Refine your speaking skills with Eric Vickery! Overcome fear, master delivery, and excel in effective communication strategies.
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About Eric Vickery
Eric holds a degree in business administration and brings a strong business and systems approach to his consulting. His initiation into the field of dentistry was in the area of office management. He managed dental practices for over ten years and has been consulting over 250 offices nationwide since 2001.
About Alex Nottingham JD MBA
Alex is the CEO and Founder of All-Star Dental Academy®. He is a former Tony Robbins top coach and consultant, having worked with companies upwards of $100 million. His passion is to help others create personal wealth and make a positive impact on the people around them. Alex received his Juris Doctor (JD) and Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Florida International University.
Episode Transcript
Transcript performed by A.I. Please excuse the typos.
00:00
This is Dental All-Stars, where we bring you the best in dentistry on marketing, management and training. Here’s your host, Alex Nottingham.
00:12
Welcome to Dental All-Stars. The topic of this podcast is speak like an all-star. And our guest is Eric Vickery. Eric is a president of coaching at All-Star Dental Academy. He is also a podcast host of Dental All-Stars, a Maxwell team certified coach, professional speaker, case acceptance trainer, and high performance coach. Please welcome Eric. Hey Alex, how are you? I’m doing good. I love being on here with you. This is great.
00:41
Well, you’re a podcast host. So we both, we both do the podcast together and, uh, you do some episodes. I do, we do it together. It’s fun podcast host to podcast host. And this is a form of speaking. Let’s talk about speaking and all the different realms of speaking. We just did one of our speak like an all star events recently. And I’ll put a link in the show notes to our events page. We’ve a lot of events that are going on. One of them is speak like an all star.
01:11
very popular transformational event, uh, for the facilitators as well as the participants. So tell us, let’s just kind of ask some questions for you. Sure. Tell us a little bit about, well, actually let’s talk about speaking in general, why it’s important. And then I’d like to know about your history at speaking. So why is speaking important? We talk about speak like an all star. What’s the realm of speaking? Well,
01:41
You’re only as effective as you can communicate. So whether it’s chair side with your patient, leading a team meeting with your team, being on a podcast. True. You’re a specialist speaking in front of a study club. You’re a dentist invited to speak at a study club. You’re talking to potential referrals. You’re doing a video for your website. Whatever it is,
02:08
There’s this interesting thing that happens when all of a sudden our heart starts pounding. Oh my gosh, I have to speak in front of a crowd or I have to do something like this. What makes you comfortable in that setting? How do you get to that place? And so that’s where this comes from. All this is birth is a need, right? There’s a need for us to be better communicators and what better way than to speak in front of a group of your peers and do an intensive like what we train people on. And we didn’t just train dentists, we trained.
02:38
coaches, sponsors, vendors at our program and everything. And so my speaking background is I’m on my 22nd year of speaking in front of crowds, right? Speaking in front of an audience. And the first eight years of that was the worst kind of learning experience. It was just trial and error. And finally about eight years into it,
03:04
somebody was smart enough to say, hey, do this. And a group of us did some speakers training. I went through that. It was a two day intensive. It was amazing. Totally changed my presence, my confidence, my delivery and my results. And then I took that over the years and added other things to it, tweaked it. I did John Maxwell’s speaking certification program and love that tons of great, just, it’s really, they’re like speaking hacks. Things that you don’t realize the speaker’s doing while they’re doing it.
03:34
And so the biggest thing I would say I finally learned is it’s actually the number one thing to be focused on is not the content, the number one focus to be on is the delivery. So your content, if you’re, if you’re worried about your content, what you’re going to say, it’s a distraction from how you’re actually delivering it. So I just used a speaking skills technique in that delivery. So those that have been to the speak, like an all star would have heard a change in my dynamic, a change in the pace, a change in my tempo.
04:03
And probably if I’m really good at it, a pause at the end. Right. Simple things like that. Yeah. And why do people avoid public speaking? What? I can’t even remember. Is it number one or number two? Biggest fear? What is it? There’s a quote about public speaking. I’m looking up right now. One of the tell you Seinfeld. He says, okay. All right. This is a great joke here. He goes up according to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking.
04:32
Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy. Yeah. So essentially you’d rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy. So a lot of people are afraid to speak and yet to be successful is, I love what you said, is your ability to communicate.
