Transcript
Dave Bricker (00:07)
Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speakipedia Media brought to you by Speakipedia.com. I’m your emcee Dave Bricker bringing you straight talk and smart strategies from visionary speakers and thought leaders. My guest has authored two books, started three successful companies and made over $2 billion for Fortune 200 clients like PepsiCo, Hewlett Packard and United Airlines.
You can blame her for the buy-on-board meals that replaced what airlines used to serve, including soup described simply as brown. How appetizing is that? She’s an engaging keynote speaker and workshop facilitator who offers the framework skills and practices that lead to significant business growth. Please welcome business and branding expert and innovation consultant Kay Alison.
Kay Allison (01:04)
Hi Dave!
Dave Bricker (01:06)
Hi Kay. So Allison, what led you into speaking? What’s your story?
Kay Allison (01:12)
I have always been attracted to being on stage and performing. Something comes over me. I almost feel like I’m channeling. You know, it’s a typical story of a misunderstood, kind of neglected kid. And so getting attention and approval is intoxicating to me.
Dave Bricker (01:38)
And what was the big journey? Because a lot of people like to imagine themselves up on stage. Not so many people actually make it to that stage or follow that dream or don’t abandon that dream. What got you there?
Kay Allison (01:54)
I started my career in advertising. So I worked for two global advertising agencies. And presenting is just simply part of the job. And I knew that I had to get good at it in order to succeed. I remember taking a presentation skills course and I can still see myself. Now this was back in the day when we had overhead projectors and acetates that you put down.
and I would put down an acetate, I would read it word for word, and then I would cock my head to the side and go, okay. So that’s where I started. And so I really did have a long way to go. I ended up becoming the head of new business and making new business pitches was my job.
I had to learn how to turn on the charisma and the energy, and I had to learn how to read the audience instantly so that I knew what I needed to say or do in order to get that one person back there that I knew wasn’t by and what I was selling.
Dave Bricker (03:10)
Yeah, and I know that rush that you’re talking about when you come up, the client’s expecting an idea from you and you show them that logo, that slogan, that campaign idea, and they say, that’s it. And you’ve taken something that’s inside of them that they’ve been trying to get out and you’ve given it a face. And that’s a very rewarding thing to be able to do.
Kay Allison (03:36)
Yeah, it really is. After I left the advertising business, I had an innovation and consumer insight business. So basically what that means was I was a qualitative market researcher. I conducted focus groups. I probably have interviewed 10,000 people across 13 countries, which is a lot of people. And I would.
do a day of focus groups and the client would be looking for an answer to a business problem. And I could feel that I had their answer in my body and I would say to them, I have it. I just can’t access it until I sleep so I’ll talk to you tomorrow morning and I’ll tell you what you need to be doing. At first these like Wharton MBAs were like, I don’t know about this check, but by the second time they worked with me they were like, you go home, you go have a sleep and we’ll talk to you in the morning.
Dave Bricker (04:32)
You know, what’s funny is sometimes they just tell you, and bing, there’s the idea right there and then. But you can’t, you have to hold onto it. You have to say, well, I need time to think. of, You don’t want them to think it’s that easy for you. And it isn’t that it’s really like speaking. I mean, people say, well, why should I pay you to run your mouth for 45 minutes? My kid knows how to speak, right? It’s, there’s a difference between knowing how to talk and knowing how to speak. And part of it’s your talent.
Part of it’s your exposure to so many other advertising campaigns and clients, but all of a sudden there it is. Boom, the idea is there, but you can’t let them know that you just came up with it on the spot because they won’t see your value.
Kay Allison (05:16)
Nope. It’s exactly right. You know, you don’t want Toto pulling the curtain back and showing the man behind the curtain.
Dave Bricker (05:24)
Mm-hmm, absolutely. Funny how that works. And definitely there’s a correlation to speaking because people see us on the stage and they think, oh, that’s so easy. They give us the backhanded compliment. “Oh, you’re a natural.” It’s like, no, I’m not a natural. I worked at this. I just make it look easy now. And yeah, absolutely. So as professional speakers, we all have to turn ideas into income.
