Crafting Your Signature Keynote: A Step-by-Step Journey

In this episode of Present Influence, keynote coach and professional speaker John Ball invites listeners into his creative process as he develops his own signature keynote talk.

John shares comprehensive insights from his years of coaching, covering topics such as the importance of having a mission, the difference between mission and positioning, and the challenges of finding your niche.

This episode kicks off a series focused on the entire keynote creation process, from conceptualization to delivery, offering valuable lessons for aspiring and established speakers alike.

Follow along weekly for more tips and interviews with influence experts, starting with radio presenter Phil Fraser in the next episode.

keywords

keynote talk, public speaking, mission, positioning, presentation skills, leadership communication, emotional mastery, audience engagement, speaker journey, creative process

takeaways

• Creating a keynote talk starts with understanding your mission.
• Mission and positioning are distinct but interconnected concepts.
• A clear mission helps define your niche as a speaker.
• Emotional mastery is crucial for effective leadership communication.
• Specificity in mission statements enhances clarity and impact.
• The creative process involves personal reflection and audience consideration.
• Positioning supports the greater mission in delivering talks.
• Empowering others emotionally can lead to significant change.
• Documentation of the speaker's journey can provide valuable insights.
• Engaging with the audience is key to successful presentations.

titles

• Defining Your Niche as a Speaker
• Emotional Mastery in Public Speaking

Sound Bites

• "Where do even start when creating a professional keynote talk?"
• "I want to talk about the creative process."

00:00 Introduction: Crafting Your Signature Keynote Talk

03:21 The Importance of Mission and Positioning

05:46 Defining Your Mission and Positioning Statement

07:09 Building the Foundation of Your Keynote Talk

08:49 Conclusion and Upcoming Episodes

Let me ask you this.

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Are you someone who is in a position

of where you are either in the process

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of, or thinking about at some point

writing a keynote talk, a signature

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keynote talk, either as a professional

speaker, as an unpaid speaker, or

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as part of your professional work?

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Well, in this episode, I want to get

into some of the creative process.

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In fact, I want to invite you into

my creative process that I'm working

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on at the moment, whilst I'm creating

my own new signature keynote talk.

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And the processes that I've taken many

students and clients through over the past

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several years to help them do the same.

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So where do you even start when you're

creating a professional keynote talk?

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We'll get into why your mission might not

be quite the same as your positioning and

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why you really do need to have a mission.

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And where do you begin if you don't even

know what you want to talk about yet?

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And we will talk a little about why the

struggle to niche can hold us back, and

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why defining your mission can then help

you to decide on the right niche for you.

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As I said in this episode, I'm inviting

you into my creative process from

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beginning to end with the Keynote Talk.

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The only thing I won't be doing is

delivering the whole keynote as a podcast.

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But you will certainly get some

elements of that and a taste of

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what I'm doing with this process.

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Welcome to Present Influence the show

that that helps business leaders develop

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the skills to influence and inspire.

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My name is John Ball.

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I'm a presentation skills and keynote

coach, a professional speaker and your

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guide on this journey to leadership level

communication and presentation skills.

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My mission is to provide rising leaders

in business like you, everything

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you need to be able to maximize your

impact and present with influence.

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So follow the show on your favorite

podcast app for weekly episodes and

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interviews with influence experts.

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Since the ancient times of Aristotle,

we've known that speaking to groups

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is one of the most powerful ways

to wield the tool of influence,

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especially when it's done well.

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And even today, the ability to stand

before a crowd and deliver a great

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talk or speech is highly respected

and a sure sign of good leadership.

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For those in positions of authority

or those who've decided to make

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speaking a part of their business

ecosystem, creating and delivering

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a good keynote is essential.

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Now I'm no stranger to keynote

speaking, but neither am I an old hand.

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So, after a year and more of coaching

other people who have been wanting

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to make that transition into becoming

full time paid professional speakers,

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I'm making that journey for myself.

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So this is in part a documentation of

my own journey and personal application

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of the guidance and teaching that I have

received and also have been offering

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to the clients and students in my care.

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So this episode is the first of a

planned series, taking you through the

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whole creation process of my signature

keynote talk from concepts and stage

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craft to completion and delivery.

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If taking my own advice leads to a

crappy keynote with no paid gigs at

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the end, then it might at least serve

as a masterclass in what not to do.

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But it still should be valuable.

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Obviously that's not my intention,

although writing the worst keynote ever

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sounds like kind of a fun challenge.

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Not one I'm going to

take up right now though.

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In my time working with The

Speaker Lab, I came to understand

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the importance of positioning and

creating a positioning statement.

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And what's become clearer over months

and months of coaching with students

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there was that mission and positioning

are not necessarily the same thing.

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I think it's important to cover this

because this trips people up when

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they're trying to niche down with their

offering or get clear on their service.

