I recently saw the philosopher, Chris Rock, interviewed by James Lipton on Inside the Actor’s Studio, and something he said struck me as powerfully relevant to what we do as speakers.
Rock is a stand-up comedian, of course, among other things. Stand-up comedy is not so much different from a business presentation or a motivational speech, except that the purpose is explicitly to entertain. Some comedians, such as Rock, also use the form to deliver messages through the laughs, in his case often about racism, sexism and tolerance.
Like any other performer, Rock has good nights and bad nights. Sometimes he is off his game and sometimes the audience, for whatever reason or reasons, just isn’t responsive to his act. But it’s his responsibility as a professional, Rock said, to rock the house. No excuses.
As speakers we are often in the same position. We’re booked into ill-suited, poorly set up venues. We are scheduled to speak just before lunch or after the cocktail party. We’re sent before people that don’t want to be there and resent us for the imposition. Our one-hour slot is suddenly cut to 20 minutes, because the previous speaker went too long. It doesn’t matter. It’s still our responsibility to rock the house.
So we get there early to get a feel for the room, check the sound system and rearrange the seating. We adjust our content or delivery, sometimes on the fly, to suit the circumstances. We use every tactic and technique we know to show our audience that even if they are not there by choice, we’re on their side; we’re there to give them something of real value.
It’s our responsibility as professional speakers to rock the house, no matter what. No excuses.
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