How To Get A Standing Ovation Every Time With Michael Port

Author, Professional Speaker, Entrepreneur – Michael Port

All communication is public speaking! That’s why it’s important for entrepreneurs to be extremely good verbal communicators. Listen in to hear the Seven Steps rehearsal process to prepare a speech.

Resources Mentioned in the Podcast:

• StealTheShow.com
• Steal the Show Podcast
• Book Yourself Solid

Check out MichaelPort.com for more info!

Thanks so much for listening!

Transcript: Download

***Audio/Video Interruption Occurred***

Michael Port: 	no, it's great that you do that; it's absolutely outstanding.  What you're doing is, you're creating a structure of accountability.  Now, would I like to see more people do that?  Yeah, absolutely.  I think it's great.  I think it's outstanding. 

Jaime Tardy:	Can it get better?  What would you-?

Michael Port: 	Tell me again, you walk through three different potential action items. 

Jaime Tardy:	Yeah. 

Michael Port: 	And you say, "Choose one." 

Jaime Tardy:	Yeah. 

Michael Port: 	Okay.  Now, the question now is, choose one, and they put a date on it, but what's next? 

Jaime Tardy:	What I used to do is I actually had a sheet, and I said, "Come see me after.  Fill out your name, your email address, no, I won't put you on my list," and what the action item is, and "We'll email you in a week."  So I was doing that - but that took a lot because, it ended up being -

Michael Port: 	That's a lot.  So what would be interesting - there's one thing is for you to hold them accountable, it's another thing for their peers to hold them accountable.  What I found over the years is that peers tend to do a very good job of holding each other accountable.  I could scare them a little bit.  It's like with your teacher, you really don't want to disappoint your teacher, but you don't always hand in your homework.  More often than not, it's the peer group that really makes you work.  You know, when I was in the fitness industry, I ran a division of a company that had - the division I ran was a group fitness; that was in my focus.  

And we found that people first chose the classes they went to because of the instructor.  So the celebrity instructor was the person that brought them in.  But they often stayed there because of the people.  So on Thursday, your friend would say to you, "Where the heck were you Tuesday?  I was here for the 6:30 p.m. class, where were you?" and you're like, "I'll be here next time.  I'll be here next time."  And that kind of structure is important.  So now, the question is, what could you do to put them into some sort of position where they are holding each other accountable to these commitments?  

The other thing that will do is, it'll make them feel more connected to you as a group.  And the more connected they are to you as a group, the more likely they are to join your cult.  If they're just accountable to you, it's still an individual thing that nobody else really knows if they don't follow through on it.  I'm just a big - I'm big on public accountability, in general.  And so the more public you make it because you bring people together.  Obviously, there's software we can use, and there's different methodology.  The system is something you'll search for and you'll figure out, and you'll find out what's best, but I like the idea of getting their friends involved in it. 

Jaime Tardy:	Good.  Make them kick them in the butt instead of me. 

Michael Port: 	Yeah. 

Jaime Tardy:	That's responsibility for me. 

Michael Port: 	But still, you're the leader of the group, and you're facilitating it, so they attribute a lot of the results to you. 

Jaime Tardy:	I like this.  Make other people do my work, and then I get all the credit. 

Michael Port: 	Well, that's the secret to success, you know.  I'm dyslexic. 

Jaime Tardy:	Really? 

Michael Port: 	Yeah.  And the Calvin Foundation did a study - they're an entrepreneurial organization.  And they did a study on entrepreneurs, and they found that a disproportionally large number of successful entrepreneurs are dyslexic, as compared to the general population; and there's a number of different reasons why they thought.  Well, they tend to be good verbal communicators, and that's important when you're trying to lead a team, a group of people, get your ideas sold, etc.  

They also don't fit that well inside the structures that other people create; they are more comfortable creating their own structures.  And they have to take ideas and reorganize it into a way that makes sense for them.  Fortunately, the way it makes sense to me, it tends to make sense to other people, so that's why the books have done well.  But then, finally, I thought this was the funniest, is they're very good at getting other people to do their work for them.  

Jaime Tardy:	You're like, "Yes, great."

Michael Port: 	Yeah because, when I was younger - I still can't - I can't take notes and listen at the same time.  So if you're giving me a lesson, I can't sit and listen and take notes because, by the time I finished writing down the thing you just said, you're already onto the third thing because it takes me longer.  So I would have to be the kind of person that others would be willing to give their notes to, so you develop a certain personality that - because, otherwise, people are like, "You're just an idiot, you don't want to do any work, you take my notes."  And I'm like, "No, I'm serious about this, I just can't take notes.  Can I have your notes?"  And then I give them a smile.  

