Latest / Tracks To Success / Bridgett McGowen

Transcript

Bridgett McGowen · Tracks To Success

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Hi there, everybody.
0:01
SPEAKER_00: I'm Craig Cann.
0:02
SPEAKER_00: Right now on this edition of Tracks to Success.
0:07
SPEAKER_00: The question of what makes someone unforgettable?
0:11
SPEAKER_00: Is it the message they deliver, the confidence they carry, the energy they bring into a room?
0:17
SPEAKER_00: For this woman, it is the ability to bring all three together.
0:22
SPEAKER_00: She's known as the presentation fixer, an award-winning international professional speaker, author, publisher, and communications expert who spent more than two decades helping people move beyond ordinary presentations and become more powerful, engaging, and memorable communicators.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: She's delivered hundreds of presentations to audiences around the world and appeared on programs alongside some of the most recognized leaders, entertainers, and difference makers of our time.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: But her mission is not simply to help people become better speakers.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: What is it then?
1:02
SPEAKER_00: Let's meet Bridget McGowan.
1:04
SPEAKER_00: Her inspiring story of success starts now.
1:09
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Tracks to Success, the podcast that introduces you to inspiring people with inspiring stories.
1:18
SPEAKER_01: It's your chance to hear from top leaders, entrepreneurs, visionaries, and change makers as they share how they found their way to the top and how their journey can help you find your own.
1:29
SPEAKER_01: And now here's your host, former network broadcaster, C-suite executive, best-selling author, and keynote speaker, Craig Kahn.
1:40
SPEAKER_00: Well, Bridget, thank you so much for being on tracks to success.
1:43
SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad to have you because I think knowing what we both do for a living in this part of our career, this chapter, um, we're gonna have fun conversation.
1:53
SPEAKER_02: I agree.
1:54
SPEAKER_02: I cannot wait.
1:55
SPEAKER_02: I mean, our our prep call was incredible.
2:00
SPEAKER_02: So who knows what's going to happen?
2:02
SPEAKER_02: I'm excited for an actual conversation where we're recording for an audience.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: There we go.
2:08
SPEAKER_00: Let's do it.
2:08
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna start with this because it comes up, you know, when we talked and in your bio, the presentation fixer.
2:16
SPEAKER_00: That's what people call you.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: How did that nickname come about?
2:20
SPEAKER_02: You know, Craig, it wasn't something that I came up uh on my own.
2:25
SPEAKER_02: You came up with on my own.
2:26
SPEAKER_02: You know how this how this goes.
2:28
SPEAKER_02: I was working in corporate America.
2:30
SPEAKER_02: I was working as a faculty development consultant, I was on this incredible team.
2:36
SPEAKER_02: I'm telling you, these are the smartest, most incredible folks you'll ever meet.
2:40
SPEAKER_02: We travel the country, Craig, delivering presentations and workshops and conferences to faculty members at universities and colleges.
2:50
SPEAKER_02: And a VP at the company, I was at an ed tech company, a VP at the company attended one of my sessions.
2:57
SPEAKER_02: And he came up to me afterwards, Craig, and said, Bridget, that wasn't a breakout about active learning.
3:05
SPEAKER_02: It wasn't a breakout about how do you engage multiple types of students in a classroom.
3:12
SPEAKER_02: That was a presentation skills session.
3:15
SPEAKER_02: And that's when it started to stick, Craig.
3:18
SPEAKER_02: And so, on top of the faculty development work I was doing with the company, I started doing this road trip, if you will, where I was going to all of the different offices in the company, doing train-to-trainer sessions on presentation skills, and sales reps would call me and ask questions, and district managers would say, We've got this coming up.
3:37
SPEAKER_02: What do we do?
3:38
SPEAKER_02: And so in due time, I just started calling myself the presentation fixer.
3:43
SPEAKER_02: I can watch you present for three to five minutes, tell you what's working, what's not, and most importantly, how to fix it.
3:49
SPEAKER_00: Good.
3:49
SPEAKER_00: So you're gonna send me a critique after we get done with this?
3:51
SPEAKER_02: Give me and an invoice.
3:54
SPEAKER_00: Okay, now I know you're a real business woman.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's um let's start at the very beginning.
4:00
SPEAKER_00: I I want to know, you know, whether it was child, whether it was high school, whatever, whatever it was.
4:05
SPEAKER_00: When did you realize, you know, communication was a gift, presentation was a gift, maybe something that you might have wanted to build a career around, or did you have something completely different?
4:15
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be this.
4:17
SPEAKER_02: Right, you know, Craig, I grew up in an area that was blue-collar and probably still is.
4:24
SPEAKER_02: I haven't been back in a while.
4:25
SPEAKER_02: I didn't see any careers that caught my attention.
4:30
SPEAKER_02: I didn't see anything that I wanted to be.
4:32
SPEAKER_02: I just knew there was gonna a professional track for me.
4:37
SPEAKER_02: I grew up in a household where uh both parents were blue-collar workers.
4:42
SPEAKER_02: Most of the people around us were blue-collar workers.
4:45
SPEAKER_02: It was Sunday school, maybe when I got an inkling that professional speaking was in the cards for me.
4:56
SPEAKER_02: Or maybe sitting in elementary school in the classroom, and you would do the read alouds, and it's a long passage.
5:06
SPEAKER_02: Each student got one paragraph.
5:08
SPEAKER_02: I was at student sitting counting to see which, yes, which paragraph was mine.
5:15
SPEAKER_02: And then Craig, I'm sitting there rehearsing it so I can make sure I deliver it at full capacity with no errors, as if I was auditioning for some kind of a, I don't know, a toothpaste commercial.
5:27
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
5:28
SPEAKER_02: But I was that kid.
5:30
SPEAKER_02: So very early on, for different reasons and in different ways, I knew speaking was just in my future.
5:42
SPEAKER_02: That's cool.
5:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, my mom, God rest her soul, she she would tell you right now, uh, Craig's lemonade stand was second to none.
5:49
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't because my lemonade was any good, it's because I just yapped at everybody.
5:53
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
5:54
SPEAKER_00: And I I made up basketball games and football games with my own tape recorder and microphone in my room, wanting to be a sportscaster.
6:02
SPEAKER_00: So I knew that's what I wanted to do.
6:04
SPEAKER_00: Were you always super comfortable, you know, speaking in front of people and and you know, developing a confidence to take it to another level and another another level?
6:16
SPEAKER_02: I was.
6:16
SPEAKER_02: I'm telling you, as a church school secretary in a very small town, and the congregation at our church was not very big.
6:28
SPEAKER_02: I had no problem getting up there every Sunday morning and telling you what the topic of the lesson was and what first we had, and how many were in attendance, and and what the collection was.
