Find your speaking style

Public speaking can be fun! As long as you find your own speaking style. Your personal style will make you more natural, more comfortable and more persuasive.

Here’s a picture of me in Iran in front of a billboard of the event

I am Bas van den Beld, founder of Speak with Persuasion. In the past decade, I’ve had the pleasure of speaking in front of many different audiences. On stages all over the world. Amongst others, I spoke in the United Kingdom, United States, all over Europe (from Iceland to Spain). I spoke in countries like Romania, Ukraine, Estonia, and Turkey. And I spoke in amazing places like Iran.

There was one talk that made this all happen.

Several years ago, I spoke at a conference in Leeds, England. I am asked to speak more often and it is always fun to do. My reviews are always great. At that time, I was not a ‘special’ speaker. I was one of the many speakers in my field who shared knowledge. I got my share of attention, but I don’t think I was memorable, or ‘special’. That changed in Leeds.

The conference had set up a special session. In this session, I had the freedom to choose what I wanted to tell. The only demand was that it had two elements: it had to be somewhat educational and it had to be fun, lighthearted.

I decided to tell a story. A personal story. The story was about a campsite I and my family had visited that year. And how bad they were at customer service. How ‘old fashioned’ they were as well.

I then linked that story to a strategic lesson for marketing. I also showed my audience the (crappy) website of the campsite.

What happened surprised me. A lot of people came up to me afterwards. Responding to my story. Resonating with my story. I had struck a chord.


Until that time, I never had so many people approach me afterwards. There had never been so much interaction. It wasn’t just at this conference. At other events, people still mentioned that talk. Even years later people talked to me about it.

This outcome wasn’t a miracle. It wasn’t even the best possible story (though it was a good one). This was the result of me finding my own style of speaking: personal and through the use of stories. Since that day I always use personal stories.

Finding my personal style, the one that fitted me best, made this all happen. I had found my style.

Let me help you find your style

The lesson was clear to me: everyone must find his or her own style. The style that makes him or her special. That is the basis of every training or coaching or mentoring session: we find what YOU are about and build your style on that.

I always go and search for the ‘why’ of speakers I help. After all, being truly authentic means being yourself.

You fail if it’s not you

I have spoken at 100s of events in the past decade. I’ve been part of many pitches, on both sides. In that time, I’ve seen many speakers and presenters. I’ve seen some of the great. But I’ve also seen those that failed. Most of the time, however, the reasons why the presenters failed, was because of simple things.

They could’ve easily done better, with just a few adjustments. Adjustments that are all about being who you are.

The approach

In the classes, the groups are small to make sure each speaker gets individual attention. At the same time, the attendees help each other be better speakers.

The workshops focus on getting and keeping the attention and engagement of the audience. And persuading them to take action. To have impact.

All this is done based on the principle of connecting the speakers personality to the audience and the structure of the talk.

The perfect Speech Formula

You can only reach perfection in communication and public speaking when you understand at which point you, your message and your audience come together.

As a result, the attendees will not only be better speakers at events but at pitches as well. Knowing how to engage those they are targeting and making sure they are remembered!

If you’d like to know more about our approach, don’t hesitate to get in touch!

When it comes to speaking, there are a few problems

Public Speaking is often being misunderstood. That’s because it often is approached in the wrong way. That leads to disappointing results.

  • Most speakers hardly get any new clients or new leads from speaking at events.
  • Many businesses lose pitches because the presenters didn’t know how to persuade their audience.
  • Most businesses have meetings that take too long because the message that needs to be told isn’t told properly.

Chances are, this happens to you

If this happens to you, it means you are losing a lot of money. People are spending time and effort and money on preparing their presentations and being at events. You fail to make an actual return on investment.

There is a solution

With my experience in mind, I found a way to help speakers and businesses with this problem. Based on ten years of experience, I started Speak with Persuasion. An agency that helps your business get results from speaking and pitching. And help speakers, like yourself, become persuasive speakers. Speakers that have impact. On every level, in every situation.

Speak with Persuasion helps speakers from all levels deliver a better talk, in speaking, pitching or meetings. Resulting in more leads and clients and more efficient meetings.

And it is all based on the one thing that makes or breaks any presentation: how you are presenting your best self.

Speak with Persuasion is a platform to get knowledge through trainingarticles, e-mail tips, and soon also a podcast, online training, and webinars!

As a digital marketer myself, I understand the importance of delivering a talk in the right way. This means you have to look at the strengths of the speaker. My approach is not to try and change the person, but to try and make them excel. Find qualities and build on that. Help them develop their own style of speaking.

Let’s get started!

So, let’s get started! Get in touch now!

Want to know more? Have a specific question? Get in touch now and we'll get back to you as soon as possible!