In this new episode of our podcast, our host Rudy Rodriguez is joined by Gregory Offner. Greg is not just the founder and CEO of Global Performance Institute, but also an award-winning keynote speaker and author of the game-changing book, "The Tip Jar Culture". His fascinating journey takes us from the bright lights of dueling piano bars to the inspiring stages of keynote speaking - a transition spurred by a life-changing vocal cord injury.

Greg's unique blend of business acumen, performance experience, and a knack for creating valuable experiences have been seamlessly translated into his career as a keynote speaker. He shares the importance of understanding your audience and their archetypes, which he cleverly categorizes into 'keepers', 'leapers', and 'sleepers'. Each group requires a different engagement strategy, emphasizing the significance of a tailored approach.

Drawing from his experience at the piano bar, Greg shares invaluable tips about keeping an audience captivated and engaged. He delves into the crucial role of surveys and personalized interaction in crafting memorable experiences and effective follow-ups. In an era where attendee discernment has sharply risen post-COVID, the art of delivering relevant content, incorporating surprise elements, and sustaining connection post-event can make or break an event's success.

When it comes to virtual presentations, Greg talks about the added challenges they pose, but he's all about turning them into opportunities. From incorporating unexpected elements to prioritizing production value, Greg enlightens us on the art of crafting a memorable virtual experience.

In this episode, you'll also hear Greg talk about the importance of authenticity and vulnerability on stage. He believes that this resonates with modern audiences who yearn for genuine connections, underscoring the importance of creating a personalized experience that demonstrates a genuine interest and care for their needs. For more insights, don't forget to check out his book, "The Tip Jar Culture". Buckle up for this knowledge-packed episode that's sure to leave you with a wealth of wisdom and inspiration.

Want to connect with Greg?

Website: https://www.gregoryoffner.com/

Pre Order His Book: https://gregory-offner.presale.manuscripts.com/registration/select

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/goffner

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gregoryoffnerjr/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregoryoffnerjr

​Think you'd be a great guest on the show? Apply HERE.

Want to learn more about Rudy and his work at V.E.S.T. Your Virtual Event Sales Team? Check out his website at https://virtualeventsalesteam.com/

Welcome to the show. My name is Rudy Rodriguez and today I'm here with Mr. Gregory Offner. Welcome, sir.

Rudy, thanks for having me.

Absolutely. And for our audience, I want to give a couple of quick bio points so they know who you are and they have a reason to lean in and get curious and be eager to listen to today's episode. You are the founder and CEO of Global Performance Institute and the author of a new book called The Tip Jar Culture and an award-winning keynote speaker. Very entertaining on my end. And what you do is fundamentally you help transform and create employee experiences. So you speak at many events, many stages around the country. You are just a master at creating experiences for people to have them want to show up and want to stay.

That's the challenge I think is that work is an experience for many people, maybe not your listeners because they're entrepreneurs and so they may be running their own organization, but for a lot of folks who clock in and clock out, W2 employees, the experience of work kind of sucks. That's too strong a word. We'll say at least that it's irksome. And so what I endeavor to do with the programming that I've created and the framework of The Tip Jar Culture is help organizations and the leaders within them take the irk out of work and create the type of experience day to day in the workplace that people actually want to engage with and participate in so that they can deliver a better impact and ultimately increase their income.

Awesome. Thank you for that. And one of the points I missed, I slipped over on the bio here is that you actually had 15 years experience as a dueling piano bar performer.

Yeah. A very unique laboratory in which to study engagement and experience.

Exactly. So really excited to hear what you have to share with us today on taking that engagement and creating that inside of events. So if you want, I'll just turn it over to you. You want to share maybe a little bit about your background and your experience, anything you want to do to fill in the gaps and just talk to us a little bit about how you go about creating engaging experiences at events for attendees.

