In this episode of "The High Profit Event Show," host Rudy Rodriguez hosts guest Will Steel, a distinguished figure in the event industry with a wealth of experience. Will has led over 1,000 events to over 90,000 people, in 26 countries. His background includes a managerial role in a major personal growth and training company and coaching a wide range of individuals, from CEOs and scientists to musicians and religious leaders.

Will's background is as intriguing as his professional achievements. A former Royal Air Force College graduate and pilot, he specializes in identifying and overcoming personal and professional blocks to enable breakthrough results. His unique approach includes utilizing ontological listening to guide individuals beyond their limiting beliefs and constraints.

The episode delves into the nuances of effective event preparation and leadership. Will emphasizes the importance of being thoroughly familiar with the event script and the need for extensive rehearsal. He discusses the criticality of logistical preparation, varying with the size of the event, and highlights the importance of personal integrity, aligning one's life and work, professionally handling unexpected occurrences, and maintaining a strong connection and engagement with the audience.

The conversation then shifts to strategies for event registration, where Will shares insights on creating an effective call-to-action, the importance of clear communication and setting expectations for registration, and balancing content delivery with the registration process.

Additionally, Will offers personal development and leadership insights. He talks about overcoming personal barriers and doubts, the power of presence and genuine audience engagement, and training oneself to stay focused and avoid negative thought patterns during events.

Want to connect with Will?

Website: https://willsteel.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-steel-business-coach-high-performance-transformation/?originalSubdomain=uk

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/will.steel2020

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/willsteelcoach

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Hi, I'm Rudy Rodriguez, the host of The High Profit Event Show Podcast and here on today's episode, we have a very special guest. We have Will Steel in the house. I want to share a couple of quick stats about Will. Will has coached over 90,000 people, has led events to over 90,000 people, had done over 1,000 events over the course of 20 years in over 26 different countries and translated simultaneously in over 12 languages. He was even a manager for one of the world's largest personal growth and training development companies for eight years, training other people how to lead registration events. In addition, he's since then coached people from all walks of life, including CEOs, top business executives, entrepreneurs, rocket scientists, politicians, senior military and civil service personnel, psychologists, world champion athletes, celebrities, musicians, religious leaders from all denominations, including Tibetan monks. Will has developed the unique ability to quickly identify what blocks people from being effective in producing breakthrough results and listening from an ontological perspective. Will is able to guide you and see and conquer what has held you back or binded you in the past, enabling you to act free from your limiting beliefs and constraints. Earlier in life, Will actually graduated from The Royal Air Force College, Cranwell, with the leadership trophy, flew as a military pilot for 10 years and a commercial pilot for two years after. While fully able to think on his feet in highly challenging real life dangerous situations, the sensitivity and listening skills needed for the civilian and business world got honed in the personal development arena with his ability to listen, again, from the ontological perspective, Will delivers unprecedented results that will far exceed your expectations.

With all that being said, Mr. Will Steel, welcome to the show. It is a pleasure and an honor to have you here on the show. For our guests who are listening, it is really a treat and a privilege. Will Steel and I, we've been working together here for several months. Actually, he's been a private coach to me. He's been my private coach. I've gotten to partake in many of the trainings that he and the organization that he trained for led and has totally changed my life. So, Will, I'm super excited here to have you as a special guest today. How about we jump right into the content?

Sure. Absolutely.

So, Will, with all of that experience that you have being an effective leader, working for one of the largest organizations for decades, leading in front of over 90,000 people, I imagine you've learned a thing or two about leading effective events. I'm super curious as to what you do before the event and really to prepare yourself to be able to lead effectively?

Well, what you have to do first is you've got to know your script. So, if you've got a script that you've planned, you've prepared, then you're going to be able to say that without looking at it. You've got to be able to know that like your name.

Many people look in the mirror, talk to the person in the mirror, and are able to deliver it to the person in the mirror. That's a very good technique people use. Practice in front of mock audiences. You might get your friends together and deliver that until you can really deliver that. Thinking about that, you can just then focus on the people in front of you. So, preparation really is important in that aspect.

