Last week I was delivering a presentation skills workshop to a group of seven women who are each highly intelligent, highly skilled, highly professional.  They gave their initial presentations so I could assess their skills and see what they needed to develop to become extraordinary presenters.

Their presentations were all very corporate.  Very businesslike and rather deadpan.  The facts of the matter presented seriously, matter-of-factly, no self-expression.  Corporate.

Then I asked them their goals. The first one said, "I want to get my Mojo back. I used to have Mojo and somehow I lost it."

Six hands went up and six voices said, "Me too! I want Mojo."

So Mojo became the goal of the workshop.

What is Mojo? How does it get lost? How do you gain or regain it?

Mojo is a fabulous word.  It captures a quality no other word conveys.

It comes from West Africa where it originally meant magic.  Today it means personal magnetism, those incredible moments when you are in complete control, you’re in the zone, you have a fantastic ability to generate great attractiveness independent of any physical beauty or handsomeness, to express yourself in a way that is uniquely you, and in a way that sweeps everyone along.  You feel GOOD.  And the audience loves you.

The most important thing to know about Mojo is that it’s that quality that is entirely you.  No two people have Mojo that’s alike.  There’s no such thing as corporate Mojo.  Mojo is something only individuals have, never corporations or groups.

What I've observed is that everyone has Mojo, but most people have lost it.  Little kids often have Mojo, but by the time they go to work in a large corporation, it’s gone.

Since Mojo is an expression of a style that is uniquely yours, any conformity immediately kills it.  And large corporations seem to demand conformity. That’s why corporate presentations all tend to look alike:  business people performing, trying hard to impress, to look dynamic, yet stuck in being I’llvery corporate.

Don’t fall for it.

You may work in a large corporation, yet who you ARE is not corporate.  Who you are is you.

Many people think they won’t be acceptable being exactly who they are, which is why they start to conform to what they think the corporation wants of them.  You also don’t see many people around you truly being themselves when they give presentations, so you don’t really have examples that show you that you can do it.

Let’s talk about with Mojo isn’t.  It isn’t self-conscious.  It isn’t anxious.  It isn’t self doubt.  It isn’t self deprecating.  It isn’t trying to impress. It isn’t seeking approval. It isn’t imitating someone else.  It isn’t trying at all.  It most definitely isn’t corporate.

Mojo has nothing to do with your content. It has everything to do with you.

In a large corporation Mojo is as rare and as welcome as a breeze of cool fresh air is to a hot, stuffy room.

So what does it take to get your Mojo back?

It’s difficult without knowing the fundamentals of great presentations.  These fundamentals are what give you the base of confidence on which your Mojo can sit.

You need to know how to own the room, how to make a powerful connection with your audience, how to have a strong presence, how to make each person feel like you’re talking directly to them, how to create rapport with a whole group at once, how to get your point across so it’s compelling, how to communicate in a way that inspires people.

Once you have these fundamentals down, now add in your personal style, add in that magic ingredient called YOU.

You’ll deliver a presentation that conforms to no other ever given.  You’ll deliver a presentation they’ll be talking about.  It will be powerful, in control, truly magical, and most importantly, most definitely it will be uniquely YOURS.

Mojo is you.

Be the cause!