Why I'm Rebranding My Keynote Speech And This Newsletter

Welcome to the ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE newsletter. Yes, we’ve got a new name. And by we I mean me. And by newsletter, I mean here on LinkedIn as well as in my keynote speech.

Why? Well, because of change.?And because apparently I needed to learn the very lesson I teach in my book. But we'll get to that.

I’m gonna be really transparent here. Because I value honesty and authenticity. And because, hopefully it will serve some helpful purpose other than to embarrass me lol.

But if it does, so be it. It’s the truth and that’s good enough for me.

So here we go…

In The Before Times

Before the pandemic I was a keynote speaker on the topic of change and creativity. How to use a creative mindset to lean into change and turn it into opportunity.

I spoke on that topic for about 5 years. I even wrote a book on it way back in 2015, “Finding Focus In A Changing World”. I’m still really proud of that book btw. It’s helped a lot of people think differently about change.

That topic was perfectly aligned with my decades of experience as a creative professional and entrepreneur and as a result I was booked fairly frequently to deliver keynotes for some really big companies.

Everything was definitely moving in the right direction. And then, in March of 2020, as we all well know, the event industry shut down.?

The First Pivot

In less than 48 hours all of my upcoming conferences cancelled. EXCEPT for one. The Million Dollar Round Table. A speaking gig I’d wanted to do for years. I was booked to give one of the corrnerstone keynotes at their global conference in Dubai in April of 2020. The other two cornerstone keynote speakers were Daymond John and Esther Perel. So I was in really good company to say the least.?

As I said, MDRT didn’t cancel the event. They moved it online and it became my first virtual keynote. Here’s where the learning into change part comes in…

Leaning Into Change

In one of my planning calls with the conference organizers we were talking about how a lot of the presenters didn’t feel comfortable delivering their keynotes on camera and on a microphone without a live audience in front of them. And how their attendees had the same challenge in their client meetings.

For me, that all felt natural because it’s how I’ve recorded all of my voiceover sessions for animated TV shows and movies for the past 20 years. And because of my degree in Film/TV?radio production from NYU I found it pretty easy to put together a virtual studio to make that happen.?

Sooo… I suggested that I deliver a completely different keynote.?

Instead of speaking about creative thinking and change (which admittedly still would have worked) I suggested that I present a new keynote about virtual communication skills and how to show up well in virtual presentations.?

They jumped on it! Loved the idea. And lo and behold, it was really well received by the attendees, all of whom were in the financial services sector and now needed to level up their communication skills for virtual meetings with clients.

And that topic served me and my clients well throughout the pandemic. But then, dear readers, the world opened back up again, and live events returned in 2022.

Virtual conferences all but disappeared but I kept promoting my communication skills topic anyway. Only clients stopped booking it. I hardly ever presented it in an in-person setting.?

Practically all of my corporate clients have been booking me to emcee their in-person events rather than keynote it. Emceeing, where creativity and communication collide lol.

Here's the Embarrasing Part

Massive change occurred again, but this time, instead of leaning into it, I resisted and kept on doing what I’d been doing simply because it worked before. Which is the exact opposite of my message in my Finding Focus In A Changing World book and my Anything Is Possible keynote!!

Seems like I needed to learn the very lesson I was teaching.

I saw a need and I filled it. But when the needs of the market changed I didn't change with it. And my business suffered as a result.

So now it’s time to go back. Back to my original topic. Back, to the future!?

Sorry, as a voice actor I can’t help saying everything I write out loud. Occupational hazard lol.?

The Second Pivot

Anyway, the world hasn’t stopped changing at an ever evolving pace. So my original topic is more relevant than ever. And now that I’ve lived through the challenge myself I know I’ll be even more effective at delivering the solution.

Now, you may be asking yourself, shouldn’t I have just stuck with my original topic all along? And to that I say, Yeah, probably. From a marketing perspective for my speaking business anyway.

Let Me Pull Back The Curtain A Little Here…

Keynote speakers love to position themselves as “the expert”. The sage from the stage that will solve your problems in one specific area. Ok, fine, sometimes that’s actually true. More often though it’s just a marketing strategy.?

It works like this:

? Create a ton of content in a specific subject area (the more niche the better) and then repurpose the hell out of it.

? Take your talk and have it transcribed and then parsed out into blog posts and articles and then compiled into a book and then talked to death on podcasts and interviews.

? Repurpose the same idea into a course or a membership site or an exclusive retreat and monetize monetize monetize.

Take one central idea and turn it into a thousand pieces of content. Flood the zone. Eventually, you’re regarded as a expert. Works pretty well actually.

Here's The Problem With That Kind Of Thinking

Creativity and innovation cannot thrive with that kind of myopic mindset. Creative thinking is all about taking chances, trying something new, and not being afraid to fail. Because if you’re afraid to do any of those things then you won’t be able to engage in the kind of “Anything Is Possible" thinking that enables you to turn challenges into opportunities in the first place and you’ll stifle your ability to innovate.

You’ll be wrong more often than you’re right because that’s how creative play and experimentation work. If you keep doing the same thing in the same way over and over then you’re just playing if safe and guaranteeing your eventual irrelevance.

This is as true in the speaking business as it is in any other kind of business. Remember Kodak??

My point it this: the objective shouldn’t be to always being right. Because that’s impossible. It’s not even about being right most of the time. That just discourages creative play and innovation. It’s about cultivating a mindset that says it’s OK to try new things and experiment with new ideas and see how they play out.?

The Future

But what about creating content and and "staying in your lane" and creating the appearance of expertise?

AI will soon flood the zone with content, so anyone will be able to claim they are an expert (online anyway), and that old business model will become obsolete. Probably within the next few years.?

On the other hand, the very human ability to adapt to change, to pivot when necessary, and to innovate often will become more value while thinking and doing the same thing over and over will become less so.

If you end up being right more often than you’re wrong, then you’re winning. Because the truth is, anything is possible. You just have to have the courage to take action on that conviction and keep experimenting with new ideas even when someof them don;t pan out the way you'd hoped they would.

That's what I'm doing now.

And that’s what this newly rebranded newsletter (and my reimagined keynote speech) is all about.

I’m excited to see where it goes from here. And I promise to remain transparent and authentic with you throughout this next phase in my journey.??

If you've read this far, I would love to hear your thoughts on all of this.