October 2

Michael Port podcast: How to Guarantee a Standing Ovation for All the Performances in Your Life

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Steal The ShowAn inspiring program full of essential advice for spotlight lovers and wallflowers alike that will teach readers how to bring any crowd to its feet

Every day there are moments when you must persuade, inform, and motivate others effectively. Each of those moments requires you, in some way, to play a role, to heighten the impact of your words, and to manage your emotions and nerves. Every interaction is a performance, whether you’re speaking up in a meeting, pitching a client, or walking into a job interview.

In Steal the Show, New York Times best-selling author Michael Port draws on his experience as an actor and as a highly successful corporate speaker and trainer to teach readers how to make the most of every presentation and interaction. He demonstrates how the methods of successful actors can help you connect with, inspire, and persuade any audience. His key strategies for commanding an audience’s attention include developing a clear focus for every performance, making sure you engage with your listeners, and finding the best role for yourself in order to convey your message with maximum impact.

Michael Port is one of the most in-demand corporate speakers working today. His presentations are always powerful, engaging, and inspirational. And yes, audiences always give him a standing ovation.
Transcription:

Welcome everybody. It's Ted Prodromou and I've a very special guest today, Michael Port. It was like 2001 or so, I came across you, I think 2002. I've just finished my twenty year career in high tech and I was transitioning to be a coach. I had no idea how to market or sell and like nobody would hire me. It's like …

Michael:                 Don't you hate if that happens?

Ted:                           I guess, your book came up and I just, “Hey, you changed my life. I took some of your online courses. Out of … It was just amazing, so tell us a little about … you go … you're an actor, you've written six best sellers.

Michael:                 No, no, no. I was an actor at one point in my earlier career, but as professional actor, I have a masters from NYU, the graduate acting program. Then I went out and I worked. I was on shows like Sex in the City, Third Watch, All my Children, Law and Order, Hundred Center Streets. I did films like the Pelican Brief, Down to Earth, Last Call, The Believer. I did dozens, if not hundreds of voice overs for brands like AT & T, Coors Beer, Budweiser, Pizza Hut, Brown, MTV. I'm used to the Box Music Network, all music, all the time. Unfortunately, none of these brands are sponsoring this blab but maybe we can get them too.

Ted:                           There you go.

Michael:                 That was in the early days, and then I left acting and I went into business. I talked my way into a job in middle management in the fitness industry on the business side, for which I was completely unqualified. I told them I was unqualified, but I made my case for why they should hire me and I did okay. Then five years later, I went out on my own. I started the consultancy first, focused on that target market fitness industry and then grew from there, and then book of yourselves, Sally came up and that was it. That's just hit and I got really lucky and growing from there. That was ten years ago. Now, I've written Steal the Show which is all about how to shine during life stake, life's high stakes situations. About half of it isn't total force on public speaking itself. Dig deep into technique on public speaking but the other half is really focused on everyday situations that are important. Interviews, negotiations, sales speeches, even meeting your future in laws for the first time has an element of performance.

Now, the key is authentic performance. Ted, you know, sometimes when I use the word performance, people think, “Oh, well. Performing is fake. It's phony, it's pretense.” It absolutely can be for sure. I think there are a lot of people who put on layers of persona and pretend to be something that they're not. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about taking your individualism, your natural disposition, your personality, your style and amplifying it so that you can steal the show during those high stakes situations. That's our focus.

Ted:                           That's what I love about it. It's not just presenting from the stage, being a great speaker. You're talking about real life interactions with people.

Michael:                 That's right. That's exactly right. Now, I'm looking at myself, and I just want to say for all of our viewers here. Normally I mean, we have audio studio in the house. We have video studio in the house. I mean the audio studio right now, which is not designed for video, so I looked like a raccoon with big circles under my eyes. I have very deep set eyes. It looked like a chromagnum man, I don't know if you noticed that.

Ted:                           You look wonderful.

Michael:                 Got the best screen in the world because very important, I'm teaching Viewer Performance that the background looks good and it's set up well. Nevertheless …

Ted:                           You can be authentic. Come on.

