Ep. 275 AN UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE WITH BRIAN BIRO

Hey there, Mark Brown. Okay. When you told me we were going to sit down with Brian, I immediately said, whoa, you don't understand. You don't understand the impact that he had on me. And it's, yeah, that ain't easy. But, Mark, I'll let you tee this up.

Well, all I know is I have been thrilled to see what our guest has done not only with individuals, but with mass audiences in a way that nobody else can. We won't go into anymore. We're going to get you a chance to meet one of the most amazing presenters who gives us experiences in the speaking world. We're going to meet Brian Byro. Let's go, Darren.

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

All right, Mark Brown, I'll let you lead.

I first saw Brian Biro when I was working with Southwestern Consulting in Nashville, many, many years. And I saw him transform an audience. Get this. Of leaders and consultants whose job it was to transform their audiences. So we have met the man who transformed the Transformers, and he's not Optimus Prime. I couldn't help that. But, Darren, you had a chance to experience Brian Byro earlier this year, and people are wondering, what are you talking about? Mark Brown, Let us meet the man who brings a new meaning to the word breakthrough. Speaker. Grandfather. Cool dude. Brian Biro. Welcome, Brian.

Thank you so much. This is awesome. I love talking about breakthroughs, especially with my breakthrough buddies. Check it out, Darren. I love it. You got it.

It sits on my desk ever since nsa.

Now, for those who are only hearing us, some will see on video. You're wondering what sits on Darren's desk? What's his breakthrough and what's nsa? So, since you both at NSA influence, I'll let Darren lead this part of our conversation.

Darren, when you can create an experience, when you had. I want to say there was like 900 people there. I don't know exactly. But to walk 900 people through an individual experience, that's freaking amazing. And I had the pleasure of being in the audience. I got there late, so I was in the back. I wasn't quite sure what was going on, but I still started to put things together and to literally have an individual breakthrough experience. So if you're listening to the podcast, we're talking about the board break, breaking of the board in front of your friends. But the way you coordinated it, the way you pulled it off so quickly within the context of a keynote. Now, I know, and I want to get into this later, Mark, but I know there was so much planning involved. I bet you made some mistakes along the way. I'd love to hear one of those stories at least. What you pulled off was amazing. Amazing. And I don't use that word lightly. So you gave me an experience as well as 899 other people and wow, Mark, take it. Mark. I'm speechless.

Okay, I'm glad because I get to be the one listening in the audience. I want to hear Brian's voice now. Brian, let me give you a keyword here. The word is breakthrough. You are the man who was known for breakthroughs for a listening audience who has no clue who Brian Biro is. Quickly share with us what the breakthrough is about and the background behind you becoming the breakthrough king for so many decades.

