Emerging Leader Training, a company designed to assist organizations in retaining their high-potential employees and developing internal talent pipelines to fill future vacancies. Marla lives in Texas with her husband, Andy, and two dogs, Peanut and Boomer.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

My family moved from Southern California to Las Vegas, Nevada when I was four years old. My dad, after being laid off from his job, decided to open his own print shop. Remember, this was back before everyone could design and print their own business cards from home. At the time, I was an only child, and they named the store Marla’s Quick Print, after me. I remember my parents driving me to see the store one night before it opened. We just sat in the car looking at the building. Then, it happened. The sign lit up and there it was, Marla’s Quick Print, in lights. I grew up in that store, playing school in the back, doing homework, even having a birthday party there where my friends made their own personalized notepads. It was a mom-and pop store and they worked incredibly hard to make ends meet. Growing up there I learned how to properly answer the phone, “Thank you for calling Marla’s Quick Print, this is Marla speaking, how may I help you?”, how to count back change, and how to un-jam copy machines, a skill that earned me quite a bit of praise throughout my career. Sometimes we’d eat dinner there, bringing in fast food so they could grab a bite while they finished working. Other times we’d eat at home and after dinner my dad would go back to the store to finish up multiple jobs. It was a great lesson in hard work and determination, but also in the importance of modernization and relevance. When the big quick-print stores came, which offered more services with newer technology, my parents couldn’t keep up. The summer I went away to college they closed the store. They had worked so hard but didn’t find great success. That made me nervous to every start my own business, but I’m sure we’ll get to that later.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

On my first day of kindergarten, I became enamored with my teacher, Mrs. Labinger. She got to write on the board, take role, pass out papers, get us lined up for lunch, and when we came back from recess, she would open the big wardrobe closet in the classroom to reveal a mirror on the inside door. She’d look at her reflection and comb her hair quickly, making sure every strand was in place. It may sound strange but from that day I knew I wanted to do what she did. I wanted to be a teacher. As I got older that feeling grew thanks to the phenomenal teachers I had. I saw how they helped students learn, how they encouraged each person they had in class, and how they genuinely cared about each student. I was certain that teaching was my career path and that I wanted to do what they did.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

The most interesting was finding out that after so many years of wanting to be a classroom teacher, it wasn’t a great fit. Once I had my degree and my first teaching job, I was surprised to find out that I didn’t like it. It was a terrifying feeling not knowing what to be when I grew up. After so many years of certainty, all of a sudden, I had none. Fortunately, I got a job with Hillel of SDSU creating student programs on campus and working with students to build their leadership skills. That experience led me to working with MGM Resorts to create career advancement programs and redefined my career path.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

One of my earliest attempts at entrepreneurship was a business my husband and I started together. We had great services, a killer website, and designed some pretty fantastic mailers. We sent out a bunch of them and waited for the calls to come rolling in. They didn’t. We were about to follow up with the post office to confirm they’d been delivered when one call finally came in. I’m embarrassed to say that our only response to that amazing mailer was a guy asking to be taken off our mailing list. Not exactly the response we were hoping for. From that experiment we found that our perfect customer was different than what we’d thought so we regrouped and sent the next batch of mailers out to a group with different characteristics. Thankfully that one generated far more interest — although let’s fact it, it wasn’t hard to beat the one response from the initial attempt. It taught me the importance of knowing your services, and your ideal customer, so that you put the right message in front of the right audience. It seems obvious but taking the time to narrow down a scope of services, and then clearly define who will need and pay for those services, is how I’ve been able to build a successful business. It’s also a great reminder not to take myself too seriously.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Hands down, my husband, Andy. I found success throughout my career because of hard work, continuous learning, and a desire to be the best at what I do, but it wasn’t until I met him that I tackled bigger challenges like overcoming my long-held fear of running my own business. He helped me see that being my own boss wasn’t scary, it was empowering. Andy is what I call a serial entrepreneur. He started his first successful business at 17 and has continued to create opportunities for himself ever since. Almost from the day we met, he started nudging me toward going my own way and designing my own path. It didn’t come naturally to me but thankfully he was determined and never let up. Because of his support and his belief in me, I eventually moved from fear to excitement and carved out my own path to success.

