Ep. 10 Setting the Stage to Be Unforgettable

Okay, you're backstage, you're excited. It's dark, but outside there's a thousand people waiting to hear you. This audience is perfect. You've been working so hard on this presentation. Okay, here comes the introducer. Ready?

Our next speaker is the 2001 world champion of public speaking. With more than 175,000 Toastmasters in 68 countries and over 25,000 contestants, he came home with the first prize.

Ah, stop. Don't let this happen to you.

Anyone can give a presentation. Few deliver unforgettable presentations. What's the difference? You're about to find out. Welcome to the Unforgettable Presentations podcast with your host, hosts, world champion speakers and coaches, Mark Brown.

Mark Brown, your life tells a story, and there's someone out there who needs to hear it.

And Darren Lacroix. And Darren Lacroix.

Stage time. Stage time. Stage time.

Ready for some powerful presentation, AHAs, let's dive right in.

Later on at the program, we're going to give you a strategy. How to overcome even the worst introduction. Oh, Mark, how are you? That was perfectly horrible. Thank you.

You're quite welcome, my friend. Has that ever happened to you?

If it hasn't, it will. Half the time, the people introducing us are more nervous about their introduction than we are about our whole presentation.

That's the truth. Because, you know, they feel the responsibility of. I've got to introduce this guy. You know, he's a world champion. He's an accredited speaker. He's a certified speaking professional. I got to do. I don't want to speak in public, but I got to do it. And they have so much going on in their heads and they want to do a good job, but not everyone is equipped to do it. And it's important that what they get to deliver helps you and sets you up to serve your audience.

Yeah, we have to do backflips to make it go well. There's so much that we can do, though, that most people don't take the time and effort to set the stage and put everything in line to help you be unforgettable. There's so much to it, and your presentation is crucial. Don't get Mark and I wrong, but we wanted to dedicate an episode to setting yourself up to be unforgettable. So you're not digging out of some hole that the introducer dug for you. Mark, I kid you not. Early in my career, I was at the Chamber of Commerce in Rhode island, and it was a big breakfast. I was a humorist at the time. I was Just there I wrote my book, Laugh and Get Rich and How to be Funny. And it's a breakfast meeting. These people are not awake yet. And the president of the chamber, who never met me, didn't even come say hi or anything like that. He was handed the introduction. He goes up and he reads it. Okay, I wrote the introduction. Fair enough. But then he adds his own two cents, and it says, here he is a comedian, and he's really funny. We'll see.

Wow.

I kid you not. I'm not even exaggerating. I was just working on having a little bit of confidence, and it was gone. It was hard enough to try and expect to be funny first thing in the morning. But never mind having the person in charge, the boss, the person who brought you in, not realizing how he just dug a hole that I had to dig out of, which was already kind of deep.

Well, you know, that speaks to one very important point, Darren. You know, we've been helping people for so many years now to write, prepare to present their unforgettable presentation. But what you just pointed out is us being forgettable or unforgettable for the right reason can hinge on the first thing the audience hears about us. And I've come to realize many speakers don't give thought to the impact the setup can have on how unforgettable they may be, either positively or negatively, because you were starting behind the eight ball. When he says it, says it is funny. We'll see. What does that do to all your preparation? You know, we were kind of kidding around in our opening, but you're behind. You are backstage, you are pumped. You are ready. You want to deliver. You work so hard. You're prepared, you've rehearsed, you've used everything you've got. And then this happens. So now your mind, the idea of being present, you're now distracted. How do I dig myself out of this hole, get back to zero, and then bring the audience up with everything I've prepared for? And we have to look at ourselves and ask ourselves, do we hamstring ourselves? And do we do ourselves a disservice by not preparing the right setup for the gift we prepared for our audiences?

And I think a lot of people and speakers and presenters give it some thought. I don't believe they give it enough thought. I don't think they realize how truly important it is. Even if you have the person delivering it horribly, you could still write it better. So even their horrible introduction is shorter, more concise, and more audience focused, more getting people to Want to hear what you're about to say. It's like getting them to lean in. It's like a friend of yours who tells you there's this movie that you want to see and you're interested. You're four out of ten to go see this movie. But then you talk to a friend who tells you, oh, my gosh, this is the best movie I saw this year. Well, that increases your anticipation, which gets you in the movie to see the better quality, the more intrigue, the more emotion of the characters because you are set up now. So that brought you to maybe a seven. But now you watch the trailer, and the trailer's smoking and gets you to feel something. Now you can't wait. Now you walk in that movie theater with a different expectation. You're more intrigued. It's kind of like seek and ye shall find. Well, you are set up to seek good stuff instead of seeking horrible stuff or average stuff. So because you're looking for that, you see it.

Mark, it's funny you mentioned movie, because my kids and I, we have a group texting service called Group Me, and we always share messages and ideas because my kids are in Virginia, Maryland, I'm here in Georgia. But funny thing is, they always put movie trailers out there and say, I want to see this, because I saw this. Daddy got to go see that. And you're quite right. You can actually be set up to be successful. And your mind begins to. To anticipate, oh, my gosh, what's coming. I cannot wait to see this. I can't wait to hear this. And if we do this well, the audience begins to think, I can't wait to experience this. And truly, you want to give your audience an experience because that's what makes you unforgettable. But many of us make some common mistakes. Would you agree, Darren?

Absolutely. We don't take the time. Number one mistake is we don't take the time to write a great introduction. Number two mistake is we use the same introduction for each speaker speech. And that's not good either. Then it becomes generic, even though it might be well written. But is the expectation of the audience is your subject matter. Are you truly setting up this introduction for this subject matter? Not just your credibility, your experience even before that.