6:43
SPEAKER_02: It always was very comfortable for me.
6:49
SPEAKER_02: I yeah, and people will ask me, Craig, where does the confidence come from?
6:55
SPEAKER_02: And yeah, it it just it was there.
6:59
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so let's take that exact question.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: Where does the confidence come from?
7:03
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you and I do similar things, and people want to get more comfortable.
7:11
SPEAKER_00: Start out perhaps very uncomfortable, but getting comfortable with uncomfortable is a big part of it.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: So, where does the confidence come from?
7:18
SPEAKER_00: Let's help some people.
7:20
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
7:21
SPEAKER_02: The confidence comes from you sitting down, and I need you to think about all the things you're good at.
7:28
SPEAKER_02: I need you to think about your accomplishments.
7:30
SPEAKER_02: I need to think, I need you to think about the impact that you have on people.
7:35
SPEAKER_02: I need you to think about your expertise.
7:37
SPEAKER_02: Actually, everybody listening, I need you to do this exercise.
7:40
SPEAKER_02: Make a list.
7:41
SPEAKER_02: Take five minutes.
7:42
SPEAKER_02: That's it.
7:43
SPEAKER_02: Five minutes.
7:44
SPEAKER_02: Make a list of your accomplishments, a list of your impact.
7:47
SPEAKER_02: Who have you helped?
7:48
SPEAKER_02: What problems have you solved?
7:49
SPEAKER_02: What questions do you answer for people?
7:51
SPEAKER_02: And then make a list of all of your expertise.
7:54
SPEAKER_02: What degrees do you have, certifications you have?
7:56
SPEAKER_02: I need you to do that for five minutes.
7:58
SPEAKER_02: Then I need you to step back and ask yourself when you look at this resume, does this person deserve confidence?
8:12
SPEAKER_02: That's where I need everyone to start.
8:14
SPEAKER_02: I need you to just take stock of what's already there.
8:17
SPEAKER_02: And then this is what I think, Craig.
8:20
SPEAKER_02: I don't believe people see the evidence of their confidence until they're forced to do it.
8:30
SPEAKER_02: Do that exercise and then ask yourself does this person have the right to be confident?
8:37
SPEAKER_02: The answer nine times out of ten is yes.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I I love to tell people that they can take great notes.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: We can all do that.
8:46
SPEAKER_00: They can build a really phenomenal resume listing all their accomplishments.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: But if you cannot bring that to life, it's no different than slides, you know, and information up on a PowerPoint or whatever it is.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: It's not about the slides, it's about you delivering the information.
9:01
SPEAKER_00: And the information is secondary to your entertainment value.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: But if you can't bring your notes to life, if you can't bring, you know, your words to life to impact somebody to make them genuinely feel something, that's the difference between good and great.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: Fair?
9:19
SPEAKER_02: I I agree.
9:20
SPEAKER_02: I agree.
9:21
SPEAKER_02: Information is at everyone's fingertips.
9:24
SPEAKER_02: Anyone, anyone can spout off details, data, statistics.
9:32
SPEAKER_02: But can you give a person a reason to lean in?
9:36
SPEAKER_02: Can you provide that data?
9:39
SPEAKER_02: Can you provide those statistics, that research in a way that makes someone say, Oh, that was good.
9:45
SPEAKER_02: That was time well spent.
9:46
SPEAKER_02: I learned something, I feel compelled to act.
9:50
SPEAKER_02: That's the difference.
9:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, not I have to be there.
9:53
SPEAKER_00: I got to be there.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: I got to listen to this.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: That was that was really important.
9:58
SPEAKER_00: Um okay.
10:00
SPEAKER_00: As far as I want to dive back one more time into you know, childhood for you and and leading up, but but there's something that I wrote down in my notes.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: You already talked about, oh, our our pre-call or whatever we had.
10:13
SPEAKER_00: And two words, okay, that that are there.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: And I didn't write anything else when we were talking.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: Birth certificate.
10:21
SPEAKER_00: Why is that so important to your story?
10:24
SPEAKER_02: Oh my goodness, Craig.
10:26
SPEAKER_02: And you said this is only about a 30-35-minute conversation.
10:29
SPEAKER_02: So let me try to keep this.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: See if you can knock this in two.
10:32
SPEAKER_02: Keep it tight, keep it tight.
10:34
SPEAKER_02: Listen, Craig.
10:36
SPEAKER_02: I am adopted.
10:39
SPEAKER_02: However, I did not find out until well into adulthood.
10:44
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
10:45
SPEAKER_02: And when I found out, it answered so many questions.
10:51
SPEAKER_02: You see, I grew up in what a lot of LDAs, late discovery adoptees.
10:57
SPEAKER_02: That's what we are when we find out late in life that we are adopted.
11:02
SPEAKER_02: Like a lot of LDAs, our birth certificates hold a lot of mystery.
11:10
SPEAKER_02: And we grow up in what we call genetically strange environments.
11:15
SPEAKER_02: Craig, I never could understand why in the world I didn't seem to fit in.
11:24
SPEAKER_02: And the household that I grew up in, nothing made sense.
11:29
SPEAKER_02: We didn't have similar interests, we did not have similar goals, aspirations.
11:36
SPEAKER_02: It was just so weird.
11:38
SPEAKER_02: Not so much, oh, I don't look like anyone.
11:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, whatever.
11:44
SPEAKER_02: That was that was secondary.
11:46
SPEAKER_02: But it was looking at the birth certificate, and the birth certificate was filed with the Bureau of Vital Statistics or something like that, more than two years after I was born.
12:02
SPEAKER_02: And I remember asking, why is that?
12:06
SPEAKER_02: You know, and I was given some flim flam answer by the family who adopted me.
12:13
SPEAKER_02: And it was enough to kind of pacify me for the time being.
12:18
SPEAKER_02: But after finding out about the adoption, well into adulthood, I'm looking more closely at that birth certificate, and it's it's troubling because it is official, it looks official, everything's fine.
12:34
SPEAKER_02: It has the parents' names on there and location and time of birth and everything.
12:40
SPEAKER_02: It is legit.
12:42
SPEAKER_02: But Craig, it is not legit.
12:46
SPEAKER_02: It is not.
12:48
SPEAKER_02: It is quite frankly a lie.
12:50
SPEAKER_02: That birth certificate is a lie.
12:52
SPEAKER_02: I was not born to those two people in that hospital on that day, on that time.
13:00
SPEAKER_02: And so I have been living a lie for decades, Craig, thinking I was one person, when in fact I was put on this earth as someone else.
13:12
SPEAKER_02: Bridget was not the name I was given at birth.
13:15
SPEAKER_02: So the birth certificate, oh Craig, it comes with a lot of weight for me.
13:23
SPEAKER_02: I did eventually get a copy of my original birth certificate with my biological parents' names on it.
