“I want you to plan to fail. I want you to feel prepared when you do.”

Check in. What’s your initial response? What words just popped up in your head by way of a reaction? What’s happening in your body?

When I heard this, from a workshop participant planning a keynote, NGL, my first thought was OMG that sounds horrible and depressing and life feels hard enough and do I really need a plan to fail because it seems like I got that one covered more than I think and then learn a whole new thing about how to be prepared? My shoulders dropped in defeat. My stomach clenched up. Dramatic? I mean hi. But true.

My thought: check please.

I want nothing to do with that keynote.

We talked it out a bit more, as I was trying to get a sense of what she really was going to talk about. Even her tone as she explained was sort of droney-lecture-like and again I was thinking: do not sign me up for this keynote.

With some gentle prodding, this flowed out of her mouth: “I want them to find their power after failure.”

😳😳😳

Finding my power seems MUCH more interesting then planning to fail!

I don’t need a plan to fail. A power-finding plan? Yes, please!

Then she added, “That’s going to definitely shift the tone in my speech, for sure, because that’s what I want them to feel: empowered!”

Typing away here cannot do justice to the tone in her voice that changed in mere minutes. She went from Charlie Brown teacher wonk wonk wonk wonk wonk to zipadeedooda I AM GOING TO HELP THEM FIND THEIR POWER!
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The energy in the Zoom room shifted. My shoulders went up with excitement. Half the room sat back with relief almost, and the other half leaned into their cameras like ooohhhh, maybe I’ll check this keynote out after all.

This happened in a four minute conversation. She was well on her way to crafting a keynote that people would want to listen to and designing it in a way that energized her.

What did she do? She answered the questions to the Do/Think/Feel Framework. Well, she answered them, and then we finessed them. We worked the essence. We shifted some energy. We got some clarity. In four minutes.

Imagine the difference in those two keynotes? Preparing them. Listening to them. Night and day.

It was when we honed in on the feeling that things shifted. Being prepared is a whole lot different than being empowered. Different vibe. Different energy. Different impact.

When you take time to define your Do/Think/Feel, and especially even CONSIDER that you want to evoke a feeling much less what that feeling might be, you set the course for a whole different sort of presentation. One that connects emotionally. One that people will remember.

When was the last time you considered how you want someone to feel after your meeting? Presentation? Keynote? 🤔

It’s cool if the answer is never. I feel like you’d be in the majority.

Good news, people! Now you know that asking that question is something you should do as you plan to make sure you land your point.

Double good news, I’m in a generous sort of spirit this fall and I’m going to be offering a series of free workshops where you can practice and get feedback on your Land Your Point Framework. 75-minutes, Zoom room, we talk a little theory and then we get to workshopping your Do/Think/Feel Framework for your upcoming meeting/presentation/keynote/conversation.

Why so generous, Erin? I have too many after-the-fact conversations with leaders about how their meetings were duds with no action taken after or about how conversations went off the rails and now there’s drama and nonsense. OK and selfishly I can’t sit through another rambling, scolding, trite, cliched keynote. But back to you…

(By talking about me! 🤣) This also gives you a way to experience yours truly in action, so you get a little sense of me in my zone. Think of these events like a sample at Costco…you have one bite, and then head to the freezer for the whole case! (Somehow I just made myself a frozen case of food…but the whole deal that this is a sampler for is the Leadership Presence and Impact: the three day public speaking extravaganza.)

The registration is below with more intel for various dates and times in the next two months with more to come. Questions? Hit reply. You know it’s me on the other end.

These workshops are perfect for leaders who have upcoming high-impact presentations or board meetings. Come get feedback before it’s too late. Come learn how to land your point.
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In the meantime, the action you can take starting today is answering the question, “How do I want the participants to feel at the end of our time together?”
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Stay away from “prepared.” That’s more of a doing than a feeling, believe me.