I’m not a good rehearser. I can ‘run through’ things, but to do an ‘as perfect’ performance without an audience I find really tough. That’s not to say I don’t prepare–and I don’t recommend you don’t either–but be OK that the 'first time' might be the first time.
When I give a talk I find it difficult to practise the whole thing to an empty room. What I will do is run through the talk in my head when I plan it out (I’m a mind map person), then I work through the slides (I sketch them out to hand over to the Colouring-in Dept), then I'll look through the slides (printed out so I can scribble next to them), and finally I’ll make sure I know my opening. I don’t ever stand in my office and talk to the wall to run through the entire talk, so it might seem that I’ve not ‘rehearsed’ but actually with the times I’ve been through the content and worked out the pieces over and over in my head I’ve actually done several run-throughs.
I am NOT saying my way is the best way, what I am saying is it’s MY way. You might prefer to have a lot of full run-throughs to feel confident you’ll deliver your best talk (or whatever). The key is to do it the way that works best for you. With speaking, for example, I can’t ‘fake’ an audience... I like to get a sense of the room, who is there, what the room ‘feels’ like (woo woo moment) and be able to respond as I go through my talk to make it most relevant (judging reactions to my jokes–or not!).
I also apply this theory to developing offers and programmes. I will sit and work out, to the best of my knowledge, what I know will make a good offer and programme, and I’ll write it all up so I can present it (on a web page or PDF) but I’ll only get a full sense of how it will work perfectly when I have conversations about it and people are buying! If I feel something is missing, I’ll add it in (either officially or unofficially).
So if you’re waiting to ‘figure it all out’ or not launching until it’s all 'perfect’, I strongly encourage you not to. Prepare, of course–map it out, be ready, have some run-throughs–but the best performance you’ll give will be in front of a real audience. Finding the right audience then becomes your top priority NOT a perfect talk/offer/product. Because once you have the audience you can create the perfect result for them.
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