Crafting a signature keynote talk: Your invite into my creative process.

John: 00:00:00

Let me ask you this.

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Are you someone who is in a position

of where you are either in the process

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of, or thinking about at some point

writing a keynote talk, a signature

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keynote talk, either as a professional

speaker, as an unpaid speaker, or

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as part of your professional work?

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Well, in this episode, I want to get

into some of the creative process.

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In fact, I want to invite you into

my creative process that I'm working

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on at the moment, whilst I'm creating

my own new signature keynote talk.

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And the processes that I've taken many

students and clients through over the past

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several years to help them do the same.

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So where do you even start when you're

creating a professional keynote talk?

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We'll get into why your mission might not

be quite the same as your positioning and

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why you really do need to have a mission.

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And where do you begin if you don't even

know what you want to talk about yet?

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And we will talk a little about why the

struggle to niche can hold us back, and

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why defining your mission can then help

you to decide on the right niche for you.

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As I said in this episode, I'm inviting

you into my creative process from

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beginning to end with the Keynote Talk.

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The only thing I won't be doing is

delivering the whole keynote as a podcast.

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But you will certainly get some

elements of that and a taste of

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what I'm doing with this process.

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Welcome to Present Influence the show

that that helps business leaders develop

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the skills to influence and inspire.

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My name is John Ball.

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I'm a presentation skills and keynote

coach, a professional speaker and your

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guide on this journey to leadership level

communication and presentation skills.

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My mission is to provide rising leaders

in business like you, everything

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you need to be able to maximize your

impact and present with influence.

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So follow the show on your favorite

podcast app for weekly episodes and

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interviews with influence experts.

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Since the ancient times of Aristotle,

we've known that speaking to groups

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is one of the most powerful ways

to wield the tool of influence,

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especially when it's done well.

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And even today, the ability to stand

before a crowd and deliver a great

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talk or speech is highly respected

and a sure sign of good leadership.

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For those in positions of authority

or those who've decided to make

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speaking a part of their business

ecosystem, creating and delivering

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a good keynote is essential.

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Now I'm no stranger to keynote

speaking, but neither am I an old hand.

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So, after a year and more of coaching

other people who have been wanting

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to make that transition into becoming

full time paid professional speakers,

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I'm making that journey for myself.

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So this is in part a documentation of

my own journey and personal application

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of the guidance and teaching that I have

received and also have been offering

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to the clients and students in my care.

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So this episode is the first of a

planned series, taking you through the

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whole creation process of my signature

keynote talk from concepts and stage

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craft to completion and delivery.

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If taking my own advice leads to a

crappy keynote with no paid gigs at

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the end, then it might at least serve

as a masterclass in what not to do.

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But it still should be valuable.

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Obviously that's not my intention,

although writing the worst keynote ever

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sounds like kind of a fun challenge.

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Not one I'm going to

take up right now though.

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In my time working with The

Speaker Lab, I came to understand

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the importance of positioning and

creating a positioning statement.

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And what's become clearer over months

and months of coaching with students

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there was that mission and positioning

are not necessarily the same thing.

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I think it's important to cover this

because this trips people up when

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they're trying to niche down with their

offering or get clear on their service.

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Let me be clear here then.

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I do believe you need to have a

mission and a purpose as a speaker.

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And from time to time, I have

worked with people who didn't have

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that and essentially just said,

Hey, I can talk about anything.

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Just point me to the money.

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Now don't get me wrong.

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I like money.

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But if that's your only motivation,

You're not really going to care about

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your topic or your audience all that much,

so you'd better be a damn good actor.

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But let's say I then said to this person,

well, AI is a really hot topic right now.

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Could you develop a talk about that?

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And what if you have no background

or association to that topic?

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Where's your credibility?

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What happens when the trends change and

something else is now the new hot topic?

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How are you going to feel delivering

your 117th talk on AI when you

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don't even care about that topic?

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I don't recommend it.

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Now, if my mission is to help shift

business leadership into a new paradigm of

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communication and radically transform the

archetypes of leadership in the direction

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of ethical service, it's a lot to take in.

