Increasingly, conference organisers are reaching out to practicing accountants to be their speakers, rather than professional speakers themselves. There are two reasons for this. The first is that they feel that being a practising accountant adds credibility to their conference. The second is that they know that a practising accountant will be a dirt cheap agenda filler, compared to a professional speaker.
When I first started out in public speaking, I always had one eye on the feedback sheets.
Would I be remembered (for the right reasons)?
Would my content have the impact that I wanted?
Would the opening joke get a laugh?
Would any of the jokes get a laugh?
Would they ask me back?
400+ keynotes and many years on, I don’t think about any of those things because here’s what I learned:
- After a while, you know how good or bad you are, regardless of audience reaction.
- However, audience reaction can make or break the impact of a keynote.
- In Accounting, you’ve little idea if the audience liked it or not because response is often so muted.
- Ultimately though, your slides, content and even name aren’t remembered. Your energy is.
It’s been many years since I actively pursued public speaking opportunities. The rule now is that if they want a speaker it’s a ‘no’ but if they want Martin Bissett specifically for some reason, it’s usually a ‘yes’.
If you’re new to public speaking, I offer this: Whether your talk goes well, horribly or most likely somewhere in between; none of us are changing the course of history with them. So above all, be you.
And as Kipling wisely said:
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
Then, you’ll be a keynote speaker.
To your success,
Martin Bissett
