An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Confidence in Yourself. While everyone has a different comfort level when it comes to public speaking, self-confidence is paramount when it comes to speaking effectively. It doesn’t have to be much, but even a sliver of confidence that you can deliver your message and have it resonate with the audience makes a world of difference.
At some point in our lives, many of us will have to give a talk to a large group of people. What does it take to be a highly effective public speaker? How can you improve your public speaking skills? How can you overcome a fear of speaking in public? What does it take to give a very interesting and engaging public talk? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker” we are talking to successful and effective public speakers to share insights and stories from their experience. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Keenan Beavis.
Keenan is the founder of Longhouse Media, one of Canada’s largest marketing agencies. Combining an academic and practical background in business, he strives to implement digital strategies that are both cost-effective and deliver clear, lasting results.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
I grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia. Had a fairly normal upbringing, nothing too out of the ordinary. I was quite active in sports as a child and took a keen interest in fighting/martial arts. Specifically Brazilian jiu-jitsu, judo and wrestling.
I took school very seriously, especially writing as I knew my entire life would involve communication. It’s good I did because now my whole job is:
- Emails
- Speaking
- Writing for web design projects,
- Sales proposals
- Scriptwriting
- Ad writing
- And more
If there was ONE part of my upbringing that I’d recommend to kids, it would be to become friends with your English teacher!
Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?
It was a mix of several different things, but ultimately boils down to having a knack for understanding how to market both myself and other people. The first that immediately comes to mind was when I was younger and used to make Youtube videos for fun. The videos were far from spectacular but I learned how the Youtube algorithm worked and was able to tailor my video titles and descriptions so that the videos showed up in people’s recommendations. I think I managed to climb to something like the 27th highest viewed channel in Canada!
The other instance I can think of was when I convinced my Brazilian jiu-jitsu teacher to let me run Facebook ads for him. By creatively targeting the ads towards people who are Joe Rogan listeners (an incredible amount of crossover fans between his podcast + BJJ), I was able to help them exponentially increase their class attendance. These two experiences taught me a lot about the business potential of a company like Longhouse Media.
Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
The first thing that comes to mind was when Longhouse was shooting a video for a natural wellness clinic. While filming a demonstration to use as B-roll for the video, I actually ended up getting blood sucked out of my arm and running a test to discover my blood type.
My job is never boring. This month I’ve been to manufacturing facilities, restaurants, a doggie daycare, a petting zoo and government buildings. It’s something new every day.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
When first starting Longhouse I had originally tried to do everything myself, from photography to web design. I honestly don’t know what I was thinking back then and laugh when I look back at some of the work I had tried to do. Thankfully, I began to focus on the aspects of the business that I’m best suited for and let other people with different skill sets handle what they’re best at, which caused us to grow incredibly fast.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
As cliché as it sounds I’m eternally grateful for the support my parents have shown me through my life. They’ve been there for the entire journey and continue to support me or lend some input when it comes to both business and life.
Additionally, my best friend Austin Mallar is one of the smartest + capable people I know and has become such a loyal fixture in my life that I don’t see myself ever wanting to do a business project without him by my side.
You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging and intimidating. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?
Don’t be afraid of failure. Whatever endeavor you decide to pursue, give it your all. Even if you fall, chances are you’ll still come away with something worthwhile, whether it be the start of a new network, a job opportunity, or even learning something new about yourself.
Also, I’d rather fail being authentic than to have marginal success playing a cookie cutter mold of someone else. If you want to be the best, be authentic. Time and time again, I’ve noticed that to stand out, you have to be unique; and when you stand out, your business WILL grow.
What drives you to get up everyday and give your talks? What is the main empowering message that you aim to share with the world?
What drives me each day is being able to empower people who are self-starters and fostering positive working relationships with the community. When we can come together for a common goal and build each other up, it does so much to benefit the community in the long run.
You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?
Longhouse recently helped the Black Business Association of BC launch a new directory and marketplace of black-owned businesses and services. It was a great experience to combine black and indigenous business leadership and foster our allyship while also building a positive local connection with fellow business owners.