I think to a lot of people, when they find out that I'm a keynote speaker, their first question is how did you get into that? I'm not an astronaut and I'm not an Olympian and I'm not some famous TV personality. That's typically who we think of as the keynote speakers that take the stage at large conferences. Up until 2015, I had a fairly normal, typical existence. I had a day job, like pretty much every musician that isn't Rihanna. Then at night and on the weekends I would work at piano bars. In 2015 though, I sat down to play one night at the piano bar and my opening song, as my fingers touched the keys, my mouth opened to sing the first note and what came out resembled that noise you hear when you get a fork stuck in the garbage disposal. I think the guy in the front row was more terrified than I was when he heard that sound. Ultimately what had happened was over the years, my vocal cords were degrading. I thought I was just getting raspy, but it turned out I was having vocal cord injuries almost every night and then singing over top of them. At that point, by 2015, my vocal cords were so badly damaged that doctors would tell me if I hadn't had come in that night, hadn't happened. If I hadn't gone into the doctor's office within two to three weeks, I would have lost the ability to speak forever. So what followed over the next several years were 15 surgical procedures in and out of the OR, on and off complete vocal rest, which means total silence for more than three months, in and out of the OR, having my vocal cords repaired and rebuilt so that I could regain my speaking voice.

I can't sing professionally anymore, but I am able to sing just enough that I can incorporate music into my keynotes. And so the way that I got from there to here was in that period of silence, that deep depression when I realized that my music career was gone and the day job that I only kind of sort of liked was probably on its way out as well, because that too required a great deal of speaking. I tried to assess my skills and talents and abilities and what could I really bring that was unique, that was valuable to the world. And I had this very unique positioning. I had 15 years business and sales leadership experience in a multitude of corporations and a variety of industries. I also had this performance background and I had a very passionate interest in what made an experience worthwhile. And I kind of believed that the day-to-day work experience wasn't worthwhile, but why? What was that missing that my experience at the piano bar had? And so I took that time, that silence to figure all of this out. And along the way, I met someone who was a keynote speaker. Didn't know they were a keynote speaker, but when I met them, they started asking me about my life. And as I'm telling them my story, they go, you need to be on stage. So that began this process of me transferring my pre-2019 experience into what I do now, which is my full-time and sole job is traveling around the world and speaking to audiences at conferences.

Wow, really cool, man. And great that you didn't lose that voice. I've actually heard a few people who've had similar experiences in their life where they lost their voice for a period of time and they got it back or they almost lost their voice. They're right on the edge of that. I can't even imagine what that would be like to not be able to speak.

It's interesting. I think the first couple of days, it's sort of freeing. It's like going on a retreat and putting your iPhone off to the side for a few days. It's pretty nice. But you do it for long enough, at least let's use the iPhone example. Let's carry on with that. You realize, how the hell do I get an Uber and how do I check on what's going on without being near a computer? You really lose a lot of the flexibility that technology allows. Without your voice, sure, you can communicate. I mean, I kind of lived life with a whiteboard and a dry erase marker for a really long period of time. And that's all well and good if you need to get something at a grocery store or the pharmacy. But when you're trying to have a live ongoing conversation with friends, by the time I write down something that I want to add to the conversation, they've moved on. So I really found that for a day or two, it can be freeing not to have to say anything, especially if you have kids. Man, it's so nice to have a break from talking for a day or two. But long term, it's really, really challenging. And I wasn't prepared for that, but I also grew a lot from it.

Yeah, fair enough. And thank you for sharing that experience. And coming back over to our show idea or show topic here. I'd love to hear from you. How do you go about creating these experiences when you go and speak to this audience? Like you mentioned in the room something about the three archetypes, audience archetypes. I'm just super curious to hear from you.

Yeah sure. So one of the things that I learned working at the piano bar is that the most important skill you can develop is not necessarily learning how to play every song. It's really learning how to understand the audience composition, who is out there in the audience and that to a lot of business owners, it's like, duh, you mean I need to understand my customer? But there are so many different forms and ways and tactics that folks will tell you to assess a customer. I wanted to make it simple so that I could just look out at the audience and figure out who's who. So I learned over my time performing that there are really three types of people in any audience, whether it's a business audience, a performance audience, or maybe the audience that your listeners are finding themselves in front of. The first type are your keepers. They're the people who just love you. Rudy, you put on an event and some people show up just because they love Rudy. I want to support you. I'm going to be there. I just love what you're all about. Then you've got your leapers, they show up to your event or they come looking for something specific. We may not know what it was, but they're there to get something to help them get somewhere else. Get to another level, get to another point in their life, and then there are your sleepers. Now, in a paid experience, like many of your listeners might be putting on, it's not necessarily likely you're going to have a lot of them. You could wander into the piano bar generally without paying a cover. And we find a lot of sleepers in the workplace. All you have to do is make it through a couple interviews and then boom, you got a job. But the sleeper is the type of person that isn't really sure why they're there. And so understanding how to engage and connect with each of those three archetypes is critical because the keepers want to feel special.

