Yet another highlight of speaking at the INC 500 conference was having the pleasure of sharing it with my son Andrew (pictured on the right), who recently graduated from Virginia Tech.

When I asked Andrew, “Of all the well-known keynoters here, who impressed you most with his or her speaking skills?” we agreed that Keith McFarland, (author of the Breakthrough Company which is based on a 5 year study of how everyday companies become extraordinary performers) kept our attention from start to finish.

Keith’s book is based on an intriguing premise: “99% of business advice is written for people working at giant firms. In fact, nearly 50% of Harvard Business Review articles refer to The Big Five of IBM, General Electric, Dell Computer, Wal-Mart and Southwest Airlines.”

He wondered, “What can leaders of small to mid-size firms really learn from studying the ways of IBM? Wouldn’t it be better if business owners studied the success factors of companies more like their own?”

Keith’s book (which he generously gifted to me following our conversation), is, as Stephen Covey says, “Impressively researched, beautifully illustrated and clearly written.”

On top of that, Keith is an edge-of-your-seat speaker. I actually took notes and shared them with him afterwards because he was doing so many things extraordinarily well. Here’s just one of the above-and-beyond platform techniques he used to capture and keep the attention of a sophisticated audience who gave him their rapt, reverent attention.

He led the audience in a 60-second stretch.

That may not sound like a big deal, but it was a smart decision on his part. Why? Keith was the third keynoter that morning. If he had not acknowledged the audience had been sitting for almost 2 hours, they would have been inwardly groaning and planning their escape.

The first words out of his mouth were, “I know you’ve been sitting since 9 am. Make you a deal. I propose we all take a 60 second stretch break . . . as long as you don’t take advantage of this opportunity to make a break for the exits.”

Audience members, pleasantly surprised that Keith had read their mind, smiled, nodded in agreement, stood up, raised their arms to the sky, rocked back and forth on their feet and then sat back down, re-energized and ready to hear what Keith had to say.

If you’re ever in this situation, if it’s your turn to speak and it’s been hours since people have had a break; realize they won’t be listening, they’ll be waiting for you to wrap up. You will win their attention AND affection if you follow Keith’s example and give them 60 seconds to move around to get their blood flowing and their interest going.

Want to know a couple other platform techniques Keith used to keep us on the edge of our seats? Click here to read my blog which explains exactly what he did to stand out in that impressive event – and to win the respect of every one of those INC 500 executives.
 

Who’s an edge-of-your-seat speaker you’ve had the pleasure of seeing in action? What did this person do that captured and kept your interest? Did they illustrate their points with memorable props or real-life examples? Did they turn their presentation into a mystery by asking questions to keep you guessing?

I am always on the lookout for edge-of-your-seat speakers. I study what they do right and use their examples as benchmarks in my books, blogs, keynotes and Speaker Camps to show how effective speakers positively influence audiences, leave lasting impressions and motivate people to act.

Submit your nomination for “Edge-of-your-Seat Speaker for 2008.” Please e-mail us and explain, in 300 words or less, why you believe this individual is an outstanding speaker who keeps his/her audience intrigued from start to finish.

The person who submits the winning nomination and the winner will both receive a free registration to a 2008/2009 POP! Your Business and Brand workshop of their choice.

Deadline for Submission is Oct 28th -- Send an email to Sam@SamHorn.com. We will feature the most interesting submissions in our November Newsletter and spotlight our winner in our December Newsletter.



 

“The bottleneck is almost always at the top of the bottle.” -- ??

The individual responsible for the above quote was a respected business thinker who wrote incisive books on management and was on the leading edge of the Quality Circle movement.

Be the first to Email Us correctly identifying this individual and you’ll receive your choice of any two of Sam’s books or CDs.

And congratulations to the two (!) winners of our previous contest. Gayle Trent and Jeffrey Gitomer responded at almost the same time with the right answers to our Sept. contest about which companies were associated with Ad Weeks’ award-winning slogans. They both got their choice of two of Sam’s books or CD’s.

Jeffrey went above and beyond with his answers, adding that "'Takes a lickin and keeps on tickin' was not only the slogan of Timex; the spokesperson for those ads was John Cameron Swayze, a distant cousin of 'Dirty Dancing's' Patrick Swayze." (Who knew?!)

Kudos to Jeffrey (yes, the author of The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Black Book of Networking and a signature line of other bestselling business books) for receiving his CAPE and being selected to the Speaker Hall of Fame at this year’s NSA convention in New York.

If you haven’t already read Jeffrey’s books, do yourself a favor and buy some today. They are a model of how to stay on brand, create your own unique, immediately recognizable "look," and write with a distinctive voice that says a lot in a little to keep pages turning and minds engaged.
 

My presentation - POP! Your Business and Brand – at the INC 500 Conference started with a tailored-just-for-them POP! Hall of Fame. I studied the list of INC 500 honorees and selected the top ten companies with attention-grabbing names. (By the way, I can do that for your conference too when you schedule a POP! Your Business and Brand or Art and Science of Intrigue keynote).

Some of these business names are Purposeful in that they say exactly what the company does — such as Just Like Sugar ($46 million in revenue in 5 years), We Buy Houses (couldn't be more clear) and Bill Me Later (who wouldn’t want that?!)

Some are Original in that they make our eyebrows go up because we haven’t heard them before - such as SkullCandy which specializes in audio headsets for snow boarders and skateboarders and Woot.com. This clever online retailer zigs where its competitors zag by offering just ONE product per day which has resulted in an amazing 4,998% growth in 3 years and revenues of $117 million.

All of them are Pithy in that they are concise and precise which makes them easy to repeat and remember — such as PowerPay which processes credit cards and Zipcar, the revolutionary company that allows members to rent cars by the hour.

My three favorites?

KIDDOpotamus: They specialize in baby products, including the first non-rectangular swaddle blanket for infants.

Bad Boy Buggies: They make an electric, all terrain vehicle that’s a cross between a golf cart and a monster truck.

Furminator: They sell grooming products for animals including a brush that dog-owners can use to reduce their pet’s shedding.

What’s the point? Are you launching a new business, product or service? Have you invested months (years?) in its design and development, making sure you have a valuable offering that will appeal to customers?

The question is, have you also invested the time and effort to give it a name that will help it break out? Does your business name cause people’s eyebrows to go up? Can people repeat it immediately after hearing it? Do they want to know more about it?

If not, that business, product or service may never achieve the success it deserves.

What’s in a name? Just about everything! If your offering does not have an intriguing, easy-to-remember name, it will jeopardize its potential success. If people don’t immediately get or like your name, they’ll move on and you’ll have lost an opportunity to win a customer, sale or account.

Do yourself a favor and invest a day in brainstorming, strategizing and creating a Purposeful, Original, Pithy name for your offering so it POPs out of its pack.

Join me Nov. 7 at Washington DC’s historical National Press Club to immerse yourself in a) defining and strategizing what’s special about your project and b) producing a comprehensive word bank that results in a variety of attention-grabbing names for your ventures. It may well be the best money you ever spend on behalf of the financial future of your business, product or service.
 

November - Karen Page & Andrew Dornenburg, NY Times Bestselling Authors

December - Fawn Germer, 4-time Pulitzer nominee
 

January 2009 - Cherrie & Sam Scheinberg, Inc. 500 honorees and inventors