05:01
Uh, and that’s so, so you could just do public speaking because you have to, and then there’s a, be an effective communicator and that you’re talking about. It’s not just being on stage. It’s being interviewed on a podcast. It’s going to be doing a webinar. It’s going to be at a study club. It’s going to be case presentation, whatever it might be, or personal. What was kind of cool is some of the attendees at the speak like the all stuff, speak like an all star experience, if you will, they’re like, I feel more confident to give.
05:30
addresses for, let’s say my, given my daughter away or at a, at a wedding or giving a speech, like I feel more prepared now. So everything in life is the ability to communicate and interact. And here’s what we hear from people. They have a podcast interview coming up. They have a speech coming up. The, the, the toast at the, at the wedding. We will hear them talk about painstaking hours and days of preparation to give a speech.
06:00
and maybe smart, but also not necessary, because there’s some myths that you have to understand. People think that people are just like so prepared for their speech. I mean, yeah, you got to get your PowerPoint ready. If that takes time, that’s fine. You know, that was a, what, a four hour presentation by me, and then we did a four hour intensive practice. I ran through that twice. So in preparation for that, and I ran through it a few days before.
06:27
And then like the morning through, I went through my outline and what I was going to do. And the biggest thing what people have to understand is you’re not trying to memorize a speech. You’re trying to internalize it. What are you trying to get across to people? If you really own those thoughts, those ideas, those concepts of what you’re speaking on, you’re not going to go up there and read a cue card and come across. And by the way, another myth, big, big myth that people have to realize is that, oh, people who give speeches aren’t nervous.
06:56
That’s not true because about two minutes before I go on, before you introduce me or whatever it is, the butterflies happen. It’s like you’re going up on a roller coaster or whatever. But once you get moving in that moment, if you have all the skills lined up and prepared in the delivery, it’ll all just disappear.
07:19
Yeah, the it’s interesting those feelings. If you don’t have those feelings, you’re not alive or you don’t care. And there it’s how we, we channel those feelings. We use them as excitement. Those nerves, they actually give you more presence. And I also see that in sports activities and competition, you’ll see that you have those nerves, the greats are able to channel those nerves into something more productive. And also what’s nice about the speak like an all star experience, the,
07:49
the seminar, the program is you realize you’re not alone. You have really successful people in there and those that are newbies and those that you think have it made and we’re out there being vulnerable together. And I think that experience strengthens and empowers us. Because what’s interesting, it strengthens and empowers us. What’s interesting, what we do at Speak Like an All-Star, so we have this one day you put on.
08:19
And half of it is content, half of it is application. And then we attach it to our All-Star Practice Growth Summit. It’s the first day, it’s before, the day before. And then it’s an option, but I was very proud because most took advantage of it. Everybody gets five minutes to speak in front of a stage of well over 100, 200 people. You get a chance to do it. And one of the tips I learned from public speaking, you wanna get better at public speaking, do more of it, never turn down.
08:49
use an opportunity. But I think a lot of people were scared, Eric, even though I was kind of nervous, I’m like, oh no, I’m the CEO, I’m nervous. And so everybody was, but it was done so well, and afterwards I’m like, why were we so nervous? Because we’re thinking it’s gonna be coming in hard, you were so gentle and the coaches supporting you and helping everybody, it felt like we went to boot camp together, we went to war together, and everybody was on the same team.
09:19
It was a beautiful transformational experience. Yeah. What’s great in a group setting, like how we do that when the intensive is we’re really working through imposter syndrome together. Because everybody in the room’s thinking, what thing do I have that’s important for me to say to you? And so when you’re almost locked arms, you’re almost together in this, and you’re seeing how everybody’s getting coached through their speeches, you go, oh, okay.
09:48
I’m picking up something from them. And then they’re giving you ideas. And you’re in a coaching setting that’s very healthy and safe, and you get to perfect it in that room. And then you go in front of a big group if you want and practice those things you learned. I know a couple of doctors got up there and you could see them doing the techniques, the things that we’d worked on and actually coach them through. And it’s really, really a joy to see someone who has a high fear or is really resistant to it.
