The power of good performance, what exactly is it in? We believe in the value of three components 'content', 'design' and 'delivery' and the way these components are aligned when setting up a performance. And let these three aspects come up when we asked speaker Sydney Brouwer about the speakership and keynote speakers. In his opinion, these are the three aspects you should invest in as a speaker, as you can read below.
Your performance stands and falls with the value of your story, Sydney said: "I believe in the 3 E's - education, entertainment and empowerment - which I learned from Remco Claassen. They must be in your presentation. However, I have noticed that education - the content - seems less important nowadays than before. Speakers now mainly ensure that the audience finds the event cool. Of course it is important that you have something innovative to say, but it is even more important that you do this in a fun, appealing way. The best speakers have entertainment value above all. If you don't, it's like attending a lecture. No one ever gets excited about that. That is the great strength of the speaker: anyone can tell a story, but the way, the energy, the interaction, that is ultimately what is important."
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That leads us to the next point, which is the delivery of the story you are telling. Because the way you deliver a story, that's where a lot of time and energy goes, Sydney argues: "The style of the speaker is very important. There are a number of other speakers besides me who speak about customer centricity in the Netherlands. One likes interaction, the other does not. One is much more on the emotion, the other picks up models. My style is energetic with quick, witty interaction. It probably helps that I have been doing improvisational theatre for years. I want to take every room to a certain level, but the people in the room determine the atmosphere a lot. The question is how to remove any resistance, which in my opinion is mainly in your delivery. An important investment for me was therefore to do voice coaching in order to put down even more powerful performances."Â
Last but not least, the visuals you provide during your performance are a worthwhile investment, Sydney believes.
"Basically, I don't need my presentation itself, because everything is in my head. But the presentation you use should help people follow the structure of the story. It should also ensure afterwards that people remember your story, which often works best with a wow effect. I certainly don't think the presentation should do the work. Personally, I work mostly with photos, which sometimes have a sentence, question or word on them. In these, I try to reflect my house style colours, blue and white.
The photos are to illustrate the stories that fit the company and that I want to tell that time. I find it important to remain flexible in this, so I don't use the photos in a standard order. But of course it is cool when people say they like your presentation. That's why I see the value of strong visuals, because it definitely contributes to your overall performance."
Customer-centric leadership and 'Six Star Service'. These are the topics Sydney Brewer can tell you all about. Through humour, practical examples and unfathomable enthusiasm, he takes you into the world of customer focus and customer experience. His focus? Bringing Humanity back into business and helping companies transform customers into fans. Based on his thorough research into companies that consistently turned customers and employees into fans, he has built his various lectures: empirically based, but delivered with a good dose of humour and enthusiasm. Sydney prepares companies for customer focus 2.0.
