How I write a $25,000 Keynote Speech

I’ll be in the Gulf Region in November, with a keynote speech coming up.

A keynote speech is a 30-60 minute speech that you present to an audience at a conference or large event.

Here’s the exact process I follow to write one from scratch.

(I really should be charging good money for this!)

Here’s the exact format I use when designing for a 60 minute keynote:

» 1- First words:

The first words out of my mouth are almost always something around what happened at the event itself or earlier that day.

So I don’t script this. This way, the audience knows that what I’m saying is personalized to them for that day.

“After Jason’s presentation, I’m going to have to get myself a spiritual awakening too …”

I don’t try to force the joke, but instead I add humour to the way I open.

I’ll end this with some sort of audience engagement activity

Now this part is scripted:

“Raise your hand if you’ve seen some memorable speakers today”

This is technically the ‘opening’ that I’ll have preplanned.

The goal is to get audience engagement as early as possible otherwise it’ll be very hard to engage them later on.

» 2- Story:

Then I go into a 3 minute story that does 3 things:

1- Gives them my zero to hero story journey
2- Builds credibility
3- Paints the problem I’m going to solve for them today.

Example:

“I may have millions of followers today coaching some of the most successful CEOs in the world, (Credibility)

but 10 years ago, I’d be hiding in the bathroom before a presentation. (Personal story that highlights the problem I had and they might have)

In the next 60 minutes, you’re going to walk away with the 3 tools you can use to become a great public speaker” (Build anticipation)

» 3- The 3 to 5 Pillars of the Keynote (for 45-60 minutes)

After the opening, the rest of the keynote is divided into ‘blocks’

Each pillar is about 12-15 minutes long (Adjust how many you need based on the length of your keynote)

This is the format I follow:

Each ‘block’ will have a title like (Structure/Excitement/Credibility)

a) Question: Have you ever seen a presentation that was all over the place? It’s because people don’t do this one thing. (1 minute)

b) Story: 5 Years ago I made the same mistake when I was speaking at … (3-5 minutes)

c) Message/Technique That’s when I realized that it’s PAUSING that made the difference for the audience. (2-3 minutes)

d) Activity: Let’s break into groups of 2 and do this pausing exercise for 60 seconds. (3-5 minutes)

The reason I love this approach so much is because it teases the audience first on what they’ll learn, then it tells them a story that gets them emotionally invested, then once they’re invested, they receive the message or the thing ‘to do’, and we end with an activity to reinforce their learning.

Note on Transitions: Now between each ‘block’ - it’s important to have a smooth transition so the audience is clear that you have ended and are now beginning a new ‘block.’

Here’s what I say

“That was a fun exercise. So we learned that to create anticipation, we must implement -I point at the audience to say it out loud- yes, pauses!

Good, now that we know how to build anticipation, how do we deliver on that promise?

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been invited to an event and regretted coming there.”

That last question is me beginning the second ‘block.’ Notice how seamless that is.

» Close

I do 2 things when I close:

1- I recap all 3 of my major points and I make the audience say them out loud.

“So we learned that if you want X you must? - audience completes my sentence-”

I do that for all 3 major points.

Then I move to:

2- “Great, now I know you’ll remember. I’ll leave you with this…”

Then I go into a personal inspiring story to end.

This is KEY. Do NOT end with tips and tricks, or introduce any new concepts. Too many speakers try to add too much right at the end.

The end is to make sure they remember what you’ve said for the past 30-60 minutes and leave them inspired to put it into action.

If I’m doing a keynote on how to rehearse a presentation, I’ll go into a story about how rehearsing saves someone’s career, or they ended up delivering a better presentation and it inspired someone in the audience to achieve great things.

This is also the best way to get a standing ovation.

It’s very difficult to get standing ovations sharing tips and tricks.

»

TLDR:

A great keynote takes TONS and tons of planning and practicing.

I’ve spent about 100 hours already just going over the different stories, rearranging the order, getting the messaging and activities right etc.

Do NOT do this last minute (Unless you don’t want to get rehired!)

This format should help you get started.

Hope this helped.

- Yasir Khan