speaker spotlight 11 Spring/Summer 2019 CORPORATE MEETINGS & EVENTS “IT’SFUNNY, I’VETALKEDTO SPEAKERSWHO HAVEBEENDOING ITFOR10OR15 YEARS,ANDTHEY SAYTHEY’RETIRED, THEYDON’TLIKE THETRAVELAND THEHOTELROOMS. I’VEBEENDOINGIT FOR20,ANDI’MNOT TIRED.WHENYOU LOVETHEWORK YOUDO,IT’S NOTWORK.” event, workshop or keynote? If you don’t do that work, then all you are is an inspirational story. And that might be good in some situations, but if you want to be a thought leader – and I’m in this business to create change and transformation – then you absolutely have to pay attention to who is in the audience, and how is your language, intellectual property, teaching and tools going to match them so they can leave the room inspired to action. CM&E:WHAT MAKES YOUR KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS UNIQUE? JOE:I went from living under a bridge to being a CEO of a successful company and then walking across the second widest country in the world, so the story is unique. But also as a former corporate leader, I understand people. I understand why people fail and I also understand what it takes to succeed. And so it’s taking those components, those pieces of the story, and shaping them in a way that empowers people to see it through their own lens. You may have never been homeless, but you’ve been through adversity. We all have. We all go through adversity, challenge and change – and depending on who’s in front of me, and what that organization is going through and what that meeting planner wants me to achieve, it’s taking that incredibly unique story but then making it really about them. CM&E:WHAT TOPICS DO YOU COVER? JOE:There’s three core pieces that I’m doing the most of right now. I do a lot of talks on resiliency, and that’s the thing that I’ve done for the last 20 years. Sharing my story, talking about change management, how to motivate people, how to overcome life’s obstacles and challenges. The second area that I’m asked to speak on a lot right now is mental health and addiction. With the legalization of marijuana and just an overwhelming number of mental health issues, I’m getting asked to speak on that topic. The third one is safety. Having lived in one of the most unsafe environments in my life, I understand that safety and building safety culture is all about little things; little things that we do right over a long period of time build a really strong safety culture. 1.  BE PASSIONATE ABOUT YOUR TOPIC. “There have been times in my career where I’ve made the mistake to speak on topics that I wasn’t an expert at. The best speakers are people who really have their hearts in the subject matter.” 2.  POLISH YOUR SKILL SET. “Sometimes the fear of public speaking will stop us from practising, and then we become that presenter that’s ill-prepared in front of a group of people, and an audience is unforgiving when a presenter is ill-prepared.” 3.  JOIN THE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL SPEAKERS. The organization offers education, “but also camaraderie. If you want to be a good keynote speaker, hang out with good keynote speakers. Get someone to mentor you. I have several speaking mentors, people who are absolutely amazing who help and teach me.” JOE ROBERTS’ TIPS FOR ASPIRING KEYNOTE SPEAKERS