Practical information attendees can use right way

Many of the speaker request forms I receive include an admonishment to provide “Practical information attendees can use right way”.  At first blush this directive seems entirely reasonable but it is missing the point by one key word.  The difference between an average breakout and an awesome keynote is the difference between can and will.  A powerful keynote presentation is one that not only provides information, but inspires action.  This is the single greatest challenge for every leader that has ever lived.  There is no shortage of applicable ideas.  In the US alone we publish almost 1 million new books every five years and yet 93% will sell less than a thousand.   The challenge is not in presenting new ideas, but in creating an impetus to act that is irresistible.   Here are ten ideas you can use for yourself or others to turn ideas into action.

Start conversations

The most successful keynotes are not those that provide the best answers but those that start the most productive conversations.  Inspiration is nice and education reassuring, but meaning-full dialogue is transformational.  Organizational change is not the result of imposed behaviors, but of shared understanding. 

The difference between knowing and doing

Start with the humbling understanding that the ideas you are presenting are not new and your audience has undoubtedly heard them before.  The difference you are trying to make is not in what people know, but what they do.

If they wanted to they would

Except in the cases of those who are very new and inexperienced, (who are usually so enthusiastic you don’t care that they don’t know) performance breakdowns are not a lack of “know how”, but one of remembering why.  You challenge is not how, but why.

Your why is not their why

We are all wired differently.  Your role is not to impose your inspiration on others, but to help them find their own.  

Getting past the guards

The most difficult task for every teacher (and we are all teachers, all the time) is not getting new ideas in, but in encouraging people to let go of their old ideas.  Your ideas may be much better but their ideas are more familiar and there are few things more certain to inhibit action than the unknown.

Soothe the transition

Create a comfortable transition by attaching new ideas to old experiences.  Help people bridge the gap between where they are and where you would like them to be by reminding them they have been there before.  We have all been the people we would like to be if only for a short time.  Use the memories of past successes to illuminate a brighter future.

The Minions of Mirth

Laughter and humor are powerful not only because they grab our attention in the moment, but because they open the gates to allow similar moments from our past.  We have all been in gatherings where one funny story unlocks forgotten memories which are not so much recalled as they are relived in the moment.  Humor unleashes “the minions of mirth” to bring your audience together in common experience.

Bring the pain

The reality of the current state of our species is that we are inspired by pleasure but motivated by pain.  Our entire physiology is designed to notice, remember and act on anything that might be perceived as a threat.  This is why our media is so predominantly negative.  They use fear to grab your attention so they can sell advertising.  In speaking I think it works best the opposite way.  Use the pleasure of humor and story to earn the right to share the pain of current reality. 

Create a “disorienting dilemma”

This has been defined as one of the keys to lasting transformation.  It is most often the result of life experience, but the same process can be used in compelling storytelling.  Remember your mind cannot tell the difference between something vividly imagined and something real.  Use story to draw people into a common experience with a surprise ending.   This “unexpected twist” process is also a part of successful humor.  When you guide your audience down a familiar path the comfort of story dissipates their defenses and they become part of the experience.  The dilemma is created when you expose the dysfunction of the role they have subconsciously played in the story.  Until people are sufficiently uncomfortable with current behavior it is unlikely they will adopt new ones. 

Write it out and cut it in halfTen steps to c

Jerry Seinfeld is said to spend hours trying to reduce a sentence of seven words to one of five.  We always try to say too much.  Earlier this year I shared the stage with two incredible twin brothers as part of the MGMA State Leadership Conference.  I was honored to be one of only four invited nationwide and was awestruck when I saw the resume of the two surgeons I would follow on stage.  Their real life story was beyond imagination and they are heroes of the highest caliber.  Unfortunately their stage story struggled because they tried to share too much in too little time.  Remember you know your story, your audience does not.  You have to slow down enough to allow your audience to feel your message.