Well, thank you so much, man. I'm so touched. I didn't know that this was a surprise. Darren, you're letting me know that. So you already made my day. Well, I love that I'm called America's breakthrough speaker because to me, every single event that I've ever spoken at that Mark, Darren, have ever spoken at. Why are we there? We're there to help people break through breakthrough. From fear to freedom, from failure to faith, from ego to ego, and from good to great. And breakthroughs only come really when we do it. Mind, body and spirit. And so. And that's because when we hear, we forget. When we see, we're more likely to remember. But it's when we do that we understand. And so I have a background. I've had three really wonderful careers. My first was the United States swimming coach. So I had that kind of physical aspect of working with young people to try to break through. And you don't really coach swimming. You coach people. You're coaching people to overcome those. Those. Those trainings that took them backwards, those fears that they have those doubts. And so I had that great background of working with. With young people. Plus, they were in the pool. So I had to learn to speak loud enough so they could hear me. So that was important. And I'm probably the only guy, you know who left. I would probably still be a swim coach today, except I had no life. I I really, I was so focused only on my work and I wanted more balance in my life. I wanted to have a family. I wanted. And so I'm the only guy who got an MBA to get a life instead of a job. And I did. I ended up becoming a vice president of a two large companies. And that's when I started doing team building. And so many organizations, you guys have faced this before. We have, we have silos instead of synergy, we have, we have operations that doesn't like sales, sales doesn't like operations. They both don't like the home office a little bit more. And that made sense to me. And when I became vice president of a pretty large transportation company, I talked to the president and letting me go out and start doing team building and that's when I really discovered this, this idea of breaking through. And again, only when we do and we do, we understand. And to me, the board breaking experience is the greatest combination, individual and team experience you'll ever have in an event. And I've done a lot of them. I've walked on fire and jumped off poles, all that. This is the best. And here's why. It's an individual and team experience. The individual part is related to the meaning and it's a metaphor of breaking through. Happens to be extremely accurate. The way you break a board is the way you break through real fear. Suppose your greatest fear is public speaking that's not yours, Mark. How do you overcome it? The way you break your board? Suppose that you want to get in better physical shape, you want to have more energy. How do you do it? The way you break your board. And so I have everyone in the, in the event event right on their board get clear and conscious of that, that obstacle, fear, habit or doubt that's holding them back in their lives, right? And so on the back of the board they write down something incredible. They write down what's waiting for me when I have broken through, what am I going to do? Be, feel, create, have in my life. Because never again will this hold me back. I've had people beat cancer from what they wrote on their board. I've had people bring their families back together. I've had people lose over £100. I've had people who didn't know where they were going in life suddenly get clear about where they wanted to get to. I've had people just do remarkable things. And that's the individual element. But there's more than that. As Darren said, there were at least 7, 800 people in that room that day on that particular event that Darren was at. So we start off with about 75, 80 circles of around 10 people each. And so when Darren's in a circle, nine other people around going, darren, Darren, next door it's Mark, mark, mark. There's 70 to 80 are going at a time. Music is pounding, energy's flying, everyone's clapping. All right. Some people have never been cheered for in their lives and for them the great breakthrough is to feel that kind of unconditional support. The team part is equally powerful because as you saw people, there's something about it. People will never cheer like they cheer in that, in the environment. I think it's because it's reciprocal. We all want each other break through. But the best part of the team experience is the only way I can really define it clearly. The best day of my life was my daughter's wedding day. And it was for something I never could have really understood until I experienced it. And that was for a good six hours that night. I didn't think of myself once. All I could do was think of her. They tell me I was laughing and crying at the same time. I don't remember. All I remember was her. And when those people are going, mark, Mark, Mark, Darren, Darren, Darren. In those moments, they get to feel the way I felt about my daughter. They have moved completely from ego to ego. We're putting all of our focus onto someone else. And the best thing about we human beings is we'll do more for others than we'll do for ourselves. I've done this over 1900 times over the last 35 years and I can't wait to do it because there's always the most astonishing breakthroughs. I'll share one of them real quick. The most, my most senior board breaker ever was a 95 year old woman. I was speaking to 4,000 people. That's a lot of wood. All right. 4,000 people in Atlanta, Georgia. And the way I set things up is that I have to train holders. So I had 400 people I trained to hold the board, which is an incredible experience of instantaneous coaching. And I tell everyone that if anyone does not break their board after three good tries with their holder out in the, in the room, I've asked them to take a break to cheer your team on. And then everyone comes forward to the stage where I have my group. And if you are refusing to give up, but you didn't break it after three tries, I invite you to come up and join my group and I'll hold for you. I can't break a board for anyone, but I can put you in the best place possible. Well, this 95 year old woman had tried three times and not broken her board. But she would not give up. And she got up on the stage, the last person of 4,000. So picture 4,000 people jammed together in front of a stage, a very high stage because I had to be high enough so people could see me way in the back. Her granddaughter had to get up on the stage behind her and hold her by her waist so she wouldn't teeter too much. Well, I will tell you, when she broke her board and she did break it, the roar from that 4,000 people in Atlanta was so loud you could hear it in Las Vegas. But here's the magic of it. 404,000 people had a great breakthrough experience that day. But all 4,000 had an even greater one. Because what they'll remember more than anything was that other lady breaking her board. And it helps each of us walk away, in fact, hopefully fly away with a simple but incredibly powerful new thought. I didn't know I could break that board. What else could I do that I didn't know I could do? Maybe I could build that business. Maybe I could work things out with my teenager. Maybe I could get in that physical shape. Maybe I could learn to forgive someone and realize that not forgiving them is drinking poison, expecting them to die. And that's what my dream is. That's what my vision is, to help people emerge as the stars of that event. You know, I love what I do with every ounce of my heart and soul. But what I love the most is at the end of my program, I'm not the star. They're the stars. They've done something they didn't know they could do when they walked in that room. And they've actually applied to everything that we've taught up until that moment. So it's not just a stunt to do at the end. It has value and meaning because we're applying the principles that came from the stories and the teaching before. So I guess you can feel, even though I've done it 1900 times, I hope you can feel the enthusiasm. I can't wait to do the next one. It's a little, A little. It's amazing to watch people.

