Sanders Says

The value of a single point

Every great speech that changes the world makes one point and makes it very well. 

When you add a second, third or fourth major point to a talk, you make it hard to follow and cut down the results.  When I say "one point" what I mean is that your talk can be summed up in a sentence which reflects the premise of your talk.  

Both of my talks this week sold this point: Your network is your net worth, so make relationship development a top priority.  If I add, and be emotionally talented or green to it, the whole thing begins to lose its clarity.  As Nick Morgan taught me, "write your speech along the spine of a single archetypal story that people understand - and they'll be moved to action."  

When you have an hour or two to talk, it is SO tempting to cover two or three major subjects, linking them together like a standup comedian links bits together. But the difference is that speeches change the world and standups make you laugh.  One is about audience action the other is audience entertainment.  

You may have a few points (2 to 4) that are sub-points that build up to your conclusion, but they are part of the major point.  For example, my relationship talk followed this path: 

1. Relationships are rocket fuel for success

2. They are built based on your emotional value proposition, your relevance and the situation you are in. 

3. To develop relationships, be helpful and generous.  This can overcome even the worst relationship situations. 

(Premise - Insight - Advice)

Read Nick Morgan's Give Your Speech, Change the World

See me live in Seattle - Tuesday March 9 @ 7pm

          

If you live in greater Seattle, I'll be giving a talk at a public conference titled "New Economy Winners Summit" - Thanks to John Chen for putting this together.  I love to visit Seattle, and I'm excited to get a chance to connect via a live event next Tuesday night.

Tickets are still available.  

My subject: Power To The People - I'll share my point of view that people are the most important element in business, and deserves our total focus and dedication.  It's easy to objectify people, treating them like statistics or stuff.  This will not work in the highly networked world we live in.  I'll share tips on People Skills That Build Relationships, The People Centered Business Model and Harnessing The Power Of One person. 

I hope to see you there and if you know anyone in Seattle, please pass this on via social media, email or word-of-mouth.  

Public Speaking Event: Chicago, Tues Dec 15

If you live in the greater Chicago area, I'll be giving a rare public talk next Tuesday morning in Oak Brook at the Hyatt Lodge in Chicago.  It's an early event: 6:45-8:45am.

The event is hosted as part of the Executives Breakfast Club series.  Visit the Executive Breakfast Club program page for more information on future speakers and events. 

I'll be giving a talk on how leaders can cultivate total confidence in their outlook.  When a person has "that winning feeling" that springs from self-team and purpose confidence -- anything is possible!  I've found that confidence is rocket fuel for success.  It leads to daring, innovation, charisma, sales person ship and sustainable energy.  For many people, though, confidence is a product of environment and not the result of careful lifestyle decisions.  In my remarks, I'll look at confidence as a form of emotional/spiritual health and advocate a regime of diet and exercise.  In my experience, one can have total confidence during the worst of times, and often emerge as the Phoenix.  

If you'd like to attend, send me a note OR visit the Executive Breakfast Club site (call the phone number). The cost to attend is $50.00, which also includes breakfast.  The regular price is $70.00, but if you indicate you are my guest you'll get the special rate!

Leaders = Conductors

A few years ago, I read Benjamin & Roz Zander's book The Art Of Possibility. 

Today, that book is still in my all-time Top 20 list.  It's point of view was powerful: Find passion in the possibilities.  Be bold in your abundance.  In 2004, I met Ben Zander while speaking at a leadership conference in the United Kingdom.  I was the opening keynote, he was the closer. 

As the conductor of the world famous Boston Philharmonic, Zander has applicable leadership expertise that would help all of us.  In his talk, though, he goes beyond the conducting-metaphor.  He doesn't connect your leadership life to a metaphor (music, war, sports, etc.) -- he transforms you with his unique point of view.  He's famous for getting audiences of all sizes and types in on the action. By the end of his closing keynote, he had three thousand people on their feet -- conducting with him. 

Thanks to reader C.A. Hurst, here's a clip of Zander at the 2009 Ted Conference:       Benajmin Zander on Music and Passion

The Brevity Economy

Last year, I met one of my heroes, coach and motivational speaker/author Phil Jackson.  I introduced myself as a fellow speaker and we shared a glass of wine.  During the course of the conversation, he shared his favorite piece of public speaking advice: "Be brief, be seated." 

