Every presenter, leader, and meeting facilitator knows: your opening sets the stage, the tone, and the audience’s expectations.
I was ready to deliver an epic keynote. As with all my presentations, sound is key. I often craft music, sound bites, and audio extras, as I like to say. I embed them into the slides so they play on a ‘click’ of the advancer.
I checked the audio with my sound guy twice. Perfect level. Music played when I advanced the slide. I’m ready!
But on stage, in real time, I clicked and…there was no music!
No Music!
The first 30 seconds of this video tells the story.
As I was improvising on stage, the sound guy realized the sound board was muted and flipped it on ‘Right on Time.’
Leaning into the unscripted got some big laughs. It became the gold to take a great opening over the top.
This year, I step into the unscripted, saying YES to becoming the President of the National Speaker Association Northwest, and formally welcoming our new 15-member board of directors.
Clearly, saying YES to unscripted moments can offer pure gold…if we keep our minds free of expectation and wide open to possibilities.
