CASEBOOK: Motivational Speaking after losing his Sight

Poet and speaker Carl Peach joins us to share his professional journey after losing his sight. He reflects on how writing helped him express and process his experiences, and talks of how he encourages others to write, and raise their voices.  He also shares some of his poetry.

Our CASEBOOK podcasts are previous recordings on a theme or topic – This month, our final month of bonus episodes is about living our best life

About the Show

Each Thursday at 4pm, we broadcast on LinkedIn and YouTube, with the podcast released on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more. 

Then every Friday at 8am (until the end of August), you’ll also receive a bonus podcast episode (like this one) - a carefully selected recent conversation offering practical insight and timeless support.

Wherever you listen, you’re invited to pause, reflect, and reconnect: 

PODCAST: https://mentalhealthmatters.buzzsprout.com

YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5dbYRwciNQ3c2hZwpsfxnNIvpijH4S2b 

Today's show is hosted by

Dr Audrey Tang www.draudreyt.com  @draudreyt

Judith Crosier https://www.facebook.com/p/Judith-Crosier-Presenter-61556005102240/

Guest Expert

Carl Peach

https://carlpeach.co.uk/  

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:04

Good evening and welcome to Mental Health Matters with me, Dr. Audrey Tang. I know it's 4 am in the UK, so we're here to keep you company and we cover all things mental health and well-being. We've got a very special show on for you tonight. We have motivational speaker and poet Carl Peach. He lost his sight in May 2023, but he has gone on to inspire others. Let's have a look at him in action.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

People have said to me, it must be terrible you're losing your sight. I answer, it's not terrible. It's just different. I've had a challenging life, having overcome a soul-destroying gambling addiction and decades of self-hatred. I'm now learning to live with sight loss. Losing my sight in 2023 was devastating. Yet it proved a turning point. It forced me to change my priorities, seek inner strength, and find new ways to contribute to the world. I've learned that no obstacle is insurmountable. Given the right mindset. Eventually, it cost me my marriage, a house, and every shred of self-esteem that I had. And how do you recover from that? My talks aren't just about me. They're about things we can all do to improve our lives, regardless of our situation. Adversity doesn't define us, our response to it does. And I'm not sure what she said to me, but June the 12th, 2017, the day I met her, was the last day that I gambled. There were so many things more exquisite, delightful, and fulfilling. Whether we're facing personal struggles, professional setbacks, or life-changing events, we can all choose to rise and conquer. There were about 70 odd people in the room, and unprepared, I stood up and started speaking. And then all of a sudden, I said, I'm going to walk 10 million steps to raise money for your organisation. Received a round of applause and then turned round to see who'd offered to walk all those steps. It was me. What on earth have I let myself in for?

SPEAKER_01 2:34

I learnt a lot more about him. I thought I've been friends with Carl for quite a few years now, but I feel tonight he really, really opened his heart up to everybody. There's more to the man than I thought there was knowing him as a friend. I feel I've seen another side to Carl tonight.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

So Carl Peach, blown away as usual. What a man, what a story, what a speaker. And just so eloquent. The depth that he conveyed tonight. Incredible. So moving. Thank you, Carl Peach.

SPEAKER_03 3:12

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 3:22

Welcome to Mental Health Matters, Carl. It's great to have you in the studio. Thank you, Audrey. Well, let's just dive straight in. Um, how did you come to doing what you're doing?

SPEAKER_02 3:33

Let me let me take you back to the beginning, which is probably May 23. Prior to that date, I had my own marketing consultancy, and I did notice at the time that I'd started my my site had started to fail just a little bit. I was playing an online chess app, and I noticed there were some little black dots on the squares that I didn't recognise as chess pieces. And then some of the print on the screen on my PC wasn't quite as distinct. And it was only when I had my first eye test and they asked me to read the letters I could see none of the letters from my right eye.

SPEAKER_05 4:10

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

And over the period of the next three to four months my sight deteriorated very rapidly. And I ended up in Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham in August 23, just after my daughter's wedding.

SPEAKER_03 4:25

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 4:26

And that's when I got the diagnosis of Libra's hereditary optic neuropathy.

SPEAKER_03 4:30

Right.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Which is a degenerative condition of the optic nerve. And there's no treatment or cure. I don't know whether I will lose my sight completely, but it's been stable for several months now. So I'm I'm optimistic. And whilst I lay in my hospital bag, I figured what am I going to do now? And it wasn't a case of can I do this, it's a case of how can I do this. And I decided that I was going to aim to do everything I did before in terms of creative writing. Obviously, running a marketing consultancy and building websites and blogging, more of a problem, so I decided to move towards a career as an inspirational, motivational speaker.

SPEAKER_04 5:09

Oh my goodness, that's so transformational. Yeah, it really is.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 5:14

I mean, sorry, I know this isn't one of the questions on here, but this is just for our viewers because I know a lot about the wet macular degeneration from diabetes. We don't know a lot about this this um condition that you have and that it comes on so suddenly and how we recognise it.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

Okay, it's it's unusual. Most men get it in their 20s and 30s. Oh. And it is mainly men, it's passed down the maternal line.

SPEAKER_03 5:40

Oh, oh goodness.

SPEAKER_02 5:41

And it's probably 70 or 80% men that get the get the it's a disease, it's to do with the mitochondria.

