Most rules are just patterns
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When I was first setting out on my journey to become a keynote speaker, I didn’t know much about the industry. But from everything I read, there were three absolute non-negotiables. Every speaker, at bare minimum, needed:
So I got to work. I learned how to make a website, hacked together a demo reel, and wrote descriptions for each of my talks. A few years later, I started to hear about a new guy on the scene named Mike Smith. Every time I turned around, a client was telling me they’d just had Mike Smith speak, or they were trying to have Mike Smith speak, or (worst of all) they decided to go with Mike Smith over me. In the spirit of competitive research, I googled “Mike Smith”. That turned out to be a bad move, because “Mike Smith” is one of the most common names in the US. But eventually I found him. To be fair, he did have a website. He might have had some talk descriptions (I don’t remember, to be honest). But what shocked me was this: the dude did not have a demo reel. What he did have was a killer reputation, a unique stage presence, and an unbeatable work ethic. He also had long hair, carried a skateboard everywhere, and broke all the rules about what a keynote speech was supposed to be. Mike Smith went on to become one of (if not THE) most successful youth speaker I knew. At one point he leased Blink 182’s old tour bus and took it to high schools around the country for an entire year, co-sponsored by the X-games. A few years later I got into the corporate speaking market, and I found a similar story: a guy named Ryan Leak who was getting booked left and right without a traditional demo reel. Instead, he had a series of interview-style videos that were shot in a studio. In both situations, I noticed a lot of thinly-veiled jealousy in the industry. “How is he doing that? This isn’t supposed to work! I did everything right and he’s still running laps around me. That’s not fair!” But I wasn’t scared by these guys. I was inspired! Because if they could break the rules and still win, maybe the rules weren’t so set-in-stone after all. If they could have massive success without a demo reel, maybe there were other opportunities I hadn’t considered. When I started working on a new demo reel last year, I decided to question everything I’d been told. I knew what worked, but I also knew that I was sick of watching speaker reels that all felt exactly the same: fade in on a backstage shot, fade out on a standing ovation. I figured if I was tired of it, other people might be too. So I decided to make something that felt less like a speaker reel and more like an inspiring short film. During the planning process, I had people tell me “That sounds really creative, but I don’t think it’ll work.” Then the video came out, and they said “Okay, I was totally wrong. This is the best demo reel I’ve ever seen.” It turns out, most “rules” are just patterns. “This worked before, so it’ll probably work again. It’s safe.” But every now and then, someone breaks the pattern and shows us that the rules were only ever suggestions. That’s where real opportunities are. Happy Friday, friends. Make it a good one. Kyle Scheele |
Kyle Scheele
One useful idea about creative leadership, once a week
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