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I might even need to explain more fully

what I mean by this, and it's undoubtedly

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hard to package that as an offer when it

comes to delivering talks or workshops.

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My positioning then makes far more

sense as an element that supports this

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outcome as part of the greater mission.

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Now here's another example.

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Mike Michalowicz is the

author of many books.

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One of his most well known is

a book called Profit First.

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He has a Profit First coaching

certification program, and he

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often talks on this topic, and

he's empowered other people now

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to do so under his banner as well.

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When Mike was a guest on my show years

back, he shared that his mission is

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to eradicate entrepreneurial poverty.

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Now, does his Profit First

talk or book achieve this?

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Well, it sure helps, but it's

just one part of the puzzle.

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Which is about how to manage your business

finances and make sure that the profits

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don't all get eaten up by the business,

leaving you successful, but poor.

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I do think it's important if you are

considering becoming a professional

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coach or speaker, or are already on that

path that you have a mission in mind.

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And it's not too late if you haven't

already been thinking about this.

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Now, you don't have to

share it with anyone.

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It doesn't even need to be grandiose.

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It just needs to mean something to you.

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This becomes your big why.

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And let's not get too abstract here.

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A mission statement like I want to help

people is perhaps a little too vague

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or unspecific to be all that useful.

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If we say we want to inspire

people, I think maybe we're

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getting a bit closer to that.

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But if we say I want to help people

who feel held back professionally

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by the fear of conflict, I think we

start to get into something a little

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more specific that we can more clearly

define and sink our teeth into.

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We can get more specific about the

who that this is for a bit later on.

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Now, my positioning statement

is not the same as my mission,

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as my personal mission.

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Having worked with many

students on helping them

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develop positioning statements.

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I know that some people start out

super clear and they know exactly

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what they want to talk about and

even who they want to talk to.

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And others can take a while

to get this figured out.

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Neither is wrong, it's just people

in different stages and phases.

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I fall into the latter category myself,

but I am lucky enough to have inside

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industry help to figure this out.

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So here's mine.

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I teach executive leadership teams

the tools of emotional mastery

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so that they can maximize peak

performance and show up each day

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with energy, heart, and resilience.

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Now, at this point, I have narrowed

down the who that this is for, but

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I could probably wait till a little

further down the line to do that,

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if it made sense to do it, if you

don't really have that clarity yet.

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But I've selected an element of the

larger mission, and ultimately part

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of my course content that I feel will

make the biggest impact in the shortest

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time and be of the greatest benefit.

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My mission is going to be contained in

everything I deliver as it's part of

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my values and my greater outcomes, but

it's far less overwhelming and much more

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achievable to empower people with tools

of emotional regulation and state mastery.

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There were a few other reasons for

niching here too, which were that It

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allows me to bring in more elements

of motivational and inspirational

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speaking, which I love to do.

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And the changes that occur when

people are responsible or at

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cause for their emotional state is

quite rapid and immediately felt.

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Also, many of the things going on

in the world right now having a

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huge impact on people emotionally

and on mental health for people.

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If we could empower people, if I can

be a part of empowering people to

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feel better in their daily lives,

to manage their emotional state.

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And to feel more mental resilience

to not fall into a spiral of

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sadness or despair, then I see

that as being a very good thing.

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So this is it, the foundational

positioning on which I will be

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building my signature keynote talk.

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In my next episode, I'll be bringing

you an interview with a great

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communicator and a radio presenter

and podcast host himself, Phil Fraser.

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Got a lot of great value

and a fun conversation.

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So I hope you'll join me for that.

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My next episode on the keynote

creation process is going to

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be in a couple of weeks time.

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So I hope you can come

back and join me for that.

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If you have enjoyed this episode and you

want to follow that journey along with me,

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I'll be discussing in the next episode,

the talk creation stage of the process.

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But for now, thank you

for listening or watching.

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If you're on YouTube, have

an amazing rest of the week.

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See you next time.