At Apifany, we have a high level of respect for performers. After all, our founder, David Motto, is a former professional musician. And, one of his mentors, communications specialist Alan Ovson, is a former professional actor. Both David and Alan know the realities of being on stage in front of large audiences – in the arts world AND in the business world.

Now that Covid is less of a threat and we’re returning to in-person meetings, off-sites, town halls, and events, being comfortable in front of an audience has gotten more important than ever.

Here are some powerful ideas for applying performance strategies every time you make a pitch:

1. Take the Stage How you enter the room (on an actual stage or in a virtual zoom room) tells your audience what to expect from the rest of the time they’ll spend with you. Are you high energy and welcoming? Or are you quiet and mysterious? Plan ahead of time the energy level you want your audience to experience.

2. Greet Your Specific Audience There’s a reason rock stars yell, “Hello Cleveland!” when they step up to the microphone. With this customized greeting, they’re acknowledging their specific audience and making that audience feel special. Be sure to plan ahead of time exactly how you’ll greet your audience and start your pitch. The crucial words are the very first words out of your mouth. Nail these, and the rest of the pitch will be a lot easier.

3. Face Your Audience Stage actors accept that they are fully visible the entire time they are on stage. Their audiences will be looking at them and listening to them. Actors open themselves up to this vulnerability and reveal themselves to their audiences – creating a real and lasting connection. As a speaker, you can do the same. Use open body language. Make eye contact. Move toward your audience. Even for virtual meetings you can do the same: Look into the camera for the equivalent of eye contact. Show your head, torso, arms, and hands in your frame so you can make gestures that support your points. Do everything you can to make a connection with your audience.

4. Read the Room You want your audience to stay engaged and be with you through your entire pitch. This means you’ve got to constantly scan your audience to make sure they’re paying attention and are interested in your presentation. For in-person presentations, ask your audience a lot of questions – even if they just need to raise their hand as an answer. For virtual meetings, ask questions and use the “chat” feature to get written responses. If you start to lose your audience, quickly move on to a new topic. Even if you think the current topic is important, it’s your audience who matters. You know who’s great at this skill? Stand-up comedians. With every joke, with every gesture, they’re reading their audience. They know instantly if the audience is responding positively or not. They can adjust their performance based on this audience response, and they read the room constantly.

5. Use Clear Diction and Enunciation Actors, late-night TV hosts, voiceover artists, and many other performers understand that their audiences have to understand their every word. While this sounds obvious for presenters, our experience here at Apifany shows that this is an area that often (very often!) needs coaching. Clear diction is especially important for virtual presentations, where low quality microphones, earbuds, speakers and poor bandwidth are the norm. Here are two pointers to instantly improve your diction: (1) Slow down your speech in general, and especially on important words and specialized terms in your pitch. (2) Clearly pronounce the last consonant of your words. Yes, that seems strange. The last consonant. Really – record yourself trying this strategy, and you’ll hear the difference.

6. Be Aware of Your Stage Presence As a presenter, you can never get flustered. To be successful, you’ll need to stay calm, look confident, and exude executive presence. Both actors and musicians are absolute professionals at these skills. They regularly make mistakes in their performances with absolutely no reaction whatsoever to the mistake. They go on, without missing a beat. They keep their “game face” on, and audiences see nothing in these professionals’ facial expressions that would give away how panicked they feel inside. So, take a deep breath, square your shoulders, keep a calm demeanor, and face the pushback and challenging questions you’re sure to get when presenting your ideas.

7. Exit the Stage Gracefully Dancers, opera singers, and rock bands all end their performances basking in the glow of the stage lights and acknowledging their audiences before they head off stage. You can do the same as a presenter. When you finish your pitch, make eye contact (for virtual meetings stare into the camera), let your audience know they’re important to you and that you want to stay in contact, and leave the room energetically.

