Unlock Public Speaking Confidence: Lessons from Military, Survival TV, and TEDx with Terry L. Fossum

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What does it really take to become a powerful speaker, even if you’re terrified of public speaking? On this episode of Speaking with Confidence, I’m taking you deep into the strategies, stories, and mindset shifts that will help you overcome your fears and truly connect with any audience.

I’m your host, Tim Newman, a former college professor turned communication coach, and today, I’m joined by a truly inspiring guest: Terry L. Fossum. Terry isn’t just a survival reality show winner; he's a Wall Street Journal, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble best-selling author, a keynote speaker, and his TEDx talk has been recognized as one of the top 30 talks in the country. He’s also raised millions for charity and taught at the MBA level. Most importantly for our listeners, Terry knows a thing or two about turning nerves into powerful moments on stage, and he’s passionate about helping others do the same.

In our conversation, we dove into why real, honest, and clear communication is at the heart of succeeding under pressure, both in survival situations and in everyday life. Terry shares how being on a survival reality show, partnered with someone totally opposite from him, forced him to communicate at a whole new level. He also reveals how his experiences as a scoutmaster and military officer taught him the value of finding the good in people from all backgrounds and leading with purpose.

Here’s what we talk about in this episode:

• How survival skills and communication go hand-in-hand (with plenty of hilarious and moving stories from Terry’s reality show days)
• What to do when team conflict and stress threaten to derail your message or working relationships
• The power of owning your mistakes, giving others grace, and building credibility through authenticity
• Why emotion, not facts, drives action and how to leverage that in any speech or presentation
• The “position of power” technique to conquer nerves and step on stage with confidence every time
• The critical first five seconds: hooking your audience and making the talk about them
• Why being vulnerable and sharing your failures is actually your superpower as a communicator
• An intro to the SIMPLE framework for public speaking, and how to build talks that get standing ovations (and results!)
• Tips for landing, crafting, and performing a TEDx talk that really stands out

By the end of this episode, you’ll have actionable inspiration and tools to step into your own power as a speaker, no matter where you’re starting from. And always remember: your voice can change the world.

Don’t forget to check out Terry’s book, his podcast “The Comeback Chronicles”, and all of the resources we mention, including the free IdeaScore AI tool to score your TEDx ideas.

Thanks for listening to Speaking with Confidence. Subscribe to never miss an episode and visit speakingwithconfidencepodcast.com for additional tips and free resources to support your journey to becoming a confident and impactful speaker.

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Episode Transcript

Tim Newman (00:10):
Welcome back to Speaking with Confidence, a
podcast that helps you build thesoft skills that lead to real
results communication,storytelling, public speaking
and showing up with confidencein every conversation that
counts.
I'm Tim Newman, a recoveringcollege professor turned
communication coach, and I'mthrilled to guide you on your
journey to becoming a powerfulcommunicator.
Make sure you hit the subscribebutton so you never miss an

(00:31):
episode.
Today's guest is Terry L Fossum.
Terry is a survival realityshow winner, number one
bestselling author on WallStreet Journal, amazon and
Barnes Noble.
His TEDx talk debuted at numbertwo in the world and is named
one of the top 30 TEDx talksthat has made an impact in the
country.
He's a highly successfulkeynote speaker and has raised

(00:53):
millions for charities acrossthe country.
His award-winning book, theSimple Guide to Public Speaking
Without Losing your Lunch, hasbeen lauded from everyone, from
astronauts to beauty queens,business and military leaders,
even academia.
He's even taught at the MBAlevel.
After his TEDx talk reachedwell over a million views and
completely changed his world andmany others around the globe,

(01:15):
he developed a program to helpothers land and rock TEDx talk
so they can use the power oftheir voice to change their
world and make a lot of moneywhile doing it.
Terry, welcome to the show.
I enjoyed our pre-interviewtalk and I know this is going to
be just as much fun.

Terry Fossum (01:34):
Well, tim, it's great getting to know you
absolutely and, yeah, I did feelthat you know really related to
you right away.
Of course, we're both priormilitary, you know that helps a
bit it does.
Yeah, but I appreciate whatyou're doing to help people find
their voice on this podcast,because everybody has a message.
And if you're on there thispodcast.
They want to know how to get itout there better and make a

(01:57):
difference in the world and intheir own lives.
So I really appreciate whatyou're doing to help them do
exactly that.

Tim Newman (02:05):
Well, again, you know I hope that it's reaching
people and helping people.
You know the feedback that I'vegotten has been really good and
you know it's.
It's primarily because of ofguests like you, who are coming
from all walks of life andbringing in you know, their
experiences and really showingpeople that doesn't really
matter who you are, where youare in life, what your lot in
life is.

(02:25):
Everybody has a voice andeverybody can share that.
You just have to be willing todo the work, because if you have
some of those hangups, doingthe work is hard.

Terry Fossum (02:40):
Yeah, absolutely it is.
But if you focus on why you'redoing the work, why you want
your message to get out there,then suddenly it becomes less of
a chore and more of a passion.
Passion right, and when you comeacross with that attitude and
understanding, you do havepassion within you.
Whether you think you do or not, whether you cried when an old

(03:01):
yeller died, or scream at yourfavorite football team or not,
you do have passion within youand you've proven it before.
You just don't remember.
So that's part of what I likehelping people do when I'm
working with them myself.

Tim Newman (03:14):
Well, let's get right into this.
We've talked about this.
You've built yourself anamazing career.
You've been a military officer,a business owner.
You know, we talked about the10x talking and the speaker in
the books and all these greatthings that you've done, but
invariably, everybody wants totalk about kicking and screaming
.

(03:34):
Yeah, the survival show you knowwe talked about this a little
bit, you know, in the pre-calland you know I, I, I get it and
I don't get it.
But but why don't you give us alittle bit of, you know,
insights into that experience?
And let's look at it from froma communication perspective.
How important was communicationin that experience with your

(03:56):
partner and actually winningthat contest?

