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Why a TON of My Speaking Clients Deserve a Refund and a Redo...

Updated: 2 days ago

Whatever is happening here, I’m guessing 30% of the audience was entertained, 30% were inspired, and the rest were just confused!
Whatever is happening here, I’m guessing 30% of the audience was entertained, 30% were inspired, and the rest were just confused!

I’m celebrating 25 years of being a professional speaker! I was so thankful when one of my speaker mentors showed me how to turn my little five-minute speech about how the Youth to Youth program changed my life into an hour-long keynote that could move people from inspiration to action.


Around that same time I also started dabbling in stand-up comedy. I had been writing jokes for a while and worked a bunch of them into my keynotes, so I felt like I had some well-tested material. To get over my comedy club jitters I started going to open mics at bars and coffee shops around town. I loved it and soon found myself writing jokes more often and always writing and working toward the next open mic.


I believe stand-up is the most difficult form of performance art. You can’t become a good comedian in front of a mirror. You can only get better on stage. You can practice singing, acting, dancing, or juggling chainsaws all by yourself with no one watching. You can get better at those art forms in rehearsal. With stand-up, the only way to find out how good your material and even your delivery is, is if you perform it in front of real live human beings. And ideally, the more you do it, the better you should get.


I was also learning an important lesson about the difference between stand-up comedy and keynote presentations. In comedy, the rule for unknown comics is that you have to make the audience laugh every 8 to 12 seconds. Because the audience doesn’t know you, they can’t trust you to be funny, so you have to keep proving it over and over with each joke.


For famous comedians the audience trusts them. They can take a little longer to get to the punchline because people know it is coming. I didn’t have that luxury, so I had to earn it every 8 to 12 seconds (still do).


The problem came when I started applying that same logic to my keynotes, it didn’t always translate. Comedians measure connection with the audience by how much laughter there is. But in keynotes, every once and a while I had to stop being funny and make a point. I had to deliver real content, because that was the actual reason I was there. Not just to entertain, but to inspire and inform. The problem was that my brain sometimes registered silence during those content moments as disconnection. I got so used to laughter being my measure of success and connection, that I became scared of silence. So I’d end up rushing through my content to get back to the comedy, because that was where I felt most comfortable.


So if I ever got any criticism from administrators, teachers, or conference coordinators, it was usually the same thing, “He’s funny, but I’m not sure I understood what his point was.” And to be honest, I wasn’t sure I understood what it was either. At that time, I probably cared more about the entertainment than the impact.

 

It took about 10 years of working through my material before I finally found content that I was not only comfortable with, but confident in. Content I actually believed in and cared about sharing with the audience. After a decade of speaking all over the world, I finally got to the point where I cared more about my message than making the audience laugh. Now there are even some times that I get so caught up in my message that I have to remind myself they deserve to be entertained too.


I think if I could go back to those first 10 years of being hired to speak, I would probably give most of the clients a refund and a redo. In fact, If you’re reading this and you know you booked me between the years 2001 and 2011, reach out to me and I’ll give you a nice discount for my services!


I'm thankful for all the life lessons I've gained as I've traveled the world sharing my stories, but also listening to the stories and perspectives of so many wonderful youth and adults. I truly feel blessed to be in their presence!


If you've ever had the itch to be a speaker, we’ve created a resource that I encourage you to download, work through, share, and discuss with others. It’s a guide you can use to help you create your own presentation.




And here's a really short video I made that gives you 3 quick tips to hiring great speakers. As always, please share with folks you know.

Thank you so much for the work you do,

but most importantly for the person you are.


Also don't forget to share this to your socials!

 
 
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