13:31
SPEAKER_02: But uh it's just a funny feeling.
13:34
SPEAKER_02: And because the thing with that is, I don't know that I can get the original, right?
13:39
SPEAKER_02: So I've got a copy of the real thing and a real version of the fake certificate.
13:46
SPEAKER_02: And let's be very clear here and just straight, as a black person in America, there's a a lot of pain that can be associated with that.
13:58
SPEAKER_02: Because despite what some historians may try to tell you, we didn't come over here on cruise ships.
14:03
SPEAKER_02: And so a lot of black people in America had their identity stripped from them 400 years ago.
14:12
SPEAKER_02: And then for me to look at a birth certificate, two different birth certificates, and to have my identity stripped from me and not know truly who I am or was for decades, it's a lot of pain.
14:26
SPEAKER_02: It's a lot of pain, Craig.
14:29
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15:20
SPEAKER_00: We're talking with Bridget McGowan, the presentation fixer.
15:24
SPEAKER_00: And a moment ago you shared a really compelling story about your journey.
15:29
SPEAKER_00: I mean, honestly, I don't know if there's anything else that would stand out more than you sharing that, because so much from that would lead to who you are today.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: My my question, first question about that, is about presenting yourself.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you're known as a presentation fixer.
15:46
SPEAKER_00: You help other people present the best version of themselves.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: But did you struggle?
15:50
SPEAKER_00: Have you struggled in your life figuring out, okay, given what I know about my birth certificate and everything, how do I present me?
15:58
unknown: Right.
16:00
SPEAKER_02: And that is the million-dollar question, Craig, because now I've got all of these questions circling in my head and all of the doubt.
16:08
SPEAKER_02: A lot like other people when they get on the stage and they know who their parents are, okay, but they have the doubt circling.
16:17
SPEAKER_02: Am I qualified to present this information?
16:21
SPEAKER_02: Am I going to be seen as credible?
16:24
SPEAKER_02: So for me, finding out that information, I'm sitting here trying to figure out who in the world I am.
16:31
SPEAKER_02: And so it took me a long time before I told people I was adopted.
16:35
SPEAKER_02: I still just kind of went about work, went about the presentations and the conferences and so on, as if everything was fine when it wasn't, because I knew I needed to deliver not a speaker-centric experience, but an audience-centric experience.
16:56
SPEAKER_02: It's not that my audience wouldn't care about my story, but what did they come to get?
17:02
SPEAKER_02: And I needed to make sure, no matter what was going on with me, that I gave them what they came to get.
17:07
SPEAKER_02: But let me tell you something, Craig.
17:10
SPEAKER_02: One of my best presentations ever was when I did open up a little bit about my personal story.
17:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
17:18
SPEAKER_02: I I tend to keep it very black and white.
17:21
SPEAKER_02: We're talking about presentations.
17:23
SPEAKER_02: How do you open?
17:24
SPEAKER_02: How do you engage?
17:24
SPEAKER_02: How do you close?
17:26
SPEAKER_02: I was at a conference in DC.
17:31
SPEAKER_02: It was 2019.
17:35
SPEAKER_02: I presented at this same conference the year before out in California.
17:41
SPEAKER_02: And there was something someone said, someone asked me something.
17:45
SPEAKER_02: I don't remember exactly what it was, Craig, but it prompted me to ask the audience, did any of you attend this conference last year?
17:55
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
17:56
SPEAKER_02: And did you attend my session last year?
17:58
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
17:59
SPEAKER_02: I said, do you notice a difference between the two sessions?
18:02
SPEAKER_02: They were like, uh, yes.
18:04
SPEAKER_02: I said, this one's much better, right?
18:07
SPEAKER_02: They said, yeah.
18:08
SPEAKER_02: I said, the other one was a mess, wasn't it?
18:10
SPEAKER_02: They said, no, it wasn't a mess.
18:11
SPEAKER_02: If it hadn't been a mess, we wouldn't have come to see you this year, right?
18:16
SPEAKER_02: I said, let me tell you what was happening.
18:20
SPEAKER_02: Craig, I was going to the speaker ready room and I saw someone's name badge.
18:30
SPEAKER_02: I knew who that person was.
18:33
SPEAKER_02: That person did not know me.
18:35
SPEAKER_02: I had to make a split-second decision, Craig, as to whether I was going to go over and introduce myself or not.
18:43
SPEAKER_02: I'm thinking, do you do it?
18:44
SPEAKER_02: Do you not?
18:44
SPEAKER_02: Do you do it?
18:45
SPEAKER_02: Do you not?
18:45
SPEAKER_02: Your presentation is in two hours, Bridget.
18:48
SPEAKER_02: You need to be in tip-top shape.
18:50
SPEAKER_02: This conversation that you have with this person is going to rock your world, without a doubt.
18:55
SPEAKER_02: But do you want to get on the plane tomorrow and go back home with regrets?
18:59
SPEAKER_02: So, Craig, I approached him.
19:02
SPEAKER_02: I said, I've never prepared for this conversation.
19:06
SPEAKER_02: And what's about to happen is going to be a very strange exchange.
19:10
SPEAKER_02: But I need to ask that you'll indulge me for just a few moments.
19:14
SPEAKER_02: I asked the gentleman, are you from Texas?
19:18
SPEAKER_02: He says, Yes.
19:19
SPEAKER_02: I said, Do you have a sister who lives in Alaska?
19:24
SPEAKER_02: He says, Yes.
19:26
SPEAKER_02: I said, okay.
19:28
SPEAKER_02: Do I look familiar to you?
19:32
SPEAKER_02: His mouth dropped.
19:34
SPEAKER_02: I said, yes.
19:36
SPEAKER_02: That sister of yours in Alaska is my mother.
19:41
SPEAKER_02: His mouth dropped because she and I look a lot alike.
19:46
SPEAKER_02: He had never met me, but I knew his name because I'd done the research on the biological family after finding out about my adoption.
19:55
SPEAKER_02: And so we exchanged a few words, and like I guaranteed him, it would be a strange conversation.
20:02
SPEAKER_02: We exchanged contact information.
20:05
SPEAKER_02: We met up for lunch the next day and so on.
20:07
SPEAKER_02: And we've stayed in touch.
20:10
SPEAKER_02: But that was my first time ever interacting with a biological relative.
20:17
SPEAKER_02: And then I had to go deliver a presentation two hours later.
20:21
SPEAKER_02: I wasn't at the top of my game.
20:24
SPEAKER_02: I cranked it out.
20:25
SPEAKER_02: I you know did okay, but it wasn't my best.
20:30
SPEAKER_02: And so I shared with the audience, you never know what's going on behind the scenes.
20:37
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
20:38
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes some people are just showing up as best they can and doing the best they can with what they have.
