*This is a guest post by Michelle Barry Franco.
Have you ever been watching someone speak and felt your heart flutter and your body tingle?
Have you ever thought to yourself, “Holy Moly – this is it. This is what I’ve been waiting to hear. This is what it’s all about.” You feel yourself energized, motivated… in fact, you might even get up to take some action if you didn’t want so desperately to hear what else this person was going to say.
Here’s where it gets really fascinating. You’ve actually heard this message before, maybe pretty much the same words spoken. Yes, the stories are different and the venue is not the same, but this message isn’t new.
Why is it so transformative this time? Why, suddenly, is everything shifting for you in this one moment as one person in an audience of dozens, or hundreds… or thousands?
I can tell you why.
It’s because you are experiencing soul-bearing, courageous speaking.
This kind of speaking requires that the speaker actually dig deep into her own big voice, the courageous one that reveals even more of herself than she knew she had in her.
This kind of speaking taps rivers of knowing in both the speaker and the listener and the conversation happens on a plane that we can’t manufacture with tips, suggestions and formulas.
This kind of soulful, rich speaking is an art – and you, as the speaker, are the born artist. You have the style brushes inside you, waiting to be uncovered and brought out to the canvas. You just need the excavation method to dig those brushes out.
You can speak like this, in your own way. You can move someone – many someones – in your audience in this magic, beautiful way. It takes some courage, yes – but once you’ve decided to tap that courage, the process is quite simple.
Here are some seriously hard-core Message Artistry tools to help you get there:
1. Reveal your Real message
2. Get radically clear on who needs and wants that message
3. Craft your message with them in your heart and mind every second
4. Deliver your message in a bigger, bolder version of your style.
Let’s take them each a bit further.
Reveal your Real message:
Many of us know what we’d like to say. We know what matters to us. It takes some real digging to actually articulate the soul-message underneath that. Do that digging. It’s the difference between mediocre and truly transformational. A good question to start: “What do I know for sure, after all that I’ve learned in my life, that would make life better for someone struggling?”
Don’t stop there, though. Ask deeper questions about your own life and experience that get to the heart of the issue for you – that is where the juice is for you in your message.
Get Radically Clear on Who Needs and Wants That Message:
Who is out there walking around in desperate search of the message you share? Whose life can you change dramatically by sharing what you’ve learned. The important word here is *and* because we are rarely transformed by things that we only need but do not also want. I may need to clean my office to maximize my productivity, but if I don’t want my office clean very much then I’m not going to be very motivated to do it. It’s a slippery, but important, distinction.
Craft Your Message with Them in Your Heart and Mind Every Second:
Oh, the power of being understood and known. It mesmerizes, surprises and delights us to have someone with answers to our problems actually tell the story of our collective struggle out loud, with details that we thought no one else really “got.” When you spend a lot of time and energy pulling together examples, stories and data that directly reflects the experience of your audience, they will be astounded and thrilled. When you also bring them solutions to their plight – they will want more of you. This means new clients for you – and more life-changing goodness you’ve helped make happen in the world.
Deliver Your Message in a Bigger, Bolder Version of Your Style:
We are wired to just feel it when we are getting the real deal with someone. It’s a magic alchemy of a zillion tiny moves, gestures and the energy that surrounds a presenter. We love, love, love when we get to watch someone be wholly, beautifully, and boldly themselves on stage (as long as they have done the above three things for us as well.) It is not easy to be this vulnerable – to share ourselves openly and boldly – but the payoff is exponential in your ability to influence and make a difference from the stage. Here is a great way to start tapping your most authentic style of presenting:
Grab a piece of paper.
1. Write three words that you would use to describe yourself when you are at your best in conversation.
2. Now open a thesaurus (print or online) and look up each of those words. Do you see a synonym that is an even better description of your style than the word you wrote initially? Dig at least 2-3 layers deeper in that thesaurus. Come up with an unexpected, truly great word to describe your style. Do that for all three words. Write them down.
3. Now, write out some words, phrases, colors, images that come to mind when you think of those words you landed on. Anything goes here. Just get them written down.
Okay, now take a look at that outcome. How do you feel about those words? Do they lift you up? Do they delight you? Do you want to be more of those things? If your answer is “yes” to those questions then you’ve got yourself a pretty good articulation of your authentic style. Use those words, phrases and images to power up your presentation. Use them to help you be an even bigger and bolder version of you. I guarantee you just made yourself far more interesting when you present! (This is a quick and dirty version of an Expression Elan process I take my one on one speaking clients through. It is a much loved, and highly useful process.)
Your message will serve you powerfully – in clients and in making that impact you so want to make – if you use your greatest expression in your speaking. Let this process power up your presentations.
I’d love to hear what great things you have watched speakers do from the stage – or you have done yourself – that delighted you! Please share in the comments.
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Michelle Barry Francois a message artist and speaking coach for passion-driven business owners. Her message for the world is this: Your Message Matters. Bring it big, bold and powerfully – and change the world as a result. Visit her site by April 15 to grab her completely free process for turning your passionate message into an authentic, powerful presentation. Soul Power to Your Message is a 56-page workbook style ebook, mp3, videos & templates. Get it at www.michellebarryfranco.com
