Keynote Speaker Topic Selection
Selecting a great keynote speaker or a workshop facilitator for your meeting can set the tone for your entire event; equally important, their topics must be in keeping with your theme. A motivational speaker should be able to match their presentation to your theme.
Over the years, I’ve invested a lot of ink in the topics of motivation and mindset. They’re very compatible subjects for a keynote or workshop. Certain topics are matched better to motivation than others. In my experience as a keynote speaker, I’ve found several great topics for pairing; however, motivation and mindset are one of those perfect matches.
Even my first book, Big Things Have Small Beginnings, The Motivation and Mindset That Built a $750,000,000 Company, was a bestseller. From this memoir, I’ve garnered plenty of keynote speaking opportunities. However, today I’d like to share my mindset theme from one of my later books, The Positive Side of Golf, Mindset.
When it comes to golf, I am a high handicapper or what in some circles is referred to as a hack. Let me put it this way I spend more time in the trees than the squirrels.
So, my golf game constantly humbles me. However, my sons are much better golfers than I will ever be. One of them even went to college on a golf scholarship, and honestly, all four of my sons can beat me at golf any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Although, considering my poor quality of play, I’m probably not giving them the credit they deserve.
To motivate my boys, we often make a little wager. Yeah, a chance to both take my money and claim bragging rights. That’s a double shot of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. I won’t go into those two primary forms of motivation today. If I did, it would take up this entire post. But I will share a little bit more about my golf game.
A while back, my college player shared some wisdom with me about how he approaches those tree-lined holes. He said, “I just look at them the exact way you always taught me to look at problems.” Okay, so he didn’t say that. Instead, he said, “I see a tree-lined hole and say to myself, I will hit between the trees. I frame my shot with those trees, and they help me get where I want to go.” He doesn’t think about hitting the trees. Instead, he thinks about hitting between the trees. He sees those trees as an opportunity to define his game positively. Good motivation changes your mindset. The whole idea of having that sort of self-motivation can move mountains.
The trick to positive thinking is that it only works if you believe. And I’ll be the first to admit that some things are more challenging to believe in than others. Just suppose you muster the willpower to define your situation positively. In that case, you’ll be surprised how many big and small problems you will transform into opportunities. The great golfer Walter Hagen never worried about hitting a bad shot. He used to say, “I never played a perfect 18. There is no such thing. I expect to make a few mistakes. Therefore, whenever I make a lousy shot, I don’t worry about it. It’s just one more of those bad shots out of the way.” That’s the way you have to think about stuff. I mean, that’s how you can stay on the right path. Every path has obstacles; the more consequential the path, the more challenges you’ll encounter. The key to motivation is its ability to prevail in those dark hours. It’s easy to be motivated when everything is sunshine and lollypops, but when you need that motivation the most is when you hit those bumps in the road. And if you what to attain significant success, you want the path with the most bumps.
The first step in motivation is developing a positive mindset. If you can’t visualize and believe in your success, you won’t be able to succeed. Let’s face it; you must embrace the positive side of every situation. You know there’ll be negatives, but you still have to be able to take that next step. You know, that’s the whole point of this concept, just like in golf, the most important shot is the next shot. Well, in everything, it’s the next step; if you hold on to that last shot instead of looking forward with optimism, you’ll ruin your opportunities for success. There are always going to be bumps along the road. There are going to be problematic situations. There will be problems, but your real motivation must be rooted in a mindset to think positively about that next step.
As for my golf game, I’m positive — that for me, it’s good exercise.
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Remember to count your blessings; after all, they’re the only things that really count.
Wes Berry is a Keynote Speaker and Workshop facilitator with the professional skills and real-life experience to deliver on any stage. He is a TEDx Speaker and a Wall Street Journal best-selling author; he has written twelve books in the business, motivational and success genres. As an entrepreneur, he built a $750 million international company that operated in 130 countries. Wes has even done some standup comedy as well as radio and television.
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