20:46
SPEAKER_02: And so you want to be careful with how you judge people, you want to be careful with how you evaluate people because you just don't know their story.
20:56
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
20:56
SPEAKER_02: And that human connection, Craig.
21:00
SPEAKER_02: Oh my goodness.
21:02
SPEAKER_02: That was one of the best presentations ever.
21:04
SPEAKER_02: And it was just letting that guard down and sharing a little bit of my personal story.
21:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people don't understand the value of their story.
21:13
SPEAKER_00: They don't think they matter, they don't think they're relevant, they don't think they have a message.
21:18
SPEAKER_00: That's incorrect.
21:19
SPEAKER_00: One of the biggest things we can do is give people the confidence that they matter.
21:23
SPEAKER_00: And I always like to bring people up and say, here's your audience right now.
21:26
SPEAKER_00: And this is in front of everybody.
21:28
SPEAKER_00: Go ahead.
21:29
SPEAKER_00: Tell them who you are and why we should care.
21:31
SPEAKER_00: Now, a lot of people don't have the answer on speed dial.
21:34
SPEAKER_00: They got to think about it.
21:35
SPEAKER_00: They don't think people care.
21:37
SPEAKER_00: So here's what I want to do, Bridget.
21:39
SPEAKER_00: I want to help some people.
21:40
SPEAKER_00: Let's help some people together.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: Let's go through a couple of things here.
21:43
SPEAKER_00: All right.
21:44
SPEAKER_00: Story is a really big thing.
21:46
SPEAKER_00: Now, a lot of people spend a ton of time on their slides and their material.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: I think you might, I might.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's all great.
21:54
SPEAKER_00: Why do we sometimes forget to prepare to present our best stuff?
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Self.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Why do people forget that aspect of it?
22:04
SPEAKER_02: I think people forget because they wait until showtime to present their best selves, as opposed to working to present their best selves every single day, every single moment that they have the opportunity to be their best in front of an audience.
22:20
SPEAKER_02: And Craig, you know this.
22:22
SPEAKER_02: An audience does not have to be an auditorium filled with thousands of people.
22:26
SPEAKER_02: An audience can be the cashier at the grocery store.
22:30
SPEAKER_02: An audience can be the teller at the bank, the associate at the post office.
22:35
SPEAKER_02: So what I think holds people back from presenting their best selves on the stage, or what gets in the way, is all of a sudden there's this anxiety built up where I've got to do something.
22:47
SPEAKER_02: I've got this is my moment.
22:49
SPEAKER_02: This is my one and only chance on this microphone.
22:52
SPEAKER_02: When no, you have a chance every single day you engage with anyone.
22:57
SPEAKER_02: Make that person in front of you feel like they are the most important person on the planet.
23:02
SPEAKER_02: And when you do that, you are showing up as your best self.
23:06
SPEAKER_02: So when it's time to deliver a presentation, because you've put in the reps of uh making communication important, making it effective, making sure your words resonate with anyone and everyone.
23:25
SPEAKER_02: When you get on a stage, it's just you're in a different outfit and you got a microphone in front of you, but you're doing the same thing that you do any other day of the week.
23:33
SPEAKER_00: So many people get so caught up in, oh, I gotta have these words on there, I gotta have this on there, I gotta have that on there.
23:38
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
23:38
SPEAKER_00: You're competing against yourself.
23:40
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you're the magic number.
23:41
SPEAKER_00: You can't have all those words.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: You want people focused on you.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: I've got a program, trademark program called a brand new you.
23:49
SPEAKER_00: Brand you, tie those together, right?
23:52
SPEAKER_00: Really important.
23:52
SPEAKER_00: You've got your brand, presentation fixer.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: I've got my brand, green shoe, and other things.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: Now, all those things are really important.
24:00
SPEAKER_00: I tell people this, and I want your reaction to it.
24:02
SPEAKER_00: We've got two jobs.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: I don't care if you're going into a boardroom, I don't care if you're going into your annual meeting, I don't care if you're going into your team meeting or a keynote.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: Job number one, make people remember what they're supposed to remember.
24:16
SPEAKER_00: Gotta have a message.
24:18
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's really important.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: What's the story here?
24:20
SPEAKER_00: You can have all kinds of data.
24:22
SPEAKER_00: What's the story here?
24:24
SPEAKER_00: Gotta have a message.
24:25
SPEAKER_00: Make people remember what they're supposed to remember.
24:27
SPEAKER_00: That's one.
24:27
SPEAKER_00: Number two, make people remember that I, you, Bridget, you, audience, were the one that told people what they were supposed to remember.
24:37
SPEAKER_00: In other words, they have to connect it to a human being, and we have to connect so we can make somebody feel compelled to walk out of the room emotionally charged to say, I was there, I remember, Bridget McGallan was the speaker today, Craig Cam was the speaker today.
24:52
SPEAKER_00: What do you think about that?
24:54
SPEAKER_02: 100% cannot disagree with you.
24:56
SPEAKER_02: Before you get ready to speak, ask yourself, what do I want the audience to know or to be able to do by the time I am finished?
25:05
SPEAKER_02: That directly speaks to your number one.
25:09
SPEAKER_02: And then your number two, you want folks to unequivocally associate that good message, that good feeling, that good content with you, without a doubt.
25:23
SPEAKER_02: When you have people thinking about you, I need you to fill in the blank as to what it is you want them to remember.
25:30
SPEAKER_02: What do you want them to remember about you?
25:33
SPEAKER_02: Weave that into the message, weave that into all of your examples.
25:38
SPEAKER_02: But I I can't disagree with you.
25:40
SPEAKER_02: You got two jobs.
25:42
SPEAKER_02: Have them remember their mess, the message, have them remember you.
25:45
SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's golden.
25:47
SPEAKER_02: That's titanium.
25:48
SPEAKER_00: All right.
25:50
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
25:50
SPEAKER_00: All right.
25:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, what presentation mistake do you see often from people that you work with?
25:58
SPEAKER_00: Or if you're sitting in a room, you know, it's kind of like being a sportscaster.
26:02
SPEAKER_00: I can't watch sporting events and not look at the sportscaster or the anchor.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: I can't look at it in the same way.
26:09
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure an actor or actress can't watch a movie in the same way.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: They're analyzing things differently.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: You and I look at presenters and we analyze.
26:17
SPEAKER_00: What mistake do you see so often?
26:20
SPEAKER_02: I see people mistaking what engagement really is, what audience engagement really looks like.
26:29
SPEAKER_02: They will start with an icebreaker, which there's nothing wrong with that, but that's not audience engagement.
26:35
SPEAKER_02: They'll start with a story about themselves.
26:37
SPEAKER_02: That's fine, but that's not audience engagement.
