Ep. 247 FOUR STANDING OVATIONS

Hey there, Mark Brown. So we just landed from Istanbul. We're both a little off, so bear with us. If you're listening to this, I'm going to have a couple of video clips and I'll kind of explain them. If you're listening to the audio, if you're watching on YouTube, then you'll see them all. Good. But we just coached four CEOs in Istanbul. Now, they weren't all from istanbul. It was ypo young presidents organization. So these are all CEOs of million dollar companies. And this is like NSA for CEOs if you will. National Speakers Association. So it's a group of CEOs and Mark and I were asked to come in and coach these executives on a story they've never told before. They didn't have a TED Talk on it, they don't write a book on it. This is a brand new story and part of the philosophy behind it is to remind all these CEOs, they're human too. And so these are real transparent. I admire the courage behind the people who volunteered to do the speaking. We get to work with them. But four standing ovations. So these are about eight minute stories all within one hour and Mark and I have been working with them ahead of time for about a month and a half. So, Mark, what's your, what's your quick curiosity setup for four standing ovations?

Well, the question is, what does it take for brand new speakers who are not pros to get four standing ovations? Let's find out. Darren.

All right, let's do this.

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 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.

And Mark, any. I was just listening to our intro. Anyone can get us. Anyone can deliver a presentation, but not everyone gets a standing ovation.

That's right. That's certainly true. Yeah, it's very easy. I think about the work that these individuals put in. It's a high level answer. I know, but that's just one thought that comes to mind and we're going to dive a little bit deeper as we go along in the conversation.

Yeah. And also we want to say that standing ovation is not always the end goal. But it's a beautiful result of hard work and energy and effort. Look, you might move an audience and they don't get up and they don't applaud or they applaud. Maybe not energetically or enthusiastically but you still may have delivered an unforgettable presentation. So this is just representative. It is not the be all, end all goal. And it is kind of cool actually. So let's just take a quick, super quick look at just the, the standing ovations. And I left smokes for last because he, he, he kind of had a little creative call to action. So just check this out.

Control is not the answer.

Acceptances. So that was Patricia.

Number one.

Commitments and values.

Be your dad. Woo too Darren.

So when and if that happens, Zneb my girl Z. Perhaps that's an opportunity for you to reinvent and find your freedom. 980 standing. Please stand up.

Look at your neighbors. That's all three of them.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you father Dr. Davies.

Please say thank you to the people.

You meet in all walks of life. You will feel the gratitude grow inside. They put the foundational phrases. So at the end they came out for a curtain call. And if you've heard us talk before, we talk about foundational phrases. When they did the curtain call at the very end where they brought all four of them, they were standing in front of their foundational phrase which we didn't plan, it wasn't our idea but it was really cool because it encapsulated their message and they also, this time they ended it. So if you're playing along and listening to the home game, we talked about this in Miami because Mark and I did this for a group of CEOs in Miami from all over that half of the world. This time they actually put the foundational phrase up right at the very end. If you're watching the YouTube version, you might have seen the slide come up. Now a few things. So number one, these were not like people jumped to their feet. This was like, yeah, respect, appreciation and sometimes the standing ovation depends on the audience. Not every audience is prone to do that. But here's why I believe it really worked with this. These are CEOs. They're super respectful of each other. I've never seen an organization where they are transparent, non judgmental like just Mark, you and I walking in the hallways. This was a remarkable organization. Also I and I do have the clip but I may not show it where the first presenter was going so deep in something, really deep in her Life about her child that she got choke up and she kind of lost her place for a second and the audience just felt it because they could see her get choked up. It wasn't just like, oh, I blanked, it was like. And the audience just, like, backed her up. APPLAUSE Break of encouragement. And we always try to remind you the audience wants you to win. They did not come there to see you lose, to bore them, to put them to sleep, to. To show too many slides or too much text. They want you to win. We're the ones who often screw it up. So we actually had a different order in mind, but they chose this order and I'm so glad they did because of that moment, because it also congealed the audience to just be supportive. And Mark, I have never seen where. So four presenters in an hour. I want to say there are three, four or five applause breaks in all of them. Yeah, yeah, at least three. And there was one that got five applause in the middle, which eight minute speech.

