Presenting is an art and the more I become connected to it the more passionate I get about seeing how far and deep I can take it. I’m sure many will resonate when I say, ‘When we’re in the flow, or perhaps we’ve managed to get out of our own way and simply become the conduit for infinite wisdom’, that we manage to surprise even ourselves with what we know.
Have you felt that about something you’re passionate about? Hearing yourself speaking and thinking, how do I even know all this stuff? Nobody has taught me this, I’ve never heard it before, I’ve certainly not read it and this is right there, at the vanguard in my zone of genius.
There is no feeling quite like it and once we’ve felt it, we’ll never be the same. It’s not like it happened to me overnight, in fact, it’s taken 25 years. Many of those years I’ve been not quite good enough, so many setbacks I couldn’t even estimate the number, missed opportunities and being turned down so many times it stopped even bothering me. However, as the old cliche goes ‘Never Give Up’. Blimey, whoever said that actually wasn’t joking! But, you can see why most people give up before greatness is even remotely achieved.
With the benefit of hindsight, I can tell you, being good is not really good enough. Being good is not what makes you stand out. Sure, it’ll help you get by, it’ll give you confidence and of course being good will bring you more sales and leads than being pretty bloody awful will. But, if you’re going to be good then why not become great? Don’t just stand, STAND OUT. Your cut through and ability to influence and connect one to many is in being GREAT.
Being great means you are congruent with who you really are and effortless on stage and camera. It’s when the art is so ‘bone-deep’ within you, you’ve realized you now have the ability to choose the journey you can take your audience on and that storytelling really becomes so much more clear. You can create instant connections, develop a sense of trust faster and have a beautiful way of clearly communicating so your audience walks away with value.
However, perhaps my favorite is the ability to turn up as simply the best version of yourself. It’s as though being on stage is the place for personal growth. When you can do this, for those who choose to not like you, you realize there is literally nothing more you can do, nor want to do, to change this. Their decision whether to like or not like you is easier to accept and those that do are highly likely to be your real tribe.
In July 2017 I had one of those ‘I need pen and paper right now’ brain-dumps while flying from Perth to Bali to teach at a retreat. I realized that a World Class or Complete Presenter is highly likely to have these Primary and Secondary elements. At their best, they would be all aligned.
The diagram I created below highlights the Primary Elements as The Technical, The Heart and The Intuition. The 3 elements that run off each Primary Element is a Secondary Element.
One other thing I could note is that who you are off stage is congruent with who you are on stage, and this will organically adjust to suit the optics of the ‘theater’.
I love the notion we all have the ability to be great. Of course, there are those who will find excuses or ways to justify why they can’t be. But throughout history, we’ve seen people do amazing things against far greater odds than most of us will ever experience. I think asking ourselves this question is a great way to create that journey so we know what that end goal looks like.
‘How will I know when I‘ve achieved my greatness’?
Andrew Eggelton
