August 11th, 2010
I found myself in an interesting situation today where my skills as a business speaker and keynote speaker were going to be very valuable. I had a small but powerful and influential audience. I needed to touch them emotionally. I needed to make several important points that they would agree with and take seriously. I needed to be respected by them and taken seriously. I needed them to alter their position on a major issue.
I attempted to listen and understand before I sought to be understood. Thank you Stephen Covey for that valuable and timeless lesson. I told them briefly what I was going to teach and show them. I attempted to teach and show. I told them what I thought I had just showed them and taught them.
I had some great help in this presentation, so that I was one of a group working on the issue at hand. I tried to use as little time and as few words as possible to make the points and effect the changes.
It is interesting to think about how much time, effort and preparation over many years a keynote speaker takes to create a “keynote speech” that takes only a minute and makes a substantial difference.
Sometimes the less said, the better.
Tags: keynote speaker, keynote speech, preparation, stephen covey
Posted in business speaker, keynote speaker, people, personal growth | Comments Off
July 4th, 2010
I was reading a few profiles of people who bill themselves as a keynote speaker and was struck by how tirelessly some of them work on their businesses.
It brought to mind one of my current theories, which is that many of us are addicted to exhaustion. We seem to thrive on over-working ourselves, depriving ourselves of rest, relaxation and sleep. Exhaustion has a certain feel to it. One can become addicted to it as easily as one can become addicted to a sugar rush-crash, a caffeine buzz or a nicotine head. I am sure exhaustion has a whole chain of physiological actions that we can become chemically addicted to, just like we can become addicted to carbohydrate overload.
I realize that our worlds are fast paced and on a 24-7-365 schedule. I also appreciate the lift one gets from a tall cup of coffee on a morning when you are tired from working too many hours, too many days in a row.
Sometimes I push myself until I just can’t take any more before lying down. But isn’t that a little crazy? On the days when I rest when I am tired, rather than pushing on, I feel much better, think more clearly and get a lot more done. I am also easier to live with for my loved ones.
Maybe an addiction to exhaustion is just that: an addiction to something destructive, like any other destructive addiction. Or maybe it is just us fooling ourselves into thinking we are being super productive.
So maybe the next chance I have to work as a keynote speaker, I’ll use “addiction to exhaustion” as my topic.
Tags: addiction, exhaustion, keynote speaker
Posted in business speaker, keynote speaker, personal growth | Comments Off
October 6th, 2009
I had a good visit tonight with a client I enjoy. One of the things we talked about was customer service. I must hear a keynote speaker at every conference talk about customer service. We talk about it at PhoneSmart almost everyday.
What does it boil down to? I believe it boils down to interupting the customer’s expectations. Customers expect sales people and service agents to act a certain way. When the customer gets something unexpected and pleasant, they are jolted somewhat. This little jolt is what we all hope to see happening to our customers. It means we interrupted their expectation and delivered more and better than what they thought might be coming their way.
Tags: customer service, keynote speaker
Posted in Management, marketing, people, sales | Comments Off