SPEAKER_03 5:48

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

It's a mis misprint in the mitochondrial. That's how the the genetics unit of Oxford described it to me.

SPEAKER_05 5:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 5:55

And yeah, for me to get it in my late 50s is quite unusual. Norm normally, if you if you've got to your late 50s, you you've escaped it.

SPEAKER_04 6:04

And that's that's a difficult place as well, because this transformation that you've had to go through, which you probably weren't expecting to go through anyway, and then it's not only dealing with your eyesight, but dealing with the fact that you were making websites, you were blogging, you were doing all of this using your eyes. So, how did the writing and the poetry and the creative stuff help you with your mental health at that time?

SPEAKER_02 6:30

Immensely. I wrote my first poem without sight in my hospital bed.

SPEAKER_03 6:35

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

We had our mutual friend Kezebel help helped me. She was on she was on the other end of a phone, and I'd write a few lines and I'd dictate them in the phone to her, and then we'd make some edits on the fly. And after a day and a half, I'd written my first 32-line poem called The Beast, which which was my first poem. And that was that was distinct from scrawling over a notepad and putting arrows and just a messy book and then condensing it in into a pristine poem. I did it the other way around, so I construct it with a strong visual image and then one line at a time with a tighter meter and rhyme structure.

SPEAKER_05 7:16

Oh wow, my goodness. It's sending shivers down my face. It is just that process and also the fact that Kezebel helps you as well, like that's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 7:27

And process, yeah, I think that's the thing, it's so mindful, isn't it, in in many ways. It gets you focused on something else other than I guess everything else you're having to go through at the time.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

Yeah. I can endorse the transformative power of poetry because I I used I used poetry as a means of catharsis through throughout the last 10-15 years of my adult life to help me through the breakup of my marriage, um, a gambling addiction and various other other traumas, I suppose. And and writing has been instrumental in me overcoming th those things.

SPEAKER_05 8:01

Gosh, so you already knew the power of poetry for you. Yes. And then you were able to instigate that almost straight away from your hospital bed. That that's what's giving shivers. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

I didn't actually know that was that was a coping strategy, but all of a sudden I thought, I I know, I'll I'll I'll try and write a poem.

SPEAKER_05 8:18

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

And my poem, my poems are probably better now. They're certainly different, but I think them they're more polished because you have a different process of constructing it, and you create a strong visual image in your head, and and then I put a set of subtitles under them so I can memorize them as well.

SPEAKER_05 8:36

Wow, I love it. That's amazing. I absolutely love it. So talking about your your motivational speaking, um, what what are the the key things that you speak about?

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Well, for me, I just wanted to let people know that when something difficult happens to you, it doesn't mean it's the end of your useful life, and there's a lot of people who have a visual impairment. I know I I do I'm work raising money for the Northampton Chair Association for the Blind, and there's a big chunk of their service users who don't get out there into the world and do things, and that's something I'm looking to help with. So I'm walking 10 million steps at the moment and I'm trying to get persuade service users to come and join me. Oh wow, and that's where my speaking goes. It's like if something happens to you, then it's not it's not an end, it's just a change of direction.

SPEAKER_05 9:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:26

So the the message is growth in adversity.

SPEAKER_05 9:28

Yeah, okay, that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 9:31

Sorry to interrupt you. It was just that when you said end of your useful life, that's such a theme that's run through this show that people said about retirement, it's not you know, it's not the end, no, it's just the end of that bit, you know. What does it really mean? It just means you've stopped working. Exactly, exactly, and that's that's beautiful, and it's not the end of your useful life.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

That's really important because I remember seeing Diana Nyad on her TED talk after she'd done that that incredible swim from Cuba to Florida Keys, and she said at the age of 64 she was in no doubt that that she was in the prime of her life, and I'm I I'll be 61 on Monday, and I I'm I'm energized, I just there's loads of things I want to do.

SPEAKER_05 10:12

That's always brilliant. Just that right there. Exactly that. I love it. So um how I mean you've just kind of touched on a lot of that how you hope to inspire others, but uh what are the ways that you you use oh I'm excited this is so much love. Yeah, how how do you hope to inspire others?

SPEAKER_02 10:44

By getting out there into the world and doing things. It it's about facing facing fear. I was speaking to a gentleman, an author of of several books, who who's now totally blind, and he was talking about embracing the fear and getting out there and doing things because that's essentially what's stopping us doing it. So I'm talking about catching a bus and making a train journey, getting out there and walking, shopping on your own, and getting used to asking for help and teaching people how best to help you, which which in most instances isn't grabbing your arm and whisking you across the road. But yeah, but but being polite when you're refusing and saying thank you very much, but you can help me if if we do it this way, and and that educating people as well as to how best to use the resources that are available. So I've I've learned Braille over the last 16 months, which is an old technology, but I thought by by doing that it would also keep my brain active and and give me a step forward. And then on the rare occasion when when there's braille on on a lift button or in a sensory garden somewhere, I I can read it and so that's the neck the next plan is to maybe wear a GoPro while I'm I'm out there walking and and and doing things.

SPEAKER_05 12:02

Brilliant. That's a great idea.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

And then I can tell people about some of the challenges that I face, which are scooters abandoned in roads, e-scooters abandoned, cars parked on pavements, people walking towards you bury it with a head buried in a mobile phone, for example.