Kay Allison (05:41)
Ha ha
Dave Bricker (05:53)
Now what approaches are you taking to turning your personal and your professional experiences into income streams? Keynoting, training, coaching, consulting, et cetera. What works for you and what combination works for you?
Kay Allison (06:09)
I heard recently that only 5% of the members of the million-dollar speaker circle make 100% of their income from speaking only. Which is a big clue that there needs to be other revenue streams outside of that. As speakers, we create intellectual property. We give people the five steps to whatever.
We give them the three Rs of feeling better. We give them the, you know, seven questions to win the client. That is intellectual property. It can become what I call intellectual capital when you package it in a multitude of ways. So one of my talks is the seven questions to win the client. It is going to be a course
a membership, a community, coaching, workshops, I can take that same content and I can turn it into a myriad of vehicles that actually do service in the world and help people close more clients and also generate more income for me. So it’s win-win.
Not everybody’s going to hear me give a keynote. But if I say, hey, I can help you increase your close rate by 30% in 90 days, that’s a pretty great proposition. And I need to make that available to all the consultants and speakers that are in need of that kind of help.
Dave Bricker (07:59)
I love that and it’s so important that we think about this idea of intellectual property. And going back to this million-dollar speaker idea, if you want to be a million-dollar speaker making all your money from speaking, that is 50, $20,000 keynotes a year. Now that’s your million dollars gross. How big a team
do you need to pay to procure that much high-end keynote business for you? What is your cost so that you’re netting a million dollars? Wow, you better raise that fee to $30,000 a keynote. I mean, that’s a really tough goal to be. There’s only one of you.
And if you’re one of those people who loves to travel on business, which is not the same as traveling on vacation, doesn’t like to be home in your own bed at night, doesn’t want to hang out with your family and your pets, I mean, there are people who love being on the road. That kind of thing is not for me. And I enjoy a little bit of business travel, but…
Kay Allison (08:59)
Hahaha
Dave Bricker (09:13)
Yeah, I think this million dollar keynoter thing is virtually impossible unless you’re Grant Cardone or Tony Robbins or someone like that or a celebrity who commands six figure keynote fees, then it’s not that difficult. But for business speakers and motivational speakers, it’s a very difficult and not very reasonable goal to achieve.
Kay Allison (09:40)
It’s, you know, you do make a lot of money when you show up and you give that $20,000 keynote, but you’re still trading time for money. And the way that I think about it, I’ve been an entrepreneur now for over 25 years is I want to make money while I’m sleeping. And I want my intellectual property to be intellectual capital. And to me, there’s such a distinction.
I show up and I deliver that property, right? Intellectual capital to me is like investment capital, like money. If I invest a dollar, I expect that dollar to go out and make me another dollar. And so the same thing’s true when I have it packaged, when I have my intellectual property packaged in a way it can go out and make me more money and help me have a bigger impact in the world.
Dave Bricker (10:17)
Thanks for watching!
Kay Allison (10:38)
I have never heard anybody talk about my subject the way I talk about my subject, and I know it works. So I feel like I have a bit of a moral and ethical obligation to have it available in such a way that it can do the most good possible.
Dave Bricker (10:57)
You just said something wonderful, which is “I’ve never heard anyone else talk about my topic the way I talk about my topic.” I think that is a great indicator for the people listening to this show. If you can say that, because look, I’m not the only storytelling speaker. There are plenty of leadership speakers, branding speakers, employee retention speakers, DEI speakers, on and on. But if you are the only one talking about your topic the way you do, and you can say,
I know it works. Now you’ve got intellectual property because you’re not just a topic speaker. And that brings us right into where I wanted to go next because so often people will say, okay, what do you speak about? What is your topic? And having a topic just puts you in a category with a whole bunch of other people, some of whom are really good.
So what transformation do you deliver? What results do you deliver? What problems do you solve and for whom? That kind of thing. Let’s reframe that topic question into a transformation question.
Kay Allison (12:07)
I couldn’t agree with you more. Another one of my topics is I turn imposter syndrome into an asset. And when I say that, people go, oh, I could use that. Oh, what do you mean? Like, my daughter-in-law or my friends, oh, I could use that. That’s when you know you’ve got something. And with my seven questions to win the client, I say.
