BNI 902: Weekly Presentation Coaching 160 - Tanya Liebenberg - Virtual Assistant - BNI & The Power of One

Summary4 min read

Episode Overview

Podcast: BNI & The Power of One
Host: Tim Roberts
Episode: 902 - Weekly Presentation Coaching 160 - Tanya Liebenberg - Virtual Assistant
Release Date: June 5, 2026

This episode centers on live coaching for BNI members’ weekly presentations, featuring Tanya Liebenberg, a virtual assistant from Johannesburg, South Africa. Tim Roberts reviews Tanya’s submitted 60-second pitch targeted toward female leadership coaches. The episode provides not only assessment and suggestions for Tanya but also general guidance for all BNI members seeking to maximize referral opportunities through clear, actionable networking presentations.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction & Context (01:11 - 02:30)

Tim Roberts introduces the coaching format: reviewing a member’s submitted weekly presentation for feedback and improvement.
Tanya Liebenberg’s background: Virtual assistant from Johannesburg, passionate about supporting female leadership coaches.

2. Reading & Timing of Tanya’s Presentation (02:30 - 03:58)

Tim reads Tanya’s entire weekly presentation aloud, noting she fits it well into an assumed 60-second time frame (timed at 56 seconds).
The pitch:
- Tanya positions herself as an “admin ninja” who helps with behind-the-scenes program management so female leadership coaches can focus on their facilitation.
- Ideal referral: A female leadership coach delivering structured corporate training, especially someone like “Lisa the leadership coach” who values professionalism but struggles with program chaos.
- Tanya’s closing: “I make sure their programs, people, and delivery actually run smoothly without the coach managing everything.”

3. Three Must-Have Elements in Weekly Presentations (03:58 - 06:20)

Tim outlines the foundational structure for ideal weekly BNI presentations:

Who: Clearly identify your ideal referral.
How: Teach fellow members how to recognize someone with the need.
What to Say: Equip members with questions or conversation starters to naturally initiate referrals.

Quote:
“Three things we need to hit... Who. How? What?”
(Tim Roberts, 03:58)

4. Feedback on Tanya’s Pitch: What Worked (04:30 - 05:30)

Tanya succeeded in being specific with her “who”: “female leadership coach”—further personified with “Lisa the leadership coach.”
Tim praises the specificity, which is crucial for effective referrals.

Quote:
“You gave a good example. Lisa the leadership coach. That’s great. You did a good job of it.”
(Tim Roberts, 04:45)

5. Areas for Improvement: How to Spot and Initiate Referrals (05:30 - 08:20)

Tim points out Tanya’s pitch could better address how other members identify her ideal client.
- Need for “triggers” or cues that signal someone might benefit from Tanya’s help (e.g., stress over program organization, canceled plans due to work overload).
Emphasizes avoiding assumptions about prospects’ struggles—BNI members need clear signs to look/listen for.
Lacking in Tanya’s pitch: Guidance on how to initiate referral conversations smoothly.

Quote:
“If you go, ‘Hey, if you know Lisa, she’s really struggling with this.’ And I go up to Lisa, who’s a friend, and say, ‘Hey, you’re really struggling with this,’ and she goes, ‘What are you talking about?’ No, I’m not. That’s not going to go really well.”
(Tim Roberts, 07:08)

Tim recommends specific conversation starters for members to use:
- “Ask them if they have a team that works alongside them.”
- “Ask if they have any admin help.”
- “If somebody took all the admin stuff off your plate, what would that mean to you?”
- If the answer is enthusiastic, then introduce Tanya.

Quote:
“Give me leading questions, give me conversation starters... It probably seems super simple to you... I promise you it’s not as obvious to your fellow members.”
(Tim Roberts, 08:05)

6. Universal Takeaways for Weekly BNI Presentations (08:20 - 09:12)

All BNI members should check their weekly presentations for the three core components:
- Specific target (‘who’), clear need indicators (‘how’), and practical tools for referral approach (‘what to say’).
These elements are essential for all forms of networking presentations—not just weeklies, but also one-to-ones and feature presentations.

