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Transcript: Make Yourself a Little Bit Famous - Keynote by Penny Haslam - speaker on building personal brand and raising your profile as an expert

Penny Haslam (00:00)

Introduction to raising your personal brand

So, hello, good afternoon, I'm Penny Haslam. And I have been working with leaders since I left the BBC, and yes, I was on the BBC, used to be on BBC Breakfast. Anyone watch that? I used to do the boring bit, the business news, where everyone would go and make a cup of tea during that time. And so I became a little bit famous, a bit famous, which is why I've called my company A Bit Famous. Just give me a hands up, if you would like to be...

know, Kim Kardashian famous. Is that the kind of level we're looking for here? You're kind of nervously laughing in there, aren't you? Worrying I'm going to make you do something. Kim Kardashian famous, hands up. Yeah, there's always a couple. Go for it. Absolutely go for it. And this is really going to help you elevate what you want to achieve. OK, so but we often think of the flip side of that as being, well, a bit of a nobody, don't we? A bit of a not famous.

not celebrity. So what does that mean then? Does that mean being like a best kept secret? Who wants to be a best kept secret? there's, what? I've got my eye on you at the back there. Is that why you were at the back?

So yeah, there's always one. But it's no good for us to be a best kept secret, is it? We need to be known. We need to be liked, maybe. And we need to be trusted and a little bit famous. That's right. So since leaving the BBC, I've worked with hundreds of leaders. And they all crave a similar thing. They want greater personal impact with their team and beyond, so they can showcase the value of their business and what their team does.

They also want to have greater personal influence so they can have doors opened for them, so they're front of mind, so they can get buy-in for their ideas more easily, more effortlessly. And they want to have greater confidence with their communication. We do, don't we? We want all of those things because we know they are the golden key to unlocking many things to do with success, and not just financial success, personal success, and satisfaction as well.

The importance of personal impact and influence to your career

So this is for you if you want to be massively famous. Less so for you, but you might have some value at the back there. But for most of you, this is about helping you have all of those things and helping you to make yourself a little bit famous. Does that sound like a good start? Yeah, OK. Anyone here at the moment currently a little bit famous? It was alluded to that everyone knows who you are, is that right? Definitely a bit famous. A lot famous.

Yeah, so it's serving your business well. Anyone else do things on a regular basis that you think, yeah, that's going to get me out there more, get known? Quite a lot of do something too. Yeah.

we're not dealing with influencers. No, I don't know that world. It's young people. maybe that's the inspo we're looking for, bit of Molly Mae. Okay, all right. So you're active on LinkedIn. You're using your media to gather followers and share information and get known that way. That's brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Okay, so make yourself a little bit famous.

The reason I've stepped into this space of helping people have greater impact and influence and greater confidence around communicating is because I was rubbish at all of that and often we teach what we need to learn. So rewind many years when I was first starting off at the BBC, I got a really good job as a producer on a Radio 4 programme. Does anyone listen to Radio 4?

Okay, people of a certain age. I salute you. I salute you. It is though, isn't it? I mean, it's boring until you really enjoy it. Okay, comedy. Yep. Yep. So I did the personal finance on Radio 4. Wasn't that exciting at all? Personal finance show called Moneybox. And that was my gig. I'd worked hard as a clerk and an assistant and a secretary and then a researcher and then a senior researcher. And finally...

I was stepping into the space of producer, Radio 4. You have to say it like that, Radio 4.

And it was my job to make sure this radio program happened every week was to look after the reporters and the presenter make sure the script was accurate to find out the interviewees that were appropriate for the news stories to make sure the news stories were relevant and useful to the listeners so taking information and Sharing it widely in a way that is inspirational entertaining interesting When frankly it was it wasn't it was a bit boring anyway, that was my job, and I did my job really well I really enjoyed doing my job and in my year

appraisal.

I wanted to pay rise, obviously, and also wanted to pat myself on the back at mastering this job. Yes, I'm doing it. It's OK. I haven't been sued yet or sacked. I had sat there with my appraisal, my line manager, and he's in his big chair, and I'm on the little sofa. That's how it is, isn't it, in his corner office. And so we've ticked off all the objective stuff, last year, next year, blah, blah, blah. And he said, know what, Penny, though, the main

problem with your career as it is at the moment, what's holding you back from getting this pay rise, is that, well, I'm going to show it to you in a pie chart. And he jumped up out of his big leatherette chair and he whipped out his big flip chart marker and drew on the flip chart. Filthy, filthy. This is it at world, isn't it? That's the level getting lower. Brilliant. OK. So.

He flipped out his big flip chart and big flip chart marker and he drew this pie chart. He drew this pie chart and in it he wrote the letters P-I-E. I think he'd just read the book from where it was from in the mid 90s and was all into it. It was the most passionate I'd seen him for years I have to say. So there we are, we're with pie and I'm thinking great my career's like a sweet pie, nice. No.