You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging and intimidating. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

Don’t avoid failure. That was my happy place, doing the things I knew I was good at without any risk of failing. What I didn’t realize is that I never failed because I never let myself dream big enough. I’m not saying you should purposely fail, but if you stop short on an idea or a project because you’re afraid to fail, you’re also stopping short of success. They’re very close cousins and it’s not until you fail that you learn what doesn’t work. It took me years to appreciate that gift because failure always felt awful but now, because of my failures, I know better ways to reach out to perspective clients, to structure contracts, and to partner with decision makers. It’s because of the times I didn’t do it right that I do it so much better now. Because of the early failures, I no longer feel the stress and anxiety that I did before. Take the big leaps, believe in your big ideas, and make a few big moves. With every attempt, you get closer to big success.

What drives you to get up everyday and give your talks? What is the main empowering message that you aim to share with the world?

The simple message behind everything I do is, “Love your job more and your life becomes easier.” As a leadership trainer, every class I facilitate, workshop I teach, and keynote I deliver, has the same goal of helping people become more effective in their jobs today while preparing them for opportunities tomorrow. How can I not wake up every day excited to get to work? I help people help themselves and it’s amazing. When I get feedback after a session or at the end of a program and people share how they’ve learned and grown and created new opportunities for themselves at work, it’s beyond great, it’s fulfilling and it’s what makes me love what I do even more.

You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

One exciting project I’m working on currently is finishing my first book. I’ve wanted to author a book since I was a child but it wasn’t until recently that all the ideas came together. I thought I’d write a great American novel but instead, what poured out of me was a guide that anyone can follow to design their own training class. I’ve seen so much bad training over the years that I wanted to create a tool for trainers, HR professionals, operational subject matter experts, and everyone else, to create their own high-impact classes whether in person or virtual. It’s exciting to be able to share what I’ve learned over the course of my career with others who are looking to write and facilitate their own content. And yes, there’s a section on getting comfortable with public speaking to make sure readers have some of the basic presentation skills to successfully deliver their training.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Stay committed to your decisions, but flexible in your approach.” I think I came across this Tony Robbins quote while looking for quotes to add to a training workbook and it made me stop and think. This quote, which is on a sticky note on my desk, continuously reminds me to refocus on my goals rather than on how I achieve them. It helps me remember to be open to different ways of thinking about challenges and most of all, to be open to the idea that the path I set out to achieve my goal may not be the path that actually gets me there. I was committed to being a teacher but flexible enough to change direction. It’s a message about staying true to yourself while getting creative to achieve your goals.

Ok, thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker?” Please share a story or example for each.

Becoming an effective public speaker typically means getting over some nerves and creating opportunities to get comfortable with the material, the environment, and the audience.

Here are my five tips to tackle all three:

