The last two posts I’ve put up, about speakers that fly by the seat of their pants (Coulda / Woulda / Shoulda) and grinders who memorize every word and gesture (The Uncanny Valley), represent the two extremes of preparing speeches and presentations, but there is a better way that takes the best of the two approaches.
I had a roommate in university, named Rich, who wanted to be a veterinarian. It’s even tougher to get into veterinary school than medical school, so Rich needed to get straight A’s to even have a chance.
When final exams came around in his freshman year, and all of his classmates were grinding away at their studies, Rich announced that he was going to Panama, where his father was stationed with the military. As a dependent of a military officer, he could fly free on military transports. He told everyone who would listen that he planned to take full advantage of that little perk and relax during the week before finals.
His classmates all told him he was crazy, as he blithely packed his bags for a week of swimming, hiking and drinking on the beach. He even got a call from his university faculty advisor warning him that he needed to take his studies more seriously.
When he returned, suntanned and full of stories of wild parties and grand adventures, to everyone’s amazement, he aced all of his tests with some of the highest scores in his class. And thus, the legend of Rich, the natural-born genius, began to spread among both the students and the faculty.
What his classmates and advisor didn’t know, but he later confessed to me, was that he had never gone to Panama. He had driven out of town and spent a week in a cheap motel, studying night and day under a sun-tanning lamp.
Rich was an early believer in personal branding, and the reputation for academic brilliance that he cemented with that little stunt served him very well in the remainder of his time as an undergraduate.
It put him on the radar of the faculty members as an up-and-coming star and ensured that he got the benefit of the doubt in his tests and course work. He became the guy that other students wanted to work with on projects and study with before tests. When it came time to apply for veterinary school, he had no shortage of high-powered personal recommendations in his pocket and he got into the school that was his top choice.
I haven’t heard from Rich since, but I have no doubt he is a successful veterinarian somewhere. He was aware of something that all speakers would be smart to learn; that by preparing hard, you can make it look easy, and when you make it look easy, everyone assumes you are just naturally talented.
By all means, work harder than everyone else. Prepare to the hilt. Be ready for any contingency. Rehearse until you know your material backward and forward.
But when it is time to step up in front of your audience, throw that all out the window. Connect with your audience. Respond to the feedback they are giving you. Use all of that preparation to adjust your course on the fly to better serve their needs and address their concerns.
Make it look easy and natural. Let them think you’re making it up as you go. Let them assume you’re just a natural-born speaking star.
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