Michael Phelps

Type: Keynote

It has been a while since my last post. I have been on the road constantly the last month or so going from one event to the next. Lots of reviews and posts will follow.

I am excited about today’s post because it is a review of an exciting and very new person to the keynote stage: Michael Phelps. I had the pleasure to work with Phelps on what was one of his first keynote presentations.

Pros: The excitement and energy in the audience was obvious as soon as Michael entered the room. A prior VIP meet and greet where Michael took pictures (with a gold medal if the attendee wanted) was a great way to start the evening.

The keynote was done in an interview style.  The president of the company holding the event served as the moderator. A Q&A section followed.

The conversation covered Michaels rise to success with an emphasis on his work ethic. They also covered preparation for each Olympics, stories from the Olympics and background on the Not-For-Profit organization that Michael runs (Michael Phelps Foundation).

Cons:  The only thing to note is that Michael is not a polished presenter yet.  The interview style worked great for this event and I would expect that eventually a standard keynote will be something Michael offers. 

Producer’s Notes:  I would strongly recommend Michael Phelps: a very timely, energetic and fun keynote.  The meet and greet was a great feature and should be part of every booking with Phelps. 

Mark King

Type: Keynote

Pros: Mark is not someone who we see very often at events. There always seem to be a couple of “hot” speakers every year who either present at the meetings we produce or are on the short list to be a presenter. Our client identified Mark as a presenter with a good message who they thought would resonate with their audience, and they were right.

The talk was on leadership where he presented his steps for turning around TaylorMade golf.  The history and back-story about the growth of TaylorMade was an interesting story as well. He discussed the success he had with abandoning the traditional methods of building a golf brand and instead focused specifically on the golfer who bought equipment annually.

One big hit with the audience (and I am not sure if he does this at all events) was at the end of the presentation he gave away a number of TaylorMade golf clubs and bags.

Cons: None.

Producer’s Notes: He was an interesting speaker and the golf connection definitely seemed to connect with the attendees in the audience. The growth of the company through non-traditional methods seemed to resonate with the audience, who were very engaged with his story.

Note: TaylorMade has now been sold to Adidas and Mark is serving as President.

John Foley

Type: Keynote

Pros: I have to admit that I didn’t know who John Foley was before his keynote, and had never seen him on any of our clients’ keynote lists. After seeing his presentation I have to wonder why I haven’t seen him before.

John mixes stories with leadership insight into a high energy, entertaining and informative keynote. One very unique aspect of John’s presentation is his use of videos from his time as a Blue Angel. The most interesting was a video showing the training and ongoing evaluation that each pilot goes through as part of the Blue Angels team.

John was a lunch speaker at the conference where I saw him speak. Even in this difficult time slot, the audience quickly became actively invested and interacted well with John’s presentation.

Of particular note, John stayed and took pictures with attendees and answered questions for at least 45 minutes after his presentation.

Cons: None.

Producer’s Notes: Great speaker who should be on everyone’s short list.

For More Info: johnfoleyinc.com

Brian Beaulieu

Type of Speaker: Economist, ITR Economics

Pros: I have the opportunity to see a lot of economists speak, as they are popular at corporate events. Often we will see the same economist “flavor of the month” at many conferences, but Brian Beaulieu was a new name to me, and I was very impressed with his presentation.

He spoke for 90 minutes, which included Q&A. Brian’s presentation included a lot of forecasting and tracking of key economic indicators and contained his company’s historical tracking of those indicators as well. There were a lot of charts and graphs—like usual—but he moved through them fairly quickly. He even included a little humor into the presentation (not something you see often from an economist).

During Brian’s presentation, the audience stayed engaged and interactive. I always think that you can tell that an audience is engaged when two things happen: very few people get up and leave the room and there are a lot of questions during the Q&A session.

Cons: The only concern I have is whether Brian’s presentation would resonate with a wide variety of audiences. The session I saw was targeted at executives at an association.

Producer’s Notes: I have only seen Brian once, but have already recommended him to a couple of clients.

For more information:  Brian's ITR Economics Page

Update

We worked with Brian again in April 2016 and he was just as good the second time. His humor is still sharp and engaging and his economic presentation was again thorough and easy to understand.