Then, if you come to an event that you're leading, what preparation is making sure you've got your teams that are full, you're in place of what you need to have in place for that size of event. Let's say it's a small event with 20 people. That's a very different setup to if you've got a thousand people. You have to think through the logistics. They need to be in place so that you as the leader aren't having to concentrate or think about or worry about any of that. You've prepared yourself completely.

So, you've done every bit of preparation you can do and then in preparing for the event, you need to know how long you've got. You need to know how long the registration section of the event evening is. So, it might be at the end of the evening. It might be two-thirds of the way through the evening. You got to know when that is so you don't overrun because your speaking is not what's important. It's those people's lives that's important. So, you have to make sure you don't talk too much.

People like to talk but that's not what they're there for. They're there for them and their lives and you have to give them the opportunity then to take action in the event. So, all this has got to be planned out. So, you've got it planned out and you stick to your plan. So, that's preparing before the evening. That's preparing before walking onto the stage.

Now, when you walk up onto the stage, just before you do that, you have to make sure you're leaving your life behind. You're leaving your problems, your things that you need to have handled. You've got to handle it or have things in place for you to handle those. So, you're really leaving everything behind. You walk into the front of that room or up onto that stage with all that out of your space and the moment you turn around, the moment you address that audience, you've got to be with that audience. You've got to be with them. There's no warming up. There's no warming up and getting into it. It's you're right there. Pick a person, look at that person, talk to that person, pick another person, talk to that person. There's no coming up to it, warming up to it. You've got to be on, really on. The focus is connecting with people, talking to those people and getting into their lives, getting them present to their own life. So, you've got an offer that you're offering that's going to make a difference with people's lives.

Then, communicating, this is what we've got, but let's take a look at what you are dealing with and how this can match with what you're dealing with and make a difference with what you're dealing with and what that would look like. So, the evening is about those people in that room and so I'm going a bit beyond your question about what you do to prepare, but you've got to be ready to be there. Everything you need to do for that.

Absolutely, Will, and I do remember that you mentioned to me in one of our previous conversations that to prepare to be a leader and to lead these events, you even have to go as far as doing things in your personal life, cleaning up your private life, like your relationship with your agreements with other people, all sorts of everything you had to do so that you could actually be fully present and fully in integrity with how you're showing up. Could you just say a couple words about that because I think that that is a super important point that oftentimes is overlooked.

You can't be a charlatan leading the program. You've got to be able to walk the talk and be what you're talking about. So, if you're talking about, you mentioned integrity, you're talking about integrity with people and having integrity in their relationships and in their life, if that's what you're talking about, you've got to be that yourself. If you're talking about being and communicating with the people in your life and your relationships and that's what you're talking about, you've got to be that yourself. If you're talking about being honest and truthful in your business relations, you've got to be that yourself. People have got senses. They can sense when you're not genuine. So, you've got to be what you're talking about.

I personally couldn't go and try and present something or sell something to people that I wasn't totally owning myself. I'd feel fake. I would have no power. I got to, it's not really believe it, you've got to have demonstrated for yourself and in your own life. Where it's out, you've got to acknowledge it's out. Let's say, I know I'm behind on my tax return. I'm not going to get that in on time at the end of the month. Okay, well, I've spoken to my tax accountant. We have a plan in place. This is by when it's going to get in place. I don't just leave it loose. It's got to be in a position where it's taken care of and that is important.

That's a major point, Will, that you point out all the stuff behind the scenes, not just preparing your slides for the event or what you're going to say, but preparing your life, cleaning up your life so that you can embody the message that you're communicating. I think that's so often overlooked in the preparation piece of an event. To ask you another question, now that you've shared with us how you prepare for the event, once you take that stage, when you're leading a three-day event, probably 12 plus hours a day, where do you maintain your focus during the event? What do you focus on so that you know that you're on track to lead an effective event where people register?