The thing is, you need to focus your efforts and energies in a different way if you're going to go anywhere. So, P for performance, Penny. The fact that you do your job really well is just 25 % of the deal here.

image, how you come across to others. It's just 25 percent, but you need to work on it, you need to craft it, you need to make that image or personal brand as he might have said it these days into something really impressive. And finally Penny, you need to spend 50 percent of your time, your effort, your energy on E. What might it stand for? Any guesses? Pardon? No? Engagement's one idea, no.

Empowerment. Empowerment. if only we had that word in the 90s. We just didn't, did we? We didn't have anything in the 90s. Ecstasy. Experience. Experience. No, you'd think so, wouldn't you? You'd that would be a valuable contribution to your career. He said 50 % of your time, your effort, your energy, your focus should be on exposure. Getting exposure for your great work.

the fact that you're good at your job and the fact that people think you're good at your job. Getting out there more. I'm like, right, I've got the concept. You've got the concept, right? And that was it, the end of the appraisal. And that stuck with me because it really annoyed me. He'd given me this great concept, thank you very much, but hadn't shown me any of the tools. Hadn't shown me how.

I don't know, people aren't very forthcoming with the how, perhaps because they just do it, they get on with it confidently themselves. But I felt if I was to get exposure, it would have to be at the office Christmas party. Yeah, that was that one year. Anyway, so yeah, getting exposure is not easy, especially when you're a mid-20s junior-ish person.

when really you've got all these bosses above you and what are you going to do? Step up to them and go, hi, I'm Penny. I do a great job.

You know, it's like an elevator pitch as well. You had to be doing something impressive. And I was no different to my colleagues. I needed to differentiate myself in the marketplace. But I couldn't think of a way to do that. Back in the day, we didn't have LinkedIn. We didn't have networking events like this to attend regularly. We didn't particularly need to do that because we didn't need the exposure, but we did. So it was all about elevator pitches. Not great. So I got stuck.

Understanding the value of exposure for your career and personal brand

and I didn't do any of that exposure and in fact I think my career, although became very impressive by the end of it, dragged. I could have got there much sooner. I could have got there much easier, more effortless, effortlessly almost. I would have been front of mind. I would have been known for my experience. So, just tell me, what is the value of being known? What might the value of being a little bit famous for you mean? What does it mean for you?

100 % inbound business, no sales calls, no mucking about. You're doing your business development, it's always there. People are knocking on your door. I bow down to you, well done. What about personally? How might more impact and influence mean? What would it mean to you? OK, and what would that mean to you?

I love the way you've gone to it. If they do mess up, they're just more likely to turn a blind eye. Whereas if you don't have the trust, is what you said, wasn't it? when you build trust. But yes, it's a wonderfully, it is invaluable for people to trust you. Anything else? What do you get from being a little bit known? Confidence. Confidence. And why might you get confidence from this? Because people actually value what you're saying to them.

they come to you, you know, and therefore you become a thought leader, and you can actually impact people's lives, which is really nice. It is a wonderfully confidence building. it's making you go goosey. It's stepping into your spotlight. Oh, I like that. Yeah, nice. It can. It can feel like you're valuable. You're adding value. You've got something to say and people respect that and they trust it. And that can turn into business for sure, but it can turn into personal pride as well.

Excellent. Any final thoughts? What it might give you? Opportunities. Perfect Zoe. Yeah, opportunities. Opportunities. Your front of mind, people come to you because they know you. They know what you stand for, what you do, how you help. Okay. So loads of value for getting exposure for what you do. Let's have a look then at how you could and why you should get more, get out there more.

But first of all, if you've got a piece of paper, or just a bit of a brain with a piece of paper, imagine it in your head. Draw your own pie. OK, so where are you now with the pie? So remember, we've got 25 % performance. You're doing a great job. Are you spending all of your time on that great job? And you know what? If you were at the early stages of your career, rightly so. If you've just moved into a new job,

you should perhaps be spending a bit more time on your performance rather than getting out there and talking about it. Or you've set up your business, you're perhaps focused on that. So where's your effort and energy being spent? What about image? Do you work on your image? Do you think of yourself and position yourself as somebody who knows what they're doing and knows what they're talking about? And then finally, exposure. Are you spending enough time for you?

getting exposure or is it just squeezed into more of a 10 % sometimes I'll do a LinkedIn post but then I'm really scared I'll die. I'm going to go on the WhatsApp with the video, oh no I'm not. So where are you spending, know, what are you doing, how is that activity spent and then what does that pie look like to you, is it satisfactory?

