How public speaking coaches use data analytics

Public speaking—and communications in general—has long been considered an art. Starting in grade school, there’s a perception that you can be great at math and science or great at writing and speaking, but not both. So it’s not all that surprising that, when we tell people we approach communications coaching from a data analytics perspective, they tend to balk.

But the reality is, public speaking coaches have begun successfully combining art and science, leveraging data analytics to help clients achieve far better results with far less time invested.

With data driving tough love, public speaking coaches focus on solutions

When Quantified Communications coach Briar Goldberg was teaching public speaking without data, she often found it difficult to inspire clients to embrace solutions when she’d just given them the bad news—your delivery needs work—herself. Clients would often take her evaluations personally, dwelling on the negatives rather than trusting her solutions.

But, when she’s armed with data, she can let the numbers deliver the tough love and focus instead on improvement as the foundation of her coaching relationships. This approach leads to more productive work and much faster progress.

Data-driven coaching resonates with data-minded professionals

For many mathematically-minded professionals, public speaking coaches’ traditional methods feel a little too subjective. It’s not altogether surprising. Why shouldn’t someone—an engineer or a financial executive—who relies on numbers to make every other business decision, rely on numbers to drive their efforts to improve their public speaking?

Briar Goldberg has found that, for many clients who struggled with the old, numbers-free coaching method, the addition of objective data can be a true game changer. When a public speaking coach speaks the client’s language—in this case, numbers—the client makes more lasting improvements, much faster.

Public speaking coaches can use data to help clients track their improvement

After finishing a keynote or wrapping up a meeting, an executive may have some notions about how it went, and a traditional coach can confirm those intuitions. However, it’s difficult to compare this speech to previous ones based solely on our own memories and impressions. With data-driven analysis, public speaking coaches can show their clients exactly how their most recent engagement compares to historical performance, quickly comparing one event to another and visually tracking improvement. Quantified Communications public speaking coach Maegan Stephens has found that clients enjoy seeing how data-driven coaching has impacted their effectiveness scores over time.

To find out how Quantified Communications can connect your executives with world class public speaking coaches, contact us at info@quantifiedcommunications.com.

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