3. ‘Block’ Your Moves. Blocking describes your movement when performing, “where you go, when you go there and why you go there.” Lacking awareness of your blocking is, “One of the quickest ways to have an audience disconnect from you or see you as weak on the stage,” said Michael. By intentionally planning your blocking, “Not only does it paint the picture for the audience that helps them consume the content, but it also helps you command the stage. You own the room, you own the stage, you are in control of your body, so you have a physical presence that's powerful.”
4. Shhh, Embrace The Power Of Silence. Think back to the last time you heard a powerful speaker. Chances are they strategically used the power of silence to make a point, to let that point sink in with the audience. To dramatize the power of silence, Michael went silent on my podcast for “three beats,” and let me tell you, it felt like eternity! He said for speakers who are not comfortable physically on the stage, a three-beat pause “feels like minutes.” Rehearsal and blocking can turn you into a master of the silent pause.
5. Connect To Your Audience’s ‘Why.’ Advisors often give informational or educational presentations. But if you want to deeply connect with your audience, you have to tap into their “real why.” When you know this, then you have to “strive for, drive to, fight for, do everything you can to achieve that objective for your audience.” As Michael said, “Information is only interesting to us if it brings us closer to something that's really important.” But you have to know what that really important why is in order to shape your performance and connect to it.
After to talking to Michael, I thought back to some of the recent presentations (I mean performances) I gave and realized how a few tweaks based on his insights could have made them even better.
For example, I tell stories in my performances and now know they could be even more impactful if I paused for three beats instead of the one and a half that I normally do. And blocking, I can think of numerous points in my performances where intentional movement and positioning could enhance the emotional connection for the audience.
How about you? Can you think back to your recent performances and notice how implementing these performance-enhancing ideas could have deepened your connection with the audience?
What you do is very high stakes, so don’t leave the outcome to chance.
Steve Sanduski, CFP, is the founder of Belay Advisor, the CEO of ROL Advisor, a discovery process technology system, a New York Times bestselling author, host of the Between Now and Success podcast, international speaker and blogger.