During a lecture series a boring speaker had the podium. As he droned on, people in the audience began getting up and leaving. Soon every seat was empty except one.
Finally the speaker stopped and asked the man why he had stayed.
“I’m the next speaker.”
Dear Next Speaker:
The ball’s in your court. You can
- Sit and fume about the last guy’s imcompetence.
- Find fault with the organizers for picking such a loser.
- Rise, say a few words to technically satisfy your requirement to speak so you can collect the nice honorarium you’re being paid.
You can do any of those things, gather your material and leave.
OR
- Be the speaker who accepts the challenge to draw every person who left the room back, one by one, until the place is again packed.
Think about it. Microphone standing there, wire folded, saying, “Well?”
And hundreds of empty chairs.
Almost anybody can sparkle, be funny and entertain an audience.
It takes someone uncommon to step up to the mic, survey the ‘crowd’, make eye contact with every imaginary person present and begin to connect a championship presentation with hearers who aren’t there yet.
Guts. Talk straight from your heart, your convictions. Make the presently-empty hall ring with your belief in your message.
YOU be the message. Hope. Determination. The desire to succeed, to overcome obstacles left strewn by others who thought the journey too hard and quit.
YOU be the message. Live your words. Make the previously-bored audience want to come back, want to listen. Make them sorry they ever left. Make that room so charged with positive energy and personal focus they’d rather have a slight accident than leave until you’re done. Draw them into your message.
Draw them to YOU.
Church? Civic organization? Political gathering? Professional speech? Nature hike? Classroom lecture? Neighborhood meeting? The what or where or when just doesn’t matter.
It’s the WHO that makes all the difference!
Either limit your challenges and go home, or challenge your limits and move on. But stop being common. These are times that are tailored for uncommon people.
Dan
© May 2013