Michael:                 Totally. You know, but authentic can be nice looking. It doesn't have to be … That's whats interesting about the world of social media, I think. Sometimes authenticity is painted … We paint a picture that authenticity is grunginess, that everything has to look like messy and nasty, and that's authentic. Like we have to ripped up stained shirts when where giving speeches and social media conferences. I like to put on a nicer, cleaner face. I would say, it's your own brand, each person, each individual, etc. For me, I generally like to shave, you know, that's why I get on the TV in that [inaudible 00:04:57] show. I'm just so happy we're doing this.

Ted:                           I read your copy of Steal the Show already. I've got my kindle version.

Michael:                 Great. …

Ted:                           Awesome.

Michael:                 Thank you. Thank you very much.

Ted:                           You talked about like when you're getting on stage, how do you capture the crowd right away? Or even in person, actually more importantly in face-to-face and one-on-one.

Michael:                 Sure. Look, let's talk about marketing for a second because this is an area of expertise for you. If I can take the word marketing out of the dictionary, I'd love to. I'd love to, and I would replace it with the word relevancy. Ultimately, people pay attention to you when you're relevant. If you're not relevant, there's no reason for them to pay attention. If you're relevant, then they do. Whether to a speech or a conversation with one person or something you're putting on social, relevancy is what's most important. That's first and foremost. Now, many of the articles you will see on public speaking will tell you to start off with a story or a joke. Now, let's talk about this for a second. If you're not a comedian, I'm not sure starting off with a joke is a great strategy. If you're very, very, very funny like you just have a natural funny bone, your timing is impeccable, well then maybe, a joke will work for you.

You want to make sure that you know where it lands every time. Number one, and it needs to be relevant to this subject at hand. A joke about something that is nothing to do with what you're there to deliver is not relevant, and then, it might be a little bit funny but they're like, “Come on. Let's go, I got stuff to do. I'm here to learn something specific.” Number one, number two, stories of course are incredibly important devices for connecting with people. We understand, we know that this is an … It's a communication tool that works well. If we start a speech with a story, it's got to kill. It's got to be an outstanding story and it's got to be directly related to the big idea behind the speech and helps deliver on the promise of the speech. Again, it's the relevancy that's key. If you want, at some point in this interview, we can talk about how to craft stories. Just because something happened to you, it doesn't mean it's easy to tell it on stage in front of others. We need to sculpt, craft and mold it. I have a process for doing that.

Sometimes, the easiest way to start a speech is just fluidly, easily, moving into it, as opposed to making some massive deal with fireworks and explosions. If that's not your style, then you don't need to do that. There are keynotes that I give where I have unusual opening, and to think the revolution keynote that I do. I open by starting very great with the audience and about a sentence into my start, my phone rings in my pocket. Now, the phone is actually coming out of the speakers. Very quickly, they're looking at, “What? Huh?” Then I, say, “You just give me a second. I'm so sorry. Let me answer this. Okay?” Of course now they know that this is a beat. I have a conversation with somebody on the phone and they are railing against me because I didn't deliver on a promise. That's the opening. A, it's a nice way to be self deprecating. B, it's a nice way to show them this idea of the importance of making commitments and excuse me, and fulfilling them. Rather than just tell them, because I could come out and answer, “Listen, everybody. I am a very important speaker and you would, you know, that's something else.”

This way, it becomes a show. That's an unusual opening. That's not necessary. Sometimes, say for a Book Yourself Solid speech, I'll come out and I'll just start. I'll say, “Look, Book Yourself Solid is based on both philosophical and practical principles.” Then I'll go into it. You know like, “Okay. That was a nice smooth transition.” The other thing is … I'm getting a little feedback, background. Maybe it's yours, your speakers are coming back into my headset. Sometimes, the way a speech works is there's usually an art, so that it starts here, it builds and it builds, just like a movie. If you start here, there's nowhere to go. The audience needs to connect with you. At the beginning, they have to get used to you. Just like, you know how it's amazing when you hear a parent talk to their three year old and they understand exactly what that three year old is saying. The three year old sounds to us like they're (baby talk), like, “What the … ,” but the parent is so used to that, they know exactly what they're saying. Sometimes the audience relates to us that way. At the beginning, they start to hear us and it's, “Wah, wah wah, wah wah wah.” They're not used to a patterns or rhythms or dynamic and they need to get used to us. That very smooth, fluid, easy way of getting into a speech is perfectly fine.