Terry Fossum (03:58):
Oh baby, oh baby.
Only critical, only critical.
But let's give a little bit ofbackground.
First of all, I did not ask tobe on any survival show.
I did not want to be on anysurvival reality show.
Have you seen what they makethem eat?
Exactly.
So I come down to my computerhere one morning and I get this
email out of the blue MiddlesFlyer Media Casting Company are

(04:22):
casting a brand new TV survivalreality show putting 10 of the
top survival experts in thecountry against each other while
dragging along a completenovice.
He's never even camped out intheir backyard before and we
think you'd be great Like, ok,wait, which one am I, but then
also Tim.
If you get an email like thatout of the blue, what do you

(04:44):
think?

Tim Newman (04:45):
It's a scam.
It's a scam.

Terry Fossum (04:46):
It's a scam.

Tim Newman (04:50):
Or somebody's messing with you.
One of your best friends ismessing with you, and I do have
those friends.
We all do.

Terry Fossum (04:57):
So, yeah, it's got to be fake.
But there was a phone number onthere and, by the way, I called
my wife and I told her aboutthis email.
My wife, by the way, runs a lawfirm.

(05:24):
I said, ok, I just got god.
But my wife's making fun of me.
She's like, oh my god, you'rethe tog, like tog, what's that?
You're the token old guy dude.
So I was gonna be the guy thateverybody's like oh, it's so
cute, they've got thedemographic on there, you know,
but he gonna die.
Now let's add into that theywanted me to represent all of
boy scouts of america in myscoutmaster uniform.

(05:45):
You know they put the token boyscout on these shows these days
.
So once again it's like, oh, helooks so cute in his little
neckerchief, but he gonna dieexactly.
And when I got into the, thelocation, the first two people I
met one was a marine scoutsniper.
This is the dude that goesbehind enemy lines and takes

(06:07):
people out and tries not to die.
One of the baddest dudes I'veever met in my life.
The second one was the UnitedStates military survival
instructor and I called my wifeand I told her who I just met,
cause I could still call her atthat point and I said, hey,
guess what dear I'm on die.
So communication was critical,because now I had to, because I

(06:30):
was.
You know, now scouts are betterthan we think we are.
You know, making shelter,survival, you're roughing it all
that stuff, watching theweather, first aid, all that
kind of stuff came in really,really handy, but I'm still the
underdog for the whole show.
So I had to start first of allcommunicating with my fellow
survivalists, but especiallywith my novice.

(06:51):
Right, my novice was a pink andblue hair, fully tattooed up,
tongue ring, atheist, admittedsex addict, online video gamer.
Now, why would they do that?
Why would they pair her with me?
Well, because I'm the Boy Scout, so it's perfect to cause

(07:11):
conflict, right, right With.
Conflict necessitatescommunication, which brings us
to your point Both ways, becauseyou know, let's be fair, she
comes, they came, came.
All the novices come up on aboat and all of us survivalists
are standing there trying tolook cool and everything you
know for the camera.
And you know that she is comingaround looking all seeing all

(07:31):
these studs, you know, men andwomen, young, tough, and the fat
old scout master.
You know she's going.
Please, god, do not give me theold boy scout, please do not.
And and then, of course, we'repaired together.
So communication was key and weindeed did get into it at one
point, because we're starving.
I lost 25 pounds on the show.

(07:52):
Uh, don't worry, I found itagain.
And uh, and it came with somefriends and we're sleep deprived
, we're stressed.
You know we got into it, butthat's where the real
communication had to go.
So communication is key inabsolutely everything, not just
survival shows, but everythingyou do.

Tim Newman (08:10):
You know, and I'm glad you brought up the point of
how important it is when timesare stressful, because it's real
easy to have this back andforth when it's fun and games
Right Right, games, right right.
But when, when it goes down andstuff starts happening, that's
when you know communication hasto be, it's critical, it has to
be clear, it has to be conciseand and it has to be immediate.

(08:35):
Right, we've got to go.
There's, there's no bs, there'sno fluff, it's this is what we
got to do.
This is the direction we needto go to here.
Here's why let's, let's, let'sget off to making it happen.

Terry Fossum (08:47):
Well, in this case I mean, that's absolutely true.
And in this case, first of all,I separated us, you know,
because we were going out and ofcourse the cameras loved that
and, by the way, kicking andScreaming is currently showing
on Think Still on Prime Video.
So we're, we're fighting, we'regoing it, cameras are on us.
Okay, we need to separate,because this is not going well
from my standpoint too.
All right, you know, blame,blame goes both ways when you're

(09:09):
, when you're doing those things.
But then I remember some scouttraining I've been through as an
adult.
We have this adult leadershiptraining program called wood
badge funny name, the bestleadership training I've ever
been through.
It taught us the four stages ofteam development forming,
storming, norming and performing.
It's out there in the corporateworld as well.

(09:31):
So I came back and said guesswhat?
Guess what?
I got great news.
We are in there.
There's four stages of of ofteam development, and we're
right in the middle of numbertwo.
She goes we sure are.
No, that's not what I mean, notthat number two.
We are at the storming stage.
We want to perform.
These are stepping stones,they're not roadblocks, as long

(09:51):
as we go through it with loveand respect.
Both directions right.
Both admitted where we werescrewing up and apologize where
we did screw up, me included.
And uh, from then on, like okay, now we've got a whole

(10:14):
different vision.
Now we've gone through thatstorming stage, we could norm
and perform, we did thecommunication right right, and
that's also part of leadership,owning it.

Tim Newman (10:24):
I mean right, I mean because the reality is we're
not perfect.
We make mistakes.
Absolutely Part of that is, ifyou know, to build credibility,
to build that leadership, wehave to own our mistakes and, on
the flip side, we have to givegrace for other people, to allow
them to make mistakes, allowthem to clean it up, to be able

(10:45):
to fix whatever it is and againmove forward, just like what you
all did.
And I think a lot of times thatthat is just it's forgotten.
Let's either not takeaccountability, not take
responsibility or blame, blame,blame, blame, blame and never
give the other person a chanceto correct and and move forward,

(11:07):
and that's that's what we,that's what we have.