1. Greet people at the door. When I delivered my first large keynote to an audience of a few thousand, I got a little nervous. It was a large group, in a large room, and it started to feel overwhelming. I decided to treat it like any other training class so before my session, I stationed myself at the door and shook hands and welcomed as many people as I could. That short, personal connection helped me get my bearings and turn my nerves into excitement. Each person I met was friendly and smiled back. Some even said they were looking forward to my presentation. All of a sudden the situation changed from overwhelming to exciting.
2. Get the audience involved. One challenge every speaker needs to tackle are the first three minutes of their talk. That’s when your adrenaline is at its peak so you may find yourself short of breath and racing through your material without knowing how to slow yourself down. Instead of jumping right in, I recommend a different approach. Ask your audience a question related to your topic, conduct a poll, have them stand and ask each other a question — anything that gives you time to acclimate to standing at the front of the room. It takes the pressure off you for just a moment, giving you a chance to adjust to your environment. Then you can take a deep breath and focus on what comes next with a clearer head.
3. Make it a conversation. When you’re at the front of a room, it can feel like you’re out there on your own. Rather than think of it as a presentation or a speech, think about public speaking as a conversation. Use your everyday language and mannerisms to convey your message just as you would if it was in a small meeting or one-on-one conversation. Elicit feedback by using phrases such as, “Nod your head if you agree,” or “Raise your hand if this has happened to you,” to connect with each person in the room. You control the environment so make it one that’s easy to be part of by consciously making your presentation one where everyone feels involved. The more involvement you have, the less alone you’ll feel.
4. Know your topic. If the first time you say your entire presentation out loud is on the day of your presentation, you’ve missed the boat. Practice saying your presentation out loud multiple times from start to finish to build some muscle memory. Practice with your slides or other materials and be sure to time yourself so you’re sure will fill your allotted time appropriately while still leaving time for questions or discussion. And be sure to think about where you’ll pause for questions, or a laugh, or when you’re going to reference a slide or chart. Go through all the motions ahead of time and you’ll come across as a trustworthy expert when you deliver your presentation.
5. Gain confidence through practicality. Just like your mom would tell you, stand up straight, with your shoulders back, occasionally walk across the front of the room as you speak, and look around your audience to connect with people. No one knows the details of your presentation so no matter what happens, act as if it’s all ok and it will be. Confidence comes with practice so there’s not better way to improve your skills than to keep getting up and speaking. But you already knew that, you just need to get started.

As you know, many people are terrified of speaking in public. Can you give some of your advice about how to overcome this fear?

When they say that practice makes perfect, they mean it. In junior high I decided to run for president of an extracurricular club. To get elected I had to give a speech and, even though I was unopposed, the thought of getting up to deliver my speech had me tied up with anxiety for days. Spoiler alert: I won, which was great, except that I’d have to lead the club meetings each week moving forward. The first month or so was rocky, lots of sweating, lots of light-headed moments where I wished I’d just pass out, lots of stomach aches. But eventually something clicked and I realized that no one was laughing at me, or expecting me to be perfect, or questioning if I should be up there at all, they just wanted me to stand up and lead the meeting. It took some time but eventually, with practice and repetition, leading the meetings actually became fun. Instead of stressing out all day about it, I just got a few butterflies right before the meeting started, and then one day, instead of butterflies, I realized I was actually feeling excitement. At the end of the year when we installed the new board and everyone’s families came to the celebration, my friend’s parents were shocked and actually asked if I was the same kid who had been elected last year. The number one reason my skills improved was because I got up and spoke, week after week, getting more and more comfortable. If your fear of public speaking is holding you back, create opportunities where you can regularly get up and speak. Join a committee at work, ask to get on a project, or find a Toastmasters group in your area. I promise it will help.

You are a person of huge influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

Career development for all! Every company, every industry, every employee, every day. People want to grow and whether it’s growing the skills to become experts in their current positions or growing into new roles down the line, the movement I’m working to build is one where every employee has the opportunity to learn and grow. And make no mistake, developing comfort and confidence with public speaking is an important part of career development. Afterall, if you can’t speak up, it’s hard to stand out.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

I would love to have lunch with country music legend and all-around super woman, Dolly Parton. When we moved to Vegas, my dad decided we were in the wild west, so I grew up on country music. 9 to 5 is my go-to karaoke song. Her voice and her song writing just drew me right in and the more I learned about her, the more I admired her. From heart-felt song writing to giving away children’s books, and creating a theme park run by her family to her new fragrance, album, and novel, this woman is a power-house of inspiration! I would be honored to have lunch with her, although I’d be so starstruck I doubt I’d be able to eat a thing.

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

Absolutely! You can follow me on LinkedIn.or Facebook

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!