On the long, long, very long plane trip home to Australia I had plenty of time to think and reminisce about a particular part of my life.
Just recently I was the keynote speaker in New Orleans, USA for the Rotary Zone 30 & 31 Conference, talking about the future.
I was well received and being on stage giving it my all, gave me that buzz.
You know, there’s something slightly strange about standing in front of hundreds, sometimes thousands of people with a microphone in your hand and thinking…
Yeah. This is where I’m happiest!
Some people hate public speaking, crazy I know right? and apparently surveys regularly suggest it’s right up there among people’s greatest fears.
But for me, i’m not afraid of anything….well besides snakes, and the dark, oh and clowns and… Rotary chicken *shudder*
But public speaking!? Give me a stage, a microphone, a room full of people and I’m ready to go!
I’ve now been professionally speaking for 18 years, and what started as simply sharing a few ideas has taken me on an extraordinary journey.
I’ve had the good fortune to speak to audiences across Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Asia.
And I still absolutely love it!
I love the nervous energy just before walking on stage. I love hearing the first laugh from the audience because that tells me, “Okay Evan, they get you.”
And I particularly love that moment when the laughter stops, the room goes quiet and you can almost see people thinking, or noticing that they are pulling out their phones to take photos of your slide presentation.
Because that’s really what I’m there to do.
Make people laugh. Make people think. Be an entertainer. And hopefully make people look at something a little differently.
My presentations generally explore change, leadership, communication, technology, social media, membership and finding new ways to engage people in volunteering and community organisations.
I’m fascinated by why some organisations embrace “the change” while others seem determined to cling desperately to “but we’ve always done it this way.”
Spoiler alert: I’m not a huge fan of that sentence.
Technology has completely changed the way we communicate, volunteer, connect and build communities. Artificial intelligence is accelerating that change even further. Yet technology itself isn't really the interesting part.
People are.
How do we use these tools to bring people together rather than push them away? How do volunteer organisations remain relevant? How do we attract the next generation without losing what made our organisations special in the first place?
They're serious questions.
But that doesn't mean I talk about them seriously for 60 minutes!
My speaking style has always been a little different. It’s energetic, visual, occasionally ridiculous and very self-deprecating.
I’m quite happy to make myself the punchline….I mean how many others do you see dressed in a Rotary suit?
Actually, with my life, appearance and questionable decision making over the years, I have an enormous amount of material to work with!
But underneath the laughs is always a serious, thought-provoking message.
That's deliberate.
I've never wanted an audience to leave one of my presentations simply saying, “That was funny.”
I want them laughing in the room, but thinking about the message in the car on the way home.
The same goes for me being an MC.
A great MC isn't just someone who walks onto the stage, reads a biography and says, “Please welcome our next speaker.”
Where's the fun in that?
An MC should help create the personality of the event. Build energy. Connect the different parts of the program. Make speakers feel comfortable. Read the room. Keep things moving and, occasionally, gracefully rescue the schedule when everything has gone completely to shit!
After 18 years behind microphones, I've learnt that audiences don't necessarily remember every statistic, PowerPoint slide or carefully constructed sentence.
They remember how you made them feel.
That's why I still get excited every time I'm invited to be a keynote speaker or MC an event.
Every audience is different.
Every room has a different energy.
Every organisation has a different story.
And somewhere between the microphone, the laughter and the occasional embarrassing story about myself, there's an opportunity to create a moment people might actually remember.
So, if you're planning a conference, convention, corporate event, volunteer gathering or something that needs a little more energy, humour and thought.
Perhaps we should have a conversation.
Because after 18 years, I still love walking onto a stage.
And yes…
I still love the sound of the hum of the microphone.
Feel free to send me an email at evanrotary@gmail.com to talk about how I can help you at your next conference or event.