Motivational Speaking is the Magic Touch
By Billy Riggs
The meeting planner’s greatest enemy is boredom; his or her greatest asset is truly motivational speaking. Each year tens of millions of dollars are spent on thousands of conventions, conferences and meetings in hundreds of cities around the world. Fabulous hotels are booked, exquisite meals are catered, bands are hired, schedules are meticulously planned around themes that were painstakingly chosen – sometimes all for naught. Such events crash in flames for one common reason: the inability to motivate attendees to take what they have learned and put it into passionate and immediate action. Boring content delivered in industry-specific sessions tends to pass into and out of the frontal lobe, forgotten and destined to languish unread in professionally designed conference notebooks bearing logos designed specifically for the occasion. What is the missing ingredient? Motivational speaking. This is the necessary catalyst to transform a meeting that ends with the closing session into one whose impact is felt for years.
Conference activities carefully design and build a metaphorical firecracker; but motivational speaking lights the fuse! Without the latter, the former is a “dud.” There may be lots of gunpowder, but with no source of ignition impact is greatly limited. A great speaker, especially one who is both humorous and entertaining, manages to set an audience on fire with a passion to implement new knowledge, pursue new objectives and sell like crazy! It is the meeting planner’s duty to make sure that the conference doesn’t end on the final day; the best way to accomplish this is with the right keynote speaker.
Billy Riggs is just such a speaker. Having honed his speaking skills in the pulpit of one of America’s fastest-growing churches while still in his twenties, he now brings his dynamic speaking style, ground-breaking content and moving inspiration to the corporate world. Though his presentations now are secular, audiences sometimes still sense the old preacher in him, stirred by his spellbinding messages and set ablaze with a passion to actually do something with the information delivered during the convention. Referred to by some as the “Dr. Phil of Magic,” Riggs combines his powerful oratory with insights into human personality gleaned from years of counseling parishioners regarding life’s most important decisions and issues. When you add to this the fact that he is absolutely hysterical and a world-class magician, you have a combination of talents unmatched on the motivational speakers’ circuit.
Experiencing one of Billy Riggs’ performances is like riding a roller coaster. The audience is alternately entertained and enlightened, as spectacular and baffling illusions on stage are woven into a seamless presentation of customized content, uproarious comedy, moving stories and challenging applications. Most groups like to place him at the very beginning of a conference or at the very end. When given an opening keynote slot, Billy sets the tone of a convention like no one else. Attendees eagerly attend all subsequent presentations with a positive and eager attitude, pens in hand, ready to allow the content to change their lives and behaviors. When placed at the end of a conference, attendees leave with their “hair on fire” ready to take on new challenges with joy and confidence. They depart with a new spring in their steps and smile cramps in their cheeks from the laughter. And the magic reminds them that anything – absolutely anything – is possible!