They want me to acknowledge them. The leapers, I got to figure out what they want and give it to them. Let's use an example from the piano bar, bachelor and bachelorette parties. They're not there for a long time, they're there for a good time. They want to be recognized, they want to contribute, they want to be a part of the show, and then they're going to move on to whatever bar or restaurant experience they're going to next. The mistake a lot of junior performers will make is they'll try to keep them there. So they'll wait. They'll sit on the request that these bachelor or bachelorette parties make because they think, well, if I just wait on this request, they'll stay and they'll wait until I get that request played. But they become ornery. They become frustrated that you're not playing their request. You're not giving them what they want. And then not only do they leave, but they don't tip you or they leave a bad review on Yelp. So understanding what those leapers want. Often it's as simple as if you don't have the experience to know what they want, go out and have a conversation with the people in the audience. Ask them, hey, I haven't seen you here before. What brought you out? You start to learn a little bit about what they want. You can tailor that experience. And interestingly enough, that tactic of speaking to the audience is also how we address the sleepers, because every audience has them. You can see it. It's the person out there that maybe they got dragged there by their significant other, like they don't want to be there. They got the folded arms and sort of that thousand yard stare. And that's awful for a performer to just have somebody staring at you, giving you no feedback whatsoever. It's really daunting for a new performer because you don't know what to do. One of my mentors told me, dude, go out and talk to him. You take a break every 45 minutes. We rotate in and off this piano. Go out and talk to him. Say, hey, I haven't seen you here before. What brings you out? You can figure out exactly what they want. And then you turn that sleeper into a leaper or a keeper.

That's a cool archetype. Keepers, leapers and sleepers. And easier with keepers, they know and they love you and they're just showing up because they just love to show up and you give them some recognition, some love. They appreciate it. Leapers, they came for something specific. They want to get from there to another point. I love the example of the bachelor, bachelorette party. But you got to play what they want. Otherwise, they're frustrated because they're not there to stay. And sleepers, not sure why they're there, but you gotta get out, talk to them, get to know them and convert them into a leaper or maybe a keeper.

Yeah. Would you say that a lot of your listeners would have a pre-attendee survey? So before they're even showing up to this event, there's a survey that's kind of trying to get at the root of how did you hear about us? Why are you coming? What are your goals? What can we do that would make this a 11 out of 10 experience for you?

I imagine many do. And when I work with clients that are running events, it's something that we do for them or with them as well because they know it's so important to reach out and interview the attendees to get a sense for where they're at.

One thing that many of your attendees, many of your listeners are probably already doing, but for those who aren't, this is something to definitely pay attention to. Those surveys are great, but only if you use them. More important than using them is letting the attendees know that you've used them. So picking out something from their response on the survey and inserting it into a conversation with them one-on-one and as you have that one-on-one interaction with them, they're going to remember. They're going to clock that you have paid attention to what they said and you're integrating it into the experience. And I think that's really important because businesses, just kind of going back to my world of employee experience and engagement, lots of businesses have engagement surveys. They ask you a bunch of questions, the employee writes down a bunch of answers, and then nothing happens. So even if you're running an event and you're paying attention to these pre-event questionnaires and you're integrating that into the experience, I think that the advanced move, the 401 type of application of this knowledge is making sure that you insert something from that survey into conversation. Let the individuals who are attending know that you've read it. Hey, I saw that you mentioned on that survey that you really want to get to Hawaii. So this personal finance seminar you're really attending so you can figure out how to do that. Man, do you have a particular island in Hawaii that you want to go to? So even something that simple just shows them you've taken the extra step. Even if you're going to address that in the coursework, having a one-on-one conversation, I think is incredibly powerful.

Awesome, Greg. Thanks for reiterating the importance of using the surveys and not just doing them. And I agree. That's been my experience too, especially from the front of the room. The messaging gets updated to reflect that. People lean in when you talk about what it is that they want or some of the challenges they're dealing with. They're going to lean in. They're going to tune in.