Jaime Tardy:	So you got smooth when -.

Michael Port: 	Yeah, there you go.  Exactly.  And it's maybe possible that I asked women for their notes more than men; I'm not saying that's what I did, but it just may be possible. 

Jaime Tardy:	With your smile.  With that smile.  

Michael Port: 	Exactly, the smile.  I used to have hair, I didn't always look like a serial killer, I was once - once, had hair. 

Jaime Tardy:	Oh, my God.  Okay, tell me this - at that last conference I went to, some of the guys were just utterly hilarious, and does that really make a bigger difference?  I am funny one on one, usually, and don't get me wrong, I get laughs on the stage, but I don't feel like I'm as funny.  Does that matter?  

Michael Port: 	Yeah, that's interesting.  There's a big debate in the world of comedy about whether women are as funny as men. 

Jaime Tardy:	Ouch. 

Michael Port: 	Yeah.  Well, there's a couple of documentaries on this specific -. 

Jaime Tardy:	Really? 

Michael Port: 	Yeah.  Because, if you look at the comedy industry - stand-up comedy, I don't know what the percentage is, but it's about 95 per cent male, and five per cent female.  So there are some incredibly famous female comedians, and more now than there were 10 years ago; but there are still more men.  Now, part of that is because it's a boys? club.  

Jaime Tardy:	Yeah. 

Michael Port: 	And the boys like to keep the women out of the boys? club sometimes.  

Jaime Tardy:	Yeah.  

Michael Port: 	So I think that's part of it, and I think that will hopefully change over time.  So I do not think that men are funnier than women, I think that men are often willing to look stupid, so they may make fun of themselves more.  I don't know, this is anecdotal, not empirical.  So - the reason I mention this is because you said, "A lot of the guys."  

Jaime Tardy:	Yeah.  I was one of - I wasn't the token - usually, I'm the token female, by the way. 

Michael Port: 	That's the other problem, where are the women?  Where are the women? 

Jaime Tardy:	Exactly.  

Michael Port: 	And you know, here's what's interesting, in our training programs, more women than men. 

Jaime Tardy:	Really? 

Michael Port: 	And I love that.  I love seeing that.  First of all, women take direction better than men - stage.  Men are like, "No, let me tell you why I'm doing it this way."  And I'm like, "I don't care why you're doing it this way, do it this way."  So that's - and then, the other thing, is that the organizers often think of men first because they know who the men are because it's been like that for a while.  But the other problem is that the women's conferences don't pay the women.  

Jaime Tardy:	Yeah.

Michael Port: 	It's like the National Speakers Association not paying speakers to speak at their conferences; it's a crazy concept.  They are supposed to be helping speakers get paid, but they don't want some honor to be there.  And there are times I speak for free for my friends, there are times where I speak at a conference that's huge, and I'll speak for free because I know it's good for business.  So professional speakers - my regular speaking fee is $30,000.00, Professional speakers will speak for free when the opportunity gives them something that is valuable, no doubt.  

	But there is this thing in the women's conferences, where they'll bring in two huge keynoters, pay them an extraordinary amount of money, and then everybody else like, "It's an honor, now you're going to have to apply," and then, "You're really lucky to be here.  We're not paying you, we're not going to put you up, we're not going to pay for your travel, we're not going to feed you, we'll give you a badge, and maybe someone will be there to help you with microphone, but probably not."  Yeah, you're laughing because -.

Jaime Tardy:	Yes, I know.  I say "No" to those now.  

Michael Port: 	So I'm really looking forward to change there because, the women's conference business is huge business - huge business; massive business now.  And it's fantastic, but I would love to see that change.  And this is one of the questions that - one of the things that comes up at a lot of our events when we're talking about the business side of things.  

Jaime Tardy:	It's so funny, too - it's even harder for me to find women millionaires, and just in general, it's hard to find women - even though there's women groups like crazy.  And I usually hang out with the guys, that's sort of like my shtick, I love UFC, and comic books, and weird stuff.  It's all good.  But it's still like a guy's world, and so even in speaking like, my friend's running a conference, and I had him on a webinar for my private group, and they were like, "Where are all the women?" and I was like, "Yeah, how come you didn't ask me to speak?"  It's so amazing.  

Michael Port: 	Right, "Hello," right there.  

Jaime Tardy:	Exactly, "Hello.  And even if it's in their face, it's still something that's different, so I don't know; it's odd.  

