What Patty Does And Who She Helps

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my name is Patty Schutte. I'm the founder of Be Brilliant Presentation Group, and I'm the chief presentation strategist, so have a fun time schlinging that all together. My clients are... There's two key clients, and so there can be clients that I- are individuals. They're individual solopreneurs or they own a business and they still are responsible for talking about their business, talking about their brand, doing their sales activities. And so they wanna make sure when they go into any of their presentation moments, is what I call them, whether that's prospecting, sales activities an actual sales call, like a real estate agent, a listing call or something like that, they really want to communicate well and clearly and confidently and persuasive. Yeah. And then I also work with corporations and businesses and partner with maybe their CEOs who are founders and need to tell their story better. Or I partner with sales teams at organizations and help their sales teams ideally be really confident when they go into their conversation moments when it comes to their sales calls. Mm-hmm. And they feel more confident, and we shrink those sales times and, and close more deals. And l- also with businesses that may put on their own conference, an enterprise conference, I'll partner with them to work with all their speakers, both internal and external to that conference. So kind of a large umbrella of what I like to tell people to sum it all up is if you're in a presentation moment- i'm here to assist, to make sure you get- Awesome the results you're looking for. Awesome. I can't wait to learn a little bit more. Can you take us back through your journey and what inspired you to start your business?

The Phone Call That Started It

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Well, I have to correct your question- Okay because there was no inspiration to start my business. Okay. A phone rang literally 15 years ago. I just realized that when I was doing a training last week. Somebody asked me when I started, and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, it's October." So I picked up the phone in October of 2011. Wow. And it was a colleague on the other end of the line. I hadn't talked to her in a while. We had met at... When I was working in corporate America, we had met at that company, and then she had moved to a new company. I thought we were gonna catch up, and I picked up the phone. She's like, "Hey. No, I'm not here to catch up." I'm like, "Oh." "Oh, okay." Uh, she said, "I'm with a new organization. It's a large billion-dollar company in Boston. We have brilliant mechanical and electrical engineers that use our products, and we have a user conference. And when they come to our user conference and they talk about the amazing things that they're doing, their brilliance gets lost." So their credibility and their authority and how brilliant of subject matter experts they are is not showing through when they stand on her conference stage. And she said, "I've seen what you do. Uh, nobody does it as well as you do, and I know you can work well with technical engineer-type minds, and so you're gonna help me." And I'm like, "I am?" So the inspiration for my business actually came from somebody who just saw what I do- Mm-hmm knew I had a, a really unique skill set that I can help others with, and she literally started my business for me from her idea. Wow. That's so interesting. What was your initial reaction when she reached out to you? Well, you have to go back 15 years. I have a full-time job. Mm-hmm. I have three boys aging- Wow from, oh my gosh, 11 to 3 at the time. Mm-hmm. I had to do math in my head. And I told her, I'm like, "What?" "How am I gonna fit this in?" She's like, "You've got this. You can do it." And of course she said the magic word that really got me- Mm-hmm 'cause I'd never had a corporate contract before. I mean, I'd- Mm worked in corporate America, but I had never had that type of, third party or, vendor-type contract. And she goes, "This is how much we have in our budget for this line item." And I went, "Oh." Well, I think I'm gonna figure this out. Because one, I knew I was good at the work. I was excited to work with engineers. I just I love really intelligent human beings- Mm-hmm who sometimes just can't articulate that story in a real powerful way. And so yeah, I said yes. Oh, awesome. And kind of what has your experience over the last 15 years taught you about the difference between knowing your subject and being able to communicate it effectively?

