Speaking: it's a gig I enjoy

Last week I spoke to a crowd of 5000 for the National Achievers Congress Event (pictured). It was a fantastic gig and I was in great company with truly exceptional speakers including Tony Robbins, Michelle Bridges and Turia Pitt.

I’ve been speaking in front of audiences for over a decade and I never get sick of it.

The energy of a room full of passionate people is electric – it really lights me up.

When I first began speaking it was on the big and broad topic of marketing, but as time went on my subject matter veered towards the entrepreneurial journey and customer success. And of course, I always talk about my books Ready to Soar and Live What You Love.

I have recently refined my speaking material to the following four topics:

1.    Business Success

2.    Customer Obsession

3.    The Power of Influence

4.    Live What You Love – Personal Development.

Business success

Accelerating your startup idea into something big is dependent on aligning ‘the right team’ to your vision and having a deep sense of engagement and purpose. In my opinion, there are three elements to business success; growth, customers and people.

Growth and capability are inherently anchored around leadership, culture and of course the customer. Having highly engaged teams plays an important role in creating an innovative customer culture and in the end customer loyalty.

Customer Obsession

Businesses are being disrupted daily and it’s important to think about ‘protection from disruption’ and how I use tools such as big data, AI, omnichannel and personalised customer experience in order to create relationship, intimacy and ultimately growth.

I believe that business growth comes from building and nurturing ‘unbreakable customer relationships’, knowing your brand values and what your customers can count on you for.

The Power of Influence

Can anyone be an influencer these days? I became a LinkedIn Influencer in 2012 during the inception of the program and have been writing articles ever since. I’ve found that emotional connection and storytelling are critical to the to the ability to influence – it’s not about trying to ‘convince’ anyone, it’s about bringing people on a journey.

In a business sense, leadership and management are two uniquely different concepts and that distinction is often overlooked.

Live What You Love – Personal Development

Making powerful decisions is the only way you'll get to live a life that you love. “If you love what you do every day you never have to work another day in your life.” This is about putting meaning in your work, discovering your passion, learning about positivity – sticking with it and being persistent, and ultimately, fulfilling your true purpose.

Part of personal development is discovering your passion and learning how to identify when you are in a flow and doing your best work. It is also about taking responsibility for what you want – not what others want for you. I have always said ‘if it’s meant to be it’s up to me’, and by being the captain of my own ship, I can play a bigger game with a sense of deep accomplishment.

I will leave you with this...

After a decade of speaking, I can say that I never take my position of speaker for granted. So, if you find yourself presenting to a group of people – no matter how small or large – I would say this: respect the audience's time and ask yourself “what do I want the audience to get from my presentation?” Put yourself in their shoes... what would you find interesting and inspiring? Start there.

Naomi Simson is the founder of RedBalloon and co-founder of The Big Red Group (BRG). She has been blogging for a decade at NaomiSimson.com, is a professional speaker, author of Live What You Love & Ready To Soar, and a “Shark” on business reality show Shark Tank Australia.