This quote, originally from Franklin D. Roosevelt, underscores the secret effective meetings of all types: Practice radical brevity. This concept bears true today, more than ever. Time is at a premium.  One of the biggest roadblocks to meetings these days it the lack of time to hold them!  Still, we schedule one hour keynotes, ninety minute breakouts and four hour dinners!  In the brevity economy, this does not add up. 

The solution is to shave down the allotted time for meetings and speeches.  The annual TED talks, launched by Richard Saul Wurman and Harry Marks in 1990, sported a novel format of an 18 minute keynote.  It was enforced with an active moderator and a public countdown timer.  The TED talks rank with some of the best of our time.  The format works because it forces the speaker to tell a single story and focus on takeaway advice instead of padded premises and never ending stories. 

In Brief - The takeaways: 

1.  When you plan your next meeting, whack all the presentations down to 30 minutes, including the breakouts -- especially the breakouts!  This will allow you to compress a three day meeting into a two day meeting (saving some serious cash along the way.) 

2.  Next time you are asked to speak, offer to do a compressed talk in 30 minutes sans power points (unless you have some compelling images to show.)  

3.  Take this to your bizlife, shortening internal meetings to 30 minutes (small group) or 45 minutes (large group).  Bring a stopwatch to the meeting and have the most senior person in the room serve as timekeeper and enforcer.  Develop a reputation as a minute miser and you'll get standing room only crowds.  

One of my favorite Mark Twain stories involves the first time he attended a lecture by contemporary philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. Twain attended at the urging of his wife, Olivia Langdon.  Fifteen minutes into his sermon, Twain turned to Olivia and remarked, "he's great!" Thirty minutes deeper into Emerson's screed, Twain shrugged his shoulders and muttered, "He's alright, I guess." One hour later, as Emerson mercifully concluded his remarks, Twain took five dollars out of the collection plate!

The problem with smarty pants talk

On Saturday, during one of the college football games, one of the TV commentators described a hit on the field as being pernicious in intent.  He repeated himself as he declared that #22 on the defense was filled with perniciousness as he set his sights on that wide receiver. 

The other commentator asked, "what do you mean by pernicious?" The reply to his question was funny, but typically off putting:  "Pernicious means to have intent to harm or destroy. I can't believe you don't know what that means, maybe you should have come out of college early for the NFL after all!"  They both laughed and moved on to simpler language for the rest of the game. 

Why did the commentator use 'pernicious' in the first place?  I suspect that somewhere in life, he learned this word, realized many others don't use it much and loaded it into his smart-pants arsenal.  He probably thought that by using that word, he'd come off smarter and teach everybody a new word.  That's not really how it works in the real world.  In fact, a study at Princeton conducted by psychologist David Oppenhemier concluded that the more flowerly or smarty pants your language, the less intelligent you are perceived.  Really.  

This makes sense to me.  If I use language with you that you don't understand, I use words to put myself on a pedestal whereby you must look up to me.  This pushes you away from me, and often causes you to believe that I am purposefully trying to impress you.  That pushes us further apart, and usually you'll conclude that I am at best book smart.  This is why I use very simple language in my writing and during my keynote speeches.  I want to speak to every body in the room in a common venacular that everyone understands.  People connect with visuals, emotions and language.  If they disconnect with language, you'll usually lose them eventually.  Lofty language can alienate more often than it educates. 

I'm not saying that you should only use high school level language.  In many cases, you can find a word that is more specific or illustrative than common talk.  Instead of saying that someone told a story in a moving way (general), one could say that she was 'cinematic' in her story telling.  That's an effective word substitution that is helpful and not off putting.  Here are a few rules for using big or non-common words: 

1. Always consider your audience.  What is their level of education, sophistication and self-confidence? Are they prone to boredom?  Do they need to be intellectually stimulated to be engaged with you? 

2. Make big words fight for their life.  When you edit or before you speak, always require a case for a new word's use.  Is it more specific than the commonly used word?  Is it more helpful in illustrating your point? 