10:16
to get up there and not only deliver a speech, but thrive in that presentation. So that was, it was like a proud pop-up moment for me. It was a lot of fun. And I remember, I’ll come back to this, where we had this vision together. You were in this office right here. And I remember when you signed the president of coaching agreement, I threw it in the desk drawer and you’re like, really? Like that’s where you’re putting it? But anyways, we were talking about- There was nothing else in the drawer. There was nothing in the drawer. Why do you have a filing cabinet? That’s the only thing in there. And-
10:44
And we were talking about, we had another idea with, which was to expand our seminar series. And so besides the summit, we have leadership, we have speaker training, we have a mastery series. We’ll, we’ll talk about that at different podcasts, but I think it comes down to what we’ve worked together as a leadership team, this idea of transformation. And there’s something special about live events when you can orchestrate them. Well, well, it’s not just knowledge, sometimes information, because we talk about information is.
11:14
Knowledge is not power. It’s only when you can put it into action and you have those bonding experiences that you can’t get when you’re not together or you’re not in a community. And so that’s what I’m really excited about that. So why do people, I don’t know if I asked you this, but why do people avoid public speaking and are people other, some that are just natural at it? So I don’t.
11:43
I don’t know that a whole individual is just natural at all aspects of public speaking, but you might have pieces of that public speaking that you’re natural at. I’m naturally gifted in using my hands when I talk, even on the podcast, I’m using my hands. That is a gesture. But some people are natural storytellers. Some people have nervous movement and it turns, it becomes a distraction. And so you have to work on that even though they’re good at other things. So
12:13
Yeah, I don’t know that anybody’s just a natural public speaker. Maybe there are, maybe people are just born with it, but this is not like, Hey, I’m going to go read from a teleprompter. That’s not what we’re doing here. We’re not memorizing a presentation. We’re internalizing a message and how you deliver that message. It’s not about you. It’s about the people receiving it. So this was born out of us having sponsors at our seminars.
12:41
and them getting up and giving speeches after us giving a speech. And when we want that person to be successful when they’re up there, and when they give their presentation for five, 10 or 15 minutes, whatever it is. And the audience vibe just goes, Ooh, way down. Cause now you’re pitching me something, you’re selling me something and you don’t speak like this person that was just on stage. It is a big shift in momentum. And as a.
13:09
So we said, look, if we’re gonna have people who are gonna present in the middle of our seminars, we can’t have them bring in that room vibe down. They need to help maintain the level of presentation that we give. So one of our sponsors came out, Natalie, and she did a rock star, an all star job at presenting. And the day before, I hope she doesn’t mind me saying this, the day before, there was leaps and bounds difference. I mean, she was good, but then she was great. And so what that does for us selfishly is,
13:38
Now we’ve got a program, a seminar, an event that helps maintain a very high level of communication and interaction with the audience. And that’s what that sponsor or vendor wants anyway. And then it was then birthed into, hey, we’ve also got dentists, leaders, business owners, coaches who rely on their communication skills. They need to have this too because every time I do a presentation here, while I’m talking with you, I’m using those same skills.
14:04
Well, and what was marvelous, it’s so funny how you see the genesis of how these programs are created, but then the dentists ran, we had one team member come and, and the dentists were kicking themselves saying, I wish I brought more team members because it was amazing. Think about when you, and look, we have dentists out there. They’re like, why would I, I don’t want to want to spend money on my team. I spend money on me. But when you spend on your team,
14:34
And there are others that believe in that. What you’re investing in, you’re changing their lives. I have so many team members that will come to me and to say like, I’m so grateful my doctor has invested in me. And it builds their loyalty, it helps retention. Now where retention is difficult. And the team member will become more efficient, more effective, more confident in everything they do. Talking to patients, because I just want to know, if you can public speak.
15:04
and you can effectively communicate. As we said, this is about effective communication, bone skills, face presentation, the patient experience. No, the way you deliver the message is a change. That team member is now more bonded to that office than ever before. She is so much more committed to the longevity of that practice than ever before because, and Gallup does these studies and Robin talks about them often, but lack of engagement. 34% of people believe there’s lack of engagement. Lack of engagement means,
15:34
I’m one step out. You’re going to be doing exit interviews soon instead of the state interview like Robin talks about. So, I’ve just witnessed this with her since then. Just way more interactive, way more engaged, even with me as the coach of that office. The second thing I would say is when they came up and gave their speeches at our event, and then I said, who else would be interested in attending this? I was shocked. I thought three or four hands would go up.