As for where we’re looking to go from here, we have dozens of monthly clients who we pour our all into. Our team makes sure that anyone who is our partner gets 100% of our attention and we don’t want to compromise our quality. We will continue to grow, but at a healthy pace that maintains our quality standards.
Our marketing company is very lucky to be in the position of having more people who want to work with us than we take on. At this stage, we can choose to work on projects that excite us!
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
It would have to be the proverb “It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war”. Not so much in a literal sense but more so in that it pays to be prepared when things go south. It’s not about being “dangerous”, it’s about being capable. Capable people can be dangerous, although not necessarily in a bad way, and these are the people who can be relied on in bad times. It’s noble to be the person who can control their inner warrior and turn it on when needed.
Being capable and available has led to countless opportunities for me, both personally and in business.
Ok, thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker?” Please share a story or example for each.
1) Understand That Being Nervous is Completely Normal.
Nerves prior to any daunting interaction, whether it be speaking in public or a job interview, are a good thing and a completely normal thing to feel. Don’t try to calm your nerves or make them go away. Instead, make peace with your anxiety and understand that it will be there until the end of your talk. While it’s easier said than done, try to use your nerves as an energy boost and take a few deep breaths before speaking to relieve any potential physical tension you may be holding.
2) Confidence in Yourself.
While everyone has a different comfort level when it comes to public speaking, self-confidence is paramount when it comes to speaking effectively. It doesn’t have to be much, but even a sliver of confidence that you can deliver your message and have it resonate with the audience makes a world of difference.
3) Belief in What You’re Saying.
If you don’t believe what you’re saying matters, neither will your audience. This will cause them to disengage and, at worst, grow bored and tune you out. Speaking with genuine conviction demonstrates to your audience that you are to be taken seriously and makes it much easier to keep them engaged for the duration of your talk. This also helps in creating emotional appeal for the audience to relate to you.
4) Individuals, Not a Crowd.
Remember that you’re speaking to an audience which is made up of numerous different individuals, not one united entity. Making eye contact with different individuals around the room and deliberately speaking to different parts of the audience helps to build an emotional connection and increase perceived confidence. It is also a crucial step in giving your talk a more conversational quality, rather than robotically spewing an obviously rehearsed speech to the room.
5) Practice Practice Practice.
Improving any skill takes countless hours of practice. The best way to become an effective public speaker is to keep doing it on a consistent basis. If at all possible, record your talks and watch them back, then take notes on what you think you could have done better. Doing this on a regular basis will lead to exponential growth in your speaking abilities, from writing to body language to verbal delivery.
As you know, many people are terrified of speaking in public. Can you give some of your advice about how to overcome this fear?
Make peace with your nerves. Trying to make the butterflies in your stomach go away or somehow lessen how much you feel them only makes them worse. Accept that you’ll be nervous until the end of your talk and try to coexist with them. I try to view nerves as a good thing. They’re a sign you’re eager to do well and excited to perform. Look at any speaker who’s buzzing with energy when they talk, they’re most likely amped up on nerves and channeling it into their speech.
You are a person of huge influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
Most likely a movement that would encourage people to be authentic. This could be through trying hobbies that interest them, starting a business or just wearing what makes them feel cool.
So many people are scared of being their authentic selves. I want to encourage everyone I meet to embrace whatever makes them unique. It is a freeing feeling and honestly, your business will grow and you’ll attract loyal, real friends.
So many people today feel that their lives are empty or that they’re unsatisfied with life and it’s saddening to see. I would like to encourage people to step out of their comfort zone every now and again and see that sometimes a bit of discomfort can be incredibly worthwhile.
Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!
Without a doubt it would be Dr. Jordan Peterson. A fellow Canadian and I want to figure out how his brain works. His ability to think out loud in a structured way that is both thoughtful, efficient and digestible fascinates me.
Also, I would ask him how he figured out his formula for writing books. It seems like every chapter is strategically crafted using 4 key pieces and I would love to pick his brain if he thinks my analysis is correct. Message me on social media if you want to know more about this!
Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?
You can visit Longhouse Media’s website, www.longhouse.co or follow us on social media @longhouse.media. You can also find me on Instagram @keenanbeavis.
This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!
You rock!
Keenan Beavis Of Longhouse Media On 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