26:40
SPEAKER_02: Audience engagement is really about how you have tailored your questions so that it has the audience thinking.
26:49
SPEAKER_02: How have you set things up so it has the audience getting moved affectively, behaviorally, or cognitively?
26:56
SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying throw out your icebreakers.
26:58
SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying throw out your anecdotes.
27:00
SPEAKER_02: I'm saying step back and ask yourself, how is this moving the audience?
27:05
SPEAKER_02: And use the letters A, B, C.
27:07
SPEAKER_02: How does it move the audience affectively, behaviorally, cognitively?
27:12
SPEAKER_02: How does it change the way they're feeling, they're acting, and they're thinking?
27:16
SPEAKER_02: So don't do an icebreaker for the just oh, I want to do an icebreaker, but do one that moves them, and that is engagement.
27:24
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I'm gonna tell a story by myself.
27:26
SPEAKER_02: That's great.
27:27
SPEAKER_02: But tell a story that moves them, and that's engagement.
27:31
SPEAKER_02: But just doing something because you've seen someone else do it and call it engagement, that's a big mistake, I see, Craig.
27:39
SPEAKER_01: In addition to hosting this podcast, Craig leads the Cannes Advisory Group, empowering companies and individuals to elevate communication and build brand awareness with bold ideas, lasting impact, and his signature green shoe style.
27:55
SPEAKER_01: From company consulting and team workshops to one-on-one coaching and transformational virtual programs, Can Advisory guides people to communicate with greater clarity, confidence, and impact.
28:09
SPEAKER_01: So whether you're a leader looking to give your team a game-changing one-day experience, or an individual who wants to become a speaker and presenter, people remember, visit CanAdvisory.com.
28:21
SPEAKER_01: And when you connect, mention the Tracks to Success podcast to receive a special discount on Canadvisory Services.
28:29
SPEAKER_01: That's CanAdvisory.com.
28:31
SPEAKER_01: Now, back to the interview.
28:33
SPEAKER_00: Bridget McGowan's my guest on Tracks to Success, corporate space, educational space, speaking space, author space.
28:43
SPEAKER_00: You got a lot of spaces, okay?
28:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, you encourage people to become unforgettable.
28:50
SPEAKER_00: All right, that's that's important.
28:51
SPEAKER_00: That's what we try to do.
28:52
SPEAKER_00: Be an unforgettable person in the room.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: What makes somebody unforgettable in your mind?
29:00
SPEAKER_02: Craig, someone is unforgettable when every move they make, every word they say, has the person in front of them thinking, This is well worth my time.
29:19
SPEAKER_02: This person cares.
29:21
SPEAKER_02: It's when you make everything you do and everything you say about the other person and less about you.
29:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
29:29
SPEAKER_00: Audience first always, you know what is their expectation when they walk out of the room.
29:35
SPEAKER_00: I try to start with that and then work my way backward.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: How do I get if I want the standing ovation, if I want them to be in line outside a room, you know, for a book signing experience?
29:45
SPEAKER_00: Okay, how do I create that?
29:47
SPEAKER_00: Because they might not show up, they might walk out and not want to say hello.
29:51
SPEAKER_00: How do we do that?
29:51
SPEAKER_00: You gotta, this is a tip for everybody.
29:54
SPEAKER_00: Think about keep the end in mind.
29:56
SPEAKER_00: What is the ultimate goal?
29:57
SPEAKER_00: You want action steps, you gotta create those.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: So um, I think that's really important.
30:02
SPEAKER_00: You you talked about kind of authentic and and you know being unforgettable and the best version of yourself, all that stuff.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: People do say, I just want to be myself.
30:14
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I want to be myself.
30:16
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I get it.
30:18
SPEAKER_00: Is that enough?
30:19
SPEAKER_00: Or do we still have a kind of a responsibility to present the best version of ourself?
30:26
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
30:27
SPEAKER_00: Like there's being ourself, being that authentic person, and then being somebody else that people will not forget.
30:36
SPEAKER_02: I think, Craig, it is unfair to the audience if you don't try to show up and be the best version of yourself.
30:46
SPEAKER_02: Just being yourself, that's fine.
30:48
SPEAKER_02: I agree with you.
30:50
SPEAKER_02: You don't want to try to act like someone else.
30:52
SPEAKER_02: No, definitely be yourself.
30:54
SPEAKER_02: But you owe it to the audience to not just phone it in.
31:00
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
31:01
SPEAKER_02: You own it to, you owe it to, and you owe it to yourself.
31:04
SPEAKER_02: But I like to focus on making sure that I am putting the audience first always.
31:09
SPEAKER_02: So they didn't people didn't enter the room and think to themselves, yeah, I hope I have a mediocre experience today.
31:16
SPEAKER_02: People didn't, you know, they didn't enter the room and say, Yeah, yeah, I hope the person is themselves, whatever version that is.
31:24
SPEAKER_02: They're hoping to see you at your best.
31:27
SPEAKER_02: They are cheering you on.
31:29
SPEAKER_02: They are not out there being naysayers.
31:33
SPEAKER_02: That is what they're craving, is how you show up at your best.
31:37
SPEAKER_02: Listen, Craig, you've probably been to a musical performance or a theatrical performance.
31:42
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
31:42
SPEAKER_02: And I guarantee you, you would be at that box office insisting on a refund if that artist showed up and just kind of gave you 50%.
31:52
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
31:53
SPEAKER_02: Nobody wants less than 100% from someone.
31:56
SPEAKER_02: So, yes, be yourself.
31:59
SPEAKER_02: But I need you to think about what is it that friends and family love about me and let that shine?
32:04
SPEAKER_02: What is it that colleagues say about me that is incredible?
32:08
SPEAKER_02: Ensure that that comes out when you're on the microphone.
32:11
SPEAKER_02: But nobody ever wants to get on a microphone and just be average.
32:15
SPEAKER_02: Come on, you're better than average.
32:18
SPEAKER_00: And no, and no audience wants to see a train wreck either.
32:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know how a basketball player at the free throw line, you know, one dribble moves the ball around their hands and shoots, or maybe it's two dribbles, or maybe it's three dribbles, they do the same routine.
32:31
SPEAKER_00: Golfers, before they go out to the first T, they work through, you know, their their irons down to the wedges, then maybe the driver, whatever their routine is.
32:39
SPEAKER_00: So, what does a preparation for a presentation look like?
32:45
SPEAKER_00: What is what is a routine?
32:47
SPEAKER_00: Do you have one?
32:49
SPEAKER_02: As the presentation fixer, Craig, I better have one.
32:52
SPEAKER_00: I'd like to believe so.
32:54
SPEAKER_00: I would like to believe so.
32:55
SPEAKER_00: What are the what what are you gonna help them with?