Ted:                           That's great advice. Some people can not, they put those big videos up now, that self promotional videos, “I'm the greatest.”

Michael:                 Exactly. Here's one of the things that you can do interestingly enough. The bio is more important and I think people realize when you're being introduced. Your speech starts before you walk on the stage. It starts as soon as that person introduces you. Your bio should be well crafted. Generally, the shorter the bio, the higher status you are. For example, if Bill Gates is making out a conference, he don't really need a bio. We just say, “Ladies and gentlemen, Bill Gates.” That's it. “Ladies and gentlemen, Warren Buffet.” We don't need to know all the companies that he's purchased over the years. That's it. The longer your bio, the more it looks like you are trying to improve something. The audience just needs to know that you know what they want to know, or you've done what they want to do. If you have some present credentials that are relevant to that, great. Put them in there. If there's something that you do that's so unusual, that will make people go, “Hmm.” Then put that in there. If its, you know, has a wife and two kids and lives in Ohio, I don't really think people care about that.

Most people have a couple of kids and spouse or an ex-spouse. It's not unusual. If you have ten children, that's unusual. People will go, “What is, are they crazy?” You know that, then it's fun. In any event, what I've … but here's to think. Even if your bio is well crafted, the person reading it may not do a good job, because A, they may not really care that much. They could be a sponsor and they're there to pitch their business and just are … have been tasked with reading your bio. It may go like this, “Michael Port is many times best selling author of five books and he's been called an [inaudible 00:13:00].” You know, that's what they do. They don't necessarily perform it. What I do is, I have a slide show that I advanced during the bio and then I rarely use slides otherwise.

I will use some videos and some images and I use a lot of audio, but I don't need slides to give a speech. I do during this part. What they're seeing on screen, mirrors what that person is saying. If they're talking about you know, scene on this TV show, this TV show, this TV show. If they see it, they believe it. If they hear it, they go, “Oh, maybe.” But they don't really know what that meant. If they say, “Well, Michael Port was in Sex in the City and Third Watch and All Night- … ” Then, they see pictures of me with [Sergios de Parker 00:13:54] or Michael Hall or [inaudible 00:13:56] like go, “Oh. He actually did that.” What I find this people would be on their phone when the bio starts, and soon as their slides start going they'll go, “Oh.” They'll watch us in the city.

Ted:                           Interesting.

Michael:                 Then, what I often do because I've written six books, it's a lot of books, I will [inaudible 00:14:14] about and saying, “Guys, I got a secret for you, but I need you to lean in because I want to whisper it. Just in case there are any other authors around, I don't want them to hear.” You know, playing with the other authors a little bit and they kind of go, “Hmm, what is he gotta say?” I don't say anything that would upset them of course, because we are a team, all of us.” I say, “Listen, and you have to lean in.” If anybody doesn't, I'd say, “No. Come on. Even you, let's go. Come on, buddy.” I get everybody to lean in. I say, “How can you tell how much [BS 00:14:46] exist in any one particular field or industry?” Then I lean back and they all lean back, so all of sudden, poof, the whole room is doing exactly what I'm doing. I'd say “Count the number of books written about it.” Everybody laughs. It's not a “Wo ho ho.” Not a … that kind of laugh. It's, “Oh, I get it.” I say then, “And I've written six, so what is that to you?” Then they laugh at that.

