Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
Welcome to the Bottom Line Me podcast. I'm your host, Ann Allard. Today we're diving into a topic that every educator, trainer, and leader should have in their toolkit, and that is how to plan and prepare for an impactful teaching moment.
Whether you're leading a small roundtable, hosting an online session, or speaking to a packed room, the way you prepare can make all the difference.
So I'm thrilled today to be joined by a rising star here at Old Republic Titles, someone who's not only passionate about education, but intentional about how she delivers her educational trainings. Lindi Deshler is here with me, and she's very passionate about club clarity, connection, and crafting a message that really sticks. And today she's going to share with us some of the strategies that have helped her to move from what I call good to unforgettable when it comes to training other people. And I've had the pleasure of watching her deliver some of these trainings. So, Lindy, welcome. It's great to have you on the podcast. I'm so excited to have this conversation with you. But before we jump in, could you take a couple minutes and just share with our audience, tell them a little bit about yourself?
[00:01:26] Speaker B: Absolutely. Okay, so first, thank you for having me on the podcast. I'm really excited to be here.
About Me so I am coming to you from Kansas City, Missouri.
I have been working in title since 2012. I've been underwriting since 2018.
I'm in our south central region, so that's Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Illinois, and Indiana.
I am one of those. I feel like you either fall into title or you're born into it. I'm one of the ones that fell into it.
And I love our industry.
It is so dynamic.
Even though we work in the real estate title section, we touch everything, right? I mean, think how often we're talking about bankruptcy or we're hearing about family drama or, you know, through like, marital rights, divorce proceedings, probate actions. And so I just love that this industry keeps us on our toes on a personal level. I live in Kansas City with my husband, Brandon, who is also an underwriter for the South Central division, and we have two kiddos. Maisie is six and Clive is three. We also have a dog, Petey, who is a little bit of a hot mess. He.
He does try my patience sometimes. He's sleeping on the couch next to me right now, so we'll see how long that lasts. And he was the cutest puppy.
And Andrew, I might send you a picture that you can drop in right here. Because he was like the cutest puppy, and I try to remember that when he is drying my patients.
But yeah, so again, I'm just really excited to be here. I was. I went to school in Kurtsville, Missouri, a place called Truman State University.
And I started my education.
Get this. And you're gonna laugh. I don't think you know this about me.
I was a dual degree. When I started law, when I started high school, or when I started college, I was a math and Spanish major because I wanted to teach math, like, for ESL kids.
And so look at me now. I am. I graduated with a history degree.
I did a little bit of, you know, graduate work, and then now here I am as an underwriter for title insurance. But again, I think it fits my personality perfectly because I just love the change and the dynamics that we. That we work with in our industry.
[00:04:08] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. Well, well. And I just have to add, I've. I've had the. I know you have a cute dog, but you also have two adorable children, and I've had the pleasure of seeing some photos of them both, and they are adorable. So just wanted to make that point, so.
Well, thanks.
Let's set the stage here for the rest of our conversation and explore. Explore.
Start with exploring the framework that kind of influenced you.
You talked about a model when we were discussing this podcast that shifted your.
How you approach teaching or presenting. So can you talk a little bit about that? Tell us a little bit about the model and what it's been like for what it's all about?
[00:04:53] Speaker B: Sure. So it's really a philosophy that I learned from a college professor. And like I said, I started college as math and science.
Truman State was a liberal arts university, so I had to get my, you know, essential credits in order to work toward my degree.
And there was a history class that was, you know, in the right building at the right time because I needed to be somewhere else at the time anyway, so I'm like, I'll just rip the band aid off and take the history course, and then I don't ever have to think about it ever again. So that was the attitude that I was going into this class with.
Not only did I take every class that this professor taught, I traveled to Greece with this professor twice through, like, study programs and stuff. Her name's Dr. Lynn Rose, and we traveled together.
