Getting Your Audience to Love You

I hate rap. Always have. I don't understand it, I can't dance to it, and I'm from Iowa, so that's three strikes against it from the get go. But I know a great performance when I see one, and Astro gave us one on the first live edition of X-Factor USA last night.

Three things stuck out to me as he 'Talked...with Style' in front of millions:

1. Enthusiasm! Do you love your message as much as Astro loved his?

2. Customization. He may have been covering a Kriss Kross song, something I only know because my much younger wife told me so, but he made it his own. In fact, he went beyond that, making it a performance he could only give on that night, in that venue, to that audience. 

3. Audience Participation. They were as into Astro as Astro was into them, and he used that power to change their state, emotionally and physically. His message was 'keep me' - and the audience made it impossible for LA Reid to do anything but.

I hate rap, but I love Astro. Your audience may think they're going to hate yet another speaker. What are your going to do to Speak...and Deliver? Astro knows.