I can help you double your revenue without getting any new leads. People go, huh, how do you do that?
Dave Bricker (12:45)
you’re talking about the result rather than the topic. So absolutely, that’s wonderful. I think we all need to think more about that because when we trade in results, people become curious. And this also…
when we communicate, and I’m sure with your advertising background you’ll have something to say on this, when we communicate our value to other people, instead of saying, well, I’m a graphic designer and I’m really good at Photoshop and InDesign and Illustrator, I know my typography, that’s like a dentist saying, I do molars, bicuspids, and I also do incisors. It’s like, well, yeah, of course you do.
Kay Allison (13:26)
Hehehehe Heheheheh
Dave Bricker (13:31)
If you have that title dentist with that that’s cost of entry we assume that you’re gonna do those those kinds of things so when you talk about that outcome Then all of a sudden people aren’t thinking about well someone else could teach me sales They’re thinking about
Kay Allison (13:50)
Exactly.
Dave Bricker (13:51)
Yeah, I have that problem and I want to do something about it and here’s somebody in front of me who has a solution. And that message is all about them rather than all about you.
Kay Allison (14:04)
This is what I have learned, that people don’t really, aren’t really that interested in me, they’re interested in themselves and their own concerns. I call this the Copernican shift. So Copernicus was the scientist back in the 16th century who said, no, it is not the.
sun that revolves around the earth. I always have to think about that for a second. It’s not the sun that revolves around the earth. It’s the earth that revolves around the sun. And in the same way, if I come into a situation thinking only about me, and like, I’ve got to show off and I’ve got impress you and I’ve got to talk about everything I do. It falls on deaf ears. But if I come into a situation and I’m like, Dave, what animates you? What are you concerned about?
Dave Bricker (14:29)
Right, right.
Kay Allison (14:55)
And perhaps can I be of service to you? And maybe I can’t be. But if I try to see the world through your eyes and draw out your story, believe me, you’re going to be a lot more interested than if I come in telling you about myself.
Dave Bricker (15:10)
Absolutely. And even though, hey, I’d love to get the gig, but if they are looking for something that I can’t give, I’d rather say, I’m not the right speaker for you. You gotta call my friend Kay Allison because she’s gonna really give your audience the results that you’re looking for. And it’s really about them. Because if I show up and do a mediocre job, well, I’m not gonna get referrals. I’m not gonna get spinoff. I might get that one gig, but…
That you can only do that so many times before your reputation gets out.
Kay Allison (15:46)
I think it builds so much credibility to say, Oh, I am so not your gal. I just that is not I am not going to be of service to your people. Let me recommend let me introduce you to lalalala. It’s, I mean, it’s the truth. I feel like we spend so much time pretending, especially in this year in this world of social media where everything’s curated and all the rest. To be
honest, like just outright honest, I am not going to be able to help you. You don’t want me to do that. Like I’ll say to people, you don’t want me talking about financial stuff. You don’t want to talk, you don’t want me handling a project. No, no, that’s not me. All of a sudden, they’re like, God, that is so refreshing. And you, you find that you’re actually more meaningfully connected to people, which creates all kinds of possibilities for the future. Maybe not this specific thing that
Kay Allison (16:46)
all kinds of possibilities down.
Dave Bricker (16:48)
Yeah, but then you go that extra step and say, but here’s who you can call. Here’s a list of speakers who are gonna take care of what you want and maybe they remember you for next year’s conference or maybe you get a referral, maybe you don’t, but you’ve done the right thing. And certainly those speakers who get the phone call and they say, hey, Dave Bricker told me to call you and said that you speak, okay, great.
Kay Allison (17:05)
Yes.
Dave Bricker (17:16)
and then maybe you’ll be looking out for me next time and then it all it all goes around. Yeah, yeah. So many of the people listening to our broadcast are aspiring speakers trying to learn what they can about the business, get their content together, so on and so forth. What advice do you have to offer to those aspiring speakers?
Kay Allison (17:23)
It really does. I believe in this. I believe in give first.