From Long Meetings To A Blueprint

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I think one of the biggest things I've learned as I've coached thousands of people I mean, I was even doing this type of work before I was working in corporate America and before I left corporate and then, and now I'm just doing my own business, is a lot of times we just don't know a framework or a formula to quiet the noise in our mind. So a lot of people who are subject matter experts in whatever that may be, they just know it so intimately and to such depth and to such detail, they could go into their presentation moment and probably talk about a thousand things. But what's the best thousand thing to talk about, and to what depth do I talk through it? And so what I learned when I first started, when I picked up that telephone in 2011, it would take me almost two, sometimes three-hour meetings to get out of people enough clarity that I could help them. Wow. I learned really quickly that's not scalable. I have got to figure out how to make this more efficient- Mm-hmm because again, remember, I'm raising three boys and I've got a full-time job- Right while I'm doing this. So it had to become really efficient And I started to pay attention to what were the questions that I was asking, and in what order was I asking them that got me to understand what they were wanting to talk about and what made the most sense for that particular moment. And I was smart enough to pay attention to all the variables and, you know, give them values and go, "You know what? We need to blueprint." I landed on a blueprinting process that helps them go, "Yes, that's what I need to talk about." And so the blueprint that I've come up with and that I've trained people on, I have one client that says she's a recovering outliner. She no longer outlines her presentations or her presentation moments that she goes into. She goes, "Patty, I use your blueprint for everything." Rather, you know, sometimes even if I have to craft an email, I use it at a condensed version. But that's been one of the biggest ahas for me. Yeah. And you know what's really exciting? Is I just got the announcement last week that it's officially now a registered trademark. Congratulations. I know. That's awesome. So I'm gonna... Yes, I'm super excited. Oh my gosh, that's super exciting. And when you were creating that blueprint, did it take experience to be able to create that blueprint? It took trial and error. It took a lot of iterations, and it also was me going, "Tell me how this experience was for you." So I would sit down with whoever I was working with at that moment in time and all sorts of people. So, you know, it was a very diverse group of individuals I was working with. Even international- Mm-hmm where English wasn't their first language and, you know, all the way from things that were incredibly startup challenging technology uh, and things that weren't as complex. And so after realizing that everybody was saying the same thing, "This, Patty, is one of the most helpful things ever." I had a CEO come up to me and goes, "You have helped me, Patty, take my complicated slides of over 30 down to 11. I can now have a conversation in my presentations with more engagement, and your blueprint I've given to our marketing team." Wow. So I knew when that happened, I was really onto something. Yeah. So you work with a variety of, of different people. What are some of the most common mistakes you see professionals make when creating pre- presentations, whether they're speaking to a room of hundreds of people or whether they're having a one-on-one conversation?

The Resultations Mindset Shift

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The number one thing is they don't s- first of all say how I'm gonna measure that this moment was a success What makes sense right now, right here in terms of results? And when I was developing the blueprint and I was developing the method that I was like, "Oh my gosh, I'm really onto something here"- Mm-hmm whenever I would said presentation, that word alone was taking people back to what they'd always done. I'm gonna outline, or I'm gonna pull up this old slide deck and I'm gonna look at this deck and I'm just gonna massage it a little bit. And I realized I needed to change their mindset, and I needed to change how they went into the moment. So I've actually named my blueprinting process, and actually that's one component of my whole process, I should clarify, but I've called the process the Resultations Method. Mm. Because I don't want you to give a presentation, I wanna g- I want you to give a resultation. Mm-hmm. Because that's the mistake people are making- is they're not thinking first, I'm going into this moment, and what is the one result I need to push towards? Because presentation moments, and you've, I'm sure you've heard that many times, and anybody watching this has probably heard this too- what's that one thing you're going after? And do it brilliantly. And so I help people, first of all, go what's the result that you're going after that makes the most sense right now? Once we know that and we know that clearly, and we even know how we're gonna measure it- now we can start designing your presentation. Okay. Interesting. And then is, would you say mindset is one of the biggest things then? Mindset shift. Uh, I was just working with a client yesterday. So she

Audience First Using DiSC Personalities

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is, she had a transition in her career- Mm and she's gaining traction, and she just was selected as the opening keynote for a conference in February to 300 people. Oh. And she's thrilled. She's s- she's excited. And we've known each other for a few years, and she had been following me on LinkedIn and I've been following her on LinkedIn. And when she reached out to me, of course I'm super excited. I'm like- Yeah "Of course I wanna work with you. Let's figure out how to make this happen." And as we were working yesterday, she was, she started telling me about the content she's done in the past. And I said, "Time out What is this audience that you're going after right now? Hmm. We need to know who this audience is. And y- again, I'm sure the learners have heard or the listeners have heard that you need to be know, you need to know about your audience. Like who are they? Mm-hmm. What makes them tick and all of that good stuff. But what I also told her is I said, "You also have to talk to every certain personality in that room." And so one of the personalities that I, or personality tests I really like is the DiSC 'cause it's simple, it's easy, it's four. I've never done that one. D-I-S-C. So do they make decisions quickly? Are they more of a real happy relationship type person? Do they really need safety and security? Or are they really conscientious and they're very detail-oriented? So it's, it's a s- it's a simple type of personality, and I asked her what type she was, and I said, "You're gonna normally speak to those." How can we talk to others? And so when I'm working with people I really want to push their thinking around going into the moment, because most people just wanna start writing the content. And so I really back them up and want them to see... I even have them close their eyes and say, "Who are these people?" "What are they gonna look like? What are they gonna be most excited to learn?" And then of course the results that we've already talked about. But those two- Yeah things are the things that I really want people to break any habits they may have in place- Uh-huh and do that instead. Yeah. So it's important for them to understand their audience. Does that, does... What does that look like in practice? You know, preparing what to say to a certain audience? First of all, depending on the situation, if we're... Give me a situation. So are you thinking like conferences, sales, prospecting? A conference.

