Authentic or Sincere on Stage?
tl;dr There are vital differences between being sincere, and being authentic. While common advice is to be authentic on stage, I disagree. Being sincere is far more important, and far more effective, than trying to live up to some fictional standard of being authentic.
You have no idea how difficult it is to come up with an image to sum up abstract notions of authenticity and sincerity, so have a picture of a duck in disguise instead.
One of the most common things I hear being repeated to speakers, both new and experienced, is that they should be authentic.
This comes from a positive place and I understand why it’s said.
It’s also, to my mind, very bad advice given by people who don’t understand the difference between authenticity and sincerity. It is much more important to be sincere when presenting. Being authentic is a much lower priority.
If you’re more of a visual learner, a chunk of my thoughts on this are excellently expressed by Mark Bowden in his TEDx The Importance of Being Inauthentic which I’ve linked at the end. Otherwise, keep on reading.
There’s a lot of confusion over the line between authenticity and sincerity, and they get wrongly considered as synonyms. Both have an aspect of ‘staying true to yourself’, with important differences.
What is authenticity?
We talk a lot about authenticity in security, and the same meanings carry over when we’re on stage. The idea of being authentic is being true to your origins, exactly the same way we’d talk about an object. Authenticity is about consistency, not changing for difference environments, no putting on masks, unchanging behaviours. It’s a trait of products, not of people, and while the marketing fad is still about being ‘authentic’ it’s not useful or effective to demonstrate on stage.
What is sincerity?
Unlike authenticity, sincerity isn’t about being consistent. It’s not about being unchanging. Instead, being sincere is very much about humans, and it allows for something vital when we want to communicate. It allows for change. Someone is sincere if they’re honest, if they’re not trying to hide their message. You can be completely sincere on stage while in a persona, putting on the best behaviours to communicate your message.
The key to being sincere is that you can accept there is no ‘true’ self that you have to express, as there is with being authentic. We’re human, we change in reaction to our environment and we certainly change when we get on stage. Accepting that, and acknowledging that your behaviour and persona changing to better communicate your message, is a powerful tool.
How to show sincerity?
What, then, are the keys to being sincere on a stage?
As with a lot of the work I do with people in my coaching, it comes back to the message you’re trying to deliver.
Present a message you believe in.
Don’t force behaviours.
Use your own voice.
If you don’t believe in the message you’re delivering, it will show. It doesn’t matter what the message is - it could be about awareness, inspirational, trying to sell and promote, anything. My test for this is whether I would be willing to stand behind the same things I’m saying on stage in a private conversation with a trusted friend.
Not forcing behaviours isn’t about forcing yourself to be natural. There are some techniques and tips that you can learn and apply, but forcing them when you’re on the stage is counter-productive. Try out new behaviours first when practicing or rehearsing, don’t try to make yourself act a certain way on stage.
Using your own voice is as much about the material as you. If you’ve created the material, then it’s much more likely to be in your voice. If you’ve got a professional or a team creating it for you, then the important factor is to keep the conversation going with them to ensure they understand your style and voice and design the materials to match - if you’ve got a very professional voice, then making a ‘fun’ presentation is going to be a very obvious clash, and vice versa.
And with that, I’ll leave you with Mark at TEDx Toronto - and a note that if you want to improve your stage presence and really engage with your audience for your next presentation, you should get in touch!