3. Define non-common words, in a sentence if possible.  If it's a big time smart pants word, acknowledge that it's one of those scientist or university words, but you use it in a attempt to illustrate the point.  

Always keep in mind that people are impressed by ideas, not words.  If you are a big thinker, it shines through regardless of your vocabulary.  When you start to use big words as a substitute for creative thinking ... you are being self-pernicious ... if you know what I mean. 

A speech that's changing the word (world)

Jonathan McCoy is a great public speaker.  He's still in grammar school. 

Yesterday, a friend pointed me to his six minute talk on YouTube.  It is rousing, convincing and a textbook case of speaking to change the world.  His diction, use of gesture and pacing is spot on.  The logic of the argument builds an arc that peaks at the perfect point of the talk.

His passion is contagious.  Watch this clip and be moved too. 

Jonathan McCoy On "The N Word" 

Keeping focused in a distractive speaking environment

My last two speaking gigs have been concurrent session talks.  This means that I must compete with other seminars/panels and keynote for audience, noise-throughput and attention.  This is a highly unusual situation for me as I usually give keynotes during general sessions. 

Given the state of the meetings industry, I'll do keynotes, concurrent sessions, one-on-ones, etc. -- no complaints from this dude.  However, I must say, it is a terrible environment for a speaker.  First of all, the audience is constantly wondering, "Should I duck out to another session?"  I call them "conference shoppers." They stop in, give you a few minutes to connect and move on.  When you give a keynote, there is no where else to go but the trade show -- and it is waiting for them at the end of your talk.

Then there's the issue of the speaker next door.  I'm shocked that yesterday the group I spoke for put me next to another session, where the speaker blared a soundtrack of wild geese and duck calls to punctuate his speech, causing me to have to step down from the platform and walk deep into the audience so I could hear myself.  It was, to say the least, a learning experience.  

Today, I was in a similar situation, except I didn't have noise issues to compete with.  I learned from yesterday though, and today I was able to stay very focused on on point.  Many of you find yourself frequently in this situation, though, so here are some tips to keep your focus during such environments. 

1. Hustle your audience in the hallway, play killer music in your meeting room and welcome everyone that comes in.  Shake his/her hand and thank them for coming to your panel as opposed to another. That'll keep them from ducking out if they hear laughter in the other room, etc. 

2. If there is distractive noise, acknowledge it to your audience and ask for your A/V person to turn you up in the system.  If there is a noise breakout next door, stop talking until it subsides. 

3. Don't worry if people come and go.  Focus instead on the ones that are listening to you and taking notes.  Keep eye contact and focus your energy on moving your active attendees to action.  Ask for people to give examples of what you are advocating and give up the mic for a minute in a Phil Donahue style interactive move. 

4.  Remember: It's not about you.  It is about your message and if you change the life of just one person (and score well on the evaluations) you are making a difference and will continue to stay in high demand.  

As my fave speaking coach/author Nick Morgan frequently says: The only reason to give a speech is to change the world.  It's not about being the center of undivided attention. 

From public speaker to public consultant

To say the least, the world has changed in the last year for the meetings and conventions industry. The key buzzword these days is value.  In other words, meetings need to deliver $$$$ value to their sponsors, hosts and attendees -- hopefully in the quarter.  This is one of the themes at the 2009 Meeting Professionals International annual World Education Conference: Talk in business terms!

To be fair, marketing, advertising, packaging, promotions and employee perks are all experiencing the same short-term scrutiny, due to the recession.  All of these categories typically get punished for supposedly being "frivolous" when times turn sour.  

As a professional speaker, I'm focusing my work on generate value for the meeting planners and their customers/clients/attendees -- instead of just giving rousing talks and scoring high on event surveys. The best approach to create value is to look at myself as an expert who researches, writes, speaks and delivers after-event results. In the end, I'm more of a consultant (albeit much less deeply engaged) than a performer.  Here's my consulting system: 

1.  Interview the meeting planner and his/her stakeholders to determine the event's business objective, audience profile, emotional needs and measurable metrics for success.  (Example interview form)

2.  Do more interviews with extended stakeholders.  Conduct research to connect my expertise with the business objectives of the meetings.  Circle back with the meeting planner to compare notes. 

