Secrets To Success As A Keynote Business Speaker

By Author: james right
Total Articles: 14
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Over the past two decades, I have been consistently asked by speakers and media personnel – “what does it take to be a competent speaker – is it style or substance?”

For some this appears to be a very obvious answer – it must be a triumph of substance over style for someone to describe themselves as a competent keynote Business Speaker - but this is not as clear cut as it may seem.

The fact is that companies and individuals are currently operating in an attention deficit society – statistics show we are inundated with stimuli – 100,000 words a day – 34g of information – people tend to be distracted from their task within 3 minutes 11 seconds according to research from the University of California – the bottom line is that it is challenging to get people’s attention.

Thus the traditional version of the podium speaker is gone – long gone in my own humble opinion. Unless the content is incredibly groundbreaking and original - even then, I cannot see how you can engage an audience past a few minutes.

As a funny aside, I remember speaking at a conference a few years back – as ...
... normal, I was given the “graveyard shift” ie just after lunch! As is normal for me, I try to attend an earlier session to get some insights into the content and audience. Halfway through the first speaker, a guy in front of me fell fast asleep – to make matter worse he was snoring loudly. To make matters even worse, the speaker continued with his podium address!!

So how do we achieve maximum engagement in the current environment?

For me style helps in the communication of your core message. In my interactive keynotes the focus is on transferring messages through a cocktail of stories, the most up to date research and exercises.

1. Stories tend to bypass a person’s conscious filtering system. As an aside of course storytelling is very much part of my own heritage and DNA – Irish people are known worldwide for their ability in this skill!

2. Exercises add emotion to the transfer of key information – people may find it challenging to remember facts, but the odds of retention are dramatically increased when interaction and emotion are added. In any interactive keynote there will be a minimum of three fun exercises with important attached information.

And of course the assumption underpinning all this that the content is edgy and informational – this is where content based on the most up to date research is a necessary prerequisite for success.

So be a Keynote Business Speaker of substance….and style is the advice!

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