What I'm doing is I'm poking a little fun, saying, “Look. I know that they, you know, they prayed us to [inaudible 00:15:18] they put us out here to be the experts, to tell you guys what to do.” I'd say, “But I don't think there's any one way to do anything. I'm going to present a particular perspective, a particular experience, and you might resonate with it and you might not. Somethings you resonate more with than others.” Immediately, it let's their guard down. because a lot of times, a speaker will come out and tell them, “This is what you have to do. This is the way to do it.” You're hearing speeches, you hear the word “have to” a lot. Nobody has to do anything except paid taxes and die. Other than that, they don't have to. When you're saying, “Well, you have to use this social platform.” Or, “You have to do this, you have to do that.” It's not true. Another thing we want to stay away from if possible are absolutes. Absolutes paint us in to a corner. If I say, “Everybody does this.”

People in the audience can go, ” Well. I don't think that's true. I have a sister who does that or doesn't do that.” Or if I said, “Nobody likes earwax flavored ice cream.” Somebody might say, “This maybe weird but I remember Fritz in middle school. He used to put his fingers in his ear and eat it. I bet that he would like earwax flavored ice cream.” You see, so if you give them absolutes, they have an excuse, they have an “aw.” Here's what's really important, Ted. When you are introducing a big idea, it maybe confronting to the people in the audience. You maybe asking them to change something, change the way they think, change the way they feel and change the way they behave. They may have been thinking this, feeling this, acting this way for thirty years.

All of a sudden, you come along and say, “Listen. No, no, no, don't. I want you to think this way,” and it's confronting. It's very important that we don't put a wall between us by using absolutes. Allow them with space to make their own decision, with respect to whether or not they want to adopt to the big idea. To that end, they need to know that you understand the way the world looks to them. If they don't, if they think, “Okay. I get your idea. I kind of want this promise, but I don't really think you get me. It's an easy out.”  “No no no. You don't understand it.” The messenger and the message need to resonate with the person in the audience. If the message resonates, with the messenger doesn't resonate, then you have some discord.

Ted:                           Do you adjust like in your work through your talk, work in through the art? Do you adjust to the audience if they're not responding in some ways?

Michael:                 Yes. What we're trying to do is find the balance between being prepared and being improvisational. When those two are balanced, then we can be spontaneous and we can live in the moment. Many people are anxious about rehearsing. They say, “I've rehearsed before and I don't really like it. I just feel better like when I go up there and just talk to them. I feel more comfortable. When I rehearse, I feel stiff.” I really get that. I get that. I get that. I get that. It might be a result of only rehearsing a little bit. If you rehearse a little bit, and then, go give a speech, what usually happens while you're giving a speech, is you're trying to recall what you did in rehearsal, and you're not in the moment, and then you feel stiff. If you are so well rehearsed that you don't have to think about what's coming next, you can allow it to come to you organically, authentically. The audience will feel like it's the first time that you ever said these things.

They make a connection with you as a result. I think many people, actually I know, this one I know, not everybody, not many people because we've worked now with thousands of people who speak on the amateur level and on the professional level, the highest level. Even they say, “I don't really rehearsed that much.” I'd say, “Are you as effective as you can be?” If they're in a group of people, they'll say, “Yeah. Of course.” But if they're not, if they're in private, they go, “You know the truth is, not really. I know I could be a lot better, but I don't know how to rehearse.” Of course, why would they? They were never taught. You know, I … ever … a masters from the grad program at NYU in acting, so I was trained in how to rehearse. Of course, I know that most people would never know that. That's not a course in business school. It's not a course in high school. It certainly not a course in agriculture school. It's something we need to learn.

I've devoted a major section of Steal the Show to rehearsals specifically because if we feel like we know how to rehearse, we feel a lot more comfortable on stage. People often ask, “Well, how I get rid of anxiety nerves?” That's a really great question because people get very anxious about public speaking. I don't believe this statistic that people are more afraid of speaking than death. I don't know where it comes from because I've never seen an actual study, a verifiable and theoretical study. Let me ask you a question at it, if I had a gun right now, and I put it to somebody's head who is afraid of public speaking. I said, “You have two options right now. You can give a speech to this people or I can pull the trigger and blow your head off.” Which one do yu think they're going to take?

Ted:                           Blow my head off.