I got choked up when you told the story of the 95 year old woman. Because I can picture it, I can see it, I can feel it.

Wow.

Yeah.

Can I give you one more story because you guys, I know you'll love this one. This is One of the most memorable breakthroughs of all. I'm sure you both remember Bob Proctor. Bob Proctor, one of the greatest thinkers on speakers. We lost him a couple years ago. He was a good friend of mine and many years ago he suffered a heart attack and he was doing a program, a year long program with a group of about 40 people called the Matrix. And it was a. They paid a lot of money to build a big idea into their world. And he called me up at the last minute when he had this heart attack and he said, brian, I can't do this. I'm not allowed to go on the stage. Would you come and cover for me? And I said, sure, I'd be delighted to. And in that audience that day was a young man who was 21 years old at the time. His name was Greg and he was paraplegic. Recently paraplegic, he had jumped into a, into a swimming pool and misjudged the depth of the pool eight months before this event and had severed his spine and was paraplegic. His right hand curled up on his chest and couldn't move his fingers. His left hand had no movement at all. He was in a wheelchair and he was with his dad. And they together were hoping to build a business. Well, I'm always guided by God to choose the first breaker. I never know who it'll be until the moment I choose him. And as I looked in this room, my heart told me the first person needed to be Greg, this young man. Because I saw in his eyes this incredible desire to break through. Now there's another piece to this that's really important. As I flew to that event, it hit me that I started thinking about in the about 20 years I had been speaking before that, I had had maybe a dozen people in my events who I held boards for, who did not break through, even though they tried their best. Now if, if I was to line those 12 people up and you looked at them, you'd probably go, oh, I get it. Because every one of them had some severe physical limitations. But as I flew to Toronto to do that event, a new thought occurred to me. What if it wasn't them? What if they didn't break not because of them, but because of me, Because I held some level of doubt in their possibilities that I was somehow communicating to that. So as I flew there, I made a commitment to myself. Never again would I ever, ever, ever decide for someone else their breakthrough potential. And so that had to kind of factor into choosing Greg to break this first board. Now, again, he could not Move. He had not moved his hands since he had been paralyzed. He had not. His left hand didn't move at all. But his eyes told me, this man wants to break through. And so I got down on my knee because I had to get down to his. His level in the wheelchair. 40 people were so close that it felt like they were one 40 person person. They were like one person. And they're cheering and they're clapping. Greg, Greg, Greg. And I just looked in his eyes with. And I'm just getting my chills remembering it. This was 15 years ago. And I watched this young man, openers that had not moved in eight months, turn his hand and fly through the board. And that 40 person, one person collapsed on him. Tears, joy. His father literally crashed to the ground behind him in. In total shock. And he. And Greg just had this beautiful little smile on his face like he knew. And I tell you that story because a lot of the times we keep people from breaking through because of the way we see them. You know, what we focus on is what we create. And you've all heard of the Pygmalion effect. The Pygmalion effect says that our thoughts and our beliefs and our expectations are magnetic. That we don't only see people, but as we see them, we are pulling them the direction of the way we see them. And that day, I learned firsthand the incredible power of letting go of doubt about other people believe in people more than they actually believe in themselves. I got the most remarkable email from Greg 14 years later, telling me about what that experience had been for him since that time. And I ended up actually, Mark, you'll love this. I ended up working with him. He's now a professional speaker.

Oh.

He wanted his lesson and his message and put it into the world. So there's nothing like it because it allows people to step forward. And the beautiful thing is, I don't care who you are, you don't know you can do it until you do it. And that's life. That's what breakthroughs are. Mark, you didn't know you could be the world's champion speaker until you got up there and did it.

