Speaker Development Program
We help you show up, reveal what’s inside you, and put it all on the stage.
Let us help you develop one of the most powerful talks of your career.
Maybe you’ve been selected to give a big talk and need support. Maybe you’re having trouble finding your idea worth spreading. Or maybe you’re confused about the protocol for applying to give a such a talk. With one-on-one attention from collaborative coaches Deborah Siegel-Acevedo and Shawna Franks and an integrated program (comprised of in-person or virtual coaching sessions, action steps, and editorial review), you’ll walk away aligned with your deepest truths, prepared to give a talk like none you’ve given thus far. Whether this is a first talk or telling in a new genre, or a new opportunity for visibility on a broader stage, you’ll receive not just tips and support but permission to be big, bold, and brave.
You will learn:
- What an “idea worth spreading” really means, and how to identify yours
- Why a speaker bio is really an exercise in personal narrative, and how to authentically craft one
- How to structure your talk so that listeners can follow
- How to identify and pitch TEDx events and other speaking opportunities that make sense for you
Your Coaches:
Drawing on our combined expertise from the realms of writing, speaking, coaching, activism, improv, and professional acting, we offer complementary technical skills to support effective narrative, powerful truth-telling, and authentic connection.
Deborah Siegel-Acevedo is an author, TEDx speaker, and the founder of Girl Meets Voice. As Coach-in-Chief, she helps those with powerful insights write and speak publicly in the service of their ideas. She’s also co-founder of SheWrites.com, a former Senior Facilitator with The OpEd Project, a Visiting Scholar in Gender and Sexuality Studies at Northwestern University, and an Adjunct Faculty Member at DePaul University. The author of two books (Sisterhood, Interrupted and Only Child), her writing on feminism, gender, and social change has appeared in venues including The Washington Post, The Guardian, Harvard Business Review, CNN.com, The Forward, Kveller, Slate, The Huffington Post, The American Prospect, Ms., More, Psychology Today, and TriQuarterly. She has been featured on The Today Show and in the New York Times.
Shawna Franks is an award-winning professional actor and the Managing Director of Facility Theater as well as a public speaking and acting coach. Her method is rooted in an organic process, drawing from an alchemy of techniques gleaned during her many years of acting and vocal coaching for the theatre. Shawna’s acting credentials include the leading role in Grand Concourse at Steppenwolf Theatre. A graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago, where she began her acting career, Shawna originated the role of Dottie in Killer Joe by Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tracy Letts and has appeared in various productions in London, Dublin, Los Angeles and New York City. Shawna is the founding Artistic Director of Space 55 Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona, where she was named Phoenix New Times Top 100 Creatives List (Top 4) and nominated for The Governor’s Arts Award.
Watch the talks of just some of the many speakers we’ve coached here.
Recent TEDx speakers share how Girl Meets Voice helped:
“Deborah helped me see how my draft could be even more powerful, which brought me to an emotional place that was scary, but made my talk. I have maybe the world’s worst case of stage fright, and Shawna convinced me that this was my story, and I just had to get out there because this is my experience. Being able to own that? Incredibly helpful.”
-Meredith Ferrill
Talk: What I Learned the Year I Tried to Give Up Plastic
“I shared something that I had been carrying with me for such a long time, and I feel like a weight lifted. But I also feel motivated now to move forward with an idea that I had been doubting myself about for so long. I feel confident, I feel empowered. And it’s all because of the work we did together.”
–Enid Montague
Talk: How to Improve a Community’s Well Being after Tragedy
“In my religion, the prophet always says if you do a job, do it to the best level that you could. You guys live with the same message, and I love that. Thank you.”
-Emad Mahou
Talk: The Cost of Democracy: From a Syrian Detention Cell to a Chicago Voting Booth
“Shawna Franks’ sharing of her wisdom and experience with me as I prepared to give a TEDx talk was invaluable to my process. The notion of both memorizing and delivering such a significant amount of text was initially quite intimidating to me. Shawna’s advice and presence played not only a key role in my overcoming my trepidation, it also served to show me how to speak in an entirely different voice – in a manner that was more authentic and in a way that I could be present in the moment.”
-David Wellman, Director of The Grace School of Applied Diplomacy
Talk: How to Build Bridges in a World of Difference
“Shawna, thank you so much for all of your help. I would not have been able to do it without you and your sage advice! The coaching you offered not only developed my public speaking skills, but also helped me find my voice through looking inward and finding the confidence within myself.”
-Priyanka Podjale, 2020 graduate of the College of Communication, DePaul University
Talk: A Cynical Investigation Into Love
“TEDx is done, and I often think back on it as one of the highlights of my career….I showed up, revealed my heart, and left it all on the stage. It was a momentous moment and in great part due to you issuing me the challenge to be brave.”
–Dorothy Griggs, Assistant Director, Corporate Relations, DePaul University
“For many years, I have considered myself an effective speaker, but Deborah has taken me to the next level. I always knew about the importance of connecting with my audience, but it was something I could only hope would happen; now I know how I can make it happen every time. Deborah has helped me step out of my comfort zone and into a space where I can afford to be vulnerable and intimately connected with my audience. Thanks to her coaching, I have been able to integrate my narrative and its rendition in strong synergy. I am looking forward to my next speaking engagement so I may continue to apply what I have learned from her. Extraordinary handholding in the process of dealing with the stress of delivering a 100% memorized talk (no notes) in front of a live audience.”
-Guillermo Vasquez de Velasco, Dean and Professor of Art, Media, and Design in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, DePaul University
“I never thought I would want to work with a writing coach because I love my own words so much. I can usually tell whether my writing works and have always relied on my intuition to know when a rewrite or overhaul is due. However, my conception changed when I met Deborah Siegel. I reached out to her reluctantly after I won an audition to give a talk and kept rewriting it. It seemed a bit stale and formulaic, yet ‘fine,’ though I knew I could do better. Two different people had independently recommended Deborah as a master writing coach. And now I know from firsthand experience that Deborah is a master writing coach and so much more! By interacting with her, I was able to realize I had so much more to say than I was saying. I saw how I was holding back and playing it safe. She is also trained in interpersonal coaching and so she is very deft at reading a person and knowing what level of feedback, direction and guidance they can handle and integrate. She hits the right notes in the right balance and leaves you wondering what else she would say if you let her. You get very curious about how her mind works. Her soft style and flexibility and hint of impish fun give you the time and space to figure out how to enact her notes in your own way and process them in your own voice. So in the end, it is your own words, only better for having workshopped and crafted them by working with her. My talk was not only a major hit, but it was fun to deliver and got rave reviews. Deborah was the key reason I was able to get to the right place for me with that speech and that experience. I consider her a brilliant thought partner and trusted advisor who helps others put their best public selves forward.”
-Katy Hansel