I’m fortunate that my career has spanned a number of methods or vehicles for teaching and sharing wisdom. I’m a writer and a speaker, I deliver training workshops and facilitate retreats. Each is a different art, and arts I’ve spent years mastering and developing. I’ve learned from some of the best and whilst everything I tech comes back to the same IP, I’ve noticed there’s a difference in how these various modes impact the audience.
One of the questions I'm often asked is: what's the difference between a keynote and a workshop, apart from the length of time? It's been a really interesting journey for me, particularly being from a leadership development background. During my career in HR, I did a lot of leadership development, I did a lot of training and development, and I learnt a lot about learning and development.
Then I started to write books and the link between these learning modes really became apparent through the work I do now based on those books. I'm an author before I was anything else, and I'm an introvert as well, so it worked quite well for me to sit by myself and create and write. I love it. Then I started to get asked to speak about the content of those books. I would take stages, often in front of hundreds, sometimes thousands of people. Initially it filled me with fear, as I think public speaking does with most of us. But the more I did it, the easier it got, and I learned so much about the art of public speaking.
What was really interesting for me is it brought the text in the book to life, and it was also a way of getting instant feedback. It is much quicker to get the message across in an hour long keynote to an audience of hundreds, than it is to ship a hundred books out and wait for people to have the time to read them!
Being out there, connecting with individuals in conference rooms and at events and hearing your feedback firsthand really helped. Not just helped me know that this was working and the books were making an impact, but it gave me ideas for future books as well. So that connection became such a fundamental part of what I do.
But the keynote is only an hour. It's supposed to be quick, impactful, inspirational - and it is. The keynote gets us motivated. The workshop is the next step and this is how this has evolved. People come along to the keynote, they get inspired, they get motivated, they want to take action. But then of course, you've got to learn all the strategies to put into action, and that's where the workshops come into play.
I love getting together smaller groups of people and digging into the practical. Like when we do these workshops in-house, for organisations to build on some of those inspirational keynotes. The workshops allow us to not just listen to someone like me, whoever's at the front of the room, but share experiences with each other to have a deeper kōrero. To actually apply this specifically to our individual circumstances, to learn some of the practical tools, strategies and techniques, and to really use the motivation and inspiration we get from something like a keynote to delve a bit deeper.
It's why I'll offer both when I'm at a conference or event. Often I'll be on the main stage and then whilst I'm there working with the conference or event organisers, I'll do a workshop at the same time because it really helps to build on that inspiration and motivation.
You’ll all remember a time you’ve been motivated by someone’s words. We've all seen someone on stage that said something and it's like they're talking directly to us. It's like they're in our heads and it motivates us, it inspires us and we go away from that going, ‘yes, I'm going to make a difference’.
But we then need to get that practical knowhow and that deep understanding of how I’m going to use this to make a difference. Now I've got the fire to be called to action, what am I going to do to make that action happen? That's really where workshops help support the practical implementation of what you're hearing in a keynote.
A recent programme I ran for a supermarket co-operative gave me feedback from of a workshop attendee. We did a lead with confidence workshop, webinar and coaching package for women in the organisation. On conclusion, attendees graduate and share their experiences. One leader mentioned: the attendee in question from the bakery department of the store would not be able to attend the graduation because the course had been too successful for her. She’d gained the confidence to leave and start her own bakery!
This story was told with pride in an organisation who supports the development of its staff and understands that sometimes they have to leave to come back better with the experience they’ve gained.
Speaking inspires, but workshops is where the rubber hits the road and where we can drill down into the practical strategies to bring the theory to life. To take the inspiration and turn it into action and meaningful change for those in the room.
Get in touch to find out the workshops available in house for your organisation or event.