Prepare To Be A Superstar

In preparing for your show, you might gather content, brainstorm ideas, write, prep guests and compile audio.

Do you ever prepare your head, heart and soul?

Years ago, Beyonce created an alter-ego named Sasha Fierce. I met Beyonce once. She is quiet, intelligent and somewhat shy. Beyonce imagined Sasha Fierce as a more confident, super-power version of her true self.

Beyonce says once she puts on those stilettos and struts on stage, Sasha Fierce "appears" and "my posture and the way I walk and speak is different."

In the same way, what you think and feel as you speak to a microphone is powerfully yet invisibly transmitted to the audience.

At Own The Room seminars, public speakers learn that mirror neurons inside the brain emulate the emotions of others, whether they are on a movie screen, on a podcast or in-person. Ever cry at a movie? That's why.

Science proves that audiences will feel what you feel and will do what you do. This is why laughter is so infectious. It is also why anger, hate and fear are sometimes used to influence others.

Another study proves that when you think other people will like you, they are in fact more likely to like you.

Managers influence their teams with thoughts and emotions too. A leadership instructor at Wake Forest University once told me, "You must manage internally before attempting to manage others."

You can harness this power. As part of your preparation, consider what is on your heart and in your mind and how your feelings will create that reaction in the audience.