Michael Port: 	Yeah.  This is not an area of expertise to me, I don't have the answer on this, really, but I just recognize what the industry looks like.  Now, there are very successful professional speakers, that are women, and there are a fair number of them, but they still are outnumbered by the men, considerably.  

Jaime Tardy:	Definitely.  

Michael Port: 	So you are asking about humor.  

Jaime Tardy:	Umm-hum.

Michael Port: 	Now, the other thing about public speaking is - by the way, everything is public speaking, I'm not sure - unless you're talking to yourself in your head, everything is public speaking.  So public speaking is not just on a stage, if you're speaking out loud, you are speaking in public, so let's just get that on the table.  The humor thing is interesting because, some have said that the speakers that make people laugh get paid more.

Jaime Tardy:	Really?

Michael Port: 	Yeah. 

Jaime Tardy:	Good, I'll work on that. 

Michael Port: 	Now, I don't know if that's true, but that's the - that's the running idea, I think.

Jaime Tardy:	I guess because people are not falling asleep, and therefore they do a better job, or something.  

Michael Port: 	Because they feel like entertainers, they're getting entertainment.  Did I mention earlier the math teacher and the comic?  

Jaime Tardy:	Yeah. 

Michael Port: 	Remember the same thing?  So I think that that is something also to consider.  I have a colleague, a good friend of mine who got a comment card once that said - he was teaching social media, that's what he was there to teach - and the comment card said, "If I wanted to laugh, I would've gone to a comedy club."  And I think his perspective on it was, "Well, she's got no sense of humor, it's ridiculous.  What's wrong with laughing?"  But I was thinking about it because, maybe her point was she wanted it more focused on the content, she was there for an educational experience, not for the humor.  

	So it's finding the right balance because I know that I could tip the scales on the side of humor in my speeches, and have people laughing a lot, but I would be able to deliver a lot less.  So you're trying to find the balance, enough humor so they can have fun, enough humor to get them to the next point because, what's humor for?  Is humor just to be funny?  Or does humor help you in some way deliver on your promise?  That's what I ask myself when it comes to humor because, if it's just "I want to make people laugh," then it's for my approval. 

Jaime Tardy:	Ouch, yeah, that hit.  

Michael Port: 	You see?  And so I don't think it's necessary, I don't think you have to be a stand-up comic, I don't think you have to be focused on writing jokes, telling jokes - although, I put a big section in "Steal the Show," on how to write jokes. 

Jaime Tardy:	Oh good because, I was going to ask you about that.  Because, what if you're not very funny?  I'm not good at just coming up with jokes.  You know what I mean? 

Michael Port: 	And I don't think you should.  I don't think you should spend time coming up with jokes.  I don't think that's what the speakers do.  

Jaime Tardy:	Good.  

Michael Port: 	And I don't think you should open with a joke. 

Jaime Tardy:	Okay, good.  

Michael Port: 	I think that's just a bad idea.  I don't think you should open with a story unless that story kills and is directly related to the big idea.  Just coming in with a story that's a funny story about something that happened to you when you were a kid because you know that people laugh at the end of the story, but it doesn't have anything to do with the speech, it's not serving the audience, it's not serving the promise, it's not serving the speech.  So you can go directly, right into that material without a whole, big hullabaloo at the beginning of the presentation.  Most articles you see about public speaking will start off with something like, "Tell stories." I think there's a word missing, do you know what it is?

Jaime Tardy:	 No.

Michael Port: 	 Good.  

Jaime Tardy:	 I was going to say relevant.  

Michael Port: 	Tell good stories.  Yeah.  So we don't have to worry so much, focusing on delivering on the promise.  If there's humor - if you can use humor to bridge a difficult topic, then humor works very, very well.  If you can use humor to lighten the mood when you're teaching something that's intellectually difficult, that's wonderful.  But you're using it, everything is serving the speech a story.  Serves the speech.  It helps you demonstrate a point.  It helps you to get them to see the world differently, or to feel something, but it's not just a story for story sake. 

Jaime Tardy:	Which I think is hugely important.  I know we have to start wrapping up in just a second, but I need to ask you this because, at the very beginning, you talked about rehearsal.  And I've known people that - like Pat Flynn - I don't know if you know Pat Flynn.

Michael Port: 	Yeah, I know Pat.

Jaime Tardy:	Rehearses - he's in my mastermind group, and I get to see him create his speeches.

Michael Port: 	I gave Pat a whole, long - a breakdown - a feedback on one of his speeches.  