What kind of gets me? Is that a common mistake? I've seen, and I confess I've been guilty when I first began starting out 25 years ago of doing this. You're being told we need to have an intro. Please send your intro. And what do many emerging speakers Send. As an introduction, they send a two or three page bio. I know, I know. And sometimes. Meaning, Well, a meeting planner or a corporate CEO will tell you we're all set to introduce you. I pull some stuff off of Google.

Oh, my. All right.

Awesome stuff on your website. And they pick out what they think is interesting. Oh, he has a wife and three kids and he lives in a small village in Georgia. But that has no value. I mean, cute to know. Oh, he's married for 37 years. Oh, Mark, that's wonderful. Your wife must really tolerate your traveling a lot. And they go off on this wild tangent which has absolutely nothing to do with value for the audience. So please, we implore you, if we could get on our knees and beg you, please, do not just tell them. Look at my bio on my website or tell them you'll find stuff about me on the Internet. Believe me, I have had both of those happen to me. And then the trifecta is when the introducer says, that's check this out, and begins to riff on an idea of one detail of your life. Or, oh, I watched a video that this guy did, but he was 23. It was so funny. And you're like, it's been three minutes.

You're using up my time, dude.

And I don't know why I'm there, but maybe it's just me, Darren. But I would caution you, please don't just send them a bio or have them go to the Internet or to your website or to look at a YouTube video. Please. Your introduction sets you up to be unforgettable. What do you think about that, Darren?

Well, I also think you brought up a great point where we send the bio. The worst is when the emerging presenter meets the emerging meeting planner and the meeting planner asks for a bio. That needs to be a red flag when you get that question, could you send a bio? I always stop and say, why? Why? Oh, well, you know, we need to put together an introduction. No, no, you don't. And so you need a bio. If it's going to go in the conference planner or the, let's say, the website to promote it. They might have a section where there's a bio about the speaker. That's fine. But to not confuse the two, you need to have a separate document. And one is a bio, one is a description, and one might be the introduction. And I'm going to show everybody here the importance of organizing in just a second. When a meeting planner asked me for a bio, I get a little concerned. Yeah, don't Give a man the soundboard with sound effects because he'll use it. But it's so important that when they say bio, you got to ask why? Because if it's for the conference brochure. Absolutely. For the website, yes. But it's not the description of your program and it's not the introduction of your program. And my intro and my description are very similar, but they're not the same. So you have to have separate documents to be able. Why? Because the event planner, the person you're talking to, they're gonna have to pass it along to someone else. So I actually put like own the stage intro. And then the intro word in the file document is all caps. Here's the intro, here's the description. And somehow they still don't always get it to the right person. But we've got increase our odds to be in favor, to set us up to be unforgettable. It's just you can be put in a rut that you now gotta dig out of it. And you can if you're confident in your stories. Any bad intro can be overcome and we're gonna give you a great strategy for that as well. However, the more thought and time we put into this, the cool thing is you can create it once and now you're gonna utilize it every time.

Right, Mark? Well, real quick, just for everyone's benefit, especially those who are emerging, how would you, in one or two sentences, define the purpose or the true purpose of a speaker or presenter introduction? So it's clear in everyone's mind, it's not just a list of what you've done, where you went to school and when you played NCAA basketball. How would you define that true purpose to present your introduction, Darren?

How would I define it? A good one would be the reason to lean in and listen.

I love that. The reason to lean in and listen. That could be a key point. Write that down.

Write that down. Write that down. The reason for everyone watching or listening. My goal is to get in the Mark Brown keeper list. I got to earn it every week when we do these to get to earn it.

The reason to lean in and listen. Yeah, exactly. Because you want the audience to know why you are there. And guess what, friends? You are there for your audience. You are not there to list your accomplishments and show off all your trophies. Even though Darren has a bigger trophy than I do. That's another question for another time. But you are there to serve them, to provide them value, to solve their problem, to bring their company, their group to a different place. And the introduction is to set you up and to let them have the confidence to know that you are the right person for that job. To pique their interest, for them to want to know. I do need to listen in to what this person has to say because they're here to help me to achieve a goal I can't achieve on my own. The intro sets you up for success, to serve your audience. So please don't just list your accolades, your accomplishments and your. And your titles. That's nice, but what's in it for me if I'm in the audience?

Do not take this lightly. You've got to do this. So Mark, this summer you and I were at the NSA convention and we got to see the world famous Robert Cildini. I hope I'm saying his name wrong. He wrote the book the Psychology Influence of Persuasion and he's a professor of marketing and psychology at Arizona State. But I loved his book, I loved his interview. And one of the things that I had learned from him even before, but was reinforced when I saw him in Denver was the idea of pre suasion, not persuasion, not per suasion. Which is, that's exactly what we're talking about to set them up to lean in and listen to you. And it's gotta be done right or you're just losing. You're starting at a lower point. You want it to set you up so they're leaning in and want to hear your every word.

The idea of persuasion, that suggests. And you said something earlier, Darren, about having the audience focused in on what's going to happen. You spoke in the past about activating your RAS particular activation system that kind of filters out certain things and focuses on what's important. You can almost do that with your introduction where the audience begins to focus on what's coming and they're pre sued to lean in and listen. As Darren says, it is critical that you invest the time to write your introduction in such a way as to meet that need. And I would suggest part of your process would be to ask yourself, if, if I were in the audience, would I be receptive and open? Would I lean in after I hear this intro? Read it as if you were somebody else being introduced and you were in the audience. You get to the end. If that doesn't accomplish that goal, you need to do some editing and some rewriting. But you want to make sure the audience is already preset to lean in, listen. So it's anticipated. They can't wait to hear from.

