Finding Your Authentic Style: Intentional Observation

How do you find your authentic style? Here is the four-part, one-time formula...

1. Seek out effective presenters in your discipline. If you are a teacher, sit in on the lectures of great teachers. If you are a professional speaker, attend conferences where your heroes or other highly successful speakers in your "market" are speaking. If you are an executive who gives presentations, ask the peers you admire for their presentation style if you can sit in on a few of their meetings/presentations.

2. Watch for what speaks to you. What resonates with you? What do you like about what they are doing? Take a ton of notes. Intentionally observe their content, their flow, their style, etc. Look for what you personally like. You aren't writing down their material. You are writing down why their material worked. If you can't naturally see it or if you can't put language to it, ask them personally to explain it to you. If they truly are a professional, they should be more than willing to share the psychology, the dynamics and/or the guiding principles they employ to effectively present.

3. What you are looking for and what you need to capture is their template. What is at the core of their "goodness?" What are the basic ingredients? What comes first, then second, then third, etc.? How did they create the response in you that you want to create in your audience?

4. Now comes the hard part - the creative part. Take their basic template and fill it with your stuff. Your story. Your material. Your experiences. Your expertise.

Legendary Nashville songwriter Harlan Howard suggested a similar guide for writing a hit country music song. His advice was to find a popular song, copy down the chord progression (i.e., G-D-C-D-C), the tempo and the rhythm. Then take that template and put your own melody and lyrics to it. If you do it right, you have the makings of a hit song.

If you do this right in the presenting world, you will have the makings of your authentic style. You have adapted a professional's flow that connects with you as an audience member (huge personal authenticity test) and then you fill it with your story. It takes a tremendous amount of purposeful work, but it is well worth it.

Hat tip to my mentor and master presenter, Bill Cordes, for inspiring this post.

Authenticity Rule #3 - Know Your Audience

Authenticity Rule #3 is Know Your Audience.

(Review AR #1 - Know Thyself and AR #2 - Know Your Content)

Why is knowing your audience so important? Well, unless you are a "one-act presenter," you need to vary what you do and what you say based on each particular audience. Tony Bennett doesn't need to change what he does each night because he is a one-act presenter. These songs. This voice. This band. And his audience wants exactly those three things. Save a few comedians and magicians, presenters need to adjust their "act" each time to serve the needs and expectations of that particular set of humans. Zig Ziglar prepares three hours for each presentation. He invests this time to get intimate with that event's audience members, their company, their expectations and the content he will deliver.

The more familiar you are with your audience's challenges, questions, needs and expectations of you, the better equipped you are to help them move forward, to give them value and to connect with them.

When you are preparing for your next presentation, ask yourself a list of audience-focused questions...

What will the audience expect to learn from me?
What type of mood will they be in?
What questions will they potentially ask me?
What will they absolutely not want me to do?
What barriers will they have up?
How can I connect with them at the very first?
How will they be dressed?

The answers to some of these questions will be event-based and some of them will be audience-based. If you are speaking at a conference, the event will drive most of the answers because everyone will have more in common (at a once-a-year event, away from home environment, by myself or with only a few peers, expecting to be entertained, looking for next-level information/inspiration/ideas, etc.). If you are speaking to a group in their home element or at a very regular meeting, the answers will be driven more by individual needs, small group dynamics or whatever the focus is of that particular meeting (new employee training, monthly leadership meeting, weekly staff pow-wow, etc.)

The Geniune Gem - By investing a large amount of time focusing on the audience and thinking about their world you are able to be more authentic because you will better understand how to bring value to that particular group using your expertise, your experience and your style. Your authenticity is layered. There are many real parts of you. Once you understand your audience, you will know which layer(s) they will best connect with their genuine needs.

BONUS - Another quick AR #3 tip is to mingle with your audience before the event/meeting to learn names (that you can reference in your presentation) and to ask "in the moment" questions (what are you expecting, what challenges are you facing right now, what needs to happen in the next 45 minutes for this meeting to be a 10 for you, etc.)

Thoughts From An Expert on Authenticity

Norma Hollis is the recognized expert on authenticity. Her web site has a number of relevant and actionable tools for developing your authenticity as a presenter. Here are her overview thoughts on what authentic communication means:

You are speaking or presenting from the deepest part of your being – not simply reciting words.

You present your ideas in a way that others can understand and find meaningful.

You connect with your audience, staff, or customers in a way that leaves a lasting impression.

Your message is credible because it doesn’t hide the truth – it is comprised of facts, not hype.

Your presentation is designed around your audience’s needs and not your personal agenda.

Your communication style is transparent and believable.

You walk your talk.

http://normahollisspeaks.com/authenticity.html

Listen Like a Leader

Today, Thursday March 13, at 1 pm Central Time, you will have the opportunity to learn more about my Personal Leadership Insight blog post on Listening Like a Leader via a live teleconference featuring yours truly.

The following link will take you to the Kevin Eikenberry Group's teleconference page to learn how to listen in - no charge.

http://www.remarkable-leadership.com/tss_laubach.asp

The Complete Authenticity Rules Collection

The Authenticity Rules book is in the works.  Each chapter will focus on one of the seven Authenticity Rules.  The current version of the book cover and the full rules list are below...

 

(Thanks to everyone on Facebook for voting on their favorite.)

 

Authenticity Rule #1 - Know Thyself

This chapter is about the basics of why authenticity as a speaker, trainer, teacher or executive presenter is so powerful.  It outlines ways to know if you are being authentic and how to leverage it when you are.