Terry Fossum (11:10):
Absolutely the, the communications you got to be
first of all, you know, likeyou said, owning what you did
wrong, you know, uh, and notmaking excuses for it.
You know, maybe you know here'sthe reasons, but that's not an
excuse.
You know.
Owning it, apologizing amazing,what.
What can happen with an apology.
You know here's the reasons,but that's not an excuse.
You know.
Owning it, apologizing amazingwhat can happen with an apology,
you know, and admission ofguilt.

(11:31):
Not judging them because youknow they're going through the
same starvation and stress andeverything.
Or outside of a survival showin the world, we're all stressed
.
You never know what somebodyhas going on.
You don't know.
You have to give them thatgrace, give them that grace,
right, and then work together onokay, from we know where we're
at.
That's in the past.

(11:52):
How can we build from here tomake sure that doesn't, those
misunderstandings don't happenanymore and that we can build
and work together?
What's our common goal?
Our common goal was to win theshow I.
I was representing all of again, boy Scouts of America, now
called Scouting America, and shewas representing an
organization as well, and wewere both going to be judged by

(12:13):
those organizations forever andthose organizations would be
judged by our actions by everyviewer around the world.
So we both had a goal and whenwe focused on the goal and not
on ourselves, and not on ourpride or how terrible the other
person is everybody has good inthem.
Don't focus on their bad, focuson their good and build that up
right.
We, the underdogs against allthese people, ended up winning

(12:37):
the entire stinking show andhere's what I want my audience
to understand.

Tim Newman (12:44):
Okay, you kind of led into this.
Two exact opposites cametogether, work together and
achieve great things.
Yeah, we can do this, and thisis not.
It doesn't have to be usagainst them.
All the time we we can, we cancome together with our

(13:06):
differences, and our differencessometimes, a lot of times, make
us stronger together.
No, question Work on it andbecome great.

Terry Fossum (13:14):
Yeah, yeah, and I've got to give scouting a
little bit of credit because,you know, yeah, they put us
opposites together.
As a scout leader, it's what wedo.
You know, I take kids from alldifferent backgrounds, race,
color, creed, religion,socioeconomic, I don't care.
My job is to find the good inthem and there's good in every
child and to enhance that, andthe goal is honorable men and

(13:39):
women.

Tim Newman (13:39):
That's all I care about, you know and I also think
that, think that you know themilitary does the same thing.
I mean because I don't, I meanwe didn't care, I mean I mean
seriously.
I mean we, we want, we want thebest people surrounding us,
because when, when, when ithappens, I mean, and you were
you, I mean that show had some,some tough guys in there, some,

(14:04):
some guys, some guys that didsome real serious war fight.

Terry Fossum (14:09):
Absolutely A hundred percent.

Tim Newman (14:11):
Those are the guys that that's what you want,
people like that around you.
So I don't care who it is, Imean, if doesn't matter, we went
to best people all walks oflife, let's go off and and do
this together and that's um.
I think you know.
I think that's another thing,just kind of as a side, that
makes our military one of thebest in the world is you have
people from all walks of lifeside by side all the time.

Terry Fossum (14:35):
And and if we could, if we could do and we
made a point of that at the endof the show actually that if we
could come together with all ofour differences and focus on a
common goal and win, you know,against all the odds, right when
, if we can do that, so caneverybody else.
That's what we really wanted,natalie and I had talked about

(14:56):
that before the end of the show,you know, before they filmed
the end there.
That that's the point we reallywant to get across is we can't
do that.
So I mean so much politicalfighting right now and all sorts
of fighting right now withinour country, not to mention
outside of.
But man, we got to, we got toget back to okay, except that

(15:17):
people are different than us.
That's okay.
It's a great thing, because,let's face it, we're different
too.
Exactly.
So, let's find the good in thatwork together.

Tim Newman (15:27):
You know it's funny because somebody said to me the
other day, as I was talking tothem, they said, well, I'm a
little weird, they're talkingabout themselves.
They were calling me weird.
I wouldn't have been upset ifthey were.
If they called me weird.
They said, well, I'm a littleweird.
I said you know what?
I think everybody has their ownlittle weird.
So you're just, you're just you.
I mean it's.
We all have our own quirks, weall have our own little things

(15:49):
that we have, you know.
So you're not weird, you'rejust you and it is what it is.
Anyway, did you ever have anyfear or challenges or
reservations about being apublic speaker?
I mean because I've seen a lotof what you do and I mean you're
a natural at it.
But I think you're a natural atit for any number of different

(16:12):
reasons.
But when you first started, didyou ever have that fear?
Did you ever have those nerves?
Because we talked about how Ithrew up and that's one of the
reasons why I said you're wrongbecause of the title of your
book.
But how about you?

Terry Fossum (16:27):
Yeah, absolutely.
And you know it's funny, I makeit look easy because I work so
hard at it and that's usuallythe way it is.
God, who was it the quote outthere?
Don't work, don't keep workinguntil you get it right.
Keep working until you can'tget it wrong.
So if you watch my TEDx talk, Ican't tell you how many times I

(16:53):
practiced that and practiced.
I got it right.
I got it right.
I got it wrong.
Oh man, I screwed that up.
I got it right.
I practiced that the nightbefore the thing.
I got a hotel room near thevenue and I'm still practicing
it that night.
I'm still practicing it thatmorning and I probably gave it
at least a hundred times.
Perfect.
It's not the point.
Keep going till you can't getit wrong, right, and I think

(17:14):
that's part of and we can talkabout confidence and things like
that, but that's part of when Ican go on stage and I've got a
little trick we could talk aboutas well, but I'm not worried
about.
Am I going to, you know, notremember what I'm supposed to
say?
Am I going to blank outWhatever?
I could fall down unconsciouson the ground and I would still
be saying the words, becauseI've said them so many times and

(17:37):
that takes a lot of the fearout of it, right, because you're
not worried about that.
If you're only doing it untilyou got it right, well, but I
might get it wrong.
So, yeah, I make it work, makeit look easy, but only because
I'm the duck's feet under thewater man.

Tim Newman (17:53):
Have you always been that way in terms of
preparation?
Because I'm with you, I look, Itell people I'm definitely I'm
not the smartest person, I'm notthe fastest person, not the
strongest person, but you knowwhat?
I'm going to prepare and I'mgoing to work hard and I'm going
to make sure that that's so is.
Has that always been in your,in your system?

