March 30, 2017
A Bruce Lee action movie, the Superman theme song, a Beethoven classic. What is that feeling? Inspiration. It can be fruitless. It can do nothing. Inspiration, if not followed by action, does nothing for anyone. If you are putting on an event then you must inspire first and take action second. Without the latter, then you’ll have missed a giant opportunity.
I’ve talked before about how to inspire and fine tune a message to your audience. Inspiration has a place and it is direly important to inspire your audience. Let us change the all too used cliche. Stop making your audience feel, and start making them do something.
One of the great “do-ers” is none other than Mr. Radio himself, Dave Ramsey. He has the second largest radio show in the entire country. He also puts on many events helping people turn inspiration into palatable action.
Dave Ramsey has become a master of practicality. Rather than get people pumped, he gets them stoked on doing budgets. WHAT?!?!??!?!? Yes, Dave can get you riled up to crunch numbers. With great confidence I can say, most who leave his events are changed for the better. This isn’t done by inspiration alone, it’s by realizing that practical action steps lead more to change than rhetorical hyperbole will ever do. I’ve noticed a handful of tactics that I think would be good to look at for your next event.
Dave has a remarkable way of taking the complexity of money, and keeping it simple. Rather than encouraging his audience to become day traders, he encourages them to do one simple thing...get out of debt. He believes debt is the great killer of achieving your dreams. So rather than trying to help people invest in this or that, or high risk loans, or chasing after things, he gives people one simple task. He realized long ago that if he encouraged his audience to take a simple impactful, yet obtainable step they might just be successful at it. And successful he and audience has become. Many times when putting on an event we keep things to complicated. Find a simple win, and drive that home to your audience.
In the spirit of trying to keep things simple, it is important to not sugar coat anything. If your greatest interest in your event is to change the way your registrants live their lives, then let em’ have it! That might sound harsh, but it is true.
Too easily people talk themselves out of action. Keep points and action items simple. Doing this will keep your audience in check. Not only will this help your audience, but will keep your customers coming back for more. Palpable change is greater than inspiration, any day of the week.
At your next event, remember: Keep It Simple, and Don’t Give Your Audience an ‘Out’. Help yourself, while helping them. Action is greater than inspiration. Throwing on a big event can be a powerful tool, use it well.
Your next big event could be the game changer your guests need. Be memorable by giving your audience actionable items and holding them accountable to themselves. In the process well intentioned advice might hurt some feelings but when done with a good heart will motivate someone in the right direction.