Is it good enough or do need to move and change it a little bit, change the proportions of it? Anyone got any brave men's comments on where they're spending their effort and energy at the moment? You're smiling, goosebump lady, you're smiling. I would say probably 50 % on performance. Yeah. About 10 % on image, as you can see by my hair. And exposure, probably the remainder of OK. Because that's...

something that our team focuses on. So 50 % on doing the job, 10 % on image and thinking about how you come across, not what you look like, can we just clear that up, and then the rest on 40 % on getting exposure. Right, so quite healthy, but is it good enough for you? No. Oh, OK, what needs to change? I need to be more vocal with my knowledge. OK. Because people want me to share it with them, and they tell me that I don't...

way, you've not said this to me or they want to spend more time with me. OK. So speaking up more. As Alison said in her introduction, to speak up more, to share your value, to be more valuable to others, to help them. You're not selling to them. You're helping them, right? You're engendering trust and brilliance within them. OK. There are different times in

where I think things slip into different zones. So I've just changed my role within the business. I've taken on a bigger job, so it's probably bigger than 50 % on being a bit. But does that sort of change during, or is it about keeping your power and keeping your focus on each of those elements? that? So if you didn't hear at the back, the question was, do the percentages change? Do they slip? And I say, yes, they should. Because if you've just stepped up into your role, you need to work out where the toilets are and stuff.

like that, don't you? And where you're going to find all the details. You need to get on top of that. But I think pie is something that you should spend time on every six months, just checking in, is it right? Am I still in the performance mode? And if I am, and I don't need to be, why am I there? And I'll talk about that later, actually, because it's an interesting one. What could I be doing? So you've come to the right place for today's content to give you some ideas, really, about where to get this exposure.

So we've worked out what your pie is. That's lovely. Mine was terrible. I was 100 % performance. So things did need to change. But they didn't change until I set up my own business 10 years ago. And I realized that it was a really good idea to get exposure for what you do because...

Crafting your image as a thought leader or industry expert

It helps you pay the mortgage, yeah? It's just a basic. And it also helped me feel more confident and more valuable. And I didn't just want to be known as an ex-TV presenter. I mean, how disappointing is that in your life? No, I wanted to be known for something more important, more interesting, more useful for people. So my journey with Pi and getting into all of what I'm about to share with you has been hard-won. It's not easy, this stuff, but it can be if you know how.

So, let's think about your image. Let's dive straight into image. So, how do you think you come across? What do people think of you for? Are you a go-to expert? Does anyone here think of themselves as an expert? Put your hand up.

Okay, there is a good number of you, and that's a healthy number. I'm really pleased to see that. For those of you who didn't and you're thinking, well, I don't know, I'm not a world-leading expert. I'm not like a PhD professor in this area of expertise. So therefore, I cannot label myself an expert. But let's go to the dictionary definition. Hands up if you know something. Everyone's got their hands up nearly. Ha ha.

Tell me, do you know something? You've also got experience of something. Yeah, you've got experience. You're going to put your hand up. Brilliant. OK, so you put those two things together, and you could consider yourselves to be experts or have great expertise in a certain area or certain areas. So your image of that as an expert.

Let me introduce you to, do you know what? I've put this on here because I don't know if you were all from the north, maybe some people have traveled further afield. know somebody was in the car for three hours. Yeah, is that you? In the north, maybe. Call yourself an expert. We've got some lovely sort of like run you down phrases, haven't we? you're getting too big for your own boots, aren't you? And then we're told don't hide your light under a bushel.

What am supposed to do? Right? OK. So call yourself an expert. I would encourage you to do so. This guy is somebody I met on my journey as an interviewer. And I interviewed him because he was an entrepreneur. And he'd established a new chewing gum.

He had established this chewing gum, which is called Pure Gum. Has anyone heard of it? Seen it? Chewed it? It's like a health food shop type of gum. He's North American. He's from Canada. And he'd invented this chewing gum. And this chewing gum was selling well. When I met him, I didn't know that. I didn't know much about him. What I thought was it was a little entrepreneur from Canada.

Made a little chewing gum. This is in my mind, by the way. I'm thinking it. I'm not actually saying it. Maybe I was a bit BBC patronising at the time. you made a little chewing gum. Is it tasty? And what my question really was, was, OK, so you've made this chewing gum. You've invented this chewing gum.

Have you thought about how you might get it into the marketplace? You you heard of Wrigley's, right? You know that it's a $26 billion industry, and you're the little guy who's made a new chewing gum. How are you going to sell it? How are you going to get it into the hands and the mouths of the people you want to deal with? He went, Penny, I am running for mayor. I'm running for mayor. I've got my campaign issues. I'm seen as an expert.

and I've got my campaign trail. And I go out and I shake the hands and kiss the babies, and I get my gum sold, right? So looking at that packet behind me, what might his areas of expertise be? So he's got his campaign issues. So this is like.

Nutrition could be an area, yeah, it's getting that warming up. And this is for a chance to win a copy of my book. So the stakes are high. Yeah, OK, the stakes are high. Nutrition-ish. Keep going. Aspartame. Yeah. Aspartame. And what else? Two issues there. Aspartame. No.