Look, I have gone around and around and around in that stage trying to figure out what do I do first. Here’s what I came to. I came to making friends with people at NSA, to tell you the truth. And toastmasters. And just sitting down with them for an hour or two and saying, this is what I’ve done. This is my experience. This is what lights me up. And having them help.
me see where the opportunities are. You can’t read the label from inside the jar, as they say. So sometimes it’s very, very helpful to have friends in these speaking organizations who have the experience to tell you, that area has gold, go dig there. Then I created the speeches in those three topics.
And then I created the marketing materials, the one sheets and the website and the video clips. And then using this really cool AI tool called Cast Magic, I record myself giving the talks or I do them at a Toastmasters group or SpeakerSpeak or one of those speaker showcases. I get the video, I drop it into this cool tool called Cast Magic.
and it takes it and it turns it into LinkedIn posts and emails and all kinds of amazing things. And then that’s what I do for my market. I mean, I massage it and I make it more me. But what I like about this way of doing it rather than just going directly to like chat GPT is it’s my intellectual property. And that tool kind of instantly creates the materials that I need to make it intellectual capital, to make it work for me.
Dave Bricker (19:37)
And that’s a big topic that I’m going to spend very little time on because I could get sucked into that whirlpool very easily because I see a lot of people going to chat GPT and let’s say, write me a speech about diversity, equity and inclusion. Well, you can also go to chat GPT and say, draw me a square circle and it will just try to do it.
Kay Allison (19:45)
Right.
Right?
Dave Bricker (20:01)
I liken it to, if the average person goes to Home Depot and buys a table saw, by the end of the day they’re missing three fingers. The tool does not help them become a better carpenter. In the hands of a good carpenter, it amplifies and multiplies their productivity.
Kay Allison (20:09)
Hahaha
Dave Bricker (20:19)
So I’m in the middle of creating all sorts of AI driven tools that ask people for the information that they need to accomplish a particular task. Here are some choices. Do you mean this? Do you mean that? Because AI is a great tool, but it’s so wide open and it’s so blindly obedient, it would rather just turn out mediocrity than focus on what I think is true intelligence, which is…
Kay Allison (20:30)
Mm-hmm
Dave Bricker (20:49)
being able to look at the data that you have and say, I don’t know what that means, or I don’t know where you’re going with this and asking those questions. So yeah.
Kay Allison (20:58)
Well, it goes back to that statement of, I’ve never heard anybody else talk about my topic the way I do. And so I don’t want to know in the large language models, I don’t wanna know what everybody else says. That’s not my thing. My thing is my experience and what I’ve created and learned and packaged. But if I can input that and have it turn it into marketing materials, all day long I’m gonna do that.
Dave Bricker (21:11)
Yeah.
Yeah, instead of getting it to tell a story for you, getting it to help you tell your story in new ways. And that’s fascinating stuff that we could spend all day on. So if you are just tuning in, this is Speakipedia Media for aspiring and professional speakers and thought leaders who want to make more money by changing hearts, minds and fortunes. My guest today is Allison Kay.
Kay Allison (21:33)
Yes.
Other way around, Kay Allison.
Dave Bricker (21:56)
My guest today is Kay Allison. Sorry, I forgot to write the name in. All right. Kay, in a former life, you were a classical cellist.
Kay Allison (22:07)
Oh gosh.
Dave Bricker (22:07)
And I know you don’t play cello on stage in your keynotes, though that might be a cool thing to do. But I also went to music school, and I know the intense discipline and practice that playing an instrument involves. It was one of the hardest things I ever did. And some of the people in our audience might have hobbies or interests that can inform their speaking practices. How have your outside pursuits helped your stagecraft and your business?
Kay Allison (22:37)
I am one of those magpies that gets attracted to different things. In some ways I’m an autodidact, like I’m a well-educated woman, I have a master’s degree from Northwestern University, but it’s what I’ve learned since just because I’ve been interested. I studied biology, I studied ontological philosophy, I became a licensed minister, I’m a trained clairvoyant. Like, all the stuff that I’m just interested in.