SPEAKER_04 12:19

It's really interesting because um I don't think the world is set up for somebody with any visual impairment at all. No. Um I remember once I I got um a corneal ulcer in one eye and then I got conjunctive vitis in the other, which kind of knocked out my sight. And as it was coming back, I was still trying to do things. I remember thinking how difficult this was because I couldn't see the signs, I couldn't see that I wasn't I wasn't driving, I promised. But you know, what things could be changed? What do what do we need to know out there really for signage and and things like that?

SPEAKER_02 12:55

I think if if there were an audio element to signage, and I don't know how how possible that that would be, there's there's a great adaption on pedestrian crossings that not a lot of people know about. There's a little spinny spinny wheel underneath underneath the where it tells you to wait, you put your things underneath, and there's a knurled coil that spins round, and as soon as it starts spinning, the green man's appeared. So adapt adaptions like that. But if if you could have something that said walk, but once once again, you there there's there's an element if there's if there's lots of crossings in close proximity, you don't know whether you're you need to walk or it's the it's the crossing next to you, which is why the bleeps are disabled on crossings when when they're all all in close proximity.

SPEAKER_03 13:38

Oh, I see. Yeah, I didn't even know that, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:40

But certainly some joined up thinking, and and I think electric cars need to have some sort of warning device as well. Absolutely. Because now they're almost they're stealth-like.

SPEAKER_04 13:51

I don't yeah, they are, they're quite dangerous for that reason. It's like when we talk to anybody who advocates for their community group. If you've fixed it for one community group, you've fixed it for all of us. We could all know when this coming up standing with us, and we're gonna have another little videos of you in action.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

Adam Toastmaster, fellow Toastmaster's guests and friends. What emotions do you get when someone says, Do you fancy coming up here and saying a few words? One social anxiety website, put public speaking as fourth in the list of phobias behind death, heights, and spiders. But I'll let you into a little secret. I'm nervous too. I've got butterflies in my stomach. But I've chosen to reframe it as excitement. That same excitement that I got when I used to open the batting for weekly in Walton Cricket Club. The same excitement when I went for a deadlift peevee at the gym. The same sort of excitement as when I scuttled across the bar to speak to that lovely lady over there. So I'd like to talk to you about being on this stage, setting foot in the fire, and feeling the flames lick around your feet. Because there's nothing quite like it. That feeling when you finish a speech and you get that massive hit of dopamine. It just feels amazing. So I'm gonna talk to you tonight about three things that I've learned about public speaking. Notice the pause. Have you ever heard a commercial radio station and at the end of that there's a little disclaimer that says you've got to be over 18 and it's subject to terms and conditions and blah blah blah blah blah, not available, not applicable in Northern Ireland, etc. And some people they come up here and they rattle their speech off at that pace. They're nervous, you're nervous, and the whole thing falls flat. So I would really, really, really urge you to slow down. Let people absorb all those rich words that you're using. It's a big effort to come up here to let people appreciate every word you say. One, two, three, the most important point, and pause. Let it sink in. That increases the clarity of your speech. The next thing I'd mention is the rule of three. In literature, events, characters, and things coming threes. And we all know about this. Three blind mice, rubber dubdub three men in a tub, three little pigs, Gordilocks and the three bears. Location, location, location. I wrote a piece called Treadmill in which I talked about the flip, turn, curl of virgin pages. Perhaps you remember at the start of my speech when I mentioned anxiety, fear, and panic. And I also told you that I was going to mention three things that would help your public speaking. People love it. Next time you speak to someone, use the rule of three. It will really help. So finally, I'm going to talk about audience engagement. That's you engaging with me and me engaging with you and you and you. I can't see any of you. So I wonder if you'd do me a favor, after the count of three, if you just shout out your first name. One, two, three. Which one of you's Beyonce? I've engaged you now. Asking questions. How to do engagement. Who here likes ripe bananas? Who here likes red wine? Who here has been to Italy? Thank you. Eye contact. Not applicable to me, obviously. If I were to make eye contact, I would have to get so desperately close to this person in the front row that well, boundaries. So audience engagement, and you'll know whether you've got it or not. I've got some laughter tonight. I've got some acknowledgement. I've got some hands being put up in the air, which is great. So I'm hoping that's helped. Let me take you back 103 days ago. I caught the X4 at 9.06 from Kettering. The 1048 train from Northampton to Milton Keynes. And I took my first few faltering steps into Milton Keane's confidence speakers. And yes, I was nervous. Maybe terror. And I gave a tabletopics talk on confidence is a skill. And Toastmasters has taught me some new skills, which I've owned very quickly. Now I feel I'm striding towards my goal of being an inspirational public speaker. And I'd love you to experience the same benefits. Confidence, clarity, connection. Thank you very much for listening.

SPEAKER_04 21:39

Welcome back to Mental Health Matters after Always. We're here with Carl Peach, and we're talking about your own journey to becoming a motivational speaker and revisiting your creative writing after losing your side in May 2023. But now we're going to turn to picking your brains and what you'll work. Because this is something a lot of us want to know. How do We become a motivational speaker because we hear about this, we see it on LinkedIn, and everyone thinks they can do it, but I don't think it's quite as easy as that. So, Carl, please, what are your top tips?

