SCREENSHOT FROM NBC.COM VIDEO THE VOICE

Enter like Judith.

Leveraging unforgettable opportunities with an unforgettable performance

Before she could finish singing the first few bars of Christina Aguilera’s hit song “What a Girl Wants,” The Voice judges Adam Levine and Usher hit their buttons and turned their chairs around. Twenty seconds later, judge Shakira would be next and Blake Shelton was last. However, Miss Judith Hill had me at hand on hip, head and mic lifted with a slight pivot to the side before the first note came out of her gifted mouth.

♫ I wanna thank you for givin’ me time to breathe. Like a rock, you waited so patiently. While I got it together, while I figured it out…

I’m a sucker for a grand entrance. No. I’m a sucker for a dramatic, powerful and meaningful grand entrance. If given center stage for only two minutes, then it is only appropriate to manage an unforgettable opportunity with an unforgettable performance.

Since March 25, 2013, I've contributed my fair share to the 1.2 millions views of Judith’s audition video [ Judith Hill: “What a Girl Wants” - The Voice Highlight] . I study every second. I meditate to the lyrics. I ponder how in the world this woman has managed to make me like a song that made no sense to me until she sang it.

The only answer is that she arranged it, sang it and delivered it in a way that would capture me. That’s not an easy thing to do.

One of my focuses as a PR consultant is on creating strategies for people who want to become public personalities and experts in their fields in a noisy and crowded public space. It is especially difficult to do so when a client is stuck on making someone else’s entrance in the space. They see someone else they either admire or envy and decide to follow that person’s formula without regard for their own unique gifts and opportunities. They also have little regard for the audience. Is so-and-so’s audience yours? Most likely not.

For what it’s worth, Judith could have chosen to simply cover Christina’s version of the song or have sung another song, but she intentionally chose to sing it her way. Moreover, she intentionally chose to sing the song of a judge who is on hiatus from the show. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s rather gangster.

Here’s Judith in a nutshell: She is the former Michael Jackson background singer featured in the documentary “This is It.” She is the one who sang at his memorial service to mass acclaim. If you and I have not seen her on TV or heard her music it is only because she deliberately chose not to capitalize on sudden popularity after her famous employer’s death. Talk about integrity. So for the past few years she’s been honing her gifts, doing her thing and preparing for that one day when she can rightfully step out in front. The Voice audition gave her that opportunity.

The Voice audition was Judith’s opportunity and only hers. She didn't have to share it with a memory of a superstar alliance. She received that opportunity based on her own merit. Yes, her background mattered but it didn't overshadow her own gift. She was on that stage alone.

We all will have a moment when we’re on some kind of stage alone. It will be one of those make or break moments that would make the strongest of individuals shake in their boots. The question becomes how to turn an unforgettable opportunity into an unforgettable performance and then hopefully into an unforgettable win.

Enter like Judith.

I've gleaned a number of insights applicable to anyone who wants to become a public personality of some type or another from watching Judith’s audition video over and over. These flashes of revelation have been whittled down to 5 very basic points.

1. Do it your way. The best way to make an entrance on to center stage is by making a firm decision to do it your way and in a way that is most comfortable to you.Your moment is not about your mentors, your idols or your competition. It is solely about you. Don’t waste the moment being anything inauthentic to who you are as a person.
2. Do not focus on what you are lacking. Judith only had less than 2 minutes to enter and sing. She had no backing band or orchestra, only a taped track. She didn't have the ability to employ dancers or other gimmicks. She had to perform within the parameters set for her audition. She had her gift and that was all. So what if you don’t have a marketing team, 300,000 followers on Twitter or even the expected experience. You have a gift and that is enough.
3. Do be aware of the audience; know who you’re playing to and who is watching. Judith Hill didn't need Christina’s teen fans to vote for her. She didn't even need Christina as an audience. If she’d sung that song in anything closely resembling bubblegum music, it would not have worked. She sang directly to grown ups: the judges, the audience in front of her and at home and to anyone who could make a decision about her abilities in her field. The soulful spin she put on that song was smart. Your challenge is to make an entrance fully aware of who is in the room. Come on, you just don’t show up in a mink coat to win PETA over. Unless of course it’s for red paint throwing practice.
4. Do understand the opportunity and the possible outcomes. Judith has been performing since Michael Jackson’s death, she does showcases, small sets and has done larger venue performances. However, The Voice audition offered a special opportunity and that was to be seen by TV viewers in the millions and worldwide. The footage would also be memorialized online via social networks and the NBC site. On the night of her audition, she easily gained an additional 10,000 Facebook fans and thousands of Twitter followers. If not one judge turned around, then she still gained an increased audience based on her back story and performance. If she had to leave the stage that night without a mentor, then she could leave with the assurance that she’d been introduced to millions. Think of it this way for you: If only one person reads your blog, likes your Facebook page or follows you on Twitter, then that’s one more benefit of having shown up to your center stage opportunity.
5. Don’t do it for approval. Do it for you. Nothing in Judith Hill’s entrance and performance screamed “Choose me, choose me, please!” That wasn't the presentation of a desperate woman. That was the all or nothing presentation of someone who was prepared and who takes great pride in her work. She knew the quality of her work surpassed the approval of those judges. Keep that in mind. The opportunity doesn't make you a star, you have to show up a star…in your performance and above all, in your head.

Judith was voted off of The Voice two weeks ago, which I believe is not a bad thing. More people know who she is now and she is now walking the star path with interview requests, performances on TV and features in mainstream media. This time around, it’s all about her.

She rocked the entrance.