Self-focus vs audience-focus

Being self-focused ruins your experience, and the experience of your audience. 

I’m giving a talk this evening at the Made Wild Creative Night for a group of over 120 creative folks. I’m excited because giving more talks about my work is part of my long-term career path. I want to do more live workshops, more talks, and give more keynotes. 

For a few days, this self-focused view made my upcoming talk nerve-racking. As I prepared for the talk, I had a third-person imagination of myself, thinking about how people would view me, how I would sound, and if I would come across as cool and smart. My mind was preoccupied with a ton of things I can’t control. 

Then, after realizing this self-focused view wasn’t helping me, I decided to change my perspective. Now I’m trying to have an audience-focused view. This changed my imagination back to a first-person view. I should be thinking of the experience of this group. I should be fully in the moment, tailoring the talk in a way that connects in real time. I should be more open, and more honest, as that is what will help these creators the most. 

When I’m self-focused, it really matters if I mess up. It’s a big deal if I don’t come across as cool or smart. It’s a bad day if people don’t like me. But when I’m audience-focused, it doesn’t matter if I look cool or sound smart. What maters is whether I present the information in a way that connects. What matters is their experience, and whether I help them. 

Hopefully, with an audience-focused view, I can be more present, and deliver a better talk. I’ll let you know how it goes.