Right. And that spoke to the power of the personal story and the way in which it was told and the connection that each of these presenters had with the audience. They were. The audience was with them. The audience wanted to be with them and the audience wanted to connect with them. And it kind of spoke to me, Darren, about the power of a personal story well told. So the subtext here is a personal story well told will create an unforgettable connection with the audience.

Yeah. I mean, they took courage not to go over all of them, but one person had their life devastated where their whole life z in a tennis career. Like, this has been her whole life. Everything she's working on since she was like, what, three years old?

Three years old? Yeah, three years old.

And all of a sudden it was all taken away from her. So you're like, oh, it's tennis, it's. This is her whole life, her family invested. One woman. Wow. Powerful story about her husband being shot at work. They own this business by an employee who they had promoted the day before. Patricia, she was talking about her daughter and her diagnosis of a syndrome that no one's ever heard of before. So not having a roadmap and how to deal with that and her transparency in trying to control the situation because she's been this type A personality, makes things happen, gets things done, and this was out of her control. And then Smoke, who talked about his abuse from a relative who was a pedophile and he had suppressed his whole life and it was starting to bubble up in health conditions and how he got through that and is now better happy and more peaceful than ever before. And so I want to go back to his standing ovation. That's pretty. Pretty wise of him because he asked them to all stand up, so they're already halfway there. But what I loved about it, too, was his call to action is he was about being thankful and gratitude. And we've. We've heard that before. But this was like a different perspective on it, and I don't want to give it away. Mark, I can't wait to get the actual footage. So it was kind of hard to hear because it was me on my phone. Like, they're still processing and there'll be high quality video. It was just me standing on the sidelines capturing the moment on my phone. But Smoke talked about saying thank you out loud, like, to anybody and everybody meet and being super thankful. So I loved his call to action. He had everyone stand up and tell three people thank you. And. And if you watch the YouTube version, you can kind of see the smiles on people's faces. And he's still. As they're talking and the murmur is going. He's still finishing his speech.

Yeah.

And when he did, then you heard the whoa. Went to another level. And the just. Man, I got to show some clips, too, of this is when they walked off stage. I was standing out front right at the end of the curtain and then just kind of moved behind. But if you're watching the YouTube version, we'll explain it if you're listening online. But just when they walked off stage. Now, here's what you need to know. Three out of four of these presenters have never been on a big stage before. Now, Jody, one of them, had told her story in Miami two months earlier. So she had. But that was just one time, and that was a big move for her. The other two, this was their first time in front of a thousand people, which is. Is crazy. So just a real quick glimpse backstage when they came off stage. This. Wow. Like the hugs and camaraderie they had from each Mark, you being back there, I can't do it anymore. I can't do it anymore.

That's my Z. Five applause breaks.

Five applause breaks.

Look at that bounce, man. Yeah, that's great.

Exciting. Bouncing up and down again. This is backstage, and we just kind of capturing some moments back there. So proud of Patricia.

Yeah, there she is.

She was so conversational. And Jody was so much more conversational than in Miami.

Yeah. Two months. Look at those. Look at those. Look at her. Oh, man. Look at the response, they're going up and down, they're applauding each other. There's Ryan, who's in charge and he was applauding as well. They're high fiving each other, they're giving hugs.

The grins on their face, the camaraderie.

They had, you know.

And then smoke. The closer brother.

Yes, he's our cleanup here.

Yeah.

So for a bunch of home runs, there you go.

