The Power Of Live
When an org books me to speak, one of the most common questions I get is: Can we film the presentation? My answer: Of course!
There are a ton of speakers who will not, under any circumstances, allow you to film their presentation. And that’s fine, whatever floats your boat. For me, I simply do not see any harm in it. Does it mean that someone might watch that video and then might not purchase a DVD of my presentation? Maybe. Might the film then be shown to an audience, thereby giving them a free program? Maybe.
But ya know? I don’t care! It’s cool, film me all ya want! First off, I believe in my message. And, if I truly believe in my message, I should want that message to be spread by whatever means necessary. Second, so what if someone watches that bootleg film and doesn’t buy my DVD? I still feel it’s more important for a viewer to get the info in the presentation somehow, someway, even if it means I don’t secure $20 for the DVD. Third? You can watch all the films you like of me presenting…you will still not have the same experience as you’ll have sitting in the audience. To prove this point, let me bring in The Boss.
Right now, I’ve got E Street Radio on in the background. If you’ve got Sirius XM, you’ll know this means all Bruce Springsteen, all the time. Right now, they’re airing a live concert recording from his post 9-11 tour, The Rising. Good music? Absolutely! Entertaining and enlightening stories from Bruce in between songs? Sure. But, I, being blind, could put on a pair of high quality headphones and I’d have the same experience as if I was at Madison Square Garden in 2002, right? Wrong. There is a difference. Even if I do go to MSG, Bruce sings the same song list, tells the same stories and does everything identical to what’s on this live recording all over again…it is simply not the same. There is a dynamic created when a group of people are all having the same experience. THAT dynamic is what I try to accomplish every time I speak. I want to bring you, the audience member, into my world, share these intimate experiences I want us to laugh together, I want us to cry together, I want you to have this moment of completely being human with me. You’ll never get that from a DVD. You won’t get it off a youTube video clip. It is a dynamic that is only created when we are alive, together, in this same moment in time and space. That, faithful reader, is where and how the magic happens.
