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A while back I spoke at a huge Las Vegas conference for McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurants.

I had a ball…. and let me tell you why.They took the time to coach me about their corporate culture… which helps me a great deal. And then, even better, I had a chance to visit with their executive chefs and General Managers before my keynote speech.

Better yet, I ate in one of their restaurants 3 days before my keynote speech.  I met the executive chef and the general manager.  They let me tour the kitchen and take photos.   (And they treated me and my pals great…yum!)

[ Actually, there is a cool story there too.  I was there with a few pals who happen to be professional speakers themselves…so some of the funniest ideas came from my humorist pals.  Colorado speaker and humor pal Steve Spangler took the photos.  It was a fun night.) ]

But best of all, I got to hear THE founders ( Mr. McCormicK and Mr. Schmick — yeah, I know, who knew they even existed!) address the audience for about an hour before I went on.

It was like a gift. A perfect storm of great info from the right people.  Now, I have to admit it; sometimes the info I get from my clients doesn’t lead anywhere. Sometimes it isn’t funny. And occasionally it is hard for me to really tailor what I do for their group. But in this case it was the total opposite. It was as though everything I said made it’s way into the presentation.Even the little details.

For example, when I was in the restaurant I ordered salmon that was cooked on a plank of Cedar wood. It was delicious. (The fish, not the plank.)  But when I retold the story, and showed (via PowerPoint) a photo of me trying to eat that silly plank, we got the audience rolling. Then I followed with jokes about the creativity about adding secret ingredients to their dishes…. like wood. Again… more humor.

eating the wooden plank

I showed photos of me stealing their stuff…and of me doing their dishes (from my visit to the restaurant that week.)   Trust me… it was funny.  Best of all…it was humor all for and about them.

What’s my point? I have two.

First: if you are looking for motivational speakers, have some long and hard conversations about tailoring and customizing. Your group — especially in this day of instant everything ‚ will be turned off if the speaker doesn’t “Get” them. Make sure your speaker does.  Professional speakers who tailor or customize the message for your audience will make that crucial “connection” in a meaningful and solid way.

Second: From my perspective as a humorist and speaker,

the tailoring is one of the absolute joys of my job. If I HAD to give the same cookie-cutter presentation every time I might shoot myself. The real fun is in making sure it is “just for them.”  Thanks McCormick & Schmick’s! I loved it.  Learn more about my keynote speaking here.

Do  you have an event where you need to motivate and fire up your troops?

Think a funny motivational speaker who can translate humor into business wisdom makes sense?  Me too.   Contact me here for info about bringing me to your event.

Brad Montgomery
Motivational Keynote Speaker, Humorist, Fan of Las Vegas, and Lover of Fish!

PS. Here is a bootleg video of me as speaking for them in Las Vegas, Nevada. Check out the customized jokes…they might not make sense to you, but to THEM they were fun. (And I had a blast.)

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Motivational Speakers: Tailor verses Customize?

Why Does Brad Tailor a Speaking Presentation?

Audiences get more out of a program where they are involved and engaged than from a program that bores them to tears. Duh. We all know this to be true…. If people are into it…they’ll learn and leave with value.

There are several ways to engage an audience. I use two huge techniques: Humor and Audience Participation. I know through experience from thousands of presentations that when groups are laughing, and laughing hard… they will sit and listen. And when they – and their friends and workmates – are directly involved in the presentation, they are on the edge of their seats.


Read more about this motivational speaker who customizes.

But the last technique I use – as do most pro speakers – is to tailor my presentation to your group. By learning about the specifics of your group’s needs, successes, failures, stresses, job titles and functions, acronyms, problems, etc…. I can drop in specific references to your group.

Why? There are two reasons why tailoring a program is important to you. First, because it makes it more relevant and meaningful. Instead of, for example, talking about the “things that stress you out on the job,” we talk about, “constantly filling out Trouble Reports For Cams” and the “Y3 Audits.” (Specific things that stress out people from THAT office.) When we talk specifically, people learn better. The second – and perhaps more important reason– that I tailor my programs is because referencing specific needs, people and events in a company make the program FUNNIER. Much funnier. Big time.

Tailor verses Customize.

The last thing you want is to hire a professional speaker to come in and present a totally new, never-been-done-before-a –live audience program. This fact is doubly true for funny motivational speakers, motivators, or even corporate comedians.

Why? Because you can’t guarantee success. Take Jay Leno and Dave Letterman. They – with the help of some of the best comedy writers in the world – present just a 10 minute monologue each night. Of that ten minutes, only 3 or 4 jokes are worth repeating the next day. This says nothing about Jay or Dave… what it does illustrate that writing stuff that you KNOW will work is very, Very, VERY difficult.

If you want a speaker who can promise a killer show –and you should – you want a speaker who is not writing from scratch. That is why I tailor a program.

By tailoring a program, I mean that I adapt my material –material that has been honed and tested before dozens (if not hundreds) of audiences. I do material I KNOW will work. But by tailoring the stories, messages, jokes, and humor to your group, the audience thinks that this tailored program is customized. In other words, I tailor a program creating the illusion that we are doing a once-in-a lifetime program. A one-shot deal. And the audience loves it.

But the meeting planner loves the fact that they are working with a sure bet.

What’s the bottom line?

It is very important for the success of the program that the audience is involved and engaged, and one of the best ways for this to happen is if the audiences witnesses (what they believe to be) a totally customized program.

However, in order to guarantee success, we are all better off to tailor a program. By adding audience-specific information to a honed, proven and professional presentation the audience believes they are seeing something created just for them. While at the same time the meeting planner is deservedly confident of the success of that speaker.

httpv://youtu.be/el9dnMpHC1I

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