Terry Fossum (18:13):
Well, it absolutely, absolutely Um to.
To me, yeah, I don't care howsmart somebody is, I care how
much how hard they're going towork.
That's a whole differentpodcast, but there there's some
things that I think would mayhelp your audience.
Uh, right now, in in that andand you know, I teach a lot of
things, these things even in myTEDx program but first of all,

(18:33):
your audience.
Let me talk straight to you.
Audience listener right now,okay, you have spoken
passionately before.
Without question, you havespoken very passionately.
If you question this, just askyour children, because if you
have children, you have spokenpassionately to them before.
If you don't have children, ifyou've ever been in a

(18:55):
relationship, odds are you'vespoken passionately.
If you've ever been pissed offat anything or anyone, you've
spoken passionately.
What's the difference?
There shouldn't be anydifference.
The difference is when you'respeaking to them to get your
point across.
You don't care if you're goingto say the right words.
You don't care about what yourbackground is or how they're

(19:16):
going to judge you or any ofthat.
All you care about is they aregoing to hear what you have to
say and they are going to takeaction on it.
Right?

Tim Newman (19:24):
Exactly.

Terry Fossum (19:29):
When we're going up on stage, all too often we're
worried about am I going to getit wrong?
Are they going to judge me?
Am I going to screw up?
Are they going to hate me?
Are they going to think I'mstupid?
Are they going to get rid ofthat?
It's not about you.
It's about the action you wantthe audience to take.
It's about the audience, theaction you want the audience to
take.
And what is it's on your cause,right?

(19:50):
If you're speaking aboutsomething, in my opinion, you
never speak to inform.
You always speak to inspire, toinspire them to take action.
So if you believe enough inyour cause where you believe the
audience should take action onit, you're not going to care as
much about.
Oh my God, did I slide right?
Did I stammer?

(20:10):
Did I do?
Uh, uh, uh, you don't carebecause, by God, this cause is
important to you, it should beimportant to them, and they're
going to take action.
Does that make sense?

Tim Newman (20:18):
It makes a ton of sense.
See, here's where I come inhere, right, because it's simple
.
It doesn't have to be morecomplicated than that.
It's simple, it doesn't have tobe more complicated than that.
Right, right, it's simple, it'sit's.
You know why are you there?

Terry Fossum (20:35):
Yeah, and what do you want them to do?
It's all about again you'rethere to make something happen,
whether it's to buy your productor service, which you better
believe in because it's going toimprove their life.
Otherwise you're with the wrongproduct or service or the wrong
cause or whatever.
If you believe in what you'retalking about and believe the
audience should believe that aswell and take action on it,

(20:58):
you're doing the right thing.
If not, cut it out, dosomething else, do something
else, that's right, that's right.

Tim Newman (21:10):
So what is the trick that you have to?
I say a trick, and it's not, Imean it's it's not a trick, it's
.

Terry Fossum (21:14):
It's a, it's a method, it's a method.

Tim Newman (21:15):
It's an action, it's not a trick.
So I don't want people to thinkthat you know we're magicians
up here because it's not.
Again, it's not what it is.
You have to learn it.
You have to actually put itinto practice.
So so what is the method?
What is that action to helppeople, people get over those
nerves right before they get onstage.

Terry Fossum (21:30):
OK, let me tell a quick backstory on this one.
Ok, I'm at Squadron OfficerSchool Now, as you probably know
, it's the top captains, in thiscase the Air Force.
We're there for many weeks andwe're being taught leadership
and warfare and organizationalstuff, and all that Part of it
is public speaking.
Now, one of my friends in myflight a flight is about 12

(21:53):
captains in this case was Scott.
Captain Scott, I refer to himas and this guy, tim, you know
this kind of a guy?
Okay, because we'd be in thisserious briefing room.
We're talking nuclear warfareand Captain Scott is sitting
next to me muttering thingsunder his breath.
That is making me try my bestnot to laugh out loud.

(22:15):
You know what I mean?
That's me.
I believe that is you.
Yes, I believe that's you.
So we get time.
Our assignment is to pick amilitary leader, historical
military leader, and do threespeeches on them.
To pick a military leader,historical military leader, and
do three speeches on them.
And so, okay, cool, I got upand did my first one.
Yeah, I've been doing this fora while, did fine.

(22:35):
But here comes Captain Scott.
Here he comes.
Oh, geez, tim.
All right, here we go andCaptain Scott gets up, but I'm
noticing he's not looking around, he's looking at his feet and

(22:56):
those feet are just kind ofshuffling up to the front.
He's holding a stack of threeby five cards and those three by
five cards are vibratingbecause he is so nervous.
And he gets up there and he'snot.
He's looking down at his feet.
He's muttering something.
We couldn't really tell what hewas saying.
He was so Tim, he was sonervous.
I was waiting for that littleline of pee to go right down his
flight suit.
You know what I'm saying here Ido.
At some point he finally justshuffles off.

(23:17):
I don't think he finished whathe was saying, but nobody knew
if he did.
He comes up to me outside thebarracks that night and says
okay, Scott, and we're going todo this real quick right now,
Tim, Is that cool, Are we good?
Absolutely, let's do it, Okay.
So I ask him so, Scott, tell mea time where you have felt the

(23:40):
most powerful in your entirelife?
And he goes well, yeah, I don'treally know.
You know there's been a few.
Like everybody does.
I teach this around the globe.
Actually, it's kind of cool andeverybody comes.
Well, there's been a few.
Okay, I need you to narrow itdown to one.
I need you to narrow it tothink, think through your whole
life, the time you felt the mostexcited, the most powerful, the
most pumped, the most incontrol, Okay, okay, Now get

(24:05):
this.
Captain Scott was electronicwarfare officer on a
nuclear-equipped B-52 bomber.
Each one of these things, fullyloaded, is approximately the
sixth most powerful nation onthe face of the earth.
And he was the electronicwarfare.
Scott's got some stories, allright.
He's got some times, and thisis during the Cold War.