SPEAKER_02 22:11

I I do genuinely think that that everyone can be a public speaker. We we tell stories, and and that history of storytelling is all about what public is all what public speaking is about. So telling a story about a football match in the pub to your friends or in a in a in another circle or an environment is the start of public speaking.

unknown 22:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

We've just started a group in my hometown called N Clear Speakers, and we've invited people to come and hone their public speaking skills, but more than that, it's about their communication skills. So when you're there in in in the fire, feel the fire flicking around your feet and wondering what to say, it puts you it puts you in that scary safe space, so you can you can you can try it out and get some feedback from other people, and the more you do it, it's like a muscle that that grows.

SPEAKER_04 23:07

And some people seem really natural at it. My dad was a natural storyteller, but we used to say he's just he's holding court, you know. He's just got that that thing. But it I mean, not everyone has that.

SPEAKER_02 23:19

It it is it is something you can you can acquire with with practice.

SPEAKER_05 23:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 23:24

And the the best way to endear yourself to people is is to listen as well. That I know that's not that's not a skill that you would you would acquire on on a public speaking stage, but you need to to establish that rapport, that connection.

SPEAKER_03 23:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 23:37

It's like us having a conversation here. Instead of me having a conversation with with two people, I'm having that conversation with 200 and doing it by making eye contact with someone, asking questions, having it sharing a joke with someone who drops a clipboard, for example.

SPEAKER_05 23:54

Yes, and then and then it's not from the studio.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

Sorry, sharing a joke. But the it's that it's that type of thing that would endear you to the audience, make you seem authentic. Yeah. And the best piece of advice I could possibly give is to slow down. There's the temptation when you get put in that difficult position and you're asked to say a few words, it's it's that primal fear, that fight or flight gets you in there, and and and it just disables everything. If you take a few deep breaths, clench your core, lower your centre of gravity, and pause. The pause will seem like an eternity for you as the speaker, but to the to the audience watching, it's barely barely a glimmer. They won't even notice it, they'll just notice that you'll you feel calm and relaxed, and that they'll feel calm and relaxed at the same and that connection will grow.

SPEAKER_05 24:53

Wow, great tips.

SPEAKER_04 24:54

It really is, and it is about the rapport in the room, and actually, even if you can't see the audience, you can feel it. You've yeah, you've got to be open to those senses, I think.

SPEAKER_02 25:05

Well, absolutely. I I do feel I have this sixth sense now when I can't see that that when when something's going right, or even if it's going badly wrong, um, moving away from the public speaking, I I was followed on one of my charity walks, and I knew I was being followed. I mean the guy was a long way behind me, but I but I had that sense and was able to sort of take evasive action.

SPEAKER_05 25:25

Oh my goodness!

SPEAKER_04 25:27

That's worrying. That's yeah, that's frightening. Sorry, what happened? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:31

Um I was I was walking, I was doing a charity walk in Northampton and I'd got off the bus and was walking two, three hundred metres to the to the start, and I and I clocked this this guy standing outside a shop. He was he was a big unit. That's what we say locally, a big unit. He was probably six foot ten, I reckon.

SPEAKER_03 25:54

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 25:54

He was standing outside a tanning shop, and I I imagined he was some sort of promotional statue. They have butchers with blue aprons on and stripes, don't they? I thought he was I thought he was probably advertising that the tanning salon or something, but uh but he he started to move and then I realised he was a real person, and I just had this gut feeling that that after after a minute or two that he was he was behind me. So I I dived into a shop, bought some random purchases, and then when I was I was queuing at the shop, he was stood right behind me. No, so I immediately thought, well, I'm gonna keep my phone and my wallet zipped into my trousers, absolutely, and then I just reached into my rucksack and pulled out some loose change. Yeah, and then obviously, if I was a target, I was no longer such an attractive target. Yes. When I turned round, he'd gone.

SPEAKER_05 26:40

Oh my goodness. Very quick thinking of you. Yes. I mean, a lot of people wouldn't know what to do. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:48

And and I think that also, in a way, kind of leads me on to my next question about mistakes you noticed in the public speaking context, but it kind of relates to what you're saying, Jude, about people not knowing what to do. People think, for me, it it they they seem to think, oh, motivational speakers speak in this way, so I need to speak in this way. But there's I think people lose a lot of authenticity. So, Carl, could you talk to us about some of the mistakes you notice other people make, not just in how they speak, but maybe what they choose to speak about, the manner in which they do it, all of those personal little nuances.

SPEAKER_02 27:23

Filler words are an important aspect. A little a little while ago, I I I said um, and it it cut like a dagger for me because I spent all my time trying to eliminate them with stop, pause, think, go, and whatever. But you do notice if you listen even on to radio broadcasters, journalists, interviewers, they punctuate all of their text with like so. Yes, as I as I said, yep, yep, yep, no, yeah, no, and things that are non-productive words. So spend a lot of time just just talking, just recording yourself on a mobile phone and listening back to yourself, and slowing down has an incredible impact. If you're not sure what to say, don't fill it with an uh, an um, a like or whatever. Just fill it with with pause and adds that little bit of gravitas and and makes you sound so so much better. So that was that's the main thing I would say. Speaking too quickly, once again, when you when you're in that pressure situation, you want to get speak quickly and get it over and done with. And a bit of vocal variety. So if you want you want to just tuck someone in and just engage with them, you can drop your voice to a whisper. Or if you've got an important point to make, just raise your voice and and make some motion so it's a if it's a strong point, then bang your fist. And that bit of vocal variety really helps. Otherwise, it's just monotone and you've got it's it's like like flatlining.

