Stop Winging It: Choreograph Your Talk Like a Performer

One of the things that I've noticed coaching speakers over the years is that there is a resistance to choreographing and rehearsing talks in a way that I almost never hear from performers. All of them expect to rehearse, and I think what's happened is we've accidentally created this belief that authenticity equals spontaneity, but it doesn't. I mean, take an actor, for example. They don't walk on stage thinking, I'll just wing it and see what happens. No, they spend hours deciding where they're going to enter from, where they're going to stand, when they walk across the stage, how they interact with props, and so on. None of that makes it feel artificial for the audience, and that's because every movement is chosen to serve the story. But when I mention choreography and rehearsal to a speaker, they immediately worry that they're going to look rehearsed and therefore less authentic. But in reality, authenticity just means being genuinely you. And rehearsal simply helps the audience experience that more clearly. And that's why great speakers think like performers. Great speakers don't just choose the words they want to say, they choose how they want those words to be experienced. And that is exactly what we're going to explore in this week's episode. I'm Sarah Archer, and this is the Speaking Club Podcast, designed to help you become the highlight of any stage you speak on and land more clients and speaking gigs. Welcome! It is still hotter than the inside of a tram driver's glove here in the UK. I don't want to complain because it is a rare thing, but As we say in the UK, I've been sweating cobs. Hopefully that doesn't happen here. I'm not sure what corn has got to do with perspiration. If you know, please let me know. Leave a comment. Anyway, let's crack on. We're here to talk about choreography. Now, I was thinking about this in relation to my own speaking journey. And for me, there wasn't like one specific moment I decided to choreograph my talks. I realized it was something that I was doing after spending years in theater and stand-up comedy where movement isn't ever random. It is always there to serve the story or the idea or the message, whatever, or the joke. And if I wanted the audience to picture a doorway, I gave that doorway a place on stage. If a character was standing on my left, they stayed on my left. If I crossed the stage, there was a reason for me crossing the stage, not because it was time for me to talk to the audience on the other side of it. I included a move because it made the story, the idea, or the message clearer. But what I noticed was how rarely I saw speakers doing the same thing. Speakers love to spend hours creating the perfect words and then leave the delivery side of the talk, like, to chance, to lady luck. And I want you to imagine watching a film where the camera wanders around randomly. Although, to be fair, I've seen some arthouse films do exactly that. I'll never get those hours back. Or watching a play with actors that walk wherever they fancy, kind of like your nativity at school. Or a comedian who wanders around the stage halfway through a punchline for no apparent reason. To be fair, I probably did do that in my early comedy gigs. Anyway. But, If those things happen, you as the audience notice, not because movement in itself is bad, but because movement without any apparent meaning or connection to what people are talking about is distracting. Every movement either serves your message or it's stealing attention away from it. So, why are speakers resistant to choreographing and rehearsing their talks? Well, after years of coaching them, I believe it comes down to 2 key things. Number one, they, they don't want to look rehearsed, but the crazy thing is that the less rehearsed the talk is, the less natural it feels on stage. Because what I most often see in this case is people getting in their heads on stage, distracting themselves and the audience because they suddenly clock that they've been standing in one place too long and they need to move their body or hands in an artificial and unintentional way, like the old diamond finger clasp. That's for you, Dave, if you're listening. After that, they start second-guessing themselves, which begins to affect other aspects of their delivery and presence on stage. See, authenticity isn't about turning up and winging the delivery. It's about having no pretense. It's about being fully self-expressed and present with your audience. And I shared a great example of what happens when you stop speaking like you think you should and start tapping into the authentic experience of a story in a podcast I did a few weeks back on sharing emotional stories. It's really good to have a visit to that. If you haven't already listened to that, watched that, go and check that out. I think it's episode 340. And that will give you a real sort of case study of what I mean about performing in a way we think we should, rather than performing in a way that's authentic and natural. The second reason that I think speakers are resistant to