(24:25):
Now I finally asked so what isit?
He said I got it.
What is it?
What is it?
Okay, Get this.
It was a softball game.
It was a soft a squadronsoftball game.
He hit the game, winning homerun.
So all I did is I asked him okay, tell me about that.
Well, you know, game hittingrope, okay, so what happened

(24:47):
when that ball hit your bat?
Could you tell?
Well, yeah, I kind of kind ofreally could.
I got to read it, okay, so tellme.
You're going around the basesand how's everybody responding?
Well, they're kind of freakingout.
So you go, I brought them backthere.
You got into home base.
What happened?
Everybody's cheering, they'rejumping up now they're freaking
out, they're going crazy.
Scott, how do you feel rightnow?

(25:11):
Well, I feel great, I feelamazing.
Bingo, all too often, when weget ready to go up on stage,
we're that person who is worriedthat we're going to screw up,
we're going to blank out, we'regoing to forget our lines, we're
not going to come across likewe want, like the audience is
going to hate us.
That's what's in our head aswe're going up there.
What I taught, scott, is nexttime you're about to give that
speech, you go back to that homerun.

(25:31):
You're just coming into thehome plate.
I want you to see it, I wantyou to smell it, I want you to
hear it, I want you to feel it.
Now, tim, when he got up thereto give that second speech.
It was amazing.
They called on him.
I'm like, well, here we go.
Let's see he gets up standingstraight.
Baby, he's looking at theaudience.
While he's walking up therehe's got a three by five card,

(25:52):
one three by five card and it'srock solid.
He never even looked at it andhe gives his speech.
He had us, he owned us, andwe're all tripping out because
he was in what I call and Iteach this in my book and again
as as part of my training hisposition of power.
Right, and it's.
It's so much fun working withpeople in person on this because

(26:13):
when they start they're kind ofif you're watching a visual of
this, they're kind of hunkereddown.
You know well, I don't know.
By the end of it, man, they aresitting up straight.
You see that fire in their eyes.
They are ready to roll Right.
So that is the method I callthe position of power getting in
your position of power to bethe most powerful you've ever
been in your life.
Every time you get on stage,make a sales call, whatever it

(26:34):
is.

Tim Newman (26:35):
You know, and it's, it's I think it's so important
for people to understand.
You know, captain Scott, he's aleader of men, and he's a
leader of men I mean, he's incharge of all this stuff and he
let, standing up in front of agroup of 10 other guys of his

(26:56):
peers, do that to him and he wasdoing that to himself.
Absolutely, life that we gothrough is about just a little
shift in mindset.
It changes everything and itdoesn't take much.
It's a little shift and if wecan, like you said, pull that

(27:16):
string and we know, okay, wow,this is where I'm at now, let's
get back to this point in mylife, put that back and what
that does and how that drives usforward, and it just takes us
noticing that and knowing how todo it, knowing how to channel
that energy and that momentumand that feeling.

Terry Fossum (27:36):
Yeah, and if you ever see me speak as they're
doing my introduction, I go intothe state very quickly now, as
they're doing my introduction,blah, blah, blah.
He's the greatest person thatever lived.
You know all that kind of stuff.
I'm not even in the room Now.
I'm standing there, my body'sthere, my mind is back at the
place that I felt the mostpowerful in my life.
So when I go up on stage, I'mthat guy, and that guy you

(28:00):
better not get in the way of.

Tim Newman (28:02):
And and, and it's obvious that in your speaking
style, right, I mean it's peoplecan't, realistically, people
can't watch that and can't seeyour passion, what you're
talking about right Right on,because it's it's, it's on
display, it's right there, andand it and it draws you in and

(28:25):
also almost gets you to feelthat passion as well, which is
really what you want to havehappen.
You want people to feel yourpassion and for them to start to
have that same passion that youdo to be able to do what you
want them to do.

Terry Fossum (28:39):
Absolutely.
Emotion, not fact, is thedriver of all action.

Tim Newman (28:43):
Right.

Terry Fossum (28:43):
Emotion, not fact, is the driver of all action.
If you want them to take action, don't tell them a bunch of
facts.
It won't do it.
Get them to have an emotionalresponse to what you're talking
about.
I know you talk a lot aboutstorytelling in this and that's
exactly correct, because thatgives them, if you do it right,
that emotional response to getthem to take action Right, and

(29:06):
with that you have to have thatemotion in that story.

Tim Newman (29:08):
You can't just tell a story Right, you can't just
tell the facts.
It's like you just told thatstory about Captain Scott.
There's emotion, there's upsand downs, there's a flow to it
that really gets you drawn in.
You didn't just say well, thisis what Scott did, this is what

(29:29):
I did, and this is how it turnedout.
There's that other passionpiece to it as well, so you have
to make sure that you bring itall together so that it actually
works the way that you want itto work.
Let me ask you this questionbecause, again to me, this is
simple.
How did you learn this?

(29:50):
How did this come about for you?
Because, again to me, it'ssimple and it's one of those
light bulb moments as I hear youtalking about it.
Yeah, it's so simple.
Why can't people just do this?
How did you learn this process?

Terry Fossum (30:06):
Well, probably by failing a lot.

Tim Newman (30:10):
Oh, oh, boy what.
You said you failed, you'reallowed to fail, huh.

Terry Fossum (30:18):
If, if you are going on any path where you are
not failing, you are not on anypath at all.
You're sitting still.
Every single person who's eversucceeded at anything in their
life of any substance has failedand failed and failed and
failed way more times than theyever dreamed about succeeding.

(30:40):
To everybody listening on, Ifyou're in fact, I was just
coaching somebody this morningon this If you are at a point
where you're going, oh my God, Ikeep failing, I keep failing, I
keep failing, things are notgoing right, I keep screwing up.

(31:01):
I want you to go yes, right on,I'm on the right path, because
I'm on the path that everysingle successful person took.
Yes, look at it that way.
Like I just got to keep beatingmy way down this path.
Look for ways to make it betterand succeed, but understand
that is not the path to failing,to failure.
That is the path of success.

(31:21):
Failure is the path of success.
It's an ingredient in bacon anda success pie.
You can't bake a pie without it.

Tim Newman (31:29):
Exactly, Exactly, exactly, I mean.
That's why I kind of chuckled,you know, because not only do
successful people fail, wepretend that they're perfect, we
pretend that they've never hitany road bumps, they've never
lost anything.
It's oh, they woke up onTuesday and by Saturday they

(31:51):
were a billionaire.
And it just happens, right.

