How to Deliver a Great Keynote: Prep, Presence & Confidence

[00:00:00] I am going to give my first big stage keynote. I love keynotes. And they're asking for tips. Well, first off, obviously you and I have done a lot of keynotes. Sometimes you're doing a keynote for a message that you have fully crafted. Sometimes you're doing a keynote for a message someone else has fully crafted.

[00:00:18] So for me, what is most important when I start to think about doing a keynote is what do I want to give the audience? Who are they? What do they need? And why do they need that in that moment? Because that to me is more important than what message do I need to give, even if I'm speaking on behalf of a product or a company that I belong to, or it's part of my job.

[00:00:48] It's still so important to me to ground in who is the audience, because if I can understand that, then I can bring the best of me to solve for that. That's the first question anybody that's worked in comms for me knows. That's the first question I ask when someone invites me to speak. And it is the thing that I think about the most in how I form the rest. That's what I wrote down first, too. Audience.

[00:01:15] AI can be really helpful in terms of preparing for a keynote, in terms of better understanding your audience, in terms of brainstorming about how to position for the audience. Sometimes it's your message, and sometimes it's somebody else's message. But I think it's really important that it's always your message. Even if someone is helping and writing your script, whether it's AI or it's a marketing person,

[00:01:41] make sure that you are not just adopting something that someone else gives you, that you truly own it and you believe it, and it's your words, and it's really comfortable to you, because that's going to make everything so much easier. And it is maybe more upfront work, and it may create some tensions with Claude or with Caroline, your marketing person, what have you. But do make sure it's your message.

[00:02:12] And the outfit. Literally wrote that down, too. That was a thing that I wrote after audience was outfit. Yes, yes. So this is for sure probably more gendered, but it is also really important. A keynote is an opportunity for you to shine, and a little preparation goes a long way. So some of the things to think about with an outfit is something that's comfortable, that you feel fantastic in.

[00:02:40] I am a believer that when I keynote, it's time for a new outfit. Do not forget the alterations so that it fits you. Think in terms of what is the background color. If you're in a high chair situation, or you're standing, or if you're going to wear a skirt, is that a terrible idea because you're going to be jumping up? All of these things seem very trivial, but make a big difference, because the last thing you want when you're on stage

[00:03:09] is to be getting in your head about stuff that isn't about giving to the audience. Take a little time to be just a smidge vain, and you will appreciate it so much more afterwards. And so now, just before you go on stage, we've had a lot of lessons learned here that aren't necessarily known to folks.

[00:03:34] What are your tips for the 20 minutes, 10 minutes, 5 minutes before you go on stage? So all the hair and makeup stuff is way before the 20 minutes. The 20 minutes before, I am absolutely getting my head in the game. If I can get in the room or near the room during that time to feel the energy of the crowd, that's a super important thing for me so that I start to have a sense of how much energy do I need to bring forward

[00:04:02] and how much is already available in the room itself. So practical things. When you're on stage, especially if it's a big stage situation and there's lights, the odds are you're going to surprise yourself at how dehydrated you're going to get. So definitely the last 20 minutes, you should pound in a lot of water. You should then go to the bathroom and then get mic'd up. So do it in that order.

[00:04:30] Hopefully it's obvious why, but do not go on the stage with your normal amount of hydration because what you're going to find is you're going to be a lot more dry than you think. And the other big thing on the energy side, I like to listen to some music. If I feel like the room doesn't have enough energy and I have to bring an extra amount, or if maybe it's really early in the morning and I'm not such a morning person,

[00:04:54] I like to use music to help get my body into the right level of energy that I need to be able to come out. And again, it's all about making sure that I have everything I need within me so that I can spend my time on stage giving and not having to worry about anything going on in my body or with my energy. So I do a couple things that are along those lines. One is voice.

[00:05:25] I had a voice coach and a presentation coach. I was really bad, obviously. The voice coach gave me these different exercises to get your T's and your D's and your C's and your G's out. It's helpful not just in terms of warming your voice up, but just getting some nerves out.

[00:05:46] But I'm also really focused on the body and making sure that all that kinetic energy is coming forward. So I go to the bathroom and I stand in front of the mirror and I do the, you know, the get big superhero thing and do my ga-ga-gas and ta-ta-tas and whatnot.

[00:06:08] So the other trick is to go into the bathroom before Amy's keynotes just so that you can experience the wild hand wavy voice prep. Oh my gosh. All right. So once you're on stage, there's a question of do you do a teleprompter or not, right? And of course, you need to figure that out beforehand. The first time on stage, yeah.

[00:06:34] If you've got a comfort monitor, make sure you have a plan not to look at the comfort monitor because that is the last thing you want to do. Because you want to be looking out at the audience. You want to look here. You want to look there. You want to look there. You want to be looking out. And if you are looking at that comfort monitor, you're looking down at nobody. And that is not engaging at all.

