The world is full of people who know everything of a certain thing, except doing it.  Speaking about interesting things, certain attitudes or methodologies, is fine, but too often it is done from the theory, and the communicator hasn’t really experienced the concepts developed for him. And the audience who is assisting to any lecture, wants vivid reflections that inspires and provokes them, and that he make them have a good, useful and unique time. If they want formulas, data, or theories, they can find it in schools, in books or on internet.

Therefore, the conferences inspired in real events or in special circumstances of the protagonists are more valued. They are more emotive, more funny, better examples and, specially, more credibles.

If I explain the results of a study about how the 200 best US leaders manage risks, I will provide you with interesting data and the audience will leave the lecture more informed. But if I explain how I confronted alone the crossing of a huge crevasse at the South Pole, or how we survived in the Everest descent with a teammate at the limit of a cerebral edema, the audience will understand better what is managing risk, they will add it to their feelings and they will assimilate the example to the concept, applying it to their own attitude.

Using examples of my adventures serves as a metaphor for sharing very powerful and practical concepts about some key factors of personal or professional life of the audition, in attitudes of leadership, managing change and uncertainty, motivation and improvement towards the objective, teamwork, or approach to the future.

We are saturated with information, and it’s really valuable to invest time to pay full attention to any speaker. Therefore, as professional speakers, we have a big responsibility to the public and those who hire us. The objective of a speaker, rather than inform or entertain, should always be creating an impact to the audience.

This article is a part of a feature published yesterday 23th March 2014 at the printed edition of "La Vanguardia", about the new profile of the speakers.