Terry Fossum (31:57):
I was speaking to a group of realtors not long ago
and I put up the path tosuccess.
So again, if you're listeningto this audio, I've got my arm
up at about a 45-degree angleand I asked them and these are
really successful people.
I said this is your path tosuccess, right?
And they all started snickering.
I said yeah, I don't know aboutyou, but my success looks more

(32:17):
like this.
And picture a fly going aroundleaving a line behind it.
That's the path to success Allthe ups and downs for all of us.

Tim Newman (32:26):
And as we look at this from a communication
perspective, as a publicspeaking perspective, people
want to see the failureAbsolutely and they embrace your
failure.
Yeah, they look at you inhigher regard because of your

(32:47):
failures.
So it's okay to share thefailures because it's going to
teach them, it's going to helpthem, it's going to bring them
into your circle, it's going toit's it really does get that
credibility.

Terry Fossum (33:02):
Yeah, yeah.
People don't want to hear fromsome silver spooned imposter
who's never been through thechallenges.
They want the person that'sbeen in the trenches, has got
the mud, got the blood, got thecuts, got the bruises, the
heartaches and the stories thateverybody else is going through
as well.
That's when everybody elseknows you can help them through

(33:22):
it because you've been therebefore.

Tim Newman (33:25):
Exactly.
You know I recorded a, a solopodcast on something very
similar to this the other dayand you know, as I was doing the
research and put my thoughts onpaper and practicing, you know
I was kind of over the timelimit that I wanted, because I
wanted to keep them under 15minutes and that, and one of the

(33:48):
first things I took out was myfailures, and I went back and
looked at it and said, no, thathas to stay in.
Because it's so important forpeople to understand that
failure is number one, failureis good Number two, that they
can see some of my paths andsome of my failures and maybe
it's a connection to them, maybethey've done the same thing and

(34:08):
, on top of it, maybe we canlaugh a little bit about it.

Terry Fossum (34:13):
Right, right, absolutely.

Tim Newman (34:15):
And that's okay too, because we don't have to be
serious all the time.
I mean if you can't laugh ifyou can't laugh at yourself and
laugh at your failures.
Sometimes, you know, I justthink that you're doing it wrong
, but you do you.

Terry Fossum (34:26):
Well, I know other people are going to laugh at me
.
I might as well laugh alongwith them.

Tim Newman (34:31):
Exactly, exactly.
So let's talk a little bitabout your first book.

Terry Fossum (34:40):
What does SIMPLE stand for in the Simple Guide to
Public Speaking Without Losingyour Lunch?
So it's an acronym and I've gotagain.
If you're watching the video ofthis, it's an acronym that
S-I-M-P-L-E.
There we go and I'm going tohave people.
If you want to know what thatstands for exactly, go right in
there, get the book.
It's on, I think it's bothdigital and print as well, and

(35:13):
yeah, it's going to be full of alot of amazing information for
you, god willing.
But each one of those acronymsstands for a different part of
the training, of how to puttogether how to write your
speech, develop your speech, howto memorize your speech and how
to perform your speech in a, ina way that's going to get the
audience's attention.
The second you walk up on stage,which is critical.
If you don't get them withinthe first five seconds, you've

(35:35):
lost them forever.
And how to do exactly that, howto make it about them that
makes them beg you to give themthe information you're going to
give them.
How do you keep their attentionthroughout the entire half hour
hour, four hours?
How do you?
What are the tricks to doingthat?
Because there are some tricksto doing that, yeah.
And then how do you make itwhere at the end of your speech,

(35:57):
they can't wait to jump up ontheir feet, give you that
standing ovation most every time, but, more importantly, jump up
on their feet and get out thereand take action on what you
talked about, right?
So the acronym SIMPLE takes youthrough all of those steps and
really helps you craft that andmake an impact with whatever

(36:18):
your idea is.

Tim Newman (36:19):
And again, we do teach that as part of my TEDx
program as well my TEDx programas well, you know, in terms of
getting a standing ovation, andI used to give my students a
hard time all the time aboutthis At the end of class.
They never clapped, they nevertold me I did a great job, but

(36:40):
we had a guest.
Anytime we have a guest speakercome in or students would give
presentations, I'll be clappingand everything I said.
You guys are starting to hurtmy feelings here, right?
Anytime we have a guest speakercome in or students we give
presentations, I'll be clappingand everything I said.
You guys are starting to hurtmy feelings here, right?
So what does it take to be ableto get clapping and a standing
ovation when you're giving apresentation?
What do you got to do?

Terry Fossum (36:57):
First of all, you're never a prophet in your
hometown.
Okay, let's start with that bud.
But okay, so I'll give you anexample.
So I recently I opened for amajor manufacturing conference.
This was so swim, a centralWisconsin manufacturing alliance
, and I'm the opening keynotefor a manufacturing conference.

(37:18):
Now, how do I get that passiongoing and that emotion going?
That passion going and thatemotion going.
And I was teaching themleadership steps for industry
4.0, getting robotics, AI, etcetera, into the industry.
That was my leadership stepsfor helping them do exactly that
Really really cool stuff.

(37:39):
But now, how do I get thatemotion at the end?
Well, there's always a tie.
Look for that emotional tie,and that's what I want everybody
to hear.
Look for that emotional tie,whatever it can be.
So, at the end now, why it'sgot to be honest.
It's always got to be honest ornever do it.
Okay, don't ever BS.
People Never do it.

(38:01):
But I have a deep belief thatmanufacturing is the future of
our country.
It is the future of our nation.
If we don't have manufacturing,we die.
Okay, now let's tie that tosomething, tim, that you can
relate to.
We're both prior military.
I can't speak for you, but Iprobably can.
I've lost buddies Okay, I'vehad my friends die for this

(38:25):
country.
So my emotional tie at the endI actually get a little bit
emotional, even just saying itright now is you manufacturers
are the future of our nation.
You are the future of thisgreat country.
Don't let.
On behalf of my fallen brothersand sisters, thank you for
continuing holding that torch.