16:02
There was probably 40 people who raised their hand. I would say 90% of them were team members wanting to work on their speaking skills, wanting to work on how they just present. How do you present yourself to that patient? And we talk about it in the Speak Like an All-Star, you have to have an outer body experience. You have to be aware of how you’re being perceived so that you know whether or not your message is being delivered or not. So I’m trying to see myself as I interact. The words I’m using are important.
16:30
pace of which I talk is important? Am I maintaining eye contact with you? Same thing goes with your patient. With your patient on the phone, are you talking way too fast for them? Are you moving too quickly like this? Or are you able to slow it down and create a pace and a tempo for them to help them feel connected to you? It could be on the phone, it could be in person. So, all the skills we teach in that are important in a business setting and anytime you need to deliver a message effectively. So, yeah. Marshall Suellentrop So, that people that will be
17:00
good candidates for speak like an all-star training. Definitely exhibitors or sponsors or consultants. I would say people have a pulse. I’m like, what are you, why are you doing that? I’m like, is everything okay with you? It’s like, you have a pulse. I got to slow down. So, but I’m saying for, I obviously, the, the consultants and coaches, exhibitors dentists and team members, absolutely team members. And.
17:27
This isn’t dental specific. Anybody can benefit from this. It’s just that our audience happens to be a dental and I’ll put a link in the show notes to our website, allstardentalacademy.com slash backslash events. And there you’ll see all of our events for the next 12, 18 months, one of them being speaker training. And I’ll, I would say if you’re interested, definitely check it out on the website. And then you can also talk with Eric or Shelley who helped run the event.
17:56
process because we also have payment plans as well to help people to make those investments because man, to have to change people’s lives. I mean, that’s kind of our mission, transformation of people’s lives. Transformation. And it’s amazing when you see those team members and how much they enjoy these activities. Look, you’re going to have team members. They don’t want to do anything. They don’t, they don’t want to invest themselves, but you’re also, it’s all return on investment, right? At the end of the day is you invest in these people and return on investment.
18:25
It’s not just financial. There’s more energy in the office. I talked about return on energy. That your entire office is more energized. Your people more energized. They’re working around the brand because part of what we teach is we’re not just modeling other dental offices. We’re modeling the best in business. What is Google doing? What is Microsoft Zappos and others? What are they doing to create such a great culture? The Ritz Carlton. And.
18:54
How do we make our teams a rich Carlton? Imagine our teams. They love each other, they get along well, we all get along. The patients wanna be part of it. They’re effective communicators. I have one dentist that kinda, he loves the quote that I say that I wish all of you have a boring practice. You come into your practice and there’s no drama, you enjoy what you do, everybody has a good time, and you have financial freedom. So that’s a little bit about the.
19:23
the vision of what everybody can experience there. Yeah. How do you get, how do you get more comfortable presenting repetition? Repetition is a mother of skill. Huh? That’s right. You got to get up in front and do this. So I’ll, I’ll give them some insight into this. Alex, one of the homework assignments that we’re going to follow up with them is, is really powerful. So if you want to leave with some value out of this podcast, here’s what you could do. Do a three minute speech, videotape yourself giving a three minute speech, just
19:52
something that you’re passionate about, okay? Now there’s a lot of things that go into that and I’m skipping all the training, but here’s one thing you could do to self-train. This is the imposter syndrome, this is I don’t like to hear the sound of my voice, all those things you have to overcome. Watch it back without any sound. Watch your video, your three minute video that you’re recording yourself and just watch how you move, your mannerisms. How do you engage? What’s your eye contact like with your pretend audience, okay?
20:22
watch it without any sound. The next thing you do is listen to it without the body movement, without the video. Just listen to it and write down every single word you say, especially the words you use on repeat. If you use, oh, mine is right, right? And I say it over and over again. Now, if you write all your speech out and you start highlighting, crossing off all the words that are creating distraction,
20:50
They’re confusing, they deflate your credibility. Get rid of all of those terms that you need to eliminate from it. You do that just as a homework assignment, you’re already gonna improve your ability to speak better in front of an audience. Thank you, Eric. And like I mentioned, I’ll put in the show notes those links, UlsterDentalAcademy.com slash events. Thank you, Eric, our president of coaching for joining us and remember to follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.
21:18
Get the episodes when they are released and share with your friends. And until next time, go out there and be an All-Star.