Conference Prep That Gets You Rebooked

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A conference specifically? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Okay. So if we're thinking about a conference, then I always first of all say, "Well, if you were accepted to speak at a conference, have you actually picked up the phone and called whoever your contact is for that conference and asked them as many questions as possible?" Actually have a conversation. Okay. And I would prefer in person over email, and just find out how much they even really know about the people coming. Read the website, do your research and really think to yourself, given the content you're going into this conference with, is that gonna be right at what they know about your subject, or is that gonna be going way over what they probably know about your subject? Or maybe it's too junior, like they already know a lot. Because knowing where that audience is, and they could be all over the map, but just generally speaking, because that's gonna help you know where you need to come in with your content. Mm-hmm. But also knowing what's the theme of that conference, because a lot of times speakers don't get asked back because they didn't add value in the direction that the conference- Hmm team wanted the content to go. And so making sure that you're strategic about meeting, giving the audience golden nuggets. Yeah. But you're also strategic in bringing in the theme of what the conference is trying to achieve, while you're also str- strategic in thinking what do would you like out of this moment. And strategically bringing that all together. Oh, that's so interesting. There's so many-- I feel like there's so many different parts that you have to think about. So you work with both individual professionals and large organizations.

Helping Teams Without Going Rogue

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What changes when you're helping one person communicate their value compared with helping an entire team deliver a message? The g- It's, it, the simplest answer is complexity. You know, you have one human versus many humans. Right. So as soon as you have many humans, you have more complexity. Mm-hmm. So that's the biggest piece. The other piece too is if you're working with individuals a lot of times my experience is creating how they're gonna prospect, 'cause I work... When I'm working with an individual, even if it's a conference situation, they still have some sort of brand recognition, business growth. There's some sort of business initiative or sales intention tied to it. Or I'm just helping them prospect better, do their sales pitches better. I'm helping... Then I help them build a sal- sales narrative around that, but I'm working with one person, one skill set- Mm-hmm of ex- of presenting expertise. Mm-hmm. When it comes to working with a team, then where are we putting quality control into place? Where are we all individuals with our individual authenticity and our individual strengths and weaknesses and bolstering those? 'Cause a, a strength can become a weaken- weakness if it's overused. Mm-hmm. And so how can we make sure that their strengths and weaknesses are in balance individually- but then they're collectively moving and telling the same story- Right and the same sales approach, and we don't have what I call going rogue- Mm-hmm that I see when I work with corporations sometimes, where this sales person is showing these types of slides, and they're kind of on brand, but not kinda n- but kind of not on brand. Mm-hmm. And then we have kind of have all this rogue going as they just kinda do their own thing. And so- Mm-hmm a lot of my work is bringing that back together- Mm if I'm working with a, a large team. Okay. What's the... When you work with a large team- What would you say is like the biggest team you've worked with? Like how many people would you say? Well my biggest conferences have had 800 speakers. Wow. Now, they could choose to-- Some of them were required to work with me- and then some of them could choose or not choose. So I've worked with some very, very large conferences. Yeah. Sales teams that I've worked with- Mm-hmm they've had all the way from two or three account executives- Mm-hmm all the way up to even global divisions. Wow. So, you know, I'm in charge of North America, South America or- Yeah you know, whatever the case may be, different territories within the United States. Okay. I would say the large majority- Mm-hmm um, are right at that point when their sales team is growing and they're starting to put those boundaries in place like I was talking about a moment ago. Mm-hmm. They're starting to put those standard operating procedures in. They're starting to say, "Hey, we're on this standard deck." Mm-hmm. So they're giving them sales enablement- expectations and tools, and so the way I like to say it is I come in and I give you the human enablement side of that. So now you've gotta take what you're putting in place and you are getting ready to go talk to this sales prospect or- Mm-hmm in this communication presentation moment, and you want that to go, come off brilliantly. So that's where I come in and help. Interesting.