(38:45):
On behalf of my fallen brothersand sisters, thank you for
continuing holding that torch.
On behalf of my brothers andsisters in arms right now, thank
you for continuing the fight tobring and build manufacturing
in this great country so we cancontinue to be a beacon of light
around the world.
And their deaths were not andtheir lives were not in vain.
Right and ended up somethinglike that Right and walked off

(39:08):
the stage and for the first timeever, they don't have standing
ovations at a manufacturingconference, but they did this
year.

Tim Newman (39:17):
You know, I think, as we're talking, the whole idea
of emotion is really the themeof everything that we do Good,
bad or indifferent right?
I mean, if we embrace that andlean into it with who we are and

(39:42):
how we are, with whatever thatemotion is, in, whatever
situation or scenario, that isthat again builds our
credibility, it builds ourconnection with the audience, it
allows them to lean in and doagain the things that we want
them to do in our call to action.

Terry Fossum (40:03):
Yeah, be vulnerable, be real, be somebody
they can relate to, cause ifyou're not, then you're not
going to reach them.
No, and then they don't speakto the brain.
You speak to the heart, Heartright.

Tim Newman (40:17):
And I, yeah, I know you, I'm sure you've been in
these situations where you'vebeen in the audience and you
know you're lost within thefirst five minutes.
Yeah, oh God, you've been inthe audience and you know you're
lost within the first fiveminutes, or whatever, and it's
okay.
I've just wasted.
Wasted this hour, wasted 25minutes, a half hour, 45 minutes
.
What have you?
You start, you know, digging inyour phone, doing doing
everything else.

(40:38):
And, um, you know it's you'vegot from the speaker perspective
.
If you lean into that emotionand you're touching people,
you're not going to have that.

Terry Fossum (40:52):
Right, and if and I'll show my cards on this too,
I mentioned in the first fewseconds you've got to get them.
So how do you do it?
Again, you've got to make itall about them.
Why do they want to listen toyou?
How is it going to help them?
How's it going to help theirlives do a better job, whatever
it is, because that's all theycare about.

(41:13):
They don't care about what youcare about.
Exactly they care about them.
So make it all about them,right.
You can work that, just like Idid that manufacturing slash
military story.
You can work that to them.
You just have to spend yourmost time on your entire speech,
on that opening and how you'regoing to grab them, and on the
end part, how you're going toleave them waiting to take

(41:36):
action.
Right, that's the biggest partsof your whole speech.
And forget all your charts andgraphs.
Nobody will remember and nobodycares.

Tim Newman (41:45):
Exactly.

Terry Fossum (41:46):
Exactly.

Tim Newman (41:47):
Yeah, I just.
I just had a thought in my head.
How many times we've been upthere or in a conference room or
in a presentation?
It's something up a spreadsheetwhere the, where the cells are
so fricking small you can'tnumber one, you can't even see
the numbers.
Stop, just turn it off.
I'm the numbers.
Stop, just turn it off.

(42:07):
I'm begging you Right, juststop.
Because number one nobody cansee it.
Number two nobody cares.
Nobody cares, unless you'regoing to tell me how whatever
numbers you're talking aboutimpacts us, or why that number
is important, or what we need toget to or where we've been.
Tell a story.
Tell a story of the number toor where we've been.

(42:27):
Or tell a story.
Tell a story of the numberDon't show me a box with a
number I don't care.

Terry Fossum (42:30):
If you can get those charts, those stories,
those numbers to cause anemotional response Right Now,
you got something.
If it gives them and pardon mefor saying this, pardon the
profanity If it gives them an ohshit moment, you know, OK bam,
then it's worth putting up there, briefly and big, where they
could see it, et cetera.
If it does not give them one ofthose moments, it does not

(42:51):
belong anywhere in there becausethey're not going to remember a
single thing you said.
Sorry y'all, even for me, foranybody, they don't remember a
dang thing I said 30 minutesafter I said it, but they will
remember their emotionalresponse forever.

Tim Newman (43:05):
Exactly, exactly, exactly.
Now I don't want to give you, Idon't want you to give away too
much information, but I do wantto talk about your program and
how you get people to you know,to land TEDx talks, because,
again, you know they're nothanding them out on street
corners.
I mean, you go to Vegas, youget, you get a business card.
They're not giving them out.
Terry, I don't go to Vegasanymore, I stay away from there.

(43:31):
I've heard that that's whatthey do.
I'm holding back on so manycomments, my friend, so tell
people about you know theprocess of landing the TEDx talk
and talk a little bit aboutyour coaching on this, because I
think it's fascinating.

Terry Fossum (43:52):
Yeah, absolutely Well.
First of all, why does anybodycare about doing a TEDx Talk?
To begin with a speaker or anaspiring speaker and you want to
be known just as not as yetanother speaker, but as an
expert in your field and as anestablished speaker.
Because you're a TEDx speakerand you want professional

(44:15):
footage from a TEDx stage thatyou can use in your speaker reel
or on your website or anything,forever.
If you want to elevate yourspeaking immediately, you do a
TEDx talk, and we're going tohelp you on exactly how to do
that.
If you want to sell more books,you're not just another author.
I'm sorry, they used to saythat's how you get credibility

(44:36):
Be an author.
No, not anymore.
You're a TEDx speaker.
It's the world's biggest stage.
If you've got a coachingprogram, if you've got a
coaching program, if you've gota cause that's important to you,
whatever it is.
If you want to get out of thewhisper in the wind nobody's
listening and become suddenlybang, you are the expert.
You want to book a TEDx talk.
Now, like you said, though,they're not handing out business

(44:57):
cards on street corners to doso, but here's the deal.
Look at it from theirperspective.
I can tell you and again, I wasreally, really blessed with my
TEDx talk and I've helped awhole lot of people, tedx
organizers, and first of all,ted is the big one.
That's the national.
Tedx is somewhere else, likeTEDx Spokane, tedx Copenhagen,

(45:21):
whatever it might be, that'sTEDx and that's what I refer to.
Now, the TEDx organizers wantbutts in seats.
You know they.
They want people to come totheir thing because they've got
a budget.
They're working.
Also, this is the background ofit that a lot of people don't
understand.
Okay, so they are looking forspeakers and TED overall is

