160 How to Sell Yourself
Expect to succeed
The truth is that the audience doesn’t care about the things
you may consider physical imperfections. They will accept you as
you are.
Yes, you should look your best.
Of course, you should dress neatly and inconspicuously, but
your colleagues aren’t looking at your weight or your hair or your
nose or teeth. If they know you, they’re used to seeing you as you
really are, warts and all. If they don’t know you, they may take a
quick inventory of your appearance and leave it at that, unless
you begin to bore them.
In other words, self-consciousness is a self-centered waste
of good energy. What the attendees do care about is your per-
formance. That’s where your concern and energy ought to be
directed.
As in any speaking situation, your audience will give you from
the very outset the benefit of the doubt.
The chairman is expected to be the chairman.
The invited speaker must have something to share.
The report-giver is presumed to know the project being re-
ported on.
More than that, the group wants the chairman to be effective,
the speaker to be interesting and informative, the instructor to be
knowledgeable.
Your cheering section
In short, audiences invest the person with the qualities that go
with his role. This phenomenon is a tremendous asset to you. The
group quite matter-of-factly assumes that you know what you’re
about. For their attitude to change, you’ve got to prove them wrong.
Conversely, if you perform more or less as they expect, you con-
firm their expectations and strengthen their acceptance of you.
What this means is that you can step out of yourself and into
a speaker’s role with the support and encouragement of the group.
Act otherwise and you lose support automatically.
Be aware that these attitudes are created not by who you are,
but rather by self-interest.
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Team-Fly®