What Makes You Sparkle?
Do you sparkle?
Not like a vampire in the Twilight series which is an abomination to vampire mythology.Vampires do not sparkle in the sun. They die.
I digress.
Back to your sparkle!
I have a friend, Rebecca, who owns an interior design company, Rivalee Design. She's not your average let's pick a color, buy some drapes and gut your bathroom type of a designer. She is a designer who believes changing your physical environment can transform your life.
I recently watched her give a presentation to a networking group about her business and what she does. By any standards the presentation was a good one. Well organized, clear message, great visuals and well delivered. However, this was a GREAT presentation. What transformed this presentation from a good presentation to a great one?
Sparkle.
Rebecca just sparkled as she gave her speech. She glowed. She shined. Whatever you want to call it, she was clearly sharing her joy.
As I looked around at the audience, they were all entranced by her presentation. They connected to her, the stories of her clients, and her mission. I'd bet my one of my cats that everyone left that room pumped up to recommend Rebecca's business.
At this point, you might think “Great, your friend sparkles in a non-vampire kind of way. What does that have to with me?”
Everything.
We can all sparkle.
Share your Passion
Speakers often struggle for what topic to speak on. Speak about something you care deeply about. This could be interior design, accounting, your bobble head collection, or why Star Wars is way better than Star Trek (for the record Star Wars is WAY better). If you care (and I mean truly care not “Oh I gotta do this for work” care), it is easy to sparkle. The audience connects with you when they know how much you care. It draws them in and makes them excited for what you've got to offer! And boy, do you got a lot to offer!
Unbridle your Enthusiasm
Many times you are forced to do presentations that you don't care about. Giving the latest numbers from your TPS report might make it hard to get out of the bed in the morning to do the presentation. Dude, do I know what's this is like. For years, I worked in market research spouting off jawdroppingly boring statistics about how many millions of Americans eat bologna or endless bar charts on whether or not you should take the fiber out of whole-grain cereal (seriously).
It's was not my passion – not even in my top 30 of things I marginally like to discuss. In order to liven up a research presentations I was doing, I told a personal story of how I connected to the topic. You can connect with cereal – who doesn't remember waking up to Smurf Berry Crunch in your bowl looking at Mom busily getting me ready for the day? My sugary cereal treat was an expression of my Mom's love. Cereal is love. Afterwards, people told me how much they loved the story because it turned dry, boring research into something human. Something that sparkles.
There is usually one if not more things about your presentation that you DO like about your talk. Find those moments and be enthusiastic about them. If there aren't those moments, create one.
Tell your Story
Stories have a fabulous way off connecting with an audience. People love to hear stories of triumph over tribulation. Rebecca tells stories about how redesigning her clients' homes dramatically impacted their life. Stories about clients being able to sleep through the night in a new bedroom to couples who relationships improved because they didn't have to fight over the color of the third bathroom. Stories with results shine, show impact, and build relationships with audiences.
What makes you sparkle? How can you transform a presentation to help you shine?
Let me know if I can help you sparkle, shine and glow.
Image courtesy of Clarism_4 licensed via creative commons.
Really great post, Michelle!
Being passionate is really the key to everything, isn’t it? There is that saying if you love what you do, you never have to work a day in your life (or something like that). There are some who find their passion earlier than others, like Olympic athletes or concert pianists. who benefit from years of honing their skills and some who find things later like painting or writing.
I love how you have woven passion, enthusiasm and storytelling together ~ really fabulous!
Wow! Thank you Peggy! I also think we find our passion through tribulation. It’s when we get pushed out of the nest or have some major upheaval that we chase what makes us happy. Or we go back to something that made us blissed out in our youth. Finding and speaking your passion is so key!
Doesn’t it seem as if most successful people are enthusiastic about what they do?
I went to a book signing a while back; Katherine Winne – you’ve never heard of her, a book titled, “The Waters of Rome.” Nominally, it’s a book about civil engineering. So, sixty academics and me are in a room, and this somewhat low-key woman starts getting going about these 15th-century Roman engineers rebuilding aqueducts and surveying ancient flood line markers – centuries-old buildings where someone had the thought to attach a permanent marker with a finger and a statement to the effect of “The high water was here in 1144 A.D.” – mapping these to determine the topography of their city – in a flood, it’s the water that’s at the same level, not the land – so that they could bring fresh water from up in the hills down to the lowlands at a pressure that would allow the creation of these spectacular fountains which would demonstrate the Power of the One True Faith and The Greatness That Is Rome . . . my goodness, when she was through, all of us stood in line to buy her very beautiful $65 book AND we all pretty much became deputized water conservationists, as well!
A lot of people are passionate about things, but when we want to have some influence, to spread our idea or our misson or the benefits of our product / service, don’t we need to demonstrate that we’re not just out carrying the water for a cause or trying to make the rent, but that we believe – passionately – that what we are doing will make a difference in people’s lives?
Yes I agree. People who love what they do – don’t end up being cogs in the corporate machine (as Seth Godin would say). They sparkle and draw other people into caring about what they do as well. I completely agree that if are doing more than making the rent – and trying to make a difference – trying to use our passion to help – we just glow with it. It benefits the people who use are services and ultimately it makes us feel good that we can make a difference in someone else’s life. That’s what sharing your passion is all about!
[…] What makes you sparkle? What passion do you have that when you talk about it you light up a room? Don’t hide what you love. Share it with the world. You’ll be amazed how people gravitate towards you when you do. […]
[…] What makes you sparkle? What passion do you have that when you talk about it you light up a room? Don’t hide what you love. Share it with the world. You’ll be amazed how people gravitate towards you when you do. […]