Essential 1: Vulnerability<\/strong><\/p>\nWhen I was studying comedy writing and performance at the New School in New York City, I struggled to muster the courage necessary to manifest the \u201cstand-up\u201d part of stand-up comedy. I was writing well but remained terrified of getting up on stage to present my material. One evening I asked the teacher to reveal the secret to me. \u201cHow do I overcome my fear of getting up on stage?\u201d I inquired of George Q. Lewis, the magical man who had written for Red Skelton and Bob Hope and who was now teaching the class. He put his Styrofoam cup of coffee down, looked me in the eye and said, \u201cYou don\u2019t overcome your fear. You bring it up on stage with you. That\u2019s what people are interested in.\u201d<\/p>\n
He understood that audiences want to know how we\u2019ve dealt with the problems in our lives and what we have to teach them. No comedian comes out and says \u201cGood evening! My life is great, things are smooth, and the trust fund check always arrives on time. Can you relate?\u201d Comedians come out and speak rather to the fears and frustrations they (and we) encounter: politics, relationships, self-esteem, etc. The audience nods and says to itself, \u201cYeah, me too. What did you do about it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Wise Mr. Lewis showed me that audiences relate to the struggles in life. They are there for guidance as well as laughter. They relate to us through the challenges we have encountered. We relate to them through storytelling. I believe the magic of storytelling lies in the fact that when we tell our own story we are sharing an individual experience. Yet, as we tell it and it travels from our lips to the ears, hearts and minds of our audiences, the story trans forms from being one person\u2019s experience to one that contains a universal truth. Many in the audience can relate to that universal truth. We start out sharing our vulnerability and end up discovering a source of our strength. They are both the same.<\/p>\n
Essential 2: Presence<\/strong><\/p>\nOur presence is what attracts the audience to us. It is the magnet that pulls their attention towards us, that quality of poise and effectiveness that enables a presenter to achieve a close relationship with an audience. The energy in the room is fueled by our presence. If we are to be considered an \u201cattraction,\u201d it is our presence that makes us so.<\/p>\n
A means to developing presence is learning to be in the moment, to \u201cbe in the here and now.\u201d Wonderful opportunities to develop this quality offer themselves to me whenever I am at a professional gathering or a social event. As I\u2019m talking to a friend or new acquaintance in the hallway of the hotel or the kitchen, I see out of the corner of my eye someone else I am dying to speak to. Each time I resist the urge to let my attention drift from the person I\u2019m speaking to, I enhance my presence. Each time I refocus my awareness to the one I am with, I bring myself to the present. The greatest gift I can give myself or my audience is my presence. If you need basic \u201cpresence\u201d training, I encourage you to enroll in an improv theater class.<\/p>\n
As you develop your presence, you gain the benefit of \u201cgravitas.\u201d Communication expert Karen Cortell Reisman considers \u201cgravitas\u201d to be a vital element of a successful keynote speech. What is it? Merriam-Webster dictionary defines gravitas as the \u201ccondition of wakefulness, steadiness and equanimity derived from disciplined practice of presence.\u201d It is the environment in which our magic is spun.<\/p>\n
Essential 3: Spontaneity<\/strong><\/p>\nWe demonstrate the elements of poise and effectiveness to our audiences in what we do and\u00a0how we react to unexpected situations. When we are on the platform, standing in front of our audiences, we are in a leadership position, both actually and metaphorically. They look to<\/p>\n
us very intently during situations that are unexpected in either their timing or impact. What are they looking for? They want to see how we respond spontaneously. Spontaneity is a skill that enhances presence and, as paradoxical as it seems, spontaneity can be practiced. In fact, in order to become spontaneous, you must practice spontaneity.<\/p>\n
Blocks to spontaneity occur when thinking takes the place of acting from natural feeling. Spontaneous responses never seem contrived or manipulated. They seem natural because they are unaffected. You can\u2019t worry about what people are going to think. You know very well that<\/p>\n
people are going to think what they want to, based on their own perceptions of the truth. You may as well act from your own heart, soul and experience. If you are going to go down, you may as well go down with your own truth.<\/p>\n
Try This:<\/strong><\/p>\n“Radio Announcer” is a game I use to practice spontaneity. It can be played while driving, walking, typing at your computer or even sitting somewhere with nothing to do, like at an airport after your flight has been cancelled and you have a four-hour layover.<\/p>\n
Begin to objectively describe, out loud, whatever is coming into your field of awareness. No thoughts, no judgments, no explanations. Allow for as much stream of consciousness reporting as possible. Here is a transcript of part one of my experiences playing the game while driving on an Interstate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just passing mile marker 114. There is a red car coming up on my left. I can\u2019t tell what it is but it\u2019s going faster than I am. It’s passing me now. It\u2019s an SUV of some kind. Connecticut plates. The Constitution State. Blue plate. A little bit of ice is still hanging from the rocks on the sides of the road. Sun is shining, blue sky. Truck has flashers blinking going up the hill. I\u2019m passing him. The woman in the car next to me is wearing a green hat and sunglasses. I like this song on the radio. There is a CD on the floor\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
You get the idea. Play this game for about two to three minutes at a time.<\/p>\n
So What?<\/strong><\/p>\nWe can nurture the three elements that help make us real, the three fundamental aspects of authenticity that make us attractive to the audience: vulnerability, presence and spontaneity. When the audience is charged by our presence and the attention is directed toward us, we are where we want to be and they are where we want them! This is what is meant by \u201cholding the audience\u2019s attention.\u201d<\/p>\n
Check out Izzy’s book, Playing Along<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>on our website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What Every Successful Presenter Knows: The Three Essentials of Attraction By Izzy Gesell Visit Izzy’s website. \u201cEnergy Manager\u201d is one of the many roles a presenter plays when speaking in front of a group. We know, as do the folks who ask us to present, that the attendees at a program experience one of two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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