And that's true.

When you do, it can never be taken away from you. So anyways, you can tell I can keep going for a long time, but.

No, this is wonderful. You, you, you chose the breaking the boards. People think of, you know, kung fu and, and Bruce Lee and all these guys, Jackie Chan, but you chose this particular metaphor, this illustration, to represent the message you want to bring to the world. I'm curious, where did the idea of breaking through physical boards en masse first come to you?

Yeah, the first time I actually was a board breaking participant with a dear friend of mine named Larry Michael, and I broke a board in that room that day. And in those days, I have this passion for teams. I believe that if you look behind me, I have what's called the pyramid of success. My mentor was the greatest team builder of all time. His name was John Wooden. John Wooden was the greatest men's college basketball coach of all time. And Coach Wooden really taught that, you know, team spirit means understanding that we're at our best when we'll do more for others than we'll do for ourselves. So when I learned it, it was incredibly fun, but it was almost like I had done firewalking before with Anthony Robbins. And it was an awesome experience, but it was so individual. There wasn't a huge sense of team in that moment. There was some people cheering their friends on, but I wanted to somehow find way to a whole different connection of team to match the individual experience, because that's what leadership, leadership is about building other people and bringing teams. So in those days, you had each person held for one other person instead of having that whole team element. So I had the first experience of breaking the board and thought, wow, that's really cool. And then it was kind of building off of that to how can I build this into a team and individual experience? And so that's how it blossomed. And I've loved every single one of those 1900 times. Let's do it again.

Well, you just tickled my brain there, Brian. It makes me wonder, what are we as presenters, as speakers, as trainers, facilitators? What are we promoting or emphasizing for individuals that might be applicable to teams? So now I'm beginning to shift my thinking. And for those who are speakers, I am a speaker. I'm a keynoter. I don't do training, I don't do facilitation. I'm a key keynote speaker and that's what I do. Is it possible that your breakthrough could be, how can I serve a team, not just a CEO or a speaker? If I'm coaching, could I coach more than one person? Could I coach with somebody else? Could it be part of a coaching team? So now you got my brain whirring here, Brian, and there may be a little bit of a breakthrough in Mark Brown's mind based on what you've just said, but it's really powerful. And in terms of an illustration Maybe Darren wants to ask a question, but I'm going to kind of tee it up because you did it individually, but you do it for a thousand, four thousand people. And Darren said that must be difficult to pull off. What questions come to your mind, Darren, about that whole process that you have to ask Brian about?

Well, Mark, first I want to show a quick video clip so people have some perspective.

If you don't shape your future, you're letting the future run you over. How many of us focus so much on worrying about what won't work? Everyone is here for the same reason, and that is you came here to generate breakthrough results in your life. How do you show up every day? That's leadership. How do you deal with adversity? That's leadership. How many people in this room have at least something you want to get better at? When you follow through, you are most of all teaching yourself that you will not quit. I want this to be a session that you never forget. Nice. What I love most about that video is the faces of the people when they were breaking through, the faces when they were in the game. And you can't fake that. That active participation. Can I do this? And watching that explosion of pure joy when you've done something that you didn't know you could do, there's nothing like it. That's the. That's the beauty of breakthrough. So, you know, it's. It's. It was a lot of fun to watch that video. Thank you.

And, Darren, hold your question for a. For a thought, because those who saw the video clip at the very end, the last person we saw is a woman who is about to break the board. I was able to see the video of what actually happened after that. And Darren, we see her preparing to break the board. She goes through the board and she bursts into tears, and she. And she. And Brian embraces her. And I'm getting goosebumps right now. I could feel a weight literally lifted off her shoulders. I don't know her. I didn't hear a word from her, but my eyes and my heart saw. Here's someone who literally has come to a new place in their life because Brian was there. He was her holder, and the entire room was cheering. Her tears flooded down. She hugged Brian. Please tell us what happened in that moment.