Quote:
“That’s the purpose of our weekly presentation. It’s the purpose of our one-to-ones. It’s the purpose of our feature presentations. It’s the purpose of everything we’re doing in BNI: teach them who, how, and what to say.”
(Tim Roberts, 08:35)

Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

“I make sure their programs, people, and delivery actually run smoothly without the coach managing everything.” (Tanya, 03:35, as read by Tim)
“Did I teach them how to identify people in that market that have that need? What are they doing? What are they saying? How are they behaving?” (Tim Roberts, 08:25)
“Almost all of us when we’re doing weekly presentations, especially at the beginning, will just assume people know how to make the introduction... Most don’t know how to get to the introduction part.” (Tim Roberts, 07:50)

Timestamps for Key Segments

01:11 – Episode intro & Tanya’s background
02:30 – Tim reads Tanya’s presentation
03:58 – Explaining the “Who, How, What” formula
04:45 – Praise: Specificity in “who”
05:30 – Coaching on identifying prospects (the “how”)
06:50 – Advice on what to say and how to start conversations (the “what”)
08:20 – Advice for all members: always check for the 3 elements
09:12 – Outro remarks (end of content)

Key Takeaways for Listeners

Be Hyper-Specific with your target audience in weekly BNI presentations.
Teach Your Fellow Members not just who to refer, but how to spot them and how to start an authentic, comfortable referral conversation.
Don’t Assume members know how to make an introduction; equip them with concrete questions or approaches.
Use these principles in all BNI settings—weekly presentations, one-to-ones, and feature presentations—to maximize your referrals.

This episode is a practical, hands-on guide to transforming your weekly presentation from a short pitch into a true referral-generating tool, using Tanya’s example as a learning case for all BNI members.