 

Authenticity Rule #2 - Know Your Content

Effective communicators bring tremendous value to the table when they are real experts in their topic area.  This chapter is about how to reach expert status.

 

Authenticity Rule #3 - Know Your Audience

You have to spend a large amount of time not thinking about yourself if you are going to be your true self as a presenter.  This chapter covers how to better understand your world by getting into your audience's world.

 

Authenticity Rule #4 - Know Your Tools

Tiger Woods would be just another Joe if the 6-iron didn't exist.  Yet, Tiger can do things with his 6-iron Joe can only dream of doing.   Know Your Tools is about mastering the tools at your disposal as they relate to your unique style.

 

Authenticity Rule #5 - Know Your Flow

Genuine communicators understand human nature, the inner-working of the human brain, learning theories, crowd think, etc.  Chapter 5 breaks these down into tangible, relevant, and actionable strategies.

 

Authenticity Rule #6 - Know Your Enemies

The evil forces working against you being an authentic communicator are addressed throughout the book, but they are tackled individually here.

 

Authenticity Rule #7 - Know the Rules

I have coached speakers for over ten years.  This chapter is dedicated to the truck load of tips, strategies, suggestions, ideas, concepts and stories I have that will help you be a more authentic speaker, trainer, teacher or executive presenter.

Great Communication Strategies Book for Women

Click here to buy it directly from Amazon. Great $7 investment for any woman interested in developing their communication skills.

Masterful Communication Del.icio.us Tags

Del.icio.us is an online bookmark sharing system that works just like your favorites function on your web browser, except the bookmarks (or "tags" as they are called in Del.icio.us) are accessible to anyone via the web.

From my leadership blog home page (http://pliblog.yournextspeaker.com/) anyone can access the more than 400 pages I have tagged in our PLI (Personal Leadership Insight) Del.icio.us tag system. Each page is tagged under one of the ten PLI Essentials (seen in this picture). You can also see at the bottom of the picture that I have started tagging pages that deal with authenticity, the core focus of this blog.

As a reader of this blog, you are obviously interested in learning how to communicate better. I highly recommend you spend some time perusing the over 100 Masterful Communication Del.icio.us tags. They are filled with speaking tips, conversations tips, team communication strategies, etc.

To access them you can go through the PLI blog site or you can just click here. I add more every week.

The Iceberg and the Glacier

The iceberg above the water represents the content that makes it into your speech or presentation. The glacier beneath the water represents what you know about your topic that doesn't make it into your presentation. The iceberg will only stay afloat if it is held up and supported by the glacier. Same way with your presentations.

Authenticity Rule #2 is Know Your Content. Presenters who are able to present with the presence and grace of an iceberg have an entire glacier of expertise, study and knowledge holding them up.

The Mavericks Power Base

Just north of Half Moon Bay in Northern California is a surfing mecca called the Mavericks. This magical place creates the largest waves along the California coast line (10-20 feet high, lasting up to 20 seconds).

The Mavericks is able to produce such large and powerfully fast waves because of the shape of the sea floor, the angle of the coastline and the distance the waves have traveled. Here is a flythrough video that illustrates the unique topography creating Mavericks.




Each of these elements alone (sea floor shape, coastine angle and wave distance) do not create powerful waves. Combined together, however, and you get this. A natural power base.

Metaphorically, it doesn't get any better than the Mavericks to describe what happens when a speaker, trainer and/or teacher lets authenticity rule their preparation and presentation. There exists a natural and unique power base that only lives within you. No one else anywhere can bring to the shore what you can.

You will always have an audience as a speaker and be changing lives as a trainer/teacher if you...

1. Identify what is uniquely yours (your Mavericks mix of personality, expertise, passion, skills, talent, medium, etc.)
2. Put language and structure to your power base
3. Sharpen the necessary skills and talents to then communicate your message
4. Find an audience that connects deeply with those qualities

Of course, here is the big secret. You have to figure out what your "sea floor, coastline angle and wave distance" are. In other words, what are the core power base components you have at your disposal that you need to combine and start making waves with? To begin down this path of self-awareness, click over to my Personal Leadership Insight blog and use the STEEP self inventory model as a guide to finding your Mavericks power base.

Authenticity Rule #2

Know Your Content

Quick recap of Authenticity Rule #1 - Know Thyself

Authenticity Rule #2 is Know Your Content. The human brain can only consciously handle one thing at a time. The main thought on your mind while giving presentations shouldn't be, "what am I going to say next?" You need to know your content so intimately you don't have to think about where you are or where you are going. Its important to note we aren't talking about memorizing content (click here if you do need to memorize something). This content knowledge is about being an expert on your presentation's subject.

This content-intimacy does three things:

1. It allows you to be more authentic because you aren't worried about being perfect. Presenters who don't know their content very well or whose topic-knowledge extends only to what they have planned to say are very self-conscience about getting everything right. If they have to get off the beat and path, their shallow expertise may be exposed. When you know your content top to bottom, you are comfortable with being exposed, presenting in a polished, but raw manner and in messing up from time to time. When you know your stuff, the real you is released.

2. It fills you with a tremendous amount of confidence. Knowing what you are talking about is the number one way to control your nervousness.

3. It allows you to free up your "one thought at a time" for other more important things - like thinking about your audience and connecting with them.

So, how do you get there? Well, I'll be covering a number of these strategies throughout this month. However, strategy number one is to think of your next important presentation like it is one of your really good friends. A good friend is close to you because you have spent a ton of time together. You have to invest an enormous amount of time getting to know your content. Thinking about it. Writing about it. Talking about it.