Oh, it happened many, many times, is that there's an indescribable joy that comes when you step off the sidelines, get in the game, and go beyond fear. Ultimately, there is one breakthrough. I mean, we could call it a lot of different Things. But you break through from fear to love. That's it. And every time you choose fear, it pulls you back down. It makes you think of all the reasons you can't or you shouldn't, or it'd be easier to not even try. Every time you choose the love side, you're going to have that reaction where you go, oh, my gosh, this is who I really am. I got it in me. I've got something. I think it's for different people. It's different things. I'm going to tell you another incredible opposite, a different kind of experience. One of the first breakthroughs I had 34 years ago was. And tell you how old it was, it was for Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages. Oh, wow. And I had a young man in that event that day. I still remember his name. His name was Robert McGee. Now, Robert McGee was a bodybuilder. He was about 6 foot 4, 245 pounds. His biceps were bigger than my body. And I got to tell you, when I got ready to hold the board for this guy, I was kind of worried he might break me. And he was terrified. I mean, he was literally shaking like a leaf. And I thought, well, maybe he's afraid he's going to break me. He hit that board so hard that as I held that board for him, parts of me jiggled that I didn't even know I still had. It did not break. It did not break. And the person right before him had been a woman. A little tiny woman, maybe five foot two, flown right through the board. And I simply asked Robert, Robert, what did you look at? You see, 95% of breaking through is where you focus. It's not about your strength or your coordination. It's are you focusing on the obstacle or the breakthrough? And I said, robert, what'd you look at? He said, I looked at the board. I said, robert, this time, just hold my eyes. Look in my eyes. Straighten your arm out. He went through it like it was a twig. But here was the beautiful part of this story at the end of that event. In those days, my groups were much smaller, and we had a little time to kind of integrate the experience. And Robert got up in front of his team, his peers. Talk about courage. And he stood in front of all of them and said, I was terrified of this. And everyone had the same reaction. Why? You're so big, you're so strong. What could you possibly be afraid of? And Robert said something that I think changed everyone's life that day. He said, I wasn't afraid of Hurting myself. I was afraid of being the bodybuilder who didn't break his board. I was afraid of being humiliated and embarrassed. And that moment, everyone in that room realized we always think everyone else has got it figured out, that everybody's got it going on. No, we've all got something to break through. Whether it's fear of rejection, fear of failure, maybe it's something we're good at, but we feel we've stopped growing. And so the experience when you do that, when you've gotten clear about what it is you want to break through, when you've actually visualized what's on the other side and you make it through that thing that you didn't know you could do, Mark, that's when you see that kind of reaction, those tears, that incredible joy. But what's magnified is it's in every face, not just the person who broke the board. It's all those people around them just filling up like they did for that 95 year old little lady that day. So it's a remarkable opportunity. And, and I love the fact that it's different things for different people and that's what life is. But it comes down to remember, you only break through from some form of fear to some form of love. And I'll take the love side every time.

So, Mark, this could be the first time I ever said this. We each have our own ninja skills. Brian, Mine, I love illustrations. Illustrations like that's my favorite ninja skills. So, Mark, for the first time I'm going to admit that I have experience envy. The fact that you can create an experience like such an individual experience. It's one thing to illustrate something on stage, but to physically be a part of that. So my question would be. Now, I was amazed at how you pulled off having the 800 or so people do that. Now you've done many more than that. But what's some of the process that or do you ever make any mistakes? Because we have listeners who want to create an experience for their audience. Did you make any mistakes? Where. Let's just say we'll just keep it here.

Shh.

Like that. When you're trying to do a mass experience like something went terribly wrong.