Michael:                 No. They”re not afraid to die. I mean, maybe some will but because it's this moment sort of thing like, would you really actually take a bullet in your head instead of giving a speech? Probably not. I think for we exacerbate this fear of public speaking. As if it's this massive endeavor, this situation I can make or break your entire life and then as a result, we go up there and we think, “Oh, my God. I'm going to be ridiculed. I'm going to be, they'll think I'm stupid.” We work ourselves up into a tissy. One of the best ways to reduce that anxiety is by knowing what you're doing when you're up there. It makes sense, wouldn't it? Then you feel a lot more comfortable. Just like if I have to … if someone say, “Michael, can you fly this airplane?” I'm really nervous because I never done that before. If I had trained as a pilot in the Navy or in the Air Force, and I had flown combat missions all over the world and someone said, “Could you fly this plane?” I'd say, “Of course I can fly that plane. I've been trained to fly that plane.”

We do not rise to the occasion, we fall back on our training and this is what the military says. If someone gave me … If someone say, “Okay, listen. I'm going to give you what you need to fight in combat in Afghanistan. But I'm not going to train you on how to use it. I'm sure you'll rise to the occasion and figure out how to use the gun and all those things while the bullets are flying over your head.” Of course you won't. He's going to dock and go like this. A lot of wrong analogies, I apologize for that, but I used them in part because I want to go to the extreme and demonstrate that on the grand scheme of things, giving a speech to people that are interested and listening to what you have to say is not the equivalent of imminent death. If you know what you're doing, you feel a lot more comfortable on stage additionally. If you take the focus on yourself off, and you focus on the audience, you're much less, much less anxious.

For example, a client of mine called me up in [inaudible 00:24:07] years ago. Very, very anxious because she just got booked for an interview on one of the big news broadcast network morning shows. It's huge now. I knew she wanted this. She had gone to try to get it. Now she got it, she's freaking out, which she's often interesting. “I don't think I should go. I'm going to screw it up.” I said, “Okay. Let's just relax. Let's just, you know, let's just focus on what's important.” She says, “Okay. I just want to really know how to be good.” I said, “Well, you cannot be good. It's not possible.” She was silent. I think she may have fallen off her chair. I said, “It's not that you're not good, but you can't go out there to be good.”

You can only go out there to be helpful, to make a promise to the audience and do your best to deliver on that. That's it. That's your job. If you do that, then people may perceive your performance as good. Oh, I really like their performance. You're not worrying about yourself as much. You're not obsessed with your hair. See, I don't have to worry about that. That's the great thing about having no hair, you never have to worry about whether it might, just enough to shine from the bald on the top. Just for people who tuned in late, it's not my normal video studio, it's some kind of … anyhow.

Ted:                           Great.

Michael:                 You don't throw … You're not worried about your shirt or you know, do my pants make me look good or skinny, or” You're not worried about these things. You're just trying to help. That's all we're doing. You and I, right now, we're just trying to help the people who are watching, doing their best, our absolute best to do it. We won't do it perfectly, but we will do our best. That's all that we can ask for.

Ted:                           Awesome. Now, think, how about … just getting started again to do their very first speech. Rehearse a lot or …

Michael:                 Yes. As I said, there's a step by step process to rehearsal. Before you go there, you need to actually create some content for the speech. What most people normally do is they open up keynote or PowerPoint and they download some images from Google, and then they put them on keynote or the PowerPoint, and then they put some quotes or phrases. Then they work on their content around that PowerPoint or based on that PowerPoint is if the PowerPoint is the outline of the speech. I would suggest not doing that. The visuals that we use, we actually create after we create the content. Those are just aids to help deliver on the promise. They're not the foundation of the speech. To use PowerPoint or not use PowerPoint is never been the question. It's of course, how it's used. It's a benign tool. It's just how it's used. Often, you know, Flicker, right? I think it shoots bullets and kills presentations.