SPEAKER_04 28:52

Yes, yeah. And people tune out.

SPEAKER_02 28:54

But they do, they do, yes. I'm not a fan of of shouty speakers. Um I'm I'm really not a fan of of shouty motivational speakers. It's it's very, very preachy, and it's not a style that I that I I engage with at all. And I try not to do that. I just try and try and draw people in, and and if there's something something that I say that they can recognise in their life, then I feel I've made made a connection.

SPEAKER_05 29:19

Absolutely. Well you you're speaking, you know, very calmly and quietly now, but you're extremely engaging. So you you absolutely you don't have to be a shouty person to get people to listen. Absolutely, absolutely. No, you have a really great style, I think. Um so how do you develop that experience and how did you start to um have invitations and and gigs to speak?

SPEAKER_02 29:41

First of all, performance poetry that was the catalyst for me becoming a public speaker. I started writing and performing my own poetry possibly nine or ten years ago.

SPEAKER_03 29:53

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 29:54

You're familiar with my friend Kezebel. She ran a creative writing group and I became a member of that.

SPEAKER_05 29:59

Oh, lovely.

SPEAKER_02 30:00

And then started performing at Open Mike Nights, and literally the first time I performed, I had my head buried in my book and read the whole thing without looking up. My daughters had come to watch me and they say, Oh, you were a fabulous dad, and I knew I knew I wasn't.

SPEAKER_03 30:15

Oh, it was fabulous.

SPEAKER_02 30:17

It was dreadful. Every syllable had gone into that book and nobody heard it. I made eye contact with no one. But just taking that first step, you learn, you watch people who are competent and have had years of experience, and you just pick up little tips and tricks from them. And then then you feel confident with sharing a little joke with someone in the audience and whatever, and that that adds that authenticity or connection. And more more recently, I I've offered to speak to to local groups, Women's Institute, Rotary Clubs, Lions, um, business networking communities. And it might only be for ten minutes or something, but that practice, practice, practice. Record yourself on the phone, put yourself out there, write something. Even if you go to an open mic event and read somebody else's material, give that that give you that level of experience. And I think it's really important to memorize it. That's that's been vital for me. Since I started memorising my poems, out of out of necessity, of course, it's enabled me to connect with the audience because I'm not I'm not looking down. My safety net's gone, so I I can connect with you and you and and that person there, and it makes the makes a real difference.

SPEAKER_05 31:32

Wow. Yeah, yeah, I can really see that.

SPEAKER_02 31:35

But but here's here's the caveat to that: don't memorise your whole speech. Uh memorising a poem and be able to recite it and engage with the audience is the world there's a world of difference between that and memorising a 40-minute keynote. Once you start memorising your keynote, you lose that authenticity.

SPEAKER_05 31:54

That's really interesting. Yes. And you know more about this than I do.

SPEAKER_04 31:58

I was actually gonna say with TEDx, they force you to memorize it. Yeah. The only person they didn't force was me because I was teaching, so I couldn't actually memorize it. I had to memorize the first segment. But and what I noticed was every speaker had been drilled and drilled and drilled that when the audience laughed, they didn't know how to stop, or if they did stop, they lost their place. So I think there is a problem with memorising too much because you're memorizing too nothing, and then suddenly you put human contact and interaction in, and it can become quite difficult for you to continue then. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:34

That that was a very important tip that I learned from Richard McCann. Richard McCann is a brilliant public speaker with over 20 years of experience, and he heard me speak at one of his master classes, and he said that my performance was too rehearsed, too polished, too lyrical, and too poetic. And I'm thinking, well, that's that's what I'm good at. I'm good at poetry. And since then I I've deliberately planned less for my talks. I've I've had a a few bullet points, and I know I know my subject, yeah. Whether whether it be growth and adversity or or public speaking or whatever subject, I know the subject well. But it's better to have a bullet point memorised, and then you can go with the flow. And if that eliminates any chance of you forgetting your speech, because if you forget where you are half uh halfway through, you're just frozen there and you don't know where to go. Yes. You you're waiting for a prompt or hoping you'll remember where you'd left off. Whereas if you're unprepared, and that sounds awful, unprepared, less prepared, I think is probably the the best way of describing it, you do sound sound more authentic and you build that connection. Yeah. And that was a very important piece of advice that I was given.

SPEAKER_05 33:43

Brilliant.

SPEAKER_04 33:44

I when you were saying, you know, you said this, this, this, and this, and I said I would have gone, I would have said, thug you then.

SPEAKER_05 33:51

I was thinking that. I I could feel that from you.

SPEAKER_04 33:55

Or do you would have said No, I I think that I absolutely do agree because I think that authenticity, but I never considered it in the chance to connect, actually.

SPEAKER_05 34:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:08

So I think that's that's something I'm gonna take with me. That's a good point, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:12

So that that that con that conversational style, it's really it's really important.

SPEAKER_05 34:17

And when you start out especially, how important is it that you align your speaking engagement with your own values?

SPEAKER_02 34:26

I th I think I think it's vitally important. I think if you're it's once again, it's it's like having a prepared speech word for word. You sound inauthentic.