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Transcript3 lines

[00:00]
A
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[01:12]
B
Welcome back to BNI and the Power of One. Back with our weekly presentation coaching episodes again where we review somebody's submitted weekly presentation, give some feedback, try to make it as successful as possible, as effective as possible. As always, you can submit yours. Go to bnipowerofone.com Allergies are killing me. Apologize ahead of time for the sound of my voice. All right, so pulling up today's we have, let's see here, Tanya Liebenberg. And if I'm mispronouncing your name, I apologize ahead of time. But Tanya is from Johannesburg, South Africa, which by the way, amazing trip if you've never been. I got the great pleasure going to their national conference meeting. So many cool members, super nice people, beautiful country, can't wait to go back and actually spend some time in it. I was there too short of a period to really see a lot of it, but what I did see was enough to want to go back. So, Tanya, it doesn't say how long you have, so I'm going to go under the assumption It's a full 60 seconds. So I'm going to pull up my timer again. You and I will do this at different speeds, but it'll give us at least a point of reference. And zoom in here a little bit so I can really read this. All right, and here, let me pull up the timer. Here we go. Before I go, I'm going to read the whole thing. I don't know if the top of this is part of it or not. If. But I'm going to read it as if if it is. I couldn't tell if it's really a title, but here we go. Tanya. I have a program starting next month and the workbook still needs updating. Admin ninja from my Tanya holding the virtual assistant seat in our chapter. I'm passionate about program coordination and supporting female leadership coaches in Guten who are brilliant facilitators, but often Find themselves scrambling to put programs together at the last minute. I step in behind the scenes and manage their programs from concept to classroom, including rollout and reporting so they can focus on what they do best and facilitating powerful learning experiences. My deal referral is a female leadership coach delivering structured corporate training programs who need someone to coordinate the moving parts. If you know Lisa, the leadership coach who values showing up professionally but keeps finding herself in last minute program chaos, I'd really appreciate the introduction admin ninja from my Tanya, your partner in program success. I make sure their programs, people, and delivery actually run smoothly without the coach managing everything. Okay, so in 56 seconds, so I'm assuming a minute, we're pretty close on time, so that's not too bad. Okay. Three things we need to hit. It's been a minute since we've done these episodes. Who. How? What? Who are we specifically looking for? How do we identify them? What do we say to them? You did hit the who you've got. I would personally tweak it a little bit. So when you say my ideal referral is a female leadership coach delivering structured corporate training programs such as, like, I would put that all in together. Like Lisa the leadership coach. Right. So you did a good job of it. You separated in two separate parts, but you've got the who. We want a female leadership coach that is very, very specific. It's not just leadership coach. Female leadership coach. You gave a good example. Lisa the leadership coach. That's great. The next question is, how do we know they might be in need of your services? Okay. That we didn't really hit on clearly enough. So you really need to teach people what to be picking up on. If they're having a conversation with a leadership coach or a corporate trainer, what are the things that they might be saying or doing that would highlight that they're struggling with the problem you solve? Because they're not necessarily just. Maybe they're not just saying it directly out loud. But we also can't just make the assumption. Right. So when you say, if you know Lisa, the leadership coach who values showing up professionally but keeps finding herself in last minute program chaos, that's almost assuming that that's happening. Right. We're. We're telling our team, like, hey, do you know Lisa because she's always in chaos? Do you know that for fact or are we assuming that's a fact? I would be doing more. Like, when you're talking to Lisa or other female leadership coaches, here's key things to listen for. They're stressed out about an Upcoming training, they don't have enough time to prepare. They're stressed out. You had dinner plans with them and they canceled because they have an upcoming training they're not ready for. Like, what are the tangible, like, triggers that would go off and tell me, hey, this person is. Has challenges with the administrative side of the programs they're offering. If you're, if I'm just assuming they do, that'll be uncomfortable. And even if I do assume they do, the next piece becomes even more important, which is, what do I actually say to them? The only thing you said is, I'd really appreciate the introduction. Well, how do we make the introduction, right? How do I get into the conversation about you? And again, if you go, hey, if you know Lisa, she's really struggling with this. And I go up to Lisa, who's a friend of mine, and say, hey, you're really struggling with this. And she goes, what are you talking about? No, I'm not. That's not going to go really well. Or if Lisa is my friend and she says, man, I'm just really having a hard time with this, this, and this, or I'm stressed out because this event's coming up. What's the next question I should ask or the question I should ask to get into a conversation? Do you have team. You know, could be things like, ask them if they have a team that works alongside of them. Ask them if they have any admin help. Ask them if they appreciate, you know, ask them a question like, if somebody took all the admin stuff off, what would that mean to you? Be V. What kind of value would that add for you? And if they say, oh, that'd be amazing, Hey, I know somebody I want to make an introduction to. So I think we're missing part two and three a little bit. You could counter argue that part two, you gave a lot of the things that they're struggling with. So maybe you're saying, hey, I'm teaching you. They're struggling with this. So if you hear they're struggling with this, that would be it. But part three of what to say isn't in here. And that's very, very common. Almost all of us when, when we're doing weekly presentations, especially at the beginning, will just assume people know how to make the introduction. So we just say, hey, if you know so and so, that'd be great, make an introduction. But most of them don't know how to get to the introduction part. The actual introduction of you, hey, I know somebody that can help you. Comes up near the End of the conversation. If I don't know how to start the conversation, I'm not going to get to the end of the conversation. And so you got to make that comfortable for me. You got to make it natural for me. You got to teach me how to do that. And that would be give me leading questions, give me conversation starters. You know, how do, if Lisa is my friend, how do I go up to Lisa and see if she's got interest in talking to you? It probably seems super simple to you and super obvious to you. And it should because it's your thing. I promise you it's not as obvious to your fellow members. So you got to teach them how to do that. And that's the case for all of us. These are the three things we need to follow. We need to be asking ourselves, did I teach them who I was specifically looking for? Being very specific, like, you did a great job of that. Did I teach them how to identify people in that market that have that need? What are they doing? What are they saying? How are they behaving? And did I teach them how to get into the conversation where they could then make the introduction? That's the purpose of our weekly presentation. It's the purpose of our one to ones. It's the purpose of our feature presentations. It's the purpose of everything we're doing in bni. It's different than how we're going to talk the rest of the time. So it takes some preparation. So if you want yours reviewed, make sure you're hitting those three things. Go to B&I. Power of one. Leave your weekly presentation. Let me know where you're from, how long you have. If you're finding value, share it with others. We appreciate that. Hope you guys have a great day.
[09:24]
A
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