Yeah, the cool part of the RAs. So I just want to clarify that a little bit. If people aren't familiar or haven't heard me talk about it a billion times, the RAS is the part of your brain that says, this is important. Look for this. Because in front of us, all around us, there are tens of thousands of images. So our brain can't process all of them. It has to process what we tell it or what the RAS says. This is important. So, for example, if you were remodeling your home and you're going to put in a new carpet in your house at home, personally. Well, every room you walk into in a hotel or a conference or a convention or meeting room or a building, first thing you notice is what the carpet. Because you're looking for ideas on what you like, what you don't like. So the carpet is now, right now in your life, important. Well, that's because of what's happening at home. Like, you wouldn't think that affects you if you decide that you're gonna buy a new car and you say, you know what I really like? A black Lexus. Well, your RAS looks around you and you start seeing black Lexus everywhere. Well, they were there the whole time. They were there yesterday. But once you made that decision, you start noticing them more so important. That's what we're talking about here. So we want to set up your presentation for those little nuggets, for those insights that people are looking for. I can't emphasize this enough, or maybe I can, but this is going back to Robert Cialdini. I don't know if I'm saying it right, but check this out. He said, I find myself being drawn towards a particular message. I ask myself, what did the communicator do before I received the message? Brilliant. Please check out that influence.

Yeah, I have it on hard copy and also on audiobook from Audible. And I also got Prejudice on Audible, yet to be listened to, but I was there also at the NSA convention when he was interviewed. Powerful, powerful material. And the thing is, I said earlier, you want the audience to see. See, they want to lean in and listen. And guess what? It's not likely they're going to want to lean in and listen to hear a list of your accomplishments, where you went to college, what degree you got. They're going to want to lean in and listen because it's important to them. And you said, darren, the RAS focuses on what's become important to you. Would you recommend that? One of the keys to a good introduction is to make it about them.

Yeah, absolutely. And Mark Brown and I have a best friend. His name is Craig Valentine, fellow world champion of public speaking. We want to add to this, but he just said this brilliantly. So go look this up online for sure because it's just a brilliant article by Craig. So if you type in Google search 5 ways to ignite your audience with your introduction, go to check that out, read the whole article. But he's just got some brilliant insights to this. In fact, when Mark and I do our event, if you want to join us for two days, step by step to create your unforgettable presentation, we've got that coming up in a month. You can check out stagetimeworkshops.com stagetimeworkshops.com and join us for two days in Las Vegas. Here's what Craig says is start off about them. Okay, start off about them. It's just a brilliant article. That's what Mark's saying is start off about them. So if I'm sitting in the audience and I hear you talking to me about me, I'm listening. If you start in, our next speaker has authored 13 books and two of them were on 12 subjects. Subcategory Amazon, best sellers of a subcategory like I, okay, what about me? What about my needs? What about me?

And so for me, we always question, right?

And if you give me, if you spoon feed me, what I'm gonna get by listening to you, that makes me want to listen. That's the pre suasion and that, you know, I just love Mr. Cialdini's insights when one of the things that made it make sense to me is if you saw an ad and let's just say you're online, you saw an ad for how to make five more dollars a week, you'd maybe click on it and look at it. But if the same ad went to the same article and it said how to make 1,000 extra dollars per week, if you clicked on that, you would be looking differently at the article. Let's just say it was an article. If I was to read that article, I would have a different insight as I read it because of my RAs, because of the ad that I clicked on. If that ad said make $1 million a week, I'm gonna click oh over. But I'm going to be so much more skeptical and I'm going to think it's BS and I'm going to look for the BS in the article. That's pre suasion. Three different ads for the same article, but I'm going to look at the article differently because of the ads. That's what we're talking about, Mark.

Wow, that's really powerful. You know, Darren, I think it's important for us to understand also that if we can be sure that what we deliver, what we have, the introducer share for the audience, they believe it's valid for them, about them, for them and can help them, that's instant buying from the audience and we must be very careful to be mindful of the impact it has on them. So number one, make sure we make it about them and their two to the value they can receive. Wouldn't you agree?

Absolutely. Starting off about them, your first words got to be audience focused. Your first two or three sentences. And this is what Mark and I do. But guess what? Mark and I did not do this at the beginning of our career. Oh, no, we learned it. And now as teachers, as coaches, we love what we do and we want to help people tell their story, deliver their presentation to help people. And I just wish, I wish more people were as excited about this stuff that we are. I don't know if I just said that right, but who cares? Moving forward, that's my style. Mark is the wordsmith. I'm the blah, blah, blah energy guy.

What's cool is also technically, as far as technique is concerned, you can do that by what you state or by what you ask. Because your opening line of your intro could actually be be a question that piques their interest or to which they can relate. It could be as simple as, do you find you don't have enough time to get through your day? They're thinking, yes, so right away you'll see that a problem. And you said, do you find that you don't have enough time to get through your day? One question and the word you shows up three times. Right away you're giving them. And guess what, friends? This program is going to be about you, for you, to help you. That's really key. We preach, we harangue and we tell people. Have you focused statements, comments throughout your presentation. Guess what, you need them. In your introduction as well, I want.

To highlight a couple more points that Craig talks about. He says, make a promise and he phrases it, which I love, this phrasing. He phrases, in the next 45 minutes, you're gonna walk away with, but promise them something, give them a reason to listen, Then we build our credibility. But I love what he says here, Mark. He says, but only with relevant credentials. I wrote a book Laugh and get Rich. That is irrelevant to me. Teaching unforgettable presentations. It's credibility, but it's irrelevant. Credential. We need relevant credentials. And here's another key that I never heard anyone else say except Craig when teaching this. He says in the introduction, set something up in your speech. Plant a seed to make them curious for what they're going to hear, and then take everything about you and turn it into them. And he gives a great example. He said, craig Valentine is a world champion of public speaking. Okay, that's about Craig. He says you can make them actually better by turning it into them. He says the process you will pick up today helped our speaker become the 1999 world champion of public speaking and help you become a speaker that's in high demand. Okay, I'm not great at reading, so it wasn't word for word, but you get the point that it went from Craig is the world champion to you're going to pick up the process that help him become the world champion so you can use it to become a in demand speaker. Does that make sense?

