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What you need to know when booking a keynote conference speaker

Making the decision to hire a professional speaker has become far more complex with the advent of the internet. For speakers, the notion of running their businesses without a website would be foolhardy to say the least. The #1 resource for finding a speaker is on-line. For meeting planners, wading through thousands of speaker websites is an overwhelming proposition. How do you know if the speaker is good? Is it enough for people to walk away from a conference feeling excited about the message they just heard? Should you invest in a speaker, celebrity or entertainer? Or, do you utilize the services of an “in-house” expert as a cost-saving option? If you are an association, do you invest in the conference location as a destination event in order to attract your members? Can you afford to do it all? Can you afford not to? So many questions…How can one make the optimum decision for their organization?
Consider these top ten tips when booking a speaker:

1. Audiences expect more than hype…They want to hear a meaningful message that is easily digested with real-life applicability.
2. Audiences are savvy. There is a difference between a motivational speaker and a thought –leader.
3. Although it is not obvious at first, audiences want to make an emotional connection with the speaker. Then they will make the logical, intellectual connection in order to “buy-in” to the message.
4. Audiences appreciate a speaker that does their homework and personalizes their presentation.
5. Audiences want to enjoy their conference experience overall.
6. Audiences expect that the meeting planner has anticipated their needs by booking someone with TALENT. i.e. The speaker will either be a celebrity, (sport, politics, the arts) an author, a humourist, (not necessarily a comedian) an industry expert who is renowned as a “thought leader” in their field, an academic, an individual who has overcome a challenge or life-threatening illness to deliver a profound message, or they may be a content-rich expert who can “infotain” as well as “entertain” and quickly engage.
7. Audiences will remember a negative speaker experience.
8. Audiences are happy when they leave with at least one or two ideas they can use.
9. The seasoned meeting planner cares more about the VALUE the speaker brings to the meeting. They recognize the difference between investment and cost.
10. Unless the speaker is famous (although there are some exceptions) and no matter how good a speaker may be, chances are high that the audience won’t remember the speaker’s name one year after the event.  However, they will likely remember their story-telling ability, as well as an actual story told by the speaker, long after the engagement ends.

I’ve just returned from five weeks visiting family in Australia. When I told my Canadian friends I was going to be away, most were excited for me spending time in the Southern Hemisphere i.e. Summer “downunder”. They thought I was going to have a wonderful vacation. Being self-employed, I certainly felt fortunate to have the flexibility. While I was able to enjoy myself, it certainly was a challenge to see my father deteriorating and to observe myself expending emotional energy worrying about his ailing health. Since he was diagnosed with cancer last September, the primary purpose of my trip was to spend as much time with him as possible.

As I fall into the category of the busy baby boomer with an ageing parent, it doesn’t give me much comfort to know that I am not alone in juggling with a myriad of my own responsibilities as well as taking care of my father’s needs. I know there are many of you reading this who can relate. We love our parents, yet feeling like you are parenting them takes you on an emotional rollercoaster that may last for some time. Bring a sibling or two into the equation and multiply your family stress ten-fold. Suddenly, issues and resentments that you thought were buried bubble to the surface. Then throw in the guilt for living in another country, state, province or city and not being physically available most of the year.

The entire experience made me think about the implications within our society regarding living longer, as well as the fact that eldercare is just as important as childcare. It also made me think about caregivers…people who spend on average 35 hours a month looking after a senior. In 2007, Statscan reported that 70% of care is provided by a family member. In Australia, the figure is 80%. In the US 22.4 million households already provide care to a family member over fifty, according to the American Association for Retired People (AARP). Most caregivers are between the ages of 45 – 64 and a huge percentage still work full-time. In addition, the pressure to manage the household, family, finances and work in uncertain economic times is taking a toll on family relationships overall.

In my situation, perhaps you may describe me as “lucky”. My father has not yet experienced any suffering since his diagnosis and he is almost 90 years old. Unfortunately, however, he spends an enormous amount of time alone and isolated. I knew that I had to address this issue and manage my expectations regarding help for my Dad. The healthcare system is under as much strain in Australia as most countries dealing with an ageing population. Families are realizing that we cannot rely on federal, provincial or state governments for help. Nursing homes are bursting at the seams and social services for the aged are stretched to the maximum. The tension within my own family (my brother runs a home-based business with his wife and has four children under the age of 9) continues to escalate as we know my Dad’s condition could change any time. The emotional intensity is not new to us. My mother passed away five years ago after suffering from acute dementia.