We wrote letters of recommendation for each other throughout the years, and I switched my math, my undergraduate degree, to history, and then I actually ended up getting a master's as well in history.
And so it just goes to show you how you can think something about a particular topic or whatever, but if it's delivered the right way, it can really, really affect and impact the audience. Does that make sense?
[00:06:20] Speaker A: It certainly does.
[00:06:21] Speaker B: And so most of what I think about are my conversations with Dr. Rose.
She once told me, okay, on your best day as a speaker, you are nailing it.
And on your audience's best day as listeners.
So the chairs are comfortable, their bellies are full, but not too full, they've been caffeinated the appropriate amount, everything is aligning.
They're still only going to be able to recall about 60% of what you've said. Right.
In actuality, the audience is not having their best day. A couple of the people might, but not everybody. Right.
Let's be real, they're talking, you know, they're thinking about what emails they have to respond to, what's going to be served for lunch, what kind of cookies or soft drinks are we going to have at the breakfast. The other million things, right, going on in life.
And so I mean, like think about the presentations that you've heard in the past couple months. Like, what do you remember?
Who do you remember? Right.
So this way of thinking has really allowed me not to take myself too seriously as a speaker.
I approach teaching as like a fun and informative way to connect with people.
Yes, we have to teach the subs the substance. Right. The actual subject matter.
But I don't get too hung up on teaching down to the ant's eyelash because I know that people aren't going to remember it anyway.
So I really try to focus on what I want the audience to remember.
I'd like the audience to have one takeaway sentence at the end of my presentation.
Now that takeaway might vary based on the purpose of, of the class, but I try to remember that they're not going to remember of much anyway. Right. So everything I discuss, I want to focus back to that point that I want to stick.
[00:08:28] Speaker A: Interesting. I can remember taking a class one time on public speaking and the speaker said, tell them what you're going to tell them, then tell them and then tell them what you told them. So stay focused on, on the topic. So yeah, sounds great. Great. Well, wow.
Another thing that you mentioned when we were talking about putting this episode together was the idea of not talking but sharing limited data. Can you kind of unpack that a little bit for us? What does that mean?
[00:09:05] Speaker B: Right, so that same professor, Dr. Rose, she also had a saying and it's, there's no such thing as a presentation that is too short, unless it's for continuing education credit. I get, I get it.
But I mean, think about, like, your audience can only listen for so long, right? If you go over your allotted time, people are already looking at their watch. They're usually a little bit frustrated because you're cutting into their break or maybe the next speaker is lined up.
So keep it short, or at least like, keep it on time. Your audience will appreciate it.
So I took. I'm part of Crew Kansas City. It's a commercial real estate women's group. And we had an event once which was a wreath making class.
And I thought it was odd, but I took it. And let me tell you, it's been one of my favorite classes that I've ever taken. Really.
And when I. And let me. Okay, look, I'm not that creative, right? I'm not artistic. I can't do block letters.
But I. And the professor did the most of the wreath for me.
But.
But it was so cool to hear her ideas about what you can put together and what goes where, and just hearing the way she thinks about design in general.
And she talked about the concept of ma, which is a. It's the Japanese art of negative space.
And so as we were making our wreath, our wreaths, she's talking about, okay, well, sometimes it's not what you put in your wreath, it's about what you take out to give it space. This. This idea of, like, negative space to really allow people to focus on what is there.
And so it got me thinking, you know, like, what you omit from your presentation is just as important as what you include, right?
So it doesn't mean you get to do half the work or learn half the subject, right? It actually means that you have to know the material backwards and forwards because you need to know what to say and what to cut.
So when I'm teaching a topic for the first time, I'll typically start with a PowerPoint or a long word document that is very, very wordy. And it's because everything I'm learning is new, right? And so everything is important and everything is new to me.
But once I have a grasp of the subject matter, I really spend some time thinking about how my audience is going to use that information.