32:57
SPEAKER_02: Craig, I deliver my presentation.
33:00
SPEAKER_02: Now, this is after I've done the research, the slide design, I've thought about the audience outcome, I've reverse engineered it, I've thought about what the goal is, and then I work backwards to make sure that I deliver in a way that reaches that goal.
33:12
SPEAKER_02: So once I get all of that work done, which can take dozens of hours, then this is where it gets real.
33:21
SPEAKER_02: I deliver that presentation full out, as if my audience is right there with me, a minimum of three times all the way through.
33:31
SPEAKER_02: I pause for the laughter, I lean in for the questions, I do a dress rehearsal, a minimum of three times all the way through.
33:41
SPEAKER_02: And let me tell you, Craig, if I get to a point where I'm like, oh no, that didn't land right, or that that that transition isn't smooth, or that that story just really doesn't quite illustrate what I wanted to illustrate.
33:52
SPEAKER_02: I have to go back and I have to do some editing and do some revisions that did not count as one of those three times, Craig.
34:00
SPEAKER_02: Now I've got to go through it all the way through three times minimum, standing as if my audience is out there.
34:10
SPEAKER_02: That is what preparation looks like for me.
34:13
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you're gonna you're gonna rip me then.
34:16
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna tell you.
34:16
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm not.
34:17
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna tell you a different story.
34:19
SPEAKER_00: So people say, hey, Craig, do you do you prepare?
34:21
SPEAKER_00: Do you rehearse?
34:22
SPEAKER_00: How do you do it?
34:22
SPEAKER_00: What do you do?
34:24
SPEAKER_00: I never know.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: I maybe this is from doing thousands of TV shows in my time or radio shows.
34:32
SPEAKER_00: I do not prepare, in other words, with a microphone, standing there in my office, wherever it might be, and and getting ready to go out there.
34:41
SPEAKER_00: But I build all my own slides.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: I have somebody that makes them better, obviously, but I lay it all out and I think about two things when I'm presenting.
34:52
SPEAKER_00: I think about how I'm gonna feel delivering this slide and how my audience is gonna feel hearing me deliver and looking at this image or vision of what that slide is.
35:02
SPEAKER_00: And I go over it over and over and over.
35:06
SPEAKER_00: And everything is about choreography, and everything is about taking people on a journey, and it has to be all the way through.
35:14
SPEAKER_00: And it is a choreography in my head as I'm building it.
35:18
SPEAKER_00: So when people say, Do you prepare?
35:20
SPEAKER_00: Yes, 100% hours upon hours before I go do anything.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: It could be a 30-minute webinar, it could be a 45-minute keynote, an hour and 15, it could be an eight-hour workshop.
35:31
SPEAKER_00: I've already gone through it and I've gone through it over and over again.
35:34
SPEAKER_00: That's how I prepare.
35:36
SPEAKER_00: Am I okay?
35:36
SPEAKER_00: There's there's nothing.
35:39
SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry, go ahead, Craig.
35:41
SPEAKER_02: Am I okay in your book?
35:42
SPEAKER_02: You are better than okay in my book.
35:45
SPEAKER_02: You are probably doing more than three times all the way through with what you talked about, and you took the word out of my mouth.
35:53
SPEAKER_02: It's a choreographed experience.
35:55
SPEAKER_02: That's exactly what I will tell clients when I coach them is you are choreographing an experience and it has to flow, it has to make sense.
36:04
SPEAKER_02: You are better than okay in my book.
36:07
SPEAKER_02: I thought you were going to tell me, I just get up there and wing it, Bridget.
36:11
SPEAKER_00: No, I wasn't gonna say that.
36:13
SPEAKER_00: I certainly wouldn't say that to you.
36:14
SPEAKER_00: And uh, if that was the case, um, things wouldn't be going well in the next couple of months for me either, and I wouldn't be doing it anymore.
36:21
SPEAKER_01: Looking for a guest speaker for your next event or annual conference, Craig brings an inspiring and empowering message your audience won't soon forget.
36:30
SPEAKER_01: Visit Craigcanspeak.com to learn more and hear what audiences are saying about the green shoe experience making an impact at events across the country.
36:40
SPEAKER_01: That's Craigcanspeak.com.
36:42
SPEAKER_01: And when you connect, mention the Tracks to Success podcast to receive a special discount on your event with Craig.
36:49
SPEAKER_01: Now, back to the show.
36:51
SPEAKER_00: Talking with Bridget McGowan, having a great time uh in this conversation.
36:57
SPEAKER_00: You're an author, a publisher, an entrepreneur.
37:00
SPEAKER_00: Um, was there ever a time, a defining moment, a feeling when you said to myself, you know what?
37:09
SPEAKER_00: I need to stop waiting for somebody else to come choose me, and I'm just gonna bet on myself.
37:17
SPEAKER_00: Did that happen for you in your career?
37:19
SPEAKER_02: 100%, Craig.
37:21
SPEAKER_02: 100%.
37:22
SPEAKER_02: Let me take you back to 2015, June, and my entire team at an ed tech company got disbanded.
37:37
SPEAKER_02: There were about, I think, maybe 12 of us.
37:40
SPEAKER_02: The company got rid of all of us.
37:41
SPEAKER_02: It was a it was a business decision.
37:43
SPEAKER_02: I didn't take it personally.
37:45
SPEAKER_02: I point blank, right?
37:47
SPEAKER_02: They got rid of all of us with the exception of four of us.
37:49
SPEAKER_02: I was one of the four they kept.
37:51
SPEAKER_02: They gave us new titles, new job descriptions, new manager.
37:54
SPEAKER_02: Nine months later, they got rid of us, including that manager who had been with the company.
37:59
SPEAKER_02: She was a VP, she had been there maybe 10, 11 years herself.
38:04
SPEAKER_02: So that was April of 2016, and I am looking at an empty calendar, a son who's about to turn two in a matter of days, and bills that have always been paid by a two-income household.
38:25
SPEAKER_02: What do I do?
38:26
SPEAKER_02: Now I started looking for a job.
38:29
SPEAKER_02: I may have submitted an application.
38:31
SPEAKER_02: I maybe.
38:33
SPEAKER_02: I really don't remember submitting any applications.
38:35
SPEAKER_02: I really I thought about it.
38:37
SPEAKER_02: I thought about it.
38:38
SPEAKER_02: And I said, you know what, Bridget?
38:43
SPEAKER_02: You, my friend, can do this.
38:48
SPEAKER_02: You can figure this out.
38:50
SPEAKER_02: You can start your own business.
38:53
SPEAKER_02: You've got this.
38:55
SPEAKER_02: And were there bumps along the way?
38:57
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
38:57
SPEAKER_02: Were there questions, were there missteps, were there bad investments, were there, you know, so was were there times when money went out the window and it should not have, and bad hires.
