As a speaker, it can feel like you’re constantly putting yourself at risk. After all, you’re voluntarily standing in front of a group of people and declaring, “I care about this thing, and so should you.” When sticking your neck out in our society, insecurity can creep in, and you might even be made to feel stupid or wrong for your ideas, beliefs, and message.

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But to prevent that insecurity from affecting the quality of your performance, and to recover after a performance that didn’t go as swimmingly as you’d hoped, you must embrace that there is inherent risk involved in public speaking.

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Performers walk a tightrope, a tricky balancing act that requires both courage and flexibility. We need to be vulnerable, open our hearts, and rally for ideas we’re passionate about while simultaneously maintaining a thick skin.

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At times it can feel like those two concepts are at war with each other. You pour your soul, sweat, and tears into crafting a transformational performance intended to reach the hearts of the people in your audience. And when it feels like the performance bombs, are you really expected to just walk it off?

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Performance is an act of bravery when you understand the risks yet care so deeply about what you’re working towards that you raise your voice anyway.

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The fact that you’re the type of person who is willing to take that risk to make the world a better place? That’s admirable, remarkable, and brave. That’s something to reward and remember, especially after a rough gig.

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There’s No Such Thing as a Bad Crowd

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As a performer, it’s important to know that sometimes things will go the way you expected, and sometimes they just won’t. Not every performance is going to turn out exactly the way you hoped. Whether it’s an unsatisfying reaction to your material, clunkiness in the performance, getting in your head rather than being as present as you’d hoped, or the general feeling of friction, it’s inevitable to encounter an “off” performance.

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It’s only natural after a tough gig to try to rationalize it in unhelpful ways. Not meeting your own expectations for your work can cause the ego to lash out. Some performers even indulge in the tempting deflection of blaming the performance on a “bad audience.”

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However, if that’s the first thought you have after stepping offstage after a tough gig, you might want to rethink your approach as a speaker or performer. You see, while every audience and every gig might be different, your job remains the same: to change the way your audience thinks, feels, and acts through your transformational ideas.

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Rather than shifting the blame to someone else, recognize that these types of performances provide major opportunities to reflect on where your speech needs improvement. After all, the speech is the product, not you. Removing your ego from the equation and taking a cold, hard look at what isn’t working can help you consistently iterate and improve your work.

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So keep your ego in check; don’t get defensive. If you let your ego take the reins, you could start to become antagonistic towards the audience, or even a bit indignant. Always remember, there's no such thing as a bad crowd. They're not your enemies; they’re people you’re there to help and serve. Set your ego aside, zoom out, and see the truth of what is happening; because when you do, you’ll be able to better serve your audience and deliver both the experience and the message they need.

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How to Recover After a Tough Gig

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Tough gigs are inevitable. If it hasn’t happened to you yet, it will. You're going to have those times where you have self-doubts, either from exterior or interior critics.

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When it happens, there are four key principles to remember that will help you step back onstage with confidence, humility, and purpose.

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#1 Prepare, Prepare, Prepare

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Preparation is the best preventative measure, and the best way to not have any regrets if things do go awry. You’ll only really, truly bomb if you’re unprepared. As I’ve learned from HEROIC co-founder Michael Port, you’ll always fall back to the level of your training; you simply can’t perform any better than your best rehearsal.

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When you put in the work on the front end, in the form of hours and hours of quality rehearsal, you will not bomb. You can’t. You’ll step onstage and know that you are so well prepared that no matter what happens, you’ll be able to deliver what you’ve set out to deliver.

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Sure, you might make some mistakes. Some people might not identify with your style. A few might ignore your message and ideas. Some gigs will flow brilliantly and you’ll earn multiple stageside leads. Other gigs will go well enough. Regardless, every time you step onstage, you’ll know that your speech works, and that will translate into confidence. You’ll have the keen ability to focus your attention on the people that matter most: your audience.

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When you prepare as much as you possibly can, and things still don’t go as well as you’d hoped, you’ll be able to psychologically recover much more quickly than if you hadn’t prepared. You’ll know that you actually honored your talent, the message that you’re passionate about, and the opportunity given to you to speak to the audience. You’ll be able to learn from your mistakes with more empathy and success.

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use a thorough and proven rehearsal process to prepare for each performance. It takes hundreds of hours of rehearsal to craft a referable speech.

#2 Set a Tangible and Specific Goal

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Rather than simply hoping a gig goes well or trying to be “good“ onstage (both of which are rather amorphous, general, and hard to track), it’s extremely valuable to set a specific goal for each gig you perform.

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Because of the heightened nature of performance, it can be easy to lose touch with an objective perspective on how a gig went. Setting a clear, tangible, and objective goal gives you something manageable to focus on and ensures you’re consistently upleveling your work.

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For example, before a particular gig, I might set a goal to be as present as possible with my audience and to not let my attention wander (especially not towards thoughts of self-consciousness). After the gig, I can ask myself: Did I meet my goal? How often did I feel my mind drift? How often did I turn inward?