The more you're clicking, the more the focus is not on the performance, it's focused on the screen. They're not making connection with people. What we want to do first before any of that, because we want to make sure we're clear on our big idea. What's the big idea behind the speech? Because there's got to be a real important reason to give the speech. It doesn't have to be different to make a difference. That's important. Often, we question ourselves especially at the beginning, we say, “Who am I to say this thing or, you know, everything's been said before, or people don't take me seriously on this particular topic, etc.” Then the voices of judgement start to take over and you sort of criticize yourself and not just stops here, “I'm not going on and that's it”. Think about Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech. One of the greatest speeches of all time. He's big idea in that speech is that all men and women of course are created equal. It wasn't exactly a new idea in the constitution, but it wasn't realized.

He had a dream that it could be. That's the promise land. I think what's extraordinary about the promise land is the word promise. Once you have the big idea, the next thing you look at is, what's the promise of the presentation? That's what people want. They want that promise. Of course, then your job is to deliver on that promise. Your big idea just needs to resonate with the people in the room and you need to care deeply about it. Often, people will say, especially those who wanted to go into public speaking professionally, they'll say, “Hey. Listen, Michael. What's the hot topic? What's the thing that makes the most money right now?” Rarely, will we be wildly successful. Putting together speeches based on topics that are hot that we're not passionate about. Of course, if we're not passionate about, we'd probably don't have a lot of experience in that area. We're not looking for what's hot. We're looking for what's true for you and the people you serve.

Ted:                           It's hard to be passionate and authentic if you really don't care about the topic.

Michael:                 You can look like, “Hey. What's up guys. How are you?” You know, you can do some song and dance but it ultimately won't be taken as truth. The truth to me wins. That's what wins ultimately when you're performing. Honestly truth, authenticity.

Ted:                           Great.

Michael:                 We make sure the big idea is clear. Then we have a promise. Then, we make sure that we can articulate, that we can demonstrate, that we know how the world looks to the people in the room. We discussed that earlier. Then, we make sure that we can articulate and demonstrate the consequences of not adapting this world view or this behavior, whatever that big idea is. Then, also we can demonstrate the rewards. We want the rewards, but sometimes the reward seem far off and without the consequences to motivate us to get started, we may not go after those rewards.

Ted:                           I think the hero's journey.

Michael:                 Yes. Absolutely. It's very similar. Ultimately, you're trying to cast each audience member as the hero. Ultimately, that's what your attempting to do. That's why if the speech is about us, the focus is on us the entire time, then ultimately it's not. You can still tell your story and sometimes your story is very compelling and the audience wants to hear that. You tell it in such a way that they see themselves in it and you're telling it for them, not as catharsis for you. Which often happens when people starts speaking, I had a really intense experience of story. I won't be able to tell in front of people because it makes me feel better. It's not a great reason to speak publicly. The catharsis should happen somewhere else, or as a by product of being in service of the audience. Not as the end goal. Once we have those five elements in place, then we can start to look at a framework, because great speeches are well organized, otherwise they're talks. You see the difference?

Ted:                           Yeah.

Michael:                 This is one of the reasons I suggest people stay away from starting a speech with, “Okay. Today, we're going to talk about this.” When people are sitting in the audience, they're not actually talking about anything. You're talking. They don't want to listen to a talk, they want to be part of an experience if possible. We stay away from the, “Today we're going to talk about this.” Now, if you say that it's not going to kill you, something big, worse thing in the world. Every once in a while I'll say something that I go, “Oh. I usually tell people not to say that. I mean, that's normal. It happens. Don't worry about it.” In general, that's a good philosophy to follow or principle to follow in that case. There are a number of different frameworks you can use to organize your information. Let's detail a few of those now. Shall we? Good. Listen, so what are the most common and effective framework is the numerical framework. The numerical framework is just as it sounds.

Let's use some books as examples of these frameworks, because most of us have read the same books but it's less likely that we've seen the same speeches. I can use the books as examples, because often, the way that you organize a book is very similar to the way that you organize a speech. A numerical framework is a framework found in Steven Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Seven habits. Steven, when of course, he was alive could introduce those to you 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Or 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Or you could just teach 1 or 2. You could pull numbers 3 and 4 out and just keep those, depending on the environment, depending on the length of time he had and depending on the needs of the people in that room. It's very flexible. It does three other things. Number one, it helps you organize the information. Part of your job is to cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, streamline, simplify, clarify. That numerical framework helps you do that.

