We’re all a bit nervous at a big presentation. You’ve worked hard and committed all of your key points to memory. The adrenaline is flowing and the energy level is high. That energy, however, needs to be directed purposefully so that it can engage, rather than distract, your audience.
I have a secret fondness for magic acts – the professional ones. Acts like Penn and Teller. Penn and Teller are two accomplished showmen: Penn is the talkative one, and Teller is largely silent. Penn keeps up a running commentary designed to distract and bemuse the audience while they both perform the magic tricks.
I was astonished to see that, at this performance, the talkative one, Penn, had a bad case of “happy feet.” He had so much energy that he was wandering all over the stage randomly while chattering away. The result was so distracting, though, that I found myself unable to attend to his patter or even the magic tricks with any reliability. Nonetheless, he managed to hold his audience reasonably well until an unpleasant trick that involved apparently putting a live rabbit through a wood chipper. He lost his audience then and never got it back, making it clear that the bond was weak throughout, partly because his motion was random and not purposeful, toward the audience and away from it.
How do you avoid the “happy feet” problem? Read more here.