Low sugar. Dental. Yeah, diabetes, right? So diabetes, I say that because he talks about a low sugar diet or a no sugar diet. I believe there's someone in the room who's on day 23 of no sugar. Yeah, she might be sleeping in about five minutes. Opposite. Opposite. Oh, all right.

Okay, so well done for guessing aspartame. It's an artificial sweetener that he doesn't have. Thank you. You just pass that back to her, sorry. Thank He doesn't have it in his chewing gum. And do know what he would go, yeah, pure gum is really healthy. Yeah, really healthy, it's good for well-being, it's good for nutrition. No, he talks about aspartame. Pure gum follows him behind.

So he's thinking of himself as an expert. He's fashioning his image of that as an expert in aspartame. Aspartame is an artificial sweetener you may know is allegedly difficult for the body. It's a prompt of tumors, cancers, low mood, anxiety, depression. There's ongoing research into whether that's true or not. It's one of those things that's in almost every low sugar, low fat, know, drink, food item in our lives, and it's really one to watch out for.

So he has a lot to say on that. He has a lot to say on that. So he's seen as an expert. And then brackets, silent brackets, pure gum. So he doesn't need to be first and foremost with that. So fashioning your image of that as an expert. I mean, he's so into it. He's got a t-shirt. Kick ass, Bartame. What would be on your t-shirt?

Pure gum. On the back, perhaps. Yeah. But rather than going pure gum, what's that? It's a chewing gum. Aspartame. Kick it. I can tell you all about aspartame. and by the way, here's a gum that doesn't have it in. So it's first and second, first and second. So what would be on your t-shirt? If you were to think, well, if I'm a go-to expert, if people know me for something, what do they know me for? What's my image? What am I seen as?

And how can you cultivate that? How can you craft that? And how can you take control of that? So I was working with a group of lawyers. I know someone has to, right, Hannah?

Thank you, Bravners. was working with a group of lawyers. They went here. It was in London. And basically, one woman said, do you know what? I'm known as a cryptocurrency expert. Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, all that. I'm known as that. She goes, I find it so boring. I don't want to be known as that. So she was thinking about rebadging and being known as something else that was more interesting to her. So this is what's interesting to you and is useful to others. So what floats your boat? What lights you up?

What do you love talking about? What do you love reading about and getting more into, more into, more into all the time? So that you could say, yeah, I know more about that than most people, not everyone, but most people. I know more about that than anyone else in my firm because I'm bang into it.

So what is your area of expertise? That's something to think about. And we're going to do that right now, actually. So in pairs, discuss what you want to be known for. There are all sorts of issues at the moment in recruitment. AI, right? Helping with recruiting for skills, not necessarily experience. Helping educate candidates in being better at interviews. Thank you very much for that idea at the back there.

Indentifying your unique industry expertise

Lots and lots of topics that you'll rub up against and bump into that you know that you naturally love talking about. That your customers, your clients, your candidates really need help with. So where can you add value? So in pairs, just discuss what might be on your t-shirt. What's your Aspartame? Thank you everyone, that was wonderful.

Did anyone hit a bit of a brick wall? I don't know what I'm known for. What I could be known for. There's so many things. You just said you feel like a bit of a jack of all trades. Master of none, but we'll just sweep that bit aside. Know a lot of things about a lot of things. OK, that's great. But you think it might be valuable to drill down on a few topics. What might those topics be? Have you thought of those?

So there's a lot under the umbrella of HR within your firm, isn't there? Yeah, that you could really...

And when you're in those kind of roles where you can talk to the top teams and the board to influence their being someone who brings those ideas along, you might not know everything about everything, but to show and flag that this is an issue. This is something coming down the track. You're really adding commercial value there, aren't you? And being known as a trusted advisor. Lovely. Really nice. Anyone else got an idea of what they want to get known for a bit more? They can take control over any ideas. Anyone want to be brave? Yes. At the back there. Hi.

Hi in the second room. It's like at Christmas, isn't it? Oh, what we're going to do? better push through.

Okay, so no ******* recruitment.

This is really nice. What you've got is a market problem, isn't it? You've got a problem with the reputation and the image of recruitment. And I was on the phone to my brother in Australia this morning. I went, really excited. I'm about to head into Manchester to hang out with a bunch of recruiters. That's all I said, very sort of top line vague. And he went, ugh.

It doesn't help that he's job hunting right now, I have to say. But yeah, I think you've got a real in there, in fact all of you have, to show difference, to show professionality and strength, and that you do know what you're doing, and that you're the best person for the job. So under the umbrella of no bullshit recruitment, what can you be driving in there on? The way that you do things, the processes that you deal in, the managing expectations with clients, and the role that they have as well.

actually. So there's a lot there isn't there? So thinking perhaps more finessing and nuancing I think is that big umbrella topic. Aspartame is one thing, no bullshit recruitment is like whoa is a massive...