Great question. And nobody's ever asked me that one before. And I will say this. Every breakthrough I've had, all 1900, by the end of it, it was a win, it went through great. But I've had some, some silly, some bumps in the road and one I already told you about was my lack of belief in about 12 people, I wish I could have got them back. I wish I'd come from the place of. I'm not going to decide your possibilities. You can do more than I ever thought you could do. So that's one. Another kind of funny one actually was that I spoke, I did a breakthrough experience in Australia. I've done many around the world at that time I was, you know, it's very important to make sure you have consistent and right boards. So there's an art to that. All right, they're real boards, but there can be an incredible variation in wood. It can be very, very heavy and wet. It can have all kinds of different, different challenges to it. So I want consistent boards for each group. Well, that one I decided I'm just going to buy the boards in Australia instead of spending the money to ship them from here. They don't have the same wood in Australia as we have. They don't have good old number two pine. They got things like, man, it's like bricks. And the boards were so hard. It was an engineering company. And the funniest part was the owner of the company who brought me over, brought his six year old grandson to the event. And I have never had a participant out of a million participants who was more into the event. This little guy, his name was Pedro, he's sat in the front row. I'd ask rhetorical questions, he would answer out loud at the top of his lungs. I mean, he was so into it. And we get to the board break and I'm going, this little six year old's gonna break through this brick because this is hard. What am I gonna do? And thank goodness he went right through that board. My heart, my heart had stopped for a minute there, but I've had to learn a ton of things. You know, Darren, if you would ask me five years ago, would I be able to do the event that you did do that in 45 minutes. Now at NSA, for those who don't know, National Speakers association, when you're on the main stage and they give you 45 minutes, it's not 45 minutes and 10 seconds, it's 45 minutes. You gotta be in that time. They're very tight about time, you know, and there's an element to this that's a little bit out of my control because I can't control 800 people. How much time they're gonna break through? How many are gonna take two or three tries? Well, it was 44 minutes and 26 seconds. That's how they timed it. It ended up 44, 26. And it was not the greatest room to break the boards in. It hadn't. Normally you'd want a lot more space. We had to do it in the aisles and we did in every square foot that wasn't covered with a chair. But if you'd asked me five years ago if I could do that, I would have said, are you out of your mind? Because 10 years ago, I never did board breaking in less than four hours. Now I do it for 800 people in 45 minutes if I need to. And two things have made me clear about this. Number one is my ever growing belief in the power of simplicity. That as a speaker, we want to be, we want to give people everything. But when you give people too much information, it's like drinking from a fire hose. All you do is get thirsty. But if you can give people one or two or three at the most powerful elements that they can hold on to that, that they'll just take into their hearts, they'll take into their lives, that is so much better than trying to shower them with 10,000 pieces of information. So simplicity allows us to make things shorter. Secondly, I had to let go when I did this in four hours, I had tons of stories, but I'm the only one who knows the stories. They're missing. They don't know they're missing them. All right? And so as long as I know, because I don't want board breaking to just be a thing, I want it to have value and meaning and connection to the presentation that led to it. Have it be real application. So part of the answer to your question is, is that you got to keep learning and growing. Because if I was trying to do it the way I did five years ago, I could have never done it there at NSA in 45 minutes. So the mistake is not being flexible, not being asking yourself new questions. How can I do this and bring value in a shorter time? How can I do this and make it even more meaningful for people? And so I think that so much of, of the value of a speaker is to understand how you can keep growing and keep learning, be humble. Humility doesn't mean you can't be confident. You can be very confident and very humble. Because being humble doesn't mean you think less of yourself. It means you think of yourself less. But only when you're humble are you a lifelong learner. And so from the room set to the timing, to the whole way that event came off, that was essentially a whole new thing compared to. I also never put boards under every chair before. So that was a first because I had to do it to make the timing. And so every challenge that you have makes it grow.

I love the fact that you're constantly trying to make it better. And I hope everyone heard that. That he had never done 42 minutes. Was it 44?

20?

44 minutes and 44 seconds.

He took a four hour experience and narrowed it down. If you're listening to this, go back and check out last week's episode where we talked about too much content. Too much content. But I love the fact that you challenge yourself. You pulled it off and you had to find a new way because now you have to coordinate. Especially speakers bless you. Because they like to talk. And to pull that off, that's amazing. I also want to just piggyback back to those 12 people. What a gift those 12 people were for your future audiences. Because I understand it's a regret for you. I get it. Totally understandable. But that keeps you motivated to make sure you never underestimate someone. And Brian, I don't know if you're familiar with Rudy Rudiger, the movie Rudy.

Sure.

So Rudy is five years in a.

World for their student athletes.

Oh, wow.

Okay.

Rudy's also a speaker and I got a chance to meet him because that movie kept me going when I was the least likely guy. And he said, look, you got to be careful because kids dream like rivers flow. And he said, we. He goes, I will never tell any kid they can't do it. I'll warn them it's going to be hard. I'll warn them other people are going to tell them they can't. And so when I wrote my book 17 Minutes to youo Dream, I made sure I put in the fact that well meaning adults train the dream out of us.

