The CEO of the advertising agency
delivered the opening keynote speech at the marketing conference. He seemed
like an appropriate choice. His career in the industry was impressive and the
company he founded was enjoying industry buzz.
His presentation offered entertaining
case reviews from the world of advertising. A few of those campaigns were
produced by his company. Like many marketing speakers, he also included at
least one Apple story. That felt like Deja vu. Still, his insights were
noteworthy.
The close to his speech was disappointing.
He ended with these four lines.
Enjoy your conference.
Thank you for your invitation to speak.
Any questions?
Am I supposed to take questions?
What a pathetic close!
Let’s examine those four lines.
“Enjoy your conference”
That’s a bland and uninspiring
statement. That felt like the lackluster statements you hear from insincere retail
clerks admonishing you to “Have a nice day.”
“Thank you for your invitation to speak”
More bland and meaningless words.
Clearly he didn’t take time to think of something more helpful to say to the
audience.
The person to thank for the invitation
is the person who invited him. The place for that would have been a private
conversation with that person. The audience didn’t invite him. They simply
attended to hear his message.
“Any Questions?”
This was thrown out as an afterthought.
Clearly he didn’t plan to take questions. He looked confused at this point.
“Am I supposed to take questions?”
Now he definitely sounded confused. After
he asked for questions he hesitated and posed this question to no one in
particular. Clearly he didn’t talk with the conference organizers to confirm their
expectation or the parameters of his presentation. This question portrayed him as a fumbling
presenter – not the leader they hoped he might portray.
The man had impressive credentials in
the advertising industry and as CEO of his own firm. But, the audience might be
thinking “How can a man with a successful career be so careless as a presenter?
Was he simply lucky?”
This CEO didn’t know how to end his
presentation. That was curious because as the head of an advertising firm he
stressed the importance of telling stories. He emphasized the need to sculpt three
components to your stories; opening, body and close. But he didn’t do that with
his presentation. Both his opening and close were disasters. I wonder if he
delivers a better close when pitching to prospects.
Ironic.
Apparently, this was a case of “don’t do
what I do – do what I tell you to do”.
What can you learn from this keynote
speaker?
If you are the invited speaker
·
Demonstrate the lessons you want
the audience to learn
·
Recognize the importance of the
opening and close to your presentation
·
Talk with the event organizers to
be clear on the expectations and parameters
·
Assume that somebody important
might be in the audience
·
Prepare and rehearse – don’t try
to wing it
If you are the conference organizer
·
Don’t be celebrity-struck by the
CEO – clarify your expectations
·
Don’t assume that every successful
CEO makes an ideal keynote speaker
·
If you haven’t heard the person
speak, you don’t know what you’re getting
·
Just because the CEO is speaking
for free doesn’t make it a good deal
The close is important to the success of
your presentation. It’s the last words
that the audience hears and when done well can leave them with a lasting
impression. The close might summarize your key points, reinforce the message,
offer them hope or encourage them to take the next steps.
People forget much of what you say but
they tend to remember first or last impressions.
Presentation Tips on Twitter Presentation Skills Club on Facebook Executive Speech Coach,
Business presentation tips from George Torok, the Speech Coach for Executives