SPEAKER_05 34:35

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 34:36

And however good an actor you are, I think people will will see through you if you're if you're saying something that doesn't alig to your core message. My my message of growth in adversity, I I've lived that, so I I will sound I will sound authentic. I've got lived experience of of walking through busy streets, catching public transport, having difficult interactions with people, asking for help and whatever. So I think it is it is vitally important that whatever you're speaking aligns closely to your beliefs.

SPEAKER_05 35:07

Yeah, yeah, I can see that.

SPEAKER_04 35:10

And it's so hard right at the beginning because you want to accept every engagement possible. Yes, and then you're suddenly thinking, wait a minute, I'm delivering this speech to this group of people whose work I absolutely do not believe in, or they want you to say something along this kind of topic and you don't want to do that.

SPEAKER_02 35:28

Yeah, so and the worst thing in the world is you make a good job of that as well. Yeah, and then then you're chasing chasing the filthy lucre and you're taking taking other engagements that don't really align with your core values.

SPEAKER_05 35:39

That's yeah. And then you're sort of selling your soul after that, aren't you?

SPEAKER_04 35:43

Yes, yes. I'm learning so much. And I thought I knew public speaking, so this is really great, Carl. Really, really informative. We're keeping you with us, and we'll be back just after this. A world without the arts is one without confidence, creativity, and community, and yet funding has been reduced every year. Arts programmes have been shown to benefit social inclusion and well-being, particularly for marginalized groups, with projects fostering a sense of belonging, cultivating mutual understanding, and breaking down social barriers and isolation. Participation in arts programs can help boost confidence and open doors to opportunities that may otherwise be inaccessible. ClickArts Foundation offers grants up to £2,000 for grassroots arts projects twice a year, with our community arts experience trustees meticulously scoring each project on impact and sustainability. To date, we have supported craft and visual arts projects, dance, drumming for well-being, and preservation of heritage and culture. If you share our passion not just for maintaining the arts themselves, but contributing to the many benefits it can bring, please consider making a donation to Click Arts Foundation registered charity. Welcome back to Mental Health Matters After Hours. We're here with Carl Peach and we're talking about motivational speaking, speaking errors, and writing speeches. And please do go back to listen to Carl's life story because he went blind in May 2023, and that changed his career trajectory completely. So if you've just tuned in, please go back and watch the beginning of this show as well. Now, Carl, what makes for you a good speech and what makes a bad speech?

SPEAKER_02 37:26

Okay. A bad speech will be difficult to understand, it will have unnecessarily complexity.

SPEAKER_04 37:35

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 37:36

It will try to cover too many different things. It will try to be all things to all people. It will have slides that are crammed full of text. And the audience will leave feeling really confused. That for me is a bad speech. I've I watched, I've seen some bad talks. I've covered a conference, one of my clients, and had to provide a report on it. And one lady stood behind a lectern, clearly terrified, and read a whole speech from PowerPoint.

SPEAKER_05 38:10

Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 38:10

It was literally death by PowerPoint.

SPEAKER_05 38:12

Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 38:14

And you could see the people switching off their heads dropping. One or two who sat near the back left. Um, and if you're unfortunate like me to sat at the front, you had to you had to tolerate that for the whole 45 minutes, and then there were no questions at the end. Nobody wanted to prolong prolong the end of the book.

SPEAKER_05 38:30

Please make it stop. It's like teacher training me. Yes. Absolutely. Sorry, carry on.

SPEAKER_02 38:39

I was just gonna say the other the other things that I I I don't like from the speech, and this is from a personal point of view, is where the speaker is too self-centered, too, too me-centric, and and doesn't engage with the audience. Okay, they'd like to know your life story, but they'd also like to know how it relates to them. So asking the questions have any of you ever experienced this and waiting for a show of hands? Although they might not genuinely be interested in that, it's a way of drawing the audience in and thinking, oh yeah, I remember when that happened to me. And then you're you're like the speaker, you can appreciate what he's saying and you can you can tune into it. So someone being too me-centric, and as I've already said, someone being too shouty. I'm not there to be preached at. Someone's gonna throw me a few a few crumbs and and I'm gonna I'm gonna like some of them. From a 45-minute keynote with 15 minutes of QA, if somebody takes away one little snippet that can change their life, then that's that's success for me.

SPEAKER_04 39:38

That's that's really good. So, what would you do to make that into a good speech? What what are there any key things you can distill into tips?

SPEAKER_02 39:47

Reduce the complexity.

SPEAKER_04 39:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:49

I think from Toastmasters we've we've learned the power of three. If you can tackle three things during your speech, and literally a maximum of three things, the three things can be subdivided in and have different anecdotes and stories. But keep simplicity. Make your slides simple. A one word on a slide to emphasise the point you're making.

SPEAKER_03 40:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:10

A picture that that that that is compelling with people in it, yeah, preferably. And what else? Bit of humour.

SPEAKER_04 40:25

Yeah, it can go a long way.

SPEAKER_02 40:27

And sometimes self-deprecating humour as well. That that always that always works really well. So even it's not disrespectful to other people with a visual impairment, but if I'm use self-deprecating humour about my my difficulties about buying the wrong thing from a a store, for example, or a the lady who I asked for help and and she just pointed me to aisle three. That type of humour does engage with the audience and and have a clear, a clear message, a strong opening, clear message, and then emphasise what you've said again at the at the end. And people will remember you.

SPEAKER_04 41:05

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Definitely, and relating to that, is there a balance between sort of the technical side of the speech and the artistic presentation with which you perform?