Each of these strategies takes practice and requires a specific mental framework to execute confidently. When the strategies are used effectively, you will exude a level of presence and authenticity unavailable to most presenters who are unaware of these performance strategies.

Many of Apifany’s clients are working feverishly to get their ideas heard. They’re also speaking up in meetings, communicating more effectively with their teams, and focusing on their next promotion. Essentially, they are busy, talented people trying to shape their worlds.

Unfortunately, they’re surrounded by many other busy, talented people doing the same. So, when I work with my coaching clients, we talk a lot about how to stand out. Some of my favorite strategies for standing out include (1) being crystal clear on your personal brand, (2) being able to communicate that brand in your proverbial elevator pitch, and (3) solving problems for others rather than looking at every situation as a way to solve one of your own problems.

There are many other strategies for standing out, and you’ll find some of those here in the Apifany blog.

I recently got re-acquainted with an incredible resource for helping you to distinguish yourself so that others pay attention to you. This resource is a short book from my friend Rajesh Setty titled 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself. I promise you that aligning your thinking with Rajesh’s will create positive changes for you – just as it has for me.

And, if even one of the twenty-five strategies in Rajesh’s book resonates with you, your life will improve.

Here’s an overview of the book.

And, here is a place to download a pdf of the book.

I’m amazed at how the contents of this book, which was published in 2005, still offer valuable insights and strategies to put to use today. While technology and media landscapes have changed enormously in that time, Rajesh’s book offers timeless advice. Check it out.

Each of these plays a part in creating your success. At the same time, they’re all inward looking. That is, they’re all attributes you can cultivate to build up yourself.

What if looking outward is the secret to success? It could be that – even with grit, drive, ambition, and resilience – you’ll only truly create success by connecting with the team around you. You’ll want to work well with everyone who shares your goals and who is part of your success pathway.

Having empathy might be the #1 way to better connect with your teams, colleagues, partners, customers, co-creators, and everyone else you come across on a daily basis.

The argument for empathy has gotten a lot of attention recently. Here are three resources that discuss the importance of empathy in building success. They’re all interesting reads worth looking at:

Crafting Better Strategy – Why Empathy Matters: This post in the Knowledge@Wharton blog discusses the balance between IQ (Intelligence Quotient) and EQ (Emotional Quotient).

The Importance of Empathy in Leadership: This piece at Forbes.com by Forbes Council member Lucas Pols covers the importance for leaders to have empathy in order to eliminate barriers and support everyone around you.

Why Empathy Is the Most Important Skill You’ll Ever Need to Succeed: Here’s an article by Yoram Solomon at Inc. Magazine that gives you 10 reasons empathy is the most important skill you’ll need to succeed.

This is incredibly interesting given all the current focus on empathy as a crucial leadership skill. It shows that no single skill is the answer to being a great leader in all situations. Situational leadership means having a balance among a range of leadership skills and knowing which skill to apply at any given time.

Goleman’s insights are clearly worth investigating more for anyone trying to build success on teams. His insights also mesh seamlessly with Rob Kaiser’s research on Versatile Leadership.

Clearly, these guys are onto something. You can’t just rely on one important skill to achieve what you’re trying to achieve in life!

For high achievers and leaders a strange thing can happen. Overuse of your strengths can actually become a weakness, making you less effective.

This insight forms the basis of one of our favorite leadership assessment tools at Apifany: the Leadership Versatility Index 360 assessment, commonly referred to as the “LVI.” If you’re looking for some valuable 360 feedback, with information given to you in a way that will truly help you change for the better, consider using this tool.

In 2019, Wharton professor and author Adam Grant wrote a great piece as a Smarter Living column in the New York Times on this topic. I highly encourage you to read it.

The main idea in Grant’s article, and in the research this idea is based on, is that we need to know when to use our strengths and when to back away from them. By knowing when to turn to our strengths and when to use different strategies, we can be the most effective.