Clearly, yes. Clearly the audience just hearing the intro is expectant for the benefit they're going to receive. And in the intro, I mean, I have one where I talk about three questions. I ask, what can I learn? Where can I I change? How can I grow? And it says, mark will ask and answer three key questions to help you achieve X, Y, Z. So the audience has already an air of expectancy. They're going to get value. And the credential, your credibility for what you've accomplished is the proof that this works. So as Craig says, it's about Craig, but it's for them. As I often say, your story is about you, but it's for them. It's not just a story or point in your speech. Your introduction is just as vital and just as important.

So, Mark, mention your three questions again. How does it read in your intro? Listen to my thoughts. So I'm going to speak out loud, my thoughts sitting in the audience when I hear this. So go ahead, Mark.

Yeah, Darren. Mine says Mark will ask and answer three key questions that will help us to shift our perspective, propel us forward, and elevate our level of performance.

So what are those three questions? I'm going to pull out my notebook, get ready to take notes, which is getting me to lean in. I'm wondering, not only what are those questions, but how are they going to relate to me?

Right. He's going to ask and answer three quick questions under the three benefits. Now, you know, get this. You know, there's three questions coming, not 19. It isn't open ended. He won't leave it unanswered. It's going to answer them. And the result of is these three things. So you're anticipating what's coming. You want to hear the questions, you want to hear the answers, you want to hear the tools and you want to get the benefits. And I have not said a word yet. That's all in the introduction.

Bam. When I love that you say you're going to ask and answer because that tells me we're going to get some more insight and it tells me the whole presentation is going to geared around those three questions.

Exactly.

That in my mind sets up the structure. So I'm going to be looking for those and leaning in. And it also indicates to me for most half the people in the audience, they're either going to pull out their phones to take notes or pull out a piece of paper. For our younger viewers, paper is an app.

Even pencils too. I use pencils all the time.

So Mark, one of the other things that I think is really underestimated is the organization. So I'm going to back up 12 steps. And for everyone listening to this, if you're getting this, great. If you're. We want to point this out that you need a different introduction for each presentation.

But wait, Darren, wait, hang on. I mean can I just do one general intro for everything I do when it cover everything?

Well, you can if you want to be boring or if you have one speech. If you have one speech, that would be an exception.

Yeah, one presentation.

I mean if you don't want to customize for this topic, get what we're saying. This is too important to have one intro for all of them. Your credibility could be in one intro. But let me show you, this is the unsexy part of being very sexy on stage. So my staff here, when I get a call for a speech, now this may be a little overwhelming, but I'm just showing you the inside of my world for all the different things that I have. Meeting planner tools. If you notice this folder, if I click on that, these are all of my different speeches. Now, chances are most keynote speakers have one, two or three, maybe four, maybe some training. But because I do Toastmaster events and I train on many subjects, I have many different keynotes. But I want you to see that each one of them has its own tools. Each one of them. I'm trying to make it easy and organized for my team to know what to do and where to send what. So if I click on Own the Stage. Now, Own the Stage is a program that sometimes I do with Mark and sometimes I do it alone. So if I double click on that, notice that. Remember what I said. Own the Stage intro. Own the stage description. And I have the Word document. But notice I also have a PDF. The PDF is what I send to the event planner. Because I don't want Gary, I don't want somebody to add their own thoughts or cut this or I want to offer that. Well meaning things that they would do, thinking they're going to make it better, but if it's not their whole world, like Mark, you and I, presentations. This is our whole world as far as professionally, obviously not personal, but professionally, this is what we do. So we've studied this, we've got this. We've made the mistakes, we've seen the mistakes. I also have an image, so I have an image of one on the stage for them to promote. If it's just me, I have a different image if it's Mark and me. I also have a different intro if it's Mark and me. So I have intros. So the Word document, so I can tweak it if I come up with an idea to make it better. And then notice I also have a handout. So let me, let me. I'm gonna stop, but I'm gonna share the on the stage intro so people can see what it looks like. This is super important. We need a picture of us on there. It may seem egotistical, but guess what? We want the person who's had no interaction with us to know. This is this person's intro. You might have somebody sitting at the soundboard who, well, who's the next speaker? They have the name there, but they have no idea, looking around who is who. So it's not egotistical. It's about communication and clarity. Now I've got my name there, my little name and logo, because they don't. Stage time is my business. Stage time is not me as a speaker. So I have my own little Darren Lacroix logo. Here's something that I learned the hard way over time. It just says note to introducer. Notice I've highlighted it. If they have questions, I give them my cell phone number and should have blocked that out. Oops. And then it says on the stage introduction. So notice what we're saying. Are you serious about becoming a speaker? Are you confident enough to hear the truth? So I'm getting and setting the tone for them that we're gonna go deeper than they usually do. And I Remind them Michael Jordan has a coach. Every professional athlete has a coach. Even the best speaker has a coach. Okay, so I'm showing you you can't become great on your own. To go from good to great, you need feedback from a higher level. Darren admits there's no way he would have won without a speaker coach. He actually had two. Mark Brown and champions think differently. Do you have a coach? Here's your coach for today and then we're going to get to this in a second. Then I have the introducer point towards the video screen and we'll explain that in just a second. And then here's the outro after they say, thank you, Darren. And I want them to to add their personal comments if they sincerely had a moment that helped them. And then, as you can see, Darren has a lot to teach us. If you want to know how to create and deliver unforgettable presentations or build your speaking business, ask him about Stagetown University. So I'm trying to get them to come and talk to me if they want to learn more. If you want to learn more, check out stagetownuniversity.com Darren, real quick, don't blow.