All these framework helps you do that for that matter. It also helps you remember it, except it remembers seven key points then you break down inside of that and then you use different frameworks inside of each key point. We'll get to that in a minute. It also helps the audience consume the information because often, we hear the expression “content is king.” It makes perfect sense. Content is very important. There's a lot of people who say similar things. How they say it is often what matters most. Consumption is king. Can they consume it? You've got the greatest contents in the world and you deliver it and they can't understand it or remember it or do anything with it. It wasn't that … right over their head. If they're bald, … faster … right over their head. We want to make sure they can consume it and that numerical framework is very helpful. The chronological framework is also very helpful because it is a step by step process. Now, notice there is a numerical element to it.

You might have three steps, five steps, seven steps and as a result, people can walk through a process. Easier for you to create if what you are teaching or sharing has the sequential element to it. There is a limitation of course. You can't really pull out steps three and four. Steps three and four won't make sense unless steps one and two are in place. That's one thing to consider when it comes to chronological frameworks. Another framework is the problem solution framework. A colleague of mine, 25 five years or so, he wrote a book called Why Parents Love Too Much and When Parents Love Too Much rather. He identified a number of problems that kids had when parents were helicopter parents. They love their kids so much that they were causing all these problems in them. He said, “Look. Here are the ten problems and here are ten solutions.” Straightforward. Ten problems, ten solutions. Ten problems.

Here's problem number one. How are we going to solve this? This is how we solve this. Straightforward. Another framework that you can use is the compare and contrast framework. Jim Collins use this in Good to Great. There are ten [inaudible 00:36:55]. You're good ones, you're great ones. Here's what's the same about them and here's whats different. Then he presents it that way when he gives the speech as well and does it very well. It's easier for you to consume. Then finally, there's the modular framework. There's modules or flocks or parts. Steal the Show, which is of course my new brilliant book is in three parts. I do it that way because I want to organize the information in such a way that the reader can consume it. They know or this section we're focusing specifically on a performer's mindset. This part we're focusing specifically on the performer's principles and this section is specifically a masterclass in public speaking technique. Now inside has chapters, there's three chapters in the first part.

There are six chapters in the second part and there are eight chapters I think in the third part. The third part is actually half the book. It doesn't mean that each part is weighed equally. There's still a deviation and separation between them. Now, what then you do is you use different frameworks in the same speech. One speech may have one over arching framework and then you pull different frameworks together. In Steal the Show, there are those three parts module. Then inside, each one use different frameworks. Part two is the numerical framework. Then, in different chapters, I might use different frameworks, and I might use compare and contrast framework in one of the chapters in part three. The, I might move quickly to in problem solution framework. The information is delivered in a way that people can continue to consume, but it also add some contrast to it. It's not all the same, in terms of the way the information is organized.

Ted:                           Michael, thank you very much. We're almost out of time here at this, so michaelport.com's stealtheshow.com. We've only touched the fraction of the book.

Michael:                 Just a tiny fraction.

Ted:                           I've read all the six of your books too.

Michael:                 That's great. Oh, my God. That's fantastic. Like Mark Wahlberg apologized to the Pope for some of his movies, you know, I apologize to you for some of my books. Now, I just to find some way to get that line in there somewhere. I just thought it was quite cute. But yes, the StealTheShow.com. There are a lot of bonuses that you can get, templates that will help you craft your content. I also have a whole authors guide. What I did is I took the entire book and then I took out all of the key sections that you use as cheat sheets essentially, you can always go back to that. It's a really massive, really cool thing and people can get that for free when they buy a copy of the book. If you buy few more copies, there are other things you can get as well. Stealtheshow.com is based … And if you like podcast, go search on Steal the Show at podcast with Michael Port. Today, it was number one in new and notable business, number one in education, new and notable and number one in new and notable society and culture. My mother was very proud about that.

Ted:                           Thank you for your time. It's been a pleasure.

Michael:                 Fantastic. Thank you so much that I really appreciate it.

Ted:                           We'll talk soon. Thanks.


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