Then I can whittle it down to what is most important and what is most interesting, right? So I'm approaching a presentation, not thinking about what I want to teach, but I'm really thinking about what my audience wants to hear.
So then, I mean, as You're. I still do. I. You know, I still do this. I think about, like, what would you want to hear if you were in the audience?
And, you know, if.
If we're thinking, you know, maybe our audience is only going to remember, like, 30% of your class. Okay, well, let's focus on the most important 30%, and let's make that memorable. We're going to pack it full of these engaging elements, like hypotheticals, examples, analogies, and you really can only do that when you truly understand the material. Then you can have fun with it and bring it to life in ways that your audience is going to remember.
[00:12:41] Speaker A: Fascinating.
All I can think about is the wreath.
I'm going to use that the next time I have to put a presentation together, because I think that's a great way to. To approach it. Yeah. Awesome. Thank you. And I. I never heard of the. The MA Japanese mantra, but. Interesting.
So let's talk a little bit about mistakes. You know, we all have those moments when we look back and we think, oh, okay, I definitely do that differently next time, or if I had it to do over again.
What were some of those moments like for you? Or what mistakes have you made in the past that you've learned from that you could share with us?
[00:13:27] Speaker B: Oh, boy. Oh, yeah. I have seriously bombed presentations before, and, you know, I. I feel like it usually stems from not giving myself enough time to prepare and practice the class.
I feel like a lot of times, you know, when things don't go well, it's because I took for granted that I knew the material.
Or maybe I just thought, oh, I'll be able to look at the slide and just summarize it, you know, as I go.
So I think it really comes down. The lessons I've learned are prepare, prepare, prepare, practice, practice, practice.
We've already talked about ma, but that's really only part of the preparation. Right.
Once you have your class, when you are presenting, should not be the first time that you are saying the material out loud.
So speaking forces you to, like, process and deliver what is on the paper. And oftentimes, like, when you start explaining something aloud, it kind of is different than, you know, how it's written.
So, like, sometimes I will cut information or rearrange it so that it flows a little bit more seamlessly. And when you practice, you can. You can explain these points so that you're clear and confident. That way, when you're presenting, you're less reliant on the notes.
Practicing for yourself is perfect.
You can just speak it out loud. Or you can record yourself on teams and watch it back.
I like to do a run through for someone else.
So I mentioned earlier, my husband Brandon is an underwriter with South Central Division.
And so sometimes I'll be like, hey, I have this presentation. Can I run it by you? And I will get notes that I never thought of. He might catch a typo on a slide.
He might ask me a question, and I'm like, oh, I know the answer to that question. I cut it because I didn't think it was important. Maybe it's something I should bring back in. Or. As I talk through this, this information kind of seems out of place. Maybe I don't need it in my presentation.
It'll get you a time so you're comfortable on your time for your presentation as well. I just think it makes, it makes me more confident in my delivery at the actual event. If I know I've talked about it
[00:15:58] Speaker A: before, that makes perfect sense. Saying it out loud before you actually get in front of an audience is a really good habit to develop. You know, it's shooting from the hip. Very rarely works out well for people.
[00:16:14] Speaker B: So, yeah, it doesn't work out well for me.
[00:16:19] Speaker A: So. So let's, let's go back to the, the retention part. You know, I mean, that's just fascinating about how much time people, how much of the material people actually retain.
But, you know, I know having watched you and been in some of your presentations, that you're really good at making a point stick. And it never really sounds like you're repeating or that it's a broken record.
How do you do that without sounding like you're repetitive?
[00:16:48] Speaker B: Right. Because repetition is like the most effective teaching tool that we have. Right. Studies show over and over again that people learn through repetition.
The key is keeping it interesting and approaching it from different angles so that it doesn't feel repetitive like. So instead of adding additional slides on yet another statute, I might not talk about that statute if it's something that doesn't come up very often.
Instead, I'll use examples or analogies that I feel like drive home the most important material that I'm teaching.