By that outro too quickly because what you have done with that document is one set the audience up to hear you in the introduction. But when you're through, your introducer sets them up to learn more from you with that last line. If you want to know how to create and deliver, ask him about Stage time. Your introducer is actually sending your audio to you to learn more. So they were set up coming in to get a benefit and on the way out they're being set up to get even more benefit. I hope you catch that. That's really, really powerful. Thanks, Darren.

Absolutely, Mark. So we want to remind people have a different introduction for each speech. You might have like the credibility portion might be similar. It might follow the same exact structure or flow. We highly recommend check out Craig's article and follow that. Here's another key. Always print two copies. We mentioned this when we talked about this two episodes ago when we talked about clarifying your message. And print two intros. Two intros, at least 14 point font. Mark, why 14 point font? Why two intros do you say 14 point font? Those of you listening to the podcast, Mark just put on his glasses.

My gas is on here because at my age sometimes it's not that easy to read 9 point font. It's hard enough to read my mobile device, but 14 point font, double spaced. And when you double space or one and a Half times space. What that will force you to do is not to make it too lengthy. Two or three pages, you become more focused on what the audience gets. But 14 point font is good for pretty much anyone to read. Two copies are helpful to physically have in your hand. You want to hand one to the introducer and sometimes. I've seen it happen. My very first keynote I gave in the fall of 1994 at a Toastmasters conference. I had notes that I had to listen to help me speak. And being nervous, I put them on the lectern beforehand. And someone changes hands and they have a notepad with them and they pick up. They picked up my notes in the same way you may hand it to the introducer MC and they've got a whole program to run through and they've got these notes and they leave a sheet of paper on the lectern and they walk away and they leave it at a tip and somehow it disappears. You have. So you send one in advance, you bring one, you hand to them and you keep one. But until the last minute, in case something goes awry, you can still down. You're laughing. Why are you laughing so hard?

I thought it was just me that.

Happened to picked up my notes and was gone. Oh my gosh. My first keynote and I, my very first keynote had notes. You know, I'd been in a contestant. It was the 25 years ago, it was October of 1994. But it does happen. Is that why you always have an extra, extra, extra copy? Darryl, what have you seen and experienced?

Yeah, it happens to all of us, well meaning people. They're nervous, their anxiety. And the lectern is where everybody puts their notes so they take their notes. So I had this happen. The president of the organization, who was not my introducer, came up and had a couple of announcements. He took his notes, put them on top of the lecterness, and then when he was done, he picked up all the notes which included my introduction that was sitting there before he put his notes down and walked off. No, it was slow motion. Don't give a man a sound.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Look, it happens. It's gonna happen. Just be prepared. Have a second one. And then it's like someone will run up to you, panic. I lost the intro. Here you go, here you go. And you've just increased your connection with your audience because you were prepared, because you were ready. Awesome.

And I confess, Darren, I was at a school event one time and they did not have my intro. And thankfully, thankfully, in the old BlackBerry Days I was able to pull up my intro on my mobile device and email it to them as a document. And he stood there with his mobile and read the intro of his mobile. And I realized now I carry it with me. And in our previous episode we talked about having what I call a logistics sheet or a folder that you carry with you for every engagement. In that folder is going to be two extra copies of your intro. Even though you emailed one to five people before, you want to be safe and carry it with you to avoid any mishaps.

Yeah. Check out episode eight on that. Clarify your message. All right, Mark, I'm going to put you on the spot here. I have a brilliant idea. I think it is. You can tell me after it is or not. I'm going to. I have my phone here and I'm going to time this. I'm going to put up my intro and I'm just going to have you read it and time it so people get an idea or feel. For how long should an intro be? So, Mark, ready? So just write up until you point to the screen. Ready, go.

How serious are you about becoming a better speaker? Are you confident enough to hear the truth? Michael Jordan has a coach. Every pro athlete has a coach. The best professional speakers have been coached. The reason you can't become great on your own. To go from good to great, we need feedback from a higher level. And Darren admits there is no way he could have won without a speaker coach. He actually had two. One coach Mark Brown, the 1995 world champion, gave him the exact opposite advice as everyone else. Champions think differently. Do you have a coach? Your presentation coach for today, the 2001 world champion of public speaking, Darren Lacroix. Let's go back now to Anaheim, California, where they're about to announce the winner.

Bam. 55 seconds.

Under a minute.

55 seconds. That's your benchmark. Now that's truly my intro is not over at that point. However, just want to give you an idea for the length of time and that is my working intro. You know, next week I could change it and make it different. Mark, any thoughts on time?

You mean we don't know where you went to college football, how tall you.

Are, when you sat the bench? We leave without sitting on the bench.

But please notice, friends, in all seriousness, he opens with two questions and the second word is you. So immediately he makes it about you in the audience member. And he does apply some kind of pain to what you have to go through. You're trying to figure out, how do I Become better as a presenter. Because don't forget now, the intro is designed for those who need presentation coaching. And immediately his first two questions are about you, the audience, to pique your interest. He also gives you justification. Michael Jordan, the great ballplay, had a coach and he told him about his journey, how it helped him. And I'm going to take those skills and help you go from good to great all in 55 seconds. And all focused on you. Even though it's about him, it's a great intro, Darren. Yeah.

Remember Craig's principle of taking what's about you and make it for them. Darren said there's no way he would have won the world championship if it wasn't for his coach. In fact, he had two. So I'm also planting the seed. Like, it's not just having a coach, it's getting the insight. So I took, again, like Craig teaches, took what was about me and made it for them.

Yeah. And he also said, you know, you can use relevant credentials. Well, being a world champion public speaker and coach is a good credential to use. It justifies you being the right person for the job as well. It covers all the bases and it's not long. It's simple. And again, we can't stress this enough. It has to set the audience up with what they're going to receive as a benefit.