choreographing talks and rehearsing is that words are where their comfort zone is. Most speakers invest 95% of their prep on, what am I going to say? And so little on how do I want this talk to be experienced by the audience? And I get it. It's challenging to think about how you want to deliver it, especially when that forces you to think about being on stage, which can be triggering for people who have anxiety about that. And don't, don't, you know, get me wrong. There are a lot of people who have a ton of speaking experience who still feel this anxiety intensely. And it's also daunting because there are fewer coaches out there that can coach you on performance rather than just content creation. But what I can promise you though, is in my experience of working with speakers who do this, who invest the time in choreographing and rehearsing their talk, I can promise you it will pay you back a hundredfold in confidence on stage and in the results that you get from your speaking. And one last thing to say on this point is that, and I've shared this a ton before, half the anxiety you might feel about speaking is likely to come from worrying about, at some level, what people will think of you, whether that's conscious or unconscious. One of the quickest ways to reduce that feeling is to understand that it is not about you. It's about the message. You on that stage speaking are a vehicle for that message, and if you're anything like the other people that I work with, Your message is there to inspire and help others. Focus on that and it will take the pressure off you. Okay. That said, next I want to share the 4 principles that you need to think about when you are choreographing your talk. Okay. Principle 1. I've kind of covered this one already. And it's every movement should serve the story or idea or message. Does it clarify it? Does it bring it to life and cement it for your audience? Does it convey your attitude towards it? One of the exercises that I get people to do in my Speaking Skills Lab sessions to help with this is to watch themselves On mute, not to judge themselves, but just to have a look at what they're up to and ask one question, which of my movements were intentional and which were just habits? Because we can have blind spots. We do things that undermine our message or our presence on stage, and we don't even realise that we're doing them sometimes. I remember I spotted when I was doing stand-up comedy, That I would move around the stage a bit, and that was something I had to work on a lot, was staying still and again, being really intentional when I moved. And it took me quite a while to sort that one out. And that was a nervous movement thing that I, I was just doing that I hadn't been aware of until I watched myself back. Um, and it's something that I did sort out. So, we can sometimes con ourselves as well by saying, oh, this is just what I do, but it doesn't have to be that way. You can coach yourself out of it, but the first thing is making yourself aware of it. Okay. Principle 2. This principle is to anchor people, places, and objects. And this is so important to keep the audience with you and avoid confusing them. If Mum is here, keep her here. If the empty chair is there, keep pointing to it. The audience then builds a mental map. They, they can see it better. And that's exactly what actors and comedians do. They create pictures for their audience to bring those stories, ideas, and messages to life. But what I want to make clear here is that less is more in this instance. I often see speakers trying to add more gestures, and I actually want to encourage you to do the opposite. Pick one or maybe 2 movements and attach that movement to that moment. Okay, and this is one of the directions that I gave to a client of mine. He was doing a presentation onto Arthur Conan Doyle, and if you know him, he's famous for creating the character of Sherlock Holmes, but he was also a big spiritualist. And in this talk, John, my client, was focusing on how Conan Doyle, uh, was a spiritualist. And there was one point in the talk where he was sharing how 6 days after Conan Doyle's death, the Spiritualist Association hired out the Albert Hall in London— massive space— to hold a séance to reach Arthur, and how they left a chair for him, and everyone in the audience were on edge waiting to see if that chair would be filled. Now, in itself, that's quite exciting, but with movement added in, we can make it even more atmospheric. And so I asked John, my client, when he got to that part of the talk, and specifically when he mentioned the empty chair, to gesture towards it, to a point on stage, and direct the audience's attention to it. And he did this And suddenly we were shown rather than told, and we couldn't take our eyes off the spot as John also slowed his pace and lowered his volume, and he recreated the anticipation that the audience had back in 1871. And after doing this, John said to me, even I was looking at the chair. So, it's really, really powerful to anchor things for the audience. It helps to bring them to life. You know, quite a lot of actors