June 2011 Archives

Today I arrived in St. Louis for an event with Servpro and was met at the airport by an incredibly nice driver, taken to the hotel and given an executive suite (zounds!) and a few hours later after being out, returned to discover that a wine & cheese platter had been delivered to my room.

This is a company that knows how to treat its speakers.

Believe it or not, this is rare. As presenters we don't necessarily need an executive suite and we don't need fancy food platters, but we do need the thought and care that go behind this.

What it does for us as presenters, as collaborators, is to make us want to give MORE. 

It's stunning to me how many companies miss this small but critical detail. 

A few years ago I did an event for a company whose meeting planner had raved to me about how extraordinarily special their upcoming event would be. He told me about how we would be at a five star resort, how all the attendees would be picked up at the airport in private limos and how they would each be receiving expensive watches and jewelry as gift surprises in their room. 

As you can imagine, I was pretty jazzed. I certainly didn't expect a private limo or a fancy watch, but I did expect to be treated decently.


Years ago I did a keynote presentation for Precor. After the VP finished introducing me and I walked out on stage, the entire audience jumped to their feet and gave me a standing ovation - BEFORE I started my speech.

I was dumbstruck. Wow.  "My intro must be reaalllly impresssssssive," I thought.

I was so jazzed by the audience's early acceptance that I delivered at my optimal performance level. I couldn't not.

Later, however, I learned that this division at Precor gave starting standing ovations to all their outside presenters. They had discovered that the more they gave up front, the more the presenter gave them. 

And how smart they were.

I went last night here in NYC to see an extraordinary film called BUCK.

As it turned out, the director of the film (Cindy Meehl) was at the theater that evening and gave a 2-minute introduction to the film.

What she said struck me for 3 reasons:

1) her humility and shyness
2) her comment that she'd never directed a film before
3) her sharing the fact that (as she put it)

"the film found her."

Cindy had gone to train with Buck Brannaman and felt strongly, being in his presence and witnessing the incredible transformation in the horses (and their owners), that a film had to made about this man and his extraordinary approach to horses...and to life.

Often times clients come to me asking for help on their speech topic. They feel the pressure to work outside in...and yet, what they often learn through the course of our work, is that the speech finds them. 

The best presentations come from within. Worry less at the start about what your market wants. Focus more about what you believe to be true. Find that Through Line. THEN...shape the material. 


Years ago, the great director & choreographer Walter Bobbie was helping Charlotte d'Amboise (a well known dancer and Broadway performer) find her way into a role at the 11th hour. The lead had had to leave and Charlotte was asked to fill in. As Charlotte tried to find the role and was forcing her way into songs, Walter Bobbie said to her,

When I coach presenters, I often tell them to


There are many elements that go into creating an award-winning speech, workshop, keynote or presentation, but one that is worth considering is that of taking risks.

If you are watching the Tony Awards tonight, many of the shows, writers, designers and directors winning "the Tony" are those who took a risk, whether it be the producers of War Horse, the writers of The Book of Mormon or the costume designers for Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

What are you willing to do to stand out and move your audience to think, laugh, cry, engage and take action?

One of the pieces I wrote early on and one I'd like to re-post is on taking risks.  Here is a section of it, below...

I can guarantee you that the performances you remember most - speakers, preachers, teachers, or professors - are the ones who did the unusual, the unexpected, and the creative. They had an idea and they made it come alive for you in some palpable, memorable way.  And you still remember it today.  What was it they did?  And what ideas have you had that you have ditched for fear that they were too silly, weird, or outrageous?

Why not do it? People respect risk takers.  As long as you use a certain amount of reason (you're not endangering or being disrespectful of yourself or anyone - physically, emotionally, or socially/politically), you're fine.  Why not bust out that secret talent of yours that no one knows you have? Break out that jump rope, that harmonica, that disco move. Tell your wild story about the marshmallows, the time you completely embarrassed the CEO in the critical job interview, the time you were so freaked out on your first blind date that you crawled out the restaurant bathroom window? Why not put on your favorite music when everyone's coming in? Who said you couldn't?

As I often like to say,

This last week, I coached a variety of executive women, all of whom have upcoming presentations this month. These happen to be forward-thinking women in fields that range from health care to sales, corporate communications to insurance.