So, Mark, I'm going to move along to our big secret. If anything else to go back or cover before we go into how to even overcome a bad introduction, just the.

Reminder, your bio is not a tool. Your intro is designed to set you up to give the audience the benefit that they need.

Nice. All right, so, Mark, I used a principle from Craig and from that article where he said you plant a seed to get people curious. So if you remember, early on in the podcast, I said, we're going to give you a secret to overcome even the worst introduction or introduce, sir. And when I say that, you should be writing your introduction, but sometimes they're going to go off script. Sometimes they could read it like you did before we started this podcast.

Oh, boy.

So how do we overcome that? And here's my secret. Here's one of the things that I use every time I present, and that is a video introduction. The video I have, as you heard Mark read it and said, but let's go to Anaheim, California, where they're about to announce the winner. So I'm going to show you the video introduction that I use that the introducer would point to. So even if they're horrible this gets me connected to the audience. So, Mark, for our people who are just listening to the audio, if you could read the words that come up on the screen, that would be appreciated. So here we go. So the picture, this, you're going to meet the introducer. Just read that introduction and points to the screen.

25,000 contestants from 14 countries compete for six months.

And the 2001 world champion of public speaking, Darren Lacroix. So if you're listening to podcasts, my mom is hugging me and not letting go. And I put up a graphic that says, let go, mom. Let go. And Mark rips my mom off of me as I run up on stage. King Darren, you're still subjects. Would like to hear a few words from you, man. That's cool. My first prayers, I asked God if the other eight contestants could just go over time. That's all I wanted. Again, thank you to my district, Dave McIlhaney. Carmen, of course, the great, the one and only, the genius of speaking, Mark Brown. David Brooks. Ed Tate. The champions are so gracious, giving me wisdom and advice. And I knew I would work hard, but they helped keep me on the right track. Just one more little thing. Did anyone else ever cry during this thing? Am I the first one? Does that count as a gesture? I'll never forget. My dad probably doesn't even remember. He said, I don't care what you want to do, just be the best. And I am, dad.

Because that caring and wanting to help people comes through in everything he does. Darren cares about you. He's a mentor and how to deliver a speech, how to write a speech. So it's just, I think you get the full package with Darren. Darren, as I said earlier, challenges you.

And he wants me to get better. He wants me to grow. Someone just said, you're gonna be. You're the world champion. What are you gonna do now? I'm going to Disney.

Please welcome Darren Lacroix.

So I have music at the end there. That is walk on music. So I have my own walk on music built in. Mark, read the graphic that comes up, the image that comes up. And I tell my introducer. So I have to kind of sit down and coach my introducer. I say at the very end, an image is going to say, please welcome Darren Lacroix. And I say, you verbalize that just like Mark did. Now, they don't always get it right. Sometimes they don't say it, but it doesn't matter. It's a better introduction because of the emotion in this video. Mark, your thoughts.

I Think it's brilliant because the video intro significantly or almost totally reduces the margin for error as long as the introducer sticks to the script you gave them before. And I have been known, Darren and other presenters as well, to kindly remind the introducer, it's important that you read it as written because it specifically sets up my first line. And when they. When they hear read it as written because it specifically sets up my first line, they're less inclined to go off script because they only feel responsible if they mess you up.

Look at you using Catholic guilt. I love that you're not even Catholic. That's beautiful. For those of you listening, I am Catholic, so I'm teasing him anyway. Mark, that is brilliant. I never even thought of that. That's why I love doing these. I learn from each other because sometimes we know each other, we teach with each other, but we don't know some of those little insights. And I have the video embedded into my slides, my keynote slides, and I'm the one starting the video. I'm advancing it so the introducer doesn't have to worry about anything. And then sometimes when I'm at a big convention or conference, the person in the back of the room is running it. So I sit down with them and I make sure, just like we said on episode eight, that they are the most important person. And they feel it from me, they know it from me because they have to deal with a lot of egotistical speakers. And this person can get it right. It's their job to do it right. But there's variations of rights. And I want the full frontal. All right, all the way.

Darren, one thing I really want to reiterate, we mentioned it in our previous episode as well. You want to give the introducer and the meeting planner and the ab tech as little to worry about as possible. They've got several other things in their minds and on their hearts. If you hand them that intro and say, please, please, it's important to read it as written. It'll set up my opening line and it's all here for you. Don't need to do anything more. They're thinking, okay, great. I don't need to worry if my notes are going to be right. If I forgot something, I just read this. And he goes, that's one less thing for me as the MC to worry about. Make it easy on yourself. Set yourself up to be unforgettable by writing your introduction. It's going to meet the need of the audience, make them curious, make them lean in and want to Hear more from you.

Yeah. By the way, it's also doing a service for the introducer because usually they're given a bio and they have to sit down and write it, which could take an hour or two. And they don't know what they're doing. So it's probably not going to be great. No offense to them. It's just not their ninja skill. It's not where they spend their time. It is ours. We need to be good at this. And then, Mark, sometimes I will, in my motivational inspirational talk, I will have a line in it specifically for that audience. And usually I'll have two or three jokes that are in there that will get a laugh. So Darren pursued his childhood dream of someday speaking to the Accountants of America Association. And that usually gets either a chuckle or a big laugh. But either way, it's a beautiful thing because of just that. Because it's about them. It's about them that is really key.

And when you customize your intro for the audience, for those who believe I have one standard intro, that's fine. But if you can customize by adding a single line that you know will appeal to your audience, that can be a game changer. Because now they're saying he or she is truly interested in us, I should pay attention. It can be a minor game changer for you.