(45:41):
looking for speakers that arecounter-cultural.
It's not what everybody else isteaching.
It's some big, new, differentidea or perspective on something
.
So if you want to go up thereand talk about homelessness is
bad.
You will never book a talk, itain't going to happen.
But if you can find an anglewith that that seems

(46:01):
counterintuitive or differentthan what everybody's heard
before now, you got theirattention and that's a huge part
of it.
So, as I, you know, again veryblessed and that's the way I
look at it to have my TEDx talkdebuted at number two in the
world, actually named one of the30 most impactful TED talks of

(46:23):
this century, something likethat, et cetera.
I learned a lot and I've workedwith a lot of people and I put
together I've also very blessedto become an expert in AI and AI
programming.
So I put together this AI thatwill take your idea, even if
it's a small idea, or fill it inwith your stories, or whatever

(46:46):
idea, or fill it in with yourstories or whatever.
You put it in there and it willcome out and it will give you
five different ted worthy uhangles.
Yeah, it will let you know.
Okay, it's honest.
I programmed to be brutallyhonest.
You know that's what you want.
Okay, that's not going to work,but this angle will.
It'll give you five differentideas and and and your your
bylines to help you book thatthing now, and I'll give you

(47:08):
that.
In fact, I'll give you the URLright now and at the end,
ideascoreai.
Ideascoreai, because it'll giveyou a score Now within the
program if you, and it'll leadyou to a webinar that explain
all this.
But it takes all the guessworkout of it.
I don't know how to write aspeech.
I don't know how to write agreat speech.
I don't know how to get theaudience's attention right away.

(47:30):
I don't know how to where allthe TEDx events are and they're
not all equal.
How do I find the right one?
After I've done all that andgive me marketing materials
based on my idea that'll help meget me booked?
After I've done all that, howdo you get thousands of views,
or over a million views?
How do you do it?
It does it all for you.
Uh, it's really, really amazing.
You still got to work, like wetalked about you still got to

(47:52):
work.

Tim Newman (47:52):
You still got to do the work.
Come in.

Terry Fossum (47:54):
So got to do the work but it takes out.
It really honestly takes out ohgeez, 90% of the effort.
So if anybody's going, I don'thave time for that or I don't
know where to start, or whatever.
Go to ideascoreai.
Or if you want to just see thewebinar on the program, it's
theviralstageinfocom.

(48:15):
Theviralstageinfocom,theviralstageinfocom.

Tim Newman (48:18):
There we go.
Yeah, I'll put those in theshow notes.

Terry Fossum (48:21):
Yeah there you go.

Tim Newman (48:25):
I did want to let you know works.
You know I put in um I put in acouple.
One of them said no, that's nota good idea and right on.

Terry Fossum (48:31):
I love that.

Tim Newman (48:32):
And then I put in another one and it said well,
you've got to develop, developit a little bit more.
And I, I didn't.
I didn't immediately go and putsomething else in, I took a
step back and I thought about itfor a couple of days and I
developed the the idea a littlebit more because because, again,
you have to actually do thework, you have to actually think

(48:53):
about it, you have to actuallyyou gotta have, you know, some
knowledge and some you have tohave some knowledge there, to
put that way.
And I put it in and it stillsaid I still need more work, but
it's getting better.
So so I think it came back withlike, with the score of like, 85
or 85, whatever that number,whatever that number is and

(49:14):
obviously obviously we need toget up into the 90s, but there's
growth there and it and ittells you the things that you
have to do to be able to, to, toget it into that next level.
Well, that's just the idea,right?
That that's not, that's, that'snot the actual talk.

Terry Fossum (49:32):
So but but again, it's like having me.
It's like having me or or someother expert on tedx helping you
for free develop those ideasand to go back and forth.
That's it's's.
It's pretty spectacular.
I'm really proud of it.

Tim Newman (49:48):
It really is, Terry.
I really do appreciate youspending some time with us.
You've given us those twowebsites.
Where else can people find youand get in touch with you to
maybe work with you?

Terry Fossum (50:04):
Yeah, absolutely, terrylfossumcom is, uh, probably
the biggest one.
I'm on all social media.
Of course, that pretty much allI think, except for Tik TOK
cause I'm old.
But uh, I think I'm on prettymuch all social media, but Terry
L Fossumcom is a great place tocome find me.

Tim Newman (50:23):
Well, you say that you're old.
Okay, and I just got I'm goingto plug a a previous podcast
here.
I had a guest on who's 86 yearsold, nice, and is a tick tock
influencer.
Happened.

Terry Fossum (50:36):
Oh I love.

Tim Newman (50:36):
it Happened when she turned 80, she was love it.
She was a, um, uh, a doors,doors cl.

Terry Fossum (50:47):
Doris Clumpus from the Seinfeld show Say that
again.

Tim Newman (50:49):
She was a recurring actor on the Seinfeld show.

Terry Fossum (50:51):
Oh, no way, no way , how fun.

Tim Newman (50:54):
I'll tell you what this interaction that we've had.
Same 86-year-old loved it, butyou're not 86, so I'm not saying
you're on tiktok either.
Nobody wants to see, I love itsee nobody wants to see me on
tiktok, but anyway, um, terry,again thank you so much for for

(51:15):
spending some time with us.
Thank you so much for yourservice to our country.

Terry Fossum (51:18):
I I really do appreciate that the conversation
, what you're doing you bet Iguess I should end up saying
also, you can can find me on thethe comeback chronicles
podcastcom.
The comeback chronicles podcast.
That's mine as well, so comejoin me as well, as well as Tim.
All right, Tim, thank you foryour service to country, for
your service to the public,helping them find their voice
and use it to make a differencein the world.

(51:39):
I really appreciate you, man.

Tim Newman (51:40):
Thanks, buddy, you take care.
We'll talk to you soon.
You got it.
Be sure to visitspeakwithconfidencepodcastcom to
get your free ebook Top 21Challenges for Public Speakers
and how to Overcome them.
You can also register for theForeman for Public Speaking
course.
Always remember, your voice hasthe power to change the world.
We'll talk to you next time,take care.