A couple of months ago, I co-hosted a workshop called, "The Presentation Secrets You Don’t Know You’re Missing.” During the Q&A, someone asked about winging her talks because she had been told it was more authentic. Let’s bust this myth wide-open! Myth - “If I prepare, I’ll sound scripted.” Truth- Nope! When we wing it, 99.9999999% of the time (okay I have no scientific data to back up that stat) we sound anything but authentic because we’re stumbling around, repeating things, missing points, using no real logical flow. And how does this come across to an audience that is having to work harder to keep up with the message you are trying to convey? Where is the confidence in and connection to the speaker who is rambling? Preparing in the right way, even if someone drops a last minute talk on you, makes all the difference for your audience! Rather than shutting your authenticity down, your authenticity has a chance to ring out! This is exactly one of the skill sets we work on in my Skool commmnity! Come learn more about who the Public Speaker’s Growth Hub helps! It just might be the next community you need to join!

I want to share something I’ve noticed in myself in case anyone else here can relate. For months I’ve spent hours talking to ChatGPT about my affiliate marketing journey and a challenge I’m building for men in midlife. Outlining.Tweaking.“Creating content.” Some of what’s come out of those sessions has been really good. But here’s the problem I finally had to admit: Most of it never sees the light of day. I’ve ended up with 100-200 page documents full of ideas and copy that I either forget about… or can’t even find again. If no one ever reads it, it doesn’t matter how good it is. What I’ve called “preparing” has often just been perfectionism. And for me, perfectionism is a fear response. Fear people won’t like what I share. Fear no one will engage. Fear they’ll assume I’m trying to be some kind of expert when I’m not making full-time income from this (yet). Fear of negative comments… or worse, silence. So it’s felt safer to stay in the chat window than show up in front of actual humans. Yesterday I did something different. I posted in a couple of Skool communities.I posted on Facebook and LinkedIn.I read other people’s posts properly and left thoughtful comments instead of the usual “great post” drive-by. And people responded. Men replied. Conversations started. One guy even asked me for the link to the challenge I’m working on because my post resonated with him. Gary V has this idea: “document, don’t create.” I’m starting to get what that really means. I’m not here to stand at the front of the room and teach.I’m here to document what I’m actually doing… going through my training, testing things, wrestling with the doubts… just like a lot of other people are. What I did today.What I’m afraid of.What I’m learning from real conversations. AI and Google can give you answers to almost any question.What they can’t give you is community. That part is on us. So that’s my learning right now: Less hiding behind perfectly crafted content.More imperfect conversations with real people.