We took the time to do it for them, and that separates you from a lot of other presenters that are out there now. A lot of people who listen to this know you and me a little bit, and hopefully we've got some new people if you're new and listening. Thank you very much. Please tell your friends about this podcast. We love what we do. Mark, I have another video intro because some people who are follow us have seen and heard mine a thousand times. So I wanted to bring another quick example. So let me just set this up. This is for a presentation that I did called you'd Hero's Journey. And I was looking for a way again to create a connection with my audience to set up. The topic that I was talking about is every person is a hero and has a journey. And it was about telling your story that you are the hero. Because everyone knew me. I wasn't necessarily. This is for an audience that Mark and I do for a program called Stage Time Live in March every year. Everyone in the audience knew who I was, so I didn't necessarily have to set up my credibility. So this video is a little different, but I wanted to grab their attention, to bring them into the subject. And so I had the introducer talk about who's your hero? Who did they learn from? But what is a hero? Well, our presenter today, Darren Lacroix, sat down and interviewed a group of experts. And then this.

Who's your hero?

Wonder Woman, Spider Man, Batman, My dog.

Why are they. Your hero shoots webs.

Two bad guys. So they can stick them to the wall so the cops can get them easier and put them to jail easier. Because they can help people. Like the people who help, like, catch people who are doing bad stuff.

I don't know. What superpower would you have?

Shoot webs, be invisible. 3D mind. Run fast. You have to ask me. Those are powerful. Like an ice.

Can you be a hero and not have a superpower? What?

They can help people just like. Just like. Just like superheroes. But they're regular people.

Like a superhero.

I would run fast and have super stun 3D models. People can be heroes, like. Like superheroes, but they can be a hero if they help someone.

If you could have a superpower, what would it be?

Running super fast. Because they protect me, because they keep me safe. Heat vision.

Ice.

The Ice Queen, because I think she's really awesome. She can build ice towers and she can freeze things. I think what makes people heroes is probably their kindness because you have to have the ability to be kind, to help someone. The most power I'd like to have is to turn into a vampire.

And if you had a superpower, what would it be?

To be invisible.

To be invisible. Why?

Because then I can sneak up one.

Stars. All right, one more time. I'm trying to shut that off. Police officer. Why are they your hero?

From the mouths of babes there.

Mark your thoughts.

Wow. You use. I shouldn't say you use. You were able to get kids to share with you what their vision of a hero really is and why they would want to be a hero and how they'd be a superhero. And it's a true setup to the idea of finding the hero in us. And as an audience member watching that, we're thinking, oh, they're really cute kids. And the theme of helping people and making them feel safe just drew me in. And it almost sets me up to find out how, you know, these kids said, you don't need to be a superhero to be a hero. I began to wonder, how could I be a hero to these kids, to my kids, kids in my neighborhood? So I was drawn to the idea of how to be it. And when the kids said, what? The world needs you to be a superhero. Oh, man, you Got me. You got me.

Bam. And I didn't know where it was gonna go when I sat there and filmed. So what I did is I always loved that idea that kids will say the darndest things, as the TV show said. So I got my friend who had some young kids get together some of their friends. It wasn't perfect audio, you could hear a lot of background noise before I knew what I was doing with audio, that's okay. But they just had these classic lines. So I filmed, I asked the question, and then I narrowed it down. Now that, I will be honest, is a little long. That was just under three minutes, 90 seconds is a good length, is a good goal. And here's what I do is I play it for friends and I watch them watch it. I watch them watch it because I want to see what resonates and then I ask them questions afterwards. What moments, like you just said, the saying that drew you in. Okay, I want to keep that and I want to tighten up the rest of it. So I just like tightening up the words in a speech. I will sit there and I will edit out a clip. I will edit out. And there are some classic moments, just like in a speech, Mark, you know, we have to let go of. But there's the beautiful moments. And at the same time, we don't want a three minute introduction in video. And my first intro that you played, I have tightened that and tightened it and tightened it. It's still like two and a half minutes, but it moves and it's engaging the whole time. And I've never had anybody say that's really too long unless they're trying. Unless their RAS is trying to find something wrong with me, then they will find it. But it was so much longer and more boring before because I didn't tighten it. Tighten. So this one, if I was to do it again, I would make it about half the time, about a minute and a half. But I just want to give you an example of one that had nothing to do with me and the contest. So, Mark, other thoughts?

Yeah. One more thing, by the way, for most events, conventions and conferences, they have, depending on the size, the meeting, panel may have a producer of the whole event and they have what's called a run up show. And the run up show is a minute by minute. And very often they'll block about five minutes for your intro. You won't use all five, but they generally block about five minutes for an intro. And I only say that because Darren, even though he knows he has that time still Wants to cut back on the video length to keep it really tight, to keep it quick, to keep it well paced and keep the audience intrigued. So you want to make sure your intro is not that long. Remember, the time of the first part was 55 seconds with me reading dramatically. So the whole intro is under four minutes. You want to keep it in mind as well.

Yeah. And the tighter the better, as long as you can get your point across. And Mark, you even were inspired. You said you're going to work on a video intro too.

I will have to do that. Definitely, my friend.

But why?

One honest, cheesy answer is to minimize the risk of having errors by people who have to introduce me. But I also need to realize, even though I'm nearer 16 and 50, I do need to step into the 21st century. It's a very effective, and it can really be very, very effective in setting the audience up. You give the images, they get a sample of who you are, what you've been through, all designed to set them up to receive what you have for them. I think it's just a wonderful new tool that I can use.

Yeah, I know. Ed Tate talks about the pilot, Sully Sullenberger. Sully. Sully had as a video intro. Now, granted, he's an international hero celebrity. Yeah. And at the end of his video introduction, the audiences stands and applauds. That's not the norm. It's a beautiful thing. He earned.

It was gonna get that.

