Speaker 1Shut up and sit down. Welcome to Being On Stage, the only podcast that gives you motivation, inspiration, and confidence to be better on stage. No matter how you entertain, sing, dance, band, comedian, public speaking, emcee, drag, burlesque, performance art, or street performer, this is the show for you. Hey Rockstars, Reggie Dawson here. I'm just going to start talking because I had a couple of things happen this weekend and it's been rolling around in my head and I've just got to get it out. So listen, we went to a Greek festival this weekend. It's one of the longest running festivals in my hometown. And every year at the Greek festival, you know, they have the kids come up and they do a little show for you. It's the cutest thing because they have all ages. They start at the real young, like five, six year olds, and they go all the way up to the high school kids. And I'm sure it's just something. It's something that they do in their culture. They learn these dances and then, you know, they showcase them at the festival to share it with the community. One of the things I noticed was the looks on these kids' faces. Now, I mean, I get it, you know, I had to do the shows as well when I was a kid, although I had terrible, terrible stage fright. My mother could not get me on stage very easily. But, you know, sometimes, you know, there's shows that you have to do because your parents want you to do them. I get it. But the looks on their faces was. It was absolute misery. I mean, they were in step. They were doing a phenomenal job with the movements, you know. I don't know what type of emotion they're supposed to be into traditional Greek dances, but there was misery. They just did not look happy, especially the guys, which that's typical. There was one girl. She was really into it. She smiled here and there, waved at people. She was the one on the end that they twirl some sort of fabric. And I'm not trying to be disrespectful to any orthodoxy. Orthodox Greeks. I don't know the terminology. I'm just painting the scene, but she was really into it. But all the other ones were kind of just going through the motions and there was no fun in that performance for them. And no matter what you do on stage or how old you are, even why you're performing, there's got to be a level of fun that you're having on that stage. Otherwise, why are you out there? And listen, again, I get it. You know, the kids got to do it. It's part of their upbringing. Part of their culture. Greek festival aside, shifting over to performers, which, by the way, little identification here. My name is Reggie Dawson. I'm a stage performance coach and entertainer. I have been performing for probably about 20 years in total, and I love everything about being on stage. My passion in life is helping other performers improve their stage performance, gain more confidence on stage and turn their audience into their fans. And that's what this podcast is all about. So thanks so much. Thanks for tuning in. If you could also go on iTunes and just leave a rating on this, I'd greatly appreciate it. And I'll get through all the other ways that you can participate and join into the being on stage community and being on stage conversation. But first, let me get back to the topic at hand, and that is the importance of having fun on stage. You know, we as performers, when we are on stage, our job there is to entertain. And there's going to be different levels of entertainment. You know, maybe maybe you are there hired. Just to play some background music while people are eating and socializing. That doesn't mean that you can't provide a certain level of entertainment and put a certain energy into it. You can communicate a little bit with your audience. You can talk to people. Hey, how are you doing, having a great time as you're playing the assuming you don't play an instrument that involves using your mouth even in between shows, you know. But no matter what you're doing, no matter what level you're at, if you're being paid thousands of dollars to be on that stage to, you know, you're just playing some background music. Or maybe you're an opening act or maybe you're part of a group, no matter what you're doing on stage, if you're not having fun or at least not conveying to the audience that you're having fun, you're giving up one of the most valuable and basic human connections that you can get and connecting to your audience on stage is crucial to building that following and getting your fan base going. So if you're not having fun on stage, you are giving up one of the best and easiest human connections that you can get and connecting to your audience on stage is crucial to building that following and getting your fan base going. It's okay to be a little goofy, share a part of yourself, it's also okay to get real and share some, you know, maybe more tough subjects. Now, it's not a sob fest, but you can share some emotion, you can be real with your audience, you can share the really, really good parts of your stuff and your goofy side, and you can also share the really emotional parts as long as it's real, because that's what every audience wants. They want real and they want to have fun. And they want you to have fun. When you're having fun doing what you love, it is the most entertaining thing in the world for someone to watch. So the other story I wanted to share with you, and it's kind of one of my little analogies. If you listen to the show, you know I always do these little analogies of things. And if you don't listen to the show, I like to share analogies. And I'm going to stop talking about an analogy and just give you the analogy now. So the other experience I had when I was at this festival, and it's funny because me and my wife had two different experiences. We went to this little one of the vendors and he had a bunch of a bunch of different crafts and statues and wood carvings and everything. And one of the things he specialized in was like African beauty products. And now listen, I love African black soap. Like that's what I use to wash with. Like I know this is a little personal, but this is part of the story. So he happened to have African black soap. Now I normally have to order it off of Amazon. I haven't had it in a while. My vendor was out of stock. So I bought it. I showed it to him. I stood around for a minute. He came up. He was on the phone. He said, yeah, what you need? And I told him, I said, how much is this? He told me $5. I bought it. He put it. He says, I have a bag. He gave me the bag. Didn't put the soap in the