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Let me be clear here then.

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I do believe you need to have a

mission and a purpose as a speaker.

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And from time to time, I have

worked with people who didn't have

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that and essentially just said,

Hey, I can talk about anything.

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Just point me to the money.

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Now don't get me wrong.

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I like money.

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But if that's your only motivation,

You're not really going to care about

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your topic or your audience all that much,

so you'd better be a damn good actor.

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But let's say I then said to this person,

well, AI is a really hot topic right now.

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Could you develop a talk about that?

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And what if you have no background

or association to that topic?

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Where's your credibility?

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What happens when the trends change and

something else is now the new hot topic?

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How are you going to feel delivering

your 117th talk on AI when you

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don't even care about that topic?

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I don't recommend it.

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Now, if my mission is to help shift

business leadership into a new paradigm of

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communication and radically transform the

archetypes of leadership in the direction

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of ethical service, it's a lot to take in.

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I might even need to explain more fully

what I mean by this, and it's undoubtedly

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hard to package that as an offer when it

comes to delivering talks or workshops.

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My positioning then makes far more

sense as an element that supports this

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outcome as part of the greater mission.

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Now here's another example.

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Mike Michalowicz is the

author of many books.

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One of his most well known is

a book called Profit First.

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He has a Profit First coaching

certification program, and he

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often talks on this topic, and

he's empowered other people now

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to do so under his banner as well.

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When Mike was a guest on my show years

back, he shared that his mission is

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to eradicate entrepreneurial poverty.

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Now, does his Profit First

talk or book achieve this?

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Well, it sure helps, but it's

just one part of the puzzle.

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Which is about how to manage your business

finances and make sure that the profits

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don't all get eaten up by the business,

leaving you successful, but poor.

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I do think it's important if you are

considering becoming a professional

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coach or speaker, or are already on that

path that you have a mission in mind.

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And it's not too late if you haven't

already been thinking about this.

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Now, you don't have to

share it with anyone.

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It doesn't even need to be grandiose.

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It just needs to mean something to you.

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This becomes your big why.

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And let's not get too abstract here.

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A mission statement like I want to help

people is perhaps a little too vague

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or unspecific to be all that useful.

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If we say we want to inspire

people, I think maybe we're

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getting a bit closer to that.

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But if we say I want to help people

who feel held back professionally

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by the fear of conflict, I think we

start to get into something a little

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more specific that we can more clearly

define and sink our teeth into.

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We can get more specific about the

who that this is for a bit later on.

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Now, my positioning statement

is not the same as my mission,

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as my personal mission.

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Having worked with many

students on helping them

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develop positioning statements.

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I know that some people start out

super clear and they know exactly

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what they want to talk about and

even who they want to talk to.

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And others can take a while

to get this figured out.

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Neither is wrong, it's just people

in different stages and phases.

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I fall into the latter category myself,

but I am lucky enough to have inside

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industry help to figure this out.

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So here's mine.

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I teach executive leadership teams

the tools of emotional mastery

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so that they can maximize peak

performance and show up each day

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with energy, heart, and resilience.

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Now, at this point, I have narrowed

down the who that this is for, but

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I could probably wait till a little

further down the line to do that,

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if it made sense to do it, if you

don't really have that clarity yet.

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But I've selected an element of the

larger mission, and ultimately part

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of my course content that I feel will

make the biggest impact in the shortest

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time and be of the greatest benefit.

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My mission is going to be contained in

everything I deliver as it's part of

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my values and my greater outcomes, but

it's far less overwhelming and much more

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achievable to empower people with tools

of emotional regulation and state mastery.

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There were a few other reasons for

niching here too, which were that It

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allows me to bring in more elements

of motivational and inspirational

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speaking, which I love to do.

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And the changes that occur when

people are responsible or at

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cause for their emotional state is

quite rapid and immediately felt.

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Also, many of the things going on

in the world right now having a

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huge impact on people emotionally

and on mental health for people.

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If we could empower people, if I can

be a part of empowering people to

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feel better in their daily lives,

to manage their emotional state.

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And to feel more mental resilience

to not fall into a spiral of

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sadness or despair, then I see

that as being a very good thing.

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So this is it, the foundational

positioning on which I will be

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building my signature keynote talk.

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In my next episode, I'll be bringing

you an interview with a great

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communicator and a radio presenter

and podcast host himself, Phil Fraser.

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Got a lot of great value

and a fun conversation.

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So I hope you'll join me for that.

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My next episode on the keynote

creation process is going to

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be in a couple of weeks time.

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So I hope you can come

back and join me for that.

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If you have enjoyed this episode and you

want to follow that journey along with me,

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I'll be discussing in the next episode,

the talk creation stage of the process.

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But for now, thank you

for listening or watching.

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If you're on YouTube, have

an amazing rest of the week.

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See you next time.