Tighten Up

Chris I must say I agree with you that you rambled a bit during your presentation at the Audience Conference, however there were nuggets of truths in what you shared. Your relaxed style set against the backdrop of comedy,and you were funny, was very effective. As a new blogger I was able to gain some insights which I have started to use. Thanks for sharing so candidly.

Your comments on sustainability again are current and should be expanded

Chris, really got me thinking again. Im going to do a self evaluation on my blogs and youtube channel. Im going to review my last ten videos and blogs and write comments down about each. This could get ugly but Im looking forward to it. Have a great day and thanks for the blog. This is something I never thought of doing.

Crush it. :)

Hey Chris. I’m not as critical of myself as I need to be- I largely flow on the concept of winding up where I should be, but first I say yes to things that divert me from original purpose. I’m working on that. I flew on the trapeze for my birthday last august, and I got this email from the Trapeze School of New York a few weeks ago- I printed it and stuck it on the fridge then, but it’s coming up again for a reason, I’m sure. Here it is, written by Jeff S.:
BEGIN QUOTE
“Stay tight” – we commonly give this instruction to our students, encouraging them to engage their muscles to minimize the adverse effects that wind, gravity, inertia and momentum have on body parts left dangling askew. By focusing our bodies, we’re able to use these forces to our advantage as we seek to move more powerfully and deliberately, to fly higher and successfully execute more complicated tricks.

As we learn that lesson in the air, let’s stop for a moment to consider it’s broader application. It’s been said that “who you are on the trapeze is who you are in life.” No doubt that’s true to a degree. At the very least, our years of experience have shown us that the trapeze is a powerful vehicle for learning life lessons. Just as we can learn to stay tight physically, so too can we learn to stay tight mentally both on the rig and off.

Jim Rohn said that “discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” Discipline, or staying tight mentally in our parlance, allows us to minimize the adverse effects of the myriad distractions that life continuously throws at us – stress, drama, injury, negative emotion, and most importantly our own limiting thoughts and beliefs. By focusing our minds – staying true to our center and identifying and dismissing distractions for what they are – we’re able to cross bridges to accomplishment with the greatest of ease.
END QUOTE
Thanks for the reminder.

Great points Chris…too often are we scared to watch ourselves on video or listen to a recording of our own speech. It is crucial to self improvement and making sure we are continuing to delivering high value to those who sometimes pay big bucks to hear us talk.

Stuart Crawford
Calgary, AB

Thanks for the reminder, Chris, that we all need to do a little introspection. That’s why it’s nice to have someone give you an evaluation when you speak. A presentation without an evaluation is a wasted opportunity to improve.

Every time I see your MAC displayed, I hope you are getting some sort of advertising dollar. Your endorsement is better than a TV commercial.

I remember hearing one comedian talk about how excited he was for his TV debut. He had used the same material in nightclubs for years and had it perfected. He was going on TV to launch a 6 city tour. Well, trouble was, when he performed in a small nightclub he could use the same material over and over. Once he did his gig on TV, his material was now dated and he had to start over.

When I was teaching, I always felt my lesson/presentation was always better after at least three classes. If we are interacting with our audience, our lesson/presentation will find a mutual groove.

One master presenter always told me he measured how good his presentation was by the number of follow-up offers/jobs he got. I thought that was a quantitative measure that worked.

I tend to lurk on your blog but this article has moved me to comment.

You are so right, great reminder to everyone that we really have to monitor, review and adjust to get better at whatever it is we do.

I thought your talk at Audience was entertaining as hell, but I can see your point on take aways. Seems like a tough balance to find. You want the folks in the seats get warm, laugh and be entertained, but that can also distract from you and the message. I still think the harder part is entertainment though. That’s tough to pull off and reps only take you so far. Entertainment seems to be one of those “you have it or you don’t” type of things…

Great advice, Chris. I think I go through periods where I am much better about making an effort to do this, and others where I certainly don’t do it enough. Sometimes it’s difficult when things get busy but it’s always worth remembering.

This is something I find very useful about being an architect. There have been so many times when I have been designing a project, and thought I had achieved an optimal solution based of simplicity and efficiency only to realize there were still many ways to “tighten up” the design.

Things can always be tighter simpler cleaner more effective, and more efficient. That’s why companies keep upgrading softwares and coming out with improved versions of last year’s models.

Thanks for the reminder! The difficult part of self-critique for me is separating from myself. I try to imagine an OBE, or review as a third party. What techniques have you found successful to look at yourself not as yourself?

Hi Chris, I agree. As a member of Toastmasters for a few years, I know that part of practicing for every speech is to tighten it up. 5-7 minutes per speech is not a lot of time and we need to get to the point. Yes there is plenty that we want to share with the audience, but we need to think from the audience’s perspective and get to the point. I continue to work on this because I tend to be too wordy. What is underestimated is time to allow for the dramatic pause and some audience reaction. In any case, thanks for sharing your experience here and reminding us that no matter what level we’re at as speakers, there’s always room for improvement.

Chris, I’m a lurker too but this one called me out, as I prepare for a speech tomorrow. I’m not tight when I’m still really thinking it through. It’s my process, the tighter my thinking the tighter the gig.

So helpful. Always!

I agree. We should be confident but be confident and also be able to be critical of ourselves.

Hi Chris . . . I haven’t had a chance to watch your talk yet at the Audience Conference; however, what you say rings very clear from my own personal knowledge and interaction with comedians. I was married to a stand-up for 10 years who spent many a night on the stage you stood on this past Saturday. He has a routine that he has built over 20+ years, but it is always evolving and it is always adapted by listening and analyzing the audience. I also had the opportunity to hang out back stage with comedy legend Jerry Seinfeld during his Broadway run over 10 years ago. After every performance, he analyzed how the audience responded and thought carefully about how he could better zone into the audience for the next show. The bottom line is you can never rest on your laurels – you always have to be focusing on how to “tighten” your message and make it better. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the validation! You certainly help me feel like I was on to something. : ) Or that Dan was. I basically just stole this all from Dan.

That’s how I do it, Steve. I keep dragging you back in. : )

Interestingly, she was there. : )

Hah!

Julie (my terrifyingly brilliant wife) and I have an strict “no-BS” rule on content feedback. (We BS each other about everything else, mind you…)

I like your observation on asides – it is a weakness when you know your subject and have a friendly audience subject to wander down the margins. I plead guilty to that.

- Les

I have the exact same reaction when I watch video tapes of my presentations later. I can’t believe how lame I look and how much I stammer. It is a really useful way of getting familiar with your weaknesses and improving your performance. In college, we had a professor that used to video tape all of our presentations. I’ll never forget my absolute shock the first time I watched myself.

I had never really read your blog before Audience, but your set pulled me over. I say ‘set’ because you were better then the comedians. You did kill it. I also believe the expression is ‘Tighten the fuck up’. :)

You’re a cool guy. Look forward to seeing you in the future.