Amazingly, there are frameworks and there are concepts and there are exercises that I have woven together in a way that has created what I talk about to be as unique and as powerful as it is. So for me, my outside interests absolutely inform my intellectual capital, it’s
this weaving together and taking a framework from ontological philosophy and laying it on top of sales to see, huh, what do you see when you do that? This concept in biology of structural coupling, which basically means we adapt to the environments, the conversational and mood environments that we’re in, on a biological level, you can’t help it, that informs who I hang out with.
I want to hang out with people that I want to be like. And so all of those things that I’ve been interested are what make my message and my way of being in the world so unique and so good for me.
Dave Bricker (24:20)
And I love that. That’s really important. I’m like you. I got into repairing antique pocket watches for a while. I had all the tools. I was so curious. I was looking at that little thing ticking in there. How does that work? And I had to satisfy that curiosity. Ultimately decided it wasn’t something I was going to continue because pardon the pun, it was a time suck. And to get really good at that, it’s just…
Kay Allison (24:44)
I’m out.
Dave Bricker (24:47)
That’s what you do. Nothing else. So I satisfied the curiosity and moved on. But the music, the sailing, all of these different things become metaphors for the things that we teach to the audience, which is why I have the story sailing model for storytelling. I can’t tell you how many other hobbies and interests and skills I’ve developed. And I encourage anybody.
Kay Allison (25:07)
Mmm.
Dave Bricker (25:17)
You might have your speaking lane, but go outside into spirituality and sciences and hobbies and sports and whatever it is. You’ll find great value to mine that you can bring back to your talks. And that’s what makes you different. There are lots of storytelling speakers, but not many of them that I know using the sailing metaphor. So on and so forth.
Kay Allison (25:47)
I think the important part is to also make sure that you are taking the moment after you’ve had an experience, hobbies, learning, whatever, to think about what did I really learn here?
What lessons can I draw about life, about living, about speaking, about whatever my topic is? And what do I want to apply and what do I want to leave behind? And playing with, this is the way I do innovation, playing with mashing up an idea from this discipline and an idea from this discipline. Imagine they got together and they had a baby. What does that look like? And to me, it is such a proven way.
to innovate. Like, what if Kim Kardashian were solving this problem in your speaking business? What would she do? It just, it gives you an entirely different lens outside of the way that your neural synapses have already burned, and you’re gonna get different information and different ideas.
Dave Bricker (26:55)
Absolutely. So let’s talk a little bit about presentation skills because so far we’ve been talking about gathering that content together, putting the words together, getting the ideas together, but we have to deliver those in an engaging way or they just go over everybody’s head. So what are your favorite presentation tips?
Kay Allison (27:19)
Okay, so two things I’m going to talk about. One is the I to you ratio. When I started speaking, it was about 90% I and 10% you. But as we talked about before, people are really not all that interested in me. They’re much more interested in themselves. So I’m very conscious now about the I to you ratio. I…
At the beginning my hesitation and talking about you can lalala because I didn’t want to be prescriptive. But now I’ve realized that I need to be that obvious or people are not going to make the leap between what I’m saying I did and what they can do. I need to spell that out in a way that’s overt and very deliberate. So that’s one thing. The I to you ratio.
The second thing is taking the audience on an emotional journey. My tendency on stage is to be super high energy and super sparkly and you know what I’ve realized is I need to punctuate that with moments of oof.
and silence. So there needs to be an ebb and a flow to an emotional journey that I take my audiences on. It’s a storytelling arc, right? There’s a situation and then there’s some kind of event that starts the action and it goes down before it goes up. So I need to take people there or they’re not gonna get
the key point, the climax of the talk or the presentation, if I don’t first let them sit in the discomfort.
Dave Bricker (29:20)
absolutely completely agree with you. On that first part, I call that the eye infection. So, so many speakers get up. And I remember I was rehearsing a story for a contest recently. And originally, in my first draft, I told the story in first person. And it was my story. But then I thought, why not? Why put that barrier up? And
Kay Allison (29:27)
Hahaha
Dave Bricker (29:49)
I told the story about a young man in college and his experiences. And then toward the end of that story I said, perhaps you’ve guessed that the young man in the story was me. So I brought it home at the end. But getting rid of that I language so that the world is full of people talking about themselves, right? We have enough of that. It’s like the world’s longest bad date. So
Kay Allison (30:11)
Okay, right? Yeah.
