Kevin Simpson discusses what makes speakers captivating. Lou Holtz mumbles but tells stories that stick. Joey Coleman rehearses obsessively and uses slides to guide the audience through every moment.
I'll tell you who blew my mind. I never thought would was Lou Holtz. I mumble. That guy atrociously mumbles. He's like, Lou Holtz. I had no idea what he's saying. He was so freaking good.
Wait a minute. You couldn't understand what he was saying, but he was so freaking good.
Exactly. Because he made the effort to enunciate clearly. His storytelling was remarkable. Every story built a point. And then he ends it with a magic trick. He was the former football coach for Notre Dame. It was an empowerment speech of how to be the most of yourself. Great storytelling, funny, some sad, like he mixed it all in, but everyone made a point. Like it moved you And then he ends it with a literal magic trick on stage. And I can't recall what the trick is or was, but it made the final point that put it all together. I was like, that was such a well-polished keynote. And the thing is, he's small in stature. He's maybe 5'7. He's a frail guy. He got to the podium. They had to put like a little booster under him. You see this little guy and he just crushed it like Yoda kind of crushed. A favorite I see on the speaking circuit is a guy named Joey Coleman. He spoke at ProfitCon. The guy follows some of these principles I shared. He's just his authentic self up there. He is really well rehearsed so much that it doesn't feel rehearsed. I don't use slides. Ever. It's not for my style. I'm not saying they're wrong. It's just I will never use a PowerPoint, but he does. So he goes to the other extreme. He had like 200 slides and it's just really cool how he moved us through it.