And it's great to have a couple different examples or a different, different approaches because they'll resonate with different people. Right. And that's, that's the point is that you're saying things in different ways so that everyone in your audience has an opportunity to connect with what you're saying and remember it.
I get it. I teach CE and CLE courses. I know that they're has to be required content and I still want people to walk away with the knowledge that lasts beyond just like the immediate presentation.
So in those situations, if I find myself getting really into the weeds or if I'm finding my slides are getting too too wordy, then I will provide a handout to the audience that they can reference afterward. I usually try to keep it to a page or so so that it's easy to use, but then I'll like I'll also include contact information so that the attendees can reach out to me afterward.
They sometimes they'll ask for a copy of my slides or they'll have follow up questions. And most of the time I have two versions of my presentation anyway. I have the boring version which is like the streamlined handout version with the what you need to know stuff. And then I have the fun version which is like the engaging interactive version that I actually present for from.
[00:18:51] Speaker A: Yeah, I know, I've seen the fun and engaging interaction versions. They're awesome. But yeah, great. So let's talk a little bit more about slides.
We've all seen some really great ones and some not so memorable ones. So do you have any go to tips for putting together PowerPoint slides that really actually work?
[00:19:15] Speaker B: So if you are going to be using visuals like PowerPoint slides, Pay really close attention to the details.
I know you're working so hard to like internalize the material itself, but the details of the visual that you choose are just as important for like the overall polish and presentation.
So like, so your slides should really complement and reinforce what you're teaching. I feel like a lot of times it actually ends up distracting from it. Yeah. So I hear a lot of people say, oh well, we want to do more than just a PowerPoint slide or we want to move away from PowerPoint presentations because we want to make our classes more fun and engaging.
You know, I think creativity is wonderful. I support it in whatever medium it takes. But I disagree that PowerPoint is the problem. I think of a PowerPoint presentation as boring.
It's probably not PowerPoint's fault.
It's because the program wasn't used effectively.
Couple nitpicky but important pointers that guide me as I'm putting together slides.
Use as few words as possible.
You don't want people reading the slide while you're talking and you don't want to read the slide to them.
In certain instances, if I have a quote on the screen or if I am going to be reading, I will kind of light heartedly say and now I'm going to give you a dramatic reading of this statute, and I will either have it highlighted. You know, parts of it will be bolded, or parts of it will be underlined. So, like, I incorporate it and go through it with them and acknowledge that, hey, I'm like, I'm going to be giving you a dramatic reading of the statute, telling you the important points or something like that.
[00:21:01] Speaker A: Great idea.
[00:21:03] Speaker B: Yes.
Use the same font style, size and color throughout the presentation.
Be consistent with how you align your bullets, whether they're left or centered. I've seen people bounce all over the place with that particular bullet style, too. It's just cohesive and polished.
You want people to see it without seeing it. Right. Because you don't want it to distract.
So if it's professional and polished, it aids you rather than distracts people.
I'd also, when I'm going through, I also ask myself, you know, could an image really break up all this text? Does it add support to the point I'm trying to make?
If you use images, you might want to be mindful of copyright laws, depending on, you know, what program you use and. And how you cite your sources and that, that type of thing. If you do insert an image, make sure to size it appropriately for the slide and consider adding, like a border or something to really make it look like it's. It's a thoughtful part of the presentation.
[00:22:05] Speaker A: Excellent tips. Excellent tips. So that's great. So, you know, you shared an awful lot about your, you know, your process, the mindset, and the mechanics.
What I'd like to now do is just kind of zoom out for a moment and look at the bigger picture.
As I mentioned in my opening, I see you as one of the emerging leaders here at Old Republic Title.
So I think my question to you is, how has the approach in, how you present helped you to build your own credibility and connection with people that you're serving or that you're training or teaching? Talk a little bit about that.
[00:22:47] Speaker B: Well, thank you for calling me an emerging leader.
You wrote that part, not me. But I do love it.
So for me, I just look at it like my favorite part of the job is helping businesses grow. I like connecting with our agents.
Many of them are my friends, and I just like supporting them in their careers and helping businesses grow.
And certainly answering underwriting questions does that daily. But teaching also gives me an opportunity to do that.
[00:23:23] Speaker A: So true. Excellent.
Wow. Anything else you want to add before we get to the bottom line?
[00:23:32] Speaker B: The only advice I have, not only to myself, but to others who are leading trainings and workshops. The biggest thing is just to have fun.
It's a great way to connect with people. You help them learn, you help them grow.
Anyone who has seen my presentations know that I put. I put my heart and I put a piece of myself into those presentations. I think that's what helps me connect with people.
If you ever need an ear or an audience, you can reach out to me. Let's drop my contact information in. In the information for the podcast, but I'd love to help bounce around ideas and, and learn and. And see if there's any way I could help people out there listening.
I also just really want to.
Want to stress that, that everyone has their own style, and not one particular style is.
Is the most interesting. Right. Like, as we've talked today, I have not said anything about what you have to say or how you say it. It's really just thinking through a process of the ma. Right. And so just, no matter what you do, just be authentic.
So think about, like, what's important to you, what's personal to you, what hobbies do you have, and then how can you inject that into the presentation?
So, for example, my husband Brandon was in the Marines for 10 years, and he had a couple deployments.
And he used a lot. Not a lot. Yes. He used his Marine training and some of what he went through when he was deployed to tie into a fraud presentation.
And so he was able to, you know, he showed some of the base and, you know, like fortifying the base and, you know, so he talked about, you know, some of the sayings that they have in the Marines and how, you know, he can take those and apply those to. To protecting your agency from fraud.
And that has been really meaningful because people can connect. Connect. No, Brandon. And they can connect it.
So for me, I get title inspiration, like, from everything in my life because I'm a big title nerd. It's tv, it's. It's movies, it's music, it's conversations with my friends and family. It's wreath making classes.
When the inspiration hits me, I just have a notebook that I, That I write it down in so I can reference it later.
That was how Blackacre Ranch started.
I've talked, you know, in the same presentation, we've talked, you know, Sound of Music, Dumb and Dumber, Gladiator K, Pop Demon Hunters.
And so I think it's just having fun and just being open to the inspiration. And when it catches you, just jot it down and see if there's a way to work it in later.
Just remember that, like, your audience is full of people who, who want you to do well. They want to connect with you when. Right. Your audience is people. They're human beings and they want to learn from you. Um, so you're, you are starting off much better than my professor in college did. Right? Because when I walked into her class, I wanted nothing to do with history. I was only taking it because it was a convenient time and I wanted nothing to do with it. And she was so good that she changed my life. Right. You have an audience full of people who want you to do well. They want to connect with you, they want to talk to you after class, they want to talk to you at happy hour and get to know, know you. And you know, so I think starting there of just, you don't need to be nervous because you have people in the audience who are like, maybe not cheering for you, but they're definitely like, they're not out to get you. You know what I mean?
And so I think if you can just remember that you have a friendly audience, it really helps me relax and want to do well so that I can give them the best class experience that I possibly can.
[00:27:55] Speaker A: Well, that is one great bottom line for our audience. Wow, thank you so much. The only other tip I was going to say is, in addition to reaching out to Lindy, if you want somebody to Double check your PowerPoint, get a hold of her husband because he's really good at that, apparently.
Right. Well, Lindy, thank you so much for taking some time today to have this conversation. It was great, great. I learned a lot. You're inspiring me to even go out and take a wreath making class, so.
Or something. But I, I, the point is well taken. So thank you again.
Really enjoyed having you on to our audience. As always, we appreciate your taking the time to join us. And until next time, let's all continue to learn, grow and prosper.
Sam,
