Last week was a weird week for me. I had taken time off from my day job to record podcast interviews. I was really hoping to get at least three recorded, maybe four. For various reasons only one happened and if you’ve subscribed to this podcast you may have already heard it.
I kind of want to unpack that experience in this episode because I feel like I learnt a few things about myself during that process.
Hi, I’m John Lacey and this is Build A Presentation Muscle.
Things will go wrong
I tried recording the interview in a new platform. I hadn’t had time to really test it out (or a willing guinea pig to help me). I joined the session and immediately discovered it wouldn’t play nicely with my video setup.
We jumped out of that software and moved into something else. Michelle was very gracious, she said that she’s done so many of these interviews she tends to assume something will go wrong.
The software I recorded the interview in produced audio that was a little ‘crunchier’ than I would’ve liked. Even the backup recording of myself on the Rodecaster Pro recorded most of the conversation, but not all of it. I don’t really understand why.
I tried a whole bunch of things to try to clean up the audio and they really weren’t that successful.
It was really frustrating, I have to tell you. But the content of the conversation was amazing, and I have certainly listened to worse sounding podcasts in my time, so I told myself that the show must go on and worked with what I had.
It was, after all, the very first interview of this new podcast endeavour. It’s important that I cut myself some slack.
How do you show up?
One of the things I called out during the interview was how Michelle was able to overcome her fear of being on camera to really embrace and love it.
I think this is a huge stumbling block for so many of us. And to be clear, when I say many of us, I mean myself especially. Even as someone who’s been doing videos and livestreams for years, I still get nervous every single time. So it was comforting for me to hear this as well.
But I noticed a few unusual things about how I was during this interview. A few unexpected things. The recording software issue had already knocked my confidence a little. But I found myself telling my guest that I was almost certainly going to stuff up at some point and that it wouldn’t matter because none of this was live.
And stuff up, I certainly did.
I completely tripped over my words trying to describe the two books Michelle had co-authored.
I said, “Okay, I’m going to do that again because it’s going to be a nightmare to edit.” She laughed. I went again, and it was fine.
But when I listened back to the interview, I couldn’t shake the feeling that a different John had shown up. A more tenative John, a more thoughtful John. Not the flawless radio announcer I secretly wish I was.
And I think the conversation was better for it.
I’m sure I take myself way too seriously. I want to be professional at all times. But it might be more useful to be human.
By the end of the interview (and especially after I stopped recording) we were both relaxed and laughing and joking. It was a real bonding experience. And it wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t kicked rigid presenter John to the curb.
So I’m trying to be more relaxed in everything I do. Pretending to be perfect doesn’t make anything better, it just stresses me out.
Tell me how you handle these things
So, dear listener, I want to hear from you:
- What have you done to make sure your show has gone on?
- How do you feel about how you show up?
Leave a comment wherever you’re listening to this, or head over to JohnLacey.com and send me a message via social media.
For more information about today’s show, head over to JohnLacey.com