39:10
SPEAKER_02: Oh yes.
39:11
SPEAKER_02: Find find a company that has not gone through that.
39:14
SPEAKER_02: But that was in April of 2016 when I did bet on myself and I said, I'm not going to allow myself to be in a position again where you're working hard, you're doing all of the right things, you're contributing to the team, you're bringing value to the company, and someone can just call you up or send you a calendar invitation to let you know you're being let go.
39:35
SPEAKER_02: I wasn't going to let that happen to me again.
39:38
SPEAKER_02: So that was over a decade ago, and here we are.
39:43
SPEAKER_02: It's been incredible.
39:45
SPEAKER_00: So sometimes people can make that move.
39:47
SPEAKER_00: They will bet on themselves.
39:48
SPEAKER_00: I know a lot of people who are very talented, uber talented.
39:51
SPEAKER_00: They they have a lot of skills.
39:52
SPEAKER_00: But you want to know something?
39:54
SPEAKER_00: They won't throw it out there and say, you know what?
39:57
SPEAKER_00: Uh my money is going to depend on me being able to take that incredibleness that I have and put it out there and see what happens.
40:04
SPEAKER_00: There, they just won't take the risk.
40:06
SPEAKER_00: So I talk about superpowers and figuring out what it is.
40:10
SPEAKER_00: Each of us has some unique inner genius.
40:13
SPEAKER_00: Everybody does.
40:14
SPEAKER_00: Everybody does.
40:15
SPEAKER_00: And I love the task of trying to unlock that, if you will, find the buried treasure.
40:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, I talk about secret sauce as well.
40:23
SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to use those two words for you: superpower and secret sauce.
40:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, I want you to talk about yours, what you believe yours is, or what the key has been to your success.
40:34
SPEAKER_00: You can brag on yourself a little bit.
40:35
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
40:36
SPEAKER_00: I'm bragging on you anyway.
40:37
SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to tell other people that I got to talk to you.
40:40
SPEAKER_00: So go ahead.
40:40
SPEAKER_00: What's your secret sauce?
40:42
SPEAKER_00: Is it is it something that we're not seeing?
40:45
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
40:45
SPEAKER_02: Secret sauce, secret sauce.
40:47
SPEAKER_02: This is almost like that.
40:48
SPEAKER_02: Where does the confidence come from?
40:50
SPEAKER_02: Question.
40:51
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
40:52
SPEAKER_02: I am going to say my secret sauce is being able to take something that is seemingly complicated and make it super simple for anyone to be able to understand it.
41:04
SPEAKER_02: I think that's my secret sauce.
41:06
SPEAKER_02: All right.
41:07
SPEAKER_02: What's yours?
41:07
SPEAKER_02: Craig, Craig, I got to turn the microphone around.
41:09
SPEAKER_02: What's your secret sauce?
41:11
SPEAKER_00: Good.
41:11
SPEAKER_00: Do you have a podcast?
41:12
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you can have me, and then you ask all the questions.
41:14
SPEAKER_00: Um, I like that.
41:16
SPEAKER_00: Um, I I got a million ideas circulating in my head about about uh stuff we could do.
41:21
SPEAKER_00: But um, I've always said, and I I put this in my um in some of my workshops.
41:28
SPEAKER_00: I go through my entire career.
41:30
SPEAKER_00: I don't think a lot of people do this.
41:33
SPEAKER_00: Um I'm a I'm a journaler.
41:35
SPEAKER_00: I write down things.
41:37
SPEAKER_00: I could tell you in every job that I had what the defining moment was, what was my greatest success, what was my greatest failure, and what I learned from it, who influenced me the most, what I was able to accomplish that I left as a legacy, whether it was a year or whatever, what impact I was able to make.
41:59
SPEAKER_00: But I would tell you that from the time I was young until now, I feel like my superpowers being a presenter.
42:06
SPEAKER_00: Now, that doesn't necessarily just mean presenting myself.
42:10
SPEAKER_00: It might be presenting this podcast, it might be presenting um golf for the day, the story of the day when I was at golf channel.
42:17
SPEAKER_00: It might be presenting other people's brands, the super athletes at the LPGA.
42:23
SPEAKER_00: But I have been a presenter at every single stop.
42:26
SPEAKER_00: Now, what I tell other people in workshops is I'm very comfortable presenting.
42:30
SPEAKER_00: I always have been from the time I had the lemonade stand, from the time I wrote my own um my own sports page.
42:36
SPEAKER_00: My my parents laughed at it.
42:38
SPEAKER_00: But if you lived on my block in Chicago, on my block, you got a copy of the Craig Cant sports page.
42:43
SPEAKER_00: So there was my marketing start.
42:45
SPEAKER_00: But nonetheless, um we are all presenters.
42:50
SPEAKER_00: And I don't think that some people understand that every day when they go to work or they're in school, they are presenting their own brand.
42:58
SPEAKER_00: And that brand is not what happens in that room.
43:01
SPEAKER_00: That brand is not what happens for you or me on this podcast.
43:04
SPEAKER_00: That brand happens the minute this podcast is over or the minute somebody walks out of the room.
43:09
SPEAKER_00: What will people say about what you said?
43:11
SPEAKER_00: What will they tell other people about what you said?
43:13
SPEAKER_00: Most importantly, how will you have made them feel?
43:17
SPEAKER_00: How we present ourselves.
43:19
SPEAKER_00: So being a presenter is what I believe is my superpower.
43:23
SPEAKER_00: And I love, and I mean this, and I sense it in you too.
43:27
SPEAKER_00: I get more out of seeing other people overcome their fears, their anxieties, or whatever it might be to gain the confidence to present a better version of themselves than I ever did in doing, wow, that was a great show.
43:40
SPEAKER_00: We had a great show tonight.
43:42
SPEAKER_00: That's how I am.
43:43
SPEAKER_02: 100%.
43:44
SPEAKER_02: I love that.
43:45
SPEAKER_02: I love that.
43:46
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for indulging me.
43:48
SPEAKER_00: You got it.
43:48
SPEAKER_00: You got it.
43:49
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about failure.
43:50
SPEAKER_00: What setback or disappointment happened to you that has reshaped you and helped other people?
43:55
SPEAKER_00: I got a couple questions left.
43:57
SPEAKER_02: Oh, failure, failure, failure, failure.
43:59
SPEAKER_02: I'm Going to tell you something, Craig.
44:01
SPEAKER_02: Every single failure, I am trying to find the and the lesson in it, right?
44:07
SPEAKER_02: A failure.
44:10
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I don't want to give the example of the layoff because I just don't see that as a failure.
44:15
SPEAKER_00: That was I'll put it this way, then.