Like seeing the journey and feeling behind the scenes. But what you don't see for everyone is the energy and effort. We worked with them one hour sessions for about a month and a half now. They came to us with an idea. With an idea. So it was a long way, especially never being in front of a thousand people before. You know, they're high level executives. So they've presented before. It's not like their first time on stage ever. But it's a whole different game when you're telling your transparent story, not with employees who have to listen to you and you're giving them the, you know, the business strategy of why we're moving forward or the thing like this is different when you're ripping, your, ripping your guts wide open. Transparency. And I remember this. I don't know if you remember all of them, Mark, but the struggles, the frustrations, the, ah, well, I don't know what to do. I don't know what my message is. You.

Yeah, it's funny, we know. Can I talk about that now? But I remember having that particular convo. I think the first three calls we had with Patricia was like, okay, I don't know what the message is going to be. Here's the story. I don't know. And even then, as she was telling the story, you could see she was emotionally breaking up a few times. It was that deep and meaningful. So first of all, I could see the courage it took for them to literally open up their heart and share their deepest, darkest moments of their lives with an audience of their peers and with a goal of letting you know how human we really are. Because we often think of people who are CEOs as, you know, they make all this money, they run these companies, they have smokes on Forbes and New York Times and we see msnbc. But to reveal the true self took such great courage. And as you said, Darren, to start with an idea and then to work through the idea, to build a structure, to build a speech and then to internalize the speech and then to rehearse a speech, to work on how to move on a large stage, it was a process and for us it was certainly very gratifying. But understand the process had to go through and the mindset they needed. That eventually became four standing ovations. And I have to say this, Darren, I don't believe a one of them said I'm going to go up there while the audience and get a standing ovation. That was never on their radar. We never had that mentioned even once. That was not their goal, but it was a result of the hard work, energy and effort they put in.

Yeah, none of them sent us an email ahead of time saying, I'm going to be the 2025 world champion.

Inside joke for those who don't know very often we'll find someone who will contact us and their goal is to win the Toastmasters World Championship. And they'll close their email with, I am Mark Brown, the 2025 world champion of public speaking. Because if I can speak it into ex going to happen. I don't want to sound cynical, but that has nothing to do with the work you put in and the quality of what you deliver on a platform. And these four individuals, despite busy schedules, flying all over the world, running large companies still put the work in. And because they're willing to do that, we also learned how coachable they were. Because Darren, you have a philosophy about that too. If you're not coachable, there is no cure.

Yeah, and I mean Smoke, for example, Patricia launched a brand new book. Smoke was going from country to country in between. He didn't even close in three deals.

In three deals he was closing three multiple deals. But it was going to come from.

The U.S. and he didn't go back to the U.S. i don't think. Yeah, but when we, when we hit the ground, what was really helpful, I think, and get this, we're trying to give you some lessons learned from. This is not Mark and I being on the stage. This is working with people to be on the stage, which is very different. Mark, I had a reflection. I put it on TikTok and Instagram and stuff when I got when I landed at the Vegas airport after this trip, just reflecting on all that happened and I was like, you know what? When you walk off stage and you know, you nailed it, it's a beautiful feeling. But when you get someone to go from an idea to them having impact to them getting a standing ovation to them, getting invites to speak around the world and they're not professional speakers, you know, from an eight minute story, but because it was deep and compelling, they got invites to other speak other places in the world. So. And so when we hit the ground. Now, we've been working with him for a month and a half, but when he hit the ground, we. We just happened to go down to the meeting room, and they were setting it up the next morning. There was some time slots that we. Let's just say we used Smoke's advice and we asked for forgiveness.

Permission. Okay.

Rather than permission. And we spent most of the day with three of the presenters literally in the big meeting room on the big.

Stage in the ballroom. Yeah.

