Let Me Entertain You

In my first post I asked the questions about being entertained as opposed to the idea of being entertaining.

How do you become entertaining?

A few years ago I was watching an episode of Saturday Night Live. Jim Carrey was the guest host. He appeared in a skit as Jimmy Stewart while another actor took on the role of “Jim Carrey”. I thought this was hilarious and realized maybe Jim Carrey doesn’t take himself too serious after all. During the skit the actor playing “Jim Carrey” would often interrupt and do ridiculous antics during the pretend interview. At one point the real Jim Carrey - who was now Jimmy Stewart - jumped up and grabbed the actor playing “Jim Carrey” and started smacking him around. Then in Jimmy Stewart’s voice said, “You’re pathetic! All you can say is Look at me!! Look at me!!! I need attention 24 hours a day!!!”

Have you ever felt like you were networking with the pretend “Jim Carrey”? They corner you and like a magician with a deck of cards start firing off their business cards...until you feel like they are coming out of your ears, right?

To become a great entertainer...or to be entertaining...your audience must come first. They may be there to see you, but really, as the performer, you’re there to see them. How can you put a smile on a face? Who can you make laugh? Who will tell their friends about you and bring them back to see you?

A talented entertainer will include the whole room in their performance. He will play to the audience in the front row. The price of those tickets paid for the band. He will play to the audience in the back. The price of their tickets paid for the venue in which he’s performing. He will walk to his right and play to the audience in the right section. The price of their tickets paid for his entourage. He will play to the audience to his left. The cost of those tickets paid for the meals for everyone involved in his show. And he absolutely must play to the audience in the balcony. Those tickets are his take home pay.

I just mentioned five sections in a theatre. As you network at different events, map the room. Who is the front row, who is the back row, who is the balcony? Meet at least one new person from each section. If you cover all five sections, take a bow, that’s five new people in your Contact Manager.

When the event is over, it’s time for the encore...or time for the follow up! I have found the more I talk about what THEY do I can include bits of that conversation in a SendOutCard. To go a step further, find a card that relates to their profession. They will know you heard what they said which is just the start to developing that relationship. They will bring their friends to you because they sense that you care.

And that, my friend, will keep you from closing the show on Opening Night.

Even in the theatre, Givers Gain.

Two Questions

Let me ask you two questions.
How much talent does it take to be entertained? and
How much talent does it take to be entertaining?

I loved hearing these questions. They quite simply caught my attention and what ensued was a lengthy discussion about the difference of being entertained as opposed to being entertaining.

For the first question, the answer is simply none. It takes no talent to be entertained. You simply turn on a television, a computer, a video game, or even a cell phone. You can sit alone for hours on end being entertained by the smallest of ideas, whether you are enjoying what you are seeing or not.

The latest electronics will give you instant gratification. A text message, an email, the latest Facebook update or Twitter post and you know exactly what your friends and acquaintances are doing, even if you didn’t need to know.

For the second question, the answer is a lot. If you are entertaining, you are anxiously engaged in an event, an activity, a process, or even a conversation with a real person. To be entertaining you must be able to read your audience. It takes effort. It takes training. It takes TIME.

There's no such thing as instant networking. Even if you join a networking group, such as BNI, you will have to develop relationships with those in your chapter. If, in the first six months, you meet with each member of your chapter twice, you will just be getting started.

The more time, training and effort you put into your network, the return will grow exponentially.

So, are you waiting to be entertained or are you ready to become entertaining?