Okay, brilliant. So a bit of a campaign trail for you on that. So this is about your campaign issues. So imagining, and this is great, what you've said is absolutely brilliant. Imagining that you're the mayoral candidate and you're going around knocking on doors. This is what Jay Klein, the chewing gum inventor said, little Jay Klein, yeah. He said, I'm going on my campaign issues and I'm going on the campaign trail. So when a mayoral candidate is going on a campaign trail, they're knocking on a door.

and they're not saying, hi, vote for me, because I'm just great. I'm really organised and I want to know some people and I like chatting, you know, because they're to get a door slammed in your face and that's salesy. Whereas if that Merrill candidate knocks on a door...

Campaign strategies: As a thought leader speaking to your community's needs

and says, you know what, I've noticed your bins haven't been collected, your potholes are stinking, aren't they, that we're going to get those fixed, I know how to do that, and you're speaking the language of the person in front of you and speaking to their issues to help them, then you're helpful, not salesy, useful, not salesy. Really valuable to think of yourself in that role of mayoral candidate. Not literally, by the way, because Andy Burnham's, think, is doing quite a good job.

I was going to say something about nice to look at, but that would be so wrong. Wouldn't it, Alison? Un-PC. Yes, terrible, terrible. But anyway, so you're getting the point about the campaign issues. So what does your campaign trail look like? Remember Pi? What was the P for? Performance and the I? Image. And then finally.

at getting exposure, so let's look at that now, exposure. Maria, giggling at the word exposure. Because I did that. Again, filthy. This is filthy, Alison, filthy. That's recruitment. Excellent. OK, and there is our Jay Klein, inventor of the chewing gum, being patronised by a former BBC journalist about his product, actually selling really well. He'd developed his image as an expert.

He got out there on the campaign trail, and we'll talk about that in a minute. And his business was valued at around 10 million US dollars about five, six years ago, actually. So for a back bedroom entrepreneur, one man band, to be valued at that number, you know, quite a while ago was fantastic.

Really good effort against the Wrigley's with all the R &D and the point of sale, the distribution that they've got. Amazing, absolutely amazing. I will slap myself for patronising that young man there. So brilliant. And do you know what? If you like another pie chart, here we go. This is proper research done by Hinge Research. And it says that visible experts impact on firms.

growth and business development. So you have visible experts in your building, in your company, in your business, representing your business. And you might be that figurehead, by the way, as well, that visible expert. And you've got company growth of almost 50%. I think, Laysha, you can talk to this, can't you?

Alicia, sorry. An increase in leads, 27%. Phenomenal numbers, absolutely phenomenal. For a bit of extra effort and energy on getting the exposure you deserve and that would be really useful for you. So, let's have a look at how you might make yourself a little bit famous. So how are we going to do this? Is it going to be scary? Yes, good.

Becoming a visible expert: the power of exposure

How can you make ourselves a little bit famous at work? So many of you work in organisations where there's just more than one or two people. There may be 15, 50, 5,000, I don't know, but it's really valuable. Let's look at how you might do that. A coffee. A coffee. A simple coffee at work, getting known within your organisation so people know what you do and how you can help, being front of mind. This is especially useful if your organisation tends to fall into silos.

and you're lumped into one, you're HR aren't you? You can't do anything else or speak to anyone else. Your operations, your recruitment, your L &D. So why not get to know other people? If I approached you and said, can I have a coffee with you?

What would you say? You've nodded even straight away. Absolutely, yeah. You don't even know what I want to have a coffee and talk about. It's wonderful, thank you. We'll see you later. But yeah, most likely you'd say yes. So if you approach someone big and scary, senior, to you who might be useful, they're more than likely to say yes. Why not?

Building connections: the coffee strategy

give them a steer about what you want to have a chat about. Because, and this is really low hanging fruit, and this should be something that you should be doing pretty much all the way through the year. Picking off 12 names off a list and taking one a month to get to know them through the medium of coffee or tea. And finding out what they do, how they were successful. Because there's an old adage, isn't there? It's not what you know, it's... No.

It's who knows you.

Oh, love that response. Yeah, it's who knows you. Far more valuable, far more powerful. And then, of course, you've got meetings. Some are on Zoom, some are hybrid. This is the stock photography organisation. It would just look perfect, don't they, having a meeting? Everyone's engaged. Everyone's chatting, inputting great ideas. That's a great idea. Thanks for sharing. Right? Not reality. But nonetheless, have you ever held back in a meeting, either at work or beyond? And then the next person...

to speak says what you were going to speak or ask the question and everyone goes great thought great thought why didn't you were you afraid of feeling like an idiot looking like an idiot maybe so speaking at meetings and then there's presentations little presentations it might be really something that you do all the time because your team needs to know what's happening and your team ester your audience right and that's comfortable

But other audiences are available to you in organisations. So put yourself forward for show and tells, town halls, sharing information across those silos, those departments, and getting to know people and them getting to know you that way as well. It's scary, yes, it is scary. It makes your heart go fast, all that good stuff, but you don't die. Do you? No.