Yeah. And you'll see in the next few days, I'll get some more videos up of behind the Scene. The carpet had plastic on it. You know, they were protecting the carpet as they shipped it in. And, like, the big creek in the stage, you'll see one of the video, like, right in the center, fully carpeted, no cracks or anything, like. But one of the. Yeah, like, right in the middle in the center. But they were on it. They saw it. They knew they had to fix it. Like, it's a process. But what was cool is watching them grow as we were literally on the stage showing them where to go. I remember Patricia having her four emotions and just taking a step to the left and a step to her left and a step to the left helped her just internalize it. And you could see their confidence grow as they literally walked the stage during that process.

Also, Darren, I discovered just how focused our coaches were to this. We have. It's a huge stage. It's a very wide stage. And at one point, we've got Patricia on one corner, We've got Jody on one corner, and they're both rehearsing their parts of their speeches, and they don't even see each other. At one point, Patricia's on the stage by herself, and the tech team is rehearsing and playing her introduction video. And she's so focused on her rehearsal. She's not letting anything distract her. She has no idea they're playing her intro video right behind her on the big screen because she is focused on getting. I want to own this space. I want to deliver the best that I can. I really want to make myself available to the audience, be honest, open, and I want to deliver in the most effective way. That's the kind of focus and concentration that these speakers were exhibiting to us on the stage. And we've heard before of other presenters who, in rehearsal, would ask their family members to distract them, to make a sound, to open, to blow the car horn, but it would not lose focus. But here she was on stage with Jody on one end, her video behind her, it says, I had no idea they were playing it because they were focused on what they were doing. So not only were they coachable when it came time to rehearse and practice, they practiced with focus. They remained focus on the task at hand and the goal of serving the audience.

Yeah, Mark, I even remember at one point you were up on stage with them, showing them the Ed Tate scan.

Yes.

And Z, I don't know if you remember or not, but Z nailed that. There's this ginormous pause right at the beginning of hers. I'll. I'll play a clip in a second from it. But it was so powerful. And this is a nice new technique that we kind of brought to her the day before. She had other things to worry about. And these are all people again, running their businesses in the background, running their lives in the background. And oh, by the way, you're going to tell a brand new story that you've never, never delivered before. Obviously, they rehearsed it with their friends and family, but being on stage is different. And I'm so glad we had that whole day. It was almost the whole day that we could get in there and then we get kicked out for a little while. Then we came back. But you could see their confidence grow as they found their place on the stage for their different stories. It was powerful. Then the next day, we were not allowed to be in that room because they were doing too much setup. So we were, if you're watching the video, you'll see this. But we were in just a little conference room, just us and them working it through, making tiny tweaks at the end and still giving them, again, being careful to not give them too much the day before. Because, Mark, as you and I said in one of those video clips that we got to realize, when you're working with someone who is newer to a big stage telling a new story, they can only handle so many tweaks. I remember Jim Key was amazing at that. Jim Key, you could give him a tweak. He was like photographic memory. He would make it. But if we give them too much too late in the game, it's overwhelming. So there was so many times, Mark, I had to bite my lip. I'm like, I know you had an idea.

I could see you kind of almost twitching. And by the way, for those who don't know, Jim Key is the Toastmasters 2003 World Champion of public speaking, a very good friend of ours, and he could easily assimilate an idea and implement it. But not everyone can do that, particularly not professional speakers. So we had to be careful how much we gave them as far as tweaks were concerned. And what you learn is this. There are individuals who will pick things up very quickly and others listen, I'm going to stick to the script as a sidebar. If you happen to be a coach or consider coaching a speaker, always think as a coach what best serves them. Because we, with our, you know, 20, 30 plus years experience, we see an idea, it'd be great. But it may take them a while to adjust, accept and assimilate. And sometimes people do what we call freezer design. They're locking the script, they lock in their movement. It becomes almost second nature. To interrupt that and inject something new could really throw them off. So we had to be careful about that. How do we best serve them? And some of them took one or two ideas and ran with it. And it was just wonderful because it was working for them.

