𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘁.

Earlier this year, I spoke at the Devon & Somerset Law Society 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲, and afterwards, four different people asked me a version of the same question:

'𝘚𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?'

I love that question. Not because I’m desperate to talk about myself, but because I don’t usually start there. When I first started doing keynotes, I’d open with my CV, because I thought credibility mattered. 

After a while, I realised it was entirely unnecessary. Even worse, it framed the whole presentation as:

'𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰.'

So now, I try to let the ideas sell themselves; they’ll either resonate, or they won’t. Good (or practical) ideas that resonate don’t need the CV, and weak ideas won’t suddenly land because of who I once was.

The experiences I’ve had should come through in the quality and applicability of what I have to say, not because of time served.

And that also means that when people come up to me afterwards and ask how I got into this, I know the message has somehow resonated.

So when it comes to my keynotes, it’s less:

'𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦.'

And more:

'𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰.'