Jaime Tardy:	No way, really?  That's awesome.  He put so much into them, it's utterly insane - and amazing.  But what is common?  How often should we practice?  How many hours should we put into this, if you had to tell us a number?  

Michael Port: 	I can tell you some numbers.  

Jaime Tardy:	Okay.  

Michael Port: 	But it varies depending on the speech, the importance of it, the length of it, and the material.  So there's some material that you've been doing for years, that you know inside and out, but you just haven't presented it in that particular way.  Well, that may take less rehearsal.  There might be - it might be brand new material, and content development is part of the rehearsal process.  And in "Steal the Show" I break down how you start developing content, then how you start rehearsing, then how you start reworking your content using rehearsal.  

Jaime Tardy:	Nice.  

Michael Port: 	Because, you're not writing a book; it's a different process.  And then, how you go back to rehearsal to keep your finding.  So there's a seven step rehearsal process in "Steal the Show" that is based on how the actor rehearses for a play, or for a film.  So you're using that same type of methodology.  So generally, you need a lot of rehearsal, that you think you do, and then you need a lot more rehearsal than that, and then you need a lot more rehearsal than that.  So it's like a friend of mine in college, when he'd eat his hero sandwiches, his hoagie sandwiches, he'd put so much mayonnaise that you think you've ruined it, and then put more.

 That's how you want to think about rehearsal, do so much rehearsal, that you think you've done too much rehearsal, and do more.  Now, here's the thing that people are concerned about, their concern, "If I rehearse, then I'll be stiff.  I won't be in the moment; I won't be able to - because, I'll be stuck."  That only happens when you're partially rehearsed.  If you've done a little bit of rehearsal, what happens is then, you're giving the speech and you're trying to remember what you did in rehearsal, and you're not in the moment.  

The great performer, is so well rehearsed, that they walk on the stage, and completely put what they rehearsed out of their mind, so everything that happens, even if it's exactly what they rehearsed, feels like it was the first time it ever happened. 

Jaime Tardy:	You gave me chills on that one; that's awesome.  

Michael Port:	And that's the way it works.  So if you are serious about - not you - but if one is serious about being a speaker, and they want to make it a major part of their life, then they're going to do a lot more rehearsal than they think.  I often ask the authors that, I say, "Guys, how long did it take you to write your book?"  - "Well, about three months to conceive it, three months to write the book proposal, maybe another eight months to a year to write the book."  

- "How many hours did you rehearse this hour-long keynote that you're going to do for 4,000 people?  "Well, I made my slides, and then I went over the slides a couple of times."  I think they'd probably be equivalent; I have a keynote that I do called "The Think the Revolution," and from start to finish, that was about 500 hours of work.  

Jaime Tardy:	That's awesome. 

Michael Port: 	Yeah, that is the content development because it was new content.  And then of course, because it's a living, breathing piece of art, you're constantly improving, changing, it's not the same way twice.  And it's not done - done.  It's never done - done.  You change one thing, you can always make it better.  So generally - I'm not asking people to do 500 hours of rehearsal.

Jaime Tardy:	Thank you, I appreciate that. 

Michael Port: 	But you want to get to the point where you feel so well-rehearsed that you're not worried, and that you are so well rehearsed, you don't need any slides.  This is the metric that I give people, if you feel like you could do the presentation without the slides, you're good.  If you feel like you still need the slides to know what comes next, you need more rehearsal.  

Jaime Tardy:	I like that.  

Michael Port: 	So my primary keynote on "Book Yourself Solid" I had no slides, zero slides; no slides whatsoever.  And the greatest piece of feedback, for me, personally, the greatest feedback I ever got was, somebody said, "Seth Godin, and Michael Port are my two favorite speakers in the business.  Seth because, he can do 150 slides in the course of 30 minutes, not look at one of them, and tell you a great story about each one of them.  Michael Port because, he can keep you at the edge of your seat for 90 minutes without one slide.  

And so to me, it is a show."  You are a teacher, you are delivering on a promise, but you want to create an experience for them.  And there's lots of different ways to create experiences, but you want to create an experience for them.  So if visuals help you, great, if they don't, then get rid of them.  So to use slides, or not to use slides has never been the question, it's what are you doing with them?  The slides on their own are benign; they're just a tool.  

Jaime Tardy:	You have - it's so funny, I have two mentors that all charge $25,000.00 to $30,000.00 a speech, and I sort of backed away from doing more speaking, and you just inspired me even more to be like, "Okay, you know what, why am I not?  There's not a lot of women; I might as well.  What the heck?"  

