Today 1700 partners and global leaders of EY from 22 different countries started a three day conference at the massive Marina Bay Sands Convention centre.

They had just three external keynote speakers for this conference.
For a big and important conference like this (EY partners in Asia met like this last time 3 years ago) – there would be very few limits of the kind of speakers they would book. They would basically pick the speakers they want to have.

The went for:
1) Steve Wozniak (flown in from USA) (creator of Apple II computer and global ideas wizard)

2) Linda Yueh (BBC presenter, Adjunct Professor of Economics at London Business School, and Visiting Professor of Economics at Peking University who flown in from the UK)

and

3): Me.

After 2000+ speeches over a 20+ year speaker career I have come to understand that there are no “boring speeches” or “boring groups”.
But there are some “extra fun speeches” for “extra fun groups”.

And – for me – the most fun speeches and the most fun groups are big, global conferences. It is just something with the dynamic of a big, global group that I like so much. How it becomes a group of Humans – not a group of people from a certain nationality/group/culture. 

I also love how everything is bigger, the budgets, the crowds, the stage – the stakes.

Big, global conferences are just the most fun ones to do, I think. The SuperBowl – or the World Cup, if you like – of speeches.
So how did I get this high profile, big conference gig?

By doing a very small talk for 12 of EY’s clients at a small hotel room in Shanghai in June.

The moral here is: Do not look down on the speeches done for small groups.

(Now, to be clear, that job in China was a very fun job too, since it might have been small, but it was the top global HR managers of big Chinese companies.)

But my point is: You never know how a small gig might lead to a big one. Because EY liked what I did for them in China they invited me back for their big conference.

That means I was just one connection away from speaking at their big Asian conference when I did that small speech in China.

I love the concept of “six degrees of separation”, the idea that every human is connected to anyone else by no more than 6 steps. (And with globalisation and the Internet it is probably now more like 5 steps.)

But I do not think it should be called “six degrees of separation” – it should be called “six degrees of connections”, because our connections are not separating us, they are connecting us.

And when it comes to doing a speech for a multinational or international company you are probably no more than 3 connections away from the person who organises the global conference.

1) The person who booked your speech probably knows the national HR director
2) The national HR director probably knows the person who organises the global conference

Now for the first person to recommend to the national HR director that she contact the head of the global conference person and suggest that YOU should be the speaker for their next big conference (out of all the speakers in the world) it is of course not enough that they know who you are.

They also must think that you are the very best choice…

And that means you have to have a kick-ass speech.

But if you do (and I know many speakers who have great, world class speeches, and who want to do big, global conferences but who are not getting those bookings) my advice is this:

Look at the person who books you for a small speech as a “talent scout” who is out looking for great speaking talent that he or she can bring to the big leagues.

You will be surprised how quickly you can go from little league, to mayor league to world series in the world of speaking.

 

(Suggestion: Submit your email address in the form to the right to get a convenient email summary in your inbox every time 10 new posts have been posted.)

Contact Fredrik by clicking on the email symbol below.

A surprisingly large amount of people seems to think that a keynote speaker is a person who goes up on stage and behaves as some kind of “management guru”, that you have to walk up on stage and dominate in an alpha-male-kind-of-way.

And it sure used to be like that. That’s what people thought speakers “had” to be like.

But something has changed.

And I know that this might be hard to believe when you attend conference after conference filled to the brink with alpha-male-guru-speakers, but hear me out.

TED is a conference and website (www.ted.com) that gathers some of the world’s greatest thinkers on its stage. It is arguable the worlds’ leading site for watching speeches.

Now here is the thing: There is hardly a single traditional “alpha male” out of the 50 most popular speeches on TED.com.

Sure, Tony Robbins made the list, but so did Stephen Hawking and Hans Rosling – two men who are very intelligent, smart and passionate – but who perhaps are as far away as we can come from being Alpha Males…

As a matter of fact the majority of the men on the top-50-list of most watched speeches are non-alpha males. Not even Bill Clinton made the list. But Monica Lewinsky did (with a speech on the Price of shame.)
21 out of the 50 most watched speeches are from women, including Maysoon Zayid, an arab-American woman with cerebral palsy. A very innspiring and funny woman, who in almost every way is the opposite of the “physically strong, dominant, white, middle aged alpha-man” that many people “see” when they hear “keynote speaker”.
The fourth most watched speech is a speech on the power of vulnerability. The 11th most watched one is on the power of introverts. (Both delivered by women.)

I am convinced that we are entering the “age of Gentle” – in a world where people in higher degree than before are empowered to do what they want, instead of what they are told to they do not want speakers who tell them what to think in an authoritative style – they want speakers who can inspire them in a gentle manner.

To be “gentle” means to be a a person who is mild in temperament or behaviour; kind or tender.

Almost all of the top 50 most watched speeches on TED.com are from smart, knowledgeable, passionate speakers who communicate their message in a mild temperament, kind way. Every single one of these speeches has at least 5 000 000 views. Those numbers do not lie.

The number one speech, with a staggering 35 000 000 views, is by Sir Ken Robinson, a man with a speaking style that is entertaining, funny and thought provoking. He has the ability to get respect from the audience, not by using a dominant or domineering style – but by arguing logically, making fun of himself and speaking softly.

By being gentle.

Ladies and Gentle Men: The future of speaking belongs to the gentle men and women who speak.

 

(Suggestion: Submit your email address in the form to the right to get a convenient email summary in your inbox every time 10 new posts have been posted.)

Contact Fredrik by clicking on the email symbol below.