On a local level, I was grateful to find an organization in Sydney that arranges for volunteers to spend six hours a week with my father. That is the maximum number of hours provided by this service and I am billed directly each month through my credit card. Two gentlemen take my father shopping, out for coffee, to the bank or simply give him company. My Dad really looks forward to these visits and it gives me some comfort to know that he is not alone during those times.

Consider these global statistics. In 2000, approximately 605 million people were 60 years or older. By 2050, that number is expected to be close to 2 billion. At that time, seniors will outnumber children 14 and under for the first time in history! We all need to do our part to advance the need for greater eldercare support and boost awareness overall of becoming proactive as an agent of change for seniors. The day will inevitably come when we expect others to be thinking about us in our old age.

How many times have you said to yourself “I will never do business with that company again”?  The reason you feel disgruntled has virtually nothing to do with the company. It has everything to do with the person you encounter at that moment. Client satisfaction levels are directly impacted by the attitude of the person we meet in the first few seconds…either face-to-face or on the telephone. The person’s job title is irrelevant. You may be in a doctor’s office talking to the receptionist or you may be talking to the doctor directly to immediately feel uncomfortable with the person’s manner and level of interest. You could be on an airplane, gas station, high-end fashion store, corner store, coffee shop…It makes no difference. About two years ago I made a decision to stop going to a hair salon because I felt that the owner did not value me as a client. My “moment of truth” was her attitude displayed towards myself and my wedding party. She was completely disinterested in how important this event was in my life, despite the fact that I had been a client for about five years. I realized that had the power to choose where to take my business, so I found somewhere else to go. Bad attitudes are everywhere and as a result, millions of dollars are being lost daily. Unfortunately, we are just as surprised when we receive exceptional service as we are when service is terrible.

 Consider your options as a customer:

•  You have a right to be discerning – it’s your money
• You have the buying power – competition is fierce
• When you express your concerns politely and assertively, you are more likely to receive a satisfactory outcome and may be surprised beyond your imagination
• Ask for what you want – A highly professional organization will recognize and reward loyalty
• Stay savvy – Educate yourself before you buy
• If you give good service, you will receive good service…most of the time
• The internet has changed everything – You can now broadcast your dissatisfaction to the world

As a business owner or service provider, here are seven questions to ask if business is not what you think it should be:

1. What have we done to keep morale high and create an atmosphere where people will want to work for us?
2. Have I employed people who care about my business or do I think they automatically should “get it”?
3. Have I surveyed my clients to find out what they really think?
4. Do we have a service culture? If not, what steps are we willing to take to build one?
5. When was the last time our business invested in professional development?
6. Do we see training as a waste of time – A cost rather than a benefit to growing our customer base?
7. Do senior levels take responsibility for instilling an “of service” mindset at every level of our organization, or do they stay at arms length from day-to-day operations?

If  just one answer causes concern, then it is up to you to decide the level of urgency to make changes. We are all someone’s customer and therefore we know what it feels like to receive exceptional or terrible service. One bad experience can “make or break” the relationship your clients have with your business. Customers have long memories of their experience with you. You and your employees are synonymous with your brand and the name of your business. Subtly or otherwise, remember that attitudes are contagious and have a powerful influence on your customers’ purchasing decisions daily.

By Michelle Ray, “The Attitude Adjustor”, keynote speaker and workplace motivation expert

The “R” word…Are we having one or not? No doubt, the statistical evidence leads us to conclude that the downturn has begun. Wherever we turn, the news since the Fall has been predictably bleak regarding the economy. This is nothing new; being fed a “doomsday diet” has been the right of the media for decades. A similar reaction on our part however, has dire consequences for our state of mind and well-being, affecting those who we live and work with. During challenging times, individuals and organizations need to be reminded more than ever that we can control our own reality. The old adage “attitudes are caught not taught” serves us now as a timely message. We can choose a “get a grip” approach when times get tough, which implies a short-term methodology of coping, or we can choose “to manage”, which involves developing a mindset of resiliency for the long haul. It is all about how we first choose to interpret any potentially stressful or difficult circumstance. This willthen determine a course of action, resulting in either positive or negative consequences.  Here are some options:

Show up or bury your head in the sand?