Michael Port: 	Yeah, and even if there were lots of women. 

Jaime Tardy:	Exactly.  What the heck?  Why not?  I have a long time to live, I minus will be doing something really cool.  

Michael Port: 	Yeah.  

Jaime Tardy:	I know we need to start wrapping up, so I'll ask the same last question - at the beginning, you didn't even want to know, so I normally give people a heads up, but he's like, "I don't want to know."  I hope you look like a deer in headlights. 

Michael Port: 	All right.  Big test, here.  

Jaime Tardy:	Are you ready? 

Michael Port: 	Yeah. 

Jaime Tardy:	All right.  What's one action listeners can take this week to help move them forward towards their goal of a million'  

Michael Port: 	Buy "Steal the Show." 

Jaime Tardy:	I'm out.  Drop the mic. 

Michael Port: 	Do the thing that's scaring you.  Do that one big thing that's scaring you, that'll take you closer to your goals.  

Jaime Tardy:	I love that.  Okay, everybody that's listening write - okay, but not if you're in the car, but write down the thing that's scaring you because, most people will listen to you, and be like, "I know, I'm supposed to do that," and not actually do anything, and that annoys the crap out of me. 

Michael Port: 	Yeah, pretty much.

Jaime Tardy:	Okay, do you have any - can you give me a couple of examples of things that you've done that were really scary that made a big difference?

Michael Port: 	So let's say you want to write a book.  You need an agent.  What are you going to do about getting an agent?  You're going to call some people who have an agent, and you're going to ask for a referral'  That might be scary.  That's something you can do.  Can you make a big promise to your - even if you have 100 subscribers, it doesn't matter - can you make a big promise to them about delivering something to them by a certain date?  Can you sell it right away without even having made it?  These are the kind of things that I do, these are the kind of things that I imagine you do, these are the kind of things that the other people who have - that have been achieving their goals do, and it takes risk.  

And the performer is the one who is willing to take risk - risks.  He's the one who's willing to take risks, and not stupid risks like, I don't jump off bridges - I hate that stuff.  I do not put myself in physical danger; I won't do that.  But when it comes to trying to get to your dreams - look, here's the thing, if you finally admit how much something means to you, then you'll go after it.  But sometimes, we won't admit how much something means to us because, then if we don't get it, it doesn't hurt that much.  So let's finally admit how much we want something.  And I want all of your listeners to go buy "Steal the Show."  

Jaime Tardy:	Okay, tell me exactly how they do that, so that way we can make you happy, Michael.

Michael Port: 	Thank you.  Anywhere books are sold, of course, but stealtheshow.com is a great place to go because, there are lots of bonuses that you get when you buy the book.  During pre-sale of a book launch, we give away the farm.  We're talking tickets to live events, we're talking real, major online courses, templates for creating your speeches, and the list goes on and on, and on.  So if you go over to stealtheshow.com, you can see that.  Also, I just dropped a podcast yesterday, 5,031 downloads in the first day.  

Jaime Tardy:	Wow, congratulations.  That's huge. 

Michael Port: 	Yeah, we were number eight top business podcast.  I want to get up to one, but we were close.  So that's really good, if you want more of the kind of advice that we have been talking about today, that's a great place to start, also because, it's all free.  And a lot of my episodes are five minutes, 10 minutes, really hard-hitting content, really fast, and it's just me.  Which, it's not quite as exciting as having you there, but it's second to that. 

Jaime Tardy:	Second, good.  They need a second, so they might as well go listen to that.  Where can they find that in iTunes?  What's the name of the show? 

Michael Port: 	Steal the Show, with Michael Port.  

Jaime Tardy:	How perfect.  

Michael Port: 	stealtheshow.com/podcast, it's there, too. 

Jaime Tardy:	Okay, so anybody that - of course, listen to the podcast, but go buy the book, it's probably like $20.00, and Michael Port is a genius.  

Michael Port: 	It's less than that. 

Jaime Tardy:	Exactly, thank you so much for coming on the show today.  I really, really appreciate.

Michael Port: 	It's my pleasure.  My pleasure.

Video Transcription provided by GMR Transcription Services

Tags: communication, good verbal communicators, Michael Port, millionaire interview, public speaking, Speech preparation, Steal the Show

Categories: All, Business, Business Model, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Millionaire Interviews

Hi I’m Jaime. Each and every week I bring you the top business advice from the people who know best.

Learn More