Last night my mom and I watched one of her favorite shows, The Voice.
It was supposed to be the finale but, after two-hours, I learned that they don’t announce the winner until tonight’s SECOND two-hour finale.
I was pleased to see that they let the artists sing an original tune. I never understood why people liked cover bands. Don’t get it. Give me a local band, pouring their heart and soul into original material over a band gleefully singing other people’s hits.
What really gets my goat though are the over bloated production numbers. Why they heck do you need to have 20 dancers onstage, gyrating around? I thought the name of the show was “The Voice” not “The Dancers.”
Although I am not a huge country music fan, I could definitely appreciate the Lauren Duski standing there with nothing but a microphone, her original tune and her voice. Same with Jesse Larsen with his guitar and a small band behind him. Contrast that with Chris Blue’s take on “Rhythm Nation” where the dude channeled his inner Janet Jackson and apparently hijacked her dancers. My guess is that the majority of the American public thought his performance was “amazing.” (Of course, a the majority of people thought K.C. & The Sunshine Band was awesome while dismissing The Ramones in 1977.)
But alas, this is not a television or music critique but rather a reminder about delivering presentations that sell. And there are two major lessons:
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- Be yourself. Don’t be a copy of someone. A lot of speaker trainers try to mold you into being just like them. You want to be an amplified version of yourself on stage, not a clone of someone else.
- You must be entertaining if you want to sell but just make sure the entertainment factor doesn’t overshadow your main purpose: closing the sale. EVERYTHING you do during your presentation needs to lead to the sale.
Okay, it’s time for me to get ready for my daughter’s high-school graduation. I have been writing about her since she was a little girl and now this. Time does fly, doesn’t t? Let’s all enjoy our journey and not just focus on our destinations.
Kick butt, make mucho DEEnero!
Dave “Kick Out The Jams” Dee