Well, for a start, I'm not focusing on people registering throughout the event. I'm focusing on those people in the event and making a difference for those people, connecting with those people. If what I'm doing is sharing my story, a story to open people up to me and connect with me, that's all I'm doing right there. If I'm doing it because I want them to register and I'm just doing it for that, it's a trick. You've got to be able to compartmentalize things like, yes, you are there to have them register, but you can't be doing what you're doing in order to make them register or get them to register.

You've got to be in the moment. The training that I've had and the training that I develop people in is being able to be in the moment when they're in the moment. They've got a timeline and when it comes to the registration part, that's when they're doing registration. The rest of the time, you're connecting with people, your presence in the offer, like what it does for you, or what are people dealing with and people can just be in the room.

It doesn't mean they're really listening. You've got to be with them, connected with them, looking them in the eyes and being able to really be with them and if you're looking in the eyes and you're really being with that person, you can't look at a whole room and do that. You have to keep picking one person, then another person and another person and then another person. So, you are experienced every time you're talking. You're talking to a human being and if you're asking them questions, you bring them up to the microphone, you have to be actually really interested in what they have to say.

Oh, you've got that question. Oh well, oh god, that's just a trite question. No, you've got to be really interested in that question and they're asking that question and really there to serve them and answer that question. It's all critical. Everybody in that room is watching you. They're getting an experience of you. So, you've got to really treat people well and relate to people and where they're actually at and then sometimes people get a bit freaked out when something sounds like it goes wrong.

Let's say a light drops down or the microphone doesn't work or there's a crash bang at the back of the room, some table collapses. You can't pretend that's not happening. When it's happening, it happens. So, you've got to really just be there with it and go, oh my goodness. Acknowledge it. Oh, sorry, tables collapsed at the back. I'm sure the guys, they're going to deal with that. Sorry about that. Anyway, let's get back to what we were saying. If you do any kind of pretending, you're gone, you're not present with the people anymore. So, you have to train and develop yourself to keep bringing yourself back to the people and what they want to know and communicate with them and also what you want to impart and get across to them, and the difference you want to make to them.

You made a really good point that I just want to reiterate is something like a table in the back of the room crashes and acknowledging it. When people do events, even well-orchestrated, well-organized, well-prepared events, things happen. Things go wrong, whatever. The power goes out. The catering doesn't play out, whatever. Things happen and how to manage that when things don't go your way, the way they plan. I love how you said you just acknowledge it. You don't pretend it doesn't happen and you keep your focus still on the people and being with them and what is it that they need and what do they want. So, Will, you've held this experience leading to so many people and you've led three day or so events and you get to the end of an event and there's an opportunity to register for the next thing that's going to add value to their lives. I'm curious, how do you go about asking for the sale, setting up the registration and standing for people in that? What do you focus on when you do that?

Well, when you do that, that's what you're doing. But just to go back a step, at the beginning of, let's say it's an evening that you're doing. At the beginning of the evening, I introduce myself, tell them how the night's going to go and included, tonight you'll also get a chance to register yourself into the program, to the next program or this program and there'll be an opportunity to do that. I'll tell you how to do that when we get to that part of the evening. So, I've pre-warned them that I'm going to do that. Then when I get to that part of the evening, it's a good hour, at the part of the evening I told you about where you get an opportunity to actually register yourself in the next program. So, we're going to do that now. So, let me tell you how to do that. So, now you're giving instructions to people how to do that. Yes, it's really straight. So, maybe, the way you've got it set up is they've got a card under the chair or they've got a brochure and it's inside the brochure. Okay, take out your card. Okay, obviously, this is the course you're registering to. We've got dates up here, dates on the front of the room on the board, maybe. So, you pick the date you want to do, write that in, write your name and address in there. You can do this in your seat and then go to the back tables where we've got our team or you can just go straight. The easiest thing is to go straight to the back table, fill it out on the table there with those guys. We're going to take some time for that now. So, if you want to do that, just stand up and go to the back tables. Okay, great. Thank you. Go ahead. So it's very simple, straightforward instructions, what to do.

