The First 5 Minutes of Your Keynote Speech Should:
How do you get someone to fall in love with you the first five minutes they meet you? I don't know that answer, which is probably why I'm single. However, I do know a few "tricks" to get an audience to fall in love with you within the first 5 minutes of taking the stage.
Your Intro:
Your intro is often wasted real estate space for audience connection. If your bio/intro is filled with a bunch of accolades such as you hold a PHD and won the Olympics after falling off a cliff and now are a CEO of a multi billion corporation...you've probably lost me already.
Why? Because you're obviously a better person than me. You may be interesting and I may get a nugget or two, but we have nothing in common. You don't know my life, so why should I trust you with telling me how to make it better?
When creating your intro it's fine to showcase your knowledge or experience, but throw in some things that are relatable. Examples could be that you are the proud owner of two dogs, you once threw up in front of your parents after drinking too, much, or you like to eat asian food. These are things we can find common ground in.
Because I am a funny motivational speaker, I start out with the awards I've won in acting and comedy, then throw in a brief thing about almost dying, then the rest of my bio is funny. This already disarms an audience who doesn't know me yet and puts me at a more human level.
What You're Wearing:
I doubt any of you would walk on stage with a political t-shirt or dress like Bianca Censori at the Grammy's, however subtle things can derail the detailed visual people. We've probably all had moments where our bra strap showed, pants zipper was down, or wearing all black in front of a black curtain with no makeup on so that no one can see you.
Be comfortable on stage so that you can move. Be appropriate in regards to the level of dress for the room. Don't show up in a ball gown for all employee event at the park.
However, the details matter. If your necklace or tie is crooked, someone in the audience isn't listening to a word you are saying. They are fixated on that piece of hair sticking straight up, or the heels that are dangerously high. The way you dress should reflect you as you, but be comfortable and easy to maintain so that it's not a distraction.
Where You Walk to On Stage:
If you want the audience to love you right away do NOT go up and dump a bunch of things on the podium, fiddle with the microphone, take a sip of water, clear your throat, look up and THEN start yapping.
ALL OF THAT should have been done beforehand. Your items should have been placed by you or someone, the microphone and remote are either in your hand or at aplace easy to snag without looking, and drinking your water and clearing your throat should have happened 90 seconds ago while you were off stage.
Walk on confidently and go straight to the people you are speaking to. Basically down stage center. Yep. No podium. It's like walking out there naked saying, "here I am". The podium is a nice little security blanket for you to feel safe, but it is a visual, physical and emotional barrier for the audience.
When to Speak:
A majority of the time it looks best to not speak until you "hit your mark". Meaning walking out in silence, minting eye contact with the audience, planting your feet and THEN speak. One of the most POWERFUL attention grabbers for an audience is silence.
What to Say:
There is no easy answer for this, because it depends on you, your story, your style, your audience, time of day, type of venue, etc. There are a few goals to keep in mind:
-Attention grabbing opening. This can be a question. A powerful statement. Launching right into the middle of a story. A startling fact. The goal is to get them to immediately be interested.
In comedy there is a thing called LPM's - Laugh per minutes. The first five minutes of a comedy set, and the closing should have the highest LPM's in a show. Your best material in the opening and closing of your speech is no different.
-Like-ability Factor. The director who cast me in my first leading role talked to me a lot about having a like-ability factor so that the audience roots for you. Those first five minutes are to grab their attention and get them on your side emotionally. I do this through self-facing humor.
-Setting Expectations for the hour. There are list takers in the room who need to know the plan the expectations of what they're supposed to do with whatever is going to happen. Somewhere in those first five minutes you need to alleviate their "need to know so I can plan accordingly" mind. This can be a call to action, sharing what they are about to learn, giving them the take aways, etc. Example phrases:
"In the next hour you will learn the 5 steps to"
"I will show you how to (blank) so that when you leave today you'll be able to (blank).
"Some of you may be overwhelmed by all the new tools I'm going to show you, but don't worry you'll be receiving...."
-Establishing Authority. This is sharing to the audience why YOU are the one they should be learning from. Just don't be boring and all ego with this. It's so annoying. Examples of some phrases:
"Your conference invited me here today because,"
'When I was 23 years old I found myself"
"I was working with a client of (blank) who asked me..."
Alleviating Fear:
Have you ever been in an audience where the sound didn't work, somebody's guitar broke, the light's flickered, there's a tornado watch happening, etc.?
The audience needs to subconsciously know that you are competent to get yourself and them through the next hour no matter what happens. This means you need to be prepared, call out elephants I the room if needed, have jokes in your back pocket for when things go wrong, etc.
Also, because you are the one with the microphone, you should know where the exit doors are, what the meeting planner wants in an event of a tornado situation (yes - it happens), etc. You will be the one directing people and your reaction is what will keep or make them calm. Be prepared!!!!!!
If you want to have the audience fall in love with you right away, basically don't be a bad date. Don't mumble and fumble. Make eye contact. Don't fidget relentlessly or act afraid. Dress appropriately. Be yourself -not trying to be something you are not. Don't make it all about you. Set expectations.
Now I'm going to switch subjects awkwardly to do a quick sales pitch. I was looking at the calendar and we are almost in month 3 of 2025. Ack! The 20 lbs I was going to lose, the million dollars I was going to make 1st quarter, the book I was going to write and the marketing campaign I was totally going to do are alllll still sitting most in my head.
If the same is true for you in regards to your speaking. AKA: THIS was going to be the year you were going to do something about it, but you're googling when Passover or Easter is this year because it's already here, I can help you catch up.
I'm putting my one-on-one speaker consulting package on sale with 30% off. Use coupon code, "THREE". (I came up with that coupon code all by myself...Just sayin'. 😂
The two biggest benefits of coaching with me (outside of my comedy and acting background) is:
- Your coaching sessions will be one of a kind, because your speaking journey will be one of a kind. Your message. Your style. Where you''re at in your journey. I don't run people through the same "program" because it doesn't work. It's truly individualized coaching.
- I will save you a ton of time. WOW have I learned a lot of things the hard way. My goal is to help you navigate the easier faster way from where I've been to where I'm at now. I can save you years of time. Literally.
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