WINNING (OVER AUDIENCES) IN VEGAS

KEYNOTE WITH IMPACT

Opening Keynote to SITE Young Leaders 2022 at UNLV
Sharing a powerful, repeatable process for presentations
Chock full of energy, insight and actionable skills

Practice what you preach.

If you’re tasked with giving 100 emerging events and incentive leaders a talk on delivering effective presentations…

….you’d better deliver one heck of a presentation.

THE CHALLENGE

Prove the power of better presentations.

That’s exactly what unfurled on the campus of the famed University of Las Vegas – 60 minutes sharing the 5-Step SUGR Stack process. That’s more than 40 original ways to rethink, reimagine and revitalize every presentation.

And it all started with just four words.

THE APPROACH

Sharing the science of audiences (and a whole lot more).

“One. [PAUSE]. Two. [PAUSE]. Three. [PAUSE]. Four. [LONGER PAUSE.] If you’re wondering what the heck I’m doing right now…I just did my job.”

As SpeakUp Get Results keynote speaker Jason Thomson took the stage at UNLV, he worked to arrest, engage and create curiosity in leaders gathered from around the world – Dubai to Dublin, India to Texas.

Those four words were a demonstration that a speaker has just four seconds to emotionally engage an audience before they begin to tune out. “And if they tune out at the beginning, you’re going to have a hard time convincing them of anything.”

And that was just the beginning.

Over the next hour, Jason shared infographics, resources, process steps, tools, and insights on how to empathize with an audience, structure a better presentation, bake in engagement tools like storytelling and scan-ability, and rehearse in a way that helps speakers better connect with the audience.

All while using the keynote itself as a proof of concept.

THE RESULTS

Riveted audience, instantly useable audience.

The audience featured a handful of members who were presenting in the coming days as part of the industry-defining IMEX Americas conference.

Every last one of them shared how they’d use this landmark approach to presentations to improve their own talks.

“We were looking for a keynote to kick off the day with an energetic, accessible, and informative speaker. Jason more than delivered,” explained event organizer Kate Benzine.

For a hundred rising stars, “more than delivered” means presentations, pitches and conversations that win over every last audience.