44:17
SPEAKER_00: This podcast is called Tracks to Success.
44:20
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
44:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
44:20
SPEAKER_00: And if you look at train tracks across the country, they're not always like this, right?
44:25
SPEAKER_00: There's this, there's this, there's different tracks.
44:28
SPEAKER_00: They got to alter.
44:29
SPEAKER_00: There's pivots.
44:30
SPEAKER_00: We you've pivoted, I've pivoted.
44:32
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people are not ready for that in their life.
44:34
SPEAKER_00: They don't even know what's going to happen to them.
44:36
SPEAKER_00: How important were those detours, rejections, wrong turns, whatever those might have been along your track to where you are today?
44:44
SPEAKER_02: They made me uncomfortable, Craig.
44:47
SPEAKER_02: They made me get out of the easy chair and start thinking differently.
44:54
SPEAKER_02: They made me not sit and get comfortable with the paycheck every first and 15th of the month.
45:01
SPEAKER_02: They made me start tapping into that secret sauce.
45:04
SPEAKER_02: They made me lean into realizing what I am incredibly terrific at.
45:09
SPEAKER_02: I've been a professional speaker since 2001.
45:12
SPEAKER_02: But it was when I was at that ed tech job where I had the opportunity to deliver presentations, formal presentations practically every week, those informal ones, like you talked about, whether it's a conversation, being in a meeting, getting on Zoom with clients and so on, those informal presentations and all of those reps, I was now able to look at all of the work I had done and figure out how I can use this to do something different?
45:42
SPEAKER_02: How can I use this to think differently?
45:45
SPEAKER_02: How can I use this to support others?
45:47
SPEAKER_02: So those curves on the track and those changes in direction, I like to tell myself, those were not rejections, the failure.
46:01
SPEAKER_02: No, they were redirections, kind of as you illustrated with the train tracks.
46:08
SPEAKER_02: But I and I want listeners to lean into this.
46:13
SPEAKER_02: Don't be so quick to try to lean into what's wrong, what's not working, what's problematic if you get laid off, if you have a setback, if you have a challenge.
46:27
SPEAKER_02: Don't lean into why it's so hurtful, why it's so painful.
46:32
SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes, yes, we know cry for a minute or whatever.
46:35
SPEAKER_02: But then I need you to shift gears and say, what do I do with this information?
46:41
SPEAKER_02: How do I use this as fuel?
46:44
SPEAKER_02: What do I do differently?
46:47
SPEAKER_02: How can I figure out what I can lean into with my remaining time on this planet that is going to matter, that is going to move people, that's going to have them acting differently, thinking differently, and feeling differently because of what you are able to do?
47:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
47:08
SPEAKER_00: Understand your impact.
47:10
SPEAKER_00: Don't sit back and wait for somebody else to make it happen.
47:14
SPEAKER_00: You go make it happen.
47:15
SPEAKER_00: I got one final question.
47:17
SPEAKER_00: What is one change that you think people listening, watching can make today to present themselves more powerfully tomorrow?
47:33
SPEAKER_02: Aim to show up and show out.
47:38
SPEAKER_02: You see, when you show up, Craig, you're just physically there.
47:42
SPEAKER_02: But when you show out, you are mentally, physically, cognitively all there.
47:51
SPEAKER_02: And every move you make and every word you say has people taking notice, saying, Oh, there's something different about him.
48:03
SPEAKER_02: She's got it going on.
48:05
SPEAKER_02: You don't have to say a word.
48:07
SPEAKER_02: It's just the way your body moves in a room.
48:11
SPEAKER_02: Shoulders back, head up, act like you own the place.
48:15
SPEAKER_02: So every opportunity you have, I need you to not just show up, but show up and show out.
48:23
SPEAKER_02: In fact, that's the title of one of my books, Go Get It.
48:27
SPEAKER_00: There you go.
48:28
SPEAKER_00: I'm hey, I'm getting it.
48:30
SPEAKER_00: All right.
48:30
SPEAKER_00: Do me a favor.
48:31
SPEAKER_00: I'll send you mine.
48:32
SPEAKER_00: You send me yours.
48:34
SPEAKER_00: We'll sign it.
48:34
SPEAKER_00: This isn't the end of this conversation, even though this is the end of this conversation.
48:38
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to say thank you.
48:40
SPEAKER_00: Not only did you show up, but you did show out.
48:43
SPEAKER_00: You've made this podcast phenomenal.
48:45
SPEAKER_00: And um I truly appreciate it, Bridget.
48:49
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Craig.
48:52
SPEAKER_00: One last segment I call Getting Ahead, which is focused on you and your own Tracks to Success.
48:59
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49:10
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49:15
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49:21
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49:29
SPEAKER_00: They don't follow the trends.
49:31
SPEAKER_00: For more than 30 years, they've been setting them.
49:35
SPEAKER_00: It's time for getting ahead.
49:37
SPEAKER_00: In case you couldn't tell, I love talking with Bridget because much of what we do centers around helping people present, and we present ourselves.
49:47
SPEAKER_00: We spend a lot of time preparing the material.
49:50
SPEAKER_00: We build slides, we organize the facts, we polish our message.
49:54
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes we actually spend so much time preparing the presentation that we forget to prepare the person delivering it.
50:04
SPEAKER_00: And the truth is, people are not only evaluating our material or yours, they're evaluating you and they're evaluating me, how we enter the room, how we carry ourselves, how much confidence or not that we project, whether our energy matches our message, and whether we appear to believe what we're asking them to believe.
50:29
SPEAKER_00: That's a big one.
50:30
SPEAKER_00: Remember this your slides are not the star of the show.
50:34
SPEAKER_00: Your information is not the entire experience.
50:38
SPEAKER_00: You're the connection between the message and the audience.
50:42
SPEAKER_00: So before you ask, is my presentation ready?
50:46
SPEAKER_00: Ask a more important question.
50:48
SPEAKER_00: Am I ready to present myself?
50:52
SPEAKER_00: Because at the end of the day, the most important presentation we'll ever give is that of ourselves.
50:59
SPEAKER_00: People connect with people over information.
51:04
SPEAKER_00: Create that self-belief, and the mindset that goes with it and your tracks to success will come a whole lot easier.
51:12
SPEAKER_00: Hope you enjoyed our conversation.
51:14
SPEAKER_00: Until next time, I'm Craig Cann.
51:17
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining me on Tracks to Success.
51:20
SPEAKER_01: Don't forget to subscribe for more great interviews and Craig's insights on reaching your highest personal and professional summit.
51:28
SPEAKER_01: Listen to Tracks to Success on all the top podcast platforms.
51:32
SPEAKER_01: Watch it on the Craig Cannes YouTube channel, and visit Craigcanspeak.com to learn more about Craig as your next speaker.