But he still uses a video intro. How perfect. And if you've ever heard me talk about this, you know, I use Celine Dion as an example when I'm teaching this principle that I flew my sister to Vegas to see her favorite performer, Celine. And before Celine comes out, you know, I love sitting and watching people who are the best of the best at anything, what are they doing? What's the principle? How can I use that? How can I use the principle? Not stealing, but modeling the idea strategically. Before Celine came out, my sister and I are sitting there with anticipation for the show, and a video pops up, and you see Celine at the beginning of her career, and you think, wow, that's right. She looks so young. She's been doing this a long time. And then you saw images of her playing with her kids, and you think, that's right. She's a mom, too. And then you saw images of her and her adoring husband, and you think, wow, that's right. She's a wife, too. And we forget this about some of our favorite big stars. So they're real People too. So before Celine even walks out, you're one step closer. So the video is a tool to create the connection so you're one step closer to the audience. And I think of my video intro, I usually get, depending on the audience, seven laughs before I walk on stage, seven laughs before. So it's not just the laugh, it's the emotional connection along with the laugh. And the beautiful thing of that is, again, it does some work for me. But here's the key too, Mark. It helps me take the temperature of the audience. I know the normal reaction. So if it's a light chuckles, on a scale of one to ten, it's two on chuckles as opposed to. It's normally seven. I know, Okay, I gotta work this. I'm on. If I walk out and they're like a network marketing company and. And it's a 10. Right away I'm like, okay, let's have some fun. Let's put the seatbelt on and go for it. Your thoughts?

No, I totally agree. The one real benefit, in all seriousness, is establishing the relational connection with the audience because they get to know you, and immediately they begin to acknowledge the things that you have in common with them. And that relationship set up in advance again before you utter your first word. That does set you up to deliver your unforgettable presentation.

All right, Mark, any other thoughts before we wrap this up?

Well, I know you're going to want some keepers from me, so I'm going to send a couple of them in no particular order. When they ask you, please send the bio, don't just say yes, ask why? Because it may very well be that they simply want the bio to use as your intro. You can train and teach your introducer what to say. Your bio, your program description, and your introduction are three separate documents which you will send in PDF form so nobody can edit it. Why do you have the intro? Give the audience a reason to lean in and listen. Make sure your intro has your photograph on it. So the AV tech, the introducer, and the meeting panel all know it's your intro. It'll be tough for you to be backstage and they say, Christine Lahti was Christine wrong person. That's never going to happen. But you want to make sure to.

Oh, don't say never.

You will minimize potential for anything going wrong. Okay, it's wise to have a different intro for each each presentation because the focus is different, the emphasis is different, and the audience takeaways are going to be different. But remember, you want to always give them benefit in your Intro. It's wise to print and bring with you two copies. In case someone loses, destroys, pours coffee or water on an intro, you have one available. It's also wise to ask them to please read this as written. It'll set me up for my very open for my opening line because you want to take all the pressure off your introducer. You want to make their life easy as possible. So keep it simple. And if you can have an intro that's read in a minute or less, that's amazing. Bonus. Consider a video intro to establish a relationship with the audience. Before you even say your first word, remember your intro is a tool to set you up to deliver your unforgettable presentation. So make it about them and for them.

Yeah, that video intro is. It's going to be a fair amount of work, but it's going to multiply the effect. So take the time, get some help. And here's two quick tips. Number one, you can as the first video intro I showed you, you, you can connect the audience to you emotionally. Or number two, you can connect the audience to the material or the content, which is what I did with the heroes video with the kids. So either way, you know, both is the ultimate. But don't underestimate the power of this and the power of tweaking it. Tweaking it, tweaking it. Get a pro to edit it. Have a little royalty free music bed because that adds a little bit of emotion. Another way to do that. But test it, test it, test it just like anything else.

And Darren, any recommendations as to where to get royalty free music for that?

Google it. Go online and type in royalty. I'm joking and serious. That's what Dawson does when he's working for me and trying to find something and just type in royalty free music. You just can't use, you know your favorite song because you love the song. Well, that is illegal unless you got permission from the producer or the artist. But that's a whole nother realm. Check with your lawyer if you're not sure. I've actually had YouTube videos that I own the rights to the music because it was a song written for me. But YouTube said that's someone's song even though I own the rights because I had it commissioned. So it was, it was kind of crazy, but it happens. And Mark, Mark, next week we have Ja Jang. Did I pronounce that properly?

Ja Jang? Yes.

Wow, you are going to love Ja. Talk about unforgettable. If you don't know Ja, I highly recommend go check out his TED Talk before. Before you hear the interview next week. Ja, you can look up he gave a TED Talk, not a TEDx talk.

He.

He gave a TED Talk. And it's what I learned from 100 days of rejection. And watch that prior to the interview. The interview will be even more powerful for you and you get so much out of it. He was awesome. What a remarkable man. And what a remarkable story.

Indeed. Indeed. That's J I A J I A N G Jia Jiang. You don't want to miss it. It truly is unforgettable.

All right. Hey Mark. Setting up setting the stage for you to be unforgettable. Final thought Everything you do should be.

Designed to give your audience an unforgettable experience. You've worked hard on your presentation. You've got your visuals, your examples, your object lessons. You've got your props and your tools. But don't sell yourself short. Write carefully your unforgettable introduction to prepare your audience to receive what you have for them. Make it about them. Don't use your bio. Fulfill your promise to them. Give them value and make it unforgettable.

Make sure you subscribe to our show.

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If you like this episode, please leave a comment. Us a Review if you want to get more from Mark and Darren, check out Stagetime University where they provide experienced presenters a proven path and world class feedback. To become the speaker everyone is talking about, go to stagetimeuniversity.com join us next week if you're going to take the time to prepare a presentation. Make it unforgettable.