Oh my god!
Dave Bricker (30:22)
I say that workshops and I can see all the women especially. Mm-hmm. Yep. Been out with that guy.
Kay Allison (30:28)
That’s so funny.
Dave Bricker (30:32)
So Kay, if you’re willing, share a disaster story. Maybe a time when you bombed or something went sideways on stage, and what can we learn from that?
Kay Allison (30:44)
So back in the day, we had hand-lettered charts to read from, to present from, not slides, not acetates. And I had been traveling so much that my brain was doing weird things and the words were actually sliding off the page when I looked at them. I remember knocking into one of them and it fell on the floor and I mean.
That was not good. So the answer to that is, make sure you get to a gig far enough in advance that you are settled and well-rested and exercised and practice, practice. Like if you’re gonna have props, use the props and practice with the props.
Dave Bricker (31:41)
No question. It’s interesting. I remember the last time I used flip charts at a presentation was the last time I bombed. And I think, look, I’ve seen Simon Sinek get away with it on TED or YouTube, right? Some people can get away with it, but if your audience is younger and you’re not painting pictures with pixels, you just look like that fuddy-duddy old professor.
Kay Allison (32:11)
Yeah.
Dave Bricker (32:12)
And it’s interesting the generation factor. And, but yeah, I remember I’m just gonna draw some flip charts and do it on the fly and make it organic and didn’t work at all. Didn’t work at all.
Kay Allison (32:23)
Yep, there you go. There you go. There’s this magical balance between being rehearsed enough that you feel comfortable enough to improvise, which is different than not at all rehearsed and making the whole thing up.
Dave Bricker (32:40)
Absolutely, because you can over-rehearse and then you sound like you’re reading out loud to your audience.
If you rehearse those key pieces and you rehearse them theatrically, the stuff in between, who cares if you do it the same way every time or not? It’s an interesting art form and that gets us around the memorization problem as well.
Kay Allison (32:52)
Yeah.
Kay Allison (33:12)
Yes, very true. Sometimes I see speakers that are so rehearsed and their gestures are so rehearsed that it feels inauthentic. And I like to be making eye contact with, especially the people in the audience that are nodding and laughing, you know, and kind of playing to them, if you will, playing to them, playing back and forth with them, and that way it feels very genuine.
Dave Bricker (33:36)
Mm-hmm.
Kay Allison (33:43)
I relied for a long time on just natural talent and the ability to think very fast on my feet without rehearsing. And my effectiveness has improved so much since I have really learned the craft of speaking.
Dave Bricker (34:01)
Yeah, and I find that what I like to do is rehearse from an outline. That way I have, I’m covering all the major points and I’m saying, Oh, wait, I forgot a big section. Hold that. Let me go back. That’s awkward. Cause you really can’t do that. And that’s, that’s an, right. If you miss it, you’ve got to dance around it and find some other way to fill in the space or hope that nobody catches it. But if you have that outline, even if you have to
Kay Allison (34:17)
No, once it’s gone, it’s gone.
I’m gonna go.
Dave Bricker (34:30)
tape the outline, put a note card in your pocket, or tape an outline to the stage, or something to refer to. If you’re doing the same speech or variation on the same speech every time, then you shouldn’t need that. But if it’s a one-off or something, use whatever crutch you need to get through without distracting. But that outline, if you know the material, should prompt you to go boom, and…
Kay Allison (34:56)
Absolutely.
Dave Bricker (34:58)
and it’s wonderful and it saves so much stress. So Kay, we are both members of the National Speakers Association, which you mentioned earlier. I’m gonna do this one again. Kay, you and I are both members of the National Speakers Association, which you mentioned earlier. One of the principal values is this idea that instead of…
you and I competing for a slice of the business pie, we work together to make the pie bigger. You talked about joining, hanging with other speakers inside and outside of the organization, of course. I know we’re both adherents of that bigger pie ideal, so share your thoughts on that a little bit more and what that business mindset entails.
Kay Allison (35:45)
It’s one of the most attractive things about this community.
