Print Article

Six Keys to Connecting at a Keynote Speech:

Start by Immersing Yourself in the Experience!

By Darren LaCroix

If you are a celebrity speaker earning tens of thousands of dollars per speech, you don’t need any help “connecting” with your audience. You are famous. You have their attention.

For the rest of us, to best serve our audiences, we need to go above and beyond to connect with them. In fact, when I first started speaking professionally, I was only an opening act as a comedian struggling to do a strong ten minutes of material. Now I had to be up there for an hour! What I did to overcompensate was to do anything and everything I could to connect with them. I interviewed people ahead of time, read newsletters, dove into their website, and for sure, showed up early. There is so much I could cover, but what I’d like to focus this article on is what I do when I’m on site at the conference. Last week I spoke for a transportation company, the National Safe Driver Awards Banquet. I even brought my video camera to show you exactly what I do and how I do it.

At this event in Jacksonville, FL, I realized I still incorporate many of the techniques I developed from my early days, especially when I know the audience is in a different industry than I’m used to. This was an audience of 150 truck drivers and their wives. I knew I wanted to get there early and spend as much time with them as I could.

The problem was, I was teaching my coaching boot camp with Patricia Fripp the day before and was traveling from Vegas to Florida. With the time difference, most of the flights would not get me in until just before the speech would begin. This poses two problems. First, never take the last flight of the day to get to a speech. If you miss a connection, it can be devastating to your career and the speakers bureau that booked you. Second, I would miss all of the “common” afternoon activities. It became a no-brainer. I took the overnight flight and got in late morning.

I presume you know your topic and are an expert (or an expert in the making) on your speech topic. Your message may be clear, and because you know it so well, an obvious point for your audience. It is still our job to help the audience make the jump to it. This may be the first time they’ve heard this, and many adult learners are “looking” for reasons not to change, or why it won’t work. Being there helps you discover ways to tie your message to their lives.

So, what do I do once I’m on site to connect my message with the audience:

#1 Immerse yourself in the experience!

Conferences can range from small, with presentations only, all the way to huge, with activities, games, trade shows, and gala evenings. Whatever the attendees are doing, immerse yourself in their experience and do what they do, while always observing. Some of the time may feel like you’ve wasted, but remember, we are looking for just a couple gems to anchor our message to. If there is a tradeshow, walk it. If there are sessions before yours, sit in on them. If there are fun activities, have fun!

For this client, they had a million dollar “driving simulator.” It is designed to train and test divers on how to handle adverse conditions. For this conference, it was used as a fun, “hands on activity.” Though most of the drivers were men, most of the wives attending jumped in and tried the simulator. They were having fun. I watched and observed some of them, and made sure I learned the names of the people I saw drive. Later during my keynote I had fun with it.

The other added bonus this gives you is that when these people see you up there speaking, you can see in their eyes, saying “hey, that’s the guy we saw in the simulator!” I now have created some friends in the audience. It always helps having friendly faces who are connected to you at a deeper level.

#2 Ask questions and SHUT UP!

It’s not about you! Though I may be the keynote speaker, I don’t care if they like me, I care that they get my message. The same is true when I am doing my “on-site” research. You only have a limited time to learn about them. If you are talking about yourself, you are decreasing the time you will learn about them.

I went into the simulator, did a lot of “ease dropping”, and when it was my turn, I asked Bob and Randy, who ran the simulator, some questions. Then I did the best thing I could. I shut up and took notes.

#3 Recognize the people they are honoring

This particular event was an awards banquet. Whoever they are honoring, I must at least mention, as well. I also made sure that I honored the past National Champions. How can you honor them? Sometimes recognition. Sometimes a copy of your book or CD. Sometimes sharing one of their stories. It will vary from speech to speech. You are the keynoter, you decide what is appropriate. Do not spend too much time on it though. Be real, be quick, and make it fun if you can.

#4 Recognize the people who made their conference a memorable experience…

We, as speakers, get much of the glory and have most of the fun at a conference. There are many people who put in hours and hours of effort to make the conference flow smoothly. They rarely get the recognition they deserve. Having a keynote speaker recognize them goes along way to “Good Karma.” It is just the right thing to do. Depending on the situation, they are the ones I will give a free copy of my book to. It will mean a great deal to them. I made sure I recognized Randy and Bob.

#5) Always “play up” to your audience

Regarding Johnny Carson’s stint with the Tonight Show, he was asked in an interview, “Why do you think you were so successful?” He paused, gathered his thoughts and said, “I always played up to my audiences.”

In this day in age, when it is getting tougher to entertain, many comedians are getting negative and cutting people down. Johnny always respected the audience’s intelligence. He always put himself down, not the audience.

When you are the “outsider” you must keep this in mind. Even when I do my famous “gestures” routine, I always prompt my helper that they can do what they want to me, but I can not put them in a tough situation. They are “one of them.” If I was mean or negative, to my helper, my audience would turn on me. If my helper embarrasses me, the audience loves it, because the helper is an extension of them.

#6) Always recognize guests, but…

If you are a Toastmaster reading this article, I’m not talking about saying, “Mr. Toastmaster, Fellow Toastmasters, and Guests.” I’m talking about going much deeper than that. And recognizing one “specific” person and an actual observation goes much deeper to create a connection. Watch this week’s You Tube clip ?v=yvBBYv4rycw&feature=channel_page" ?v=yvBBYv4rycw&feature=channel_page

and see exactly what I did at this keynote client’s conference. It does not have to take much time, but should be “real.” All acknowledgements should be strategically placed in your speech. At this particular keynote, I recognized peoplebeforeI even started the presentation.

Keynote audiences vary greatly, and each of them should be looked at on a case by case basis. These guidelines should help give you a framework to find deeper ways to connect.

Here is the big question: Will you make it a habit to immerse yourself in the “attendee experience?”