Why Host Mic Drop Mindset: Episode 1

In this episode, Jenn shares why she decided to host a podcast after years of podcast guesting and speaking on stages.

She also shares the importance of Mic Drop Moments, what mindset means to her when it comes to speaking, and the first and last Mic Drop Moments (MDM) she's experienced while on stage.

Want to share your own MDM? Comment on this episode.

Have a question or suggestion for a future episode topic? Email me jenn@jennspingo.com.

Ready to deliver mic drop moments in your next presentation? Schedule a call to learn more about coaching www.calendly.com/jennchat

Looking to book a speaker for your corporate or association event on topics including leadership and communication? View my programs at www.jennspingo.com

Transcript

Why is now the time to do Mic Drop Mindset podcast? This is something I've been putting off for years, so thank you for asking that question listener. , First of all, let's talk about what a mic drop is. A mic drop moment is used to emphasize that a discussion is at an end that is definitive or particularly impressive Point has been made.

Most of us strive to deliver mic drop moments, and as a professional speaker for the past 15 years, I hope my audiences receive more of those than they don't. Often it's the exclamation point at the end of a sentence, or it's that one moment where everyone pauses. That's what I'm hoping to deliver here through mic drop mindset.

Now, why mindset? If you've been following me for any point of time, you know that I hate the word mindset. I am not a mindset coach. I can help you with your mindset. But what's most important to know about mindset is you have to give yourself permission. Permission to do the [00:02:00] scary things and to pause.

Also, permission to ask for what you need when it comes to claiming the stage so you can deliver those mic drop moments. Plus you, my audience have voted for this title, so thank you so much For those of you who voted for this on LinkedIn for mic Drop mindset, what does it mean to deliver mic drop moments on stage?

If you've been on stage before, you might have your own definition of this, and I'd love to hear from you. Make sure you email me or comment on the YouTube video and let me know. Your specific mic drop moments, I want to hear from you, but I would , like to describe mic drop mindset in moments as an emotional impact.

Sometimes strong emotions come up when we're delivering amazing stories. Those of you who have known me for some time know that I used to have a company called Weightless, LLC. See, I had a personal story that I was sharing on how I dropped a hundred pounds in one year. [00:03:00] No programs or supplements.

Now, a lot of people were like, well, Jen, tell me your secrets. Tell me everything there is to know . So I strove to deliver those moments in that particular story. But the truth is you can deliver mic drop moments throughout the course of your story, and it doesn't have to be tied to something like losing a hundred pounds in one year.

I think it's important to look at the emotional impact of your speech the next time you get up to deliver a speech. It could be five minutes long, it could be 10 minutes long. It doesn't matter how long your speech is. Are you incorporating moments that brings the audience to their feet, makes them think differently, or even has an emotional reaction that maybe you didn't expect?

I've guested on 75 different podcasts and panels. I've been the ever present guest. Today I'm coming to you as a host, which I'm humbled to be able to do so. And now is the time to step into a different stage. Believe it or not, this is beyond my comfort zone.

As I figure things out along the way, [00:04:00] I am coming here with a beginner's mind, and I appreciate you joining me in this journey. One thing that I've discovered after years of presenting from retreat stages to global stages in front of mc hosts who know what they're doing and associations, I'm ready to be the hostess with the mostest.

Cheers. Now, I'd love to share with you one of my very first mic drop mindset moments. It wasn't one I expected, and that's okay because we don't always have to expect what comes forward for our audiences. That's why it's a mic drop. Long ago I presented for TOPS, which is an an acronym for taking off pounds sensibly. Because I was speaking about health and wellness, I was helping folks figure out the next step of their health and wellness journey. I'd been presenting for many different TOPS chapters. This was a regional event. I think it was down in Mankato, Minnesota.

So shout out to Mankato folks, and I was [00:05:00] delivering three mindset shifts to accelerate your health. It was one of my most popular programs. I look into my audience, there was a woman sitting in the front row right in front of me, and I noticed that there was a tear coming down her eye, and I paused. This was my own mic drop moment.

She was having her own moment, but I was also having my moment as a speaker and I, I struggled with myself internally. What does this mean? Should I stop? Should I somehow acknowledge what she's experiencing there? I don't want to embarrass her. Not at all. I didn't know what to do in that moment. So I paused how you know you're having a mic drop moment is when you pause and reconnect.

So in that moment, I gave a pause to myself so she could experience whatever she needed to experience . Now you would think that mic drop moments are, yay, I'm walking away. I'm proud. It's victorious. No, sometimes it can be someone crying. It can be someone being affected so emotionally that you yourself [00:06:00] don't know how to handle it.

It can be uncomfortable for some people when they're experiencing what you're offering. That was my very first mic drop mindset time when I recognized as a speaker that it was never about me. It was about my audience member, and she was going through something so powerful that she needed a moment.

That's an example of mic drop mindset. Woo. So I'm not here to make any of you all cry here, but I'll share with you another mic drop mindset moment. This was my last mic drop mindset moment. And I'd love to hear your thoughts on what you are experiencing when you're on stage, when you're presenting, when you're on podcasts like this one.

My very last mic drop mindset was when I hosted the Fearless Women Minneapolis Summit. Very first one, the debut moment here in Minneapolis. I'm a proud Minnesotan friends, so shout out to my Minnesota friends, but what made it a mic drop moment was I was totally embarrassed. Again, it's not necessarily that everyone's happy and victorious.

I was [00:07:00] walking up to the stage. I had a videographer right in front of me. She was recording me. I was walking up. It felt great. I had my clothes all cute and good. I had my shoes ready to go. I'm doing this little interpretive dance. It was so fun. Did this little spin on the walk up to the stage and my shoe snapped.

I was wearing strappy sandals. Women, you feel the pain. There's never great footwear to be on stage, but I snapped the strap of my sandal, my favorite pair of wedge golden sandals. I, I broke it just before I had to walk up those stairs to the stage of my very own event. So I was doing the thing where I was dragging the foot along, dragging the foot along, and I'm like, is the audience gonna notice that I just snapped my sandal?

Like, maybe they didn't hear it, but can they see that it's falling off of my foot? As I was walking across the stage, I struggled with myself and I'm like, what do I do? What do I do? At one point, maybe five minutes into the presentation, I said, you know what, friends? I just broke my sandal. I don't wanna drag it around.

Should I just take my shoes [00:08:00] off? I left it up to the audience. Why is that a mic drop? It was a point of connection between me and that audience, and guess what they said? Yeah, Jen, you removed that shoe. You take it off. We're all friends here, and that's the environment I want you to stand up, up front of.

Those are the people I want you to present to people who are there to support and uplift. You took off the sandal and the presentation went along as if nothing had happened. Those are two specific examples I shared with you of mic drop moments. That led to the mindset of becoming a professional speaker.

Now, one was my first one, one was my last one. There will be many more of these moments over the next however many years. I'm blessed to do this kind of work. As you look to yourself and as you look at your speech, are you incorporating opportunities for mic drop moments? There's an emotional impact, there's a pause.

There's an opportunity for you to reconnect to what matters within yourself as a speaker. Those are examples of how you [00:09:00] incorporate those moments. Next episode we're gonna talk about what does it take to write a business speech, and how is it different from writing any other kind of speech you might have written in school?

I'll see you on the next episode.

Thank you for tuning in to Mic Drop Mindset. If you enjoyed today's episode, let me know. Take a moment and share a review on Spotify, apple, or most especially my favorite place, YouTube leaders don't just talk. They also listen. I'm listening. Stay tuned for biweekly episodes and don't forget to subscribe so you can discover your own mic drop moment.