Show Notes
Speakers are on the road a lot, which naturally means that speakers often spend a great deal of time alone.
This solitude can produce several “interesting” superstitions, preferences and proclivities. By her own admission, Keynote Speaker Laurie Guest has a thing like that. She is an unabashed bottled water expert and takes her bottled water very, very seriously.
Laurie Guest tells the story of her obsession with a particular brand of water in her presentations, and we talk about her unique signature story all about water and how we package and position our products on this special episode of Standing Ovation.
Find out about:
- Hear Laurie’s famous story about bottled water and the power of good packaging
- How Laurie uses her natural personality quirks in her presentations
- Why you need to tighten your stories where possible
- How Laurie introduced certain elements and ‘bits’ into her keynote
- How to make the most out of a prop
- Why speakers need to be open to new experiences
- The value of coaching for professional speakers
- How Laurie plans the different modules of her talks and presentation
- Advice for speakers on finding the right pricing for their services
Quotes from the episode:
“Sometimes we have to give our audience permission to laugh.”
“The shorter the setup, the better the pay-off.”
Connect with Laurie Guest
2 Key Questions
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given about the speaking business?
“Speak on stage with my normal conversational tone – be me. When I get on stage, I get a little pitchy… but when I try to be conversational like I’m talking to the guy in the front row… and when I bring that tone to the stage, that’s a talent we have to work at. My best work is when I’m really on my game and it’s like I’m talking to a bunch of friends.”
Who is your dream guest for Standing Ovation?
“The person I would love to see you interview is Mr Dan (Daniel) Burrus. Dan does such an amazing job at taking a very complicated topic … and he boils them down to make a heavy topic so relatable.”
Here’s Laurie’s top 10 water brands that we mentioned in the show:
