Joyce Daniels, also known as ‘Queen of Talk’ is a quintessential event host, Master of Ceremonies, conference and panel moderator. A true believer in the African dream, she is the founder Talkademy, a training school for event host MCs. For almost two decades, Daniels, a former Senior Trainer with the prestigious Dale Carnegie and Associates, serves as a Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Coach to mid-senior level executives, through her signature course and coaching programme – Prepare To SpeakTM. The author and youth mentor holds a B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Anatomy, from the University of Port Harcourt, In this interview, she speaks on her forthcoming Money Mouth Making Conference.
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Take us through your almost two decades career as an MC and event host?
I’ve gone from the days when people would say ‘Oh I’ve never seen a female MC before’ to hearing from female MCs now that some of them have never heard a comment like that. It used to be so common between 2007-2012. I have been blessed to serve multinationals from oil and gas, finance, manufacturing, retail, Non-profit organisations, government, religious organisations; and I’ve watched the industry blossom, and I’ve been a part of making it blossom by writing two books to improve the speaking and skill sets of masters of ceremonies and speakers. I’ve also trained over a thousand MCs across Africa and that has been my most rewarding venture as a master of ceremonies. Being able to shape the thoughts of upcoming MCs and giving them the tools to succeed faster than I did.

⁠Tell us about the Money Mouth Making Conference?
It is born out of a gap that I have seen. I see a lot of knowledgeable experienced women who solve problems for organisations, individuals, governments, institutions, via speaking, either as keynote speakers, panel discussants and moderators, consultants, counselors. They proffer so many incredible solutions, but many times they are unable or unwilling to ask for a fee. I have found through my experience that many are discontented with that status quo. They run their businesses, they have their 9-to-5 jobs, they have other endeavours that they are involved in. So, some of them either haven’t seen who to guide them or they haven’t considered how to monetise their speaking.

And so, I created this solution and the uptake, acceptance by women and men is incredible. Why did I decide to focus on women? Personally, over 90 percent of my clients are women. So, it is easier to sell to the demography of people who already patronise me. Secondly, I find in my experience that men typically have fewer or less of a challenge asking for money even when they speak. It might be cultural, it might be based on other factors, but women are the ones who I see need the guidance and of course in this economy, we do need more viable, reliable trusted streams of income including speaking to proffer solutions.

What intentional steps did you take to improve on your public speaking skills through the years?
A lot of self-learning. Thank goodness for the advent of Google, to YouTube, to client feedback, to courses. I also became a trainer with the world’s largest and oldest performance improvement company – Dale Carnegie and associates, where I had a six-year stint and I rose to being one of the senior trainers in Africa, and so that really improved the quality of my public speaking and the quality to teach and train in public speaking.

What are some of the biggest challenges you have faced and how were you able to surmount them?
One of the major challenges that I faced was being paid less than I desired, or sometimes realising that I shared the stage with a gentleman and he was paid more. I was tempted to think it was a gender challenge, but I realised that it was actually a negotiation challenge, and not just the skill of negotiation but also the thinking and understanding behind negotiation, the understanding of my esteem, my worth, my value and the value that my solutions bring to my clients. Of course, those were the emotional and softer sides to improving my negotiation skill. The challenge would have been understanding corporate governance, having the right documents and the right tools, and the moment I learnt those things many years ago, I put them into practice, and it improved the quality of my negotiation which also improved my confidence to reach out to more clients, and the rest like they say is history.
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Which is exactly one of the reasons why the Money Making Mouth Conference is holding, because it is the start of the coming together of a community of women who will improve every single aspect of public speaking and running a public speaking business in addition to what other businesses you do. Negotiation premised on the understanding of value and the desire for win-win scenarios and situations is key, and something that we would really focus on.

Talk to us about some of your publications as an author. What informed them?
For my 10th ‘talker-versary’ as I liked to call it, which was 2017, ten years after I decided to be a professional speaker, I focused first on my primary constituency which is being a master of ceremony. So, I wrote a book called ‘Mastery’ and the book is for those who desire to be skilled and proficient in the business of mastering ceremonies, and it has sold thousands of copies all around the world. I’ve received testimonials from MCs all around the world saying it has been of great help, and even now almost nine years later, people are still saying how relevant ‘Mastery’ is to them. My second book which was published in 2020 just before COVID, is called ‘Before you Speak, Read this’.

It is an expert guide to public speaking, especially those who are beginners to intermediate levels. It shines the light on professional and social public speaking needs. Both written with very simple terms and extremely practical. The constant questions I would receive from clients, potential clients, mentees, audience members. “How can you help me improve?” That is a constant question I still get till now. I always say that books are the easiest form of knowledge to consume. If you were to attend a three-day seminar to learn or a seven to10-hour seminar to learn, you would pay so much, but you pay a very tiny fraction of the cost to get all the information compressed in a book. So, it was the easiest way to ensure that the knowledge that I have was able to get into the hands of people and of course more books are coming.

What would you say stands you out as one of Africa’s most sought-after event hosts?
My zeal and desire to stay committed to it. I have understood the power of personal branding, understanding business, partnerships, collaborations, maintaining client relations, training, my commitment to teaching through my YouTube videos and more have increased my credibility with clients and followers as it were, people who turn in to be promoters – they watch and they see, and so they promote. My commitment to excellence in service delivery and the unflinching support of my clients who continue to refer me; this is still just the beginning. We’re only about to get to higher heights and levels.
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Have there been any gender inequality barriers within your space?
I would say very minimal. If anything, my gender has brought me favour. There are many times clients and members of the audience will show absolute delight to see that a woman could deliver with such premium quality. And so, they are delighted and happy to refer. Yes, we’re also in the era of organisations trying to strike the gender balance, and so, if in the past, they would not have considered for whatever reason, searching out a female MC, right now, they do and when they see how well I perform, they retain. The only incident I remember that was sour to taste, was when while negotiating some years ago for my fee, the gentleman who was leading the negotiation said, “Why should we pay you so much when you are just a woman. You are not the breadwinner in your family. You are not the one responsible for providing for the home. I know you would only use your money to buy shoes, bags and hair” – I felt that was condescending, but I think it was shame on him for being so ignorant. That kind of thinking has really reduced. We have a lot of he-for-she, a lot of men and women who are champions for excellence in any shape, form or gender. My gender has served me more than it has hindered me.

What do you think women can learn to do differently to attain success in their circles?
To constantly reenforce self-belief. For some reasons, women tend to struggle with self-belief more than men. The more women are able to believe in self and overcome that thing called imposter syndrome, the voice or the phenomenon, that one says to themselves they are not good enough, or skilled enough. When women are able to overcome that, then they succeed exceedingly. Building on this, we can self-promote. It is the confident woman that can self-promote and if you don’t sell your own product, it is more difficult for people to promote you. Yes, there is the place of referrals and recommendations, but there is also that very undisputable need to self-promote. Finally, I would say women can collaborate. Already there are amazing collaborations going on with the constant rise of women groups, cooperatives and associations. It will only get better. The more we cooperate and collaborate, we train, mentor and lift each other, the sky will only be our springboard. And I dare say, Guardian Woman is one of those platforms that has given women the opportunity to be seen, promoted, and lifted, and we are only getting better. The numbers are showing that we indeed are doing better in our businesses, in our different fortes. Cheers to higher heights. We mean business.
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