Customization (not tailoring) is the key to an outstanding presentation

What does it mean to customize a Keynote Speech?

Lots of motivational speakers say that they customize their speech, but in my experience, very few actually do. Instead, what they do is tailor a speech. So what’s the difference between tailoring a keynote speech and customizing a motivational speech? Well, for me, the difference is huge.

Tailoring means often the speakers will drop in a catch phrase, or a brand name, or a company name, or an association name into some sort of pre-prepared story or sentence and then repeat that technique three times in a one-hour keynote and then claim that that program has been customized. Well, pish! Customization is genuine changing of the program to meet the client’s needs.

Audiences need to know that their speaker understands them, gets them, and is fully connected with their needs, their pains, their desires, their joys and their jobs. So, tailoring just isn’t sufficient for today’s audience.

A Motivational Speaker That Can Customize A Keynote Speech

Because I’m a comedian motivational speaker, tailoring for me means more than just making sure the message is relevant and on track. For me, customizing is more than having a five quick minute conversation with a client to find out what their concerns are. For me, customization is much more than helping a specific organization get from point A to point B in concert with the top decision-maker’s desires. For me, what customization means is to make the program all of those things and in addition, make it really funny by putting in specific, relevant jokes just for that group, those people and that event.

So, before my programs I always interview the top decision-makers for the organization and besides looking for all of their desires for change and for what their people need to hear, what I do in addition is look for places where I can write specific jokes and comedy bits for that group. So it’s not uncommon for me to create full sections of my program specifically for that event and that organization.

If you are considering hiring a motivational keynote speaker, I encourage you to check their references, to have a lengthy conversation with them, and to find out what they can deliver is consistent with what you need.

But, in addition to that, I ask you to consider what it would mean to you if your motivational speaker came with a truly extraordinary customized motivational speech for your organization. And if you feel that customization would help your audience connect to your speaker and therefore, improve the return on investment for that speaker, make sure your speaker customizes; not tailors.

Brad Montgomery
Motivational Speaker
Keynote Speaker
Master of Customization