Published in The Attention Architect, a newsletter on LinkedIn, April 26, 20 22

Before the pandemic hit, I spent over 25 years doing lectures all over the U.S. and parts of Asia. These lectures were not my full-time job but something I did while running a strategy and design firm with my business partner.

On average, I did about 6–8 major conference lectures a year and a long list of smaller, custom gigs for corporations and industry associations. I got paid anywhere from $5,000-$15,000 per lecture and established myself as a thought leader in the industries I served.

While the extra income was a nice bonus, the lectures took a lot more time and preparation than they seemed on the surface.

But I quickly learned the juice was worth the squeeze as positioning myself as a thought leader led clients to pursue me instead of me having to always chase them.

Not only that, but in the 30+ years our firm has been in business, we’ve never spent a dime building out an elaborate marketing department as this zero-budget/zero-staff marketing campaign brings in more business than we can often handle.

However, when the pandemic hit the U.S. on Friday, March 13, 2020, the live conference business shut down, speaking circuit opportunities dried up, and my non-marketing/marketing strategy got buried along with it.

Over the last two years, I’ve thought many times that even as COVID restrictions began to ease, large conferences would be a thing of the past and that online virtual conferences would take over. But after 24 months of a daily diet of Zoom calls, endless Twitter chatter, and one-dimensional online seminars, business leaders have had it with sitting at their desks in front of a flat, lifeless screen. They want to get out and bump elbows and network with people in real-time to spark chance encounters and create happy accidents that drive their business forward.

After a long period of pandemic hibernation, people are coming out of their bunkers and safe houses and registering to attend conferences again. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, “The roughly $11 billion U.S. trade-show and exhibition industry is slowly coming back to life after a largely lost year due to coronavirus.”

Much to my surprise, my phone started ringing again with conference organizers wanting to see if I’d be interested in speaking at their upcoming events. I’m excited about these events, but I need to get back in presentation shape. Below is the tried and tested format I’ve used over the last 25+ years to deliver engaging and thought-provoking talks.

THE 5-STEP FORMULA FOR MAKING CAPTIVATING PRESENTATIONS

Most business leaders tell me they want to do public speaking engagements until they do one or two and realize how much work and stress is involved. Presenting on a national stage is like putting together a live television show.

Audiences want to be engaged, enlightened, and entertained.

They expect a concise, compelling, and coherent presentation, and when they don’t get it, they can be ruthless in their critiques and feedback. There’s a lot of extra pressure and homework to do by giving a talk, particularly if you have a business to run. To counter that, and make your life a bit easier, steal this format.

1. Collect your human experience stories.
2. Structure your theory in a precise way.
3. Introduce the case studies.
4. Beat the “holes” to the punch.
5. Send them off with solid recommendations.

CHAPTER 1: THE RELATABLE HUMAN STORY

There are many ways to begin an effective speech. Shocking stats work well. Or you can start with a provocative question or piercing quote. However, if you want to pull people in, few things are more effective than telling a story. (*Note: using chapters keeps ideas in chunks and helps with transitions.)

I always start my lectures with a relatable human story — preferably a funny and self-deprecating one — about myself or someone I know. I’ve collected and cataloged these stories all my life and have notebooks full of amusing anecdotes and embarrassing human moments, the more vulnerable, the better.

But baked into each story is a human truth the average person can relate to and principles of what NOT to do in life, business or relationships.

Laughing at a human insight is a good sign I’ve got the audience hooked. I try to make the characters in the opening story memorable and sticky because I’ll continue to use them to get my point across throughout the lecture.

CHAPTER 2: THE THEORY OF ______.

As soon as I get the audience laughing about a relatable human story, I try to connect that story to the lecture topic at hand, which usually has something to do with business, branding, or consumer behavior.

In this chapter, I unfold the essence of my idea in a nutshell and propose a “theory of the market” for how I see the audience’s specific industry changing and evolving in the future. For instance, your theory might be that the soda market will implode in two years and get replaced by X. Here’s why? Or, because of the pandemic, dating sites will need to become more like Y. Or, there will be only two types of grocery stores in the future: X and Y. Let me explain why.

The more provocative, daring, and unconventional this theory is, the more the audience will be on the edge of their seats.

CHAPTER 3: THE CASE STUDIES

Once I have the audience curious about whether this theory can hold water, I show them several examples and case studies of how this theory exists or operates in the real world.

I prefer to use case studies from our firm’s clients and projects, but they can be examples from anywhere. The goal isn’t to claim the work but to show how your theory applies to many different contexts and situations.

Ideally, I like to show 3–4 case studies to show the various ways a theory might express itself in different contexts.

CHAPTER 4: THE ISSUES

No matter how impressive my grand theory is or how good my examples are, there will always be some that will find faults in my thesis. And that’s a good thing.

Instead of letting the audience think or tell me about those faults, I beat them to the punch by addressing those issues upfront in an insightful and well-researched way.

My willingness to attack my ideas and be critical of my theory builds trust with the audience. (However, what makes them skeptical are speakers that are 100% certain something will work.)

Once I have a list of issues, I provide my thoughts and remedies to address the holes in the theory. The solutions I propose allow me to be an expert thinker and strategist on the topic.

CHAPTER 5: THE RECCOMENDATIONS

People come to conferences not to learn what they already know but to get the insights, courage, and ammo they need to overcome conventional thinking in their organization or industry.

I use the final chapter as an opportunity to dare the audience to think big and do something game-changing. I make sure I propose an action-oriented game plan — e.g., a 5 Point Plan, 7 Guiding Lights, etc. I use this listicle approach to give the audience members something they can take back to their colleagues, bosses, and board to review, which opens the door for them to call me if they need help.

FREE THINKING

Getting the call to do a lecture is exciting; coming up with a compelling presentation angle is not—and if I’m not careful, the presentation anxiety can set in and block my thinking.

So the first thing I do is open up a note page and turn these five presentation steps above into starter questions.

1. What personal stories do I have that relate to this topic?
2. What is my theory on the future for this particular industry or market?
3. What real-life examples or case studies can I use to show my theory at work?
4. What are the issues, problems, and challenges with my theory?
5. What are the top 3–5 recommendations I can provide this audience?

The answers to these questions are my notes for no one else to see, and I just let the ideas fall out of me as if I were having a conversation with a friend over beers. (Not knowing about a topic has never stopped people from talking about politics, the economy, or science. We all have opinions!)

Then, once I have a solid list of potential answers to these questions, I keep chiseling on them, and before I know it, I have a sharp and concise presentation outline ready to go.

So, now that you have a plan in hand, get offline and get out there in the real world to make some great things happen!