Simplifying Complex Ideas Into Three Points

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So you work with people who are experts in their field, in- including technical professionals who, uh, may be more comfortable processing the information than presenting it. How do you help them make complex ideas understandable and engaging for their audience? S- I'll-- First of all, we narrow it down to say, "Okay, think about the moment you're in right now." What are you needing to do? Are you needing to talk to the board? Are you needing to perhaps present what you're working on so you keep getting- Mm-hmm funds for whatever you're working on? Mm-hmm. So it's a budgetary type p- presentation moment for that subject matter expert. So we really have to look at where they're at And what, again, it goes back to what I said before, what's the result we want? We wanna maintain the budget, or we wanna get more funding, or we need to get more recognition on how brilliant our approach to solving this problem is, if it's at a conference or something. And so once they're clear on that and they agree to that- then we say, "Okay, then what are no more than three things that you can teach about, talk about, train on, that will get them to ideally say yes to that situation?" And no more than three. And so I help them narrow down all the things that are in their mind, and I help them- Yeah understand that, "No, you just gave me five ideas." And go, "Okay, I hear you." So I work with them in that manner. Okay. Interesting.

AI Tools Without Losing Authenticity

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And then I wanted to talk about technology. Okay. So AI- Mm-hmm technology can make it easier to generate slides, scripts, talking points, things like that. What do you think people risk losing when they rely too heavily on AI and technology instead of developing a real understanding of their message? I will take a Slack message that I got from a CEO probably, like, three months ago. And he goes, "Patty, we have been using AI, and it's not making them talk about our story any clearer. It's not making our sales cycle any shorter. We're not seeing results from it." And I looked-- I messaged back and I said, "That's because if they're using AI to do the research for 'em and do all that lifting," not that they can't use it as a tool, but if they do all of it and they don't personally internalize it, then they can't sound authentic in the moment. And so that's one of the risks I'm starting to see is that when it's, when you do it with the technology, whatever that technology is that you have, but you still learn the message intimately- so then you ha- you're able to pivot if something goes sideways in the moment. Yeah. Because at the end of it, if you have that clarity going in, you're gonna sound much more brilliant in the moment. Awesome. So being able to understand and internalize is, is just as important as being able to communicate it. Absolutely.

Why Human Communication Matters More Now

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Awesome. And in, in a world where so much communication happens through screens, emails, text messages, why do you believe human-to-human communication has become even more valuable? We are living in a world where we are really second-guessing. Is that really, is this real information? I know that's AI, or I'm not even sure if that's AI. And then especially if you're in the business world and you have AI doing your marketing and other things like that, there's not necessarily a trust that the human being on the other side of that is gonna deliver the product that your marketing is promising or what I'm reading online. And so we're going into a world where when that human-to-human... I think we've been there for a long time, but it's just amplified. Mm-hmm. When that human-to-human conversation happens, it's not as often as it used to be, and so your window for it not being really good and targeted and com- and communicate well- it's h- you don't have as many opportunities to fix that. So it's putting more pressure to s- is one way of saying it- Yeah on when those human-to-human moments happen. And it's also the moment where you can say, "Yeah, if you thought my marketing, my branding was amazing that you saw, oh, just wait till you see me as a human." Those things have to be congruent- and match. Okay. Interesting. And then can you share what you believe separates a presentation that delivers information from one that influences a decision or inspires someone to take action?

Informational Versus Persuasive Moments

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I love that you asked that question 'cause when I'm actually helping people, w- remember we talk about we gotta think about the results we're going after? Right. One of the key questions I learned in my blueprinting process- Mm-hmm was do you see this as an informational moment, or do you see this as a persuasive moment? And what's so fascinating is so many people go, "I-- Can you please explain that?" Yeah. 'Cause they don't understand the difference. Mm-hmm. So the difference really becomes are you influencing them in such a way that you want them thinking differently, you want them making a decision of some sort? So there's something you're wanting to persuade in them. Where an informational is more education And so it's, "Hey, when you sit in my session, you're gonna walk away with these four techniques that you can use on Monday for this, and this." You're just wanting them to be... And not wanting. I don't, I don't- I'm not diminishing one over the other by any means. But the idea is you're giving them information that they can go implement, and if they do it, and if they don't. But you're still giving them the information. Where persuasion is you really want them to do something right afterwards that they... And you don't want them to just choose. You really want them to take your call to action. Awesome. And then how do you... Do, does... When you work with individuals who are, giving a presentation, do you start with what results they're looking for? Is that what you start with? Always. Yeah? Yeah. I mean, the only exception to that might be a situation where they're wanting to, they're wanting to create the sales story that they bring into the world- Mm-hmm as they're talking about their business, as they're talking about their brand. And their brand- Mm-hmm could be themselves. Yeah. So we may not necessarily start with the results in that situation as much as we would start with how do you wanna show up? How do you wanna talk- Mm-hmm about what you have to offer? And then once we get that clear, which is kind of the results- Mm-hmm if you will, then we back up and, and- Yeah and write the story around that. Okay. But I will go out to say 90% of the time, yes. Yeah. It's the results. Awesome.

