When a cancer surgeon asked public speaking coach Tricia Brouk to help him develop a signature talk, his work in robotics seemed like an obvious topic. But when Brouk inquired about what he cared about most, it was keeping patients from needing surgery in the first place.
“He has women coming into his office who have not taken care of themselves, and now they have a diagnosis—sometimes a life sentence,” she says.
He wanted to talk about prioritizing their own wellness. “They come to me when it’s mostly too late,” he told her. “And if I can prevent them from coming into my office, that’s what I would love to do.” He’s now speaking about self-care and meditation.
Brouk, based in New York City, is the executive producer of TEDxLincolnSquare and the founder of the Big Talk MasterClass and The Big Talk Academy, a 12-week, by-application-only program. She trains CEOs, business owners, professionals and other leaders who want to position themselves to speak on big stages, whether via TED Talks, paid corporate speaking gigs, or other professional events. Big Talk Academy culminates in graduates delivering their speeches live on stage in New York City.
Many students come to Brouk terrified of public speaking, but end up being paid to get on stage. “Massively successful people still have a fear around how to use their voice for impact,” she says. “I teach our speakers to honor the stage with the great responsibility that comes with it. We can use our voice for good, for evil, for love, or hate—and I teach our speakers how to use their voices for good and for love.”
Demand for professional speakers has been growing around the world, with the market expected to grow from $2.1 billion to $4.5 billion by 2025, according to Market Research Future, a market research firm that is predicting compound annual growth of 7.1%
To guide students hoping to make the most of the trend, Brouk has built her offerings around the Art of the Big Talk process. In this copyrighted platform, she teaches speakers how to find a topic they truly care about, master the art of speaking, and incorporate music, sound effects, video and other theatrical elements. The Big Talk Academy has recently introduced a year-round online option, allowing more students to participate.
As more companies seek speakers to bring energy to their meetings, Brouk has grown her team to 15 people. “If you want to speak on the biggest stages (and make great money doing it), you need to work with Tricia Brouk,” “So Money” podcast host Farnoosh Toorabi said in a published testimonial.
An unexpected coaching practice
Brouk never expected to build a business around coaching speakers when a friend asked her to direct a TED Talk seven years ago. Raised in Missouri, Brouk moved to New York City in 1991 to pursue a career as a professional dancer. She performed around the world with post-modern dancer Lucinda Childs and ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov and appeared at venues such as Lincoln Center and the Paris Opera.
Eventually, Brouk became a choreographer. The first film she choreographed was John Turturro’s “Romance & Cigarettes,” which included actors James Gandolfini, Kate Winslet, Susan Sarandon, Christopher Walken, Steve Buscemi, Eddie Izzard, and Bobby Cannavale.
“It was the most incredible first movie anybody could ever have,” she says. “Working with John Turturro, who is an incredible director, was like being in a master’s program for directing.”
This experience led to more work in film, television and theater as a choreographer, as well as directing Broadway musicals, writing her own shows, and producing her own work. Brouk recently wrote a new play called “Mothers and Daughters” and continues to make documentary films. “I’m very much in both worlds,” she says.
Drawing on her background in the creative arts, Brouk trains speakers as if they are professional actors. “I still apply the exact same principles and art form to the speakers and to their process that I do with my actors and all of my theatrical presentations,” she says. “A good director will create a safe space for an actor to explore, to find out who they are, and how they can contribute to a character and a role, and how to expand on that and to be creative inside of that.”
To spread her ideas further, Brouk is preparing to release her third book, “Being Smart Is Stupid: Why Embracing the Wisdom of Your Buddha Nature Is The Secret To Great Leadership, in October. She is also the author of “Saying What You Mean for Lasting Impact.”
Uncovering what speakers have left unspoken
Brouk began expanding her visibility as a speaker by founding “The Big Talk” podcast, on the suggestion of her friend John Lee Dumas, a well-known podcaster. Since its launch in 2016, she’s recorded more than 500 episodes.
Many of the speakers who learn about her through the podcast or referrals show up with plans to speak about a particular topic, but end up delivering a talk they never intended to give.
“When I start to ask them questions, and we uncover what it is they really want to talk about or what’s really in their hearts, then they say, ‘Well, nobody wants to hear about that,” says Brouk. “And I say, ‘They do want to hear about that.’”
One recent client was a neuroscientist who could have easily discussed the brain and what can go wrong with its wiring. “What she really wanted to talk about was human trafficking—because she was human sex trafficked by her parents,” says Brouk. “That is not easy to talk about. But she knows that if she does talk about it, she can change lives, save lives, change policy. She can potentially uncover the systemic issue of human trafficking in this country, which is real.”
Although Brouk encourages speakers to go deep and be vulnerable, she isn’t a fan of gratuitous emotion. She advises strongly against discussing unhealed trauma. “Share from the scar, not the wound, so when you’re sharing vulnerably, it’s in service of the audience, not because you are trying to work out your healing process in real-time like you’re in therapy,” she says.
Going behind the curtain
Building a speaking business is not an easy task. “You cannot just say you’re a speaker and tomorrow get paid $30,000 for a keynote,” says Brouk. “You have to do the work. You have to make personal connections. You have to build relationships. You have to go on podcasts. You need to be featured in the media—talking about what you do and saying you’re a speaker.”
To help clients win business, she assists them in creating a comprehensive platform that includes a website and social media posts, such as Instagram Reels. “I teach them how to show up online, how to make sure their website is in order, how to lead with ‘speaker,’” she says.
However, a new speaker’s website or social media page may not be readily visible to meeting professionals who book keynotes. So, another key area of the training is outreach. Brouk sometimes refers speakers to conferences that seek speakers and encourages them to conduct further research on their own.
“You have to email conferences,” says Brouk. “You have to be constantly doing outreach and offering your services in service of their audience. And when you do it methodically, and you do it consistently, and you do it right, there is a payoff. There is an ROI.”
Once speakers gain experience through their first gigs, they have opportunities to win more business by not only performing well on stage but also behaving professionally, according to Brouk. “They know how to show up early,” she says. “They know how to end their talk on time.”
Looking to get into paid speaking, but wonder if you have what it takes? Brouk’s advice to any speaker with stage fright is to focus on service to the audience. “Then your fear goes away,” she says. “It eliminates your self-consciousness.”
Ultimately, what’s important to keep in mind is delivering an authentic message in your unique voice, according to Brouk.
“You can start to identify what is important to you if you simply ask yourself, ‘What am I good at?’ ‘What am I terrible at?’ and ‘What do I care about?’ ” she says.
Once you choose a topic that truly matters to you, you’ll draw confidence from tapping into that purpose, she says. “When you are clear on that, you truly know your voice matters,” Brouk says.
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