Networking: Engaging with internal and external communities

And then there's networking, brilliantly. These days we have plenty of networks. This one is external, of course, but there are so many internal networks. It might be that you don't feel like you should be in one of those networks, but you could offer your allyship. You could show leadership by attending, offer to speak, offer to take part in a panel, but get to know people and they get to know you. Your internal networks are a valuable part of your campaign trail or could be.

OK, and if nothing else, if you're having a bad day and you don't feel like this, just say hello. Smile. That's all we need to do, isn't it? Say hello. When I worked at the BBC, no one said hello and no one smiled. So one New Year's, I thought, sod it. I'm going to adopt a smile policy.

So I'd walk through the massive open plan office and there were really serious panorama people there beavering away at investigations and then there was another Radio 4 program called Law in Action. Really boring, far more boring than even personal finance, right Hannah? So there's all of that going on and I thought, do you know what, normally I shuffle through. No, I'm going to come in. Good morning, hi, morning.

because I just needed to connect with people. I needed them to get to know me, but I didn't know how else to do it. So I just said, hello. OK, so that was at work within an organization. Let's look outside work. Here we are, gathered doing this, this very thing, this networking thing. And already you've met somebody in this room who you've not met before. Am I right?

You've even talked about your campaign issues, your areas of expertise with someone you'd not known before. Is that right? that what happened here? Did you know each other before? We worked for the same company. OK. We just had a little gossip, really. I enjoyed it. So...

One tip for networking. Get to know, don't sit together. It's the only chair left. It's the only chair left? All right, fair enough.

But yeah, don't sit together. Spread out, get to know people, say hello, ask them questions. A lot of people get really hung up on this going out into real life. In real IRL, in real life there's networking, there's real human beings. I'm going to get really nervous, I won't know what to say. You don't have to say anything. You just need to ask a couple of questions. Hey, who are you? What do you do? How does that work? Be curious. You don't have to reveal anything about yourself. I learned this from my first ever networking experience when I first set up my business, BitFamous.

And I thought, right, I've got to take my business to the next level. We say that, we? We take my business to the next level, whatever that is. I'll go to networking. I'll do some networking. And off I went. I did some networking. And I spoke at someone for 20 minutes. I spoke at someone because I was so passionate about what I did and so excited about it. I spoke at somebody for 20 minutes. And then I remembered, oh, I should be networking. So what do you do? And she went, oh, I'm not really here. I'm with the photographer.

Panel Discussions: sharing the stage and expertise

So I wasted my time. I hadn't worked it out. So work it out. Those are books and blogs and YouTube videos and TED Talks on networking. So you can suss it out and get better at it and enjoy it so you don't feel like you're going to die. So this is a panel discussion. Anyone observed been in the audience of a panel discussion? Yeah? They're like the bread and butter of events.

conferences, all day conferences or networking events like this, there'll be a panel discussion. And this is the Women in Freelance panel discussion event one evening. Lots of people there. Brilliant event. I'm hosting over on the corner there, but on the other side, this panelist here, well look, everyone in the room is looking at her. Everyone is listening to what she has to say, because she's got some interesting stuff to say.

And you know what? There's three, four of them, and they're sharing the load. It's not quite the same as doing a big talk. They're sharing the load. And on a 30-minute panel, there's four of you. I can't do the maths, but there's a few minutes each that you talk, five, six minutes that you've got to share some information. It's a great opportunity. Has anyone taken part in a panel discussion?

fantastic, brilliant, really good opportunity because instead of networking, you get to shake hands with the whole room in one go. Because it's not who you know, it's not what, all right, it's that one, it's not what you know, it's not who you know, it's brilliant. So if you're on a panel or get invited onto one, have a go. And in my book, which I'm, yeah, the make yourself a little bit famous book, and the panel discussion book, is how to get on panels in the first place.

Because if you've never done one, it's like, well, who am I? In fact, I worked with a leader in a national recruitment business on that very subject to help him get better at being on panels. He'd not done one before. He knew he had some stuff to say. He'd been invited onto a big London conference panel discussion. And we went through the motions. This is what you might say. These are your key messages. This is how you might phrase it. And then he stopped me and went, Penny, I'm not sure I can do this. Who am I?

to be sat there with those people who've done panels before, they're industry, they're well known. Who am I? So if you just please step forward, do these panels, say yes, and then work it out. Chance to win a copy of my panel discussions book. So I've written a dedicated book. It's the only one, two in the world that are written on panel discussions, because I'm a panels geek. Take a look at this.

This is a panel discussion that took place to help launch a new app called Investorer, because you can't do full letters in a full word, can you, if you have an app? And there's something wrong with this panel. What are you seeing that's wrong with this panel? Put your hand up. Mel, what's wrong?

That is absolutely right. Well done. Thank you very much. You're the winner of the book. If you could pass that back down the line. Mel, what you've called out there, and it's not often we get a prize for calling out gender inequality, it? Hooray! You've identified a manel. That's an all-male panel. Google it. Hashtag manel.