I also want to bring up instinct. We kept reminding them all along. And we're reminding you, as you're listening to this, you are the CEO of your speech, you are the CEO of your presentation. You decide, obviously, if you have a coach or in this situation, they brought in us as coaches to be able to help and consult and make it better, faster, quicker, stronger. But there's some times that, you know, we brought ideas and their instinct was, no, that doesn't work for me, or I don't understand it, or, yeah, that's not right. And then they had some ideas of their own that we never even brought up. And Mark, I'm leaning into the Z when she said she was watching Smoke's presentation from last time and he used some bed of music in it. And she wanted to have this moment in her presentation where we mentioned it before, but she had a career in tennis. All of a sudden, the rug got pulled out. She could not do her career. She was. It was taken away from her. So she realized she needed to go a different direction and help people. And she put that away. And after that stage of her life, she started having that inkling of maybe, maybe that chapter isn't actually complete. So I'm going to show a quick clip and we'll talk about her instinct. And you'll hear. Listen for the laughter. You'll hear it. Okay, there we go. I made the decision to go back to professional fetus, so I'm hoping we don't get in trouble for using a couple seconds of that. But she used the ROCKY theme and I wouldn't have thought of that for her, but she did and she had this instinct and you heard like there was this silent moment as she was making that decision and that's when the music kicked in and people knew what it was. They got the laugh. And then she gently went over and picked up her racket and said, I decided. And we had to work with her at that moment a little bit because this is in her world, you know, it's our world. So like, no, no, no. Because she had kept saying I decided and went over and picked it up. I'm like, no, no, no, you got to pick it up and then say it. Show us. As we say, Mark, show us. Don't tell us your thoughts on that instinct.

Yeah, I think it was brilliant. Yet each individual would decide for themselves, do I need music? Do I not need music? And two of them said, yes, we want music. They also had to, they also chose if they wanted to photographs as visual aids to support them at particular points in their stories. They made those decisions and their instincts said, if I use that photograph, it'll be an effective tool. So as a presenter, there are times you can use tools instinctively if they will enhance your presentation. It doesn't mean, as Darren said before, you know, 8,500 slides with 85 lines on them in nine point font to really dizzy audience. But these were images and they were music. Different media for different purposes, but all to enhance the audience experience and reinforce the power of the story. So we're saying, trust your instinct, trust your instinct, but work with a coach and find out the best way to use the instinct. Because in a deeper level, yes, they made these choices, but we help them to decide what is the better or the best way to use the music. When do you put the prop down? When do you pick it back up? When do you show that particular image? Think about the flow of the presentation and they go, oh, yeah, I won't do that there. I'm going to wait until there and that's when it's going to hit. That doesn't come, that doesn't come naturally. The instinct to do it does. But the decision as to best, as to the best time, the best way and the best manner, you can get that with a qualified coach to help you. We were thrilled to work with them on this and the result was just astounding. We're happy for them, really are.

Yeah. Mark, I like to, I, I think I want to point out. Tell me your thought on this. But instinct also comes from going through your story over and over and over again and then something will not feel right or you'll get an idea because of the fact you're putting so much work into it. If you stop short, you might miss some of those brilliant breakthroughs, those brilliant insights like she had. Now also study other, say, audiences or other speeches in this venue or in this area or to this organization because she was inspired by Smoke's use of music. Now, we're not lawyers. You've got to check. Often the venues cover the ASCAP tax on using it and royalties, but you have to, you have to make sure you got permission to use that and use it right. So a lot of the casinos in Vegas, it's kind of covered, but again, you've got to check on each one. That's why we told them you've got to check with Michelle who is in charge of the event and permission. And they had to check with Heather, who was the production product head of production for the event. And Mark, going back to the instinct. And the more you work on it, the more these ideas will come up. When I studied the world champions, I started realizing, oh, everyone talks about falling down, but no one actually fell down. So it inspired me to be different. And I say, what's your 11 on a scale of 1 to 10, what's your 11? How are you gonna stand out? And what I love is they came so far in a month and a half now, it's not their full time thing. This is just them working on the side and working on this. But I know all of them could easily, easily turn this into a TEDx talk and a keynote. We were talking to Z about taking her idea and turning it into a keynote because everyone came up and wanted to know, why did such and such happen to ruin your career and not allow you to do that? And I don't want to give that away because we may be showing the story and talking about it on a later podcast. It was great and powerful and what was cool was people were asking her that in the hallway and she said, it doesn't matter. And so in the fripped speech model, that's going to be one of her points of wisdom. It doesn't matter why, because things are going to happen in life whether you know why or whether you don't know why it still happened and you still have to deal with it. So I love that as a point of wisdom.