Stress expert Dr. Hans Selye identified three stages of our physiological response to dealing with stress in his work which he called the General Adaptation Syndrome (also known as “The Bell Curve”.) These stages are known as “Alarm”, “Resistance” and “Exhaustion”.  In the first phase, the stressor activates a “fight or flight response”. This innate need to protect ourselves from a threat, whether real or perceived, is perfectly normal.  We continue to “resist” as our built-in, biological defense mechanism kicks in, until we eventually become “exhausted”. I liken the Bell Curve to the peaks and valleys of life as it is natural to experience the ups and downs. Consider, however, that our ability to ultimately rise above tragic events and turbulent times in our lives will be based on how we construe and perceive such events. My father, who is now eighty eight years old, was imprisoned and survived the Second World War, losing most of his family during one of the darkest times in our history. After almost fifty years of marriage he recently lost his wife, my mother, to the debilitating disease of dementia. Yet, he is the eternal optimist, has no physical ailments and has instilled the survivor instinct in his children. The power of personal leadership means taking charge of our attitude and interpretation of events that are often outside of our control, no matter what the circumstances.

Surround yourself with positive people or doom and gloomers?

Have you ever listened closely to two negativists in conversation? It sounds like this:

• “Things are really bad.”
• “Yeah, things couldn’t get any worse.”
• “It’s just shocking,”
• “I know! There is nothing we can do.”
• “It’s really bad.”
• “It’s terrible…A disaster!”
• “It’s a catastrophe!”

As humorist Loretta Laroche says, they manage to “awfulize” everything! Incredibly, many people subject themselves to these misery moments daily. We may not be able to choose our families or who we work with, but we can choose who we socialize with! Negative attitudes are only contagious to the degree that we allow ourselves to “buy in.” People who are chronic complainers are often unaware of their behaviour. In addition, they are practicing a habit and have no clue of how to stop whining. Rather than wasting our energy by listening or trying to change them, our job is to model positive behaviour (if we must be around them) or to choose new friends! Remember, the people with whom we spend precious time reflect our values.

Be creative or unimaginative?

Never underestimate the power of your own imagination and resourcefulness. There are numerous personal anecdotes and business examples available regarding the power of innovation during tough times. (Just try a Google search on this very topic and see for yourself!) Many articles all point to a common reaction of businesses to economic uncertainty: cut spending on advertising and marketing. In other words, reduce visibility and hope consumers will still remember us! Proctor and Gamble did the exact opposite of their competitors during the Great Depression by increasing advertising spending, using radio advertising in a unique manner to build brand awareness. Their success with this medium resulted in unprecedented success for the medium itself!

What if Disney had bought into the opinions of naysayers? Millions of people would never know the Magic Kingdom! In Australia, the country of my birth, we speak of the “Tall Poppy Syndrome”; a pessimistic notion that if one does enjoy success in any endeavour; perhaps they ought to be “cut down to size!” As a manager, I remember one of the most accomplished salespeople on my team during the recession of the early 1990’s used to say, “there is no recession in my head.” I know with certainty that had he bought into the pervading negativity of his era, he never would have built enduring relationships with his clients, nor would he have achieved unprecedented success in his field. He performed brilliantly in his job because of his unwavering belief in his own ability. In the words of Dr. Michael LeBoef: “Adversity is an experience, not a final act.” Think of what is possible when you choose to live in your imagination and begin to channel positive energy, commitment and belief in this direction.

Last week after working with two clients in very different arenas (education and accounting… union and non-union) I found myself thinking about the fact that people who love their jobs have several things in common. In both cases, the people from these two organizations are all in a support staff role yet they are polar opposites in terms of the nature of their clientele. When charged with the responsibility of putting on a conference, they rose to the challenge and were deeply committed to its success. There was no management mandate to get along, no directive to work hard and put in long hours (without being paid overtime). They love what they do because they feel that they are part of a family and made me feel like I was part of it immediately. They support their co-workers, understand the objective and have a genuine caring and respect for each other. When they go to work, they have fun and get the job done. These teams understand the strengths of their peers and their managers simply let them get on with it. They don’t punch the clock and no one is questioning their individualist work styles. At one of the conferences,  one woman just celebrated her 45^th year with her employer. Another celebrated 35 years and several were acknowledged for 30 years of service. I knew I was witnessing something that is becoming increasingly rare…longevity of employment with one company. In a nutshell, their high level of job satisfaction has endured because there is a high level of trust and appreciation of their expertise, wisdom and value. How can organizations create this kind of staying power? Here are ten ways:

1. Respect the talents of each team member
2. Allow people to express their individuality regarding how they approach their work
3. Trust them, don’t “police” them
4. Create an environment that attracts and excites people
5. Focus on the intangibles
6. Employ managers that know how to ask rather than tell
7. Keep people in the loop…Don’t hide any bad news
8. Celebrate successes and milestones in meaningful ways
9. Listen to innovative ideas, no matter who suggests them
10.  Don’t nurture the “bad apples”…get rid of them quickly