will do shows without props at all, or very few props, because they create all of the props and the set on stage for their audience. Okay, let's move to Principle 3: Stillness is a movement choice. Sometimes the most powerful choreographical choice is choosing not to move, and this paired with silence is brilliant. It's one of the trickiest things for speakers because they have to trust the space and the silence, but honestly, it can frame a moment beautifully. And this leads me to Principle 4, everything communicates. Your feet, your hands, your face, your voice, your pace, your pauses, even where you look. They're all directing attention. And remember, the audience follows your attention. If you're looking at a slide, they'll look at the slide. If you're looking at an imaginary chair, They'll look at an imaginary chair. If you're looking at the floor, they'll wonder what is on the floor. If you're fidgeting with the clicker, they're going to be watching the clicker instead of you. So pay attention to where your attention is. And importantly for this principle, I want to let you know the movement doesn't need to be big. It can be the slump of your shoulders. the arch of an eyebrow, or just the slightest shift of weight. Each of these are going to be sharing something more than the words on their own can say. So, use these principles to choreograph those big moments, the stories and the ideas from your talk. Now, you might be thinking, That's all very well, Sarah, but how do I know what those big moments are? Fair question. The big moments in your talk are the ones that you most want the audience to remember. So, before your next rehearsal, grab your script and put a star next to the 3 to 5 moments you most want the audience to remember, and then ask yourself this question: How do I want them to experience this moment? Which might lead you to wondering how you decide what choreography you should use for each moment. Well, basically you've got 6 levers at play: movement, stillness, voice, pace, facial expression, eye contact, but you don't have to pull every one. You can just choose the one or two that are going to serve that moment or story or idea the best. And experiment. That's exactly what I do with my clients in the Skills Lab and the rehearsal sessions. You try something, see if it works. If not, try something else. I call these sessions the sandpit of success. You get to play and have fun with your talk whilst at the same time, Getting familiar with it. It's a win-win. Don't shy away from this. Embrace it. It will make all the difference. And if you're worrying that you're naturally expressive, maybe with your hands or whatever, I'm not asking you to replace your natural moves. I'm just asking you to become more aware of them and then add in the the intention to the moments that matter. Okay, so what I want you to remember from this, firstly and most importantly, is that great speakers are performers too. Authentic doesn't mean winging it. Also, you don't have to choreograph everything. Just think about where it's going to enhance the story, the idea, or the big moment. Remember, every movement that you choose should serve the story. And I want you to ask yourself, not what am I gonna say, but how do I want the audience to experience this moment? Cool. Thank you for watching or listening to the show. Hit subscribe if you enjoyed it. Leaving a, a rating or review would be brilliant if you haven't already done that. And if you're interested in finding out more about how you can join my Skills Lab or rehearsal studio sessions, then hit me up on LinkedIn or Instagram @SarahArcher15, or pop a comment below if you're watching on YouTube. Well, that's it from me until next time. You know what I'm gonna say— go out, grab your life by the nuts, And get choreographing. Catch you next time. It's a nightmare. You're an expert with so much to say, but now that you've been booked to speak, you're struggling to know exactly what to talk about. You want a talk that engages the audience and wins you new clients without you losing your personality or anyone feeling pitched to. But what happens when you sit down to create that talk is that you end up staring at a blank page for ages, or worse, surrounded by hundreds of sticky notes with content that you could include. With so much material, you just don't know where to start or finish. Don't worry, because many experts like you face exactly the same challenge, and that's why I created the Blank Page to Stage Guide. In just 15 minutes, this breakthrough resource is going to help you identify the big idea of your message, make it relatable for the audience that you're speaking to, and convey it all in a way that gets the audience inspired and on board with your idea. And it works even if you have tons of material or your subject feels less than exciting. If you want to cut through swathes of content and get a talk that you're excited to share, your audience loves, and wins you new clients, then grab your Blank Page to Stage guide from saraharcher.co.uk/newguide-tsc. Oh, I forgot to say, it's completely free. Enjoy!