The Book And A Clearer Future For Speakers

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And so you're currently working on your book. I am. Yes. Can you tell us a little bit about, uh, what inspired you to put your approach into a book, and what you hope readers will begin doing differently after reading it? So what happened was I was giving... This might've been- Maybe 12 to 18 months ago, I was giving a workshop, and one of the attendees said, "Patty, this is great information. I've never taken this approach. I've never been trained on this approach. Is there some books you recommend to read?" And I said, "Yeah, I do have some books that I, I recommend you read. There's some great books out there." But what I realized is they just said something magical, "I've never read anything. I've never heard this type of approach before." And I went back through how many times I have heard people say, "Oh my gosh," like I've told you earl- like we were talking about earlier. "Patty, I'm using your blueprint for my marketing team," or, "Patty, you got me to clarity in 90 minutes." I was working with one client, she's like, "For almost five years, I've been trying to think about, how can I clearly talk about my services? You helped me get there in 90 minutes." And I, I really thought to myself, you know what? Wouldn't it be amazing if when they say, "Do you have a book you recommend?" You could say bye, I do." "I do." It was never something that was... Again, like I said, you asked what was the inspiration to start my business- Mm-hmm and I picked up the phone. Yeah. That was my inspiration. And I never thought I would, I would write a book, but I'm really excited about bringing this resultations mindset- and approach because I have so many years of experience and so many clients I've worked with that it's been helpful. I'm hopeful. I really truly believe it can be helpful to the masses- Yeah especially in this world we're going into, like you mentioned, where that human-to-human communication and those presentation moments- Mm-hmm um, are really critical. Yeah. And then when does your book come out? So the target date is the middle of February. Okay. The title is "Present Differently, Result Differently." Mm-hmm. "Turning Presentation Moments into Brilliant Results" is the subtitle. And if we don't quite hit the hard copy date- it'll definitely be available for that pre-order in mid-February of 2027. Okay, awesome. And then looking towards the future, what are you most excited about, and what do you want more business owners, leaders, and professionals to understand about the role communication plays in their success? I would love if death, job interviews, and speaking were not the things people feared the most. Because interestingly enough, I can't do anything about death. But I have clients who I even help with their interviews because that's a presentation moment. So I choose to work in a space where it's the top two people's fears. And I would... What I really What my real vision is to say, "You know what? I may still fear it a little bit, but I at least have a tool that really truly makes a difference to me." And I help people understand the difference between public speaking on those big stages where all eyes are on you. Yeah. Because if you look at people's businesses, some people never do that, but they still have to have presentation moments on a regular basis. And so helping people understand that there's a difference between public speaking and being brilliant at that, and there's a difference between brilliant in the presentation moments that you have without your business day, your business week, your business month, your business year. And to feel really amazingly comfortable and getting better results in those presentation moments- Right is what I-- is the message and the tools and the skills and the inspiration I really wanna put out there. Awesome. And for anyone that would like to learn more about Be Brilliant Pres- Presentation Group, where can they find and connect with you?

Where To Connect And Final Takeaway

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So connect with me on LinkedIn. That's where I'm most active. Uh, by all means, check out my website, bebrilliantpresentationgroup.com. Uh, and those are the two easiest ways to connect with me. Awesome. And then as we wrap up, is there anything you would like to add that we haven't touched on today? I think what I want to add is your communication and bringing that communication into presentation moments, and being really confident in that moment all has to do with the clarity that you're bringing into that moment on what you want to achieve. And when you can do that, you can go into those moments with much more excitement, and I really want people to stop walking into those moments with, "I'm just hoping for the best." Oh. Yeah. All right. Thank you so much, Patty, for joining me on "The Alimond Show" today. I wish you the very best in all that comes your way in the future. I appreciate you, and thank you for having me.