There's loads of it, especially in the tech sector, especially when the tech sector are talking about diversity. Do you find that? Yeah. All male panel. I mean, was met, there was one woman expected to turn up and unfortunately she bailed at the last minute. I think she had other commitments and sent a male colleague along. And when I share this slide with groups of mixed audiences or mostly male audiences, I do encourage them if they get invited onto a panel, find out who else is on there. Is it Bob, Dave,

Brian and Derek, you don't want to be seen on that image on social media, offer up a female colleague to go in your stead. And if you're looking to go on panels, start telling people that you want to go on panels. Speak to people who've been on them and tell them you want to do more. On your LinkedIn banner across the top, put an image of you being on a panel. Because the minute you're in a tub chair, or frankly the weirdest chairs I've ever met in my life, you're seen as an expert at the front of the room.

So there is an ecosystem to this. So I'm panel mad, and I think you should be too. And then of course there's speaking. That's my first ever talk that I got paid for. So I'm a paid professional speaker. I do conferences, business events. I do lunch and learns, that sort of thing. Like this, right? You're seeing it. I don't know why I'm explaining it. So I'm up there.

Taking command of your media:leveraging social platforms

behind a lectern. I'm gripping the lectern. I'm looking down at my 13 page script. I am turning the page and every now and again remembering that eye contact is a good thing.

And of course, if I'm in a 13 page script, I don't know what's behind it, what's happened and what's coming next. I can't see it in my head. I have to read it word for word. And it's a real skill to adopt losing the script, to lose the script. A real skill to lose the script. And I really lent into that skill because I knew I wanted to do more despite the fact my knees were knocking. And I had one those red rashes creeping up the front as we do.

when we're a bit nervous, very nervous and think we're going to die. you got And what about the red rash? are you famous for your red rash? You've got to own these things haven't you? Yeah, you've got to own the red rash if it's happening to you on a regular basis. But I didn't enjoy that experience but I knew I wanted to do more, I knew I wanted to communicate. I'd been in world of scripts and auto queue, but now it was about thinking for myself and

speaking with my own voice. So that was a bit of a craft and I really lent into it. I got a coach to help me. I joined the Professional Speaking Association to find out more. And now, as you can see, I'm lectern free. This was speaking to the Northwest Employee Engagement Group. So I really had to be engaging, didn't I? I couldn't just like turn up. So yeah, I absolutely love what I do now. But it's taken me five, 10 years to really finesse that and really hone it.

And this is the interesting thing about all of the things that I'm sharing with you. We expect ourselves, we perceive ourselves to be brilliant at this first time, and we expect ourselves to be brilliant at it first time. And when we're not, we get disappointed and all tangled up in nerves and old news. No one saw Brené Brown do her first ever talk in the sociology or social progress department that she spoke in. No one saw Steve Jobs do his first talk. I mean, that was probably quite dull, wasn't it?

Yeah. And I think that's why he wore the black turtleneck all the time, to cover up the red rash. Okay. Yeah, just hit there.

OK, so we've seen how you might raise your profile outside of work, how you might do that outside of work and inside of work as well. So what about taking command of your media? So I used to work on the TV. People would be like, my gosh, I'm going to go on television. I'd be like, right, OK. It's not everything you know. There is social media you could be using. And you spoke earlier about using LinkedIn, didn't you? So taking control of your media. So have a look at where you're at with LinkedIn. And this is stuff that you know you help candidates.

with I'm sure if you're in that field. Gosh, don't be a best kept secret there. People hold back. People sometimes only go on LinkedIn when it's time to get a job. So using it as a way to show people what you do with your campaign issues is phenomenally powerful. And then of course there's podcasts, taking part in podcasts. Alison's podcast is...

called? The recruitment leadership podcast. What's it about? I'm joking. The recruitment leadership podcast. Alison interviews lots of different brilliant people in recruitment leadership and does it really well. It's been going for years and years. So you're always looking for interviewees, aren't you? You've got something valuable to say that's quality and they have a good conversation. So taking control of that, thinking, yeah, I could be a podcast guest. Why hold back? You could also...

Take your own video, couldn't you? Who does that? A few people. Videos. It's your video called No Bullshit Recruitment.

It should be, yeah, okay. Okay, so some videos, you're warming up to the idea of being on video, you've got comfortable with it, you press record on your phone, and you smile and look at the camera and say some interesting stuff, and then you stop recording, and then you post it, and look, these people are still alive to tell the tale. It hasn't been so bad, and it's certainly not damaged your business, has it?

That's the elephant in the room, isn't it? It can be imposter syndrome. It can be fear of being found out under imposter syndrome umbrella. It can be something that you would want to represent your own organization doing in case you've got something factually inaccurate. there's damage, reputational damage possibly there, or there's rules. But you can use video for.

