Big Eyebrow Energy

When I was in journalism school, we rotated through different roles producing a weekly newscast that no one watched, I'm pretty sure (except us).

One week I was a reporter chasing down stories. Another week, I'd be editing videos. And at least once during the semester, I'd be an anchor. When anchor week came, I'd put on a jacket and tie and practice reading to the camera.

I was inexperienced. But I wasn't afraid of the camera. I was looking forward to it. I thought it was something to do.

The day finally came. We produced the newscast. And when it aired that night, I sat with my girlfriend (now my wife) and we were both less than impressed with my performance. And, as she so hilariously pointed out, I discovered my "big eyebrow energy", as she called it! I never thought about them before, but there they were. Being expressive. In ways I hadn't intended and had never noticed before.

In this video, you only get a little glimpse of what I'm talking about. Unfortunately (or not!), the clip where it was even more apparent has been lost to history.

My point is that there are all kinds of things that can trip you up when presenting. Here are a few you can see in this clip:

1) Reading instead of just talking. It is SO apparent that I am reading a script here. Sure, part of the issue is there's no teleprompter. But even with a prompter, I'm not sure it would have been any better. I've gotten much much better at this. I can read anything now and sound much more like I'm expressing myself like a normal human. What helps with this is intent (I'm thinking about explaining, not reading) and PRACTICE.

2) Impressing myself with my own cleverness. There are a couple of times where I'm clearly thinking I'm quite clever, laughing at my own jokes. There is an art to laughing along with your audience at a funny line rather than seeming like you're laughing spontaneously or in a self-congratulatory way at the same line. It's subtle. What helps with this is intent (performance, not being caught off guard) and PRACTICE.

3) Back to the big eyebrow energy. My eyebrows aren't normally that expressive. But I was being directed by my professors. And the advice they were giving me was all wrong. They tried to explain that you needed to amp up your persona to be entertaining on camera. And there is some truth to that. If you wanted to become a big market TV personality, you needed to shine at a higher level. But if you wanted to make documentaries or be on MacNeil Lehrer report, like I did, this was bad advice. What helps with this is being authentic at PRACTICE.

What's the common element for all three things above? PRACTICE. Public speaking of any kind is at least 90% about knowing your content backward and forward and practicing walking through it again and again. That way you can just talk to it, rather than read it, which will also help you get better at the awkward moments like cracking a joke without looking like a weirdo while doing it.

This doesn't mean memorizing it to the point where you become stiff, by the way. Practicing it means really trying things in different ways, listening to yourself, watching videos of yourself, seeing what works and what doesn't work. In doing this, you're not memorizing lines, but you're familiarizing yourself with your content and learning how to get through tricker spots like awkward transitions, silly jokes, etc.

Practice will also help you become more authentic. The real you will come out because practicing (again, NOT MEMORIZING!) makes it mundane. Practicing makes it part of your day to day. When presenting is just talking like a normal human, like you do every day, it becomes the opposite of a big deal.

I live on camera and on stage now. Many of my LinkedIn courses include live on-camera presentation. I lead workshops, speak at conferences, do endless podcast interviews, etc. I love it! And that's because I know my stuff, I know how to talk about it, and I'm always ME. My eyebrows are mostly under control now because I'm not trying to become someone else.

Be you. And practice. That's actually how the real you is most likely to come across.

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