Yeah, there's a line in Kinky Boots, let me know when you get to the part about me. And I think Zig Ziglar always used to say everybody's favorite radio station is WIIFM, what's in it for me? Well, we have to acknowledge that if we're putting on this event, the most important need in the room is going to be out in the audience. And if we understand that need, we can always deliver. And that's just from a public speaking standpoint. That's really a fundamental truth. Speakers that get up on stage and are worried about, what am I going to say? How am I going to look? Does this look okay? What should I do with my hands? Nobody cares. If you just get on that stage and go, what can I do or say right now that would benefit most of the people out in this room, you can't not be successful.

Yeah, focusing on what is that they need and not on, what am I doing right or wrong? Like it's just getting the attention out to the audience. Awesome, man. Thank you. Any other tips or best practices that you've learned when creating engaging experiences for attendees?

I think we talked before we started recording about sort of the three wickets of info that you'd like to put into the show. One is getting people to the event. The other is keeping them engaged at the event. And the third is keeping connected with them after the event. I think especially now, and I'm so sick of people saying post-COVID, but we have to take into account that for two years, we got pretty comfy cozy just hanging out in our homes. And folks are more discerning now than they were before as to why am I going to be not comfy cozy? Why am I going to leave my home? So the experience of an event can't just be formulaic. It's really got to be something that they can't achieve or experience from home and that they haven't achieved or experienced from before. So the surprise and delight factor is huge. We talked about a mutual friend, Mike Rayburn. You know, most people don't expect a keynote speaker to bring a guitar on stage with them. I bring a piano with me. Most folks aren't expecting that. That's a surprise and delight. Immediately breaks the typical pattern of what you expect to see at a keynote. And even some of the most, I don't want to say jaded, but been there, done that conference attendees. Now they lean in. They're curious to know what's going to happen next. So incorporating that surprise and delight factor into the event, absolutely important. If it's not part of the initial conversation, I think having that conversation about why are you here? Yes, it's going to be in a pre-event survey, but again, re-centering the group when they get there. Asking why are you here? Is there anything that's come up since you filled out that survey or since we invited you to this event that you want to make sure we cover while you're here? Keeping it relevant for those attendees. And then lastly, I'd say if you want to keep people engaged, give them breaks.

We have a real problem in the US with thinking we go, go, go, go, go. What's that? We're going to go for 10 more years. Breaks have actually been shown to increase the value of participation. So by breaking up the sessions and giving folks time to just digest information, they'll absorb more, they'll learn better, and they'll feel more satisfied with their investment and their decision to show up to the event.

Yeah, it's counterintuitive, man. Taking the breaks gets people more engaged. I know one of the common concerns or fears that I've had around events is, hey, give a break, people don't come back.

Yeah, but that tells you something. That says something right there. And you talk about just not to belabor the point, but not just doing too much in terms of having the event, the session lasts for too long, but saying too much. We've got this little rule in the keynote speaking world that make three points in a keynote and then take two out. Because really, you want the audience focusing on one thing. It doesn't just make the keynote more effective for them. It also then sets you up to upsell those two additional things somewhere else as a follow on course, as a way to get in touch after the event for this thing that we weren't able to cover. And you knew you weren't going to cover it, but to them, it's a value add.

Great point. I appreciate it. And then you made a really good point that I took away from the fact that people are more discerning now about which events that they actually go to in person for sure. And even virtually, because there's so many options out there, vying for people's attention for virtual events because they can just do it in the comfort of their home and creating that surprise and delight factor so that it's a standout experience that has people come in and stay and come back.

You're competing with Netflix, like even the great Tony Robbins. Nobody wants to go to virtual UPW right now. I think people do go because the price point is different. You don't have to travel. You don't need a hotel. So for some folks who a thousand bucks or whatever it costs to go there isn't accessible. And Tony puts millions of dollars into the production value of that event. People are tired of it. So if you're going to create a virtual event, that's really compelling. You've got to think about production value, the surprise and delight factor and engagement. Everybody, I'm not beating on Tony Robbins. I love the guy, but 20,000 people at an event, how much real interaction from somebody who's not like a peer and attendee am I going to get? Because if it's all attendee based interaction, I could just do my own mastermind and figure that out. So what am I really going to give so that I'm feeling the love from you or from your staff member? If you're a larger, if you're an entrepreneur that has a staff that's putting these events on, how am I really going to feel the love if this is virtual and keeps me engaged through real interactions? Virtual has gotten tougher now that the real world opened back up.

