I recently had the opportunity to give a really nice audience a peek into my life. They were attentive and curious and I received a generous standing ovation. After it was over, as I often do, I got to spend considerable time talking with the audience members individually. What I learned from them will change my speaking perspective every time I am given the privilege of walking on a stage. When asked what they found most interesting during my talk were not facts figures or statistics. Yes, they loved the stories, but alas those were a distant second place. They folks I spoke with loved connecting with a human who just happened to be a keynote speaker. Yes, they loved the connection. Being in the communication business for a few decades and leading people through good times and bad should have made this easily obvious to me, but the speaker is a different role. I am set apart from the audience trying to influence them. BOOM! … there’s the disconnect!
When issuing a call to action, we are trained to generate a reaction. We should amend that training to inspire action, not reaction. One audience member told me that my speech confirmed things he knew to do, but that got lost in the everyday grind of business. He wanted to be a better leader and lead a culture change within his organization, “but needed my impact.” There it was, my role is not to influence, but to impact the audience so that they could pass it along. It is more than a call to action; it is a call to recognize a better way and then to encourage the discipline impact people in your circle of influence.
So, my role on a go forward basis, is to remember to search for the impact that each audience needs instead of a polite reaction. If I am able to inspire a crowd to change for the better, that entire organizations benefit from hearing my message! Don’t get me wrong, I Love the applause, especially your standing ovation. But, if it doesn’t impact you to change something in your world for the better, it’s just Entertainment.
October 7, 2024