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If I don't meet the goal, it doesn’t give me permission to beat myself up over it, but it will serve as a reminder to keep improving in that specific area. And if I did succeed, then I know that that area of the work is clicking and I can focus on improving other areas of the speech.

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Here are a few examples of specific and tangible goals speakers might set before a performance or rehearsal session:

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To be more confident and committed in my blocking and staging choices.
To not be afraid to hold my beats to their fullest extent, creating real moments of connection with the audience.
To try out a new bit I think will help the rest of a section click.
To try to embrace a fuller vocal range.
To remember to breathe during the moments where I start to feel disconnected or rushed.

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As you focus on your goals, you’ll be less worried about whether or not people thought you were good, funny, charming, or talented. (In fact, focusing on thoughts like those makes it less likely your performance will go well.)

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Keeping your mind focused on your specific goals removes your ego from the equation and helps center you on the effectiveness of your material and performance.

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focus on external goals related to your audience’s experience.

#3 Be Curious and Investigate

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Our job as speakers is to be investigators, to remain curious, and, in some ways, to be inventors. When an inventor is creating a new invention, they often test their product and do a trial to see if it will work.

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When something goes wrong, they don’t give up and throw the whole thing in the trash; instead, they go back to the drawing board and try again. They keep a cool head, remain curious, tinker with it, and figure out what’s working and what’s not. They iterate, make tiny shifts, and keep experimenting.

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As a speaker, seeing your speech in a similar way can help you maintain a fulfilling, stimulating, and positive relationship with your speech. Crafting a script and an onstage performance that work becomes an exciting creative endeavor, one that fills you with joy and purpose.

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When something doesn’t go as planned onstage, instead of feeling resentment towards your speech or audience, zoom out and see the bigger picture. Ask yourself: What do I love about the speech? What is working? And what, if I’m being honest with myself, could I shift? What needs to change?

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Focus on the facts. Setting up an audience-facing camera to record your speech can help you later analyze and dissect valuable audience feedback that can help you uplevel your performance. Reviewing the footage will enable you to really see if your jokes are landing, if your messages are clear, and if your audience is benefiting from your performance choices.

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put in the sweat, passion, and time required to craft not only a product you love, but one your audience will benefit from as well.

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#4 Stay Grounded

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Steadiness is one of the qualities the most highly sought-after speakers possess. They’re able to deliver a consistent and repeatable performance and speech regardless of outside circumstances. They remain grounded and focused on their purpose.

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They know that no one gig will make or break them or disrupt their stability as a performer. They also know that their value as human beings is not defined by their onstage successes or failures, even though those peaks and valleys can feel magnified by the scale and intensity of being onstage.

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Remember: You are not your speech. The speech is the product. Negative feedback or a mediocre performance is not a personal attack or a judgement of your character. It just means you now have more information and data to make your product (the speech) even better.

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Remaining grounded in your beliefs and your mission and staying focused on the people you want to serve will prevent you from being swayed by any individual gig. Stay focused on what you’re there for: to serve your audience. Remember your purpose and be a force of steadiness.

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allow external circumstances to affect your sense of self. Remain focused on the task at hand and your deeper purpose as a speaker.

We LOVE a Good Comeback

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Everybody loves a good comeback story. It’s why we cheer for the underdogs, invest in startups, and bet on potential rather than proof.

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Remember watching the Red Sox come back from a 0-3 deficit to defeat the New York Yankees, advance to the Finals, and take home their first World Series title in 86 years? What about celebrating with Tiger Woods as he clinched the 2019 Masters Golf Tournament after years without a major win and after multiple injuries, surgeries, and personal setbacks? Even fictional stories and cinematic classics like The Karate Kid, Field of Dreams, and The Pursuit of Happyness tug at our heartstrings and give us goosebumps.

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Comebacks like these remind us that our failures don’t define us. They show us that there is a tangible hope set out before us. They teach us that success is not the absence of failure, but rather, the goal we strive for through the lessons of our failings. If we continue to learn from our experiences, keep iterating, keep caring, keep daring to be the voice that stands out for our communities, we will achieve our mission and see the change in the world that we believe in.

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Your greatest comeback is only just beginning. So take heart. Hold onto hope. Put in the work. It’s time to flip the script and write your own story.

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#2 Set a Tangible and Specific Goal

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Here are a few examples of specific and tangible goals speakers might set before a performance or rehearsal session:

‍

To be more confident and committed in my blocking and staging choices.
To not be afraid to hold my beats to their fullest extent, creating real moments of connection with the audience.
To try out a new bit I think will help the rest of a section click.
To try to embrace a fuller vocal range.
To remember to breathe during the moments where I start to feel disconnected or rushed.

‍

Keeping your mind focused on your specific goals removes your ego from the equation and helps center you on the effectiveness of your material and performance.

Dont

focus on external goals related to your audience’s experience.