I recently gave a 20-minute keynote about hearing loss. The reviews and responses were overwhelmingly positive. Here are ten reasons I believe contributed to the successful keynote.
The title of the talk is “WHAT? 10 Questions Most Often asked about Hearing Loss” The talk is based on my experience as a person with hearing loss and a lifetime of questions asked of me concerning the deficiency. The ten reasons cited below are based on the feedback I received. These can help you prepare and deliver a successful keynote.
I was invited to give a TEDx talk in 2017 and received a standing ovation. Interestingly, one of the attendees to both my TEDx talk and this keynote said my keynote was 10 times better than the TEDx talk. That’s saying a lot! Based on the feedback, it was because the speech was more about the audience than me.
Here are the ten items
1) Universal topic
Most everyone knows someone with hearing loss. It could even be themselves.
2) Core idea evident
I made the core idea evident right from the start. That is, we hear with our brain, not our ears.
3) Easy to follow
The outline was easy and explained in the title “Ten questions.”
4) Facial expressions
Since this was on zoom from the chest-up, facial expressions compensated for lack of body language.
5) Vocal variety
Lots of vocal variety because I was talked about what I know about and feel an extreme passion. If you think you don’t have vocal variety, just climb on your soapbox!
6) Eye contact
I forced me to look into the lens of the webcam, not at my audience (a real challenge, I tell you)
7) Nice Zoom (virtual) view
I put on make-up (which I don’t do every day) and wore a professional royal blue top. Additionally, I created a background of black in Powerpoint, saved it as a jpg, and loaded it as my Zoom virtual background. My pole lights were pointed towards a white wall next to me, so I was lit but not washed out.
8) “How to” segment – a call to action
I gave several practical, easy-to-implement tips and steps my audience could employ to communicate with a person with hearing loss.
9) Humor
Hearing loss definitely has a humorous side. At least for me, it does. I shared comic elements within many of the answers to the Ten Questions.
10 ) Practice
I rehearsed my talk thre times before I delivered it. Rehearsal is so essential to get phrasing, pacing, and a smooth flow of words down!
In Conclusion:
A successful keynote or presentation doesn’t just happen. It is a craft that can be learned. One way to practice and get helpful feedback is to join Toastmasters!
To close, a huge benefit I derived from this keynote is content for yet another book! Yes, you can turn your speeches into books! It is reason #5 in my post about ten reasons to master public speaking!
Here is the video of the talk: Enjoy!
