Last year I was a stone. I was hard and dense, deadened to the point that I couldn't register incoming messages and so rigid that I could not deliver meaningful outgoing messages.
I am now a sponge. I'm soft and relaxed, with many open channels that help me feel and hear everything both coming in and going out. I listen and I communicate with ease. Communication is truly a two-way street. And I am loving this.
What state do you create in your audiences? Do you deaden your audiences so that everything you say washes over them without penetrating? You can do this very easily by overloading them with data, restricting yourself to scripts or lengthy slide decks and filling your talk exclusively with business-speak.
My stone-sponge analogy is related to how I was being trained to ride my horse. Last year's trainer is a narrow-minded, humorless person who reminds me of the hundreds of business speakers who believe they must stick to the facts, provide slides and copious notes so that the audience has something to refer to later (as if they will!) and demands strict adherence to "the way we always do things."
My new trainer says "dare to try something new" and "communication between you and your horse must be a thoughtful and respectful two-way street." When I listen to him and pay attention to my own behavior, together we create the harmonious ride that we are striving towards.
You force your audiences to be stones when you define or equate 'speech' or 'presentation' to 'Power Point.' Nothing on any slide ever will be more powerful and potent than you can be when you speak from your inner knowledge and passion with authenticity.
When you grab their attention with a story or ask them to imagine a situation, you create sponges. You help them open their inner channels so that your ideas and their own thoughts mix to create new perspectives and visions. When they are sponges they visualize themselves responding to your call-to-action. When they are sponges they absorb your message so deeply that it sticks for a long time.
Speaking to any audience is a privilege. Be sure you help your audiences be sponges every time for every speech or presentation.
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