3.  Write a one-of-a-kind speech, based on the research.  Choose a singular archetypal story to frame the talk, so it is easy for the audience to buy-in to its premise.  MOST IMPORTANT: Include at least six action items for the audience that tie-in to the business objectives.  (Example from ASAE event)

4.  Show up at event early enough to conduct on-the-ground reconnaissance with meeting planners, execs, sponsors, attendees and vendors.  Rehearse (conversationally) some bits and action items to gauge their ability to move people to action.  Sleep on all of your findings. 

5.  Get up at least two hours prior to sound check time and tweak the speech.  Rehearse the entire talk if possible, integrating the customized content.  Remember: The attendees know their industry and jargon much better than you do! 

6.  Psyche yourself into a mental state backstage that "the only reason to give a speech is to change the world."  Right before you go on stage, review the key action items you MUST include for the talk to deliver measurable short-term business value.  At a recent event, for example, I knew that reducing the load of cc'd and reply-to-all emails would save my client company money, and the IT director was a stakeholder for the event.  I made sure to review my points regarding "less email is better", and gave it some weight during the talk.  

7.  Offer your email address from the stage, so the audience can follow up or give your feedback.  This is crucial, because much value is created away from the meeting planner's purview (surveys, word of mouth).  

8.  Follow up with the meeting planner, if they desire, to share your insights, audience feedback and next steps.  Offer up a podcast or PDF key takeaway points document as an after event deliverable. (Example from MPI-PEC event)

9.  Answer EVERY follow up email from audience members, stakeholders or meeting planners.  Encourage action, document it whenever possible, and include all of your findings in a database to help at future events. 

I know this sounds like a great deal of work for speakers, but after all, we live in a time where we must work twice as hard to make as much as we did in the go-go days of 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. Speeches must, as author Nick Morgan argues, move the audience to action. In this case, getting a standing ovation doesn't equate to action.  Increasing prospecting call volume after speaking at a sales rally does. Driving efficiency in shipping and operations after speaking at a corporate offsite does.  

If you figure out a way to prove that you deliver more short-term cash value than you charge, you'll turn your speaking career into a sustainable business, now, and during the good times ahead.  This year, over a third of my speaking engagements are rebookings from previous year's events.  In almost every case, I was brought back because of my value, not because of ratings or surveys.  The system works!

Inquire about bringing me to your next event

PS - Read the comments below for bonus tips, tech hints and and more great ideas on this subject. Clearly, this post has hit a nerve!

Dave Stewart is highly interactive

Uber-musician Dave Stewart closed out the YIBC event in the UK last week. 

He talked about creativity, the future of media and marketing.  He works for brands such as Nokia, developing what he calls "weapons of mass entertainment."  He's also brilliant.  

Like myself, he had two lectures on Friday: Bridlington and Harrogate.  During his morning gig at Bridlington, he invited the seven hundred in attendance to help him write a chorus for a song that would represent the conference.  He asked them to shout out single lines that captured what they'd learned so far.  One of them yelled, "feed your mind good stuff!" and another screamed "and you'll be future-proof."  <These two lyrics were part of my lecture that opened that AM (Mojo Rising: A plan for unbreakable confidence.>

He pulled two people from the audience to lead sing, then got everyone else involved clapping and singing the refrain.  Fun!   

Then Stewart rode a helicopter to Harrogate for the closing session @ that event.  He asked that crowd of one thousand to help him write the verse.  They chimed in lyrics based on John Cleese's pre-lunch lecture on creativity.  Along the way, Stewart's audio-tech whiz was capturing and editing everything in Pro Tools.  

At the end of his second lecture, Stewart had a song - created by the audience.  He explained that this is the nature of social media, and we all need to embrace this new form of mass-generated content to thrive in the future.  Sweet idea, and a masterful execution of connecting with your audience and getting them involved in the talk.  Nick Morgan would be proud! 

One audience member uploaded the song, played live, on his mobile phone:  

Raw Live Stewart and Audience Sing "Future-Proof"

I'll eventually get my hands on a cleaner version and post it here and Twitter about it.  If you aren't following me on Twitter, click here to start. 

Book me to speak at your next conference!