SPEAKER_02 41:17

Yes. It's really important because you your your audience will have a technical background in a lot of instances. Yes. And I don't think you should try and outdo them, learning learning about their industry too much and trying to teach them them to suck eggs, as it were. Yes. I think you should you should make some some general points and make them in an interesting and entertaining way, but not not tune into the nitty-gritty because technical aspects of of speech writing, yes, uh, they're important. And and it's a it's a tightrope walk because earlier if you're if you're too waxing too lyrical and being too poetic, then you then you appear disingenuous or and and you have that disconnect. So yeah, that's that's a f a fine divide uh dividing line, and it's only something you get from experience, and you will you will flop on occasions.

SPEAKER_04 42:13

Yeah, no, I I think that's I love that because I love your point about don't teach them their job. No, absolutely, it's it's as simple as that, and you panic because I know sometimes I had to give a speech to well, not a speech, I was training at the Guild of Psychotherapists, and I'm sitting there thinking, Well, I'm a psychologist, I'm not a psychotherapist, and immediately you start thinking, Oh, how do I say this? Because I need them to listen to me. Luckily I didn't do that, but yeah, I get that fear.

SPEAKER_05 42:40

Yeah, it's definitely a fine line, as you say. So, what would be your top tips then from for the whole process, I guess, from from writing and then delivering your speech? Have you got a couple of tips that you employ?

SPEAKER_02 42:54

Keep it, keep it simple. Simplicity is the key. Don't use complex words. If you appeal to the lowest common denominator, and I'm not disrespecting any any audience member anything, but you want you want them to understand what you're saying. Yeah. You also accept that not every member of the audience will have English as their first language. Yes. So don't wax lyrical, don't use complex words, don't use jargon, don't use acronyms.

SPEAKER_03 43:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 43:19

Um simplicity is key.

SPEAKER_03 43:21

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 43:21

Have a strong opening, maybe ask a question and tackle your nerves. Everyone gets nervous. If you if you're not nervous when you when you start a public speaking engagement, then you put you probably give up. Because that's that's once you're blasé about it, you will it will show in your performance. Yes. So take some deep breaths, um clench, clench your core and your buttocks, and lower your centre of gravity and and hands as well. Don't don't just fold your hands, don't put them in your pocket, don't keep them by your side. Keep them here and and try and move them between. Your waist and your neck, and and that that shows confidence and open palms as well.

SPEAKER_05 44:06

Yeah, I was just gonna say it it look it makes you seem more open if you use your hands in that way.

SPEAKER_04 44:10

It's really interesting because when I was teaching, always did that. I did palms down because it's very much about right, you're gonna sit down now. Yes, it's very control, and it can feel when you're an adult watching another adult give a speech to you and they start doing that.

SPEAKER_05 44:28

No, you know what they're doing, yeah. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 44:32

So that was the that was the feedback I had from one of my Toastmaster speeches. I was talking about engagement, and I was talking about engaging with you and you and you. And my evaluator said, Maybe you should be engaging with you and you and you. It's it's it's less less threatening and and more more open, as you were saying.

SPEAKER_05 44:49

Such a subtle difference, but it makes it makes a big difference in your gesturing.

SPEAKER_02 44:55

And when you when you learn, you you use about the you learn about the power of body language. Yeah. So in Toastmasters, we we talk about the past in that direction, and we talk about the future in that direction, as if you're as if you're reading a book from from the from the start of the line to the end of the line, and that's the direction of of time travel, as it were. And if you're thinking of something, then you would look up as though you are actually imagining it, and those little little quirks, they really resonate with the audience, and they know you're a good speaker, but they won't know exactly why. But that guy was great.

SPEAKER_05 45:26

Yeah, I love the subtleties about it, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:29

Brilliant. And that past to the present's a big thing because that's how I have to choreograph when you're facing your audience. You need to remember it's their left and their right, not yours. Yes. And so for you, your past is actually future. But your audience is seeing it in the past, and it's it means I can't I can't give directions in a car. I have no idea what left or right is anymore.

SPEAKER_05 45:54

I was just thinking, you're saying, oh yeah, it's just made that explain that because you were saying left to right, and I'm thinking, well, I'm sure that's right. Yes, I'm sitting in front of you, so I should have realised that.

SPEAKER_02 46:07

I had the same, I had the same dilemma. I was describing a photograph to my audience. I was I was doing a talk the week before last, and I could visualize the photograph, and it was as though I was holding it there and describing to the audience, and I had to turn round and imagine that that because I was in this photograph, I was stood on the right, but I was standing it and the photograph was effectively in front of me, and then and then then we had a whole 20 seconds where I was trying to orient myself and say, No, I'm here and he's there.

SPEAKER_05 46:34

Oh my gosh, Jerry Jerry being in the map in London.

SPEAKER_04 46:38

Yes, yes, standing in the map and then orientating himself. It's a friend's reference.

SPEAKER_05 46:44

Wow. Oh um, I mean this has been amazing, thank you so much. How can we find out more about you?

SPEAKER_02 46:50

I I I have a website. Okay. It's um it's carlpeach.co.uk.

SPEAKER_05 46:55

Okay, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 46:56

I I'm also on LinkedIn and Facebook, although LinkedIn will be my primary source of of social media activity.

SPEAKER_03 47:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 47:04

But if you send me a message on my website, I will I will respond very quickly. There's a contact form at the bottom, and that's my preferred form of contact.

