Stage Time: Your Privilege of Influence

What goes through your mind as you prepare for a presentation? What are your thoughts just before you take the stage? Whether it is a small boardroom presentation or an audience of thousands, your mindset matters. Your mindset alone will greatly affect the outcome for both you and your audience.
It was the mid-nineties when I went to my first National Speakers Association convention in Washington, D.C. I remember convention chair Naomi Rhode’s theme was “The Privilege of the Platform.” It never really hit me how truly deep the meaning behind that is. I thought she was referring to “the big stage.” I never realized it applied to me every time I took the stage. I do now.
When you are on stage, to some in the audience you are a perceived an expert. Your credentials, stories and stage presence can influence individuals and their lives for years to come. Think about it. Who influenced you? Whether it was a high school teacher or a presenter you heard, it wasn’t always the big stage that contributed to the influence they had on you.
Consider influence off stage. Think of all the bad press a few people in religious organizations have gotten. Why? Because they put themselves and their own “issues” above the privilege they were given. Other people not holding them to that caused many of the problems and hurt many lives. You may have friends like me who had “bad experiences” in a church and walked away, never to go back. All because someone who was trusted and given a privilege took it for granted or abused it.
That may seem like an obvious and clear example. True. We also may think it is horrible and wrong, and think, “I would never do that.” Yet, we do. I have. Maybe not to that extreme, but when we take the stage, we are given that privilege. The better our skills on stage, the more influence we have.
We never know who is in our audience and where they are “really at” in their mind. People need help and encouragement. No matter what your topic, people constantly need hope and truth without our ego. A marketing presentation seeded with hope can still inspire an audience member who needs the hope more than the marketing. I remember giving my “Ouch!” speech at the Humor and Drama Toastmasters Club at M.I.T. in Boston. It was just practice, or was it? A foreign exchange student came up to me after my supposed “practice” speech and said, “I’m failing here at school in my family’s eyes. They told me I should quit and go home. I heard your speech, I stay.” Wow. I was blown away. My belief level in my own speech grew ten times.
There is no such thing as a practice speech. Small personal stories in a business presentation can affect people in ways you could never anticipate. When you set your intention to help people, you do make a difference. Do not judge your effectiveness by a standing ovation. Often that is not the goal. See each presentation as a privilege, help people and the side effect may be more clients, more money or maybe even more pledges.
When my speaker coach, Mark Brown, 1995 World Champion, saw my focus was straying to the trophy, he asked me, “Darren, you will have the privilege of impacting 2,000 lives for seven minutes. What will you do with that?” I got it. I then understood, it is not me giving a speech, it was me honoring a privilege.
Why did I write this article? To remind myself and you, that we have a privilege and if we want to have that more, we need to honor the ones we do have. I sometimes can catch myself when I’m not honoring it. As soon as I notice, I immediately change my mindset. It affects your delivery. People can tell. Event planners can tell. Clients can tell. Don’t pretend. Don’t be there to give a speech. There is no “practice” speech. You are “privileged” every time you take the stage. Will you honor it?
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