It’s a feel good story. A guy pulling himself up from his boot straps, even when as he says, he was too poor to have boots.
I got up at 6am on MLK day to hear the speaker. Cleveland man, takes some classes at a community college, becomes an auto tech, takes a few more classes and opens a business . . . becomes a medical doctor. It’s a great story.
Like all great stories it still needs to be massaged, finessed, and edited. There is only one change I would have made in this 15 minute keynote.
Sometimes I think people will assume I won’t like something that I didn’t write. NOT TRUE. No one loves a good speech like I do.
Sometimes I think people will assume I will re-write a text they bring me, so they don’t ask in advance. They think I will tear it to pieces. NOT TRUE. I usually tell clients and non-clients that they are closer than they think.
Sometimes people forget that there are three legs on any communication stool. Without my help the one that usually gets overlooked is ORGANIZATION. How a speech is organized can change everything. Can’t know for sure the organization until you have practiced the speech out loud.
Dr. Carl Allamby has a phenomenal story to tell. And he does it well. The only change I would have made was the placement of one line.
Recently a client organized a partner meeting. It went well. When I asked him why he said because he had taken so much time to strategize the order of the agenda. That is ORGANIZATION.
Dr. Allamby had a line I will paraphrase, I used to fix carburetors and now I fix kidneys. What a great line. I would have had him start with that line. You want to open with a WOW, figuratively hit them over the head to get their attention.