• Find the highest level mentor you can find. For instance, if you’re currently a director who wants to make VP, find an SVP, EVP, or C-level executive. They will have valuable insights on the entire process: becoming a VP, being a VP, maximizing your skills while a VP.
• Find a mentor who has already achieved what you want to achieve. You’re looking for someone who has firsthand knowledge of what it takes to achieve your goal. Someone who has lived and breathed it. Someone who knows what it takes to overcome the inevitable roadblocks you’ll encounter.
• Be specific on what help you’re looking for. If you’re approaching someone to be your mentor, chances are other people are approaching this same person. Make sure you can describe exactly what you need so they can say yes to you.
• Be realistic about the mentor’s availability. Ask humbly about how much time a mentor can spend with you. Depending on who it is, you might only get 30 minutes, once a quarter. Very successful people do want to give their time to help others. They’re just really busy.
• Be realistic about your own time. Finding a mentor will take time. Working with a mentor will take even more time (and effort and resources and focus). You’ll want to be extraordinarily well-prepared for each mentor meeting. Make sure you have the time for this sort of commitment.
• Know your personal brand. Let a potential mentor know what’s unique about you, your worldview, your capabilities. If they see something special in you, they’re more likely to say yes.
• Tell the mentor why you’re approaching them. Why this person? Tell them what you admire about them, traits they have that you want to have, actions you’ve seen them take that you want to emulate.

Each of these seven pointers will give you a more valuable experience working with your mentor.

And, one more thing: To get the most out of being mentored, consider being a mentor also! Then, you’ll fully understand what it feels like to be a mentor, and you’ll adjust how you work with your mentor.

I was truly moved by one of King’s less-known speeches, “What is Your Life’s Blueprint,” originally given to a group of inner-city students in Philadelphia. The full-length speech is stirring and well worth watching, and there’s also a shorter version, edited as a standalone, motivational talk.

King’s blueprint outlines a path to success that I believe anyone can use to help them achieve their goals. Whether you’re a corporate leader, athlete, performing artist, student, or someone trying to improve a personal relationship, this blueprint is a timeless and valuable resource.

Here are the 3 main components of Dr. King’s blueprint:

• Belief in Yourself
• Excellence
• Principles

I’ll leave it to you to explore Dr. King’s speech for yourself. Whether or not you take the time to watch him speak, I know that you will have a much greater chance of getting what you want by believing in yourself, constantly striving for excellence, and adhering to timeless principles.

If you want to feel great and have the best chance of achieving your dreams, you’ll want some guidance. I recommend what I call the Triangle of Influence: three people who each play a distinct role in helping you live the life you want to live.

Let’s look at each of the people in your Triangle of Influence:

• Therapist
  • Sees where you are today.
  • Addresses why you are you.
  • Gives you insights into how you got to where you are.
  • Gives you understanding so you can have less worry and anxiety about the person you are.
• Mentor
  • Sees where you are today. Learns where you want to be – what you want to achieve.
  • Has already accomplished what you want to accomplish.
  • Gives you first-person accounts of strategies they used to overcame the bottlenecks, hurdles, and pushback you’re currently dealing with.
  • Helps you make connections with others who have already accomplished what you want and with other resources you need to achieve your goal(s).
• Coach
  • Sees where you are today.
  • Helps you decide where you want to be and what you want to achieve.
  • Offers best practices and research-driven strategies to move you toward your goals.
  • Focuses on internal aspects (thoughts, ideas) and external aspects (actions, communication) of achieving your goals.

As you can see, each of these three people starts in the same place: where you are today. Then, each gives you a different set of valuable tools.

In a perfect world, you’d have all three members of this Triangle of Influence on your team. If that’s not possible, you’ll need to decide where you think you’ll get the most value and go find that person.

If you’re currently looking for a mentor and are still getting your goal into focus, I recommend holding off for a while until that goal is clear. Successful mentors like helping people who are already clear on what they want.

If you’re unclear, work with a coach before you search for a mentor.