This idea of giving first has been so attractive to me. And what I’ve found is the amount of generosity of all the people that I’ve been introduced to is kind of stunning to tell you the truth. And I feel the same way about being helpful to other speakers. It’s…
an unusual, it’s an unusual vibe for a group of people who really kind of do compete with each other. But there’s something about it. It’s both ineffable and very tangible where, you know, I was at an NSA event on Friday and you know, there was one guy, especially who was like, I haven’t talked to you in a month. Like
I’m here to help you. Where have you been? It’s like, Oh, my Oh, my gosh, that’s kind of amazing to me. And it’s what makes NSA so incredibly appealing and special.
Dave Bricker (36:53)
Hehehehe
Yeah, I was talking to an event organizer last week for a keynote that I’m going to be giving. And he was telling me, said, you have to be careful because the people who make the metal products have this bitter rivalry with the people who make the plastic products. And I’m thinking, they’re all in the same industry. What if they actually helped each other? Right, I mean…
Kay Allison (37:26)
Weird, huh? Yeah, I remember facilitating a session for Siemens, and there were these two guys who loathed each other, and they were sitting just at the corner together. And I actually sat in a chair in front of them and asked the guy on the left to tell me the position of the guy on the right, and the guy on the right to tell me the position on the guy on the left, and was able to help them resolve their difference. But…
They’re on the same leadership team for heaven’s sakes. They’re not competing for power, but they were. And that’s just not what I see in NSA at all.
Dave Bricker (38:06)
No, and I just think it’s one of the great things about the industry. If I got a call from a meeting organizer and they said, Dave, it’s between you and Kay Allison. Well, obviously I’d like to get hired, but then if they ask for something that’s more like what you want, well, look, I’d love to do this, but I think Kay’s, I mean, this is just how it works in the industry. And I’d love to get that keynote fee as you would, but hey.
it comes down to serving the client. And even if it comes down to competing, it’s okay. You can do that in a professional way.
Kay Allison (38:46)
Well, and I think that if I knew that you got the gig that we were both up for, I’d send you a note saying, hey, that is so cool, so happy for you. Genuinely, genuinely.
Dave Bricker (38:56)
Yeah, yes, no, exactly, exactly. It’s one of my favorite things about the industry.
Kay Allison (39:05)
Yeah, I agree. It’s been invaluable being a member. I found out about the national conference that was held last July, about less than a week before it started. And I was like, hey, if I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna do this. So I bought the ticket and I flew down to Orlando. And by the end of the first day, I called my husband and I was like…
John, I found my tribe. They’re smart, they’re interesting, there’s a lot of sequins, which I really like, and people are really kind. I found my tribe.
Dave Bricker (39:41)
Yeah, and I will certainly see you at this year’s convention. I’m looking forward to catching up in person. So if one of our viewers wants to discover more about you, where can they find you?
Kay Allison (39:45)
Yes you will. Me too.
Go to kayallison.com. That’s Allison with two L’s, kayallison.com.
Dave Bricker (40:03)
Excellent. So let’s sum up. What is the number one takeaway you’d like viewers and listeners to gain from our conversation?
Kay Allison (40:14)
I think the first thing and kind of the theme through our whole conversation, Dave, has been to be of service to the people that you are interacting with, whether it’s a fellow speaker, whether it’s a client, whether it’s an audience member, which all is predicated by asking enough questions that you can discern what their story is about their situation and their problems. Once you draw out their story, it’s…
obvious and easy to make an offer that is compelling or to say, I can’t help you with that. That’s not something I have experience with. So I think my underlying message is make sure that you are listening very carefully to get the story that shows you the world from the other person’s point of view.
Dave Bricker (41:07)
Wonderful. Kay Allison, thank you so much for being my guest today.
Kay Allison (41:13)
This was really fun, Dave. I love talking to you.
Dave Bricker (41:17)
Likewise, I’m Dave Bricker inviting you to explore the world’s most comprehensive resource for speakers and storytellers at speakeepedia.com. If you’re viewing this program on social media video, please love, subscribe and share your comments. If you’re listening to the podcast, keep your hands on the wheel and stay safe. I’ll see you on the next episode of Speakipedia Media.
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