I’m always reminding my presentation skills clients that the way to fire up the hearts and minds of their audience is to embrace the Fifth Commandment of Great Acting and Great Speaking: Turn Thyself on so you can Turn Others On. Because when your passion is engaged, your audience will be too.
“But what if my material is as dry as the Sahara desert?” a client will complain. “After all, I’m only delivering the monthly numbers/quarterly report/status update on a project. How do I engage my passion over that?”
It’s a good question. Because while you might find the passion to motivate and inspire others in situations like delivering an annual keynote, launching a new product, or announcing a new direction for your team, it’s an awful lot harder to drum up the required passion at the weekly team huddle, reporting a list of numbers over stale donuts and bad coffee.
As an actor, I understood that it was my job to find a way fire up my passion for the material I was delivering, no matter how dry or boring or unpleasant it was. I had to do everything I could to make the material my own, and to inspire the engaged (and engaging) performer in me to come out and play. That meant I had to do two things. Choose a clear and compelling intention/purpose (“What do I want? What am I there to do? ” And then support that intention with every fiber of my being, activating my passion by making choices to keep me interested and engaged moment by moment.
As a business leader, you have the same responsibility as an actor to find a way to deliver a dull or difficult message to your people. Here’s how to do it:
- Go Deep: Choose an intention that truly drives you, that gives your words meaning. I.e. “My intention is to challenge the compliance team to continue to maintain their excellent record so we can keep our customers and attract more business.” Use action verbs that fire you up—to inspire, to convince, to etc.
- Go Big: Connect the message to something larger. For example, if you’re an entrepreneur leading a team of people in the development and marketing of a new and improved knee brace, remind your people that their daily grind is, in the long run, actually helping people live healthier, more active lives.
- Go Personal: Put your unique spin on the presentation infusing it with material or activity that gets you totally fired up. What do love to do? What would you absolutely do, show or share that could help make your presentation more compelling, energizing or memorable? The sky’s the limit: Juggle, read a poem, tell a personal story that illustrates your point, show a youtube clip that’s on topic and makes you laugh, etc. When you layer in content/activities that that are fun for you, that you can’t wait to share or do, your audience will feel and respond to your genuine energy and enthusiasm.
When your intention is compelling, and you’ve turned yourself on so that your passion is a burning, contagious flame, you will substantially raise the engagement level in the room — no matter how ho-hum the content.