People call that a call to action or they call it an opening to act. There's different names people have for that. But basically, you've told them what you're going to do, you've told them about the course, you're satisfied that they're connected with what you're talking about and what will make a difference in their life. Now, here's simply what you have to do and don't be shy to tell them how much it costs or just because those are the facts. If they want to do it, that's what they need to do. Go ahead. This is your opportunity to do that.

So, if you've got anything going on about that, you've got to sort that out for yourself before the event, not during the event. You've got to be clear about those details and those steps for people. You literally give them an instruction. That's how you do it. We're going to do that now. Go ahead.

Now, I just thought of something. Also, when you do that you can say, oh, and if you've got any questions, anything, I'll be walking around the room, you can ask me anything you like. Then I will make myself available. I'll walk around the room. I'll speak to people who are considering it. People want to talk about it. Invite people to go. Just go ahead and do it. They might have concerns that we need addressing. They might have considerations or they might be trying to work something out. I can help them with that. So, that's what I would be doing during that period that we're talking about.

The back of the room, those people train. I've seen people go to the table to register and then the person at the table starts talking to them and then that person ends up not registering. I've seen people at events, there's all these tables with one or two people, and there's one table that's got 12 people there. There is something about the way you train the people at the back of the room, which really is your specialty, that has those people go to those people and they walk away having registered into that program or not.

So, there's also something you might want to say about that. But for me, I instruct people, don't talk to them. They come to register. Great. Which days would you like to do? Great. Thank you. Can I have your credit card? You write out the details. I'll put it through your machine. Don't start sharing with them what you've gotten out of the program or talking to them at length. You're there to register them and make sure your team is clear about that. As the leader of the event, I hold myself responsible and accountable for all of the results. That is so clear. Nobody's loosey goosey about that. Nobody's unclear about that. Everybody in that team is clear what the focus is at that part of the evening. All the rest of the evening, it's all getting related and being connected with people.

That's gold. I love what you said about training the people in the back of the room to be ready to register people and not get sidetracked. If they're going to the back of the room, they're going because they either want to register or there's one little thing, but they're intending to register. Great point. I appreciate that. So, Will, we've been together here for about 20 minutes and we still have maybe another five or so minutes left. I really want to maybe do some quick popcorn questions to ask your experience as a leader of events. I'm curious, what would you say are, and you started to kind of lead on it, but what do you say were some of the common mistakes that leaders make when leading events and intending to be effective? Or maybe what are some of the mistakes that lead to ineffective events?

How can I put this going into your head, going into your thoughts? I remember very early on when I first ever started leading events. First, you start leading to a small group and then you kind of build up the sizes of the group like that. I did battle with my thoughts and the thoughts might be something that, oh, God, they're not interested. Oh, look, they haven't got any money. Oh, no, he's really interested. Oh, no, they're interested. If you're doing that and engaging with that, you are not present to the people in the room. You've got to go, no, get out of here and keep coming back to the person.

I stand in that they want to do it. They want to do it. So if they get actually what this is and what it'll make available for them and what they're going to get out of it, they're going to want to do this and they can do it. Somehow they can. They've got the means to do it. So I don't entertain. I train myself to not entertain those thoughts, not engage with them, just push them away, just keep pushing them away and keep bringing myself back to what's important, which is the person I'm talking to, and I'm always talking to one person in the room at a time.

It might be somebody on the back row. It might be somebody over on the wing. It might be somebody on the third row, but I always make sure I'm talking to a person. If those thoughts come in, get out. Just not useful. It will have you not be really present with people and they'll have you being affected. So one of the biggest killers to people's effectiveness is engaging with thoughts, negative thoughts, questioning thoughts, doubting thoughts, get out of here. That's definitely what I would say is for me is the biggest killer of effectiveness.

I love how you emphasize the focus on speaking to one person at a time. One of my speaker trainers really emphasized the power of one and focus on one and saying you when addressing the audience and not addressing a group. Essential that is. So thank you for highlighting that. Are there any other common mistakes that you might highlight that tend to get in the way of people being effective when leading?