SPEAKER_05 47:12

Uh through your website?

SPEAKER_02 47:13

Through my website, yes.

SPEAKER_05 47:14

Alright, brilliant. Carlpeach.co.uk.

SPEAKER_02 47:17

Spot on.

SPEAKER_05 47:18

Lovely, fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 47:25

I wanted to talk about something slightly different but related to what our speaker has been talking about. And this is when you're using slides for PowerPoint. We know, we know, don't use loads and loads of slides. People do switch off. Now, I as a psychologist talk a lot about something called attention splitting versus multitasking. And multitasking is when you are doing two different skills at the same time. So that might be you're running and you're listening to music, you are not trying to have a conversation whilst writing an email. That's using two cognitive skills at the same time, that's known as attention splitting. There is one more that can come out when it comes to PowerPoints, and that is a form of attention blocking. And what can happen if you're a little bit like me, a bit sort of a type A personality, you look at the screen, and instead of listening to the speaker, if all the stuff is written on the screen, you are going to read it all off the screen yourself. You are going to completely block out whatever the speaker's going to say because you're too busy reading what's going on, and then you can't possibly listen to them. And that little tip was given to me by Matt Haymes, and he works for Three Enrollment, and he talks a lot about marketing and writing your speeches like you're writing a billboard. So take that tip away and remember if you're putting too much information on there, certain personalities they're not going to listen to a word you're saying because they're too busy reading it themselves. Well, we've reached the final part of our show. Carl, it's been such a pleasure and privilege chatting with you.

SPEAKER_02 49:06

I've really enjoyed it, thank you.

SPEAKER_04 49:07

I've learned so much. I mean, I there's so many things to talk about. This is the bit where we like to reflect on everything so we can start processing things and we talk about what we we've taken away. So I guess for me it's that reminder of the importance of connection. You forget it's so key because when we're doing this to a screen, sometimes you forget the audience because you kind of have to.

SPEAKER_05 49:33

Well, unless we have a live audience, yeah, we don't we don't see you, but um we know you're there. Yeah, we know you're there, and you know, there are people do leave you do leave comments sometimes, so there is that engagement kind of afterwards, but it's not the same as as speaking to a live audience. Yeah, what about you? I just sit here in awe of anyone who could speak in public, literally, because I just can't do it. That's interesting. Why why? I it Carl, you described it really well when you said that uh people just lose everything goes from their head. I mean, when it happens when I'm in front of people like that, it's almost like I have no senses, I just I can't see the people there, I can't hear, there's this massive rushing in my head. Um whatever comes out of my mouth is just rubbish. It it's like I just forget that I'm a human being. So it's really strange, and I just have I'm in awe of anyone, like both of you do that. You both stand up on a stage in front of hundreds of people or even more, and you speak coherently and you say funny things and engaging things, but yet you can do the show. I mean transfer the skills, girl, transfer the skills. Maybe I need to learn how to stand on the stage and speak.

SPEAKER_04 50:53

I don't know. It is the same thing, but your point about the asking the question. I remember, and we've shown this, it was uh James O'Neill who did a speech about um diabetes, and he opened with the how many people have uh a diagnosis of diabetes. And actually, what was interesting was not just the rapport that you created, the fact that half the audience put their hands up and we were really surprised it was that many. Yeah. So I think that's a great tip. That rapport is really important.

SPEAKER_05 51:21

Yes, I think so. Because immediately you've got the engagement of well, half the people anyway, and then the other half are engaged because they're just thinking, wow, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 51:32

I I I book the trend because I rather than a show of hands, I ask people to shout out because I can't see the hands.

SPEAKER_05 51:39

And people love to do that as well, don't they?

SPEAKER_04 51:41

Yeah, and it gets them going as well, it warms them up. Oh, Carl, it's been such a pleasure, and you are going to close with one of your poems today. So we're really, really lucky. We're gonna hand it over to you, Carl.

SPEAKER_02 51:53

This is the first poem that I wrote without sight. It was composed composed entirely in my hospital bed, and it's called The Beast. She slithers through selfish bloat, blood awash, her barbarous tongue coiled in heinous lash, to strike with spite and malicious intent, with wounding words her bitter spleen to vent, a formless fury, despicable, wild, in the frozen gaze of a stiff-backed child, and now the sated beast restored to calm, Administers her maternal balm, turns sour. The clock has stopped. Memories run too deep. Acid rain dreams drip, sear through shattered sleep. In the moonwashed pallor of frigid graves, her fears hang and fester like shackled slaves in dank dungeons, still waiting for the light. Or the lone bell tolls in the deep dead night. Where cruel terrors lurk, and demons linger, and blank shadows point. A judging finger. But there's truth in dawn's nurturing bosom, an infusion, a bridge across the chasm. Her feet firmly planted, lungs set to burst. She's readied for action, life come, do your worst. Her rapier-like pen, dripping black ink, cutting and thrusting near pausing to think. Each word tends a wound. Each page heals a scar. Her spirit grows stronger. Hour after hour. Truth is anointing. Her courage grows. History is calling to banish her foes. But the lair of the beast is bare, forlorn. No victims remain for anger or scorn. So her nature nurtures tiny shoots with warmth and kindness right down to the roots. To thrive and flourish when storms come their way. And hold them tightest. When light leaves the day. Thank you.