It’s A Heart Time Of Year
The Olympic competitions are both breaking hearts and making other hearts burst with pride, Valentine hearts have been given and received (or forgotten and missed), and pretty much most of the news we’re seeing these days is not for the faint of heart. So what’s a communicator like you to do?
Ya Gotta Have Heart!
is an old show tune from the Broadway musical (and 1958 film) Damn Yankees, about getting motivated, overcoming challenges and finding resilience. And it all begins with what’s inside. It begins with heart. Miles and miles and miles of heart.
The Heart Is Your Home Base
It’s where you start; it grounds you and gives you confidence. It makes your audience feel your authenticity. And it’s what gives your presentations real meaning. Speaking from the heart sounds honest and, most importantly, it’s how we can best connect to listeners. They sense it. They may not know how to name the feeling, but they understand something genuine is pulling them in.
Get Comfy
Actors and professional speakers get comfortable with the setting, the stage, the conference room ahead of time. Sometimes it’s a formal tech rehearsal; sometimes it’s just getting into the room to scope it out yourself. We sit in the chair, test the mike, stand at the podium, feel the fabric of the curtains, look at the empty seats imagining them filled with people. Why? Because we want to make it our home, so we feel like we own it. That way, when we invite you into our words, we’ve become the confidently communicating hosts and you’re the guests.
When I travel as a speaker to deliver presentations at conferences, I always check into the hotel the day before. Typically, the meeting room will already be prepared for the next morning’s kick-off, or maybe they’re setting it up. I find someone who can let me in, explaining I’m one of the speakers. It’s an incredibly powerful feeling to be in the space before an event. I heartily recommend it. Whether it’s your office meeting room or a hotel stage, the concept is the same. And it works.
The Throughline
Every presentation has a beginning, middle and end. Audiences want to believe you know where you’re going, and you know how to take us along with you. Get us safely to our destination; take us home. To the bottom line, to your point, to the meaning of what you’ve been talking about, to the key takeaway. You get the idea. And that idea is the throughline of your presentation.
Diane At Home
Yes, that’s me in the photo, happily in my living room, the heart of my home. I’m about to move out of this space, and may have already done so by the time you read this. I’m still in the Boston area, just in a new setting. And what am I bringing with me, other than clothes, furniture, mounds of papers and pictures and miles and miles of memories? My heart! We’re both in this together for the long haul, and home is definitely where the heart is.
So from my heart to yours…
May we keep moving forward as best we can. May we live, work, connect and communicate with open hearts. May we remember that “the only thing more powerful than hate is love.” We can do this. Love you!
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Photo Credit: Francis Giles