Yeah. Many of us say, well, why me? Why me? I love her answer. It doesn't matter. What do you do with it? And that was, to me, also very inspirational. And I do want to say, Darren, in terms of the preparation piece on the work piece, to see the instinct part. I recall at one point, Patricia, we had worked on the script together, and I was called upon to be the wordsmith and help her to put it together. And she would go through it line by line and say, you know what? That doesn't feel like me. I don't like that. And she said, I'm going to chuck this out. This is like the day before the presentation. But she said, you know what? That didn't feel right for me. I'm not going to say it. She made the decision, went back, and she was rehearsing, continually owning it, embracing it. But I love the fact she trusted her instinct and said, you know what? This is not really what I want to say. I don't think I need that. And she made the decision. And Darren always says, as a presenter, you are the CEO of your speech. You've got to make those decisions. And I'm thankful that these presenters didn't get caught up in the idea of will great speakers, do it this way or Darren and Mark will do it that way. They decided, this is for me to share my life and my heart with my audience. I want to do it my way. No thanks, Frank Sinatra. Those who don't know I did it my way, but it was true that they would make that. I was so thrilled to see them take ownership and decide what was best in their personality to serve their audience.

Yeah. And I remember, Mark, the instinct I had when I was working with you and Dave, and Dave told me to cut out the line on Subway Sandwich. ALB is a nonprofit organization. And I just, you know, I listened. I listened to my coach. I became coachable. But then I said, you know what? I've been telling that joke for years. That line works. And I remember him coming up to me after saying, you know what? You were right. Because your coach isn't the one up on stage with you. They're behind you. We're backstage. We're the first ones ready to hug you, high five you, and show you just how far you've come. But you're the one out there on the stage. That's you. That's your call. So listen to your coach. Stick with your instinct. But here's what I love. Share your instinct with your coach. Because if we understand why, then it will make sense, and we can work with that. Because then maybe there's something you hadn't considered that we could kind of hold up. That might get you to rethink it. Or we're gonna say, no, brilliant idea. You know what? In fact, start the Rocky music here instead. Here because of our experience. So, Mark, after this, look, I know we coach. I know we have stage time university. I am more convinced now and the power of a coach. And Mark, I'm in the the story.

The nsa.

Nsa, the last story standing. And I worked on it yesterday, but I went over the notes from Jennifer Leone and Mike Davis and they reminded me a couple things that I know, but I'm too close. Even though I know it, I'm too close. So I needed them to kind of say, hey, we don't know what happened to your dad.

Duh.

You need to name your sister Duh.

Right?