Going over, like we talked about the timeline, your timing. People just have to do one more share or keep going and then there's not enough time for people to register. Let's say the evening ends at 10 and you've planned to take the opportunity to register at nine. Okay, you go 9:15, 9:20. All of a sudden, some people just go and register, but there are people who need to ask you questions, they need to talk and need to get their considerations resolved. That all takes time. If you don't have the time, they can't register, you can't get to everybody. If you've got 250 people there, you're not going to speak to 250 people in that time. You've got a certain amount of time to get around everybody. You've got to give yourself that time. If you go late, you're screwed. You might as well go, okay, wasted event.

That's a really valid point. I've seen that mistake made in the events that we've supported, where the host, maybe because they feel uncomfortable at a subconscious level, but they don't give themselves sufficient time and space to be present and to take people through the spaces needed to register. Then they wonder why it didn't work. It really does take proper space. Everybody has their own different patterns that they have to go through to make that decision to register or not. Some people are fast and some people need an hour or some people need a day. That's a great point you highlighted. Well, I'm curious, you cover some really major points there, a lot of value. What is a resource you might recommend to someone who wants to become or improve their effectiveness in their events as a leader that they host?

Well, I'm a resource myself, I train people. I’ve trained leaders for eight years to lead registration events. So I've led trainings where all we did was the hello and welcome, people introduce themselves, because they're not comfortable doing that. They're not comfortable being themselves. It's the critical piece that like I said earlier, there's no warming up, you've got to be right there connected and related and comfortable being at the front of the room. If there's stuff, even if it's what we call blind to you, you can't see it, it's in your blind spot. It's there. I'll see if I'm training somebody, I'll see they're uncomfortable, they're not present right now, they just checked out, they just went off there. I can see that. So I can and do train people in that domain. Other things, I mean, you look for anything that puts you at the front of the room talking to people. There's Toastmasters, there's communication courses, people go on anything where you put yourself where you're uncomfortable.

If it's all practice, no problem. You're practicing getting up where you're uncomfortable, what it reminds you of in your past. If you can get that up, that stuff up, it does get easier. It does get more familiar. You do the work on yourself, you have a coach, you can do the work on yourself. Oh, God, when this kind of person asks this kind of question, I get kind of hooked. I can get I hate it when they ask that. Good, you want all the questions that you hate, you want people to ask you those when you're practicing, you want to ask you those questions. So you can really get desensitized to that question until it becomes your favorite question.

Now, I remember a time that I went through a phase. I was leading a particular program, and there was a part in the middle of the program, like on day two, where we did this registration into another course. I used to hate that bit. Well, I talked to my coach about that and got that to be the bit I love the most, I got it to be my favorite bit. It's all by telling the truth about what's really there now. Being able to take it apart, and go, I'm uncomfortable with that bit asking them to actually register. Okay, good. All right. Well, you practice that bit until you actually love that bit. It is possible.

That's awesome. Thank you for recommending yourself as a resource. You are a resource, a resource that I've used myself. I'm your coaching client as well. If people would like to reach out to you as a resource, how can they reach you?

The easiest way is just go to my website, which is real simple, willsteel.com. On there, getting communication, you just press contact Will and you'll get put through, you fill out an email and phone number and message and it'll get to me and you'll get responded to within 48 hours, usually the same day, but I'm saying within 48 hours.

Awesome. Will, thank you so much, my friend. We'll just take a quick minute here to wrap up. I want to thank you for being a guest on our show today. It really is a privilege to be with you here and to have you on the show. Thank you for sharing your decades of experience and having led to over 90,000 people all over the planet and in multiple languages. It's amazing what you're able to share with us in a short period of time. So I do hope you can come back as a guest on another episode and maybe we can learn some more from you.

Absolutely, love to. It's been my privilege to and if it makes a difference with you out there listening to this watching this, great, let me know.

Awesome. Will, thank you so much for being with us again. That's a wrap. Have a great day, everyone.