I'm curious here, are there any specific things that you've incorporated? What do you do to surprise and delight people in your presentation?

Are we talking virtual or in person?

Either, whatever you want to feel that you can share.

So I'm not doing many virtual presentations right now. I don't like them. They've become much, much harder because of all the facts I just mentioned. When I do them, I spend a lot of time in the planning process with the client. I try to get them to send me swag. Anything that I, how do I describe this? Anything that I shouldn't have, but I could have, right? Like company stuff. Like maybe it's something from the office. That's like an office totem. If we can arrange to get it to me, like a weird, I want to say statue, but like if there's like an award or something that's always at headquarters and all of a sudden, the hell is it doing in this guy's virtual studio? How'd that get there? That's something they're not expecting to see. But when they see it, they go, oh, that's okay. But how did this happen? In person, I think I mentioned that the piano in and of itself is a surprise and delight factor, but drawing on that parallel with the piano bars, I use request slips. So like this is one from an event I did recently, Wagon Wheel, Karen, whoever Karen was, Karen wanted to hear Wagon Wheel. And so I incorporate these requests into the keynote. So it's almost like choosing your own adventure. The audience gets to pick what songs I'm going to play during that keynote. So it's almost personalized for them. That keeps their attention because they know it's a defined period of time. They know it's only 60 minutes. So I don't have to worry about the leapers. Like the bachelorette party is getting frustrated that I don't play their requests. They know it's coming at some point in the 60 minutes or it's not going to be played at all. They just don't know, is it going to be mine? Is he going to play my request? And so now they're still dialed in. They're looking for it. They're waiting. The last thing I think is with follow-up. I will follow up.

And so today, these are from the keynote I did yesterday. These are all of the requests that I didn't get to, right? The ones that have names. So I'm going to make a little video with these, post it, use all the conference hashtags and everything, and put that on social media. They'll be able to go through and, oh my God, there's mine. There's mine. Did he get it? Yeah, there's mine. So it's just that constant connection with the audience and showing them that I care because so many speakers just show up, give me the mic. 60 minutes. See you later. On to the next one. I think really creating that connection with the audience that this is special for you. I'm paying attention to you. I'm here to give you, not to ask what you can do for me as the big, important keynote speaker. They feel that. Authenticity right now is at a higher premium than ever before on stage. There are a lot of keynote speakers who I look up to. But 20 years ago, the way that they spoke that impressed the hell out of me is not the way that audiences respond positively to now. They've had to re-engineer their presence on stage to be vulnerable, to be authentic, to be real. Folks want that. They want to know who you are, not the stage version of you. Who are you? And I think if you can convey that, again, keeping in mind all of the information should be directed for their benefit and you add a surprise and delight factor, your experiences are going to kick butt.

Awesome, Greg. Those are some great tips that you added in there at the end. Appreciate that. And Greg, for our audience and people that want to learn more about you and what you do, what's the best way for them to find you?

Yeah. My website, probably the best way to find me, Gregoryoffner.com. I'm on all the major socials, at Gregory Offner Jr. I'd love for you to connect. Tell me if there's something in this interview that you found valuable. Tell me if there's something in this interview that you think I'm just wildly incorrect about. I'd love to hear from you.

Awesome. Thanks so much, man. And any other final comments that you want to share with our audience?

Well, look, you mentioned it at the beginning. I'd be remiss if I didn't say that over the last year, I've been working on a book called The Tip Jar Culture. It's all about employee experience and engagement. The manuscript's been submitted. We're now in revisions, but we've opened presale right now. So I'm not sure when this is going to air. Maybe the presale will be over, but either way, I'd be super excited. If you just took a look at the book, you can Google Tip Jar Culture, the book. Maybe we can put the link in the show notes if it's still active. I think if you have an organization or you know someone with an organization with employees, this is a book you're going to want to read.

Awesome, Greg. Appreciate that so much. I will be sure to include the link in our show notes as well. And I'm going to go get on that pre-order list. I definitely want to get my hands on that when it's available.

Awesome. I appreciate that, Rudy.

I appreciate you, Greg. Thanks for being a great guest on our show today.

Thanks for having me. Bye-bye.