What 'Idol' can teach us

By Brad Montgomery  »  Okay, I admit it. I watch it.  I confess: I enjoy American Idol, and when the new season starts here, I’ll be glued to Canadian Idol as well. There, I said it. It’s not like I have a Clay Aiken action figure… at least not that I’ll admit. However, if you’ll indulge me for just a bit, I’ll show you how the Idol shows can teach us a thing or two about becoming a truly top-notch public speaker. Aside from the universally accepted wisdom of The Simpsons, lessons from the Fox network have just got to be few and far between, but there is something to be said for what Idol can teach us as speakers. And that lesson is that talent and content are important, but in order to reach the top you need more: you need a unique and engaging personality. Let me explain. Last season, I watched as tens of thousands of contestants were slowly trimmed down to a couple of dozen; each of them dripping with talent. And then the top singers – all of whom I would pay money to see perform (well… I might pay a little…maybe!) – were trimmed down to a single winner. With so much talent, how could one winner be singled-out? The answer: National elections! Oh, sorry, that’s a different contest. No… to win Idol you have to be hugely talented. And you need to pick out the right songs, and you need to be fun to watch. But talent isn’t enough; you also need to have a remarkable and unique individuality. And you’ve got to be able to showcase your original personality right alongside your talent. Your personality has to be visible to the audience. Wanna be a great speaker? Guess what? In order to be truly memorable on stage, you need to learn what those kids learned on prime time TV: rely on just your magic skills, tricks and “lines” and the Simon Cowells in your audience will call you “dreadful.” You’re voted off. You’re fired. You get the home version as a parting gift. In case you have no idea what American Idol or Canadian Idol is because you were marooned on a desert island these last few years, allow me to bring you into modern pop culture: Thousands of kids audition for a musical talent contest. The winner is almost guaranteed to be the country’s next pop sensation. After several eliminations, the field is progressively reduced to a handful of finalists. Obviously, to get that far means that the finalists were special. They all had amazing voices, natural skill, and huge amounts of talent. They were all darn good. But as we saw them compete, it was clear that some of them just didn’t have ”it.” Sure they were good, and a few of them were very good. But most of them still left us wanting more. Why? So I set out to find the missing piece of the puzzle. I studied them each week… I thought about their performances, and I talked about them with my family. (After all, nobody’s going to admit they watch the show to people who aren’t family.) I read commentary. I checked the website. And one fact became obvious: I need a hobby. But seriously, the more I watched, the more I realized I had watched most of the contestants before. Well, not them, but their acts. They were very good imitators of pop stars that have come before, i.e. Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Elton John. They danced just right. They shut their eyes at touching moments and clenched their fists during intense lyrics. They were just the right type of cool and hip. They looked at the camera, worked the crowd, and said all the right things. But to me – and apparently the rest of the audience that eventually voted them all off the show – it was mostly just over-planned, over-practiced choreography. It was just shtick they thought made them look like a pro. It wasn’t unique. It wasn’t special. And most importantly it wasn’t real. It was just young people trying hard to act how they thought a pop music star is supposed to act. It reminded me of myself early in my career when I tried to mimic Nate Liepzig’s accent. But I digress. In the end, a white-haired young man named Taylor Hicks was named American Idol while fresh-faced Quebec teenager Eva Avila was crowned Canadian Idol last season. Oddly enough, the most forthright of the judges (Simon Cowell in the US, Zack Werner here in Canada) would later say the eventual winners were not the most talented singers in the competition. So what was it that endeared them to the millions watching on the box and who voted for them? It all boils down to personality. Both winners were unique and refreshing. They didn’t cover up their real personalities with some made-up version of pop stars. They didn’t imitate other celebrities. They didn’t have any rehearsed-looking gestures or moves. Simply put, they were themselves. Sure, they had tons of talent, but so did the rest of those young singers. Sure, they were rehearsed, prepared and coached. But so were the rest of the group. The reason Taylor and Eva won was because they were both good singers and had distinctive, endearing stage  presence, which set them apart. Of course the other finalists had personalities, but they didn’t know how to make their individuality available to us. They never let themselves come THROUGH. We never saw them… we only saw the rehearsed version of a rock star they wanted us to see. Idol offers a huge lesson to anyone looking to be a presence on stage. Too often speakers (and even entertainers) cannot make it past the finalist stage. They have the talent. They have the skills. They know how to do the trick, pause just so, and to work a crowd. They might even be able to make you cry or make you laugh. Whatever. But without the ability to showcase a unique and individual personality they never progress beyond that. They have the same clothes, gestures, stories, and expressions as other “stars” who came before them. But they fail to go on to the final round because they have failed to speak with their own words… from their own self. Think I’m wrong? Name your favourite celebrities in ANY field and you’ll find that they all have totally unique, definable, and likable personalities. For example, in the world of comedy consider Bill Cosby, Jay Leno, Ellen Degeneres, Billy Crystal, Chris Rock and Herbert Finkle. Any of those stand out? Of course! Herbert Finkle… He just copied other people’s style and material and never made a name for himself. The others didn’t follow anybody else’s road map – they created their own mould. So what’s my point? I’m suggesting that you work hard to define your own personality and work hard to make your unique, special and remarkable individualism show through to the audience. Yup. You gotta have skills, talent, and even shtick. But… if you’re gonna be on top, you’ve gotta be yourself. Just like Taylor. Just like Eva. • Brad Montgomery is a laugh-out-loud funny motivational speaker and corporate comedian. He is also a lousy singer.