And I love that. That is so brilliant. That is so great. You know, I want to end a story. I didn't finish the story about those 12. Since that day, and that's now been 15 years, not one person that I've held for has not broken through. All right, so it was me. It was my. My doubt about them. What you just talked about, Darren, is one of the most powerful things we can bring to help people break through. And that is release your energy, vampires. I talk about energy in my events and as you can tell, I have a lot of energy for you. I laugh. I'm 70 years old in real life, but I'm 25 on stage. All right, When I get on stage. Okay, 70 again. Energy is such a vitally important key all right. And to everyone we touch, our energy is our example. And so when you're doing the board breaking, what you're wanting to do is transfer that energy to that crowd to help them feel a whole different level of energy with inside themselves. It's just incredibly exciting to me to see the people rise to a level where they take charge of their energy instead of thinking it's up to somebody else.

So I got a question on energy. Brian, for our listeners, be they emerging speakers or seasoned professionals, in principle, what would you say to those speakers about the impact of the energy they, they bring to their own presentations? It may not be an experience like a breakthrough, but in general, as a principle, how does energy help us as speakers to connect with our audiences?

Oh, that is so important. First of all, it's got to be your authentic energy. Don't try to be somebody else, you know, be who you are. It starts with passion and purpose. The source, the biggest source of energy is, is purpose. When you're full of purpose, you're full of energy. So if you don't love your stories, if you don't love the things you're trying to help people gain, you're not going to have that energy up there. So start with your purpose. Secondly, this is so simple, but it's, it's easily forgotten. Energy is created by the way that you move. In other words, anytime you've been at your best, you have moved differently than when you've not been your best. What specifically? Your body line and posture, your facial position, your eye position, focal point, your actual physical movement and your breathing. Now, I've said this to some people before and they go, brian, if I had more energy, I'd move more. Ah, move more and you'll have more energy. And so I've never, I'm not a. When I help people with their speaking, I don't try to tell them how to move. I don't tell them to move. But I want them to know that if they're not alight with their expression, if they're not feeling that's coming to the audience again, to everyone we touch, our energy is our example. No matter who you people won't remember that much of what you say, no matter how well you say it. And they'll never forget your energy. They'll get your energy before you open your mouth, after you close your mouth. They get you over the phone, they've never seen your face. They get your energy the way you send emails. Emails do not stand for electronic mail. Stands for energy mail for Goodness sakes. So important is energy. Nice. Energy is everything, Honestly, energy, stories and energy and stories are the two fundamentals. And a lot of it is about preparation, is really so that you're not thinking when you're on the stage. You're present, you're already there. And then let that energy flow. You know, I just for the fun of it, I used. I did a step, step counter a few times when I spoke. And, you know, it's unbelievable how many steps I do. And I don't even know I'm doing it because I'm just trying to connect with everyone in that room, and it takes me all over the place. So I love the camera guys. They always say if I'm up on the big screen, they go, hey, you gave me a good workout today, man. So energy is. Energy is your example. If you just remember those words, energy is your example, then you're going to know how important energy is to that room. Nice.

As we kind of wind this down, we want to honor your time. What would you say to a new emerging speaker over coffee who said, brian, I want to be unforgettable. I want to give my audience an experience. What advice would you give them?