Social media channels within your work within your organization, know, what's up channels that sort of thing? Imagine a new candidate seeing their boss on a video just saying hi to them Blow them away wouldn't it and I know that there's recruiter tools where you actually are on you know in sales to be on Beyond video and that's taken some getting over but yeah, it's there for the taking video is amazingly powerful We know this because we watch it ourselves. Don't

Building personal brand by making an impact through visual media

I'm more likely to get work now because of my video presence for what I do. People can, you know, phone me up and say, I want to book you, because we've jumped over that point of them having to find out what I do, because they know what I do, because I've shared my points with them.

So let's watch somebody who made a short video for social media. She was an employee at a large organization, a global insurance firm. She'd been on one of my workshops to find out how to make herself a little bit famous because she knew she wanted to go up to the next level in her organization. She wanted to raise her profile. And she went to an event. She was taking part in the panel discussion. And she thought, I'll just go one step further. I'll make that video that Penny was telling me to make.

So she did. And she shared it with me a few months later and went, Penny, Penny, Penny, I did it. I made the video, I shared it, and I didn't die.

And in fact, what happened is she got lots of attention from the industry. People saying, hi, I was at that event. I didn't get a chance to see you. Or I wasn't at that event. Brilliant to see you. can we have a chat? Can we have some coffee? Whatever. It just helped her get attention for what she does. And her organization went, what's going on here then? The social media manager called her over. Can I have a word?

That video you did, it's brilliant, it's really good, it's really useful. We're going to do more of that. How did you do it? So, useful in many ways. Let's have a look at the woman called Rose St. Louis, who's going to be... no, let's not look at him or her. This is Rose. Let's hope it plays.

Brilliant, right? Absolutely brilliant. Did we hate her? Did we think, oh, she doesn't know what she's talking about? You like her? She's appealing. It's rough and ready. It's not a corporate video. It's not smooth. It's not got stock photography in it. It's not got tinkly-tonkly music. It's like rousing chorus. There's no drone shots of people going into the building.

people working on laptops together. Usually it's this, some older guy pointing over the shoulder of a younger woman at the thing, isn't it? All right, we'll sort you. Anyway, so it's really, really amazingly valuable and it's free to use. So why aren't we doing more of it?

So one last little session for you before I wrap up and take questions is just list very quickly in your notebook three things you're going to do or could do over the course of 2025. Remember this session is about drive for 2025 that will help you to raise your profile. Have that great personal impact, that personal influence and that confidence, that growing confidence. Where could you be seen? Where could you be heard?

Coffee strategy? Speaking on a panel? Speaking more in meetings? Speaking up? OK. Anyone got any questions for me about this? Yes, Marie?

and obviously you're a manel, you don't want a wannel. OK, so is question I get asked a lot. It's like, well, Penny, as well as you don't get a manel, you've got these manels, right, all male panels. You can't have a wannel. I'd say you can.

because there's just 2,000 years to correct of patriarchy. So when we've had 2,000 years of nothing but wannals, I'll say, yeah, time for balance. yeah, it depends on the setting. And it can be remarked upon. But I think it's really joyful when there is a wannel, a woman-only panel. What's your views? OK, give me a yes if you think there should never be an all-women panel. It's OK? And we're women. We could say that. Maybe men wouldn't. But I don't know. Yeah, it's an interesting one, isn't it?

Yeah, it's not gender. It's just not just gender anymore. There's more work that needs to be done. And the reason for really making the point on panels is that panel organizers, event organizers, tell me that they find it really hard to get a woman, a woman of color, a disabled person on panels. And so, I mean, obviously I say work harder then, right? But if you can offer yourselves, it makes their job so much easier.

Okay, great. I'm going to stick around for questions, so please come and chat with me if you've got anything you want to ask or talk about. And then I just want to leave you with one final note, and it's got to do with that piece in the puzzle at the beginning, that piece of pie, which is to do with performance. So just check in on yourself that you're not spending too much time.

in your own pee. And it sounds rad, it? Too much time in performance. When I first set up in business, I had great ideas to get out there more, but I held myself back. I played small, and I did that by dotting the I's and crossing the T's, making sure everything was okay, and not launching that blog because it wasn't quite right yet, not doing that video because I don't know what to say, and not sending an email that I was meant to send,

was email marketing, which was just a hello. Right? I held back. I played small. But I took those ideas, and I was bold enough to go forward. A friend of mine said, for goodness sake, Penny, on all of these things, you just need to stop coloring in. You're coloring in. You've got all your nice pens out. You're coloring up to the edge. You're making it all perfect, making sure everything's fine. So you need to stop coloring in and sketch your future.

Stop colouring in and sketch your future. And here is a QR code for further resources, blogs, podcasts, how-to guides, video tutorials, books and concepts and all sorts of things that will empower you to do this safely and strategically so that you could enjoy greater personal impact, influence and confidence.

Thank you very much.