Look it, get a coach. Hey, Mark and I would love to work with you, but if not, find a coach that works for you. And remember, every coach has its different ninja skill. And Mark, I love. I have to appreciate the praying that I did when I was first talking to ypo and the instinct that I had that they wanted us to take somebody with a brand new story, you know, an idea that happened in their life that they lived. By the way. That's part of the standing ovations. It started with a traumatic story that they've overcome or almost overcome, but they're on the other side of it that they could share. So make no mistake, it started with the life that they lived. It's not the speech that you give, it's the life that you live. So it started with that. But when I was first talking to Ypo, Mark, I thought of the duo coaching. You're better at digging out, asking the questions. You're better at wordsmithing. That's not my thing. I can do it, but not to the level you do. I love the stage plans that I created for them, and they seem to really love it too, especially a brand new story using the stage to help anchor the different points and using the characters. And I remember making the adjustment with Jody the day before that. Her police officer, Mr. Mr. Like it is. But she was. She had this tendency to have her hands up. I'm like, no, he. He doesn't move. He's emotional, emotionless, so. And she was able to make that adjustment. So we just gave her that one. But I think it made a big difference in that character. Especially when something's at the beginning of your speech, it's important to get it right there.

Yeah.

Later on, you've got the connection. But if you miss the connection up front, it's hard to regain it along the way.

And no, real quickly, she was not coachable in that moment. She wouldn't have seen the value of it. I'm thankful their attitude was, okay, show me, teach me what do I do here? And why. And when they understand the why behind what we do, when they understood the why, boom. It just helped bring their talks to another level. And again, no one ever talked about standing ovation. It's about, how do I do this well for my peers to hear and learn from my experience. Powerful.

So when I was talking to YPO about, they wanted us to take people from just an idea of a story they lived to in front of a thousand people of their peers. Peers is a tougher audience, too, because you have more things going on in your head sometimes. And I just realized I couldn't do the job that you could do. So they wanted us to give them each, like, 10 coaching slots. And I thought of, ooh, let's have Mark focus on the first three, both of us in the middle, and then I'll focus on the last three. And it ended up that you and I were on most of the calls. But what I don't necessarily have proof of, you'll just have to trust me on this, is on every call, you and I had different perspectives that helped them even early on. You work with the script behind the scenes, because we use Google Docs and you work the scripts behind the scenes. That totally your thing. But I still went over them with them when I was working on the delivery, and we would tweak a word or two or phrase or two. So, Mark, I love working with you. We're better together than we are alone. Well, you might be better without me, but I know.

Well, my wife would agree with that in that regard, certainly. But it certainly definitely was a joy to work with with individuals who saw the value of getting coached, who wanted to share their message and who were willing to do the work, to invest the time despite busy schedules, and to work with each of us in different ways and to make it. To make it really cohesive. And one of the best parts for me was the camaraderie that came as a result. We had breakfast together, we hung out together, and you could just see the bond that they grew with. And again, the standing ovation was not the goal, but it was the end. And there is a picture. Those who got the video, the picture of us at breakfast one morning with our four coaches, all fine individuals. And it truly was a blessing for us. To, to serve them.

Yeah, Mark, that's another little behind the scenes secret. It's a relationship when you're working with a coach. We bonded over breakfast, all of us together. But now more trust came out. Them telling their stories of their journey, working on their speeches actually helped us be able to have more trust and coach. So if you're listening, I'm showing a picture right now of all of us having breakfast. We had breakfast two days. But it's amazing how important that was to those standing ovations. It's also the relationship with your coach. So you know some will be deeper than others. But embrace that. Just having a coffee with them over dinner, over lunch, having a beer or glass of wine, it's a true relationship. You're experiencing this whole process together.

And one last thought, I'm going to say it one more time. The goal was never the standing ovation, but the standing ovation came as a result of the hard work, energy, effort, being coachable, being focused in rehearsal, practice, practice, practice of trusting their instinct, finding out what worked for them, rejecting what didn't seem to be truly within their personality, but also being willing to learn from each other, make adaptations that will help enhance their presentation. And a rising tide lifts all boats. That entire experience and the bonding over breakfast, it wasn't just contractual, it became relational. And that was special.

All right. And we're going to invite each of them to join us. Hopefully we can pin something down to go deeper into each of their story and get their perspective rather than just our perspective. But Mark Brown, have a safe trip to China. Yes, sir. Bring your best. I'm going to go rest right now. I'm still.

I'm bringing my best. My wife.

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