Well, the first one is a little bit unusual, I think, for a lot of speakers. When we start out as speakers, we want people to love us. We want that applause, we want that. We want to have people say, wow, you changed my life. Now, when you do it as both of you have done, people are going to say that, but I always say the same thing to them. Thank you so much. But the only one who can change your life is you. You know, maybe if we can be a spark. And what I would say to them is a tough thing for them to hear because they're from that place of wanting that approval, wanting that joy. Speak because you love what you're saying. Speak because you love the giving of it. I do not speak for the response. I appreciate the response deeply. I love energized. I speak because when I'm speaking, I'm doing what I was put on earth to do, and that's all I need. That's all that I need. And that. And just constantly trying to improve, learning from how I can get better. That's really the things that I would start with. Then I would say, the only way we really help people know they're important and that's how we give them an experience is to be fully present. And if you're going to be fully present, that means 100% of your mind, body, and spirit is with the people you're with, where they are now. And if you're a speaker and you're up in your head, you're not present, you're thinking about what you wrote down, and you're going to say you're thinking about. You know the reaction later. Only when you're fully present do you say unmistakably, unshakably to every person in that audience. You are important. This is for you. I love what I'm doing, but this is for you. And whenever you seek to enrich another's experience, you can't help but enrich your own, so you'll get value back from it. But I would say that become a master storyteller, because stories connect people. And the beautiful thing, there's something called neural coupling. It's actually a neurological thing that when a great story is being told, there comes a place in that story where it's no longer the storyteller story. It's your story. You see your experience, Darren, when you broke the board Mark, you see your beautiful wife in that story. And that's when you've made a connection that allows people to really gather from that story. So become a master storyteller. Make sure you are fully, fully engaged in the purpose for what. For which we speak. All right? And have fun. And. And prepare. And why prepare? Preparation is not only in the weeks and days before you speak, but in the first 15 minutes before you speak. Get your energy up if in a way that works for you. All right? Fill yourself up. So when you walk on that stage, your smile is already there because you're loving where you are. So those are some of the things I would tell them.

I have told them Coach Wooden would be proud.

Thank you. It was the best.

And what you don't know, Brian, is much of what you just said is Darren's philosophy about speaking, about energy, about being present. You see me smiling because you've been sharing what Darren has been teaching our clients from for years. So I really appreciate that. And one last humorous note. Darren, you will never see a speaker. Let me ask this, Brian. When you go to. To a gig, do you carry three shirts with you? Because I know one is always wet when you're done.

I have to.

I'm telling you, he's done. He's literally drenched when he's done.

I guess I gotta step up my game. And, Brian, how would people find you if they know someone who needs this experience for their team, their convention, their conference, or a speaker wants to follow you because you Are that great example. How would they find you?

Simplest way. It's just my website. It's brianbyro.com. you got the right behind you there, Darren. You see my name? It's BrianByro.com. i've spent 35 years and I keep track of every event and the number of people at each event. I've done that for 35 years. Took me 34 years to reach 1 million people. My dream, my vision, my goal is to reach 1 million more in person before I turn 80. I'm 70. I turned 70amonth ago. I'm going for a million. So get on that website and let me come out and speak for you. Because it's what I, what I'm here to do. Nice.

All right, Mark Brown, what do you got for Brian Wisdom?

Oh man, it's so, oh man, so much. Listen, first of all, we are there as presenters to help people have breakthroughs and become a master. Become a master storyteller so we can do that. Remember, when we experience, when we experience and do we understand, give the audience an experience. Right? We must move from ego to we go. Do more for others than you do for yourself. Make someone else the star in your presentations. Don't ever decide someone else's breakthrough potential. Oh, that one hit me. Build other people and push beyond fear to love. Because 90% of the breakthrough is where you focus and we all have something to break through. Never underestimate the power of simplicity. Don't give your audience too much and let every illustration happen. Value and meaning. As a presenter, be confident but also be humble. Release your authentic energy and move more for physical energy, for physical movement. See email as energy mail. Use both your energy and your stories to move your audience. Speak because you love it. Be fully present. Enrich their experience and you will enrich your own. Let your energy be your example. It's a lot there, Brian.

I'm taking you with me. Mark, you're going to do a wrap up at every one of my events so I can change my shirt.

I'll carry your shirt. I'll carry a spear shirt for you, Darren. Bring it home.

Brian, you make a difference. You are the breakthrough. Thank you for your commitment, the fact that you're never done. You're forcing yourself to go grow. Going from four hours to 45 minutes, or shouldn't say less than 45 minutes. It's been an experience learning about how you create experiences. Thank you so much for being here. Mark Brown. Take us home, Brian.

Again, I want to thank you and friends who are watching or listening. Is it time for you to have your breakthrough? Well, you can listen. Join us at Stagetown University where we help speakers become good, no? Become great, no? We can help you be unforgettable. Tune in next week because we talked last week about having too much content. But what happens if you don't have enough? We might talk about that next week. We'll see you all. Have a great day. Stage Time Stage Time Stage Time Beyond.

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