bag. I put the soap in the bag. And he's just very short, very all about the transaction and just very like that's $5. Here's the bag. Take your product. Give me my money. Have a great day. And like there wasn't even a have a great day. It was like, okay. And that was it. And he walked away and I was like, what? And that is what I put in the bag. That is what a performance is like when you're not having fun. It's like the salesman that's just transactional with you. Okay. Because when you're on stage and you're just kind of going through the movements of what, what it takes to perform and you're not really in it, you can tell on your face. Perfect example is last week, the super bowl was on, you know, the halftime show, man, Twitter was lit up with the hate that Adam Levine was getting. And, you know, I don't know what was going on. I didn't look at any of the interviews. I just know that on my newsfeed, there was a couple, there was a lot of information about how people felt about Adam Levine's performance. Now I thought the show was absolutely phenomenal, but there was a little bit of facial expression lacking and it didn't exactly look like he was having a blast the whole time. Like it kind of looked very transacted. He was just going through the motions of, okay, this is what I rehearsed. I'm going to go run over here. I'm going to go stand over here. I'm going to spin in a circle here. And other than the part where he got into, she will be loved. The whole thing kind of looked like it was just going through the motions. And when you're on stage and you're just going through the steps of your show, it's very hard to watch. It's very hard to get pulled into because if there's no fun and no energy or no emotion going into your show, it is really difficult for someone to be pulled in to what you're doing. Now, the funny thing is about this, this sale and this transaction that I had for my African Black soap. My wife witnessed him talking to him. I witnessed him talking to another customer and he was completely friendly. Oh yeah, let me know anything you want to see. I'll be happy to show you anything. And the difference was when he was interacting with me, he was on the phone. He was distracted from his customer. When he was interacting with the other customer, there was no distractions. And that is the same thing that happens on stage. When you have distractions and when you have other things going on in your head and you're not, you're not fully focused on that moment and that audience and being on stage, pun very much intended, in the moment, you are not going to pull your audience in just like, just like the vendor that I bought the soap from did not pull me in. I honestly would never do business with him again. And that's how it is. You don't want your audience to feel that way. You don't want your audience to say, man, I would never, ever go to this show again. It was so incredibly boring. Never again. You don't want that to be your audience. And when you're not having fun and you're not giving them that energy and that part of you creating that connection with them, that's what's going to happen. They're going to tune out. So when you're on stage, get into the moment, get into what you're doing. Genuinely have fun. Like that's a big part of your connection. That is a big part of starting your relationship with your audience. Now that relationship is crucial to your success. Your relationship with your audience. Your relationship with your audience is crucial. Why? Your audience every single night has the potential to become a fan, a follower, see you again, and eventually pay you in the form of ticket sales, cover charges. Maybe eventually you're selling merchandise. That's where you're going to go. But you have to first develop that connection so you can start that relationship. Your relationship with your fans starts the first time they see you. What if that's tonight? What if your next show, your biggest fan sees you for the first time? Imagine that. Just imagine the next time you're on stage. No matter what. when it is, no matter where it is. I don't care if there's three people in the audience. I don't care if you're performing for your cousins. Imagine your biggest fan seeing you for the first time. Mind blown, right? Your audience comes to be entertained. When you entertain them, you create a relationship, and that relationship is what turns them into fans and followers and keeps them coming for more. That's what builds your career, is your fans. So have fun. Share yourself. Connect with people. Listen, if you're having a bad day, you're having a bad week, fake it. I promise you, if you go out there with the intention of, you know what, who gives a crap? I'm just going to have a blast. I'm going to fake it if I have to. If you have to fake having fun, fake having fun. Because you know what? After about a minute, you're not going to be faking it anymore. It's going to be genuine, and you're going to start to really get into it. It's going to boost your mood, and it's probably going to be the highlight of your week. Remember, when you're on stage, it's all about that connection to the audience. So make it happen. Mic drop. If you want more Being On Stage, you can join our free Being On Stage group on Facebook. You can get there easily and effortlessly by going to beingonstage.com slash group, G-R-O-U-P. There's a couple of questions to answer to get in there, but don't worry. I know the guy in charge. You'll get in. No problem. Also, I'm revamping my email list, the Rockstar Lounge, because I have some more exciting news coming up and some things I'm going to really start wanting to share with you. So if you haven't done so, if you go to beingonstage.com, you'll be able to subscribe to my email list, and you'll get a free copy of a book I wrote and published last year called Confidence On Stage. You'll also be subscribed, so when I start announcing this news and start pushing out some more information, tips, and tools for you, you'll be sure to get that. I cannot wait to connect with you on Facebook and also on Instagram at beingonstage. I look forward to that. Listen, the next episode, I'm actually going to dive a little bit into using social media and how it can work for you and some important things to kind of know to jump in. And I got a freebie for you. So you want to definitely hit that subscribe button wherever you listen to podcasts. As always, you'll notice I always end this show this way because I believe in everything that you do. Keep on shining.
PodcastTranscript AI