By Mimi Donaldson, Author
Los Angeles, California
If you have had teaching or training jobs, you have collected a “body of knowledge.” Your speeches can come from that. Example: my first “speech” was actually one hour of a 6-hour course on Communicating for Results that I taught to first-level and mid-level managers at Northrop Aircraft. The piece that became a “speech” was the hour before lunch, when the managers’ attention was at its lowest ebb. It was the piece about the differences between male and female communication—talking and listening. I had isolated some concepts: how men and women relax, socialize, bond with their same gender, and the style in which they prefer to give and receive communications. Then, I had included real-life examples from their stories—the guys in the class – to illustrate each of my points. (There were no women managers at that time). It was a laugh riot, and they asked me to do “that funny part about men and women” for the Management Club, outside of class, and they would give me $100. Voila! My first paid speech.
Another example: At the start of my own speaking business, I did a lot of management training at a Japanese car manufacturer here in SoCal. I had presented full-day trainings on management skills, and presentation skills, among others. At one point, their budget for training had decreased, and I hadn’t been there for about a year. One day, a manager in Marketing, not Human Resources, called to ask me to teach management. At least, that’s what I thought he asked. He actually said, “it’s a luncheon—you’ll have 45 minutes.” I said, “to teach management?? You know, I can’t change behavior in 45 minutes.” I had created 60 hours of management training, that I delivered in 4-hour chunks. He said, “that’s okay, we don’t expect you to change behavior—we want some TIPS– in your style– you know, entertaining and funny.” Then he quoted what my fee would be, which was MUCH more than the fee for delivering an 8-hour course! I said, “sure!” and voila! “4 Steps to Managing Anyone” was born. Still one of my most popular speeches, it boils down 60 hoursof training to four action steps, with riotous, but always true, examples. So, if you have “material,” the funny, pithy parts can be distilled into 45-minute keynotes.
Since 1984, Mimi Donaldson has spoken for 50 Fortune 100 companies. She was a Human Resources Trainer at Northrop, Rockwell and Walt Disney. With a BA in Speech and Communications and a Masters from Columbia University, Mimi’s authored three books, most recently, Necessary Roughness: New Rules for the Contact Sport of Life.
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