[00:06:58] If you don't have a comfort monitor, do not turn your back on the audience to read the slides behind you. That's also terrible. Your body needs to be facing the audience so that you're making a connection with the people in the audience. Now, there's a couple tricks that I use. You're probably going to have big lights on you. And those are going to be a little bit blinding. So you're not going to see many faces.

[00:07:28] I like to look at some people in the first few rows that I know because they are rooting for me and I can visually see their support. But make sure that you use the entirety of the space that you have. I try to break the stage up into at least three parts. So I will go to my far left and I will pause and I will make eye contact and look at that part. And then I will head to the middle and I will pause and I will spend some time there.

[00:07:58] And then I will head to the right and pause and spend time there. And then make sure your hands are working with you and that your body is not fighting you in your message, but that you are relaxing into how you communicate with your body. And for some people, that's very different than others. For me, it comes pretty naturally. My hands tend to help me communicate a message.

[00:08:19] If that's not true for you, be thoughtful about what you do with your hands and make sure that you use them to support that connection you're making with the audience. It brings up a good point. Do you memorize your speech? I've done that. I've fully memorized a speech, but it often gets you really into your head and that's not so good. And so you want to muscle memorize your speech.

[00:08:46] You need to practice a lot, but it's so that you have this memory of I make this point and I make that point. It's not in your head. It's in your body. Later in my career, I was presented with a teleprompter.

[00:09:04] If you have a really good teleprompting situation, then it's actually pretty great because you're able to both do your muscle memory and you're looking out into the audience while having all of your notes up there. You're terrible with the teleprompter. Do not read a teleprompter because then you'll just be reading without any expression. I'm not very good at a teleprompter. I have done it once successfully and there's two tricks.

[00:09:34] The person running the teleprompter is amazing at figuring out where you are in the text and how much time you've had with the text itself and how much you wrote the text versus somebody wrote the text for you, which is usually the problem for me with a teleprompter. Someone else has a lot of beautiful things to say, but I can't say other people's words. I can barely say my own words. So to say other people's words is very challenging for me. Technically possible is different than what's emotionally possible.

[00:10:02] Emotionally possible is not an easy one for me. Absolutely. So one of the things that I do from a memorization point of view, I like to memorize the point of each slide. What is the connection to the next slide so that I can do a better job of transitions? There's no way I can memorize words. Words have to come from me. The most important thing for me in a big keynote is that I need the clock.

[00:10:32] Places that don't have the clock and when they say, oh, well, we'll just give you a five minute warning. That is just a nightmare. I just want the clock that counts down so that I can see how much more time I have so that I can land in a close approximation to the end time. I need somebody else keeping track so that I can just go through the flow and make sure that I land the final message. There's also the slide movement. There's two possibilities.

[00:11:00] One is that you do have it very coordinated and orchestrated such that there is the teleprompter with all of your words and the team knows exactly when to move the slides. So you don't have to participate in the slide movement at all. And that's lovely. But that does require very precise orchestration.

[00:11:22] If you don't have that, then I would highly recommend that you drive the slides yourself and not have somebody drive the slides because that will drive you bonkers. And you'll be finding yourself saying things like, next slide, please, which is completely obnoxious, especially if you don't say please. So please drive the slides if you don't have that level of orchestration. I have two last things.

[00:11:46] It is so important to recognize all of the people around you that make you going on stage a successful thing. There's going to be people micing you up. There's going to be people directing you where to go on the stage. There's going to be people trying to keep things moving to make a great show happen. They're very experienced. You should really value their tips and tricks and be kind to them.

[00:12:15] Recognize that this is a performance and there's a lot of people supporting you. And then remember, the audience wants you to succeed. They are coming to hear you speak. They are there of their own free will. They have chosen to spend time with you, which is the best gift they can give you.

[00:12:36] And so know that when you go on stage and get out of your head about what you're nervous about and get really into your service mindset. Because a lot of places that people have anxiety about speaking is very self-focused. Am I going to say something dumb? Am I going to trip? Am I going to do this? Am I going to do that? All of that energy is not in service of the audience. It's an insecurity-based energy.

[00:13:05] And so this is why I say people are there rooting for you to do a great job. You want to deliver a message to serve them. Focus your energy on what people need from you and what you want to give. And everything gets easier. You're going to feel stressed and you're going to feel nervous. So in addition to the service mindset, have a have fun mindset. You use that stress and nervous energy to be like, this is fun. Oh, my goodness.

[00:13:33] With a smile on your face, you're going to naturally be kind to those around you. You're going to naturally appreciate those around you. You're going to have good energy on the stage and bring that fun and that joy to the audience. So just have fun.